good morning to you and welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from a to z. 5:00 in the east. whitney houston on a dangerous path just days before her death. new this morning, we're hearing that whitney houston drank heavily in the days right before her death. there were a lot of witnesses saying that she was arguing with a bartender, didn't want her drinks watered down. >> and inside syria, cnn, breaches the borders and

witnesses firsthand some of the slaughter. people grabbing children off the streets to protect them from snipers, wholesale violence and assaults in neighborhoods, we will get you inside and show you what's happening. >> we finally have a deal here. late last night word that a payroll tax cut is now in place and lawmakers are using a word you haven't heard for a while. it is called compromise. >> what was that? >> compromise. >> i'm sorry. i'm not feeling it. also, you've heard all about the lin-tastic stories of jeremy lin and the magic he's been performing on the court. he's done it again. i'm not sure this is going to keep going, this win, win, win. >> of course it is. >> do you think so? what happens if it doesn't? we're going to have all the highlights, the puns and story, what could be, as we move ahead in this guy's fantastic career. >> kind of good. >> so far at one minute past 5:00, our top story, a new source revealing to cnn that singer whitney houston drank a lot of alcohol in just the days

before she tragically died. the claim is she ordered drinks by her hotel pool, spent much of the day there. you can see this photograph courtesy of tmz. reports she wasn't acting out much on the day before her -- the day of her death while at the pool but that she was acting in strange ways and drinking copious amounts of alcohol in the days leading up to this in the hotel bar and in the lobby. >> yeah. her friends have admitted that houston drank champagne at a pregrammy party on thursday. dr. drew was on "ac 360" and he said that given her dependency, she should not have been drinking any alcohol at all. >> the fact that she could go to those treatments as recently as last may and come out and she and the people around her think that partying with alcohol is somehow okay because her problem is other drugs, is -- it shows that the treatments were abject failures. and that she needed a lot more

treatments. she didn't need to be out in public, she didn't need to be paraded around at parties, she didn't need to be working on a movie. her life was in danger, as we now know, should have known that four months ago. >> so we still do not know how whitney houston died, but death certificate lists the cause as deferred. the coroner has issued subpoenas for prescriptions, medical records, they are questioning doctors as well. the coroner says he's trying to expedite the results, but that it could take six to eight weeks. remember with michael jackson, the results, the toxicology reports, took actually three months. so susan candiotti is live in newark. what else do we know about her behavior the night before her death? >> hi, zoraida. no other way to describe it, these are certainly disturbing and sad details about the final hours and days of her life, before she was found dead in that beverly hilton hotel bathtub on saturday. what we are hearing from a source briefed on her behavior

is that she was drinking and drinking a lot. as early as 10:00 in the morning on wednesday and thursday. seen in the pool and the lobby area of the hotel ordering these drinks, jumping in and out of the pool, even doing somersaults, that's what people are saying. as you indicated, complaining that her drinks had been watered down, that there was too much ice in them. now she was described as being alone at some times, other times with members of her entourage and still others, with a male companion. and then there's the additional information about her drinking again on saturday morning, again in that pool area. so all of this in combination with what coroners are looking at in terms of the toxicology report as that comes in, to see whether that alcohol might have played a role in whatever medication she might have been on at the time. remember, zoraida, that authorities have told us she was taking xanax which is an

anti-stress, anti-anxiety drug and that in beginmation with alcohol, obviously could be problematic according to experts. >> let's talk about that. what's the latest on the investigation? >> well, in terms of what the coroners are doing as you indicated, they, of course, have issued subpoenas, we'll be getting additional information about the prescription drugs that she was taking, looking i into her medical history, piecing that together. at this time they see nothing criminal in the kind of drugs that she had with her, that there is no evidence at this time, none at all, that she was doing any doctor shopping. but this is part of a very thorough investigation that authorities must go through as they put all these pieces together before determining her cause of death. >> all right. susan candiotti, live in newark, new jersey, thank you. also "forbes" magazine is reporting that whitney houston

