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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  March 14, 2014 8:00am-10:01am PDT

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today. we'll see you back in new york on monday. bill: you got it, mart that. looking forward to seeing your story especially when the marathon roll around. enjoy the weekend. "happening now" starts right now. jenna: right now today's top headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. the international search for a missing jetliner rapidly expanding a new report that u.s. officials believe what happened to the plane was no accident. we'll get into it. here at home, takeoff going terribly wrong for a united airlines flight in philly. why the plane never made it off the ground. new evidence in "the blade runner" murder trial. what we're learning about the bloody crime scene, and what oscar pistorius did from the lead dee dee tech tiff on the case. it is all "happening now." we have mystery surrounding malaysian airlines flight 370
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deepening and new suspicions whatever happened to the jetliner happened on purpose. hope you're off to a great friday, everybody. >> i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott. investigatorsry sag that communications systems on board that plane were shut down separately, leading them to believe that somebody intentionally turned them off. the search now quickly growing. a new report from the "wall street journal" is saying that satellite data from the plane suggests it flew for five hours after communications went dark. jenna: meaning that flight 370 could have ended up anywhere inside the circle, gregg. it's a big circle. look at it. six times the area of the united states. the real search area is stretching from pakistan across india and all the way down to australia. captain chuck nash, fox news military analyst. jeff lanza is a retired fbi special agent. they join us to work through the news. thank you for being here. we're moving naval assets to different areas of the ocean,
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closer to the inian ocean. how much of an effort is that and what does it tell us? >> well the indian ocean is extremely large. you look at a globe. you are showing a circle that is several times the size of the united states in the search area. and you've got little ship, big ocean. the thing we've got going for us though, if that aircraft did wind up in the water, there are active pingers, one is a emergency locater transmitter and the other is a accusetic pinger on what are called the black boxes. so the flight data recorder and elt, if the aircraft is in the water are pinging. the sensors and navy ships and submarines are extremely sensitive and they're designed to pick up sounds of things that are pit to be quiet, i.e., other submarines. so if that is in the water, and it is pinging, that will make it much, much easier to find thanit were to have landed on some
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remote airstrip somewhere. jenna: that is the big question, jeff, if it landed, some are suggesting sabotage. we haven't had anyone take responsibility though. and we have only heard minor investigations into the two pilots and questions about two iranians nationals on board. besides that, there are 200 people we have heard nothing about. what does that say to you? >> that's right. if in fact the communication devices were turned off purposely then we have situation where you're looking at potential criminal act, criminal investigation. then you look at those possibilities in regard to that. you have the pilots. you have the crew. was someone from the passenger list, did they get access to that cockpit? so that requires then a background investigation as hard it would be with the families in this case, background investigation into the pilots, into the crew and potentially the passengers. these acts don't occur in a vacuum. so there is probably something that led up to that. some evidence or indication, activities involved in the
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planning of this particular event that would come to light in this background investigation. jenna: jeff, to stay with you on that, who is in charge then? who would actually lead that investigation? >> right. well it would probably be the malaysian authorities right now but there were americans on the plane, three americans. so the fbi would lend their assistance, although it might not be you know, it is basically, you know at the leisure of the malaysian authorities. so, you know, right now, malaysia is in charge of that investigation, with the fbi assistance and other agencies that would lend their assistance as well. jenna: some of that has been less than seamless, captain nash, as we look at some different information from either malaysian authorities and news reports here at home. on the issue of coordination you mentioned some of the great technology we have as part of the u.s. navy. we're just a small part of this do others share that technology. is it us and the u.s. navy to have the best technology to locate this plane? >> i think the u.s. navy has the
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premier technology. there are other nation that is share different levels of the technology that are also very good. the indian navy has antisubmarine ships that could also go out and be looking for that. the other thing that we have are space-based systems and the plane last reported it, i believe 122 -- 1:2in the morning local and then flew west. so the sun was chasing it. sunrise at 35,000 feet is lot earlier than on the surface. so there are lots of different sensors probably being culled to look back and see what any, what was seen and also, there is a report in "the wall street journal" that talks about investigators disclosing that those data pings that were coming out during those four to five hours could lead to plotting the point at which the last report was given and that would narrow down the search tremendously. jenna: we'll be speaking to the
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"wall street journal" reporter who broke that news a little later on in the program, find out what else he has learned today. captain nash, jeff lanza, thank you so much. >> pleasure. >> another another frightening airline incident, this one in philadelphia. over 10050 passengers forced from a us airways jetliner last night -- 150, using emergency slides. there you see in that picture, when a tire blew out during takeoff. investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong. one woman's daughter on board the plane heading to a wedding. take a listen. >> she phoned my husband first of all and said that the plane crashed and he was very upset. and then he lost her. and he didn't know whether she was safe or not. and then, he got back in touch with her and he knew that she was safely out of the plane. >> jamie colby following this story with the latest developments in our newsroom. jamie. >> fortunately, gregg, this has a happy ending for the us air
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flight. passengers on 1702 heading to fort lauderdale, florida, shortly after 6:00 p.m. on thursday. they had a scare no doubt about it. they saw smoke and smelled stench of burning tires, being bounced around within minutes of attempted takeoff. the plane was in the air only briefly and landed knows-first. the passengers jumping into action, when the flight crew yelled, evacuate. >> we removed passengers and moved them possibly 400-yard away from the airport, into the field, where we used our the police vehicles, our fire department vehicles and airport vehicles to surround the group, basically corral the passengers to protect them from the wind. >> airbus a320 jet was carrying 149 passengers and five crewmembers. an airport spokesperson telling us two passengers requested medical attention but there were no serious injuries reported of the we do hear it was a very rough landing. since then the plane has been removed from the runway.
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the ntsb is monitoring and investigation on what could have caused the failure and pilot to have to abort the takeoff. of course when this day and age of all of us carrying our smartphones, one passenger caught fear and frustration most accurately. >> i'm off the plane right now. we are evacuating the plane. oh, my god. oh, my god. the plane is on fire. oh, my god. >> getting out of the way was certainly right thing to do, given fire and smoke. passengers, many boarding another flight arriving at their destination, fort lauderdale, happily at 2:00 a.m. last night. others were so shaken by incident and continuing coverage of air disasters, question about the malaysia flight and played it safe and overnighted in philadelphia. that last option certainly understandable, gregg. >> sure is. they will never forget that one. thanks very much, jamie. >> you're welcome. jenna: some graphic evidence on day 10 of the blade runner
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murder trial. prosecutors showing images of oscar pistorius covered in blood at his home just after shooting his girlfriend. the olympic track star always maintained he mistook reef reef for an intruder on valentine's day last year. pistorius shot her in the middle of the night through a locked bathroom door. images of the crime scene shown in court today as the defense has some tough questions for a former police colonel. fox news producer paul tilsley was in the courtroom today. he has more, paul? >> reporter: jenna, many sat opened mouthed image of oscar pistorius shown on screens in court. two photos were shorn taken shortly after he had killed reef reef. the only clothes he is wearing are gray loose shorts. his whole lower body is covered in blood. the side shot shows that there is a large blood smear on his left arm. and even smatters of blood streaking across his back. blood is on his shorts. he is standing on his prosthetic legs inside his house just hours
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after the shooting. these legs are also covered with blood. although witnesses have testified that he was emotional when they came to the house, here he is not crying. but looking steadfastly at the camera, clenching his fists. it is yet one more image from this trial which will be hard to forget. the images came up as police colonel hert van recognizeburg, went into great he detail when what he found at crime scene. pistorius's nine mill teeter gun was armed and lying on the floor ready to be fired. he picked the weapon up with his bare hands, potentially destroying vital fingerprints. >> in that particular moment the ballistic expert was having the firearm in his hand without gloves. so i stop immediately talking, asking him, what are you doing? >> reporter: with this just one of several evident errors by the police, the defense appears to
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be building a case that the police have contaminated the crime scene. one final note. in photos, i also saw blood on a box of watches in the bedroom. which is not on the direct route pistorius should perhaps have taken with steenkamp's body from the bathroom, down to the entrance hall,. jenna. jenna: very interesting, paul. thank you. jon: >> well a plan to extend jobless benefits gaining traction in the u.s. gnat with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle signing on to it. how will they pay for it? does it have a prayer of passing in the house? plus, target saying it knew about cyber attacks that affected millions of americans weeks before going public with that information. why did it take so long for them to respond?
