Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20100308

he'll be hosting town hall meetings in st. louis and philadelphia to try to convince americans and even members of his own party a measure must be passed this month. does he have the votes to get it passed? a live report from the white house just ahead. they're still waiting for the hangover in hollywood. the party continues after the biggest night in showbiz. it was "the hurt locker" taking home the big prize, best picture. the film's director kathryn bigelow made history as a first female best director. all of those firsts and a look at the fashion as well ahead. i'll tell you, sandra bullock looked beautiful last night. >> she did. >> that was quite the gown she was wearing. first we're sorting out the details of what could be a major blow against al qaeda. yesterday pakistani officials claimed they captured the terror group's american born spokesman his name adam gadahn, the u.s. face for al qaeda for years and he is the first american to be charged with treason since world war ii. now some in pakistan are saying it's another american with a similar name. our senior international correspondent nic robertson live in london for us this morning. nic, you've been working your sources what are you hearing about who it is the pakistanis have in custody. >> we have two senior pakistani government sources who both say this is adam gadahn, the american spokesman for al qaeda, and one of the sources actually says that this is a -- being seen as a big success in islamabad, that this shows that the pakistani government is cracking down on terrorism, is it turning the tables on the terrorists and even says that this is something they would like to be recognized by their friends. why is there this confusion? why is there no confirmation from u.s. officials? in pakistan there are many competing news organizations. one of those organizations could have been transferred up the line, falls into the hands of government officials, and it gets misinterpreted. also, it's not -- it's worth not overlooking the fact that when you get somebody like adam gadahn, senior in al qaeda, that it's information you don't want to give away. so there is a possibility here that everyone here, a lot of people, particularly u.s. officials, will be wanting to keep this information, let's say keep some confusion around it and not confirm it. any intelligence that can be gathered quickly from adam gadahn will be useful in tracking down other al qaeda members, john. >> if it's not adam gadahn and you say it's potentially a different american with a similar sounding name, and i guess i've seen the entire name, parts of it are similar, who is this other person? >> well, he's an american we're led to believe who may be from philadelphia, gadahn is known to be from orange county in california. so it could be this other american. but i think the signal that's coming across more clearly now from pakistan, particularly over the last couple months with the arrest of a number of senior afghan taliban, taliban that are important for the u.s. war against the taliban in afghanistan to be captured, they've been caught by pakistani officials in pakistan. this will be a signal to al qaeda as well that its operatives, whom ever they are, adam gadahn, the american spokesman for al qaeda, or this other american al qaeda, that they're not as safe in pakistan as they once thought they were. that will be the message, if you will, that al qaeda will take away from this. of course, when the dust settles we'll know what level of al qaeda operative it was that was caught, john. >> nic robertson in london, thanks so much. meantime here at home president obama will be hitting the road this week to try to close the deal on health care reform. he says he wants a bill passed this month with or without republicans. but even some fellow democrats sound skeptical about that timetable. suzanne malveaux is live at the white house this morning. it was interesting to list on on the sunday shows democrats who support this aren't necessarily saying it's a do or die situation. is it realistic to get a bill through congress by march? >> that's difficult to say. at this point what's happening the hope of the white house, the goal is from the white house aides i've spoken with, at least part one would be done, the house would pass the senate version of health care reform by march 18th, that's next thursday when the president leaves for indonesia, but kiran, it is very likely that this could slip and so what you're seeing from the white house and this president is trying to build the momentum here for getting something passed as quickly as possible. . >> reporter: the administration insists there's no deadline for passing a health care bill. kathleen sebelius, health and human services secretary. >> what we're talking about, as the president said, is finishing the job and the urgency, the timetable, is not able some congressional time clock. >> reporter: but time may be running out to resuscitate health care reform. in fact, president obama is on the road this week with town hall meetings, in philadelphia and st. louis, to convince the american people that a health care overhaul has to happen now. >> if we let this opportunity pass for another year, or another decade, or another generation, more americans will lose their family's health insurance if they switch jobs or lose their job. more small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring. more insurance companies will raise premiums and deny coverage and the rising cost of medicare and medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt. >> reporter: it's a tough sell to voters and lawmakers alike, who worry about the effect on patient choice and the plan's price tag. >> this is a bill that should not be passed. it is not going to improve american health care. it will raid medicare, raise taxes, raise premiums. we ought to be going step by step to fix the cost problem. >> reporter: and the possibility that democrats may use a process known as reconciliation to limit debate on the bill, has angered many republicans. >> what they're trying to do is put through a bill that the american public doesn't want, by a totally partisan vote, and that's not what reconciliation is all about. >> reporter: democrats hope they have the votes to pass a bill. some in the president's own party remain skeptical. with mid-term elections coming in november, many are unsure just how they'll vote. >> in the end i have to make a decision between passing this bill, this is the finish line, or doing nothing. i'm weighing the balance between the two so. >> the tricky part for some democrats is if these house members don't pass the senate bill, and they go for the easter recess, it is very likely they're going to get an earful from their constituents, make it tougher for them to sign on to this controversial legislation and much tougher for this white house to see health care reform passed. kiran? >> suzanne malveaux at the white house, thank you. other stories new this morning, millions of people in iraq cast their votes in the country's national elections over the weekend, despite violence that was meant to scare them away from the polls. insurgents bombed a polling station and launched grenades at voters killing more than 30 people in total. coming up at 6:30 eastern, we will speak to general ray odierno, and the u.s. ambassador to iraq, christopher hill, about what the elections mean for our troops in that country's future. the haitians are saying they're anxious about what's next as u.s. troops start withdrawing from port-au-prince. u.n. peacekeepers and police that will be in charge of maintaining order, but many haitians say they fear they won't be enough to prevent the unrest. more than half a million people are still living in tent cities after january's devastating quake. to make matters worse the rainy season has started there. there's a $10,000 reward being offered for the hockey stick used by sidney crosby to win the olympic gold medal for canada. he threw his stick in the air during the wild celebration that followed his clenching goal and now the stick has gone missing. reebok manufactured the stick. they're offering a $10,000 reward. no questions asked. some sports memorabilia experts say it could be worth as much as $50,000. >> they better up the ante. put it on ebay than they would giving it back. >> if you put it on ebay somebody knows who is selling the stick. >> you could say, i found it at that big game. >> check of the morning's headlines. rob marciano in the extreme weather center ter. you are a popular bunch, you meteorologists. on the east coast we had some sunshine this weekend. >> tick ertape parades for your husbands and the locals in new york. temps touching new york. i think the last time it happened, ironically was in january. let's talk about what that leaves behind. little bit of fog issues. if you are traveling today, across the midwest, from chicago to minneapolis, either of those airports this morning i think we'll see delays. there are dense fog advisories out for this part of the world. the next weather system coming out of the four cornerers and desert southwest, snow, will bring in some rain and thunderstorms across parts of texas. be on the lookout for that. another day of decent weather for the east coast. we'll talk more about the rest of the week's forecast plus another earthquake, this time in turkey, with some consequences. we'll talk more about that in 30 minutes. john and kiran, up to you. >> looking forward to it. thanks so much. still to come on the most news in the morning on this monday, a big night for hollywood as they handed out the academy awards. we'll tell you who won and who didn't coming right up. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to work with kids. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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"get down, get down, get down!" that's the type of ied that earned me a purple heart in iraq six years ago. this is what our troops are up against today. "it can penetrate four inches of armor." efps. specially designed to pierce american military armor. it's a devastating weapon and it was created in oil rich iran. they're ending up in the hands of our enemies. and everytime oil goes up a dollar, iran gets another 1.5 billion dollars to use against us. the connection between oil and the enemy couldn't be clearer. we need to break that connection by breaking our addiction. and we can, by passing a clean energy climate plan. it will cut our dependence on foreign oil in half. some in congress say it's a tough vote. not as tough as what our troops are up against. ♪ [ giggling, squealing ] ♪ [ dad ] hey! no! go away! go away! [ laughter ] ♪ that means it's time for minding your business this monday morning. it happens every year in your waistline and wallet are no match for it. it's girl scout cookie season. instead of co-workers hitting you up at the office or uniform scouts coming to your door don't be surprised if they send you a text message or facebook note. troops are going viral to sell their tag-a-longs and thin mints to boost their sales. >> they're innovative. thanks to my nieces we have three boxes at the house. we don't need anymore. christine romans is minding your business. are you a thin mint girl? >> thin mints. >> thin mints and ice cold mill. >> this is everyone's beginning -- your first exposure to capitalism as a young child. i'm all for it. it's fantastic. >> that and the paper route. >> my poor grandma and grandpa subsidized my girl scout selling. i want to talk about this rebound. a year ago we were looking at 12-year lows in stocks. the s&p 500, you know, i had reasonable people telling me, i think this could go to 5,000. it was really a panic stricken time a year ago. that big recession turned into a huge big rebound, to the likes of which we will never see. it usually takes six or seven, maybe eight very good years to put together what we've seen over the past one year. you've seen the 61% gain in the dow, 68% in the s&p 500, 83% in the nasdaq, and i hear from you more and more, is this for real? it is for real, it happened. it's for real because we averted a great depression and the market was able to come back a little bit. does it last? nobody knows the answer to that. big concerns here. even as jobs continue to leave, we lost 36,000 more jobs in the last month, deficit that is historic, regulatory reform that is still unclear on energy, financial services, health care, people who are hiring and people who are making decisions for their businesses are very concerned because they say they don't have a lot of clarity or visibility about what's going to happen next, but it has been a remarkable, remarkable year. we averted a disaster. the stock market bounced back, unlike anybody could have imagined that it would and it's -- but it's been the tale of two worlds. even as the market has come back, you know, the job situation has gotten worse and worse. >> people who hung in there, paid off for them. >> you have a romans numeral. >> 490 out of 500. >> 490 out of 500. 490 out of 500 top stocks gained in the last year. >> 490 out of the s&p 500 are up. it pretty much was an idiot-proof rally if you were buying stocks last year. >> that's good for us. >> yes. no, but there's so much money going into the market, so much liquidity, so much just so much money at work, and this idea that we averted the worst, doesn't mean the stock market -- or the jobs market is good, but does mean that stock market has just an enormous -- we will likely never see anything like this again. >> thanks so much. appreciate it. next up on the most news in the morning, the company that makes tasers is under fire. a new lawsuit raising questions about whether or not the devices are more dangerous than we have been led to believe. going to get going right away. thank you. 