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Standoff With Suspect In French Murders; Aftershocks Still Shaking Mexico; Demands For Justice In Florida Teen's Killing; Obama Fast Tracks Keystone Pipeline; Speaker Issues Blistering Criticism; Protests Over Florida Teen's Killing; Postal Service Wants More Junk Mail; Stocks Struggle Amid Housing Report; French Shooting Victims Buried In Israel; Massacre Suspect Faces Homicide Charges; Standoff with Suspect in French Murders; Mystery Boom in Wisconsin; Safeway won't sell "Pink Slime" Beef; Yellow Dust Covers the Southeast; New Clue in Earhart Mystery

Aired March 21, 2012 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Just ahead of NEWSROOM, French police are surrounding an apartment where a suspect in a shooting outside a Jewish school is holed up.

They tried to raid the apartment yesterday, but backed off after two officers were wounded. Authorities expect the man to give himself up today.

The ground still rattling under the feet of nervous citizens in Southern Mexico after yesterday's 7.4 magnitude quake. A 5.0 aftershock was reported just a few hours ago. Hundreds of homes were damaged. Eleven people reportedly injured in the initial quake.

Widespread demands this morning for justice for Trayvon Martin. Supporters in Florida, New York and online are rallying. They want the man who killed the unarmed teenager arrested. The NAACP wants the Sanford, Florida police chief to resign.

Mitt Romney is in Maryland today, fresh off his decisive win in the Illinois primary. Romney is now almost halfway to the delegate finish line.

We begin this morning, though, in depth with gas prices. I know I sound like a broken record. Gas prices went up another penny today and just minutes ago, President Obama boarded Air Force One for an energy policy tour.

First stop, Nevada. Last stop, Cushing, Oklahoma, and the Keystone pipeline. The interesting thing about Keystone, the president will announce he'll expedite the permit for the southern half of the Keystone pipeline, but not the controversial northern part of that pipeline.

Dan Lothian is at the White House. So, Dan, Republicans already bashing the president. Calling his visit staggering in its disingenuousness. Ouch. DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, some tough talk there from Republicans. And as you pointed out, there are two pipelines here. The one that the president rejected, his administration rejected back in January saying that the people who own this pipeline or were planning this pipeline should go back to the drawing board.

That one runs from Canada in -- would run from Canada into the United States. The president, this administration concerned about some environmental issues. That's why that was rejected. Then there is this southern part of this pipeline, which would run from Cushing, Oklahoma down to the Gulf Coast of Texas.

That would take oil there to be refined. Right now, that oil is now transported by trucks or by trains. So this would be seen as a more efficient and safer way to transport that oil.

Now what Republicans are pointing out is that this really -- this particular pipeline within the United States is nothing that really involves the president, does not really require his approval.

But for him to get involved in something like this would be like a governor issuing a fishing permit. So some very political back and forth going on about this pipeline and at the center of all of this, we have high gas prices.

So there is a lot of pressure on the president. One from environmentalists who stay away from these pipelines, but also there is this continued push to do something to bring down the gas prices and while gas prices aren't directly related to those pipelines, I think it is hard for the public to see the difference here.

COSTELLO: I think you're right about that. Dan Lothian, live at the White House for us.

Now to Florida and the growing outrage over Florida's stand your ground gun law and how that law may have played into Trayvon Martin's death.

Here's what we know right now. At 11:00 a.m. Eastern, a rally is scheduled in Sanford to protest the gun license given to the shooter. And also in Sanford, the hometown of Martin, demonstrators are calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman.

He's the neighborhood watch leader who claims he shot the teenager in self-defense. The city commission will hold a special meeting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and the public is invited to talk.

Also a grand jury is scheduled to hear the case on April 10. John Zarrella, he joins us from Sanford, Florida. And, John, we just learned last hour that the NAACP is calling for the police chief to resign. And what other I was has Martin's death affected that community?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Carol, there have been a lot of things coming out very recently now, a lot of movement on the witness front. We know that yesterday the 16-year-old girlfriend of Trayvon Martin's came out and said she was on the phone with him minutes, even seconds before he was killed.

