with us. first up, the dsition regarding this photographer who said that based on the religious beliefs she did not want to photograph the same sex couples in cerem y ceremony. >> right, and the new mexico supreme court said that she violate the anti-discrimination laws. she argued on the 1st amendment law laws that because she is a photographer, she is creative artist, and the government cannot tell her what to shoot and not shoot. and now they say there are similar cases in the pipeline e regarding bakers and florists who decline to use their skills on the behalf of same sex couples, but it is unlikely that the supreme court if it would not take this case, it would take those. >> and regarding the campaign finance, and pete, less than a week, that we heard from the justices regarding money and politics in a different case, and talk to me about what happened today. >> well, this is a case from

iowa, a right to life group had challenged the iowa group which banned corporations from making campaign corporations. that would have been a big deal if they agreed the take this case and then send it back to the lower courts in light of the reassessment which would have n been the court taking another look at the ban of campaign corporations, but they decided not to do that case, and anything that led to the iowa b ban. >> and last on the list, and obviously, that people are paying close attention to, pete. the nsa and the bulk mining data and the information from our phone records. >> right. this is a no hf br-brainer, andy expected the court the take this yet. >> right. >> and remember, this is the bulk telephone collection, and the lower courts are split on this, and one said it is fine, and the other said it is not. one of the parties that is challenging wanted the leapfrog over the appeals court and come directly to the supreme court,

and a maneuver that the supreme court disfavors and rarely grants it, and the fact that it declined to do it today means nothing. it means that we have to wait. >> okay. pete, thank you very much, and we appreciate it. a laundry list of things to get through today, and i greatly appreciate your joining us. and now the testimony of everyone who has been following the oscar pistorius murder case, the track star is telling what happened the night that reeva steenka steenkampp was killed. he opened up the testimony with an emotional apology to stein kcam camp's family. >> i would like to apologize, and say that there has not been a moment since this tragedy happened that i have not thought about your family. i wake up every morning and you are the first people i think of and the first people i pray for. i can't mention the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that i

have caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect e reeva. i can promise that when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. >> and pistorius has chosen to testify off camera with only the audio as you heard there throughout the testimony. he struggledle to compose himself, including the description of the trouble he had in coping with reeva steenka steenkampp's death. >> i am scared to sleep. for several reasons, but i have terrible nightmares about things that happened that night. when i wake up, and i smell, and i can smell, i can smell the blood, and i wake up to being terrified. >> the so-called blade runner is accused of premeditated murder in reeva steenkamp's death, and

claim s th claims that he mistook her for an intruder and trying to protect her. and he is expected back on the stand tomorrow, and nbc's mike taibbi is in pretoria, south africa, and joining us live. mike, start here with the decision to have just the audio. and help me to understand the mechanics of how it works in south africa that oscar pistorius would have this choice. >> well, tamron, we are all learning how this is working in this case, and presumably in other cases that follow. this is the first trial in south africa that has ever been televised and so that the judge is setting the rules and the rule is that all witnesss have the right to have their testimony shown on camera or just audio. and the barry rupp has said that all of his witnesses do not want their images televised, and we will only hear their words, which is unfortunate for the people following the trial, it is a fact of the trial and the

way it is going to go. a and one of the many, many differences of the criminal justice system and how it works here, and how it works in the states. >> and michael a lot of what we heard from oscar pistorius today, is him decussing the mental health, and the struggle he has had since reeva steenkamp was killed, and we will learn tomorrow, i am assuming, more detail from oscar pistorius, and now he is struggling, but the e vents vents of the night. >> yes, we have to get to that point, because he has said and the attorney has said on his behalf, le testify, and he has to deal with the key evidence put out by the prosecution, and ie, the fact that four witnesses said they heard a woman screaming and an argument for a man and woman for as long as 15 minutes two witnesses said before the volley of shots followed by silence. he has to deal with that and reeva steenkamp's text messages to him that said, sometimes i'm

scared of you by the way you snap at me, and all i want is to be loved and love, and maybe we can't do that. and was this relationship coming to tend, and is this what threw him into a hair trigger event that night. only oscar pistorius knows what happened that night, and he is going to have to convince the judge that his version is the truth. >> and now joining me is paul rothstein, a professor from the georgetune university law sch l school. thank you for coming to join us. >> thank you. >> and now, oscar surprised the court by apologizing right off of the top to reeva steenkamp's family, but what we heard much today is about him, his thoughts after the murder, and his depression, and the state of mi mind, and what do you make of that strategy, given that there is no jury present, and this is to be decided by the judge and two of oher aides.

