endorsement of same-sex marriage. no sitting president has ever done what barack obama did yesterday during an interview with abc news. here are the words that touched off millions of lives across the country and may have just redefined the race for the white house. >> i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> pretty strong words. pretty clear, too. dan lothian is live in washington, d.c. with us this morning. it took a long time for the president to evolve to this position. but why now? and why this way? >> that's right. well, the president had been under a lot of pressure to really state his position on this. and some top members of his administration over the last few days had come out and made their positions clear. and so the president finally came around on this after almost two years. he said after talking to his friends, his daughters and the first lady. >> me personally, it is

important to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> reporter: president obama made the announcement wednesday in an interview with abc news. becoming the first sitting u.s. president to publicly support same-sex marriage. his remarks come on the heels of north carolina passing a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. and vice president biden's public support on "meet the press" on sunday. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual, men and women marrying are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. >> mitt romney reiterated his long standing position on the issue after the president's interview. >> my view is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman, and that's my own preference. >> reporter: mr. obama once opposed same-sex marriage but

says his stance on the issue evolved after conversations with the first lady, his daughters and friends. >> i've always been adamant that gay and lesbian americans should be treated fairly. and equally. >> reporter: in 1996, then illinois senate candidate barack obama supported marriages for same-sex couples. in a questionnaire for a gay newspaper he reported, i favor legalizing same-sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages. by 2004, the political climate was demanding clarity. in a debate, obama clarified. >> i believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. >> reporter: that was before this. his 2004 convention speech. >> we coached little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. >> reporter: and then once in the white house -- >> my feelings about this are constantly evolving. i struggle with this. >> everyone ought to be treated

equally and everybody deserves to be able to live and love as they see fit. >> reporter: with the nation split on the issue of same-sex marriage, the president called his endorsement one of personal conviction with less than six months before the election, a decision fraught with political implications. now the president's critics on this issue say that the reason that he decided to make his decision public now is because he wants to raise money for his campaign and also trying to get votes in what is going to be a very tight election. nonetheless, this is becoming part of this campaign, even though when you look at the overall numbers across the country, the economy still is the most important issue before the voters. >> dan lothian, live for us in washington this morning. thank you for that. and the president's evolving views in some ways mirror those of voters as well. popular opinion making a dramatic shift over the last 15 years. take a look at this. since 1996, public approval has

risen from 27% to 50%. so what does this mean for presidential politics? joining me now with his take is ron bronstein, cnn's senior political analyst and editorial director of the national journal. thanks for joining us. good morning to you. what do you think is the big takeaway from the president's announcement? >> i think the immediate political impact is patrol the net effect is probably going to be minor in this election for two reasons. there's been a remarkable move in public opinion and more people now oppose consistently -- support in polling than oppose gay marriage but it's slightly more support than oppose. and also this is a year when the economy is going to dominate. in the long run, though, this is a dramatic leap of faith by the president. a bet on the future in two respects. first generationally. two-thirds of americans under 30 support gay marriage. this is clearly a position that's going to grow as overall sense of public opinion. and second, it's an acknowledgment that the democratic coalition has changed. one of the reasons democrats

have been reluctant to fully embrace gay marriage similar to issues like immigration reform is that they are fearful of losing the most conservative elements of the white electorate. older whites, rural whites, blue collar whites. this is an acknowledgment that those voters are largely gone and the president and the democrats have to respond to a different coalition. younger voters. more socially liberal. white collar voters. and this is a reflection of his understanding that that is now the coalition that is going to elect him and that he needs to respond to. >> you called it a leap of faith. a lot of people are calling this a very risky move. as they are headed into their re-election here, how do you think it's going to affect them. >> i think it's t reconfirms and hardens the lines, this transformation of the coalition of each party. the political coalitions are held together more by values than interests. more lie culture than class. and you see a strong movement among democrats toward support of gay marriage, for example, as well as abortion and others.

70% of self-identified democrats support this. about 60% of independents. it hasn't moved at all among republicans. what you are going to see is this kind of push further in that direction. i think it adds more problems for the president in groups where he's already struggling like blue collar whites and older whites but probably helps him in places that are holding with him even in this tough times. and that includes more white collar, socially liberal whites and younger people. a wild card are minority voters who tend to be somewhat less supportive. even there there's a big generational change. it's somewhat of a problem in the african-american community but those voters are probably going to stick with him anyway. >> ron brownstein, cnn senior political analyst. thank you for joining us this morning. in the next half hour of "early start" we'll be joined by reverend jamal harrison bryant. we'll talk about how the president's support of same-sex marriage could hurt him with black voters in november. it's seven minutes past

5:00. two deadly explosions rocking syria's capital to tell you about overnight. normally we tell you it is the government bombing its people, but now it looks like the people are getting in some licks themselves. the state-run media says 40 people were killed and 170 injured in a blast during the rush hour in damascus. an opposition group says that syria's intelligence agency was destroyed. the government is blaming, quote, terrorists for these explosions. they come just hours after an activist group was accused the regime forces of killing hundreds of civilians during a cease-fi cease-fire. two fullerton california police officers have been ordered to stand trial for the beating death of a mentally ill homeless man last year. that incident was captured on camera. the officers face charges ranging from second-degree murder to felony use of excessive force. >> from bagging groceries to bagging a thief. coming up, a teenager jumping into action after he sees a shoplifter punch a woman.

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11 minutes past the hour. christine romans doing the job for us this morning. >> after his bombshell announcement supporting same-sex marriage, president obama heads west today. he becomes the first u.s. president in history to come out in favor of same-sex marriage. yesterday, the president will be fund-raising in seattle and los angeles today. wrapping things up tonight at actor george clooney's home. reception there is expected to rake in up to $15 million for the president's re-election campaign. that's quite a dinner. a 17-year-old store clerk going all ufc on an attempted shoplifter. putting him in a choke hold, wrestling him to the ground. it's the teenager's first job bagging groceries. he's also in a program that trains young men to become police officers. he says he jumped into action after he saw the thief punch a female store clerk in the face.

double elvis has left the building. andy warhol's classic silk screen painting selling for, get this, $37 million at an auction in new york. the piece showing elvis presley in a gun slinging pose is one of warhol's most famous celebrity paintings. warhol made 22 versions of the double elvis. cheaper, cleaner energy. a car company in india has tested cars that run on air. the engine is powered by a tank of compressed air. it was designed by a formula one engineer and costs about $3 to fill up. $3 of air. it goes between 125 miles between fill-ups. does not emit any pollution. may cost less than $10,000. mass producing them might prove difficult. that's the next step. if you are leaving the house right now, watch us on our desktop or mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. zoraida? >> thank you, christine. concerns about flooding today in the deep south. rob marciano is tracking today's

storms. we got some rain over here as well, rob. >> you do. northeast has it. so does texas. and that's the concern here. just really four or five months ago where we're talking about an extreme drought in this area. last year at this time we had wildfires all over the place. now two to four inches expected on top of what they've already got which is saturated ground. flash flood watches have been posted for parts of texas and also the threat for seeing severe weather today. not only for today but the next few days. a slow-moving system will bump into a front that will create more in the way of showers and storms. you had your showers yesterday and will have them again today. the front that's pushing across the east coast is off the east coast across the south. but across the northeast, it's still hanging around. philadelphia, atlanta city up to new york, over towards fairfield county in through bridgeport, connecticut, providence, boston, you'll keep this. obviously moving slowly from east to west. look for it to end in new york in the next couple of hours, maybe right before the morning rush and then start to dry out in boston later today.

