at the age of 87. her spokeswoman confirms she died this morning after she suffered a stroke. cnn has learned her funeral will be held at st. paul's cathedral in london. she will have full military honors. and she will be cremated privately. >> carol costello will continue to follow her death on cnn newsroom starting right now. happening now in the newsroom, showdown. the president connecticut bound pushing for new gun restrictions. >> every senator will get to vote on whether or not we should require background checks. >> but the philly bus it ter threat threat alive and well. also cuba controversy. beyonce, jay-z and an anniversary trip to havana. now two lawmakers want answers. plus tale of the tape.

the fbi zeroing in on rutgers and the man who gave the video to espn. and tonight's the night. louisville, michigan, from the georgia dome in atlanta, you're live in the cnn newsroom. good morning. thanks so much for being with us. we do begin with breaking news this morning out of britain. former british prime minister margaret thatcher has died. known as the iron lady, she was tough, unrelenting. and her staunch conservative you radios made her a natural ally of president ronald reagan. they were kindred spirits and is likely to evoke strong emotions then as now. becky anderson takes us back. >> reporter: she did it defiance. >> the lady is not returning. >> reporter: she did direct. >> no. no. no. >> reporter: and when she chose,

with femininity alongside the steel. >> where there is doubt, may we bring faith. and where there is despair, may we bring hope. >> reporter: her longest serving cabinet member remembers this way. >> her style was essentially a determination not to be driven off course. her phraseology there is no alternative demonstrated a clear determination to see tough policies through. >> margaret thatcher grew up here in a solid uncomplicated english market town. and the values that she learned here shaped her entire political ideology. her father, a pillar of the community, ran a corner shop. now a humble medicine store, a modest plaque on the wall is all that testifies to its small place in history. margaret roberts as she was born lived with her parents and sister above the family grocery shop.

she had the honor of serving as her school representative or head girl in her final year before she went up to oxford where she studied chemistry. but it was her father who was her biggest influence. it was he who impressed upon her wrongs as he saw it of living beyond your means, a lesson she took to heart. >> one of the most immoral things you can do is to pose as the moral politician demanding more for health, more for education, more for industry, more for housing, more for everything, then when you see the bill say, no, no, i didn't mean you to pay tax to pay for it, i meant you to borrow more. >> we had discontents, we had strikes. we really needed a strong leader. and that's what we got. >> reporter: for today's conservative ladies, margaret thatcher is a source of great pride.

>> she had such a wonderful code for life. you have certain rules and regulations in the way you conduct yourself. manners, this sort of thing. she was a great icon of those things. which i think are missing now. >> great britain became great again through margaret thatcher. >> divisive, though. because there are a lot of people who do not like having things taken away from them. and they don't like change. so she had a job to do and she did it. >> this prip seeking the common consent of the people of britain to work together for the prosperity that has eluded us for so long. >> reporter: mrs. thatcher's economic priority when she came to power was to squash the twin menace of trade union power and high inflation. the result was soaring unemployment. the leader ever the opposition through most of margaret thatcher's time in office accepts that change was needed,

but believes she was overzealous and misguided. >> you can't make an omelette without smashing eggs, but you don't have to break the shells by throwing them against the wall and mrs. thatcher was of the throwing them against the wall school. she actually believed or eventually persuaded herself to believe that there was a spurring galvanizing consequence of inequality which meant that inequality had to be tolerated and if necessary worsened in order to shape a new and more vital and vigorous economy and society. >> reporter: when the going got tough as it inevitably did over 11 years in office, her husband dennis, a successful businessman, and their two children, carol and mark, to rely on. she was always quick to pay tribute. >> i think it's critical for a person in this very grueling job to have total support of the kind which i received from one's family. and he's absolutely marvelous

both when we're doing the job of prime minister and doing the campaign. she's been terrific. >> i liked her. she irritated me like anything a lot of the time, but i liked her. >> the big thing about margaret thatcher is that she did what she believed was right. often in this day and age people say and do what they think they should do for popularity, but she did what she believed this country. >> reporter: while her record will likely remain contested as it surely does for all minull m plig figures, her passion for office and conviction what she believed was never in any doubt. >> no, i don't have a lot of time. but then this is the most absorbing job in the world. as most fascinating job in the world. and an immense privilege to do it. there are those who say our nation no longer has the stomach for the fight.

i think i know our people. and i know they do. >> reporter: becky anderson, cnn. christiane amanpour joins us from new york. i want to talk about margaret thatcher's legacy. what legacy does she leave? >> well, she was a really soaring towering public figure. you can see by that retrospective that becky and anderson just did. she was a cut from the old mold of really ferocious leaders. she believed fiercely in the power of britain even as the empire was sliding into the sunset. she believed fiercely in the conservative principle which is allied her very closely with ronald reagan at that time. she believed absolutely fiercely in the power of self over the power of community. once famously saying there is no such thing as society. she was very divisive in britain on the one happened, she raised

the middle class. it was under her prime ministership that the middle class rose.ss. it was under her prime ministership that the middle class rose.. it was under her prime ministership that the middle class rose.s. it was under her prime ministership that the middle class rose.ass. it was under her prime ministership that the middle class rose.middle class. it was under her prime ministership that the middle class rose. but huge unemployment, as well. and the poll tax was one of the last undoings domestically. but when it comes to foreign poll shall i, for instance, she did things that are still resonating and still important. whether it was having been called the iron lady by the soviet press back this 1976 because of a speech she had made condemning soviet aggression, then under her prime ministership and with ronald reagan, she was the one who introduced mikhail gorbachev to the west, having said i like mr. gorbachev, we can do business with him. she took that message toeagan ae saw the gradual dismantle

willing of the soviet empire. so that was huge. carol. >> america has long been fascinated with her. just a couple years ago that meryl streep starred in a movie about thatcher. of course she was called the iron lady. there is still doubt today that, you know, can a woman leading a country be strong enough. margaret thatcher did her part in combatting that idea, right? >> yeah, i think really of all the developed democracies, unfortunately it's only the united states who hasn't yet be able to get itself around to electing either a woman president or woman vice president. whether it's margaret thatcher who did it for britain 35 years ago or whether it's leaders from latin america now, obviously women can do it. and margaret thatcher perhaps crystallized the fact perhaps better than anyone that women are as tough.

