display on sidney opera house and the show created by a design group universal everything. and a series of images are projected on to the sails of the enesco building with technology and sidney 2015 festival has installations, projections and music. >> decision time for the senate, renew the patriot act or limit the n.s.a. the choice could change how the government secures the nation. >> new indictments for the six baltimore police officers accused in the death of freddie gray. >> change which is more progressive and inclusive can really help the people of the country. >> a historic vote. ireland becomes the first country in the world to decide whether to make same-sex

marriage legal. this is aljazeera america live from new york city, good morning, i'm randall pinkston. today is the day the senate must decide what to do with the patriot act. it's a controversial law covering everything from how the n.s.a. collects information without a warrant to the handling of terror suspects. the law passed in the wake of the september 11 attacks but expires june 1. the senate will be on recess when that happens. as libby casey reports many are now questioning whether the law should remain in effect. >> 14 years after the patriot act and the attacks of 9/11, lawmakers and americans are still grappling with however the government should go. >> the debate is whether the act has made america safer at the trillion dollars cost to

implement it. >> the civil rights attorney argues that it has not made the country safer and understands the cost goes beyond money to civil liberties. >> what the patriot act was put together and rushed through congress post 9/11, a lot of republicans and democrats joined because they were told it's ok, in five years we'll revisit these and here we are, 14 years later, we are still talking about it. >> still talk about and weighing whether its key components should continue. in 2010, he was awarded more than $20,000 by the courts because the government wire tapped his calls with clients without a warrant. >> fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer. >> now congress is debating letting the government continue collecting americans' phone data, not what you say but all the details about who you call and when. opponents want congress to let

the patriot act expire and he says the extent of government surveil handles was only revealed by whistle blowers. >> the disclose i.r.s. by edward snowden lawed a controversial cultural conversation that remains on going in the face of a policy conversation that has yet to even start. >> the patriot act supporter with the center for security policy jim hanson agrees that snowden was a graham-changer. >> ed snowden bless his little heart did a big favor for our enemies by portraying our collection programs at much more sinister than they actually are. >> hanson maintains the patriot act has made the country safer. >> it is certainly dangerous to roll back the government's abilities to conduct this type of surveillance, far too restrictively. if we don't do these things, we will suffer attacks. >> the civil rights attorney said the government has a hard time proving that its surveillance techniques have actually stopped attacks.

>> did we catch any terrorists with this? did we have any cases that actually were brought by seized programs that edward snowden exposed? the conversation now is why are we spending all this money on these programs. >> we'll he is no fan of the patriot act he has a public advocate in the surveillance court. he hopes it's part of the national conversation about civil rights and national security. libby casey, al jazeera washington. >> the f.b.i. has dramatically increased its use of the patriot act to collect information. an internal review by the department of justice says the agency has been using its authority to sweep up data on people who are not part of any active investigation. the expansion is due in part to more electronic information being available. the report also faults the f.b.i. for taking seven years to create privacy protections. we are learning more about emails sent from a personal

account by former secretary of state hillary clinton. >> "the new york times" obtained hundreds of pages related to the 2012 benghazi attack and situation in libya. they include a warning from christopher stevens the u.s. ambassador killed in the attack. clinton said she wants to make all of these emails public. >> it reveals more about how the clinton foundation is funded, including $26 million in previously undisclosed payments for speeches. the money came from corporations universities and foreign sources. the foundation has been under fire for taking money from foreign sources while hillary clinton was secretary of state. the foundation says it mistakenly tallied the money at revenue instead of donations. >> six baltimore police officers are facing new charges today now that they have been formally indicted with the death of freddie gray. gray died in april after suffering a severe spinal injury

while in police custody. the six officers were arrested early this month on charges from assault to second degree murder. some charges were changed after the case was presented to a grand jury. >> as our investigation has continued, additional information has been discovered, and as is often the case, during an ongoing investigation charges can and should be revised based upon the evidence. >> the officers had previously been charged with false imprisonment. that charge has been dropped in favor of reckless endangerment. the six officers will be arraigned july 2. >> georgia i guess working to reform its efforts to help at-risk children. a 2013 report found the system ignored abuse claims. some children even died. as robert ray tells us, some now are praising child welfare for helping them get out of abusive situations. >> i want to thank you for making me happy by giving me a new, warm and safe environment.

>> marie wrote this letter to the men and women who saved her life. >> i couldn't walk, because my spinal cord was broken and couldn't be fixed so that's how i got hurt in the e.r. >> when she was eight months old, she weighed only 14 pounds and was beaten so severely by her biological mother and her mother's boyfriend that she permanently lost the use of her legs. today, marie is nine years old. >> i think that if you never helped me, my life would still be awful and lonely. i basically just live with my disability and i don't really let things get in my way. >> marie's story could have ended much differently if not for the people at georgia's division of family and children services, an agency that has struggled for years. her adoptive mother, michelle is

also a social worker. >> from the beginning they immediately got the police involved and that was in cooperation with the hospital, which involved expert physicians, hospital social workers and a strong link to the department. it needs positions to say no, this is child abuse this child didn't just foul out of a bed. >> many cases have a much different outcome. >> ammany moss comes to mind, the ultimate tragedy the thing we are working against every day. >> the case is well known in atlanta. the body of the 10-year-old girl was found in a trash can in 2013. police say the father and stepmother burned her to hide abuse. georgia had 90 child abuse related fatalities that year, ranking number six in the nation. >> they had a situation where -- >> when bobby indicatingle

became director a year ago the department had nearly 4,000 open and overdo abuse investigations, 40% fewer case workers than needed and a budget stripped of millions of dollars in funding during the great recession. >> when i see a child that has died because parents have not fulfilled their responsibilities, it breaks my heart, and it also causes me to redouble my efforts to assure that that doesn't happen to another child. >> not when the agencies social workers are over burdened, an issue which he is keenly aware. he used to work on the front lines. >> when with you get beyond about 15 cases you significantly reduce your capability told good assessments. the more cases you have, the less the capability to do that, and therefore the greater risk