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". >> reporter: we met steve butler on a tuesday afternoon. >> do you know what day of the week it is? >> no. monday? >> i can tell you today is tuesday. >> tuesday. okay. >> this is 2010. >> reporter: doctors say butler has almost no short-term memory. it wasn't always like this, until october 7th, 2006. that's when butler took a bus ride through watsonville in northern california. the ride was anything but smooth. when the bus pulled into the station, the cops were called. according to police, butler was drunk and belligerent and refused to get off. he even challenged the responding officer to a fight. and that's when it happened. >> there had to be something for me to get tased. >> reporter: to bring butler under control, the police officer, indeed, fired his taser, striking him in the chest. according to the police report, three separate jolts of electricity went through butler's body. when it was all over, he was in full cardiac arrest, not breathing. paramedics revived butler, but his brain was deprived of oxygen, leaving him permanently disabled. steve butler and his family filed a lawsuit, not against the police, but against the maker of the weapon, taser international. it's the first time the company has been listed as the sole defendant in an injury case. >> can a taser cause cardiac arrest? >> absolutely, no question about it. >> reporter: attorney john burton says he has data showing that tasers, when fired at the chest, can cause fatal heart injuries. and he says the company has known about it for several years. >> we can prove that they must have known by early 2006, but we suspect that they had all the necessary data in 2005 since they were funding the study. >> reporter: published in early 2006, the study funded by taser focused on tasered pigs with the conclusions, quote, generalized to humans. the authors wrote that being tasered is unlikely to cause cardiac arrest, but recommended taser darts not be fired near the heart to, quote, greatly reduce any concern for induction of ventricular arrhythmias. in plain english says this doctor, who is being paid to testify against taser, it means there is concern about tasers causing cardiac arrest in some cases. >> i think taser has been disingenuous and certainly up to 2006, the case we're talking about, taser said in their educational materials that there was no cardiac risk whatsoever. >> reporter: a taser spokesman e-mailed cnn saying it would not comment on any ongoing litigation. but in a court filing seeking to dismiss the suit, the firm said the taser devices, quote, are repeatedly proven safe through testing, including on human volunteers in controlled medically approved studies, and there's no evidence tasering of people induces cardiac arrest. the company has significantly changed its recommendations for how tasers should be used. taser put out a directive last year telling the tens of thousands of police officers who use the device to no longer aim for the chest area. instead, they should go for the back, the legs or the lower pelvis. taser says the reason in its words has less to do with safety and more to do with risk management for law enforcement agencies. as for steve butler. >> how are we doing? >> pretty good. >> reporter: he doesn't dispute he was drunk. he blames taser for what happened to him. he says he's not frustrated or even angry, just resigned trying to spend the rest of his life trying to remember what happened. dan simon, cnn, watsonville, california. cnn first reported this story taser international refused to comment, but then the company sent us what it called a fact sheet about steven butler's case. the company said the 2006 study we quoted produced no cardiac arrest in animals and while the company says cardiac arrest in people is rare, taser international insists it does not claim a zero possibility of cardiac arrest. taser also claims that steven butler had a preexisting heart condition and his blood alcohol level also made him vulnerable to cardiac arrest. butler's medical and legal team said he had no documented heart problems and his alcohol level played no role in his cardiac arrest. that brings us to the half hour and means it's time for this morning's top stories. confusion over whether an american member of al qaeda has been arrested in pakistan. pakistani officials had first said adam gadahn was captured yesterday. gadahn grew up in california. since 2004, has appeared in numerous videos calling for the destruction of america. but this morning there are reports that it was actually another american who was arrested. we're working our sources at this hour. we'll bring you the very latest as soon as we get it. president obama wants a health care reform bill passed and on his desk by the end of the month and he'll be trying to close the deal when he host town hall meetings in philadelphia and st. louis this week. the president says 15,000 people a day are losing health care in this country. he insists that waiting any longer to get a measure passed is not an option. and the oscar goes to "the hurt locker." the small budget war film with a big upset over "avatar" for best picture at the oscars and director kathryn bigelow became the first woman to win best director in the academy's 82-year history. president obama says the responsible withdraw of u.s. troops in iraq will continue. that commitment coming yesterday after the polls closed in iraq and despite a wave of violence, iraqis turned out for the second national election since 2003. what does it all mean for the future of iraq? joining us now from baghdad, general ray odierno, the commanding general of the multinational force in iraq, and the u.s. ambassador to iraq, christopher hill. gentlemen, great to see you this morning. ambassador hill, more than 30 people killed in violence yesterday, but turnout higher than expected. certainly higher than it was in 2005. what does that say about the iraqis desire for representative government? >> well, i will leave some of those issues to general odierno to answer, but let me tell you, that we had 26 monitoring teams all over the country, reporting in from 18 provinces. we're looking at some 8,300 polling centers. we would say the vote went really very well. it was very orderly. people knew what the rules were. we had very few problems, and we think it was a very good election. we have to wait for the results of the election and after that, we'll move on to something called government formation where the iraqis will need to sit down and figure out how to piece together a new government from this. but, you know, overall, this was a very successful election. the iraqi people deserve a lot of congratulations for this. >> general odierno, ayad allawi, the candidate for president, accused the government during yesterday's election of the inability to provide safety and security which led to the bloodshed that we saw, including more than 20 people killed when insurgents brought down an entire apartment building. what do you think about the iraqi security agency and their ability to keep the peace in the country, particularly after u.s. forces leave? >> i think first off, i believe the iraqi security forces did a very good job yesterday. across the country, there are very few effective incidents. one may one you mentioned. one building that fell that was responsible for most of the casualties. in the rest of iraq it was extremely peaceful, many people able to go to the polls. i was very impressed with the coordination and work done by the iraqi security forces. it shows their continued improvement as we move forward. >> so do you have confidence that when u.s. combat forces leave and the schedule draw down date is august 31st of this year, that iraqi forces will be able to fill in? >> i think over time we've been naturally moving towards this point. iraqis have been taking more and more control for security. i think over the next several months, we'll draw down to 50,000. we'll end combat operations, we'll go to a train and advise mission, and i think they are ready to do that. i think the election and the security they were able to provide proves that. >> ambassador hill, you said going into the election, quote, if this goes well and the government formation goes well, it could usher in a whole new beginning for this country an also u.s. relations with iraq. it's unclear at this point who's going to lead the country because it was very close between the incumbent nuri al maliki and the challenger ayad allawi. both coalitions fared very well. the government formation in 2005 was fairly problematic. what do you expect this time around? >> well, i think the first thing to understand is, this election was supported by the overwhelming majority of the iraqi people. there were no boycotts from any political parties, any political coalitions. so there's a great deal of support for this political process. and i would say more so now in 2010, a very different era, from 2005. now obviously they're going to have to get on with the task of government formation. you mentioned a couple of the coalitions, but actually there are three other coalitions as well. we're prepared to do business with any coalition, democratically elected. we know all the main actors here. we have worked very closely with them over the years. and so we would look forward to seeing the iraqis form up a new government and we would like to develop this broad relationship with this key country in the middle east, a country that will have economic significance, security significance, political significance in the rest of the region. we look forward to a long-standing, broad relationship with this country for many decades to come. >> general odierno, in 2005, it took 156 days to put together a government. there was a power vacuum, sectarian violence filled that void. do you expect that there could be a similar result in whatever time it takes from the election yesterday to put a government together? >> well, obviously we're very aware of what happened in 2005. we've been working very hard with the government of iraq and their caretaker government in order to ensure that security will continue during this time. and i think they have a good plan in place. we're working closely with the iraqi security forces in order to sustain security during this key piece of time as they form the government. >> and one more question to you, general odierno, and we'll let you go. you recently signaled to president obama that you may have to leave one combat brigade in the northern part of the country past the august 31st deadline. where are you with that? >> well, first off, we run many different scenarios. there's different scenarios that are presented if there is some sort of catastrophic problems we would have to react to. the bottom line is, we're planning on being at 50,000 by september. we're planning on ending combat operations. we do much contingency planning, but that's all that it is is contingency planning. my thoughts are we'll be at 50,000 by the 1st of september. >> general ray odierno and ambassador chris hill, thanks for joining us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. still ahead on the most news in the morning, we've talked about the white house considering switching gears and having military trials for suspected 9/11 attackers, but now a plea from an unusual source to keep these cases in federal civilian court. details ahead. it's 37 minutes past the hour. hey! increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking ) when business travel leaves you drained, re-charge with comfort suites. spacious rooms, free hi-speed internet, and free hot breakfast. comfort suites. power up. now stay two separate times with comfort suites... or any choice hotel and earn a free night. book at choicehotels.com. welcome back to the most news in the morning. 40 minutes past the hour. republican senator lindsey graham is offering the white house a deal. his party's support on closing guantanamo bay for a deal to try self-professed 9/11 mastermind khalid shaikh mohammed and four others in military tribunals. >> it reverses a plan by the obama administration to try the suspected terrorists in a civilian courtroom. there is stedfast support on both sides and time for debate is running out. susan candiotti's has this morning's security watch for us. . >> reporter: john, kiran, good morning. i'm at new york's ground zero and almost nine years after the 9/11 attacks, victims' families and friends are still waiting for a decision on how to try the accused terrorist. >> right here is my best friend terry. >> reporter: every time retired new york firefighter tim brown visits ground zero, he remembers every detail. >> when that first tower came down, where were you standing? >> we were right on the sidewalk here outside of 2 world trade center when it collapsed. >> that must have been ter fiing. >> it was terrifying. >> reporter: brown demands the president do an about turn and scuttle attorney general eric holder's plan to try accused 9/11 mastermind khalid shaikh mohammed and four others in civilian courts. >> we should not be giving these scum terrorists the protections of our most sacred document in america, the united states constitution. >> i think it's a disgrace. >> reporter: fellow retired firefighter jim riches, whose son was killed on 9/11, says a civilian trial is the answer. >> they're nothing but terrorists and criminals who murder people and that's the way they should be tried in federal court, just like we try 200 other men and give them long prison terms. >> reporter: sunday lindsey graham told "face the nation" he'll press fellow republicans to shut the prison in guantanamo if the president abandoned federal trials. >> i'm going to need people from the bush administration to try to close gitmo, to put aside part sinship, stand by his side and say let's close gitmo safely. >> reporter: closing gitmo is an unfulfilled campaign from promise the american civil liberties union hasn't forgotten. its full-page ad in sunday's "new york times" shows mr. obama morphing into george bush if the president doesn't stick with civilian trials. >> the president is at a critical turning point and he could be on the verge of making a colossal mistake, both for the safety of the american people and for the image of the united states abroad. >> reporter: but when it comes down to those who personally knew victims. >> i am dead set against this happening on u.s. soil. these terrorists murdered my friends. 