>> so the cold weather effecting millions of americans have turned deadly.

so far 11 people have died as a result of the deep freeze, and the bitter cold temperatures are making it tough to get around. flights canceled. trains and cars stuck, unable to get where they need to go. jonathajonathan betz is life fo. good to see you. how is this weather impacting commuters literally across the country? >> reporter: yeah, tony, a lot of people are simply frozen in their track. this storm or weather system has not brought a lot of snow or a lot of ice, just bitterly cold temperatures. it is so cold it is causing problems from airports to train stations, amtrak tells me earlier today that the temperatures plunged so quickly, it got so cold so fast in the northeast it's affecting its equipment. they're seeing delays across the corridor. in new york city it was in the 50s yesterday. today when people woke up the temperatures were hovering around zero degrees, that's a

60-degree plunge in just one day. now over in the midwest there was a lot of snow. especially in northern illinois. it caused three amtrak ace trains there to truly get stuck in their tracks, close to 500 passengers, had to spend the night on board those trains. >> after we left we got stuck in five feet of a snow drift. and the scary part was we had to stop more than we thought this was a 15-minute thing. no, it was nine hours. >> those passenger has to finish their journey to chicago by bus. at the airports also a lot of problems. close to 3,000 flights just today have been canceled across the country mainly in the midwest and northeast. jetblue is getting back in the air after getting an

extraordinary steps. and grounded the planes for 17 hours and just now resuming operation notice northeast. >> it looks like the "plains, trains, and automobiles" report. that's jonathan betz from penn n station in new york city. i got to tell you that others are struggling to get where they need to go, and others struggle just to stay warm. scenes like this found in many cities across the country, people dressed in layers as they made their way to work. many towns opening shelters to help folks. bisi onile-ere joins us live from detroit where the city is seeing record-low records. it's good to see that you have sense and you're staying warm. is anyone coming up with new or creative ideas to stay warm in these conditions outside of doing what you're doing? >> well, tony, i can tell you it's 2 below zero but it feels

colder than that. as you mentioned i'm inside. i'm inside one of many of the warming centers here in the city of detroit. you see people behind me and to my left. they're about to get ready to have dinner served. people are finding ways to get warm, yes. people are dressing in layers, but most importantly they're taking the best advice, they're staying inside. joining me now is the president of the detroit rescue mission. when temperatures get this cold we haven't seen temperatures like this in metro detroit in years. how do you handle the influx this time of year. >> we open up the doors 24 hours, and we put in chairs and accommodate the people. so if we exceed the beds that we have, they can stay warm, stay sheltered, fed and taken care of. >> on a daily basis you'll serve 1700 people, but i imagine when the temperatures get this cold that you're going to see a huge

increase. are you concerned about space? >> reporter: yes, we're always concerned about space. that's why we put floor mattresses, chairs, so we use every space we have to become accommodating for the people that we have. but we have a policy that we don't turn anyone away, and everybody who comes in, we need to make sure that they're in and safe. we make sure that we send people out to look for people who are in harm's way in this cold weather, bring them in and make sure that they're safe and awa y from that. >> we have stories of people who have been outside. there are a lot of abandoned homes, so sometimes people look to those places for shelter, which really isn't a good idea. >> reporter: no, we want people to always stay inside, stay in a warm place, stay where people can offer them professional help and make sure that they're fed

probablproperly. layers are not enough, they need heat. >> thank you, doctor, we appreciate it. we're here at one of several warming centers here throughout metro detroit. as you can imagine myself included everyone here is patiently waiting for this weather. >> you better bring some patience. bisi, we appreciate it. dave warren is here. i heard something from the doctor there that i think is important as we turn to you and weather as we look at conditions on the board behind you here, that layers are not enough when temperatures are this cold. >> meteorologist: it's the wind, too, it just whips that cold air. the temperatures drop, and we're almost done. the polar air that we've been talking about really cannot stay this cold this long. as it goes further south it warms up every day. the temperatures are not quite as cold, but it's still windy.

