the space station. a lot of rubbish to get rid of. the garbage was released over bolivia. it is expected to burn up somewhere. aljazeera.com for all of the news. aljazeera.com. ♪ remembering a supreme court justice, antonin scalia lies in repose in the highest court in the land. new attacks, american aircraft strike isil posts in libya. the final push, the g.o.p. storms south carolina, while the democrats try their luck in nevada. and the driving danger. the tens of thousands of failing bridges across the country. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm richelle carey. it is a somber day at the supreme court. the cassette of antonin scalia is now in the great hall. the public is allowed in today to pay their respects. and this morning the fellow justices joined his family for a private ceremony. lead my justice scalia's son, father paul scalia. libby casey is in washington. libby tell us more about the ceremony today. >> reporter: it was lead by one of justice scalia's children, his son, one of nine who is a catholic priest, his catholic faith was very important to the justice. the current justices as well as a couple of retired justices

were on hand, and the public now gets to show their respects, as the casket lies in the great hall. there is also a portrait of justice scalia on display. the casket is lying on the pedestal that held president lincoln after his death. as you mentioned the president and first lady are expected to visit at some time this afternoon, richelle. >> okay. so the president is going to come to the casket, but he is not going to attend the funeral tomorrow. is that customary? >> reporter: it can go either way. the last judge to die on the bench was back in 2005. and president george w. bush did attend the funeral. but there have only been four supreme court justices die while still serving in the last 60 years, and it has gone a variety

of ways. vice president biden will be on hand tomorrow. and they say that his security footprint will be somewhat lighter so it will interfere less with tomorrow's ceremony with the catholic church proceedings, and so the white house says this is indeed not any kind of slight at all, and that president obama felt that today's respects would be the best way to show honor to the justice. among the critics, ted cruz, who is on the campaign trial in south carolina right now. he was slamming the president for not going. he has now made a late-game decision to attend the funeral himself. not a huge surprise, because ted cruz was a clerk or the supreme court, and texas attorney general, so he will be attending tomorrow's funeral, richelle. >> what about the search for scalia's replacement? >> reporter: today is really about honoring this justice, who

did so much to craft the law of the land for the 30 years that he sat on the highest court. but there is still the political backdrop, the fight over who will name his replacement and who that might be. mitch mcconnell, and also chuck grassley, who is the top republican on the judiciary commit tie, and the they penned an op-ed, and they are calling for the next president to make the choice of the supreme court justice. and they say that the senate can easily stand in the way, the elected body can prevent president obama from moving forward. here is what they wrote: now it's important to note that the white house says 11 months hardly on the way out the door. president obama is not

technically a lame duck president, because the november election has not happened yet, and he does indeed intend to name a successor to justice scalia, of course, whether the senate will about is still entirely up in the air. >> libby thank you. conservatives are now pushing to block president obama's potential nominee with tv ads. >> you choose the next president. the next president chooses the next justice. >> reporter: these ads were created by the conservative group. they are spending more than a million dollars to run the adds. the group believes that president obama should not get to fill the vacancy with only about ten months left in his term. and ted cruz is facing a legal battle over whether he is qualified to be president.

a chicago judge will hear arguments on whether he is a natural-born citizen. cruz is gaining on the front runner, donald trump. a wall street journal poll shows trump with 28% support today, compared to 36 in january. while cruz is at 23%, up from 20% last month. jeb bush, john kasich, and ben carson coming in last. three of the g.o.p. candidates took part in a townhall meeting last night. trump was asked about the pope's comments questioning his christianity. and so were his rivals. >> i think he said something much softer than originally was reported by the media. i think he heard one side of the story which was probably by the mexican government. he didn't see the tremendous strain that the border is

causing us. >> i don't question people's christianity. i think that's a relationship they have with their lord and savior. he knows what his faith is, and he has a -- if he has a relationship with the lord, fantastic. if he doesn't. it's not my business. >> there are too many walls between us. we need bridges between us if we're going to fix the problems in washington. because they all do is have walls. >> the vatican has issued a statement clarifying thement calls. it says it wasn't a personal attack on his faith, but rather a message that migrants should be helped instead of shut off behind walls. trump has responded saying no religious leader should question a person's faith. as for the democrats there are conflicting results in the newest polls. bernie sanders has 42% support

from democrats nationwide, but a fox news national poll just out, shows an even closer race with sanders slightly ahead of hillary clinton for the first time. the pentagon says it is investigating the results of air strikes that hit libya this morning. at least 40 people were killed. two american aircraft carried out the attack on an isil training camp. a senior isil member is believed to be killed. jamie mcintyre is live for us at the pentagon. so jamie, the pentagon is saying that it expects this attack to have an immediate impact on isil's capacity in libya. is the strike that big of an accomplishment? and why now? >> reporter: well, you know, the pentagon and the u.s. military has been flying reconnaissance flights over libya for months now, and they have had some people on the ground gathering intelligence, and this is the

