Transcripts For HLN HLN News 20100326 : comparemela.com

san clementy drive now please. >> what's going on there? >> they're fighting. my mom and her boyfriend are fighting. >> they kept saying it's pre-existing. >> i don't know how it can be pre-xifth on a baby that was just born. >> he wasn't on fire or anything when i came upstairs. >> she told me she was going out with jesse james. i'm like, oh, i thought he was married to sandra bullock. >> so good to have you with us today. i'm christi paul. thank you for being with hln news and views. we want to talk about a major development that we're waiting for regarding the killing of florida girl somer thompson. any moment now we're expecting the clay county sheriff to announce murder charges. the 7-year-old was abduct and killed as she walked home from school last october. her body was found two days later in the georgia landfill where her town dumps its trash. local media outlets in jacksonville are reporting the suspect is 24-year-old gerald harrell. here are live pictures. i believe that is the sheriff of clay county, ray bestler. this is a press conference being taken in orange park. at first baptist church of orange park. that's where somer's funeral was held. >> our community was rocked by the brutal murder of a 7-year-old child on her way home from school. the randomness of such an act occurring in an otherwise safe neighborhood affected the sense of security for so many and sparked an intense interest in this case around the country and indeed around the world. in the face of such fear and tragic loss, the community solidarity emerged. as we all -- somer thompson and each other to grieve. the outpouring of support and generosity and collective resolve to bring somer's killer to justice was the only light in the darkness caused by this tragedy. i stand before you today surrounded by this group of law enforcement professionals that we call team somer to announce to you that gerald harrell has now been formally charged with the murder of somer thompson. the filing of these charges would not have been possible without the dedicated and tireless work done by these individuals that you see here today and countless others who have worked behind the scenes. before i go any further with the details in the case, i'd like to recognize my colleagues who join me here today making this announcement. first, state attorney angela corey of the state attorney's office, special agent in charge jim casey of the fbi, special agent in charge dominik pate with the florida department of law enforcement, assistant chief deputy u.s. marshal mike bunk of the u.s. marshals service. assistant special agent in charge norm kelly with the criminal investigative service, director steve nelson of the state attorney's office, major jimmy wilson of the clay county sheriff's office, captain david sinders, chief detective. joe buchi. sergeant dan molla, robbery homicide. sergeant wayne mckinney, robbery/homicide and detective ken west, the lead detective on the somer thompson case. there are many other agencies and individuals who assisted us in the various stages of the search for somer and the follow-up investigation. some of who are here today. but this group i just recognized were with us here at the clay county sheriff's office from day one until today. in my 36 years in law enforcement, i have never seen this many agencies work together for this long with such harmony. this is a testament to the professionalism and focus on the mission this team has. our charges filed today against jarred harrell, allege he contacted somer as she was walking home from october 19th, passing by the house where he lived on gaino avenue. we have evidence that will show he assaulted somer and killed her and dumped her body in a dumpster which ultimately ended up in a landfill in folkston, georgia, where it was recovered. harrell's name first surfaced not long after somer's death as one of over 4,000 leads that were given to team somer in the days and weeks following the event. as we began to scrutinize harrell and his activities, he emerged as a person of interest. after obtaining a sample of dna from harrell, the tedious process of comparison analysis began. if it was apparent to the public, if it was apparent to the public was impatient how long the investigation was taking, just imagine the pressure on investigators. but the pressure to work fast never overshadowed the need to do it right. and investigators proceeded carefully with their work. while i know there is an intense interest in knowing all of the details of this investigation and all of the evidence that have led us to this point, it is still necessary to protect the investigation and its integrity for the future prosecution of this case. i can tell you that in order to get to this point, investigators have relied on statements from witnesses, admissions from the defendant, dna technology results and evidence obtained on gaino avenue when somer disappeared, along with other evidence. i will also tell you that based on this evidence, along with our investigation, we feel confident that jarred harrell committed this crime. therefore, we are bringing this murder charge today. as a result of the sheriff's office filing, an arrest charge on harrell today, we have now transitioned from a sheriff's office investigation to a state prosecution. all future statements, specific to the facts of the case, or release of documents about this case, will come from the state attorney's office. since they now have jurisdiction of this matter. i want to take this opportunity to thank the members of team somer for their tireless investigation on this case. their dedication to duty, their empathy for the family n their team spirit were all exemplary. many people have complimented me on the handling of this case. >> big news today out of jacksonville, florida. you heard there jarred harrell is now charged with the murder of somer thompson. the sheriff there, sheriff rick beseler saying this charge came about thanks to a lot of evidence. much of which he couldn't relay to us right now to protect the integrity of the investigation. witness statements, dna and admissions from the suspect all led to these charges. that is jarred harrell there. the sheriff believe he's contacted somer as she walked by his house on her way home from school and that they have evidence showing that he assaulted and killed her. but again, 24-year-old jarred harrell now being charged with the murder of somer thompson who disappeared last october. we're going to have much more of this story, obviously, all day long. we do want to get to some other news happening right now, too. horrible. chaotic scene in central kentucky. at least ten people were killed in an early morning crash on i-65 near munfordville. just northeast of bowling green. a tractor trailer apparently crossed the median and slammed head-on into a passenger van. most of the people who were killed were in that van. authorities say the wreck could disrupt normal traffic flow in the area for most of the day. and an unusual sight for commuters in hampton roads, virginia. find out why this train car ended up dangling off a drawbridge. a texas couple is telling their health insurance company to do the right thing. they can't get it to cover their 10-day-old son. that's houston tracy there. born with a congenital heart defect that's rarely detected before birth. he's recovering from life-saving surgery. but when his parents tried to get insurance for houston, he was denied coverage. >> they kept saying it's pre-existing. it's pre-existing. but i don't know how it can be pre-existing on a baby that was just born. >> blue cross and blue shield of texas would not talk about the case, but it did comment to our affiliate ktxa about the health care reform law and says it will review the requirements to, quote, ensure full compliance. the legislative battle over health care reform, by the way, is done. last night, the house passed a smaller health care fixes bill. no republicans supported the bill now headed to president obama's desk. senator republicans found violations in two minor provisions forcing the bill back to the house. after the changes, the house approved the bill in a 220-207 vote. an 81-year-old woman in new york allegedly pulled a gun from her fannie pack and shot her neighbor. this happened in the elevator of a queens apartment building. the woman shot is eradia palmierri. the neighbors reportedly have been feuding for years. earlier this week, the suspect, maria cartejena allegedly had enough. >> i still can't believe a person would take a gun and shoot it. even if you are mad at your neighbor. >> a bullet agrees egrazed her . the suspect is now facing a charge of attempted murder. another woman claims she's had an affair with sandra bullock's husband jesse james. she's the fourth to come forward. but unlike the rest, this woman has chosen not to identify herself. at least not yet. "people" magazine says she hired celebrity attorney, though, gloria allred to represent her. the woman allegedly has evidence to back up her claims. allred says she has hundreds of text messages and e-mails. no comment from james' rep. you know who is speaking? the father of the first alleged mistress, michelle bombshell mcgee. her dad says he knew his daughter was in a reported relationship with jesse james but thought james and his wife sandra bullock were estranged. >> she told me that she was going out with jesse james. i'm like, jesse james, the cowboy, he's been dead for 100 years. she said, no, the motorcycle guy. i go oh, i thought she was married to sandra bullock. they said well, they have a thing where they live apart. she's on scene for movies. i go to l.a. for weekends and we see each other. >> mcgee said his daughter decided to come forward after watching james and sandra bullock together at the academy awards. a kentucky nanny walked through fire, literally, to save a boy trapped by burning stairs. >> i ran in there, grabbed him and ran out because it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't even think about me getting burn. >> why fire officials say the nanny went far beyond the normal standards of bravery and how it's costing her. want to update you on our breaking news. authorities in clay county, florida, have just announced murder charges in the killing of 7-year-old somer thompson. jarred harrell the man arrested last month on child pornography charges, has been charged with murder in his death. authorities have evidence, they say, that harrell assaulted the little girl, killed her and dumped her body in a georgia landfill. somer thompson vanished walking home from school this past october. her body was found two days later in a south georgia landfill. watch jane velez-mitchell tonight. she has the latest breaking developments. "issues with jane velez-mitchell" at 7:00 p.m. here on hln. a nanny in kentucky says she did not hesitate when a flaming stairwell separated her from the 5-year-old boy she cares for. allison ran bare foot up the burning stairs and along a blistering hot hallway. the temperature had reached 400 degrees. myatt is facing a long recovery from severe burns on her face and hands. she spoke to the "today" show from her hospital bed with aiden at her side. >> i just saw flames all down the hallway and then the bathroom door was on fire. so there was no way to avoid the flames, but before i had even looked at the fire or anything, i was yelling for aiden. and he said he was in his room underneath the covers. i didn't even think about me getting hurt or getting burned. i really didn't even think that i was bare foot. i was just yelling for aiden. i ran and got him and all of that happened in like four minutes. it happened really quick. i didn't feel anything until i was standing on the carpet where it wasn't on fire, and my feet were in excruciating pain. >> bless her heart. myatt has no health insurance. and she says she doesn't know how she goes to pay for her treatment and she's only been aiden's nanny for two months. what a lady. wow. check out how close a freight train came to running right off an open draw bridge this morning in chesapeake, virginia. the coast guard tells our affiliate it's working to contain about 1700 gallons of fuel that spilled into the intracoastal waterway. no injuries were reported and we haven't heard why the train wasn't able to stop. we are 20 days away from the april 15th tax deadline, people. knock it auoff your calendar there. if you are still paying taxes from years past, clark howard explains how the irs is reaching out to help you eliminate those old debts. >> if you, a family member or a friend owe money to the irs that's been hopeless for you to try to figure out how to pay it off, there is a possibility that even if the irs has turned you down in the past on a deal, known as an offer and compromise you may have an opportunity this spring to cut a deal with the irs. the irs is putting on a road show in cities around the country where you can go sit down, face to face with an irs person who has been given special authority to negotiate deals, where in the past it might have been under very tight irs guidelines and they wouldn't make a deal with you. so this is what you do. you get all of you paperwork together. all your pay stubbs, everything about your income. the debts you have and all the rest. and go see the irs at one of their special events. go to irs.gov to see where you can sit down and have that face to face. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to protect your wallet go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> get more great consumer advice from clark howard every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln news and views. he's going to help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. a playground in new york has some people outraged. it wasn't because of safety concerns, mind you. it was the jail that parents didn't like. )a)a)a)a)a)a)a)a)a)a major development today in the killing of florida girl somer thompson. jarred harrell is now charged with the murder of the 7-year-old girl. the charges were announced less than 30 minutes ago by the clay county sheriff. the sheriff says they have the evidence to prove harrell is guilty. >> our charges filed today against jarred harrell allege he contacted somer as she was walking home from school on october 19th, pass by the house where he lived on gaino avenue. we have evidence that will show that harrell assaulted somer and killed her and dumped her body in a dumpster which ultimately ended up in a landfill. >> and the mississippi man was arrested last month and returned to florida to face child porn and molestation charges in another case. police say harrell lived in a house that somer passed on her way home from school every day. the 7-year-old was abducted and killed as she walked home from school last october. and her body, as you heard the sheriff say, was found two days later in the georgia landfill where her town dumps its trash. local media outlets in jacksonville are reporting the suspect, 24-year-old jarred harrell. the press conference today took place at the first baptist church where somer's funeral was held last fall. we're going to bring you the very latest, of course, as we continue to get developments in this case. but i do want to go to jean casarez, our correspondent with "in session" and with our sister network trutv. is he charged with premeditated murder? >> he's charged with first-degree murder and premeditated murder. you are exactly right. you also heard the sheriff's deputy say that they believe that it was a crime of opportunity. that he did not know of somer thompson in the past but that doesn't mean it can't be premeditated because you can premeditate something very, very quickly. but, christi, we also learned the crime scene now of the murder, according to sheriff's deputies, it would be the home that this man was staying in, jarred harrell. it is his mother's home. he was living there at the time. we also heard the cause of death asphyxiation. >> okay. that's something new we had not heard. if he's convicted, does he face the death penalty? >> prosecutors will have that option to bring this as a death penalty case. we just heard the state attorney speak at the press conference saying this is definitely a crime that can be charged with death. but we also now know what they actually looked at to form this arrest. they looked at witness statements that they had collected. they looked at admissions from jarred harrell himself. they would not go into more detail with regard to admissions but said that helped form the probable cause for arrest. also dna and evidence from harrell's home that was collected and forensically tested. we have not heard a lot about the background of this man. is there a criminal history? my thought is not because dna was most likely collected when he was arrested a month ago for other charges on child porn. that dna matched to possibly some dna on the victim's body. >> all righty. that was my next question about a criminal history. we don't know about that. is there a possibility of a plea deal if this would be something that could include the death penalty? >> it's so interesting when you think about a plea deal because prosecutors have to invite that. they hold all the cards. so they have to say we'd like to offer you a plea deal. this is a case the community has lived with for five months. i question whether there will be an invitation to a plea deal for jarred harrell, but you never know. >> we appreciate it. jean casarez, as always, good to see you. >> again, we'll keep you posted as we continue to get more information on the somer thompson case today. a horrible chaotic scene in central kentucky meanwhile. local affiliates are reporting at least 11 people were killed in an early morning crash on i-65 near munfordville, just northeast of bowling green. police say a tractor trailer crossed the median and slammed head-on into a passenger van. most of the people who were killed were in that van. the wreck could disrupt normal traffic flow in the area for most of the day. the north carolina courthouse at the center of the john edwards sex tape controversy is severely damaged by fire. the clock tower on the 129-year-old chatham county courthouse has collapsed since this fire broke out yesterday. the alleged sex tape and other materials in the edwards case were not inside. but this is where former edwards' aid andrew young was ordered to turn over the tape in february. investigators have not announced what caused the fire but the historic structure was in the process of being enovated at the time. well, another woman claims she's had an affair with sandra bullock's husband, jesse james. she's the fourth to come forward. but unlike