the wind chills are still a good 10 to 30 degrees below, low pressure to the north, high pressure building in from the south, this is the mid-atlantic states and the northeast. this is the wind in between. creating gusting wind, and it drops the wind chill. this is overnight to tomorrow morning. you can wake up to these numbers. maybe not quite as cold, but still below zero. 15 to 30 below in the highlighted areas. we still have the wind chill advisories and warnings in effect overnight tonight and tomorrow morning. here is the change, though. look at how the color changes. it gets warmer. high pressure moves high over head. there is warmer air moving back and it could mean more winter weather. at least it's not as cold. we can see what to expect in the forecast. >> baby steps. >> it gets cold quick and takes a while to warm back up. >> are appreciate it. the senate took the first step towards extending jobless

benefits, but the legislation still has a very long way to go. people whose benefits expired days before--actually just days after christmas joined in with president obama to pass the bill. >> as a single mother i worked many different jobs and never asked for a handout. while i raised two wonderful boys. both of my sons are serving in the military. >> these are the sort of folks that the white house or anybody else in washington brings to the table to illustrate the point

that personifies the point. as the president put it, extended health insurance, long term unemployment benefits puts food on the table and keeps folks from following off the cliff, and certainly mishackett was an example of that. good news from the white house today, tony. the senate unexpectedly. 55 democrats joined by six republicans, that's the unexpected part, passed a key procedural hurdle passing a long-term, keeping it going this long-term benefit extension. if you're unemployed and you file for benefits you get six months worth. in times of recession and tough economic times such as these the federal government will typically extend those benefits. now congress failed to extend them on december 28th. that meant 1.3 million people lost insurance benefits including as you saw there katherine hackett in the white house today. the president pushed the house of representatives, republicans there still digging in their

heels, and the senate still has to vote on this in final passage. he pushed them both to move the ball forward. let's listen. >> the americans who join me at the white house today and millions like them who are laid off in the recession through no fault of their own unemployment insurance has been a vital lifeline. for many it's the only source of income they have while they look for a job. these aren't folks who are just sitting back waiting for things to happen. they're out there actively looking for work. >> so the president making the case that it's morally the right thing to do to extend unemployment benefits, it's the right thing to do economically to put money in the pockets of the unemployed so they can go out and put money in the economy while the economy continues to

recover. >> mike, good to see you. thank you. a push for peace in south sudan as the world's newest nation teeters on the brink of civil war. representatives met in ethiopia. talks were put on hold after the government refused to release people arrested last year over the alleged coup plot. more than 200000 south sudanese people have fled their homes since the violence began in mid december. today i spoke with the campbell family, kim, brad, and their daughters, american missionaries caught in the cross fire of the violence in south sudan. i asked them to take me back to the moment they knew it was time to leave their compound and seek shelter with the orphans in their care. >> it came upon us quite upon us, quite quickly, christmas eve. even though there was brief fighting, it was pretty intense.

the next morning we decided to make some phone calls to the state department and start just putting plans in motion. before we could get very far with the process bullets started firing, and we gathered all the children and ran into the most secure room in the compound, and put as many people under the beds as we could because there was artillery either flying very near to our house or hitting our house. our house was shaking, and it's made out of brick and atoby. we could hear machine guns very nearby, and bullets hitting our roof. the ability to plan a strategy to escape was gone. that moment was gone. so we had to just deal with the situation at hand. i really believe with all my heart that god kept us safe

underneath those beds, and the fact that we weren't intruded upon by soldiers because our house would have made a very good stronghold for the soldiers to come inside and fire upon the other soldiers. and so we jus waited it out, and then made the decision to go to the u.n. compound because the fighting was obviously on our door step. >> so it was pretty heavy right where we were. when we made the decision to try to go to the u.n. compound for safety, we had gathered everyone together. we gathered up a few things to carry, and we left the house. we got maybe, i don't know, maybe it was a couple of kilometers from the house, and we heard firing again. we ran quickly as quickly as we could back to the house, and kind of hunkered down again and waited it out. and about an hour and a half

later as things were calm we decided to try it another time. i contacted somebody at the u.n. who suggested a different route for us, and we were able to make it safely there. >> would you ask katie and cassidy to explain to us what it was like in those harrowing moments when bullets were flying over head? >> the question was for you girls what was it like for you when the bullets from flying over head? what was going on in your mind? >> for me it was something that i always heard stories about. you hear people talk about the conflict that takes place in our types of countries, in south sudan. moving there was something that we knew we could possibly be involved in, but i was actually outside brushing my teeth when we came under fire. so running inside and just

having the realization that this is it, this is what we've heard stories about, and now i'm in the midst of it, it all seems surreal. but how quickly you just naturally step into that place of getting the children to safety and doing whatever you can to protect them just came upon all of us instantly. it was one of those things that this is what you do as a natural instinct. >> what about you? >> and it was just crazy to me because the kids were in the room, underneath the beds way before any of us. we were still like, what's going on? what's happening? and the kids were like, pulling us under the beds, that was crazy that they knew just instinct to do it right away. >> this is a sad reality of their world. when we made it to the base the children asked me, they said mama kim, is this your first time to hear pull let's like this one?

