ms not ours. e*trade. less for us, more for you. several states including new york, new jersey, and massachusetts have declared a state of emergency after the latest winter storm that is affect aing more than 115 million people across this country today. more than would dozen states now find themselves having to dig out once again in a series of winter storms after pounding the midwest. and last night the winter blast put nearly one in four americans under storm warnings. the ice and snow has left over a million people without power right now and more than 700,000 of those people in the state of pennsylvania alone.

the winter misery is just not letting up for people from the rockies to new england. and with a third storm just around the corner this weekend, many communities around this country are reporting salt shortages. the salt is needed to make icy roads pass able. the rapidly shrinking supply has september prices skyrocketing as officials stretch resources thin and scramble to find alternatives. and the airport cancellations and delays are moubnting. they now total more than 8,000. and more than 20,000 flights have been delayed since sunday. ron mott is in west minister, massachusetts. it's a beautiful picture behind you, but it does not feel good to be out there. >> reporter: yeah, good day to you. as you mentioned, the big story today is the power outages we're seeing in pennsylvania especially around the philadelphia area, those five counties there. it's eight states in all dealing

with power issues. we've not had that problem here. our issue shehere is simply sno. and we're getting light snow at this point. the heavy stuff is pretty much over. but it came town very, very hard today. last night when we got here, there were just one or two inches of snow here on the ground from monday's storm. take a look at this, this all fell since about 4:30 this morning. this is all snow from today. you can imagine all of this stuff on the roadways would normally be a problem, but so many schools with yoere closed, left the roads open for the crews. there has been blacktop almost since the light came up, so they have done a great job getting people to their jobs, those going to work today. we expect that the evening commute will be a lot easier than the morning commute was. and now going forward, there is a potential storm coming this weekend that a lot of people were talking about already. so if it happens, we have three

storms, three big storms in one week's time, that hurts. that is rough. but they have handled this one pretty well. >> yes, people are used to it especially in this region, but we know that there are budget issues where they set aside x amount of dollars for snow, salt and dealing with this and though budgets have been exhausted in some places. >> reporter: exactly. we're hearing about ships that were delivering much needed salt to the folks there in wisconsin. again, they get a lot of snow and they get a lot of salt on the roadways. and they were running low on everyone stories, as well. a lot of cities are. and if you don't get a lot of snow where you live, one good storm can wipe out your inventory. and if you get a second one, what do you do. here in new england obviously they're used to this stuff so the roads are in great shape here. >> thank you very much. chris pollone is in brooke lip will, new york. yes, new york used to snow, but yet again some questions regarding decisions made by the new mayor de blasio here from choosing not to close schools

today. he admitted during the last snowstorm that it was a botched issue regarding the snow removal. and now people are wondering why kids were told to go to school or the parents told to go to school despite the conditions. >> reporter: he's been on the job about a month now and mayor de blasio has had to deal with a lot of snow storms and answer a lot of questions about those snowstorms. of course today as you mentioned, the question is the school's chance slor decided to keep children in school. we got 4 inches followed up by freezing rain and sleet. right now it's raining pretty heavily. we have about 34 degrees out here. if it drops, this will all turn into a sheet of ice. many parents are expressing dismay, outrage, because in a news conference, the mayor asked everyone if you don't have to go out, stay hole. if you can avoid going on the roads, don't go on the roads. if you have to go out, use

public transportation. that is leaving many parents asking well why did you make my children go to school today if i'm not supposed to go out myself? so from what we understand, about 60% of students did make it into school in new york city today. the school's chancellor said for a lot of students, that would be their only meal today. so a lot of questions on both sides. was that the right decision to make children go to school. >> chris, thank you so much for that update. greatly appreciate it. the weather channel's julie martin joins us now with the forecast. we're looking at -- >> this latest storm has already caused widespread impacts. about half a million people plus without power. most in pennsylvania, jersey and delaware. taking a look at the radar, the good news is in pennsylvania, most of this is now turned over to rain. the philadelphia area hit very hard earlier today. but moving up through new york,

