>> into this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm jonathan betz with the headlines. more than a million americans that have been out of work have lost long-term unemployment benefits. congress did not extend the program that would have cost $19 billion. >> a federal judge threw out the last of the lawsuits against the government for katrina. >> a new york times investigation says the deadly attack on the u.s. embassy in benghazi did not involve al qaeda, alleging the assault was a response by local fighters to an american video.

four americans were killed in the attack, including u.s. ambassador. >> at least 20 people were killed by bombs dropped on a market in the northern syrian city of aleppo. two children are among the dead. the government stepped up attacks. >> 400 have been killed in these attacks since december 15th. president bashar al-assad said the attacks targeted terrorists. i'm jonathan betz, i'll be back with more news. "america tonight" is up next on al jazeera america.

>> good evening i'm joie chen. thank you for joining us for the weekend edition of "america tonight." we begin our conversation with a resource crisis of sorts in texas. oil is plenty. but water, a basic necessity is harder to come by. the problem started two years ago when the first fracking trucks arrived in town. for the people in town some were striking it rich. others realised that turning on a tap can no longer be taken for granted. >> keith has been fixing water wells in texas for 50 years. business is almost too good, and not in a good way. >> we are as busy as we want to

be, i'll say that. i could stay running all day and night if we wanted to. water wells all over the county are drying up. >> i have seen shallow water, 40-80 feet go. never seen any as deep as these - they are 600 feet and they are dry. some is to do with the drought. not all of it. >> today he is working for a rancher, shutting a dead well that was used to water cattle. >> all the shallow water in this country is pretty well gone, thanks to the drilling going on. >> fracking arrived in west texas and has changed everything in this basin. stretching across parts of 38 counties it is one of the largest oil and gas-producing areas discovered in the u.s.

some 82,000 active wells exist. most riches are only accessible through hydraulic fracturing or fracking. >> fracking uses more water than conventional drilling. >> ron green is a scientist. >> a conventional drilling has a vertical hold and uses 100,000 gallon. fracking - they drill down and put in a lot of water to frack the rock, talking 3-6 million gallons per well. >> arid reasons like west texas have been stressed for water. in the midst of a drought the fracking boom is pushing some towns over the edge. once a sleepy intersection off the highway with a population of 92, baan hart texas is teaming with trucks and people all to service the oil fields.

>> at last count 300 trucks, most 18 wheelers run through baan hart every hour. >> take them around. show them the progress. >> beverley and husband alan settled here 35 years ago. >> everything that you see my husband built - well, i'll show you what used to be our well. >> we haven't been in here lately. all of this money is down the tube. >> you don't think it will come back? >> i don't think it will ever come back. >> after her own well went dry beverley borrowed $1500, bought a town water meter and paid to be hooked up to the baan heart town well. >> the month i had that paid up i got up and turned the water on. and that's when i went, "oh, my god, the town is out of water." >> the town well had run dry.

for three days last june residents had to truck in water for drinking and basic needs. >> our friends on the ranch out here, their wells are gone. our friends out here on the ranch, their wells are gone. >> in texas groundwater is governed by the roughly capture - if you own the land, you own everything beneath it. residents says as some wells go dry, some neighbours cash in and sell fresh water. vendors are pumping from deeper wells. >> what do you say to your neighbours for selling water? >> you can't blame them, it's legal. >> it's legal. >> beverley and alan say without water they might be forced to sell up. >> it's heart-breaking. you do the best you knew how, and it wasn't enough.

>> this man came here for the work. 10 times a day he fills huhs truck with 5,000 gallon of fresh water and hauls it to the fracking wells. >> we do the best we can. with the water being low. there's a billing lake, they run out of water. we chase up and down. >> here on the western edge of baan heart. we came to talk to people selling fresh water. fresh water for fracking. but the subject of selling water for fracking is so sensitive that no one will speak to us. >> there's another catch. water used in fracking is so contaminated with chemicals and other minerals that it can never be used for any purpose, without an expensive clean-up. gas companies built is contaminated water storage facility in town. >> beverley took us to see it.

