Lifestyle is questionable. You remember those comments, allegedly from the mayor of latta, South Carolina. This afternoon a new effort to curb his authority after firing that towns openly gay police chief. Meanwhile here in new york city, some families of 9 11 victims are angry over the decision to move unidentified remains to the site of the attacks. Ill talk to one fdny lieutenant whose brotherinlaw died that day. What about this idea, pot for schools . Well, not pot exactly but tax dollars from pot sales to support schools. Its an idea thats seriously being floated. Well talk to the woman behind that proposal. Good saturday afternoon to you, im craig melvin. Youre watching msnbc. All of that, plus a big idea about how to get farm fresh food to americas biggest city. So much to get to, but lets start here. That developing story out of virginia. Take a look at these dramatic pictures right there showing a hot air balloon in flames. Three people were on board, including a pilot. We just learned about an hour ago that a second body has been found. No names have been released so far. More than 100 people are part of that continuing search effort right now. Theyre looking for the other person who was aboard. The basket and balloon at this point still have not been found. Investigators from the National Transportation safety board and the faa are on the scene just north of richmond, were told. They gave us an update just a few moments ago. Its a very rural area, its very dense, wooded, a lot of undergrowth and it just takes time. Its a very meticulous process when youre doing a grid search. We will stay here until the third occupant is located and of course as we continue to hopefully find the wreckage of the basket and the balloon too. The balloon was one of more than a dozen that took off friday night as part of an event there in virginia. Witnesses say they heard an explosion, then they saw the balloon simply fall out of sight. Well have a live report from the scene in just minutes. Also today, grieving families in nigeria continue to wait for news about the nearly 300 girls abducted from their school. Those girls were kidnapped nearly three weeks ago now. First Lady Michelle obama today joined the course of worldwide disgust. Mrs. Obama devoted her firstever white house weekly address, her firstever solo address, she devoted it to the abduction. This unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education. Grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls. Outraged nigerians also demonstrated today, and u. S. Military advisers and International Aid workers have arrived to help Nigerian Forces find the girls. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk is live for us in neighboring cameroons capital city. Stephanie, what are we hearing about what the Nigerian Government is doing right now . Hey, craig. It seems some of that pressure, both domestic and international, is having an effect on the Nigerian Government. They announced theyre going to be moving two military divisions up to the north in that region where they believe the girls may be held at this moment. We also know that they have asked for international help. One group of u. S. Military personnel arrived on friday. Another will be traveling over the weekend. They have asked for help also from the u. K. , france, china, all contributing in the search for the girls. Still no word on where they are or how they are doing. Amidst all of that, the violence continues. This group, boko haram, struck again today. They hit a bridge on the border between nigeria and chad, very similar to an attack here in cameroon earlier in the week that killed as many as 30 people. Theres also the abduction of family members of a Police Official in the northern part of this country. A part of this country that has essentially become lawless in recent months. Stephanie, how is it that boko haram has been able to continue moving essentially at will with so much attention on them from all over the world now . Reporter it is pretty remarkable, but you have to know a little bit about the history of Northern Nigeria in recent years to understand it. This group started in the 90s and has entrenched itself in an area that has for the most part been kind of forgotten by the rest of nigeria. The economy is bad, there are no jobs. They have gained force in this region, and now have struck this insurgency, which is about four years old, and has really started in earnest in the last four months. This has been a string of violence. Kidnappings, bombings, they have attacked groups of doctors that have been trying to vaccinate kids against polio. They have attacked a number of schools. And the government has been criticized regularly for not putting the kind of military presence that is needed to control them, and now you see theyre trying to correct that course, sending up these divisions but there will certainly be a lot of people wondering why it took nearly a month to move them up there. Stephanie gosk, thank you. Retired u. S. Army general carter hamm, the general commanded the u. S. Africa command from 2011 to 2013. General, thanks for being with me this afternoon. Thanks, craig. First of all, i dont even know how to phrase this. Ill just ask you, how likely is it at this point that these girls are going to be found alive and brought back home . How likely is it that they have not already been shipped off to neighboring countries . Well, craig, i think it is likely that many have probably been moved outside of the country. Almost certainly they have been dispersed into small groups, perhaps even as individuals. But the key thing is, there is hope and there must remain hope. And until such time as all the girls are accounted for, i think nigeria has a significant responsibility to pursue all possible options to bring them safely home. Im glad that the United States and others have offered