they were protesting the shooting death of an unarmed florida teenager. demonstrators demanding an arrest and there's new trouble this morning for the police chief who was in charge of that case. living under a rock. literally. look at this. a 25-foot boulder breaking loose from a hillside in ohio, flattening cars, people were inside this home. the owner heard a sound, sow sparks, thought it was a thunderstorm. here's the good news, everyone inside is okay. >> miraculous given that video. holy cow. the nfl showing no mercy on the new orleans saints for paying bounties for big-time hits. the league suspending head coach shawn payton for the entire season. the general manager for eight games. and defensive coach greg williams who is now with the ram, suspended indefinitely for running that bounty program. tim tebow is taking his act to the big apple, traded to the new york jets. i know you know about this. all the fans and analysts are saying it's not exactly a match made in heaven? some people think it may be. it's one minute past 5:00. they've tried talking him out, freezing him out, scaring him out but the self-proclaimed al qaeda terrorist who is wanted for a killing spree in france is still standing his ground this morning. have a listen to this. >> blasts ringing out in the night. an attempt to literally rattle this guy into negotiating and surrendering. french authorities say, sadly, they have had no contact. the suspect's name is mohammed mira. the effort resulting in nothing. standoff at an apartment building entering its second day in france. hundreds of heavily armed officers are under strict orders. bring him in alive. cnn affiliate france says we have amateur video of mohammed mira. this is the first time you see him up close. it left three jewish children and a rabbi and three french paratroopers dead. we're live in toulouse france this morning. what's the latest there, diana. >> reporter: ashleigh, the latest in this 30-hour siege is now in the 30th hour, we've just heard from the interior ministry that at 2:00 a.m. this morning, which is about eight hours ago, there were two gunshots fired inside the house. they don't know why. they don't know what it was. since that point, they haven't had any more communication with the man. they did have communication with him before. it is very difficult to know what that means. this is purely speculation. but my reading of that, one reading of that could be that he has killed himself. they told us that in his communications with police yesterday, he said that he did want to die with his weapon in his hands. so it is very possible that he's killed himself. but at this stage, it's very difficult really to know what has happened. as you said, over the course of the night, there were these sort of stun grenades thrown in. huge bangs to shock and intimidate him. it doesn't seem to have worked. the case is still -- still maintaining they want him to come out alive to face justice for mees hideous crimes that he's done, ashleigh. >> diana, that is some news. 30 hours ago a raid did not go well and several people, the police involved were shot, hurt. what's the plan now? what are they going to try actually entering the building again to see if he's actually dead? >> reporter: it's difficult to know what they're going to do. yesterday we heard that they are using infrared technology, sensoring technology to try and find out where he is at any given point. you would have thought if he's been motionless for eight hours, then they would know about t but obviously, we, as the press, are kept quite a long way from the house itself, we're probably the last people who are going to know. interestingly, ashleigh, the electricity has been cut off to the whole neighborhood. so he also, if he is still alive, won't be watching the process outside, ashleigh. >> that's a remarkable development. thanks very much for that, diane. national outrage is building over the shooting death of an unarmed florida teenager by a neighborhood watch captain. hundreds of people attended a million hoodie march in manhattan yesterday. trayvon martin was wearing a hoodie when he was shot and killed by george zimmerman last month. demonstrators want an end to the profiling and want zimmerman arrested trayvon martin's parents were there and spoke to the crowd. >> trayvon martin did matter. i just want new york to know that we're not going to stop until we get justice. >> our son was not committing any crimes. our son we want to stand up for justice and do what's right. >> cnn's george hollow is in florida where reverend al sharpton will hold a rally tonight. there are big developments in the sanford police department as well. george, what can you tell us? >> well, clearly, this case has brought a lot of attention here to the city of sanford. as you mentioned, we're expecting hundreds of people to attend a rally here in the city. this comes a day after a 3-2 vote, a public vote of no confidence by city commissioners, including the city's mayor for the city's police chief. that's a big deal because it will weigh heavily on the mind of sanford's city manager. we're told that a federal investigation is welcomed. they want investigators to look through the actions of his police department. even to him, there are things that don't seem right. take a listen. >> if this took place in another city, certainly mr. zimmerman would have been arrested i'm told it's because of the florida law. that i think needs to be looked at. >> do you believe that your police department acted appropriately that day? >> based upon what they felt, i believe that they acted what they thought was appropriate. now the question is, did they? >> a lot of pressure on the city manager who has the power to hire and fire the police chief and certainly pressure on george zimmerman who has not been seen since the shooting. we found a new picture of him when he acted as a security guard at a party back in 2005. clearly, he was a watch captain of this neighborhood here in sanford. and many neighbors, some neighbors say that they appreciated the fact that he was there. but what he called self-defense that day, many in this community call murder. >> have we heard anything from his family at all, from zimmerman's family? >> we spent time trying to track down relatives, friends and at this point, it's really hard to find