lot of it overseas. let's get you straight over to carol costello and the "newsroom". >> have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. happening in the "newsroom" -- crisis in kiev. in the shadow of sochi pro western protests erupt. behind walls of fire the fight to become part of europe. >> this is effectively the front line. >> people are fighting for their future, their lives. >> juror number four, valerie. >> do you think michael dunn got away with murder? >> at this point, i do. >> the loud music murder trial for the first time the road to conviction. >> what convinced you? >> to me it was unnecessary. >> you didn't think michael dunn

had to kill jordan davis? >> i don't believe so. >> outrage over the wisconsin national guard and this photo. >> to me it's just completely unacceptable. >> the caption reading we put the fun in funeral. this morning the fallout has begun. the american dream team. >> the idea that in four minutes you have to be on. >> rachel nichols one on one with ice dancers meryl davis and charlie white. >> as athletes we planned so much of our lives. we're trying to enjoy this moment. >> you're live in the cnn "newsroom". good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. we begin this morning with the long shadows of the cold war and new explosions of that era's bitter east versus west divisions. this is ukraine where thousands of americans live and more than 25 people died in escalating

violence. protests first flared back in november when the ukrainian president backed out of a trade deal with the european union. instead he chose closer ties to russia and president vladimir putin. that angered people in the ukraine who want closer ties to europe and the united states. international tensions rose further with russia's accusation the united states is meddling and interfering in ukraine. ukraine is stuck in the middle geographically and politically. and the u.s. may be inching closer towards greater involvement. we'll have more on that from jake tapper in a minute. let's begin with kiev with nick peyton walsh. >> reporter: carol, behind me we've seen bizarre scenes for the last hour or so. significantly larger numbers of riot police now moving in to flank this demonstration and i've also seen police with

shields run forward and men in their midst throw molotov cocktails. the tension as dusk approaches escalating. certainly we went down in the ground earlier today to talk to people about why they were there. it's been nearly a decade-long struggle here between ukraine turning east to russia or west to europe. this is where it stood after its most violent day, stalemate. police closing in but looking tired, even with fewer protesters here the morning after still moving in. after all those hours of violence and casualties, they have been pushed back to a small area on the square but still this violence standoff persists. the question being is there any kind of negotiation that can bring an end to these scenes. the united states seemed to hold the president more responsible. >> force will not resolve the crisis to restore peace and stability and we urge the

president to de-escalate immediately the situation and the end confrontation. >> reporter: but the president held brief talks with types and afterwards demanded they renounced radicals in their midst. the talks were pointless said the opposition leader. >> i'm very unhappy because there was no discussion and the president didn't want to listen to opposition. >> reporter: fury continued in the morning, fueled by police violence, evidence of pellets and rubber bullets displayed. this man told me he was here for the future of ukraine. molotov cocktails and stones, weapons against a modern police force, several of them died too. ten years ago the orange revolution tried to turn this huge nation towards europe but failed. now the eu is struggling to fend off russian economic pressure, but many here say they want to be free of russia's grip.

er with mere for freedom, we're patriots and we're now slaves. this outburst so unexpected many will hope for calm while ukraine comes to terms. >> i just want to show you a picture before we get to jake tapper. this is a picture of a woman wearing a pan on her head. i'll tell you why. the ukrainian president has banned helmets in the country. while some of those protesters were wearing helmets many have gone without. instead people are putting pans on top of their heads to protect themselves from the police retaliation. that's how desperate these protesters have become. let's get to jake tapper. he's reporting the obama administration is about to respond to this crisis in the ukraine. what can you tell us, jake? >> reporter: this morning i'm told eastern time in the afternoon in parris secretary of state john kerry will make remarks about ukraine and raise the very real possibility of

sanctions against the ukrainian government, something the ukrainian government has been trying to fend off. it was alluded to yesterday in a tweet by the u.s. ambassador to you crane who wrote, quote, we believe ukraine's crisis can still be solved via dialogue but those on both sides who fuel violence will open themselves to sanctions. secretary of state john kerry will talk about specifically sanctions against the cranian government. i'm told by a senior administrative official kerry will reiterate what vice president biden told the president of ukraine yelled basically that he is responsible for the safety of his own people and he has a choice. he can choose dialogue and compromise with the opposition or violence and mayhem. i'm told by the senior administrative official they are corresponding their response with friends and allies including these threats of sanctions against the ukrainian government.

>> hopefully you'll have more next hour. now to syria. peace talks have hit a wall. secretary of state john kerry places the blame squarely on the shoulders of russia and iran. according to "the washington post" kerry is accusing those countries of undermining the talks by stepping up military support. the white house is scrambling for a new strategy, which may include increasing assistance to western backed rebels and drone strikes. senator john mccain suggests to cnn's anderson cooper a shift intact ticks is needed. >> the president of the united states who said, you know, it wasn't a matter of whether but when that bashir al assad would leave and those rim statements he made in the past before 5,000 hezbollah came in and this farce, this joke, this sad tragedy of the geneva agreements thinking that somehow bashir al assad would negotiate his departure when he's winning was just the height of insanity and an insult to the intelligence of

all of us who know this. the only thing bashir will understand is a shift in the battlefield. also the russians have to pay a price for continuing this supply. the iranians have to pay a price. hezbollah has to pay a price. >> this comes as new video shows the assad's regime use of banned buster bombs in syria's civil war. syrian forces deployed a cluster rocket in an attack on rebel positions in northern syria last week. cluster bombs are banned by more than 100 countries around the world. in other news this morning, the parents of jordan davis are speaking out once again after a florida jury could not reach a verdict in the death of their son. on saturday that jury convicted michael dunn on three counts of i attempted second-degree murder for shooting at davis and his friends outside of jacksonville gas station. the prosecutor said after the verdict she would retry dunn on first degree murder charges. this morning jordan's parents

told "good morning america" what justice would mean for their son. >> justice for jordan will be ultimately really when we change the laws, because that will be not just justice for jordan and justice for trayvon and justice for all the children at sandy hook and justice for aurora and virginia tech and the navy yard, it will be justice for everyone who has suffered because of these laws and will continue to suffer. so once the laws are changed that's the ultimate justice. for all. >> for me, i'm in constant contact with tracy martin, trayvon's father and i text sabrina all the time and i want to let them know every time i get justice for jordan it's justice for trayvon, for us and the ultimate justice for me -- i want michael dunn to be tried and found guilty of killing my son, of letting him know it was wrong to kill my unarmed

