welcome to al jazeera, i'm john siegenthaler. here are the headlines. diplomatic talks are underway in geneva concerning syria's chemical weapons. john kerry says syria's soul promise is to get rid of its chemical weapons, but that's not enough. president obama says he is confident diplomatic talks will work but there is still the possibility of military action. satellite images show steam rising next to a nuclear reactor in north korea. historic flash flooding in

colorado has killed at least three people. rising water have toppled buildings and stranded motorists. a string of other towns along the so-called front range are especially vulnerable to mud slides tonight. twitter tweeted that is it going to public. some analysts say twitter could be worth as much as $11 billion. that's the news at this hour. "america tonight" is coming up next. ♪ ♪ on "america tonight" -- from the fbi's most wanted list, the

man known as the american jihadi reportedly killed. and what lies beneath as this massive sinkhole continues to grow. we're about to send military capacity into syria because of dangerous gas, and we have dangerous gas right here in louisiana. and the latest attempt to hit the high road. ♪ >> good evening and welcome.

[ technical difficulties ] a new disaster in a place that certainly did not need another challenge. there is heart break again tonight along the new jersey shore. the boardwalk had just been rebuilt a year ago, and it is again in ruins. this time by fire. the ten-alarm fire has been raging out of control. officials say it has taken out all of the boardwalk's 32 businesses. the fire started in a frozen custard shop and spread quickly. new jersey governor, chris christie rushed to the scene. >> after all of the time and effort and resource we have put in to help these folks rebe build, to see this going on is just unthinkable. i know how i'm feeling, i can only imagine how the residents and business owners are feeling. my heart goes out to them. and that's why i'm here to make sure every resource is brought

to bare. >> we'll continue to follow up on the story. the cause of the fire is already under investigation. another area hard hit by nature and man. a small town in louisiana dealing with a growing sinkhole that is getting bigger by the minute. ♪ a million tears >> reporter: to understand why mona sings about heart break on the edge of this bayou you would have to understand about the place she mourns. bayou corn is a remote stretch of southern louisiana, where the trees and spanish moss frame the area. today heaven is not the word

that comes to mind for this area. you are describing a place that is beautiful and yet it is being held together by bandages. >> right now it is being held by bandages that are being ripped up every single day. >> reporter: great waelt lies beneath the surface. there are 53 wells in the salt dump. this well was drilled by texas brine in 1982 and sealed in 2011. at some point after that the side wall began to collapse. the first sign of trouble came in may of 2012. the earth began to shake. and gas bubbled up. on august 3rd, 2012, the ground

began sinking. trees and other landmarks were gobbled up. as the cavern fills up, the resulting sinkhole has grown larger by the day. spanning a little more than 25 acres when we saw it, scientists predict it will spread to at least 40. i'm standing on a man maid levy built to contain the sinkhole. officials here yesterday declared a code three alert, which is the highest form of readiness, after the sinkhole started bubbling and swallowing more trees. what is more terrifying is what is rising to the surface. crude oil, decaying decree, and explosive gases. many residents of bayou corn

have heeded state and local evacuation orders and fled. some who have remained meet regularly for support at the local library. >> they have failed a larger than previously suspected amount of gas in the aquifer, directly under my street. >> reporter: what began has a support group has become a force for organizing, and they have attracted some powerful allies. >> everybody knows about him. the work he has done for katrina, and the work he has done in our military, and now the work he is go -- doing for us. >> reporter: he was responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for the hurricane embattled gulf coast. >> behind that is a event well that goes underneath the bayou, and it is designed to event out

the gases, which is under this area over here where oxy 3, the name of the well that the infraction happened at, has created gas pockets under this community, which has made it dangerous for people to live here. >> reporter: he and a few residents took us out on the boat to show us the beauty of this place, and the hazards they are facing. >> reporter: this is incredibly beautiful, general. >> that's why i wanted you to see it. it speaks to this natural beauty that has been created by mother nature for hundreds of thousands of years. >> reporter: there is risk every single day that these companies are operating. >> it goes beyond risk. i think in some cases it is a gamble. >> reporter: in the last 30 years, 25 communities like this have been lost to industrial accidents or contamination. the general believes with all of that mining, all of that activity going on below, state

