good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. voters across the country go to the polls to decide issues from legalizing marijuana, to cracking down on air b&b. defective air bags lead to deaths, leading to a fine for a japanese company. faith in america. research shows fewer americans identify with mainstream religions, for those that do, the belief is as strong as ever.

>> we begin with the elections across the country, polls have closed. today voters were asked to describe key issues. in san francisco, a ballot called for restrictions on short-term home rentals, a move targetting air-b&b. >> voters struck down an attempt to legalize marijuana use medically or personally in oklahoma. what is the feeling why this has been voted down, bisi onile-ere. >> this is a huge defeat. big-money investors spent

millions over the past couple of months trying to push this through. it ends in defeat. that's a feeling, as i mentioned, of defeat. a term that put a lot of voters off was a term monopoly. had the issue gone through, big money spenders would have benefited. they would have had rights, ownership of 10 facilities that would have gone up around the state. an investor - not sure if this is familiar, niklas shay - with a former '90s boy band, 98 degrees. he's probably not feeling too good about this. i had an opportunity to speak to a law-maker standing against the legalization of marijuana. i darked to him as results -- talked to him as results came in. >> ohio voters were on to the

plan. not seeing it as a legalization plan, but investment driven, that select few people were trying to insert. these sorts of plans have no place in our constitution. the electorate was on to it. issue three would have allowed people over the age of 21 to consume medical or recreational marijuana, or allow up to four plants to be grown. it was not enough to sway the vote. i'm told that voter turn out was interestingly high. >> talking about surveying the vote, a number of agencies and hospitals lobbied against the proposition. >> o ohio is a conservative state, hospitals, schools, law enforcement are out subpoena

against legalization. proponents feel that the voices had an impact on the voters heading to the polls today. >> the conversation, though, is not over about legalized marijuana in ohio. >> no, no, it's not at all. huge defeat for the backers of issue three. they are saying the fight is not over. they are going to continue the conversation and continue the push to legalize pot we'll speak to an activist fighting ohio's pot legalization methods. voters are deciding whether the city should put limits on short-term home rentals. landlorth are evicting -- landlords are evicting long-term rentals. air b&b bumped $8 million. melissa chan is in san

francisco. this is a hot topic there. studio apartments are incredibly expensive. a studio can go for $28. is it too early to know which side won. the voting day has wrapped up here on the west coast. nothing definitive. the recent poll coming in suggested that this is going to be a win for air-b&b. proposition f would be defeated. as you mentioned air b&b spent a lot of money, $8 million against $350,000 in favour of the initiative. a lot is at stake. the company realises that this is important. on a substantive and symbolic level. air b&b is haired in san francisco. this is not a large market. it's an important battle. >> it has a lot of battles. air b&b faced push back in

cities around the u.s. and the world. how is the company fighting back across the bored. >> well in some cases the company doesn't have to fight back the way it has in san francisco. each city is grappling with whether they negotiate with air-b&b. push back, regulate and we see an instance of cities asking hosts to register tore apply for a permit to participate on the air b&b sharing and rental website. but also, of course, perhaps asking people to pay a hotel tax. there's the hotel's lobbying hard in each city, because they sigh air b&b as competition, each city is trying to figure it out. here, we have the voters confused as the politicians in terms or how to deal with this. >> thank you. >> now, high profile proposition in houston that would have provided rights against discrimination to gays and

transgender people is going down to defeat. it city. they ran ads pointing tout that it would have allowed transgender people to use women's bathrooms. 65% of precincts report. 61% voted against the referendum. >> the votes are counted in seattle on whether to adopt the campaign finance voucher system. initiative 122 is designed to give poorer people better funding. it would be the first of its kind in the country if it passes. >> u.s. government fines takata $70 million for not revealing the air bags are prone to explosion. the fine could increase to a record $200 million, if they do

not abide by certain conditions. >> lisa stark reports. >> reporter: in announcing this agreement with takata, the government says the $70 million fine could grow to $200 million. if it doesn't keep its part of the bargain in recalling the air bag and does not tell the government about other safety defects. the department of transportation announced that it is stepping in to speed up this massive airbag recall. >> i have to say, this has been a mess. today u.s. dot is stepping in to clean up the mess. >> the mess involved defective air bags. a. this government shows what can happen. the -- this government shows what can happen. pieces of the inflator, metal chards have flown out.

