good afternoon, i'm mary calvi >> and i'm chris wragge. we begin this noon with the apartment fire in the bronx that killed two toddler sisters. >> today there are questions surrounding their grieving mother. witnesses say she left her babies in their apartment alone last night. cbs 2's steve langford is live at the scene in the clairmont section with much more on this. steve. >>reporter: as a shrine grows in memory of the two tiny victims of the fire here at 1368 webster avenue, two key questions. were the babies left alone, and why was incense left burning in the apartment unattended? can you tell us what happened last night? the mother of the two babies who died in the fire at the scene at her webster avenue building the day after. were your children alone? the mother seen here on

of the fire doing herlonry across the street, -- doing her laundry across the street. her girls, ages 2 and 18 months may have been left alone as the fire erupted inside the third floor apartment. >> i was in here, and i heard the baby crying, and i thought somebody was in there with them. >>reporter: witnesses describe the moment the mother, across the street, doing the laundry realizes the fire is coming from her apartment. >> the mother came running from across the street, saying, you know, looking and was, like, my babies, my babies. >>reporter: this man, still shaken, saw the little victims department. horrifying. like a movie. >>reporter: authorities say incense had been left burning in the apartment unattended. shantee foi who lives on the floor above the fire scene says she often smelled the strong scent and spoke to the mother about it recently. >> i just thought it was could happen. >>reporter: and investigators say there were no working smoke

the time of the fire. live in the clairmont section of the bronx, steve langford, cbs 2 news. >> all right, steve, thank you. now to campaign 2016. we are just hours away from the big democratic debate in brooklyn, hillary clinton and bernie sanders will take the stage at the brooklyn navy yard. that's where cbs 2's andrea grimes join us live this noon andrea. >>reporter: well, all five presidential candidates are in town today, but you're right, all eyes, at least on the democratic side are here at the navy yard behind me. many people who live here in brooklyn are excited to see it in the national spotlight for a change tonight during this campaign season. >> it's, like, wow, this is here in new york city. i can't wait to see it. i cannot wait. >>reporter: east flatbush brooklyn resident renshaw james is counting down the hours, thrilled to watch hillary clinton and bernie sanders in a borough. >> it's an amazing feeling to have two of new york's own come here to the brooklyn navy yard and just take it over by storm. >>reporter: the brooklyn-born

senator clinton have spent the last several days, courting voters in the empire state ahead of tuesday's primary. tonight they'll do so in prof a prime time awed -- in front of a prime time audience. last night sanders rallied thousands of people at washington square park >> and a tax on wall street speculation will bring in more than enough income to pay for free tuition at public colleges and universities and lower student debt, and that's exactly what we should do. >>reporter: in the meantime clinton court the black vote yesterday at this event hosted by al sharpton. >> it is time we face up to the reality of systemic racism in all of its forms. >>reporter: the democrats are not the only ones in town. on the gop side, donald trump, ted cruz and john kasich are all expected tonight at the republican committee's annual gala in midtown. before that trump is set to attend today's suffolk gop 43,000 in patchogue on long island.

>> we don't win on trade, we don't win with military, we don't win with anything anymore. >>reporter: last night on cnn, cruz again defended his controversial new york values comment, saying he was talking about liberal policies hurting the state. >> donald immediately said, well, you're attacking the police and firefighters in 9/11 which was utterly absurd. >>reporter: kasich will hold a news conference this afternoon in jericho on long island. yesterday he again predicted a contested gop convention. >> they're going to try to figure out who actually with win in the fall. >>reporter: and back out here live ouz the brooklyn navy yard, the debate tonight for the democrats starts at 9:00. reporting live outside the navy yard, andrea grymes, cbs 2 news. >> andrea, thank you. a cbs news poll out this morning has donald trump on top, maintaining a double-digit lead. 42% of likely gop voters nationwide would like to see donald trump as the republican nominee. 13 points ahead of ted cruz. and while the majority support trump, republican voters are almost evenly split over which

the poll gives john kasich a slight edge in that department. donald trump's campaign manager reportedly not be prosecuted for battery in florida. last month cory lewandowski was charged with misdemeanor battery after a trump news conference. michelle fields, a reporter for the breitbart website accused him of force bli grabbing her as she tried to ask trump a question. this afternoon the state's attorney's office in palm beach is expected to announce they are not planning to prosecute. a corruption scandal erupts in rockland county as the fbi arrests ramapo town lawrence. fraud. the feds say st. lawrence overstated the town's assets to qualify for $25 million in municipal bonds. they were used to build prof dent bank park. ramapo's minor league baseball stadium. now, the town's deputy supervisor called the charges shocking, saying lawrence is expected to appear in court later this afternoon. parts of newark are without power after an equipment. pseg crews working to repair

