... welcome to al jazeera america. i am john seigenthaler in new york. u.s. military is investigating another helicopter crash. at least two navy crew members were killed in a crash today off of the virginia coast. yesterday, an air force helicopter crashed in britain killing four service members. the christie controversy. governor chris christie said there were several days of traffic jams on to the george washington bridge. critics say the governor's office was retaliating against a democratic mayor who refused to support christie. >> in utah, 1400 same-sex couples are in a state of legal confusion. state officials say they will no longer recognize their marriages

and supreme court is temporarily stopping gay marriage in utah pending an appeal of the december rule that legalized same-sex unions. white house praise for joe biden in defense of former defense secretary robert gates who criticizes the vice president's foreign policy instifrningsz. he calls biden one of the leading statesmen of his time. those are the headlines at this time. i am john seeingenthaler. i will see you at 11 each earn, 8 pacific. ameri "america tonight" is next. you can get the latest on aljazeera.com. on "america tonight," reaching our shores? we return to fukushima to track the fallout of japan's nuclear disaster three years later. >> a lot of experts have warned

that, for example, if there was another earthquake, another major earthquake, it could trigger another radioactive disaster. also tonight, fallujah, failing. why this iraqi city could be the critical flashpoint and why it is once again critical to iraq's future. younger, maybe more fabulous but definitely broke. >>itch five messages. you have loans which are past due. [evening. thanks for being with us. i am joie chen. it has been three years since the alarms of the crisis that the fukushima nuclear plant t continues to raise fears in the united states.

occasional reports of oddities and a lingering question: does the ongoing disaster pose any serious health risks to americans? in the third part of our exclusive series, "return to fukushima," america correspondent michael okhu in addresses whether the radiation leaks in the pacific give us reason to worry. >> the owners started pumping. >> 80,000 gallons of con tan native water. >> fukushima japan, the nuclear nightmare that never seems to end. how much of a threat is fukushima today? beyond the workers at the plant, beyond the people of japan, how much danger is there for the rest of the world? this is as far as we can go entering the exclusion zone. inside, the tokyo electric power company or tepco is struggle to

go contain the ongoing nuclear disaster. the japanese government says the situation is under control. so we traveled here to find out whether that is, in fact, true or if the world still needs to be worried. david mcneill has been covering the disaster since it began nearly three years ago. >> how serious a crisis do we still have in japan? >> well, i think in is an ongoing crisis. what you have had is a series of ad hoc strategies designed to deal with the crisis that's right in front of you. >> the fukushima meltdown unfolded in a cascade of disasters. each one, more frightening than the last the native earthquake which triggered a 30-foot tsunami. the meltdowns, explosions, attempts to keep fuel rods from overheating and the leaks of radioactive water into the pacific ocean.

now, nearly three years later, the most pressing worry is the spent fuel rods still precariously stored in an unstable reactor 4. >> they have thousands of these fuel rods, the and they have to extract one by one. >> last month, tepco began the dangerous year-long task of transferring fuel rods. more than 1300 in all. some 400 tons of uranium to a safer location. >> a lot of experts have warned office this was another major earthquake t could trigger another disaster. >> the real headache comes from the hundreds of tongs of melted radioactive fuel in reactors 1, 2, and 3. >> they only have the vaguest idea where it sits, the molten fuel. they have to keep it cool with water because if they don't keep it cool, it lets up.

radiation escapes and we are back to square one. >> a constant flow of water is necessary to keep the melted-down uranium cool. tepco has built thousands of tanks to store the water and they are running out of space. >> the thanks, it's a forest of tanks, if you like, over a thousand of them. >> then the ground water. the power company admitted this fall that contaminated groundwater is flowing into the pacific at a volume of an olympic-size swimming pool every week. it's this day tluj worries many americans it is shown spreading throughout the pacific. professor alyama is a scientist at the meteorological institute of a japan who has spent his career studyy the spread from influentialing tests. now, he is studying fukushima.

