>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm tony harris. the lawmakers out with their report on the bengahzi attack. it may prove negligence on security concerns. and questions of a 16-year-old killed in the aftermath of this chaos ic plane crash could have been saved.

>> we begin with breaking from washington. the air force has an investigation into dug use by dozens of nuclear missile launch officers has expanded into other issues. david shuster is here with more details. >> reporter: debra lee james had a news conference at the pentagon and announced 37 air force officers and other personnel involved in missile situations both for drug use and cheating. this stems from an investigation that began a few weeks ago at the air force base in montana where two officers were stripped of their responsibilities after it was found that they were using drugs while on duty. that investigation then spread to other air force bases where they were apparently getting their drugs, and the air force has discovered a network up to 37 people engaged not only passing each other drugs but

helping one another learn how to cheat on some of the proficiency tests and how to be officers i n the missile silos, they have to pass certain exams and the allegations are out there that some of these officers were cheating on th on the exams to p their jobs. these certificates have to sit in the silos day after day without much prospect that they'll have to do anything. it's long been a challenge to keep them from being bored and faced allegations of drug and alcohol use, and you may have people in these nuclear missile silos that were not as proficient as air force thinks they are should they be called upon to launch one of these things. >> david shuster for us, thanks. a scathing new report about the

catholic church and how it has handled child sex abuse. a british charity claims that the church has not fully disclosed abused and denied accountability. >> reporter: peter was a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of his catholic priest at school. so was his brother mike. for him abuse triggered a life cursed by drink and drugs and an early death. peter runs an organization helping other survivors. >> most survivors interes are nt interested in compensation. they're interested in seeing change, they're interested in knowing that what happened to them will not happen to future generations. having said that compensation is appropriate when it comes to people whose lives, their

childhoods have been stolen. >> reporter: the vatican has a new pope. pope francis was openness and transparency even on this toxic issue. issue. he set up a new committee of his own to look into it. thursday appearance with the u.n. is overdue, the extent to which they work with the u.n. will be a test of his papacy, and whether they can deliver on the issue of sexual abuse and allegation of cover up. a new report details how widespread the abuse has been. the authors have little optimism that the church. >> there have been many promises in the past. very little has happened concretely, and everything that has allegedly happened has happened in complete secrecy. >> reporter: in 2012 the u.n.or

asked to response to questions. many questions remain unanswered. >> if the institution acknowledges it's many failings, then i like many other people who have suffered at its hands i think will have some form of closure and some means of perhaps moving on. >> reporter: the vatican is coming to geneva because it signed the u.n.'s convention on the rights of the child, and it says it takes its treaty obligations very seriously, although it's action or inaction over the issue of child abuse might. this is a good opportunity for the church and for pope francis to finally signal they're going to do something about it. simon mcgregor with al jazeer al jazeera, geneva. >> i got to tell you it's been more than a decade since the sex abuse scandal within the church has exploded. >> reporter: in the united states the catholics wish this

issue will go away. it will not go away. it will not lie down. tomorrow in geneva part of the convention of the vatican has long been signed, and they will grilled with what they did or did not do to protect children in the united states. we'll look at priests within the catholic church within the united states. according to an audit, the office of child out protection plus independent studies commissioned by the bishops, more than 6900 catholic priestse abused children. that's 5% of the priests. 16,463 alleged victims have been identified to date although there is no national victims

david beckham available. and the catholic church has spent at least two and a half billion dollars, that's the latest figure on settlements, therapy bills, attorneys fees anidous for care of priest who is have been pulled from their ministries. 3,000 lawsuits have been filed in this country between 1984 and 2009. 37 suits have resulted as a--have been the result of those three 3,000 filings. meanwhile bishop accountabilit accountability.org says 22 bishops and priests names have been named public, but very little is known about the location of those accused priests, and they're launching a nationwide search to find out where they are. >> the idea of this being put

