welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. and here are tonight's top stories. president obama saad today some problems with health cacare.gov should have been anticipated. he said government bureaucracy hurt the project. texanty abortion advocates got a victory today at least temporarily. the supreme court has agreed to keep tough new abortion restrictions in place while they are being repealed. the case goes before a federal appeals court in january. a federal judge in missouri

halted the execution of a serial killer. they said a lawsuit must first be settled over whether a drug can be used in the execution. those are the headlines. "america tonight" is up next. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. i'll see you back here at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacific time. and you can always get the latest on aljazeera.com. we'll see you later on tonight. ♪ ♪ on america america, day 11 in the daily fight for water, food, and shelter in the philippines. half a world away, people in the midwest figure out their next steps in the wake of sunday's

deadly storms. also tonight, cruel and unusual? the debate over missouri's new lethal injection formula suspends the execution of a serial killer. >> you are in grave danger of causing an execution which could be torturous. and there guns to god is the nsa program chilling our most basic rights as americans? >> the fact there's a record being kept of who is in my group and who is not in my group is very chilling. we are hearing from people who say we left our countries to escape government surveillance and now you are telling us that we're not safe. ♪

good evening, everyone and thanks for joining us. joie chen is on assignment in the philippines, i'm adam may. let's begin with the aftermath of another natural disaster. it has been two days since a string of tornados tore through the midwest. close to 80 reported tornados ripped apart entire neighbors and towns across six states, killing at least eight people and causing more than 1 billion dollars in damages. for survivors they are in a race against time to salvage what they can. lori jane gliha travelled to the hardest hit town, washington, illinois. >> reporter: for 43 years julie and jerry fuchs watched their

children and grandchildren make memories here in their front yard? washington, illinois. it's the same spot with jerry stood sunday morning as a funnel cloud rolled towards his house. >> our father who art in heaven -- >> reporter: as the deadly tornado barged into the community, jerry snapped a photo too. >> you can see the black funnel cloud going up there. i don't know if that was the starting of it -- >> reporter: so you were outside and snapped this picture -- >> i was on the front porch there, and i just snapped it right over in that area here. and i could hear it howling and blowing, and i stood for just a few minutes, maybe not even over a minute. and it kept moving towards us, because i thought it was going to go more north. and that's when i told her, i said we have got to get out of

here. i don't know how to explain it. it came so fast and was gone so fast. have >> reporter: they have been married 57 years and never been in the line of such a terrifying twister. >> i was doing something at the table, and that's when he said let's get to the basement. >> reporter: what did you hear from the basement? >> oh, banging and knocking and hitting and -- you know -- i figured it was that one tree or this tree falling on our house, but it was everything. >> reporter: the two hunkered in their basement and listened to the storm ravage their roof. it only lasted a few minutes, but it was long enough to wreck a lifetime of memories. >> this is awful. >> i'm sorry. >> 57 years this stuff has been there. that's how long we have been

married. it's all gone. >> reporter: when you came back up, what did you expect to see after what you heard? >> i really didn't know. i really didn't know. i mean i just -- i knew it was going to be bad. i didn't think it would be this bad. i have never seen anything like this. i saw my kitchen table and the tv on top of the refrigerator, but then i saw the living room and the patio door is gone. kitchen chairs are out in the yard, and it's just everywhere. >> just pure devastation. >> shambles. >> we're going -- we're going to rebuild. [ laughter ]. >> you know all of them years, you work and you work and you save and you have got a good home and then something comes along and in a few minutes it's gone. you know? you can't understand it. you think you are safe in your

own home, but you are not anymore. >> i have lived here 54 years, i have never seen anything like that. >> reporter: the police chief spent his whole life in washington, illinois, the storm came quickly, he says with barely any time to prepare. >> we had about 15-minute's notice from when the weather alert came over. we set up a the sigh runs. >> reporter: did you ever imagine what would be the result of that warning? >> no. no. most of the time when those warnings come, we get lucky and they miss us. this time it didn't. >> i was dead asleep, and right when i moved to get out of the way, a tree went through my window. >> reporter: we found nate pitching in at jerry and julie's

