looking at backpack bombs in the dallas area. the other big story we're following now, a predawn deal in wisconsin state assembly could mean a vote on the budget bill in one hour. democratic lawmakers are still awol, and now the gop leadership has sent police officers to bring them back. ten days of noisy demonstrations at the state capitol, but inside state offices phones ring in the empty offices of 14 senate democrats, who have left the state to delay the vote. senator alina taylor says they're not budging. >> i can't tell you we're going home tomorrow, but i can tell you that i'm hoping someone will stand up and show leadership and hear the quickly growing to the half a million people who have come to our capitol to say, it's not acceptable to take away rights. >> today police officers went to the homes of at least three democratic senators in hiding. they weren't home. that tactic seems drastic for a governor who's trying to coax lawmakers back to the bargaining table, a day after a liberal prank caller punked governor scott walker into seemingly admitting he is going after unions. >> this is about public sector unions. you essentially are having taxpayers' money being used to pay to l]bby for spending more on taxpayers' money. it's absolutely ridiculous. >> david walker thought he was talking to this man, david koch, oil billionaire and conservative activist, but he was really talking to liberal blogger, ian murphy, who was impersonating koch. murphy posted the conversation on his website, the buffalo beast. >> this is our moment, this is our time to change the course of history. >> i'm not going to allow one prank phone call to be a distraction from the realities that we have a job to do. >> representative pierce, representative porter -- >> republicans in indiana can killed their own union-busting bill, but still their democrats refuse to return. they insist their seats will remain empty until republicans concede on some 11 other bills. house speaker brian bosema is talking tough. >> we will not concede to a list of demands from those who have vacated this state. >> yesterday in ohio, republican state senators agreed to allow wage bargaining, reversing a position in that state's budget bill. but in wisconsin, even though an assembly agreement has been reached, the senate stalemate continues. >> governor walker and the rhetoric used by increasing numbers of conservative republicans is trying to convince people that our entire economic situation is due to members of public lows unions? people aren't going to buy that. >> nbc's mike taibbi is outside the statehouse there in madison, wisconsin. where do we stand on this agreement to move forward? >> reporter: well, the agreement to move forward, contessa, as you pointed out, is only in the assembly. and that was a foregone conclusion, because it wasn't assembly democrats who left the state and went over the illinois line, but senate democrats, all 14 of them, who have done that. so the assembly will, the agreement was, to limit the amount of discussion on each of the additional 35 or 38 amendments that will be discussed. so some time this afternoon, some time afternoon, there ought to be a vote in the assembly. that doesn't get the job done. as you pointed out, the senate itself has to vote and there has to be a quorum in order to have that vote. now, you mentioned before about the state police being sent out to look for some of those awol democrats on the assumption, the suspicion, the rural that some are actually here in madison, sleeping overnight and then hustling out of town by day. one of the senate democrats they went to visit, the state police went to visit, was 84-year-old senator fred risser, the longest serving legislator in the united states. he's been in the state senate here for more than half a century. he went to his condo, which is about two blocks from here, he was not home. the rumor was he had been staying here overnight with a driver, taking him back across the state line. that wasn't happening. they didn't find any of the democrats. the stalemate continues and will continue through tomorrow, contessa. >> yeah. and we're keeping an eye. we see the protesters there in the live shot behind you pip understand that there are protests today in rhinelander, in green bay, in milwaukee, all across the state, there are protests scheduled today. mike taibbi, thank you for taking tabs. i was asking this week about the democrats in hiding, not just in wisconsin, but in indiana as well. and of course, wisconsin's governor sending out those state troopers to track them down. we got a ton of responses yesterday. vince whitacre writes, "dually elected with 50% of eligible voters coming to the polls. if half the population refuses to vote, why can't our elected representatives follow our lead?" david b. says, "politicians have talked about being the adult in the room, what are we teaching about our children in the political process? if you don't like the bill, you get to take your ball and go home." bob morrison says, "it's the republicans who are thwarting democracy. the extreme right has an all-out attack against the middle class. the democrats are upholding democracy and trying to preserve it." my e-mail is contessa@msnbc.com. in virginia, that state's governor is waging into wisconsin's budget battle. he's sending his support via twitter and a recorded video. >> i know it's tough to tell