the rest, this woman has chosen not to identify herself. at least not yet. although "people" magazine says she has hired celebrity attorney gloria allred to represent her. and the woman's reportedly got evidence to back up her claims. allred says she's got hundreds of text messages, e-mails, even photos. no comment from james' rep. you know who is speaking, though? the father of the first alleged mistress, michelle bombshell mcgee. her dad says he knew his daughter was in a reported relationship with jesse james but thought james and his wife sandra bullock were estranged. >> she told me that she was going out with jesse james. and i'm like jesse james the cowboy has been dead for 100 years. she said, no, dad, jesse james the motorcycle guy. and i'm like, oh, i thought he was married to sandra bullock? and she goes, well, they were, but they have a thing now where they kind of live apart and she's on the scene for movies and stuff. and, you know, i'm here in san diego. i go up to l.a. on weekends and we see each other. >> mcgee also said his daughter decided to come forward after watching james and sandra bullock together at the academy awards. a 4-month-old baby in texas is in desperate need of a heart transplant. but even if she gets it she, may lose another lifeline. why her parents say they are leaving things in god's hands. president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a new nuclear arms control deal that's the most comprehensive agreement nearly two decades. it calls for both countries to cut the nuclear weapons they deploy by about one-third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. >> with this agreement, the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities. >> president obama and russian president dimitry medvedev will sign the new agreement next month in prague. a 4-month-old girl is in desperate need of a heart transplant. while her parents wait for a donor, they are also worried they'll be left without the lifeline their insurance is now providing. anissa senners from kltv tells us why. >> reporter: it's obvious. brynn lewis' daddy loves her very much. >> she's a real happy baby. she's 4 1/2 months old. she coos. she laughs. she giggles. >> reporter: even though she does look happy, the tubes that help keep her alive make it obvious that brynn is a very sick baby. right after she was born, doctors told her parents she had a congenital heart defect and needed a heart transplant. that's when she had her first surgery. the one that will hopefully buy her enough time for doctors to find the right heart. >> they actually leave the chest cavity open for 48 hours in case of emergency. amy and i were actually able to see our little girl's heart actually beating through the protective cover. when you are up there and you see your little girl's heart beating through her chest, you know it's real. >> reporter: brynn's older brother asked his mother what was wrong with brynn. >> i don't remember saying this but my mother remembers me saying, she has a broken heart. she really does have a broken heart, and it broke our hearts. our hearts are still broken. >> reporter: and their finances have been shattered. the transplant surgery will cost close to a million dollars. the lewiss have insurance to cover that but probably won't have it after the surgery. the insurance has a $2 million lifetime treatment cap. combined with the last four months of brynn's treatment, the surgery will push her past the limit and the lewises expect to be dropped. and the meds they'll need after, they by themselves will cost about $5,000 a month. the lewises say they are putting all that in god's hands. they just want brynn to live. >> i just want to be able to hold her and dress her up in her pretty clothes and, you know, treat her like a normal baby. because nobody wants to see their baby sedated and just lying life unless a bed. >> boy, we're wishing them the very best. they say they hate asking for money but they are grateful to all help given to them by their community. best of luck to them. the legislative battle over health care reform is done. last night the house passed a smaller health care fixes bill. now no republicans supported the bill that's now headed to president obama's desk. senate republicans found violations in two minor provisions, forcing the bill back to the house. after the changes, the house approved the bill in a 220-207 vote. tea party supporters are arriving in searchlight, nevada, ahead of tomorrow's protest. they're trying to defeat harry reid in his re-election race. the tea party express is kick off a national tour in searchlight, which is reid's hometown. a tea party candidate has gathered enough signatures to put his name on the ballot. reid would lose in a two-way contest with either of the top republican candidates, but with the tea party candidate thrown in the mix, rooetd eked out a narrow victory. sarah pail sin set to appear at tomorrow's rally, in fact. we have an update on that story of a possible attack aimed at republican congressman eric cantor of virginia. yesterday, he said a bullet was shot through the window of his virginia office over the weekend. our sister network cnn spoke with them. said it was caused by random gunfire. cantor says he did not go public about it earlier because he thought it would only fuel the fire. then he said democrats were complaining about threats against them for political gain. >> security threats against members of congress is not a partisan issue, and they should never be treated that way. to use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible. >> president obama's political action committee is posting a message on its website mentioning threats against democratic lawmakers. it asks supporters for a donation to help defend health care reform. a grandmother accused of the unthinkable. did she really pimp out her own granddaughter for cocaine? this story is so disturbing. a granmother in michigan is accused of trading sex with her 10-year-old granddaughter for cocaine. and police are searching for the man you see on your screen right now. johnnie l. griffin. they say police say he traded the grandmother drugs to sexually assault the little girl several times over the course of six months. police think he may have assaulted at least one other person as well. now the grandmother, angela blackwell, has been arrested. police say the assaults took place when her granddaughter would visit her on weekends. i'm jane velez-mitchell. here's my issue. drugs ruin lives. period. here's another horrifying example. cops say a 10-year-old girl was pimped out by her own grandmother, sold for sex to a 67-year-old man in exchange for cocaine. this is a clear-cut sign of how drugs can destroy the values and character of an individual. even a woman trusted with the sacred role of grandma was no match for the power of addiction. i would love to sit here and tell you this is a freak event. sadly it's not. it's happened before and will probably happen again. remember, little shaniya davis, allegedly sold into sex slavery by her own mom? now that child is dead. drug abusing parents put down your stash. you are not just ruining your lives. you are ruining the lives of your children. i'm jane velez-mitchell, and that's my issue. >> tonight on "issues," a suspect in somer thompson's death is charged. the 7-year-old disappeared in october when walking home from her school. the latest developments in that case tonight on "issues with jane velez-mitchell." a nanny in kentucky says she did not hesitate when a flaming stairwell separated her from the 5-year-old boy she cares for. allison myatt ran bare foot up the fiery stairs and down a hallway to save aiden. the temperature had reached 400 degrees. she's facing a long recovery from severe burns. she spoke to nbc's "today" show from her hospital bed with aiden at her side. >> i just saw flames all down the hallway and then the bathroom door was on fire. so there was no way to avoid the flames. but before i had even looked at the fire or anything, i was yelling for aiden. and he said he was in his room underneath the covers. i didn't even think about me getting hurt or getting burned. i really didn't even think that i was bare foot. i just was yelling for aiden. and i ran and got him and all of that happened in like four minutes. it happened really quick. i didn't feel anything until i was standing on the carpet where it wasn't on fire. and my feet were in excruciating pain. >> myatt has no health insurance and says she doesn't know how she's going to pay for her treatment. she's only been aiden's nanny for two months. hey, take a look at this high-speed chase in texas. police say a 12-year-old boy was behind the wheel of a pickup that hit speeds over 100 miles an hour. 12 years old. this was monday night. authorities tell local media when they finally stopped the boy, they found a gun and pot in the truck. he's being held at a juvenile detention center and his parents apparently didn't even know he'd taken the truck. nba star gilbert arenas could be sentenced to five years behind bars today. he pleaded guilty to illegally bringing four guns into the washington wizards' locker room during a dispute with a teammate. he's been suspended from basketball. in a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to ask for a sentence of no more than six months. but the judge says he may decide to give arein as the maximum sentence of five years in prison. this year's ncaa men's basketball tournament tournamen filled with upsets, as you know, but education secretary arnie duncan may have the ultimate bracket buster here. duncan wants college teams to get serious about the graduation rates. so he's proposed a new policy for the ncaa and if enacted it would keep teams from post-season play if they don't graduate at least 40% of their players. if duncan's plan were in place, mind you, for this year's mens tournament. 12 teams wouldn't have been eligible to play including top seeded kentucky. we know you've got something to say about this. we want you to say it to us. should college teams be required to meet graduation standards if they want to play in march madness, what do you think? call us at 77-tell-hln. you can text us at hlntv or go to our facebook pages, exist i pall hln or chuck roberts hln and get into the discussion there. a florida man proved he's willing to give everything for his marriage. he just gave his wife a kidney. she'd been on a grueling dialysis schedule since last year and after a long search for a match it turns out she'd been living with hers. >> i keep telling him it's better than receiving a ring from him. i'm actually getting a part of him. >> when this is all over i want the kidney to work well in her and this extends her life. >> right. >> that's the biggest thing i get from it, another 10, 15 years of bliss. >> oh, best of the luck to them! doctors say it's highly unusual for a couple to be a match. an indiana fifth grader is being called a hero for taking action when his mom was in danger. ddddddddddddd hln "news and views." i'm chuck roberts. murder charges have been announced in the murder of a florida girl, sommer thompson. her body of the found in a landfill. gerald harold already in custody on child porn charges is now accused with her murder. adam lan dou in wkxt in jacks jacksonville is standing by with the latest. >> reporter: gerald harold goes from the person of interest to now being the suspect. he has been charged with little sommer thompson's murder. we did get details from clay county sheriff's today about how this investigation was pieced together. remember, she disappeared and was killed back in october so it's taken a little bit of time to get to where we are today, but investigators say they had jared harrell kind of in their eyes because he was one of the 4,000 tips they got at the very beginning. and then later on as the investigation started to move forward they say he became a person of interest. they tracked him down in mississippi. they arrested him and brought him back in february. he was called a person of interest then and just this morning he was charged with sommer thompson's murder. investigators say they realize the community watched all this happen and maybe thought it took a long time, but they say they had to be sure that everything went as planned. here's the sheriff. >> after obtaining a sample of dna from harrell, the tedious process of comparison analysis began. if it was apparent to the public, if it was apparent to the public was impatient how long the investigation was taking just imagine the pressure on investigators, but the pressure to work fast never overshadowed the need to do it right. >> now let's talk about possible evidence. the sheriff mentioned dna samples. he also mentioned witness statements and then he said that there were some admissions from jared harrell himself. now we don't know what those admissions are. we followed it up and we asked the cherrive and he says he just cannot say. there's information he does not want to talk about, but i can tell you that jared harrell lived in the neighborhood from where sommer thompson disappeared and where now police say she was murdered. in fact, they say this probably happened rather quickly. that he abused her. that's what the sheriff said and he murdered her and he dumped her body in the dumpster. that dumpster was then unloaded in a georgia landfill and that's where somer's body was found. somer thompson's wife deana is expected to address the media today. no doubt this is a very emotional day for her. prosecutors say this is a case where they can seek the death penalty. >> that was my question. before we let you go, was she stalked or was it a crime of opportunity, did he say? >> reporter: the sheriff says that it looks like a crime of opportunity. that he doesn't think this was something that was planned over a long period of time. we know that sommer had gotten into a fight with her brother and sister, that she took off in front of them. she would normally walk home with them and they always passed this home where jared harrell lived every single day, but at this time she was alone and things just played out and he lured her in and then they say he attacked her and killed her. >> and death bias fix yagz apparently. jared harrell is the suspect, soon to be. his next court appearance is when? a few days away. >> reporter: we're thinking tomorrow. he will appear before a judge tomorrow, absolutely. >> adam landau, thank you very much for the update. the news conference with somer's mother begins at 2:00 p.m. eastern. the pile-up on interstate 65 in central kentucky says it started with a tractor trailer rig crossing the median and slamming head-on into a church van in munfordville, a little east of bowling green. it was carrying people to a wedding in iowa. two children in the van survived and they're in the hospital. the wreck could disrupt normal traffic flow for most of the day. a texas couple is telling their health insurance provider to do the right thing. they can't get it to cover their 10 day old son. houston tracy was born with a con general heart defect, rarely detected at birth, but when his parents tried to get insurance for houston, he was denied coverage. >> they kept saying that it's preexisting, it's preexisting. i don't know how it can be preexisting on a baby that was just born. >> bluecross and blueshield of texas will not talk about the case. it did comment to affiliate ktxa about the health care reform law. it says it will review the requirements to ensure, quote, full compliance. president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a new nuclear arms control deal that's the most comprehensive a agreement in two decades. it calls for both countries to cut their nuclear weapons stockpiles that they deploy by a third. the u.s. and moscow are leading by example. >> with this agreement the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. we strengthened the global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons and to meet other nations to meet their own responsibilities. >> president obama and russian president dmitri medvedev will sign the agreement in the czech republiccic. the legislative battle with health care reform is done. last night the house passed a smaller health care fixes bill. no republicans supported this bill now headed to the president's desk. senate republicans found violations in two minor provisions forcing the bill back to the house. after the changes, the house approved the bill 220 to 207. tea party supporters are arriving now in nevada, just ahead of the scheduled protest tomorrow. the group is trying to defeat the senate majority leader harry reid in his re-election race. the tea party express is kicking off a national tour in search light, that's reid's hometown. a tea party candidate has gathered enough signatures to put his name on the ballot in nevada. a newspaper poll says harry reid would lose in with the top republican candidates, but with the tea party candidate in the mix, reid would eke out a victory according to the sample. sarah palin is set to appear at the rally tomorrow. dozens of doctors handed subpoenas. what investigators in the corey haim death case want from them. >> i'm a big fan. basketball tournament has been filled with upsets, but the education secretary arnie duncan may have the ultimate bracket bust. he wets coseriere in place for this year's march madness, 12 teams wouldn't have been eligible to play including top seed kentucky. so what do you think about this? should college teams be required to graduate 40% of their players, that's only two out of five to get in post-season play. let's say hi to chris in tennessee. what's it like up there in ball country? >> caller: right now it's overcast and we're excited that we have both of our teams playing in the tournament. and that's always a good thing around knoxville. >> tell us about the graduation rate. >> caller: i think a lot of the mens teams have to take a lesson from pat summit. she wins the championships she needers on wants and she has 100% graduation rate with her four-year athletes. >> can't do better than 100%. >> caller: you can't. bruce pearl has aimed close to that. since he's alive, i know women have a lot less opportunity looking forward to professional sports as the means in their life, but they need to start somewhere. it wouldn't be a bad idea to let her do some talking to some mens teams around the nation. >> do you think there's less pressure women in that regard, then? >> caller: i think there's more pressure on their academics, absolutely. i think that the young men all truly believe think they'll be the next kobe bryant and shaquille o'neal and they don't need anything to back it up because they're going to make the big bucks and