. >> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. w a look at today's top stories. heavy rain, sleet, and snow, wreak havoc for holiday travelers. aid for afghan children, hangs in the balance as president karzai stalls on signing the security packets. the supreme court takes up the issue whether employees have to cover contraceptives. ♪ plenty of people

could be facing a very long trip. a huge winter storm is causing problems in at least 34 states. aaa estimated more than 43 million beam will travel this holiday weekend. most travelers are driving, and the storm is having a huge impact on the roads. robert ray is in atlanta, we will get to him in a moment. we begin with what is happening on the roads. >> it has been snowing here all day, and the national weather service predicts by the time the storm blows through, it will have dumped up to a foot of snow on pittsburgh. >> pittsburgh greeted the snow storm with plows, salt, shovels, and aceps of humor. >> it's fun. >> it's fun. >> yes, it is fun. >> it's pittsburgh weather. >> the storm that pummeled the mid section, barreled east today, coating highways with a sleet and snow. in washington, icy roads

snarled morning traffic. in pennsylvania the department of transportation put road crews on 12 hour shifts to keep highways clear for holiday travelers. >> the sidewalks were bad. >> the week of thank giving is traditionally one of the busiest travel periods of the year, the aaa estimates 38 million americans will hit the highways this week. the national weather service thinks the brunt of the storm could be over by wednesday night, or early thursday morning. that could help some dinner guests reach their destinations on time. >> i have a lot of people coming in, and busy driving but they are not driving until thursday. >> and despite all the snow and slush here in pennsylvania, the department of transportation says it's actually been smooth sailing here most of the day. tony. >> all right, dianne, thank you. the storm isn't just a problem on the roads kit be a real nightmare for people that are flying. and if the storm impacts just one airport, it

could impact dozens. al jazeera's robert gray is in atlanta in the busiest airport in the united states, some say the world. heartsville jackson, and robert, how are travelers handling the storm where you are. >> they are pretty good here. the flights are moving in and out pretty smoothly. a steady stream has been coming through all day. the rain is schooling down, and the temperature is in about the mid 30's. so it's not horrible here. but we have talk today a few different people, who came in here earlier today, some of them experiences a little bit of trouble. as they came into atlanta. >> i came from chicago, right here into atlanta. it's amazing how that plane made it through all the rain. i didn't see the ground until almost touch down. >> so the busiest airport

in the world, doing okay but some people coming in from other areas like chicago, low visibility, as they try to get into atlanta. these airport in particular is expecting quite a uptick this week. compared to last week, other 3% more travelers, will come through atlanta, tony, about 1.8 million people over the course of this holiday week, we are told. >> so robert, anything different with the airline, the travelers need to know about? this time around. maybe something in security, some other area? >> you know, the only thing that they should be aware of, especially travelers up in the northeast corridor, is if they want to change their flight, if you are in new york, or philadelphia, or even in washington, some of the areas are actually giving some weather vouchers, so if in fact, you think you aren't going to get out, you can call and change your flight for nothing. and as a matter of fact, we actually in the past hour have started to see

some delays up in la guardia, jfk, and philadelphia, anywhere between 30, 30 minutes to an hour, because of low visibility, low weather ceilings as this system continues to head up that way to your neck of the woods. >> yeah, all right, robert, we will do whatever we can to keep things clean and green down there. robert gray in atlanta, thank you, robert. a near miss on a slick road in western michigan caught on camera. take a look at this. a tow truck driver, helping a stranded driver on monday, when a pickup truck hauling a tractor trailer jackknifed, man, that was -- sliding to a hold in front of the vehicle. he is the man at the moment right now, more of what the storm looks like. >> heads up and intensified, so we are dealing with a big storm here, but a lot of warm air that is being pulled up with the air. mostly rain, but where it

is snowing that snow could be fairly heavy. there will be some areas to with ice and snow. but the storm intensifying here, pulling up gulf moisture, now putting in atlantic moisture. there's some snow for that rain snow line is pushing north. temperatures are the key here. look at how they climb, hour and hour tonight. we are now into the 40's into new york. and then into the 50's by tomorrow. a lot of rainier, i 95, that can cause some flight delays. where it is colder though, we are seeing snow and that will continue.

