happy new year. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz in new york. the new year begins with a blizzard, havoc at airports, millions facing snow and freezing temperatures. >> in harm's way, an american couple in south sudan determined to stay and protect orphaned children. the latest from the war-torn country. >> lighting up and lining up - colorado stores selling marge -- marijuana. >> and remembering the photographers who captured some of the iconic images over the

last 50 years. >> good evening. happy new year. you are looking live at the empire state building here in new york city. this is definitely the calm before the storm. in just a few hours, extreme weather will slam into the east coast, taking aim from washington up through new england. the system is hitting the great lakes region, sweeping through detroit and chicago. 400 flights have been cancelled. airlines are reporting delays. half a foot of snow will hit chicago. east coast is prepping, stocking up on shovels. the state may close major highways as a precaution. says the governor. >> schools pre-emptively closing in boston, declaring a snow emergency for the region, kevin corriveau is tracking the storm. it sounds big.

>> this is big for the east coast. there has been a lot of snow in the northern plains into 2013. we are getting a combination of storms. the northern storm is bringing snow across chicago, the great lakes, pennsylvania right now. now we are getting the influence of the southern storm, and these are the two that are going to come together over the next 24 hours, really pumping up the volume, if you want to say, here across the north-east. we are seeing snow showers across parts of new jersey, new york and peninsunsylvania, and will only get worse. these are the warnings and advisories. winter storms for many parts of new england, but we are concerned about the winter warnings. we'll see over six inches of know, winds over 35 miles per hour, and temperatures at 20 degrees or below. that means wind chills or below. snow - yes, we'll see a lot of

it. it will start light. as we go to thursday afternoon, it will build in. thursday evening into friday morning it will come down. parts of massachusetts and connecticut, and rowed island -- rhode island will see the rest of it these are the figures coming out. boston airport, logan airport will be the most affected airport. heartfort and the new york city airports will see delays and cancellations. >> a big change for the north-east. >> in colorado, an historic day, it is perfectly legal to buy marijuana for recreational use. that is is first for the country. the debate over the drug wages, customers are lining up. >> they have been lining up and the tide of customers have not stopped hundreds of people coming through the 3d cann bys

center in denver. the first customers to purchase league at weed. it's an historic day, a day generating big revenue for places like this dispensary and the entire state. a massive economic windful underway and an historic cultural shift in colorado. >> i'm standing in a line in the snow outside. that is how important it is for me. >> i've been waiting 42 years for the day. >> earlier on it was a media mad house, more cameras than customers. >> it's a watershet moment for drug policy as we end marijuana prohibition. >> food in colorado we shift marijuana if the underground into a regulated market. >> at 8am the first customer, an ex-marine who spent two tours in

iraq. he spent years trying to get war vets access to weed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. to ease his anxiety he bought an eight of an ounce of bubapush and pot-induced marijuana. >> it's a huge step. i'm excited to see this triple down to other states. >> it's giving me an aftertaste. >> then it was nonstop. by noon the wait was four hours. and the atms were running dry as they came from near and far. store owner tony fox was thrilled, but says it's about more than the money. >> it's a business, but it's a passionate social justice issue as well. it's personal for many people in line, as well as myself. >> nothing challenged other than 10,000 people are not going to

be arrested for possessing marijuana, and it will be sold by tightly controlled businesses, instead of the underground market. >> in other words activists hope by the time the rush wears off, buying weed will look a lot like business as usual. >> day one of legal weed seems to be going off without a hitch. we have seen a couple of police cars drive by here checking out the line in the parking lot. we had state marijuana enforcement officials coming through. they are satisfied with the way everything is growing. this is watched closely, not just here in the state, but across the country. a lot of states interested in the revenue. a huge cultural shift giving a new meaning to the phrase rocky mountain high in the rocky mountain state. >> from one historic change to another, obamacare, the new year

bringing the health plan to millions of americans. it comes with big changes, controversial coming from an unlikely supreme court justice. >> hours before she rang in the new year, a last-minute surprise. the supreme court justice blocked a key part of the president's heath care law, ruling religious groups should not be required to offer contraceptive coverage. the ruling angered many religious groups. a plea from catholic nuns was granted. the white house will likely fight the ruling saying the rule had compromises to address church concerns. the decision came hours after the health care law came in effect. covering millions. >> anything that will help me and my family, that's what we'll do. >> more than 2 million americans signed up. the administration hopes