17-year-old. and all the other 17-year-olds out there. they shouldn't have to fear the adults with the guns that are running around here shooting them at will. >> one of the jurors in the dunn trial is also speaking out. her name valerie and in an interview with abc she talks about how the jury arrived at its decision and what she personally believes about michael dunn. >> do you think michael dunn got away with murder? >> at this point, i do. myself personally, yes. >> how could you all convict michael dunn of attempting to kill the other teenagers in the car but not convict him of killing the 17-year-old? >> that is premise sole purpose for being here because reading the social media and people looking at us like we didn't do we had a lot of discussion on him getting out of the car. and the threat has now gone. and your intent is yet to still

go ahead and pursue this vehicle. >> so four all, a dividing line was when he initially fired into the car, thinking that there was a weapon that's one thing. but when the car pulled away and he kept shooting you all thought, everyone thought he cross ad line then? >> yes. that's the exact words we used. >> cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor sunny hostin joins me now. sunny, good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> what do you make of this juror's comment. >> it's interesting. i satin courtroom and i remember looking at that juror. she was right in the front row, she was number four. it sort of confirmed i think what we thought from their jury questions, oftentimes it's like reading tea leaves. we were right on in the sense it was clear they were struggling with the issue of self-defense as to jordan davis but not as to the attempted murders. i think the prosecution had a strong case and it was clear he crossed the line certainly when

the car was driving away and he continued shooting and i think it's really interesting that we're not even talking about four murders because those other bullets came really, really close to killing the other boys. i think what's also interesting in that interview and i know we didn't play this clip is most of the jurors wanted to convict him of first degree murder but some of the jurors bought the self-defense claim and that, carol, is absolutely fascinating to me because having seen dunn on the witness stand, again, from the vantage point of the courtroom, i wasn't very far from those jurors, it just seemed to me like his story was so incredible, not credible that i'm shocked that someone believed him and that goes to show you that the stand your ground laws and self-defense laws in florida has to change. >> valerie says he got away with murder. she's makes it very clear. only threeors thought dunn fired in self-defense on jordan davis.

valerie also weighed in on the issue of race. here's what she said. >> for a lot of folk in america they would say white man shoots and kills a 17-year-old black boy. how could it not be about race? on some level. >> sitting in that room it was never presented that way. we looked at it as a bad situation where teenagers were together and words were spoken and lines were crossed. >> okay. so jordan davis' father said he believes that you give the white businessman the benefit of a doubt even if it's not -- subconsciously even you think about that. is he right? >> yeah. i think he is. race and justice in our country, carol, is sort of always the elephant in the room. no one wants to talk about it. we didn't talk about it much when i was a prosecutor. i don't think jurors want to talk about it. i don't think lawyers want to talk about it. this prosecution shied away from the issue of race.

defense filed a motion to preclude any discussion of race. let's face it at the root of this is michael dunn's perception of these boys as vicious, as threatening, as bad because of their race. and that's something that i think we need to talk about and it's unfortunate that that issue wasn't discussed in the courtroom. we got to get past that. >> we have to talk about it rationally. sunny hostin, many thanks. >> still to come an american soldier held captive by insurgents begs washington to win his freedom. now after years of limbo new efforts are under way to bring him home and they involve ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it.

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there's no sign of let up in venezuela as thousands of people are protesting. its their government, they are demanding peace, freedom of speech, better security and an end to the nation's shortage of goods. the outrage directed to the president as the government's crackdown on protesters. today the leader of the opposition, leopold lopez seen here is set to appear in court. he's accused of terrorism, murder and arson for his involvement in the protests. we go live to caracas for more. >> reporter: good morning, carol. harvard educated leopold lopez turned himself into national guard yesterday and that's an effort to galvanize the opposition even further. bin half an hour from now we're expecting tens of thousands of anti-government protesters to flock to that courthouse where leopold lopez is due to appear and continue their protest

against the socialist government of the president. you're right about two weeks ago there was a list of fairly simple but generic demands for the government to solve the crime wave, to get the economy under grips. now all that is boiling down to one thing, anti-government protesters want this government to quit and they want an end to venezuela's 16 year experiment with socialism. so it seems that's going set the stage for confrontation because neither side right now seems ready to back down. >> i don't think people realize how bad the economy is in venezuela and how lawless it is. we heard your crew was robbed by the way. >> reporter: yeah. let me give you and idea on if economic front first. when you come in to the country you got a choice. you either exchange your dollars at an official exchange read and i'll get six for $1 or i can talk to one of the hotel porters

or one of the airport porters and i can exchange my dollars on the black market i'll at the time ten times more local conferencecy on the black matter than i will on the official market. that means ordinary venezuelans if i'm importing goods into venezuela it makes my daily food basket more expensive. inflation is 56% a year. a huge amount. and just to bring the violence into perspective, last night we were covering a face off between government supporters and anti-government protesters. at one point a group of armed thugs drove into a group, came to a grinding halt just where we were. the national guard were ten yards away from us, but very quickly i found myself looking down the barrel of a chrome plated .9 mm pistol and these motorcycle thugs stole our

camera gear to stop us from transmitting or putting anything out. i talked to a major from the national guard and he says he believes that the perpetrators were plain-clothes cops. just shows how far things have gone and the accusations of ordinary venezuelans that the security forces are also resorting to dirty tricks to frighten the opposition off the streets, carol. >> be careful. thanks so much. millions of americans who have served in the u.s. military have lived and died under one solemn vow, to leave no comrade behind. but that has been put to the test by army sergeant bob berg dal who has been held in pakistan for four years. it conflicts with a more modern vow not to negotiate with terrorists. barbara starr has more on new efforts to bring bo home. >> release me, please. i'm begging you.

