>> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. the u.s. removes cuba from the state sponsored terror list. a significant step in warming relations with havana. hastert allegation he. s. to silence a sex abuse allegation. new documents and allegation of forgery in an emotional case of a mother who says her baby was ton plus john pizzarelli, his

surprising collaboration with paul mccartney. >> considering how long the two takings have been at odds, the relations in the last two weeks are remarkable. relations once strained are now close to normal. washington dropped the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. reaction was swift and as you will see subdivided especially over the issues of fugutives from justice wanted by cuba or the u.s. morgan radford is in miami tonight, morgan. >> that's right john. as you mentioned a lot still has to be done when it comes to the exchange of wanted and accused

criminals. but at the heart of the reaction right here in little havana is one question, what has cuba done to warrant being taken off that list? i talked to one mother and she says even if the title isn't removed, doesn't mean it isn't warranted. >> she's like any other mother but she is bragging about a son she buried. >> that was the plane that was shutshot down, one of them. >> at just 24 years old mario jr. a jung pilot was shot down by the cuban air force it was in 19 nirk. theynirk -- 1996.

they also at times flew over cuban territory to drop anti-castro leaf lets. >> this is what was left of it. >> this was left of it after it was shot down? >> the be travel plans the day that he was shot down, after 16 years in a u.s. federal prison hernandez was released in december as part of the prisoner exchange that triggered a thaw in cuban u.s. relation. he's now living freely in cuba. >> it was like finding out our son had been murdered over and oaferred again. it was like a -- over again. it was a slap in our face. >> her son's mission was humanitarian sob watching cuba taken off the list of state sponsors of terrorism is even more of a slap in the face.

>> we feel that the shoot-down and the murder of our son was an act of terrorism. >> it was premeditated coldblooded murder that's what it was. it was state sponsored. >> but cubans can make the same argument alleging u.s. harbored terrorists who attacked cuba. a former cia agent who spent his life trying to take down the castro regime. he is accused of planting a bomb on an airliner that killed 76 people. for decades venezuela and cuba has been asking for his extradition, but the u.s. has refused, which is at the age of 77 carilas is a free man living in miami. but now cuba off the terrorism

list his freedom is in question. >> he's some kind of osama bin laden of cuban origin. >> while the u.s. and cuba move forward with a diplomatic relationship accused ex isles are here to stay. >> the reality is that the american government protect the -- all the agents that were used for the government many years ago. where the past is the past. >> while this new chapter in u.s. cuba relations unfolds the de la penas say they will never stop coming to the memorial. they must remember the lives lots to the castro regime since

they say the u.s. government with its new shift in policy will not. >> the assassins are at large and their hands are being shane. >> and especially with things happening like cuba being taken off the terror list. >> the hands of raul castro has blood. >> does it reon these wounds? >> -- reopen these wounds? >> in a way it does. >> and there is no closure. >> there is an unfortunate cost to be establishing an even more unfortunate normal. well john a lot of older cuban compilesare exiles, they say that one this is a victory for cuba, two this is justice being served and third and finally this is finally what is happening

because cuba never deserved to be on that list in the first place. >> morgan radford morgan thank you. negotiations have opened the door to more u.s. tourists. americans are flock to a country that has been largely off limits for five decades. ash-har quraishi reports from havana. >> for cuba ans and u.s. citizens alike heavy restrictions currently make it difficult for people from the states to vista the communist island but not impossible. >> it's fantastic. the history here is unbelievable. absolutely unbelievable. >> cuba has long been a destination for travelers from u.s. and canada. a select few u.s. tour companies are licensed to operate here. >> cuba is an enigma for us in the industry, it's a phenomenal destination. it's like an answer to a prayer for real traveler, the person

who longs to discover places in the world that are different and unique. [ horn ] >> michael and his friend lionelel have been giving tours in this classic car for years. >> we are only 90 miles from the u.s. and we can very quickly receive lots of u.s. tourists. and i think it's going to be a success. >> unofficial estimates indicate a 20% increase in the first three months of this year. the challenge say american tour operators, will be cuba's ability to accommodate an influx of discerning american tourists with its decades of decay. >> the potential is in the stratosphere but there are problems. one of the biggest problems for cuba with its infrastructure,

with its existing infrastructure, to cope with that kind of an onslaught of tourists. it can't. >> goldman says the airports can't hold large commercial planes. hotel rooms are scarce, and there's practically no internet. some accommodations are under way. seven story hotel in old havana and airbnb. but the new owner of this home has converted it into a rental property mostly for western tourists who can access the entire place using access like airbnb. >> what's interesting for tourists is, here in this house they get a personalized experience compared to the large chain hotels. plus this home has a higher comfort level than some of the private homes.