rainfall, which you actually do need across parts of the northeast. 77 for a high. 63 degrees expected in new york. 71 degrees in los angeles. i saw this video yesterday afternoon. have to show it this morning for folks who haven't seen it yet. my dad always told me to bring the glove to the game in the event that you get a straight foul ball in order to catch it. this young mannad the padres game managed to find a different way of catching a pop-up. >> right in the suds. >> how about that? come on. >> did he drink the beer? he drinks the beer. >> besides the dirt you've got pitchers are spitting on it and -- that's good stuff. whatever. >> that's a hard core fan there. >> i have no idea where that ball has been so i don't know that i would have done that. >> that beer probably cost 7 or 8 bucks.

you don't want to waste the brew. >> thinking about what they do before the pitch. but a guy makes it on national tv. thank you. 15 minutes past the hour. time for the early reads. it's dark out there, folks. and sheriff's deputies, this is a big one. they are being accused of celebrating something they probably should not be. celebrating shootings by getting tattoos. los angeles times is reporting on an investigation of a possible secret clique within the l.a. county gang unit. they got matching tattoos so that they could celebrate their involvement in a shooting. and by the way, i'm being told i used my canadian pronunciation of clique. in the u.s. we would say clique? my canadian is showing. officials say there's no evidence these deputies were involved in anything improper just that they got the tattoos. but the concern now is that the

tattoos actually show an admiration for shootings as opposed to maybe more sober attitude. >> i like that your canadian shows, by the way. >> whatever, right? >> 16 minutes past the hour. a high school in arizona forfeited its chance to win the baseball championship because the opponent has a girl on the team. listen to this. i'm so serious. the arizona republic says conservative catholic school our lady of sorrows refused to play against mesa preparatory academy. mesa prep allowed paige to join the team because it doesn't have a girls softball team. paige previously sat out against our lady of sorrows out of respect for the team's beliefs. but she said she did not want to sit out the championship. shame on that school. >> would you not go to the nascar race because danica patrick is racing with the big boys? >> some may not but that is just

wrong. >> i'm always sorry to hear that. this is kind of on the funny and kind of what category? she might be fired because the way she decided to punish her students. she decided to use a dog cone. you know the dog cones you use to keep them from scratching. >> she did that to a student? >> our affiliate wfla has the photos of the so-called cone of shame. see this? a student posted these pictured on facebook. the teacher said she intended this all to be a joke and got the idea from the adorable disney pixar movie "up." remember in up? the dog is wearing the cone, right? >> yes. >> and calls it the cone of shame. >> this is outrageous. >> before we decide it's outrageous. on its surface it does look this way. one of the kids forced to wear it thought it was funny. clearly the pictures on facebook might have other people thinking otherwise. and the superintendent wrote a nasty letter saying, uh-uh.

so the teacher is going to appeal the school's decision to fire her. >> i don't know if that's ever a good idea, right? it could send the wrong message. >> without question. especially if the kids feel shame, embarrassed. if that's meant to humiliate them. if they were all laughing about it as a group it may be a different story. 18 minutes past the hour. for an expanded look at all of our top stories, thod our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. it's something the are thes say could create 1,000 overnight millionaires. facebook going football. i know that got your attention. so what about the average guy, if you and i want to get into this action? how can we do it? and should you be buying the hype? all that is coming up. [ sneezes ]

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street now. it's the most anticipated initial public offering in years. and we're ticking away on the clock. eight days from this thing. seems everybody wants to get in. a little on that action. how about you? should you be buying facebook shares? and what about the timing because that is critical? >> your excited about this? christine romans is minding your business. >> more people have asked me about this than maeg mi maeg megamillions. you don't buy a lottery ticket for facebook. it's harder to get facebook than get in line for a lottery ticket. facebook is something that right away the big money is very involved in. the individual investor usually in ipos gets the last little dribs and drabs of that stock and they usually get it at a much higher price. i talked to somebody yesterday who i really trust who is a trader on the street during the google ipo and he told me, christine, tell your viewers wait one month. listen. >> and most individuals don't

understand that on may 18th when facebook is released, the mutual funds and the institutional investors will be the major ones buying up the stock. so when the stock actually opens, i do believe it's going to come in probably between $90, maybe even $100 a share. let the hype go down. let the euphoria go down. >> $25 is what they're going to price the ipo at 25 but there's so much hype and frenzy around facebook that some think it's going to run right up. if you are an individual investor you are likely to get it way up. limit order. this is the word. limit order. if you are going to try to get shares of facebook, remember to do a limit order. you are going to put in a limit order to say i'm going to buy facebook at $40 or at $45. to make sure you aren't the sucker buying it at $100 if it goes there after everyone else already made their money. if you insist on doing it early, do a limit early.

>> what about the article that said that e-trade is going to offer it to the every man because facebook is the every man company. >> do you finishing you get an e-trade account today you'll be able to get that? probably not. it's probably going to go to people who already are doing like 30 trades or more a month. people who have more than $5,000 or $6,000 in their brokerage account. we expect schwab, td ameritrade, some of these other brokers will have some of this available. but if you are a regular trader go to the ipo center. if you are trading stocks for your personal account, go to the ipo center on the website of these places and put in an order. put in an order and see if you can get it but not everyone is going to get it. >> so the brokerage houses will dole out the orders according to who does more business? >> this is how the whole game goes. there's only so much facebook. there's huge demand for it. so what happens is people will start to buy it. and they'll give it to their best customers. that's the way it works.

>> i am kind of excited about this, not just because -- >> are you kidding? she's been talking about it. >> just an interest in having a brokerage account. and i think that's really good. >> and that is such -- i think the facebook story is a trojan horse for everyone throughout to get your personal finances in order. if you don't have any stocks or aren't invested in your 401(k), what are you doing talking about facebook? let's figure out our finances. >> i just hope it's not the trojan horse in the bad way that people jump on in and irresponsibly so. >> we'll see. if they want to, they might not be able to. >> thank you. still ahead -- the president's decision to publicly declare his support for same-sex marriage. is this going to cost him support somewhere else? namely, black voters? ything ♪ ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people

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welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. here's what's happening. president obama coming out in support of same-sex marriage. it's a very risky political move, some say. conservative christians are outraged. and the president could face a backlash from african-americans and latinos. a pair of powerful explosions in the syrian capital of damascus. during the morning rush hour. 40 people killed. 170 are wounded. the syrian government says it was the worst work of terrorists. it was the work of terrorists, that is. and two california police officers are ordered to stand trial after being caught on camera beating a mentally ill homeless man to death. ashleigh? >> zoraida, thank you. this morning, a brand new era in american history as president obama becomes the first president ever to support sa same-sex marriage. he made the statement in an interview with abc.

