Transcripts For ALJAZAM News 20150527 : vimarsana.com

ALJAZAM News May 27, 2015

Shrouded in secrecy. An american journalist, tried behind closed doors in iran. The hidden proceedings and the judge. Plus moving pictures, the compelling and compassionate photography of Mary Ellen Mark. We begin tonight with a catastrophic flooding in texas. The governor calls it the worst the state has ever seen. The death toll is cliexg and cleemg and climbing and dozens are missing. Heidi zhoucastro is in wimberly texas tonight. Heidi. 46 foot tall wave of water came down the blanco river. Lifted off its foundation. Here in wem wim ber Li Wim Wimberly is where this started before memorial day but is not where it is continuing. This will allow everyone to respond even more festival to the challenges you face. Homes have been swamped. Homes have been completely wiped off of the map. Every part of the city hit. The defining feature of houston, is the many rivers that run through. And many of them overflowed their banks and overtook the neighborhoods. Rescuers said they had to save over 500 people from high water. Stranded in their vehicles. 2500 trucks and vans abandoned as drivers scrambled to higher ground. Further north the search continues for two families whose Vacation Home was swept into the blanco river. Fell apart into pieces. At the time the water was not only over my head but over the height of the bridge. In all several people from hayes county are unaccounted for, a body remains unidentified. Its scary i have small children. To imagine you couldnt help the children and dont know what happened, i cant imagine. So very sad. Reporter juna brown lives upriver, she never imagined this kind of destruction in her backyard. Is that a slab over there . Yes, thats partly of that part of that and all thats left is a rock fireplace. Everything else is gone. With more rain in the forecast, texas is bracing for disaster to come. So we may get a few days of respite from prescription in wimberly but all of texas all the soil the rivers and lakes are saturated so any more drops of rain will only add more to the problem. All right heidi, thank you very much. Jan guerrero is the is mayor of san marcos, texas. Can you give us an update on the missing . Certainly. The numbers we have at this time are still the same as we have had over the last 24 hours. Were still missing 13 people. We have resources going in all directions to try to identify and recover those missing people. Give us a sense of the damage. The damage is its unimaginable. This is our new flood of record. There is nothing ellis that has impacted nothing else that has impacted the city of wimberly ever, 1200 homes have lost right now we have a number of state agencies, nonprofit organizations, various businesses large and small that have really banded together to come and help those folks that are in need right now and we are so grateful for the support we have received from all of our Community Members throughout central texas. What are you telling people as they head home to their homes and businesses . We are encouraging people to be cautious. Certainly we are getting a break from the weather some of the floodwaters have receded so people have a chance to go home and assess damage and get a sense what the plans are going to be for the days and weeks ahead. But at the same time were encouraging them to be cautious, to make sure that they are working daylight, and doing our best to make sure that they somewhere accurate resources and support and help to be able to piece their homes back together. Mayor, i understand that marcos texas is listed by the u. S. Census as the Fastest Growing city three years running. What impact does that have on your city . I think if anything, what really has driven a lot of that growth has been our proximity to austin, san antonio institutions and agencies throughout central texas. People want to be in a beautiful place, a good economy good quality of life with low cost of living and thats what you have here. What this will do will require us to go back and reassess some of the financial priorities and making sure that were putting forth the appropriate amount of funds to rebuild our fire station, to go back and repave some roads that were stripped, bridges here in wimberly that need to be replaced. So there will be new assets that were going to have to acquire and priorities that well have to set. But its business as usual at the same time. We will still have to provide our citizens with the services they expect from their cities and counties. Mayor good luck for you in rebuilding. Thank you sir i appreciate your time. The weather is far from over in texas. Meteorologist Kevin Corriveau is here with that. Kevin. Thats right john, normally you would see this kind of destruction if you had a tropical hurricane or tornado making landfall. But as it made its way over towards houston we do have a little bit of a break for texas and oklahoma. A lot of that weather has been moving up here towards the east. But unfortunately this evening we are beginning to pick up a few thunderstorms to the western part of dallas. Were going to be watching this very closely towards the west we do have tornado warnings in effect right now. Flood watches and warnings are still in effect for the earn part of texas. Over the next couple of days well watch this area very carefully because the rain is expected to come back. Even though we have a little bit of a break tomorrow, the rain will inch its way back as we get towards thursday and the weekend, its really going to expand and as heidi said earlier, any rain that we get now is just really going to exasperate the problem. Because were looking at very very saturated soil, not just for one or two communities but all the state of texas and oklahoma. Kevin thank you. President