>> while there is a sense of cautious optimism. >> chain brands that will come in whether the old cars roaming the streets will still remain, i think it's going to be a completely different experience in five years' time. >> but with diplomatic efforts still in their infancy it could be a long time before the presence is felt here in cuba. ash-har quraishi, havana. >> now to the indictment of dennis hastert. today troubling reports that he was trying to cover up were allegation of sexual abuse. mike viqueria is in washington with that story mike. >> john these are shocking allegations, for anybody who followed the career of dennis

hastert particularly here in washington but in illinois where he was known as a benevolent benefactor to many youths where he taught from 1965 to 1981. the indictment alleged that denny hastert lied to the fbi about a series of payments that amounted to $1.7 million in a course of seven years to a person noarch as known as individual a this individual knew denny hastert for most of his life, lives in illinois the far suburbs of chicago illinois, denny hastert taught in yorkville, illinois. series of payments that were to total $3.5 million the agreement between denny hastert

and individual a. some of the withdrawals drew the attention of federal authorities, they went to him and asked him about it, he said he didn't want to keep his money in banks. but this investigation and subsequent is grand jury indictment said dennis hastert was paying this individual to, quote, compensate for prior misconduct, apparently that was of a sexual nature. >> what has been the reaction from washington? >> slok and disbelief -- shock and disbelief. i myself covered every day of his speakership. in 1998 after the mid term elections, newt gingrich was out out ousted denny hastert picked by

tom delay he was more of a plow horse than a show horse if you will, that is how he conducted himself in the house of representatives low charisma. his responsibility for loss of the speaker ship was another sex scandal, inappropriate communication with young male house pages. and now some years later these allegations against denny hastert, troubling allegation he everyone around him in shock, john boehner the speaker of the house put out a statement he's very troubled about this, going to be watching this very closely. nobody can quite understand that denny hastert was involved in this indictment and subsequent reports john. >> mike viqueria thank you.

the senate rurnts returns to work this sunday for a rare weekend session. be trying to pass the -- reauthorize the patriot act. libby casey is here with the story. libby. >> it is an incredibly strange situation. the last time the patriot act was renewed five years ago it faced no push back in the halls of congress. what has changed? edward snowden. the revelations he has put forth over the government surveillance of average americans has been a game changer and now the patriot act is in very real jeopardy of expiring. president obama issued a warning friday from the oval office. >> on sunday at midnight, a

whole bunch of authorities that we use in order to prevent terrorist attacks in this country expire. >> reporter: the president joined by attorney general loretta lynch pointed to measures like roving wiretaps. >> i don't want us to be in a situation in which for a certain period of time, those authorities go away, and suddenly we're dark and heaven foshed we've got -- forbid, we've got a problem where we could have prevented a terrorist attack. >> the president is supporting what is build as a compromise. the collection of phone records be the telephone companies will keep them. be the bill of rights defense committee says the freedom act still goes too far. >> none of the reforms whether

the freedom act and certainly not the reauthorization bills would do anything to end bulk collection. i think the political will in america is simply not there for these programs to be continued indefinitely. >> reporter: there is also resistance to the freedom act in the senate from liberals and libertarians like rand paul. >> we have entered into a momentous debate. >> white house using his antipatriot stance to promote him. isand an antisurveillance group called fight for future, redirecting visitors the is a protest page. on the flip side there is push back against freedom act for not being tough enough. republican majority leader mcilroy want the freedom act

renewed. >> my colleagues do you really want this act to expire? >> clicking down to the expiration on sunday. in case the senate doesn't renew it so they can be in compliance with the law the real wind down starts sunday, 4:00 eastern time the same tine the senate gastles in to see if theygastlesgavels in to see if it can piece together some sort of agreement. >> 249 nation voted to support sepp blatter of fifa. nine current and former fifa executives were indicted by the u.s. department of justice on bribery and racketeering

charges. drugs and home brewed heroin. how the deadly drug could soon be as easy to make as beer. beer.

