owe. people had been armed to the teeth, and they were attacking these convoys of rebels going through their towns, 360 degrees. so much so that the rebels then pulled back. first they pulled back to a town about 60 or 70 miles east of sirte. now we understand, information is that they're back on the edge of raslanoof, the oil and gas station, took that two days ago, back 50 or 6 0 miles from where they hit that wall of fire yesterday. obviously, thomas, they want to take sirte. sirte for a lot of symbolic and strategic reasons. but what's happened, what's changed is that the first couple of days of that push, where they made, you know -- they were going probably two or three hundred miles in about two days, they met no resistance at all, because nato war planes had taken out gadhafi's troops, tanks and artillery. and it was a cake walk for them. now they are in gadhafi territory. even 50, 60, 70 miles to the east of sirte, that is all controlled by gadhafi. the overwhelming majority of people there support gadhafi, and he supports them with a lot of money over the years. so it's a different world. they are now facing resistance. it's much harder now for these nato war planes to find targets, because they're seeing civilians, but these civilians are being protected by gadhafi's forces, and being attacked by, threatened by, the onslaught of these -- [ no audio ] 196 -- or the 1973 paradigm is being flipped on its ear. it just doesn't apply in the center and western parts of the country the way it does in benghazi and ajdabiya in the east. thomas? >> jim maceda in tripoli, thank you. secretary clinton weighein just a short time ago from london, reinforcing the need for coalition forces to stay on the offensive. >> all of us have to continue the pressure on and deepen the isolation of the gadhafi regime. this includes a unified front of political and diplomatic pressure that makes clear to gadhafi, he must go. >> i want to bring in former state department official and now bloomberg vice executive editor, james reuben for more analysis on the president's address in libya. jamie g to see you. the republican response to this speech came quickly. senator mccain, in particular, wasn't pulling any punches. take a listen. we'll talk on the other side. >> he made a very puzzling comment, and that was, regime change by force would be a mistake. gadhafi must have been somewhat comforted by that. if we end up in a situation where gadhafi is able to cling to power, then we could easily see a reenactment of what happened after the first gulf war. >> so jamie, obviously people were expecting reaction from the other side of the aisle for what the president had to say. do you think that's really a political attack or serious concern that might give other auto kratz in the region comfort as well? >> well, i don't really think that that particular sentence that senator mccain referred to really was intended the way he suggested. by imposing the way the president suggested -- by imposing a no-fly zone and attacking gadhafi's ground forces from the air, this is precisely what president obama is doing, is to prevent the 1991 disaster john mccain was talking about. he was talking about where saddam hussein was able to slaughter the shiites during their rebellion. that isn't going to happen in libya, precisely because of coalition aircraft in the skies, and attacking gadhafi's ground forces. on the other hand, this is going to be a long involvement. it's not going to be a few days, and gadhafi is gone. it's going to take some time. >> jamie, it was clear last night the president wanted to reinforce the international agreement on this action in libya. so does that mean that we're not going to make this same move in other countries, be even if there are atrosties being committed, like genocide in sudan going on right now and the fact that we can justify being in libya, but we can't justify being in sudan. so what are the limits of the obama doctrine? >> well, there are limits to america's ability to control what's going on in the world or to act every time a slaughter or an atrocity takes place, which occurs in africa, in asia, and other parts of the world every day. and every time an american president has chosen to intervene, to stop an atrocity like the president has here in libya, or president clinton did in bosnia and kosovo, critics will say, oh, but you're not stopping all of the slaughters. and it seems to me that is a very misplaced argument. if american power can help prevent something terrible from happening, the kind of slaughter we know would have happened in benghazi, because gadhafi said he would show them no mercy, and we can do that at relatively little cost with support from the rest of the world, that is a tremendous act on the part of the united states that should be supported. just because you can't do it everywhere doesn't mean you should do it nowhere. >> jamie, speaker john wayboehns office released a statement saying we didn't get the answers we were looking for in reference to president obama's speech last night that there was no clarity, no blueprint for success. so should the white house be bracing itself for even more questions now as we move forward with what is the end game in libya? >> well, i think the republicans have clearly made a decision to i guess to go after the president on this issue, and some of that comes from the confusion in the early weeks when president obama and his team were clearly reluctant to get involved, and