with someone special in these days of my life. all right, you can see all the responses on suzanne's facebook page, facebook.com/suzannecnn. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with michael holmes. hi, there. >> hey, good to see you, yeah. >> happy valentine's day. >> oh, and for you too. yes, i'll be like that guy who's going to the bar later, because that's where all the single ladies are. >> you can take that with you, if you want. i'll leave it for you. >> drop it down. good to see you. all right, it's 10:00 in the west, it is 1:00 p.m. in the east coast. i'm michael holmes in for randi. well, she could have had a standing room only memorial, but instead she'll be honored with a private funeral at her childhood church. investigators in los angeles are still determining the cause of houston's death in a hotel bathtub, but her body is in the care of a funeral home in jersey. we're following developments on both fronts. cnn's don lemon on the west coast, deborah feyerick back east in newark. hello to you both.

deb, let's start with you. what can you tell us about the arrangements? >> reporter: well, michael, whitney houston's mom, cissy houston, a gospel legend, is making all the funeral arrangements. and they decided to make it an intimate, invitation-only event, at the hope baptist church, the church where whitney houston grew up. another friend and church member said that at the church, whitney houston also felt safe and adored. her mother was the choir director there, the musical director. and whitney often would kick off her shoes and she would just be filled with the holy spirit. and she described her experience growing up in the church saying, when she was there, she was singing for god, and when she would visit later in life, oftentimes, michael, she wouldn't even bring security, because she felt so comfortable there, that she knew that she was protected, safe, and adored. now, she did spend time in rehab in may, and then went to work on

her movie, "sparkle." when i asked a friend about how she was doing i, here's what he said. >> back on her mark, back on top, back being whitney. >> reporter: and as far as you know, was she doing anything hard? >> no. no. no. and i can't say it enough. no, she wasn't. she was fine. she was whitney again. >> reporter: now, her father, who was an entertainment executive, he passed away about five years ago. he is buried at a cemetery not too far from here. the hollywood memorial cemetery. unclear whether she will also be buried there. but we'll tell you, when she arrived late yesterday, she arrived like a queen. she was flown by private jet. tyler perry, the comedian, his private jet, and then a golden hearse brought her here to the funeral home. her mother was with her late into the evening, into the early

hours. she's being well-the ended. but in the words of the funeral director, the world had her for 30 years, now she's home. >> deborah feyerick, thanks so much, deb. don lemon, let's go to you now. what more have we learned about whitney's fuinal moments? what are you hearing out west? >> reporter: we're learning a lot more, but not so much. i'll explain that. i just got off the phone with the assistant chief coroner here, ed winter. and ed winter cautioning everyone, step back, take a deep breath. he's saying, listen, there's so much to do here. there are 800 different types of medications and drugs he says he has to test for, their office. and they can't do all of them within a quick period of time. he says, listen, there are a series of things they have to look for. they have to look for whether it was, for example, amphetamines, depressants, what have you, and even if they're in the person's system, is it enough that would cause the person's death? so he said to stand by, we have

37 different consultants, 25 full-time pathologists, but there are a lot of people who die every single day here in los angeles and it is a very busy department. just cautioning the media and cautioning people just to stand by. and i asked him about all of the reports going around about, you know, the different pharmacies and the mickey fine reports and all that ppt he said, listen, don, right know we don't know anything about that. we're looking into all of this and we're finding medical records, trying to find all of that, exactly who the doctor is. but, he said, i want to say, there weren't a lot of prescription drugs found in her room. nothing that would seem out of the ordinary. i asked again about the water in the lungs, and he said, people have fluid in their lungs, they have water in their lungs. was there enough in there to cause a death of whitney houston? they don't know at this point and they're waiting six to eight weeks for the toxicology tests to come in. i just got off the phone with him, and he said, they do get in the early days some preliminary stuff, but then they have to go back and test that again, as

well. just to make sure. so stand by, everyone. just chill out for a little bit. i think it's also important to talk about what friends and family members are saying and fellow entertainers about whitney houston. chaka kahn was on piers morgan last night and gave very poignant thoughts about whitney houston, having known her, having been an addict herself. at one point admitting to gets high with whitney houston and bobby brown. she says the people around whitney should have known better to have her out in l.a. so early. take a listen to what chaka kahn said last night. good stuff. >> whoever flew her out to perform at that party should have provided someone to be there, to somehow look -- just keep the riffraff out of the situation. just keep some of the dangerous people away. >> was she very vulnerable, do you think? whitney, even to the end, to that kind of situation? >> absolutely -- i am.

i'm very vulnerable, as an -- i mean, i'm not -- i will never do cocaine again. i know that. but we are sensitive, highly sensitive people, entertainers. >> reporter: yeah, so that was chaka khan last night on piers morgan. and yesterday i went to that club, the last pictures of whitney houston seen in that club. one of the managers said it was very hot in there, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, anybody leaving that club would be sweaty. and again, we don't know whitney's frame of mind or how she was that night, because we weren't inside whitney's mind. we'll have to wait for this to play out, the toxicology reports to see in all of this. so back to you. >> don, thanks for that. don lemon there out west. well, new jersey is one step closer to legalizing same-sex marriage after the state's senate gives its seal of approval. but there is one major hurdle ahead. >> let's stop treating this like a political football and let's let the people of new jersey

decide. >> will governor chris christie follow through with his promise to veto? that's coming up next. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. plp blp.

the syrian government's brutal assault on the city of homs just gets worse and worse. have a listen. along with that sort of heavy shelling that's been going on almost constantly, opposition groups say snipers continue to fire at anyone who dares go into the streets. activists say today's shelling was some of the heaviest in the past five days. one resident says there is no longer any safe place in the entire city. activists say at least 40 people have been killed today in homs and elsewhere around the country.

the man who is expected to be the next leader of china is now on a visit to the united states. just a short time ago, chinese vice president xi jinping held talks with president obama at the white house. no details at the moment on what was discussed. but trade, the uprising in syria, iran, and china's rising military strength no doubt high on the list. right now xi is having lunch with vice president joe biden and secretary of state hillary clinton. on a thorny domestic issue, president obama and congress again locking horns on payroll tax cuts for millions of americans. he's pushing lawmakers to extend the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year. the president says failure to do so could derail the economic recovery. those comments coming a day after house republicans dropped their demand that any extension be offset by spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. but still hanging is a jobless

benefits extension. testimo democrats don't want to separate the two issues, unless congress acts, both run out at the end of the month. listen to this, italian prosecutors have filed an appeal to italy's highest court in the murder acquittal of the american student amanda knox. you remember, knox and her ex-boyfriend were convicted of murdering knox's british roommate, meredith kercher, back in 2009. both of those convictions were overturned back in october. knox has since returned to the u.s. and said that she would not return to italy. same-sex couples in new jersey one step closer to saying i do. the state's senate voting yesterday to legalize same-sex marriage. the measure heads next to the state assembly. their vote is planned for thursday. now, if the bill ends up on republican governor chris christie's desk, he has promised he'll veto it. but could governor christie be persuaded to change his mind on that issue? a fellow governor says, well, she's going to try after signing

same-sex marriage into law just yesterday, washington governor chris gregoire says she has a message for christie. she joins me next to tell me when it is. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil

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we have finally said yes to marriage equality. we join six other states and the district of columbia, allowing same-sex marriage and their experience proves to all of us that the sky will fall rhetoric is simply not true. >> and that was washington governor chris gregoire, speaking right after she signed the same-sex marriage law yesterday. she also called it one of her proudest moments as governor. as she said, washington is the seventh state to allow same-sex marriages. the others are vermont, iowa, connecticut, massachusetts, new hampshire, and new york. new jersey's legislature is one step away, and it is also being debated in maryland. also in the illinois state house. but let's get back to washington state and what the decision means for them. joining me now on the phone is the governor. governor, you said that this is the civil rights issue of the younger generation. how do you look at what your

state is doing? part of a pioneering movement? how do you with view it? >> you know, for me, it's very much like my youth and the civil rights movement of my youth was that of racial inequality in america. and while we're by no means done with that movement, the fact of the matter is, as passionate as my generation felt about equality there, i have found in my daughter's generation the same compassion and passion to make sure that there's equality when it comes to same-sex marriage. so i think by far and away, the younger generation is trying to let the older generation in america know where the right thing is for us to go as a country. >> governor, as you know, new jersey's state senator proved same-sex marriages just yesterday. the state assembly is going to take it up. of course, the governor says she's going to veto it. let's just play a little bit about part of his reasoning. >> i think this is not an issue that should rest solely in my

hands, the hands of the senate president or the hands of the speaker, or the other 118 members of the legislature. let's let the people of new jersey decide what's right for the state. let's put the question of same-sex marriage on the ballot this fall, in the hands of the people. the time when the most people will be voting in a presidential election year. >> governor gregoire, is it something that should be put to a referendum, or do you think this is a matter of leadership? what would you say to governor christie? >> well, actually, this was probably the bigger issue in my senate. we worried whether we could get the 25th vote for marriage equality. we not only got 25, we got 28. what was closer was the issue of whether it was referred to the ballots or the voters. and what i shared with those who ultimately said no to that measure was, we are elected to make decisions. and we are here to represent and ensure that all washingtonians are treated equally.

so we need to step up, take the vote, make the decision. that's what we're here to do. and sometimes, historically, the majority has not protected the minority. as legislators, as governor, that is our responsibility. so we were able to ensure that the vote was taken here, the decision was made here, and now there are those who promise to put it on the ballot in the fall. i don't fear that. i'm not afraid of it. and that's their right. but meanwhile, our legislature as proudly stood up to its responsibility. >> are you going to call governor christie, literally? >> well, i wrote him a letter at the end of january, because i know him. and he and i get along very well. i reached out to him to tell him i had been on my own personal journey, because while i was governor, i'm also a catholic. and i shared with him the remarks that i gave when i announced my position and it took me three months to write those remarks, and i told him it represented the culmination of my journey. and i indicated to him that i would be more than happy to talk with him about how i reached it

and how proud i was and how much better i felt about myself after seven years of dealing with the issue. so assuming the assembly passes it in new jersey, i would really very much like to reach out and at least share with the governor what we've done here and what a proud day it was for washington state yesterday and see if he would like to join us in that same sort of pride for the people of new jersey. >> we had an impassioned plea from within your state, from what some may consider an unlikely source, a republican lawmaker. let's just listen to that. >> my daughter came out of the closet a couple of years ago, and you know what, i thought i was just going to agonize about that. nothing's different. she's still a fabulous human being, and she's met a person that she loves very much, and some day, by god, i want to throw a wedding for that kid. and i hope that's exactly what i can do. i hope she will not feel like a

second class citizen, involved in something called a domestic partnership, which frankly sounds like a merry maids franchise to me. >> i'm wondering, because this can be a very political issue, how much did that play into the support you ended up getting? >> no question, i think her remarks, a republican female from a very conservative part of my state, who shared her own personal story of her daughter, was a compelling message to the people in the legislature, and frankly, to my entire state. and it's that kind of story that i think is really what will allow us as a nation to move forward on this. when we realize it's moms and dads, one senator spoke of his father in our state senate. another republican on the house floor spoke of his brother. when we realize this is not about republicans or democrats, this is not about anything other

than respect for our fellow human being, and that fellow human being may very well be a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, an aunt, uncle. i think that's why america will finally step up. that's the journey my state's been on. that's the revelation that it has seen, and that's what has moved us. and representative walsh's comments were absolutely compelling on the floor of our house. >> governor chris gregoire, thank you so much. >> you bet. thank you. >> all right. what if i told you that there's a place with an unemployment rate of 80%, a high school dropout rate of 40%, a place where the crime rate is seven times the national average. hard to believe, right? well, what if i told you that place was right here in the united states. that place there. find out why the outlook is so grim there next in "undercover." whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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murders, rape, drugs, and alcohol addiction. we're not talking about inner cities here, but life on many native american reservations.

a story we think is undercovered. president obama recently met with national american tribal leaders, vowing, quote, you have a president that's got your back. he put his words into action. recently the government ending a two-year surge campaign to reduce crime at four reservations considered the most dangerous. improvements were made at all but one. the wind river indian reservation in wyoming. it is massive, by the way. it's about the size of rhode island and delaware together. and it's home to just 14,000 american indians. the problems just as massive. now, according to "the new york times," we're going to talk more about this with larry eckohawk, the assistant secretary for indian affairs. before we begin, though, i want to talk about some very troubling issues at wind river. the stats are amazing. during the surge, violent crime, as we said, it went up. it went up 7%. teens are twice as likely to

kill themselves as peers elsewhere in the state. life span, 49 years. put that in perspective. 20 years fewer than in iraq. unemployment rate, 80%. same as zimbabwe. high school dropout rate, 40%. that's more than twice the state average. also, a soaring rate of drug use, alcoholism, you know, first of all, larry, echohawk, what do you make of that? that's post-surge. >> well, you know, it's unfortunate that across indian country, we do have the significant challenges and public safety, but i think our presidential initiative is working. we had, overall, a 35% decrease in violent crime among the four reservations. wind river presented special challenges, 2.2 million acre reservation, with just 11 law enforcement officers in the beginning. so when we brought in additional

