than show biz. >> mr. mel brook, it is a pleasure having you on the show. >> it was a great experience. the only disapointment is that what i get paid to do it. otherwise it was fun. >> good evening everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. morning from the u.s. to russia not to intervene in ukraine. still in hiding, reports that the former president is under russian protection and may speak. day of action, sending a message to free al jazeera staffers held 61 days for doing their job. and the fine print, plans for

new labels on food and the new information you will get. we begin tonight with ukraine and dramatic developments in the eastern region of cry mea. governments seized russian buildings. and also a warning not to intervene in ukraine and the former president is hiding in russia. we will have more on today's developments in kiev. but first, lawrence lee is in crimea. >> there are attempts to turn the capital into a source of kiev but the reverse. the parliament building in the hands of heavily armed men protecting it from what they see as undemocratic forces.

their support is not so many but eager to tell you they would like nothing more than russian tanks on the streets to protect them. >> american army was supported in different countries. today we support russian army because everyone of us has relatives in russia. >> the police line staffed by just a handful of uncertain looking men didn't look very impressive. the small group proves just how unimpressive it was. the point being that they wanted to tell the armed group in charge of parliament that they were with them and that they were in control. >> so it is pretty obvious who is in charge here. the police line simply melted away as these people obviously said they wanted to hold the protest right in front of the building which is under control of this apparently armed militia. but the moment, there is nobody to stop them doing more or less what they feel like.

daily protesters were outside the administrative building. today surprise guests hard line russian nationalist and member of the russian parliaments. in he went. the talks with the russian mayor in his supposedly ukranian city. >> this woman could barely disguise her fury at the takeover of her country. those people from the west we educated them, she said. they could barely read before we taught them. these people genuinely think that they are now being governed by a bunch of facists sympathizing peasants. the special forces disbanded after shootings of protesters in kiev walk around with faces on display. and behind all this is the sure knowledge that whatever aspirations the new government in kiev might have, the russians were in crimea a long time ago. it's becoming pretty obvious now that ukraine is in the middle of a diplomatic proxy

war between the western russia. as of right now, you have a government in kiev, which harbors aspirations to one day perhaps join the european union. if that happens it would be a european country with a russian fleet on the southern edge. >> and so did this local pro russian politician think the naval forces would ever leave them? >> it is impossible, he said. and he is almost certainly right. so is crimea on the brink of war or liberation? it is hard to know but the russian bloc aren't listening a word the leaders in kiev have to say. lawrence lee, al jazeera, crimea. >> and what happens in crimea could be critical for ukraine and russia. >> good evening, john. this is the region we are talking about. you can see ukraine bordering the black sea. and there's this giant neighbor russia to the north and to the east. here is the russian capital moscow. all the way up here is kiev. we have been hearing so much

about in the news lately. and here now is where the story has shifted to today. this is the crimea peninsula with the port right there on the southern tip. we have a bit of history for you. crimea was concurred by the russians when this woman, catherine the great was in charge of their army. crimea became part of the ukraine back in 15954 when the then soviet leader transferred jurisdiction for it from moscow down to kiev. after the collapse of the soviet union in 1991 is when the iron curtain came down. crimea ended up in the newly independent ukraine. in 1996 when they drew up the constitution they recognized crimea as an autonomous republic. now as we heard in lawrence lee's report, russia still has a port in ukraine, sebastopol and it accounts for 60% of the population. many of them have russian

citizenship even today and about 60% of them speak russian. ukranians and tartars are the other two main groups you have in the crimea peninsula. finally you may have heard of crimea when you were in school. why? this woman, florence nightin gail became known as the lady with the lamp was wounded in the crimean war when britain, france and turkey fought the russians. that war also saw one of history's biggest blunders ever on the battlefield. this is the charge of the light brigade and at the end of world war ii back in 1945, president roosevelt here and winston churchill british prime minister and soviet leader stalin got together to divide up europe. in doing so, they unwittingly lay the groundwork for what would become the cold war. and that happened in the crimean resort. the famous photograph is in