i said, of course it is. i've never lived through anything like that before. they said not for me. i've done this many times. it's just disheartening that that is the sad reality of their world. the question is who was protecting who? >> i want to know from each of you, and maybe the answer is the same and maybe it's different for you, but i want to know what was the challenging moment over the last two weeks for each of you in malakal? >> for myself i would say the most challenging part through everything that we've been going through is having to face the decision of possibly leaving the children. that's our family. it was really hard for any of us to leave. we decided that it was worse for us to stay there than it would be to come and try to do things

outside of south sudan to help. that was probably the most difficult for me because i wasn't ready to go. >> yes, i'm the same, leaving the kids that are our family now, that was the worst thing ever. more than the bullets that came past our house, more than anything. >> i think it's a unanimous vote. it was a tough decision to make. >> i would easily agree with that. >> here's my question for you, my question is >> these south sudanese kids are part of your family. explain to me how you have come this beautiful white family from

the middle of america, how is it that you have come to consider these black african kids as part of your family? would you explain that to me through your faith, or whatever it is, that has led you to consider these kids as part of your family. >> i'll take that one. it's really not about ethnic group. we're all really created in the image of god. it doesn't matter if we're white and they're black. what matters is that this is the call from god in our lives. we lived with our kids as family. we didn't go to south sudan to start an institution. we went to south sudan to gather in children to become part of a

family. there's thousands and thousands of orphans in south sudan. i don't know. >> for me i would say it's really--it really is about a heart connect. i agree with what kim said. it's not about skin color or ethnicity. it really is about bringing in children and raising up families, and raising up sons and daughters. >> tens of thousands of refugees are leaving their country. the united nations said since the fights in south sudan began over a month ago more than 2500 people have been crossing the border into uganda each day. the u.n. is also housing more than 50,000 refugees. the first shipment of

chemical weapons from syria has left the country. that's according to the u.n. we were told that the chemicals were loaded on a dane nice ship and now headed for international waters. they'll be taken to an american ship to be destroyed. all of syrian weapons will be removed and destroyed by the end of june. a protest gone viral. how people in lebanon are using a single #to shout, i'm not a martyr. and jp morgan paid big today in the berni madeoff ponzi scheme. and we'll have a look at the latest and greatest gadgets, and we'll have a look at mobile technology. back in a moment.

>> a jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour >> here are the headlines at this hour breaking news... sports... business... weather... live news...every hour, on the hour only on al jazeera america >> so we want to include you in on a massive protest in lebanon in the ongoing violence. it's happening online with a single, powerful hashtag.

it started when a teenager was killed in a car bomb attack targeting a prominent politician. >> it all started with the before and after picture. this is mohammed, 16 years old. he's in the red hoodie with his friends. they took this picture on december 27th. they were celebrating the end of their school semester. and this is the after picture. it is graphic. after a car bomb explosion nearby. that is mohammed's body. he died. what followed is a vigil and after that a protest. called i'm not a martyr. the word martyr is often misused by politicians to dehumanize humans caught in the violence. people posted these selfies online with these messages. >> i do not want to have to guess which neighborhood my loved ones will be murdered in. i do not want to say that this is normal. another says i want my lebanon

united, not divided by sex, politics or religion. another writer says, i want these kids to have a better future rather than my current present. this is by diana. she writes, i want lebanese decision makers to be moved by this campaign. this sums up the frustration that so many lebanese feel. god, do something, i'm giving up on you. #not a martyr. >> wow, wow, wow. and this, you know, lebanon is such a complex country with so many different groups there. that's a powerful, powerful message. maria, appreciate it. on wall street a comeback for the bulls with the dow rising, and it's the best day for stocks in 2014. investors are encouraged by the news that the u.s. trade deficit fell to a four-year low. that's positive sign for

