here in charleston, they pretty much shut the city down. the problem for people trying to get in this morning, like the rav now bridge, a major way in from mt. pleasant, without that bridge, the 2-mile trek becomes a 40-mile trek into charleston. so, people are ready to stay down. the mayor was like, jim, we just closed it down for a couple days. we knew it was coming. it worked out absolutely perfectly. it will take another 24 hours to get things back up and running. the good news is, thomas, warmer weather is ahead. >> all right, so i know a lot of people in atlanta got stuck in that traffic, and you talk about having the forewarning of it. sometimes people just have to go on reflexes. and as we speak about reflexes, jim, we've got to show this clip of you that has gone viral. take a look. >> reporter: i've come to charleston a few times before to cover tropical storms and hurricanes, but not an ice and snowstorm, which is what we're expecting. we have not gotten into the worst part of this storm yet yet, later to come here tonight. obvio

we get the latest from charleston mayor, danny jones. you can't imagine what it is like to not have water to do anything except flush the commodes and put out fires. >> and it's friday, mark shields and dave brooks are here to analyze the week's news, those are and it's friday, mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the week's news. those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. the u.s. economy turned in the weakest jobs growth in three years, last month. today's labor department report showed a net gain of just 74,000 jobs in december. the unemployment rate did fall from 7, to 6.7%, largely because many people gave up looking for a job. paul solman will break down the numbers, right after the news summary. wal

the city of charleston, west virginia, now considering the lawsuit against the company responsible for the chemical spill that tainted the water. and people around the country taking a day off to remember a king. >> there are concerns today that the syrian peace talks may be over before they begin. united nations has now invited iran to the conference set for geneva in switzerland. opposition groups say that is a none starter and they're threatening to pull out. secretary general ban ki-moon he addressing the situation. >> i will have more to say about this situation in a day. for a moment let my appear again for all involved to keep the needs of the syrian people foremost in mind. >> meanwhile it will day one in the newell deal o nuclear deal t the deal overshadowed over the late breaking developments regarding syria. >> reporter: ban ki-moon has finally invited iran to the party. >> that iran would play a positive and constructive role. therefore, as convener and host of the process i have invited iran to participate. >> reporter: a year and a half after the first syrian meeting in g

let's stay in charleston, west virginia with erin brockovich. we just heard mr.southern, the president of the company, i'm looking at paul barrett's piece in business week . how long has this outfit been around? he says about two weeks in its current form. freedom industries is a product of a merger effective december 31, 2013 a combined the facility where the leak occurred, and one nearby in nitro and a predecessor company called freedom industries was formed in 1986. how the pieces of the newly formed many conglomerate fit together, as is the question of whether there's any connection between the corporate mash-up in the fateful opening of a one inch that allowed a noxious chemical to escape, trying to get behind who is behind freedom industries and terry southern. -- gary southern. does this sound familiar to you, erin brockovich? gosh, i don't know where to begin. we deal with so many companies across the board. yes. i mean, a lot of things unfamiliar. attitudeone is this acrosss set in on safety the board. we can talk about the tennessee valley authority bre

i'm tired in charleston west virginia meghan lopez r t. well some signs of hope for the crisis in syria u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in paris meeting with his russian counterpart sergey lavrov the diplomatic leaders discuss the possibility of negotiating a cease fire in the three year long syrian civil war are to correspondent igor pissed off reports. well one of the first things that we've heard from u.s. secretary of state is that russia the u.s. and the un are completely on the same page that the only solution of the conflict in syria is a diplomatic one mr kerry also said that both the soon enough and to the opposition are equally responsible for the atrocities committed there now we've also seen a slight shift on iran since a lot of barbara he needs your own special envoy on syria and syria lauber off the ball for saying that they want to see iran taken part in the geneva two conference this is a key player in the region this was something that the u.s. has previously against but now according to u.s. secretary of state washi

