we begin with a supreme showdown. congress back from its recess and democrats and republicans drawing battle lines.

republicans are warning they could filibuster the nomination if the president chooses someone they consider outside the mainstream. but democrats say they don't expect that to happen. >> i'm going to assume that everybody's going to be responsible and we can move forward with this nominee and we should. >> if he picks an activist judge, i don't care whether the activist judge is liberal or conservative, we ought to do everything in our power to defeat that person. >> john harwood is at the white house. so, john, how big of a battle are the democrats up for this summer or are they? >> well, i think they would prefer to get this done quickly and smoothly. the president has lot on his agenda, but it's not easy for republicans to filibuster a supreme court nomination. we saw with sonia sotomayor, they mustered 31 votes against her, but that's not the 40 you need.

i think given some of the names that have been talked about, the likelihood is the democrats and the president will get their way. a republican senator told me the other day when talking about what's the attitude or mood going to be like on capitol hill once the president sends up a nominee and he said, well, i think i'll go to the middle east for a vacation at that point. >> john, let me ask you. we heard it a bit when sonia sotomayor was nominated prior to the announcement of her name and we're hearing it again this time, this notion of nominating someone who has other experience. more real world experience. what exactly are they talking about? sf >> well, the president has indicated he doesn't just want professor types. kagan is now the solicitor general. janet napolitano, jennifer granholm, the governor of michigan, these are people who

would bring a different kind of life experience, advocacy and ability, the president hopes, to take on some of those tough conservative members of the courts. >> great to have you. thanks, john. leaders from nearly 50 nations are in washington to discuss how to prevent nuclear weapons from getti inting into hands of terrorists. president obama is hosting the summit, the first to focus exclusively on the threat of unsecured nuclear materials. he is holding a meeting every hour leading up to a big welcoming ceremony this evening, but two leaders not invited. iran and north korea. we'll take an in-depth look at the conference and what leaders expect to aclompish in our second half hour. russian investigators say there were no technical problems with the plane that crashed in heavy fog. officials are trying to learn more about what caused that plane to go down, killing

president lech kaczynski and others. coming up, we'll have a live report from warsaw. and developing now, the vatican making it clear that bishops and other high-ranking church officials should report incidents of priest sex abuse to police. dawna friesen is covering the story from london. is this new or not? they're saying that this has been policy. >> that's right. well, and it seems like something so obvious it shouldn't have to be spelled out, that if somebody is suspected of the crime, the police should be contacted. the vatican says it has been the policy and that this guidance that's been posted today nearly makes it public to lay people for the first time recording the entire church. now, this guide was posted on the vatican's website today.

it says bishops should probe every allegations with the semblance of truth should be referred to the -- crimes to be appropriate authorities. in other words, the police should be followed. but we know the police often were never told that many priests got away with abuse for years, that victims weren't listened to and were forced to sign vows of silenced. and he's actually heading to the island of malta on the weekend. should be a very friendly place for him, but security is going to be stepped up because sex abuse victims there say they plan to protest what they see as his failure to tackle the scandal. this may go some distance to appeasing the critic, but there's so much anger out there.

>> dawna friesen, thank you. early this morning, rescue teams went back into the upper big branch mine of west virginia to recover the bodies of those miners still under ground. federal officials are also arriving today, trying to determine what caused the explosion. this afternoon at 3:30 eastern, joe manchin will call for a moment of silence to remember the 29 men killed in that disaster. there will be no new trial for michael skak l. about a half hour ago, that request was denied. he was deny to 20 years behind prison. he had asked for a new trial after his two friends were implicated in that hearing. outrage is growing over a tennessee mother's decision to back out of an adoption by putting her 7-year-old son on a

