good morning, coming up on "early today," brink of disaster. russian occupation, a determined vladimir putin and president owe becamia searching for a diplomatic solution. >> this is an act of aggression that is completely trumped up. it is really 19th century behavior in the 21st century. >> russia ignoring warnings of the g-7 agents to suspend plans for their upcoming russian summit. in like a lion. snow and ice storms with more record cold in parts of the u.s. has much of america saying enough already. oscar, oscar. hollywood's biggest night, the high fashion, diamonds galore, memorable speeches and ellen's easy delivery with this selfie that caused all kinds of trouble for twitter.

and wave runner rough seas and a rogue wave crashes through a restaurant at launch. it is "early today." good morning. i'm frances rivera. tensions escalate in ukraine and around the world following the advance of russian troops over the weekend. we go live to moscow in a moment. first, here at home, we begin with the big excitement from last night, the star studded academy awards. who won big, who went home empty handed. jinah kim reports now from hollywood. >> "12 years a slave"! >> reporter: the historical drama won oscars top prize sunday night the first time a film from a black director has won best picture. >> i dedicate this award to all the people who have endured slavery. and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today. >> reporter: the film also made a winner of its breakout star, lupita nyong'o.

she won best supporting actress. >> it doesn't escape me one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's. >> cate blanchett. >> reporter: best actress honors went to cate blanchett for "blue jasmine." >> as random and subjective as this award is, it means a great deal. >> reporter: matthew mcconaughey, meanwhile took the prize for best actor. the "dallas buyers club" star paid tribute to his late father. >> he's up there right now, a big pot of gumbo, lemon meringue pie, probably in his underwear and a miller lite in his hand dancing right now. >> reporter: jared leto scored best supporting actor. >> this is for the 36 million people who have lost the battle to aids. >> "gravity" -- >> "gravity" -- >> reporter: the space epic "gravity" missed out on best picture but finished the night as top award winner, seven oscars, including best director for alfonso cuaron.

jinah kim, nbc news, hollywood. shifting overseas now to the big international story. the tug of war in ukraine. this is the scene in crimea. the white house says russian forces essentially control the peninsula. president obama, the european union and nato all say russia is violating international law, but can they do anything about it? nbc's ian williams is live in eastern ukraine. we're hearing russian fighter jets overnight violated ukraine's air space. >> reporter: this is what we're hearing from ukrainian government sources, the fighter jets flew over the black sea, but within ukrainian air space. this is just the latest development stoking fears of wide eruption and intervention here. this city in eastern ukraine, russian speaking, and the fear is that this may be one place to face russian tension. you may see over my left shoulder the statue of lenin, the focus of pro russian

protesters. there was violence and sinister developments over the weekend here, protests, clashes which led to more than 100 people being injured. clashes between pro moscow protest ersz aers and supportere government. the pro moscow groups briefly took over the town hall here. fear is they may be trying to whip up chaos to justify a russian intervention here. this will be one of the key things, we believe, that john kerry will be talking about when he comes to kiev tomorrow. this real fear of wider russian intervention and how best to prevent this. frances? >> all right. developing and happening quickly. we appreciate it. snow, wind and record cold continues. check out this photo from late sunday. this morning, the storm is moving into the mid-atlantic and northeast carrying up to a foot of snow in some places. chris has more. looks like there is a nice layer already on the ground right now. >> yes, frances, it looks nice, but it doesn't feel too great.

bitter cold out here, driving wind that pops up right on cue. and snow that has been falling since about 2:00 eastern time this morning. so we have about an inch, inch and a half, two inches on the ground right now. philadelphia is starting to come alive a little bit as people try and make their way to work if they do have to work. a lot of places here are on some sort of delay, governmental offices are shut down. the schools are shut down. as just the latest burst of winter weather comes plowing through the mid-atlantic states. of course, this all started out on the west coast with rain. it left snow, sleet and ice all through the south and the mississippi valley. and now it is slowly moving again into the mid-atlantic, into the northeast. some areas could get 6 inches of snow. philadelphia gets 6 inches of snow today, it will become the second snowiest winter on history here in the city of brotherly love. that's the story from

philadelphia. i'm chris plumb. frances, back to you. >> bill karins is here. we're talking about it, it ended up further south -- >> for a lot of areas. this storm kept going south across the country. dallas, texas, had a winter storm warning yesterday. san antonio expecting freezing rain and drizzle tonight. san antonio, texas, in march, like it never happens, so unusually cold across the country. the west coast, you dealt with the storm a couple of days ago on friday. it added up to our rain total. here is where you stand year to date. 4 to 5 inches around l.a. looks good. almost 4 inches in san francisco. we're headed in the right directi direction. didn't get a lot around the vegas area. but we took a dent out of the big historic drought. more rain and more moisture on the way. we have a significant amount of rain coming on shore now in northern california from the pacific northwest. snow elevations are still pretty high, so mostly just a rain event from portland up i-5. driving in the rain down to

medford. in northern california, we have a good chunk of rain coming on shore around eureka and crescent city. this is all good. we just continue to use as much rainfall as we can get. over the next three days, we don't really see any rainfall making into l.a., but possibly around san francisco and, of course, in the northwest. that's where we'll focus on this monday, where the umbrella weather is. san francisco northward toward up i-5. that's your national over this week, look at the northwest, we'll have the active weather. southern california gets a littleabili little bit of a break. >> maybe they can get the beach weather back. check out the next story, they don't call it surf and turf for nothing.