>> what people in the united states are wanting to know is when that water will reach u.s. soil. >> okay. >> what would you say >> translator: may, april and may about one year after of the accident, 2012. >> the professor calculates that the radiation will slow, sink, and then harmlessly decay over decades as pacific currents turn most of it towards southeast asia and the indian ocean. >> so i can say the people in the western coast are safe. >> because tep co captures most of the contaminated groundwater in a port outside the plant, alyama says few areas outside of fukushima are affected.

>> the seafood in the see water is two % of the deck go aheaddation. so, i eat the seafood every day. >> that scary graphic, it's actually an altered nooah map. american officials say there is no contaminated fish in the american food supply. it's reassuring if tep co doesn't come up with a long-term strategy. i visited tepco in tokyo to find out what they planned to do. >> there are about 700 tons of contaminated water being generated on a daily basis at fukushima diach: what's the long-term strategy? >> one of our aims is to reduce the source of the contaminated water. to do so, tep co plans to build

a massive ice wall around the plant and install the new system to deal with the contaminated water. >> we are doing initial testing. >> will you have to dump contaminated water into the pacific? >> our policy is to decontaminate the tutee a sufficiently safe and harmless level in order to reduce the risk it poses. >> once they get the water decontaminated to a level where people with a.m. accept it will be dumped into the okay, they can do it. there is no way they cannot do it? if tepco's latest strategy fails and the more dangerous forms of radiation don't get felterred out, even the profitsor is worried. >> it's difficult. it is all over the continental

order. it's. >> even if all goes well, fukushima, itself, will remain on the edge of disaster, an undiffused bomb for decades to come. >> the government says it will take 30 to 40 years to decommission the plant. so, there are always problems and that's what keeps some people awake at night. >> to be clear, people are awake at night because every day worst case scenarios are conceivable at the four troubled reactors at fukushima. if for some reason the cooling system faulters or massive earthquake in this highly quake-prone nation were to hit, deadly levels of radiation could be released into the atmosphere in reactors 1, 2, and 3. the cooling system is completely depend ent on an ad hoc warrant

of pipes. tetco says they could withstand a quake but we spoke to plenty of people in japan who were not willing to find out how accurate that statement is. it's worth noting, joie, that just today, there was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that hit japan. >> so many earthquakes in japan. how likely is the very worst case scenario? >> every expert we have spoken to says these worst case scenarios are highly unlikely that's what max them worst case scenarios. it is now in stable condition here is a caveat. it will be in stable be condition for the next 30 to 40 years, and how many people would really like that? >> yeah. >> this has been a fascinating series of report. you have got another one coming up tomorrow. tell us about that. >> the tree isdee deeply

divided. long a nuclear power state. it is now deeply divided, so what we are doing tomorrow is taking a look at the future of nuclear pour in japan, and it features an interview that i did with noto kahn, the prime minister at the height of this crisis. >> interesting to see what he has to say and look forward to what's coming. >> on the series, we follow up now from fukushima. martini is an oceanographer who joins us from seattle tonight. kim, can you tall talk to us a little bit about some -- the many, many misconceptions there are about the dangers from fukushima? >> yeah. i can. but first, i kind of just want to talk about i am an ocean scienti scientist. there are a lot of miss c misconceptions p we are in danger on the west coast from the radiation from fukushima. the short answer is, it's just

not true. there is a lot of misconceptions, you know, one of the -- one of the biggest things we have to realize is that, you know, people say, well, the radiation is here, and that is true. but it's at levels that are incredibly low and not harmful. you know, the -- that's the devil is in the details. >> incrediblilow that you are talking about. what does that mean? there has been a lot of concern about eating fish. >> comes from the pacific ocean that, you know, who knows where a fish has gone and how much it's been exposed to. is there evidence there that there has been radio activity that has reached the fish population? >> first, let me tackle actually how much radiation has come to the west coast. that's going to be about 20,000 times less than government standards for drinking water. so, it's really, really low. it's detectible i it's not harmful. we have detected radiation in fish and particular when a species is tunea.