then made a last-minute turn-around. and any time you do that in government, there is a likelihood that the opposition party will take advantage of that. but i think what matters a lot more to the president and should matter a lot more to the country and the administration is that we've got this thing just about right. we've got international support, we've got american involvement through nato, we've got an ability now to prevent gadhafi from not only slaughtering people in the east of libya, but taking back control of his country. and so although this may take some time, i think our involvement is commensurate with our interests. we're making a big difference without paying the entire price. >> jamie rubin, thanks for coming on today. we appreciate your insight. >> you're welcome. now to japan, where there are new concerns this morning about a highly toxic chemical being detected in the soil around that damaged nuclear power plant. officials say plutonium has been found in the water that's league from damaged nuclear fuel rods. and engineers are now facing the delicate balancing act of cooling the rods, trying to dpibd a way to keep the contamination from spending. nbc's lee cowan is in tokyo. lee. >> reporter: the big concern right now is trying to figure out how to balance putting water on the reactors to cool it off and what to do with all that water once it leaks out and becomes radioactive. we have been talking the past couple days how some of it has been pooling in the reactors itself or near some tunnels near the buildings. in one days, it was 100,000,000 times the normal level of radioactivi radioactivity. so that presents a whole other front here in this battle, because engineers still have to keep pumping that water into the reactors to keep the fuel rods cool. but as they pump more water in, it means they have to pump more water back out in order to get the workers in there to find out what the cause is of the leak in the first place. so there was a bit of good news, they did get more power hooked up to another control room there, so they can get a better idea as to what is going on with the reactors. but then we have a battle on two fronts, keeping the reactors cool and then figuring out what to do with all that radioactive water. that's the latest from here, thomas. back to you. >> all right, lee, thank you very much. the supreme court is hearing arguments at this hour in what could be the largest class action discrimination suit ever. pete williams is at the supreme court with more for us. >> reporter: thomas, this is a huge case. the largest class action discrimination lawsuit ever against the nation's biggest retailer. the question is, can this case go to trial, or is lumping so many complaints together, does that make it unfair for walmart to defend itself? for 25 years, christine has worked at a northern california sam's club, owned by walmart. she says she once asked why a male co-worker got a big raise, and she didn't. >> i was told that he had a family to support. and at that time, i also had a family to support. i'm a single mom of two. and they were much smaller at that time. but, you know, i still had to feed them and clothe them and everything else. >> reporter: she and other women, current and former walmart employees, are suing. they claim the company gives better pay and bigger promotions to the male employees. their class action lawsuit now potentially covers more than 1.5 million women. walmart denies that it total rates any sex discrimination. >> out in the stores, in the field, even in the home office, you get paid based on your performance. 80% of our departmental work force are made up of women. and department managers play a very important role in our organization. >> reporter: and the company says the lawsuit is so massive, it's impossible to short out the legal claims in any fair way. >> it's not just the size of the class. it's the nature of the claims here that the plaintiffs tried to put every single claim into one big class, every person, every state, every store. >> reporter: but the lawyer for christine and the other women says they would never get into court if they had to sue for back pay one by one. >> the average loss per woman in this case is about $1,100 per woman per year. that's not enough to attract any lawyer in this country today. >> reporter: but several of the nation's biggest employers, including ge, the part owner of nbc universal, are urging the supreme court to put limits on class action lawsuits, which they claim have become abusive. thomas? >> pete williams, thank you, sir. appreciate it. all right, a disturbing report out of philadelphia, showing that violence in schools is at epidemic levels. we're going to take a look at just how pervasive it is, right after this. how can expedia save me even more on my hotel? by giving me huge discounts on rooms hotels can't always fill. with unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. where you book matters. expedia. i knew for years before i quit that i needed to quit and i went online to find a way. ♪ what really excited me about chantix -- it's a non-nicotine pill. i didn't want nicotine to give up nicotine. while you're taking the medication, for the first week, you can go ahead and smoke. [ male announcer ] prescription chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. when i was taking the chantix, it reduced the urge to smoke. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these symptoms or behaviors, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. if you develop serious allergic or skin reactions, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some of these can be life-threatening. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. until you know how chantix affects you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. ♪ it feels wonderful. i don't smoke. i don't smoke. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about chantix. and now through march 31st, get a limited-time money saving offer and see terms and conditions at chantix.com. welcome back, everybody. for many of us, growing up in schools, they were safe places, where education was the priority, and also had a purpose. nowadays, sadly, that is not always the case. according to a year-long investigation by the philadelphia inquirer, violence in the city's school district is so widespread, so unbearable, that educators are at a loss for how to stop it. we're talking about students being hazed and beaten, robbed, sexually assaulted, in attacks so commonplace, that they're actually happening in both the hallways and the classroom. teachers can't predict the kids, and the kids can't protect themselves. so how can this be happening, and how much worse can it get before it gets better? susan snyder is one of the reporters who researched and co wrote the latest installment of which is now on newsstands. she joins me to talk about it. susan, nice to have you with us. first of all, the study is incredible. the scope, mind-blowing, as we read this. so explain to all of us what initially sparked the investigation. >> certainly. last school year, we had incidents at south philadelphia high school, a series of attacks on asian students. and the school district really was slow to respond to that. and so we decided we really need to take a look at what was going on in the schools. so we had had a team of five reporters who spent the last year really looking at every facet of violence in the schools, and what we found was alarmin alarming. ran an elite case is about a student at one of the high school, and she was in her class, taking an algebra test. and she wasn't safe there. a group of students who had walked the halls for several minutes burst into her classroom and attacked her right there before her teacher and her classmates. >> susan, in all of your research, did you ever get an idea of how things actually got to this point? i mean, you know, all of us, parents, educators, you know this isn't an overnight problem. so it's probably been happening for some time, not only in philadelphia, but in other big cities, and maybe even small cities around the country. so explain, what is the tipping point? >> yes, i can tell you that, you know, i've covered schools in philadelphia for ten years now. and violence has always been a problem. we had a major case back in 2007, where a teacher was attacked and his neck was broken. and that, you know, made news then at that time. and it just really is something that the city, and i'm sure other cities around the country, you know, have not really been able to come to grips with. and so we're hoping that over this week we can highlight the problem in a way that's never been highlighted before. and that it will cause people to come to the table and really look for solutions. >> the good thing about this being highlighted is the thing that's probably even more disturbing, despite all of this research, the numbers that you're able to tally in the last few years, there's a lot of incidents of violence that are probably being underreported. probably because of fear mentality or gang-related fear mentality. if you know you rat me out you're going to pay even worse. so are kids that you were able to reach out to, are they afraid of speaking out, to try to create a ripple of difference? >> we did find some students who were afraid to speak out, as well as some teachers afraid to speak out. but thankfully, we found many will to go come forward who thought this was enough of a problem they wanted their voices to be heard. >> you also point out a lot of violence in the schools is apparently borne out of turf wars, which is on the outside. the quote, unquote, from someone that you interviewed, kids from one side of town versus the other. so how do educators actually get between that fight, kind of break down the barriers that are separating what these kids perceive to be all of their differences? >> well, that's true. and i think, you know, the strict has tried to do some of that, especially in the wake of what happened in south philadelphia high school. but it's clearly not enough. and in the case that we led the series with, the mother of the student who was attacked went to school three days beforehand, because there were text blasts, there were messages on facebook about the pending attack. and even with three days notice, the school wasn't able to stop it. >> and susan, i also know that you were able to research what's going on even in the earliest of classrooms in kindergarten, finding that there are episodes of violence happening there. so when you look at an age group like that, you have to think, well, maybe this is being learned at home, and responsibility of what's going on in the city needs to be cracking down on a lot of these parents. >> absolutely. and that's something you will hear some of the experts that we quote say, that more needs to be done at home, and that parents have to start taking more of the responsibility. our