conversation continues on our website, aljazeera.com or on facebook ondz google+ pages and find us at ajconsiderthis. we will see you next time. and and find us at ajconsiderthis. we will see you next time. good evening. this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. >> campus investigation, complaints about sexual assaults and questions about how they were handled at dozens of college and universities. >> show of force - unrest in ukraine, violence spreading, sanctions building. now a new warning from moscow. undersuspicion - the infamous murder and arrest of sinn fein gerry adams.

we take a look at the cold case. drug of choice - is rob ford cooked. we talk to a pioneering expert and it may change the way you look at addiction. we begin with the reality of thousands of universities in colleges and universities across america. stats are sobering - showing many will be the victim of a sexual attack. have been hearing more about the cases and at the same time more questions directed at school officials over how they are dealing with the cases. now the federal government is stepping in with a list of 55 under investigation. courtney kealy reports. >> reporter: the decision to release the list is unprecedented. until now the department of education would only confirm an investigation when it was asked. that left students unaware that their schools were under scrutiny under their handling of

complaints about sex crimes. among the 5 schools named are ivy -- 55 schools named are harvard, dartmouth and princeton. small colleges, and catholic universities and large schools like ohio state and the university of michigan at ann arbor. >> appearing on the list means that the schools are facing an investigation, not that laws have been broken. it came two days after greater transparentsy has been promised. >> no man has a right ever to raise his hand to a woman. it is assault if they do. >> the white house released a series of public service announcements as well. >> we have a big problem, we need your hech. >> it's called sexual assault. it has to stop. >> we have to stop it. >> if she doesn't consent, or if she can't consent. it's rape.

it's assault. >> it's a crime, it's wrong. >> according to recent research cited by the white house one in five female college students is assaulted. president obama set up the white house task force to protect students from sexual assault earlier this year. the mandate is to strengthen enforcement efforts on the federal level and on campus. to provide tools to combat sexual violence. >> and joining us to talk about this is daniel carcillo, a cofounder of end rape on campus and a junior at berkeley university. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> tell us about your complaint against berkeley university. >> sure. so we filed a couple of federal complaints against u.c. berkeley for mishandling sexual assault. the recent was 31 students, including myself.

>> tell me why you did it? >> i personally was on the complaint because i was sexually assaulted back in february 2012. and my dealings with the university were really horrific and traumatic. essentially they didn't do much of anything about the assault, after i wept and reported with three other women the same assailant. basically they let him get off, putting him on disciplinary probation and allowing him to graduate a semester early. when we raised concerns about the involvement in the student organization. they told us to keep him close in case he does it again, he'll have a community to support him in prosecuting it. i thought it was wrong. >> were there others at berkeley who had similar situations? >> yes. a lot of the friend i made at berkeley, if they are not survivors by the time they arrived here. most are by the time they leave.

it's troubling to me. many students on the complaint had experiences where they go to the residents hall - they go to the resident hall staff and are not believed or go to the medical center and are not told about medical treatment available. it's a pervasive problem touching every aspect of our campus. >> can you explain - i guess the university has to answer for this - but why is that happening? >> so, i mean, there are a lot of reasons. most - the biggest reason, i think, is that universities are trying to protect their reputation as being safe places for parents to send their children. having the idea that rape and sexual assault are pervasive on college campuses are frightening, essentially causing parents to want to send their children elsewhere. this is a national problem, and not isolated to any one campus. you are more likely to be

sexually assaulted if you attend college than if you don't. >> there are two systems here, one that is run by the criminal justice system, and the system run by the university. did those two sides work together or not? >> it depends, you can go to the university and try to have campus adjudication process, so that your assailant can be removed from the school. in terms of berkeley i know students that have gone through the polices process and it was going through the police process that forced berkeley to do something. if they haven't gone through the police process, nothing would have happened. at the same time only 3% of sexual assaults result in a conviction. going to the police doesn't necessarily mean that you will get justice. it could in fact be a more traumatic experience to have your credibility put on trial. the systems do work together