look, she took britain to the falklands when the talk lands decided to try to take backtina back the falkland. and she had to do it even though the united states led by alexander hague preferred the u.s. back argentina. margaret thatcher was very disappointed about that. eventually will the americans did help, but it wasn't as public as she would have liked it. and she recaptured the fact llks islands. and she won a triumphant election after that. she also survived an ira bombing attack that one of the conservative party conferences. and further burnished her credentials as a survivor. and then in 1990 when saddam hussein first went on his adventures against the arab world and invaded kuwait and thus bringing the united states into this huge coalition to drive him out of kuwait, it was

margaret thatcher who along with then president bush the first really forged a very close relationship in deciding to stand up to saddam hussein, and in her own biography wrote that at one point she said to president bush, george, this is no time to go wobbly. we had to make sure the sanctions worknd and we had to make sure that saddam hussein's aggression was repelled. so in many of the things that she did, they remain very important issues right now. and almost templates in how to deal with a lot of the world issues that are going on right now. this england, great britain, her legacy is mixed. she's considered a very powerful person. even tony blair when he came into be prime minister in 1997, the labor prime minister, he openly talked about some of the benefits, some of the political prowess of margaret thatcher and some of the economic and world benefits that she had brought to britain. so even he had an admiration for

her. >> thanks so much. of course britain is grieving this morning. so let's head there now and check in with max foster. good morning, max. >> yeah, grieving is expressed in this country that the sort of level with the flag at buckingham palace flying at half-mast. my sources are telling me it's about to be brought down to that level. so officially in mourning. although this isn't going to be a state funeral we're told. it will be a ceremonial funeral, so if you think of diana's funeral, that wasn't a state funeral. but it did have many of the hallmarks. there were some military involvement in diana's and there will be on this. but there will be huge crowds and a big national occasion. so close to a state funeral as you can probably get. also we're starting to to get the responses there around the world on this. and senior figures. david cameron the current prime minister of the same party talking about his sadness and also the president of the european commission, president

barroso, talking about margaret thatcher being a great state's woman. and henry kissinger telling me he saw her as a great leader. but you heard talking about how she has a mixed legacy, mixed feelings in the uk. she was a divisive figure and her archenemy in politics you could argue is jerry adams from northern ireland. they were at battle politically and some would say militarily, as we also. he issued a statement saying margaret thatcher did great hurt to the irish and british people during her time as prime minister. working class communities were devastated because of her policies. you could argue that's truth. and her role in international affairs was equally belligerent, whether in support of the chilean dictator. her oppositions to sanctions. so a divisive figure. >> max fos foster reporting liv

from london. time to check on other top stories. north korea about to sus spend operations and pull all of its warninging from an industrial complex it operates with south korea. yeonpyeong has barred workers from sbiring tentering the area. it was the last major symbol of cooperation. the north might conduct a missile test this week. . two republican lawmaker want an investigation into jay-z and beyonce's recent trip cuba to celebrate their fifth anniversary. they are 00 both from florida and say the superstar couple may have violated long standing travel restrictions. the man who brought the rutgers scandal to light is now under viewed any himself by the fbip eric murdoch is being vets

gated for possible extortion. that's according to the "new york times". at issue, a letter murdock reportedly sent to the university demanding close to a million dollars to settle a wrongful termination claim. now let's talk politics and shift gears and head on to washington. congress does return to work today and the senate is bracing for a showdown over gun control. today the white house begins ramping up the pressure. the president makes his case in hartford, connecticut. not very far from the grade school where a gun man killed 26 children and adults. the tragedy inspired tough new laws in the state of connecticut and the grief-stricken families are calling on on congress to do the same. >> we didn't get to move on. we don't have the benefit of turning the page to another piece of legislation and having another debate and then playing mole ticks the same way we've been doing. we don't have that benefit. we'll live with this for the rest of our lives. >> for many of us coming up to the four month anniversary,

we're only just starting to find our voices and to be able to come out of that initial state of shock to be able to do something actively ourselves. so we are not going anywhere. we are gaining momentum now to prepare for this marathon. >> this is a life long pursuit for all of you? >> yes. >> a life long mission for the families. a week long blitz by the white house. cnn's brianna keilar looks at the obama offensive which of course as i said kicking off today in connecticut. >> reporter: the president is heading to connecticut where the governor just signed some of the nation's toughest gun laws requiring universal background checks and imposing limits on the number of bullets in a magazine. speaking not far from the scene of the newtown shootings, he'll again say lawmakers in washington have an obligation to the 20 children killed there. >> every senator will get to vote on whether or not we should require background checks for

anyone who wants to purchase a gun. >> reporter: but despite polls showing 90% of americans support universal background checks, even getting that vote is increasingly uncertain. republican senator rand paul is leading a growing group of republicans threaten to go block any vote. a total of 13 now signing on to this letter to senate democratic leader harry reid. saying in you new gun restrictions would violate the second amendment. >> they deserve a simple vote. they deserve a simple vote. >> reporter: white house officials respond by saying every member of congress applauded the president's call for a vote at the state of the union with newtown families looking on. but officials won't say whether the president would sign a watered down bill without background checks. >> not going to make any predictions, but we'll try to get the stroeks bill we can. >> reporter: now, so far, carol,

democrats in the senate have been pinning their hopes on discussions between west virginia democrat joe manchin and oklahoma republican tom coburn, they been trying to work out some sort of compromise on a provision that would love the background checks. very been able to do so so far. so you now a new dialogue with pennsylvania republican pat toomey and the hopes they can perhaps strike a deal. democrats say they're hopeful that something is there, but at the same time, they admit this isn't a done deal and it also could still fall apart. >> it certainly could. brianna keilar live from the white house. and to illustrate just how uncertain, there is a filibuster being threatened. >> i don't understand it. the purpose of the united states senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where

we stand. >> so you'd in-couraencourage r >> i don't understand if. what are we afraid of? >> today a letter will be delivered to the senate majority leader harry reid about that filibuster. also president obama will talk about reducing gun violence tonight at 5:45 eastern time. he'll be speaking at the university of hartford. of course we'll bring you some of his comments live. just ahead in the newsroom, to many margaret thatcher is more than the british prime minister. she's one of the famous characters played by oscar winner meryl streep. david gergen will join us next on america's fascination with margaret thatcher.

breaking news this morning. former prime minister margaret thatcher has died. the british prime minister was 87 years old. it's believed she died from a stroke. now, younger americans know about margaret thatcher, not from her role so much as the british prime minister, but how she was portrayed in the movie the iron lady. >> we will stand on principle or well not stand at all. >> were margaret, with all due respect, when one has been to war -- >> with all due respect, sir, i have done battle every single day of my life. and many men have underestimated me before. >> cnn's senior political analyst david gergen joins me thousand. she really, meryl streep i'm talking about, captured margaret thatcher's personality. i mean, she wasn't a tough lady. >> reporter: she was a tough lady. she wrote famously back in 1975

that if you want something said in politics, ask a man. if you want something done, ask a woman. and she lived up to that. first woman prime minister, most influential british prime minister since winston churchill. a figure who had enormous popularity here in the united states. i was working for president reagan when the two of them became such strong partners. and i saw them together more than once in private meetings. and she was always -- they were equals in everything on policy and when it came to the personal, she was much younger and she always looked after him. she sort of helped him along in a variety of ways. and he just thought the world of her. and she was very popular here. she of course came to power by unseating the leader of her party. and she left power by when she was unseated. you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

>> as far as her relationship with president reagan and great britain's not a big country, right? not a political super power, not a military super power. why did president reagan latch on to margaret thatcher? >> they latched on to each other in fairness. and that was because she was a spell low c fellow conservativconservative. typically conservative its before her in britain has v. been more modern. the welfare state was born in conserve tip hands.v v. been more modern. the welfare state was born in conserve tip hands.e v. been more modern. the welfare state was born in conserve tip hands.v. been more modern. the welfare state was born in conserve tip hands.. been more modern. the welfare state was born in conserve tip hands. been more modern. the welfare state was born in conserve tip hands. she tried to reverse the vel fair state. she wanted to roll back spending and she had a great influence in rolling back the power of unions. she wanted to denationalize the union at that time owned a lot of industries in effect in britain. she wanted to turn to the free market. and in that sense she was a soul mate for president reagan. the striking thing was they were both strong anti-soviet anti-communists throughout their

careers, but they both came to realize that they could do business with mikhail fosh gorbachev. in many ways it was the beginning of the end along with gorbachev. gorbachev had enormous influence over it. but dismantling the fall of the soviet empire came toward the end of the reagan/thatcher years and they were very important forces in that. >> david gergen, thanks so much. we appreciate it. talk back question for you today, should americans be allowed to travel freely cuba? you heard about beyonce and jay-z going there on their fifth anniversary. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients.

