Relentless fighting. President barack obama now facing a very difficult question, should the u. S. Give deadly arms to ukrainian soldiers . Originally, german chancellor Angela Merkel was completely against the idea, concerned that russian president Vladimir Putin might even retaliate with even more force, more aggression. But today as president obama and chancellor merkel spoke standing side by side at the white house we heard a softened message. Here they were. As to the export of arms i have given you my opinion, but you may rest assure that no matter what we decide, the alliance between the United States and europe will continue to stand. The french president and i have decided to make one further attempt to make progress through a diplomatic means. I have not made a decision about that yet. Ive consulted with not just angela, but will be consulting with other allies about this issue. Its not based on the idea that ukraine could defeat a russian army that was determined. It is rather to see whether or not there are additional things we canbo doi to help ukraine bolster its5 s mphasize that a decision has not yet been made. Lets go to donetsk, ukraine, down the ee them as while its absolutely cleari< theres been no forceful measures lined up by either party in the event that these minsk the talks actually fail. They are so vital, and i think many in washington today, the obvious stick is a carrot if peace doesnt actually come up with anything in the belarusian castle on wednesday. But theres a stark difference to whats happening on the ground here. ex im told by european di naa n with good knowledge of the conflict here have seen a significant uptick in the movements, military vehicles on the separatist side in the last 24, 48 hours. We also know that Ukrainian Military are moving around a lot as well. I think both sides keenv o put themselves in a good on the back and we saw for ourselves firsthand in one town that was at the center of the fighting, quite what happens to civilian residential areas caught up in the fighting. Heres what we saw. You can see the unbelievable damage done to that building. Thatp k z where the ukrainians have dug themselves in, and it just showszw you the kind of devastation wrought upon this town, vuhlehirsk. There are people emerging for the first time, from the basements where theyve been taking shelter. [ speaking Foreign Language ] he said for now, theyreo caa not shooting at us. [ speaking Foreign Language ] you were in the basement during this . [ speaking Foreign Language ]a so an toetolli was in the basement, but fate will be deciding whats to him. So many people we saw in that town, emerging for the first time. One couple said they had taken their kids out and were going back to complect6tmllecting their possessions. Very little left to support life here. People are talking peace potentially in washington, first time we heardj u here. Its quite clear that the artillery is not ceasing anywhere around this n ecapsule. Its never clear whos firing at who, much of the time, but what is clear civilians are caught in the middle of this and that toll continues to rise. 5,000 dead so far in this war, the deadliest conflict to hit europe since the balkans and many deeply; settlements at this stage. Nick paton walsh, it is so important you are there for us and for this networko this story in ukraine. Thank you so much. David rohde is with me here a cnn Global Affairs analyst. Let me ask you9aan quickly about this. Nick paints almost this juxtaposition of talks of peace from washington, yet shelling over the skies inpzna donetsk and eastern ukraine. He told the president today, hasnt yet decided whether or not the u. S. Will be arming these soldiers in ukraine, yet the administration publicly has been very supportive of the idea. What do you make of that . I think the administration is trying to, you know, keep europe on board while they sound tough sort of for an american domestic audience. The key person here is angelaru ussia than the u. S. C2 and a really powerful tool here is economic sanctions. So if Angela Merkel wants one more round of peace talks in minsk, its good for the administration to wait and let those talks fail, and whats happened here is putin has clearly rearmed and;xfcdg these rebels. Theyre suddenly making all these gains. You know hes using hard power, and putins winning in the shortterm, but if there are harsh economic sanctions hell lose in the longterm. So you think the u. S. Will wait meantime, david rhodes, stay with me here becausex in the war against isis, Kayla Muellers love ones are waiting hour by hour for any w]c. 7t about her fate. A family friend calls the situation, and im quoting them a living hell. Mueller arizona native who went to the middle east ton÷ecc help refugees from krswsyrias civil war. She wasodd captured by isis in 2013 and now isis has claimed without offering any proof that she was killed last week in a Jordanian Air strike. U. S. Officials continue to be skeptical of the claim, so her family continues to wait. David, letsuf arizf m and they are trying, they are imploring isis to contact them. I mean is it unusual for family members to try to directly reach out to terrorists the to have some kind of 6communication . To be honest, its usually a sort of sad lastditch