flaws in it. now they're going to prison. was justice really served here? watch that space. good wednesday morning. violence crashes break out on the streets of the you're yan avian capital. doz ares are dead, russia is pointing the finger at the u.s. good news and bad news on what raise the federal minimum wage would do. an elderly nunn gets sent to the big house. $5,000 in damage and what they took? how two minnesota siblings deal with the dreaded kiss cam. thanks for joining us. breaking news out of ukraine. at least 25 people are dead and another 240 hospitalized after a day of deadly clashes between activists and government forces.

it was the bloodest day there since they won their independence in 1991. what sparked this latest surge in violence? >> reporter: after weeks of relative restraint, it was suddenly like a perfect storm on tuesday in kiev. first, inside the parliament building, lawmakers were supposed to be voting on historic changes to change the constitution. one which had been gutted by pro-russian president, victor yovankovich. they blocked any moves ignoring the movement. outside the building, they moved as one towards the parliament to kind of keep pressure on the government. they were met but an equally aggressive line of riot police. shortly after it was learned

yesterday that president putin had sent a $2 billion bailout to yanokovich. the police began to force the protesters back. this angered the opposition. for them, it was signaling that yanokovich must have promised putin to crackdown hard on the protesters to guarantee their bailout. that's all that was needed to trigger the powder keg that has become kiev's independent square. the result, the worst violence in 22 years leaving the west with few options to deal with. we have heard vague threats about personal sanctions by washington and the e.u. regional experts here tell us with russia now watching yanokovich's back. the sanctions would be little more than pinpricks. >> a very volatile situation we will be watching very closely. jim maceda, thank you a newly released government

report is raising the stakes in the debate over a federal minimum wage hike. the senate is set to consider a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10. that might cost 500,000 people their jobs. the white house claims those estimates may be too. the report also says a hike would increase earnings for more than 16,000 people. violent crime said there was a 5.4% reduction compared to the same period in 2012. under a new broader definition this year, rapes showed an increase from 2012. using the previous definition, rapes were down more than 10%. it is day 12 of the olympic

winter games in sochi with eight gold medals up for grabs after a slushy day on the slopes. the netherlandings and the u.s. have the most medals. 20 each. germany still boasts the most gold medals. nbc jay gray is live in sochi. good morning, gray. weather has been a huge factor there. how is it looking today? >> good morning, betty. great to talk to you. it has been a huge factor. let's take a live look at the mountains. you can see the fog that has moved in, the snow, rain, slush, all cleared out. it has been great so far for team usa when it comes to ted ligety, who has struggled so far, really hasn't found his way on the mountains. if you don't want to know results, turn down your set. we will give you 20 seconds to do that. let's talk about ted ligety. his best event was the giant

slalom. he proved that today in first place after the first run. bode miller, also struggling at these olympics. he has a bronze medal. he is in 14th right now. the second runs are set for a bit later today. women's bobsled, a big day for the american team. they have won a medal in every women's bobsled event since the sport was included in the olympics in 2002. looks like they will do the same today. usa team 1, in first place. team 2 in third place and well beyond most of the rest of the competition. two heats in that. lolo jones, who has struggled in the summer olympics. we know the heartbreak over the last three years. switched to the winter olympics in bobsled. they are in fourth place. looks like another struggle to reach a medal here. we try to take you inside the games and show you a little bit of what's going on. i want to show you this. this is the actual starter for speed skating. omega has been the time piece

for the olympics for more than a quarter of a century. this is the starter they use. here, i'll give you a listen. the light lights up. it was actually and it is pretty interestingly developed, because they had had trouble taking the real starter pistols around the different events. security had become such an issue, in and out of venues. so omega came up with this. this is the one they use. >> it makes a good souvenir if you can get it on a plane. >> reporter: i'm not trying that. thanks. let's get the latest in sports from my friend, veronica de la cruz. harks betty. good morning. we are going to talk with a touching most out of the 76ers cavalier game. kevin grow, who has downs syndrome and has signed a two-game contract with philadelphia. he donned a jersey and warmed up. this one-handed slam-dunk. he hyper extends his knee and

has to go out. cleveland rolls on to their fifth straight win beating the 76ers, 114-75. miami heat and the dallas mavericks, lebron james goes coast to coast. king james, 42 points as the heat win it 117-eleven 6. the iowa indiana game was postponed, because of that eight-foot long, one-foot wide metal beam which plummeted from the ceiling and damaged those seats. luckily, no one was injured. officials are investigating how and why this happened. number 8, kansas and tech as tech went down to the wire. tech was up by one with seconds left. kansas almost loses the ball but andrew wiggins, he takes it, futz puts it in and saves kansas from defeat. attending a minnesota gophers hockey game was well prepared for the kiss cam.