economic growth, and setting a record. how about this, a record-setting settlement for the berni madeoff case. jp morgan money will be used to compensate madoff victims. in las vegas lots of gadgets and gizmos on display that could make a difference in our lives in the future. jacob ward is with us. what are you seeing there, anything interesting to you? >> reporter: tony, ces was born as a meeting place really for tv makers and vcr makers in the 80's to strike deals. that's really the purpose here, the kind of booth action you're see something all cover for hand shakes and so forth. but what is happening these days

is a wide variety of new products being released not just by the typical companies but by basically up start companies of all stripes. >> well, it looks great behind you, and i'm wondering have you seen anything that feels particularly compelling? maybe a new trend or two? >> there have been a handful of technologies that i've seen here that are really new for this gathering. one is drones. a handful of drones. self driving cars that have been coming out, and wearables. technology where computers are fast enough and you can shrink them down to wear on your body. this is called the notch, it's a motion capture technology that replaces the technology that costs millions of dollars for capturing the motion of the body. the idea is that people like boxers, here is a representation

of an athlete. a boxer can wear a couple of these on his arms and test out what he's doing. this kind of technology has shrunk down to a place where kick starter funded projects like this can put this out for $45, replacing 10nes 10s of thos of dollars, and it's dominating the show this year. >> they're also doing the google glasses and computing watching as well. jacob ward for us in las vegas. the combat alert on sochi. a look at extensive security measures on games, on land and on the sea. >> what do you think i'm sending you? look at these guys, look at them! >> wow, and dennis rodman's bizarre interview from south korea defending their government.

>> welcome to every to

al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories. a push for peace in south sudan. representatives met in ethiopia to help avoid a civil war. more than 200000 south sudanese have left their homes since the violence began in mid december. unemployment benefits still to go through the senate and the house. that will be a tougher ask. i the weather so extreme you may think that we were talking about antarctica. look at these pictures, are you kidding me? the snow across the u.s. has turned deadly. i can tell you o and show you wt hell looks like, hell, michigan, where the temperatures are 2 degrees. as many as 11 people killed in the days since the extreme weather started. let's go to diane he i estherbrn

illinois. diane, as we've been reporting here, 11 deaths nationwide. unfortunately, many of them in the area where you are. >> that's right. there have been four deaths reported in chicago or the chicago area. four in indiana, and three that are being investigated in wisconsin. a lot of those deaths have been heart attacks from people shoveling snow. but hospital emergency rooms are also seeing a lot of people coming in with injuries because they've slipped and fallen on the ice. they're seeing cases of hyperthermia and frost bite. just a while ago i was talking to regents hospital in minneapolis, they said since saturday 26 cases of hyperthermia and frost bite. that's more than they saw all of last year. these cold temperatures are

really taking a toll on people in the midwest. >> i don't know, what is it that doctors can do in terms of handling the weather conditions. what is it that they can say to people? >> reporter: well, they're really telling people to stay indoors, and people have for the most part been staying indoors. i talked to one of the largest shelters in chicago today, and they saw over a thousand people come in last night. people are heeding warnings and they're going inside. when they come to the hospital to be treated for hyperthermia, they get warmed up, in some cases they get intervenous fluids. if they have frost bite the doctors warm the areas. but in st. paul regents hospitals they had six cases of frost bite that were referred to burn centers because it was so serious. so it can be very serious. >> the homeless are, it's obviously, the most vulnerable during extreme weather

conditions, and there are more than ever. more than 52,000 people are sleeping in shelters every night. including 22,000 children. >> it's a full house at the mission for the homeless. extremely cold conditions the shelter opens the dining room to accommodate extra demand. on monday night the temperatures fell to 5 degrees fahrenheit. the shelter took in 179 people who had nowhere to go. matt helps to run the mission but not before struggling with addiction and homelessness himself. >> you're already dealing with guilt and shame. many years that i fought it off and i tried to do it on my own, but there were folks who approached me in a way that i didn't feel bad about where i was at. >> reporter: new york's homeless population has been steadily growing and is at record levels, figures not seen since the great depression in the 1930s every night shelters take in 59,000 people, that number includes

22,000 children who suffer most in extreme weather. >> children can't go to school. they can't go get a lot of their meals which they get provided by the schools. that puts pressure on the family's budget. >> the decline in wages in new york has been to blame for the increase in homelessness, eviction, mental illness are also contributing factors. >> but the new mayor has been in the job for less than a week, and already he's putting in policy changes that will have immediate and direct impact on thousands of homeless people. >> bill de blasio has reinstated the code blue policy a law that guarantees shelter to anyone. whenever the temperature drops below freezing for more than four hours people can drop in and by pass the normal registration process. the number of outreach advance that search the streets for the homeless also increase.