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gregg: right now senate negotiators reaching across the aisle, party lines, that's right, striking a deal to extend federal benefits to long-term unemployed americans. five democrats, five republicans, signing on to the agreement. there they are. to renew benefits for five months and make retroactive payments, they plan on covering the $10 billion plan with pension smoothing and customs fees but even if it does get 50 votes in the u.s. senate, its future in the house is uncertain. speaker john boehner has in the past said that he will not support any. >> tension of unemployment benefits. so far he has not commented however on this senate proposal. lease viebeck joins us, staff writer for "the hill." there was so much self-congratulations going on yesterday, i'm surprised nobody broke their arm patting themselves on the back. but when you look at this particular jobless bill, in truth there is not much meat on the bone here, is there.
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>> no, when you look at the timetable it is going to only last until the end of may. in fact when we'll see another round of partisan wrangling over jobless benefits. what this would do is go back retroactively, end of december, extend it by five months, end of may, not very far away particularly this hasn't even passed the senate yet. it is expensive bill. it is $10 billion. it took partisan negotiators a long time to come to their conclusion. gregg: right. >> but again, the house, even if it does pass it will only last for another couple of weeks. gregg: i know. boehner said, i don't want to do this, but, what do you bet he will change his mind as he really thinks about it and may be doing this already. look, this election year and if we don't pass this thing, democrats are going to use this as a blunt political instrument to really bludgeon the candidates in november? >> that's exactly right. because we know that swing voters do support the extension of these benefits. these are dollars going to
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people who already have run out of options at the state level. so there is broad bipartisan support at least within the public for those benefits. now, conservatives in the house, who we know tend to pressure john boehner on votes like these, do not support the extension of the benefits. they believe that because unemployment has fallen over the last couple of years, there is no longer a need to extend these long-term benefits. gregg: i wonder how long this is going to last? after all, harry reid rules with an iron fist. he won't even let some bills come up for consideration or a vote. is this detente, fleeting and the feuds will inevitably resurrect themselves? >> oh, 100%. of course we know that particularly given it is an election year. i like the point you made, which is john boehner is going to receive pressure from democrats as well as his right flank to extend unemployment benefits because they have support within the public. that is why we could see him do an about-face in the next couple months. he will probably wait in order
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to appease these conservatives. we know ultimately boehner brings bills to the floors and pass with republican and democratic support. gregg: reid and mitch mcconnell ha not met since december 13th of last year. that says it all. thanks very much. >> thank you. jenna: absence makes the heart grow fonder in that case? gregg: no. jenna: just pointing it out there. never know. maybe it will bring them close together. gregg: good thought. jenna: super bowl champ facing serious charges. why a judge is ruling darren sharper will have to face trial bind has. meeting with the russian foreign inminister, we'll wait for his comments. if they can't come to some sort after agreement and new concerns how russia might retaliate. e poe coffee shop. which will help me get to miami...and they'll be stuck at the cube farm. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn two times the points on dining out with no annual fee.
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gregg: right now it is super bowl champion sitting behind bars in the state of california. a judge ruling that darren sharper has to remain in jail as new charges emerge. the former football player accused drugging an sexually assaulting women in two states and trouble in three more at least. harris faulkner has the latest from the breaking news desk. harris. >> gregg, he was in court in orange jumpsuit quite different from the uniform he used to wear as a super bowl champ obviously. the ruling in court, no bail for darren sharper because the case against him is growing wider with accusations that he has been drugging and sexually assaulting women again and again in different states. right now he is in los angeles but the state of arizona wants him extradited for the same type of crime he is accused of in california. we'll start with l.a. where prosecutors say there he drugged and raped two women in october after meeting them at a west hollywood nightclub. now authorities indicted sharper that he drugged and sexually
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assaulted two women in tempe, arizona in november. sharper is 38 years old. played in the nfl, gregg, you probably remember, played in the nfl 14 seasons last with the saints a few years ago. he was working for the nfl network and until the allegations surfaced and they fired him. a los angeles county have investigator gave in court interesting details describing a pattern where the former football star met women at nightclubs and parties and lured women to the hotel room before using a drug on them. he is under investigation for similar sex crimes in florida, nevada and louisiana. we'll keep you posted. we're learning his next court appearance is march 24th. gregg: amazing case. thanks very much, harris. >> sure. gregg: jenna? jenna: gregg, more violence in ukraine as a high-stakes meeting takes place as we speak.
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pro-russia supporters, fighting with supporters of the new ukrainian government in the ousted president's hometown. one person was killed, 17 others injured. this as secretary of state john kerry meets with the russian foreign minister in london. that meeting is still going on. the goal is to find some resolution for the international standoff in crimea before a vote sunday to determine whether crimea will succeed and join the russian federation. if the effort fails, the president and secretary of state say, that the united states will take swift action. and now, reports that there is great concern inside of the white house about how russia might react. "the daily beast" publishing this headline today. white house braces for russian retaliation over ukraine. elliot abrams is senior fellow at council of foreign relations. former deputy national security advisor for president george w. bush. you've been in the white house when a lots of this happened. what is the white house bracing
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for? >> they're afraid i think any sanction we impose will lead putin to hurt some american companies that are invested in russia and maybe that he would go further into eastern ukraine with troops. putin is trying to scare us and i've actually unhappy, disappointed he seems to be succeeding, not in the state department but he seems to be scaring people in the white house. jenna: rightfully so or not? >> well, i don't think so. i mean look, our country is twice the population of russia. our economy is many times greater. he has got an economy that depends on one thing, which is the sale of oil and gas. for us to be afraid of him economically is really quite bizarre. yeah, there might be some american companies that, whose interests in russia are hurt. they probably shouldn't have invested in russia anyway because it's a lawless country but we can't have our foreign policy determined by a few companies that will have some investments marked down. this is really a serious moment for the future of europe.
