and you know, we are witnessing a massacre. cnn is now inside syria. our arwa damon is there. she is taking shelter in a safe house and she is saying the country is headed toward a full-blown war. that's what the folks that are living there are thinking is going to happen. and on the election front, some trouble on home surf for mitt romney. he's from michigan and seems to be losing it at this point. in the meantime, his super pac is funneling a ton of money into that state, but is it going to the right place? associatiso, parents out th would you feel if your child was forced to pay for something like not looking a teacher in the key? chicago charter schools are under fire this morning for fining children, many from low-income homes, for that and many other things as well. one minute after the top of the hour. exclusive details into cnn about whitney houston's funeral plans, how her family's coping with her death at this time, all at the same time that her body was flown back from california to the east coast. she is back home now in newark, new jersey, this morning. pictures that you're looking at now are of the hearse, a gold-colored hearse, arriving at funeral home late last night, tented as they try to somehow maintain some kind of dignity and privacy for the body of the musical singing star. whitney houston's family friend tells cnn exclusively that the family is planning for a funeral on friday, hoping that they can hold it on friday, also saying that bobby brown is in new jersey right now as well. and at this point, it is expected that the funeral will be held at the prudential center. take a look at these pictures, a photograph of whitney houston appearing there last night on a giant video screen at production center. >> also new this morning in this death investigation, police now say houston was found submerged under water in a bathtub. she was found unconscious and unresponsive. they did try to revive her. she was found by a member of her staff. her body was removed from the tub before security arrived. deb feyerick live in newark with the latest for us. deb, you spoke exclusively with a friend of the family last night at the funeral home. what did they tell you? >> reporter: i did. as a matter of fact, this is a friend of the family who was at the funeral home yesterday. we spoke this morning, and he tells me that yesterday, whitney houston's mom, cissy, a gospel singer, and also her cousin, dionne warwick, were at the funeral home to greet the casket of the beloved whitney houston. the mom, he describes her as being overwhelmed, but at the same time, very, very strong. her faith is getting her and everyone else in the family through this very difficult time. they describe it saying, you know, although whitney houston has passed from this side, they believe that her light is shining very brightly from the other side. the family, though, they are upset at what they perceive as bashing of whitney houston, specifically all the talk about her drug use. and he says that they really want the legacy of whitney houston to be remembered as all the things she did for so many people, the children who she helped through her charities, also christmas in newark, bringing toys and gifts when she arrived at christmas in newark every year. he tells me that, in fact, the daughter, bobbi kristina, is in the care of her grandmother as well as her father, bobby brown, the singer, who is in new jersey now, and the funeral likely to take place on friday, though plans are still a little bit fluid, but right now the plans are for friday. >> deb feyerick live in newark, thank you very much. >> and whitney houston's longtime friend chaka khan is slamming clive davis for going on with the pre grammy awards party at the same hotel where houston was found dead hours earlier. houston was supposed to have performed at that party and chaka khan tells cnn's piers morgan that houston should have had a supervisor. chaka khan herself is a recovering addict and says the music industry can become a very bad influence on stars. >> i was seeing these pictures of her apparently falling at clubs and whether it was a lot of wine, but certainly, the fact that she was drinking publicly in these clubs in hollywood seemed to me a potential recipe for disaster. >> it was. it absolutely was, and i stand by that. i stand on that. i stand on that whoever flew her out to perform at that party should have provided someone to be there to somehow look, just keep the riffraff out of the situation, just keep some of the dangerous people away. >> was she very vulnerable, do you think -- >> yes. >> -- even to the end to that kind of situation? >> absolutely, we're all -- i am. i'm very vulnerable as, you know -- i mean, i'm not -- i will never do cocaine again, i know that, but we are sensitive, highly sensitive people, entertainers. >> chaka khan also says it was complete insanity that that party actually went on. whitney houston used to be her backup singer. >> i didn't know that. >> quite some time ago. >> isn't that something? so, it's 6:30 a.m. we're talking to the head of the nation's drug control policy, gill kerlikowske. he'll talk about how her death is a teachable moment. >> and that's the problem, is that the family doesn't want to focus on the drugs and bad parts of her life, but if it is a teachable moment, you have to. >> and she was spiraling. it was in all the reports, something we saw, so you have to deal. >> you do have to deal. we switch gears to syria, because that nation is either in or on the brink of an all-out war, a civil war, and there doesn't seem to be any letup to the slaughter there. take a look at the pictures. again, it's becoming a reminder of the daily shelling those places are undergoing. this is homs. opposition saying 30 people killed on monday, bringing the number to 700 killed just last week. again, those are opposition numbers, very difficult to confirm. but cnn's arwa damon has been able to cross into syria. we are not able to disclose her location, obviously, for safety reasons, but she says the situation there is deteriorating. >> reporter: in the areas where the government crackdown is at its worst, people say that there are snipers positioned on every single street corner. you can hardly