house. >> it's all right. just the roof came off and the back deck and stuff got tore off. you just got to think positive about good things. everyone is family around here. it was a good neighborhood, and i hate to see it like this. but one day, you come home everything is fine. the next day it is just wrecked. >> thank you lord for bringing everyone to us safely -- >> amen. >> -- in such a tragedy, bringing people together, which is the one good thing that comes out. >> reporter: until they can rebuild their home, they are settling in with their daughter who lives about a mile ip the road. >> mom you are eating. >> give her one piece not two. >> reporter: a meal helps take their mind off of the horrible events. the people sitting at this table are proof that when you are surrounded by those you love no

matter where you are, you are surrounded by family. that is just one example of all of the families that are effected. >> yeah, adam one thing i found was everybody i talked to there was so resilient. this town was completely flattened. i felt like everybody there was really focused on trying to help each other move forward, even the grandchildren were there trying to smile. so a lot of the positive outlook, though, i think comes from some of the shock. they are still trying to absorb what has happened and what are they going to do next. >> a lot of times as reporters we see this damage on tv and when you get to on the ground it just blows your mind. >> yeah, it was surreal. i grew up in arizona, and i had never been in a tornado area.

and when we pulled in there was nothing there. it was shocking for someone that doesn't live in an area like this, and for these people to move forward and help each other that was what they were really focused on. >> the amazing home video, of the man looking out his window, i can only imagine. lori thank you so much. now to the philippines the typhoon haiyan takes a slow shift from devastation to recovery. according to the united nations 4 million filipinos are displaced, more than a million homes are destroyed and the road to recovery is going to be very long, slow, and painful. joie chen reporteds from the devastated city of tacloban. ♪ >> reporter: in the eyes of tacloban, the little

neighborhoods now crammed with the evidence of the tragedy that struck here. each day brings new effort to clean up and move forward. here in tacloban, it has been left up to the residents of the communities to try to start to recreate a new kind of normal, which leaves the question begs, will things ever be the same here again. for locals like this, who lost her family's food store in think typhoon, and doubts the simples rations she has gotten so far will be enough to restart her business. >> for now it is okay. but non-what our -- what our -- >> future? >> yeah. >> can the president help you? >> yeah. >> how? >> i don't know, but he will

help us, i think. >> reporter: under pressure to get the relief aid flowing faster, the president arrived in tacloban promising extra and direct supervision of the effort. >> it helps if they know i'm paying attention to all of the details. >> reporter: the crowd's impatience grew, a reminder that packaged cookies won't be enough to calm their anxieties about the future. >> right now we're giving out food, but they need more than that. they need water, shelter, and a lot more. >> reporter: and they will need it for quite a while. the un aims to provide typhoon relief for six months. other relief agencies are beginning work on more permanent med facilities like doctors

without borders. >> it's shocking for everybody to still see bodies being pulled out of the rubble. i understand the criticism, but there are 150,000 people living in this town who don't have clean water, enough food or access to basic medicine, and for us this is what we need to focus on. >> reporter: for the survivors in all of the communities now beginning the tough work of rebuilding, the challenge is to see past the seemingly endless devastation and to find something to look forward to. >> "america tonight"'s host joie chen continues to lead our coverage from the philippines. joie i have to ask what was the journey like going from one town to the next. >> reporter: the philippines are

a lot of islands. 7,000 islands plus in total. and even in good conditions traveling is tough. as we travelled from tacloban where you saw the level of devastation is complete, and there really is no neighborhood untouched, you go out into the countryside and head in the way we were trying to get off of the island, and we didn't even know whether we would be going to an actual boat or aircraft or anything else. but you would expect there to be some areas of respite, and there just isn't. you go from one community to the next to the next. in community after community, everything is flattened, and i do mean flattened. the palm fronds, the bamboo, anything holding up any structure before is completely gone. and now you have people living as well as they can under their

