they have to keep a very close eye out over the next few months. >> melissa chan for us in napa valley, california. thank you so much. >>> the water contamination that has been affected over 300,000 people in charleston, west virginia, is the only latest incident of pollution by the coal industry. the environmental protection agency said coal plants are now responsible for 50% to 60% of all types of pollution in the united states. loopholes and deregulation has allowed the contamination of waterways and well water sources to go unchecked for decades. and it's more dangerous than the charleston elk river. >>> the royal majesty pulled into port in miami with 16 people sickened by a stomach virus that is believed to be the noro virus. for many it turned their dream vacation into a sea nightmare. >> the whole night at the hoy toilet. >> we all brought medication and we were cautious. >> the ship returned to miami where it was scrubbed and disinfected. they're now offering passengers an opportunity to reschedule their trips. >>> more details are emerging about the friday suicide attack at a

plus melissa chan. we will be reporting on the impact of the drought on wine makers here in california. >> every sunday night join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... >> parkinson's forced his wife to type his novels. >> not only was i typing badly, but i was hallucinating... >> now, a revolutionary proceedure is giving is giving this best selling author a second chance >> it was a wondrerful moment... >> after the implant, they turned the juice on, and... >> emily & martin cruz smith on talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america >>> high and dry, the wildfire in glendora,cal is still burning. it covers a little more than 1800 acres northeast of los angeles. fire fighters have managed to stop the flames but there is little they or anyone else can do about the historic drought that left the state parched. the governor declared a drought emergency that allows the state to seek federal aid and eases rules about pumping water from one part

melissa chan joins us from willits, one town suffering from this drought, melissa. >> john up here in northern california the challenge is not so much fires but a water shortage. we're here in willits, because this is the first town in the state to have mandatory water rationing. families have to cut back and limit themselves to 150 gallons per family of 4. part of the reasons is willits began looking at its reservoirs and realized they had only 100 days of water left. they decided to respond to it. earlier we were at the reservoir in willits, we were able to walk where there was usually plenty of water. they told us where we were standing would usually be 16 feet of water above us. a dire situation and for the residents here the governor's dlaifertion of -- declaration a state of emergency couldn't have come sooner, john. >> how are they enforcing those rules? >> what we found out when we spoke to officers they are actually quite busy dealing with another problem in this part of the state which is marijuana plantations. illegal marijuana plantations have flourished in the past ten ye

melissa chan, al jazeera, san francisco. >> up next, riding tides, new concerns that big changes could be coming to the california coast. >> the northeast has been dealing with rain today, started as snow. while temperatures were warming up we had a big problem with snow going to freezing rain, going to ice across the country and freezing rain advisors going up into maine. we are going to shift the concern from temperatures and freezing to rain and warming. wind advisories high wind watches in place all the way from manhattan to massachusetts. we are expecting the wind to increase saturday in places new york city to boston. winds gusting 35 to 50 miles per hour. and we have a high wind watch in place for parts of maine. now the forecast will call for plenty of mountain snow to the west along with several hits of rain with showers in between. it's going to be windy also for the northwest. montana into western washington and oregon we're going oget strong gusts lot of wind advisories in effect for the west. east coast as we get into sunday the mountain snow continues throughout the west

it is where melissa chan is standing by live. how concerned are growers out there? >> well. the wine growers are very concerned and are taking a close look at it. they have a bit more time than the other farmers in california. the vines are in the dormant stage. we are about halfway through the rainy season. you know, people are very concerned but they are hoping that there'll be rain in the coming months. we are here at the vineyards, they produce kav sav and they put everything in a bit of context. >> if the conditions change, then, you know, i think we'll be okay. as a whole, no, it's really, really - you know, worrisome, the conditions and the lack of rain. we need water. i mean, it's been too many years in a row where we had marginal rain fall >> what happens if there is no rain? what they say is that they depend on the rain during the season not for the dormant vines, but to collect in reservoirs and wells. and they'll be used in july, august, september for irrigation. that's why the drought is important for wine makers. they are worried about what can happen now in th