they have a large migration. again, it's detectible but not harmful. a harmful dose of radiation. you need to eat about 2 and a half, four tons of tuna annually to have it be harmful. there is quite a bit of fish. some sort of awful stories, though. there are some anomalies in nature, the conjoined babies. you have to wonder if there is or isn't a link to these sort of anomalies. >> well, the science actually said there is no link. so, you know, that's a great sample. you came up with the con joined whales. they have been found in nature before fukushima. it's rare, but it happens. another good example is the sea star die-off. >> that's been happening before fukushima. and the problem is, is that we

are kind of pointing at all of these other problems and saying, well, fukushima is the answer and it's not. it's actually detracting away from trying to solve what the real issues are. >> all right. kim marti joining us from seattle. thanks so much. for more on our series, return to fukushima. please log onto our website, aljazeera.co aljazeera.com,/americatonight. the iraqi flash points to iraq's future. >> consider this. the news of the day, plus so much more. >> we begin with a government shutdown.

sense for some people. >> you may want all these gadgets and want to take them home. it will be a while for a lot of them to be available to us. that great to have you on the show, good to see you, enjoy yourself out there in vegas. >> time now to see what's trending on aljazeera america's website. >> a new report out today by the american cancer society points to a 20% drop in can senior death rates, over a million lives saved in the last decades due in large part to a smoking decrease. not much attention is paid to lung cancer, but it accounts for more than one in every four cancer deaths. a big headline is progress among middle aged black men. from noon 91 to 2010 cancer death rates have declined 50% among black

men in that age range. death rates are still higher among black men than white men >> tonight we look again to a well-known flash point in iraq, the city of fallujah. you may recall it as the scene of a vicious, hard-fought battle for u.s. forces nearly 10 years ago. reports that al-qaeda has seized control of the city, alarmed many americans, marines and soldiers who fought for it last time. tonight, she talks with some of those who served and reminds us why this city is so critical to

iraq's future. >> november, 2004, it was one of the defining battles of an unfinished war. the city of fallujah just 40 miles from downtown baghdad. it was known as the city of mosques, and it's from some of these mosques in this largely sunni area that al-qaeda declared an islamic state. here is the u.s. military realized just how hard a fight this would be and how little they understood the culture of the country they had invaded. >> very much a turning point general mark kimmet was spokesman for the u.s. military in iraq. >> this was in -- starting in about april of 2004. four american contractors had been killed and quite brutally dug through the streets, hung from the railroad bridge there and the images were quiet tough for what we thought was an

operation side of iraq that was getting better, not worse. >> that's number 1. those scenes with shocking at best. no. 2, it marked the first time we saw a large-scale sunni insurgency. not only in isolated areas but in a large city such as fallujah. number 3, we saw the presence of al-qaeda integrated with the tribes. and, number 4, i don't really think at that point that early on we truly understood the tribal nature of the umbaries in the proof ince in general and fallujah in particular. >> even sud a.m. hussein had trouble subduing fallujah and anbar province which surrounds it. it's fiercely tribunal and deeply conservative. when their lives were under attack by u.s. forces, many welcomed in al-qaeda. u.s. and iraqi troops tried to take back the city in april, 2004. they pulled out after hundreds of civilians were killed in the

first battle to retake fallujah. the second time around, civilians were warned to leave ahead of what would be the most fierce american city for vietnam. elliott ackerman was a 24-year-old second lieutenant when the marines went into fallujah in 2004. he was awarded the silver star and the purple heart for literally dodging budgets to get his men to safety. >> in the battle, early on, what happened was we were going house to house and filling out things, the insurgents realized when we found there was some in a building, instead of sending marines in to go room to room, tactically that we would surround a building or a home and destroy it, so much as it wasn't worth sending a marine into the front door to get killed when you knew the insurgents were there. they figured out that and adapted to it. so much as they would weight until the first marine walked through the door and then

