. >> suzanne: some damage control tonight from berkshire hathaway c.e.o. war en buffet. he took the unusual step of writing a news release on the resignation of david sokol, chairman of the subsidiaries. he was the matchmaker for berkshire's purchase this month of a company, turned out sokol bought a chunk of the stock back in january. buffet made it clear he didn't think the purchase was illegal, but he has expected sokol's decision to resign to spend more time -- he was seen as a possible successor to buffet. >> tom: >> tom: the buying interest continues with the major stock indices extending their gains. let's take a look at tonight's "market focus." with just one more day left in the first quarter, we figured we would start with the s&p 500 so far this year-- up more than 5.5%. while the s&p 500 has yet to break out to new post-recession highs, check out this exchange- traded fund that follows the russell 2000 stock index. today's gains of 1.3% take it to a new 52-week high, up more than 30% from a year ago. and its close to making a new all-time high. this is the pa

third is berkshire hathaway. one single share = $120,000! and the top two, google.he king of the search engines. and an apple. the most admired companies. the fourth consecutive year. their top industry leaders have kept their competitors and all. and with the iphone 5 this summer. the sweet success is not going to end anytime soon. reporting from york. >>catherine: is so critical to local companies. it is so great. those local companies. robert? >> rob: there is a correlation. with employee retention, google providing a 10% salary increase. >>catherine: correct, and with the question. donald is asking what is a good way to... a 4% yield. ? >> rob: i wish that was an easy answer. however, if you put your principal up? it is too much risk. with the 4 percent, did not have perhaps done enough to cover if something goes bad. maybe starting with stocks of rise in, or bonds from general motors. of verizon, palo alto, good quality high-quality city in the bay area bonds. and build a portfolio of municipal bonds. building a portfolio, you should be able to yield about 4%.

berkshire hathaway. second place. google. first place this apple. of course. the fourth year in a row. the latest, but the i pad to. apple is the big success. >> vicki: 3 do movies have a bid at double-a-3. the fed the beast. -- beauty and the beast. second place the ad just with curious. first place. r a n g zero. firefighters did the east they have pleaded of application. coming up. >> vicki: now, here is gabe slate, with some tech news. >>gabe: firefighters have created a i felt application that is getting a lot of attention. it is free. it is the first of its kind. it is treated to save lives. it is for those who are suffering life threat to they issues to connect with people who are trade. they are put together a psa video demonstration. the dilemma they download it from the it applications store. they opted to be notified if there is a cpr of the best beer by. they raise their hand it to say i will assist. when the have the right 11 call comes it we will notify the user of the application better if the general vicinity of the event. >>gabe: will see exac

warren buffer et has started to spend some of berkshire hatha wie wie's cash.lly, anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to wikileaks plans to release emails obtained from bank of america it claims will expose corruption and fraud at the nation's biggest bank. >>> plus a weekend of buzzer beaters in college hoops ushering in march madness. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> another rainmaker is coming on to the west coast. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." >> sports, productivity is about to go down in offices around the country this week because so many people will be filling out their ncaa brackets. here is mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >>> good morning. start filling out those brackets. pick up your upsets and let the madness begin, the field is set for the ncaa tournament. but before the 68 teams were announced, there were conference championships to be won. let's start in the big ten. top ranked ohio st

gupta is accused of telling rajaratnam about goldman earnings and the $5 billion berkshire hathaway investment. gupta, who's also the former head of mckinsey denies all allegations of wrongdoing. >> tom: meantime, i.b.m. will pay the s.e.c. $10 million to settle bribery charges. i.b.m. was accused of giving cash to south korean and chinese government officials for more than a decade to get computer contracts. regulators say the payments, including trips and meals, broke federal law. i.b.m. did not admit or deny guilt. the settlement must still be okayed by a federal court judge. >> susie: here's a dilemma for the job market: not enough job openings, and where there is an opening, often there aren't enough highly skilled workers to fill the job. to get around that problem some companies are following a centuries-old tradition: apprenticeships. anna olson takes us to northrop grumman's apprentice school for shipbuilding. >> reporter: kimberly jarvis is learning how to build parts that fit into aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. >> this is a theory class we go through the apprenticeship pr