hard-working state employees that we've got to be able to do more with less, but i've done it in virginia, and scott walker's had the fortitude early in his term to tell that$q people of wisconsin. >> and here's the governor's tweet. "please support my good friend governor scott walker as he leads the fight to cut spending and get wisconsin's fiscal house in order. leadership like his is long overdue." republican governor robert mcdonald of virginia joins me now. governor, for one thing, you're able to balance your budget in virginia somewhat easier because you're a right to work state, that government unions in your state are illegal. >> well, that's true, although most of the budget discussions we've had over the last couple of years haven't had to do with right to work or union issues. it's really just been the fact that we've had a down economy, we've had to make the tough choices. so we cut $4.5 billion last year, ended up the year with a surplus. those are the ongoing management decisions that are really at the heart and soul of what's going on in wisconsin. part of the issue, of course, is can you continue to afford the same level of pension benefits when you have all these unfunded liabilities like we do in virginia? and i think the answer's no. so we're trying to do some of our own work on that in virginia. >> all right. let me ask you about some of the tough choices you've made. you have cut here, it looks like more than $55 million from your education system. yet you announced that you have some $403 million surplus at the end of 2010. so do you really have to cut from education? >> well, that's a little bit of a misnomer. some of that is as a result of a decline in student enrollment in virginia. so that was some of the reductions. we've actually invested about $75 million of new money in higher education. so, contessa, it was really about what the priorities are, what the choices are. but i can tell you that the need with our budget deficit last year at $4.2 billion was to make those tough choices and it resulted in a surplus. we're actually back to about 2006 levels. but we're making new choices this year on higher education, transportation, job creation. it's just, that's where the priorities are in virginia this year. >> you're getting a lot of backlash, though, from the unions in your state because of your public support for wisconsin's governor. and yet here you iqve a much lower unemployment rate than the national average, 6.7%. your unions aren't strong, they're not widespread, and you said and there are others who have said that virginia's recovering from the tough economic fallout. do you think other states should emulate virginia? >> well, the beauty of our democracy, contessa, is we've got 50 governors, a couple territories, and they make their own choices. i can just tell you, virginia's one of the 22 right to work states, it gives us a great competitive advantage in recruiting businesses here from around the country and around the world. we've had great business rankings, we're fourth in the country now in net new jobs created over the last year. so it's unquestioned that a right to work state does create a greater magnet for business. and so other states have to make their choices. i can just tell us how it's helped us here in virginia. >> that was an opportunity there for a sort of commercial for virginia. hey, governor, i've got to ask you about politics. senator jim webb announced that he's not going to seek a second term here. you're a republican. who would you like to see run for that seat? >> we've got two candidates already, former senator george allen, who is a terrific governor. great senator. i think he's got a great chance to secure the nomination. we have the head of the tea party running. maybe a couple of others. but virginia's shy with my election, picking up about 18 points. we're a right of center state and it has certainly been a good trend for republicans the last two cycles. we've got a great chance to contribute to winning back the u.s. senate with a win here in virginia. so i'm not picking any favorites yet. i've got 140 seats up for re-election in virginia this year. that's my focus. >> governor, good to see you. thank you for your time today. >> thanks, contessa. with his country divided and now under a violent siege, libyan leader moammar gadhafi is bizarrely blaming the ongoing unrest in his country on bin laden bolin. he says bin ladenç slipped you people hallucinogenic drugs which he claims is now leading them to revolt. those same rebels are vowing to take tripoli and capture gadhafi. right now there are essentially two libyas, one controlled by rebels opposed to the regime. the other, a no man's land where loyalists are waging a deadly, violent fight against protesters. nbc's rich eveningle is in libyd has more on this. >> reporter: gadhafi loyalists were reportedly firing at random in the libyan capital, now a war zone. thousands of foreigners are struggling to leave tripoli. the airport is crowded, but flights are few. it's unclear how many have been killed in the fighting in libya so far. but mass graves are already being dug. moammar gadhafi is still believed to be in tripoli, but he hasn't been seen since his rambling, angry speech tuesday. but gadhafi's world is shrinking. there's now another libya, firmly in rebel hands. we drove 300 miles into libya, a journey through rebel territory. we have now