[beeping] ooo come on everybody, i think this is my grandson. [lip syncing] ♪little girl you look so lonesome oh my goodness. ♪i see you are feeling blue ♪come on over to my place ♪hey girl ♪we're having a party happy birthday, grandma! ♪we'll be swinging ♪dancing and singing ♪baby come on over tonight

>> now to texas. the rest accuse, the deaf station and the debt tolls are rising. it's been another harrowing 24 hours. rainfall records are being broken in much of the state. hdgesheidi zhou-castro has been in dallas. heidi. >> yet another member of a family vacationing on the shores of the blanco river. since the memorial day flooding, that brings the death toll to 26 people who have perished and today the carnage continued here in dallas. a scene in north texas a police

officer dangling from a rope over rising rapids. it was a helicopter rescue after the officer's patrol car became dangerously close to being swept away. >> i've never seen this much rain in all my life. >> after more rain and record-breaking floods, first houston in central texas then dallas. hundreds of drivers stranded for hours. >> i'm pretty much stuck on the freaking freeway with five feet of water! >> hundreds of high water rest accuse started before dawn. in spite of the warnings some drivers steered into water running across roads and within seconds their cars rose and began drifting with the current. emergency crews in boats were able to pull this driver out into safety. scenes like this have been playing out over much of the state all week.

in the wettest may on record. the national weather service says at least 35 trillion glns gallons of rain have fallen on texas this past month enough to cover the entire state with eight inches of water. central and north texas breaking records set in 1967. and just a week ago the state was still suffering from a four-year drought. and what is amazing john, is that mother nature took only one month to reverse this extreme drought that had plagued this region for those four years. so all the water reservoirs in texas are back at 100%. and the danger has swung in this other direction. where we see more rainfall and there is more forecasted and it falls on this already saturated land and roadways, there is more

danger of it flooding. >> all right heidi, thank you. the creator of silk road was sentenced to life in prison, ross albrecht. silk road allowed users to anonymously purchase illegal goods, mostly drugs. today the judge order he him to forfeit more than $1 80 million made on the website. others found it a way to tame the violent drug trade and use drugs in a safer way. more from "america tonight's" lori jane gliha. >> the first time you logged onto the net to provide drugs how nervous were you? >> she was just 15 when she bought drugs off the dark net. she used us to not use her name.

by using a browser named tor she was able to browse where the illegal drug trade was thriving. here she ordered everything from acid to mdna and cocaine. she made most of her purchases on a site called silk road. >> as soon as you log on you see images of all kinds of drugs just right at your fingertips. >> then in october 2013 the fbi seized silk road and arrested its mastermind ross albrecht, who went by the pseudo nimn yfertionm. online reviews of the seller before completing the purchase. >> i think it's safer mainly

because online when you go on these sites you can click on the product and read its reviews and the vendor's description of it. and it's not necessarily what the vendor says about it but what the customers say about it. >> the perceived safety had been a key argument in albrect's defense. after the jury found him guilty of seven felonies, that be made him subject to life behind bars without ability to parole. albrect said he never advocated for abuse of drugs. prosecutors used details of at least six deaths related to silk road users to persuade the

judge to enact the sentence. only time before others are brought to justice. lori jane gliha, al jazeera. >> you can see lori jane's report in full on "america tonight." big drag on economic growth was exports which fell more than 7%. other factors a rough winter that kept people away from shops and the strikes that at u.s. ports. this week, al jazeera america's weekly public affairs program third rail explores the question is the united states as a superpower in decline? here is a preview. >> calling all the shots in the world we may not be able to call as many as we would like to. but still we are secure.

we're still the number 1 country to which our allies turn looking for support and enemies most fair in terms of the united states actually doing very strong -- >> but they're going to have options now they're going to have china to turn to and others. >> russia turn to china? don't be ridiculous. >> you said others. >> help us rehearse the main issue in the presidential election next year. the americans are all sane, pointing out to a very sympathetic public that america is weak, president obama has not done well overseas, there is a sense that the i.s.i.s. beheadings shouldn't have happened or should have been punished immediately south the republicans are united in attacking obama and his former secretary of state in making a mess in the world. >> third rail, on al jazeera

america. coming up next, court records sealed, and babies stolen and a birth certificate forged. my conversation with jazz guitarist john pizzarelli what sparked his love of music. music.

>> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. adopted or stolen? allegations that newborns in st. louis were taken from their mothers. tonight, what newly released court documents revealed. >> the answer is. >> topic for debate. the movement against common core education standards is growing. why opponents say it's time to change course. quick fix: a medical break through for making lifesaving drugs. how it could also be used to make heroin at home. plus john pizzarelli.

