. >> the transportation secretary ray lahood put out a statement saying that toyota failed to live up to its legal obligation. worse, they hid a dangerous defect four months and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. we are seeking the maximum penalty possible under current law. this is unprecedented. is there some history of fines against auto companies? >> it was not until 2000 that fines for increased to $15 million. there are going up at the rate of inflation. with the exception of that 2004 find against general motors, $1 million because they failed to notify nhtsa about when chilled wiper defects in 600,000 vehicles -- the evidence suggested that gm had known about this for two years. there have not been a lot of fines because of the companies generally want to recall the vehicles quickly. that is fewer vehicles you have to fix and there is less damage to their reputations. nhtsa needs the cooperation of the auto companies to make the current regulatory system work. >> the transportation secretary also said that nhtsa will continue to review over

transportation secretary ray lahood says his agency has proved that toyota knew about the sticky gas pedal last fall, but did not issue a recall until january of this year. in the middle of an advertising blitz shifting public opinion, to yield to get slapped with a record $16.4 million fine. it is the maximum possible and the largest ever for waiting too long to alert authorities in drivers that sticky gas pedals could be a safety problem. >> oracle is to make sure that the vehicles are 100% safe. >> secretary ray lahood announced it monday, after millions of recalls of toyota vehicles. the president of toyota tried to explain what led to the defect in several vehicles. >> [unintelligible] >> the fine is all about being too slow. the agency says it has proved that toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations. he says they knowingly hid a dangerous defect four months from u.s. officials, and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. in a statement, a toyota did not indicate if it would contest the fine. they said we have already taken a number of imp

. >> transportation secretary ray lahood talked about the investigation going forward in february before a house committee. we will take a look at that. >> when i talked to mr. toyoda, i said three things. i said this is a very serious matter for your company in america. i want you to know the dot is taking it seriously. we are not going to sleep until every one of your cars is safe for americans to drive. i invited him to come to america. >> we never had a chance to talk, but you have been proactive in trying to get out in front of this. one of the concerns i have is that 70% of this sudden unintended acceleration we still do not have an answer for. in fact, according to all the documents from nhtsa and also from toyota only 16% of the sudden accelerations are really addressed with the format and the sticky accelerator, if you will. and the electronics seems to have to have some part of it. are we any further along? >> as i said in my testimony, we are going to do a complete review of the electronics. we will meet with the folks from southern illinois university, take a look at the resu

this is from the transportation secretary ray lahood.ve spoke spoken to our and drew napolitano and he says this is a small fine considering the damage caused. 2.3 million vehicles recalled and accusation people decide as a result but nothing has been found yet. the judge says they should pay it right away because it's a small fine and if they don't, the united states government will sue them to demand they pay $16.4 million, toyota motor company to the united states government as fine for not telling folks about the sticky pedals. >> the butler bulldogs in indiana tips off against top-seeded duke a powerful basketball team and program. tonight's championship game. the two squads are more alike. fine schools, each in a state where basketball is part of the culture but that's where the similarities end. duke enrolls 13,600. butler has a third. duke spent $13.8 million in the basketball budget, butler 1.7 million. duke won three national championships and butler's first appearance. with us from indianapolis, andy staples from si.com. every

in fining toyota $16.4 million, secretary of transportation ray lahood says toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations. worst yet, they knowingly hit a dangerous defect for months from u.s. officials. toyota responded saying we have already taken a number of important steps to improve our communications with regulators and customers on safety-related matters as part of our overall commitment to quality assurance. >> safety is first and they are going to have to obey the law. >> reporter: the law requires all automakers to tell the department of transportation within five business days if they find a defect. according to the d.o.t. toyota has known of a defect with sticky gas pedals since at least september 29th but nearly four months passed before toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles with faultily pedals. a week later toyota said it would fix the problem by modifying the pedals. 1.2 million have been repaired. toyota can afford to pay a penalty of $16 million, this fine will be costlier in terms of the company's efforts to rebuild consumer trust. toyota could face more fines f