left tobruk on the highway heading west. most of the cars we've seen have been going in the opposite direction, toward the egyptian border. clearly, people leaving and taking everything with them. the terrain is harsh, mostly scrub and desert. but the highway is new. we were able to move fast. we quickly reached a city on the mediterranean coast. suddenly, we drove into a protest. children were up-front. they shouted "free libya!" as men behind them cheered "the people want to topple the regime." they are all saying the same thing, gadhafi must go. the demonstrators covered our car with a libyan flag, the old one flown before gadhafi took power. the protesters were mostly friendly. they believe media coverage helped overthrow the governments in tunisia and egypt. but there were a few hard stares in this city with a reputation for islamic militants. we left the city at dusk, still heading west. in the next town, we were surprised again, by demonstrators on top of an armored personnel carrier, a war trophy. protesters say this armored vehicle was being used by gadhafi's forces to shoot on the people. now they have taken control of it and are driving it themselves. the rebels are now armed with heavy weapons, to show they're prepared to use them, some fired guns in the air. nearby, we were taken to a house to see a half dozen men, prisoners captured three days ago during a previously unreported major battle. the prisoners, all libyans, surrendered to save their lives. they looked despondent, and understandably nervous. they told us they'd been fighting alongside foreign mercenaries who were summarily executed by the rebels. the rebel-controlled libya is leaderless, chaotic, and harsh. but also determined to advance to capture tripoli. defections within gadhafi's armed forces are an ongoing problem for the regime. there were reports that two of his pilots pulled the ejector seat and refused to fire on the city of benghazi. gadhafi still does have some power, but so far, it has been very difficult for him to use at least his air force. back to you. >> richard engel reporting there. well, it's no secret the military uses psychological operations, trying to win hearts and minds of people in other countries. turns out they're being accused of using it on american lawmakers. it's now the west coast's turn to deal with a snowy mess, and in san francisco? and a beauty queen's battle over her crown comes to an end, at least for now. be right back be right back. [ male announcer ] america's beverage companies are working together to put more information right up front. adding new calorie labels to every single can, bottle and pack they produce. so you can make the choice that's right for you. ♪ so you can make the choice that's right for you. what are you looking at? logistics. ben? the ups guy? no, you see ben, i see logistics. logistics? think--ben is new markets. ben is global access-- china and beyond. ben is a smarter supply chain. ben is higher margins. happier customers... everybody wins. logistics. exactly. see you guys tomorrow. it's a big legal setback for wikileaks founder julian assange. an australian judge says the hacker can be extradited to sweden on sexual assault charges. he denies the charges. his legal team is expected to appeal that decision within a week. another massive recall to tell you about from toyota. accelerator pedals could get stuck under floor mats or carpeting on more than 2 million toyota and lexus vehicles in the united states. toyota's recalled more than 14 million vehicles around the world over safety issues since 2009. the number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in more than 2 1/2 years. the labor department says 22,000 fewer people applied for benefits last week. that's the third drop in the past four weeks. san francisco might see its first snowfall in 35 years this week, and snow's already blasting parts of the pacific northwest. a strong snowstorm shut down parts of western washington state last night. the weather channel's chris warren is in seattle today, how's it looking out there, chris? >> reporter: well, contessa, where i'm standing right now, it's not looking too bad at all. a little bit of a dusting. i am in downtown seattle. in fact, some of the streets are already wet. as long as they dry up before the overnight hours, we won't have any icy conditions. but that is downtown seattle, where i am right now. outlying areas, some of theç suburbs, we're talking 6 to 8 inches. talk about roads being shut down, that happened yesterday. some of the heaviest snow. south of town, east of town, some of the higher elevations, some of the higher suburbs withe withes, closer to a foot of snow. here in seattle, 2 inches officially at the airport. record low yesterday, it's only going to get colder. this cold air is also heading as far south as california. can you imagine being in san francisco, looking across the golden gate bridge and seeing some snow on some of those higher hills? that's what we could be dealing with in the coming days? >> unbelievable. even in seattle, they usually get rain there, not snow with the threat of schools shutting down and all that. chris, thanks. life in prison, no chance of parole. that's what a milwaukee man got today for more than two decades of murders in which he killed seven women. 