>> there was mccarthy watching us snapping his fingers. as long as he's snapping we're okay. >> a new project backing a rock 'n' roll legend. we beginning with a story that we've been following for weeks. the allegation he that newborns were taken from black mothers at a st. louis hospital and sold for adoption. the accusations involved births that happened decades ago but new allegation ares are emerging, are be allen schauffler has more. allen. >> the long be story of del la zella jackson and her daughter melanie, who just met this year. we're getting a look at the paper trail for all of this and that paper trail just raises

more questions. [ crying [ n >> ] >> that's moment, mother and daughter reconnected after a birth nearly 50 years ago. >> so overwhelmed it was just pouring out of me. i was just sitting and looking and i was thinking oh reply gosh you're so beautiful. >> the daughter melody is deaf and she spoke to us through an interpreter. >> she said i love you and i foaferghtforgive you. >> she says the staff at homer g. phillips hospital in st. louis told her the premature baby had died hours after birth in november of 1965. the hospital closed 36 years ago, and no documents have been found directly supporting that

story. and freshly unseemed documents from st. louis family -- unsealed documents from st. louis family court have baby diane being born at a different hospital. city records say the mother abandoned the baby. >> no no no. i have five other children that are spoiled. and i would have never given up a baby, never never. >> zella price stands by her story. >> that's what hurt me so bad when i saw her baby pictures that she didn't get the chance to be nourished and spoiled and treated like the other children because, like i said, when i left the hospital, and they told me that she had passed, i heard that before. so it was not only believable, it was acceptable. >> the newly released documents raised more questions. zella price's lawyer claims the

signature on the adoption consent was not zella's signature. the signature is a forgery too. melanie says she does remember going to court with her foster mother at that time. >> well, we went to the judge. we went to the court. my mom was with me. and i know that he hit the gavel on the bench. >> and she said she believed those were formal adoption proceedings, although she was never able to find adoption documents. whatever happened 50 years ago she doesn't believe her foster parents did anything wrong. >> i don't know. i feel like they just didn't know. i believe that the hospital told them a story. >> but which hospital? whose signatures are on which documents? was baby diane stolen, be

abandoned, illegally adopted or not? more questions emerge. without regard to the paperwork we do know they are mother and daughter dna tests prove that. melanie is going to move closer to her mother this summer. >> allen schauffler, thank you. earlier i talked to zella's attorney who says that the documents unearthed raise more questions than answers. >> we have an unsheathed court document that raise possibilities, it starts with a birth certificate for baby diane. that birth certificate has the signature of zella jackson price

on it. but it's not her signature. >> how do you know that? what proof do you have? >> the proof that i have is zella denies any writing on any document that purported to be a birth certificate for baby diane and she says that's not my signature and we have had our experts from a preliminary standpoint with copies of documents, it's always better to have originals say that there is a high probability of not the same handwriting both signatures. >> regarding the birth certificate for baby diane it shows that ms. price had her baby at city hogs in st. louis not homer g. phillips hospital. how do you explain that? >> i explain that as that's completely consistent with somebody trying to secret the truth about the genesis of baby diane. what's really telling about it is culturally and historically

in st. louis city hospital number 1 was exclusively a white hospital. and homer g. phillips hospital was regarded and nationally recognized as the black hospital. if you were black and of course zella was and is, and her daughter is black zella lived in the shadow of the hospital she had two babies before baby diane. >> are you making be accusations that this was a baby stealing operation? >> i'm alleging that zella had her baby at homer g. phillips. she was told her baby had died. her baby was taken away for testing and never brought back, zella went on grieving, there was a witness that was present

at the time she delivered baby diane. she wasn't present at the delivery but worked at homer g. phillips during the sometime that zella was in the hospital. we thu she lived in the area we know that she had all of her kids there and we also know she raised every one of her children. she felt her daughter was dead by virtue of what was told to her not by a doctor but a nurse at homer g. phillips hospital. that was experienced by not just one or two women but high scores of women who have contacted our firm. that is a protocol that was contrary to the policies and procedures of the hospital and contrary of the standards of care in the medical profession at the time. we now find out oh i'm sorry but zella didn't have her baby at homer g. phillips hospital. this woman went to the white

hogs delivered her baby at some point dropped off the baby and never came back for her. and oh by the way we looked for zella, who seems to be one of the highest members of the african american community between 1970 and 1983. >> you say this is a conspiracy to steal her baby? >> absolutely. >> you called it a scheme the last time you were on our air. what's the scheme? >> the scheme you have babies being born at homer g. phillips hospital a baby mill. you had in the mid 1960s a very strong middle class african american middle class that had no resources and no one catering to needs for childless couples of color. there was not an adoption agency that did that. so childless middle class couple of color that wanted to adopt a baby had to do so not through

traditional means but that mean or that market need was filled by individuals who we believe -- >> stole babies? >> had a nefarious -- well they stole babies but had a protocol, they preyed on young single, or let's say the records didn't reflect they were married women who presented alone to the hospital. women 15, 16, 17, 18 giving birth to babies. baby mama is really young she is not going to get anywhere with this world you have baby who will never get anywhere with mama, we're going to do both a favor and by the way we're making money in the process. >> i understand. is there a chance just a chance that families or others were involved and didn't want their daughters raising a child? >> oh, is there a chance yeah i'm still a chance.