plane to moscow with a box of crayons and a note reading, i no longer want to parent this child. it could threaten the plans of hundreds of american families who were hoping to welcome russian orphans into their families. ron allen has the story from shelbyville, tennessee. you're there in front of the family home. i assume they haven't come out. >> reporter: they've actually disappeared. no one's seen them for several days and this is a small town where everybody knows everybody else. people here say they don't really know much about this family. even their neighbors, never saw much of them or the little boy when he was here. he was here for about six months and believe he was home schooled. wasn't really a part of the community. and you're right. people are outraged here. they don't understand why this woman made this choice. there are so many other things she could have done. consult social workers, the agency that brought the child to

the united states. there are other options like relen quishing a child. it happens in about 1% of all adoptions, but is a possibility because kids do have problems. particularly older kids. this boy was 7 years old when he came to this country. she's not come forward to explain all of that. we were talking to the local sheriff here earlier. he thinks the family's lawyer might come forward today and there's a possibility that the grandmother might come forward. they're not pressing her to come forward because at this point, the sheriff says he's not sure of what law might have been brok broken. child abuse -- did that even take place or when he got on the plane in washington or off in russia. tas complicate ed case. there are still some questions as to whether or not she broke a

law. >> i know that you personally are familiar with the adoption process. it is a complicated one and i'm wondering when you talk about this notion of relen quishing a child, because these are complicated and take a lot of time before you get the child, this is not something that happens overnight. is this part of some sort of counseling that new parents go through so that it is explained what you do if you are having problems? >> reporter: i have a little girl and 20 months old from ethiopia. it is a long process. it can take years. there's a lot of background work that goes on this side of the country where families are analyzed, scrutinized, fingerpri fingerprinted, also, after a child comes back to the united

states, there's follow-up. it's my understanding that there was a follow-up visit here in january by a social worker and everything seemed fine according to to what we're being told. so what happened between then and now, the family of course says that the child was violent, threatening, that they were afraid for their lives, that they thought he was going to burn the house down. he threatened to do that. >> so sad for the family, this young boy and all those families desperate to adopt children who are now on hold. thank you so much. we're learning new details this morning about a plot to bomb subways in new york city last september. that would be bomber and two others planned to board subways on four jam-packed trains during rush hour and blow themselves up. jonathan dienst joins me live. tell me more about what we're learning that's new in this

report and a suspect has been arrested. >> what's new today is we've known all along that the three suspects, allegedly they were going to try to be suicide bombers and target trains on grand central station. new information says they are also scouting trains on the west side near times square and perhaps they were going to slit up and cause mass casualties on both train lines during morning rush hour. we've known about this fourth suspect captured in pakistan, reported that several weeks ago. u.s. authorities have been trying to bring him back here to stand trial. there's been ongoing discussions with the pakistani authorities about getting him back here and also, questions now about whether he's cooperatining and helping them track others overseas. this plot is believed to have originated in pakistan. that these three men traveled overseas from pakistan for bomb

training, then allegedly returned back to new york and denver, colorado, purchased chemicals and began this plot. >> wow. you know, i have to tell you as a new yorker, it is chilling. it's one thing to just hear the general fact that there's a threat on the subways. we've heard it before. not surprising, but when you start to get into the specifics, time square. even specifics on which train lines. you and i know we take those train lines or have friends or family who do and it is really terrifying. to think they did these practice runs, too. >> we also reported they did some video surveillance on the train, so we knew they were out there. these guys are from new york originally, so they're familiar with the trains. that's what makes it so concerning for law enforcement. that you have guys who grew up in queens and traveled overseas to join this extremist movement

to link up with al-qaeda, then come back to new york to try to set off explosives. that is very concerning for law enforcement authorities and that's why they can't to run full steam ahead. again, the explosives were discarded, never any set bombs on the training, but one of the most serious threats since 9/11. >> thank you. >> thank you. the government is out with its list of the country's top airlines when it comes to service. the number one airline? we'll show you if your favorites made the list. what up, mike? hey, dude! [ laughs ] yeah, this is how he dances. uhhh! [ laughs ] it's, uh, haunting. anyway, while i was away, the e-trade machine... thanks, martha. ...worked its technomagic, triggered my stop loss orders, saved me a pantload! [ pilot ] please fasten your seatbelts. dad? no, mike, that's the pilot. he's making an announcement! dad? ugh. [ male announcer ] upgrade to first class

investing technology at e-trade. chances are your soil is like this: compacted, drained of nutrients. it'll hold your plants but it'll also hold 'em back. the solution: miracle-gro garden soil. the perfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. instead of holding 'em back, they'll leap ahead. miracle-gro garden soil.