7 million will join when open enrolment ends. >> a lot of people go about it as if they don't care. >> controversy continues to plague the law. a botched website, cancelled policies, and sticker shock are frustrating many. >> i was helping the average american working 40 to 50 hours a week. how are we supposed to live. >> you don't make that much money to begin with. the prescriptions will kill me. >> as the law goes into effect and coverage begins, republicans promise the fight is now over. >> obamacare is a reality, it's a failed program taking a less than perfect health care system from the standpoint of costs, making it worse. the damage that obamacare will do, will have to be dealt with as part of any reform. >> regarding justice's ruling a

white house official says they are deferring to the department of justice on litigious matters, but is sure that employers are protected. >> some lesser known provisions of the health care law went in effect. calories do count. that's right, according to an f.d.a. estimate $25.8 million is slated to be spent to encourage americans to make healthy choices. vending machines will be required to be posted. >> another service includes getting help with breastfeeding. breastfeeding support, counselling and equipment must be required for mothers. programs that receive funding must teach that sex before memory is likely to have harmful, psychological and physical effects. >> a century-old ban has been

lived. the boy scouts of america will allow openly gay scouts. under new rules kids cannot be banned from troops because of their orientation. leaders are banned. >> we spoke to an openly gay legal scout leader and asked what it means to him. >> i've been part of the boy scouts since i was 11 years old. seeing the organization that i know and love is a huge change. seeing how they've progressed and learned to accept people like me is wonderful to me. and today is the mark of a day that shows how far they have come. i'm proud of them, and i hope that they will be willing to make the next few steps in coming to conclusion. >> tough criticism and hits have come from those that oppose that

mood. >> stacks will trade at an all-time high tomorrow morning. 2013 was a big year for the bulls. the the dow finished the year up. the s&p 500 up 30%. as patricia reports, there's a lot of optimism for 2014. >> the bulls ploughed through obstacles in 2013, overcoming sluggish economic growth and a government shutdown. >> if your money was in equities, stocks, you were happy. >> will the rally continue into 2014. >> there's nothing in the wake that would drive the market down. >> fuelling the optimism is the housing recovery. home prices rose about 11% across the country, making consumers feel richer. new construction is expected to exceed is 1 million units for the first time, and that means

jobs. >> every construction jobs leads to three other jobs. we can see a million new jobs coming out of a surge in housing. >> improving jobs market is one reason the federal reserve decided to rein in a bond-buying program driving stock market high in 2013: now it's receding investors will have to focus on fundamentals. >> they'll have to start innovating, investing in r&d and employees and grow with new products and services. >> and with corporations issuing profit warnings, investors may be more discerning in 2014. >> italian automaker fiat says it has the agreement to acquire

the remaining shares of chrysler. they own over 50%. the rest is held by the trust fund. fiat will pay billions into that fund and chrysler $7 million. >> farmer -- former first lady barbara bush is still in hospital. the 88-year-old wife of the george hw bush is the mother of george w bush. >> still to come - ice rescue. latest attempts to reach the ship stack in the antarctic. >> the americans in south sudan, and the young lives they are shielding.

>> syria missed a deadline to get rid of the first batch of its chemical weapons. the government cited community

concerns and weather. the use of conventional weapons has not stopped. >> this blast was caused by a barrel packed with explosives, dropped from a syrian air force aircraft, according to the voice over on this video, posted online. the target is darria, a damascus suburb. forces loyal to president bashar al-assad have been intensifying their attacks on rebel-controlled areas across syria. the regime may have been stripped of chemical weapons, but that seems to have had little effect on its campaign against anti-government forces. but the ships that were supposed to have taken the weapons out the syria are returning to port in cyprus empty. it means the 31 december deadline to take the weapons out of syria has not been met. >> everything that syria needs to complete the process of