snow continues there's some icing probably with that cold air stuck in place. getting that air quickly at the freezing mark. leer is the heavy rain, continuing by tomorrow morning. again, the temperatures are climbing as this rain is coming down. once the storm moves out, wednesday night and thursday, we are talking about winds. i will address that with the complete national forecast. >> appreciate it, thank you, sir. it is said they will hear two cases. two businesses want to deny employees the right to contraception. the arts and crafts chain hobby lobby, and the oh con that steigenga woods specialties. live with more on this. >> hobby lobby is an arts and crafts chain, now has more than 500 stores and

13,000 full time employees. a 10th circuit ruled that it should be exempt from the affordable care act, that requires insurance coverage for birth control. they claim that it violates the religious principals because the owners believe some are tantamount to abortion, but they have no problem with other forms including condom, diagrams and some birth control pills. one of the issues is whether for profit corporations has the right to religious freedom. the owners agree that they should be protected as their company operates in a manner consistent with bib lickle principles. for example, the stores are closed on sunday. they even by advertising invite people to know jesus as lord and savior. the supreme court decision to hear the case is a major step for the greens and an important fight for religious liberty. but planned parenthood,

opposing hobby lobby and has a different opinion. if the street rules in favor of the corporations the rule willing open the door to businesses denying coverage based on their owner's personal beliefs denying procedures like vaccines, surgeries, blood transfusions or mental healthcare. for profit companies are asserting a right to religious liberty, when their owners are the ones who possess that right, but they are using the right to religious liberty as a way to carve out noncompliance with civil rights that are well established under the constitution, or are well established as public norms against discrimination. >> today the white house release add statement saying the affordable care act already protects these believes. the administration does not think that corporate

ceos should make health decisions for individuals. all right, a little bit more on that white house statement. let's do that right now. he is at the white house, and mike, the white house as randall noted is quick to put a statement out on this. >> sure, they point out they themselves asked the street to review the change to the law. of course the street announced they are going to do just that. let's do more from that statement. the healthcare law puts womens and families in control by covering vital preventive care, like cancer screenings and birth control free of charge. and then it goes on we believe this requirement is essential to women's health, and are confident the street will agree and of course the administration points out that they, according to the rules that they have put forth, have already insured that religious institutions will not fall under this -- they are not forced to provide contraceptive coverage. obviously that doesn't go far enough for a lot of

the religious institutions that it covers. >> let's turn to afghanistan now. it looks like a deal between you tell me, is it close to falling apart, is it near collapse. >> we talk about american politics being complicated, afghan politics we don't even want to get close to. one more thumb in the eye of the mesh at ministration. as he heads out the door, and the united states trying to work out this agreement. what will the status of troops look like after 2014, of course the date the president has promised time and time again. it is a high stakes game of chicken and it pivots on one key question, which side the afghan government, or the american government, wants those troops to stay in afghanistan sort of a resid use over the

horizon force to conduct fights and other terrorist groups. now, susan rice just visited in kabul alongside her top military commander. top state official. she gave an interview, evidently it didn't go well. >> if the agreement isn't signed promptly, what i said to the president is we would have no choice, we would be compelled by necessity, not by our preference. to have to begin to plan for the prospect that we will not be able to open coo our troops here, because they will not be invited because the bsa will not have been signed. and then the nature of our partnership, and the investments will be more difficult to sustain. >> so he says he wants to wait until after the presidential election, he is not going to sign it, he says he has new items that he wants addressed

specifically. 17 afghans. and this question of nighttime raids by allied forces into the homes of afghan civilians looking for terrorists it has been a sore point. a sensitive subject. he says he wants more concrete promises that he is going to stop before he agrees to sign this document. >> china had to clear the area, listen to this, an air defensive identification zone over the weekend. saying all planes must submit flight plans in advance for defensive urgency measures, it is not standing for that, today's mission was in defiance to china's new territorial claim. now al jazeera's rosalyn joins us now from washington, roz, give us the details of the pentagon standing on this