>> reporter: the u.s. has begun new talks to get sergeant bergdahl back home. >> bring me home. >> reporter: working through intermediate years the persian gulf nation of qatar the u.s. is trying to see what it would take to get him free. he's been held since june of 2009 when he walked away from his base in eastern afghanistan. it's believed the taliban aligned a network inside pakistan has him. the taliban in the past has demanded the release of five prisoners from guantanamo bay. >> we do have a long history of talking and dealing with all manner of bad guys, so if the united states can make progress on returning this soldier back to the united states, we need to do it. >> reporter: "the washington post" is reporting the u.s. has now agreed to release all five taliban prisoners simultaneously

to the qataris to guarantee bergdahl's release. administrative officials will say little other than they have never given up trying to get bergdahl back. >> we're not in active negotiations with the taliban. if negotiations do resume we want to talk about the safe return of sergeant bergdahl. >> the family issued a statement saying we're cautiously optimistic these discussions will lead to the safe return of our son. there is growing urgency as u.s. troops could be gone from afghanistan by the end of the year. there is also urgency about bo bergdahl's health. there's an unreleased video of him made in december, cnn was the first to report the video existence. in it he appeared frail we're told leading u.s. military authorities be very concerned about his current state. carol? >> we'll talk more about this in

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good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. the fight for income inequality rages on with a new report from the congressional budget office fueling the fire. the cbo's report says if the minimum wage is raised to $10.10, 900,000 workers would be lifted out of poverty. on the other hand, an estimated 500,000 jobs could and i

emphasize could be cut. now those against raising the minimum wage are saying i told you so like our friend steven mohr. hi, steven. >> hi, carol. i was going to say i told you so. >> you always said this was a bone headed move. expound for us. >> well, look i think this report has, has a real important message which is that when you raise the minimum wage some people will lose their jobs and some people aren't going to get jobs they will be priced out of the market. now it is true some people will get a pay raise because people who are going to see that minimum wage rise are going to get a higher salary. the real victims here, carol, in my opinion, are the people at the very bottom of the income scale, the people with the least skills who may not be worth $10 but maybe worth $8 an hour and now can't find a job. >> i want to be clear exactly what the cbo is saying because

it's easy to look at this in terms of black and white. coroner b on acknowledged its calculation is an estimate and said actual job losses could range from very slight to as many as 1 million positions. on the other hand it also says it would increase the earnings for 16.5 million americans, 900,000 workers would be raised out of poverty. >> that's right. >> many people would say i'm willing to take that bet. >> i guess that's the question. are you willing to destroy some jobs to raise the incomes of others? >> it's not even clear it will destroy any jobs at all. >> well, i mean, look, their median estimate and economists make estimates sometimes we're right, sometimes we're wrong but the median estimate was 500,000 job losses and you're right they said as many as a million jobs might be lost if we did this. now remember this comes on the heels of a report last week that says the obamacare may reduce the number of jobs by 2.5

million. in just the last two weeks -- now they can afford insurance. a lot of people work simply to get health insurance. >> carol, we want people working. one of the reasons the economy isn't performing up to standard is because we've seen this record dropout of people from the workforce, as an economist i find that to be a very troubling thing. now, look the other thing that the cbo found about this minimum wage was that they found 80% of the workers who would be affected by the minimum wage, would get an increase in their wage those are people not in poor households, people oftentimes teenagers and middle class households working to get some walking around money. i think the point is that the minimum wage increase is not a very good way to cut poverty. we all want to reduce poverty in this country. i read that whole report and i came away thinking this isn't a very smart way to reduce income

inequality and get people who are poor into the middle class. >> i hear you. 46.5 million americans live in poverty. what's your idea? >> well i want to see more jobs in this country. >> everybody does. but how? >> get rid of obamacare. this is something right away that would help create a couple million jobs. cut taxes on businesses so they can hire more workers. and balance the budget. >> come on, steven. businesses are not hurting. banks are not hurting. they are just not hiring people because, you know what? they don't have to. >> you're right, carol, that businesses are actually sitting on a lot of money right now according to the "wall street journal" about $2 trillion. the problem is they are not reinvesting that money into the economy. >> why? >> when i ask employers why not they say they are afraid what the next hit will be from washington whether it's going to be new regulations under obamacare or tax increases. i just think that it's the five year anniversary of the fiscal

stimulus. hasn't created nearly the jobs that has been promised. why don't we try a new approach of maybe taking some of these burdens off the back of businesses. >> there would be many people who argue there are too few burdens placed on businesses and when you have very wealthy americans coming out and saying the things they are saying in the recent past that americans should be satisfied because if they lived in china, golly they would be rich. nobody really believes that business leaders want to create jobs or pay their workers more. >> they do. look, if you look at, for example, what happened in this week in chattanooga where they tried to unionize that plant one of the reasons that it failed was because the workers are already earning about $27 an hour. i want a high wage economy, carol as do you. i want to see the american workers get a pay raise. you got to create a kind of economic environment in this country that rewards businesses for expanding. these people say oh, businesses should be hiring more workers and so on and we should have

more regulation on business most of those people never started business, they don't know what it takes to meet a payroll. it's a tough thing to run a small business and it's very risky to hire workers in this kind of environment. >> we'll have to leave it there steven moore. an interesting conversation. >> i told you so. minimum wage destroys jobs, carol. i said this last week. >> i would say not quite but i let you have your say. still to come in the "newsroom" president obama heads to mexico for a critical meeting of north american leaders. jim acosta is there. hi, jim. >> reporter: good morning, carol. that's right. president obama will be sitting down with leaders from canada and mexico here in mexico later today. but he's going to find some of the issues under discussion have been causing some frustration for his neighbors. i'll explain in just a few moments. [ tires screech ]

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a world wind trip for president obama today as he heads to mexico for a one day north american leader summit. on the agenda global trade the keystone pipeline and immigration reform. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is traveling with fortunate. tell us more, jim. >> reporter: that's right, carol. president obama will be down here in mexico later today to sit down with the president of mexico and the prime minister of

canada steven harper on a whole range of issues. you mention ad few there. trade. the president would like a transpacific trade agreement hammered out with these leaders and leaders across the pacific. he's probably not going to get much accomplished in terms of what might be on paper during this summit. that's one thing he's looking at. he's been hearing it from democratic leaders up on capitol hill they don't like the fast track trade authority that the president would like to hammer out that transpacific deal. also on immigration reform the president of mexico would very much like to see the united states pass comprehensive immigration reform and get to it the president's desk. obviously that has been stymied up on capitol hill. that's under discussion according to administration firms. the keystone pipeline something that canada has wanted to see taken care of in the last several years as it's been under review by the united states, stephen harper the prime minister has said he may wait for another president to come along to try to work out that

deal. even though they call this the three amigos summit there could be some tension. some of this we may be able to see later on this evening at a joint news conference all three leaders holding a joint news conference later on this evening. >> jim acosta reporting live for us from mexico city. meryl davis and charlie white make olympic history with a gold medal within. ry chel nichols is live from the olympic village. >> reporter: hey, carol, as beautiful as they skate on the ice they are even more fun to talk to. he'll have the interview coming up. it says here that a woman's sex drive

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day 12 of the winter olympic games in sochi, russia.

