>> i'm zoraida sambolin. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> did it throw you off for a minute. >> i love 5:00 a.m. in the east. good to have you with us. game on. mitt romney, he declared the race is on with president obama. >> a better america begins tonight. >> okay. so now we know it's on but what do we know about newt gingrich and rick santorum and when they may officially get behind him or will they? we have details meetings, planned ahead. >> and birds cause another scare in the sky. this is the second one this week. a flight with 54 people on board turns around after geese smack into the windshield. ew! >> and president obama slow jamming on student loans with jimmy fallon. >> now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people.

>> oh, yeah. >> the president going late night to grab some young voters. we'll have the highlights for you. >> he looks too serious in the background. >> mitt romney so close to the republican nomination now he can taste it. the former massachusetts goer sweeping to victory in the biggest day of the gop primary voting since super tuesday winning new york, connecticut, pennsylvania, rhode island and delaware. it seems inevitable he will clinch the nomination next month. last night he tore into president obama, promising a better america under his watch. >> because he has failed, he will run a campaign of diversions and distractions and distortions. that kind of campaign may have worked at another place and in a different time. but not here. and not now. it's still about the economy. and we're not stupid.ç >> cnn political editor paul

steinhauser is joining us live from washington this morning. paul, it seems romney has finally put the proomry politics behind him and he is zeroing in on president obama and the general election. what does his speech last night say about his strategy against the president? >> and he has been trying to do this, zoraida, for quite some time. i guess you could say last night's speech was 15 minutes in length by the way, long on rhetoric, mostly short on specific policies. was basically a taste you could say of maybe the speech he will give at the republican convention in tampa in late august. a look ahead, firing away on president obama what he's done for the past three years. did he use the word conservative? no, he didn't. i went back and checked. maybe he's trying to pivot from a primary campaign to a general election campaign. another interesting thing, zoraida, polls indicate mitt romney, most americans think has

a problem relating to average americans and the problems they're dealing with. take a listen to what he said here. >> for every single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her kids that she needs to take a second job and won't be home as often, for grandparents who can't afford the gas to visit their grandchildren anymore, for the mom and dad who never thought they'd be on food stamps, to all of you, i have a simple message. hold on a little longer. a better america begins tonight. >> mitt romney tried to reach out to average americans. i think you'll hear more of that. on his to do list, immediately, fund raise, fund raise, fund raise. he trails president obama 10-1 in campaign cash. >> a lost folks thought he connected with that speech. >> yes, exactly. you know, he realizes one of his problems is likability. president obama has it, he

doesn't, according to most polls. i think he tried to do that in the speech and i think, to a degree, he was pretty successful. >> an interesting moment on piers morgan. piers talking to rick santorum and asking him about endorsing mitt romney. let's listen first and we'll talk. >> you got it. >> he's the person that's going to go up against president obama, it's pretty clear. we need to win this race. >> is that an endorsement? i'm not mishearing things? you just endorsed mitt romney. >> you can call it whatever you want. >> am i wrong? >> look, i believe -- >> karen, you know your husband. has he just endorsed mitt romney? >> not at this point, no. we're working through it, talking about it. >> we're working through it, we're talking about it. why won't he just endorse romney? >> you know, you have to give piers credit for trying. >> oh, yes. >> here's what we know, top santorum advisers are telling us there will be a meeting on may 4th between santorum and romney. not an endorsement meeting, a

meeting to talk about that. the people that backed santorum in the primaries, what kind of role they could have the in general election. this process will go on. what about the other guy, newt gingrich. >> yes. >> you saw him in north carolina campaigning ahead of the primaries in two weeks. he did not have a good night. he lost in delaware where he really worked hard, lost by a 2-1 margin to romney. he said in his speech we'll have to look realistically at where we are and where we're going. he did not drop out. he said he would continue to campaign in north carolina through the weekend. stay tuned, zoraida. >> stay tuned, indeed. paul steinhauser, live in washington, d.c., thank you very much. for the second time in less than a week, a passenger jet departing new york has been forced to make an emergency landing after being hit by a bird. the latest incident happened at westchester county airport, in suburban new york city. not far from the main airport. a jetblue flight headed to west

palm beach was forced to turn back 50 minutes after it took off because two geese slammed into the jet's windshield. none of the 54 passengers on board was hurt. they were all put on another plane but the windshield is a different story. it did suffer damage. listen to this incident as it went down from the cockpit radio transmissions. >> contact new york departure. >> 7571 we have to come back. we hit two big geese. >> jetblue 571 roger and stand by. >> jetblue 571 make right traffic runway. >> you have to hand it to the pilots and controllers. how calm are they after they say we're declaring an emergency? these pictures, that was just last thursday, a delta flight out of kennedy making a quick turnaround after birds were sucked into an engine right

after takeoff. >> scary çmoments. mad cow disease in california? that's right, the first confirmed case in the united states in six years now. the agricultural department says it was discovered at a random test on a dairy cow at a facility. the carcass is being quarantined while the plant waits for word on the usda of how to dispose of it. south korea plans to strengthen inspections of beef imported from the united states in the response to the case of mad cow. two of the country's retailers have halted sales as well. a former aide to john edwards will be back on the witness stand for a third day of testimony. andrew young is set to be cross-examined by the defense. prosecution's star witness telling the court yesterday about detailed plans that john edwards made with him in order to hide his affair with a

pregnant mistress, rielle hunter. andrew testified about a day that rielle hunter made so many frantic calls, he said somebody better be preg nan or dying. she reply, no one's dying. edwards called her, quote, a crazy slut and, quote, there's a one in three chance that it was his child. eight minutes past the hour. jimmy fallon taking his late show on the road to the university north carolina where president obama was courting the student vote. the president was fallon's special guest. >> how mad were you? >> pretty mad. look, secret service, these guys are incredible. they protect me, they protect michelle, they protect our girls, our officials all around the world.