the report from earlier. >> essentially, this is the situation. after beijing made this declaration about the ages, for lack of a better pronounsization on saturday, the u.s. very quickly condemned that decision. in the u.s.' view, this air space over the islands can is what the japanese call it, or the d exavlu items is what the chinese call it, is international air space. you don't have to identify yourself, your aircraft, your radio frequency, your transponder anything of that sort to another government because as far as the u.s. is concerned this is international air space. what p had, well, apparently two b 52 bombers that didn't have any weapons onboard, apparently conducted a normal training run under the corral training exercise regime on monday night. left the air base on

guam, flew over, flew back to anderson without incident, and even though it can be very much interpreted as a message to beijing, that this should not stand, the on camera, the obama administration is trying to be a bit more diplomat it. the chinese simply can't unilaterally change by imposing this flight restriction. >> and there we have it. we bounce from one cries toys the next. appreciate it, coming up, on al jazeera america, police in thailand clash with protestors and for those headed to the toy store. a new report named toys you should avoided this holiday season. >> and a comment is rapidly approaching the sun, just in time for thanksgiving, how can you track it? next on al jazeera america.

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>> from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. >> a deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. >> thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. >> we're following multiple developments on syria at this hour. >> every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. >> only on al jazeera america.

how about this. scientists and space lovers alike. hoping for a glimpse of the comment -- you know more than 4 billion years ago, and in the first time in its long life it is about to encounter our sun. as she tracks iceson. you it's been traveling from the outer edge of our solar system for 5 1/2 million years amateur and professional photographers have been following the comment. this picture is taken in the astrophysics laboratory in the cannonry lands it was taken an hour before sun rise. mike is someone who is in california. he takes images as a

hobby of space. and he took this one. now, what is this made of? it is made of ice and rock and other compounds. and they hope to know more about it as it circles around the sun. the early morning sky in the first week of december. or, the sun could actually pull it apart. the tidal forces could pull this apart and so it has several chunks rounding the sun, and putting out a great show, and again, or, the comments very weak it could break up into a cloud of dust and this is an animation that was put

up by solar system scope.com. here is the comment, around september, you will see it right here, it is where it has those little red things around it. you have mars over here, so what -- it is visible in telescopes. that's where you are seeing all the ill imagines. and then around november, 16ing to the 22nd, it becomes visible to the human eye. if it goes around safely, you will be able to see this comment around december 7th, for about 2 weeks. you will be able to see it with your naked eye. and the real light show will happen in the northern hemisphere, because it is coming in from the north. so we will be able to see it if it goes around safely, both at sunset

and at sun rise. what you have to do is look towards the sunset, and the sun rise. let's do it again at 6:00 so i can really pay attention this time. >> all right. we have a home lot of stuff going on up here. an important -- know, that's not what we want to do. we want to get to the dow. ten the dow set another record today. let's see it one more time. wall street, it is another day which means another record, but by the smallest, the slimmest of margins. that's enough to reach yet another all time high, the 43rd for this record setting year. since the.com boom, days of 2,000, and when it

comes to favorite holiday gifts electronic gadgets are high, both for giving and receiving, here is a little show and tell. some of the hottest gadgets out there right now. you prompt me that's the case here. correct? >> some of the hottest, right? >> absolutely. >> joe, we have been trying to find out, it's been great to you back on the program. >> we are going to try this out. we need to know whether we can pull segments like this off. >> great. >> so for the holidays looking for very cool but different gifts, right. >> so you brought a couple by. >> as suggestions let's start with this one, this looks like it is called the lumo? >> it is not a book. >> no. >> but look at it, it looks like -- did you get a shot of that, it looks like a book.

it looks like a book, but it functions and it is different, right. >> everybody gets the same kind of bad stocking stuffers. >> exactly. >> so moving to the side here, i am going to try something. i am not sure this will work for me. we were playing with it upstairs. we managed not to break it. now tell me about this. that's the spiro 2.0.