93 of my friends. >> reporter: some say enough is enough. >> it's nine years later, let's try these guys finally, please. >> reporter: how will the debate end? an answer is expected in the next two weeks, one that may not satisfy either side. john and kiran. >> susan candiotti this morning, thanks. we want to let you know we're going to talk about this further coming up at 8:30 eastern time. we're going to talk with former cia officers gary bernstein and jack rice and they have different points of view on this issue. we've got some messy weather across parts of the country. rob marciano is going to have this morning's travel forecast for you coming up. >> in ten minutes, a police detective gets a surprise while talking to a witness and may just need to call animal control for some backup. jeanne moos has the story coming up. ♪ wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nuture it in your cat... with a full family of excellent nutrition... and helpful resources. ♪ purina cat chow. share a better life. ♪ we say good morning to a nice sunny washington, d.c., this morning. it's 38 degrees but warming up, it's going to be a nice 60 degrees for a high today in the nation's capital. it's 47 minutes after the hour. it means it's time for your "am house call." stories about your health. new research showing doctors where hiv hides out in your body to avoid being killed off. they say it actually lurks in certain bone marrow cells while medications work to kill off the aids virus in the blood. this helps explain why hiv isn't curable, at least not yet. while hiv devastates the immune system another study is telling us how to keep your body's defenses strong and alert. scientists at the university of copenhagen say vitamin d is crucial to arming and activating t cells in your body and without it doctors say our immune system could remain naive to viruses and bacteria in the body. women can toast a new study that links wine to gaining less weight. researchers studying more than 19,000 women found that moderate drinkers actually had a lower risk of obesity than those who stuck to mineral water. the research suggests the liver break down the fat differently from other foods which affects weight gain. officials stress that moderation is the key. >> doesn't seem to be just wine too. it's all alcohol. the liver apparently uses it differently. >> they said that if they were rating it, though, people who drink red wine have the lowest weight gain and people who had spirits and beer had the most. >> don't be knocking down the margaritas or if you are, drink two, one for each hip, right. a check of the weather headlines, rob marciano in the weather center in atlanta. good morning, rob. >> good morning. we've known this a while, right. the french eat a lot of fatty food, drink a lot of red wine and seem to be in decent shape, at least by appearance. so yeah, bon appetite. high pressure across parts of the east coast. beautiful weekend finally, after a long winter, that's for sure. winter is no the quite over yet, especially with the next storm coming into the four corners out of the desert southwest, about to get into the central and southern plains. a little bit of fire weather, a problem with winds behind this, and some snow across parts of the higher elevations, but i shouldn't be too big of a deal. it is beginning to tap some moisture from the gulf of mexico. rain is going to begin to spread across parts of the south with this and it will get up into the central and northern plains as we go through the next 48 hours. we do have moisture in the form of -- it's on the ground and that's creating some fog problems across parts of the midwest if you're traveling through these airports, it's it going to be some issues. maybe a little bit of wind issues across parts of the northeast as well. jfk has one of the runways shut down that tends to bog things down and minneapolis and dallas you'll see a little bit of rain. want to touch on what's going on across parts of turkey. we had a pretty bad earthquake overnight last night, 5.9 magnitude, but it was a pretty shallow one. check out some of the damage. unfortunately over 50 people were killed with this and more than that injured. african, arabian and plates come together in this spot. typically a seismic hotbed and john and kiran, our very active time right now, where we're seeing the earth move in a lot of different spots, continues this time over in turkey. back over to you. >> all right. rob, thanks so much. this morning's top stories just minutes away now, including many say it was the most important unfilled post in this administration. now president obama has tapped the new chief for the tsa. is it the right choice, though? >> 24 minutes after the hour, an "am original" saving carlos, in second grade and falling through the cracks, how the economic meltdown may keep a boy with mental health issues from ever catching up. half past the hour, they were the men that defended the for tress, the officers who stopped the men's with guns and a van dets ta from getting into the pentagon. they are here to share their story live. those stories coming your way at the top of the hour. ♪ and the most news in the morning rolls on at 54 minutes after the hour. alice in wonderland set a box office record for a 3d movie by banking $116 million in its opening weekend. tim burton's film starring johnny depp had a bigger opening than "avatar" did. it set a about box office record for best opening weekend by a nonsequel film. >> there you go. >> lot of kids wanted to go see that. >> a good winning duo, tim burton and johnny depp, box office success. >> and 3d as well. >> trifecta. right now it is 55 minutes past the hour. that means it's time for the most news in the morning with jeanne. police officers are trained to be ready for pretty much anything. >> they expect drunk suspects, violent arrests, but a rodent hiding in a woman's cleavage? maybe they should have called animal control instead. here's jeanne. >> reporter: they nibble, they scratch, you may have seen one water ski. squirrel popping out of cleavage, somebody call the police. wait a minute. she's with the police, being interviewed by a detective. >> no, i was not prepared to see a woodland creature in the interview room. >> reporter: popping out of a tank top. the woman came to warn ohio police as a character witness, vouching for a murder suspect, whenever the squirrel popped out, during the 10-minute interview she gently pushed him back in. reminds us of the website cuteoverload which has a section called cats and racks, cats clutched to bosssomes, ferrets, ducks and squirrels, but the cats -- really seemed to know how to push our buttons. most men realize they're supposed to resist staring at cleavage. hey, buddy, my eyes are up here. detective mackey did his very best. >> i just kept right on talking to her and listening to her. i didn't acknowledge at all. i really didn't know what to say. >> reporter: and she never acknowledged the squirrel either. unlike that disney show. where squirrels get in a girl's pants, resulting in a rap dance. >> there's squirrel in my pants. >> that girl has some serious squirrels in her pants. >> reporter: squirrels in your pants pale. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: spared to a giant burmese python up a weather man's shorts at the iowa state fair. >> that's just wrong. >> reporter: and then there was the guy that got caught with 14 live birds under his pants in pink and white attached to his calves, arrested for smuggling song birds into the u.s. there's no law against having squirrels in your cleavage. anyway, it's a lot easy to squirrel away. >> squirrels! >> reporter: than to have a burmese python pulling your leg. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> what can you say after that? >> not much. >> except top stories coming your way after the break. stay with us. and facebook was still run out of a dorm room. when we built our first hybrid, more people had landlines than cell phones, and gas was $1.75 a gallon. and now, while other luxury carmakers are building their first hybrids, lexus hybrids have traveled 5.5 billion miles. and that's quite a head start. ♪ what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.95 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. it's just about 7:00 eastern on this monday, the 8th of march. thanks for joining us on the most news in the morning. i'm john roberts. >> i'm kiran chetry. here are the big stories we're going to be telling you about. first president obama has tapped former army general robert harding as the new chief of transportation security administration. tsa has been without a permanent leader since before the president was elected. we'll have more about who this new nominee is in a moment. the president packing his bags this week for a health care reform road show. he wants a bill passed by the end of this month. he'll be making that pitch during town hall meetings in missouri and pennsylvania, but there are questions this morning about whether he even has enough votes among democrats to get done what he wants. also they're counting the votes after iraqis defied a wave of attacks to cast their ballots in a milestone election. we're going to hear what it means for u.s. troops presence there as well and president obama's plan to bring them home. we begin with the retired army general tapped by president obama to become the new head of the transportation security administration. he is robert a. harding, a 33-year army veteran who's been nominated to a post that hasn't had a permanent leader since before the president took office. let's bring in our homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve live in washington this morning. what do we know about the president's nominee? >> john, general harding has a very strong background in intelligence, having served for four years as director of operations at the defense intelligence agency where he managed a more than $1 billion intelligence collection program. he held a variety of intelligence jobs in the military, including sometimes coordinating interagency drug operations. after his retirement from the military he founded a company which provided security solutions to the u.s. intelligence and defense communities. what you don't see on his resume is any indication he's worked in the aviation or transportation area or that he's had much interaction with the private sector, but it may be that in the wake of that attempted christmas day bombing they've decided the intelligence component is the most important thing, john. >> interesting aspect there to this whole thing. remind us again, jean, why this job has been vacant while there hasn't been a permanent person in place since president obama took office, still using the person who was there during the bush administration? >> well, they've had an acting administrator since kip holly left at the end of the bush administration, and the obama administration has gotten some criticism for having such a key job empty for so long because it took until last september to nominate errol southers for the post. he eventually withdrew after questions were raised about a personnel action taken against him years ago, even before that, though, senator jim demint put a hold on southers nomination over fears the obama administration was intent on unionized the tsa work force. we don't know how that's going to play out with the harding nomination. frankly this selection took place very quickly and an administration official says if there was ever a nominee that want warranted exbe dieted but detailed in the senate this is it. >> thanks very much. president obama will be hitting the road this week to try to close the sale on health care reform with the american people. he says he wants a bill passed by the end of this month with or without republicans but even some democrats sound skeptical of that timetable. suzanne malveaux live at the white house. is it realistic that the president can expect to get health care reform through congress in the next three weeks? >> if you talk to lawmakers, a lot sa no, that's not possible, it's not likely, but the white house is certainly pushing for that. their goal, at least for part one to be completed by the time the president leaves for indonesia. now that happens next thursday or so. they want the house