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havana. thing is, they possibly violated the ban on travel will. now anti-castro lawmakers are demanding an investigation. in a letter to treasury officials, they said despite the clear prohibition against tourism in cuba, numerous press reports describe the couple's trip as tourism. cuba was one america's playground, but after castro took power in 1959, americans have been banned from spending money there with very few exceptions. no problem visiting north korea or iran. all you need there in those countries are a rvisa. is castro worth than kim junk kim jong-un? as sanchez points out, the ban on american tourism simply gives castro an excuse to blame the country's problems on the united states.

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or iran. travel freely cuba?

stories we're watching in the newsroom, wall street hoping for a rebound as the opening bell sounds. investors are waiting on corporate earnings. alcoa will announce first quarter results after today's closing bell. former british prime minister margaret thatcher has died. she suffered a stroke. known as the iron lady, she was the worst woman to become britain's he prime minister. the man who holds the job now says we have lost a great leader and a great britain.e prime min. the man who holds the job now

says we have lost a great leader and a great britain. prime mini. the man who holds the job now says we have lost a great leader and a great britain.prime minis. the man who holds the job now says we have lost a great leader and a great britain. >> her legacy is that she saved our country and showed immense courage in doing so. people will be learning about what she did and her achievements in decades probably centuries to come. that's her legacy. >> lady thatcher was 87 years old. police are looking for a man who once held hostages at a hillary clinton campaign office in 2007. leland eisenberg apparently escaped from a halfway house in new hampshire. he has a history of mental illness but is not considered armed or dangerous. to politics now in rutgers university. yes, it's political now. new jersey governor chris christie will take part in a public event later this morning and he may well talk about rutgers and calls for its president robert barchi to step down. as you well know, rutgers is a twisted sad mess. its coach fired, its athletic director gone. and now the man who turned over the incriminating tape is under

investigation by the fbi. accused of extortion. that's according to the "new york times". christie has reached ought to know notre dame's coach. >> my phone rang two days ago at 8:00 in the morning. he was finally on his first family vacation after going through all of that, and he goes i need to talk to you. i just got some video. he's a good friend. >> what did you tell him? >> you know what, what he said, he said here's how i think this needs to be addressed. i listened. i said you're right on. any logical person would say you have a mess to clean up there. and obviously they're doing. >> doesn't the president have to go, though, too? >> i wonder. i wonder if he need it is stay there and-to-help kind of clean the whole thing up. >> clean the whole thing up. is that even possible. so let's talk about that. with me lz granderson and will

cain. welcome to you both. >> good morning. >> let's start simple, shall we? should the rutgers president be fired, lz? >> yes. >> that's simple. >> i'm not sure why he's still there. this notion of him stay to go clean up a mess, he's the reason the mess has festered and got to the point that it has. so, yes, he should are resigned. >> will, do you agree? >> i do. i guess i'm not capable of quite the amount of certainty that lz just gave you. here is the deal. one of the amazing questions is how did this rutgers scandal made takes take size into this national issue. i played college athletics. lz is around athletics a lot. what you see in this rutgers tape is unique, is bad, but not as unique as you might want to think. and there are gray lines where coaching is not necessarily -- it's not a hand holding exercise. the point is to say this, none

of that makes the rutgers thing right. and mike rice had to go. but how did that go from, you know, a scandal, a localized scandal at rutgers or in the immediate area to this issue that's on cnn and the chris christie -- >> because the video was so egregious. how could anyone look at that and not immediately fire the coach? >> so here is the deal, carol. the problem is i just told you, lz may disagree, i've been behind the wall, i never had a coach like this, but i also know this video meaning so much, you've never seen anything close to this. so the point i'm making is is this. how did this get so big? how did this become such a national issue? and the answer to that question will sooner or later land at the school president's doorstep in which case the answer to your question is, yes, he's going to have to go. >> i don't know if will is asking this question to be on contrarian. i don't know if he's doing it because he just likes to see people get upset. but will is a very intelligent person, so i'm sure he knows why bullying especially bullying and

then covering up the bullying that the level is a national story. especially given the university, the same university that had to deal with the tyler clementi suicide and highly publicized court trial subsequent to that and all the things put in place in the state of new jersey following that suicide. >> all of that is true. but what you have to be able to do -- >> he's just being a contrarian. >> it's an exercise in when will we ever learn. >> i have to admin contrarianism is an instinct all aspect of mine, but here's the deal. you have to be able to hold two thoughts in your head at the same time. what i'm telling is you that this situation is not excusable, but don't be as so naive to thi it's absolutely this complete outlier. i'm telling you there are aspects of coaching that may not get to where this one did it, but the lines get blurred and things like tim pernetti's position in this, i'll guarantee you he was operating in a gray area that right now you're not. >> what exactly are you saying,

that this is kind of normal coach behavior that kind of -- >> no. >> what are you saying? why shouldn't we talk about this as a nation? these kids were being abused. >> they were being abused? how can -- >> wait lz. being abused. do you doubt -- wait. wait. >> this is inappropriate coaching. it's inappropriate coaching. it's offensive. but if you're going to lump this under these kids were being abused, then i have a question for you. why did none of those kids think they were being abused? >> lz, do you want to take that one? >> yes, i will. first of all, let me say that what will is saying in general is probably true. that this particular -- >> thank you. there's at least a concession for an intelligent conversation. >> he's not unique in the tactics. we have a problem with that. we have a problem with bullying among coaches. we have a problem with them

using made sonlg miss tick and homophobic slurs to motivate players. so we're asking ourselves did we need to being made sonlg miss tick and homophobic inned order to motivate athletes. why didn't these players feel as if they were being abused? because sometimes when you're brought up in an abusive environment, you can't see the forest from the trees. they didn't know because they probably have been through a system where they continually have been facing a coach or atmosphere that was very abusive like this, so they didn't know any other way. our job as a society is to help clean this mess up. not say, well, that's the way things are, but to say that's the way things have been, but that's not the most effective way, the most productive way. >> all good points. >> before you go on, will, and i had like to make one more point about these players who didn't complain. they were under complete control of this coach. if they want to play in the

game, they have to do what he says. do you really think that a basketball player in college will run to someone a and complain about this type of behavior when he wants to play basketball and this is the only way out of maybe poverty for him or -- >> there is a 52 page report is says they interviewed former players and players that transferred. you asked me what is my point. what i'm telling is you this. and this is the point of holding two thoughts in your head. this is inappropriate coaching. these are just -- better individuals, better coaches. this is not a defense of mike rice, but to stand now months later with moral outrage so clear requires someone to at slooes s least a it wasn't so clear at the time. let me point out that rutgers was in the midst of joining the big east. so i'm not telling you the president of the united states was call in a horl gray area.