for the child to be harmed. >> protects the rights -- >> prompted by these latest tragedies this month the governor of georgia signed into law a bill to protect the nearly 10,000 foster kids in the state rick the dfcs chief to report directly to the governor. >> how important right now is this new law that the governor has signed for you acknowledge democratic? >> we get $36 million additional in the next fiscal year, which starts july 1. included in that is 175 additional case workers and another $5 million to raise case worker salaries. >> i wish that you keep doing what you do to make the world a better place. >> marie's thank you letter to the detectives and social workers was posted on line and went viral. >> love, marie. >> the people that did this to you, do you forgive them at all? >> well, not really, because you

can be mad but you can never hurt someone. >> no, right? >> right. >> she says she wants to be a surgeon and help children with disabilities when she grows up. robert ray, al jazeera atlanta. >> no break through yet in talks between the u.s. and cuba about restoring diplomatic ties. negotiators meet again today in washington after sitting down on thursday. on the agenda, reopening embassies in havana and washington. the obama administration wants its diplomats to move freely in cuba. the cuba is concerned that could promote dissidents. >> the fate of same sex marriage in ireland is in the hands of the country's voters today. polling stations are now open to decide whether to let same sex calls tie the knot. ireland is the first country to hold a nationwide referendum. the main political parties back

the yes campaign. paul showed the outcome could be close. we are joined from dublin. mr. atool, let's put the question to you. what are opinion polls showing? >> they have been fairly consistent over the last few months, showing about 70% in favor of same-sex marriage and about 30% against but almost nobody believes the opinion polls. nobody thinks it will in fact be as clear cut as that. the polls certainly do suggest that the yes side is likely to win, but there's a sense if you talk to people that there's probably a lot of people who are against same-sex marriage who don't want to say that when asked the question and the poll, because as you mentioned all the political parties are in favor most well known people in ireland are in favor there's a

large political consensus that this is a good idea and those who don't think it is a good idea may not be telling the pollsters their true opinion but when they go into the ballot box will vote no. i think it is likely that it will pass but not be at clear cut. >> until 1990, homosexuality was criminalized in ireland. how do you explain the drastic change in the space of two decades? >> you're right, it is a drastic change. ireland was one of the last western countries to decriminalize homosexuality right up to 1993 and now could become the first country in the world to bring in same-sex marriage by popular vote. i think the change is partly negative and partly positive. the negative part is diminishing influence of the catholic church which was a huge force in ireland up until the 1990's, but very much weakened by the

various scandals that the church has undergone over the last two decades in terms of child abuse covering up child abuse. that's the negative factor. the positive is that ireland's a very small intimate society and once a gay man and lesbians started to come out and say who they were, it means that in a very intimate society they know a lot of people. they become not them in fact but people's brothers and sisters and friends and neighbors. i think irish intimacy and social ability tends towards being quite he egal tarian. a lot of mothers and fathers of gay children would like to think their children can be married just like everyone else. >> do you think the approval of

same-sex marriage could impact another hot button social issue abortion? if it is approved, it will give great heart to those who want social change on other levels. ireland used to have a very strong architecture of conservative legislation. there was no divorce can't are aception was outlawed. it formed bit by bit and pillars have been overturned, perhaps another overturned today which would leave only ireland's very,

very restrictive abortion laws as a standout that makes ireland different in terms of its social mores about these issues. >> we'll see how it turns out. thank you for your time. >> developing news this morning an arrest in a gruesome killing in washington, d.c. police pick up a suspect in the murder of four people, but they are not revealing a motive.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 7:48 eastern time, taking a look now at today's top stories. a reprieve for the south korean airline executive convicted of going nuts over a bag of nuts. a judge suspended the one year prison term. she got angry on a flight out of j.f.k. airport when a flight attendant served nuts in a bag instead of a dish. she resigned from korean air and apologized. >> the military is launching air patrols, part of the first

official rescue operation since muslims began arriving on the shores of southeast asia earlier this month. malaysia and indonesia agreed to take in those migrants. >> the president of the boy scouts of america said the organization should allow gay scout leaders. robert gates a former c.i.a. director and secretary of defense said the organization needs to keep up with the times if it wants to survive. in 2013, the organization moved to allow gay scout members but only those under the age of 18. >> an exconvict is in police custody right now in the murder of a wealthy washington family and their housekeeper. police had been looking for the 34-year-old for days. detectives say he once worked at a business owned by the man who was found dead last thursday inside his d.c. mansion along with his wife, son and

housekeeper. court now where did the police find him? >> it was a fugitive task force that arrested him along with five other suspects. they were taken into custody late last night in northeast washington d.c. he was identified after detectives recovered his d.n.a. from a pizza crust at the crime scene. he ordered pizza while holding his victims hostage last week. it's unclear whether he acted alone or had accomplices. >> we were able to identify him inside a vehicle but it pulled out before we could stop it. we failed the vehicle. he made a you turn, came down -- two vehicles made a u turn. we were able to take them down with the assistance of a police helicopter pin both vehicles and we arrested him. >> i'll have more details about the on going investigation in the next hour, randall. >> thank you courtney. >> in other news, a new synthetic drug killed 16 people in just one florida county this

year. flaca is cheap very addictive and becoming increasingly popular. jonathan betz spoke with florida police investigating the drug's growing use. >> we're on patrol in south florida where authorities are facing something unlike they have seen before, a new drug called flaca cheap detective and dangerous. its users hallucinate and commit violent acts. authorities tried to get ahead of this problem. we'll tell you what they're doing and why it's so hard to fight, tonight. >> you can watch the full report tonight at 8:00 eastern. >> around the clock cleanup along california's coast after thousands of gallons spill into the water but the efforts may not be moving fast enough to protect wildlife. >> sun veins that don't make the grade, nicole mitchell has a break down of which ones you should be using this holiday weekend.