to pass the senate version of health care reform by that time and one of the things that is happening here is that white house aides i speak with, realize that they need to capitalize off the momentum that the president has been building here to get this thing done. otherwise, if it doesn't happen soon, it's not going to happen at all. >> reporter: the administration insists there's no deadline for passing a health care bill. kathleen sebelius, health and human services secretary. >> what we're talking about, as the president said, is finishing the job and the urgency, the timetable, is not about some congressional time clock. >> reporter: but time may be running out to resuscitate health care reform. in fact, president obama is on the road this week with town hall meetings, in philadelphia and st. louis, to convince the american people that a health care overhaul has to happen now. >> if we let this opportunity pass for another year, or another decade, or another generation, more americans will lose their family's health insurance if they switch jobs or lose their job. more small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring. more insurance companies will raise premiums and deny coverage and the rising cost of medicare and medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt. >> reporter: it's a tough sell to voters and lawmakers alike, who worry about the effect on patient choice and the plan's price tag. >> this is a bill that should not be passed. it is not going to improve american health care. it will raid medicare, raise taxes, raise premiums. we ought to be going step by step to fix the cost problem. >> reporter: and the possibility that democrats may use a process known as reconciliation to limit debate on the bill, has angered many republicans. >> what they're trying to do is put through a bill that the american public doesn't want, by a totally partisan vote, and that's not what reconciliation is all about. >> reporter: democrats hope they have the votes to pass a bill. but some in the president's own party remain skeptical. with mid-term elections coming in november, many are unsure just how they'll vote. >> in the end i have to make a decision between passing this bill, this is the finish line, or doing nothing. i'm weighing the balance between the two so. >> so kiran, many lawmakers who are in that position and the tricky part of this is the moderate democrats. if the house members don't end up passing the senate version in the next couple of weeks they're going to go home for the easter recess, they may get an earful from constituents not happy with this health care reform bill that may make it even tougher for the president to push this through and sell this. obviously the president is going to be leaving in a couple hours from the white house to go to the philadelphia area to try to push for it and once again capitalize on the momentum he's been building over the last couple months. >> suzanne malveaux outside the white house today, thank you. also new this morning, they are counting the ballots after a critical test of iraq's fragile democracy. yesterday millions of people defied a wave of attacks and went to the polls in the second national election since the 2003 u.s.-led invasion. president obama praised the performance of iraqi troops. earlier i spoke with general ray odierno, the commanding general of the multinational force in iraq and asked whether iraqi forces are capable of keeping the peace once u.s. soldiers withdr withdraw. >> i think over time we've been naturally moving towards this point. iraqis have been taking more and more control for security. i think over the next several months we'll draw down to 50,000. we'll end combat operations, go to a train and advise mission, and i think they are ready to do that and i think the election and the security they were able to provide proves that. >> earlier results from the elections could be released in the next few days. kite take a month or more to put a government together. if you need to fill up your tank on the way to work, you may have noticed prices are up. aaa reports the national average for a gallon of unleaded is $2.75, up 80 cents from this time last year. director katheriryn bigelow queen of the world, her movie "the hurt locker" scored a big upset over her ex-husband's blockbuster "avatar" for best picture at the academy awards. bigelow became the first woman to win best director in the academy's 82-year history. >> there's no other way to describe it. it's the moment of a lifetime. first of all, this is so extraordinary to be in the company of such power that my fellow nominees such powerful filmmakers who have inspired me and i have admired for some of whom for decades. >> in other categories jeff bridges won best actor for his role in "crazy heart" which he actually had to learn how to sing to perform, and sandra bullock won best actress for her fabulous performance in the movie "the blind side." 7 1/2 minutes past the hour. a check of the weather headlines. rob marciano is in atlanta this morning. hey, rob. >> good morning. i'm just glad that singing is not a requirement for this particular job. >> amen. >> i wouldn't last too long. tell you that. listen, a little storm coming into texas, has spawned some snow across parts of the mountains and it will bring some wind. a little fire danger there. as moisture gets ahead of it we'll start to see some rain fill in on the radar scope. it's getting foggy across parts of chicago and minneapolis. traveling through those cities beware. but another day, going to squeeze another good one out for the east coast. warmer temperatures over the weekend and continues on this monday with temps maybe a couple degrees higher today than they were yesterday. 58 in new york. nice. feels like spring. enjoy, guys. >> not bad. i actually left the overcoat at home this morning, thinking positive. >> that's right. >> sure sign that spring is on the way. >> it was gorgeous. you had to fight your way to get to the play ground because everyone was making use of the nice sunshine yesterday. we'll take it. >> next time you should bring the kids. >> right. >> still to come on the most news in the morning, american linked to al qaeda, captured in pakistan, who is he and what does this mean for the fight against terror? we'll break this down with our cnn national security analyst. e a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i'm going to work with kids. i want to fix up old houses. 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[ male announcer ] have a heart to heart with your doctor about your cholesterol. and about lipitor. ♪ we've got 11 minutes after the hour now. we're talking about an arrest in pakistan. we're getting conflicting reports this morning about the possible arrest of an american-born al qaeda spokesman. pakistani government officials say they have captured adam gadahn. >> yeah. his arrest, though, is coming just hours after islamist websites posted video of him praising the november massacre at ft. hood, but now some u.s. sources are actually questioning those reports of his capture. cnn national security analyst peter bergen joins us from washington. good morning, thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> as we said we're getting some conflicting information. senior pakistani government officials told nic robertson it is adam gadahn, the american spokesman for al qaeda, us but a pakistani officer telling the ap it's another american who has a similar name, not gadahn. what do you make of all of this morning? >> well, the two people in question, both as you say have very similar names, they're not even their real names, sort of names of jihad, but an american being called a member of al qaeda in karachi, the largest muslim city in the world, a city of 18 million people on the coast of -- on pakistan's southern coast, a place where we've seen the arrests just a few days ago of the number two in the taliban, a place where al qaeda has long had a presence, the taliban has a presence, and indicative of, you know, the pakistani intelligence agency helping with the united states to arrest quite a number of people in the last ten days, kiran. >> you know, peter, it's john here, the fact that they were arrested in karachi, there's been some high-profile arrests, what does it say to the idea to this wisdom that all the ope operatives have been living in the frontier regions on the border between pakistan and afghanistan? >> well john, as you know, since the summer of 2008 under the bush administration, now the obama administration, the american drone program in the tribal region has been increased and you'd have to be dumb sitting around waiting to be incinerated by a hellfire missile at this point. this program has been going on for 18 months. i think it was fairly predictable quite a number of these people f they could get out, would go back to the pakistani cities where until 2004 a lot had been living. this is sort of a reverse migration. they were in the citys after 9/11. it became too hot for them after 2004. they went to the tribal regions. now they're going back into the cities. which is, you know, a good news/bad news story because the cities, there are a lot of people, a lot of eyes, if you make phone calls, these kinds of things, signals intelligence, so, you know, they're really sort of stuck. their previous safehavens have become less safe over time. >> and as you pointed out, in a city, in karachi, a city of 13 million people and the influx of more and more people coming across the border every day it seems, how do -- how does this change how we tackle this war on terror and how we try to route out those that have south safe haven in pakistan? >> there was a phase between the fall of the taliban in the winter of 2001 and 2004 where all these guys, all the al qaeda leaders were being captured in pakistani cities, whether it was karachi or other big pakistani cities, and, you know, logging on to the internet, making cell phone calls, all these sorts of things led to the capture of these guys. so, you know, unless they have very, very good operational security, the cities are really not a particularly safe haven. i think the arrest today of this american, he may be adam gadahn, may not be, demonstrates that the pakistani intelligence agencies continue to be pretty proactive with the help of the united states to find both members of the taliban and al qaeda. >> if a lot of these al qaeda and taliban operatives, peter, are leaving the frontier areas for the city because as you said the drone program there which has launched so many attacks -- we're going to get you on later on this week to talk about all of that for us -- does it logically follow that osama bin laden may not be in the tribal areas anymore eater? >> that's an interesting question, john. i think he is in or around the tribal areas. after all this is one of the most recognizable human beings in the world. i don't think they would take the risk to go somewhere where there were a lot of eyes. my guess and the guess of a lot of people i've talked to, he's been in one place for a very long time, probably a compound with some electricity, some access to news sources, and, you know, it may be, if not in the tribal regions it is along the afghan/pakistan border and he is staying put. >> all right. peter bergen, great getting your take. our cnn national security analyst. the story still developing this morning. conflicting reports. maybe we'll find out more information about whether this captured american is adam gadahn. >> trying to straighten it out for you. 16 minutes after the hour. stay with us. we'll be right back. ♪ [ giggling, squealing ] ♪ [ dad ] hey! no! go away! go away! [ laughter ] ♪ 19 minutes past the hour. welcome back. time for minding your business this morning. christine romans is here and we're talking census. >> population statistics. you're going to get a letter in the mail, starting today, tomorrow, or the next day reminding you you're about to get a big questionnaire in the mail. the questionnaire really isn't that big. it's ten questions that you're going to have to fill out. this is a copy of what the letter is going to look like. pretty short. a couple paragraphs. if you get something else in the mail that looks like a census bureau document that asks for your social security number or something, don't answer it because that's not real. so why does this matter to you? this is what determines the number of representatives in congress, it determines electoral districts, it determines federal aid allocation literally billions of dollars are up for grabs for your neighborhood, and your state. you always hear about some people who say, oh, you know, this i don't want the government to know this that or the other. this is part of a representative fundamental to a representative democracy. about three things you have a civic responsibility, jury duty, paying taxes and being counted in the census. quickly, the scams. it's inevitable. phishing, you've heard of phishing where somebody sends you an e-mail. no e-mail correspondence from the census bureau. if anybody sends you an e-mail asking for your social security number, money, bank information, that is not the government. that's something trying to steal your money. we've seen it starting to happen. a reminder. if you fill out this form, you get an advanced letter today, form next week, fill out these ten simple questions you're all done, if you don't, then the census is going to send somebody to your house going to cost taxpayers 25 bucks. let's save uncle sam a couple dollars. >> do