>> hello everybody, this is aljazeera america. live from new york city. i'm david schuster. in the nation's capital, a power failure in key parts of the nation's capital. and affected steps of thousands of people, including oprah winfrey. and plus -- >> we're here to take the country back. >> rand paul has launched his bid for the white house. and supporting yemen a

saudi-led coalition bombing houthis. they have toppled the yemeni government. we begin this hour in washington with a confusing and an alarming day for thousands of people. a power line failure this afternoon at the white house and state department and wide swath of the capital region. people were trapped in elevator as parts of the metro station went dark and art museums were evacuated. the officials are confident this was all a result of an electrical transmission accident but yet it put a lot of people on edge. libby casey joins us live from washington. libby. >> reporter: david today's episode wasn't that bad but it

certainly did highlight the vulnerabilities that the city faces are dependent on the four grid. from the political center, from the state department where a spokeswoman conducted a briefing by the light of her phone, to the white house which was briefly hit. >> to the cause of this, i don't know if an upgraded infrastructure would have prevented it from happening but certainly, it's hard to imagine that a more modern power grid would have hurt. >> the local power company said a piece of metal fell on the power line, causing the outage, and the power officials say there's no reason to suspect terrorism or other activities, but it points out the aging power grid. >> we have a lot of vulnerability out there. needed to operate, the faa.

>> a system that's interconnected, which means that problems can quickly cascade. >> if the power grid up in ottawa fails then we have to take the northeast quadrant of the united states out. >> the american society of civil engineers gives the nation's power grid a dismal d plus report card, and it's going to take a lot of money to improve. >> what we see between now and 2020 is $20 billion. and that has to be more resilient and strong. >> and it's up to the state and the federal regulators. it's not just aging but security expert, derek smith said that it's the nation's

power. >> before that, it was safe, and now everything is going digital. so now we're taking this old technology and trying to mesh it with the new technology and putting it on the internet. and anything that touches this or wireless has the vulnerability that comes with being connected to the internet. >> reporter: smith says cyber crime is a weapon by criminal gangs, and washington must prepare for the worst working with private industries to secure the nation's power grid. david, cyber experts say that it's the collaboration between the power grid and the private companies that is the key. they have to be able to share their information and let down their defenses, because they can't just put their heads in the sand and avoid what may be coming down the pike. that may be the key to anything that may be coming in the future. >> earlier today we spoke with

ambassador, james woolsey and he has argued that america's electrical grids have been prone to attack, and it should serve as a wake-up call. >> we have had very little response from the utilities and from the relevant parts of government to fixing the electric grid. there are things that could be done relatively quickly for a relative amount of money to build resilience into the grid. but the utilities are bad on this and they're not doing anything to speak of, and the government except for a few congressmen, the franks and a few others who have a small caucus dealing with the electromagnetic pulse, and except for them and a few states paying attention to this issue, there's very little going on. the white house is not doing and the utilities are not doing anything and it's extremely troubling. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you can see the rest of our

interview with former cia director woolsey tonight at 7:30 pacific time. in today's politics, kentucky senator, rand paul, has made it official. >> today i announce with god's help with the help of liberty lovers everywhere, that i am putting myself forward as a candidate for president of the united states of america. >> he delivered the formal announcement in front of houses of cheering supporters in louisville kentucky. and he's ready to shake up washington with less spending and more privacy. >> the washington machine that gobbles up our freedoms and invades every nook and cranny of our lives must be stopped. >> on foreign policy, compared to the rest of the likely republican field paul is the most isolationist.

he advocates halting much of the foreign aid that we give around the world. >> it angers me to see moms burning our flag in countries that receive millions of dollars in our foreign ate. -- aid. i say it must end. and i say not one penny more to these haters of america. >> former republican congressman, jc watts introduced paul today. and is hoping that the senator make inroads can african-american communities and policies that could appeal to them. and reaching voters that do not normally participate in republican party primaries generated controversy on the right with this. >> i see in america where criminal justice is applied equally. and any law that disproportionally against