usually one insurgent would be sitting in the far corner with the rif. let and another would be standing inside the door and shoot. as quickly as they could. >> put all of us in a situation where you couldn't surround a building and knock it over. ed to you go room to room to get your buddies out. >> t two things are precious to him, a bracelet from his daughter and a reminder one of the buddies he lost. >> my daughter gave me this. when your three and a half-year-old daughter gives you a bracelet, you wear it. next to it is a bracelet with my buddy's name on it, my first lieutenant, dan malcolm, jr. we were commanders together in fallujah. he was one of my first buddies killed in the service and my -- he was killed when my rifle platoon had mortars falling on it and dan was in a building and he ran up to the roof to find out where the mortars were coming from. as he was on the rooftop, he was shot and killed. >> how old was he? >> he was 25.

>> the u.s. drove al-qaeda out of fallujah. the iraq war. it has once again erupted at the center of al-qaeda operations. for the u.s. administration, this is a war officials wants to put behind them. >> this is a fight that belongs to the iraqis. >> that's exactly what the president and the world decided some time ago when we left iraq. >> while american troops aren't coming back, the u.s. says it will speed up the surveillance rooms to iraq. for a whacky prime minister's shiia led government, airstrikes and arms are the easiest part of this. sunni areas have been seething where the iraqi army was so unpopular, it had to withdraw from those cities last year. malaki is hoping iraqi tribes will drive out al-qaeda,

themselves. >> i called upon the people of fallujah and the tribal leaders to unite and checked the presence of those evil people because fallujah has witnessed fighting and obstruction many times before. we don't want the city to suffer at all. we will not use force as long as the tribes are ready to fight al-qaeda and expel then. >> maliki has his own problems, rage over mass arrests, executions, lack of jobs and political exclusions has helped al-qaeda gain a new foot hold in the province and fueled by the conflict in syria, al-qaeda fighters have come back to iraq in even greater numbers. >> the fact is that the sunnis in ambar have felt like they are not participating in the post-war iraq. they have been denied what they believe to be the rightful privileges, the rightful responsibilities. and al-qaeda has certain advantage of that. they have come from syria, infiltrated themselves back into the population who perhaps at

one time saw al-qaeda as helpful to them in their fight against the sent tralt government. as they found out in 2014, what they found on the in 2006, that there are even though there are some shared values between the ambaries and al-qaeda, the vast majority of those values are different and the tribes are now recognizing, again what they recognized in 2006, that there is no compromise, there is no, sir joint accord with al-qaeda and now they need to get rid of them. >> iraqi civilians are in the middle with the iraqi army blocking the road to baghdad and the borders sealed, the city is running out of fuel and food. many families who have managed to leave are taking back roads to the largely shiia city of carbola. leaving those left behind fearing the possibility of another catastrophic battle for fallujah, a city that perhaps more than any other is a symbol of success or failure of

america's war. >> there is not much worse than waiting to be attacked, and that's the situation that thousands of families in fallujah find themselves tonight. the iraqi army is waiting for the order to start the battle if a deal being cobble together between prime minister malaki and the tribes fail. joie, if the iraqi army attacks its own people. >> this was a difficult battle, of course, before so difficult, a third of the u.s. forces died in their ambar prove incident. something to be learned from a battle, some strategic position or something that could be learned from that going forward? >> the overriding lesson lernldz, which we are seeing playing out in afghanistan is that the u.s. will no longer, i think, go in to battles, go into wars how they are going to end. they went in almost blind into a country they didn't understand.

