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 welcome to al jazeera america. coming to you live from new york city. secretary of state john kerry met with the leaders of the ukraine's opposition. the governor of new jersey is back in the hot seat now and what did he know and when did he know it? >> i'm getting the call from the coordinator and five hands are up. >> plus life after the super bowl, the treatment that some former football stars are using to battle a career of concuss n

concussio concussions. >> john kerry met with protest leaders from the ukraine today and the secretary of state is saying that the u.s. is supporting the fight for demom ra si and tens of thousands are demonstrating across that country and putting the u.s. and russia on opposing sites. what are the protestors hoping to get from the meetings with kerry? >> well, morgan, one of them putting it very well he was waiting for secretary kerry saying what ukraine is want is the real support, the real support. they need a martial plan.

kerry is making it clear they we support the ukraine. >> they are fighting with the partners to realize their aspirations and that means their futures don't lie with one country alone and not coerzed. >> russia is critical of the remarks and the european and americans support for the opposition in ukraine is rewarding the violence on the streets and ukraine again a tug of war between the east and the west. >> to soing that is fronts and center, an activist was beaten and captured. what is the validity of those

claims? >> morgan, i have a problem with the ear piece. i want to talk about where we stand with the situation, there are tens of thousands protestor on the streets here and they are not going to leave until they get what they want. one of the demands is that the the government step down. they want their president leave the office and call early elections and there are some, at least one deputy in his party of regions suggest he take a moderating stance and he's showing no indication he's going to step down right now. we have right now, a problem here, a standoff at a hospital on the outskirts where an activist was found two days ago after found missing for 8 days and he was found bloody and

beaten. the police were sent to the hospital to arrest for inciting the riots. he arranged a number of demonstrations before disappearing and questioning the account of being abducted and beeten. the sense of how far apart that the government and the opposition still remains here, secretary kerry is meeting with the opposition and members of the european union and trying to find a negotiated end to the problems. >> thank you, jennifer, for being with us. >> president obama is planning to travel to saudia arabia later in the month. he's looking to work on the nuclear deals. they have expressed concerns

over not doing more. >> opponents of thailand's government. this is coming a day ahead of the controversial elections. >> this is exactly the sort of build up to sunday's election that everyone in thailand feared. the people moving here are antigovernment protestor and coming from one of the stages. also, in the area, is a progovernment group and as the protestor are here there is a lot of gun fire and explosions. there is little security in the area. some soldiers unarmed and some police, but little security at the moment. you can see the protestor are moving down this road. this is an area where the security forces and military and police warned about the violence

on election day. there is a lot of fun fire and explosions here. >> meanwhile, new video related to the leak of the nsa documents and showing guardians destroying the computer and top secret documents. the british government wanted the turnover of the papers. they watched the journalists destroy the computers. >> new jersey governor chris christie is in the the hot seat again. it is showing he knew what was going on last september when the lanes leaded to fort lee were closed. >> new jersey governor ignored the reporters questions as he

was leaving a birthday part in new york city friday night just hours before a lawyer for the port authority official betweened the traffic scandal releasing a letter claiming that the governor knew about the access lane closures that caused a commuter night mare in fort lee for days. evidence exists as well tying mr. christie to having knowledge of the lane close yirs during the period when the lanes were closed contrary to what the governor has stated publicly and described it as the christie's administration order. the lane closures were hatched bibi staffers as a political payback. on january 9th, in a two hour news conference, christie repeatedly denying anything about it. >> i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, it in

its planning or execution and i am stunned by the abject stupidity that is shown here. >> jordan johnson is saying he never believed the governor a. >> as always, suspect of the inner circle of the governor not knowing about this. >> he was appointed by the governor and since resigned and exchanged the emails with the chief of staff and time for traffic problems she emailed and he replied got. christie fired kelly. in a statement the governor's office is saying that the letter from the attorney quote confirms that what is governor has said

he not no idea of the closures before they happened. >> the future of the controversial keystone pipeline now in the hands of john kerry and the project cleared a hurdle just yesterday when based on a new study the state departmented is saying that the pipeline is unlikely to have a significant affect on the government. now the findings will go to the president. the project does cross the kay canadian borders. >> now new regular lie yagss on what goes in the texas textbooks. >> a former president of an antiaboshes counselling center, a republican lobbyist, the sunday schoolteacher and founder of a church summer camp, they are deciding what is going into the children's textbooks in texas and purchasing power with the publisherpublishers.