officers to really only bring them up to the national ratio of how many officers you should have in a community, what we were able to do is catch the attention of the community there, and they began to realize that if they made reports, you know, that there would be a response by law enforcement. >> but the rates went up. crime spiked. what is it about that place that didn't work, apart from the size, the logistics you're talking about. is there something more endemic there at a grassroots level, a societal level? >> well, actually, if you just go to the end of the year, to december 31st, we had an 11% decrease. so at that particular time, when the snapshot was taken, it was a 7% increase, but now the trend was clearly that this surge was working and, you know, we anticipate that it will continue to decrease so that we'll get

those numbers where we'd like to see them. >> now that the surge is theoretically over, what do you do to try to improve things then? >> well, we continue to work on the core problems, which is poverty. high unemployment, you know, i would say, as a former prosecuting attorney often leads to substance abuse and neglect and, unfortunately, high crime. so we are not only providing additional police resources in communities, but we're focusing on education and employment, economic development, those things that in the long-term will make a huge difference. >> it's not a new problem there, is it? i was reading a case of somebody who's child had been murdered and their brother and father had also died violently. this is generational. >> well, the federal government has not stepped up and met its responsibilities to indian country to communities like wind

river. we're doing much better now. and, in fact, the obama administration has declared public safety as a top priority, and you can see that because we have increased funding for public safety by 30%, with the leadership of the president and the support of the united states congress. so we're paying attention to this issue and making progress. and we'll do that, we'll continue to do that, even at wind river. >> still a long way to go, at wind river. larry echohawk, appreciate your time. thanks. >> thank you. well, the calls are growing for newt gingrich t drop out of the presidential race, but the former speaker has a, well, not so subtle message for the naysayers. >> i'm still here and we're going come back again. >> coming up, if gingrich stays in the race through super tuesday, is mitt romney guaranteed the nomination? that's fair game, coming up next. progressive online learning environment.

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okay. this is part of the show where we get to the heart of the political debate, where all sides are fair game. there's a vip visiting the white house today. we mentioned it earlier. the chinese vice president, xi jinping. he's the eventual air to china's presidency. he and president obama have been talking about a range of issues today, no doubt including trade and the u.s. military presence in the region, china's growing military strength. joining me now, cnn contributor, maria cardona, and republican analyst, lenny mcallister. let's start with you, maria. when the president's talking to the chinese heir apparent, what message does he need to send here? because when you look at the chinese economy, he's the one that's holding the chards. >> i think the message that he needs to send is the one he actually sent, which is the right one. that we need to continue working with china, they're an incredibly important ally in the world. we both need each other to move

forward economically and for national security reasons. so he can be very diplomatic in terms of the issues that he wants to talk to china about, while at the same time, and he mentioned this in his public comments, making sure that voters here know that americans know that they will continue to push china on issues of national security, on issues of human rights, and on issues of fairness when it comes to trade. and he was very clear about that. i think that he has to be careful, but he can do both in terms of making sure that we continue to cooperate with china, while at the same time, pushing them on. >> i think polite in public, and firmer behind closed doors. lenny mcallister, republicans have been talking tough about china, but you know, a lot of people think that this guy could be easier to deal with than the incumbent. how are republicans going to be looking at this visit? >> well, they're going to be looking at this visit and wondering how president obama is going to make sure that he lets the chinese know that the presidential heir is there for the syrian people.

we cannot forget that the russians and the chinese were the ones that blocked some of the movement that the u.n. tried to do with regard to the syrian slaughter that's going on right now in the middle east. we want to know if america's still going to be that beacon of freedom throughout the world. we know about the economic relationship between the chinese and us here in america. we have to look now and see, are we still willing to stand up for freedom, even after president obama submitted yet another budget that's looking at a $1 trillion deficit in its first year. >> let's talk politics then. rick santorum getting a bit of good news in the polls. i think we've got the numbers to show you. what about him going forward now? there's the numbers there. rick santorum at 30%. that's not bad. that's "the new york times" poll there. romney trailing at 27%. is that a surge that can hold through super tuesday, maria? >> well, i think it certainly shows that santorum that as now become the anybody-but-romney candidate and the standard-bearer for conservatives in this race, who

have been desperately looking for somebody who can really take the mantle and represent them in this race. they really haven't found this person. it's absolutely great news for santorum. can he continue that into super tuesday? if he continues to raise the amount of money that he's raising and if he continues to draw the crowds that he's been drawing, i think he can. what we're going to see from romney is that they're going to go at him with everything that they can from their super pac. but romney is in real trouble here. so we'll see. >> lenny, what about newt gingrich? he's still hanging around. that does sort of split the anti-romney vote. is there any reason, in fact, i think let's play part of what he had to say earlier. >> he had a really good tuesday, and suddenly the very people who told me i was dead in june came back and said, see, i told you so. well, i have a message for them. i'm still here. and we're going to come back again. >> any reason, lenny, why he should pull out?

>> well, the reasons why he should pull out is his performance in florida, his performance recently. the fact that the one thing he always had going for him were his debate performances. he fell flat in florida and he's had this big lag in between times whek get back on stage and contrast himself. there are a couple of cnn debates coming up before super tuesday. if he can bounce back, get a little bit more money behind him, and maybe he can contrast himself against both the front-runner, who -- whether that's santorum at this point or it goes back to being romney and president obama, he can get that bounce. but he can't look the way he did in florida. if he has another florida performance, he's done. >> yeah. maria cardona and lenny mcallister, we've got to leave it there. thanks so much. that is fair game. >> thank you. as we've been saying, the situation in syria getting grimmer by the day. it really is carnage there. coming up, some dramatic new video surfaces online, the daring rescue, see it there, of a small child caught up in the violence. snipers in the area.

plus, a cnn reporter has made it back inside that country. not arwa damon's first visit. what she's been seeing on the ground, that's up next. only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3.