occasionally, but not always. the universities don't always want to do that. >> good to have you on the programme. thank you for sharing your story. >> thank you. >> and a startling report from the pentagon on sexual assault in the u.s. military. reports of abuse spiked 50% last year. which is about 1600 more cases than in 2012. rosalind jordan has that story from washington. >> the pentagon announced that more than 5,000 people filed a sexual assault complaint with the military in 2013. that is a 50% increase from 2012, but the military says this is not a sign of any sort of sexual assault crime waive, rather that -- crime wave, rather that members feel they can trust the system to prosecute the allegations. out of 5,000 complaints filed, 838 people found themselves going before a court-martial to

answer for the charges and 140 people found themselves administratively punished or discharged from the military. that may seem like a small number of cases, but the military says it has to follow military justice rules. some of the cases brought happened before the alleged victims came into the military, and in other cases there was not enough evidence to substantiate trying to actually prosecute the alleged perpetrators. that said, the pentagon is unveiling a newest to get more people to come forward as well as to try to get everywhere who is in uniform to take responsibility for the problem of sexual assault. the defense secretary chuck hagel said that it's not enough to wear the uniform, but rather you have to uphold the values of the u.s. military as well. >> rosalind jordan reporting. now to the crisis in ukraine. the country's president said the region is out of control. video from today shows the

violence with pro-russian protest squors storming a government building in donetsk. we go to donetsk and barnaby phillips. >> reporter: yet again ukraine's police were overwhelmed, trying to protect the prosecutors office in donetsk. for a short period they kept the pro-russian crowd at bay. they retreated under a barrage of missiles. they sheltered in a car park at the back of the building. this is them cowering under their shields. the protesters move in, grabbing shields and helmets from the police me. they are led away one by one. the chance of fascist and shame - they are terrified. a police armoured vehicle approaches, and then retreats as the crowd threatens to attack it. by now the crowd have taken over the building.

storm the prosecutors office because they say it supports the government in kiev, which they do not recognise. >> so the photographs of government officials go up in smoke. the police are nowhere to be seen, and the protesters are firmly in control of another building. and this is yet one more example of how the authority of the government in kiev is collapsing in eastern ukraine. >> we caught up with two protesters, vad eem and sasha. do they have intention of giving it back? >>. >> translation: it depends on the authorities in kiev. if they let us live peacefully we'll give the equipment back, if they don't, we'll keep it. >> earlier in the day, and the pro-russian march started peacefully. they were in high spirits. supporters of the united ukraine were too afraid to take to the streets. we bump into the mayor, elected

before the crisis and harr anninged by all sides, cautious about what should happen next. >> translation: the referendum should take place on may 25th, at the same time as the presidential elections. it needs to be organised by the elect ral commissions, we hope this is the decision that kiev will make. >> the pro-russian protesters want a referendum in early may. they will not wait and feel nothing can stop them. in syria government war planes attacked a market in aleppo. human rights activists say 40 were killed, dozens injured. the government is hitting the rebel controlled area hardest in the run up to elections. bashar al-assad is expected to win. to the weather - much of the nation is drying out. it is cold comfort to many

reeling from the wave of storms. >> a roe of cars teetering on the edge of the street suddenly gone when torrential rain takes down a century old retaining wall. the video from baltimore shows the street collapsing. officials moved to evacuate nearby homes. >> the room shook. a couple of things fell. when i came out all the cars were down. >> no one was injured. >> in philadelphia rising waters led to rescues as emergency crews reached people trapped in the flooding. >> the schuykill river crested at 13.91 feet at 4am. that is higher than the schuykill river was during hurricane irene, and higher than it was during hurricane or superstorm sandy. just to give you context for what just happened over the last 36 hours or so. >> this is a week of unrelenting

weather, storms pounding the country. it begone with tornado. >> look at that. >> sweeping across the planes and south. scores touched down in a violent outbreak in years. in florida, no let up from the sheets of rain, as much as two feet in 24 hours, washing away a stretch of the scenic highway. after winter blizzards, cold, spring is bringing storms and misery. kevin corriveau is keeping an eye on the whether and joins us now. >> let's go back to sunday. i want to show you why the system took place anyway. let me show you the weather pattern in place and didn't move. it's all because we have a ridge of high pressure out towards the west, and a trough in the east. this is similar to the weather pattern all winter long that caused a lot of cold air. now it's going into spring, there's a lot of rain and active

