>> hi, everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. fraternity fallout. two students now expelled over a racist chant. we'll look at the troubled history of fraternities and race. reply all. hillary clinton defends using private e-mail. >> it has numerous safeguards. it was on property guarded by the secret service. >> what she said, and what it could mean for 2016.

open for business. a first in the nation for legal marijuana. where you can buy pot from the government. and altered reality. looking at how we look at the world. >> we begin with a racist fraternity video out of oklahoma. the condemnation was loud and came from all across america. the consequences, swift and severe. today university of oklahoma's president expelled two students. he called them leaders that have vicious chant, and he promised to track down and punish the other students involved. >> john, the university president said he was going to make an example out of these students and he did. his decision has garnered the backing of the white house that

called the expulsion an appropriate step. identified as the leaders of this racist chant with a bus full of fraternity brothers, two students from the university of oklahoma are officially expelled from school. [ singing ] university president responded quickly. >> show zero tolerance when we're dealing with raceism. >> he said there could be more action with other students. he said, i hope students will learn from this experience and realize it is wrong to use words to hurt, threaten, and exclude other people. we'llwe will continue our investigation of all the students engaged in the singing of this chant.

this will send the message that racism is wrong. >> everybody on this bus was singing this chant proudly and confidently. >> one of the largest fraternity in the country with 15,000 members. the national chapter denyies any connection to the racist chant. >> this song is not sanctioned, endorsed or otherwise a national song. >> van boren shut down the fraternity their charter revoked. members have until midnight tuesday to move out. >> are you embarrassed? >> extremely. >> the house mother for the fraternity for the past 15 years. >> i'm in shock. >> did you ever get any indication there was anything like this. >> no, no, no. never heard the song. >> but she was singing a different tune when this video published by the student oklahoma daily was allegedly recorded two years ago.

as she followed along with the hook of a rab song rap song using the "n" word, laughing all the while. these students do not find it funny. they walk arm in arm against racism, and other students echo that sentiment in song. ♪ deep in my heart ♪ >> and we heard from the fraternity's own chef who heard that the fraternity is being shut down and now out of a job. >> outrageous. >> now the fraternity chef has been working at the frat house for 14 years. he said the chant was stooped stupid, but he considers the fraternity brothers as family, and he will miss them. since he lost his job there are two crowd funding efforts under way raising $65,000 combined. >> we're learning more about

students who might have been involved? >> yes, the university not naming the students, especially the ones who were expelled just yet, but we're hearing a little bit from people who know these students. the parents of one student leavitt pettit went online saying that he made a horrible mistake, but he is not a racist. >> welcome r ashida, it's good to have you on the program. i take it you were not surprised by this video? >> no, i was not surprised at the least at all. >> why not? >> um, well, being that i'm from oklahoma originally, things like in, i wouldn't say that they happen all the time, but i can't say that i've never been a victory victim to racism.

it didn't surprise me that it happened, but it surprised me in the way that it happened. >> if racism has been evident blatant on that campus, why haven't more people student up stood up and talked about it, or have you? >> well, there is an organization called, oh, you unheard, and they did start back in january. they sent in an 11-page letter to the administration saying the changes that needed to be made. i think the administration took it seriously but they didn't really enforce anything until the events that took place this weekend happened. they said that they were going to look into issues and try to do as much as they can to make us feel welcomed, but they didn't understand to the extent. a lot of people have explained their stories but singing it is a totally different thing. >> let's talk about the

decisions to expel two students so far. what is your reaction? >> um, i think that it's an unfortunate situation because i know the future for these young men has been put at stake but at the same time there has to be an example made out of somebody, and it's sad that those boys had to be the example. i think it was the right move. >> i'm assuming as big as that university is, it's also very small, and that there must be discussions about who was on that bus who was in that video can you talk about what is going on behind the scenes on campus? >> well, as far as campus goes, a lot of people, i can tell, are trying to be very hush-hush about it, but i've been told the isc organizations have been hold not to speak on this act at all. if they do, they're letters will be on the line, and they could be in jeopardy of losing being

part of their organizations. so a lot of the people that are apart of these organizations have not spoken about that at all. >> is >> is this to blame for all this? >> i definitely think that it's a different culture. a lot of things are cultural. i think i've gone to high school with some of the people that are part of this organization in particular and a part of other organizations, and they definitely have changed a lot the way that they act because for the simple fact that like i said this is not the only fraternity that done a racist act. they were just the first ones to get caught on tape. so a lot of people have changed that i know that i grew up with, that would not necessarily be a part of such an act such a blatantly disrespectful act. a lot of them would not normally be part of that.

