We begin with a fastmoving infur know. Firefighters are making slow progress in the foothills near los angeles. Police say the fire was likely started when paper was tossed into a campfire. It forced thousands to evacuate. Jennifer london is live with more tonight. Jennifer . Were at the command post where about 30 minutes ago firefighters held a press conference. The fire stands at 1700 acres. Five homes have been destroyed. Sever buildings have been damaged. They have had three people arrested in connection with this fire. They have got between 600 and 700 firefighters on the scene. They will be working in 24hour shifts throughout the night to try to bring that containment percentage up. Again, its at 30 contained right now. John, if you live in southern california, you live with the threat of wildfires, but because the state has seen multiple years of below average pain and precipitation, these threats se to be even all the more real and increasing, and the colby fire is a dangerous reminder, but it is the perfect example of just how bad the situation has gotten here in california. And to give you a frame of reference, 2013 was the driest year on record for the state of california. In los angeles, for example, that region usually sees an average rainfall of about 15 inches. Last year, 2013, 3. 6 inches of rain fell and that is the same story up and down the state. And we are told that if we dont get rain soon, it could have a real serious Economic Impact on the state. All right. Lets talk a little bit coloradosing a culture is impacted from a dry 2013. The price of food will go up, labors, industries that depend on water supply, many impacts to california by a dry water year. Farmers in the Central Valley and water managers have been urging the governor, jerry brown to declare a drought emergency. I spoke with someone from the Governors Office yesterday and they said that is very likely. Obviously the drought is a very serious problem, what else can be done to prevent these fires. Well, january is supposed to be one of the two wettest months for california and here we are in the middle of the month, and we have had no rain. Homeowners can take some steps, they can do brush clearing, but really we need to see rain. And will is no rain in the foragenciable future on the forecast. Now with have rebecca to tell us more. After years of studying this kind of dry weather in the west, meteorologist are familiar with the terms that we look for, like red flag warning and also strong winds with temp chairs 20 degrees above normal. All of these apply to southern california. Its a very localized event, the santa ana winds. Right now only 7 for san diego, but note a gust of 31 for camarillo. But as it is going downhill, it sinks, gives additional heat. We hit 85 for los angeles today which is only one degree away from a record temperature for the date. Several spots came close to a record high, and this is where the majority of california is in a drought right now. If we look at our snow depths, last year january, quite thick with the snowfall. It was a good year for all of the different snow sports, not so much this year. All of the storm systems tended to go from the south, southwest from mexico directly into texas and eventually, perhaps arizona, but all of our flood issues were much farther off to the east from california. John all right. Rebecca thank you very much. There is controversy over the death of a convicted killer in ohio with a neverbefore tried drug cocktail. Reporter dennis had been sentenced to die the murder of a 7monthold woman. In recent years a backlog of death row inmates has increased because of a shortage of lethal injection drugs. In this case, ohio officials used a combination that hadnt been tried before, a sedative and a painkiller. A reporter who witnessed mcguires excuse said at 10 29 his eyes rolled back as if we were going to sleep, six minutes later he appeared to be unconscious, convulsing, gagging and struggling to breathe. 15 minutes went by until mcguire was dead. His attorney argued against this method of execution. But lawyers for the state of ohio argued while the constitution bans executions that are cruel and unusual, that doesnt mean inmates are entitled to a painfree death. Andrew welch was well for the execution this morning, and he has witnessed 11 other executions in ohio. So andrew, welcome. Let me ask you first, how was this execution different than the 11 other you have seen . Well, to put it this way. Most executions i have seen, the inmate simply appears to fall asleep. Essentially the drug takes effect, there might be initial movement and then the inmates essentially become still. Today the process almost seemed to reverse itself. Dennis mcguire was quite still for a few minutes, and then about five, six minutes into it, he emitted a loud snorting or snoring sound and after that for the next ten or 12 minutes, he repeatedly snorted, gasped, his mouth would open and close. It just seemed to go on forever. It took quite a long time, so really completely different from anyone we have seen recently. Were his eyes open . And could you tell whether or not he was suffering . His eyes rolled back about a minute or two into the execution. It is unclear if he was awake. His eyes were shut as we was doing this. We think he was unconscious, its hard to know if he was suffering. He was clearly undergoing some kind of very strong physiological reaction, again, chest rising and falling, these repeated strange gasps and snorts. There were no obviousment grim aces. Very often you have the room at the same time as the as the family of the executed, what was their reaction . So two very different reactions. Dennis mcguires son, his daughterinlaw, and daughter were witnesses on one side of the room. They were in tears from the beginning, as you can imagine this was a terrible day for