>> gretchen: okay. and vanessa lechay will be here, as well as jenny garth. we look forward to that. >> brian: if you have to run from the tv, run to the radio, see you tomorrow. >> steve: so long, everybody. martha: thank you guys. great show this morning. and the grilling on capitol hill is not nearly done for the general services administration, folks because today is day two and it is underway. as you can see on the left-hand side of your screen you've got the top brass at the federal agency facing questions on a massive waste of taxpayer money that has been very well detailed including that lavish las vegas conference that cost taxpayers nearly a million dollars if you can believe it. good morning everybody. i'm martha maccallum in "america's newsroom". gregg: good to be with you, martha. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. we heard yesterday from the man that organized the las vegas trip, jeff neely

and others. called to the carpet for blowing 800,000 bucks on clowns, mind readers and mock videos. he had only one thing to say over and over again. >> mr. chairman on the advice of counsel i respectfully decline to answer based on my constitutional privilege. >> did you attend the 2010 western regional conference in las vegas? >> mr. chairman on the advice of my counsel i respectfully decline to answer, i respectfully decline to answer. gregg: i respectfully to decline to answer. >> mr. neally are you prepared to answer any questions about your participation in the 2010 western regional conference. >> mr. chairman i respectfully decline to answer any questions here today based on my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. martha: can you believe that? not even his title or whether or not he was actually at the event there are some pictures of him drinking wine at said

event. mr. neely and others are in front of the microscope. mike emanuel is watching this on capitol hill. mike get us up to speed here. what is the latest? report or the martha, i --. >> reporter: martha, i should note that jeff neely is not at today's hearing after asserting his fifth amendment right. other officials are on the hot seat. we heard from a key lawmaker a moment ago, if he doesn't explain the extend ittures he will pull the general services administration apart. he will talk if criminal activity is found people will go to jail. we also heard similar themes from congressman darrell issa who led yesterday's hearing. >> and i've got to tell you, there is lot more that has to be fixed at gsa. we simply had only so much time. this will be first of many hearings. a referral already has been made. ig will follow up on it. we expect to have criminal indictments. ig made a very good job for

making a case for number of items that go far beyond these repayments. >> reporter: criminal indictments that means the justice department will take a look at this. congressman issa is expecting criminal indictments. today is day two of the hearings on capitol hill. we expect two more hearings tomorrow, martha. martha: a lot of questions whether or not some of this amounts basically to theft of taxpayer money, when you look at it through some of the prisms that are out there. there are new details that are emerging really how the gsa officials used this money to pay for these bashes and where the money went, mike? >> reporter: that's right. including spending 130,000 taxpayer dollars on advance trips to plan out the 2010 gsa conference in las vegas. the pictures that are on jeff neely's wife's personal page show a really good time they were having including him sitting at the bathtub with a couple of glasses of

wine, having a jolly ol' time on the taxpayer dime. that really outraged one of the key lawmakers late yesterday at hearing held over in the house. >> the tribes of israel september 12 scouts into the promised land before they decided to invade and gsa has to send 15 to las vegas to check out a hotel. do you not see the outrage in that? mr. robertson? >> reporter: hearing a great deal of frustration on capitol hill. the hearing is underway at this hour. martha: will be interesting, mike. we will be watching. thank you very much. gregg: those executives now being told the taxpayers want their money back. in three separate letters to robert peck, jeff neely and robert shepard, the gsa acting commissioner demanding return of money used to throw parties in their hotel during that now infamous las vegas

conference. the commissioner writing this. it is unconscionable the american taxpayer should pay this cost. you are responsible for this unacceptable expenditure. therefore i demand you make payment. the letter goes on to detail how much they owe and who they can make checks out to and where to send them. martha: let's talk about another scandal bubbling up right now. that has to do with the secret service. security clearance has not been yanked from those 11 agents hot are accused of interacting with produce tuts at a colombia hotel. that happened during a the president's visit to a conference there over the weekend. at least five u.s. military personnel also possibly been connected to this scandal. that is still under investigation. and that had their boss, general martin dem sir, apologizing for their actions. >> we're embarrassed what occurred in colombia, though we're not sure exactly what it is.

what we do know we distracted several of our members, distracted the issue from what was a very important regional engaugement for our president. so we let the boss down. martha: let the boss down says dempsey and through a thorough internal investigation that is going on they expect to learn more about this we've got more on this coming up later this hour. gregg: some new questions today about mitt romney's tax plan should he win the white house come november. reporters from "the wall street journal" overhearing him at a private fund-raiser saying he may eliminate certain deductions for the wealthy. stuart varney is anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. some of the other newspapers though have it a different way. romney talks about increasing taxes for the wealthy. well, sort of but in a different way, right? >> what governor romney may be talking about is taking more money off the wealthy without raising the tax rate

on the wealthy. specifically, he may do the following. cut the tax break for wealthy people who have a second home. cut the tax break for wealthy people when they pay their state income and property taxes. and cut property, cut, tax rates for everyone. that says, mitt romney, is a way of getting more from the rich into the united states treasury. it stands in stark contrast to president obama's policy of just flat-out tax the rich. gregg: right. >> but this contrast between the two is developing as the key theme in developing economic policy on both sides of the fence. gregg: is mitt romney, should he do this, really taking a page out of the ronald reagan playbook? didn't he increase revenues by actually lowering taxes but, closing up the loopholes, the exemptions, deductions and tax credits and so forth? >> that is precisely what ronald reagan did. he cut tax rates across the board. that is what mitt romney proposes to do.

ronald reagan cut out some loopholes. and that's what mitt romney proposes to do. the end result of ronald reagan's policy was to i think double the amount of money coming into the united states treasury in a five-year period. that's what mitt romney think he can do with his proposal. if it is more than a proposal. if it is really is a proposal as opposed to a trial balloon. gregg: that is what i was going to ask. is he floating this out there to see what kind of reaction he is getting? >> yes. his aides have said this is not at specific proposal. this is something he may do. it's an idea that is being tossed around. gregg: start varney, as always, thanks so much. >> thanks, gregg. gregg: as stuart and i were talking about is this simply talk or some serious plans for tax policy? we'll be putting that very question to eric finnstrom, senior advisor to the romney campaign a little later on in the program. martha: we'll look forward to that. meantime we're awaiting for the president, he is

expected to announce and already started to trickle out on the wires a crackdown on oil market manipulations. this as a "fox news poll" show 50% of the americans think the president could do more about the high gas prices out there but doesn't want to for whatever reason. 47% believe he can not really do much about the price of gas in this country. here is another one, finding 87% of american voters gas prices do pose a serious threat to the nation's economic recovery. that is a big number. nearly half of the voters out there, 47%. saying high gas prices pose a extremely serious threat. according to the aaa, a average price for a gallon of gas right now, see how italy's up at the pump. $3.90. crept steadily upward since we're following increases. gregg: for you --. martha: over $4 for the past month. gregg: about 4.50 where i am. i don't fill that much. martha: come to new jersey

for gas maybe. gregg: that is good idea. take a long drive for a gallon of gas. all right. those are just a few of the stories we're following this morning in "america's newsroom.". mitt romney has a message for president obama. what he told diane sawyer the president should start doing. plus some brand new poll numbers just how tight the race could be this november. martha: all that as mitt romney reportedly start as major push for conservative voters, some of whom have been rallying to other candidates like michele bachmann in the early part of this process. so we're going to ask her, she will be with us in "america's newsroom", whether or not she is ready to endorse mitt romney. we're going to ask her. gregg: the so-called buffett rule blocked in the u.s. senate. will democrats now use it as a blunt political weapon? >> and the absurd inequity in our tax code that let as hedge fund billionaire pay a lower tax rate than a road island truck diver. -- driver