it still doesn't give whomever the powers were the authority or the right to make the decisions of god. in the meantime, zella was no kid. zella was in her 20s. zella was an adult. i don't care what her mom and dad might have said. she had be two other kids and had four others coming down the pike. she spoiled every one of them, they are all educated employed doing great. they are the type of family that make this nation proud. >> albert watkins we'll continue to watch this one with you. thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> now to the debate over common core. new jersey governor chris christie says list state will no longer take part in the program. common core was adopted in 2009. set rigid guidelines for k-12 students. the curriculum they say just doesn't work. there are plenty of supporters.

i talked to one new jersey resident who says he thinks the common core is the right course. >> not related to the parents whose students are being underserved now and desperately need, better education than they are getting. >> i know you say this parents movement isn't going to go far but what if it does? >> the real issue is, we're looking at the test how local districts are implementing tests and we're going to work on those problems. but sticking with higher standards and pushing students to get to higher expectations is the right course. >> julie vorse is a new jersey resident, mother of a special education student she volunteers for save our schools new jersey. julie welcome. >> thank you. >> what was your reaction? >> i thought it was interesting and interestingly timed. >> you thought it was political?

>> i definitely thought it was political. >> didn't he do what you wanted him to do? >> sort of. we'll see. i think what he's asking for having standards put together by the end of the year is awfully quick. if you talk to educational specialists it takes more time to create educational standards. there are other governors who have abandoned common core, added changes occur sieve writing maybe and put their -- ated cursive writing and put their be are signature on it. i think you need to go back to the advent of who was on the committees that created them, i think what we're seeing especially in the elementary school the k-3 basically we start with grade 12 and we go down. and what's left over gets pushed down into the k-3 areas. we didn't have --

>> you say we should have started at k at kindergarten and move up. >> also you should have had early education specialist on there one special education specialist on there. >> something i learned about you and jury child. >> sure. >> tell me about how common core affects special education students? >> it depends on where you are i think. as far as my daughter my own personal experience has been, i think we've managed to stay a little bit ahead of it. so that her where she is academically compared to her grade level it hasn't been appropriate for her really to be trying to achieve at the level of her grade. >> but they're giving her the test anyway is that right? >> they would if i let her. >> but you opted out. >> we started with 8th grade with nj ask. >> that doesn't make sense to a lot of people.

>> no, no. >> the country's concerned there's concern in this country about whether or not the schools are performing, and teaching children what they need to know. they can't read they can't write they can't add and subtract, many students can't so what do we do about that? >> i think you have to go back to the beginning and ask why -- we'll take new jersey because that's what i know best. you have the creation of standards and national testing those things were supposed to catch and identify the places where there are problems and possibly also fix those things. but with race to the top and common core standards after 14 years it doesn't do that. what it has done really well though is demonstrate where pockets of poverty are in the united states. there is correlation income level of the parents and how that student going to do. >> if there was a committee would you serve on that? >> i would love to serve on

that. you hear that governor christie? >> thank you julie for coming. >> thank you for having me. >> research could revolutionize the way lifesaving drugs are made but it could make dangerous narcotics easy enough to make at home. our science and technology editor jacob ward is northbound be san francisco. jake. >> two teams in the united states and two teams in canada put together the theoretical pathway that would go from glucose all the way to possible drugs like anti-cancer drugs antibiotics and more 15. it has global implications that have to be explored. yeast is a miracle of nature. feed it a little something like sugar and it can spit out all kinds of things like alcohol. now several teams of researchers around the world have banded together to create a process

where yeast can theoretically make anything from construction materials to medicine. process starts with glucose you know i.t. as sugar researchers have done what they've always done they feed it to yeast and it makes ethanol alcohol beer and other things but reticuline you can make all sorts of things anti-mall aerials and other types of drugs morphine and that raises the ethical question of whether this research could lead to something they didn't really intend. >> we realized it's not like ten years away, probably two or three years away. that's when we became concerned what are the ramifications of this happening as quickly as it is. >> being able to make more teen as so many pharmaceutical companies use poppies to do, is heroin. that is the problem here.