we are dealing with freezing rain and that line extending up in through southern connecticut, as well. for boston, it is a snow event. and in fact we're looking at 9 inches plus in boston proper. certainly some higher totals as we move farther north into new england. the good news with this, though, if we look at the timing, the storm will be exiting by tonight. so things are starting to taper off just a bit. but you look at the time line here, we're still dealing with snow in massachusetts through about 10:00 this evening. by midnight, though, not much left here on the radar. how much snow? well, anywhere you see purple on the map, upwards of a foot or so in new england. 3 to 5 in the blue areas. keep in mind, though, we have another storm system we're following that is setting up for the weekend where we could see a few inches of snow according to the latest models in some of these very same areas. tamron. >> thank you. and right now, president obama is huddled with senate democrats for a high you powered high

stakes strategy meeting. former president bill clinton is also expected to attend later today. among the key matters to be discussed, the midterm elections in november where the balance of power in congress is at stake. 36 senate seats will be up for grabs. 21 of them currently held by democrats while republicans only have to defend 15. with this, an article 2340e9s top democratic donors and strategists are advocating forget trying to gain control of the house and focus on maintaining control of the senate. joining me now, author of that very article, alex, thank you so much for your time. >> hey, tamron. >> so some of the top targets for the gop. mark pryor, mark begich, mary landrieu, kay hagan. i read a quote from mark begich who said he doesn't want the president to campaign for him,

he needs to show him where his policies are not working. so this strategy session is a hot one. >> it's certainly a hot one and it comes at a time when there is a lot of nervousness among senate democrats. conservative groups are already spending millions of dollars against a lot of these senate democrats saying where is the calva calvary. so there is some nervousness among democrats. >> mary landrieu joined republicans at a news conference urging president obama to approve the keystone pipeline. >> right. and here is the question for a lot of these senate democrats is they will have to decide how closely they want to separate tlems from the president's agenda. this is going to be a tough year for democrats by historical measurements. midterms are dominated by white upper middle class voters. many ever those same voters who the president has had a hard time with over the last four or five years, and so smch these democrats will have to decide how quickly and how far they want to go in terms of distancing themselves from the president's agenda.

>> and we know as pointed out that there is a philosophy or thought among some to abandon this idea of taking the out, but your article notes that while some have advocates seeding the house, house democrats are raking in big money are outperforms senate democrats and their house gop counterparts. >> no question house democrats are doing a really good job when it comes to if you said rfundrae question is should we instead be focusing that money on keeping the senate. if they lose control of the senate this year, that could have disastrous implications for president obama in the final two years of his term and listed a jen toda agenda. >> thank you so much for your time. xwl stale ahead, after a minor breakthrough over media access to jury selection, the trial against the florida man accused of shooting and killing an unarmed teenager is now an issue over calls michael dunn made

behind bars. plus, the head of the congressional bunch the office on the hill today, one day after his agency's report threw fuel on the fire over the health care law and its impact on the jobs market. >> the cbo also says government policies especially the president's health care law are discouraging work. >> i have to say this is an example of when one misinterpretation gets out of the box early and goes around the world, it takes the truth an awful long time to catch up. >> we'll have more on what our first read team says is the real news that both the sides missed. and cvs will become the first major drug store to stop selling tobacco products. the president and first lady are applauding this decision. what does your gut tell you about it? i have the flu, i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks.

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the florida judge presiding over the trial of michael dunn, the man accused of killing an unarmed teenager is allowing journalists inside the courtroom today. but now the court is facing yet another legal hurdle, this time over phone calls dunn made while behind bars. journalists covering the trial are going before a magistrate today arguing recordings of dunn's calls should be released before opening arguments get under way. an appellate court has already agreed with them, but the state's attorney's office is pushing back saying it could take several weeks to review the recordings and remove personal information like social security numbers. they also want to charge more than $6,000 for the calls. meanwhile, jury selection wrapping up, opening statements could begin by the end of the week. dunn is charged with first agree murder in 17-year-old jordan davis' death. the two allegedly got finto a dispute over loud music.

