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"dukes of hazard." >> former governor barb bour ran the state like boss hog. he didn't follow the law. governor barber didn't follow it. it was very clear he had to have this information. he department obtain it before he signed these pardons. now he's caused a public safety issue. these families are afraid out here. these victims have been through a terrible amount. >> martin savidge is in jackson, mississippi, this morning. martin's what's the constitutional issue here? is haley barbour giving any explanation? i know you tried to talk to him at the beginning of the week and you couldn't get anything. >> yeah, in fact, we just tried to talk to him again. we put another request in to his officials. once again, flatly turned down. let me point out what the mississippi constitution says when it comes to the issues of pardons, especially pardons granted as a result of the governor. it says in writing in that constitution that there has to be a formal 30-day notification published in the newspaper in the county where the offense for the criminal took place. it must be in that newspaper for 30 days. the question is, did that actually take place for all of these pardons, for all of these criminals that have been set free as a result of the governor -- former governor's actions? that's what they're investigating. they're especially wondering was it done with those four murderers, the ones set free on sunday. as for any response coming from the former governor, haley barbour, let me read you something he put out last night. he had a very long statement. he didn't nak himself. it was a press release. he said the people have misunderstood the clemency process. he went on to say that, quote, approximately 90% of these individuals are no longer in custody. the pards were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or obtain professional licenses. they can also hunt and vote. you can't vote. by pardoning you can go out and buy a gun and you can vote. kyra? >> so, martin, what does this mean for the prisoners who have already been released? >> reporter: and that is the real question here. right now it means that there are about 21 that have not been let loose from the prisons. they're on hold. they have to stay in place. as far as the other people that were already released, they're real questions. will they eventually have to turn themselves back in? will the pardons be null and void. those that have served their time, they won't have to. right now they don't have to turn themselves in but they must daily report their whereabouts to the department of corrections. full hearing set for mon the 23rd of this month. that's when we'll know more. >> martin savidge. we'll follow this story. the u.s. marie corps is investigating a shocking video that is now drawing calls of condemnation from around the world. the video seems to show a marine sniper team urinating on taliban corpses in afghanistan. we won't show you the video. barbara starr, we still do have a photo. what exactly do you know about this tape? >> reporter: well, kyra, as of this morning there is a full blown criminal investigation underway. the naval criminal investigative service, ncis, now investigating this looking for potential criminal activity. defense secretary leon panetta expected to issue a statement shortly. he saw the video last night. he is said to have found it very disturbing. there have been statements from several government officials now, people calling it disgusting. this is something that has really caught the military by surprise. we have seen this kind of misconduct over the years. they did not expect to see it again. they're going to move very quickly to try and pin down who these people are in the video, what unit they belong torks and what potential charges might, might be brought here because they know these images are flying around the internet around the world. they will have a very bad reaction understandably in the islamic world, desecration of a dead body really unthinkable by u.s. military personnel, so they want to get a handle on it. they want to exert that kind of disciplinary action as soon as they can determine the facts here, kyra. >> we'll definitely follow the investigation and try and learn and bring about all those facts. barbara, thanks. appreciate it. a big question now. was it an isolated incident? last night on erin burnett's show she asked major general spider marks about that. >> it doesn't go beyond this team. i need to tell you. >> shock the? >> absolutely. everybody in this team's chain of command, they're no longer elite. these guys are outside the norm. this really makes you upset. everybody in this team's chain of command right now are trying to find out why these guys, guys that we trusted, marines that we put in incredible positions, trained them immensely, we injected them with our military ethos and they do this? everybody in that chain of command is trying to figure out what broke down. >> you can hear more from spider marks at 11:00 a.m. taking you live to greer, south carolina. presidential candidate mitt romney taking questions from reporters. let's listen in. >> governor, you added a phrase to your stump speech last night about the protection of life. both last night and this morning you repeated the word life three times when talking about the declaration of independence. is that a specific play to social conservatives here in south carolina that you weren't making in new hampshire? >> people in new hampshire know extraordinarily well that i stood for life. it was very highly publicized in new england and particularly in the boston papers and the boston stations that i became pro-life, described why i became pro-life. i am proud of that fact and continue to make that message, but, no, i don't have any -- >> is that something you feel you need to emphasize more in south carolina? >> i understand that there are some attack ads coming my way that question that, and obviously it's important for me to remind people that i'm pro-life. thanks. >> mitt romney there speaking live in greer, south carolina. he doesn't