gregg: an american triumph making its final curtain call today. space shuttle discovery taking a final flight before heading to its new home. and there it is, taking off from cape canaveral strapped to the back of a 747 jumbo jet. nasa's oldest and most traveled shuttle took one more victory lap over the beaches of cape canaveral. the shuttle doing a fly-by of washington, d.c. monuments today before going to its future home that will be the smithsonian. we'll have a live report from there in our next hour. martha: well the buffett rule as it is called went down in the senate last night, giving democrats a potentially new political weapon come november. president obama believes that rich americans should pay more than they already

do here is some of the back and forth. >> anytime the president proposed it would tell us how many jobs it would create. apparently those days are over. nobody is claiming this will create jobs. >> the minority leader is right this is not to lower the unemployment rate or price of gasoline. if you put the $47 million in revenue into infrastructure you could create 11,000 infrastructure jobs. >> that is not an argument about the redistribution. that is an argument about growth. martha: hmm. let's see what it is an argument about when we bring these two to like to argue at 5:00 even though they're good buddies. bob beckel, former campaign manager of course. andrea tanteros, daily news columnist extraordinaire. how are you guys? >> great. good morning. martha: bob, obviously the president had never any

illusion that this was going to pass on capitol hill. and he talked about quite a bit. it has been a major talking point for him in recent weeks. so what's the real goal here? >> i think it gets down to this. he argues that, really gets down to the question, does supply-side econmics should it rule which the republicans believe in? that tax cuts stimulate jobs and make the economy better. or do you buy the democratic position that you need to have more keynesian government controls in the sense of trying to get more education for people so they get up to speed on new jobs? i think the president said it best this is not about income distribution. this is about growth. now that will be a fun fun question. and it may be that they don't accept that, the people. but that's what it boils down to. supply side versus keynesian as far as i'm concerned. martha: i don't know how much growth you get, when you look at this, $4.7 billion you would bring into

government coffers if all of these millionaires were taxed 30%. that would cover spending for about one day according to the data. so, when you talk about growth, andrea, that doesn't sound like something that will really stimulate real growth. >> right. think about what kind of spending they're talking to, martha. we saw the gsa. shrimps on a treadmill. they're using money wisely on tax day when all of us are forced to pay the government heaping loads of money they're just wasting. this is not policy at all. reason the administration admits and chuck schumer says we're going to bring the "buffett rule" to a vote repeatedly and use it as a tool against republicans. you know the house republicans will not plan to take this up for a vote. this has very little chance of passing. what democrats did leading up to christmas to the millionaire's tax. they know it will not pass. obama's own economic advisor says we'll not use the money to pay down the deficit, just to assume that the american public is stupid. that is what a gimmick does. assumes that the public is

stupid. >> the "buffett rule" is a small part of this. not just the "buffett rule". we didn't expect for a second the "buffett rule" would take care of the deficit. it is bigger issue. look, in 2008 there were 1490 something people in this country who made a million dollars who paid absolutely zero to the irs. how do you justify that? how can you live with yourself. >> bob, here is what bothers me. here is not discussed in this conversation enough way i look at it. this 13.9% rate on capital gains tax, put it right out there is what mitt romney paid as well because most of this money at this point in his life are made of investments because he has been running for office past eight years or six years. that is being taxed a second time around. he made the money like all of these other rich people that we're talking about. made the money. then invested the money. so they paid taxes on full rate first time around. this is a second go around near 14%. why is that okay, bob?

>> wait i'm not sure i follow your math here. he pays 13% in taxes on --. martha: capital gains investments that is the money we're talking about. >> right. i believe, capital gains rate is not 13%, is it? martha: 13.9% is the rate buffett paid. is the rate that mitt romney paid in taxes. >> the capital gains rate is 20%. martha: what they're making is just on their invests. >> then you have to ask yourself, again, we can disagree on this and obviously we do. i just don't think, particularly so much of that is paper money that they're making by shuffling stocks around and options and rest of it. >> bob, the president had a deficit commission come together and put together a plan to reform the tax code. he has not touched that. and furthermore, the president took a tax rate of 20%, less than the "buffett rule", our own president doesn't even apply to the "buffett rule". would be good idea for the president to lead by example. >> he pays considerably more than mitt romney does, mitt romney gives a lot of

money -- >> what about investments you still didn't answer the question. >> the question is doing tax reform. i happen to be for a flat tax. i know that is not going anywhere. the reality is do you do, and mitt romney is apparently thinking about this, taking away certain tax deductions from wealthier people to lower rates. there is something to be said about doing that. as far as those on the commission concerned, simpson-bowles commission, it was supposed to be a mandatory up or down vote and then the republicans backed out and said no, it will not be that. obama walked away from it as well. i'm not so sure he should have done that the report was it wasn't mandetory the way it was supposed to be mandatory. without that, you won't get anywhere we'll have to have mandatory votes. >> we're talking about taxes investments right? with the highest corporate rate, taxing investments. we're not growing anything. that is the bottom line. >> not highest corporate tax rate. martha: you guys bring up a interesting point. we'll talk to eric finnstrom in a little while from the

romney campaign. how serious is mitt romney about serious tax reforms that would eliminate loopholes and in is sense, in reality, force some people to pay more taxes in the tax bracket anyway. look forward to see you at 5:00. >> all right. gregg: mystery over the brand new millionaire in red bud, illinois, finally solved. lottery officials set to name the lucky person from a tiny town getting a very big check. martha: only person in a small town with a ferrari perhaps. that is how they figured it out. we're hearing from the band. remember that moment, that awful, caught on videotape from the deadly stage collapse last summer? seven people lost their lives. dozens more were injured that day. the lead singer of suggest far land is speaking out about that moment -- sugarland. >> they're heavy, big pieces of equipment, if they fall from the rafters, there is certainly a risk that people that are on or near the stage are going to be hurt, right? >> i have never considered

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gregg: some really weird weather to report going on around the country. hats and scarves in the west. a strong spring storm dropping a foot of snow in minnesota but tank tops and shorts in the east coast. mercury rising into the high 80s during the boston marathon forcing runners to take breaks or even calling it quits during the race. meteorologist maria molina live in the weather center. >> hi, gregg. it produced severe weather over parts of the plains over the weekend that is the system responsible for extreme heat over parts of the east and snowstorm we saw across yesterday in parts of minnesota dumping a foot of snow across

northeastern parts of that state. yesterday we society some record high temperatures or tied some. look at highs we reached yesterday. 92 degrees in hartford, connecticut. albany, new york, saw 91 degrees. that is warmer than temperatures across parts of the south yesterday. that temperature, 91 degrees in albany, new york, that is earliest we've seen. won't be that hot. the storm system is pushed off to the east. we'll see highs above average in boston and new york city in the upper 70s. not as bad as what we'll deal with yesterday and cooler temperatures moving into portions of the northeast by wednesday. those warm temperatures across the northeast and dry conditions today alongwith breezy conditions will be basically bringing in an elevated fire danger from boston down to fill self. so we do have red flag warnings in effect today. otherwise a quick look at temperatures for tomorrow into the 60s across the northeast. a big temperature fluctuation for us, gregg. gregg: we've been kind of

enjoying it here in the east. maria molina thanks very much. martha? martha: mitt romney looking to consolidate his base and support with the very conservative voters. does he have the right message for them? former candidate and tea party favorite michele bachmann tells us whether or not she's ready to endorse mitt romney and what she thinks about the very conservative vote for him. that's coming up. >> i will not do as this president is doing, dividing us at every occasion, attacking one american after the other, trying to find one scapegoat, trying to find someone who can, by virtue of attacking them can divert from his failures economically. i will bring america together because i do believe we are one nation under god. [cheers and applause] wake up!