weather here across the east. i'll take you here to baltimore. we saw rain titles 5 inches or more in baltimore. i want to show you a video where they are assuming because the heavy rain in a short time, the retaining wall weakened. fell into the sea. they closed the railroad. it is closed at the moment until it is cleared out. neighbour hoods are closed off because of the ipp stability of the -- instability of thear. the rain is moving out. the -- of the area. the rain is moving out. a sprinkle on saturday, but clear through the weekend. here in california different - we are talking about the drought situation here. we are looking at wild fires burning. these started on wednesday. there's about 1,000 acres in the region, there's containment. look at the video, about the

wildfires that have gone on. they have taken about 700 fighters to contain this and 55 engines. they are looking at 1800 people needing to be evacuated. the temperatures are upseted to be extreme -- expected to be extremely warm, and the humidity will be dry. it's up to 15%, dry tomorrow. temperatures tomorrow look like this, 96 degrees in los angeles. we are seeing a little bit of a break through the n couple of days. by the time we get to sunday, temperatures down to 75 degrees. the area has seen one of the worst droughts they have seen in decades. >> thank you, kevin. >> shipping is resuming in the great lakes after a record fraez covered the water in ice. 92% of the lakes broke over, breaking a record. ships haul 25 tonnes of goods through the waters. trade is resuming and now that winter is over.

but the ice is not going away any time soon. >> coming up, high price. toronto mayor rob ford and groundbreaking research on whether being an addict is based on chemicals tore choice. >> people like jobs, but we don't like to be poisoned. >> frank talk from environmentist erin

new details in the botched execution in oklahoma. a timeline showed lockerbie was tasered and cut his own arms before the execution and refused a last meal twice, and declined any last words. the department of corrections recommended that the state suspend all executions indefinitely. the real action of the campaign of toronto mayor rob ford is on hold. he is suspected of abusing alcohol and drugs again. daniel lack reports. >> reporter: the latest evidence of rob ford's addiction challenge, screen grabs scene by toronto journalists showing the mayor smoking something in a pipe. the self-professed drug dealer

who shot the video claims it was crack cocaine. shortly after the move broke, the major announced he is getting help. >> i encouraged my brother to take this time for himself, and for the sake of his family. many people believe they can handle any problem by themselves. >> nobody is... >> ford is in trouble for offensive remarks about women, ethnic groups and gay people made on an audio tape obtained by another newspaper. rob ford has been the center of attention since he appeared in a video seen by journalists, allegedly spoking crack. he denied it until last november. then this stunning revelation. >> yes, i have smoked crack cocaine, am i an addict. no. >> after that he promised to

clean up his act, give up drinking and lose weight. not long after reports of him acting erratic and making offensive comments. experts say that is classic addictive behaviour. >> he keeps things together and then stuff happen eps. i wouldn't be surprised that it may happen again. >> toronto city council stripped the mayor of most of his powers. there has been a police investigation, but no charges. it's fair to say he's survived scandals that would have destroyed other politicians. will this end his career. >> if he wants to make a comeback, there is enough time. i doubt that his ability to change the damage that has been caused by this most recent and damaging seat of event is something that -- set of events

is something that he can recover from. many here at city hall hope that attention will focus on the october election, on policies and challenges facing the city, and not the anficks and addiction -- antics and addictions of a contender. >> dr carl hart is app author at columbia university, and has done groundbreaking research on drug addiction, specifically cocaine and joins us from new york. welcome. >> happy to be here. >> what do you think. mayor's behaviour. do you think he has an addiction. >> i don't think anyone is qualified. he hasn't had an assessment. one of the things that he should understand is they should look at rob ford's behaviour before he was mayor. i think he has been behaving like this for some time. to blame it on alcohol and cocaine is an easy way out and is one of the things that we like to go in these societies in

north america. we vilify a substance and not look at the person before he became hayer. >> you say -- mayor. >> you say 80 to 90% of cocaine users don't actually become physically addicted. can you explain. >> it's not just my data, it's been collected by the government for 30 years. most of the people that use coke april or heroin are not addicted. they use it like most people use alcohol. they use it when they have myobic moment, on the weekend and go to work, pay their taxes, and handle their responsibilities. >> so you're saying that there is a similarity to the person who is addicted to alcohol, and that person who is addicted to cocaine, yes. >> certainly you can say that, but that is not what i was saying just now, what i was saying is that the majority of the people that use all the

