. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. it's more than 22 hours and counting. right now there's no end to the shutdown. hundreds of thousands of federal workers are not getting paid - but congress is. more frustration as americans mind museums, parks and national monuments closed. >> there was a lot of talk in washington today, but little action. still no agreement. hundreds of thousands of federal employees will stay home

tomorrow, many federal offices stay closed, and americans are beginning to feel the affects. lady liberty is closed and veterans are not receiving care. we cover workers without paychecks in california, nasa operating on a skeleton cue in houston, and reports. >> day one of the federal government shutdown is about to turn into day two. tuesday was spent lobbing blame back and forth on capitol hill. senate democrats are sticking to the pledge to support a clean funding bill. they say while they want the government back up and running, it's not worth tearing apart the federal health care law. harry reid, the majority speaker, called on john boehner to stop the game. republicans are saying that it may be time to talk about passing a clean spending bit without dealing with the federal healthcare law, about the gop

leadership is pushing forward and not giving a lot of ground. tuesday they tried a new tactic, trying to fund three parts of the government rather than a whole bill. they tackled veterans affairs, national parks and museums and the city of dc funding and put forth three bills to found those things. they failed in the house without enough democratic support. democrats say it's all or nothing. the house and senate come back into session wednesday, but are no closer to a compromise than they were when the government shut down. >> it's libby casey reporting. congress is not the only one not willing to budge. the president is standing firm, sending a strong message to house republicans - pass the budget and reopen the government. >> good evening. at the white house there's a belief that it's a matter of time before house republicans will have to cave and pass a clean spending bill taking out all the delay and defunding of

obamacare that they have been pushing time and again, tog be battered back by the senate. president obama took to the rose garden, surrounding by people who would benefit from affordable care act, obamacare as it's known. he spent half his time taking republicans to task for holding the country at ransom, holding the government ransom, continuing the shutdown and heading into a second day because they insist on defunding the affordable care act. he told them to knock it off. >> my basic message to congress is this - pass the budget, end the government shutdown. pay your bills. prevent an economic shutdown. don't wait, don't delay. don't put our economy or our people through this any longer. >> while the president has made private phone calls to congressional leaders on monday, he spoke to all four house and

democrat leaders. he spoke nancy pelosi, but left it to harry reid. the white house is staying away from this saying it's up to house republicans to decide to ultimately pass the clean spending bill. jay carney had an interesting analogy. >> that suggests that the president could take over the house and pass one himself. and he can't. he cannot order or force, call out the national guard to get speaker of the house to put a clean cr on the floor. >> the white house strategy is to wait the republicans out. thinking that john boehner will gave. they'll have to pass a bill, with help from democrats. it will be difficult for john boehner. as far as the public is concerned, they are holding both

parties responsible. over 50% blame the republicans and democrats. back to you. >> mike reporting tonight. republicans in congress could risk political damage. 63% of americans surveyed in a poll says that they disapprove of the handling of the budget debate, 13 points worse than president obama's rating on the issue, according to abc news washington poll. joining us is former montana congressman danny re-burg, a member of the tea party. it's good to speak with up. >> good evening. actually, i'm not a member of the tea party, there was a tea party caucus in congress, there's no such thing as the tea party. >> you're a member of the tea party. >> the majority of americans believe in the tea party concept. they think they are taxed enough already. >> what do you make of what is

going on in washington in the last 24 hours? >> they've both painted themselves into corners that will be diff to come out of. the republicans taking the blame, but the democrats take the hard line saying, "no way, our way or the highway, we won't compromise." it hurts them a little. i think both parties are resulting and the president will suffer as a result of his action, and there'll have to be face-saving. they'll have to open the government. my prediction is the republicans will have to give in eventually. the pressure every day will mount. i think they are making a message, and that is obamacare will fail. there are those that say, "why don't you let it fail under its own weight". it's not good for responsible government. they center to do what they can to point out to the public that

it will fail, it will destroy the health system and affect the economy. they haven't seem to have got enough attention of people that mattered, in the senate and presidency, so they are using this as a way of making the statement. eventually government will open back up. >> right. let me take the two points. you believe that the house republicans will give in. how long will they wait? >> it depends on how long the public sticks with them as far as not - every day that goes by, let's use the small business administration. you have a lot of small businesses that need loans. that processing stops when the government shut down. the problem is you don't just open up the government and its business as usual. loan applications piled up on the desk. do they handle the ones that are oldest first, or prioritise the more important? it will be a mess. that's a small example where the

