then this effort is worthwhile. >> bill, emily expel thank you so much for being with us. thanks for >> this is al jazeera america. live from new york city. i'm libby casey. with a look at today's top stories. breaking news, a federal judge rules that michigan's ban on same-sex marriage violates the constitution and must be overturned. vladimir putin completes the process of making crimea part of russia as the rest of ukraine signs on to strengthen ties with the european union. and twitter rather turkey blocks twitter amid reports the prime minister and government are corrupt, but the move may have

backfired. >> breaking news tonight. a federal judge has struck down michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. the detroit judge ruled that it rye late the 14,911 amendmenvio. >> libby, the judge's decision comes two weeks after this trial wrapped up, and it's a huge major victory for gay rights activists. there have been clerks' offices all across this area that have been preparing for this ruling, and they're expecting long lines come money from gays and lesbians seeking marriage licenses. now this is a case where the state argued that an union should be between man and woman, and they said the state said that the vote by voters back i

in 2004 supported this theory. they brought quite a few experts to plead their case. this is a case centered on two women, a lesbian couple. they tried to adopt each other' children, but this ban prevented them from doing that, but now they have the green light. hour the state plans to appeal. >> bisi onile-ere, thank you so much. with two signatures the divide between russia and the west deepened today. in belgium ukraine signed a political association agreement. in moscow russian president vladimir putin signed a treaty making crimea part of russia. and u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon visits ukraine in the

crisis. >> sending observers to ukraine is welcome news in kiev. there is grave concern there are russian agent provocators in the east and south and main atlanta ukraine trying to stir up contention in the community. but there is possible flash points on the peninsula itself. in the phone conversation between secretary of defense chuck hagel and his ukrainian counter part, the secretary of defense praise the ukraine for showing restraint. but they said they're showing restraint for a variety of reasons, not least of which the disturbing trend of russians using civilian as their front line in instances where they take military assets on the peninsula. >> russian soldiers hide behind

the civilian population. they take over the military base and they're not going to let russian forces on the territory. >> reporter: a potential ban cad that this could lead to an open conflict. he also sent the message to kiev and to moscow saying they need to start talking. moscow doesn't even recognize the government here. they say they came to power in a coup d'etat. but according to the u.n. secretary general if there is going to be an de-escalation of this serious crisis they need to start talking. >> phil ittner in kiev. russian troops take control of ukrainian assets in crimea.

jennifer glasse joins us live from sevastopol. now that crimea is under the control of russia officially, what happens to families who are ukrainian? >> reporter: well, libby, the ukrainian military personnel are awaiting orders and direction from kiev. they've been told by the ministry of defense to stand their grounds, but they've been told by the government that a plan is underway to evacuate the families of the military personnel. there are thousands of them here on the crimean peninsula, sailors and soldiers on bases across this territory which russia now says belongs to russia. the russian forces and pro-russian civilian militias have taken an aggressive stand in the last 4 hours. it's been a very difficult time for the ukrainian navy. >> they raise the russian naval

flag on what was once ukrainian. >> the ukrainian naval academy has also changed hands. there was fanfare here and awkward officials flag raising ceremony where russian naval officers took it over by decree of the president citing the past few years of ukrainian control. the united states describe what is happening to crimea right now as a land grab. what is happening to the ukrainian navy right now may be called a sea grab. there is still one ship holding out still flying the ukrainian flag. a passing pedestrian said that it's not good that there is one last ukrainian flag flying in the bay. not everyone is happy that russians are here. in the nearby bay the takeover is complete.

once ships of both fleets sat side by side, but now own the russian flag flies here, and many in the military are unhappy with how it has been handled. one of the ukrainian officers thrown out on wednesday said there is no honor in russian actions. >> we've seen in the past two weeks you can't believe russia. putin said his troops aren't here. i'm a military man. i see perfectly that these are military men. >> reporter: he said every ukrainian has made th-- >> in my opinion the blockaded ships should be sunk or blown up. it's a war now. just no one is shooting at each other. god for bid they start shooting. >> reporter: at the naval school hand overlast show of independence. ukrainians sing their national anthem trying to drown out the

