the judge considered dozens of motions by both the florida prosecutor's office and zimmerman's legal team. among them, judge deborah nelson ruling the defense will not be able to make mention of a number of details about trayvon martin's past. in their opening statements. those details which the defense claims shed light on martin's character including his possible prior marijuana use, his suspension from school and text messages. >> the state is seeking to prohibit the defense from making any reference to the fact that trayvon martin had at any time been suspended from school. >> it will not be mentioned at all without a prior ruling of the court. >> any communications or evidence that trayvon martin had used marijuana in the past, we're asking the court to exclude that. >> previously used marijuana, the state's motion will be granted. that will not come in. >> despite today's ruling, the judge left the door open for those pieces of evidence to be used later in the trial on a case by case hearing. after the hearing, robert

zimmerman maintained his brother's innocence. >> george lived in a community plagued by crime and it turns out, he was the first one to reach out to police to try to help his neighbors. george is a good, decent and honest man. >> meanwhile, attorneys for trayvon martin's family praised the court's decision to exclude the evidence about the teen's past. >> all the things that they did to defame his character, to give him a bad name, to turn people against him, will not work. it doesn't fit in the legal arena. >> so our coverage begins with kerry sanders who joins us from outside the courthouse in sanford, florida. it was a pretty fluid morning but they got a lot of work done. the biggest thing established was the fact the june tenth date stands. >> reporter: exactly. i think we got a real picture of how the judge runs her courtroom today. it was very no nonsense, by the book. she moves very quickly. i think i counted 22 motions and

she dispensed with those all this morning. it was very quick and short order to deal with many of these motions including you talked about, whether things like the photographs that were retrieved from trayvon martin's phone, whether they will be presented to the jury. now, in this case in florida, it will be a six-member jury. and then there will be some alternates. on the 10th, right over my shoulder, there will be a long line of people. 500 people have been called as potential jurors. that jury pool will go in and they'll begin the process of asking each juror questions. because there is concern about the identity of the jurors, and whether there might be community pressure on them to lean one way or the other, the judge is suggesting the plan will be that the jurors' names will not be released. they will be given numbers. in the courtroom when they are asked questions, they will not be asked to give their names and maybe not even where they were. of course, that's a problem for both sides. specifically for the defense. among the issues here is the

question about drug use. and while the judge said whether trayvon martin's alleged use of marijuana over a long period of time can be ever presented in the courtroom, that a juror who maybe smokes marijuana over a long period of time could become relevant. so that's one of the things they'll to have sort out when they figure out how they'll be talking to these potential jurors. so if you have a former police officer as a potential juror, in all likelihood that person probably has not had a habitual use of say, smoking marijuana. whereas another potential juror, i'm not going to cast anybody in any profession, might be more likely to be a regular user and they believe that could be an issue in picking a jury here. >> okay. so explain george zimmerman though not being in court. we saw his brother robert zimmerman jr. come to the mike after the hearing ended. do we have any information on where george was or if he was

supposed to be in the court? >> reporter: i didn't get a clear answer as to where he was. i can tell you that he is not obligated to be in the courtroom. he has been at most of the hearings. he will be here in two weeks when the trial begins but he was not in the courtroom and there is no obligation to be here. this was very technical in detail. and perhaps it was just beyond him to want to sit there and be part of it. >> kerry sanders reporting. thanks so much. i want to bring into the conversation the defense attorney, the former prosecutor, karen de soto. before we get started, let me mention that george zimmerman has sued nbc for defamation and the company has strongly deny his allegations. let's dive right in and talk about this. your impressions from how this morning went. from just the way the judge conducted herself. pretty no nonsense, straightforward and they got through a lot of work. >> she's running a tight ship. this is typical that you have a

lot of motions. she has to make a lot of evidentiary rulings on what's coming in. not coming in. she will have to revisit everyone of those. she has to set up prehearings for what we call fry hearings on the experts. so there's a lot to be done. she handled it very swiftly. very tightly. no nonsense. i'm not changing the date. i don't care if you need experts or witnesses or more information. it will go off. >> so let's talk about what the defense was trying to have incorporated into this. information about trayvon martin that they feel can be used as evidence to set up his character. the judge is saying, this is not information that needs to be in yet. >> well, she is saying for the purposes of opening statements. now remember, every piece of evidence has to be authentic indicated. you need witnesses in order to be that. >> isn't there a distinction between what is evidence and what is information? this is information that they're trying to introduce as a form of evidence. the judge is saying, your information doesn't reach the bench mark. >> well, in general you're not