>> well, he has to convince the judge and her aides that he really loved reeva steenkamp, and the relationship was not over. that is the first thing that he has to convince them, and the second thing that he has to convince them of is that he was nearly paranoid as a man without legs living in a city overrun by crime that he was nearly paranoid about people invading his house, about crime. so that, that explains why he shot, and thought it was an intruder. then he has to also deal with some of of the things that seem inkon sis te inconsistent about the story he told police and the evidence such as the screaming that mike tie yeeby talked about and whether it was a shot or the cricket bath that they heard after the screaming, that sort of thing. >> and let me play another excerpt of what he said when

responded to asked if he had been exposed to crime at a young age. let's play that. >> i think that everybody in south africa has been expose d o crime at some point. i think that when i grew up, we were exposed to crime. house break-ins, and family members being assaulted and tire-jacked and i can think of -- >> can you give examples of when you were young and when it was? >> we had many house break-ins when i was growing up. one at my father's home in j johannesburg, and when we got back to the house, our house had been ransacked. >> and there you have it, he is talking about the crime in the home, and multiple family members being victimized with the break-ins and the hijackings, and again, none of it explains what you pointed out the text messages or the e-mails presented prior to the testimony. this paints a picture, yes, of the crime situation in south afri africa, and perhaps some of the

people there or many can identify with, but tomorrow is critical in that oscar pistorius needs to answer the questions it would seem regarding the relationship, and that key line in the e-mail where, or the text message where reeva steenkamp articulated that she was afraid of him at some times. >> yes, that is the most difficult challenge, i think. he has to portray that as just the natural ups and downs of a truly loving relationship, and that overall at this time, their relationship was a truly loving relationship, and if he can get that point across, then he is go going the win this case. there are some other points that he should also try to address such as, did he put on the legs before he shot? there is an inconsistency in the story about that, and maybe some technical proof of the angle to which the bullets passed into reeva steenkamp's body. there is going to be dispute

about whether they had had a meal together fairly rekrecentl before the shooting or whether his story about that they went to bed early at 10:00, and whether that was true. so maybe some testimony about the contents of the stomach. so there may be even a computer demonstration of little stick figures or even better than the stick figures like a cartoon to show how he walked in the apartment at the time of the shooting and where she was positioned, and how the angle of the bullets was. there may be all of those kinds of things. >> and professor, back to the emotion of the testimony, and oscar pistorius in the beginning of the remarks today told the family of reeva steenkamp that she went to bed that night knowing that she was loved and this is a test of the credibility, how he explanins this store i r and how he explains what happened that night. and with the system in south africa, does the judge weigh emotion? does it factor into her decision

in something like this where so much of it is really is how he presents the events of the night? >> yes, there is a logical and legal role of his state of mind. it would show whether he shot out of fear that she was an intruder or whether he shot out of anger out of a broken relationship and argument with her. and so there is a good technical reason to try to explore the state of mind, but also, as you suggest, the judge and the assistants are human beings, and they are going to be swayed by emotion, too, and just because he is sorry now about the shooting, it does not mean that he did not shoot her out of anger at the time. you know, you can have regrets, and also, regrets about having been caught and having been arrested, so they have to evaluate the emotional ti -- emotionality on the stand with those events.

>> thank you, professor rothstein, appreciate it. and now to the search for the flight malaysian 370. now, the u.s. navy has twice detected sounds from the indian ocean that could be from the plane's black box pingers. and now the ocean shield that is carrying the equipment first heard a signal sunday that lasted for two hours and 20 minutes, and then this morning, another signal that lasted for 13 minutes. >> significantly, this would be consistent with the transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. clearly, this is a most promising lead. probably in the search so far, it is the, it is probably the best information that we have had. >> and now the news comes as the expected one-month life span of batteries that power the black