And she said that he was walking away. He was going to run, she told him don't run then she hears him fall to the ground. She says that. And then last night, Anderson Cooper had an exclusive interview with two women from that gated community where Trayvon Martin was shot, talking about what they heard and what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": So you saw Mr. Zimmerman on top of Trayvon Martin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

COOPER: When you say on top of, how so?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Straddling him.

COOPER: His legs were straddling him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One on each side, on his knees with his hands on his back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I don't believe it was self-defense because what we saw when we walked outside on the porch. If it was self-defense, why was he on Trayvon's back?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now police here say they're completely confident in their work and they are welcoming the Department of Justice, the FBI, even the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to come in and take a look, quote, "At what they have been doing."

Now, as far as the community is concerned, there is still a great deal of outrage. There was a rally last night. There is that meeting you referred to this afternoon, the emergency meeting of the city council.

Because many people within this community do not feel that justice will be done until George Zimmerman is arrested. And we have to point out that Zimmerman has not been arrested, and has not been charged with any crime at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's right. His family says he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense and of course, as you say, all of these entities are now investigating that. John Zarrella, thank you, live from Florida.

Trayvon Martin's shooting is raise new questions about Florida's controversial deadly force law stand your ground. This type of law is on the books in 21 states. The National Rifle Association lobbied for these laws. Law enforcement in general lobbied against them. The Florida governor now says he's reviewing it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: I think it is good to go back and look at an existing law and see how the impact and the consequences of it. And I think once we finish this investigation, if there is something that we need to adjust. I'm hopeful that, you know, the legislature would be interested in taking that up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're going to have more on the shooting death of Trayvon Martin that's coming up later in the NEWSROOM.

Tired of getting a mailbox full of junk mail? Well, get this, the U.S. Postal Service wants you to get more junk mail. Lots of it. We'll explain why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Most of us can't stand junk mail, coupons and catalogues and flyers that clog our mailboxes still. But now the U.S. Postal Service says it needs just that. Your mailbox needs more junk mail. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. Why?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is a fight for survival. That's why, Carol. What the USPS is doing is really just trying to generate more mail to deliver and the USPS is actually looking for businesses to do that. They're making it easier for businesses to actually send out marketing materials.

Also known as junk mail you're talking about that wind up sitting and piling up on your kitchen table. So what the USPS has done is developed a tool so companies can find you easier, so they can send you more stuff.

What this new tool does is it I.D.s customers by zip code so they don't need your name or address to do it. USPS says it could bring in at least a billion dollars so you see the postal service getting creative, finding new ways to make money because it has to.

Look how it did last year. It lost $5 billion because people and businesses aren't sending out as much mail anymore. Also the USPS is getting hit with really high retiree health care costs -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, but that costs the small businesses sending out the junk mail money too. So is that really a great line of attack?

KOSIK: You know, that is the question that I actually had. What the businesses get out of this, though is that they get that marketing that they need to bring in business. So it is sort of one hand, kind of washing the other. Don't you think -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. We're hearing that a new housing report was released a few minutes ago. So tell us about it. KOSIK: No improvement on previously owned home sales. Home sales fell about 1 percent in February. It is a big disappointment because what Wall Street expected was an increase. But there is some good news if you look at sales overall. They're up compared to last year.

Also, the median sales price for a home rose from a 10- year low back in January. And what you want to see, to see that housing recovery is prices kind of stabilize and to start to go up and you're not going to really see a housing recovery until you see those prices stabilize.

It is a good sign that median sales, the price of median sales prices for homes rose. Right now, stocks are kind of treading water, the Dow is down 18. The Nasdaq and S&P are pretty much flat at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange.

If you want pink slime in your ground beef, and who does, you won't get it at Safeway anymore. It is the latest grocery store chain to kick it out of the meat department.

You know, pink slimes sounds gross, but does the nickname make the beef sound more awful than it really is? We'll explore that issue next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: French police were prepared to wait out a suspect in a series of shootings that culminated with four murders outside of a Jewish school. The suspect's name is Mohammed Merah. He's been holed up in the city of Toulouse for two days now.