ray lahood is saying the rules are consumer protection. >>> volcanic ash clouds continue to dissipate. stranded travelers are returning home and so are many people in iceland who were forced to flee after the volcano near their homes began to erupt. meanwhile, the u.s. air force is warning that it's concerned that some of its fighter jets in europe could suffer long-term damage if the volcano doesn't stop spewing ash into the air. >>> nasa's shuttle may have landed this week but there's already a new shut until space. this one is top secret. look at this. >> liftoff of the united launch alliance, atlas v rocket. >> there was a top-secret space plane, the x-37. the military is using that plane as a way to test new equipment, sensors and materials in space without using astronauts. the x-37 can stay in orbit for up to nine months. the unmanned spacecraft will conduct classified experiments for the next several months. >>> it was the swear word heard around the world. now vice president joe biden is explaining what really happened. >> [ bleep ]. >> the vice president made the comment to

leadersressional you teamed up with ray lahood to date on the dangers of texting while driving. take a pledge to not text and drive. so far, 75,000 people have signed the pledge. the for them. a local study finds there is [unintelligible] more than 17,000 aids patients live outside of d.c. experts say that local governments should do more to improve sex education and testing and hospitals. >> a california county is considering banning toys from kids' meals at fast-food restaurants. it is meant to crack down on fast food chains that offer kids and healthy meals. they would ban lawyers from mills that have too many calories or too much fat or too much sugar. they want them to offer more nutritious choices. new research to just four, and bad habits could shorten your life, smoking, drinking too much, not exercising, and having a poor diet. nearly a third during a study died during that time who had all of those habits. >> baby boomer parents still provide support to their adult children. parents surveyed reported that their children's overspending often brought them back home. >> y

in a statement, ravenwood says the government has proved that -- ray lahood says the government has proved that toyota knowingly failed to live up to expectations. for months, they did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. in a statement of their own, toyota did not indicate if they would be testifying, but have said that they have already taken steps to improve communications with customers and regulators as part of the overall commitment to quality assurance. >> and the $16 million is the maximum allowed under the federal fed act. general motors was the last company to face a hefty fine when it failed to issue a recall in 2002 and 2003 for effective when shall bikers. it was forced to pay $1 million. -- windshield wipers. it was forced to pay $1 million. >> and now, your 11 insta- weather plus forecast with chief meteorologist tom tasselmyer. >> nearly 30 degrees warmer than normal today. b.w.i. marshall ashleigh tied -- actually tied the record. we had 90 today, tying the record originally set in 1990. it tomorrows record high is 93. it will be a bit tougher

. >> the transportation secretary ray lahood put out a statement saying that toyota failed to live up to its legal obligation. worse, they hid a dangerous defect four months and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. we are seeking the maximum penalty possible under current law. this is unprecedented. is there some history of fines against auto companies? >> it was not until 2000 that fines for increased to $15 million. there are going up at the rate of inflation. with the exception of that 2004 find against general motors, $1 million because they failed to notify nhtsa about when chilled wiper defects in 600,000 vehicles -- the evidence suggested that gm had known about this for two years. there have not been a lot of fines because of the companies generally want to recall the vehicles quickly. that is fewer vehicles you have to fix and there is less damage to their reputations. nhtsa needs the cooperation of the auto companies to make the current regulatory system work. >> the transportation secretary also said that nhtsa will continue to review over

ray lahood says the government is now examining more than 70,000 documents to discover whether toyota has any other safety violations. on monday toyota was fined a record $16.4 million to waiting four months before disclosing a pedal flaw. >> i think toyota was safety deaf, i think they have a very bad business model. i told that directly to mr. t toyoda when he came to my office in washington, d.c. they know they have some serious, serious issuings, not the least of which is violating safety laws that they need to account for. >> and a federal districtius that the red wax seal coating is a well-known and valid trade market. it prohibits diageo from using a similar mark on its tequila bottles. >>> rescuers are trying to find four men. massey stock today very heavily traded. hampton pearson brings us the latest on the rescues. >> particularly the high number of violations at the mine where the latest tragedy has occurred. last year federal inspectors found more than 450 violations and fined them in excess of $382,000, related to problems regarding the ventilation and equipment plan. th

transportation secretary ray lahood said "toyota put consumers at rick by failing to report the safety problems." this fine is the largest ever required of an automaker by the u.s. government. authorities are investigating other toyota disclosure practices that may have violated federal law as well which could result in further fines. >>> a charles county community is in mourning today after a college student from waldorf was shot and killed. the shooting happened at an off campus party across the street from fosburg state university yesterday morning. police say tyrone hall shot and killed 20-year-old brandon carroll during a dispute. both are students at the university. carroll's friend of southeast d.c. was also shot and wounded. carroll grew up in waldorf and attended high school at thomas stow where his friends, family and former copes remembered the basketball captain last night. >> a good kid. going to school, doing the right thing. sad and tragic. >> brandon didn't have an evil bone if his body, and if you were mad at him, you couldn't stay mad at him long. >> police have arres