sound of the russians. many of those ukrainian officers and sailor who is have been throw off their boats and bases say they want to stay in the ukrainian navy. they'll have to be resigned somewhere else. to add insult to injury, throwing the ukrainian sailors off the ships today, the russian prime minister issued on his facebook page saying something that now that crimea is part of russia they'll try to get back the money they paid to ukraine to lease those bases in 2012, $11 billion. >> well, the u.s. is slamming turkey's decision to ban twitter saying it undermines freedom of expression. the prime minister threatened to rip out the roots of the website. this comes as his critics have been using the network to public corruption allegations against him. we have more from istanbul. >> reporter: many twitter users in turkey logging on to the

social media website got this message. the protection measure has been taken from this website. the state's communication regulator says it's its decisios based on twitter. the governor said that twitter has refused previous court orders, it cops hours after prime minister erdogan warns to wipe out the website. can you imagine the international conspiracies. twitter, we have a court order now. we will wipe out all of these. the international community can say this, they can say that. i don't care at all. everyone will see how powerful the republic of turkey is. >> the deputy prime minister said the move was necessary. >> we took this decision as a last resort. these are not good things. but if laws are violated by

breaching private life we to act. >> some people are still able to log on to twitter including the president. in some of his tweets he wrote only internet pages should be blocked if a court rules that an individual's privacy has been violated. i would hope that the block would not last long. but that is not going over well with many here. >> that makes people more angry, more politically active. i think it's not a very--it's not a very smart reaction. >> banning twitter is entering the personal space of people and limiting it 1234 others supported the ban. >> the government shut it down because of the leaking of voice recordings. i welcome it, and i think they should also ban facebook. >> reporter: at the heart of all of this is the corruption allegations the government has faced since december.

a series of videos, documents, and wiretapping wiretappings alr the prime minister and his family were leaked on different social website. the president has denied all allegations. the government said social media website including twitter, facebook and youtube have turned into platforms used to spread lies and smear campaigns. the critics say the government is trying to block further corruption allegations and silence dissent. al jazeera, istanbul. >> turkey had blocked youtube in the past but this is the first ban on twitter, which very popular in the country. it's so popular that words spread quickly on social media how to get around the twitter ban. maria has more. >> reporter: libby, twitter and google from some of the first companies of how to circumvent the ban, one is to set a tweet

message. twitter sent this tweet saying, turkish users you can send tweets using sms. also you can disguise your location. google public dns is fast with great up time. use 888 and 8844 as your dns servers. so people have been putting up these instructions. this is the side of a building in turkey, and you can see dns 8888 in graffiti there. and they have these instructions, and you see these two gentlemen saying this side it says android, and this side says pc fire fox as to how to get around that ban. and a list of apps on an average turkish vote just in case. you have apps that let you access restricted sites. i spoke to the makers of one of

those apps. they said their downloads went from 10,000 per day to 270,000 over the past 24 hours in turkey. what have people been sending out now that they're circumventing this ban? look at this, it says, welcome to istanbul. you have this police officer who says, halt are you carrying any weapons, drugs, twitter? you also have this that says we will not be silenced. it's the prime minister and he's roped with these twitter birds around here and then you have twitter is blocked in turkey, and this is exactly what is happening, lol. this is a prime minister. he's trying to shoot the twitter bird, but he's actually shooting his foot. >> it's certainly backfiring and you can follow marie on his handle there that you saw. the multi media journalist with "the new york times," thanks for talking with us. how important is twitter, how important is social media to

people in turkey? >> well, social media is very important. this goes back to the protests in june where people were using it to find support for anti-government protest pes prime minister erdogan called twitter the menace of society because he had no control of the amount of crowds that twitter was bringing. this was ultimately challenging his 11 years in power at the time. recently it's become very important for journalists. at a time when lots of people have been fired. especially under mr. erdogan's rule. this is a place where they come to share their blogs, opinions. >> and talk to us about the reaction. i've seen these great images,

very comedic, tongue-in-cheek, are people taking this seriously? >> people have been very defiant, but last night there was anger and people were pushing out these ways of getting around the ban. the twitter use angle has gone up 138% since it was banned. people are pushing, they're really trying to use twitter to come out against the ban, and they're also mocking the prime minister in doing this. earlier when the president was speaking, he didn't even mention the ban on twitter. meanwhile people were mocking him and showing how it's all on twitter despite this ban. >> now local elections are coming up. will this push to ban twitter and then backlash change the way the election will go? cuss it have any influence, do you think? >> well, yes, this election is