federal government affects individual lives in the economy. you can multiply that 10, 20, 100 fold throughout the federal governments. as people are affected, there'll be more pressure applied to the republican congressman to go ahead and sign a clean cr. we are not there yet. >> they are feeling some pressure now. if you talk about-face saying, how do they save faith? >> well, frankly, they are right in their message - that is an obamacare is not supported by the majority of americans. they want changes. they put proposals forward. they tried to compromise and came up with a solution of a delay for a year. they are trying to individually fund some of the government, national parks and veteran affairs - and are met with a stone wall. i think it's hurting the democrats and the president. until such time as there's enough pressure... >> it's the law.

it was passed by the congress. you know, you disagree with it - that's one thing. being able to pass - to defeat it and bring something else back is a whole other thing. i mean, i don't quite understand how this is supposed to work? >> well, you know, what is interesting about it, somebody is - has spread the rumour that every law is sank roe sanct. we change laws every day, it's what congress does. >> they haven't had the votes to change. >> not at this time. well, they might. you never know. so that's why they are putting various proposals together. i carried the first legislation to defund obamacare in 2011 - i was the chairman. committee. i did it as they actioned first, because we were told in changing the majority within the house, that's what the people of america wanted. so, frankly, i don't think the

democrats senate and the president is listening to changes necessary. >> so shut down the government. >> that will make our health system better. >> so shut down the government? >> that was not the republicans choice. the president was not ready to come to the table. i heard an interviewer interview talk about compromise, there is no compromise. harry reid says he's not going to consider any other solution, and the president says he won't negotiate. where is the compromise. they are making it difficult to find an adequate solution. >> it's been tried 45 times in the house - how many other times. how much time should congress spend on this? >> you know, as the chairman of the committee i can tell you. i was the one that had to come up with money for medicare, medicade, social security,

obamacare, educational programs. i know the budget well. it's not going to survive. it will fail under its own weight. you are seeing problem after problem. now they've given exceptions to large corporation, but not individuals. it's aify as coe. my -- fiasco, my own senator said that. >> what about people with pre-existing conditions? >> what about what? each one of those can be addressed. we put proposals forward, when i was in congress for association health care plans, allowing the opportunity to trade across state lines. there are things within the health care reform that needed to be done, and we were working on those. but the proposal that was passed when the democrats had control of the house and the senate and the presidency will not work.

>> we'll have you back to continue the discussion. it's fascinating. it continues on capitol hill tonight. good to see you, think you mr rieburg. >> americans expressed frustrations when they tried to visit national parks, memorials or deal with the irs. we have this report. >> in new york, tourists travelled hoping to get a glimpse inside lady liberty had to settle for a view from afar. >> it's pathetic. a lot of people are here specifically to see the statute of liberty. people came from europe and over the world to vacation here and tour these things. it's a shame. >> in washington a group of world war ii veterans travelling from mississippi found themselves fighting to visit the world war ii memorial. >> it breaks my heart, personally. >> this is a stupid. we are here for a day. >> the memorial was closed, park

service employees moved the barricades and let the vets tour yosemine celebrated a birthday. people were turned away. 97% of nasa staff were told to stay home. the gateway arch in st louis locked up - a victim of politics. in chicago, people visiting irs had mixed feelings. ricky couldn't in effect income tax settlement for dozens of clients. >> this is a pretty unfortunate - there's hard-working people that want to, you know, do their due diligence by submitting, you know, their taxes and doing their part, but the government is not doing theirs. >> for many people the effects of the government shutdown were

immediate and sometimes annoying with problems to multiple as the stalemate goes on. >> wall street seemed to shrug off the government shutdown. the dow jones finished up. the nasdaq and s&p saw gains. there's another financial deadline facing washington. the nation hits the debt ceiling in two weeks. if nothing happens, the country will not be able to pay its bills. leading bankers tomorrow meet with the president and are concerned about what that could mean for the economy. i asked real money's ali velshi about the concern. the treasury secretary came out an hour ago saying this will be catastrophic if we get to october 17th. if america misses a bill - they have never done it before - there's a danger it will be more expensive for the government borrow money, and it will trickle down to all of us. >> when they come out of the white house will they say it

