. >> reporter: it's this kind of citizen outrage in riverside, california, that's fueling one of the most radical political ideas to recently surface in the golden state. >> i'm talking about a secession plan from the state of california. >> reporter: that's right, a 51st state called the state of southern california. county supervisor jeff stone says secession may be the only way to get riverside county and 12 other largely politically conservative counties back on track. >> what the state has done is that they've been balancing their budgets on the backs of our local coffers, stealing our sales tax, our property tax. >> reporter: stone says the state has turned its back on his constituents who have been hit hard by a tough economy. >> the bottom line for me and my constituents is jobs. we are sending jobs out of the state of california by the trainload. we have some areas this county that have 25% unemployment. the average in riverside county is about 15%. foreclosures, we're the foreclosure capital of the world. >> reporter: if the state won't work with local government, stone says

. >> host: riverside california, you are on. >> caller: good afternoon. all of this is talking about voting, and everyone seems to be missing the main pool about devoting themselves. it's brought up people just kind of run over it like it's no big deal, old news or something, that the right wing dominates the voting machines here and in the 2010 election i was watching c-span and they had even republicans on their disgusted with their candidates saying they were going to vote democrat and then we had that a grand slam and the lead up to that election right wing politics were saying how they were going to take it and the sand that and they were just a little too small to and lo and behold, you know, the miraculously occurred. now why are democratic leaders on top of this because as long as they keep getting themselves in we are going to have that laws and that is where all of this is coming from and it's getting worse. >> host: thank you >> guest: i don't know what to say. >> host: she's worried about voting machines if we cast our vote as not accurately c

in april 1996, on this rural road in riverside county, california, the u.s.trol spots a pickup truck loaded with what are believed to be illegal immigrants. the driver refuses to pull over and the chase is on. 45 minutes later, the truck gets on the interstate, going speeds of 95 miles an hour. police say the occupants of the truck are pelting them with beer cans and worse. >> on at least two different occasions it came next to another car and purposely drove into that car, attempting to knock that vehicle off the road. >> the truck turns west on the pomona freeway. the cab on top falls apart revealing 19 people inside. after 80 miles, the pick-up finally pulls over. >> the truck came to a stop at the pamona freeway and peck road in the city of elmonte. all of the occupants in the bed got out, ran down the shoulder of the freeway. >> what happens next is captured by news helicopters from three los angeles tv stations. >> get down. get down. get on the ground! get on the ground! >> get down! get down on the ground! >> they're fleeing. that would be northbound.

. >> reporter: it is this outrage in riverside, california that is fuelling the most political ideas ently surface in the golden state. >> i'm talking about a secession plan. >> reporter: that is right. a 51st state. called the state of southern california. county supervisors say the secession may be the only way to get riverside county and 12 other largely political conservative counties back on track. >> they are balancing the budgets on the backs of local coffers. >> reporter: stone says the state has turned their backs on the tough economy. >> the bottom line is jobs. we are sending jobs out of the state of california by the train load. we have some areas of the county that have 25% unemployment. the average in riverside county is about 15%. foreclosures, we are the foreclosure capital of the world. >> reporter: stone says he will rally the troops to part ways. >> insanity. this is major surgery where we need a band aid. >> reporter: political science professor says secession will not fix a thing and cost a fortune to take to the voters. >> it takes millions of dollars to get the

why not two californias? the riversidets a bunch of southern counties county s s to secede and form the state of south california. governor jerry brown calls the idea ridiculous. >>> rob marciano joins us with the weather. >> northern california san francisco will see, denver you'll see thunderstorms that will create some delays as well. the heat and humidity the other big story today, record breaking in some spots and dangerously hot in others through dallas and oklahoma some areas 100 degree plus days for well over a week now and not including humidity but d.c. 101 degrees there, and again that doesn't include humidity so try to stay cool some way, somehow out there, we're in the thick of it now, in the middle of july, it's tough to stay on the chilly side, that's for sure. >> you weather guys know area codes, anheuser-busch is trying to trademark the area code, make beers with certain cities with area codes with the name. in chicago 312 urban wheat ale, a beer sold by a company in chicago taken over by anheuser busch, t

