i believe last year it was $2.74 and last week, it went up $0.17 overall. but overall, the here it is. last sunday, $3.35. this sunday, $3.50. last month, $3.12 and last year, $2.74. this is like the largest gain, one of the largest gains ever. absolutely. and here s the way it works. is for the country to be able to tap into this and it s 727 million barrels along the gulf coast, president has got to declare an emergency. he has not done that yet. at the same time, the president in the past has said, you know, we ve got to break our reliance on foreign oil. how do you do that? you do some drilling. we re not doing any. so we re in a pickle and the president could have done something about this over the last two years but has not. one of the interesting things is to put it into a personal perspective is the gentleman who picks me up every morning told me today that he had to work on saturday this week and will continue to do so, work six days
important city of zawiya. zawiya is just 55 kilometers from tripoli and close to oil platforms in libya. much of libya is believed to be you should under opposition control. and the u.s. is watching to see if sanctions will have any impact. the u.s. and britain are freezing the assets of gadhafi and his inner circle. governments around the world condemn the regime over the bloody crackdown against protesters. in the meantime, many libyans are rushing to banks for cash. the government s handing out about $400 to every family in an apparent bid to cling to power. what about those prices? emily? well, the unrest in libya and the middle east has been rocking oil markets. oil is still trading at more than two-year highs. nymex crude is up $1.12, going for about $99 a barrel in electronic trade.
gas prices hit their highest levels in history for the month of february. $3.12 a gallon, that s about 50 cents above last year s average. and it s one reason to maybe get excited about this green slimy stuff. scientists say fuel made from algae is cheaper and cleaner than crude. msnbc s environment and science expert jeff corwin recently checked out a start-up company that s already testing it in cars. reporter: it may look like your ordinary science lab, but the workers here are consumed with only one thing algae. we got a behind-the-scenes look at their algae production from start to finish. company co-founder harrison dillon was our guide. what we do in this room is we screen algae to find out which strains make oil and make a lot of oil and make the right kind of oil. this is our fermentation lab. this is where the action
stents in oil prices. at the last check crude was $85.25 per barrel, a 25% jump integral prices and national average, $3.12 as the tensions rise across this part of the world and those numbers coming from aaa, up 3 cents from the last month and up 50 cents from last year and a live report from the region is coming up, minutes away. and we are bracing for what could be a complete government shut down, republicans today launching a new push, with their budget blueprint, and if they can t compromise, the continuing resolution ends and the stand-off begins to keep the government open and that is how we start a brand new hour of america s newsroom, i m martha maccallum. bill: i m bill hemmer, good morning. martha: good morning, bill. bill: awaiting a news conference, in an hour the president will talk with reporters there. no doubt his budget and the events unfolding in egypt.
they dropped the ball? it s an interesting point and will be raised in her defense. a couple weeks before she had been trying on a diamond earring in the store and tried to walk out. a clerk stopped her and said, hey, you ve got the earring off. she took it down and put it down. defense will say she s absent-minded, didn t know what she was doing. as i say, if most people did this, there would be no question. it would be considered a theft. obviously there s going to be an argument as to whether she intended to steal or whether it was some sort of ditsy celebrity accident. like the issue of clept maniac or she s a space cadet. i think she is a space cadet, i have to say that. thank you for that. all right. paul and the dress was nice but not appropriate in court. no. well, maybe not. it looked good. yes, it did. at the gas pumps, prices are hire than they ve ever been this time of year. the national average is $3.12 a gallon, about 50 cents higher than a year ag