>> i ask the people of new york city if you see someone in distress or needs help call 311. >> there is another two and a half months of winter left but the chilly conditions can last sometimes longer, and without a roof over your head it can seem much colder. al jazeera. >> beginning today russia is on a massive security lockdown. one month before the winter olympics kick off tight security is now in place around the entire black sea resort of sochi. the games are seen as a defining moment for russia and president vladimir putin, but there are issues surrounding gay rights, human rights, cost overruns and terrorism. john terrett has been following these issues for us for the last couple of weeks, here is the latest. >> reporter: i can't believe we're almost there. i like the winter olympics and it's a real showcase for russia.

let's go to sochi. you can see the vast area that they're going to need to keep an eye on throughout the whole of these games. such a very big country. now, there are really two main venues, the stadium is located in downtown sochi. meanwhile, the mountain cluster with the skiing and that sort of thing takes place is 45 minutes away up here in the mountains. that is closer than in previous winters, in vancouver and turin, italy. here is the hea headache, becaue sochi is right here o on borderf caucasus where there has been a battle for years to create an islamic state. there have bee been numerous ev.

chechen rebel leader says this is dances on the bones of our an assesancestors. according to the associated press, 37,000 police officers are going in, and all of this is going to be in a huge sealed-off zone with surveillance cameras and jet fighters flying over head. despite all of this, it's still very far away from clear if this is going to be a success. the security standards are not very good. they're in need of improvement. we talked about this before on the program, there is evidence that some of them in the past

have been bribed to let these bombers slip through. in an academic paper it talks about this, the lone wolf, a man or woman operating on their own without back up. while it may be relatively easy to police sochi itself in the cordoned zone, as we've seen in volgograd, as we have seen, deadly violence cannot be ruled out. especially given the shear size of the country. so heritage is calling on the russians to accept help. the americans have offered help. the white house, but so far beyond covert operations we believe the russians seem determined to go it alone here. this is their showcase, their security, their pride at stake. >> boy, a lot there, a lot to

consider. thank you. and big news from the most successful female alpine singer in history. bad news, lindsay vonn will not compete in sochi. she said that she has to have surgery on her right leg which she injured last year, and she may not be the only skier sitting out of the olympics. brody miller and ted ligety may miss the races. racers must qualify in events before the olympics, and miller and ligety have not reached that number. now to iraq, government forces carried out airstrikes over anbar province. we have been telling you the problems in anbar for weeks now where government officials are trying to recapture the two cities of ramadi and fallujah from rebels tied to al-qaeda.

iraq defense ministry said 25 fighters were killed in the airstrikes. the police of bangladesh said that they conducted raids of three leading opposition members. they come in response to violence after sunday's general election. bangladesh's ruling party won in a landslide, and since then 44 people have died in street fighting. the prime minister said it is her job to contain the violence with, quote, an iron hand. a wall of part as high as 40 feet, winds as strong as 70 mph and dangerous lightening, widespread damage in large portions of britain today after winter storms pummel the country and the government facing accusations that protection has been hampered by budget cutbacks. here is our report. >> reporter: britain has been battered by storms since mid december. one after the other, a success

of low pressure weather fronts bringing gayle surge winds and widespread destruction. thousands of households spent christmas without electricity as the high winds brought down power lines and in england alone seven people have died and 17000 homes flooded. >> but could the damage have been limited? the government department's budget has been cut 20% in the last three years. >> 148 million in hardship funding will be spent more than any government spent in the pa past. >> reporter: but during austerity it's difficult.