removing and transporting out of syria the chemicals, all the equipment has been provided and delivered. so now it's a matter of getting the trend rolling. we understand that a number of factors have added to that, which have meant the cnn authorities are unable to meet the 31 december deadline. >> the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons says it's on track for the june 30th deadline when the chemical weapons program must have been dismantled. the syrian government is responsible for removing, packing and transporting the weapons to the port. >> assad's forces gained control of the highway linking damascus to the coast, but the convoys could be subject to rebel attack. conventional weapons are causing death and destruction. in is inside a hospital in

southern syria on new year's eve. the syrian observatory for human rights says more than 46,000 civilians have been killed since the conflict began in 2011. >> now to the deepening crisis in south sudan, the fighting conditions as both sides prepare for ceasefire negotiations on thursday. the president has declared a state of emergency in two states jonglei and unity, both dominated by forces sympathetic to ousted vice president riek machar. that includes the city of bor, where government troops are organising a fight. 200,000 south sudan have been forced from their homes. representatives from both sides have arrived in ethiopia from ceasefire talks. thousands are feared dead since fighting broke out three years ago. >> some american missionaries are trying to find a way to get

out of south sudan. >> the americans can leave, but the children lack the proper paperwork to get out. we have more. >> they wint to south sudan to help others. they are the ones that need a hand. kim campbell, her husband and two daughters have taken care of the or fans for two years. their orphanage is two miles from the u.n. group. heavy fighting made it difficult to get to the camp. >> we tried to leave the compound once. whether they were firing to scare us or firing at us or other soldiers - there was gunfire going off as we were headed in their directions, and missiles flew over our head and we ran back to the compound. it took two attempts to get to the u.n. base.

>> now that they made it to the base, a heart breaking dilemma. american officials told the campbells it's up to the u.n. who boards the evacuation flight. >> they are trying. they are aware that we are here. we are on an evacuation list. so they are doing what they can do. i understand they have procedures, but i would thing in a time of war someone could do something. we are trying to protect children. this isn't the place to do it. >> that's del walters reporting. the family works with keeping help alone, and joan campbell is brad campbell's mother and she spoke about the latest from minneapol minneapolis. >> i spoke to brad two or three times a day since this started. their spirits are up. they are feeling hopeful, but

they are also struggling with not enough food, not enough water, not enough good sanitation. he explained to me earlier today how this got to be so out of control. when they showed up at the u.n. base camp in malicol. there were about 6,000 people, and once they got most of the people in, they decided they had room for everybody, so they had provisions for 6,000 people. and the - by the next day, there were between 20,000-30,000 there, and they don't have enough provisions for that many provisions, so the food is - the food supply is short. the water supply is short. the facilities are - they are doing the best they can under overwhelmingly impossible circumstances. >> this is a u.n. base that we are talking about now that sounds as though is the way your

son and kim are describing it. that is overrun at the moment. is the u.n. able to get in and out and bring additional supplies or is - or is the fighting precluding that? >> the fighting has been precluding that. i know they are trying. it's been almost impossible. i just don't know how they're going solve that part of it. they need to get food in there, and to get food for 30,000 people, is far different to getting food for 6,000 people. >> what are brad and kim telling you about the security situation. >> they have said the security has been pretty good, and it's quite a comfort to them. in spite of the fact that there's fighting all around them and the town of malakol is in terrible condition from the shelling and everything, there are u.n. soldiers patrolling

inside and outside. i mean, there are - as i said there are about 6,000 inside the gates of the u.n. camp, but there are another 20 or 25,000 camped outside the base, taking whatever shelter they can, trying to stay out of the hot sun, trying to find food. it's heartbreaking. but there are soldiers patrolling, and they are keeping a close eye on things from what brad has said. >> the basic question here is can they get out. brad and kim. can they get out? at this particular moment i don't have an answer to that and neither do they. they are not even exactly sure what the possibilities are. they just don't even have answers. they are going literally, i would say, minute to minute on this. these kids are truly, in every

sense of the word - it's one big family now. brad and kim and their daughters love these children beyond words. i mean, i can't even put it into words. and they want to all stay together if it's at all possible. they are doing everything they can to stay together. >> joan campbell and her family struggle to find a way out of south sudan. >> it's day 4. a team of al jazeera journalists. producer mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed have been moved. mohamed fadel fahmy has been moved to hospital, he injured his hand before the arrest. peter greste is still at the care. police station. al jazeera is demanding the journalists be released immediately. >> russian president met with some victims of the suicide bombings. the early morning visit to volgograd came a day after he