regulators have not been tough enough. >> the natural tendency when you approach a lawmaker, is but we got to be nice to this industry. you got to be nice to them. or they will leave. well where are they going to leave? >> sonny believes existing regulations are adequate do you believe there should be more regulations? >> these regulations are pretty strong, and certainly the local regulators, the state regulators were watching this operation, you know, and were aware of everything, and again, we had no event for 28 years. >> reporter: texas brine has offered residents $875 a week while they are unable to live in their homes. but sonny says the damage has to

be weighed against the benefits. >> obviously this situation was up setting, but -- but there are a lot of benefits that are derived from this raw material, this source of sodium chloride that we are delivering to a chemical industry that uses it for so many, many purposes. and i don't say we should automatically accept it as a tradeoff, but at the same time i don't want to go down the road and say, oh, yes, this was a terrible thing to do to the environment, and we were upsetting the course of nature, and we shouldn't do this anymore. >> when you look at louisiana there's just this maze of all of these industries, all of the drilling and production, the pipelines and now the exports. >> reporter: wilma is an environmental scientist and macarthur fellow that has

dedicated her life to helping communities. >> reporter: how common is it to have communities evacuated like we have here in bayou corn. >> when you have things like a train wreck, or a rupture of a pipeline, or an industrial facility that has a big explosion, the people are evacuated. this happens frequently in louisiana. there is a need for, one, more regulations, stricter regulations, and then there's a two for, two, enforcement of those regulations. >> you have human beings and heavy equipment, and things will happen, but this scale, we didn't see that one coming. >> reporter: patrick is the spokesperson for louisiana's natural relations. >> we drafted new regulations in

all activities dealing with solution mining and storage in march or so. if we knew then what we know now, the well might not have been permitted or would have had to be located further inside the dome. >> reporter: is the industry good for louisiana? >> when it is operating like i say as it should within the rules as safely as it possibly can without impacting coastal assets and impacting the community in a negative way it is very good. >> reporter: but the industry has hundreds of accidents every year in louisiana. many minor, but each one increases fears that the long-term health and safety of these communities are in jeopardy. >> grand bayou was two miles up the road, and it no longer exists. a casing to a well broke and gas was shooting like 30 feet in the air in someone's backyard. i think eventually if it

continues they will kill every community along the bayous. >> reporter: increasingly residents complain the state is not doing enough, that it is too chummy with big gas and chemical. ♪ >> reporter: activists staged a protest outside of the industry conference in new orleans. >> in the next three days, approximately staff members from three public agencies will be here at this hotel. those agencies are the department of natural resources, the department of environmental quality, and the department of wildlife and fishery. they will be here to meet with the oil and gas industry, they will not be in [ inaudible ] where people died from an explosion, or in donaldsonville where an expleas killed one worker, or in bayou corn that is

sinking week after week. ♪ >> reporter: people here know how important the oil and gas industries are to their state, but they are beginning to question the cost. with over 150 facilities that manufacture and release toxic chemicals, local it cancer ally. >> in 1988 a 36-year-old with a 3-year-old child i was diagnosed with breast cancer, and that's why we built this home in '99, because . . . because grady said . . . if you do this, and you beat this, you can have whatever you want. so after an 11-hour surgery,

chemo therapy and radiation that's what he did. he built me my dream home. >> reporter: a dream home in bayou corn. once a little slice of heaven. today mostly barron. >> reporter: i have spent my life defending this nation, and when we get attacked from within, thanks that make our citizens unsafe, it certains me as a citizen. well the purpose of government and a democracy is to take care of the people not to protect a company. we're about to send military capacity into syria, because people got poisoned by gas. we have dangerous gases being released every day in louisiana. >> incredible. michael, looking at that, are there people who still live in bayou corn? aren't they in immediate danger? >> yeah, that's a good question,

joie. we believe there are about a hundred residents to still live there, and the short answer is yes, they are facing some immediate danger as we sit here right now. all of this time, the good news if you can use that phrase -- the good news in all of this, is we knew the sinkhole was situated about a thousand feet away from the nearest homes. that's a little bit more than three football fields, but i have been in touch today with some of the scientists who have been monitoring the sinkhole on a daily basis, and they tell me the sinkhole is -- as opposed to gr growing away from the community, just this week started growing towards the homes, and that in fact it is now about 26 acres and counting, but obviously the biggest issue here is the sinkhole had another event, it started swallowing more trees,

but the big dangerous is the danger you don't see the natural gases we were talking about. they are now in the aquifer and we understand they have migrated into people's homes as well as on the roadways and on their lawns. >> very frightening. michael we'll have you to follow up for us. and when "america tonight" continues what can happen when elleder care is out put in the hands of corporations. a fault lines investigation is ahead. we'll be back in a moment.

