back stim louse efforts. those are the headlines. "america tonight" is coming up next. remember, you can get the latest news online at aljazeera.com. another news update coming up at 6am eastern. >> a mile. >> you have been in the traffic jam since 1:30 yesterday. >> how humans managed to make it a disaster. >> tonight - from international fugitive to nobel prize nominee. can edward snowden ever come home? is it time for the u.s. to make a deal? >> we heard the number 1.7 million documents.

>> and priceless penny. >> all on six. n.b.a. superstar on young players that inspired him to get sideline. >> i never thought i would be a middle school coach. it happened, and i'm enjoying it. >> good evening, thank you for joining us. i'm joie chen. it is not a stretch to say that atlanta never deals well with weather emergency. speaking as someone with a lot of affection for the city, what is going on now is incomprehensible. we hear 10, 12 hours, people stuck in their cars to finally give up and walk a couple for hours to the icy roads home.

children forced to spend the night at school, taking shelter with teachers. family teaching at stores. all because of the unusual, but not unprecedented blast of cold and deadly weather. some is nature's fault. it turns out that some of what happened is manmade. >> the chaos began when weather reports sent everyone scrambling to go home at once, creating a massive traffic jam on mostly untreated roads nearly 1,000 wrecks reported and thousands snuck their cars. charles was stranded on a bus with 80 other passengers. >> it was frigid. outside and inside couldn't have been much different. it was a miserable situation. >> somewhere amid the misery

new life. baby grace was gosh on the perimeter. >>: >> across the south the snow turned to ice, thousands were stranded in schools. >> and in stores. jack-knifes across the interstate, and 12 dead. snowed out atlanta is a facebook page where thousands have been posting. they've been stranded, where help is needed. angela went out to hand out supplies. this is highway 92. we are handing out water and food. there are tonnes of people that need water and food. somebody.

>> incredible. who is to blame - the governor and georgia and the mayor of response. >> what could be do to have avoided that? we can't control mother nature and we could not make better predictions. neither could school superintendents. that's why the children were in the same condition we were. they were probably looking at the same modelling as the state folks. we closed the city of atlanta and the interstate system based on maybes, then we would not be a very productive government or a city. >> i understand that people are frustrated and angry. if there was a major lesson learned in the middle of the challenge, that would be that we need to stagger closings for private sector company, government and the school system.

so if i had my drivers, i would have a school be released first, or closed first, let parents get the children and get them home safely. then have the private sector businesses go home and government go home last. >> why did things go so horribly wrong? william war is a professor of disaster studies and emergency management at george estate university, and you were in washington, not atlanta today. talk to us about this, we heard the governor's point and the mayor's point. isn't there a lot of human element to what is happening. >> some part of it is the interpretation of risk. the largest part of the city was on the edge of what was a storm advisory. couldn't. >> the governor is saying it was on maybes. we shouldn't close on maybes. is that the case? is that what

you would advise civic leaders in circumstances like these? >> there aren't a lot of certainties with the weather. sometimes the best information you have to make the decisions. shouldn't they have seen this? >> they should have anticipated it and been prepared for the expansion of the area. >> i'm a long-time resident of atlanta, i have been through a number of ice storms and snow storms. it's not that this never happens, a couple of years ago there was a big incident and after that the city said that it had gotten itself prepared, it purchased trucks, made plans or an emergency. why didn't these things come into play? >> some part of it is who is making the decisions. the police department makes the decision about the road conditions, the public school made decisions about whether children would be picked up,

taken to school. the governor has his own authority to make decisions relative to deployment and state resources. it's a fragmented decision. >> it's puzzling to look at as an outsider. others in the south went through bad weather, are still in it. why is it worse there? >> i'm not sure it's worse there. the new mayor of new york city is contending with the slow response. it's caused a number of public officials to lose their jobs, storm. >> when you teach, when you work, do you work with civic leaders, mayors, state officials to teach them. >> i have worked with the city of atlanta, there's a combined default.

i worked with them in the past, small businesses and non-profits about making decisions relative to the risk. >> you advise that they set a particular scheduled look once the weather report gets to this certaintiy, let's do this, we advise you to do that, this is the point to call out schools, seems like it must have been something in place. >> typically there's a threshold that you look at in terms of when you look at emergency operation center, when you open shelters and make decisions. you need the decisions to key a response, some access. >> what is it that keeps officials, knowing, as you say, this is the sort of thing that causes elected officials not to get elected again. why don't they make immediate responsive decisions? >> it's, in part, lack of authority. it's in part, these days, a lack of resources. it's dealing -- >> are they risk adverse?