>> what will happen when the trucks come in? >> we'll have lights and a small city. it will be constant trucks, 24/7 - all day, all night. moving in, moving out and waiting. they'll be all up this road. over there, waiting to dump. >> we are a town that greed destroyed. greed on the part of the oil companies coming in here. worse than that it was the people here that embraced the greed. >> john is a local ramper and vice president of the baan heart waterboard. >> our infrastructure has been overtaxed and overburdened. we can't meet the demand that the oil people put on this - water, housing. electrical to a lesser degree. >> the whole infrastructure. >> every aspect of it.

>> you have a facility in town. >> it's an injection facility. the tanks are to hold it to whenever it's jumped. >> that means trucks. >> lots and lots of trucks. >> they are projecting between 200, 400 daily. >> a day. >> yes. >> what about the people who live there? >> it they are a non-internety. oil companies don't care. we have fought each of these salt water wells, we have gone to austin to no satisfaction. oil companies have deeper pockets than residents of baan hart do. >> they have successfully fought off attempts to make waterpermits before they drill. >> hydraulic pressuring is the region that texas and the rest of the nation is doing well.

>> i sat with deb ra hastings. >> the oil and gas industry paid $12 billion in one year, in 2012 alone. >> there was a bill before the last legislative session that would have widened requirements for drilling. why was that not a good idea? >> the process we have is working. we believe that it wasn't broken. >> why, if other large users, including municipalities and big agriculture have to get permits, why should oil and gas be exempt? >> the timing is important in that permitting process. they want to ensure when we have a rig available, that we can use it. >> fracking companies do not need to use fresh water. they can frack with blackish water or recycled water, but

because it has to be treated, it costs more. >> the oil and gas industry maintains it is using only 1% of water in texas, and is not placing an undue burden on the state. john nanny not long ago ran hundreds of head of cattle. then the water ran out. he's down to a couple of dozen. >> the texas oil and gas association says throughout the state the industry uses 1% of water. >> this is probably true. there's 254 counties in this state. my question so the oil industry is what is the percentage in the counties impacted mostly by that. >> do you think they know? >> i'm satisfied they do. they are not dumb. if you sit with one barefoot on a black and the other in the fire, on average e feel good.

water will be the limiting factor. when water is tapped, the oil boom will dry up. this country, without water, will be worthless. >> that is "america tonight"'s sheila mcviccer. >> after a break, we'll look at a new generation at the homeland of sitting bull for a new fight against an another intruder.

>> welcome back. now we look to a place where life falls out of view. life on native indian nations are remote. a scourge makes life almost impossible, that's alcohol. the pyne ridge reservation ended

a prohibition on alcohol sales. the consequences could be an economic windful or an invitation to an increased level of devastation. >> it's hard to imagine a place at the same time more breath takingly beautiful and heartbreakingly sad as this land, the pyne ridge reservation, home of the badlands, and for more than a bitter century, what outsiders call the sioux nation, a tribe with a tragic history. a nation of chief siting bull who led the victory over customer at little big horn, and the massacre at wounded knee. for generations the children of the warrior nation have been cut down in greater numbers by a different foe - alcohol.

22-year-old clarence rowland was barn and raised here. he knows what alcohol and addiction do to a family. >> tell me where we are. >> we are at the grave of one of my ancestors, emily joyce rowan. >> tell me about her. >> emily was young, 21 years old, and died from the effects of alcoholism. >> at 21? >> at 21. >> how long had she been drinking? >> from a young age - 14 or younger. >> emily's sister ashley lies beside her. just 14, she was drunk, walking in the dark, when a car driven by other drunken teens struck here. clarence's grandfather is here, cirrhosis of the liver. his mother was 31 - prescription drugs. >> at 17 clarence left school to

raise his brother and two sisters. >> what kept you getting addicted? >> losing my family members. >> one by one. >>opened my eyes to where i needed to sober up. >> mum was lovely, passionate. she laughed a lot and loved us kids. >> this is one of clarences only pictures with his mother. he's in the back, with a smile on his face. on the res happy families are broken by alcohol. tribal president. what has alcohol down to your community? >> it has destroyed our communities, our nation. >> of 45,000 in your tribe, how many are directly affected by

alcohol? >> i would say 100%. affected by it. those addicted - over 50%. >> over 50%. >> are addicted. >> everyone else feels it in some way. >> in my family - i went to few funerals where they died of natural causes. they died in a car accident. cirrhosis, fights, shootings. >> all connected to alcohol. >> all connected to alcohol. >> the tribe has tried to stop the booze. this is a dry reservation. there are no liquor stores on the res. possession of alcohol is illegal. it has been for all but a few months. where does it come from? almost all of it from outside the reservation, across the border. >> over on that side is a county governed by its constitution and tribal laws and traditions.