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to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. martha: well, mitt romney is reportedly stepping up efforts now to court those conservative or very conservative voters as we've seen them named in the exit polls that we've watched. the presidential candidate trying to fire up crowds at a tea party event of the he says president obama's time is up. >> this man is out of ideas. he is out of excuses and in 2012 we're going to make sure he gets put out of office. [cheers and applause] martha: they're on their feet responding to that one. i'm joined now by former presidential candidate and congresswoman of course michele bachmann who joins me now. she is the chairwoman of the house tea party caucus. congresswoman bachmann,

welcome. always good to have you with us. >> thank you so much. great to be with you. martha: what you do i this about that? that group seemed to respond very well to mitt romney. he is sort of looping back around to try to get that tea party support on his side which he had a bit of trouble with during the early parts of this primary process. >> well, that is a very important thing i think for governor romney to do because there is a strong group of people all across the country who affiliate with the themes of the tea party which are essentially the fact that government is spending more money than what it is taking in. we're taxed enough already. no new taxes and follow the constitution. those are the main elements of the tea party movement. plus social conservatives who are also have their concerns and i think it is commendable governor romney is reaching out and trying to bring all of those elements in. we have to unite the party. it doesn't happen overnight. it happens over time. it hasn't even been a week since rick santorum got out of the race but i think quite clearly leaders are coming together and they're

trying to make their decisions. but of course they want to speak with the governor. they want to know that they, that he has their ear. and it's just very important i think that everyone feels like they're heard. martha: i could go down that list and think about what the romney campaign has been saying out there and i'm curious, what's on that list in terms of taxes or following the constitution or social conservatism that you feel he doesn't fit? >> i'm saying that groups across the country, whether it is various tea party groups or whether it is various social conservative groups they of course want to have conversations with the governor and have assurances from him where he will be in regards to their issues and whether or not they will have an open door. that is just a process. as i said it's been less than a week but i'm very encouraged the i'm seeing our party unite. that's what we need to do. again it doesn't happen overnight. again, remember where we are. we're mid-april. we're about two months ahead of time where the democrats were in 2008.

so i am fully confident that we will have a united party going forward. martha: so i'm guessing when i can ask if you will endorse him your answer will be along the lines what you're saying that the process is ongoing and that the conversations are ongoing. i would also say, mitt romney this is his second time around running for president. his positions on all of these things are very well-known. what is it that you don't know about him at this point in the game? >> well, i think that we do have knowables about mitt romney, but again it is a matter of timing and a matter of reaching out to a number of groups. i've had contacts with a number of people all across the united states and a matter of trying to pull them together. what i have said, martha, i want to be a voice to unite. martha: he could be, he would say probably you could be that voice to unite by stepping out there endorsing mitt romney right now. so why don't you, a, and have you had conversations with him and his people? are they asking for that? are they pushing you and

begging you to endorse him? >> yes, i have had conversations with governor romney and with his team and also with rick santorum and with social conservative leaders from around the country as well as tea party leaders and this is a part of not just me, just one person coming together to unite. i'll trying to work behind the scenes with a lot of different people and organizations to bring us together. that's the process that i'm enbeiged in right now because because we are a big party with a lot of factions. time trying -- i'm trying to do everything i can to bring us together on one page. martha: discussions that came out yesterday in terms of his wanting to not necessarily eliminate agencies like education and perhaps streamline them and also his talk about tax reform, letting go of some loopholes that would really have wealthy people pay a little bit more, are those along the lines things you could sign on to and be

supportive of? >> i'm a former federal tax litigation attorney. i have a pose doctorate degree in tax law. i believe in tax reform. we have to have tax reform to grow the economy. no question at end of the day when voters go into the booth if they vote for mitt romney they will have someone with a proven track record, a very smart guy, an optimistic guy people can trust on the economy who knows how to grow it versus barack obama who has a proven track record how to lose millions of jobs and tank the economy. we have a strong compare and contrast. now it's a challenge of bringing together all of the factions of the party to get behind our haven't wall nominee. martha: interesting. congresswoman bachmann, always good to talk to you. >> good to see you, martha. take care. gregg: hey the final winner of that record mega millions jackpot coming forward to claim the $218 million prize. the single winning ticket

purchased in the small southern illinois town of red bud. that's right. the winner will be announced tomorrow at a news conference. folks in the tiny town still kind of wondering which one of my neighbors is now a multimillionaire. >> very excited to find out. you know, i mean, it's big news in this little town. >> i think it is a local. if it is i think it's wonderful that it's a local. >> oh, my gosh, this is so exciting. i think the biggest thing to happen in red bud. >> we've been talking about doing insert for the paper this week. >> i will be happy to find out myself who it is. gregg: well the other jackpot winners in maryland and kansas were allowed to claim their prizes anonymously, but, illinois law requires winners to come forward publicly so everybody knows who it is or they will tomorrow, certainly. i think i would rather remain anonymous. martha: not at work anymore. driving a nicer car. only how many people in the

town did we say? 300 or 400 or something? gregg: you could toss a stone acrosstown. that's about it. martha: biggest thing that ever happened in red bug. congratulations to the nice little town. there are new questions today we want to talk to you about as well. they have to do with a deadly stage collapse witnessed at this indiana state fair last year. awful, awful day here. we're hearing from the lead singer of sugarland, popular band was supposed to perform moments before that accident. what singer jennifer nettles is saying about that tragedy. plus -- >> frustration steaming out of our ears. what does it take to be fired from the gsa? gregg: round two of questioning of gsa officials on capitol hill right now. coming up we'll be talking to the lawmaker who has been investigating the gsa for more than a year, what he says is now being revealed.

martha: let's look at this amazing video we have coming in on the left-hand side of the screen, look at discovery, basically a fly-by over the dulles airport area. it has left cape canaveral of course, after 30-year space shuttle program and a storied history that is full of try yums and victories and tragedies as well. now finding its way to its new home at the smithsonian, it will land a little while in dulles. what an extraordinary site for those to look up that can see the discovery as it comes into its new home and we which brill you live footage of it as well as we see it landing at dulles airport as it gets ready to be at the smithsonian. you make plans to see it with your family which i strongly encourage. it is an extraordinary

museum and so much hard work of dedicated scientists and astronauts over the years at this incredibly successful --. gregg: the air and space in the smithsonian, the smithsonian has many, many buildings in washington, d.c. for my money the air and space is magnificent to the see history and different planes they have inside. now of course you will be able to see the shuttle, one of the shuttles here which is, is going to be breathtaking for visitors from all over the nation, from all over the world who come to washington, d.c. to see this i find it so amazing you can piggyback a aircraft on top of another aircraft. snid that isn't that amazing? martha: this is reminiscent of all the returned shuttle arrivals we watched over the years after those missions and would come in and land t was extraordinary idea initially. we've come to see it commonplace to see it piggybacked on the plane.