This is the second day. Authorities describe him as a self-styled jihadist. Police raided the apartment yesterday, pulled back after the suspect wounded two officers. Diana Magnay is at the scene of this tense standoff. Where do things stand now, Diana?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is now in its 12th hour. It started at 3:00 a.m. this morning. Some very heavy gunfire was exchanged, which involved two policemen being injured.

At one point, the suspect did actually say that he would hand himself over to police, but he hasn't done that. Police say that he still has weapons with him. He also told them that he had a car full of weapons close by the house, which they also found to be true.

All the information we're getting about the raid, we're getting from the Interior Ministry. The Interior Minister was here for much of the night. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy came and just left, he came to the site to find out how the operation was going on.

And the suspect is being in talks with the hundreds of police who are here. There are 50 police surrounding the house, about 300 police involved in the operation. He's a 23-year-old French national of Algerian origin.

He's been in Pakistan and Afghanistan on several occasions. He describes himself as a jihadist, affiliated with al Qaeda. And he says that he went into that Jewish school, gunning down those children and their father, a Jewish teacher at the school, because he wanted to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children.

So some very sinister details coming out here, Carol and one more thing, as the siege continues, as you can imagine, there are interested, worried neighbors standing around.

And we have been speaking to quite a lot of the Muslim people who live around here, who are very worried by the fact that the man, the serial killer who Toulouse has been -- and what that will do for the reputation and the name of the Muslim community here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Diana Magnay reporting live from Toulouse, France, today. Thank you.

Relatives accompany the bodies of the four victims of Monday's shooting at that Jewish school in France as they arrived in Israel. Funerals were held earlier this morning at a cemetery in Jerusalem. A group representing French-Jewish communities said the decision to bury the victims in Jerusalem will ensure that their remains are not tampered with. Forty percent of practicing French Jews are buried in Israel.

The case against the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians could enter a new stage tomorrow. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is expected to be charged with homicide. He could face other charges as well.

He's met for last two days with his attorney in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. John Browne says he doesn't see much evidence against his client so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HENRY BROWNE, ATTORNEY FOR STAFF SERGEANT BALES: I don't know what the evidence is. We all heard what the allegations are, right? But I'm a defense lawyer so I deal with the evidence. I don't know about the evidence in this case. I don't know the government is going to prove much.

There is no forensic evidence. There are no confessions. I don't know. I'm not -- I'm certainly not saying that we're not taking responsibility for this in the right way, at the right time, but right now, you know, I don't -- I'm interested in what the evidence is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Browne also says it could take two years to prosecute the case. On a side note, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with the Afghan foreign minister in the next hour to talk about how the shootings have affected relations between Washington and Kabul.

Javelin and Petris, those are a couple of secret service code names for the Republican presidential candidates. Find out who those names belong to.

And we'll get some other suggestions from our "Political Buzz" panel. That's coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This story just coming into to CNN. Take a look at this. This is in Athens, Ohio. A boulder has broken free from a hillside and landed on two cars and a house. Since no one was hurt when this happened, the family was in the back of the house when the boulder hit the house.

Of course, this thing doesn't happen every day. Can you believe that? That is crazy. We're going to continue to monitor the story as it develops. We'll find out exactly what loosened that boulder.

I know there has been some heavy rains in Ohio, but I don't know if the rains were coming down in exactly that part of Ohio. But we'll get back to this story and tell you more about this. But talk about scary. That's a big boulder next to that house, unbelievable, Athens, Ohio.

Stories we're watching in the NEWSROOM right now, other stories. A four-state swing today, the president will announce plans to speed up the permit for the southern half of the Keystone oil pipeline, which will stretch from Canada to the gulf. He's promoting his energy plan, but critics say the president is caving to pressure from rising gas prices.

A pair of smaller aftershocks rattled Southern Mexico after yesterday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake. Hundreds of homes were damaged, nearly a dozen injuries reported. Authorities say damage assessments will continue into today.

A new development in the Trayvon Martin case. Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP, is now calling on the Sanford police chief to step down. Martin was shot to death by a neighborhood watch leader in Sanford, Florida. The shooter, George Zimmerman, says he acted in self-defense. Zimmerman has not been charged.

