0 >> its name is the "ss united states," and she's been here for 17 years because she is not done yet. >> reporter: sarah hoye, cnn, philadelphia. >> beautiful boat still. i'm don lemon at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. have a great night and a great week. good night breaking news overnight, a frantic search for two children buried at a construction site. it is grim news from the scene this morning. she died trying to make a difference. americans mourn a young diplomat killed in afghanistan. >> i told her, it's pitch black. i told her, if we don't get out of here, we're going to die. >> two lost teens with an incredible will to live. a hiker's firsthand account of surviving a three-day ordeal in the woods. >> two teams on the edge of glory. louisville/michigan tonight with the ncaa title on the line. >> go michigan! >> come on. >> go louisville! >> now you want both. >> i'm conflicted here. >> welcome back. >> thank you. >> welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's monday, april 8th. >> we start with breaking news, a frantic search for two small children buried when a dirt wall collapsed. it's now turned into a recovery effort. it started sunday afternoon, rescuers have been working around the clock digging by hand but they now fear the worst. a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy were playing in a hole being dugout for the basement of a new home when the dirt wall gave way. after hours of digging this morning, rescuers say what had been a rescue effort is now a recovery effort. they dug down 20 feet with no sign of the children so far. we will bring you the latest as we learn more. >> a developing story, a murdered american diplomat coming home from afghanistan today. most of us never heard of anne sm smedinghof before this weekend, barbara starr is live from the pentagon with the latest developments for us. good morning to you, barbara. >> good morning. everyone says this is a young woman who was doing exactly what she wanted to do, serving her country. >> 25-year-old foreign service officer anne smedinghoff volunteered to go to afghanistan. her family said she was doing the work she loved, trying to make a difference in the world. her father tom. >> we thought she was relatively safe in the embassy compound. she was always, you know, finding projects and assignments that took her outside. that was what she wanted to do. that was what really drove her. >> reporter: on saturday she was killed in this attack when a suicide bomber smashed into her convoy. three soldiers and another civilian were killed. they were trying to deliver school books. her chicago neighborhood now decorated with flags and flowers. smedinghoff is believed to be the first u.s. diplomat killed since last september's attack in bengahzi, libya. secretary of state, john kerry, traveling spoke of the young woman he met on his recent trip to kabul. >> she was someone who worked hard and put her life on the line so others could live a better life. our hearts go out to anne's mother and father, with whom i spoke yesterday and to the two sisters and the brother who survive her. >> reporter: smedinghoff had been in afghanistan since july, as her facebook photo shows, confidently traveling with troops around the country. >> anne and those with her were attacked by taliban terrorists who woke up that day not with a mission to educate or to help, but with a mission to destroy. >> reporter: of course our condolences to the families of the others who lost their lives in this attack. we're waiting for the pentagon to release their names. afghan civilians still paying a huge price, an investigation underway into a weekend air strike that may have killed several afghan children. >> we know the u.s. troops are scheduled to ship out of afghanistan by the end of next year. what about diplomatic and civilian aid? could attacks like this change our policy moving forward? >> at this point there's no indication of that. there's a commitment to try to continue with this type of work. you know, it will be very difficult because right now the way it looks is security will be in the hands of afghan security forces, and that may be probl problematic in some areas. >> at 8:00 a.m. eastern, we will be joined by the parents of anne smedinghoff. some breaking news in the korean crisis, just moments ago, the north announced it is pulling all of its workers out of the kaesong complex it shares with the south. the north may be preparing for a possible nuclear test as early as this week. there are no unusual signs at this point, still a south korean lawmaker says sites are preparing. also developing this morning, authorities in new hampshire are searching for a man who took hostages six years ago at one of hillary clinton's campaign offices. 52-year-old leeland eisenberg was reported missing from a halfway house in new hampshire. six years ago, he claimed to have a bomb and held several hostage force hours. four men trying to row from west africa to miami overtaken by a massive wave that actually capsized their boat. they're about 400 miles north of puerto rico trying to set a world record for human powered row across the atlantic when the water overtook them. the two canadians, two americans, got in a life raft and set off a locator beacon. the coast guard found them a few hours later. >> we had a plan in place for what to do if this happened. it was successful. we are getting the guys home safe. but it's too bad we have to end now. >> the rowers were 73 days into the journey that began in senegal. >> 73 days. >> can you believe it? >> crazy. president obama heads to connecticut later today to continue his push for tougher gun control laws in the state that is still grieving from the sandy hook elementary school shooting. some possible movement on a deal to expand background checks for gun sales that include gun shows and online sales. two lawmakers are trying to break the stalemate. they would like to have a