police commissioner has said that, and others in the city, as well. >> all right, susan, great work. and we encourage everybody to check out the reporting that you're doing there for the philadelphia inquirer. thanks again, susan. >> thank you. i want to point out to everybody, because later in the hour we're going to revisit this subject about school violence, and this time we're going to talk to a teacher in california who says his colleagues are being physically and psychologically bullied by students in an elementary school. so stick with us through the hour. that's going to be coming your way soon. new numbers out this morning on home sales. we're going to take a look at them. also, the effect long-term unemployment is having on families around this country. what's all this? big news! we have another way to help you save. oh, really? how? by bundling. if you get your homeowners and auto insurance together, we give you even more savings. ooh! big bundle. [ chuckling ] home and auto together. it's like peanut butter and jelly. oh, or like burgers and fries. or pickles and ice cream. unicorns and glitter! no? bundling to save you more. now, that's progressive! call or click today. i'm thomas roberts. here's what's topping the news now. state tv in syria is reporting the entire cabinet stepped down this morning in a bid to calm unrest against the hardline regime that began margin 18th. protesters calling for the resignation of president assad are facing an increasingly harsh crackdown which human rights watch says has already killed 60. this just hours after hundreds of thousands of pro regime supporters rallied in the capital city. one of the states hardest hit by the recession will now be the first to cut how long it pays out unemployment benefits. in michigan, governor rick snyder signed a bill that reduces benefits from 26 to 20 weeks. the jobless rate in michigan fell more than any other states last year, but it remains higher than the national average. home prices dropped in january, according to the s&p case-shiller index. property values fell 3.1% from january 2010, more than economists had forecast. this continued drop in home values raises the risk that home sales will keep slowing, affecting the overall recovery. another round of pro labor demonstrations are expected in ohio today, as state lawmakers are closer to voting on a bill that limits workers' collective bargaining rights there. a house committee is considering at least ten revisions to the bill, including removing jail time for going on strike. any changes would need approval by the republican-controlled state senate, which passed the original bill earlier this month. some bp managers could face federal manslaughter charges for their role in the deepwater horizon disaster last year. bloomberg news is reporting this. in june, the justice department launched a criminal investigation into the oil rig explosion. it killed 11 people, and sent millions of gallons of oil into the gf mic > w,fhaednd pe to ten years in prison. so, congress is back today in negotiations on whether or not a government shutdown can be averted. we're going to get a live update from capitol hill. and teachers in california say they are now being bullied by students, and they need parents to do something about it. ] [ whispering ] shhhh... did you hear that? it sounded like the chocobeast. the what? half man, half beast. he'll stop at nothing to sink his fangs into people who steal other people's chocolate temptations. you guys have nothing to worry about, right? aaah! [ all scream ] nice job, chocobeast! thank you. [ male announcer ] six indulgent layered desserts, at 150 calories or less. new temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed, and sore throat. i tossed those allergy symptoms out of my party. [ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. welcome back, everybody. the big news in washington may be the president's address on libya, but there is still the matter of the budget to talk about. time, as you know, running out for the white house, and congressional leaders to reach a deal. right now, we're just ten days away from a government shutdown, but there was some optimism on the senate floor this morning. >> spoke with the white house this morning, there's conversations going with the white house and the republican leadership in the house. and i think that this matter, with a little bit of good fortune, could move down the road in the next day or two to get us to a point where we can have something done. >> nbc's luke russert covers capitol hill for us. and luke, some positive words from the majority leader. we saw boehner respond to the president's address on libya. but how quickly does he need to shift his focus back on to the ongoing budget issue right now? >> well, that really is the main issue up on capitol hill, thomas, and there are roughly about ten days left until april 8th when the government would experience a shutdown, if there is not a continuation or some sort of compromise on the government spending bill for the rest of this year. you played that clip from harry reid. it's quite interesting. harry reid put forth some guarded optimism that a deal could get done. that is in direct conflict to chuck schumer, his number two, who basically said today on the senate floor that a tea party was responsible for delaying any type of compromise that could come about. chuck schumer is saying that because speaker boehner is, in fact, basically essentially sold out