one of former norm nations offered his support. on cnn rick santorum said he would back romney against the president but stopped short of an endorsement. >> everyone assumes you're going to endorse romney. spit it out. >> as i said is romney will the nominee and i'm going to support the nominee, whoever that is, period. >> reporter: newt gingrich finished a distant second. following the loss in connecticut, he said he would take a realistic look at the state of his campaign. >> we are going to think carefully about how we can be the most helpful to this country and how we can make sure, one,

that barack obama is a one-term president, period. >> reporter: gingrich promised is noters he would be at events in north carolina this week. ron paul has vowed to stay in the race until the convention, even though he has yet to win a single primary. despite winning all five races last night, mitt romney did not capture enough delegates to secure the nomination. a cbs news estimate has him at 298 delegates, that's 298 delegates away from officially becoming the republican nominee. both republicans and democrats are wooing college-age voters. president obama heads to iowa today to continue his pitch, prevent an interest rate increase on student loans. the president spoke to college students in colorado and north carolina yesterday. mr. obama said he and the first lady didn't take off their student loans until eight years ago. >> michelle and i know, we know about this firsthand. this isn't something i read in a

briefing book. this is not something that's an abstract idea for us. we've been in your shows. when we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of did debt, both of us. >> the president wants congress to keep student loan interest rates at 3.4%. if congress does not act by july 1st, the rate would double. there's been more fallout over the secret service prostitution scandal. nine agents have now lost their jobs following the events in colombia. the president says implicated agents are not representative of the agency that guards him and his family. susan mcginnis is in washington with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. so, now all 12 secret service employees have been dealt with. another 12 members of the military are still under investigation. and now president obama has something to say about it on late night tv. three more secret service agents implicated in the columbian

prostitution scandal are out of a job. that brings the total to 12 members of the agency disciplined for allegedly bringing prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in cartagena. six resigned, two are in the process of being fired, three were cleared of serious wrongdoing but will face administrative action and one retired. >> barack obama -- >> reporter: on nbc's "late night with jimmy fallon" president obama called the incident distraction but he defended the agency that protects him and his family. >> a couple of knuckleheads shouldn't detract from, you know, what they do, but what these guys were think, i don't know. that's why they're not there anymore. >> reporter: the agents involved were in dough columbia to set up security for the president's trip to the summit of americas earlier this month. several congressional committees are investigating what happened. janet that p

janet will face fierce questions. updating lawmakers on his agency findings. the president has expressed confidence in the director saying sullivan took swift action when he first heard of the alleged misconduct. many now, this could drag on. more hearings could determine whether there are clear rules for secret service agents about their conduct off-duty when on assignment. one senator says his office is getting calls from whistle-blowers talking about past misconduct. >> susan mcginnis in washington, thank you. supreme court takes up arizona's controversial immigration law fotoday. it allows police to check individual immigration status and allows individuals to be prosecuted. other tats have enacted similar laws. the obama says the law is illegal becausist the federal government's role to enforce

immigration and foreign policy. the john edwards trial begins its third day. his lawyers will likely have the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. andrew young detailed what he said was edwards' plan to use illegal campaign money to hide his mistress. when he asked him to claim paternity of rielle hunter's child he agreed. overseas. u.n. special envoy kofi annan said the situation in syria is bleak. amateur video purports to show u.n. observers in homs and hama yesterday. it reports government troops entered after observers left and killed more than 30 rebels. coming up on the morning news -- a race against time. the search is on for a 5-year-old heart patient taken from the hospital by his father. first, scott pelley with a preview of tonight's "cbs

evening news." the supreme court is hearing arguments today over arizona's controversial immigration law. we'll talk to people on both sides of the question to find out how the law has changed their lives. th their lives. that's tonight on the "cbs evening news." starting at just 6 bucks. e full of delicio, choose from savory favorites or our new philly cheesesteak sandwich. layers of shaved steak and grilled peppers served with fries and a tasty soup or salad. chili's lunch break combos. [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love.