>> there will be one standardized school test next year. the association that develops the common core test decided to reduce exam time by about 90 minutes, as a result. math and english tests will only be given once a year instead of twice. the decision comes in response to vast vocal opposition by parents and teachers. the spill couldn't have come at a worst time for santa barbara california, today marking the beginning of the holiday weekend and the beaches would normally be packed. tens of thousands of dollars in tourist revenue will head somewhere else. jacob ward reports. >> the state beach is the kind you see in the oil paintings but now is covered in oil. federal and state officials are

determining how much got into the water. >> with any oil spill response, there's things that complicate a response, for example, tonight we had to stop our skimming operations this evening because of weather the high winds and the waves got too choppy. >> the spill comes during the migratory season for whales and see lions. they are now swimming right through one of nature's most toxic creations. new long term studies from the deep horizon spill showed exposure to petroleum killed animals for three years after the spill. with each high tide, more royal continues to hit this shoreline because resources here are limited. >> why not have booms along the shore to keep the high tide from bringing the oil in? >> a lot of it becomes down to vault. it's pretty much impossible to get all the oil. our crews are trying to get as

much as they can at sea but as it comes ashore, we have to have crews address it. >> as the cleanup continues memorial day is not going to happen for this stretch of coastline. there are armed guards posted here to keep people off the beaches. it could be months, before people get to use this beach again. >> more than 70,000 people will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year, as the weather warms up and we spend more time outside, it is important to know how to protect yourself. let's bring in nicole mitchell today for our environmental impact. you may be enjoying the sun this weekend, you may not. what do you know about sunscreen. >> this is the unofficial start to summer. i was looking at sun screens trying to be more healthy about it. it's complicating and confusing as he head to the beach here's some things to look at as you're

buying the sun vein. first of all look at the ingredients closely. you don't want anything with a vitamin a because even though they prevent wrinkles, they can make you more sensitive to the sun. this is especially in those lip bombs you use. also oxy ben zone, avoid that one, possibly linked to lower birth rates if you're pregnant. use a lotion or stick. those sprays are popular but cause the air saul. use broad spectrum, u.v.b. is what the s.p.s. is but that's not necessarily better.

get to the middle ground on those, because they're not giving you the u.v.a. protection. one place that i found that was very useful is called ewg.org you can check your thing. banana bolt was very popular so we broke those down, or even if you want to see the environmental factors in those things. other tips, stay away from high elevations, closer to the sun or low latitudes the sun gets you faster in those places. >> scientists are making a big leap forward to help those paralyzed begin to use their limbs. drinking a beer without help, more than 12 years after paralyzed from the neck down, he is allowed to operate a robotic arm and hand with his thoughts. >> stephanie sy is back in two

minutes with more aljazeera america morning news. keep up with the headlines on aljazeera.com.

>> isil gains ground, seizing the last remaining government border post between syria and iraq. now the calls are growing louder for the u.s. to change its strategy in the region. >> the polls are open in ireland also it becomes the first country to decide whether to allow same-sex marriage. >> police in washington arrest a suspect in a quadruple murder. is the mystery of what led to the deaths solved?

this is aljazeera america live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. the u.s. led coalition fighting isil is under pressure this morning to rethink its tactics. isil has made major gains this week inching closer to the capitals of iraq and air i can't. it's fighters over took another town in iraq's western province, capping a week of major setbacks for u.s. and iraqi forces. large parts of iraq are under isil control. the group's main strongholds inside iraq and syria have not changed significantly since u.s. airstrikes began last summer. we have more on isil's latest offensive. >> some of these men will be sent deep into sunni heartland to fight isil. some will protect a strategic town that islamic state of iraq and the levant has tried to

control in the past. for these shia militiamen, they are protecting groups from anbar to southern back and holy sites. >> i volunteered to join this battle and protect our holy shrines. >> it was a controversial decision to use shia militia men in a sunni province. the regular forces are weak answered efforts to create a no one sectarian army have failed p.m. a junction with roads south to saudi arabia, north to anbar's provincial capitol ramadi, where there are highways to baghdad and neighboring jordan and syria isil has captured the last border

crossing between syria and iraq and controls most of that frontier. it's fighters move freely between two countries. >> the u.s. has down played the gains. president barack obama has said that the loss of territory were tactical setbacks and insists that the war is not being lost. many disagree. isil has taken over two cities in a week. ramadi is 100 kilometers from baghdad, the last major city on the road to the iraqi capitol. >> palmyra is near holmes, on a major cross road strategic for the syrian government survival. the government did invest manpower and resources over the years to reclaim holmes from the opposition. if it loses there damascus and the coastal region will be under

threat. isil controls the land from palmyra to ramadi. the fight is being led by militias. in syria the u.s. doesn't recognize the government's legitimacy. >> coalition airstrikes have not just targeted isil fighters and military equipment, also taken aim at isil's finances. patricia sabga joins us now. how successful have airstrikes been at targets isil finances? >> we usually think of coalition air strike in terms of their effect on isil's military exhibits. they're also impacting the group's finances. >> coalition airstrikes damaging isil oil facilities, depressed oil prices, the 1-2 punch that's

brought the armed groups biggest money spinner to its knees. >> isil previously got most of its funding from oil. last summer it was making $1 million to $3 million a day and it was the group's top revenue source. now isil reportedly only makes $1 million to $2 million a week. >> that hasn't left the group over a barrel. extorting taxes protection money and checkpoint told is the group's steadiest source of income. when its territory expands as with the recent capture of ramadi so does the pool of people isil can shake down. >> the key is when it controls territory, it's able to find creative and frankly very effective tools to suck the money out of the economy. >> like getting around baghdad's ban on transferring cash salaries to government employees in isil-held territory. according to the financial action task force isil waits