to the tea party and the conservative right of his conference, that there is no way for a compromise deal to get done. republicans are pushing hard on that narrative, saying that chuck schumer is actually not even in the room in these types of negotiations, that there have been discussions, even yesterday they were talking between the white house, speaker boehner, and majority leader reid, and there is some a little bit as you say guarded optimism on the republican side saying, look, if we can get some sort of number from the democrats, we would be more willing to go to the table. we know what the house republican number is, thomas. that's $61 billion in cuts. there's no chance that's going to pass through the democratically controlled senate. however, what you could see is some sort of compromise in the 25 to $30 billion range. that's what we're hearing. but here's the big kicker. we are now starting to see because of pressure from the conservative right of the house republicans -- conference, they want to have policy riders within any type of government funding bill. what are policy riders? those are policy bills and amendments that went into these budget negotiations that have to do with things that are not financial. things like cutting off the funding to planned parenthood, things like having to deal with the epa. a lot of these social issues very important to democrats as well as republicans. republicans want to get on top of those, and they feel they can do that within a budget fight. that will be an interesting area where to look at. speaker boehner will come under pressure from the tea party this thursday. there a massive rally planned here on capitol hill by the tea party patriots group. they are, in fact, rallying on this issue. they do not want to see republicans waiver. they have said on and on and on and on. we put you guys into power, you better do what we say. they don't want to see a compromise in the $30 billion range on these cuts. they want more. the biggest irony, they said if you had come to us in february and they had said we'll cut $30 billion from the fiscal year 2011, they would have taken that in a heartbeat. it has shown how far the tea party has moved these negotiations to the right. >> yeah, i was going to say, they would have jumped at that offer. luke russert, thank you. appreciate it. >> always a pleasure. as the white house looked to friday's jobs report and hoped for continued drops, no one is watching more closely than those actually unemployed. last year one in eight families included an unemployed person, the most since the labor department started keeping stats in 1994. so how are these families making ends meet? kathryn ram pella is a business reporter for the "new york times" and edits the econnomix blog. 12.4%, the number of families with someone unemployed currently. i think the question is, is the last jobs report a good indication these numbers are going to starting to down? >> that's the hope, certainly. we have seen some job growth. the question is, as we see job growth, does that mean that people who have dropped out of the labor force, because they were so discourt and jury will rejoin the labor force which could push the unploept rate back up. let's focus on the role of women in american families right now, because we have seen reports from the past few years, women shouldering bigger financial burdens when it comes to raising families, and also contributing and sharing what's going on in the household there. so do we continue to watch this trend going in a positive direction or a negative direction? >> well, during the recession, certainly it was called a man session, because men were disproportionately bearing the brunt of job losses. about 80% of the jobs lost in many months were those that belonged to men, because they were in more cyclical industries. now we're seeing that those jobs are coming back, you know, we're talking about manufacturing and other industries where men are again disproportionately employed. but at the same time, women are finding that their jobs, that they're more likely to be employed in, are disappearing. those are jobs like state and local governments and so on. >> isn't this the pink collar work force? >> exactly. the pink collar work force. so in the past, while we saw men bearing the brunt of the job losses, women are finding themselves in that position now, as men are gaining jobs. so while a couple of years ago we were seeing this upward trend in the number of families that were relying on women, as bread winners, that may be reversing soon. >> kathryn, has there been any data that shows that you added the fiscal responsibility taken up by women has led to better wages or better work environments? >> not necessarily. i mean, right now, it's really a buyers' market in terms of the job market where people who have jobs just feel that they're lucky to have them. it doesn't really seem like women would have necessarily anymore bargaining power now than they did before. >> so it seems more like a grateful nation, so to speak, when it comes to those of us that do remain employed or have recently become employed on the tail end of the recession. >> right. and there are very few who have recently become employed. most of the people who lost their jobs during the recession have found themselves to be unemployed for a very long period of time. the duration of unemployment is at an all-time high, and has been hovering for about the last year. so whereas in the past