ultimately a referendum for mr. erdogan's rule. and you know, while he may have lost popularity here in istanbul istanbul, we must remember that turkey is much bigger than these two cities. recently i was in his hometown of riza and i've been traveling around the heartland. there is much more militant support of mr. erdogan because they believe he has come under attack. they don't listen to these tapes have been coming out on twitter. a lot of people in rural areas don't even use twitter. we must bear that in mind. but looking ahead to sunday people are angry, and i think that will come out in the results. >> the turkish president is tweeting. >> there is one place where the president and prime minister do not agree, that is social media.

ultimately the president did help to push forward an internet regulation that basically helps to block the website. but also while he was doing that he criticized many elements of these laws and tried to amendment them before they were signed into law. today he came out as he tweeted saying this was unacceptable. so there is definitely a difference in how they feel about this. why he has more internationalist approach, and the prime minister has come out more militant towards twitter. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. coming up up on al jazeera america, a new report that says black students are punished more than their white peers as early as preschool. and part three on our series on north dakota's oil boom.

>> a new government report says

black students in public schools get more punishment than their white peers and let access. >> this is a report that comes from the department of education every two years. this comes from every school district in the country. let's start with suspensions. according to the survey 5% of white students were suspended compared to 16% of black students and black girls were suspended at a rate of 12%. the numbers are more stark when it comes to preschool. kids younger than five. black blac students account for% of preschoolers enrolled and 42% of preschoolers suspended once.

48% of preschoolers suspended twice. now regarding access to math and science opportunities, 81% of asian americans and 71% of white students attend high schools where the full range of math and science scores are offered. this means algebra one, geomet geometry, chemistry and my favorite physics. only 57% of black students and 67% of latino students have access to the full range. even if they're qualified. if they want to take a physics class or biology class they don't have the same opportunity in their school district. the data does not explain why the disparity exists, but our nation still has work to do. >> david, what does crunching the numbers show about the quality of teachers. >> reporter: it shows in the example of preschool. they believe there were higher

incidents of suspensions of african-american preschooler were teachers. you don't have as many trained teachers, trained instructors as you do in wealthier school districts. it's not that the kids are behaving differently but it's the response from the teachers and school districts. >> thank you so much. well, more signs of the middle class squeeze. a new study shows that it's not just poor people who are living from paycheck to paycheck. real money's ali velshi joins us. good evening, what is happening here? >> reporter: one-third of all americans, libby, one-third of all american high schools live paycheck to paycheck every month. here's the thing. the majority of them, 25 million american households which earn $50,000 a year, most people would consider that mill class. they have assets of $50,000

worth on average, that's real estate, retirement, savings accounts, those people are living paycheck to paycheck, too. this is the findings by the brookings situation. they are the wealthy poor. they feel the same stresses as lower income households. they're living paycheck to paycheck. they spend all of their take home pay on food, shelter, transportation and bill payments. they're just as vulnerable to shock in and when hard times hit meaning medical emergency or lost income. these wealthy poor as you will are almost displacing some of the middle class in this country. >> what else will we see on your show at 7:00 this evening? >> reporter: i just saw you were talking about twitter and turkey's ban on services. as you know, you've been talking about it, it's been eight years since the first tweet, that was co-founder jack dorsey. but we found another celebrity tweet, it's yours.

can we show libby her tweet. this is sent november 2, 2010, send your stories of alaska voting and thoughts about the election to @aprn. we're doing live coverage from hq egan center in anc. >> that's all code for california. >> i must sayer all tweets i've seen it's a bit nerdy. >> it's all about the business. not like hello, welcome to the twitter world. >> it is with a it is. >> thank you so much. we'll tune in at 7:00. north dakota's oil boom is bringing millions of dollars to that state, but the influx of so many new residents is creating headaches for communities. in our final installment of "the new frontier," diane estherbrook visit as city that deals with overcrowded classrooms and limited resources. >> they've watched a steady

