people dead here. four adults, three children, including an infant. and an elderly couple. we don't know what the relation is. but two of them in their 80s. a law enforcement official tells me that the driver of the suv appears to be one of the women who was inside the car. we know that one was aged 45, and the other was 30. they said that the suv was traveling at a very high rate of speed on the bronx river expressway, parkway, and for some reason, they don't know why at this point, it hit a barrier and went flying over the overpass, about 50 to 60 feet into the air. and the same distance down before it came crashing down in the very heavily brush area of the southeast perimeter of the bronx zoo. we're standing at the -- one of the side entrances right now. not near any of the animal exhibits or any of the investigate tors, totally out of the public view. this suv was crushed. it landed upside down. and all the people inside were pronounced dead at the scene. because it landed in such a heavily brush area, they had to bring in a heat-sensing camera to see whether any of the victims had possibly flown out of the vehicle. as i said, a horrific scene, a terrible one. and of course, the investigation is ongoing. alison? >> one question for you, susan, you said they were driving at a high rate of speed. was it erratic? did drivers who saw this happen, did they see the suv driving in an erratic fashion? >> reporter: well, this is what's interesting. they've talked to at least one eyewitness, i am told, who said that it wasn't apparent to them what caused the suv to suddenly cross over, hit a barrier and go flying over the bridge. so if something had happened, if they were distracted by something, whether it was a medical issue, it's far too soon for authorities to say what caused the vehicle to go flying over the overpass. >> okay. susan candiotti in new york with the latest, thank you for joining us. still no official confirmation from china or the united states that a prominent human rights activist is under american protection in beijing. questions about the exact whereabouts of chen. cnn's stand grant is in beijing. >> reporter: a lot of speculation that in fact is behind these walls here at the u.s. embassy. now, according to an activist, a friend of chen's who spoke directly to cnn. he says he brought chen here after he escaped from his captives in this village a matter of days ago. this activist said that he has the photos to prove it. these photos show huhja and his wife meeting chen. he said these were taken just in the past few days. >> chen escaped from house arrest in china a few days ago. he was convicted of organizing protests against the government. fire officials in st. louis, missouri, are launching an investigation after a sports bar tent collapsed during a severe storm over the weekend. one person was killed, 16 were seriously hurt. and almost 100 others suffered minor injuries. officials say 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts lifted the tent right off the ground. >> i got hit with the metal pipes. the wire, we've got electric inside this tent. we had a mess of about everything that could happen here. we had live wires on the ground. we had severe injuries to quite a few people. >> we understand there were 100, 150 people under the tent at the time the weather came in. the music was loud. people had been in attendance at a ball game all afternoon. and i don't think they were really aware the seriousness of the situation. >> three people are dead, a fourth is missing after an accident during a california-to-mexico sailing race. race organizers say the sailboat likely collided with a much bigger vessel. rescuers are still searching for the fourth crew member. the deaths are the first in the race's 6 r5-year history. londoners are shocked to learn the british army may be setting up surface-to-air missiles right in their neighborhood. it's preparation for the summer olympic games. the army passed out the leaflets in the east london neighborhood warning them that they may see antiaircraft missiles as the games get closer. some residents say it's an overreaction. it's one of the best-known american tragedies, the assassination of robert f. kennedy. now there's a new account of what happened that night in 1968. sirhan's attorneys are hoping for a new trial. among the evidence they may present is the story told by nina rhodes hughes. she was there at the ambassador hotel the night kennedy was shot. in an exclusive interview with cnn, she says there's part of the story the fbi has ignored all these years. listen to this. >> there were more than eight shots. and interesting that you read whatever the fbi issued, everybody said eight shots, not. i wish there were some recordings of me that night. i did give an interview to someone with a microphone where i said there were at least 12, maybe 14. i know there was, because i heard the rhythm in my head. and i know the first two or three shots, as i said i thought they were flash bulbs. what has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right. and robert kennedy was also to my right where sirhan sirhan was almost straight ahead. and to my left standing on some steel, you know, raised platform. and there were two shooters. it must come out who they were. it must come out who the other shooter was, because there definitely was another shooter. >> now, rhodes hughes was never called as a witness in the original trial. but she says she just wants to get her story out. a federal judge is reviewing that story right now. i'll talk with nina rhodes-hughes in our 5:00 hour. this week president obama officially kicks off his presidential campaign. last night he was busting out the jokes at the white house correspondence dinner. the question is, was he really funny. find out when ron brownstein weighs in. president obama is planning to officially launch his campaign against mitt romney this week with rallies in the key states of ohio and virginia. republicans are already accusing him of misusing taxpayer funds by campaigning on trips the administration has labeled official business. mitt romney is trying to convince a couple of his republican opponents to endorse him now that they're out of the race. ron brownstein joins me now from washington to talk about the latest twists and turns in the campaign. hi, ron. >> hey, alison. >> president