99.9% of them every day, they're putting their life on the line and do a great job. so a couple of knuckleheads shouldn't detract from what they do, but what these guys were thinking, i don't know. that's why they're not there anymore. >> easy to understand. a couple of knuckleheads. you want some of that obama/fallon slow jam, we'll have it later for you this hour. gas prices dropping again this morning. the new national average just announced by aaa, $3.84 per gallon for regular unleaded. we're doing the math for you. it's down about a dime from the start of the month. many experts say we've seen the peak of gas prices for the year but only the tension with iran remains in check. if oil prices go up, you know what happens, gas prices usually follow. ninth consecutive decrease. that's good news. >> very good news. ten minutes past the hour,

still ahead, scary surveillance video of an over-the-counter bat attack at mcdonald's. no one saw him coming. he just started swinging. and give peace a chance? how about give suspension a chance. the nba handing down punishment to metta world peace, also known as ron artest for throwing a violent elbow on the court. here it is. ow! it hurt. it's going to cost the lakers in the playoffs. you'll find out how much in a moment. helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. reveal healthy, supple skin. (spoken in mandarin)

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sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. 13 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. newt gingrich is re-assessing his candidacy after mitt romney swept all five contests. the former house speaker was hoping to pull off a primary victory in delaware last night. now he's contemplating his future. >> over the next few days we'll look realistically at where

we're at. we have worked very, very hard. we've had a lot of support from an amazing number of people. we're going to it be here in north carolina all week. i'm confident we'll have lots of folks to talk with and we're going to talk about a lot of key ideas. i also want to do that as somebody who is a unifier and somebody who's realistic. >> gingrich's campaign is $4.3 million in debt. he has 23 events scheduled in north carolina this week and says he plans to attend every one of them. police in lakeland, florida, are searching to are this guy. take a close look. he went after a manager of a local mcdonald's. in his hand, if you squint, a baseball bat. from the start to finish, the customer's attack just off camera lasted just a little under 30 seconds but employees said they recognize this guy because he apparently visited before and complained about the service. nba suspended metta world peace of the l.a. lakers for seven games, for throwing a

nasty elbow. take a look at it there, that floored oklahoma city's james harden on sunday and left him with a concussion. that means world peace will miss the entire first round playoff series unless it goes seven games. the u.s. supreme court is taking up the fight on immigration. today justices are hearing oral arguments an arizona's controversial immigration law. that arizona law is known as sb-1070. it requires local police to check immigration status if there's a reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally. some people say that's profiling. but arizona says federal government has failed to control the problems that that state says it has to suffer through on a regular basis. our kate baldwin is live in d.c. she's been covering this. she's a supreme court expert

right now with medicare and all the rest. this looks like a classic supreme court battle between state and federal jurisdiction. >> you absolutely hit it right there. the justices will hear one hour of oral arguments today, state versus federal authority, a classic battle before the supreme court. the key issue before the court is who should be enforcing illegal immigration laws. they also say the law is meant to assist, not interfere, assist in their view, the federal government to stop illegal immigration. state officials are saying that they're stepping in where they believe the federal government has so far failed. the obama administration, though, says it's absolutely the opposite. they argue that arizona would be interferining with what is exclusively federal authority and the law in their view could damage relations with immigration and make matters worse. i talked to a phoenix police officer and the head of a

private group patrolling the border. both men on the front lines of the fight against illegal immigration but they couldn't be farther apart. listen here. >> i think it's a racist law. because that law was basically picks and chooses certain people. when i took an oath 20 years ago, iç said i'm going to enfoe all laws and treat everyone equal, i can't treat the has panpa -- hispanic hispani hispanics equally because i'm going to profile them. >> we are going to make sure the federal government gets all the help it needs to do the job. >> after oral arguments happening later this morning, we'll likely get a decision from the justices in the next couple months. another election year battle, the political stakes couldn't be higher either. >> no kidding. today only eight justices hearing the case. why is that? >> another wild element to this.

only eight justices, justice alena kagan has pulled herself out from hearing this case because she was involved with the obama administration and this law. it raises the possibility of a 4-4 split, meaning this election year fight could be pushed to another day. that would be very interesting. >> it just keeps getting more exciting, don't it? supreme court wild, who would have thunk that we'd put those together. good to see krogh. a quick check of the weather. meteorologist rob marciano in atlanta. good morning to you. >> good morning, guys. it's going to remain cool across the northeast. the pattern that brought that crazy storm the past couple of days is still there. it's still rotating, a few showers. probably won't get to the new york city or philadelphia area, certainly upstate, rain and snow showers and that circulation driving down into the carolinas as well with light rain here.

another quick system is moving across the northern tier state. that will bring the threat for severe weather across the great lakes and in through the ohio river valley with a warm front. that will create a threat for mostly large hail, damaging winds possible. and isolated tornadoes although not a huge threat butt be on yor toes for that. the other issue is out west, a couple of big storms moving northwest and the southwest corner of the u.s., l.a. 96 in roswell with 88 degrees yesterday in the mile high city of denver. we'll see similar numbers again tad. some of the spots will be over 20 degrees above where they would typically be for this time of year. 90 degrees expected in dallas. how about that? 90 in kansas city. a cool 60 degrees in new york. >> 90? hot stuff. wow. i did 33 days straight over 110 degrees in dallas. lived through that. >> my kind of weather.

>> ew! serious? you burn your hands on your steering wheel if you don't park in the shade. we digress. thanks, rob. time to get an early read of all the news -- we read every one of these, start to finish, top to bottom. >> after the show, pretty much. >> they make it in here right for show time. we have papers from new york to chicago. let's start with the "new york times." this one's a bit annoying to say the least. ever been in an emergency room? you might find yourself in an emergency room being visited bedside not by a nurse or doctor but by a debt collector. ain't kidding here. there's a big accusation about wicked tactics this group is using. the minnesota attorney general is at the helm of this. she says accretive put employees into emergency rooms. at times they didn't necessarily

identify themselves about debt collectors and actually made threats. so far we're not hearing about any violation, though, that's officially being charged which may be just down the road. but we know there's a civil suit that may be pending in this case. let's head to the "chicago tribune." a florida man is facing five years in prison for stealing a $1 soda from mcdonald's. he asked for a cup for water and therapy he filled that with soda. he has a long history of theft convictions and that is what bumped up this case to a felony. funny thing, his nickname is red clown. he has absolutely no relation to that guy, ronald mcdonald. people are upset about this. for a buck, really?

>> you should see the string of mug shots this guy has. it's a string of all these things that he had done. they finally decided not a three strike issue, like a 23 strike issue. >> keep him behind bars. >> yes. >> taxpayers money, but you might not have to take another mug shot of him. save on the polaroid. still ahead, 16,000 iphones sold every hour. the most valuable company in the world gets even bigger.ç staggering numbers in apple's quarterly report. christine romans, true to form, telling us it's true, folks. this company is unbelievable. we're minding your business, next. [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen.