box pingers end. and this is the 31st day of the search. ian williams joining us live from perth, australia. and ian, as i understand it, the ocean shield ping is to detect the black box when it is on top of the black boxes. what are we expecting as the next step here. i know that the ships are still out, and the planes have gone back, and what is happening next here? >> tamron, what they are trying to do now is to reacquire the signal, because they heard it twice over the weekend, and then lost it. so they are back out there trying to reacquire the signal. as you say, the depth is very -- it is 2.8 miles depth there, and they have to be virtually on top of the black box if they are to hear it. and now the task now is to try to reacquire the signal. if they can do that, they can better pinpoint where it is coming from. that point, they will launch submersible vehicle called the

bluefin-21 which is going to go down to take a look for itself to see if it can find a black box or any wreckage, but the problem is that the depth is so great there that it is the limit of the ability of the vehicle. so they need to be sure before they can send it down, although, if they don't find another signal, they may send it speculatively, because clearly the timing is running down on that black box and one reason for the caution we heard today, because still, no wreckage sighted and not a single piece of wreckage in the month-long search, and this is the most important evidence that the aircraft had gone down in that area, but certainly the coordinators here are more upbeat calling pit most optimistic thing they have seen since the beginning of the search, and it goes on and the

key thing is to be reacquiring that ping. >> thank you, ian. we will check in with you for development developments. we are also watching severe weather across the south. there have been some flooding and some actually rescued from their homes. look at what happened this morning in alabama, a threat of tornadoes and flash flooding. up until tonight, and we will be with you with the latest. >> and 2016 contender jeb bush? makes controversial comments on immigration. >> yes, they broke the law, but it is not a felony. >> what he said after that, and he admits that the remarks could cause some political problems for him. and we will talk about it in the first read. and plus, a dramatic rescue of a family stuck at sea with a 1-year-old who becomes seriously ill, and now the parents are defending their decision to sail around the world with two small children. the family member is quoted as saying, i thought it was nuts. well, it is today's news nation

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welcome back. several states in the south are under a tornado watch today as forecasters are warning that more severe storms are on the way with the possibility of flash flooding. severe flooding has already affected some areas in alabama. homes were evacuated early this morn morning as the water quickly rose, at least one driver actually had to be rescued from a vehicle trapped on the interstate. now, this image captured overnight shows how high the water rose. you can see the rescue crews search ing f

searching for the stranded people in the apartment complex. and the vehicles are almost entirely submerged in the parking lot. julie martin joins us to update us on the severe weather there in atlanta. it is looking like a long day, julie. >> yes, and this is round one, tamron. we have seen and felt heavy rain here in the atlanta metro area for several hours. atlanta has picked up officially over 2.5 inches which is the most rain in a single day that this city has seen since january. you can see, of course, traffic moving along better now that the rain is starting to taper off a little bit, but earlier, boy, i will tell you what, it was a rough go this morning, and some people are probably still trying to get to work at this hour. reports of minor flooding throughout the metro area, and nothing like mississippi and alabama, and nonetheless, the flood threat does continue, and we have a flood watch in effect until tonight, and also today, we could have this afternoon

strong storms rolling through, and a tornado watch. there is a tornado watch on the south side of town until 4:00 this afternoon, and so unfortunately, the ride home is as bad for the ride in for millions of commuters. >> the rain behind you, and scary video coming out of alabama. wow. thank you, julie. well a live look at a maryland high school right now where president obama is about to kick off two big days of focusing on the economy and equal pay. we are moments away are the the president's comments, and we will bring that to you. and plus -- >> i feel firmly and strongly that, yes, that was crazy. >> and so the family members of a couple who brought their two young children on a sailboat trip around the world, and what were they thinking when one of the children got sick and they had to be rescued? it is the gut check. and today, the boston marathon bombing exhibit opens up at the boston library. thousands of items for the

original memorial for the victims were on display to the mark one year since the attack. and this afternoon, president obama meeting with the commander in chief, and the executive director of veteran affairs in the oval office. and also, unemployment benefits extension expected to pass in the senate, but unclear how it will fare in the house. >> it is time for your business entrepreneur of the week. ellie and mike started makerhaus in seattle. they allowed the workers to have access to sophisticated prototyping equipment from woodworking to metal shop equipment to 3d printers. for more, join us sunday mornings on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions.