parade come into the classroom all year at watford city elementary school. most are the children of workers seeking jobs in north dakota's oil fields. each new addition brings an element of chaos. >> we get to a point in our learning, and then we have to backtrack depending on where they're coming in from different areas. >> reporter: in the past few years enrollment in watford's elementary and high schools have doubled from 500 students to more than a thousand. overcrowding forced the district to build andation on to the elementary school and add a modular classroom. but superintendent steve holand said that has not helped much because more and more new kids keep coming. >> they move classes around. repurposeed areas, and we just found ourselves at this point where both buildings are truly maxed out. >> reporter: the best solution is turning the high school into a middle school and building a new high school, but that will

cost $50 million and stretch the district's budget. watford city population has increased its property tax base hasn't because many of the new residents are renters, not homeowners. >> still voters overwhelmingly approve a $27 million bond referendum last week to help fund the new high school. >> in order for us to continue to grow and keep people we need a good school system. >> you're still $23 million short, where is that money going to come from? >> it will be a real challenge. we indebted ourselves to the max. our local contribution is the best that it can be. we'll have to pull from some loan opportunities and we are really asking the state for help. >> reporter: that help could come if the state opts to send more oil tax revenues to the counties producing crude. currently those counties only receive a quarter of the money

with the state getting the rest. it's become a bone of contention in north dakota and may be addressed in a special legislation session later this year. if watford does not get additional funding it may have to go further into debt or find a way to squeeze more students into its schools. diane estherbrook, al jazeera, north dakota. >> it's early morning in the indian ocean and crews are back at their search for the missing malaysia airline jet. we'll look at the toll on their families up next. a fire kills four in a motel housing displaced by hurricane sandy.

>> planes from australia are heading back to remote area of

the indian ocean to see if they can find two large objects that could be connected to malaysian airline 370. the last search came up empty. while officials pledge to continue looking for the missing plane, it has taken its toll on the family members of the missing passengers and crew. >> reporter: passengers families know that news could confirm their fears but an absence of news is perhaps worse and that was all friday brought. the focus of the search is now the ocean off australia. the focal point of activity and air force base north of perth. planes took off on a staggered basis to make the most of daylight and improving weather. but as the ther they returned ts were nothing.

>> we had good weather compared to yesterday the visibility was great. we had better than 10 kilometers of visibility. there was no rain in the area. we had a really good opportunity. >> the improved conditions mean a change in the nature of the search by eye in low flying planes rather than by radar. >> even though the search area is smaller than we started with, nonetheless it's a big area when you're looking out the window and trying to see something by eye. so we may have to do this a few times to be confident about the coverage that have search area. >> dusk on friday brought more disappointment. the objects spotted by satellite had not been seen by those on any of these planes. five aircraft including this one was involved in friday's search. because of the distance of the search area from here on the mainland it takes ten hours of

frying time to get two hours of search time. as well as planes ships are head together area. china is sending one of its search areas. it two commercial ships are already in the search zone. >> it is an extremely reoh moat part of the southern indian association. it's about 3,000 kilometers southwest of perth. it's about the most inaccessible spot you can imagine on the face of the earth. but if there is anything down there we will find it. we owe it to the families of those people to do no less. >> but for now for those families the wait goes on for news, even if it's news they dread. andrew thomas, al jazeera, perth. >> in china's president as long as there is a threat of hope the search for flight 370 must stay strong. 154 passengers on bother of missing flight are from china. a delegation of malaysian

officials are in beijing to meet with the grieving relatives. here are reports. >> reporter: so far it seems that the relatives are getting not much more n than they were given over the last two weeks. they're saying it's a lot more of nothing. this one concrete lead that officials are saying they've had with the australian findings is still leading to not much more in terms of closure for these relatives. now they're being told that this lead could basically develop into nothing more than potentially a container from a ship that might have been passing in that area. one thing that malaysian officials have said concretely is that they're not ruling out the possibility of a hijacking or act of terrorism. this has led to more anger and frustration from the relatives. they've basically been told that there is no new information with regards to what might have happened to all relatives on board that plane. >> britain's telegraph newspapers has obtained

communication between 370 and air traffic controllers. most of the messages were routine and gave no hint to the drama that followed. one thing that stood out was a mention that repeated a call made six minutes earlier. the plane vanished as air traffic controllers handed it off to controllers in vietnam. the u.s. has spent $2.5 million to help find the missing plane. the spending includes operating costs for the planes and ships that are assisting in the search. officials say the pentagon has budgeted $4 million to help with the search. that money could last until early april depending on flying hours and other issues. nine people have been killed in a daring attack on kabul most luxurious hotel. it comes days before a pivotal election which could come.

