tornadoes, intense thunderstorms, and flash floods roll over the southern plains. illinois vote. mitt romney pushes for a big win as rick santorum is put on the defensive. >> my canneddy dacy doesn't hinge on whether the employment rate goes up or down. and the investigation opens. the justice department and the fbi decide to look into the shoots of an unarmed african-american teenager in florida. captioning funded by cbs good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. not round of severe weather pounding the nation.

it's not over yet. last night a tornado touched down southwest of san antonio. at least 50 homes were damaged in the small towns of divine and natalia. so far no injuries are reported but there are unconfirmed reports of people trapped in mobile homes. the storm system also brought heavy rain and flooding to parts of texas and oklahoma where much of the state is under a flash flood watch. more potentially dangerous weather is forecast for today, louisiana, arkansas, missouri, and into wisconsin. mitt romney is hoping for a knockout punch in today's high-stak high-stakes. santorum was forced to skplamt his position on unemployment. susan mcginnis is in washington with more. good morning. >> good morning. you remember mitt romney's flub.

now santorum is backtracking after a statement he made yesterday. rick santorum is definding comments he made in moline, illinois, yesterday. >> we need a candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom, who's going to make that the central theme in this race. it is the central theme in this race. i don't ware what the unemployment rate is going to be. it doesn't matter to me. >> reporter: he said he'd like a do-over to explain what he meant. >> of course, i care. i'm saying my candidacy duchblt depend on the unemployment rate going up and down. >> reporter: mitt romney tried to capitalize on santorum's flub at a rally in peoria. he zresed the economy is his top priority. >> one of the people who's running also for the republican nominationings today said he doesn't care about the unemployment rate, that doesn't bother him. i do care about the unemployment rate. it does botter me. >> reporter: the latest poll shows romney with a 14-point

lead over santorum heading into illinois's primary and romney is showing confidence in a win. >> together we're going to get this job done, i'm going to get the nomination, we're going to defeat barack obama and take back this great country. >> reporter: santorum didn't file the necessary paperwork in four districts making him ineligible for ten of the 54 delegates at stake today. that could help mitt romney extend his lead. so after illinois it moves to louisiana where rick santorum is expected to do well and then, betty, it moves up here to d.c. on april 3rd. also maryland and wisconsin. >> a lot of top. thank you, susan. mitt romney was trying to focus on the economy as he campaigned yesterday, but at bradley university he faced questions about his opposition to planned parenthood and mandatory birth control coverage. one woman told romney she's looking for free birth control.

>> if more than 40 others wounded. next week the arab league has a summit schedule you'ded in baghdad. the american soldier accused of gunning down 16 afghans says

he doesn't remember what happened. in a statement bales alzheimer's wife says she's profoundly sad. >> reporter: moving trucks hauled away the contents of staff sergeant bails' washington state home after his wife and children moved out. they now live on a military base. his home is at leavenworth where he's in detention. he met with his attorney for the first time monday. john henry brown said he was drinking but not drunk the night of his shoot shooting. he also says bales did not tell him of what happened. >> he has an early memory of the evening and a later memory but he doesn't have a memory of in between. he's in shock. he's fixated on the troops left on the ground and what they're accusing him of and how that

might have ramifications on his friends and compatriots and he's concerned there would be retaliation that would be caused by what people think he's done. >> reporter: we're also learning more about bales' previous legal troubles. he wu r was accused of assaulting a girlfriend in 2002 and had to take an anger management court, he was cited for a hit-and-run accident in 2009 and while working with a financial adviser before he enlisted, he was accused of fraud. he was required to pay more nan $1 million but never did. the shooting created tense situation. on monday the white house again denounced the attack. >> the killing of these innocent afghan civilians was a tragic and terrible event and did not represent what our military stands for. >> reporter: bales' wife says she can shed no light on what happened. carilyn says what has been

reported is completely out of character of the man i know and admire. police say he shot at point blank range but they believe he's a marksman. >> reporter: by the time the police arrived, the killer had escaped. just before class began, the man had ridden up to the high school on a motorcycle and started shooting. the rabbi who taught yiddish was killed along with his two sons age 3 and 6 and an 8-year-old girl. parents and pupils struggled to describe the horror of children shot at point blank range.

french president nicolas sarkozy suspended hi re-election campaign to travel to the school and called it a tragedy. it's also a national emergency. police believe the shooter is a serial killer and probably racially motivated. the same weapons was used to gun down four french soldiers in the region last week. all the soldiers were muslim or black, a fact that means this community's overwhelming degree grief is also laced with fear. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. coming up on cbs news, appl on their investment and first lady michelle obama visits david letterman. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts.