people of color is repealed. we'll have more on that statement in a moment. and meanwhile texas senator ted cruz, was the first republican to formally enter the campaign, and it would he said i welcome my friend, rand paul into the primary and his entry into the race will raise the bar of competition and make us all stronger, and the gop nominee to beat hillary clinton and take back the white house in 2016. senator paul's foreign policy approach has long worried hawks, and calling for an america that doesn't have to disclose it's donors released an attack against paul in 1 states. >> paul doesn't understand the threat. >> it's ridiculous to think that they're a they want this to our national security. >> rand paul is wrong and dangerous. >> that is led by republican

strategist, rick reed, who was involved in the swift attacks against john kerry in 2014. and finally in this era every presidential campaign has a bumper sticker or t-shirt. and senator paul has unusual items that appeals to younger supporters. there was a t-shirt that says, don't grow negro. and there's a constitutional case with his logo. and there are rand paul flip flaps that say i stand with rand. talking about the new hampshire primary, happening in the dead of winter. but what do you make of paul's campaign so far? >> when people are criticizing him from going away from the

republican slant. so you have to be careful of what he sells on the site. >> it was striking to hear senator paul that says that any law that disproportionally goes against african-americans should be repealed. will that fly. >> it will, and instead the republican party as a whole will have to go forward in the election with an air of inclusion, and rand paul, from the beginning of thing to run for president, and not announcing, but since 2013, he has been addressing the national urban league in cincinnati and talked to historically black colleges, and he has tried to make inroads with a group of americans that don't typically vote republican. this is hard to sell in a republican primary but he has a long way to go because of the problems that he had with the civil rights act last year, talking about things like, whether businesses should be made to not discriminate, or if

that's something that they could do, and that's his libertarian streak, and that's going to be a problem. >> rand paul is one of the best organized across the country. and he has state offices in all 50 states. we saw part of the ad run by conservatives, and how worried are they about senator paul's viability and his competitiveness in this campaign. >> you know, rick reed and want people that you mentioned pub out this ad. and they were the ones trying to get former ambassador, john bolton to run for president and he could still run for president, but having the rhetoric in this campaign is what they want to do. rand paul could be a successful candidate. and they want to say that he's the right guy for foreign policy so the lindsay hawks and the grahms, and didn't even answer. so the republicans in that

group of them specifically, are having a very difficult time bringing them to support rand paul's isolation policies and what they would be. >> a lot of younger voters supported rand paul's father, ron paul, and they liked the fresh air in the republican party, spending less money overseas and more at home. and it obviously sets paul apart. but will it send them far enough apart to make a difference in the campaign? >> well, i do. i think first of all there's a fatigue with military and with war, even in the republican party. poll after poll show that republicans are wary of this, and tired of this really, and there's that appeal that he's going to have. that libertarian sector. ted cruz complimenting him today. but ted cruz is going hard after social conservatives and rand paul is going to find a different group of people that

he's going to appeal to. very well organized and inherited it from his father. you talk about jeb bush and hillary clinton and don't forget rand paul's organization they inherited a lot which is going to help young voters in the republican party. >> something that senator ted cruz might envy. thank you as always. in yemen where a u.s.-friendly government has been chased out by houthi rebels, the u.s. military is offering more help to a saudi arabia coalition. bombing houthi positions and the u.s. has increased intelligence sharing with the saudis. a suspected al qaeda fighter stormed a border post, killing two soldiers. now a yemen political analyst. and what do you make of the u.s. decision to provide more material support to saudi arabia in this effort?

>> i think that the u.s. trying to show its approval and support of the saudi action in yemen, and also to send an indirect message to iran and a way to say don't mess with our closest allies, allies in the region, but don't make any attempts to support the houthi militia in yemen. it's a clear message to the iranians. >> but we are helping out with a few planes. >> that's correct. saudi has a lot of weapons and they can fight for years so they don't need military support. but mainly, they want to show that support and receive the support from the u.s. in a way to deter iran from intervening in the yemeni affairs. >> the government being chased out of yemen very friendly to

saudi arabia and the united states and despite the saudi bombs, the houthis are making advances, and is that something that the coalition is willing to consider some. >> look, i think that the houthi militia is not only fighting the saudis, but the yemeni military, that's led by the former president, and his son, and they have one of the third largest in the middle east. so they are oil to houthi and sada, and so i think that at this point they the saudi-led coalition is trying to eliminate all of the threats to push the houthis back to the negotiation table. >> do you think --

