making news this morning, severe storms. >> extreme weather, hammering the heartland, right now. tornadoes have touched down with more likely, as rivers rise. a nasty morning commute. also right now, new details. the soldier accused of killing 16 afghans. saying he does not remember the deadly rampage. as his wife also breaks her silence. and another palin lashing out at the president. why bristol palin says she's waiting for a phone call and an apology. and a first dance. the new season of "dancing with the stars" is now officially under way. already setting up to be one of the most competitive seasons yet.

and good morning, everybody. we do begin with breaking news out of texas. a severe storm outbreak, happening right now. >> we're talking about powerful winds and rain, stretching from central texas, into the midwest. the radar telling the story of deluge with damaging winds that will last well into this morning, making a mess of roads, even flights. >> on top of that, one twister traveled through the tiny town of devine, texas, overnight. touching down southwest of san antonio. 50 homes were damaged. some totally destroyed. so far, there's no confirmed reports of injuries, thankfully. here's a look at what the downpours have done. flooding that stretches into oklahoma. some areas have seen two inches of rain an hour. more severe weather is on tap for later today, with 70-mile-per-hour winds, hail, and a chance of tornadoes from shreveport to houston and southern missouri.

rivers in the dallas area are expected to rise up to 20 feet. we will, of course, have a complete update later on "good morning america." and our other major story on this tuesday morning, new insight into the possible offense strategy for army sergeant robert bales. his attorney says bales will not enter an insanity plea in the shooting of 16 afghan civilians. >> lawyers will claim that bales was acting with diminished capacity of a breakdown. we're joined by tahman bradley. >> reporter: good morning. overnight, we got word about what bales says he remembers about the night of the massacre. the civilian lawyer for the army soldier, accused of murdering 16 afghan civilians says his client has little memory of what happened the night of the massacre. attorney john henry brown says staff sergeant robert bales has memories before and after the incident, but little between.

with his client facing charges this week, brown spent several hours with bales at the military facility at ft. leavenworth. those that know the staff sergeant still can't believe the 38-year-old husband, and father of two, could slaughter innocent villag villagers. >> reporter: his wife, released her first statement saying, what was reported is completely out of character of the man i know and admire. details of his life have also emerged. according to federal documents reviewed by abc news, bales enlisted in the army at the same time he was facing questions about his work as a financial adviser. bales was accused of cheating an ohio couple out of their life savings. and was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution. the money was never paid. >> that doesn't make sense. you have money problems, that doesn't cause you to do something horrible. that doesn't explain much to me.

>> reporter: military officials said bales had been drinking the night of the incident. but the lead attorney says that bales told him, he only had a couple sips. rob and paula? >> tahman bradley live in washington. thanks, tahman. in related news, the top commander in afghanistan is expected to tell lawmakers today, that the u.s. must stick to its current war strategy. general john allen could face tough questions on capitol hill. it's the first time the general has spoken to congress, since the violence surrounding the koran burning and last week's shooting of those civilians. a nationwide manhunt is under way in france, following that country's worst-ever school shooting. mourners in the southern city of toulouse, left flowers and other items in memory of the three children and a rabbi murdered at a jewish school yesterday. the gunman got away on a motor bike. the gun was used to kill three military paratroopers in what was considered a racist attack last week. back here at home, now, to

the republican presidential primary happening today in illinois. mitt romney has a slight lead in the polls over rick santorum. karen travers has a preview of today's race. >> reporter: mitt romney and rick santorum, scrambling for votes in the land of lincoln. romney admired the pancakes served at charlie parker's diner in springfield. and he saw in them, political symbolism. >> these pancakes are as large as my win in puerto rico last night. >> reporter: the margin was so big, that romney picked up all of the delegates at stake. romney's built a successful strategy by stringing together big wins in small contests. he snagged almost all of the delegates up for grabs in the virgin islands, guam, and samoa. romney pulled out tight wins in ohio. and some are showing very similar. on the trail, the candidates have been trading jabs. >> i don't think you're going to