melissa chan is live from a vineyard.he grapes are more vulnerable to drought than other crops >> usually what you see behind me is fields of green. instead there's all this brown. wine makers are not panicking yet, but they are watching the drought seriously to see how it will affect their vines. we spoke to david ilsney. he put everything into context. >> if the conditions change, th then, you know, we'll be okay. as a whole, it's worrisome, the conditions, and the lack of rain. we need - we need water. i mean, that's - it's been too many years in a row where we have had marginal rain fall. >> so, you know, the situation is not so serious in terms of what is happening now. it's the future that the wine makers are worried about. they don't need rain right now. the vines are dore mant. and what we are looking at is a situation in july, august and september. we are halfway through a usual rainy season. if the rain picks up everything will be okay. wine makers will have to adjust and make changes. what people are worried ab

melissa chan, al jazeera, half moon bay, california. >>> coming up, eastern check mate.es gets crushed in a chess match in less than 90 seconds. >>> plus beatle plain y mania he u.s., 50 years later. >>> first there's one image that caught our eye in today's freeze frame. the image from the sunday magazine cover. this week's new york times magazine cover, hillary clinton, the producers decided to depict her like a planet. we wanted to show you a little bit of the new york times magazine cover with hillary clinton. we'll be back, with more news, after this. education continues... >> i'm a physicist, and i've gotten a whole new understanding of the meaning of inertia, from trying to get these ideas out... >> flip school, part of our week long in depth series america tonight only on al jazeera america every day, >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are tonight's top stories. fiery demonstrations in ukraine, president viktor yanukovych says he's willing to are make concessions but protestors say he needs to resign. targeted all four attac

melissa chan has that story. >> the u.s.s. george washington right out on the ocean.art of president obama's pivot to asia. by 2020, the plan is to switch 60% of the country's war ships to the mediterranean. this is one major reason some consider the only reason behind the asia pivot. china. its growth is a worry to not only the united states. >> everyone has the same approach towards china. it includes if united states, britain. >> over disputed islands for japan any u.s. claims of an are asian pivot must be backed by action. in particular tokyo wants support on the islands issue from washington. so far the u.s. last demurred from taking sides although it put down its foof when china, south china see upsetting other american allies such as the philippines who now look tot u.s. for help. but many asian countries where the pivot pays only lip service. they see secretary of state john kerry spending more time in the middle east, and the much anticipated visit by president obama was cancelled. a bashful kerry went in his place. opting for the more benign rebalance, some

melissa chan is live right now about two hours north of san francisco.s the drought effected the state's agriculture there? >> well, del what is really interesting is we have been told that farmers have made a switch in terms of crops from seasonal crops to more what they call permanent crops such as almond and pistachio trees. so when a drought happens it severely challenges the farmers and their ability to continue to function. we're sere and surrounded the vineyards, and the residents themselves have been effected. the city has decided on a mandatory water conservation effort. we managed to catch up with the mayor, and this is what she had to say. >> we're low on water. we're in no one the worse office, but we're the only way that seem to being proactive. so when we noticed our water levels were low, we enacted an emergency plan and declared a water emergency in willlots and required our citizens to conservative their water usage to 150 gallons a day. and our town has stepped up, curved water, which is allowing us to use our existing water supply for

melissa chan for us in san francisco.ood to see you. >>> the italian army rescues more migrants trying to reach sicily. just yesterday people were helped off a craft smuggler ship. it was found off the tiny island of lampedusa. not far behind were others, we're in sicily where the migrants have been taken. >> reporter: these are some of the thousand migrants rescued off the coast of sicily in the space of 24 hours at a common sight for the italian navy but not this time of year. but weather and conditions usually discourage migrants from taking the trip in winter. 853 migrants were rescued on thursday, 233 more on wednesday. the migrants came from all corners of africa and the middle east, mali, egypt, pakistan, iraq, and tunisia united in their desperate attempt to reach europe through italy. their number is constantly on the increase with refugees ru running from civilly unrest areas, among those seeking a better life. italy launched a special operation combining ships, helicopters and drones to intercept boats carrying