loud and clear to the american people, or maybe not for pr reasons. >> i'm not sure. i am sure viewers and american people are biting their nails waiting to see what bankers have to say about social security. this is a mess. bankers are the last guys i want to take advice from. >> treasury secretary said he started to use extraordinary measures to avoid hitting the ceiling and pay the nation's bills. >> if you're going online to find out if you have school closures in the morning, maybe you are looking for satellite data or data on the rivers in your area - noah.gough is down. a lot of websites associated have been shut off for the government shutdown, the national weather service - their mission is to protect lives and property. so we have got data coming in

from the raid -- radars and satellites. in the mean time no noah.gov - you won't see. . we have monitored rain on the texas coast to the pan handle. heavy for new orleans taking the brunt, 4 inches above average. we monitor a storm system with a 50% chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm as it tracks north into the gulf of mexico by friday. we'll monitor this storm. how much rain we are expected to bring into the gulf coming up >> in florida the jacksonville airport is reopening after being evacuated for the past several hours. the facility was closed after two suspicious packages were discovered - one in a terminal, the other in a parking garage.

one had to be rendered safe before the airport reopened. no other details have been provided. >> rolling out and running into trouble. health exchanges field millions of requests with difficulty as affordable care act enrolments get under way. a major move could be underway to remove an icon from microsoft.

many government services were closed today. a key part of the affordable care act, the health care exchanges were open for business. it didn't take long for the federal website in some states to get overloaded. president obama urged americans to be patient. >> we are going to speed things up in the next couple of hours to handle the demand that exceeds anything that we would expect. consider that just a couple of weeks ago apple rolled out a new mobile operating system.

within days they found a glitch. they fixed it. i don't remember anybody suggesting apple should stop selling iphones or ipads or threatening to shut the company if they did not. >> our own david shuster takes a look at the sign-up process. >> hospitals, pharmacies, community centres, libraries, a lot of places helping you sign up for the affordable care act exchanges, for people that don't have health insurance, or who pay yourself. if you have employer based insurance, this is not for you. the easiest way to sign up is going to be by going to healthcare.gov, the website president obama set up. it breaks it down by state. you put in the state, it provides the information, apply now. there's information about how many days you have left to enrol befores facing an irs tax penalty as we will all face if

we don't have insurance by next spring. this is a message that pops up because of demand, interest, curiosity. health insurance marketplace - please wait. there's a lot of visitors on the site. we are working to make sure your experience is better. if you do get through, when the software is better or less people are on the site, it will bring up information. if you click on new york - it has information on how to log in, register. this is a link here in washington d.c. an interesting device is a cost calculator, it can estimate what it will cost you before you sign up. i think you put in your household age, one dependent, annual income. calculate. here it spits it out. $200 from bronze, et cetera.

>> this is the basing premise of the system. it will feel like booking an airline ticket. that's the idea. again, everybody has until spring to get health insurance otherwise you face a penalty. >> the state of washington was one of those with problems as uninsured people tried to log on to state-level exchanges. alan is in seattle with more on that. what happened? >> not much happened the way it was supposed to. some big website problems. washington - one of the 16 states running its own insurance exchanges, and the ceo of the exchange warned us all in the last couple of days that there may be bumps in the road. sure enough, on rollout day there was big bumps. >> this man drove an hour to get help enrolling in a plan. at the medical center where she

comes for care, she didn't get far. we spoke to her through an interpreter. >> translation: they said if i do not get this insurance cover, i'm not able to get all the medication that i need. >> the state's insurance exchange website was overwhelmed by users after it went online, put into what administrators called maintenance mode while they worked on it. more than 50 staff members at this hospital went through one-day training sessions to help patients navigate the options. they, too, rely on the website. rebecca parkers, social worker, was set to go but got the same rude online welcome. >> i came into the office trying to access it. disappointed that it's not up and running. >> harbour view is a level one trauma center where patients use the emergency room as a drop-in doctor's office. administrators hope the

affordable care act will change that. >> we care for a lot of patients without health care coverage. for many this is the first time in their adult life they have medical coverage at all. >> in midafternoon the website came up, but did not function smoothly and the ceo admitted some users would have problems while work committed. >> it was a disappointing day. she is glad to have gotten started but doesn't have answers about the enrolment. >> translation: very excited, and i worry that i'm not able to get it. >> the state has eight approved insurers shopping 46 different insurance plans and the website is the gate way to all that information. tonight, because of the glitches, the state can't tell us whether anyone was enrolled and will have to wait until tomorrow to find out when the website will be online. >> any options for washington

