cricketer, and an even greater commentator, the ambassador for the game who had the golden tones. >> when the australians came out to the field for that 45 minutes, it was a very nice and very memorable moment. and more on aljazeera.com. picking up the pieces residents are left to face the damage. running for president? the most an advertise fated announcement in politics. and new details from south carolina as we learn more about the white police officer who killed an african american man. ♪

this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm randall pinkston. we are getting a new sense this hour of the extent of the destruction in northern illinois after tornadoed touched down. the governor says two people were kills dozens of homes destroyed. these images in fairdale tell the story, massive piles of debris everywhere. >> i signed a proximation a decoration this morning of state disaster decoration that allows us if we need to visit with the federal government about federal support. we don't believe that will be necessary at the present time. it allows us to streamline the procurement process. >> reporter: temporary shelters are open in fairdale and

rochelle diane eastabrook went to the restaurant that suffered dramatic damage. >> reporter: this is all that is left of the grub stakers restaurant. the tornado blew through here and demolished this business. the owner is here surveying the damage. she talked to me and said they only had about a few minutes to get into the building's storm cellar last night. she was with about a half a dozen customers and some of her employees. they went into the cellar, held hands and prayed. they didn't think they were going to get out alive. miraculously they did with minor injuries. she hopes to rebuild and be back in business sometime soon. possible tornados were also reported in iowa and ohio. forecasters say there is a threat of severe weather today from the gulf to the mid-atlantic region. police have arrested a man on

charges he was trying to blow up a bomb at a military base. officials say he is an isil sympathizer and was caught in an fbi sting. he was allegedly plotting to dead nate a bomb. a wisconsin man could face up to 15 years in prison for an attempt to join isil. he was arrested at chicago's o'hara airport last night after returning from turkey. the justice department say he intended to cross the border into syria or iraq. and now there are new questions today about why a white officer shot and killed a black man. dash cam video show what happened in the moments before he shot and killed the man. >> reporter: the dash cam video from michael slager's patrol car, shows the mercedes slowly

driving into a parking lot. >> the reason for the stop is your break light is out. >> reporter: soon scott says he doesn't have all the documents. later after slager returned to his cruiser, scott i tries to get out. >> stay in the car. >> reporter: several minutes later, scott gets out again and runs. you hear slager give chase but no more of the encounter between the two men is visible. what is visible on the eyewitness video is slager shooting scott in the back and killing him. slager's assertion that scott had taken the taser and threatened him with it wasn't true. >> he wasn't hurt by the taser. you know he was just trying to get away. that's all he did, you know, he

never tried to take the taser away or try to fight with the cop, no. like i said before the cop had control of the situation. >> reporter: thursday another north charleston man came forward to recount an incident nearly two years ago when he said slager used excessive force against him. >> he never even told me why he came. he was like -- i want to say it right. he said he came -- he had a service call around the corner about a guy up here with a break in. and he said put up your hands or i'm going to tase you, so i put my hands up and he still tased me. >> reporter: with slager facing a murder charge his mother is struggling to reconcile the man she saw on the now infamous video and the son she knows. >> i can't imagine him -- he

loved being a police officer. i can't imagine him doing something that -- that is just not like him. that's not his character. i hope god takes care of everybody involved. not only my family but the scotts family. because i know they are grieving just like i'm grieving. several presidential hopefuls who are republicans will address the nra national convention in nashville this weekend, including ted cruz. one topic also on the agenda is concealed carry laws. all 50 states have regulations where you can bring a gun. eight states allow them in public universities and florida could be the next to make that legal. but as robert ray reports there is strong opposition. >> there has been a shooting in the library. stay where you are. >> reporter: in november former

student stormed on to the campus of florida state university and started shooting. >> if anybody has been shot call 911 on your cell phone -- >> reporter: police killed the gunman but not before he shot three students. paralyzing one of them. fuelled by this recent shooting some state politicians are pushing a bill that would legalize concealed carry of handguns on florida's public university campuses. >> you can carry in a restaurant, a shopping -- >> reporter: iraq war veteran, and republican state representative is sponsoring the bill. a lot of people think that 21-year-olds don't have the experience. backpacks and bullets don't mix. what do you say to that. >> well we don't have a problem with 17 and 18 year olds swearing an oath to our constitution and entering into the u.s. military.