you have a romans numeral this morning 1790. >> the year. >> first year of the census. >> yeah. back then it was on horseback and boat and canoe counting everybody in the country. believe it or not, they have been on horseback and boats down in the bayou counting houses with no electricity, some without even a postal address. they've been way out in alaska counting tribes that live on ice floes. they've been starting to do this. >> you are a numbers maniac, how many country were in the country in -- how many people were in the country in 1790. >> i know in 2039 they expect us to cross 400 million. going from 200 million to 400 million from 1970 to 2039. >> didn't take long. >> it really didn't. look, this is still the -- after everything we've been through, still the land of the american dream, right? >> it is. thanks. coming up on the most news in the morning, an 8-year-old boy caught up in california's budget crisis. it's an "am original," saving carlos, very touching story you'll want to see. 22 minutes past the hour. ♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. our top stories just about five minutes away now. but first, an "am original" something you'll only see on "american morning." today, part one of an emotional series that we're calling "saving carlos." he's a little boy that suffers from attention hyperactivity disorder and severe anxiety? >> his family doesn't have insurance and relies on the public mental health system. now a broken state may be taking out a mortgage on his future. thelma gutierrez explains. >> reporter: south los angeles. ♪ a community of working-class families, hit hard by the economy. as a parent, i often wonder what i would do if one of my kids needed mental health care and i couldn't afford it. i met a boy here who's trapped in that very predicament. this is where he lives. and this is his story. >> my name is carlos. i am 8 years old. >> reporter: carlos lives here with his sister and parents. they're unemployed, uninsured, barely scraping by. >> i'm going to show you where i sleep. my dad sleeps here and my mom sleeps there. i always dream about my house to be clean, really clean. >> yeah. >> do you want it to be big? >> shiny big. when he come, they could get impressive. >> you want someone to come and be impressed by your house? >> yeah. >> reporter: among carlos' many challenges in life, he suffers severe anxiety and adhd. >> so you were talking about the things that you wish you could change. what would you change? >> i would change my life. >> you would change your life? >> i was going to -- i dream about i was going to change my life. >> reporter: we caught a glimpse into why at st. john's community clinic in south los angeles. this is where he regularly meets with ella, director of behavorial health. she's trying to unlock the causes of his angst. >> choose one marker. >> reporter: about to begin an art therapy session with carlos to help him express things going on in his life. you might be wondering why a family would allow a camera into a private therapy session like this. carlos' mother says she believes it's critical that people understand how important these services are. >> family fights. is that's what's happening in this picture here? >> yes. >> yeah. >> this is my mom. >> that's your mom. >> uh-huh. >> this is my dad. >> that's your dad. how does that make you feel? >> sad? . i cry. >> reporter: carlos tells ella his dad used to drink, that led to fighting between mom and dad. he says at home there was no escape. that was six months ago. >> and now what do you tell them? >> i tell them not to fight. but i tell them, if you fight, i'm out of here. >> he first came to me because he was having lots of problems at home and mom did not know how to modify his behavior. the teacher was frustrated, did not know how to help carlos, and was basically just writing him up or sending him to the office or wanted him out of the classroom instead of working with him. >> reporter: carlos' mom tells me, she worried her son was being written off at the age of 8. he felt labeled as a bad kid. and rejected by his teacher. does he have insurance? she says she knew he needed mental health care. she searched for clinics that accepted medhi call, a state program for the poor. she says she tried to get carlos help. she took him to four different clinics and each time she was told, he didn't qualify because he wasn't considered an emergency. carlos would have to be physically violent or suicidal to get help. it sounds extreme, but an official with the los angeles county department of mental health told us that right now, clinics are so overloaded and underfunded they're having to triage children so that means kids like carlos who need ongoing therapy, are not a priority. >> in our session today, was very positive. >> reporter: after nearly a year of searching, she finally found st. john's, a free clinic. >> look like fists. >> like fists. that's what he was able to express. he was able to express the anxiety he feels when his family fights. >> if carlos were not able to come to a therapy session, would he be at risk if. >> of course he would be at risk. he would be at risk behavorially and academically. >> reporter: now st. john's and other clinics like it are facing california's bruising budget cuts. will carlos be next? thelma gutierrez, cnn, los angeles. >> well, tomorrow we're going to take a look at the debate over whether it is the state's responsibility to pick up the bill and what is the mental health of 4,000 kids like carlos worth to the taxpayers. coming up on the half hour. it's 7:30 eastern. that means it's time for this morning's top stories. former army general robert harding has been chosen by the president to take over the transportation security administration. department of homeland security secretary janet napolitano will make that announcement today. harding is a retired major general with 33 years of service under his belt. the tsa has been without a permanent chief since the end of the bush administration. secretary robert gates is in afghanistan. he arrived unannounced this morning to get an update on the massive u.s. led campaign to root out taliban fighters in marjah. secretary gates is scheduled to meet with afghan president hamid karzai and the u.s. commander in afghanistan general stanley mcchrystal. early results from iraq's national election are expected to be released in the next few days. millions of people went to the polls yesterday despite a wave of violence that killed more than 30 people. earlier i spoke with general ray odierno, the commanding general of the multinational force in iraq, and asked whether u.s. forces are prepared to handle any violence during the months that it could take to form a new government. >> we're working very hard with the government of iraq and their caretaker government in order to ensure that security will continue during this time. and i think they have a good plan in place. we're working closely with the iraqi security forces in order to sustain security during this key piece of time as they form the government. >> president obama praised the iraqis for their courage yesterday and reiterated that, quote, by the end of next year all u.s. troops will be out of iraq. a few days ago, a man with two guns, plenty of ammo and vendetta opened fire at the gate to the pentagon. three officers on duty at the time didn't flinch. they took the gunman, john patrick bedell, down with lethal force and may have prevented many others from getting killed. they're all with us this morning from the pentagon. we have officers marvin carraway, jeffrey amos and colin richards. thanks for joining us this morning. >> good morning. >> i'm glad to see -- i know that both officer carraway and richards, you were shot. thank goodness everybody is okay and able to talk with us. i want to start with you officer carraway. you were a marines for eight years and you said when you made eye contact with this suspect you knew right away he might be up to something. explain how you first saw him and what went through your mind at the time? >> well, i recognized the individual, the shooter walking up towards me, and in my mind i said, okay, it's time to get up and acknowledge this person coming in. when i looked at the shooter, he looked at me, and i recognized he had a certain look on his face. once i saw that, what went through my mind was like, this is it. something is about to happen. >> and so what did you do from there? >> well, the shooter continued to look at me. he drew his weapon and he started firing. once he started firing, i took cover and we all started to return fire after that. >> and for people that don't know, you guys actually have -- i guess it's like a booth, if you will, but you're not completely surrounded. there's some bulletproof glass in front of you but the sides are open? >> that's correct. >> all right. and so let me ask officer richards, you were also manning that post with officer carraway at the time and what were your impressions as the shooter approached? >> well, i thought the shooter was a normal badge holder, so i didn't feel no threat until i saw the gun pull out and aim at officer carraway. so by then, we returned fire and officer carraway ran for cover. >> and officer amos, also you were at the exit side when you heard the gunshots. you said you recognized that popping sound as gunfire. what did you do at the time? >> yes, i did. once i recognized it as gunfire i exited the booth at which time i observed the shooter running in my direction with a handgun at which time i returned fire as well. >> and you also got shot, right? in the thigh. >> no. no, ma'am. i got shot in -- >> in the shoulder? >> yes, ma'am. in the right shoulder. >> and all of you returned fire as well as another officer. at what point did you realize you had neutralized the suspect? he was shot in the head and taken away but later determined he died. when did you know things were safe? >> once the shooter went down, we approached the shooter and we also tried to preserve the perimeter. the shooter didn't move and basically that was it. >> i mean because at the time, you didn't know if this was somebody working alone or whether or not you were going to be shot at again by spb else or -- somebody else or what was going on. i imagine this must have been a time of confusion and also uncertainty? >> there was a lot of chaos. fortunately for us, our training kicked in. >> and let me ask you, officer richards, you talked about this being almost surreal, you didn't know at the time whether it was even a prank. i mean, you know, must have just really caught you by surprise. i mean we talk about the thousands of people that go in and out every day that come up to your guard post, show their pentagon i.d. and keep moving. >> yes, ma'am. everything happened in a split second. the shooter was like so close, like when he shot, i was surprised that he missed because i thought he hit me or officer carraway. so training kicked in. i ran for cover. and that's what happened. >> it could have turned out very differently. you guys are all very heroic for what you did and for what you really do every single day. it's just that on most days, this doesn't happen. the worst case scenario doesn't happen. let me ask officer amos first, are you going to think twice when you go back to your post and when you go back to duty, is this something that's going to stick with you? >> yeah. it's going to be on my mind, but i'm always vigilant on my post, you know. like i said, at that particular time when it happened and we saw the action -- when i saw the threat was neutralized, i immediately went back to the exit to make sure that nobody was coming up to ambush us from the rear. >> and officer carraway, as well, i mean, does anything need to change about the way that the posts are and the way that whole setup is at the pentagon? i know after 9/11 they moved that entrance back. you used to be able to go right up into the building. do you think anything else needs to change to make sure everybody is safe? >> no, ma'am. we work hard, we train hard. our mission is to protect the -- our mission is to protect the pentagon and its tenants. >> yeah. well, you certainly did that. what's to prevent somebody else with a gun coming up and confronting officers outside of the pentagon? >> i guess that's what we were athere for. they train us for the job and we're there to do the job. >> well, as we said before thank goodness you guys were not hurt more severely and you're back on the job and we're certainly glad to have you there. thanks to all of you for joining us this morning, marvin carraway, jeffery amos and colin richards, all pentagon police officers that certainly did their duty that day, thank you very much. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you. we've got 37 minutes after the hour now. same-sex marriage becomes legal in the nation's capital today, but one prominent charity is taking some pretty drastic measures to ensure that it doesn't have to pay benefits to the same-sex spouse of one of its employees. we'll tell you all about that coming right up. stay with us. okay. $65 for tonight. you can't argue with a big deal. introducing big deal days, get an exclusive sneak peak at recent winning hotel bids to help you save up to half off. and get your big hotel deal now. because big deal days won't last long at priceline. is difficult to attain. a reputation for unsurpassed quality and industry-leading customer service, even more so. which is why it must be earned. every day. every mile. with every driver. we've earned ours by relentlessly asking one simple question... how can we make it even better tomorrow? lexus. the pursuit...of perfection. recently a whole new kind of cloud came to st. cloud, minnesota. 