a bit of a spoiler alert. u.s. skier ted ligety won the gold in the giant slalom. also olympic history has been made. meryl davis and charlie white have won their first-ever gold medal for the u.s. in the ice dancing competition. davis and white beat the canadian team by just for you points. fellow ice skater adam given tweeted his congratulations after their near perfect performance saying i was tearing up in the middle of meryl and charlie's free dance. so proud and happy for my friends. no one deserves it more. this is where the medal count stands. russia leads the overall medal count with 22, united states as 21. rachel nichols, sat down with the american ice dancing team shortly after they won gold. she's live in sochi. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. you know, in figure skating, international circles, the long time perception was that the

american ego was too big, that american individuals could never truly form into a harmonious ice dancing team. these two proved them wrong. take a look at this interview. i know you guys visualize every part of your routine every moment. did you visualize after you win a gold medal? >> no, absolutely not. you know charlie and i have been saying we were so prepared for the programs so, well prepared for what it was we were going to do tynes. aftermath of our performance was very new, unchartered territory for us, and we're just kind of taking it one step at a time and as athletes we planned so much of our lives that we're just trying to enjoy this moment. >> most people can't imagine working one on one with the same person for 17 years. >> it's a unique relationship.

we have a hard time comparing it to anything else. i think that as you said we had a great foundation from the start and then from that foundation getting to grow up together and experience so much of our lives together has really only enhanced that foundation that we started with. >> visa has this great commercial showing videos of you guys as kids. it's amazing. the story is you were so shy you couldn't look at him and your coach had to put a sticker on your forehead. >> we were both very shy kids. you know, the whole cooty stage. >> we were 8, 9 years age. >> we loved what we did and we wanted to do anything we could to improve. he put it on my forehead so she didn't have to concentrate on looking at my eyes. she could focus on that. it looks like she's looking up at me. >> guising at you but instead she's looking at the sticker. >> that's important when you're

9 years old. >> i grew out of that not so quickly but eventually. >> you have this amazing rivalry with the canadians. they won the gold medal in vancouver. you won the silver. flip flopped here. it's gone back and forth. you guys have pushed each other. what has that been like over the past four years? >> it helped us as a team having such amazing skaters and close rivals training with us. we see them in practice every day, and, you know, just they are so talented. we always felt like we could never take a day off. >> really, a lot of fun, right, carol? i'm gave you cave that spoiler alert. i have some news that broke in the middle of that package for you. this is huge. team rue sharks the men's ice skating, ice hockey team, the men's russian ice hockey team has just been eliminated from the olympics. they were one of the gold medal

favorites here. finland just beat them 3-1. president vladimir putin had said this was the medal he was most concerned about, he wanted the russians to win this ice hockey medal. they are not even going to compete for that medal because they have been eliminated in the quarter finals by finland 3-1. >> the united states is still in it, right? >> absolutely. they will play tonight. yep they will play tonight. >> rachel nichols thanks so much. still to come in the "newsroom" outrage after a wisconsin national guard guard member posts disrespectful photos on social media. they actually were making jokes about military funerals. what wisconsin's governor is saying about this just ahead. when you order the works you want everything. an expert ford technician knows your car's health depends on a full, complete checkup. the works. because when it comes to feeling safe behind the wheel,

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an outrageous move by a wisconsin national guard member has gotten her suspended. get a load

the caption quote it's so damn cold out why have a funeral outside. somebody is getting a jacked up flag. then harrison in this light hearted group photo after her graduation of training for honors at funerals with the comment quote we put the fun in funeral. the major has said she's been serving on the funeral honor guard for a year and funeral. we don't excuse or condone the pictures or the comments. we take it very seriously. we expect our funeral honor teams to treat the veterans and fallen service members that they intour with the respect and honor they deserve. >> they say they do have social media awareness in their yearly training. they also don't stop any soldiers from using it. >> it is an expression of free speech. we expect soldiers and airmen to

conduct themselves honestly. >> reporter: the governor scott walker says he is not happy about the pictures. >> to me, it is completely unacceptable. it is an outrage. it is unfath amble that people who were not just service members but picked to be in this area wouldn't be sensitive enough to realize how awful that is. >> as you might expect, this story has caused quite the firestorm on the guard's facebook page. one user wrote to her, a total disgray to the uniform of the united states, a slap in the face to the families of the fallen. you all need to be court martialed, including your commanding officer. a gallon of milk, prices creeping up. we will talk about what's driving up the cost of milk and gas and how much they are going to go up. with at&t's new pricing for families you get 4 lines on at&t's network... including unlimited talk... unlimited text... and 10 gigs of data to share. 10 gigs? 10 gigs.

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# checking our top stories at 56 minutes past the hour. the claims of a so-called craigslist killer are slowly unraveling. there is no evidence to back up her story she killed anyone in the state. they followed up tips but found no evidence of a kram. she previously told reporters she has committed countless murders in several states. she and her husband are currently in a jail there in pennsylvania after admitting to killing a man they met on craigslist an oregon woman is safe after she fell into a 20-foot deep sea poinkhole while search for her pooled. here is some news that would make frank underwood smile. netflix customers satisfaction is at a three-year high. they scored a bigger year over year increase than any other

online retailer last year. netflix has 40 million streaming subscribers subscribers worldwide. nearly all of them here in the united states might be time to rethink your budget. two of the most important gallons are about to cost more. the price of milk and gasoline headed higher just in time for spring. don't you know it. zain asher is at the new york stock exchange to tell us why. >> i'll start with milk prices. with he could see them rise by 60 cents by march. so currently, milk prices are roughly around per average $3.50. they could go up to $4.10. a couple reasons why. first of all, the drought in california we have been hearing about. obviously, farmers need water to feed cows and produce alfaphafa. also, growing demand for cheese, specially like in places like

china. they have had their own problems, because of high feed cost, weather and disease. they have been imported more from the u.s. the spike in demand is the same as milk prices as well. the good news is that if some stores might actually absorb the cost rather than passing it on to consumers. that's what we hope for. zain asher reporting live. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. >> good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks so much for joining knee. we begin this morning with a long shadow of the cold war and new explosions of that east versus west divisions. this is ukraine, where thousands of americans live and more than 25 people died in escalating violence. protests first flared back in november when the ukrainian president backed out of a trade

deal with the european union. instead, he chose closer ties to russia and president vladimir putin. that angered people in the ukraine who want closer ties to europe and the united states. international tensions rose further with russia's accusations that the u.s. is meddling and interfering in the ukraine. white putin's attention and presence are more than 600 miles away at the winter olympics in sochi. ukraine is stuck in the middle geographically and politically. the president saying there will be a crackdown. some protest ares mocking his ban angel mets by wearing pots and pans on their head. molotov cocktails are becoming the favorite weapons. police and citizens are being hit indiscriminately. there is news that the obama administration is prepared to take an even tougher stance.

