wealthiest nazarenes, never defended torture, and never asked a leper for a co-pay. >> how can i top lepers? jeremy lin. i think that he is just terrific. and it is great that he's being so celebrated. and i think it's also really terrific that as a culture, you know, i saw the headline on my twitter feed right away. outrage right away. >> i agree. outrage is good. we end with that this morning. cnn newsroom with kyra phillips begins right now. good morning. thanks so much. mitt romney has a mess on his hands in arizona. a rising conservative star and romney arizona point man in the state resigns. paul babeu is gone, forced to admit he is gay, and accused of threatening his ex-boyfriend. miguel marquez has an exclusive interview. he is in florence, arizona, for us. miguel, you actually spoke to this ex-boyfriend, right?

>> reporter: we spoke exclusively to that ex-boyfriend. he will only go by the name of jose right now, and he wants his face hidden and his voice changed because he fears retribution. but it is absolutely extraordinary that a 34-year-old mexican migrant finds himself in the middle of presidential politics in a bruising political year. >> these allegations that were in one of these newspapers are absolutely completely false. >> reporter: it's a grand canyon sized political shocker. >> we're outmanned. of all the illegals in america, more than half come through arizona. >> reporter: the tough on immigration sheriff outed by his ex-boyfriend. >> this is my personal and private life, but now it's not no private any longer. and it's an awful position for me to be in. >> reporter: he is in that position because of this man, jose, a 34-year-old mexican national, afraid to be identified but speaking out because he says he was

threatened by his powerful ex-lover. >> and then at some point, you felt -- >> used. >> reporter: used. and then threatened? >> yes. >> reporter: why threatened? >> i got a text from him, directly, on my phone saying that i will never have business, that my family will be contacted. >> reporter: the alleged threat to have jose deported if he went public with the affair. >> at no time did i or anyone who represents me ever threaten deportation, ever. >> reporter: babeu stepped down as co-chair of mitt romney's campaign in arizona, but the tough as nails sheriff says he is not ending his run for congress.

jose says he's here legally and wants to get on with his life. but with the story playing a role in presidential politics, that won't be happening anytime soon. now, jose says that he is here on a tourist visa. that he was granted a 10-year tourist visa with multiple entries. he goes back and forth to mexico to keep himself current and legal. he says he was running a business here, that he volunteered for the sheriff as well. that he fell in love with the sheriff, and then reluctantly admitted during our interview that the sheriff just did not fall in love with him. kyra? >> so has the romney camp said anything thus far this morning, miguel? >> they haven't said anything this morning. but the romney camp over the weekend, according to the sheriff anyway, and his lawyer, were very gracious. they told him they didn't want him to step down, they wanted him to stay as co-chair, they didn't really care about this. but this is getting bigger. the number of allegations out

there by this individual and the fact that he would step down so quickly from the campaign on his own volition indicates that the sheriff may have some more work to do, kyra. >> miguel marquez. welcome back to cnn. way to kick it off with an exclusive story. rick santorum has surged ahead of mitt romney in a new nationwide poll of republican voters. cnn political editor paul steinhauser has the numbers for us. big swing from last week, paul. >> the surge continues at least according to this poll from gallup, the daily tracking poll of republicans nationwide. look at the left column there, where it stands right now. you can see rick santorum eight points ahead of mitt romney. you can say he leads now. that's outside of the sampling error. look at the right column. one week ago, that's where it was, romney ahead of santorum. things have changed. but, kyra, if i were rick santorum, i'd want those primaries to be tomorrow, not a week from tomorrow. you have arizona and michigan one week from tomorrow. the big question is, will this surge in the polls nationally

and in the states continue for rick santorum? stay tuned on that one, kyra. >> now santorum also challenging the president's theology. >> yeah. somewhat of a controversial weekend i think you could say for rick santorum. he questioned the president's strategy of forcing or asking health care companies to provide prenatal testing. he said that led to abortions. and as you mentioned, the theology comments. here's what rick santorum said on saturday. >> it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. not a theology based on the bible, a different theology. >> reporter: now, was rick santorum questioning whether barack obama was a christian or not? here's what he said yesterday on the talk shows. >> no, i wasn't suggesting that the president is not a christian. i accept the fact that the president is a christian. i just said that when you have a world view that elevates the earth above man, and says that, you know, we can't take those

resources because we're going to harm the earth by things that are -- that frankly are not scientifically proven. for example, the politicalization of the whole global warming debate. this is just all an attempt to, you know, centralize power and give more power to the government. and this is not questioning the president's beliefs in christianity. >> i guess we could say welcome to front-runner status, mr. santorum. anything you say with you're in the front-runner, kyra, comes under the microscope a lot -- never like it was before, and rick santorum every word he says now is going to be analyzed. so welcome to front-runner status. and, you know, kyra, that also happens in debates. and i think we have a debate coming up, don't we? >> yes, we do. you can watch the arizona republican presidential debate right here on cnn wednesday night, 8:00 p.m. eastern. it's the last presidential debate before super tuesday. washington state, an avalanche near a popular ski resort kills three people. espn actually reports that one of the victims was a former pro

skier, jim jack. nine others dug their way out of there after being buried in the snow. meteorologist rob marciano is joining me with more on what happened. give us some details, rob. the way some of them survived is pretty remarkable, right? >> one of them basically had the air bag system that a lot of people are using now, which helps you float on top of the snow. obviously, that's no guarantee that you're going to survive. there's trees, rocks that you can be impacted by. but it certainly helped one of the survivors. three again were killed yesterday, and that doesn't include one more that was killed just south in snoqualmie pass. there's some video of the pass itself. that's highway 2, the road that you take from seattle up to stevens pass and over the pass, which is about 4,000 feet. this slide took place around 5,500 feet or so. there you see the remnants of it down towards the road itself. all right. here it is in relative to seattle. about 70, 80 miles east of

there. an hour and a half, two hours you can get there from seattle. they got two feet of fresh powder right at the resort. that's a lot even by cascade mountain standards in just two days. so here is the resort itself. we are actually looking at the southern side. this is all inbounds right here. they either hiked up by themselves or took a lift up to this area, and then went out of bounds and this is somewhere in here is where that slide took place. so that's how that slide happened. and the reason is in the cascades, you get snow levels that go up and down and up and down, and that creates different layers of snow. soft snow covered by hard snow and then soft snow on that. and you get a weak layer on top -- underneath some of that snow, and you'll get a slab to break free. and that's exactly what happened. now what's going on in colorado as well, danger is rising there, kyra, because we have had so little snow and we have also had a lot of sun this year. now the snow is piling on top of that unstable layer. so snow danger, avalanche danger