discovery as it comes to its new home about to land at dulles international airport after a ceremonial fly around the city of washington, d.c. a pretty extraordinary site this morning. congratulations to all the people that did great work on the shuttle program. gregg: back to reality for those gsa officials. they're on capitol hill again today for the next round of hearings on their las vegas extravaganza, otherwise known as a conference. all on your dime as a taxpayer. congressman jeff denham is chairman of the house subcommittee on economic development, public buildings and emergency management and i talked with him just a short time ago. congressman denham, thank you very much for being with us. you've been investigating the gsa for over a year. what more have you uncovered? >> well this is a systemic problem. we're going to lay out today the whole timeline, the last year-and-a-half, how all of these trips have gone. how they have ignored the administration and the president on his directives.

and we're going to show the bigger, the bigger root problem this is a whole culture, not only within gsa but within government all together. before we can restore trust in government, we've got to be able to show how big of a problem this is and we're prepared to do that today. gregg: on could man i read the -- congressman, i read the inspector general's report, it says the gsa did not follow federal procurement laws. that is arguably a crime. there is evidence of bribes and kickbacks. jeff neely's wife may have impersonated federal employee. neely invited friends to the conference and had taxpayers pick up the dime for that. here is an e-mail. quote, i know i am bad, as deb and i say often, why not enjoy it while we have it and we can. ain't going to last forever. prophetic words perhaps. should these people in your judgment be criminally prosecuted? >> there will be a number about people criminally

prosecuted. my commitment to the american taxpayer to make sure money is paid back. we hold those accountable for wrongdoing. that just does not just stop with firing them. yes, people will go behind bars. gregg: jeff neely is on paid administrative leave right now, but, my goodness, shouldn't he be fired immediately? >> absolutely. that also goes to a bigger problem. the administration says that they have got to go through protocol. they can't just fire somebody. when you have broken the law, you go to jail. and you ought to be fired immediately. gregg: congressman, this was called the western regions conference of the public buildings service of the gsa. that is the title of this whole conference. but basically, i spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what it is. it is people sharing idea and strategies. can't that be done in e-mails, in teleconferences? should congress put an end to all of these off-sight conferences, in fact by all federal agencies?

>> absolutely. you know, this goes to again, a bigger problem. they're taking these lavish vacations on taxpayer dollars. they could certainly get together in a boardroom. this is the agency that has, holds all of the federal properties. we've already noticed that there are over 14,000 buildings across the nation that are empty. you know just like we hold our hearings in an empty building, hold your conference in an empty building. gregg: right. there were 35 more off-sight conferences and seminars planned by the gsa they have now been canceled. makes you wonder what other federal agencies are doing. should congress investigate perhaps all of these other federal agencies to see if they're equally abusive and allegedly corrupt? >> absolutely. every agency, and that's why we're going to lay this out the way we are today to show not only is there a timeline of many of these conferences over last two years when we've seen this is such an

egregious problem. the administration did nothing about this since 2010 when it first broke. we also found out it is in other regions and other agencies. they all should be audited. no more hiding these budgets from us. gregg: yeah, is this basically a pretty good example in your mind of government that's too big and as a consequence out of control? >> absolutely. the president went on the air last night talking about needing to raise taxes and you know, in my district we've got double-digit unemployment, twice the national average and yet you can see i'm frustrated. i'm outraged as the people in my district are. we've got to get trust back in government. and we've got to get rid of waste in the process. gregg: congressman jeff denham of california. thank you. >> good to see you. thanks, gregg. martha: well they have just told everybody on capitol hill to be aware that there are four overflights basically on capitol hill in a sort of ceremonial sweep around washington, d.c. we

must be something to see for those staffers who have come out to watch this moment. there will be one to the west side of the capitol many could plex. the second to the east and the last two to the south and the overflight is occurring at low altitude and clearly visible from the capital grounds. you get a nice shot just how low it is. what an extraordinary sight. 30 years of incredible developments and accomplishments by this shuttle program. we saw some of the astronauts involved in it, you know, basically very moved and close to tears at seeing it pull away from cape canaveral this morning. one of the shuttles will be kept permanent meantly as a -- permanently as a museum piece at the kennedy space center and one will head out to los angeles and this will be at the smithsonian annex when it lands there. quite a moment over the skies of washington, d.c. we'll be back with more in "america's newsroom."

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martha: we are back. let's take a look at this incredible shot we're watching over washington, d.c. as atlantis gets ready to go to its new home at the smithsonian annex. in some of the shots they are escorted by a nasa chase plane which escorting this larger plane as it comes into the dulles international airport. it did four fly-bies to the capitol area, to the east, west, north and south. doug mckelway is watching

live on the ground from dulles international airport where the shuttle will land for the final time. doug, tell us a little bit about the scene there. >> they ferried us out on mobile lounges to one of the runways on dulles airport. so we're standing --. martha: breaking up little bit. you saw it just fly by the washington monument. an extraordinary sight. it is flying very low. they alerted all the people and staffers on capitol hill that the shuttle would take the low fly-by after ceremonial good-bye after extraordinary service. times that were triumphant and times tragic throughout the shuttle program. we've talked to tom jones and others who were a part of this program the last few years and it was extraordinary effort to build the international space station and maintain it and do experiments hugely beneficial to the space program and to the larger

scientific community as well. let's see if doug mckelway can join us again. doug, are you there? >> reporter: yeah, i hear you fine, martha. i don't know how i'm looking out here. i will continue. martha: you're good. >> reporter: okay, great. we just had our first fly-by. about 1,000 feet right over the top of us with nasa, the chase plane, right alongside of it. really an incredible thing. two things go through your mind when you see that, how does this thing fly? indeed that 747 has had to undergo a lot of modifications to the accommodate the space shuttle on its back. the space shuttle even when empty of all fuel still weighs 200,000 pound. that is 100 tons so it is -- look at the 747 closely. you see the stale structure has been heavily modified. they made lots of accommodations to accommodate all that weight obviously. the other thing that -- is that the shuttle itself is really dirty. it looks well-worn. that it is.

the discovery is perhaps the most storied space shuttle in the fleet, spending the equivalent of 365 days in space before it comes to its final resting place here at the annex to the air and space museum, martha. martha: it is incredible how low it is flying as doug pointed out. as it was going by the washington monument. looked like it was going past the midpoint practically of that monument. just a extraordinary thing to watch in the skies. a lot to think about. a lot of history there. we'll continue to watch it as it land. we'll bring you that as well. gregg: well, remember this, the government spending tons of cash to study shrimp running on a treadmill. i'm not kidding. there it is. who could forget that? well the new report on wasteful spending is out and wait until you hear what we spent over $3 billion on. martha: hang on there shrimp. ♪ . (bell rings)

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martha: mitt romney, with a message for president obama, start packing is what he told him in an interview last night. there is new polling numbers out there that may make that a possible scenario. we will see. the new numbers coming in showing how tight this race really could be. that is how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." we're glad to have you with us. i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. in an interview with diane sawyer airing tonight on abc's world news, romney was asked what he would like to tell president obama. he responded with this. >> start packing [laughing] that is what i would like to say. obviously we have a very different view. the president, i'm sure, wants another four years. but the first years didn't go so well.

