the conversation continues on our website, aljazeera.com/considerthis, you can tweet me @amoraen tv. we'll see you next time. hello everybody. this is al jazeera. i'm shaudavid shuster in new yo john seigenthaler has the night off. democracy - hong kong - are they reaching a tipping point. we talk to the owner of the yellow umbrella in the name of free elections. >> tracing the steps of the ebola in texas. we have the latest and a doctor that just rurned from sierra leone. the head of the secret

service steps down - is the security breach over or just beginning. behind the picture - 35,000 walruses converged on a slither of land in alaska. what the image says about their plight and climate change. we begin this hong kong where the call for democracy is growing stronger. it's 11 o'clock thursday morning there now. protestors have given the chief executive of hong kong a deadline to resign, saying they want him out of office by thursday night, or they'll begin to occupy government buildings. scott heidler is amidst the tents and umbrellas in hong kong. what are you seeing this morning where you are? >> what we are seeing is a little bit of a shift. not many protesters have come down to where we are. we are in front of the chief executive's office.

the main protest area is down the street a little bit. again, dozens of protesters, it's 11 o'clock in the morning. before we see a peak in numbers of protesters, but dozens have come down here. this is something we haven't seen for a couple of days. where you have the protesters, barricades and police on the other side. police are taking a relaxed posture, they have gas masks on the hips but are not being aggressive. you see the police on the other side. the main protest area is at the end of the block. the chief executive's office is here. they have given a deadline. there's a couple of hours before the end of the day, technically, thursday. that is why they are here. it will be interesting if there's a reaction from the hong kong government. there's no indication that leung, the chief executive, has indicated that he will consider a resignation. we don't expect much word to come out on that. they - some.

protesters - want to push -- some of the protesters - want to push that by sitting outside his office. >> what is the mood, given the expectation that the hong kong executive will not resign, requests will not be met, and they have to make good on a threat to go into the buildings. >> that's an interesting question. it can bring it out further. i met the founder of occupy central, the seed for all of this, if you will, the seed for the protest. he told me that he's amazed with how this protest has gotten, but it's an organic organism, he doesn't control it nor one person is in charge. so pushing the envelope, will there be fractures, what will be the next step, some want to take that step, some don't. it will be interesting to see how the movement moves forward.

will there be divisions or will they speak with a unified voice. >> so interesting, scott heidler reporting from hong kong. great work as always, thank you. despite the protest. the chief executive of hong kong joined officials to celebrate national day. they raised a toast and raised chinese flags. one official raised a yellow upbrela calling for change. that is paul zimmerman, he joins us now. by holding up the yellow umbrella, what was the messing to the chief executive and the chinese leaders in beijing? >> the yellow stands for the fight to democracy that the students started. the umbrella stands for a position to the police force, the excessive police force use against the children and the

students, with the government lobbying tear gas grenades, raising their bullet - rubble bullet guns at the children, and the umbrella is the symbol of defiance to that. what has happened is we only have 25% support for the occupy central movement here, but after the violence that we have seen, the state-sponsored violence, the community has come out on mass in a large percentage across all political divide, basically saying hong kong is different to the mainland, we don't stand for this, we want to maintain values for freedom and peaceful political discourse. >> what was the reaction that you got at the official function, and your standing out like a sore thumb with the balloon. did anybody say anything directly? >> no, not at that time. i took a strategic position between the media, and the large

line of the crowd that was gathered in front of the stage ready to raise their glasses at the end of the national anthem. when i put the umbrellas over my shoulders, giving the media a shot. the yellow umbrella repeating the small area of hong kong in the large flags of china. >> i think i called it a balloon, i meant a flag. the protesters said they'd occupy government buildings in the chief executive did not step down. there's no indication that he'll do that. will you join the efforts to occupy government buildings, in terms of taking this a step further? >> no, i think it's a bad move to get into a violent situation. you know, if the students want to occupy the government buildings, and take the people off the street, kind of stop the inconvenience for the general