this compensates for the lack of parking in others berkshires -- other structures. the proposed use meets the public and community commercial garages definition. community parking is principal committed -- principally permitted. it is part of city policy to encourage small business in the area. the letters from adjacent business owners indicate many parking spaces will be for patrons and customers. although public transit options do exist, the garages and interim use which does not conflict with potential development of the site pending future improvements of transit. the existing building is a historic building and is proposed to become part of the south and -- end historic district. this can be accomplished with minor alterations to the building code. i am available for any questions. president olague: project sponsor? >> good afternoon, commissioners. rick gladstone. i am pleased to be here today to prevent this project. i am here on behalf of ares cp,,er = = -- i am here on behalf of ares commercial property. i would like to think many people for their letters a

also help berkshire hathaway's warren buffett saying he is itchy to make more big acquisitions, as ifcue, deals broke out all over. ventis, which owns senior housing communities, is buying nationwide health for $5.8 billion. health care reit is buying the assets of gensess health care for $2.4 billion. and late last night blackstone group announced buying 588 u.s. shopping mall assets from australia's centro properties for $9.4 billion. elsewhere, the u.s. has approved the first deep water drilling permit in the gulf of mexico since last year's massive oil spill. today, fed chief ben bernanke delivers his twice a year ç economic report to congress. also today treasury secretary timothy geithner will tell a house committee the administration wants congress to overhaul fannie mae and freddie mac, the nation's troubled housing finance giant. finally, heidi," germany's cross-eyed celebrity possum came up one pig short of perfectly predicting the oscars in 127 hours to win best picture. pretty impressive, heidi. i love that. >>> coming up, nba drama. top ten college hoop battles, and a pl

possible acquisition of wachovia bank and the $5 billion investment in the firm by warren buffett's berkshire hathaway. joining us now with analysis of the trial? steven feldman, a former assistant u.s. attorney in new york's securities fraud task force and now a white collar criminal defense attorney at herrick, feinstein. >> susie: hi, steven, how are you? >> great, susie. >> susie: do you think lloyd flank the blankfine helped the government's case? >> absolutely. the government's job is to put a bunch of bricks together and try to make their case. they have the tapes plaintiff gupta allegedly giving tips, and they need a human person, a moderator who give the the information about what was really going on on the outside, outside of that phone call. and mr. blankfein with his credentials and role with a great reputation on wall street was the perfect person to strengthen that case and fill in the bricks in the wall. >> susie: blankfine said it violate the the rule, but did it break the law? >> it looked like mr. gupta violated his duties. he hear mr. gupta had terribles important to invest

it was only a week ago he said his berkshire hathaway was shopping for new acquisitions. then today we hear a $9 billion deal for the maker of lubricants and petroleum additives values lubrizol at $138 a share. it also includes the assumption of $700 million in debt. lubrizol shares surged almost $30 to $134.68 a share. that's a jump of 27%. and that's tonight's "market focus." japan's nuclear problems are prompting a second look at the safety of nuclear energy. governments across the world today said they would slow down development of new nuclear power plants, but china and russia are moving forward on new plants. so is the united states. darren gersh looks at an industry whose future is now in doubt. >> reporter: at a white house briefing today, regulators would not say whether u.s. nuclear plants could withstand the kind of massive earthquake that has crippled japanese reactors, though they insisted u.s. plants are safe. safe enough, white house spokesman jay carney said, to continue counting on nuclear energy for a growing share of our electricity needs. >> we view n

the berkshire "b" shares jumped almost 3% to a new 52-week high in fact, highest since fall 2008. after the close tonight, noble energy become the first u.s. oil driller to get a permit for a deepwater well since the b.p. oil spill. the u.s. government put a moratorium on deepwater drilling after the spill. noble's permit allows it to continue work on an existing well. before that announcement, noble shares gained almost 4%, ending at a new 52-week high-- well above where they were trading last april when the b.p. oil spill began. and that's tonight's "market focus." if you're an at&t wireless customer, your cellphone will soon carry coupons letting you cash them in when you're shopping. the carrier is going to use its phone's ability to figure out where you are to send you ads. at&t can only track your movements to within about a mile of your location. but that would be enough for an airline like jet blue, for example, to send you promotions when you're near an airport. jet blue is taking part in the program. at&t's customers need to sign up for the service. they'll be sent a max

now, investigators say gupta gave tips to rajaratnam about goldman, including berkshire hathaway's plans to take a $5 billion stake in the wall street firm. gupta's lawyers call the charges baseless. goldman sachs has not commented. >> tom: a corporation is not a person and doesn't have the same protections when it comes to the release of documents held by the government. that's the ruling today from the u.s. supreme court in a case involving at&t. the telecom giant wanted to prevent the release of thousands of company documents gathered during a f.c.c. investigation into billing practices. competitors sued under the freedom of information act to see those papers. a lower court ruled in favor of at&t. that was overturned today. >> susie: with the launch of a >> susie: with the launch of a new ipad expected tomorrow, tonight's commentator has a few thoughts on how tablets will revolutionize productivity, including his own. here's justin fox, editorial director at "the harvard business review." >> back in 1970s, when the computer began making inroads in the workplace, we were told that the