gregg: well that very confident tone coming just as gallup daily tracking polls pulling slightly ahead of the president although still in a statistical dead heat, 47% to the president's 45. martha: mary katharine ham, columnist for "the daily caller" and fox news contributor. good morning. nice to see you this morning. >> good morning. martha: what do you make of the start packing comment? >> he is trying to take on a little bit more of a tough guy confident edge to him. sometimes he is not great at that. i think this was fine. it was a good-natured comment. i don't think it was rude or anything. there are some good signs for romney. he does need to be showing a little more confidence. i think that helps voters be more confident about him. as far as the "gallup poll" goes, the good news that incumbents historically lead when gallup starts tracking this far back from the election. the fact that obama is basically a statistical dead heat with romney whose numbers in other areas look likeability are very bad i

think is a very bad sign for obama. they should be worried about that. some other good signs for romney are that he's consistently leading on who people think will handle the economy and deficit better. those of course are the number one issues for many, many voters. on the other hand some other numbers for romney not so great so. hit-and-miss for him. martha: talking about a lot of very relevant numbers here. let's take a look at one of them. this is the favorable, unfavorable impression number and this is from a "washington post" poll that goes from april 11th to april 15th. so it is very recent. it has president obama at 56 favorable. look at that mitt romney favorable number, very low at 35%. that's a number, if you're in the romney camp and we'll talk to eric finnstrom in a little while, that has to have you concerned, mari katherine. >> there are questions about how likeable ratings are. i happen to think they're

important. people read those as i trust this buy. i can put my trust in this guy even if i don't understand or listen or believe everything he is saying i kind of dig him. i can put my trust that that is an issue for romney. "washington post" poll, comes down to the breakdown are friendly to democrats. the numbers might not be as bad. democrats gave romney a great opportunity going after his very charming and charismatic wife ann romney who was able to take the stage this week. that does wonders for him. martha: she said that whole conversation was a bit of a birthday gift. she was glad to have the opportunity to talk about her role as a homeworking mom. look at next poll is romney favorable ratings as it breaks down between men and women. romney does better with men than president obama does. that may be something they may want to look more deeply into. the unfavorable number among women is 52%. we talked around this issue, mary katherine, but the

numbers are staring everybody right in the face. >> republicans were able to win women by a small margin in 2010. it was a huge move for them. the question whether you can reconsolidate some of those voters over their concerns about the economy. i think mitt romney sticking to that message and talking to people sort of, you know, kitchen table issues which i think he can do he is competent speaker on economy will help him in those areas. good news from the polling is he has consolidated republican male voters who were not so fond of him before santorum had gotten out of the race. so he is doing some of that work to bring together the conservative base but he has work to do for sure. >> immediate task at hand to bring the party together which we heard so much about, speaking with michele bachmann about it moments ago. mary katharine ham, great to see you at top of the 10:00. we'll see you soon. >> thank you very much. gregg: this is a fox news alert. there it is the final flight for an american icon, space shuttle discovery doing a

fly-by of the washington monument on the back of a modified 747 jumbo before nasa's oldest and traveled space shuttle heads to the future home at the smithsonian. this shuttle discovery was actually the world's most-flown spacecraft and it is going to have a brand new home at the smithsonian annex which is located not at the air and space museum in washington, d.c. proper but actually at dulles airport. a special hangar annex area that was created for it. as soon as it lands here after the fly-bies, there will be a ceremony on the ground and an apron will be pulled and pull the shuttle off the top of its ride, the 47. doug mckelway joins us live and doug, talk to us about

this? >> reporter: gregg, this is fascinating thing to sigh. we just had a fly-by at dulles airport with the 747 mated to it. it is most unusual sight. the first thing you ask yourself when you see this how can this thing fly? it is a bit of a chore because it changes the center of gravity quite drastically on the 747 not to mention the weight factor and aerodynamic factor involved in that. if you look at the 747 pretty closely it has undergone a number of aerodynamic modifications. tail structure is very different than what you see on an ordinary 747. the shuttle itself weighs even when empty of fuel weighs 200,000 pounds. this has been gutted of most everything. it is a bit less than that, 175,000 pounds. it is a huge weight so it can't fly nearly as fast as a regular 747. can not fly as high. apparently flew up from

cape canaveral at altitude of 15,000 feet. if you were able to look out your windows up and down the southeast united states you may have been able to see this all the way up the coast but, we're standing by here at dulles airport on the runway. they ferried us out on one of those mobile lounges on to the runway. first time i'm stuck on a runway on dulles airport outside the plane which is a change but we're waiting for the final arrival. you guys in new york, gregg, i should add will be able to enjoy this same thing on monday because they're going to take the space shuttle which is presently in the air and space museum annex and mate it to the 747 on monday and then it will be flown up to new york, this is the shuttle enterprise, where it will go to the final resting place at the intrepid museum there. there will be a low fly-by the statue of liberty and some of the new york spots. so you will be able to enjoy the same thing in new york

that we're enjoying in washington today. gregg: boy, listen, new yorkers are very excited about getting the enterprise. it was actually a test shuttle. >> reporter: right. gregg: as we look at discovery, a lot of people may be wondering wait a minute, why doesn't just the shuttle fly into washington, d.c. by itself? the answer is doesn't have conventional engines, when it enters earth's atmosphere in space it is gliding without any engines. commanders have often said, it is kind of like trying to guide a heavy brick because you don't have engines. you are simply gliding into your landing, controlled mostly by computers. >> reporter: that's right. you mentioned the enterprise which new york will be receiving on monday. that is a craft which has flown in the atmosphere. it did all the initial testing of the gliding for the shuttle program and as you, as you see the discovery here, there is tremendous contrast, the discovery looks well-worn as

it is. it spent the equivalent of 365 days in space. 39 missions, over 27-year lifespan. it also had a number of firsts in its 27-year career. it launched hubble space telescope. it performed several hubble repair missions. it was also the shuttle that was used in the return to space missions after the challenger disaster. and then again after the columbia disaster and there was another space first. it carried senator and former astronaut john glenn back into space allowing him to become the oldest man ever to go up in space. for him it was obviously the second time. it has a number of firsts and a well-worn career and sure looks like it. apparently the smithsonian wants it to stay just that way. they want it to look like the well-used spacecraft

that it is. martha: as you point out enterprise will be coming to new york. atlantis will be at the kennedy space center and endeavor heads out to los angeles so that all of these vehicles can be appreciated by lots of folks who will want to come see them up close. it is interesting that you point out, doug, you know, it will bear all of the scars and wear and tear of going in and out of space on its trips up to the international space station. it is extraordinary site. >> reporter: yeah. martha: i want to talk a little bit about what happened in florida. there were thousands of people on hand to watch this vehicle leave and, you know, this has been such a huge part of the lives of all of the people in and around the kennedy space center. it has been, a source of employment for so many people. this space shuttle program at nasa. it has been sort of their life's work and life's blood, this program and now it comes to a close, doug. >> reporter: it comes to close, and it leaves a gaping hole in what the

future of the space program is. i can't help but be reminded of the hearings that are going on capitol hill today, the gsa hearings where we're seeing this example of extravagant government spending and sends a message that a lot of americans and certainly a lot of members on the hill don't want to see, this profligate government spending and extravagant government spending that sent a very bad message and certainly nasa throughout its storied career sent a very different message but in a time of budget constraints, in a time of this huge debt and huge deficits it's very, very difficult to see the kind of enthusiasm for nasa that we once saw. we certainly saw that on the campaign trail when newt gingrich proposed a mission to mars and mitt romney shot him right back down saying if it was in the private sector he would have fired him. martha? gregg: doug mckelway. thank you very much. we'll be coming back to

washington, d.c. when it lands. martha: here in "america's newsroom", a 6-year-old girl punished for throwing a tantrum at school and she was handcuffed, thrown in the back of a squad car and charged here is a question, did the school go too far, do you think? our legal panel will debate that coming up. gregg: a private conversation revealing potential details of mitt romney's tax plan. we'll ask his campaign about the details. martha: remember this? what a memorable treadmill on the shrimp. a study paid for by taxpayer dollars. it has become a poster-child for congressional earmarks. the annual list of new pet projects folks. you need to hear this. it may surprise you. we'll be right back. ♪ hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices?