allowed to include character evidence. that's a no-no. you have to do a separate lay the foundation, authentic indicate it for that. that's why we don't allow it in the opening statements. until that information comes in, then your relevancy, your hearsay, whether or not you can authentic indicate the information. information, evidence, whatever you want -- >> for viewers at home. evidence is the gun. evidence is the 911 tape. >> evidence is testimony, information, facts. >> information whether or not a teen smoked pot before is information. >> so how is that going to come in? they're going to say, the defense is going to say that because of the self-defense argument, whether or not who was the aggressor, which is one of the elements they have to prove, and who provoked was is another element that will come into that case. based on that, if he was on pot at the time. and we know that it was in his system. the defense is going to argue

that if he had pot in his system, if he was a long term user, there is a possibility he was paranoid and aggressive. therefore that information would come in. in fact one of those june 6th arguments is probably to go over a lot of the expert testimony along with the audio which is another argument. >> june 6th is when they're back in court again. however, trial starts the 10th. >> correct. so june 6 and 7, they will do the pre-hearings on the audio tapes and whether they're coming in. it will be a fight with the experts as well here. you have to information on the marijuana. they're going to have experts for that. the audio tapes, another key evidentiary hearing. both sides will have experts if it even comes in. if it is considered inaudible. then that information might not be coming in and it is a good situation for the prosecutor. >> thank you so much. msnbc contributor managing editor of the agreeo.com.

and msnbc contributor jonathan capehart and radio talk show host michael smerconish now heard and exclusively. all three of you had an opportunity to hear the reporting from kerry. then analysis from karen. let me start with you. what's your take on this? the information is out there. it is not being considered evidence as of yet when it comes to things they are trying to display as representative of trayvon martin's character. >> well, it is interesting. i did speak with them as well as the attorneys for the martin family about this information evidence that was posted to the defense website, released by mark o'meara in the case. what the family attorneys were saying was this was never going to come in. it won't come in at trial. it is hearsay. it may be relevant depending on

how the prosecution tries their case. sending a shot across the bow. if you bring up george zimmerman's background, we'll try to bring this in about trayvon martin. the judge today full stop sided with the prosecution and said this is not coming in. particularly in opening arguments. why that is important, it will prevent mark o'marra starting on with these traits let's say this could be damaging. there were these fights. previous issues. things on the cell phone. he can't open with that. he can get it in during the trial but as the market family has predicted, the judge said no way. this is not coming in in opening arguments. >> was this a demonstration of george zimmerman being afforded the best defense possible. his attorneys using every angle they could. whether they knew it was legally responsible of them or not. they were trying anything they could to make their case stronger. >> today was a day that

seemingly, the prosecution won and i agree with everything that joy ann reid said. i think the defense achieved its objective. what they were seeking to do was get all of this information out in advance of the trial before a jury is selected. while they'll bring in 500 people, no matter what they say, in the back of my mind will be the idea that somebody on that panel heard about the pot. heard about the gold caps on the teeth. heard about a history of fighting. frankly, thomas, i think this was all intended to muddy the waters. >> that's a great point. do you think this was, for lack of a better term, to thugify the memory of trayvon martin, that this kid was skilts and an ice tea was really a threat to george zimmerman who was carrying a gun. >> i think you're right. in the piece i wrote today, i

said the strategy of portraying trayvon martin as a thug is masterful. it is out the way he wants it. i think joy said at the top of the segment. this was part of the plan. he knew he couldn't get this into evidence during the actual trial. to put it out, especially the week before memorial day. to have it sitting out there for four or five days before they go into this hearing. it is out there. and as michael said, there are going to be 500 people who will line up to be part of the jury. the idea that not one of them will hear about the pot or the gold teeth or hear about the school suspensions, hear about the redacted text messages that the defense put out last week is implausible. >> as michael points out, these facts that they're trying to introduce.