then they get there and find out that they blow the big bunks and probably ended up on celebrity rehab, you know? >> some of the schools -- it's a moneymaker, isn't it? and the alums. what do you think the alumni would say that i have have basketball teams to a rule like this? >> caller: i think they'll be shocked because they understand what the graduation rate is and when with people leaving early, perhaps another incentive for the ncaa would be to let them leave early and come and make their name for a year, and if they can't play on the field or their court until their class graduates so it wouldn't do them any good to leave. stay and get their education and go do it. if they're good enough they're going to make it one way or the other. >> pat does set the bar high. thank you. let's hear from john in chicago. he took our hln news and views tour. >> i actually think it's fair that they have higher academic standards for the basketball players. if we want to excel academically, then we should start put approximating -- forcing the colleges to have higher standards themselves. >> let's get facebook comments in. here's what tina writes. education is more important than sports. it's about time people put things into proper perspective. there's the comment. let's roll up to kim. kim says i think the percentage should be far higher than 40%. that's just pathetic! but marie has a little bit of a different take. marie says a better way is to have strict rules about the kids' grades being the deciding factor. once their grade goes down to a certain point, they're benched. professors would have to stop passing these people just for the sake of the team. it's not fair for the school or the other players to punish the entire team. brent writes i agree completely. the sports programs already get the lions share of the funding and yes, they do also bring in a great deal of money, but it makes a mockery of college, higher learning is the goal, not a track into professional sports. good comments. you can weigh in. should college teams be required to meet graduation standards if they want to play in march madness. toll-free, 877-tell hln. or text hlntv. facebook pages are up and running, christi paul, hln and dive in to this discussion. >> a kentucky nanny walked through fire to save a boy. >> so i grabbed him and ran out. he was the only thing i thought about. i didn't think about me getting burned. >> her bravery had a price. how she's holding up after that daring rescue. new details now confirmed in the death of actor corey haim. the l.a. county coroner has subpoenaed medical records from 20 doctors in the investigation. the 1980s teen star struggled for decades with drug addiction and died earlier this month. an 81-year-old woman in new york allegedly pulled a gun from her fanny pack and shot her neighbor. this happened in the elevator of a queens apartment building. the woman shot is ariada palmieri, the wife of jazz player eddie palmieri. the neighbor his reportedly been feuding for years and earlier this week the suspect maria cartagena allegedly had enough. >> i still can't believe that a person would take a gun and shoot it, even if you're mad at a neighbor. it's terrible. >> she'll be all right. as for the suspect she faces now a charge of attempted murder. another woman claims she's had an affair with sandra bullock's husband, jesse james. that's the fourth. this woman has chosen not to identify herself yet. "people" magazine said she's hired celebrity attorney gloria allred and the woman has evidence to back up her claims. allred says she has hundreds of text messages, e-mails and photos. no comment from james' reps. a nanny in kentucky said she didn't hesitate when a stairwell separated her from the 5-year-old boy she cares for. allison myatt ran up the stairs and up a blistering hot hallway to save aden hawes. >> the temperature had reached 400 degrees. she faces a long recovery from severe burns on her hands and feet. she spoke to "the today show" from her hospital bed and aden on her side. >> i saw flames all down the hallway and then the bathroom door was on fire, so there was no way to avoid the flames, but before i had even looked at the fire or anything, i was yelling for aden and he said he was in his room underneath the covers. i didn't even think about getting hurt or being burned. i didn't even think that i was barefoot. i was just yelling for aden, and i ran and got him and all of that happened in, like, four minutes. it happened really quick. i didn't feel anything until i was standing on the carpet where it wasn't on fire and my feet were in excruciating pain. >> myatt has no health insurance. she doesn't know how she'll pay for her treatment. she has only been the nanny for aden for two months. the white house is proposing a new plan to help homeowners with their mortgages. for people out of work it would require lenders to reduce payments to 31% of their income, and in some cases suspend them entirely for up to six months. time now for "the help desk" where we get you answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour is greg mcbride, with bankrate.com and beth, thanks for being here. appreciate this. byron wrote this in. byron wrote we moved in 2006 and have good mortgage in good standing and good credit. recently we found out we have to move again, but we're told we can't secure another mortgage for 36 months because of that short sale. are there any options to get another mortgage? >> how about renting? >> if you're going to be moving every few years that's not conducive to homeownership because of the high transaction costs that you're paying. renting for a few years will get you over the 36-month hump and put your best foot forward in getting a mortgage. if you absolutely have to buy right now it will take a significant down payment because of that situation and you'll have to look at something like a private investor who lands at elevated interest rates or a family member with deep pockets. renting is for byron. i graduated in june of last year and have not yet found a job. i'm struggling to pay my student loans and what are my options for financial assistance? >> she's young and can't find school. >> very common problem. first of all, don't default on those loans because it will haunt you pretty much forever with student loans. you can't get rid of them in bankruptcy which is something a lot of people don't know. two things to do. first, she wants to contact the lender or servicer who has the student loans and tell them she wants to defer the student loans. if she has private loan which is are more expensivexpensive, see can get a forbearance which would allow her not to pay the loans for some time. and look into the income-base red payment plan. there are two websites, ibrinfo.org and fineaid.org. these are new plans to allow you to pay not so much what you owe, but what you can actually afford to pay, very much worth looking into. >> so there is a lot of help right now. >> a lot of help. >> do your homework and you have to know where to look. we appreciate it. it is all about getting you answers at the help desk. send us an e-mail to cnnhelp desk@cnn.com. we might get to your question here next week. pick up the latest issue of "money" magazine. it is on newsstands right now. florida authorities have charged a suspect in the death of 7-year-old somer thompson. jarred harrell was in custody on child porn charges. they have the evidence to prove harrell's guilt. >> our charges filed today against jarred harrell allege that he contacted somer on october the 19th passing by the house where he lived on gano avenue. bee have evidence that will show that harrell assaulted somer and killed her and dumped her body in a dumpster which ultimately ended up in a landfill. >> harrell was arrested last month in mississippi and brought back to florida to face child porn and molestation charges in another case. for the first time we're hearing the cause of death. the sheriff says the 7-year-old died from asphyxiation. she went missing in the middle of october. let's go to jean casares correspondent for "in session." what's the dee piece of evidence here? >> it looks like the forensic evidence played a very large role because we hear about that forensic evidence was used to match and to create the probable cause for arrest, but i think it was probably everything put together. witness statements and they had followed this man for a long time, and i think that in searching and researching and executing search warrants for somer thompson, they were possibly able to find the evidence that charged him in february which actually got him behind bars. that was probably a surprise. we heard today in the press conference and they said he was not even on a radar. i found a form filled out at the time of the arrest and its middle any other charges in the last year and it said no. >> what does it mean he made admissions. that sounds vague. >> admission means a confession. his moment was close to where somer lived. dogs were in the backyard right after the amber alert was issued, but admissions could go simply from saying, yes, i was at my mother's home that afternoon. yes, i saw her or even more. >> he appears when? tomorrow, right in court? >> initial appearance tomorrow. he'll be abridged of his constitutional rights and an attorney will be appointed for him if he does not have one, but the public defender is already representing him with other charges and they will probably continue to represent him. i don't want to get into gruesome details, but was she stalked? was it a crime of opportunity, was she brought into his home? >> crime of opportunity is what we heard today in the press conference and the sheriff also said that the crime occurred, in other words, her murder asphyxiation occurred in the home, but he doesn't think she was in the home too long and her body was placed in the dumpster and it was quick work from those detective investigators in october. they followed a trash truck all of the way to georgia landfill and that's how they got the body. >> and the arrest in february in mississippi just luck or were they -- were people in florida telling people in mississippi to be on the lookout for this guy? >> well, i think they confiscated through a search warrant the computer in the mother's home, and i found the actual charges, lewd and lascivious sexual molestation or directing and promoting sexual performance of a child. >> all right. we'll learn more probably tomorrow. thanks so much, jean casares. somer thompson's mother is about to speak to reporters on the charges announced against jarred harrell. don't forget jane velez-mitchell. she has late-breaking news on somer document. issues with jane velez-mitchell at 7:00 p.m. police say it all began when a tractor trailer apparently crossed the median and slammed head-on into a church van near munfordville, a little northeast of bowling green. the van was carrying mennonites to a wedding in iowa. two children survived and they're in the hospital and we haven't heard on their condition. the wreck could disrupt normal traffic flow most of the day. a texas couple is telling a health insurance company to do the right thing. they can't get it to cover their 10 day old son. houston tracy was born with a congenital heart defect and he's recovering from life-saving surgery, but when his parents tried to get insurance coverage for houston, he was denied. >> they kept saying that it's preexisting, it's preexisting, but i don't know how it can be preexisting on a baby that was just born. >> bluecross and blueshield of texas will not talk about the case though it commented to our affiliate ktxa about health care reform laws. it says it will review the requirements to, quote, ensure full compliances, presumably meaning in this case. this 4-month-old girl in texas is in desperate need of heart transplant. doctors discovered little brynn lewis discovered she had only half a heart. she's had a million dollars in surgeries in her short life. her treatment could easily use up the family's insurance and leave them without coverage. it was tough explaining what was wrong to her son brady. >> i don't remember saying this, but my mother-in-law said that i told him well, she has a broken heart and she really does have a broken heart, and it broke our hearts. our hearts are still broken. . i just want to be able to hold her and, you know, dress her up in her pretty clothes and, you know, treat her like a normal baby because nobody wants to see their baby sedated and just lying lifeless in a bed. >> the family has turned to their community to help pay the medical expenses. it's not easy to ask for donations, but they're willing to do whatever it takes to save little brynn's life. president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a nuclear arms control deal and the com pro hencive agreement in nearly two decades and it calls for two countries to cut it by a third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. >> with this agreement, the united states and rush a the two largest nuclear powers in the world also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapon and to ensure other nations meet their responsibilities. >> the president and the russian president dmitri medvedev will sign it in the czech republic in praug next month. a possible attack aimed at congressman eric cantor of virginia. yesterday he told reporters the bullet was shot through his virginia office window over the weekend. our sister network cnn spoke with richmond police. they say the bullet that struck the office window was caused by random gun fire. cantor says he didn't go public about this because he thought it would only fuel the fire, and then he said democrats were complaining about threats against them for political gain. >> security threats against members of congress is not a partisan issue, and they should never be treated that way. to use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible. >> that was cantor yesterday. president obama's action committee posted a message mentioning threats against democratic lawmakers asking supporters for a donation to help defend health care reform. dozens of doctors handed subpoenas and what investigators in the corey haim death case want from them. . let's check in with a couple of guys training for the new york city triathlon. it's all part of the cnn "fit nation" challenge. here's dr. sanjay gupta. >> obviously, i want to see a physical transformation. i want to get on top of my fitness. i've let it get out of control in the last few years. >> ricky williams was more than 100 pounds overweight when we first met. it was a number he was pretty embarrassed about. our first workout together, it was a struggle, but now it's two months closer to race day and ricky is unstoppable. >> i'm noticing incremental change in every sport, run, bike and swim. >> reporter: after kicking his fast food habit he tries to work out regularly, waking up at dawn most days. it hasn't been easy, but ricky is back in control. >> i feel so much better about life and about exercise and living than i did five weeks ago. fellow challenger stanley sanilat has been training hard as well. when we started he told me he wanted to race the new york city triathlon so he can help the teenagers he mentors get back in shape. >> part of the whole fit nation and what really encouraged me is the sense of community and the helping others. >> back in san diego, he hits the gym four or five days a week. spin workouts and weightlifting to build some muscle, and every friday you'll find him hiking up this mountain with the teens in his program. >> everyone that i invite to come to this mountain ends up coming to this mountain regularly. >> for both men, adjusting to their new fit lifestyles hasn't always been easy. >> i'm not going to lie. i have had fries here and there. >> even when they're not working out. >> my biggest obstacle is for sure between my ears. just the mental approach to training. >> but ricky and stanley say if they can do it, so can you. >> get off your couch, get off the fast food diet. >> take a step. no matter how hard the step is, for me it was just get moving, find the will to move. >> reporter: and don't stop. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. every week we usually profile a new hero of the week, but sometimes we check back on our former heros to see how the recognition has helped them expand their extraordinary work. here's an update on 2008 top ten hero ann malam. >> cnn hero ann maylam. ♪ ♪ >> you can change the word through decent humanity, kindness and encouragement and giving people a second chance. >> reporter: two years ago ann maylam was honored as a cnn hero for helping those who might otherwise be forgotten, the home little. >> we'll go over there and we'll fit you for shorts and fit you for your shirt. >> her back on my feet program inspires men and women to change their own lives and sharing the benefits of running as well as providing job training skills. what started off as a small running club of 300 has expanded to more than 1500 members with 17 teams running three times a week. spread throughout philadelphia, baltimore and just this week, washington, d.c.. >> you're doing great. >> since being a cnn hero it's been extraordinary. we've received so many requests for expansion and people wanting to bring this program to their city. >> ann has done more than just help get them off the street. last year alone, more than 170 members found work, started job training or moved out of shelters and ann isn't stopping any time soon. >> all right. we're at the homestretch, guys, so pick it up. >> along with first lady michelle obama she's featured in this month's issue of "fitness" magazine and has plans to expand to boston and chicago later this year. >> we just gave them the opportunity to do something great and they took advantage of it and they did it. >> so if you would like to nominate someone who is doing extraordinary work go to cnn.com/heroes. nba star gilbert arenas could be sentenced for up to five years behind bars today. he pleaded guilty in january to illegally bringing four guns into the washington wizards locker room during a dispute with a teammate. he's been suspended from basketball. in a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to ask for a sentence of no more than six month, but the judge in the case may decide to give arenas the maximum, five years in prison. ncaa basketball tournament has been filled with upsets and the education secretary, arnie duncan may have the ultimate bracket buster. duncan wants teams to get serious about graduation rates. he's proposed a new ncaa policy which iff enacted would keep thm from the final four. 12 teams would not have beenelinible to play included top seeded kentucky. so what do you think about this idea? should college teams be required to meet graduation standards if they want to play postseason in march madness. call 877-tell-hln. it should probably apply to football as well. e-mail cnn.com/hln or text hlntv or comment on facebook, chuck roberts hln, christi paul, hln. either one, it brings it up. an 81-year-old woman in new york allegedly pulled a gun from her fanny pack and shot her neighbor. this happened in the elevator of a queens apartment building. the woman shot is areda palmieri, the wife of jazz player eddie palmieri. the neighbor his reportedly been feuding for years and earlier this week the suspect, maria cartagena, allegedly had enough. >> i still can't believe a person would tail take the gun and shoot it, even if you're mad at your neighbor, it's terrible. >> a bullet grazed palmieri's head. she was taken to the hospital and will be okay. as for the suspect she now faces a charge of attempted murder. there are new details emerging in the death of actor corey haim. a los angeles county coroner's office has subpoenaed the medical records from 20 doctors in its investigation. the coroner's office says drug overdose has not been ruled out in haim's death. 