inside the devastated syrian city of homs, an opposition activist is saying this. you have to be lucky to stay safe. syrian forces once again said to be shelling randomly, and pretty much constantly, while snipers

pick off civilians at will. if you've been following the almost year-long onslaught anyone the regime considers a threat, you'll know that social media has been the primary source of information, most of the time. the government has barred foreign journalists from going in, except in rare occasions. cnn's arwa damon has made her way inside the country. we're not going to give her exact location, for safety reasons, but transmission lance night, she talked about the future, as seen by activists she's met so far. >> reporter: they believe that at the end of the day, at some point in time, who knows when, the regime is going to fall. they quite simply, they cannot go back. and syria will not go back to the way that it was. but one young activist i was speaking to put it this way. and he said, if there is military intervention, yes, there will be a lot of bloodshed, but it's going to be over a lot quicker. if there isn't military

intervention, there is going to be even more bloodshed, and it is going to take a lot longer to bring down the regime. what a lot of people are realizing and accepting at this stage is that this is going to be a bloody battle. that more lives are going to be lost, and that perhaps the biggest challenge for sir wyria is going to be after the regime topples. >> let's get some other perspective now. my colleague, nic robertson has report to find syrian inside and out of the country. we're also joined in new york by the acclaimed palestinian author and journalist, rula jabrial. what is it that the assad regime wants to do by pretty much pounding homs into the dust? >> hello, michael. well, obviously, they are fighting for their survival. it's not only the assad. what i mean is, gadhafi was only

a family. mubarak was a family. we get rid of them quite easily. the assad are a sect and they are 2 million people. they are in charge of the secret service, of the military, of everything in the country. business, everything. and they are still very strong. and they will not let go. they know they are backed by iran, from one hand, because they give them cash and money and, of course, army, and russia and china. and they are emboldened by this. and they will not give up until assad will go with one bullet in his head. that's the only way he will go. >> nic robertson, we've talked about this the potential of bashar al assad to be sacrificed for the greater good of the regime. do you still see that as a scenario that might play out? >> certainly from russia's perspective, the one thing they want is to keep a foothold in the region. this is the last piece of

influence they have in the middle east. iran has its reasons as well to keep a friendly regime in damascus. and if the opposition, which is a vastly majority sunni gets in, both russia and iran will see them, the opposition, as being certainly not going to look out for their interests. so they need to maintain a foothold, and if assad is going to become unpalatable to the international community, unable to run the country because of sanctions, unable to be able to sort of bring some kind of stability and, let's face it, it's deteriorating rapidly, then someone else within the regime circles might have to do. and it's been suggested the vice president, who everyone who analyzes this says, is really not a strong politician and is run by the wider assad family. so even the options aren't good. but, yes, somebody to replace assad that keeps russia, iran's footprint stronghold there. >> yeah, they've got interests there the way that u.s. has got

interests in bahrain, so they're playing that geopolitical game. i want to show you a clip of a video that popped up on youtube today. it is a chilling piece of tape. let's roll that. a young boy running across the street there. and you can see, we don't know who that is trying to run him and get him out of the way, and then you see the father go back and get the child's shoe, if it is the father. but at the beginning of that clip, you hear the gunshot, a real crack as well. so the gunshot was actually quite close. nic, how does the youtube coverage jive with how the reality is on the ground. you were there just four weeks ago. it is not easy to cover that place. >> it's not. and we can't be in the places where many of these youtube clips are being filmed. but in the places where we visited, where people were filming events that we were attending, that we were later able to see, it met, it was the same as where we were seeing at the time. and they were able to sort of provide a postscript after we left. the army started shooting, they said, and we could see it on

these clips. we didn't see the army shooting, but we saw the army there with their heavy armored vehicles. and the images that you see, some of them are so horrific. these are things that nobody would manufacture. they're so horrific. so it does seem to match the reality of the clips seems to match the reality of what we know is happening. >> rula, as you look at what's been going on over there now, do you worry that nothing is going to be done? that the impotence, if you like, of the u.n., is going to continue because of russia and china's geopolitical self-interests? >> well, obviously the international community failed to stop the violence in any kind of way. and that gave a green light to the assad to even harass more and shell his own people, bombard them. he doesn't care anymore. he knows that he's backed by russia and china. he knows that there will be no solution like 1970 that led to the no fly zone in libya, he knows that. but even the solution to have farouk shahar, his vice, taking

his place, it will not make the people anymore. there's so much blood in the streets. and what's happening today, and this is the truth, syria is becoming a battleground between iran from one side, shia world, and the sunni world backed with the saudis and qataris. and that will become another civil war like the lebanese one. it's even worse than a civil war. it's total anarchy. and the assad regime will not give up power. they learned the lesson from iraq. once the sunni gave up power, they were totally dismissed from all political positions and economic positions. and that's what they are scared for. >> i want to talk more about that, but stay right there, because we're going to take a short break now. when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about that sectarian side of things, which is a real concern. also about the arab spring year later. i want both of your opinions, so do stick around. everything cant upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me.

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back to our conversation with cnn nic robertson. screenwriter, tv host. we've been talking about syria and let's talk a little more broadly, perhaps, about the arab spring. nick, let's start with you. you and i have been in and out of arab for the last year, some of the various places and various uprisings. when you look at the region now and the arab spring as it stands now, what do you see? you get rid of dictators in whatever shape or form, popular

uprise organiing or otherwise, know what we're going to get. >> we're beginning to see what we're going to get in the form of a revolution that was relatively peaceful, and now there have been elections and we see the parties that are emerging there, the same in egypt, the parties that are emerging here, the muslim brotherhood being the stronger pick. there are divisions in the mud li -- muslim brotherhood. when you look at libya where the opposition was widely armed, the future there is so far, far from certain with all these people who have weapons don't want to give them up. we're still in this militia period. >> a very tribal involvement there, too. >> a completely different complexion from syria, for example. so there is no one size fits all. but we can begin to see some of the images of what may emerge coming out. but the final picture, we're a long way from that, and at this

point we may have seen in the past year the peaceful part of the arab spring. the bloodier part may be yet to come. >> let's bring you into the conversation. before the break you were talking about something i find fascinating and disturbing at the same time in equal parts. the whole sectarian nature of the region and the notion of proxy wars being fought, particularly the embassy between the saudis and the iranians, and we've seen there claims of proxy activity in bahrain, for example, you see evidence of that starting up in syria, and what does that mean, then? it's spilling over into lebanon, it becomes a regional potential for a wider war, doesn't it? >> it is spilling into lebanon. last week there were clashes in the south. we know all of that because bollah is a regime. there were clashes in both regimes. the real saying is let's start

from the beginning. the iraqi war was a declining moment in that. the moment that war was lost, bay ran was the winner of that war, and the shiites became stronger than ever. became syria, lebanon, iran and iraq. that's what's threatening to everybody. with iran suipursuing a nuclear bomb and making research in a way empower themselves more and recognize the facility, it's becoming more threatening to the sumi world, the saudis, and they're using the syrian conflict today to measure the power, who has more power in there. the syrian regime is breaking part of that. >> al-qaeda, too, getting involved from iraq and sending their operatives into syria as well. >> that's why we need something very quickly, because if we all remember, that uprising started in a very peaceful way.