20 minutes to the top of the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. starting tomorrow, same sex cup les will be able to legally marry in the nation's capital. starting tomorrow, catholic charities in washington implement a controversial benefits cut for employees. and the timing as kate bowleden reports, is no coincidence. >> reporter: same-sex couples in washington can legally marry in the district starting tuesday. >> very excited. >> reporter: even before the first couple walks down the aisles there's controversial fallout from the city's decision. catholic charities the social services arm of the archdiocese of washington, just announced it will no longer offer health benefits to spouses of new new or current employees who aren't already covered under its plan. as a result the non-profit is effectively avoiding having to give benefits to same-sex partners, keeping with the church's opposition to same-sex marriage. >> how long have you and your partner been together? >> we've been together for ten years. >> reporter: chris hinkle is gay and a practicing catholic. he live in virginia and worships in washington. he views the developments in d.c. as two steps forward and quickly two steps back for the gay and lesbian community and its strained relationship with the catholic church. why is it disappointing to you? >> it's a slap in the face. yeah. it's prejudice. >> reporter: catholic charities declined to comment but the archdiocese of washington made a point to say that less than 10% of catholic charities employees take part in its health insurance program, suggesting that a small portion of the staff will be affected by the change in policy. and in a statement the archdiocese says this approach allows catholic charities to continue to provide services to the 68,000 people it now cares for in the city. to comply with the city's new requirements and to remain faithful to our catholic identity. a stance some catholics say is damaging the church's public image. >> they're getting a view of the church that isn't necessarily consistent with our values. we don't say that people who -- don't deserve health insurance because they happen to be in a certain kind of marriage or a certain kind of relationship. that's just not what we teach. >> reporter: the very same message chris hinkle is trying to send as he fights for acceptance. >> i want people to treat others with justice. that is a message that i think jesus christ himself had exemplified. >> in today's world, you think that applies to health care as well as the right to marry? >> absolutely it does. absolutely. >> reporter: kate baldwin, cnn, washington. still ahead, rob marciano is going to be checking in with us. the spring-like temperatures for most of the northeast, how long will it last, though? we're going to find out. 43 minutes after the hour. okay, sweetie, open wide and say "ahh." ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh ♪ ahh [ male announcer ] at ge, we've dedicated some of the best minds and the most advanced technology to bring better health to more people. it's an idea we call healthymagination and we think it just might catch on. ♪ ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh ♪ look at boston this morning. where it's fair, 43 degrees. a little later it's going to be mostly sunny and a 55 degrees. certainly a welcome temperature in boston today for march. we check in with rob marciano. they're hoping it lasts for st. patrick's day, right? >> that would be nice. >> one more week. 60 degrees. >> it's usually pretty nice for st. patrick's day. maybe sunny with a little bit of a crisp in the air. it's way too far off to nail that down. if it was today it would be pretty nice. temperatures a couple degrees higher than they were yesterday. we're watching this storm coming out into texas now. brought in rain and snow across parts of the intermountain west, the southern part, beginning to tap some tropical moisture out of the gulf of mexico and that will start to increase the amount of rain we see. the amount of snow we saw as far south as arizona, 12 inches, ski san te fe, durango seeing 9 inches, the grand canyon seeing 8, 9 inches. las vegas seeing 7 inches. a little bit of more in the way of light mountain snow expected today and the rains beginning to move into dallas and houston. check out the rains that fell in melbourne, australia. it rained about an inch in less than an hour. that included some hail that piled up and flooded the streets. you're seeing hail floating on top of streets flooded with water and they've had quite a bit of rain across at least parts of central and eastern australia over the last week and they're having a hard time getting through it, that's for sure. you may have hard time getting through some of the fog in minneapolis and chicago. dense fog advisories out this morning, so kind of soupy there. those would be a couple of the airports highlighted, see potential delays, including denver as well. might see some low visibility. little wind across new york, but won't be a cold wind, but that may slow down a few of the airports. 59 expected in dallas. look at memphis 71, 68 in atlanta, and 58 degrees, not too shabby in new york. enjoy it while it lasts. i'm not sure how long that's going to happen. >> we will. we'll take your vad yis and en -- advice and enjoy it. this morning's top stories minutes away including it was the most important unfilled post in this administration. now president obama has tapped a chief for the tsa. is it the right choice? a school accused of giving kids laptops and spying on them at home, there's new fallout this morning. do we know now who was watching? and at the half past the hour, president obama saying the jury is still out over where to hold the 9/11 terror trial. two former cia officers will debate the issue. one saying let the military handle it, the other saying bring him to new york. those stories and more coming your way at the top of the hour. [ female announcer ] for dazzling white teeth, give toothpaste the brp=h off. you úéed listerine® whitening® vibrant white™ rinse. the mouthwash that gets teeth four times whiter than the leading toothpaste. and kills bad breath germs. listerine® whitening vibrant white™. 7 1/2 minutes now to the top of the hour. it's time for your "am" house call. >> what we are learning is that it's up to us as patients to keep from becoming a statistic. this is patient safety awareness week. this morning we are joined by baltimore doctor, a professor at johns hopkins university. thank you for being with us this morning. we want to talk about the checklist for doctors. it seems straightforward. washing your hands, and clean patient's skin before a procedure. it seems pretty basic. >> yeah, you are right. when patients go to the hospital they expect to be helped, yet too often they are harmed. we estimate that 31,000 people die from central line infections each year in this country and we eliminated them not at just john hopkins, but throughout the state of michigan using the checklists. >> for folks at home who are not familiar with it, a central line is a what? >> a catheter placed in the large veins outside your heart. they allow us to monitor your heart functions, and patients having a large surgery and patients getting die al asus, they do good but also posts risks. >> they say thattie,0 80,000 pas get the central line, and 30,000 to 60,000 people die from that alone. so if you are a patient, it's such a confusing time and you are at the mercy of the people there taking care of you, and how do you prevent it? >> the patients need to be engaged in it. when you go to the hospital ask what is the risks of being infected. it would be around 1 per thousand catheters. if they don't know that that should be of concern. we are putting this program in every state and hospital, and in some states only 20% of hospitals are participating and they all need to. they should ask if they are going to have a catheter, are they using the checklist and it represents the best evidence we know. >> can the checklists be applied to other aspects, as well? when you think of a pilot, they go through a checklist, and it's every time if it's just routine for takeoff or an emergency, they have a checklist. should the hospitals have a checklist across the spectrum of the procedures that they engage in? >> you are absolutely right. health care is grossly under standardized. we benefitted from innovation in medicine when people did their own thing, and we identified new drugs, but now our body of knowledge of what works has grown substantial enough that we don't need innovation in some things, we need blocking and tackling, like to prevent the infections. we know doing these five things will eliminate infections. on their own doctors seem to do them 30% of the time. >> you talked about the need to ask the same questions. when i read it, asking everybody that comes into your room, have you washed your hands, and this is a level of proactivity, and some people don't feel comfortable asking your practitioner if they washed their hands. how do you eliminate the uncertainty of that kind of information? >> yeah, both parties have to be comfortable, and it's scary for patients to have to question their physicians. there is overwhelming data that patients get better care and have better outcomes when they are actively involved in making decisions about their care. on the other hand our doctors need to be welcoming of questions, and they send subtle and not so subtle messages to the patient they don't want to be questioned, because together we want to get better care. >> thank you very much for being with us. we appreciate it. >> great. thank you for having me. we will take a quick break and we will be back with top stories in 90 seconds pn good morning to you. thank you for being with us on monday, march 8th. i am kiran chetry. >> and i am john roberts. thank you for being with us. and former army general robert harding, the transportation security was without a job. and reports of an american al qaeda leader arrested in pakistan. and officials said it was first one of the most wanted, but it could be mistaken identity. and oscar night is history, and we had one very surprised best actress. >> did i really earn this or did i wear you all down? >> all the big winners and the highlights coming up. first this morning, we begin the hour with a retired army general tapped by president obama to become the new head of the transportation security administration. he is robert a. harding who has been nominated to the post. let's bring in our security correspondent. what do we know about general harding this morning? >> he has a very strong background in intelligence. he served four years where he managed more than $1 billion intelligence collection program. and he could coordinate drug operations. after his retirement from the military he founded a company that provided security solutions. what you do not see on his resume is any indication that he has worked in the aviation or transportation area or had much interaction with the private sector, but apparently the administration may be underli underlining the intelligence part of the job. >> the obama administration has gotten heat for this. questions were raised about a personnel action taken against the first person appointed. and jim demint brought up an issue. the harding selection came quickly on the heels of first withdrawal. >> jean, thanks. six small villages in eastern turkey has been damaged by a magnitude 5.0 earthquake. the quake hit while most people were sleeping. it has been reported that there have been some 40 aftershocks, powerful ones that followed. many haitians say they are anxious about what is next as troops start to withdrawal from port-au-prince. more than half a million people are still living in tent cities after january's devastating earthquake, and to make matters worse the rainy season has set in. >> there was a 5.8 magnitude in turkey. the lower marion school district is being sued for using web cams to spy on students. officials say the two it workers activated the web cam to find the laptops missing. a $10,000 reward for the hockey stick used by sidney crosby. sid, the kid, through his stick in the air during the wild sell operation following his goal, and now the stick is missing. reebok made it and they are offering the reward, no questions asked. the stick itself could be worth $50,000 or more. >> how do you smuggle a hockey stick. >> somebody obviously who had access to the ice. >> maybe a worker or a teammate or somebody else. she beat out her ex-husband, james cameron, to become the first woman to win director at the oscars in the 82-career history. the lights, the cameras the action. it's why nearly 2,000 journalists flocked to the red carpet to capture the glamor and millions of people around the world tune in to watch the drama unfold at the academy awards. oscar's biggest showdown best picture. >> and the winner is -- "the hurt locker." >> a small budget movie with a huge impact blew out nine other contenders to take home the top prize. >> this was really never part of anything that we imagined. >> in all the hu"the hurt locke swept several categories. >> there is no other way to describe it, the moment of a lifetime. >> and sandra bullock won best actress in playing a tough acting mother. bullock emotionally shared the honor with her fellow nominees, including meryl