all school books, that is crimea. so certainly the hisly the of this place has been reflected in the upheaval we have been reporting for the past couple of days. thank you very much. it continues now. russia is moving forward with military exercises, not far from ukraine's border. the drills are schedule again tomorrow. secretary of state john kerry talked with his russian counter part today and delivered a warning. >> we believe that everybody now needs to step back and avoid any kind of provocations. >> john kerry said the russian foreign minister agreed to respect the borders of ukraine. kerry said the u.s. supports the new interim government and elected today by the ukranian parliament. >> nick shiffrin has more on that story from kiev. here is a huge step forward for the future of this country, were there is a new parliament as you said and new government and new hope for the future. but still the focus is here on

independence square. the center of what they call the third revolution here in ukraine. let me show you a little bit about what is going on here. the security is still here. silt early morning friday. but you can still hear that these barriers are still up. and there is a guard tower right there, that is always manned. and part of the reason for that is that the people here all of the thousands who have been here for so many months are still very much the inspiration for what is going on inside the parliament. and everybody inside the parliament all of those politicians are thankful for all the sacrifices that the people here have made to get them there. >> in ukraine's parliament the photo gallery doesn't feature members of the government. it honors people who have died fighting the government. more than 100 were killed in crash clashes with police. the new government is trying to prove sacrifices weren't in vain. >> obviously we are having some difficulty with that

piece. we will get back to it later. and later this hour, more on what the oadministration is saying about the events unfolding in ukraine. today's important day for al jazeera and the journalists around the world. it is a global day of action for our al jazeera colleagues imprisoned in egypt. demonstrations around the world drawing attention to those jailed journalists. patty culhane reports. >> making a statement with their silence. the sol darity first on display in the al jazeera english newsroom in doha swept across the globe. the message clear and consistent from the streets of australia, indonesia and balloons released in england. and flying high in brazil. in every language, one message. >> journalism is not a crime. a nobel peace prize winner

>> we are asking for the pre-dom of the four. a poet joined in mexico. braving the rain in paris. >> journalism is not a crime. >> and in toronto, all calling for freedom for al jazeera's imprisoned journalists. >> we want to call on the egyptian government to release them as well as on the canadian government to call for their release. publicly and strongly and unequivocally to get them free. >> none of the al jazeera employ ice are actually americans. but that didn't stop the white house press secretary for calling for their immediate release. >> we are closely watching the trial. we understand that the defendants pleaded not guilty and the trial was adjourned until march 5th. >> it is impossible to see how they can do that, how any journalist can do that and face the questionable charges

are detained and on trial. >> it is going on in the country particular live in this modern world. >> with petitions delivered to embassies across the globe, simple protests to turkey, to gaza. washington, to beirut. and flashed across the screens in new york's times square. this was a day to send a message in one voice to egyptian officials. you can put these journalists in a cage. you can put them on trial. but they will not stand alone. the world is watching. patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >> congressman johnson joins us from capitol hill. thank you for your support and thank you for joining us this evening. can you tell us why you decided to speak out? >> well, i read the letter that was smuggled out of the egyptian prison. it was published in one of the

news papers and after reading it something touched my heart about it and i thought that there was something that i needed to do. so, i immediately drafted a letter, circulated that letter to my colleagues. that signed on. and we sent that letter to the state department asking that the state department take some action to free these al jazeera journalists who have been wrongfully imprisoned. i just talked to 60 minutes correspondent bob simon and he told me that what needs to happen is that president obama needs to make a call to the egyptian government and push for this. >> i think we need calls going out to the egyptian authorities from the highest

levels of the united states government to do what must be done and that is to free these journalists. after all the only thing they were doing was their job. which is to report with some degree of accuracy, vents on the ground. that's what they were doing. and i think they should be released immediately. >> -- i'm hopeful that someone in thed a -- administration -- i know jake carney has already spoken out on it. but i'm hopeful that others are working behind the scenes in a quiet way to free these journalists. >> this doesn't just impact the journalists, it also could have and does have an impact on egyptian citizens. what impact do you think it is having? >> well, i think it has a chilling effect on the quest for democracy that we have seen demonstrated by the egyptian people over the last few years with the unrest.

