that against you. but take some responsibility, man, blaming the daughter? whatever, like whatever. good morning. it's wernd. right now, on "first look," a gas explosion sparks a huge blaze in a popular kansas city shopping district. shocking allegations that cyber attacks on u.s. targets are coming not only from the chinese but from the chinese military. plus, joe biden's assault rifle alternative and a sea otter that's got some game. good morning. can daver dogs are being sent into kansas city to search for possible victims this morning after a blast leveled a section of the city shopping district. a gas explosion around 6:00 p.m.

caused a massive fire at the popular jj's restaurant. witnesses said that came out of nowhere, as of yet, no confirmed fatalities. the primary concern is to find those missing. >> i came in, he told us to evacuate, next thing i know, everything just exploded. it was the scariest thing i ever witness zbld the flames were taller than the building next to it. there were people who were evacuating over here. so, it was just kind of crazy. >> those in the area report smelling gas in the moments leading up to explosion. they'll have to investigate further before any cause can be determined. another emotional day in court for track star oscar pistorius. day two of the bail hearing. prosecutors argue that the crime was premeditated. while defense attorneys said it

was a terrible misunderstanding. good morning. what's happening in court today? >> reporter: good morning, mara. as day two of this bail hearing gets under way the prosecution is really pushing hard trying to show that oscar pistorius of committing a crime of premeditated murder and is a flight risk and does not deserve bail for this crime. now, today, they have really focused on the bathroom door that was fired through, killing his girlfriend reeva steenkamp they're trying to enter that the bullets were entered downward the prosecution claims that it's premeditated that he put on his legs, went to the door and fired four shots through this door striking reeva steenkamp three times. they're trying to prove the point that he has guns and that

they have found unlicensed ammunition, another charge they want to bring against him. in addition to this, they also, police have said they have found steroids, needles in the house, they claim, you know, this could be another bad thing for pistorius, it could affect his p paralympic medals. the obama administration is reportedly set to unveil a new strategy to strike back against cyber espionage, new information as chinese government is behind thousands of cyber attacks. what are we expecting to hear from the white house today. >> reporter: mara, good morning. the white house is going to release a new report on steps to protect u.s. trade secrets. it could include new fines and

trade actions in this report just yesterday. indicating that the chinese government and specifically the chinese military is sanctioning cyber hacking of 141 u.s. companies. mara? >> turning now to the budget battle, we're just days away from those looming across the board spending cuts. >> reporter: today, there's a new warning from the pentagon, they say more than 700,000 civilian workers would have to take one day off without pay a week. one day after president obama continued his plea to the public and to congress saying that this is going to be devastating for the economy, he wants congress to act and it comes one day after a bipartisan commission released a new plan that would detail $2.4 trillion cuts over 12 years. mara? >> thank you. we'll have more on those budget cuts and other political

stories later in the show. he was being considered for a big show, but now general john allen has announced that he's retired. he completed 19 months as top commander in afghanistan, instead of taking the new job, he'll retire to help his wife deal with health issues. here's your "first look" at the dish of scrambled politics americans still don't like congress very much. 15% approve of the job that the lawmakers are doing, up one point from last month. deanny hoyer said that the 2016 presidential race is easy to predict, if hillary clinton decides to win, she'll clear the field. tea party group has apologized for sending out a e-mail that was photo shopped to

make karl rove look like a nazi to help raise funds. choosing candy crowley to moderate the second debate was a mistake, crowley was blasted by conservatives for challenging mitt romney. in facebook town hall meeting tuesday, vice president joe biden talked about white house gun control efforts. following the school shooting in newtown, connects cut. the best thing for protection is a shotgun. >> put that double barrelled shotgun and fired two blast outside the house. you don't need a ar-15, it's harder to aim, it's harder to use and in fact, you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself. buy a shotgun. >> all right. that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." turk now to the weather a

big snowstorm is headed for the middle of the country and for more on that is bill karins. >> this continues our active february. it looks like this storm is going to hit the midwest wednesday/thursday. all eyes now are on the storm exiting california, and head through the desert southwest. this one is going to hit the middle of the country hard and then it will weaken as it heads toward the great lakes. we dealt with our storm system here. careful traveling there. the focus is on this new storm that has kicked down through california. going to head out through the plains today. plenty of cold air in the way of it. the temperatures are about 14 in kansas city, notice how much warmer it is in san antonio and dallas. all of the ingredients are coming together for the storm. already we're watching the rain well ahead from the storm.

notice some of the blue showing up here in the white, this is snow breaking out in areas of kansas, kansas may be troublesome even today. thursday morning through thursday afternoon, the peak of this storm, snowstorm over kansas, nebraska, spreading into kansas city, missouri, especially the northern half of the state, southern iowa. then i'm concerned about icy conditions down here in the south. especially in the ozarks. mara, we're talk not talking about feet of snow like that new england storm, but some areas will get 6 to 12 inches. coming up after the break -- an execution blocked at the 11th hour, one of the biggest diamond heists in recent memory and italy's mount etna roars to life. ♪

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welcome back 37 here's some other stories making news this morning, federal court appeals stepped in at the very last minute to halt the execution of georgia man, he was set to die tuesday night after being convicted in the 1999 killing of a fellow inmate. a diamond heist at the airport, they apparently hid in a construction site outside. they grabbed the diamonds from the cargo hold and took off. dramatic video from italy, mt. etna has had its first eruption of the year. houston, we have a problem, that's what astronauts aboard the international space station were saying except no one could hear it. lost communication with the iss on tuesday.