cross a main thoroughfare without coming across government snipers. then, of course, there are all of the tanks and the government checkpoints. it's an incredibly intense situation and also incredibly emotional. anger is running at an all-time high, as is frustration and desperation. >> just to underscore how remarkable it is that arwa damon was able to get into that country, because that area where she is is virtually ringed by government forces. we're covering this story from all different angles, in the surrounding countries as well. our nick paton walsh is live in neighboring beirut, lebanon. nick, it's hard to tell the story daily . it seems the story is the same every day, but a glimmer of hope, they were able to get blankets and supplies into these neighborhoods. but we all know those vehicles have been targeted as well. how are they able to get in? and is it just, basically, a needle in a haystack of desperation? >> reporter: well, at this point, we are still unclear exactly whether these goods were able to get to the worst-hit areas. i think it's pretty clear that the focus of the syrian army shelling over the last ten days, the ten-day-long onslaught has not received that much humanitarian aid. i talked to an activist that's i've been talking to for a number of days and he describes this as the worst shelling in five days, pretty significant given that 500 people have died since this began ten days ago. as we were talking, he described how it's impossible to be safe anywhere in that area. all they can try to do is stay indoors, but blasts kept interrupting his conversation, kept interrupting what he was saying, shaking the room, making him tell his friends to run away and stay away from the windows, in case the glass were to shatter and injure them, actually. >> nick, let me ask you just quickly about the arab league, because obviously, one of the decisions that group came to is they want to support a u.n.-connected peacekeeping force. is that getting any more traction? is it sort of just spiraling until we get bigger nations, particularly russia and china, on board? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. i mean, there's a lot in its way. let's start with the people in homs. they think it's a waste of time. they're not seeing their lives change on the ground at all. then, let's go to the russians. well, the russians want to see a cease fire first before peacekeepers go in. that's a big ask. besides that, they don't want any outside interference. so it's hard to see how these peacekeepers could be combatible with the russian position. then on top of that, there's the syrian government who say they consider this all flagrant interference in their sovereign affairs, so they're against it, too. so how much talking we see in the days to come, it seems pretty likely to say there are a lot of damaging road blocks in the way of this peacekeeping initiative. >> let me ask you about syria's u.n. ambassador. apparently, he is calling this an aggressive and illegitimate criticism of his country, and he's saying that all of the critique of what's going on there is an effort to undermine the government. all right, that's the u.n., and we all know apart from china and russia, there's a lot of criticism coming from about every angle at the u.n. how is that being received? >> reporter: to be honest, we've heard this before from the syrian regime. they promise reform, they consider this to be a conspiracy, they occasionally get some kind of diplomatic support from the russians in that idea, also referring about how people shouldn't interfere in other countries' sovereign affairs, but at the end of the day, i think the ongoing thing is the ongoing onslaught in homicide undeniable by anybody. casualties are rising. the u.n. human rights coordinator talking yesterday about how this is potentially a war krirges given to the credible evidence they've seen day in, day out. so, the syrian protests of conspiracy seem increasingly hollow, almost at times ridiculous. ashleigh? >> nick paton walsh in beirut, thank you foe that are. 11 minutes after the hour. we start the day alerting you to news happening later and stories developing now but they will be the big story tonight. well, getting to know the next president of china. xi jingping is expected to meet with president obama today in washington, d.c., set to take over as president of china in march of 2013. in just a few hours, we'll get another snapshot of the gop race because a new cnn poll is set to be released 4:00 eastern time, and this one interesting because there are a couple of other polls out that suggest rick santorum is catching up to mitt romney. and who will be the top dog? i'm not talking politics, literally dogs. the top 2,000 dogs representing 185 breeds, all vying to be named best in show at westminster kennel club dog show in new york city. that is tonight. love that show. >> and you know what? there's not one mutt in that crowd, let me tell you. they're adorable all, but not a mutt among them. so, we like to "mind your business" around this time of the morning, not because we're nosy, but because we think you need the updates. u.s. stock markets closed higher yesterday, the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500. that's the best indicator for your stocks in your 401(k). all of them arrows up. why the optimism? that greece is going to avoid default after a greek austerity plan was pushed too far, especially people going crazy over that plan. >> but bad news after the closing bell pushed stock futures lower this morning. one of the top credit rating agencies, moody's, is downgrading six european countries. let's bring in christine romans, she's in atlanta talking about this. christine, do these downgrades really matter? >> they tell us what we already know, that it's going to be a complicated and long road to fix europe's problems. it's so funny, listening to you talk about the markets, i feel like the paula abdul song from the '80s with three steps forward and two steps back. >> that's a good one. >> that's exactly what it is, you know? then we get optimism about greece, then we're concerned about some of the other countries. i want to show you quickly the countries that moody's downgraded, among