suzanne? >> ed lavandera, thank you. here's your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. should schools track children's body fat? now right now kids are being weighed, and their body fat is being calculated. notes are being sent home to the parents. what is the reason for all of this. well, obviously to combat childhood obesity. but when parents were surveyed. more than 80% of them said their parents were in good shape. but the reality is more than 30% of american children are overweight. a reality check might be needed, but some critics are afraid weighing kids and checking their body fat could be humiliating. we would like the hear from you. should schools track children's body fat? leave responses at facebook.com/suzannecnn. we'll have responses later in the hour. >>> here's a rundown of stories we're covering. outrage after a video shows up on youtube that appears to show u.s. marines urinating on dead bodies. we have reaction from the u.s. military as well as the taliban. >>> an explosion rocks a rall

suzanne, we've got the bus behind us. right here at the university of north florida in jacksonville. >> you've got to have the bus to make it happen. >> reporter: got to happen. >> i'm following new numbers here, following the money here, do we have any idea what these guys are spending? >> reporter: oh, yeah. the super pacs, suzanne, winning our future, that's the super pac backing newt gingrich, guess what, $6 million between today and next tuesday. but, wait, there's more. the super pac restoring romney, they say they are going to put in around five million and have already spent three million. they are spending so much money here, suzanne. >> paul, i love your energy. thanks, paul. we'll be following it very closely. for the latest political news, you know where to go, cnnpolitics.com. >>> top of the hour, i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed. the u.s. military says the elite navy s.e.a.l. team 6 rescued two aide workers from kidnappers in somalia. they parachuted in and one of the americans was jessica

suzanne? and jason, finally, does the mayor believe that he's got a real problem with racial profiling in his community? does he realize the serious nature of what the charges are here? >> reporter: well, i think he understands the nature of the charges. i mean, that is clear. but in speaking to the mayor, i think at this point he is standing by those officers and that they are innocent until proven guilty. but when you look at what federal prosecutors are saying about this particular situation, saying that there is a culture that exists within the department, basically saying that these four officers were bullies with badges. this investigation going back until 2009. basically saying that this is an on going situation and may be more charges forthcoming. even though the mayor is standing by his officers, offering an apology, there might be some serious problems there. >> all right, jason carroll, thank you. >>> well, new orleans has dealt with a lot of brazen, deadly street crimes but one is

suzanne?hanks, elizabeth. we wish her the very best. >>> well, weeks after killers, armed robbers, and other convicts were set free in mississippi, a judge decides whether or not their pardons will be revoked. ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. >>> an effort to revoke the pardons of at least four murderers and other convicts in mississippi is now front and center today. a judge is set to review this controversial pardons made by haley barbour during his last days as governor. sonny hostin is joining us from new york to talk about this. just setting the stage, there were some 200 convicts who were pardoned by barbour initially. people of mississippi were angry and it caught the attention of all of us here. the states attorney general came out quickly saying these pardons violated the state's constitution. what is this hearing going to deci

appreciate it. >> thanks, suzanne. >>> top of the hour. i'm suzanne malveaux.to speed. it could be his biggest speech of the re-election campaign. president obama going before the nation tonight to tell us how things are going and what he wants to do to make them better. the economy, of course, is going to be the main focus of the president's state of the union address. sources say he's going to lay out a blueprint for the economy. he's expected to focus on income equality, the debt, taxes as well as jobs. our special live coverage begins at 8:00 eastern. and even before the president delivers his speech, mitt romney knocking it down. presidential candidate delivered what he calls a pre-buttal, earlier in tampa, slamming president obama's economic record. >> today president obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline, and disappointment. this president's agenda made these troubled times last longer. he and his allies made it harder for the economy to recover. instead of solving the housing crisis and getting americans back to work, president obama has b