kind of strike that president obama earlier this week said the u.s. would be willing to take to carry out if it had the approach intelligence. this was a group of people, and the initial reports indicate several dozen people were killed along with the intended target, who as you said is considered to be behind two deadly attacks in tunisia, one against a museum, and one at a beachside resort. this is a group that the pentagon believes was gathering in libya, and conducting cross-border attacks into tunisia, and the area where this attack took place is west of tripoli, not far from the tunisia border. so the u.s. believes by taking out what they called a key facilitator, and taking out some of the people along with him, that that will severely limit isil's ability to carry out these kinds of attacks in tunisia, and it also sends a message that the united states

is willing to carry out attacks against isil in libya, if it has appropriate intelligence. >> tell us more about the person who was the target. >> reporter: he is a tunisian national. the tunisian government says he was responsible for a march attack against the bardo museum in tunisia, and also he is suspected to be behind a seaside resort attack that killed almost 40 people there. so he was on the sort of most-wanted list. the pentagon believes -- they have a pretty high confidence level. they believe he was killed along with a couple dozen other people at this location. so they think it is going to have a significant effect, and also psychologically send another message to isil that the u.s. is willing to strike. two f-15s, flying out of a base in england where the planes carried out this attack, flying

over france, over to libya, and then back to their base in england. >> so the u.s. thinks this will have an impact. what does this strike say about america's strategy to defeat isil? >> reporter: there has been a lot of talk about whether the united states should be expanding its war against isil from iraq and syria into libya. the indications from the obama administration is they are not willing to have the kind of brood bombing campaign in libya as they have in iraq and syria, partly because they don't have forces on the ground to align themselves with. so they are limited to these type of strikes. but the u.s. is also hoping that eventually this unity government will come together in libya. right now there is no functioning government in libya, and that eventually that might be the way to unify the forces to fight isil. president obama pointed out -- he says he does not

believe that the libyans want isil in their territory, and right now, isil controls a pretty big swathe of the coastline. so that's the long-term strategy, not a big bombing campaign, but targeted strikes and trying to get the libyan unity government on its feet. >> jamie mcintyre thank you. president obama has signed off on expanded sanctions for north korea over its nuclear program. in that is weeks after pyongyang launched a long-range rocket. the sanctions attempt to cut off money from getting to the country, and freezes the assets of anyone connected with north korea. iraq is searching for what it says highly dangerous radioactive material that has been stolen. the industrial radioactive device was stolen in november from a u.s. company that worked

on oil fields. there have been no elevated radiation levels since the material was stolen. david cameron is in his second day of negotiations to keep britain in the e.u. 59,000 u.s. bridges are in desperate need of repair. up next the possible solution that is falling billions of dollars short. and another u.s. city is facing a lawsuit related to the safety of its water. ♪

>> "faultlines". >> what do we want? >> al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today the will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning, investigative series.

the city of chicago is facing a class action lawsuit for lead in the water. it claims the brittle pipes can leach lead into the water when they are disturbed. this morning officials in california say a methane leak that forced hundreds from their homes has finally been sealed. southern california gas says it will do all it can to fix the damage caused by that leak. but that process could take

years. >> reporter: it's the long-awaited news thousands of families have been waiting to hear. >> we have good news. the division of oil and gas has confirmed that the leak in the storagefield is permanently sealed. >> reporter: for nearly four months methane has been fouling the air, after a massive leak. 12,000 people were forced to temporarily move. two schools were shut down. residents say the stench made them sick. >> this is for my older boy, and this is the medicine he is taking for migraines. my younger son has been having asthma attacks. >> reporter: today state officials sought to reassure residents. >> air qualify has turned to typical levels. >> reporter: now comes the enormous job of moving families back home. under an agreement between the gsa company and the attorney

general's office, those in hotels can move home. for those who moved into residents they can stay out their lease. >> it's very difficult when your 3-year-old turns around and says mommy i want to go home every day, it's hard. >> reporter: and the leak may be over, but the gas company's troubles are just beginning. four criminal charges have been filed for the handling of the disaster, including allegedly waiting three days to report the leak, and for illegally releasing contaminates into the air. the company is also facing dozens of lawsuits by residents who say shutting down the ruptured well isn't enough. they want the entire storage facility, shuttered for good. >> i will not be happy until the entire facility is shut down and those wells are either moved to some other place where it's not

