>> yes, yes. >> will cain you were on tv working this weekend. >> still hasn't shaved. >> didn't have a chance. worked all weekend. >> you lie. we're not going to pretend to feel sorry for you. our "starting point," towns in the plains adding up the damage from a swarm of tornados that happened over the weekend. reports of more than 130 twisters that touched down over four states, many tornadoes happening in kansas, the community that may have been the hardest hit is in woodward, oklahoma, where five people were killed. >> i thought it was a train coming down the tracks over there and i looked out and i seen the funnel and i started running through the house creaming "marcia! marcia!" i mean loud, i was scared. >> it gives me a whole new respect for tornadoes how they can in an instant destroy everything that everyone knew. >> cnn's rob marciano is live for news woodward, oklahoma, this morning. good morning to you. you know, you listen to those folks talking and almost sounds like they didn't get any or very much warning. >> reporter: well, this was the third pulse to come through. its first two did a little bit of damage, knocked out power and that's what we fear in an outbreak, often more than one wave, first wave knocks out power, second wave comes through, you don't have as much communication. the sirens here actually are powered by electricity with no battery backup. there were parts of town that did not get siren warning but most folks were in their homes at the time because it happened at night. still with that lack of communication, when you look at some of the damage here, this is one of many neighborhoods and streets that really just got creamed. bread delivery truck flipped over, this home completely destroyed. one of 80 homes destroyed, many more than that almost unlivable b 13 businesses. luckily this is a narrow swathe through this town no stranger to tornadoes b a quarter mile wide but winds of at least 140 miles an hour so a devastating tornado here and listening to some of the survival stories and seeing some of the damage it's amazing this is happening in the middle of the night there weren't more fatalities. sadly five figatalities and 29 injuries. we chased several of the cells that came through the town earlier today into northern parts of the state where it dropped more tornadoes and crossed into kansas so again the greatest fear here was having the power knocked out and having another round come through the night. what's unusual about this situation is once the supercells come through during the day we typically think once the last wave comes through it's usually a straight line squall line when you don't get the supercell thunderstorms that create the tornadoes but this time we did and that may have cost some folks a little bit, caught them off guard. >> rob looking at the picture its it's incredible what people are able to capture as the storms go through. my goodness, that is just absolutely, look at that, that's a shot i haven't seen i have covered a lot of tornadoes in my day. i got to tell you tornado season, why is it so strong? i think in march there were more than 200 tornadoes, over the last 20 years the average a third of that. what's going on? >> reporter: last year we had an incredibly active record setting year and this year off to a fast start with unfortunately more fatalities than average, as far as what's going on, we've got extreme weather with extreme setup. think about a warming climate. you can't pin that just on tornadoes. there's much more involved. you need winds and moisture to come in a certain way and you need certain dynamics. but what we have seen that's unusual that i'd like to point out, tornadoes are coming a little bit earlier in the season and farther north, more than unusual. >> you're not joking, rob marciano. as the sun rises i'm sure it will be more devastating than it looks half dark out there. other stories to get there, zoraida sambolin has other headlines. good morning, z. >> good morning to you. he's accused of a bombing rampage in norway last summer. anders breivik admitted to the rampage but not pleading not guilty. he says it was self-defense to "save norway from being taken over by multicultural forces." authorities describe him as a right-wing christian extremist. in a court appearance he gave what appeared to be a fascist salute. police in baltimore say a suspect in a st. patrick's day beating was turned in. the video went viral. social media posts over the past week linked the suspect, 20-year-old aaron parsons to that brutal attack. police are still searching for three other suspects from that video, which shows a crowd of onlookers laughing as a victim is punched in the face, robbed and stripped naked. this afternoon, lawmakers will try to get to the bottom of the spending scandal at the government services administration. the house overnight committee begins a hearing to find out how the agency can justify spending more than $800,000 on a lavish las vegas convention in 2010. video surfaced of gsa employees mocking president obama at the event and staging a fake red carpet ceremony. gsa administrator martha johnson resigned two weeks ago, she is scheduled to testify and we'll be joined by jason chaffetz. and another pitch to put roger clemens behind bars. jury selection begins in his retrial for allegedly lying to congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. it comes nine months after a judge declared a mistrial when the prosecution showed jurors a video that contains inadmissible evidence. stocks are set for a slightly higher open after last week's sell-off when stocks posted their worst losses of the year. belingering concerns about europe's debt crisis could be an issue today as well as retail sales which are expected to show a slowdown in march, because high gas prices are hitting spending in other areas. citigroup earnings will be out in an hour. "the hunger games" has been number one for four weeks straight now. no film has done that since "avatar." followed by "the three stooges" which earned $17.1 million and "the cabin in the woods" with $14.8. hillary clinton shaking it with her staff in colombia, seems to be enjoying a bit of a break, letting her hair down, she partied at club havana, website trip adviser says it's the number one night life spot in the city. so at least she went to the right place, soledad. >> clearly, clearly. she would know where the hot spot is. zoraida, thanks. >> you're welcome. this morning, president obama is demanding a thorough and rigorous investigation into allegations of misconduct by secret service agents some accused of soliciting prostitutes in colombia. >> if it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then of course i'll be angry. we're here on behalf of our people, and that means that we conduct ourselves with the utmost dignity and probity, and obviously what's been vorreport doesn't match up with standards. >> 11 agents and officers are accused of bringing prostitutes to their hotel in cartegna before their summit there. all are on administrative leave. this morning we talked to dan m emmit wrote a book called "within arm's reach." thank you for being with us. >> good morning. >> good morning to you. can you start by assessing the actual risk here, would these secret service agents have valuable information about the trip, would they be working with the president in any way, shape or form? >> presidential advance team that goes overseas is literally a cast of hundreds. you have the people who are going to be doing the various sites, the motorcade routes and so on. most of these people are not in direct access to the president. those would be the agents surrounding him, members of the presidential protective division. from what i've read and from what i understand these particular individuals were not or would not be in close proximity to the president. >> but in terms of information, i ask because of course there is a question about could they be blackmailable? was there information that having a scandal around them could you leverage down the road? >> in the world of espionage and foreign intel services, anything is possible. however, i just don't see it in this case. these particular individuals i don't believe they would be targeted by foreign intel. they just simply don't have the information that would be valuable to one of those services to go to this extent. >> this is abby huntsman here. lot of people have their question on their mind, how common is this? you start wondering how many times has this happened on advanced trips like this? how far do you think they'll go in the investigation on prior trips like this? >> that's a good