takata admitted that it failed to tell regulators about the defect as required. and the company provided incomplete, inaccurate and misleading information. >> delay, misdirection and refusal to acknowledge the truth, allowed a serious problem to become a massive crisis. >> the recall covers $23 million driver and passenger side airbags in 19 million vehicles. chose at highest risk are older air bags that have been used in hot, humid climates, conditions that trigger the failures. the government wants the riskiest replaced first and set up a priority schedule. the national highway safety administration says car manufacturers must have replacement parts on hand for the aircraft at highest risk, about 6 million by the end of march 2016. it will be another two years for the recalled air backs, before

they are replaced. >> in a statement takata expressed regret, saying they will enable us to focus on rebuilding the trust of automakers, regulators and the public. for consumers, a fix can't come soon enough. >> my car is parked at uncle bob's, a storage facility, i'm spending that amount to have it dis stored there. >> regulators are taking aim at the compound that it uses in the air bags, highly explosive ammonium nitrate. the company has to phase out and end the use of this chemical >> we have enough person about the substance to believe that there is risk to the consumers, unless and until they prove that it's safe, we will not see

ammonium nitrate. >> if takada can't prove it's safe, it may lead to the recall of millions more takada air backs. >> nits sea is appointing a monitor. keeping tabs on the recall efforts over the next five years. on capitol hill, senator bill nelson, who has been a critic of the takata airbags said that today's action is long overdue, and is worried that takata is given too much time, nearly three years, to completely phase out its use of ammonium nitrate. >> lisa stark in washington. honda responded by dropping takata as a supplier and stock has dropped 20% in trading in japan trouble for volkswagen, they admit 800,000 vehicles have unexplained inconsistencies in its carbon dioxide emissions. the issue came to light during

vw's investigation into the software, allowing cars to cheat on emissions testing. because of that scandal 11 million cars will be recalled worldwide, including half a million in the u.s. it's not clear if the new problem will include any of those cars. >> the number of ecoli cases in chippoly rose to 37. as a precaution, they have temporarily closed 43 locations in both states. more ahead on failed efforts in ohio, to legalize marijuana. which talk with someone that worked to shoot down the measure. >> and what satellite shows the moments before a russian jet crashed in the egyptian desert. desert.

russia and iran disagree on bashar al-assad. keeping bashar al-assad in power is not a matter for principle for russia, at odds with the iran republican guard saying tehran may be more committed to bashar al-assad than moscow. the clifford pennington confirmed u.s. and russian military planes flew less than 4 mills free each other in syria. officials said it was intentional. part of a test to avoid air accidents. 24 air strikes carried out used coordinates supplied by the opposition. members of syria's opposition have been n invited to cos coe with talks of representatives. u.s. state department officials say the talks were premature. before a russian plane crashed in egypt. satellites detected a heat flash around the jet. according to two u.s. officials speaking to the associated press. it is not clear what caused the heat. a flight-tracking website said

the plane slowed suddenly and plunged to the ground. 224 people died. peter sharp has more from st. petersburg. >> they had formally extended the crash site. they are looking at an area of more than 30 square kilometres. it's a large area they are using drones to search for more bodies and debris. they found more debris in wreckage, but no extra bodies today. here in st. petersburg, the awful ask of identifying the dead continues. the families are taken by car to the crematorium and the mortuary where they'll have the d.n.a. matched with the bodies there. it's an appalling task and you think there are 224 crew and passengers killed in this disaster, and they have formally

identified 10 people. it will be a long process. meanwhile, vladimir putin's press secretary has warned the media against trying to link the disaster with syria's - with russia's operations in syria, saying this is most inappropriate. he said people in ohio voted down on initiative that would have legalized recreational and medical marijuana use issue three would have given rights to a group much investigators. many states have legalized recreational marijuana we are joined from cleveland. good to have you with us. opposition to the ballot came from two sides. people who opposed marijuana and

others that opposed the way it would have created a cartel of investors, the oun ones to produce marijuana, is it fair to say your group opposed it for both reasons. >> yes, what our group did was pull together what is probably an historic coalition that you suggested. everyone from people who support marijuana legalization, to people who oppose it for a variety of reasons. and we brought everyone together around one issue, which was saying no to a cartel. to write into that constitution. absolute rite to control -- right to control the marijuana industry to bring to ohio. voters said no. >> you brought together a varied group of organizations and people. in a story aired this evening,

we heard an ohio supporter of the initiative said that passing it would be earth shattering. it seems the legalization of pot has been anything but that in colorado, and now they have more than a year of experience. both the predicted negative and positive effects have been muted. is it that big of a deal to legalize marijuana? >> well, what we were concerned with was what the issue on the ballot in ohio was. frankly, it's not about marijuana. it's about using the constitution for 10 wealth investors, to use the car tell to generate millions of dollars. that's not what you use a constitution for. the voters of ohio said no to that attempt. and they said no to the broad