effort. If you 3 7ho]to isis before he was killed. I think its the right thing to do, and the family deserves credit for trying, but this does dn look like a very dire situation. What about, you know, reading foreign policy, they are reporting on this potential rescue effort on behalf of the u. S. Government to try to swoop in and save kayla in syria, and the government, apparently, rather her familys4gb preferred they wouldnt try that. Knhk they were so, so worried and continue to be worried about her safety, thinking it would be too risky, that could mean her life if itsibu unsuccessful. Do you think there needs to be afer kind of policy within the with hostages and families . Because there isnt anything. This is the problem and this is the latest example you would no personally. American government policy is. I was kidnapped five years ago, and in my case the for a raid would you approve of one . So the policy five years ago wasayic that a family could stop a raid. The syria case is Something Different happened. There was an effort to rescue jim foley and Steve Sotloff and kayla potentially, as well and that raid was carried out without theyxrin foleys, i know, for a fact, eing asked for permission. Thats the a, and theres a review by the white house you know of hostage y7jz policieshlpu a good thing theyre doing it but they have to clarify, canx,. Families pay ransom or will they be prosecuted . You know will families have a veto over raids or not have raids . And the family also want access to classified bhyinformation. Can families getacv a classified clearance . I afh currently, daythey dont. So all this needs to be clarified by the white house. Another piece of this came out today john cantly, one of the hostages seen in multiple videos, this british journalist whos came out in t propagandist video reporting from i believe its aleppo, and we have a short clip well play for you. nzmi7 e in a city that has beenx jl at the heart of the fighting since summer 2012. What stuck me is when he says, im john cantly and this is the last film in this series. How do you 4n read qc hes under enormous duress. There are a lot of people who have questioned why hes making these videos. If kayla isnt alive, he may be the lastn remaining western hostage in isis hands. I think its not fair to judge someone in this kind of o situatio he knows he could die. This could be an act of desperation on his part. And again not judge him, but to hear him say, this is theo5g . Hfinal video, its frightening. Absolutely. And the blame theres criticism on the u. S. Government and many governments pay ransomw7d÷ orcing him to make these its terrible. David rhodes thank you. ` ing question. This one about the nbc anchors time in israel. Plus, hear from one of his colleagues who is defending him. Qr sar rqp here on 5zcnn, hes1bccn accused of the man killing the h american sniper and today the jurors will decide his 5 fate. Theyre beingt. Y8y qn find out what lawyers are lobbying for, ahead. Youre watching cnn. melodic, calm music. hi this is conor. Sorry i missed you. Im either away from my desk or on another call. Please leave a message and ill get back to you just as soon as im available. Thank you for patience at this busy time. Join Princess Cruises for stargazing with discovery at sea. Enjoy cruises from 499 during our 50th anniversary sale. Call your travel consultant or 1800princess. Princess cruises. Come back new. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. The most watched news anchor in america is now keeping himself out of sight. Brian williams is not appearing on David Letterman later this week and will not be at the helm of nbc nightly news until further notice. With more he was not the biggest rated anchor on friday. All of this happening after he admitted to and apologized for a story that embellished some of the details of his 2003 iraq war coverage, a military helicopter he was flying in ty actually never came under rpg attacks, as williams had eventually said. Now 3 oming to his defense, some of his 2r msnbc anchor Joe Scarborough admitting today he is too close to williams to be objective but he has one hope for the embattled newsman. When the fury dies down and when we get through the storm and the decision is made to judge what Brian Williams future should be that that decision will be based on the entirety of career, and not onfhi one or two or three mistakes. If he exaggerated, if he sort of puffed his chest out a little bit newspeoples p do iy hat, politicians do . B uv nthat, guys do that. Weve all done ouaf2q correspondent brian staltser has been all over this for us. The apology onnik wednesday, so he was on thursday and friday, how were the ratings those two days . On thursday night, he did fine and on friday night there was a real dip in the ratings. It wasnt until thursday evcad lots of people were hearing all about this story about this brewing controversy. It was a lead story on shows likef6p entertainment tonight, as well as news channels like cnn, so it became a bigger story on thursday. And then on friday, maybe its a coincidence but the numbers from nightly news were a lot lower and world news on abc was number one instead. So basically monday through thursday, Brian Williams wins and on friday david noir wins. So its one