>> sometimes you are afraid if it's abb issue involving sheltering in place or evacuation, those things, there's legal liabilitiy associated with making the decisions. businesses don't like you to shut down and send people away when they want to sell dinners or hotel rooms. >> there are a few too many people out at this hour trying to get home, sheltering where they are. professor from georgia state university, disaster studies and emergency matters. appreciate you being here. >> atlanta and other parts of the south-east ambushed. kevin corriveau is monitoring the decisionsism. >> the real problem is towards southern georgia. i want to take you back a couple of days when we saw the storm coming.

forecasters knew it would be an issues, meteorologist were hesitating whether it would be strong enough heading to the north. in a situation like this you want to be pessimistic and take the more proactive way of handling it. where we are right now, this evening is we are looking at still some freezing rain across the south and into south carolina. this may cause a problem on highways 10 and 95. temperatures this evening - well, they are going down. we have winter storm warnings in effect across georgia and florida, as well as freeze warnings all the way back to texas. let's take a look at the temperatures as we go through the evening. down towards 16. birmingham down to 10. any precipitation that has melted - well, that will refreeze in the overnight hours. tomorrow morning will be slippery.

not so much on the major interstates, which were ploughed, but the communities that were not ploughed people will not be able to get out of their subdivisions. as we go to the next couple of days we will see cold air in the morning. thursday morning, we expect 16. as we go towards friday, 22 degrees, so a couple more days of freezing overnight. and as we go towards the weekend things will be improving. over the next couple of days the storm system will make its way out here to the east, no longer affecting the temperatures warming up nicely. also many places across the area will be warming up. weather. >> our meteorologist kevin corriveau. thank you very much. >> coming up next - the president's promises for struggling city, and why more of them are taking up the challenge of going it alone.

>> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> every sunday night al jazeera america brings you controversial... >> both parties are owned by the corporations. >> ..entertaining >> it's fun to play with ideas. >> ...thought provoking >> get your damn education. >> ...surprising >> oh, absolutely! >> ...exclusive one-on-one interviews with the most interesting people of our time. >> you're listening because you want to see what's going to

happen. >> i want to know what works what do you know works? >> conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> talk to al jazeera. >> only on al jazeera america. >> oh my!

>> al jazeera america is a straight-forward news channel. >> its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. >> we believe in digging deep. >> its unbiased, fact-based, in-depth journalism. >> you give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. >> i'm on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news. >> on the day after his fifth state of union address president obama hit the road trying to sell his signature policies in some of the cities that could benefit the most. places like atlanta, maryland, pennsylvania, towns hard hit by

the economic downturn, struggling to come back. there's something different about the president's message this time around. last night he signalled that local leaders may need to raise wages on their own, creating economic opportunity from the bottom up. >> do what you can to raise your employees' wages. it's good for the economy, it's good for america. [ clapping ] >> every mayor, governor, state legislator in america - i say you don't have to wait for congress to act. americans will support you if you take this on. >> the president's comments were directed at people like our next guest, philadelphia mayor, michael knutter, now in his second term leading the city challenges. he had help from washington. we appreciate us being with us. think about the president's comments, after all he was

suggesting that moving things like the minimum wage up might need to come from the state and local level. is that an element of empowerment to those of us at the state and city level or is that a matter of delegating that responsibility to you. >> well, i think the president was clear that he wants the federal or national minimum wage to be raised by the federal government to $10.10. he's certainly encouraging congress to take action on that as quickly as possible. >> he encouraged them to do it last year and nothing happened? >> congress and, not to be too political, in many instances the house republicans have to figure out who to serve. are they serving special interest or the people they were elected to represent. like we have seen the expiration of unemployment insurance benefits, which the president mentioned and the state of union.