and in fallujah, they got caught in those allekways and a culture and a conflict that's still playing out. al-qaeda, some of the early reporting over the weekend and the early part of this week is that this is not a huge number of al-qaeda forces in fallujah. can they retain control just on their own physical force, their own ability? >> that's really the thing. it's quite extraordinary because there are a large number on paper. but none of them really measure up to the power of it. battle-hardened in syria, the most effective insurgent 40s now in the region. they are well-funded, and if or i, i think, had the choice of being told you had to go in and disarm your neighbor and your neighbor was willing to bel blo himself up, we probably wouldn't do it. a lot of people in fallujah are

closing their doors and hoping it goes away. quick thought. this is an experience you had yourself. you saw it yourself. tell us just a little about what that battle was like. >> it was kind of like the end of the world. it was like nothing i could have ever imagined. the there was incredible amounts of destruction. we were with marines and with the army as they went into places not knowing what was around the corner and the hallmark of that campaign, the hallmark of that battle really is how much of the city they destroyed. i went back as they were rebuilding on the city. at that point, people were digging through the rubble. there was death and destruction. they rebuilt the city. the horrible thought is it could be done before. see what happens next. >> thursday on america tonight, a look at the fight for fallujah through the lens of a photographer embedded with the

u.s. marines. >> almost like a signal and all. right at it. i don't know where. the sniper, a guy on the roof. amazing. thought you might be calling in mortar attacks. we will never know. walked to where that house was. a lot of blood and brother was crying. he saw the marines and got up. and he said... >> when we return, going for broke. struggles of the younger other america and american tonight special series. >> every morning from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m., al jazeera america, more global news than any other american news channel.

and in those cases where formal education isn't feasible because

now, snapshot. u.s. military is investigating a second deadly helicopter crash in as many days. tuesday, four air men were killed when a blackhawk

helicopter went down. wednesday at least two navy crew members were killed when a minesweeper helicopter carrying five crashed during a training exercise in the atlantic ocean near virginia beach. big leap of faith and celebration. former congressman gabrielle giffords. the tucson sheeting killed six people and left her severely wounded. two peace of america's history will unite for the first time. the original manuscript of the star-spangled banner will be on disciplindisplay. >> ambition and realty. for generations we have encouraged our kids to do better than their parents. >> may be a bit beyond reach. one of the groups left most behind. double the unemployment work of

the u.s. work force. the fear of slipping into poverty is real for many young middle class americans. in our ongoing series, the other america, we meet a young woman whose dream of a college degree and a professional career crashed up into a mountain of debt. >> i wish that i could actually go back and have someone tell me just one little thing about how it would have turned out because, really, most people say they don't have regrets and they wouldn't do things differently. i would, 100%. my name is christina georgie. i am 26 years old and we are in oakland, california, right now. i was going mayor mount university in virginia. i went there for a year fashion design. i was thinking maybe three years, i was going to graduate,

but i felt like i wanted to go somewhere, where someone would notice me so i could actually get a job out of school. i told my mom, like two weeks before i left, i am moving to san francisco to go to school. she was like, i went to classes and i remember the first class i went to, they gave me a list of supplies that was like this long and everything was like 50 to $100, and so i just covered all of my living expenses with loans because i was like, i can pay for all of this stuff, and i am going to get this awesome job after school, and i am just going to pay it back like that. i have five messages. you have loans which are past due. i was talking to my mom who had taken out the initial first loan. she was like, this is expensive. you have to take out the rest of the loans. >> that's when i was like, uh-oh. when i got this loan, i thought that i was go to go finish

school. the two years later starts as a 25,000 dollar loan. that was in august of 2006. i was going to sign up for the next semester's classes. i called them, and i am like, what's happening here? i have taken out a loan before. and they are, like action we can't give you any more loans. i was like i can't pay these loans back untless i get my degree. he was like that's not my problem. i had like that moment where i fell apart. $65,534. it's like it went up overnight. you don't have anything with my schooling except for a 65,000 dollar bill. no degree. this is every month. i spent all of my money on the. i was at the grocery store with three credit cards on my phone.

how much is left in this account? wait. nothing. how much is left in this account? nothing. $5 in this one? okay. i can get one thing. the $9 available in my checking account, but i have negative $12 in my savings for the fees that you pay. i guess i didn't save that much of my stuff from school. i got these pens actually saved these pens for my textile design class. i love putting the print down on the fabric, that hands-on feeling. i really wanted to do the fashion thing. everyone, i don't know about that. the education am am. for a long time, i took the ostrich approach and put my head under the sand.