our chief washington correspondent and anchor, jake tapper is following that story. >> senior administration officials tell me in a few hours or within the hour, secretary of state, john kerry, who is in france and meeting with the french foreign minister, will address publicly, what's going on in ukraine and for the first time publicly, raise the specter of the u.s. possibly imposing sanctions on the ukrainian government. this is not to say they are announcing sanctions but they will be raised. we should note that yesterday in a tweet, the u.s. ambassador to the ukraine, jeff pyatt, noted, we believe ukraine's problems can be solved by dialogue. those on both sides that fuel violence will open themselves to sanctions. kerry's remarks will be made in conjunction with other governments. there is a coordination going on with friends and allies and the senior administration official also tells me that secretary

kerry will reilt ter rate in public what vice president biden said privately to ukrainian president that his government is responsible for the safety of the ukrainian people and that he has a choice to make between dialogue and compromise with the opposition or the violence and mayhem we have been seeing in the streets. this probably will not be enough to satisfy all critics. we had senator, john mccain, on my show yesterday. he said the u.s. government and the congress, white house, together, should impose sanctions on the ukrainian government. some people will say that raising the specter of sanctions will not be enough. they need to be imposed. it is a big step for the obama administration. carol? >> there is also no sign of letup in venezuela as thousands protest against their government. they are demanding freedom of speech and an end of shortage of

goods. the outrage is aimed at the president. leopold lopez is the leader of the opposition. he is accused of horrendous crimes but the charges against him may spark more violent protests. we are in caracas. >> reporter: in the course of this morning, we are expecting the harvard-led leader of venezuela's opposition to appear in court on charges of murder, terrorism and arson relating to a wave of violent protests sweeping the country. anti-government protesters, supporters of the opposition leader, leopold lopez are calling among themselves to flock to the courthouse in support of their leader. that will really set the stage for a possible confrontation with pro-government security forces. the protest here in venezuela has been going on now for more than two weeks motivated

initially by students called on the government to get the crime wave under control. added to that demand to improve the economy. things are now beginning to boil down to one central demand and that that the socialist government of president nicholas maduro should resign and venezuela should end its 16--year-old experiment with socialism. there is no sign that either side is willing to back down. tens of thousands of anti-government protesters turned out on tuesday. there were no reports of violence in caracas. in the southwest of the country, there were reports of seven people wounded by bullets. just to give you an example of some of the political tensions playing out on the streets here of caracas, our cnn crew went out in the evening to cover a standoff between pro-government sfoerte

supporters and anti-government protesters. we also came under attack. a group of thugs on motorcycles road into the protester crowd to disperse them and then rounded on us. in a few seconds, i found myself looking down the barrel of a chrome-plated 9 millimeter pistol and those thugs on motorcycles then proceeded to rob us of all our camera equipment and transmission gear as well. that is more anecdote to show you how things are becoming increasingly difficult here on the streets of caracas. here at home, she is known as juror number 4, one of the people that spent 30 hours deliberating the fate of michael dunn before convicting him of attempted murder following a dispute over loud rap music. that juror, whose name is valerie, is talking about the experience. >> do you think michael dunn got away with murder? >> at this point, i do. myself, personally, yes. >> when you went to the

deliberating room, you thought michael dunn was guilty? >> yes, sir. >> of killing a 17-year-old boy? >> yes, sir. >> what convinced you of that? >> to me, it was unnecessary. >> you didn't think michael dunn had to kill jordan davis? >> i don't believe so. >> you took your first poll on guilt or innocence, what was the vote? >> ten people thinking he was guilty? >> yes, sir. >> and two said, self-defense. >> why were you and the others so convinced he was guilty? >> we all believed there was another way out, another option. >> what were his options? >> roll your window up, ignore the taunting, put your car in reverse, back up to the front of the store, move the parking spot over. that's my feeling. >> jordan davis' parents will likely watch this interview. what would you say to them? >> i would say i am sorry, of course. nothing will bring back their son. i hope they feel we didn't do them a disservice. >>ic moole dunn could well spend

the rest of his life in prison. jordan davis's parents have a lifetime to grieve as for valerie and the other jurors. life resumes though never quite the same. >> that's for sure. let's bring in our cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, sunny hostin. you heard that juror. >> the prosecutor in florida may retry michael dunn on first-degree murder charges in the death of jordan davis. what will she do differently after having hurt this juror? >> they have indicated that they will retry this. i think in terms of a difference, again, i think this case was tried well by the prosecution. i think it was a very strong case. i think perhaps what they may do is humanize jordan davis a bit more. so that the jury understands

this is not a thug and put in some evidence of michael dunn's characters. we have heard those jailhouse tapes and seen some of the letters that he wrote that have these racist overtones. i think because his character was put into evidence, he was portrayed as this peace-loving calm person. i think the door would be open to putting in the other evidence that talks to his character. >> i will say this, when you listen to what this juror says, she said, two people or three at the very end believed this was self-defense. nowhere else in the united states would this have happened. you have the duty to retreat. you have to take those other options that juror four is talking b you have got to roll up your window, move a parking space. you have got to retreat. in florida, because of stand your ground law, michael dunn

was able to avail himself of the self-defense law and convince three jurors he was acting justifiably. this is very much about the stand your ground law. coming up in the "newsroom," high stakes and low expectations. cnn's jim sciutto walks is through today's nuclear talks between iran and six world powers. to quote from whitman, "you are here." "that life exists and identity." "that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