>> this evidence may not be in yet but here we are covering it. when we think about what was done, one of the big bomb shells. put a witness up that talked about about the prosecution's investigation. that they had not turned over images and text messages to the defense until this guy, i think his name was wesley white, came forward and asked if he had received that information which o'marra said he hadn't. >> all along, he has tried to portray the prosecution in this case as trying to only put out information that made george zimmerman look bad. now you have this person who resigned coming forward saying, i think he was an i.t. saying i had to push them to get this information out. whether or not, that doesn't really go to the substance of the case, to be frank with you. legal experts i've spoken to said this is part of the show before the show. this is about mark o'mara simply saying the prosecution's real case here is george zimmerman is

a bad person. that's all that they've really got. that he is trying to essentially in a lot of ways, litigate trayvon martin's background to sort of equalize the two by the time this gets to a jury. i think this issue which will be litigated before the trial starts won't wind up being ge y germane. who was crying for help on that 911 tape? the hard thing will be, how do you get jurors who are not prebiased by the information they've already heard? >> that's a great question. is there an issue with having the trial there in sanford and people having read about this, watched this unfold and now here comes the hard task of trying to impanel this jury that would be able to not be affected by what they've read or heard or even followed up to this point. >> you know, if i were trying this case, and i brought in juror after juror and they said they had heard none of this,

then i would start to question those jurors on a wheel different basis as to how knowledgeable and plugged in they are to their own communities. because i don't need to tell you, this is a huge story. at its core, remember, it is a he said/he said. unfortunately, only one of those men is here to tell his story if he chooses to do so. >> here's the other thing though. and jonathan, i'm going to ask this of you. as the defense is trying to provide information that they could use as some type of evidence to smear the memory of trayvon martin, isn't it going to be just as hard for prosecutors to provide any type of information to exalt the memory of trayvon martin and combat any stereo types out there about what type of young men he was? >> well, look. let's keep something in mind. trayvon martin is not the one on trial of it is george zimmerman on trial. and if mark o'mara wants to play the character game, fine. he's put all that information out there about trayvon martin. there are also things about george zimmerman that is already out there that people need to be

reminded of. his july 2005 arrest for assaulting a police officer. the august 2005 order of protection that his fiance put out against him. and as joe ann reported, sometime back, witness number 9 who was the cousin who alleges that george zimmerman molested her when they were kids. while that is irrelevant, a phone call that she made to the sanford police department two days after the shooting the killing of trayvon martin is relevant in the case because she told police investigators at the time, to ask people, to canvas other people to find out whether george zimmerman was racist because she knew from being a member of the family that they didn't like black people, said disparaging things about black people. those are the kinds of things that are relevant that george zimmerman has to answer to. not trayvon martin being to a lot of degree, a typical american teenager. >> one of the things that happened today in court was that

the motion was granted to keep george zimmerman from testifying about his lack of prior convictions. it will be interesting. both sides go toe to toe. as you say, it needs to remain relevant that trayvon martin is not on trial here. it is george zimmerman. my thanks to all three of you. still ahead, the white house trying to switch focus after dealing with controversy after controversy for the last two weeks. as republicans continue to take aim over the irs, "the new york times" is reporting that many of the conservative groups targeted were rightfully flagged for future and further review. we'll bring you the very latest. you can always join our conversation on twitter. you can find us@"news nation." and do you know your... blood type? a or b positive?? have you eaten today? i had some lebanese food for lunch. i love the lebanese. i... i'm not sure. enough of the formalities... lets get started shall we?

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president obama is about to wrap up a visit to the new jersey shore. he arrived this morning in the rain. he was greeted by a new jersey republican governor chris christie. and just as he was when he visited in the days right after super storm sandy, caused so much devastation seven months ago, now he is seeing the turn-around. he and the governor toured the boardwalk in hard hit pleasant beach. it has been rebuilt and businesses have reopened. then it was on to asbury park. the crowd gathered at the convention hall there. >> it is my privilege to introduce the president of the united states of america. >> let me first of all say thank you to governor christie for that introduction and the great work he's done here. thanks to the hard work of an awful lot of people. we've got wonderful shops and restaurants and arcades that are opening their doors. and i saw what thousands of americans saw over memorial day weekend. you are stronger than the storm. after all you've dealt with,

