in their homes. we are learning he suffer a head injury in iraq but was found fit for duty. we're live at the pentagon. a disturbingly familiar sight in louisiana. take a look at your screen. hundreds of people are having to be rescued. 18 to 20 inches of rain falling in some parts of southern louisiana. police deciding not to charge the man. the family of the dead teenager is outraged. we'll break down why there are no charges in this racially charged case. up first, concern that u.s. afghan relations have hit a new low after a deadly shooting rampage. hundreds of afghan students demonstrating overnight, this is in response to the cold-blooded killing of 16 afghan civilians, most children, allegedly by a u.s. soldier. u.s. officials say the army soldier suspected of the killings suffered traumatic brain injury while in iraq. this was two years ago. it's not clear, however, if that played any role in the attack. the soldier is in custody but is refusing to speak with investigators. this, of course, is the second major setback in afghanistan following the koran burning which triggered a lot of protests in this area. president obama says the massacre is tragic and heartbreaking but it will not change the mission in afghanistan. de-pennsylvania secretary leon panetta says it is a tragic reality. >> war is hell. these kinds of events and incidents are going to take place. they've taken place in any war. they are terrible events, and this is not the first of those events and it probably won't be the last. >> dash ra starr barbara starr pentagon. leon panetta says this soldier could face the death penalty. in light of these new developments that he potentially had a traumatic brain injury is it possible that this soldier could face the death penalty? >> the military has the death penalty. it will be a matter for the court to decide. it will first be a matter for prosecutors decide whether they want to charge him with that. let me circle back with some of the latest developments this morning. we are now able to confirm, our sara sidner in kabul, the very village where this happened, afghan provincial officials have come under attack from insurgents. they were there trying to visit the families and offer some assistance. this soldier that stands accused we are told suffered traumatic brain injury two years ago when he was in a vehicle rollover accident. this was not combat. it was simply a vehicle accident in iraq. he was treated for tbi. he was found fit for duty at that time. but certainly the military is scouring his medical records, his psychological evaluations to see if they can get any clues about what happened, how this may have come to pass. this is all part of the standard investigation that is going on right now. it is expected in the next several days. it will lead to charges and at that point this military justice process will go into full swing, zoraida. >> i imagine also at the white house there's concern about retaliation. i'm reading here that the taliban has vowed revenge against sick-minded american savages because of the mass killing. >> the taliban have put out a statement that -- i believe it goes on to say they are also threatening beheading of all americans in afghanistan. you know, look, the u.s. military takes precautions, u.s. civilians working both for private organizations, the state department, also in afghanistan. certainly they take precautions at all times. i think you can probably expect to see everyone at a heightened state of alert in the coming days. >> if i can ask you one final question here. it's a joint base, louis-mcchord near tacoma, washington. i was reading a laundry list of horrific crimes that some of the soldiers from that base are accused of. was this on any potential watch list from the white house? >> you mean the base itself? >> yes, yes. so many crimes committed by so many soldiers coming from there, including that killing team in iraq. it comes from that particular base as well. i guess i'm asking were they watching that base because of all of these horrific crimes coming from there? >> i'm not aware of any white house watch list of u.s. military bases. there were a number of incidents at louis-mcchord over the years. i think that it is accurate and fair to say louis-mcchord has absolutely had its share of problems and issues as many other military bases have. the military is a very large organization, not to excuse any of it. i find it a bit interesting that secretary panetta said these things will happen. i think that comment from him is going to get a lot of notice. things do happen in war but this type of atrocity is something that certainly is fundamentally out of the norm. and i think if you look at the cases that have happened in the past, the military prosecutes them with varying rates of success, mind you, people have been acquitted from these alleged crimes. but it will remain to be seen, i this i, how this one plays out. >> as we learn more about this particular soldier as well, barbara starr live at the pentagon for us. thank you. >> six minutes past 5:00. torrential downpours in southern louisiana triggering record floods there. more than 20 inches of rain have been falling in some areas. take a look at that and take a look at that. boating along places they wouldn't have before. hundreds of people trapped by flash floods, having to be rescued. joining us now on the phone lieutenant chad kanizarro. can you hear me? >> yes, ashleigh, i can hear you. >> this came out of the blue. i wasn't aware this is the season you'd be seeing these kinds of floods. how bad is it? >> it was unexpected. we had a 30% chance of rain yesterday and we got a little more than that. it's more than we bargained for. >> apart from the number of people you had to rescue, i read there was a school bus with 16 middle school kids. how did that go? did they all get out? >> yes, ma'am. they all got out safely. they were in four feet of water. we had to utilize our boats, conventional boats with motors, but we got them all out safely. >> we've been saying up to 18 inches, in some places, 20 inches of rain. on a scale of one to ten, where