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jenna: "the daily beast" article written by josh rogan detailed some of the bigger items we're working on with russia. some include the route into afghanistan that our military uses. also in addition to that, what is going on in syria, trying to make sure that syria's chemical weapons are destroyed and of course the nuclear deal, still in the works, potentially with iran. those are big issues, elliot at 10,000 feet. for the average american is there anything that russia could do that would affect our daily lives in retaliation for anything we do to them? >> no, not really. i mean on the things you mentioned, our commander in afghanistan said we don't need the russians to continue our withdrawal. in syria, 70% of the weapons are still in syria so they're not even keeping that deal. i don't think americans need to worry about this at all. what we need to worry about american credibility in the whole world, with asia, china, the middle east, in europe can be destroyed if the russians
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commit this kind of aggression and we don't even impose sanctions. jenna: in the wssj -- "wall street journal" it detailed help asked from the pentagon, a long list, ammunition, arms, communication gear, intelligence support, aviation fuel, night vision goggles along with other items. we have decided to give them mre's, which are just meals ready to eat but none of those other items. >> right. jenna: is that a bad decision, good decision right now? when you talk about putting our efforts into the right places what should we do when it comes to ukraine? >> we should wait on that until sunday to see what putin does. i think we should, i hope, kerry is telling lavrov today, look, if you push into east ukraine, ukrainians are going to fight and we'll be giving them some military assistance. i think we should be making the russians a little afraid of us
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not just vice versa. jenna: elliot, always good to see you. >> thank you very much, jenna. jenna: we're bringing up the live picture that we have. we've been waiting for secretary kerry about 90 minutes. it was expected he would speak 10:00 a.m. eastern time. he has not come to the podium and we're presuming that the meeting is still continuing with lavrov. what we hear from secretary kerry we'll bring you back there for his comments. gregg: brand new fallout concerning the recall of over one million general motors cars. exactly what did the automaker know about faulty ignition switches and for how long? president obama using the media to market himself and his policies but, is it working or backfiring? >> have you heard of the affordable care act? >> oh, yeah, heard about that. that is the thing that doesn't work. why would you get the guy that created zune to make your website. >> healthcare.gov works great now. is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the...
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jenna: general motors facing growing backlash over faulty ignition switches. as many as 13 deaths are linked to the massive recall of 1.6 million cars. that is according to a new giant. auto giant is facing a federal probe how gm handled the recalls. lauren simonetti from the fox business network. we heard a little bit about the switches. why does it seem like the number is now so much bigger. >> we went from 12 deaths to 303 deaths. that might not be the end of it. this is what happened, center
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for auto research looked at raw data. what they did look at ignition switch recall which could shut off the car and disable the airbag system. they looked at just two of recalled models, chevy cobalts and saturn eye ons. what happened and how much deaths were related to airbag not deploying. gm says this need further interpretation. the point of that study, that 303 number is for use in congressional hearings, right, to send a message to gm and the government saying you had all of this evidence and all these deaths and you did not do enough soon enough, jenna. jenna: the big theme the company delayed action on some information that potentially impact ad whole lot of lives. that is similar theme if you will to the story on target. now we're hearing a little bit more how they potentially delayed some action when they found out about that massive cyberattack. just walk us there what we now know? >> if you're a big company, you want to get ahead of information
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like this. this is what we know on target. of course that christmas cyberattack that has affected millions of target customers, we actually know, and target is admitting to this, their security systems told them about a hack attack, as early as november the 30th. that is, the saturday of black friday weekend. but it wasn't until weeks later, december 12th, that target actually started the investigation. so why didn't they take that warning from their security system seriously? well they get hundreds of them a day. they didn't think it warranted further action at that time. if only, you know, if only hindsight were foresight, jenna, right? a lot of people would trust target at this point. if you look at their january traffic numbers, shoppers are not shopping at target like they used to. the lowest january numbers in three years. jenna: interesting. now some lawmakers are talking about whether or not there needs to be laws when you do know about a massive cyberattack you actually tell your customers. seems like it would be logical. sometimes it is not. lauren, thank you.
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>> good to see you, jenna. bye. gregg: president obama is switching up his media tactics to try to reach out to young americans skipping over traditional news outlets and going online. just this morning the president hyping obamacare on webmd.com. of course he needs young people to sign up to make his health care law work. earlier this week he gave an interview to the actor, zach galifianakis for his web series, "between two ferns." the president also ramping up his presence on social media. he has some 42 million followers on twitter, even though he doesn't actually run the account. judith miller, pulitzer-prize-winning investigator reporter author, fox news contributor. good to see you. his critics are saying, look, the reason he is going for the softball interviews because he can not defend the indefensible which is why he is avoiding anybody who would ask tough questions. >> absolutely. he doesn't want to go into the white house press corps, that "shark tank".
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ed henry, he is a scary dude. he asks tough questions. gregg: yeah. >> so does, you know, so does o'reilly. he doesn't want to face those people. it is much easier to do scripted performances on reddit or stand-up youtube celebrities or do twitter. gregg: late night with jimmy fallon with that one as well. it's a comedy show. some say the president's white house policies are comical. but that is the critics. here he is, yucking it up. when you look at some of this stuff, doesn't it seem totally canned and contrived? >> it does toe to me and may to you who want really serious news. young people like it. look at the two ferns interview, that got at least 2.8 million hits, people tuning in. if you talk to the white house they will tell you that it drove more people to the obamacare website any other thing has done. god knows they need it. gregg: we mentioned today he was
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on webmd, on the internet, and here, it just crossed the wires, president obama said on webmd that enough people have signed up for health care to make his signature law work. well he is at 4.2 million according to hhs. didn't the white house say we got to have 7 million? >> that was then. this is now. gregg: changing the goalposts. >> changing the goalpost. moving the goalpost. the president says he can get buy with only 25% of young people signing up. we'll see, eventually the numbers will be the proof. but at the moment, we just don't know. gregg: well, 25% of the young people, i mean, that is not enough. i mean the risk pool, according to insurance companies, has to be at least 40% of young people, right? >> well i think it will take us a number of years to find out whether or not this program is going to work at all. i think where the problem is, the republicans haven't really offered an alternative to it. they're content for the moment to kind of bash obamacare and
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hope that will be enough. gregg: back to sort of our original discussion of the president avoiding journalists. he is also avoiding photographers. you know, we have a picture of the president and michelle obama. and all of the pictures of the president, most all of the pictures of the president, there they are together, it is all coming from the white house official photographer and, instead of being candid shots, they look stageed? >> they are staged. they are exactly the image that the white house wants you to have. that is why 37 independent journalists signed a letter protesting the increasing use of white house firm photographers. it is getting to be a little bit like the kremlin. you will see what they want to you see and not what the american people want to see and are entitled to see. gregg: judy miller, as always, good to talk to you. jenna. jenna: graphic testimony and disturbing images in the oscar pistorius trial today and growing questions about how police handled the crime scene
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after the olympic athlete shot his model girlfriend. we'll take that up with our legal panel. plus we're closely watching the efforts to find international malaysian flight 370. all the details as we get them coming up.