1980s teen star struggled for decades with drug addiction. he died earlier this month in an apartment in the san fernando valley, an apartment he shared with his mother. another woman claimed she's had an affair with sandra bullock's husband jesse james, and if you're keeping score, she's the fourth to come forward. unlike the rest, this woman has chosen not to identify herself yet. "people" magazine says she's hired celebrity attorney gloria allred to represent her and the woman's reportedly got evidence to back up her claims. allred says she's received hundreds of text messages, e-mails and photos and no comment yet from james' representatives. you know who is speaking? the father of the first alleged mistress michelle "bombshell" mcgee. her dad says he knew his daughter was in a reported relationship with jesse james and thought james and his wife sandra bullock were estranged. >> she told me that she was going out with jesse james, and i'm, like, jesse james the cowboy has been dead for 100 years and she said a hundred years. and he's like, no, the motorcycle guy. and i was like, i though he was married to sandra bullock. and she was like, well, they were, but they have a thing now where they kind of live apart and she's on the scene for movies and i'm here in san diego and we go out on weekends and we seech each other. >> mcgee also said his daughter decided to come forward after watching james and bullock together at the awards. it was kind of foggy and low overcast. this is chesapeake, virginia, and the coast guard tells affiliate wavy it's still working to contain about 1,700 gallons of fuel that has spilled into the intracoastal waterway. we've reported no injuries so far, but we haven't heard why the train failed to stop in time. a jungle gym at a brooklyn housing project had the word "jail" painted on it with a cell door and prison bars. now that's all covered up with red paint. it had been there for six years, but officials only began getting complaints from people in the neighborhood in the past week. >> this i find very offensive and i think the housing authority owe the people of tompkins houses and both the people of new york both an explanation and a policy. finally, as a result of the media, they have taken steps and have painted it over, so you cannot tell. and that's the way it should be. >> housing authority officials are looking into why that playground was built with jail themes anyway. a kentucky nanny walks there fire to save a boy trapped by burning stairs. bl eeeeeeeeeeeeeee so glad to have you with us. i'm christi paul. welcome to hln "news & views." we're expecting any minute now the mother of little girl, somer thompson, to speak any moment. thompson was last seen alive walking home from school months ago. this is her mother, dena, and she's addressing after jarred harrell has been charged with somer's murder earlier today. >> the first thing i want to say is thank you to my family, my neighbors, my friends, my community, the world, local businesses who have helped me out michael freed, sean woodland with the dalton agency, team somer. i mean they're amazing. upward, orange park baptist church, thank you so much. oh, to be kids and a lot of other people that i would stand here all day and say thank you to. next, i'd like to say that 158 days ago, my 7-year-old twin daughter was walking home from school, like a child should be allowed to do and on this day, someone took her away from me, herri herri her siblings, my family, and the world. a monster. that's all this person is, is a monster. somer was such a bright star that never got her chance to shine. you know, a lot of people have been saying since this has happened, this isn't mayberry anymore. we, as parents, as community leaders, as citizens, we need to get together and figure out what it is that we are not doing right. it's time for us to do something different and let our children be allowed to walk home and play and ride their bikes. it's time for us to reclaim our children's safety and innocence. you know, justice is not fast as an impulse. and that's what this monster did. he had an impulse and he took something away from me that no one will ever be able to give back to me. i never liked mondays, but as far as i'm concerned there will be no mondays in my life, because that's the day my life ended. and i stood here in front of all of you 150-something days ago and said that we're coming to get you. we will get you. and so i'd like to take this opportunity to say to jarred harrell, we got you, and you ain't getting away. and that's about all i have to say. [ inaudible question ] thank you god. one chapter of the book is closed to open up another chapter of frustration, sorrow, blackness, anger, wanting to do anything to be able to go back and change that she got taken. [ inaudible question ] why? why? why would you do this? why would you take away your life, your own life for my 7-year-old daughter? my baby. i would have nothing nice to say to him [ inaudible question ] basically, you know, people can have their opinions about what they want, but i'm not a monster like him, so i don't think that i could even, even do that if it was offered to me. i'd treat my fellow man and woman just like i want to be treated. so i could never do anything like that. if they're asking for the death penalty, then they're asking for the death penalty. >> can you tell us [ inaudible ]? >> they don't know yet. i that do not know yet. i'm sure that they'll be happy that somebody is going to finally pay for this horrific crime. >> you're watching die na thompson, surrounded by team somer, the people who worked so diligently to find the killer of diena's 7-year-old little girl, somer. those people there, diena referred to the number 158, she said, 158 days ago, my 7-year-old was walking home from school, as a child should be allowed to. the suspect in this case, 24-year-old jarred harrell, has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder. he was already in custody on charges of child pornography, but the clay county sheriff says he has the evidence to prove that harrell is guilty. >> charges filed today against jarred harrell allege that he contacted somer as she was walking home from school on october the 19th, passing by the house where he lived. we have evidence that will show that harrell assaulted somer and killed her and dumped her body in a dumpster, which ultimately ended up in a landfill in folkston, georgia, where it was recovered. >> so how did they come across this alleged evidence? well, i spoke to "in session" correspondent jean casarez from our sister network trutv about the case earlier today. >> they looked at witness statements that they had collected, they looked at admissions from jarred harrell himself. he would not go into more detail in regard to admissions, but said that that helped form the probable cause for arrest. also, dna, they looked at and evidence from harrell's home that was collected and forensically tested. >> we also learned today, somer died from asphyxiation, and you heard somer's mother there, a couple of moments ago, calling jarred harrell a monster and saying that there are -- that she will have no more mondays left, because that was the day that her life ended, as her daughter disappeared on a monday. watch jane velez-mitchell tonight. she has the latest breaking developments in the somer thompson case. issu"issues with jane velez-mitchell" tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. and we're watching this story all day long and will bring you any updates as they occur. meanwhile, want to get to some local reports that now say the death toll has climbed to at least 11 in a pileup on interstate 65 in central kentucky. police say it started when a tractor-trailer apparently crossed the median and slammed head-on into a church van near munfo munfordsville. two children in the van survived, they're hospitalized, but we don't have word on their conditions. the wreck could disrupt normal traffic flow in the area for the rest of the day. dozen of doctors handed subpoenas. what investigators in the corey haim death case want from them. a texas couple is telling their health insurance company to do the right thing. they can't get it to cover their 10-day-old son. that's houston tracy there. he was born with a congenital heart defect that's rarely detected before birth and now he's recovering from life-saving surgery, but when his parents tried to get insurance for houston, he was denied coverage. >> they kept saying it's pre-existing, it's pre-existing. but i don't know how it can be pre-existing on a baby that was just born. >> blue cross and blue shield of texas would not talk about the case, but it did comment to our affiliate ktxa about the health care reform law, saying it will review the requirements to, quote, ensure full compliance. new details to share with you with that are confirmed in the death of actor corey haim. the los angeles county coroner's office has subpoenaed medical records from 20 doctors in its investigation. the coroner's office says drug overdose has not been ruled out in haim's death. the 1980s teen star who struggled for decades with drug addiction died earlier this month. another woman claims she had an affair with sandra bullock's husband, jesse james. if you're counting, she's the fourth to come forward. but unlike the rest, this woman has chosen not to identify herself, at least not yet. "people" magazine says she's hired celebrity attorney gloria allred to represent her and the woman's reportedly got evidence to back up her claims. allred says she's got hundreds of text messages, e-mails, and even photos. no comment, by the way, from james' reps as of yet. you know who is speaking, though, the father of this woman, the first alleged mistress, michelle "bombshell" mcgee. her dad says he knew his daughter was in a relationship with jesse james, but thought james and his wife bullock were estranged. >> she told me she was going out with jesse james, and i was like, jesse james the cowboy has been dead for 100 years, and she's like no, jesse james the motorcycle guy. and i said, i thought he was married to sandra bullock. and she said, well, they were, but they have a thing now where they kind of live apart and she's on the scene for movies and stuff and i'm here in san diego and we go out on weekends and we see each other. >> now, mcgee also said his daughter decided to come forward after watching james and sandra bullock together at the academy awards. unusual sight for commuters in hampton roads, virginia. find out why this train car ended up dangling off a drawbridge. well, this year's ncaa men's basketball tournament has been filled with upsets, but education secretary arne duncan may have the ultimate bracket buster here. duncan wants college teams to get serious about the graduation rate, so he's proposed a new policy for the ncaa. if enacted, it would keep teams from post-season play if they don't graduate at least 40% of their players. now, keep this in mind. if duncan's plan were in place for this year's men's tournament, 12 teams wouldn't have been eligible to play, including top-seeded kentucky. what do you think about the education secretary's idea here? did these young men and women go to college for academics or athletics? could this ban affect the quality of competition. chuck roberts is tuned into what you're saying. what have you been hearing, chuck? >> a lot of people would say it would certainly affect the quality of the competition. let's start with facebook comments. nicki writes, "academics are an education institution, after all, and nothing is gained in society from athletes. we need more doctors and teachers and social workers and writers and thinkers and dreamers. they'll shape our world and build our future long after some washed up has-been stops throwing a ball." rudies writes, "college, education, sports equals activity. the same should hold true for high schools." and harve writes, "it's athletics, hence the craze to build huge multimillion dollar sports arenas that employ very few people when there's a needs for roads, rails, jobs, education and such. i took some course work at the university of kentucky and i have also managed to work on policy in many parts of the world. mostly getting involved because no one will pay for a real expert. in the process, i've saved millions of lives and affected the economic fate of nations. yet the fellows that can shoot a bit of basketball or run a football get offered millions of dollars." well, we've got a kentucky fan that's ready to weigh in on that. gene's in somerset, kentucky. what do you think? >> caller: i think it hurts us as basketball and we all bleed blue in kentucky, but he was forced to play college basketball or he would have been pro. and that goes for a lot of players, they're always passed one rule, so they're doing their sentence. so i think they could get hurt or something and then not have that $1 million dream. >> that's true enough. also, it penalizes players who may be ineligible because of what players in the past did or maybe a late transfer comes in and holds the graduation rate under 40% and then the guy that did graduate, he can't play. does that seem fair? >> caller: yeah, i guess. but you've got patrick patterson that's a junior, he's going to graduate and could have went pro last year and staid around another year to graduate as a junior, so sets the bar really hard for any college basketball player. >> there you go. gene, appreciate it. gene's in kentucky. connie's in texas. connie, what do you think? >> caller: hi, chuck, great to talk to you. >> thank you. >> caller: 40%. that's kind of pathetic. i think they ought to graduate at least 75% and i'll tell you why, and you know, i'm talking to you from a state where football's king, but having said that, a sports career, whether it be football, basketball, soccer, it's not going to last forever. i think most of our audience remembers what happened to joe thighsman. and if these kids, although they might be great at whatever sport they're in, i mean, they might be good at it -- >> but they need the tools for a whole life, don't they? >> exactly. >> i understand. that career is eventually going to end. and if they don't have the business degree or something to back them up, they're going to be in bad shape. >> good point, connie. thank you so much. you're so right. a couple of e-mails. let's read one from mary in louisiana who says, "i agree 100%. there should be a ban on teams playing in march madness if they don't graduate at least 40% of their players. schools should always come first. the only problem is that most schools would just pass them so they can keep playing." kevin in kentucky says, "i don't think basketball programs should be banned from the tournament for low graduation numbers. instead, the powers that be should offer incentives for players staying and graduating." a quick text, "good idea for the sweet 16 teams to be monitored on their education, but a bad idea for sports fans." you've got time to weigh in, cnn.com/hln. hope to hear from you on this burning question. we'll be right back. dddddd you're not getting away with this. that's the word just minutes ago from the mother of somer thompson, the little girl who disappeared back in october while walking home from school. today police charged with 24-year-old jarred harrell with her murder. he was already in custody on charges of child pornography and child molestation. and just minutes ago, somer's mother called him a monster. >> 158 days ago, my 7-year-old twin daughter was walking home from school, like a child should be allowed to do. and on this day, someone took her away from me, her siblings, my family, and the world. a monster. that's all this person -- we, as parents, as community leaders, as citizens, we need to get together and figure out what it is that we are not doing right. it's time for us to do something different and let our children be allowed to walk home and play and ride their bikes. >> now, earlier i spoke to jean casarez, a correspondent for "in session" from our sister network, trutv, about the evidence investigators collected to come up with the charges. >> they looked at witness statements that they had collected, they looked at admissions from jarred harrell himself. they would not go into more detail in regard to admissions, but said that that helped form the probable cause for arrest. also, dna. they looked at and evidence from harrell's home that was collected and forensically tested. >> now, we also learned today somer died from asphyxiation and somer's mom said hearing that was like hearing that she had died all over again. watch jane velez-mitchell tonight. she has the latest breaking developments in the somer thompson case. "issues with jane velez-mitchell" at 7:00 p.m. eastern tonight right here on hln. well, local reports now say the death toll has climbed to at least 11 in a pileup on interstate 65 in central kentucky. police say it all started when a tractor-trailer apparently crossed the median and slammed head-on into a church van near munfordville. this is just northeast of bowling green. the driver of the semi was killed instantly when the rig hit a brick wall and burst into flames. the van was carrying a group of mennonites to a wedding in iowa. two children in the van were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. authorities say that stretch of interstate will be closed for at least another couple of hours now. president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a new nuclear arms control