we would see unemployment last for maybe, i don't know, a couple of months in a recession, we're seeing it now last for something like 35 weeks, i think was the last number. >> yeah, pretty sad when you look at this, and you think about how long these people have been down and out, and the fact that things aren't snapping back as they should. kathryn, always great to have you in. thanks for coming. >> thank you. it's being described as complete mayhem. elementary school teachers in bakersfield, california being sd 9 years old. the shocking news is compounded by claims that district officials aren't doing a thing about it. the big reason? budget cuts. brad barnes is the president of the bakersfield elementary teachers association, and he joins us now. brad, it's good to have you with us. we were shocked by this, to hear about teachers being shoved, kicked, eggs thrown at them, a homemade bomb in the boys' bathroom. i think a lot of us, having grown up and being that age, we know what it's like to pull a prank on a teacher. but it sounds like this is a really bat outtake from the movie "the principal." how long has this been going on? we know these things don't just pop up overnight. >> well, there's been discipline problems forever in the schools. but during the last year, things have declined, as far as discipline goes. budget cuts have caused us to lose disciplinarians in the schools, counselors gone, vice principals, classes are larger, so teachers have a bigger bigger challenge. and the social problems the kids experience, they bring them right into the classroom. >> so brad, as you talk about the budget issues, am i correct in understanding the logic, the district here, they're refusing to do anything because of the cost? it costs too much to suspend or expel or even rotate the kids? >> well, the school district gets paid for when students actually attend school. so, yes, there is a financial cost to having kids suspended or expelled from school hanltnavechl la yer,anthledow al baufud cuts. so the district's in a tough situation, trying to make the money we have stretch across the entire school district to educate everyone. but at this point, keeping the disruptive kids in class are hurting those there to learn. >> so is the answer ex -- you know, obviously, you begin with suspension, and then you move on to complete expulsion. is that the answer? >> well, that is the answer, and in the case of certain students. most of the kids in bakersfield city schools are well-behaved, they want to be there, they're productive. but then you get a few kids in there that makes it impossible for everyone else. and in some cases, the kids -- kids like that do need to be suspended, expelled, or rotated. >> the story itself drawing some interesting -- interesting observations, many of them old-school. if you will. about how an overall lack of discipline, as you mentioned, is to blame for this. so you think the case of this is on the fronts of the home front, or it's a case of lack of discipline in the classroom? because teachers just fear that they have lost control, and so they're not really putting out the effort to try to regain control? >> well, it does start at home. we have got 1,000 homeless students in the bakersfield city school district. we've got a great deal of unemployment in town. and a lot of social issues. the students bring these issues to school. and teachers are doing what they can to discipline the class, but we have got 40 kids in a class, and the grades 4 through 6, and while teachers are supposed to be delivering a lesson, they're also supposed to be dealing with the behavior of all of these students who are acting out. and it's become a task where i think we're at the breaking point, and we can't take anymore kids in class. we've got to have some normalcy, and we have to have resources in it school so we can get the job done. >> no, it's really tough. i know you guys have a tough job ahead of you, all educators do. i think a lot of kids need to remember, no matter what their circumstance, no matter how tough it is at home, that education really is the key for all of us to getting up, getting out, and moving on to better lives. so brad, we wish you continued success with what you guys are doing out there. and you have our full support. so keep up the good work. >> thanks for having me. >> take care. the bronx zoo is sending experts back into the reptile house to hunt down a poisonous cobra missing since friday. peter alexander is live at the bronx zoo in new york city to explain. peter, how does this cobra go missing all of a sudden? >> reporter: it's a good question and what they're trying to answer today, thomas. this is day five of the cobra hunt. they're calling all snake charmers, anybody with ideas. that's a joke. but they have had dozens of people call with suggestions to try and find this venomous snake. so they go back inside again today. they believe it's hiding in a dark, warm corner, which makes standing outside in the cold a whole lot more safe right now. but they will try once again to find this elusive cobra. if you're anything like me, you would probably prefer to cover the story from up here. but way down below, there's a potentially deadly cobra missing. what do you think of that? >> we'll be leaving soon. >> reporter: it may not be snakes on a plane. >> i have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this monday to friday day plane! >> reporter: but it is an egyptian cobra loose at the bronx zoo. the