replace an economic lightweight, with another economic lightweight. >> i heard governor romney called me an economic lightweight because i wasn't a wall street financier like he was. >> reporter: romney's focused on santorum. been an off-the-cuff comment may be met with cheers at the obama headquarters. >> i believe the economy's coming back, by the way. we'll see what happens. i think it's finally coming back. >> reporter: their schedules may reveal what they feel about their chances. mitt romney holds an event in illinois, while santorum holds one in pennsylvania. karen travers, abc news, washington. >> it looks like it's going to continue through the summer. >> months and months more of politics, which everyone loves. time, now, for the weather across the nation, aside from those severe storms in and around texas. expect rain in the upper midwest. a washout from seattle to northern california. heavy snow in the cascades, sierra nevada and morn rockies. lingering mountain snow in new mexico and colorado. and afternoon showers from western new york to the

carolinas. >> mostly 80s in the southeast. 70s from boston to baltimore. indianapolis hits 83. chicago 78. 64 in phoenix. and near 50 in salt lake city. and coming up, make room for a new number two. can you guess t naon's second-most popular fast food chain? >> very interesting story there. also today, oprah's new network facing a ratings reality of sorts. issuing some pink slips. and the first lady talks to david letterman. the things we did not know about her trips aw

welcome back, everybody. as if the soaring price of its stock isn't enough, apple's now giving its shareholders something else. the tech giant is going to issue the first dividends in 17 years, using some of its $98 billion in cash. apple also announced that it sold 3 million ipads in the first three days the latest version was on sale. and the stock closed bo $600 for the first time. tack masters has filed for bankruptcy. you might be familiar with its ad from tv. it promotes itself as helping people solve its tax problems. tax masters has problems of its own. assets under $50,000 and estimated liabilities up to 10 million bucks. and wendy's has dethroned

burger king as the second-biggest burger chain. burger king has more restaurants. but mcdonald's has twice as much in sales as wendy's and burger king combined. >> has to be the fries. that's the secret. mcdonald's fries. >> and playland. overseas markets fell after china raised gasoline prices. the nikkei was closed today. hong kong's hang seng fell 49 points. in london, the ftse opened lower. on wall street, the dow edged up 7 points yesterday. the nasdaq index rose 23. oprah's own cable network is having a little bit of trouble. 27% of her employees have been laid off. and there's been a restructuring. all of after the sudden cancellation of the rosie o'donnell show last week. it hasn't really found a strong audience since debuting in january of last year. here's a sign that some of us need to cut the cord.

many of us are still getting money from home. almost one in ten american adults of all ages regularly receiving money or financial help from their parents or other family members. not surprisingly, the percentage is twice as great among young adults, ages 18 to 34. >> not shocking. >> no. and all signs point to a big blockbuster at the movies this weekend. one analyst says that "hunger games" could take in 100 million bucks. and might set a record. "hunger games" is dominating online advance ticket sales. >> won't be hungry for sales. >> well done. next on this tuesday, sarah palin's daughter, bristol, lashing out at the president, saying she is waiting for an apology. and overnight developments in the controversial shooting death of a florida teen. the fbi is now getting involved. -hold up. -why are we stopping? just need to refill my walgreens prescription.

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welcome back, everyone. severe storms on this first day of spring, bringing major flooding to i-10, from louisiana into texas. i-20, from abilene to little rock. and i-40, from oklahoma city to arkansas. wet on i-35, from loredo to minneapolis. rain soaking i-5, in the pacific northwest. and icy on i-4, in the cascades and northern rockies. >> if you're flying, airport delays are possible in the cities of dallas, houston, kansas city and minneapolis. now, a developing story. it was just announced overnight, that the justice department is opening up an investigation into the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen. >> 17-year-old trayvon martin was killed last month near his home in florida. george zimmermann says he shot martin in self-defense. zimmermann is a neighborhood watch captain. but he has a long history for calling police, mostly for false alarms. >> zimmermann has not been