state residents to sign up? >> there are other options. david shuster mentioned some. there are insurance brokers registered with the state. they can do a paper application, and a lot of community organizations and hospitals that can help people get that done. a lot of those folks rely on the website, and the complicated enrolment formulas that it provides to give information and services to people that come to them. it's going to get easier when and if the website is up and running. >> allen, live in seattle. thank you. >> amma zone.com is expecting a holiday shopping season. they are hiring 70,000 temporary workers. that's 40% more than last year. walmart is unveiling its largest

ever distribution warehouse to compete with amazon. the facility why follows the opening of a warehouse in fort worth texas. >> baseball is here. >> the fans in pittsburg are going bananas. the pirates, hosting their first play-off game since 1992. pirates against the cincinnati reds in this one game - winner take all - wildcard show down. >> marlin unloads to the left. the pirates with two home runs from russell, and they are celebrating as we speak. the pirates wrapped it up, beating the reds 6-2 and advance into the nl division series against the st. louis cardinals. >> the government shutdown

messing everyone up, including college football. the air force navy game and army boston college showdown in danger of being cancelled. department of defense suspended travel for intrn col eejiate train. >> black hawks in the spotlight on the ice. unveiling a championship banner against the capitals. >> chicago went on to drop the capitals with a 6-4 victory. all the sights and sounds later, including a celebration in pittsburg. >> thank you. dismantle and destroy. weapons inspectors arrive in syria to take apart the national's capital stockpile. israel's prime minister tells the u.n. that his country will

never let iran develop nuclear weapons.

welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler.

here are the headlines - there appears to be interest in enrolment for the affordable care act. health officials say nearly 3 million people visited the main health care.gov website by this afternoon, people out health insurance has six months to sign up before being fined for being uninsured. the first day of the government is ending like it began - in a stalemate. about 800,000 employees will remain out of work for another day. several republican meshesures that would have reopened portions of the government were voted down. government sites closing have had a major impact on the capital, affecting workers and vis tors. >> the shutdown is expected to furlough 800,000 federal workers across the nation, including tax collectors and food inspectors. >> i don't understand why the

activity of the government should be stopped because of concerns about one aspect of legislation >> the nation's capital is being hit hard by the shutdown because tourism here is big business. visitors spend $6 billion a year generating more than 70,000 jobs. from national parks to national museums, here in the district it was the same story. doors shut, tourists disappointed. >> was this part of your plan, taking a bike ride through here? >> no, it wasn't. but since we can't get into the federally-run buildings, this is the next best way to see what is here. >> virginia crabtree settled for a snapshot outside the smithsonian. she and her father are in oregon. >> our son works for the county.

he could not work. they use the communication system of the federal government. it is amazing how many people in farr-reaching areas of our county, and i assume the world, are affected. >> amazing. and at the world war ii memorial, men who fought for the country had to fight to see the memorial. >> let's hope they solve it. >> for however long the shutdown lasts. >> one of the federal agencies hit by the shutdown is the internal revenue center. some staffers at the processing facilities were sent home. jennifer london is live in fresfresn ( o california at one of them. >> october is not a time people associate with taxes. however, if you think that the

government shutdown does not impact the irs - you would be wrong. 15 october is the deadline for 12 million americans to file their taxes, because they received an extension on their 2012 taxes. what this means is that even though the irs is putting about 90% of its workers on furlough, it employs about 94,000 people nationwide. 90% of those will be on furlough. there is a small contingent workforce in place to process the returns. that will not occur because of the shutdown. they'll process electronic returns. if someone files a paper return and is expecting a refund, they may be disappointed because the refunds will likely be delayed. at this processing facility in fresno, it employs 900 full-time workers, 3600 seasonal workers. they are no doubt being affected - many sent home. it is the story across the

nation with regard to federal employees. my colleague spoke to some federal workers in chicago, wondering how long they'll be off the job. >> thank you. god bless. >> patrick made light of this, using a commuter cup to pan handle for claim outside a federal building. >> a little bit of a protest here, obviously. i'll head home and get work done around the house. >> that might have been the day's agenda for 16,000 federal workers in chicago, heading in to their jobs and told to leave because congress failed to pass a stop gap bill. many were frustrated. >> man, i worry that this will go on for a while. i don't know. >> federal employees were not the only ones walking away frustrated. this law firm couldn't negotiate income tax settlements for 100