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the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. for the second time in a week a bird strike forced an emergency landing. a jetblue flight bound for florida returned to an airplane outside new york city last night after two geese reportedly hit the windshield shortly after takeoff. the plane landed safely. 54 passengers were on board. but there were no injuries reported. police are looking for porter stone, a 5-year-old heart patient who was taken from a st. louis hospital by his father without permission. the boy was on the waiting list for a heart transplant. it's feared he's in serious danger because he only has enough medication to last him through this afternoon. he was charged -- or discharged

tuesday to be monitored by doctors closely to his home in the kansas city area. his parents are going through a divorce. on the "cbs moneywatch," an iphone frenzy gives apple a big boost. and all eyes are on the federal reserve today. ashley morrison's here in new york with more on that. good morning. >> good morning to you, michelle. some strong earnings reports propelled blue chips higher on tuesday. the dow added 74 points while the nasdaq lost 8. overseas markets got a boost on u.s. earnings news. tokyo's nikkei gained nearly 1% while hong kong's hang seng lost a fraction. apple shines for investors. the world's most valuable technology company sold 35 million iphones for the first quarter of the year, double what it sold last year and far beyond analyst expectations. apple's stock price jumped 7% after the closing bell. most economists think the federal reserve will keep interest rates where they are following today's meeting. the fed releases its latest round of quarterly forecasts today.

it's likely that fed chair ben bernanke will cite enough economic growth to leave borrowing cost as is. federal prosecutors made the first arrest connected to the bp gulf oil spill. two years ago an oil rig explosion set off the worst oil spill in u.s. history. a former bp engineer was charged with deleting more than 300 text messages that indicated the spill was worse than the company was saying. michelle? >> thank you, ashley. ashley morrison here in new york. straight ahead, your wednesday morning weather. in sports, punishing world peace. the nba comes down on lakers' forward metta world peace for this act of violence over the weekend. f violence over the weekend.

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here's another look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. new york, chance of showers, 61 degrees. miami, mostly sunny, 80. chicago, chances of thunderstorms at 66. dallas, partly sunny, 86. l.a., rainy and 70 degrees. now for a check of today's national forecast. showers with some snow will linger from interior maine to northern pennsylvania. showers and thunderstorms will develop from minnesota, wisconsin and michigan to kentucky. most of the south will be sunny and dry.

record heat is likely for parts of oklahoma and texas. and expect rain and thunderstorms from western washington state to california. in sports now, the nba is punishing metta world peace for his unprovoked attack on an opposing player. the league handed the laker's forward, formerly known as ron artest, a seven-game suspension. on sunday he elbowed james harden in the head. the suspension will put world peace on the shelf for most of the lakers' first-round playoff series. the new orleans saints are now dealing with the fallout of new accusations of wrongdoing. louisiana state police and the fbi have opened a wiretapping investigation of general manager mickey loomis, in response to a report by espn that loomis was able to eavesdrop on opposing coaches' headsets from 2002 to 2004. loomis, already facing a suspension in the bounty scandal, says the accusations are false.

at least some suspense of tomorrow night's nfl draft is gone. the indianapolis colts have confirmed they'll use the first overall pick to select stanford quarterback andrew luck. during the off-season the colts cleared the way for luck by trading four-time mvp peyton manning to the denver broncos. in the nhl playoffs the new jersey devils needed overtime to stave off elimination. about 5:30 into the extra period, new jersey's travis zajac forces the game-winning goal. the devils beat the panthers 3-2 and forced a game seven thursday in florida. in baseball, the cubs and cardinals go down to the wire. chicago entered the bottom of the ninth, trailing 2-1, but first baseman bryan lahair ties it with a solo home run and in the tenth inning soriano delivers a game-winning rbi with a single to center field. the cubs win it 3-2. when we come back, another

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here's another look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. washington, partly sunny, 67 degrees. atlanta, sunny, 78. st. louis, partly sunny, 82. denver partly sunny, 81. seattle, late day rain and 65. here's another look at this morning's top stories. a five-state primary sweep for mitt romney, who won yesterday's contest in connecticut, rhode island, delaware, pennsylvania and new york. romney turned his attention to the general election accusing the president of weak leadership. and the president is pushing his plan to prevent an increase in the interest rate for student loans.

he spoke to college students in colorado and north carolina yesterday. he flies to iowa today. south korea's government will continue to allow american beef to be imported despite the first outbreak of mad cow disease in the u.s. in six years. but the news has prompted two major south korean supermarket chains to stop selling beef that comes from the united states. wyatt andrews has more on the latest outbreak. >> reporter: this time the disease was found in a dead 5-year-old cow that was taken here, the baker commodities rendering plant in california. it was about to be ground into pet food when a random test discovered the illness. the usda stressed there was never a danger to humans from the cow's meat or milk because no dead cow is ever slaughtered for human consumption. the usda's chief veterinarian is john clifford. >> this particular animal did not enter the food supply at any time, so there was no concern about that.