pledged to defeat terrorism. the attacks on a train station and o awe bus killed many. >> anexplosions in mogadishu killed 11 people. one of the plogs --&plogss appeared to -- explosions appeared to be a suicide bombing? a. >> a car bomb killed two people. it targeted a bus full of shiite pilgrims travelling from iran. the car was parked on the side of the road and detonated from a person inside. shiites in pakistan are a frequent target. >> the liberal leader. people across america are watching, can he deliver. an update on the first blizzard

of 2014.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz with the headlines. new year's day in colorado kiged off the first legal marijuana sales for recreational use. residents over the age of 21 can buy over an ounce of pot and are lining up to do so. >> the president's health care law had a last mg legal snag. part of the law requiring health care plans to provide contraceptives. religious groups opposed the rule. the white house has until friday to respond. >> the first major storm is headed to the north-east. in connecticut many have taken up insulation for pipes, snow belowers and ice melts.

winter storm warnings for thursday. kevin corriveau is here with more. >> earlier we mentioned the problems seen at the airimportants, and it's on the roads as well. i'm concerned about a southeastern new england. anything east and south-east of highway 34 is because the winds will be strong. 35 to 45 miles per hour. >> that will cause a problem on the highways. if you don't have to get on the roads until friday, that would be a good thing. we are looking at big problems around noon. >> also towards the north, the central part of that state, the cold temperatures are in place. that is behind the cold front that is responsible for the bad weather. fargo is minus 15 and a wind chill of minus 25. this has been going on for a week now. we expect into the too much of a break over the next couple of days. >> a new era has begun in new york city. bill de blasio has been sworn in by former president bill

clinton. he was surrounded by family and friends and promised to fight for income equality and social justice. >> for the first time in 20 years, a democrat is now mayor of new york city. with fan fair, pomp and circumstance, bill de blasio was sworn in in a ceremony presided over by a former president. >> we are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love. >> bill de blasio ran on the platform of a tale of two cities. but can he deliver on his promise to help the have notes. >> anyone that rides into office with the type of support that mayor bill de blasio did has an agenda that is too significant tore them to accomplish. what he needs to do is think

boldly, while at the same time finding short-term victory for new yorkers. >> bill de blasio wants to raise money by making charter schools pay rent, and tax wealthy new yorker for programs, and to build affordable housing he wants to take $1 million from the pension funds. they have all been met by opposition by a variety of groups. bill de blasio will be able to work across the aisle to accomplish some things much. >> the idea of raising taxes on the rich to support pre-k and young fights going school and having a quality education, and at the same time there's other areas where they'll see negotiation by the mayor to get things done. >> bill de blasio's populous process is not knew. voters want change. it will not be up to the mayor to implement it. he'll have to turn to the state government in albany to get much

of what he wants done. >> a republican strategist that lives in new york weighs in, brian, thank you for being with us. >> as new york goes, so goes america. >> sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. i wish the best for new york. i live here my whole life, growing up around here. i think it will be a tough go for him going forward. if you look at it you have bill clinton on the stage. hillary clinton wants to run for president and andrew as well. >> why will it be tough. he's a democrat. the governor is a democrat. >> the only tax he can raise on his own is the real estate tax. he has to go up to the legislature in albany and go to a publicly controlled set. he needs approval from a gentleman who wants to run for

president. at the same time andrew is saying he wants to raise taxes, $500 million, and there's a $2 million surplus. >> is there not the appetite for these tax raises in new york city. the new mayor promised there would be a little tax hick going to education. >> it's a term equivalent of one soya lattera. i don't drink them. i can't tell you what they cost. >> he cannot raise taxes on new yorkers, and i do not believe andrew will let him raise the darks. where he will try to cal -- control things on a local level is where he talks about raise minimum wage, which they can't do that. they can do paid sick leave. they'll bring race into the debate more than the national stage, more so than the african

american president. he has a situation where harry bella fonte was the first to speak. he referred to the coke brothers as white soup remmists, referring to kkk when describing them. bill de blasio distanced himself at that point. puts him front and center today. there was a priest on stage, a minister, who then referred to new york as a plantation. if that is not bringing race into the issue front and center, i don't know what is. >> it's an issue that resonates with a lot of new yorkers, coming off the stop and frisk, something that bill de blasio wants to scale back. will he get movement on that. >> he appointed bill brat to be the police commissioner. he had been the police commissioner for the first two years of rudi's term, and the same thing he did in los angeles is he had to have stop and frisk to protect the city.