it started last march, it was very peaceful, it was pro-democracy and people were asking for freedom. today they are far away from that. today they are actually fighting for their survival. >> appreciate both of you having this conversation, an important one worldwide and also to this country, very much so. still to come, the queen of soul and whitney houston's godmother honoring the fallen singer. more of aretha franklin's touching tribute coming up. but first a little girl who stole our heart and justin bieber's this valentine's day as well. we're talking about six-year-old ava roth who is fighting a rare form of brain cancer. when the pop star heard about her dream to meet him, he flew her from boston to new york to hang out. they shared games, cupcakes and

hugs. afterwards he tweeted, that was one of the best things i've ever done. she was awesome. feeling really inspired now. so were we, justin, for making a girl's dream come true. you are a rock star. ♪ baby, baby, baby oh [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! have 46 grams of whole grains... mmmm. ...and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares on facebook.

in medical news now, remarkable use of stem cells. they use stem cells to undo the damage of some heart attacks. that means they reglue damaged heart tissue and even reduce scarring of the heart by up to 50%. this is the first time they've ever been able to regenerate heart tissue in that way. also encouraging news, researchers stress that these are early results and a lot more testing needs to be done. incredible stuff, folks. time to check stories making

news right now at street level. in charlotte, north carolina, aretha franklin paid a special tribute to her goddaughter, whitney houston. >> this is for whitney elizabeth houston. ♪ i will always love you >> the queen of soul said there is nothing like music to comfort the soul. last night, 600 people listening to an emotional franklin as she sang houston's hit "i will always love you." she asked the crowd to pray for houston's family. some parents fed up with a local charter school. parents say they're being charged excessive fines when a child breaks a rule for attendance or behavior, they're hit with a $5 detention fee. the school has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars this way. critics say the policy is

punitive and pergatory. floyd mayweather has done it again, this time stirring up drama tweeting about new york knicks basketball sensation jeremy lin. he tweeted, jeremy lin is a good player, but all the hype is because he's asian. black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise. really? he insulted someone with racial slurs two years ago. thanks for watching, everyone. i'm michael holmes. we continue now with brooke baldwin. >> good to see you, michael. hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. top of the hour. let's go. catch you up on everything making news. rapid fire. let's go. pop legend whitney houston will be laid to rest this weekend. her family will say their final goodbyes at a private funeral this saturday.

services will be taking place at the church houston went to as a young child in her hometown of new jersey. these people had things to say about her younger days. >> back on top, that being whitney. >> as far as you know, was she doing anything hard? >> no. no. no. and i can't say it enough. no, she wasn't. she was fine. she was whitney again. >> how houston died still a mystery. the los angeles county coroner's office is downplaying the amount of prescriptions found in houston's hotel room. the toxicology report will be back in six to eight weeks. some people are trying to get bread just to feed their families in syria. the opposition also claims that the government has killed 40 people today alone. cnn now has a crew inside syria.

stand by, because if a couple minutes we're going to have a report from inside the country. also, politically speaking today, his home state seems to like the other guy. look at these numbers out of michigan today. rick santorum is beating mitt romney 33-21 -- excuse me, 27% of the poll, romney had likely voters. santorum already has ads on the air. if you look at these worldwide, it's pretty much a statistical tie between romney and santorum. we'll release new poll numbers in just a couple hours here. the man charged with killing three members of singer jennifer hudson's family is in court today. 31-year-old william balfour is charged with killing hudson's mother, brother and nephew back in october of 2008. a judge is ruling on whether to throw out his arrest. balfour's lawyers argue he

wasn't breaking the law when he was arrested. the men -- the man expected to be china's next president is in the united states. he met with president obama to talk trade. earlier vice president joe biden talked with china's leader and had these words on the subject. >> as we discussed, we're not always going to see eye to eye, we're not always going to see things exactly the same, but we have a very important economic concern that warrant us working together. >> now, his visit doesn't come without controversy. protesters are outside the white house today calling for freedom for tibet. general electric plans to hire 5,000 veterans, specifically, over the next five years. the goal, they say, to help boost the nation's economy. ge is also expanding its aviation business at home, opening three new plants next year in mississippi, alabama and

ohio. police and child protective services visited the dad who fired a gun nine times into his disrespectful daughter's laptop and posted it on line for everyone to see. >> i've got one left. i got two left. now i'm out. >> now he's out. there went the laptop. neither agency in north carolina is taking action against this guy. this is tommy jordan, a former marine. he posted video on youtube of the shooting and explained why he did it. his teenage daughter complained about her chores. in a rude facebook post, the former marine said the police said kudos, and actually showed their own kids the clip. remember myspace? the social site said they added a million new users just over the past month. why, you ask? justin timberlake credits a new music player for the surge. the myspace player offers unlimited music to a library of

more than 40 million songs. and you can get a look into the private thoughts of former first lady jacqueline kennedy. dinner invitations and notes on decorating are just part of this first batch of personal papers being made public by the kennedy presidential library. the documents are also available on line, and one includes a transcript of remarks mrs. kennedy made to cuban dissident. we're just getting started. i have a lot more for you in the next two hours. watch this. it's a government that kills its own people, drops bombs on homes and snipers hunt families. right now we're inside syria where they have forbidden reporters. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. anger is running at an all-time high.

one expert says the world has three military options against the military regime. we break them down live. as we learn the details about whitney houston's final days, there are furious questions about prescription drug use in america. and the taliban kills u.s. soldiers in war, and now not only are militants saying they will only negotiate with americans, they claim the talks have already begun. tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪

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40 weeks of government onslaught in syria. this is not from today, this is from last friday. we explain here in just a moment. >> do you see the little one there? this is a small child running loose in the midst of sniper fire. you see the guy racing, risking his own life, swoops this child up, whisks him to safety there behind that wall. then the hero returns to the street to collect the child's stray shoe. this is life in syria. and this is life in syria as well. take a listen, if you would, to a northern city.