>> they're trying to create a balance of power. >> they looted the military weapons and also, have all of the heavy weapons which allow them to basically expand and control more cities, and ignore all of the sort of peaceful talk or any sort of negotiation, and because the weapons were basically end matched by the rest of the groups in yemen so i think that what's happening right now is going to create a new ground and a new balance of power that will at the end of the day bring people to the negotiating table. >> and at the end much the day, it's really saudi arabia fearful of iran that's really driving the airstrikes. >> i think that's part of it. i think the houthis in the last

days and weeks made it clear that they could even invade saudi. they invaded them a number of times, but i think that the iranians are losing at this point, because their main ally in the country is a militia. so it's not the yemeni people. and besides that, if you look at it with a shear interest between iran and yemen there's none between iran and yemen and there's no trade in existness between iran and yemen, and there's no labor workers between iran and yemen and unsaudi arabia, there are millions of workers in saudi arabia, and there's that interest.

>> in saudi arabia and yemen thank you so much. >> thank you. >> in iran, forensic teams have started exhuming it bodies from the mass graves in tikrit. believed to hold the bodies of iraqi soldiers captured last june by isil fighters. it the presidential passes once used by the dictator, saddam hussein, the iraqi forces captured tikrit last week. hazardous to your health. that's how president obama wants you to think about climate change. we'll talk about protecting the environment next. plus -- >> the columbia river cracks the top ten on the list of the most endangered rivers. right near the top of the top ten. i'll have more on the river's ranking.

>> president obama today talked about another aspect of climate change. and he said it's not just affecting the nation's weather. but harming the physical and mental health of a lot of americans. mike viqueira joins us live from washington, and mike, what's this all about? >> well, it's funny david. the president says that he's entering the fourth quarter of his term, but there's one word that the white house is loathe to use a legacy. talking about president obama's record. but there's one issue and that is the environment where the white house isn't shy about calling that record historic. the only problem for the white house, not all environmentalists agree. it's not just the direct cost to the environment, says president obama but climate change is a danger to human health. >> there are a whole host of public health impacts that are going to hit home. >> reporter: mr. obama said that climate change can contribute to asthma, allergies

and heat related details. it's a campaign to build support for his environmental policies. a coordinated effort from a president who has invested capital in creating a green legacy. coal fire plant emissions and increased fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and tax credits for wind and solar energy. but they seek two sides from president obama. one side set lofty goals like he did at a speech at georgetown university. >> the question now will we have the courage to act before it's too late in. >>late?>> and another mr. obama. >> he lets us down. he opens up more lands and encouraging more fossil fuel exports, and he has been a really disappointment unfortunately. and we would have liked to have seen more, especially

considering his great rhetoric. >> critics say natural gas and exports. and the white house said that the president's record speaks for itself. >> is the president a green president? has he done all he can to address climate change? >> i think that's an indication of the president's conviction on this issue but the president is going to go down in history as the greenest president we have ever had. >> fracking angered advocates on both sides. he said alternative energy is viewed as an important priority with fossil fuels, oil and natural gas. american manufacturers say that the state state of the new rules makes it hard to he compete. >> it's a very large cost, and the balance is off and it makes it harder for us to do our job on the international stage. >> not all environmentalists

are down on mr. obama and his record. on the question of fracking, some are realists. >> when you do something, it's not something today or tomorrow but its something that we should do responsibly, and that means action. there are thousands of operators out there drilling for oil and gas in the united states and they need standards to make sure that others are playing by the same rules. >> the administration began with promise but the results are a mixed bag. >> he has done a lot of great things but not only is it not enough. but he has done really bad things for the environment as well. >> the next big controversial issue on the environment new rules in the obama administration david. ozone, another cause of health problems, says president obama in the smog-producing effects that it does bring about. >> mike viqueira in washington, thank you. a conservation organization today issued a call to try to