after all you've been through, the jersey shore is back and it is open for business. >> so nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander joins us now from asbury park. the governor once again praising the president. the man that he may try to replace in the white house come 2016. how will that play out for chris christie? >> reporter: well, i think chris christie thinks it looks good for him happening out with the president. he has a gubernatorial election to worry about before whatever he may pursue in 2016. it is notable today, when the two of them why wr in point pleasant, that chris christie drilled it. the first shot he took with the football. he was one for one. saxby chambliss had a hole in one with the president. the next one should probably buy a powerball ticket. you're looking pretty good hanging out with the president these days. for people here, i think the message that struck for the mayor, ed johnson, was the fact that this president was in many

ways like a one-man new jersey tourism board. he used the word we in describing it. we've got great arcades, great boardwalks. they hope this sends a message to the rest of the country about the progress, the improvement that's are already taking place. the president was not here for long. he is already on his way back to washington, d.c. but this was, as you guys described it, a recovery reunion. as the two rekindle that old flame as some have described it from seven months ago just shy of the 2012 election. >> while these areas, asbury park, other beach areas are doing well with progress, there are other areas still struggling to rebound. to come back almost seven months later. >> reporter: that's an important point. i spoke to two women who were there to hear the president speak. they were in this rainy mess, as the mayor told us earlier today. we survived sandy. we can survive this storm. one of the women, nancy, i forgot to get her last name.

she said simply put, what is important is the president acknowledges, this is not an overnight thing. there are a lot of people still struggling in this area seven months later. she and her friend are still out of their homes. they were severely damaged. they are still waiting for the necessary building permits to begin again. so all while we celebrate the start of summer and hopefully better days than this that will bring in more tourists. it is a $39 million industry. very focused on the recovery process and the rebuilding which in some cases has yet to begin. >> so a long road ahead. reporting from new jersey. thanks so much. our nbc first read team notes today that the subject finally changes for the white house. going on to say that appears to be true for the two-week focus on the irs, benghazi, and leak controversies that have been rocking president obama and his administration. before the long holiday weekend, the subject turned to the highly scrutinized national security speech and the senate 82 dish area committee's passage of the

bipartisan immigration legislation. then on sunday, the president toured the tornado damage of moore, oklahoma. and today as we just saw with peter, it is on to see some of the recovery progress in new jersey. i want to bring in our "news nation" political panel today. "washington post" deputy national editor, and msnbc contributor jimmy williams. great to see you both. ann, i want to start with you. much of the talk was about the president's national security speech. do you agree with the white house and it has changed the subject from the irs, from the a.p., from the benghazi controversies and gotten ownership of the ball? >> well, for now. i think it has. i think all of those scandals were probably going to have a life span of a couple weeks as long as new information didn't keep coming out. i think they ran their course. that's not to say they won't reemerge. there will be more hearings, actually probably on all three subjects. i think we'll tip continue to l

more about oversight reporters. we'll certainly hear more about the irs and benghazi. there is a lot to being president at any given moments. it could be seeing a tornado or syria which remains a very important priority. i think we're seeing the attention of the camera tilt slightly in one direction but i expect it will tilt back. on to something new that we haven't even expected. >> while there is new information coming out on different fronts, republicans see the irs issue and the controversy with it as an opportunity with them. in fact, the rnc is out with this on the shifting time line of the irs scandal. republicans obviously, they're going to keep up the pressure on this one. because all americans' ears perk up when you hear those three little letters, irs. when you think something has gone funny there, everybody gets concerned. jimmy? >> that's right. we're heading into the dog days

of summer. and the american people have lost their great baby sitter called school. so all of a sudden every parent in the country is going to be busy, busier than they were before. people get on the road. they travel. so most people aren't really focused on that and that's good typing for the white house and it is exactly right. this will come back. if anyone thinks for a second the republicans will let any of these three issues go away, they're dead wrong. i can only remind everyone about the clinton administration and all the scandal that's happened then. the republicans didn't let it up then. we're seeing the same template this time and it will heat up after summer, after labor day unless something magsive breaks. the yeses has a job to do. lead the country. the senate has a job to do. immigration. that's what they'll be doing. >> as we drill down on what's going on with the irs and the new york time reported yesterday that many of the conservative groups targeted in their applications for tax-exempt status should have been flagged.