authorities offer five hundred dollars for tips and heist of dozens of hydrants so this is from riverside county in california which is having massive heat waves fire alerts everywhere water agency officials say that somebody stole more than sixty fire hydrants manhole covers and other pieces of utility equipment throughout riverside county yeah this is really where you see amazing force multiplier to use a dick cheney term where you've got the ecological restraints are causing global warming to kick in which would require the use and need of a fire hydrant to put. the fires are being created by manmade global warming which is being as das exacerbated by the theft of the fire hydrants brought on by excessive credit creation by the central banks who are trying to bail out all these banks around the world and those two are coming together and forcing the price of what the fire hydrants are made out of metal higher incentivizing people to steal them at the same time that global warming is increasing the rate of fires which of course will increase the rate of money creation it will create the price of fire hydran

host: republican from riverside, california. caller: i don't know if you consider part of the religious rig right. you know it says if we take the mark of the beast, we won't be able to go to he haven. i admonish everyone to keep their priorities straight. guest: people who raise taxes may be able to get into heaven, i just don't think they should be in office. get republicans to calm in on the republican line. i've had three democrats calling in on the republican line. participate guys. get on the phone. use the republican line, not the democratic line. the other team does that. don't you do that. call in and ask questions. it is not about cutting government. look at the plan it is medicate and food stamps. let's reform government so every american can use any light bulb they want and use any kind of toilets. the government cannot run itself very well. host: two new stories. rudy guliani is headed to new hampshire to announce his run for the presidency. and sarah palin will announce her plans. guest: great track record. sarah p

host: republican from riverside, california. caller: i don't know if you consider part of the religious rig right. you know it say if we take the mark of the beast, we won't be able to go to he haven. i admonish everyone to keep their priorities straight. guest: people who raise taxes may b able to get into heaven, i just don't think they should be in office. get republicans to calm in on the republican line. i've had three democrats cling in on the republican line. participate guys. get on the phone. use the republican line, not the democratic line. the other team does that. don't you do that. call in and ask questions. it is not about cutting government. look at the plan it is medicate and food stamps. let's reform government so every american can use any light bulb they want and use any kind of toilets. the government cannot run itself very well. host: two new stories. rudy guliani is headed to new hampshire to announce his run for the presidency. and sarah palin will announce her plans. guest: great track record. sarah palin

it calls for creating south california stretching from san diego and orange county into the south to mariposa county and riverside county supervisor jeff stone believes california has become too big to govern. a spokesman for the governor says it's a waste of everybody's time. >> peace and quiet, popular hotel chain unveils the first anti-snoring room. >> and first and last shuttle spacewalk is happening right now. >> and firefighters in one bay area station didn't have to go very far to respond to an overnight crash. what police say led to a crash right outside the firefighters' front door. >>> you're looking live picture from nasa tv. its spacewalk, the final spacewalk of the space shuttle era. two astronauts and nasa tweeted four minutes ago what they are doing is fixing a ground wire. the walk is expected to end in about six hours. normally it would be shuttle astronauts but instead it's two space station residents. atlantis as a four man crew, smallest crew and they didn't have time to train for the walk. they are retrieving a pump and installing a robot experiment. the final mission of

host: republican from riverside, california. caller: i don't know if you consider part of the religious rig right. you know it says if we take the mark of the beast, we won't be able to go to he haven. i admonish everyone to keep their priorities straight. guest: people who raise taxes may be able to get into heaven, i just don't think they should be in office. get republica to calm in o the republican line. i've had three democrats calling in on the republican line. participate guys. get on the phone. use the republican line, not the democratic line. the other team does that don't you do that. call in and ask questions. it is not about cting government. look at the plan it is medicate and food stamps. let's reform government so every american can use any light bulb they want and use any kind of toilets. the government cannot run itself very well. host: two new stories. rudy guliani is headed to new hampshire to announce his run for the presidency. and sarah palin will announce her plans. guest: great track record. sarah palin h

it calls for creating south california stretching from san diego and orange county into the south to mariposa county and riverside county supervisor jeff stone believes california has become too big to govern. a spokesman for the governor says it's a waste of everybody's time. >> peace and quiet, popular hotel chain unveils the first anti-snoring room. >> and first and last shuttle spacewalk is happening right now. >> and firefighters in one bay area station didn't have to go very far to respond to an overnight crash. what police say led to a crash right outside the firefighters' >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld >>> you're looking live picture from nasa tv. its spacewalk, the final spacewalk of the space shuttle era. two astronauts and nasa tweeted four minutes ago what they are doing is fixing a ground wire. the walk is expected to end in about six hours. normally it would be shuttle astronauts but instead it's two space station residents. atlantis as a four man crew, smallest crew and they didn't have time to train for the walk. they are retrieving a pump and installing a robot experime