question but you have to keep in mind that the president since the beginning of the presidential protective division in 1902 has been on hundreds and hundreds of overseas trip. this is the first time anything like this has come up. one would have to draw from that the conclusion this is a very isolated type of incident if indeed it did occur. these are allegations up until this point. these individuals were sent home and rightly so, so that a full investigation could be conducted but at this point, all you have really are some claims made by a colombian national from what i've read, that's how this all started. see how it shakes out if indeed it comes to pass these people did what they're accused of doing, what you're going to see is they're certainly guilty of horrible judgment, and bad personal conduct, behaving badly if you will. prostitution as we all know is legal in colombia, although not acceptable by secret service standards but in that, no laws have been broken. this is a conduct issue at this point. >> congressman darrell issa is probably going to be looking into this. he starts with the blackmail question i asked you but goes on to talk about he doesn't think this is an isolated incident. listen. >> so when you look at this, you realize if you can have this kind of breakdown, one that could lead to blackmail and so on we've got to ask where are the systems in place to prevent this in the future? the reason that the investigation will not be about the 11 to 20 or more involved, it will be about how did this happen and how often has this happened before, things like this don't happen once, if they didn't happen before. >> this is will cain. to follow up on abby's point, congressman issa is not as confident as you are this is an isolated experience. we hear about the term wheels up, rings off, that was tossed around the agency, is there any culture of this activity being the norm? >> well with due respect to the congressman i would say this is not the norm. the secret service is comprised of thousands and thousands of dedicated people committed to keeping the financial infrastructure of the country safe as well as our country and if what's alleged to have happen or alleged to have happened did happen, you're talking 10 or 11 people out of an agency of thousands. it would be an isolated incident. in my 20-year career this was certainly not the norm and it's certainly out of the ordinary. >> dan emmitt, nice to see you sir, thanks for your insight. appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead this morning on "starting point," he was killed 16 years ago but this weekend snoop dogg performed with tupac. it's our "get real" they used holograms to make tupac come back to life. attacks in afghanistan, the worst since the u.s. was targeted last year. is this proof the u.s. should stay in the country? 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[announcer:] conocophillips. ♪ where the sun never goes out ♪ ♪ and the sky is deep and blue ♪ ♪ won't you take me american flight 280 to miami is now ready for boarding. ♪ there with you fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself. nonstop. american airlines. it's the most widespread attack in afghanistan's capital since the assault at nato headquarters last september. this morning the hakani network is believed to be behind it. government buildings and three other cities in the area were hit. >> the taliban declared this act as a start of their spring offensive. if this is it we were underwhelmed and other than this being a high profile showing of show arms and rpgs i would declare it a failure for them. >> it's nice to see you gary, thanks for talking with us again. give us a sense of the rank of this attack in terms of the danger and also in terms about what it revealed about the insurgents who tried to pull it off. >> the insurgents are not threatening u.s. facilities in the sense they're going to overwhelm facilities. these are one-way missions. these guy go and do at tacks on the front gates or attack facades of their facilities and they wind up losing their lives. in this case it was the afghan security forces stepping up and are meeting the challenge in the capital. >> i'll talk about that in a moment. who is taking credit. the taliban at first said they were taking credit, then analysts said it was the hakani network. explain the connection or lack of connection between the taliban and hakani network. >> there are over 28 militant dwrupz that operate out of tack stand. there's lack sharehakani, laksh so probably hakani attack, rce, that's regional command east, as you showed the map before there are attacks in nangahar, logar. this looks like the has cabbie network. they come across the border from the tribal areas across the coast so i say the hakani network and the military spokesman said he was underwhelmed and i'm underwhelmed. they've killed over 1,200 afghan officials over the past year and that puts the afghans under pressure. >> you talked about how the afghan troops were able to counter the attacks without assistance from the u.s. forces or nato forces. i want to play what general john allen had to say actually i'll read it, "i'm enormously proud of how quickly afghan security forces responded to today's attacks in kabul. they were on the scene immediately, well-led, well-coordinated. i consider it a testament to their skill and professionalism of how far they've come that they haven't yet asked for that support." so this then would be read as great news, i guess, if you're trying to figure out a way to wean the afghan forces off of needing nato and u.s. force's help in any skirmish like this. >> it's a positive sign. they're not ready for all of this but there are afghan commandos that come out of the various afghan corps, there's five battalions who have been highly trained by u.s. special operation forces that are sort of up to the standard and maybe not the standard of u.s. rangers but getting close, and they're meeting the challenge in the places where we need them to do this and this is a particular case. some improvement. this is a heavy lift. we have a long way to go to get 350,000 in the army to defend themselves. >> what is hakani's agenda here, trying to overthrow their karzai government or desperate plea for a play within the regime? >> hakani was one of the six groups that fought the soviets ago, then a binster of tribal affairs off of the coast. he would see himself as a major player. he wants his son who is running that organization and they're using sheer violence against the afghan government because they want to bring karzai down. they don't have the strength to do that but that's what they want. >> john mccain said this over the weekend, listen. >> that every time the president announced another withdrawal his military commander said it increases the risk. that's what we're seeing here. >> do you agree that this attack is indicative of increased risk? >> every time there's discussion of withdrawal this gives additional confidence to the taliban and the groups. what we need to recognize is it's not just the number of americans on the ground that will determine the future of afghanist afghanistan, it's the authority in which they operate. we could have a smaller footprint in afghanistan. so long as they have the correct rules of engagement that allow them to fight a smaller force in the united states can do well there. the phlegm america we like to have a public discussion of all of this and this provides a little bit of nurture and encouragement to the taliban which is not helpful. >> gary bernson, thank you for being with us. >> you're welcome. still ahead bill cosby speaking out about the trayvon martin shooting, said it doesn't matter if george zimmerman was profiling. snoop dogg performs with rap legend tupac, who has been dead for 16 years. it's a hologram. it's in today's "get real." we'll take a short break and be back in a moment. k. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. 