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and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. 25 minutes past the hour. u.s. markets closed mixed yesterday, dow and s&p 500 getting a boost from strong

earnings report while the nasdaq closing lower, about 0.3%. >> apple reported its quarterly earnings after the closing bell last night. poppy harlow is here with us, in for christine romans. can it get better for apple? the answer is always yes. >> every quarter it gets better and better. they are this morning in futures up. what a quarter for apple, guys. if you own this stock or thinking about buying it, 94%, that's how much earnings increased for the first quarter from a year ago. a lot of this has to do with the iphone. the numbers run believable. those are the numbers. 385,000 iphones sold per day in the first three months of this year. that's 16,000 iphones per hour. that is just pretty unbelievable even for apple. looking at the stock up 8% in premarket trading. $610 a share. you thought it couldn't go higher. the stock is up 360% in the last five years. this company is worth $500

billion right now. this is a china story. the one question about apple was could it break through an emerging markets and do exceedingly well? you have a rising middle class in china. they want iphones even more than we want iphones. iphone sales were up 500% in the first quarter in china year-over-year. they're only selling about 25% of the carriers in china. if they get that deal with china mobile, the biggest carrier, it will go farther than that. could they sell in chinaç real well, that was answered in these earnings. >> ho>> that makes sense. that happened after the closing. a couple of black bears staring the living daylights out of a tv weatherman. this is his live shot location, folks. how would you like to be there, live? try to report the weather with

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it is 31 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." we are so happy you're with us, i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. we begin with this story, mitt romney telling president obama see ya in november. it was a barn burner last night. that's roger's word of the day. is roger, nice word of the day. barn burner, five contests last night. mitt is putting those primaries behind him, hammering the president on the economy after that solid sweep last night. >> it's still about the economy.

and we're not stupid. >> so what about newt gingrich? we all thought he might actually bow out last night, holing this news conference late at night to reconsider his future. no, he's not, he's still in the race for now. rick santorum also falling short of endorsing mitt romney as well. he says he's going to meet with mitt romney on may 4th to discuss the prospects. the two are expected to plan their next move together. new jersey police in trouble for allegedly clearing the way for porsches and lamborghinis to tear down the highway at 100 miles an hour. other drivers saying they were practically run off the road, scare for their lives. details in a live report coming up. >> that's kind of a cannonball run. weç interrupt this program because of these guys, bears crashing the 11:00 news, sending the weatherman who was supposed to be on that set, running for his life. scrap the outdoor set. woman on the air at that time. we'll speak with her in just a moment. >> that is remarkable.

i can't wait to get to that story. mitt romney moving closer to clinching the republican nomination by sweep five primaries last night. his focus fully on president obama. the former massachusetts governor hammering the president and his economic record after telling a cheering crowd last night, he is humbled by their support. >> to all of you, i have a simple message. hold on a little longer. a better america begins tonight. >> romney closing in on the 1,144 delegate needed to secure the nominations. he has 764 after last night. >> i aformer aide to john edwards is supposed to be back on the witness stand for a third day of testimony later this morning. his name is andrew young. he's expected to be cross-examined by the defense. you can expect light and heat. the prosecution's star witness told the court yesterday about detailed plans that john edwards

apparently made with him in order to hide an affair that john edwards was having with his pregnant mistress, rielle hunter. andrew young testified about a day she made so many frantic calls to him that he told her, somebody better be preg nan or dying. her quote was, no one's dying. edwards called her a crazy slut and went on to quote it's a 1/3 chance the child's mine. happening right now, rupert murdoch being questioned by british officials about corruption and phone hacking at a judicial inquiry concerning press ethics. these are live pictures that we have from london. murdoch says he welcomes a chance to appear. >> been some abuses. i would say there are many other abuses but we can all go into that in time. and you know, the state of media

in this country is at absolutely vital interest to all its citizens is. frankly, i welcome the opportunity, because i wanted to put certain myths to bed. >> both murdoch and his son have denied knowing about the scale of illegal phone hacking at the now defunct news of the world tabloid. murdoch's testimony expected to last two days. it's 35 minutes past 5:00. as you know, you can't always predict what's going to happen on live tv, right? certainly the case for a local anchor team in scranton, pennsylvania, monday night. i want to show you what happened when they were about to toss to kurt aaron, their meteorologist guy. we forecast from a weather studio outside sometimes. >> obviously we had very little notice that kurt was not in the backyard. oh, wow. >> this is live video from the

backyard right there. >> no way. >> there's two bears. >> look at that. >> and so this is where kurt aaron is not out there right now. i don't blame him. >> that's an understatement. right? that's why he's not out there. the video later on showed it was in fact four bears, a mama and her three cubs who wandered on to that set. joning us on the phone is trish hartmann, anchor and reporter from wnep. that was her that you just heard from. she was co-anchoring the news. >> can you believe that? >> it was fascinating for us on the set, the control room. it took over the entire show at 11:00 the other night. >> here's the thing. what was kurt doing at the time he figured out he was live on a set with some bears? >> so he was standing out there waiting for us to come to him during a commercial break. routine. and he says that he heard a

noise behind him. and he turns around and at first he didn't see anything. he's looking behind the weather shed. and it was like 15 seconds out before he was supposed to go on the air. >> he's all wired up and everything. he's attached? set to go live? >>y he, he's ready to go. he looks behind -- directly behind him and about five to ten feet behind him was the mother bear. just looking at him. and so at that point, even though he was about to go on the air, he just runs for the door. >> runs for the door. >> i have that moment cued up. let me play that for our audience so they can hear what your audience heard at the moment he explained to you that he had to run for the hills. have a listen. >> i walked out there and i turned around and i'mç lookingt the camera and i hear this sound. i turn around and the bear's literally ten feet from me.

and i ran like i stole something. i'm not going to lie. >> i ran look i stole something. trish, was there anyone else out there with him? literally if he hadn't heard the snorting or whatever sound it was, would he have ended up doing that live shot with no one out there to say look hen you, dude? >> he was the only person out there. all our cameras are automated. the meteorologists on most days is the only person in the backyard. he says when he ran for the door and closed the door the bear was behind him at the door. it wasn't -- he says he wasn't -- the bear wasn't chasing him per se but the bear followed him into the backyard. from there -- >> what happened to the bears? >> ultimately did animal control come or did they end up wandering back into the woods and going where they came from? >> we just kind of let them be after the news cast. we turned the lights off and in the morning they were gone. we are on a mountain and this is

their home, too. they went back into the woods eventually. >> okay, i think mr. aaron certainly has a case for your general manager to post up security the next time he's going to do a weather bit. thanks for being with us. go back to sleep, you late night hound. >> will do. thank you. >> that could have been a bad outcome. >> it was a great outcome. imagine hearing, i have to say -- >> i know you have experience with bears. >> serious experience. i woke up to the sound of snorting in the house. i opened the door to find a 350-pound black bear in my kitchen ripping off the door to the trash compacter, ripping open the door to the fridge. >> you did what? >> you know what i did? i actually was in an upstairs room and i grabbed my cell phone and called downstairs to my folks and step dad who is by the way, 90. comes out with a shotgun and starts charging the bear. >> oh, my goodness.