deal. it's the most comprehensive agreement in nearly two decades. it calls for both countries to cut the nuclear weapons they deploy by about a third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. >> with this agreement, the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead, by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons and ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities. >> president obama and russian president dmitry medvedev will sign the new agreement next month in prague. the legislative battle, though, over health care reform is done. last night the house passed a smaller health care fixes bill. no republican support of the bill, now headed to president obama's desk. senate republicans found violations in two minor provisions forcing the bill back to the house, but after the changes, the house approved the bill in a 220-207 vote. tea party supporters, meanwhile, are arriving in searchlight, nevada, ahead of tomorrow's protest. the group's trying to defeat senate majority leader harry reid in his re-election race. the tea party express is kicking off a national tour in searchlight, which is reid's hometown. now, a tea party candidate has gathered enough signatures to put his name on the ballot in nevada. a newspaper poll shows reid would lose in a two-way contest with either of the top republican candidates, but with the tea party candidate thrown into the mix, reid eked out a narrow victory. former alaska governor sarah palin is set to appear at tomorrow's rally. well, despite being sick, dennis hopper has just shown up for his dedication of his star on hollywood's walk of fame. live pictures here. there he is in the hat. his lawyer says hopper's battling prostate cancer and this may be the last time his fans see him alive. he is that ill, he says. hopper's acting career has spanned almost six decades. he was twice nominated for oscars. he's 73 years old and his doctor says he's undergoing radical chemotherapy for advanced metastasized prostate cancer. but again, live pictures as he receives his star on the hollywood walk of fame. dennis hopper there. the north carolina courthouse at the center of the john edwards sex tape controversy is severely damaged by fire. the clock tower, look at this, on the 129-year-old chatham county courthouse has collapsed since this fire broke out yesterday. the alleged sex tape and other materials in the edwards case were not inside, but this is the building where former edwards aide andrew young was ordered to turn over the tape in february. investigators have not announced what caused the fire, but the historic structure was in the process of being renovated. a texas couple is telling their health insurance company to do the right thing. they cannot get it to cover this little guy, their 10-day-old son, houston tracy. he was born with a congenital heart defect that's rarely detected before birth and now he's recovering from life-saving surgery, but when his parents tried to get insurance for houston, he was denied coverage. >> they kept saying it's pre-existing, it's pre-existing. but i don't know how it can be pre-existing on a baby that was just born. >> blue cross and blue shield of texas would not talk about the case, but it did comment to our affiliate ktxa about the health care reform law and says it will review the requirements to, quote, ensure full compliance. sandra bullock's marriage troubles as hln's joy behar asking one simple question. why are good women attracted to bad men? and joy has the answer. it was supposed to be such a joyous occasion. earlier this month, actress sandra bullock fighting back tears during her oscar acceptance speech. well, the person she thanked most for her win, of course, was her husband, jesse james, and now the two are living apart after allegations that he's cheated on her. well, that got hln's joy behar wondering, how did a woman like bullock end up with a man like james. >> i would say they're narcissistic. a sociopath doesn't know right from wrong. that's the classic definition. >> so do they know right from wrong? >> they know -- they feel, i can get away with it. >> maybe it's the doing wrong turns them on. >> that's partly it. the bad boy loves doing things that are wrong. >> with the bad girl. >> with the good girl and cheat with the bad girl. >> those girls that get attracted to those bad guys has a little part of wanting to be bad too. there's a piece of her that wants to be that way. >> and now another woman claims she's had an affair with sandra bullock's husband. if you're keeping count, we're up to four. unlike the rest, though, this woman has chosen not to identify herself yet. "people" magazine says, though, she's hired celebrity attorney gloria allred to represent her and the woman's reportedly got evidence to back up her claims. allred says she's got hundreds of text messages, e-mails, and even photos. no comment from james' rep as of right now. but you know who is speaking? the father of this woman, the first alleged mistress, michelle "bombshell" mcgee. her dad says he knew his daughter was in a reported relationship with jesse james, but thought james and sandra bullock had been estranged. >> she told me that she was going out with jesse james, and i was like, jesse james the cowboy has been dead for 100 years. and she said, no, dad, jesse james the motorcycle guy. and i'm like, oh, i thought he was married to sandra bullock. and he goes, well, they were, but they have a thing now where they kind of live apart and she's on the scene for movies and stuff and i'm here in san diego and we go out on weekends and we see each other. >> mcgee also said his daughter decided to come forward after watching james and bullock together at the academy awards. some new details to share with you that are confirmed in the death of actor corey haim. the los angeles county coroner's office has suspected medical records from 20 doctors in its investigation. the coroner's office says drug overdose has not been ruled out in haim's death. the 1980s teen star who struggled for decades with drug addiction died earlier this month. you know, the childhood obesity rate has tripled in the past three decades. this is according to the cdc, but chef and author maureen petrowski says it's never too late to teach your kids healthy eating habits. so check out what she told robin meade in this "live better now." >> your idea about getting kids to eat nutritiously is to get them in the kitchen. but i'm like, kids in the kitchen, while you're making stuff? how do you do that? >> get them started young. kids should be involved. >> they should be involved in the cooking. >> you have made this with your kids. tell me, did the kids do? >> the kids did the crust. it's a curried chicken pot pie. i was making the filling, they were rolling out the crust. they have their hands in it, they feel involved, they're more likely to eat it then. >> okay, that's the young kids. what about teenagers? they kind of have the power to go out and eat whatever they want to for lunch at school, what do you do at home? >> set yourself up for success from your shopping list. fruit first. have fruit available always in the kitchen. have snacks on the go, carrots, cranberries, things that you can keep in the car. >> and this is a healthy sweet. >> that's a dried apricot. lots of dried fruits are a good idea. that can be in their bookbag, they can take them with it. quick dinner, frozen peas and frozen spinach. add it to something they probably already like, pasta. a good pasta alternative is one that's enriched with protein and omega-3s. all the nutrition and it tastes delicious too. >> you can get maureen's curried pot pie recipe at cnn.com/robin. well, a kentucky nanny walked through fire, literally, to save a boy trapped by burning stairs. >> i went in there and grabbed him and ran out. it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't even think about me gettiget ing burned. >> how her braver is costing her now. well, a kentucky nanny who ran up a flight of burning stairs to save a young boy says she didn't even notice that she was barefoot until after it was all over. alyson myatt says once she got aiden hawes to safety, that's when she realized her feet were in excruciating pain. firefighters say myatt faced temperatures of 400 degrees. the boy had become trapped upstairs when an attic fan caught fire. >> he said, alley, i'm in here, in my room underneath my covers. and i was like, okay, so i ran in there, grabbed him, and ran out. it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't even think about me getting burned. and he was screaming and stuff. and right after i ran off the carpet, my feet were just -- it was like i was walking on goo, because all the skin on my feet were just burnt off. >> myatt appeared on nbc east "today" show with aiden and his father as they declared their love and appreciation. >> i love her so much and i miss her when she's gone and stuff. >> god brought her into our world, that's for sure. to realize what she did, you know, saving my son's life, you know, you can't thank someone for that. there's nothing you can do to repay them for taking that kind of a risk. and when i went to the actual house and stood in the hallway that she ran through, i realized as the police chief said, there was only one minute left, i mean, there's no words to put how grateful i am to have my son with me, how grateful i am to have alyson in our world. >> myatt has no health insurance, though, and is not really sure how she's going to pay for her hospital treatment. and an 11-year-old boy is being called a hero for possibly saving his mother's life. austin mundy says his mom and her boyfriend started arguing over money, then austin says the boyfriend hit his mom, slammed her against some bikes and started choking her. and that's when the fifth grader called 911. >> san clemente drive. now, please! >> what's going on there? >> they're fighting! >> who is? >> my mom and her boyfriend. they're fighting! i was like, oh, my god, he's really trying to kill my mom. and i was like, man, i better stop him, or else he's going to kill her, and she's my mom, so i can't let that happen. >> brave little boy there. the boyfriend, by the way, is in jail, facing battery and other charges. have you seen this high-speed chase in texas? this is unbelievable. police say it's a 12-year-old boy behind the wheel of this pickup that hit speeds over 100 miles an hour. this was on monday night. authorities tell local media when they did finally stop the boy, they found a gun and pot in the truck. he's being held at a juvenile detention center and his parents apparently didn't even know he'd taken the truck. texas authorities are trying to track down the suspect who's been leaving potentially explosive devices in east texas mailboxes. they found what they're calling a hoax pipe bomb yesterday in a collection box outside the post office box in troup. local affiliate kltv reports that brings to 13 the number of suspicious devices found this month. none has detonated and no one's been hurt, but there's a $10,000 reward to information leading to convictions in this case. in this tough economy, we can all use our own money coach, couldn't we? well, hln money expert clark howard wants to do just that for you. in fact, take a listen to colleen's story at the advice he had for her. >> hi. i'm colleen from new jersey. and my question is, what's the best way to sell my time-share? i bought my time-share in 2001. it's sort of like a mini apartment, a little bigger than a hotel room. it's on the boardwalk in atlantic city. when i bought the time-share, i envisioned being able to use it maybe once a month to go down there. it turned out i wasn't able to use it as often as i thought i would be able to and it has very high maintenance fees. i tried to sell the time-share through three different companies. each company a fee and nothing happened. i felt very let down like now what am i going to do because i don't know how to sell it myself. money coach, can you help me? >> colleen, colleen, i can't believe you got ripped off not once, not twice, but three times in the time share listing scam. here is the tip. anybody who says pay us money up front and we'll get your time share sold for you, they're thieves. they're going to steal from you. so how do you get rid of one? very, very hard. but i got a couple of suggestions for you and for others stuck with time shares. first, you want to see if you can go to your time share during one of your weeks, find people who are there enjoying themselves, and they are your best possible buyer. you're going to have to heavily discount the time share, but you should be able to find somebody who is having a great time there who is also looking for a bargain. if you're not that outgoing, don't want to do that, the other thing you can do is donate it. check out a website, donateforacause.org. >> clark can be your money coach, too. he will teach you how to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. join him at noon eastern on saturday and sunday on hln. unusual sight for commuters in hampton roads, virginia. look at this. this train car ended up dangling off a drawbridge. we'll tell you what we know. dd gerald herold has now been formally charged with the murder of somer thompson. san clement drive. now, please. >> what's going on there? >> they're fighting. >> who is? >> my mom and her boyfriend. they're fighting. they kept saying that it's pre-existing, it's pre-existing. i don't know how it can be pre-existing on a baby that was just born. i'm just happy aidan is okay and he wasn't on fire or anything when i came upstairs. she told me she was going out with jesse james. i'm like i thought he was married to sandra bullock. great stories we're following on a busy friday. hi, everybody, and welcome to friday. i'm chuck robert, hln "news and views." you're not getting away with this. that's the message a florida mother delivered to the man accused of killer her daughter, 7-year-old somer thompson disappeared several months ago, and today police charge a 24-year-old man for killing somer. the suspect is jared herald already in custody on charges of child pornography. at a news conference somer's mother called him a monster. >> this isn't mayberry anymore. we as parents, as community leaders, as citizens, we need to get together and figure out what it is that we are not doing right. it's time for us to do something different and let our children be allowed to walk home and play and ride their bikes. it's time for us to reclaim our children's safety and innocence. you know, justice is not fast as an impulse, and that's what this monster did. he had an impulse, and he took something away from me that no one will ever be able to give back to me. >> we learned today little somer died of asphyxiation. we will be talking with mike brooks in a couple minutes. local reports now say the death toll has reached at least 11 in the pileup this morning on intaer state 65 in kentucky. police say it began as a tractor-trailer rig crossed the median and slammed head on into a church vehicle. the driver of the bus was killed instantly when the rig hit the brick wall and burst into flames. the van was carrying a group of mennenites up to iowa for a wedding. authorities say interstate 65 will be closed for the foreseeable future. it may reopen later today. president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a new nuclear arms control deal. it's the most comprehensive agreement in nearly two decades. it calls for both countries to cut their nuclear weapon stockpiles by about a third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. >> with this agreement the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. we strengthen your global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons and ensure other nations meet their own responsibilities. >> the president russian leader dmitry medvedev will sign this agreement next month. the white house is proposing a new plan to help homeowners with their mortgages. for people who are out of work, it would require lenders reduce the monthly mortgage payment to 31% of their income, and in some cases suspend them entirely for up to six months. what about homeowners who are so-called under water homeowners with the value of their home, and who are they trying to refinance and what about them? the government will double the cash incentive for banks to get them in the home affordable modification program. the legislative battle over health care reform is now a done deal. last night the house passed the last aspect of it, a smaller health care fixes bill. no republican supported that. it's headed to the president's desk. senate republicans found violations in two minor provisions forcing the bill back to the house. the house approved this 220-207. tea party supporters are arriving in some number in search light, nevada, ahead of tomorrow's protest. they are trying to defeat harry reid in his re-election race. the tea party express is kicking off a national tour in search light, hairy reid's hometown. a tea party candidate has gathered enough signatures to put his name on the november ballot in nevada and a newspaper poll shows harry reid would lose in a two-way contest with either of the top republican candidates, but with a tea party candidate thrown in the mix, reid ekes out a narrow victory in the sample. former alaska governor sarah palin is set to appear at tomorrow's rally. new details now confirmed in the death of actor corey haim. the l.a. county coroner's office has subpoenaed medical records from 20 doctors in it's investigation. the coroner aers office says drug overdose has not been ruled out in haim's death. the 1980s teen star had struggled for decades with drug addiction and died earlier this month. an unusual sight for commuters in virginia. find out why this train car ended up dangling off a drawbridge. this year's ncaa men's basketball tournament has been filled with upsets like yesterday's, but education secretary arne duncan may have the ultimate bracket buster. he wants college teams to get serious about their graduation rates, so he's proposed a new policy for the ncaa. it would keep teams from any post-season play if they don't graduate at least 40% of their players. if his plans were in place for this year, 12 teams would not have been eligible to play, including top seed kentucky. so what do you think about the education secretary's idea? do these young men and women go to college for athletics or academics and could the ban affect the quality of competition? what's more important? let's look at what you're saying. >> they're saying a lot, chuck. >> a couple hln fans voiced their opinion to our views cam. this is don and jason for you. >> the whole ncaa is all about education, that's