for government workers to collect their salaries and then taxes them up to 50% when they return to isil-held turf. sales of stolen antiquities further fill the coffers and the group is set with a bonanza with the capture of ancient ruins in palmyra. >> isil doesn't rely on buying loyalty through public receives or relying on outside donations or even key personnel to get the job done, but looting antiquities is its second source of income and is a formula that allows it to meet its biggest expense, paying its fighters. >> we want to get right back into that sale of antiquities. michael i guess the co director of the american schools of oriental research subtle really a heritage initiative. he has more than two decades of experience leading archeological projects. professor, thank you so much for

your time. i understand you were in palmyra in 2010. you spent a lot of time in raqqa over the years where isil of course is now based. why is palmyra important from a cultural and archeological perspective compared to raqqa. >> palmyra is extremely preserved greco roman site around the oasis. it's one of the best examples we have. it's central to syrian ideology. for a shirt period, its queen led a successful revolt against the roman empire. >> we all remember the video of isil fighters taking hatchets to those statues in iraq and mosul. what is the greater goal, destroy and the particular wilts or are they petty too tomb raiders

stealing and selling them? >> they destroy the immoveable property they have for ideological regions to shock local population and populations the further enemy. the majority of their attacks over 90% are directed at islamic heritage, a small percentage of attacks are directed at the preislamic period. they are acting as a capacity builder for the looting of archeological silents and cultural repot stories libraries, universities and that material is flowing out of iraq and syria into transnational crime networks. >> how does isil go about selling these artifacts? we know that they have for example a large social media network. do they exploit that network for the sales of these items? >> reportedly, they do have that reach where they can deal fairly directly with potential buyers, but most of the sources that we have talked about on this issue

have told us that isil has a number of ways of drawing revenue from i will lit sit cultural property. the looting of archeological sites where they condone looting, they tax that. they tax the trafficking of illicit cultural property as it comes across the borders around get a cut of the initial sales of the illicit property, including art antiquities and other ethnic graphic material. >> reportedly, some of the museum workers in palmyra have boxed up and put away some of the artifacts as they knew isil was advancing. is there anything else that archeologist on the ground can do to protect these treasures? >> we need to emphasize the significance of these heritage sights but keep in mind that the modern version of palmyra is a city of 50,000 people. thousands remain without food, electricity and water and isil has already begun it's atrocities in the city, much

like the recent situation in ramadi. we're looking at a possibly repeat unfortunately of august 21 of last year, when isil executed hundreds of members of the tribe in the euphrates valley. we need to keep on eye on the population. >> there are public beheadings occurring in palmyra. thank you for your expertise this morning, appreciate it. >> thank you stephanie. >> the senate has until today to figure out what to do about renewing the patriot act. it expires on the first of june, but senators leave on a memorial recess later today keeping them out of washington past the first. some want the controversial law to end. >> 14 years after the patriot act and the attacks of 9/11, lawmakers and americans are still grappling with however the government should go. >> really, i think the debate is whether u.s.a. patriot act has

made america safer at the almost trillion dollars that it's cost to implement it. >> this civil rights torn arcs it has not made the country safer around said the cost goes beyond money to civil liberties. >> when the patriot act was put together and rushed through congress post 9/11, a lot of republicans and democrats joined because they were told it's ok, in five years we'll revisit these and here we are 14 years later, we're still talking about it. >> still talking about and weighing whether its key components should be continue. this man has firsthand experience awarded more than $20,000 by that the courts because the government wiretapped his calls with clients without a war rant. >> fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer. >> now congress is debating letting the government continue collecting americans' phone

data, not what you say but all the details about who you call and when. opponents want congress to let the patriot act expire and he says the extent of government surveillance was only revealed by whistle blowers. >> the disclosures by edward snowden lawed a controversial, cultural conversation that remains on going in the face of a policy conversation that has yet to even start. >> the patriot act supporter with the center for security policy, jim hanson agrees that snowden was a graham-changer. >> ed snowden, bless his little heart did a big favor for our enemies by portraying our collection programs as much more sinister than they actually are. >> hanson maintains the patriot act has made the country safer. >> it is certainly dangerous to roll back the government's abilities to conduct this type of surveillance, far too restrictively. if we don't do these things, we will suffer attacks. >> the civil rights attorney said the government has a hard

time proving that its surveillance techniques have actually stopped attacks. >> did we catch any terrorists with this? did we have any cases that actually were brought by seized programs that edward snowden exposed? the conversation now is why are we spending all this money on these programs. >> while he is no fan of the patriot act, he has a public advocate in the foreign intelligence surveillance court. he hopes it's part of the national conversation about civil rights and national security. libby casey, al jazeera, washington. >> we are learning about email sent from a personal account by former secretary of state hillary clinton. "the new york times" obtained hundreds of pages about the benghazi attack and situation in libya, saying it contains a warning from chris stevens killed in the benghazi attack. clinton wants to make all emails public. >> ireland becomes the first

country in the world whether to make same-sex marriage legal. polling stations are now open for a referendum. the major political parties back the yes campaign, but polls show the outcome could be close. >> in rome, same-sex couple little are celebrating now that the city is formally recognizing civil unions. a dozen couples registered at city hall thursday. there is a national ban on same sex marriage in italy though the prime minister encouraged local governments to recognize the civil unions. >> the boy scouts of america are moving toward a major change. its president, robert gates said the organization should end its ban on letting openly gay men be scout leaders. some seep the move as inevitable. >> on my honor, i will do my best. >> when we spoke to them last year these twin brothers had achieved the rare goal of eagle scout, that challenging honor is bestowed to only one in 10 boy