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jenna: some new information on the 10th day of the oscar pistorius murder trial. defense attorneys for the olympic athlete grilling a former police colonel and raising some questions about whether officers contaminated the crime scene after pistorius killed his girlfriend reef reef. earlierdreeva steenkamp earlier we heard from our producer inside the courtroom who described how the police officers handled key evidence. >> photos, i also saw blood on a box of watches in the bedroom which is not on the direct route
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pistorius perhaps should have taken with steenkamps body down from the entrance room to the entrance hall. jenna: lots of accusations is scene was not secured and watch going missing during the investigation. >> van rensburg said one of the police forensic team picked up the watch with his bare hand, destroying potentially vital fingerprints. jenna: dan, start with you, with the main theme today which this crime scene was mishandled. how big of a deal is that. >> it is horrible the way they handled this crime scene. they absolutely con tame gnatted it, it is unprofessional, but it doesn't change the main point that oscar pistorius shut his girlfriend unprovoked and no plausible reason why he shot her through a bathroom door. it defies common sense. jenna: the time the defense is spending on this is an indication where they might be going as well as part of their
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defense. do you share that? well, interesting, maybe doesn't impact the center of this case? >> yeah, i agree with dan. look, this is not o.j. simpson. this is not a whodunit. if this was a situation where the defendant was saying hey, i wasn't there, i have an alibi, there was some other intruder that did this then the information about the crime scene might be very persuasive. here the defense is conceding, look, i shot her and shot her fatally it was an accident. there was question whether it was intentional killing or whether it was a mistake. taking apart the crime scene may provide for good drama i don't think it goes to the defense had this case zoo speaking of drama, dan, there were all these photographs with oscar pistorius standing with his prosthetics on covered in blood. >> right. jenna: the issue proves at the time ticks are come up whether he had them on or off when the shooting hoe cured. with these pictures what do you think the prosecution is intending to do? >> brings reality what happened
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and i was with her body afterward and her blood got on him this is real situation. not generally what you see on the news. that helps finder of fact, you have a judge i don't think it matters as much because a judge looks at it more logical, less emotional way but shows reality of what happened that day. jenna: at love things happened that day besides obviously the murder of this innocent girl, tom. there is the investigation of this box of watch that is oscar pistorius had that were very expensive and one went missing during the first few hours of the investigation and they still can't find it. all the investigators had to be searched. >> right. and again goes back, look, i think the defense has done an admirable job. they're working with very difficult facts and they have done ad mirable job showing this was corrupt crime scene. maybe it had been corrupt police officers at that crime scene. going back to the point dan brought up. there is no jury here. this case is being tried where we in the united states call a bench trial before a judge, a sophisticated jurist who will look at evidence and say look,
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there may have been shoddy police work here. there may have even been corrupt police officers, but at end. day that doesn't change the fact this defendant killed this woman and his excuse for it just does not make sense. jenna: let me ask you both this question. if you were the defense, do you put oscar pistorius on the stand. >> absolutely. he has to testify because without his testimony, all you have is the evidence that he shot his girlfriend through a closed bathroom door and killed her unprovoked. the only way you get his defense that it was a mistake by him saying that. he has to take the stand here. jenna: reeva can't steak the stand, tom. there is only two people there. >> look i think there is enough here where you can argue as the defense has done, that this was justification, this was mistake but but at end of the day the only chance you will have to persuade the finder of fact particularly where it is a judge, not 12 jurors where you hope i get one holdout, you have to convince a sophisticated jurist that this defendant's
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story holds weight. the only way to really do that in practicality is put him on the witness stand and hope for a miracle. jenna: quick final question for you both and we're 10 days into this trial, it is expected to go three weeks. dan, where does the prosecution go here? they're meandering a little bit with the bloody pictures. they brought in the door. where else is it for them to go? >> they will show all the details. the key thing, the witnesses, neighbors who supposedly heard a woman screaming before the shots were fired. that and the fact when know oscar pistorius fired and killed his girlfriend no matter what was bungled in the crime scene. that evidence is powerful. ultimately it comes down to oscar pistorius whether he raises reasonable doubt with his testimony. jenna: tom, final thoughts. >> other persuasive piece of evidence other than the dead body and bullets is the door. even if we thought for a moment we thought the defendant's story was credible, you realize you made a mistake. you think your girlfriend may be lying seriously injured or dead inside after bathroom.
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the way you open a door not taking a bat to it. that is evidence consistent with a crime of rage which in reality what this was. jenna: tom, dan, great to have you both. >> thank you. jenna: gregg? gregg: the pentagon is now going high-tech on the battlefield, simulating combat duties for our brave men and women in uniform, matching skills to future u.s. soldiers. the u.s. post office giving a rock and roll legend the stamp of approval. ♪
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jenna: a live look what is happening in london right now. we're awaiting secretary kerry who just finish ad meeting with his russian counterpart, russian foreign minister. he already has made a few comments and reuters newswire picked up on this the importance of this meeting it seems to be the final meeting between the united states and russia before a referendum vote on sunday to see if crimea will rejoin russia. the united states has already said if that happens they will not recognize, we will not recognize crimea and sanctions will be coming as of monday. so with all that at stake, just a quick line from russia's foreign minister to reuters, that russia says it does not need any international structure to mediate in russian ukraine relations. that more or less sums up headlines coming from russia's side of what transpired inside this meeting. as soon as secretary kerry steps to the mic, we'll get america's take what happened.
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gregg: well the pentagon is now testing a new program now that women have the same opportunities to serve in combat as men. military commanders are turning to science to find the best soldier for the job. jonathan serrie live in our atlanta bureau with more. jonathan? >> hi, gregg. well the army wants to develop an objective test, given at the recruit phase to determine whether a soldier has the physical capabilities of serving in a combat role. the timing of this is important because the military has been ordered to begin integrating women into combat roles in 2016. at fort stewart, dozens of male and female soldiers volunteered for an army study monitors how they perform in simulated combat activities. >> the army has a fitness test, two-mile run time, push ups and sit-ups. but as you see from some of these activities a lot of these activities require agility. they require strength, okay? and we're not really measure that in the army fitness test.