our next report is a very tough one to watch especially for any of us who have had to make decisions about the care of our elders. but the business of elder care is booming, and while some care homes are caring places, what we fear is often true, there are significant reports of abuse and neglect all across the country.

we do want you to see the investigative report from fault line's correspondent but some of the images are deeply disturbing. ♪ >> reporter: "faultlines" has been contacted by a lawyer in south carolina who says he is bringing a case against a corporation that manages care homes. >> it happened in augusta, georgia. the victim's name is pat manning. we're meeting with his wife nora manning to investigate what hand. nora claims the facility where her husband was sent for care badly neglected her husband. >> this is pat. >> reporter: wow. >> there is mr. manning. >> reporter: pat manning suffered a stroke at the age of 60 that limited his mobility.

>> he was a good man. aha. >> reporter: according to his wife, he walked into the nursing home for rehabilitation that was predicted to last only six weeks. >> he looks so healthy. he was my sweety. >> reporter: nora says that pat wasn't getting the care that he needed. she alleged he was so neglected he developed bed sores, that he was denied physical therapy and lost all nobility. he was dehydrated and malnourished. >> he smelled. his hair was dirty. his butt was dirty. >> reporter: nora took pat home. and he passed away due to infection one week later. >> pat died for no reason. people have got to know what these nursing homes consist of. they are there for a paycheck.

>> reporter: nora's lawyer shot footage of pat's condition before he died. she hasn't been able to watch it. >> >> reporter: you have never watched this video? >> no. i am scared to see it. because i'll want to bring him back to me. >> reporter: uh-huh. this video is critical evidence in nora's case. the images are disturbing. >> i love you with all of my heart. >> reporter: nora is trying to take care of pat. he is covered in sores. the source on his foot are down to the point that the bone is actually sticking out. >> oh, my god, help me. [ inaudible ]

>> reporter: the man in this video is completely unrecognizable from the photos we saw at nora's house. >> this is bad. this is really bad. [ sobbing ] >> i'm sorry. ♪ >> reporter: the medicare review board gave amara only one star. much below average in an overall rating. but despite that low rating there have been no fines or penalties levied in the past three years. and across the u.s. there is little consistency for bad care. >> people ask me why doesn't the state close down bad nursing homes, if that was the case there would really be no nursing homes open. there are times when nursing homes -- it's like a yo-yo

effect. sometimes there's good care, and it goes down, and it's really bad care, and then it goes up. >> reporter: brian lee used to be an independent watchdog for state and federal nursing homes. now he is a whistleblower. >> i have been in nursing homes where the door opens up and i'm blasted by the smell of urine and feces. i have seen residents wheeled to showers completely nude in the hallway. people talking around naked. no dignity whatsoever. i have seen warehousing. this reimbursement based system they are in, as much as 80% of their funding comes from reimbursements by tax pa-- paye. so they get paid regardless of the quality of care. whether it's good care or bad

care. ♪ >> reporter: many nursing home engage with management companies that make some of the decisions at the facilities. we have come to one of them. we are about to conduct a stakeout. basically me sitting outside someone's office, hoping they are coming to work today. hoping we're here before they get here, so maybe i get a chance to ask them some questions on their way in. all ta care is a management group that has operated in nursing homes across the u.s., including amara, where pat manning was allegedly neglected. and the company is also in a lawsuit for allegations of fraud in a home in mississippi. the owner refused an interview.

the only way to speak to him was on the way into his office. the widow of one of the patients says her husband died from neglect. can we sit down and have an interview? >> sometime, sure. >> reporter: can we set the date or time now? >> no. >> reporter: can you answer questions now? >> no ? >> reporter: do you have answers to the allegations that you rashed care. including oxygen bottles? you don't know there's a lawsuit with the federal government about one of your homes in mississippi? he had no comment. none of the industry representatives that we contacted for an interview would speak to us either. >> there's a corporate shell game that conceals who vl running the nursing home. they'll set up a company or an llc to own the property. they'll set up another one that

holds the answer. they'll set up another one that man ages the company, and the goal is to fragment the corporation structure that the lawyer can't figure out who is responsible for the wrongdoing. >> josh talk us to about first of all nora. a lot of people would wonder how this could have happened? >> i spent several days with nora over the course of a month or two, going back and revisiting her. they didn't have a lot of money. she is waitress. her was husband 57 when he had the strokes. so he didn't qualify for medicare. >> but she fought for him? >> pardon? >> but she fought for him? >> sure. so they put him into the nursing home that the hospital recommended. she would go up there and after the waitress shifts and complain to the staff. and you saw part of it in the

story there. there's a website called nursing home compare. on medicare.gov, and you can read the inspection reports. i would definitely recommend doing that before you put your loved one or you go into a nursing home. read the inspection reports. >> thank you josh. you can see more on "faultlines" right here on al jazeera america.