the utility says the outage began with a manhole fire at university avenue and bleaker street around 1:30 this morning. as a result parts of the rutgers university campus and offline. >> some of the buildings will be out most likely until later in the evening. we are bringing in portable generators to serve st. michael's hospital which is operating on their own generator power right now. psge says the outage is contain to the downtown area. the cause of the fire is under investigation. russia says it's war planes respected all safety rules when they buzzed the united states navy destroyer more than 30 times over two days. the white house has called the simulated attack passes unsafe. cbs 2's david martin has more. >> lower the bridge wing. below the bridge wing. >>reporter: the russian planes raced by the u.s. navy destroyer low and fast over and over, these pictures taken from on board the ship showed just how dangerously close they came during some of those passes. >> over the bow, right turn, over the bough.

with the commander of the u.s.s. donald cook described as a simulated attack profile, although they carried no weapons under their wings. a total of 31 runs over two days. on monday the cook was preparing to conduct helicopter flight operations in the baltic sea, in international waters 70 miles off the coast of the russian enclave of kalinninggrad. this is a foreign policy expert for the pentagon. >> this is really dangerous behavior. they're prying with fire here. i'm sure that u.s. ships and other non-russian ships have been just as close in the past, and even if they hadn't, again, they're in international waters. there's nothing provacative about what we're doing, unlike the russians, we actually telegraph very transparently what we're doing. >>reporter: a pair of russian attack jets flew 20 passes on the ship monday, coming as close as 1,000 yards at an altitude of 100 feet, ignoring radio calls from the cook and forcing the ship to cancel flight operations.

photographs. then another pair of attack jets showed up and buzzed the cook 11 times. this time coming within an estimated 30 feet of the ship. the latest and most striking in past two years. >> so we clearly need to send a signal tot russian that is this is unacceptable, that this is unprofessional, risky behavior. fully-byes violent an agreement signed in the '70s that specifically prohibits running simulated attack profiles against war ships. new information as the hunt continues for a serial robber in nassau county. he struck again last night, hitting a carvelle store. this surveillance video of the suspect was released last month. he's now wanted in 10 robberies since march 1st, including half a dozen holdups at dunkin' donuts shops. police say he follows a pattern, waiting to enter a store when no customers are inside, then pulling a large knife. >> the kitchen knife is six to seven inches long.

however, we are dedicating a large amount of resources to this. >> there is now a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. still plenty more ahead here on cbs 2 news at noon. rutgers university will hold one of the sought-after commencement speakers in the country. find out who it is. and deadline delay. tax return procrastinators can breathe a little easier. why they won't have to have their taxes done by midnight tomorrow, april 15th. and it used to take millions of years to produce a diamond in the ground. we'll show you some new diamonds that are just weeks old. well, i'm still your best friend when it comes to weather scenes like this. look at the sun in the city. that's pretty.

up. he say's we should punish women who have abortions. there has to be some form of punishment. that mexicans who come to america are rapists. they're rapists. and that we should ban muslims from coming here at all. total and complete shut down.

by turning against each other. it's wrong and it goes against everything new york and america stand for. with so much at stake, she's the one tough enough to stop trump. hillary clinton. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. big news for this year's graduating class at rutgers university. the white house just announced president obama will deliver remarks at the university's 250th anniversary commencement. the first time the president has addressed rutgers graduates, more than 12,000 students will receive degrees. the graduation is scheduled for sunday, may 15th at the high point solutions stadium in passcataway. more about the shooting that killed former new orleans sainlts football player will smith last weekend. the attorney for the smith family says the accused gum cardel hayes showed no remorse after shooting smith and his wife multiple times.