dunn maintains he was acting in self-defense. larry, thanks for joining us again. let move forwa let's move forward to the letters. the letter -- the call, i'm so sorry, i apologize, the calls at issue, are they similar to -- or you you expect them to be similar to letters that dunn had written from prison, as well? >> we don't know. we got the letters on a public records request. and there were fairly shocking things in those letters. we found out there were phone calls, as well, and we requested those. the state attorney first claimed they were not public record and when the judge overruled her, she said it will take us 185 hours of staff time, it will take us 8 to 10 weeks and you'll have to pay $6,000 them and we're suing arguing you're not making it public. if it's public record, you can't

throw so many obstacles in. >> and the letters you referred to, and i think a lot of people have not seen -- because this case unlock trayvon martin's case has not gotten the national platform as of yet and i think people are slowly coming away to the importance of this as it relates to stand your ground and yet again florida. but michael dunn wrote a let are first to a news anchor, heather crawford, and in this letter, he said, quote, this case has never been about loud music. this case is about a local thug threatening to kill me because i dared to ask him to turn the music down. and another letter, he wrote i just got off the phone with you and we were talking about how racist the blacks are up here. the more time i'm exposed to these people, the more prejudice against them i become. i suppose the white folks who live here are pretty much anti-black. at least the ones who have been exposed to them. why do you believe information like this is significant at this

point? >> we think it speaks to the mindset of michael dunn. technically the state attorney has said she doesn't view this as a race case. nonetheless, you talk to most people on the street, they believe that michael dunn shot and killed jordan davis because he was black. and these letters show a racial animosity. the word thug i think people have argued is the new n word. and he uses thug throughout these letters. and we thought it's good for the public to know who michael dunn is and that's why we requested the phone call. we think they probably speak more to who he is. and let me also say that every time you make a phone call from jail, it says the state has the right to record you. so some people have said these his private calls. no, they're not, because the state always records phone calls from jail. >> and lastly, what is the time line we're looking at regarding the opening arguments? >> they're expected to begin

thursday morning. they're still picking a jury this afternoon. judge healy said he hopes to have it wrapped up and the jury picked and sequesters tonight. >> larry, thank you so much for joining us. greatly appreciate it. and joining us now, shannon wats, a friend of jordan davis' family. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> your relationship with the family sadly started after this tragedy. lucy mcbeth is now the national spokesman for your organization and she is jordan's mother. i know she's refrained from talking on camera and to the media, but can you at least through her permission give us a gymness of what is going on with that family as they a wait this trial? >> sure. lucy is one of the strongest people i've ever met. i'm a mom fighting for gun violence prevention because i have five children and i don't want them to be victims. lucy's child was actually a victim. and yet here she is talking out about the need for gun

regulation in this country. and the need to roll back laws like stand your ground to protect other children. 10,000 children are shot and killed in this country at least every year. and lucy is a fighter and she is strong through this ordeal. and like lucy, we just want justice and we want lawmakers to act and roll back these bad laws. >> and you've actually started a petition to demand that and lucy is part of that push to get more people to sign on to the petition to repeal the state's stand your ground laws. given what happened with the trayvon martin case and little to no movement in any state regarding their stand your ground law, what gives you confidence that we might see some change with these highly controversial laws? >> well, the moms of america are not going to stand for these laws that are basically created by the gun lobby that are resulting in more deaths. texas a and m did a study and found that not only do stand your ground laws not decrease

crime, they actually increase the amount of gun homicides by 700 every year. and so these are bad laws clearly. and we shouldn't have to wait until our children and teams are shot and killed to decide to that it's time to change these laws.eams are shot and killed to decide to that it's time to change these laws.nams are shot and killed to decide to that it's time to change these laws.ms are shot and killed to decide to that it's time to change these laws.s are shot and killed to decide to that it's time to change these laws. >> and the race component here, i'm sure you heard some of the let thaers we just read that were written by mr. dunn while behind bars where he speaks of race and prejudices. at this point, are you concerned or is lucy concerned that this case and some of your mission might be -- the goal which is to repeal the stand your ground law, that perhaps people will focus more on the race and then the overall effort to remove some of these laws? >> well, the reality is here we are on what would have been trayvon martin's 19th birthday talking about the shooting death of yet another african-american teen by an angry man who had