>> i have to give him serious props. at 90 years old, the dude has absolutely no fear. grabbed the shotgun, goes, ha! and scared the bear. the bear scooted out a window after leaving some business. what a mess that was left behind. the kitchen with say fun place for a bear. there's a visual for you, folks. >> happened in canada, a pretty rural spot. a car is racing at speeds over 100 miles per hour down new jersey highways. and all with a police escort. some are calling it a death race. now we have word that state troopers and a super bowl champ were involved. we're giving a little bit away there. that story coming up next. ers, a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 duster's extender can clean hard-to-reach places in less time.

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start." it's 44 minutes past the hour. sports cars going over 100 miles per hour. authorities launching a second investigation after brand new video emerges. allegedly showing another trooper-led high-speed caravan of sports cars two years ago. two state troopers have been suspended and a station commander now re-assign. alina cho is here with the details. there's also a football player involved in this. >> that's right. this caravan was parentally run by nfl star brandon jacobs and business executives. can you believe it. >> oh, my goodness. >> had this video not emerged, maybe we wouldn't know about it. a lot of people complained about it. good more than, zoraida, good morning, ashleigh. two new jersey state troopers were clearing the way for them. they were escorting two dozen cars in a so-called death race.

it happened down the garden state parkway in new jersey to atlantic city last month. this is youtube video of the same race in 2010. witnesses said two police cruisers were leading the cars, weaving in and out of traffic. listen to the voices in the background during the joyride. >> what he doing? what's he doing? -- the rally baby. oh, he backfired, i can't keep up. >> new jersey police in the evolution viii cruising and we can't keep up. this is the highlight of my life. >> now to the fallout, sergeant first class nadeer nasri and another trooper have been

suspended without pay. the station commander who was re-assign has not been named. take a look at this. this is from the attorney general of new jersey. we will not tolerate any conduct by a member of the state police that puts the public in jeopardy. those responsible will face serious discipline. we should mention, no charges been filed against the officers as of yet. but the new jersey attorney general's office has announced an investigation into whether this latest incident and one from the video back in 2010 are linked. >> my guess is they were. >> do we know how this was first uncovered? >> it's unbelievable. this is a story of the power of the people. "the star led jger" broke the story. it all started after two drivers complained to the new jersey turnpike authorities saying a variety of things, including the police escort was traveling more than 100 miles per hour. another called it death race 2012 and the witness apparently said that the state is lucky

that no one was killed. >> there were a lot of people complaining. well, thank you, alina, for sharing though details. we appreciate t. 47 minutes past the hour. set your dvrs. attorney general charles sciara will be on "turning point at 7:15. and a jet has to turn back after taking off. it involved a jetblue flight taking off from west palm beach headed for palm beach from westchest westchester. two geese hit the windshield. >> the plane started swerving immediately right after the two

hit. he was rocking the plane back and forth. we knew something was going on. i'm going toç die. i'm not going to see my family. i'm not going to get home. >> terrifying as it was, luckily none of the 54 passengers on board was hurt in the incident. and do not mess with this tough granny. a couple of would-be robbers learned that lesson the hard way. 57-year-old lulu campbell was involved in a shootout on saturday fighting off two men who were trying to rob her at gunpoint. they approached her car and granny grabbed her gun. >> i'm innocent. i don't got no money. and then you don't open the window -- door, i'll shoot you. i said they're going to kill me anyway, no matter what. >> she gave them fair warning, right? she fired off several rounds, hitting one of the robbers in the chest. that suspect was taken to the hospital. his accomplice ran away but

later was caught by the police. so there. and it was just a ridiculously impossible basketball shot and i am not overselling this one, folks. check it out. after a missed shot, a player hustling to save the ball from going out of bounds, flipping it blind with his back towards the basket. look at it. swish. it happened in a playoff game. that crazy shot cut the tell's deficit to three. they ended up winning the game. hustle and luck on that one, all the way to the finish. you just don't get to see that very often with, the camera shot perfect, right? still to come, slow jamming with the president. don't you just wish you were jimmy fallon? he and commander in chief were bringing you the late show late style. we'll let you watch it early start style in just a moment. the best part of any great meal?

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welcome back. 52 minutes past the hour. time to take a look at what is trending on web. rising up, one world trade center is set to become the tallest building in new york city. in the next couple of days, folks, the port authority says construction is moving quickly and it could surpass the empire state building's height as early as monday. the empire state building was the tallest from 1931 to 1972. it regained that title when the

twin towers were tragically destr destroyed. it will be 1,776 feet when finished. no accidents at that number. that's why she should still call it freedom tower. 1776. chinese customs stopped an ellerly lady at the border who was caught smuggling iphones -- are you ready -- in beer bottles. beer bottles. apparently she was able, she or whoever she was working with, cut in half, three iphones fit into the bottles. a total of 216 iphones and iphone 4ss were seized this way. that's something like 75 bottles of beer on the wall, something like that. i would call it clever but she was caught.

>> bad joke, right? >> it's early. i can't be jimmy fallon at this hour. president obama slow jamming the news with jimmy fallon and headlining this episode of late-night laughs. take a look. >> now is not the time to make school more comprehensive for our young people. >> oh, yeah. you should listen to the president. or as i like to call him, the preezy of the united seezy. the president making discreet calls across the aisles. he said, hey, let's get together on this one. without an affordable stafford loan, where can a student turn? the pell grant is a beautiful thing but is it enough by itself

to satisfy your collegiate needs? a pell no! >> pell no! >> that's fantastic. >> that's my favorite jimmy fallon show yet so far this year. you know what i like the best? he was so calmly staring ahead the whole time. >> i needed him to bob or something. >> this is up next on "early start," the supreme court court taking up arizona's controversial -- ah, for get it. it's all about the controversial immigration law. it's going to the supreme. why the white house is watching this one ultra, ultraclose. >> going to the supreme. i like that. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes.