so there was a reason why they were being vetted with extra ire. do you agree with that? do you think there's enough information and evidence that supports that? >> well, there is nothing new in saying there were groups that in addition to having tea party in their name or even in some cases, that didn't also, might have been participating in activity that's seem to be on the line. ink th wasever the question. the issue wa what was in there name and was the irs, was there a system in place with the irs that was flawed. not were there some participants, some groups that wanted to be considered tax-exempt that weren't skating right up to the line. so i think sure, that's something. that's exactly why that office at the irs exists to look into that with some groups. i think what we've seen from the beginning of the story, is that there are additionally, there are good government oversight groups and advocates who would say the irs is a great flaw in all this is not doing enough scrutiny. whether it was the names in the

groups or the activities they participated in. that people who have a desire in the election have been participating in ways that are not appropriate for someone who is tax-exempt this onion as we peel it back, the critics are howling at the irs official lois lerner who was in charge of the division. the tax-exempt division that targeted conservative groups who is on administrative leave after taking the fifth at the congressional hearing last week. so she is still getting paid, right? she is still on the pay roll. she has not been let go. she gets to keep her mouth shut about what she knows. how are people supposed to take this perception being reality, how are americans supposed to drink this in and accept it? >> well, there are two sides. first, she has the right to do exactly what she did. my problem with it is the white house bled tremendously over this issue and will continue to bleed throughout the summer. as ann said, the irs is not a great word in the minds of the

american people whether liberals or conservatives. my position is fire her. get her out of there. i don't care what it takes. if they have to chop heads all through that division of the irs, it doesn't matter. the only way the republicans will have zero argument on the issue is if you go in and fight a bunch of people. let the civil service requirements be damned. just fired them and let them appeal. if you don't do that, you're giving the republicans more fodder. what they did was wrong. the question becomes going forward, this division when everyone, when you have these people applying to be a 501(c)(4), will they have scrutiny? they're supposed to scrutinize every one of these applications. if a conservative group or a liberal group in the next maybe republican administration, if they're scrutinized, whether they go public and say they cry foul and say we're being targeted because we're liberal or conservative. that's their job. the perception is that this was some sort of cover-up. the way to stop it is to fire people. >> right. a lot of big sharks, liberal and

conservative. they're going on swim by now. thank you so much. we are following several new developments from syria one day after senator john mccain made an unannounced 50th with opposition leaders. more on what could be a huge boost for the rebels. plus the growing fear that the violence is spreading across the reasoning. first, an incredible story from china. it may be graphic for certain viewers but firefighters managed to rescue an abandoned newborn baby lodged in a sewer pipe after he was apparently flushed in a toilet. residents called for help after hearing that baby cry. attempts to pull him out failed so they had to saw part of it out. he suffered cuts to his face and limbs but is list in the stable condition. police are still looking for that child's parents. s. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. what makes a sleep number store different?

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county, maryland. we believe it is a freight train. this is in rose dale 40 minutes outside the city of baltimore. you can see the smoke and the fire taking place on the tracks. the upper left-hand side of the screen. the cars on the right that have gone off the tracks there. we're not sure how this happened. but the train derailment happening a short time ago. an explosion ensued. if the camera pulls back, we can see if there are houses nearby. this is in the rosedale area of baltimore copy. near towson maryland, 40 minutes outside baltimore city. we'll keep an eye on this and let you know if there are any injuries involved with this train derailment. as we look live at what else is taking place, there is a rally on the markets. on wall street. the dow being up by some 85 points right now. it was up more than 200 points that you were paying close attention earlier today. and investors are reactioning to

news that home prices rose by the most in seven years and the consumer confidence rose to a five-year high. if this rally holds out, this will mark an unprecedented 20 straight news day where the dow has posted a gain. zachary, explain why are we seeing these stellar tuesdays? we look at this tuesday. after a holiday weekend. people feel rested and they want to buy. why are we seeing these tuesdays five in a row? >> other than number significance, we don't know why. as for why markets are going up in general, because they've been extremely strong this year. you have to juxtapose really powerful corporate earnings to not so powerful u.s. economy. and that has been the most dominant trend going on. it is why people are constantly perplexed. how can the markets be doing so well with when the overall economic news is middling at best even though today's numbers are quite good.

