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rude if you insist on asking questions when i told you i won't answer, and i hope that you understand that i don't intend to be rude to you as i leave. so thank you this morning, and i got to get back to work. >> this isn't all our fault we're stepping down, as you said. it's not because of press attention you're stepping down? >> i don't recall saying it's your fault. >> it's not really that, is it? >> no questions, please. >> yeah. why? >> mr. rangel, who's going to take over your post. >> like i said, i hope you don't mind if i don't take questions. okay. i want you to have a great day. >> why the change from last night, sir? >> i also would like to say that from the very, very beginning, i had offered this to speaker pelosi. thank you. >> congressman charles rangel there calling a press conference there saying that he has sent a letter, a request, to nancy pelosi requesting a leave of absence until the ethics committee has continued its investigation or hashed out all the details that it is looking into as charlie rangel has been under fire for a number of months now for a variation of things. our congressional correspondent brianna keilar now joins us live. this is a press conference that was called by charlie rangel. some thought that perhaps he would make a clear-cut announcement that he would be stepping down as chairman of the house ways and means committee. but instead, he says he's asking for a little bit of time. >> well, no, he actually is saying that he's going to step aside temporarily from his post as house ways and means chairman. a very powerful post. i actually hold here in my hand something that was handed to me by one of his aides. this is the resignation letter -- at least the temporary one -- that he submitted to speaker pelosi. says, "i respectfully request a leave of absence from my duties and responsibilities as chairman of the committee on ways and means until such a time as the committee on standards completes its findings on the review currently under way." there's actually a number of ethics issues that charlie rangel is contending with right now. most recently on friday, we saw the house ethics committee admonish him, say that he broke the house gift rules for travel that he took to the caribbean in 2007 and 2008, travel that was corporate sponsored. as it turned out, they said they couldn't be definitive that he knew it was corporate sponsored, but certainly two of his staff members knew, and because of that, they said he was responsible for the behavior of his staff. but there's a number of other issues, frankly quite larger than what we saw on friday hanging over his head. perhaps one of the largest ones has to do with earnings that he got from a rental property he owns in the dominican republic that he didn't file taxes on, didn't pay taxes on. fredricka, this is someone who, at least was, the chairman of the house ways and means committee. this is the committee that deals with taxes. so he was facing tremendous pressure from republicans who are going to have a vote today, schedule a vote today really on his leadership and asking him to step aside. but he was, as we saw in the last few days, starting to face pressure from within his own democratic caucus and that really proved to be the breaking point over the last 24 hours, fred. >> i wonder if perhaps pam, our producer, is able to kind of re-rack the statement. while he's temporarily stepping down, at the same time he doesn't necessarily talk about long-term what he's looking for but he's not saying that he's giving up the post all together. >> no. what he's saying is that he's stepping aside temporarily until the ethics committee deals with the issues that it is dealing with. right now there are a number -- and the ethics committee is very secretive in how to operates, so at this point we do o know that he is being looked at for some other potential ethics violations, but we don't know what the outcome of those investigations will be. what he's saying is he's stepping aside for the time being because it is causing so much attention and people are having to defend him, and really obviously the situation will be reconsidered once the ethics committee says what its findings are on these other violations. fred, if they come out and on the very serious violations, they say that he did something wrong, then presumably you would expect that he would lose more support than we've seen him losing right now. but in the last few months we've heard house speaker nancy pelosi really stand by him and say wait until all of this plays out. well, that's obviously not happening anymore. apparently she accepted this temporary resignation. >> it was a very short statement so once again for those who were just now joining us, let's listen in just moments ago. this is what charlie rangel said. >> i have this morning sent a letter to speaker pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work. >> so brianna keilar back now with us. have we heard from nancy pelosi? >> we haven't heard at this point, that i am aware of -- i'm actually scrolling through my blackberry right now and i don't have any statement from her office. but presumably he wouldn't come out and announce that he submitted his resignation, at least temporarily, unless she is going to accept it. what i thought was really interesting, fred, he said there at the end of his statement -- we didn't just play this for you -- he said from the beginning i offered this to speaker pelosi. we haven't check on that at this point to really see what her response would be to that, but nancy pelosi is a long-time ally of charlie rangel's. he's been in the house for decades. and they have been friends, if you will. she has stood by him very much in the last few months amid calls by republicans that he step down. but what happened here was nancy pelosi, when democrats came into power, when they took over the house, when they took over congress, she promised that she would run the most ethical congress in history, the most ethical house in history and she's taken a lot of flack for charlie rangel and certainly some of the suspicion, at the very least, that hangs over his head. so she's weathered quite a bit of criticism, certainly from republicans and a lot of questions from members of the media like myself over this issue. >> brianna keilar, thanks so much. once again, charles rangel coming out just a short time ago this morning saying that he has requested a leave of absence from his chairmanship of the house ways and means committee. that letter being sent to nancy pelosi. brianna keilar, thanks so much. appreciate that. meantime, the presidential push for health care reform. a few hours from now, president obama will unveil his latest health care bill and it's considered a last-ditch effort to create a bipartisan measure. but it is not expected to win any support from republicans. that opposition is expected to be unanimous. instead, the revisions appear aimed at calming the nerves of moderate democrats. time is running out. democratic leaders want to push the overhaul through congress before the end of the month. let's get the latest now from cnn white house correspondent suzanne malveaux. suzanne, what do we expect the president to spell out today? >> well, fred, one of the things that his aides tell me is that this really is his final act here, this is his final version of health care reform, the legislation, as he sees it. he's trying to do a couple of things. obviously he's trying to show that he's open at least to some republican ideas. he's added some of those on to his own blueprint, if you will. he's also trying to convince, give political cover, to some of those moderate democrats who say, look, we are showing -- we are acting in good faith here, so let's get on-board, cut some of the things that he's talking about from the bipartisan health care summit last thursday, he listened to republicans. he's even to a couple of things. one of them being taken on fraudulent medical charges. another thing he's going to talk about is new funding for resolving malpractice disputes, lawsuits, increasing doctors' reimbursements when it comes to medicaid, and offering tax incentives to cut down on doctor visits. doctor visits that might be unnecessary. all of this he is saying, "i've learned from you republicans, i've embraced some of these proposals, these ideas, that you put forward last week, so let's see if we can get something done." >> and the republicans' reaction so far? >> so far, they're not really buying it, fred. they're looking at this and they're fundamentally in disagreement with the whole approach. they essentially want to start over. we heard from the minority whip eric cantor in this statement, he said that, "if the president simply adds a couple of republican solutions to a trill dollar health care package that the american people don't support, it isn't bipartisanship, it's political cover." the president, fred, will make it clear, however, he's not interested in starting all over and he's not even interested in doing things kind of in a piecemeal fashion in a smaller, plan b, if you will. he is going to be pushing forward once again comprehensive health care reform adding some of these republican proposals saying essentially "why don't you get on-board?" if the republicans aren't up for it, the audience that he's trying to go for are those democrats who say this is the final thing. >> suzanne, i remember house speaker nancy pelosi summarizing it this way -- if perhaps the plan is bipartisan because it does borrow some ideas from the gop, perhaps the vote won't be bipartisan. >> that's the main strategy of the white house, look, if you can't get the republicans on-board with the votes, at least