save america's waterways. it puts the colorado river at the top of its annual endangered rivers list, and the columbia river is second. and allen how important is the columbia river? >> david really hard to overstate how important the river is to this area. and it really does a lot to define the character and the economy of this region. it flows for 1200 miles from southern british columbia into the pacific ocean and it dumps more fresh water into the pacific than any other river in the southern hemisphere. there are 19 dams on the columbia river, many of them are hydro lect. and they generate a lot of cheap electricity in the area, and that's what drives so many industries. and those dams are a problem for fish, specifically the 13 different species of salmon or

listed as endangered or threatened at this point. the whole system is controlled, managed via a treaty signed by the u.s. and canada 50 years ago, but that treaty deals only with hydroelectric power and with flood control. and there's no mention at all of the ecosystem and protecting the wildlife, et cetera. there are a lot of critics who say that has to change as it's negotiated. the american rivers with the number two ranking the columbia has it right. >> it doesn't seem to be that high on the list. they listed the columbia river as number two because of the opportunity for the treaty, to modernize it and restore the ecosystem in the balance of the treaty to make it coequal with hydro power and flood control which wasn't in the treaty. >> he talks about restoring

theiki systems as part of the balance of the treaty. but the treaty right now makes no mention whatsoever of the ecosystem. just hydro power and flood control. as of last september both countries have a ten year window in which they can say hey, we want to renegotiate and change the treaty. right now both canada and the u.s. have that that at state department level and they're working on making some approach to each other and figuring out exactly when to tackle this problem. >> allen, is there a silver lining for bringing new attention? prompting if you considerations on what can be done to combat these issues. >> absolutely. the silver lining is it brings it out into the public view, and it lets people know that there's this international treaty that's in a window now where it could be renegotiated and it could be renegotiated to modernize it, and bring in help

to the environment. and that high ranking i think is something that the critics would like to see and people pushing for more consideration of the salmon runs would like to see. it sounds alarming the way that the columbia and certainly the way that the dams are managed is something that needs to be paid attention to. >> just ahead, hillary clinton weighs in on the so-called beijing five. arrested for protesting women's issues. china is not happy that clinton is speaking out. and plus, decision time in ferguson missouri. the polls today for the city's first election since the street protests over police tactics.

>> it has almost eight months since the police took to the streets of ferguson missouri protesting over the death of a black teenager, and now they have the way to protest in

another way the ballot box. only 12% voter timeout and what was voter timeout like today? >> it's really hard to say david. it is beautiful here for now but through much of the day storms blew through the area, touching rain and hail. and we don't know at this point how that affected voter timeout. voters are voting in three new members to the ferguson six-member council. many said that this is the important step in mending the community. and the justice department's recent charges of racial bias. >> i'm a proud citizen of ferguson and i want them to continue to grow and be able to diversify and come together. >> i think it's oppressive. and frankly i think it's going to take awhile. >> most of the problems, i think we have, most of us didn't know we had.

and so i think that we'll just have to wait and see how things play out. >> now ferguson is prominently african-american. currently, there's only one african-american on the city council. but voters have the potential to elect two more. and that would certainly make it an historic election. david? >> when will the results come in? when will they know if their votes on the city council race made a difference in the election? >> well, david the polls are closing in half an hour, so we hope to get results in a couple of hours. >> diane, thank you. in. >> and voters also went to the polls today in chicago for the first ever mayoral runoff. and the polls there closed at the top of the hour, and rob immanuel it a former white house chief of staff is seeking a second term against jesus garcia, known as chewy.

chui what was it like where you are? >> pretty light here. we're at the northwest side of the city at an elementary school and there are people still trickling in. we have less than a half hour before the polls close but the timeout has been light today. and not only here, but across the city as well. which is not surprising, given that the november 24th election only had a 34% timeout. we should point out that in this election, more than 142,000 early ballots were cast, 154,000 more than cast in the november 24th election, and double what we saw in the 2011 election. so that's going to be a significant portion of what's happening here. but both of these candidates, ron immanuel and chui garcia, were making a push to the

supporters to the polls because it will be about timeout when it comes to who in the end will take this election. >> and what are the biggest changes that we might see in chicago if chui garcia is able to upset ron eman yell in the says? >> well, rahm emanuel whoever wins will face major difficulties. the city is looking at a $550 million shortfall when it comes to funding pensions for police and fire next year, and a $1.1 billion shortfall when it comes to operating the public schools. so changes in how they're going to deal with those issues.