robert gray is in charleston, west virginia. there are now reports that the city is preparing to sue. what can you tell us? >> reporter: indeed, good afternoon, del. city council members have talked to local businesses. they're convening this afternoon in what they call a closed door meeting, an emergency executive session with city council members where they're considering to file a lawsuit with losses caused by the comment spill and water outages here. they could have a vote as early as tomorrow evening. in the meantime a lot of people here are drinking bottled water, and not drinking it out of their taps, and the concerns are everywhere. in west virginia roadside water distribution sites dot the highways and county roads. >> well, some are still afraid to actually drink the water. >> over the past 11 days nearly 300,000 people have lived through the unprecedented do do-not-use order from west virginia american water, but the problems are not over yet. >> we're still getting complaints from from various residents. in and out o

i'm tired in charleston west virginia magnum up as our tea. some signs of hope for the crisis and syria us secretary of state john kerry is in paris meeting with his russian counterpart sergei lavrov. if allied leaders discussed the possibility of negotiating a ceasefire and a three year long syrian civil war. rt correspondent your peace cannot reports. well one of the first things that we've heard from us at the jail stages that russia the us and un are completely on the same page. that's the only solution the prophet in syria is a diplomatic one. mr kerry also said that officer in the forties and the opposition are equally responsible for the atrocities committed there were also seen a slight shift on iran since though a lot about breaking the un special envoy on syria and sergei lavrov. people were saying that the water see that iran taken part in the geneva to conferences is a key player in the region this was something that the us was previously a guess but now according to the us secretary of state washington wouldn't mind seeing sarah a

we're going to go live to charleston. officials there have been holding a news conference. >>> luxury retail giant me man marcus saying that its customers may have become the victims of a massive security breach, this coming hours after target announced that its own breach affected millions of more customers than initially thought. >>> new details on alex rodrigue rodriguez's drug suspension. >>> so we'll get more on those stories in a few moments. we begin here, the white house on the defense this weekend on a new tell-all back by former secretary of defense, bob gates. in it gates praises the administration for going after osama bin laden but suggests that all too often politics was the main driving force behind many of the president's decisions. all of this coming amid growing tension in u.s./afgan relations. >> president obama according to former defense secretary rabbit gates' book suspected that his military leaders didn't respect him in 2009 because they kept bringing up send more troops to afghanistan. general sta

jonathan martin is in charleston with more on how 300,000 people are dealing with life without water. >> reporter: with no clear time line for when tap water will be safe to use again, thousands of west virginia ans are stocking up on clean water. where they can find it. >> just been using it sparingly, it's a precious commodity right now. >> reporter: the federal emergency management agency is delivering 1 million liters of water to the nine affected counties. >> just getting up and washing your hair, you know, simple things like feeding a baby if you have baby with formula just really catches you off guard. >> i caught rain water this morning to do my dishes with. >> reporter: the state's health department says the water juan contaminateed with a potentially harmful chemical. hcmh crude which is used in the preparation of coal. up to $5,000 spilled in the elk river from a storage tank at freedom industries, prompting a state of emergency lex declaration. the problem is also impacting hundreds of businesses from restaurants to salons, many are being forced to shutdown. >> we have no

charleston. though this sink estate is right here in the city of london this moral sink estate is also nurtured by the government dole but rather than locking in the high levels of economic disadvantage this state is played into. generational economic advantage that instead of being impossible for the residents to succeed it is impossible for the residents of this banking sink estate to fail to. prevail sleep peacekeepers for a president who are concerned with monitoring peace deals in that post conflict environment nowadays they are increasingly asked to operate in a high risk of violence while believed by loans to leave. to stay. motionless what these people have caused over almost twenty years for me when people killed millions of displaced and refugees tens of thousands of women raped tens of thousands of children and recruited those soldiers who all slaves know. right on the street. first street. and i think picture. on a reporter's twitter. and instagram. to be in the know. on. millions aro