melissa chan is following this story for us. one of the main issues is whether this young girl will be able to be sent to new york to remain on life support. is there an undate on that? >> reporter: it is confusing. there is a federal court meeting taking place right now. we'll update you with the latest when we know the developments from that. but earlier this morning there was a county court hearing, and from there, there were developments. we have better clarification on what's going to happen moving forward. the family is going to be allowed to send in outside physician in to the children's hospital in order to aassist with the transportation of the 13-year-old on life support. and then moments ago they clarified it. they'll allow her to keep her breathing tube, so they won't need to transfer than. the family will need to find a physician of that sort, and there is a new york medical facility willing to accept her. quite an incredible case. >> incredible, heart wrenching, controversial, walk us through the issues that have m

melissa chan, al jazeera, san francisco. >> did you hear about this? did you see it? a bizarre and heated interview with dennis rodman today. dennis rodman is in north korea again. david shuster is here. what the what, david? >> it was great television. thanks to nba hall of famer dennis rodman the world was given another reminder today why it's unwise to throw gasoline on burning fire. the fire is dennis rodman. even by dennis rodman's standards it was an epic meltdown. >> what the hell you think? i'm saying to you, look at these guys. look at them! >> reporter: cnn anchor chris quomo pressed dennis rodman about kenneth bay who has been held in north korean prison for more than a year. >> they have not released any charges. >> let me say this-- >> rodman then tried to change the focus and he appeared to get choked up when talking about the sacrifice his entourage is making. >> you've got ten guys here. ten guys here's who have left their families, left their families to help this country as a sports venture. >> the country led by dictator kim jong-un and never mind h

melissa chan at half moon bay, california. >> thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. for news updates all throughout the day including breaking news, head on over to www.aljazeera.com. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher and you're in "the stream." america's greece, $87 billion in debt of the what went wrong in and is federal bailout the answer? >> our producer, raja is here, and raj, a lot of people are surprised about this enormous

we spoke to melissa chan in san francisco. >> we have two court hearings, a county level and federal court. out of the country level court hearing friday morning, here is what we have in terms of developments. the hospital will allow the mcmath family to bring in an outside physician to deal with the transport of jahi mcmath on life support to a facility supposedly in new york. the county coroner's office came out with a death certificate for jahi mcmath. you have a situation where there's a hospital in okayland, and a county coroner's office saying the girl is dead, as a corpse, a body, yet a family is fighting in court to keep her on life support. they have a limited amount of time. they have until tuesday, january 7th, 5:00 pm local time to make the transfer happen. otherwise the hospital is within its rights to take jahi mcmath off life support. >> gay rights act visits are urging the supreme court to reject utah's ban on same-sex marriage after being asked to suspend it. a district court ruled the 2004 voter-approved ban was unconstitutional. since then 1,000 safe-sex couples ha

as melissa chan reports, it's the symbol of an economic divide in the bay area. >> setting the tone for 2014. the first protest of the new year by a coalition of san francisco residents fighting, they say, against the corporate creed that is going hand in hand with silicon valley's latest boom. luxury buses shuttle text workers from the city to google's office out of town. they are a symbol of the haves versus have not. perks for private industries, blamed for pushing up prices city wide. the campaigns to stop the corporate buses are more frequent and disruptive. >> it wasn't until we stopped blocking buses that people turned their eye this way. people want to funnel the attention to what government has, and real estate. >> we are looking at about 100 protesters. that's not a lot. they have captured national attention by targetting tech companies, such as google. facebook and apple. >> look at the polls that the politicians at city hall are taking. seven out of 10 people are worried about the future. these people are the most active, the anxiety is there. >> some of those that turned ou