>> reporter: the director of the government student association doesn't agree. >> there is going to be a lot of suspicion and worrying. it is only going to lead to a dangerous situation. and it is only going to lead to more opportunity for students to get injured or possibly killed. >> reporter: now if the bill is passed it would require that each person be 21 years or old, and have a concealed carry gun permit to walk on any campus here in the state of florida with a loaded handgun, but really the main concern is weapons training of which there is very little required. >> you close the sinnen der -- >> we're talking 45 minutes, and you shoot a 22 and boom you have a permit. >> reporter: they are drinking some are doing drugs, hormones

raging guns shouldn't be in their hands, what do you say to that? >> all of that happened off of campus when i went to school and they can carry there now, and there has .been a problem. so if they are carrying off campus, and it hasn't been a problem, then why would letting them carry on campus suddenly create these problems. the florida board of governors, university police chiefs and presidents from all 12 florida public universities voiced strong opposition to the campus conceal carry laws. they wrote: al jazeera reached out to florida state's president, the campus chief of police and students for concealed carry at fsu, they all declined our request for interviews. >> they did not want guns --

>> reporter: in the meantime state lawmakers have until may 1st to vote on the bill that could allow guns on florida campuses. robert ray, al jazeera, tallahassee, florida. former secretary of state hillary clinton is reportedly preparing for a major announcement this weekend that she will run for president. al jazeera has not confirmed the date and time but reports say the anoungsment will come via social media on sunday. clinton would be the first democrat to throw a hat in the ring for 2016. >> reporter: this might not look like iowa but this winery recently hosted a democratic fund raiser. presidential candidates and hopefuls from both parties are criss crossing the hawk eye state, hoping to build momentum. >> since we're the first one it gives them the opportunity to come here first and start their grass root effort and that makes us fairly important to the

process. >> reporter: here in iowa among democrats there is much talk about hillary clinton. when will she declare? and how seriously will she make iowa in back in 2008, clinton seemed to take iowa for granted and finished a distant third to barack obama. >> reporter: there are a couple of democratic hopefuls out there besides hilary. the woman from massachusetts. i like her. >> i'll have to learn more about the other candidates because there may always be somebody better but i wouldn't be sad if she was elected. >> reporter: some are not yet ready to fully embrace a clinton candidacy. some are calling for elizabeth warren to enter the race. and jim webb and martin o'malley were trying to get in on a field that still does not include hillary clinton. still ahead, mending ties, president obama speaks with raul

castro ahead of the summit of the americas. how their trip to panama could change u.s. cuban relations. and automated warfare, the human concerns over military robots that kill.

>> president obama is in panama today for the kickoff of the summit of the americas. and the white house is revealing that he did speak with raul castro on the phone before leaving washington on wednesday. the two are expected to sit down this weekend for a face-to-face meeting. it has been more than five decades since a u.s. president held a meeting with his cuban counterpart. secretary kerry held a two hour meeting with his cuban counter part. lucia newman has more. >> reporter: we were expecting them to at the very least shake

hands and be in the same room. that is actually extremely significant. it was 53 years ago that cuba was expelled from the so-called family of nations of the hemisphere the 35 nations that make up north, south, and central america. cuba has been not allowed to make part? these gatherings but as the latin america nations have stopped taking their orders directly from washington this became a strain in the relations in the whole hemisphere. and now they with actually speak to each other. defense secretary ash carter says cent threats by north korea against south korea should be taken seriously. carter met with his south korean counter part in seoul today. he says the u.s. will help seoul

deal with ways to fight north korea east aggression. nearly 50 victims from the shooting at fort hood have received purple hearts and defense of freedom medals. dozens of survivors and relatives received the medals. army psychiatrist has been sentenced to death in the attack that killed 13 people. the united nations is still grappling with what to do with lethal autonomous weapons systems. you could call them killer robots. military tools designed to fight the enemy without putting soldiers at risk. >> reporter: human rights watch has identified what it says is a sort of ethical loophole in the system. the worry here is that we're going to somehow be entering a

world with no accountability. if a commander set these lose on the wrong people and people died there would be no one to blame. you could casually activate a robot, it could kill innocent people and no one would be punished. so let's look at how close we are to a world like this. all branches of the u.s. military are trying to figure out how to use robots to be more efficient. the navy ran this exercise in virginia in which a single highly valuable boat was protected by 13 smaller votes that carried weapons, sirens flashing lights but no people. they are completely autonomous robot boats. when a convoy detected an enemy vessel they surrounded it and came close enough to open fire.

the navy has commissioned an autonomous fighter jet that can take off on its own and land on an air craft carry too, which is one of the hardest things to do in aviation. the idea is that a group could be dispatched on very dangerous missions carrying bombs, and flying as fast as regular fighter aircraft. you wouldn't have to worry about losing a pilot. and they can maneuver better because there's no worry about g-forces causing the pilot to black out. right now robots can guide thenses to the battle field and make recommendations as to which targets to engage but the robots aren't pulling the trigger yet. the next step is the rebot doing everything, with the human being

kind of a veto vote at the end of the process. it's already sticky enough when you have a robot that can do everything except actually pull the trigger. what human rights groups are worried about is we're entering a new world in which the robot takes care of everything in the kill chain, and human beings just kind of sit there half awake with a finger over a button that says cancel. a new bill in california that could make vaccines mandatory. and a small indiana town that is fighting an epidemic. what is causing the worst hiv outbreak in the state's history.

