comes out. that is our show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. >> this is al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. >> we will follow them to the gates of hell. >> tough talk from the vice president about the islamic state group. plus a new threat from al qaeda. crisis in ukraine. confusion about the possible ceasefire. other options. cybertalkers, taking material from other americans what's the motive. >> bodies in your backyards. our special report, five days

along the border. and a new helmet to protect the heads of pro football players. we begin tonight with a stark warning from an old enemy. a new video appeared from al qaeda, number 2 said it's expanding with the hope of spreading islamic rule there. the 55-minute statement does not show the rise of the islamic state in the middle east but the two groups are in competition for new recruits. vchvice president biden addressd the group today, mike viqueria joins us to cover that story

mike. >> another gruesome murder depicting an american acted against steven joel sotloff, in the wake of that horrific video president obama is talk about being tougher about going against the group but he's being occasions about the are details. traveling in estonia yesterday, president obama vowed to take the fight to the islamic state group. >> our objective is career to degrade and destroy i.s.i.l. so it's not just a threat to iraq but also the region and to the united states. >> the tough talk comes after mr. obama said next week he didn't have a strategy yet in striking i.s. a statement roundly criticized. its number now 10,000, seizing

much of syria and iraq its purpose, left little doubt about what he believes the ultimate aim is. >> i.s.i.l. poses a multifaceted threat to the united states. >> islamic state neighbors. >> our objective is to make sure i.s.i.l. is not an ongoing threat to the region. >> reporter: that reflects the developing american strategy. bring arab states into a coalition to combat the threat. an idea pushed wednesday at the united nations by the u.s. ambassador. >> is going to have to involve stakeholders from around the world. >> as delicate talks get on the way behind the scenes, vice president biden was vowing retribution of steven sotloff. >> they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell

to bring them to justice because hell is where they will reside. >> reporter: and john, there is a lot of frustration on the political side, and even the democrats, the president's political allies. even in the tough talk inest estonia he alert said he wanted to whitd whittle them down to e they are only a small political problem. the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, and his top advisory, lisa monaco. john. >> we heard from the family of steven sotloff since his death, a spokesman delivered the speech

in glesh an english and in arab. christopher dickey, pleasure to see you. >> thank you. >> have they been effective? >> effective in what sense? they have been effective in stopping the islamic state torts erbil and towards baghdad. but they're not effective in the sense of destroying or degrading the operational ability of the islamic state. >> the ufts says it will not -- the united states says it will not put boots on the ground. will they be effective? >> you've got to put somebody's boots on the ground. they can go on bombing or clearing some areas of i.s.i.s. or islamic state for a short period of time but it will just move back into those areas unless you have boots on the

ground to stop it. the americans don't have boots on the ground although they have 850 boots on the ground already. >> not official combat troops. >> that's correct, but not the kind of numbers to stop i.s.i.s. back in. >> how do you convince the coalition to put boots on the ground when you're not willing to? >> i think that's the fact. secretary of state chuck hagel today said in an interview that the coalition they are talking about would be france great britain canada australia. where are the muslim states there, where is saudi arabia, where is turkey, a nato army with i.s.i.s. as a matter of fact. >> president said they're trying to shrink the sphere of influence? what does that mean with the islamic state? >> i'm not sure what he means. perhaps shrink the territory

they endowment. there are lots of things he does not want to say. he calls them i.s.i.l, he doant want to say state, or territory. he is getting himself tied up in knots, semantically. is what he's talking about. >> what is the impact on this crisis? >> some ways they're working to the benefit of the united states if it wants to mobilize people. mobilize congress, mobilize people in a way they never would have been before. if president obama had gone on the air a couple of weeks ago and said, we're going to have to go to war, everybody would think he was crazy. now it's different. for all kind of young jerks who want to join this crazy islamic caliphate, that's very bad news because they're very slick and

professional. >> let's say united states is successful in pushing islamic state out of iraq, it can't work with the iraqi state can it? >> no, i don't think so. what's not talked about is turkey, it's got the huge army. you can stand on the turkish border and see the flags of the islamic state about as far away as the walls of this studio. they have hundreds of thousands of men under arms. why are they not taking more of an initiative? we don't have the answer to that question but they will be at the meeting in wales, we'll see. >> isn't there concern that iran will also get involved? >> it's already involved. it was involved in rescuing the turkmen shia, a town named

