mandy, thank you. in other news, you often hear the word "remarkable" when doctors describe congresswoman gabrielle giffords' recovery from an assassination attempt in january. cbs news has learned that, this week, she'll travel to florida to watch her husband, mark kelly, lift off in the space shuttle, a very important milestone for both of them. >> booster ignition and liftoff of shuttle "discovery." >> fortunately, this is my fourth time going into space, my second time commanding the space shuttle, so it's not like i haven't been here before. >> couric: make no mistake-- mark kelly knows there is nothing routine about being strapped to nearly four million pounds of rocket fuel, riding a controlled explosion into space. >> "discovery"-- houston, go with throttle up. >> roger, throttle up. >> couric: i get nervous getting on an airplane. do you get nervous before a launch? >> you know, maybe just a little bit. you realize what the risk is and... but you're really focused, and there's a lot going on a

for a date night mandy is modeling this look. >> what is great with mandy.own dress that she had at home and i wanted to pair it showing how you can bring texture and print and accessories to bring up her look. that bag and shoe both available payless. we did the same print as we did on the blouse and bringing that design and fashion to all. >> and you can mix a couple of the crazier looks like the bag and the jewelry with other different dresses, as well. >> exactly. that bag is great for any evening look and those shoes you can throw on with jeans or a beach little moo moo. >> mandy, thank you so much. lee and laura, come out, as well. you looking forward to the spring, christian? >> i am. i'm excited. definitely ready for the new york weather to be nice. >> we'd like you to dress us for that, as well. thank you so much, as always, you do wonderful work. >>> just ahead, my dream come true. lester and i hit the gym. we'll see who is left standing. it wasn't lester. first, these messages.have a i am gonna ace this checkup.lg my vet thinks my insides are in m

>> yeah. >> mandy, what have you done? i know you've tried some medications in the past to try to help aidan with his temper. has any of that worked? >> no. the medication just made him gain weight. didn't affect his behavior at all. then, so we all decided it was better to take him off of it. >> do you think there's any circumstance where it's okay to pepper spray a second grader? can you think of any circumstance where that's okay? >> off the top of my head, no. he's a child. there were two, grown police officers. they didn't even try to talk to him. you talk to him. and you find out what it is that's bothering him, as well. you don't just walk in, ask him to stop. and then, spray. >> aidan, do you wish you had done things differently that morning? >> yeah. >> what would you have done differently? >> just dealt with it. but that always happens once i'm done with everything. >> once you cool down? >> uh-huh. >> so, you have to learn to cool down faster, right? >> yeah. >> okay. well, aidan and mandy, i hope things turn ou

mandy clark, cbs news, benghazi. >>> meanwhile, more protests are expected in afghanistan, spurred by the burning of a koran by the u.s. pastor. yesterday, two policemen were killed, more than 30 people wounded. florida pastor terry jones burned a koran last month and sparked outrage among muslims. last week protesters stormed a u.n. building in afghanistan, killing at least seven. yesterday general david petraeus denounced the burning. >> we condemn the action of an individual in the united states who burned a holy koran. that action was hateful. it was intolerant. and it was extremely disrespectful. >> afghan president hamid karzai wants the u.s. congress to officially condemn the burning of koran. >>> in japan, a growing problem at the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant. workers still can't figure out the source of leaking radioactive water. the highly radioactive water is leaking into the ocean. engineers are using mixed sawdust, newspaper, even cement to try to seal this leak. the government says it will be months before the plant's cooling systems are completely shut down. >

mandy clark in benghazi has more. >> reporter: the only rebel-held city in western libya is still under siege by qaddafi forces. doctors in misrata say over 150 people were killed there in the past week, and aid is badly needed. some help is reaching the city. a turkish ferry evacuated 250 wounded. it arrived in the rebel stronghold of benghazi to pick up more injured in the eastern front before heading to turkey. those wounded are coming from the battlefield of brega. the oil town remains contested after five days of intense fighting. even with more powerful weapons and better military leadership on the front line, rebels are struggling to gain any ground. >> we were making progress, but they fired at us, he says. the gunmen are hiding in the city. and they're now facing another problem. qaddafi forces have changed tactics, moving around in armed pickup trucks to better blend with rebel fighters. that also makes allied air strikes difficult. one raid over the weekend accidentally hit rebel forces, killing 13. russ. >> mitchell: at this point does it look like there can be a military so