how am i supposed to pay loans back? i thought about writing the president a letter, please help me, like, i want to be a good citizen. i am trying. it took me about two years to really land a retail job. i feel like i went on about 15 or 20 interviews throughout those, probably more. i think i submitted like 300 resumes. i started looking for a retail job. so at least i could -- i thought at least maybe i can climb the l ladder. maybe i can go this back way instead of doing it the school route. >> that's when i go got the job at nordstrom. i have been working in shoes for about two years. the company is huge on we take everything back. what really happens is, they take it back from the employees. so even if you went out and wore it to your party last night and we sold it to you for an hour, we still don't get the commission. otherwise, then you get 1250 an

hour. if i didn't get my work check today, i would have to everything that i have. >> felt this is where i worked and about to go in and sell some shoes. >> i don't blame my mom at all because she was a single parent. she worked like three jobs. she had no idea. and i recently actually was talking to my dad about this and i was like, why didn't anyone tell me anything. his response was, god, yeah. me, too. hello. you are the one who is supposed to tell me. nobody said anything. nothing. just one little thing about how it would have turned out -- it had a pretty good day. i sold a lot of shoes. i also had a lot of returns. only got commission on $2,282. i just want to graduate. no matter how smart you are, how good you are at something, if

you don't have the degree, nobody seems to care anymore. so it means like everything to me right now. >> full disclosure, christina's story didn't generate a great deal of sympathy in our newsroom but her experience, college educated, big aspirations, hanging on a financial edge. is hers the face of a new kind of america? joining us is caroline ratliff, an economists with the urban institute. it is striking because at some level, you are thinking this is not a young woman who came from difficult times, yet and still, all of the promises that we made with the next generation, why is it so tough for them? >> there has been this expectation that each generation does better than the generation before and our research shows that this may not be the case anymore. so for her in particular, what you see is that she's less school and she is entering the

work force in a recession. people aren't getting joshes or aren't getting jobs in their field of study and there is research that shows that when people -- people leave school and enter the work force in the recession it's their wages in the short-term. >> she specific refers to it, she says, you know, you don't have a degree, people don't even want to look at you, people don't want to talk about them? >> work that we have been doing at the urban institute, we have been looking at the wealth of millennials, actually what we see is that they are falling behind in terms of their wealth building. >> let's talk about why that is. i mean in the past, we always thought, you make money, buy a little house, you make money on realize. this doesn't happen as much now. let me just say first that we have had this great expansion of wealth in the united states over the last quarter of sent re wealth has doubled in the united states, but when you look at the wealth of people, the

millennials generation x, their wealth is lower than their parents at the same age so housing has been a big issue for both the millennials, people under 40, generation x, one were hit hard by the recession in the housing crisis for those who bought homes leading up to the great recession, they were hit very hard. for people today, people trying to buy their first harm, that can be difficult with the. credit market. so you are in this world where housing prices fell, interest rates are very low, but it's hard to get that mortgage. the wages low. particularly in the non-college completion world, wages are going to be low and she is also moving a step away from the time that she would reach her full profession about this. >> she had student loan debt. what we know is that for people

in their 20s and 30s, second only to mortgage debt. a quarter century ago, student loan detwas a relatively small component of overall debt. second only to mortgage debt. with the great recession, more beaumont back to school. they took on more debt as a result of that. they know that the jobs and there is difficulties in the job market. the average student loan it seems like is /* something you would be able to mag over a longer time. and with student loan debt, one of the particular concerns is that it can have these ripple effects. building for a retirement. it delays getting that.

it delays wealth building which then you get on a track where you are falling behind so you don't have that home you are not building up equity as you pay your mortgage, even if those value of the home doesn't preach depreciate. >> falling farther behind. caroline radcliff, thank you from the urban institute. >> thank you. >> after the break, a pot of gold, after a grand opening in colorado, our businesses are seeing some new green?