take a few steps across an unmarked border and you are in nebraska, governed by a different set of laws and a different morality. >> welcome to unincorporated white clay nebraska. it's not lived in u.s. sensis data, but the population is just 14. on the strip that passes for a town, there are four liquor stores which sell more than 4 million cans of beer, malt liquor, juice, they call it, a year. >> almost all of it to people from the res or who just sleep and wait on the streets. >> my friend's little brother, i watched a dude get shot because of alcohol. i lived it all. >> they have no respect for our

laws, no respect at all. that's how they look at us, it is money in their pockets. if i took a truck up to the line, everyone that came across, when they went bag, i am sure nebraska would have something to say about that. same thing. they are not going in today. >> tribal president joined protesters trying to block the trucks making their delivery. >> a camp called zero product started up across the border. >> look at the poison patrol. >> clarence and his brother made videos to raise awareness about what was going on in white clay. posting them on a facebook page started.

they named is people in nacota. >> who is this? >> this is my grandmother. >> is she okay? >> she's intoxicated. >> it's sad to come out and see our relatives on the streets like this. it breaks my heart. >> we want people to know what life is like on the reservation. a lot come together. people want to stop what is going on. it is the young people who seem active in the fight and vocal in white clay. in a vote that may change life in pyne ridge, the tribal council held a referendum. supporters say it would let the tribe, not white clay make money

on booz. it caused a division. yvonne works for the tribalal health department. she's in favour of the tribe getting the money from alcohol sales, even though she has seen what alcohol can do? >> i have seen the devastation, i have lived it, you know, i have gone into homes where i had to take the babies out, you know. i had to call the cops on the father. i had to report them to social services. i have done all that. i know. when we stopped to film a sign, we met that man, making memorial crosses for a living. cross makers are busy on pyne ridge, the life expectation si is 48 for men, 52 for women. >> greg made his own brother's

cross after the brother passed out drunk in winter and froze to death. the referendum on alcohol sales passed by a slim margin and is being challenged in court. >> i don't think we should fight fire with fire. >> tribal president breuer says he'll upload the war, if it comes to that. >> i hate to see it happen. >> you almost look like you'd cry over it. >> i would, i have. >> clarence knows the streets. he started buying booze from the stores when he was 14. >> this one is 10.5% alcohol. this is what they drink. it's not just my family who is inflicted with alcohol.

it's everyone's. >> now clarence rowland is helping to lead his own generation away from the broken path. >> coming up next here on "america tonight" - the fists of fury. the 85 pound teen queen of the ring who is knocking up stereotypes in india. we get in her corner next.

>> this time last year there was an outcry after the rape of a young medical student. it serves to say many indian women are silent living in fear. on the outskirts of call cata we meet a teenage girl with big,

brave dreams. "america tonight" caught up with that aspiring boxer as she prepared for a match.

>> well will keep watch on kolkata, undindia to see how sh does. >> and the great american bison, the roundup on the great plains - coming up next.

>> every year soon after the arrival of fall an impressive icon of america's natural history thunders to the bad lands of south dakota. the north american bison has a difficult history. they were a food source for the native population, and then hunted almost to extinction. we sent chris bury to the black hills for the annual spectacle there. >> in the black hills of south dakota the cowboys and girls are preparing for work the way they did a century ago. >> lord, we ask that there's no harm come to man or beast. >> but the dawn light reveals a thoroughly modern caravan

winding through the valley. here at custer state park the crowds are coming, braving a damp, bone-chilling wind to experience the spectacle most americans have only seen in the movies. >> this is as close the old west as you'll get. >> for 43 years, this cowboy has done the round up of a buffalo herd that still roams the range even though its species was hunted almost to extinction. a wild herd of bison, big, tough, weighing almost as much as 2,000 points. their lineage stretches -- over 200,000 years. >> as longs as i can ride a horse i'll be here. >> over 4,000 visitors watch.