>> and then getting in where the green is, and the hot summer in orange, and then you get into the fall colors. >> what if you are in the southern hemisphere? >> i like the way it works in other parts of

your brain. something you have to do running out of, but you think about it in terms of seasonings, right. >> exactly. what is interesting about a clock, if you want to tell time, people looking at their cell phones now, so you may as turn a clock into something you can enjoy. >> you mentioned that, what's the price item. >> $250. >> one more. >> you are really excited about this. not because i can play, i just love base guitars are we good, are we good? okay, so tell me about this. that is called the stash. and it is a $3,000 solid steel base guitar. >> yeah. >> it is a regular four string bass it weighs a ton. >> how much. >> $3,000.

that's terrific, so of all the gifts i really love this, and the lumiere is cool. are you trying to send a message to anyone. >> in particular? yes. i am heading down to atlanta, michael eaves is here with the sports headlines after we come back from a break. but coming up next, the latest chapter, actually bad news, for barnes and noble, back in a moment. blame blame

jazeera america.to al a winter storm is having an impact on the thanksgiving get away,

and this year's early hanukkah celebrations. there have been cancellations at airports across the cub, it's not much better on the road where snow and rain is really slowing down traffic. arguments on another part of the affordable care act. if employers who oppose birth control for religious reasons should be forced to provide coverage for a new demands from afghan president, he said today before he signs a key security agreement, he wants afghan prisoners freed from guantanamo bay, and he wants the u.s. to help initiate afghan talks with the taliban. if afghan president doesn't sign the security deal, it could have a huge impact on his country.

as al jazeera reports now, a slow down of aid is already taking a toll. >> used to spend all day picking rubbish off the street, to sell for a few dollars. now they go to school. courtesy of a local charity. this helps children who work on the streets catch up on their studies and get back into the state educational system. >> i was collecting old paper and the head of the school came to me. he asked if i wanted to go to school and i said yes. >> charities funded by donors are increasingly anxious. a dispute between the americans and afghan president threatened to jeopardize foreign donations to the country if he doesn't sign a security packet with the u.s. soon. on monday discussioning between the national

security advisor went nowhere. the organization behind the school, also used to run this shelter for children. it shut its doors in march as money from abroad ended. two small shelter used to house children, while the organization searched for their families and a proper school. >> they are supposed to get next year, to the school. so those are because of -- so most of the children come to us. >> for several years the facility gave street kids somewhere safe to sleep. says it has ran out of funding for this project, but this is indicative of many across the country, just struggling to survive.

but perhaps the u.s. is bluffing on its threats to cut aid. they believe that the americans want to stay here come hell or high water, so they feel like they are in a strong bargaining position. and that may be completely out of kilter with reality, but that does seem to be the view from the palace. >> but it is a very different view from the classroom. even so, the children continue to enjoy themselves unaware of the political crisis. how it can end what little they have. >> al jazeera, kabul. >> joining me from washington, d.c., to talk about how the u.s. afghanistan negotiations are progressing or not. john hopkins, school of advanced international studies good to see you again, thank you for your time.

is there a chance that the afghan president won't sign this u.s. afghan security agreement? >> hi uses it to sure up his own credentials that he is not seen as an american puppet, signing away sovereignty and security. so he is putting a lot of conditionallies. i think he is relishing this public disagreement, and i think -- is this situation we are used to the afghan president being an agitator? we are used to him saying one thing, and then making other statements that contradict what he just said. when i talk about a lack of credibility, he wants new conditions on a deal that has been negotiated

for months. he wants prisoners freed. he also wants them to help initiate talks. clearly, these issues have been talked about in the months leading up to this moment, and there was some kind of an understanding because he put the agreement forward to the laura jirga. >> he is not looking with credibility with us, he is looking for credibility with afghans. when you decide to leave, they are you are not part of the calculation after 2014. he needs to survive as the leader of the country. he thinks that he needs to be seen distant from the united states to have run a hard bargain to have asked for difficult things not to have signed easily and he is trying short of his credibility, not with the u.s. i think he is very much driven by politics.

