very good friday morning to you. welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from a to z. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> let's get started here. >> some developments overnight be want to tell you about, very unusual. a shoot-out? a federal building and ice agent killing another and another ice agent injured. how and why this happened. >> new details on whitney houston's funeral. we know who will sing, who will speak and who will simply witness it all. >> your car may be getting smarter as you get a little dumber. you see these images all the time, don't you? distracted drivers endangering

you and me. the d.o.t. department of transportation is going to crack down on this. no facebook until you park, folks. >> it's a huge mystery. have you been following this, it's all over twitter. the stephen colbert show mysteriously canceled some shows. we're going to try to dig deep and figure out what happened for you. >> we want to begin with a developing story out of southern california. a really bizarre workplace shoot-out. this involving ice agents. immigration and customs officials. in long beach. here are the external pictures. you can see obviously responders there as two immigration agents apparently engaged in a fight and then it rose to gun battle. one of them is dead. the other one has been stabilized. a third agent was the one who ended up shooting the shooter. fbi agents were also involved. they say it was some kind of a workplace dispute and one of them just began to fire.

>> this situation began with what we can characterize as an incident of workplace violence involving two federal agents in their office space. when it escalated one agent fired several rounds at the other agent wounding him. the victim is hospitalized in stable condition. at that time when ha incident occurred, another agent working nearby intervened and fired his weapon to prevent additional rounds being fired at the victim. this resulted in the death of the shooter. >> clearly there is so much more to investigate here. the fbi is calling this an isolated incident and saying that the shooter acted alone. switching gears here, her life and voice touched so many including in of the biggest names in entertainment and many will be in church tomorrow to say farewell to whitney houston. the final plans are now in place for her funeral, which will happen tomorrow at her childhood church in newark, new jersey. >> lot of celebrities will be on

hand, many invited and confirming ait ten dance and many of them going to perform as well at the service. here's a bit of a list so far. we know kevin costner, who was her costar in the movie "the bodyguard" is going to speak, alicia keys set to perform as well, stevie wonder is going to sing apparently and aretha franklin, who is whitney houston's godmother is set to perform as well. the big rumor put to rest was bobby brown not invited, not going to attend. it is confirmed not only was he invited but he will be there. and then sort of an unusual but perhaps not so unusual move, he's going to perform later on actually out of state, saying that getting back with his band on tour, new edition, is therapeutic for him. >> hopefully a sdar-studded celebration of her life. >> yeah. susan candiotti is live for us. this will be something a lot of people wanted to take part in, it's on tv, yes, which helps people to see it, but the police there have gone to great lengths to keep people as far away from that church as possible.

>> they sure have. in fact, some of those measures are already under way. we're noticing ha overnight and this morning, some of the streets around the church have already been blocked off. and probably with good reason because of security concerns and privacy reasons as well. you know, arguably, fewer people love her, most people from her own town may love her more than anyone else and why they keep coming by the church here to leave behind mementos and balloons and flowers, but they might not be able to do that much longer because of the perimeter, two to four blocks around the church, that will be put into place very soon. that's why police are saying this to any fans who want to get close to the church. >> the best thing to do would be to stay home and watch the service on television. it is going to be aired over all the network channels and that would be the best place to see it. the funeral is not going to be a traditional procession as would -- we would normally have.

there's really going to be nothing to see. >> so looks like about the closest anyone will be able to get is about two blocks away from here. but for now, fans have also been going over to the funeral home where they've set up a large, beautiful photograph of whitney houston in the front window. there are balloons, people coming by and leaving other messages. we see police tape up there and large white drapes around some of the entrances presumably for security reasons. so all this while everyone is getting ready to watch the funeral on television. certainly cnn and cnn.com as you know will be broadcasting that. people hoping to get a glimpse of some of the big names that you were mentioning, including oprah winfrey who was also coming. >> oh, man. that's going to be hard to keep people away despite what the police are doing there. susan candiotti live this morning, thanks very much. new jersey's governor made a decision to fly the flags at half staff and now he has to defend that decision. he was just attempting to honor

his hometown girl whitney houston. he's under fire now for his decision. this all started on twitter. one twitterer saying she's not a fallen hero, i am not alone in taking offense to this. she's no role model. she's a dead junky. >> ouch. >> another person tweeted, shame on you for ordering our flag to be flown half mass for a singer who o.d.ed. what about our soldiers and real heros. listen to this, christie fired back, first on twitter, saying every new jersey soldier who has been killed in action during my administration had the flags lowered in their memory. learn your facts before accusing. he also had this to say. >> i understand there will be some who disagree, but you know what, luke, every decision i make, someone disagrees with. i believe that drug addiction is a disease and i think that she struggled mightily with that disease and i don't believe that

diminishes the cultural contributions she made to the state. >> and you know, it's not the first time that he's done this for a homegrown musician. christie called for flags to be lowered to honor the saxophonist clearance clem mons who died last june. >> kind of that reaction that have so many that want him to run for president. >> stands by his convictions. >> saying that's the way it is. >> cnn is airing special coverage of the funeral, hosted by soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon. it is beginning saturday at 11:00 eastern. we have sad news to report to you of one of our colleagues, pulitzer prize honored and courageous "new york times" reporter anthony shadid, a friend of the cnn family has died in syria at 43 years old. he reportedly suffered a fatal asthma attack. his photographer carried his body over the border to turkey. you might remember his image because he did several

interviews with anderson cooper here. he and his photographer were both kidnapped in libya last year. >> cnn's anderson cooper discussed that experience with shadid back in april and told cooper that telling these stories are are absolutely worth the risk. >> i think there are some stories that are worth taking risks for. it is a cliche, but endures some meaning to it, millions you're there covering -- unless you're there covering it nobody is going to know about it, unless you're there trying to bring meaning to it, a certain depth to it, it won't be done otherwise. >> shadid was reporting on the military resistance in syria. he won two pulitzer prizes for his coverage in iraq. situation in nearby syria out of control, nonstop shelling this morning again. it is repetitive, but it is awful. the city of homs once again. look at the images. reportedly this is at the hands of government forces on their own people. united nations stepping in and condemning this for human rights violations. how did they do it?

it was the u.n. general assembly overwhelming approving a nonbinding resolution that calls for an end to the bloodshed. >> the strongest u.n. statement so far condemning president bashar al assad's regime. the opposition pleading for stronger intervention. this guy is a syrian activist, danny, who was shot in homs, spoke exclusively to cnn's nick patton walsh. walsh traveled to an undisclosed location, for danny's safety we are not disclosing where that was. danny has since moved. >> it's possible barack obama will hear what you're saying. if you could appeal directly to him, what would you say? >> well, i beg him to help us. military forces or by weapons or by no-fly zone. we want help. we can't stay like this. bashar al assad will kill millions. he has no problem. this can't be solved peacefully. we're asking anyone for any kind

of help stew even the israelis. >> even the israelis. it doesn't matter if the israelis come in. one of the guys said i want bashar [ inaudible ]. >> nick paton walsh is live in beirut, lebanon with the latest. really great to see you. you have been in northern syria. we talked to you yesterday. we mentioned this nonbinding resolution. china and russia are on board with it. but will it have an impact? >> at this point, it's very hard to see exactly how it will change things on the ground certainly. as you point out this u.n. resolution is nonbinding. as not a security council resolution which would have some kind of legal impact. it's effectively just a big piece of people in which people say officially together through the u.n. what they've been saying beforehand together at the same time after this lengthy diplomatic car fufle over the past week or so. on the ground we hear from arwa

damon that's in homs that shelling began at 7:00 a.m. and it's continuing intensely. as i think you just heard from danny early on, that diplomacy of the past few months, specifically the veto by russia and china which prevented the last security council resolution from getting through, that will be judged very harshly by history. let's hear what he had to say. >> how do you think history will judge the diplomacy of the past few months? >> for the last few months it's crime against humanity. russia and china will be guilty of that. they have syrian blood on their hands. this is all their fault. last time the u.n. did nothing. they gave the green light and the okay to bashar al assad to kill more. it was the first time that he had used rocket launchers after the u.n. he felt safe. they gave him the okay.