the awakening of the people and replacing the authoritarian government with a new government, a new constitution. elections. and that signifies that the people thirst for basic freedom and democracy over in egypt. and so, when the military came in and overthrew the elected government, some may agree or disagree with whether or not that was a proper step. but regardless, it has happened and so we have to deal with the situation as it is in egypt. but we cannot stand for any government that we support treating journalists in the

way that these al jazeera journalists have been treated. it is unacceptable. >> congressman johnson, thanks again for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> it is not just the congressman showing support for the detained journalists. columbia journalism school wrote a letter for immediate release of the journalists. they have universally recognized standards and that journalism is not terrorism. uc berkeley in california also showed their support. now i talked to, as i said, with cbs correspondent bob simon. he was kidnapped in iraq in 1991 and imprisoned for 4 deer days. he believes the only way to get them released is if president obama puts more pressure on the egyptian government. >> i think if he called and said let them out, would it have an influence. the americans say they have been in contact and they have

called for the release of the journalists but short of that happening, i don't think it means very much. you can watch the full interview tonight at 11 eastern 8 pacific. >> counting calories. the government's new plan to make nutrition labels years to read. homes for the homeless and a sense of community too. also the frozen zoo. san diego's plan to save endangered species. >>

moyer than 1,000 california homes are being evacuated because of potential mudslides. properties at risk are in the foothills near los angeles. area was scorched by the colby fire in january. residents are sand bagging their property to try to protect their homes. here is more on the mudslide risk. >> that's right, john. we have seen one to two inches of rain from a previous storm yesterday. now the next storm is making its way. in five to six hours the rain is going to start again in california. let's actually break this down. we have a lot of warnings in effect right now. a lot of flood warnings. but we have winter storm warnings in effect right here. now glendora is the city that

is going to be evacuated and located right here. it is at the foot of the san gabriel mountains. i want to show you what it looks like on google earth. what is going to happen is in this area just to the north of glendora, that is where we saw a lot of wildfires previously. of course when it rains there is nothing to hold that dirt down. that is why we are expecting to see a lot of landslides, mudslides in this area here. now, we are expected to see in terms of rain, look at this, right here where you see the yellows, six to eight inches of rain. now, what you see this area of purple and blue, that is where we expect to see 20 to 24-inches of know. that is going to be in the higher elevations of the san gabriel mountains. we are going to be watching this area carefully all day tomorrow. but, as you can see, most of the region is going to be seeing well above average rain and well above average snow. >> all right, kevin. thank you. >> rules are changing for california drivers. it is now legal to read a map on a cell phone while driving.

a state appeals court ruled the court reversed the case of a fresno man who got a ticket in 2012 for glancing at a map on his phone. talking on the phone while driving is still outlawed in the state. choosing healthier food at the grocery store may become a little bit easier. nutrition labels on packaged foods are about to get a makeover for the first time in 20 years. first lady michele obama and head of the fda announced changes focusing on calories and sugar. lisa stark has that story. >> according to the food and drug administration it is time to update the nutrition labels that are found on thousands of items in the grocery store. the biggest proposed change deals with calorie counts. here is the current label, where the calorie count is tough to read. but on the new one, there is no missing how many calories you are eating. another big change, the label would influence the amount of shoeingars added to the product. added shoeingars make up 16%

of the calories we consume and considered a big contributor to the obestity epidemic. it was rolled out at the white house with the first lady leading the charge. our guiding principal here is simple. that you as a parent and consumer should be able to walk into a grocery store, take an item off the shelf and tell whether it is good for your family. >> some shoppers outside a grocery store in washington said they welcomed the change. >> i think that any time we try to get people to know what they are eating and look at what they are eating it is a good thing. does it work? not so sure. >> anything that is increasing transparency in food labeling is a good thing. and it is something that is lacking in our country. i'm happy to see it happen. >> another difference with the new label is a change in serving size to reflect how we eat these days. right now, for example, this muffin is considered two serving sizes. come on. you really going to eat just half? under the new labeling, this