congress needs to do its job so other americans struggling can live and get to a job. to get to your question, the president said this is what we'll trying to do on the federal level, and state and local officials. you should do what you can do. >> we are seeing the minimum wage movements coming from ground up. what does that say. are we talking about small is beautiful, better from the bottom up? >> no, unfortunately, in many instances it is the affirmation by many of us is the frustration of frying to deal with that place called washington d.c., and from our perspective mostly with the republicans in congress, house or senate, whose main objective is to frustrate the president's efforts at every possible turn. so as you mentioned in some other jurisdictions, you are seeing at times a ground-up regional approach, and so here we are part of the south-eastern

pennsylvania. if we had a regional approach to dealing with the minimum wage, that's ta conversation i'd like to get into. none of us should automatically accept the idea that congress and the political environment is dysfunctional we should accept nothing. there's no other level of government, not at the local level where citizens put up with that nonsense. >> i want to talk about one of those things. >> sure. >> the president is talking about for your city and four others, and expanding that as well. in a case like that, will that make a difference when you have high unemployment, you have west philadelphia, and the promise zone is a tough one to make a promise too. >> there's a lot of assets in west philadelphia. the president promised he'd work on that issue at the last state of union and game through a few week before the state of union

last night and made the designations. we are proud in philadelphia to have received that designation states. >> it doesn't come with money. >> it comes with the opportunity grants. >> preferences. >> that we will go after. we have those coming in. the application process, and the promise zone initiative requires better coordination for dollars coming in, for leverage additional federal and private sec for dollars. there are great assets out there. the neighbourhoods had tough times. the people never gave up, the people made a promise, it's a promise kept. >> we want to finish up. your city is effective in dealing with the weather crisis you had. we are looking down south. there's a lot of reporting down around atlanta, and the troubles they had getting people moving. people are spending hours sleeping in the cars because they can't get home.

how does a city like yours work through having a disaster of the problems. >> these are cities that don't see the weather events that we get in the north-east. when you start to get into baltimore or philadelphia, we know that -- >> we have experience. >> yes. >> but in 2011, atlanta went through this, they did buy salt rocks, they made preparations, how come their city can't get it together when your city went through and pretty effectively. >> we saw the storms coming, we had episodes in the past couple of days, an inch here, three there, whatever the case may be. we are on constant ready alert because we get snow december through about march. orleans. >> i guess you get what to do

when the time requires. >> we try to do the bet we can. >> thank you for being with us. >> absolutely. >> coming up next - come home - all will be forgiven. could edward snowden go from exile to nobel honorary? >> every sunday night aljazeera america presents eye opening documentaries. they are impartial... >> if you wanted to be a good journalist in iraq, you have to risk your life... >> they observe. and report... >> kidnapping is a very real problem... >> journalists on the front line >> sometimes that means risking death >> getting the story, no matter what it takes

>> that's what the forth estate is all about... that's why i'm risking my life... >> killing the messenger 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. see that is that (a), it's a great outlet for the guys and

>> now a snapshot of stories making headlines - a bully on capitol hill. the cameras are rolling after new york reporter asked new york congressman michael grimm's justice department into his campaign's finances. things got ugly, michael grimm threatened to throw the reporter off the balcony, he did later apoll zis. >> the justice department is investigating a security breach at target. attorney-general eric holder is dedicated to locating the information. >> a first maimer speech to parliament, angela merkel warned spying on allies could damage a relationship. she accepted an invitation recently from president obama to visit washington.

>> edward snowden has been nominated for the nobel peace prize. he could share the honour as the president who revoked his passport president obama. wednesday on the hill the senate intelligence committee warned that he is a threat to this nation's security. story. session. >> i'm speaking of a damaging information. >> not for the first time edward snowden was the main topic. >> what edward snowden stole and exposed is beyond his concerns. selections. >> tourists and other adversaries are going to school on u.s. intelligence sources methods and trade craft, and the in sights they are gaining are making our job harder.