>> just more news emerging from homs this morning, specifically relating to what danny had said. according to activists, nine bodies have been found in ha particular city killed this morning. >> nick patton walsh live in beirut for us, thank you very much. we are mindi ining your buss this morning. how you ask? by looking at stocks. new highs and you won't believe the numbers if you haven't been following it day to day. kind of paints the picture of the u.s. economy on the verge of a, wait for it, wait for it, a comeback. yeah. i said it. the dow hit its highest level in nearly four years up 123 points. that's more than 1%. close to -- closing at 12,904. >> i know. >> 12,000? >> from 13,000. >> where was i for the last 2,000 points? >> over the last ten years the nasdaq had a ten-year high. >> i feel like i was asleep. >> the dow has gone more than seven weeks without a triple digit loss. that is true. we're going to break the 13,000 at some point.

will it be today? >> the s&p 500 gained just over a percent. the nasdaq is back in dotcom territory, hitting a peak it hasn't seen since december 2000. shall we go on? the nasdaq soared to end at 2,559 logging its best close. your response? >> this is the reason -- >> that would be her response over there. >> this is the reason you have to watch the trend in the markets. all of a sudden you wake up one day, now i feel better about stocks, too late. there's been a nice move. you can't decide today you feel better about things because the market has been telling us for a long time things were turning. we've been concerned about greece and that's been the thing that has kept pulling things down whenever you got, you know, nice and effervescent in the market. but it is basically -- it is basically because of the u.s. economy is getting better. we had jobless claims yesterday that were good and housing starts that perked up. >> i'm wondering if it's an asid due was assault on the bad

economy. >> i had to get it in. >> there was another asid was assault on capitol hill. did you see this, fireworks. >> off the rails. >> our treasury secretary, tim geithner, it testifying before the house budget hearing and he was sort of pushed on by the republicans saying hey, what about tax reform. remember tax reform, did you bring it? and he said no, actually, not really, but here's how it went down. have a listen. >> that you would be coming to us not today but prior to this with a simpler tax system today and not waiting until the end of your term. >> even in tax reform that raises the revenues that, for example, simpson bowls suggested we need or suggest in that context, the effective tax rate on somebody is going to go up. that's why we spent so much time with your leadership discussing in the summer. >> in other words -- okay. >> so you wait -- >> i yield. >> yield. >> yield, yield, yield.

it was kind of fiery. we missed a bunch of the fire. >> he looks irritated the treasury secretary. >> arms crossed, mark on his face. >> congress irritated to because you have a stock market that's going up, a jobless rate going down, and so you've got opponents of this candidate and president who are trying to say look, you haven't done all of this stuff, you haven't lowered the corporate tax rate, haven't made the tax system in this country more simple, we're still -- you're laying out guidelines for some time in the future by why aren't you doing it now and it got a little testy there. good stuff. >> if you read the transcript, takes a long time to play, almost the hour of this program, so we can't play it all, but half of me thinks was that a lot of politics or a lot of meat and potatoes to what they were talking about some. >> those things are always a lot of politics. those congressional hearings. i mean it's -- this is what congress people do, they want to get a sound bite played the next day of them being tough against the administration and that's what they did there. >> got a little bit from both

sides. >> come back in an hour and talk about stocks. it's really -- i mean you're less than 100 points on the dow jones. >> i blinked and we're over 12,000. maybe be christmas i took my eye of the prize. >> this is the highest stock market, since this has been the president. the highest stock market. >> thank you. have you ever done a white house tour? >> no. >> it's great. exotic and fun thing to do and american experience but for some people -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> i think it's terrific. one of those things, not disneyland. going to take your kids on a vacation this what is you want to do. if you were one of the folks on the white house tour yesterday, bit of a shock. look who showed up. this is not normal. don't expect if you're going to sign up for the tour you get to meet the first lady and shake her hand. she surprised the tourists and got hugs, handshakes and photos. first dog bo also making an appearance. this wasn't just a little drive-by either. michele obama was there for more

than an hour. more than an hour. fourth time that mrs. obama has done this as a nice treat to her fellow americans. >> look at that, walk in and get a hug. 17 minutes past the hour. we're going to head to atlanta. check in with rob marciano. >> good morning. i do that from time to time when the tours come through cnn. >> really? >> signing up. >> i get a hug. >> what do you do here? >> and your name is and i know you from? >> exactly. good morning. listen we have rain heading across the gulf coast. look at the flood watches up for new orleans and houston. these are areas or at least houston and parts of southeast texas that desperately need the rain. really a couple weeks ago, but they've had a pretty good replenishment of it as of late. dallas and houston in dolla particular. the amount of rain since december, 13 inches. that's above normal, above average and galveston as well. austin and san antonio, two places where we need it and we still need it there. we'll start to get it over the next 24 to 36 hours.

this radar will fill in as we go through time. the actual storm system that's going to affect this area and folks along the east coast, especially the mid-atlantic is still across the four corners region and desert southwest and parts of mexico. that's got time to go eastward. houston traveling through that city, heavy thunderstorms will be building and cause delays. rain showers across new york city and the northeast will be moving out but low clouds will linger so that will kind of create some travel delays as well. not a ton of cold air. most of the cold air remains in canada. temperatures will again be above average today and here's your storm across parts of texas. that will evict eastward and bring not only the threat, but tornadoes and damaging winds through the gulf states and panhandle of florida. this gets up into the mid-atlantic states where a little bit of snow mixing in maybe around d.c. as we go through sunday. doesn't look like a blockbuster storm for the northeast. one of the reasons is temperatures still mild. 49 degrees for the high temperature in new york city.

>> i never liked to see that tornadoes in the gulf area. i don't like to see them anywhere. whenever it's gulf i get a little upset. >> we'll try to keep them in the gulf. >> thank you, rob. still ahead, if you like to just get on your airplane and fly around, don't fly near the president, where the president is, and you might not want to have dope on your aircraft. we'll explain this one. >> it's a cookie story. so is this one, the colbert report suspended out of nowhere. it's exploding on social media. there's a lot of speculation about what happened. we're going to try to add to it. you are watching "early start." are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind...

mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. so8% every 10 years.age 40,ng we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve,

and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. hey, aren't you... shhh. i'm researching a role. today's special... the capital one venture card. you earn double miles on every purchase. impressive. chalk is a lost medium. if you're not earning double miles... you're settling for half. was that really necessary? [ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? cover for me. i have an audition. [ dog barking ] ♪ [ female announcer ] life is full of little tests, but your basic paper towel can handle them. especially if that towel is bounty basic. the towel that's durable and scrubbable. in this lab demo,

bounty basic is stronger than the leading bargain brand. everyday life. bring it with bounty basic. affordably priced. tested by everyday life. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. this is cnn breaking news. >> news for you coming out of germany. somewhat expected. the president of that country is resigning. it is christian wolf. you haven't heard that name before. he is expected to deliver a televised statement about this later on today. he's been dogged by a whole bunch of scandals, calls for him to step down as well. the presidency, you might not know who he is, mostly ceremonial. you have probably heard more about the chancellor and that is also playing into this because

this could be seen as a blow to angela merkel, the chancellor and supported him as a candidate for president, so angela merkel is also expected to give a televised statement at some point later today. the president of germany announcing he's going to be resigning today. >> 23 minutes past the hour. time to check our stories making news. funeral plans for whitney houston including an a-list of stars, "bodyguard" costar kevin costner is expected to speak at the service. you recall he actually handpicked her for that staring role, alicia keys, stevie wonder and her godmother aretha franklin are expected to perform tomorrow. and cnn confirms bobby brown did get an invitation. chris christie defending his decision to fly flags at half staff in honor of hometown girl whitney houston. he's saying he believes addiction is a disease. pulitzer prize winning, new york times reporter anthony

shadid died in syria. he apparently suffered a fatal asthma attack. shadid was just 43 years old. two u.s. immigration agents have been involved in a deadly shoot-out. one of them is dead, the other has been stabilized. authorities say those agents were involved in some kind of a workplace dispute that escalated to gunfire. and an odd story from the world trade center site, three 60-feet steel beams fell 40 stories at that site yesterday. each of those beams, 40,000 pounds. >> wow. >> and what's incredible, zoraida, no one was hurt. troublesome and quite a mess as well. here's an unusual one, air force fighter jets stopping a private plane. here it is. parked in los angeles. it flew into air space that was reserved for the president's marine one helicopter. the president is in california on fund-raising. but guess what was on board? 40 pounds of pot.

so, yeah, don't fly into the president's air space, especially when you're carrying illegal substances like that. >> they were trying to reach him and he refused to answer and he got escorted by two f-16s. >> usually what happens. >> "the colbert report" mysteriously stops production. the show did not tape this wednesday and thursday and the network is giving no clues as to why this happened. comedy central's other fake news program, "the daily show" has stopped production only twice in history. good news and bad news. once for the birth of host jon stewart's second child and one when a member of the staff died suddenly. we're hoping colbert is off for happy reasons. >> there were reports that fans were already in line for the show. there were other reports some of them were in their seats too. this is very last minute. >> very mysterious. >> still to come on "early star start", moving on up to the west side. we're going to tell you the

price of an apartment in new york city. it is a record. look how pretty. but you will not believe what you've got to shell out if you want that thing. >> listen to this, air australia's entire fleet grounded. thousands of passengers are stranded now. boy, they're not happy. you won't believe what the airline didn't have money to pay for. >> a closer look at the legacy of this woman, whitney houston, as she gets closer to her burial and her friends think forward to remembering her. we'll look back at the star and the legacy she leaves behind. you're watching "early start." ♪ ♪ ♪ that should do it. enjoy your new shower.

[ door opens, closes ] ♪ made with only milk... cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. ♪ who knew being natural could be so delicious? coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally. ♪ they hatin' ♪ patrolling and tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ [ mom ] hi, there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of a tiguan, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick.

♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ mid grade named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you.

did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. in addition to the two hundred plus facilities that the university of phoenix has we have a very progressive online learning environment. we have something called phoenix connect that allows students to have a social network. you can post discussion questions. we have more than twenty thousand faculty members, chances are one of them is online when you need some assistance. i'm ron gdovic, i'm committed to providing my students with a twenty-first-century education and i am a phoenix. welcome back. 30 minutes past the hour. i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. it's time to check the stories that are making news this morning. protests planned across syria this morning as shelling continues in the city of homs. the u.n. general assembly has passed a nonbinding resolution

condemning syria's president bashar al assad for the violence. and the battle over the keystone pipeline now on its way to the senate. the house passed a bill that would strip president obama's authority to decide on the $7 billion project. and also open atlantic waters to offshore drilling. you know that ticket that you have on air australia? toss it out. they're grounding their entire fleet of planes and thousands of passengers are now stranded. the airline says it just didn't have enough money to cover, you know, the little things like operational expenses, like jet fuel. maybe don't toss it out but certainly call the airline. a penthouse apartment on new york's central park west is now officially the most expensive apartment ever sold. it is pretty, isn't it? take a look inside and out. the view is stunning. it sold for $88 million. who has that kind of money,

especially to buy that for your daughter? a russian billionaire. the daughter is 22 years old. that is her new pad on the upper west side. >> wow. >> remarkable. beautiful building. new building too. >> 31 minutes past the hour here. we've all heard singers say my body is my instrument and with whitney houston, we saw her battle with addiction take its toll on her body and obviously on her gift. she lost that voice that could just bowl you over. last night on "ac 360" a vocal coach who started working with whitney houston back in 2004 talked about the terrible shape her voice was in during her first session. >> to see her in atlanta, her voice was in horrible condition. her speaking voice and singing voice were both hoarse. she had about one audible tone in her lower register. i was horrified. i had this image of her being a young beautiful lady with this incredible voice and here she is sitting in front of me with no

voice whatsoever. >> on piers morgan tonight, singer and songwriter valerie simpson said houston will be remembered as the voice and not so much for the battles with the drugs and alcohol. >> some people, you know, might find fault with that idea, you know, and want to bring in her personal trials and tribulations which have nothing to do with her artistry and her gift to the world. that is her record. not her personal trials. her record is her music, that incredible voice. >> susan candiotti is live in her hometown of newark, new jersey, this morning, with more on the plans for the funeral and, of course, susan, the family is trying hard with friends and colleagues of whitney houston to try to gear the conversation more towards this incredible legacy, aren't they. >> without doubt. that's definitely been happening. not only that, but also the fans that have been coming by the

church day after day sharing memories, stopping to take pictures, leaving behind flowers, because despite whitney houston's various struggles, they still love her because of that powerful voice and that legacy that she will leave behind. they're disappointed they won't be able to attend a public memorial, at least not tomorrow anyway, but fans here for the most part understand privacy. today might be the very last day they're able to get this close to the church because police are already starting to block off streets. the fans may only be getting as close as two blocks away from here. now, we spoke with reverend joe carter here, the pastor of this church, just yesterday. and he talked about the family's need for privacy and he also talked about being a lot of singing going on, and a lot of crying, no doubt. listen. >> this is a church and we're going to have some church in this celebration. once again, thank you for respecting the privacy of the

family and the sanctity of our church campus and we are asking that you continue to pray and thank all the fans for all of their support. continue to pray for the family. >> reporter: and so that's why fans will have been to be content with watching the proeldsings, watching the funeral on television and they will be able to see a lot, they should, because they will be seeing all kinds of oh singing going on, the likes of aretha franklin, stevie wonder, oprah will be here, kevin costner, who, of course, was whitney's costar in "the bodyguard" will be speaking at the funeral. there will be a lot for everyone to see. cnn's coverage starts at 11:00 saturday morning hosted by piers morgan, soledad o'brien and don lemmen. >> it's amazing. i was looking at that list and it does read just remarkably with the confirmed performances of stevie wonder, aretha franklin, alicia keys. i have this feeling it's still sort of a work in progress, there could be more to it that

we don't know. you're right, it is -- susan candiotti, a better idea to watch this on television than try to go anywhere near the church. to remind our viewers we have that hosted program with soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon coming up and it's going to start at 11:00 eastern on saturday morning. still ahead on "early start," rick santorum surging in mitt romney's home state of michigan. have you seen those ads that have been airing in michigan as well? our political panel is going to weigh in on that. some brand new federal guidelines are out there to stop this kind of thing. he has no idea we're even filming him. look at him. text. phone. driving along. that is dangerous. folks, it's not just dangerous, it's deadly. what's the government doing about it? we're going to tell you. i am loving this greek yogurt.

i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe?