amerlie. some kurdish troops and air support being flown by the united states. so it was a really weird kind of ak hod coalition on -- ad hoc coalition on the ground which sort of defies reason if you look at the politics, the international politics of these groups. >> so really, allies are changing really in this conflict. >> allies on the battlefield are not necessarily allies at the united nations or anyplace else. i think right now there is emphasis on stopping the momentum of i.s.i.s. that's a tactical issue. strategically how do you eliminate it, that's where there's no agreement. >> christopher dickey it's always good to see you. >> thank you john. >> the target of islamic state group, in the video the group says it captured a russian vehicle.

during the country's civil war. they say they will bring the russian republic of chechnya into their caliphate. as a result iraqi and kurdish forces made major gains, reportedly ready to take back two iraqi cities, mosul and tikrit. josh rushing is in northern iraq and josh, the vice president said today, the u.s. will pursue the islamic state to the gates of hell. doesn't sound like it's as simple as just good versus evil. >> reporter: that's probably more about pursuing them to the gates of syria than the gates of hell. using that sort of rhetoric, request -- good versus evil,

they definitely want to stop the islamic state. i mean the islamic state is a real threat to all the communities around it but not as much because of the extremism but because of the expansionism. how quickly they were able to good across northern iraq. but now all these different groups fighting back against the islamic state also have their own agenda. the kurds for example are pushing further south than perhaps they've ever been. they are at least 20 miles past kirkuk now, with its rich oil fields. one step further towards autonomous for the kurdish state, which they wanted for a long time. the sunni tribes which enabled islamic state to move so quickly across iraq, they want to use this as leverage to say if they turn the tribes men's against islamic state it will be gone in

a very short time but they won't do it unless baghdad makes certain promises to the sunnis that they will be included in the government in the way they haven't been in the last eight years, they will be included in the economy, and their biggest request will be to make an autonomous state. a kurdish state, sunni state and shia state. almost as quickly as they came, everyone here seems to be looking at the next step. the politics in baghdad are mired down, which isn't too unusual. but those politics are being played out in war here, which klostowitz said is just war by any other means. >> josh, i wanted to take you

back to the story you showed you us yesterday. you were able to move with some of the kurdish forces into areas that are taken back. what struck you about what you saw on the ground? >> reporter: struck by a few things. one, all the different groups. we went into this village and we would run behind this house the land would be kurdish fighters there, they were carrying the kurdish flag. clearly they were peshmerga. we would run croat the street to where another group was -- across the street to where another group was hiding and they were shia, one man wanted for kidnapping securities advisors years ago. then we ran into soldiers from the interior ministry of iraq.

then we ran into iraqi army soldiers. all these different groups are in this village, you would ask them how are they coordinating and it seems like no one is really in charge over it, they are coordinating with whatever group is beside them. the big question is, who holds the ground, once the town is taken. we asked that of a colonel who was there and wasn't entirely clear. his answer was whoever takes takes a town ends up holding it. you have four or five or six disparate groups. we went into the ahmadi army. there the muqtada al-sadr soldiers, you might remember them, that was really kind of fascinating the. this was not this one big coordinated force. and that attack had been coordinated by u.s. air strikes. i think that's really shocking just all these different groups

and how they're working together and it's unclear what happens afterwards. >> all right, josh, thank you very much. and new details are emerging about the islamic state fighters and its yazidi in the international community has failed to protect them. jay arraf reports -- jane arraf reports. >> these are thousands of yazidi who escaped to sinjar mountain after islamic state fighters took over their territory. they finally ended up in zapho. nafid and saman are from the village. islamic state fighters rounded up the men and teenage boys in the schoolyard. >> they told us let us go to the mountain but they started shooting. i ran away and hid in a

neighboring village. >> reporter: when they said they were started filming with a cell phone they knew they were going to die. they believe in god and seven angels who safeguard the world. believe it is their duty to kill them. in this video released by the islamic state group, thn ma tells them -- this man tells them they are infidels. they are given a right to convert and they do. relatives he's lost. >> my mother, my father, my brother. eight people in all. there's a lot of anger in the yazidi community. the iraqi deposit and the kurds promised to protect them but didn't. they say the international community also failed to prevent a massacre. rashala says one ar one of her t

