[John Berman, Cnn Anchor:] Hello everyone. I am John Berman in for Ashleigh Banfield today. And from Capitol Hill to the courthouse and maybe to prison Jesse Jackson Jr. is not the first law maker to make this journey but he's the one pleading guilty as we speak. No bail yet for the blade runner but the defense scores some points as new details emerge from the death of his model girlfriend. This used to be the place to see and be seen in Kansas City. Today it is a smoldering ruin and a woman is still unaccounted for. But we begin at this hour at the D.C. courthouse where Jesse Jackson, Jr., son of the civil rights icon, former Democratic congressman from Chicago is pleading guilty to skimming actually, make that shoveling money from his campaign coffers for personal luxuries. We're talking $43,000 for a Rolex watch, another five grand for furs and cashmere clothing, eight grand for two hats once owned by Michael Jackson, almost $10,000 for children's furniture, five more for a football autographed by U.S. presidents. That's a lot of money, $750,000 in all illegally diverted and due to be paid back. And you know what? That's not all. CNN's Lisa Sylvester is outside the courthouse. We're not just talking money, Lisa, here. We're talking about the possibility of jail time.
[Lisa Sylvester, Cnn Correspondent:] Yeah, that's right, John. In fact, the proceedings are still going on as we speak. I just came out minutes ago. They are all inside the courthouse. He is in the process right now of pleading guilty. He faces one charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements. That carries a maximum of up to five years in prison and also a $250,000 fine. And I can give you kind of a sense of what is going on right now in the courthouse. First of all, his father, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr., is also in the courthouse, also arrived today. His wife who is also facing charges for filing a false tax return, she has her own separate hearing this afternoon, but she is also in the courthouse as well as Judy Smith. And this is a name that is quite familiar here in Washington. She's the crisis manager, famous for cases like the Monica Lewinsky case, many famous cases where, essentially, she comes in and helps the defense. So, we're going to see what happens as far as how much time he actually ends up getting. It's going to be ultimately up to the judge. But the judge did he came in. He was sworn in, so all of this was under oath. And the judge wanted to get a sense of his state of mind. He asked him questions, for instance, have you been seen by a doctor, which, as we do know that Jesse Jackson, Jr., has been seen by a psychiatrist. And, so, they went through this whole process essentially to get to his state of mind. He acknowledged he was fully aware of what he was doing, fully aware of the court proceedings. And from here we're going to continue on and see what happens next. Another interesting little tidbit I can tell you, John, is during the court proceeding which lasted about 20 minutes before I had to come out here, so it is, as I said, still ongoing, but there was at least four times during those 20 minutes where Jesse Jackson, Jr., looked back and it looked like he was looking directly at his father, at one point even giving a little, small smile to his father. So, we're going to see how this looks at the end of the day. It's not clear if the judge is going to sentence him today. Typically, the judge will take a few days. And like I said, Jesse Jackson's wife will be back here in the courtroom for her own proceeding around 2:30 Eastern time, John.
[Berman:] You brought up Jesse Jackson, Jr., the congressman's state of mind. Of course, he took a very long leave of absence for what he called bipolar disorder. And then he ran for re-election. He won, but then he quit two weeks later. This has been quite a year for Jesse Jackson.
[Sylvester:] Really. And it's been more than just a year. You know, if you look back it was actually remember the Blagojevich, the whole scandal of whether or not the seat, the Senate seat that was vacated by then-Senator President Obama. So, he was wrapped up in the investigators first started looking at Jesse Jackson, Jr., related to that and then, from that, came this broader investigation that led to the misuse of campaign funds which is why we are here and where we are at today, John.
[Berman:] This seems to be the end of the story in some ways. Lisa Sylvester in Washington for us today, thanks very much. We're going to talk about this case with our legal experts, Carrie Hackett and Darren Kavinoky, later this half-hour. Meanwhile, a massive explosion blows the roof off a popular Kansas City restaurant during happy hour. At least 15 people were hurt, and this morning the search is on for one person still believed to be missing, a woman who worked there. Here's CNN's Ted Rowlands.
[Ted Rowlands, Cnn Correspondent:] The explosion, which witnesses say could be felt blocks away, instantly engulfed J.J.'s restaurant, sending debris, including glass and bricks, flying through the air. Flames towered into the sky and black smoke could be seen for miles.