he brought in this sign signaling that the lovely lady next to him was his sister to kind of avoid this awkward moment. >> i wonder why he was expecting it, though? >> i know. anyways, well prepared. he definitely is a smart guy. supermodel, kate upton, soared in her latest shoot for the 50th anniversary of "sports illustrated." she defied gravity with the help of a zero "g" airplane. >> she still looks amazing at it. >> she does. >> i want to try that. it looks kind of dangerous. >> i'm not sure a swimsuit is going to do it. >> that's amazing. >> finally, i want to show you this, betty. this is "the tonight show" starring jimmy fallon, who poked fun at andy roddick and this unfortunate mishap. let's take a look. finally, andy roddick was playing in a tennis match in alabama this week and he got a

little more than he bargained for on one serve. take a look at this. >> oh! >> in slow motion, we see it in slow motion. there you go. from now on, he will be making zero love. >> and maybe for quite a while after that. >> i love how they had to do it in slow motion. you just had to see it one more time. >> over and over and over again. >> like that kate upton video, right, bill? >> i am not supposed to be watching that again. >> you are not supposed to be watching. we have a lot to tell you about weatherwise. some folks had to do some shoveling. >> they had a foot of snow for new hampshire and maine. a little bit of rain in the areas with snow. we had the flooding concerns. we need to clean things up. things are dirty. for the first time in like forever, i actually have thunderstorms on the map with lightning strikes. we have some of those across west virginia, heading over the appalachians. we do worry about a little

isolated flooding on side streets where poor drainage is. rain through raleigh. we need this rain. the only issue we're going to have, it is still kind of chilly out there in a few spots, specially interior sections of pennsylvania and new england. that's where we are going to have freezing rain initially before it changes over to rain. look at how cold it is around hartford. be prepared for a little bit of ice. the big february thaw is on the way. it is going to send warm air through the great lakes into the northeast. unfortunately, on thursday, not today, on thursday, severe weather for the first time in a long time. this could be a significant severe weather outbreak with a few tornadoes and widespread wind damage. we have snow on the ground in indianapolis all through detroit. we could see severe thunderstorms with snow on the ground. that's weird. >> absolutely. you can see tornadoes on the map already. >> it happen s in late february in the deep south. coming up, why your daily

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> >> cnbc courtney reagan has business headlines the futures are lower. the nasdaq rose for the eighth straight day. it's best winning streak since last july. look for data on housing, inflation and minutes from last month's fed meeting put down that second shot of expresso. coffee prices surged to their highest level in more than a year on tuesday at $1.55 a pound. dry conditions in brazil are the culprit. >> google has issued an etiquette guy for users of the google glasses. don't be rule. the same rules for phones should be applied to glass.

if you are asked to turn off your phone, turn off glass as well. back to you. >> i just hope we can tell it is turned off. some other stories making news. on tuesday, president obama unvaild the next step in his plan to set new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles in the u.s. now, manufactured will have to cut fuel consumption on medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks to meet the levels of the march 26 deadline. >> an 84-year-old nunn is going to do some hard jail time for breaking into a ten see nuclear weapons facility. sist sister megan rice was accept tensed to 3 years in prison after cutting through the prison and painting biblical references on the walls. here is surveillance video of what must be the thirstiest thieves in texas. these two masked men smashed their car right through the front of a convenience store and robbed the place of exactly one

18-pack of beer. that is all. police are currently searching for the destructive beverage burglars. climate change. remember joe the plumber. he is back in the news and we are going to show you why. i still do it better than her. you know, i don't think i was meant to sweep. it's a little frustrating. look. [ zach ] i can't help out as much as i used to. do you need help? [ doorbell rings ] let's open it up. it's a swiffer sweeper. swiffer dusters. it can extend so i don't have to get on the step stool. i don't know how it stays on there. it's like a dirt magnet -- just like my kids. [ afi ] this is a danger zone. that is crazy. ah haha! [ zach ] yeah. no, this definitely beats hanging out on a step ladder. good jump, baby. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

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helping of scrambled politics. george clooney, bill murray and other stars with were at the white house to show their film the monuments men to president obama. it tells a story of soldiers rescuing art during world war ii. >> california billionaire, tom styer, says he plans to spend as much as $100 million to help make quite a change, a defining issue in this year's elections. he plans to target senate races in key battleground states kansas stitt lawmaker is proposing a bill that would allow teachers, caregivers and parents to spank children. it would allow children to be hit up to ten times for discipline, even though it leaves redness or bruising another law maker is retiring, democratic congressman, rush holt, of new jersey, says he will not seek re-election this year after losing the primary last year. >> paul ryan is still keeping his options open for the 2016

republican presidential race speaking in new hampshire. he says he would worry about those things later on. former nsa contractor, edward snowden, has been elected to the post of student rector at glasgow university in scotland. in the past, the job has been used to make political statements by the students at that university. the ohio conservative known as joe the plumber, he has a new job. even though he opposes unions, joe is working at chrysler and apparently happy to be a member of the united autoworkers. that is your morning dish of scrambled politics joining me for our first look at politics, politico senior washington correspondent, anna palmer. thanks for being with us the president wants to increase minimum wayne to $10.10. the congress budget office says that could cost about 500,000 jobs. are republicans correct in saying this move will hurt the economy? >> it was a mixed bag.