garcia will audit the city's finances and emanuel if he wins the election. >> reporting from chicago and we expect to have results later tonight on aljazeera america. there have been spring storms today in the st. louis region, and that may be the start of several days of severe weather in several parts of the country. kevinkevin corbel has the details. >> this is a week-long intensity over the next few days. you can see the thunderstorms pushing through. these brought with it some hail. and i want to show you the video that came out earlier across the region. the hail was pretty intense and we talked about size of a dime to across the ohio river

valley now, we have not seen any tornadoes though tornado warnings have been activated. but we saw the hail and the wind damage across the region, and flooding for this area. as we go to april the potential for tornadoes is increasing significantly. on average we see 155. now, that is less than as we go to today which is 276. but over the next several days, it's going to be very very rocky across the central part of the united states. anywhere from month po to central texas on wednesday but as we go to thursday, that only gets worse. we're talking chicago all the way down to san antonio texas. this is going to be damaging winds, large hail and the potential of tornadoes across this region. and the other big problem is going to be the flooding.

you can see all of that area, that is rain falling over the last couple of days, and it will continue to fall, so we'll be watching it very careful david. >> in february, california officials say that the water usage dropped to 2.8%, and less of a decline than in december and january. southern californians conserved the most. and the water increased in the northern part of the state. jerry brown demanded a cut statewide. the government in china respecting autonomy and independence as anger goals over the jailing of five women activists. they were protesting sexual violation and senator hillary clinton has called their detention inexcusable. >> david the rights groups say

that it's part of a wider crackdown on activism in china. and as hillary clinton weighed in they're saying for her to mind her own business. support for the women is growing. protesters demonstrated in hong kong, and on facebook, supporters are posting images of themselves wearing masks of photos of the jailed women. one writes, one million activists armed the world free the five. former secretary of state hillary clinton has weighed in. saying that the detention of women activists in china must end. this is inexcusable. they have been detained since march, after planning protests to raise awareness about issues from domestic violence to lack of public toilets for women. her attorney said that he's shocked that they were arrested. >> no one has been released. so all of them have been put

forward. and we need to watch during the next seven days, the prosecutor's office will maintain its principles and make a decision with the law not to arrest them. >> reporter: the protesters are here at this it detention center north of beijing. all of them are charged with what the chinese police call picking quarrels and provoking trouble. >> they are charged with picking quarrels and picking trouble when the event they were planning was two days away. so even by chinese legal standards, there's absolutely nothing to it detain them on, because the event they were planning had not taken place yet. >> reporter: samantha power has criticized the detention. saying that if china is committed to advancing the rights of women, they should be looking at the issues by the women's rights activists not silencing them. china shot back, calling on others for their process. >> china is a country ruled by

law, and we hope that public figures in other countries can respect china's judicial sovereignty and independence. >> but the effort to free the women continues. >> they are protesting for a safer place for women and people of different genders to have no sexual harassment. they are doing something for the public good. >> we have learned that two of the activists are sick. one has hepatitis and the other has said to have had a mild heart attack in custody. and if convicted the women could face up to five years in prison. >> good story. in greece today, there were protests against maximum security prisons and the demonstrations furniture violent, activists threw molotov cocktails at the police, and set cars on fire and damaged property.

the police responded with tear gas. they want them to shut down the high security prisons where many of the government activists are being held. the relationship between a coach and competitive athletes can be personal and intense but when lines are acrossed, young athletes are vulnerable and in some cases traumatized. what happens when a complex relationship becomes abusive. >> a career in baseball is all anthony kalerro wanted. he spent his childhood dreaming of the big leagues and put his trust in the coach who helped him perfect his pitch along the way. >> he was going to help me get to where i wanted to be in life and baseball and all of that. and they took that all away from me. >> it wasn't long into his college year, at concordia university when his relationship with the coach