friends was kidnapped and sold. >> translator: i don't think any others would have seen or experienced. we don't feel we have a country anymore. frankly speaking i don't believe i belong to iraq anymore today. >> reporter: across the north in the wake of the i.s. onslaught, christians have also fled from their home land. the shebbat and pedkai. the yazidis seem to have been singled out. it's such a small community, 400,000 of them. but the killings and capture of hundreds of them has traumatized the entire community here and abroad. it's also placed in doubt the very future of the religion here. after such a terrible legacy a lot of survivors say they can no longer live in this land. jane arraf, al jazeera, baghdad.

the crisis of ukraine will be at the top of the agenda when nato leaders get together. jonathan betz has more on that. jonathan. >> russian president vladimir putin hopes for a deal by friday but many are not convinced he's actually serious about peace in ukraine. ala has survived much in her long life famine in world war ii and now a shell into her home. >> we just started living well and then they started killing us. >> reporter: as president obama tried to soothe nervous populations in estonia, russian president outlined his own plan in ukraine. but obama didn't seem encouraged mentioning other deals that collapsed. >> so far it hasn't helped

either because russia has not been serious about it or has pretended that it's not controlling the separatists. >> reporter: indeed although putin outlined a plan, noted he couldn't be certain. >> this comes as nato prepares to meet and the west considers a fourth round of sanctions against moscow. >> russia must admit it's a party to the conflict and take genuine steps to lead to the deescalation of the conflict. >> reporter: the president hinted nato may now be willing to help ukraine's military. >> citizens will never be satisfied where the big will bully the small. sooner or later they fight back. >> reporter: for moment at least the fighting is leaning in

moscow's favor. rebels have been gaining ground and now putin is dictating terms for possible peace. >> translator: we worked all of our lives and then in the end what did we earn? they are simply killing us that is all. >> reporter: thanks to russian soldiers and tanks already in ukrainian. it is unclear whether russia will or even can at this point reigrein in those rebels. >> thank you john. to deal with the ukraine process he need to persuade key leaders, the prime minister of sweden, to help. >> it's all up to him. what's been happening in the last few weeks is of course that the brunt of the fighting inside ukraine is now by regular russian armed forces.

and mr. putin can stop them any time he wants to do it. so far, he has been inserting forces, regular forces and have them advancing as ukrainian units. >> fair to say if this goes through it would be essentially a victory for russia because the ukrainian forces are simply being asked to move their forces away from rebel held territories. >> there is nothing about withdrawal of russian forces from the ukraine. there's nothing about ukraine getting back control of the border. so essentially what he wants to have is an acknowledgment of russia taking a slice of the territory of ukraine. >> and that's not acceptable i assume to nato. >> that should not be acceptable. this is up to ukraine and ukraine is in a rather difficult situation since russia started

inserting their regular forces because these forces are superior to what ukraine has. prior to this ukraine's volunteers heavily equipped put it's a different ballgame when you have some of the better units of russia fighting there. >> ukraine is at the top of the agenda for nato alliance what is your expectations of this meeting? >> i'm sure there will be a lot of discussions what can be done. in brussels, at the moment what we can do from the yue european union side, the onslaught from the russian side. >> there's been discussion about a rapid reaction force that could be established. how much money could go towards that mission and how many troops would be involved?

>> what's happening in ukraine is to put it many mildly among nato members. president obama was in estonia, he was in poland a long time ago. there is insight on where russia is heading and for nato to be clear on the mission it's taking has got to be the core debate. >> we'll have more of that interview tonight at 11:00. just ahead, the woman who survived the ebola advisor. and the text rancher who finds dead bodies on his property. for him, the immigration crisis is personal.