why those kids are in school, and i do think it's important for them to complete their education. as much as that might really damage the basketball tournament, i think it's probably important for those kids to graduate. >> i think it would be a bad move because i don't think a player should even be required to play one year of college basketball. i think if they're 18 years old, they're an adult and they can make their own decision, and they should be able to leave from high school right to the nba if that's going to benefit them and their family the best. >> and here are some comments from my facebook page. >> kelly says i tutored a lot of student athletes. why allow them the privilege of post-season play. stephen says it will never happen. too much revenue at stake. it's a shame but college athletics is about revenue, not about education for most upper end universities. >> i want to go to linda calling from indianapolis. what do you think? >> i was shocked about the 40% graduation rate. i knew it wasn't high, but i was shocked that it's that low. that the lack of education there snowballs into the fact when these guys turn pro, look what happens to them, they get into drugs, into shootings, you find them dead. they need to be educated along with having that ability. i have a great deal of respect for athletes, but they need an education, too. >> you think that 40% needs to be even higher? >> oh, sleuth. . >> thank you for the call. an e-mail from dwayne. schools should not be required to graduate athletes as this discriminates against the poor. if an individual chooses not to graduate, that is their decision. if an athlete chooses not to complete the final semester and not graduate, why should the school be penalized. focus on the professional leagues and change their drafting standards. why do they always or why do we always want to legislate the actions of adults. we are big boys and girls, you know? should college teams be required to meet graduation standards? that's the question. if they want to play in the postseason such as march madness tournament. all us, we'd love to hear from you, 1-877-tell-hln. or you can e-mail us cnn.com/hln or go to our facebook pages, christi paul hln or chuck roberts hln. you will find us there, and we'll be talking to you. major developments today in the murder investigation of little somer thompson in orange park, florida, where police have charged a man already in custody with killing her. they say his own statements are part of the key evidence. law enforcement analyst mike brooks is here with a closer look at the case. i guess his statements and dna, too, huh? >> some dna apparently from where he was living, and, you know, and other evidence they're not really saying. i'm thinking probably, chuck, trace evidence. because apparently they know where she was killed. so it's ironic this guy apparently lived along the route that somer would take to and from school. he was living there in october when she disappeared. >> he didn't know her? >> it's premeditated. did he notice her going back and forth and he planned to attack her? that's what it seems to me because she was walking with her brother, chuck, on the way home from school. they had a little tiff like kids do, and so she ran ahead. when they turned the corner, she was gone. they got home and she wasn't there. so they went back and she just basically vanished. but then it was good policework. you know, they knew -- they didn't know where she was, but an investigator followed a trash truck from orange park, florida, up to georgia. it's a landfill that that city uses to dump their trash. >> it's just across the border. >> and after a couple days of looking there, that's when they found her body. >> what about the mississippi authorities? when they arrested him on this child porn count, were they looking for him anyway as a courtesy to the florida investigator? >> you know, they said -- law enforcement said his arrest was -- it came from one of 4,000 tips. and they had him under observation. they probably were following for quite some time. but apparently the pornography charges which he was actually extradited from mississippi to florida for were turned over from some former roommates ever his. so, you know, did the mississippi authorities know at the time? probably not, and then this tip from the roommates said look at all this stuff. they went back and looked and there was apparently just hundreds of images of pornography and he also was making his own pornography with kids. >> goodness sakes. >> i know. it's hard to fathom. >> what are these admissions the sheriff said he's made? is it a full-fledged confession? >> they didn't go into that today at the press conference. all the law enforcement, all the officers, the task force, if you will, they call themselves team so mer -- >> and a lot of them. >> as a former law enforcement investigator, i can tell you you have to feel for the family. the mom wanted justice. she wanted justice. she got it. he's pled not guilty to the porn charges, but these guys and women were really happy today because when the sheriff announced the arrest and the charging of this guy, there was a big round of applause. >> they've got to be on cloud nine. >> but it's not over yet. it's building a case that will stick against this monster as somer's mom called him today and make sure this guy goes to jail for a very long time or possibly could face the death penalty. >> if convicted. >> if convicted. >> don't miss jane velez-mitchell tonight. she's got the late breaking developments. jane joins you at 7:00 eastern right here on hln. a nanny in kentucky says she didn't hesitate at all when a flaming stairwell separated her from her charge, her 5-year-old boy that was in her care. alyson myatt ran upstairs and along a blistering hot hallway to save aidan. fire officials say the temperature had reached 400 degrees. she's facing a long recover from severe burns on her feet and hands. >> i just saw flames all down the hallway and then the bathroom door was on fire. so there was no way to avoid the flames, but before i had even looked at the fire or anything, i was yelling for aidan, and he said he was in his room underneath the covers. i didn't even think about me getting hurt or getting burned. i really didn't even think that i was barefoot. i just was yelling for aidan and i ran and got him and all of that happened in like four minutes. it happened really quick. i didn't feel anything until i was standing on the carpet where it wasn't on fire and my feet were in excruciating pain. >> well, you can imagine how proud and happy that dad is, too. myatt has no health insurance and has no idea how she will pay for her treatment. she's only been his nanny for a couple of months. buying your first home? are you running out of time if you want to claim that tax credit? ines is here to tell us how to take full advantage. >> this first time home buyer tax credit is worth $8,000. you have to have a signed contract by april 30th. you can't make more than $125,000 if you're single and for couples the income limit is $225,000, and you cannot have owned a home for three years, and the home you're buying must be your primary residence. now, remember, this is an extension of the first time home buyer credit. it's estimated about 2 million people qualified for it last year and another 900,000 that could qualify for it this year. >> any tax break for people who are not first time buyers? >> there is. you can get up to $6,500 on a home you're buying if it's going to be your primary residence and if you've owned and lived in a home five out of the past eight years. again, you have to be under contract by april 30th and if you're an active duty service member and you qualify, you can get an extension, chuck, until april of next year. >> so if you bought your home recently, how can you claim this on your taxes? >> all right. well -- >> or can you? >> there's a few things that people should know. first of all, first time home buyers need to file form 5405 with their taxes. also attach a signed hud-1 statement, and you cannot file electronically. last year folks could file electronically but some folks got their money before the claim was certified as legitimate. this time you can't file it electronical electronically. >> the three-year rule only means -- you could have been a homeowner for 20 years and merely rented for another three and then you would requalify. you would get the full benefit, right? >> right. for the $8,000? >> right. >> right. you have -- exactly. can't have owned a home for more than three years. >> thank you. despite being sick dennis hopper showed up for the dedication of his hollywood walk of fame star. hopper is battling prostate cancer and this may be the last time fans see him alive. his acting career has spanned almost six decades. dennis hopper twice nominated for an oscar is 73. he's going -- undergoing radical chemotherapy for prostate cancer. i don't know if you can see it. jack nicholson is in the crowd. half of hollywood showed up for this to say good-bye and thank you for the great career of dennis hopper as he is battling a life threatening disease. an 81-year-old woman accused of letting her gun doing the talking. dddddddddddd you're not getting away with this, the message from a florida mother to the man accused of killing her 7-year-old daughter. somer thompson disappeared while walking home from school. jarred harrell was charged with her murder. at a news conference so mermer' mother called him a monster. >> my 7-year-old twin daughter was walking home from school like a child should be allowed to do. and on this day someone took her away from me, her siblings, my family, and the world. a monster. that's all this person is is a monster. somer was such a bright star that never got her chance to shi shine. you know, a lot of people have been saying since this has happened, this isn't mayberry anymore. we as parents, as community leaders, as citizens, we need to get together and figure out what it is that we are not doing right. >> we also learned today that somer died from asphyxiation. her mom said hearing that was like learning all over again that she had died. watch jane velez-mitchell tonight. she's got late-breaking developments in the somer thompson case. jane velez-mitchell at 7:00 eastern right here on hln. police now doubt a republican congressman's office was targeted by gunfire. but yesterday virginia's eric cantor said a bullet was shot through the window of his office over the weekend. richmond police say the bullet was caused by random gunfire. cantor said he didn't go public about it earlier because he thought it would only fuel the fire. then he said democrats were complaining about threats against them for political gain. >> security threats against members of congress is not a partisan issue, and they should never be treated that way. to use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible. >> that was what cantor had to say yesterday. president obama's political action committee has posted a message on its website mentioning threats against democratic lawmakers asking supporters for a donation to help defend health care reform. the legislative battle over health care reform is now a done deal because last night the house passed a smaller health care fixes bill. no republican supported the bill now headed to the president's desk. senate republicans found violations in two minor provisions forcing the bill back to the house. after the changes the ahouse approved the bill 220-207. tea party supporters are arriving in search light, nevada. they are trying to defeat harry reid in his re-election race. they're kicking off a national tour. a tea party candidate has gathered enough signatures to put his name on the ballot in nevada. a newspaper shows reid would lose in a two-way contest with either of the top republican candidates, but with a tea party candidate thrown in the mix, reid ekes out a narrow victory in the survey. former alaska governor sarah palin is set to appear at tomorrow's rally. a texas couple is telling their health insurance company to do the right thing. they can't get it to cover their 10-day-old son. houston tracy was born with a congenital heart defect that's rarely detected before birth. when his parents tried to get insurance for houston, he was denied coverage. >> they kept saying it's pre-existing, it's pre-existing, but i don't know how it can be pre-existing on a baby that was just born. >> blue cross & blue shield of texas won't talk about this case but it did comment to affiliate ktxa about the health care reform law just passed. it says it will review the requirements to, quote, ensure full compliance. the white house is proposing a new plan to help homeowners with their mortgages. for people out of work it would require lenders to lower mortgage payments to 31% of their income. what about homeowners who are under water with a value of their home and who are trying to refinance? the government will double the cash incentive for banks to get them in the home affordable modification program. president obama says he and russia have reached a nuclear arms control deal that's the most comprehensive agreement in nearly two decades. it calls for both countries to cut their nuclear weapons stockpiles about a third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. >> with this agreement, the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. we strengthen our glonl efforts to stop the spread of these weapo weapons. >> they will sign the agreement next month. dennis hopper is said to be very sick battling cancer but that didn't stop him from being on hand in hollywood to receive a very special honor from his colleagues. dennis hopper did show up for the dedication of his star on the hollywood walk of fame this afternoon. his good friend jack nicholson was there, of course, wearing an american flag shirt. very much like the one in their iconic movie from the '70s "easy rid rider." they started their careers with that movie. hopper is battling cancer. he's not expected to recover. his doctor says he's undergoing radical chemotherapy for advanced metastasized prostate cancer. he has twice been nominated for an oscar. the mayor of los angeles signed a proclamation that today is dennis hopper day. alex rodriguez is said to be fielding questions from federal investigators today. the buffalo news reports that a-rod's meeting with federal prosecutors and agents who are investigating dr. anthony galea. our affiliates in buffalo are monstering the shouse. none have seen rodriguez either enter or leave. we've contacted the yanks for comments. no response yet. galea is the target of a federal grand jury investigation in performance enhancing drugs. he has former patients including rodriguez and tiger woods. last year canadian officials charged him with conspiring to smuggle human growth hormone into the u.s. nba star gilbert arenas is in court for sentencing today. he pleaded guilty in january to illegally bringing four guns into the locker room of the washington wizards. he's been suspended from basketball. prosecutors agreed to ask for a sentence of no more than six months, but the judge in the case says he may decide to give arenas the maximum, five years in prison. this year's ncaa tournament has been filled with upsets, but arne duncan may have the ultimate bracket buster. he wants college teams to get serious about their graduation rates. he's proposed a new policy. if enacted it would keep teams from post-season play if they don't graduate at least 40% of their players. if duncan's plan were in place for this year's men's basketball tournament, 12 teams would not have been eligible to play, including top seed kentucky. we've been asking you what you think. should college teams be required to meet graduation minneapolis? is 40% a little low. if they want to play in postseason like a march madness tournament, they may have to meet that threshold. call us toll free at 1-877-tell-hln. you can add comments to our facebook page, chuck roberts hln. let's hear from you on this. we are 20 days away from the april 15th tax deadline, but if you're still paying taxes from years gone by, hln money expert clark howard explains how the irs is reaching out to help you eliminate those old debts. >> if you, a family member, or a friend owe money to the irs that's been hopeless for you to try to figure out how to pay it off, there's a possibility that even if the irs has turned you down in the past on a deal known as an offer and compromise, you may have an opportunity this spring to cut a deal with the irs. the irs is putting on a road show in cities around the country where you can go sit down face to face with an irs person who has been given special authority to negotiate deals where in the past it might have been under very tight irs guidelines and they wouldn't make a deal with you. so this is what you do. you get all your paperwork together, all your pay stubs, everything about your income, the debts you have and all the rest, and go see the irs at one of their special events. go to irs.gov to see where you can sit down to have that face-to-face. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to protect your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> get more great consumer advice from clark howard every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 eastern here on hln. clark is helping you save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. sandra bullock's marriage troubles have hln's joy behar asking a simple question, why are good women attracted to bad men? joy has got an answer coming up 37 how about this shot? who is up for a reunion tour? senator john mccain and former running mate sarah palin in leather making like old times stumping for votes today. the former alaska governor is helping john mccain in a pretty tough arizona republican primary race. he's up against j.d. hayworth, a former congressman & sometimands radio host. they're going to make three joint appearances ending at the same phoenix hotel where the 2008 campaign came to a close. mccain wants a fifth term in the senate and hopes palin supporters will help him cover the spread as it were in the party's primary. as she racked up awards for her performance in the blind side, sandra bull locke oftenoc expressed her gratitude and love for her husband, jesse james. joy behar was wondering how did a woman like bullock end up with a man like james? >> i would say they're narcissistic. a sociopath doesn't know right from wrong. that's the classic definition. >> they know right from wrong. >> they feel i can get away with it. >> maybe it's the fact they're doing wrong that turns them on. >> that's partly it. the bad boy loves to do things wrong. >> with a bad girl. >> yes. >> and i'll tell you something, those girls who get attracted to those guys have a little piece of wanting to be bad in them, too. everybody is giving sandra a pass. why did she get attracted to this biker boy? there's a piece of her who wants to be that way, wants to be tough. >> in this case i have to tell you, judy, i think you're giving jesse way too much credit. i think he's just a boob who thinks too much with his little head. he had his own money. he had his own life. >> little head, isn't that an island in the bahamas? but, mary jo, do you think tiger woods -- just going to talk about him for a second. is he a sociopath. your book says you know sociopaths now. what's your definition? >> it's defined as someone who is a chronic liar but has no remorse or guilt for what they do and say. i don't know that either of these guys feel that. i think they both feel bad about what they did. i think they're narcissistic. i think they're just guys who are not thinking about the feelings, what they're hurting. that's really what i think, but that's not what they have. >> that's mary jo buttafuoco. on top of that, another woman claims she's had an affair with jesse james. the fourth now to come forward, but unlike the others she's not chosen to identify herself yet. though people magazine says she's hired gloria allred to represent her and the woman's reportedly got evidence to back up her claims. allred says shaetie's received hundreds of text messages, e-mails, photos. no comments from james' represent. the los angeles county coroner's office has subpoenaed medical records from 20 doctors in its investigation into the death of corey haim. they say drug overdose has not been ruled out. 1980s teen star struggled for decades with drug addiction. a humpback whale that's possibly trapped spotted in south florida. a local hln affiliate is reporting the whale may be cut up with a rope. biologists have been dispatched to the area to check it out. this 4-month-old girl in texas is in desperate need of a heart transplant and her parents need sop hem getting it for her. >> doctors discovered brin lewis only had half a heart. she's had nearly $1 million in surgeries already in her short life. her treatment could easily use up the family's insurance and leave them without coverage. her mom said it was tough explaining what was wrong to her son, brady. >> i don't remember saying this, but my mother-in-law said that i told him, well, she has a broken heart, and she really does have a broken heart, and it broke our hearts. our hearts are still broken. i just want to be able to hold her and, you know, dress her up in her pretty clothes and, you know, treat her like a normal baby. because nobody wants to see their baby sedated and just lying lifeless in a bed. >> the family has turned to their community for help to pay medical expenses. they say it's not easy to ask for donations, but they're willing to do whatever it takes to save little brynn's life. a nanny in kentucky doesn't hesitate when a flaming stairwell separated her from the 5-year-old boy in her care. fire officials say the temperature had reached 400 degrees. myatt is facing a long recovery from severe burns on her feet and hands. >> i just saw flames all down the hallway and then the bathroom door was on fire. so there was no way to avoid the flames but before i had even looked at the fire or anything, i was yelling for aidan, and he said he was in his room underneath the covers. i didn't even think about me getting hurt or getting burned. i really didn't even think that i was barefoot. i just was yelling for aidan and i ran and got him and all of that happened in like of that happened in like four minutes. it happened really quick. and i didn't feel anything until i was standing on the carpet where it wasn't on fire. and my feet were in excruciating pain. >> myatt has no health insurance. she has no idea how she'll pay for her treatment. she has only been aden's nanny for a couple of months. an 11-year-old boy is being called a hero for possibly saving his mother's life. austin monday said his mom and her boyfriend began argue over money then he says her boyfriend hit his mom, slammed her against some bikes and started choking her. that's when the fifth grader called 911. >> now, please. >> what's going on there? >> they're fighting. >> who is? >> my mom and her boyfriend, they're fighting. >> oh, my gosh, he is really trying to kill my mom. i better stop him unless he is going to kill her. and she is my mom. i can't let that happen. >> no way. the boyfriend is in jail facing battery and other charges. check this out. a dog named winston attacking a police car in chattanooga, tennessee. winston began tearing off the bumper of the cruiser and eventually started chomping on trees and the tires of the car. he even got some help from one of his friends. nobody was hurt. winston was given back to his own owners the condition they take him to obedience classes. that is chattanooga, tennessee. look at this. a playground in new york cause and outrage, but it wasn't because of any safety concerns. it was the jail that parents didn't like. jarred harrell has now been formally charged with the murder of somer thompson. >> now, please! >> what's going on there? >> they're fighting. >> who is? >> my mom and her boyfriend, they're fighting. >> they kept saying it's preexisting. it's preexisting. but i don't know how it can be preexisting on a baby that was just born. >> i'm just happy aden is okay, that he wasn't on fire or anything when i came upstairs. she told me that she was going out with jesse james and oh, i thought he was married to sandra bullock. >> take a deep breath. you have made to it friday. i'm christi paul. thanks for being with us. the words are you're not getting away with this. it's the message from a florida mother for the man accused of killing her daughter, 7-year-old somer thompson here disappeared back in october while she was walking home from school. today police charged a man for killing her. the suspect, 24-year-old jarred harrell, whom you see here, was already in custody on charges of child pornography. at a news conference this afternoon, somer's mother called him a monster. >> this isn't mayberry anymore. we as parents, as community leaders, as citizens, we need -- we need to get together and figure out what it is that we are not doing right. it's time for us to do something different and let our children be allowed to walk home and play and ride their bikes. it's time for us to reclaim our children's safety and innocence. you know, justice is not fast as an impulse. and that's what this monster did. he had an impulse and he took something away from me that no one will ever be able to give back to me. >> we also learned today that summer died from asphyxiation. we're hearing that it was some good police work that led to the charges in the thompson case here. law enforcement analyst mike brooks joining us with some of the intriguing details that we're learning about how police were able to connect the dots here. i love the fact that she was surrounded by what is called team somer. >> exactly. it was a task force, if you will, that did a great job. you know, some people criticized law enforcement. why did it take you so long? they really didn't have much to go on, christi, until they got one tip out of about 4,000 tips. and apparently there was a computer or a disc that some of his former roommates had found when he moved out from living with them. and they turned it over to police, and they found just hundreds of images, child pornography. apparently some pornography he had made himself. >> that did not involve somer, we should point out. >> no, it did not involve somer. but then they started looking at him a little closer, and they found out that his mother lived there in orange park. and apparently, lived on gano avenue. and gano avenue is the street little somer would go to and from school on almost every day. so he probably saw her there. >> police are saying they believe he encountered her when she walked by the house. >> right. >> i want to ask you. he is charged with first degree premeditated murder. >> right. >> how is that when they say he just encountered her one day? >> that's interesting. that's a great question. in fact, i jotted it down right after i sat down. they're saying that most of the evidence they got, the probable cause to arrest him came from witness statements, some dna, and from admissions of his own. now they say most likely it was crime of opportunity. so did her walking past this house every day give him the opportunity? and did he just act on that impulse that you heard somer's mother talking about, or had he planned on doing this by seeing her every day and decided to act on that impulse, thus creating the opportunity to snatch her at that time? because he only lived a couple houses down, christi from where she was last seen. >> right, exactly. >> but they're not giving a lot of information about what they have in this case. but they did say that they do have other evidence that they got from his house that led them. and they think they have a pretty solid case. >> right. and they don't want to give too much away. >> exactly. i don't blame them. >> they don't want to compromise the integrity of the investigation. >> exactly. >> let me ask you this. is this going to be a death penalty case? >> this these kind of cases usually we see the prosecution go for the death penalty case. somer's mom called him a monster. of course we always say they're innocent until proven guilty. >> right. >> but most likely, i think the prosecutors will go for the death penalty in this particular case. >> and if they go for the death penalty, does that just void any possibility of a plea deal? >> yeah. i doubt if they're going have any kind of plea deal at all. when they arrested him on the pornography charges, remember his initial, they arrested him in february. >> in mississippi. >> in mississippi. and they extradited him back to clay county, florida. but he plead not guilty to those charges. so when they came out with that charge today, there were some other charges dealing apparently with a 3-year-old girl. >> right. which is something totally different. >> totally different. so it's probably a girl who he had molested, but is still alive. >> allegedly. >> allegedly. exactly. >> but does he have any criminal history that we know of? >> no. >> anything on the books anywhere? >> and that's the strange thing. everybody has been asking me, well, mike, you know, wouldn't someone like this, it's probably not the first time. no, it's probably not the first time. it's just the first time he got caught. >> caught. wow. allegedly, again. >> again, we always have the presumption of innocence. >> that's right. >> just like we say on session all the time, always presumed innocent. >> boy. it is such a horrific case. >> it really is. >> it's hard to comment on it. fireworks he is the right guy, i think law enforcement believes that they have enough evidence to convict him right now. >> and again, what was sweet, i don't know if you saw it in the video of all of -- they call themselves team somer again who banded together because this is now the state attorney general's office. they were all wearing purple ribbons because that was her favorite color. >> exactly. and her mom. i feel so for her and her family and her mom today. today said that he is a monster. and it's not over yet, though. it's not over yet. >> a long way to go. >> they're going have to go over all these facts again if they do go to trial. >> okay, thank you so much, mike. >> all right, christi. >> for breaking it down for us. we appreciate it as always. you want to watch jane velez-mitchell tonight as well because she has the latest breaking developments in the somer thompson case. issues with jane velez-mitchell tonight 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. a kentucky nanny walked through fire, literally, to save a boy trapped by burning stairs. >> grabbed him and ran out. it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't even think about me getting burned. >> why fire official says the nanny went far beyond the normal standards of heroism, and how her bravery is costing her. all righty. this year's ncaa men's basketball tournament has been filled with upsets, if you have been watching. but education secretary arne duncan may have the ultimate bracket here. duncan wants college teams to get serious about the graduation rate. so he has proposed a new policy for the ncaa. and if enacted, it would keep teams from postseason play if they don't graduate at least 40% of their players. now think about this. if duncan's plan were in place for this year's men's tournament, 12 teams wouldn't even be eligible to play, including top-seed kentucky. so we've been listening and reading your comments on this proposal. i want to highlight a few of them now in just a couple of moments. but first, we want to go to cecilia, who is joining us from just outside houston, texas. cecilia, what do you think about this? >> shame on the ncaa coaches. i'm dismayed. i thought the graduation rate is at least 50%. what are these kids going to do when the majority are not drafted into the nba? i work with some of these young men who cannot string an intelligible sentence together. they do not even know how to do a proper resume. even magic johnson had to take ehlo constitution lessons when he became a spokesman as an nba player. shame on the ncaa coaches. >> obviously cecilia is supporting this proposal. cecilia, thank you. so good to hear from you. i want to go to facebook comments too. i hope you'll join the conversation on my facebook page. 40% isn't asking much at all. we should strive for excellence, or at least 60%. and then cliff says i think college is all about sports, otherwise why spend the millions on coaches and fire them if they lose a few games? and then kirsten says well, keeping a good grade is part of being able to play in any sport. it's a requirement. if you don't have good grades, you can't play and will be off the team. so keeping them on the team and letting them play isn't fair to the ones keeping their grades up. darrin says i feel if a college is good enough to accept an athlete because of their s.a.t. scores and gpa, their school should not be banned from playing in the ncaa tournament because their athlete's gpas are too low. every athlete dreams of going to college and winning a championship. so let me pose the question to you. should college teams be required to meet graduation standards if they want to play in the postseason like in march madness tournament? e-mail us at cnn.com/hln, or text us hln tv. or go to our facebook pages. christi paul/hln. we love to hear from you. gilbert arenas was sentenced today to 30 days in halfway house on probation. he was facing up to citizens. he plead illegal to bringing four guns into the washington wizards locker room during a dispute with a teammate. he has been suspended from basketball. his sentence today al includes community service and a fine. once again, washington wizards star gilbert arenas will not be going to jail. he was sentenced to probation this afternoon on a gun charge. you know, nearly a quarter of the public schools in detroit are going to be shut down as of june. this is part of a plan to downsize the struggling school system and improve education, test scores and student safety. granted, those are all some pretty tall orders, right? well, one school in detroit is getting it right. and it could serve as a model far all of the others. here is allen chernoff. >> reporter: violin lessons for everyone beginning third grade. mandarin chinese is mandatory beginning in kindergarten. and individualized computer challenges reinforce what is taught in the classroom. in a city plagued with academic underachievement, cornerstone schools, one private and two charter schools that are part of the public system are overachievers. students on average test a year above grade level, and 95% go on to graduate high school. student here is come with no special advantages. half live below the poverty line. fourth grader caitlin rogers recently transferred from public school to cornerstone. >> at my old school, nobody really cared. they fall asleep in the classroom. >> reporter: at cornerstone, parents, teachers and students care enough that the school year is 11 months long. >> yeah, only get one month of summer vacation. >> reporter: does that bother you? >> not really when you get the chance to learn about the school, because it's actually fun at the school. it's like we're actually on vacation. >> reporter: easy to see why with after-school activities like fencing, a new experience for kaitlyn. >> cornerstone to me embodies what education should be. you get the reading, the math, the arithmetic, but in addition to that you're learning how to be a well-rounded person, you know, how to love each other, how to get along. >> reporter: cornerstone also motives children to achieve. this hallway is decorated with college banners so every day as students walk into the classroom, they see that goal of a college education. cornerstone constantly assesses students, but doesn't teach to tests like many public schools that focus on standardized exams. >> we need to know about every individual student, what makes that student tick, what makes that student learn. what are the challenges that that student is facing. >> reporter: teachers are so committed, they work here even though many earn less than they could in public school. parents or guardians also must make a commitment to be involved in their child's education. >> we say that you have a responsibility too, not just the student. we expect you to be at parent-teacher meetings. we expect you to see that a child's homework gets done. >> reporter: witnessing academic success at cornerstone involves three cs, a culture of education, commitment to learning, and community. a nurturing environment embracing parents and professionals willing to mentor the children. >> what a special place. best of luck to all of them. the thing is detroit is intending to close 45 schools. it does have plans to open dozens of new schools in the next decade, and it's looking to institutions like cornerstone there to help in the rebirth of that school system. so thank you so much to allen chernoff for that report. and best of luck to all of those kids. our what matters segment is a chance to look at stories in the african-american community that affect all of us. for more, check out the april issue of "essence" magazine or log on to cnn.com/whatmatters. hey, who is up for reunion tour? senator john mccain and former running mate sarah palin making like old times, stumping for vote there's. the former alaska governor is helping