thing, tamron, we were just over at o'hare airport talking with the secretary of transportation, ray lahood listen, you have a company with 25 to $30 billion in cash on hand. $16 million is a slap on a wrist to a company with those kind of reserves. would you fine them more if you could. he told me, of course. but i'm limited by the law. that's all i could do. but in his opinion, it's not enough for toyota and he would like to fine the company more. obviously, the law limits what they can do with this. again, toyota has two weeks to decide whether it will pay the fine of just over $16 million or fight it in court. tamron sm. >> all right. phil lebeau for cnbc covering the auto industry for us. thanks, phil. >>> an update on that dramatic rescue of a 2-year-old toddler who fell into new york city's east river this weekend. it's just amazing. the father, david anderson jumped into the river to save his little girl. by time he drove in, a good samaritan was already in the water. david spoke exclusively to matt lauer on the "today" show just this morning and described the moment we're watching.

transportation secretary ray lahood said toyota should have notified regulators much sooner about gas pedals that were sticking. the company has two weeks to accept or contest the fine. toyota is an underwriter of the newshour, for the record. those are some of the day's main stories. i'll be back at the end of the program with a preview of what you'll find tonight on the newshour's web site. for now, back to jeff. >> brown: and still to come on the newshour, the i-pad and the future of computing; troubled times for silicon valley; and jews, arabs, and the holocaust. but first, the pope's response to the scandals that have rocked the catholic church. margaret warner has the story. >> warner: on a soggy sunday in rome, thousands of the faithful celebrated easter mass in st. peter's square. but amid the age old ritual came a break with tradition. cardinal anglo, dean of the college of cardinals irb issued a ringing tribute to pope benedict xvi lauding him as the unfailing rock of the catholic church. and he dismissed allegations about the pope's alleged role in the church's sexual abuse

monday, transportation secretary ray lahood issued a statement saying, by failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, toyota put consumers at risk. i am pleased that toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly. the company has recalled 6 million vehicles in all, related to sticky gas pedals and for problems with floor mats trapping the accelerator pedal which is blamed for at least five deaths and 17 injuries. sales are still strong but the company's once-sterling reputation for safety has been shattered. >> toyota once was considered an invincible brand. clearly they've taken a fall here. i think a lot of other automakers are going to pay a lot more attention to any issues that come up, any customers reporting problems. >> reporter: ntsa has announced toyota may face yet another fine for not reporting two separate defects related to acceleration. diana alvear, abc news. >> interesting when you compare how toyota dealt with this recall, meaning lexus, versus the sticky gas pedal problems with a l

just a few minutes ago, secretary of transportation ray lahood saying he is pleased toyota has accepted responsibility for violating legal obligations to report any defects promptly and goes on to say that the department of transportation is continuing to investigate whether toyota has lived up to all of its disclosure obligations. that last sentence there clearly a reference to the fact that there are ongoing investigations, not only at the department of transportation, but also elsewhere in the federal government looking into toyota and the recall issues that have been facing this company over the last six months. so, again, toyota paying $16.375 million. mark? >> thank you very much, phil lebeau. >>> in the next hour, by the way, see if other businesses will stop doing business with goldman sachs because of the fraud charges. but right now, let's hit the markets. we start with cool breeze, bob pisani's here at the big board. bob. >> good morning, mark. citi reported a sizable beat on the top line and the bottom line, both of them. look what we've got. we've got citi, jpmorgan and ban

transportation secretary ray lahood may push for tougher rules against cell phone use behind the wheel. >>> this is one of the top don't for parents, daughters shaving their heads. for one 13-year-old girl she's trying to put out a serious message, new in 20 minutes. >>> the tax deadline is one week from today. no i'm not done. but listen to this. about half of all americans will pay no federal income taxes at all. ♪ those are the days >> apparently they have legitimate reasons but it seems like wait a minute, half of us are living in this country and not paying anything? >> is that because they have so many deductibles or don't make enough money? >> maybe they had losses they can claim. it still feels like we're not talking about kids. we're talking about eligible taxpayers here. it seems like wait a minute the rest of us then have to cough up more? >> actually what we all want to know is how do you do that? >> i don't have that. find some dodgy tax accountant for that. critic of the tax system say is the tax code fair if half the country isn't paying for programs that benefit everybo