>> since fleeing the u.s., first for hong kong and moscow. the former n.s.a. contractor leaked secrets on an epic scale. >> if you printed them all and stacked them, they'd be more than three miles high. >> collection programs called prism, muscular, tumult and turmoil, sucking in data from phone and internet companies, most belonging to ordinary people, including americans who were suspected of nothing. embarrassing revelations about spying on foreign leaders, tapping angela merkel's cell phone, and edward snowden fold german tv - spying for commercial gain. >> does the n.s.a. spy on siemens, on other successful german companies to prevail, to have the advantage of knowing what is going on in a scientific and the economic world?

>> i don't want to pre-empt the journalist, but there's no question that the u.s. is engaged in economic spying. if there is information at siemens that they think would be beneficial to the national interests, not the security, of the united states, they'll go it. >> glenn greenwald a columnist writing about intelligence gathering for "the guardian " was one of the first journalists edward snowden reached out to. >> he has brought to light lies. >> investigators clouded. program. >> a u.s. judge ruled the collection of domestic telephone

unconstitutional. >> only a check on those in power is if we the public know what we are doing. >> edward snowden remains in exile without a u.s. passport, facing espian acknowledge charges. for some, he's a traitor, for others, he is a patriotic whistleblower revealing government excesses. >> there's a push to get him pardoned. a lot of people think he's a hero. he's a courageous whistleblower. there's no indication that he's a trait scror, that he sold secrets to a foreign government. >> edward snowden started an important national conversation about government intrusion and surveillance, a conversation that resulted in promises of new eyes on the watchers. >> i will reform our surveillance programs because

the vital work of intelligence depends on public confidence here and abroad. the privacy of ordinarily people is not violated. >> it will take a lot to convince some people of that. as legislators that nom snated edward snowden for the peace prize said we don't condone what he has done, but the debate that contributed to a peaceful world order. it led to the reintroduction of trust and transparency as a policies. >> that's a big statement. vi seen a lot of editorials written, is it time toian him clem ebbsy, is it time to let him come home. pro, con, back and forth. is there a movement, is it possible that the u.s. clementsy.

>> clearly he has supporters. some supporters have deep pockets and are prepared to put money out to help him. the question of clemency is complicated. he faces charges that could net him more than 100 years in prison if he returned and was convicted. the white house says he must come back and face the charges. there's more nuance from attorney-general eric holder and those in the intelligence community - suggestions from capitol hill that we know he has a lot more documents. maybe if he didn't realise them conversation. >> a conversation. >> while the notion af out and out clementsy all is forbidden, ruled out by attorney-general eric holder. there's wiggle room in there. >> did the president at all show his hand on this in the state of the union. just the one remark, one sentence saying, "i will reform our surveillance

policies", that's a question that meant not just for domestic consumption, but people like angela merkel, who was and remains annoyed about what the u.s. was revealed country. >> is there a sense in the government that no matter what has been said about edward snowden's dislornals, that it is more in the realm of embarrassment to the u.s. government rather than real security violations that expose fashion. >> there is an element of yost, clearly. the chancellor of germany find out, "thank you you have been listening in on my personal cell phone" really, you can under why she is annoyed. there's a level of embarrassment. from the intelligence community there's a drum peat that this has done harm. this has given the terrorist a roadmap to understand how we operate.

now we can see they are not where they used to be. we were listening to them before, now they are not there. >> some people firmly believe it is true. and he should be punished because of that. >> but when we have heard from the liberties board, who concluded there had been no damage to u.s. interests by the revelation of this one particular program, 215, and more than that the administration alleged that this sucking in of all these telephone conversations were instrumental in avoiding other or preventing other terror attacks. the board concluded there was no evidence of that. >> very interesting. much. >> after the break - taking stock of obamacare in a big test state.