charged. martin's father says he thinks his son was killed because of his race. and bristol palin says she is waiting for a call from president obama over nasty remarks made about her by bill maher. palin says if the president can jump to the defense of sara comments, he can come to her gh defense, as well. maher is a million-dollar donor to obama's super pac. he has called bristol palin derogatory names during his routine. a former "desperate housewives" star says her edie brit character was killed off after he accused marc cherry of striking her on the set of that hit abc show. and claim that he denies. the jury, deadlocked with 8 of 12 siding with sheridan. it's not clear when the retrial will take place. and ashton kutcher is far out. no, really.

the actor is on his way to space. yesterday, kuchar became the 500th person to sign up for a ride into space with billionaire richard branson's virgin galactic. he will get a 2 1/2-hour flight, with 5 minutes of weightlessness, all for a mere $200,000. flights are set to start next year. >> does he get a beverage and pretzels, though? >> the smallest bag of pretzels, ever. it appears peyton manning is heading to the mile-high city. he is passing denver bronco's physical and is working on a dale worth roughly $95 million over the next five years. he missed all of last season. he was released by the colts two weeks ago. meantime, there are two days, now, until the sweet 16 gets under way. but the pros were in action last night. we get highlights, now, from espn news. >> good morning. i'm don bell with your espn news update. and we go to the nba. couple of big games in the eastern conference. bulls and magic. chicago, without derrick rose.

first quarter, orlando, they have dwight howard. and that's working out pretty well. 18 points, 12 rebounds. magic up by three. later on, john lucas off the bench, sticks the three. i said, john lucas. one more time. he had 20 points. bulls lead 22-14. second quarter we go. they're up by six. carlos boozer had a good game. fading away. bulls up 30-22. in the third, boozer will not quit. 24 points, 13 rebounds. bulls up 59-46. fourth quarter, lucas finds joakim noah. all on glen davis. bulls win, 85-59. to atlanta, we go. josh smith and the hawks take on the celtics. down low and he goes. punching it home. fourth quarter, mickael pietrus off the inbounds. beats his man. celtics up by one. ray allen.

balling. he was not done. finished with 19 points, 4 of 6 from deep. celtics up 73-58. later on, teague, with the hawks down by three. could it go? the answer was no. it was an air-ball. celtics win, 79-76. i'm don bell. and that's your espn news update. >> take me to thursday. can't wait for the sweet 16 games. >> bring it on, tar heels. up next, the shocking new shots of justin bieber, bloodied and bruised. and the first lady reveals white house secrets to david letterman. she is this week's online sensation. the cutest story of the day, the toddler who sings a hit song by adel. we're right back. ock. my daily meeting with a salty snack. and then at 3:15 with my guilt. [ female announcer ] special k cracker chips. 27 crispy chips. 110 delicious calories.

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our exclusive active naturals wheat protein formula works with your hair, targeting damage, restoring strength and resilience for up to 90% less breakage in just three washes. find peace with your hair. [ female announcer ] and discover strong, healthy hair with life. new nourish+ strengthen, from the nourish+ hair care collection. only from aveeno. welcome back, everyone. it is time to check "the pulse," starting with first lady michelle obama, sitting down with david letterman last night. >> she spoke about the first family. and actually became emotional talking about her dad. the first lady also discussed covert trips to petco with bo. and that very famous visit over to target. >> that's my target run. i went to target. [ laughter ]

i thought i was under cover. no one knew that was me because a woman actually walked up to me. she said, excuse me. i just have to ask you something. and i thought, cover's blown. she said, can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent? i kid you not. >> mrs. obama added that the woman then told her that she didn't need to make reaching that detergent look so easy. humanizing moment for the first lady, right? >> her curt wasn't really full. i can't go to target without dropping a couple hundred. >> easy. a cart full of stuff. these new pictures are sure to upset all of the believers out there. these images of justin bloodied and bruised are part of a photo shoot. calm down. >> for the tenth anniversary of "complex" magazine. as for the beaten look? the mag says making pop music is a contact sport. okay. >> all right.