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hi, good morning. it is an "early start," folks. welcome, i'm ashleigh banfield. that's it for the music. that's it. 6:00 a.m. on the east. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from "a" to "z." 6:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started here. a showdown that could be a deciding factor on election day. arizona's tough immigration crackdown heading to the supreme court today or to the supremes as ashleigh likes to say. >> sing it. >> other states with similar laws are watching. democrats in congress already planning a counterattack. it will be most watched case, besides health care reform this year. we're going to be live in washington. be on the lookout for batman because some scary surveillance videotape caught this guy jumping the counter and in his

hand is a baseball bat. no one saw this coming. he just started swinging. birds cause another scare in the sky, the second one this week. a flight with 54 people onboard turns around after geese splatter all over the windshield. >> not pretty. it's 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. top stories. justices are going to hear oral arguments on arizona's controversial immigration law. you'll probably remember all the light and heat that was taken when arizona signed that bill into law. sb 1070, as it's known, known to crack down on illegal immigration in that border state and among the laws, provisions requiring local police to check an immigration status while enforcing other laws if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally. some people say that is just flatout profiling. the white house is arguing that no matter what the state doesn't have the issues on federal

issues. it's not controlling the problem and we got it bad right here on the border. so, kate boulwin is faollowing this. >> states across the country are watching this very closely and states with similar laws and coming up this morning, ashleigh, an hour of oral arguments at the court. the key issue before the court is who should be enforcing illegal immigration laws? the state of arizona argues it's facing because of illegal immigration, facing an economic and public safety crisis and they also say that the law is meant to assist, not interfere with the federal government in trying to stop illegal immigration. additionally, the state officials say that they're stepping in where the federal government has so far failed. the obama administration argues that arizona would be interfering with what is

exclusively federal authority, immigration issues and the law could damage, in their view, relations with other countries and also make simply immigration matters worse. we went to arizona and i talked to two very interesting people. a phoenix police officer and the head of a private group patrolling the border. both men on the front lines on the fight against illegal immigration, but they could not be farther apart. listen to that. >> i think it is a racist law because that law was basically picks and chooses certain people. when i took an oath 20 years ago and i said i want to enforce all laws and treat everyone equal, i can't treat the hispanics equal because i'm going to profile them. >> this is a our federal government not protecting the state. we're going to make sure that they get all the help and the federal government gets all the help that it needs to do the job. >> what a passion on both sides

of this issue, no surprise to anyone who is following this. get a decision from the justices in the next couple months and you know immigration issues are also a big campaign issue, so, it's all making up to be high political stakes in this one, as well. >> it's a story because you can see both sides of the aisle. the arizonans are fed up and the feds have a good point. is this going to come down to what is the meaning of assisting or far more broad than that? >> it really kind of comes down, it seems, there's this whole issue the dry legal terms that i don't want to give everyone at 6:00 in the morning, the issue of, the issue of preemption, but really comes down to the key point that i said off of the top, who should be in charge of enforcing these laws? the federal government said they're in charge of it. they set foreign policy and deal with relations with other countries and they can't have every state in this country kind

of putting forth with their own foreign policy. the states say, we hear you, but arizona says we're a border state and you're not doing your job and we need to step in because we're facing a public safety and economic crisis. very interesting to hear how oral arguments go and, also, where the justices kind of pinpoint their question to the attorney. ashleigh, we knew you'd find this interesting. this is really the first rematch from the two attorneys arguing the health care case. so, they're back in the courtroom facing off again today. >> you're going to know everybody in that courtroom. >> we're all old friends. >> i really appreciate this, thank you, kate, nice to see you. let's talk a little more washington, shall we? john edwards former aide and confident is going to be back on the witness stand for the third day today. this time he's going to face some serious brutal, cross-examination by the

defense. the prosecution star witness' name is andrew young. probably heard his name before. yesterday he told the court about detailed plans that john edwards made with him to try to cover up the affair that edwards was having with his pregnant mistress rielle hunter. hunter made so many frantic calls to him somebody either be pregnant or dying here. and her reply was, no one's dying. when edwards found out hunter was pregnant and then said "a one in three chance that child's mine." five minutes past the hour, south korea plans to strengthen inspections of beef imported to the united states in response to mad cow disease. the agriculture department says it was discovered in a random test on a dairy cow at a rendering official. officials say no meat from the cow was actually bound for food

supply. the carcass is being quarantine while the plant waits for word on how to dispose of it. once again, a passenger jet departing new york has been forced to make an emergency landing because of birds. the latest incident taking place at westchester county airport, not all that far from all the main airports. a jetblue flight was forced for west palm beach and two giant geese slammed into the windshield and damaged it. look, you can see a little bit of the debris still there on the plane. 54 passengers onboard and nobody hurt, thank god, but they were put on another plane safely. i want you to listen to the incident as it happened from the cockpit radio transmissions. >> contact departure. >> we have to cut back. we hit two big geese. >> jetblue 571, roger and, standby. jetblue 571 make right traffic

runway 1-6. >> are you declaring an emergency? >> we're declaring an emergency. >> calmly at that. remember last thursday those birds flying past the window of a delta flight at kennedy airport. that flight had to make a quick turn around after birds were suck under to an engine after takeoff. cnn's ali velshi was on that flight. a new jersey dad is -- his son wearing a hidden audio recorder after teachers said his son was being violent in class. his son had had not been violent before so he wanted to find out what was really going on. he recorded over six hours of tape and on that tape he heard taunt and mistreatment toward his son. here's a tiny clip for you. >> oh, akia aa, you --

>> his son is in a new school environment and he is doing very well. >> that is disturbing hearing that language. i'm sure there was more to that tape, as well. still ahead, game on. mitt romney sweeping five northeast states declaring the race is on with president obama. >> a better america begins tonight. so, when will newt gingrich and rick santorum make a move and either get behind him or not? we might have a sneak peek at that. a mad man leaping over the counter and wildly swinging a baseball bat at a mcdonald's. the scary video straight ahead. you are watching "early start."