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we need something with higher resolution. >> reporter: so researchers are monitoring the soldier's breathing and heart rates as they perform a range of combat activities such as scaling walls and loading heavy weapons. even i suited up to get a small taste of what's involved. watch. this test simulates rescuing a casualty from a bradley fighting vehicle. whering 73 pounds of gear, i have to pull this 100-pound bag out of the tour rhett. -- turret. oh that's tough. wow. i have, renewed appreciation for america's men and women in uniform. and, gregg, army researchers expect to wrap up this study by october much 2015. back to you. gregg: jonathan, that was quite a growl we heard from you. >> reporter: it was indeed. not too many people get to hear that. gregg: well that's special of we'll put it on everybody's
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real. thanks very much, jonathan serrie. >> reporter: my pleasure. jenna: jimi hendrix fan, are awe jimi hendrix fan? >> absolutely. one of my favorite albums. jenna: you have reason to celebrate today. this little news item. the u.s. postal service releasing forever stamp featuring rock and roll hall-of-famer, jimi hendrix. it shows him wearing a military jacket and playing guitar. this comes decades after the musician died in 27 years of age in 1970 when the stamp costs only six cents. today you pay 49 cents, nearly half a dollar. you send a message that it has a jimi hendrix stamp. gregg: some fans out there. in rock and roll hall of fame. he had only three albums. his tragic death from bar bit at. he was only 2 years old. he was a huge talent. jenna: so you will buy the stamp. i like little hearts on it
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because it sends a message. gregg: it does. unexpected move from president obama regarding america's deportation program. what has done and what it could mean for comprehensive immigration reform. spring training it is in full swing down south but the boost it gives to state economies coming with a high price for the taxpayers. we're going to explain coming up in a live report. [ chilen yelling ] [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edwa jones. this is shirley eaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how areou? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... [ shirle] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ malennouncer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪
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jenna: well, big developments to our top stories and breaking news this hour. president obama ordering the review of america's deportation program for millions of illegal immigrants. we'll get a live report on that. plus, the teenage girl who shocked the nation by taking her parents to court over money after she left home has made quite the reversal. we have the surprising twist to this story for all parents. and after a long, cold winter, the boys of summer are are heading to the diamond. we'll go live to spring
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training. it's all "happening now." well, the search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370 as new details add to the mystery. hello, everybody, i'm jenna lee. gregg: and i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott. it is midnight in kuala lumpur, and right now the search for the missing boeing 777 is pushing west deep into the indian ocean as new clues reveal the aircraft may have flown for hours after its last contact with air traffic control. here's the latest. india now scouring dozens of uninhas been fitted islands for signs of debris. the plane was last seen on military radar heading in that direction and may have had hours of fuels on board. the uss kidd is now also heading into the indian ocean to join the search as well, and u.s. officials are reportedly looking into whether two of the plane's
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communication systems were deliberately shut off minutes apart. joining me now to talk about it, vernon grose, a former ntsb member, he's chairman of mega systems group, and it's always a pleasure to speak with you. everybody's talking about this, and everyone seems bewildered. i spoke to mine who's a doctor and an experienced pilot, and he is baffled. how about you? >> i'm baffled right along with him although, you know, we have to keep searching here, as a matter of fact. the thing that really puzzles me most, gregg, is the fact that the malaysian government, which ostensibly is in charge -- nobody's in charge of this investigation. and that's very unusual. gregg: i want to run -- >> if you think back -- gregg: let's put up on the screen a graphic, because this is very telling of the sequence of events and the timing of it all. it takes off at 12:41 a.m., but within a half an hour the data
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reporting system is shut down. 15 minutes later the transponder is disabled. within nine minutes of that, the civilian radar loses contact. more than an hour later, the military radar loses the plane. are there gaps in in re daughteo that that can -- radar so that can happen? you can actually lose it on radar? >> well, radar is land based, and i don't know where in the world those radar stations are. they have to be interrogating for the airplane, so i really don't know where that is. and yet we've had all these conflicting reports. i was one of those that was quite excited that the chinese had revealed that they had actually seen specific pieces of debris. and yet the malaysian army went out there, air force went out there, and they couldn't find anything. gregg: yeah. there have been a lot of potential sightings, and all of them have turned out to be
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something else. but, look, aviation investigators say they're now analyzing not the radar, but the satellite transmissions to try to determine the plane's ultimate location or status. are you optimistic about that? >> well, not too much. i don't know whose satellite in the first place is going to do this, and, you know, if we go back to the difficulties we had with egypt air 990 in the late '90s when one of the crew members took the aircraft down, you remember right then they wanted the u.s. to have the ntsb in charge. and when the, this tsb discovered there'd been a suicide, they retracted that and tried to do it with egyptian capability which wasn't sufficient. so you get into these jurisdictional kinds of things and battles that are going on. but i don't know where the ntsb is. they've got a team over there, but they're subservient to the
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malaysian folks, i guess. gregg: yeah. oh, and we put up that graphic you just had up here? the search area or the area potentially where it went down is six times the size of the united states. so think about that. i mean, this is almost like searching for a needle in a haystack, vernon? >> yes, it is. one thing that nobody's talked about, however, is that if the airplane was up for five hours, and if that's where they're searching, it was in broad daylight by the time it came down. so the possibilities of eye witnesses goes up. however, it's a broad bunch of water to look at. >> yeah. so many potential theories have popped up, hijacking, trying to snatch a person, officials are looking at the possibility of a stolen plane, quote, with the intention of using it later for another purpose. what does that conjure up in your mind? >> well, i think it's a very
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useless airplane for anything like that. in other words, it's a huge airplane, and it's a passenger aircraft. now, they could load it with some kind of explosives, i suppose, and aim for a target, but they're a long way from anything of consequence, it seems to me. gregg: vernon grose, former ntsb member during the reagan administration, appreciate your insight. >> you're welcome, gregg. jenna: president obama may be getting ready to use that pen again as he's mentioned, this time on immigration. the president is directing his homeland security chief to review america's deportation procedures. elizabeth prank is live at the white house with more on this. so, elizabeth, why the change here? >> reporter: well, we're seeing, certainly, more proactive approach this year. last year we saw president obama saying immigration reform was basically out of his hands. this week we're seeing a more proactive approach, perhaps
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succumbing to those pressures. the president ordered jeh johnson to review the deportation process, focusing on less family separation and perhaps a decrease in dangerous deportations. the administration praising the senate for passing legislation last year. they say the responsibility now lies in republicans on the house. >> we hope that what the leaders have said and what others have said is what will prevail in the, obviously, difficult debate that has been ongoing now for decades in the republican party when it comes to immigration. >> reporter: now, the president made announcement of after meeting with congressional hispanic caucus members, perhaps succumbing to the pressures they say are really stag oring deportation statistics. jenna? jenna: and what's the gop reaction to this? >> reporter: well, we are hearing from members of the house and, in fact, this week they passed the enforce the law act which basically is intended to pull back what they say is
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the president making an end run around lawmakers. and, in fact, a number of democrats even siding with republicans, voting for that bill. those who support the bill say the administration is selectively changing laws pertaining to issues such as the sweeping health care law, drug laws as well as immigration. congressman trey gowdy co-author ed the bill and says we need to rein in the president. >> it depends on whether we let him get away with it or not, megyn. it depends on whether or not we live in a country where the end justifies the means or whether process matters. the people can stop all of us from doing things like this. congress, maybe not so much. >> reporter: white house spokesman jay carney basically scoffed at the bill and said the president would, obviously, veto it if it ever made it to his desk. back to you. jenna: elizabeth prank at the white house, thank you. >> reporter: thanks. gregg: russia conducting military exercises that it's reportedly planning to intensify near the border with ukraine as preparations are underway for a referendum this weekend to decide whether crimea will break
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away from ukraine and join the russian federation. amy dell toking streaming -- kellogg in kiev with the late rest. >> reporter: hi, gregg. well, we just heard from russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov, who when has been meeting with u.s. secretary of state john kerry in london. there were a lot of lines he simply repeated, things that the russians have been saying all along, primarily that this is not their problem, that they didn't instigate any of the trouble in ukraine, that they are really only in crimea because they need to protect law and order that the ukrainians aren't doing their bit of the deal to keep things calm and peaceful and safe in crimea. but what i did find interesting was he said, this is all about crimea. this is about their self-determine nawtion and what they want when it comes to this return dumb. and at the very end of the press conference, gregg, he said, well, by the way, crimea is very important to russia historically.