>> from "consider this," the white house goes on offense. are pipelineorities who act out in school being unfairly sent to police instead of the principal? the price for colorado's legalized pot is higher than its smokers. will sticker shock send them back to illegal dealers? and pro-sports struggled to get more fans into the stands because most people would rather stay on their couches. the tricks teens are using them back when we sigh you at the top of the hour.

>> people on highs? there is more to it. colorado's new recreational, we wanted to for the up and ask. is it a real pot of gold? correspondent falling the business of pot. she joins us. all of this. since january 1st when colorado enacted the recreational marijuana a already the sales have been as we say, hi. as we travel there. people were excited. this was going to be a multi-billion dollar business. $600 million by the end of the year. already in the first few days, there has been about a million dollars for these businesses. keep in mind there is only about 40 businesses that should open in the state of colorado. by the state and the municipalities. we will see that number fluctuate and change. the seems to be doing well.

>> a gold rush out there. when this started. everybody was talking about it. everything is a joke but everything was talking about it. >> now, look. you say 40 businesses. millions in sales through the year. isn't there apply demand going on. the demand is extreme. tourists people that have gone from england, the supply is limited. we see some of these businesses capping the amount of pot that people can buy and then charging a little bit more. so, for example, charging $50 for an 8th of an ounce of marijuana. >> is that a lot? >> according to the law, legally, you can buy, if you are not from colorado, up to a quarter of an ounce. then if you are from colorado, up to an ounce. an 8th of an ounce is less than what you're legally able to buy. they are charging $50 for that. if you look at the med medicinal marijuana the cross is about $25. >> that's the demand isn't quite so high because you have to get

a doctor's recommendation. you have to be a resident of colorado. there are a lot of things that go with that. >> yeah. i know talking to folks in colorado, there were a lot of worries about, for example, the police situation. how were police handling -- i mean, it's legal to buy it, but on the other hand, you would be intoxicated? >> right. you know, i was curious what was going to happen with the long lines whether people were going to be rowdy, elbow each other and this week, i talked to the denver city police department. they said they have issued four citation i see for public consumption. compared to last year, in january, they hadn't issued any citations in the month of january for that. what i thought was interesting was of the four, two were from denver. the other two were from utah and texas. you are getting outsiders in there. then they also issued one citation for driving while intoxicated. but so far action they said it hasn't been too rowdy. >> i have to ask you this before you go. you know, this is traditionally what you would call an all-cash business. what happens here? i mean it's actual money, banks, but can you charge it to a visa card, or do they know yet?

>> there is one business that you can charge to a visa card. really a lot of these places are cash businesses. the reason why, it's because technically this is illegal in the eyes of the government. technically if these banks get involved, that's considered money laundering. so what actually happened this week is the city of denver issued a proclamation. we want you to clarify what you are going to be doing. we need banks to set up our accounts so that we cannot only deal in cash. it's a safer issue. the federal government meanwhile has sedating back all the way to september, we have been talking to federal regulators. whorls this is an issue and we want to have a safe way of exchanging money. >> for the time being, nobodys knows. the following up on the pot beat here thanks very much. mile high city, aaron smith, the national canabis association is with us. aaron thanks very much. do you see this as laura jane

describes being the multi-million dollar rapidly growing supply and demand from business already? >> absolutely. this is one of the fastest growing industries in the country right now. it's out pacing smart phone industry. this is the first time in history that we've taken a popular product that was already widely available and moved it out of the underground market and back into a controlled and regulated market since the prohibition of alcohol and what we are seeing here is the end of the failed experience of marijuana prohibition. >> i have to say, i mean, you are a trade industry guy, given what your trade industry is. i suppose still there really are some serious legislative questions in all of this. this question about banks, all cash crop. >> the banking is a crisis manufactured by the federal government that needs to be

