people took part in a mass wedding. there was a performance in the square in honour of the newly weds. happy valentine's day, that there do it for this hour. thank you for joining us. i'm thomas drayton in new york. i'm back with another hour of news at 11:00pm eastern. thanks for watching. late paul barron said this, the process of technological development is like building a cathedral. new people come along and each lays down a block on top of the block on top of the on "america tonight" for sale. worthless deeds. welcome to florida, 2015. >> i thought that we lived in a country where your property couldn't be seized for private gape. this may be legal. my question to you is it moral. his response. >> there's no question of morality in business. >> how do you describe yourself? >> a mad junkyard dog.

defensive. a little piece of god's greenacre. >> that is in the valley of western pennsylvania. in the late 1950s, the local steel mill was taken over by a company contracted to build nuclear bombs. >> it's a nice town until the industry came in. thanks for joining us i'm joie chen if there's one thing you ought to be able to count on, it's a place called home. tonight we remind you that trust can be betrayed. hurricanes and the building market was hit hard. a law intended to protect investors became a vehicle for buyers to steal homes, forcing out condo openers who did nothing wrong. our investigation from "america

tonight"s sheila macvicar. >> i thought that we lived in a country where your property couldn't be ceased for private gain. and this blows me away. that this is possible. in the united states. it blows me away. >> in 2006, this woman bought what she thought was an american dream. a 2-bedroom condo minimum. >> i never missed a payment. never intended to. >> her mortgage reasoning condo fees taxes, paid on time up to date. >> this is surreal. >> reporter: she was shocked when she received word that the complex was being terminated converted. forcing her to sell far less than she paid for it. to buyers in miami, the people

who sold it to her. >> i paid them and they are pieing it for pennies on the dollar. i would love a deal like that. >> reporter: two miami lawyers bought it to you, and now they tell you you no longer own it. >> and that they'll buy it. >> reporter: and a price they set. >> that they set. >> reporter: could you have held out. could you have refused to sell. >> no >> reporter: why not? >> they told me that the determination was recorded as of may 2014. they told me they had owned it since then. >> reporter: even though you didn't sign a piece of paper. >> i signed nothing. forced sales, worthless deeds. welcome to florida 2015. this all-star law designed to make it easier for developers to

redevelop condos in building in disrepair. it is nout used by property -- now being used by property companies to force owners to sell the owns. the companies snap up the unit. no matter how much home owners pay for them. it's a disaster for home owners. in florida's boom and bust real estate market gonzalez figured the value of her condo would bounce. >> never thought this was possible. >> reporter: she had to walk away from the mortgage the credit is ruined. >> it feels like a violation. >> a few of the owners remain. these hold-outs hired lawyers and are trying to fight the condo determination. at the least, some of their money back.

hi shirley. 85-year-old shirley is one of them. she bought her condo. what a great view you have. >> yes. >> reporter: she paid almost all in cash. now she case if she sold the unit she gets $46, 500. the equity she built up over a lifetime nearly $200,000 gone. where would you go? >> no place. i would have to go in a tent or something, i don't know. >> reporter: did it ever occur to you that this could happen to you? >> no never. i thought when you opened something, you owned it. >> reporter: since the law passed state records show 217 complexes affecting close to

20,000 units. jo is a retired cop, a decorated war veteran, his wife a retired school teacher. living in florida was a retirement dream in this village near tampa. >> ewe loved the idea of having a condo. we didn't have to worry about taking care of things. >> we thought we'd spent fart of the year west. and in the cole months this is an our florida home. >> investors joined forces and own most of the unit. >> i call this my condo research file. >> reporter: the cunninghams and neighbours are told that a condo termination is coming. >> trying to inform us about the war and what they do if they start a termination process, if there's a bill for termination.

to proceed, that we will offer them market value for the unit. >> have to accept it. >> basically we would be forced out. >> according to the law, we would espell and have to leave the unit. >> reporter: even though you don't want to sell. >> we don't want to sell. >> reporter: you are fine with the mortgage. >> we are fine not behind. paid up. >> reporter: under the state law, if a buyer owns 80% of the unit they can, unless 10% of owners reject. there's nothing, absolutely nothing an individual owner can do. >> this law gives an investor the possibility and the right for certain conditions to force

you out of your home. >> that's correct. >> and not make you part of what you invested. >> no. >> the original developer went into foreclosure. a huge block of units wound up in the hands of a consortium including the carol group in attanta. >> thank you for calling carol organization. >> reporter: we reached out to them to see if they'd comment on the story. they declined. they boasted on the website of conditioning its buying in florida. >> the amendment to change the declaration of condominium. >> reporter: plan of termination. stephanie has been trying to rally condo owners to fight the state's termination law. she is fighting a legal battle of her own to stay in her condo in maddison oaks. >> there's no agencies in the