the fact that they're part of a fraternity they feel like they need to fit in. i'm not sure what values are instilled in them during their time when they're becoming members, but a lot of it is cultural. i would definitely say. >> rashida, it's good to have you on the program. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> fraternities have a long and complicated history with race. but for many accounts racist attitudes are prevalent in greek societies across america. another factor could be at work in the video out at oklahoma peer pressure. we have more on life in the greek word. >> the game show is fake, but it proved a real point. audience chants, encouraging a shock while the man was in pain. it was all a stunt. the man was not hurt, but no no one else knew.

it was the power of peer pressure and how groups can be red led to do the unthinkable. >> when you watched that video you were not surprised at what you saw? >> no, i was still shocked. >> andrew was part of the fraternity at dartmouth college where he was hazed forced to bench drink chug vinegar and vomit on others. >> there were times when i would look in the mirror and think what is happening here. >> yet not only would he do what he was told, and he would haze otherwise. he left school in 2011 and wrote a book at what happened. >> what is going to happen? you put 18- to 20-year-old boys in a manage, and no mansion, and no good is going to come from that. >> basically people want to feel that they remember the book, there is a need to belong.

they want to feel like other people approve of them. >> that need to belong, he says, can create a herd mentality that can be used to build positive bonds or lead to abuses in any organization. and pushing back can be very daunting. >> i think a lot of kids on that bus are thinking, this is not right. i'm not going to go along with that, but the bigger point is they did not say this is wrong. it takes a lot to stand up in the face that have group mentality. >> after lakers ohse stepped forward, the fraternity denied the accusations. they say they offer an inclusive safe culture where events like what happened in oklahoma don't reflect who they are. >> sammy dow the national director he's in baltimore. sammy, is this about peer

pressure? >> good evening, john, i think its more than peer pressure. what we see is an issue that is really consistent on college campuses across the country. we have a real issue with race relations and race discrimination. i think its time that the university administrators across the country take action just as expeditiously and decisive as we've seen in oklahoma over the past few days. >> why the fraternities, and why is this so blatant? >> well, let me say as a member of a black greek organization, racism and prejudice has no place in any brotherhood or sisterhood. these are founded on principles of leadership, and we have to make sure that they take seriously their role in producing leaders. we think its blatant because we've seen so many incidents of racism across the country and

quite honestly, university officials have not been held accountable when those racist actions take place on their campus. a precedence has been set for university administrators across the country. >> you mentioned you're a member of a greek organization, and some of these fraternities have their roots going back all the way to the civil war. african-american greek organizations did not come until much later. was it simply because whites wouldn't accept blacks in their fraternities and sororities, so african-americans started their own? >> i think you hit the nail on the head there john. we know in the early 1900s african-americans were allowed to cook and serve in many of these fraternity houses but were not allowed membership. you saw organizations pop up across the country for african-americans, developing brotherhood on the ideals of scholarship and leadership, and

beginning with the alfa phi alfalfaalfa fraternity. this would produce the next generation of leaders and become serious and thoughtful to do so in a way that president boren called for zero policy for racism. >> the president of the university expelled two students, and who knows what is going to happen in the next few days. but why didn't president boren know that racism was a serious problem on his campus. >> i can't speak that president boren knew it was an issue on his campus. the young lady who was on before this segment shared that there was information communicated to administration around what was going on, and really can't speak to why they decided not to act previously, but i do think that he established a healthy and a

productive precedent for moving forward and how university administrators ought to handle these issues. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, john. >> isil fighters are on the run in tikrit. there has been a week of heavy fighting in that city be but reported advances against isil have been reversed in the past. jane arraf reports from george northern iraq. >> it has taken days to get to this point the iraqi military and shia militias it is working with has cleared towns and villages along the way. they've taken them back and then lost some of them again. it's an indication that this is really an isil stronghold. tikrit was one of the first cities that isil seized after it took mosul last june. it's a sunni city predominantly in a majority sunni province, that's why it is seen as a test.

a test of whether a largely shia fighting force can actually take over the city and keep control. there is still a lot of progress to be made in terms of clearing the surrounding areas. iraqi military forces are still not in complete control of tikrit itself. that's expected to take days, but residents here in the north of iraq in the kurdish region say they fear what could happen after. they fear there will be significant destruction in the city and they also fear revenge killings prompted by revenge on those that are seen to be responsible for the execution of more than 1,000 military recruits. the fear is that the military and their shia militia partners will take retribution on others who they claim to be complicit with isil.