easy access to a gun. and so a study in florida by a news paper there showed that 19% of the victims of stand your ground laws are children or teens. so this is a very real issue for communities of color.urban institute found these laws disproportionately affect communities of color. but really this is about our children. and the lack of regulation of guns in this country is a grave danger to all of our children. and we all need to get together and say this is not something we'll tolerate anymore, we'll go toe to toe with the gun lobby and rescind laws like stab your ground. >> thank you so much for your time. and our thoughts and prayers to lucy and her family. still ahead, a new report puts the number of exonerations in the u.s. at an all time high. in some cases people actually pled guilty to crimes they didn't commit including a mother accused of killing her own child. but she was innocent. plus four people are now being questionedn connection

with the death of act philip seymour hoffman. this case is bringing a lot of attention to the rise of heroin abuse especially among the affluent. we'll talk to the dea's public affairs director who says the problem is not limited to certain degraphic or geographic area. hello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) [ mala body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain

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quote, brought upon an exploration of the drug that killed him. what kind of heroin, how many bags, who sold to him and why. as for the ultimate cost, lives. according to the dea in 2010, the most recent year of data, over 3,000 people died from overdoses. a 45% increase from the previous four years. the dea's special agent in charge russell vincent joins us now. thank you so much for joining us. we've seen a number of stories in the last few days on heroin use, the number of overdoses and death. but one article that stood out to me was in the daily beast where it explored the secret lives of affluent people in particular who are functioning in their jobs but are abusers. and they profiled and got quotes from a man identified as tom walker, a tenured professor at an american university, he shoots up almost daily sometimes six times a day, a father with a ph.d., high row file job, as well.

all of these people not the quote/up quote face of heroin.f well. all of these people not the quote/up quote face of heroin. >> it's important to note that heroin is an extremely dangerou. it does that know boundaries. it affects innercity, suburbs, rural, the rich and poor. so it is a substance where we have seen abused by all levels of american society. >> and that is certainly true. i think you might agree that there is a general conclusion that people make that somehow that poverty stricken and not a tenured professor who is on his job every day with a ph.d.. one quote from megan ralston on drug policy, she went on to say not everyone who uses drugs is committing a kril. it happens to good people, it happens to people with no

intentions to ever, ever use it again. and with this professor, he says that he was coming from a place of tremendous privilege. he was able to build up a relationship with suppliers. he says he wasn't on the street. he wasn't opening himself up to, quote, tremendous risks. he was a guy that wouldn't likely be pulled over. >> i think it's also important that as we just saw, this drug, people become addicted to heroin and die from heroin very frequently within the united states. it's a drug that within dea, we spend a lot of effort on attacking the sources of supply into the united states. and the reason we do so is because we have seen the misery of addiction that is brought forward by people that they get addicted to heroin. and in the case of who it affects, i do think it's important there are many examples of it affecting people that have everything in life,

and also affecting people that are from poor communities. and it affects middle class people. we have seen it across the spectrum in american society. and an important note, you know, we do see trafficking organizations bringing more heroin into the united states on our southwest border. we've seen about a 300% increase in the seizures of arrow win coming from mexico into the united states. so that is a concern from us.wi coming from mexico into the united states. so that is a concern from us. and also there is no doubt this is thousand just law enforcement. treatment and prevention communities are a big part of breaking and not getting something started down that road of using heroin. >> russell vinvincent, thank yoo much for your time. still ahead, digging into the projection that the health care law would shrink the workforce.

today the head of the ccbo answered questions on the hill and why the most important news was missed. plus outrage on what would have been trayvon martin's 19th birthday. after it is confirmed george zimmerman will fight rapper dmx in a so-called celebrity boxing match. people are up in arms certainly that this man who was charged with shooting and killing a teenager is being called or held up as a celebrity. still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. two full servings of vegetables one day you'll be standing on a podium.ar future olympian, and here's exactly how you'll get there. you'll work hard, and you'll fall hard. you'll lose sometimes when you really should have won. you'll win sometimes when no one thought you had a shot. and you'll never, ever stop. we know this. because you're one of us.