community and focus on a number of government properties, maybe that's reasonable. people have to go to work, they have to take the kids to school, they want to keep the community on their side. i think over all it depends on c cyleung, he has to give something back, and it could be the excessive use of force, so people can step down and find a way forward. >> i wonder if you can describe the politics in hong kong and beijing, and where it might all be headed. >> well, the issue for beijing is not just hong kong, it's like a mosquito on the butt at the moment. there are strategic risks. there are other cities, and they don't want what happens in hong kong to come into the

mainland of china. a tour group travelling to hong kong is stopped. they have cut off the internet to make sure there's no messages from hong kong coming into the ma mainland. if it comes on for a long time. it may be breached, information will come into china, and their hand will be forced. that is bad for hong kong, and bad for china. >> is it your expectation that the more aggressive action could mirror what happened at tiananmen square 25 years ago in beijing? >> well, definitely nobody hopes to see that happen, i think that's the p l.a. and the police will be more sophisticated than that. that would be the worse case scenario, that we have to - it will be bad for the penn democratic movement in hong kong. they gained so much credibility in the last few days. i hope they hold on to that,

they don't lose it, because they can trade in that some time in the future. the final question, is it your sense that given the politics in hong kong, amongst the activist and movement. they will accept something less than the demands of the chief executive resigning. >> well, that's an issue. we have a democratic movement that does not accept any leadership among the various factions within the movement. they don't want to put anyone ahead of the parapit or speak for someone else. the only way to have this going is for the government to get involved in the public debate that is raging on social media, on the television, that is in every tv shot where all the tvs are on, and everyone is watching all the time, and the government has to start to communicate into the channels, and participate in the discussion to move public

sentiment. currently they are not, and the door is closed. it's up to cy himself. cy is the man with the relationship with beijing's leadership. he has a strong relationship there, going back to his days of working in shanghai and introducing the system that is basically providing a lot of government financing throughout china. it's a strong relationship. he's in charge. decisions that are made here in hong kong and beijing, about the situation here. he has to come to terms with it, and he has to step - not necessarily resign, but he has to step down, provide a ladder for the community to step down, and i think to start off with an apology for the excessive force could be helpful. >> paul zimmerman, hong kong elected counsellor. thank you for joining us. back in the united states, the director of the secret service resigned, a day after being grilled by both sides of

congress for the white house security breach last month. the agency has been under fire for several mishaps. mike viqueira reports. >> it is part of the ethos of the secret service when it comes to the safety of the president, there's no margin for error. when a series of gaffs and slip ups came to light, the writing was on the wall. >> reporter: wednesday morning the white house snitched julia pearson was more than qualified to continue as the head of the secret service. by the afternoon she was gone gone. >> over the last couple of days we saw reports raising questions about the performance of the agency. the president concluded that new leadership was required. >> reporter: the latest shoe - a contractor armed with a gun was allowed on to an elevator with president obama during a september 16th trip to atlanta. the secret service left it in the dark about the encounter much. >> the white house learnt of that incident yesterday

afternoon before it was publicly reported by a news organization. >> after that report pearson's support eroded. >> it seems to be getting worse. very concerned to have an armed felon get on an elevator with the president, it's just unacceptable. you know, it just points to the need for a top to bottom reconfiguration of the agency. >> soon after resigning, pearson told bloomberg: have you heard of these guys? good. this is - it's not very costly, you can subscribe. >> reporter: pearson's departure came the day after she faced concern before gonzalez, a fence jumper, carrying a knife, who made it far inside the white

house. he plead not guilty to entering a restricted building whilst carrying a deadly weapon. with pearson gone, the white house turned to a familiar face, forker lead agent of mr obama's detail, joe clancy, taking over as the interim head of the agency. part of what was announced is a solution common to washington, an outside blue ribbon commission, an independent review board looking at the results of the interviews with the secret service, and by december come up with a series of recommendations. >> tell us a little more about the culture these days of the secret service. >> you know, it's interesting. part of what has come to light in the atlanta incident points to what critics say is a systematic problem. it's not unlike the problems with the v.a. several months ago, eric shin zeky was forced to quit. the culture was criticized as being rotten from the roots up, and has to be looked at. look at the atlanta incident, it