i'm telling our moral outrage should be somewhat questioned and there might be conflicting interests. >> i think governor christie will speak at 11:30. thanks for the interesting conversation. and there might be conflicting oh, hi thehey!ill. are you in town for another meeting? yup, i brought my a-team. business trips add up to family time. this is my family. this is joe. hi joe! hi there! earn a ton of extra hhonors points with the daily grand promotion and feel the hamptonality. she can't always move the way she wants.

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♪ wake me up before you go girl, don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo ♪ ♪ wake me up before you go go, i don't want to miss it when you hit that high ♪ >> doesn't that bring you back to the day? of course that was george michael and wham back in 1984. some remember the '80s for the big hair, the neon clothes, pop music and saturday morning cartoons, but it was technology that boomed. personal computers, cds, vcr and game comsoles.

national geographic has taken us back to the future. take a look at part of the three part series. >> super mario almost personally invents the concept of handheld gaming. by making things like electronics and cars smaller, japan was getting bigger. its economy was booming. >> the transiter, micro chip, a lot of things that had once been only accessible to big corporations became personal things. >> the most personal of all, the sony walkman. >> i had one of those. david is joining me to talk all things '80s. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> i can't wait to watch because of course i came of abage in th.

and i'm both e78 bear rased by the time and proud of the time. do a lot of people who came of age in the '80s feel that way? >> i certainly think so. when i wrote my book about the 1980s, the intro is about how my brothers and i still talk in the vernacular of the 1980s. that people still know the movie quotes from the 1980s. still know the tv shows from the 1980s. and can actually -- it's become a die a elect that we can converse if. and what's incredible is that it's still relevant today and even 30 plus years later. >> pink floyd wasn't the '80s. get out of here. >> right. >> we're talking about madonna, right? >> right. >> and wham. i wanted to ask you, though, the '80s were known as the decade of agreed. how different from the millennial generation. my goal was to makes a much money as i could. >> and that was a huge change in

the 1980s. to know it mama made an impact is it look at what chankd. in the beginning, there was a survey of college fresh men asking why they were going to school and the largest answer on that was i want to educate myself and learn about how to essentially be a citizen of the world. by the end of the '80s, the top answer among college fresh men was i want to make more money. i'm going to school to make more money. and it stay that had way ever since. and so part of what the '80s taught an entire generation was not just focus on the me, but focusing on the me is good. and you see that in the movie wall street obviously agreed gr good. but think what nike, just do it, and the focus on the individual just doing it. that still sticks with us today. >> and you say that the day that margaret thatcher died, the british prime minister, she was

all about giving power to the individual. she was very much a woman of the '80s. >> that's exactly right. and margaret thatcher and ronald reagan who constantly defines or politics today, one of the questions that i think the national geographic documentary asks is why do these people still dominate our culture and politics years and years later. and it's about they had such an impact. i would argue to you that in a certain sense, we are still living in a 1980s world. it may be 2013, but this is still the '80s in a lot of ways. >> i know. look at my blouse. >> i didn't think about it that way. >> yes, one more example. david, really fun. thanks so much. >> thank you for having me. >> you can catch the '80s, the decade that made us, beginning april 14th on nat geo.

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you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. time to check top stories. workers have found the bodies of two small children buried alive in a home under construction in north carolina. crews had been digging since last night. they were hoping to find those kids alive. the two children are cousins. the 6-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy were buried when a wall of dirt collapsed on top of them. while most of the country enjoys beautiful spring weather today, parts of colorado are bracing for blizzard conditions. severe storms ramping up all the way from texas to arkansas and

snow will start to fall in denver tonight with accumulations anywhere from 6 inches to a foot. blizzard warnings and watches already posted. roger ebert will be laid to rest to rest this morning. the pulitzer prize winner writer died after a long battle with cancer. there will be a public memorial later this week. the country grammys, yes, the academy of country music awards handed out in las vegas last night. co-host luke brian won a big, big award. taylor swift, jason, blake shelton, and miranda lambert. lambert, however, won three honors, including female artist of the year, plus song and record of the year. top question for you today, should americans be allowed travel freely to cuba? your responses next.

talk back question today. should americans be allowed travel freely to cuba? steve says, yes, that's called freedom. permanently i wouldn't go there and support a dictatorship, but who is our government to say where we may or may not go?

law is law. if i speed, i get a ticket. these two, beyonce and jayz should be no different. this from ed. the largest communist nation on the planet, which is filled with toxic materials, yet, we won't do business with cuba? how does that make any sense? this from camelia. absolutely. everyone goes to cuba on vacation, except for americans. best beaches in the caribbean. keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carol cnn or tweet me at carol cnn. >> it is a moment a young nebraska husker fan -- huskers fan won't soon forget. how he ended up with a 69-yard touchdown and the biggest play of the cool's spring game. would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients.

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>> no 340r bracket busting or no more madness. tonight we crown the college basketball champion. jared greenburg has more on this morning's bleacher report. >> good morning, carol. the emotional roller coaster that is the ncaa tournament is nearly over. in the case of my bracket, i never even got started. 345 schools set out on a mission. tonight either michigan or louisville will be cutting down the net, and special arrangements are supposed to be made tore kevin ware should louisville win. a week after his horrific injury, ware watched courtside as the cardinals advance to the title game. a victory tonight, rick pat eveno will be the first coach to ever guide two different programs to a national

championship. before the game even tips, patino is rumored to be elected to the basketball hall of fame. michigan has the national player of the year. trey burke and the wrovl reasons got past syracuse. the maze and blue haven't been in the national championship game in nearly 20 years, and she haven't won it all since 1989. we have a preview of tonight's game. here it is. carol, not a minute before or after at exactly 9:23 p.m. eastern time, which means you have to stay up late for the conclusion of the game. it will be louisville and michigan in the 5th ncaa men's national championship game. we are not done saying the town louisville. hopefully everybody in kentucky is excited with the way i'm saying it. the ladies hold the shocker last night. tuesday the cardinals play yukon or the women's national championship game. really who is getting any worse done these days in lieu ville. the video of the weekend comes