own makeshift shelter trying to take care of themselves. >> joie how are people holding up under those circumstances? >> adam as to how people are coping, throughout the islands we have seen extraordinary resilience. maybe there's some stowsome, but we see over and over again the sense of almost no entitlement at all. nobody is expecting the government is going to help them. or nonprofit organizations would help them. yes, they are appreciative of any help they can get. but they are not standing by waiting for that help to come. you are seeing people trying to put roofs back on their homes and trying to clean up the enormous endless mess that has been made of their communities, and you see situations where people come together and

offering their own neighborhood watch security. they are enormously resilient people, adam, and you would be surprised how ready they are to move forward. >> joie thank you. and safe travels. >> thanks adam. up next here on "america tonight," it's a last minute state of execution for this serial killer. tonight the growing controversy over death drugs. that's up next. one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete?

♪ faced with a dwindling stockpile of lethal injection drugs nationwide, corrections departments are scrambling trying to find new ways to carry out scheduled executions. that is leading to a growing stay of executions and that's exactly what happened tonight in missouri. chris has the report. >> reporter: even among death row inmates this man stands apart. he confesses to killing dozens

of people, and boasts of wounding this man and larry flynt two years later. they are challenge missouri's attempt to use a lettel injection drug that the state obtained secretly and has never tried before. franklin's lawyers say it puts him at the risk of an excruciatingly painful execution. they turned to that drug after the plan to use poph athol was

criticiz criticized. the pipeline is running dry because of a group called retrieve. they launched a campaign to stop european drug manufacturers from selling those drugs to prisons. retrieve's deputy director says the companies were afraid of the stigma associated with executions. >> it's a massive ethical problem, a pr problem, and a commercial problem for them. >> reporter: the pressure paid off, by 2011 a danish company had decided to stop shipping the drugs to american prisons, facing dwindling stockpiles, many state prison officials look to unapproved specialty pharmacies overseas. nebraska was preparing for its first execution in decades.

michael ryan was sentenced to die for a 1985 double murder. after 34 years of unsuccessful appeals his execution date was set for march 6th, 2012. but the prison was having problem getting a key drug. prison officials were unable to acquire the lethal injection drug for the state's first scheduled execution. the prison's chief pharmacist tells us she was ordered to obtain it from outside of the country which means it would be a violation of fda rules. the pharmacist spoke to us but did not want to show her face. >> what did your boss ask you to do? >> to acquire the drug by any means possible. >> and you took that to mean? >> even outside of the united states. >> because it was not legal here? >> the last manufacturer in the

united states stopped making it, yes. >> and what was your response? >> even if you can get it overseas you can't get it fda approved. >> corrections officials ignored her objections and obtained the drug from a broker in india that did not have any overcite from the fda. >> did they bypass your pharmacy to get it? >> absolutely. >> and was that illegal? >> yes, it was. >> booker felt event indicated in july. it found that some drugs must come from companies registered with the fda and be reviewed for safety. after that ruling, nebraska supreme court effectively put a halt to pending executions. advocates say opponents are playing political games by focusing on lethal injection drugs. >> people are putting pressure on the pharmacies not to supply

the drugs even though there is no really good reason for them not to. it's just a matter of people who don't agree with the law looking for ways to obstruct its enforcement. >> some states are fighting back. lawyers for a convicted killer named warren hill argued that there would be no way of knowing if the lethal concoction was safe. >> it issed no fda approved. >> the prosecution scoffed at the safety concerns. >> they are alleging that their threatened harm is he could receive a drug that could cause him harm. we're talking about 5,000 milligrams. 200 to 300 milligrams are used