many smell a licorice odor after a chemical leaked into the elk river near charleston.is what joe manchin said earlier today. >> we have 80,000 different types of chemicals that are being used and consumed in this country every day, only 200 have been thoroughly examined on the impact on human life. >> businesses had to shut down for days because of the water crisis. jeff joins us joins us there his charleston storefront. >> we were shut down for about six days, and our location in bell was shut down in seven. >> and i understand you are still not trusting the water, and using bottled water to make all of your dough? >> no. i think most restaurants in town are doing the same. nobody personally i know are consuming the water. just using it to wash your hands and take showers with. it still has that smell to it. >> what goes through your mind as far as the customers that you have there, and wanting to treat them right? >> um, i mean, i wouldn't drink it myself or eat it myself, so i wouldn't expect anybody else to. so it's kind of that type of deal right there, so we aren

that a storage tank of the chemical for meto cycle hexane methanol had leaked into the city of charleston is water supply so you think a story that actually affects hundreds of thousands of americans would garner round the clock coverage from u.s. media this weekend we all know that hollywood celebrities just don't get enough air time. and. how it was the biggest names line in the red carpet for the annual golden globe awards. you got friendly when you got guys walking around with. only what would you think of last night. it was a book hollywood does two things really well water is give out awards the other is to themselves and the other is to throw parties and last night good both. to be fair c.n.n. was largely on the case in the beginning but i can't say the same for the other partisan hacks on corporate television thankfully the situation has improved since friday according to west virginia's governor earl ray tomblin and officials are gradually lifting the water drinking ban on a zone by zone basis but what damage has already been done and what does the lack of regulation when it come

back to you. >> doug mckelway, live in charleston, west virginia. thank you very much. >>> following many of controversy and complaints over the botched obamacare is dropping the plan that a developed the website. white house said it was not effective enough in fixing the complex system. elizabeth prann has the latest on this. >> reporter: the white house dumping cgi forward, the main contractor responsible for building healthcare.gov after the contract expires next month. one of the world's largest consulting firms will take over the task, exsenure. the price tag is $90 million for a one-year deal. this is while the administration continues to tout recent improvements and increasing enrollee numbers. just today the president claiming improvements to the economy due to his signature piece of legislation. >> thanks in part to the reforms in the affordable care act, health care costs now eat up less of our economy. over the past four years costs have grown at the slowest rate on record. >> reporter: critics say a change in contractors won't fix a flaw

we are in charleston, west virginia. tell us more about this company. >> reporter: good morning carol. a lot of questions obviously asked about this company now. a lot of people waiting for their water. a hundred thousand have been told they can turn on faucets now. 200,000 are still waiting for the same. the issue, fear of contamination is spreading beyond charleston. two cities in kentucky as well as cincinnati, ohio are doing everything they can to prevent the possibility of contaminating their water supply. the spill that happened in charleston, west virginia is 200 miles away from the water treatment facility in cincinnati, ohio. officials in cincinnati say they'll turn off two of their intake valves to allow it to pass without contaminating their water spliechlt they say steupp. they say this is taken in precaution. two cities turned off intake to let the plumes pass and not to risk the contamination. people here know what something like this could do. it isn't pretty and hasn't been pleasant. >> i want to talk a l

>> anne thompson, charleston, west virginia, tonight. anne, thanks. >>> tonight journalists from many news organizations, including this one, are pouring over hundreds of documents just released in new jersey having to do with the intentional traffic jam on the george washington bridge back in september. they are looking to see if anything in the documents goes against what governor chris christie said in his marathon mea culpa press conference just yesterday, blaming his appointees and proclaiming his own innocence. we get the latest on this tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: the busiest and most important bridge connecting new york city and new jersey backed up in ft. lee with no warning for four days. more than 900 pages of documents released today reveal that transportation officials appointed by governor christie shut down the lanes without telling the head of the agency that manages the bridge. when he found out, port authority chief patrick foye was angry, calling it abusive and a violation of everything this agency s