did, in fact, leave a will and contrary to some other reports she was not broke, not bankrupt. apparently having made millions from album sales and touring, just recently $35 million alone from a 2010 tour, where she was going through europe and asia touting an album. she owned property, $1.7 million estate in new jersey that's been on the market for some time. her daughter bobbi kristina is likely the main heir to her fortune. this will apparently was drafted after she was divorced from her ex-husband, bobby brown. cnn will be airing special coverage of houston's funeral, hosted by soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon, starts saturday at 11:00 eastern. 11:00 a.m. eastern. tune in for that. six minutes past the hour. it's the do something congress this morning. >> really? >> democrats and republicans have come together on a deal to extend the payroll tax cut for millions of working families and there's a lot more help for the

unemployed. i'm looking to my left because christine romans is here with all of the good news. the word came from the congressional aides last night. the house vote could come later his week. this is just an extension for a year, right? >> i'm going to invoke the obama thing we were talking about yesterday, i'll believe it when we see it. we're not at the vote. >> we're very close here. >> if they go ahead it's going to keep your paycheck from shrinking. you've been on this payroll tax holiday, might not know it, for quite some time. if that continues to extend, one of the average americans out there, average american families, you'll get another $1,000 per year that works out to about $40 per paycheck that you'll continue to keep in that paycheck. and the lawmakers are using a word they haven't been using in a long time or the critics of the lawmakers haven't been using, compromise. have a listen. >> this is a compromise, so there are technical issues, but we're going to let council finish those and those will

continue to be worked on, so we'll be able it to move forward later. >> all right. christine romans is here. we're going to talk about a poll in a minute, but you famously said that congress was fundamentally broken. >> yeah. >> are they healing? >> i think in an election year when 160 million americans are going wait a minute are my taxes going to rise it's not brain surgery to figure out that if you want to get elected for something and you want your party to be elected for something make sure you don't have 160 million people mad at you. the poll we're referencing shows more americans want a payroll tax cut to increase, 54% want it to continue, 42% oppose it. they oppose it because they don't want to add to our deficits, something the republicans were concerned about all along. this will not be paid for. they could never agree on how to pay for it. they're going to finish this without finding a way to pay for it. other measures will have to pay for it. >> of those numbers the heavier

voters would be the democrats and independents, saying keep that coming. >> some democrats are concerned about using a social security tax to give people a tax cut. we don't want to be messing around with how we fund social security. a tax cut is fine, but don't be messing around -- >> on the backs of the others. >> so there is that controversy among republicans, democrats and independents frankly saying, this was supposed to be a temporary thing, don't mess around with how much we're paying for social security. >> yesterday you said something about the unemployment issue was at 99 weeks, arguing whether it would be 99 or not. >> looks like it's going to be more like 73 weeks. the days of getting 99 weeks of unemployment benefits are likely over. you can only do that in not even half of the states now. depends on the jobless rate of the state. this super long 99 weeks is not going to happen anymore. if you've lost your job because you failed a drug test or refused to take a drug test or other drug related issue you have to have a drug test to get

jobless benefits. >> the democrats agreed? >> they agreed to this. >> wow. >> you will have to take a -- if you're applying for jobs, on unemployment benefits and require drug testing you could have to have a drug test for unemployment benefits. a lot of people who study employment law don't like this, don't like to tie benefits to certain things. another thing that's interesting, this is -- the government agreed to extend the main welfare program, temporary assistance for needy families, a debit card the families get, but they got in there you can't use that electronic benefit card at liquor stores, casinos or strip clubs. you can see the negotiators going these are the things conservatives want. >> did they debate that some. >> apparently they did. i was surprised you could use this card at a strip club frankly. but -- so you can see where conservatives did have wins. >> and the medicare, what happened with the medicare payments to doctors? >> that has been fixed again for