a professor at columbia university bared all. he told the class in order to learn it you strip to the raw and stop over again. university officials say they are reviewing the class. turning now to business, stocks closed at five-year highs tuesday. will caution from the feds stop wall street's streak? from the federal reserve several members's hawkish tones on interests driving interest rates higher. earnings from dish network before the bell, investors will find out if doubling down on its ad hopper technology will have paid off. toll brothers will weigh in on before markets open and keep an eye on boeing, the engineers

approved a four-year contract. but a smaller group rejected it. earnings are in from another attention-getter, herbali 23shgs e. fbi is investigating insider trader took place before heinz's buffett buy. the clock is ticking for bp to reach a last-minute settlement to face tens of billions of dollars. kellogg is recalling its 11, special k's red berries because they macon tan glass. it's a milestone for stanford university the first school to collect more than $1 billion in a single year.

watch out north base, the u.s. postal service is entering the smart brand clothing. it plans to launch a new product line of apparel and accessories. tiger woods sizes up president obama's golf game, plus the discount at a virginia beach pizzeria that's raising a few eyebrows. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. or any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. ...to help keep rocky's body as strong as a love that never fades... if he ever lets her leave again. iams. keep love strong.

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turning back now to some of top political stories. jonathan, thanks so much for being here on the phone. let's start the sequester just days away, if it goes into effect, how will those affect the average person. >> we're talking about $1.2 trillion cuts to both defense spending and domestic spending. there may be about 700,000 jobs loss. president obama and his statement from the white house yesterday he was surrounded by police and firefighters, those first responders would be subject to cuts, schools would be subject to cuts, an array of government services that people have come to rely on will be faced with cuts.

switching gears to vice president joe biden, he made news during a facebook town hall where he urged people to, quote, buy a shotgun. >> not exactly the message that the white house wants to send. what he was trying to say, folks don't need a military-style assault weapon, what he was trying to say, keep it simple, folks, but again, not exactly the white house wanted. a new report linking the chinese military to cyber attacks on u.s. military. how will this affect relations moving forward. >> it's not going to help. the white house is taking the threat very seriously. this highlights something that the obama administration earlier this month, the president issued aen executive order for

companies to share information on cyber attacks. so, the administration is takes its seriously. with this new news it can't help relation between china and the u.s. earlier when we were teasing your upcoming appearance, we left up a previous third, we identified you as the nutty professor accidentally, that's no reflection on what we think of you. >> love it. >> thank you. >> thanks, mara here's your "first look" at some of the other news going around america, we start with tennessee, where several drivers had a brush with death after an accident on interstate 40. t turning now to virginia, where joyriding in a stolen pickup truck came to an

adisastrous end for one group of teens, they lost control and crashed into a house. there were no injuries and police made four arrests. in ohio, one of the largest greenhouse operations, fire trucks rushed to oberlin, frigid weather conditions have hampered the effort to put out that fire. virginia pizza shop has a unique deal for its pistol-packing customers. >> i'm offering a 15% discount to anyone who carries an openly or con sealed weapons permit. his pro-gun stance is aligned with many most americans in the firearms debate. a sea otter is making a splash after showing off his basketball skills.

to increase the 16-year-old's mobility, his handlers began teaching him to dunk a ball through a plastic rim. he's not bad. speaking of sports, we'll turn to sports and we start with three big top five confrontations in college basketball. unranked missouri upset number five florida. 63-60 victory over the gators. number one indiana finally went ahead of number 4 michigan state. the hoosiers took over first place in the big ten conference with a 72-68 win over the spartans. number two miami got a layup from reggie johnson with seconds to go and just edged virginia, 54-50. tiger woods has given his opinion of president obama as a golfer. tiger praised the president's game. >> we played under some tough conditions. he hit the ball well and got

amazing touch. after these four years, if he spends more time to playing golf, he'll get to where he's a pretty good. new goal line technology for the world cup to decide if the goal will count as a score. now, it's time for another looker at the weather and bill is back. >> let's talk snow. the know totals in the midwest will be very impressive especially kansas, wichita to kansas city. dealing with ice in the ozark. st. louis and chicago, minor impacts from this storm. the east coast looks fine. now, as far as the northeast goes, we still have a chance of that weekend storm. our european model, they're

showing another significant snowfall of 6 to 12 inches over much of new england saturday into sunday. i'll keep tabs on that as the rest of this week progresses. just ahead downton abbey wraps its season in a big way. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath

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it's time for entertainment. now that leonardo dicaprio is taking a quote break from acting, the actor has called on the thai government to ban all ivory trade in the country.

record label exec clive davis has released a memoir. clarkson is accusing davis of quote, memory lapses and misinformation. >> don't mess with kelly clarkson. a hit british drama downton abbey raked in 1.2 million viewers for its finale. pbs has quadrupled its primetime average. the runner-ups at the oscars will be taking home swag bags valued at $4500. what are they saying?

>> well, this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" with guest host peter alexander starts right now. ♪ did you see the pictures of president obama playing golf with tiger woods this weekend? neither did we. >> the media covering the president was shut out. the press corps complained. >> there are a lot of holes in the story, specifically, 18 of them. but i believe america deserves to know, who drove the cart? who rode shotgun? did the president play from the woman's tee? fol folks, you're just as upset as i am, i can tell.