behind the catholic church, it doesn't really happen until i think you would agree until there is full disclosure about what happened in the past, and transparency from this point moving forward. which makes what happens tomorrow before the u.n. important. >> in so many of these cases the victims were people who really couldn't fight back. they were children, of course, we know that, but they were the children of divorced parents or children of people who status in this country was, you know, not clear. so they never wanted to go to the authorities. even if they felt they wished to report it. they couldn't because their status at home was not strong enough. >> let's see how much disclosure we get tomorrow at the t. john, appreciate it, john terrett. an senate intelligence committee is blaming the pentagon for failing to protectt

the consulate in the bengahzi attack. it blames the pentagon for not being prepared to defend the consulate in september. they found the state department had repeatedly proved t this. defer did a lotrevor did a lot n this, good to see you. give us son-in-law of the--give us some of the insights of this report. >> this documents the actions. the state department had two facilities. a special mission that held the diplomatic. staff, and an annex for c.i.a. and contractors. the report by five independent security experts showed the

state department did not take adequate security measures when the intelligence community reported that the security situation in bengahzi was rapidly deteriorated. there were consistent attacks on western officials and western buildings. in this recent report it documents while the state department was getting the sail intelligence and not taking security action, the c.i.a. took security action and increased the security it had in the annexed building showing there was negligence on the state department's part for not increasing security at the bengahzi special mission when it knew there was a significant risk to people there. >> does report allude to why that was the case? even in the face of the warnings? security wasn't improved at the consulate? >> reporter: the consulate in bengahzi had a designation. it was called a special mission. what is significant about that, with the designation of special mission the state department was not required to implement security standards that are required in other state department buildings such as

consulates and embassies. these standards were adopted following the beirut attacks and clearly meant to secure buildings from these types of attacks. the state department because it did not want to provide the type of security that is provided in other facilities to the bengahzi special mission that gave it that special mission to exempt the standards. patrick kennedy who reports directly to the secretary of state was the one who had to sign off exempting bengahzi special mission from the security standards, that this report and previous ones suggest might have prevented these attacks. >> which is interesting because even in the face of that, even though it had this special designation as reports were coming in, there was no move even in the face of the evidence, and even as the c.i.a. was taking this same information and upgrading its security, the consulate did not upgrade its security, correct? >> that's right.

the state department in washington did not make those changes, and also christopher stevens who died in the attack specifically chose not to act on the intelligence. >> a number of people who have been described as close to this investigation had been killed, as many as 15, i'm told. explain that to us. >> yes, that's one of the fascinating aspects of this report. the fbi immediately after the attack launched an investigation. the fbi had jurisdiction over crimes involving deaths of americans over sees, and this investigation has been hampered by a lack of cooperation, and most startlingly 15 people close to this investigation were killed. it's not known if they were killed as a result of the investigation or it was signaling of worsening situation in libya. >> this whole situation in bengahzi has been heavily,

heavily politicized by the administration, and i specifically national security adviser rice was heavily criticized for the response to this attack. people alleged that the administration withheld information, did the report give us any insight into that particular part of the story? >> in fact, it did. susan rice's comments immediately following bengahzi were heavily criticized by republicans on the allegations they had politicized those comments and down played to make it seem less serious than it was. what is significant about this report is that susan rice's comments were flawed but largely accurate. most significantly the terms that she used. susan rise termed the attackers extremist rather than terrorist. that was not chosen by the white house or susan rice. it was the agency that chose to use the word extremist because

the fbi could not substantiate if this was answer attack from a terrorist organization or extremists as they put it. in addition susan rice's comments talking points removed reference to al-qaeda and she was criticized for that as well. this report shows it was the intelligence committee that asked that al-qaeda be remove because they could not substantiate that al-qaeda was part of the attack. >> and is there any mention about the film that anyone who called the film call it anti anti-he's limb, and not only the bengahzi attack but what happened before the bengahzi attack in egypt. >> the attackers viewed it as an opportunistic attack, and it was a planned assault, and as a result these attackers from inspired by the demonstrations in cairo. it does mention some of the attackers were likely members

of al-qaeda or affiliate groups, but this was not a planned attack in those group but an opportunistic attack. >> thank you for your time. investigative reporter joining us from los angeles, thank you. a string of attacks in iraq today has left 75 people dead and 129 injured. a half dozen car bombs exploded across baghdad this morning. mostly in shia neighborhoods. in the northern town a suicide-bomb targeting a funeral killing 15. vie license in iraq has intensified after al-qaed al-qaeda-linked groups took coal of anbar province. they fight to take back the territory from al-qaeda-linked fighters who hold anbar andrea maandramadi.