venomous snake that will grow to look something like this managed to slither out of its enclosure. as soon as zoo keepers noticed the 20-inch snake was gone, the reptile house was immediately closed to the public, and secured. that was friday afternoon. the cobra hasn't been seen since. what did your mom say when you said we were going to the bronx zoo. they didn't catch the cobra yet. i don't think it's a good idea. >> reporter: right now et cetera the snake's game, the zoo director said, and at this point it's like fishing. you put the hook in the water and wait. zoo officials are confident the cobra, months old, and pencil thin, hasn't left the zoo, and is likely hiding in an isolated area in the reptile house, somewhere it feels safe. i'm glad she does. >> an egyptian cobra can be very dangerous. these animals have very strong venom, and it's strong enough to kill a human being. that is the bad news. the good news is that they're not particularly aggressive. and they're really only going bite if they feel threatened. >> reporter: cobra bites can be deadly if they do untreated. according to legend, an egyptian cobra is the kind of snake cleopatra used to submit suicide. >> the taste of these, they say, is sharp, swiftly over. >> reporter: of course, hollywood has been tapping into our fear of snakes for years. from anaconda to indiana jones. today, this real-life reptile has snaked its way into the spotlight. even comedian steve martin, who once proudly paid tribute to the boy king, tweeted, an egyptian cobra has escaped and is hiding in the bronx zoo. i'm sitting in my king tut hat by the phone, awaiting their call for help. so the good question today is, how do you catch a cobra? the answer, according to the zoo director, thomas, is you wait until it gets -- and this is the good part, hungry and thirsty and starts moving around the building. they caution, that could be days or even weeks. we should acknowledge, for now this is a two-fanged story. we're trying to follow the snake on one hand, and on the other, we are following the bronx zoo's cobra online that's been tweeting 35,000 people now following this man or woman or whoever is tweeting as the snake. heck, the snake itself is a she, may as well be the snake tweeting. most recently it said, "i'm on the sex in the city tour". i'm definitely a ssss sa man than. can't make this stuff up. peter alexandra at the bronx zoo. appreciate it. so with all the attention on equality in the workplace, we're going to take a look at this recent study that says young men resent gains that women have been waking in the workplace. we'll be back with much more after this. to save me a boatload of money on my mortgage, that would be awesome! sure. like that will happen. don't just think about it. spend 10 minutes at lending tree and save up to $272 a month. all right. so at this hour, the supreme court hearing a case against walmart that could become the largest sexual discrimination lawsuit in american history. let's take a look at live pictures outside the supreme court. people protesting for equal rights. if given the go ahead, it could pit more than 1 million women against the retail giant. all of them current or former employees who say male workers earned more money and received tter promotions than they did. the pending legal action stands in stark contrast to a new study by the journal of basic and applied social psychology which says that women's advances are actually making men nervous. cal rivers is a journalist and gender studies expert. she wrote about the subject for "the daily beast" and joins us now to talk about it. carol, good morning. first and foremost, do you think this case involving walmart reflects what the study is actually claiming? >> it could well be. we do find the studies side with other research that women's progress really seems to be stalled, or in some cases going in reverse. so i think that this may be reflected in the walmart case that women there are sort of across the board really feel that they're not getting the pay raises and the promotions that the men are getting. >> carol, you've had a lot of experiences, as we said in the intro, with gender studies. do you honestly think that men are so nervous about the fact that females can succeed in the workplace, succeed so much that they can take their jobs and then even become their bosses? >> you know, i was actually surprised, because this research was done on young men, and i was surprised at the degree to which the men when they were, you know -- they were asked to look at material about the successes and gains, they showed that they got very anxious, and tended to sort of circle the wagons. and there's a big gap, because when women looked at the same material, they thought, gee, aren't things great, and had sort of a rose-colored glasses approach. and they thought, well, we don't have to bond with other women, because we're doing fine, while the men were thinking, hey, wait a minute, we're getting the short end of the stick here. so if you sort of project that ahead, it's a little worrisome, because, you know, if men are feeling threatened, will they mentor women or hire women? and i think women have to understand this and realize that things maybe aren't quite as rosy as they think. >> so carol, is the implication out of all of this, the grander picture, that men are still very sexist when it comes to having women colleagues? >> you know, i don't think it's so much just sex ecissexism. it seems to me, anxiety. i