suzanne. >> all right. mark, you want to go to the moon here? the future space exploration was something that came up, and didn't really expect it, but gingrich promoting the plan to build a colony on the moon. listen. >> i will tell you, i do not want to be the country that having gotten to the moon first turned around and said it doesn't really matter, and let the chinese dominate space and what do we care? >> i spent 25 years in business and if i had a business executive come to me to say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. >> okay. mark, some people thought that, okay, that kind of makes gingrich sound nutty, and others thought that romney did a good job of showing that he is a fiscally conservative budget conscious guy saying, i won't go along with that. how did that play? >> well, what newt gingrich was trying to do there was to play tone the whole idea that he has grandiose theories and grand theories and a dreamer and believer like jfk was ba

morning, but right now, suzanne malveaux kicks off another hour live. >>> live from studio 7, i'm suzanne malveaux. we want to get you up to speed. the fight in florida goes into the final rounds after the republican candidates traded blows last night. the debate was the final matchup before tuesday's florida primary. mitt romney was in top form. he was quick to respond when newt gingrich tried to attack him over his money and investments. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> governor romney owns shares of freddie mac and fannie mae. >> well, mr. speaker, i know that sounds like an enormous revelation, but have you checked your own investments, because you have investments that also invested in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> right. >> and even who got off of the sinking italian cruise ship is about to get paid. [ speaking foreign language ] >> more than $14,000 to each survivor. it is a deal reached between the costa cruise line and consumer groups. everyone will get their money back for the cruise tickets and other expenses and the captain who steered the ship into some rocks is sti

we really appreciate your time. >> thank you, suzanne. >> thank you so much, suzanne. >> thank you. >>> there's a new winner in the iowa caucuses. that's the other story we're following. even though that final vote, the totals may never be known. we're going to talk to a reporter from "the des moines register" about all of the confusion. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. crisp, clear, untouched. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita. aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. . >>> mitt romney has bun les

>> strong opinions here, suzanne.that this is a slow start to a revolution in america regardless of who wins the presidential election. it will hopefully lead to action and real change that we can all believe in. this is from colleen. it means that the middle class will soon be the lower class. it's a conflict fueled by greed in congress. this is from todd, remember the poor rose up against the aristocrats? history always repeats itself. it's all just

>> hey, suzanne.e did have a higher open this morning, but that did an about-face after we got some down beat economic reports. consumer confidence, which was a surprise, fell in january, coming in well below expectations. we also had a regional manufacturing gauge that came in weaker than forecast. earnings also cutting into gains. we saw exxonmobil posting a fourth quarter profit, but analysts wanted even more. exxon isn't producing enough natural gas and crude oil to improve analysts and its profit margins have been hurt by the slow economic recovery. exxon shares are down right now about 1 2.5%. european leaders did agree to set up a new rescue fund and a fiscal pac that's designed to keep governments from racking up unsustainable debts like greece did, but there's still no deal to settle greece's debt with its creditors and that continues to hang over the marketplace. suzanne? >> felicia, thank you. >>> top of the hour. i'm suzanne malveaux. it's primary day in florida. mitt romney is the man to

suzanne?ardons, some of them convicted murders. the question was, should they even be allowed? no pardon should wipe this away like it even happened. the victims families do not get a pardon from their loss and of course they should be allowed but perhaps they need to have a better review by the process of the governing process. it will help rectify wrongful conditions and inhumanity. rick says it depends on the circumstances surroundinging the crime. everyone who murdered someone is not a hardened criminal. fred writes, unconditional pardons should be allowed only if the murdered victims can climb out of their grave and live again. daniel says, i think it sends a bad message. usually they don't learn anything. it's going to be interesting to see if there are any repeat offenders. keep the conversation going at facebook.com/suzanne. >>> a nuclear scientists killed in broad daylight in tehran. it's not even the first time. iranian officials are pointing the finger. actually ease arthritis sympt