shooting shows his suv tapping hayes' hummer. smith drove away because he didn't see any damage. he then rammed smith's car and then came the deadly confrontation. >> he actually stood over will smith's dead body as his wife who had crawled away because she couldn't walk is cowering and hiding. >> as far as the eight shots that mr. smith sustained, i will say again that mr. hayes is legally not guilty. >> smith was shot seven times in the back. the family's attorney says smith had a loaded gun too, but never took it out of his car. if you waited to file your taxes, there's good news this. year's deadline is three days later than usual. it's because of an annual holiday celebrated in washington d.c. here's cbs 2's craig boswell. >>reporter: marching bands and parades are part of the celebration of emancipation day every april 16th in washington d.c. on that day in 1862, president abraham lincoln signed the act, freeing more

the d.c. government shuts down on the holiday, but this year it falls on a saturday, so it will be observed on friday, april 15th, tax day. and that changes the tax filing deadline for everyone across the country to april 18th. music to the ears of tax filers like bromi who's letting block advisers do her taxes this year. >> i mean, i think it's great. having extra days is always a bonus. >>reporter: are you a procrastinator? >> i am. >>reporter: sharron was also glad to hear about the extra time. >> for those that are under the gun, those extra days with mean a lot. >>reporter: it's estimated one in three americans wait until april to file their taxes. this year's extra time is good news, not just for taxpayers, but accountants as well. >> do you get any sleep this time of year? >> absolutely not. it's tax season. >>reporter: shellla banks with block advisers advises people to use the extra time wisely.

come on in, we're here. >>reporter: thousands of tax preparers are open around the clock this time of year, some are even available until midnight on the 18th for those who do wait until the last minute. craig boswell, cbs news, washington. people in maine, massachusetts have even longer. they don't have to file until the 19th because of patriots, a holiday celebrated in new england falls on monday. >> there you have it coming up new diamonds that are only a few weeks old. >> they have the same chemical properties, the same physical properties. >> but are they as valuable as a diamond that comes from deep in the earth? and after a cold snap, spring weather is here.

forecast. new york. what makes it think bigger? go bolder?

for tuition-free public college. justice that works for all. for a middle-class that... must. be. saved. you do. values. forged in new york. brooklyn born. native son. who knows what we know: we're all in this together. i'm bernie sanders and i approve this message. well, a silicon valley engineer is trying to outshine objects >> they are a handful of companies growing diamonds in a lab. cbs 2's john blackstone has the story. >>reporter: at this silicon valley startup, engineering are doing in weeks what takes nature millions of years. >> just like out of mine, our growth chambers produce a rough

>>reporter: they're making diamonds. jeremy shuls, chief technology officer of the diamond foundry carefully shows off some of what they create. >> for us and in just a few weeks we produce a 1-caret stone with plasma and with chemistry, we're accelerating the very same processes that happen in the earth. >>reporter: to protect their secrets from the competition, the diamond foundry provided only glimpses of the machines that at 10,000 degrees fahrenheit rearrange carbon atoms into precious gems. >> to the lay person, it would differences. >>reporter: john king is chief quality officer of the america. he grades diamonds and says there's little difference between those mine from the earth and those grown in the machines. >> they're both diamonds. they have the same chemical properties, the same physical properties. >> a diamond is forever. >>reporter: the world's leading diamond producer

morning," the fine item nature of natural dmobs makes them inherently valuable. synthetic diamonds can be mass produced abwill not retain value -- and will not retain value over time. whether diamonds are coming from earth or silicon valley, don't expect a bargain. foundry diamonds cost only about 15% less. john blackstone, cbs news, san francisco. >> still a girl's best friend, right? >> they are beautiful. they really are. how big do they come in? do you know? >> at least a 5 caretter. we've got a gem of a forecast today and into the weekend. it is just gorgeous. >> you know, there are many facets to the forecast, huh? and what's my color and quality and carat and cut? every groom or groom-to-be knows those four cs. okay. we are seeing 50 to 55 on average. some readings a little warmer than that, we have 58 here. 54 for the jersey shore this. is a nice story too, marina de blasio reporting from neptune city, and did you know? i didn't. it's national volunteer week at

medical center, and guess what, maureen is a volunteer. she says she gets so much more than she gives. appreciate that. neighbor dr. franky wants to take out the convertible. it might be a little chilly for that. mike has 52 in brookhaven, and i love this, this is what they called me in college, it's a red-bellied woodpecker. when a view for you. and i do appreciate all of these great flower and spring pictures coming in because, yeah, it feels like it out there. in the city right now this, is what we're looking at, lots of sun. high pressure is still in control. numbers for you, 54, it's a little warmer than it was yesterday, east wind at 7 miles an hour. 50 in monticello and the hamptons too. 57 in edison, one of our warmer spots. when you compare these numbers to yesterday, on average you're about 2 to 3 degrees warmer, 4 degrees warmer than we were this time yesterday in the city. yesterday we hit 58, so we're going to go for 60 today. still a little shy of where we should be, but very close. 85 and 26 your records. sun sets at 7:35, and lots of