melissa chan looks at the impact the dry conditions are having on industries. >> in the city of willettn the heart of the forming country pt the drought's impact can be felt over town. >> i may have to shut den. >> dennis manages the car wash. >> i happy it doesn't come to that, we pray for rain. >> officials say they have 100 days of water before being forced to find alternative water. this is one of the communicationies to mandate water conservation. >> we declared a water emergency in willetts and we required our citizens to conservative their water usage to 150 gallons a day. >> normally at this time of the year there would be water 12 feet deep where i'm standing. people in willetts hope with a rainy season halfway through, water levels can go up. for now it's at 16% capacity. the reservoir collects mostly rainwater. if it runs dry, willetts can tap into wells. the cost of purifying water is high. >> 1985 was the driest year. we are 1% below that. >> businesses are ordered to cut back orders. at lum berjack's, they are giving customers smaller water glasses. >> the residents have g

earlier we spoke to melissa chan in san francisco about what's next. >> already in a very convoluted we have two court hearings taking place a federal hearing on the jahi mcmath case, and friday morning here is what we have in terms of developments. we now know that the hospital will lou the m -- will allow the mcmath family to move her to another facility. you have a hospital in oakland the county coroner's saying the jahi mcmath as dead, a corpse, a body. yet you have this family fighting in court to keep her on life support. they have a limited amount of time. they have until tuesday, january 7, 5:00 p.m. local time to make this transfer happen. otherwise the hospital with is within its right to take jahi mcmath off support. >> regaining control of two cities in the west of the couple, al qaeda linked fighters have held parts of programhadi and fallujah, five people have been killed on protest camp leaving 13 dead. secretary of state john kerry went to the west bank to try to advance talks between the israelis and the palestines. hpalestines -- palestinians. he did not receive a w

let's go to melissa chan in san franciscan.us about yesterday averages court meeting. >> there is a federal court meeting taking place right now and earlier today in the morning there was a county court hearing where there was actually quite a fair bit of development. we have a better sense of what is going to happen moving forward because the hospital has agreed to let the mcmath family to bring in an outside physician into the hospital to deal with the transfer of jehi mcmath to another facility suppose edly at this moment in new york. it's been wild because on the same day the county coroner's office issued a death certificate. the terminology is she is a course and yet you have this family fighting it in court trying to keep her alive on life support. john. >> what is the next step for the family? >> well the family is running against the clock. they have until tuesday, january 7th, 5:00 p.m. local time in order to secure the physician and make this transfer happen. and if the ded line passes the hospital here, the children

melissa chan visited a project in san francisco. >> you don't get to see a lot of positive things >> drew jenkins walks me through the housing project where he grew up and works as a youth leader and activist. >> notorious for drugs, decay and violence. he shows me where he was wounded 10 years ago. it shattered his pelvis. >> shot 13 times with an ak. >> sunnydale is a large housing project. the only retail store we came across, residents had much to complain about. >> the trash build up in all that. that is depressing. the parks are torn down, that is depressing. >> here is the so-called park. if the neighbourhood looks forgotten, the city has plans to change it, promising a multidevelopment project creating a mixed community, with gardens, open space, safe homes, green buildings and better schools. the promise go on and on. the utopia years away. children here continue to play in squaller. in the shadow of violence and crime. >> what we have seen here is neighbourhoods falling apart and neighbourhoods in need of repair, could not have been lyndon johnson's vision. he established t

melissa chan, al jazeer al jazen francisco. >> back in india the diplomatic dispute is far from over. sochi travel alert, a warning for americans ahead of the winter games. we talk about security for the athletes. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are our top stories. troubles for target keep getting larger. now the company says the data breach could have impacted 110 million shoppers. and what hackers stole is even more than originally reported. it includes names, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, now state of emergency in west virginia after a toxic chemical spill in charleston. hundreds of thousands of people in nine counties cannot use their tap water right now. federal authorities investigating the circumstances of that leak. disappointing jobs data out today. there were only 74,000 new hires in december. economists had been expecting far more than that. the unemployment rate fell but that's likely because more people sto stopped looking for . college grads are having an especially tough time finding a job. al jazeera