didn't happen in public. the situation with omar gonzalez and running on the lawn behind me behind me, happened in public. there's no way they could have hidden what went on. the incident in atlanta did not happen in public. the white house was not informed until "the washington post" was about to report it yesterday. there are a lot of people looking at this and saying the culture with secret service is one of an old boys' network, one of, "i've got your back", and "we are not going to disclose our dirty laundry", but when it comes to the safety of the president, sometimes it's counterproductive. >> al jazeera's mike viqueira at the white house. there's new information on the first case of ebola in the united states. the patient is thomas eric duncan, and was turned away from a hospital in dallas last week, potentially exposing others to the virus. the director of dallas county's

health department commented on fears of ebola spreading. >> our issue today is doing contact investigation on those individuals who were in contact with the patient. right now there's no confirmed second case. what our concern is is that through the contact investigation, there might bet a second case. but there is no confirmation. we would not be shocked if there is a second case. >> you can see the entire interview with zackary thompson on "america tonight", coming up at midnight. in the meantime heidi zhou-castro has more details out of dallas. >> reporter: it's a nightmare for the parents, discovering the ebola may have been carried into their children school. texas governor rick perry made the announcement wednesday. >> today we learnt some school-aged children have been identified as having contact with the patient. and are being monitored at home.

>> reporter: health officials say the ebola patient, now in critical condition, may have exposed five children over the weekend, and as many as 13 others. the superintendent of dallas schools says those kids are no longer in class. those keeping an eye on the children say they have showed no symptoms. >> we are going to staff the schools with additional health professionals. we think - again, we have full confidence in c.d.c. that it's contained, but to lay fears, additional health professionals will be an hand to answer questions to check flu-like symptoms that kids may have. >> officials at the dallas county emergency treatment center are monitoring the health of three paramedics that took the patient to the hospital. they have passed health tests but will be quarantined for 21 days. >> do you feel confident your

guys are okay? >> yes. >> what gives us that confidence. >> based on conversations with epidemiologists, reach we have done, and others, every indication is that they have a low risk of exposure, and almost a zero chance of contracting ebola. >> the ebola visited the emergency room on friday, but was sent home with antibiotics. medical staff were not aware that the man travelled from west africa. wednesday administrators amended that. >> regret fully that information was not fully communicated throughout the full team. >> reporter: that is under investigation. why didn't they admit the man when they went to the emergency room tore help, if they -- for help f they had admitted him, they wouldn't have put your employees at risk. do you have concerns as to how this played out? >> i'll leave that for other people. >> a 10-member dam arrived in texas to help -- team arrived in

texas to help stop ebola in its tracks in this country. a sign of concern - if you go in the emergency room, there's hardly a soul in there - one or two patients, not at all typical for a bustling e.r. the community is listening, paying attention and trying to stay away. >> heidi zhou-castro reporting from dallas. turkey could join the fight against i.s.i.l. president recep tayyip erdogan said turkey would trying to stop i.s.i.l., and all terrorist organizations in the region, tomorrow their parliament will vote on whether to send troops into iraq. france has carried out two rounds of strikes. britain launched a second wave of attacks on targets in iraq, supporting the kurdish forces on the ground. in syria i.s.i.l. continues its brutality.