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while tiptoeing through a mine field. iran has suspended a potential step and in return, the west is providing billions of dollars in sanctions relief. how to find enough agreement for a long-range plan. jim sciutto is in washington. what are the areas of disagreement? >> i always like to say that the interim deal was about pause, pausing iran's nuclear program. a long-term deal is about deleting parts of it. they are going to be talking about how many centrifuges is iran going to dismantle. he has 19,000 of them. they are getting close to it. again, they have paused that enrichment but will they stop doing it? will they take away capability? there are also other facilities there. there is a heavy water reactor known as the iraq reactor, a second path tie bomb, a plutonium reactor. the west wants this deleted,

dismantled. the iran avians want to modify it. one more, the west, including the u.s., want iran to admit to its past lies about its nuclear program and due so in writing as a sign of how serious they are going forward. that would involve some leaders going back to the time when there were lies about it, when things were concealed, admitting they did so. these were difficult areas. they got six months initially in this interim deal. >> i am thinking that lie thing isn't going to fly. what are the chances of success. >> i think with all these things, kind of like with the interim agreement. om some of the toughest issues, you want to find a way for both sides to claim victory. the way they did that on the interim deal, the iranians, the big issue going was a right to enrichment. do the iran avians have a right to enrich uranium on their own

soil. the iran avians claimians claim and both can say they got what they wanted. the truth is somewhere in between. on some issues, you might have the same dynamic coming out of this deal. a lot of tamping down of expectations happening now. u.s. officials going in. the president has said 50/50. that's their chances, an equal chance of failing and reaching a long-term agreement as to coming to an agreement. they have a lot of work to do. >> jim shoe tciutto, thanks so . an oregon woman is safe and sound after she fell into a 20-foot deep sinkhole in her backyard while searching for her poodle. a neighbor heard her cries and called 911. >> to find out that somebody fell down a hole was kind of nerve-racking. we walk around here a lot. it was kind of surprising. >> amazingly, both the woman and her dog escaped unharmed.

they crawled out of that sinkhole when the firefighters threw down ropes. >> the government could soon be tracking you in your car. homeland security wants to build a national license plate tracking system. "the washington post" says it would connect information gathered by tag readers used by local police department. a dhs spokesman said the information would only be used in criminal investigations. civil liberties are concerned. still to come, the nfl future for michael sam begins today as the nfl combine gets underway. what can he expect to hear from team executives when we come back? that's a man interviewino.for a job.

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>> today, the potential professional career of michael sam will take a new turn. sam, the man who could become the nfl's first openly gay player begins several days of exams, interviews and work-outs at the nfl combine. a high-profile event that can make or break a player's draft status. it maybe the only time sam can sit with team executives face to face before the nfl draft in may. former nfl linebacker and safety, coy wire, participated in the nfl draft in 2002. he is now a sports analyst. >> good morning, carol. good to be back with you. >> good to have you back. how do you think michael sam is feeling this morning? >> this is the biggest moment of his life and he has come out and will be the first openly gay

player. this is the most monumental moment of his life. this is a four-day job interview that will determine his career forever. >> he has to sell himself and do it under this cloud of controversy. when executives sit down and interview him, will they specifically ask him about being gay and what was that like in the locker room at college? >> i think they will ask how he is going to handle it. is he ready to handle it? i think they do that with any sort of player. they want to see how tough you are physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically. i think his track record shows that he is a mold-maker. look at what he did at missouri. they knew about it. they rallied from being 5-7 two years ago to 12-2, fifth in the nation. he won the s.e.c. defensive player of the year. he was not a distraction. if anything, he was a unifier.

his team rallied, supported, respected him. a differencemaker. >> there is no doubt he is an awesome young man. what if he runs into a richey incognito? >> i don't think we should wish that into anyone. those types of players are in the nfl. they need to get rid of those types of players until they get themselves right. michael sam will go to a team who juunderstands and has a goo pulse on their locker room. they know they will have men in there that will be accepting and jun st understand the situation. he is a guy who is a leader, a courageous person, a differencemaker that any sort of organization would love to have him be part of. >> this is what i have also heard. it is not so much that michael sam is gay but it is about the media circus he will create if he joins any team. coaches don't want that

distraction. that may hurt him more than being the first openly gay player in the nfl. >> i think that is something to consider but, again, loob at michael sam's track record. this guy is of a different breed. when it comes to his ability to be in social situations that aren't the norm. like you said, he was a young kid and came out to his players, his teammates, his coaches that he was gay. it didn't matter who him. he was proud of who he was and confident of who he was. ultimately, that gained the respect of his coaches and teammates and the team succeeded because of it. >> i hope you are right, coy wire. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. we north going to this break because we have confirmed breaking news. president obama will speak today on the escalating violence in ukraine. jim acosta is in mexico where the president is attending a summit of north american leaders. jim, what will he say about

ukraine? >> well, we don't have details just yet about what he is going to say, carol. this was obviously notten the agenda. they were supposed to be talking about matters pertaining to the north-american continent but deputy national security adviser, ben rhodes, just told reporters as the president is heading down here for the north-american leaders summit that he anticipates that the president will publicly address the situation in ukraine today, that unfolding violence we are seeing in the streets as government forces fire on protesters there. this follows what the vice president urged to the president of ukraine last night in a phone call saying he would like to see that government exercise what the white house calls maximum restraint earlier this morning on air force one. ben rhodes told reporters that the president is observing the situation very closely.

he talked about it with french president, francois hollande. it is unclear as to how much the united states can do about it. secretary of state, john kerry, is expected to talk about the prospects for sanctions against the aukraine. he knows that president vladimir putin is very much driving the situation in ukraine and that is also a component in this as well. >> the russian president also involved in syria and iran. this is a sticky situation fort president of the united states. thanks so much, jim acosta reporting live. still to come, a new push to hear the only u.s. soldier held captive as the afghan war comes to an end.

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we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. checking our top stories. the claims of the so-called craigslist killer slowly unraveling. alaska officials now say there is no evidence to back up

miranda barbour's story she killed anyone. they followed up tips but found no evidence of a crime. she told reporters she committed countless murders in several states. she and her husband are currently in a pennsylvania jail after admitting to killing a man on craigslist they are revealing a mixed outlook for raising the minimum wage. if it is increased to $10.10, 900,000 americans could be lifted out of poverty but the report added that 500,000 jobs could be cut from the economy. president obama supports the wage hike. the clock is ticking to are the only u.s. soldier held in cap hit as america's longest war draws to an end. cnn has learned the u.s. is making a new effort to release bo bergdahl. officials fear his health could be getting worse.

negotiations are extremely sensitive. bergdahl's family remains hopeful. they released a statement saying, quote, we are cautiously optimistic these discussions will lead to the release of our son after 4 1/2 years in activity. bob bergdahl has become an expert in afghani culture. he spoke out last summer saying his son will never be forgotten. >> a father does not leave his son alone on the battlefield. i do not live here. i live in afghanistan. my cell phone is set on afghan time. my weather is afghan weather. i might be standing here but i'm living vicariously through my son. i will not leave you on the battlefield, bo. these people here will not leave you on the battlefield. your country will not leave you on the battlefield. you are not forgotten.

joining me to talk about it, nicholas burns, a former diplomate and professor of international diplomate at harvard university. >> i can't imagine that family's pain. 4 1/2 years. it does seem we have left an american soldier out there somewhere when it is our duty to rescue him. >> well, physicfirst, i think y right, carol. this is the worst possible situation for the bergdahl family. all americans have tremendous sympathy with them. it is also the most difficult possible situation for the u.s. government. of course, the united states government, the military want to get their soldier back. sergeant bergdahl after more than four years in captivity. you know, the taliban is the one that started this. they are responsible. they are the ones who have held him in the most cynical and brutal way in captivity.