anyone on zimmerman's side within his family who will speak for him. we do know that his father did deliver a letter to the orlando sentinel saying that his son did not confront trayvon martin. but certainly the meeting between the two ended in a deadly shooting. >> i heard report that he had to move because he's fearing for his life. george howell live in sanford, florida, for us. we really appreciate it. thank you. ashleigh, back to you. it's 8:00 minutes past 5:00. zoraida, thank you. a major flood threat pushing eastward across the deep south right now. want to show you some pictures. they do not look good. that storm is triggering some bad flash flooding in louisiana and you know what they say, do not drive through it. you don't know how deep it is. two feet of water, filling up the roads and creeping into homes as well. >> look. >> i don't know if that car was trying to drive through it. but the one before it certainly was and so is this one driving with a camera. not a good picture. not something you like to see. rob marciano has been watching this and the rest of the weather across the country. hi rob. >> good morning, guys. this system is moving so slowly, not only the severe weather threat but the flood threat will be ongoing. ahead of it, it's running into really warm air. some of the numbers are incredible as far as highs. 87 degrees in chicago. the all-time record. it missed the all-time record by one degree. 85 degrees in columbus, ohio. that was a record. marquette, michigan, 81 degrees. they blew the record out of the water by 32 degrees. the old record was 49 degrees. all right. here's your system. there you go. just kind of sitting and spinning. not making much progress to the east. it will do so, but slowly, very, very slowly. the rain will keep coming in off the gulf of meck coe. there will be a flood threat today. 4 to 6 inches from mobile to pensacola northward towards birmingham and montgomery. ahead of this system, it's going to be a record high temperature in some cases. 80 degrees in lant lachbatlanta. 76 degrees in new york. for the most part, eastern half of the country, for the most part is done. >> yea. >> i would feel better if i didn't have to see the pictures down south. >> that's true. right, rob? >> we kind of need the rain but not all at one time. >> that's the problem. rob, we'll check in later. thanks. ten minutes past the hour. this just in. aaa says a new national average for a gallon of regular gas. do you want to gas? >> $3.88 a gallon. that is 13 days in a row of gas prices rising. analysts say the high gas prices are here to say through at least the summer. you might want to prepare your finances for that. adjust your budgets. >> two days in a row it's almost two cents overnight. the rising numbers are getting bigger each time it seems. frustrating. ten minutes past 5:00 in the morning on the east coast. u.s. markets hitting the brakes yesterday. the markets closing mixed. but mostly on the lower end of things. the dow lost most of the three major -- rather the dow lost -- looks like up in the nasdaq. if you want to look positive, this there you go. s&p down slightly two. i try to put a positive spin on things. >> lits bring in christine romans and talk about loans add the massive amount of debt we're mounting in this country. how much debt do the students have? >> you say what's your major? journalism, french, biology. the answer now of your major is debt. look a trillion dollars. the consumer financial protection bureau in some testimony yesterday say they think the number is above a trillion dollars. that would be bigger than credit card debt for the first time ever. the reason is, more kids are taking on more debt because their parents can't take money out of the house. they can't get money out of the house to pay the tuition bills. tuition is still rising. kids know they need a college degree. they know what they have to do. the big difference is there's a conversation about is college worth it? the unemployment rate for those with a college education is in the below 4%. it's half what it is for everyone else. here's the thing. you cannot afford to find yourself during college. you can't afford to take five years to graduate. you can't afford to switch your major. you can't afford not to understand your student loans. a group called the young invincibles. that a lot of kids don't understand their loans. they don't understand the difference between a federal loan and -- a federal loan, if you miss payments, they can jack up -- >> the private loan doesn't have higher rates? >> the private loan has higher interest rates. the public loan has lower interest rate. but public loans, the government's student loans, if congress doesn't do anything, the loan rates will jump to 6.8% in july. so you're looking at possibly higher -- that's $5,000 more for a ten-year loan for about $25,000. another $5,000 out of your pockets. listen to me. student debt is the most important investment you're going to make. i mean, you need to sit down and figure it out. kids are coming out with 10, 20, $30,000 in student debt. you need the right major for the right skills for the kids. there's no room for any error here. >> a lot of kids take a lot of time trying to figure it out. maybe community colleges are a good solution? >> yes. the only country in the world that spends 20,000 d a year to find themselves. >> college isn't just for fun anymore. >> that's depressing. >> it is. >> get serious. >> thank you, christine. 13 minutes past the hour. damage control on the mitt romney camp this morning. the gop front-runner insisting he will not flipflop on his positions if he wins the republican nomination. those are marks after one of romney's top aides made an infamous etch a sketch comment on starting point yesterday. if case you missed it. here's what adviser eric fern strum told us how the romney campaign might change in the fall if his candidate is the nominee. >> i think he hit a reset button for the fall campaign. everything changes. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you can shake it up and start all over again. >> didn't take long for rick santorum and newt gingrich to pounce on that remark. they even used props. >> which i have today. >> you have to stand for something that lasts longer than this. people aren't stupid. so we have a real challenge. i need your help this saturday. >> an etch-a-sketch. he said you turn it over and shake it and then you start all over. imagine, had mitt romney been around at the time we were drafting our constitution. he would have shaken it up after it was approved to rewrite it. >> well, reporters also were pretty quick to confront mitt romney for that explanation. here's what he said his communications director really meant. >> organizationally, a general election campaign takes on a different profile. the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. i'm running as a conservative republican. i was coy conservative republican as governor, i'll be running -- hopefully nominated as president. the policies and positions are the same. >> just to bring perspective to the fiasco, mitt romney's wife ann offering up her take to cnn's piers morgan. >> a lot of play. >> it's a distraction because what we're talking about is an economic message, it's a jobs message. it's talking about capping spending, balancing budgets. >> are you going to maker i can -- are you going to maker i can right it on etch a sketch, i'm very sorry. >> i think that's a great idea, piers. we'll have him do that tomorrow. >> the democratic national committee pout out a video. altered to look like he's drawn with an etch a sketch. the company behind the etch a sketch is thrilled with all of the attention. they put out a statement that reads in part, "a profound toy, highly recognized and loved by all is now shaking up the national debate. nothing is as quintessentially american as etch a sketch and a good old-fashioned political debate." >> i said is anybody good on an etch a sketch. we have props. i wanted somebody to do your profile in here. >> you're kidding. >> they came up with romney instead. >> that's hard enough. >> this is phil. he did this in seconds. we're working on your profile next. we'll see if we can work that out. >> not going to happen. >> i'll shake it up. >> somebody called it the original ipad. >> good one. from the '50s. >> i'll buy that. 17 minutes past the hour. at 7:00 a.m. eastern, soledad o'brien will talk about the romney camp when joined by mark mckin none and amy kremer. on the east coast, running to freedom. somali pirates release hostages seven months after they're kidnapped off a beach. take a look at that. when jeb bush makes his pick for president and vice president. can you guess who he picked? you probably can't. you're watching "early start." . not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there? 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[ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. it is now 21 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to check stories making headlines this morning. here's christine romans. >> wanted in france. the standoff between a wanted terrorist and hundreds of heavily armed police. some in body armor. now in the second tense day. the suspect accused of killing seven people including a rabbi and jewish children in a ten-day killing spree. french authorities have had no contact with the man overnight. a former nasa scientist sentenced to 13 years in prison for trying to sell u.s. space secrets to israel, he was arrested nearly two years into an undercover sting operation. he worked on nuclear weapons and satellite technology at nasa. somali pirates released a british hostage nearly seven months after being kidnapped in kenya. this is video of judith teb et boarding a plane. she's overjoyed to be reunited for her son and plans to dpreef for her husband who was killed when taken captive. >> a pleasant stroll on the pier after a woman tripped and fell into lake michigan because she was texting and walking. >> bonnie miller's husband and a passerby jumped in after her. the coast guard and police were able to get her to safety. her fall should be a lesson to all. don't walk and text. >> for an expanded look at top stories, head to cnn.com/early start. zoraida? >> don't walk and text by the water definitely. >> the story, christine, like two years ago in new york city about people texting and falling into manholes. it just shows that you when you're in your device, you're oblivious. that's why people who talk about driving and texting say it's so dangerous. >> i will never do that one. an early read on local news making national headlines. we have papers from newark, new jersey, the star ledger and the spur. >> this is a big story that everyone has been talking about. dharun ravi charged with the death of tyler clementi. they were roommates. ravi is telling the ledger, i'm very sorry about tyler. he's saying that he doesn't recognize the person who who has become. he admits to being immature and insensitive. here's something huge. he says he does not regret saying no to the plea deal. that deal that would have kept him out of jail. >> that's interesting. his reasoning behind it. >> listen, he's facing ten years after being convicted across the board, right? including the bias crime, which is the big one. if he had taken that deal, it would have been no jail time at all. here's what he says about that. i'm going to kboet him. "i won't ever get up there and tell the world i hated tyler because he was gay or tell tell the world i was trying to hurt or intimidate him because it's not true. it's really quite something. he says he was the last one to see tyler clementi alive. he also says that he seemed normal and then all of a sudden he was gone. >> big gamble he took on that, right? >> huge. that kind of a comment, don't forget there's probably appeals in place as well. that's pretty significant. pittsburgh tribune review. jeb bush says it is time to support mitt romney. that's florida's former governor, whose father and brother were president. says romney earned the right to take on president obama in november. he wants republicans to unite around romney. bush also says the economy is the most important issue and romney will create jobs and get the economy growing. he says romney should choose marco rubio as his running mate as well. he describes rubio as dynamic, joyful, disciplined and principled. also saying "he is the best orat orator, a good family man, not only a consistent conservative but he's managed to find a way to communicate a conservative message full of hope and optimism." bush also stresses the significance o