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[ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee anywhere when you book with our new app. you'll never roam alone. the midwest is getting slammed again with extreme weather, reports of more than 130 tornadoes across the states of oklahoma, kansas, iowa and nebraska, among the hardest hit was a small town of woodward, oklahoma, where five people were killed. you're looking at picture there is. that number, five, includes three children and this stunning videotape was taken by tony lawback who spent the weekend following the violent twisters through the midwest. he joins us from denver. tony thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. how long have you been tracking this particular set of storms? >> i actually left denver last sunday on easter and chasing for the last six days up to the outbreak. >> you get in your car, fill your car up with gear and chase bad weather? what do you bring? >> i bring all sorts of stuff with me, i've got the latest in satellites and mobile cell phone radar and internet so constant data streaming into the car. i also load myself with food and drinks for the week, stopping sometimes is a little hard to do. camera equipment, the latest video and ability to get video back to people real quick from the field no matter where i'm at. >> this amazing shot looks like a building is being destroyed as you shoot it near ingersoll, oklahoma. >> that was a tornado in oklahoma, it moved into some areas where there were some outbuilding, nobody was hurt in that tornado but most were over rural country so fortunately most of them didn't do as much damage until later that day. >> not in woodward, oklahoma. you were there earlier in the week, five people were killed in that town. what can you tell me about woodward? >> woodward unfortunately was hit twice this week, back on monday it got hit with huge hail and couple of small tornados south of town and unfortunately they weren't spared the wrath of this outbreak with almost 90 structures being destroyed in the town. it's very unfortunate when something like this happens, particularly at night and losing five people in town is certainly a tragic thing for the people that live there. >> some of these pictures that we're seeing that all come from you are multiple funnel clouds, seem to all be hitting at the same time. how long have you been a storm chaser? how unusual has this season been? >> this season actually started off pretty slow compared to what we saw last year and then in march it ramped up incredibly. unfortunately if we are trying to compare seasons from last year you would think we're in for another very, very busy spring and we can only hope that we don't see the numbers that we did last year but so far, it's been very active going through march and start of april. >> what do you do for a day job? >> believe it or not i drive pizzas, and i produce for local news station in denver, but yeah, i drive pizzas for a little pizza place up here in denver and they allow me the spring and summer off to come up here and chase tornadoes. >> that gives you flexibility so you can take time and take amazing pictures. we're been looking at your pictures while you've been talking and they're incredible. i'm always so happy when i get to talk to the storm chasers because it means it ended well for them, they are fine. tony lauback thanks for sharing some of your pictures and stories and good to see you're healthy and fine. >> my pleasure, thanks. >> zor rye zye zoraida has a lot the headlines. >> hundreds of taliban militants stormed a prison. 21 high-profile militants were among those who got a way. kim jong-un spoke to troops in pyongyang to mark the 100th% of his grandfather, north korea's founder. he touted his nation's military might and vowing to never let his people starve. four people feared dead in a yacht race accident. the coast guard suspending its search last night. the seven men and one woman range in age from their 20s to 40s. they were hurled into the waters off the fairlaub islands near san francisco saturday when their boat hit 12-foot waves. one person was found dead, three others survived. the victims of the virginia tech massacre will be honored on the fifth year anniversary of that gruesome shooting spree. gunman took the lives of 32 students and faculty at the school on april 16th, 2007. virginia tech has not held classes on this date since the massacre but that is changing this morning. all classes are in session in an attempt to reflect on the victim's lives. bill cosby weighing in on the trayvon martin shooting, in an interview on cnn's "state of the union" cosby says the anger over the florida teenager's death is misplaced. the real issue isn't whether george zimmerman profiled martin but that zimmerman had a gun. >> what is solved by saying he's a racist? that's why he shot the boy. what solves that? this, and what is he doing with it? and who taught him and told him how to behave with this? because it doesn't make any difference if he's racist or not racist. >> you remember gun violence is a very personal issue for cosby. his son was shot and killed in 1997. george zimmerman is facing charges of second-degree murder. organizers of this morning's boston marathon are a little concerned about abnormally high temperatures. these are live pictures now as racers get ready from affiliate whdh, forecasters say it could be close to 90 degrees during that event. the average temperature in boston this time of year is in the high 40s. race organizers are offering runners a chance to bow out and compete next year instead. those who decide to brave the heat are being told to take it slow and take frequent breaks there. >> which of course is completely contradictory if you're trying to win a marathon. >> i guess the times will be a little bit off but folks will be safe. >> that's terrible running weather. beautiful day but that's terrible running weather. i used to cover that a lot as i worked in a producer in boston. we brought in the trucks in front of the runners. >> i've never run one, have you? >> no, gosh, i was in the back of a truck. did i not make that clear, eating, usually snacking, watching some dedicated runners give of themselves to run 26 miles. all right, zoraida, thanks. >> you're welcome. still ahead, ridiculous, misleading, those are the very words that treasury secretary tim geithner is using to slam governor mitt romney. why geithner is blasting the gop candidate for his claims about female unemployment. and there's a new school for gay teenagers who have been driven out of public school by bullying and harassment. we'll talk to one of the founders straight ahead. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. because . ♪ he drives a legacy, but i'm nothing like him. i got the new impreza. maybe i should have picked a different color... [ male announcer ] the all-new subaru impreza. experience love that lasts. ♪ mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. welcome back, everybody. new front is opening up in the war on women, if in fact there is one. mitt romney has been making this claim, listen. >> the 800,000 plus jobs that have been lost during the obama administration, do you know what percentage lost by women? 92%. 92% of the jobs lost in the president's term have been lost by women. >> wow, 92%. that would be a shocking number if it were true, which it really isn't exactly overall, 740,000 men and women lost jobs during january of 2009 and march women accounted for 683,000 of those jobs, that's how they get to that 92.3 figure but the math includes hundreds of thousands of jobs that were lost in the three weeks before president obama took office which tilts the picture quite a little bit also overall men lost more jobs in the recession than women did. most of the losses happened before president obama took office. treasury secretary tim geithner was battling back on governor romney's numbers. >> the early job losses were mostly men in construction and as the crisis intensified over the course of '08 and cyclical government cut back on teachers, a lot of women are teachers. you saw how the crisis spread to women, too. >> so, not exactly a shocker because i think that the overriding picture is what will women do in this election and that's why we've seen this war on women if you will. >> obviously as a woman we're the only two that's here but what i find unfortunate is that the language is so divisive on both sides, last night ann romney ate fund-raiser in florida said it was a birthday president hillary rosen said about me being a state-at-home mom like it's a back and forth game. i thought her response would have been it was hurtful that was said, i'll continue to stand up for stay-at-home moms. >> it made it sound like it was about strategy and not an opportunity to talk about my family. i was able to score political points an an issue that could help my husband win. >> that statistic is true. >> depending how you the crunch the numbers. >> that statement is true. you said a couple hundred thousand the first three weeks of january 2009. 