around a community -- like anybody should ever be subjected to this. >> reporter: the leak is being called the worst environmental accident since the bp oil spill. after visiting the site tuesday, earnest moniz said new preventative regulations are needed. >> we really have to push on what the president put into hi climate action plan in 2013, looking at and reducing dramatically methane leaks. >> reporter: lawmakers are calling for 24/7 monitoring of the site. one well has been capped, but there are 114 more potential dangerous wells in the neighborhood. a new warning today over the safety of america's bridges. many have major structural problems and are in need of repair, and those repairs aren't

coming fast enough. and john henry smith reports, some of america's most famous structures are on that list. >> reporter: the iconic brooklyn bridge and other famous spans, like missouri's popular state bridge, and the memorial bridge in washington, d.c., are among the 250 most traveled in the united states, and they are three of 59,000 that are structurally deficient. they analyzed government data and found nearly 10% of american bridges are structurally deficient. lined up they would stretch more than 1300 miles, roughly the distance between miami and new york city. they aren't necessarily unsafe right now, but could become dangerous if deteriorating parts aren't repaired soon. the i-35w bridge in minneapolis

was deemed structurally deficient 17 years before it collapsed. 13 people died when that bridge came down during rush hour in 2007. the collapse injured 155, including lindsay. >> my car was in an immediate free fall. my car just went straight to the bottom. >> reporter: last july, adam may asked an engineer why so many bridges are in such bad shape. >> like many categories of infrastructure, we have tended to take them for granted. but the reality is, there is a federal highway trust fund that supports bridges, roadways and transit systems in this country. >> reporter: in december president obama signed legislation reauthorizing a gas tax to pay into that fund, but that fund is running billions short of what is needed. the report noted that over 2,000 bridges were repaired in 2015 to

the point that they are no longer structurally deficient. but at the rate repairs are going, the report says it would take 21 years to fix or replace all of america's decaying bridges. john henry smith al jazeera. ntsb is investigating a helicopter crash that has left a teenage boy in critical condition. the crash was caught on camera by a tourist. four other people were on board. two are okay. the status of the other two are not known. by standingers jumped into the water to help pull the passengers out. a big shake up at sea world. they announced the departure of several executives. the shakeup comes as sea world tries to boost its attendance.

pulitzer prize winning author, harper lee has died. she is best known for her book "to kill a mocking bird". the film adaptation was also a huge success. she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom and released a surprise sequel just last year. she was 89 years old. up neck on al jazeera america, washington is now stepping in as apple refuses to help the fbi unlock the san bernardino shooter's iphone. and the fcc's decision that could cut your cable bill. .

let's take a live look inside the supreme court. as you can see members of the public are allowed into the great hall right now, to view the casket of antonin scalia. president obama, and first lady michelle are expected to come may their respects today as well. anti-virus software creator, says he will break the encryption on an iphone that belonged to the san bernardino shooter. the office comes as the department of justice agrees to give apple more time to help the fbi get into the phone nch apple

has until next friday to answer a court order. a judge ruled that the tech giant must help the fbi. but apple says the ruling is an overreach, and that it will not comply. and the chairman of the senate intelligence committee plans to introduce a bill creating criminal penalties for companies that refuse to unscramble encrypted messages. your monthly cable bill could get cheaper. the fcc is moving ahead with a bill that it says will cut costs and improve competition. >> reporter: the scc has signed off on the first steps towards cutting fees in cable bills. customers could get a cable box and services from alternative providers like apple, google, or tivo. >> the issue is whether you are

forced to rent that box every month after month after month, or whether you are forced to rent that app every month after month after month. congress was clear, they said there should be competition. >> reporter: a congressional study found subscribers paid an average of $231 a year to rent cable boxes. supporters say the plan would reduce costs for customers. >> costs are high. innovation is slow, and competition is too limited. >> reporter: but two of the commissioners, both republicans voted know. >> it dowel -- doubling down on the necessity to have a box. essentially it would introduce an entirely new set of boxes into consumer homes. >> reporter: he previously suggested getting rid of the boxes all together. cable and content companies have formed a coalition against the

proposal. they say it would actually increase costs and allow companies to poach tv programming. the proposal comes as more consumers are doing away with cable and cutting the chord. more than 80% of u.s. homes pay for broadband internet and more than half of those homes subscribe to streaming service. a dallas-based auction house said a comic sold for more than $450,000. that's a record price for a spiderman comic book. the 1962 copy features the first appearance of spiderman. thank you for watching i'm richelle carey here in new york.

the news continues next live from london. keep it here. ♪ the u.s. bombs isil targets in libya, killing as many as 40 people. ♪ hello, you are with me david foster. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up in the next 30 minutes. there is anger in uganda has police arrest the main opposition candidate for the third time this week. [ explosion ] the fighting between turkey and kurdish fighters hurts efforts to bring peace to syria. and