>> firefighters in boston getting control of a huge nine-alarm blaze in the city's brighton neighborhood. , flames broke out and quickly

moved to the roof. the fire department said five people needed medical attention, two bystanders also needed help. for the first time since being infected, an american woman tells her stories. nancy writebol received weeks of treatment in the u.s. and says she's grateful to be alive. robert ray has her story. >> reporter: it was august 5th that nancy writebol was flown from liberia to atlanta, and she remained in isolation for nearly three weeks and was just released a couple weeks ago. well today she spokes to the media about her experience, she praised the emory folks folks here and saying they were actually fun and said good morning to liberia, this is what else she had to say. >> the question is usually

asked, what do you think saved you? was it the zmapp drug? was it the supportive care? was it the liberian and our u.s. help, our u.s. medical people, was it those doctors and nurses that helped to save you? or was it your faith? and my answer to that question is all of the above. >> so nancy writebol an her colleagues dr. kent brantley receiving top knopf care here in atlanta. the cdc saying this is an epidemic, calling for an all hands on deck, officials and medical doctors to go to west africa and stop the infection. the biggest problem according to the cdc is this may go not only in the continent of africa but

all over the world.that is a risk, a health risk tort entire planet. >> robert ray reporting. coming up, five days along the border. >> i filled this up with ten or 15 jugs every other week. >> migrants dying, in this texas ranger's backyard. now he gives the human toll.

>> this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. and coming up: >> as far as aiding and abiding stuff, i don't have the heart to just let somebody die, no. >> a rancher on the immigration ronfront line. torn between his position and his heart. plus a blockbuster out of louisiana. why supporters of same sex marriage are calling it a strong step back. and a major fix for pro football's concussion problem. an estimated 600 undocumented migrants pass through brooks county, texas every day. the remote county is about the size of rhode island and 80

miles from the mexican border but in many ways it's the symbolic center of the immigration crisis. the county has become a burial ground. for one local rancher the problem is very, very personal. heidi zhou-castro joins us live from dallas as we continue this series, five days along the border. heidi. >> hey john, so there are 900 square miles of private ranch land in brooks county, tex texad you use the perfect words, they are a burial grounds to these migrants attempting to walk in, as they attempt to avoid the border crossing. moral conflict for many of the private ranchers who are caught in the middle. 70-year-old lavoyger durham is used to the discoveries, more

than 20 bodies have turned up on his 13,000 acres. >> when you find somebody dead, you're extremely lucky to find him in the first place. why? because the buzzards, the cadacadas which are the mexican eagles, the coyotes, the wild hogs, everybody eats on them and spreads the bones all over the place so you might never find them, you know. >> reporter: the gruesome findings are the only thing that remains of the migrants who cross the border and die of dehydration under the 100° sun. the local authorities have discovered over 400 bodies in six years. >> any time you find one you are probably missing five.

>> reporter: after seeing so much death, durham who is half mexican is determined to keep all who set 72nd on his ranch alive. so he leaves water along with the migrant's pass. i filled this up with ten or 15 jugs every week. we have seven in there. >> how many lives have been saved? >> i have a hard way of knowing. >> they receive food and an invitation to share their stories. he says he records the conversations to bring attention to the migrant migrants' plight. this 17-year-old from el salvador, followed him after a smuggler or coyote left him for dead. >> he'd been walking for three days. there were 18 of them. and the coyote got mad, and abandoned them, and left them there. >> reporter: the fate of those others remains unknown. as for the boy, durham called

border patrol to pick him up. durham says he wants more border security because the fewer migrants who cross the fewer deaths on his land. >> the good lord and i know what i'm doing. i don't care what anybody else says, i really don't. as far as aiding and abiding and stuff i don't have the heart to just let somebody die, no. >> but at the same time, you do see them as illegal crossers. >> sure, they're illegal, they're breaking the law and i will turn them in. >> but there are times when durham can do nothing but call the coroner. >> he was pretty well inside there and sleeping, and then he came over here and died. he died right here. >> the body of a young man was discovered in february. >> somebody lost a loved one and they don't even know it and they might never know it. >> it took months to identify the 28-year-old from guatemala. he had plans to work in new york for five years then return to his wife and five children

living in poverty. >> they are going to keep on coming, this thing is going to keep on happening, you have to accept it as a way of life and save as many as can you. >> and for durham, the act of trying keeps the fight going. >> and john durham says for each migrant he comes across he asks them why did they leave home? and he tries to convince them that staying back in their home countries would have been better. but this luring people across the border, they have no item that these are the conditions they will come across. john. >> heidi, we have seen several powerful stories from you. can you talk about what impact what you've seen has had on you and what strikes you about what's going on near the border? >> well, just how big this issue really is, you don't realize it john until you are on the ground. you heard the chief deputy of

