♪ >> welcome to al jazeera. i'm john siegenthaler. today's top stories. in three hours, the government will shut down unless members of congress can reech reach a com. the affordable care act parts of which go into effect tomorrow. senator harvey reid i hear -- harry reed is speaking on the floor of the congress. the standoff conned throug stanh

the night and into the moratorium. the president assures mr. netanyahu, despite warming relations between the middle east and his country, he addresses the u.n. general assembly tomorrow. at least 48 people suffered injuries today in a train collision near chicago. two chicago transit authority commuter trains crashed. an empty eastbound train struck a train stopped. that's the latest from al jazeera, you can get more information on aljazeera.com. >> on america tonight, shutdown slow down.

>> it doesn't have to happen. it does not have to happen. >> also tonight another deadline as the president's health care plan opens for business. answering america's questions about obamacare. and a political revolution by a political revolutionary. shukwe lamumba's office from africa to america. >> i have no problems speaking of revolution.

and good evening, thanks for being with us, i'm joie chen. less and less hope to head off a partial shut down of our government. this is the first time this has happened in 17 years. as you probably know the stalemate between republicans and democrats arose over obamacare, there have been many check and check mate moves in the past couple much days, as the republicans tried to defund or at least delay the implementation of obamacare. the bottom line is that the federal budget is being held hostage and as a consequence, at midnight what are deemed nonessential aspects of government will be defunded. federal workers on nonessential roles will be on furlough, prohibited from even using their cell phones, while the government is closed.

costing our economy $1 billion a week. if the strike drags on the estimate for four weeks will be in the estimate of $55 billion yanked out of our tepid recovery. the irs would suspend all help lines, food assistance programs would be shut down, could be shut down anyway. the government backed home and small business loans suspended, visitors would be locked out of the smithsonian museum, and services like that. what will not be affected? social security, unemployment, medicare, all of those would keep coming. those essential services, homeland security, air traft -- traffic controllers would stay on the job and the mail would still be delivered. one other very important group is active duty military,

paychecks will keep coming. as late as this afternoon, mr. obama told reporters he is not resigned to a shut down insisting there is a way to work this out. >> there is a pretty straightforward solution to this if you set aside the short term politics, and you look at the long term here, what it simply requires is everybody to act responsibly and do what's right for the american people. certainly we can't have any kind of meaningful negotiations under the cloud of potential default, the first in u.s. history. there is not aworld leader, if you took a poll, who would say that it would be responsible or consistent with america's leadership in the world, for us not to pay our bills. we are the foundation of the world economy.

and the world financial statement -- system. and our reserve is the reserve currency of the world. we don't mess with that. >> the democratically controlled senate sent a funding resolution back across the hill, instead offering back a one-year delay on the individual health insurance mandate. >> we believe that everyone should be treated fairly. and so we're going to move here in the next several hours to take the senate bill, add to it, a one year delay of the individual mandate on the american people, and get rid of the exemption for members of congress. it's a matter of fairness for all americans. the house will act this evening and we'll send it over to the united states senate. >> indeed that's where a vote has been taking place.

if all the back and forth on capitol hill makes your head spin, imagine al jazeera's mike viqueira. there was another vote? >> indeed the house just voted moving at lightning speed to send the measure back to the senate. like back and fort a tennis match or a ping pong match. this is what house republicans voted to do on pretty much a straight party line, just minutes ago, john boehner pointed out, voted to make members of congress and their staff to pay the freight in full, the premium support, the contribution he that most people who are employed by a large organization like the united states government get, they will not get it, staffers and members of congress here under this house provision. but no matter we are back on c span 2 from c span 1, they are

moving at lightning speed, and in the course of 15 minutes i don't think i've ever seen anything like it, they stripped out all provisions and we saw what the house did this afternoon and evening, they are already voting going to send it back to the house before midnight, probably an hour and a half to go to avoid a shut down. what happens from here joie anyone's guess but there are indications that the house gop leadership may are willing to give in. we're going to see what that looks like. could be a full scale revolt among the congress joie. >> we'll take this up on the notion that there is something. boehner, is he able to strike some influence on these tea party folks?