so this morning in the capital city of charleston, we have about four restaurants able to open so farsing bottled water, paper plates, hand sanitizers in rest rooms. at this point those are contingency plans. the public health department is taking those in, reviewing applications, doing on-site reviews before anybody can reopen. obviously that's a long process to get anybody to be able to open their business again. >> all right, west virginia public broadcasting, thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. >>> . >>> and now to our signature segment featuring original in-depth reports from around the nation and around the world. tonight we take you to germany. there nearly 70 years after the end of world war ii, the government is intensifying efforts to educate young germans about nazi war crimes and still pursuing those who committed them. just this week prosecutors brought murder charges against an 88-year-old man, a former member of an ss armored division that slaughtered more than 600 french villagers. our correspondent traveled to ludwig germany. there the search goes on for war c

jonathan martin joins us again from charleston, west virginia. jonathan, what did you hear out of this bless conference, do residents, the 300,000 residents that are affected do they have reason to be hopeful that soon they will be able to use the water? >> certainly. this is a news that they wanted to hear. the government said all along that this would happen by zone. no one really expected for the water to just be deemed safe across the board all together. as you mentioned they'll do it by zones. some of those zones have already been told that they can lift the water ban by this time. they've been told to go through a 20-minute flushing process and they'll get credit for that water, and they can flush out their system. they're doing several things. setting up an interactive an line map so people with see if their zone has been lifted. >> the water company does not want to be overwhelmed, jonathan martin we'll keep updates, thank you. the supreme court is looking at a potentially landmark case. the high court will examine whether or not the pres

i practiced law 34 years in charleston, west virginia. west virginia is a great state, great city, wonderve people. your town is a ghost town when this happens. every single establishment that had a health department permit, every restaurant, hotels, shut down. when you can't use the water, you can't clean, you can't sanitize and it came at the height of cold and flew season. >> so yet, the company -- >> again, that's -- you can't drink the water. >> a lot of people there. you filed a lawsuit against freedom industries and it has filed for bankruptcy. how much do you expect to actually get out of that company now? >> jonathan, it's complex. the first thing, when this happened, you have to understand, we started getting calls right away. not only was i affected, my family, my law firm. everyone in the community. at every level. 300,000 people are affected. the question becomes: what is this? how bad is it? you have got to understand, when it came out that it was a chemical leak and it had been leaking for hours and hours and hours, and the

the valley where charleston sits is known as chemical valley.t in the wake of this water crisis, the democratic governor earl ray tomblin, a supporter of the chemical industry, said he would consider tougher regulation of chemical storage facilities. >> we need to look at it to make sure this kind of incident does not happen again. >> reporter: we reached out to freedom industries for a comment on today's developments but they did not respond to our request and, by the way, scott, the water is being declared safe here one area at a time which means for some people it still could take days. >> pelley: chip reid on the scene near west virginia's capital. chip, thanks very much. today one of the key figures in the corruption scandal in the city of bell, california, pleaded got filing a false federal tax return. robert rizzo could get eight years in prison. he already faces prison time after pleading no contest to misappropriation of public funds. in 2010, as city manager in bell rizzo was paid $1.5 million to run a city of 35,000 people. on wall st

doug is in charleston, west virginia, tonight. >> don't make baby formula with it, don't brush your teethh it, don't wash with it, don't shower with it, don't drink it. you can't just boil it. it's not a boil water advisory. it's a do not use advisory. >> a company that helped process coal, first noticed a leak blocks down stream from the water company in downtown charleston, west virginia. an unknown quantity, probably thousands of gallons of a foaming agent used in the processing of coal, was now leaking from a tank and overrunning a containment area into the elk river from which hundreds of thousands of west virginians get their drinking water. the governor declared a state of emergency, warning west virginians in a nine-county area in and around charleston not to use their tap water. >> until we receive an all-clear, we are focusing efforts on hoping the most vulnerable, those in hospitals and in nursing homes. we have asked the department of health and human resources bureau of public health, senior services, and west guard, to develop a long-term plan to help insure that adequate su