psychoactive drugs, including alcohol are not addicted. >> they are not addicted? >> that's right. that's what i'm saying. >> that goes against of lot of what we here in the media about this, rite. >> it not only goes against what you hear in the media, but what people talk about at work, in the water coolers. that's why i wrote the book, so people have a better understanding of these things. if we understood drug addiction and use, we'd be able to help people who have a problem a lot better. >> let me try this on you. if what you say is true, how do you explain, for instance, crack babies, babies born from mothers using crack who show signs of withdrawal? >> well, that's outdated information. certainly people thought that in 1987. in 2014, i think you would be hard pressed to find anybody who thinks that. the effects of crack baby, that we now know it's been greatly

exaggerated and the effects of cocaine, whether it's crack or snorted on the foetus are the same as the effects of tobacco, when a woman is smoking during pregnancy, not that people should go out and use cocaine or tobacco, but the point is it was overstated, the crack baby. that's a myth. >> when crack cocaine got a lot of attention, there were questions about whether or not it was the most addictive substance we had seen in our society. that's the way it was portrayed. do you see that big a difference in your research? >> there is no difference. crack cocaine is cocaine. the difference is powdered cocaine contains a salt preventing it from being a salt. if you want to smoke it you remove the hydrochloride salt.

but it's the same drug, exactly the same during. >> so essentially these are people who could correct their behaviour or they could choose to use cocaine or not, they are not necessarily addicted. that's what you are saying, and rob ford may call into the cas grip. >> he may. i tell you, he may be smart by going to treatment in part because people will be a lot more lenient in he goes treatment. it doesn't necessarily mean ta he is a crack addict or an alcoholic. i don't know this. only the people who assess his good behaviour know this. none of us have assessed his behaviour yet. >> great to talk to you. now to new information about malaysia airlines flight mh370. according to a new report air traffic controllers did not realise the plane was missing

until 17 minutes after it disappeared from radar. the report recommends the aviation looked into setting a standard into real-tripe tracking. >> a huge announcement about the minimum wage in one of america's biggest cities. and rules revisited in relation to pot-laced snacks.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. a lot to cover this half hour. >> airing out her frustration, activist erin brockovick on the enforcement of environmental regulations. plus, single-sized servings. colorado regulators consider new rules for pot-infused food products. and the potential legal battle over the l.a. clippers. why it may not be easy to strip

the team from sister-in-law. top stories - record rain fall and floodwaters left many marooned along the east coast. floodwaters remained in effect. rescue teams launched fots bring people to safety. a landslide swallowed a road in baltimore and a highway in colorado. 55 colleges were under investigation as to how they handle sexual assault complaints. according to a department of justice study one out of every five women have been sexualitily -- sexually assaulted at college. >> protesters stormed the prosecutor's office in donetsk. ukraine's president claimed it

was out of control. a draught was organised. we start in red square. there's a may day parade for the first time since the soviet era ended. workers held banners proclaiming support for vladimir putin. it was in cuba where we saw one of the largest event, 600,000 marching through havana's revolution square. it was a tribe out to the revolution bringing fidel castro to power 55 years ago. >> a different story in turkey where istanbul's riot police clashed with anti-government protesters. officers used water canons and tear gas against the group. demonstrators were banned from the square, where dozens were killed in protests. in the u.s. may day rallies took

place in areas like seattle. the mayor announced he wands to raise the minimum wage to $15. >> allen schauffler reports. what are people saying about the increase? well, we have had reactions from this is a good first step to "it's not enough", when we say 15 now, we mean now. the mayor on the may day - saying it was a coincidence - announcing the committee he appointed for coming up with recommendations has come out with a proposal that would raise the minimum wage across the city to $15 an hour. there'll be a difference in the way different companies get to the level. big companies will have to get to $15 within three years.