would be one serving size. meaning a serving size is 400 calories, not 200. a food advocacy group applauded the move. >> i think most of the changes are better. more accurate serving sizes, who can be against that. getting sugar on the label. added sugars is very important. but, don't think they went far enough in a couple of regards. >> michael jacobson said he would like the fda to lower the recommended salt consumption and add information on the daily aamount for added sugars. jacobson expects a lot of push back from the industry especially putling added sugars on the label. in a statement grocery manufacturers of america stated it is critical that any changes are based on current and reliable science. equally ensuring any changes serve to inform and not confuse consumers. new nutrition labels won't be showing up on store shelves any time soon. there is a 90 day comment period. once the fda makes its final

decision. food companies will have two years to update their labels. lisa stark al jazeera, washington. a passionate show of support from the president for a white house led program called my brother's keeper. it brings businesses together to help young black and hispanic young boys in school. minority males have the highest drop out rate in america. >> when i was their age i was a lot like them. i didn't have a dad in the house. and i was angry about it though i didn't realize it at the time i made bad choices. i got high without thinking about the harm it could do. >> hall of fame nba player magic johnson is one of the business people pledging to help with that initiative. a senior adviser explained to america how the new my brother's keeper program will work. >> it is primarily directed to

black and latino men. those are the who are most at risk. if you look at the statistics, those are the ones who are entering into schools not really prepared through early childhood programs to get them ready for school. those are the ones that are lagging behind in learning to read by third grade. evidence shows if you haven't learned to lead by third grade the chances of finishing high school on time are less and even lesser if you are poor. we know that disproportionately black and latino men are expelled from school or suspended from school and that often leads to juvenile delinquency system and that leads right to the adults criminal justice system. we need to break the cycle and get these young people back in school where they are learning, thriving and aspiring to be productive citizens. >> and you can watch the full interview tonight on america tonight. at 9:00 eastern 6 pacific time. spending time with a

similar group which has already had success helping young men in chicago. >> for 19-year-old karan turner, afterschool boxing helps relieve tension and anger. >> i got rid of it but it sometimes seeps in sometimes. when i put on the gloves i start practicing punching at something and get it out. >> your back is straight and you don't put a slight bend e bend in your knees. >> for the last two years he has taken part in activities like boxing. in becoming a man, or bam. >> marshal arts is a great opportunity to teach people discipline, team work, commitment you didn't have time or make time squeam i didn't have time. >> they work with students to

help reduce violence and anti-social behavior. a recent study revealed that a large portion of homicides involving chicago youth why a result of rash behavior junior. add guns to the equations and social disagreements ended in overreactions. >> it is using group exercises and role playing to teach emotion control and emotional self-regulation. >> we see what vial sense like all over the world. at the root it is about people making the decision that their personal problem brief or situation is more important than another person's right to breathe. >> and it appears to be working. according to a study by the university of chicago's crime lab. bam participation reduced arrests by 44% compared to students not in the program. >> in the following year we saw they had improved school

engagement. and less likely to end up in schools part of the juvenile justice system. we saw a number of beneficial outcomes. it is an initiative that caught the attention of washington. >> these are all ex acceptingal young men. i couldn't be prouder of them. last year a group of assistants sat in a counseling circumstancele with president obama. he is meeting with the president once again this year. >> it was historical, life changing and made you want to do better. >> five, six. >> wanting to do better say counselors is what brought these boys to the program. teaching them how to cope could help them graduate into manhood. al jazeera, chicago. in other news, attorney general eric holder spent part of the day at the hospital. the 63-year-old experienced faint and shortness of breath. holder was treated for elevated heart rate and sent home to rest. the chief lawyer is known for skipping the elevator and taking the stairs to the fifth

floor office. dissension in the ranks. the president of the biggest teacher's union criticizes the new teaching standards. plus the ethics of the oscar. how personal controversy affects the chances of winning an academy award. >> .