melissa chan reports. >> setting the tone for 2014. first protest of the new year by a coalition of san francisco residents fight, they say, against the corporate greed going hand in hand with silicon valley's latest boom. luxe buses shuttle people from the city to out of town. they are the symbol of the halves versus half not, perks for the private industries, blamed for pushing up prices. and the campaigns to stop the buses became more frequent and more disruptive. >> it wasn't until we blocked the buses that people turned their eye this way. we wanted to funnel the tapes to government and real estate -- the attention to government and real estate. >> we are looking at 100 protesters, it's not a lot. they captured attention with their activities, targetting tech companies, such as google, facebook and apple. >> you look at the polls that the politicians at city hall are taking, and you'll find seven out of 10 people are worried about the future in san francisco, and the feeling they are being squeezed out. these people may be the mos

melissa chan has that story. >> she is on her own, the only woman working as a welder at this constructionite. shane lasaint-bell says she's one of the guys, it's a boys' club. if you can't beat them, join them. >> there's ways to survive in the construction field. you have to pick and choose your battles. you have to respect the man in this field. >> shayne chose construction because she loves to weld. she loves to work with her hands and wanted to be paid for doing what she enjoyed, even if it meant raised eyebrows and extra effort to obtain respect. >> for women it's an uphill battle. i'd like to say even though i entered the trade 35 years ago. it's all roses. it's still a tremendous opportunity. the city of san francisco is looking to take advantage of the build. it's an 18 week program in partnership with trade unions to introduce people to the industry. >> this semester's class of 43 has just three women organizers. citybuild says it's been difficult to join the program. sometimes they say the challenge is the woman herself, dealing with gender stereotypes. they say the work is too

we asked melissa chan if that pivot really has happened. >> the uss george washington out on the pacific ocean, part of president obama's pivot to asia. by 2020 the plan is to shift a majority 60% of the country's warship to the region along with maintaining six aircraft carri carriers. this is one major reason, and some consider the only reason for the major pivot: china. >> every morning asia follows the same protocol. it's a combination of engagement and hedging. >> japan has watched wearily has china has become boulder. the two countries are locked in a battle over disputed islands. for japan any claim brings feedback. so far the u.s. has demurred from taking sides. beijing takes possession of several islands in the south china seas but many asian countries worry that th the pivt is only lip service. when administration officials back pedaled and stopped calling it a pivot, some allies wondered whether president obama has changed his mind opting for a softer approach. the u.s. and china are trading partners after all, and china has not welcomed the pivot considering the strategy enci

melissa chan has more. >> wine makers are not panicking just yet but are watching the drought closely. to give you an idea how serious it is, usually there would be green localing hills, instead all we see is brown. there should be grass standing up to my hips. we are at a vin added a had a chance to speak to them. he tried to take as positive a spin as possible on this drought. if february and march we do get a typical normal rainfall for the rest of the winter and we started out the growing season spring with a fully wet soil profile the vines are going to grow and start the season off and grow well and do their normal thing. so, you know, i feel like we will be okay. soy the wait not really about what's happening right now but what might happen in the near future. all all, the vines are in a dormant stage. they don't need water right now. what people are worried about is the near future. we are halfway through usual rainy season. if there is no water in the reservoirs and well there will be no water in july, all, september when wine makers do irrigate the vineyards. what is the tim

melissa chan with al jazeera and half moon bay in california. >> and we will have all the action fromopen where she has won her second grand slam. >>> that is it from the both of us and the news hour team in doha. for me, good-bye for now and thanks for watching. ♪ checkee >> tense standoff as growing unrest in the ukraine. the president makes concession, but the opposition says it's too little, too la. >> syria's government meets face to face with the opposition. >> egypt in turmoil - another wave of bombing to care. >>> as egypt marks the third anniversary of the arab