them italy, spain and portugal. they have an awful lot of debt and they have to figure out how to grow their economies and also cut their spending. also, moody's did something else that was getting a lot of attention. france and the uk, their ratings stayed the same, but they put them on what's called outlook negative, meaning they could cut those ratings. those are a couple of very important countries, too. so, does it matter? it doesn't change anything today, but it tells us what we really already knew, that there's an awful lot of work to do. and so, that's why you have futures down a little bit this morning, ladies. >> so, i'm hearing this little nugget about at&t customers who may be finding their service somewhat slowed if they're big into downloading, you know, huge files and videos and that kind of thing. what's going on? >> you know, it's interesting, they told us this could happen. this is for people on the unlimited plans. if you become that top 5% of heavy users of your cell phone, i mean, if you're using it a lot for video, gps services, you're playing a lot of games, you might be in that top 5%. and so, at&t is slowing you down. they're putting some speed bumps out there. so, what might have taken a couple seconds to download is now taking a couple of minutes. and maybe you've noticed this, you're getting text messages about it too, saying you're getting close. it's tough to tell whether it will happen to you. verizon does it as well, but it depends how congested the cell tower is and where you live. but basically, we are gobbling up so much data, using our phones in so many new ways that they're having to manage the traffic, basically, and that's irritating some people with these $30 plans, no question. and i'm sure the companies are trying to steer you into maybe a tiered plan or something. but really interesting how we are just, our use of the data is growing and these companies are trying to have to figure out how to manage the traffic. >> that's kind of a younger demo, right, 18 to 35, that uses that kind of data on their cell phone? >> i don't know, but some people are using the data, like gps, for example, for their job, gps. my ipad, i couldn't believe it, it kind of tells me where to go. it's almost like, i don't know -- >> a newer generation. that's very telling, miss christine. >> i get my newspapers on my ipad. i'm not sure if that's one of the heavy uses. by the way, i hate being called a heavy user of anything, but i wonder if i fit into that demo. i'm going to assume i do. >> the word they use is throttling. they're throttling, which is an interesting word as well, but have you been throttled by at&t? that's such an interesting question. >> all righty then. on that night, ms. christine romans, thank you very much! >> x-rated "minding your business" this morning, ms. romans. 15 minutes after the hour. there is ice moving across the south and midwest, and tracking it for us is mr. rob marciano. >> good morning, heavy users getting throttled. happy valentine's day! >> didn't want to repeat that, my friend. won't let that get by. >> very sweet. happy valentine's day to you. >> good morning. taking you to little rock, arkansas, snow yesterday coating the roadways and causing some accidents and issues there in the capital of the state, but nonetheless, for folks in arkansas, a pretty sight. we had anywhere from 2 to some cases 6 inches of snow up through missouri, st. louis, kansas city and north into iowa, and that system is now moving off to the east. a little sleet mixing in at times last night in atlanta, north georgia seeing a little bit of mixed precipitation at this hour, but generally speaking, the system is spreading out, weakening a little bit and pulling in some warmer air as well. the rain-snow line is, give or take, the ohio river. so, cincinnati seeing some snow, lexington, louisville seeing it mix in with a little bit of rain, and the amount of accumulation we expect to see today before the next system comes in, just a few inches, and then again falling apart before it gets to some of the larger cities. dense fog this morning, san antonio, houston and austin right now reporting some fog with visibilities below a half a mile. so, you may see some delays at the airport. dallas and houston, as mentioned, new york and philly, atlanta, some clouds, and cleveland some snow and another system coming down into southern california. guys, enjoy. >> thank you. >> nothing special for valentine's day for us? >> didn't i say happy -- >> you did. >> i wanted you to sing. i'm asking too much. >> i wore a valentino tie, how's that? >> nicely done. understated elegance. >> i think just a happy valentine's day. >> i'm asking too much. 17 minutes after the hour. ahead on "early start," mitt romney is losing to santorum in his home state. the polls are out. can his supporters buy michigan? now here's a story for you. justice? well, how about supreme court justice? one of ours was robbed with someone yielding a machete. i'm not kidding here. you'll find out exactly what went down and how one of our high court's finest got out of this one. you're watching "early start." ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? 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[ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. ♪ 20 minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast. time to check top stories making news for you. whitney houston's body has arrived in her home state of new jersey this morning, her family talking about holding a memorial service on thursday with a funeral on friday, possibly at prudential center arena in newark. in syria, it is on the brink of total war there, civil war. the opposition saying 30 more people were reportedly killed on monday in homs as the u.n. works on a resolution to condemn the assad regime. back in this country, house republicans reversing their position and agreeing to extend the payroll tax cut without demanding spending cuts that would offset the costs of that measure. the new jersey state senate passing a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. the state assembly votes on that measure thursday. and yesterday, washington became the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage, an