lunchgoers got more than they bargained for had that happened, the wave that crashed into the pier at the restaurant. water flooded the dining room, broken glass, lots of screams. fortunately no one was hurt. so shrimp cocktail, nice huge wave coming right at you too. yes. right now, the blade runner murder trial for the death of girlfriend reeva steenkamp has begun. details when "early today" returns. [ male announcer ] walgreens understands being at the corner of "looking for a good deal" and "sheesh, i should've looked some more." ♪ that's why walgreens makes it easy to save even more on your medicare part d prescriptions. ♪ just stop on by and leave all the legwork to us. switch to walgreens today where you could save with copays as low as zero dollars on select medicare part d plans. at the corner of happy and healthy. [prof. burke] at farmers,we believe what you don't know [bell rings] can hurt you. like what if you didn't know to get coverage for uninsured drivers?

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killing of reeva steenkamp, his ex-girlfriend, who was killed just over a year ago here in south africa. court got to a delayed start today, an hour and a half late, due to the need of a translator to be in court. several of the witnesses today wish to testify in african's language instead of english. court did get under way. in addition to the not guilty plea of murder, he also pleaded not guilty to several other firearms charges against him. the prosecution coming out trying to paint a picture of -- of hipistorius as someone irresponsible with firearms. prosecution witnesses should get under way. we heard from a neighbor of pistorius who said she heard a scream in the night, this meaning it could have been an argument between pistorius and miss steenkamp before the fatal shots were fired. the court continues today and is expected to last about three weeks. back to you.

>> thank you. also in the news this morning, afghan president hamid karzai spoke about the toll the 12-year-long u.s. war effort took on his country. he said he's deeply troubled by casualties of his people, including those of american military members, adding he feels betrayed by an insufficient u.s. focus on targeting the taliban in pakistan. 29 people were stabbed to death at a chinese train station saturday in what is being described as a, quote, premeditated violent terrorist attack. four of the ten attackers were shot dead by police, while another was captured. over 130 people were wounded in that attack. police arrested dozens of college aged protesters in front of the white house on sunday. the groups were rallying against the keystone xl oil pipeline calling for president obama to reject the controversial project. jimmy fallon kept his word on sunday. he did this. he showed up to participate in chicago's annual polar plunge.

he joined mayor rahm emanuel in the 30 degree waters of lake michigan. suit and tie on. time now to get down to business with cnbc's courtney reagan. good morning, courtney. >> good morning, frances. consumers may have to pay more for slabs of beef and pork this spring. meat packers paid record prices after cattle prices rose to new highs, jumping 10% so far this year. hog futures are at their most costly in more than two years. that's all thanks to the weather. the youthful unemployed may want to go west to seek out their job. a new report shows seven of ten states with the fastest job growth this year will be in the west. the housing, technology and tourism strength. walt disney is taking a stand. they'll cut funding for the boy scouts of america in 2015 because of a policy that bans gay adult leaders among its troops. frances, back to you. >> courtney, thank you very much.

just ahead, tiger woods withdraws and rory mcilroy flubs. plus, the high flying heart pounding red bull air racing. more of that next. before using her new bank of america credit card, which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you. can you dance? ♪ bum ba bum no. can you make campbell's chicken noodle soup? yes! [ wisest kid ] every can has 32 feet of slurpable noodles. mom, you're awesome. ♪ bum ba bum ba bum [ gong ] [ wisest kid ] m'm! m'm! good! ♪ bum ba bum ba bum could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.s everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest

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this morning on "today," an exclusive interview with kerry kennedy, the daughter of robert f. kennedy just days after she was found not guilty in her high profile drug driving case.

time now for your sports news. so let's get right to it. starting with college hoops. number three arizona clifrnled the pac-12 regular season title with 79-66 win over stanford. in the second, aaron gordon drives into the paint for that beautiful layup. indiana stunning ohio state in the last seconds of the half. will sheehy nalz a thrils a thr keep indiana on top. then the hoosiers get a ten-point lead and indiana wins 72-64. and wichita state wrapped up an undefeated season saturday, beating missouri state 68-45 for a 31-0 regular season record. time to go to the honda classic, tiger woods, his back problems caused him to withdraw after the 13th hole. he was five over on sunday, 12 shots behind the leader. and rory mcilroy after promising to play the last three days, he faultered on sunday, he hit a ball, see it, plunge, dropped

right into the water on the 16th hole leading to a double bogey. russell henley came out victorious at the honda classic. he got a birdie on the 18th hole, beating out russell knox, and rory mcilroy. so he was awarded $1.80 million. to the ladies now, the lpga, a miracle put, paula cramer, look here, the ball keeps on going and going and going. 75-foot putt there to win the hsbc tournament. she ended a four-year winless streak, last time winning in 2010. incredible speed at the sprint cup in phoenix. kevin harvick held off dale earnhardt jr. to become the all time winner in phoenix with five victories. the 1,000 mile iditarod dog sled now. that race is under way in alaska. 69 mushers set off in 30 degree weather. warm temperatures this winter had many at the race concerned.