>> gunfire in front of the hotel hosting government member and journalists. four attackers had already open fired on civilians in the restaurant. >> unfortunately, nine people were killed by the attackers. four of them foreigners from new zealand. one from canada, and one from pakistan and india. and also wer five others were an and six others wounded in this attack. >> people nearby said that they were worried about the growing intensity of attacks in the last

few months. >> we want the government to pay serious attention to the security of our people in the capitol and provinces because recently our enemies have increased their attacks in the country which resulted in the killing of our people. >> the hotel was full. with presidential elections in two weeks it's a busy time for hotels like this. and some say it's those elections that have pressured the taliban to increase its attacks. the group quickly claimed responsibility for the killings. it's fighters got past tough security at this arena sneaking handguns and bullets into the hotels, sending a message to foreigners and afghans that nowhere is safe in afghanistan. jane ferguson, al jazeera, kabul, afghanistan. >> in thailand the constitutional court has thrown out the results from last month's general election. thailand's prime minister called the election to try to end months months of political

unrest. but 10% of voters were prevented from casting a ballot. protesters have been calling for prime minister shinawatra to step down since last year saying her government is corrupt and ineffective. and in syria the government is making gains against opposition fighters and changing the dynamics of the ground war. over the past eight days 22 people have been killed in street battles in tripoli. parts of the lebanese board pounbordertown. >> this video was filmed by journalists in the town of yabrud close to the lebanese border. it was reportedly shot marc march 20th four days befor aftee

army took the town. this is reportedly the nearby village. the army regained control here on march 19th. those residents interviewed on camera at least expressed relief that the military is in control. >> when they told me that the army is here i said finally i am relieved today. i slept calmly. >> the syrian army backed up by fight freers southern lebanon have made significant games in this strait clic strategically t region. yabrud was one of the last rebel-held towns in the area. it's difficult to say exactly how great the gains made by the army and pro government forces across the country are. in june last year hezbollah

fighters recaptured the town close to the lebanese border. the military then launch assaulted on the remaining rebel-held strongholds. the army has retaken control of a number of previously held rebel-held areas in damascus. and rebels have lost ground surrounding hama and aleppo. it had recaptured an ancient fortress, and this picture reportedly shows soldiers on the 900-year-old citadel embattlements. the conflict has killed more than 140,000 people. >> ten people are still missing after a motel fire on new jersey shore. marie has more on that story and other news from around america.

>> reporter: four people were killed in the fire at mariner's cove at point bless beach. the fire broke out this morning. several horse were injured. the motel was a temporary home for some residents who lost their houses to hurricane sandy. the cause the pfeiffer is under investigation. in florida an fbi agent had been cleared in the fatal shooting of a chechen man. they'll release the report on tuesday. the 27-year-old died while he was being requested about his friendship with tame tamerlan tsarnaev. tsarnaev later died in a gun battle with police. local officials are concerned, but for u.s. investigators it's raising conditions about thquestions abf the vital infrastructure. >> it was an explosion felt blocks away. rescue teams rushed to the scene to dig out the injured and

retrieve the dead. investigators immediately suspected a gas leak. the blast leveled two five-story buildings and raised questions about new york's aging infrastructure. many people are surprised to learn that the main gas line serving this area is more than 125 years old. it's too soon to say if that pipe or something inside of the building is the source of the leak that caused the explosion. but that's exactly what investigators are trying to find out now that most of the scene has been cleared of debris. initial tests by the national transportation safety board have revealed a leak in the main. more than half of new york's gas lines about 1,000 miles are more than 50 years old, and made of cast iron or unprotected steal, materials more prone to leaks. new york's utility company said it's doing as much as it can to replace the pipes with the financial resources available. >> we currently for the next

several years are planning to replace 65 miles of gas main per year. that's up from 30 to 40 miles over the last several years. and it's frankly a fairly aggressive program. >> the center for urban future said this is not the only city with this problem. >> government has shirked its responsibility to reinvest in infrastructure. it's not just new york, but so many cities are facing an aging and in some cases a decaying infrastructure. >> the investigation is on going as is the debate of how to pay for the nation's crumbling infrastructure. one thing is clear the devastation that can come from one old leaky pipe. al jazeera, new york. >> finally in new mexico, two film companies producing documentaries about the alleged of a game halt production.