the vote is a milestone in a military-backed road map towards new presidential elections later this year. today's voting was more peaceful than yesterday when 11 people were killed in clashes with security forces. and a deadline set by protesters in thailand for the prime minister to leave office has come and gone with no action from either sides. [ whistling ] protesters have threatened to blockade the bangkok stock exchange if the prime minister did not leave office but they have not maid their move yet. demonstrators brought part of the bangkok city to a standstill, the prime minister said they will stick with plans for elections in early february. we have disturbing video from the plane crash in california. cbs news obtained this video of the chaotic scene after the

asianic crash. it shows emergency workers saw 16-year-old girl on the ground just before she was killed when a fire truck ran over her. the girl's family filed a lawsuit accusing the city of gross negligence. lisa bernard is live for us in san francisco. let's start with this. who recorded the video? >> reporter: tony, the video comes from a camera that was mounted on the helmet of a firefighter right there at the crash scene. what it shows us is the urgency that firefighters felt once they discovered the body of that 16-year-old girl on the tarmac. she had been thrown from the airplane, and the firefighter on the ground implores his colleague from behind the wheel of the fire truck to not proceed forward. they did a quick vigil check and

believed the girl was dead. the coroner said the 16-year-old girl was alive although unconscious. investigators say later foam used to put out the fire partially covered her body, and fire trucks ran over the body. she later died from those injuries. the san francisco fire chief has spoken about this incident. again this video though now shows us what was going on on the ground. the fire chief had told us that the firefighters had to make quick decisions. they had to assess whether to treat those on the ground and some who appeared to be dead they had to move on. and then get to those 304 survivors who were still on the burning plane. the fire chief tells us in that instance it was rescue mode. put out the fire and try to get to those survivors and keep them safe.

>> wow, why was this ultimately--i mean, it's information that the public needs to know, but that's the question, why was it made public? >> reporter: well, it was made public from the attorneys so the fire department gave this video for the litigation and the investigation to the attorneys on both sides and those close to the family of the young girl have now made it public. >> lisa bernard for us in san francisco. this is really disturbing. new information is emerging about the chemical whose spill contaminated the water supply for nearly 300,000 west virginians. freedom industries was cited for several violations at another facility where it stores chemicals. thousands of the chemical used in coal processing spilled from the freedom industry into the elk river. icoming up on al jazeera americ,

it may be the world's largest sinkhole. we will take you live to this 26-acre monster that is spreading toxic liquids, and travelers making their complaints known about people using cellphones on airports ai. apparently not everyone is happy about the change. we'll look at the reaction.

>> it is a recipe for disaster. cracked levies and the threat of methane gas are just some of the latest concerns in louisiana's bayou where a massive sinkhole is getting larger. 26 acres a with more land expected to disappear soon. how dig is 26 acres exactly? that's almost the size of 20 football fields. robert ray is live for us in southern louisiana. robert, not only is this sinkhole growing, but am i right

saying there is methane trapped underground where you are standing right now? >> reporter: good evening, tony, indeed there is. there is 45 million cubic feet of natural gasses trapped underneath this town of bayou corne. it is being siphoned and excavated out. in the past few weeks the sinkhole has grown even more and fractured a burn or a levy on the south side of this massive hole in the ground. the company texas brine has gone on to fix it, and over half of the residents, a mandatory evacuation has been in place for the past year and a half. there is something that many will recognize, general, you took the bull of that huge

disaster and rode it quite well, how has a brand new mission in his retirement which he calls the green army, you're deeply concerned and very involved in the sinkhole. what is going on here? >> well, it's the combination of bad news after bad