let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

♪ >> another anthem. another song to wake you up. why do we say ready to go? >> politics season. >> you've been wondering why john king is on vacation, wolf blitzer is on vacation. we're in a lull. >> they're going to hit it hard. >> no contests this week. may have thought it was slow going for the gop candidates too? >> no way. all are working out really hard here, looking forward to michigan and arizona and a new poll in michigan has santorum leading romney by four points. kind of within the margin of error but barely. joining us joel, republican strategist, colby, independent political analyst and managing editor of the colby taylor

product and a democratic strategist here. i want you to weigh in on everything. we're going to get started here. this week we had big ad wars in michigan. romney struck a nostalgic tone. let's listen to this. >> i grew up in michigan. it was exciting to be here. i remember going to the detroit auto show with my dad. that was a big deal. >> santorum attacked romney. >> romney and his super pac have spent a staggering $20 million attacking federal republicans. why? because romney's trying to hide from his big government romney care and his support for job killing cap and trade and in the end, mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire. >> all right. linda, you're going to chime in first. how do you think the people in michigan will react to these two very different approaches? >> well, i think that the people of michigan will remember what

mitt romney said and that was let detroit go bankrupt. i think that he's trying to really connect with the state, but i do think that his policies, which the state does not embrace at all, will -- is what will really come through. santorum is pointing out exactly what romney has been trying to do here and that's getting into a whack a mole strategy. romney has the most resources and what he's doing is using them to try to beat down his opponents one by one by one. i think it says a lot about the health of the republican party that the presumed frontrunner here, mitt romney, who everyone still believes will be the nominee, that his toughest opponent right now is a senator who lost his last campaign for re-election by 18 points. >> joel? >> yeah. i mean look, this race is kind of shaped up as, you know, mitt romney versus not mitt romney. whoever the leading not mitt romney is, has changed throughout the race. you know, ultimately it depends on how much resources is put

behind these individual ads. if you look at what happened in florida, you know, i would agree that the anti-gingrich ads versus the pro-romney ads were about 65 to 1. romney's hope at this point is just to tear down one of his opponents rather than he's had a lot of trouble building himself up. >> do you think anybody will be offended by a gun-toting romney. >> actually, i don't think so. it's an interesting strategy, preemptive strike on negative campaigning, sort of to insulate yourself, but mitt romney has put down quite a bit of money in michigan, the saving our future pac has put down an extraordinary amount of money in michigan to really push -- try to push up mitt romney's positives. but that's going to be really, really tough in the state, even though the entire gop establishment around michigan is backed up around romney. it's going to be tough for him to win, i think to connect with blue collar auto workers who he wanted to go bankrupt over the last couple years. i just think it's going to be tough for him to pull it out. >> let's get to the payroll tax

extensi extension. the house and senate could vote on it today and the president says he's going to sign it. let's take a look at this poll. americans support the payroll tax extension, 54% to 42%. clearly the american people here win, right? politically, who comes out on top, joel? >> you know, i think in this case, the president probably does. he got what he wanted. i think, you know, the conservative republicans in congress are wanting some permanency to this and i think they have a great point, that, you know, that business owners are looking for some permanency, not looking for a situation where the rules are going to change mid-stream. so, you know, i think that the president wins on this one by putting republicans in a box and saying, you know, if you're against at least a temporary tax cut, you're against tax cuts in jenle. >> goldie? >> i think he's right about that there was a bit of a fisty cuff around the close of this last year. the president came out on top there, and he's done it again. >> linda? >> i would say that the republican party is the winner

here, only because they've averted a complete disaster for their party the way they did in december. i think they learned a lesson from the hit they took with how they handled this in december and decided to definitely avert that kind of problem again. so it's a short-term win for them because they've learned something from their mistakes. >> joel, gol di and linda, thank you for joining us this morning. the gop candidates will return to the debate stage next week for the arizona republican presidential debate. wednesday night at 8:00 eastern time. we will have that. we'll be right back. you are watching "early start." ! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ]

so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, take the lead. ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com.

lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro.

and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. it is 48 minutes past 5:00 in the morning on the east coast. good time to get you caught up on your friday morning top stories. this one is sad for us to report. "new york times" reporter anthony shadid has died at the age of 43. this happened in syria. he suffered a fatal asthma attack while reporting on the military resistance in that

country and his photographer carried his body outside and over the border into turkey. also making news, new jersey governor chris christie is defending his decision to fly flags at half staff in honor of his hometown girl whitney houston. critics on twitter are saying she was no hero. instead some of them calling her a junky. chris christie is firing back saying he believes atick dixion is a disease. still with chris christie he has promised a swift veto of a bill headed to his desk, a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in new jersey. the say assembly in that state approved the bill setting up a confrontation with the governor. hall of fame catcher gary carter has died after a battle with brain cancer. carter played 19 seasons and won a world series with the mets, back in 1986. he played with such enthusiasm that teammates called him the kid. gary carter was only 57 years old. mariah carey's husband nick

cannon reportedly hospitalized for the fourth time in three months. diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs. he has been diagnosed with acute kidney failure and underwent surgery last month. hollywood's most famous bachelor says, listen to this, news flash, he is open to marriage. >> yiks. >> george clooney telling "the hollywood reporter" he has not ruled out getting hitched once again. >> you know who likes hearing that? >> his current girlfriend. >> stacy. >> and everybody else watching that's not male. >> still to come, the feds want to make distracted driving a thing of the past. i can't get over this picture. you know you've done it too. well at least many of you, so many of us guilty and now the government may figure out a way to stop you from doing this, but still give you your gear. we'll explain. >> whitney houston's funeral will be a star-studded affair. we're going to talk with the entertainment director for "essence" magazine and get more details maybe that you haven't heard before. you're watching "early start."

oh will you grab us some yoplait? sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good.

that is creating fist pumping in our studio by miss ashleigh banfield. it's true. we are live in new orleans here. come on, you can't listen to slow ride by foghat and not do sign of the horns or little fist pumping. i'm just saying.

it's a bit of an anthem. >> 61 degrees now there for you, showers and 65 later. my boys said to me later, five weeks left of winter. >> they did? >> not enjoying that 65 degrees. >> is he a groundhog. >> i don't know if he's right or not. i liked hearing it. i didn't fact check it. >> foghat is a great musical tribute to bump in on with slow ride because some of us need to be going slower with the things we're doing behind the wheel. >> i'm really guilty here. the national transportation safety board has already called for a nationwide ban on using cell phones. we all know that and text messaging while driving. the feds are proposing new rules to cut down on distracted driving. all about the high-tech gadgets in your car, though, not necessarily while you eat and stuff like that distracts you as well. >> it is. >> kids in the background, right? >> because we get so many more of these, you know, pieces of gear every year, it's becoming more and more of an issue and why we are on it. a cnn aviation and regulation

correspondent. i love that you're working with us, because this is really where it's all going. you're live in washington, d.c., with us. there are all sorts of details about what the government is looking at, what kind of regulations they're considering, drafting, along with the industry. could you just kind of break it down and make it make sense for us. >> yes. so where this starts is the stuff that's being built into cars because this is becoming a bigger and bigger trend if you've got a car like a chevy cruz that can actually check facebook for you. this is what the government is looking at right now. what they want to do is cut down on people's distractions that are already built that the car. these are voluntary guidelines the government wants carmakers to adopt so you wouldn't be able to say, use two hands while you were navigating. they want it to be something that could only take two seconds, only use one hand, and then these voluntarily guidelines might go farther to say well, the car shouldn't be able to be rolling while you text message or make a phone