a battle over vaccinations in california could impact the rest of the country. any state legislator is moving ahead with a bill that would force most parents to have their children vaccinated with few exceptions. >> reporter: a controversial california bill that would

require children be vaccinated before attending school passed its first test wednesday winning legislative approval in committee. >> just for the safety of everybody's children everybody should be vaccinated. >> i don't think it's a good idea. >> reporter: the proposed measure blocks parents from opting out of vaccines due to personal beliefs. supporters say the rise in measles and whooping cough cases is why the new legislation is needed. a pediatrician sponsored the bill. >> we weren't have people fearing to go outside, to go to their school go to a store, get on public transport, to go to a theme park because they are worried about catching a disease like measles. >> i think forcing children to do anything is -- is not right. i think parents should be able to raise the child how they -- according to their

beliefs. >> reporter: all 50 states require measles vaccinations. an outbrink of measles first linked to disneyland put the golden state at the center of the vaccine fight. and they also have a high concentration of parents who have opted out of vaccinations including the wealthy enclave. john hicks practices there, and blames vaccinations for his son's autism. >> i have a stepson who developed autism have a full set of shots, and he hit 105 for 5 days and that was the last he was really connected to what was going on. >> reporter: there is no credible scientific evidence that vaccinations overload a child's immune system but the belief persists. >> what i see my job as is so

figure out what the parents really want and what they believe, and then support them in that because if a pash believes these vaccines are going to create a problem, they may create a problem. >> but other doctors have decided to turn away toddlers who aren't vaccinated. >> our duty is not only to the patient in our office but really to the entire community and the many patients in our practice who could not be immunized. >> reporter: supporters say parents could still choose not to vaccinate. >> you have a choice still. however, that choice has consequences. so if you decide you don't want to vaccinate, you can do that you have just have to home school your children where they are not with other children. >> reporter: if the bill becomes law, these states will have the strictest vaccine laws in the country. researchers are calling prom

missing the first human trial of a new hiv therapy. using powerful antibodies could reduce the amount of hiv in the blood by up to 300 times. we have been telling you about an hiv epidemic hitting a small rural community in indiana. jonathan betz travelled to austin indiana, to find out what is causing it. >> reporter: jeanie mccarty has struggled watching her hometown change and loved ones died. >> i have had five family members pass away of drug overdoses. >> reporter: you yourself? >> yes, so it's pretty dear to my heart. >> reporter: so dear she now works as a nurse, joining what she see as a fight for the town's life. austin indianaing only has 4,000 people but this piece of the american heartland is at the heart of an ep dimmic, facing

the worst outbreak of hiv ever. 89 cases in just four months. 17 times more than a typical year. how easy was it for you to get this drug. >> easy. >> reporter: much of it fed by a raging drug problem that joey sadly knows too well. >> it has become austin's favorite past time. >> reporter: a long time alcoholic, last year he began using the town's drug of choice. a prescription painkiller that addicts illegal cook and inject. dirty needling spread disease. he caught hepatitis c and he says it's a miracle he didn't get live. >> you never think about that. i didn't even think about hiv being in austin. >> reporter: one in five now live in poverty. >> you have pockets of things that look rougher than others. >> reporter: with only seven

offices the police chief struggles to contain the crime. >> if we could stop it here we would stop it everywhere. >> reporter: the governor cently declared a public health emergency. teams of workers arrived setting up a command center to offer testing, doctors, and counseling. state budget cuts shut down a planned parenting clinic. and the town only has one doctor william cooke. >> they could have averted this by addressing the drug problem, five, ten years ago, but we didn't. and now we're seeing the end result of that. >> in a perfect world we would have all services available in all counties but state budget and the reality is that that is just not the way it is. >> reporter: she says the state is here for the long haul

launching programs like a needle exchange where workers give users clean needles for dirty ones. >> i'm trying to make a bad situation into a good situation. >> reporter: joey is getting help to turn his life around in a town struggling with far more than a disease. a fight over water is pitting a small community in ohio against the oil industry. some residents are concerned about the negative effects that frac-ing could have on its water supply. bisi onile-ere has more from barnsville ohio. >> reporter: gulf port energy is suing the city of barningville for water. last year they signed an agreement with the town. when water levels dropped two to three feet that's when the conflict began.

they say the town violated the terms of their contract when they signed a similar contract with a second drilling company. the town says no one has exclusive rights to its water. we'll hear from residents concerned about the impact frac-ing could have on the town's water supply. right now the village of barnsville is working with the ohio environmental protection agency on a water-source protection plan. we questioned the mayor on why it took so long. bisi onile-ere, al jazeera, barnsville ohio. >> you can watch the full report tonight at 8:00 pm eastern. orthodox christians are marking good friday today. eastern churches celebrate easter this coming sunday. thank you for joining us. i'm randall pinkston. the news continues next live from london and you can keep up at aljazeera.com.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ and this is the al jazeera news hour i'm david foster. these are some of the stories we're studying in detail. the first medical aid flights land in yemen since saudi-lead coalition air strikes began 16 days ago. the cuban and u.s. presidents fly to panama where they are expected to discuss a thaw in