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so i think that says a lot. we're waiting to hear there secretary of state john kerry, but lavrov said the two sides remain very far apart at this point still. one of the journalists, this was the a last ditch effort at diplomacy before the referendum and that it had failed, was this a problem, did this bode badly for what would come next, and lavrov kind of denied that it was a last ditch effort and blamed his partners for not wanting a diplomat you can solution here. the poll appears to be going ahead in crimea and that, again, is a vote about whether they should remain with ukraine, albeit with a bit more autonomy, or join russia, and lavrov said there are no human rights abuses as we speak going on in crimea, but, gregg, we are hearing some horrible stories about activists being detained, about people losing their jobs for their political views and for being afraid to speak ukrainian language on the streets. gregg: amy kellogg live in kiev,
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thank you very much. and there's the podium, we're expecting secretary of state john kerry any moment now. he's a little behind schedule and, you know, maybe he's working the phones or face to face meetings, just don't know. but we are going to take an update with the secretary when it happens. you know, somebody said it's very hard to vote freely when you've got 20,000 russian troops with big guns aimed at you. so crimea, we'll continue to watch. of. jenna: well, we certainly will. it'll be interesting to hear what secretary kerry has to say. in other news, though, do you want your teens to succeed in school, in life? try letting them sleep in. did a teen write this study? [laughter] no, actually, the cdc is involved, and some interesting results. we have that coming up. ♪ ♪ jenna: and honoring the fallen nearly a century later as one
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nation's bravest are given a proper burial. plus, major hurdles for the white house ahead of a crucial enrollment deadline, what kathleen sebelius told lawmakers that could spell chaos for the entire insurance system. >> tens of millions of americans are going to lose their policies next year and the year after. every american's going to see higher prices for health care. so the president can continue to delay this, but i'll tell you what i said yesterday: the worst is yet to come. starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines" mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants,
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jenna: well, "happening now," the sound of bag pipes ringing in a small village in france today. ♪ ♪ jenna: and here's the reason why. nearly 20 newly-discovered british soldiers were reburied with full military honors close to where they fell during world
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war i. the men were a part of a unit that had been in france barely two months when they were killed as part of one of the largest assaults by british forces during the war back in 1915, so they get the appropriate burial even years later. gregg: "happening now," the white house facing new hurdles ahead of the march 31st obamacare enrollment deadline as thousands of so-called high risk people with existing medical conditions remain enrolled in a federal health insurance program slated to close at the end of this month, leaving the administration with the choice of extending that program for a second time or risk seeing people lose their coverage. this after health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius told a house panel yesterday she has no idea how many of the 4.2 million people who have signed up for coverage have actually paid for it. susan appreciate cho join us with the washington examiner. to the first topic of these
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people in the federal program, these people with existing injuries, take a graph for our viewers. it peaked at about 100,000, the latest published figure has it down to 22,000, but that's a huge number of people who, in two weeks, are going to lose their coverage. is it likely, therefore, we're going to see another extension, exemption, waiver, delay, and i think we're now at 38 of them? >> well, i think so. i think what's happening now is with these 20,000 folks these are the sickest people on the exchanges, who would be on the exchanges. they have cancer, diabetes. the way they set up this program was to attract the very sickest people in america. now, they've whittled that number down from about 100,000 to almost 20,000, but they've extended the ted lauren for allowing teem -- the deadline for allowing people to be on the old program twice, and they've done that for two reasons.
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the health care law itself had such a problematic rollout that these folks couldn't sign up for a new plan, but i think there's a second reason, and i think part of it may be political. since these are the sickest folks, they're also the most costly to the health care exchanges, so the longer it takes for them to get on, the less data the health insurance companies will have to calculate premiums in this critical election year. so they believe that there will be an extension for two reasons. one, so these folks don't have gap in coverage which could be deadly for some of them and, second, the help keep these premiums a little more stable moving into the 2014 election. gregg: all right. what about an extension or waiver or delay for the individual mandate which, of course, the obama administration said is central to this success of their program? sebelius said twice this week before congress there's going to be no delay of the individual mandate, but as jim angle reported last night on "special report," you look down at the hhs exemptions, number 14 is a
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free-for-all. >> right. gregg: you could just say i've got a hardship and, you know, i can't find a policy i like, boom, you don't have to comply with the individual mandate. so is the white house abandoning the principal part of obamacare? >> that's exactly right. they've added, very quietly just in the past week, a new provision to the exemption list. and it basically says if you encounter any other hardship in trying to sign up for the healthcare.gov web site, be it cost or whatever, you don't -- you can claim hardship exemption. that, basically, provides a waiver to just about anybody who doesn't want to be subjected to the individual mandate. so to answer your question, they've kind of given blanket exemption to everybody. and what this will do, again, is it will keep this program there affecting too many people's lives ahead of this 2014 election. i really feel a lot of this is political. in fact, the administration has said so in talking about the very critical 2014 elections and
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vulnerable democrats in the senate. gregg: sure. >> so i believe that this mandate is going to be relatively ineffective, at least this the coming year. gregg: yeah. let me squeeze in one more question as fast as we can. nancy pelosi is offering some free advice. you know what they say about prix advice. i think -- free advice. i think the republicans are wasting their time, she said, using that -- obamacare -- as their electoral issue, and they find that out. didn't this week's congressional special election in florida belie her her claim? >> it may well have. it was a slightly republican-leaning district. but alex sink did run against a candidate who talked a lot about the health care law. many of the ads were aimed directly at her decision not to agree to do anything to repeal the health care law. now, she wasn't around to vote for it, and so i really do think the health care law was a factor. certainly, republicans think that. and i think you'll see that a take shape, especially with
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these races this the senate and these vulnerable states coming up in the coming months. gregg: well, when you get something for free, you get what you paid for. susan, thank you very much. good to see you. jenna: some fierce baseball rivalries brewing off the field, cities pulling out all the stops trying to lure these baseball teams for spring training. what does it mean for you, the taxpayer? we get some answers. also, a teenager moves back home, and not just any teenager. this is the teenager that sued her parents. where the lawsuit now stands, next. ♪ ♪ the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees. ♪ i want money, that's what i want ♪ (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading.
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gregg: right now, a new jersey teenageo sued her parents for support after moving out -- remember that one? there she is -- well, guess what, she's back home. a judge describing rachel canning as, quote, spoiled. and that may have been charitable. she was demanding money from her parents for tuition and rent. harris faulkner following the story live in our newsroom. >> reporter: well, parents all over the nation are watching this one because family dynamics play out in all of our homes one way or the other. rachel canning's parents kicked her out, and she sued them to pay for her private school and college even though she had moved out. she's also demanding they pay for her transportation and rent right away. and on that point, the judge has denied canning's request for any immediate cash. the lawsuit for child support to pay for her education, though, is ongoing. for now, well, when you have no more money, i guess you have to go back home, and 18-year-old rachel canning returned to her parents this week, last seen
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walking to her parked car in her parents' driveway, and we'll continue to know about it all likely with pictures because if and when the family returns to court, the media will be allowed to go too. the judge has ruled against the attorneys who wanted the courtroom closed because of all the attention the case is getting. the case is not actually all about money. canning said her mother pushed her toward blip ma after calling her, quote, pork key, and her tad was inappropriately affectionate. she said he would wake her up at two a.m. to drink alcohol and play beer pong. no indication on how the judge will view those allegations but again, gregg, he has called rachel canning, quote, spoiled. back to you. gregg: well, she's back in the home, maybe there's some rapprochement. we'll wait and see when the next curt hearing occurs. >> reporter: and he has said he'd want that because this would maybe replicate itself.