♪ and now a snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight." there are talks underway in geneva on moscow's plan for syria to hand over its chemical weapons. earlier assad said the decision to give up the chemical weapons was the result of russian negotiations and not the fear of attacks. flash flooding in colorado's boulder county has turned

deadly. at least three people were killed. the flooding forced dozens of people from their homes and prompted some swift water rescues. the area is bracing for more rain and flooding. take a break, back with more news in a moment. ♪ earlier assad said the decision people from their homes and

earlier assad said the decision people from their homes and

♪ students in some of the nation's biggest school districts have headed back to class of course this month, but it has been a rough transition for many of them, as hundreds of schools have been shuttered. behind all of this, of course, massive cuts to the budgets in education. to talk about what this means

for the future of public education, we have miss smith from action now in chicago. here on this program we talked a good deal about the reopening of the chicago schools and the condensing of your school district out there. has it lived up to the worst expectations? >> i believe it has. due to the experience i have seen taking my daughter to school, and she is a pre-k student listening to what the other parents had to say, it was a very rough transition. my daughter's school was a welcoming school, and the classroom size went from 18 students to 37 students. it's impossible to educate 37 students with one teacher and no assistant with the budget they gave the school.

>> so you have a little, little girl. you don't want her to accept her into the environment you understand her school turned out to be. was it matter of getting to school? >> my issue comes from me being very involved at the school she was at. i transferred my dauther from that school. the school was within two blocks of my home walking distance. i transferred my daughter to a school which is probably four or five miles away from our home, and i did this because when i initially enrolled my student, it was due to the environment, and with the new system -- with the new school year, when you walked your child to school, you scene a police car, police officers, safe passage workers, and a lot of new faces that if a

four year old asks you what is going on, it must be a problem. and i felt like that wasn't something i wanted my four year old to see from the first day of school. >> yes. i want to introduce dr. charles williams. can you talk us to -- we have heard about ms. smith's experience in chicago, but this is a scenario that is being played out in a lot of place around the country. >> thanks for having me on. and i appreciate the mother for being so brave and sharing her story. this is a common story, unfortunately. philadelphia is paramount, the major of philadelphia went on tv yesterday and begging philadelphia citizens to buy school supplies for kids. we have not made education a priority. >> but i don't understand this, because we as voters, i don't know that there is much we care

more about than education. we vote for education issues, we tell our politicians to lead on education. so how come the cuts get made toad indication? >> we talk about education, but we don't really support it in our communities and homes. one of the biggest we have in education. yes, it's about funding, and teachers need to be responsive, and have technology and buildings that are safe. but part of it starts in the home. kids have to go to school and be prepared to learn, sit still, have social skills, take turns, dealing with disappointment and frustration -- >> so parents have to begin the lessons? >> oh, yes. >> miss smith did you that see? parents

[ technical difficulties ] >> to have meeting with the

principal -- >> dr. williams on this point in particular, a thought of the cuts have been made in schools in low-income communities, where there are a lot of second-generation english speakers. how does this change the dynamic? how does it make it tougher for kids to get educated? >> we talk about funding and kids needing school supplies like in philly. miss smith is right. part of the problem is we don't have enough of the supports in place that say you know what, parents you're welcome here. we cannot educate your child without your support. there is no way you get a child from a place where they are struggling to a place where they have mastered things without the full input of parents. but parents aren't involved because they don't feel welcome. they have to come to the school, and you need all of this

indication. you can't just say i want to get involved, and beyond that it is obligation to make sure you guys are doing right by my kid. >> we see so many school districts, everybody is being squeezed, so many cities are being squeezed. management and educators have to make decisions here. what is going to happen to american public education. >> we have to say to parents we can't do that without you, and yes, in the past we have pushed you out. we vice president come to you and said we need you to be an ally, but second we have to stop saying it's about funding. because in some places it is about the allocation of funding. we spend way too much money on school security -- >> that's a hard argument to make. >> it's true. it doesn't deter crime and it doesn't help with things like

bullying. none of that really improves the quality of life for the students. they don't feel any safer. we do. but they don't necessarily, because a lot of times these things happen when adults and school police officers aren't around. and the community has to decide that education is a priority, and then everything else is built around making sure our kids get to school, that the schools are good and that they are learning. and the last point is, part of the reason why our black and latino boys are failing, 76% of black boys that enter the 9th grade right now in philadelphia may drop out, but part of the problem is the curriculum. what they are presenting isn't cultural responsive. they see images of other people and they can't connect. they have to become culturally responsive.