is significant in colorado as well. >> got it. rob, thanks. >> you bet. well, whitney houston's family, friends, and fans paid their last respects this weekend to the superstar. >> we are here to mourn our loss but to celebrate -- >> corey booker and gospel singer kim burrell were among the speakers and singers at the funeral. houston was then buried next to her father at fairview cemetery during a private family gathering on sunday. investigators still looking into the cause of whitney houston's death. any word when they might know something? >> well, you know, kyra, those toxicology reports usually take anywhere between six to eight weeks to complete. but a source close to the investigation tells us they have put a rush on those reports so we'll likely see something sooner, kyra. the source also telling us that

the medicine and pill bottles found in houston's beverly hills hilton hotel room the afternoon she died are basically undergoing basic testing and nothing appears criminal. there's no evidence, they say, any doctors or pharmacies contacted so far did anything wrong, and that they are in fact cooperating with the investigation. as we have been reporting, kyra, the anti-anxiety drug xanax was among the prescription drugs found in the room. family and friends say that houston used it but they haven't been able to confirm if they took it the day she died. meantime, officials are contacting pharmacies, doctors, both in california and other states like georgia. they are analyzing data from cures, a california department of justice drug monitoring program that tracks a patient's drug history. so far, investigators close to the death investigation tell me houston's family members, kyra, friends and doctors, can only provide so much information. so what they are doing right now is going through the painstaking

process of digging through houston's prescription drug history, using the database to basically help them connect the dots here. >> so now we are also hearing about this possible hotel security video playing a role in the investigation. what do we know about that? and what will we be seeing on that? >> well, investigators are also looking at that hotel surveillance video. they believe it economimay help reveal more information about houston's behavior as well as activities in the common areas of the hotel in the days leading up to her death. and speaking of the hotel, kyra, while hotel employees there say that houston was partying in the bar and other venues the night before she died, and another source says houston appeared intoxicated as she ordered drinks in the hotel earlier that week and she was seen drinking the morning of the day she died. so, kyra, a lot of information that investigators here are combing through. will we see that surveillance video? it's really a part of evidence they have right now, so perhaps not right now. but in this case, there's been

so many leaks. we'll have to see if that video in fact gets out there. >> we'll follow it. kareen wynter, thanks so much. with syrians dying by the day, there's a growing call in the international community to arm the opposition. pro democracy activists say the government forces are shelling the besieged city for the 17th straight day. and despite continued deaths, a top military adviser to president obama says it would be premature to arm the opposition. now take a look at this. this video reportedly shows men running into a burning building in homs trying to rescue a child. but cnn don't vouch for the authenticity at this point. one rebel commander actually calls the uprising an orphan revolution. saying they haven't received international support like other arab spring revolts.

and the nearly year-long brutal crackdown in syria is making headlines across the world this morning, and it has been actually for months. zain verjee is following the latest from london this morning. hi, zain. >> hey, kyra. let's go straight to the international news headlines. they are covering quite a range of different topic sayss as wel countries today. "the irishtimes," the uprising will fail but leave lasting divisions, analysts say. arming insurgents is certain to prolong the conflict in syria. government supporters argue the rebellion will be defeated but not until a great deal of blood is shed and the economy destroyed. check out "the international herald tribune." it says arms sales underscore moscow's tie to da maskus. it says the arab spring and the u.s.-led wars in iraq and afghanistan have dissipated russia's once powerful influence in the region, transforming the relationship with syria into one of critical importance to prime

minister vladimir putin. finally, kyra, look at "the china daily." it says this. saying no to gunboat diplomacy. it adds china's veto at the security council does not mean that beijing takes sides with the syrian government or that it's turning a blind eye to the bloody clashes. it means it does not want syria to end up on the same disastrous road as libya, which finally ended in a full-scale civil war. kyra, a range of topics and opinions from different newspapers from around the world. >> thanks, zain. it was a hearing on contraception and religious freedom, and the panel testifying, all men. congresswoman carolyn maloney was not very happy. she will join me live. and next, this man runs straight into a burning building. why would anybody do that? we'll tell you, next. i gotta get a guitar. [siri] i found 12 musical instrument stores.

how do i play london calling? whole lotta love? a b minor 9th? [siri] i found this for you. add migraine headache to my list of band names. tell julie and kate our band is playing at the garage tonight. [siri] here's your message to julie and kate. call me rock god. [siri] from now on, i'll call you 'rock god'. ok?

checking stories across the country now, in california, a plane and a helicopter collide. you can actually see the small aircraft here, which landed after the crash. the chopper's pretty beat up, but both pilots are ok. and snow is ice cover a lot of north carolina today. a winter storm brought flurries a day after temps hit the mid 60s on saturday. drivers beware. many roads expected to be dangerous all morning. and watch this massachusetts man run straight into a burning home. the good samaritan was actually trying to save two men inside. and you know what? he succeeded. they all made it out alive. so where are all the women?

that's what representative carolyn maloney asked when she walked into a congressional oversight hearing on contraceptive coverage, and all she saw were a bunch of men. on top of that, maloney says chairman darre darrell issa blocked female witnesses from testifying. congresswoman maloney joining me from new york this morning. you and eleanor norton were clearly disappointed during the hearing. you left and came back. tell me why you left that hearing initially. >> well, it was in conflict with a hearing on financial services on which i serve, a very important hearing which was a markup on legislation. five bills. i had two amendments in that hearing. so i had to be two places at once. i did come back to listen and to ask questions of the panel. >> and you -- >> but what i think is interesting, kyra, is when two women leave, that i say it's a walkout because there are so few women on the panel that if you

leave they think it's a walkout. people were walking in and out all through the hearing that took place for hours. >> you also accuse darrell issa of manipulating committee rules to block female witnesses from testifying. tell me why you were pushing so hard for georgetown law student sandra flute to testify. >> well, first of all, a woman is more qualified to speak about women's health care than anyone else. and for him to say she's unqualified is totally unjustifiable. also, the democratic minority is entitled to select our witness. we selected sandra flute. he said she was unqualified. it's not his role to say who the democratic witness should be or what their qualifications are. and when you have an important health care issue that affects tens of millions of women, it's very appropriate. and i would say necessary to

have a woman on the panel. >> and you make the point, this was a health care issue. issa came back writing this letter to democrats saying, quote, as this hearing is not about reproductive rights but freedom of religion, ms. fluke is not an appropriate witness. >> the hearing was about women. and women's access to preventive health care and insurance coverage to provide that health care on a whole range of areas, including reproduction and contraception. this was totally about women's access to health insurance. it was about insurance companies providing access to contraception, which happens to be the law, kyra, in 28 states. >> so what's next, congresswoman? >> what's next? we are going to go back and continue working for fairness and justice for women and all people.