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gregg: new details of wasteful government spending known as pork. the annual release of the congressional pig book. it details all the earmark spending in washington and the total cost of this year's pet projects $3.3 billion, that is way down. in 2006 congress spent $29 billion on earmarks. john fund senior editor of the american spectator, author of stealing elections. john, i thought congress put a complete moratorium on earmarks. why are there 3.3 billion? >> reporter: these aren't called earmarks. earmarks are down 98%. the tea party can take an awful lot of credit for that because the 2010 election sent a big message, earmarks bad. there are still 152 projects some of them question questionable. the good news is there are only that small number. the bad news is there is no transparency. it took citizens against

government waste even more time to ferret out the ones that were left. gregg: let's put up example number one on the screen. the big book found that $120 million, tax dollars went to the military to research alternative energy, and there was a navy project that spent 400 per gallon for algae-based biofuel? >> well, look, i'm in favor of research and development, so you don't want to immediately condemn something like that. but maybe that should have been done by the department of energy, maybe it's the wrong people doing it, with the wrong expertise. gregg: example number two by the pig book, the army's m-1 a 1abram's tank. congress stuffed 265 million tax dollars to upgrade it? >> i bet that tank is built in some district that has a powerful congressman representing it and he wants that production to continue

because it means jobs. the real jobs, the private sector jobs, not make work jobs for a tank that is shall we say driving into its own ditch. gregg: well said. the big book flagged $5.8 million for the east-west center in hawaii, meant to improve relations among pacific nations. the recent projects includes an inch dan endowment in horn of drum roll please, president obama's mother. again, government money? >> i think we should have a firm rule. nothing should be named after anyone in government or outside of government until they've been passed on for 20 years, 25 years, something like that. that would mean there would be an awful lot less of this naming game. the gregg: john fund, thank you very much for giving us the highlights of this year's big book. we'll see you soon. martha: new details that are coming in today in the case of a

missing california woman. brittany kilgore is her name and she disappeared on friday. where police are now focusing this investigation, it is telling, and that's next. gregg: mitt romney having his own open mike moment letting slip ideas for his tax plan. coming up mitt romney senior adviser joining us live, and we'll ask him about it. >> the american people are struggling right now and we have a president that doesn't seem to understand that he's been part of the problem, not part of the solution. [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wanted.

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gregg: welcome back, 22 minutes past the hour. police in san diego are searching for a marine's wife, missing since last week. they say foul play is likely involved. 22-year-old brittany dawn

kilgore's cellphone was found in a dump on saturday. italian officials identifying the bodies of four passengers on board a cruise ship. and a school bus carrying more than two dozen students crashes after returning home from a field trip. police say everybody on board is expected to be okay but the driver did suffer serious injuries eave was flung through the windshield. martha: that bubbling controversy over a democratic adviser who said that ann romney had never, quote, worked a day in her life, is a reminder of how pivotal the votes of women can be elections especially moms. that is a big question in the race for the white house. john roberts is listening to what voters have to say about that and he's speaking to both stay at home moms and working mothers, and those working mothers who also stay at home as

we well know. he joins us live from washington. john, what are you hearing from the ladies. >> reporter: no surprise, martha they have an awful lot to say. i talked with two women yesterday, both of whom made the decision to leave their careers and become stay at home moms. they were shocked at what hillary rosen had to say about ann romney. holly morris called that statement prideful and ignorant. she left a job in real estate to take care of their daughter. her husband is also in real estate. with the kpwhebg downturn thin economic downturn things have been rough for them. she is acutely aware at what a struggle it is to keep up. >> here is an example. my peanut butter just went up a dollar. when peanut butter goes up, fruit goes up, milk goes up, everything goes up. we need to start spending responsibly. we need to become better stewards of our money, and i'm talking about families too, including my own family. >> reporter: you know, every day

holly gets calls from creditors that she can't pay. she says she wants a president that will get the economy going, lift the housing market again so she and her husband can clear the deck of all the debt they've racked up. martha: there's been a lot of talk about the so-called mommy wars out there. what are you learning as you talk to women voters out there about what the biggest issues are for thefrpblgt for them? >> reporter: all this talk about contraception. bread and butter are for them. take this woman. she left the corporate world in 2004. she has three children. she is a swing voter. her top issues the economy, taxes and energy. >> i don't know a single person out there that is not concerned about the tax situation and where things are going. about the future of our energy policies and the impact of gas and what we are going to do to have a degree of energy independence. that impacts the day-to-day inches and outs of every female

that i know. >> reporter: talking to these two women there was an interesting take away from it, because neither one of them saw any difference between the issues that they were concerned about as women, and what men are concerned about this election year, martha. martha: that is exactly my take away listening to those women, john. they care about the stuff that everybody cares about, putting food on the table and an improved economic situation. interesting words of wisdom from the two of them. thank you so much, john. gregg: we are now getting new details about mitt romney's tax plan, what one reporter over heard him saying, and how it could affect you next. martha: plus, a spectacular view from space. look at that amazing video. the sunny ruptin sun erupting in an amazing solar flair. what is behind that cosmic phenomenon? i don't know the answer, but we'll bring in somebody that definitely does. we'll be right back.

martha: so, what exactly is mitt romney's tax plan? that is an interesting question, right? reporters did over hear the presidential candidate at a private fundraiser and he suggested a couple of things. one, was that the wealthy could actually expect to pay more if he wins, and that he would go

after some big government agencies as well. here is a quote of what was over heard according to these reporters. i'm not going to actually go through these one by one he said, but i can tell you is we've got far too many bureaucrats and i will send a lot of what happens in washington back to the states. so let's bring in eric frenstrom, mitt romney's senior adviser. good to have you here. let's talk about the first part first in terms of the wealthy paying more, how would that happen? >> well, martha, the governor said two things, none of which should be surprising to people who have been following his campaign. the first is that there are going to be cuts in government, and with very few exceptions we're going to be looking to combine agencies, eliminate programs, pare back where appropriate. and the second thing he said that in order to pay for his 20% across the board reduction in marginal tax rates we need to reform the tax code. one of the ways he's going to reinformant tax code is look to

deduction and credits that flow to upper income tax payers. he mentioned a couple of possibilities, if he becomes president we'll work in cooperation with the tax writing committees in congress to figure out exactly how we are going to do it. but even as we lower tax rates for the very wealthy, the burden of taxes that they pay will remain the same. martha: so, essentially you're talking about flattening out the tax code and making the rules more sort of across the board for everybody so that there would be fewer deductions, fewer loopholes, all of those sorts of things. why not -- i get twitter messages from so many people that say, why won't mitt romney back some sort of flat tax? why won't he? >> well, ultimately he'd like to see a flatter tax system. one of the ways that we're going to achieve that is by eliminating some of these deductions and credits, particularly for upper income tax payers and we're going to use the savings from that exercise to lower tax rates for

