the grocery store. and some economists say the nation's middle class is feeling that strain as never before. nbc bay area's monte francis is in san francisco with that story for us. monte? >> reporter: well, diane, good evening. many americans canceled their plans for spring break. and now they're rethinking their summer vacations. here is part of the reason why. the soaring price of gas you can see here. it is $4.49 a gallon. for those who identify themselves as middle class, this is just part of a new reality. nancy and her husband are among the estimated 45% of americans who identify themselves as middle class. nancy makes good money as a nurse, but with organic milk at $7 a gallon, tomatoes $5 a pound and spaghetti sauce at $8.49, she has been forced to make changes to her family's budget. >> before i used to spend $100. it would be easy to get what i need. now it's leaving the door pay $250 or more. >> reporter: the salvation army in san francisco says it's seen a growing number of people, part of what it calls the former middle class, struggling to put food on the table. >> since the major economic downturn, we have really seen a change in the people that we're serving. not only those that are low income or underprivileged, but those folks that maybe those middle class people that were laid off. >> reporter: some economists argue the middle class is shrinking and cite figures that show the gap between the rich and the poor continuing to grow. 61% of americans now say they live paycheck to paycheck. that's up almost 20% in three years. while the top 1% of households own almost twice as much corporate wealth as they did 15 years ago. >> it's been crazy. gas prices are going higher. food prices are getting higher. i just sometimes feel -- i just don't know how people can live off normal wages and feed their family. >> reporter: in one of the struggles for charities such as the salvation army is that donations are down. so they are trying to serve more people with fewer resources. live in san francisco, monte francis, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, monte. usually strong profit reports from wall street don't make people angry. but this week might be a little different. oil companies are expected to announce profits near record highs. analysts say exxon will post profits of a staggering $10 billion for just the past quarter. that's a 60% increase from the same time last year. san ramon chevron is expected to announce an increase of 29% in profits. >> they probably will be reporting very high profits. not yet as high as 2007-2008, but they will be up substantially from the prior year because the crude oil price is higher, and the crude oil price really does drive their profitability. >> so in other words the real culprits are the oil speculators. the president is calling for elimination of $4 billion in subsidies for oil companies and announced a new task force to investigate allegations of fraud in that gas speculation market. that as word came out that chevron did not pay any u.s. corporate taxes in 2009, partly because of tax codes that allow companies to log their biggest profits in low tax countries other than the u.s., even though those companies like chevron are based in the united states. a new poll shows a strong majority of california voters would like to see a state-wide election to decide the issue of extending taxes here. it's a critical issue as the governor and lawmakers battle over how to balance the budget. nbc bay area's ti aey area kimb voting on that. >> reporter: it seems votering are seeing the governor's point of view when it come s s to the statewide election to decide whether to extend temporary tax. >> i think it should be put to a vote. i think there is enough people in california that have alread >> spoken ñl& >> spoken ñl& andor ing a similar taxes were.jgfin >> the voters have already , thtime thatgmink ap dr25%@ ab g cutsés/ñ whattd a ee5 rmed promi s kimberly tere, nbc bay area news. >> kimberly, thank you. the biggest budget problem for most cities is police and fire now make up anywhere from 50 to 70% of the total budget, and those costs are controlled by contracts. in san francisco, for instance, there are several proposals to rein in salaries and pensions for public safety officers to try to balance the budget. for instance, public defender jeff adacci says police pensions are twice as expensive as other city workers, and firefighter pensions are three times as expensive. he also said that the top 100 public safety officers earned on average $250,000 a year in san francisco. "the san francisco chronicle" added today in a report that most firefighters and police officers in the city don't actually live in san francisco, and some live as far away as lake tahoe, pointing out that that could be a significant not coping with their own personal losses, end quote. thousands of homeless and low income people celebrated this easter sunday with plenty to eat, thanks to glide memorial church in san francisco. organizers and volunteers at glide in the tenderloin were busy handing out full fried chicken dinners today to those with nowhere else to go, or who just needed a little extra support. >> you know, the world is -- and most of america right now is enjoying easter. and this community, this neighborhood sometimes gets forgotten. but that's why we do it. that's why it's a special day. that's why we have fried chicken on this sunday. that's why we're all here. >> glide serves more than 1 million hot meals each year and provides either free or low cost health care and other service as well. the main airport in st. louis is operational again tonight. the major u.s. airport is handling close to 70% of its normal schedule after the pictures you're seeing here, friday's severe storm and tornado shut it down. the airport's director is applauding efforts to restore service while homeowners hit hardest by the twister are just thankful no one was killed. >> i think it's amazing. so when i take a look at where we stood here on friday night. >> this much devastation, we could have lost lives. so we're grateful. our family is fine and our neighbors are fine. >> the tornado damaged more than 750 homes in the area. congresswoman gabby giffords is getting a travel pass from rehab doctors in houston so she can go to watch her husband's space shuttle launch in florida this coming week. the arizona democrat was shot in a tucson parking lot 15 weeks ago. doctors say she is in the top 5% of recoveries for people who suffered severe brain trauma. giffords is walking with help, and she is able to communicate using single words and short expressions we're told. her husband astronaut mark kelly will be the commander when the shuttle "endeavour" is scheduled to take off on friday. doctors say gifford's recovery is very encouraging, but there is no word on when or if she'll be able to resume her work in washington. it's being called the super bowl of scams. coming up next at 11:00, how cybercriminals are crashing the royal wedding and creating a web-surfing trap at the same time. how to spot and avoid the royal scam. i'm marianne favro. coming up can, i'll show you how acupuncture is being used here in the bay area to treat wrinkles and tighten skin. weather. we're going to get some showers dropping into the north bay. and i tell you what, it could slow down your monday morning commute. we'll have a full look at an interesting forecast that also includes 70s this week. coming up when wcome rht s back. botox, injectable fillers, plastic surgery. if you want to look younger, you have a whole lot of option. but few are chemical and surgery-free. now some women in the bay area are turning to acupuncture to turn back time. tonight nbc bay area's marianne favro takes a look at this all natural approach to beauty. kelly hodge just turned 40, and is hoping a treatment that has been around for centuries will take a few years off her face. she is having cosmetic acupuncture in willow glen. >> so what we're trying to do is create a little microtrauma under the skin. so it really takes advantage of the body's natural healing process. >> reporter: licensed acupuncturist rick bernard says during that healing process, collagen production is revved up, which helps fill in wrinkles. and there is another benefit. >> it kind of wakes the nerve up and the nerve affects the muscles in the area. these before and after pictures show a tighter jaw line. cosmetic acupuncture can also help minimize vertical lines between the eyes. >> i think it definitely has taken off five years. >> reporter: these are nikki's pictures before and after ten session. >> my laugh lines are definitely improved, smoother. some of them even went away completely. >> reporter: each session costs $105. most people need 10. kelly says despite all the needles in her face, her 20-minute treatment is surprisingly relaxing. >> it's a slight pinch once the needle goes in and then goes away. >> reporter: occasionally clients get a little bruising. while kelly may not get the same dramatic and quick results of botox, she says she would much rather take this chemical free approach to beauty, one that is cheap than botox in the long run. it lasts about 18 months, but with maintenance can last up to three years. this is kelly's third treatment, but already she has noticed improvement. >> i think the wrinkles here diminished a bit and this deep-set wrinkle definitely diminished as well. >> reporter: beth of all, she says she still looks like herself, only younger, which is why she'll be sticking to this beauty regimen. >> i want something that is really natural and authentic to who i am. and this just seems to be a very safe and easy route to go. >> reporter: in willow glen, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. all right. well, some dermatologists we talked to question whether cosmetic acupuncture would do much more for your skin than a good facial. the women we talked to who tried it say acupuncture definitely diminished the appearance of their fine lines for months, not just days, and they plan to do more session. cosmetic acupuncture is not recommended for people who suffer from migraines. on friday, prince william and kate middleton are plan tock married at westminster abbey, the place where diana's funeral was held. it is reported prince william will talk about his mother in his wedding speech 30 years after charles and diana were married. part of the script reads, quote, my dear mother is here in spirit, and will be so proud of katherine today. princess diana had a famously difficult time adjusting to royal life, and william is hoping to ease his wife into life as a royal, but it won't be easy. >> prince william and katherine's wed willing be watched by over a billion people. it's going to be very difficult, isn't it, to put the genie back in the bottle. >> first comes the wedding. kate has been visiting her hairdresser and buying bikinis for her honeymoon. the choice of a wedding dress and wedding designer, still a secret at this point could have a big affect on the fashion world. one online expert is calling it the super bowl of scams. more than an estimated $2 billion people worldwide are expected to watch the royal wedding this friday, 1 billion to 2 billion, somewhere in there, millions will also search the royal couple online. according to security experts, many scammers plan on launching harmful links. so how do you protect yourself? make sure you have anti-virus software. >> already seeing royal wedding related malware. we're seeing poison search engine results and spam is starting to build. >> pick your websites that you know are reputable and manually type them in yourself. that's the only way you'll be safe the day of the wedding. >> experts with norton security say 22 of the first 100 searches on google for royal wedding gown sketches are so-called poisoned links right now. all right. we're going to check in with mr. rob maeda because he has a really nice forecast in store for us right now. >> you're already looking ahead to tuesday. >> oh, i'm skipping tomorrow. >> tomorrow we still have one more system dropping in on us. in fact, some of that rain starting to show up in the north bay. we'll show you that in just a moment right now. mostly 