>> congresswoman maloney, appreciate your time this morning. >> and access. straight ahead, oil prices spike overnight. you'll feel the pain beyond the pump. plus, get ready for a burger that's grown in a lab. but you better be ready to fork over thousands of bucks for it. friendly disposition and they love my spinach dip. 5 foot ten. still doing a little exploring... on it. my sign is sagittarius, i'm into spanish cheese, my hairline is receding but i'm getting a weave. (falsetto chorus) getting a weave. who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! what were you looking for when you bought your edge? um, i was definitely looking for fuel economy. that's the whole reason we, we wanted to look at the ecoboost. can you talk a little bit about the style of the edge?

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you've heard of test tube babies. how about a test tube burger? i'd like that lab patty on wheat please. zain verjee, could you serve that up? >> i'm sorry. what? [ laughter ] >> ok. you know what? i know you much better than this. and that's no lab patty. that's straight from mickey d's down the block. >> exactly, exactly. 89 cents, baby. well, you know, this is -- as i nibble on this a little bit later, i'll just tell you there's a dutch scientist, and he's come up with this way to create a test tube burger. now it sounds absolutely delicious, kyra. basically what he's done is taking 10,000 stem cells and got them from cow muscles. mmm. and it's going to be multiplied by a billion times in a petri

dish, and hurray, you have a test tube burger. it's pretty affordable to you, kyra, but not to the rest of america. it's $330,000. for one test tube burger. >> who's going to pay that? please tell me, who is paying that? >> i don't know. i don't know who would want that. but, you know it kind of -- i don't know how it tastes. but it's been described as tasting kind of like the texture of calimari and looking kind of gray. now, judging by the looks of you, i think you're on salads mostly these days because you look fabulous. but i really think a big mac with fries and a large coke should really be what you're doing these days. but i don't know. i tend to prefer the mickey ds, you know, the easy way and tasty way. >> i agree, yes. lunch date tomorrow. see you. >> lunch date, darling. ok. >> you probably have already felt it at the gas pump. oil prices are on the rise again. it's not the only thing, i

guess, that is expensive, a lab patty. our gas. >> yeah. for 89 cents, you can't get a gallon of gas for sure. so what's at work this time around? most of the focus is on iran. oil prices overnight topped $105 a barrel. that's the highest levels that we've seen in nine months. what happened over the weekend is that iran said it's not going to go ahead and sell oil to britain and france. what iran is doing is retaliating for european union sanctions that were put in place last month with the eu, the european union, and the u.s. want from iran is near information about their nuclear enrichment activity. so what happened essentially is that oil prices spiked. and as far as the u.s. views this, it's really more of a psychological effect. less of a supply issue for the u.s. dweent get any of our oil from iran. and france and britain get very little of it from iran. it's more about the fear of what if iran continues to squeeze supply, then real concrete

issues here. so what's it mean for gas prices headed into the spring? >> you can guess this one, and i bet you'll guess right. higher oil prices will mean higher gas prices as we get into the spring months. some analysts say the national average could be $4.25 by late april. it's already $4 in two states, in california and hawaii. the national average is currently sitting at $3.56 a gallon. if prices rise as expected, what you'll probably wind up seeing is consumers drive less. but that's not necessarily a good thing for the economy. you don't really want to see the consumer pull back. however, prices do tend to fall when demand slows down. so there are several ways you can look at the high gas price issue. kyra? >> thanks. well, he admits he's gay, and his ex-boyfriend says he threatened to deport him. mitt romney's point man in arizona has our lz granderson and will cain going at it. the monday morning political showdown, next. our biggest brush meets our fiberstretch formula for a blast of volume and length.

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checking top stories now. pro democracy activists reporting syrian forces firing on the besieged city of homs for the 17th straight day. president obama's top military adviser says it's premature to arm the opposition. senator john mccain and two other senators are in cairo today planning to bring up the case of 19 detained americans being held as part of an egyptian crackdown on nongovernmental organizations. and three people were killed in an avalanche sunday near a washington state ski resort. nine other skiers managed to dig themselves to safety. all the skiers were experienced and had the proper gear. a rising star for conservatives in arizona and romney's point man, sheriff paul babeu came across as tough, no nonsense, and uncompromising when it came to illegal immigration.

now a man comes forward exclaiming he is babeu's ex and that babeu threatened him. now the sheriff admits he's gay, was involved with the mexican immigrant, and we're talking about what it means for mitt romney. lz granderson, cnn contributor. he is in grand rapids, michigan. will cain, also our contributor, in new york this morning. will, let's start with you. romney has got a bit of a problem here. >> i don't think so, kyra. you know, i heard you in the tease a minute ago say that will cain and lz granderson are going to go at it. i don't think so. if we are, the only point i think we disagree with is whether or not this story has any bigger meaning or context. and i don't think it does. i think what you have here is largely a lover's spat between a sheriff and his ex-lover, meaning we shouldn't trust, by the way, what either side is saying right now. but we have a sheriff who's come out as gay. big deal. i don't see the bigger story and i don't see how it impacts mitt romney's campaign. >> lz, what do you think? is it damaging? you have the gay issue, the immigration issue, the fact that babeu allegedly threatened to deport his ex-boyfriend if he

outed him. >> i think that, you know, will is being a little bit optimistic in this conversation because he didn't come out as gay. he was outed. and those are two total different conversations. you know, i always look at this situation not necessarily about the jose versus the sheriff conversation, because we don't know. as will said, we don't know what's true and what isn't true. but what we do know is this man is going to continue to run for congress but pull out of helping mitt romney run for president. now i ask you, what are the qualifications to run for congress and how are they different than ones helping him run for president? you know, why did he resign? did he resign because he didn't think he was in an environment in which he could be openly gay? that is the larger conversation and the one this we should be having. >> so this is the point -- yeah, so this is it. this is the point of our disagreement right here. i don't know how lz can draw that conclusion from one factor among three in this story. the other two are allegations. we do not know if they're true,

that the sheriff's lover was allegedly an illegal immigrant and that the sheriff threatened to have him deported. we don't know if those are true. regardless, they are now part of the story. they are going to be part of this hornet's nest of media coverage. it's not hard to see why the sheriff would say, i don't know that i'm a good figure to be involved with the mitt romney campaign now. i'm not going to do this to this campaign. >> lz? >> but i'm still good enough to be your congressman? i can't volunteer and help mitt romney run for president, but i can be your congressman? how does that make sense? >> that only affects his own career. perhaps he is taking a noble stance. i have some negative publicity around me right now. i don't think that should rub off on the guy i'm endorsing. before for my own career, i'll take it on. >> i don't think the gay should be rubbing off on mitt romney is what he's saying. not necessarily my scandal. >> lz, do we need to hear from mitt romney himself on this? >> you know what i would really