epa's fault. it's congress' fault. congress has taken the authority from the epa to do its job to enjoy the 1972 clean water act which was to protect the water of the united states of america. >> general, i appreciate your insight and your time. we're out of time, unfortunately, but tony, as you can see this is a passionate debate that is going on. the sinkhole continues to grow. it's expected to go up to 40 acres as well as small micro quakes around the world occur, that rustles the earth that is beneath to dislodge. the reason why salt is excavated is create plastics. but they may have pushed it too

far, and we have a serious problem here that continues to go on. >> all right, robert ray for us. bayou corne, louisiana. appreciate it. thank you. on wall street today investigators follow yesterday's triple digit gain on the dow. it's the first time that dow has had back-to-back triple digit gains. history is made in the auto industry, marry baro, the first to head a major car company. ththere is expected privates. apple is expecting to give a fund for apple selling children

phones without their parents knowledge. and jc penny said it's closing 33 stores and cutting 2,000 jobs. jc penneys said it will save $64 million a year. the federal communication commission, the fcc allowed considerinconsideringallowing cn flights. >> reporter: they have receive 413 comments on their website. this is before the comment period started today. virtually all of the comments that were filed were against lifting the ban on cell phone use during flights. only four people said yes go ahead. a lot of comments said something like this. no, no cell phones on planes. and linda wrote, so many

conversationalists feel the need to shout into the devices as in can y'all hear me now? even the noise level in an airport will not cover this intrusive embarrassing chatter. and peter, he's actually a professor of telecommunications writes, the use of cellphones by multiple passengers flight will create a cacophony of noise that will make us plead for the relative silence of crying infants. the fcc said they're just considering the technical standpoint. there would be no interference if cellphones are allowed to be used on planes. >> it will be an interesting comment period. maria, see you later in the program. president obama making a new plea to lawmakers to renew

jobless benefits for the long term unemployed. and an investigation into marines burning the corpses of what appears to be ira iraqi insurgents. the photographs coming out today.

♪ >> welcome back to al jazeera america. here's a look at your top stories. the air force says 34 missile launch officers have been implicated in a cheating scandal and three others have been implicated with a drug probe. the officers maintain the nation's 400 nuclear women's. those involved in the cheating scandal have lost their certification and 300 crew members will retake the certification tests. a report blasts the catholic church for how it has handled child sex abuse cases. a charity saying the church is

not fully disclosing abuse and quoting harp boring perpetrators and deny accountability. this comes to a committee set up by the pope who will meet with the u.n. a report says better security might have stopped the attack that killed ambassador chris stevens and three others americans and blames the meant pentagon for not being prepared to defend the consulate. the president's decision not to extend emergency benefits means most states are not giving help after six months. that means 1.3 million people who have been unemployed for longer than six months lost their benefits by june 2014.

that number will jump to 3.2 million people by the end of the year nearly 5 million people will be without government assistance. these numbers are a worst-case scenario but the president is not backing down. mike viqueira with the latest on this. >> reporter: well, the president says this is going to be a year of action with congress or without congress. he said yesterday in his cabinet meeting i have a pen. the implication being i'm not afraid to use it. he'll be using executive orders trying to get around congress to enact part of the agenda that congress is too gridlocked or opposed to enact. president obama went to raleigh, north carolina, visiting a manufacturing facility there. following on a plan he announced at last year's state of the union, and that is to form these manufacturering hubs around the country, north carolina being one of them, youngstown, ohio,

previously announced. this is a partnership between public and private entities and non-profits to create an electronic hub. but the president spent the bulk of his time talking about the economy, turning the corner now five years plus into his administration. here's what he had to say. >> we made progress. this is what i mean this could be a breakthrough year for america. the pieces are all there to start bringing back more of the jobs that we've lost over the past decade. >> reporter: so in many ways the president is embarking on the triumph of hope over experience. a, um, could of years he operated under the slogan we can't wait another rationale for using executive orders, unilateral actions by the administration to enact part of his agenda. but the president obviously now very serious about this, his second trip in two weeks, promise zones last week where he announced the first of five of 20 promise zones among