the year. all these will be paid for. paid for if you're a new federal worker, guys, a new federal worker, more into your pension. they found ways to pay for some of the other measures. >> well, that's a good thing. >> some good news. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> you are busy. girl doesn't sleep. >> ten minutes past the hour. gop presidential candidate rick santorum releasing his tax returns for the past four years. that's the most of any 2012 presidential candidate so far. what do they show in they show he earned $3.6 million in those four years. his highest tax rate was 28.3%. santorum had promised to release them for about a month, but said it took this long because he does his own taxes and had to get back to his computer. busy campaigning. >> high tax rate compared to what mitt romney was paying, closer to 15 to 20%. probably a feather in his cap as he continues to campaign. take you overseas because there is still this story that keeps coming in to our network,

the deadly crisis in syria. the government offering political reforms, but hold on. offering political reforms at a time when another military crackdown just keeps coming. look at the pictures. they don't lie. the opposition, of course, the source of these pictures be but dozens more killed in the latest violence in that country. cnn's arwa damon has a great risk to herself, cannot be understated at great risk to herself and crew, has been able to sneak into this country to offer firsthand accounts of what's happening in the city of homs. >> the bombardment at some points was so intense that buildings were shaking, glass was shattering, a 9-year-old girl that was caught in the house we were in, burst into tears and there was absolutely no way to comfort her. we also spent a couple of hours at the medical clinic inside ba ba amr the neighborhood hardest hit in the government onslaught,

nonstop shelling residents are telling us, that has been going on for 11, 12 days now. the doctors there are beside themselves. >> again, that's cnn's arwa damon reporting from a secure location undisclosed inside the city of homs where she was able to breach recently. some people in the u.s. congress are saying this country should consider arming the syrian opposition. on cnn's "out front with erin burnett" senator lindsay graham was asked that question and what the united states needs to do to help these people. >> arming people is something to consider, but right now i would like to know more. surely we can help them economically, help them with doctor care and really push the world community, russia and china particularly, to get behind getting assad out. he's close to falling. we need to push. >> more about russia and china in a moment. the u.n. general assembly is set to take up a symbolic, we repeat symbolic, resolution condemning

syria to happen today. about china, they sent an enjoy to damascus to end the violence. if you remember last week's reporting, russia did the same thing, although it is unclear what, if any, help that actually offered to this crisis. >> 13 minutes past the hour. every morning we give you an early start to your day alerting you to what will be the big stories tonight. sentencing day in detroit. for the so-called underwear bomber. umar farouq abdulmutallab is facing a mandatory life sentence. he pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a detroit-bound plane on christmas day 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underwear. president obama is raising a lot of money in california. campaign cash. he's going to attend four fund-raising events today in los angeles and san francisco and wrap up a three-day western swing tomorrow with two more fund-raisers in seattle. robert kennedy's grandson joseph kennedy iii will formally declare his candidacy for

congress today. he's seeking barney franks' massachusetts house seat. frank decided not to run for re-election. >> massachusetts is not always a sure thing for a kennedy these days. this will be a great race to watch. it will be interesting. >> he looks awfully young, doesn't he? a lot younger than his 31 years. >> all kennedys look young to me. >> as rob marciano does in atlanta. way younger than your age. >> yeah. i'm no kennedy, i can tell you that. thank you, ladies. good morning. we are looking at rainfall, much needed rainfall, actually heading across parts of the south not only for the drought situation but knocking down some of the pollen that really shouldn't be in the air yet, but has been so mild this winter we have trees blooming just about everywhere. atlanta, south down to southeast parts of alabama, luckily last night this wasn't much in the way of severe weather. no reports of tornadoes as a strong line of storms moved across east texas and south louisiana. the rain is also moving across the new york city area later on today. so philadelphia, you'll see some delays as well, and d.c. and charlotte also. here's how the storm is going to

