jetblue 191 and you'll hear from reba mcentire and blake shelton ahead of this weekend's big acm. first, today's "eye opener" your world in 90 seconds. >> that's just kind of crazy. >> mega millions mania sweeps the nation. >> record jackpot could climb to a $600 million. >> like me, you've got lotto fever. i've actually got lotto rash. >> nobody stood there with a bag of skittles and ice tea. >> the family of trayvon martin shooter jumps to his defense. >> robert zimmerman says his brother had to shoot the teenager who was unarmed. >> he prevented his firearm from being taken from him and used against him. that's called saving your life. >> jason dowd is being hailed as a hero. the jetblue co-pilot whose quick thinking helped divert a disaster in the air. >> usually when you see a pilot that bad, it's on nbc. >> lindsay lohan's long legal ordeal is finally over. a judge ended her supervised probation. >> she's been in jail six times and made 19 court appearances. i think that qualifies her to be a judge. >> we came across video we've never seen before. a tornado on the sun. >> motorists has a near-death experience. >> semifinals. he went between the legs! >> and all that matters. >> i think it's time for people to all get behind this good man. >> duh. winning. >> please don't do that anymore. >> on "cbs this morning."." a man belts out bohemian rhapsody tunes while riding in the back of a cruiser. ♪ for me for me for me ♪ captioning funded by cbs welcome to "cbs this morning." this store in cleveland is one where people will be lining up today, dreaming of mega millions. an estimated $540 million. >> tickets are being sold in 42 states, plus washington, d.c. and the virgin islands. here in new york state, lottery agents were selling 1.3 million mega millions tickets per hour on thursday. the drawing is tonight at 11:00 eastern time. now, if there's only one winner that person could choose a lump sum payment of $390 million. rebecca jarvis is here with the big business behind the big jackpot. >> there might not even -- i don't even have a ticket yet. there may not be any guarantees but that's not stopping anyone from playing. >> they're expected to sell 1.2 billion tickets total before the drawing tonight. one lottery official told us the chance there will be a winner tonight is 90%. but if things go as they historically have and mega lotteries like this one, we may not know who it is for a while. >> shock. i was jumping all over the place. >> reporter: it was a cinderella story, a single mom from jamaica who had been homeless and bankrupt when a $5 4 million mega millions jackpot in 2010. >> shock. shock, shock shock. because the day i went to play the lottery i asked her power powerball. i thought it was all a dream. >> reporter: it's a dream many americans pay big money for. >> americans spend about $60 billion on the lottery every year. that's more than $500 per american household goes to playing the lottery. the return on that is an investment is horrible. >> reporter: people mostly lose? >> it's even horrible as a gambling outcome. >> reporter: say you took that same $500 and invested it in an index fund each year for 20 years, you'd end up with $24,000. she took home a $22 million bulk payment. if you win today's mega millions, you'll take home $20.6 million a year. >> the idea that for a dollar $5, $10 lottery ticket i can win $20 million, that's what you call a highly skewed outcome. it's very unlikely but if it happens, wow, it changes -- changes your life. >> the odds of winning are nearly 1076 million to 1, meaning you'd are to buy 176 million tickets to get every possible combination and be guaranteed a win. we tracked down two mathematicians to see if we could better those odds. they say your best bet is to make sure that if you win, you don't have to share. >> you would do well to get numbers most people think look unlucky because those are the ones few people will pick. >> there are things you should avoid, because many people don't avoid them so there are people who will choose numbers based on the pattern they make on the sheet where you fill in the numbers. it's a very bad idea to put money in those. >> reporter: if the mathematician were to buy a ticket, what number would he pick? >> i chose them at random. >> i are to say the best strategy is not to buy the lottery ticket. >> reporter: like millions of americans, she is not taking that advice. you have bought tickets? >> yes, i did wrt how many did you buy? . >> i'm embarrassed. i bought $25 worth. >> i didn't think $25 was that embarrassing considering some people are buying 500. >> maybe she feels that way because she already won $54 million. hey, if it works, go with it. they also say to pick numbers no one else picks. >> yes. a lot of people chose numbers based off birthdays, years. they say any number above 31, numbers above 31 are statistically less likely to be selected by larger groups of people. so, if you choose them you may not get the jackpot, or you might, but fewer people are going to choose them along with you. so a smaller prize could go to you and you won't have to share it. >> now i know the answer to the question, how do you know which numbers are that people don't pick? >> exactly. the numbers above 31 are statistically less likely to be chosen. >> what about the people who win, do they generally buy lots of tickets or one? >> it's all over the map. even those statistically -- okay if you buy more tickets in one lottery you could be statistically more likely to win, assuming you're not all picking the same number on those tickets. at the same time a lot of these lottery winners do tend to go bankrupt. nine out of ten lottery winners go bankrupt within the first five years of winning the lottery. the reason for that is you get all this publicity, you come out, all these people come out of the woodwork. we heard this as well people come out of the woodwork people want a handout. you try to be generous -- >> what percentage go bankrupt? >> nine out of ten. >> first thing you do is hire a lawyer. >> hire a lawyer and a financial adviser. garina did that and she said it works great. >> get all those ducks in a row before you publicly get the money. you can help us too. go buy your ticket. >> i know. want to turn to the latest on george zimmerman, the man who shot trayvon martin. this morning zimmerman's brother is going public to defend him. mark strassmann is in sanford, florida, where martin was killed last month. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. over the last few days george zimmerman's family and friends have begun to give his side of the story. they say he killed the unarmed teen abler because he had no choice. according to more reports, he also has a temper problem. in 2005 zimmerman was reportedly fired from his job at a party security guard for being too aggressive. the new york "daily news" says, usually was a cool guy but it was like jekle and hyde. when the dude snapped, he snapped. his family is coming to his defense. >> he prevented his firearm from being taken and used against him and that's called saving your life. >> reporter: robert zimmerman stuck up to piers morgan last night. he said he shot tray advisermartin purely in self-defense. >> george was out of breath. he was barely conscious. his last thing he remembers doing was moving his head from the concrete to the grass so if he was banged one more time, he wouldn't be wearing diapers for the rest of his life and being spoon fed by his brother. >> reporter: critics including trayvon martin's parents say this police tape is proof zimmerman is a liar. this is how he looked 40 minutes after killing martin. no obvious face or head injuries. >> does he have any injuries now? >> his nose is still broken. >> still broken? >> his nose is still broken, yeah. >> a month later it's still broken? >> his nose. i don't know about the back of his head. i mean it's still healing. it's not healed. >> reporter: martin was buried in miami. the funeral director who prepared his body was richard kurtz. >> we could see no physical signs like there was a scuffle. >> reporter: he said his chest had a gunshot wound but his bodies had no other injuries. no marks on the hand from the punches zimmerman claimed battered him. a special prosecutor is reviewing the evidence. george zimmerman remains a deeply divisive figure in this country and trayvon martin supporters will take to the streets again, rallying here in sanford tomorrow and in miami on sunday. charlie, erica? >> thanks. this is an election year and soaring gas prices have drivers looking for someone to blame. at the same time the white house is looking to score points for the president. >> senior white house correspondent bill plante has that story for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. you may have heard the president say there's not much he can do to control gas prices. nonetheless, he's been working hard to appear to be trying. on thursday he came to the rose garden to urge the senate to repeal $4 billion in tax subsidies for big oil companies, even though no one thinks that would actually lower prices at the pump. >> they can either vote to spend billions of dollars more in oil subsidies to keep us trapped in the past or they can vote to end these taxpayer subsidies that aren't needed to boost oil production. >> reporter: but moments after the president's plea -- >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: the senate voted 5 1-47 against the bill with four democrats in the majority. >> somehow they thought doing this would set up some kind of political win for them. i mean i can't imagine anybody giving them any high-fives for not lowering gas prices. >> reporter: the national average price for gas is $3.93 a gallon, up 33 cents from a year ago. recent polls show the pain of the push is very much on the mind of voters. 77% said gas prices had put a moderate amount of strain on their family budgets. 68% disapprove of how the president is responding to gas prices but a majority also say the oil companies share a great deal of the blame. all this has raised concern in the white house. the president last week spent two days on the road showcasing his willingness to tap all possible energy sources, including solar, new domestic drilling and speeding up construction of the southern portion of the keystone pipeline. and this week the interior department announced it would begin studying possible drilling sites off the atlantic coast. for all this the white house remains on the defensive. >> there is no silver bullet, not a magic wand that somehow allows you to reduce the price at the pump. >> reporter: and here's something else they may be thinking about in the oval office. when gas prices go up in an election year, it's bad news for the man in the white house. they went up in 1980, '92, 2000 and a huge jump in 2008 and the incumbent or his party lost. look, that may be just a coincidence but gas prices are forecast to continue rying in the spring and summer and already over $4 a gallon in a lot of places. >> bill, thank you. with us now is marvin odum president of shell oil, one of five companies that would have been affected if the subdyes would have been cut. good morning. >> good morning, charlie. >> tell me whether you need these subsidies when you look at the financial profits of the major oil companies. >> yeah, there's probably a piece of data that would be helpful. if you look at the profits of the oil companies you have to consider the size of these companies. so, if you look at the unit profitability, if you will how much we make on a unit or dollar of revenue it's actually lower than the average of manufacturing across this country. so, i think while i don't mind the attention on energy because it's such an important topic, i think the discussion around taxes and taking tax break as way is the wrong discussion. >> i want to come to what the right discussion might be in a moment but other ceos of oil companies have said they would give up these subsidies if they were applied across the business frontier. is that your position? >> it is the thing that's important to us as a business and people competing within an industry is a level playing field. so, that's the discussion we'd like to have on the tax front. on the energy side what we'd like to talk about is what can we do to help this country and that really is becoming more efficient and producing more of our own resources. >> let's take a snapshot of where the oil situation is today and how it will affect the prices at the