this family from florida came to watch. they are on a year-long trip, part of home schooling. >> i love to bring the kids tout experience the history. >> for the three children it becomes more than a speck of history. >> i would like to have seen them roam by the millions. being able to see them at all is cool. >> and for mary, proud of her heritage, the all-night drive from wisconsin was worth it. >> it almost makes me cry to watch them run past. it's something that pulls at your heart. soon, over the ring top the first buffalo break the horizon - barely visible, but then the whips crack and the

cowboys holler the way they always have. >> get up there. >> and the vast empty plains come to life. the ground itself shaking from the thundering hooves. a sound so ominous it terrifies a heard of wild elk. >> watch the elk. >> sending them scattering for safety. >> if the scene is familiar, no wonder. it was in this valley, with the ancestors of these buffalo, where a star-studded cast filmed the classic "how the west was won." and for the modern cowboys with modern help trying to herd the buffalo on their native turf and not always getting their way. >> watch her, jeff. watcher. get out of here.

>> was a heart-pounding thrill. buffalo are fears and fast. able to outrun a horse or man in short burst. this was terry's first time. >> when you are out there in the thundering herd, what is it like? >> exhilarating. racing along. wind flying. it was a lot of fun. >> after participating in more than 40 round-ups, they know why the crowds have grown. >> they see running horses running as hard as they can. cracking whips, yelling. there's something that you get into. they are rooting, basically, for the buffalo. >> it's no wonder crowds root for the buffalo, considering its tortured past in the country. >> buffalo are direct

descendants of five calfs saved by a rancher in 1883. then they were this close to extinction in a shameful episode in american history, a combination of greed and government policy nearly wiped out the magnificent creatures. in the city we are shown a blown-up photograph of buffalo skulls piled several storeys high. >> what are we seeing? >> it's a stunning picture illustrating perfectly the mass anger. >> a massacre of millions over a span of a few decades in the 19th century. slaughtered by trappers, tourists and hunters, with the support of the u.s. government. >> as the railroad forged west and settlers flooded the plains, the bison were, in essence.

in the way. so they were shot and external nated to make way -- external nated to make way for the settlement. >> the railway making way not for buffalo meat and hides, but for sport. >> it was so sporting and exciting to be out in the american west. there was nothing sporting about it. then the army hired hunters, knowing indians considered the enemy depended on the buffalo for food and clothing. the general war hero urged help for the hunters - send them powder and lead. let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo are external nated. >> they did more than an entire

army of soldiers could have done, by getting the indians to go on to the reservations, by killing off their food source. >> as many as 60 billion buffalo roamed north america. by the 1880s few survived. the vast plains fell silent and empty. a death wind blew across the prairie, wrote the chief siting bull, a death wind for my people. >> a tragedy. i mean, you can read the account and see pictures of thousands upon thousands of buffalo skulls stacked high, and to know they were slaughtered for the continuation -- tongues, hides. >> it makes me ashamed. we are not that generation, we should be ashamed that human being did this to the buffalo.

thanks to careful management the buffalo are coming back, at custer state park, home to the descendants of the handful of calves. the herd has grown, so it must be culled every year. the buffalo inspected and ipp okayulated against infectious diseases. then branded. so the animals can be tracked over time. >> craig pugsly helps to coordinate the roundup in its 4th year. >> it's a management tool. we would do the round up whether anyone showed up or not. we need to bring in the herd, get a count on the numbers. we brand the calves. we cull out the ones that will sell. >> the round-up is more than a spectator's sport. it's a way to protect the buffalo.

it that is why bot vol teared here. >> how long will you keep riding here? >> until the day i die. >> my goal is to ride along and hit the ground dead as a fall off my horse. >> chasing a buffalo. >> chasing a buffalo. >> buffalo in north america number 400,000. the species is secure, no longer in danger. the majestic animals a reminder of what this country came close to losing and a stunning example of how the efforts to save a symbol of the west prevailed in spite of a scandalous past. >> correspondent chris bury reporting from the great west. looking ahead to next week. we log on to find love online. >> one out of 10 americans has gone online looking for love. but it's not always a bed of roses. >> there was a hotty. i mean, he was a cuty ba-tootie

but he dated seven of my friends and me. >> and another thing, women's are professionals and angle. they can work skinny with the bootie sticking out and when you see them they look like buba smith. >> what are people doing wrong? >> smoking chemistry for compatibility. you go out with someone, it feels like, and the next thing you know you picture your future. this is a person that will save me from loneliness. >> in our two-part series, "america tonight" takes you into the darker side. >> he wanted to pay me $30,000 to live in his beverly hills mansion, provide me a bentley. i had to live with him and two girls and be submissive. >> is it prostitution or a new take on the tradition where the man always pays.