>> the u.s. ambassador was-released from the hospital. he was attacked and left with gashes on his face and arm. the suspect was shouting about military drills with the u.s. and calling for reunification with the north. still ahead e-mail issues, hillary clinton describes her private e-mail use and why some critics are not satisfied. if is an unique retail experience. in north bonneville, washington, a small town that has figured out how to have its own marijuana store and sell it legally, they think.

>> an illinois prosecutor says he plans to pursue grand jury indictments this week against the head of a chicago area islamic school accused of sexual assault. it's a story we followed from the start at al jazeera.

mohammed abdullah salin was arrested in february. he appeared in court on sexual abuse and battery charge. there is also a civil suit against the imam ledging sexual assault against four women who say they were minors at the time. taking legalized marijuana to the next level. now commuters can customers can now buy their pot from a government store. >> when we first visited, it was a concept looking for a home in an empty building. mayor donachie teaches wanted the city to control the product and and keep the cash. >> a lot of people like it because it gives your body a

nice peaceful feeling without putting you in the couch. >> now the door is open, the sandwich board is out and the cash is in. >> you get sweet little grandmothers who you don't anticipate coming in, and they know what strain they're looking for. >> the purple cush. >> yes, the one love, and purple cush. >> it is a government entity owning a pot store. >> tom spencer steered the one-of-a-kind permitting process as a paid consulting. >> what is your anticipated projection? $2.5million. >> it's a city that owns a pot store--sort of. >> the liquor control board has said they really don't like the term city-owned.

>> so call it municipally operated but don't expect the mayor and the sheriff to agree on selling pot. >> the real stuff that needs to happen is they need to d-list marijuana and cannabis from the schedule. >> i'll take any money that you have that is generated from your traditional tax revenue sources but i don't want to take your marijuana money. >> the sheriff department provides policing for the city on contract. he's worried about sending mixed messages to kids about drugs and about taking federal money from drug prevention programs. >> i would think that the federal government would look at that and go, we can't support using drug money to supporting pot. i don't think that's fair or right. >> you're looking for some kind of firm answer.

>> you'll i'm say something i think they have an obligation to, and they need to step up. >> then there is the question of how the money is spent and on what. the goal is to support public health and safety in the cash-strapped city, but there is no set formula of what that means. >> we still don't know how much money will be generated. >> yes. >> does it make you nervous? >> a little bit. >> many jurisdictions are opting out. 11 washington counties have an outright ban and moratorium on pot-related cities. 99 cities have said no while north bonneville is saying yes. spencer expects that it could produce $200,000 profit in the first year. that's a third of the city's general fund budget. >> were you a pot smoker? did you know anything about marijuana before all this? >> i knew nothing about marijuana. i was thoroughly clueless on

marijuana and retail. >> do you think other cities in this state and across the river in oregon will think this is a model? >> absolutely will. it's too good of an opportunity for somebody else not to follow our example. >> alan schauffler, al jazeera, washington. >> mayor stevens, who you just saw in the report joins us now mayor, 99 cities said no, you said yes. what does that tell you? >> that we're breaking the trail and waiting for everyone to follow us. >> does it matter to you that the sheriff doesn't like your idea and doesn't want to go along with it? >> no, sheriff dave brown and i share a lot of things in common. we disagree on a few things, but we're able to work around those differences. i think this is a new experience for all of us, and a ways down the road we'll be looking back and laughing on this whole thing. >> you said that a goal is in