vote as early as this week. and funeral services this morning for legendary film critic roger ebert. the church service will be open to the public on a first come first serve basis. ebert's family says a memorial distribute will be held on thursday. ebert lost his long battle with cancer last week at the age of 70. john kerry is in jerusalem trying to kick start israeli/palestinian peace talks. this is the latest stop of his ten-day overseas trip. earlier this morning sirens sounded across israel and the country marked holocaust remembrance day. spring is here, you can finally feel it. new york could be close to 70 degrees today, but a different story somewhere else. >> out west, guys, not the same. blizzard conditions in the rockies and northern plains. jennifer delgado is live at the cnn weather center with this. good morning. >> good morning. it's hard to believe we are in spring and talking about winter conditions out across parts of the west. this will be happening through the central plains. some of these locations could see more than a foot of snow across the dakotas, nebraska. denver a possibility of six to 8 inches of snowfall. right now we're looking at all rain. you move up towards the north, you see that wintry precipitation moving through parts of northern wisconsin, even that far edge of michigan. what we're dealing with today, once we see more of this activity, severe storms setting up. this will effect areas like oklahoma, kansas, as well as into nebraska. out to the west, here comes the energy to provide our next big winter storm. you saw the numbers there, we're talking more than a foot. in addition to the severe weather, talking a multiple day event. this is for wednesday. this goes into tuesday. this is monday. it's going to be progressing over towards the east. that means even the possibility of a few isolated tornadoes. on the wider view, here's the set up to give you an idea. rain to the north, severe storms, the snow. temperatures are warming up. if you want to pick an area that will be winning with the weather, it's going to be the east as well as the south. in atlanta, very close to 80 degrees by tuesday. it will be our first 80s for new york, you are finally getting spring weather. 79 degrees today, 79 tomorrow. >> no way. >> 79, a few more clouds around tomorrow, and that will stick around through thursday. i see that smile. >> girl, i'm seriously happy. >> you are loving it. >> but i feel bad for the folks on the west coast. >> i can tell. you're doing a dance over here about the good weather. they're getting a blizzard out there. >> it is time. >> they will get some good weather, too. >> they had it last week. only two teams are left standing, louisville and michigan tangling tonight for college basketball's national championship. >> a win by the cardinals, a four-point favorite would cap off an unbelievable run for louisville coach rick pit tepa , he just got inducted into the basketball hall of fame. joe, how do you think these two teams match up? >> good morning to you. i think they match up great. we have the two best teams in the country facing off. the number one offense in the wolverines, against the number one defense in the louisville cardinals. the sense we got from louisville yesterday is that this team has been here before. they've been in the final four. they were in there last year. they came up short. they don't want to leave with that empty feeling again. rick pitino said in the presser yesterday that he feels this team is more united than before, given the fact they've been with each other so long and you have to throw in the kevin ware factor. as far as michigan goes, some said louisville is the team of destiny, i disagree. i think michigan is the team of destiny. when you think of how this team is turning it on now, beating teams in the tournament like vcu, kansas, florida, syracuse, this team has "the fresh five" trying to do what the fab five did 20 years ago. >> let's talk about kevin ware, the louisville player we watched as his leg was broken, which was horrible. what is the latest on his recovery? >> we know it's going to be about 12 months, doctors say, until he can get back on a basketball court, which is incredible if you had seen the video or you would like to unsee the video. but he's with the team. when they flew into atlanta on wednesday night. he was with the team the last couple of days, on the sidelines with them when they played wichita state. there was one point, guys, in the game against wichita state where louisville was down by 20 points, ware got up on the crutches, hobbled over to the team huddle and gave these guys a pep talk and said let's do this. the guys said we looked at ware with these big bright eyes saying what are you doing standing up? that was enough motivation to get them into the title game. tonight, we'll see if the same is true. we have a little time to talk about the game. a little bit more time. >> use that time well, joe carter, the self-professed czar of destiny. michigan he says is the team of destiny. >> i will go with you, mr. cater. >> let me give you a recap of the standings in the cnn bracket. ashleigh banfield in first place, she has louisville. if you hone in there, you see zoraida is ahead of me in the pool, she has ohio state winning. >> gone. >> if louisville wins, i will stage a dramatic comeback and finish ahead of zoraida. jack tapper is in last place there. embarrassing? >> really? i think i'm going to beat you. >> we'll find out tomorrow. 13 minutes past the hour. he'd been lost in the woods for so long, when a search party finally found him, he thought he was hallucinating. more from a hiker rescued from the wilderness coming up. it smells good. like laundry fresh out of the dryer. a man fresh out of the shower. nailed it. proof. febreze car vent clips keep your car fresh. breathe happy. bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. 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