obama has been doing lots of traveling in the united states. the gop chairman accused the president's administration for using taxpayer funds to campaign. is this kind of just that general sign that the general election fight is off and running to the races? >> you know, the fact is, the president did make a series of appearances here on college campuses that happened to be in swing states. in support of his view on holding down the interest rate on student loans. i think the republican complaint is something we often hear in a race with an incumbent president. i would say it seems to have gotten the administration's attention because they have as you pointed out had the rallies next weekend that are officially launching the campaign as campaign rallies in the critical states of ohio and virginia. >> and switching gears to gingrich. newt gingrich is going to announce he's dropping out. how hard is romney going to have to work to get santorum and gingrich onboard? >> i remember at the front end when people announced when they were going to announce for president. now announcing you're going to be leaving the race. you know, you don't want to leave the race and have people say, hasn't he already left the race? in that sense, i think both gingrich and santorum have to worry about overplaying their hand. the parties really do consolidate quickly behind their nominee. mitt romney is polling very high among republicans. i think if santorum and gingrich drag this on too long, they're diminishing themselves and romney. >> it's almost becoming laughable that gingrich is announcing he's getting out. does it really matter whether he endorses him or not? >> is he still in? you kind of had that reaction from many voters who have the sense of the republican race as having been decided. i think in the end, everybody will endorse mitt romney. obviously it is a tremendous priority for republicans to unseat obama just as it was in democrat to unseat george w. bush. compelling everybody to come together. when the party is this committed to the incumbent president, if you do seem to be doing anything to get in the way of that goal, it has costs to the long-term viability of the party. i think both santorum and gingrich have more to lose by dragging this out than romney does. >> you write that the official role of the federal government in american life, the distance between obama and romney may actually be wider than the differences than any two nominees since lyndon johnson and barry goldwater in 1964. is the economy going to be the battleground where we see the biggest fight over these differences? >> i think it will be two places, the economy will be one, how to control the federal deficit is the other. the republicans and mitt romney and republicans in congress are arguing that the key is cutting taxes further, cutting regulation and cutting spending. president obama arguing we have to made building block foundational things like alternative energy, and infrastructure to build what he calls a stable foundation for prosperity. you also have an equally big gap on the question of what to do about the long-term federal deficit where you have the republicans talking for about across the board tax cuts and the romney world it would be 28%. president obama would let it revert it back to what it was. he changed medicare from the current format from something like a premium support or voucher system. the president would have some cuts but would maintain the current form of those programs. we are talking about a very big debate that is not only about the last few years, but really the way the federal government is operated in many effects since lyndon johnson. >> one last question for you. one issue mitt romney has been -- he's certainly been outspoken on is illegal immigration. you say it could give a life line to the community. will romney take that chance? >> romney is being very cautious about it. if you recall in the primary, mitt romney used immigration to try to undermine the rivals, whether rick perry or newt gingrich. as a result he moved to conservative positions on the whole range of immigration issues, talking about self-deportation for 11 million illegal immigrants. see the results of that in the post-primary polls where president obama is running at least as high as 67% among the hispanics. here comes marco rubio from florida, he says he has an alternative version of the crdrm act for people who were brought here illegally by their parents. romney was asked about it, he was very cool. again, didn't dismiss it, but kept their distance. this is a high stakes decision. because on the one hand if he embraces it, it could help him build bridges back in the hispanic community, but if he publicly snubs it, it could compound the problems he's already having. >> thank you. enough with the serious political news. time to give you a glimpse into last night's white house correspondence dinner. >> four years ago, i looked like this. today i look like this. and four years from now, i will look like this. >> mr. president, you remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? that was hilarious. >> you know, there's a term for guys like president obama. probably not two terms, but -- >> we've got men in tuxes, women in gowns, fine wine, first-class entertainment. i was just relieved to learn this was not a gsa conference. >> anyone who has tickets to the gsa afterparty, the plane is leaving for dubai at midnight on the dot. kont be later, you'll miss out on your complementary white tiger cub. >> it's good to be here this evening in the vast, magnificent hilton ball room. or what mitt romney would call a little fixer upper. >> we have numerous members of the media in the present. what's black and white and red all over? nothing anymore. >> even sarah palin's getting back into the game. guest hosting on the "today" show. which reminds me of an old saying. what's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? a pit bull is delicious. >> i do have a lot of jokes about the secret service. i told them for $800 i wouldn't tell them, but they only offered $30. >> i really do enjoy attending these dinners. in fact, i had a lot more material prepared, but i have to get the secret service home in time for their new curfew. >> it's one of the big yardsticks we measure to use how the economy is doing. we'll hear how the employment report is more important than usual. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. it's a big week coming up for the u.s. economy. we'll be getting a very important gauge of the job markets on friday with the april jobs report. and the burning question is, whether we're headed for what's considered a double-dip recess. i want to bring in todd, managing principal at the black bay group. hi, todd, how are you? >> doing great, alison. thanks for having me. >> tell me about the trifecta of jobs, employment, jobless claims, sort of the trifecta of jobs report we're getting this week. what's the expectation for friday's big jobs report especially? >> well, wall street is looking for 162,000 jobs. now, that's critically important because if you look at last month, we saw 120,000 jobs reported. and in the preceding three months before that, we saw over 200,000 per month. so looking forward, we really need to start seeing tremendous job growth. 160,000 jobs is great, but it's not magnificent. that's what this economy really needs. >> are we seeing a stalling out of the jobs market? or the jobs momentum we saw in the few earlier months of the year? is this more of a trend or was that sort of a blip? >> well, it sure looks like it, alison. when you look at the jobless claims figures we've been seeing, and they come out every thursday, those numbers have actually been going higher. people are losing their jobs and that's usually a a sign companies and pliers are not hiring as fast. >> i'm making sure, you mean it's a trend? >> it is a trend. and more importantly, though, if you look at the last six months, 70% of all the jobs created in this country are of the low-income variety. jobs in leisure, and hospitality. you want to see job growth but you want to see the jobs that are of the higher income variety because those are the employers -- or employees who will be more likely to purchase a car or home. you know, the big ticket items. that's ha this economy really needs. >> personal income and spending numbers for march that come out this week, will that give us any insight into whether we're falling backwards at this point? i'm talking about these numbers are actually the numbers of how much income people made, what people made and what they spend. so tell me about that. >> yeah. you're right, alison. that number comes out tomorrow at 8:30. what's critically important about this number is it will show you how much money americans are making. the estimate is we'll see a .2 of 1% rise over the preceding month. and the personal spending number, we're looking at .5 of 1% on this. this will be down. when you think about the higher oil prices which obviously translate to higher prices at the pump, and higher food costs at the grocery store, that could translate to a lower spending number. that will impact the economy going forward, because we need consumers to go out and spend. >> we got a gdp number, the numbers came in worse than expected on friday, 2.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 3%. it feels like we're going backwards. but you look deeper in the gdp numbers, consumers are spending. we're getting a mixed picture. how is the economy moving? s >> when you look behind the curtain, you'll notice that the savings rate went down. this was the first time in nine months that we've seen this number go down. it went from 4.4% down to 3.9%. that's a sign that americans right now are not saving as much obviously, but then they're clearly having to dip into other maybe credit cards to try to cover their monthly obligations. we've seen revolving debt actually increase over the last 30 days. so that's a critically important number. because moving forward you need this economy, you want americans to save. you want them to spend. but more importantly you don't want them to fall further into debt. and everything is really pointing to dire times. >> quickly, yes or no, are we headed to a double-dip? we're getting that talk again. it's coming back into the picture. yes or no? >> yes, we are, alison. no question about it. >> okay. well, we shall see these numbers on friday. todd, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, alison. so while we're on the subject of money, $80 million, that's what experts are predicting will be the starting bid for the iconic painting "the scream. "it goes up for sale tuesday in sotheby's in new york. the authwuthor of the book behi the scream. i asked why they're selling the last known privately owned version of the pasting. >> he feels it's such a great thing, it really should be in the public domain rather than in private hands. and with the money that he's raising, he is going to build a new museum devoted to the art of edvard. >> munch painted four versions of this in oslo and the third is at the national gallery in norway. nearly a year since osama bin laden's death, the fight against terrorism is far from over. but al qaeda is no longer the biggest threat. details coming up next. 0 years. but thanks to them... and her... and especially this guy, all those years were just a prologue to this. ♪ it's amazing how far you can go with a little help along the way. td ameritrade. proud sponsor of the 2012 u.s. olympic team. td ameritrade. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country. from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn... financing industries that are creating jobs in boston... providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community... and lending to ensure a north texas hospital continues to deliver quality care. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. see life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. three people suspected militants killed in northern pakistan today. intelligence officials there say an american drone fired missiles at a school where the militants were hiding. it happened in a part of pakistan widely believed to be a haven for taliban and al qaeda operatives. fighter jets from su can attacked military units across the border in south sudan. look at this. soldiers in this tv news group ran for cover during the air strikes. several south sudanese troops were hurt. south sudan split from sudan last year after a long civil war. the two nations are still at odds over where the border should be. and how to share oil production. back here in the