She flew into the American public eye at the controls of her plane and she flew into history when her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean without a trace. But a new clue could mean finding the last resting place of Amelia Earhart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "Political Buzz," rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, CNN contributor Maria Cardona, for the funny side, Dean Obedallah, co-founder of the Arab-American Comedy Festival. And Boris Eppstein, he's the opinion columnist for "U.S. News." He's also a Republican strategist and a former aid to the McCain/Palin campaign. Thanks to you all for being here today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Let's get first question. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says he gives himself an A-minus on helping to control gas prices. Gas prices that are up almost 18 percent so far this year, an A-minus. Are we grading on a curve here, Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think you can say that he certainly is an optimist, Carol. But I think what he's trying to say is that this administration's focus and his focus has always been the long-term vision of where we need to go when it comes to energy policy.

His approach and the administration's approach has always been an all of the above approach that doesn't just focus on giving oil and gas companies these massive tax subsidies that they have enjoyed for over 30 years, while at the same time having record profits.

We need to focus on solar, on wind, on biofuels, on biodiesel and all of the above approach, and that what he was talking about.

COSTELLO: A good time to bring in Boris.

BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: A great spin by Maria, a really great spin. I'm really almost dumbfounded at how strong that was to put the focus on the oil companies.

But really, here is the issue. The energy secretary shows he's out of touch with American people. American people now are struggling because the gas prices keep going up and up and up and the president and energy secretary and the rest of the cabinet seem to be able to do absolutely nothing about it especially in an election year.

We'll talk about the Keystone pipeline later on. The last time an incumbent president was voted out of office was 1992. Last time 1.7 gas prices, this time, $3.83. How does that feel? Not good.

COSTELLO: Dean?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CO-FOUNDER, ARAB-AMERICAN COMEDY FESTIVAL: To me, you have to look at the context, Carol. Steven Chu giving himself an A-minus, the man is a Nobel Prize winner. He's graduated with honors from all the school. That's like giving yourself a "C" to me and you to be honest.

I don't think he's touting himself as being some superstar. He realizes it is a struggle now. Probably a sad day in the Chu house coming home with an A-minus. But you know what, I can say this. I agree with Boris.

The American people want gas prices to go down. And this whole drill, baby, drill, or rhetoric on the issue is not helping any of us. Give us a real answer. We have a problem. We're like a drug addict looking for a new drug dealer. We have an addiction to oil.

COSTELLO: Talking about drill, baby, drill, President Obama softens a little on the Keystone pipeline, fast tracking the southern half of the pipeline. Did he cave, Boris?

EPSHTEYN: This is just another example of how this President has shown his inexperience over and over again. He comes out strongly on one side of the issue. Like Guantanamo, I'm going to close Guantanamo. What happened to that? Or not taking money from the super PACs. I will not take any money from the super PACs. Now hey, please give to my super PAC.

And on the Keystone pipeline, I'm against the Keystone pipeline, except I'm now for the Keystone pipeline. So maybe the new Democrat champion flip-flopper is no longer John Kerry, maybe it's Barack Obama, the champion flip-flopper of the left.

COSTELLO: Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, let's be very clear. This President and this administration have never been against Keystone based on its merits. They were against the timing of what the Republicans tried to put in several bills last year to ram it down the Americans' throats for purely political reasons.

This President understands that we need an all of the above approach and frankly what he has focused on now is that all of the above approach and wants to include Keystone in it in a way that does not destroy our environment.

COSTELLO: Dean?

OBEIDALLAH: This is a real battle today, Carol. I'll be honest with you. I think to me, I mean, if you look at the real facts, President Obama has never opposed the Keystone pipeline in the southern portion from Oklahoma to the Gulf.

CARDONA: Thank you.

OBEIDALLAH: He's just expediting the permits. That's the real facts. But you know what, he will get criticized from the right that he's somehow pandering or he's flip-flopping. I think Obama should turn this into a positive and say I'm doing the world's biggest water slide from -- from Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico until it's connected. It's better than green adventure. Bring the family, I would -- if I was a kid, I would love to go to this. I think Obama should turn this into a positive. That's my advice.

EPSTEIN: I'm in.