suzanne? >> yeah, you know, sometimes you just oversleep.s the nightmare scenario, but it happens from time to time, you know? the alarm doesn't go off, you turn it off at the wrong time. what are some of the reasons folks say they are running late for work? >> yeah, listen to some of these. these are some really outlandish zeu excuses workers gave to heir boss. aan employee thought she won the lotsry and she didn't. an employee thought his commute time should count towards work hours. one employee told their boss they had a job interview with another company. and get this, an employee said their cat had the hiccups and they couldn't be in on time. um, yeah, right. so, all right, the bottom line here, if you're constantly lying and you're constantly late, it really can be a signal to your boss you're not committed or reliable. jobbound training solutions says, just be honest, your boss can tell when you're fibbing. he says be respectful, apologize for being late and tell them why, but don't feel like you need to go into too much detail. also

suzanne?ou are looking to jump ship at your job and not happy and is there a right way to go about doing it? >> there is a right way. you don't need me to tell you this though. there are a lot of people who are fed up with their jobs, and they want more money and they are feeling overworked and 34% of h.r. managers said that voluntary turnovers last year rose, and another 30% said they lost their top performers last year, so if you are thinking of leaving your job, brad karsh says don't burn any bridges. be professional and stay positive and don't slam your old job. it does not look nice. suzanne. >> all right. if you are unhappy in the job, and afraid to leave that you won't make any moves there, and is there anything that you can do to improve the situation now while you are waiting? >> oh, there are definitely ways. so instead of feeling this overwhelmed by your long-term goals, and make these subgoals each month to contribute to the overall bigger goals and brad karsh says to network every

now, we hand it off to suzanne malveaux. >> doomsday? i hope doomsday is not close. >> that was a bit depressing. >> we're not counting down to doomsday. >> we'll remain positive. >> yes. >> starting now is the happy hour. so to speak. >>> live from studio 7 i'm suzanne malveaux. voters are heading to the polls today in the first primary of the 2012 presidential race. most polling places in new hampshire have been opened for about five hours. two, however, have already closed. we're talking about, the super tiny towns of dixville notch and heart's location, voters there cast their ballots just after midnight. in dixville notch, romney and jon huntsman each got 2 votes. newt gingrich and ron paul each got 1. in heart's low case. it was five for romney, four for pul, 2 for huntsman and 1 for paul and gingrich. >>> a new hampshire primary is mitt romney's to lose. according to the latest tracking poll by news 7/suffolk university. the poll puts him at 37%. ron paul, second, at 18%. followed by jon huntsman at 16%. rick santorum is fourth an

i ask for your vote. >> rob cornilles is attacking u suzanne bonamici? fails to pay taxes, but attacks his opponent on taxes. that is rob cornilles. >> i'm suzanne bonamici, i approve this message. >> this is a district the president received 61% of the vote in 2008. during the mid-term elections, david wu won by 36% points over rob cornilles. this is "washington today" on c-span radio. alan fruman is retiring after 20 years. he first took the job in 1989. we have an interview posting on c-span.org. the leaders of the senate paying tribute on the senate floor. >> mr. president, for a few weeks in march, 2010, alan was one of the most talked about men in the entire city of washington. the senate was poised to send a historic healthcare reform bill to president obama's desk for him to sign. but the usual procedure hurdles stood in the way. health care policy staffers were camped out in his office studying senate procedure and precedent. but despite the pressure and national spotlight, mr. fruman remained calm through one of the most intense moments of his

>> well, i think they all are, suzanne.make informed choices. consumers need that in the marketplace. and we have to have enforcement of the law. people need to understand that they need to play by the rules, whether they are big or small. >> what's the first thing you're going to do? >> the first thing that we did upon becoming director was to launch our super vision program for nonbanks, which gives us the ability to go into payday lenders and the like and actually see what they are doing, examine, find problems, and get those problems corrected. that's very important and it really has not been done at the federal level before. >> and as a consumer, what we would see? what would we experience? would we see anything right away from your agency? >> i think people have understood for having an agency o on people's side, protect them in the consumer marketplace. i think people are starting to see some difference immediately as firms think more carefully about what they are doing, how they are treating their customers and over