to put you under for surgery. 5,000 milligrams. we're not talking about whether this person is going to wake up with an illness. we're talking about killing a person. >> finally the prosecution released one document, a heavily redacted lab report. but the state's insistence on secrecy backfired. >> the court is aware of the two issues. >> the judge ruled that georgia's attempt to make con if ied dins shall state secrets of its execution drugs was an improper attempt to bypass the courts. hill's lawyers celebrated a huge legal victory. it was always a victory for repeeve. now the group plans to keep the pressure on. >> compounding pharmacies don't

have to adhere to any of the standards that the manufacturers have to adhere to. when it comes to quality control, if you make all of that secret, you are in grave danger of causing an execution which could be torturous. >> now these executions are on hold while states scramble to find an acceptable source for the lethal drugs to kill them. >> that's chris berry reporting. joining us now is dr. author caplin. thanks for joining us tonight. first off you are an expert in death penalty and ethics. i would like your reaction to this news tonight that once again we have another death row inmate offered a stay of

execution because of the debate over the drugs. >> it was said during the peace we just saw that critics of the death penalty have found a way to basically put it on hold, and i any they have a very effective root. if you get companies who make the drugs used in executions, and american executions are intended to not be torturous, and if you block that supply and ask the state to turn to small compounding pharmacies or unapproved sources over s say -- overseas, you are going to bring the death penalty to a halt. >> opponents say these inmates are being treated like guinea pigs. do they have a case here? >> i have said that myself. when the state starts to put

together its own concoctions, you are starting to basically run a big experiment. you are treating the death penalty protocol as a novel thing. and you can't even go down this road unless you get approval of human experimentation committees. so again -- you know, you might think of it this way adam. people have learned a lesson from fights over abortion. they may not be able to stop the death penalty, but if they can hold up the drugs and cause all kinds of problems in care rig out the procedure itself, they can effectively reduce and maybe eliminate the death penalty itself. >> opponents seem to be the upper hand, but the death penalty is still the law in more than 30 states in this country. is there any way to carry this

out ethically. >> i think we're going to have to be open. that is part of the law regarding execution. so hiding what you are doing like georgia tried, that is not going to work. you may get the government or one of the state agencies to say we'll make the drugs and share them. they need a central supplier and they need quality control, but that is not going to happen in the next week, two, or three weeks. it will take probably a year or two. >> is there any alternative to lethal injection? >> it's interesting, we used to see electric cushion, hanging, utah had squiring squad execution, but these are ruled out now. >> doctor thank you so much for joining us. we'll be right back. >> my pleasure. ♪

power of the people until we restore our freedoms

now a snapshot of stories making headlines here on "america tonight." an al-qaeda link group is claiming responsible for a pair of suicide bombings in baeirut. police in virginia say the son of state senator creigh deeds stabbed his father in the head and chest before taking his own life with a gun. investigators are still trying to piece together what lead up to the stabbing. in a 5-4 decision the supreme court decides to keep texas abortion laws as is. doctors in a dozen texas clinics have already stopped performing abortions as a result. germany is seeking credible

and a verifiable commits from the u.s. to guarantee the privacy of german citizens. this is the latest from the follow-up that the u.s. may have tapped several world leaders. one question has persisted what is the actual harm? now an unlikely coalition of political groups is challenging that surveillance of first amendment grounds saying it violates their right to free speech. >> reporter: mention the worlds gun enthuses and and gene hoffman is probably not the first person that comes to mind. his taste run more to cotton oxford over camouflage. nonetheless his passion for guns run deep.

so much so that he spent part of his fortunate founding the cow guns foundation, an organization that advocates on behalf of gun owners. >> silicon valley is interesting in that you have a lot of engineers, and hardware folks, and firearms flow very naturally out of that nature. our organization is a pretty middle of the road organization. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: while hoffman and his group may be surprising one thing isn't, he believes his rights and those of his members are under assault from the federal government. but instead of coming from their traditional foes in washington he says it is from a new source, the national security agency.