COSTELLO: All right then. Time for your "Buzzer Beater" now 20 seconds each. Here is your third question. The Secret Service has code names for the top candidates in the Republican presidential race. I'll let Jimmy Kimmel take it from there. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, TALK SHOW HOST: And in an article in GQ magazine has revealed the code names for Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, which I guess aren't a secret anymore. Romney's code name is Javelin after the stick he has up his butt, I think. And Santorum's code name is Petrus which means Peter in Latin. And by the way, they get to choose these themselves. I think my code name is Super --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh my God I didn't hear that before it went on the air. Oh, my gosh. Ok. So Javelin and Petrus come on, they are kind of boring. So you guys tell me what you think some of the code names should be. Dean?

OBEIDALLAH: I think for Santorum it should be "Caveman", because that's where his views come from. He's one step above grunting at this point. So I think he would be great as Caveman.

I think, Mitt Romney, I like the idea of "Silly Putty". Because this guy can twist himself into any shape he needs to. In fact, like Silly Putty, you can stick him to an issue and peel him up and he'll be on both sides of that issue. So I like Silly Putty for Romney and Caveman for Santorum.

COSTELLO: Oh Boris?

EPSTEIN: Well, for Santorum, I think we should go something like "Sexy Beast" -- that's one option. Another option is "Sweater Vest". And the third option, which will be what his nickname is after November is "Who"? And for Mitt Romney, it could go with something like "Zoolander" because of his looks or "Rogaine" because of the strength of his hair. I mean at 65, he's got better hair than I do at 30. And then after November, his nickname should be "Mr. President".

COSTELLO: Boris, Boris, you've been thinking about this. Maria?

CARDONA: Let's see, for Mitt Romney, maybe it is "Mittens" because I think the majority of the American people think that's what his first name is anyway. And I would also go with "Pancake" because he's flip-flopped more than the International House of Pancakes.

For Santorum, it should be "His Holiness" because it seems like he's running for Pope-in-chief as opposed to commander-in-chief. And for Gingrich it should be "Happy" to go with his own self-image, he called himself "Cheerful" in the last debate.

EPSTEIN: Gingrich doesn't even get one in reality, eight percent gets you nowhere.

COSTELLO: It's been fun, as usual.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: That is true. COSTELLO: It's been fun as usual. Maria, Dean, Boris -- thank you for playing this morning.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks for having me.

CARDONA: Thanks, Carol.

EPSTEIN: Thanks for having us. Have a great day.

COSTELLO: Oh it's been great having you.

Let's go back to those pictures coming out of Athens, Ohio, right now. This is incredible. That's a big, huge boulder. It broke free from a hillside. It landed on two cars and then it rolled into a house.

Luckily -- there was someone home -- but luckily they were in the back of the house and they didn't get hurt. But you can imagine -- you can imagine how it felt when this big boulder rolls into your home. That's just bizarre. The boulder is about 25 feet in diameter.

When we know more about this, of course, we'll bring more information to you. We're trying to get in touch with the family because they have a story to tell this morning.

From boulders to mysterious loud booms, they're becoming a big problem in one Wisconsin town.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is like, constant boom, boom, boom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It almost felt like a heavy duty thunderstorm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just a weird, weird feeling and sound.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what's causing those mysterious booming noises in Wisconsin? We'll ask a city official what she knows.

And no more pink slime on sale at Safeway. Don't know what I'm talking about? Then it's likely you've been eating it all along. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: French police are still surrounding a home in Toulouse, France. Inside, holed up, as he's been since 3:00 a.m. this morning is the man suspected in a series of shootings in France. And the one we all heard about was the shooting at that Jewish school, where four people were shot, shot down in cold blood, by a man on a motor scooter with a gun.

That man apparently is inside this house. He's connected somehow to al Qaeda. We have a reporter from France 24 on the phone right now, her name is Ebba Kalando. She has talked with that man holed up inside that house in Toulouse. Ebba what can you tell us about this man?

EBBA KALANDO, REPORTER, FRANCE 24 (via telephone): I would say he was probably one of the politest, what I thought, suspected crime call I ever got at 1:00 in the morning. Yes.

COSTELLO: So he called you?

KALANDO: He called, yes.

COSTELLO: And what did he want to tell you?