the they didn't have the proper permit to dig. they wan wanted to explore an un legend of the maker of atari who reportedly buried atari games. >> i bet a lot of people what pay a lot of money to get their hands on those games. yearologist kevin corriveau imeteorologist kevincorriveau ie it will be. >> meteorologist: today was beautiful. tomorrow is going to be nice as well. let's go closer and right now these temperatures are peaking at 51 for new york. 54 in washington and chicago had 56 right now. so let's take a look at what is happening. we have know showers to the north. unfortunately the northern

new england, you are going to stay cold. we can't do too much about that. temperatures in portland, maine, are 37 degrees. as we go towards tomorrow high temperatures for new york, 62 degrees. now we do expect to see 30 minutes of light rain passing across the region. that's not going to hamper anybody's weekend down towards washington, 71. how warm is this? well, compared to the average that means new york is going to be about 11 degrees above average tomorrow and washington is going to be about 10. even philadelphia at 10:00. these areas down here beautiful weather up to the north, it is going to be cold. unfortunately, as we go towards sunday we have another cold blast coming through. 44 degrees for new york. 36 degrees for new york and then a mix of rain. unfortunately, things are not going to stay as nice as we hoped they would be. >> we're still moving in the right direction. >> we're getting there. >> some of the most cutting edge

technology in movie making is not coming from hollywood. it's happening at the university of southern california. up next the crew from "techknow" shows us how it works and how it's being used in films like "gravity." a look inside wichita state's undefeated team prepared to make history. that and another upset in the march madness.

al jazeera america.

>> why is so important for virtual work. >> if you look at "gravity," it composite scenes as though it's really there. in the light stage system we can digitize someone down to a tenth of a million accuracy. we can record an actor and then in a couple of days have all those correspond to each other. those are the ingredients that we use. >> i get to be scanned in this amazing light stage. what is the first thing that i have to do. >> we'll bring in a chair and set up a headrest so you keep your head in the right place.

you won't have to do much other than make facial expressions and hold them for two and a half seconds. we'll get all the data on the cards and take a look at what we're able to shoot. >> this is not a photograph. >> know, these are created by photographs but it's 3d geometry. we can move it around and change the lighting to be whatever we want it to be. >> joining me is "techknow" contributor, thank you for joining us. break this down for me. how do these guys use light to make a digital image of a person? >> it's pretty crazy. i had a chance to step into that light stage. they have cameras that are synced up to light units all around the stage. and those light units hit the surface of your case, when they get all the different levels,

that combined with taking these really high speed photos allows them to perfectly map out both the geometry and the skin texture of your face and they use that data later when recreating digital humans. >> philip seymour hoffman died before completing his segment on "the hunger games." will they be able to finish that film using this technology? >> it's an interesting question to ask and one that they're facing now. philip see mor seymour hoffman,s unknown if he had been scanned, and if he had not been scanned he would have to be extrapolated by brilliant artists watching him, and the problem here although they might be able to

do t the question is can they really pull it off because it wouldn't be philip seymour hoffman driving that performance. it would be producers trying to come up with how he would have done that final scene. >> techno has the final story of robots. tell us what this is about. >> my colleague got to travel to some farms here in california, both grape farms and strawberry farms, and look at how robots are filling in the gabs in the workforce. we were lucky enough to try those robot-picked strawberries in studio. >> thanks so much. remember, "techknow" has moved to saturday night 7:00 p.m. eastern time. you can catch it at 4:00 p.m. on the west coast right here on al jazeera america. well, march madness is in full swing make no doubt, and cinderella is making her mark on the ncaa tournament. we have news of the latest big upset. >> reporter: another big upset that we love this part of the year, libby, simply because of

those upsets. the last year darling was florida gulf coast. they would run and gun their way to the sweet 16. and this year, with the bears hoping that some of the florida gulf coast magic rubbed off on them. and judged by this upset, maybe it has. mercer ended it's game at 78-71, and. what may be more impressive about this win, mercer knocked off the blue devils just 26 miles from duke's campus. the glass slipper all the way to the final four before losing to louisville. this season they have done anything but fly under the radar. wichita state is now positioned to make history.