rumbling around phoenix and a dust storm warning right now for the southeastern counties in california of riversidel. go back to the graphic for a second. show you the conditions in phoenix are gradually improving. visibility up to 1.2 miles. 82 degrees. this is the monsoon season in phoenix and the weather shows that. that it really is. i will have our local forecast coming up late. >>> thank you, spencer. remarkable images from phoenix. we posted a time lapse video of the sandstorm on abc7.com. worth checking out. >> the families of 7 northern california men missing now for two days in the sea of cortez are not giving up hope. more than two dozen fishermen and 16 crew members left san felipe saturday. their boat capsized 2:30 sunday morning. at least one tourist died. a coast guard c 130 out of sacramento searched the area today. so far they have covered 1300 miles. john austin is in san jose where one of the missing men lived. >> a few of the belongings are still parked behind me and relatives are getting to the search site. diane lee's family is putting on the pressure to keep up the publicity

it calls for creating south california stretching from san diego and orange county in the south to mariposa county in the sierra. republican riversideldn't supervisor jeff stone believes california has simply become too big to govern. spokesman for governor brown called it quota supremely ridiculous l waste of everybody's time. >> in the men time we watch the forecast for the entire state. >> yes getting colder and colder. sandy is here now. >> i know we are freezing. especially along the coast and around the basement temperatures have been running cooler than where they should be for this time of year today. take the a look at the satellite picture i'll show you what has contributed to the cooler weather. deep marine layer this afternoon it was still cloudy along the coast and around the bay. inland area saw the sun but the war warmest locations like morgan hill only manage to get up to 80 degrees. it was a cooler day all across the bay year. from our high definition emeryville camera you can see the low clouds just rushing back in over san francisco across the bay and tonight as you take a look at the satellite picture you can see

california into two states. but with a new twist. riverside supervisor jeff stone, a republican, wants 13 conservative southern california counties to join together to form south california. the new state would not include the more liberal los angeles county. the riverside county board of supervisors will vote on the proposal today. >>> 4:50 is the time right now. we are about 12 hours away from major league baseball's all star game and tickets are still available. why some think attendance is lower this year. [ male announcer ] you don't make the world's best chicken by pressing a button. it takes a cook. we're kfc and we've got a certified cook in every restaurant freshly making the colonel's original recipe, today and every day. 11 herbs and spices, hand-breaded, hands down the world's best chicken. today is a kfc day. so bring home a real meal -- 10 pieces of that famous chicken, 3 large sides and 6 biscuits. enough real food to feed a family of four or more, just 20 bucks. today tastes so good. >>> welcome back to the morning news. it's n

. >> host: riverside, california.i, ruby, you're on booktv. >> caller: happy fourth of july, everybody. independence day. >> guest: hi, ruby. >> caller: hi, how are ya? my question is, indigenous people have been so stereotyped. are there any authors who have done justice to any main figures you know of in the past? and also your comment about how you kind of lost faith. i would encourage you not to give up, because there is a creator out there, and all things happening now have been prophesized, so don't give up on that. he is real. >> guest: i'm afraid i had a hard time understanding exactly what you were saying. um, your words. but, um, does anyone deal with stereotypes, i think, yes, just about all the writers deal with stereotypes. and i don't give up on anything no matter what, so i'm not too worried about that. [laughter] >> host: linda hogan, for those just joining us now, why is it that you didn't start writing until your late 20s? >> guest: well, i didn't really, um, well, it never occurred to me for one thi

california. from san diego to orange county to the south. riverside county supervisor believes that california is too big to govern. spokesman for governor brown called it a supremely ridiculous waste of time. >> the battle begins anew. >> we'll see which cities we get to keep. it's 5:09. and a little southern california weather right now. >> he is talking more about the drizzle. >> that is probably is what they wanted. up in the sierra there, yeah, i bet. here is a look at the area of low pressure bringing us the onshore flow making it feels like a january morning, the drizzle and clouds and temperatures and winds are gusty like sfo about 12 miles an hour. fairfield 17. so you have the good onshore flow. sea breeze that will keep us cooler than average, about 10-19 degrees cooler than average today. right now you step outside, we're in the 50s with 52 in san rafael. cool spot all the way up to 58 in fremont. as on we head into the afternoon hours, these clouds will be really stubborn. looks at parts of bay from lumbar ton bridge not even getting out