>>> live from the studio 7 i'm suzanne malveaux want to get you up to speed for this tuesday, january 3rd. this is it, iowa caucuses. maybe the most hyped night in politics, so what's a caucus? in its most basic form a caucus is a meeting. it's a chance to change minds. tonight concerned republicans in iowa will pull on their winter coats and hop in their cars and argue through the night to decide who will be the leader of our country. it's more than a popularity contest, it's democracy and it's about to get loud. we'll take you live to iowa before the caucuses kick off. >>> the race is still up in the air and the campaigning is going down to the wire in iowa at this hour three of the candidates are taking part in a rock the caucus rally, targeting younger voters. i want you to listen in here. i think we got michele bachmann, ron paul, rick santorum, all of them looking for the last-minute vote. let's listen in -- >> -- to do business if you're a job creator because of our tax code. i'm a tax lawyer. i want to abolish the tax code and do away with it and put it in its place a pro-grow

suzanne. >> why aren't we seeing a big rally with the markets? are they taking this report seriously? >> you are seeing the dow down 51 points. the reality is this jobs data didn't blow away expectations. sure things are improving, but as things improve, suzanne, expectations are rising. the way the economy is right now, it's taken off its training wheels. it's moving along. we still haven't moved into the fast lane. wall street wants to see the economy pick up more speed. of course, europe's problems are still front and center. that's really going to limit any big rally that you'd see here unless, of course, you get that number that just sort of blows away expectations. we didn't get that number today, suzanne. >> thank you very much, alison. love that sweater by the way. good color for you. >> nice color. i was going to say the same thing. >> we got the memo. all right. have a good weekend. >> exactly. >>> president obama bypassed republicans to appoint a new head of the consumer financial protection bureau. later this hour the president visits

i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed.st of italy right now, navy divers are blasting holing into that doomed cruise ship, looking for victims. crews found the the bodies of five more people today. the death toll now stands at 11. 23 people are still missing. >>> meanwhile, we are learning new details about what happened the night of that disaster from the captain himself. these infrared pictures -- you see that there? this is passengers, they look like ants, but these are passengers scrambling to get off the ship as it slammed into rocks and tilts over. a new audio recording revealed that a coast guard officer, furious with the captain, as horror happens and it starts to become clear. i want you to listen to what he said. >> you go on border. it is an order. you cannot make any other evaluations. you can declared abandoning ship. now i'm in charge. you get on board. is it clear? >> commandant. >> are you not listening to me? >> i'm going. >> call me immediately when you get on board. our rescue officer is there. >>> newt

let's take it over to suzanne malveaux. i asked, where's suzanne. she's in the newsroom. >> kind of cool at the same time. good to see you. >> you're in all the action. >> live from studio seven i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed for this monday, january 2nd. we're in the final countdown. the candidates are taking aim at each other while trying to rally their supporters. rick santorum holding a meet and greet with supporters right now. we're watching that closely. he's gone from back of the pack to running now third in most polls. now some surveys show him ahead of newt gingrich. gingrich and front-runner mitt romney had campaign stops in iowa. that happened earlier today. both focused on their attacks on president obama. >> remember when he said if we let him borrow $787 billion, almost a trillion dollars, that he would hold unemployment below 8%. >> the obama cookbook is the exact opposite. higher taxes, more regulations, anti-american energy and class warfare to attack the people who create jobs. it's as though the obama cookbook

live in northwest washington, suzanne kennedy carrick abc7 news. >> thanks so much, suzanne. you can find at the temperature in your community online anytime. wjla.com and click on 'weather." >> new developments on the d.c. scandal involving harry thomas. the district's director of homeland security has stepped down from her position. her name has been attached to the scandal. sam ford is live in northwest with the details. >> gary thomas was convicted of stealing money from its fund for children. the woman that was in charge later became the d.c. director of homeland security, milicent west come and was questioned by the fbi. today she resigned as director. milicent west was one of these epoxy shining stars appointed by the former mayor and was kept on. >> we get excited about the opportunity to provide a level of response. >> but for that, she ran the children used investment trust which paid out phony invoices that ended up in the pocket member of former council member harry thomas. west has not been charged but today resigned saying it was the best decision. >> it the pos