50s right now. still kind of breezy out there towards the delta, solano county, napa county still seeing winds above 20 miles per hour in a few spots. gusty in some location you. may see some of that on the midspans of the bay bridge and san mateo bridges tomorrow morning. a little breezy outside. in terms of the rain, most of it is held off for the evening. but the clouds are thickening up, and we're starting to see light rain from santa rosa to the west of petaluma. this is setting the stage for the first half of tomorrow, which will include scattered showers, and occasionally few raindrops. starting to see some of that around the peninsula approaching from west san bruno. south bay not seeing a whole lot yet. but probably late morning areas like san jose, or especially the santa cruz mountains will probably get the most out of the system for the south bay right now. just some area of lighter rain around fremont and union city. this should fill in as we head through your morning commute. you can see the system. the strongest punch with it is going the aim off to the north. so we're just seeing the outer fringe sweep through for the first half of tomorrow. hour-by-hour as we head into your morning commute, especially across the north bay, right around the coastal hilltops, we will see some scattered showers once again. and then quickly, just like we saw today, skies will clear as we head through the afternoon. rain totals most significant for the north bay hills. we could get about a quarter inch of rain in a few areas, mainly from marin county northward. and notice the rain totals really dropping off areas south of redwood city in san jose. once we get past the system by the way, the rest of the week we're talking about the high pressure building in and you'll finally see the 70s coming back to the forecast as we head towards the middle part of the week. so far tomorrow morning, some rain dropping back in on us. again, we'll see some moderate rain in a few spots around the north bayhill tops. then around lunch time still probably dealing with scattered showers. and we'll see temperatures running kind of cool tomorrow. mostly low 60s around lunch time. and as we head towards 3:00 and 4:00 for the afternoon, we'll see highs in the mid-60s for most places, just like we saw today. we're going to get some clearing, breezy conditions approaching the evening. then as we pass your monday forecast, you'll see a much more pleasant and spring-like forecast wednesday and thursday. mid-70s might be a little conservative. we might get into the upper 70s in a few spots. >> i feel good than. >> and next weekend looks just fine. if only we could have had that weekend for this weekend, because there were a lot of muddy easter egg hunts today. just a few. >> we put ours off until 1:00. so it wasn't too bad. all right. thanks a lot, rob. big fun in san francisco. up next, the street race that drew thousands and helped out kids as well. even though these grownups were kind of acting like kids too. good evening. i'm laurence scott. tonight some insider stuff with the giants. we take you behind the scenes for how to watch batting practice. third base coach tim flannery gives us the tour. plus, a piece of giants history from the past on wax. we drop the needle on that. plus, the sharks getting ready r a.n l.inga agasthe in l.a. ag kings. we talked to them before they headed down to the city of angels. that and more coming up on the animated hit rio soaring to the top of the box office this weekend. the family adventure pulled in more than $27 million, marking its second week at the number one spot. tyler perry,ed me dea's big happy family beat out anothbuers debut, water for elephants starring reese witherspoon. we'll be right back. we're calling it the tour de trikes. only in san francisco, hundreds of people showed up for the 11th annual big wheels bike race. oh, yes, big wheels. it's an adults only affair, sort of. the so-called grownups carry their bikes to the steep hill and barrel down as fast as they can. at the end of the race, unwanted big wheels are collected by the san francisco firefighters and donated to needy kids. that is if they don't get all crashed up as they're going down hill. thanks for watching nbc bay area news at 11:00. we've got "sports sunday" coming up next. each giants home game this season has been sold out. and the fans arriving early are getting a deeper look inside the game within the game. who to watch for tonight. plus, we talked to the sharks who tell what's it will take to eliminate the kings tomorrow in l.a. we've got laurence scott coming up next on "sports sunday." have a lovely week and happy easter. and now another viewpoint, response to an nbc bay area editorial. >> in our latest editorial, we said we're tired of politicians shouting from the rooftops that taxes are too high while ignoring that the foundation of our tax system itself is in need of serious repair. rory seconds the shortsightedness. having a broken government where the majority can't pass a budget makes it worse. it's one thing to be against taxes and another to be sawing off the branch you're sitting on. noel adds, our sales tax system has not kept up with how we consume today. modernizing the sales tax base and lowering the rate is a better approach. and patricia points out corporate profits are going up while folks like me are getting 1 to 2% wage increases and doing more work with less manpower. that's not california dreamin. thanks for your comments. we hope you'll join us online at nbceditorials.com. to "sports sunday." thank you for joining us. i'm laurence scott. we've got several giants stories to share with you tonight, one of which is an inside look at what is basically a daily ritual. giants third base coach tim flannery gives us an inside look at how to watch batting practice. it's a lot more than just looking at the guys in the cage. there is a ballet to follow, which could give you some clues about the game to come, if you know what to look for. and we detail some of that tonight. plus we take a spin around the west, all across baseball. some celebrity sightings. thank you, easter bunny. and thank you guy who has everyone talking about how rick vaughn has impacted brian wilson this year. charlie sheen catching a rockies game. the team ahead of the giants at the moment. and for the sharks, last night's game 5 was a missed opportunity to close out the kings. it's still checkmate, but even more has been
also, the average price of gas. it crept a little higher as you slept but oil prices seemed to have leveled off. it's fat tuesday. let the good times roll in new orleans. also some powerful storms rolling in as well. sorry to be the bearer of bad news. mardi gras partiers might need to take the celebration inside. ♪ this morning, let's begin in libya, though. and what could be the beginning of the end for moammar gadhafi as the bloody clashes enter their fourth week. rebel leaders say he is trying to strike a deal to step down but gadhafi's government is scoffing at the claims and no one is underestimating the dictator or the ruthless cunning that has kept him in power for 41 years. let's get the latest, cnn's nic robertson is joining us. let's move on to ben wedeman. we are having some troubles over there in libya. but as we said, for more -- for more than four decades, gadhafi's shrewd and merciless tactics maintained a grip on his country and his opponents are not about to underestimate him now. ben wedeman joins me live on the phone. ben, what are you hearing about this deal we are getting a little word of from the opposition on the ground there? >> reporter: according to members of the opposition, they heard about this so-called proposal, whereby, moammar gadhafi would be allowed to step down with honor. they heard about it through the media. however, they are very hesitant to even publicly discuss any sort of proposal coming from moammar gadhafi. their feeling is they cannot trust this man and they continue to insist their goal is one way or another to topple him from power. but, of course, that is not as -- that's much easier said than done. certainly we see libyan armed forces making progress in the western part of the country, continuing to threaten towns like misrata where the opposition has taken over but it's essentially surrounded. here in the eastern part of the country, the opposition which had made some initial advances in gaining territory from pro gadhafi forces, they are offensive, if you can even call it that, has come to a screeching halt outside the town of benjuwad. it appears, at least at the moment, there is something of a stalemate both on the diplomatic and the military front. >> absolutely. all right, ben. we will check back in with you. let's try to get back to tripoli where our nic robertson is. i want to make sure we have nic. do we have you? >> reporter: you do, indeed. what are you seeing on the ground there? >> a high level of expectation of the hotel we're at. the red carpet has been rolled out and we are told gadhafi is coming here. the journalists are waiting. we are not told what what he is saying or doing here. the government officials are clear bus and see the claims by the rebels that gadhafi somewhat got himself into a deal to step down on certain preconditions and they see that as lies and propaganda and say it's absolutely rubbish. they say the military offensive in the east, the tide has been turned because they have been able to bring more tribes on to their site. not just the army they say but beyond that, the tribes. when the rebels are seeing the tribes supporting the government they have, therefore, decided they are up against a much greater force and the government has a changing site. the idea in tripoli gadhafi might, in some way, have a plan or negotiations to be part to step down is part of a deal they say is absolutely rubbish at the moment. >> nic, we are seeing red carpet of the video you're talking about that hotel. we never know what moammar gadhafi is going to say. i believe the last time period wered from him was over the weekend. clearly seems to be coming a surprise they are rolling out the red carpet. >> reporter: the government officials work with us at the hotel were caught completely unaware by this. the first indication we had were a couple of jeeps full of troops pulling into the back of the hotel in the gardens and setting up additional security and then a sniffer dog seen out in the front and red carpet rolled out. the government officials here who deal with the media still don't know exactly why moammar gadhafi is coming and they have set aside a conference room here. it means that he will likely speak to everyone but that is the way things work here. when the leader, he claims not to be the leader of the country but the leader of the people, but when he makes a decision and says he is going to do something, everybody jumps to it even though they don't know their role and that seems to be happening here. >> if moammar gadhafi shows up, we will be back to you, nic. thank you very much. at the violence increases in libya the call for action is growing louder. the military nato alliances inching toward possible military involvement. cnn's barbara starr is at the pentagon for us. what does a surveillance flight typically involve and what does this mean for american involvement? >> reporter: well, kate, what is going on right now is nato, which has its own surveillance aircraft, is flying them, shall we say, around libya. not very likely they are flying into libyan air space. but over the mediterranean. basically keeping an eye on libyan air traffic control, radars often which involve commercial airport radars and just keeping an eye 24/7 now on what is happening in libyan air space. of course, the discussion around the international community is whether or not to establish a no-fly zone over libya to go all the way into doing that, which would essentially be a military operation going into libyan air space and taking out their radars and taking out some of their surface-to-air missile sites. it's a tough call right now. the obama administration says that option remains on the table. there is discussion at the u.n. there is discussion in nato, but nobody really