many of the objections to the nsa's surveillance policies have been based on principle what worries hoffman most is the nsa program which keeps records of nearly every phone call made in the united states. they run a telephone hot line which provides legal advise to gun owners who fear they may be afoul of the law. >> i need people to feel confident that they can join my organization. and keeping records of who is in our group is very chilling. i know i have users not contacting me because they are afraid. >> can you quantify this, 15% of your membership, 20, 30%? >> it doesn't matter. once it is one person it is

unconstitutional because that person hasn't been able to express their political activism. >> reporter: that argument is a novel one. but it's also an approach that is gaining wider acceptance. hoffman's group recently joined 21 politically active organizations in filing a lawsuit. the list of plaintiffs is as diverse as the bay area itself. ranging from the unitarian group to pro-marijuana groups. >> when people feel like they are watched all the time. they don't have the conversation, they don't join a political group. >> reporter: the eff is the legal team behind the lawsuit.

>> mass spying is illegal, unconstitutional and extremely dangerous if you care about freedom. it puts you at the mercy of just hoping you have a benevolent government that won't target you. >> i can imagine that some people listening it conjures for them images of free-loving lawyers in san francisco. [ laughter ] >> hunkering over a table discussing government conspiracies. are you being paranoid? >> no. no. i'm a midwestern girl from the middle of iowa. >> reporter: cowen believes she has a good case, because in the 1950s the supreme court did recognize the effect government surveillance can have on free speech. >> the u.s. supreme court held that the naacp didn't have to turn over their membership list to the government. and the supreme court said

people aren't going to join if they know the fact of their membership will be turned over to the government. it will create a chilling effect. and what we're doing in this case is the digital version of that. who you talk to on the phone, how long you talk to them, how often you talk to them, those are your associations. >> reporter: one group that has joined the lawsuit has dealt with government spying firsthand. this is the executive director of the council on islamic relations. >> learning that they were gathering phone data was not surprising because it is something that many of muslim community has experienced in smaller settings. >> the nsa began spying on

muslims in the bay area. >> this is a stock of documents, and it's only an excerpt -- >> that's a lot of surveillance. >> this is just a small portion of it. this is what i could print without running out of paper. these are ordinary events, and i go to the mosque multiple times a week, and to think that there could have been an agent there taking notes and putting them in an intelligence file is frightening. >> so what came out of this? were any of these people involved? organized crime? terrorist activity? >> nothing at all. >> we hear from american muslims who say i'm afraid to go to the mosque and become politically involved. we are hearing from people who say we left our countries to escape government surveillance. when we were in syria and egypt it was normal to believe that

the walls had eyes and ears. and now you are telling us that we are not safe in our community centers and amongst friends. >> it's not overstating it to say that people in your community are living in a climate of fear. >> i think that would be an accurate representation. people are living in a state of fear. >> reporter: we asked the justice department for an interview. it declined. however, if an interview earlier this year, james clapper, the director of national intelligence said he cares very deeply about our privacy, and civil liberties, adding i think a lot of what people are reading and seeing in the media is hyperbole. the persons don't end with the fact that private information is being stored in a database. there is also concern about how that information is actually being used. those fears were heightened when it was recently revealed that

the nsa has been turning over information to domestic law enforcement agencies. john shipman is a reporter who broke the story. >> the information that the nsa provides to law enforcement they send it to a special operations unit in virginia. and that sends information out to the dea, the irs, the atf, the fbi, and use that information to make cases against americans. >> like most everything involving the nsa the special operations division is cloaked in secrecy. according to one document, it strictly forbids those who receive nsa information from revealing its true source. shipman describes one scenario. >> it will pass the information on to the dea, and pull the person over on a pretext. and lo and behold they will find

drugs in the trunk. the person who is arrested thinks the dea just got lucky, when in fact they got a whisper from the cia or nsa. >> they were able to magically learn this information about his communications, and i don't know, but i wonder if the nsa surveillance was behind it. >> reporter: according to gene hoffman the fear of wrongful prosecution is one more thing that is driving people away from political groups like his. >> reporter: you have a question about the ar-15 you own in new york and whether or not it is legal in california. it's frightening to know that there is a record of him reaching out with that question. >> i don't think that the invocation of national security

means that we throw out all of the rights of society. we don't have a national exception to our constitution in this country. stay with us, coming up after the break right here, is it an opportunity for diplomacy. will scheduled talks finally bring this american prisoner home? and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete?

