let's get right to nbc's danielle lee in washington. good morning. tell us exactly what is at stake here. >> reporter: hi, frances, good morning. we're talking about the future of an entire country. and if ukraine does dip into an all-out war, that's going to have implications all around the world. right now, the u.s. is trying to use whatever means it can diplomatically to stop any more violence. in ukraine this morning, rival clashes continue. towns to the east are bracing for military action. pro russian separatists have taken control of key buildings in several towns and are defying government orders to pull back or face ukrainian troops. >> the security council is called to order. >> reporter: the violence prompted an emergency u.n. security meeting last night. the obama administration is accusing russia of escalating the crisis. >> we are beaing bombarded by russian disinformation and propaganda while the ukrainians are being confronted with incitement and violence. >> it has all the telltale signs of crimea, professional, coordinated. >> the a

live in washington, i'm danielle lee. >> it has been such a long stretch of upheaval. thank you very much, danielle, appreciate it. >>> this next story is nothing but tragic. a utah woman in jail for admitting to either suffocating or strangling six of her babies after they were born. megan huntsman who was 39 was arrested after her husband found the babies in cardboard boxes while cleaning out the garage. police do not think that he knew anything about it. huntsman reportedly told police she killed the babies after giving birth to them between 1996 and 2006. huntsman has a teenage daughter and two adult daughters who live at that home. police say they found seven babies, but it's unclear why she's only charged with killing six. >>> a well-known white supremtist and former ku klux klan leader is being held in kansas on preliminary charge of first degree murder. this comes after the attacks that killed three people at a jewish retirement complex. cross was arrested after the shooting. officials say he shot a 14-year-old and the boy's grandfather outside the kansas city c

danielle lee live on capitol hill where the obama administration preparing for an emergency meeting with russia later this week. good morning, danielle. >> good morning. the hopes is that this meeting that is going to be in geneva, an international meeting. several different bodies coming together that something can come out of that, that will allow ukraine to really move forward, potentially stabilize. right now there are no signs of that. there is a real tug of war going on within the country. some people are loyal to russia and others are loyal to the new government in kiev and that's all we've been seeing these protests taking place. pro-russian separatists that are going in and taking over some of these cities and key buildings in eastern ukraine. the white house is very concerned that russia is behind that and insighting some of that violence and uprising and that was part of the conversation that president obama had with russian president vladimir putin just jerdyesterday about those concerns. russia needs to do what it can to de-escalate this tension. of course, russia is denying

danielle lee is live in washington, d.c., where treasury secretary jack lew is preparing to talk aboutid with ukraine's finance minister. news of this coming this morning. danielle, what do you know? >> hi, peggy, good morning. u.s. treasury secretary jack lew is going to be meeting with the finance minister later today. they're going to be discussing the aid that u.s. has already promised to ukraine. meanwhile, if you look at what's happening this morning in ukraine, it's extremely tense there. there has been more violence today as more pro-russian separatists try to take over various towns in the eastern part of ukraine and ukrainiaukr government is sending in troops to address that problem. something the u.s. is watching very closely. in fact, it was this similar kind of violence over the weekend that prompted that emergency u.n. security council meeting. the obama administration is accusing russia of insighting much of this violence and now the administration is looking at additional sanctions. could be things on specific sectors like energy, also banking and mining. and some peopl

danielle lee live on capitol hill where the obama administration preparing for an emergency meeting with russia later this week. good morning. >> hi, laura, good morning. we're seeing a real tug of war going on in ukraine between people loyal to russia and those loyal to the new government in kiev. in the same time the tensions are increasing, tensions between the u.s. and russia. yesterday we saw pro-russia groups taking over more and more buildings in eastern ukraine, the u.s. and specifically the white house is very concerned that russia is behind that. add to the tensions a russian fighter pilot, a plane, an attack plane was flying over a u.s. navy warship several times making unauthorized passes and that increased the tensions between the u.s. and russia. this escalates to a phone conversation between president obama and also russian president vladimir putin yesterday. in that, they did speak of these concerns about russia being behind some of this escalating violence. putin is denying those accusations. while there really wasn't any break through in that phone call, the conversatio

daniel lee is in washington where president obama spoke last night with vladimir putin.ge out of washington on this? >> the message is that talks are getting started, but that in no way was that phone call evidence of either side agreeing to anything. it was described as a very frank phone call. as the tensions in ukraine increase, so are the tensions increasing between the u.s. and russia and the hope is that this emergency meeting coming up in geneva is going to sort through that and focus on a solution. >> in ukraine, protestors upset about the governments lack of action rallied through the night. pro russian accept are a activities confiscated more thises in eastern ukraine, the kiev government warned it would send troops to retaliate but so far hasn't followed through. the white house expressed growing concerns russia is behind the highly organized accept are a activities. >> the evidence is compelling that russia is supporting these efforts and involved in these efforts. >> add got to tensions, a russian attack plane made several unauthorized passes over an america

daniel lee is in washington for us.ng from the state department this morning about the situation in eastern ukraine? >> the state department is obviously concerned as tensions there appear to be escalating quickly this morning in ukraine. it appears to me that ukraine is on the brink of an all out war and the u.s. is doing everything it can diplomatically to stop the violence. >> towns are bracing for military action. pro russian accept are a activities have taken control of key buildings in several towns and are defying government orders to pull back or face ukrainian troops. the violence prompted an emergency u.n. security meeting last night. the obama administration is accusing russia of escalating the crisis. >> we are being bombarded by russian propaganda while the ukrainians are confronted by in sitement and violence. >> it has all the telltale signs of what we saw in crimea, professional, coordinated. >> russia is concerns about ukraine's stability. >> the authorities do not want to listen to those who do not acc