call, do anything like that. they actually want automatic shutoffs to be something that could be in place and this is because the backdrop is this is pretty deadly. we know about 3,000 people were killed by distracted driving in 2010. at any point there are 13.5 million people doing something behind the wheel that they shouldn't be doing that they are distracted by it technology. >> man. >> it's a big number. >> those stats are sick. i mean i don't think a lot of people know. they though it's bad but i don't think they know it's that bad. here's the thing. i was reading all of these guidelines thinking terrific. great idea. how wonderful. can't wait. then i saw voluntary. so, how much of this do you think we're actually going to see implemented? >> some of this you will see in part because carmakers sort of knew this was where the government was looking, ray lahood the transportation secretary has made this a big priority of his, they've put a lot of money in there for education. it's voluntary now. and so they are trying to say,

all right, car companies, you've got an economic incentive to make sure that you're a little safer here. we're kind of putting you on notice we're going to take a harder look at this and right now, the industry says that's fine, they recognize people want these embedded features because frankly, it also makes driving easier for people if it is less distracting. >> toothpaste is out of the tube, not going to put our stuff away, not going to get rid of it, we just want them all to be safer. good stuff. thanks for that. appreciate it. joining us from washington. it is just about 6:00 here ahead on "early start," midair drama played out as a small plane flew near president obama's helicopter and was escorted by two f-16s and you won't believe what they found when they finally got the pilot to the ground. also, we've got some new information on whitney houston's final days. was she trying to reconcile with bobby for the sake of their daughter, bobbi kristina? the entertainment director for

"essence" magazine is going to join us. you're watching "early start." you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today.

i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street legal. ♪ is it safe? oh ya, it's a volkswagen. [ male announcer ] the security of a jetta, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪

very good morning to you. it is friday. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we bring you the news from a to z. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started here for you. there will be many stars that will sing at whitney houston's funeral. we have a list of the star-studded event. the final funeral plans will be released. we're going to talk to the entertainment director or

"essence" magazine. she spent time with whitney in november and then again just recently. we're going to see if she saw that significant change that everyone was talking about. also, a celebrated "new york times" reporter who tirelessly covered the mid east for two decades has died in syria. not from a bullet or blast, but from a severe asthma attack. and going green. the dow near a four-year high. the nasdaq with the highest close at millennium with a week end on a higher note. >> i wish we could look into a crystal ball and tell you. >> i know. and scientists saying perhaps shs p perhaps, perhaps a breakthrough when detecting autism earlier. could it lead to opportunities to intervene before it comes? the stars will sing at whitney houston's funeral. the final plans are finally in place for her funeral which will happen tomorrow at her childhood church in newark, knowlednew je

>> there are so many celebrities invited. a number of them are set to perform at the service. we know that ke vin costner, her co-star from "bodyguard" is scheduled to speak. alicia keys will perform along with stevie wonder and aretha franklin, who is whitney houston's godmother, and whitney's ex-husband bobby brown is set to be there as well, scheduled to perform later on in the day. bobby brown says he will join his band new edition as it is therapeutic for him the police in that area have been planning this, trying to figure out for days how they're going to facility what they assume is thousands and thousands of people to pay tribute. it's not going to be so easy if that's what people are planning, is it, susan? >> reporter: and it's a huge job. overnight, ashleigh, police have been setting up barricades, starting to block off streets in the vicinity. they have said time and again the closest any member of the

public will be able to get to this church once the funeral begins is at least two blocks away from here. and so this might turn out to be the last day, the last full day that fans were able to come by and leave behind flowers and balloons and mementos in memory of whitney houston. because of all of that planning, police they say also had a lot to worry about, not only for the family's privacy but also worried about all of these high-profile invited guests. some 1500 of them that will be attending. listen. >> there really is no concerns being addressed by any of theed a tend dees for safety concerns. just the fact that some of them do have security details and would they be allowed inside the church as well and executive protection people are working together to facilitate that. >> privacy is concern at the funeral home not far from here. in the front window there's a large photograph now of whitney

houston. police have also set up security tape around the building, as well as put up white drapes, the funeral home put up white drapes around some of the entrances, again, presumably for privacy reasons. we know the burial will also be private. the funeral home and the family has not said where whitney houston will be buried but the death certificate states lit be the same cemetery where her father was laid to rest. ashleigh? >> susan, wondering if the police have plans to be there as well, because that certainly is what happens out of the bag. susan candiotti live for us this morning. thank you for thanchts we want to remind our viewers cnn is going to be airing special coverage of whitney houston's funeral hosted by soledad o'brien, piers morgan, and don lemon. our cover begins saturday 11:00 a.m. eastern time. and courageous peninsula let's zer prize winning journalist has died in syria. apparently he suffered a fatal asthma attack. one of his colleagues carried

his body across the border to turkey. he risked his life to report important stories around the globe. he was shot in the west bank back in 2002. he was kidnapped for six days in libya. this was just last year. shaaddress spoke to cnn's anderson cooper right after he was released. he said he was sure his captors would kill him. >> i want to read something that you wrote. at that moment though none of us thought we would leave, steve tried to keep eye contact until they pulled the trigger. the rest of us felt powerless. felt empty. explain that. what do you mean? >> i don't know how my colleagues felt. but i remember it wasn't panic necessarily. it wasn't that desperation of flailing about, you were about to be killed. it was almost that, you know, it's hard to describe other than calling it a resignation or emptiness that the moment is drawing near and you're kind of waiting for it. >> oh, my goodness.

yet he still traveled into dangerous areas into to tell the story. shadid won two pulitzer prizes for his kcovering in iraq. the dow hit its highest level in nearly four years. yeah, that's a reason to applaud. it's nearing the 13,000 mark, too, folks. so christine romans is here. economic comeback? i know you were saying earlier, if you're just hearing this now -- >> too late. >> -- too late. >> the stock market is telling us that the jobless rate has been falling. and it's been telling us that little signs of economic news than stabilizing it's getting better, except for housing. overall it says that things aren't as dire and getting better. my advice to people who are like, wow, the dow is 13,000, what do i need to do today? you need to make sure you have your risks, stocks and bonds and

cash are on your risk. i'll tweet you again, ladies, the risk quiz to show how many stocks you have in your portfolio, okay? you should also make sure you're rebalancing every year. you're not just getting what at top and selling what's low because your not making any money. >> do you change that risk quiz? >> no, your risk is always the same. your stocks go up around down and ur risks are always the same. >> thank you very much. you know that phenomenon jeremy lin and the new york knicks? they're going for eight in a row at madison square garden. playing the hornets. here's what's really critical. that superstar on the knicks, carmelo anthony is expected to rejoin the team. a lot of fans are wondering in the big apple if these superstars are going to gel on the court. >> they will. they will. >> that's what zoraida says. >> that's my prediction, watch. eight minutes past the hour. still ahead, a plane packed with pot in the wrong airspace.

is there ever a right airspace for that? >> probably not. >> exactly. but you probably wouldn't make it on the news if you didn't cross. >> depends on how much you're carrying . also, interesting medical news out. it has to do with the detection of autism. are we getting better at figuring this stuff out earlier and will it make a difference for the kids who are efbted? at wrap on fashion week 2012. alina cho takes us beyond the catwalk. you're talking to a i con and supermodel. our own in-house supermodel is rob marciano who joins us. i couldn't help it. couldn't help it. >> i can step out on the catwalk in heels like nobody's business. >> on camera. >> good morning, guys. the storm exiting the northeast and another one brewing down south. mild temperature '. that will keep the snow to a minimum and up north, temps in the 50s and 40s. well above average across the northeast. this storm though rolling across texas. radar will fill in today. flood watch for southeast texas,

including houston and new orleans. and this will get into areases actually could use the rain. pretty badly. we'll take that with it, the threat of severe weather across parts of the pan hand of florida as we go through time as this taps moisture from the gulf of mexico. will it lead to snow across parts of the northeast? maybe a sliver from virginia and the beltway on sunday. that should be it as it heads off towards the east. quick check on weather. ten minutes after the hour. "early start" is coming right back. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing.

thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. get this free travel bag when you join fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink ♪ made with only milk... cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. ♪ who knew being natural could be so delicious?

coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally.