>> i've just concluded th ed thr me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> and while the nation is nearly evenly split on this issue with 50% supporting same-sex marriage and 48% opposing it, some analysts say that his support might lose him votes in a key demographic that has supported him for years, african-american voters. while fewer african-americans oppose the issue than before, just 39% of african-americans support same-sex marriage. 49% oppose it. reverend jamal harrison bryant is the pastor of the endowment temple in baltimore. thanks for being with me on this topic. this is such a critical story and such a critical issue with regard to how this is going to play out politically. some say the president is essentially going to be swapping

one demographic for another. he'll have the support of gay americans but he may lose a lot of support of black americans. >> a lot of african-american leaders right now are really dazed by this because we didn't see it coming. for the last four years, the african-american clergy have really supported, covered and prayed for president obama, and it really came without any warning. sunday is going to be a real great divide in black churches and churches across america discussing the issue. african-americans are, by and large, sexually conservative and socially more aggressive. and so pastors on sunday morning are going to be really walking a balancing act. how now do we juxtapose this issue up against a president we have supported over the last four years. >> is it a deal breaker, though? >> i think that's the larger question that's yet to be discovered. and i would say by and large,

african-americans are going to support president obama. i don't think that this is going to be a deal breaker because there's so many issues at stake when you deal with pell grants, predatory lending. i think african-americans are going to stand with the president, with his presidency, but not on this policy. >> reverend, so many people when they look at this and look at how black and african-americans weigh in on this issue, equate this with the civil rights movement. many can't understand why black americans can't see this as the new civil rights movement for yet another segment of society. yet we still see this social conservatism when it ms. to sexuality that you just mentioned off the top of this. do you see a balancing act that may tip one way or even the other as we move forward with this? the president said that society is just changing. >> i think that the african-american community sees it as a human rights issue. the yoke that is on the church is that we cannot in any way

practice gay bashing or embrace homophobia. i think one of the benefits that this is going to be is bring it to the kitchen table for discussion. african-americans and the black church, by and large, have shied away from the issue. the president has put it right on the plate and said we've got to deal with it. and i think that it's appropriate. many african-american denominations have already issued a position on same-sex marriages and unions. i'm a part of the african methodist episcopal church. in 2008 we passed a legislation whereby we were against same-sex marriages and same-sex unions but at the same place, we believe in the human rights of all because we believe that god created everybody. >> so within this segment, there are a lot of people saying that democrats are evolving and they are evolving at break-neck pace and making this leap of faith. ron brownstein, one of our cnn analysts was on suggesting this is a dramatic leap of faith. do you think that this will

alienate black voters in america to the point where they will think, i just don't want to vote for him so i'm just not going to go to the polls? >> i think that's the overarching concern and there's so much at stake. we began a campaign, the empowerment movement did, to register 1 million voters, new voters for the november election. easter sunday, we registered 110,000. and we're moving to fill in that gap to register another 900,000 before labor day. and i believe we're going to do it. what is very critical is after voter registration is voter education. and what are the issues that are germane to suseconomy, economy, economy. i think this will be an issue that's going to be discussed going into the general election. it cannot be ignored. that is now an americana issue. it's going to have to be faced not just by the larger american populous but the african-american community will not be able to sit on the fence. we're really going to have to deal with it and discuss it

because the reality is that we have a large gay community within our churches. and we can't talk over them or ignore them. we're going to have to deal with the issue head-on. >> eloquently stated. reverend jamal harrison bryant of the empowerment temple. thanks for your perspective. >> thank you so much. until now, the issue of same-sex marriage has been predominantly an issue handled at the state level. the state governments have been at odds with the general public. christine romans has been breaking down that issue state by state. this is critical because the election is state by state. >> are they at odds or just behind. are they just not as quickly changing as the rest of the country is? here's is the trend line of public opinion. looking back to 1996. pretty wide apart here. more than a decade ago. those in support of same-sex marriage and those opposed to it. it's been closing generally since then. and today, slightly more people favor same-sex marriage than oppose it. that's what the polls say.

what people are doing with their votes or what states are doing, rather is a different story. let's take a look at the country here. this is how it looks in the states right now. 28 states have constitutional provisions defining marriage as between a man and a woman. those are the dark blue states. ten states have statutory provisions. defining marriage as between a man and a woman. this is medium blue. so this is statutory or constitutional provisions saying a man and a woman, that's what makes a marriage. seven states issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples right now. massachusetts, connecticut, iowa, vermont, new hampshire, new york and the district of columbia. three states have judicial or judicial recognition of same-sex marriage but haven't taken effect yet. those are in maryland, washington, california, all in light blue here. five have no statutory or constitutional provisions at all on same-sex marriage. means they haven't decided anything yet. the one thing you need to know today about same-sex marriage, it's not just a political story.

this is a personal finance and a money story. has ramifications for social security, taxes, survivor benefits, all kind of financial matters. human rights campaign found the average same-sex spouse is denied about $14,000 a year in survivor benefits that other couples, married couples, heterosexual married couples do get. >> fascinating story. thank you, christine. at 6:00 eastern, we'll be joined by the ceo of the san francisco aids foundation and former mayor of tempe, arizona. we'll ask him about the political calculations involved in the president's decision to publicly support same-sex marriage. texas teen busted for trying to rob a police station. but he claims it was all just a big misunderstanding. records show 18-year-old keaton manuel walked into the station demanding money saying he had a gun. >> i had my hands just like this over the counter.

i said where your money at. then i said, no, i'm just playing. >> it's not a laughing matter. when you tell someone you have a gun and you are acting nervous and have your hands concealed with a towel, what is a person to think? >> it turns out manuel didn't have a weapon but prank or no prank he faces several charges and he remains in a dallas county jail. bet you he didn't think it would end up like this. surveillance video at a gas station in cleveland capturing an attempted robbery on tape. a guy tries to rip a woman's purse off her arm. the victim fights back. a gas station employee sees it, gangs up on him, sits on his head to keep him down. the owner comes out running as well. one grabbed a phone cord. the other went and ripped down yellow caution tape. they tied him up until police came. >> they were going to use the stun gun, but he couldn't move because i had him tied up.

>> that a girl. unbelievable. that is taking matters into your own hand. that's a risky move there. >> it's a good thing. i am always happy to see no one was injured because it can go the other way. it can be dangerous. 39 minutes past the hour. the lives two of young girls hanging in the balance right now. 12-year-old alexandria bain, her 8-year-old sister kaliyah. authorities are asking for help finding them and their kidnapper. and now rushing to make him one of the most wanted dangerous men in the country. the new move by the feds coming up next.