>> no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives. opening doors ... opening possibilities. taking the impossible from lab ... to life. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life. on al jazeera america

while you were asleep news was happening. >> here are the stories we're following. >> find out what happened and what to expect. >> international outrage. >> a day of political posturing. >> every morning from 5 to 9 am al jazeera america brings you more us and global news than any

other american news channel. >> tell us exactly what is behind this story. >> from more sources around the world. >> the situation has intensified here at the border. >> start every morning, every day 5am to 9 eastern. >> with al jazeera america. . >> because of this law no american, none, zero can be dropped or denied coverage for a pre-existing condition like asthma, back pain or cancer. [ clapping ] . >> no woman can be charged more just because she's a woman. [ clapping ] >> the president back out selling the affordable care act once again to a nation divided over health care reform. you saw that in the chambers. the president devoted about five minutes of his address

touting his reforms. you don't have to convince too many californians, their state insurance campaign is a model of health, enrolling more that 625,000, landing the state of a target goal of 1.3 million by the end of 2014. 3 million have signed up. 7 million americans need to sign up by the march 31st deadline for it to work effectively. >> what is the secret behind the californian success. >> health access california joins us. tell us what has made the difference out there in california. >> we were able to pass the first laws past an exchange bill to set up the marketplace. we did that under a republican governor suggesting that we didn't have the political

obstacles that plagued other states. we used the time we had to get things going. >> this is a difficult thing to do. the individual insurance market was brop and the make the changes took a lot of time and effort and without the political obstacles and the commitment of policy makers and industry and others, we were able to put the focus and implement and improve the affordable care act for the benefit of californians. >> there are some areas of concern. his panics make up the majority of the uninsured. 46% of those eligible for coverage, accounting for 230% of state enrollees. what is the problem, and how do you fix it. >> even with the fact that we started quick out of the gate, we weren't ready in time with the basic infrastructure, the

stannish language website in act and november. the paper applications in spanish and other languages was not ready until christmas eve, and the on the ground enrolment counsellors, the people working with individual people to help them through the process, we wanted 10,000 of those folks. we had 3,000 in october and up to 4,000 now. to get to the scale of california, big state, you know, we are on our way, but we have more work to do. so it's those kinds of issues, in a state committed to doing this right, you know, this is a big and bold task and we are possible. >> there's always that question of what might have been, and other states mite look to you and say, you know, gee, you didn't have a political problem that we had, the partisanship problem we had in our state. we can't look back now.

what can they learn from the situation at the moment, to move forward. there were about eight weeks left before the deadline. >> first of all, even though we are a blue state, we are a red state demographically. we have a high rate. similar to florida and texas. in terms of our demographics, we are showing that it can work in a state with big problems. we have over 1.5 million signed up for some form of financial coverage. so it means putting the boots on the ground, getting people enrolled, having the systems in place and getting out there. >> what is inecuesable is some blacking the medicaid and discouraging others to sign up for coverage. leaving people uninsured is they

are leaving money not coming into their state, but leaving families to live sicker, die younger, be an emergency away from financial ruin. snow for other states looking to do? >> they can work with communities groups to be partners in enroll: they can use the tools. even with the federal website, it is up and running, and so they can use that tool to get enrolled. there are several national campaigns to reach out, whether it's latinos or young people or a range of folks. it's a resource they need to take advantage of. there's exciting prospects. finding people, where they are, as they are uninsured. whether it's through the unemployment programs, whether it's through other human services.

we know when people fall on hard times, lose a job, we know the situations where people are uninsured in the life transitions. taking advantage of that, getting people the care that they need. >> anthony wright executive director of health access california. >> in the empire of south california 300,000 will be extended health coverage. experts are concerned that there won't be enough doctors to meet the region's needs. as rob reynolds tells us a californian medical school has come up with a you nooek plan that could end the doctor draut. >> jennifer wanted to be a doctor. a daughter of immigrant, these a first-year medical student. >> one of my goals going into medicine is work with und underserved communities.