>> welcome back. al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. a lot to cover this half hour. including step backs. john kerry says everyone needs to avoid a battle over ukraine. and common core concerns. the president of the biggest teacher union says standards need to be fixed. also tent city solution. one city is getting the homeless out of tents and into homes. but first, a look at the headlines. signs of support from around the world in a day of action for al jazeera journalists in egypt. they have been in prison for

61 days. russian news agencies say ukraine's ousted president will hold a news conference tomorrow. in a statement today, he said he asked russia to protect him from extremists in his country. ukranian parliament is moving ahead. law makers in kiev have appointed a new prime minister today. so that ukraine can receive foreign aid. the u.s. says it supports the new government in kiev and warnings russia not to interfere. mike has more on what the administration officials are say. john, the level of concern rhetoric and alarm over the last 24 to 48 hours in washington has been kicked up a notch taken to another level. the president, the secretary of state john kerry, their spokespeople have been saying all along for the last several days, this is not a cold war redo. they are trying to deemphasize the rivalry the geo political

rivalry between russia and the united states. but, after events that you have already described earlier in the show the unrest in crimea between ethnic russians and in particular, russian military exercises just outside ukraine's border within russian territory. make no mistake, that was interpreted as the threat. and all across washington we heard officials from the administration warn that ukranian territorial integrity and sovereignty must not be violated. now earlier this morning. secretary kerry did have a conversation with his counter part and later in a meeting with the german foreign minister he described that conversation. >> we believe that everybody now needs to step back and avoid any kind of provocations. and we want to see in the next days ahead, obviously that the

choices russia makes conform to this affirmation that we received today. >> now, the administration has pointed out that over the course of this crisis over the last several months vice president biden spoke nine times with the ukranian president now ousted ukranian president yanokovich today however the white house says yanokovich is out of the picture. >> mr. yanokovich created a void shortly after signing an agreement in an orderly fashion packing up his stuff and disappearing. and it is hard to claim you are leading a country when you abdicate your responsibilities and disappear. >> the white house also emphasizing the economic stability that needs to come to ukraine. they are letting the imf take the lead. the white house does not rule out u.s. economic help in the form of loan guarantees. so does the u.s. ukraine

elections help calm things down any. >> they are looking forward to that a great deal. they are stressing the technical government as they term it can take care of the nuts and bolts of governing until the may 25th elections. >> mike, thank you. >> and there is a report that british intelligence agents have been intercepting images from web cam chats all over the world. the program is code named optic nerve and the people whose photos were checked were not suspected of any wrongdoing. some pictures were x-rated. nearly 2 million yahoo users were targeted in 2008 alone. yahoo says it did not know and does not condone that surveillance. the nation's largest teachers union is pulling back its support from controversial common core academic standards. the program is supposed to improve english and math instruction in public schools. 45 states and the district of columbia have adopted the program so far.

but the head of the national education association says common core needs a major course correction. we are joined now this evening by den frist st. louis. welcome. >> it is good to be here. >> what is the problem? >> number one. for clarification we support the standards. educators believe in the prom nitz state standards. they are well written and will develop critical thinking and problem solving skills our children need for the future. but we believe they are so important that no matter where you live you ought to have the same solid foundation. but the sad thing is in too many places the implementation of those standards has been botched. and that is what we are saying needs a course correction. >> this sort of process, explain what that moons. >> the stades have been written and adopted by 45 states. they are well written. they are less in numbers.