melissa chan, al jazeera, san francisco. >> reporter: republicans are taking swings at the affordableare act ahead of the state of the union and have a plan to replace the current law and say obamacare just isn't working. their plan called the care act would draw up mandates that require everyone to be covered or pay a fine and there have been proposals to repeal the president's healthcare law but this is one of the first to provide an actual alternative plan. school choice may be another one of the core election year issues for republicans and tennessee senator lamar alexander will introduce a bill today to give low income families to spend it on any school they want to send their kids to and redistrict about $24 billion from public schools and states could use the money as vouchers or scholarships to send low income students to private or charter schools and alexander was the u.s. secretary under hw bush and we will have comprehensive coverage of the state of the union both before and after the speech starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern and have the speech live at 9:00 eastern. hillary cl

al jazeera's melissa chan has the story. >> wine makers are not pappicing but they are watching the drought. to give you an idea of how serious the situation is. all we see is brown. there should be grass standing up to my hips. he spoke to them. they produce kab sav and tree tried to take a spin. >> if we get a normal rain fall for wint. did we start the season with a fully wet profile. the vines will grow and start the season off and do their normal thing. i feel like they'll be cock. >> the worry is about what is happening right now. after all the vines are in a dormant stage. they don't need water. what people are worried about is a near future. we are halfway through the season, and they expect the water to collect. but if there is no water in the reservoir or wells, there'll be no water in july, august and september. that is the time they should pappic if there's no water and the drought continues. >> california ships a trillion cases across the world, making it the fourth largest interufr. >> coming up. diving out rebels. and the tech school attended by edward snowden, some say is a

melissa chan has that story. >> they say it's the mt everest for surfers.n invitation only event, a select view congregate at mavericks. >> the coast of northern california in the middle of winter boasts some of the biggest, dangerous and potentially lethal waves. >> surfers ride down 40 food walls of water. the waves crash and show up on earthquake censors. >> we caught up with some col pet tors. >> we are taking a huge risk. the guys that do this enjoy it. we are out there, we feel comfortable. >> you never know who rises up. that is what is special about big wave severiurfing. it's part of your dna. >> the reason i come back is the feeling you get from it. the thing is it almost kills you, makes you feel alive. at sunrise with little ceremony, the best of the best pushed off to face the sound and fury. the mythic waves are offshore, sometimes as much as two miles out in the open see, discovered only in 1975. during the competition the beach is closed to spectators for safety. fans watch the contest on shore. the closest they can get to mavericks. >> it's

melissa chan, aljazeera, san francisco. >> our coverage on economic inquality in america continues. in the next hour, we'll visit one of the poorest areas of florida to see what is done to help those in need. >> the iraqi army is preparing an offensive to gain control from al-qaeda linked groups. as we report, many families are now leaving their homes, fleeing the fighting. >> these are a few of the hundreds of families looking for safety after days of intense fighting between armed fighters, tribesman and iraqi government forces. women and children again caught up in a conflict they couldn't avoid. >> there was bombing ovary maddy and fighting. we left for fear for the children. >> we are look forego a safe place for the kids. >> and this is what they are trying to escape, the military says it's determined to regain control of the two main cities in anbar province. for over a week, armed fighters of the al-qaeda linked islamic state have taken control of most of rim ry maddy and fallujah. as the government struggles to regain that control, it's allies including the u.s. have only g

melissa chan at half moon bay, california. >> thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. for news updates all throughout the day including breaking news, head on over to www.aljazeera.com. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher and you're in "the stream." america's greece, $87 billion in debt of the what went wrong in and is federal bailout the answer? >> our producer, raja is here, and raj, a lot of people are surprised about this enormous economic crisis in puerto rico, and how it's affects are affecting the u.s. >> reporter: our digital producer always tells us that puerto ricans are citizens, and most americans don't know: who to blame for the problem? >> if only it was, and a lot of corporations are leaving puerto rico. and it's something that we'll talk about in the show. the nations eyes are focused on economic implosions like detroit and sacramento, but something is brewing in the american territory of puerto rico, where $87 billion in debt is hovering over a population about the size of los angeles. in puerto rico, only 41% of the people that can work do. b