state of florida regulating what the buyers and investors are doing. they are coming in doing whatever they can do and getting away with it. there's nobody helping us. >> in a statement the men say:. >> we are 100% occupied. >> what will happen to you, what will you do if they force you to take what they have offered. >> i'll have to file bankruptcy. unfortunately. something i never imagined. >> a force sale will leave her in debt. >> what do they say when you challenge them? >> sorry, the how allows us to do so. then we have the issue of nobody is stopping them.

>> reporter: we wanted to meet with presswick partners miami lawyers turning the lives of these two women upside down. >> we have been emailing them calling them. they haven't responded. we'll see if they talk to us. initially they declined to speak with me. mike's partner called me. and told me everything they have done is 100% legal. all the risks spelt out in the closing document. >> it may be legal. >> his response - there's no morality in business. they have terminated the complex because they have the legal right to do so. what do you say to those who sold you the condominium. >> i wonder how they sleep at night, knowing that they have done this to as many people.

so are you going to go down to the fitness center? >> we have been very responsible financially, yet someone can come in and take our home away. i fought in vietnam to someone couldn't take my property away. >> could you stay in florida? >> no we'd be out. walk away with nothing next fast-forward to one man's dream. >> did you think you would be a middle school coach? >> not at all. it happened. god made the situation. >> "america tonight"s sara hoy with an n.b.a. star and a dying wish that put him back on the court hop on the web site - dying on the track. more than 900 greyhounds died on

dog tracks since 2008. talk to al jazeera part of our special black history month coverage on al jazeera america

man's dream. on the track. on the track. . . >> pp >> pp >> america's first climate refugees >> this is probably a hurricane away from it being gone. >> who's to blame?

>> 36% of land lost was caused by oil and gas industry... >> ...and a fight to save america's coastline. >> we have kinda made a deal with the devil >> fault lines al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... award winning investigative documentary series... the disappearing delta only on al jazeera america fast-forward to a story about a man's hoop dream, and a friend that took to the court - highs dying wish. it's no small deed. the friend is an n.b.a. super star. anthony penny hard away. he went home to memphis and explained why to "america tonight"s sara hoy. . former point >> reporter: former point guard

returned to a middle school to help a friend battling colon cancer. desmond was given 24 hours to live. an infection ravaged his body. he awoke from a medically induced coma. his one request - help the lions. >> i said you have it wrong, we are not worried about the team we are worried about you. >> he didn't want to hear it. he said we'll be okay go to the state championship. it was that year's team. i thought you are not worried about your health you are worried about the kids. - >> reporter: in the end he honoured his friend's request. did you think you would be a middle school coach? >> never. but i'm enjoying it i thank

god. >> i saw him jump back into the zone of being a coach. no more tv part. i can leave it alone. >> reporter: why do you do this you don't have to? you could get a pass to do nothing. >> because it helps the kids. it's in my heart. >> if you don't invest in the community, these will be the kids that are the robbers. they'll do something negative in the community that we hate seeing, we can do something about it. all they want is love. his heart is so big. it's how great he is as a person. >> it brings tearing to my eyes. i knew the job was hard but he's made it that much more easier.

we are heart broken to hear that the coach lost his battle to cancer last week keeping up their fight, they won the state championships inspired by their coach next a threat in time. western pennsylvania nuclear weapons, and how they got there. >> they didn't know. they were clueless.

there's a toxic legacy of the cold war buried beneath

200,000 communities. several hundred sites tied. one of them where an unlikely champion stands determined to dig to the bottom of the issue, no matter how long it takes. >> the truth is a broken record. it may sometimes stand alone, but it always stand. here i am still. >> how do you describe yourself in. >> a mad yard dog. mad junkyard job defending our little piece of god's greenacre here. >> that greenacre is here in the valley of western pened pennsylvania and patty has been defending it. in the late 1920s. a steel mill was taken over by a company contracted to build nuclear bombs. patty grew up across the street.