>> in the system of for-profit health care, students need to get big loans. >> we are requiring a lot of debt, $40,000, $50,000 per year over four years. close to $200,000 or more. >> han studies at the university of california at riverside, an area of the state facing a severe shortage of doctors. >> because it's the fastest growing area in the state and 40% of the doctors look like me, they are 55 or colder, we'll have a 5,000 deficit. a health care system that rewards keeping people healthy is better than a system which saves lives at the end.

it's the way the system is structured. he's an innovative thinker when it comes to a looming shortage of doctors. it will be severe for family doctors and paediatricians, who are often involved in preventative medicine. they earn less than specialists like cardiologists or orthopaedic surgeons. many choose them in order to pay off med school debts. roifrside is trying an experiment. certain students who choose primary care and agree to practice in the local community will get full scholarships. >> we basically reverse the financial incentives to get the result that our area of california and society in general needs. that han, one of the first to receive the full-ride scholarship says it's a relief to her and her family. >> it lifts a big weight off my shoulders knowing that i won't

have to pay back so many loans after i graduate. it gives me a better idea of the type of doctor i want to be. it's not just calf facing a doctor shortage, according to a report by the american association of medical college, there could be a shortage of decade. >> it will worsen when barack obama's affordable care act goes in effect next year. perhaps in the past they only sought out emergency care. the reason for the shortage is that the country is getting ol older. for the next several decades a

shortage of physicians will be a fact of the life in the u.s. patients will have to rely on second tier health care professionals. like nurse prac tigsers to pick up the slack. the country will need original programs. >> if we are successful 30 years from now, 30 years from now everyone from the united states will steal the ideas. >> and americans will need plenty of dedicated doctors like jennifer hahn. >> rob reynolds reporting. >> ahead in the final thoughts from a team player to a team leader. n.b.a. superstar. he and his dream chasers are next. >> start with one issue education...

gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america al jazeera america. we understand that every news

>> finally this hour we hit the hard court with anthony penny hartway, he retired but never left the game. unusual circumstances led him to be subbed in as a coach in an unusual situation and what happened next is the stuff tore the silver screen. sara hoy has the story of a unique friendship changing the time. >> in memphis basketball is practically religion. in the city's proud but struggling neighbour hoods it's a ticket out. where one local kid dared to dream the impossible. former point guard anthony penny hardaway started here and became

an n.b.a. draft pick and 4-star all star. a decade passed since he hung up his jersey, the home-town hero vowed to use the game he loved to inspire middle schoolers to believe what is possible. he returned to memphis middle school to help a friend battling middle culture. the basket school coach was given 24 hours to live. an staph infection ravaged his body. he awoke in a medically induced coma. his request - hep his lions. >> i was hold on, we are not worried about the team, we are worried about you. he didn't want to hear it. he was i know i'm going to be okay. we are going to go to the state championship. that was that year's team. i thought he was crazy.

i said, "you're not worried about your heath, you are worried about your team." >> protect the ball. let's put on a show man. let's go. >> in the end hardaway decided to honour his friend's request. >> no foul. talk. >> did you think that you would be a middle school coach? >> no, i didn't think i would be a middle cool coach. it happened. i thank god for putting me in the situation. i'm enjoying it. if you don't invest in the community, these will be the kids that have the opportunity to be the robbers, killers, driving drunk, doing something negative that we hate to see on the news. we can do something about it. all they want is love. investing their time. >> i knew he would do it. his heart is so big. people can't imagine how great he is as a person. it bridges tearing to my eyes. i knew

the job was hard. with the help he has made it that much more easier. >> hardaway's new job evolved into more than teaching the game of basketball. when he returned to gang-infested binghamp tonne she saw that little changed. the same courts that drew a stream of players. i wanted to make a difference. there are no father, mums are working hard to make end meet and the neighbourhood is tough. you can get lost into the neighbourhood if you are not careful. i wanted to stay and bring a winning attitude to the school. shoes. >> yes, i mean that was me walking through the same hauls, didn't have a father, mum was gone. from.