>> is he running for another office? once the new elections take place over the next year? >> it's not a given, and even if he leaves office it will probably have a certain degree of control over the issue of afghanistan who succeeds him, and then ultimately he is looking -- even if he has no role, he is looking to preserve his own legacy. beholden to them, and had no nationalistic credentials. >> as far as you are concerned who has the upper hand at the moment? we know this can change a week from now? >> i think generally we don't have the upper hand, because we have already played our hand, our hand is we won't be there any more. after the u.s. troops leave, so in fact we also have a credibility

problem, because he doesn't really believe that we are going to be playing after 2014, so why not try to use this occasion to sure up his own credentials. >> all right, appreciate it, he is the dean of john hopkins international studies joining us from washington, d.c. good to see you, sir, thank you. >> antigovernment protestors continue to occupy state buildings,er this out on the streets defying an emergency law, they say they will continue until the government steps down. reports now from bangkok. >> a new day begins with hundreds of protestors still inside. by late morning with an arrow pointing their way, they set their sites on closing down more ministries. furthering their promise they would spark the

commands of the government. they say it no longer represents them. >> look at the people around us here. a lot of people have been silenced for so long, and i think these actions mean as lot to us. it's time for us to show that we are not happy. >> the prime minister face as two day no confident debate, but the party controls the house of representatives so there is no chance she will be voted out. i insist there's only one cabinet with me. there are some accusations that i lack independent, and that i lack intelligence, and have to be controlled. i have to ask you, have i not been independent as the head of the government, while we went through a series of cries seize? she says police and security forces will not use force to remove protestors so they have continued in mood without much violence. >> what they have been

able to do over the last three days is something that hasn't been seen in years. but what happens next? they have asked the government to resign, but they haven't made it clear what they would do if that happened. >> resigned from his parliamentary seat to lead the protestors but he has yet to define the movement's political goals. >> that might be because everybody if they are unseated and uncalled they still don't have enough to win. despite the mood of the supporters. al jazeera, bangkok. >> texting while driving may be more dangerous than you think. five seconds is the average amount of time a drivers eyes are off the road when texting. five seconds. think about that, u.s. drivers are four times more likely to crash, yeah. the average time your eyes are all the road is

five seconds. and 60% say they use a hold while driving. deadly crashes links to cell phone use. >> it's meant to grab your attention. new message boards looming over highways reminding drivers that nearly 900 people have been killed on tennessee roadways so far this year. >> it has definitely got worse. i would say right now it is the number one traffic safety issue in the country. >> tennessee is one of 41 states where it is now illegal to text and drive. now since the law went into effect, highway deaths have not gone down. in fact, went 12 saw one of the state's highest rates ever. with 1,019 people killed.

right now violators face a $1,500 fine. >> i would like a stronger law. i think down the run, in the future, probably five to ten years from now, it would be against the law to have electronic device in your hands. and drive. >> a national safety report details how bad the problem has become. were caused by texting or talking on the phone, in 2010. the number jumped to 10% a year later. compare that to the national average during that period a little more than 1%. the report also suggests that many states appear to be under reporting data. because texting and driving laws can be tough to enforce, law enforcement officials are using a variety of strategies to try and combat the problem. tennessee state troopers have swapped scar cars for 18 wheelers giving them a higher vantage point so they can see what drivers are up

to. >> several national campaigns using these to highlight the dangers of distracted driving. >> this is the text from me, right before she flipped her car. >> and several lawmakers are promising to push for healthier fine and points added to a violator's license. >> i know if i get a $250 fine, every time i was texting and driving i would probably stop. >> getting ready to up the anti, and put cops every certain miles. to again, enforce those laws. >> they believe the problem of distracted drive willing get worse, leaving tennessee and other states looking for new and more aggressive approaches to keep numbers like these from climbing. jonathan martin, al jazeera, nashville. >> the justice department has been asked to investigate last month's dramatic shooting in washington, d.c. more with that story and the rest of the day's headlines. >> well, you remember the high speed chase through washington, d.c. last

month, the attorney for the woman shot miriam kerry says police mishandled the incident, and that those officers should be prosecuted. query tried to drive through a barrier at the white house, where they shot and killed her. d.c. police are investigation gaiting the use of deadly force in the incident. a goaf loaded sailboat overturned in the bahamas kills 30 people. video released by the coast guard shows about 100 haitians clinging to the hull of the beet. authorities began a rescue when the boat overturns. pope francis made a big announcement today. he writes about changing for the catholic church, saying power should move away from the vatican, and focus more on the poor. the pope also calls on global leaders to address education, and healthcare. and writes that christians should embrace mugs limbs with affection and respect.