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the parents who set sail around the world and had to be rescued are defending the decision. they had to call for rescuers when their baby daughter got sick, and their sailboat broke down in rough waters. it broke down to a rough three-day rescue at sea. miguel almaguer is live with more. >> tamron, the kaufman family began the trip here from the small harbor in san diego and it was supposed to be the trip of a

lifetime and now it is a rescue, they won't ever forget. >> reporter: it was high drama at the high sea, and incredible pictures here. it all played out like a hollywood script, and a pararescue team plunging into the pacific to reach a crippled sailboat and bring a sick 1-year-old girl to safety. >> if you were to take a navy s.e.a.l. and paramedic and throw in a few more years of training, and that is a pararescueman. >> and this morning, the kaufman family with little lira is aboard the uss vandergriff who rescued them. for them, it began as a trip of a lifetime circumvent iing the globe with their children. >> you are totally soaked and there you go. >> reporter: after leaving puerto vallarta two and a half weeks ago, their sailboat rebel

heart lost steering off of the coast. april 3rd, they sent a mayday, and the boat is crippled, and lira is ill. the boat reaches them in hours, but it takes three days for them to reach the family. sa rya english has spoken to her s sister on the phone. >> i am just calling to say i love you. >> she is responding well, and no longer a fever. she is doing great. they are all tired and a little bit of kind of in shock. >> reporter: a shocking end to a dream journey that still became the trip of a lifetime. this morning the family is defending themselves from the critics who say that they should not have taken those two small children on a trip around the world. in the statement, the family says they were well prepare and quote proud of their choices. they should be back here in san diego some time this week. tamron. >> all right.

miguel, thank you. well, bonded by tragedy. in 2011 more than 150 people were killed when a tornado tore through the town of joplin, missouri. last year, more than 20 were killed in moore, oklahoma. this weekend, students from joplin trekked three hours to moore to help those kids who lost their school, and i'm going to talk with one of the little brave soldiers who made the journey to help. also, jeb bush is tackling immigration saying that some of those who come here illegally are doing it as a act of love and how is that going to settle with some of the most conservative in the party? plus -- >> come on, go! drop him! the benches are cleared. >> and this is not an nhl team, but it is a brawl between new york's finest and bravest on the ice. this is not fake. it is a real brawl at a charity event. it is one of the thing ths that

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well, jeb bush is making wa waves about the comments about immigration and the upcoming presidential race. speaking at the 25th anniversary of his father's presidency, jeb bush said he will decide if he is going to run for president by the end of the year, but it is what he said about illegal immigration that is making headlines today. >> yes, they broke the law, but it is not a felony. it is kind of the -- it's an act of love. it is an act of commitment to your family. i honestly think that is a different kind of crime that should be, there should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actu actually coming to this country to provide for their families. >> joining me now is nbc news senior editor mark murray, and so when you compare those comments of jeb bush to rick

perry as to kids having a heart to allow kids to get an education when they are brought to the country illegally, have the times changed in the way that the conservatives will react in that party? >> no, the times have not changed and if jeb bush's comments and sentiments on immigration reform were the dominant thought of his party, passing comprehensive immigration reform would have already been done. if you go back to 2008 and 2012, the race is always to be who is more conservative, and who is the true conservative in the field, and of course, jeb bush, and anybody who followed him in the tenure of florida governor know he is conservative, but when you come out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, and common core, and those are a big, big weaknesses, and just ask john mccain who had a tough time asking the immigration questions in 2008, and also rick perry who you

mentioned. >> yes, and coupled with the fact that there has not been any legislation and at a standstill regarding what will happen at least legally moving forward, but i have to quickly ask you regarding the answer that he will make a decision at the end of the year, and he is planning to run for president, and how much of that is based on chris christie? >> well, i think that all of the attention right now on jeb bush is due to chris christie. there was so much focus on chris christ christie, and deservedly so after he won the re-election battle by a big margin and he was seen as the coestablishment front runner or the co-front-runner, but given all of the scandals he is looking at, many people are moving over the jeb bush, and big donors and party officials say if it is not the chris christie, it can be jeb bush. but jeb bush has not run for office since 2002 and been out of politics for a long time, and the question is if this is something that he wants to do,