indicator that maybe some viewers will tune out amid all of this scandal involving Brian Williams. Part of the scandal, each and every day, theres this new story. And was it true how he told the story . We talked friday about some of the questions being asked about his time covering katrina. Now questions being asked about his time in israel. Right, because of a story that he described about being close to an attack there involving hezbollah. Theres a story in the Washington Post this morning questioning about some of his statements about that may have shifted over the years. Was all rther digging and reporting. Theres always in cases like this a rush to judgment, and weve got to be really careful here about that. Even though its pretty clear that there were some exaggerations about his story in the Iraq War Mission that was in 2003, thats been pretty thoroughly covered. But these other stories, they require more reporting and more digging and maybe thats why nbc has had no comment. Hes taken a leave of absence, he wont be on tonight. Meanwhile, nbc is trying to figure out whats true and whats not true. And which of these external press reports should be taken seriously and which should not be taken seriously. So part of this and listen, none of us have really been immune to the i say raft,u wondering whether Brian Williams will be back or not. I have to admit, this is a competitive industry. There are some people that are excited and gleeful about this, but im not and most people are not. Its a sad story. Its a sad story. But now for nbc, its a rather wretched business calculation, whether he is too damaged or whether they should stand by him and see if he can regain peoples trust. Its tough and its sad. Thank you so much. Coming up next here, jury selection for the trial for the accused killer of american sniper chris kyle. Thats underway. Will the blockbuster film affect the trial or who gets to decide the defendants fate . Plus three mondays, three snowstorms. The northeast getting hit again. Well take you there live, thex. Ive always loved exploring and looking for Something Better. Thats the way i look at life. Especially now that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. I was taking warfarin, but wondered if i kept digging could i come up with Something Better. My doctor told me about eliquis. For three Important Reasons. One, in a clinical trial, eliquis was proven to reduce the risk of stroke better than warfarin. Two, eliquis had less major bleeding than warfarin. And three, unlike warfarin theres no routine blood testing. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Those three Important Reasons are why eliquis is a better find for me. Ask your doctor today if eliquis is right for you. The tough task of finding a jury in the chris kyle murder trial is underway right now in a texas courtroom. Kyle, profiled in the blockbuster film, american sniper, you know him from that or his bestselling book of the same name, kyle and a friend were shot and killed ded two years ago at a firing range in texas. A fellow veteran is now charged with the murders. Fellow mean, Eddie Ray Routh, has confessed to the crime. Chris kyle is so big in texas, his Memorial Service was held in a stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. Cnns ed lavendera is following this case for us. Ed . Reporter brooke the process of picking a jury in the murder trial of Eddie Ray Routh, the man accused of killing chris kyle and his friend, chad littlefield, continues in the maul town of stevenville, texas today. This was a process that started late last week and is expected to go late into the today and late into tomorrow. Were expecting Opening Statements to begin on wednesday morning. Eddie ray rouths Attorney Says he will likely plead not guilty by reason of insanity. So you can expect a great deal of testimony focusing on the mental issues and the Mental Health issues that Eddie Ray Routh struggled with in the years leading up to pott to the murders of chris kyle and chad littlefield. All of that testimony will play center stage. Its been a very intense effort to pick this jury. They need to pick 12 people plus two alternates. And the judge in this case started interviewing potential jurors late last week and to date, attorneys and prosecutors will get their chance to begin interviewing these prospective jurors. One of the thing Eddie Ray Rouths attorneys tried to do was get this murder trial delayed because of the intense publicity surrounding the american sniper film as well as the governor of texas declaring one day last week as chris kyle day, but the judge says that he will not delay the trial, that it is scheduled to move ahead, starting very likely on wednesday. Brooke . All right, eddie, ed lavendera in dallas. By the way, tonight at 9 00 american sniper is now the highest grossing u. S. War movie of all time. But not all the drama is playing out on the big screen. Go inside the controversy and the storys incredible reallife twists and turns. Blockbuster the story of an american sniper starring tonight at 8 00 eastern and pacific right here on cnn. Now to one of my favorite cities thats covered in snow over and over. Boston. Where another winter storm is punishing the city. Right now, boston is getting hit by the third heavy snowstorm in as many weeks. New snow totals just in from the National Weather service and so far, this season for boston, are you ready for this 73. 