willing, at this point, to take out an additional step. still, the bottom line, very little international stomach for taking outright military action against the gadhafi regime. >> barbara, we know there are, obviously, these conversations about the possibility or not a possibility of the no-fly zone, but what are the other options in terms of a range of response from the international community? are we talking about that yet? >> reporter: yeah. i think the focus right now really remains on humanitarian relief operations. you have the international community flying or trying to fly tens of thousands of those refugees, mainly egyptians and bangladeshis off the border next door. they have fled the violence in libya and get them back to their homes. there are u.s. warships out in the mediterranean waiting for additional humanitarian operation relief efforts and ready to offer medical assistance. one of the things that is tough so many casualties inside libya amongst civilians. what do you do to try to get medical aid to these people without putting troops on the ground inside libya for which the u.s. has no real stomach at the moment. these kinds of very tough humanitarian questions and still, kate, there is very deep concern at the pentagon and across washington about what some people call the nightmare scenario. what if, at the last minute, gadhafi forces really open up on the libyan people and you have mass civilian casualties? then what does the international community do? >> absolutely. it seems there is no easy solution and no easy choice to make at this point. barbara starr, thanks so much. we are also keeping a close eye on how the instability in the arab world is impacting your wallet. we have been talking about this quite a bit this morning. oil prices have eased a bit after reports that opec may increase its outpet. prices around a hundred dollars a barrel and the highest in two and a half years. gas prices, you care. this time yesterday, we told you unleaded averaging $3.51 a gallon. today, americans are paying a penny more, average of $2.52. police in spain meanwhile, have found the body of an american college student. 22-year-old austin bice had been missing for nearly two weeks. this morning police pulled his body from a river in madrid near the disco he was last seen. cnn's al goodman is in madrid. al, what are police saying today? >> reporter: hi, kate. spanish police have been searching various sections of the river near the discotheque where the san diego state university student austin bice last seen by friends more than a week after. the spanish police started draining a section of the river downstream from the discotheque and they found his body on tuesday. there will be an autopsy but the spanish police are saying initially there are no signs of foul play. bice never made it into the discotheque that night. some reports say he had too much to drink but his family denies that says he just decided to go home alone. bice's father, an accountant rushed from san diego to madrid last week to search for his son and bice's friends at the university where he was studying business courses this semester mounted a public search for him and putting up missing person posters around the capital. this news is hitting all of them very hard. >> what a sad story. al, thanks so much. check back in with you on that. people in new england town are dealing with a lake of mud that stopped cars in their tracks and chased some people out of their homes. the ground can't take the pounding rain and melting snow. capitalizing on the sheen machine. the story that just won't go away. mcdonald's links itself to the charlie sheen drama with a tweet and american red cross is doing that as well. would you ever write ll or omg on a term paper? your kids might be doing that. texting lynn go is creeping into kids' schoolwork. we are talking to the principal about this. p.a.: the master suite has a completely updated master bath. it's got a screened-in back porch and a large backyard. it's the perfect home. in excellent condition, and ready to move in. anytime, anywhere. our agents help guide you to the smartest decisions. coldwell banker. we never stop moving. got breaking news to tell you about. two u.s. marshals and one police detective shot in st. louis. reports are that a suspect has been shot as well. we're still gathering details from our affiliates on the ground. we will bring it to you as we get more. also, take a look at stories making news across the country. a baltimore community is mourning the death of a promising teen boxer. 17-year-old ronald gibbs was stabbed to death over the weekend while trying to defend his older sister. gibbs was preparing for the olympics and also the intern honored for helping save congresswoman gabrielle giffords life is running for office. daniel hernandez is one of six candidates in the race for student government president at the university of arizona. here is something you don't hear every day. a would-be robber calls 911 because he is scared of the homeowner. in portland, a man charged with breaking into a house says he was concerned the homeowner might have a gun. the homeowner also called 911 and when miss found the suspect, 24-year-old timothy james ch chappock locked in the bathroom. a family traveling the country by horseback. we caught up with the couple in arkansas. they left california one year ago on their 4,000-mile trek to washington and doing it to raise awareness for a group called hearts of ranch which helps people with emotional problems. good luck to them. a powerful winter storm. flooding and mudslides. could it get any worse? maybe. some severe weather is really pounding the northeast. rob marciano is in the cnn weather center. what is going on? >> check out this video we have for you. a mudslide across parts of massachusetts. they saw tremendous amount of rainfall yesterday afternoon. boom. the car is stuck in it there in greenfield, massachusetts. a lot of rain, obviously, and also some snow melt. you see some of the snow still hanging around there. that combination led to certainly a big headache there. there are still rivers that are under flood warnings right no in that part of the world. north of that part of the world in vermont and northern new york got hammered with snowfall yesterday. burlington creeping up on their all-time snowest winter list. one of the many cities across the u.s. who claim that. look at that. 30 inches basically in places like northern vermont. where it rained 3 and 4 and 5 inches in virginia and western connecticut. that is the type of problems we had yesterday with this system. now, with another system coming on board, we have flood watches reposted across midwest and appalachians thab seeing heavy rainfall the past couple of week and a half. threat for severe weather across parts of louisiana in through parts of the deep south later on tonight and in through the day tomorrow. have you seen the movie? check this out. it may bring back some memories. a great little animated movie where this old guy refuses to give up his house and straps a bunch of balloons to it and manages to lift himself up. i think down in south america. national geographic tried this and they god 300 helium-filled balloons and it's enough to lift it up. >> i don't have the courage at all! >> no word of any pesky little tweens out there trying to take it down. >> all of the factors. the birds. aren't they going to burst at some point? i don't know. >> it looked pretty, though. >> did. but good luck to them. i wonder how it actually came down. >> nice and easy. >> check back with you in a bit. charlie sheen is calling himself an unemployed winner this morning. warner brothers television fired the actor from his hit show "two and a half men" yesterday after a string of public rants against the show's creators and his admitted drug use. sheen has threatened to sue cbs for shutting down the show. he was earning nearly $2 million an episode. on his twitter page, sheen writes, quote, born small. now huge. winning. bring it. i guess that is signed unemployed winner? take a look at who else is hitting twitter now trying to capitalize on the sheen drama and his catch phrases. mcdonald's, of all things. the fat food giant tweeted this. we are working on a new menu idea call mcwinning. after sheen claimed to have tiger blood, the american red cross tweeted this. we may not collect tiger blood but we know our donors and volunteers have fierce passion for doing good! i can't even believe it. pr and brand strategist marvet is joining me from new york. wasn't it a long time ago corporations were trying to distance themselves from a celebrity scandal in why are they trying to jump on board now? >> you know, i think they see a really increase in interest in charlie sheen. they see an explosive following. you know, unprecedented number of twitter followers in a matter of days. i think his equity is really being seen, you know, in other brand extensions, in other words, other corporations leverages the charlie sheen brand. the problem is he's not an asset to his network, to his employers. the delusion of his brand is causing him the most detriment p.m. right now it's funny and antics supported by other brands but now cbs and warner brothers is where it matters and they are no longer in the business of charlie sheen. >> it has to be risky using anything that charlie sheen is dirk out these days because it doesn't seem he is stopping any time soon or what is coming out of his mouth next. you were instrumental in reviving mariah carey's career after a pretty draumt meltdown. what can be done for charlie sheen do you think in terms of his brand? >> i think right now, charlie sheen, when he was only self-destructing himself, it was tolerab tolerable. now he is self-destructing other brands and other producers and that is when you have to cement your positioning which is what we saw his employers do. i think an element of truth. no one is sitting charlie sheen down and saying it's no longer funny. your self-destructive behavior is self-destructive to others around you. i think with any celebrity it starts with a truthful place and conversation. everyone around him, his enablers and perhaps friends may be afraid of posture are or positioning from charlie not to be as truthful as they need to be. now that the checks won't be coming in i think people need to sit him down and explain to him what his detrimental behavior will cost him in the end. >> not that this is important when somebody clearly needs help but can he come back after this, do you think? >> absolutely. celebrities you're as good as your last record and hit. i think he really needs to get the help first. i think we are a forgiving public and we love a redemption story and a comeback but only when that comeback is attached to real willingness to seek help and a real admital of you having a problem. we need to see charlie do that. right now, he is not thinking and not admitting to the fact he has a problem. we hear him saying he's a winner. you know? an unemployed winner. he hasn't submitted yet to the truth and until we see that, there won't be redemption for charlie, at least is as it pertains to him working again. >> we will watch, marvet. time to have you back on when he talks about redemption when it comes to charlie sheen. thank you for joining me. cnn crews are in tripoli where libyan leader moammar gadhafi is expected to possibly arrive any minute at a hotel where international media are staying. you're see something video there. they have rolled out a red carpet. nic robertson is live is the latest. we're america's natural gas. and here's what we did today in homes all across america: we created the electricity that powered the alarm clocks and brewed the coffee. we heated the bathwater and gave kelly a cleaner ride to school. cooked the cube steaks and steamed the veggies. entertained dad, and mom, and a neighbor or two. kept watch on the house when they slept. and tomorrow we could do even more. we're cleaner, domestic, abundant and ready now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power today. learn more at anga.us. five republicans who are looking a lot like white house candidates are getting a foothold in the first in the