scouts. because liam is 18 and gay his career in the south is over, first by a no gays allowed policy, then a reversal only to bar them 18 and over. >> it's been kind of rough growing up in such a cool organization and then at one point hearing that no, we don't really want you that's not cool. >> but now another change may be coming. >> we cannot ignore growing internal challenges to our current membership policy. >> speaking at its annual national meeting boy scouts of american president robert gates said the status quo can no longer be sustained. >> i truly fear that any other alternative will be the end of us as a national movement. >> the former v.i.a. director and pentagon chief said it's time for the leadership to rethink its position. gates call for change comes as boy scout chapters across the country have spoken out against the banning of gay leaders. >> i would like to know what it

is they don't like about me and what they're afraid of. i pose no harm. i passed all their backgrounds checks. >> he said recent action have made it too difficult to ignore the issue. in april a new york chapter openly defied the organization by hiring a gay keyingle scout to serve as a summer camp leader. >> we considered him on the base of his application, we have a very, very strong anti discrimination policy. this is not new and we are just applying it here. >> gates has no plans to change the policy but cite state laws and court rulings in favor of gay marriage as events too big to ignore. >> the one thing we cannot do is put our heads in the sand and pretend that this challenge will go away or abate. quite the opposite is happening. >> john terrett, al jazeera. >> on the agenda today president obama will visit one of the largest jewish congregations in washington to mark jewish american heritage

month, highlights efforts to combat anti sex fix. >> there is a public viewing in los angeles today for b.b. king. a memorial service is tomorrow. >> four refugees rejected by australia will resettle in cambodia today, part of an agreement between the two countries to resettle some migrants held at an australian run detention camp in the south pacific. >> indicted in the death of freddie gray, a grand jury charges six baltimore police officers six weeks after they were arrested. the new accusations. >> we talk with the guy row co.oer pilot who landed on the lawn of the capitol. how he feels about potentially spending years behind bars.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. it is 8:19 eastern, taking a look at today's other top stories around the notice. hundreds of north texas residents hope they can return home this morning after evacuated due to severe flooding. power's been shut off near wichita falls to prevent fires. the central and southern parts of the state were inundated.

forecasters say the severe weather will continue through the weekend. >> students in 11 states in washington d.c. will take one set of standardized tests next year. the state decided to reduce exam time by 90 minutes. math and english tests now will only be given once a year instead of twice. >> developing news this morning in the murder of a wealthy family and their housekeeper. police in washington made an arrest taking a 34-year-old into custody late last night. he is suspected in the killing of the man his wife, son and housekeeper, all found dead inside a burning mansion. courtney keely is here with the latest. this manhunt went on for days. >> it went on for a week and stretched from washington d.c. to brooklyn here in new york. >> aged 34, former marine and exconvict was taken into custody

late thursday in northeast washington d.c. >> i can't divulge the techniques we used, but we had no amazing investigators. >> members of a fugitive task force made the arrest and charged him with first degree murder. >> we were able to identify him inside of a vehicle but the vehicle pulled out before we could stop it. we tailed the vehicle. it was following this box truck until he made a u turn, two vehicles made a u turn. we were able to safely tame them down with the help of a police helicopter, we were able to pin both vehicles and we arrested him. >> at least five suspects were arrested. he was identified after detectives recovered his d.n.a. from a pizza crust at the crime scene. he ordered pizza while holding his victims overnight last week. police allege that he held the man, 46, his wife, amy 47,

their 10-year-old son phillip and housekeeper 57, inside the family's multi-million dollar home while extorting at least $40,000. it's believed he tortured phillip until his father procured the cash. three of the four victims were stabbed and bludgeoned before he set fire to the house. it's unclear whether he acted alone or had accomplices investigators believe he previously worked at two companies owned by the businessman. >> we believe there is a connection between this suspect in this case through the business, so right now it does not appear that this was just a random crime. >> many homes in the same d.c. neighborhood have fences and elaborate security systems. local and federal police are also a constant presence, partly because vice president joe biden's official residence is nearby. >> the family also includes two

daughters, but both were away at boarding school during the murders. >> the suspect has a long criminal record, including assault charges leading to convictions. he is expected to be arraigned later today of first degree murder charges. >> six baltimore police officers face new charges today and have been formally indicted in connection with the death of freddie gray, who died in april after suffering a severe spinal injury while in police custody. the six officers were arrested earlier this month on charges ranging from assault to second degree murder. the case was just recently presented to a grand jury. >> as our investigation has continued, additional information has been discovered, and as is often the case, during an ongoing investigation charges can and should be revised based upon the evidence. >> the officers had previously been charged with false imprisonment. that charge has been dropped in favor of reckless endangerment.

the six will be arraigned july 2. >> health officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 53 people spreading to nine states. california reported 31 cases. the outbreak is linked to raw tuna in sushi but they're not sure of the exact source. many of the people ate at the same restaurants. >> indiana is now allowing some drug users to exchange needles in response to h.i.v. cases in a rural part of the state. jonathan betz recently traveled to austin, indiana the epicenter of the outbreak. >> jeannie has struggled watching her hometown change and loved ones die. >> i've had five family members pass away from drug overdoses. >> you yourself. >> yes so it's pretty dear to my heart. >> so dear, she now works as a nurse, joining what she sees as a fight for the town's life. >> austin, indiana only has

4,000 people, but this piece of the american heartland is suddenly at the heart of an epidemic facing the state's worst outbreak which h.i.v. ever. >> how easy was it for you to get this drug? >> easy. >> much of it is fed by a raging drug problem that joey knows too well. >> it's become austin's favorite past time. >> a long time alcoholic he says last year, he began using the town's drug of choice, opana, prescription pain killer that addicts cook and inject. dirty needles spread disease. he caught hepatitis c. >> you want to get high, you don't think about that. >> you don't think about h.i.v.? >> i don't think about h.i.v. being in austin. >> one in five now live in poverty.