9 inches. This is now officially, the tenth alltime snowiest winter in the city keep in mind weeks and weeks more of winter to corm, and yes the city snow removal budget is already shot. Cnns rosa flores is braving the elements for us in boston, and rosa, first, let me ask you, with all of the snow on top of the other snow and the other snow, im worried about the roofs. Peoples homes, their roofs collapsing. Reporter you know, brooke, its definitely a big issue. And all you have to do is look around me to know that it will be an issue. The snow has to go somewhere, right now, i want to give you a brief demonstration, because this is what some of the folks are dealing with. I want to measure one of these snowbanks snowbanks, just so you can get an idea. So, take a look here, its at about 42 inches. But, you know, sometimes people say, these are just snowdrifts, blah blah blah. No brooke just mentioned that the National Weather service is saying that for this season, 73 inches of snow for boston. Thats a lot of snow. And it is causing issues on roads. Theres already been three partial roof collapses. Now, i want to show you some video. Take a look at your screen because we actually went on a roof, with a crew that was working to clear a roof. Now, heres what we learned. So the process is very tedious. These workers have to work very slowly, because its very dangerous. They hook a ladder to the roof. Now, the workers have a vest with a harness, that hooks to that safety ladder. So you have your crew go up in a safe manner how do you start bringing down the snow. And how much has been accumulating from your experience so far. Weve been taking up to 4 feet of snow in some cases, 6 feet with the snowdrift. And we start at the top, we work our way down. Now, that snow of course has to go somewhere. In these narrow streets, its a huge hazard, especially for emergency crews. Now, these mounds, brooke, ive got to show you this because it looks like theres nothing there, but, look theres movement that something is there. Is there a car . If you dig in i can almost bet you that theres a car in here, brooke. So i want to show you, try to dig in here to see what we find brooke. Its an expedition here, but yeah, there you see, theres the light. Its actually a car. Its a silver car. Now, thats the highlight here. The dangers when theres a narrow street imagine emergency vehicles, trying to come through here and theyre not able to, because of these conditions, brooke. Looks like youre in a beacon hills, beautiful any other time of the year beautiful there, but whats behind snow door number two. Be safe. That is a lot of snow indeed. Thank you, thanks for being out in it as well. Go get warm. Coming up next here on cnn, it is iraqs second largest city, now controlled by isis and now the coalition is stepping up attacks on mosul. Well take you live to iraq. Plus reality star and former olympic champion, bruce jenner, now part of this investigation into a car crash that killed one woman. Hear what police are looking for, coming up. [ male announcer ] we know theyre out there. You cant always see them. But its our job to find them. The answers. The solutions. The innovations. All waiting to help us build Something Better. Something more amazing. A safer, cleaner brighter future. At boeing, thats what building Something Better is all about. Eh, you dont want that one. Yea, actually i do. Its Mucinex Fastmax night time and its got a nasal decongestant. Is that really a thing . It sounds made up. I cant sleep when im all stuffy. I take offense to that. Im not going to argue with a talking ball of mucus. I think youre being a little hasty. Hes not with me. Mucinex fast max night time. Multisymptom relief plus nasal decongestant. Breathe easy. Sleep easy. Start the relief. Ditch the misery. Lets end this. Just past the pottbottom of the hour. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Kurdish forces have taken fresh territory near the iraqi city of mosul. Lets take a look at the map. Mosul is iraqs second largest city. S the currently controlled by isis and plans are now underway for iraqi and Kurdish Forces to try to retake the city later this year. Lets go to phil black whos live in erbil, in the kurdish region of Northern Iraq. Phil, are the peshmerga making gains at least around the city of mosul . Yeah, they really have, brooke. Theres no doubt. Various front lines across this region, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that isis militarily is really struggling. What those kurdish fighters have done is not just stopped the isis advance, but they have rolled back its territorial games to a significant degree, and have now dug in defensive lines, which they are holding. What they have done is taken away from isis, its ability to move forward and conquer new territory, which is so very different to the situation as it was last summer, when isis first moved in to this region of Northern Iraq really conquering all before it gaining ground so very quickly. The iraqi army fled before it, even the kurdish fighters, well, they had a tough time at first too. This does not mean, though, that victory is