>> i'm jacksonville. "on target"ali velshi."on target" tonight. blowing the vifl on which is which whistle on worldwide soccer corruption. what took so long. sure fire way to ignite a debate about freedom.

former new york city mayor michael bloomberg tried to ban sugary sodas and the city's ban on transfats years earlier had a perfectly sound public policy goal to reduce obesity the diseases it causes and the cost of treating those diseases. the centers for disease control says 35% of american adults are obese and puts the annual cost of obesity at $137 billion and that problem starts early. the cdc says that more than one-third of kids were oversight or obese in 2012. first lady michelle obama has made improving the diets and exercise habits of american children a priority and an important part of her plan is called the healthy hunger free

kids act signed by president obama in 2010 and sets standards for foods served to kids in schools, some school districts complain that more food is being wasted because kids don't want this healthy stuff. others criticize the higher prices some kids pay for the lunches, whatever the reason the national school lunch program fell in the 2012-13 school year, compared to the year before. and two u.s. senators had just introduced a bill that would roll back some of the requirements of that bill. the obama administration obviously post office that and the fight over bringing fied fried foods and soda back into the schools is raging in texas.

david ariosto last the story. >> the broccoli is steamed the oranges are fresh and the salads are in abundance. but this wasn't always the case. about ten years ago texas recognized that a growing number of its children were both oversight and suffering from diabetes. so state officials decided to take action. ban things like deep friars and fryers and soda machines from schools. healthy alternatives in which carrots replaced potato chips and milk supplanted soda. >> we've developed stronger nutrition standards. >> i.t. not clear that it work -- it's not clear that i.t. worked. one in 6 texas high school kids

are considered obese. that's up from one in 7 ten years ago. only four states, new york tennessee alabama reported higher obesity numbers. sid miller was elected back in november as the state's new agricultural commissioner and he's made childhood obesity a top priority. >> what we've been doing for ten years hasn't worked so we're going to try something different. >> but for some his plan may be a little hard to swallow. miller's idea is to allow school cafeterias to bring back those deep fryers as well as certain kinds of sodas. giving local school districts to decide what kinds of foods their kids should eat will ultimately yield better results when it comes to obesity. >> the reason we're doing that is freedom and liberty and everything that's dear to

texans. >> the idea of sodas and deep fried food is about as unhealthy as can you get. >> uh-huh. >> don't you think allowing schools to put that in place would create the possibility of more unhealthy kids? >> keep in mind if they bring back the soda machines, which are we're allowing them to do, whatever go in the machines have to meet the federal guidelines. can you put diet, you can put fruit juices, you can put flavored water. >> but the deep fried aspect as well makes you shake your head. >> not me. the food has to meet the federal guidelines. >> reporter: in texas the department of agriculture sets the standards miller put the food up for public comment but ultimately it is his call. >> are you eating one way or another?

>> yes definitely, do away with the mandates, we will do that. >> that's giving heartburn to his critics. the texas nurses association and the texas parent teacher association have all called on miller to leave the fried food ban in place. they cite analysis from the centers for disease control saying that fried food can increase caloric intake, heart disease and even cancer. obese children are more likely to become obese adults and obese adults spend on average $1400 more a year on their medical bills. in fact the estimated medical cost of treating americans with obesity is approximately $147 billion per year. and while some parents in texas support miller, asserting that their kids skip lunch because

they just won't eat healthier meals, nutrition experts warn miller's plan is not the answer. >> be david ariosto joins me. you know i should really recuse myself from this conversation because i have a remarkable affinity for fried foods but i've always known they are not good for you cause you to be fatter and cause health problems. i'm not understanding sid miller's rationale here, are they simply not agreeing, they think these findings are not true? >> this is something you ask hardly wram your mind around. the office is an elected office and texas has been slowly moving towards a more conservative state. even though the ban was put in place by susan combs a republican texas tends to go

towards smaller government. >> it's more towards tree dom than fried food for him? >> what he says is you get a better sense of efficacy by putting it at the local level. >> i'm waiting for study that says this is all wrong and fried foods are okay for you. i haven't missed that, right the research indicates that fried foods does more damage than -- >> at the school level when you look at how this affects kids, it affects their cognitive abilities, the abilities to concentrate, test scores, in some cases there will be some correlation between nutritional level, the healthy foods kids aredare eating and how this core laith to test scores, and the math of bringing healthy foods into schools is a good idea.

>> thank you, david ariosto. back in two minutes with the man make the case against strict national nutrition guidelines in schools. schools.

>> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrap-up of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective on the news. weeknights on al jazeera america. >> all right this debate over school lunches goes way beyond what foods your kids are eating in the school cafeteria. it's also over what control the feds have over local school

districts. jeff styer studies national lunch programs. he says they are ineffective and not worth the money. now jeff obviously they are not ineffective insofar as they give kids who are low income calories that they aren't otherwise getting. >> we actually saw kids were throwing away the food and not buying it. >> but you're saying this item of feeding them more food but the program itself is not ineffective. >> depends on how you administer the program. michelle obama's program obama iting it, they were wasting kit wasting it and going out and getting fast food. childhood obesity is a very sears problem. should we throw ideas out there or should we consider science first? >> if you make it easy for me to

eat unhealthy high sodium deep fat foods i would do it almost every time. and i'm an adult. what's the thing about the kids? >> the texas example is a perfect case where there's a learning opportunity inside school imagine that where kids can be taught how to make fun choices. if we make these forbidden they will go out without supervision and go crazy. what i like to see is kids having choices in a supervised environment, where maybe there are teachers or strushts at schools, who can teach them how to make choices. when you say you can't have this at all that isn't working. >> the last people who willingly chose an apple were adam and eve. they choose fatty stuff and sugar and agenciy stuff. does this education work? >> if we take away all chises

when they get out there and can make their own choices that's when bad things happen. i think kids should are a choice to eat things that aren't the healthiest but do it in a supervised environment so they can learn. >> a reasoned recent study by usda said, there are studies that indicate the proper nutrition can improve a child's behavior their attention span their school performance their cognitive development. at some point there's a winning side and a losing side to this. why aren't we all siding with the winning side? >> because all too often we say hey, let's solve this problem with government restrictions on soda for example. in philadelphia, the federal government paid to put refrigerators in convenience stores so they could have more fruits and vegetables. how could you be more against

that? however these convenience stores already had refrigerators they were selling beer. people wanted to go out and buy beer. they didn't want fruit and vegetables. if people want it, the store will stock it. throwing money at a problem but teaching people perhaps how to cook at home. >> what you're talking about is educating children in schools isn't this just another way to do that, you give them better choices? we are not banning kids -- >> giving them better choices is code language for giving them no choices. >> how much of this in texas is freedom vtion -- >> i think freedom matters but its matters for a reason. i think freedom matters when jung adults grow up we have to learn how to exercise freedom responsibly. >> we don't let them buy cigarettes. if they want cigarettes the market will say kids are going to get cigarettes. >> of course but i will argue

that sow today with sugar in it, it's never appropriate for a child to smoke cigarettes. i would argue it's okay for a child to enjoy sow today with sugar every now and then. but forcing them out of schools kids will never learn. >> not allowing kids to buy cigarettes is more effective making them unaffordable was more effective. >> but i would say it's wrong to equate cigarettes with soda. that's the problem. everything is the new tobacco. >> seat belt laws is that the new tobacco? we do these things as we evolve as thinkers. from the time we were kids to now we have a different understanding of food and its effects on us. >> science guides that policy all too often. when you decide that --

>> what if the sign says fried foods are unhealthy for you -- >> there's no question they are. the point i'm making is how do you change a person's behavior in a positive way even though it's children's freedom family's freedom, how would you effectively make that statement i would argue the nanny state has not always been working. >> jeff styer is the senior fellow for public policy research and director of the risk analysis division. good to see you next long arm of the law reaches overseas to reach executives of the all powerful soccer organization, foifer. taking down the world most popular sport is not lost, all the way to zurich switzerland on why it took the game's organizers a red card?

>> what was is like to do selma?

con card? >> i am shocked. i'm shocked at how shocked the world seems to be about today's raid on a swiss hotel and the arrests of some of the soccer world's most senior executives. i'm shocked because if you know anything about fifa other than the fact that it is soccer world's governing body you know that most thinking people brief it to be a deeply corrupt organization going back decades. everyone thinks it and no one fixes it. until today. the irony is that the most sweeping move against fifa came from a country that most people do not associate with soccer. the united states. this morning nine soccer officials and five sports marketing and media executives in the united states and switzerland were charged in a

bribery scheme reaching back to 1991. so why is this all happening now? well the accusations of graft about soccer officials who get too cozy with sports marketers and media reached a fever pitch in 2010. that's when fifa opaque bidding process awarded russia and qatar the next two championship tournaments. a qatari official was accused of doling out $5 million of bribes to hisdispied despite summer temperatures that can surpass 110 degrees. qatar denies any wrongdoing but the qatari official was banned for life from fifa, to disclose al jazeera's home is in qatar