them anyway, and then their tears and sobbing continued as it went on and on, and clearly they were very upset at how long it was taking oh my god his daughter said at one point. The relatives of the victim by contrast sat quietly. I would say respectfully watched the execution, but there was no visible reaction from them. So two very different responses. There is this shortage of the drug used in the death penalty. Can you tell us why there is a . This so the drug was manufactured by a Danish Company for many years, and eventually the company was under pressure to stop making it for executions. It didnt sell to the states for execution, but states were able to obtain it through december contribution networks, and the company clamped down on that. The drug was sold to the u. S. Manufacturer, but part of that sale included the same prohibition. So states ran out of that particular drug. Many states have moved to a onedrug method. Ohio was the very first state to do that, and that was very effective. Now that that has dried up, states are really scrambling to find something to work. You have witnessed 12 executions now. Can you tell us you are supposed to remain objective, but what sort of impact does that have on on a person . Well, theres no question it was a disturbing spectacle to watch. As a reporter my job is and was to be present to observe what happened and to tell the world accurately and factually about what i saw. It clearly was a very unpleasant experience and one that will be with me for a while. Andrew welsh hug ins thanks for sharing your story. You are welcome. For the third time in recent days there has been a deadly accident involving a military helicopter. The victims belong to an elite Aviation Unit called the night stalkers. January 8th, three sale sailors died after their navy chopper went down off of the coast of virginia. Hours earlier an air force Helicopter Crashed in eastern britain. Scheduled to address national spying. But today a new report from Edward Snowden. It focuses on Text Messages, and collects pretty much everything it can. That adds up to close to 200 million Text Messages a day at one point. And included messages under no suspicion. Glen greenwald is the reporter working with snowden. He said he is not expecting much from the president s speech. I think they are going to need more than just a pretty speech from president obama to feel their concerns have been addressed. Mike viqueira can here now. Mike what can we expect from the president tomorrow . The president is going to be heading down the street to the department of justice. You remember the recommendations that came from his commission made public last year, the presidet is expected to adhere closely to some of that but not quite go as far especially on the marquee issue of the collection of millions and millions of records the government is collecting on a daily basis from people all over the world and from the United States. The commission suggested perhaps a thirdparty should keep those records. Perhaps the phone companies themselves should keep those records. They dont want to have anything to do with it. But the commission reck menninged that when the Intelligence Community wants to get ahold of those records, there should be another step involved. They should have to go to the fisa court to get permission to do that. There are indications that the president will punt it over to congress to see what they can do with it. A public advocate on the court to speak up for the publics right to privacy. There are some indications that the president will endorse that, as he is likely to endorse, we understand, limitations on Foreign Surveillance particularly of world leaders, obviously the administration deeply embarrassed over the revelation of spying on the chancellor of germanys cell phone for example. Jeffery stone was on the commission and from the university of chicago. Earlier today he was on inside story with ray suarez. They were talking about the metadata collection. Remember the Commission Said they found no indication that it prevented any terrorist attacks, john, but say it should continue because it has potential to be very effective. Its important for people to understand the nsa is not a rogue agency. This is not like the 1960s and 70s, where these agencies were running amuck. The nsa is exercising the authorities, that congress, the president , and the courts have given it. And if there is a fault there, it is in the authority that has been given and the way they have been structured. John, incremental steps are what is expected from the president. Well be hearing more in the morning from white house officials. The president 11 00 eastern time. Clearly these leaks have impacted the debate across the country, but can you give us a sense of how frustrating it is to the white house that these leaks have come out sort of drip drip drip over the last weeks and months. It is. The New York Times editorial page, others have come forward and said perhaps the United States government should consider some form of clemency. The deputy at the National Security agency said the same thing. The white house firmly says that Edward Snowden is a fugitive. But this is an issue that cuts across partisan lines, john, theres no question about it. John mccain on this very program last night, speaking with you, appeared on capitol hill today with an idea. Call for a select committee, which can look at the whole issue and spectrum of nsa issues, ranging from cyber security, to surveillance, to all of the other aspects of this issue, which has been raised and accentuated by mr. Snowden. I think the issue has been study sod much by the president s commission and by members of congress that might not fly either. Obviously the controversy, john, is going to continue beyond tomorrow. As much as the white house wants it to go