and moisture control garden soil. time for new zyrtec® liquid gels. they work fast. so i can get relief from the pollen that used to make me sneeze. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. so i'm ready by the first hole. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i can love the air®. [ male announcer ] this week only, save up to $12 on zyrtec® products at zyrtectv.com and in sunday's paper.

if you're looking for smooth sailing for domestic flights, go to hawaii and take hawaiian

airlines. they ranked the airlines at the top of the list for the nation's busiest carrier. phil lebeau has more. what exactly did that look at and who else made the ranking? zpl this is all the compilation of data taken by the department of transportation in 2009. it crunches all the data and says, okay, where are they doing better or worse. one being customer complaints to the d.o.t., mishandled or well-handled bags, as well as whether or not they are bumping passengers. there you see the top, hawaiian and air tran. you're seeing a division into three parts. your low-cost carriers tend to be the best in those four categories. then, your legacy air carriers. at the bottom tend to be the regional carriers.

the regional carriers fly those jets that people tend to feel cramped on. they're also operating at smaller airports and sometimes, you have to go to the gate and you're checking a bag there. that said, at the end of the day when the data is crunched, the airlines did better last year in terms of fewer complaints than in 2008. the fact of the matter is, the data suggests that people feel better about the performance of the airlines last year. >> i find it surprising, but interesting stuff. thank you. still no sign of an 11-year-old girl in florida. she disappeared on friday. nadya bloom has a form of autism. she was last seen riding her bike in her neighborhood. search dogs and atvs searched the area and so far, have turned up nothing. the police chief says they're not giving up, but it has been a

tough search. >> you can't see anything because it's complete darkness. this particular area is about 15 feet deep, but absolutely now visibility at all. you have to feel with your hands. >> her sister said she's been reading about survival in the woods and may have wandered away to make a nature video. today, a 15-year-old boy accused of beating up a girl over a text message, the crime continues to rock the community. the suspect remains behind bars today. he's accused of relentlessly kicking josie ratley while waiting for her bus in march. she suffered massive head trauma and remains in a coma today. i spoke with a suspect's mother, lawyer and stepfather today about why he snapped.

i know you said that speaking out now has been a difficult choice, but you decided to do it for your son, wayne, to tell his side of the story. what is his side of the story? >> this is not wayne's normal character. he's a fun-loving child. for him to go and do what he did, it's not his character. >> i know that the part of the story that we know when you go back to last fall is that he lost his brother. his brother committed suicide. has he been, had he changed after that? had he been seeking counseling? what kind of help had you been getting for wayne in these last few months? >> i made the school board wawae of the accident the follow business day after michael's discovery. me and wayne went from there day

by day. he told me he was fine. we'd talk here and there, he was fine. two weeks before this incident happened, he said he had accepted what his brother did and also told me in one of my visitations that no one said anything negative to him about his brother's passing. like i said, he went through a lot in the month of october 2009. >> so, donna, do you think that your son snapped? >> i believe he did. i don't know what was text to him to make him do what he did. >> and donna, have you spoken with josie ratley's mother at all? is there anything you'd like to say to her? >> i'd like to tell her i'm sorry and that my heart and prayers go out to her and josie. i know the pain and suffering she's going through because i'm

going through my pain and suffering. >> wayne tracy is waiting to hear if he will be charged as an adult. dramatic video of a car getting carried downstream. and here are some of the most viewed stories today on msnbc.com. an associated press investigation into toyota's legal practices. potentially giving a glimpse into how future lawsuits go. no faking. jessica simpson poses without makeup. and from new york times, doctors are tuning into ha louis na generals. hey!

increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking ) when business travel leaves you drained, re-charge with comfort suites. spacious rooms, free hi-speed internet, and free hot breakfast. comfort suites. power up. now stay two separate times with comfort suites... or any choice hotel and earn a free night. book at choicehotels.com. you and your tasty whole grain. this can only end one way. [ crunch ] wheat thins. toasted. whole grain. crunch. the crunch is calling. crunch. band now we're insuring overts do18 million drivers. gecko: quite impressive, yeah. boss: come a long way, that's for sure. and so have you since you started working here way back when.

gecko: ah, i still have nightmares. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm.

let's get a quick check of our financial headlines starting with wall street. investors are closely watch tg dow. up right now. i want to see if we close that way today. it would be a reminder that the stock market has bounced way back at its 12-year lows from a year ago. new numbers out today show the boit bailout of banks won't cost as much as thought. it will cost about $89 billion. gas prices on the rise. the average price has risen nearly 4 cents a gallon. and starting today, you can listen to me or any of our other favorite hosts live. just tune in to sirius channel

90 or xm 120. really hard i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming. [ advisor 2 ] oh gee, i'm scared to tell you i've got this amount of credit card debt or i've got a 15-year-old and we never got around to saving for their college. that's when i go to work. we talk, we start planning. we can fix this. i know we can do it. when clients walk out of my office they feel confident about their retirement. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.

[ male announcer ] competition... it pushes us to work harder. to be better. to win. but sometimes even rivals realize they share a common goal. america's beverage companies have removed full-calorie soft drinks from schools, reducing beverage calories by 88%. together with schools, we're helping kids make more balanced choices every day. ♪

there are reports of infidelity and loud arguments as police in mexico investigate a reality tv producer. monica beresford-redman's body was found at a resort where the couple was trying to work out their marital problems. police say her husband is their chief suspect. miguel almaguer is live in cancun with more. it's strange. the husband is saying he last saw his wife when she went shopping, but hotel guests say that night, they heard a loud argument in the couple's room. >> reporter: that's correct. he said he last saw her around monday morning, close to 10:00 a.m. that she went shopping at that point, but guests say they heard loud arguments close to 10:00 in

the evening. that's one reason why police say the stories haven't matched up. going on now, the attorney general is holding a short press conference where we expect to hear the latest details. bruce was of course questioned last week by mexican police. he was talked to officers for several officers and was then told he was free to go home, but not to leave the country. we understand that the american consulate's office is keeping in direct contact with bruce and they are relaying any information to him. he has a lawyer here in mexico and we expect police say they would like to talk to him again. >> and the couple have two children in los angeles, right? >> reporter: that's right. and over the weekend, bruce's parents had filed for temporary custody of the 3 and 5-year-old kids, so they are with bruce's grandparents in los angeles.

we have been to their home and they are not talking to the media as well. >> thank you. president obama's hosting a largest gathering of world leaders in washington since the conference that formed the united nations in 1945. the summit kicks off this afternoon convene iing leadersh from 46 countries. it focuses on preventing terrorists from obtaining and using unsecured nuclear materials, which president obama says must be a top priority. >> the single biggest threat to u.s. security both short-term, medium and long-term, would be a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon. >> joining me now is former assistant secretary of state for public affairs. the president will begin by talking more in depth to what we just heard him speak about. the urgency of this terrorist threat. there are a lot of folks saying

he has a lot of convincing to do, that a lot of these leaders don't think it's as big a threat as the president seems to think. >> well, clearly, the united states after 9/11, began to imagine particularly in the aftermath of the anthrax attacks that occurred, what would happen if these two types of attacks came together. there are an enormous amount of nuclear material, the key ingredient that can make a nuclear weapons that haven't received full security, full lockdown, that he's going to focus on, but this is largely a bureaucratic activity. it involves locks and keys and security procedures and things of that nature. it's not high policy, so we'll have to see whether the fact that the real work is very detail oriented, very bureaucratic, matches the