all americans across the board by 20%. by the way the governor doesn't stop there. he also wants to lower our corporate tax rate to 25%. unfortunately we now have the highest corporate tax rate in the country under president obama. that hurts job growth and is slowing down the economic recovery. the governor would like to see corporate tax rates come down as well. martha: let's take a look at the favorability numbers, april 11th through the 15th. they don't look so great for your candidate. mitt romney at 35% in terms of how many people have a favorable opinion of him. president obama is at 56% and we know also from looking at the break down of men and women the numbers continue in this most recent round to look tough for your candidate, especially with women. >> give us a chance to run our campaign waoefplt have seve. we have seven months ahead of us. you'll see polling that is all over the place. today is tax day, it's april 17th. i don't think any day better

illustrates the choice facing taxpayers. there is nobody who after adding up everything they owe the government walks away from that process thinking, you know, we have to raise taxes, yet on january 1st if we don't make a change at the white house, on january 1st you're going to see taxes go up by a half trillion dollars, it's going to be the largest tax increase in american history. these are the obamacare taxes that will take effect as well as the bush tax cuts expiring. if mitt romney is president he'll make sure that those tax cuts don't expire and he'll repeal owe baltimore a care and all the taxes that go witness. martha: a lot of people think that president obama when push comes to shove that he will want to leave those tax cuts in place as well. is that something you folks will be pressing him on in the coming weeks and months? would he indeed as he did before continue the bush tax cuts? >> under this president and his policies taxes have already increased. he's raised cigarette taxes, he's raised 19 separate tax et cetera as part of the obamacare

legislation that he signed into law. his record is one of raising taxes. he now wants to add a surcharge on upper income tax payers, the so-called buffet rule. and yet we've found out just by looking behind the facts and details there that the revenue raised from the so-called buffet rule will only fund barack obama's spending for approximately eleven hours. doesn't cut the deficit, doesn't create a single job. it's a political stunt. martha: it's a political stunt that seems to be working at the moment. very large support about 72% seem to be supportive of that buffet rule which as we know went down on capitol hill. we'll see where it goes. eric, thank you very much. always good to talk to you. >> thank you, martha. gregg: well you know what day it is. it's officially tax day. some economists say today is also the beginning of what they are calling taxmageddon the result of several key taxes expiring at end of this year

sparking fears of a catastrophic economic downturn. jim angle breaks is down for us live from washington. hi, jim. >> reporter: hello, gregg, you've got it. today is tax day. some are looking toward a bigger tax gay. some people call it taxmageddon such as arm m arm ma tkpwed armageddon. >> hr-plt entire tax code has been put on a year to year lease and in some cases a month to month lease, which is no way to run a government. >> reporter: a large number of tax policies expire at the end of this year. all the extended bush cuts, including lower rates for all, things such as the expanded child tax credit, also the payroll tax cut and a host of other cuts meant to stimulate the economy, taking all of them away at once will increase taxes by $500 billion in one year,

which could cripple and already weak economy. >> unemployment is going to go up. you're going to have probably an economy that is about 1 to 2 percentage points smaller than it otherwise would have been. and unemployment that is a full percentage point higher than it otherwise would have been because of these tax hikes. >> reporter: the increases would hit every taxpayer in the country with some 70% of the burden falling on those of low and middle income. of course congress would like tow avoid that, but with the uncertainties of the fall elections for both congress and the presidency, action could be delayed. >> the bottom line is that our future is nothing but uncertainty in the tax code. it's my guess that nothing will happen on any of these issues until after the election, which means that we have a small, virtually one-month window after the election to deal with all of these major issues before the entire tax system collapses. >> reporter: and all this raises stakes for the economy because

until congress acts businesses can't know what their tax rates are going to be. that makes it hard to hire more workers or plan for the future, leaving the economy and taxpayers in limbo, gregg, adding even more uncertainty to a weak economy. gregg. gregg: good analysis, jim angle as always, thanks. martha: does a temper tantrum warrant a juvenile, criminal record? this is what happened to* a six-year-old kindergartener who was cuffed and charged with assault. is that a little harsh? our legal panel will dig into that and give you the details. a judge in a rape case let's a 17-year-old out of jail with an a pol apology. it wasn't the suspect, but it was the alleged victim in this case. why she was locked up in the first place, next. >> it's a good day for my client. obviously she was suffering in incarceration. this should not have happened in the first place. i do believe that there were less extreme measures to obtain

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martha: want a lit good news. let's go to wall street where the dow jones industrials are back up above 13,000 this morning. quarterly earnings from coca cola. goldman sachs coming in with good numbers. that is boosting the market up over 135 points. we'll keep an eye on it. gregg: love green arrows. growing outrage in the state of georgia where the family of a kindergartener argues that police went way too far in responding to their daughter's temper tan rum in school. it happened a hundred miles southeast of atlanta, officers cuffing the 6-year-old, put her in the back of a squad car, brought her to the police station charging her with assault and damage to property. now the girl's dad is asking why the school called cops to begin with. we have a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney and a former federal prosecutor.

tom, did police do the right thing? >> i think they did, gregg. i think they did their best to deal with a very difficult situation. i mean, can you imagine a more difficult situation for a police officer to have to deal with than an out of control six-year-old who is, you know, by all accounts ripping pictures off the principal's walls. she knocked over a bookcase. i mean she needed to be restrained not only to protect the school administrators and the police, but more importantly to protect the six-year-old from herself. and in this day and age who really wants to be put in a position where they have to put their hands-on anyone else's child, particularly a six-year-old. gregg: annmarie that is a great point. if you're a teacher, boy you'll get sued if you put your hands-on a kid. maybe the best thing to do is call police. >> it's a real problem. i think what it illustrates is that there are better ways that have to be found to deal with these kids. i think when you look at this child's behavior, this goes way beyond just a temper tantrum.

the mother says that the child has mood swings. it sounds like this is a child that could well perhaps have psychological or psychat strike issues and can act out. professionals working with them could be trained to deal with them so it never reaches that point where police need to be called. gregg: we put our brain room on it, and here is what's happened in the last year alone in other schools. in maryland three nine-year-old boy, 8-year-old girl shackled in an elementary school held for 12 hours. in california cops zip tied the hands and feet of a five-year-old that was going crazy and posing a threat to everybody. new mexico a seven-year-old with autism was cuffed. in colorado a ten-year-old cuffed. that ten-year-old by the way had a gun. in florida an 8-year-old was kicking and biting teachers. they finally called police and that 8-year-old was handcuffed as weufplt mean, look, this happens more often than i think people realize, tom. >> we've seen a lot of this over

the last couple of years. i think, again it plays into what we discussed during the last go around, where, you know, the police, the school administrators are put in a completely impossible situation. i mean, look, we could all relate to the child who is acting out in class and being disruptive u. pu disruptive. you put them in the corner, send them to the principal's office. when you have a child manic, to the point, a 6-year-old called to the principal office that is going to have any average kid sit there and be terrified, and they are ripping things off the walls and knocking over bookcases you have very little choice other than to retrain them. no one wants a situation where they get into a wrestling match with a 6-year-old in this day in age when think contact will most likely result in criminal allegations. gregg: maybe there is a first step a psychologist, healthcare professional should be called first? >> absolutely. what they should have is some sort of a way where there is some sort of a medical facility