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gregg: right. i also am entitled to a car and a big stereo system, television, the list goes on. >> reporter: and again, not to downplay the allegations against her parents, we don't know where that stands. gregg: right. jenna? jenna: teens aren't the the only ones hoping to win season, spring training brings in more than half a billion dollars in arizona alone. with tough competition, it could be taxpayers who strike out. adam houseley's streaming live from mesa, arizona, on how we could be striking out. adam? >> reporter: yeah, jenna. you know, teams seem to jump around more in spring be training than players do. in recent years florida and arizona have had a battle, and now they're equal, 15 teams in each state, but there is a chance that five more teams might jump around between the two states. now, the oakland as have one of the oldest facilities in all of spring training, you would know phoenix muni as being the
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throwback to what spring be training used to be like. it was the last year the as were there. they're moving out on good terms. that field's going to be given to arizona state's college team. but the as are going to move to another facility. and when i asked the president there about the fact that they're moving facilities and this ability of cities to really lobby for teams to move, here's what he said about why it's so important. >> the minor league facility, we use that to develop our minor league players. that facility's used virtually 12 months a year. we play our rookie ball team out of there, and, you know, to have the latest training equipment and health care and kitchen facilities as nutrition becomes more important is critical for our success. >> reporter: that's the biggest changes. a lot of these facilities aren't just used for six weeks in the spring, they're used for the entire year as players come and go and work out and in some cases move nearby for the off season. the chicago cubs have a brand new, $99 million facility here in mesa, and the city threw in
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about $82 million of that. of course, hay say it's beneficial for both the city, the team as well, but there are some skeptics who say, you know what? this was a lot of taxpayer dollars. >> the development that occurs around a facility and the amenities that it provides to the city and the fan base and, you know, for spring training the tourism and the visitors that come from out of town and the impact that creates in the city really make a big difference. >> yes, there's a handful people come to work in the stadium, there may be some facilities that come in nearby, restaurants and so forth, but the reality is they aren't the big moneymaker that cities often want to believe that they would be. >> reporter: and that's really debate, jenna. this is cubs park, it's gorgeous. they have a lot of amenities that look like wrigley field in chicago, and a lot of people will say, the kept you cans will say -- skeptics will say this is great for the cubs but not so much for the community this general. however, it really has
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transformed this area of mace is. you can see a lot of development here, new hotels, a brand new park the city's put in. so the cities that are doing this says it really does help transform areas that need to be transformed. while it seems like the teams are getting a big break here, and they are, the city is as well. some of the people in restaurants are wearing cubs shirts, and i have a pretty good idea that they're not from chicago. jenna? jenna: it's a little bit distracting seeing the cub logo behind you because i know you're a san francisco giants fan. adam, where are your loyalties? >> i'm a bay area fan. small market, big market. but how can you not root for the cubs, jenna? they haven't won since 1908. jenna: good point. interesting fact. good way to end. all right, adam, thank you very much. gregg: have you ever been to sprung training? jenna: i have, it's fun. gregg: it is a lot of fun. i had a blast. noaa-and-a-half close to the players, and it feels like real
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baseball. gregg: there's a new study that suggests big benefits for high school students if classes begin later in the morning. why it could be good for their physical and mental health. plus, the latest on the mystery surrounding a missing jumbo jet, the expanding search for flight 370 and now reports that the plane pinged satellite for hours after dropping off the radar screens. >> very bad about the families. that, more than anything, is killing them, the families.
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jenna: secretary kerry speaking in london on the latest on the crisis in ukraine. let's take a listen. >> the interim government of ukraine, and we continue to favor a direct dialogue between ukraine and russia as the very best way to try to resolve the crisis. i came near good faith -- here in good faith with constructive ideas which we did put forward on behalf of president obama in order to try to restore and respect the sovereignty and territorial beingty of ukraine -- integrity of ukraine while addressing at the same time russia's legitimate concerns. foreign minister lavrov and i talked for a good six hours, and
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the conversation was very direct, very candid, frank, and i say constructive because we really dug into all of russia's perceptions, their narrative, our narrative, our perceptions and the differences between us. i presented a number of ideas on behalf of the president which we believe absolutely could provide a path forward for all the parties. however, after much discussion the foreign minister made it clear that president putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding the ukraine until after the referendum on sunday. the united states' position on that referendum, i must say, is clear and is clear today. we believe the referendum is contrary to the constitution of ukraine, it is contrary to
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international law, it is in violation of that law, and we believe it is illegitimate. and as the president put it, illegal under the ukrainian constitution. neither we, nor the international community will recognize the results of this referendum. and we also remain deeply concerned about the large deployments of russian forces in crimea and along the eastern border with russia as well as the continuing prove cautions -- provocations and some of the high school begannism of -- high school i begannism of the young people that have come into the east as well as some of those who have lived there. i was clear with foreign minister lavrov that the president has made it clear there will be consequences if russia does not find a way to change course. and we don't say that as a threat, we say that as a direct consequence of the choices that
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russia may or may not choose to make here. if russia does establish facts on the ground that increase tensions or that threaten the ukrainian people, then obviously that will beg an even greater response, and there will be costs. president obama and i could not be more convinced that there is a better way for russia to pursue legit hate interests in ukraine -- legitimate interests in ukraine. we believe it is not unsignificant that we acknowledge there are legitimate interests, historical, cultural, current strategic. these are real interests. and i think all of us who are joined together in the e.u. and extended contact group understand those interest withs and are prepared to to respect them. but that requires also that
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russia would respect the multilateral structure that has guided our actions since world war ii and the need for all of us to try to resolve this challenge and to meet those interests through the international, multilateral, legal norms which should guide all of our behavior. foreign minister lavrov and i talked about that, and we talked about the other options that are available. options of dialogue, options of various contact meetings that could pick take place, options -- that could take place, options of international remedy, options of joint multilateral efforts that would protect minorities, u.n. options, international human rights organization options, many options for the ways in which any challenges to the
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safety or security or rights of people could be addressed. we are certainly prepared to join in an effort to protect those rights whether they be the rights of ukrainians living in the west or ukrainians living in the east, somebody of russian language and russian descent might feel threatened, all the minorities, all people should be protected. foreign minister lavrov and i agreed that we are going to stay in touch in the next days on ukraine as well as on the other issues of concern which we are working on, syria, iran and other challenges of mutual concern. before i close, i just want to reiterate what president obama said mt. oval office on wednesday when he visited with you -yard line yang -- ukrainian prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk.
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the united states stands with the people of ukraine in their desire to make their own choices about their future and to be able to live their lives in a unified, peaceful, stable and democratic ukraine. the president said clearly that is our only interest. that is what drives us. not a larger strategy, nothing with respect to russia directly. we are interested in the people of ukraine having the opportunity to have their country's sovereignty ander the to have call integrity -- territorial integrity respected as we would ask that to happen for any country. so i will be briefing prime minister yatsenyuk shortly as well as all of our colleagues and counterparts in the e.u. and the members of the contact group. as soon as i leave here, i will engage this those briefings, and i look forward to taking a couple of questions. >> first question is from michael gordon of new york
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times. >> mr. secretary, as you noted, russian troops are carrying out an extensive military exercise near ukraine, and at the same time the russian foreign ministry said just today that the kremlin reserves the right to protect what it calls compatriots' lives in ukraine. did you obtain a clear assurance from mr. lavrov that russia would not use these forces to intervene on eastern ukraine? what -- as they have this crimea? what did they say is the purpose of this exercise? and has russia abided by its obligations to provide osce nations with timely and accurate information about the size of the exercise, the types of forces involved, the purpose of the exercise? have they done that for this current exercise, and have they done that for the one immediate
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prior? >> well, let me answer the second part of the question first. i don't know whether or not they've made that notification. i've been wrapped up in these talks, and i've been wrapped up in other talks, so i'm not aware of whether or not that notification was made. but with i can tell you, in-- but i can tell you, indeed, we talked about these exercises, and we talked about the level of troops are deployed, where they're deployed, what the purpose is, and i raised very clearly the increased anxiety that is created within ukraine as a consequence of this. ask we talked about one -- and we talked about one of the proposals that we made, i'm not going to go into all of them, but one of the proposals that we made discussed the possibility of drawing all forces back, reducing these tensions, returning the barracks, having a freeze op those kinds d orb on these kinds of deployments while the diplomacy is working.