economically depressed areas identified in the bidding process. in those executive orders the president has embarked on a new strategy. >> president obama has been accused of legislating law without getting approval of congress. how does his executives orders stack up against other president. president obama has used i 166. presidenpresident bush made 120d president clinton made 162. supreme court heard about the leaguety of buffer zones

outside of abortion clinics. the justices heard arguments for about an hour, and many of them said the law is simply too broad. justice elan in a kagan said 35 feet is too large of zone. anti-abortion groups say that the buffers infringe on their first amendment rights. in mexico one day after aa stand off between vigilanty groups and the police, we have the report. >> reporter: still in shock this mother grieves for her son mario. relatives say he was killed by the mexican military. neighbors and family come to pay their respect. among them pedro, who said his brother-in-law was unarmed when soldiers open fired on him and hundreds of others. >> when i got there he was already dead with a bullet in

his neck. >> reporter: mario, along with three other people, were killed in a protest where people demanded that the soldiers return confiscated weapons to the community police. >> it's wrong for the government to disarm the people who are protecting us. if they cake away our weapons the drug gangs will come and kill us. >> reporter: they called on self defense groups to lay down their weapons. over the past year thousands of people have taken up arms against the knights templar cartel. the government is sending in reinforcements the federal police and the military throughout the state, but the people hearsay the community police are refusing to give up their arms until the government makes key arrests of the knights templar cartel. this community said by disarming his men won't improve security. >> we are just protecting the people and doing the work that

the government has failed to do for the past 12 years. we're tired of kidnapping, extortion and stealing our lives. >> reporter: as more and more troops arrive they'll face a fight on two fronts. they'll have to confront the cartel and win over a local population that no longer believes in the government's promises to fight organized crime. al jazeera, mexico. >> let's take a look at news happening around the united states including the search of a missing sailor after a chopper crash. david schuster is here with more. >> reporter: it has been a week since a military helicopter crashed in the atlantic ocean off the virginia coast, and today the navy said the body of the pilot has been recovered. divers found the body of the pilot. two others crew members died in the crash, two survived, and the

cause remains under investigation. in detroit a trial date has been set in a highly charged case against a white homeowner who shot and killed a black woman on his porch. the judge ruled that he would face a trial in june. he said that he feared for his safety when the woman appeared outside of his door in the mostly white suburb of dearborn heights. friend say he was simply asking for help after leaving a party and getting in an car accident. roswell has upgraded two students who have been shot at a middle school. a 13-year-old girl has been upgraded to good condition the

11-year-old boy remains in critical condition. for years one of the biggest challenges facing u.s. intelligence agencies involved penetrating the computers of adversaries. today "the new york times" reported the problem has been solved because of implanting surveillance software in computers around the world. the nsa has been using the technology for six years and allows the agency to track information even if the user's computer is not connected to the internet. it comes in advance of a peach to be given by president obama regarding nsa guidelines. snap challenge, the disappears photo service that has become one of the most popular messaging platforms for young people rand paul plans to

send his first snap tonight. a spokesperson for senator paul said that snap chat will allow everyone to follow the senator as he travels around the nation. snap chat allows users to take a photo, edit the people and send it out all with the piece of mind that photos are available to viewers for ten seconds. what can go wrong with a politician doing that? this is a big day in the world of cross word puzzles. "the new york times" published a puzzle by bernice gordon, who will turn 100 years old. she has created puzzles for decades for "the times" and others. she said she would not be able to live without them. >> she looks great. >> reporter: 100 years old and it shows you need a passion to keep going. >> keep the mind stimulated, right, keep learning, all right, david, appreciate it. a small text town 50 miles northwest of dallas has

experienced a sudden mysterious increase of earthquakes in the past two months. there has been more than 30 quakes, mark snyder went there to find out what's causing the quakes. >> reporter: azel is a quite texas town of 11,000 people. at least it used to be quiet. >> you hear a big boom, and the windows shake. >> reporter: shawn is describing an earthquake between two and three and a half magnitude. not enough to cause serious damage but regardless people around here have had enough. >> really 30 in one area? >> who is going to cover all the damages that will occur in the future if we fail to act right now. >> 800 residents packed the first of two town hall meetings calling on the railroad commission which regulates drilling to look into the cause of these quakes. it is. >> i can see their point, they're frustrated and worried