to us from nebraska. spring football has never meant as much. a 7-year-old boy battling brain cancer got the opportunity of a lifetime. during the nebraska inter-squad image, he took a handoff and raised 69 yards rsh look at him go. a feeling he could only describe as awesome. a crowd of more than 60,000 cheered him on, and the entire nebraska football team stormed on to the field gathered around him and then hoisted him up on their shoulders. at least for one day this makes the huskers team jack. >> you know, it was pretty special. i mean, it was very special, and, you know, i told coach and all these coaches, you know, they've given jack so many once in a lifetime opportunities, and to just have another one of those once in a lifetime opportunities i think speaks volumes about the coach and what kind of program that he has. >> just a tremendous job by the university of nebraska and for all of us that cover sports on a regular basis, it is a great relief to finally be talking

about something positive on the college level. good job by nebraska. >> absolutely. i second that. thanks very much, jared. the next hour of cnn newsroom starts now. breaking news right now. former british frm margaret thatcher has died after suffering a stroke. we're live in london with reaction. and the gun control debates in the united states gets personal. >> wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus. they get the most attention, and that's what he is paid to do. >> the nra under fire as president obama meets with sandy hook families to amp up pressure to pass new federal gun laws. and smoking pot for a living and writing about it. we'll talk to america's very first marijuana critic. plus, report cards are out for the airlines. the best and worst of 2012. you're live in the cnn newsroom.

good morning. thank you so much for being with me. i'm carol costello. we do begin with breaking news. sad news out of britain. the former british prime minister margaret thatcher has died, known as the iron lady. thatcher was tough and uncompromising. her staunch conservative views made her a natural ally of president ronald reagan. they were kindred spirits believing in smaller government and tough enterprise. we heard from david cameron, the man who now serves as -- >> is he she saved our country, and she showed immense courage in doing so, and people will be learning about what she did and her achievements in decades, probably centuries to come. that's her legacy, but today we must also think of her family. >> thatcher, much like reagan, is likely to invoke strong emotions now as then. cnn's dan rivers looks back at thatcher's bold and controversial leadership.

>> reporter: this is how many will remember margaret hatcher. the iron lady. as the u.k.'s first female party leader and prime minister, margaret thatcher was one of the dominant figures of the 20th century. a politician who helped to mold parties other than her own. from a modest background as a grocer's daughter, she became immortalized in stone. she was easy to characterure, hated by some, reveered by others. she did win three elections in a row. before that much esh, under a labor government, came the widespread strikes of the winter of discontent. >> many people in britain in 199 felt this country was probably ungovernable. they doubted whether margaret thatcher could govern it. indeed, i suspect there was a lot of people who felt she might make it worse. >> reporter: but she faced up to

union leaders like arthur skargill and his minors. >> who came on tloo & through sheer force of will she changed the economic and political changes of such moments that we are still feeling their effects today 25 years on. >> reporter: public housing was sold to tenants. state industries were privatized. the drive left an imprint not just on her own conservatives, but on all of britain's parties, forcing tony blair's new labour party to tack right to become electable. she was unchanging when accused of lacking compassion. >> i will not change just to court popularity. >> reporter: thatcher restored britain's cloudy clout in world affairs making a pal of her idealogical soul mate ronald reagan, and insisting mikhail gorbachev was a man with whom the west could do business, but

if she relished the wide international scene, she never much cared to see britain getting closer to europe. >> we have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in britain. only to see them reimposed at the european level. >> reporter: she was told it was impossible to win a reduction in britain's contribution to the european common market finances. she handbaged her fellow european leaders medical they gave her a rebate. she famously insisted on fighting a military campaign 8,000 miles from home to win back the faulkland islands invaded by argentina, a conflict which cost 250 british lives, but which cemented her reputation. >> no longer the set man of europe -- >> she never cracked the problems of northern ireland, although, again, she showed courage when the ira blew up the conservative's conference hotel. in the end her strident style and the casualty ray rate in her

cabinets left her short of friends when it mattered. trouble came with her plans for local council finances. a flat rate tax that would have forced a duke and a dutchmen to pay the same provoked riots in the streets. her colleagues were alarmed too by the growing viahmence. >> he wanted the council of ministers to be the senate. no. no. no. >> reporter: in 1990 her own mp's began to doubt she could lead them to another victory. she was challenged for the party leadership and withdrew from the contest. mortally wounded after her cabinet advised her it was all over. >> we're very happy that we leave united kingdom in a very, very much better state than when we came here 11 1/2 years ago. >> reporter: as her car left downing street for the last time, she wept, but it wasn't

long before she came barroness serving in the house of lords. though this was the end of her time as a frontline politician, her influence and opinion still counted for years. her appearance became rarer as her health deteriorated. she was too frail to attend the wedding of prince william and kate middleton, but she did manage to get back to that famous doorstep one last time. okay. let's get the view from london now because obviously britain is grieving. richard quest is outside the prime minister's residence at 10 downing street. tell us more, richard. >> reporter: good morning from downing street. this was the home where margaret thatcher lived and worked for those 11 1/2 years as prime minister where those great policies that she brought in of privatization, free market enterprise, the faulklands war,

that special relationship with ronald reagan and united states. they were all led at least from the british side from this address, and today britains very similar to when ronald reagan passed away, they will be assessing those monumental changes that took place in those crucial years of the 1980s. on both sides of the atlantic, economic reforms introduced that pretty much steered the ships of state for many years thereafter. perhaps the big difference, carol, in britain margaret thatcher was a much greater diverse and decisive and in much more controversial figure right up until the death. >> as far as how britain will honor her, whether it be a memorial service or where will the funeral be? >> reporter: well, that has been

an issue of debate for many years. on the one hand there are those who believe it should have been a full state funeral. there are others reflecting the controversy of thatcher that said absolutely not. so what they've decided to do is go for a ceremonial funeral. it will be held in st. paul's cathedral, and i'm told it will look very similar to that which was held for diana princess of wales. we'll have full military honors. there will be bangs. there will be the -- all the state occasions, but she won't lie in state. nor will there be that extra, if you like, trimming that goes with a full state funeral. a ceremonial -- for all intents and purposes, you and i will not be able to tell the difference. it will be a very large, very ceremonial event right through the streets of the center of london. >> richard quest reporting live from london this morning. let's head back home to washington now and the fight over gun control.