on one hand he's running against it. the first guy coming in will say stop and frisk must stay. he said he was going to stop the appeal of stop and frisk, meaning you have a federal monitor. keep an eye on the police department. that'll be a major issue for the country - does stop and frisk work. if you pull it, what happens to crime rates. if you are a tourist and wants to come to new york, you better come quickly. he's pulling those out. >> that is an idea he's proposing. >> when you look at the other ideas like that, sick leave, which do you think will have the most national implication? >> paid sick leave will be a big one. it's less than a year old. the unions have a creative bill de blasio. they'll use new york as an example of if they can pay for paid sick leave, they can bring that up. they'll say if everyone is

closer in pay to union members, why not join overall. that's the plan for the unions in the long term, how to grow membership. if they earn more, let's see what they can do. across the country we have had the fast food workers protesting a bit over the past couple of months. they don't do that. the unions pay them to march. new york will be an issue front and center. when you talk about the unions and what they want to accomplish. they have to negotiate all the union contracts across the city. there's not a single union that serve the city. sanitation, police, fires, teachers, the uft will go after them. randy wine garten, head of the uft nationally is a farmer uft president in new york city. >> it's a big change for new

york, the first democrat in city hall in 20 years. thank you for your time tonight. >> what do you do when a president's bible disappears, you put 50 ny detectives on the case. when new york mayor bill de blasio was sworn in, he used franc -- franklin roosevelt's bible. panicked officers spent time on a book hunt when it disappeared. the bible was found, but it's not clear where. >> new york was not the only big city to welcome in a new mayor. detroit is facing bankruptcy. they are vowing to get to work. they'll work under the city's emergency manager. >> the hospital treating form er-israeli prime minister says his condition has taken a turn for the worst. he's suffering kidney problems and is in a life-threatening

state. the 85-year-old has been in a coma since 2006. he's the 11th prime minister in 201. >> secretary of state john kerry is expected to arrive in jerusalem. they are expecting to hammer out a peace deal. they are expecting to meet with the israeli prime minister for most of the day tomorrow. >> the fate of the occupied territories is one of the maimer obstacles for peace deals. the israeli army carries out training exercises. the mock raids have palestinians living in fear. soiman mcgregor wood has more. >> in the occupied wayning , all is quiet. on november the 5th, hundreds of soldiers walked into town. photos taken by hundreds document the arrival. near the mosque soldiers fired tear gas. 15 soldiers entered this home.

this man's daughter, 3-year-old ruba, was terrified. the soldiers took up position on the roof. as night fell they left, without saying a word. the whole thing was a training exercise. >> translation: they didn't only disturb my routine, there's a sense here that they can command our lives. i feel that whenever they want, they can break into high home in whichever way they like. >> what happened here is happening all over the west bank. palestine villages used for training. it was an evacuation exercise in august. in hebron israeli soldiers were filmed training. >> most are familiar with israeli soldiers on their land. the judged that some raids, where they are there for hours on end in their homes is

training exercise - that shocked many. >> in defense of the practice the army issued the following statement to al jazeera: >> human rights group say mock grades break the law and when dangers by israeli settlers are increasing, they ask why isn't the army carrying out mok raids. >> this former israeli solder says they are all about reminding the palestinians who are in charge. >> it's unusual, if you think about it, that people will enter your house or train in your streets. i'm not sure if i, as an israeli, will agree that someone will do it in my street or raid my house as part of the training. this is part of why i think it's

wrong. >> this causes anger and resentment and that is not good for anyone's security. >> still ahead on al jazeera, tipping point, a new policy on gratuity for restaurant workers. >> apple, microsoft are getting ready to offer the latest devices to change your life - in the new year.