i.s.i.l. beheaded three women, kurdish fighters, and displayed their heads on a block. six male fighters were beheaded. nick schifrin is this week talking to those that escaped i.s.i.l., and those fighting on the ground. he talks to syrian army leaders fighting a war from aleppo on two fronts. >> reporter: in the largest city in northern syria, the only place left for children to play is in rubble created by air strikes. aleppo is the stronghold for syrian fighters allied by the u.s. half the city has been destroyed. the fighters need help. what will happen on the front line if you don't get more american help on the ground? >> translation: i.s.i.l. will advance from the east, the syrian government from the south. to be honest, the revolution will end within a month. >> 34-year-old hassan is fighting for control of northern

aleppo. they call themselves the fifth legion, and their amuition is paid for in part by the united states. they need the u.s., the u.s. needs them. if i.s.i.l. is to be defeated, these are the men that will have to do it? can the americans win the fight from the air? >> never. they'll trickle i.s.i.s. these areas are controlled... >>. >> reporter: this man speaks for the u.s. back groups fighting as the free syrian army. describing how the efforts how they are fighting on two fronts. inside aleppo city, and the syrian government in the south. north of aleppo. f.s.a. to the west, i.s.i.l. to the east, all the way to the turkish border. i'm in turkey, that is syria behind me the the town behind me - i.s.i.l. took it over, that's the black i.s.i.l. flag

fluttering in the town center, a mile and a half from me. i.s.i.l. is strong, fighting with equipment stolen from the iraqi army, including night vision, artillery and tanks. on the other side the u.s. provides anti-missiles to fighters considered trustworthy. the u.s. will train more fighters, but the f.s.a. is outmanned and gunned. >> translation: the reality of the revolution is painful, we have no choice but to take support from sim pathetic countries. >> reporter: supporting the fsa is not without risk, this shows f.s.a. supporters that left moderate groups to join i.s.i.l. the f.s.a. says it will not happen again. >> i.s.i.s. has the weapons, the regime has a lot of weapons. now is the time to put weapons in the right hands. >> not only weapons, the f.s.a.

says the u.s. air strikes need to expand and improve. have the air strikes helped where the f.s.a. is fighting i.s.i.l.? >> unfortunately, no, because there hasn't been coordination with the free syrian army, in terms of time or in terms of place. >> until the moderate fighters push back i.s.i.l. and the syrian government, those that suffer the most will be the people of aleppo. >> what is the condition of people living inside aleppo today? 20-year-old amu is an activist, and we spoke by skype. >> translation: we wake up and pull bodies from destroyed buildings. we have no ambulances or medicines, life is miserable. >> the u.s. must find and train fighters who have to win two separate battles. until then, aleppo's misery will continue. you can see more of nick's

reporting from turkey this friday, in a special report "five days of fear" airing the an 8:30 and 11:30pm eastern. >> warnings were exchanged at the white house between a meeting with binyamin netanyahu, and obama. they met in washington since a sit down since the israel-hamas conflict. they'll try to refocus attention on iran, warning president obama not to accept a deal to allow tehran to be a nuclear power. united states wants israel to find a lasting solution to tensions with the palestinians in gaza. coming next, achievement gaps in schools in the united states, why minority students are struggling.

severe weather is slamming areas of the united states, heavy rain and thunder storms are expected to continue throughout the week. dave warren is here with the latest. >> large size hail, and this is the start of an area of whether that will impact more of an area tomorrow, and much of the eastern united states will be affected by the storm. now it's tornado watch and severe thunderstorm watch along

with a few warnings. the storms have the potential to rotate, for now they are giving a lot of wind and hail coming down. individual storms is what we are seeing now. that shows you that there's likely small storms that produce wind and hail. it's not a large area of rain, but intense thunder storms is what we are trooking. these are -- tracking. these are the reports coming in, a few storms rotating, but nothing confirmed yet. it's a lot of wind damage and hail. the blue dots are the hail. that's the big impact from the storm. it will be moving slowly throughout the day tomorrow. this is the area spreading east tomorrow, as the storm intensifies, we'll see severe weather, but flooding rains moving through the mississippi valley tomorrow, but then by thursday night, and friday, it pushes east. not everyone will see strong thunder storms or flooding rain. you'll notice a big drop in

temperatures through the eastern united states and the northern plains by this weekend. much cooler fall-like weather is moving in. >> cool are weather and a mess to come. >> we are tracking the storms tomorrow, a lot more reports coming in. >> overseas - the death toll from a volcanic eruption in japan climbs. a rescue mission discovering more bodies at the mouth of mt ontake. 70 people are believed to have died from lethal gases. this is the most deadly japanese eruption. coming up. we talk to a doctor returning from fighting the ebola crisis. and henry kissing ger's plan for the cubans years ago.

welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm david shuster. coming up, from the front lines - we talk to a doctor that just returned from sierra leone, trying to stop the spread of ebola. education and equality, the gap between white and minority students. tens of thousands of walruses are gathered in alaska, and why they are moving on shore in record numbers.

authorities in texas say the map infected with ebola was initially turned away from the hospital last week. according to reports, the patient's name is thomas eric duncan, and he was cleared last thursday and given antibiotics by the emergency room staff the the liberian national is in serious condition and isolated. he was on two united flights in the jurn yoi from west africa -- journey from west africa to the united states. the company things the company travelled from brussels to washington d.c. and connected on a flight to dallas. officials are scrambling to find anyone that may have come in contact with him, including a group of children. they may have been exposed in a home on the weekend. and 13 others may have been exposed. dr susan donovan is an infectious disease specialist,

she returned from sierra leone, working with the world health organisation, in trying to contain the outbreak. first of all, what do you make of the case in texas? >> i think the case in texas is not unexpected. we have many travellers, health care workers, people in the united states travelling between west africa and the united states. i think the big difference between what we see in africa and the united states is where they have uncontrolled spread of ebola. we don't expect that to happen here. >> you were in sierra leone, i wonder if you can explain the impact it has had on the health infrastructure there. >> that's the untold story. a lot of focus is on ebola. rightly so. the health care system, which was fragile in sierra leone, which was recovering from civil conflict imploded. children are going without treatment, patients with tuberculosis are getting delays in therapy, and patients are

avoiding going to hospitals that have ebola treatment or isolation treatments. there's a tremendous amount of concern if they do go to the hospital. they may be exposed to ebola. many patients with heart disease and other chronic diseases are not getting the treatment they need. >> many of the senior staff at the hospitals have died. >> that is correct, and that's the un told tragedy. the hospital i worked in, the eastern border, has lost its medical leadership and virtual lay all the senior nursing staff. so when i worked there i worked with young nurses, just out of their training, who continued to work, despite the fact that they saw many of their colleagues die, and they don't have the experience of senior staff, but still go to work every day. >> given the dangerous circumstances, why would you put yourself in harm's way like

this. >> well, you know, that's what we all do. firemen go to fires, infectious disease physicians go to where there's outbreaks. my background is in public health. i also in this country help protect health care workers getting infections and patient getting infections in hospital. i was disturbed when i heard about the alarming number of workers being infected in west africa, and that's an area that i focused on is how can we protect the health care workers better, not just the international health care workers, but the national health care workers. international health care workers may be there for four weeks or months, but they go home. the national health care workers work day in, day out under, frankly, appalling conditions. i wanted to make sure they had the resources necessary to protect themselves. the health care workers go in,

take care of patients, and have to deal with the community that socially aust ra sizes them. >> in addition to the courage of all the staff and people that travelled there, i wonder if you can identify something a lot of americans may not appreciate about ebola in sierra leone, and what it's doing. >> i think another sad consequence of this is all the orphans. i saw a number of infants and children in the treatment units who have lost both parents, so they are in a very, very tragic situation, ill with no relatives to take care of them. i was touched by the number of patients who would reach out and help take care of these children, even though they were not feeling well, would make sure that they took their medication, obviously in addition to the health staff there, but also make sure that they drank and ate, and that they, you know, would have a

blanket at night. the real question is what is going to happen to the children when they are discharmed from the treatment -- discharged from the treatment units, who will take them home. many came from small villages, far away interest the treatment centers. many of the patients lived at the hospital because they had no way to return to their home village, and didn't have a family to return to. >> it sounds so tough to witness that. this must be taking quite a toll on you. >> you know, i choose to be inspired by the people i work with. every day i went in and worked right alongside national staff and i was so inspired by patients. another amazing story is the patients that survive, this is an untapped resource. these individuals are immune. they can work with patients with ebola, and they did.