92% of job losses since obama took office is -- >> i'm going to stop you there and then you can finish, the bulk were lost when joosh was preside george bush was president. >> it is a true statement but largely useless statement. it has divided numbers at an arbitrary starting point. >> makes it not true. arbitrary makes math not true. >> it's tit for tat. you create a false war on women you'll give you a statistic that's larkly untrue and we'll indullening in this game. >> the american people will coalesce around the candidate that can unite the country and form a narrative that brings people together and neither side is doing a good job of bringing the country together. >> chris wallace said the numbers were bunk. the job losses under george w. bush we hate to say the b word but the job losses are based on the 2009 budget before the all hated stimulus went into effect. i don't like seeing timothy geithner and mitt romney having this commentary, but i think the escalating democratic party will backfire on them, we've seen this happen. >> it's pr. >> transvaginal ultrasounds. >> wow did you throw out the word on my morning show? >> sorry but they're doing it to women, relevant, political and moral to bring it up. governor scott walker repealing the equal pay for women act on good friday, women in wisconsin can't find out if they're being paid less than men for the same jobs. the democrats have a point. as long as they keep using a violent expression like war on women. >> war on women is overstating it. >> it's a squirmish on women. >> i think they're throwing a lot of people off and it's unfortunate. >> going to turn off conservative women to democrats on a relative plain. >> we'll see what it does to women voters. i'm being yelled at by morale saying move on people. new high school opens for gay teenagers who dropped out of public school because of bullying. up next the man who helped found the school and why he says it's crucial. what we achieved here. what we learned here. and what we pioneered here. all goes here. the one. the accord. smarter thinking from honda. [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. when i first came out, i couldn't even walk down the hallway without kids making remarks at me. i ended up having -- and school pretty much went down the toilet at that point. >> that is 16-year-old tyler talking about a problem he has in school, a special problem for students who identify themselves as lesbian/, gay, bisexual or transgender. in phoenix, arizona they are trying to create a school that is safe and geared toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender students one of a kind in arizona and a handful across the entire country. michael weekly is a deputy director at one in ten, the nonprofit that has started the school. nice to see you and thanks for talking with us. walk me to the beginning of how this all started, because this is a youth center that also includes a school. can you explain that to me? >> yes. and we interview our youth every six months to really get an access of what their needs are and to see where we are missing any holes. on our last interview, we asked what level of education, you know, had you completed and we found that a lot of them had dropped out around ninth grade, tenth grade. 50% of the youth we interviewed didn't graduate high school or decided to do home schooling. so we found that there was a need there. and they explained why. on the survey that they felt bullied, not safe in school and it wasn't an environment that they felt comfortable with so they chose to give up their education because school environments were so hostile. >> you have 14 students and the maximum capacity is 25 students and it's a virtual classroom which means they are only taking classes online? any teachers coming into the youth center? >> well, we go through arizona virtual academy so the classroom has teachers that are available during the school hours so they can interact. it's an interactive chat, an e-mail system and one teacher has a full-time staff member there to help with the mentoring process and any questions about what is happening and serves as a tutor for the young people. >> michael, this is will cain. this is a school for lesbian, gay, and bisexual teenagers, is that right? >> and transgender well, yes. >> how do you qualify for this school? are you exclusive to those groups? how do you make sure someone fits the category? >> well, absolutely not. the basis of the school is to provide a safe environment for any youth that doesn't feel comfortable going to their high school. you know? one in ten, our focus is gay lesbian and bisexual youth and transgender youth. it's about youth feeling bullying. who gets to come into the school versus who needs to be in a safe environment. the majority of our youth are rgb2q. >> rick garcia was talking about doing a similar thing in chicago and it didn't happen. the reality is this. all our kids should be safe in all our schools. segregation is not the answer. he is a political director for equality illinois. i thought he would be supporting the school but he was against this kind of a school. do you he has a point that sort of schools really need to reflect reality which means the kids should, you know, there shouldn't be -- there should be a sense that in high schools, kids should not be bullied because of their sexual orientation? >> i agree that the school environment should be different. i'm not aware of what the environment is in illinois. but the environment in the schools in arizona, a lot of them have created situations where these kids don't feel comfortable. so you can say, you know, we're not taking these kids out of the school. we don't go in and say, come to our school. these are for those youth that have already dropped out and not pursuing their education. this is their opportunity. so we are giving them an opportunity. we are not saying don't go to public high school. we encourage our youth if they are feeling comfortable and they are part of the high school process, and it's working, great. go for it. but these youth that are coming to our school, this is their last resort, this is their only resort. tyler who you had on there earlier had been picked on and bullied so much that his mother was concerned about his safety and his life. and the way that he has socialized and coming into our school and become a part of our environment has changed his whole perception of himself. i feel we are exposing these youth to more opportunity and we are giving them more abilities. we are not segregating them but integrating them into a school saying i accept you regardless. an environment should be full of acceptance and nonbullying. and as much as i would like to take responsibility for changing all of arizona schools, that -- we don't have that ability now. this is the best option that we can do. >> michael weekly, the computer director of one in ten, nice to see and thanks for talking bus and good luck with your school. >> appreciate it. thanks for having us on. ahead, he is accused of killing 77 people in that shooting rampage that happened in norway. the trial is now under way. we will tell you why prosecutors feel it will turn into a circus. remember this video in man beaten and robbed as onlookers watched and laughed. a new development in this case in baltimore. we will take a break. i love cash back. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!! [ male announcer ] get 1-2-3 percent cash back. apply online or at a bank of america near you. ♪ diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. welcome back. "starting point." a sixth person has been killed from twister touching down. we are live from one oklahoma town that will never be the same. also, a prostitution scandal rocks the secret service and could grow even bigger this morning. president obama says he wants answers. plus boyz ii men live and if in the house. celebrating a brand-new album. it's monday, april 16th. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ >> i love boyz ii men and so excited they are joining us in a little bit. wow! 20 years! that makes me 25! >> middle school dancing. yes, me too. reminds me of my middle school dances. >> my mom still loves them. >> sounds like my mother. john fugel shortstop dang is joining us and amy huntsman. and will cain. sixth person reported killed as a result of those deadly storms in the midwest and the plain states. all of those deaths in the small town of woodward, oklahoma. it's where we find cnn's rob marciano with the latest. rob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. day two now with the sun coming up. remember, this storm came in the milled of the night after midnight and devastated parts of this town. it was 1947 where one of the deadliest tornadoes in u.s. history completely wiped out this town. it was this time around, it was a more narrow swath but an ef-3 tornado of 140-mile-an-hour winds. the damage behind me. one of many streets and neighborhoods that have sustained this sort of damage. a remarkable scene and pictures like of a truck, bread delivery truck completely flipped over on its side. this home behind me brick and mortar. these are not run-of-the-mill trailer type of homes. these are well built structures with brick and 2x4 and steel joists and the like. 80 structures in all completely destroyed and some others you would argonaut livable. as you mentioned earlier, soledad, we just got reports that sixth fatality. one of the seriously injured taken to a texas hospital has died this morning. one of the 29 injuries with this thing. it's remarkable talking to some of the survivors that came out of this storm alive and when you see some of the images of these homes that are completely wiped out, how many survived this thing. this town 12,000 to 13 thousand people. when it comes in the middle of the night after getting a swath of storms earlier in the day knocking out power and disabling some of the warning system is the other scary part of this whole deal. they had not one, not two, but three separate storm cells that came at three different times during the day that all had tornado warnings. the last of which was the worst one and that one came at night. >> what is the weather like now? they have to spend the day cleaning up obviously. i know another storm system moves through which makes it impossible to gather the stuff that is left behind. are they going to have a clear day for that today? >> yeah. we are looking good today. yesterday was plublustery and m cleanup difficult because winds were gusting over 30 miles an hour and a couple of showers come through with even hail. today looks to be more calm. the sun about to come up and the skies look to be clear and chilly morning and should be a decent day as far as the cleanup effort goes for today. you can imagine, it's going to take several weeks, months and maybe years before they complete everything. >> one would guess. it looks terrible behind you. rob, thank you for that update. president obama is calling now for a rigorous investigation into allegations of misconduct by secret service agents and some accused of soliciting prostitutes in colombia. >> it ff it turns it out some o the allegations are true, then i will be angry of course. we are here on behalf of our people and that means that we conduct ourselves with the utmost dignity and probity and, obviously, what has been reported doesn't match up with those standards. >> 11 agents and officers are accused of bringing prostitutes to their hotel in the sixth summit of americas and all on administrative leave now. five military troops were working with the secret service are under investigation today. it brings us to jason chaffitz. what are you the qes you're going to ask? >> i concur with the president and the secret service has to be the best of the best. their task was securing the president and others, republicans and democrats. i want to do this in a bipartisan way. this is totally unacceptable and what is deeply concerning, soledad, is the pervasiveness of this. it doesn't appear from the initial reports that this is one, maybe two agents that had kind of gone off and done something crazy and stupid but to have so many people involved in this suggests that maybe this has been happening for some time and maybe on other types of events. that is the real concern. >> which means then that your investigation would do ka what? go back looking at every single trip that the secret service has taken? >> i'm not saying -- i'm not necessarily suggesting that but we want to dive in deeper with the secret service to find what is the culture? again, these people, they are tasked with the highest duty. they would have to be beyond reproach. not necessarily every single trip but what is the culture, where are the checks and balances and how do we make sure that when the president is arriving or any dignitary under secret service protection has the best people. you can't leave any sort of compromise open to some sort of, you know, attack or something else where somebody wants to do something, particularly overseas. >> we should reiterate for everybody that this was not the team of secret service agents traveling with the president and i guess also not at the same hotel where the president was coming in to stay. house oversight committee is going to start also hearing, i think this afternoon, right? the gsa, i guess, testimony into that particular drg moving from scandal-to-scandal. what is the big question you want answered there? the same thing? how long did this go on for and how big was this problem? >> remember, this took place back in 2010, so what did the agency do about it? what are they doing and what sort of checks and balances are they putting in place that this never happens again? the gsa has some 13,000 employees and this is a real tarnishment and we have to make sure this never happens again. the person who evidently really involved in this is supposedly taking the fifth amendment today. why is he still each employed there if we knew about this in 2010? i understand that and i want to get some answers to those questions. >> congressman, we talked to a reporter roll call who told us when he reported on the gsa story and he got e-mails from government agencies saying check this out, check this out. now the secret service story on top of that. i don't want to draw too many lessons from too many incidents, are you worried there is a pervasive problem within government that this kind of behavior? >> yeah. again, with over 2 million employees you're going to have rogue people doing some ridiculous stuff but the oversight committee is supposed to be investigating this. we want people to contact us at the oversight committee and let us know about these things. that is what you're worried about. are there checks in in place so this doesn't happen or a way to doing business and wasting taxpayer's money? that is what we are doing and fighting against. the deep concern it is not just this case. a lot more than that. >> when you look at what happened at the gsa investigation, martha johnson resigned and two top deputies were fired and others put on administrative leave. jeff neely could face criminal charges possibly but, ultimately, the question you want to have answered is how far and how deep did this grandpo? are you willing to look back? >> remember, this is a conference that was intsupposed have spent $250,000. >> but it's -- back in 2004, i think, is the last time they spent under $ 50. 2004, spent $93,000 and in 2008, they were above that at 6 a -- 555 and 2010841,000. that means years of overspending. >> why didn't we fix it? who is responsible for fixing it? i would really question whether or not we were doing it. used to be they had it in oklahoma city and then it moved to las vegas. they had to take eight scouting trips to las vegas? come on! that doesn't pass the basic sniff test. there have to be check marks in place to do this. they had an awards program that was originally going to hand out, you know, coffee mugs and, you know, mouse pads and things, that a boy and that gravitated to ipods and more expensive things. you can't keep doing that and expect taxpayers to not be upset about it. what are the checkpoints in place so that this never happens again? >> jason chaffetz we have been running video that has surfaced from this crazy story the last couple of weeks. thanks for talking with us and appreciate it. >> thanks. here is a look at other headlines. accused of killing 77 people including children. in a shooting and bombing rampage that gdevastated norway last summer. anders breivik is pleading not guilty. he says the terror attack was self-defense to, quote, save norway from being taken over by multicultural forces. authorities describe him as a right wing christian extremists. in a past court appearance he gave what appeared to be a fascist salute. berlusconi trial back under way this morning and with a shocking new revelation. berlusconi admitting to paying witnesses in the criminal trial and say it's the prosecutor's fault. he says he paid three former show girls more than $200,000 to cover legal fees they have racked up since becoming involved in the case. berlusconi is charged with having sex with an underaged prostitute. the first six united nations monitors on the ground in syria this morning as a fragile five-day cease-fire appears to be unraveling. anti-government forces report syrian troops are shelling homs. ten people reportedly killed across the country. a formal u.n. monitoring team of 250 inspectors is expected to arrive in syria later this week. a new development in the case of that disturbing video showing a man being beaten and robbed as onlookers stood by and laughing. baltimore police say 20-year-old suspect aaron parsons has turned himself in. that attack happened on st. patrick's day and went viral and police are searching for three other suspects from that video. back to you, soledad. >> i remember the guy who started that really tweeting and blogging about, you know, that videotape was hopeful this would get a crack in the case and i guess it worked out. >> it was so disturbing and so surprising to see everybody just standing by. >> and laughing and kicking the guy. it's terrible. z, thanks. >> you're welcome. ahead, the entire board of education in birmingham, alabama, has been taken over by the state. it's highly unusual and we will tell you why. it's the latest story from steve perry who will join us straight ahead. a ballots for women's votes. democrats fighting with the gop over who is the better party for women. latest on attacks from both sides straight ahead. congressman jason chaffetz joined us a few moments ago. he likes the guitars. 