it is because corporations are doing incredibly well. hence the whole apple hearings last week of hundreds of billions in profits outside the country. but domestic economies are not doing as well as corporations are doing. >> if we look at the numbers and the information going hand in hand, it is the consumer confidence along with rising home prices that are combining to provide this surge. how long can this be sustained if we're going off this matching pair of consumer confidence? >> the reality is most of the market has not been fueled because mom and pop, you and me investors have been in the market. this is not like the mid 1990s where every taxi cab driver and janitor in the world was trading in the markets. this is largely institutionally driven and pension plans. people start feeling more confident and notice the markets going up. nothing attracts going up like going up. >> success breeds success. >> sell what's selling. so to some degree, if peel become more confident and individuals start investing in

the market, this could be the beginning of, you know, this could just be the beginning of a much larger uptrend. >> as we watch where we are, last week reremind everybody that ben bernanke testified before congress. cause someday confusion about whether or not he was ready to ease the efforts to stimulate the economy. what is the forecast for ben bernanke staying in his position moving forward? >> well, bernanke is probably going to go at the early next year. there is some betting around who would replace him. there is a real perception on wall street that this whole global rally in equities is artificial. it is because the fed and the japanese central bank are pluming the world with money. if that changes, all this rally will disappear. there is a lot of concern, interest, anxiety, whatever, about who will succeed ben bernanke. that will set the tone of how much money. personally i think a lot of this rally is not because of those technical fact ofrls it is because the apples of the world, the large corporations of the world are doing superlatively

even as the average person is not seeing the benefits of that. and that's a real social problem. a political problem. we talk about it all the time. it does at least explain why markets are so poet sent and good even as everything else of. >> in the short term, if would you look agent your 401(k), do it today. >> today is a good day. look on tuesday would be the lesson. >> great to see you. i really appreciate it. we continue to follow this breaking news outside baltimore, maryland where a freight train collision has taken place. we'll bring you more information on this today. it is in the rosedale area of baltimore county outside baltimore city. it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. want to give them more vitamins, omega 3s, and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. eb's. the only eggs that make better taste and better nutrition...

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almost seven months to the day when this two toured the coast. many believe that helped him secure a second place in the white house. now christie might be consider a white house run of his own and the president could use a friend in the gop. joining me for this political odd couple. so governor christie took a lot of criticism from his own party after the president's last trip to new jersey. at the same time he told mitt romney he did not need to come visit during super storm sandy. so this brings back those images. is this a dangerous thing for chris christie for his political ambitions or a good thing? >> well, chris christie will tell you he doesn't care about any of this. all it is is getting enough money from the federal government to restore the jersey shore, a place that he spent a lot of summers. of course there is this political sub text.

you're right. for the short term, for 2013, remember, he is running for re-election in the state. nothing is better than having the president at his side. it makes him look pretty bipartisan. when otherwise, he had been kind of stuck in a pretty controversial administration that he had been running even though his approval ratings had been about 50%. since sandy, his approval ratings have skyrocketed and he has appeared to be bipartisan and pretty much a shoe-in to win re-election. if he does run in 2016, he is going to have to take some of that bravado and some convincing of there are a lot of conservatives that blame him for mitt romney's loss even if the math doesn't bear that out. >> politically, this is the president's secretary visit. he is invested in wanting to see the recovery of the shore. obviously it enhances his credibility to be there. and working with the governor like chris christie. what does this do for at contractic challenge here is

interested in unseating chris christie in an offyear? >> well, for president obama first of all, this is about the role of government. that is the big thing for him. these last couple weeks have really tarnished timage democrats try to put forward as promoting government saying that government can do good things. remember, they want to get immigration reform through. the implementation of health care is coming down the pike in october of this year. so showing oklahoma what happened there with fema in the aftermath, showing sandy and how fema is still there. that shows the role that government needs to play in times of emergency. so you know, i think that chris christie's opponent certainly would wish probably that president obama maybe wasn't there and was instead there helping her raise money. >> reporting for us from washington. thank you so much. we want to go to the breaking story not too far away from