brooks coined tell that for every body they find there are five more out there. that's 2400 bodies since 2009. we cover a lt of tragedy in the news, we cover plane crashes where 400 people die but here in brooks county it's like one massive plane crash happening every three years. that puts it in perspective. >> heidi zhou-castro, heidi we'll look forward to the rest of the series, thanks very much. some undocumented residents will result in more crime. a six year study raises new issues about that theory, secure communities examine census data and local crime records nationwide. they found that deporting nearly 300,000 undocumented immigrants had no impact on those crime rates. more than 288,000 convicted

criminals were deported during that time. our special report continues tomorrow. we'll me two people on the front lines of the immigration crisis. they helped families find their loved ones who started a journey to america and never finished. and on friday, join us for our special report, five days along the border, the impact of the flood of undocumented migrants what it's had on this country. and the search for a solution to the crisis, all coming up 8:00, 11:00 eastern. james foley was first reported american journalist killed by the islamic state fighters. today his mother sent condolences to the parents of steven sotloff who was also beheaded by the group. >> we appeal to the international community to protect the remaining hostages throughout the world. i mean there are many innocent

people held captive around the world. so we just pray that we can come together and help them be free. >> a video of foley's death was released by the group two weeks ago. today, in power politics, a closer look at the u.s. reaction to the islamic state group. with mid term elections just 62 days away, members of both parties are urging president obama to take action against the group. david schuster has more. >> reporter: in the wake of the beheading of journalist steven sotloff outrage has been pouring in from republicans and democrats. introducing legislation next week authorizing president obama to attack syria. quote, this will ensure that the president has no doubt he has the authority to use air strikes against syria. the u.s. is the only one that can put together a coalition to

stop the group intent on barbaric cruelty. criticism of president obama from another democrat, dianne feinstein chair of the senate intelligence committee. >> i've learned one thing from this president, that he's cautious, in this instance too cautious. >> lindsay graham issued a statement saying condemnation is not enough to deal with the scourge. it is time we act decisively against i.s.i.l. wherever it resides. graham finished, mr. president if you can't come up with an approach tell us what the goal is. the president gave one. >> our objective is clear, to degrade and destroy i.s.i.l, so it's not a threat to iraq and the region and the united states. >> but mr. obama didn't address the specific request of congress

of attacking the islamic state in syria. it may take time to generate military options for the president to consider, but time is limited, in washington, where senator nelson's legislation could outside flank the president's in as little as a week. david schuster, al jazeera, washington. nato summit one of the main topics will be the crisis in ukraine. russian president veunlt laid out plans for a ceasefire. >> bear in mind, the almost total inability of the ukrainian government and the russian separatists to hold any type of useful talks so far. it is hard to see where ppt is president putin is getting gettt optimism. only place where the osce can

actually sit down and talk to one another. president putin says he's pretty confident that ukrainian will come to some sort of agreement with the rebilities. he's calling for -- with the rebels. he wants ukrainian personnel to pull back from the front lines and stop shelling civilian areas. putin is also asking for an international monitoring force to oversee the conditions of any ceasefire plan and the opening up of humanitarian corridors for the movement of refugees and relief supplies into the area. and this is an area now encompassing 2.2 million people who are now seriously affected by this conflict. >> that's peter sharp reporting. still no confirmation of a possible credit card breach for home depot customers but the company said today if there is, shoppers won't be responsible for fraudulent charges. on tuesday, the company says it's working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate what it called

unusual activity. home depot advised customers to closely monitor their accounts. hackers have stolen information from millions of consumers this year, including retail giants target, p.f. chang and others. david, welcome. >> john, thank you. i'm happy to be here. >> well we're happy to have you here. now, other big hacking incidents like the breach at target were tracked back to cyber-thieves in russia and ukraine. it suggested that home depot may have been a victim as well. what's motivating overseas hackers? >> it's really about money. the united states has the least secure credit card system in the world. we still rely on magnetic strips that contain information and not