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the effect will be severe. as if 2.5 million people had stopped working full-time by 2024. >> what the chairman was focusing on was beginning in 2017 when the economy gets back to full employment, as a result of the affordable care act, more americans will be able to voluntarily choose, choose, to work fewer hours or not take a job because they don't depend on that job anymore for the provision of health insurance. >> and as you see there, lawmakers including chris van hollen questioning the head of the congressional bumg tdget of. >> so balance, cbo estimates the aca will boost overall demand for goods and services over the next few years and then you say the net increase in demand if goods and services will in turn boost demand for labor over the next few years. that a conclusion you you make, right? >> yes, that's right. >> so when you boost demand for

labor in this kind of economy, you actually reduce the unemployment rate because those people who were looking for work can find more work, right? >> yes, that's right. >> joining me now, nbc news senior political editor marg murray. this time yesterday, we were talking about the details of the report. and here we are today with this hearing. but the bottom line, republicans will put up the headline that an estimated 2 million jobs or 2 million fewer jobs will exist here. did this hearing do anything to help democrats i guess further explain what was exactly stated in the cbo report? >> it's pretty clear when you read the report what they're saying and the cbo director was pretty much stating what he lined out. now, of course when you read through these reports, a lot of it is tons of numbers, a lot of jarg jargon. not the most interesting of reading. but what does come out is that it's talking about people this one example would be say you're

60 years old and you have enough life savings and you want to be able to retire, but all of a sudden you have a spouse who is ill and say, well, i can't leave my job because i still need the health insurance before i'm 65 and medicare kicks in. under the hepgalth care law, th person could leave the job and get the insurance on the exchanges. i don't needs the job anymore. and it's important to note, also, what we're talking about when we're talking about 2 million to 2.5 million jobs being lost by 2024, this represents less than 2% of the entire united states workforce. so what gets lost in all of these back and forts, we are right now talking about very slivers of the population. right now most people are working until they go to 65. most people are getting health insurance from their employers. but some of the changes are coming at the margins and that's what we're seeing. >> and this labor force back and forth to your point in first read, was headline, but not what

you believe is the real news that came out of that report. >> and the news in the real report came out in the first four or five paragraphs. one was that the federal deficit is reducing. you but it says economic xwloet in the future will be slow are because we have a shrinking labor population lags. and it said our budget deficit will get higher not in the short term, but in the long term because of all the entitlement programs like social security and medicare will being krcrankg out money. so they face a very big demographic situation and that's why that you you have people who want immigration reform speaking up saying these are the most pressing issues this country faces. >> mark murray, thank you so much. well, a texas judge is reviewing the case of a death row inmate who is hoping crucial dna tests will result in a last

minute exoneration. attorneys for hank skinner hoping to clear him in the deaths of lee people in 1993. they presented the results to the judge yesterday arguing he would have been acquitted if all dna evidence had been used at his trial. a new report found 2013 to be a record breaking year for official vindication in the u.s.. now, the report even found that nearly one in five of those cleared initially pleaded guilty to the charges filed against them. one of them includes nicole harris, a mother from chicago who spent nearly eight years behind bars after confessing to the death of her 4-year-old son as part of a plea deal. prosecutors later dismissed charges against her of a taker new trial determined his death was accidental. joining me how is university of michigan law professor samuel gross. thank you so much, professor,

for your time. >> it's a pleasure to be here. >> so in addition to this number, a record breaking number, the thing that i think my team and i discussed and why we wanted you on is that you have a number of people as we pointed out who confessed to these, who took plea deals perhaps because they thought if i take a deal and i spend 15 years as opposed to 60, then that is the best move here. but in fact, they were not guilty. >> i should correct one small thing. nicole harris did confess to a crime that didn't occur at all. she did that plead guilty. she was convicted by a jury. so she is an example of something that people used to believe never happened which is that innocent people would confess to terrible crimes they didn't commit. but we now know that's true. it doesn't happen in most confessions. but it does happen. and this is a is an example. this mother was interrogated for a long period of time and