the texas board of education has a history of elevating religion over education. >> i wlooef that the historical practices are not the best. >> in november, the board flagged a biology textbook over the concerns of presenting evolution as fact not theery. the objections are coming from private citizens on a review panel. one argued for teaching creation and another arguing against presenting the climate change. >> holding a set of values and beliefs that are extreme on either spectrum, i mean does that preclude them, absolutely not. >> they kept the evolution

theory in tact. on friday, the board took steps to increase the oversight. the texas freedom network which fights the influence of the religious rights issued a statement saying we would like to see stronger protections the rules as least show the board members they have to clean up the adoption process. allen approves 95% of what is in the textbooks and the remaining 5%? >> what you have in the current books is the opportunity to have a conversation about the strengths and weaknesses on the theory or the ideas. that is healthy. >> while the debate is far from over, those thoo back the changes see the texas board of education taking a step to putting academics over ideology.

>> and coming up, a devastating addiction turned deadly as hair win spreads through the streets of one of america's oldest cities. stay tuned.

>> 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 fourteen agars on vacation are among 14 dead after being caught in the volcanic ash. it spewed out gas and lava for three miles and thousands were evacuated from the area and the vol can know is still spewing. >> u.s. senator from pennsylvania reaching out to federal officials on fighting a drug problem. on friday, he sent a letter to the dea and asking for justice.

we have more on the story. >> authorities in pittsburgh are calling it an epidemic, heroin is being sold on the streets and the high can be deadly. it comes in different names, bud ice, and income tax, last week four people within 24 hours died after overdosing and from there the death toll continued to climb. >> saturday i had four and sunday i had three, i knew i was hitting a major part of an overdose cry i didn't say. >> by monday, 20 similar deaths were reported throughout the region. >> what is this is it is containing fete nol that is potent. that is 70 to a hundred times stronger than morphine.

he says even if warned of the dangers some drug abusers take the chance. >> if people were dying from something common sense tells you to stay away from but with the nature of addiction, that believe that is the good stuff, the strong stuff. >> over a million people live here in the county, the medical examiner is saying in the past couple of years more people died here from drug overdoses than traffic accidents and homicides combined. carmen understanding the danger of heroin, he lost his son to the drug two years ago. >> we were devastated. i couldn't imagine. i didn't know what heroin looked like, you know. >> today he shares the story of a heart breaking loss with others. >> what i hope to accomplish is creating awareness, compassion,

and action. those are three words. >> pittsburgh police are working with the local, federal and county law enforcement to find where the deadly batch of heroin is coming from. some arrests have been made. over six thousand have joined the army, a foundation he created to support others struckelling from addiction before it's too late. california officials turned off the water faucets at 25 million residents. on friday, they have announced that the water project is not delivering the water from the reservoirs. it is affecting irrigation drinking water. it is taking a drastic measure because of the draught

conditions. >> 2013 was the driest year on record for southern california and they are dealing with a draught across that area. yesterday luckily first day in 52 days that they received a bit of rainfall. we have a chance in the pattern. throughout the week and throughout the month earlier in january, we had to deal with alberta clippers tracking to the south and to the east and bringing the moisture to the plains and midwest and northeast and that cold arctic air a major problem, but today if you are stepping out you don't need the coat, well actually you need the coat and leave the gloves at home. it is mild out there. the winds from the south and east and continuing to have that

surge in warm air pushing up from the south and continues to be nice across the northeast and looking at snow free day across east rutherford, new jersey. across the midwest the snow is continuing to fall in illinois and indiana and mixing with a bit of rain and ice. so travel is tricky along i-80 and i-70. the high pressure is tracking to the north and portions of southern michigan and on to canada. i-94 is going to be tricky. and new york throughway the snow and the rain and a little bit of ice. the areas around the chicago area generally speaking 3-6 ins for you and detroit 3-6 inches and up to a foot of snow in the southern areas of michigan. >> coming up, new details in the

bridgegate scandal involving the new jersey governor chris christie. >> we are live at metlife stadium, the site of super bowl xlviii and are there signs of trouble on the horizon? we have the story ahead.

so he may not known exactly what to do, but he c

welcome back to al jazeera america. coming to you live from new york city. john kerry met with protest leaders from the ukraine after two months of violent protests. t the door is still open. >> turning into gun battle right before the elections. calling for the resignation of the country's prime minister. >> new allegations in the chris christie grbridgegate scandal.