50-year-old walter ellis was convicted last week after pleading no contest to the murder charges. all seven of his victims were strangled to death. dna found at the murder scenes led to his arrest. the police investigation in michigan ended up changing how wisconsin now maintains its dna database. civil unions are now the law of the land in hawaii. the state's governor signed the bill, giving the same-sex and opposite-sex partners all the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. hawaii is the seventh state to allow civil unions. in texas, a new miss san antonio is crowned in a courtroom, at least for now. the former pageant winner, dominique ramirez, sued the organization when they stripped her of her title over allegations she was late to events and did not -- are you ready for this -- maintain her weight. a lawsuit's pending. but in the meantime, a judge says he can't stop the pageant from declaring a few miss san antonio. if you thought gas prices were already high, just wait. prices could just by dollars, not cents. two sisters released from prison early so that one could provide the other with a kidney, that life-saving surgery might have to wait. we'll tell you why. and a cigar smoker can't light up in his own home. you're not going to believe who put the rules on him and what the penalties are. time for the you're "your business" entrepreneur of the week. she knew celebrity endorsements would be big for her company. foregoing a pr agency, she personally got her products into to the hands of the real hollywood power brokers, personal assistants. her purses caught on with stars, lighting up her revenues. hot waffles... the smell of warm maple syrup. honeysuckle and rosemary. the smell of shaving cream. whatever scents fill your household, purina tidy cats scoop helps neutralize odors in multiple cat homes... giving you just what you need to keep your house smelling like it should. purina tidy cats scoop. keep your home smelling like home. but you can still refinance to a fixed rate as low as 4.5% at lendingtree.com, where customers save an average of $293 a month. call lendingtree today. a cop gets kicked off the force after being caught on camera, throwing a thug-like beat down after a routine traffic stop in dallas. it happened after police pulled over a man because his license plates did not match the car he was driving. the officer used bare fists and a large steel flashlight, just pounded on the driver's head and face. then he kicked the guy, blasted him with pepper spray and punched him again. dallas fired that officer for use of excessive force. a former california inmate is suing the sacramento sheriff's department for pushing him face first into a puddle of raw sewage in a holding cell. it was 2008 surveillance video, showing the takedown. minutes before the camera captures images of jones knocking on a cell window to tell officers the cell was filling with a filthy liquid. the department isn't commenting on its officers' behavior. hey, don't mess with mr. "contractic. aç crowd grappled with the vanderbilt mascot and got a punch for it. boy, did he bleed. get that kid a terrible towel. since none of those were available, he used a newspaper. and as for why this scuffle happened, you know what, we don't really know, we don't really care. it was caught on camera. coming up, a shocking report about how the u.s. military tried to manipulate high-profile lawmakers into providing more troops and money. teachers in an entire school district get pink slips, nearly 2,000 of them. but first, hot on the web today and one of the most searched for stories right now, a tragedy for the reality show "the deadliest catch." one of its cast members is dead. homer, alaska, police found justin tennyson dead in a hotel room. the medical examiner has not announced a time of death. have you seen this annoying ad that seems to go on and on forever? i mean, did you do a double take because you thought maybe kim kardashian had moved from pushing sketchers to old navy jeans? actually, it's melissa molinaro, a kim k. look-alike, and reportedly she costs for a less than the original. she's seen her own sky skyrocket. now yahoo! has seen a 16,000% increase in searches for melissa m. kim k. better watch her back. finally, this kid has a magnetic personality and a body, as well. apparently his parents show it off by making the 7-year-old take off his shirt, don the family's silverware and pans. his family forbids him to go anywhere near a computer, because they say it just stops working. they say he's been this magnetic since he was born. look, a microphone on his chest. he'll be a big hit at parties when's older. so benny, i'm proud of you. welcome to the 21st century. thank you very much. you're on e-trade. huntin' down stocks, bonds, etfs. oh i love etfs. look at you. why don't you show me your portfolio? i'd love to... i already logged out. oh no, it's easy, actually, to get back... see where it says history? there's a history? yeah, it'll take you right back to the site you were just on. well the last site... [ british vo ] and now, cycle complete. the male wildebeest returns to propagate the herd. [ animal grunts ] can you forward me this link? [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. to stay fit, you might also want to try lifting one of these. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. it helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ welcome back to msnbc. i'm contessa brewer. sales of new homes plummeted 12.6% last month, almost completely erasing the gains made in december. bad weather likely hampered sales. one of congresswoman gabby giffords' aides is back to work after being wounded in the january 8th shooting. pam simon was shot in the chest and wrist. the two sisters who were released from jail on a kidney swap are too heavy for the procedure. they need to lose a combined 160 pounds and one of the sisters needs to quit smoking before the operation can happen. wall street paid out nearly $21 billion in bonuses last year. the average, $128,530. the fifth highest on record. we continue to follow breaking news involving a terror arrest. the fbi says a 20-year-old saudi student in texas is suspected of planning a terrorist attack using explosive chemicals. the fbi says one of his possible targets included the dallas home of former president george w. bush. with me now is james carafano, the senior research fellow with the heritage foundation. hi, james, good to see you. >> good to be withyou. >> hey, listen, we're just getting some news here that it looks like 20-year-old khalid aldawsa aldawsari, the student in texas, was trying to buy chemicals from a chemical company in burlington, north carolina. it was the carolina biological supply company, and it seems like it was their heads up that got federal investigators involved at this point. good they think on their part. >> right. and that's how many of these cases go down. i just finished reading the indictment, and it appears here that this was not an entrapment case where somebody said, hey, i want to be a terrorist, and they send an fbi agent in and say, yeah, go do that. this was a case where the guy who was actually buying materials and precursors, and they alerted the federal government, who then conducted an investigation, looked at business records, looked at internet files. and then got enough information to arrest him. >> there's no indication that, for instance, the dallas home of george w. bush was an actual target on a plot list, but it was one of the potential places that he seemed to have been researching. it also listed, there were reservoirs and dams in california and colorado. it listed home addresses of three former u.s. soldiers who served at abu ghraib prison. is there anything that federal investigators can learn about the intent from this guy now moving forward? >> right. and this is where it gets a little wacky. and if you look at the indictment, it looks like he's charged for attempted attack with weapon of mass destruction. but the way the law is written is basically building a bomb counts as a weapon of mass destruction. now, if you look at some of those targets, they're completely impracticalica icimp. there's no way this guy was going to build a big enough bomb to take down a dam. that just wasn't going to happen. and there's no way this individual would be able to get a plot sophisticate ed enough t get a bomb near the president's home. so that's just kind of strikingly odd. much of theç other things make perfect sense. he got information on the internet, which is typically how they do that. he made internet communications, demonstrating his intent to harm americans, so there's a lot of this which makes perfect sense. that target list, that just sounds like delusions of grandeur kind of stuff. >> and now he'll have maybe delusions of another kind. he's in custody and no doubt being seriously questioned by federal authorities. james, good to see you. thank you. >> thanks for having me. in new zealand, officials say they have serious, grave concerns for more than 200 people still missing after tuesday's devastating earthquake. it's been more than a day since any survivors were found in the wreckage in christchurch. the death toll stands at 98, and officials believe more than two dozen visiting japanese students were trapped in the rubble of the canterbury television building. they don't believe those students survived. general david petraeus has ordered an investigation into a "rolling stone" magazine article that reports psychological games were used on u.s. senators and dignitaries visiting afghanistan. nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon right now. this report is utterly jaw-droppi jaw-dropping, jim. >> if it's true. and that's still hanging out there. even the reporter himself in the article says, at the very least, what general william caldwell did when he called on the psychological operation officers to take part in this exercise, or whatever it was, was to take them away from their war-fighting mission. but here it is, essentially. pentagon officials, general david petraeus, are taking the charges very seriously, that general william caldwell, who is, in fact, in charge of training afghan security forces in afghanistan, which using psychological operations officers to manipulate the message, to try to convince members of congress, like senator mccain, senator levin, and maybe even admiral mike mullen, according to this story, to support the addition of additional u.s. forces to train still more afghan forces.