we had many patients that would stay and work with us and help the other patients because we were restricted in the amount of time that we could spend in the treatment unit because of the type of protective gear that we wore. these are amazing individuals that had survived ebola, and choose to continue to help people from their country. >> dr susan donovan, a professor of infectious diseases at u.c.l.a. good luck to you. three children linked to entero virus 68 have died. the latest a 10-year-old girl in rhode island. the girl had a staff infection, so they are not sure what roll the virus played in her death. in colorado, 10 children with respiratory illness are experiencing paralysis. so far it has infected 500 people in 41 states. there was a shake-up in the

u.s. secret service, director julia pearson resigned following a series of strong questions and criticism from congress. the agency say has been closely watched following a breach two weeks ago when an army veteran broke in with a knife. there was another mishap with the agency last month, a contractor, armed with a gun, arrested for assault was allowed on an elevator with the president during his trip to atlanta. >> over the last several days we have seen recent and accumulating reports racing questions about the performance of the agency. the president reported that new leadership was required. >> joe clancy is taking over as the head of the secret service, the former lead agent of president obama's protective detail. the pro-democracy protest in hong kong may reach another point of confront days. they are threatening to occupy

government buildings if the chief executive does not resign, and wants beijing to reverse a decision to vet candidates. an act of civil disobedience has been dubbed the umbrella revolution, as many use umbrellas to shield themes from the police. the activists began to use a form of decentralized technology in response to internet being cut off. jacob ward explains. >> we have seen that digital technology and the ability to communicate between mobile phones and computers can change movements. it depend which technology you use. >> reporter: it's the first rule of crushing a protest. shut off telecommunications - that's how north korea does it - or use technology to monitor the

protesters. we saw that in ukraine. >> in hong kong, they have established an offline network using an app. the term is mesh met working. this is a little different. protesters use fire chaff, developed in san francisco, for people that want to exchange text message via bluetooth, used at off the grid event, like burning man or coa chella, in hong kong, it's the live blood of the protest. a central system controls the service and the connection to the internet. if the government blocks access phones and computers are disconnected. a mesh net work doesn't connect. phones and computers communicate directly. there's no plug to pull. if someone has an internet connection, it is shared with everyone, it's a dictator's nightmare. technology can be a protestor's

undoing. fire chat was never designed for evading surveillance, and the founders are quick to point out that messages are public. >> it was not so much designed as a tool for protest. had we known about hong kong before, what would change? probably a few smaller things would change. fundamentally the product would be the same. >> so mesh is not a silver bullet to prevent surveillance or censorship. in the same way you wouldn't send credit card details over the internet without encrypting them: on an america you want to encyst. >> reporter: when used correctly it provide free linking technology. in tunisia it was important, and through the arab springs. in hong kong it could be the difference between a coordinated protest and a blind mob waiting

in the darkness to be arrested. there are new reports that a piece of malware, a fake application is put out there to look as if it was created by protest organizers but may have been created by the chinese government to monitor the process. it asks for contact information and location on a map. it shows that it's incredibly important that protesters not be too trusting in how much personal information they give to technology, and they know what they do before coordinating a protest to use that technology. >> jacob ward reporting from san francisco. the former leader of the bosnia serbs took to the stands at the hague. ratko m laddic has been on trial. he was the driving force behind a war that tore bosnia apart and left 100,000 dead. his defense continueses

