russia had paid for his political rise and for his political party. they had worked to install him in power. they totally controlled him. he was their guy. that was how russia controlled ukraine. they controlled the ukrainian president. they installed him in power and told him what to do and he did it. and russia, of course, didn t want ukraine to have better economic ties to the west. they didn t want ukraine to have any ties to the west. they wanted ukraine to only be tied to russia. and so when ukraine had the opportunity to sign on to this pro-european trade deal, russia didn t want him to do it and russia s guy in ukraine, this very corrupt, very compromised pro-russian president said he wouldn t sign that trade deal with europe. he said instead he would sign a knew one with russia. people in ukraine did not want that. they wanted to stop looking east. they wanted to look west instead. so in response they started protesting. in november of 2013. and a few months into it,
here. it is presidents day today, february 20th. presidential historian gonna be with us tonight. she s gonna be with us here live very very much looking forward to that conversation. but it was on this date, which won february 20th in 2014 when the group they call the heavenly hundred was killed. it was actually 118 people, call them the heavenly hundred. the youngest of them was just 16 years old. the oldest of them was 83 years old. it all happened as the culmination of protests that had started the previous november, people were protesting in ukraine. because the government of that country had had the chance to sign on to a big trade deal with europe. a deal that was expected to have big economic benefits for ukraine, it was definitely something that would bring ukraine closer to europe. closer to the west. people in ukraine frothy war, really looking forward to. it this is a popular thing they very much wanted it. but the president of ukraine at the time decided he was
warning about scenes like this one. huge crowds, huge of spring breakers gathered on florida beaches prompting major concerns at another avoidable surge could be on the way. we ll have more on that in a moment. and the biden administration kicking off its nationwide tour to sell its $1.9 trillion economic relief plan. that is just moments away. let s begin though with our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen on the state s opening up morning eligibility for vaccines today. right, poppy. it is getting easier to get a covid-19 vaccine. many states are changing the eligibility requirements, widening them. take a look at a smaterring of states and see what they re doing. for example, in alaska, they re saying you just have to be over the age of 16 in order to get a vaccine. in california, they say anyone 16 plus that has certain health conditions and so on and so forth. just getting easier. so because there is more vaccine out there, the federal government and the nex
the biden administration wants to see made permanent. so, i think this is part of building that for them. and the questions are whether or not they actually get there, but also how the execution of it goes. so, that s how you saw president biden say he s tapping gene sperling, this long-time democratic economic aide to oversee the spending here. he was talking about how when he oversaw the stimulus bill in 2009 amid the great recession, how crucial it was to just be on the phone, have these conversations at a granular level to make sure there is no fraud or abuse or mis-spending. i think that s the next big tactic for them to go after because, of course, republicans are going to be watching very closely for any kind of a misstep and if they haven t properly communicated it. be cautious, fullcourt press, that s number one. number two, what s the story out of the cdc today? we re getting new reporting that some of the covid guidelines put in place by the trump administration
admin administered yesterday alone. nearly 70 million americans have gotten at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine, which means one out of five americans has received a shot. this as those $1400 stimulus checks are starting to hit bank accounts. despite the progress being made, thoupds of people are traveling and attending spring break events across the country. many not wearing masks. no protection. masks and social distancing don t seem to be priorities. health officials are warning of the potential consequences. saying the next few weeks will be critical in determining if we ll see another surge. even though the numbers have gone down, over the last couple of weeks, they ve plateaued and when you see a plateau at a level as high as 60,000 cases a day, that is a very vulnerable time to have a surge to go back up. we can avoid that, if we continue to vaccinate people, get more and more protection without all of a sudden pulling back on public health measures. all right.