we will keep pressing. >> robert ray live in charleston, keeping them honest.hank you for joining us for months, we have been covering the u.s. government surveillance program before the snowden links, before public scrutiny, the nsa was funneling all of the information into one high-tech building. from the data center in utah >> reporter: if you've ever wondered where the national security agent see stores all of that data it collects, you are looking at it. this is the utah data center in bluffdale, a 92,000 square meter complex completed last september at a cost of 1 and a ha$1 and a billion dollars. writer james banford has studied the nsa for decades? >> it's designed to hold a tremendous amount of nsa's intercepted information, phone calls, e-mail, meta data, everything it collects. it needs a place to store it. the nsa declined a request for an interview. but may bluffdale, most people don't have any qualms about their neighbor, the spy agency. >> it's an important mission. they get information from around the world, and my understanding is that they stu

without that, we cannot work. >> charleston medical center is using two giant tankers to get clean water. the hospital says it is enough to last a few days. for now, all nonemergency surgeries have been put on hold. hospitals report only a small number of patients have come in of symptoms related to the chemical spill including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. >> that was jonathan martin reporting from charleston west virginia. >>> still ahead, four years after a quake devastated thousands of lives, a look at challenges hundreds of haitians still face today. >>> plus, prisons for profit, is it economic or even ethical for private companies to run the country's jails? >> workers in greece delay your retirement? i'm here to make the connections to your money real. both my parents are journalists. my grandfathers are journalists. it's just something that's in the blood. there are so many stories out there that need to be told. we want to go in to the trenches, we want to go in the corners that are less looked at. everyone at al jazeera america is dedicated to tell the story the best way that

>> well, the residents here in charleston, west virginia are concerned about the fact that you know it'seen a few days since the water bans are lifted and people have been flushing their pipes out but a lingering odor is rounds like an licorace or candy and after the water is flushed out describing the smell inside their homes and others described discoloration and we are in a restaurant here this morning where folks have been having brunch throughout today and this particular restaurant is serving only bottled water to its customers and they are using the water just to clean the dishes. they own three restaurants here and they have been impacted pretty heavily by what has happened. we have reached out on numerous occasions to west virginia water company here asking for answers as to what the smell is, why the water ban was lifted when there is little data known and all the people who have gone to the hospitals here. listen to this, over 400 patients have been treated at 10 different hospitals and reported for chemical exposure since january 9th, that is according to the west virginia he

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jenni burns is a charleston business owner. >> i'm not cooking with this water. i'm not drinking this water. >> reporter: what is it going to take for you to trust the drinking water here again? >> i'm not really sure. >> reporter: independent researchers are gathering water samples and residents are being advised to flush their pipes as often as possible. andrew whelton is a civil and environmental engineer. >> plumbing systems are not meant to be stagnant for long periods, and plumbing systems are not meant to be stagnant with contaminated water. >> reporter: the state's top health officials say people here have to trust what science is telling them, that the water is safe, but, jim, officials here still acknowledge that it's difficult to instill confidence when so little is known about the chemical. >> axelrod: jeff pegues in buffalo, west virginia. jeff, thanks very much. lack of water is the problem in 11 states dealing with a dangerous drought. the states slice to the southwest and west, from arkansas to california, have now been designated natural disaster

. >>> students and faculty at the university of charleston which closed today. last thursday, chemicals leaked into the elk river, affecting nine counties. chip reid has more. >> after four days lining up for bottled area, some people in the charleston area are close to their limit. >> do you have a sense of how long it is going to be? >> i wish we knew.ak a shower! >> officials say the water is still not safe for drinking bathing cooking. at the freedom industries plant where the leak occurred they are putting containment booms in the water, to protect the water from the chemical to wash coal. collecting water samples and testing them, to determine the concentration which smells like licorice. >> can you still smell the licorice or is it decreasing? >> you can still smell the licorice. >> not as strong as it away is? >> no, sir at strong as it was sir. >> west virginia governor earl ray tomblin. >> we can see light at the end of the tunnel. i ask all west virginians to be patient while we work to restore service to the areas. >> some have managed to keep a posi