>> he's backed by tradition and mathematics. this is true whether you are democrats or republicans, joie. you pass that with your party, the minority is largely ignored. it would pass but would do so with the help of democrats and frankly it may sound odd but that simply is not done. you have a speaker of the house who has to get 218 votes. he's got 233 republicans. if he loses more than 15 of them, he lost. he's got no options. there is a solid block of tea party conservatives that number in the dozens, perhaps 70 or 80 that don't want him to pass something that doesn't defund or delay obamacare in some way. so the decision he is going to have to make by the end of the day, perhaps tomorrow morning or the wee hours is is he going to bee stray that core constituency, of any politician

or leader, and that is the conservatives, the bedrock conservatives, the true blue conservatives within his party, pass it with the help of moderates and dare we say even democrats. that is dilemma that john boehner faces. >> if we were to reach outside the beltway, perhaps people are not focused on these machinations. as we are here in washington, d.c. do they see it of more than political theater? there is a lot of blame thrown around, that's been the most productive of this, that everybody got to say it's everybody else's fault today. >> the country's shut down, as dramatic as it is going to be, will be nothing, will pale in comparison, when the congress has to vote to raise the debt ceiling.

if you talk to members of congress as i have over the last several days they say yes this is tough. but there is at least a way out of a government shut down, they don't see any potential for a solution on the horizon for debt ceiling. so whatever the case may be joie people are still going to be shaking their heads at the paralysis and gridlock. the power of the purse, to fund these agencies, there are 12 spending bills that are due by every october 1st, the new fiscal year. this year congress has passed exactly zero, joie. >> indeed, i think the folks add home will get that message, vick. al jazeera's mike viqueira there. here in the studio we want to move on to our guests. we'll talk about the new gallup government poll, saying 40% of the americans saip president obama is acting responsibly.

nancy cook is the economic and fiscal policy correspondent for national journal and kevin, we were talking about this before we came on here and this notion that folks do not get it, do not understand the focus here. >> it's an excellent point. compared to a ping pong match, americans don't watch ping pong nor this either. i think you alluded to it. it falls right along partisan lines. if you were a democrat you would look at this like the crazy tea partyers, holding it up and not letting things move forward. if you are a republican you would look at it as a gross overspending with obamacare. we are just 17 days away from the debt ceiling. the last time we had a government shut down, longest one we ever had was 21 days. it will be wrangled in the debt

ceiling and people will pay attention then. >> part of this has to do with speaker boehner's future as a leader. what is going to happen as a result of this? is he going to being seen as a power or what? >> it depends on what happens in the next few hours but if there is a government shut down there will be some sort of public revolt as it's understood across the country. >> start to feel it. >> exactly. 85% of the government workforce lives outside of d.c. this is not just going to be a d.c. story. these people will not receive their paychecks, consumer confidence will be hit. kevin said we have the debt ceiling again in 17 days and although a lot of americans are right now not entirely sure what a government shut down means they do know that they don't really like congress. there was a new cnn poll that came out today, congressional

approval rating is 10%, that's really, really low. a growing number of people see republicans to blame if there's a government shut down and john boehner will get wrapped up in that. >> an john boehner, trying to serve his far right base, trying to keep them in line is going to end up with a difficult problem to fill going forward. let's talk about the economic effects. when we say it's 800,000 people, that's hard for people to comprehend. how many people are really going to be affected? what is this going to mean to people's lives? we will see market effects across the board, right, market effects? >> this could reverberate on wall street. moody's had a report that said if this drags on for more than a couple of weeks we could see the gdp for this quarter shrink by

1.4%. we are inching out of this economic recession. i think you hit i.t. right on the head -- hit it right on the head, nancy, that's the largers perhaps the biggest problems that i've heard from speaking with folks not only wall street analysts but main street analysts as well, this larger area of consumer uncertainty. >> what do you have with consumer uncertainty and stock market uncertainty? >> people won't want to spend money, buy new cars or shop for new houses and these are areas of the economic recovery that we're just starting to get better. people were buying these big ticket items and so it's just people maybe more conservative with their money and then of course businesses, unemployment has been a huge problem throughout this recovery and businesses may sit on that money and sit on their profits and be slower to hire people if they are sort of wondering, what is washington going to do? we don't know what the long term