like to hear from mitt romney? i would like to hear him say i reached out to this man and said i understand you're going through this scandal but you're sexual orientation has nothing to do with your qualifications to be in congress or to help me be the president of the united states. that would go a long way to help him diffuse the idea that the gop and the republicans are anti-gay. you know, the scandal is a separate conversation. but i think it's important that mitt romney says those words. >> will? >> it seems like we're trying really hard to make this a story completely about sexuality, as though there's not an issue over abuse of power involved in the story, allegedly. i just think we are trying really hard to have a conversation exclusively about sexuality. the gop's hypocrisy role with sexuality and having this rub off on mitt romney. we are trying really hard it seems like here. >> no, we're not trying really hard. the platform is what it is. in 1994, mitt romney sent the

republicans a letter saying i will fight for your full equality. next thing you know he is saying i support an amended constitution that would ban marriage equality and he is not fully engaged in trying to overturn don't ask, don't tell. so don't try and pretend this is a one-off. this an ongoing conversation within the party and specifically with mitt romney. if he really wants to prove himself to be a president for all the people, he would take my suggestion, call this man up, and say you defend this country as a sheriff, you should have the dignity of continuing to do so whether you are openly gay or not. >> and don't pretend he just got kicked out of the mitt romney because he came out or was outed as gay. that's not what happened here. >> we shall continue the conversation. gentlemen, i knew you would get into it. >> i was wrong. >> thank you, gentlemen. straight ahead, imagine this. it's mardi gras in new orleans. 170 kids arrested. no surprise. we'll tell you why, next. plus, who says you can't make a career comeback after going to jail? not lindsay lohan.

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well, aj hammer, let's get right to it this morning. we're talking about your hero, your mentor, your inspiration, the man you look to before you start every single show. >> every single show. he begins my day. i walk into my studio, and my audio engineer, kyra, plays a sound bite of stephen colbert saying, for more, let's go to my colleague, aj hammer at "showbiz tonight" because he had tossed to a piece of mine on his show once before, which i was thrilled by, and stephen is now

a part of my day even though until now he didn't know that. but this is what i want to believe is good news today. a spokesperson is telling us that his show is expected to return to the air tonight after that unexpected hiatus. fans have been concerned because really this was such an unusual move for the show to abruptly suspend production last week due to as comedy central put it unforeseen production issues. it was dark thursday and friday and aired a scheduled repeat on friday. "the new york post" reported that he took time off to care for his ailing 91-year-old mother in south carolina. if that is the case, we wish him and her all the best. stephen stwetweeted his gratitun family, saying, my family and i would like to thank everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers. we are grateful and touched by your concern. the show's website has been updated. there's a full week of scheduled

guests on starting tonight, and i guess we're just going to have to wait and see whether or not stephen is going to address this on his show. >> you have to love him even more, he is taking care of his mom. pretty awesome. lindsay lohan also making a return to the small screen. >> yes, for one night only at least. returning on march 3 to host "saturday night live" after her probation restrictions ends next month. and this is pretty huge for lindsay. her career has very much been on the back burner for what seems like forever. but "saturday night live's" familiar territory for lindsay. she hosted the show three times in the past. the first time back in 2004 when she was just 17. this is going to be her first appearance on the show since 2006. as you can imagine, lindsay is happy to be, i think, doing anything. tmz reporting that lindsay wanted to be on "snl" so badly she actually reached out to lorne michaels, the show's executive producer, personally. she also expressed her excitement over the news over the weekend after nbc revealed an on-air promo and nbc tweeted

about the fact she'd be hosting the march 3 episode. sl! snl ! i love nbc! her publicist confirmed she would be hosting the show, saying she is looking forward to putting on a memorable show. and the last time we saw lindsay, we really saw lindsay. it was that december issue of "playboy" magazine. she was on the cover, inside, reportedly paid $1 million to do that. and that has also been reported to have been a record breaker. so, kyra, clearly "snl" banking on lindsay to bring lots of eyeballs to the show when she makes her big return on march 3. >> aj, thanks. and stick around. beyonce and jay-z show up on "saturday night live," sort of. aj will be back next hour to explain. and it's mardi gras. beads, booze, and the big house. no surprise. at least 170 kids arrested. we'll explain.

it looked like the curfew worked in new orleans. 170 kids arrested in new orleans. what can you expect? it's mardi gras. do you think they are really going to pay attention to a curfew? >> reporter: new orleans mardi gras is an intoxicating splendor to see, especially for wide-eyed kids. but they shouldn't see everything. so new orleans police are enforcing a big change to the city's curfew.

no one under 16 allowed alone in the french quarter after 8:00 p.m. >> we were having kids that were being victims and also perpetrators of crime. >> reporter: commander jeff walls runs the new orleans police precinct in the french quarter. >> at night, it turns into more of an adult entertainment area. >> reporter: the clock has struck 8:00 at night here in jackson square in new orleans, and now it's time for the crazier side of the french quarter to come alive. and we're going to go find it. we found maria munoz silva walking with her children. so you think this is a good place for kids to be after 8:00? >> no, not down there. >> reporter: why not? >> crowds getting rowdy. >> reporter: yeah? >> uh-huh. things that they shouldn't see. >> reporter: don't tell them that. whisper that to me, will you? >> we hide his eyes. >> reporter: so just how many kids are running around unsupervised at night? 170 have been arrested so far for violating the curfew.

that's 20% of all mardi gras related arrests. this seems to be one of the harder parts of enforcing this, how do you find someone under the age of 16 in a crowd like this? charles dorsey sees underaged revellers every night while he sells luck dogs and sees 17-year-olds taking care of 16-year-olds. >> you have children watching children. >> reporter: that's not a good combo? >> that's not a good combo. >> reporter: some say some sights are so bizarre, they just can't be explained to a kid. >> ed is now joining me live from new orleans. you know, it's kind of hard, ed, to think that kids growing up in new orleans are going to abide by a curfew during mardi gras. really. >> reporter: yeah, it is. but police say, look, they have had, you know, a problem with not only kids perpetrating crime or being involved in that, but they are worried about them

being victims of crime. so they say parents are allowed -- if they have an adult with them, they're fine. they can be down there. you can take your kid down to the french quarter, you know, whatever time of night -- whether or not you want to take them to bourbon street is another story, you know, it's your own decision to make there. but this curfew will go on well past mardi gras. so once mardi gras ends tomorrow night, this curfew at 8:00 will remain in place. >> and you add alcohol to the eindication, it's not a good scene. some people have called this new law racist. >> reporter: yeah. there was -- when it was first implemented by city council, there was a lot of talk of that. we spent in the weekend in the quarter talking with families who were bringing their kids down there. and we didn't find anyone who was really, you know, complaining against it. it's interesting the way all of this works. if they find someone who is under 16, they take them over to what's called a curfew center. and then they call their parents and have the parents come down and pick them up. police say that they haven't had any complaints about this.