the star of "lee daniels' the butler" in the pacific palisades for just under $10 million. including building a roller hockey rink. that is his absolute favorite sport. the mansion also boasts a terrific gym for boxing, a state-of-the-art theater, five fireplaces, six-car garage, wine cellar and two laundry rooms. >> okay. >> wow. >> not available anymore. >> ah. >> cuba had a good run. >> it continues to go. >>> what do you give a man like the pope who has access to everything but wants nothing? queen elizabeth thought a bottle of whiskey might do the trick. from balmoral where she has a home and threw in some jams and drinks from her royal estate. the two met for the very first time yesterday at the vatican. the pontiff had a gift for her, as well. actually it was for her great grandson, prince george, a little stone globe with a cross for his upcoming trip to australia and new zealand. >> ah. >> that's something. >>> finally we have proof that the man who plays don draper is a total hamm. jon hamm and the others posed for a series of selfies on the award-winning series s

as depicted by this scene from lee daniels' movie "the butler." >> i want y'all to get on the phone andso robertedly swore like a sailor and occasionally used the "n" word. >> back then it was part of our vernacular, too. honestly. language with martin luther king was always respectful. >> reporter: but early in johnson's political career, he was no civil rights activist. casting votes against the legislation. >> when he was a senator from texas, he really couldn't follow up that much because otherwise he would have lost his seat. >> reporter: so what was the driving force behind this momentous moment? many look to johnson's childhood in texas. where he grew up in a small farmhouse as the eldest of pofi. >> he had been poor. johnson had felt guilty enough and had had enough pain about his own hardship and poverty as a texas schoolteacher. >> reporter: as president, he was a shrewd dealmaker and politician, drawing on his experience in congress. >> he had lived and breathed and been through 1,000 battles with these guys. there was almost nobody in the house or the senate that he had not

daniels? >> "b"? >> maybe you have a little child. >> great day for kathie lee.m secretary pool to copy chief and she's not the only woman that's advanced in her career out of the secretary pool. >> thank you. you were terrific. tell your boss we said hey. >>> we also, you guys, want to honor our administrative professionals here at nbc news, and they happen to be kath, in the orange room. oh, they're marching out. come on out. kath, we've got them all here. no, they're all here. it's a big deal. >> i know christine is refusing to do that. >> you never know. wait. more. more. more. oh, my god! look who's here! kathy ryan. i want to point out that my assistant is right here, kathy ryan. she always refuses to be on tv, but today kathy ryan made it. you guys, we want to thank you for all the work you do. thanks, guys. thanks, brooke, chelsea, everybody. we really appreciate it. you guys are awesome. all right, gang, it's time to learn how you can increase your memory so you'll never lose anything again. >>> plus, green gadgets that will help you save money coming up

daniel. larry edman. robert woods. romitta mason. sabrina cheek. i don't know if i am reading these names right, hope you forgive me. teresa lee. >> well, good afternoon. not good morning, good afternoon supervisors. first of all, thank you supervisor breed and supervisor avalos for being here and calling this important hearing. i don't think that one hearing will be enough. this is a very heavy issue. however, we got to start somewhere. straight up, to me hearing from hud, hearing from lee, this is about developers again positioning themselves in san francisco to take advantage of low-income housing. of disadvantaged people who stay in these dwellings throughout our city. and if we don't stop them, we are going to pay a dear price. now i looked in this 30-page presentation or booklet, and the question is for me that is a big concern, the depopulation of black people in san francisco. and nowhere in there could i find anything that speaks to the depopulation of black people in san francisco. i think no matter what, if we look at the public housing, and we have of the 4,000 residents in public housing, that's an issue we can't

danielle is not the only person interested in the story. the inscriptions on the gravestones reveal that many of these dead come from this man's home city in china, and now lee wants to send their names to the archives at home in the hope of finding some descendents. >> i think this is important. if they were my ancestors, i would want to know what happened to them here in france, how they experienced the war and how they died. >> even after 100 years, the chinese in france want to preserve the memory of the fate of their countrymen, so they will be back next year to observe the festival among the graves. >> the mood is still tense between the west and russia after the annexation of crimea. the baltic states in particular have been watching moscow's every move in ukraine very closely. their governments have asked nato for help. they are worried that president putin might secretly planned to seize estonia, latvia, and lithuania, which like ukraine also have regions with a large russian speaking population. in estonia, for example, in one part, nine out of 10 citizens are russian. the town is located on the border with russia and has been struggling with an id

lee and hoda bringing the orange today. >> bringing it. >> yeah. we've got tell-all and charlie danielsre is why. that part of pruneridge is needed to connect apple with businesses it owns on the oh side of the road. drivers are already dodging orange cones and street closures. is the weather going to get worst? >>> unfortunately we are tracking more storms. yes, intensity will increase with the daytime heat. you notice this cell right here had lots of lightning with it. making it's way to san francisco by about 10:25. to the east bay, oakland by about 10:24 and it will impact concord by about 11:00. this is what we're looking for all afternoon. you'll notice we have a mix of sun and showers. don't let your guard down. we'll be tracking it for you here on nbc. >> yeah, across the bay, as is often the case, there is something taking out. the sign on the right that says high wind advisory for the san mateo bridge. watching for those winds and their affect on your drive. smooth drive over the bay bridge. we see a little late burst of traffic here. as we look at the map, we have a spring br