>> last word to you miss smith on what we can do to get families more involved? >> we can actually stand up and start demanding things that are rightfully ours. our children should not be used as numbers for dollar amounts. our kids are our next generation of leaders, and if we continue to let the politics play the game with our children's education like the mayor of chicago, and all of the elected officials and parents and teachers and principals should be held accountable for letting our children walk into a billing that they know they cannot educate. 37 kids to classroom is unjust. because right now the only thing we can do is stand up and make some noise -- >> i think you are doing that ma'am. and i think that's the way to get a good grade for american education. thank you both so much.

>> thank you. and now we want to move on to an exclusive report on the death of an american militant. he is on the fbi's most wanted list and has reportedly been killed by the extremist group that he left home to join. >> i'm waiting for the enemy to come. >> reporter: in 2006 omar, a 23-year-old american left his family and friends to join the islamic holy war. after climbing the ranks of the al qaeda group, he was placed on the fbi's most wanted list. >> it was so preposterous that you would ever know a person from daphne, alabama --

[ technical difficulties ] >> not in america right now. >> in somali he became known as the american. and began rapping in recruitment videos. ♪ >> reporter: but in march 2012 a visibly shaken omar appeared in a very different type of video claiming the members had turned against him. >> i feel like my life may be in danger due to differences that occurred between us. >> reporter: in april of this year, the state department put a $5 million bounty on his head. he had new allies left, and spent most of his lime hiding in the woods. >> there are lots of dangers to deal with. things are still quite uncertain. >> reporter: but he says he never even thought about turning himself in and coming home.

>> never. maybe if i received a few head injuries out here, i might start having stupid ideas like that, but up until now i'm still sane. i have seen quite enough movies to know how the story turns out. i just pray that god gives me the strength to finish strong. >> reporter: his voice reveals few traces of his southern roots. he grew up in the bible belt where he was raised as a southern baptist. >> as long as i know he's alive . . . that's enough for me. [ sobbing ] >> is there anything that you want people to know about your son? >> i know he loves this country. and he will not do anything that

will harm this country in any way. >> reporter: but that's not how omar state. >> i would say i guess that's probably true of my mentality back in maybe the 6th grade, but not after i accepted islam and realized all of the wrongs america is doing. they are putting people just like me on the kill list for their cowardly drones, and i don't think i should hold back from attacking them. >> reporter: he spent most of the last year and a half hiding in the forest along with three others, including a british convert, omar broke ties with the group, convinced they turned into little more than a gang of bandits. in april he was shot in the neck by a would-be assassin. to the end he was resigned to

his faith, and unrepenitent about his cause, determined not to surrender. he said he didn't expect to live to see september. that report from "america tonight" christof putzel, and we'll have more after the break. ]

♪ finally from us tonight if sitting in traffic is your version of a nightmare listen up. chris bury has this man's story from oshkosh, wisconsin. >> this thing will do highway speeds. even if it is actually interlocked in place. >> it holds the road very, very well. the suspension was tuned for the lightweight. >> reporter: meet karl. his pitch sounds like one you would hear from any car dealer, but he is not your ordinary salesman. for one thing he has got a phd

from mit and sounds like it. >> we realized we had a separation double on our canard that was lifting the front. i was one of those kids that was fascinated with aerospace engineering. >> reporter: karl not only wanted to fly planes, he wanted to design them. and then in college the light bulb went off. >> i started thinking what could i do that would have the potential to have a significant impact on the aviation industry. and looking at the basic problems that pilots face today, the idea of a flying car just made sense. >> reporter: a flying car, on the face of it, not exactly a novel idea. the villains in this james bond movie flu one ages ago. ♪