♪ timberlake, uh-huh, we gotcha. >> the one song i know. >> justin timberlake. there's a reason for playing justin timberlake this morning. alina cho has comped all sexy

backs. >> yes. >> fashion week. >> i don't know what to make of that. >> i kind of botched that, i think. >> you're wrapping up fashion week for us. >> yes. it's been a very grueling -- i know you don't believe me, it's been a very grueling long week. lots of long hours. but, yes, i am wrapping up fashion week. it all culminates into special coming up next saturday. but you know, one of the highlights was speaking to donna karan. i have known her for years but it's the first time we sat down and talked in-depth about her business. we also spent a lot of time talking about her work in haiti. it's really her passion. in fact, she goes back about once a month. she's head ing there again today. just a couple of days after showing her latest collection. she also share with me, listen to this, guys, some of her secrets of the trade. how about this? a dress she designed that shows off the one part of the body that she says never gains weight, that would be the shoulders. so she made something called the cold shoulder dress. we want to look at it.

hillary clinton actually wore it to her first state dinner as first lady. >> women never gain weight on their shoulders. i guarantee you, no matter what you do, your shoulder will always remain. >> it is true if you think about it. you know, this also surprised me. one of the most memorable moments of the interview. she told me what her favorite item of clothing is. guess what it is. a scarf. she seays it keep use warms, doubles as a blanket, hides a mumt tuesday of sins. she calls this scarf her very best friend. >> that is very, very clever. i always take them on the airplane for sure. >> me, too. >> they're pretty, too. >> what's a fashion week without a supermodel, right? >> that's right. we followed one of the biggest. in fashion she's known as just joan. she's reached that one name status. joan smalls is arguably the

hottest on the catwalk right now. as you can see, it's pretty easy to say why. she was born in puerto rico. first latin face of estee lauder. new face of chanel. she's had -- there's the ad there, the chanel. just absolutely gorgeous. but really bubbly. great personality. she's had a meteoric rise. this week we caught up with her in between runway shows and fittings. joan also addressed something everyone wonders about, why don't models ever smile on the runway. >> it's a different character. you pick up a different persona once you hit the runway. you can't be that friendly bubbly because i have to keep people interested. >> you've got to sell it. >> yeah, you've got to sell it and you have to show them a different side. >> she really does get into character. and the designer said she's like a seasoned actress on the catwalk. keep in mind she did 18 shows in new york, countless fittings.

but new york is just the start. she's going to skip london this year but next is milan and then after that she goes to paris. does it all over again. she'll continue this crazy schedule for another month. pretty wild. you know, we also talked to red carpet staple marchesa. i got to look at the celebrity gowns on the red carpet. just gorgeous. got a peek at those gowns president sat front row at tori burch. they told me how to make eight little more real way for their reader. and that includes using celebrities in their magazines. and the celebrities really are their models because people relate to them. >> they identify. >> they get them -- they don't do that red carpet look, they get them while they're getting a cup of coffee because they're wearing clothes that they can buy. >> you areally celebrity i con. alina walked up and i said, you

should have wore that on valentine's day. how much is that? >> i am wearing j crew. you were surprised. >> you always wear something high fashion. >> thank you so much for playing all of my pieces this week. you know, my special is this weekend. it is at 2:30 next saturday, the 25th. right here on cnn. so i look forward to having you guys tivo. >> we look forward to it. >> thanks. we have a whole lot more coming up in a moment. back after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] the 2012 m-class continually monitors blind spots, scans the road to reveal potential threats, even helps awaken its driver if he begins to doze. so in the blink of an eye it will have performed more active safety measures than most cars will in a lifetime.

introducing the all-new 2012 m-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. and the chefs at lean cuisine are loving tangy lemon, peppery poblano, sweet butternut. we're roasting, and grilling to create must-have meals with no preservatives. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink

welcome back. 21 minutes past the hour. here are the afghan government says it's engaging in three-way peace talks with the taliban and united states. the taliban denies that. >> taliban is wreaking havoc on afghanistan's fragile democracy. our next guest warns, it is much too soon to bring the taliban back into the fold. joining us now live is fazio,

afghanistan's first female parliamentary speaker and is also run for president in 2014. thanks so much for being with us. i am thrilled to be able to speak with you because i spent a whole lot of time in your country. and when i learned your story, my first inclination was, a, how on earth is she a parliament speaker and, b, how on earth does she think she has a chance to become president of a country who is still in the dark ages when it comes to women? >> thank you for having me. you're right. it's very challenging for women to live in afghanistan, as a woman. but yet to be a politician it's even more challenging and a politician to speak her mind, to be able to face challenges every day, it's not easy. the thing here is that afghanistan has come a long way since 2001. there was fear we would lose the gains that bewould have, when it comes to women's rights, democracy, freedom of speech. those values that we have, our

friends have invested in. there were fears we would lose those values. people who believe in democracy and who believe in a better afghanistan and who believe in an afghanistan who can be reliable for citizens and for our partners, need to come forward. i know it's challenging. >> challenging. >> challenging is an understatement, ms. koofi. i want to read for our viewers one of the things you talked about the fact that you c critical of the karzai government. you can critical of the taliban. and to that end, you have said this. one day the taliban will probably succeed in killing me. i am resigned to this fate. you're a single mother of two daughters. sort of resonates with me, with the number of female leaders that we have seen assassinated. one of the more recent ones. is this something that you feel is worth it to you in your personal life? >> i think we all agree that we will die one day.

now, the best thing is to die when you have something behind, when you pave the way for others. afghanistan needs leaders who can represent afghanistan properly, not only for the citizens but for our own family. i want a better future for my daughters and for other women in afghanistan. so for that i need to move forward. i have decided there are two options one can make. one is to step back and to relax and enjoy the life and the second one is to move forward, to face the challenges, that challenging could put your physical life at risk, and it happened to me in times. i was under many threats and attack by taliban. but i have accepted to make a small contribution not only for myself but for my daughters and other women in gaza and afghanistan because they need people like us. >> to that end, when i was in afghanistan i bought a burqa in one of the back street markets because i was so fascinated with

the notion that almost every woman, at least at the time i was there, was wearing these in the streets. i've got it draped over our camera so our people can see what the view is. this is you looking at me. this is the view through the actual burqa. that is how i know, ms. koofi, you can't see that image but the viewers can see. the life for an afghan woman is virtually a shadow. it just seems so difficult to come to grips with the idea that women are still draped in your country and can't even cross the street without fear of being hit by cars because the pedestrian fatalities are so high due to the burqa. how do you think you can attack problems like trying to reconcile the taliban, the karzai administration, the corruption, with just the simplicity of half of your population can barely see? >> okay. there is two things here. one is talks of president karzai

and the american officials with taliban and trying to reconcile them. i think the question here is from afghan population, many times this question is raised, especially among the women activists and human rights activists. who are we talking to? what is the group of taliban that we are talking to because they seem to be so divided in the leadership. and what are those issues we would like to compromise. now, women issue might be one of those that the government of afghanistan may compromise when it comes to talks with taliban because taliban have their own definition of islamic rights of woman and somebody who lived under taliban i know what that mean. but the other thing is the government. i think back government or lack of good governance is one of the problem that also fuel insurgency. the government of afghanistan, president karzai, needs to focus on the basic commit m in terms of ruling of law and instead of focusing on bigger issues bike talks with taliban which we

don't achieve anything at the end. >> i will be fascinated to see how you navigate through what will be a very difficult landscape, i'm sure. it's a joy to be able to speak with you. i want to show viewers this is the burqa we were showing. this came from my journey in pakistan and afghanistan. ms. koofi, thanks for being with us. we appreciate your perspective and look forward to following your progress as well. i wish you safe travels. 26 minutes past the hour. a shootout in a federal building. an i.c.e. agent has been killed. another one sitting injured in a hospital. also new information on whitney houston's final days. was she trying to reconcile with her ex-husband for the sake of their daughter we've got the entertainment director for "essence" magazine to join us. you're watching "early start."

♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way

♪ do, do, do, do can you get me out of it? of course. travelocity? that's amazing! but i'm still stuck. come on man, dig it! [ female announcer ] travelocity. get great deals on all kinds of beach vacations.

it is 30 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start" i'm ashleigh banfield along with zoraida sambolin. it's time to check your top stories this morning. nonstop shelling in syria. the government forces are besieging the city of homs. united nations general assembly probably having viewed many of these has decided to pass the resolution condemning president bashar al-assad for this violence. "new york times" reporter anthony shadid died of 43 in syria. he suffered a fatal asthma attack while reporting on the military resistance in that country. and a dispute between two u.s. immigration agents erupted into a deadly shootout in california. the fbi says one of the agents shot a co-worker during a confrontation. the co-worker is now in the

hospital 1/3 agent pulled a gun, intervened and gunned down the original agent who was is t. shooter. that shooter is now dead. air force fighter jets stopped a private plane after it flew into airspace reserved for the president's marine one helicopter. it was flying high with 40 pounds of pot. and financial trouble forcing air australia to ground its entire fleet of planes. so that stranding thousands of passengers at airports around the world. the airline says it was unable to cover operational expenses and forced to go into administration. apparently they couldn't pay for their fuel. penthouse apartment on central park west is now the city's most expensive apartment ever. it sold this week for $88 million. it was bought by the family of a russian billionaire for a 22-year-old. >> for his daughter. isn't that nice? my, oh, my. >> must be. >> must be nice. other news for you this

morning, whitney houston's funeral in newark, new jersey, set for tomorrow is really looking to be a star-studded affair. we've been learning about some of guests who are going to be included. tyler perry, kevin costner, clive davis, whitney houston's ex-husband, bobby brown, as well as oprah winfrey. some of the performances include stevie wonder, aretha franklin and alicia keys. >> a source tells cnn investigators have put a rush now on the toxicology testing and the medications found in hotel room are undergoing basic testing. that's happening right nounchts let's talk to cory murray, entertainment director for "essence" magazine. thanks for being with us. you interviewed whitney houston last year. but i want to start with tomorrow's funeral. a lot of close friends are there. certainly her family. aretha franklin, her godmother, cyst cissy houston.

do you know why none of her friends tried to help her or do you think they did? >> i think so many people around her have tried to help her. we all know about cissy houston really having a big push to save her. but i think what happened is to a lot of internal struggle and we can place the blame on a lot of different things or a lot of different people, but i think at the end of the day, it was something that whitney had to fight and overcome herself. and -- but i think it was amaze that the amount of people around her wanted to see her uplifted again to the heights that she once was. >> now, a lot of talk about bobby brown. will he be at the funeral, will he not? we now know that he was invite and he will be attending. what do you think about them? >> they had their divorce in 2006. we all saw the oprah winfrey detail where she detailed in great detail, actually, the troubles that they had in their marriage in the end years. just as recently as february 1st

they went out together as a family, with bobbi kristina to have dinner. i think there was an relationship there. he has a fiance now and a new child. i think it was a matter of them to stay strong for each other for bobbi kristina. at the end of the day, she still needs to grow up. >> do you know anything about that relationship with bobby and bobbi kristina? >> no, i do not know. >> you interviewed houston back in november for her movie "sparkle." whitney is very motherly, nurturing and sweet. did you set get a sense at that point that whitney was turning her life around? >> you know, i really thought that whitney was on her way back. she looked great. i had seen her a couple of times before at different -- i went to her concert.

i have seen her numerous times at the clive davis party. each time she looked healthier and brighter. when i sat down with her last november i thought, this is it, this is the whitney we knew. she looked like what i thought a 48-year-old woman should look like. she was full. she was happy. she was content. she was laughing. she was the whitney houston that in he's last days i've heard she was a fun, loving person. to have this news, i saw her actually last thursday and there was a drastic difference in how she looked. but last november i would have never thought that we would be here today talking about her funeral. >> and what was that drastic change that you saw? >> well, she was just noticeably thinner. i guess she had just came out of the pool so her hair was wet. she just looked a little disheveled. she was acting -- she wasn't as poised as she was before. she was a little erratic. i was there during the monica and brandy rehearsal. it was a number of journalistses there. we all kind of looked at each

other like is that whitney houston, is that her? it just a little disheartening to see. >> it has been for everyone. cori murray, entertainment director for "essence" magazine. thank you for joining us. cnn is airing special coverage of houston's funeral hosted by our soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon. it's this saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern. and still to come on "early start," rick santorum surging in michigan. what, michigan? isn't that mitt romney's state? you're going to hear about this one. and the other gop candidates decide not to debate newt gingrich in georgia. what's behind that? our political panel is going to weigh in. game changer in the fight against autism? we're going to talk with the man behind some exciting new research. you're watching "early start." i am loving this greek yogurt. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait?

exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek.

♪

good morning, washington. 41 degrees now. partly cloudy. 54 degrees later. you're listening to bare naked ladies, "who needs sleep?" who needs sleep when you have a campaign to run. this past week we're hearing a lot about santorum and romney's night for michigan. where is newt gingrich? >> turns out he's in california, raising money. not that bad, either, in the millions as we hear. and yesterday he was making some pretty bold predictions for his campaign. we've heard them before but you'll like what you're about to hear. joining us is joel sawyer, goldie taylor, and managing editor of the goldie taylor project, and linda forbes, a democratic strategist. the reason i giggled through this, folks, is because it starts with space mountain and it goes, to i will be the front-runner again. let me play the actual sound

bite from the lips of newt gingrich himself. >> wild rythm. it resembles riding space mountain at disney. i've been front-runner twice. i suspect i'll be the front-runner again in a few weeks. >> so you do have to see it to believe it. but, yes, space mountain and front-runner made it into all of one big sound bite. let's talk about this. is it possible, guys? is it absolutely possible that newt gingrich could once again be at the top of the leaderboard? joel, start with you. >> it's not probable but it's possible. he's proved that time and time again. i want to send a memo to his campaign that the word space should not come out of his mouth. >> i agree with you because it is just sort of fodder not only for medians and journalists but also for his fellow candidateses. linda, what do you think? >> well, i agree with joel. it is possible for gingrich to rise again. and one thing i think is funny about this is that for a man who left congress amid ethics

violations and personal scandal, he does not lack for self-esteem. we can always count on newt gingrich to think highly of himself. but i think that yesterday's news that his top money man is ready to bankroll efforts to drin discredit santorum and to put gingrich in a better position along with romney's need to get santorum out of the race, those two things could help gingrich a lot. >> i couldn't figure out if sheldon adelson's news is to benefit gingrich or romney. maybe a little bit of both. goldie, weigh in on the idea that there was a debate scheduled for march 1st, a cnn debate now canceled because two of the candidates, santorum and romney decided not to take part. yikes. because isn't there something that newt gingrich needs, a debate in the southern states to get him back into the mojo that he had before? >> yeah, come to refer to gingrich as the buzz light year of this gop primary. he did need another debate, frankly. no matter how much money sheldon