crossed the line. in a lawsuit filed against the coach, colerro claims that he asked him to perform -- >> he said you can do these videos and everything like that. and if you do these videos, i'll help you get to where you are going, and if you don't i'll make it bad for you many. >> why didn't you tell anybody? >> i was so bashessed by t. >> lempesis, who agreed to speak with america tonight said that he made the sex videos. >> it shouldn't happen. i'm the coach. and some people said, his influence, and i don't think so i know that his lawsuit said that i promised him all of these things and forced him into it, which is a complete

lie. >> calero's lawsuit said that concordia didn't do enough to protect him from lempesis. concordia said that it fired lempesis as soon as it found that he was inappropriate. and they didn't know until two years later when he was found having sexual relations in the back of a car with a 16-year-old boy. he works at a catering service now, but he isn't giving up hope that he can put all of the bad memories behind him and one day become a coach. aljazeera, chicago illinois. >> and watch the rest of the report on america tonight. a judge in pakistan today ordered criminal charges filed against two former cia officials for a 2009 drone tep strike that reportedly killed three people. one of those charged is a

former cia lawyer, who oversaw the drone program, and the other is a station chief in islamabad. they were charged with murder, terrorism and waging warp against pakistan. the obama administration last name honor pakistan's request that the cia officials be extradited. there's a new honor today for the late maya anglo. and the u.s. postal service unfailed a new stamp in her name. and children's book author, joan anglin said that she wrote the phrase that's often attributed. and still she hopes that the stamp is successful. the collapse of russia's economy, how it's impacting around the world. russia's invasion of crimea, and the rubble has fallen hard. that has dried up a lot of the

demand for certain luxury goods like flowers. ecuador is the biggest supply of flowers to russia, and but they're forcing rose farmers in ecuador to adapt. >> reporter: ecuador's central highlands she walks down row after row of robeses. roses. her questions are that of an experienced buyer. how long do the roses last after they're cut and how long are the stems? the plantation owners are paying close attention. it's a rare sight in ecuador these days. the russian market for ecuadorian roses has practical collapsed. >> we were sending 80% of aerobeses to russia, and now we're forced to make changes because the prices and sales volumes have dropped so much. >> roses from ecuador are prized in russia, but the drop

in global oil prices and drop in the value of the ruble have made robeses almost an unattainable luxury. it has had a visible and valuable affect on ecuador's rose industry. the owners of this farm had to destroy 12% of their plantation because russian buyers were no longer showing up. they started planting types of flowers that were more suitable for other markets. some say that the days are numbered for the ecuadorian rose that the russians used to covet. >> no crisis lasts forever but this did leave a serious mark on the industry because prices in russia will never be the same. and once plantations diversify it's hard to go back. nina is more hopeful. >> things that i now that russians love robeses and i'm sure that the rose market will live forever in russia. >> and therosions continue to grow and the growers remain

optimistic and hopeful. but they have started looking for new homes for their stunning products. aljazeera, ecuador. >> coming up next, in order to keep people with alzheimer's safe from harm, you have to make sure that they will not wander off. the teenager whose invention is helping to make a difference. plus -- -- ♪ so bye, bye, miss american pie. >> and the papers those lyrics were written on sold for top dollar today.

>> alzheimer's disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the united states, and it affects millions of people around the globe. using a cellphone to tackle one of the disease's most troubling

side effects. >> reporter: the sweet sound of music. at this daycare facility for the elderly in new york, alzheimer's patients pass the time trying to stimulate their minds listening to song. for 73-year-old betty lee who sometimes forgets if she's at home or in trinidad, she's in a safe environment. she's like everyone else here, a wanderer, who suffer from cognitive problems, who can't remember where they are and often becoming critically missing persons cases. betty wanders if she doesn't have constant supervision. >> i forget things. >> researchers like jed say that wandering caused by alzheimer's has become a major public health crisis. >> we know that if they are not found in 24 hours there's

close to a 50% chance that they will never be found or found deassessed or injured. and that's why this is such a critical issue. >> linked to memory problems and be wandering, there are no geographic boundaries. here in the united states, 5 and a half million people suffer from alzheimer's and 60% are wanderers. that number is expected to triple. the issue of wandering is close to home for kenneth. his grandfather, who has alzheimer's, he got out of bed and walked outside in his pajamas, and was found on a busy highway before being found. >> it was devastating knowing that my grandfather's life was in danger. >> he started coding on his laptop and the safe wanderer app was born.