but, you know, it was interesting early on, there was a lot of talk about that, whether or not that has subsided i think, might very well be the case. it's kind of hard to justify, you know, some 13-year-old or 14-year-old walking around by themselves in that part of town when all in that part of town when all that insanity is going on. >> ed, thanks. we just can't stop talking about it lin-sanity, now he and his knicks take down we have the highlights in sports in 7:00. blip plip

stories we're working on, 1:40 eastern, mitt romney has an

event in cincinnatti trying to sell jobs message to ohio voters. at 2:00, ron paul speaks to republicans in jamestown, north dakota. at 3:00, newt gingrich talks to college republicans at oral roberts university. rick santorum hosts a rally in muskegon, michigan. following developments the next hour. check in with our miguel marques. miguel? >> reporter: in florence, arizona exclusive interview with jose, the man who outed his ex-boyfriend, the sheriff pinal county, causing him to step down from the romney campaign. i'll have that story at the top of the hour. did iran send war ships in syria? we'll have details coming up. i'm kareen wynter, investigators are getting closer to finding out what killed whitney houston i'll have the details coming up at the top of the hour. thanks, guys. jeremy lin, speaking out, after espn runs a racist

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trauma in may of 2010. a boat explodes after an engine cover comes off. thick smoke from the fire injured -- inside condos were left open, two people on the boat during the blast they jumped to safety. check out this leap in a grocery aisle in orlando. yep, he got in through a hole in the roof. he stole meat and gets away by standing on a chair, hoisting himself up to the roof. took off with $75 food but caused $500 worth of damage. the story keeps getting better and better. >> it does. >> for him. for his playing, for the team. >> he's shaking off the controversy that has gone on with espn's comments, they apologized, he said i don't think they meant to do it. >> why do you think it happened? >> mistakes, he said i don't think they really meant to do it

and so then once he says that, all the attention goes back on the court people can have fun. people might have been having a little bit of doubts. he struggled friday night, the knicks lost the game. he was so good yesterday against the mavericks, it was lin-fectious. spike lee wearing a jeremy lin harvard jersey, my favorite sign the lin-pire strikes back. another grad, mark zuckerburg, lin he was fantastic. 28 points and a career best 14 assists, this was against jason kidd, one of the best point guards ever. knicks beat the mavericks, defending champs. lin-sanity he's asking the media in taiwan to leave his relatives alone. he said they are being swarmed non-top. -- non-stop. >> kevin durant, this ties it at

111. career best 51, high in the league this season. ty lawson a chance to win the game for the nuggets, no. we go to overtime. it wasn't like durant was carrying the team by himself. russell westbrook, 40 for the thunder. he gets two. they scored 91, the thunder win 124-118. lebron james going for a block against orlando, in the crowd, lands on a couple of kids. one boy was hurt he was crying, ouch, lebron hit me in the head. he came over to apologize. he said by the time he got there the kid was smiling. so were heat fans, miami won sixth straight. phil mickelson whispering to his daughter, "i'm trying to win back-to-back" hasn't been done in two years. he needs this to force a playoff, and he gets it!

keegan bradley says i want in on pla the playoff, too. bill haas in the second hole, 40 footer, this can win it. it's in the hole! mickelson and bradley can't match him, bill haas the winner. really exciting final way to finish a three-way tie until the end. >> keegan is a favorite. >> thanks, jeff. top of the hour, a big mess for mitt romney in arizona a roo rising star and point man in the state resigns. pinal county sheriff is accused of threatening his ex-boy friend. miguel marques, you spoke to the

man being called jose. >> reporter: we did speak to jose exclusively last night up in phoenix. it's just extraordinary that this 34-year-old mexican migrant finds himself in the middle of presidential politics during a bruising political year. >> these allegations that were in one of these newspapers are absolutely, completely false. >> reporter: a grand canyon-size political shocker. >> with all the illegals in america half come through arizona. >> reporter: the sheriff outed by his migrant ex--boyfriend. >> this is my personal, private life, but now it's not so private any longer and it's an awful position. >> reporter: he's in this position because of jose, a 34-year-old mexican national, afraid to be identified but speaking out because he says he was threatened by his powerful

ex-lover at some point you felt -- >> yes. >> reporter: used, and then threatened? yes. >> reporter: why threatened? >> i got back from him, saying that i will not have business, that my family will be contacted. >> reporter: the alleged threat to have him deported if he went public with the affair. >> at no time did i or anyone who represents me ever threaten deportation. ever. >> reporter: babeu stepped down as romney's campaign in arizona but not ending his run for congress. jose says he's here legally wants to get on with his life.

with the story playing a role in presidential politics, that won't be happening any time soon. jose says that he is legal because he has a 10 year multiple entry tourist visa, was running a business in arizona but he insists he's legal and doesn't believe he could be deported. but was afraid because his ex-boyfriend was so powerful. kyra? >> has the romney camp said anything about the resignation? >> reporter: they said over the weekend, the sheriff contacted them to say he would step down. he says and his lawyer says the romney camp told them not to step down they didn't want that to happen but these allegations continue to sprawl, the story continues to get bigger, it probably is likely that the sheriff did the right thing. what he's trying to do now is hold on to his congressional campaign. >> miguel, thanks. rick santorum surged ahead

of mitt romney. paul steinhouser has that. >> we have been talk ag about this a week. gallup daily tracking poll, left column, the new number, 8 points ahead for santorum over romney, outside the area, ron paul, 11. right side, a week ago numbers were reversed between romney and santorum, kyra, the surge continues but will it continue through next week? if i were rick santorum i would want the primary today. the next contests are eight days away and two weeks until super tuesday. kyra? >> santorum challenges the president's theology. >> reporter: a lot of controversy, some people wondering was rick santorum questioning whether barack obama