does that fall within what you're able to deal with and kinds of services i don't you have available in that community? >> that was pretty much stretching us to our limit. but we all pulled together and had some local citizens that volunteered with their boats and came help do some rescues. >> is everyone accounted for? >> yes, ma'am. everyone is accounted for. >> now, the pictures on the screen show the next part of the story, just dealing with all of the aftermath, the houses, the cars under water, the damage. it's not like you haven't been through this before. >> right. we're waiting on day break so we can take a count of all the damage and we'll start repairing from there. >> lieutenant canezaras, good luck. we're thinking of you. never a good thing to have to go through. thank god everybody's safe. >> i hate seeing those pictures. absolutely hate it. hopefully there's good news ahead, meteorologist rob marciano is live in the cnn weather center at 8 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. >> they had one thunderstorm that sat over them for six hours and dumped that rain. south louisiana, very, very flat. waters are typically slow to drain. even when you get a flash flood situation, most parts of the country, it comes, it goes and it's gone. we still have a lot of water that needs to be drained out of this corridor in acadiana. not nearly that amount of rain across parts of the i-5 corridor. it is soupy. humidity high and temperatures are record-breaking in some cases. 73 degrees. 73 in newark, central park 71. that was a record. albany 69. bridgeport, seeing 65 degrees. you'll see near record-breaking temperatures again today the eastern half of the country. meanwhile, the western half seeing temperatures below average. we have winter storm warnings as far west as the oregon coastline. all the way down to the beach. that's unusual even the middle of january let alone the middle of march. we have lay topsy-turvy atmosphere happening. that will probably stick. the eastern half will remain warm, the western half on the chilly side. >> rob, thank you very much. >> every morning around this time, we like to give you on early start to your day. eric holder speaking at the supreme court today. speech coming a week after he said the government does have the right to target and kill american citizens who propose a terror threat. the ncaa tournament begins tonight in dayton, ohio. western kentucky versus mississippi valley state. the winner of that game beginning on to play the top seed in the tournament. kentucky. in just a few hours, we'll be see if you've been spending more these days. car sales are expected to drive the best retail growth in five months when the numbers come out today at 8:30 eastern time. and this just in, gas prices up to $3.81 a gallon. the national average ticked up another 0.4 cent. high gas prices are here to say. analysts say we can expect to see $4 to $5 gas through summer. >> if we're talking up, let's talk markets, shall we? the u.s. stock markets closed mixed yesterday. the dow gained about 37 points to kick off the week. the tech heavy nasdaq down a bit but the s&p 500 which is the best indicator for the stocks in your 401(k), closing mostly flat. even though there's an uptick in the arrow. >> there was nothing going on there. "the wall street journal" called it listless trading yesterday. it was a gain but it was just -- there's not much going on. people are nervous. >> i'll take that over a loss. >> true. people are wondering what the next move will be. >> you're talking this morning about income and equality. >> this has been the head lien for, what, a year now. in the '99 versus the 1% and the whole idea of occupy wall street and wait a minute, what's happening in america? income inequality has been rising since 1967. up 18% acoring to the census bureaus. the haves have more and the have notes have less. right? that's such a political conversation. guess what? when they head to the poles today in alabama and mississippi, these are among some of the income inequal places. i want to show you a snapshot of income inequality. the darker the blue, the more unequal the income. >> look at the south. >> parts of manhattan, big urban areas, that are also unequal. six ten counties with the highest income disparity are in the southern states, texas, louisiana, georgia, south carolina and mississippi. some places are pretty reliably red. they go for the republican candidate. so this conversation over the past year of income inequality is not something that seems to be resonating as much in some of these spots. a couple of things in mississippi, the unemployment rate is 10.4%, much higher than the national average. in alabama it's 8%. bam billion is back now to where it was. had a spike but things have been improving in terms of unemployment, the unemployment rate in alabama. also on education, these are very important things for parents and for voters in both of these states. according to "u.s. news and world report" mississippi is number 45 out of 50 of best high schools. >> best? >> 45 is not a good number. and 27 out of 50 is alabama, a better performance there. talk about income inequality, gas prices, what will be driving voter as they head to the republican primaries today. >> you know what's weird about that? mitt romney is polling well, surprisingly well in places where voters typically of this ilk are not interested in a mitt romney. i think it's strange. >> it is interesting. this race has been so -- so interesting, right? he seems to be solidifying his lead, of course. but it has been a lot of people looking for something else, looking for something else. he's settling into that front-runner. >> i want to pull some of those stats. why is he polling well with people who would typically be conservative? >> thank you. >> you're welcome. it turned a neighborhood into a fireball. remember this? now the utility company paying the city of san bruno, california, for a deadly pipeline explosion. former secretary general who went to syria left syria and this is what he left behind, another massacre. this one, mostly women and children. so, did he do anything there at all? you're watching "early start." ts rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. and the family car to do an experiment. we put a week of her family's smelly stuff all in at once to prove that new febreze car vent clips could eliminate the odor. then we brought her family to our test facility to see if it worked. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. it is 17 minutes past the hour. good morning to you, washington. it is a nice 58 degrees now. and later, 71. kind of balmy there. nice weather. it's time to check the stories making news this morning. here is miss christine romans. good morning. >> it is primary day in two big states. let's start there. polls open in less than three hours. primaries in mississippi and alabama with a combined 84 delegates. american samoa and hawaii are holding caucuses tonight. mitt romney says the republican party is doomed if it doesn't choose a nominee before the convention. we're learning more this morning about the army staff sergeant suspected in the massacre of 16 afghan civilians, including 9 children. military officials say the unidentified soldier suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle rollover while he served in iraq back in 2010. the pacific gas and electric company will pay the city of san bruno, california, $70 million as compensation for the 010 gas pipeline explosion. the explosion blew open a crater 72 feet long, 26 feet wide, killing eight people and destroying dozens of homes there. and we could learn as early as today who the winner is in the peyton manning sweepstakes. the arizona cardinals and the denver broncos are thought to have the inside track on peyton manning. but there are reports manning may still meet with the miami dolphins and the tennessee titans in the next few days. zoraida is screaming new york, new york, new york. >> i'm screaming new york. i know nothing about football. i just like that guy. would be nice to see him walking around here. >> my advice is take it easy, weigh all the offers and do what makes you happiest. >> and stay healthy. >> that's an important one. >> what do you think his 401(k) is like? >> it doesn't matter. it's the whole bank account, period. >> thank you, christine. >> you're welcome. >> 19 minutes past the hour. we're getting an early read on your local news that is making national headlines this morning. we have papers from san francisco and new york city. we'll start with the "san francisco chronicle." do you remember this movie? the '90 classic "home alone." that movie that set off ma cawley culkin's career. the house from that film has been sold for over $1.5 million after sitting on market for nearly a year. it was first listed last may for $2.4 million. the house is not in hollywood. it's on a half acre lot. three stories, 4,250 square feet, four bedrooms. nice size. >> wonder what the staircase is like. you would think there are nicks all the way down. >> i say a suburb outside of chicago. >> that was hilarious. >> i wasn't paying attention because somebody was in my ear. >> that's right. "wall street journal," folks, this is a great story. i'll show you the "daily news." this woman on the front here, let me get you a better shot of her. that's the madam lady who is plaguing our papers, the madam who is apparently real broke. everybody says she's a madam who was operating a broth and was pulling in somewhere between $10 million and $15 million a yeacc judge, she says she doesn't have two million dollars for bond. peter gleason, former cop, he's her lawyer. he's putting up his own loft in tribeca, $2.5 million loft as bond for her so that she can get out. then he says her family can stay there, too. >> that is a nice lawyer. that's the lawyer you want. >> that's an unusual lawyer. >> unusual move but it does happen. this stuff happens. the judge said i'll look into it and give you an answer on thursday. thursday we'll find out if she gets to stay in a $2.5 million tribeca loft and get out with an ankle bracelet or something. there will be no federal aid from fema for tornado-ravage d harrisburg, illinois. >> take a look at the pictures. fema says the state of illinois, home owners insurance and local charities can cover all of the damage. local leaders are puzzled. >> i can't believe it. i was there a little over a week ago and saw it firsthand. i've never seen worse tornado damage. >> it really has to do with the state as a whole, not the proximity of damage to the other states. when we look and evaluate governors' requests, we look at the total amount of impact, how much was insured, what other programs may be available. >> senator dick durbin also says that he plans to meet with fema officials tomorrow and will ask them to reconsider their decision. i remember talking to fema early on and they said we're beginning to sit back, we're going to wait and assess the situation before we start spending federal dollars there. >> soledad and i spent a fair amount of time in harrisburg. here's the deal. while the pictures look brutal and anybody who lives there has suffered greatly. the damage was pocketed, though. it wasn't like joplin where the city was ravaged. when we drove into the city, i thought we were in the wrong place. we drove in on the north part of city and everything was fine, then we got to this, the strip mall with the sports store that was a disaster. then there was the housing complex where five people died out of the six that died in harrisburg. i think i can understand it but it's no less painful. >> it's tough for the folks who live there as well. >> and the folks who have to put up with that kind of a decision. 23 minutes past 5:00. coming up, here's a weird one. take a shot. tide, imagine trying to shoplift tide. they're big, heavy and somehow people are stealing it by the truckload. tide. tide. people trying to figure out why at this point. police getting involved. we'll try to get to the bottom of it. you're watching "early start." sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys weekend. yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you