this was a lot in that. >> yeah, a lot. >> a shares took a tumble in midday training more about this story, what is the problem here. >> can you remember the other big national chain that went out a couple of years ago. >> bed bath and beyond? no. >> no, they are still around. >> it rhymes with hoarders. >> boarders, thank you. >> well, borders has gone out of business, barnes and noble is the last nationwide megabookstore. and as tony was hinting saw profits spike, but what also happened is that retail revenue declines by about 75.5%. and there was also a 4.6%

dip in revenue on scores that are based in or near college campuses. even sales were down more than 30%, which really shocked wall street today. e readers is the main reason that barns and noble is even in business today. and how, the company outlasted the now defunct nationwide bookstore, which closed its doors two years ago. now, amazon.com is the reason that book sales are more like dickens a tail of two cities, rather than say shakespeares mid summer night stream. by cashing in the skyrocketing popularity of e readers like their own kindle fire range, for example. it is hard to feel too sorry for barnes and noble, because they are the one that offered the

deep discounts back in the 1990's, which i'm afraid wiped out all the mop and pop bookstores. the american association of publishers shows that in the fission six months of this year, the overall book market was down by 6%, that is mainly because of kids book and paper. but there may be some progress for bookstore fans because a portion of the reading public would rather roam the musty stacks of local bookstores than deal with the super market style of a typical or even shop online, and the new york timings told us that last holiday season, ma and pop books say they are driving so that's -- those are are still around, of course. that is in marked contrast to the big super market style stores. >> the ma and pops are doing pretty well.

>> where they exist. >> sorry i got that wrong. been out of the country for the last two years you should know that. coming up on al jazeera america, why this book more than 300 years old could fetch big bucks and ten former nhl players have file add lawsuit,

auction block. is on the now, it is expected to set an auction record. >> access to this corner of the boston public library is limited and

with good reason. >> this is a department of rare books and manufactures. among the most valuable items here, the bay song book. >> the first book written and printed in the u.s. back in 1640. it's a translation of the book of osama bin laden and represents a rebellion against england. the original words are sometimes hard to read. but psalm 23 is still recognizable. >> loe in the valley of death shall i walk, none ill i'll fear. >> there are only 11 known copies of the book in existence. this one is owned by the old south church in boston. founding father benjamin fran lynn was baptized here. samuel adams was a church member. >> it has been said about old south church in boston, there's no other

church so integrate to this quest for freedom and justice than this church. >> that's why it has a second copy of the book. the idea of selling one of them came up more than 20 years ago, followed by passionate about debate about whether it has any relevance to today's ministries. they eventually voted in favor of selling. >> it is a part of our past, but we have let go of difficult things in the past. the money will top off the endowment and go thwarts its community programs, so how much is the book worth? all will be reveals on tuesday, in new york. estimated price, 15 to $30 million. >> they tell you it is an extremely valuable book. it will be the most expensive book in

history. >> it will stay in american hands an old book with a new owner, someone with very deep pockets. cat turner, al jazeera, new york. michael is here with the day in sports and the concussion issue, we touched on it yesterday, has really tut the n helicoptersl. >> yeah, now the question becomes how big will it become. three months after they agreed to pay money over concussion related health problems ten former hockey players have filed a similar lawsuit. for not doing enough to protect players from concussions. the suit contends that they should have known about scientific evidence about players that sustained head injuries are at greater risk during their hockey careers. but even after the nhl created a program to study brain injuries the