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♪ could open a world of wonder? ♪ ♪ so sensory ♪ so satisfying ♪ the discovery never seems to stop ♪ ♪ it's the magic friskies makes happen ♪ ♪ every day ♪ in so many ways ♪ friskies ♪ feed the senses first lady michelle obama was david letterman's late show guest last night.

dave asked her about private conversations she's had with the president. >> hypothetically speaking, at the end of the day, has your husband ever come home and said to you, oh, that john boehner, what an idiot. >> it has never happened. never, never. he's always upbeat, particularly about congress. >> mrs. obama also described leaving the white house in disguise to shop last year, you may remember that, and thinking her cover was actually blown when a woman approached her. well, it turns out the shorter woman just wanted help with an item she couldn't reach. on the "cbs moneywatch" disney's big box office bomb and a huge bomb it was. apple makes its shareholders very happy. ashley morrison is here with that and so much more. a little good and some bad.

>> it was a missed day for asian mark kel. nikkei went up slightly while hong kong's hang seng dropped 1%. we'll get the report on housing starts. we are expecting to see signs if growth in the housing market. on monday the dow inched up 6 points while the nasdaq gained 23. apple is rewarding its shareholders with a dividend. the company says it will pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share starting in july. apple was sitting on more than $97 billion in cash. on monday apple also announced it had sold 3 million new ipads since friday. the owners of the nork mets scored a victory yesterday, not on the field but in court. after months of legal wrangling they agreed to pay the trustees of the victims of bernie madoff. but the mets owners lost over $178 million from their own investments with madoff. the net result, they could turn a profit of $16 million, but that's only if the trustee can

collect the money madoff stole. and disney shares fell 1% after the market closed. the drop came after disney said it expected to lose $200 million on the new movie "john carter." the sci-fi 3-d movie cost $300 million to make and market. the box office says it could end up being one of the biggest flops of all time, and you certainly don't want to have to say you were part of that movie probably then career-wise. >> i paid the money to go see it, believe it or not. >> do you want your money back? >> i'm not saying. all right, ashley morrison. thanks for joining us. straight ahead, your tuesday morning weather and in sports a merry-go-round with peyton manning and that could mean out with tim tebow.

here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. new york, partly cloudy, 67, miami, partly sunny, 83, chicago, partly sunny, 78, dallas, showers, 66, l.a., you'll see nothing but sunshine. 68. time now for a check of the national forecast. heavy rain will fall on the both sides of texas/oklahoma and louisiana/arkansas line with damaging winds and tornadoes likely. rain is also on tap from eastern kansas to the upper midwest. scattered thunderstorms are likely in the carolinas and the

mid-atlantic. record warm will continue in the northeast. rain and mountain snow will fall from the pacific northwest to the northern rockies. in sports the denver broncos are one contract away from winning the manning bowl. now, there's no official confirmation, but multiple sources say four-time league mvp peyton manning has decided he wants to play in denver. espn reports manning has told his agent to work out a deal. now that almost certainly means that tim debow, who led denver to the afc title last season, will be traded. now to the nba. dallas at denver. in the stands, nugget fans celebrated their city's new football hero, but on the court it was the dirk nowitzki show. the man hit shot after shot from inside and outside scoring 33 points with 11 rebounds as dallas beat the nuggets 112-95. and in the nhl, the bruins, a big night in boston. they sensed the score almost at will. the leafs changed goalies mid game, but that did not help.

boston won, 8-0, completing a six-game season sweep of toronto. when we return, demand for justice. the mother of a teenager gunned down by a neighborhood watch leader speaks out. we'll have the latest on the investigation. this is the "cbs morning news." ion. this is the "cbs morning news." you sure its a good price? pretty sure... sfx: truth phone rings

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here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., showers, 73. atlanta, partly cloudy, 81. st. louis, a thunderstorm or two, 84. denver partly cloudy 56 and seattle, rainy, 48. here's another look at this morning's top stories. a tornado touched down southwest of san antonio, texas.