finally, smoke on at the red bull air race world championship. that's cool. but watch out what they do. they compete flying at about 230 miles per hour and the pilots weave between these huge large pilens, light big cones there in abu dhabi. definitely impressive. more on the selfie that sent twitter crashing. we'll tell you about that next. [ telephone ringing ]

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welcome back. we're also on this monday morning tracking a cold front heading through the hawaiian islands. looks like oahu, honolulu, you're okay. we're seeing some rain sweeping over maui and over the top of the big island. not exactly beach weather with that. clouds in the forecast. temperatures kept down a little bit to the upper 70s. rain along i-5. oregon northward up into the puget sound, san francisco will have a chance of some showers as the majority will the north. dry day in california. active weather around the country. >> all right, thank you very much, bill. well, oscar host ellen degeneres didn't want to stay on stage for much of the night. classic ellen. she went down off stage and interacted with the star studded audience as much as possible. >> i'm going to take a picture of us. >> okay. >> and then we'll see if we can break the record for the most retweets. brad, get in here. i'm doing it. angie. lupita. all right. okay. hey, look at us.

>> ready? >> click. classic moment there. the jam packed selfie became the most retweeted tweet of all time with over 2.3 million shares. of course, that was before ellen went around asking the guests to pay for some pizzas. >> john, would you add $20? kevin? >> that's for you. >> thanks so much. you got some money now, lupita. i'll take that. what is that? >> lip balm. >> lupita's lip balm. brad? $20. you're in two pictures. >> earlier she handed out pizzas to the guests. the academy's instagram account had an embarrassing moment during the show, when penelope cruz and robert de niro helped present an award, the caption, confuse confused cruz with salma hayek. stunning stilz, jennifer lawrence looked hot in a

strapless d'or gown and lupita nyong'o becaudazzled. and amy adam s got rave reviews for her strapless gucci dress. and ferrell, shorts. tuxedo shorts with a stripe on the side. yeah. >> not the grammys. >> no, no. not this time around. what better with a i to contrast the oscars than with the razzies. this year's worst of the worst included "after earth" which scored jaden smith a worst actor win and worst screen combo for he and his fresh prince dad. but megabomb 43 that took home the worst picture prize. i'm frances rivera. this is "early today." we hope it is just your first stop of the day on nbc. [ female announcer ] so how long have you been living flake-free with head & shoulders? since before jeans were this skinny... since us three got a haircut.

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lieding the news from bbc, venezuelan opposition keeps protests despite carnival season. what started as a peaceful protest sunday ended in clashes. police used tear gas and rubber bullets while protesters launched rocks with a massive sling. the unrest is venezuela's worst since president hugo chavez died of cancer a year ago. and from e! online, prince william and kate middleton to take prince george for his first public appearance. the royal baby will be 8 1/2 months old when he accompanies his parents to australia and new zealand in april. some of the top stories you might have missed. south korea says north korea fired two short range missiles into the sea of japan. pyongyang's display comes amid rising tension over ongoing military exercises between south

korea and the united states. police in denver say saturday's massive pileup on interstate 25 will take days to unravel. one woman was killed and 30 people were hospitalized when a heavy midday dump of snow led to the 104-vehicle crash. and tomorrow's mardi gras or fat tuesday, that means carnival in rio de janeiro is in full swing. rio's elite sam bah school is going head to head for the city's top prize. elaborate costumes, headpieces and over the top dances. residents of key west certainly don't mike tooting their own horn. in this case, tooting their conch shells to the tune of ymca. the occasion here, the 52nd a e annual conch blowing contest. they made sounds that would impress you. the winner, a colorado resident took home the crown, 20 years

after his dad achieved the same feat. keeping it in the family there. colorado, you know, who knew? go out and get your conch shell. >> maybe dad passed it down to him. sitting on his colorado front porch practicing. >> the legacy. got to love it. thanks. time for a look ahead and a look back. israel's prime minister scheduled to visit the white house. the president and benjamin netanyahu are set to discuss developments in iran and the middle east peace process. birthdays today for actress jessica biel who is 32. modern family actress julie bowen, 44. and 1982 heisman trophy winner herschel walker turns 52. keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. thank you so much for joining us this morning. i'm frances rivera. have a terrific monday today. do what you can to make it a good one.

more bloodshed overnight in ukraine as russian forces reportedly spreading to other parts of the country. coming up we hear from a south bay man evacuated from the region. plus, the murder trial surrounding olympian oscar pistorius under way in south africa. what the victim's mother is saying this morning. and the south bay university on edge this morning following at least two armed robberies on campus. all right. taking you outside bright and early here at 4:30, oakland lights twinkling there in the distance as we get this monday, march 3rd, on the way. this is "today in the bay." well, good morning to you. 4:30 in the morning on a monday. >>m scott mccrew.