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welcome back to "early start." the man suspected of kidnapping a tennessee mother and her three daughters, now one of america's most wanted. the fbi's added adam mayes to his list of ten most wanted fugitives hoping to enlist the public's help in tracking down mayes and saving the two young

girls. he is charged with murdering the family's mother, jo ann bain and her oldest dart ad esest daught. george powell is following these latest developments for us. >> reporter: now that adam mayes has been added to the top ten most wanted, the federal government has added an additional $100,000 for any information leading to his arrest. so now the total is at $175,000 in this desperate search for the two girls. and also, obviously, for adam mayes. but investigators believe mayes kidnapped jo ann bain and her three daughters. and they also believe that his wife teresa was involved in helping with this kidnapping. at this point, there is a desperate search to find kaliyah and alexandria. mayes and his wife are currently charged with the murder of jo ann bain and adrienne bain. already in the community you get a sense of the desperate search to find the girls but also the pain caused by this murder. take a listen.

>> there's just a dark cloud over our school and over our community. it's just a heaviness. our hearts are heavy. we're saddened for our loss and we're concerned. no doubt with the uncertainty of what these other two young children are experiencing or have experienced. and, you know, it's one of those situations where as adults, there's no way we can wrap our minds around something like this. >> george, does mayes go by any other aliases? >> he gss by christopher zachary wild and also pasco rodriguez. and also zoraida, he may have changed his appearance. we saw him in that surveillance video back on april 30th. his hair was cut short. he does wear a goatee. but we've seen pictures of mayes with longer hair and there's

also indication he may have changed the appearance of the girls. obviously, to elude these investigators. >> do the investigators have reason to believe those two little girls are still alive? >> that's what we're hearing. they are still alive. investigators believe that they are with mayes. and we even heard just the other day from bobby booth, teresa mayes' sister who gave the indication that the girls could be his. that's what she had heard. but again, obviously, investigators will be looking into that. and currently, in custody, obviously, teresa mayes is in custody on charges of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping. that's a term used there in tennessee. and we also know that mary mayes, this is adam's mother, she is also in custody for four counts of conspiracy to commit, especially aggravated kidnapping. so at this point, those are the people that investigators are questioning. >> george, can you just clear up

one thing before we go here. who is it that was charged additionally with murder? >> just yesterday we learned that teresa mayes, this is adam's wife, charged with murder. and we learned that she told investigators, according to their accounts, that she also -- that she witnessed at least one murder and that she participated, that she helped to drive those bodies from tennessee to mississippi. >> george howell reporting live from atlanta. thank you very much for those details. 46 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. type to get you updated on the top news stories. >> good morning. president obama officially on the record now in support of same-sex marriage. he made that announcement yesterday. he becomes the first u.s. president to ever do so publicly. it is a big political risk. conservative christians are outraged, but for millions of gay americans, including congressman barney frank, it's a proud moment in american history. >> it means a great deal for me

and it makes me feel even better about my country that this is a country that has the capacity to deal with issues in a constructive way. and help things get better for all of us. >> the president heads west later today for two fund-raisers in seattle. then it's on to hollywood. and actor george clooney's home where a reception is expected to rake in up to $15 million in campaign donations. a $17 million settlement has been reached with the victims and families of a deadly duck boat accident on the delaware river. two hungarian students were killed in 2010 when a tug boat and sludge barge slammed into their tour boat. the students' families will split $15 million and nearly 20 other victims will share $2 million. new detalss about a california teen charged with stealing celebrity chef guy fierri's lamborghini. 17-year-old max michael wade was a one-man s.w.a.t. team. in a storage locker connected to

the teen, they found assault rifles, an ak-47, a gun linked to a drive-by shooting earlier this month, cell phone jamming equipment and a san francisco police officer's uniform and badge. he revolutionized the world with a pair of scissors. i have vidal sassoon has died. he died of apparent natural causes. he turned the haircut into an artform. his classic bob style propelled him to celebrity status back in the 1960s. getting fired up for the upcoming olympic games. the torch lighting relay kicked off just a few hours ago in greece in a traditional ceremony among the ruins of the home of the ancient greek olympic games. the torch is now headed on an eight-day tour around the country. next week it arrives at the uk for an 8,000-mile, 70-day nationwide relay. and when the light goes out, the games begin. the opening ceremony is july 27th in london.

there's no such thing as a little slip when you are walking a tightrope above baltimore's inner harbor. that's nik wallenda. he's a seventh generation member of the flying wallendas. he was walking in the footsteps of his great granfather who performed a high wire act back in 1973. next month, wallenda will attempt to walk a tightrope over niagara falls. >> total insanity. >> nn of these things are on my bucket list and never will be. >> that takes a special person to do that. >> i literally feel sick to my stomach watching that stumble. that was just harrowing. was there like a collective gasp in the onlookers below? i can only imagine. >> that's what makes it so tantalizing. >> thank you christine. up next, a segment we like to call "today in tan mom." her famous look may start fading really, really fast. >> and by the way, that is not

fake, folks. that's real video. if you are leaving the house right now, you can catch us any time on your desktop or even your mobile phone. just go to cnn.com/tv and all your options are there. take us with you. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters.

53 minutes past the hour. time to take a look at what is trending on the web. we're not burnt out yet. >> i don't know. >> today in tan mom news, according to tmz, several

tanning salons surrounding her new jersey home have banned tan mom patricia krentcil. >> just feast your eyes on that. >> the chocolate look. >> and now some north jersey papers are reporting the state department of health is actually getting involved here. some have even posted pictures of her. how could you miss her? >> yeah. no kidding. >> there she is with her little daughter who is so fair skinned. >> adorable little girl. now patricia krentcil is the inspiration behind tan mom action figure. a little tanning booth sold separately. just kidding about that one. >> i love the "snl" skit. >> i love the little hero builders. >> doesn't look like this is going away any time soon. you can tan the face separately from the body. show me your i.d. and show me your facebook profile,

please. the bbc is reporting that bouncers in the uk are now asking facebook profiles be shown to them in order to try to weed out the underage drinkers before they get into the bar. this is not a replacement for checking a person's i.d. it's not fool-proof either. we can just change our facebook profile if you know in advance. you can check if it matches your fake i.d. it's one extra step to avoid paying a fine and that fine can be $8,000 for any drinking establishment that lets somebody who is just a wee bit too young slip on by. >> a lot of people put the wrong birth date on facebook. >> they used to do the old-fashioned method. what year was your birthday, what year did you graduate? >> i think that's a better method. >> angry birds soaring to an incredible milestone. 1 billion downloads. that includes the original game, all of the spin-offs and platforms including android and apple and the franchise is only

getting bigger. last month the company revealed that "angry birds" space topped 50 million downloads in just the first 35 days. >> amazing company in finland. and i was actually in talks with that company last year to do a special with them for "nightline" on abc. and it turns out there are only like a dozen of them in the company and they were too busy. we were trying to keep up with this business and we just can't do interviews at this time. i'm sure they have more people sitting in their desks now. president obama announcing his support for same-sex marriage. we'll talk about the political implications and what could have influenced the president to make this announcement and really surprise everybody with it. [ thunk ] sweet! [ male announcer ] the solid thunk of the door on the jetta.