throw in some of these proposals, these ideas and call it bipartisan. >> suzanne malveaux at the white house, thanks so much. we'll have live coverage of president obama's unveiling of this new health care package that's scheduled to get under way 1:45 p.m. eastern time. a baby snatching. pretty scary stuff. but you'll cringe when you hear just how easy it was for one alleged kidnapper to get a child away from his parents. i'm rob marciano. another winter storm rolling across the mid-atlantic? does it turn north to the rest of the northeast? plus a west coast storm coming. weather is next. some good news to report now on an alleged child abduction in jacksonville, florida. the baby boy has been found safe and the suspect is in custody. police say a woman posing as a child welfare worker abducted the infant from his home last night. the baby's parents encouraged the woman -- or encountered, rather, the woman when they took the child in for a checkup at a jacksonville hospital. woman followed the couple home, convincing them to turn the baby over to her due to an ongoing investigation. the couple became suspicious and called police a couple hours later. again, good news now, the baby's been re-united with the family. so iraq now. and four days before the country's parliamentary 29 people and wounded 42 others today in baqubah. police say as the victims from the first two explosions were being taken to a hospital, a third bomber walked up to the building and self-detonated. cnn's arwa damon is live in baghdad this morning with how the u.s. military is preparing iraq's security forces to contend with potential election violence. good morning to you, arwa. >> reporter: good morning, fredricka. let's just start by recapping this morning's violence. because it does tie in to the specific training that iraqi security forces are receiving from the u.s. military. now the first explosion, the suicide car bomber detonated, he appeared to have been targeting a government institution and an iraqi police station. then just two minutes later, the second suicide car bomb detonates. that happening in the center of the city, the city of baqubah. the target there appears to have been either a political office belonging to one of the parties here, or the local government headquarters. and then, as you just mentioned, an hour later, when all of the victims were being rushed to the hospital, a third suicide bomber walked inside and detonated. now the u.s. military has been trying to train the iraqi security forces to try to help prevent these types of attacks from taking place. in the lead-up to these elections, and of course on election day itself. the reality though is that there is no exact way that can fully prevent these types of attacks from happening. there isn't the technology out there that exists. according to the u.s. military, that can accurately and consistently detect explosives, especially in the type of an open-air environment like the one that we have here in iraq. a lot of the training that the u.s. military's focusing on with the iraqis isn't just trying to prevent these attacks, but also trying to manage the situation after these attacks take place. by that, i mean they're trying to give them medical training so that the iraqi security forces who are often either already on the scene or first responders to the scene can at least save as many lives as they possibly can. >> so arwa, president obama has promised a pull-out by 2011. i'm wondering how these elections might impact that date. >> reporter: well, fredricka, these elections play directly into that date. we already have under 100,000 u.s. troops in country. that drawdown, if we stick to the current time line, is supposed to continue so that by the end of august, there are only 50,000 u.s. troops in iraq. general odierno is expected to make a recommendation about that in the next few months. here's how the elections play in to it. there are great concerns about post-election violence, because first of all, these elections are going to determine if iraq stays on this path of democracy, if you want to call it that, or if it turns and becomes more of a conservative fundamental, and to a certain degree anti-american state. there are also a number of parties that aren't part of the current political process, and they're saying that if the government that emerges from these elections as sectarian as this one, there is going to be even more violence. >> arwa damon, thanks for that update. now to this terrible situation in uganda. rescuers today are using hand tools to dig through rivers of mud that bury people alive. massive landslides wiped out several villages on monday. more than 100 bodies have been recovered. some of them from a hospital and a church where people actually ran to seek shelter. hundreds of people are missing. fredricka, the monsoon season, rainy season, is just about to start. they're just getting into it but that area very close to an area that's been deforested. as you know, that's always a problem with mudslides. >> really is terrible. talk about precipitation, we're getting a lot of it, too, in the southeast. certainly not of that magnitude but we are getting hit nonetheless. >> there was some snow, now a mixture of rain and snow. speaking of rain, our shot from norfolk where they had temperatures still have temperatures in the mid-30s. winds blowing 30, 35 miles an hour and it is raining with some snow mixed in. if that's not a rez pcipe for misery, i don't know what is. snow that did accumulate in some of the major cities from the southeast up the appalachians and eastern seaboard through the carolinas, now through the delmarva, most of the accumulations have been on the sides of the roads and secondary roadways and also across rooftops. these winds are intense. but instead of heading this way like our last blizzard did across the northeast and just staying there, this one's taking your more favored, more typical path. that's off to the east and northeast. that's the good news with this. but it is kind of hanging around to the point where we do have some winds that are rotating around this system and as it does so, a little bit of delays. we do have a weather delay in philadelphia. we expect more in the way of delays across, say, boston and new york metropolitan airport. philadelphia about an hour delay. san francisco also seeing a delay. i expect those to increase because of the rain and thunderstorms out there. pretty decent storm coming into the west coast today. let's talk about that. this is one coming in now. there will be another one coming i think friday into saturday. you're getting into a bit of a wet pattern. rain at the lower elevations and snow at the higher elevations in through the northern sierra. at this point we might not expect to see a tremendous amount of snow but a decent amount of rain in places like san francisco. if you're going to the bay area, be aware of that. temperatures in the mid-50s. 61 in dallas. remember they just had a record-setting snow season. but temperatures beginning to try to warm up. fredricka, we'll look for a bit of a warm-up as we head toward the weekend. >> maybe something called spring is on the way. >> it's trying. >> wouldn't that be nice? >> i wouldn't bet the bank it will arrive on time. let's get through this month, then we'll talk more about spring. >> this has been a long haul after winter for everybody across this country. thanks so much, rob. appreciate that. we'll be right back. 90 seconds with top stories. welcome back. i'm fredricka whitfield. a look at our top stories, that's congressman charlie rangel early this morning making an announcement that he is temporarily stepping aside as chairman of the house ways and means committee as the ethics committee continues its investigation. he sent a letter to house speaker nancy pelosi. kentucky's embattled senator, jim bunning, blinks in his obstruction to allowing emergency funding for unemployment benefits. bunning's big objection was there was no funding mechanism he says to support the measure but he ended his filibuster late last night. u.s. defense secretary robert gates takes one small step closer in allows gays to serve openly in the u.s. military. he's commissioning a study that will focus on the implications of repeeling the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy for homosexuals. the topic and planned study goes before the house armed services committee today. the report is due december 1st. one earthquake but two tragedies. karl penhaul takes us to quake-ravaged and tsunami-battered chilean coast in search of a fishing village. today that today is little more than a memory. we should know in a few hours the fate of the two remaining u.s. missionaries being held in haiti. a port-au-prince judge says he will decide whether to release the two women or keep them in jail indefinitely. last month the judge released eight other members of the group. he held the remaining two so that he could learn about their motives. the group was arrested for child kidnapping. they say they were trying to get the young earthquake survivors to a safe place. to chile now where four days after the massive earthquake, the death toll is still rising. here's what we know -- nearly 800 dead. that's according to chile's outgoing president. she's promising law and order in the disaster zone amid growing reports of looting in the central and southern regions of that country. 