and staying with the young and hip theme right now, mtv is bringing back the gang for a sixth season of, yep, "jersey shore." that includes expectant mom, snooki, as part of the action. >> i can't believe she is going to procreate. that says just how big of a role snooki will play. but the dynamics in the house are about to change. and shooting begins this summer. >> you can say all you want about those kids. they're laughing all the way to the bank. move over adele. another young songstress is stealing the spotlight. and when we say young, we mean very young. ♪ someone like you to share the best to you ♪ >> that blonde beauty is 2-year-old makena, belting out adele's "someone like you." the video has generated about a million hits. >> hear the kids singing.

for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, the dancing season is now under way. and paula, yep. she's shooked. bacon?! bacon! smokey bacon, meaty bacon, tasty bacon! bacon? ohh, la, la... oh, i say, is that bacon?! oh, good heavens! bacon! bacon! bacon! bacon! who wants a beggin' strip? meee! i'd get it myself but i don't have thumbs! yum, yum, yum, yum, yum... it's bacon!!! mmm i love you, i love bacon. i love you. i love bacon. i love you. beggin' strips! there's no time like beggin' time. and check out beggin' thick cut. i'm gonna need a bigger mouth!

are choosing advil®. here's one story. pain doesn't have much of a place in my life. i checked the schedule and it's not on it. [ laughs ] you never know when advil® is needed. well most people only know one side of my life. they see me on stage and they think that that is who i am. singer, songwriter, philanthropist, father, life's a juggling act. when i have to get through the pain, i know where to go. [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®. and if pain keeps you up,

sleep better with advil pm. updating the day's top stories. they're assessing the damage in texas this morning, after getting slammed by a powerful tornado. a twister touched down in devine, which is near san antonio, last night, destroying at least 50 homes. according to his attorney, suspected afghan shooter robert bales does not remember much of what happened during his deadly attack. and the attorney is ruling out an insanity plea. republican primary voters head to the polls today in illinois. mitt romney has a slight lead over chief rival, rick santorum. and more severe storms from texas into louisiana, arkansas, oklahoma and missouri. soaking rain and heavy mountain snow in the northwest. and finally from us this morning, it was quite an impressive lineup last night, as

"dancing with the stars" kicked off its 14th season. >> that's right. the dancing was the best for a premiere and earned the cast the highest scores of any season. with more, here's abc's george pennacchio. >> reporter: singer katherine jenkins and mark ballas, fox trotted for 28 out of 30. shockingly high. julia white and kym johnson got the same score for the same dance. and this is only the beginning. >> a great start. >> we're going to go up and down. but again, it means i'm drinking tonight. >> i think i would be just as emotional next week. sorry, mark. i'm going to be just as stressed. >> i know how to handle it. backstage, she was like i'm going to do this. >> and when you feel the love from the people, it's like, yes. >> reporter: with triple eights, william levy is third on the leaderboard. the first move america sees you make is putting your hands on

his rear-end. >> exactly. isn't that what women wanted? i mean, you can thank me, girls at home watching. >> reporter: one point behind them, a four-way tie for fourth place. what's in you? >> energy. and excitement. and i'm looking forward to what's to come. you know? i just want to live. >> reporter: with triple sevens, two teams tied for fifth. >> going first is so nerve-racking. i mean if i had gone second or third, you would have gotten a little settled. but it was like, bam, here we go. >> i think we had a great time. the energy was there. once we got started, there was no holding back. >> reporter: driver was a huge crowd pleaser. and in this competitive season, so were the three teams who landed barely at the bottom. no one gets eliminated tonight. that will happen next week, after all 12 teams get to dance again. either the quick step or the jive. in los angeles, george pennacchio, for abc news. >> you appreciated the butt grab, i'm assuming.

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