addressed immediately. many of these businesses are operating as cash-only businesses. we are talking family-owned small businesses that are now having to operate in every way as a small business without access to depository and checking accounts. >> means cash being transported in their cars and on their person. paying payroll taxes and licensing fees and their sales taxes in cash, and we need immediate clarification from the department of justice and the department of treasury to allow these businesses to bank just like any other legitimate business. >> right. complications, just for a minute, this is sort after bellwether, i guess, and there are some other things going on new york saying it is considering becoming a million marijuana state. someone is supported by 77% of

the voters adult use legalization, 58%. this was not a friend's issue anymore. moving marijuana out of the black market and behind the counter is simply the best way to control something that's already popular and already widely used, in a way that benefits the communities over the last five days, we see $5 million in sales in colorado alone and that's money that would be in the black market if not for the change in law. >> aaron smith executive director of the national canabis industry association, appreciate you being with us? >> thank you. >> ahead here in our final thoughts, takes 2. ♪ give me a horse, a great big horse ♪ >> it's in their genes, no one plays second fiddle for this duo. we wi we will find out about these brothers next.

(vo) al jazeera america

>> finally, we introduced a new series: american treasures all across the country. we met people who show us a way

of life or some cultural traditions that are truliniquely american, and they are determined to preserve those traditions despite changing times around them. tonight, we introduce you to greg and jerry kanote, a pair of american trees user from seattle, washington. ♪ took a stroll one day. >> we are easily amused. >> kind of propelled us into things we like to do ♪ a bumble bee may appear to be your friend. ♪ he gets you in the ends. >> you we have what we call old time music. >> let that bumble bee be. a bumble bee will buzz, buzz,

buzz. but that ain't all he does, does, does. i ain't the fool i used to was. i am going to let that bumble bee be ♪ a lot of the music we love was recorded in the 20s and 30s. >> yeah. >> so old-time music and fun songs, nothing heavy. just have fun.

svrningr. >> we are actually twins and i am greg. >> i am jerry. i was born first and greg came out 26 minutes later. he will never let me for get it. in country music, there has been responsiblings, due et cetesibl >> if you are twins, you have matching, matching, genetically matching. >> yeah. that's what we say. ♪ bye-bye ♪ i am going march marry me a g abo with bright blue eyes. ♪ >> we learned from an early age that music was a fun thing. the thing about it is that it's totally acceptable. you can have a huge, huge group of people playing it. and all that we have fun together is communal.

♪? >> in fact, you don't even need to know the tune. you can learn it on the fly. >> you don't need to know the person? >> it's why a lot of people become musicians so they don't have to talk at parties. it's extremely comfortable. you have been there for hours and be socializing but you don't have to talk. it. >> there is like a community of people around the world who play this music and love it. >> we love playing for people. >> that's really the most fun. it's so great when you are playing and it looks like people are enjoying it and then that comes back to you. you get more energy.

it. >> so far, we made $1. >> but we are always playing for each other. we try to crack each other. >> we are trying to crack each other up. ♪ give me a horse, that great big horse, a buckaroo and let me walk, walk, walk. ♪ i never could sing a high-class thing. that kind of music, i never do, but i believed waddell, welts, waddellle, welts, waddle ♪ ♪ catch your breath. >> we are having fun.

>> that's our message. >> yeah. to have fun. we have fun. she hollered, wahoo, wahoo, wahoo. ♪ wahoo! ♪ >> that would be the konnote brothers, american treasures indeed. please remember if you would like to comment on our stories, log onto our website, aljazeera.com/americatonight and meet our team and get sneak previews of the things we are working on now. join us on twitter or at our facebook page. conversation there. good night and we will have more of america tonight tomorrow. >> 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

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york and here are tonight's top stories. >> we were shocked and appalled, we could not believe it. >> the family of an american prisoner in north korea, dennis rodman sound being off that kenneth bae may deserve his sentence in north korea. the military is investigating its second deadly helicopter crash in two days. today, two military navy crew members were killed when a chopper went down off the coast of virginia. yesterday an air force helicopter crashed in britain killing four service