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"what you you want." the choice of steve perry and he joins us from hartford. the alabama department of education taking what is an unprecedented action over a local school board. birmingham, alabama. steve perry, good morning. how unusual is this? >> oh, this is rare, if not the first time. i've never seen a school district taken over simply because the adults on the board were acting so badly that the state's commissioner decided that they couldn't be trusted to run their own school system. >> it sounds like it's completely bizarre. they have also directed the board to secure books, records, documents, minutes from the meetings, e-mails, phone records, accordance as well. they haven't really framed the takeover, though, as if they are looking for fraud, but it sounds like it. >> they haven't. they haven't. soledad, what -- i think what they want to see is that the district is, in fact, can be trusted in the hands of the adults who are supposed to be running it. this is not a small school system, nor is it a school system that is without its academic challenges. on the same token, it's within a community that has a longstanding history of civil rights and hard work. i was down there not long ago speaking with the birmingham change fund and it's a group of young professionals who have decided that they are going to take education's bull by the horns and raise money locally to support their own causes. so it's a community that is prideful but this is truly a black eye. >> what is it exactly mean that the state school board takes over a local school board? >> what typically it means is that the state believes that the local community cannot run a school. so what it can turn into is that schools could be closed, that people can be fired, and that other operators can come in and take over for where those people have fallen short. it can be very drastic. it's not like this is the only school system in the country. kansas city has lost schools. bridgeport, connecticut, talked about taking over and st. louis, missouri. other school systems are threatened to be taken over. that in and of itself is not bad but the conditions under which those schools are being taken over is because of local performance. this is, it seems like, on the surface, it because the board simply can't get along. >> yeah, but even if they can't get along, they were elected and they are elected citizens by citizens in birmingham, alabama. one rep says they feel their vote has been taken away by a group of people who do not live in the city and do not have have one child in the system. this is just wrong. is this even legal? >> well, it appears that it is. but i'm not -- that's not what i do. what i can say is this. the district is not unlike any other district where when the state threatens to take it over they push back. at its corps, americans believe our school should be run locally, not regionally, not nationally. and so there is always a backlash. in this particular case, the thought behind the takeover is not because of academic underperformance. though, birmingham is a city that has a very high crime index relative to the rest of the state, has very high dropout rate among african-american males and one report says 58% of african-american males will drop out, those are not the reasons being given. those seem to be acceptable, at least to the extent they will still allow birmingham city schools to run the school system. this seems to be something very, very different. >> dr. perry, good morning. we are looking at 30 years of public schools being defunded in this country and all around the country, teachers are constantlily being told they have to do more with less. would you agree this is not necessarily a problem in birmingham but a symptom of a problem? >> well, i don't know that the two are connected. defunding and being asked to do more with less, and this particular case. i think that what we are looking at is a big problem. when you have locally elected board that the state feels cannot be trusted to operate a school system, it represents a reprehensible set of circumstances. ultimately, those that are losing are the ones that always seem to lose. it's not the teachers and it's not the adults but the children. the children are losing any time the adults are not able to commune crate. >> -- communicate. >> any big change? >> there shouldn't be any change. in fact, that is what the state commissioner said i don't want you to change anything. don't touch the books and don't change touch. do not make any decisions at all. from the children's perspective it will look like it did on friday. >> steve perry, thank you. still ahead you've heard about the love for tim tebow but now he is getting booed! what? can't believe it. hillary clinton leaves a pantsuit at the hotel and puts on a cute dress and puts on her dancing shoes and cuts loose. there she is. chugging a beer! you're watching "starting point." according to the signs, ford is having some sort of big tire event. i just want to confirm a w things with fiona. how would you describe the event? it's big. no,i mean in terms of savings how would you sum it up? big in your own words, with respect to selection, what would you say? big okay, let's talk rebates mike, they're big they're big get $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event. so, in other words, we can agree that ford's tire event is a good size? big big and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. [ director ] cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. if you want something done right, then do it yourself. that's the idea behind our children, our future -- the ballot initiative to fix our schools. we've waited years for the politicians to do it. now, we can do it ourselves. our children, our future sends every k through 12 dollar straight to our schools... not to sacramento. it benefits every kid in every school, with local control of the money. that's why the p-t-a supports it. my mom likes it, too. welcome back. a couple of quick headlines. rocker tom petty offering a reward for the return of five guitars stolen from a sound stage in california. petty and his band were rehearsing for the u.s. tour when it happened. three of the guitars were vintage models from the 1960s. looks like it will take time for tim tebow to feel the love in new york. he heard some understoods in the crowd at the yankees game last night when they showed him on the big screen but here is the deal. tebow was seen talking to dwyane wade of the miami heat. so that actually may explain some of the booing. the heat beat the knicks earlier that day. back to you, soledad. >> we are making sure we understand what is behind that story. pretty staggering statistic. more than a hundred thousand foster children are waiting to be adopted in the united states. this week's hero, cnn hero is fighting to find each and every one a family. ♪ >> i was adopted and i felt that i wanted to adopt a kid that needed a home. my son was in foster care for four years. but from the minute michael and i met, i knew right away that we were going to be family. i thought everything was going great, but after a month, michael was removed from my house. i was instantly cut off from him. >> let's go. we need to get ready for the horses. >> sometimes, families are faced with barriers because of a myth or a misunderstanding, causing the kids to stay in the foster care system longer. being that gay or lesbian, individual, or couple, makes it much harder. my name is david wink. i adopted from the foster system but now i help other gay and lesbian individuals realize their dream of becoming parents. we are working together with you on that. i want to make sure that you got that family-to-family kind of support. i've worked hundreds of cases, side-by-side social workers. we covered >> i've trained thousands of foster parents. it doesn't matter if you're gay or straight and we do it for free. >> he figured out how to get us over that finish line. our family wouldn't have adopted each other if it hant have been for david. >> i'm fighting for the right of that child to have that family. >> daddy? is tonight movie night? >> it's why i keep doing it every single day. >> i love that. still ahead, this one goes out to the ladies out there. democrats and republicans working to woo female voters as they wage an all-out war but there is a war on women? we will examine that up next. speaking of ladies. the r&b group boyz ii men are in the building. voted the most successful group of the 1990s. i will let them serenade me for five minutes. i love them. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. ♪ so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. mmm-hmm. and just leave your phone in your purse. i don't want you texting, all right? daddy...ok! ok, here you go. be careful. thanks dad. call me -- but not while you're driving. ♪ [ dad ] we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. ♪ that's why we bought a subaru. ♪ pop goes the world ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ pop goes the world [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. pop in. stand out. 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[whoosh, clang] you need lifelock, the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. ♪ that is bruise springsteen "into the fire." how many times have we played that? this is lisa's choice. >> he is touring the country right now and it's all over the place. >> lisa is a columnist for the huffington post and will join us in a few minutes to talk about women and is there a war on women? first, to the headlines. here is a look at those. afghan leaders say they have turned back the insurgents responsible for the deadly terror attacks in kabul and three other provinces this weekend. an 18-hour coordinated assaulted across seven locations and the worst attack on the capitol since u.s. embassy and nato headquarters targeted last fall. four members of the afghan security forces were killed. 65 people were wounded. pakistan authorities this morning searching for nearly 400 inmates who escaped from a prison early yesterday. they were freed by hundreds of taliban militants who stormed the facility. pakistan's local information minister says 21 high profile militants were among those who got away. bill cosby says the national debate over the killing of trayvon martin should be focused on guns and not on race. talking to cnn "state of the union" cosby says the key issue isn't whether zimmerman profiled martin but that he was carrying a gun. >> what is solved by saying he's a racist? that's why he shot the boy. what solves that? this. and what is he doing with it? and who taught him and told him how to behave with this? because it doesn't make any difference if he is racist or not racist. >> cosby also says we need to get guns off of the street. four people now feared dead in a yacht race accident. the coast guard suspending its search last night. seven men and one woman on board ranged from 20s to their 40s. they were hurled into the water. it's off the coast of fairlawn islands near san francisco on saturday when their boat hit 1-foot waves. apart from the four that are missing, one person was found dead. three others survived. we have a recall alert. dole recalling bad salad because they could be contaminated with salmonella. no other dole salads are included in the recall and no reports that anyone has at&t gallen sick. the bags distributed in the 15 states you see on your screen and stamped with a use by date april 11th, 2012. live from new york! it's mitt romney? the gop candidate reportedly has an offer to appear on "saturday night live." he is said to be mulling it over. in the meantime, this weekend "snl" offered their take on a bonding moment between romney and formal rival rick santorum. >> now that you're out of the race, i want to tell you in person you ran a great campaign. >> thanks, mitt. congratulations on the nomination. it was hard foued. >> what can i get you two? >> well, we are celebrating for my friend so i'll have a chocolate milk. >> and i'll have a napkin! >> soledad, we are taking bets. will he or won't he? >> he will because he is a presidential candidate. of course he will! >> be nice to see him. >> better question will it be good or lame? >> it will be great. >> you think so? >> oh, yes. i think he'll be prepared. >> i bet he will be prepared! yes, i bet you're right. you have -- thanks. appreciate it. you have seen the headlines. here are some of them. in the war on women who is fighting or for what? a war on words. not a war on women. or this one. the war on women is over. but does the war on women really exist? lisa belkin joins us from the huffington post. do you think there is a war on women? >> i think women feel like there's a war. i think that the whole birth control was a wake-up call for an awful lot of women who it didn't occur to it them that somebody might want to take that away. i was -- right before i came on, i tweeted. i said is there a war on women and what are we fighting over? i was stunned at how many women came back and said health care. reproductive rights. my body. and we haven't heard it in this force in a long, long time. >> is all of that because it's an election year and some of those issues have been raised by candidates who are trying to appeal to a certain kind of voter? >> yes. and some of it got out of control. i don't think that the republicans went into this thinking that the -- their issue this year was going to be birth control. i think some of just sort of evolved and got out of control. >> the birth control issue, is this the battleground you've seen that defines this war on women? >> i don't know that in the voting booth people are going to end up voting on it. >> that is how you defined it. >> but i do know that there are an awful lot of surprised women who thought this battle was over. >> but, see, lisa, here is where i have to meekly disagree and offer a voice of opposition here. >> wow. >> is that you described it as someone taking away birth control and that just simply isn't true. this has been a debate about whether or not birth control will be provided for free from your employer through their health care plan and i don't see how anyone can describe that as a battle in a war on women. >> women take their bodies very, very personally. and when the conversation starts being -- and the specifics get lost, when the conversation starts being about what someone else feels you can do with your body -- >> but that isn't the truth. no one is saying what you can do with your body. >> it may not be the truth but that is the way it feels to an awful lot of women right now. >> in fairness, will, you had senator santorum saying that states should have the right to deny contraceptive care if they want and i think that sent a lot of fear into women and i think it goes beyond reproductive freedoms. we mentioned earlier governor scott walker on good friday repealing the equal pay for women act in wisconsin. women in that state can't sue if they are paid less money for the same work and they can't find out if they are being paid less for the same work. i think the democratic party was smart they would expand this beyond the issue of reproductive freedom for the women in the workplace as well. >> one of the interesting things i found was the quote they say and romney said at a fund-raiser in palm beach, florida, according to nbc news and she said this about this whole flap with hilary rosen said this. it was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother and that was really a defining moment and i loved it. >> because -- >> what does that mean? >> it means you get to fight over -- a button if you push it, women respond and ipts the choices they have made over motherhood. and it's irrational to a degree, but i think it's all based on guilt. i think we all feel guilty to some extent on what we have or have not done. so somebody standing up and doing otherwise is sort of seen as a critique of us. but -- >> the reason i was disappointed in this because i felt like it was the political take on a conversation that seemed to be a very