computer chips in cards. and when the security -- if you've got two barking german shepherds in your house the criminals go next door and the united states is next door. >> why haven't the retail giants made some changes and spent some money? >> well, they really -- they put the machines in, a lot of them put the machines in, home depot has put the machines in, walmart has put the machines in but the banking industry is slow to move over to the more expensive cards. this is a computer card and a pin, instead of just signing your name, you have to have the card scanned and put in a pin number. it's widely done in the other part of the world but not in the united states. is there pressure in these companies to change their ways or is it what about their reputation? >> well, certainly there's a lot

of pressure on to change. it just takes a long time to do it. but with u.s. retailers it's really about how they're communicating with their customers after a data breach. this happened to target eight months ago and they just completely bungled the communication with their customers and the results of that have been very severe on target. would you think that companies like home depot would learn that you need to get out very quickly to communicate with your customers, to preserve customer trust. but that hasn't happened time and time again. and really today we've seen a very slow response out of home depot. >> should customers be doing more to protect themselves? >> certainly they should. although customers aren't at a great risk for personally losing money because it's going to be covered by the banks. it's going to be covered by the retailer. you know the economy and customers pay throughout the banking system. but people need to keep a wary eye, yes.

>> david, it's great to have you on the program, thank you. >> thank you, good to be here. joie chen tells us what's at the top of the hour. joie. >> good evening john. we'll talk about protecting babies by locking up their moms. tennessee is the first state that has a law, the charge could land them in jail for up to 15 years but health care workers warn it might be a policy that does more harm than good. >> do you know that when you call up treatment centers, treatment programs, one of the questions that you are asked is are you pregnant or could you be pregnant? and in almost every center in that state a positive answer to that question will screen you out of the program. they will not take you if you are pregnant. >> let me put it this way. we are going to find programs if we can to put these women in.

>> "america tonight's" sheila macvicar has the story. we hope to see you then. >> all right joie. for the first time the supreme court struck down the defense of marriage act, the louisiana judge's decision is a major defeat for gay marriage supporters. jonathan martin has that story. john, this are. >> reporter: john, judges have decided to overturn bans on same sex marriages, that the that the some 20 recent rulings where that's happened. but in this case a louisiana federal judge judge martin feltman has decided to, his decision also upholds the state refusal, for those who are married legally in other states. violates equal protection under the constitution but gay marriages supporters he says failed to proof that.

first to uphold a state ban, since the supreme court struck down the defense of marriage act last year. says they will take the case to the u.s. court of appeals. >> we got the ruining this morning. -- ruling this morning. we're obviously very disappointed. we plan to file a notice of appeal promptly. we feel the judge's ruling, we feel we have a strong case considering the long line of federal cases ruling in favor of same sex marriage in recent months and we will look forward to the appeal. >> even the judge in this case acknowledged that this ruling may not be the final say. in his brief he wrote clearly many other courts will have the opportunity to take up the issue of same sex marriage. courts have appealed and at some point the u.s. supreme court. by the way, in 1974, 72% of voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same sex

marriage. some parts of detroit, urban decay is being replaced by urban farming. tom ackerman has more. >> reporter: surrounded by the concrete and steel of downtown detroit, a two block square of dirt is sprouting totals broccoli leeks and more. hundreds of thousands of seedlings to be shipped to plots around the city. >> this is a kale transplant. it needs water. >> urban farming in this city goes back more than a century but in just the past ten years the number of crop-producing gardens has grown from 80 to more than 1400. some of that produce is served at one of the city's biggest businesses, the mgm grand casino and hotel. which donated the land and the greenhouse just across the street. >> they have hundreds of acres if not thousands of acres available and i think this is

maybe a stepping-stone for the rest of the community to get involved. >> they are all so bursting full of water. >> ashley runs keep growing detroit, to achieve what they call food sovereignty. >> one done by michigan state university that found that only on a couple of thousand acres detroiters can could be producing as much as 76% of the vegetables we currently school and 41% of the crops we currently schooled based on the theories we have been teaching. >> many partners like jack van dyke. he sells the produce raised on the small holding he and his wife own. >> maybe like 8,000, 8100 square feet. it has grown from a hobby to like a part time gig. >> i am so excited. i wanted some ochre for the

longest time. >> the urban farm movement here offers another common cause by rallying together to grow more food from its abundant soil. tom arkman al jazeera detroit. -- ackerman, al jazeera detroit. a look at the science behind this season's new football helmet. fp helmet