is a christian. take a listen what he said saturday. >> it's about some phony idea, some phony theology, not a theology based on the bible, different theology. >> reporter: was he talking about whether the president was a christian or not? this is what he said yesterday on the talk shows. >> i wasn't suggesting the president wasn't a christian. i just said when you have a world view that elevates the earth about man and says that we can't take those resources because we're going to harm the earth by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven, for example poll litization of the whole global warming debate this is an attempt to centralize power and give more power to the government. this is not questioning the

president's believes in christianity. >> reporter: some people are questioning what santorum meant when he suggested mandating pre natal testing for women would increase abortions. the simple matter is this, rick santorum is a front runner in the race for the nomination, with that comes more scrutiny. we will see rick santorum and other candidates getting other scrutiny, we have a debate coming up. >> you can watch the arizona presidential debate right here on cnn, that is wednesday, 8:00 eastern, the last presidential debate before super tuesday, march 6th. two iranian war ships docked in syria according to iran state tv. iran says the ships will be involved in training the syrian navy. ships are docked, look how close they are to israel. tensions between iran and israel are thick right now because of iran's developing nuclear program. israel said publicly they will be monitoring the ships very

closely. >> israel has made it clear it seems a nuclear armed iran is a direct threat and may be considering an attack against iran. could that draw the navy in? barbara starr live from washington, what do you think? >> reporter: good morning, kyra. let me go back about the iranian ships. if you ask u.s. officials this morning, they will tell you they have no reports just yet that these ships have docked in syria in the middle of the war there in that country. they are still watching carefully but they think the ships are are off the coast of egypt still. an indication of how complex this entire story is, what is going on in syria, what is going on with iran and the israeli and u.s. reaction to it. a lot of concern the war talk is ratcheting up too much and the chairman of the joints chief of staff spoke with cnn's fareed

zachariah and said everybody should take a deep breath. >> it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack iran. that has been our counsel to our allies, the israelis, well-known, well-documented. we also know or believe we know that the iranian regime has not decided that they will embark on effort to weaponize their nuclear capability. >> what dempsey is saying, kyra, the u.s. believes iran hasn't made that critical decision to go forward with a nuclear weapon. the question on the table is, does israel agree or does israel think iran is down the road toward a nuclear weapons program and will israel decide it has to do something about that? for their part the iranians are announcing they are beginning another round of exercises to try to beef up their air defenses around those nuclear sites.

kyra? >> the president's national security advisor is in israel now. >> absolutely right, tom donlin, reaching out to israel to try to determine what their current state of thinking is, what their intentions are, what they are thinking about all of this. because over the last several weeks, there has been a hot of mixed signals from israeli leaders, depending on their political position within israel perhaps and their security outlook for israel, a lot of differing statements, the u.s. is very much trying to get a fix on what the ground truth is in israel about what that government intends to do. kyra? >> barbara starr, thanks. a growing call in the international community to arm syrian rebels amid the ongoing brutal crack down. 14 people have been killed

including 7 in homs. syrian forces have shelled the city for 17 straight days. a top advisor says it would be premature to arm the opposition and take a look at this. this video purportedly shows men running a burning building trying to rescue a child. cnn can't vouch for the you a th authenticity. they haven't received international support like other spring re volts and need help. the nearly year-long crack down in syria is making headlines across the world. once again zain verjee monitoring that. >> reporter: wide range of topics, let me give you a flavor what people are saying. this is "the irish times" headlines. uprising will fail but leave lasting divisions, analysts say.

an opinion piece that sales arming in su sure jenlts is certain to prolong the conflict in syria. government supporters argue the rebellion will be defeated but not until a great deal of blood is shed and the economy destroyed. take a look at international "he" "herald tribune" the arab spring and u.s. led wars in iraq and afghanistan have dissipated russia's relationship with syria in one of critical importance to prime minister vladimir putin. finally i was looking "china daily" saying no to gun boat diplomacy. china's veto does not mean beijing takes sides with the syrian government or turning a blind eye to the bloody clashes, it means it does not want syria to end up on the same disasterous road as lib yab

which finally ended in a full-scale civil war. what newspapers are saying around the world. >> zain, thanks. whitney houston's family, friends and fans paid respects to the superstar. ♪ she was born in newark, she was heaven-sent ♪ >> one of her best friends, kim burrell, houston was buried next to her father at fairview cemetery during a private family gathering on sunday. kareen wynter, investigators looking in the cause of death. any word when we might know something? >> reporter: let's start with the important toxicology reports. they usually take six to eight weeks to complete. a source close to the investigation in this case tell us that they have put a rush on

these reports so it's likely we could see something a whole lot sooner. the source tells us that the medicine as well as the pill bottles found in houston's hotel room the afternoon she died, those are currently under going basic testing and that at this point, nothing appears criminal. there is no evidence any doctors, any pharmacies contacted so far, kyra, did anything wrong and they are cooperating with the investigation. also as we have been reporting the drug xanax was among the drugs found in the room, family members and staff say she used the medication but investigators have not been able to confirm, kyra if she took them the day she died. that information would likely be found in the tox reports. while officials are are conta contacting pharmacist, they are reaching out to doctors in california and georgia, analyzing data from cure, a california department of justice prescription drug monitoring program. tracks a patient's drug history.

sources close to the death investigation tell me houston's family members, friends and doctors provide so much info, they are going through the painstaking process that tedious task of digging in houston's prescription drug history using the database to help them connect the dots, kyra. >> we'll follow it, kareen, thanks. what is up with espn and jer my lin? basketball's lin-sation. we have the whole story and what lin has to say about it. this man runs straight in a burning building, we'll tell you why and what happened, next.

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checking stories across the country. in california a plane and helicopter collide. you can see the small aircraft here, landed after the crash. the chopper is beat up. both pilots are okay. snow and ice cover a lot of north carolina today, a winter storm brought flurries a day after temperatures hit the mid 60s. watch this man run straight in this burning home. a good samaritan trying to save two men inside. he succeeded, they all made it out alive. so espn using a racist headline to describe basketball star jeremy lin. one person gets fired, and lin tells us what he thinks.

here is what happened. >> reporter: insensitive at best, a racial slur at worst, many asian american fans in chinatown are not taking kindly to a comment and a headline made by espn. it was after the new york knicks ended a seven game winning streak by losing to the hornets. they published a headline on the mobile website "chink in the armor" it was yanked in a half hour, they fired the writer and suspended the anchor who used the same phrase and issued a statement calling the remarks offensive and adding "we again apologize especially to mr. lin, his accomplishmens are a source of great pride to the asian american community including the asian american employees at espn" fans in chinatown, not happy. you wouldn't say the n-word or racist tone, racist statement for that matter why should

chinese be excluded? >> it's inappropriate, it is. he should be treated like any other player, it shouldn't be, i don't know, i don't think race should be a factor. >>. >> reporter: lin was philosophical. >> espn apologized, there is no -- i don't think it was you know, on purpose or whatever, but at the same time they apologized for my end i don't care anymore. i have to learn to forgive, i don't think that was intentional or hopefully not. >> reporter: at a sports bar called "libation" fans were cheering him on. lin-sanity. lin backers hope he can erase racial stereotypes. >> playing in a ballpark or the

playgrounds as an asian person playing, you always are looked down upon. you can say there is an asian american playing. like to see him dunk is wow. >> reporter: another great day for lin on the court he led the team in scoring with 28 points and a career high 14 assists. helping to beat the nba defending champs, dallas mavericks 104-9 perhaps the start of another lin-ning streak. sus susan candiotti. we're watching your money right after the break. uh oh.