owning this storm not having a private company own it is keeping the public safe. how do you keep the public safe with operating this marijuana store? >> well, john, by having the store operated by the public development authority our city council has the ability to vote it out of existence at any time. we certainly hope that nothing goes bad but if something were to not work out like we envisioned we could end this experiment at any meeting we choose. >> from your standpoint this is all about money? >> no, no, i didn't say anything about money. i said safety. the money is obviously part of the equation, but if we would have let somebody come in and open the store, we wouldn't know what we're going to get. this way the city council has oversight and actions if the store were to do something that was not in the public interest, we could vote them out of

existence and shut the store down. >> i get that part of it, but i mean is your main goal here to make money off this, isn't it? i mean, your town is going to do very well as a result of this store, right? >> well, we hope so. you know, projections are just that projections. we'll wait and see how much money rolls in. the pda can't just put money into our general fund. it will be a grant authority and we'll apply for funds along with other entities in the county. >> can i ask you about that t-shirt, is that related to support of marijuana in washington state? >> it is, absolutely. you know, i've been designated the marijuana mayor. it was tagged on me as kind of a derogatory term. i've taken it and run with it, and i'm trying to turn it into a positive. i've become the face of this

operation, whether i want to or not, and i'm embracing that, making sure that our operation is successful, legalization is successful and nationally it will be successful. >> i know north bonneville is a small town. are people split on this issue of whether to have a pot store run by the government? >> oh, sure, yes the initial 502 initiative passed 55-45 statewide and same in our county and city, so there are still some people who are not big proponents of this, but as time goes on and they don't see negative but hopefully we'll see positives, we hope that others will see the positive that we bring. >> we'll see if the experiment works. thank you for being in the program. still head why the former secretary of state said she used a private e-mail instead of the government account and suing

the usa wikipedia is leading the charge against government surveillance.

>> hi, everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. e-mail controversy, hillary clinton breaks her silence and raises more questions. >> i thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal e-mails instead of two. >> can she put the scandal behind her on the road to 2016? and nsa spy the top tech company now suing the federal government. we asked the founder of wikipedia about security and free speech. plus one photographer finding the extraordinary in the every day. >> hillary clinton talked for the first time today about the scandals surrounding her person e-mail. she spoke to reporters at the united nations. she said she broke no rules

using her personal e-mail account. as you might imagine not every is as convinced. david shuster is in the news conference and has this story. >> speaking from the united nations hillary clinton said that as secretary of state she relied on exclusive e-mail because she thought it was event. >> i thought one device was simpler, and obviously it has not worked out that way. >> clinton has been under fire for a week after confirming she engaged in activities. while her message in this news conference was at times defensive. >> i complied with every rule. >> she insisted that most of her e-mails were related to work and went to government employees and were captured by government servers. >> going through the e-mails there were over 60,000 in total sent and received, about half

were work related ant went to the state department, and about half were personal. that were not in any way related to my work. i had no reason to save them. >> clinton said that she deleted most of those e-mails and she said others have been kept on a private server she controls at her home and will not be released. >> the server contained personal communications from my husband and me and i believe i have met all of my responsibilities, and the server will remain private. >> republican critics are convinced mrs. clinton's efforts to keep certain family matters private broke government policies and protocols, and there are lingering questions about the clinton foundation which accepted donations from foreign government while clinton served as secretary of state.

>> people who want to support the foundation know full well what we stand for and what we work on. >> but the issue is whether foreign governments were trying to buy access to the clintons and possibly influence the next president of the united states. as for the e-mail controversy the state department said they would release all of clinton's communications online. clinton seemed pleased. >> i feel like once the american public begins to see the e-mails they'll have an unprecedented insight into a high government officials daily communications, which i think will be quite interesting. >> the implication from clinton is that there is nothing there that the e-mail controversy is a controversy about nothing. still government employees don't get to decide for themselves what is and what is not convenient. david shuster al jazeera,

new york. >> now to the war of words over an open letter to iran from senate republicans. vice president joe biden called it an attempt to undermine the president's authority. today g.o.p. leaders rejected that criticism and said that the senate is supposed to approve treaties with foreign governments. meanwhile, it was called propaganda. >> it has no legal value and it shows how concerned the group is. there is no comment on its nature. the propaganda has begun with netanyahu's speech in congress, and this is their second ploy. >> it says that the government cannot be trusted. the next round of talks will be held in switzerland next week. the police are looking for four men who are suspected of killing and shooting an iraqi refugee. they had been in the united

