frederica?hanks so much at the pentagon. >>> a "new york times" reporter has died in syria. anthony shadid apparently a fatal asthma attack. a photographer for the paper carried his body into turkey, shadid covered the middle east for nearly 20 years. he won two pulitzer prizes for his work in iraq and was kidnapped last year covering libya. shadid was 43. >>> it has been one year since libya's arab spring began with a day of rage. the uprising was the beginning of the end of the gadhafi regime. now, there are claims that militias are committing human rights abuses and threatening libya's future. max foster joining us now from london with more on that. max? >> yeah, there's certainly celebrations about the fall of gadhafi on this day, but the problem, the background to this is that many of the militias who actually ousted him from power have refused to give up their arms and concern they had may get organizers, some how the country will break down looking forward. they need to give up those arms

. >> hi, frederica. good morning. new hope baptist church in newark, new jersey, where the family is finalizing plans for saturday's private funeral. who are some of the people that will be attending? we will give you those details coming up live in the next hour. >>> i'm barbara starr at the pentagon. fred, iran is talking today about new developments in its nuclear program. should we be worried? i will have developments at the top of the next hour. >>> and i'm paul steinhauser at the cnn political desk. do you need more evidence that rick santorum is surging in the polls? i will have them coming up next hour. >> thanks so much, everyone. we will also talk to the man who says he knew whitney houston was a star before anyone else did. he heard her sing when no one knew who she was. he just had to convince his boss at arista records. [ female announcer ] last year, the u.s. used enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the earth over 190 times. each brita filter can take up to 300 of those bottles out of the equa

good morning, frederica.ort, a strong report, the up employment rate, the loews since february 2009. overall last year, 1.8 million jobs created. i will tell you where the jobs are coming from and talk about whether it is sustainable. i will have that at the top of the hour. >>> i'm chris lawrence at the pentagon, where the big question is would israel really strike iran this spring? we are checking with our sources to find out if it could be done and what it would mean. >>> and i'm rob marciano in the cnn severe weather center. while most of the country enjoys still spring-like temperatures, a full-on blizzard is happening now across eastern colorado and nebraska. denver getting pounded with snow. we will run down the storm in the next hour. fred? >> thanks so much, gentlemen and lady. >>> also coming up next hour, all those pink breast cancer ribbons are suddenly controversial after the komen foundation cut funds to planned parenthood. now, 26 u.s. senators are signing a letter asking komen to change its mi

so with that i will -- and i thank the, frederica wilson and the african-american voices in congressr bringing this opportunity to us to learn about history. thank you. [applause] >> so at this time we'll take any questions for mr. wasniewski. well, i just had, actually, i have one question. you broached on the topic of learning more history every day in terms of the staffers and different things. if you could just tell us maybe one story about that, that would be very interesting. >> sure, happy to. in the handout you received at the front door, we actually have a historical highlight that we discovered just a few years ago. one of the really interesting things about all these electronic databases that we have access to now, you know, historical newspapers and the pdf version of the congressional record and the globe and its predecessors going all the way back is that we're able to do searches that we previously couldn't. and the story of african-american pioneers at the staff level on capitol hill during reconstruction has come into focus. you know, these are individuals who aren't

regime can turn in the relatively peaceful because to look at them is evil because the perspective is frederica on that are we have this in a replacement yes there can be a subject but russia or china and so. now russian foreign minister sergey lavrov is on his way to damascus what's his visit likely to achieve. can. you just cheer up because evolution between the two sides are going to be. some kind of agreement both kinds can get a subsidy but it's quite unlikely for this purpose to be achieved so from our perspective it might be one of the many ways for the russians to try to influence before the election so as to appease some of the audiences but it might be another question after the election and. the russians have already are satisfied because let's take christ has done his task but i don't think personally i don't think it's possible for any countries to mediate a resolution that can get such a both sides in syria well the u.s. has been critical of russia and china's double veto of the syrian to off resolution is this fair. well they better to do the cold war is over it you know was famo

[applause] >> let me take a my colleague the honorable frederica wilson for having the genius to make sure we did not leave this week without having a commemoration to our members of congress. it is particularly special for me because ron dellums i believe, at least new and shared in the lives of the honorable barbara jordan, at least as she lived out her tenure at and her tenure in the united states congress, and to my brother, the honorable mckee leland. when i'm in schools biosafety died on the side of an ethiopian mountain refusing to give up on those who could not help themselves. and then, a predecessor and brother, the honorable craig washington. it's an appropriate -- and appropriate honoring of our dear and special members of congress. ron dellums captured the concept of listening and oh how much i wish we could bottle that now and this time, in this century. i would listen to the stories of mickey. i was led by the support of the

[applause] >> let me thank my colleague, the honorable frederica wilson, for having the genius to make sure that we did not leave this week without having commemoration to our members of congress. it is particularly special for me because ron dellums, i believe, at least knew and shared in the lives of the honorable barbara jordan at least as she lived out her tenure and her after-tenure in the united states congress. and to my brother, the honorable mickey leland. when i'm in schools, i always say he died on the side of an ethiopian mountain refusing to give up on those who could not help themselves. and then, um, a predecessor and brother, the honorable craig washington. this is an appropriate honoring of our dear and special members of congress. ron dellums captured a concept of listening, and, oh, how much i wish we could bottle that now in this time, in this century. i would listen to the stories of mickey, i was blessed by the support of the honorable barbara jordan. but mickey told most of the humorous stories but also the friendship stories that generated an opportunity for lea