eventually she just gave in and said what they wanted her to say. probably thinking that nobody would take it seriously. but it ended her in prison for a long time. >> and another case was reggie griffin in missouri, he was convicted of murdering a fellow inmate, but there was no physical evidence connecting him to that crime. >> right. and he was convicted on the basis of testimony from other inmates. over the years as this case unraveled, it became clear that the other inmates made inconsistent statements and some of them retracted their testimony, that they had deals with the state that would get them off some of their own sentences and so forth. so by the time he was exonerated, there was essentially nothing left of the testimony that had originally convicted him. but let me get back to -- >> go ahead. >> i was going to say about people who plead guilty, overall, about 95% of people who are convicted of felonies, serious crimes in the united

states, plead guilty. usually for plea bargains. and you can see why. because if you take a plea bargain, you might get sentenced to six months in county jail or a year in prison. on the same case if you go to trial and are convicted after trial, you might get five years or ten years or even 20 years. just a huge risk you run going to trial. and as a result, almost everybody does take plea bargains. and it turns out some of the people who do that are innocent. in the past, 10, 15 years ago, it was very hard for anybody to believe that somebody who was innocent would plead guilty. but now we know happens and these newspapers show that increasingly we're willing to take it seriously. and if necessary, release people who pled guilty when they were in fact innocent. >> also as i understand it, a number of these cases where people have their names cleared, we're seeing less of it based on dna and more with the help of prosecutors and how they are handling these cases and some of

the information. >> that's right. dna exonerations, a lot of people think when you say exoneration, you mean dna because the two words are so closely tied together in news stories. but dna has always been a factor in minority of exonerations and the number has been going down. slowly, but going down. which makes sense because increasingly now that we know about dna identification, if there are biological samples that i had guy the criminal, they're tested before trial and an innocent person isn't convicted in the first place. so there are still cases where that wasn't done or old cases from 25 or 30 years ago, but fewer of them. at the same time, all of us, but most important law enforcement, prosecutor and police, have learned to take claims of innocence more seriously and to a great extent, we learn this from the dna cases. they shined a light on the dark

basement of what happens in criminal convictions and showed us that we make a lot of high school mistakes when we never thought we would and those will happen in case where is there is no dna. so they increasingly take claims of innocence to heart and sometimes investigating them on their own and that produces more exan races. >> professor, thank you so much for your time in discussing this new report and we appreciate you joining us today. coming up, we'll talk to the "washington post" jonathan capehart about his new article on the so-called celebrity boxing match between george zimmerman and dmx and why he says the pay per view fight promises to be a, quote, hot mess. hey guys! sorry we're late. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape?

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reports that george zimmerman is set to fight rapper dmx in is, quote, celebrity boxing match next month. the news hits some especially hard because today would have been trayvon martin's 19th birthday. trayvon's mother tweeted out this picture of her son today adding to the controversy. many are questioning zimmerman being called even a celebrity since he came into the public eye after martin's shooting and death and subsequent trial. the zimmerman of course was found not guilty of second-degree murder in that trial. and joining me now in washington, jonathan capehart. before i get your take, i just want to read to our audience reverend sharpton released a statement, he says we must be very carefully not glorify or in any way side step the implications of making someone whose only claim to fame was killing an unarmed young man into a celebrity or hero. he has the trite pursue whatever

he wants in life, yet we have the obligation to be discerning about who we lift and to what level. 19th the birthday for trayvon martin. and this is the headline. >> yeah. and it's incredible that, one, it's incredible that we're even talking about this. that george zimmerman is the one who went out and sought this so-called celebrity boxing match. and the other thing that has been disturbing is sort of the blood loss that has been out there of people who would love to get into the boxing ring with george zimmerman and do really horrible things to him. now, we can all believe that as i do personally speaking believe that george zimmerman got away with murder. but this is not the way to go about seeking revenge and having these sort of revenge fantasies. it's not about the way to go about securing the memory of trayvon martin and especially on a day like today.