always take questions from reporters. in this live event he did. paul steinhauser, our cnn political editor, was actually listening in as well. why do you think he decided to do this? >> does it every now and then. kyra, let's be honest. he's been coming under a lot of criticism lately, a lot of questions about his time at bain capital. that was the private equity firm he headed in the 1980s and 1990s. question about whether he destroyed jobs in those years. he was asked about it at the beginning of this news conference. he said, the companies we helped when i was at bain, over the years they've created over 100,000 jobs. you've heard a lot of republican candidates going after him as well as democrats. as he runs for president he touts job creation. can he do a better job creating jobs than the current person in the white house, president barack obama. it's part of the main push for him running. when he gets criticized, it goes to the heart of his campaign. last night sarah palin, somebody respected by a lot of conservative republicans, here's what she had to say. >> governor romney has claimed to have created 100 thousand jobs at bain. people are wanting to know, is there proof of that claim and was it u.s. jobs created for united states citizens? that's not negative campaigning, that's fair to get a candidate to be held accountable to what's being claimed. >> so when sarah palin says something like that, mitt romney, maybe he wants to respond because, again, even though she's not running for the white house, she's still pretty credible with a lot of conservative candidates. in south carolina, the governor, nikki haley, another conservative who was helped by sarah palin, she is backing mitt romney. she's been with him a lot over the last week or two. you've seen her. she was defending mitt romney. take a listen to what she said. >> but we have a real problem when we have republicans talking like democrats against the free market. we believe in the free market. >> yeah. you hear that, kyra it's part of the theme here from the romney campaign. you are the guys who are attacking me. you played into the hands of the white house playing into the hands of the obama re-election team. stop, stop, stop. kyra, mitt romney by the way heading to florida now. he's campaigning there a little bit later today. florida goes ten days after south carolina. south carolina nine days away. a lot of action to come, kyra. >> a lot to talk about. paul, thanks so much. we'll have political updates throughout the morning. a reminder, you can always go to our website 24/7 cnnpolitics.com. a french journal list is struck by a mortar and killed while covering a pro-government rally. now the syrian opposition is blaming security forces for the death. cnn's zain verjee is in london. zain, what do you know? >> reporter: hi, kyra. a major syrian opposition group is essentially blaming the government of bashar al-assad for the attack and trying to intimidate the media. it's also calling for an independent prone into the french journalist's killing. let's take a look at the headlines around the world. "the national" has this headline. they slammed the arab league and said they're useless. this is the headline. the arab league's indecision is fueling assad's belligerence. it says, when lost, continue walking around in circles. that is the motto of the arab league in dealing with the crisis in syria. there is no ash momentum to side with the syrian population against their leaders. "the international herald tribune has this headline. it says mr. assad has not deviated from the notion that he remains popular. a victim of a conspiracy financed by outsiders offering the same kind of logic that was heard in libya and egypt before uprisings brought down long time auto krats "the globe and the mail" has this. a dangerous delusion. the arab league's half-hearted attempt to monitor the conflict in syria has evidently encouraged president bashar al-assad to threaten to govern with an iron fist. that's just an idea of some of the newspapers and what they're saying today, kyra. >> zain verjee out of london. thanks. new shocking allegations about how casey anthony got pregnant. that's just ahead. glass from a high rise building in sacramento shattering the sidewalk. workers say it's not the first time either. we'll go cross-country right after the break. [ nadine ] buzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪ what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. let's head cross-country now for stories that you may have missed. starting in pittsburgh, penn state alumni vented frustrations over the school's handling. take a listen. >> how could a board have not had a crisis plan? >> the bond between the administration and the board has sometimes been too close. >> i was disgusted at the lack of response from the university. university president told the alumni they need to remind people about the positive aspects of a penn state education. protesters angrily reached a -- reacted, rather, to the tucson's vote. the state threatened to withhold $15 million in annual aid. glass falling from a building in sacramento smashing onto the sidewalk. nobody was hurt. people that work in that building say glass also fell from it seven years ago. casey anthony's back in the headlines. just days ago she surfaced on the web in a video diary talking about her life and keeping her whereabouts secret. now new shocking details are released. psychiatric notes claiming that anthony was drugged and raped while unconscious during a party. a date rape, she says, may have left her pregnant. joining me from new york, ashley banfield. you've covered this for months. why is this information coming out now and why didn't we hear about it during the murd kerr trial? >> that's a great question. these were psychiatric reports that were commissioned by the court. you have to determine someone's competent to stand trial. they send in the doctors. they ask you all sorts of questions. these two doctors who analyzed casey took copious notes. these allegations or claims came from those notes. why they never came out at trial is still a bit of