brushed effort that they were trying to sell to the people of ohio. i think it was a real victory for the citizens of ohio, standing up to a $25 million campaign. >> so your focus was specifically on that side of the issue. another group though, called legalize ohio, is planning on committing what it calls a clean initiative next year, no connection to any investors. they want to legalize marijuana recreationally and for medical use. do you think that will pass, would you oppose that? >> i don't know whether it will pass or not. our collision, as i said, came together around one's the, which was to defeat issue three. and we obviously were successful in doing that. people will make a variety of decisions about what they want to see going forward. and pushing forward with an

issue to legalize medical marijuana will be one of them. others will look to the legislature and others will not want anything done. our job, frankly, has been successfully completed and we are happy about it. >> thank you, alan, it's a battle to be fought in different ways throughout the country. good to have you with us. a study out shows prescription drug use among adults is up. three out of five adults are on drugs. eight of 10 treat hypertension, heart failure and diabetes. reference found numbers using prescription drugs rose to 59%, compared to 51%. >> middle aged whites are dying at a faster rate than counterparts and other groups, focussing on non-hispanic americans between 55 and 54 years old.

some. reasons include they are more likely to commit suicide or overdose on cheaper open youth. more drinking is an issue, as is more financial stress. the credit crisis, of course, hit during that period. >> fewer americans consider themselves religious. those that do are keeping the faith. the results of a survey on believe next. afternearly killing off so many brick and mortar book stores, amazon opened one of its own. its own.

cyclone chapala killed at least three people in yemen. officials warn the death toll may be higher. the storm caused serious flooding when it hit the eastern yemeni mainland. cyclones rarely make land fall in yemen. a civil war destroyed yemen's communications and infrastructure meaning emergency officials my have no way of knowing the extend the damage. rivals taiwan will make history. the presidents will meet for peace talks. it will be the first time leaders met since being divided by the chinese civil war in 1949. officials say the sclugss will promote peaceful development. demonstrators are expected to

turn out to protest the meeting. >> fewer americans identify with a religion than five years ago the the research was conducted with pew research centers. john terrett joins us now with more on the result. pugh first did the survey in 2007. for a first ever landscape study. they thought it would be fun to see what had changed. they polled 36,000 adults, about the religious affiliation, identity and practices. the religious landscape studies suggest over all americans are less religious. so we are seeing changes, for example, for declines in the sayers of americans who believe in god or attend religious study or pray regularly. >> 63% are certain god exists,

71% said so back in 2007. there's a generational divide. >> when we look at the older generation. we see a lot of stability. but the younger generation. millennials are less religious by comparison. >> those born 28-45, 71% exists. 64% of generation yes. 65% agree, 51% of millennials, born "90 to '96 are certain. the interesting change is for atheists, agnostics and those that believe in god that are unaffiliated. >> we refer to them as the nun, nones. and they say they have no particular weekend. they are either atheist.

ag nostic or nothing in particularly. that group grew in the u.s. >> the change shows up in politics. 28% showed they are part of the nons. whereas in 2014, 82% of people in the republican party identified as christian, down 5%. >> the take away is that while the religious landscape studies suggest that there is decline in reliage ofty as a whole, a large majority of americans are affiliated with religion, and among those that are affiliated with religion, religiosity is stable over this time period. so the u.s. remains a nation of believers, a nation that is very religious comparatively speaking and the number of americans who identify as evangelical christians, think iowa next

february, is relatively consubstantiate. 38% in 2007. 37% in 2014. republican presidential candidates, therefore, it seems, are appealing to a stable base and possibly is why texas senator ted cruz launched a run for the white house at liberty, the largest christian college in the world run by... ..gerry fuller. >> it's a fascinating study on a lot of levels. >> the most interesting thing is the fact that there are many people who claim to believe in god, but are unaffiliated with a major religion. >> thank you. >> amazon is one of the blames for killing mortar stores. they now have a retail outlet. the amazon book stores opens in chicago, and will charge the same as website. it enters a visit when

barnes&noble is closing 20 stores and others go out of business. i'm antonio mora, thank you for joining us. for the latest news any time head to aljazeera.com. ray suarez is up next with "inside story". have a great night. sub. >> the syrian civil war has seen some big shakeups in recent days. announcement from the u.s. president that special forces are joining the fight. the iranians have gotten a seat at the table in peace talks, and the russians have jumped into the war with both feet. amidst all the change, two things are the same. isil still holds lots of ground, and syrians continue to pour out of the country. the road to damascus. it's the "inside story."