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it's hard to resist the craveable nature today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

good morning to you. welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started here for you. up first, the fallout from what could be the biggest gamble of the obama presidency. no sitting president has ever done what barack obama did yesterday. in an interview with abc news, he publicly came out in support of same-sex marriage. here are the words that may have redefined the race for the white house. >> what may redefine the white house. >> i believe same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> dan lothian, the president said it took years to evolve to this point. some feel that vice president joe biden actually forced his hand. why declare his support for same-sex marriage now? >> reporter: the president had been under a lot of pressure and

as you point out there were key members of his administration who had over the last few days stated their position in support of same-sex marriage and so the president decided to go public with this after hearing from his friends, his daughters and his wife. >> for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> reporter: president obama made the announcement wednesday in an ain't view with abc news becoming the first sitting u.s. president to publicly support same-sex marriage. his remarks come on the heels of north carolina passing a state constitutional amendment banning sam same-sex marriage and vice president biden's public support on "meet the press" on sunday. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and

heterosexuals are entitled to the same exact right, all the civil rights and civil liberties. >> reporter: mitt romney reiterated his long-standing position on the issue after the president's interview. >> my rue is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman and that's my own preference. >> reporter: mr. obama once opposed same-sex marriage but says his stance on the issue evolved after conversations with the first lady, his daughters and friends. >> i've always been adamant that gay and lesbian americans should be treated fairly and equally. >> reporter: in 1996 then illinois senate candidate barack obama supported marriages for same-sex couples. in a questionnaire for a gay newspaper, he responded, "i favor legalizing same-sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." by 2004, the political climate was demanding clarity. in a debate, obama classified. >> i believe that marriage is

between a man and a woman. >> reporter: that was before this. his 2004 convention speech. >> we coach little league in the blue states, and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. >> reporter: then once in the white house. >> fie feelings about this are on can't stay evolving. i struggle with this. >> everyone ought to be treated equally and everybody deserves to be able to live and love as they see fit. >> reporter: with a nation split on the issue of same-sex marriage, the president called his endorsement one of personal conviction. with less than six months before the election, a decision fraught with political implications. >> some of the president's critics are accused him of pandering saying he only went public with this in order to raise money for his campaign in order to get votes and they believe this could all backfire come election day. >> i did understand he raised a lot of money in a short period of time, dan lothian live for us in washington, thank you very

much. >> reporter: okay. also three minutes past 6:00. neil julianna, also the former president of glaad and former mayor of tempe, arizona. everybody caught off guard. it wasn't what everyone was expecting and not the slow roll to lay the groundwork for the president. when it comes to this, though, do you think as an advocate for the gay community, do you think the gay community may have won this battle but if it alienates a lot of voters for obama or energizes voters for romney that, you know, we could see a president romney who would roll back a lot of rights for the gay community and, thus, they might lose the ultimate war. >> i don't think so. i think the culture is evolving so fast if you look at the t trajectory of the gay rights movement. it's only been 43 years. just in the last administration we had a president who wanted to

constitutionalize never being allowed to get married. here with barack obama we are a president saying they should be able to get married to whoever they want. quite an evolution. i think the political fallout remains to be seen but i think it's going to end up being a plus for the president. >> remains to be seen. a big little tag you just said. i think it was a million dollars that came in within, you know, an hour of this announcement to the obama campaign. >> sure. >> if you know, what is the money situation? i mean what will this represent to president obama's campaign in terms of support from the gay community financially. >> there had been some pretty significant leaders of the gay community with some deep pockets who had said they wanted to make that initial contribution but they would hold back a little bit to see how the president evolved and to see how much he would champion some of the remaining issues, employment, nondiscrimination act for one, marriage being another. >> some people have said that the gay community is far greater than wall street in terms of what they can potentially

donate. >> the gay community leadership may be perceived as having a lot of money and they come from all walks of life and all different demographic pieces within society so i think it's not necessarily true to say that all gay people can simply start writing big checks for president obama as a result of this but i think the gay community who is capable of writing those checks will step up their support and be very supportive. >> is there any thought to the idea that perhaps gay black americans may align, come forward with the movement to try to swing their black american co-voters to not shy away from the polls? i had an interview in the last hour with a black reverend who i asked, is he swapping out one demographic for another? alienating very socially conservative when it comes to sexual issue, black voters for gay american voters. >> i think at the end of the day, president barack obama does not lose his african-american support. >> are you sure about that? >> who is sure about anything? but that's my belief. he doesn't lose his

african-american support because of his view and his statement. >> do you know why i ask are you sure? when you look at the list of swing states it is daunting. wow. nevada, arizona, colorado, missouri, wisconsin, michigan, ohio, virginia, north carolina, florida. those are the ones with bans, i mean these are swing states where you have real -- >> the president is clearly taking a decisive step for full equality and he does so with some political risk. >> leap of faith as ron brownstein calls it. >> that's a good way to call it too. what is significant he does so and he helps further evolve the culture just as his own evolution has taken place and it's very significant to have president obama take this step. >> want to end the interview with the same impression. you think ultimately gay americans will win the war which would mean winning this election and i'm getting progressive movements from the obama administration instead of losing it because of the announcement and losing the war because of a republican administration that

doesn't favor gay rights. >> this is his statement actually is with the majority of americans and certainly where the majority of americans are moving toward with regard to full equality for gay and lesbian americans. >> neil jiuliano. i hear you travel between new york, san francisco so we're lucky to have you. before i go to zoraida we'll be joined by many richard socaradied. did i pronounce that right. so socsrides. he'll come up in the next half hour. the fbi raising the stakes in the hunt for adam mayes, a man suspected of kidnapping four members of a tennessee family accused of killing two of them. he's on the ten most wanted list. authorities still believe he's holding these two -- those are the two he killed. holding the two young girls.

there's a $175,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. and in just a few hours jury deliberations resume in the triple murder trial of jennifer hudson's former braerl. william balfour accused of killing her mother, brother and nephew as an act of revenge against his ex-wife. jurors will be sequestered until they reach a verdict. horrific video of a police beating that led to a mentally ill homeless man's death. the victim pleading for his l e life. the officer talking about smashing his face to hell and now we'll find out whether these cops are cold-blooded killers. a judge's decision on whether they will stand trial. that's coming up next. mouth. so take your oral health to a whole new level. listerine... power to your mouth.

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attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. welcome back, 12 minutes past of:00. time to get you updated on the top stories. here's christine romans.