economic policy outlike is going to be. >> it might be hard for somebody on maint main street to figure t what's happening at their own homes. you have some doubt what you're going to do with your own expenditures. >> of course. >> how to plan next, particularly with those 800,000 people most affected with that. what about the debt ceiling, lets say they are able to resolve this, does this put speaker boehner in better stead? >> i think way back to january with the first fiscal cliff, whatever is decided i think we could see an incident where we had another manufactured debate in january if the budget is pushed forward and delayed a little bit until january, fiscal cliff round 2. but with the debt ceiling, there's two main things i think folks are going to be watching

for. number 1 will they tie obamacare to the debt ceiling and number 2, will the republicans be able to pin this to a larger narrative for them of government spending? i was speaking with senator bob corker republican from tennessee today and he said that he thinks that republicans will be able to go on offense with the debt ceiling because the public is on their side of reining in government spending. senator corker just clashed with speaker boehner though. >> everyone i talked to no one has any idea, unlike previous crises, people aren't negotiating behind the scenes. like president obama and speaker john boehner, they're not talking to each other. the group of senate republicans who had been talk to the president and having those friend reply dinners, those

negotiations have fallen apart. it is hard to see who are the people who come to the table to cut the deal let alone what does the deal look like? >> we saw this in the senate, with senator mcconnell who has been awol. >> we saw senator john mccain walking out of a meeting, the animosity that senator cruz and senator mccain had. he was really quiet, and we asked him senator what mapped? it's up to the house at this point is what he said. who is making these rank and file members fall in line, i don't think there's anyone. >> it speaks to a larger debate going on in the republican party, not just house republicans, national party strategists, should they keep harping on these budget

questions, a big deal, or other things in order to let's say try to win the white house in 2016. and what's happening right now and this big fight in the house over what's appropriate and whether or not you should shut down the government is the latest manifestation of that. >> not the last one. thank you both for being here. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. >> ahead upon america tonight a seemingly skeptical ally after his historic phone call. israel warns president obama not to fall for iran's sweet talk. coming up after the break.

he is fighting for his baseball life and some $46 million. a-rod and all of his attorneys were there fighting his 211-game suspension. the hearing is expected to last less than five days, after that the group will decide to uphold, reduce, or overturn the suspension. if the suspension is upheld, rodriguez would lose some $32 million in salary, and he wouldn't be back on the field until he is 40 years old. the big story tonight, people, the rays will be taking on the rangers in a tiebreaker in arlington, so we

decided to bring in our mlb columnist rob parker. >> and welcome back. i'm joie chen and you're watching america tonight. in an historic phone call between president obama and rawrn's new ruler hassan rouhani friday, seemed to open the door between united states and iran. but an easing of tensions is making iran's archenemy nervous. israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu met with president obama today. warning him. >> timing they say is everything, and timing it seems was not on israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's latest trip. for one, his meeting came days after a symbolic if not historic turn in relations between the u.s. and his country's arch rival, iran. the first direct conversation between an american and iranian president in more than 30 years. >> i spoke on the phone with president rouhani, of iran. >> something of a public relations coup, as he signaled taking the two countries in a new direction. israel has not been charmed by the new tone from iran, something netanyahu made clear when he left for the u.s. >> i will tell the truth in the face of sweet talk and the

onslaught of smiles. >> look for the president's undivided attention he couldn't have picked a worse day. >> mr. president, thank you for greeting me and my delegation with what i know is a very busy day for you. in washington today there are many things on your plate. >> the meeting yielded few surprises, president obama stuck to his direction. >> it is our intention to resolve these issues diplomatically. and netanyahument credible threat and those pressures that have brought iran to the negotiating table. i also believe that if diplomacy is to work, those pressures must be kept in place. >> netanyahu is due to head to

the united nations in new york tomorrow. prime minister netanyahu has been known for his use of theatrics and the use of props. the word verify should be paired with the words distrust. jubilant attitude in u.s. diplomatic circles, having the weekend for the u.s. public to digest this, is there anen indication how the u.s. public views this? >> it is that 87% of americans view iran as a country unfriendly to america.