bill gates and investor and berkshire hathaway c.e.o. warren buffett but this year we see the emergence of bric countries as key players making up half this list well the u.s. begins to lose its grit and while we all anxiously await the release of this list annually to get a look at the who's who and get excited and dreaming about what every one of us we do with that much money we can't help but notice the disparities based years for lists broken records the total number of billionaires one thousand two hundred ten and the combined wealth of four point five trillion dollars all that while the wealth gap in the united states is at a historic level and while the top one percent of the population in america own more wealth than the bottom ninety percent combined to hear this with me as i am hurst economist at the center for american progress thanks so much for being here thank you i mean first of all these guys are rich over a lot of money they're really rich and you know there's four point five trillion dollars in combined wealth with forb

allegedly leaked information about the investment bank's earnings, and an impending investment by berkshire hathaway. the s.e.c. says the tips went to a hedge fund manager. according to the charges, the hedge fund group made more than $16 million in illegal gains. the nato death toll in afghanistan grew by three more today. one soldier was killed by insurgents in the south. the alliance said two others died in a bombing in the east on monday. that brought the toll to 36 for february, and 68 for the year so far. this was a day of mourning in new zealand for the estimated 240 victims of last week's earthquake. people across the country stopped to observe two minutes of silence. it began at the precise moment the quake rocked the city of christchurch, one week ago today. hundreds of rescue and recovery workers also paused from their efforts. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: the house of representatives took a critical step forward today in averting a potential government shutdown. >> a joint resolution is passed. >> woodruff: the two-week spending bill

warren buffett taught me how. >> you mentioned warren buffett and berkshire. you had a relationship with warren buffett for a number of years and one day he called you and said i want to contribute your foundation. how did that come about? >> an unusual set of circumstances. i met him on july 5th, 1991. my mother said that warren buffett was coming over and i said come beat him. i said i am busy. i was feeling fanatical at that point. she said you have to come by. i said he buys himself fox. somehow he knows that. that doesn't really add to human welfare. but she said i should come. so i went and met warren and he started asking me questions about why didn't ibm do what i did, why couldn't people see where the computer industry was going, these are questions i always wanted somebody to asked me. i got to ask him about various things about the business. we became pretty deep friends. we played golf together, played bridge together, we box and had a chance to talk. then tragically his wife died in 2004. his plan was that he would make the money and she would run

a potential heir apparent to warren buffet has resigned. 54-year-old david sokol ran several of berkshirehaway companies. buffet says soaking's departure comes as a total surprise. >>> there has been a call for improved safety on busses. more than 750 million americans ride tour busses every year and congress is now demanding tighter regulation. cbs news correspondent whit johnson is in washington with the latest on that. whit, good morning. >> jeff, good morning. well the debate over bus safety has been going on in washington for decades now, but after a string of deadly accidents, the issue may finally have some momentum. >> reporter: march 12th, a casino tour bus on a new york city highway crashes and flips. 15 people are killed. investigators now say the bus was going 78 miles an hour, far above the legal limit. two days later in new jersey, a coach headed to philadelphia skids off the turnpike and smashes into a concrete overpass. killing the driver and one passenger. 40 others are hurt. yesterday, the company that owned the bus, lost its license to operate. >> it's incomprehensible

. >> you mentioned warren buffett and berkshire. let me get to that. you had a relationship with warren buffett for a number of years, and one day he called you up and said i want to contribute to your foundation. how did that come about? >> a very unusual set of circumstances. i met warren in 1991. a mother said she had warren buffett coming over and i should come meet him. i said i am busy, mom. i said that you are a lot about a lot of things. i was still in my fanatical stage at that point. she said no, you have to come by. i said mom, he buys and sells stocks. that is not really add to human welfare. but she said i should come. so i went and met warren, and he started asking me questions about why it didn't ibm do what i did, and how would affect different things. these are questions i had always wanted somebody to ask me. then i talked to him about things about the businesses he knew. so we became pretty good friends. then tragically, his wife died in 2004, and his plan was that he would make the money and she would run the foundation, and that sh