nation caucuses state. newt gingrich, tim pawlenty and bobby roemer and buddy cain and rick santorum were there last nist and joining me now is jessica yellin. did any one major theme come out last night? >> reporter: the big message from this crowd, kate, was that social issues should not take a back seat to economic concerns even despite the nation's difficult fiscal picture. this is a crowd of people who are important in this state, especially in the republican side of the race because they are among the most likely to go out in caucus and help select this year's state nominee for republican to run for the white house. now, the issues we heard from some of these would-be candidates including things like renewing the fight against same-sex marriage, renewing the fight against abortion rights and bringing god and religion more forcefully into the discussions and in public life. but one of the cases that was made over and over again is that these things do not need to be at odds with the effort to fix our economic picture and that was an argument made forcefully by newt gingrich, maybe the most prominent candidate or would be-be candidate to speak last night. >> morality matters in economics because balancing the budget is essentially moral, not economic, question about whether or not politicians ought to have to follow the same rules as the rest of us. so there should be no distinction between economic national security and social conservatives. we should all base our principles on fundamental questions of morality. >> reporter: tim pawlenty impressed people with his passion and a message with the place of religion in public life. rick santorum made a strong case renewing the fight against abortion rights as an essential piece of his platform. we heard from people less well known, buddy roemer who recently got into the race a big hit with this crowd but there will be many more like this to come and we will hear from these candidates a lot more in iowa in the weeks and months to come. kate? >> exactly. especially if they decide to finally throw their hat into the ring. but that will be coming soon enough. thanks. talk to you soon, jessica. is new york congressman peter king putting islam on trial? his scheduled hearings tomorrow are drawing criticism inside and outside the muslim community. ♪ just one bite onsa rlof d ♪ with tasty grilled flavor and goodness to savor ♪ ♪ friskies grillers blend. ♪ feed the senses. our points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel. we're like forget florida, we're going on a safari. so we're on the serengeti, and seth finds a really big bone. we're talking huge. they dig it up, put it in the natural history museum and we get to name it. sethasauraus. really. your points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel? means better vacations. that's incredible. believe it...with chase sapphire preferred your points are worth 25% more on travel when booked through ultimate rewards. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. on wall street, oil prices have been the driving force lately. today, a bit of relief. a new cnn money survey says all of the volatility we have been seeing will subside. alison kosik is at the you know, to explain it all. when will surprises go down? >> i left the crystal ball home and i'm not sure when prices are going to drop. the good news prices are expected to fall before the end of the year according to a survey. at this point most are not changing their oil forecast from december. on average economists see the oil ending the year around $95 a barrel. even if the tension in the middle east doesn't get resolved quickly we could get more clarity as time passes. oil prices hovering around $105 a barrel. the prices are talked of talk of opec boosting output and libya leader gadhafi maybe strike ago deal to step down. wall street focusing on oil and not many major economic reports out right now. a mixed open and dow up 23. nasdaq off slightly. urban outfitters shares are tumbling. 12% on earnings. its fourth quarter margins hit hard by more markdowns and shows by discounting doesn't mean the sales are going to rise. >> alison, thanks so much. we will check back in with you. it is half past of the hour. time to check the headlines that we're watching. the red carpet is rolled out in tripoli where libyan's leader is expected to face international media comes amid reports he is trying to strike a deal to resign. the rebels say he is a passage that neither he nor his family would be prosecuted. gadhafi's government is scoffing at the claims. police in spain say the body of a missing american student has been found in a madrid river. 22-year-old austin taylor bice disappeared after leaving a disco more than two weeks ago. the authorities say his body showed no signs of violence. the last full day of space for "discovery" and due to wrap up its mission tomorrow with a noon time landing in florida. its next stop -- the smithsonian. new york congressman pete king has stirred up quite a hornet's net it seems by scheduling muslims. the title is opening tomorrow is the extent of radicalization in the american muslim community and that community's response. our debra feyerick has been watching that all and joining me from new york. deborah, a hearing on muslims in america, why now? >> reporter: it's so interesting. the head of one muslim group tells me that peter king's approach doesn't focus on the criminal threat but demonizing the very community that needs to be treated as a partner, not a suspect. people i've been speaking to in national security and the american muslim community say maybe five years ago these hearings might have been relevant but not now. they say so much progress has been made and american muslims are cooperating with the fbi and local police and generated a much higher level of truvert st both sides than ever before. white house says american muslims and arab americans have been essential in identifying and preventing terrorist threats and countering what they call violent extremism. muslim group that actually tracks the number of disrupted terror plots finds that in the last year, since about december 2009, the time of the underwear bomber, 8 out of 12 plots were disrupted because muslim family member or neighbor reached out to law enforcement. now, late last summer, we went to the somali community in columbus, ohio. they were going door-to-door and talking to neighbors and taking the pulse of neighbors to find out whether a family member had withdrawn and more extreme in his views. here is what one guy had to say. >> we have seen many instances where parents have indicated they would have concerns about their child and they will come to us and we work together with that parent to, hopefully, minimize or mitigate any potential threat. >> reporter: now, is the trust 100%? no. but there is a reason. a lot in the community really feel that instead of incarceration, the government has to focus on intervention. if they come forward and saying we know somebody and not sure what is going on, law enforcement has step in and question as opposed to set up a sting and that is the concern but that is a policy shift. >> absolutely. we will see what impact these hearings have on maybe between the trust between the government and the muslim community moving forward but we will watch that closely. thanks so much. later this month, cnn's soledad o'brien looks at the question does freedom of religion mean freedom from suspicion? she lays out the dramaic fight to build a mosque in a neighborhood. that is sunday, march 27th, at 8:00 p.m. eastern. a family separated by war. a mother and father deployed together, leaving their young son behind. >> we have decided we had rather go together than be apart for another year. >> how the 2-year-old is coping without his parents and also how they are coping without him. ♪ i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming. oh gee, i'm scared to tell you i've got this amount of credit card debt or i've got a 15-year-old and we never got around to saving for their college. that's when i go to work. we talk, we start planning. we can fix this. when clients walk out of my office they feel confident about their retirement. 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is one most of us cannot comprehend. layer that stress on to the pressures of everyday family life and, too often, some things got to give. technology can help but as our chris lawrence shows us, even our bravest can get lost at the intersection of war and family. >> reporter: it's the hardest choice this couple ever made, leaving their 2-year-old son for seven months. >> better keep it up. remember. >> reporter: while mom and dad deploy to afghanistan at the same time. >> i don't think a mother could ever describe that feeling, leaving your son and especially i was leaving him for the first time. >> reporter: but last time she got back from a tour in iraq she barely had time to get the bills before jeff deployed again. >> it's very hard because you try to catch up in that two weeks, but you don't have much time. >> reporter: this is jeff's eighth deployment. >> we have decided we would rather together than be apart another year. >> reporter: with seth at his grandparents in ohio their saving grace has been skype. remember, seth is 2 years old and with everything that comes on with that. sometimes he doesn't want to talk at all. but at least they can see him, watch him play, things they would never be able to do before. >> tech knowledge has been so amazing. >> reporter: they are lucky to be on a base with fast internet service. >> we know a lot of families don't get that same -- excuse me. i just feel sorry for those who don't get that pleasure, you know? >> reporter: in 2001, the military divorce rate was lower than the national average. after ten years of deployment, it's higher. counselors have even used skype for marital counseling during deployments. >> it can be a double-edged sword. >> reporter: kelly is a sailor's wife and said her husband in iraq got frustrated when their daughter avoided skype. >> why doesn't she want to talk with me? and it was after a few months that we finally realized that her way of coping with the deployment was out of sight, out of mind. and that by talking to him on the phone, by skyping with him, it was just a reminder that he wasn't there. and it was hard for her. >> reporter: technology also means troops can't immerse themself in war like they used to and some say i can't leave my problems at home, they are there every night. now it's almost time for seth to move back with his mom and dad. >> it was very, very difficult, but i know that we're doing -- we're doing this for our future and we can have more time with him. >> chris lawrence is joining us live from the pentagon. chris, are there any restrictions with the military on allowing both parents to deploy at the exact same time? >> reporter: yeah, good question. as long as they have designated a primary caregiver which, in this case, are the grandparents. there are more couples choosing this option because when you look at some studies, up to 80% of kids who have mom or dad deployed have anxiety, they are having trouble at school, trouble sleeping. so some couples are saying let's increase the time that the entire family is together. but there's going to be some challenges on the back end as well. not just seth being happy that mom and dad are home, but also now adjusting to fact that grandma and grandpa are gone, you know? it was it grandpa who broke seth from the bottle. it was grandma and grandpa who helped potty train him. so there may be some issues there in terms of him missing them even as he welcomes his parents back into his life. >> just looking at that video, it reminds us with that precious little boy, the amazingly difficult decisions our men and women in the military make for our country, which is really amazing. i think i'm correct on this. correct me, chris, if i am not, that the rice family is supposed to reunite later this week? >> reporter: yeah. this story has a great ending, kate. the rice's, jeff and chad have finished their deployment. they will be home on thursday. right now, the grandparents have seth in the car and driving across the country from ohio to san diego and be reunited in a couple of days. >> we will check back in with them. great story, chris. thank you. texting lynn ining lingo i in schoolwork. what do you think? would you want your child turning in a term paper full of text words? brb maybe? we will be talking about that next. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. but you can still refinance to a fixed rate as low as 4.75% at lendingtree.com. plus, get the best deal or we'll pay you $1,000. call lending tree at... today. ♪ a little later today, president obama heads to a boston high school that is really cranking out the graduates. he'll say it's proof that government business and philanthropy works. this story, texting lingo like lol and omg creeping into kids' school work. that is where steve perry comes in. our education contributor. steve, you're a principal. what would you do if you saw a term paper turned in with a little brb, lol, any of the above? >> correct it. one of the biggest problems our kids are facing right now they are not learning what they need to learn in the classroom and not learning how to write. unfortunately, they are communicating primarily through text. unfortunately, what you see is that kids are writing entire papers like a page of just one paragraph because there are no text breaks -- i mean, no paragraph breaks within testing. >> from your view when you're hearing about this creeping into kids' schoolwork do you see this as a school/teaching problem or a parenting problem? >> i think it's a school/teaching. like morse code before it or any other form of written communication that wasn't the written language, it's just an expansion of language and that is okay because there are only 145 character you get on twitter so you couldn't use the full word even if you wanted to in many cases. when we get in the classroom, it's our responsibility to make sure that we teach children exactly how to write. that is what we're being paid to do and what the expectation of the community is and that is what we should do. >> what about the florida teacher stapling a progress report to a 7-year-old's shirt to make sure that his mom and dad would see it? apparently, he wasn't taking home this, i'm guessing, not a very good progress report. does this work or is it just kind of serve as humiliation? i don't know. >> it's ridiculous. it is a ridiculous lapse of judgment on behalf of the teacher, and if the teacher really very badly wanted to communicate with the parent, there is a thing they call the telephone and they also have the cell phone, and they also have e-mail. and, of course, text. they could lol this all the way through. so we know that there are other forms of communication. the objective here was, in some way, i believe, the intent appears to have been to show the child that what he was doing was not appreciated by the teacher. unfortunately, though, what gets lost in this is that this is apparently a child who does need some correction, so i'm hopeful while the parents are upset the way the teacher communicated the information that the information itself is not lost in the communication. >> hopefully, it doesn't backfire. you're right, the child's work which clearly needs some help, that is being completely lost in this debate at this point. >> parents call mean' all fired up about something in the way in which one of my teachers expressed it to the child but the fact remains that there was a reason why an expression needed to be made. you're calling and you're angry at the teacher for embarrassing your child, but there is something your child did that is embarrassing. and let's focus on that. so while the teacher was wrong, no doubt, the parents definitely need to come together for a conference. my hope this principal puts everybody in the room and that they all like women and men have a conversation about what's most important here which is the child's performance because as a 7-year-old, if they're having that much trouble, then that could be a sign of things to come. they need to correct this right now. >> have an adult conversation. all right. steve perry, we'll talk to you soon. thank you so much. >> thank you. a republican senator is doubting donald trump can win the white house. and as you'd expect trump is not timid with his response. our deputy political director paul steinhouser is here with that story and much sure much more. >> i guess the takeaway, don't mess with the donald. this started on cnn on our "state of the union" program when senator lamar alexander who ran twice for the nomination said this about trump, there's always someone like donald trump who has absolutely no chance of winning, trump is famous for being famous. trump didn't let that stand. in interviews last night and in a statement he said he doesn't really know alexander but termed him ineffective. so the trump fires back. donald trump says he'll decide by june whether he'll run for the republican nomination. talking about running for the nomination, michelle bachmann from minnesota who's popular with the tea party movement was on "american morning" this morning and kate, she gave us a little more of a hint, would decide by early summer whether she will officially jump in. she goes to new hampshire this weekend coming up, she's been to iowa and south carolina as well, all crew -- crucial states to the white house. >> will they, won't they. anyway. thanks so much. paul steinhouser, talk to you soon. and we'll have your next political update in one hour. a reminder for all of the latest political news go to our website, cnn politics.com. coming up, kate middleton shows off her pancake tossing skills. i'm sure she has many more skills than that. we'll talk about that next. are you anxious to protect your family with life insurance... but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. police in spain have found the body of a missing u.s. college student. zain verjee is joining me from london with the latest on this and many other stories from abroad. zain, this is a sad ending to this story. >> yeah. it's really awful, kate. he was 22 years old, his name was austin taylor bice and he was found in a river, what police said we they sectioned off some of the river and drained it and found his body. he was at a club he had been and then just disappeared. they're doing an autopsy but there are initial indications that there was no violence or -- on the body but they're going to see after they've taken a greater look at the forensics what actually happened. he was from san diego state university. the other story we're following is one of an appointment, a pretty important one, president obama nominating commerce secretary gary lock to be the next u.s. ambassador to china, a big post. as you know he's a two-term governor of washington state and also the first chinese-american to hold the post of commerce secretary. now, kate, i want to tell you about another kate, kate middleton who did an important thing today, she tossed a pancake. she tossed the pancake in belfast, northern island. this is new, why? she could be the future queen of england. she was there with prince william and they were, you know -- they were basically supporting a cancer fund and that's the reason she was there. hundreds of people were there to check her out, get a handshake and watch the pancake get tossed. they handed her a frying pan a bit of a surprise, but she did it. >> did it work? i know if i would toss a pancake, one, no one would know about it or care, but that's -- it's not an easy thing to do. >> no, it's not an easy thing to do, but, you know, she managed it. they've been training her in etiquette and decorum. >> pancake tossing. >> pancake tossing may be one of them. courtesying is one. >> something i also, yeah, etiquette and courtesying not really in my bag of tricks. all right. zain, thanks so much. great to see you. >> you too, kate. so if you're finding that high gasoline prices are starting to cramp your style, i'm sure everyone would agree, next hour we're going to talk to an expert on -- who has some great suggestions for finding cheap gas. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. it outperforms in the world's toughest industry tests. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. the madness, yes, the madness has started for college basketball fans. jeff fischell from hln sports is here. so, we're already starting, i guess it's march. i guess i wasn't ready for it. >> it's already here. the conference tournament is this week. that means every conference, even the small ones, get all kinds of attention. the teams know they have to win if they're going to make the tournament. the west coast conference final, john stockton watching his old school gonzaga and watching their point guard his son david, the sweet pass to robert, they win going to the tournament again, 13 straight trips to the dance. that's amazing for a team not from one of the big conferences. st. peters is the team you root for in the tourney. they were 5-25 when the seniors were freshmen. they beat i owe na, st. peters in the tournament. let's do spring training. phils and yankees, the pop-up, nick swisher, a.k.a. the hubby of joanne na garcia, the flip, he did not land the dismount but did hold on to the baseball, that's a great catch. such a great guy on facebook there's a we want nick swisher to host "saturday night live" fan page. minor league hockey teams come up with the craziest promotions. the condors have given us charlie sheen night this saturday night. if you bring a clean drug test you get in free. expect a lot of rick vaughn jerseys. anyone dressed in as a sheen character gets in for two and a half bucks. tiger blood easies available. if you bring his one week paycheck for a million dollars they will hand over the keys. >> i don't think anyone could hear. i was rolling my eyes. that is amazing and i don't think anything called tiger blood sounds delicious. >> the goddesses have been invited to be mascots. we don't know if they'll show up. >> we'll watch. thanks. it's 7:00 on the west, 10:00 in the east and 9:00 a.m. in st. louis where a s.w.a.t. team has moved into a house where two marshals and a police detective were shot this morning. we heard earlier that a suspect had been shot as well. we're gathering details on this story. we promise we'll bring you more on it as we're getting it but that's what's going on there. look at what people in a massachusetts town are dealing with today. a lake of mud that stopped cars in their tracks and chased some people out of their homes. the ground just couldn't handle all the rain and melting snow. many towns in upstate new york and northern new england are dealing with the aftermath of, yes, more heavy snow, rain, and freezing rain. the average price of gas meantime crept a little higher as you slept, but oil prices seemed to have levelled off. kuwait's oil minister says opec might boost production. this morning, we begin in libya. the red carpet of all things is rolled out in tripoli where libyan leader moammar gadhafi is expected to face international media. that comes amid reports that he's trying, possibly, to strike a deal to resign. we'll have the details in just a minute on that. we're also keeping an eye on the latest violence across northern libya. there's little doubt the fighting has turned into an all-out civil war there. today, government war planes launched at least four bombing attacks on the rebel stronghold of ras lanuf. the city is a vital link in libya's oil industry and both sides are desperately fighting to control it. and a group of arab states around the gulf say libya has rejected its offer of humanitarian aid. the gulf corporation council says it's got the -- it got the news last and the united nations accused libya of blocking medical aid and supplies from reaching civilians and refugees. so much going on there. also, a michigan high school basketball player's funeral begins in about 20 minutes. just hours after his team's emotional playoff victory. it's something we've been talking about for a couple days now. the fennville high school blackhawks played their first game since wes leonard collapsed and died. fennville beat lawrence 65-54, before a crowd of 