republicans and democrats may be close to an impasse over background checks. 91% of the american people favor background checks, but there are hints a deal could be -- and i stress could be -- possible after a work among fellow senators like the conservative pat toomey and conservative democrat joe manchin. >> i am hopeful that we can get something on background checks. 90% of america is for background checks. senator manchin and kirk are shopping some ideas that might modify my background check provision that's in the base bill. i'm certainly open to those ideas provided it doesn't impair the effectiveness of the bill, and i don't think either of them want to impair the effectiveness. >> but then we hear the dreaded f-word as in filibuster. 13 republicans are threatening to do just that. something fellow republican john mccain has now spoken out against. >> i don't understand it. the purpose the united states

senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand. >> so you have encouraged republicans -- >> i would not only encourage it. i don't understand it. what are we afraid of? >> white house correspondent dan lothian joins us now from hartford, connecticut. what are they afraid of? >> reporter: well, you know, there's concern when you listen to the nra and others, they are concerned that you have universal background checks that this could lead to some kind of national registry, and they're really concerned about their second amendment rights, and so that's why there continues to be a lot of resistance to these gun proposals, but nonetheless, the president, again, keeping that heat on congress. by this trip here to connecticut following on the trip to colorado recently the president, we're told, will be very emotional in his remarks today which, we're told, expected to last about 20 minutes or so. he will talk about the role that the newtown families have played

in pushing for tougher gun restrictions here in the state of connecticut. you might recall that just last week this state put into place tough restrictions, universal background checks, also limiting the amount of bullets that can be in a clip, to ten, that's been very controversial in this state, but nonetheless, it has been put in place, and, you know, we heard over the weekend from the governor of this state who was really having some tough words for wayne la pierre of the nra on cnn's state of the union. take a listen. >> wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus. they get the most attention, and that's what he is paid to do. but the reality is that the gun that was used to kill 26 people on december 14th was legally purchased in the state of connecticut even though we had an assault weapons ban, but, you know, there were loopholes in it that you could drive a truck

through. >> we're told by white house officials that the president today will say that members of congress have an obligation to all those who died here in newtown and also all the other americans who have died in mass shootings to make some movement on these gun proposals, and it's not just the president alone doing this push. tomorrow the vice president will be in washington meeting with law enforcement officials on this issue. the first lady will be headed to chicago, a place that's just been hit hard over the last few years by gun violence. she will be talking on this issue as well, so a big push by the administration this week to try to put pressure on congress to act. >> dan lothian reporting live from hartford, connecticut, this morning. 12 minutes past the hour. time to check our other top stories. north korea about to suspend operations and pull all of its workers from an industrial complex that it jointly operates with south korea. pyongyang has barred south korean workers from entering that area. the complex has been viewed as the last major symbol of cooperation between the north and south.

seoul has warned that the north might conduct a missile test as well this week. the bodies of two small children buried at a home you should construction in north carolina have now been found. crews have been digging often with their bare hands trying to find these kids alive. they've been doing that since last night. the two kids are cousins. the 6-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy were buried when a wall of dirt collapsed on top of them. >> we've been working a horrific scene here at this location for -- since 6:00 yesterday afternoon. that situation has now come to a close. the two young children's bodies have been recovered from the pit in which they were at. the man who brought the rutgers scandal to light is now under scrutiny by the fbi. former assistant eric murdock who reveesd a video of mike rice verbally and physically abusing players is now being

investigated for possible extortion. that's according to the "new york times". at issue a letter murdock reportedly sent to the university demanding close to $1 million to settle a wrongful termination claim. march madness ends tonight with the louisville cardinals and the wolverines becoming college basketball's national champion. louisville had that come from behind win over wichita state on saturday, while michigan took compare of syracuse to advance from the other semifinal game. tip jop for tonight's final set for 9:20 eastern at the georgia dome in atlanta. there's a new critic out there, and he is not raiding restaurants or movies. he is rating marijuana. we'll introduce you to america's first pot critic next. the american dream is of a better future,

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i'm actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. that pork chop was great. no more fast food friday's. we're going to go to red lobster... [ male announcer ] come try our new menu and sea food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99! salad, sandwiches and more. it is something unimaginable. even five years ago. a pot creditic, a guy who smokes marijuana and then critiques it. he is america's first medical marijuana critic and, yes, he works in colorado. william reese, not his real name, also writes a column called toke of the town.

there's a reason. he wants to remain anonymous so he can be impartial. that's also why we can only interview mr. breese by phone. william, good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me on. >> explain more about why you don't want to be identified in any way. >> well, like restaurant critics remain anonymous. they can go in and book a reservation under a fake name and pay with cash and sort of get away with that. i have to write you should a fake name to keep my identity hidden for the same reason except when i walk into a shop, i have to show my state-issued id and my medical marijuana card which has my real name on it. this is a way for me to sort of keep things objective and fair. >> keep that element of surprise. so you go into these dispensaries. how does it work? i mean, you just -- just explain. >> no. you know, it's really i walk in, and in just trying to be very observant as to what's going on in the dispensary.

you know, i try and spend a bit of time in my reviews describing the dispensary ichts. there's a wide range of these places, and, you know, my goal is to help people find a place that they can feel comfortable going into. there's a wide range of marijuana patients, so maybe some of the more urban, younger dispensaries aren't going to be right for older patients, whereas some of the more professional doctored up kind of places aren't going to be right for a younger patient. i try and look at that. then i usually get back into the dispensary area, check out what they've got on the shelf as far as medical cannibus goes and try to bring home two or three strains to review for the week. >> so are different strands better for different medical conditions? >> yes. they are. so generally speaking, you've got the two broad ends of the spectr spectrum, and then everything in between is hybrids of that. some are really good for, you

know, getting you up, waking up, maybe getting your appetite going. whereas other strains maybe will relax you a bit more, but also help with pain relief and things like that. >> you know what people want me to ask you. how can you -- how can you judge marijuana when you are high? you have to smoke it. >> well, you know, i think it's -- you know, there's several answers to that. i think, you know, wine critics don't necessarily get really drunk when they drink wine and sample it. i try and do the same. a lot of this is based on, you know, flavors and smells as well. and how well things clean. then, of course, yeah, the effects are a big part of it, but i tend to write about that afterwards after i've had some time to sort of sit and compress and think about that type of stuff. >> as far as recreational marijuana because that's legal in colorado too, do you rate that kind of pot too? >> unfortunately, not yet. the colorado legislature is ironing out actually this week what that recreational industry

could look like and our legislature will vote on it hopefully by the end of may, and at that point we might start seeing medical -- or excuse me, recreational dispensaries start popping up. currently right now there's no place for me to legally buy recreational marijuana, so we're saving those reviews for when we can. >> i understand. william breese, thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you so much for having me. i appreciate it. >> 21 minutes past the hour. time to check some of the other top stories. well known film critic roger ebert will be laid to rest this morning. the pulitzer prize winning writer died thursday following a long battle with cancer. ebert's funeral will be open to the public. anybody can come. there will also be a public memorial later this week. the man who once held hostages at a hillary clinton campaign office in 2007 is back in custody this morning. leland eisenburg escaped from a halfway house in, and he was

caught and will be in court later today. immigration reform tops the jaebd. they are said to come close to a deal. it calls for undocumented workers to get their green cards in ten years. three more to earn citizenship. senators say securing the border must come first. while most of the country enjoys beautiful spring weather today, parts of colorado bracing for blizzard conditions. severe storms ramping up all the way from texas to arkansas and snow will start to fall in denver tonight with accumulations anywhere from six inches to a foot. blizzard warnings and watches already posted. should americans be allowed to travel freely to cuba? facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me at carol cnn. [ male announcer ] if she keeps serving up sneezes...