a chemical spill in the elk river in charleston threatens water supply. so far nothing has been reported. thousands of internal documents are being released in the chris christie traffic scandal. he fired his senior aide who is accused of orchestrating traffic best -- backups. that city's mayor did not endorse the governor for reelection. >> for the first time, d.c. police chief talks of the community about the high-profile arrests of three officers. the charges against the officers range from child photography to picking up teen girls to attempted murder. the arrests are troubled into the community. they're supposed to keep us safe. this is the latest of those concerns. this one some information. they just want to know what happened, why it happened, what you're doing about it. a church ofhouse at residents who wanted answers from the police chief. after two officers were wound up on the wrong side of the law. mark washington was arrested for pornography. the other was pimping underage girls. the two officers and -- acted alone. >> we cannot find any oth

ochingss announced a chemical spill near charleston has largely dissipated so they're lifting a ban on tap water in stages. we'll get the latest details after at news summary. new numbers on the president's health care law show enrollments are weighted towards older americans. administration reported today that adults 55 to vi 4 years old are one-third of the two million plus who signed up. officials hope for a surge of younger, healthier enrollees before the march 31st deadline, to hold down premium costs. >> ifill: the day's numbers from wall street were down sharply -- due partly to falling oil prices and to uncertainty about the federal reserve's plans. dow jones industrial down 179.11 at 16,257.94 the dow jones industrial average lost 179 points to close below 16,258. asdaq index down 61.36 at 4,113.31 the nasdaq fell 61 points to close at 4113. israel held a state funeral today for former prime minister ariel sharon. he died saturday at 85 after languishing in a coma for 8 years. we have a report from geraint vincent independent television news. the coffin of a national hero wrap

lingering questions about the safety of water in charleston west virginia as the owner of the company responsible creates another company after filing for bankruptcy. >> hurricane sandy relief money held hostage. >> what is done to put the dream of going to college within reach of more students? >> the syrian civil war has killed more than 130,000 people and displaced millions. the leading rebel group today finally agreed to sit down and talk peace. it will be the first face to face meeting between the assad regime and the syrian national coalition since the war broke out. we have the latest from istanbul. >> it was a vote that ripped the syrian national coalition apart. members pulled out, more committed to resign after it. after days of discussion the umbrella government voted yes to going to switzerland to take part in talks with a delegation from the assad regime. after the vote the president of the coalition addressed the syrian people. >> we have travelled a hard road and you made sacrifices for your freedom and we have reached a critical point that we'll cross together. we are

. >> we go charleston, west virginia for the latest. >> reporter: this was supposed to be a very busy weekend here in charleston with thousands of people expected to come out here for several planned events but downtown charleston is a ghost town and residents are growing frustrated with the uncertainty of the situation. >> as soon as we can, fresh water, clean water. >> reporter: that's the plea from more than 300,000 people waiting to learn their tap water is safe. it's been more than 48 hours since they were told to stop using the water. the end is still unknown. >> i would expect we're talking days. >> i think the city will be this slow for so many days. >> well, it's -- you feel hopeless. and you think about the -- what it's going to cost all these businesses. >> reporter: that's the mayor in downtown charleston where every restaurant has been closed since thursday had the chemical leak was detected. >> i almost forgot it was a weekend because, you know, it's always so busy. >> reporter: lisa manages this chili's. they are one of the few restaurants prime minister pairing to open

live in charleston, south carolina. >>> coming up, the biebs creates another mob scene. no need to call the cops, they were there. the legal issue that had the singer meeting up with investigatiors today. >>> i'm scott budman with the music heard around the world. the bay area tech connection for a competition heard millions of times a day. >>> i'm jeff ranieri, totals beginning to add up, golden gate with 40 0ths of an inch and san jose eking out 100ths of an inch. details of the storm timing in about ten minutes. >>> new problems for the biebs today. he turned himself in on an assault charge in toronto. he arriveed to a swarm of media and yes, screaming fans, as well. the charge stems from an encounter with a limo driver last month. many signed a petition urging officials to deport bieber back to his native canada permanently. it was created six days ago on the official white house petiti petition's page. the white house reviews them but only officially considers those that get more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days. >>> we are getting close, the olympics begin ne