imminent. The kurdish fighters believe that they are winning, but there is still some really important work to do. And you touched on it they are moving through and clearing out the remaining territory. And that includes the city of mosul. That is expected to happen once the iraqi army has been retrained, rebuilt, and to a significant degree remotivated, to the point where it is capable of retaking that significant city street to street. Thats the sort of fighting its going to be, rebuilding that army. Its a big job. So theres a lot of speculation about the time frame for when such an operation could begin. Some u. S. Officials have said as early as april. Here in early iraq, it seems more distant than that. The kurds believe later in the year is far more likely brooke. Still the fact that theyre gaining ground that is excellent news phil black, thank you, in erbil. Next what happened in the car crash involving bruce jenner . Someone died in that crash, police are not ruling out manslaughter. Well have more on that, plus just in the former Police Officer who kept losing his wives is accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill the prosecutor who took him down for one of those murders. Drew petersons chilling new chapter, next. My name is daniel i have diabetic nerve pain. The pain felt like my feet were on fire. I had these very burning. Needlelike sensations. I knew i needed to see a doctor. My doctor said lets try lyrica. Lyrica has helped relieve my pain. Its known that. Diabetes damages nerves. Lyrica is fdaapproved to treat diabetic nerve pain. Lyrica is not for everyone. It may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. 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After a deadly car crash bruce jenner says he is cooperating with police, but that will not stop question after question about what exactly happened. Jenner, the olympic gold medallist, turned reality tv star, has been in the headlines recently over reports hes begun transitioning between being a man to being a woman. Jenner was not hurt in this crash, but a woman in another vehicle was killed. Five children and two adults were injured. They were sent to the hospital. Cnns jean casarez joins me with more on this. And lets just first begin you know, these questions about, was jenner being, you know, trailed by the paparazzi . What are police saying about that. Police are saying he originally had been followed by the paparazzi, but that he was not trying to get away from them, at the time this all happened. And the Los Angeles CountySheriffs Department is saying that they dont at this point, believe that that had any causal connection at all to this very tragic accident. Now, theyre in the midst of an accident investigation right now. And that can take a long time. In fact they say on the record, it can take up to a year. Now, the accident investigation will then determine if there is a criminal investigation, but the first thing they have to do is really reconstruct what happened, because there was a car, a prius that was stopped, the white lexus that was driven by the woman who ultimately died hit that, and this is a very windy narrow portion in malibu, and then bruce jenner allegedly was driving the Cadillac Escalade that went into the lexus that then veered into oncoming traffic and thats when the fatality occurred. Part of the investigation, they know what time the accident happened, looking into text records, phone calls, et cetera, to see if that may factor in at all. Jean casarez as you mentioned, this could take a little while. Thank you very much. Thanks. I want to turn now to a Stunning Development in the case of drew peterson. Ring a bell . Remember, this is the retired Police Sergeant who is now accused of trying to hire a hit man from behind bars to take out the prosecutor who sent him to prison. Peterson was convicted in 2012 in the murder of this has third wife kathleen savio. Her death in 2004 was ruled accidental, but then that case was reopened when petersons fourth wife stacey, disappeared three years later. Peterson now stands accused of wanting to kill the man, right here, this is the prosecutor, james glasgow. Lets talk about this with legal analyst and former federal prosecutor sunny hostin. Knows a thing or two about being threatened as a prosecutor. First of all, i guess his attorney is calling this absurd, saying he would have nothing to gain by killing this man. How do you just theoretically how do you call for a hit from behind bars . Well you have the privilege of having people come in and visit you. You can also send letters. You can also make phone calls. Oddly enough, though when you are in prison there are signs everywhere, brooke, that say youre being recorded. All of your calls are being recorded. But oftentimes prosecutors get a lot of evidence for future cases by monitoring inmates and they do make these kinds of mistakes. Its not unheard of that a defendant from inside will try to put a hit out on either a prosecutor or someone else. And this is sort of like an occupational hazard for prosecutors. Its in a sense your worst nightmare, because most people know that if they kill the prosecutor, theres going to be another one right behind you to take their place, but it does happen. I was threatened as a prosecutor. And so its not unheard of but its a little crazy right . You start to think like, this defense attorney is saying hes spending 38 years in prison for killing his wife then, why kill the prosecutor . It just doesnt make a lot of sense. I would have to imagine it would affect any chance of an appeal if this was true . Well, certainly, i think thats something that would be considered. And the bottom line is you know i often say, you just you cant make sense of crazy. But im this was filed today. Im looking at the complaint and it makes it pretty clear that he you know, is guilty at the very least of trying to solicit murder for hire. Just unbelievable. The story sort of never ends. Okay sunny hostin, thank you. Appreciate it. Coming up next, the modern dating game. Where true love ladies and gentlemen, is merely a swipe away. New apps are making big changes in the way we fall in love. That story after the break. Plus the average cost of a wedding in the United States is in the ballpark of 25,000. My next guests decided to take their wedding budget and do something incredible with it. They join me live with their story. New ensure active heart Health Supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. Ensure, take life in. In my world, wall isnt a street. Return on investment isnt the only return im looking forward to. For some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. Which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. Our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. Start investing with as little as fifty dollars. Okay. Heres the deal. If youve not been on the market, the dating market in a while, let me just tell you, it has changed. The online and offline worlds, theyre emerging in realtime. Cnns Laurie Segall took a look at the search for modern love in the new series, love incorporated, and today she hits the town to find out how this new app tracks your location and finds eligible prospects in your path. Theres really no better way to talk about how things have changed and like the Online Dating scene than going offline to a bar in new york city on a friday night. Do you use apps to date . I use tinder. Tinder. Ive been on qpid for a few years. Ive been on it. I think the bar right now is littered full of people on online dates. The modern dating game. Where youre a click or a tap away from love. Or Something Like it. Apps that let you swipe through your options. People are pixels where the formula for love is coded into your smartphone filtered by location, age, gender. What are you into . Whats your religion. True love may never change but the way we find it has evolved. And heres the thing about love now. Mobile has changed everything. No no. No. People are not looking to meet someone, thats what theyre going for. Reporter remember when you used to ask a friend to set you up . Hinge is an app that browses your facebook friends and connects you with a match. Older plays like okay qpid and match. Com, you used to check those from a computer. Theyre now on your phone. And tinder which uses location to link up nearby people who are both interested. Swipe right if youre interested, swipe left if your not. If you both swipe right, its a match. There are more options than ever. Sean raths founded tinder. Hes managed to gamefy finding a day. We used to have the world where there was online and then there was offline. You know Something Like this kind of provides like a really interesting median that you guys are very much capitalizing on. Online and offline the distinction and behind a computer, which is usually at a fixed location, but with our phone, its with us everywhere we go. Part of your algorithm that makes tinder successful is this idea of taking out the rejection factor. Theres so much we can do with tinder and the information that we pick up from you, and, you know we can make some really good guesses on to who we think that you might be interested in. So you get a kissy face. Oh my do you think that Technology Changes things for the better or changes things for the worse . I think definitely for the worse. Why . You dont feel like meeting anybody in a bar, because you feel like you have it on your phone. And lots of people meeting eem when you go out. Okay. Well have much more from Laurie Segall throughout the week on love incorporated. But my next guest, im so excited to introduce you to both of them. They were well beyond dating, all set to walk down the aisle, when they made this decision that left their relatives shocked and frozen. Instead to have the big party and the white dress and tuxedos and the photographers and the tiered cake and the yada yada. This couple has been spending their wedding budget on this incredible crosscountry trip performing one act of kindness in each of the 50 states. Joining me now i have mark and yamidi simpson sitting with me here in new york. Congratulations, belatedly, on the whole getting hitched things. I saw this piece over the weekend and i was like, weve got to get them onset. So you popped the question, youre a Civil Engineer, at what point do you decide not to have the big poofy wedding and instead do what you did . Its one of those decisions where it just kind of comes naturally. Youre in the planning stages, youre talking about the typical stuff and you go