genuine conversation about women's choices. suddenly, like oh! this was all a game about politics! i get it. all of this, you know, people yakking on both sides. >> oh, good, i got them to react. i got the response i wanted and now all of these people will yell about this subject that they -- yell at reflectively and have that fight and distract it from other subjects. >> who wins in that fight? >> i do think that women very much think that they do not have issues that are just theirs until someone goes after them and then i think there is an response to that and i think those are our bodies and our choices as parents. >> lisa, as a woman, i have to say going to the voting booth i don't think contraception is on my mind when i make my vote. what do you think is the defining issue for women as this conversation will continue to go on through the general election? what sf that women want? the hundred dollar question here. >> i think global reply women want what everyone wants. i think something vaguely xar compartmentizing what women want. i think someone trying to take away something that had not really been on your radar screen until recently. >> you just described this as a political skirmish created by both sides. i think everyone nodded along. you agreed with that. are women being manipulated? >> no. they are not that stupid. >> successful isn't part of the choice. are they being manipulated by politicians? >> i think these are real issues to women that politicians sometimes play with to their own end. >> it has been too extreme. do you worry about that? >> on every subject in politics, the language has been to the extreme. >> lisa belkin, nice to have you. >> thank you for having me. still ahead, is hillary clinton america's hip secretary of state? i believe the answer is yes. now photos of having a beer and hagging out in south america. the party pictures to talk about. boyz ii men bringing the party here at "starting point." here what we have next on my playlist. so hard to say good-bye to yesterday. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment! ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan was designed with near-perfect weight balance from front to back... and back to front. ♪ giving you exceptional control from left to right... and right to left. ♪ the cadillac cts. ♪ we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. i get my cancer medications through the mail. now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions. 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! how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. ♪ who is this? what are we listening to? just random songs? >> random play list. >> oh! the secretary of state was listening to? >> here is the colombian top ten. >> no longer the reserved going in a pant suit and gone from tweeting on tuvenl ing oing on her hair down and hitting the dance floor. est even knocked back a bore and took pictures of it. you're shaking your head. >> i'm just saying it's quite clear that 8:47 this morning that colombia is the place to be. >> i'm sorry but she deserves all of that fun. she works hard. >> if clinton would like a job that allows overseas party and let me recommend the job of vice president. >> they were the sound track to the '90s. this morning, boyz ii men are joining us live. up next, here they are! >> fellows! >> nice to see you. >> short break. back in a moment. ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing new nature valley protein bars. 100% natural ingredients like roasted peanuts... ♪ ...creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark chocolate flavor. plus, 10 grams of great tasting protein in every bar. so it's energy straight from nature to you. new nature valley protein bars. find them in the granola bar aisle. we have the play list and the band is here to sing along with the play list. feel free. boyz ii men in the house. celebrating 20 years. how is that possible? i'm not that old. new album. it's called "20." joining us are boyz ii men. nice to have you guys. your new album is called "20." because of the 20-year span. why did you want to put together this album? >> we felt we wanted to bridge the gap between our audiences. a lot of times people come to the show people from 65 and up and 7 or 8 and couldn't bring them altogether to a degree so we decided to make an album. one 20th anniversary and one of all the stuff and bring the older stuff and bring it together so the younger generation could see who is the group their parents are passing the music down so so like a connection thing for us. >> between '91 and '96, you had 12 top ten hits. you met in high school. at 18 years old you were signing with motown. >> i was younger than that. i was 17. >> in '96, it ended and you left. you intentionally left. why? >> we didn't actually leave. we were -- >> took a break. >> you took a break? >> yeah. that break was still work filled. we were all over the place and overseas and things like that. so because we weren't in the mainstream of the american, i guess, you say public, it seemed like we took, you know, we left but we never did. >> do you regret that? it must have been exhausting because you were it. i mean, you were -- couldn't walk down the street without people mobbing you kind of thing. >> the industry changed and changed so abruptly that so when we recognized that the situation was what it was, it was kind of like too late, do you know what i mean? and we had to kind of try to fit in somehow, fit in some way. rather than try to fit in, we decided to ride in our own lanes and keep doing what we are doing, which is go on tour and make money and support our families and, you know, maintain. >> michael was the fourth in the group and he was ill. how is he doing? i've gotten a lot of tweets from folks asking. >> he is doing okay. we tried to invite him back for this 20th anniversary album but it wasn't something he really wanted to do. he wasn't in the right mindset to come back and do this. he has been gone nearly nine years now. growing up that young and then becoming an adult, he was kind of gone for most of our, adulthood when we formed our bond as men so it didn't quite fit and it didn't really work out. love to have him back but it didn't work. >> how are you different in addition to the 20 years older? i'm different. >> gray hairs? >> there is color for that. we can change that! >> i think we're a little wiser. a little smarter. we understand life a little bit better. we're all fathers. we just -- our priorities have changed. in the beginning, it it was just us guys just singing and just, you know, globe trotting and things of that nature, but now we have people to actually take care of and that changes your perspective. that's pretty much how that changes our music because we see things from a different angle. >> what is your favorite? the ballads, i sing along with that with my hairbrush and i pretend i'm mariah doing that song with you, by the way. >> nice. >> it's the ballads but i think our favorite thing is really the a a cappella. we conduct each other like a conductor would conduct a choir. because there's three of us, we actually give each other the hands and bring it up some, do you know what i'm saying? so it's fun. do you know what i mean? to try to make sure you stay on key and give everybody what they want to hear at the same time. so i think my favorite thing to do is to try to put that -- that three-part harmony together and make it sound like a hundred. >> justin bieber and justin timberlake and many other guys point to you guys as their inspiration. who do you like? >> i think collectively as a group in high school, i was just telling somebody the other day that we are just the r&b image of a take six and gospel group. they are the group that we look up to in high school. like i said we all have different musical influences but as far as creating the boyz ii men sound that is the original and root of who we are. >> are you excited to be touring again? >> slool. >> it's nice. it's been great. i mean, like we have said, we have always been touring to some capacity, but this year and this past couple of years, it's gotten to be a lot larger and just more people and, for some reason, it's coming back around. >> we all understand. i've had people e-mailing me, do you mind if i come by the studio around 8:55? boyz ii men really in the studio? all right. i am so glad to see you. thank you so much. you can serenade me on the commercial break. i'm up for it! anything. i'll pretend to be mariah! thanks, guys. >> thank you. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. 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