♪ nuclear negotiations with iran began again in geneva wednesday. the u.s. and several other countries are hoping to halt

iran's nuclear program. but as "america tonight" sheila macvicar reports for one family in michigan, improved relations may also bring the best chance of the return of their son and brother. >> reporter: december 18th, 2011, iranian state television. >> my name is [ inaudible ]. >> amir born in 1983 in flagstaff, arizona to iranian american parents. one of four children in a close and active family. high school hockey star, an american combat veteran, as a u.s. marine sergeant, he served tours in iraq and afghanistan. >> sure i was proud of him for wanting to serve his country.

>> reporter: and then in december 2011, in tehran, accused as an american spy, an agent for the cia, making this public confession. >> and i would also go out and do -- >> reporter: back home in flint, michigan. >> the first time it was the news. it was his face on the tv. >> reporter: it was the first time in months that the family knew where amir was. what did you think as you heard him speak? >> i was shocked because just looking at his face -- that wasn't -- that wasn't him. i said my god what did they do to him? >> reporter: there was a secret trial the iranians preserved his reservest card, employment agreements, unusual pocket it willer for a spy, but evidence they said of his ties to the cia. he was sentenced to death.

>> it was sickening. we couldn't believe it really got to this point. >> he was in very bad shape. he was tiny. he was crying all the time. his face was like chalk, you know. it was white, and beard -- long beard, no shave -- hair was shaved. i was worried about him. most of the time we were just crying. me and him were crying. and from that day he told me mom, don't believe anything. i'm innocent. >> you haven't been well enough to go see him? >> no, i have been under chemotherapy. i have had radiation treatment. >> reporter: ali has brain cancer. how are you feeling now? >> so, so. just taking it one day at a

time. >> mostly emotionally it hurts him more than the chemotherapy. he is under chemotherapy, but thinking about him. >> reporter: what would it mean for you to be able to seay mir again? >> oh, that would be the whole world. i pray every day that i will have both of his hands in my hands; that i will be able to hug him and kiss him. and tell him how much i love him and how much i miss him. >> i suffer a lot, too much every day. every day. but when -- when he is coming home. >> reporter: we spoke to the family in michigan since we first reported this story, very little has changed for amir. he is allowed visitors once a month. he is no longer as pail as frail as he was. but as of yet there is no

resolution, no sign of a pardon a trial or anything. >> it's very obvious that amir knows he is in this international spotlight right now based on the letter he wrote back in august. >> a letter he wrote to secretary kerry was publiced in the guardian, and said don't use me as a upon. don't trade me for something the iranians want to have back. i'm an innocent man and i deserve to be set free. >> very bold statement from him. let's welcome in the congressman of michigan. he has been campaigning for amir's release. first off you are in communications with constituents all the time that have a variety of problems. what is it about this case that has captured your attention so much. >> i just think of what i would want if my upon were being held in a prison across the world. so this has become rather

personal for me and my staff. i think of amir almost as if he is a member of my family. >> you have been trying to rally support. you had more than a hundred people sign on to a letter that you sent to the state department back in july. is there any headway being made? >> we have. and we have been in regular contact with the state department. i talked to president obama about amir's situation personally. and i'm confident that our government is doing what we can. the question is whether or not iran is ready to make a tangible step towards the international community. there's a lot of scepticisms about iran's intentions during these negotiations, and we're offering amir's potential release as a demonstration of their seriousness. >> do you know if amir's case has been raised by either president obama in his