suzanne smith is an associate professor of history here at george mason university, and she has a new book out published by harvard, "to serve the living: funeral directors and the african-american way of death." dr. smith, what is the african-american way of death? >> guest: the african-american way of death is a way of thinking about death as not just death, but connected to freedom and connect today the struggle for civil rights. and in the book i tell a story about how the connection between death and freedom is so central to african-americans' understanding of funerals and deaths that it is, it hasn't been really considered in if quite the way i do in the book before, but it's essential to our understanding of the civil rights movement and also the history of african-american entrepreneurship. >> host: what is that story? >> guest: ing the story goes back to slavery, and in african-american culture they call a funeral a homegoing. and in the book i trace the story beginning there. and in the west african and transatlantic slave trade, african slaves often jumped ship on the middl

. >> live from studio seven i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed for this thursday, january 5th. happening any minute now as we mentioned, president obama will announce a new defense strategy for the nation. standing by to take it live at the pentagon the moment the president appears. we are watching those pictures there. he and his top defense officials are going to outline plans to give up this country's ability to fight two major ground wars simultaneously. they intend to cut tens of thousands of ground troops, invest more in air and sea power. it will allow the pentagon to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from the budget. >>> rick santorum heads to new hampshire primary with a million dollar boost from iowa. source close to the campaign says that santorum raised more than $1 million after finishing second in the iowa caucuses. santorum, he is attending a faith, family and freedom town hall meeting in northfield, new hampshire. that is happening this hour. he's trying to position himself as the main conservativ

. >>> live from studio 7, i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed for friday, january 20th. it's the eve of the south carolina primary. republican presidential race is now hotter than ever. newt gingrich turned up the heat on the news media in last night's debate. it started when our john king asked about an accusation by gingrich's ex-wife. >> she says cause to her in 199 and asked her to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take time to respond to that? >> no. but i will. i'm frankly as tountounded that would take trash like that and use to open the debate. i'm tired of the elite media protecting barack obama by attacking republicans. >> gingrich is back on the campaign trail in charleston. as for his ex-wife's claim that he asked for an open marriage, he says the story is false. gingrich and three other remaining candidates are scrambling now for last minute support ahead of tomorrow's south carolina primary. gingrich holding a town hall in charleston this hour. mitt romney is attending a rally in gilbert. sa

suzanne pratt takes a closer look at that december jobs report and the outlook for hiring in 2012. >> reporter: 8.5%. that's an unemployment rate the u.s. hasn't seen in nearly three years. and, it is something to celebrate. nearly every major industry created jobs in december, from retail to manufacturing. only the government sector trimmed its payrolls last month. some economists were also happy to learn that the length of the average workweek expanded to nearly more than 34 and a half hours. >> as the length of the workweek increases it puts upward pressure on future demand for labor and it also creates a lot more income for households which in turn will use that spend money and that simulates labor market demand. >> reporter: in the past year, the economy has added 1.6 million jobs. while that's the best year in the past five, there are still 13 million unemployed americans. and, there are another 6.5 million that have dropped out of the workforce, but would rather have a job. that may be hard to sense on manhattan's vibrant 42nd street. but in cities and towns across the country,

you can leave your responses at facebook.com/suzanne. i know i'm not suzanne. i'm filling in.ook.com/suzanne cnn. that's mouthful. going to have more of your responses coming up next hour. >>> so, ask and you shall receive, want to cut down on your expenses this year? alison kosik is here with today's top tips on spending less on almost everything. i know you're not going to say cut up your credit card or put them in a bowl of water and in a freezer. i think you have something more tangible than that, don't you? >> exactly, about crunching number, you will have to follow closely, ashley, okay? 62% of people polled, they say their number one financial resolution, they want to cut debt. trimming your budget is not the easiest thing. one of the biggest budget gotchas, unex-spenlgtded expenses, to get ahead of them, consumer report says take your credit card, bank records from last year, add up all the unplanned expenses, medical costs, the home or car repairs, take the total and add 10% in e. then divide that by 12 for your monthly total and put that amount into your budget so yo