13,000 chilean troops have been dispatched to quell the lawlessness as the nation still rumbles with at least a dozen aftershocks reported in the past day alone. and as if the quake wasn't damaging enough, residents of the fishing village known as decado were dealt a double dose of destruction. tsunamis spawned from the skwak slamming ashore and leaving little more than utter annihilation. cnn's karl penhaul has the story. >> reporter: from the shorelines, or from the high ground, the coastal town looks the same. almost total destruction. "this is a catastrophe. this was a great tourist and fishing community. now it's like firewood," he says. this was the scene shot by amateur videographers minutes after three tsunami waves swept away people and their homes. witnesses say the waves rolled in five meters, or 15 feet high, shortly after the quake. you can make out a house roof floating off, and the town's center flooded. now, that same area is dry. fishing boats drag more than two miles from their moorings by the tsunami. rescue workers comb the sludge and debris for bodies. "we're combing the wreckage by following the path the waves took as they swept in to the town," he says. then the earth begins to heave -- again. there's just been an aftershock and the leader of the firefighters has called for his men to suspend their search and head to what he calls the security zone. police in this town of 5,500 confirmed people are still missing. survivors struggle to come to terms with what hit him. this 68-year-old woman takes us down to violet street. her house was a block away on petunia street. now there's nothing to go home to. she tells me when the quake struck, she ran out in her night did t nightclothes. her neighbor's house withstood the shaking but they were too old and frail to outrun the waves. they died. karl penhaul, cnn, dichato, chile. perhaps you're compelled to help. cnn wants to help you impact your world. go to cnn.com and go to the impact your world section. the way to help both the quake victims of haiti and chile, there is a lot of advice right there, impact your world on cnn.com. on wall street, investors made it three in a row yesterday. but just barely. stephanie elam is in new york with a look at whether the games are likely to continue today. hi, stephanie. >> hi, fred. well at this point we are looking for a flat open after a closely watched report on the jobs market came out. payroll processing firm adp says 20,000 jobs in the private sector were lost in february. that's the smallest number of cuts in two years. we'll get the government's monthly report on jobs, that will be on friday. but i can tell you this -- we will see more job cuts coming from the u.s. postal service. the agency's proposing a workforce reduction of 30,000 positions but unlike corporate america, the uspa is ns is not d to lay off workers. instead the postal service must do most of the cuts through retirement and attrition. the postal service expects to lose nearly $8 billion this year and is asking congress to cut saturday mail delivery as well. the nation's biggest student loan company is jumping into retail banking. sal s sallie mae is launching a program to strengthen its balance sheet, entering a highly competitive sector though. that's the opening bell. we were looking for a pretty flat opening. futures are just slightly higher today. news out of greece could help lift some of the sentiment today. the debt-ridden nation's really had a plan to cut costs by more than $6 billion. something it really needed to do. trying to see if we can get early numbers here going for you. the dow is up six points at this time. not really a big mover and shaker to start the day. we'll keep our eyes on it, fred. >> the day is young, as they say. all right, stephanie elam, appreciate that. thank you. we all know the numbers. a college degree will pay for itself many times over. but does it matter which school you graduate from? we'll look at the hidden value of a sheepskin. sir? finding everything okay? i work for a different insurance company. my auto policy's just getting a little too expensive. with progressive, you get the "name your price" option, so we build a policy to fit your budget. wow! the price gun. ♪ ah! wish we had this. we'd just tell people what to pay. yeah, we're the only ones that do. i love your insurance! bill? tom? hey! it's an office party! the freedom to name your price. only from progressive. call or click today. toyota's well publicized problems with sudden acceleration are slamming the brakes on vehicle sales. toyota reporting a 9% drop in february sales. the stall applies for nearly all but one of the car models -- the prius, which despite being part of the recent recall is enjoying a 10% uptick in sales. meanwhile, ford motor company's sales hit a new gear last month, up 43%. much of the increase attributed to big purchases from car rental companies. and another recall to tell you about, this time nissan. nissan is recalling more than 530,000 vehicles to fix potential brake and fuel gauge problems. the vehicles with potential brake pedal problems are the 2008 through 2010 nissan titan pick-ups, armada suvs, quest minivans. and also the 2005 through 2008 titan, armada. plus the front ier pick-ups and pathfinder, xtera. it is a question that's dogged high school students for years. will the blood, sweat and massive tuition costs of a prestigious college really pay off down the road? cnn's christine romans has been crunching the numbers and has some pretty revealing answers for us. christine? >> it can pay off for you if you focus in the right places. 3 million kids in the class of 2010 have taken the s.a.t. aca.c.t. we checked out the colleges that seem to pay off, fredricka. you might not be able to afford all of these, or get into this. just for argument's sake -- dartmouth college grads median mid-career salary, $129,000. m.i.t., harvard, harvey mud, stanford. also on the top of the list, notre dame, penn, princeton. the big prestigious schools you probably heard of. let's talk about the degrees that pay off. engineering really dominates this list. my poor dad, he really wanted an engineer. he didn't get any engineers. aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, these are mid-career median salaries above $100,000. economics up there at $101,000. these are all numbers from payscale.com. other surveys have shown a lot of interest in the next ten years or so for statisticians, for actuaries. anything about numbers and data will be incredibly important as we go forward. i guess you could hum in your mind "mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys" but insert "liberal arts majors." some of these pay less than the median american salary. the highest paid english majors, if you're curious, english majors out there, they tend to be technical writers. they do much better than average. political scientists, the political scientists that are paid the best tend to be intelligence analysts. come on, i'm not saying dump the liberal arts degree. a broad liberal arts education is important. everyone needs to know a little bit of everything. but just in terms of the degree that you come up with, engineering, math, numbers, that seems to be the thing that's paying off for people right about now. and also one last point. >> yeah. >> 4.9% unemployment for people with an undergraduate degree. 4.9%. here we are agonizing over 10% unemployment in this country. even though we don't know how we'll pay for it, it is expensive, there is a buffer from that college degree. if you have a college degree, your unemployment rate is much lower than the general population. so so something important to remember as you try to figure out how to pay for college. >> hopefully junior high and high school kids are paying attention and maybe reshifting their focus as they think about their four-year college plans. >> everyone's moving into senioritis. how hard is it to explain them, you need to be an aerospace engineer, mr. 18-year-old. get moving on that. >> that need to be paying attention to you, quite simply. christine romans, thanks so much. one second on the clock. one last hope on the court. it is an amazing video that you'll want to see again and again -- and again and again. 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dad's got a business, mom stays home with the kids. then one day, they all just vanish. in just that fast, a change. rapper lil wayne will not be sentence dad on a gun possession charge. his sentencing was called off yesterday after fire broke out in the new york courthouse. eight people had minor injuries. lil wayne is expected to get a year in jail. let's shift gears now from a college campus to a high school basketball court. get ready to be simply amazed. no joke. just less than a second on the clock, in rochester, new york when the high school player simply let it fly. the shot from beyond half-court not only beat the buzzer -- you see right there? yeah, it won the game. >> nice work. that will win you a game. >> have you ever had a moment like that, rob, where you just kind of save the day and everyone went crazy and cheered and lost their pants over it? >> what? >> or their minds. you know i'm just thinking sport stuff. you know. >> exactly. to answer your question, fredricka, i have never made a half-court shot with a game on the line. >> i don't know what that feeling's like. it's fun to watch. >> all right. let's talk about what's going on around the northeast. you definitely want to keep them on here, because it is kind of chilly, boston, new york, rain/snow mix here. i think eastern parts of new england, including boston, down south toward newport, rhode island, the cape will see a fair a wet snow today. but as far as it being a winter warning, winter storm warning, we're not really looking at that. back through philly it is filtering through. a problem spot back toward virginia beach. the low is right here. it is slowly moving that way and what it's doing behind this is creating a little bit of rain and wind and winds have been gusting over 30 miles an hour in spots. right now about 30 miles