we are hearing more and more reports of syrian government snipers pinning down entire neighborhoods, dropping people inside their homes. more on that in just a moment, but first i want to show you what's happening today in the besieged city of homs. [ foreign language ] >> the blasts are constant in this neighborhood. more than 700 people have died mostly there in this city alone

since the syrian government ramped up its crackdown ten days ago. today's shelling by the government is said to be the heaviest since last thursday, and as we told you, the syrian government in damascus, that's the capital, has refused entry to syrian crews who are trying to cover this story. however, cnn has managed to enter syria, and for her safety, i cannot tell you her location, but this is what she's seeing and what she's hearing. >> reporter: in the areas where the government crackdown is at its worst, people say there are snipers positioned on every single street corner. you can hardly cross a main thoroughfare without coming across government snipers. then, of course, there are all of the tanks in the government checkpoints. people we've been talking to, every single one of them has some sort of horrific nightmare or story, and some of them are afraid to publicly talk about it with their names attached to it.

one man we talked to had four members of his family executed as government sources were raiding their village. he wanted to tell the story, he wanted to put out the images of loved ones, but he was afraid because he said at the same time his uncle had been retained. they believe at the end of the day at some point in time, who knows when, the regime is going to fall. that quite simply they cannot go back and syria will not go back to the way that it was. but one young activist i was speaking to put it this way. he said, if there is military intervention, yes, there will be a lot of bloodshed, but it's going to be over a lot quicker. if there isn't military intervention, there is going to be even more bloodshed and it's going to take a lot longer to bring down the regime. what a lot of people are realizing and accepting at this stage is that this is going to be a bloody battle, that more lives are going to be lost, and that perhaps the biggest

challenge for syria, too, is going to be after the regime topples. >> arwa, thank you, again. that's arwa damon in an undisclosed location in syria. funeral arrangements are in place for whitney houston. the funeral is being held at her childhood church in newark, new jersey. but if you're hoping to pay tribute in person, you won't be allowed in the door. find out why after this quick break. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. they're talking about potential outside intervention and there are a lot of questions today. what would anyone do? what would the united states do? what could nato do? joining me now is mike from the brookings institute. you talk about three different

n scenarios. option one, you talk about military options to encourage a coup against assad. >> the greatest idea is to increase the pain of the sanctions that are being applied now and make sure the syrians can't sneak oil out through the mediterranean, that kind of thing. or you might even hit a couple houses of cronies of the regime with bombs if you know nobody is in the house. try to do it as low casualty as possible, really just trying to increase the pain, and to some limited extent, the fear, but not really exacerbate the ongoing violence on the ground. so that's sort of option 1. >> option 2 you talk about a balkan-like campaign. what do you mean by that? >> the balkans, especially in kosovo, but to some extent in syria before that, we used air power in a conservative way to go after the regime. we went after headquarters, we went after military

communications, we went after de de depos. we kept it all in the air and did not risk military lives, and we tried to weaken the regime, but also we tried to make, again, the cronies of milosevich in that case, and we started turning off electricity, and that told them if they held on to doing business, the war would not be confined to kosovo. we kept it in kosovo without doing an all-out ground invasion, and the same thing could be applied to syria. >> and maybe a third. we've heard this one discussed. a safe zone for syrian civilians. >> the problem with a safe zone in a serious case is you don't have one clear part of the country where a population most at risk is from. and, therefore, because these

cities are interspersed, you have to create a safe zone and rely on people to get themselves to it if they felt the need. which means you're not going to save everybody by any stretch of the imagination. still, it could be the basis where you save some people and where even an insurgent army could mobilize and organize if you wanted to then help them take on the assad regime in a more conservative way. none of these are easy and none of them promise a rapid resolution of the crisis. but they are short of an american-led invasion that you could seriously consider. >> none of them are easy, none of them are optimal. let's talk about american support. we know how a lot of people felt about our intervention in libya. a lot of people were opposed. do you think the american public could be persuaded to support a syrian intervention, and keep in mind, it's an election year. >> yes, it is. well, i think things might have to get worse before the american public would consider even the kind of options that i was

talking about. this is tragic, but the world is full of tragic wars. this is nowhere near genocidal. rwanda had nearly 30,000 people killed in 1994. i'm not saying we reach that point, but there are a few wars around the world that had casualties to that magnitude that we haven't always gotten involved in. and somalia has bigger wars than that. syria might have to get a little worse before the american public, or just as importantly, the turkish public, or many arab countries' public get involved. >> you aren't the only one that said it has to get worse before it gets better. thank you. >> thank you. we have the latest on the

death of whitney houston and a tribute from legendary singer aretha franklin coming up in 60 seconds. stay with me.

well, funeral arrangements for whitney houston, they're now officially set. here's what we know. the service will be held in just a couple days here on saturday. houston's body is now home, arriving in that gold hearse at a newark, new jersey funeral home. the location of the funeral very significant. it's going to be held at new hope baptist church, the very place she learned to perform. this is a youtube clip of one of houston's solos when she was

just a little girl. deb is in new york covering the story for us. deb, what else do we know as far as arrangements go? >> reporter: we can tell you whitney houston's mom, cissy houston, has been involved in all the arrangements. she was here when her body arrived in that gold hearse yesterday after being flown in a private jet loaned from katy perry. they decided on an intimate, private ceremony saturday at new hope baptist church. in the words of the funeral director who is also a family friend, quote, the world had her for 30 years. she's ours now. she loved the place where she did learn to sing, learn how to ha harmonize four parts, learn a capella.

when she was there, she was filled with the holy spirit. back in 1999, when she was in that church she felt like she was singing for god. she lost a little of that during her dark years, but she did find her way back to god. her last album very much reflective of that, but the church is a place she felt safe and adored and knew that when she went there without security, without bodyguards, she knew she would be protected. so there's a lot of significance there, and the family wanting to keep a very dignified woman dignified and private and send her daughter off so the legacy she wants is preserved. >> her mother is obviously devastated but she's working through this with her faith. as far as an investigation goes, and we can't say this enough, we won't definitively know until the toxicology reports come back six to eight weeks from now. but the coroner seems to

corroborate what a friend says about backing off. there is a lot of rumor about prescription drugs. did the friend say what, if anything, whitney houston had been taking and for why? >> reporter: we asked that, because this is somebody she grew up with in the church, and they knew each other for a very long time. he had nicknames for her and they shared a lot of different stories. she was in rehab. we do have to keep in mind she was in rehab in may and then went off to do her movie "sparkle" about a singer with drug addiction. he says as far as he knew, and he knew pretty well, it seems, that she was clean and had been clean from the hard stuff, the cocaine and the marijuana, for quite some time, a number of years, as a matter of fact. but there were prescription medications. she apparently had insomnia, needed something to ease her anxiety, help her to sleep, and so that could have been a factor. plus she also had a voice