>> reporter: and george jettison road us to the future way back in the 60s. ♪ >> reporter: still that idea of escaping traffic that can be hell on earth, that idea grabbed karl dietrich and would not let go. >> you are effectively inprisoned when you are stuck in that traffic jam. the idea of a flying car is the idea of being free from that constraint. that's a very powerful idea. >> reporter: the dream from that transition has persisted almost since the car was invented. in fact the very first flying car was produced in 1901, two years before the wright brother took off from kitty hawk. at least 200 people have tried to get those four wheels off of

the ground. >> they achievement is a unique machine. more convenient than any other automobile. >> reporter: in 1973 an investor died when his flying car broke apart in midair, crashed and burned. ♪ >> have you ever been caught in a traffic jam and wished you had wings and could fly away from it all. >> reporter: in 1956 this aerocar came close, but only six were ever built, including this one, and it never took off with the public. what makes you think that after 200 failures you have a chance at success? >> well, times are different today than they were back when the last person came the closest to bringing a product to development. >> reporter: new developments like advanced avionics, and even

gps, have convinced karl that the time is right. so for the past seven years his company that is latin for escape the earth has been developing this working model that is called the transition. how much are these going to cost? >> the anticipated price is $279,000. >> reporter: the target audience, general aviation pilots who fly from one airport to another, pull in their wings, and then drive away. at this year's big air show in oshkosh, karl's transition drew a crowd on the eve of its very first public flight. >> reporter: have you dreamed about owning one? >> oh, yeah. i like the versatility of it. >> reporter: what appeals to a

flying car for you? >> the uniqueness and of course loving to fly and being able to do that from most anywhere would be a real trip. >> reporter: why would the public buy this when all of the other flying cars have fizzled. >> this is the first flying car that can convert within a minute. >> reporter: how long does it take to get the wings extended? >> literally 40 seconds. >> reporter: karl's car was not the only high flyer at the air show. >> you kind of choose what you want to be. >> reporter: consider the maverick. >> we're definitely a flying car. we drive about three times as fast as we can fly, so when the road ends we can definitely fly

over the obstacle. the maverick flying car was designed to be in frontier areas. we needed a rail car do you know buggy that could go through the bushes as far as possible and when we come to a river, ridge, or free line -- rrp -- >> reporter: yes, the tree line. >> we wanted to be able to hop over that. >> reporter: it's yours for $94,000. not far away this hand lettered sign beckoned the sewerous. this 91-year-old has been tinkering away in his garbage -- garage for the last ten

years. >> each will lift 500 pounds. >> reporter: so it's like a little helicopter. >> that's right. >> reporter: but there is a problem. has this actually flown yet? >> no, not yet. it's in my mind. >> reporter: you are a dreamer? >> yeah, right. you have got to be a dream dreamer. [ laughter ] >> reporter: but karl's dream is different. he has more than $10 million from investors, a full team, and a working prototype. on this night his transition gets star treatment as it rolls from the road to the runway in oshkosh. >> this is really exciting. >> reporter: and then the wings extend and the transition undergoes its met -

-- metamoresis. >> this 25 minutes ago was a street legal automobile, but it is in the air now. >> reporter: the test pilot takes a few spins around the airfield. >> the transition will cruise at 100 miles an hour, and on the road it goes highway speed. >> reporter: and the transition runs to the runway. a smashing success. >> this was a huge deal for the company. >> reporter: karl's company has even bigger plans. its concept for a future model that is far more flexible. >> it is a vertical take off and landing, electric hybrid aircraft.

it can fly at over 200 miles an hour, and land and park in a garage. it is the flying car that people dream of. >> reporter: that dream is ten years away karl says, but he plans to begin mass producing transitions by 2016. karl dietrich sees himself more like a henry ford. are you obsessed? >> i could say that, yeah. yeah. i think you could say i'm somewhat obsessed with the idea of the flying car. this is something that has -- in my view it is ridiculous that we do not have a flying car today. >> reporter: history tells us the odds against him with overwhelming. that said, karl's obsession, his big dream is off to a flying

start. and that is it for us here on "america tonight." please remember if you would like to comment on anything you have seen here tonight, log on to our website, aljazeera.com/americatonight. you can meet our team, get tips on what we're working on, tell us what you would like to see. and you can join us on twitter or our facebook page. good night. we'll see you tomorrow. ♪

>> welcome to aljazeera. here are the top stories, a fire still burning tonight on the jersey shore, more than 30 businesses have been destroyed along the boardwalk from sea side park to sea side heights. governor chris christie has a message for visitors. >> do not come here. do not travel, stay away. we are still trying to bring more fire equipment in here. this is something that's going to be going on for quite some time. >> firefighters and residents are being treated. >> people