and it appears we will get the answer at the end of the year. >> and now, with the ballot boxes from the election in afghanistan are now arriving in kabul. this will help to determine the role of america in afghanistan. president karzai who is forced to step down because of term limits has signed a security agreement that will allow the united states to stay until the end of the year, but many of the candidates said they will sign that agreement, and the voter turnout is much higher than estimated to be with 60% of the afghans defying the taliban threatening to disrupt the election elections. and i will tell you more about that later, but right now, president obama is kicking off talking about the economy and equal pay at a local high school there. >> give leah a big round of

applau applause. hey. yeah. many young people like leah, it just makes me inspired. it is a good way to start the week. all of the students here who are discovering and exploring new ideas, it is one tof the reason that i love to visiting schools like bladensburg high. i want to congratulate all of you for the great work that you are doing. i brought a couple of folks here who are e helping to facilitate some of the programs here. my new deputy secretary of labor chris lu is here. give him a big round of appla e applause. some of the biggest champions for education in prince george's ko county are here including your governor martin o'malley. county executive rusann baker,

and superintendent kevin m maxwell, and your biggest fans in congress, donna edwards and steny hoyer. yeah. we are proud of all of them. and we are proud of you. all of you remind me, all of the young people here, that young people today are working on the cooler stuff than they were when i was in high skochool. classrooms across the country, students just like the students here, they are working hard, and they are setting the sights high. we have to do everything that we can to make shure that all of yu have a chance to succeed. and that is why you your outstanding principal aisha mahoney is working so hard in this state. [ applause ] that is why governor o'malley has been working so hard to repair old schools and build new

ones across the state of maryland. that is why i'm here today. because last year, we launched a a national competition to redesign american high schools for the 21st century, the 21st century economy, and i'm proud to say that your hard work here has paid off, because one of the winners is prince george's county. good job. that is right. you guys have done great. now, let me tell you why this is so important. many of the young people here, you have grown up in the midst of one of the worst economic crises of our lifetimes. and it has been hard and painful, and there are a lot of families that lost their homes,

and lost jobs. a lot of families that are still hurting out there, and the work that we have done, the groundwork that we have laid has created a situation where we are moving in the right drirection, and the businesses have created almost 9 million new jobs over the last four years, and the graduation rate is the highest on record, and the dropout rates are going down. among latinos, the dropping rates have been cut in half since 2000. more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. we have been bringing the troops home from two wars. more than 7 million americans have now signed up for health coverage through the affordable care act. so we are making progress, but

we have more work to do to make sure that every one of these young people, and everybody who is willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead. we have to make sure that our economy works for everybody, and not just a few, and we have to make sure that opportunity exists for all people no matter who you are, and no matter where you started out, and you have to have confidence that if you work hard and take responsibility that you can make it. that's the chance that this country gave me, and it is the chance that this country gave michelle. and that is why we are working so hard for what we call the opportunity agenda, and one that gives everybody a shot. and there are four simple goals. we want to create new jobs. we want to make sure that the people have the skills to fill the jobs, and we want to make sure that every young person has a world class education, and we want to reward hard work with things like health care that you can count on and living wages that you can live on. maryland and governor o'malley have been working alongside us on these issues, and i want to give a special shoutout to the

maryland legislature, because, because of governor o'malley's leadership, you are helping to make sure that we are raising more people's wages with the push to raise your minimum wage right here in maryland. and we are very proud to see that happen. i hope that governor o'malley is going to sign it into law soon, give maryland a raise. that is good work. but the main focus here is to guarantee that every young person has access to a world class education. every single student, and that starts before high school, and we have the start of the youngest ages to make shure tha we have high quality preschool and other learning programs for every young child in america. it makes a difference. we have to make sure that every student has access to the world's best information and technology and that is why we are moving forward with the initiative called connect ed to finally connect 99% of america's

students to high speed internet in the next few years. it means that we have to rein in the college costs, because when leah goes to school, she cannot be burdened with too much debt. and it has to be easier to repay the student loans, because none of the young people here should be denied a higher education, because your family has trouble affording it. and in a world class education means to preparing every young person with the skills that they need for college, for a career, and for a lifetime of citizenship. so what we did was that we launched a new competition backed by america's departments of education and labor to start redesigning some of the high schools. we call it youth career connect. and we are offering $100 million in new grants to help schools

and local partners develop and test new curricula and models for success. we want to invest in your future. you are all coming up at an age where you cannot compete against people across town for good jobs, but competing across the world. young people in india and china are all interested in trying to figure out how they can get a foothold in this world economy, and that is who you are competing against. now i'm con fident that you can match or exceed anything that they do, but we don't do it by just resting on what we have done before. we have to outwork, and o outinnovate and outhustle everybody else, and think of new ways to do things. and part of the concern has been that the high schools a lot of them were designed with the curriculums based on the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s and haven't been updated.