>> we are just a day away from the biggest game of the year, and if you don't have tickets yet, you might get a bargain. mark morgan is joining us from metlife stadium and good morning, mark. >> good morning, morgan. super bowl week always seems to devour attention around the country and everybody is paying notice to the super bowl, and it e re-establishes the nfl popularity. just three weeks ago the league struggled to selloff the playoff games and that is affecting the gates here. with the super bowl approaching, the most popular sport is at a cross roads with technology and money. >> you are spending a lot of

money. >> over a hundred dollars before thinking of going there. >> according to the analysts, the ampverage cost for a familyf four is $450. even this past year, ten teams played at home stadiums under 95% capacity through the middle of the season, so how are the nfl franchises continue to attract the fans? >> it starts when they buy the ticket and enhancing the wifi experience been the building. >> the eagles added the wifi and improving the ingame experience with the app. >> the eagles app is a one stop shot from the red zone to access to the live feeds and seeing the replays and fantasy stats, you

have that at your fingertips live in the stadium. >> in a league where the revenues and ticket prices are continuing to rise the fan experience can never be taken for granted. >> the competition for the dollars is strong. you have to find ways to get the people back. >> one that comes back in john of pennsylvania. eagles season tickets in the family since 1971. >> once you fight through the parking and traffic and lines and waiting to get in, just the pure excitement of being at the nfl game makes you want to be there for it. >> even with the improofments making it more desirable to go to the game. >> it is high-tech. >> the toughest competition may be the simple comforts of home. long time season ticketholder moved from the seat at the

stadium to the front row of the home theatre are nine speakers and 110 inch screen. >> it is convenient. i don't have to worry about the temperatures or snowing and watching it in my house in a home theatre. >> rooms like these accessing the newest technology makes it enticing for the fan at home as they are catering to the consumers with the more affordable products. >> when the costs are such that you know that the average middle class fan can't get to the game, they are going to sit at home and watching it in the family room. >> that is precisely the argument still yet to be resolved. so the nfl the efforts are on going and trying to improve the fans's experience at the game. we are looking at peyton manning and there's speculation that he

could retire win or lose tomorrow night. we are going to talk about that coming up. >> we are going to watch for that. thank you, mark. >> the score board has a lot of attention and there are parts of the sport, the nfl is scrutinized for the brain damage that many of the e-players are facing long after leaving the field. we are looking at the therapy that the football stars are trying. >> in a room july of giants and tough guys, it is his voice that commands the attention. willie was a safety. he now trains current players for the nfl. he delivered hundreds of hits throughout the career. >> i hit somebody and my eyes went crossed and looked for the sidelines and i see five hands

up. one coordinate and five hands are up. >> now years later he fears what the hits has on his future. >> my wife has to remind me not to forget the keys, wait a minute, is this, you know, anything to do with concussions. >> that doubt led him to look into other treatments, hyperbaric oxygen treatment. the therapy can speed up the healing process with highly pressu pressureized oxygen. studies on whether the therapy works is inclusive. many of the play herbs are trying it. some sports players have their own oxygen chambers. >> they are the older players that have had the trauma years

ago and their brains are now deteriorating. >> the treatments are 60-90 minutes long. the oxygen is delivered to a the entire body at a rate of five times greater than you get outside in the open air. >> the healing is increased and get them back functioning a third faster. >> i have more air and feeling energy. >> energy that comes at a cost. not covered by the insurance. they cost nearly $10,000. and even if it were covered. the insurance with the nfl ran out. he's not having side effects yet from the bell ringers -- >> you hope it is not going to come to that point but you have to prepare yourself. >> measures that protect them down the road.

>> much more on that story coming up next on techno. thanks for watching al jazeera america. we have a live picture of metlife stadium. . hello and welcome. i'm phil torres, we'll talk about innovations that will change laughs. we'll look at hardware. this is a show about science by scin histories. kyle hill is an engineer, and he's investigating head-to-head combat and cutting edge technology that can help to detect a concussion before it's too late.