that it could get worse. >> reporter: an independent geological consultant and professor who specialize in the oil and gas field for 60 years. >> there is a fault trend. this is a fault trend coming thicomingthis way. >> reporter: caldwell wents out there are eight fault lines near azle. he believes the drilling has caused the quakes. >> i think if my theory is consider we ought to consider pumping less and pumping slower and see if that helps. >> reporter: how would that be received by the oil and gas companies? >> not well. it would slow down everything. >> reporter: dozens of residents decided they were going to jump on a bus, go down to the state capitol in austin and see the state leaders to get something done. >> they know there is a problem. they're hiring a sizologist on

staff now. they're fully aware of the problem. i don't think its time to bring out the pitchforks and the torches yet. until there is conclusive evidence, opinions will fly. >> i think people are overreacting. i don't think it's got anything to do with the oil field. >> but if it does geologists say the people don't need to fear a massive quake. this type of work in the oil field won't cause one. they're working to determine exactly where the earthquakes are originating. >> coming up on al jazeera america we'll take to you the colorado town responsible for sending a whooping, live to th this, 38 athletes to the winter games in russia. we're back in a moment.

>> the u.s. military is investigating new abuse sal gas stations out of iraq. a warning the following images are just horrible. the tmz obtained photos that appear to have been taken i in 2004. they appear to show marines pouring gasoline on dead bodies. the corpse are on fire and the photo shows an u.s. soldier posing next to a dead body. tmz said many of the photos were too gruesome to be published. the u.s. marine corps is investigating the veracity of the photos and the eyes of the american soldiers. it is called pet coke, shows

for petroleum coke. it's dirty and has a pretty bad smell. now illinois wants to change the way the black sooty substance is handled. wash har quaraishi is here with more on the story. >> reporter: the debate over the storage of pet coke really started heating up. a drive up near the illinoi illinois-indiana border and you can see the wind picking up the fine black powder and blowing it in the air. since then a probe from by the chicago and others going into to its handling but some say it's not enough. >> reporter: petroleum coke, or pet coke. [ booing ] >> reporter: this week a small but fired up group of residents from chicago's southeast side came out to voice their concerns

for pet coke's storage near their homes. >> this is not your dumping ground. it is the vibrant community with team and children. >> reporter: residents have said that the soot makes it difficult to breathe. >> this is a filter from a house that 109th and mackinaw. let me show you something. this is not your standard household dust. this is not what you should see on a filter that is filtering the air in a house. >> reporter: but now state officials are proposing regulations aimed to keep the fugitive dust from impacting neighboring communities. some include requiring large companies to build enclosures, and making companies maintain

devices to monitor air quality. last month indiana based company removed it's pet coke piles because of a lawsuit filed by the city of chicago and the city attorney's office. they're no longer in the pet coke business. another pet coke storage company controlled by industrialist charles and david koch recently invested $30 million in improvements in its facility including $10 million in a new dust repression system. >> they're collected in late november and early december. these samples showed no unlevel dust particles. it seems that our system is working. >> reporter: residents and community activists remain unconvinced. >> they say they spend $30 million? i showed you a filter from a residents' home and that was full of oily dust. the reason why i know its oily was because i could not wipe it

off my hand. >> reporter: it appears with these new regulations companies like kbx terminals will be allowed to continue storing it. the only difference now is that someone is watching. >> reporter: the emergency rule calling for dust suppression systems to be within place within the month. the facility owners must take steps to keep it from washing into waterways. it would be expensive and burden some something that would be required in the next two few years but that's something that would have to be approved by the illinois control board. >> you've been in some of the homes near these pet coke storage facilities. how bad is it? >> reporter: one resident showed us. it's different than dust. it's black, fine, it stays on your fingers. an hour in this place, and this resident lived right across the street of kbx terminal, so one of the severe places, but after