>> earlier we mentioned a reason in the north-east. we are dealing with snow in the west - kansas, missouri, you can see the line, the line coming across the north-east, and expanding and bringing in snow. first of all, let's go in closer. for chicago, the snow is beginning to ease slightly on the band, on the edge of that band right there. that's going to move to the south. so overnight things will improve for you. we have a lot of warnings and advisories for many parts of the region, including lake effect snow warnings across lake michigan and lake uron. we are looking at winter storm warnings to parts of michigan. >> to the north, the area is windchill advisories, the temperatures are coming down, fargo with a low of minus 30. it will feel like minus 35 and minus 40.

minneapolis you wake up to minus 30. cold weather in effect for chicago, 14 degrees, overnight low of minus 2 there.

>> personal information belo belonging to millions was apparently leaked online. a photo sharing app snapchat what is broken into. 4 million user names and partial phone numbers were posted. the site where the information appeared was suspended. the hack may have been done to encourage them to tighten their security. >> technology - we had a lot of new tech innovations last year, what is ahead. we have a look at what is coming your way. >> here are the basics of how to

use glasses. >> much hyped and years in development. 2014 will see google's glasses iwear go on sail. questions remain as to whether function tore style make it more than a fad. same with the smart watches that link to your phone. some are on the market but apple, google and microsoft will add their assets. >> bitcoin is freedom. >> some predict we'll see the rise of bitcoin. the value has been volatile. some say they have the potential to disrupt traditional attempt systems. >> transaction fees are almost zero. once you have the bitcoin you can put it in any currency you want. a lot of people are seeing it as a virtual safety depost box. once you have the money, the interaction will be done through

mobile phones. >> i believe watson has the potential. >> super computing and artificial intelligence are set to enter every day life. ibm has given developers access to watson, the world's smartest computer. its vast analytical power could transform finance, medicine and an online search. >> artificial intelligence can do that because it monitors who you communicate with, what you say and do, and what your activity is online. then you can get a search engine specific to you, rather than the general populous. >> in 2013 we learnt how spy agencies track us and read our communications. now there's increasing demand for secure and encrypted email and mobile messaging. >> this led to the rise of apps like snapchat. >> when you share the photo it deletes itself after the person

saw it. there's not going to be a tangible record. we are learning that the internet does not forget. things like snapchat are a new idea taking hold quickly. >> they are already a newsance, but hollow graphic or 3d images are being used for phone calls. they are expensive and make it inaccessible for most at least for now. in time developers hope their vision of the future will become part of every day life. >> we all know waiters and waitresses work long hours for little pay. government statistics show they earn $16,000 a year. they rely on tips. the irs is making changes to certain types of grat uties and it's having an impact. >> 43-year-old michelle pearson has been a waitress since 14. she is raising a family on the

money she makes. tips from customers make the job worthwhile. >> it's been a great profession for me in many ways. >> up until now serving staff like pearson were paid all their tips at the end of a shift. it would be the employees responsibility to report the tips to the employer so taxes could be taken occupant. a new internal revenue service ruling changes that. here is what is affected. the automatic great uties charged for larger parties of six or more. the tips count as wages, and be taxed differently. this gives the irs a more accurate report on how much it being tipped and how much to tax. it also means some employees will not see the tips until the regular pay period, which is often every two weeks. with the tips, that's how we pay the bills. we are used to having them on a daily basis. >> some business owners complain

the tip-taxing rules are complicated and are experimenting with ways to work around them. blue star restaurant in seattle is doing away with mandatory tipping. instead offering a suggested tip amount on a bill. >> beginning january 6th the darton family of restaurants, including olive garden, red lobster and others will take mandatory tipping off the table. >> you want to simplify it and make the tips available to the servers and make money available. >> according to an industry analyst the practice may be dropped by 90% of restaurants. >> there may be a silver lining in this irs ruling. >> i think that people should have free will. it should be a choice as to what you want to tip a person or not. >> by doing away with mandatory tipping they are giving large groups of diners the choice of deciding how much the service received is worth.

>> a planned helicopter rescue of a ship trapped in antarctica. a helicopter was going be used. passengers say spirits are high. earlier rescues failed because of bad weather and thick ice. >> still ahead - the 6 foot 3, 300 pound penn state football player who proves his brains are as mighty as his brawn. >> and timeless - the extraordinary life and images of the photographer behind the extraordinary images.