so the idea behind this co competition is how can we make high school in particular more interesting, more exciting more relevant to young people? last year, for example. i visit a called in brooklyn called p-tech, and they partnered with ibm and the university city of new york to offer the students not only a high school diploma, but also an associate degree in computer systems or electromechanical engineering. ibm said that p-tech graduates would be the first in line for jobs. then i visited a high school in nashville that offers academies where the students focus on a specific subject area, but they are getting hand's on experience running their own credit union, working in their own tv studios and learning the 3d printing and tinkering with their own airplane which was pretty cool. i never got to do that. i did get my own airplane later in life.

but, although, i have to give it back. i don't get to keep it. but this is stuff i didn't get to do when i was in high school, and i wish i had. but it is stuff that you have to know how to do today in today's economy ax and the things are moving faster and more sophisticate sophisticated, and so we challenged america's high schools to look at what is happening at a place like p-tech, and look at cities like nashville, and then say, what can you do to make sure that your students learn the skills that the businesses are looking for in high demand fields? and we asked high schools to develop partnerships with college colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on the real life applications for the fields of the future. fields like science and technology and engineering and math. and part of the reason that we have to do this now is that

other countries, they have a little boit of a lead on us in some areas. and a company like germany focuses on graduating the high school students with a technical degree to give them a head start. so we are looking into the schools to find out what places like germany are doing. and now, not every school that enters into the competition for the $100 million is going to win, you know, because we don't have enough money for everybody, and we want to force the schools to think hard and redesign and we want to reward the schools that are being the most innovative and that are actually proving some of the concepts that they are trying out. but the great thing is that through this competition, schools across the country that entered have changed the way they prepare the students, and have already made enormous improvements before they get the grant.

ultimately, we had to choose the top career connected initiatives and i am proud to say today that schools across america are putting up impressive proposals and the winners across the board are doing the kinds of stuff that will allow other schools to start duplicating what they are doing. the winners in indianapolis are expanding the career prep program programs to encourage more young women, and kids from diverse backgrounds to join the science and technology workforce. new york city, likes that bro brooklyn high school model p-tech so much that they are using the grant to fund two more just like it so that the students can gain two degrees at once, and get the edge they need in the high speed high-tech economy. and as i mentioned earlier, one of the 24 winners is a three-school team including your high school. mustangs, you guys are part of the team that won!

that's good. now, in part, the reason that you won is because you were ahead of the curve, and you were already winning. for a couple of years now, the career academies have been integrating the classroom learning with the ready to work skills and preparing students to move into the in demand jobs of the future, and jobs in i.t., biosciences and hospitality, and now you are stepping it up to take it to another level. so in the classroom that i just visited you had tenth graders, although there was also a freshman, studying epidemiology, the study of disease patterns and outbreaks, and they are getting potentially college-level credit for it, which is good, because, you know, they may be the young people who discover a cure for some disease down the line that we don't even know about yet. i know that our brilliant

scientists at the national institutes for health and center for disease control, they would be proud of you, because they like to look at bacteria. and i was a little worried when i went into the classroom that everybody was wearing goggles, and vests, and i didn't have any goggles, but they assured me it is safe. but some of you mustangs are push i pushing yourselves to get industry-recognized certifications in nursing, while other students on the winning team are studying cutting edge technology, and getting the hand's on internship experience with local businesses. we know these are skills in demand and the companies will come to hire you because of the experiences that you have gotten here. if you are focused, and if you are working hard, and you now have a platform for by the time that you get out of high school, you are already ahead of the game. you are already in a position where you have skills that make you employable.

en and then you can take it further, whether it is a two-year college or four-year college or graduate school or a couple of the young ladies in there who said they wanted to be neurosurgeons, and, want to be and psychiatrists. so you can build on these careers but the point is you have a baseline where you know if you're focused here at this school, doing your work, you're going to be able to find a job. the grants that you want in this youth career connect competition means that the programs you started are going to expand. and you're going to get more college and career counseling to help get you a jump on your post high school plans. so little over four years from now, bladensburg and your partner schools will graduate hundreds more students with the skills you'll need to succeed. that's what we want for all young people here.

