struck. >> another crew member had his bulletproof vest damaged bay bullet. it was grazed by a bullet. so this is unthinkable. the level of violence after the so-called truce is much higher and everyone doesn't know what to expect right now. the word on the street is that the government may actually turn to the military to resolve this conflict. >> dramatic escalation as we all know. all we can see, alexi, is cameras in independence square, and i'm curious about the level of calm or unrest outthe scare and other parts of kiev and beyond and the rest of ukraine. >> the western part of the

country where things are very bad as well because the protesters are taking over the administration building, the police buildings, their special services building. it's also a riot there but also under control of the protesters right now in kiev, it's a standoff. they're not controlling the governmental buildings. they're trying to storm the parliament, the government, the administration of the president, but the police are still managing somehow to keep those buildings in their care. the level of calm, the rest of kiev, it's not us a calm as before because the government imcomplemented an anti-terrorist road and most of the roads from the city to the airport are closed, many of the gas stations have been locked because they would not-the-authority does not want the protesters to get more fuel for molotov cocktails. shops are closed. no groceryies in many stores. pretty chaotic. so the level of tension outside

of this hotbed is growing as well. >> alexey, thank you so much for the perspective and we'll keep watching throughout the afternoon and evening. thank you. a ukrainian skier says she is pulling out of the olympics in sochi, symbolic protest of her country's government and plans to join the demonstrators in independence square but has not been able to find a flight home. >> translator: my friends are there. people i know, close friends of mind to gene start line when people are dying and the authorities broke the main rule of the olympic competition, which is peace, i simply cannot do it. >> olympic athletes who support the protests can no longer wear black arm bands at the events. ukrainian olympic officials say the, and the international olympic committee decided the arm balanceses are, quote, not in the spirit of the olympic charter. >> in the united states, an explosion cracks the sky near an

airport this morning and marks the start to save hundreds of people. how do you evacuate an hire city? today we're finding out, and that's coming up on this thursday afternoon. "shepard smith reporting." knives to have you with us. before larry instantly transferred money from his bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead. that's the power of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america.

>> crews in northern iowa are fighting a chemical fire which forced officials to evacuate an entire city.

the fire contains sulfuric acid but the man who owns the building says there's nothing dangerous in there. this while the city is under a blizzard warning. this happened the city of northwood, not far from the minnesota border. population about 2,000. here's new video from the scene. a state patrol spokeswoman says fire men are using other combination of water and chemicals to night the flame and are hoping the snowstorm will get everything out of the air. officials at a medical center say a few people have come in for treatment and expect to see symptoms including vomiting and nausea. there were a series of explosions when the fire broke out. no word on what caused the mess. minutes ago we learned some people are headed back into town. in the northeast quadrant where

where they say the air is safe. bob it is on the phone with us. >> do they know what's in the air? >> i don't believe they do. i haven't spoken to one recently but i don't know they do. sounds like they had an idea. >> there's been a wind shift worrying people. >> yes. when i first went out, the wind was blowing the smoke to the north, and it -- which we've handaway from the city, but it shifted suddenly and was coming right over the city. i live a half mile from there coming right over our house as we were evacuated. >> did you hear anything when the explosions happened? >> i didn't but my wife did. we were getting ready for the day, and she was in the bathroom, and she said, what was

that? i said, what to you mean? she said, up sod like a gunshot or explosion. and then when i went out to investigate what was going on, several of my neighbors had heard several explosions. >> i can't understand white why the authorities would say they believe there's sulfuric acid in the air and the owner says there was nothing dangerous in there. >> i'm not sure either, shep. it seems strange to me. i do know that the smoke that was billowing up was very dark, very black. so it wouldn't surprise me if there were chemicals in it, but i have no knowledge of what was in the building. >> tent for the northeast corner of the town in iowa, everybody is out. authorities are warning people to stay in evacuation shelters. they're testing the air. a horrible situation in iowa. we'll keep you updated. thank you very much. continuing to monitor the deadly situation in the ukraine. it's not the only country with violent protests right now. several people reported dead in venezuela where they have an enormous problem.

this 22-year-old beauty queen is among the casualties. her heartbreaking story and what is triggering these violent protests in the country. that next. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagin how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 3years or mor so maybe we need to approach things dferently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ hi boys! i've made you campbell's chunky new england clam chowder. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right.