think what the study shows is that when men start thinking about how well they're doing, they can get worried and threatened. sort of the light at the end of the tunnel is that when you talk to men about women's problems and how they really haven't succeeded all this far and the problems they're having, then men feel kind of less threatened. so it's not as clear-cut as all this. but there is concern, if you think that among young men who were expected to be, you know, the new males, and ones who weren't at all sexist, are feeling this kind of threat. >> carol, it's really fascinating stuff. obviously, always when we discuss gender issues, it's always fascinating. still waters run deep. carol waters, thanks for coming on today. we appreciate t carol. >> thank you. all right. so where do deposed dictators go once they have been forced from power? it's making the flip side, coming your way up next. [ male announcer ] america's beverage companies are working together to put more information right up front. adding new calorie labels to every single can, bottle and pack they produce. so you can make the choice that's right for you. ♪ but basically, i'm a runner. last year. (oof). i had a bum knee that needed surgery. t it got complicated, because i haanldnjury. iand doorho d nehibere. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. all right so we're following some breaking news out of chicago right now. the "chicago-tribune" is reporting that at least 13 people have been hurt after a gunman opened fire on a car, causing a nearby bus to crash. officials say that the victims weren't hurt by the gunshots but rather the accident and then flying glass. this happened around 9:30 this morning. witnesses say that two men jumped out of a red truck, and began firing as they were walking down a block. again, 13 people hurt after a gunman opened fire on a car in chicago, causing a nearby bus to crash. of course, we'll bring you more information here as soon as we get it. well, president obama made it clear last night that our involvement in libya is a humanitarian mission, not an operation to specifically remove gadhafi from power. but if gadhafi did choose to leave and seek exile, where would he go? here on the flip side we take a look at behind some of the other well-known deposed leaders who fled after their reign wasut short. let's start with the very latest. hosni mubarak couldn't hold control of egypt but he's staying relatively nearby at sha sharm el sheikh. saudi arabia has a history of providing a home for deposed leaders, most recently tunisia's former president, pushed out by protesters, seeking democracy. but before the tunisian president, it was seeking refuge in saudi arabia. pushed out of ugandan for human rights abuses. the former head of state lived there until his death in 2003. france was the destination for haiti's former dictator forced to leave after an uprising in mid-'80s, more than two decades passed before his recent return following haiti's devastating earthquake. but that's just a look behind the headlines at where some people go. still remains to be seen exactly what will happen to gadhafi. that's going to do it for me. i'm thomas roberts see you here at same time every weekday morning but now we say hello to contessa brewer. >> hello my, friend. keeping a close eye on the supreme court. a battle that could put the world's largest retailer walmart against more than a million men. what this could mean for work sex self-nation in the workposition it. everything is fair game and we're taking you inside of the secret world of high-stakes' splits. the hunt for the missing cobra on the loose at the bronx zoo for days. officials have no clue where it is. and so now it's infamous. even has its own twitter page. >> i know i'm following it. >> oh my god you are lame. >> okay we have the latest coming up. >> it's newswork they. >> i don't know about that.e look at you. why don't you show me your portfolio? i'd love to... i already logged out. oh no, it's easy, actually, to get back... see where it says history? there's a history? yeah, it'll take you right back to the site you were just on. well the last site... [ british vo ] and now, cycle complete. the male wildebeest returns to propagate the herd. [ animal grunts ] can you forward me this link? [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. so delicious. my peppers and broccoli... they really make the dish. cream is really what makes it. i think you'll find it's the vegetables. the crunch... the texture. deliciously rich. delicious. fantastic! flavorful. [ cow moos ] hey, maybe we could... work together? [ female announcer ] introducing new stouffer's farmers' harvest. now classics like grilled chicken fettuccini alfredo come with sides of farm-picked vegetables... lightly sauteed with herbs and olive oil. and no preservatives. find more ways to get to the table at letsfixdinner.com. dead day, everybody. i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast and the big story that we're watching right now, president obama has made his case for intervention in libya. >> on the ground in libya, rebels under heavy fire in a push toward gadhafi's hometown, sert. more than nine dates of allied air strikes providing cover for what could be a crucial battle. nbc's richard engel is in benghazi. >> reporter: if sirt falls and then the rebels will be right on the doorstep of tripoli. the problem is they're not making progress towards sirt. >> last night president obama