sma smaller companies have smaller leeways and will consider tips and everything in the formula. a step in the right direction. the mayor calls it a difficult compromise and a victory. the loudest voice in the $15 now chorus says no way. she intends to keep the pressure up. >> low wage workers get a $15 raise. we will avoid a costly battle of competing initiatives and deal with what the president called one of the great issues of our time. >> ask any person who works any hours and lives in poverty. it's not complicated. they need an increase to $15. there's nothing more complicated here. >> that is sharma, the socialist city council member elected last

year running her campaign saying she'll push for a $15 minimum wage. it has support for business leaders who turned out the proposal. it has substantial support among labour and business, not complete report, but brode raping. they'll consider the issue on monday. we'll learn about how it will play out. seattle is a city that made rallies, and they had one today. tell us about it. >> big may day rally, workers right, peaceful through downtown seattle. there's anarchists on the streets and protests going on. police presence here in downtown seat. there's a group of 12-15 police

officers over there. we have seen officers from the sheriff's department, the city. officers on horse back, bikes, bomb squads, bomb squads. a.t.f. agents. highway patrol all kinds of people. they are trailing the various groups of anarchists, and they are roaming the streets of seattle. we are waiting to see what happens with that. lots of police preps here, but there's a lot of this, a lot of class in the city of seattle, that is generally where the anarchists end up. we'll see, they are out there chasing a couple of different bands, and we'll see if we get through the night. we have heard of a couple scuffles, reporters and photographers being silly-stringed by the folks. nothing major in what is an unfortunate tradition. >> let me pursue that. this was a big problem years ago

when an economic meeting in seattle turned ugly with the anarchists. >> so there has been the same - there has been some window breaking and that activity as part of the may day theme. >> just a little bit. we have heard a couple of scuffles, one bus window breaking. significant problems to what we have had when there has been violent confrontations with police, tear gas and arrests. at this point at least, you know, at 8:35, on this thursday night in seattle, we haven't had significant damage, significant police and anarkist confrontation. we hope it will stay that way today. those folks are on the streets. it's something that the may day parade, the air of protest brings them out. >> thanks for the update. we appreciate it. the supreme court made a big

move that could reduce air pollution in the u.s. voting upholds rules and regulates. i spoke to erin brockovick, and asked what the ruling means for the future of environmental legislation? >> well, you know, i was presently surprised, really, by that decision. i think it's important that the supreme court upholds some of these environmental laws, and i think for some of the power plants, it's a clear message that the supreme court is going to uphold the decisions. it will give a little more - i hate to use the term power, but maybe more over site of the facilities to help reduce emissions. >> what do you think is the state of air pollution in the united states? >> that's a good question. i think in the past we have a lot of air pollution problems. i think that we had a moment where the air pollution was getting better and we are kind of backsliding and starting to

see more problems and certainly the effects that it can have on health and welfare of people. >> what do you think the clean air act has down to reduce pollution. >> you know that's a tricky question. in the past they tried. there's regulations out there. what i see on the ground and having down this is while we have regulations on the book. well intended, designed to protect us. we have a situation where we are not enforcing what happened. the environment is what sustains all of us, it shouldn't be a political fight. whether it's a corporation, government or citizens, it's something we should care about. >> is there enough environmental regulation in the company? >> there's. but, again, there's no enforcement. we have a situation, in my

opinion, from what i have seen down on the ground going through records, working with agencies that the agency is overburdened - really overburdened. they are understaffed and, to be quite honestly - under funded. i think their hands are tied and a lot of things are falling through the cracks. >> are the repercussions tough enough for the injuries that put pach in the water and -- poison in the water and bad chemicals in the air. >> no one is asking them to go away. people like jobs. the stakes are almost too high. they are responsible for any release, and there should be greater enforcement for that clean-up. there should be more work that is solution driven in preventing it in the first place. that will cost money. when they become reckless and careless, it's time to look at

criminal charges. >> your latest campaign is to help the victims of camp laptune. can you tell us about that? >> this is a bad situation. this is at north carolina, and through the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s, ongoing. where they had some chemical pollution that got. >> the wells. the soldiers' families stationed there, unbeknownst to them were drinking the poison. i find this case as disturbing as anything i have seen. men and women who were overseas serving their countries, several tours of duty, coming home and finding out not only are their children and spouse, but they, themselves, have been poisoned on their own land. and nobody is really pushing to make ascertain that we have

these servicemen and women on their home, not expected to come home. >> i suspect i know the answer. since the story has been told and you have become a hero. you still have the same passion you had when you started. >> absolutely. it was the way i was raised. i'm a simply girl from kansas, and i had a dad who was an engineer, who often taught me that the greatest gifts we have is our water, our land, our air. i have been passionate about that, and i almost had a surge of passion to really appreciate and understand a legacy as i now have grandchildren and to see into their future, if we don't challenge our courses and practices, i think it could be