>> one day after his stunning announcement supporting same-sex marriage, president obama heads west today. he made history yesterday angering conservatives and taking a big political risk by become the first sitting american president to back same-sex marriage. the president will be fund-raising in seattle and los angeles today wrapping things up tonight with a reception at actor george clooney's home reception expected from that $15 million. two fullerton, california, police officers are standing trial for the beating death of a homeless man last year. the officers face charges ranging from second degree murder to felony use of excessive force. two men rob a florida home being fumigated for pests and the whole thing is captured live on surveillance camera. the owner says he turned on the live feed he was worried someone would break in during the fumigation. footage shows two men stealing jewelry. one accidentally trips the alarm. police say they arrested the burglar and driver of a getaway

car. brad pitt blazing a trail. he is the man, the first male face of chanel number 5 perfume. a woman's perfume following in the footsteps of any coal kidman and marilyn monroe. he is getting paid seven figures for that gig. if you're leaving the house right now you can watch us any time on your desktop and mobile phone go to cnn.com/phone. >> rob marciano is tracking today's storms. feeling waterlogged in new york, as well. >> yeah, a little bit of rainfall across the northeast. all part of -- well connected system not the same one. a part of the world that we're talking about a severe drought with big wildfire issues this. is kind of a drought denting rain event for folks in san angelo to san antonio and houston, another 2 to 4 inches on top of saturated ground on top of recent rains. that is going to cause problems over the next two days.

south texas threat for severe weather. mostly in the form of some damaging winds and hail as these storms pretty potent system over here is going to inject it towards the gulf of mexico over the next 48 hours and bring drought denting rains over the weekend into the southeast part of georgia and northern florida. but, right now we're dry as the southern part of the front came through last night, northern end taking its time getting through. the rain shield back now about to get through the big apple so over the next two hours we'll start to dry out, philly and d.c. have already dried out. boston, will take a little bit longer before you start to see significant drying around noon. nice push of canadian and drier and cooler air coming. drier and in atlanta, 77, 63 in new york and 66 in chicago. a story we shared last hour about an air-powered car being tested in india, runs on compressed air. cost you about 3 bucks to fill up with air and it gets about

125 miles in between fill-ups. it's supposed to be about $10,000 or maybe less than that. i remember in "popular mechanics" a few years ago a car was like this was supposed to hit the u.s. market about two years. that hasn't come to fruition so we show you these pictures with guarded anticipation of this thing being realistic. >> i love it. i love it. it looks like a toy. like a tonka toy. >> a little underpowered gets you from "a" to "b" at about 35 miles an hour. >> i have a smart car and looks similar but i can go quicker and get up to 80 without any problem at all. >> we have got to get a picture of you and your smart car. >> i look like a schreiner and i don't put the kids in the smart car. it was meant to go back and forth to the train station. rob, thank you for that. so still with the theme of environmentalism, next time you toss it in the trash think

twice. one man's garbage is another man's haute couture in this week's "solutions." ♪ jonathan marcoshammer is making garbage fashionable. in 2004 he started ecolist turning waste into products like handbag, jewelry and home accessories. it gets roles of discontinued or defective wrappers and labels from companies that would have thrown them away. it takes 60 to 200 candy wrappers to make just one handbag. >> our estimate is that we've saved about 40 million wrappers from going to landfills. >> one we started with was this one. >> his mother helen created the designs for many of the bags. but the company employs women in peru to make them by hand. >> there is a lot of love that goes into these products. we're targeting people who will appreciate the fact that we treat our workers fairly and give them the opportunity to

make progress. >> ecoist is expanding pairing up with artists to create designs from different waste materials. >> there is so much waste that's amazing raw material that's unique, that is free and it creates an amazing statement. >> 17 minutes past the hour. welcome to the real world. college grads walking this week right into this job market. christine shows them what they'he they're up against and how to come out on top. >> for an extended look at our top stories head to cnn.com/earlystart.

welcome back.

21 minutes past the hour minding your business this hour. college students are graduating this weekend. everyone you know is scrambling for a job. >> hard fought out there. christine romans has brand-new polling numbers that may show a bit of a surprise when it comes to the job market and young kids. >> for young kid, a lot are underemployed. look at the underemployment rate. kids who either aren't working up to their abilities or working part time and would like to work full time. age 18 to 29, 32% of those are considered underemployed. that is a lot and that is more than any other age bracket so you're coming out of school probably with student debt and this economy hasn't given you much to hold on to. this is the part you can try to hold on. for the first time in about four years you're seeing companies hiring kids to start in the fall. a lot of this is happening in marketing, some happening in advertising and information technology and computer sciences. getting you lined up for jobs in the fall. these companies are worried their pipelines will run dry.

their pipelines of talent will run dry. baby boomers are starting to retire. more are starting to retire even if they plan to work longer than they thought and want to make sure they have kids on the front end. they're competing with last year's and the year before. we're starting to see loosening there. the job survey turnover. economists have pointed to as a perhaps of a sign of stealth healing. there are now 3.4 job seekers for every job opening. that sounds a little scary. i want the job and there are three others that want it. at the height of the recession it was more than 6 so it's been trending down. overall 3.7 million job openings in america. there are 12.5 million people officially unemployed and more than that when you consider underemployment but the number of job openings has been slowly ticking up. this sign of stealth healing. you look at the overall numbers that are still very, very dire about the labor market and then you look within those numbers

and economists are starting to see these little pieces of healing and that's what they're focusing on. >> are those real numbers? the republican argument is often that the unemployment number is not true because it doesn't reflect those who dumped out and stopped looking. >> the underemployment is that true number they're talking about and underemployment is about 14.5% in this country, people who are underemployed. even more when you add in people who dropped out of the labor market. there are a lot of ways to slice the numbers and politically on the campaign trail you will see -- you will see them slice the numbers one way or another. i'm just trying to show you a little -- a few different numbers maybe you haven't seen yet that are showing the different things happening in the market. >> for the college grads, are there specific areas where they're being hired. >> marketing, anything computers, computer systems design, project systems, when you look at things that are information technology and again, again, so many baby boomers who are holding on to their job now, but hiring

managers and my sources are telling me and people who consult on this are telling moo he they know they'll have these waves of people rolling off, the baby boomers, i mean it's unbelievable. the big bubble of them is turning 65, the front end of that bubble. they want to make sure they'll have talent on the back end so that's the -- terrible cliche and glimmer of hope. >> i'm so pleased that now young people are telling me, oh, i've got a letter from this consulting company and will have a job in the fall. >> christine, thank you. 24 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast, coming up next the president's bold new decision to support same-sex marriage. will that make a difference in the november election? some say, oh, yeah, others say not so much. you're watching "early start." [ man ] i think this is a good time to tell you:

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welcome back to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. here's what we're looking at here for top stories this -- what are we, thursday, already. this is the bottom of the hour. president obama coming out in support of same-sex marriage with is a dicey political move and outraged some conservative christians would are ready to take action. two explosions in damascus. one caught on camera. you got to see it. quite something. dozens were killed and normally we're telling you about the government doing damage but this is a story about the syrian people rising up. they were able to destroy their own regime's intelligence agency. there was damage on the people's side, as well, though. also chicago jury deciding the fate of william balfour, jennifer hudson's former

brother-in-law resuming deliberations in the case this morning. he, of course, is charged with murdering hudson's mother and brother and 7-year-old nephew. zoraida? >> well, this morning president obama taking sides in what many consider to be one of the last civil rights battles in america, same-sex marriage. in an interview with abc news, robin roberts, the president became the first u.s. president to back the right of gay couples to wed. >> at a certain point i've just concluded that for me persona y personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> the president also revealing his evolution was not just political but has been talking about the issue with his wife and daughters and that they actually helped sway his thinking. meanwhile, president obama's likely republican contender, mitt romney, was quick to make sure his supporters knew what he was thinking at a campaign stop in colorado.

