our coverage begins with abc's larry jacobs. >> reporter: spring is less than a month away, but during the last week of february in chicago, it'll feel like january with morning temperatures plunging below zero. hats and gloves are still selling in stores. >> showcasing what's left of the winter gear and appropriately displaying the summer gear. >> reporter: flood warnings and advisories are posted across illinois and indiana where ice jams are sending rivers over their banks. >> these chunks of ice out here, you know, are thick, and they're just destroying whatever they crossed. >> reporter: southern california is bracing for the worst downpours in months. homeowners in the foothills outside los angeles are taking no chances because mud slides are a big threat. >> it just talked a little about doing what we can do at our home and maybe possibly sandbagging around the doorways, you know, just -- i think we'll be okay but -- >> reporter: with flood concerns from california to the midwest, americans from coast to coast cannot wait for this mean season to end. larry jacobs, abc news, new

larry jacobs, abc news, new york. >> people on both sides of venezuela's political divide protested ints. demonstrators voiced their support for the socialist government. the rally came after police clashed with the anti-government protesters. university students have organized general strikes and other protests against the government. in the bay area, people formed a human chain on the golden gate bridge to show their solidarity with loved ones in venezuela. >> the only thing they have right now is had ideas. the government is responding with bullets. the majority are woman. >> reporter: some local venezuela ans say they look food and other basic supplies because of corruption in the government. in the ukraine, parliament installed speaker of the assembly as interim president. as a result russia has withdrawn its ambassador. russia is deeply divided between regions pro russian and western areas along with closer ties with the european union. >>> a pilot escaped unharmed after a mishap with a world war one replica plane. they tweeted this picture of the plane after it flipped over at b

larry jacobs, abc news, new york. >> people on both sides of venezuela's political divide protested in the streets. demonstrators voiced their support for the socialist government. the rally came after police clashed with the anti-government protesters. university students have organized general strikes and other protests against the government. in the bay area, people formed a human chain on the golden gate bridge to show their solidarity with loved ones in venezuela. >> the only thing they have right now is had ideas. the government is responding with bullets. the majority are woman. >> reporter: some local venezuela ans say they look food and other basic supplies because of corruption in the government. in the ukraine, parliament installed speaker of the assembly as interim president. as a result russia has withdrawn its ambassador. russia is deeply divided between regions pro russian and western areas along with closer ties with the european union. >>> a pilot escaped unharmed after a mishap with a world war one replica plane. they tweeted this picture of the plane after it flipped

here's abc's larry jacobs. >> reporter: floods, mudslides and avalanches from the pacific northwest to a wintry mess. snow falling in seattle, ice in portland, led to advisories to stay indoors. rain and surging water in northern california uprooted trees, sending them crashing onto cars. utility poles came down and power lines with them. >> heavy rains. we have measured about 12 inches of rain so far. >> reporter: the downpour washed out roads and triggered dangerous mud slides. but the rainfall so far is not enough to make much of a dent in the drought. 78% of the great lakes are frozen over, the most in decades. >> it's a bad winter. everybody's tired of it. >> reporter: in southwestern pennsylvania, more than 20 people were injured when this tour bush crashed on a snowy road. authorities say it was going too fast. some places are still trying to shake off the effects of previous storms. residents have had no electricity in this philadelphia neighborhood for the better part of a week. >> this has been the longest. this is outrageous. >> reporter: millions in the middle of the countr

larry jacob has the latest. >> reporter: it's the winter that won't stop giving. >> i hate it.one. >> reporter: snow. snow and more snow. >> as soon as you clean, it it's back again. >> reporter: scenes repeated from one end of the country to another. in colorado, another powerful avalanche claimed two more skiers this weekend, raising the death toll from avalanches to eight. >> every 15 minutes the chances of survival really drop off. >> reporter: the threat of avalanches will be a big concern in the northwest where several storms are expected to dump an epic 7 feet of snow this week. the system that caused those avalanches out west will move to the nation's midsection and then head east, bringing another blanket of the white stuff to areas that already have up to 3 feet of snow on the ground. after getting off to a slow start this season, ski resorts have gotten a big lift from mother nature. but there has been so much snow, many places don't know what to do with it. snowplows can't work fast enough. >> can't keep up. >> reporter: or they get snow bound. even snow blowers get

larry jacobs, abc news, new york. >>> ukraine's president assumed power for the time being. voting overwhelmingly to turn leadership over. the president left kiev for his political base in eastern ukraine. he maintains that parliament's decisions in the past days is illegal. >> one of the most outspoken critics engaged with forces in crosswalkus last night after tweeting that cute ven day is len henchman were coming for him. he this is the latest example of the chaos raining right now in venezuela. mary anna atenso has more. >>. >> reporter: it's been days of violent clashes here in venezuela. on one side, students and middle class. on the other, police and pro government rups. followers of the party of anti-american president chavez who died last year of cancer. why are venezuelans so fed up? in a word, the economy. most citizens want to go to the store and buy basic goods. but some necessities are so rare that it started to resemble cuba. just got word there is flour in one of the local super markets. so people started flocking toward there. we will go with this woman to s