[Beth Shelly, Witness:] We just live two blocks down and we just felt our building shake and we thought that a car had really ran into our apartment.
[Rowlands:] There were reports of the smell of gas an hour before the explosion. Fortunately, several people inside the restaurant were evacuated just minutes before the blast. The cause is still under investigation, but according to the gas company, a contractor doing underground work may have struck a natural gas line. After the fire was put out, dogs were brought in, in case there were additional victims.
[Chief Paul Berardi, Kansas City Fire Department:] I would always fear there are fatalities in a situation like this. When we got to the scene, we had a fully involved restaurant that had patrons, probably several patrons, inside at the time of the incident, and so that's why we're here searching as we are.
[Rowlands:] The injured ranged from people who were hit by flying debris to those who suffered severe burns and are now fighting for their lives. And, John, this morning, as you mentioned, they continue to search for this female employee who is still missing. They are moving some material away from the scene. You can see them up in that cherry picker there, getting an observation, a high-look at the area, and then they're doing to bring in some cadaver dogs once they've cleared some debris searching for this woman's remains.
[Berman:] Ted, they're just extraordinary pictures of the flames. It was so hot they had to call off the search at one point overnight?
[Rowlands:] They did. Because they first searched the perimeter of the area and what they could on the actual ground of the what was left of the restaurant. They said, as it became dark, it became too dangerous to have the dogs there, so they suspended the search until this morning when the sun came up and now they're back at it.
[Berman:] All right, Ted Rowlands, thanks for that, in Kansas City for us today. Meanwhile, gas prices are up for the 34th day in a row. The new national average is $3.77 for a gallon of regular unleaded. Analysts say there is no relief in sight, higher oil prices, refinery closings and optimism about the global economy, all helping to push those prices up. China's military says it did not carry out cyber-attacks against the United States. The denial comes a day after a Virginia cyber-security firm released a report about a hacking collective it claims has ties to the Chinese military. So, it claims this non-descript building in Shanghai is the home to some of those operations. This is what happened when a CNN camera crew tried to get some shots of that building, chased away by security guards. Interesting, to say the at least. One of the pope's final acts could be changing the rules on succession. A spokesman says Pope Benedict is considering a change in the Vatican constitution to allow cardinals to vote for his replacement sooner than March 15th. The pope is stepping down at the end of this month. So, hardcore gamers, listen up. You probably already know what's coming. Sony unveils the Playstation 4 today. It has been more than six years since Sony debuted the groundbreaking PS 3. You know, since then, the company's been losing market share to competitors. The PS 4 reportedly will stream games, online. All right, you have to get ready for another blast of wintry weather. Snow and ice are accumulating right now from California all the way to Wisconsin. By the time its over, the Plains could see up to a foot of fresh snow. Chad Myers is in the CNN Weather Center. He has the latest. Chad, we've been talking about a lot of snow lately. Anyone talking about the "B" word, blizzard, this time?
[Chad Myers, Ams Meteorologist:] Not yet, but I think it's certainly going to be there. There will certainly be blizzard conditions. We just don't have warnings out there just yet. We're going to have a lot of snow on the ground. Winds are going to be blowing 30-, 40-miles-per-hour, so ground blizzards, very low visibility, I-70, I-80, I-35, maybe even 29 and 25 here in the Plains. A lot of snow coming down from Salina back toward Goodland. This entire pink zone right through there, that is a foot of snow or more and, to the south of here into Arkansas and parts of Oklahoma, we will have a pretty significant ice storm, as well. The triple threat, the third part of this threat, is the chance of severe weather. This happens in the winter-time. We're almost we're moving into spring. You have spring-type weather on the south side of the storm and blizzard-like weather on the north side. That's just how it happens. It's warming up down here. We're already getting into February, almost into March. That severe weather starts to pump up. The warm air starts to come in from the south as the cold low comes in, snow on one side, severe weather on the other. We'll watch the severe weather for you. Even for tomorrow, there may be a few tornadoes in the forecast, John.
[Berman:] We will keep watching. Moving into spring, Chad, we will have to take your word for that. Chad Myers, thanks very much.
[Myers:] You're welcome.
[Berman:] New revelations in the Oscar Pistorius hearing, information the defense says will prove the "Blade Runner" acted in self-defense, so will he get bail? We'll have that in just a moment.