an hour there north-northwest winds. you kind of see as the storm moves off to the northeast those winds are going to shift from the north to the northwest and pretty gusty and kind of wet and a little bit on the miserable side there today because of the wind and the rain. how much are we expecting to accumulate today? computer models just slowing the cape. where we see the accumulations yesterday across the southeast, check out some of these numbers. scaly mountain, north carolina, 11.3. parts of georgia, eight, nine inches. major metropolitan areas seeing just enough snow to wet the roadways and maybe some of the suburbs seeing snow pile up on the roads. but this time of year, getting tough to stick. one hour five minutes delays in philadelphia. in san francisco, 25-minute delays because of this storm rolling into central and soe southern california. heavy rain across parts of the bay area. maybe some claps of thunder involved in this storm coming into the west coast. this is the first of two that will come in. the second one coming in friday. but look at the big blue "h" here. this is going to start to try to get some warmer air in the midsection of the country, then slide off to the north. maybe just give us a little bit of a glimpse at spring -- or what looks like spring. briefly. this weekend. you have that to look forward to, fredricka. >> that would be nice. i forget what spring feels like, what any kind of warmth feels like. i've been like cold to the bone all winter long. rob, thank you. three reasons now why march 3rd is a day to remember. it's the day president lincoln approved the charter for the national academy of sciences. that was in 1863. march 3rd, 1933, mt. rushmore is dedicated. stone face for 77 years now. in 1931, cab callaway and his orchestra record "minnie the moocher." became the first album to sell a million copies. just to make phone calls. but when at&t or verizon offer you an unlimited plan for $69.99, that's all it's good for -- phone calls. with sprint, for the same price, you get unlimited text, unlimited web and unlimited calling to every mobile phone in america. now, that's more like it. 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(general) remember omnaris! ask your doctor. in the battle against nasal allergy symptoms, omnaris combats the cause. all right, the first lady is in mississippi today pushing her plan to get kids in shape. it's called the let's move campaign. but if kids are eating a bunch of junk at school, a lot of that moving might be for nothing. the stimulus is helping out there, making school lunches healthier. our stimulus desk guru, josh levs, is here to explain it all. >> reporter: i got a new title there, fred. there are a lot of kids eating junk, we know this. this is a real problem. since the first lady is going there today, we want to look at how much money that school district is jackson, mississippi, is getting. check out this figure, $34 million to this one school district. the thing is as you look at that, it's actually not really shocking because a lot of people don't realize this but by far the biggest expenditure for jobs out of that stimulus pile is for education. it's for teachers going into schools. so 34 mil to that district. take a look at this figure, $188,000 to buy double oven steamers and other things to make school lunches healthier. what they're doing is getting rid of some of the old deep fryers that a lot of food was going into. we have some pictures of what we're talking about. double evan steamers, a much healthier way to prepare mass quantities of food. you use this to make the food instead, kids have healthier options and ultimately they will be living healthier lives. this is just the kind of thing the first lady has been talking about, including recently at the national governors association. >> we can't forget, for example, the 31 million of our children participate in federal school meal programs, so we don't want to be in the position where we take one step forward with parents making good decisions but then we take two steps back when lunchtime rolls around at school and kids are faced with poor choices in the school cafeteria. >> reporter: fred, for us here at the stimulus desk, this is another good example of what we look at. there are all sorts of projects out there getting funding from hundreds of billions of dollars. in many cases it's a worthwhile project. the question for all americans to decide is what is appropriate use of stimulus fund and what's not. people can weigh in on either side of this one. >> so say your kid's school doesn't have a double steamer stove, as a parent what do you do to try and get improvements in your school's lunches? >> reporter: we were thinking about that. a lot of times people hear about one place and they think what about my kid. we'll take this computer behind me. the first web page you're seeing is our stimulus page, cnn.com/stimulus which i have open right here. but i have two pages that i want you to see. this is the first lady's program called let's move which talks to you about what she's doing to try to get healthier options all over the country. this is called the healthier u.s. school challenge. it talks you through what can be done. i've posted these links for you at my page. these are up for you. you can click on them at cnn.com/josh. they're also at my facebook page and my twitter, josh levs cnn. check them out for yourself. it talks you through what to do if you want to try to get your school involved and, fred, to get some federal support there. >> thanks so much. very helpful, josh, appreciate that. we've got a lot going on in the "cnn newsroom." here's what our reporters are working on for the next hour. we begin with white house correspondent suzanne malveaux. >> reporter: well, fred, aides say the president is moving into the final act. he's going to be talking about legislation, health care reform legislation that he wants to push forward and that he is embracing some republican proposals. we'll have more on that at the top of the hour. >> reporter: i'm sara sidener in concepcion chile. after five days the earthquake has stopped but the aftershocks keep rolling in. we'll give you an update on the destruction, the security situation after days of looting and the desperation still in this city. that's coming up in the next hour. >> reporter: and i'm susan candiotti in new york. a child directing planes at jfk? it's apparently on tape and the faa is investigating. i'll have a live report coming up. thanks to all of you ladies. we're also closely following the hour's breaking news with one of the nation's most powerful politicians temporarily stepping aside due to scandal. we're right back after this. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] all we ask is that you keep doing what you've always done. the lexus rx. never has a vehicle been designed to feel so natural. ♪ here's a story that simply boggles your mind. how could a family of four with strong roots in a community just simply vanish one day? now nearly one month later there's still no word on them. cnn's tom foreman reports. >> reporter: in a home video, joseph and summer mcstay and their boys appear just like any other middle class family, but this family has disappeared. what happened and where they went are now agonizing puzzles for friends and relatives, summer's mom among them. >> i love her and i want my family home safe. i want them to come home. >> reporter: their house in a suburb of san diego showed no signs of a break-in. joseph's younger brother, mike, went there when several days had passed with no contact from his sibling. >> there was no damage to any furniture, no blood, no violence, nothing broken. you know, no indication of a struggle. >> reporter: so what do authorities know? they know right up until the mcstays vanished on february 4th, everything was normal. summer tending to the children, joseph tending to his business selling decorative fountains. >> mr. mcstay had a lunch engagement with a worker and he actually had several phone conversations that day as well. >> reporter: they know fresh eggs were left on the counter. summer's prescription sunglasses too. the family's beloved dogs were left with no food or water. if the family had planned to go somewhere, why didn't joseph ask someone to look after his business. >> you know, they would contact my mom or a family member. they wouldn't leave the business in disarray. >> reporter: the family's vehicle was found abandoned blocks from the mexican border, but again, no signs of struggle, no clue who left it there. >> i originally thought that someone was holding them against their will. but there's been no ransom. and, you know, for him to just up and run and not tell anybody, it would have to be something pretty heavy. >> reporter: the mystery for many is twofold. not only are they wondering where this family is, but they're also asking how can a well-connected couple with two toddlers disappear from a busy neighborhood without anyone seeing anything. homicide detectives say the couple's past holds no clues as to why anyone would want to hurt them, and yet it's been almost a month since they were last seen. tom foreman, cnn. time to check some of our other top stories. those two u.s. missionaries still held in haiti could be free today or returned to jail indefinitely. a judge's decision is expected in the next few hours. the other eight missionaries in the group were freed last month. the group was arrested for trying to take 33 children out of the country without proper paperwork. and jacksonville police say a woman posing as a social worker kidnapped this baby right here. the weeks-old baby has found safe today and the suspect taken into custody. the baby was taken from the parents last