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you probably felt at the gas pump, oil prices on the rise. allison is watching it for us. >> reporter: kyra up again, oil prices topping $105 a barrel, highest level in nine months. several factors were at work here but most of the focus is on iran. over the weekend iran said it's not going to be selling oil to

britain and france and what iran is doing is retaliating for european union sanctions put in place last month. eu and u.s. want iran to give more information, oil spiked but interestingly enough this is more of a psychological effect less of a supply issue. we don't get any of our oil from iran, and france and britain get very little from iran more about the fear of what if iran continues to squeeze supply than anything else. kyra? >> how does this affect the economic recovery? >> reporter: we spoke with an analyst he says rising gas prices could wind up stopping the recovery altogether, if the prices get too high. consumers would want up cutting back on spending if they have to pay more to fill up their tanks. so the way prices are moving high, he with should see $4 a gallon gas as early as next month. you flip over the coin and you see it's not all bad news.

rising oil prices can be a positive sign for the economic recovery. you look at what oil prices did during 2009, they plummeted with the rest of the economy and as oil prices have moved higher, so have stock prices, the dow is up almost 6% for the year. s&p 500 is up more than 8%. so sure, our portfolios, are a little fatter and although it really blows up the old budget to pay an extra buck or two every time you fill up the gas tank, you have to keep it in perspective. if prices are going up because economy has gotten stronger, that winds up being a good thing. you know how it is, a delicate balance. >> thanks, allison. former republican presidential candidate michele bachmann fighting back against claims her party is anti--women. her response, next tchlt ♪

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checking top stories now. activists say syrian forces are firing on homs for the 17th straight day reports of nine people killed. advisors say it's premature to arm the opposition. john mccain and two other senators planning to go bring up the case of 19 detained americans, being held as part of an egyptian crack down on nongovernmental organizations. three people killed in an avalanche sunday, nine skiers dug themselves out to safety. they were all experienced and had proper gear. time for political buzz, look at the best topics.

day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing keith boykin, cofounder arab american comedy festival and will cain. michele bachmann on the defensive amid criticism the republican party is against women. this is what she told our candy crowley. >> there is no anti-woman move. the republican party is extremely pro-woman. >> if the gop is losing women voters, what do they need to do to win them back, will? >> this idea the gop is anti-woman maybe i'm dense, thick but i'm not getting this line, this narrative being forwarded. the gop at least in the current context is opposed to government mandates. the government mandating to private employers in this case over birth control what they can

or cannot provide to their employees. now is rick santorum and the church have personal problems are they anti-women? i don't know, the gop -- [ buzzer ] . >> they should treat women as all voters. keith? >> i feel awkward, feel like the republican panel last week a bunch of men talking about women but i think the republican party had a gender gap for a long, long time. you go back to 1984, 84, republicans picked dan quayle they thought he would appeal to women because he was cute. republicans pick sarah palin after the democrats picked hick hick. republicans ha hillary clinton. they think diversity is a bad worse. it's about african americans and hispanics. >> can we pretend you're a

woman, dean, what was i thinking ask this of all men? >> today i'll circle my calendar. i agree with michele bachmann. i don't think the republican party is anti-woman, i think the problem they are being defined by people like rick santorum. the guy is not against birth control paid for by the government, but birth control. he's against abortion even in the case of rape. you need moderates to say these guys don't represent our party or will lose women and the gender gap will grow and the president will win the vote. >> all right guys, rick santorum responding to criticism he questioned the faith at a tea party event. take a listen. >> it's not about your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. not a theology based on the bible, different theology, no less a theology.

i just said when you have a world view that elevates the earth above man and says that we can't take those resources because we're going to harm the earth by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven, for example the whole global warming debate, this is not questioning the president's believes in christianity. >> phony theology. keith, what does he mean? >> of course he wasn't questioning the president's theology. he was talking about other people. this guy has a history of saying things, walking back and claiming he didn't say what he clearly just said. obviously he was talking about this in a theological history. they are not talking about the

economy they can't talk about gm, can't talk about the stock market or jobs, because things are getting better in the country and they don't want to deal with those issues. >> will? >> wow, i made it in 30 seconds. >> it was an inappropriate word useage, with rick santorum. it fed in the narrative there are those out there who questioned barack obama's christianity, his faith. it was a poor, poor word choice. what i'm incapable of doing is peering in rick santorum's mind, deciding that was strategic or instinctual, it was a poor word choice. >> dean? >> rick santorum talks more about religion than people in the taliban. people in the taliban would call this guy radical. what he meant, i'll be honest. look at his words, kyra, i want the media to focus on his words. he said our laws and bible must

comport. they must agree or he used the term agitation, like acid reflux, he's scary, glad the media is looking his idea of theology our laws have to agree. it is scary, he's a scary man. >> buzzer beater guys, there it is, 20 seconds on this one. snl spoofs the obamas, comparing them to the cosbys. take a look. ♪ >> so you got the obamas being compared to the cosbys. which tv family best represents the romneys and the santorums,

keith? >> god, i think for newt gingrich i know he's not on the question list i'll say archie bunker. for romney, mr. drysdale, the next door neighbor to the beverly hill bills, billiehillb. rick santorum, maybe the partridge family, nothing comes out to me. >> will? >> this is tough, kyra. dean is the comedian, we have to lead in to him. one thing we know all three family, the obamas, santorums, romneys they have wonderful families that are devoted fatherly figures. >> will, you are so sweet. >> dean, bring us home. >> that was too nice, will.