>> i do not favor marriage between people of the same gender and i don't favor civil unions if they're identical to marriage other than by name. >> richard socarides is a former senior adviser to former president bill clinton. also the president of equality matters and he is join us this morning with some really great perspective. thank you very much for being here. >> good morning. >> good morning to you. so you served as president clinton's point man on gay and lesbian issues and were there when he signed the defense of marriage act back in 1996. how would you advise or how would you have advised president obama on this issue now? >> well, the interesting thing, you're exactly right, i was there on that day when president clinton signed the defense of marriage act and i wrote in my piece in "the new yorker" yesterday that the interesting thing is how far we've traveled as a country that just 16 years ago when president clinton was president, he, you know, it was clear to me and those of us around him at the time that he

did not want to sign the defense of marriage act but his political advisers told him it was too much of a risk in the middle of his re-election bid. now 16 years later we have almost the exact same situation. we have the president who is in the middle of a re-election bid, but the culture and the public opinion has changed so dramatically and so quickly that now the president was able to reject that advice from his political advisers and was a real profile in courage. >> you think he rejected advice on this issue? >> i think he was probably getting advice on both sides. it's clear that, you know, marriage in this country, marriage equality is a 50/50 proposition so in some places it's going to hurt him. in some places it's going to help him and change the electoral calculus. i'm sure he had advisers who said, no, no, don't do that. >> does it surprise you he didn't? >> i think that they realized -- he realized, you know, it was beautiful the way he said in talking with his wife and daughter, he realized that the issue was too much of a front

burner issue to just kind of sit on it for another six months. i don't think the press and advocates like myself would have allowed it just to sit there. so i think he really did the right thing. it is really a profile in courage. not to take anything away from him to say that, you know, it was a calculation. i mean he showed a lot of guts yesterday in doing this. >> let's talk about how this could be divisive, according to the most recent gallup poll 60% of democrats believe same-sex marriages should be legal, 57% of independents are for same-sex marriage, as well. is he putting his entire re-election on the line with this announcement specifically with blue collar democrats or independents in iowa, north -- we saw what happened in north carolina, right, ohio and pennsylvania? >> i don't really think so. i think it's an important issue in our country today. but i that that people will look at each of these men and take a test of leadership and i think when the test is leadership on issues like this, it's clear

that president obama is, you know, is winning. i mean i think that people know where he stands. i mean he's been an incredibly positive -- he's -- even before yesterday he had an incredibly positive impact. people know he supports equal rights. if you're a single-issue voter and vote for or against someone because of where they stand on same-sex marriage, you know, you're not going to be -- your vote -- your mind was not changed yesterday so i think people knew where he stood. not going to change anything. >> i want to talk about the -- >> and he did the right thing. that was really important. >> i want to talk about that. let's listen to a bit of his announcement and weigh in on that and how personal this was. >> yeah. >> you know, malia and sasha have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. there have been times where michelle and i have been sitting around the dinner table and talking about their friends and their parents and malia and shash that, it wouldn't dawn on

them that somehow their friend's parents would be treated differently. it doesn't make sense to them and, frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective. >> you know, i'm watching you here as you are watching this and i'm sure you saw it yesterday and you're smiling and you're nodding. this was very personal, wasn't it? how did you feel about ha. >> you know, when he talks about michelle or the girls, those two lovely girl, you know he's like headed in the right direction always. but, you know, this is the conversation that families all over america are having about this issue. and, you know, when i hear him talking about those girls -- those young girls, you know, how our culture has changed. look at those, the two heroes on "glee" are two gay high school kids trying to figure out how to do the right thing and navigate the issue. you know, a show on a rival network fox not phone for its progressive programming, so

i mean i think it's really a moment and that he was able to talk about his young girls in this context really shows you how far we've come. >> do you think that's what is going to happen, that the dialogue will continue and we'll see the numbers continuing to change and people changing their minds about this issue. >> i do. i think the president talked about his journey and everybody is entitled to their journey. that's what we're doing in this country, having a discussion about this so i think this will help the discussion and hopefully bring us to some kind of national consensus. >> thank you very much for joining us this morning with your perspective. we appreciate it. >> thanks for havie ining me. >> richard socarides, president of equality matters and democratic strategist, as well. thank you very much for that. until now this issue of same-sex marriage has been freedom annapolis lohan issue handled at the state level and it turns out state laws have been at odds with general public opinion on same-sex marriage. christine romans is breaking down the issue for us state by state this morning which is what we were just talking about. >> right. >> how that's going to affect

the election. >> interesting because public opinion has evolved here but the states are just catching up to the public opinion of 15, 20 years ago. this is a trend line in public opinion looking back to 1996. pretty wide apart here in 1996. those in support of same-sex marriage and those against it. no, 68%, yes, 27%. but look at how it's generally been closing, the gap has been closing since then. today slightly more people, this blue line, favor same-sex marriage. that's what the polls say, but what people actually are doing with their votes, what states are doing is telling a different story. this is how it looks right now in the states here. 28 states have constitutional provisions defining marriage as between a man and a woman. those are the dark blue states here defining marriage, constitutional amendment, man or woman. ten states have statutory provisions defining march as between a man and woman. statutory provisions, that's in the light blue or medium blue rather. seven states issue marriage

licenses to same-sex couples right now. those are the ones in yellow. it's like iowa, massachusetts, connecticut, vermont, new hampshire and the district of columbia and three states have statutory or judicial recognition of same-sex marriage but it hasn't taken effect yet. those are maryland, washington and california. those are in the light blue and we have five in white and these five white -- the states in white have no statutory or constitutional provisions on same-sex marriage, which basically means they haven't decided yet but this is what the states look like even as that graph i showed you before shows that the opinion polls are really narrowing, zoraida. >> i know. that's why a lot are calling it a risky move. thank you very much, christine. 37 minutes past the hour. ahead at 7:00 on "starting point," soledad o'brien gets reaction from both sides of the same-sex marriage debate when she is joined by tony perkins president of the family research council and mitchell gold, from faith in america and longtime

gay rights activist. here's one to think over as you have breakfast with your kids. kids in china are using performance-enhancing drugs for their brains. i.v. drips in the classroom cramming for a college entry exam and that's what's supposed to be helping hem? holy cow. we'll explain. as we all take a deep breath over that, it's breathtaking. a check of today's weather story with rob marciano. i don't know if you saw those pictures. >> anything to keep your kids competitive. >> if they weren't far enough ahead as it is, now they have i.v. drips. let's go, kids. get to school today if you're heading to school across the northeast, you'll run into rainfall from boston, hartford, bridgeport, about to come to an end in new york city, already dry in philadelphia and d.c. so figure dry the next 30 minutes and then new york, hartford in a couple of hours and shortly after lunchtime in boston. this front will bring in breezy

and cooler and drier conditions, back side of it down across texas, severe weather and maybe some flooding because of some heavy rain, temperatures behind the front, 66 chicago, 77, beautiful day in atlanta and it'll be 66 degrees once the rain passes through boston. you're up to date weatherwise. "early start" is coming right back. all energy development comes with some risk,