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of

the day. should americans be allowed to travel freely to cuba? >> hip-hop royalty kicking back on the beach in cuba. there they are. beyonce and jayzee celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. the thing is they possibly violated the ban on travel there. now anti-castro lawmakers are demanding an investigation. in a letter to treasury officials they said "despite the clear prohibition against tourism in cuba, numerous press reports describe the couple's trip as tourism, and the castro regime touted it as such in its propaganda." cuba was once america's play ground, but after castro took power in 1959 americans have been banned from spending money there with very few exceptions. no problem, though, visiting north korea or iran. all you need to visit those countries is a visa. so what's with cuba? is fidel castro worse than kim jong un? as jeff tweeted.

so beyonce and jay-sdwl are in cuba. fine by me. every american should have the right to travel there. as influential cuban dissident points out, the ban on american tourism simply gives castro an excuse to blame the country's problems on the united states. the talk back question for you today, should americans be allowed to travel freely to cuba? facebook.com/carolcnn, facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me at carolcnn. ♪ [ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective... so trusted... so clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand? neutrogena®. recommended by dermatologists 2 times more than any other brand. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments.

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the tragedy inspired tough new laws in connecticut, and grief-stricken families from newtown are calling on congress, the federal congress, to act. and condolences pouring in from all around the world following the death of former prime minister margaret thatcher. known as the iron lady for her personal and political toughness, thatcher was the only woman to become the british prime minister. president obama said thatcher was an example to our daughters. that there is no glass ceiling that cannot be shattered. as prime minister she helped restore the confidence and pride that has always been the hallmark of britain at its best." margaret thatcher does leave behind quite a legacy. ted bromand is the senior research fellow at the heritage foundation. he now joins me from washington. good morning. >> good morning. >> margaret thatcher, such a defining personality. in 2011 an american movie was made about margaret thatcher. why does she resonate with americans? >> i think she resonates with americans, in part, because she

had such tremendous affection for united states. she really thought of the united states as the yates, the most important nation in the world, and she wasn't afraid to say that to americans, to brits, and the people all around the world. of course, she was a british patriot, but she loved this country, and americans naturally love a foreign leader who loves them back. >> that is true. she and ronald reagan were great friends. what attracted the two? >> i think they had underneath very similar goals and very similar personalities in many ways. reagan started off his life as a democrat, rose through the ranks in california, and showed tremendous toughness, tremendous mrekt courage ultimately in reaching the presidents of the united states. margaret thatcher showed similarly very great conviction, great courage in rising through the british political system as a woman at a time when that was very unusual to become prime minister. they both reached office within

a year of each other at a time when the west, in general, and conservativism inspect particular seemed to be on the defensive, and they recognized each other as soul mates in that fight. >> and it's interesting that margaret thatcher and ronald rairg continue to this day to be symbols for the conservative party in this country for conservative republicans. what draws -- well, we know ronald reagan, right? you know, smaller government less powerful labor unions. margaret thatcher was for all of those things. >> absolutely. they stood for many of the same things as ronald reagan stood for in the united states. of course, she worked in a different country in a different system, but nonetheless, you could see the lessons transferring from one country to the other. they both opposed the soviet union. they both fought the cold war. they both recognized gorbachev as a man, as lady thatcher said, that we could do business with. at home they wanted smaller government, lower taxation, and greater liberty for the individual, and, of course, they recognized each other as friends

and comrades and wrote and met with each other frequently. it's quite natural that conservatism in the u.s. see margaret thatcher as a great ally and friend of theirs. >> what will her legacy be? >> i think her legacy will be the greatest prime minister of the 20th century apart from winston churchill. a great leader of britain. a great leader of the western world at a time when the west was in really a terrible situation with terrible economy facing a rising soviet union, and at home a restorer of britain to a great position in the world, and ultimately a reformer in britain and a friend for ronald reagan and conservatives and liberty around the world. >> ted bromand, many thanks. we appreciate it. still ahead, as congress comes back to work, president obama meets with victims of the sandy hook shootings. can he get a deal on gun control? the humble back seat.

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to the politics of guns now. president obama in a last ditch effort is on his way to connecticut. he will talk about the kids who died at sandy hook and the obligation we all have to prevent such tragedies. in the meantime, 13 republican senators promised to filibuster any gun control proposal. something republican senator john mccain finds curious. >> yand i don't understand it. the purpose of the united states senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand. >> so you encourage republicans. >> i would not only encourage it. i don't understand it. what are we afraid of? >> hmm. let's see. an assault weapons ban, a limit on high capacity magazines, universal background checks. yeah. that's what many republicans are afraid of. let's talk more about this. maria is a cnn contributor and democratic strategist, and

patrick milsapp is the former chief of staff for newt gingrich's presidential campaign and a republican strategist. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> thank you. good morning, carol. >> good morning. so, patrick, it's probably pretty safe to say the assault weapons ban is pretty much dead, as are most other gun control measures so what are the 13 filibuster loving republicans afraid of? >> i'll let you answer that we. >> first, this is where the republican party starts looking like we're the lord of the flies and we're fighting each other and we have missed the boat. i'm a fan of cruz and a fan of paul, and i wish that john mccain would take a break from the sunday shows, but in this situation the truth is in the middle. your premise is that we -- the assault weapons ban is a done deal or gone. we don't know that buzz dwoept know what bill they're voting on. while mccain was inarticulate and just being inexpressive of why he didn't understand, i think there's a happy medium that i think both sides of this issue, quite frankly, i would love tore for the dianne

feinstein bill to come to the floor of the senate because the senate would lose -- the democrats would lose the senate the next time around. they just don't have the votes, and this is providing harry reid political cover by us fighting ourselves over this. >> you know, as just a joe citizen, i just want to hear what the problems are with the bill. why can't we just bring it to the floor and we can listen to them fight over it and try to understand it? why can't we do that, maria? >> that's a very good question. i commend senator mccain for really saying what he thinks, and i think saying what the majority of the american people think. look, the problem with what's going on with the gop right now is that they're not representing the middle. they're representing the extremes, or at least many of them are. there are some reasonable folks who are trying to get this done. like senator mccain, like senator toomey, who is working on a deal with democrat manchin, to try to get something done that, frankly, carol, the majority, over 90% of the american people want universal

background checks. guess who else wants it? 84% of nra members. so your question was what are these senators afraid of? they're afraid of two things. they're afraid of giving senator -- they're afraid of giving president obama what et cetera wants, and they're afraid of the nra. the problem is the nra doesn't represent the majority of the american people. >> let's talk about that. we always say -- we always hear this that the nra has all control over members of congress. doesn't this prove that it really does? >> well, you know, we keep applying to the nra -- everybody keeps talking about these polls about the support for this. well, produce a bill. i mean, we're back to square one when it comes to we'll read it once we pass it. we'll keep talking about the gun control bill, but we don't know which bill we're talking about. the devil is in the details. they keep throwing around universal background checks. if that was so popular, don't you think harry reid would already have the bill ready to be voted on by the senate.