infection, a throat infection and needed to relax. remember, she was really kind of going from zero to 100 with this movie and really kind of getting up to speed. all of that may have played a factor, plus a very, very warm bath. fatigue. there are a lot of different things the medical examiner and coroner are going to be looking at to see what ultimately did it. >> we just don't know yet. as far as her fans, deb, and she has so many, and a lot of them want their chance to pay their respects. we noted that the funeral and the gravesite is private saturday, so when will the public have a chance to memorialize her? >> a number of folks i talked to today are disappointed. they were looking forward to some memorial at a local arena here, and when they found out it likely wasn't going to happen, it appears that the mayor of the city, the mayor of newark, rory booker, may have been planning something. the funeral director is not

aware of any public memorial services. it could still happen. things are so fluid, brooke, so i think they're trying to gauge a level of interest. yeah, many wanted to go in to see her, to see whitney houston, but according to the funeral director there is no public wake wh what whatsoever. they're really keeping it private, really circling the wagons to make sure she's protected now. >> the family is in mourning and they certainly want to pay their own respects privately, and that's understandable. deborah, thank you very much in newark, new jersey. a friend of the family says the superstar was no longer an addict. he is upset about all the speculation of drugs being a factor in her death. friends say houston had a little champagne but was not high when they saw each other just this past thursday night. but people magazine is saying houston was acting erratically when sources spotted her on the

day wednesday and thursday as well. carlos greer joined me from new york with the details. carlos, what are your sources telling you about those final hours? >> well, the final hours, i mean, she arrived at the hotel on wednesday, and she was shopping in the gift shop, and i spoke to a source at the gift shop, and she described her as being out of it. she said she was very nice and she was very pleasant, but she was shopping and seemed to be a little bit out of it. >> out of it. i read your article. multiple sources, odd, erratic blai behavior. can you be more specific? >> she acted erratically. she appeared at a rehearsal for brandy and monica and she was complaining and ranting about a blue dress. she said, i don't want no blue dress. she was twitching her nose and she was really fidgety. >> i read that as well when she was talking to monica about the color blue. you could read into that. maybe that's a little diva-esqu

behavior and she's joking about what she won't wear to clive davis' gala as opposed to something more nefarious. is that fair? >> that is fair, but what was shocking is it was a press event. there was no media there, so it was shocking to see whitney houston at this junket and she was without makeup, her hair was wet. she was fidgety and just wandering around the hotel. >> let's talk about her inner circle and that also includes her bodyguards, and one of her former bodyguards appeared this morning on "good morning america" and he told them he never saw her take drugs, but he did say he thought something was going on. take a look with me. >> whatever was going on was not something that was in control and certainly was something that i felt needed to be addressed. so i took action to address it. i eliminated access to her by certain people that i thought

were negative influences. >> carlos, there were reports, according to this bodyguard. he left her after a year or two, according to a newsweek daily report citing this bodyguard as saying her inner circle wouldn't allow her to take baths and it was only showers, and she would be checked on to make sure she didn't fall asleep. are you hearing anything corroborating that? >> i'm sorry. i couldn't hear you. >> this bodyguard was talking about in the past they wouldn't allow whitney houston to take baths. they were fearful she would fall asleep, and she could only take showers and every 7 to 10 minutes they would check on her. did you ever hear anything like that? >> i haven't heard anything like that, but whitney, she has been dealing with addiction and struggles, so there has been a lot of ups and downs. and friends have told us you never really knew what whitney you were going to get, whether it was the bubbly whitney or the

whitney that was more erratic. >> she had a rehab stint last may. her friends and family say she isn't an addict. what do you make of these different stories? >> like i said, for the past ten years, at least, we've seen the dark side of whitney. we have seen a whitney who was up and we've seen a whitney who was down. it appears that whitney, again, she was dealing with addiction and trying to get off of her addictions. >> carlos greer, people magazine. carlos, thank you. >> thank you. >> and the queen of soul, aretha franklin, took a moment to remember her goddaughter on stage. "good morning america" caught last night's touching tribute to whitney houston, which included aretha's own rendition of "i will always love you." ♪ and acknowledging one of the greatest things ♪ miss whitney elizabeth houston,

♪ i'll always love you ♪ i will always -- i'll always love you ♪ ♪ i will always love you >> gives me goosebumps. i want to you know that sunday night cnn is taking a look back at the life of whitney houston, including her rise to fame, fall as a superstardom, and the investigation into her death. she was only 48. that will be sunday night at 8:00 eastern. apple under some major heat because of a global undertaking of factories overseas. apple is fighting back. we're going to show you how. stay with me. uil doesn't treat . really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

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products. apple has been under fire since cruel working conditions were revealed at a plant in china. apple is one of many companies that outsources its manufacturing, and allison kosik is standing by with more on this. what specifically, allison, are auditors looking for? >> brooke, what these auditors are looking for is anything that is not legitimate. these are members of a fair labor association. they are actually in china this week. apple invited them to come and assess what's going on there. so what these folks are doing, they're interviewing thousands of people that work at this plant to assess what the work and living conditions are, what their pay is, what kind of hours they're working. keep in mind that foxcon is just one of apple's biggest suppliers. back in 2010, some foxcon workers committed suicide because allegedly were so

horrible. one worker said they use women as men and men as women and she feels like an animal. >> we were just talking about apple yesterday, were we not, talking about how well they were doing? the price of a share of stock was like $500? it doesn't appear to be hurting them. >> reporter: you're exactly right about that, and today the stock is going even higher. shares right now are trading at $503. so yeah, this comes after, of course, they posted those record iphone, ipad sales last quarter, but you have to remember, to put it in perspective, this is not just about apple. other companies are customers of foxcon as well, but they're kind of tieing it to apple and foxcon is kind of the fall guy because it has the biggest and most well known products. they've actually cut ties with sun supplier that was a repeated

offender of work rules, and apple maintains they want to improve conditions for the workers. >> we'll follow that audit and see what, if anything, they find. allison kosik, thank you so much. now this. well, i can say this, that we were all around a lot of drugs and that she had -- i hate to say that she had started before she had met bobby brown. >> singer and actress. talking about whitney houston. we're going to hear from shocka kaan about her battle with drugs.