>> i plan on giving someone $500. one sugar baby i said pick out whatever you want, one thing. she picked out a purse. >> "america tonight" unmasks dating online with a fresh look at the search for love.

>> and finally from us this hour, an interesting predicament. if a world famous artist painted a picture on a building you owned,way would you do - keep the work in place or try a get rich quick by removing it for sale. the debate is pitting street art purists against high brow art collectors. the work is "brook line bandaged ard", and the artist is almost anonymous, going by the name of

banks si. >> if you wondered how the other half live, visit miami art week. like swallow returns, each december the beautiful people make their way to miami for a few days of chardonnay sitting and papua new guinea posing. by the way, you can see pretty cool art here too. but the star of the show, judging from the security arrangements is not cindy crawford, but a 6,000 pound slap of concrete and brick attributed to graffiti artist banksy. >> banks si is a well-known british street artist. he started with small street pieces in europe and has become hot. in eight years he went from a few hundred pounds to selling a million and eight piece at sotheby. >> that's pounds, as in british

money. >> it used to be all the works were destroyed. people are catching on that, "hey, we've got something here." >> a part of the banksy mist eke is you never know where in the world he'll turn up. he left a trail of graffiti art, done under the cover of darkness. this fall he blessed red hook in brooklyn. an image of a heart-shaped balloon became yn overnight sensation for people lining up for a moment of communion. almost as quickly as it came it disappeared. enter chris arnold and his gallery. >> to move a canvas you need a bubble wrap and car. to move street work you have to drill 25 holes around it, put steel bars in it, put a metal

frame on the back. put it on a forklift, on a truck, take it down the road and put it in an art show. i didn't sleepfor three days until this got here. >> it's estimated that brooklyn's heart will fetch several hundred thousands. for the owner of the business it's like hitting the lottery. it hit miami to drum up interest. the plan seems to be working. >> it's amazing, something that proves that art is everywhere. >> he's a genius. >> for some reason this resonates, because it reflects on daily struggles that we all have. >> we wouldn't be doing our journalistic duty if we didn't bring you the other sized of the story. we sent our producer back to red hook, a place where one doesn't meet quite as many super models. do you know where the banksy

installation was? >> i have no idea. >> do you know banksy? >> no >> sir, do you know where the banksy piece was? >> yes, one block over. down here, make a right. >> cool, thanks. >> soon the crew found the election where the banksy stood. >> i don't think they should have taken it out of the building and removed it. >> this man, true to his brooklyn roots summed it up best. >> it sucks. >> red hook is an arts destination. once blue colour, it's more blue colour chique. walk the streets and you see all kinds of murals. people here have different ideas to those in miami about what constitutes art. >> people that buy pieces of street art are the same people that buy fancy cars and don't know how to drive them.

they don't get it. >> in red hook there was a guy that was not impressed by banksy. his name is michael angela - seriously michael angelo. >> it wasn't that big a promotion >> when you are michael angelo it's probably hard to get excited about a piece of graffiti. back in miami, a theory was ofrt as to what banksy was up to when he chose to paint a red balloon in a suburb where he knew it would be found and removed. he does sell some pieces at auction. >> he came to new york. crazy gallery pieces like us, take it down, show it. his official pieces have a spike in value. it's the process of the publicity behind his series of

street work that drives auction prices up. >> perhaps out there somewhere if you listen hard enough you can hear banksy laughing all the way to the bank. >> and they are paying so i guess it is art. that's it for us here on "america tonight." please remember if you would like to comment on any stories, log on to the website, aljazeera.com. meet the team, get sneak preview of stories you are working on and tell us what you'd like to see. join the conversation with us on twitter or at our facebook page. goodnight. we'll have more of america tonight tomorrow.

>> this is al jazeera america. it's live from new york. i'm jonathan betz with the headlines. >> millions of americans that have been out of work for a month have lost long-term unemployment benefits. congress did not extend the program that would have cost $19 billion. a federal judge in new orleans threw out the last of the lawsuit in relation to hurricane katrina. >> a new york times investigation says the deadly attack on the u.s. embassy in benning did not involve al qaeda, alleging that the assault was a response to an