3500, including leonard's parents and his brother before the game, bo kimble talked to the fennville team. kimble was a college teammate of hank gathers who died during cardiac arrest during a game in 1990. you remember that video so well. kimble now talks to athletes about heart risks. >> i think it's a must that we get to a point that all athletes need to be tested and give the athlete and the athlete's family a choice. it's better to end a career than to end a life. and some people who may not want to get tested, fine, but for everyone that wants to get tested, it's better to be proactive instead of reactive. >> leonard died of an enlarged heart shortly after scoring the winning basket in the game last week. the shot clenched an undefeated regular season for fennville. fennville now advances to a semifinal playoff game next -- game tomorrow. and a woman once hailed as mexico's bravest is seeking asylum in the u.s. you remember her, that's marisol valless garcia who lived in a drug ravaged border town across from hancock, texas. in 2009 the police chief there was kidnapped and killed and that's when this young, single mother stepped up to fill his job when really no one else would. she was just 20 years old. now customs officials say she's fled to the u.s. and will plead her case before an immigration judge to avoid being sent back there. and 14 wisconsin democratic senators not budging. feel like we've been saying that for a while because we have. in their hardlined stand to against the governor. neither is the governor. ed lavender is joining us from madison. governor walker is calling the proposed border meeting with these absentee senators ridiculous. is there any indication what's going to finally end the stalemate? >> you know, that's a great question here at this point. both sides seem extremely entrenched in what they're doing. governor walker convinced he doesn't need to negotiate. ultimately he will have the votes to do this. democrats and several i've spoken to in the last 24 hours say that there were a series of polls that have been released that show a great majority of the public that support what they're doing and their side of the issue. they seem willing to wait it out as long as possible. they think it's doing more damage to the republicans. both sides convinced of their views and governor scott walker responding yesterday to a request from the democratic minority leader, mark miller, who had requested a meeting face to face along the illinois/wisconsin border. the governor of wisconsin called that idea ridiculous. >> i authorized two members of my administration to travel to south beloit to go across the state line to do exactly what senator miller's asking for in this letter to be done in the future, we did yesterday. we actually did this. again, we didn't put out a press release because we're serious about getting this done on behalf of the people of the state. people talk about negotiate. we've been doing it for days. >> reporter: kate, we've put in several calls into senator mark miller and we have not had a response back from him. in speaking with other democratic senators who have fled to illinois, they say that there had been some talks in the works, that negotiations were moving along but everything fell apart leading up to last thursday. it's been several days since any kind of substantial talks have gone on. so here at the capitol in madison, we're not seeing the signs and the number of protesters that have been here throughout all of this. a lot of different rules being put back into place here on the capitol grounds as to being able to stay in the capitol overnight and picketing and protesting and asking for mer mitts and that sort of thing around the capitol grounds. that's why it's a calmer and peaceful scene at the capitol in madison. kate? >> what's the latest on the layoffs? the governor has been kind of talking about, warning about more than a week now, what's the latest on that? >> you might remember that the governor had sent out these letters to all the heads of the unions giving them the head's up that in a month that they might have to start laying people off. to kind of get a sense of how many people would be affected, has been difficult, but there hasn't really been a whole lot of movement. it's a long process that has to go through to announce these layoffs and to carry them out. that letter that the governor sent out was simply the first step in that. clearly, the timing of the letter, also very influential in terms of the politics of this situation, so just the number of people that will be affected is very difficult to say at this point. the governor's office has said that would -- it would kind of determine on where the budget stands here in a month down the road or so. so that is a number that is still very much fluctuating from what we can tell. >> we will continue to watch and see where this thing leads h s e have for weeks now. ed lavandera, thanks so much, ed. let's get back to libya. this is where cnn's ben wedeman is traveling in eastern libya right now and joining me by phone. ben, are you there? >> yes, i'm here. >> hey there. what are you hearing? i know we've been talking about it a lot this morning. what are you hearing about this deal from the opposition and other folks on the ground to possibly get moammar gadhafi to step down? >> well, what we're hearing is that nobody is actually admitting they made even an offer of a deal. it seems to have come up in the media, i think it first appeared on al jazeera where it was suggested if some sort of popular congress is held to give legitimacy or a feel of popular approval to moammar gadhafi being allowed to step down peacefully from power, but on the one hand we're hearing from our nic robertson in tripoli that government officials there say it's nonsense and benghazi where the opposition is based we're hearing from them that they would never trust moammar gadhafi, if he were to make such an offer. so there seems to be skepticism on both sides. we're hearing, for instance, when word came out on the front lines in ras lanuf that a possible deal was in the works to have moammar gadhafi step down, that many of the fighters celebrated by shooting their guns in the air, but now it appears that it all seems to have come to nothing. so it was a lot of talk, but clearly no action in that direction. on the one hand, you have libyan forces advancing, taking more ground in central libya, not far from where we are, and in the west, they seem to have besieged and encircled the towns of zawaia. it would appear that moammar gadhafi is feeling stronger than he was a few days ago, possibly not interested in any deals, but rather, with the hope that he may be able to militarily regain much of the territory he's lost over the last three weeks. >> and ben, it may be impossible to kind of calibrate this, as there's so many moving parts, but are you getting a sense that the opposition, the rebels, feel like they're gaining or losing momentum at this point? >> definitely. i would say they seem to have lost momentum at the moment. we left ras lanuf late last night and saw that there were fewer opposition fighters there, that there's the spreading realization they're outgunned. they don't have the heavy weaponry that hundreds of tanks, surface-to-surface missiles, they don't have aircraft or helicopters. they have a lot of enthusiasm, but when it comes to sort of a straight fight between the two sides, the opposition is severely outgunned and what they're hoping for, and what they're more and more insisting upon, is they really want some sort of no-fly zone over libya because their achilles heel is the fact when they move on these roads, these long, open stretches of desert highway, they're sitting ducks to the libyan air force. >> that debate over the no-fly zone continues among the international community. ben wedeman traveling in eastern libya, thanks so much, ben. and another story that we've been following, for those living in a busy cities, traffic means time lost. yes, it does. our friends at the daily beast compiled a list of the five most congested areas in the entire country. i'm sure you know them if you live there. coming in at number five, the bruckner bronx express way. it's been said it can take four minutes to drive one mile during rush hour. at number four, i-95 southbound in washington, d.c. i know that very well. it's very congested. what about -- what other areas are making our list? we're going to show them to you throughout the hour and in just a few minutes. we're also going to give you quick tips how to make your gas budget go a bit further if you are one of those people who are unfortunately stuck in that traffic. and go everywhere. to help revitalize a neighborhood in massachusetts, restore a historic landmark in harlem, fund a local business in chicago, expand green energy initiatives in seattle. because when you're giving, lending and investing in more communities across the country, more opportunities happen. which beneful prepared meals. tonight? roasted chicken recipe? - savory rice and lamb stew. - [ barks ] you're right. tonight is a beef stew kind of night. [ announcer ] beneful prepared meals. another healthful, flavorful beneful. hostcould switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? man: no way! man: hey rick check this out! anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance. the hits keep coming for charlie sheen. he was fired from "two and a half men," the show he has long been a part of, warner brothers television terminated his contract after sheen's two-week public meltdown, that has included attacks on the show's creator of all things. "showbiz tonight" brooke anderson joins me now. i am afraid to ask, but what is charlie sheen saying about all this? >> oh, well, kate, the guy thinks that getting fired is good news, if you can believe it. he told tmz, quote, yeah, they continue to be in breach like so many whales and he also said that now he can take all of their billions. he is planning a whopper of a lawsuit. frankly, i'm surprised this all didn't happen earlier, but yes, warner brothers has now finally officially fired charlie sheen. warner brothers announced the news late last night, telling "showbiz tonight" that, quote, after careful consideration, warner brothers television has terminated charlie sheen's services on "two and a half men" effective immediately. now warner brothers is the company that produces the sitcom which airs on cbs. cbs has not really provided much of a statement about this yet. tmz got a copy of the 11-page letter that warner brothers sent to sheen's attorney detailing why they canned him. here are a few lines from it. quote, your client has been engaged in dangerously self-destructive conduct and appears to be very ill. warner brothers would not, could not, and should not attempt to continue business as usual while mr. sheen destroys himself as the world watches. and as if he wanted to prove their point, charlie sheen responded by standing on a rooftop in beverly hills last night with a machete and told reporters, free at last. free at last. i am not making this up. kate, as for the very popular and profitable sitcom "two and a half men," nobody really seems to know what the future holds. cbs told "showbiz tonight" that no decision has been made regarding the future of the show itself. >> i know we can talk about this forever. let's move to another star threatening to sue. lady gaga suing over ice cream. i had not heard of this. >> ice cream, made of breast milk. kate. it is another story that is really hard to wrap your mind around. lady gaga is suing the london ice cream parlor the ice creamists over their newest creation, an ice cream made of breast milk and it is called baby gaga. the ice cream has been banned by local health authorities to determine if it is safe to consume. but her attorneys say linking her name to this product is, quote, deliberately provocative and to many people nausea inducing. when baby gaga was available, there are reports that women in gaga inspired garb served the ice cream, scooped into a martini gas, liquid nitrogen is poured in via syringe and it's served with a baby teething biscuit. i have to keep reminding myself i'm not living in an alternate universe, all of this is real. the creator of the flavor has responded to lady gaga on his blog, he took shots at her and he said this. how can she possibly claim ownership of the word gaga which since the dawn of time has been one of the first discernible phrases to come from a baby's mouth. this is why we chose the name. kate, that is a really good point, but this whole thing makes me wonder what woman would provide breast milk for this purpose. it should be for babies only. >> that's what i was going to say. one thing being lost in this, who is providing the ingredients. >> we do not eat ice cream with breast milk in it. >> thank you so much. you have good stuff today. if you want more information, of course you do, on everything breaking in the entertainment world brooke has it this evening on "showbiz tonight" at 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on hln. take a look at other stories making news across the country. a baltimore community is mourning the death of a promising teen boxer. 