leaders tendency to talk about big political issues. >> last year in prague, the president already talked about this notion, that the threat of a nuclear war may be down, but the threat of a nuclear attack is on the rise. and aides attempting to get their hands on nuclear material, but as you say, a lot of this is bureaucratic. will they be setting up some sort of group? because if you've got 46 leaders saying, we're going to try, how do we know it will ultimately be secured? >> i think that is going to be the test of whether this summit or any other succeed. any large gathering of leaders has to have follow-up mechanisms basically to see whether the things that people say they're doing get done. and in this case, you know, a lot of the difficulties have been with countries like russia, where we have agreement in principle, but when you get down to actually doing it, u.s. officials, russian officials,

disagree on legal issues, technical issues. the kinds of details that will make the difference between l k locking it down or not. again, behind the scenes, leaders are going to want to talk about real policy issues. particularly the issue of iran, perhaps north korea, and leave their aides to be working on these work programs to determine whether the summit really makes a difference. >> so trust, and somehow verifying. you mentioned iran and north korea. two big names we're hearing a lot about, but also, pakistan now. we understand, we hear pakistani government leaders saying we are doing our best to secure our nuclear material and yet, there is concern the government there is not stable. how do we help them, can we help them? how do we trust they're doing what they need to do. >> i would say in terms of the country that has a nuclear

arsen arsenal, certainly pakistan would be the biggest one, but the issue there, and that's what's difficult about this summit. it's between pakistan and india that have a confrontation. that have gone to war three times. that have refused to go through the kind of peace negotiations, the kind of confidence-building measures that would prevent not just an accidental nuclear war or stealing of material, but an actual military conflict between two nuclear powers. that's what people feel is perhaps the most frightening thing about pakistan. can we ever get these two countries, pakistan and india, to deescalate, reduce their forces, to start making less nuclear weapons. right now, both sides are engaged in a nuclear weapons build-up. that's the only place in the world that's going on, even as russia and united states are engaging in an arms control

treaty, these two countries are building up, but it's tough when india doesn't want us involved, while pakistan would love to have us helping them. there are all these complicat n complicatio complications. i think the pakistan issue is one people are going to be talking about it. >> in fact, we should point out the president did meet with leaders from india and pakistan yesterday, but as you point out, this topic is deemed too politically charged to be an issue at the summit. thank you so much for coming in. over the weekend, michael steele, listen. >> democrats also know they have some explaining to do. and they'd love nothing more than for us to keep pointing figures at me and others instead of their radical, un-american agenda. i'm the first here to admit i've made mistakes and it's been

incumbent on me to take responsibility, shoulder that burden, make the necessary changes and move on. >> steele speaking through at the republican southern leadership conference this weekend. he's been under intense scrutiny under rnc spending practices including the tab at the sex-themed nightclub in los angeles. the 13 astronauts in earth's orbit are celebrating two things today. it's been two years since the first person in space lifted off and 29 years since the first space shuttle launched. it's also the first time two japanese astronauts have flown together in space. ♪ what if one little pop

♪ could open a world of wonder ? ♪ ♪ so sensory ♪ so satisfying ♪ the discovery ♪ never seems to stop ♪ ♪ it's the magic friskies ♪ ♪ makes happen ♪ every day ♪ in so many ways ♪ friskies ♪ feed the senses

increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking ) when business travel leaves you drained, re-charge with comfort suites. spacious rooms, free hi-speed internet, and free hot breakfast. comfort suites. power up.