ç now, that's not only inadvisable, it's against the law to use psychological operations against american citizens. but some officials here in the pentagon, as they're scratching the surface, say it could have been, and we're saying only that it could have been the fact that lieutenant general caldwell may simply have asked for more data that helped him shape the message that it was not aimed at lobbying or manipulating or a decision by any of these senators. so apparently, we're going to have to wait until this all plays out. >> all right. jim mic klaszewski at the pentagon, jim, thanks very much, appreciate that. >> you bet. the fbi's dedicating at least six agents to the investigation into the disappearance of missing oregon boy, kyron horman. kyron disappeared last june from his elementary school. the fbi agents who are helping out are profilers who specialize in child abduction cases. so far, the investigation has cost nearly $1.5 million, but so far there's been no physical evidence. at the end of the year, school could be out permanently for every single public school teacher in providence, rhode island. officials are sending pink slips to all of them, 1,926. providence mayor angel taveras joins me now from cranston, rhode island. it's unlikely that the city is going to fire every single one of its teachers, so why did pink slips go out over single one of them? >> well, the reason that they went out to every single one of them, contessa, is because we have to, under state law, give them notice by march 1st if there's going to be a change in their status. if we don't do that, then we're responsible for paying them for the next year, whether we're teaching them or not. we can't afford that. so the best step for us to take was to send out a notice to each and every one of the teachers as we make some very difficult decisions about which schools we're going to close and what we're going to do to really go after a deficit that we have, and also educate our kids. >> this is a troubled school district. there are 48 students at central falls high school who have grauhted, only 48%. right now, 7% of the 11th graders are proficient in math, only 7%. and it looks like the school district is facing a $40 million deficit. so as you move forward, is it all about saving money, or is some of this about destroying a system that obviously is not working and starting from scratch? no, well, central falls has had some issues to the north. here in providence, we're struggling, certainly, with educating our kids. this is about first and foremost the fiscal crisis we find ourselves in. it's going on around the country and we simply cannot afford the -- some of the things that we've been doing. and a $40 million deficit is something that's very significant for us and we have to close. and the other thing i'm going to make sure that happens, though, is that in the front of every single classroom, we have a qualified and exceptional teacher leading that classroom. >> mayor, how do you do that? >> we do that by making sure that in front of the classroom and the teachers that we bring back are ready, prepared, and willing and able to lead those classrooms. this is about us, more than anything, closing the gap, being fiscally responsible and educating our kids. so this gives us a little bit more time to make those decisions as we prepare our budget for the next year and it also -- we're complying with the state law, which we're required to do. >> no doubt nail biting for those teachers who wonder whether the pink slip they got now is actually going to go into effect once the school year ends. mayor, thank you so much for coming on and explaining things to us. appreciate that. >> thank you, contessa. cities across the country are enacting smoking bans in several places, including bars and public parks. but now one new york city man isn't even allowed to light up in his own home. the "new york daily news" says neighbors sued harry license last month over the smokey cigar stench coming from his apartment. as part of the agreement, license will now smoke his cigars elsewhere. and if he's caught smoking inside, he has to pay a $2,000 fine. it's msnbc andç prime-time like you have never seen before. "morning joe's" joe scarborough and mika brzezinski appeared on the nbc drama "law & order: svu" last night. >> amazing video. the secretly taped footage shows annette cole, ceo of luscious grape, a manhattan liquor distributor, verbally and physically harassing the company's ceo, ellen saysland, who was found dead in her apartment three days ago. >> now, our producers tell us that msnbc received this package, apparently sent by the victim herself -- >> and it wasn't just joe and mika. if you look closely, you can see -- >> video surfaced showing shocking abuse committed by ceo net cole. global cole withdrew their half billion dollar offer for luscious grape, citing their morals clause. >> tamron hall also got an appearance on last night's show. so my colleagues are not only journalists, but actors as well. prince william and kate middle don make their first joint appearance since announcing their engagemented. and details of "discovery's" last mission. hey, if you're not happy, don't fake it, because it just might have the opposite effect on you. according to a new study, people who force a smile and pretend to be happy actually make themselves feel worse. they get into a bad mood, then they withdraw from work, and women, more so than men. i'm so skeptical about this. okay, a doctor analyzed a group of bus drivers over a two-week period, came up with the findings. let me tell you what, if old studies all say if you smile, you'll feel better, because your brain can't take the dissidence between the way you act and the way you feel. on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health. now mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months, she's done. more or less. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply and get a free gift. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. you have frequent heartburn, right ? 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why not get away and book a royal caribbean cruise at royalcaribbean.com today? why not get away and book a royal caribbean cruise diabetes testing? what else is new? you get the blood, hope it's enough, it's-- what's this? freestyle lite® blood glucose test strip. sure, i'll try it, but-- [beep] wow. yep, that's the patented freestyle zipwik™ design. it's like it-- [both] targets the blood. yeah, draws it right in. the test starts fast. you need just a third the blood of one touch.® okay. freestyle test strips. i'll take 'em. sure. call or click-- we'll send you strips and a meter, free. can't i just have these? freestyle lite test strips. call or click today. i'm andrea mitchell. coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," the latest on a possible terror plot in texas, where a saudi college student has been arrested on suspicion of plotting to carry out attacks here in the u.s. on his list of targets, the dallas address for former president george w. bush's home. plus, we'll be talking with the editor of "rolling stone" about whether the army tried to use psy-ops against senators visiting afghanistan. and your exclusive first look at the "national journal's" new cover as they roll out their annual congressional ratings. we'll see you in 15 minutes. a powerful blast at a chinese chemical plant tops our world view. it took firefighters hours to douse the flames at a fuel city in eastern china. the force of the blast knocked out power to several nearby communities. people reported smelling gas before things blew up. violence flared during some anti-government rallies in greece yesterday. protesters hurled rocks and fire bombs at riot police who tried to break up the athens rally. cops s responded with tear gas d flash grenades. the rally was held in support of a strike to protect government austerity measures. hey, congratulations, young royals. it's a boat. prince william and kate middleton christened the launch of a lifeboat in wales. the prince and bride to be poured bubbly on the vessel, because it's an inflatable boat and really, you can't break a bottle on rubber. tomorrow, the two will visit the university of st. andrew in scotland, which is where they met.ç unrest in the middle east is threatening to drive prices at the pump through the roof. analysts say the average barrel of oil is already in the triple digits and that could push fuel costs as high as $5 a gallon come summer. but if you ask the average driver, the cost of gas during a daily commute is already a pain in the wallet. sam marglan is the vice president of equity research. what are analysts doing in terms of watching closely what's unfolding in the middle east and applying to it what will happen here? >> right, well, the first thing to look at is whether or not the capacity will be met with spare capacity from some of libya's partners in the organization of petroleum exporting countries, namely saudi arabia. saudi arabia is really looked to the swing supplier in any sort of disruption. so the first thing will be to assess how quickly saudi arabia can replace those lost barrels. >> and also whether saudi arabia remains stable. the king is taking measures ahead of a major revolt there. he's trying to make sure that there are new poverty measures in place to meet people's demands, so that they don't see a repeat of what's happened, for instance, in bahrain. how much of a linchpin is saudi arabia in terms of being calm and stable and not seeing the kind of chaos we've seen elsewhere? >> it's everything. libya had limited trade partners. its supply really was focused in italy and other close mediterranean neighbors. saudi arabia, though, is responsible for exports to every major consumer in the world, including the u.s. >> there are some estimates now that we could actually see oil hit $220 a barrel. do you think that's farfetched? >> it is right now. the first blush has been to 100 and some international grades have been to 115 in this initial phase of reactions. 220 would imply a real shortage and an extended draw of inventories. >> we're showing -- if we can go back to that other graphic where we showed the 2008 price per barrel at $147. i remember gas prices wereç about, what, four bucks a gallon. so if we did see $220 a barrel, we're talking about how -- how would that translate to gas prices? >> that's over $6 a gallon. it's unsustainable, really. you would see extreme measures by consumers to reduce consumption and demand would fall by as much as 2 million barrels a day, which would replace more than what was lost by libya. >> in terms of industry, obviously, the trucking industry is keeping a close eye on this. what other kinds of businesses in the united states are watching this closely, because of the trickle-down effect that it means for the economy? >> certainly airlines, jet fuel has already become a pinch for airlines. and if they begin to cut capacity, cut flights, that could be something that could head off this move in oil prices at the pass. >> and are we seeing that passed along in terms of consumer