move as we go through the next 24 to 36 hours. throughout the day rides up the spine of the appalachians, the snow, the white on this map isn't prevalent, so pretty mild in places, mostly rain for most folks but eventually head out to sea on friday, but -- and another storm in the wake of this thing coming into town on sunday. we'll have to watch this one. pretty strong one. winter storm and high wind warnings out for so cal but will tap gulf moisture and ride up the coast. we'll have to watch it for potential impacts for you. >> thank you for that, rob. check in with you later. and for the sports, and even not sports fans among us. >> great story. >> the update to jeremy lin. the scoring spree may have abated somewhat, but hold on, because the lin-sanity keeps coming, just scoring 10 points in a game last night but a career high 12 assists. blowing out the sacramento kings

there's a first time in the seven games lin was held under 20 points. >> might be because they were resting him, though, what do you think? he did sort of sit on the bench in the back half of the game. madison square garden was packed. legend of lin living on. we'll talk about that with mark spears an nba writer for yahoo! sports. as we see the cheering and team surrounding him. >> i wouldn't mind having him in our news every day. great role model. >> nice to have good news especially in the morning. >> 17 minutes past the hour. still ahead, jewish groups in the united states are being warned to watch out as the tensions with iran escalate. remember josh powell? he blew up a home in a murder/suicide, killing his two young sons. now there is a fight brewing to keep him from spending eternity next to the boys that he killed. you're watching "early start." i wouldn't do that. get married? no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. nice ring. knock it off. ignore him. with the capital one venture card you earn...

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and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. good morning, atlanta, as we pan along your beautiful skyline. it is 52 degrees right now. a little bit of rain today expected and 65 degrees as a high. so not terrible. it is winter. >> a nice fast pan.

>> whoever is on that tower cam has got it going on this morning. like the caffeine in your starbucks. >> 20 minutes past the hour here. time to check stories making news this morning. a source claims whitney houston ordered large quantities of alcohol at her hotel just days before her death. meantime her death certificate lists her cause of death as deferred. a payroll tax cut deal is in place this morning, not final yet, but congressional negotiators sealed the deal late last night on legislation to renew the tax cut for 160 million workers and those jobless benefits for millions more as well. and the u.n. general assembly is expected to vote today on a symbolic resolution condemning president bashar al assad's violent crackdown on the opposition in syria. china and russia blocked the security council from taking action against the assad regime. for the first time in more than eight months president obama's approval rating is at 50%. there's the leaderboard.

brand new cnn/orc poll shows that if he were matched up with everyone else in the gop field head to head he would beat them and rather handily. the u.s. postal service is making a plea to congress after posting fourth quarter net losses of $3.3 billion. agency wants permission to change funding requirements for its retiree health benefits program in order to be more profitable. general motors also with financial saying it's ending pensions for 19,000 of its salaried workers. at maker is moving the traditional pension plans to 401(k)s, saying that's in hopes of lowering financial risks to investors. 22 minutes past the hour. and we're getting an early read on your local news making national headlines. this morning we have papers from salt lake city and from nashville. we're going to start with the desert news. the crime stoppers in washington

has purchased cemetery plots to block josh powell from being buried next to his two sons. powell as you're looking at him there, is accused of murder/suicide. he intentionally set his home on fire, killing himself and his two young sons. crime stoppers bought plots on both sides of the graves where the boys will be buried together this week. the sheriff says it's disgusting a murder suspect would be buried next to his victims. the attorney for the grandparents is weighing in and filing legal action here, trying to get a restraining order, temporary restraining order and plan to file it in court if necessary. she said she has been informed the city isn't sure it has the power to refuse a request to buy a burial plot if there is a court order because his family wants you him buried next to the children. this is interesting. she argues that the idea of putting a murderer near the victims you both emotionally damaging to the cox family and

being outrageous and while doing her research, she learned about a case where a killer wanted to be buried next to his victim. the victim's family, however, exhumed the body, moved it elsewhere. >> let's move on to the tennesseen. the don't say gay bill. controversial. protesters in the streets. we can say that the bill has passed the tennessee house of representatives. the legislation, if you haven't heard of this story, would ban any kind of discussion in school about, quote, natural -- anything but natural, human reproduction science end quote before the ninth grade. people have looked at that as saying that's just saying you're restricting anyone talking about homosexuality in schools. the critics say that stigmatizes being gay for any kids who might be and opens the door to bullying. supporters say it's up to the parents to educate their kids about homosexuality if they choose. it's a pitched battle but one