>> welcome back, it's a big week for college football. ross is here with a story of a special player. >> you'll like this story. he crushes calculuses like opponents. this athlete changes because some players are one and down, a lot believe before graduating in the hope of cashing in on a pay

check. there's a former penn state football player who is staging the term student athlete to another level. >> at 6 foot 3, 300 pounds, penn stai's john ursher would appear superjock than scholar. scholar may not be a strong enough word to describe his prowess. he carries a 4.0 gpa, working towards his second masters degree. he's teaching a class entitled intrilla vekular calculus and picked up column football's top award with the senior class award given to the top senior athlete as well as the william b campbell trophy. i looked like a football player. i'm a little wide. people are surprised to hear that i'm a maths major and how well i am in the classroom.

i'm equally competitive in both. i try to excel in the classroom and the football field and have a drive to be the best. >> while urshell loves football, mathematics is his first true love. >> there's something elegant about mathematics. the beauty is how there's an explanation for everything. there's rigorous proof, and i'd say some of the proofs i see day in and out are some of the most beautiful things. >> we talk about athletes who are good students, the transfer of being able to analyse a situation, using certain parts of information and execute. >> is that true? is there a help from using the classroom aspect on the football field? >> there's a carry over, especially for offensive line movements. having to go to the line, looking at what the defense is showing you, making calls and

adjustments, it's nice to have intelligent linesmen. >> how it will help his future is yet to be determined. urshell is the 13th best offensive guard, and the 238th prospect by c.b.s. sports. >> i intend to train for the n.f.l. combine. i feel that anyone who truly loves something, wants to go it at the highest level, and afterwards, however many years my career will be, i'll go back to school and get my ph.d. in that. >> whatever the future holds for john urshell he'll be a positive aspect of the penn state program, as the school recovers from the jerry sex scandal resulting in the former coach going to prison and the firing of another coach, but the reduction of programs.

>> i'm honoured to be able to represent my university as best i can. it's a university that has done a lot for me, giving me the privilege of being on full scholarship, aliviating the financial responsibility from my mother. allowing me to get a masters degree. i'm working on the second masters. i just - i take it as a responsibility i have to my university for all they have done for me. i do it for pride. >> his parents will be proud. his parents raised an unbelievable young man. very smart. >> he was joking about the high school football comments. >> the tournament of roses is a new year's tradition, and broken now ground. because two got married on a float. living the dream. love to perfection. it was sponsored by the same sex

lobyists. not always wished the couple well, a facebook page called boycott the rose bowl sprung up. the newly weds and the crowd paid no objection. >> one of the most celebrated and respected photojournalists died yesterday. his pictures speak for themselves. >> they were candid, colourful, controversial. images from the ball the fields to the stage. while you may not know his name, his pictures are seared in the memory of many americans. he took some of the most breath taking photographs for life magazine, leaving behind a body of work. actor steve mcqueen, poised for star dom, sitting in a chair, holding a gun. a year later four lads from liverpool posed for this. he covered nature and its beauty and brutality. from 1966 a leopard about to

attack a bab on. many legends let into their private world. like john wayne resting between takes. and dustin hoffmann kissing his wife. in 1951 he was on the front lines in the cory an war, snapping a photo of the line of u.s. troops. >> and politics, robert kennedy on a train in japan, and john f kennedy in the midst of a ticker tape parade, and arguably his most famous pictures, tommy smith and john carlos raising their gloved fists into the air in a symbol of solidarity. he said he hartley noticed their gesture and was surprised it was a big news event. but it did and he captured it. >> quite a career and stunning images. that does it for us tonight. i'm jonathan betz, and john sigen that willer will be back tomorrow. a quick look at the headlines is next.

>> hello, welcome to al jazeera america. some extreme winter weather is on the way to the east coast from washington to new england, a storm hitting the great lakes region, dumping inches of snow on detroit in chicago. there are expected delays and cancellations. the state may close major highways as a precaution. >> colorado pot smokers lined up for hours to make the first legal purchases of marijuana. the state expects to earn $87 million in taxes in a year of retail cannabis sales. >> it's been four days since egyptian forces