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. whitney's friends and family opened up about whitney houston, what they knew.

her friend chaka kahn opened up about her drug use, what she knew and whether her husband bobby brown was an influence. >> do you think she would have gone down that road without bobby brown in her life? >> if it was not him, someone else. if you want to get high, you get high. >> well, i can say this, that we were all around a lot of drugs, and that she had -- i hate to say that she had started before she had met bobby brown. >> chaka kahn describes the last time she saw whitney houston and how it ached houston not to be on stage. >> it killed her. it killed her. it would have -- i know. we were -- the last gig i did was -- the last time i saw her was at my gig with prince here in l.a. on may 5th.

and when i was seeing hinging, her in the audience. i was so happy to see her, and i could see in her eyes that she just wanted to sing. all she wanted to do was sing. >> chaka kahn noted she had just got out of rehab last may. her grammy plans should have been thought through. >> if i was co was coming to l.. we made specific plans to meet the day of the performance. if you had gotten to proper treatment and gotten your situation really handled, that was the first big mistake, for her to come an entire week before her performance at the party. i would have never done that. >> as for whitney houston's mother, cissy houston, how is she doing? kahn said she feared this might

happen to her daughter someday. >> she's coping. but she's also, i'm sure, many times would fear for her daughter's life. i know my mother did, and my little girl did, and my friends. so i know what this world that we're living in, this business, particularly, can do to one. >> bobby brown just released a statement to people magazine saying his daughter with houston, bobbi kristina, is dealing with the loss with her family. she's had to be taken to the hospital twice for anxiety. eavesdropping on cell phone conversations, bombs, snipers. it sounds lukeike a spy movie.

we're all trying to keep track of a serious president and his military. [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing

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as i told you just a moment ago, 40 more people have died today in the government onslaught in syria. we spoke a short time ago about potential outside military help. my guest outlined three possible scenarios for those fighting against the bashar assad government. nothing concrete yet, but the

u.s. is stepping up pressure quietly. >> reporter: all eyes and ears on syria. cnn has learned that bashar assad's moves against his own people is now top priority for u.s. intelligence and the military. the state department released these images showing syrian artillery guns outside a town. american officials tell cnn, classified higher resolution images show military targets being tracked in case u.s. action is ordered. the u.s. is looking to involve more satellite drones and u-2 spy planes. sources tell cnn that the u.s. is already secretly eavesdropping on telephone and electronic communications of assad's regime. it comes as united states officials accuse syria of crimes against humanity. >> children have not been

spared. children have been killed by beating, sniper fooire and shelling in several places outside syria. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence has picked up on cell phone communications of known al-qaeda operatives inside syria. after several suicide bombings, including this police station in aleppo, there are growing indicators a small group of al-qaeda operatives from next door iraq are now inside syria. >> what's already been clear is that al-qaeda and iraq, in particular, has pushed in operational and tactical level units into syria right now and appears to have conducted some of the high-profile bombings. >> reporter: al-qaeda's leader now calls al-assad the butcher son of a butcher and praises syria for waging jihad.

but there is little evidence that he influenced him, just that he did not endorse egyptian resources. >> i think it's good that they are definitely not involved in operational and tactical level efforts in either iraq or syria right now. only urging action. >> by releasing those images, the obama administration itself took the first step to putting the syrian regime on notice it is gathering intelligence about what that regime is doing. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. home protector plus, from liberty mutual insurance, where the costs to both repair your home and replace your possessions are covered. and we don't just cut a check for the depreciated value --

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about the cover shoot. that's coming up in 60 seconds.

chad meyers, you watching this with me? >> sure. >> a new kind of cover girl is on this year's sports illustrated edition, one who is not only stunning, she's also a social media hit as well. you could call 19-year-old kate the justin bieber of swimsuit models. why do we say that? because she's been able to translate her popularity on line

to a top gig in modelling, a dream she's had for years. >> i grew up in an american family, so it was always on the coffee table, and to be that girl in the magazine on the coffee table would be really ground-breaking for me. >> i'm assuming she was wearing a towel. upton has 175,000 twitter followers in one of her youtube videos that's been seen more than 3 million times. so what's she doing, you ask? many say it was a clip of her doing the dougie. obviously, right? this was in april last year that launched the whole internet following. she talked about her ascent on the "today" show. >> in my opinion, people talk about agents going after models,

but i think people want to see personalities, not just someone walking down a runway or just a face. that's why i campaigned. >> i say good for her. and chad, hello. >> and i'm 48. that just seems wrong. >> she's 19. >> you should at least be able to go into a bar if you're going to be on the cover of sports illustrated. >> she's a couple years away. what's the weather doing, chad? >> i guess that rodent was right. >> he did not see his shadow. >> he said we're going to see six more weeks of winter. general boregard lee, on the

other hand, said it's almost spring. i don't think that's spring. snow all across parts of pennsylvania. could see a rough, rough ride in pittsburgh and the mountains around there. could be a little tough. winter is certainly not over. lots more cold air to come. >> where is the best place to be right now in the country? >> i was in vegas last week, and it was 70 and sunny every day. it was amazing. the southwest has been great. there will be a storm over southern california the next couple days, but still the west and the southwest always the best. don't go to europe. it has been brutal. it's been the coldest winter of all time. 500 to 600 people dead from this cold winter and we're sitting here in the u.s. going, wow. no winter at all. >> i wondered where you went. you've been awful quiet, chad meyers. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. now we're going to move on to this. iran keeps warning the u.s. to stay out of the strait of

hormuz. americans getting a look and prepared in case there is a sudden attack. that's next. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

iran is warning the u.s., do not send your ship to the strait of hormuz, but we're doing just that. cnn is on board. >> reporter: the u.s.s. aprilbr

lincoln. it's vital to keep one of the world's most important shipping lanes open for traffic, the strait of hormuz. now the carrier itself had to transit through this strait only a few miles from iranian territory. >> jet fighters. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: about 20% of global oil exports go through the strait of hormuz. in a standoff of iran's nuclear program, they have threatened to close the strait, a move that could cause major damage to the world's economy. they even warned the u.s. not to transit carriers through here. that's why rear admiral troy

sh shoemaker, in charge of this ship, cruises through the strait. >> you hear in the newspaper about potentially closing the strait. we just remain vigilant as we're coming through. >> reporter: part of that vigilance, machine guns. many were stored under deck to prevent them from getting hit and helicopters hovering overhead to detect approaching ships. it doesn't take the choppers long to find one. an iranian patrol boat shadowing the abraham lincoln, at times no more than half a mile away. while a vessel like this couldn't sink a carrier, a sudden attack could do a lot of damage. >> what are the statistics threats that an iranian navy could pose for something like this? >> specific threats? they have small boats, they have bigger boats, they have submarines, they have aircraft. they have the gamut of things. >> reporter: but they leave the