streep that received her record 16th nomination as her role in "julie & julia." >> and jeff bridges won his first oscar for his performance in "crazy heart." bridges remembered his late parents whose footsteps he followed into acting. >> i feel an extension of them. this is honoring them as much as it is me. >> the best supporting actress showdown was no surprise. comedian mo'nique captured the gold with her dramatic performance in "precious." monique paid tribute to the first african-american awarded an oscar. >> austrian actor, christoph waltz took home the oscar for his work in "inglourious basterds." >> oscar and penelope. >> where do the stars celebrate oscar gold? first stop, the governor's ball. >> i don't know how i came home with oscar. >> there is one more piece of history. sandra bullock became the first person to win an oscar and a razzie, and she went from worse to first. did you see this? >> no, i almost picked it on an airplane last week and decided no, i would go for something else. >> and she was the second actress to show up to accept her razzie, and halle berry accepted her razzie in person. >> and what an amazing part that "inglourious basterds," and jeff bridges sang all the songs himself in "crazy heart." >> and they are going to see whether or not it affected the ratings, and besides sandra bullock and george clooney, there were not a lot of a-listers nominated. >> sandra bullock just won me over. anybody that shows up to the razzees, she doesn't take herself to seriously. >> yeah. halle berry went there, too. >> who needs that? come on. halle is halle. here we go with weather. this system will create some rain across much of the south, slowly but surely over the next few days. we will see a change in the weather pattern because of that. your temperatures will be a couple degrees warm than yesterday. teasing the 7-degree mark here in atlanta and the 60-degree mark in new york. spring is almost here, and a little taste of it for you on this monday. >> groundhogs were right and wrong. there has been confusion and we are trying to break it down for you this morning. claims that an al qaeda, an american al qaeda spokesman was arrested in pakistan and there are other pakistani officers saying perhaps it was a case of mistaken identity, and the u.s. intelligence not saying anything about this. just to make phone calls. but when at&t or verizon offer you an unlimited plan for $69.99, that's all it's good for -- phone calls. with sprint, for the same price, you get unlimited text, unlimited web and unlimited calling to every mobile phone in america. now, that's more like it. [ male announcer ] $69.99 for unlimited text, web and calling to any mobile in america. only from sprint. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. "get down, get down, get down!" that's the type of ied that earned me a purple heart in iraq six years ago. this is what our troops are up against today. "it can penetrate four inches of armor." efps. specially designed to pierce american military armor. it's a devastating weapon and it was created in oil rich iran. they're ending up in the hands of our enemies. and everytime oil goes up a dollar, iran gets another 1.5 billion dollars to use against us. the connection between oil and the enemy couldn't be clearer. we need to break that connection by breaking our addiction. and we can, by passing a clean energy climate plan. it will cut our dependence on foreign oil in half. some in congress say it's a tough vote. not as tough as what our troops are up against. welcome back to the most news in the morning. confusion this morning over claims one of the fbi's most wanted terrorists, american adam gadahn, has been captured. officials said they nabbed him yesterday, but now reports are it may be a case of mistaken identity. nic robertson is live in london, and i know you have been working your sources and there is conflicting information out there but what is the latest? >> the latest takeaway at the moment is the silence we are hearing from islamabad in pakistan. we had the two government sources telling it's the american al qaeda, the propaganda, the english propaganda arm of al qaeda if you will, and they believe they are turning the tables on terrorism and this is something that they want to be recognized by their friends, meaning the united states. but the fact that their silence today, daytime in pakistan, and that we have not heard any confirmation from officials clearly throws doubt on it. and of course, you could look at it and say why would intelligence officials want this information out there, because the longer they can keep it quiet that he has been captured they can use any information to them to their advantage. so you could see as well that this may be an intentional smoke screen, and working to try and cut through that right now, kiran. >> it's daytime there and you would think there would be more information coming out. do you expect to hearing is else today? >> i think it's reasonable to get some sort of clarification. there are a number of pakistani officials you would expect to comment on this and i expect to hear from one of them later in the day. when we have seen senior al qaeda people captured in the past, sometimes it's weeks or months before we get confirmation that they have been captured because of the intelligence terms, and maybe that's what is happening. >> if it's yet another american, where do we go from here? are pakistanis in charge and what kind of rights would he have there? what kind of ability to bring this person, this suspect, back to the u.s.? >> well, pakistanis have in the past been pretty good about handing over suspects like this american al qaeda figures back to u.s. custody. they will want to keep him for a while and question him for a while, but there would be a lot of pressure to n had him over to u.s. authorities so he could be questioned. look back over a year ago when there was an american al qaeda captured and handed over to u.s. authorities and given over 100 interviews to the fbi. and if gadahn has been captured, building a relationship and trust with him with the investigators talking to him and trying to tease out and get information from him that could lead to bin laden and others in al qaeda. the message here for al qaeda whether or not it's gadahn, pakistani officials are pushing harder. >> well, you early birds may say, hey, where is my refund? ♪ . christine romans here minding your business. she is talking tax returns, and some states are saying there may be a delay before people get their money back. >> yeah, you will hear we promise a minimal delay with your state income tax and they will keep your money for a longer time. and think of it as a no interest loan to the state that have you no control over. the states are broke and they need to keep hold of your money longer. and in some of the states they furloughed so many state workers they don't have the tax on deck to process the refunds. and hawaii says they will process the returns until june 1st. also, north carolina said that it's going to have to slow its refunds, and monitor this really on a week by week basis. it's the affects of the slow economy and the department is managing the distribution of refunds as a result. they are not going to be able to give you an estimated timeframe as well and there are other states as well this is happening in. some are saying we are not telling you we will keep your money longer, but you should know we might have to keep your money longer. the bottom line is they don't have money to give you back quite yet. >> hawaii, they are doing the furlough friday, where i think 17 of them, where they just can't afford to keep -- they are trying to save money by letting people have fridays off. >> we have never seen such a collapse in the states since 1930s. if you don't have jobs you are not paying your state income tac taxes, and including real estate taxes and the like. it's tough. it will be tough this year. and it's going to be tough -- it's going to be tough next year as well. >> you have a romans numeral this morning? >> yes, i do. bring it up and i will show it to you. >> six months? >> if you would like to keep hold of your money for longer, can you file an extension and it will give you another six months. if you are having your own budget crisis you need to be thinking now about filing an extension. you could write off expenses on your income taxes, and you can write off expenses related to the job search. thank you so much. khalid sheikh muhammad was headed for a civilian courtroom, but now he may be going into a military courtroom. we'll debate that coming up.  ♪ it's 25 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. top stories five minutes away. today we have part one of a series is called "saving carlos." he suffered from adhd including severe anxiety. >> a broke state may be taking out a mortgage on carlos's future. >> reporter: south los angeles, a community of working class families hit hard by the economy. as a parent, i often wur dur what i would do if one of my kids needed mental health care and i could not afford it. i met a boy trapped in that predictment. >> my name is carlos. i am 8 years old. >> reporter: carlos lives here with sister and parents, and they are unemployed and uninsured and barely scraping by. >> i will show you where i sleep. my dad sleeps there and my mom sleeps there, and i dream about my house being clean, really clean. >> reporter: do you want it to be big? >> you want somebody to come and be impressed by your house? he also suffers from severe anxiety and adhd. what would you change? >> my life. >> reporter: your life? >> i dream about -- i was going to change my life. >> reporter: we got a glimpse into why at st. john's community clinic in los angeles, and this is where he meets with the director of behavioral health. he is about to begin an art therapy session. you might be wondering why a family would allow a camera into a private therapy session like this, but carlos' mother believe it's critical families understand how important the services are. >> there are family fights? is that what happens here? >> yes. this is my mom and this is my dad. >> that's your dad. how does that make you feel? >> sad. i cry. >> reporter: carlos tells her his dad used to drink and that led to mom and dad fighting. and he said there was no escape. that was six months ago. now what do you tell them? >> i tell them not to fight. i tell them, if you fight, i am out of here. >> he came to me because he was having lots of problems at home and mom did not know how to modify his behavior, and the teacher was frustrated and did not know how to help carlos, and was writing him up or sending him to the office and wanting him out of the classroom instead of working with him. >> reporter: she worried her son was being written off at the age of 8, and he felt labeled as a bad kid and rejected by his teacher. >> does he have insurance? she said she knew he needed medicare, and so she searched for a program that would accept the state help. >> she took him to four different clinics, and each time she was told he was not bad enough. an official with the los angeles county of mental health told us right now clinics are so overloaded and underfunded they are having to triage children, so that means kids like carlos who need on going therapy are not a priority. >> the session today was very positive. >> reporter: after a year of searching, she found st. john's a free clinic. >> that is what he was able to express. he was able to express the anxiety he feels when his family fights. >> reporter: if carlos were not able to come to a therapy session would he be at risk? >> yes, academically and behaviorally. >> tomorrow we will take a look at the debate whether or not it's the state's responsibility to pick up the bill, and what kids like carlos is worth to taxpayers. retired army general harding will be nominated later today. harding is a retired major general with 33 years of service, and the tsa has been without a permanent chief since the end of the bush administration. robert gates arrived in afghanistan unannounced. secretary gates is scheduled to meet with hamid karzai and general stanley mccrystal. and then millions of people went to the polls in iraq despite a wave of violence that killed more than 30 people. earlier i spoke with the commanding general of the multinational force in the iraq and asked him whether the u.s. forces are prepared to handle violence in the months it could take to form a new government. >> we are working hard with the government in iraq in order to insure that security will continue at this time. they have a good plan in place and we are working with the security forces in order to sustain security during the key piece of time as they form the government. >> president obama praised the iraqis for the courage yesterday and reiterated the quote by the end of the next year, all u.s. troops will be out of iraq. back here at home time is running out of to debate where to try khalid sheikh muhammad. the president is said to be considering a move to a military court. joining me now, two former cia officers with two different opinions on this. one wants a military trial, and jack rice is pulling for a civilian trial. >> the military is prepared with their case. they had their case ready to go. a civilian case will take another three years to prepare. the second issue is that under a military trial, al qaeda won't receive the transcripts of the case, and they won't see all of it out in the open and intelligence sources and methods will not be exposed. al