step closer at this point in this political process to being something they can actually get their teeth on. >> this was introduced by that republican senator stacy campfield, the one that went on sirius radio and said that it was -- that hiv and gays, he talked about how they were connected. very offensive remarks made there. but he also said, that bullying is a lark. this is a guy who is behind that legislation. all right. 25 minutes past the hour. still ahead for first time in six years, for the first time in six years, there will be no more fema trailers in new orleans. we're going to find out what's going on there. you're watching "early start." cocomimingng s soooonn exextrtra a bubutttter titickcketets,s, s swon pepengnguiuin n jojouruy jujuninioror m minints momoviviefefononee evevilil p pririncncee bobollllywywoooodd 3-3-dd shsharark k atattatack nened d ththe e hehead 5%5% c casashbhbacackk ririghght t nonow,w, g getet 5 k onon m movovieies.s. itit p payays s toto d di.

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28 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> hi, everybody. i'm ashleigh banfield. nice to have you here with us. it's a good time to get you caught up on top stories if you're just heading out the door or not. here's what we're finding out about whitney houston. apparently she was drinking large quantities of alcohol in the days before her death, this according to a source who has been reporting to cnn, apparently she was complaining in the bar and lobby that the drinks she was ordering at the hotel were not strong enough and were, quote, watered down. also making news, china, sending a diplomatic envoy to syria for talks on friday. this as the government continues this brutal and bloody crackdown on the opposition and civilians in a number of cities and neighborhoods. earlier this month remember china and russia were the two nations that blocked the united nations security council from passing a resolution calling on the syrian president bashar al

assad to step down. and also in something that could be considered a bit tense, pakistani intelligence officials say a u.s. drone strike killed five suspected militants in the tribal region along the afghan border. the drone fired at suspected -- a suspected militant compound there. there is no specific threat that homeland security officials are concerned about jewish groups being targeted inside the united states because of the tensions with iran. law enforcement is telling those groups to be very vigilant. and four players on the texas christian university football team are among 17 tcu students charged with selling prescription and illegal drugs to undercover police officers. those arrests were the result of a six-month investigation. and more than six years after hurricane katrina, the last of the fema trailers is now out of new orleans. at one point, more than 23,000 fema issued trailers and mobile

homes were being used. it's 30 minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast and on our top stories, a source told cnn that whitney houston had been drinking quite heavily in the days leading up to her death in california and we have a photo to show you of whitney houston at the hotel pool where a source claims she had ordered several drinkses. you can see there's a drink beside her on that sun chair. we don't know what is inside that glass. we want to stress. we do know this as well, the source claims that guests had heard whitney houston complaining to the bar tenders at 10:00 in the morning that her drinks had been, quote, watered down. our susan candiotti is standing by live now in newark where the funeral plans are set to get under way on saturday. you know, susan, it's hard to sort of understand exactly what was going on in these days because so many sources report that she had been drinking heavily and friends and family members and even other sources have suggested she was rather normal on that morning, particularly poolside of her

death. it's hard to sort of reconcile exactly what was happening. >> reconcile it, sort it out and that's right. and that's why, ashleigh, we have to keep in mind to put all of this into perspective. what's happening now in this investigation, is that they're getting the same information we are hearing about. remember, investigators have been talking to her bodyguards, everyone who was in and out of the hotel room that night, all the employees around the hotel who had contact with whitney houston, all of her friends and relatives, to trace every bit of her behavior and actions leading up to when her body was found in that bathtub on saturday in the beverly hilton hotel. the same kind of thing ha they did following the death of michael jackson, the death of anna nicole smith, stories we have covered. in this case we're hearing about these disturbing types of behavior, drinking as early as 10:00 in the morning, in the