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supreme court hearing oral arguments today on arizona's controversial immigration law known as sb 1070. a law meant to crack down on illegal immigration in that state but the white house is coming in saying the states don't have the authority over immigration that the feds do. a ruling on this is not expected today, but maybe closer to the summer. a convicted al qaeda operative says osama bin laden was planning follow-up attacks. bin laden wanted to bring down airliners. they outlined bin laden's plan in videotaped testimony in the case of an american who was charged with plotting attacks on new york city subways. a florida mother who was dying of breast cancer went to youtube a beg a drugmaker to allow compassionate use of a cancer drug that hasn't yet been approved. >> the fact that there are drugs

being held up and that trial has been going on for years, one of my best friends, andy, died waiting to get into the trial. >> the fda is expected to approve the drug by june, but darlene doesn't think she'll be alive that long. it will honor gant's request and give her access to the medication. >> that's great news. the police are looking for an unhappy customer, apparently, who went on a big attack at a mcdonald's restaurant in lakeland, florida. it lasted only 30 seconds and employees say they remember a man from a previous visit when he complained about the service. the nba has suspended metta world peace also known as ron artest. he will be gone for seven games

for throwing one nasty elbow. check it out. if you didn't already see it, it is ugly. man. now you can see how it floored oklahoma's james harden on sunday. by the way, he's grabbing his head because that elbow left him with a concussion and it means metta world peace will miss the entire first round of the playoff series, unless it goeses seven games. go to one vending machine to get your munchies and then go to another to get your weed. yes, california has opened its first medical marijuana vending machine. but the company claims it actually makes it harder to purchase weed. you need a special swipe card and then use your thumb print. sky walker, biodiesel, platinum, amongst others. for an expanded look at all

our top stories you can head on over to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. let's switch gears here. 15 minutes past the hour. looks like no one can stop mitt romney now. the former massachusetts governor sweeping to primary as in connecticut, rhode island, new york and delaware. it seems inevitable that he will clinch the nomination next month and last night he ripped president obama promising a better america if there is a romney white house. >> because he has failed, he will run a campaign of divers n diversions and distractions and distortions. that kind of campaign may have worked at another place and at a different time, but not here, and not now. it's still about the economy and we're not stupid. >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser joining us live from washington this morning. it seems romney has put the

primaries behind him. what did his speech last night say about his strategy now going forward? >> i think you played a sound bite right there that really says it. economy, economy, economy. he hammered home on the issue in his speech last night. and he also said, i know how to lead us out of this stagnant obama economy. by the numbers, a 15-minute speech long on rhetoric and short on specific politics. he'll give at the republican convention in august. average americans don't think romney understands their problems as much as president obama. maybe he tried to remedy that connection problem in his speech. take a listen. >> for every single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her kids that she needs to take a second job and won't be home as often. for grandparents that can't afford the gas to visit their grandchildren any more. for the mom and dad who never thought they'd be on food

stamps. to all of you, i have a simple message. hold on a little longer. a better america begins tonight. >> you know what's interesting, zoraida, one word he did not use in his 15-minute speech, conservative. another thing, the speech getting rave reviews. one of the better speeches romney has given as a candidate this time or four years ago when he ran for the white house. >> he said he connected but i want to talk about another interesting moment on "pier is morgan tonight." he asked mitabo eed about endor mitromney. >> the person that will go up again against barack obama, it's pretty clear. >> that's not mishearing things. you just endorsed mitt romney. >> if that's what you want to call it. >> karen, you know your husband, has he just endorsed mitt

romney? >> not at this point, no. >> he doesn't get it out of rick santor santorum. he's trying to get it out of the wife. >> let's give credit to piers for trying hard there. maybe those bitter primaries between him and romney are still hurting. i guess he's not there yet. what we do know, a meeting now scheduled on may 4th with santorum and romney. santorum advisors tell us that the idea of endorsement will come up, but they don't expect this meeting to be endorsement meeting. let's talk about newt gingrich still in the campaign and gingrich said over the next few days we'll look realistically at where we are at. he did not do well at all in the primaries, even delaware he spent a lot of time. lost by a 2-1 margin by romney and he said he will continue to campaign through the weekend. stay tuned and keep your eyes on newt gingrich to see quh he drops out. >> realistically, i suppose that's the operative word there.

19 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. president obama meantime hitting the road and courting young voters. if you didn't see this, you got to. he was a special guest on jimmy fallon's late night show. first time he's done big-time late night, like soup, soupesup late night. also taking a few questions from twitter. >> this first one is from @bobobrian. >> what does bobo have to say? i woke up wondering what bobo had to say. >> due to economic pressures influence on voters could likely see a, dot, dot, dot, forget it, are you going to legalize weed or what?

>> i knew that is what bobo was going to ask. we're not going to be legalizing weed our what any time soon. >> what a straight face at that. in response to another question, by the way, the president said that he has met mitt romney, but that "they're not friend." he said it in a nice way. it is 20 minutes past the hour. coming up, is there a light at the end of the tunnel for the housing crisis? poppy harlow breaking it down. the new numbers coming up next. you think you take off all your make-up before bed. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok?

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24 minutes past the hour. some encouraging new info about home prices. poppy harlow is in for christine romans this morning. feels like we're bumping along, if anything, the bottom of the housing market. this is your beat, baby. >> these are the numbers that just came out. i guess it's all relative. home value declines are slowing. we're getting a little bit better. this charge just came out from zillow. what you're looking at in green is for the next year what they're projecting. markets where we'll see increases in home prices. you have phoenix, miami, places that have been hit really hard and the red and what you see highlighted there in yellow is the u.s. u.s. home prices are going to decline a total of 0.4%. we're going to hit the bottom, they think, somewhere near the end of 2012 and that's good

because you have to get some sort of stabilization for the housing market to really start recovering, but it's not going to make a full recovery until we have a job's recovery. this is their projection overall. but the housing market is still in the gutter and these numbers just came up yesterday. let's pull up the case schiller s&p numbers because these are home values across the 20 biggest cities in america. they're down 3.5% from a year ago and that's the new post-bubble low and really the low since 2006 and those numbers came in for the end of february. so, you still have weakness in the housing market, but the key here and i think this is key that the stabilization is there and over the next 12 months they're expecting that we will hit a bottom. but we were just talking about chicago or minneapolis, where i'm from, they're still in the red. phoenix and miami and some of the hard-hit places that they think will get significantly better in the next year. it is really a matter of where you are and when you try to sell. >> so many people put their

money in real estate, thinking it was going to be vsafe. >> are the hardest hit areas rebounding first? >> yes, they are. a lot of what is being bought are these foreclosed homes. so, really depressed levels and that's what's happening and that's what you'll see in some of these markets like in arizona and nevada and florida, but, yes, that doesn't necessarily stabilize the market because you're not getting readings on prices. good news for them. >> i'll take bits and pieces of good news there. poppy, thank you for that. 26 minutes past the hour. up next, arizona's tough immigration crackdown heading to the supreme court. we are talking to a lawmaker who said arizona stepped because the government failed them. you're watching "early start." actually, it's cruze e-co, not ec-o. just like e-ither. or ei-ther. or e-conomical. [ chuckling ] or ec-onomical.