a mystery to me. they certainly do support all of the allegations that casey through her attorney made in court as to her defense. she kind of blamed her whole family for everything that was wrong. blamed her family for why she was a liar. now she's going even further and blaming her father for possibly even murdering this little girl. >> she made these pretty explosive allegations against her father during two separate jail house interviews with psychiatrists. what more do we know about that? >> well, the weird thing is is that in her defense jose baez when he took to the floor and addressed that jury and questioned all those witnesses on the stand, he went to the point where he alleged that her dad, casey's dad george, george anthony, used to molest her and that that's why she became this chronic liar that none of us could believe. the lies were proven. we knew she was a liar. that's a fact. and so jose had to clean it up in court. he blamed all of it on her father who had to walk up to the stand several times and listen to all of these allegations that he molested casey. now casey while speaking privately to these psychiatrists said not only did he molest me, but i think he molested my baby and that he drowned her to cover it up. this is really brutal stuff. >> all right. the second topic i want to address with you, natalie holloway. today an alabama judge will consider whether to declare her dead nearly seven years after she disappeared in aruba. who's requesting this declaration and why? how does this work? >> well, it's such a tender thing because she is technically still missing. they never found a body, but her father, dave, petitioned the court for this declaration to basically put an end to it all. her mom, beth, was not too fond of this idea, pushed back as we're told quite a bit at the beginning but now has just sort of decided not to contest it. there are a couple of reasons for it. you might say the emotional reason of closure. there's also the technical stuff. they have a college fund for natalee which is still tied up. they have a sibling. they might want to use the money for the sibling. there are medical insurances that could be tied up with the declaration of death. how could incidental that it would happen today when just yesterday the guy who is widely suspected to be involved with this but never charged ended up in a peruvian courtroom making some pretty strong statements? >> joran van der sloot is a suspect in hallow way's death but has never been charged. >> right. >> we talked about this. last week he pled guilty to killing this peruvian woman. if hallow way will that impact him in any way? >> it's kind of hard to say. no, really not, because if they had any good evidence that natalee was murdered, you don't have to have a body to bring murder charges. the fact that they have an officially dead person doesn't change the fact that they don't have any goods on joran van der sloot in aruba. what could happen to him though involves our good old u.s. of a because there is a case that's been indicted here where he tried to extort natalee's mother, allegedly, by suggest fg she gave him i think around $250,000 he'd give her information as to where the body of her daughter was. that was all on tape. so the i have had is there. they still want to potentially pursue prosecution against him, but they can't. he's in peru. if they extra diet him before or after this very long sentence, then there could be another thing coming here in america for mr. van der sloot. >> ashleigh banfield, thank you for being with me. new numbers in on the estate of the economy. foreclosure filings plunged last year to the lowest level since 2007. what's in store for 2012? stay with us. a grounded cargo ship split in two spills tons of oil off the coast of new zealand. now there he is a safety concern about containers that could go overboard. so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. 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[ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. grounded cargo ship has spilled tons of oil off new zeala zealand's coast. the chip has split in two. as you can see, it's sinking in pretty rough waters. zain verjee following the story. zain, the ship has been grounded for some time, right? >> reporter: yeah. this happened about three months ago. it hit a reef around new zealand. it's been stuck ever since. the reason this is back in the news, kyra, is because over the weekend there were massive waves. that precipitated the ship breaking in two. so if you look at this video you can see the front of the ship that's up something about 100 meters or so. the bridge and the back of the ship is all underwater. the thing right now is oil. the oil is leaking out and there is still about 100 tons of oil inside the containers on this ship. so what people are trying to do right now, the salvage crews, are really focusing on trying to secure this. they're putting out beacons, buoys, they'll figure out a time where they can bring it to shore safely. this is a bad situation. new zealand is calling it its worst maritime disaster ever. 400 tons of oil did leak out and it has been spreading. a lot of sea life has been destroyed. >> we'll stay on the story. zain, thanks so much. let's head to the new york stock exchange. alison kosik actually following a pretty positive headline on the state of the housing market. hey, alison. >> hi, kyra. i'm going to temper that a little bit because if you look behind the headline you're still going to see a little of the bad stuff. first i'll give you the good. 1.9 million foreclosures. that's how many there were in 2011. that's a big improvement relatively speaking. the number of foreclosures is down 34% from 2010. its a at its lowest level from 2007. here comes the bad news. the reason behind the huge drop is because of big processing delays have followed the slide in 2010. banks are taking their time. they're making sure they make no mistakes. that slows the process. banks are working their way through that backlog so we're actually likely to see foreclosures pick up again. still analysts do expect home pri