night. authorities say the couple doesn't speak english well and the suspect had threatened to call police if they didn't give up the baby. we're an hour away from the start of a congressional tribute to the late john murtha. the long-time pennsylvania democrat passed away last month after suffering post-surgical complications. members of congress are about to begin filing into the statutary room where the memorial is to be held. murtha, a decorated veteran, often considered a war hawk, was one of the most influential critics of the iraq war. he was 77 years old. under fire and feeling the heat, just last hour charles rangel announced that he is temporarily stepping aside as chairman of a powerful tax writing committee. rangel has been plagued with allegations of ethical misconduct. let's get straight to our congressional correspondent, preanna -- brianna keilar for the latest. >> reporter: charles rangel said he is going to step aside for the time being while these ethics issues -- and it's really been a cloud of suspicion regarding some of these ethics issues hanging over him, he'll step aside until those are resolved. on friday he was admonished by the house ethics committee for breaking house gift rules, for travel that he accepted in 2007 and 2008 to the caribbean. travel that as it turned out was corporate sponsored. he has been facing a tremendous amount of pressure here in recent days from democrats, and what we've seen prior to this, as he's been under this cloud of suspicion with ethics issues over the past several months, that he had enjoyed some of the support of democrats, particularly house speaker nancy pelosi, but in recent days that support has been waning. and today republicans were planning to force a very tough vote on a resolution that would have said rangel needed to step aside. so in light of that, he came out this morning and made this announcement. take a listen. >> in order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, i have this morning sent a letter to speaker pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work. >> reporter: and he submitted a letter that was distributed to members of the media. i think we actually have a graphic of that so that you can see the letter. now there are a whole number of questions. who would replace mr. rangel in this interim as the head of the powerful committee, the house ways and means committee, which deals with a number of very important issues. is this going to be enough for republicans that he steps aside only temporarily and not permanently. as i said, rangel had enjoyed a lot of support from house speaker nancy pelosi but last night after she met with rangel, we asked her just how much support he still had, was he going to step aside and she said no comment. it was clear starting last night that he was facing some pressure from leadership to step aside. this is a huge issue for them because house speaker nancy pelosi when democrats swept control of the congress, she said she was going to run the most ethical congress in history and this has really been a stain on that with all of these suspicions around congressman rangel, fred. >> so at what stage is the ethics committee in its investigation, because he made it very clear until they had completed their probe. >> reporter: you know, we don't know. we do know he was admonished on friday for breaking house gift rules, but we certainly know only sketchy details because the ethics committee is quite secretive in the way it operates. we know that they are looking at him for a number of things, but perhaps the largest one, fred, has to do with the fact that he did not pay taxes on earnings he got from a rental property that he owns in the dominican republic. this is a huge issue for him because, you know, at least he was the chairman of the ways and means committee. this is the committee that deals with taxes and he didn't pay taxes. that's a huge issue. this is also the committee that deals with entitlement programs, medicare, medicaid. a huge role that charlie rangel had played in health care on the house side up until now that he would have continued to play and also in the jobs bill that congress is dealing with right now. this is perhaps the most powerful chairmanship or one of the most powerful chairmanships in all of the house of representatives, fred. >> brianna keilar on capitol hill, thanks so much. the presidential push for health care reform. a few hours from now president obama will unveil his latest health care bill and it's considered a last-ditch effort to create a bipartisan measure, but it's not expected to win any support from republicans. that opposition is expected to be unanimous. instead the revisions appear aimed at calming the nerves of moderate democrats. time is running out. democratic leaders want to push the overhaul through congress before the end of this month. so let's get the latest now from the white house and cnn's suzanne malveaux. >> reporter: fred, we're learning some new details about what this statement is going to be about. it's going to be about 15 minutes in length or so. i'm told the president is still tinkering on the language making some last-minute changes but there are not going to be any major bombshells. it's going to be very similar to what we've heard from the president before talking about the need for health care reform. the cost if nothing gets done. he's also going to throw out an olive branch to republicans saying remember that bipartisan health care summit that happened, i was listening to you, there are some proposal that say i like that i'm willing to take a look at and endorse. some of those things, fred, he's going to mention. taking on fraudulent medical charges. he's also going to talk about new funding for resolving malpractice disputes, increasing doctors' medicaid reimbursements and finally offering tax incentives to help curb doctors' appointments. these are the kinds of things he's spoken about in the past in terms of eliminating waste and fraud and being financially fiscally responsible. those are the things he's reaching out to republicans saying, look, i'm willing to sign off on some of these things, but clearly this is not the piecemeal kind of bill, this is not starting over, this is a comprehensive health care reform legislation that he is going to be pushing democrats to get something done, fred. >> so while the president and the white house is not necessarily expecting republicans will vote for this, he is, the president is saying i've got some republican measures in here and the hope is to push forward on some sort of reconciliation vote on capitol hill, right? >> reporter: you're absolutely not. he's not going to mention the word "reconciliation." as you know, it's a very controversial procedure and would only require a majority in the senate, not a super majority, but he is going to say up or down vote which is simply code for reconciliation. he's going to talk about democrats, i want you to move through this, get this thing done quickly. this is important so that we can move on and talk about jobs and the economy, that it's all connected, it's all related. on the one hand he's going to try to show that he's appealing to the republicans, but on the other hand he is really trying to get political cover for those moderate democrats. >> thanks so much from the white house. we'll have live coverage of president obama's of his unveiling of his health care package. that's scheduled to get under way at 1:45 eastern time today. senator bunning budged. now jobless americans have their benefits extension and some government employees can get back to work. the retiring republican from kentucky had been a one-man no-show. he blocked the $10 billion emergency measure. he said it should be paid for, not passed down. >> we must get our debt problems under control and there is no better time than now. that is why i've been down here demanding that this bill be paid for. >> the senate vote to pass the measure -- voted, rather, to pass the measure by a 78-19 vote. so one argument we heard during that whole drama was about health insurance and how much a monthly premium eats out of an unemployment check. 30%? 80%? well, just how big a chunk are we talking about here? coming up later on this hour, our cnn fact checkers do the math and keep the politicians honest. and would you be willing to give up your job so a co-worker could keep hers or his? that's what one woman has actually done. talk about taking one for the team. the city of lathrop, california, has really been hurting financially and city leaders were going to layoff 11 people. that's when patricia overy stepped up and gave up her job. she has four kids. her husband works for the city of tracy and it was in the news recently they plan to charge residents for certain emergency calls. which brings us to today's blog question. would you give up your job for a co-worker who needs one perhaps more than you? go to cnn.com/fredricka and let us know. i'll read some of your responses on the air later on this hour. chile's president says looting will simply not be tolerated. armed soldiers are there to enforce the order. purina tidy cats scoop helps neutralize odors in multiple 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[ female announcer ] new moisture wrap body lotion. neutrogena skin care. #1 dermatologist recommended. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. chile's outgoing president is promising law and order in the disaster zone. there are growing reports of looting in the central and southern regions of the country after the quake. sara sidner joins us now from concepcion with more on that story. sara? >> reporter: well, fredricka, things have changed quite a bit in the past 24 hours because the military came here en masse and created an 18-hour per day curfew after days of looting and chaos here in the city of concepcion. the fast click of hooves on pavement, a sound that signals trouble on the streets of concepcion. just around the corner, the trouble comes into focus. three young men face down on the pavement, their hands filled with packs of pills from a pharmacy that has been closed for days. soldiers jammed guns in their backs and tell them not to move. suddenly another call to duty. >> the people is crazy. the people take everything and things that don't need -- i don't know my people. >> reporter: felipe works in concepcion's damaged downtown business district. from what we can see, about 10% of the stores appear to have been looted. he is not alone when he says the military is here in force now, but did not arrive fast enough. >> yesterday it was kind of rough because there were riots on the street, people getting into supermarkets and taking things off, but today we are -- they are more controlled because of the military forces. >> reporter: the military isn't the only force trying to restore order in this earthquake-shaken town. citizens are trying to protect their own property and their streets with whatever they have around. >> we had to defend ourselves, and we had places barricaded here and started to control traffic and everything just to protect ourselves. >> reporter: besides the homemade blockades on their streets, citizen patrols are carryinging hand made batons and other weapons. with no electricity for days, there's a growing fear of being robbed or worse. i'm afraid for my children. there was a moment when this was no man's land. this place was like the wild, wild west. but on day four after the quake in their suburb, a promise from the military to take over securing the area. in the city center, soldiers have already calmed things down, especially since they cleared the streets with a curfew that begins at dusk and doesn't end until high noon the next day. the military is dealing with security, but there is still a sense of desperation in this city because in most homes there is no running water, no electricity and gasoline for their cars is scarce. >> so, sara, of course communication is still impaired. i understand a lot of relatives who are state side trying to reach people in chile are having a difficult time. what are you hearing? >> reporter: that is true, the u.s. embassy says that there are about a thousand people from the united states who actually live here in concepcion and the surrounding areas and because communication is so difficult, family members just can't get in touch with them. they're urging family members to contact the embassy. they are trying to get in touch with people and trying to link families together. i spoke with an american girl yesterday and she used my blackberry to send her mom an e-mail and her mom is obviously grateful that she heard from her daughter. >> thanks so much, sara sidner, appreciate that from concepcion. here in this country a child directing traffic at one of the country's busiest airports. as bizarre as it sounds, the faa is now looking into it. we have the audio tapes and a lot of questions. cnn's susan candiotti is following this story for us as well. susan? >> reporter: hi, fredricka. talk about a head scratcher. this is stunning news about an investigation into an incident that apparently happened on february 17th. according to a source that is familiar with the investigation, has knowledge of it, says that a parent brought his child to work and allowed him to talk on the radio. now, you're about to hear a tape and you're about to hear two different pilots talking with this child. one pilot is from jetblue, one is from aero mexico and this child is talking to these pilots as they're about to take off. listen to this. >> jet blue 171, cleared for takeoff. >> cleared for takeoff, jet blue 171. >> let me see. 403 kennedy, position on hold. this is what you get guys when the kids are out of school. >> could bring my kid to work. >> jet blue 171 contact departure. >> over to departure, jet blue 171, awesome job. >> zero three, cleared for takeoff. 403 cleared for take off. thank you very much. you have a great day. 'position hold. jet blue 195. >> mx 403 contact departure and hold. >> contact departure, adios. >> jet blue 195. >> cleared for takeoff. >> adios, amigos. >> adios, amigos, over to departure, jet blue 195. >> this same source says professionally this is not the kind of thing that is supposed to happen. there was a second controller in the tower at the time who was in charge and should not have let this happen. we have reaction from the faa, the federal aviation administration, and here's what they are saying about this. quote, pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic. this behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all faa employees. and we've also heard from the air traffic controllers association also saying that they do not condone this type of behavior, as they put it, and it was it is indicative, according to a statement, of the highest professional standards that controllers set for themselves and exceed each and every day in the advancement of aviation safety. so we also, however, heard from the owner of a website called liveatc.com and he says that all of this is being, quote, blown out of proportion and called the fuss just ridiculous. the faa, however, clearly is not amused and the two people -- at least the two people who were involved in this alleged incident have been given desk jobs until the investigation is complete. fredricka. >> all right, susan candiotti in new york, thanks so much. well, it's the last thing new parents need, but it's one of the first things they get. the hospital maternity bill chockful of waste for mom and dad and that special delivery. 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[ female announcer ] splenda®. america's favorite no calorie sweetener. who's not answering. announcer: there's a better way. intuit quickbooks online p9 organizes your business in one place, and helps you stay on top of your business anytime, anywhere. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. all this week we've been taking a hard look at some of the wasteful spending that inflates all of our health care costs. some new parents getting their pricey bills on that special delivery. among them, cnn medical correspondent elizabeth cohen here. no one likes to see that bill. >> no, it's scary. after giving bill you get this -- it's incredible, it's incredible. well, cutting down on how much it costs to deliver babies is just one thing a hospital in utah is doing to do its share to cut down on health care costs. we're here at intermountain medical center in murray, utah, where hailey nelson is about to have a baby. how's the labor going? >> it's going well. >> reporter: any pains yet? >> no. >> reporter: the epidural kicked in? >> yep. >> reporter: i want to say something that's going to sound a little bit crass but how hailey has this baby affects my pocketbook and yours too. let me explain. i'm here at intermountain with dr. brent james, who's the chief quality officer. it looks like hailey is doing well in there. >> very well. i think in about an hour we'll have another citizen of the state of utah. >> reporter: here at intermountain you are very focused on not wasting money. can you take me on a little tour of the hospital and show me how you do it? >> i'd be delighted. >> reporter: you found you had a lot of ct scans that were unnecessary, wasting money. how much did you save when you stopped doing repetitive scans. >> we dropped the total number by about 20%. it would have been measured in the tens of millions of dollars. and it's not just ct scans, it's other imaging exams. >> reporter: and here's another way intermountain saves money and it's so much cuter than an mri. here at this hospital, two out of every ten babies are born via cesarean section. the national average at hospitals around the country are three out of every ten are born by c-section. you might think, okay, one extra baby by c-section, what's the difference. well, a c-section costs about $2,000 more than a vaginal birth. so if you do the math, if every hospital in the country had statistics like this hospital, the nation would save about a billion dollars. so by instituting all of these changes to get rid of waste, how much money are you saving? >> we estimate that we're saving a minimum of about $150 million per year. >> reporter: that's a lot of money. so why can't all hospital do so this? >> frankly, they can. >> reporter: i've got to tell you, it makes me a little bit nervous when i hear that hospitals are are trying to save money, because i want you to spend money on me when i'm sick. so you're saving all this money but are you delivering good care? >> it turns out that in almost all circumstances better care is cheaper care. >> reporter: how could better care be cheaper care. >> well, you avoid the complications. we have a great way of saying it. the best patient outcome at the lowest necessary cost. >> reporter: so dr. james, i'm going to go check on hailey now. >> wonderful. >> reporter: so congratulations, hailey. >> thank you. >> reporter: she's beautiful. >> thank you. we think so too. >> reporter: so she was not born by c-section. >> no. >> reporter: so she saved everyone a little bit of money, huh? >> that's a good way to look at it, huh. >> oh, congrats. that's beautiful. so if it's so simple in terms of cost-cutting measures at a hospital, how come a bunch of hospitals aren't doing that? >> reporter: because you have to make a whole culture change. you have to tell obstetricians stop doing so many c-sections and obstetricians do so many c-sections for various