states just a few weeks. >> five days after ahmed al jamali was gunned down in front of his home, the neighborhood remains stunned. >> to know such violence like this is at your front door. >> he had come from iraq to join his family only a month ago. but before midnight last thursday he stepped out of his apartment to photograph the first snowfall he had ever seen. moments later according to dallas police, someone open fired with a rifle, hitting him in the chest as he hid behind a car. he later died at a dallas hospital. police are looking for four men seen briefly on this surveillance video. at the time of the shooting jamali was with his wife, who had only weeks earlier had greeted her husband with this sign counting the days they had been separated. police have not yet determined a motive, but with the shootings coming a month after three muslim students were killed in north carolina, local groups are working with investigators to

determine if jamali, also muslim was targeted. the council of islamic american relations said there is not enough evidence yet to determine if jamali's death was a hate crime, but she admits that the shooting has raised fears among muslims, immigrants and refugeeys. >> there is tension and edgey iness sword to the motive, and what it means to the community and whether or not it is a hate crime. it doesn't really have an impact right now because it's another muslim individual killed in a violent way. >> reporter: the council on american-islamic relations has set up a crowd funding website for his wife. and there is an award related to the captureing of the shooters.

>> do the police know that the victim and the shooter knew each other. >> the police don't know if they met before, but as you saw there, our expert said that even though residents acknowledge this is a high-crime area, they're not sold on the fact that it may not be a hate crime. >> thank you. in which is with wisconsin the police are still investigating the shooting of an unarmed black man by an officer. a new law in wisconsin is changing the way that investigations work in that state. we have the story. >> reporter: the new law is the culmination of a ten-year work of michael bell. >> they were out playing basketball together, and the younger brother was crying. i said, nice picture, i brought

up my camera and snapped it. that's the last photo i ever took of him. >> on the night of november 7, 2004 i michael bell jr. was stopped by kenosha police in front of his mother and sister's house while driving a friend's vehicle. captured on the police dashboard camera the situation escalateed. >> hands behind the back now-- now--screaming. [.. [ screaming ] >> it was a sham. i got a call from a reporter, they said the police have held a review panel and clear themselves of any wrongdoing and said it was justified. the autopsy was not complete. none of these things had been complete and they cleared themselves. >> he vowed then to fight for a

simple change. >> if a police officer takes a life, let's make sure that the department involved in that shooting doesn't investigate itself. >> bell spent $100,000 on a billboard campaign leasing every one in the milwaukee area. but without support from wisconsin's powerful police unions there was little chance the reform would ever become law. so bell reached out. >> i contacted the director of the states largest police association, his name is james palmer. at first james just lambasted me, how dare you talk to me. you think you're going to have a conversation with me with those billboards and those ads running? >> to michael bell's credit, he took them down, and we began a dialogue that continues to this day. >> the two bonded over a common goal. and ensureing public trust with the public police. >> how did you feel when the law was passed? >> it felt like i accomplished my mission and this is where--i did everything that i was supposed to do. that's exactly what it felt like

when this bill was passed. >> do you think he would be happy? >> yeah. >> al jazeera. >> and you can see more of christof's reporting on america tonight on 10:00 eastern 7:00 pacific time. fatal police shootings are now inevitably compared to what happened in ferguson, missouri. in that case it was determined that there was not enough evidence that the officer shot and killed michael brown. now tonight we talk about that case and the aftermath and real money correspondent join us now. so you interviewed mccullough. his decision was made a long time ago. why is he expecting now? >> he's a very he methodical man. he has been in this position for two decades more, but he is also the sun son of a police officer

who was killed in the line of duty. so he knew he had to watch every word that he said. now they said you were right, do you feel vindicated. >> well, i never felt incriminated there was no reason to feel vindicated. we knew that the department of justice had exactly what we had. other than a witness who popped up apparently in mid-february, there is nothing in their report that wasn't in their hands on november 24th. so when they came out with the finding that they made, it didn't come as a surprise. >> but what came as a surprise was how long it took. he believes it should have taken much much sooner. >> duarte, did he say anything about the police department in ferguson, and what should happen? >> he believes there needs to be change, especially if the city itself is relying on the police department as a money-making machine at the expense of african-americans.