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on motorcycles shot and killed a 22-year-old beauty queen during one of several violent antigovernment protests in venezuela. that's according to a local opposition leader. the "associated press" is now reporting this photo shows a man on a motorcycle rushing the young woman to the hospital on tuesday in the northern city of valencia. she was a college student who previously won the title "miss tourism eye" at a beauty pageant. the video shows the beauty queen in a hospital.

the gunman been shot the woman in the head. she is among self people who have reportedly died since the protests first broke out a week ago. >> just last night demonstrators fight with police in the capital of caracas. amid all this turmoil, the nation could have ripple effects. venezuela witch -- rich with oil and under social rule, and boring on dictatorship. phil keeting is in our nest room. a huge challenge for the president. >> enormous. the past. days of violence are the strongest and most serious political challenge we have seen in venezuela since hugo chavez.

the president has been president for the ten months and have not been great for most venezuelans. crime, including rampant kidnapping for ransom money have skyrocketed. inflation has shot up 56% and there's chronic shortages for everyday basic goods. but it's worth noting the current wave of protests have been substantially smaller in size compared to the early years of chaff res' rule. the send gathering from caracas, these protests are going to tone for a long time to come. >> what's the word on the leader of the protests. >> locked up and off the street. leopold gomez, he was ruled he must stay locked up and in prison until his pending trial. he was charged with criminal

incitement and damage. the good news for lopez the judges chose not to charge him with homicide and terrorism as they indicate they were likely to related to the six people who died. >> translator: this fascist that we detained is well-guarded in prison. he is tried for having called for a coup and he should respond. >> that was the president on national tv last night in venezuela. by the way, president obama as well as florida's two senators, nelson and rubio, have condemned the president's actions and demanding lopez be immediately released. >> investigators release new inflammation about the dead he crash of a ups cargo jet. the pilots complained about not getting enough sleep. details on that coming up on the fox news deck as we approach the bottom of the hour and the top

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>> more headlines. two men accused of beating a san francisco giants man until he suffered brain dead pleaded guilty today. prosecutors say the attack left the victim permanently disabled. the judge sentenced the men four to eight years behind bars. some 35 people hurt after the second floor of a church building collapsed in laurel, mississippi, half hour north of hattiesburg. the pastor says it happened in the middle of a youth service but nobody was hurt seriously. no word on what caused the collapse. four train cars hauling new automobiles fell off the tracks near worcester, mass. investigators are looking into how this helped. crews worked to clean up the mess. nobody hurt but the autos got a

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>> the bloody crisis in ukraine. the scene in independence square appears calmer than recent hours. the fears seem to be going down. some of the people are milling about. it's much, much calmer, at least for the moment. reporters tell us they can still hear gunfire. the atmosphere is one of mourning. some 70 people reportedly killed there today alone. some pictures getting a big reaction on social media around the world. these are priests in kiev who are coming between the protesters and the police. excuse me, mark? these over here are priests coming in there -- and they're praying to try to stop the violence here. the priests are carrying bibles and crosses, praying for peace, and more people die in the fighting. >> katie stollard is live in

kiev. >> at this time last night were told a cruise had been -- a truce had been agreed. we woke up this morning to gunfire outside our hotel. i can tell you that both sides were armed. protesters with handguns, mine nil -- nine millimeters, firing from behind homemade wooden shields and they had shotguns and i saw police snipers taking position, firing back into the lines of protesters, and semi-automatic weapons, medics say more than 70 protesters were killed. we saw them carrying the bodies away, stretchering them into the basement of our hotel, which is the hospital here. they were dealing with serious gunshot wounds, wounds to the chest, groin, people in serious

condition, and volunteer medics attempting to treat them with the most basic of first aid. tonight from the main stage they are appealing for people to -- they're saying prayers for the dead. they carried them out tonight, saying glory to ukraine and believe these young men are heroes in this cause and will be remembered here as such. >> katie, thank you very much. two pilots who died when a ups cargo jet crashed last year said their work schedule did not allow them enough sweep between flights and now the feds are investigating whether fatigue was a factor. it happened in alabama in august. according to these newly released transcripts from cockpit voice recorder the two crew members complain that cargo pilots do not get enough time to rest before their next shifts and they mentioned the different regulations for passenger

pilots. more on that in a moment. the pilots were also trying to land on the shorter runway because the main was was closed for maintenance. this is the main runway here. this one they can use different flight pattern. this is a shorter one, and the plane crashed right about here while trying to make a landing here. in other circumstances they chief land here. this was just minutes away from being open and ready. officials are saying the temporary runway is half the length of the main one and did not have advance technology that helps pilots lan. lea gabe grill. >> investigators had the technology to safely land on the runaway, but they were descended too fast when they were landing. much of the hearing focused on pilot fatigue and how it may have played a role in the crash.