california. yes, a 51st state we would have. riversideupervisor who is from california wants about a dozen other countries to help form a new state. you see the breakdown here on the map. can you see that he doesn't want los angeles in his state of southern california, though. that would go to the north. stone says the state legislature is out of control, and he thinks this is the way to go. >> our state legislature that is supposed to be making laws and being respected imposes laws that are not lawful. i think our state is california gone wild. >> i think certainly the spending and the government that we have in sacramento doesn't properly represent the interest of the people in southern, spurtly their spending habits. whether or not that's going to happen, probably not. >> now, this is a possibility that they are discussing right now. it's actually been proposed before, would you believe? it was back in the 1970s where there was talk of splitting california in half, east and west, and then in 1982, one politician wanted to split the sta

it calls for creating south california, this is what it would look like stretching from san diego and orange counties to south and to the sierra and riverside county supervisor jeff stone believes that california is too big to govern. governor brown calls it a supremely ridiculous waste of everyone's time. >> i don't know if it's like that. >> we get santa barbara? i like santa barbara. >> all right. we'll keep it but inland weather might be warmer. >> absolutely. drizzle just about everywhere also and flight arrival delays in sfo and expect more in the next couple of days. this is the picture we see from mount tamalpais this morning as we come up on 6:16. very thick layer of clouds that will be hard to get rid of this afternoon. let's move on and talk about temperatures, here is the latest from national weather service. los gatos at 50 the cool spot and san jose 57, a little bit warmer. we're back to 55 in santa cruz and monitor ray. triangle of 57's gilroy, salinas and watsonville. breezy and more clouds and more cooling today. it will be cloudy, look for more drizzle tonight as you head out for your mornings commute and hintsd of warmer

california into two states. but with a new twist. riversideupervisor jeff stone, a republican, wants 13 conservative southern california counties to join together and form south california. the new state would not include the more liberal los angeles county. the riverside county board of supervisors will vote on the proposal today. >>> time now 5:47. former foster city councilman ron cox has died. he was 61 years old. he'd been struggling with declining health brought on by complications related to diabetes. now cox was first selected to the city council in 1999. he was there until his second term expired in 2007. at the time of his death he was an active member of the city's planning commission. cox is survived by his wife and three children. now memorial service is scheduled for 1:30 friday at the central peninsula church in foster city. >>> well, happening right now. they are getting ready for walk space shuttle. and michael and ron take a look here. here's inside the -- i believe we're inside the space station right now. they get ready to

southern california leader wants to split the state in half. a republican riversideervisor is proposing creating south california, he wants 13 mostly conservative counties to break away to make the 51st state. the supervisor says the state is in a financial catastrophe where businesses are burdened by social programs. measures to split up the state have come up 220 times since the 1850s. so there has been talk for some time. will it happen, we'll see. scott mcgrew joins us. seems that northern california would come out ahead. >> i think it would. the idea usually comes from our side. housing prices here have been more stable, the state's able to get more money from stock gains here thanks to tech and we do have smaller numbers of people in entitlement programs. the united states may soon get access to spotafy. very popular in europe, several reports say it could be available in the u.s. as soon as next week. shares in yahoo! are under pressure again after taking a big hit friday. a hedge fund sold yahoo! shares. we started earning season soon. google reports thursday

california? well, riverside county will hold a summit and invite locally elected leaders throughout state to try with some kind of solution. now supervisor stone says if that doesn't work, he's going to take the issue to the voters who have heard it all before. at one time, the states of western california and coastal california were proposed. different regions have tried to secede from the state at least 27 times since the 1800s to no avail, wolf. >> intriguing idea. we'll see what happens. thank you. >> the governor and the republican state leaders just emerged after a three-hour meeting to say the basic frame work of a deal had been reached and a shutdown would end within days. the ticking debt clock has tempers flaring. some of the outrageous things lawmakers are saying. that's coming up. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good. you've got all sorts different things that you check off. your fluid levels. pretty much everything you could need. it gets done. it gets done quickly. and it