wichita state has had a lot to celebrate as they head into the tournament undefeated. but does that mean that they have a target on their back? >> certainly they have a bigger bull's-eye. not only were they undefeated but from that conference, having the number one seed, they're stacking all the chips. >> despite making it a run last season the questions remain of how they'll handle the pressure of trying to become the first team since the 1976 indiana hoosiers to finish the season undi feeted and go on to win the title. unla posted 34-0 record before losing to duke at the final four 23 years ago. >> duke was a great team. we knew that they would an far more competitive challenge this time around. no doubt about. it's surreal and shocking as the years that have gone by the disappointment from that loss never goes away. >> i don't think anybody thought we could win.

i don't think we thought we could win. it was a great moment and a defining moment for duke university to come back and avenge that loss from the year before. it put our stamp on college basketball and started a great run. >> despite the remarkable season there have been doubters pointing to wichita state's weak schedule which did not include a single game from a ranked team. >> i think that's what motivated them in some respects. they've had more naysayers and doubters, well, they haven't played anybody, their scheduleds aren't as difficult. what i would impress upon people don't always focus on who they play. sometimes you want to focus on how they play. they play championship caliber basketball. >> why everyone is skeptical at times is every time they play you go, they should win. i never watched them play and go, this one, this is the one. they're going to get--so they

have not gone into louisville. they haven't gone into florida. they haven't gone to the chapel hill on a consistent basis. >> you just have to take it one game at a time as we did last year. we played the number one seed number two seed and ran into louisville, who is the top overall seed. played them very well in the final four and came up two possession short. we know that this is going to be tough. we're prepared for that, and it doesn't matter. if you have one off night or if you play poorly one night you won't get to the second round. >> unlv and wichita state put themselves in position to go into history with their position in the ncaa tournament. but they hope that that's where the similarities end. >> they realize how good they are. and people within the game of college basketball, coaches, players, they know how good this team is but now they'll have an opportunity to show fans.

>> cal poly will take on wichita state in less than a half hour. by the way only 12 perfect brackets remain in the warren buffet challenge. only 12. >> after two days. >> and they'll be done by the night. >> that's why they call it march madness. an update on today's top stories. and it's real money with ali velshi. >> reporter: coming up on "real money." american families living paycheck to paycheck. that's no surprise. a lot of those families are considered wealthy. i'll introduce you to one of them. plus the race to build a robot that could one day take my job. all that and more on real money. there's more to financial news than the ups and downs of the dow. for instance, can fracking change what you pay for water each month? have you thought about how climate change can affect your grocery bill? can rare minerals in china affect your cell phone bill? or how a hospital in texas could

drive up your healthcare premium? i'll make the connections from the news to your money real.

>> this is al jazeera america. i'm libby casey with a look at today's top stories. a federal judge has struck down michigan's 2004 same-sex marriage ban. the attorney general has asked for an emergency stay and plans to appeal.

a lesbian couple filed the suit saying the ban violates their constitutional rights. michigan will become the 18th state to legalize same-sex marriage if the versus holds. several developments today in the ukraine crisis. russia signed the papers to officially annex crimea, and ukraine inked a trade deal with the european union. the secretary general is in kiev creating talks between russia and ukraine. in russia sanctions have started to take hold. many have not been able to use their visa and master cards. but the economic adviser said further sanctions won't really work. the u.s. is criticizing turkey's ban on twitter saying that it undermines the ability to express freedom. the country's prime minister

warned to, quote, rip out the roots to the website. the search continues for the missing malaysian flight 370. today marks the two weeks that it has been missing. >> building the ultimate machine, a contest that could put public speakers and maybe even news angl anchors out of a. should i be worried? >> reporter: and i asked whose first tweet was this? please pray for me. i'll answer the question a little bit later. this is ali velshi, this is "real money."