far more comprehensive in terms of depth of instruction. >> it took six years to develop them. now they are being implemented in districts across the nation. and frankly, number one. educators in two-thirds of our members say they weren't even asked about how best to implement it. we are trusting them to implement the important standards and no one even asking for their advice. number two, they need time they need timele to communicate with parents. they need time to find, develop good teaching and learning materials that are aligned with those standards. number three, they want time to collaborate with their professional colleagues. who is responsible for that? who needs to get that done? >> it is a shared responsibility. districts and states must provide the necessary time the federal government can provide a time so that we don't have to use the old test that are not aligned with the new standards. we need to make sure that we do it right. they are too important to

america's students not to take the time to do it right. do these common core standards define what teachers teach in the classroom? >> they do very much. they define clearly by grade level exactly what is expected to be taught. it took six years to develop these standards. and the idea that in one year or six months we can suddenly magically implement those all across this country in 14,000 school districts is crazy. >> do you feel that these regulated topics restrict critical thinking in school? >> no, they expand critical thinking. when you look at the actual verbs in the standards they say analyze, compare, describe, you can't answer those kinds of questions in a bubble multiple choice test. it ricer much deeper thinking. it will take advantage of the creativity of teachers. it is exciting to watch teachers develop good lessons that really are aligned with the common core standards. this is a game changer for american education.

the idea that no matter where you live instead of having 50 different sets of stades that we define for all kids a solid foundation. so that whether they go to college or career, their future is far more bright because the adults in the system took the time to make sure we implement those. >> in your opinion, if the states and the school districts got their act together across the country and delivered the resources and the times to do this, it would work? >> absolutely. in the places where the implementation has been done well, where there is collaboration where they have been giving good subject specific grade specific in service on the common core standards. not only do they support the standards, the support grows. we know it can be done well. what we need to do is all across this country and give them the time to make sure they can do it right. >> dennis, it is good you on the program. thank you. >> thank you. >> well kentucky must now

recognize same-sex marriages performed out of it is. he says kentucky's ban against gay marriages violates the u.s. constitution. attorney general says it has 30 days to decide to appeal the decision. on sunday the movie industry honors the best of the best. but controversy can ruin an artist's chance of winning an acadia academy award. >> sexual scandal and political intrigue sounds like the making of a great hollywood screenplay when in fact it is real life. if winning oscar gold is the final scene. it is being written by voting members of the film academy who must decide if they can draw a distinction between personal controversy and artistic achievement. >> including best original screenplay. allen abused his adopted

daughter dylan faro calls into question whether he stands any chance of winning. >> woody allen is a reclusive person. the fact that he is writing about his view of the controversy is very telling. that to me and a lot of people suggests that it may well have an impact on oscar balloting. >> rafael iglesias said it shouldn't. >>ing there nothing incombat able with someone being a great actor writer great director and being a terrible human being. >> iglesias speaks from personal experience. as a child he was molested by a family friend. yet when director roman polanski convicted in 1977 by an american court of raping a 13-year-old girl asked him to write the screenplay for his 1994 film death in the maden, iglesias didn't hesitate. >> actors and writers, producers, directors are not cops and jurors. that is not my role. the only concern is the

quality and what the work was saying. >> polanski went on to win an oscar for the pianist. but it is not only personal scandals that come into play. outspoken political views that run askew in hollywood have affected artists since the golden era of silent films. >> consider charlie chaplin. his politics leaned far to the left, too far for many. despite being considered one of the most important filmmakers and artists of all time, chaplin never won an oscar during the height of his career. >> people were black lifted for political views. they had to write under pen names. had to leave the country if they were charlie chaplain. they paid a huge price. while he received an honor for lifetime achievement, it came well into the twilight of his career. >> i could have been a con tender. >> iconic director kazan took

the oscar for on the waterfront even after he named names during the anti-communist red scare in the 1950s. but when it came to honor his life's work it wasn't without protest. >> when he won his honorary oscar a number of people in the audience refused to stand when he came out on stage. but if you look at the close recent history of the a cad may awards, most oscar voters have been able to set aside whatever concerns they have about a person's personal behavior and recognize the work. >> and that holds true. at least for academy member and filmmaker paul hertzberg. >> no other factors are involved in my decision-making process other than the body of work and work they did. now we just have to wait until sunday to find out if the other 5999 academy voters feel the same way. jennifer london, al jazeera, hollywood. coming up next, a real life jurassic park where scientists are hoping to bring

extinct animals back to life again. >> plus. >> using microhousing to get the homeless off the streets. this is a teeny little home but it has a bed, bathroom, roof and door. a lot better than a tent in a church parking lot or in the woods where a lot of these folks have been living. i'll introduce you to some of the people who live in this village and how it all works. >>