now stay two separate times with comfort suites... or any choice hotel and earn a free night. book at choicehotels.com. there's no doubt that one of the greatest challenges of new

mother hood is lack of sleep, but a new study shows it's actually how much sleep a mom thinks she's losing. researchers found a woman's perception of poor sleep was a stronger predictor of mood problems than her actual sleep quality and quantity. a landslide in italy, a murdered judge and camera man's last video topping today's world view. it happened north of venice. an irrigation pipe burst and that caused the landslide. this is a last video taken by a reuters cameraman on saturday. the violent images show the fear and bloodshed in bangkok at the time. and a top judge in moscow was

shot and killed inside hi apartment building. it's not clear if that is connected to his murder, there have been no arrests. investigators say the polish presidential plane that crashed had no mechanical problems. investigators appear to be focusing on why the pilot made the decision to land, refusing advice from air traffic controllers. meanwhile, forensic experts are struggling to identify the nearly 100 victim frs the crash. jim maceda is live with more. there are reports here today that the pilots may have blocked key collision aids and warning systems otherwise routinely used on most commercial flights globally. >> reporter: it's not exactly clear whether it's the plane itself that lacked those devices or the airport. it was a very small military

airport and it may not have had what was needed to land that plane in those conditions. again, thick fog, 400-meter visibility, about 1300 feet. it remains unclear whether it was the plane or the ground that was the problem. we do know that it's the russian investigators who have been coming the black boxes so far. the polish investigators haven't done that yet. they're getting their hands on them shortly. what they say they're going to be looking for are any kind of conversations between the cockpit and passengers. there's a growing scenario here. so far, it's extremely ant ek doe tall, but there's a growing sense there may have been pressure on the pilots from either the president himself or someone else on that plane to

land and kaczynski does have a certain reputation based on other incidents. in one case, he was flying to, you recall the war in georgia. got into a big argument with his presidential plane pilot, who didn't want to land, refused to land and flew instead to a noncombat zone in a neighboring caucus republic. there's that out there as well. back to you. >> thanks so much. about one in every 359 american children has a mother in prison. many were born behind bars. this month, nbc news teams up with essence magazine to take a closer look at mothers raising their babies in prison. at least nine u.s. prisons allow nonvoi lent offenders to keep

their babies with them for up to 18 months. mara, i've seen bits of this report. it is fascinating. >> it's a new sense of social responsibility on the part of the prisons and for the bond of the mother and child. bedford hills has the country's oldest prison nursery and this 7 7-month-old is one of the newest residents. >> i'm very antiabortion. but of course, the thought was going across your mind because who wants to actually have a baby in prison and not be able to save the baby. i made an appointment not to have her. i couldn't do it. i was like, no. i kept her. >> reporter: she is one of nine babies living at bedford hills.

>> baby movement. >> reporter: when the mothers go to mandated programs, the babies go to day care staffed by other inmates. like sherrill howard. she says being with the babies is the best part of each day. >> there's no habit -- with the ba babies now. >> reporter: on her first birthday, she will have to leave bedford hills to go home with her siblings and aunt. >> reporter: do you think about what it's going to be like for her? it will be a bittersweet moment. parting with her daughter while knowing it's the best thing for the baby. >> as much as i would like to keep her here, i want her to know more than other inmates and

officers. >> studies have shown mothers who participate have lower reoffense rates. >> very controversial issue there. i know you address more of them. for more on this, go to the the grio.com. here's a look at key events we're watching this afternoon. in just about an hour, the senate gets back to work. key topics, unemployment and the upcoming vacancy on the supreme court. and president obama meeting with chinese president hu jintao. and the government of west virginia will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony in honor of the miners involved in the explosion in west virginia. there will also be a moment of silence. i have never been this e in my adult life. so it's a special place for me. i'm so comfortable in my jeans. i love the progress.

looking back and saying, "wow, look at the difference." and it makes me love myself that much more. i win. and you can, too. ♪ win, win, i win ♪ i win and you can join for free. weight watchers. because it works. a man can only try... and try...and try. [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios tastes great and can help lower cholesterol. bee happy. bee healthy. ♪ black one! where? [ vrrroooooomm! ] black one! where? [ vrrroooooomm! ] black one! ow! where? [ male announcer ] the volkswagen tiguan.