thursday, he's supposed to increase address the srebrenica matter. the accusations has been called lies. there's startling information about an all-out plan to attack cuba nearly 40 years ago, the idea of former u.s. secretary of state henry kissinger, including aircraft, ports, marines on the ground. the goal, "smash cuba", and it's coming from a batch of newly declassified governments. paul beban has been taking a closer look. >> the documents are stunning. they have been kept secret. it's a transcript of conversations between henry kissinger, gerald ford, president and a small team of security officials. they've been made public, and it's a breath taking glimpse of how willing kissinger was to go to war. >> reporter: in late 1979, the middle of the cold war cuban

leader fidel castro took a step that almost prove ebbed a drastic response from the u.s. he sent cuban troops to the african nation of angola where a civil war was a proxy battle in the ongoing struggle for global dominance between the u.s. and soviet union. kissinger, who had been working behind the scenes to improve relations is cuba were furious: the president's apply: the previously undisclosed episode is recounted in the book "back channel to cuba." >> i think kissinger was offended that he had held out an olive branch to fidel castro, and he, in kissinger's mind threw it aside in order to send troops to angola.

>> in another conversation with the president: >> kissinger was a proflep tick of the. he was so angry, you could hear it in his voice "we have to demand they get out of africa." >> kissinger's plans included a blockade and mining cuban ports. minders warned it could trigger a super power showdown. >> the way kissinger recommended it to president ford was shocking. this would have made for a serious confrontation with the soviet union. we promised the soviets that we would not attack cuba in exchange for the withdrawal of soviet cuban missiles. >> reporter: kissinger was

unperturbed: . . >> in the end kissinger's plans wept into the dust bin of history on november 2nd n, 197 of when jimmy carter was elected president. >> the authors say they reached out to comment to secretary kissinger, and rum felt, secretary of defense. both declined to comment. >> great story. thank you. and, by the way, we'll move on. according to the federal bureau of investigation, a texas girl abducted 12 years ago has been found safe and living in mexico. sabrina alan was four when her mother abducted her in 2002. sabrina was found safety of mexico city. her discovery part of a stealth operation led by the fbi, u.s. marshalls and the mexican federal authorities. hefr mother is in custody. this week the department of

housing and urban development mapped out guidelines for a white house initiative, the goal to decrease goals. not a single hispanic or state student passed maths or reading this year. mary chapman is the executive vice president for national network of communities in school. why is there an achievement gap between white students and latino and african-americans. >> i would say for the first time history, afghan american and latino students are the majority across america. when you couple na with a rise in poverty across the country, the inequality is only exacerbated. we have to mobilize communities to provide students in poverty with nonacademic supports they

need. that's what this does. >> academic achievement - what are the outside pressures that correlate with poor academic achievement? >> many students come to school and they are jammed with a lot of things happening outside the classroom - it may be homelessness, lack of food, and they are hungry. it could be lack of basic services like health care, or having enough caring adults in their life providing role models, being on opportunitiy for them to demonstrate what they can do. >> are there circumstances that the poor have, that don't tend to influence academic achievement. >> i wouldn't say so. there are so many changes that come about with poverty, we have to mobilize communities to bring in the resources that kids need, to be present in the classroom to learn. that takes a lot of resources that kids need. >> what are some of the other things that are identified as closing the education gap? >> access to all of those

different community supports - whether health care, a mentor, a tutor, someone there in their life and present every day. at communities and schools we bring in qualified and professional site coordinators going out in the community, finding resources and bring them in to serve those in needs. in is effective over the last 35 years. kids that we are serving are able to increase graduation rates. our kids that are targeted for drop out are promoted at about a 97" rate. there's a lot of success with kids. bringing in the supports and providing them. >> another programme with headlines in new york is a pilot programme to pay students that even their families for doing things like checking in with counsellors, getting regular visits, attending class. is that part of the wave for the future, that you can pay students or families to reward them for doing what a lot of kids are supposed to be doing.