prices? >> yeah, just to stick with airlines, they've been passing through fare increases pretty steadily. thoughts are they're starting to hit a wall in that regard. and pretty soon, flights will get cut when ticket prices can't really go any higher. >> sam, i appreciate you coming on and give us a little perspective into what might happen here. >> thanks for having me. here's a look at what's happening today. anu getta petway will be in a new york court this afternoon. she's being arraigned on charges of kidnapping carlina white from a harlem hospital in 1987. carlina tracked down her biological parents 23 years later. the space shuttle "discovery" is expected to set off on its final voyage this afternoon. liftoff set for 4:50 eastern. more on that in three minutes. and the president and first lady are celebrating black history at the white house tonight with a motown sound concert. performers include smokey robinson, natasha bettingfield, sheryl crow, and jamie foxx. [ ] [ man ] ♪ if you got worries then you're like me ♪ ♪ don't worry now i won't hurt you ♪ ♪ and if you got worries then you're like me ♪ ♪ don't worry now i won't desert you ♪ ♪ [ continues ] [ announcer ] when it comes to the things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. insurance for auto and home. call or click now for an agent or quote. in just about four hours, space shuttle "discovery" is scheduled to blast off on its last flight. nasa began fueling the shuttle just after sunrise this morning. and the weather outlook has improved to a 90% go for liftoff at 4:50 eastern time. nbc's jay barberie is live at cape canaveral, florida. i mean, this kind of -- well, this is a bittersweet moment, isn't it for you, jay, to have covered the "discovery" shuttle lifting off so many times. i mean, this was the shuttle that was first back into space after both of those major tragedies, "columbia" and the "challenger," an incredible day. >> reporter: it's the workhorse, that's right, contessa. as you said, "discovery" has been called on to do about everything, and now it's scheduled to do its last flight. that's 39 flights if it goes off today. there's been 139 space shuttle flights, and 31 flights before that with "mercury," "gemini," "and apollo." so this is flight number 164. and after today's flight, there'll be two more. you have "endeavour" and you have "atlantis." and they have to get them in this fiscal year. right now they're on the schedule for april and for june, but they're likely to push into the summer. but, yeah, people here are beginning to think, this is it. you know, this is going to happen. it's over with. and they're really wondering what's going to be in the future. there's so much up in the air at nasa now. no one really knows where they're going. the congress passed a law for them to build the heavy lift vehicle. and what's happening is that they'reç wondering, what are ty going to take astronauts into space with? and they've got a new rocket that's just been proposed to them. it's called "liberty." and what it does is it uses the same solid rocket stage that's on the shuttles that have flown 207 times successfully. it uses an upper stage aryan five, which launches from french guyna, andaryian 5, the french rocket, the european added to it, they can put into space any spacecraft that's being built and it's a commercial approach. it costs $400 million plus to put the shuttle up there, contessa, they can do it for $180 million. >> but is nasa disappointed about this? jay, when you're talking to nasa folks? >> yeah. well, i don't know if they are or not. because this just came out. now, the facilities are already built here. they have already flown this twice. it works perfectly. it has the record of history. and they're sitting there saying, what is a no-brainer, like, are we going to fly something else or look at this or what are we going to do? i think what we're going to do here, contessa is say, let's see what happens. i want to see what they can come up with to say, why we shouldn't fly this, because it's so obvious. >> right. so nasa, jay barberie's listening. he's waiting for a decision here, folks. thank you, jay. good to see you. and we're watching for that shuttle liftoff again here this afternoon. you'll see it here on msnbc. i'm contessa brewer, thank you for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." andrea, hi? >> hi, contessa, thanks. we'll have the latest on breaking developments in texas, where a saudi college student has been arrested on terror charges. plus, general petraeus investigating reports that a top general in afghanistan used psy-ops to influence senators visiting the war zone. and who is the most conservative member of congress? some surprises. and brewed the coffee. we heated the bathwater and gave kelly a cleaner ride to school. cooked the cube steaks and steamed the veggies. entertained dad, and mom, and a neighbor or two. kept watch on the house when they slept. and tomorrow we could do even more. we're cleaner, domestic, abundant and ready now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power today. learn more at anga.us. what was i thinking? but i was still skating on thin ice with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering medication, fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. lipitor is backed by over 18 years of research. 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