clients with the internal revenue service. >> this is unfortunate. there is hard-working people that want to, you know, do their due diligence by submitting their taxes and their part, but the government is not doing their's. >> dorothy was relieved the shutdown delayed her audit with the irs. >> it gives me however much more time for them to pull it together to reschedule, get more receipts, contact a few more people. >> the shutdown could mean fewer sales for businesses, like this farmers' market. ven doors say workers play produce or flowers on the way to work or during lunch hours. >> we are hoping that it won't affect us too much. we predict it will. >> the second government shutdown in two decades didn't phase some workers who endured the last one. this man weathered the last one, but thinks a long impasse could

be bad for others. >> i've been with the government for over 28 years, i'm better than people starting out. >> that means he may share his change with fellow federal workers. >> the country's space agency has been grounded by the gridlock in washington. the shutdown furloughed some 18,000 nasa workers. that's 97% of the space agency's workforce. officials say mission control will be open to support the astronauts on the international space station. we spoke to the president of the federation union leader. >> if it's a weak, i'll be fine. if it's a month - that changes things. the longer we are out, the more financial difficulty it puts employees in. even just being out the rest of this week can cause financial difficulties for some of our employees, who are single

parents. i prepared for a rainy day. it depends on how many days it rains. >> now, leaders in both parties suggested that the partial government shutdown could last for weeks. >> prime minister benyamin netanyahu says he's convinced iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons. in an address to the general assembly, benyamin netanyahu said his country is ready to stand alone in defending itself against iran, and is skeptical about the intention of iran's new president. >> behind a smoke screen of diplomatic engagement and very soothing rhetoric. now, i know hassan rouhani doesn't sound like ahmadinejad. when it comes to the nuclear weapons program, the only difference between them is this: ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf's

clothing, hassan rouhani is a wolf in sheep's clothing. >> joins me from los angeles is robert o'brien, the u.s. delegate for the u.n. and former middle east policy advisor to mitt romney. good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> what do you make of benyamin netanyahu's speech today? >> it was a powerful speech that he gave. he had to do something to counter-act hassan rouhani's charm offensive in new york. he attempted to level the playing field diplomatically. >> you know, was it important to make the speech now. i mean, why so strong? >> well, sanctions have really brought iran and its economy - they have had a biding effect. absent the sanctions there's little hope in jerusalem and the west that the nepon program will

be retained. >> hassan rouhani used a smile offensive last week. the nuclear program, being curtailed - that goes down in benyamin netanyahu's view. >> before there has been any negotiations between the u.s. in iran, israel's prime minister is standing up and saying don't trust the president of iran. is that the way to start negotiations? >> it's interesting. there was really a personal indictment of hassan rouhani in the speech. that's not something you see at the u.n. in a diplomatic setting. benyamin netanyahu puts it on the line saying hassan rouhani was head of the national security council in iran at a time iran was involved in assassinating people in berlin, blowing up a cultural center in buenos aires. blowing up a tower in saudi arabia. when they attempted to assassinate the saudi ambassador

in the united states and killed soldiers in lebanon, tying the acts of terrorism to hassan rouhani. you had the clip earlier where he said ahmadinejad was a wolf in a wolf's clothing, hassan rouhani is the same guy, but a woofl in sheep's closing. >> this is paraphrasing, but he almost came close to saying, "look, the world doesn't necessarily remember the history of israel and jews around the world, and that israel will stand alone if they need to", it sounded as if military action is necessary. were you surprised by that? >> i wasn't surprised by israel claiming the right defend itself and the right to enforce the red line set by benyamin netanyahu last year. i thought it was an interesting speech, in that the intro started out with a reference to jews being people for 4,000 years, and linking them to

abraham isaac and israel, and concluding the speech by saying, "my grandparents and relatives were abused by anti-sem items chanting death to jews as rainians do. we are here in israel, we will not be destroyed again". he wrapped the speech in the context of the jewish people. it was a powerful message, especially back home in israel. >> i was going to say, how did it play in israel? >> i think it played well. the reaction i have seen in reading the online papers, it was well received in israel. there's a con certain in jerusalem, and tel aviv that they'll lose the backing of the u.s., which is more interested, especially after the syrian fooe as coe in a negotiated solution with assad, and they'll seek something similar with hassan rouhani, and the red lines