hotel lobby, in the hotel bar, seen jumping in and out of the swimming pool, doing somersultss in that pool area, and this happening on wednesday and thursday. remember her body was found on saturday. and then, as you point out, according to a source and other people we have spoken with, at that party she was seen to be drinking champagne that night but described by her friends not acting erratically. this is part of the big picture as coroners try to put together ultimately a cause of death. >> and that cause of death just listed as deferred on her death certificate. susan candiotti, thank you for that. appreciate it. wanted to let you cnn is going to air special coverage of whitney houston's funeral. it will be hosted by soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon and gets under way saturday at 11:00 in the morning eastern time. 33 minutes past the hour. brand new poll numbers that

aren't good for any of the gop contenders. and the president's approval rating, hitting a milestone. it's not seen in quite some time. also, i won't say it but you can insert your lin pun here. jeremy lin, the sensation that just keeps on giving and giving and you know what, last night no exception. the winning in lining ways and david letterman has a few ideas for the media on how to characterize this sen station coming up. it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street legal. ♪ is it safe? oh ya, it's a volkswagen. [ male announcer ] the security of a jetta, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪ should we be letting him p-l-a-y with our t-a-b-l-e-t?

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university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. hi, good morning, everyone. it's 37 minutes past the hour. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. as the gop candidates continue to tear each other apart there's bad news for all of them. a new cnn/orc poll shows president obama's approval rating is at 50%, that's for the first time. he beat all the gop candidates and hypothetical matchups as well. joining us to talk about this, a

political reporter for roll call, republican strategist matt, and dean, a frequent contributor to cnn.com, whose latest piece up right now i understand on cnn.com. matt, i am going to begin with you. let's look at the possible matchups and what it means. obama would defeat any republican candidate. not by a giant margin, but still, out of the margin of error. should republicans be concerned? >> i think right now he has the benefit of being a spectator and watching the republicans just tear each other apart, particularly in florida. it got really nasty down there. but in that poll, it's registered voters, and typically that gives the democrat a little bit of a bump. if you get out into the states, places like pennsylvania, ohio, virginia, the president still has tough poll numbers to deal with and i think he's going to find that the focus is going to shift back to him pretty soon, as soon as the republicans have a nominee. >> but combining that with that

50% approval rating, that's impressive. >> he's had a good couple weeks, no question. >> shirrra, romney has more immediate worries, right? he still needs to win michigan. the governor is expected to endorse mitt romney today. the headline haunting him from 2008, let's look at that, "let detroit go bankrupt." the auto bailout saved approximately 1.5 million jobs in michigan. is it risky for romney to stick with his position on the bailout? >> it's been interesting to watch romney over the last cup the days try to resolve this issue of that headline, "let detroit go bankrupt." he's doubled down on it, said well this is basically i meant what i said an we should have done this. he's tried to handle it. i give him a c-plus for the way he's handled this situation. he's up with a great ad driving through the streets, calls himself a detroiter, goes through his home of bloomfield hills, michigan. i think he's done an all right job. it is a problem. the poll numbers show that he's

trailing rick santorum in michigan and for someone who considers michigan his home state that's not a good thing at all. >> you gave him a c-plus. how would you get him to an a? >> i think he needed to go hard or go home. he should have really gone for and defended his decision or backed away from it and said maybe i was wrong about this. when you go down the middle it's the squishy area and makes him look ambivalent. he has a problem with that. i think people view him as zivy, trying to play it both ways. didn't work well for him. >> dean, let's switch gears. last night the deal was worked out to extend the payroll tax cut and continue the unemployment benefits without cutting the pay for medicare doctors. listen to chief republican negotiator representative dave camp and then we're going to chat. >> this is a compromise, so there are technical issues but we're going to let council finish those and those are going to continue to be worked on. we'll be able to move forward later.