where domenico is now. in the rosedale area, we've been watching the images come out from a train derailment. this happened in baltimore county, maryland in the rosedale/white marsh area. about 40 minutes ago, neighbors reported hearing an explosion. a fire ensued. we had earlier images showing the fire but it seems first responders there have everything under control. this is more residential area. it is called the lake drive portion of white marsh. it is not known if there are any injuries. this was according to a local fire department there. there was a large plume of smoke that was originating from the orange train derailment. three cars off the track. we'll bring you more information as soon as we get it right here. e written by people just like you. you want to be sure the money you're about to spend is money well spent. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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we've got phil from wbal radio on the line with us. we're seeing now the smoke and the fire that is still happening. explain what we understand happened for this train to derail? >> reporter: apparently 35 to 45 minutes ago a train went off the tracks. an area known as the 7500 block of lake drive in the rosedale section of baltimore county. that is right on the baltimore city/county line on the southeast part of the city. it appears at this point that there are eight to 12 train cars off the tracks. there was a loud explosion. when that happened immediately, people began calling our newsroom from almost across the city saying that they had felt the explosion and they had heard the explosion. the windows were rattling and that's when we began to see all of this black and white smoke in the air. there are several train cars of course on fire. burning all types of hazardous chemicals. crews are on the scenes. so far we do not have any reports of injuries at this hour. >> as you were saying, this is

very close to the city line. do we know the area in and of itself, more of a commercial area? or residential? >> reporter: it is more of an industrial area. there are houses in the area. it is a mix of both. on the chopper shot that you're seeing from our sister station, wbal tv, you can see a portion of one of the warehouses that is right near where this happen. the whole side of the building was literally blown off. and on the other side, that is where all the homes are. a number of those people calling our station this afternoon saying they are, the house is actually shook in that area. >> from wbal radio. thank you for joining me. i appreciate the update. we're going to keep you posted when we get more news again. this train derailment out of baltimore county, maryland. no reports of injuries so far. how we get there is not. we're americans. we work. we plan. ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others.

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new fears of a foreign if he had arms race in syria. it has already killed tens of

thousands of people and this as john mccain remains in the middle east until later this week after his surprise visit to syria to meet with syrian rebels. joining me now is ely lake, correspondent from "newsweek" and the daily beast. great to have you here. let's start off. we are learning more about the trip from john mccain. an aide said he worked closely with the state department planning this trip and there were no issues at all. the white house spokesman said the white house was informed as well. what do you make of this? what do you think his solidarity with the syrian opposition means for potential involvement down the line? >> we've seen a lot of signals from the white house that they are considering their opposition to lethal aid to the syrian rebels. and you know, we've seen a slow escalation here. i think in some ways, what senator mccain is doing is testing the waters. and it has signaled the u.s. government now when we see the news with the european union are willing to begin to provide arms

to the syrian rebels to try to tip the balance in that civil war against the bashar assad regime. >> so we've got mccain's aides. the e.u. dropping the arms embargo and john kerry in paris for peace talks. robert menendez had an opportunity to speak with my colleague andrea mitchell. take a look. >> the bottom line if assad can continue to have a monopoly on air power and artillery, then he doesn't think that he is going to lose this war and he thinks that he can win a war of attrition. so our legislation is to give the president the wherewithal. should he decide to use it to arm vetted elements of the syrian opposition. >> when we talk about that, vetted people of the syrian

opposition. we're hearing that today. there are rebels who can be tested but then there are those who cannot. we have the violence spilling over. so isn't the clock really ticking for the president to decide, it might better, it is necessary to be decisive. maybe not always right when it comes to this issue. >> you want to be right and decisive. there is a great risk that the other side of the conflict is being armed by russia. there is the potential on the ground with regime forces in syria that any kind of further escalation or u.s. weaponry that gets in the hands of rebels could end up potentially at least killing a russian national and creating something of a hot conflict between russia and the united states inside syria. that's something i think obama has been very worried about behind the scene for a long time which is why kerry is doing so much to try to entice the russians to drop their

significant support for bashar assad. >> great to see you. that will do it for this edition of "news nation." don't go anywhere. the cycle comes your way next. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ]

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learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? right now in "the cycle," jersey boys, president obama and chris christie together again for much more than a day at the beach. >> someone is ready to be qb. here we go. some republicans think they can win politically by holding up disaster relief. >> i'm krystal ball here in new york city where most anything is possible. it should be no surprise that anthony wiener is slowly climbing to the top of the mayor's race. >> two big iss