mandy clark, cbs news, london. >> mitchell: the u.s. military says two american soldiers were killed yesterday during operations in southern iraq. officials did not say how the men died. nine u.s. soldiers have been killed this month in iraq. here at home, the debate over raising the national debt ceiling will resume at full volume when congress returns from its easter recess. wit johnson in washington has more on the battle and the latest read on public opinion. >> reporter: the u.s. credit limit of $14.3 trillion is almost maxed out. >> if our creditors start worrying that we may be unable to pay back our debts, that could drive up interest rates for everybody who borrows money. >> reporter: president obama wants an up-or-down vote in congress, but for the g.o.p. it's an opportunity to win more concessions in the form of spending cuts. >> there will not be an increase in the debt limit without something really, really big attached to it. (applause) >> reporter: and it's not just republicans. according to a cbs news/"new york times" po

mandy clark was with them as they fled brega in disarray. >> reporter: firing at random, and at nothing in particular, the greatest danger at the front is often the rebels themselves. these men cannot decide who in their force should move forward. so who's on the front lines? no one seems to know. then, a rebel spots cars in the distance. his reaction? "attack them," he says. and off they go. it's unclear where the front is until we're upon it. i saw a flash up there. as we turn around, rebels fire wildly over us. back further, another line of defense comes under attack. they faced some incoming fire and now all the rebels are pulling all the way back out of here. which is the main problem-- anti-qaddafi forces are rarely able to stand their ground under any kind of attack and fire at will in defense, so it's not clear that giving them more arms would ultimately make much difference on the battlefield. mandy clark, cbs news, on the road to brega. >> hill: the white house today said the defection of libya's foreign minister, moussa koussa, is a significant blow to the qaddafi machine. ko

>> kerry sanders, thank you very much. 8-year-old aidan is here along with his mom mandy. morning to you both. >> good morning. >> this is a tough situation for everyone involved, mandy. i understand why you believe using pepper spray on an 8-year-old is excessive. but the police say your son was posing a real threat to teachers, that, in fact, he admits that he wanted to hurt them and they felt they had no choice. can you accept or entertain the possibility that they didn't have any choice but to use spray on your son? >> to a degree, but the school he was at was for children with socialle and emotional behavioral issues. >> i thought it was not. i thought he was now in a school for behavioral issues. >> the school has a classroom specifically for these children. >> why does that make a difference? >> because they know what the kids are capable of before they took him on. and then they could have also called and asked for a special unit who deals with children from the police department in these crisis situations. >> had that been done in the past? the police had been cal

. >> me gustarÍa que se llame la ley mandy, me gustarÍa que todos recordemos lo que le pasÓ a ella paraven estadounidense deja la comunidad de su hogar y un estilo de vida privilegiado para dedicarse en cuerpo y alma a una comunidad donde la educaciÓn es un verdadero reto. desde pueblo esperanza de la repÚblica dominicana tiene los detalles. ♪ >> los niÑos requieren como padre o hermano mayor, lo admiran y le agradecen su constante dedicaciÓn. es que se ha desprendido de todo lo que, que lo llevÓ a uno de los pueblos mÁs pobres de la repÚblica dominicana donde hay un alto Índice de desempleo. paradÓjicamente el lugar se llama esperanza. >> es un instrumento en la mano de dios por quÉ no hay mucha gente que piense en los demÁs... (risas) >> llegÓ hace unos aÑos a travÉs de un programa de la universidad de colorado para estudiar ciencias polÍticas y espaÑol. al terminar el primer semestre de regreso a estados unidos y luego viajÓ otros paÍses de latinoamÉrica. decidiÓ que tenÍa que volver a la repÚblica dominicana. >> yo he conocido mucha gente, mucha buena gente, me gustan los americanos