the spill happened in charleston. since then thousands had been lining up for water. jonathan martin has more in charleston. >> with no clear time line for when tap water will be safe to use, thousands of west virginians are stocking up on clear water. >> we've been using it sparingly. >> the federal emergency management agency is delivering 1 million leaders of bottled water to the nine affected counties. >> getting up, washing your hair or feeding the baby with formula catches you off guard. >> i caught rain water to do the dishes with. >> the health department says the water was contaminated with a harmful chemical used in the preparation of coal. up to 5,000 gallons spilled into the elk river from a storage tank at freedom industries. the problem is impacting hundreds of businesses from restaurants to salons. many are forced to shut. >> we have no idea when we'll get a report that the water is safe enough to use. >> steven blake is a hairdresser in charleston. >> my clients come in, they want the hair shampooed or it's necessary or water for chemical services. wit

she is in charleston today.: weigh want to tell everybody that 730% of the people in the areas can now drink the water. the cdc is saying that if there is any detectable amount of the chemical, even in water that's in the blue zone, pregnant women should not drink it. so what's exactly in the water around here? we did our own testing. here is what we found. while officials continue to test the public water supply here in charleston, west virginia, cnn decided to do our own testing with test america, a private company out of ohio. >> i'm going to collect five of these bottles for this particular sample. >> reporter: we wanted to sample water from our hotel where the do not use order has been lifted as well as from the home of tw coxe where the ban is still in effect. >>. both samples were drawn within about an hour of each other. they ran the water for 20 minutes before filling the bottles. lab testing was done overnight with control samples. the result, both samples contained mchm. the chemical that leak flood t

we're live in charleston, doug has the latest. >> reporter: yeah, greg, authorities are really loath to put a time frame on when water service might be restored. the closest they came to that was in an afternoon press conference today in which they described how big the water system serving charleston and surrounding counties is. they say it requires a lot of manpower to reach these extended counties, a lot of time. and the key part of this is the epa mandates before the water service can be restored, it has to reach a level of one part of the dangerous chemical per million parts of water. listen to the president of the water company here. >> acceptable levels, extensive testing must be conducted in thes distribution system before the do not use order is lifted. >> reporter: so it would not be surprising to see these water restrictions maintained perhaps for several more days. that means that 300,000 people in this area are going to have to continue to use bottled water or trucked in water to brush their teeth, to take a bath, to use, to drink. so far things have been moving fairly c

charleston or gospel oak though this sink estate is right here in the city of london this moral sinkestate is also nurtured by the government dole but rather than locking in the high levels of economic disadvantage this state is plagued by intergenerational economic advantage that instead of being impossible for the residents to succeed it is impossible for the residents of this banking sink estate to fill. the. time of the new alert animation scripts scare me a little bit. there is breaking news tonight and they are continuing to follow the breaking news. alexander's family cry tears of the war i. think. that. we have read or found online there's a story many movies playing out in real life. hello there i'm marinated this is boom bust and these are the stories we're tracking for you today. it's coming from inside that house google that is they just acquired nest labs for a cool three billion dollars i'll tell you all about it coming right up and jim rickards is on today's show the self-proclaimed gold vigilante and author of the new book the death of money joins me to talk gold pape

. >> fema has brought roughly 370,000 gallons of portable water to charleston and its nine surrounding counties. jonathan martin explains. >> with no clear time line when tap water can be used thousands of west virginians are stocking up on clean water. >> we are using it sparingly. it's a precious comoddy. >> 1 million bottles of water is being delivered. >> washing your hair or feeding the baby with formula. it catches you off guard. >> i caught rainwater to do the dishes with. >> the water as contaminated with a potentially harmful chemical used in the preparation of cold. up to 5,000 gallons spilled into the elk river from a stornal tank at freedom industries. the problem is impacting hundreds of businesses from restaurants to salons. many are forced to shut down. >> we have no idea when we are going to get a report that the water is safe enough to use. >> steven blake is a hairdresser in down-town charleston. >> my clients come in, they want a sham pu, we need water for some of the chemical services we perform. >> the hospital has two giant tankers, enough to last a few days. none