17-year-old ronald gibbs was stabbed to death over the weekend while trying to defend his older sister. gibbs was preparing for the olympics. and the intern honored for helping save congresswoman gabrielle gifford's life is running for office. daniel hernandez is one of six candidates in the race for student government president at the university of arizona. good luck to him. and here's something you don't hear every day. a would-be robber calls 911 because he's scared of the homeowner. in portland a man charged with breaking into a house says he was concerned the homeowner might have a gun. the homeowner also called 911 and that's when police found the suspect, 24-year-old timothy james chappic, locked in the bathroom. and a couple is crossing the country themselves by horseback. we caught up with richard and jeanette mcgrath in southwest arkansas. they left california one year ago on their 4,000 mile trek to washington. they're going -- they're doing this to raise awareness for a group called hearts up ranch that helps people with emotional problems. good luck to them. and the ride to royalty. we'll take you on the route of all things kate middleton will travel as she goes to marry her prince a 3d look at the princess's perspective. and talk about a party, yes, we are. it's fat tuesday and that means one thing, time to break out the beads and festivities in new orleans. you're looking at a live picture from bourbon street. a little rainy, but the fun, i'm sure you can imagine, is just getting started. naomi pryce: i am. i'm in the name your own price division. i find empty hotel rooms and help people save - >> - up to 60% off. i am familiar. your name? > naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce. ooh, the price sure doesn't. i'm tired of shopping around. [ sigh ] too bad you're not buying car insurance. like that's easy. oh, it is. progressive direct showed me their rates and the rates of their competitors. i saved hundreds when switching. we could use hundreds. yeah. wake up and smell the savings. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive. very royal music. it's the countdown to the royal wedding. april 29th is fast approaching when prince william and kate middleton will marry in front of just two and a half billion people watching at home. no big deal. the smallest detail will, of course, be made out to be the biggest deal. that's why we have the man with the news and the man with the plan in the know, mark saunders who's in london joining me now. we have the royal route, mark. let's talk about this route. first, before we talk about that, how are they going to get there? what kind of transportation are we talking about for the prince and princess. >> kcatherine will be arriving t westminster abbey by car which the queen is not happy about, so we're told. in fact the queen learned she would be arriving by car from william's twitter account. and apparently she immediately phoned william and said, well i understand catherine's arriving by car, william. how are you getting to the abbey, on a bicycle? which is -- that's the queen not very happy. william himself will be leavie ing buckingham palace who we're still believing to be prince harry and i guess catherine will be fashionably late, though not too late i hope. there are an awful lot of people going to be watching. >> let's talk about this route. walk me through it. where is the princess going to go? >> okay. catherine will leave clarence house, the official london residence of prince charles and his wife camilla and with the royal splendor of buckingham palace behind her she will set up the mile, the magnificent throughfare described as the shan ja leez without the shops. lined with spectators some of whom will have spent three days sleeping on the pavement to catch a glimpse of the royal bride-to-be. as the car turns into the road, catherine will glance probably towards the figure of nelson on his column in the center of trafalgar square. the car will then sweep across the square where the annual celebration of the monarch's birthday takes place. indeed one day catherine will be standing in this square when her husband king william takes the salute. there will be a moment as catherine drives past the monument to the woman of world war ii and where each member attends the remembrance. great britain is defined by the sacrifice of the second world war and both of these monuments are fitting trick buts to the finest generation the country produced. as the car drives past the treasury and foreign office catherine will catch sight of big ben, the most famous clock in the world that towers over the house of parliament. she will be aware she's reaching journey's end as the crowds will get louder and louder. enters parliament square and across from the statute of parliament stands westminster abbey built more than a thousand years ago, the most famous clutch in the world. >> that is amazing. i'm guessing intentionally drawn out that route so as many bystanders can catch a glimpse of her and cheer her on as possible, right? >> that's very true, but i must warn anyone that's intending to go, you need to get there very early, like three days early. >> oh, no. >> because those, the best spots will be taken very quickly. >> very good seat to watch would be right at home, right in front of your television. thanks, mark. we'll check back in with you. thank you so much. >> thank you. so a new winner in the technology wars. the droid is now the most popular smartphone on the market. what does that mean for you if you're looking for a new phone. we'll check in with stephanie elam. ♪ i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming. oh gee, i'm scared to tell you i've got this amount of credit card debt or i've got a 15-year-old and we never got around to saving for their college. that's when i go to work. we talk, we start planning. we can fix this. when clients walk out of my office they feel confident about their retirement. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. it seems like your life with rheis split in two.s, there's the life you live... and the life you want to live. fortunately there's enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, fatigue, and stop joint damage. because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, and other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis. ask your doctoif you live or have lived in an area where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. and help bridge the gap between the life you live... and the life you want to live. the one time of year red lobster creates so many irresistible ways to treat yourself to lobster. like our new lobster-and-shrimp trio with a parmesan lobster bake, our decadent lobster lover's dream with both sweet maine and buttery rock lobster tails and eleven more choices, each served with a salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. come celebrate lobsterfest right now at red lobster. stock market opening bell rang just about an hour ago. let's get a check of the numbers. we're at a little over 12,000 and the dow trading up about 63 points. about 70 points a little while ago. of course, wall street watching oil prices. and we have some new champions in the business world to tell you about. google's android is now the most popular smartphone operating system in the u.s. and mcdonald's has lost its crown to jared, subway is now the biggest restaurant operation in the planet. our business news correspondent stephanie elam is here now. stef, how did jared win the battle with ronald mcdonald? >> i know. you think it would be impossible, right, kate. i guess the idea of eating fresh, you know we know that jared, eat fresh, subway. that's doing something and it's really not just about the united states. it's really about world domination for subway. they've been growing at a lot of places that maybe you wouldn't actually expect to see them. one thing we can tell you if you take a look at the number of the restaurants at the end of the year, subway had 33,749 restaurants at the end of last year. mcdonald's actually has 32,737. so still pretty close but at this point, subway is now on top. so we're saying, we really weren't trying to beat anybody but we are growing around the world. they plan on opening between 1,000 and 2,000 restaurants a year and they've been on pace with that so far. they now have more than 34,000 stores open just including the beginning of this year and said about half of their growth is overseas and a lot of it has to be about putting subway restaurants in places that you wouldn't just expect to see them. they even said they have one in a church somewhere around the globe. so that's really what's helped out subway here. the idea that you can get fresh vegetables i think a lot may be thinking about what they're eating and how it can affect them and may see the sandwiches as a little better than the fries. >> talk to me about the android. i didn't believe this when i heard it. the android has overtaken blackberry as the most popular smartphone system. subway may not have been targeting mcdoblds's but i would be surprised if google wasn't targeting these other operating systems. i bet they were. if you take a look at what google has put out with android, a lot of those phone makers like it because the operating system is open, meaning they can customize it, do whatever they want to, they don't have to license it and put it on the phones and spend more time designing the devices. that has gotten the devices all over the place. android wasn't even around two years ago and now they're saying 3 1.2% of u.s. smartphones are running on google's android system that's as of january and 34% were blackberry users according to a com core study we've seen. in june of last year that's when android took over microsoft's mobile in the united states and then in november it took over apple's operating system and january kept going and took over the blackberry and now google says they're activating 350,000 devices a day on android's operating system. it shows how popular it's become. more than 170 smartphones and tablets actually use android so this is making it very appealing to a lot of companies and so now you have two leaders, a lot of people feel strongly about using their android. what about you, kate? >> i'm still a blackberry girl. i'm old school i guess. >> somehow i knew you were going to say that. >> i'm just old school. i still have a real cell phone. like just a flip phone. >> like a cell phone without smart. it's not smart. >> no. not smart. >> wow. >> stephanie, thanks so much. >> good-bye, retro. so the civil war in libya, it's being fought as you well know now, town by town. let's bring you up to speed on the shifting landscape there. much of the fighting has been happening along the coastline. so we want to begin in the western city of zawiya. rebels appear to control the town despite government claims to have captured it. it's just 30 miles from the capital. and now moving over to bin jawad to the east, government troops do seem to control this town, bin jawad. there was heavy fighting there over the weekend. we've been hearing a lot about that. and also, as you see, several times today, gadhafi's