three quarters of americans believe it is much better to negotiate than not. that is been consistent since 2009. jaw-jaw is better than war-war. >> better to talk than to fight. the timing, particularly for prime minister netanyahu, he came with a message, ready to deliver the message and at the very moment the ground sort of moved under everyone's feet. >> it has moved in ways that would seem impossible just a month ago. we have weapons inspectors, who are preparing to dismantle syria's program and get rid of those chemicals. impossible a month ago. we have iran now making nice and suggesting that it is prepared to engage with the west in a way in which i.t. has not in a -- it has not in a long time. there are the long standing problems in the region the big props of refugees and the ongoing syrian war and the role that iran is playing in that

war. but these things are in play in a way in which they have not been before. >> meanwhile the prime minister arrived, keeping on message, make it clear you just can't trust these folks from iran, you can't trust rouhani. >> there is no surprise that the shin vet had arrested an iranian are agent at the airport who had pictures of the investigative agency in his phone. who knows about that. >> isn't skepticism from israel's point of view in some sense justified? >> yes, it is justified. iran has had a program that has gone on for a long time. the west believes it has not been truthful of that program, that it has assault to conceal that program and the west still

believes that the intention is to acquire and use a home made nuclear weapon, that's the reason for the words verify and distrust in the same sentence. >> from the israeli point of view they are looking at how rouhani's issues are received at home. all politics is local i guess. >> all politics is local. for rouhani this is not going to be a cake walk. he represents only one faction of the power struggle in iran. he has been criticized by the head of the revolution guard, who basically said why did you take that phone call from president obama? what did you get from it? the time is not right. when he arrived back in iran he was greeted at the airport of years, death to america, people throwing shoes at his car, the

highest form of insult in islam and only a few cheering. how he is able to move forward in the coming weeks and months with depend on what the domestic atmosphere is. >> america tonight political correspondent sheila macvicar, thanks so much. walking you through obamacare, what you need to know about the online insurance marketplace, coming up next.

hi, my name is jonathan betz,

>> and now a snapshot of stories making headlines on america tonight. the daunting mission of destroying syria's chemical weapons has begun. inspectors from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons is making its way to syria where they will dismanipulatdismantleabout 100,l

weapons. bp after denying confusions lawyers for bp said there was no way to prepare. billions of dollars of penalties are at stake in this phase of the trial. the justice pharmacist has filed a suit against the state of north carolina. shorter early voting window and the strict photo i.d. requirement seclude minorities. to enforce a section of the voting rights act that was struck down in june. the argument over the federal budget goes hand in hand with the argument over the affordable care act, commonly known as obamacare. under that law, most americans will be required to have health insurance by next year. tomorrow the health insurance exchanges which is at the heart of the president's plan will be open for business. a point the president made clear

today. >> the affordable care act is moving forward. that funding is already in place. you can't shut it down. this is a law that passed both houses of congress, a law that bears my signature, a law that the supreme court upheld as constitutional. a law that voters chose not to repeal last november. a law that is already providing benefits to millions of americans in the form of young people staying on their parents' plan until they're 26, seniors getting cheaper prescription drugs, making sure that insurance companies aren't imposing lifetime limits, when you already have health insurance. providing rebates for consumers. when insurance companies are paying too much money on overhead instead of health care. those ings this are already happening. >> it is estimated that 7 million americans will use the health insurance exchanges to buy their coverage but while tomorrow is a significant milestone about obamacare, it is

not the only thing you need to know about it. people have questions. joining us is jane o'donnell, consumer reporter and economist. and jay, and dr. corey hebert. jane i want to start with you and go through those frequently asked questions that everybody has because people are coming back to obamacare and trying to understand how it works for them. the bottom line question is: who needs obamacare? >> that is of course politically charged. but who is this, the exchanges, who are they opening for? >> who are they for? >> they are opening for the uninsured. if you are uninsured you can start to buy, enroll in insurance tomorrow, october 1st. you have to be -- in the country legally and you have to be uninsured. there is even a glitch that if you get insurance through your employer and it's unaffordable,

you might be able to buy insurance but the glitch means it's so confusing you neat to go to healthcare.gov or a navigator and have them explain it to you. >> do you have to enroll in the insurance? >> yes and no. if you don't you have penalty and we'll get to penalties later. you have to or you face a penalty. but you really should if it's going to be less expensive for you to have the insurance than to pay the penalty. and you need -- you should at least everyone who is uninsured should at least go to the website for the state or federal government's website and at least find out how much it would cost. because there could be so many subsidies osh tax credits or it could almost be free or about $50 a month. >> it cosh affordable for a lot of people -- it could be affordable for people who don't have it. for people who say i'm going to take a chance and not sign up.