with only seven officers, the police chief struggles to contain the crime in a town plagued by abandoned homes. >> if we could stop it here, we could stop it everywhere. >> we have signed today an executive order. >> the governor recently declared a public health emergency. >> to stop this h.i.v. outspread in its tracks. >> teams of workers arrived setting up a command center to offer testing doctors and counseling. state budget cuts shut down a planned parenthood clinic. one of the few h.i.v. testing centers. the town only has one doctor, with my cook. >> we could have averted this by addressing the drug problem five or 10 years ago but we didn't, and now we're seeing the end result of that. >> it's an end result the state health department insists was impossible to predict. >> in a perfect world, we would have all services veil in all counties but reality is that's just not the way it is. >> she says the state is here

for the long haul, devoting considerable resources and launching programs like a needle exchange where workers give dirty needles for clean ones. >> i'm trying to make a bad situation into a good one. >> joey is getting help to turn his life around in a town struggling with far more than a disease. jonathan betz, al jazeera austin indiana. >> on the healthbeat this morning, a new study links prolonged use of tylenol during pregnancy to lower testosterone in unborn bees. the drug in tylenol is the primary pain killer prescribed during pregnancy. the study found mice given a typical dolls for seven days had reduced testosterone by 45%. researchers say expectant mothers should take the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time. >> mopping up the mess off the california coast. >> i'm adjustment outside santa barbara, california where

officials that normally work hard to attract people to these beaches are warning them away after a big oil spill. >> traveling to cuba, how businesses are gearing up for what they hope is a wave of americans, choosing thized alleges a tourist destination.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:30 eastern, taking a look at today's stop stories. the u.s. led coalition fighting isil has cleared a pathway to the baiji oil refinery in iraq. that and the area around it has been contested despite hundreds of airstrikes in the region. isil made major advances, taking over key cities in iraq and syria. >> the senate must decide today what to do with the pete receipt act before going on recess. the act covers the n.s.a.'s warrant list collection of information to the handling of terror suspects. >> police have made an arrest in

the murder of a wealthy washington family and their housekeeper, taking a 34-year-old into custody overnight. he is suspected in the killing of the four. detectives say he once worked at a business owned by the homeowner. >> cleanup has been going on to get oil off the rocks and out of the water near santa barbara where an oil pipeline leaked earlier this week in the pacific. the spill closed beaches just in time for the holiday weekend. that means tens of thousands of tourists and their wallets will head elsewhere. jacob word reports. >> the beach is the kind of place you see in oil paintings in the local restaurants but now it's covered in oil. federal and state officials are just beginning to come to grips with how much got out of a pipeline and into the water.

>> with any oil spill response there's things that complicate a response, for example, tonight we had to stop our skimming operations this evening because of weather, the high winds and the waves got too choppy. >> the spill comes during the migratory season for whales and sealions. they are now swimming right through one of nature's most toxic creations. new long term studies from the deep water horizon spill showed exposure to petroleum killed large numbers of animals for three years after the spill. with each high tide, more royal continues to hit this shoreline because resources here are limited. >> why not have booms along the shore to keep the high tide from bringing the oil in? >> a lot of it becomes down to availability. it's pretty much impossible to get all the oil. our crews are trying to get as much as they can at sea, but as it comes ashore, we have to have crews address it. >> as the cleanup continues, memorial day is not going to happen for this stretch of coastline.

there are armed guards posted here to keep people off the beach. it could be months before people get to use this beach again. >> here's a look at some of the largest oil spills in history. number one is rarely mentioned in 1910, about 100 miles north of los angeles. 378 million gallons supplied out, creating a river of oil eight miles long. stopping the leak took 17 months. number two was during the gulf war in 1991, caused by iraqi forces destroying wells and storage tanks. experts estimate that spill mostly in the desert involved 336 million gallons. the worst spill in recent u.s. history of course the gulf of mexico 2010, 209 million gallons leaked when the deep water horizon rig exploded.

the famous exxon valdez, 11 million gallons poured into prince well sound. the president of the project which focuses on ocean conservation joins us this morning. ms. maxwell, thank you for your time. this stretch of beach not far from the 1969 oil spill which led to the clean water act. this spill relatively small 21,000 gallons. is it more symbolic of possibly where we haven't come since 1969. >> the 21,000 is what ended up in the sea. it was 105 that came out of the pipe spilled altogether. any drop of on him in the ocean is not good, but proportionately is relatively small. this area is where the environmental protection act came out of that. earth day came in 1970 right after the spill and modernized

the modern environmental movement across america as we know it today and had president nixon signing the bills into law. >> that was more than four decades ago and we still hear about oil spills every other week in this country. >> oil is a necessary business, but also a necessary business. our entire economy is driven on the oil so we need it. i think that this is an important reminder of the oil that we use comes with consequences and risks especially with an agen infrastructure that this oil is moving through. >> that gets to the heart of it. aging infrastructure. do you think that becomes more of a factor in investigating these spills? >> i think clearly. this pipe was laid in the 1970's and investigated two weeks prior. these pipelines are only supports to last 25 years. we don't nope the cause it's not helpful to speculate but it

is probably something to do with able, and there is over 2 million of pipelines across america that deliver oil and gas. >> because of that, and the spokesperson for this company said the accidents so far are within industry norms. within as much on him as is produced now in this country are these spills inevitable? >> i think accidents clearly do happen and this particular company actually has a large number of infractions against it, but if you look at the oil spills across the board since 2000 they baseman happen stories, fractures human error happen often and daily. we don't always hear about them, because they're not so visible and not such beautiful places as this. it's a problem and i think that this if there's something good to come out of this type of issue, it's to refocus on the threats and the problems. you know, again, we should talk about california, because

california is at risk of earthquakes and talking about oil, earthquake is risks and gas, that's not the best option. >> we should talk about the arctic ocean. last week, president obama said he will permit shell oil to begin arctic drilling. there have been some protests. does a smaller spill like this raise concerns about drilling in the arctic where it would be even more difficult i imagine to clean up a spill? >> i am very concerned about the arctic. it is one of the largest pristine areas left with untold amounts of marine reserves and bio diversity. the problem is we don't actually know what we have. we don't have enough science or information, so any risk, the risk is great because we don't know what we're doing exactly and inevitably accidents will happen. we saw what happened with the deep horizon and the results of that still being made evident today.