and is funded in part by qatar. andy good to see you. we are hearing that uefa is calling for a postponement of the elections uefa is not a friend of fifa for a long time. >> uefa is one continental confederation that said they would not support sepp blatter. at the moment absolutely not very quickly after these arrests were made, and after the swiss authorities said they would be starting their own investigations for 2018 and 2022 world cups, blatter's pr team

said, as far as they were concerned, blatter was a victim of this, was doing everything he could to distance himself from the activities of those that were arrested. it's a fascinateing juxtaposition. the psychiatry of the company that says i'm in charge of this operation but the action he of those below me have nothing to do with me. >> we are shocked and saddened and one wonders how anybody is actually shocked by this whole thing. the question on everybody's mind is sepp blatter fifa's president seeking a fifth term on friday. he has not been indicted and u.s. authorities have refused to say whether he is or is not under investigation. what if anything do we know about that? >> there's been a statement from blatter today saying absolutely not, that as far as he is concerned fifa and his own reputation has been hurt by what's happened, and that they

themselves have banned now 11 footballing officials from all fifa activity. and they say they support the actions of the u.s. justice department and in fact the swiss criminal proceedings that have started today to start that fifa's hierarchy gave to the swiss police. whether or not that is true that is what they are saying. what is really interesting is despite all this noise sepp blatter within fifa is still very popular. you have a situation where europe would like to see him gone a few countries in asia would perhaps like to see him gone but beyond that the millions billions that fifa owns fifa has been very strategic in distributing those funds to impoverished organizations around the world and many people will still vote for blatter despite all of this. >> it's very remarkable. football soccer not as popular in the united states as in latin

iamerica or europe but this concept of corruption in sports organizations is as old as the ages and corruption in fifa at least the perception there is corruption in fifa is long standing. why, the europeans have been wanting to get at the bottom of this why does this appear to be so unsolvable? >> well fifa if you like are in charge of the world game. that is their position so when there is a problem within fifa up until now they've investigated it themselves, they have got tear own anticorruption unit. more different this time is u.s. justice department, u.s. law gives the justice department big powers to investigate foreign nationals if they have a tangential connection to the u.s. chuck blazer, an american a

former fifa executive committee member who was thrown out of fifa a year or so ago he was being investigated by authorities in the u.s. because of allegations of accepting bribes and having all sorts of unpaid taxes and offshore accounts and it's believed that he became a collaborator, became of an informer and provided information to the fbi and that is why they were able to make such great leaps forward in this investigation. so it's that american member of the fifa organization, chuck blazer that's been critical to this investigation. >> thank you andy, into the next part a lot of people criticize america for its long reach but this tangential relationship in the united states may have done it this time. earlier i talked to kristin saloomey who is outside the federal prosecutor's office in

new york where toirnlg loretta attorney general loretta lynch delivered her indictments. >> chuck blazer who is a former member of the fifa executive committee who similarly pled guilty to similar charges in 2013, in relation to a scheme bringing a major soccer tournament to the united states next year. so we know they have been working with him as well as possibly other people who were arrested and pled guilty. four people total pled guilty to charges in relation to that scheme and two corporate entities. now this of course is a long running investigation that has been going on for some time. but the united states has wide

latitude in cases involving foreign nationals ocharge them on u.s. soil. all they have to do is use an american bank to transfer money or use a u.s. service provider for their internet. and that can be enough to get the u.s. federal authorities involved in a case like this. >> kind of remarkable. because there's been as much speculation for so long among so many people about corruption at the highest levels in fifa and no one's done anything until now of this magnitude. will the fifa officials who were charged be extradited to the united states? >> well, the united states is certainly hoping so. the seven that have been arrested so far however six are vowing to fight extradition. that gives the united states 40 days to submit a formal request and explain the charges. this could drag the process out for weeks. if they continue to fight. >> united states officials today indicated that these indictments were just the tip of the

iceberg. they say that there could be more to come. do we have any idea of what that might be. >> well, just that they are vowing to continue investigating and to root out what loretta lynch described as systemic corruption in fifa. the question everyone is asking is whether they will come up with anything to charge the president of fifa, sepp blatter or if there will be charges that relate to the 2018-2022 world cups which are scheduled for russia and qatar respectively. they are aggressively pursuing charges. fifa in the meantime say they are not going to reopen the bids for those world cups but everything is moving and everything is changing. >> they may have to do so. we'll see how the sun folds.

kristin saloomey, outside brooklyn new york. thank you for joining me, i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. us. >> a frightening mistake. live anthrax shipped from a u.s. military lab by accident. what the pent gone is saying about the risk to the public. surviving the flood. >> this is the water that was in our house and looking from the house you couldn't even see the pool. >> texas residents clean up after days of drenching rain. but officials warn of more storms to come. soccer scandal. the