>> just about the same temperatures as last night. minneapolis is at minus 6. factor in the windchill. we are still extremely cold in the area. we have warnings and watches out. we are looking at windchill where you see these blue. that is windchill advisories in effect. what we are seeing now compared to last night, we are seeing a lot of the cold temperatures begin to make their way more towards east. so now, into parts of new england, pennsylvania. you are also dealing with the cold temperatures. also, where you see this orange, that is a windchill warning that is in effect for that area. let's go towards tomorrow morning. this is what we expect to see in terms of temperatures here. this is nothing like what we saw across the central and parts of the united states. but albany is going to be waking up at 2 degrees degrees here in new york. we will wake up at 11-degrees.

we will see an improvement as we go towards the end of the week. that is a look at your national weather. news with john is up next. >>

homes for the homeless. a tiny village with each home measuring less than 150 square feet. our allen lossler joins us from olympia washington to tell us how it happened. >> well john it auld happened because of a shared vision, a lot of fund raising and a lot of very hard work. the people who have set this experiment up don't know exactly how it will turn out but do know that 30 people who need help are getting it in the form of supportive community and in the form of housing, even if those houses are just 144 square feet. >> drugs drove breaka into homelessness. >> methamphetamine. >> sharon calls herself a lifelong nomad who hasn't unpacked in 20 years. >> it is kind of messy, but

i'm just not that organized. >> john lost his job as a cook and unemployment payments finally ran out. i one thing sort of snowballed into another. what they share now is they used to be homeless. the village has tiny separate housing units which share a community center and kitchen. residents pay rent. 30% of their income, if they have an income. >> so yeah, you can't beat this with a stick. the village grew out of a homeless protest in olympia the washington capital. they moved from church to church until supporters formed a nonprofit organization, raised 3 million from state, federal and private sources and built this place on land donated by the county. construction costs per unit about 19,000. add in site preparation and the community building and the finished units cost 88,000 each. >> this is perfect for me right now. i'm very lucky. >> less dents can use the kitchen and have their own

refrigerator space. there are showers. secure lockers and mail service. there is a weekly meeting and dinner, attendance required. many residents have mental health issues or like rebecca are fighting addiction. >> you can't go into a job high. you can't go into a job dirty. here we get the opportunity to clean ourselves up and go in and look presentable. >> with help from a full time program manager and part time social worker, the residents govern themselves. everybody here has passed a background check and has to do their share of chores. since the village opened in december, they have heard from homeless advocates and community leaders all over the country. won wondering if something similar can benefit their communities. but organizers say they never intended to design a model to address the broader issue of homeless next in america. all of this was more personal. >> we shared a house with 30 people who we knew.

>> it amazing the compassion of some of the folks that have made this happen. >> 30 people who now have a solid roof over their heads, a stable community, even their own basketball hoop. >> anybody who wants to replicate this on a bigger scale to help more people is going to face some challenges. remember there was a 3 million price tag here. they also figure it is going to cost about 220,000 a year just to run this place. it is a long-term serious community commitment for anybody who wants to make the village something it can work in their community around the country. >> how does it compare to other housing for the homeless in costs. >> well put it right in the middle. a lot more expensive than a cot in a church shelter downtown. less expensive than low income housing which can be 180 to 200,000 a unit. there is another expense part of this, joe, john. the people who organized this

say these people are safe, they are warm. they have a place where they can get through drug and alcohol addiction, maybe they don't end up in jail. maybe they don't end up in the emergency room. maybe they don't end up in other counseling sessions. maybe ultimately a program like this can save society some money. >> all right. allen in olympia washington thanks very much. it is one of the best kept secrets at the san diego zoo. a frozen lab protecting thousands of endangers species. this is the frozen zoo. the cells are in racks in towers in an inventory system here. and they are in the vapor of liquid nitrogen. 250-degrees below zero. you can look down now because we have clarified it and see the towers that hold the cells of the frozen zoo. they are cells of over 10,000 individual animals.