then my aunts and uncles named dogs candy and mandy so it was very confusing. but my uncle actually fought the west bound terriers were fantastic. he got randy from a pet store and deliver him to us and we were so thrilled because she came from kansas. we thought how exotic this is that she came from kansas and it was only later as i got older that i learned at the time in the 1980s for 1970s pleaded amid 1970s that kansas was the number one puppy mills state in america and most of the dogs on the puppy mills are small breeds, swallows and others. what was unbelievable about it is there was a city animal shelter and that you could see from my front doorstep. go across this little pond, there is a small college right across the street in newhaven and you could see this animal shelter so we got a dog from kansas, 1200 miles away when one of my new best friends who was just waiting to be adopted less than a quarter mile away and for so many of us it is about choices and awareness. are just was not aware of what the issues were with dog breeding and certainly not p

we have basically people on one knee in blackface, yes in blackface singing mandy. and that we had butterfly mcqueen from gone to the wind. that was our role model. there were no other role models for women. they were distinct gender roles. you never saw a man pushing a baby carriage if you just didn't see. it was distinct gender roles. women stayed at home and then went on to quote unquote bring home the bacon. women were expected to be cheerleaders. not businesses. if they were a lot out of the house they were expected to be secretaries in an office and not secretaries of state. women were expected to marry a doctor, not be a doctor. all of this in the 1950s was preposterous, and that my father who was a ditch digger, was a janitor, and sent my fat girls, my little dark skinned girls will be doctors. my dad of course without an education, he had to do menial work. he worked in the slaughterhouse of new york. he pumped home heating oil. he was agenda. he laid a brick. that was my day. now, my mom was from west virginia from the rural town, and a coal mining camp if

. >>> mandy at the new york stock exchange. good morning. >> good morning. a lot of action out of europe today. portugal has decided to seek a financial bailout. this could be taken a positive. another country is finally seeking help. this all comes as the european central bank is trying to tackl. he became a youtube sensation when his uncle posted a video when he was crying when he was told he was too small to be the governor of new jersey. >> what is making you so sad. >> because everyone is telling me i'm too small to to be the governor of new jersey. >> everyone's wrong. chris christie made jesse the honorary governor and taught him an important less on about politics. >> did we talk about property earth taxes? >> of course you did. >> what did i tell you. >> don't raise them. >> if you do raise them, what's going to happen. >> i'm not going to be governor for that long. >> super cute. back to matt, meredith, and al. did you notice his brother? he didn't seem interested at all. he's like what's going on. >> his brother is a lieutenant governor. >> he wan

. >>> now to cnbc's mandy drury at the new york stock exchange. >> of course the markets continue tot commodity prices have a mind of their own. oil prices are barrelling higher and an average gallon of gas costs you $3.73. in some states we are seeing over $4 a gallon. we are at a record high for gold. silver at the highest in decades. back to you. >> the snake who went m.i.a. at new york's bronx zoo has a fitting new name. online voters chose mia as in missing in action. the cobra goes back on display when the reptile house re-opens. that's a popular visit for lots of people. it's 8:04. now back to al with a check of the weather. >> thank you, tamron. where arer you from? >> jackson, michigan! >> high school trip? >> yeah. >> senior trip? >> no. >> choir. >> very nice. let's see what's going on, see if we can make you smile with the forecast. ft. myers, florida, sunny and hot, 90 degrees. we're looking at tnowough the rockies. we have wet weather making it through the ohio river valley. risk of strong storms later today. stretching from missouri all the way into parts of west virgi

. >> mandy drury at the new york stock exchange, thank you. >>> highly radioactive water is gushing into the pacific ocean off the coast of japan. gushing into the pacific ocean off the coast of japan. lee cowan is in tokyo with the latest on efforts to contain the leak. lee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. there is so much radioactive water building up around the plant that engineers have had to prioritize. they are going to pump several tanks of lesser radioactive water directly into the ocean to make room for the really radioactive water, the stuff that's already been leaking into the ocean that they don't know how to stop. this is what the leak looks like, a column of highly radioactive water pouring into the ocean out of an eight-inch crack in a maintenance pit, a fix so far has been elusive. plan a, filling the pit with concrete, didn't work. plan b, mixing an absorbent powder with newspaper and saw dust to plug the input pipe. that was washed away. now it's onto plan c, trying to trap the water behind an underground curtain. engineers want to deploy what's called