and are helping the Nigerian Government. Your former command is going to be part of that american effort to help find these girls. Specifically, what can they do . I think first and foremost, the nigerians probably are asking for intelligence support. The nigerians and the nations neighboring nigeria all have very good and sophisticated human intelligence networks, and im certain that those have been activated and theyre seeking to get all the information they can. But technical intelligence. Overhead surveillance, persistent collection, signals intelligence and the analysis of that all Source Information is something that the United States and others are quite good at and i suspect were probably helping them in that regard. I want to pivot here and talk to you about benghazi. Im sure youre aware of the new panel that was convened this week to dig deeper into what happened the night in 2012 when you were in charge there in africa. I know youve testified. What questions are left to be answered that have not been that have not been answered yet or are there any . I think first and foremost, we should remember that night that four brave americans were killed. For them and for their families, the nation should remain eternally grateful. With regard to the military aspect of the events in benghazi, i think the chairman of the House Armed Services committee probably summarized it best. After many hearings both open and closed, classified and unclassified, a parade of witnesses to include myself and many others, the chairman has concluded that the United States military, given how fast the attack occurred and how quickly it subsided, the time distance that is involved, that the military acted properly. And i think that has been completely investigated and answered. So why another panel . Why another investigation . I cant answer that. You know, obviously coming from a military background and that was the aspect of it that my testimony and meetings with members of congress focused on. Are you optimistic that another investigation is going to shed any new light on the thing . Im optimistic because thats hour form of government. That sounds like a very diplomatic way of saying youre not optimistic that theyre going to find anything new. But its more than that, craig. The oath the oath that each military person takes begins with support and defend the constitution of the United States. This is our process. And whether our personal views agree or disagree, it is the process and thats got to have to move forward. You testified that it was fairly clear from the outset that it was in fact a terror attack. Did you get the support that you needed from washington . Absolutely. Every capability that i asked of through general dempsey, who was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and secretary panetta, then secretary of defense, every capability i asked for was provided. Was a military strike by the United States, by our forces, was it possible at that time . It was not, partly because of the time distances involved and partly because of how quickly the attack occurred and then largely subsided. Looking back really quickly, is there anything different that you would have done that night . Two things. I think one of which has occurred. I would have i should have put more effort into expediting the movement of the people from benghazi back to tripoli once the surviving americans were all consolidated and relatively safe havened at a second u. S. Facility in benghazi. The second and more important and longer lasting is that the department of defense has since benghazi stationed more capable Response Forces in the region. Do you think that the issue itself has been politicized since . Thats not for an old soldier to comment upon. I knew that was going to be your answer but i had to ask anyway. General, thank you. Thanks, craig. More whistleblowers are now coming forward as the scandal surrounding wait times at the va as that scandal continues to grow. All of this comes after allegations this week that administrators in phoenix, arizona, kept an offthebooks list to conceal long wait times as some 40 veterans died waiting to get an appointment. But its not just confined to phoenix. Clerks in wyoming and texas have revealed information about problems there as well. Arizona senator john mccain held a town hall meeting with veterans and fair families in phoenix friday, and those folks demanded answers and accountability. It took months. They wouldnt call us back. Finally when they did, the appointments were set out two months in advance. Look, if these allegations are true, if these allegations are true, they are a violation of law, and its not a matter of resignations, its a matter of whether somebody goes to jail or not. Lets head to Jennifer Bjorklund for us. Jennifer, what more do we know about precisely why these clerks were allegedly told to change these waiting times . Reporter craig, its a difficult question but the answer seems to be in the law. The va mandate is a veteran seeking care must be seen within two weeks. They have a 14day window. And an impossible list of waiting. So in this case in cheyenne, wyoming, the whistleblower there said they were instructed to actually change the dates on some of the appointment lists to make everything line up and have no backlog. Here in phoenix, they went as far as to allegedly open up a screen, set an appointment, put all the information in, printout a screen shot of the screen and then delete all the information in those lines. So youre coming for a followup appointment and say, okay, my 14 days are here. Theres no record you were ever here, its gone. You just have the paper in your hand which, you know, isnt worth anything unless its in the system, craig. Jennifer bjorklund from phoenix. Thank you for that update. Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine are preparing for tomorrows referendum which some leaders in kiev say could be a catastrophe. More from ukraine ahead. Well go live there. Also ahead, funding education by the sale of something that used to be illegal in most places. This is msnbc. E a question, how much money do you think youll need when you retire . Then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. I was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. Im going to have to rethink this thing. Its hard to imagine how much well need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. So maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. Can help your kids school get extra stuff. Theyre the only cereals with box tops for education. You can raise money for your kids school. Look for this logo. Only on big g cereals. You can make a difference. Every cereal box counts. Improving everything from booking to baggage claim. Were raising the bar on flying and tomorrow well raise it yet again. We cannot let the fans down. Dont worry the United StatesPostal Service will get it there on time with Priority Mail flat rate shipping. Our priority has always been saving the day. Because our priority. Amazing . Is you the amazing spiderman 2 delivered by the United StatesPostal Service. Female narrator the mattress price wars are on the mattress price wars are on at sleep train. We challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices. Now its posturepedic versus beautyrest with big savings of up to 400 off. Serta icomfort and tempurpedic go headtohead with three years interestfree financing. Plus, free sameday delivery, setup, and removal of your old set. When brands compete, you save. Mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. Your ticket to a better nights sleep welcome back. Lets get you caught up on some of the top headlines this saturday afternoon. We start with this developing story from arkansas which right now is becoming the first state in the south to issue samesex marriage licenses. You are seeing the first couple right there. Friday a judge in arkansas struck down that states voterapproved ban on the unions. The ruling was issued without a stay, but the legality of todays marriages will most surely be in some sort of legal limbo. The Arkansas Attorney general says he plans to appeal fridays ruling, despite, despite his personal support for Marriage Equality. Meanwhile, it is commencement weekend across the country. Louisiana governor bobby jindal made his way to Liberty University today. That Religious School is a wellknown essential stop for any republican even thinking about a run for president. Jindal talked openly about his christian faith. He also criticized socalled elites for waging war on religious liberty. Our religious freedom was won over the course of centuries of persecution and blood, and we should not surrender them without a fight. Make no mistake, the war over religious liberty is the war over free speech. Without the first, theres no such thing as the second. And theres a new man in charge of the l. A. Clippers today. His name is dick parsons. Hes been named the interim ceo. He takes over that embattled team as scandal continues to surround owner Donald Sterling. Parsons is the former chairman of time warner and citigroup. Earlier today here in new york, evidence that the investigation into the september 11th attacks is not over. All of the nearly 8,000 unidentified remains of 9 11 victims were moved from a temporary facility. They are now in a specially built repository at the World Trade Center site in lower manhattan. This plan is not new, but nonetheless its now mired in controversy. The Mayors Office tells us this is not a final resting place and the work to identify the remains will continue on a daily basis, but some families are quite upset that the remains are being housed in the same building as the National September 11th memorial and museum, a museum that charges admission when it opens. Joining me now, his brotherinlaw was in the south to your and his remains have never been found. Lets start with this morning. I know you were there. How did things go . It was just kind of opening up an old wound, one that never really heals. We want to go down and pay our respects to our loved ones as well, but the fact that they are putting them in the basement 70 feet below ground in what is essentially presented as an exhibit of a museum we find very distasteful, extremely offensive and equally disgraceful in the fact that during this whole process, 9 11 family members, the loved ones of those killed on 9 11 have had virtually no input as to the decisionmaking process as to where the human remains will be interred. We called new york mayor bill de blasios office and they gave us a statement. Our administration has engaged the community and 9 11 families continuously since entering office four months ago. This includes talking with and listening to families who have questions about this plan as well as many families who are supportive and comfortable with this plan. Whats your response to that . I have heard that quote and that is just completely untrue. They havent reached out to the families . Not that the groups and families i am associated with. Maybe the ones in support of this plan. But the ones in opposition, which i am part of, none of us have heard from the Mayors Office. We have reached out and would like to meet with the mayor, but we havent had any discussion. Weve had virtually no discussion. When did you first hear about the plan . To house them in the basement . Right. And to actually do it today, the day before mothers day. I did hear house them in the basement, or what we call the basement, 70 feet below ground in a museum and weve been fighting this plan all that time. The fact that they were going to move them today was only revealed about a week ago. Many family members that i spoke to still do not know that it happened today. Still