KALANDO: He said good evening. And he wanted -- he said he wanted to claim responsibility for the -- for the shooting in the Notre Dame and the French paratroopers and at the Jewish school, the shooting at the Jewish school.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Did he tell you why?

KALANDO: He said he -- he said it was necessary to reclaim the dignity of Islam after the affront done to it by the French state after it enacted a law outlawing the -- the wearing of the -- of the full veil here in France.

And he also said he wanted to protest against France's continued military participation in the war in Afghanistan. And also he said that the shooting on the Jewish school in Toulouse was to avenge Palestinian children.

COSTELLO: Is he a French national?

KALANDO: Well, yes. French citizen, yes.

COSTELLO: And I understand he's of Algerian descent. And how exactly was he involved in al Qaeda?

KALANDO: I'm not quite sure. He -- he simply said that he belonged to a group that was linked to al Qaeda. I asked him whether that group had a distinctive name. He said he didn't want to answer that question. But that the group that he was allied -- that he was linked to had links with al Qaeda, but operated from France. That was -- he made it very clear that his group had links with al Qaeda.

COSTELLO: We understand too he traveled at one point either to Pakistan or Afghanistan. Do you know?

KALANDO: Apparently to Kandahar and that he was part of a massive jail bust out of Afghanistan at one point, yes.

COSTELLO: I know that French police keep saying that he'll come out of his own free will. Why do they believe that?

KALANDO: Your guess is as good as mine really. I'm not sure -- I think the situation in France challenges every possible type of political hostage or even terrorist situation in recent memory. And I think they just want to take him alive. So to a certain extent they want to negotiate with him because they would like to get more answers as to his motivation and to why such a young man, a young Frenchman, would want to do this to fellow citizens.

COSTELLO: You said that he was upset by a recent French law that outlawed women from wearing the full veil.

KALANDO: Yes.

COSTELLO: How is France reacting to this news?

KALANDO: With shock and a little bit of consternation as to what to do with it because really, it is a bit of a double whammy. It is a shooting that targeted elite French paratroopers. Two of them of the Muslim faith. The third one was of West Indian origin. And then the second shooting was of a father who was a schoolteacher, with his two small children, Jewish, Jewish faith. And then point blank range he shot an 8-year-old girl of the Jewish faith.

So for the first time you have -- I think there is a bit of soul-searching going on in France as to how to -- how to talk about race and how to talk about anti-Semitism. And just how quickly these things could turn to terrible disaster, especially at a time like this of French electoral campaign where issues of faith and the Jewish community and Islam has been very much at the forefront. So there has been quite a lot of hand wringing as to how to take this national conversation forward.

COSTELLO: Ebba Kalando, thank you so much for joining us and telling us your story. We appreciate it.

NEWSROOM will be back after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: People in Clintonville, Wisconsin, keep hearing strange booming noises and nobody knows what's causing them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This like constant boom, boom, boom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It almost felt like a heavy duty thunderstorm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a weird, weird feeling and some.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: The city has ruled out mining explosions, the military, even natural gas problems. People have put up with these sounds since Sunday. Again it's happening in Clintonville, Wisconsin.

And take a look at the map. The green dots are the homes where the booms have been heard. So you see it is widespread. It is all over the place. It is not really concentrated in one area. And, of course, the problem is a great annoyance for everyone.

But it really falls on Lisa Kuss's shoulders, she's the Clintonville city administrator. Welcome this morning.

LISA KUSS, CITY ADMINISTRATOR, CLINTONVILLE, WISCONSIN: Welcome, Carol. Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: So do you have any guesses as to what these booming sounds mean? Where they're coming from?

KUSS: It clearly seemed to be coming from underneath the earth's surface. And unfortunately we really haven't determined anything that it is. We have just really tried to determine what it isn't.

COSTELLO: Did you call a geologist in?

KUSS: We have not had them actually located in Clintonville yet, but we have been speaking to them from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Madison.

COSTELLO: Does it appear these booms indicate anything dangerous?

KUSS: After the third night, we have not seen any sort of property or damage to people. And so we do not believe that it is an eminent danger to our citizens.

COSTELLO: So you've ruled out, you know, mining as a cause.

KUSS: That's correct.