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i think in fairness that foreign minister lavrov is going to report that proposal back to president putin as he did, as he will all of the proposals that we put on the table this afternoon. he's going to fly back, have that discussion with him -- jenna: interesting to hear secretary comment about the buildup on the border of ukraine of russian forces. as you know, we've been reporting to you that there have been unmarked soldiers working their way north of crimea into eastern ukraine, reports of that from the local people and, obviously, a concern about whether or not if crimea votes to return to rejoin russia, what that means for russia's actions past that. does that mean russia gets the green light in their own mind to go into eastern ukraine? and that's really what is at issue hoar. secretary kerry, in many ways, started the countdown clock. sunday is the vote for the referendum in crimea, and secretary kerry says if crimea votes to rejoin russia, the
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united states and others will not recognize that. and in vague terms there are threats of sanctions. what those sanctions would look like, we don't have the details right now. a six-hour conversation that secretary kerry had with his russian counterpart, but in all that we've heard, really not much action coming from russia. only assurance from vladimir putin that no action will be taken until this vote on sunday. so again, the countdown clock begins. we'll keep you posted on that. if you'd like to watch secretary kerry, you can do so online. up next, a very important journalist joins us. the man who just broke the story in the "wall street journal" about the malaysian flight that has gone missing. he's the one that reported this plane had made contact with a satellite several hours past the time of which it disappeared. we're going to ask him about that and what else he's learned today right of after a quick break. >> hey, hey, hey, wake up. >> oh, hey, bill hemmer. >> what are you doing?
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>> i just had the craziest dream. >> about what? >> i dreamt that you and i do a one-hour show every day at 1 p.m.. >> we do -- at least we did, anyway. >> today is a very special day for us. we hope you'll tune in at the top to have hour. >> yeah. come on. studio's right over here. >> let's go. this is for you. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.
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jenna: the search for the missing malaysia airlines flight 370 expanding once again as a new report on the investigation says the plane repeatedly communicated or pinged satellites for hours after its last radar contact. andy pastor broke that story about the plane's continued communications, senior writer further "wall street journal" and joins us now by phone. a big twist to the story, have you learned anything new today? >> well, it seems to me that we're moving into the next phases of this fast-moving story, and that is really a law enforcement investigation. there are just too many indications that there were intentional acts on this aircraft. there were systems that were turned off it was a fairly sophisticated effort to evade
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radar and avoid collisions with other airplanes because of the altitude that it was flying out, so there's been no formal determination of a criminal act, but i do think that we're quickly move anything that direction which will change the dynamics and really change the whole nature of what we're going to see. jenna: according to your reporting, does it seem that those efforts are centered around a group of people or certain individuals? >> that's really unclear at this point. in some instances it appears it would have taken more than one person to do all the things that were done on this aircraft, but it's very early to tell. and, of course, malaysian authorities nor in the u.s. official, they're not really talking at point and really don't have that much information, i believe. they're still in the early stages of this, so it's very, very unclear how many people were involved and, in fact, it's really still unclear, of course, where the plane was headed if it had been commandeered or where it actually is today either wreckage somewhere or conceivably even on the ground
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somewhere although that's not the most likely scenario. jenna: what about a massive electronic failure? >> i think most aviation safety experts at this point would say that's highly, highly unlikely. there's too many coincidences, and it seems someone on this aircraft wanted to evade detection, and the plane kept flying for more than five hours after it disappeared from civil air traffic control radar. so that would be an extremely are unlikely scenario. you could never rule anything out completely, of course, until the record is found if it's found. but i would say at this point that's diminishing as a likely explanation. jenna: andy, we have so many more questions including what happened after the five hours that you've been able to uncover. we hope to have you back. we look forward to your stories over the weekend and appreciate the time, andy. thank you. >> thanks very much. gregg: and, of course, this is been a great deal of media coverage, especially television networks. has it been too much with too many mistakes?
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howard kurtz joins us in just a moment.
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gregg: media coverage to have missing malaysian plane has been all over the place at times, including leads that turned out not to be relate today the p7 -- 777. joining me to talk about it, howard kurtz of the fox news channel. the huffington post put out a story that says cnn is on the defensive of its round-the-clock coverage. you know both of those organizations pretty well. and in one six-hour period they write on wednesday all but 15 minutes was devoted to this particular story. is it too much, howard? >> well, it's too much with too few facts. like lots of news organizations and television networks are
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going very heavy on the missing plane, and, you know, it's an important story, and there's huge global interest, i get that. cnn has gotten a significant ratings bump, and it's well equipped to cover this kind of story, but a lot of those hours are filled with theories and speculation and false starts, a couple of quick examples, bloomberg reporting that a suspected aircraft tail was found in the gulf of thailand, turned out to be a bunch of logs tied together. two big oil slicks found off the coast of vietnam, those or were unrelated to aircraft. so we're all filling air time with facts or pseudo facts or speculation -- gregg: yeah. but if authorities are telling you those things and they turn out to be untrue, you can't really fault reporters for simply passing along what is otherwise reliable information from authorities and investors. >> i don't know -- investigators. >> i don't know about that. i understand everybody is hungry to get the next detail and to fill in system of the blanks and something that seems to make no sense, an airplane disappears,
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how can that be? but there's been so many changes of correction -- direction, here. transponders were turned off, no, they weren't. and i think a little bit less and a little bit more double checking and a little bit less of the speculation would serve viewers better. gregg: back to the huffington post story, cnn is on the defensive, it could be that cnn is, you know, concerned about it because chris cuomo came on the air in defense of the coverage. let me quote it here. often in a situation like the mystery of malaysian airlines 370 the job to have more questions than answers because simply not enough is known. so it seems like we're nibbling around the edges, it's because we are. if it seems like you're trying to avoid the suggestions of speculation, it's because you have to. what do you think of that? >> that's an attempt to justify the all-plain, all the time coverage that y, this n is
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engaged -- cnn is engaged in. in the absence of facts, we have to consider all the possibilities. well, we to as journalists off the air, but we don't have to air them this front of a camera if we don't know. it just seems to be of us have veered off course because it's a mystery, there's ratings in it, and it almost turns into a bit of a parlor game, and that disturbs me. gregg: always look forward to your program on sunday mornings. howard kurtz, "media buzz." thanks very. jenna: how a c inmate -- jenna: how a c inmate -- california inmate made his way out from behind bars and into plain view. i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need.
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there is a special show coming up on america news headquarters. >> me, too it, i know what it is. i will not give it away. >> it is good. thanks for joining us. >> have a great week, america's hq begins right now.
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fox news alert the disappearance of maylasian airline turning sinister. i am bill hemmer. >> andim allyson camerota. >> they are looking at sabstage or hijacking. the plane was flying northeast to/beijing before losing contact with ground control. it changed direction and flew west to the indian ocean suggesting that someone may have turned it deliberately. with so much fuel the search area it expanding and covers the area six times the continental united states. they are live with the latest. >> thank you, alisyn. good afternoon. the radar data suggest that flight throe 70 was floun to the

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