>> boy, all we've been talking about for a long time is gridlock in congress and finally there's a change here. but 51% of americans say that it is more important to compromise than to stick to beliefs. do you think congress is getting the message or is it just election year politics? >> you know, all i can tell you, i think we should all circle our call dars as congress did something that was good for the american people. this is a congress with a 10% approval rating. honestly there are stds more popular than our united states congress. they have to get their act together. this was a no-brainer. the majority of the democrats and republicans, more republicans, supported the payroll tax cut. this is an easy thing. giving $1,000 to the american working family during election year is a no-brainer, something that had to be cdone and glad w didn't have to go through the groundhog day scenario. >> interesting comparison there. >> one last question for you, stick to my rules here, it's a one word answer, i'm going to

give you your option in a couple seconds. president obama, we know, has been talking about the economy. he was in milwaukee doing that, but also talking about another big deal, jeremy lin, right. we saw jeremy lin again helped the new york knicks last night defeat the sacramento kings, seven in a row now. a lot of puns surrounding his name. actually, this morning i found another one, commander lin chief. that is in the "daily news" this morning. which of the following is the best pun on his name? lin-sanity, lin-vinsible or for the lin. like for the win. i'm going to give you one more option, a special exception here, you can come up with your own. so your three options, lin-sanity, lin vns vinceble, or lin or your own. >> lin-vinceble. >> lin-sanity. >> and dean? >> lin-tastic.

>> thanks for playing. still ahead on "early start," what a story out of the honduras, locked behind bars, fire raging through a prison. 300 people dead and families of inmates now demanding answers. we'll find out at least we'll try to find out what caused that inferno. and also, in our american politics, the man at the center of the picture releasing his tax returns. he does them himself. are you curious about how much money he made and how much money he paid? you'll find out. you're watching "early start." hey. did you guys hear... ...that mary got engaged? that's so 42 seconds ago. thanks for the flowers guys. [ both ] you're welcome. oooh are you guys signing up for the free massage? [ both ] so 32 seconds ago. hey guys you hear frank's cat is sick? yeah, we heard. wanna sign the card? did you know the guys from china are in the office... [ speaking chinese ] [ male announcer ] stay a step ahead with the 4g lte galaxy s ii skyrocket. only from at&t.

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and a good morning to you. 46 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to get you caught up on top stories this morning. a source telling cnn that whitney houston was drinking a lot of alcohol in the days before her death. all of this as investigators are questioning her doctors and pharmacies about her prescriptions. also in the news, as the crisis in syria worsens, china

is now sending one of its top diplomats to damascus tomorrow, all of this in an effort to try to bring an end to the violence between president bashar al assad's regime and his people including the opposition. forensic teams are still removing bodies, hundreds of bodies, from a prison in honduras where more hthan 300 people locked in cells were killed as the fire raged through it. investigators believe a short circuit or mattress fire may have actually sparked that blaze. the house is expected to vote in the next couple of days on a deal to extend the payroll tax cut. a deal that is now in place according to several aides in congress. gop presidential candidate rick santorum is releasing his tax returns for the first -- for the past four years. that's since he has been out of the senate and in the private sector. he said he had to do his own tax returns so it took him a little longer. they show he earned $3.6 million in the four years.

his highest tax rate was 28.3%. 47 minutes past the hour now. big story has been all about jeremy lin. yes, it's a team, yes, they play as a team, but this guy, look at this. yet again, shows what he's made of. passes, assists, making records. but you know what? he's still so incredibly humble. find out what he says about his phenomenon. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

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♪ always good to wake up to good music. that's cypress hill getting you out of bed at 5:50 in the morning. insane in the membrane. >> like the min-sane. the new york knicks with their seventh straight victory thanks in no small part to rising star jeremy lin. >> i'm not going to use a pun here, i promise you. another big night. take a look. yeah. finds the [ inaudible ]. career high with 13 assists. knicks blew up the sacramento kings 100-85. here's a question for you, the cheers keep coming but how long can lin and the knicks keep this up? joining us to talk more about the sensation, is mark speers, an nba writer for yahoo! sports. good to see you this morning. >> how you doin'? >> how you doin', more the question. if you're in new york people are so excited with jeremy lin and