a few minutes you could start tasting it. >> what did it taste like? >> reporter: a gritty chalky bitter taste. >> thank you. hundreds of american athletes are getting ready for winter games in sochi russia. at one colorado town we'll be well represented when the athletes march into the olympic stadium during the olympic ceremonies. we're in steam boat, colorado, where a lot of people are dreaming of gold. over to you. >> reporter: they sure are, tony. steam boat is a little town of 12,000 people, three hours northwest of denver, and it's well-known as a ski resort, but it may be one of the best kept secrets. this town cranks out more olympic athletes maybe in the entire world. steam boat athletes have made

137 appearances at the olympics, and here's why. >> forget football. this is how they do friday night lights in steamboat springs. the kids line up and launch themselves into the darkness. saturday morning it's time for speed camp. and saturday afternoon a cross country race. for all these kids this is base camp. the steamboat springs winter sports club. it's a place to play, meet, and compete. >> i'm on top of the hill, and it may be humble compared to big sister steam boat across the valley, but here this is mount olympus. they say the city is built out of dirt and dreams. on these slopes they've been quietly cranking out olympians for a hundred years. but even one of the club's most celebrated sons says win

something not what this place is all about. >> first and foremost it's a place for kids to have fun skiing. >> johnny grew up a few blocks from the club. at the vancouver olympics he became the first medalist in the nordic campaign which combines ski jumping and cross country. >> you can't be successful in any sport without enjoying what you do. >> this is the history of ski downtown, u.s. >> yes, here is the man who started it all. >> he founded the club in 2014, it's culture has formulated a winning club generation after generation. >> your mentors are olympians, and you can touch and feel that olympic spirit. >> brothers taylor and brian fletcher are on their way oh to sochi. mom penny said the club is much

more than medals. >> it's kind of a community gathering spot for kids to come, hear, train, and to learn sportsmanship, their morals, their ethics, their goals in life. >> reporter: but make no mistake these boys and girls have visions of olympic glory. >> my heroes are ski jumpers, and this is the first year they'll jump in the olympics. >> do you dream having your own flag in this room today? >> it would be cool to see your name on the flag and go to the olympics. >> in this room each flag represents one olympic appearance by a sports club athlete proof that sometimes here more than anyone place else olympic dreams really do take flight. >> now tony, school is about to get out in an hour, that's when the after school program starts here at the base.

and this place is about to be flooded with kids of all ages out here primarily as you heard to have fun. but they're having fun while training, while learning how to aim high and aim for that gold medal podium some day. >> wow, get some inner city kids out there, that is traffic. what an experience that would be, right? all right, paul. >> absolutely. meteorologist dave warren has your national for cast. that's next.

>> meteorologist: i'm dave warren. we're seeing drive weather out west, cold weather and stormy weather to the east. right in the middle is this area of snow that is pushing to the north. accompanied by gusting winds with wind gusts over 75 mph. even though the snow is just light you'll get reduced visibility with this blowing snow. high pressure out west. storms going up into canada and going down through the dakotas. but the extreme drought persists cannot get any moisture in this area with that high in place. this is normally the time of

year you start to see the snow accumulate and set up the stage for that melting in april and may which goes into the creeks and streams. we're not getting that and we'll continue to stay dry. the cold air across the east. with this pattern here it looks like the track will be just a little too far off the coast to give us any rain or snow significant rain or snow across the mid-atlantic states and up through new england. you can see over the next few days there will be storm but it's off the coast, we're just getting colder air that comes back from the north there and it looks like reinforcing shot of cold arctic air. not bitter cold arctic air. it will drop down into the single digits and that wind chill will drop below zero. a look at headlines with tony is coming up next.

>> this is al jazeera america. i'm tony. >> tomorrow the vatican sits down with the united nations to discuss the decision of child abuse i in the catholic church. the budgets bill spending bill passed, and now the bill moves to the senate for a vote later this week. president obama is in raleigh, north carolina, where he unveiled th the