pump. what is the supply/demand situation? if, in fact, oil is going up per barrel the price per barrel what is the direct relationship between that and the price at the pump? and can anything be done to -- about that in the present environment? >> so you've identified the relationship. it is direct. the price of oil goes directly into the price of gas. it's the number one factor that determines the price that people pay every day at the pump. so back to the price of oil worldwide, it is a global system. we have to think about supply and demand on a global basis. the way we can address that is to cut back and produce as many resources as we can in this country. the economic benefits of that are more jobs in this country, better trade balance in this country, more secure supply of oil. and that's the biggest impact that we can have. there is no -- you hear it a lot. there's no immediate fix for the price of oil today. >> but at the same time we are looking at the future in which united states will be producing more energy resources than it ever has in its past, correct? >> i think that's where you should look at this as an opportunity for the country. we have a tremendous number of resources in this country with the natural gas we found across the nation new oil resources being found. we're talking about drilling offshore alaska. we could have an enormous impact on our own energy system. >> at the same time we're looking at a crisis for the united states in terms of our energy situation. we're looking at possible international damage from whatever iran might happen. it seems to me there ought to be dialogue between the president and oil companies to say, what can we do in the nation's interest to lower the price of gas at the pump? >> well i'm just -- i'm fine with that. we want that kind of discussion and cooperation between the government and industry but the thing we have to keep in mind is energy is a long-term business. and to change this massive system of energy supply takes time. so, to sit down and have some strategic thinking about where do we want this to go in the fewer, particularly given that the population in the world is growing like crazy, we have to address that now. >> but how about -- i mean, obviously this bill the president wanted to sponsor, the president was in favor of did not pass in the senate. but wouldn't it be an act of good faith by oil companies to say, we don't really need these subsidies now. let's get together with president and congress and come up with a policy for benefit of americans and energy dependent on the part of the united states? >> let me give you a different twist on that story, charlie, which is if we really want more dollars flowing into the federal government to help with the deficit and so forth, and if we want more income taxes flowing in, the way to do that is to produce more energy in this country. the question that congress and the president ought to be asking themselves is how do we incentivize more production. you get royalty payment off that, all those jobs and income tax that comes with it. the tax deductions that we're talking about taking away pale in comparison to -- >> nevertheless, a dollar's a dollar. how much subsidies contributed to your bottom line at shell oil. >> well first of all, we don't see these as subsidies. >> but you -- you know you can make an accounting evaluation of how much they meant to you. >> i don't have a number for you, charlie, in terms of you know, exactly how much in a gallon of gas the deductions that we take would be. but it's important to understand, these are the same deductions, manufacturing cost type deductions across all industries, not just the oil and gas industry. >> we need tax reform is your point. >> it really is. we need to look at that in a broad sense. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, charlie. >> time now to show you this morning's headlines from around the globe. "the new york times" reports that the number of children diagnosed with autism or related disorders has increased dramatically. it rose more than 20% from 2006 to 2008. the sharpest increases among hispanic and black children. experts believe that broader screening and better diagnosis explain the increase in cases. "usa today" reports nearly half of us who use mobile phones now have smartphones and young people are leading the way there. 4 out of every 5 mobile phones purchased by consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 are smart phones. "the san francisco chronicle" tells us about some rare tiffany lamps that used to sit behind the bar at a local tavern. it turns out they're worth almost $2 million. the bar's owner died last year. the six lamps and chandelier will be sold at auction in new york in june. they're expected to get a lot of interest. and canada is giving up the penny. "the global and mail" says it costs a pen and a >> announcer: this national weather report sponsored by mcdonald's. i'm lovein' it. mitt romney is pulling in high level support this morning as former president obama endorses him. vice president joe biden says romney's out of touch with voters. >> this is about the middle class. and none of what he's offering does anything. bob schieffer is here with his sitdown with the vice president. >> announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by ocean spray. tastes good. good for you. n spray cranberry juice versus vegetable juice. first the cranberry. mm! tasty. now, the vegetable juice with more than 10 times the sodium of cranberry juice. we have a winner! c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! 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[ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. he's my success story. [ laughs ] rveghts now 26 minutes >> now 26 minutes after 7:00. >> it is not 20 degrees cooler than this time yesterday, it is about 40 right now. 60 is the high, partly sunny, now, here is sharon gibala at wjz tv traffic control. >> hi, marty, good morning, everyone, if you are about to head out an accident on joppa. and also in timonium there. a few in the city there. those are your traffic conditions. it is brought to you by home paramount pest control. back over to you. >> the second trial will resume for two brothers accused of lighting a pi