as a member of congress, a very generous person heard the story and offered him an autographed hank aaron bat. as a member of congress, you are not allowed to accept a gift valued over $200. so the government took away his back again. tonight, we cannot replace the bat that was taken away from that young boy. but we do give them something that we hope will take its place. ladies and gentlemen, i present to you the first ever recipient to of the lifetime achievement award for services rendered to the asian american community and services rendered to our nation. i give to you secretary mineta. [applause] >> i cannot think of a more appropriate gift tonight than to receive this bat. i want to thank the mayor, and everyone, members of the board of supervisors, for hosting this event tonight. all of us who have had the privilege of serving in public service have gone to that point because we were standing on the shoulders of those who preceded us. i want everybody here to remember that whenever they do in the future, bring everything you are and bring everything you want to the jobs you are go

hank aaron had it on his shoulder during most of his playing days.panded look at all of our top stories, head to cnn.com/earlystart. you can also follow us on twitter and facebook, search for "early start" cnn. >>> let's get you up to date, congressional leaders will be meeting with the president at the white house this afternoon. they will try to hammer out an 11th-hour deal to keep the country from going over the fiscal cliff which could happen four days from now. if they fail, it will mean drastic tax hikes and spending cuts at the start of the new year. >>> a 60-foot whale that washed ashore in queens, new york has died. the whale was barely alived when it was found wednesday in the breezy point section of queens, an area hit hard by hurricane sandy. national park service workers were not able to move the whale's carcass on thursday because the equipment they needed was destroyed by the hurricane. >>> former egyptian president hosni mubarak has been transferred to a military hospital after doctors discovered rib fractures from a recent fall. the