an unpleasant situation for my grandchildren as they grow up. the same passion is still there. great to have you. great to see you. thank you very much. >> one of northern island's famous politicians is in gusty. sinn fein leader gerry adams under questioning in a murder and kidnapping committed by the ira, a crime that haunted northern ireland for decades. more from laurence lee. antrim police station, a foreboding plates, where the questioning of gerry adams shows how far this place is from being at peace with itself. it was 41 years ago that jean mcconville, a mother of 10 was abducted from west belfast. it was claimed she helped a wounded british soldier and was an informer. she disappeared. her body only discovered years later. it undermined the ira's claim to

fight the war against imperiali imperialism, undermining a man who is the architect of a peace protest of a commander who organised it. her son spent decades. >> they took my moother, they were going to leave us orphans and there was nobody to look after us. these people didn't care what they had done. they still don't care. if they cared they'd apologise. >> leading unionists in northern ireland and london said it was reasonable of the police to do this, and did not demonstrate political bias. >> we have an independent judicial system in england and one in northern ireland. and there has been no political interference in this issue.

we have independent pleasing authorities, independent prosecuting authorities. >> gerry adams's party sinn fein said it was a disgrace. >> the timing - gerry adams offered to come forward. the offer was not taken up. the argument is that it is suspicious that the police have decided to arrest him. >> it goes to prove how close to the surface all the old animosities remain. northern ireland has been wrestling with conflicting demands, on the one hand that they need to move on, but on the other there's a demand for justice for people of the families of jean mcconville. rasting gerry adams -- arresting gerry adams may make it look like no one is above the war, but may perpetuate an endless cycle. >> gerry adams maintains his innocence, what it says about

the peace process. in the end time is no healer. in colorado where recreational marijuana is legal, it's gone associated with two recent deaths, and there are growing concerns about children eating it. paul beban with more. >> reporter: in colorado you can buy legal weed the old-fashioned way, by the bud. or you can buy it in candies, cookies - edibles. 10mg of thc, the chemical that gets people high is the limit per serving. one piece or one piece of candy can contain as many as 10 servings and people do not know how much to eat. >> you have to figure out your toll rarnings the first -- toll rarnings the first one or two times you try it. >> people are warned not to chow

down. >> once you eat the cooky you can't uneat it. >> absolutely. once it's in your system you are along for the ride. you don't want to feel uncomfortable or too stoneded. the only thing to do is wait it out. >> overduing it can make you do more than want to just sleep it off. it can cause panic, paranoia and psychosis. >> in march a college student jumped to his death, eating six times the recommended dosage of a marijuana cookie. a denver man reportedly infused pot-infused candy before killing his wife. a bigger concern is children. denver hospitals reported a surge of kids in the e.r. >> a child sees a browny and assumes they can ate the whole

thing. for those things we have seep children requiring life support from that. >> dixie elixirs makes everything from hard candy. the company is serious about promoting safety. >> educating parents on how to have a product like this in the house, making sure it's in a child-resistant package, making sure that it's out of the sight so it's never in their hands. they are talking about putting warning labels on packages or limiting items to a single dose. this cookie is 10 doses, 10 servings, thinking about breaking it up so you can eat it like a regular candy bar. the president of the los angeles naacp resigned because his chapter's decision to give an award to the owner of the

l.a. clippers. this week the n.b.a. banned donald sterling for life over racially charged comment about blacks. today n.b.a. owners took the first steps enforcing donald sterling to sell the team. the possibility of a new l.a. clippers owner has the sports world abuzz. >> get new blood in there with big-named celebrities lining up to buy the team. oprah winfrey is in discussions with david geffen, and software billionaire larry ellie son. floyd mayweather put his hat in the ring. >> magic johnson, who initially denied interest is changing his tune. >> having oprah is good. >> it's great. >> thursday, an vizy committee -- advisory committee consisting of 10 n.b.a. owners had a conference call to begin the ousting of donald sterling.