COSTELLO: Because, you know, in Ohio there was that earthquake in Youngstown and it was because of -- it was because of mining. But no mining is taking place in Wisconsin.

KUSS: No, not in our area.

COSTELLO: Have you felt the booms?

KUSS: I have.

COSTELLO: What do they feel like?

KUSS: The loudest one I experienced was two nights ago at about 10:00 p.m. I was with our police chief and our public works manager. And it was a very loud sound of a boom and just sort of the floor under you jolting, just one loud boom and you could feel it under your feet. COSTELLO: Did it scare you?

KUSS: It certainly startled and, you know, you sort of have that -- your heart racing a little bit after it happens because you're not expecting it.

COSTELLO: Okay, and I suppose it would be difficult to record the sound because they happen -- I mean they don't happen at prescribed times, so you can't exactly record them.

KUSS: Our utility building is actually in the zone that it's most concentrated in. So we did set up audio and video last night, but I just received word that nothing was monitored at either our 8:00 p.m. or 5:00 a.m. occurrences that people reported. And each property doesn't seem to have the same experience each time something occurs.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll check back with you. Lisa Kuss, thank you for joining us this morning.

KUSS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: In today's "Daily Dose", the Safeway grocery store chain says it will stop selling ground beef with a filler known as pink slime.

Let's talk to our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. This sounds so gross. It sounds so gross. I can't even believe it was sold in grocery stores.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: But you know what, it is just meat. It is like connective tissue and other stuff all ground up and put into ground beef used sort of as a filler. It is less expensive than the ground beef is. And so a lot of people object to it and actually Publix, Whole Foods and Costco have already said, "We're not going to have any of this in the products that well."

Part of the reason why some people object to it is just the yick factor. As a matter, Sara one of our bloggers at cnn.com said it resembles strawberry froyo. So it is -- some of it is just the yickiness. But some of it is that folks who don't like say there's a health problem because it is treated with ammonium hydroxide. They don't want to allow E. coli into this pink slime so they treat it with ammonium hydroxide and some people have some health issues with that even though the FDA says it is fine.

COSTELLO: So that you can eat the pink slime and it won't hurt you?

COHEN: Well, the FDA says it is perfectly fine. And the people who don't like it aren't necessarily very specific about what they think is unhealthy about it. And so again, it may just be sort of this yick factor. I mean you think you're getting ground beef and instead you're getting like connective tissue and other stuff that's been treated with ammonium hydroxide.

COSTELLO: Oh, stop it. Please. COHEN: You're not eating so I can say that.

COSTELLO: Ok. So if I'm looking at a package of beef in the grocery store, it is not going to list "pink slime". So what should I look for if I don't want that?

COHEN: And actually I want to tell you that industry calls it lean, finely-textured beef. They don't call it pink slime, just so you know.

COSTELLO: If you see that on the package, don't buy it.

COHEN: No, it won't say it. It won't say anything.

COSTELLO: So you don't even know.

COHEN: It won't say anything. You have no idea. You can't look at it. I've been told that if you look at just regular ground beef without pink slime and ground beef with, you couldn't tell the difference. And it is not labeled. So you have no idea.

But Gain Publix, Whole Foods, Costco and now Safeway don't have it in their products or say that they don't. It may not be right at this minute, but are, you know, sort of going that way.

COSTELLO: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Please don't ever describe that to me again.

She flew into the public eye at the controls of her plane and she flew into history when her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean without a trace. But a new clue could mean finding the last resting place of Amelia Earhart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Much of the East Coast is coated in pollen and desperate for rain. In the meantime, the Midwest is facing flooding and just wants the sky to clear. Rob Marciano is in Atlanta's Piedmont Park where two straight days of record pollen levels have people reaching for the antihistamines.

Rob, when we're talking about pollen counts, we're talking about big time pollen counts.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We are. But, you know, it is -- most of the pollen that affects us, you know, breathing, is a microscopic kind. The green stuff you see flying all over the place, that's from pine trees, that doesn't affect people as much as the really tiny stuff.