through, okay where are we going to have it who are we going to invite . And at some point, youre constantly reminded that theres a big hole in the process. Someone important is missing. Your father . My father was a Civil Engineer and an economist. He was a very kind and compassionate man. He unfortunately passed away while at a Charity Event he had organized. He gave a last speech on love and kindness and the importance of giving back to the less fortunate. And then, in front of a packed audience, he passed away from a heart attack. Oh, my goodness. It was a tragic event, yeah, unfortunately. And then in order to honor his memory, mark and i came up with this idea instead of having a big wedding reception and a honeymoon, to travel to all 50 states in the u. S. And perform one act of kindness in every state. Wow. So, you take this money that was budgeted for the big wedding, and i know some family members, they wanted the big party, right . And you had to tell them no, we would like to travel to every single state and do something. Give me examples of what youve done in different states . For instance, in los angeles, and everything every act of kindness that weve performed is the result of suggestions weve received online. When we first started traveling, very quickly, we realized that, you know, people, once we started posting on facebook and twitter, that people were sending us suggestions saying okay, you know when you come to my state or my area this is an idea of something that you can do. They got involved. Very fast people were getting involved. Some acts of kindness include in los angeles, we helped furniture eded furnish a home for two women who were formerly homeless. In texas we helped elderly individuals with grocery shopping. In florida we did we partnered with the Humane Society to raise funds for them and what else . Every state, every state was different. So we visit patients suffering from cancer, children in hospitals, disabled young athletes, anything you can imagine. People started sending us suggestions for social media and we were following their leads. And thinking about it now the list goes on and on. And one of the unique things is we got to really tackle deferent issues that we otherwise probably wouldnt have. By taking these suggestions from individuals. 14 states to go. Somehow you were balancing this between having a 21monthold. Yes. A little girl. Taking her with you. And teaching her early on how to make the world a better place. Its true. Its important for us to do this as a family. And, you know motherhood for me is like the biggest blessing in life. And i think were going to cherish these memories forever. We spent time with our baby and we meet all these wonderful people across the country. Its a blessing. We will continue following your blessings and your journey. Stay united, you see their tshirts if you want to get more information or want more on their story, go to cnn. Com impact. Thank you both very much. Thank you. If i ever get married, i will have you in mind, doing good things instead of having a big, poofy party. Thank you both. Thank you. All right, lets continue on here. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. The United States right now is considering getting even more deeply involved in the most violent conflict europe has seen in years. [ explosions ] this massive explosion wind out a weapons plant. This is outside of donetsk. This is the area where fighting continues to worsen each and every day, in eastern ukraine. This is the part of the country now under control of the prorussian separatists. But across the country, across ukraine more than 5,000 people are dead, and almost 1 million displaced. And that number, by the way, is expected to continue to rise. President barack obama now facing tough questions, should the United States give defensive, yet deadly arms to ukrainian soldiers. Originally, german chancellor Angela Merkel said, unequivocally, no worried that russian president Vladimir Putin might become more aggressive might retaliate with even more force. But today, we saw this News Conference with president obama and chance larllor merkel standing side by side speaking from the white house and heard a bit of a softened message. Here they were. Translator the french president and i have decided to make one further attempt to make progress through diplomatic means. In the face of this aggression and these bad decisions, you know, we cant simply try to talk them out of it. Lets go to the white house, where senior White House Correspondent jim acosta there. And when i was listening to the newser between chancellor merkel and the president , two things jumped out at me. One, the president was asked about a red line on ukraine, and i didnt really hear an answer on that. The other, i heard chancellor merkel, really sort of leave the door open to other possibilities if this last effort, you know at diplomacy with russia fails. You were there. What was your takeaway. That was pretty much my takeaway, as well, brooke. But make no mistake. There is a disagreement here between this white house, between president obama, it seems, and Angela Merkel. The president wants to keep this option on the table. He wants to consider this idea of sending defensive weapons to the ukrainians