what are the penalties? >> it wouldn't hit you until 2015. for an individuality would be $95 or 1% of their income. but that would go up quickly. for fams that's much higher for an individuality would be about two -- consume it would bees 6.95 or 2.5% of their income. so it's not insignificant. so buying insurance might be cheaper. >> well, okay. phil i'm going to ask you, help us map out the time line of things. we keep saying tomorrow's this big day but it's really just the beginning in the time line. >> exactly. tomorrow is not a deadline. it's only a deadline for federal government and the staights to have the websites up and running and people to enroll. the first real deadline people have is december 15th. you have to enroll by december 15th and pay your premium if you have one to have coverage on new year's day january 1st. if you miss that deadline you're still okay.

open enrollment in the first year runs through the end of march. as long as you sign up by march you could still have coverage and individual mandate to meet the requirement to have conk. >> then we start looking to penalties. all right. one of the big elements about obamacare if you look at it in its most positive light is it's supposed to protect the people who have been left out in some way and that has to do with the kinds of conditions that they deal with or expenses they already have. >> right. the law was meant to expand coverage to 48 million americans without health care coverage. not everyone will, illegal immigrants with it not have coverage, despite all the federal subsidies that are going to help people between having the poverty level and 400% of poverty level, 16,000 to 46,000, if you fall in between that

you're going to get government assistance, but some people it won't help. the whole law was meant to help expand coverage to people and this is going to make a major dent in that. >> and make it more affordable to people. so when you look at what are the premiums based on, for a lot of people it's just the premiums have become so costly. how will the premiums be calculated under this law? >> right. the one major benefit that's new that starts in january 2014 is for people with preexisting conditions have for years and years been shut out of the market. insurers don't want to take the risk. diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis. that's gone, no preexisting condition. doesn't matter. the only factors that matter now to buy insurance are where do you live, what's your age? do you smoke? and then depending on what your

income is it will determine how much of a subsidy you have. that's all that matters. the rates are coming in and surprisingly we have seen rate shock but not as much as what poandz o opponents of the law sd it would be. with income of $50,000 in some cases their cost for premiums could be about 30 or $40 a month. coming in much lower. does this mean that everybody will be cheaper and affordable, no. in some cases -- >> more affordable for people. dr. hebert, you have reached out to your patients, what are you saying from those folks, what are they telling you about what they understand about the exchanges. >> i will tell you this. they need to get insurance. insurance is so important because it makes the difference between you being on a hospital bed or being on a hospital floor. it is very real. people are nervous and scared

about the missed information that has been propagated throughout this entire thing. we know insurance is important and people need to hit the exchanges. people are angry because they have to pay a little more in taxes. the middle class is angry because they're paying so much for all this insurance, not sure if they're actually going to have coverage and the people that are the actually working poor they're upset because they don't really understand this stuff and they're just anxious. it is not difficult. it's just like buying car insurance. don't get it twisted. you have a car, you got to buy insurance, match it up with things you need for your family and you buy it. most of the obamacare, affordable care act has nothing to do with the consumer. it has to do with insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and medical devices. don't freak out women i need you to mark sure that you march in the streets for obamacare because for the first time your

premiums are not 40% more than men. that's a big deal. >> hang on a second here because i want to talk to you a applicability about how we help people understand what is available to them. >> sure. >> part of this has been the navigators, this is designed to be a way really for individuals to understand what they could or could not get, right? >> right. even though online? initially this was talked about signing up for health care is as good as going to expedia and buying a plane ticket, that is not the case. but for a lot of people it's going to be something new, they need somebody to point them in the right direction. under the law there are these, quote, navigators who are getting federal funding to help people go where they need to go. they'll tell you what options there are, what websites to go to. toll free numbers, go online for web chats and you can go on