the n.b.a. requires a three-quarters coach. the n.b.a. will put pressure on him to sell. they may not have a strong legal ground to make him sell. they may try to bring more informal pressure on him from other owners. >> law professor jody armour says the n.b.a. could face hurdles if the courts decide ernie terrell's privacy was violated. donald sterling will have a chance to respond before the vote. he told several broadcaster that the team is not for sale. armour says refusal to sell could lead to a long legal fight. >> if donald sterling decides to fight this, it could take years. he has strong legal grounds. he is going to say "you can't use a violation of my rights

against me to take my property away from me. the cheaply away. >> a buyer, donald sterling's wife. the commissioner said the life-time ban does not apply to rochelle sterling. she has been accused of racism. this video obtained by abc news shows a woman appearing to be sterling posing as a government official. chancela al-mansour from the housing rights center says sterling tried to gain access to the units of african american residents with the intnt vilent them claiming they were in vial eyeings of health codes. they successfully settled a multi-million dollar housing lawsuit against the sterlings. >> she was just as actively involved in discriminating as

donald sterling was. >> any vote to oust donald sterling is not expected in the the end of the n.b.a. season. if he decides to put up a fight, donald sterling could remain the owners of the clippers indefinitely. coming up, the picture of the day. plus, the back starry - the turn of the -- story - the turn of sent your theft leaving mona lisa on the map.

we are looking at much better conditions across the north-east and the south-east. all the flooding. it's subsiding now. the rain hasn'ted a beautiful day across many regions across the north-east. things will cool off for that area. it's not cooling off to the south-west. today we saw records broken in parts of the santa ana and towards san diego. santa ana reached 98 degrees. san diego reached 95 degrees, breaking records there. los angeles reached to 96. this is making for a very high threat of fire across the region, as well as the windy conditions. this will last tomorrow. things get better as we go towards the weekend. coming down slightly for los angeles. towards the weekend. saturday 82, and then as we go towards sunday, monday, tuesday, back to the low 70s for the

areas. temperatures on the increase. this week temperatures from kansas towards parts of oklahoma, reaching to the low 90s. and towards houston methodist hospital, 87 -- houston, 87 degrees. that's a look at the weather. more news after this. michelangelo

>> it's one of the most famous paint ips. this week we learnt italian researchers were on a mission to find out who the woman? the painting was. using d.n.a. sampling they hope to uncover the true identity of the woman. you may not know the painting was stolen. and that added to its allure. the co-author of the "mona lisa myth" jean-pierre isbouts tells us in the first-person report. >> we never have been able to lift a veil of mystery vouching this young -- surrounding this young lady. we have an italian individual

who literally walks into the louvre and steals a painting. for several years it is lost. fortunately the thief took the painting to the panel. where it was hidden in a suitcase, and then went across the street to the museum in florence and tried to sell it for 500,000 lira, a ridiculous amount of money at that time. officials at the museum were contentious enough to alert the authority nis, he raided the hotel, the panel found under the bed and returned to the louvre. the controversy stimulated universal interest in the mona lisa, and she's been a so far, a celebrity since. >> and from the mona lisa, it's one of the level known and most written about works of art in the world. from one to another, michelangelo's famous statue

david considered to represent the ideal male form - turns out david is suffering from weak angles. the statue is believed to be in danger of collapsing because of fractures discovered in its ankles, putting it at risk of toppling over. the weight of the statue weakened over centuries - it happiness. now to the picture of the day. that is sean mc-comb 2014 teacher of the year and honoured by president obama. he teaches at pertasko high school in baltimore maryland. congratulations. headlines coming up next.

welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are the top stories - in east ukraine tonight reuters reporting gun fire in the city of slovyansk.

held by pro-russian protesters, separatists say forces launched a large-scale operation to retake the town. a reuters photographer reported seeing a helicopter opening fire. a revealing report from the government about sexual assault on college campuses. the government releasing the nails of 55 colleges -- names of 55 colleges under investigation, from large public university to ivy league. the pentagon addressed sexual assault in the military, saying reports of abuse jumped 50% last i can't remember. the defense department says the spike is because the military took steps to encourage victims to report abuse. officials suspect the problem is underreported. moscow celebrated may dane since the soviet era ended. thousands proclaimed support for vladimir putin after the annexation of crimea.

another large may day celebration was in cuba, 600,000 turned out there. flooding left many stranded. rescue teams launched boats. record rainfall led to landslides as well. "america tonight" is coming up next. on american tonight, extreme, or routine? >> we have been through tropical storms and hurricanes, like ivan and dennis back to back, and we still did not have is this much water. >> wind, water, and what is left. after days of stormy weather batter the eastern half of the country. i set out to save the world wiuc