>> he put education first, walking the halls. demanding progress reports and preached doing the right thing in and out of the classroom and personally asked gang leaders to stay away >> why do you care? >> the love was given to me in my neighbour hood. my gram was there, the people in the neighbourhood. if i made it, i would never forget where i came from. in my heart god gave me a heart. it's an easy job to do. going back, touching lives. >> merewether record to return to the benches. hardaway stepped in as head coach. the lions gave him a season the year he took over and the second. he never won a championship of his own. >> it was a total team coaching

effort. everyone played a part - coaches, players, family, it was a team effort, and it was gratifying because we took a team that had no confidence when i got there to a team that had a lot of confidence, to see it come to fruition, winning the game. that made it so great. >> still fighting colon cancer. merewether needs bi-weekly chemo, it leaves him drains. he refuses to stay home. >> when i see the boys' faces i jump back into the zone as being the coach. no more pity party. i can leave it alone. why do you do this, you don't have to, you are sick. nothing. >> they have the kids. they have my heart. >> that's the game plan for tonight. we are coming off cj and staying at home on the shooters.

we are not face-guarding the shooters... >> preparation starts long before tip-off. >> relocate. throw it over his head. >> then it's off to hard away's home where the team shares a meal. they'll make mistakes. >> stay on the block. start waving like this. you want to come out. >> starter alex noam axe spent the last three years under hardaway's wing span >> he's like a father-figure. my father is not in my life. if coach penny was around we'd be in a different place. i don't think i would be here in this speech. i'm thanking god he let me be around for how long i around. >> i came a week... >> jenita davis is the assistant

center. >> hardaway spent hours with those games. life. >> penny is a good-hearted person that wants to see our positive. >> how has their basketball team changed this neighbourhood. >> it's moral of the people now that is behind the basketball team. and a lot of the parents that i didn't see, i see a lot of them now because the basketball players are really into it with their heart, you know, and penny - he's the coach, but it's not just about coaching, it's about the world being in the students. that has really made a tremendous difference.

>> today they are competing in the holiday basketball tournament that is the premiere competition for regional teams. [ cheering and applause ] >> the lester lions give up their lead and lose the semifinal taking home third place. the loss will take getting used to but the pride of the lions is intact. >> this is an experience. for everyone that didn't play, don't think about that by the time we get to the stay and state. >> this is the third and time series for hardaway. for the players it gave hope, and hardaway to the grandmother. a third state championship for the departing coach. and a team that wants

a three peat. >> yes, you know they want that. so hoy is here. you know, this is an incredible story and touching. what happens now? coach penny leaving the team, what will happen. coach penny is super tight-lipped. we asked him what happens next. he will not tell us. he guaranteed that he will remain in these kids' lives, he's not going far and not leaving memphis, he has something up his sleeve. >> he does. this is not the end of the season either right now. >> that's correct. this little team that good is going for the three-pete and championships. >> did you feel, though, that penny - look, the guy could do anything, travel the world, hang out in hollywood - is he for real with the kids. >> joey, coach penn ci is the real deal. we spent a week with the man, i

asked him, "we have cameras, you could be doing this for show." he is honouring his grandmother. this is it real for him. >> and the kids have a sense that he's with them for the long haul. it will not be goodbye. >> when you see how they act, they are a family. they wear the same uniforms, you saw the bus. the van, rather. they are together 24/7. they are not leaving each other or he them. >> when other teams see them cam in, it's penny hardaway. they can't fail to notice it. >> we can't fail to notice it. this is a large man, an n.b.a. superstar. he stops and takes a photo with anyone who wants one. >> the team is reported, and they gun for the team. >> they have a target on their back. it makes competition

interesting. >> "america tonight"s sara hoy, we'll find out how they do. that's it for us on "america tonight." if you want to comment on any stories, log on to the website. aljazeera.c aljazeera.com/americatonight. al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. >> new questions are raised about the american intervention. >> from unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful storytelling. >> we are at a tipping point in america's history! >> al jazeera america. there's more to it.

>> > welcome to this al jazeera newshour, with me, david foster. >> coming up, the mass destruction of syrian homes. the regime is deliberate adestroying entire neighbourhoods. the head of bangladesh's opposition party has been sentenced to death. >> presidents in ukraine call the president's promises of