abc news reporter larry jacobs reports. >> it is the winter that won't stop giving jie.h it were done. >> snow, snow and more snow. >> as soon as you clean it, it is back again. >> scenes repeated from one end of the country to another. in colorado another powerful avalanche claimed two more skiers and raising the death toll to eight. >> every second counts. after 15 minutes the chances of survival really drop off. >> the threat of avalanches will be a big concern in the northwest where several storms are expected to dump an epic seven feet of snow this week. the success stem that caused those avalanches will move to the midsection and head east bringing another blanket of the white stuff to areas that already have up to three feet of snow on the ground. after getting off to a slow start, the ski resorts have gotten a big lift from mother nature. but there has been so much snow that many places don't know what to do with it. the snowplows can't work fast enough. >> can't keep up. >> or they are snow bound. even snow blowers burn out trying to remove it. thousands are wit

abc news reporter larry jacobs reports. >> it is the winter that won't stop giving jie. i wish it were done. >> snow, snow and more snow. >> as soon as you clean it, it is back again. >> scenes repeated from one end of the country to another. in colorado another powerful avalanche claimed two more skiers and raising the death toll to eight. >> every second counts. after 15 minutes the chances of survival really drop off. >> the threat of avalanches will be a big concern in the northwest where several storms are expected to dump an epic seven feet of snow this week. the success stem that caused those avalanches will move to the midsection and head east bringing another blanket of the white stuff to areas that already have up to three feet of snow on the ground. after getting off to a slow start, the ski resorts have gotten a big lift from mother nature. but there has been so much snow that many places don't know what to do with it. the snowplows can't work fast enough. >> can't keep up. >> or they are snow bound. even snow blowers burn out trying to remove it. thousands a

our coverage begins with abc's larry jacobs. >> reporter: spring is less than a month away. feels like january with morning temperatures plunging below 0. hats and gloves still selling in stores. >> showcasing what is left of the winter gear and appropriately displaying the summer gear. >> reporter: flood warnings and advisories across illinois and indiana where ice jams are sending rivers over their banks. >> chunks of ice out here, you know, they are thick. and they are just destroying whatever they crossed. >> reporter: despite dropping temperatures, search will resume for a missing man whose boat capsized in an ice-jammed river in central illinois. >> with ice, cold temperatures, very difficult. there's not a whole lot of open water. in the area where the victim was. and a lot of, you know, difficult stuff to deal with. >> reporter: southern california's bracing for the worst downpours in months. homeowners in foot hills outside los angeles are taking no chances because mudslides are a big threat. >> just talked a little bit about doing what we can do at our home. and ma

larry jacobs, abc news, new york. >> yeah. where is that groundhog?e northern rockies. colder around the great lakes area. severe storms moving into the eastern seaboard today. >> seattle's high will be 45 today. 54 in denver. highs in the single digits and teens from north dakota to wisconsin. around freezing in chicago. >>> in ukraine this morning there is word of a possible peace deal between the government and protesters. you're looking at live pictures from kiev where negotiations to settle the crisis have been under way all morning. so far protesters are encamped in the main square but there's no police presence. a much different scene than yesterday. the bloodiest day since the crisis began when snipers open fire on protesters, leaving scores of people dead. and anti-government protests are also escalating in venezuela this morning. thousands of paratroopers are joining the crackdown on demonstrators challenging socialist rule. at least six people died in violent clashes since last week. the oil-rich country is plagued by soaring inflation. >>>

>> let me ask your lawyer larry hildes, is this entrapment and talking about this whole progression that glenn crespo went through with the man he thought was named john jacob, who in fact was john towery, working at fort lewis, military personnel? >> i think absolutely. it was an attempted entrapment. -- het step-by-step misjudged our folks. he thought that she correctly saw our folks were angry and upset about what was going on, but misjudged them. it feels like we could have ended up with a cleveland five very easilytuation if he had had his way. fortunately, our folks reaction was this is really weird and creepy, get away from me. to how little he understood the nature of the antiwar movement and how little he understood people's actual action.nt to nonviolent to not sing the troops themselves as the enemy, but seeing -- >> larry hildes, i just want to ask about the laws that separates the military. they're not supposed to be marching through the streets. what about this issue of investigating and how far an extensive is this infiltration campaign where you put in people, they change their names, and they try to entrap or they change the nature of what