>> this isn't exactly your traditional zoo. the definition of zoo has changed with this type of technique? >> zoos have greatly expanded they are now continuesvation organizations. the zoos of the future will have activities like preserving these kinds of samples as a core part of their mission. >> the cells of many endangered animals like the giant panda and western lowland gorilla are also kept at the frozen zoo. but nothing is closer to extinction than the northern white rhino. >> they are mazing. as big as they are, i think they are more like ballerinas than anything else. and they are exquisite products of nature. what amazing animals a rye no says. there may be seven white rye yos left but how many reproductive individuals. there are four and they are all highly related. populations cannot survive as well as ones with higher

genetic diversity. that is where genetic rescue can come in. >> how did you find out about this? >> i have always recognized that the public isn't quite aware of all the continuesvation research that goes on behind the walls at zoos. a lot of people see an animal in a cage and that's it. obviously there is so much more. and san diego folks do a great job. >> it is exciting stuff but how is this supposed to work? it is a hypothetical. there only two rhinos left. but they are inbred. you can take one that is more genetic distinct and reproduced them. >> today? >> soon. they are working on it. down the road. >> yeah. >> they do think technology will get there. they just hope it gets there in time to save the species. >> this is jurassic park like, yes? >> yes. that is one of the other things we talked about, the idea of deextinction. if something goes extinct, can

we bring it back and should we bring it back? >> unfortunately i don't know if we will bring things like dinosaurs. d.n.a. degreeds over time but maybe a wooly mammoth. >> also on the show you talk about tornadoes as well? >> yes. a fluid dynamasis. i thought she had way too much fun. it was amazing stuff and talking about the technology that will keep us safer against a giant tornado coming your way. phil torres, thank you very much. and you can watch the latest episode of techknow. coming up tonight on al jazeera at 11:00 eastern investigating assaults on campus. dozens of alleged victims claim they are being silenced. plus a global day of action to urge release of our colleagues in prison in egypt. i'll talk with bob simon of 60

minutes who was kidnapped in iraq in 1991. those stories and more 11:00 eastern 8:00 pacific time instead of tonight's freeze frame, more on the plight of our three colleagues detained in egypt. these are just a few of the countless images, the demonstrations and support from around the globe. ♪ ♪

welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are tonight's top stories. in ukraine, a new interim government and new prime minister. but on crimean peninsula

pro-russian separatists are fighting with you is porters of that new government. armed men seized control of government buildings. secretary kerry warnings russia against any provocations. kerry assured the maneuvers had nothing to do with ukraine. a worldwide day of action for our imprisoned colleagues in egypt. silent pro-est from around the globe drawing attention to the journalists that have been detained for 61 days. their trial resumes on wednesday. kentucky must now recognize same-sex marriages. a federal judge issued the decision following a ruling earlier this month. the state has 30 days to decide whether to appeal that ruling. n. nutrition labels on packages of food are getting a makeover. first update in 20 years. calorie counts and serving sizes will be more noticeable.

those are the headlines. i'm john seigenthaler. see you back here at 11:00 and 8:00 pacific. remember you can get the latest news on al jazeera,.com. >> on america tonight. tensions build. signs of a russian hand at work amid clashes within ukraine's borders. >> we will do everything and use all legal means to stabilize the situation. also tonight, saving kids from the street. inspired by young black men in chicago, the president offers a new initiative. >> and the point was i could see myself in these young men. and by almost every measure, the group that is facing some of the most