republicans had some good news out of this cbo report and democrats had some good news. it is going to be politics. this issue has been stalled in congress for quite a few months now where you have democrats wanting to increase it and republicans stalling on it, the fact that they said there is going to be job losses is something that republicans are going to hit over and over again. >> i can hear the talking points already. >> the cbo, as you mentioned, also says that it will boost earnings for 16.5 million people lifting some 900,000 out of poverty. for democrats who support the idea, it seems like the numbers might be in their favor. >> i think you are going to see democrats hit this issue over and over. they want to bring this up again. it speaks to their base, particularly, as we get into 2014 politics. this is going to be something we are probably going to be talking about for the next coming weeks and months when they come back to washington. >> while we're talking about money, california billionaire, tom stir, plans to spend a whopping $100 million to help

make climate change a defining issue. he is targeting races in key battle grounds. could this be a game changer? >> if your a democrat, you are thinking the fact that he is going to come in here, because they have been so far outspent, that if he can make a difference in some of these races he is talking about playing in the pennsylvania governor's race or some of the big 2016 battle grounds. you are very excited if you are a democrat and you are excited that some money will come in not for the republicans . >> the issue of climate change going to be the turning point. >> i think it is hard to see that coming up again. really, the only people that are talking about doing anything on the epa or those kind of regulations are at the administration level. >> a whole lot of money. we will see if it makes a difference when it comes to thereby u. thank you so much for being with us today. we do appreciate it. coming up, bill karins and

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time for our first buzz. you could say it is a real zoo around here. that's all we are talking, animals. let's start with the penguins. >> you remember the nfl playoffs. they had five penguins born and they named one peyton. they are called rock hopers for a reason. they said he is a little quicker on his feet than the other

penguins. >> of course, he is peyton manning. >> that was my point. then, have you seen pickles, the cat? if you have never seen a cat this size, you have to look at this thing. >> pickles is huge. >> they are calling it a kata sawyer russ rex. he measures a whopping three-feet long weighing over 20 pounds. there is what pickles can do. he can touch a countertop with his paws and still have his paws on the floor. he was adopted and found on the side of the road. >> in the backyard of the all you can eat restaurant. >> the jokes just keep coming, don't they, bill. one of the boston shelters had him for a little while. this couple adopted pitbulls. >> then they ran out of food. >> pickles has a lovely home and is very happy now. pickles is bigger than some dogs out there. some small children.

>> humans. >> top us all. i'm going to take your animal video and raise you one. i have the video that's really going to get your goat. this has to be the best goat video. this has to be the best goat video you have ever seen in your entire life. these are goats on a farm in france. we don't know too much about the video. it was posted to youtube. it has almost 1 million hits. if there was a time you would want to be a goat. >> it is almost like they are creating a whole new sport. >> look at that. >> he almost went down. >> the big one is like, what are you guys doing. >> it is almost like cirque du soleil. >> you know what it reminds me of? i don't know how real this is. i think it is not when you see the pictures of the goats in the trees. >> you are holding that for now? we don't have enough time to show the videos of the goats in

the trees. >> it is indicative of how these goats can climb on just about anything. i don't know that they can climb trees but i have seen this before. >> tree-climbing goats. >> we do some research on that. way too early with thomas roberts starts right now. no, i'm not trying to be rude. hey, pretty girl, i'm feeling you. ♪ the way you do the things you do ♪ ♪ remind me of is that ♪ you must be a football coach the way you have me playing the coach ♪ ♪ let me give you that toot-toot ♪ ♪ let me give you that beep-beep ♪ ♪ while they're saying on the radio ♪ ♪ ♪ baby, i'm about to have me

some fun ♪ the jimmy fallon first week train is about to continue but who does a better sane feld, jimmy or jerry? buying a cup of calf nated ambition is going up, but by how much? more flood shed between protesters and riot police. how the u.s. is trying to diplomatically stop the violence. this is "way too early." good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is wednesday, february 19th. welcome to "way too early." the show that is one episode away from finishing season two of "house of cards." then i will rooet read your tweets. >> on a serious note, we start out with this revolution being televised in