And we talk about pollen counts and yesterday in Atlanta we had a pollen count over 9,000. 9,000 little bitty parts per cubic meter. That's huge. The old record was 6,000. Extreme levels are 1,500. So you can just imagine what that feels like if you do suffer. It is not just Atlanta.

Take a look at some of the top five cities today that will have some of the highest pollen counts in the country. Places across the south, Birmingham, places through Mississippi, even in places as far north as Cape Girardeau, Missouri is going to experience some of this stuff.

And then the map indicates that we'll have red all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and in some cases as far north as Connecticut and New York where the oaks, the elms are blossoming there.

Here, in Atlanta, we have got the oak -- the dogwoods. Isn't that pretty? Now, before these came, the old Bradford pears, they're beautiful white flowers. The problem is the Dogwood Festival is next month. This is blooming way, way too early. The cherry blossom festival in D.C. happening now. But they pretty much have already bloomed.

This is an oak tree. This is one of the trees here that is pollinating. You can see the leaves just beginning to sprout there. And the red flag, the dreaded red flag, carol, you know what that means, a red flag, pollen warning here -- no, I'm kidding. That's not what that means. It just means that parts of the park are closed to playing sports on the lawn. But you get the idea.

We need some rain. Record-setting heat, temperatures have been 80 plus for seven straight days. We may do it again today. And then in Chicago, they have been 80, 85 degrees for the past week. So unusually strong heat wave very early. Spring has sprung, a good month early for sure.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, at least we're all suffering together, right? Rob Marciano --

MARCIANO: That's right.

COSTELLO: -- live in Atlanta's Piedmont Park.

Amelia Earhart disappeared 75 years ago but some people have refused to give up the search. She flew west to east around the globe and vanished on July 2nd of the same year over the Pacific Ocean. Neither Earhart nor her plane have ever been found.

But one group says they now have a new lead. Here's more from Lisa Sylvester.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amelia Earhart was attempting to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. She was roughly 20 hours into the trip, flying from New Guinea to Holland Island, when she and her navigator vanished over the pacific ocean.

Now a new clue may solve the decades-old history. This picture was taken a few months after Earhart disappeared. It is off the Pacific atoll, Nikumaroro in Kiribati, formerly Gardner Island. Ric Gillespie has spent more than 20 years searching for Earhart.

RIC GILLESPIE, INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY: This is a ship that went aground on the reef in 1929; it was an old wreck then. And what struck us is that there is something sticking up out of the water over here. This is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle that fits right in with the other pieces we had. So, yes, I think it is probably the landing gear of her airplane.

SYLVESTER: Forensic imaging specialists say it could be part of her plane's landing gear. And there are more clues. Items common in the 1930s were found on excavation sites on the island.

GILLESPIE: The artifacts we found on this site are bottles from personal care items that an American woman in the 1930s would have -- the parts of a mirror and makeup from a woman's compact.

SYLVESTER: Navy planes searched around the island in the days after she went missing, but found no sign of her Lockheed Electra aircraft. Gillespie believes most of it had already slipped below the ocean's surface. At a news conference at the State Department, Gillespie, whose group recovers historic aircraft, announced a high tech deep water search will begin this summer off the Pacific island, using a small robotic submarine.

The U.S. government is lending its support. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she's been captivated with Amelia Earhart since her mother first told her the aviator's story.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: She embodied the spirit of an America coming of age and increasingly confident, ready to lead in a quite uncertain and dangerous world.

SYLVESTER: Gillespie says the photograph gives them a starting point of where to look.

GILLESPIE: The only thing we can do is make a best effort to go and search and look and see what we can find. And it is the searching that's important.

SYLVESTER: The search for Earhart has been like looking for a needle in a hay stack. But the hay stack may be a lot smaller now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: That expedition trip this summer is privately funded. It will take off from Hawaii. They will spend ten days open the site scanning the waters off the coast. So fingers crossed, just maybe we'll have some answers. Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

COSTELLO: I hope so. That would be fascinating.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: An incredible story. A little follow up over these years.

COSTELLO: Absolutely.

That does it for me. Fredricka -- hey, Fredricka Whitfield is here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brace yourself for the pollen outdoors.

COSTELLO: Ok. I'm going. I'll hold my nose.

WHITFIELD: Have a good day. All right.