away, clearly it is not at least for now. Mike thank you very much. The trillion dollars Government Spending plan already approved by the house has now cleared the senate. It scales back many of last years automatic funding cuts. Some including nasa and the army corps of engineers will see increases. President obama is expected to sign it. Now to syria where 130,000 people have died since fighting began nearly three years ago. Today, secretary of state john kerry called it one of the planets most severe humanitarian disasters and is calling on all sides to attend next weeks peace talks. Reporter john kerry rejects the efforts to change the focus of geneva 2. He called it an attempt to change history and said it wouldnt work. It defies logic to imagine that those whos brutality created this magnet, how they could ever lead syria away from extremism and towards a Better Future is beyond any common logic. Reporter the syrian foreign minister tried to shift the focus of the conference when he accepted the invitation to attend geneva 2. He wrote. Kerry also leaned on the Syrian Opposition to unite. Saying the Syrian People need them to come together. On the eve of the opposition coalition, General Assembly meeting tomorrow to decide whether to participate in geneva in the peace conference, the United States for these reasons urges a positive vote. A Syrian Opposition spokesman said its important for all sides to try to deal in good faith. Agreed to those six principals in the geneva communique, but the assad regime is rejecting those before geneva, we need him to come out and say i accept all of those otherwise these talks will be a waste of time. Reporter kerry called for more humanitarian aid, but there are still questions about whether the conference can make a real difference in the nearly threeyear long civil war. No one knows what practical results can come out of geneva 2 yet, be it a ceasefire, a safe zone for food and water, or a time line for assad to step aside. The obama administrations view, lets get to the conference and see what happens. Coming up next, lost boy. We meet a man who fled sudan years ago only to get caught up in violence and chaos in the region again. Plus closed for business, the struggling major Retailers Closing Stores and laying off employees. Hard times are here for some of the biggest names in retail. John were seeing some conflicting signals on the economy. Retailers saw holiday sales grow, according to new numbers out by the National Retail federation. Even so, many big retail chains resorted to steep discounting to lure in shoppers. Thats what best buy did, and it now says the price slashing took too big of bite out of its profit margins. The reaction from the market was furious. The companys stock fell by 28. 6 by the end of the market day. Best buy may have been too aggressive with its campaign to match competitors prices. Although what are their options . Something has to give when you are a retail chain competing th Something Like amazon that operates warehouses and not much else. This is more of a story about how americans feel. 42 of americans say they are worse office financially than they were one year ago. According to a new gallup poll that is. If thats true, then all of the positive retailers we saw in 2013, could be hiding a bigger problem, because the american consumer, john, never lies. If consumers start to pull back on their spending that could spell trouble for the economy. Well learn tomorrow. John . Ali thank you. A new development into the scandal of the Chris Christie office. 20 new subpoenas were issued today. The question is who ordered the washington bridge. According to Egyptian State media 90 of voters have voted for the new militarysupported state constitution. This is the second constitution put in place since the revolution overthrowing morsi and the now banned michele bachmann. Coming up next. Sick after the spill, West Virginia hospitals have seen an influx of patients even after the water was declared safe to drink. Plus its a scorchers at the Australian Open. Welcome back to al jazeera america. Im John Siegenthaler, and here are tonights top stories. Ohio execution, authorities used a new type of lethal drug combination to execute a convicted killer. Witnesses say he struggled for 15 minutes before he died. The wildfire rages across southern california. Investigators say burning scraps of paper from a campfire sparked the blaze. Army chopper accident. The pentagon is investigating the third deadly Helicopter Crash this month. An army chopper made a hard landing in georgia killing one person and injuring two more. Theres another leak in the nsa spy scandal this time concerning Text Messages. According to the british paper, the guardian, the spy agency is able to collect and destroy nearly 200 million global texts every day. It is code named dish fire and comes from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. This comes hours before president obama is set to reveal his plan to reform the nsa. I think there is a real question about whether or not we ought to have a government that is collecting, literally billions of pieces of data every single day about the communications in which we engage, and the online activities that we do not just here in the United States but around the world. That is describing surveillance. And all of the real reform means are we going to dismantle this machinery that has been constructed in the dark of 9 11 to basically watch that everything everybody in the world is doing, or do we want a more sensible Surveillance System where the government only watches those whom they have evidence to believe they are engaged in wrongdoing such as terrorism. You can watch greenwalds interview on the stream tomorrow. President obama today launched a new initiative to try to make College Education more affordable. Tripled