when you just think about what happened in charleston, west virginia, this chemical was a mile and a river from the water supply company. the water supply company had no idea that chemical was there and had no way to test for that chemical once it got in the water supply and had no idea of what impact that chemical called mchm would have on people. and i was talking to the cdc this afternoon, the cdc doesn't know what kind of long-term impact this chemical will have on people. the short-term impact is up for debate because there are so few studies done o it. most of the studies done have been animal studies and as a result, as the cdc says as it gets more information, it is changing its advisories. last night it issued an advisory to pregnant women in the charleston west virginia area not to drink the tap water until all mchm is out of the system. the problem with that, it came 48 hours after people were told to turn on their taps. and so i called the cdc today, what's going on? why did it take 48 hours to come out with this advisory? and they said, it's because as we get more inform

a chemical used to clean coal leaked into the elk river near, charleston, west virginia.. worries grow how people who may have been exposed to that chemical. >> it will be unpleasant. we are concerned that, you know, people are going to be find it objectionable. we had complaints about eyes burning, things of that nature. best advice to stay inside right now until they get this taken care of. bill: this will take some time apparently. laura jordan, spokesperson for west virginia american water. good morning to you. >> good morning to you too. bill: how dangerous is this? >> this is something we're addressing with the utmost precaution just as a, precaution for our customers with their best interests in mind. we don't anticipate anything that is extremely threaten. until we can confirm with actual numbers we have to treat it with the utmost precaution. bill: i can understand that. what are you telling people, laura? >> we're advising people not, who not to use the water for washing and things of that nature. right now we do have the water system continuing to run for sanit

joining me on the phone is david gutman from the charleston gazette. most alarming part of this and there are many parts to this is that many of the stores are out of water and the question is what are people going to do if they just need simple, clean water here? >> well, richard, the government has set up a number of stations where people can go to get water at local high schools, local small colleges, firestations, emergency facilities, where they are continuously trucking in tankers full of water and the big issue right now is nobody knows how long this is going to last for. >> how long and then how to clean it up. any word on that? >> no. at this point they don't even know that much about what the chemical is. it's known as crude mchm. they know it's hazardous. what they know about it is only in its purest form and they know almost nothing about it in its diluted form which obviously it is diluted. it's mixed in a river. >> we are hearing here, david, that it is not toxic but you are saying it is hazardous. which of the two is it? >> well, the che

luke russert is in charleston with the very latest.good morning, lester. this morning, folks here, 15% of the state's population, will wake up without access to clean, safe tap water. it's caused numerous hardships for businesses and families and turned the capital here, charleston, into a virtual ghost town. this morning, a state of emergency remains in effect as more than 300,000 residents are being told not to use their tap water for any reason. with hundreds complaining of nausea, vomiting, headaches and skin rashes. >> do not use tap water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing or bathing. >> reporter: for a third day now, residents like jane are getting hydrated at checkpoints in surrounding areas. >> i've got like one bottle of water left, so i have to come here like every day. >> i understand boiling water, not being able to drink it, but not even put it on your body, it's outrageous. >> reporter: all this due to a chemical spill at freedom industries that contaminated water flowing downstream to the west virginia american wa

our robert ray is on the scene in charleston. robert if residents don't trust what's coming out of their taps what exactly are they doing as an alternative? >> reporter: using a lot of bottled water. as a matter of fact, the restaurant that i'm in right now you can see a lot of people having brunch here on this sunday morning, early afternoon. this restaurant is not using the tap water to give to its customers they're using bottled water. that's sort of the mantra here as most of the people in charleston west virginia are going about here. the smell in some parts of the city are is like a licorice or a cough drop. the government here is sending out messages to the media, saying they're doing testing on the plant and the elk river and that the water is safe. yet if that is the case, what is the odor, why are some homes still having the odor, and some people reporting discoloration of the water. when we were driving to the restaurant this morning there were two major tanker trucks out there that are flushing the system in the hospi