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43 minutes now past the top of the hour on the east coast, 6:43. up to date. top stories with christine romans. >> president obama making history, officially going on the record in support of same-sex marriage. he made that announcement yesterday becoming the first

u.s. president ever to do so publicly. the president heads west later this morning for two fund-raisers in seattle. then it's on 0 hollywood and actor george clooney's house where a reception is expected to rake in up to $15 million in campaign donations. disturbing new details about al qaeda terror tactics. u.s. officials say the terrorist group planned to smuggle bombs inside cats and dogs. officials say ibrahim al asiri accused of masterminding the foiled underwear bomb plot was working on new explosives to try to get past airport security, 30-year-old al asiri planned to surgically implant devices inside pets, computers and cameras. the prosecution in the corruption trial of john edwards will rest its case today without calling the former senator's mistress rielle hunter to the stand. yesterday a former spokesperson for edwards jennifer paul merry

talked about elizabeth edwards' final days and how elizabeth lamented the fact that she would be dying alone. getting fired up for the upcoming olympic game, the torchlighting relay kicked off just a few hours ago in greece among the ruins of the ancient games headed on an eight-day tour. next week arriving in the uk for an 8,000-file 70-day nationwide relay and when the light goes out, the games begin. the opening ceremony is july 27th in london. every day we bring you a little advice from successful interesting people we interview at cnn. today, the advice comes from former football player, tiki barber. >> the best advice i ever received came from my mother who told me when i was going through hard times as a kid to always believe in myself because if i didn't, no one else would either. >> there you go. so a little bit of advice to take to work today. i always notice many of them

come from your mother so happy mother's day two days early. >> i was going to ask you what is the percentage. at least half, at the very least half of the people we ask. >> we have a lot of these we've been doing and i would say we're about 60% is advice from mom. >> mine is without question my best advice from my mom. the one that sticks out is luck is the crossroads between opportunity and -- >> wow. 45 minutes past the hour. new controversy about performance enhancing drugs, not for baseball or football players. take a look. students in china using i.v. drips in the classroom to cram for a college entry exam but is that too extreme? >> it looks like frankenstein's lab. crazy. >> we'll take a much closer look at this right after the break. o. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check.

atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. ♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar. i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere.

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welcome back to "early start." 6:49. how far would you go to get your kid into the college of your choice? i want to show you what's happening in china. brace for it. look at that picture. students in one class seen hooked up to i.v.s with what i

will call some sort of supplement designed to help them study better for important college entrance exams. me thinks it's an amino acid but elizabeth cohen is looking into this and what it could mean for college bound students in the usa where we wouldn't think of doing this. what are they doing. >> you're right. it is amino acids what we're told, ashleigh. when you look at those pictures it's clear that the teachers know about this. not only do they know about it but actually it's being sum manied by the school. the kids pay a little bit of money and the school supplements the rest to have these i.v.s going into their arms. ashleigh, this is nothing like the united states in that they're studying for college entrance exams that will literally influence their entire life. it's not like the s.a.t. where it is a piece of admission but everything. if we want to get a little bit of a mental edge we're going to get it. what's interesting here, there's

really not any proof this will help them. some suggestion that amino acids might combat mental fatigue to some degree but it's entirely clear so i'm not hour if it's going to help them or not. who put those needles in? can there a school nurse? do they do it for each other? >> it looks hideous. harrowing for all these kids. how many might have been pressured because everyone else was doing it and they would be left behind if they didn't? the bigger question is if what you're say something true we're not sure if the amino acids can give you that great mental edge. can it do something bad. >> it really depends on the dosage, if they're taking lots it could have and effect on ther kidneys. i don't know what the dosage is or how long they're taking it. it's a pretty scary thing, it really is. >> elizabeth, it's been a year or two since i was studying for my finals -- okay, three or

four, and i do remember admitting live on television i took some of those caffeine pills to get through the real cram nights but here in the u.s. have we progressed differently? are we so different from those kids in china, albeit the image is startling but how are we faring. >> that image is so startling and think oh, my gosh, how can they do it? i want to introduce you to a young man studying for his final, jerrod, a college student in alabama and he is very open about taking adderall and buys it from his friends which is totally illegal and used it to get through the night. no i.v. in his arm but he's taking adderall and other young people say everybody does it. not everybody but a lot of kids do it so you don't have the image of i.j. bags but they are taking prescription drugs prescribed to someone else. >> while that's not legal, you know, there are all the monster energy drinks people are slamming down at four or five

per night. just fascinating and disturbing. elizabeth, lovely to see you. >> and you. >> elizabeth cohen joining us live, zoraida. >> thank you, ashleigh. a segment we like to call "today in tan mom." seriously why her famous look may start fading fast here and we knew this was coming. did you. there is now an action figure. and if you are leaving the house right now, you can watch us any time on your desktop or on your mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. we'll be right back for you. us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

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hey there, 56 minutes past the hour. what's trending on the web.

apparently we're not burned out yet. today in tan mom news according to tmz -- >> look at that she's chocolate. new jersey has banned tan mom, patricia krentcil from their premises and now some north jersey papers are reporting the state department of health is getting involved, as well. >> bad press. >> look at her. that was before the chocolate brown. some even posted pictures of her but how could you miss this woman? and then there's this, folks. patricia krentcil is the inspiration between this the new ta tanorexic mom. the salehi action figure. >> the snap-off head, does it look like they churned it out too fast? it looks like they got their

kid's orange crayon. 57 minutes past the hour. your i.d. please and by the way, pull out your facebook profile too if you want into the bar. i'm not kidding, the bbc is reporting bouncers in the uk are now asking for your facebook profile so that they can try to weed out the underage drinkers with a more clever maneuver. not supposed to be a replacement -- it's clever if you think bit. checking the person's i.d. but know that's not foolproof so instead of doing what we used to hear when we were kid, asking challenge questions like what was your birthday, show me your foebl phone and put your facebook profile on it. >> people lie there too. you just never know. >> some people lie there and i think once they know this is the tactic, they're going to be lying a lot. >> even more. >> but this is why they're doing it. if you get caught putting underage drinkers in your bar, you can be fined up to $8,000.

it's expensive. >> one more story, angry birds soaring to an incredible milestone, 1 billion downloads. we know you're addicted, folks. that includes the original game including android and apple and the franchise is only getting bigger. last month the company revealed that angry birds' face 00 million downloads in just the first 30 days. >> have you ever played it. >> no, but my kids play it incessantly. >> absolutely addictive. hard to find anybody who doesn't -- >> me, i don't. i asked around here and folks didn't play it either. >> what? this is cnn. the control room is chiming in, saying, yes, we do. great to have you with us. the total "early start," from "a" to "z." "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. our starting point, something no u.s. president has ever said before, gay people should be able to marry. reaction to president obama's

comments from all angles. political, the social and the religious full out this morning. plus, new doubts about bob woodward's version of deep throat calling him out. and a school bows out of baseball championship game, don't want a girl. they don't want to face a girl on the opposing team. our "get real." thursday, may 10th and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. sour starting point this morning is president obama's historic stand. he is the first sitting american president to ever support same-sex marriage after years of saying that his position on the issue is evolving. >> i've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples ou