mccain out in his tough arizona republican primary race. it's their first public appearance together since the end of the 2008 presidential election. they are making three joint appearances. mccain is seeking a fifth term, remember. and president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a new nuclear arms control deal that is the most comprehensive agreement in nearly two decades, they say. it calls for both countries to cut the nuclear weapons they deploy by about a third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. president obama and russian president dmitry medvedev will sign that new agreement next month in prague. and the white house is proposing a new plan to help homeowners with their mortgages for people who are out of work, it would require lenders to reduce monthly mortgage payments to 31% of their income, and in some cases suspend them entirely for up to six months. so what about homeowners who are, say, underwater with the value of their home and who are trying to refinance? well, the government will double the cash incentive for banks to get them in the, quote, home affordable mod my 5 indication program. . after a strong start to the week, stocks kind of limping into the weekend i should say. christine romans is in new york with the details. >> they did limp, christi, but it's interesting. the dow is up almost a thousand points in 45 days. >> wow. >> limping today, but it's been a good run. for the second day in a row stocks jumping out to a good start. the rally fading after reports of a possible naval conflict between north and south korea. it left some investors concerned at the end of the week. at the close the dow rose 9 points. in the last 45 days an incredible run uv of almost a thousand points. the nasdaq and s&p 500 little change today. all three gained ground for the week. its fourth week in a row that has happened. in the economy, the u.s. economy grew at a 5.6% rate in 2009, the fastest pace in six years. but it's not quite as strong as originally estimated. it's also the second quarter in a row of growth that pretty much guarantees economists say that the recession in the u.s., christi, ended, ended at some point last year. coming up next week, we're going get a monthly report on jobs, also auto sales figures for march. also, apple's ipad will be on store shelves beginning april 3rd. christi? >> oh, buddy! a lot of people have been waiting for that. >> oh, yeah. >> hey, christine, have a great weekend. >> you too. actor dennis hopper is said to be very sick, actually battling cancer. this didn't stop him from being on hand today, though, to receive a special honor from hollywood. well, the mother of 7-year-old -- i'm sorry, the mother of 7-year-old somer thompson says the, quote, monster now is what she is calling the man charged with killing the little girl and saying that he will not get away with it. somer thompson disappeared months ago while coming home from school. today police charged 24-year-old jarred harrell. he was already in custody on charges of child pornography. but at a news conference this afternoon, somer's mother had this powerful message for him. >> justice is not fast. as an impulse. and that's what this monster did. he had an impulse and he took something away from me that no one will ever be able to give back to me. i never liked mondays, but as far as i'm concerned, there will be no mondays in my life because that's the day my life ended. and i stood here in front of all of you 150 something days ago and said that we're coming to get you. we will get you. and so i'd like to take this opportunity to say to jarred harrell we got you, and you ain't getting away. >> the clay county sheriff says he has the evidence to prove harrell encountered the girl as she walked past his house and then assaulted somer, killed her and disposed of her body. how did they come across this information? i spoke about this earlier today. >> they looked at witness statements they had collected. they looked at admissions from jarred harrell himself. would not go into more detail in regard to admissions, but said that helped form the probable cause for arrest. also dna they looked at, and evidence from harrell's home that was collect and forensically tested. >> we also learned somer died from asphyxiation. tonight catch issues with jane velez-mitchell. it's tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. nba star gilbert arenas was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and probation today. he was facing up to five years in prison. arenas pleaded guilty in january to illegally bringing four guns into the washington wizards locker room during a dispute with a teammate. now he has been suspended from basketball and his sentence today also includes 400 hours of community service and a fine. once again, the washington wizards star gilbert arenas will not be going to jail. he was sentenced to time in a halfway house and probation this afternoon on a gun charge. new details now confirmed in the death of actor corey haim. the los angeles county coroner's office has subpoenaed medical records from 20 doctors in its investigation. the coroner's office says drug overdose has not been ruled out in haim's death, but the 1980s teen star who struggled for decades with drug addiction died earlier this month. a 25-foot whale trapped in biscayne bay, florida. take a look at some pictures here. a local hln affiliate says the humpback is entangled in some fishing line. biologists are checking things out and evaluating the whale's condition. just a week ago another whale was spotted entangled in fishing line nearby. investigators don't think this is the same whale, but obviously they're monitoring it and trying do what they can for it. local reports now say the death toll has climbed to at least 11 in a pileup on interstate 65 in central kentucky. police say this all started when a tractor-trailer apparently crossed the median and slammed head-on into a church van. this was near munfordville. the driver was killed when the van hit a brick wall and burst into flames. two children in the van were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. authority says that stretch of interstate will be closed for at least another hour. the north carolina courthouse at the center of the john edwards sex tape controversy is severely damaged by fire now. the clock tower on the 129-year-old chatham county courthouse collapsed after this fire broke out yesterday. now the alleged sex tape and other materials in the edwards case were not inside. but this is where former edwards aide andrew young was ordered to turn over that tape in february. investigators haven't announced what caused the fire, but the historic structure was in the process we know of being renovated. listen to this one. a texas couple wants their insurance company to do the right thing. they can't get to it cover their 10-day-old son. you see him here, houston tracy. he was born with a congenital heart defect that is rarely defected before birth, and he is now recovering from life-saving surgery. but when his parents tried to get insurance for houston, he was denied coverage. >> they kept saying it's preexisting, it's preexisting. but i don't know how it can be preexisting on a baby that was just born. >> blue cross and blue shield of texas would not talk about the case, but did comment to our affiliate ktxa about the health care reform law and says it will review the requirements to ensure full compliance. the legislative battle over health care reform, meanwhile, is done. last night the house passed a smaller health care fixes bill. no republicans supported the bill that is now headed to president obama's desk. senate republicans found violations in two minor provisions, forcing the bill back to the house. so after the changes, the house approved the bill in a 220-207 vote. tea party supporters are arriving now in searchlight, nevada ahead of a protest tomorrow. the group is trying to defeat senate majority leader harry reid in his reelection race. now the tea party express as it's called is kick off a national tour. they're in searchlight which is reid's hometown. a tea party candidate has gathered enough signatures to put his name on the ballot in nevada. a newspaper toll pol shows reid would lose in a two-way contest with either of the top republican candidates, but with a tea party candidate thrown into the mix, reid eeked out a narrow victory. former alaska governor sarah palin is set to appear at tomorrow's rally. and police now doubt a republican congressman's office was targeted by gunfire. yesterday virginia's eric cantor said a bullet was shot through the window of his office over the weekend. our sister network cnn spoke with richmond police who say the bullet that struck cantor's office window was caused by random gunfire. cantor says he didn't go public about it earlier because he thought it would only fuel the fire and then he said democrats were complaining about threats against them for political gain. posting a messages on its website mentioning threats against democratic lawmakers. it also asks supporters for a donation to help defend health care reform. president obama says the u.s. and russia have reached a new nuclear arms control deal that is the most comprehensive agreement in nearly two decades. it calls for both countries to cut the nuclear weapons they deploy by about a third. the president says the u.s. and russia are leading by example. >> with this agreement the united states and russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world also send a clear signal that we intend to lead by upholding our own commitments under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities. >> president obama and russian president dmitry medvedev will sign the new agreement next month in prague. sandra bullock's marriage troubles superjoy pay har asking one simple question. why are good women attracted to bad men. >> you met the woman. so obviously you know it's a bit of an uphill battle. you know, dennis hopper, there he is, showed up for the dedication of his star on hollywood's walk of fame this afternoon, even though he is reportedly battling cancer. and he is not expected to recover. looks good there, though, doesn't he? looks very happy. hopper's friend jack nicholson was at the event too, wearing an american flag shirt much like the one in their iconic movie "easy rider." hopper has twice been nominated for oscars. his doctor says the 73-year-old is undergoing radical chemotherapy for advanced metastasized prostate cancer. the mayor of los angeles signed a proclamation naming today dennis hopper day. you know, as she was getting her awards for her performance in "the blind side," actress sandra bullock often express gratitude and love for her husband. now living apart amid allegation he cheated on her. how did a woman like bullock end up with a man like james, and what leads bad boys to cheat. >> i would say they're narcissistic. a sociopath doesn't know right from wrong. that's the classic definition. >> so do they -- they know right from wrong? >> i think they know right from wrong. they feel i can get away with it. >> maybe it's the fact that they're doing wrong that turns them on. >> that's partly it. the bad boy loves to do things that are wrong. that's very brilliant. >> with the bad girl. >> yes. >> marry the good girl and cheat with the bad girl. >> those girls who get attracted to those guys have a little piece of wanting to be bad in them too. everybody is giving sandra a pass. why did she get attracted to this biker boy there is a piece of her who wants to be that way, wants to be tough. >> in this case, i got to tell you, judy, i think you're giving jesse way too much credit. i think he is just a boob who think taos much with his little head. he hand his own money. he had his own life. >> little head, that in ireland or the bahamas? but mary jo, do you think tiger woods -- just talk about him for a second, is he a sociopath because your book says you know sociopaths now. what is your definition of a sociopath? >> well, a sociopath is -- it's defined as someone who is a chronic liar, but has no remorse or guilt for what they do and say. i don't know that either of these guys feel that. i think they both feel bad about what they did. i think they're narcissistic. i think they're just guys who are not thinking about the feelings they're hurting with these other women. that's really what i think. but socioopathy is not what those two guys. >> that was mary jo buttafuoco, in case you didn't recognize her. on top of all this another woman claims she has had an affair with jesse james. if you're keeping count, she is number four. unlike the rest of these women, though, this one has chosen not to identify herself yet. "people" magazine says she has hired celebrity attorney gloria all red to represent her, though, and the woman reportedly has evidence to back up her claims. allred says she has hundreds of text mails, e-mails and photos. we have no comment yet from james' representatives. who is up for a reunion tour? you see them there? john mccain and sarah palin making like old times, stumping for votes here. the former alaska governor is helping mccain out in his tough arizona republican primary race. it's their first public appearance together since the end of the presidential election. they're making the appearance at the same phoenix hotel where the '08 campaign came to a close. mccain is seek fifth term and hoping supporters will help him win his primary. the white house is proposing a new plan to help homeowners with their mortgages. for people who are out of work, it would require lenders to reduce mortgages to 31% of their income and in some cases suspend them entirely for up to six months. so what about homeowners who are underwater with the value of their home and who are trying to refinance? the government will double the cash incentive for banks to get them in the home affordable modification program. first a whale, now dolphins stranded in massachusetts. here are some live pictures for you. not sure how many dolphins are stranded, but we do know at least two, including a baby have already died. a group of 16 dolphins were stranded in this same area two weeks ago and several were rescued and released. so we're looking there. and assuming those are some of the people that are trying to come to their rescue. a kentucky nanny walked through fire, literally, to save a boy trapped by burning stairs. >> grabbed him, and ran out. it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't even think about me getting burned. >> how her bravery is costing her now. a kentucky nanny who ran up a flight of burning stairs to save a young boy said she didn't even notice she was barefoot until it was all over. alison myatt says once she got aden to safety that's when she realized her feet were in excruciating pain. firefighters say she faced temperatures up to 400 degrees. the boy had become trapped upstairs when an attic fan caught fire. >> he said "allie, i'm in here, in my room underneath my covers." i said okay, so i ran in there, grabbed him and ran out. it was the only thing i thought about. i didn't even think about me getting burned. he was screaming and stuff. and right after i ran off the carpet, my feet are just -- it was like i was walking on goo because all the skin on my feet were just burned off. >> bless her heart. myatt appeared on nbc's today show with aden and his father as they declared their lover and appreciation. >> well, i love her so much. i miss her when she is gone and stuff. >> god brought her into our world. that's for sure. to realize what she did, saving my son's life, you know, you can't thank someone for that. there is nothing you can do to repay them for taking that kind of a risk. and then when i went to the actual house and stood in the hallway that she ran through, i realized there as the chief said, there was only one minute left. i mean, there is no words to put how grateful i am to have my son with me. how grateful i am to have alison in our world. >> we wish him the best. myatt has no health insurance, by the way, and says she is not sure how she is going to pay for her hospital treatment. prime news coming up in just a couple of minutes. mike galanos is talking about what we've been talking about all day today, somer thompson. >> somer thompson. an arrest for her murder. and it's a man -- it's not a surprise. there was suspicion of him after he was caught, allegedly with child pornography, facing 29 count there's. so we'll get you all the details that we know of. an arrest has been made in the murder of somer thompson. you see the pictures of her again. it's so heartbreaking. >> it's hard. >> her mother is right on the money. >> she is. >> about what she said about reclaiming our kids' innocence so they can walk to school without fear, they can ride their bikes again and play in the playground in our neighborhoods without having to fear for this. so we have her father on, her grieving father. we'll talk to him and get his reaction after this arrest, as well as take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln is the number. we've done a lot of stories about kids going wild. thankfully it wasn't violent, but it was destructive, a house party gone wile a. quick thumbnail, mom and her husband go out of town, on vacation to paris. leave son with neighbors. he goes to check on the house and talked into throwing a party. about carloads of kids show up we believe he knew but somebody put it on facebook, party at this house. >> oh, boy. >> they allegedly go to the house and rip this house apart, almost $50,000 in damages. and they are still taunting the family according tot mom throwing beer bottles at the house after all this and four arrests have been made. three of the four charged as adults and the other kid 16-year-old old. we want to hear from you on this, what is going on with our kids where they are doing this. foe 1-877-tell-hln's the number. we'll continue the conversation about our hero nanny we just heard about. the father is on and -- >> oh, good. >> face it, we do stories that break your heart and this will lift yours a bit. >> we need that. >> we certainly do. an amen to that! 1-877-tell-hln's the number, coming up in about ten minutes. >> all right, mike looking forward to inspiration today. >> yes. speaking of kids and what's wrong with them. >> oh, yes. >> this one, a 12-year-old boy behind the wheel of that pickup that hit speeds over 100 miles an hour. how does a 12-year-old know how to drive a car or a truck at that speed. when they finally stopped the boy they found a gun and pot in the truck. he is in juvenile detention center. his parents said they didn't even know he'd taken it. 

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