they have an annual budget of $1.9 billion. but just last week as a result of austerity measures it will have to shed 1500 jobs by october of 2014. around a third of them will be lost from the agency's flood protection department. the cuts are being imposed by central government and central government insist it will do it's best. the government issued an estimate in 2012 flooding had cost british businesses $1 billion. but also estimated $2.8 billion economic damage was prevented thanks to flood defenses. but funding is always a question of priorities. >> it cost about £15,000 to protect a property. that's equivalent to about three hip transplants. it's a question of how many hip transplants do you not want to have in order to protect more property? >> december was officially the

windiest in the u.k. since 1969 and the wettest since 1993. and the highest storm surges since 1953. the damage that it brings is becoming less and less unusual, and a response must be found. al jazeera. >> the sex yum abuse scandal that rocked the penn state football program is back in the news. david shuster has that. >> reporter: thank you very much. there has been an apparent of sorts by jerry sandusky, the convicted child abuser who served as isn't football coach at penn state. jerry sandusky is trying to get his family his retirement benefits that he lost two years ago. he's participating by video link in that hearing in hearriesberg. the sandusky family is trying to get access to a monthly pension. sandusky is serving a lengthy prison sentence for abusing ten

boys. in ohio they're trying to determine why a man arrested on news year day was drivin drivinh four guns and 50 bombs. they stopped him from speeding just west of columbus when they made the discovery. he has not revealed very much about his arsenal. he faces a hearing in court on friday. in new orleans carnival season has begun and freezing temperatures are not stopping revelers from ushering the new year in the city. with the overindulgence and debauchery is connected with carnival. finally dennis rodman and his entourage made headlines but not by their efforts to promote a sports exchange. in the midst of an interview the questions became adversarial when it turns to politics and

leadership. the nba hall of famer then exploded. >> even by dennis rodman standards it was an epic meltdown. [ yelling] >> i don't know what the hell you think. i'm telling you, look at these guys. look at them? >> pressing about ken kni kenne, who has been held in north carolina for a year. >> what did he do? >> you tell me why he's being held captive. >> they have not released any charges. they haven't released any reasons. >> let me say this-- >> rorodman then tried to change the focus and then became choked up when he talked about the sacrifices his entourage is making. >> you have ten guys, ten guys who have left their families, left their families to help this country as a sports venture. >> that country, though, led by

dictator kim jong-un, and never mind his friendship with rodman, the dictator is charged with starving his citizens, killing his own uncle and threatening nuclear war against south korea. >> the north korean team meeting with citizens, we're connecting people to basketball and people to people. >> and smith tried to shame cnn from veering away from questions about the sports exchange. >> we're not here to talk politics, so outside of that any questions that come back through that is baiting to get us into politics. >> but when accused rodman of hiding. >> don't use these guys as a shield for you, dennis. >> listen, listen, listen-- >> ain't no shield, i got it. you hide behind the mic right now. we're the guys here doing our thing. we're going back to america and

take the abuse. >> tomorrow's exhibition game in north korea is expected to attract kim jong-un as for ankerite much bacanycriticism is already begun in north korea. >> i understand that a lot of folks have weighed in on in this morning apparently from the white house to the nba. >> reporter: yes, the white house was asked about dennis rodman's interview. carney said he was not going to dignify rodman's outburst with any response. david stern as well as the president of the nba association they have come out and condemned rodman's trip and anyone participating in it. >> i understand rodman. i don't understand charles smith really smart, really dialed in.

>> that's why charles smith was supposed to be the spokesperson, and it was dennis rodman jumping in with this fight with chris could yocuomo. >> despite fracking, chemicals might be effecting the city any way. and the scavenger hunt, who is behind this, could it be the c.i.a.?

>> every sunday night, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks... with the most interesting people of our time... >> as an artist you have the right to fail... that's a big right to have >> his work is known across the globe. but little is known about the gorilla artist behind the glasses... we turned the camera on the photographer shaking up the art world. >> 2... 1... that's scary jr... >> talk to al jazeera with jr only on al jazeera america real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> so you probably heard that frack something controversial. some people say that it's great for the u.s. industry, but there have been complaints about