chemical weapons, and syrian nuclear weapons in iran will be forgotten or erased. that's a concern in the capital. >> not that this will happen, but as i listen to the prime minister talk about israel going it alone, implying military reaction, it reminds me the u.s. provides financial assistance, military assistance to israel. so, you know, it seemed difficult to take these two apart and say, "we'll go it alone." it will be difficult for israel. one of the audiences, and the primary audience wasn't his fellow citizens in israel, they overwhelmingly reelected him, agreeing with what he had to say. the audience was america, not just the president, but congress, where israel has strong supporters and allies. the american people are favourably inclined to israel,

viewing it as a fellow democracy and a kinship among jews and israel. he was appealing to the american people with a powerful message, "if we have to we'll stand alone and do this ourselves, but don't leave us alone." that was an important audience for benyamin netanyahu and the speech, beyond the assembly in turtle bay. >> robert o'brien is in los angeles for us. great to talk to you, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> international inspectors in charge of overseeing the destruction of syria's chemical weapons are in damascus. the inspectors will begin finding and dismantling 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, having until the middle of next year to find and destroy the existing chemical weapons stockpile. >> it's a one-game winner-take-all showdown. ross with the highlights when we come back.

conversation bill gates and microsoft in the news tonight. reuters reporting a few major investors in microsoft are trying to get bill gates to step down as the chairman of the software company, worried that his presence on the board is preventing the company from innovating and keeping up with the times. joining us now via skype is the author and - author and business analyst jordan. it's good to see you. >> great to be with you. >> what do you think of this? i mean, i laughed when i read that they are concerned about innovation, when bill gates is considered the innovator of the century. >> he is, but... >> why now. >> microsoft is falling behind. it's not as cool as when it went

public in 1986. they have been overtaken by google, apple, facebook, other companies moving in the mobile area. i mean, microsoft has been trying to respond with the surface tab the and bought nokia's telephone business for $7 billion, but they are trying to catch up with android, and facebook. that's why there's a lot of criticism. gates basically has not been active for a while. he's been running the gates foundation. big investors are saying, "get him out of there", basically as being chairman of the board. they are bringing in a new ceo. the current one is about to retire. >> do you think this will happen? >> it could. gates has been disengaged. he's down to his last $12 billion. he had 49% of the company when it went public in 1986. he's down to 4.5% of a $277

billion, so it's $12 billion, at the current projection he'll sell all stock by 2018. >> how could a chairman turn it around, in addition to a new ceo? >> the decision is to hire a new ceo. being chairman he'll have a lot of influence over that. if they got him out before that decision is made that will be a big impact there. also, strategic direction of the company. nokia is something that gates, as the chairman, was going to sign off on. a lot of wall street analyst said that was not a good idea, they shouldn't have put $7 billion into a losing smartphone company that is behind what is going on in the android system and what google and samsung is doing. that was a case he was criticised for doing a strategic move a lot of people didn't like.

>> any names being tossed around. >> alan is being tossed around, the head of ford. he doesn't know anything about technology, he's a fantastic turn-around guy at ford. people are not sure that he would take it. it would be a different industry for him. that's the name that people talk about. you have to have somebody huge, someone major to take over microsoft, a big company like that. who knows what happens. that's the name. >> would someone else on the board become chairman. >> possible. a guy named john thompson is head of a committee for the ceo. he is a likely person. he was head of samantac making the nortan anti-vir us. he was an ibmer before that. it's ironic that microsoft is being run by someone that was ot ibm for a period of time. >> jordan, thank you for speaking to us, and staying up

late. >> well, we have sport. a wild night in pittsburg. >> yes. win and you're in. over 40,000 fans are rocking the house in pittsburg because they have been waiting 21 years it see the pirates in a play-off. good things come to those who wait. another says you always get on black. the pirates dressed in black, came out on fire against the cincinnati reds. in the second innings marlin bird making a first appearance in a play-off. first appearance. look here, burt getting the party starting, ripping a rocket to left field. the fans were going absolutely bananas. two batters later russell swinging the stick. he unloads a jack. just like that, the pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead off johnny. martin - number 55, just getting

started. he was double dipping in the seventh. cap -- can he hit it harder. crushing that pits. a lot of fireworks in pittsburg. the pirates took a 6-2 lead into the ninth image. jason sealed the deal and locky here, that's the -- let the celebration begin. the pitts pirates win it 6-2 for the first play-off victory since 1992. 21 years. moving on to the nl division series. the the first time they have advanced into the post-season since 1979. they'll face division rivals in the st louis cardinals starting friday. it's the pirates first post-season win in pitts pushing when they bet the braves in game 5 of the nlcs. time to put the baby on ice.