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6:00. nice to have you back on "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. that would be the z part of a to z. >> zoraida sambolin. arizona's tough immigration crackdown headed to the supreme court today. other states with similar laws are watching. we're talking to a republican congressman in a few moments about this. for the first time in six years, authorities in this country have a case of mad cow disease on their hands. so, obviously, people want to know, is the food supply safe? we'll look into it. and trying to reverse the curse of the billy goat at wrigley field. fans planning to exercise the demons with a goat of their own will the friendly confines actually allow it? it is 30 minutes past 6:00. boy, that was a quit little headlines, didn't change the clock at all, did we? here's something people have been talking about a lot since

yesterday. mad cow disease. for the first time in six years authorities are looking into a case of it right here in the united states. elizabeth cohen joining us now with the details. elizabeth, you had a chance to speak to some of the folks basically on ground zero with this. get me up to speed on where this is happening, how this case was found and how we found it and whether it's the only one. >> first of all, we're not actually 100% sure it's not the only one. i want to be clear about that. this was a random finding. a plant in california that processes the carcasses of cows. they had hundreds of cows in the field and we have to do this random check and they chose about 60 cows and one of them had mad cow disease. they processed it and the usda said this cow was no threat to anyone at any time. it was never going to be eaten and mad cow disease cannot be transferred through milk. ashleigh? >> when you say it's the processing, a lot of people think very quickly about what we

heard in the '90s, yeah, processing means it gets ground into feed, which could be fed back to livestock, which ultimately we eat. how do we know we're still okay? >> that's the big worry. here's why experts say not to worry. even for healthy cows, you don't grind up the parts that could be infectious into feed. so, for example, the animal's brains would never go into feed and the spinal cord would never go into feed. that's sort of one of the many safe guards to keep it out of the food system. >> i heard someone from the usda say i think on john king show yesterday, i'm going home to have steak tonight and that's all fine and dandy, i heard that before, but this was a random, this was a random detection which i think makes a lot of people concerned that this particular plant had one case, how dowe know it's not else where? >> here's the big problem with the technical word for mad cow

disease in cows, this really long incubation period. a cow gets infected and it can be, usually is years before they start showing any signs, sometimes up to eight years. you don't know that this cow is sick unless you find it in this random check. so, some people will say, well, the system worked, right? we did random checks and we found it. other people say, wait a minute, it's not working because you just found it. what if you hadn't randomly chosen the cow. i think the bottom line is that there is sometimes risk in everything that we do in life. so, is it possible that one of these cows has gotten through the system? yes. that is possible. >> certainly would have been a case for that first, this is how long i've been watching you at your fantastic work. back in 2006, you interviewed the first human case of bobine and it was a devastating story a about a young woman who was inflicted by that. >> this was mad cow disease that

was transferred from meat to a human. it has a whole different name in humans. it's very confusing. i say human mad cow disease and animal mad cow disease. this young, beautiful woman. she was infected when she lived in the united kingdom and then at age 13 she moved from united kingdom to here never knowing she was sick because this long incubation period. when she was 23, she started to become ill and you can see here, it was just devastating to see her, ashleigh. she couldn't speak, she couldn't walk it. sadly she died just a few months after i saw her. now, again, she got infected in the uk, but then died here. two other people have been in the same circumstances. they got infected in other countries, but then moved here and died here. i'm going to repeat this. no one has gotten mad cow disease from animals in the u.s. no one. the people who have gotten sick

here, have got infected else where. >> we've been, sometimes i think we can criticize for being too aggressive in how we put quick bans on meat imports from britain or canada, et cetera. interesting to see how this plays out. thanks for that. appreciate it. nice to see you this morning. 35 minutes past the hour. for the second time in five days, a bird strike has forced a passenger jet in new york to turn back right afterter taking off. this latest incident involving a jetblue flight to west palm beach. the pilot was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing when two geese slammed into the windshield and damaged it. there are the pictures for you to look at. listen to a passenger describe what it felt like. >> it was swerving immediately right after the two hits. so, he was rocking the plane back and forth and knee something was going on. . i'm going to die. i'm not going to see my family. i'm not going to get home. >> none of the 54 passengers

onboard were hurt. 36 minutes now past 6:00 and coming up next, arizona's tough immigration crackdown is heading to the supreme court for a big challenge. we're going to speak with a lawmaker who says arizona stepped up because arizona feels the federal government wasn't stepping up enough. first, though, let's get a check on the weather story with rob marciano. boy, an amazing live shot with bears in the backdrop and another weatherman. >> that's why we like to do our weather from the studio here. good morning, guys. heat in the middle of the country and on the coast, we're looking at cool showers and storminess. 96 in roswell, new mexico. 88 degrees in denver and heat across the midsection. a threat for severe weather across the western great lakes and ohio river valley in chicago. hail and potentially damaging winds and socal you're getting some rain. in the middle of the country, temperatures a solid 20 degrees above average and 90 degrees in

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welcome back, 40 minutes past the hour. the law that put arizona in the immigration enforcement business heads to the high court. lower courts blocked four key parts of the law. the blocked provisions would require state and local police to check the status of suspected illegal immigrants, whom they stopped or arrested for other reasons. also make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to not possess federal registration cards. it would make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to work or to try to get work. finally, it would allow state

and local police to arrest illegal immigrants without a warrant if there is probable cause that these people committed crimes that would result in deportation. the court says the state's interference is actually making matters worse, but arizona says the issue is safety and the federal government is not doing enough and it appears that most people actually agree with the sate. a new poll finds 68% of people nationwide support the law that just over a quarter disapprove there. republican congressman david of arizona joins us now. thank you, congressman, for joining us this morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. you said arizona had no choice but to take matters into its own hands because congress has not done anything about the immigration issue. the justice department says it conflicts with the administration's authority to control immigration. what are you hoping to hear in today's oral arguments? >> well, think about that from the administration. what good are the laws on the books when they've been ignored

for decades and, yet, arizona was having to take on incarceration and education and health care. it was time, we had to step up to defend our state. >> this has been highly controversial. you also said that the arizona legislature is protecting arizona and its people. but at yesterday's senate hearing, dennis spoke and i want us to listen to this and then talk about it. >> i'm embarrassed. i apologize for arizona's actions towards our latino community. legal or illegal, this is not a way to treat people. >> you know, the latino community in arizona is 30% of your population. how do you respond to that? >> it's great, political theater. but you just saw exactly what has, in many ways, outraged me. first off, reporting on the piece of legislation has been,