he went a step further to say if the city cannot survive without the police trying to make money in this way, then the city itself should not exist. >> so what would happen if that city were to dissolve? >> well, from a practice tall standpoint it would have to contract the police services, and they would contract those services from the county. there is opposition to that because that would mean that the police would go in for major issues. these quality of life situations, the county wouldn't do that. ferguson would lose that aspect, but it's a situation right now that's very touchy in ferguson. tonight we'll learn more about how he's dealing with t and also how he reacted to thinks own father's death. >> interesting. you can get much more of duarte's interview with bob mcculloch tonight at 8:30 eastern andat 10:30 eastern and

7:30 pacific. the nsa is being faced with a lawsuit. >> the fact that this is wikipedia is what makes it so interesting, that they're the driving force behind the suit. they're supported by the alcu and other watch groups bo liberal and conservative. he they point is that the way that nsa spied on wikipedia users and the way they built wikipedia say it's an attack on our foundation of democracy. [ protesting ] >> if you want to know about the government spying that spying that started protests like this, one place to look is wikipedia. and the reason why wikipedia is suing over surveillance is the way that wikipedia works. it's a free encyclopedia, edited by 69,000 people, most of them volunteers and the whole thing

is a non-profit, and it says that the way the nsa gathered information violateed the freedom of speech of those users and volunteers and subjected them to unreasonable search and seizure. in other words, they violated the first and fourth amendment. >> we believe that the up stream surveillance, the mass surveillance of our readers and users is damaging to us. wikipedia depends on a culture of openness and courage for people to be able to participate, and then in that context their privacy is very important. >> the way up stream surveillance works is that the nsa taps right into the cables and routers that moves internet traffic around the u.s. and around the world. wikipedia said that surveillance has a chilling effect on the free exchange of information. example, articles written by wikipedia users in egypt during the arab spring might not have done so if they knew the u.s.

was watching. and the backlash was whistle blower edward snowdon. he specifically mentioned wikipedia as a target of nsa spying. since then the u.s. government has denied that spying was ever happening, said it would stop, and said it was wrong. >> the bottom line is that people around the world regardless of their nationality should know that the united states is not spying on ordinary people who don't threaten our national security. we take their privacy concerns in account in our policies and procedures. this applies to foreign leaders as well. >> the department of justice said only that it is looking over the new lawsuit. in the past two years other organizations have also sued the government, some cases are still working their way through the legal system. others have been thrown out because there was no proof that the plaintiffs had been harmed about that is going to be a challenge for wikipedia as well.

>> one of the questions is standing. we definitely have standing. there is no question about that. we think that the case will proceed. when we think about it on the merit, you look at what the law says. you look at what the constitution says. there is no doubt in my mind that we're in the right here. >> wikipedia said that their case is different, and what the courts decide could determine nearly everything we do online. early last year the only administration promised to re reform its surveillance program a bipartisan bill that would have done just that died in the senate back in november, john, and it has not been taken up by the new republican congress since they took over both houses of congress back in january. >> interesting story. paul beban. thank you. parts of kentucky are underwater tonight. rain melting snow and ice that caused the ohio river to flood for the first time in four years. we have more on that story

kevin. >> meteorologist: well, it's that time of year as we get close for spring. but take a look at the radar. you notice a big stretch of moisture all the way from the gulf of mexico up to the ohio river, and you can see the flooding going on across the region. it's the ohio river flooding because of the melting snow. the warm temperatures across the region and the rain, we're also looking across the river to parts of indiana as well, and the rain is going to continue. the temperatures are going to stay high, and the snow will continue to melt. that's a major problem. yesterday it was texas that saw the heavy rain in the houston we saw a month of rain just in two days. as that system pushed its way over here towards the east. now the big problem is we're going to see most that have moisture stay in place over the next couple of days, and here in mississippi, louisiana we're looking at flood watches and

warnings that are in effect right now as well as we are looking at some severe weather pushing in parts of alabama tonight. that could cause some hail as well as gusting winds up towards parts of tennessee and kentucky, flooding there as well as down here across much of the gulf coast. that is going to be the problem. the next 72 hours the rain is going to continue wednesday. we're not seeing that rain or moisture moving anywhere, so the rain totals in this area are going to be anywhere between three and four inches. some locations it is going to be six. flooding is going to be a major problem as we go forwards the weekend, and take a look at atlanta. we're not going to see a break in the rain until we get towards the weekend. so major problems across that area. >> kevin, thank you. coming up next. stunning pictures that play with reality. >> i always want to keep people wondering how something was created. >> hear from the artist from the amazing photos and how he does it. plus d.