at least 50 homes were damaged but there are no reports of injuries. more severe weather is expected in the southern plains and midwest today. and the american soldier suspected of shooting 16 afghan civilians says he doesn't remember the massacre. sergeant robert bales met with his lawyer for the first time yesterday. the justice department is launching a federal investigation into the shooting death of a black teenager last month in florida. the shooter was a neighborhood watch member who was not arrested even though the dead teen, trayvon martin, was unarmed. the case has stirred growing protests as mark strassmann reports. >> reporter: sabrina fulton has waited nearly a month for what she calls justice, an arrest for the killing of her son, trayvon martin. >> to me, no question, it was definitely murder. he was murdered. >> shot in cold blood? >> shot in cold blood. >> reporter: 28-year-old george zimmerman said he shot martin in self-defense february 26th. he remains free. zimmerman, an armed neighborhood watch leader saw martin walking

inside a gated subdivision near orlando. he thought the 17-year-old looked suspicious and called police. >> he's got his hand in his waistband, and he's a black male. >> are you following him? >> yup. >> okay. we don't need you to do that. >> reporter: but zimmerman chased martin. neighbors heard a fight and began dialing 911 to report screams and then a gunshot. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> did you recognize the voice on that tape? >> that's my baby. that's my son that was yelling. >> and when you heard the gunshot, that must have been wrenching. >> it left a hole in my heart. an explosion came in my heart when i heard the gunshot. >> reporter: zimmerman had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, a .9 millimeter handgun. trayvon martin was unarmed. he carried a cell phone, a can

of iced tea, and candy that he just bought at a 7-eleven. two weeks ago we asked why mr. zimmerman was not in jail. >> mr. zimmerman felt that he in self-defense needed to fire his weapon. >> reporter: a 2005 florida law known as "stand your ground" allows deadly force when someone feels reasonably threatened, but sabrina fulton says the real issue here is race. >> if he had pulled the trigger and he was an african-american male and he shot a caucasian man, a white man, yes, he would be in jail. >> reporter: martin's family wants the fbi to take over this as a civil rights case. local prosecutors are reviewing this, and zimmerman has given no interviews except to sanford police. mark strassmann, cbs news, miami. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," the latest on the severe weather threatening part of the nation's midsection. i'm betty nguyen. this is the "cbs morning news." e nation's

midsection. i'm betty nguyen. this is the "cbs morning news." ,,,,,,,,

well, it wasn't exactly king kong on the empire state building, but a big gorilla did escape in new york yesterday, buffalo, new york. emergency vehicles converged on the buffalo zoo's lowland gorilla habitat when a 400-pound silverback named kogo escaped. he slipped through an unlocked due in a secured area and attacked the zookeeper. >> he wasn't free around the grounds, and he was not free in the building. however, there was a worker in the zoo who had been bitten by this animal both on the arm or the hand and the leg. she had locked herself in another cage with another gorilla to escape the wrath of this one. so the situation was very serious. >> zoo visitors were hustled to safety until kogo was calmed down with a tranquilizer dart and returned to his cage.

the zookeeper suffered minor bites from the attack. there's a very rare hearing disorder that amplifies every sound inside your body, your breathing, your heart beat, even the sound of your eyeballs moving. one woman had it for nine months and it was driving her crazy, but she finally got treatment. >> reporter: the crunch of potato chips used to be deafening. she could barely talk to her husband, and watching tv was painful. her voice and her heartbeat echoed hardly in her head. >> oh, my god, a living nightmare, it really was. to wake up, you know, it was just -- i couldn't function. >> reporter: the mother of three suffered dizzy spells and ear pain. she went to the e.r. eight times but got no answers. >> they'd do all sorts of tests on me, and everything was fine. you know, they'd look at me like i was crazy.

>> reporter: finally somebody listened. he discovered a tiny hole in a bone in her ear. a rare disorder. >> when the normal patient has a seal there, the sound waves come in when they're supposed to and leave when they're supposed to. >> reporter: it passes through a bone that separated the inner ear from the brain. scientists believes the pulsing of the brain may wear away that bone in some patients. during a four-hour operation surgeons patched the hole after opening her skull. >> they make a little window in the bone and slide in underneath the brain and find this little port. >> reporter: the relief was instant. >> not hearing the heart beating and my own voice echoing, you know, it was heaven sent. i was so happy. >> reporter: there's a risk kerry could develop a hole in her other ear. for now she's grateful to hear just like everyone else. cbs news, los angeles. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning" congressman paul ryan explains

how his new federal budget proposal reduces spending and reforms medicare. and why police are some of the worst and most dangerous speeders in florida. and the creator of the hit southeast" mad men" talks about his show's big career. that's the "cbs morning news" for this tuesday. thanks for watching, everyone. i'm betty nguyen. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> one clue and little else, how south bay community is coming together to search for missing teenager >> the san francisco share of keeps his gun but will keep his keeps his gun but will keep his job?