mahihi are swimming several miles slower, which means they can't catch their prey and dolphins are dying at an exception am amount. you can read in the daily newspaper that focuses on it, the lead story today is on how many bottle knows dolphin deaths are being attributed now -- >> that's part of the official report is the effect on dolphins. founder and president of the project, thank you for your insights this morning, thank you for being here. >> thank you so much. >> a florida postal workerring pleaded inning for flying a gyro copter on to the lawn of the capitol. douglas hughes appeared in federal court not far from where he landed. he wanted to call attention to the influence of big money in politics. >> are you disappointed that with your stunt the focus has been on the security of the nation's capitol, rather than what you wanted to call

attention to, the issue of money in politics? >> i didn't expect congress was going to enter into a discussion about finance campaign reform and they went to security as a way of keeping the topic off of the problem. >> you had talked about how you were going to fly into d.c., newspapers had reported on it, the secret service was aware even though they didn't have an exact date. are you shocked with all those warnings that you weren't stopped? >> i sent word out ahead by email and i had known that the story was going to break with the tampa times when i took off so i really expected that the authorities knew i was coming and they knew who i was. >> now are you concerned at all that your actions may have caused more harm than good by making people aware of just how vulnerable this very important area in washington is? >> well, i don't think it's vulnerable. i mean, if the issue owe open if

the testimony before the house subcommittee is correct the f.a.a. tracked me all the way in, and they filter's me out. that's a procedural thing that's been radar weeks ago i'm sure. i don't think anybody could do what i did now. >> hughes faces up to nine and a half years in prison if he is convicted. >> hundreds of former nfl players are suing the league saying they were forced to use pain killers. the new suit claims all 32 nfl teams conspired to push pain killers to keep athletes playing, even when they were hurt. the suit alleges several former head coaches including don shula threatened to cut players who refused. a similar suit was dismissed in federal court last year. >> a ruling is expected today on a controversial federal policy to hold undocumented immigrant mothers and children in detention centers. some of those families have sued the u.s. government, saying the

center are like prisons. we have more on what this ruling will mean. >> a lawsuit against the federal government has immigration detention centers like this one here in pennsylvania on the verge of closing. with confined quarters and armed guards, immigrants liken these places to minimum security prison camps. federal officials say the center are the best wails to keep families together, warning if they shut down, many mothers could be forced apart from their children. we sat down with one woman who ran from violence in her home country only to be locked in this center with her young son for more than a year. recently released, she talked with us about what life was like on the inside. >> many of the people who work there would call the residents garbage. >> we'll have much more on her story coming up oh night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> no break through in talks between the u.s. and cube da

about restoring diplomatic ties. negotiators meet in washington after sitting down on thursday. on the agenda, reopening embassies. the obama administration wants its diplomats to move freely in cuba. the cuban government is concerned that will create dissidents. americans are flocking to see cuba. >> for cubans and u.s. citizens, there is little doubt visiting would be good for both countries. >> it's fantastic. the history here is unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. >> cuba has long been a destination for travelers from europe and canada, and international tourism here is

big business. a select few u.s. tour companies are licensed to operate here. >> cuba's an enigma, for us in the industry, it's a phenomenal destination, an answer to prayer for the real traveler, the person who longs to discover places in the world that are different and unique. >> michael around his friend have been giving tours in this chrysler for the last year. >> i think it's going to be good, we are only nine 90 miles from united government and can receive tourists here. i think it is going to be a success. >> 100,000 non-cuban americans visited last year, unofficial estimates show a 20% increase in the first months of this year. the challenge will be cuba's ability to accommodate an influx

of discerning american tourists with its take cased of decay. >> the potential is in the stratosphere but there are problems. one of the biggest problems for cuba with its infrastructure and with its existing infrastructure to cope with that onslaught of tourists. it can't. >> goldman says the airports can't handle large commercial planes. hotel rooms are scarce and there's practically no internet. prepares are underway, french contractors are building a hotel in havana. air b.&b has listed properties exclusively for americans. >> buildings typically have multiple families, but the new owner of this home converted it into a rental property, mostly for western tourists who can access the place using websites. >> what's interesting for

tourists is here in this house they get a personalized experience compared to the large chain hotels. what's more, this house is a higher comfort level than some of the other private homes. >> while there is a sense of cautious optimism here, even some western tourists have reservations about what impact american influence can have on the change. >> it's going to change unrecognizably in terms of all the chain brands that will come in, whether the old cars roaming the streets will still remain. i think it's just going to be a completely different experience in five to 10 years' time. >> with diplomatic efforts to reestablish relations still in in fancy it could be sometime before a stronger american presence is felt here in cuba. al jazeera havana. >> it's projected that more than 70,000 people will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year. sun protection i guess not all the same. some sun screens can be harmful. let's bring in nicole mitchell

for today's environmental impact. good morning. >> good morning hitting that summer season, a lot of people will head outside. i was trying to find something without a lot of chemicals and it's hard. there's a lot of things you might not know about that you need to watch for as you buy these if you want to stay on the healthier side and protect your skin. here's a list, no vitamin a or oxy ben zone in the list. it absorbs into your skin. use a lotion versus a spray. sprays tend to, you can inhale that but you tend to not put as much on and you can burn more easily. use broad spectrum. that means u.v.a. and u.v.b. and try not to use anything above 50 because that just goals to the u.v.b. your u.v.a. protection runs out. you might not get the sunburn but could be doing sun damage.