>> any supports you provide, that raise the awareness of the importance of education, the importance of families checking in with their kids, making sure the work is done, demonstrating the importance of showing up can be effective. >> how effective is psychological help and counselling? >> it is important. >> there's a lot of research showing that chronic poverty creates stress on students. you have to eliminate the stress by eliminating the barriers happening inside the classroom, as well as outside the classroom in order for them to take advantage of the learning at school. >> gary chapman, executive vice president of the national network of communities in schools in washington. thank you for coming on the programme. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. tonight's picture of the day is coming up next. plus - a record number of walruses honging out on the

alaska's shore line. we explain the anonymous symbols causing them to rest there on the beach.

i'm meteorologist dave warren, you are watching the southern plains. a storm that is developing giving wind damage, large hail and a few reports of frontal clouds. no tornados. it will intensify. we will watch the area closely. it will impact the united states. tomorrow, severe weather, starting to drift east and intensify, bringing up the warm air, trailing a cold front across arkansas, and missouri. that will be the focus for severe weather. it looks like we'll see reports of wind damage and hail, like tonight. we had gul ball size hail across

kansas, nebraska, shifting east tomorrow. with the moisture from the south, flooding is possible. flash flooding and general river flooding could be an issue throughout the day on thursday and friday over this area. 2-4 inches of rain look to be coming done as the storm pushes eased. >> thursday and friday it pushes across the east coast, bringing in cooler air, a big drop in temperatures you'll notice, especially over the northern plains by the weekend.

curious visitors turned occupy on the coast of alaska. thousands of walruses crowded on to the shore. the reason to celebrate is not something to celebrate. >> no, it's not something to celebrate. they are headed to the shore, largely because they have no choice. it's a symbol of the changing climate. >> reporter: the photo shows 35,000 wall are youses crowding

the -- walruses crowding the coast. the walrus resist have to come because there's not enough life at sea. >> this is an historic moment for the arctic, because of the change in the sea ice. essentially in 20-30 years, scientists predict the arctic will be ice free in the summer time. that's a change for the arctic, for the planet. >> and a change for the walrus. the animals spotted were comped out on-- camped out on the north west coast of the to the west. the waters are home to most of the walruses. as the global temperatures rise, the sea ice is melting. the animals rest on the flows between meals from waters down below. with less and less ice to go around, more and more are heading ashore. >> they are called hull outs, but they haul their large bodies on to the land. >> that raises concern about food supply in the areas.

scientists with the u.s. geological survey say the crowds could affect their own safety. >> in the large hall outs, if there's a disturbance, the walruses want to flee into the ocean, and some of the younger ones are trampled. >> reporter: they are not the only ones feeling the heat. polar bears are forced to seek out new habitats, and changing conditions for other species. activists say what happens in the arctic has an impact further south. >> there's evidence that the lose of sea ice is influencing the jet stream. >> multiple changing in the jet stream causes stream weather, suggesting that melting sea ice is not just a problem for walruses in lask, but the whole -- alaska, but the whole world. water temperatures in the north pacific is 5 degrees higher. never have scientists seen the

north pacific so warm for so long. >> now to the picture of the day. the freeze frame celebrates the birthday of a former president, jimmy carder - turning -- jimmy carter turning 90 years young, and here he is, blowing out the candles. he credits his vigor with swimming. he tries to swim every day. i'm david shuster. "america tonight" with joie chen, is up next.

>> on "america tonightment" of how ebola came to america. a step by step account of the spread of the virus as an infected traveler arrived from liberia to a dallas hospital. why wasn't the virus stopped before it reached texas and where could ebola pop up next? also tonight, gunned down in the shopping aisle. >> i heard him struggling to growth. i heard him crying, you know and i heard the police officers. >> the mother of the victim speaks for first time on tv, as "america

tonight," christof putzel goes in depth as police shoot down a customer in a walmart aisle. he had a gun but was he a threat? >> and he gave it his all. wall. this is the only way i know how to play. mom this is the only way i know how to play. >> but at what price? "america tonight"'s michael okwu okwu, american player and sad death, major questions for major league baseball . >> and good evening, thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen.