will eradicate the species. lion fish can live a depth deeper than recreational divers can go, they can make a difference. >> that is it for us at this hour. see you at 11 o'clock eastern. "america tonight" starts now. on"america tonight", a dying city. pained by the loss of industry and people. can milwaukee save the next generation. >> any time you are 16 and you say i'm better off dead than alive, that's how bleak it is. "america tonight"s sara hoy on the crime spike putting milwaukee's future at risk. also tonight - the ones that got away. >> we've gone from a couple of

fish off of the east coast of florida to a range that goes from... >> from north carolina to mid-brazil, everything in between "america tonight"s sheila macvicar on the trail of a predator. thank you for joining us, i'm joie chen, we often focus on the violence that plagues the bigger city, but the mid size areas, baltimore, new orleans, reveal violence. the latest to expose the crime problem is milwaukee, which you might be surprised to hear is at the top of the list of rising murder rates, a 76% spike in its murder rate. "america tonight"s sara hoy on the fight to bring the bruised city back. >> a long the banks of lake michigan, it's the city of

milwaukee. beyond cam waters is a city of pain. >> we are following fatal news... >> three are dead, including a toddler and teenager. >> reporter: after years of fighting violent crime many cities have seen a surge in homicide, with this working class city topping the list. >> witnesses heard several shots. >> so far this year milwaukee had over 100 homicides compared with 86 throughout all of 2014. >> reporter: how you going to make it through the night with the gunshots. >> if you leave the room today and they close the books on your life, what are people going to say about you. >> educators in france are trying to step in before anyone else gets killed. >> is there a god that exists?

>> together they co-founded the i will not die young campaign to reduce gun violence in milwaukee. >> when they call the lifeless, get off. we was just walking down the street the other day. >> violence, i think is a personnel issue. >> when you find ourselves riding through the communities, and you see the shrines, teddy bears and flowers, a lot are disconnected from it. they don't know the people. >> when it happens to you personally, it's not just a statistic, it's not a news story, it's a personal thing >> among the mid sized cities, the homicide rate is one of the worst, with around 14 killings per 100,000 people. the majority of victims are black men, guns the weapon of choice. >> the most important thing in the room is the courage to let

out what you wrote. >> this man walked with the milwaukee public schools to help teens stay away from violence, by offering conflict resolution training, the spoken word artist provided an outlet for students to open up. >> when you hear milwaukee had a 76% increase in murders, how do you react to that? >> there's a mixed reaction. part of it is true. the other part is i know that there are young people who are thirsty for change. and there are young people who are thirsty for what they have been promised. >> once a manufacturing power hour, the city of milwaukee is a far cry from its heyday. stan is dean of the school of social welfare at the university of wisconsin, milwaukee, and says the loss of 100,000 good paying jobs, coupled with the status as one of america's most

segregated cities had a devastating impact. >> in some neighbourhoods it's bleak. conditions under which people live. health care, housing. the city is dying. the city is going the way of detroit. 39% of all african american families in the city of milwaukee live under the poverty level. >> 39." . >> it's enormous, one no one is proud of. the question is how do we deal with the issues. gun violence is symptom attic of the issues. >> this is my home down, i was born and raised here. this is painting a scary picture. >> it is a scary picture. especially if you are young, a person of colour and male. it is scary. >> milwaukee police chief edward flynn did not respond to multiple interview requests by "america tonight" to talk about the surge of gun violence. however, older women gave up her

lunchbreak during the budget hearings to speak with us. she is part of a political dynasty in wisconsin, including the first plaque woman lected to state legislature in the 1970s. talk to me by milwaukee, it's making headlines for the wrong reasons. you, yourself, managed to see the glass is half full. why? >> in a very personal way, because my family, my children, a community i care about is here. >> this is home. >> when i look at the statistics, i don't see the bad, i see the possibility in the work that needs to be done. >> the spike in violence is taking a toll on the 600,000 residents. it's sad. i was born and raised here. i know the greatness that they hold.

every time they get a call, every time i see the yellow tape or hear from the family, it hurts. the loss of the life is not just for families, but the community. >> reporter: when someone is lost for gun violence the impact is felt. take this 5-year-old. >> she is shot. >> reporter: her family is in unimaginable pain. last november bullets ripped through her house, killing leila whilst sitting on her grandfather's lap, reading with her older sister before bedtime. her mother remembers the day her father called with the news. by the time ashley reached her parent's home, the road was closed. >> everything was flashing lights. i didn't know what to think do, where to go. i didn't know what was going on. i did not know anything. authorities say 12 bullets were

fired into the home. with one hitting leila in the head. >> it's mined boggling, you don't know why. why did this happen. if i could have some type of reason why, it may be a bit of a better closure. >> as the death toll climbs, they work around the clock in the hopes of reaching as many young people as they can, starting in the classroom. >> how bad is it. >> today we did a class with a young man who is 16. it's easier to die than it is for me to go on, he said. he's saying i would rather quit than to keep fighting. how bleak is it for a young person in milwaukee. any time you are 16, and you say