healthcare.gov -- >> part of the problem is it is complement. dr. heberth, it is going to make it very different than from in maryland where i live, this is going to be a different process. >> it's going to be different but not necessarily complex. when we let people think that oh my gosh i'm going to go on here and not know what to do, it's not a lot different than the things they have done before. it's that they have to take a activity role rather than passive. if you can read and find a navigator which you should be able to do, you can have affordable care which is the whole concept of this law. >> jane do you hear from people that it is difficult? >> people are saying that it is confusing. it may be more complex than buying a plane ticket, it certainly is. one of the things i like about it is if it's the call center if

the navigate arors are restrictn your state, so often as consumers if we get inside a store or car dealership we get talked into things. >> it's interm dating. >> it's good, people have the beauty of waiting for six months, going without insurance for a while, you could spend four months trying to figure out which plan you want at least two or three until december 15th. >> and we have a little bit of time here. >> and you have people to talk to, that don't have a vested reason to help you out. >> we want to thank all of you for being with us. jane o'donnell, phil galewitz and dr. corey he corey hebert.

>> how a man with a track record is leading the largest city in mississippi.

>> 50 years ago, the world's attention was on mississippi as the struggle for civil rights heated up across the state. as america tonight's adam may reports veterans of that movement today are celebrating the election of a new mayor in jackson, mississippi one with a radical history. >> in the reddest of red states with a notorious civil rights history, this man may be the most radical elected official in the united states.

>> the reality is that revolution is a good idea. it's not a bad idea. >> shoque mamumba, a revolutionary of a black nationalist organization and now the mayor of jackson, mississippi. >> how you doing? >> we caught up with mayor lamamba, as he adjusted to life as the mayor of the largest city in mississippi. >> i made a lot of mistakes, he's a man who's there. >> hey what's going on now. >> the mayor's radical history hasn't scared away his supporters. in this diner in jackson's south side they line up to shake his hand. >> what do you think of the new mayor? think he's fantastic? >> mississippi is still racially divided. president barack obama only won

about 10% of the white vote he e in 2012. and the state has not elected a black politician to statewide office since reconstruction. lamamba's political journey began at a young age. as a child he was deeply affected by the death of emmetttill. >> 14 years old my mom opened the jet magazine and showed me the bob of emmett 'til, she said shoque, america has a problem, america's problem is racism. >> in 1968, the assassination of martin luther king pushed him to take action. >> where were you when mlk was assassinated? >> when mlk was assassinated i was in kalamazoo.

western black university, took over the administration building chained it up and said we couldn't get a martin luther king program at western michigan then there weren't going to be any programs in western michigan. >> la mumba joined the republic of black africa. >> at the time you have to remember we were locked out of government. so it was very important for black people to have a spot on earth that they controlled some land and economy. >> is that still a good idea? >> yes. the republic of africa's idea was to go straight to the u.n. and vote on national independence. with the voting rights options we have now we can try to do some of that self determination work inside the american elects ral system. >> in 1971, the republic of new africa movement met sproinlt

resistance. it was here that they engaged in a shoot out. lost his life right here in front of the home. >> unfortunately, some of the people in the republic of new africa had been attacked by fbi. and the jackson police. part of the counterintelligence program. so they were trying to shut down what they called the black movement in america. they attacked the house that some of our people were living in and the people had to defend themselves. >> the mayor makes no apologies for his beliefs. >> well, i'm a change agent, i wouldn't know what i would do if i wasn't fighting for change. >> revolutionary? >> revolutionary. i don't have any problem talking about that, it was what king talked about and jesus christ talked about. that's what we have to have, dynamic change in order to make society better. >> black americans overwhelmingly voted for president obama but to the

mayor, the president is too conservatively. >> no disrespect to president obama, but i'm one of the people that got him where he was. president obama never stood in front of the klan and said you're not going to march here. i've done all those things and more. >> the mayor said the president should address historical and continuing discrimination against blacks. >> he should be talking about reparations, i know people think that's ridiculous in some respects but it's not ridiculous. you can't have everybody having collection agencies working on deadbeats, but people who have been deprived of their rights to so long, and place in society has been determined based on those deprivations, are it's not about having a black face in the white house but the character and the ideas in the white house that's going to change the world. >> i think if obama had a little bit more of shabwe lamumba in

him, i think a little bit more progress would have been made. the thing about la mumbak he would call a spade a spade. >> he says the new mayor natured a tradition of black militancy in the south. >> we had been talking about black power and what black power really meant. so the other thing is that you had people from over in louisiana which was called the defense for defense that had cock through here, and they tbleefd in the rights of black -- believed in the rights of black folks to carry guns and defend themselves. so all of that was tied into the black power or the nationalist movement. >> that history has people in jackson's mostly white suburbs

worried about mayor lamumba. james hendrix is a person who talks more about black politics. >> he hates whitey wants to run whitey out of town, that's what they see, either real or imagined, that's what they see. and it scares the hell out of them. they're comfortable. they have a nice home and go to a nice private school. they're not used to that, you know. >> whatever, la mumba got 85% of the sproat in the last election. this used to be the economic heart of jackson's black community. lined with shops and businesses but today it's a shell. millions of dollars have been spent on redevelopment efforts and they failed. only two business here in three city blocks. >> you have 80% of the population is black.

business ownership in the black community is a minority. and we only get 1% of the business proceeds, okay? so that's a recipe for disaster. >> the mayor's solution is to overhaul the way jackson does business with contractors. >> what we're going to do is to make sure that our jobs are not outsourced but they are insourced. so we make sure that the companies that come from here, jobs for jacksonian program, minority contractors from this town are respected and they get an opportunity to get jobs. >> do you think you can change the culture of mississippi? >> i think i can be part of a change. i think that jackson has to be part of the change. if you have got 40% of your population that is not being treated right economically you cannot progress as a state. >> if mayor la mumba succeeds,

it may change the past but even his conservative opponents respect him. >> let's say, racism was a lot stronger than it was now. a lot more segregation, a lot more discriminate descrim that tri practices. he's the kind of guy like me who doesn't hesitate to throw a punch, he's not going otake it, he'll say what he thinks. i can respect that. they want the schools fixed the roads fixed, the crime fixed. if he can deal with that, i don't imagine they'll disagree. >> trouble at the watering hole. herding poachers for their latest deadly acts against elephants.

millions who need assistance now. we appreciate you spending time with us tonight. up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. why l.a.'s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the entertainment industry there. next. s2úq@eñsy$x

>> a disturbing report tonight. elephants are inching closer to extinction. as a recent sinister plan in zimbabwe wrieps over 80 elephants off the map. i've riivory poachers.

target elephants with a new attack. >> these elephants were poisoned by poemers using cyanide. there are more carcasses inside the game park, ten poachers have so far been arrested. >> it's gone on so long, we cannot allow it to go any further. we will not allow the poachers to succeed. we have seen the jailing of some of the criminals, upwards of 16 years and anybody involved in this industry, in this poaching exercise will not escape our justice delivery system in terms of sending them to prison. >> more than 90 dead elephants have been found. officials believe their tusks have been sold to delirious in asia where ivory is in high and

in. some of the cyanide was put into the water but it's impossible to see where the contamination has started. this is a huge game park, more than 4,000 square kilometers. plus you are dealing with animals. you can't put up a sign that just says please don't drink the water. government officials say they are struggling to deal with poaching because of targeted sanctions imposed on zimbabwe by western civilizations, almost ten years ago. >> the downstream effect of all the other animals that are probably going to die and perish because of this, also by being poisoned is absolutely alarming. i would like to think that parks are doing their very best but they are constrained because of their financial condition at the moment.

>> zimbabwe, there's no way where or when poachers will strike next. >> that is it for us on america tonight. if you want to comment log on to our website, aljazeera.com,/america tonight. you can meet our team, get sneak previews of the stories we're developing and get involved in social media. have a good night.

>> welcome to al jazeera america i'm john siegenthaler. here are the top stories. tonight it's looking more like the government is going to shut down. no siren of a deal to avert a shut down right now. at the united nations, syria's prime minister said, the conflict is not a war but a war on terror. u.n. inspectors start the process of verifying and eliminating chemical weapons tomorrow. two popes will be joining the list o