according to the transcripts from the voice reporter before takeoff both pilots talked about having to fly tired, and talked about the null regulations that depend apply to them. one said, don't get that. should be one level of safety for everyone. that crash happened just before 5:00 a.m., and, shep, at the end of an eight-hour work day for them. >> can you give us more of a sense of these regulations and why there's a difference between cargo pilots and passenger pilots? >> the new regulations went into effect in january and applied to airline pilots and not cargo pilots because of costs. in part the regulations require that pilots have at least ten hours between assignments and during those ten hours they're supposed to have eight hours of time to sleep. listen to one what one official had to say, who represents pilots for ups. >> one of the unique things about fatigue is the fatigued person is usually the worst

person to self-assess their fitness for duty. >> she said many pilots are reluctant to call in fatigued and that's because they don't want to be perceived as not able to carry their load. >> more now on the warning about possible shoebombs on flights into the united states. we got a homeland security bulletin yesterday. the threat is not specific to any certain airline or time frame, and the warning does not affect any flights that originate and end here in the united states. so nothing domestic. of course we have all been taking off our shoes at the errant security for years, ever since this guy, richard reid, tried to set off a bomb in his sneakers. he pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and is now serving a life sentence. >> danny colson is the former assistant director of the fbi and is live with us.

>> good to see you. >> why this applies only to people comeing into the united states from overseas, you can come over here and get you shoe bomb domestically. >> thank you. that's my position, too. also, shepard, it's important to note the fbi did not join in this alert. the fbi has access to more actionable intelligence, more credible generals than anybody in the united states for the world for that matter, and they didn't join in this, which leads me to believe that the threshold for information is extremely low, coupled with the fact that the solution for it is bizarre, asking our counterparts overseas to do schwabs of shoes and run -- swabs or shoes and run them through an analytical device and determine whether a person can come on an airplane. that is not practicable and doesn't work and they're incapable of doing it. it's bizarre. >> anybody who flies in europe

or outside the united states, you don't take your shoes off and don't put your laptop through the things. the rules are different and to expect them to change the rules to accommodate the united states' wishes, is that too much to ask? >> it's way too much to ask and is going to quadruple the amount of time to get through security. irthey're concerned the answer ises explosive trained dogs in the lines by the passengers. if you walk by the dog and the dog sets down you may have a shoe bomb. that's much more practical. i have questions about the person who wrote this alert, whether they fully understand our airline security works and how bomb detection works. >> andy, i will say this. there was a time after 9/11 when we go so many of these alerts we spent time with our teams figuring out what to pass along to the public. we don't want to scare people. but in recent years we don't get many like this, certainly not this level of specificity.

>> again, if it comes from the fbi, i would give it a lot more contribute. dhs is not an intelligence collection agency, and while their component parts are outstanding, custom, secret service, some streak things come out of dhs headquarters. so my advice to you, if the fbi or an agency like that, the department of yates, attorney general, puts out the alert, i'd listen. >> donny kole sewn, former deputy assistant districtor of the fbi. crazy avoidey shows what happens when a u.s. air force jet mistakenly dropped a bomb dangerously close to american soldiers. look here. >> there it is. >> yep. [bleep] >> that was not supposed to happen. the video has racked up more than 300,000 views on youtube since its first appeared.

the bomb explode 50 feet from our soldiers. the pentagon spokesman confirmed it happen in afghanistan in 201, and the spokesman found investigators found it was an errant strike and that nobody was at fault. >> a middle school football coach now faces charges after prosecutors say he kidnapped a little girl who was on her way home, and murdered her. a middle school coach. the disturbing details about the room where police found her remains. that's next. [ dennis ] it's always the same dilemma --

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walked home from a friend0s house on tuesday. this image shows the suspect. witnesses tried to stop the kidnapping but happened so quickly, so they reported his license number to the police. according to court documents when officers searched the man's base amount short time later, they found the child's body, stuffed in not one but two trash bags, inside plastic storage containers. the floor still damp with bleach. police say they arrested the man as he sat in a truck outside his home, holding a roll of duct tape. lisa is the defense attorney. we're wait to fine out if there was sexual abuse. unbelievable. >> horrific tragedy, and we hear about it all too often, really. that's one of the cases. in this case, it seems that the police responded very well. i mean, within three hours, they found this girl. but statistically they say 75% of these cases, when a child is abducted, in 75% of the cases, the child is murdered within the

first three hours so it's one of those crazy cases that pulls at your heart strings. >> it does and one thing we're getting from the locals, there's some concern about when the amber alert went out. amber alerts are best when issued immediately. this one took two hours and 15 minutes. not knocking on anybody. just echoing the sentiments of some who are there. >> if you're looking at the stackic, that three hours, you want them to get the amber alert out quickly; however, if you look at the case, opportunity seem like the amber alert played a significant role. law enforcement was on the scene within five minutes and investigated, had witnesses. law enforcement was doing their job, and the amber alert, while we hope it does something, and as a parent i believe in the amber alert, but in reality, how many people actually prevent the crime through the amber alert system? we want to have it but i'm not sure in this case it played a role. i think unfortunately this was