"i'm better off dead than alive. that's how bleak it is. >> next - where there's two much water, after 1,000 year rain, the floodwaters are falling, but a new set of worries is riding. fighting back. how an underwater beauty became a vicious menace.

it's been more than a week since the floodwaters peaked, but south carolina is suffering

from the deluge. an odd weather system dumping rain across the state. damage is estimated at more than a billion dollars. and dozens of roads and bridges still closed. in the aftermath of the historic flood we travel to the heart of what is known as the p.d. region, and found that the worst may be over, but the worry are not. >> reporter: the way to john briton's house should be an easy walk. >> it dropped 2.5, 3 foot, a little more. >> we went over a fence. >> yes, a 6 foot tall fence. >> six days after what has been dubbed as a 1,000 year rain, the nearby streets, parking lots behind the houses, backyards - all of it remains deep under water. >> this is about 8-10 foot deep. normally this is dry land. this is a hill. >> we are on a hill. >> yes. >> the only way for briton to

get home is by boat. >> right here is probably 25 foot deep. this is my house in here. >> reporter: so we are now in your yard? >> yes, this is my yard. >> reporter: holy cow. >> the dark waters of the black river did not discriminate, flooding briton's large house, all but covering the neighbour's weekend cottage, and around the bend another house. >> reporter: most of the folks in this area are low income. >> yes, and government-funded housing. >> reporter: this will wipe those folks out. did you catch anything? >> not yet. >> reporter: folks like roy only realized how high the water this gotten when the grand-daughter saw fish jumping in the backyard. >> i said "what?", sure enough fish were jumping in the backyard. >> reporter: wilson got his family out safelily, the reality of a second crisis is now

setting in. did you have insurance for your things? >> no, we don't make that kind of money that we can pay insurance. >> reporter: how much did you lose? >> everything. everything is destroyed. i just kept them, i figured i will pass them to the grand boy. >> reporter: this is a poor community in a poor state. more than a third of the population lives in poverty. in this dots on the map town, 70 miles from the three big cities. columbia, charleston and myrtle beach centring too. wilson fears when aid comes, a community like his might miss the boat. >> okay, somebody who lost everything. we lost everything, shouldn't it be equal. >> politics is something i don't

know anything about. we know right and wrong. >> it will be terrible if they overlook it. >> low income communities may have reason to worry. >> people who are impacted by storms are low income people. if you are poor before a storm hits, you will be driven deeper to poverty. >> the evidence says tracy ross, follows every disaster. >> while people like to say weather event such as hurricanes or floods are equal acers that don't discriminate based off of race or ethnicity. they exacerbate the underlying socioeconomic problems. we are all in this together when a storm hits, the people that are hurt the most are low income people and people of colour. >> the money may come. but it can take years to rebuild poor communities.

eight years after people were driven from public homes, the city was left with half as many public housing units to come home to. more than a third of those were on government assistance in the wake of hurricane sandy, and more than half of the residents were displaced by that form. >> we think of recovery as a linear process. it's not like that. plenty have been displaced. not able to return. >> in the short term major storms left the communities without power and clean water for weeks, and residents with if you options for shelter. >> when you came back, what did you find? >> this, a disaster. >> it's not supposed to look... >> yes. >> it's actually - your floor is caving in. >> yes, all over, in all the rooms. >> sheila took her family to a moment. she came back hoping to find

something left to salvage. >> how much did you lose? >> everything, except clothes that i couldn't pick out. everything else - food, furniture, bed, tvs. >> there for the kids. my kids stuff, yes. everything. >> you don't have a place to stay. >> no. >> you don't have food. >> i buy little by little with the money i have. i'm about out of that, so sometimes i figure out what is next. >> the king street neighbours were relieved to see the first signs of help. inspectors arrived quickly. processing claims could take times, there's no guarantee how much aid, if any the government will provide. do you believe them? >> i want to. i'm going to have to, i have no choice. i see what the outcome is, we all will find out sooner or later. >> what do you think will

happen? >> i hope something good out of it. i mean i lost everything, don't have the money to replace nothing. faced with the loss of what little they have, it's a challenge to have much hoch. >> i worry. we don't know if we are going to get help. >> roy will con ve minds me that a small southern community held itself together by faith and prayer. >> maybe, you know, the government will see fit to help small people as well as the big people. because... >> are you counting on it? >> yes. i'm doing more than counting on it. i'm praying for it. me and the church. maybe every church. that's been affected. because we - we really need it next - a mighty roar. florida's fight against the lion

fish, how this underwater beauty became a menace.