now, another sign of the season, pollen is up again today. it's kind of a convergence of tree and grass pollen. so it's a perfect 10. nothing perfect about it today, staying high into the weekend as well. want to show you the radar and satellite to show you there's nothing to show you which is nice. a big ridge of high pressure is in control. i mean, this is a big ridge of high pressure, but what's interesting is one little feature that the models are picking up into the weekend. thursday and friday, fine. but saturday, look at this thing, this big monster. but, remember, we're dealing with a big ridge of high pressure. so it looks like it is just kind of going to be a blocking agent to keep it away, so we have high pressure in control and saturday and sunday, in fact, as that high pressure system shifts a bit, we should be in the mid-70s, and that's above normal for this time of the year. don't forget, it's going to be chilly tonight, some patchy frost can't be ruled out, but then the warmup in the works into the weekend. >> look at those numbers. finally. >> pretty nice.

>> really nice. >> thank you, john. not everything you find in the produce aisle come from a farm. here's stephanie tantillo with your tip of the day. >>reporter: hey, guys. today we're going to look at ramps. now being that we had a very, very mild winter and an early spring, ramps came in three weeks early which is astonishing and it's actually amazing. but ramps on the grow in a couple parts of the country and we're in one of them. let's talk about selection and storage. when you see the ramps, most likely in your local market, don't be surprised, there's going to be a lot of roots and a lot of dirt. these are foraged, not farmed. you want to make sure the leaves are nice an perky, grien. you also want to check the roots. there should be a little bit of red and a little bit of white. you don't want to see a lot of other colors on there. again, these are wild. ramps, when you bring them home, keep them cold, so wrap them up in a paper towel in your refrigerator. don't get them wet, keep them cool and use them quick. clean them effectively, clean them very, very well. because they are forage, they're going to be covered in a lot of dirt. and just a very light sauti.

it's a cross between a strong onion and garlic. so you can imagine the ways you can use it are similar of those to onions and garlic which is basically everything. i'm stephanie tantillo with your tip of the day. >> cook them with the dirt or what? >> i don't think so. clean them first. i haven't had these before. when we come back, a surprising escape.

aquarium tank to freedom. american workers know how to fight back and rebuild an economy. so does she. we need jobs that provide dignity and a bright future. new penalties to stop companies from moving profits and jobs overseas. for businesses that create manufacturing jobs, a new tax credit. and let's invest in clean energy jobs, with 500 million solar panels installed by the end of her first term. a real plan to create new jobs and industries of the future. hillary clinton.

coming up on cbs 2 news tonight beginning at 5:00, how would you feel about people being allowed to text in the middle of a movie? one huge movie chain could be open to the idea. then coming up at 6:00, sunday brunch may be getting more spirited. the new proposal that would allow businesses to serve alcohol earlier than ever before. those stories and much more coming up tonight on cbs 2 news beginning at 5:00. now here is a daring escape you do not see everyday. an octopus escaped from the national aquarium in new its tank. the smart animal known as inky slipped through a small gap in the tank, slid all the way across the floor before squeezing through a runoff pipe leading to the ocean and freedom. octopuses are known to be very intelligent and curious. officials believe inky is most likely back in his natural habitat, you know, roaming across the sea floor. pretty impressive there.

calamari, right? >> he knew it was coming >> i'm outta here. that's going to do it for us. for john and the entire cbs 2 news team, i'm chris wragge. >> i'm mary calvi. we'll see you back at 5:00. have a great day out there today. this morning, people on medicaid who might otherwise be struggling to care for themselves won't have to. because homefirst, a product of elderplan, is there... helping them with bathing, dressing and meals so they can remain safely at home. homefirst, a product of elderplan continuing the work of the four brooklyn ladies caring in so many ways. call 1-866-386-4180

>> summer: i just wish i could wake up and it would be tomorrow morning and this would all be over. >> luca: go with the truth. you'll be fine. >> summer: okay, and my mom and billy? how do i live with myself knowing that this could do something to them? >> luca: how will you live with the lie? you know in your heart honesty is the right thing to do.