>> i grew up in apollo. there was one store, two movie theatres. and it was a nice town. then this industry came in. and we didn't know. >> people don't. >> people didn't know. they were clueless. >> back in the day, the work of the valley was to support america. patriotic. and unquestioning. she left to serve her country, join the navy trust her government. by the time she came back to apollo, some here worry about the risks of having a nuclear plant and its waste so close by. her father asked her to check it out. >> i'm a die hard for our country.

and i equated our government as our country. you couldn't tell me anything about it that there couldn't be improp prities in the steps. >> reporter: you thought the government would do the right thing. >> i thought the government could do the right thing. all they had to do was show there was something here if it existed. so i said opening, i'll look into it. >> she did. digging up three million documents, mostly on her own. documents that chronicle illnesses, cancer. deaths. she had two brain tumours and uterine cancel and fuelled the anxiety and anger that the community brings down to the twisted thistle. >> we've had our share, and then some. we can only try to make it right. we can't undo what's been wrong. >> that's true. >> reporter: trying to make it right. she has led a search for

answers. neither the government nor knew mack the company that ran the site until 1967 acknowledged any of this was caused by bomb making or by the nuclear waste dumped in pits across the neighbouring 44 acre property. even though they contain ukrainium 235 and plu tonium the same used in the bomb drops. >> for better off or worse, a new age is born. >> people were in spitting distance from living there. there was restaurants that abutted it. there is a - a dairy farm that abutted it that everyone got their milk from. this has been very scary. who cares. i do. i love this area i love these people. this is - this is our country. this is home.

talks about it. >> in another 14 years they are forcing the current owners to pay settlement money, we asked but wouldn't talk to "america tonight" about why. patty says the answer is obvious. >> oh, my goodness yes. a reasonable prudent person could stand in the town of apollo and see with a plan not designed to be a plant. it's not rocket science. >> the money is not solving the underlying problem. amino kept pushing. first for a fence so neighbours

would quit playing and walking dogs on land that may have concealed hundreds of nuclear waste. >> there's a mine blow. you don't need the dirty bomb it's a mine. it has methane in it. if it explodes? >> you'd have a coal mine fire. >> and nuclear material. >> they have to get out. make it whole again. >> the ultimate goal is to get all of it dug up and removed. although determining how much there is remains a challenge. >> it's associated with the placement of the materials into the trenches was very poor and not well documented. >> reporter: mike is the project manager for the army corp of engineers, the latest federal agency to manage the sites. the bomb-making started under the atomic energy commission. in the decade since, what to do

with the waste is a hot potato. we tried to get answers from the nuclear regulatory commission nrc, e.p.a. and doe and n n.s.a. and the whole alphabet of federal and state agencies that began since the bumping began 50 years ago. not one would go on camera to find out why dumping was allowed close to unities, and why after decades, it's still there. >> i frankly don't believe that anybody did anything wrong. it was as it was. material was placed there. was it a good idea? >> i can't say. >> it happened in the fall of 2011, halting after a few weeks.

workers discovered unexpected complex materials at the site. >> thank you for coming we have a good crowd. >> it is ready to try again. but the clean-up will cost over $400 million. nearly 10 times the previous estimate. >> this is once again. it's like ground hog day. we have had these meetings for 20 years. >> at the latest public hearing, the former mayor of the town next to the dump joined other neighbours determined to get the clean-up finished. even if they don't live to see it themselves. >> right now i am going through chemotherapy. and i don't want to do that all over again. chemotherapy sucks. >> the fear is that the government would let this become a coast town rather than deal with it. lock the gaits and leave the waste buried frozen in time.

at this point the core of engineers exited the clean up starting in 2017 and take another 10 years to complete. >> we can sure as hl move forward with -- hell move forward with something good. >> do you believe they'll get it done. >> i believe they have to have incentive. >> reporter: what is incentive? >> a mat junkyard dog at their heels. >> that's patty, still fighting. the e.p.a. spokeswoman told us tests showed no significant contamination. as to why it's taken so long to clean up the site. she couldn't answer. >> that's "america tonight". a former c.i.a. agent. lend a use of torture. that is this week on "america tonight". . >> tell us what you think at

aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter or facebook and come back again for more "america tonight". crops, but not far away sits this... the vast pacific ocean. and so here in carlsbad, north of san diego, the largest desalination plant in the western hemisphere is under construction at a cost of a billion dollars. and farther up the coast... >> we are in the lovely city of santa barbara at our desalination facility that was built during the last drought and we are looking at reactivating the facility to help meet the demands of this

current drought. >> twenty plus years ago this facility was state of the art, but time and technology has changed, recommissioning this plant is a huge undertaking, but without it, the region could likely run out of water. is "techknow." a a show about intersection of hardware and heuvment and we're doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science, by scientists. tonight, "techknow" investigates mining the deep. dr. shini somara is a mechanical engineer. tonight, one company's ambitious plan that could