hockey is back. defending stanley cup champions in the blackhawks opened against the capitals. prior to the game the team unveiled the championship banner, once the puck was dropped. they were at it. chicago up 2-1, blackhawks in the second on the power play. chicago up 3-2. this game as a shoot out. both teams lit up the scoreboard in the third. game 4 - 5-4 chicago courtesy of johnny. blackhawks win the season opener. they are loving life and so is john henry smith who was at the game and spoke with the commissioner, gary bettman. >> we are here to see the blackhawks raise the banner to the rafters. this team could be a dynasty, they are wrong. it's a good league to have an original team be dominated in

the nhl. >> we are seeing incredible competitive balance. so on opening night it's impossible to predict who will hoist the cup and make the play-offs. this is an experienced team that happens to be young and had a great deal of success. if you are a blackhawks fan, you have to be excited. >> you have to be excited as a hockey fan. there's some sweeping changes in the league in terms of safety, conference realign. play-off positioning and things to open up scoring a bit. >> what rule changes have you particularly excited going into this year. >> most important the is visor rule. the league has been trying for at least a decade to get the players to wear visors. counter players can be grandfathered, 75 to 85% of people will do it. the nets are narrow, there's more room behind for wrap

around. we have the icing rule encouraging safety. shrinking goal tender pads a little. a variety of things. it's a constant theme that we are watching the game every night. if it needed fine tuning, we wanted to give it to it. >> you talk about something that has really been a success for the nhl. the outdoor games - and now you'll have six. i'm interested to seeing how the one in la works out. >> so am i. >> let me ask you this: at what point is it killing the golden goose to have too many? >> on a mathematical viewpoint we have 1200 name, this is six. what we are hearing from the fans and clubs and places where teams play is they can't get enough of these. if you are a team that's been in one or hosted one, you don't want to wait a decade. if you haven't been in one and you want to, we believe we can

successfully get six games well organised and played. we'll take a deep breath when it's over, making sure it's the right number. >> last year at this time you were in the process of cancelling agreement in preparation for the third blackout under your watch. a year later - you remember all that was said that the that time, i am sure, that this was the death knell, the nhl is killing itself, where are we? >> the game has not been stronger. we came back to an incredible season. we started later than we wanted. when you are in court you have to make decisions which in the short term are painful, but good for the long-term health of franchise. good for the fans and players. we have a long-term collective bargaining agreement, we have a great game and solid foundation. >> big victory for the blackhawks in chicago in baseball, pittsburg - an epic

win. we'll do it tomorrow with the rays in cleveland. >> another big night? >> yes. >> thank you very much. rebecca stevenson will have the weather after this. ç]

a swirl of showers, thunder storms, a lot of rainfall. from the texas coast to louisiana, even sharee port is getting a lot of rain. now the storm as it tracks into the central portion of the u.s. - it will interact with an incoming cold front. you can just start to make out the cold front which is bringing showers in the dack odas - translating into high mountain snow. the highest probability of rain pushing in to the valleys is in to the dakota, and michigan. it will be blustering with the front tomorrow. behind the rain is a lot of cold air. temperatures are dropping. in fact, we'll be 10-20 degrees below the average for this time

of year. seattle - you'll wake up with temperatures in the mid 40s. some spots in the outlining areas are for 30. similar story towards parts of montana. you add the elevation. we have a snow level in wyoming around 7,000 feet, and we are expecting a good foot of snow above that. we have winter storm watchers, stretching from idaho, parts of montana into wyoming. for the rest of us it will be a cool night, temperatures comfortable and warm for chicago. 80 degrees, and a little warming and incoming cold front: we have a higher chance of having higher temperatures for california, nevada. the north-west and south-east - you'll have above or below normal temperatures. we are will track the snow

pushing in with the storm from the north-west. . welcome to al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are the top stories - washington entering a second day of the government shutdown, leaders of both parties are concerned it will last a while while. in the house some proposals were put to open some areas, but they were defeated. democrats complained republicans were trying to cherry-pick parts of the government they liked. some parts of the governments were shutting down, a key part of the president's health care reform package was starting up. websites where people can sign up for health insurance were launched and overloaded. the main fal