that's where cruise and paul have a point in terms of they keep throwing out, oh, we have to do something about gun control, but they're very, very vague on the specifics, and i think that is a political calculation on the part of harry reid who hosts the largest gun show in the world in his state. >> that's true. harry reid, right, maria, he could also be afraid of the nra, because he lives -- >> that's right. >> -- in a state that values they are guns. >> absolutely. he could be afraid of them. he also needs to show political courage, but, you know what, he has been doing that, because he is not saying that he is going to filibuster the bill. he is not saying he is going to block a bill from coming to the senate. on the contrary. he is talking about -- >> dianne feinstein's bill is not coming to the floor because of harry reid. >> but right now he is talking about focussing on what can get done. the politics of this are very complicated. there's no question about that. we've been talking about this for weeks. harry reid wants to make sure that whatever comes to the floor actually has a chance to pass. at the end of the day if these

13 senators really want to filibuster background checks, something that, again, 90% of the american people support, then i hope rand paul goes with what he did several weeks ago, which is they stand up on the floor of the senate, these 13 senators, and whoever else wants to join them, and they have the courage of their convictions, so the american people know exactly who is standing in the way of trying to protect the american people from gun violence. >> i will say, patrick, and this is true, that when rand paul stood up and did his filibuster, he was widely admired. his constituents loved it. why wouldn't he want to do it again? >> that's -- this is a little bit inside baseball. that was kind of the mr. smith goes to washington type fill buttser. the filibuster that we're talking about right now is the more procedural filibuster where they force their hand on a cloture vote to get to a vote. it's less dramatic. it's less good tv. again, two points. if the bill -- if there's so much support for this type of thing, why hasn't harry reid and

the democrats said this is the bill we're going to vote on? why are we still speaking in platutudes about universal background checks without any detail. sn the other thing is we keep applying the nra's power, but the nra represents a lot of people. it's not -- they didn't force their membership to go up in the past few months. that happened because americans, people like me that live in the rural areas of georgia, people that cherish the second amendment right and don't think that we should cherry pick amendments, that's who the nra is representing. again, i say to harry reid, if you have so much of a groundswell, let us whan bill you're going to bring. >> that's exactly what he is going to do. that's exactly what he wants to do, patrick. he is going to do that. >> i have to end it here. thank you so much. maria, patrick, many thanks. >> thanks, carol. >> thank you. been on an airplane lately? got any complaints? coming up, which airline is the best and the worst? we'll tell you. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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on airline quality at wichita and purdue universities united. airlines is, again, the worst offender taking in more than four complaints per 100,000 customers. flyers are mostly complaining about things like tight seats, crowded planes, customer service. that type of thing. overall complaints could actually rise this year. partly because of all the recent mergers. you have united merging with continental, delta and northwest to name a few, and typically during mergers, you know, there are more complaints. partly because of lost baggage. that typically increases because you have computer and record integration between two companies, and that can be tricky. you also have american airlines and u.s. airways expected to merge this fall as well. carol. >> so united has the most complaints. southwest has the least. can you give us the middle? >> well, you know, overall airlines are actually scoring better for things like being on time and that's partly because of fewer plains in the sky. when you have fewer planes, there tend to be fewer delays. on time arrivals actually

improved for eight out of the 14 airlines. you want to get somewhere in time, the best airline, bae, is hawaiian airlines. that tops the ratings for timeliness, and that's pretty much because hawaiian airlines travels to warm weather areas so, they're rarely going to be delayed for things like snowstorms and blizzards. also want to mention that mishandled luggage is at a 25-year low. virgin america gets top marks there. less than one in 1,000 bags of virgin america goes missing on its watch as well. carol. >> goch you. zain aero, thank you so much. a 90-year-old grandmother decides she would celebrate her birthday by sky diving. >> here we go. >> that's marianne stanglor and the plane headed for 14,000 feet. there she goes doing the thing that most people wouldn't think about doing. folks from her retirement home were there to cheer her on. her son answered the inevitable question. why? >> i think it was we were

talking about different people that did craziy things. >> yeah. >> i said george bush jumped out of a mren for his 80th birthday. then came back to that sondz like a good idea. >> that's a good reason as any. when it was all over, marianne said she was not afraid, but added "i thought the chute would never open." good for her. that's so awesome. ncaa basketball is nott the only big event crowd showed up to watch. we'll tell you about all the free concerts. we'll be back. so if ydead battery,t tire, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geico's emergency roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah, can you find a take where it's a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? yeah i got it right here. someone help me!!! i have a flat tire!!! well it's good... good for me. what do you think?

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[ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. to him to check our top stories. margaret thatcher died. she suffered a stroke. known as the iron lady, she was the first woman to become britain's prime minister. the man who has the job now david ram consaid they lost a great leader, a great prime minister, and a great britain. thatcher was 87. a kayaker is credited with helping save a family of five. he was right there when their suv veered off a road and into the river. he went back in for the parents after he got the kids to safety first. it also helped that a fire crew got to the scene within minutes. the acting president said he will put a curse on anybody that does not vote on him in next

week's election to replace the late hugo chavez. oh, who else could tell this story? >> hi, carol. imagine if barack obama's campaign slogan was vote for me or i will curse you? well, it probably wouldn't have gone down very well, but someone has to try it, right? well, this man nicolas madura told a crowd of venezuelan voters that a big curse would fall on them if they don't pick him. he is running for president there after hugo chavez died last month. now, carol, it is not just any old curse. it's the first curse. it goes like that. no, it doesn't. it actually dates back to the 16th century when the spanish soldiers killed thousands of native people. he is implying that anyone that doesn't vote for him will be destroyed. his main rival had his own comeback saying that the only curse would be if maduro won the

election he'll update you in a few weeks, carol. it's the country grammys. the academy of country -- the academy of country music awards that were handed out in las vegas last night. luke bryan won the entertainer of the year. she beat out some favorites. taylor swift, blake shelton, and miranda lambert, although lambert won three honors, including female artist of the year for song and record of the year. for those who were not really into basketball but are into all of the excitement surrounding basketball, the ncaa's big dance concert series provided free entertainment to thousands of people. massive crowds packed atlanta centennial park for big acts like ludicris and dave matthews and news. next hour of cnn newsroom, congress returns to the hill

today. will they take up any gun control? jeffrey tubin weighs in. alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone. ♪ right. but the most important feature of all is... the capital one purchase eraser. i can redeem the double miles i earned with my venture card to erase recent travel purchases. and with a few clicks, this mission never happened. uh, what's this button do? [ electricity zaps ] ♪ you requested backup? yes. yes i did. what's in your wallet?

should americans be allowed travel freely to cuba? this from manuel. i would really love the freedom to go to cuba. this from dakota. cuba has shown many signs of being hostile and dangerous. i don't think it would be right to allow our citizens there. this from david. i have been to cuba 13 times. had there been normal contact with americans over the years, the dictatorship would have been gaub years ago. please continue the conversation. facebook.com/carol cnn or you can tweet me@carolcnn, as always. thank you for joining that conversation. thank you for joining me today. cnn newsroom continues right now. thank you, carol. hello, everyone. i'm ashleigh banfield. great britain has had plenty of great leaders and not so great leaders. shakespeare made sure that some will last forever, but today the world remembers not a king or a queen, but britain's first woman prime minister. margaret thatcher diedod