league took no action to reduce the number and severity during a study period from 1997 to 2004, and that the league didn't do anything to protect players from unnecessary harm until 2010. when it made a penalty to target a person's head. while the subject matser very serious, we are completely satisfied with the responsible matter in which the league and the players association have managed player safety over time, including with respect to head injuries we intend to defend the case, and have no further contact at this time. end quote. >> joining me now, is al jazeera legal contributor, jamie floyd, now, jamie, if i remember inning from my law classes i know that press debit matters, so with the settlement with the related lawsuit between the nfl and its former players how will that have any bearing on this lawsuit. >> well, you stole my thunder, because i wanted to use that word. you used it first, we

have that word in law, and there is something called precedent, but there isn't one here, because precedent really refers to those precedents set down by courts. courts like the u.s. supreme court, and we don't have that, but you are right, michael, that this is a piggy backing off of that previous nfl settlement. the nhl players and they are thinking well, if they have a big settlement, maybe we can too. of course, football is much bigger in the united states than is hockey. multibillion dollars sport, very as multimillion dollar sport. but the potential here is by fold. so i think we have a lot to look forward to in this lawsuit, and possibly another big settlement. >> what is the burden of proof? >> you know, when we follow cases we most often think about the presumption of innocence and proof beyond all reasonable doubt. and michael, you remember

this from law school too, that is a very very heavy burden. but that's not what we are talking about in civil cases like this one. this is a much easier burden for the plaintiffs. they just have to tip the scale a little bit to show that the evidence is in their favor. that the nhl knew, or should have known, that they were going to suffer this kind of severe injury. you can make the argument that it is more dangerous. the puck is hard, and on top of that, one of the most popular aspects as fighting is not discouraged it is actually encouraged. how might that relate to it? and then there's a third player, and that is the players the fact that

this is a negotiating sport, maybe we shouldn't be in a court of law, maybe we should go to arbitration. and these folks enter into this knowingly. so there's a lot of complicated stuff before we even get to a trial. are these people even a class. all uniquely situated as 1 to go forward as a group. a judge has to determine that they can do that? >> so a lot of questions to be answered and we will see how long it takes for those to be answered. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> we talk about the culture of football, there's a customer churr of hockey as well. >> oh yes. >> in the wake of head injuries. >> all right, appreciate it. up next al jazeera, dave warren with the latest on the lousy weather. fouling up holiday travel for millions, back in a moment.

>> and now a techknow minute...

there is the potential for these storms to produce tornadoes. we are getting that mix up north, but this line continues to move east. the storm now intensifying across the southeast, a lot of moisture to move up the coast, and also the warm air is moving with it. so this will be mostly rain. where that cold air is

still traps looks like we could see a mix, as that rain snow line pushing north. there's still pockets of ice expected. now, that snow area will stay pretty much across new york, and ohio, now that the sun has gone done, that snow will begin to accumulate. so watch it there. the storm bringin bringinge cold air, that's why we may see this mix here picks up by the forecast. heavy rain continues and that snow continues in ohio and northwestern pennsylvania. by tomorrow morning you can see the rain still coming down, but it is snow where that air is colder and that line begins to push east as the storm intensified off the coast. and bring that cold air back, by the time it is cold enough to see snow here, looks like we will be eyeing out a bit. this will be wednesday at noon. still that rain coming down tomorrow, so some of the flights may be delayed especially in this area with the lower

clouds and heavy rain. once the storm clears out, mainly up here, closer to the great lakes. five to nine inches of snow, but a lot of steady rain continuing two to four inches coming down. even though the rain is coming down, keep a close eye on the temperature. throughout the night tonight and tomorrow. the storm clears out, but it is a gusty wind. it will intensify, but we can see wind gusts over 40 or 50 miles per hour, timing looks like it is overnight, and by thursday, the upper eastern canada, so we are drying out, but thursday morning the first day of hanukkah, wind gusts near 50 miles an hour.

... this is access america, live from new york. i am tony harris with a look at todd's top stories. holiday travel, as they just mentioned, is rough in parts of the country. sevecep wintry weather, snow and sleet toward the east. thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled. the supreme court will hear another case involving president obama's healthcare reform law. justices will consider whether corporations whose owners oppose abortion on religious grounds must provide coverage for birth control to employees. afghan president hamid karzai is making new demands today including release of afghan prisoners from guantanamo bay beforee