adelson pumps into the campaign he does need another question debate to show southern voters he is viable. his path to the nomination is getting more and more narrow by the day. it looks like the only real chance he could have of being viable again is a brokered convention, unkor fatally. >> we'll have to talk about that another tape because i want to talk about the states up for grabs. michigan is becoming quite a story. this is something that many of us leading into this whole process was just assuming is going to be in myth's column. turns out, look at the laits detroit news poll. leading in michigan, 34-30 over mitt romney. that's a poll, by the way, that isn't any different from many of the other polls that we've seen leading into michigan. so, joel, jump in here. is this a reality at this point? do wow by that santorum is take michigan? >> absolutely. and i think even if he comes close, even if romney ultimately winses michigan, if santorum

comes close i think it's a win for santorum. romney is running as the native son. won in 2008. at this point, i think just even barely beating santorum would almost be a loss for him there. >> not only that, let's not forget the momentum issue and these are proportional delegates in michigan. you can actually get some steam even if you don't win in that state. jump in on that, linda. what do you think? >> yes, i agree. i agree with everything joel said. i also would say that this just points again to the fact that republicans are just not excited about mitt romney. when we look at his campaign, the two things i think of are uncomfortable and uninspiring. i just think he needs to lift his campaign up to a whole different level. right now he's running a completely negative campaign to despence with his opponents and not giving anybody to be excited about. >> goldie taylor, who is going to win in michigan? >> i think romney is going to pull it out by a slim margin. >> i'm going to have you back

and play that sound bite for you. i want to remind everyone that the gop candidates will return to the debate stage regardless of what happened in the march debate. arizona republican debate on cnn wednesday night at 8:00 eastern time. it's been a long time since we've had a debate. so we're looking forward to this one. 45 minutes past the hour. soledad o'brien j'brien joins u >> in ten minutes on "starting point" we're going to talk about whitney houston and the plans for her final resting place. i will be anchor that coverage with pierses morgan and don lemon on saturday. but before then, we're going to talk to reverend who is one of the very first people to hear whitney houston sing. also, have you seen the cover of vogue magazine in yeah, that, adele is on the cover and she looks a little different, some people are saying. what is different? we'll dig into that this morning on "starting point" at the top of the hour. see you then.

[ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. discover visine® tired eye relief with hydroblend™, only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3.

in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes.

tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... this is cnn breaking news. >> we have breaking news into the cnn newsroom. there are reports of a barge colliding with a boat on the mississippi river. la place, louisiana. the coast guard received reports that oil was being released. we don't have a lot more details here. however, i can tell you there are no reported injuries. no count on how much oil has been spilled at this time,

either. the environmental safety and health of new orleans coast guard is on the scene, as well. but again, there are no reported injuries. oil is leaking but we don't know how much at this hour. we're going to continue to follow this for you and give you more details. this was reported about 2:00 this morning. it's fairly recent. a barge collided with the boat on the mississippi river. >> strangely enough they are saying there's not a let of restriction in the waterways at this point. maybe the traffic is continuing but we'll watch for it. in the meantime, a medical front, game changer in understanding autism? >> that would be fantastic. this is a brand new study from the american journal of psychiatry. it examined brain scans of 92 infan infants. the signs of autism are evidence in children as young as 6 months. but they take time to unfold. development researchers say this could lead to opportunities to intervene before the disorder makes its full mark. and joining us this morning is dr. joseph piven, the main

researcher here. thank you so much forgetting up early this morning. i just want to put out some stats here. we know that autism now effects 1 in 110 children, 1-70 boys, specifically, also. also no medical detection or cure for the brain disorder but you have brand new research that suggests that there are some changes that are going on very early. can you share that with us? >> yes. thank you. the period of infancy is a time when the brain is rapidly reorganizing. and we see as early as 6 months of age that the wiring in infants that go on to be classified as autism by 2 years of age is already different. and we see that those changes really evolve over time so that at 6 months of age they are different from what we see t at 12 months of age and what we see at 24 months of age.

and the important point here is that the findings at 6 months of age are before the typical onset or appearance of the major symptoms of autism. and we also see that these evolving brain changes are happening in a time when the symptoms of autism are beginning to unfold. >> now, is this significant for parents in particular, because these are really developing behavioral changes, that typically we get diagnosed when children are 2 or 3 years of age so you don't see the behavioral changes in an infant, let's say, of 6 months. >> these are experimental findings, research findings. they are not ready to go into the clinic but they signal, i think, a change in the field to be focusing before the able of diagnosis. this is very new. very novel information. so that we can begin to think about early detection, detection

before we see behavioral symptoms leading to early intervention that could perhaps interrupt the unfolding of these symptoms. >> i was reading in this report that you're actually interested in looking at infants as young as 3 months of age, as well. do you do this through an mri? >> yes, the study that we've done, we invite families from all over the country to four sites around the country, and we study them with both behavioral measures and mri. at 6, 12, and 24 months. and because of the findings at 6 months were so interesting it seems important to go earlier and try and get a sense of how those abnormalities at 6 months develop. >> there are so many parents at home that are probably watching right now that have a child with autism. and perhaps thinking about having another one in the future. is this something that you would recommend for parents to do

their children with early testing or early mri? >> no, as i said, this is really still in the area of research. we certainly hope that in the future we have tests like this or perhaps other tests that can give parents information. but i think really where we are is still in the realm unfortunately of research findings. >> we certainly hope that you can continue your research. dr. joseph piven, autism reseaner, professor of psychology. >> thank you. still ahead on our next hour, "starting point," a big scene on capitol hill. i don't know if you saw this but there were two very angry lawmakerses walking out. leaving a hearing on birth control and religious liberty, asking the question, hey, what where are the women's voices in this debate? we're going to talk to one lawmaker who stayed but wasn't too happy about staying there. remembering whitney houston. what did people think when that voice came out of a 14-year-old

girl? soledad is going to talk to a close family friend. and we are back in a moment, but first, we're going to go to break with a beautiful picture from atlanta. our skyline this morning where right now it's 45 degrees. it is sunny, heading up to 65 today. and you along with everyone else in the country are watching "early start." [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. and launch your dreams.

sergio! christina! question for you. what factors led you to buy your explorer. definitely the ecoboost option. what's pretty amazing is that you can get the fuel economy of a car in an suv. that basically did it for us. and the technology... oh, my goodness, the technology is amazing. everything is touch. you can actually talk to the car and it talks back to you. what have your friends said about your explorer? can we drive it? can we borrow it? what's your answer? no. no way. uh uh. (laugh) dave, i've downloaded a virus. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? it's so slow! i'm calling dave. [ telephone rings ] [ sighs ] i need a new i.t. guy. [ male announcer ] in a small business, technology is all you. staples easy tech experts are here to help. you must be... ...dave. [ male announcer ] with everything from new computers, to set-ups, to tune-ups. stapes. that was easy.

forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys weekend. yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com

[ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. and that is "early start," news from a to z. >> "starting point" with soledad oh bri'brien is coming up next. >> happy friday. yay. we still have a couple of hours to get through though. "starting point" this morning is looking at whitney houston's funeral. which will be held tomorrow. we'll have live coverage starting at 11:00 in the morning. stars will be singing at that funeral. three generations of legendary voices. we will have all details ahead on that this morning. on capitol hill. a