reasons. different people have different accounts for those reasons but you have to get doctors to change the way they practice. you have to get hospitals to change the way they do things. that is very, very difficult to do. also when a hospital cuts costs, it costs them money. in other words, hospitals that do a lot of ct scans, they get paid for those ct scans so to tell a hospital stop doing so many ct scans, they have repetitive, you don't need to do them, they lose money so why would a hospital do something to maybe themselves lose money. that's a tough thing to convince them of. >> i can really identify with your question you were asking, wait a minute, if i'm sick and i'm a patient, i want to know that you're spending as much as possible on me. >> well, what the doctor responded is that spending a lot doesn't necessarily mean good care. i'll give you an example. let's say your grandmother is on a ventilator and the whole point is you want your grandma off that ventilator as soon as possible. keeping her on is going to cost a lot of money. the more time you are on a ventilator, the more likely you are to get a terrible infection. so there's an example where you could keep grandma on the ventilator for four or five days but if you take steps to get her off, you save money and it's healthier because she is less likely to get an infection. >> and if i have insurance, i want to know that they're exhausting all measures, you know, all tests, you're using every bit of apparatus on me. >> but sometimes using every bit of apparatus is not necessarily a good thing. apparatus can kill. we also say do the most, do the most. well, doing the most sometimes isn't the best thing. for example, being on a ventilator for a long time, it could also give grandma an infection so more is not necessarily always better. >> less is more. >> sometimes, yes. >> elizabeth cohen, thanks so much. appreciate that. all right. a controversy brewing over the ft. hood case. the army is accused of favoring military prosecutors over the civilian defense attorney. ♪ [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole. and that's good because the competition's steep today. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air.™ just to make phone calls. but when at&t or verizon offer you an unlimited plan for $69.99, that's all it's good for -- phone calls. with sprint, for the same price, you get unlimited text, unlimited web and unlimited calling to every mobile phone in america. now, that's more like it. [ male announcer ] $69.99 for unlimited text, web and calling to any mobile in america. only from sprint. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. oh sure, we have plenty of employees that... you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do. visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force. let's go with the ah... basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose your service, choose your savings. like an oil change for just $19.95. meineke. this story just in that we continue to watch. you're looking at live pictures right now thanks to our affiliate wdiv out of detroit. why? because there was an explosion at a school, a school that's k through 8. phoenix multi-cultural school in detroit's southwest side. we understand that some sort of explosive device detonated inside of the bidding. we understand that this device was made of household cleaning chemicals. it exploded in the hallway of the building at about 8:30 a.m. most of the students, this is a school with a student body of 540 students. most of them were in various classrooms. no one was reported injured, but we do understand that a 14-year-old student has been taken into police custody. and while all the students were evacuated from the school as a result of the explosion, many of them have been bussed to roberto clemente school so for any parents watching this from that area, that is the location where you'll be picking up your kids at the end of the school day. the roberto clemente school. but the explosion taking place at the phoenix multi-cultural school early this morning. again, no reported injuries, but one 14-year-old student is now actually in police custody. more on that story as we get any more information. meantime the u.s. army is being accused of operating under a double standard in the ft. hood shooting massacre. you may recall the case. army psychiatrist major nidal hasan is accused of killing people last november. last week they began making some of the evidence available to hasan's civilian attorney. that attorney says the military judge issued a gag order for bidding him from divulging information from the evidence but he claims there is no gag order for the army prosecutors. now he has started a blog to state his case, so let's talk about all of this with eugene bidel, president of the national institute of military justice. good to see you. >> good morning. >> so i wonder does this attorney have a point that it's unusual that a gag order would be imposed on just the defense and it's not being imposed on the prosecutors? do we know that for sure? >> well, we only have colonel galligan's word for it. i'm assuming that is an accurate account. it is surprising that there would be a unilateral gag order. ordinarily the only way i would expect that to happen would be if someone in a position of authority felt that he had been speaking out of school in ways that got in the way of the administration of justice. i think we need to know a lot more about why the gag order was issued and until that happens, i think people should sort of hold the phone. he has, however, been very vocal both i believe in interviews, but more significantly, as you mentioned, by using a website to get across the point he's concerned about. >> and apparently he's using this website as a result of the gag order and not being privy to all the evidence. so if there's a gag order in place, partial or a full throttle one, wouldn't his blog be in violation of that? he's talking about the case. >> well, it could be if there were anything on the blog that actually went over the line set by the gag order. i looked at the blog and it didn't strike me that there was anything in there that violated the confidentiality of documents that had been proud to him. i think he's aware that that would be playing with fire to violate -- >> as you're talking we're looking at images of john galligan as you speak in some file tape. yeah, he would know the rules but is this just his way, perhaps, of just kind of bringing attention to the fact that there is this disparity of evidence that is being shared? >> well, certainly on the face of it, the imbalance is disturbing. i think somebody probably ought to take a look at that. but the fact that he is attracting attention here and elsewhere shows that he does have a sense of how communications are conducted in the 21st century. he's obviously somewhat of a digital techie and i think that's to his credit. on the other hand, i think it's the rare case that actually benefits from being tried in the press and personally i would caution against that. >> what did you read on the blog? what caught your attention? >> oh, they were really quite innocuous things. he's giving his account of how this case looks from his perspective. it didn't seem to me that there was anything particularly interesting on the blog. i don't think there will be a lot of hits on it. >> okay. eugene fidell, professor at yale law school, thanks so much for your time. appreciate that. >> it's my privilege. just the facts, ma'am. you've heard the claims. we find the truth. cnn's fact check desk weighs in on the real health care costs for unemployed americans. 's ell. hey, mayor white. how you doing? great. come on in. would you like to see our new police department? yeah, all right. this way. and here it is. completely networked. so, anything happening, suz? she's all good. oh, my gosh. is that my car? [ whirring ] [ female announcer ] the new community. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco. decisions, decisions. which beneful prepared meal 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. to be a great dad is the most important job in a man's life, but it doesn't have to be hard. all it takes is a few minutes of your time. because the smallest moments can have the biggest impact on a child'life. absolutely using my old social security number. a look at our top stories right now. at any moment we are expecting to hear the status of those american missionaries still being held in haiti. a judge is expected to decide today whether laura silsby and charisa coulter will be freed or if they will remain in custody and face possible trial in haiti. the women were part of a ten-person group from idaho accused of kidnapping. the group says they were trying to relocate young earth wake victims to an orphanage in the dominican republic when they were arrested. and mom caught a man in her daughter's bedroom and held a gun on him until police showed up. well, police say the suspect came from ohio to alabama for sex with the 14-year-old girl. investigators believe the two actually met over the internet. >> we're hoping that parents take the time to have these discussions with their kids and protect them from what's out there. they're three clicks away from chances are you don't want them to be. >> well, the man now faces several sexual-related charges against a minor. a congressional tribute to the late john murtha begin tess top of the hour. the long-time pennsylvania democrat passed away last month after suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. members of congress are about to begin filing into the room where the memorial will be held. murtha, a decorated veteran, often considered a war hawk, was one of the most influential critics of the iraq war. he was 77 years old. new numbers are out on the state of the labor market. 