ewg.com give you the best ranked protectors. if you want to put in your own brand, you can see how it rates on u.v.a. and u.v.b. and health concerns. you can look at what some of the specific health concerns are. they'll further from there rank the ingredient list, so you can really see what's in it. some of the ones that surprised me, some of the baby and kid's ones are not better. you can plug that into your phone before you go to the store and if you're looking at buying something can check it really quick and make a better decision. >> especially important for the babies and kids. nicole mitchell, thank you. >> in today's digit albeit, aljazeera.com looks at a labor union accused of work slowdowns impacts international trade. the international long shore and warehouse union has 14,000 members. it's responsible for handling almost all of the core go that is shipped through pacific ports. the union was in a labor battle

at those ports. even though resolved, retailers are feeling the affects. macy's couldn't get new merchandise and posted a loss. for more, head to aljazeera.com click on u.s. >> art and activism from a rinking to racial profiles, photos stirring up emotions. >> selling one of the biggest video games of all time and the secret to its success.

>> white sox. taking a look at today's top stories, fighting in south sudan is making the human crisis worse. thousands left the country including aid agencies, doctors without borders has been forced to suspend services this week. fighting between government and rebel forces displaced 100,000 people this year. >> thousands of mourners poured into the streets of northwest colombia for the mass funerals of mud slide victims. monday landslide killed 84

people, many more are missing. the chances of finding anyone alive are very low. >> protests turned violent in santiago chilean police launch water cannons. many are frustrated by a string of scandals in the country. >> a series of provocative and racially charged photos having viral, turning the victim into the aggressor sparking a deep conversation about race. we spoke with the photographer for this morning's first person report. >> my name's tyler shields and i'm a photographer. this is a series called historical fiction a series that fakes place between 1950 and 1970. when i was a kid i grew up in florida. in the south k.k.k. was very prevalent. >> the land became terror to

those in the south. >> when you ask anyone about the k.k.k., the first image that pops into their head is a klansman hanging a black man. i thought it would be interesting to see what would it be like if a klansman was in the tree. i've gotten responses this is the most powerful photo i've ever seen. i've been thanked for this picture more than any other i've ever taken. what was interesting about the men holding down the police officer is i did that probably nine, 10 months ago so i did it before the i can't breathe and before a lot of these things of recently just been happening. as they started happening, i was like oh, man this photo keeps getting more and more powerful. if someone did that as you see in my photograph, i mean the uproar that that would cause would be cataclysmic.

the martin luther king image one of my favorite from the series is these four women in a hair salon and as they read this story, they realize that their lives are about to change, and the reactions that you see from them are so interesting because the women in the photograph had a real visceral experience, unlike anything i've ever seen shooting anyone. each of the girls broke down individually, you know, as you grow up, i mean, he was dead long before any of them were born, so it wasn't something that they had actually had to face. people want substance and this is the first time i've really tackled an issue like this. if any one of these photos can cause change, then my job is done. >> on the science beat, oologists found stone tools in kenya they say predate the emergence of modern humans, suggesting our ancestors were

not the only or the first to use tools. the stone tools were found in kenya's basin, 3.3 million years old, making them the oldest stone tools ever found. most scientists believed only our human ancestors had the unique ability to make tools and started doing so 2.5 million years ago. who start making them 800,000 years earlier? >> one is a skull over 3 million years old found about a half mile from those tools. ignacio studied archaeology and said this is an important find. >> these artifacts are as old as these scientists are claiming, so they have been securely dated to 3.3 million years ago. i think there is no problems with the dates that they are proposing, so i think we can be confident that the dating is

correct. we can't tell for sure who the authors of these artifacts are. >> he believes this will lead to a better understanding of evolution. today is pac-man's birthday. the video game was reds in japan 35 years ago and took the world by storm. it focused on something we all like to do, eat. we have more on pac-man's legacy. >> in 1980, the video gave him's world was dominated by games like this one space invaders, aimed mainly at boys who played them in video games arcades. that was until this man set out to design a game to appeal to women. the inspiration, apparently he was eating a pizza and two slices in, the idea of pac-man occurred to him. the name, originally it was pacuman, from the sound your mouth makes when it opens and closes rapidly. it became an overnight hit.

350,000 pac-man arcade machines like this one were sold in the first 18 months, and in the years that followed, these pulled in more than $2.5 billion in revenue. >> this was the first game to have real competitive artificial intelligence that hunted you down. there was a lot of personality a lot of great music beautiful colors, there were colorful fruits, a main character blinking lights, music. it was fun and the excitement drew people in. >> it became the first original gaming mascot, and was the first game of many to be set in a maze. it was also the first video game licensing success with pac-man merchandise worth more than a billion dollars sold in the u.s. alone. >> for a while that was a pac-mania. he had a cartoon his own can of tomato sauce pasta toys, you name it, the virtue video game character to take off and become a successful property, making billions of dollars.

it really did pave the way for a lot of video game stuff that we see today. >> the success of pac-man has turned the game into a cultural icon, a symbol of a generation that grew up with video games. >> a film is set to come out. >> the crater of pac-man. >> pac-man is not -- >> he retired from the industry in 2007 but in the film invited back to reign in the monster he created. al jazeera. >> coming up in two minutes from doha, word of an attack on a mosque in saudi arabia. it was just as the fateful gathered for friday prayers. that's it for us here in new york. i'm stephanie sy, thanks for watching.

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see change. >> gripping. inspiring. entertaining. talk to al jazeera. only on al jazeera america. >> welcome to the news hour from doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes, a suicide bombing at a mosque in saudi arabia during friday prayers. at least 19 people have been killed. >> isil fighters seized the last remaining government held border post between syria and iraq. >> refugees have fled violence in burundi dying of cholera in tanzania