>> good evening, i'mmeteorologi. you are looking at the newly formed hurricane norbert. it went from a tropical storm to a category 1 hurricane. going very slowly, expect it to be a category 2 then back to a tropical storm. the big problem that we expect to see here is the amount of precipitation that is going to be coming out of this storm over the next couple of days. a couple of forecast models show it later on making a turn to the

north and then to the northeast. which means, baja california and california could be affected by this storm. as we go into next week which means major flooding across the region. we are right now looking at tropical storm warnings for cabo san lucas. as we go through the forecast, thursday, notice how the precipitation starts to move in on friday, we are looking at southern arizona with major flooding going on as we go towards saturday, that also increases to parts of california. so this is something we're going to be watching very careful over the next couple of days. that's a look at your national weather. your news is next.

>> tobacco products are no longer available at the country's second largest drugstore chairn. chain. cvs pulled all tobacco products from its store shelves. the move could cost it over $2 billion in sales. when the nfl season kicks off tomorrow, many players will be sporting a new kind of helmet. the league says there were more than 60 concussions during the preseason. phil torres joins us from california. tell us about this.

>> countries are calling this concussion epidemic. the nfl is kicking off tomorrow night knight and i'll be watching and looking for the teams using this newly designed helmet. >> this helmet is the most ambitious helmet ever tackled. a campaign nearly as aggressive as the sport itself. >> allows the front pad to not only compress but it allows it to absorb impact energy and reduce the forces because it's sheering in the area that's more flexible. >> one of the largest helmet manufacturers trying to respond to what is called medical merge hitting the football fields. "techknow" was on the field when this hit happened. when a player gets a concussion causing blow, the brain can bounce around and twist in the skull. that can disrupt brain function. so what kind of hit is likely to

land a player in the hospital? rather than the end zone? and how do you reduce a player's risk of concussion? stefan duma, head of virginia's biotech department, has spent the year studying the hoakies. the head imamen them tri teleme. measures the acceleration to the head any time the player's head is hit. professor duma is also trying to make the game safer by creating an independent rating system for helmets based on how they reduce the risk of concussion. look at this 100 g hit? a five star helmet can cut the acceleration by as much as 50%. that's because the shell and the interior spread out the force of

the impact. >> you will never eliminate all concussions. there is no preventative legal met but there's some that reduce your risk, just as five star cars reduce your risk of dying in a car crash. >> this is the radel helmet we are telling you about. we asked the professor about it but he has not yet tested it. he's always ready to help the situation. hopefully it will absorb the head on conclusions that we see happen way too often. >> 60 concussions during the nfl preseason, is that unusual? >> it is unusual and that's where the numbers can teach us something really interesting. that's actually 50% increase over last year's preseason despite these new helmets. so it takes more than just a helmet to fix this problem. you have to change the way the

game is coached, change the way the game is ruled. >> what about younger players, are they studying the effect of concussions on younger players? >> they are and the numbers are pretty startling. amongst seven and eight-year-olds, they are finding they're getting about 150 big hits to their head every season. >> that's one of the tough concerns there. phil thanks very much. and coming up tonight on our broadcast at 11:00 eastern time he stole tens of billions of dollars from americans. it sent bernie madoff to prison for life. the film maker is putting together a story about his life. and two brothers who spent decades behind bars for a crime they did not commit. the dna evidence that changed the outcome. here is one last picture to show you, a rare site.

the country's past and present chief diplomats, secretary of state john kerry joined by hillary clinton, madeline al bright, henry kissinger and colin powell. "america tonight" is next.

>> on "america tonight": raising the stakes, the white house vows brutal punishment for the fighters of the islamic state. >> they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell. until they are brought to justice. >> you about how far will the president go to avenge the deaths of americans? at the hands of the fighters seeking greater control from their strong holds in iraq, and syria. also tonight. pregnant addicts face their devastating drug habits and the long arm of the l.