we want an education that engages you and equips you with the rigorous and relevant skills for college and for a career. i'm confident meeting these young people, they were incredible. and a couple giggled a little bit when i walked in, but after they kind of settled down, they were -- you know, they knew their stuff. and they were enjoying it. and that's part of the message i've got for all of the young people here today, your potential for success is so high, as long as you stay focused. as long as you're clear about your goals, you're going to succeed. and my message to the older people here, like me, is we've got a collective responsibility to make sure you're getting those opportunities. and there are resources out

there we've got to pull into the school setting, businesses and foundations around the country. they want to fund more career connect programs, because it's in their interest. they want good employees. when you can say the math i'm doing here could change the way the business operates or i see how this biology could help develop a drug that cures a disease, that's a door opening in your imagination and good for our economy and our businesses. that's a new career path you're thinking about that allows you to pursue higher education in that field or the very training you need to get a good job or create a new business that changes the world. that's good for our economy and good for business and good for you and good for america. as a country we've got to do everything we can to make sure that every single young person here can have that aha moment,

that light bulb goes off and suddenly you're not studying because your parents or teachers tell you to, you're studying because you know you have something to offer. i want to make sure every student in america has a chance to get that moment, the realization that your education cannot just unlock your future and take you places but you're also going to be leading this country. that's the chance country gave to me and michelle and that's the chance i want for every single one of you, from preschool, every 4-year-old in america and higher education for everybody who wants to go, every young person deserves a fair shot. i'm going to do everything i can to make sure you get that shot and keep america a place where you can make it if you try. i'm proud of your principal and superintendent and proud of everybody who got involved in making sure that you guys were already doing the thing before you won the grant. most of all, i'm proud of the

students. thank you very much. god bless you. go mustangs. >> president in maryland at the blade bladensburg high school, a recipient in the $7 million award in the youth connect program. the president highlighting education and tie into the economy. this is going to be the president's focus the beginning of this week also focusing on e equal pay for women. lilly ledbetter will join the president at the white house for this event. we're watching the president in maryland, a wrap-up with students eager to meet the united states. we'll continue to follow this and certainly the battle over equal pay and the president's focus tomorrow with that executive order. thanks for sticking up. up next, my colleague, andrea mitchell. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business.

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when folks in the lower 48 think athey think salmon and energy.a, but the energy bp produces up here

creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advanced technology. that means hi-tech jobs in california and colorado. the oil moves through one of the world's largest pipelines. maintaining it means manufacturing jobs in the midwest. then we transport it with 4 state-of-the-art, double-hull tankers. some of the safest, most advanced ships in the world: built in san diego with a $1 billion investment. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. and no energy company invests more in the u.s. than bp. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

right now, is this finally it, an australian navy ship using u.s. equipment has dete detected possible pings. as time runs out on the black box batteries are investigators finally closing in on the missing plane? >> clearly this is the most promising lead. and probably in the search so far it's the -- it's probably the best information that we have had. >> in his own words, oscar pistorius takes the stand in the murder trial of girlfriend reeva steenkamp, beginning two hours of emotional testimony with this apology to steenkamp's parents. >> i can't imagine the pain and sor sorrow i've caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect reeva. i can promise when she went to bed that night, she felt loved.

>> baby on board, the little prince takes his first official royal trip arriving in new zealand with prince william and kate. prince george is along for the ride and so far, so good. and hey, kid, let's put on a show, mickey rooney's memorable series, remembering hollywood's golden boy and his 80 year career, the highs and lows. ♪ good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. today in the south indian ocean ships are racing against the

clock with new leads that could lead to the locate of the black box. the time is running out on the black box batteries. australian ships detected the signals that are consistent they say with pings that could be from the plane. flight 370 went missing a month ago with 239 people on board, of course. joining me now, tom costello from our washington bureau and michael goldfarb, tom, bring us up to date. there was probably an erroneous report from a chinese ship yesterday morning but these are australians using u.s. equipment. >> the australian ship is carrying a pinger locater and yesterday it came up what it thought was a possible hit over the course of two hours and 20 minutes, it picked up a ping. a really consistent ping