>> i know the united states doesn't negotiate with terrorists at least that's what it says but it does, doesn't it? >> well, you know, there are tradeoffs here. the policy of the u.s. government for many decades going well back to the reagan administration and before is that the united states government will not negotiate with terrorists. on the other hand, if ir that is an opportunity to try to get your soldier back, you have to make every effort to do so. the really difficult choice for any administration in a situation like this is where does the balance lie? if there is a realistic possibility of getting a soldier back, you have to pursue that. you don't want to do anything that would weaken the overall effort or reward the terrorists who took him hostage. it is hard to comment. it is hard to give any advice to the u.s. government, because they are the only ones that know what the real information is here. is this offer, is the taliban serious about letting him go? what would be the consequences

if that happened? you just have to trust in the good judgment of our government and i'm sure our government is doing everything they can to do the right thing here. >> according to "the washington post," some sort of deal has come to fruition to release these five prisoners from gitmo in exchange for bo bergdahl. the united states is denying that. is that a good deal? is it something the united states should consider? >> well, again, i think that you have to know the details here to give an honest answer. we have been releasing, as you know, prisoners, from guantanamo in small groups for many years now. so that might be something the government could consider. on the other hand, you don't want to do anything that could strengthen the taliban. it is really a judgment call. it is very difficult for outsiders to make if you don't have all the information

available to you. you just have to trust in the goodness of your own government. we have a good government. the problem here is the taliban. there is insufficient international pressure on them. they have taken our soldier hostage. they are the ones that should be under pressure. not so much the united states government. >> ambassador, nicholas burns, thank you so much for being with me this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you, carol. >> we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is the cat that drank the milk... [ meows ] ...and let in the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged. find parking space. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] ...that secured the data that directed the turbines that powered the farm that made the milk that went to the store that reminded the man to buy the milk that was poured by the girl who loved the cat. [ meows ] the internet of everything is changing everything. cisco. tomorrow starts here. does your mouth often feel dry? a dry mouth can be a side effect of many medications

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they are attempting to escape violence of their war-torn homeland. the u.n. estimates that since the civil war began almost two years ago, more than 2 million people have crossed over the syrian borders. one of the countries most affected is jordan where the u.n. says refugees now make up 10% of the country's population.

mohammed jamjoon is in the jordanian capital of aman. you visited one of those camps what did you see? >> carol, we were in a camp that houses over 100,000 syrian refugees. half of them are children. one of the biggest problems they have faced is a lock of proper education. it is hard enough on these kids that have to flee the violence and the war in syria. many of them, when they get to the neighboring countries like jordan, they can't get into schools. they don't have access to education. yesterday, things were a bit brighter for them. the young nobel peace prize nominee, who is such a proponent of education, she visited there yesterday. she went to classrooms in which these syrian refugee girls and boys are studying and talked to them about the importance of education. now, there are only 3 schools on the refugee camp. let's try to break down the

numbers. there is about 50,000 children, 20,000 children of those children that are enrolled in school there. those schools on the camp only have room for 16,000 of them. even though conditions for children's education are better at the refugee camp and even though unicef and other aide workers are trying to highlight that and ask for more funds, they still need a lot more help. malala inspired these kids yesterday. they spoke to her one-on-one. these kids told me over and over again, they are so happy to be inle skoo. you talk to teenagers the world over, they are not that happy to be in classrooms. these kids, very happy. they feel alive in these classrooms. it shows how eager they are not just to survive but also to learn. >> that's just amazing. >> as far as malala is concerned, she looks all better. is she? >> reporter: well, she certainly seemed better. she was very lively yesterday. she was very eager to talk to

the kids about what she had been through and she spoke a lot about the fact that most of these kids didn't recognize her. so she was able to interact with them on a one-on-one basis and really introduce herself to them and to share her story, which is so inspirational, and talk about how she survived being shot in the head by the taliban and still, here she is a force for education. she told these kids that in order to rebuild syria, they are going to need to do it with books and pens, not with guns and rockets. that's a message that really resonated with these children. malala went over the whole day around the whole camp. the day before, she was helping syrian refugees cross the border into jordan, carrying some of them across the border as well. she has really been an inspiration. seeing her there was such a bright spot for these kids and adults. >> mohammed, thanks so much. we are back in a minute. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like you're underwater?

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the united states is reaching for the top spot on the medal podium. the united states has 21 total medals. seven are gold. russian leads the total medal. the american became a russian citizen after funding was cut off by the u.s. ski and snowboard association. but, american skier, ted ligety did win gold for his couldn't tri in the giant slalom. bode miller failed to medal. unfortunately, bode miller's olympics are over. he will go home as an olympic

medalist and has no hard feelings at all toward the nbc reporter who brought him to tears after taking home the bronze. rachel nichols sat down with bode miller. she is in sochi, russia. what did he say, rachel? >> well, carol, he thought it was important to set the record straight about that nbc interview. we also talked about just getting older. we are all dealing with this. it is particularly deadly for alpine skiers. before this olympics, no one passed the age of 34 had medaled at an olympic ns as. he shattered that at 36. he was very candid. >> ski racing in general, not necessarily something you get better at as your older. you are 36 and you managed medaling. >> it was one of those records or stats that's kind of funny. it's like underhanded. you are really old. good job.

but i feel like i'm competitive with the best guys in the world that came in here. i came in really confident. i hope i can stay that way. >> we see you there and it just looks like you are talking to somebody. >> reporter: you had a pretty emotional interview with kristen cooper. got a lot of controversy in the states afterwards. >> i felt like it was me, not her. she asked questions and i feel like with her knowledge of my brother and the situation i felt like were pretty normal questions. i have known chrkristen for a l time. i think she is really comfortable with me. i felt terrible she was getting massacred in the press and social media. in the end, people will sort of see that it was more me just dealing with all these emotions and the build-up of several years of very tough personalized stuff. >> there is a lot of people outside of skiing who don't know your brother's story. he had a motorcycle crash. how long ago was it? >> it was '06.