pollution and water contamination. as that debate heats up one city is out right banning it. we look at pittsburgh's ban. >> for environmentalists this is an abomination p partially concealed by a shady grove at the our lady of hope cemetery in western pennsylvania, the tanks and pipes defact. marcemarcelees shale. drilling from new york to pennsylvania and into west virginia that contains vast stores of natural gas. there is a hollow amid the multiplying fracking wells. in pittsburgh here frack something banned, and in 2011 the city passed it's toxic trespass ordinance asserting there is sufficient evidence that the chemicals use ready harmful, and corporations and national government will be held liable for chemicals and

chemical compounds found to be trespassing on the bodies of the residents of the city or into the ecosystems within pittsbur pittsburgh. >> doug shields introduced that legislation because there seemed no way for citizens to stand up against the lobbying cash of the companies. >> now i know how it feels. >> fracking chemicals don't respect city ordinances. a study released this year found that fracking surrounding the city is changing the composition of the allegheny river that supplies pittsburgh with its drinking water. so will the city sue? the politicians backing the energy companies don't seem too concerned. >> do you know how many times we get sued? we get sued every day. we get sued when people walk up the steps and trip when it rai

rains. >> reporter: the lure of revenue in hard times is too much for his states politicians to resist. >> the majority of the senate and republicans house republicans, governed are owned lock, stock and barrel by the industry and they're not about protecting the public interests. >> pittsburgh's ban on fracking was from part of the out rage of the fear of consequences but that has not stopped the municipalities from collecting their drilling royalties. >> now new clues into one of the internet's most complicated and enduring mysteries. thousands of people are trying to solve the online scavenger hunt scald secada 301, a series of puzzles which made their appearance in january 2012, some say the c.i.a. is behind it.

tim stevens from las vegas, i educate me here, i don't know anything about it. what is the purpose of these puzzles? >> we really don't know what the purpose is at this point, which is part of the mystery and part of the fun. it was unveiled two years ago and the first puzzle to come out of this group. it was just an online game maybe even a marketing tool for a movie, but now we're on the third round of clues and puzzles and it's pretty interesting. we don't know who is behind it or what the goal is, but they say this is a recruiting effort basically people who solve all these puzzles will wind up with some sort of job in a top-secret role. >> do we know anyone who has been hired as a result or someone who says i have been hired because i participated in this secada thing.

>> reporter: again this, is the third time they've done this, presumably they've hired two people or two groups of people in the past, but no one has come forward and said what they're up to. presumably if there are jobs to be had, they're very top secret. whoever signed on, they agreed to keep that secret. >> i heard that hoaxers are muddying the water here. how do you know what is real and what is a hoax? >> reporter: definitely some people who are posting things online who are reporting to be from the group, but there are ways to know. the cicada group is use signing any digital transmission so you know the authenticity of it. and you know what they're providing. the latest image was supposed to be white text in a black background, there is a hidden cicada in the background and

then there is text in inside and there is another rabbit hole that goes a long, long way. >> that's good stuff. tim teens the editor at large for cnet and joins us from las vegas. we've been telling you about the temperatures from around the country. dave warren is up next with a bit of good news here, a bit of warm up. that's next.

>> al jazeera america is a straight-forward news channel.

>> what am i telling you, you already know this? the extreme cold, you can't get warm enough. we have good news. >> meteorologist: we're going to see warmer weather coming in from a different direction. the warm weather comes back but with moisture. that could mean a little bit of weather. not for a while. we're still dealing with the bitter cold arctic air with single digit temperatures. the great lakes have warmed up a bit, the polar air can't stay this cold when it moves this far south, but it's still chilly,

low temperatures tomorrow morning above freezing in orlando but still teens well below freezing across much of the southeast. one more day with the very cold air by tomorrow afternoon high pressure centers over the mid-atlantic states. the low moves up to the north. we don't have gusting winds and the temperatures are getting warmer. now this is friday. here is that different direction coming up from the south. warmer weather comes in this friday but there is moisture here combining with the cold air with a wintery mix across texas, oklahoma, and rain below freezing. and sleet and freezing rain before temperatures climb. 50 on saturday starting at 33 for new york, but the warm weather comes back just watching for that potentially wintery weather saturday or sunday.

>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's stop stories. millions of americans are dealing with bitter cold conference as dave just mentioned. 11 people have died and the weather is reaching well into the deep south. the procedural vote is just the beginning, the current proposal is not enough. tougher security measures are in place for the month leading up to the olympics in sochi. russia issuing lockdown on the city. visitors and drivers are required to have special passes to get around the