>> reporter: scientists we contacted agreed there was no risk to the public. the diagnosis was atypical bse, or bovine spongeoform encephalopathy, which is spontaneous and not known to be contagious to humans or animals. atypical also means the cow did not get sick from other cows or from eating a banned type of animal feed composed of other animal. >> it is not likely to be attributable to infected feed, which is the method in which normally bse would be spread from cow to cow. >> reporter: there have been three deaths in america from mad cow disease. a brain-wasting infection with no cure. but all three victims had spent many years eating beef overseas. no american is known to have died from consuming u.s. beef since increased testing began nine years ago. wyatt andrews, cbs news, washington. in other news we're learning more about that plan to mine asteroids for precious minerals

and even water. the venture backed by james cameron and a group of google executives, was unveiled on tuesday. they're planning to mine more than 1,000 asteroids that fly near the earth. robotic spacecraft would extract the minerals. organizers expect to have a gas station gas station working in eight years. but the project could cost billions of dollars. in scranton, pennsylvania, it was a case of the bad news bears. a mother bear and her three cubs invaded the backyard set of a tv weather forecast monday. it sent the weatherman running inside for safety. he said he didn't realize how fast a 44-year-old guy could run. the black bears roamed around the set for a while, forcing the weatherman to finish his report indoors. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," an in-depth look at the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards. and oprah winfrey contributes to the continuing series "note to self." i'm michelle miller. this is the "cbs morning news." i'm michelle miller.

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can't imagine why, but if you ever wanted to experience a major earthquake, you can climb aboard the quake cottage in indianapolis. it simulates an 8.0 magnitude quake. officials are spreading awareness of earthquake because indiana sits near two vault zones. economists are hoping for a seismic shift in the recovery of the housing market and there are signs of optimism. in one los angeles neighborhood, home prices are rising partly due to so-called flippers. ben tracy reports. >> reporter: when did you move in? >> we moved in at the end of may. >> reporter: adam bought this house in los angeles ten months ago with his brother logan. they paid $10,000 more than the asking price. >> i had no concern.

like, it just really felt good. you can't go down any street without seeing a home under renovation. >> reporter: their house in the highland park neighborhood is the work of flippers, investors who buy houses in foreclosure, fix them up and sell them. >> on our street there have been eight homes flipped. >> reporter: just a year ago 13% of the homes sold in highland park were bought by investors. this january, 43% of them were. nationwide investors accounted for 23% of home sales in february. attracted by low prices and record low interest rates. when you guys bought this house was this pretty much a beater? >> it was. it was a heavy fixer. >> reporter: house flipper matt bought this foreclosed home in highland park and turned it into this. he sold it for a $90,000 profit. how many flips have you done this year? >> we sold 17 last year. right now we have 12 in the works. we plan on doing 24 to 30 this year. >> reporter: during the housing

bubble, flippers helped inflate prices. now they're helping to stabilize home values. they're also luring first-time buyers who are essential to a housing market recovery. but the flippers are making it harder for people to sell homes like this one that have not been redone. these folks are competing with a remodeled home just three doors down the street. that house now has a sold sign in front of it. >> prices have already gone up. so we would not be able to purchase this home today for what we paid for it. >> reporter: and that's a move the housing market hasn't seen in years. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. well, coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," mitt romney is declaring victory after last night's round of republican primaries. we'll have a wrap from washington. also, the search intensifies for an american woman missing in panama. we'll have details. and oscar-winning actress goldie hawn stops by with her new book. and a sports super agent breaks down this week's highly

anticipated nfl draft. that's the "cbs morning news" for this wednesday. thanks for watching. i'm michelle miller. have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. miller. have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. ,,,,,,

>> as the supreme court takes up arizonas controversial >> as the supreme court takes up arizonas controversial immigration law, across the