qaeda goes on the internet and looks at the case and the military tribunal they won't have access to that, and neither will khalid sheikh or his lawyer. we are at war with these guys and we have to hold the information close. yes, civilian trials have worked in the past, but there is no measure to how much al qaeda used that against us in the past. >> richard reid is spending life in prison in colorado. there have been three -- count them, three, military tribunals, and two of those they received less than one year and they are out. the idea of dealing with classified information, that can be protected and limited in terms of the dissemination. you have far more experience from prosecutors in lower manhattan. this is what they do. you can do the same thing in alexandria. i am more confident in not just a transparent but a good trial for the world, not just for us. >> gary was shaking his head when you are talking about protecting information. speak to that, and speak to the idea that jack raised there have been very successful prosecutions in civilian courts. >> the prosecutions has been successful but the exploiting has not been successful. we will have to redesign how we prosecute these guys. going into civilian -- excuse me, military trials is fine. it's going to take time. the security costs in new york, nobody, not even shuck schumer, the lead democrat in the state wants it here. the costs are enormous. security is a major problem. and the reality is, they will go and look at this stuff. we have not been protecting information from these trials. when i went up there and captured these guys in kabul in 2001, we had transcripts, our stuff, we found all of our papers from our legal cases in their safe houses. they had it all. >> speak to those problems, jack? they were finding transcripts of the civilian proceedings. >> i think the democrats are pandering. not all of them, but a lot of leadership is pandering in this case. and i think they are far more effective, meaning the civilian ones. and let's get specific to the transcripts that were seen. that seems to be a failure. and we have to contemplate what we can do in a civilian courtroom. we can limit the access to the transcripts and limit the kinds of information that gets out. let's go back to 1993 with a khalid sheikh muhammad case. if we talk about the ability to get all of the information, let's take a look at abdulmutallab. that guy bellied up absolutely and completely. guess what? that is success. if you can kind that success, you go for it. if the only other alternative is a military one, it seems to me that that is a situation of last resort, not of first resort. >> gary one other point that we should make. senator lindsay graham who is the architect of this whole thing is trying to make a deal with president obama to say if you put khalid sheikh muhammad in a military tribunal i will stand with you in supporting the closure of guantanamo bay detention center. >> i am less concerned about where they are held, but we need to stop releasing the people. this is amateur hour on dealing with the guys. i want to keep them in the military system because we are at war with them, in gitmo or somewhere in the united states, i am not concerned about that. >> interesting perspective. thank you for joining us. kiran. we will take a quick break. when we come back the president hits the road and he is making his case for health care and setting out a time line of sorts, but is it realistic. 37 minutes past the hour. i'm n my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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[ female announcer ] together we can discover the best of what's next at aarp.org. but it takes less than 15 seconds to tell you this. drivers who switched from geico to allstate... saved an average of $473 a year. time to switch to allstate. ♪ ♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. president obama will hit the road this week trying to close the deal on health care reform. he wants a bill passed this month and he says it's with or without republicans. some some democrats are sounding skeptical about the timetable. suzanne malveaux is at the white house this morning. is the president being realistic with this timetable wanting to get it through congress by march? >> reporter: well, a lot don't think that is necessarily possible that could happen. he wants to get it done by next thursday, and for the house to go ahead and pass the senate version. if that slips and they expect it could slip, the president's strategy is to essentially try to push members of congress to capitalize off the momentum, and build off the momentum he has been building over the last couple weeks. kathleen sebelius, health and human services secretary. >> what we are talking about is the president said is finishing the job, and the timetable is not about a congressional time clock. >> reporter: but time may be running out to recess state health care reform. and president obama is on the road this week with town hall meetings in philadelphia and st. louis, to convince the american people an american over haul has to happen now. >> if we let it go for another generation, more americans will lose their family's health insurance if they switch or lose their jobs, and more small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring, and more insurance companies will raise premiums and deny coverage. the rising cost of medicare and medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt. >> reporter: it's a tough sell to voters and lawmakers alike that worry about the affect on patient choice and the plan's price tag. >> this is a bill that should not be passed. it's not going to improve american health care, and it will raise medicare and taxes and premiums. we ought to be going step by step to fix the cost problem. >> reporter: the possibility that democrats may use a process known as reconciliation to limit debate on the bill has angered many republicans. >> what they are trying to do is put through a bill that the american bill doesn't want by a totally partisan vote, and that's not what reconciliation is all about. >> reporter: democrats hope they have the votes to pass a bill, but some in the president's own party remain skeptical, and with mid-term elections coming in november many are not sure how they will vote. >> in the end i have to make a decision between passing this bill, or doing nothing, and i am weighing the balance between the two. >> reporter: that really is kind of a thought among a lot of lawmakers. i had a chance to speak to one of the members that is having a hard time, and they go on easter recess and a lot of them expect they will get an ear full from their constituents that don't think it's a good idea. that will make it difficult for this administration to push forward on health care reform. >> suzanne malveaux for us at the white house. thank you. spring like temperatures as far as boston and places like that. how long will they last. rob marciano joins us in just a minute. imagine if it were this easy to spot the good guys. you know, the guys who always do a super job. well, it is. just go to superpages.com®. and look for a business with the superguarantee® shield. you'll get the job done right, or we'll step in and help to make it right. so, protect yourself with a business backed by the superguarantee®. only at superpages.com®. and let the good guys come to the rescue. good morning folks in the mile high city today. denver, colorado. later on, afternoon showers and a high of 47. lots of bad weather across the midsection and the western part of the country. rob marciano is tracking the weather. going to impact travel in parts of the country, rob, i would imagine? >> yeah, another nice day for the east coast, but there are spots out west. and this storm, which brought some snow to arizona and new mexico the past couple days now heading into the plains and it may trigger severe weather over the next day or two. it's tapping into gulf of mexico moisture. and before it did that, snow falling in the arizona snow bowl. durango, and the grand canyon. and the ski in las vegas seeing some. rain developing and most of the rain snow line is lifted well to the north. we will not see unusual amounts of snow out of this, that's for sure. if you are traveling through two hub cities, you may see delays in the morning. new york may see delays and jfk may see an on slot of wind. 60 degrees in dallas today. another nice day in new york, and 69 degrees in atlanta. the month of february, we only saw one tornado in california. it was unbelievably rare. march and april, the spots are tennessee valley and mid south, and hopefully our luck caries forward in the next month and to have that quiet of a tornado season is rare, and florida should have been more active than that. we'll take it. >> less active is good. rob, thank you so much. we will talk about sleep habits and how there are differences among ethnic groups. a fascinating study and tips for people struggling to get a good night sleep. it's 48 minutes after the hour. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. welcome back to the mostnews in the morning. 51 minutes past the hour. it's time for stories about your health. nowadays we are struggling to get a few more hours of shut eye. >> our senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen joins us now. i got 1:15 last night, and who is getting the least amount of sleep there? >> i think you are getting the least amount of sleep. that's really terrible. what this poll found is that african-americans get significantly less sleep than white americans. let's take a look at the numbers. there is a pretty big difference. according to the poll, white americans get six hours and 52 minutes of sleep, and white -- african-americans are getting six hours and 14 minutes. asians are getting less sleep than anybody else. >> why is that? >> probably a variety of reasons why african-americans are getting less sleep than everybody else. in the survey they asked folks about concerns over certain issues, and they found african-americans lose sleep over money issues more than other groups. whites said they were losing sleep over money concerns, and 7% of them were, and 12% for african-americans. and there is also employment concerns, concerns about losing your job. when you look at white americans, 7% of them are losing sleep because they are losing their job, but 10% of african-americans. so in some ways the economy tells the story. >> interesting differences there. what kind of advice do you have for people trying to get a good night's sleep? >> i am sure we have heard many before, but it's good to be reminded. have a consistent bedtime. if you go to sleep at 11:00, go to sleep at 11:00 every night. go to sleep in a cool, dark, and quiet bedroom. also, write a worry list before you go to bed, i thought this was a great idea. write down everything worrying you, and promise yourself i will deal with this in the morning not while i am sleeping. >> i have heard the tip, i am going to go to sleep and let my mind work on that and figure it out in the sleep and take care of it in the morning. >> yeah, i never worry about. >> something down on paper, that just adds to the anxiety. thank you, elizabeth. >> thank you. i was short of breath, so i couldn't always do what i wanted to do. but five minutes ago, i took symbicort, and symbicort is already helping significantly improve my lung function. so, today, i've noticed a significant difference in my breathing. and i'm doing more of what i want to do. so we're clear -- it doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. my doctor said symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort, and it's significantly improves my lung function, starting within five minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing. now more of my want-tos are can-dos. as your doctor about symbicort today. i got my first prescription free. call or go online to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you cannot afford yoyour medicati, astrazeneca may be able to help. got about three minutes to the top of the hour, which means it's time for the moos nooews i the morning. >> police sometimes have to deal with drunk people, but how about a squirrel hiding in a woman's cleavage? >> reporter: they anybodile and scratch, and you may have seen one water ski, a squirrel popping out of cleavage? somebody call the police. wait, she is with the police being interviewed by a detective. >> no, i was not prepared to see a woodland creature in the interview room. >> reporter: popping out of a tank top, the woman came as a character witness vouching for a suspect, and when the squirrel popped out during the interview she generally pushed him back in. and some things are attached to boozeams, but the cats know how to push our buttons. most men realize they are supposed to resist staring at cleavage. hey, buddy my eyes are up here. and the secretadetective did hi. >> i kept talking to her and listening to her and did not acknowledge it at all, and did not know what to say. >> reporter: she didn't acknowledge it either. but squirrels in your pants pale compared to a giant python up the weather man's shorts at a state fair. and then pink and white raps attached to t attached to his calfs. >> i don't know which one is worse. >> given the choice between that and a leaf nest, you can't blame the squirrel. >> yeah, it's nice and warm. i will leave it there. we will continue the conversation on today's stories in just a moment.

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