war planes have actually bombed the rebel stronghold of ras lanuf. this is big headline we've been watching this and our people on the ground are telling us a lot about it. it's a vital hub of libya's oil industry and both sides are determined to seize it. also, in libya, as the violence increases, the call for international action is growing louder and louder. now, the nato military alliance is stepping up its surveillance and inching toward possible military involvement. cnn's barbara starr is at the pentagon tracking that. barbara, what does a, you know, so-called kind of surveillance flight typically involve and how does that involve american pilots and planes. >> well, at the moment, kate, it is really nato planes and pilots, air surveillance planes, by all accounts, not exactly flying into libyan air space directly but over the med terrain yands and with their high-tech gear able to survey the air space in libya, what they are watching for, of course, is the movement of libyan jets, libyan fighter planes. still, however, no international consensus either through the united nations or nato to take the next step, which would be outright military action against libya. all the talk about a no-fly zone continues both at nato and at the united nations. still no vote, no international consensus to do that right now. it still appears all the efforts here are aimed at humanitarian assistance for the people trying to get out of libya. kate? >> and barbara, to clarify, no one is flying over libya's -- in libyan air space at the moment, right? >> well, that's the, you know, nato's been a little cagey about that to be clear. they're not exactly saying. the indications are that they are not. you know, there is still some concern, aging though it may be, libya does have an air defense capability, they have anti-air missiles, they have radar systems system s, they have fighter jets, helicopters, all not in the best of shape but still capable of all accounts, according to defense secretary gates, of possibly bringing down coalition aircraft. everybody is going to be very careful before they step into libyan air space, kate? >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks, barbara. >> sure. a new study directly links where you live to the likelihood you'll develop type 2 diabetes. they call it the diabetes belt. we'll break it down for you next. 0-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like it's some kind of dream. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's either this magic number i'm supposed to reach, or... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's beach homes or it's starting a vineyard. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 come on! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 just help me figure it out in a practical, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's-make-this-happen kind of way. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a vineyard? 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[ announcer ] beneful prepared meals. another healthful, flavorful beneful. five republicans testing the waters are reaching out to iowa voters. the five appeared before a group of evangelicals. our correspondent jessica gellen joins us live from des moines with that story and more. hey there, jessica. >> hey, kate. topping the ticker right now, buddy romer, the former louisiana governor was a surprise hit at last night's faith and freedom coalition forum in iowa. this was the first round up of would-be republican contenders appearing before evangelical voters. buddy reamer announced he's exploring running for president, announcing it last week and he wowed the crowd promising to be an independent who takes no more than $100 per donor come the election. here's a little bit of buddy reamer for you. >> i declare my independence. i ask you to join me with $5 or $10 or $20 or $100, not a penny more. i ask you to spread the word. >> reporter: he said he won't take any pac, pac, pac, pac money. he kept repeating it until the crowd went nuts. another big performer last night was herman cain who said to the crowd, quote, the u.s. of a will not become the u.s. of europe. other news, newt gingrich admitting maybe his rollout of an exploratory committee that didn't go so well last week. gingrich as you may recall, his team leaked word early last week he was going to announce he's forming a presidential exploratory committee, then they said no, he's going to announce it's an exploratory website and then a press conference only wasn't so much. he spoke to the des moines register saying, quote, it was an -- it led to unfortunate confusion but i don't take it as a serious problem. he's hoping the next steps go a little more smoothly. kate? >> no doubt, it's never good before you've jumped in when we're talking about your missteps. thanks, jessica. and we'll have your next political update in one hour. for all of the latest news you know where to go, our website, cnnpolitics.com. on the prowl for cheap gas? who isn't these days. coming up, we're going to tell you everything you need to know to save some money at the pump. ♪ what do you see yourself doing after you do retire? client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize. 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[ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. soaring price of gasoline is starting to hit home for many americans. it's over $4 a gallon in some parts of the country, if you can believe it. and could go much higher unfortunately. that has many people hunting for cheap gas anywhere they can get it and gasbuddy.com patrick is joining us to help you. there are tips that you can learn from on how to save some money at the pump. we've heard a lot of stuff, patrick, but let's run through a few of these and see how many we can actually get through. so one of the things you suggest is to shop around. >> yeah. you know, like we said, prices can vary widely in block to block especially in times of rising gas prices. using technology or using your eyes looking out for the best prices as you go through the corner to work and school and also paying cash can really come out saving you money. a lot of stations charge more for credit, sticking with cash can give you a nice discount. >> that is a good tip. one of the other things you say is shop smart. what do you mean by that? >> yeah. shop smart. you know if you're on vacation, avoiding gas stations near the interstate. they tend to charge more to take advantage of the travelers. avoiding filling up in an afluent neighborhood. they tend to charge more per gallon as well. sdm. >> i actually have a question, but we'll get to that after we dig through more of these. you said use the web. how can that help you when you're already on the road? >> you know, gasbuddy.com, a lot of folks out there using our smartphone apps now that we provide free of charge. we have them for most smartphones. we're developing one for black ber which. download the app, fire it up, it's convenient to have on your cell phone on the go. say you're shopping around you can find the cheapest gas and, of course, there's a lot of potential savings there, especially in light of a free app. it's a great way to save. >> and you suggest buying discount gas. what do you mean by that? >> well, discount gas, wholesale clubs tend to have lower prices than other stations around them. sure, there's a $50 charge for a membership but a lot of the time if you fill up frequently, that can still pay off, especially in times like this. wholesale clubs tend to be as much as 30 cents a gallon less than other independent retailers. so wholesale clubs not only that, but you're getting a membership to get food at a discount as well. that can often pay off. >> drive smarter. don't we all -- i mean how can you actually drive smarter? what do you have to do differently? >> well, you know a lot of folks throughout, myself, sometimes we're in a hurry. we're americans. we have a lot -- busy schedules. slowing down, driving more defensively instead of offensively, not racing to the red light, going a little slower on the highway, say not five over, maybe five under the speed limit, really can go a long way to resulting in more fuel efficiency for your vehicle and will end up putting money in your pocket. >> really quickly you talk about shopping around, shop smarter. when you talk about shopping around, how much can gas prices vary in one neighborhood. can they vary drastically? >> very much so, especially in times of rising prices. you know, an example comes to mind, franklin, indiana, in the last two weeks, just in a matter of hours one station that we were monitoring went from $2.84, up to $3.36. 52 cents just down the block. i got an e-mail from one of our smartphone users saying thanks, you saved me 5 bucks because he filled up closer to home instead of on his way to work near his work. a lot of savings there. >> there you have it. you can actually find some savings. patrick, gasbuddy.com, thanks, patrick. >> thank you. so, cbs has booted charlie sheen off "two and a half men." i'm sure you know this by now. now one late night comedian has booted him off of his monologue. like it or not, sheen is still everywhere. and go everywhere. to help revitalize a neighborhood in massachusetts, restore a historic landmark in harlem, fund a local business in chicago, expand green energy initiatives in seattle. because when you're giving, lending and investing in more communities across the country, more opportunities happen. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% more on car insurance? host: does it take two to tango? ♪ ♪ anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% omore on car insuranc you have to figure that charlie sheen the punch line will be around for quite a while now. conan o'brien had several zingers last night. here's one of them. >> meanwhile, he's saying all kinds of things. this is what he said most recent thing he said, charlie sheen announced as part of a humanitarian effort he's taking a trip to haiti. he's going to go to haiti. sheen's exact quote was, i want to show them what a real disaster looks like. >> craig ferguson, he won't be telling any more charlie sheen jokes apparently. he's had simply enough. but for now there's no escaping the sheen machine. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: it's the sheening of america. >> welcome to sheen's corner. >> reporter: he's on every corner. >> live from new york, it's saturday night! >> reporter: serious radio devoted a channel to him for a day. >> tiger blood radio. >> reporter: spike tv will feature sheen's greatest antics in taiwanese animation. he's even alienated witches for misusing the word "war lock." . so a couple of witches performed a magical intervention. >> we need to cleanse your house. >> reporter: sheen's webcasts are what tipped the scales. >> the tag line isser to pes s torpedos of truth. it seems the shine has come off charlie sheen. in one webcast he showed off a tattoo on his wrist of his slogan winning and said hi to his kids. >> daddy loves you and if you're watching tell mom to leave the room. it's on. >> reporter: one of his goddess penched on his lap. he was playing with fire as viewers wait for him to combust. >> kind of gnarly image i'm burning my own face but i can't feel the [ bleep ] heat. >> reporter: as one poster on tmz put it, parents make your kids watch this. if that doesn't scare them away from drugs nothing will. you know the drugs become too sick when a comedian refuses to tell any more jokes about charlie sheen. craig ferguson spoke of how the english insane asylum named bedlam provided entertainment back in the 18th century. >> there would be and they would look through the peepholes of the sails and look at the lunatics. i'm looking at the charlie sheen thing unfold and thinking oh, man. >> reporter: he wasn't kidding, no more charlie sheen jokes. sheen has become a verb. the creators of "south park" used it to describe the state they got themselves in when they once dressed in drag for the oscars. >> we're just sheening our heads off. >> reporter: from our couches we judge, who does the best sheen. is it "snl". >> sorry middle america, losers, winnin