what's going on with the knicks. i think a lot of people are nervous it may not last. is that off the mark? >> the excitement is not just in new york, it's worldwide. living in the bay area, this kid is a sensation here, that's all everybody is talking about. they're not talking about the warriors, the local team anymore, they're talking about jeremy lin. can this last? that scoring level? no. now that amare is back, carmelo anthony is back, it will drop. if they keep winning people will keep being excited about this phenomenon. >> i like you brought that up. that has been lurking out there in the distance, the other big stars on that team. do you have any sense of what's going to happen to the chemistry of the knicks once amare comes back, once the other big players who have been used to the spotlight are back on the court? >> well, amare is back after the death of his brother recently and played well with lin. the big thing is carmelo anthony. can carmelo exist, is carmelo going to stop the ball.

i covered carmelo with the denver nuggets for several years and he played with allen iverson. i tell people if he can play with allen iverson he can play with jeremy lin. we exchanged text messages an he's excited about showing everybody what he can do with jeremy lin. jeremy is a phenomenal passer, who better than to find somebody that's offensively talented as carmelo anthony to score for you. i think they'll be fine. it will make it easier for lin probably. >> here's something i don't often say when i'm reporting and i do this very rarely, by the way, report on sports, but professional athletes, you rarely get the chance to say, this guy is the definition of humility. i want to play a quick piece of an interview he gave last night talking about his rise to -- his sudden rise to stardom, and just sort of how he accommodates for it all. have a listen. >> i want to be the same person before and after and you know that's where i want to be.

i don't want to let anything affect me or this team. i think, you know, playing in new york is a big stage and that's, obviously, a temptation and the danger. >> okay. that is just awesome. when you hear a player, a professional athlete, talk like that, it makes me wonder if back to our last question, he'll get on just fine with all the other big personalities out there, won't he? >> well, he'll get along fine. it's how is everybody else going to be around him? when you become a big-time star around him, everybody around you will change. do you think he can buy a meal in new york city right now? no. but people are going to want this, that or the other, figure out how can i make money off jeremy lin and others that think okay, when this star falls, at some point, it all falls, how is he going to handle it? how painful will it be? so yeah, from that standpoint i think there should be some concern about him, but right now, he's rolling with it, he's humble, and he's just come from

such obscurity. even cinderella is probably like, man, this is a pretty good story. it's so shocking. and you want to see -- i mean you're glued to the tv, forget about the heat, forget about the lakers. we want to see what jeremy lin is going to do next. >> i know. cross our fingers it keeps going. you said he might be hurt if it ends, be you i have a feeling there's a lot of other people who might be more hurt. thanks for getting up early. >> pleasure. thank you. >> i love this guy. but i didn't know, you know, when he started that winning sensation, i had no idea who he was. i -- >> i think you're not alone. >> i'm not. but i texted my son and he was like, jeremy lin? he's a beast. he said a harvard grad and a beast. and so -- >> which is good, by the way. >> a great role model, just a great role model for kids. regardless, we're all going to love him long term. >> it's funny because erin burnett on her show was talking about her nephew who is tie what niece-american.

she interviewed her own nephew and you should have heard him going off about this player, about jeremy lin and he's such an inspiration because they're both tie what niece-american. it's a fantastic story. so many levels of learning with him and modeling behavior. 55 minutes past the hour. david letterman got in on the jeremy lin word game. listen. >> we have now -- we've collected for you the worst possible jeremy lin puns. at number seven, lin-tenational house of lin cakes. does this look lin-effected to you. number three, jeremy lin sauce with linguine. number two, lin-tercourse. you have to be lin it to lin it. there you go. >> that was mine. i said lin it to win it a couple days ago. i wonder if david letterman gets up early and watches our show.

>> lin, win, not a big stretch. >> still ahead, exclusive information coming in on whitney houston's final days, saying she was complaining loud and often her drinks were not strong enough, this at 10:00 in the morning. you're watching "early start." sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too.

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