romney i think the tv show that sums up is "bored to death" that is mitt romney, boring guy, to me, i like santorum a couple shows, one is "third rock from the sun" he is an alien or other one might be -- "third rock" is the best one or maybe "flintstones" pre-historic ideas. >> that is a good one. >> i only had 20 seconds. >> thanks for the monday laughs. here is a reminder, watch the arizona republican presidential debate, more than 20 seconds for that. wednesday night, 8:00 eastern, the last presidential debate before super tuesday on march 6th. beyonce, jay-z and ivy blue get the vip treatment. we'll tell you where and why. a.j. hammer has the details. ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are,

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take a moment to stop what you're doing and watch this with me. a van slides on the ice, crashes, all caught on camera. it's in virginia, slammed with snow and ice. state police responded to nearly 1000 crashes, most of them due to these bad conditions on the road. well, he is back. wondering what happened, why did he go away? a.j. hammer has the scoop on stephen colbert, i should say his inspiration before every show starts up. stephen colbert doesn't realize that until now. >> he does now, yes. every time i walk in my studio,

my audio engineer checks me in with his voice a clip from his show, stephen i'm happy to hear you're back tonight, looks like he will be back with an all new colbert report, the spokesperson says the show is expected to return after unexpected hiatus. fans have been concerned because of it was an unusual move for the show to abruptly suspect productio production. it was dark on wednesday and thursday, a scheduled repeat aired friday. "the new york post" said he took time off to take care of his mother. his tweet said my family and i would like to thank everyone who offers thoughts and prayers, we are grateful and touch bid your concern. the show's website updated full week of scheduled guests starting tonight. ann patchett is on the show

tonight. whether he will address his concern remains to be seen. you can understand if he wants to keep a family issue private. >> we will follow it for sure. it's great he's taking care of his mom. beyonce, jay-z made an appearance on saturday night live with baby blue ivy. >> in that special way. she is six weeks old, getting the snl treatment. that is big time. the adorable daughter was the subject of what i thought was a funny skit, driven by snl maya rudolph, she hosted this weekend. here is a taste of what happened. dplfrmt my wife bey -- >> blue ivy. ha ha ha. >> look at her, jay, sleeping peacefully in her crib. >> so funny, as the skit went on, she was paid first time visits by stars like prince,

taylor swift, bonnie vair who won a grammy played by justin timberlake. very funny and blue ivy, will probably be hosting before we know it. just the beginning. >> singing and acting and everything else. a.j., thanks. if you want information on everything breaking, a.j. has it every night, "showbiz tonight." for nearly a month we asked cnn's estimated one million i-reporters what makes them uniquely american. ireport.com/iamamerica. >> i'm hoe sachl. >> i'm black, hispanic. >> my mother's family can be traced to ireland. >> i am america. >> as part of i am america series we'll hear the story how

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hesitate to tell us what they think is right for america. what defines america in 2012? all this week we go in depth on "i am america" looking how our country has changed. today we're starting in kansas, it ulysses, kansas, the population started turning around and changing. ted rolands has the story and how the town started to come back to life thanks to hispanic immigrants. >> reporter: the mexican bakery is open 365 days a year. owners say all their customers are hispanic. a group that is exploding here. >> seems like every year it's more and more and more. >> reporter: husband came to kansas as a migrant worker from

monterrey, mexico. married eirene and they raised five children in ulysses. >> a lot of noise, and traffic. >> reporter: it's a small town of 6,000 people on the kansas plains. in the 1940's migrant workers started arriving to work during harvest season. today the jobs are in oil and natural gas. and managing cattle. but now, has sp hispanic i am i are settling down and the face is changing. >> with liberty and justice for all. >> reporter: in the last 15 years the population of hispanics in the district has soared. from about 20% to nearly 60. >> it doesn't matter where the child comes from, they are all our children and i think that the whole community embraces that idea. that they come through our doors, they are our kids, and

inside a real kid needs to learn. >> reporter: administrators said the changing demographic has forced them to add bilingual classes and helped keep the population up which means more funding. a state where some small farm communities are die, ulysses is growing and embracing the new arrivals. >> we pay taxes, everything, buy homes, buy vehicles, groceries, so it helps the economy. >> it's not a big deal, good neighbors, good people. >> reporter: at the coffee clutch off main street, we hear the same thing. >> everybody gets along with everybody. we're a small town, that is what is great about a small town. >> reporter: the ladies in the gray haired women's club have very few complaints about new neighbors. >> i wish they would come in here legally, you know, to help pay taxes. >> learn to speak english, you

know. >> the little children come in to the school, they don't speak english at home. >> reporter: city officials estimate 10 to 15% of the town's hispanics are illegal but say if they stay out of trouble, nobody will bother them. the way they see it, let the federal government figure out who is legal and who is not. >> that is their responsibility, because they set the rules. i never ask that question nor do i care. >> reporter: what people do here care about is the future of the city and ulysses is attracting people who want to live here in part because they feel welcome. ted rolands. >> for nearly a month we asked you to weigh in on what makes us uniquely american. go to ireport.com. i am america is brought to you by ancestry.com.

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.

here are stories we're working on. 1:40 eastern, mitt romney will try to sell jobs message to ohio voters. at 2:00, ron paul speaks to republicans in jamestown, north dakota. at 3:00, newt gingrich talks at oral roberts university.

rick santorum hosts a rally in muskegon, michigan. today is presidents day. nasa is celebrating the 50th anniversary of john glenn's trip around the earth. do you remember this? >> god speed, john glenn. >> the former astronaut spoke how the first mission went. take a listen. >> one of the little thrusters stuck and was wasting fuel, so i cut that off and went to manual control, right then was able to control it okay, and keep the attitude i was supposed to have in orbit. >> john glenn may be 90 years old but says he remembers that mission like it was a week ago. coming up, suzanne malveaux, we're asking a ranking of the top five presidents and popular myths about the country's commander in chief. jeremy lin went from unknown

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com punches p punches inpunches? >> reporte>> reporter: ouch, t work. that is tough talk on the republican side. thp this this is what the from texas he made a comment, take a listen. >> this whole idea about talking about social issues who will pay

for birth control pills, i'm worried about the undermine our civil liberties, the wars, the debt of $16 trillion and they are worrying about birth control pills and here he wants to control people's social lives, at the same time he voted for planned parenthood. i don't see how anybody can get away with that inconsistency pretending he's a conservative. his voting record i think from viewpoint, atrocious, how liberal he has been in the things he has voted for. >> that is tough talk. we will hear what rick santorum has to say. newt gingrich is looking ahead to georgia, super tuesday state, crucial, take a listen what he says. >> it's very important for to us do well in georgia we'll go out to make sure we carry the state. i think as governor romney is discovering in michigan you can't take your home stateo