enrique penna pena nieto nieto, has promised to help. Theres a tornado that hit the area of mexico. A major effort to retake the key strategic city of ramadi. Thats iraqs largest problems of anbar. Fell to i. S. I. L. Fighters during a devastating push last week, there are those look towards baghdad. Iraqi Security Forces gather on the edge of ramadi, for ibaq hussein, named for an imam in iraq. Be sent iraqi soldiers running for cover. Translator the area for which the lebaq hussein will cover, all the way to ramadi. An area where i. S. I. L. Is present. But there are concerns the operations code name could stoke deep rooted fears of sectarianism among them sunni sectarianism. War is war you lose some with fighting but you have to win the war ultimately and we are embarking on winning the war against i. S. I. S. For thousand, sunni and shia are united against a common enemy, fighting under one banner. We are fighting a psychological war. We have been accused of retreating, we are not. We are backing up our troops here and preparing for fall of ramadi. Reporter with i. S. I. L. In control of ramadi, securing baghdad just an hour and a half away is a priority. But that has brought its oafn own challenges. Thousands of ramadi residents are crossing this bridge into baghdad to escape the fighting. They entered killed and explaiseddisplaced people. This man is sick and might die and we had to stay in the street. There is no telling how long this bridge, the only safe place to cross into baghdad will remain open. And it is feared that i. S. I. L. Fighters will hide amongst the civilians to sneak into the capital. Also facing criticism on the u. S. Doubled down on comments by defense secretary ash carter. He said ramadi fell because iraqi soldiers lost the will to fight. Jamie mcintire is at the pentagon jamie. The blame game is if full swing over the embarrassing loss of ramadi. Inadequate and ineffective u. S. Air strikes and also a lack of support from the shia government in baghdad for the sunni fighters in the field including a shortage of things like ammunition. But pentagon sources tell a much different story. They describe an iraqi force in ramadi that was demoralsed, demoralized dazed and confused oops. Eight powerful truck bombs that killed 100 an ambush that overwhelmed a small patrol and sand storms that iraqi forces falsely feared would limit air supports. Thousands drew out of ramadi in face of an advance from only hungs ofhundreds of i. S. I. L. Fighters. Its what ash carter was talking about. They withdrew from the site, and that says to me, and i think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis to fight i. S. I. L. And defend themselves. Reporter pentagon sources say the iraqi forces in ramadi outnumbered i. S. I. L. 10 o1, enjoying what the pentagon termed a substantial advantage over the enemy. There were 10,000 Holding Ramadi including 3,000 federal police and special operations troops that folded in the face of only 1,000 i. S. I. L. Attackers. After a year of fighting, the ramadi soldiers were war weary and badly led by commanders who werent communicating well with each other and had a flawed understanding of the war space. If iraqi troops hadnt cut and run, what began with some elite troops pulling out turned into a stampede. Their morale had slipped leadership was not up to par they believed they did not receive the support they needed to receive. John dempsey told people traveling with him the isf wasnt driven out of ramadi, they drove out of ramadi. Among those recently trained by the u. S. We would eexpect thatexpect that forces that are augmented by local fighters from local sunni tribes and from the popular mobilize able force, would be able to improve the performance of the iraqi troops on the ground. Now de demoralizing vehicle bombs putting american troops on the front line together with air attacks would not be effective. Iraqi forces there psyched themselves out despite what should have been an overwhelming Tactical Advantage they became convinced that i. S. I. L. Was winning and once that mindset took over, there was a lack of leadership that would have inspired iraqis to hold their position. Jamie mcintire, thank you. Debate over one person one vote how states draw political maps, whether they can count people in the u. S. Illegally. This is how texas draws its state senate maps. The districts are divided equally regardless of voter eligibility with each holding about 810,000 people. A lawsuit argues some districts have significantly more eligible voters than others. They say thats not fair. The decision could impact the political power of latinos especially in large states like texas, california and florida. The Supreme Court will hear this case in the fall. Michael lee is a lawyer with the Brennan Center for justice. His work centers on redistricting and voter rights. Michael break down the plaintiffs argument for us. That every vote should be equally weighted. If there are 400 people in the district your vote is one out of 400. If another district has only 100, your vote is 1 out of 100. That vote matters more because in texas a lot of people are not citizens, you end up with districts that have fewer actual voters and their argument is the district should have the equal number of voters. Is that how most states do it . It is the way most states do it. Long the practice pretty much everywhere. If the Supreme Court were to change how that is done how would it impact elections . It would first of all redraw districts. Right now minority districts have a powerful tool in the minority voting act which they could use to draw districts. If there are polarized districts. Changing the rule would mean you have to have a higher number of people in the district and that means that oftentimes you would have to go further out to find