truly, unfair and inaccurate and then it's been used as a political wedge. what you saw in arizona over the last couple years, what you see nationally is, in many ways, being disingenuous about what the law actually does. >> let's talk about what the law actually says, though. a lot of people say it sounds like racial profiling. especially the part on immigration checks on people detained. what are you saying is really theater here? >> you just hit a great point. i believe four or five times into the drafting of the legislation it speaks out very clearly. you cannot use racial profiling. it has to be a legitimate stop. there has to be a legitimate legal violation and there has to be a legitimate suspicion that someone is here illegally. there's all sorts of safe guards built into the legislation, but, literally you hear commentators. you do a terrific job but others who go on and on and on as if their hair is on fire and seem

to forget all the safe guards that are in the current law. >> let's talk about how the police officers are trained when they do, in fact, stop somebody. i have all the details here. the vehicle is overcrowded and i guess we could understand that. but they're allowed to question -- >> back up a little bit. >> what am i backing up? >> first, it has to be a legitimate stop. there has to be some crime or some presumption that something has been done illegally and then that's the first step and from there you have to gethrouo throe mechanics of proper questions but a legitimate level of suspicion. >> if someone is driving erratically, they could be stopped and questioned. >> would you pull over someone who was driving erratically if you had a dwi in front of you. where i was heading. my great frustration is that i believe much of this is being used for political theater for one party or the other to move their political agenda.

less about arizona being able to defend itself from a legal immigration because the federal government isn't doing its job. it is now this is good for democrats to promote their base and even for republicans to promote their base and it is completely blurred. the impact it's having on arizona. >> let's talk about the political impact then and we'll leave your thuter aside. you have 30% of latinos in that particular state. half of the latinos are registered to vote. it is number five on the issue of things that latinos would really want resolved and some say perhaps it will turn your state into a blue state, if it's not solved. >> but it's less about the demographic change. if you look at the employer's sanction legislation that the supreme court upheld last year, the majority of olatinos, particularly hispanics, supported and actually were in favor of that piece of legislation.

so, you got to also understand, this is also an attack and burden on employment and costs and education and it affects all arizona citizens no matter what your ethnoticity. >> i wish we had more time to talk and we will invite you back to finish the dialogue. thank you for joining us this morning. ashleigh? >> thanks very much, zoraida. christine romans sitting in this morning. >> i heard of state troopers escorting of a funeral procession, but how about a long list of high-performance cars. two state troopers suspended for their role in a high-speed escort on a new jersey highway. we'll talk to the attorney for one of those troopers. a former new york giants super star requested that escort and apparently got it. a new jersey dad decides to check out his autistic son's teacher by planting a recording device on the boy.

wait till you see, wait till you hear what was going on in that classroom among people who were supposed to be teaching and taking care of that child. two-time golden globe nominee blair underwood. >> i'm so excited. >> i'm doing this interview. >> we're going to talk into his venture of the world of men's fashion and playing stanley in this iconic tennessee play. about to head to work, you don't need to miss the rest of the show, check out our live blog. cnn.com/startingpoint. re valley sweet & salty nut bars. ♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar.

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good morning, chicago. what a beautiful shot from the tower cam there. 51 degree physical you're just waking up. a great day in chicago, i can just smell it. 66 degrees in your fine city. >> chicago river right there and wrigley building on the right. >> nice, nice. the wife of hall of fame deion sanders is speaking out after she was arrested on

domestic violence related charges. accused of physically attacking her husband. >> i understand that i have very little chance at beating a hall of fame, two sport man that everyone seems to love and adore. i am a full-time mom, 100% for my children. and i just haven't been given a fair shake. >> sanders sent out a tweet yesterday saying "pray for me and my kids now. they just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. she's going to jail and i'm pressing charges." sanders has been charged with misdemeanor simple assault. the charge carries a fine of up to $500. he also tweeted a picture out of that yesterday of him and his kids sitting there.

also happening now, rupert murdoch is going to be testi testifyi testifying. in set up to the response of the phone hacking scandal. murdoch was grilled about his "influence." >> set an example of behavior and describe that in a number of ways. do i do it for charisma, i don't think so. >> well, charisma or not, both murdoch and his son, james, deny knowing about the scale of the illegal actevties of the now debunth news of the world newspaper. meeting the curse of the billy goat head on. these five guys are in the midst

of a 1900 mile trip on foot from mesa, arizona, to chicago. the trek began in february. they plan to crack the curse by getting their own goat, named wrigley, into the friendly confines. >> in 1945, a guy went to wrigley field and brought in his goat and he was asked to leave because the goat smelled. later he wrote a letter to the owner of the cubs saying that until you respect the goat, you will be cursed and not win a world series. >> the guys walk 20 to 25 miles each day and also raising money for cancer research. i'm glad to hear that because the cubs are tied for second to last in their league. 53 minutes now past 6:00 on the east coast. coming up next, maybe occupy wall street protesters could take a fashion tip or two from this group of dapper demonstrators. why are they decked out like this? >> they look great, don't they? >> gorgeous. we'll let you know what this is all about in a moment.

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we begin with some breaking news. remember the little girl from england that happened in portugal, madeline mccann. later today london's m metropolitan police because of a new photograph that they're releasing of this little girl with photo age technology they have news on her that she could be alive. five years sin this little girl disappeared. because they decided to open an investigation into this missing child case a year ago, special investigation to review everything, it was called a general review, they may have come up with more information that suggests she could be alive at this point. that age progression takes her to age 9 and they are asking anybody who might know anything about it. it seems a little odd because they have been investigating for five years, but they are asking

anyone with information who might know about little madeline mccann to come forward. very strange that the police in england now saying they have reason to believe that this little girl may be alive. >> reason to have hope, incredible after all these years. 58 minutes past the hour. the building known as the freedom tower set to be the tallest building in new york city in the next couple of days. the port authority said construction is moving quickly and could surpass the empire state building's height since monday. it was the tallest building. it regained that title when the twin towers were tragically destroyed in the attacks of 9/11. when finished one world trade will be the tallest at 1,776 feet. >> that's 1776 for all you history buffs out there. that's "early start news from a to z." >> "starting point" starts right

now with christine romans. mitt romney putting primary season behind him. >> a better america begins tonight. >> after a five-state sweep, his focus now firing at president obama. and birds cause another scare in the sky, the second one this week. a flight with 54 people onboard turns around after geese smack into the windshield. plus, the scandal involving state troopers who cleared the way for sports cars to tear down the highway at 10 miles an hour. a lawyer for one of those officers now suggesting he was only doing his job. we're going to talk to him. and how close to the exits, how far from the john. how to pick the perfect seat on a plane. it's wednesday, april 25th, "starting point" begins right now.