of course, lots of snow birds head south at this time of year, but one creature that made the golden shores its home has

been deemed a vicious throat. it's a danger to other species, to the industry and those that tried to stop it. "america tonight"s sheila macvicar on the trail of a killer. >> reporter: it's hard to believe a fish this beautiful, this fragile looking can be a menace, but the lion fish is just that. they don't fear anything. ali made hundreds of dives off the coast. and has seen first hand how lion fish native to the indian and the ocean have overtaken the reefs. they are such a problem. we don't have the predators in the waters. the rate of reproduction is ridiculous. one female, over two million eggs a year. the third thing is they are gluttonous eaters.

they'll decimate the population. >> with no natural predator, the latest lion fish will overwhelm florida. joining the likes of the python, black spiny tail igwarna, kane don and the lizard, invasionives with no business in florida. >> there's a wide number of animals, that people bring in as pets and that they release into the wild and introduce. >> gary is the director of the florida's natural area inventory. a nonprofit that collects information on the state's native wildlife and nonnative invaders that are thriving. >> the big problem is the

climate. animals and plants from tropical regions can find a home. lion fish are doing more than surviving. they are multiplying at a furious rate, gobbling up marine life around them. >> they can pretty much eat everything that fits into their mouth. to half their body length. they are consuming a wide variety of economic species such as juvenile snappers in their diet. they are consuming other matters. >> reporter: here is a manmade reef with a variety of fish. here is one where the lyon fish has taken over. the fight is not just to preserve the colonies. lions compete with recreational fishing in florida.

that is worth more than $7 billion a here. how did it begin. household pets, a handful. >> the theory that is most accepted by everybody that is working or hunting these fish is that aquarium owners release their pets off the east coast of florida, in the mid '80s. >> in fact, d.n.a. samples taken from lion fish suggest the create yours began with as few as nine fish. >> so in something like 30 years, you have gone from a couple of fish off the east coast of florida, to a range that goes from... >> from north carolina to mid brazil. everything in between. >> that is a lot of lion fish. >> it's loaded. yes, and they are everywhere. >> with no natural predator in florida waters, the state is counting on divers to keep lion fish in check.

cleaning them out of reefs by hunting them one fish at a time. there's no limit on the numbers of diving fish can take. lion fish live at depths deeper than recreational divers, but they can make a difference. >> on a local scale, line fish and localized removals are found to be affective in keeping populations down. >> tournaments like this one where anglers compete for most lion fish caught. >> most total lion fish, the most brought in. mike miller with 415. are you serious? >> researchers try to learn something about the fish causing so much harm. >> there's something else about the lion fish, something that gives diver's pause. the delicate looking fans are 18

venomous fines. each carrying a painful sting. >> how did you get into the business of hunting lion fish? >> by accident. a friend of mine asked me to design something gains the venomous divers of a lion fish. and my question was what's a lion fish. >> reporter: he learnt about the fish and the sting the hard way. >> it happened. >> it's inside excruciating pain. >> yes. >> it's not like a bee sting. >> it's like a bee sting times 40. through trial and error, they developed something, a container designed to keep the lion fish and not keep the beasting. we have this on the end of the screw. then whachs. >> it pushes it through the entry. >> it will open around the fish and close around the sphere. once you pull back.

the funnel strips the fish off the sphere and it's contained inside. >> the state of florida is trying to fight the lion fish the other way, spreading the word about what good eating they make. handing out samples of a flakey white fish. >> if you are not a diver, you can make a difference, you can ask at the restaurant for seafood market. >> in a restaurant in new york city, lion fish is a best seller. it's on the menu with other sea foods. part of what they call the iron fish system. >> we are offering something on the menu that no one else is calling it. for us it's a win-win. >> in florida, the best hope for getting a lion fish under control is through the voracious appetite of another competitor.

sheila macvicar, al jazeera and that is "america tonight". please tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. you can talk to us on facebook or twitter, and come back, we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy...

>> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... >> the top of the world - the arctic circle. an environment that is at the same time hostile and fragile. warming temperatures are warming ice at historic rates... adding to its distress, man's unquenchable desire for fossil fuel. the quest to retrieve arctic oil is underway, but how prepared is the world to handle a catastrophic spill.