>> the caregiver place it's on the bottom of the sock, and once the person with alzheimer's steps out and steps onto the floor the alert is immediately sent out. >> his invention is about to be put on the market. and he hopes that it will help millions of alzheimer's patients be safe and the problem can not be ignored. >> the director of family information for alzheimer's a national organization in chicago. and what do you make of kenneth's safe wanderer app? >> well, it's certainly interesting to hear about and i think that anything that helps prevent wandering and also deal with it once it happens, it's a good thing and it's good to know more about it. >> at what stage of alzheimer's does wandering typically begin to appear? >> well, it can vary. typically wandering happens most in the middle stages, though it can happen early or

later. people can get confused in familiar places, places that they have been to many times. so they can get lost going home from the store. they can also sometimes -- think that they're at another time in their life. and as the disease progresses, they need to go to work even though they don't go to work anymore, and i can go home even when they're home. >> is there anything that causes an alzheimer's patient to wander sometimes and other times not do it? >> sometimes it can have to do with time of day and it can have to do with feeling restless or anxious and maybe this was a time of day that you used to engage in a particular activity. and maybe the person is not engaged in meaningful activities and is bored or anxious. >> in addition to the

technology coming out, is there anything that caregivers, or those of us with a parent with alzheimer's, is there anything that we can do to protect them at home from wandering? >> there are a lot of things. first of all, it's important to know the person, because what we do with one is different than someone else. and meaningful activity really can help prevent a lot of wandering situations. if the person is engaged in something that they enjoy meaningful to them, then they can prevent them from wandering, and then taking precautions, being prepared. and having a home environment where the person -- maybe when they go to a door and it doesn't open. and sometimes having doors open for people with alzheimer's can be helpful. but that doesn't work for every person. so there are lots of ways that

you can prevent wandering in your home or like in a daycare center. >> and if somebody should happen to come across a wanderer what's the important thing in terms of offering assistance? >> well, i think it's important to be calm, be gentle. and meet the person where they are. and just offer assistance and help. if the person has something like our medical -- like they return jewelry and they may have an identification bracelet where they help the good samaritan and help them get back to safety, but even if not, calling the local authorities can help, but staying calm and being gentle really makes a difference. >> the director of family information services for the alzheimer's association ruth, thank you for coming on. if you're planning a road trip this summer by car you're going to love the latest

prediction about summertime gas prices. the department of energy reported today they expect gas prohibitions to fall 32%, and leave the price per gallon a dollar less than the price a year ago. national average is expected to settle around $2.45 a gallon. and the energy officials say that the world oil supplies continue to grow faster than demand pushing gas prices lower. for a look at what's coming up at the top of the hour, john seigenthaler is here. >> the crisis in yemen cat catastrophic and what families have to do to just get drinking water, and the role that the u.s. is playing to help the coalition battle houthi rebels. in south carolina, a white police officer charged with shooting and killing anker apparently unarmed black man in the back. why that officer says that he

pulled the trigger and what's at stake in his trial. and surviving a drought. paying farmers not to use water. >> ford authorized me to go buy $70 million worth of water from rice formers in northern california. >> the plan to conserve the precious resource from millions of people in california. >> . >> and also, a conversation with comedian and daily show correspondent. he has been getting laughs for decades, but now humor in a different way. what he sees as a growing anti-muslim bias in the united states. and what he thinks about the future of the daily show without jon stewart. all of those stories coming up in 3 minutes. >> all right john, thank you. bye, bye miss american pie. famous lyrics to don mcclaine's 1971 hit have been sold at

christie's auction house for $1.2 million. it was the third highest price at auction for an american literally manuscript. the buyer asked to remain anonymous. and that's our report for this hour. i'm jong schuster, and john seigenthaler will be back in minutes.

>> hi everyone this is al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. shot in the back... [ gunfire ] ..a black man in south carolina killed by police. >> we asking everybody please before they react on this to let the investigation be completed the officer now charged with murder war in yemen - new warnings of human catastrophe in a city under siege running on empty. >> our agency