it was really super tough on all of us. we didn't know if he was even going to recover. it was kind of a turning point. after he recovered, it turned out over the course of six years or seven years, he had five, six seizures. >> when he did have the seizures and die from that, did that make you rethink coming to these olympics. >> it didn't change my feelings about the olympics at all. it just was an emotional moment that kind of like emotions that just live inside of you no matter what. if you lose a family member or a loved one, i don't think there is anything more sort of to honor that memory and the love for them to do something you couldn't do otherwise. it felt great but it also was painful. >> now, bode's brother was a snowboarder himself.

carol, he actually hoped to make these olympic games. the idea was that they would be here on the team together. so bode said, while it is obviously very emotional and difficult for him to talk about his brother, he also told me that he likes talking about his brother as hard as it is. in that way, his brother is still here at these olympics and part of these games with him. >> i can understand that. rachel nichols, many thanks. in today's connected world. much of our life is spent online. not too long ago, online dating was considered a pretty sketchy activity. these days, it is a billion dollar industry. tom foreman follows one couple's digital love story in this week's american journey. >> would you like to come inside the house? >> reporter: once upon a time, brook and kyle brant were living anything but story book lives. they didn't know each other. each was struggle to find love when instead they found an idea. >> we do our banking online, our social networking is online.

why not try online match making? >> she signed up with an internetting dating service. he did too. you called and i think i saw you the next friday and we've never been apart since. >> reporter: online dating once widely viewed as sketchy or a haven for the desperate has become a billion dollar business filling the air waves with ads. a study found one-third of marriages between 2005 and 2012 began online. in part, because the internet solves a fundamental problem. >> the biggest question i get from singles is where do i meet people. >> reporter: rachel dealto is a relationship consultant that says the massive group of dating sides that filter choices by religion, race, age, and beauty, allows like-minded users to quickly connect. >> if you can go hang out with a bunch of vegetarians, why not join a vegetarian dating site. >> reporter: another cause for the explosion, the economy. a popular theory holds when the

recession hit, many people started looking for less costly ways to explore relationships, giving online dating a big boost. it does not work for every one, of course. >> we are starting our fourth year of an internet dating marriage. we have an internet dating baby. we live in an internet dating house. >> reporter: for kyle and brook, it is a trend with a story book end. tom foreman, cnn. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people.

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talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. get the blood tests. change your number. turn it up. androgel 1.62%. senator rand paul is hoping his home state of kentucky will allow some felons to vote again. he will speak in front of the kentucky state senate in support of an amendment to do just that. mark prestons joins us live. kind of seems like a strange effort by senator paul. >> no doubt, carol, he is the unconventional legislature in many ways. you don't think you would hear a republican talk about trying to restore voting rights for felons. i just got off the phone with senator paul. he is about ready to testify on behalf of this in front of his state legislatures in kentucky. he said in many ways, this is very much what you would expect a republican to talk about. he said the republicans have

been long proponents of civil rights and voting rights. this is very much a mantra of what you would expect republicans to talk about. he says, it makes sense. you have to i have go empoo a second chance. people should have the opportunity to participate in government and this is really for people who are nonviolent felons, people who might have drug offenses, a way to get them back into society. he has an interesting ally in this, carol. an ally he had lunch with last week, eric holder, the attorney general of the united states. they had lunch. they talked about this. they also agree on trying to get rid of man da torre minimums when it comes to drug offenses. this is eric holder, somebody he has been fighting with over the nsa and other issues as well. they broke that and they agree on these two issues. rand paul trying to get this done, not only in the state of kentucky but he also told me he will be introducing legislation

later this spring to restore federal voting rights for folks when it comes to federal voting across the board, across the united states, carol. >> i think he really wants to be president. >> maybe but if he does, what an unconventional candidate he would be if he ran in 2016. >> he would, indeed. it would be very interesting, though. thank you so much, mark preston. >> it might be time to rethink your budget. two of the most important gallons are about to cost more, the price of milk and gasoline, headed higher just in time for spring. zain asher is at the new york stock exchange to tell us why. good morning. >> they are basically saying milk prices could go up 60 cents in march reaching their highest level ever. at the current average, $3.50 per gallon. that means you could actually end up paying $4.10 next month. a couple reasons for that. first of all, the drought in california that farmers have

been struggling with, they need water to feed their cows and grow alphafa. you might end up feeling the price increase in terms of milk. a growing international demand for cheese, specially in cases like china. they have had their own problems about dairy because of high feed costs, weather problems and they have been importing more from the u.s. that could lead to higher prices. in terms of gas prices, this usually happens around this time of year every single year. the current average is $3.37. after the 50 cent increase, it could go up to 3.87. you have refineries switching over to summer blend gasoline, more expensive and more ecofriendly. it burns cleaner. sometimes they have to close down temporarily to switch over and that can affect prices. lastly, crude oil is also a factor. crude oil harboring roughly around $100 a barrel.

a lot of what you pay at the pump is determined by the cost of crude oil. it is also partly because baus of refining taxes and marketing. crude oil is the most important factor. >> zain asher reporting live. a couple of things to keep in mind as we head through the day. violent protests are continuing in the ukraine's capital. president obama is expected to issue comments on the crisis sometimes today. it comes as his national security adviser is saying the united states has a full range of options to respond to the violence there. one possibility could become clearer at any time. secretary of state, john kerry, expected to discuss possible u.s. sanctions against the embattled government in you crain. also, president obama is heading to mexico today to meet with his counterpart there, the canadian prime minister. the one-day summit, which is sometimes called the three amigos, amigos is expected to focus on the key line pipeline, immigration reform and border security. this is the eighth year they have met in mexico.

that will do it for me. thank you so much for joining me. "at this hour" with berman and micayla starts now. >> outrage after u.s. troops post disrespectful funeral photos on instagram. what were they thinking? >> a new plan to store pictures of every license plate on the road, where your car is right now, where it has been. it might help law enforcement. does this mean the government is stalking you? spanking in schools. a state law maker thinks teachers ought to be able to bruise a kid's bottom and not get in trouble. hello and good morning to you. i'm michaela pereira. >> i'm john berman. those stories and more right now at this hour. chaos in ukraine where protesters are standing their ground despite orders to clear