20,000 jobs were lost last month. only 20,000, that is. stephanie elam is in new york with details on that. stephanie, usually when we talk about job cuts, the numbers are much bigger. >> reporter: yeah, fred, that's why that only is key on this one because 20,000 is a far cry from the 700,000 we saw last year in a month that were lost. in fact we haven't seen job cuts this low in two years. if you take a look at this chart, it shows how far we've come and there is some hiring that is going on. the service sector added jobs last month and that's work like hotel and restaurant jobs. they make up the biggest part of the job market. manufacturers also added workers. only 3,000, but still, we haven't seen a rise in two years. but many economists expect the unemployment rate will rise to 9.8% on friday. analysts say it could be a few more months before hiring really picks up, and that's affecting life decisions for a lot of folks out there. career builder says nearly 75% of workers over 60 are delaying retirement. that's because they don't think they can afford it. that's obviously a really painful situation to be in. as for wall street, stocks modestly higher right now. the dow is up 46 points. 10,452. the nasdaq better by about a quarter of a percent at 2287. we'll keep our eyes on it, fred. >> stephanie elam, appreciate that, thank you. one argument we heard during the drama with senator bunning was about health insurance and how much a monthly premium gobbles up an unemployment check. so just how big a chunk are we talking about here? our fact checkers do the math and keep the politicians honest. suzanne simons is here to break it all down. if anyone has ever had cobra, they know, it's painful, it hurts. how much of the unemployment check is it gobbling up? >> when it comes to people who receive those benefits and pay for health care, let's listen to what she had to say and see if she's right. >> health care is often the single biggest cost that unemployed workers face. in fact you should know that on average a monthly health care premium payment to cover a family costs over $1,000. which represents about 80% of the average unemployment check. >> all right. so we wanted to know if she's right, right? because it seems how can people possibly survive on that. well, in fact here's what we found. the average monthly up employment check is about $1,333. that's what you're bringing home. the monthly cobra payment, remember cobra is for people who are on unemployment is between $1,111 and 1,137 for a family. >> oh, that's terrible. >> so if you're unemployed and on cobra, in fact your health care check is eating up about 80% of your money. now under the economic stimulus, you probably remember that there is a government subsidy that was passed to help offset that so about half of the people who are considered newly unemployed are able to get that subsidy and they pay just under $400 a month for their health insurance so that drops it down to just about 30% of that check. but still, by the time you add on your mortgage, your groceries, everything else, it eats it up pretty quickly. >> it helps a little but it's still quite significant. is there any feeling we might be moving in a direction where the number may shrink even more? >> well, i don't know about that. that may be a little hopeful. however, they did do an extension of that subsidy for the people getting it and that's going to help them out a little bit more. it was extended through last december to -- from 9 to 15 months so they were only able to get that help for nine months. now they can get it to 15. that's fogoing to help a little bit. cobra was just created to be a temporary thing so if you're looking long term and the economy doesn't turn around and more people don't go back to work, it's not going to help a lot. >> thanks for keeping the politicians honest and checking those facts for us as well. there are prospects for a good job and good life are bleak. they were destined to be sad statistics but a man and his plan changed everything. >> this right here is the sole reason why i'm employed. >> building up america. this is just another way that it's working. the one time of year red lobster creates so many irresistible ways to treat yourself to lobster. like our new wood-grilled lobster and shrimp with parmesan scampi... our succulent lobster lover's dream, with both sweet maine and buttery rock lobster tails... and eleven more choices, each served with a salad and our freshly-baked cheddar bay biscuits. come celebrate lobsterfest. right now at red lobster. ar horn honking. come celebrate lobsterfest. a short time ago, this woman suffered from limited mobility. a month ago this man wa0g't even able to get around h house. these are people who chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store. if you're living with limited mobility, call the scooter store today. i guarantee, no other company will work harder to make you mobile. if we qualify you and medicare denies your claim for a new power chair or scooter, i'll give it to you absolutely free. i expected they'd help me file some paperwork with medicare and my insurance. i never expected them to be so nice or to work so hard to get me a power chair at no cost to me. you don't qualify for medicare? no problem. we'll work with your insurance company, even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it. call the scooter store for free information today. call the number on your screen for free information. sheer genius taking the perceived dregs of society and making them productive and contributing members of the community. how in the heck does that happen? tom foreman goes deep into the heart of texas to show us one man's plan for building up america. >> reporter: out on the east edge of austin, rebuilding america starts with rebuilding lives. meet the latest class of the skill point alliance construction gateway. this is an invafb five-week program to turn the unemployable into the employed. >> this is a big deal to you? >> yes, a very good deal. this is the beginning of the rest of my life. >> i'm excited even though it's really intense. >> reporter: the target is individuals over the age of 18 who ought to be entering the workforce but who have little hope of doing so because they dropped out of school or wound up in jail or had some other problem. shawn gomez, for example, had been in and out of prison for robbery by the time he was 25. >> there was no work, it was nonexistent to me, people like myself. >> follow the basics and always do the basics right. everything else falls in place. >> reporter: but then he ran into sylvester who recruits students for the construction program, scouring homeless shelters and unemployment lines. >> i look for two things, a student that i feel will benefit from this and the second one, which is just as important, is an individual that is going to be a good employee. >> reporter: once in, they are taught the boot camp basics of construction work, showing up on time, doing what you're told, the language of tools and rules of building. all with the goal of helping not just them, but the broader community too. >> we need new people coming in the pipeline. one of the things that construction gateway does is that, fills the pipeline with entry level construction workers. >> reporter: people we absolutely need to economically and physically rebuild america. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> reporter: the result, close to 90% of construction gateway graduates who had little hope of a job before entering the program are employed within days of graduation, and they stay that way. how confident are you that you'll get employment once you leave here? >> 100%. >> reporter: it certainly worked for shawn. he has been on the job for seven years and is now a foreman on an electrical crew. >> this right here is the sole reason why i'm employed today. >> reporter: the program takes only 100 students a year, but that's 100 doing good work. good for them and good for their communities too. tom foreman, cnn, austin. so what if your company were laying off people? would you quit your so-called -- so that your so-called co-worker could stay? one woman in california did exactly that. would you take one for the team like she did? i've got a few of your answers. that changes today. i hear you're the clown in charge. so, cirque du soleil becomes... ...cirque du sun life. because soleil means sun.... (gibberish) i'll take that as a yes... sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial. caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix. protection that helps save lives. people with stomach ulcers or other conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, may affect how plavix works. tell your doctor all the medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. so in just a few hours we'll have live coverage of president obama's unveiling of his new health care package. that's scheduled to get under way at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. earlier in the show we told you about a california woman who volunteered to give up her job so that one of her more needy co-workers could keep hers. well, we interview this woman tomorrow on the show but first on today's blog we're asking whether you would ever do that, sacrifice your job so that someone else could stay in theirs. here's what some of you said. brenda says i was the only person employed in management who was not the sole earner in a family. the company was facing financial difficulty. i resigned my job so that every other person in my office would not have to take

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