just one of those of dire instances you have this kind of a person out there, that was looking to cause harm on somebody, and the fact that he works for the school system, again -- >> not as if there aren't background checks in place. >> that's an issue. >> it is. >> they do background checks, and now do we look at the fact that a lot of these types of crimes are committed by people that are attracted to positions that allow them to have access to children. so should the fact that this particular person had in his past, violence against animals, do violent crimes -- should that be expended into the background checks to prevent these type of people from working with children? it's a question. something that should be looked at. >> certainly should and i'm guessing they we. the miami dolphins head coach is now promising a better work environment in response to his team's bullying scandal. the first time we have heard from the defense coach joe philbin since the report came

out. the coach called the findings unacceptable and would work to change the team's culture. those of question whether he did not know this culture all along. and if not, why not? the investigator found that richie incognito and teammates often red could el jonathan martin and it involved multiple bullies and multiple targets including an official trainer who faced racial slurs. >> a fox report now. more headlines. the pentagon is now doing enough to help military families deal with mental health problems. that is according to a brand new report from the institute of medicine. doctor says psychological disorders among active duty forces jumped more than 60% in the decade after the attacks on 9/11. a pentagon spokeswoman says the department is reviewing the

report and is, quote, committed to the health of service members and their families. >> pope francis and cardinals are meeting and attack something of the toughest issues the church faces. a survey found lots of catholics disagree with leaders on birthne esexuality. the pope urged cardinals to find intelligent and courageous ways to help families. and look at this. that's a 7,000-ton chimney. and it just went up in smoke. thousands of people watched the demolition in australia. about an hour south of sydney. 650 feet tall. it was part of a copper factory since 1965. >> get ready for another blast of winter. forecasters say several states are in for more snow, and other parts of the country are at risk for tornadoes.

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a dramatic reundown for dozens of families from north and south korea who have been separated since the early '50s in the korean war. for decades the divide has kept them apart but today they got to cross the border. it is taking place in a mountain resort in north korea. some great pictures to show you. dozens of families booked hotels for the week-long reunion. these are the families, all wearing name tags because they have not seen each other in so long. here the red cross workers are

wheeling in an elderly man on a stretcher to this event. many people are well into their 90s, including these here hoping to see relatives lost for a long time. this man's sister, whom he hasn't seen since 1953, these two are brothers embracing for the first time since then, in a tearful reunion. and look at these sisters here. -- today marked the first time many saw relatives for the first time from the other side. sisters from the north and sisters from the south who have not seen each other in more than six decades. >> the storm system could bring everything from snowstorms to tornadoes. forecasters say more than 60 million people could be in the path of the storms. they say that the cold side of the system could bring blizzards to the right, the cold side, and parts to the midwest, heavy

rain, flashfloods, and twisters. this same system threatened the east coast from florida all the way up to new york and that will happen within the next day. you can see it just moving right along. chicago is in the line there, and then it just continues to move east, as we will to rick in the extreme weather center. you're a broken record. >> something for everybody right now. this dark red, blizzard warned, winds over 35 sustained, blowing snow, and the area across minnesota and wisconsin, foot to foot and a half of snow. this will be the strongest -- most snowfall from a storm there. so the cold air is in place and we're getting more snow. that's going bring flooding problems later in the season. this is the snow very heavy there. a potent strengthening storm pulling off to the north, going to cause big problems including

severe weather, and this is allnight tonight. the lines cross eastern iowa and then the storms blossoming towards parts of texas. because of that, national weather service issued receive threat. i don't think today is the day for large tornadoes but a day for small tornadoes that will definitely cause damage and very strong straightline winds, up to 70 miles-per-hour. so we already heard some damage reports, and we'll be dealing with more. >> then moves to the northeast. thank you, sir. we'll be right back.

we have a winner. $425 million powerball jackpot but we don't know who it is. lottery officials say there was but one winning ticket in the drawing, and sold at a gas station outside san jose. the store's owner gets a nice prize. $1 million cash for that sale.

his son says the owner was on a flight early this morning to india, so he won't get the great news until after he lands. how about an indian spending spree. on this day in 199815-year-old american figure skater tara lip pin ski was the youngest ever gold medalist in her sport. she won a gold medal at junior olympic, and at 14 was in the national and world championship titles, beating out michelle kwan, and then she defeated quan again japan. she made. history 16 years agod today. the women's hockey team was up two goals, but lost in sudden-death overtime. oh, well. the men still have hope.

the dow has been up a hundred for the last couple of hours. neil cavuto will bring you context and privilege and we -- and perspective. have a great afternoon. >> thank you, shep. they're couching put should we be fretting because the vice-president of the united states says that seven million target for obamacare enrollees isn't happening. >> may not get the seven but we're going to get five or sex and that a hell of a start. >> hell of a start or hell to pay. if they do not get the enrollees we could end up getting rolled. welcome everybody. oh, no, joe, you can't blow off a million or two miss as a hell of a start. who is pga for that miss? that's what's we want to know. just over a month to go before open enrollment for the new law ended. these