conversation with president rohany or secretary of state john kerry. >> i know the issue has been raised directly with representatives. there's an indication that this case is now being given the attention that it should. i think it's important to note that we don't expect amir's case to be dealt with in the context specifically of the nuclear agreement, but hopefully the potential for an agreement would provide the context for iran to move toward the international community by releasing amir and the other americans being held. >> a slightly warmer relationship. >> a gesture of goodwill if you would. >> yes, and a demonstration of

their seriousness. obviously people should be skeptical. iran has a mixed record in terms of it's a engagement with the international community. we need to see something tangible, not just words or a gesture, but when there's a question as to whether the they are for real, this would be a way to do that. >> i only imagine for him to be sitting there in a cell in iran, there are talks would give you a glimmer of hope. how is he holds up through all

of this? >> well, there was some hope. everybody had some reason to be cautious but optimistic, [ technical difficulties ] >> we will never forget that he is there, until we comes home. we look forward to the day that that happens. >> and a long letter posted in the guardian as well in his case. >> yes. >> "america tonight" correspondent sheila macvicar, and congressman dan killdi from michigan thank you both for joining us. thank you. coming up after the break,

the untold story of veteran radio and their special celebration. that's coming up next. you live news at the top of every hour. >> here are the headlines at this hour. >> only on al jazeera america. >> audiences are intelligent and they know that their

♪

♪ finally tonight for many veterans the war they fought may be over, but many say a battle is still being waged right here at home. veterans are confronted with a wide range of issues from posttraumatic stress disorder to health issues to claiming benefits, and all of these issues converge on a weekly basis on a radio show that is offering vetted rans a place to call home. john terrett is on the air in ann arbor, michigan where a very unique radio program is celebrating it's a tenth anniversary. >> reporter: first light and dale and bob celebrate a decade of veteran's radio with their team at a local restaurant. [ laughter ] >> reporter: a few laughs and a

hearty breakfast before going live at 9:00 am from tiny studios. >> this is veteran's radio tenth anniversary program. >> reporter: the first guess ten years ago is back on the air again. john dingle on the line from washington, d.c. >> congressman dingle welcome to veteran's radio. >> reporter: dale and bob were fed up with their jobs in the insurance industry ten years ago when dale first floated the idea. >> i'm thinking about putting together a program about veterans. and he said i'm with you because i'm a veteran. >> reporter: the show talks about key veteran's issues, but it is mainly about storytelling, war tails that vets tend to keep to themselves. >> so often we hear he never

says anything. and they open up, because it's veterans talking with vettals. >> reporter: the web gives dale and bob a global reach beyond the radio stations they are on. >> we see the providence of god in this whole thing. >> our audience just keeps growing. >> reporter: the national syndicated catholic radio host is also dale and rob's boss. >> there are relatively few people who can do it week after week after week and that's what they have done. >> reporter: dale and bob have big plans for the next ten years. more stations, more stories, a bigger website, and even taking the show on the road, but -- >> until then, you are dismissed. >> reporter: yes, sir. ♪ and that is it for us here on "america tonight." remember, if you would like to

comment on any of the stories you have seen here tonight, just log on to our website, it's aljazeera.com/americatonight. you can meet our team and get a sneak peak of some of the stories we're working on. and tell us what you would like to see. also join the conversation on twitter or our facebook page. for all of us here at "america tonight," thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you again tomorrow evening. ♪ ♪

welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. and here are tonight's top stories. the obama administration reportedly new about problems with healthcare.gov as early as last spring. the white house admitteds there were red flags. president obama said there were technical and procurement issues that should have been anticipated. two bombs exploded near the iranian embassy in beirut. at least 23 people were killed. the double suicide attack appear to be the latest in a string of bombings linked to the war in syria. new york is about to become the first city in the nation to raise the