people. And that would make districts larger and harder to draw. So that would assume that there are more undocumented people in big cities . There are. And in places like dallas and houston and up to half of adult hispanics are not citizens currently. It varies from place to place but thats a significant driver of this debate. How significant is this for elections Going Forward and the way i mean if youre drawing this has an impact on not just local elections. It could have an impact on National Elections as well, right . It could. You know the rule for congress is a little bit different but if the Supreme Court changes it for these elections, it probably would change it for congress, as well. It really does have a lot of impact because you see it as significant. I see it as very significant. If the court rules reverses the decision below. You want to make any bets on what theyre going to do . Do you think theres a likelihood they might change the way these districts are drawn . I dont know that thats the case. I think that this is a little bit of an unusual case because its a case that the Supreme Court had to hear because its a direct appeal. That means this they might just be waning to get briefing on this before they hear the case a little bit further. But you know the court has redistrict cases are very hard because they come up every decade and you never quite know why the court takes them. Its probably not a good idea to guess what the courts going to do in any case. Michael good to see you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Coming up. A Major Overhaul for the Cleveland Police as part of a settlement with the Justice Department. Plus a legendary photographer, a look back at the life of the photographer Mary Ellen Mark. Mark. Interchange is coming to the Cleveland Police department. The city announced a settlement with the Justice Department today, it deals with a range of issues including the use of force policy. Last year Justice Department report found a pattern and practice of Excessive Force by Cleveland Police. Bisi onileere is in cleveland. Bisi. John, Cleveland Police officers will have to follow new guidelines when it comes to use of force. There will also be a stronger emphasis put on Community Relations and antibias policing. The mayor said this plan will be expensive and it will likely take years to implement. Today may 26th, 2015, marks a new way of policing in the city of cleveland. One built on a Strong Foundation of progressive change, sustained trust and accountability. Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson putting an optimistic spin on the settlement with the department of justice. Found cleveland pd engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing. Among the worst examples of Excessive Force are Police Officers shooting at people who pose no threat, hitting people over the head with guns and using stun guns on handcuffed suspects. The challenges that caused this agreement that this agreement addresses they didnt arise in a day. And were not going to get rid of them overnight. Reporter under the agreement Cleveland Police will face new guidelines on using force. They emphasize Community Policing accountability, and training on biasfree policing. You put your lives on the line each and every day and ensure the safety of communities. Our investigation revealed you were asked to do this terrifically difficult work without Training Guidance or supervision, or adequate equipment. Just before the announcement, hundreds took to the streets. We wont wait. We wont wait. Members of about 40 area churches marched over their disappointment in the not guilty verdict for Cleveland Police officer Michael Brelo the Police Officer was cleared on saturday for shooting 49 shots that the vehicle two black people were riding in including 17 shots he unloaded on the hood of russells car. Everyone is talking about it, weve been doing it for 400 years. Peaceful demonstrations turned aggressive after dark. Over 70 people were arrested. Im deeply optimism that transformation is coming to cleveland. To rebuild trust between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve where it has eroded but it can be done. Reporter it is a long road ahead in cleveland to make sure police play by the new rules. And its important to note that the way is still on for two high profile cases involving police, one being the death of tamir rice while he was playing with a toy gun. Bisi onileere bisi, thank you. Amtrak last determined to install cameras to monitor the action he of its engineers. After the deadly Train Derailment of last week, eight people were killed, 200 injured in that crash. Coming up next, a Washington Post reporter goes on trial in iran behind closed doors. Plus somali parents living in fear that their sons will be recruited by i. S. I. L. What that needs to be done to stop. Stop. Hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. Im john siegenthaler. Behind closed doors. An american journalist accused of spying, International Outrage as a secret trial opens in tehran. Call to arms. Its not even clearly identified. We dont know who they are. Fighting violent ideology in the u. S. Heart land. Citei. S. I. L. Look for recruits among americas immigrants. Biblical art a look inside its breathtaking final show. Plus eye for detail. Street wise and sophisticated the stunning photography of Mary Ellen Mark. The trial of a Washington Post journalist got underway in tehran today. Jason rezaian Jonathan Betz has the story. Jason rezaians appearance before an iranian judge was brief and private. Closed to the public and even his family. He knows he hasnt done anything wrong that hes innocent. Rezaian only met with his lawyer once but is facing one of the most difficult judges in iran. Growing more worried about

© 2025 Vimarsana