california. >> reporter: stone is republican supervisor serving riverside county. wants his county and 12 others in central and southern california to secede and form their own state. but look at the map. something's missing. >> l.a. county was purposely excluded from the new county. >> reporter: why is that? >> because they embrace a lot of the liberal policies that we see up in sacramento. >> reporter: this movement was inspired by sb89 the new state budget which stone feels was directed by lobbyists and special interest groups not dealing with the best interests of those in these counties. >> it could cause four of our cities to become insolvent. >> absolutely. this will kill us. >> reporter: she is mayor of wildomar one of the four newly incorporated cities in riverside county counting on millions of dollars in dmv license fees that this week's state budget abruptly eliminated. >> this is 22% of our entire budget. our budget is only $8 million. >> reporter: that check was to arrive at the end of august. that won't happen. and stone admits, the creation of a 51s

. >>> a swarm of angry bees have people living in one southern california neighborhood ducking for cover. neighbors in southwest riverside county say the bees have built large nests, and that exterminators are killing them but by the thousands. this labrador died after being stung so many times. the veterinarian actually lost count. exterminators say the main hive and queen bee need to be moved or killed if they want to stop the problem. >>> a pacifica man who was caught in an endangered animal's taxidermy sting will serve six months in federal prison. james dixon admitted to selling taxidermy mounts through big game animals through craigslist. included a bald eagle that so sold for more than $2,000 that he sold to an undercover agent. he was sentenced and will serve time and pay restitution to the fish and wildlife service. as to where dixon got the endangered animals, that is still a mystery. >>> president obama and republican leaders are taking a time-out. for the first week this time, both sides did not meet face to face to discuss raising the debt ceiling. instead, they aired their grievances on television. the bigg

california. the new state would not include the more liberal los angeles county. the riversideboard of supervisors will vote on that proposal today. >>> and california college students may soon have to pay more money to go to class. there are two votes on fee hikes scheduled for this week. coming up in 15 minute, pam cook's gonna be here with more on how high tuition could go. >>> 8:24. he was 5 lucky fan -- he was the lucky fan that caught derek jeter's 3,000 hit. there he is. gave the ball back. it was handsomely rewarded by the yankees. autographed jerseys, box seats. now is turns out he may have to pay taxes on that. about $50,000. tax experts stay that care is -- carries a tax responsibility of about $14,000. >>> if you are getting ready to head out the door, wait a second. you will want to bait for sal. he has the traffic for you. >> hi there. we have very traffic. you can see northbound 280 very slow up to highway 17. it slows way down into cupertino. 85 is no real option. this morning's commute has been slow. parts of the dumb bar toon bridge, you are looking at your al

california. this map gives you an idea. we're talking about the riverside county supervisor, his name is jeff stone. he wants about a dozen other counties to join him in forming a new state. the state of south california. the map here shows, you can tell he doesn't want los angeles to be in his state. he says north california can have los angeles. he says the state legislature is out of control. he thinks keeping their own tax dollars and southern california is a good plan. >> our state legislature that's supposed to be making laws and being respected imposes laws that aren't even lawful. so i think our state is california gone wild. >> i think certainly the spending, the government we have in sacramento doesn't really properly represent the interest of the people in southern california, certainly their spending habits. whether or not it will happen, probably not. >> a lot of people say it does have merit to the plan but in all likelihood this will not happen. they're discussing it now, the board and the county, riverside county will take it up. if they oka

countless universities and institutions of higher learning, my own university of california campus at berkley, davis, riverside, san diego, san francisco, santa barbara, santa cruz and also around the country from university of chicago to u.s.c., to university of tennessee and university of virginia, all over the nation, not to mention princeton university. and why? because these institutions of higher learning have been leading the way in path breaking developments that have just boosted our economy and our understanding of energy and the world around us. this is a vital investment in the future and i urge support for my colleague's amendment. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. >> mr. chairman, i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, i appreciate the recognition and rise in support of the gentleman's amendment. mr. visclosky: while i have stated many times in committee as well as on floor debate that i applaud the chairman's bringing funding into the science account almost to where we were in fiscal year 2011 and have

california. some pretty good thunder bumpers down toward riverside county and san bernardino, caused some flooding. some higher clouds may wrap up an visit us. 50s an 60s. fair feel is still 66. but santa rosa, -- fairfield is still 66. santa rosa, a quart ter-mile visibility -- water-mile visibility -- quarter-mile visibility. a little cooler in san jose. everything is pointing towards the sea breeze as that system right there churns an gets closer and closer to the pacific most. that will allow the fog to lift an it will start heats inland. about 4 to 8 degrees cooler away from the coast. cooling trend started for tom -- for some. it will continue tau and everybody gets in on it -- tau and everybody gets in on it -- today and everybody gets in on it tomorrow. clearlake, 94, fairfield, danville, 88. i think after tau we'll have 80s for the -- today we'll have 80s for the valley. more fog and cooler weather. it goes right into the weekend an probably early next week as well -- and probably early next week as well. >>> happening now, a judge sentenced casey anthony to four years in prison but due t

california. his proposed new state would not include los angeles county. if riverside county board of supervisors will vote on that idea today. >>> well, tonight is major league baseball's all star game. but it seems more people would rather watch it at home. ticket sales have been slow despite lower than usual prices. the official lowest price is $90 but we just checked and found them through ticket brokers for as little as $65. down in the last hour. you have to travel to phoenix and some fans blame arizona's triple digit temperatures. of course you can watch the game for free from home right here on ktvu channel 2. game time 5:00 tonight. >>> i'll do that. >> okay. >> i'll watch sal now. >>> how's our commute, sal? >>> doing okay. as a matter of fact we are doing very nicely here if you are driving on the bay bridge approach nice for this time anyway. short delay about eight minutes then you're off to the bridge. no problems. 237 also some good traffic with just a little bit of slow down here and in contra costa county stop and go in antioch. let's go to steve. >>>

of riverside's middle class neighborhoods school construction is complete but there is no money to operate it so it remains empty they cost more to keep one person in prison in the state of california and it has the senate kids at u.s.c. for example university so what it says is the state is more than willing to spend money on our communities but it's to imprison. are communities short sighted policy according to wrong go churches was a community organizer sees the human cause of the economic crisis up close if you have a higher unemployment rate and you spend more money on incarceration and at the same time send less money on education that's a perfect recipe for disaster well capital punishment is meant to deter the most heinous of crimes in one of los angeles's poorest and most crime ridden neighborhoods the debate is still not settled over whether it's even working i feel like it doesn't change it if these criminals are hardheaded you know that they don't care what's going on with rules or are they going to break them it's a way to get rid of the anybody that's not good at making bad people white good death penalty dunham i want to go to get to you know i think e.p.a. is a wast

. >>> riverside county will be hosting a state it-wide summit to -- state it-wide summit to discuss splitting californiao states. it comes with a catch. public money cannot be used for that summit t has to be pray -- paid for by private donations. they will take a look at the financial benefits of separating the 13 conservative southern california counties from the rest of the state. >> very interesting concept. >> yeah. >> 8:24. let's check in with sal. let's focus in on the traffic it in the northern california part of the state. >> that's an excellent idea. er to itry and dave, good morning -- tori and dave, good morning. we have traffic all over the place t there are bright spots but 680 in concord, walnut creek. you need extra time. there it was tan earlier accident near rut geargear road. the morning commute is gonna be busy at the toll plaza. once you get ton the bridge, it looks good. but the worse teams seems to be on the peninsula. several crashes and wet weather. there have been crashes ton highway 1, 280, 92. that's because of light rain and drizzle in these areas. you might want to use 280

california. many impacted by doma could not come here to testify. let me give one example. jill johnson-young from riverside could not fulfill one of her wife's linda, wishes that they be buried together at at cemetery. that was not right. he leaves behind a husband and two children who now because of doma essentially lose rights that would have gone to a heterosexual couple. when the congress passed doma in 1996 denied rights by the federal government to legally married same-sex couples. this must change. that's what this is all about however long it takes, we will achieve it. thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. our first witness is congressman john lewis. we know a civil rights legend, also a close personal friend. he's referred to as the conscious of the congress. today congressman lewis continues to be as he has throughout his life -- a powerful voice on matters of equality. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. chairman leahy, and other members of the senate, i thank you for inviting me to testify before this committee today. it is an honor to be here. i'm very happy to see the j