that they can call where somebody can call and give them advice and take care of the child. here in new york we have bellevue. maybe that is the type of place where a child gets taken if they have this. i think the important thing is the children have to be targeted from the beginning before it reaches this point to get the services they need, to be in a class perhaps it needs to be a smaller class, perhaps maybe this one needs to be on medication, maybe this one needs some sort of behaviorable therapy or some sort of an aide in the classroom with the child so you never reach the point of a child becoming so out of control that this is the only answer. gregg: good to see you both. tough issue. there are solutions out there somewhere somehow. thanks. martha: let's head over to the next studio why jenna lee is standing by as they get ready for "happening now" . good morning, jenna. jenna: good morning, martha. breaking details on the sex scandal rocking the secret service. you have 11 agents off the job and now reports military personnel may have been involved here. the latest on that. plus this medical story is a drug shortage leading to deaths

in the united states. some doctors say yes, we're going to explain that. and a high sea adventure turns catastrophic. now a rescue effort is underway. we're going to talk to one of the passengers who is stranded right now in the antarctic. if the phone works, martha we'll be talking to him and find out how he's doing. martha: we'll look forward to that at the top of the hour. a burst of energy on the sur vast of the sun, stunning new images of solar flares. look at that, erupting in space. what is behind that epic sight? we'll be back with an expert who can tell us. ♪ [singing] [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit

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we watched it come in on its own as a glider, as you say and then be carried in this piggyback formation back home to kennedy space center. but this time it's going back home to a new home at the dulles international airport as gregg was just saying. it's an annex of the smithsonian. this is the beginning of four shuttle museums, so to speak. you've got the enterprise which was the prototype which was currently at this dull lust location at the smithsonian. that one is moving up to new york. atlantis will be at the kennedy, cape canaveral. and the endeavor will go to a museum in los angeles. it looked like it was coming in for a landing. now it looks as if the runway is not clear, which we know is not what is happening. it's fascinating to watch this. it has taken basically sort of a ceremonial turn all around

washington. iit left florida this morning to cheers and tears in some cases as thousands of people watched it take off for the final time from florida, from cape canaveral. now it is heading into dulles. we also watched it take ceremonial turns around the capitol building. it went to the east, and to the west, and to the south, sort of tipping its wings all along the way to people who watched it, only a thousand feet in the sky. very low altitude. we watched it fly by washington monument that looked to be the midpoint of the monument. they said it was real he, real really, really close, and anybody could get a good look eight. gregg: around day break, 2,000 people, former shuttle workers, dignitaries, journalists, tourists, gathering around the landing strip to see it take off. cheers erupted once more as the

pair came in low over the runway. it had left about 20 minutes earlier. the fleet discovery with 3 39orbitol missions. the fleet leader heading to a museum. nasa ending the program after a 350-year run. they are going to focus on destinations beyond the low earth orbit. private companies are hoping to pick up the slack on that beginning with space station cargo and hopefully astronauts and the first commercial cargo run is actually set to take place in a few weeks, but we're going to miss the shuttle program, so amazing over the course of three decades. martha: as you point out this was really the work horse of the shuttle team. because of that it bears the sort of scars and old age. it's almost like a mature person with some wrinkles on it, because it's been working hard its whole life and has had an extraordinary existence of these successful missions.

remember the whole reason, the purpose for the space shuttle program was the building and establishing of the international space station, which they did accomplish. there were some tragedies of course along the which with columbia and with challenger and discovery was the renewal of that mission as it went up into space after those tragedies and renewed the tprap program on its even with those successful flights. it has been quite a story in space exploration and with the international space station. i think doug mckelway is hearing us now. doug, are you able to chime in here? >> reporter: i sure am. i'm looking at the space shuttle and the 747 right out the window of this mobile lounge, which i'm sitting in. i stepped in here to get out of the wind noise so you could hear me better. i have a full view of it as it's circumstance lining right now over the blue ridge mountains. dulles is situated near the shenandoah mountains.

it's a spectacular view. there is an array of camera people here lined up along the runway as well as dig in a tore reese. i spoke a while ago with senator leahy, secretary of transportation ray lahood is here. deputy administrator of nasa, laurie garber also here today. i spoke to them about what this represents. as much as it's an exciting occasion to see this thing coming in here and it will be landing shortly, it is a melancholy occasion. it signifies in a very concrete way the end of the shuttle program. this is the final resting place for discovery as we said. and people wonder what direction nasa is going in. you hear different points of view from people, the dignitaries who are gathered here. the assistant administrator at nasa is very optimistic about the program, the kind of research that is being done. she believes there is an ambitious manned space program ahead, and the work being done

on the space station right now with zero gravity, and long durations in space for men and women is the kind of research that is actually necessary for more distant space exploration. you speak to a guy like senator leahy, frankly as excited as he is to see this happen today is very disappointed in the space shuttle program. he's disappointed that so much money was invested in the international space program at the expense of a second generation of shuttle aircraft. he told me that he spoke with senator john glenn visiting his office a couple weeks ago. and this is a direct quote, he said john glenn is not a happy camper about the space program. but there are a lot of happy campers at dull lust airpor dullus airport right now as we anticipate the landing of the 747. i got a call a few moments ago from my wife and son in falls

church, virginia, they said it flew over their house at very low at two. my little boy was just thrilled. he called me and said, dad it came over our house, just about a hundred feet in the air. he was thrilled. you can echo that sentiment many thousand times over as the passes the washington suburbs. martha: i mean i remember when i was a little girl watching the a astronauts do the parade through washington d.c. as think came back. that captures the enthusiasm and excitement that has always surrounded the space program as far as our commitment of exploration as a country. that is part of what we're hearing expressed by john glenn. where are we going from here? is this a priority of any sort right now? this administration has not made it a priority and they want to see this kind of exploration turned at least in part over to private investment, and they are hoping that that will be the future of our space program, some sort of quasipublic/private

co conglomerant that will make this happen. it was a source of huge pride for many, many years. gregg: as a kid i remember all of the space flights. the geminies, the apollos, the landing on the moon. we were all around a television set in the summer of 1969. and it was such an integral part of the american fabric, we were really the first to land on the moon, and do so many firsts in space. now there is a great deal of melancholy in the national mood to see all of this coming to an end, doug? >> reporter: you're so right. i remember being in first grade on the first manned flight, alan shepard. there was a kid in my first grade class named alan shepard, and everybody in the class worshipped him because he had the same name as the first american in space. and it went on and got better and better from there.

there is a bit of medical on c melancholy about what this all represents. at the same time there is a great amount of research going on with the space station. the assistant nasa administrator told me a short while ago that the kind of experimentation that is being done there, in microgravities can't be done on earth. we are getting new kinds of vaccines made up there that cannot be produced on earth. there is valuable research going on up there. and i think as martha pointed out that the sort of idea of a public/private partnership shows tremendous promise too. there are also those who say that you simply cannot make the kind of tremendous investments from that kind of a private endeavour that nasa could make with the billions and billions of dollars that it took to create the manned mission to the moon. martha: we are going to turn it over in a moment to "happening now" who will watch the landing of t