the only compact suv with a turbocharged engine, standard. [ vrrroooooomm! ] black one! where? there. [ male announcer ] lease the 2010 tiguan for just $269 a month. it's a whole new volkswagen. and a whole new game.

some gloom and doom in a survey about the economy. top economists say the

unemployment rate will stay high well into next year. as for home prices, they'll remain essentially flat the next two years and most expect is fed to keep rates at historic lous until the end of this year, then look out. steve liesman joins me. all right, steve. boy, the bears are not good news this morning. >> yeah. why don't you just talk about the hurricane and tornado and maybe the coming of the ice age one more time. it's not all bad news. higher interest rates could also be a sign of a good thing. the reason is, the question is, how do we get there, why are we going to get there. if we have higher rates because the economy is growing and they're just returning to normal, that's one thing. we're getting better jobs, able to sell our homes. if interest rating are going to rise because of higher inflation

and because of all that debt that the government is issuing, that's another reason and that latter reason is a reason to be scared. >> and one thing that maybe good for buyers, this notion that housing prices could be flat for a couple of years. >> right. all of that doom and gloom that you just talked about won't come true and interest rates will rise. both of those things aren't going to happen. if the housing market stays flat and the jobs market remains soft for another two years, you're not going to be looking at an explosion of interest rates. yes, it's true we've hit the bottom, but we may plod along here at these low rates for a while to come. >> thank you. in about an hour, ben roethlisberger will learn whether a georgia d.a. plans to file sexual assault charges. the options range from dropping the case to taking it to a grand jury or reducing charges to sexual battery.

now joining us, chris russo. what's the word. what are you hearing? >> it sounds like probably he's going to drop the charges, so roethlisberger will be out of hot water from the law standpoint. i don't think he's out of water from the nfl or team standpoint. now listen. roethlisberger has done a terrible job. two years ago, reno and now, this scenario from a couple of months ago. campus bar, 20-year-old girl. goodell's going to meet him this week and the receiver won the mvp, santonio holmes to the jets. >> is it sending a message? >> absolutely. you could say, why don't they trade roethlisberger. you've got a financial commit m. this receiver, you can get rid of him and send that message. roethlisberger is under the gun, again. two girls, two different states. probably going to get away with it both times.

down the road, it's the bad thing for him. >> what about nevada. we know it happened in reno. they wanted to move this trial to lake tahoe. what's the latest? annoyed at him. the owner is the ambassador is not going to stand. it looks bad. they can't trade him because he's making so much money, but

he's on egg shells. >> if they can't trade him, what happe happens? >> he's going to play. the good, warm feeling about roethlisberger who has won two super bowls, that's disapated. plus, his judgment. 20-year-old girl, what's he doing in georgia at a bar with a 20-year-old girl? >> all right. thanks. thank you for watching. contessa brewer will be back at her normal time tomorrow. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." orrin hatch talks with andrea about the upcoming supreme court vacancy. rica... there's a home by the sea powered by the wind on the plains. there's a hospital where technology has a healing touch. there's a factory giving old industries new life. and there's a train that got a whole city moving again.

somewhere in america, the toughest questions are answered every day. because somewhere in america, more than sixty thousand people spend every day answering them. siemens. answers. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. not that long ago, many families were priced out of an overheated housing market. but the times have changed. get the facts at remax.com. today, the dream of owning a home seems more attainable than ever. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today.

(announcer) regular kool-aid. goes almost three times further than soda. kool aid. delivering more smiles per gallon. but we're also in the showing-kids- new-worlds business. and the startup-capital- for-barbers business. and the this-won't- hurt-a-bit business. because we don't just work here. we live here. these are our families. and our neighbors. and by changing lives we're in more than the energy business we're in the human energy business. chevron.