Morning Buzz: Goldman Sachs makes $3.5 billion

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Eliza Browning
AC360° Associate Producer

Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter profits of $3.5 billion Tuesday, which beat analyst expectations. Last week, the Securities ad Exchange Commission charged Goldman with defrauding investors in a sale of a so-called collateralized debt obligation (also known as CDO). Investors in the security lost $1 billion.

The company’s Chief Financial Officer and general counsel are addressing the charges with investors on a conference call this morning. The firm even brought in President Obama’s former White House counsel, Gregory Craig, to aid in its defense. So does news of its earnings help or hurt its reputation in the light of the SEC complaint? What do you think?

With SEC charges against Goldman Sachs in the background, Democrats are planning to start debate on financial reform in the Senate this week. The proposed Wall Street overhaul would create a new unwinding process for failing financial firms and require banks to beef up capital cushions, while creating a new consumer financial regulator to watch over mortgages and credit cards. Do you support reform in the financial sector? Do you think it’s coincidental that both the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs and the debate surrounding financial reform are sharing the spotlight at the same time? We’ll dig deeper tonight.

Half of all Europe's flights are back in the air today, but more ash from Iceland's erupting volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, threatened to stall plans to reopen British airspace. Although authorities in Iceland reported that eruptions from the volcano were weakening, volcanic ash already in the air continued to blow towards Britain. The country's weather forecaster, the Met Office, said current wind patterns suggested no let up until the end of the week. Gary Tuchman is in Iceland where he found himself in a volcanic ash storm. He’ll give us the latest developments on the ash cloud and what it means for travel tonight.

The Montgomery County Police Department is investigating the homicide of Brian Betts, a Washington DC public school principal, who was found shot in his home on Thursday of last week. According to police a concerned colleague found him dead in his home and called the police. Authorities have ruled the death of the 42-year-old principal a homicide. So what exactly happened and what leads are law enforcement officials following? Randi Kaye has the latest in our crime and punishment story tonight.

And we’re remembering Columbine today. Eleven years ago on this date, two armed students went on a shooting spree through Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 people before killing themselves. The school is closed today.

What else are you following? Let us know and see you at 10 p.m. ET.