[music] a jury says one of the biggest top hits of the decade was ripped off. [music]

>> the president of france has offered condolences to the families of three french athletes. they were killed when two helicopters complied in collided in argentina. the investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the crash which killed ten people. [music] >> ferguson, missouri, has resigned. john shah was named in the doj report on ferguson and it's police department. the highlights said that shah was one of the city officials that contributed to questionable conduct by the department and the city's courts. sharing stories of survival, 100 years after the darkest period in world history

stephanie sy is here with that story coming up in the next hour. >> hey john, the armenian genocide, that's what we're talking about tonight left 1.5 million dead after world war i. today a group called 100 lives is compiling stories from descendants of the survive survivors. >> my grandparents perished during the massacre, during the genocide in 1915. my father, who was saved at the age of six or seven hardly remembers anything other than they were rounded off by soldiers. so as my mother also doesn't remember about her parents as well, similar story. >> the current effort is backed by the "not on our watch" foundation a charity founded by george clooney and other hollywood actors.

>> stephanie, thank you. president obama took steps today to make it easier for americans to manage student loans. the president signed an executive action outlining a student aid bill of rights. it's designed to make it easier to understand and easier to pay back. he talked about the plan during an appearance at georgia tech university. >> we'll provide clear information about how much you owe, what your options are in repaying it, and if you're falling behind, help you get back in good standing with reasonable fees on a reasonable timeline. you should be paying off the high-interest loans first. >> the president has give the treasury education department and the consumer financial protection bureau until october october 1st to figure out if regulations should be changed for private student loans. a verdict has been reached in the lawsuit over the

"blurred." they said that they did copy the song from a marvin gaye classic. richelle carey has more. >> reporter: the family of the late marvin gaye emerged from a courthouse in los angeles after the jury returned the verdict. >> right now i feel free--free from ferrell williams and robin thicke's chains, and we have to keep honest and the lies that were told, and the best that we were able to break through any any way. [music] >> "blurred lines" was a smash hit for robin thicke in 2013. they say that they lifted the song from the 1977 classic "got

to give it up." listen to both back-to-back and see if you hear what the jury heard. [music] >> the songs found alike. to prove copyright infringement, they had to prove that they had access to the original work, and there is substantial similarity between the similar and allegedly stolen one. the jury agreed that they met the thresh old. the attorney for gaye's family pointed out they didn't even start this fight. >> ferrell williams and robin thicke filed this lawsuit against the gaye family to have the temerity to question the song. they started the fight. we ended it. >> in a statement tonight thicke and williams said they're

disappointed with the decision and they are considering their options, which could include an appeal. creating mind-bending images, we talk about the craft in tonight's first person report. >> what inspires me can almost be anything in my daily life. i think its more about seeing the world differently and making connections between things that don't go together. it's more about capturing an idea rather than a moment. trying to create transition between two completely different places and make the transition look seamless. it could look lining something look like outside meeting something inside, or something that is unexpected. i always want to keep people wondering how something was created, and it's usually several things that i build stuff i put together in photo

shop and things that i shoot in real life. so i wanted to create a picture with a place that would be inside and outside at the same time. i wanted to use the swedish landscape, like i usually do, and i wanted there to be a dark scene. i wanted the sense of a room some how but actually outside. i wanted there to be some kind of floor and nature breaking into the scene. to create the photo i put out some floorboards on the grass and then i created the room in photo shop by creating rooms textures and brought them together in photo shop. i started to post these pictures online, and i was surprised that people seemed to like what i do quite a lot. and there are not that many people doing this kind of work. >> the amazing images of erik johansson. and icebergs washing up on the

beach of cape cod. we're getting warmer weather and it's thawing out this week, but it's the worst in the boston area with 64 inches of snow. that's the news. thank you for watching. i'm john seigenthaler.

[ explosion ] seizing tikrit. iraqi government forces and shia militias continue an offensive to reclaim saddam hussein's home town from the rebels. a royal plea from jordan's king abdullah. >> extremism must be seep as it is - global fighting extremism on all fronts also a terri