>> they're going to have to coordinate with policy makers to make sure they come up with adequate policy to regulate this. so ensure that the recipe doesn't fall into the wrong hands. >> let's think about how being able to brew morphine in a lab could change the global heroin trade. over 80% of the world's heroin comes from poppies grown and processed in afghanistan according to united nations estimates. and flows through europe and the middle east to pakistan, a massive business. myanmar supplies a lot of the world's heroin. although mexico has dominated the market. the countries that surround afghanistan account for 60% of the world's heroin consumption but a combined 33 billion u.s. dollars. the united states and canada an

enormous amount of money. those countries make heroin such a profitable business. if those drugs can be made without using poppies at all the corruption would slowly shrink in and around afghanistan. but in the united states when the only limit on opiates is their availability, the home grown diswrugz would put drugs would put them in the hands of more people. >> the potential gain for society is immense. so we don't want to halt that research, but we do want to do it in a way that we can minimize the risk of the imlist ill illicit. that's where thek is just starting. >> the potential to create drugs

easier and cheaper or coming unwith a drug that isn't addictive, to keep the risk of backyard drug breweries under control. john what's so important to note here is that incredible things could come out of this. the possibility of using yeast to manufacture drugs could make drugs cheaper and more effective, we as humans could really use including opiates that could be used for very legitimate purposes and not being addictive and not gif us the risk of overdose as with current opiates. these researchers raised their hands right from the beginning we have a problem, this is a red flag and make sure we are ahead of this problem. that proactive stance should be something we should see more often. >> thank you jake for bringing this to us. we take a look at how heroin is spreading in the united states.

9:30 eastern on come pass with sheila macvicar. coming up. my conversation with jazz guitarist john pizzarelli. with his all star collaborations.

y right now... >> al jazeera america >> now to our friday art segment and in the spotlight tonight john pizzarelli, he's been in the rhythm business since birth. his father is an icon. now john in high demand, paul mccartney recently came calling. he said it was a lot of the beatles why he got started. >> i had two older sisters and they had all that beatle music in the house. that's when i tught you could actually perform it, watching them play was a big deal but i always heard my father play the guitar.

>> your father was a young. >> yes it was like when i was six or seven or eight my mother i'll never forget it, she said, go tell your father you're going with him today. i would go with him and go from being studio to studio. >> you started at six? >> on bass guitar because that's what my father's musicians taught me. >> where would it be like to grow up in a household where everybody was singing? >> it made it alwaysnjable. in the early '60s, guys playing bye bye blues and bye

bye blackbird. >> you were exposed to people like benny goodman right? >> yes. and also following my father around. he was playing with benny goodman. in the early 80s my father would open shows for benny goodman, things would happen very expediting, i expedite exciting -- exciting. i was expected to perform. >> your father is 89. >> yep. >> he's still playing. i saw a picture of him back there. and you play together still? >> still i just saw him over the weekend if i can nail him down he'll play concerts with me. i think we're going to be in

sham paynechampaign, illinois. can you play good rhythm guitar and bake back up a singer, that's how he liked it, he wanted to see the full guitar. >> you mentioned the beatles and i understand that paul mccartney has asked you to cover a couple of songs. how does that happen? hey john? >> he sent me a letter. i said when fedex arrived i said mpl communications, he said, is it's from paul mccartney. he said "sign here." it was a letter from him it said i enjoyed your work on kisses on the bottom. i wondered if you would be interested in recording some of

my postbeatle catalog. i thought we could call the am bum midnight mccartney. that was the letter. i go, i think i'm interested in doing this. >> you opened for sinatra in '93. >> yes '93. >> what was that like? >> that was pretty crazy. sinatra and mccartney are the most noticeable face you could say, i was with both these people. i actually opened the show for sinatra, and i had only met him one other time in berlin, germany, he said eat something you look bad. >> you opened for him -- >> would i be doing 20, 25 minutes, there was sinatra watching us, snapping his fingers, and as long as he's snapping it's okay. >> congratulations for all

success and good luck. that's our broadcast. thank you for watching. i'm john siegenthaler. i'll see you back here monday night. the news continues next with barbara serra.

>> off the terrorist. cuba and the united states take a step closer to normal diplomatic relations. reflected. seth blatter wins a fifth term despite the enormous candles surrounding him. and stepping up, kenyan grandmothers go back to school so they can help give young orphans