>> i don't even know if it's a revenge fantasy for dmx or he just needs the money as is he in utter despair and a horrible addiction issue where he's been repeatedly arrested. so this is less about revenge and who are about who are about cash. the match is pay per view being organized by david feldman.abou cash. the match is pay per view being organized by david feldman. people are disgusted by the idea. >> and in this case with this boxing match, george zimmerman told radar online that the proceeds in the fight, whoever decides to pay money to watch such a travesty, that money will go to an animal rescue charity. he wouldn't say which charity it

was because he didn't want to give them any sort of untoward publicity, but that is where the hone is going. but again -- >> so we're to believe or he wants people to believe that he's already said that he's broke and that the money that he would need to pay whatever bills, he's going to forfeit and give to an animal rescue and believes that people will believe that? >> right. and he also wants people to believe that he has long been a boxing enthusiast since long before, quote, the incident as he described to radar online magazine. and i want to remind everybody that during the trial, the owner of the gym where george zimmerman used to train for boxing, the owner of the gym said on the stand that george zimmerman was basically a weak link. he cooperauldn't even get beyon punching the hard bag. so now suddenly he can get in the ring and fight anybody. >> and just quickly, there was a british comedian who wrote an

article and she makes an excellent point, as well, that this capitalizes on very real racial tension. it is not to be lost that its the's an african-american who he is fighting and the racial tensions that surround this. and the if x. pl he exploitatio some. >> i would second what she said wholehearted wholeheartedly. that is the sub text of my discomfort here. >> all right. jonathan, thank yyou so much. we want to mention george zimmerman has sued nbc universal for defamation. the company strongly denied his allegations. still ahead, cvs says bye-bye to tobacco at its 7600 stores. what does your gut tell you about that one? ♪ we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? $500,000. maybe half-million. say a million dollars. [ dan ] then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. ♪

i was trying to like pull it a little further. you know, i was trying to stretch it a little bit more. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. [ man ] i looked around at everybody else and i was like, "are you kidding me?" [ dan ] it's just human nature to focus on the here and now. so it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ ♪ [ angelic music plays ] ♪

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prepare to be amazed. [ male announcer ] don't wait. call today to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan to go the distance with you. go long. you can join the news nation on twitter. find us @news nation. cvs announced today it will stop selling cigarettes and all other

tobacco products at its 7600 stores. it is phasing out the sale of those products as it focuses more on providing health care. the move will cost cvs about 2 billion in annual revenue it says. president obama says cvs is setting a powerful example and says the decision will help his administration's efforts to reduce tobacco related deaths and disease and bring down health care costs. do you agree with their decision? go to news nation.msnbc.com. and that does it for this edition of news nation. i'm going on assignment. i will not be back until february 24th. and that is when our show moves to a new time. you see it there. 11:00 eastern time. we certainly hope you will get up early to join us in our new slot. so again, i'm gone. february 24 p. and it will be at 11:00 eastern. and i'll do a live video chat

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right how in the cycle, afternoon delight? at least we are. >> here we dougo again. a new steady storm in 22 states. >> this will be a long dwa. >> stay home. >> or take your dog for a walk. >> it was a crunchy commute, wasn't it? >> schools all throughout the northeast closed with the exception of new york city which i think is inexcusable. because the mayor has not closed the schools. >> i have something to do real quickly.

sorry. thank you mother nature for providing copious amounts of snow on this wonderful wintry wednesday. >> yes. >> we don't see any moderation in sight. we just lost our live picture in massachusetts. and we're snowed out in detroit. is it so it is crazy stuff. >> big winter storm. >> piling it on. >> as you see this suv slid right off the roadway there. >> let's start to dig out just a little bit. and you can see just how much snow has fallen. >> we got a gorgeous day in los angeles today. a high of 61. >> and by the way, have you heard about sunday funday? let's just say this weather puts the hooray in