derrick jeter says this season will be his last. well tonight, historic winter weather gripping the eastern half of the us. 100 million people, from the gulf coast to the new england states are at risk. crippling ice has knocked out power for hundreds of thousands. in atlanta roads were closed and most people stayed home. streets virtually empty. a different story in north carolina, roads were backed up around raleigh and charlotte. we have reporters along this storm path, erica, obviously many drivers spent hours on the roads, right? >> they sure did. it's been slowing and sleeting all afternoon in charlotte. the real issue is ice. those roads were slick out there. cars were stuck along our major highways earlier this afternoon. fortunately that's been cleared now there's cars stuck along the rah-rah leraleigh highways. that ice could settle on there and bring those power lines down. more coming in about power outages but we are hearing over a half million throughout southeast. officials have told people to stay home tomorrow,unc duke game has also been postponed due to the bad weather. >> robert, the dire warnings seem to work this time, right? >> indeed, john. absolutely. two weeks ago, it was traffic gridlock on the roads of atlanta. the weather service issued warnings, no one listened including the governor and the mayor. but this time around they took all the precautions they could. and no one has been on the roads today. over 6 million people in the metro area of atlanta have listened, and they have been hunkering down as the storm has been pelting this area since about 3:00 a.m. we've had rain, sleet, and snow, and all over again, with temperatures dipping all over the place. you see this road here? this is the issue overnight, john. the sleet that will turn into ice on the roads here. that is the big problem in the atlanta area. there are 8,000 electrical workers, in the state of georgia, those are new numbers that just came out, those guys have come in from surrounding states. they're in staging areas. they are currently in the field right now. repairing power lines that are down. the big pine trees here in georgia, many of them fearful of them tipping over and going onto those lines and more power expected to go out throughout the night. as the governor said earlier we are only in half time. keep hunkering down. john. >> this is a different storm than the last one a few weeks ago, right? >> it sure is. the few weeks ago, the storm only dumped about two inches of snow. it was very quick. it was just a few hours. this is such a huge swath. this is a couple of days coming in. almost like a hurricane, john. we know it's dmomg and it lasts -- coming in and we know it lasts for a day or two and ticks down the area, continues to lay down precipitation all across the state. the storm ticking up into washington and eventually new york, this massive, huge swath of a storm, winter ice storm, that is hitting the entire northeast, and southeast. john. >> all right robert thanks very much. now john terret is standing by in the nation's capital and shows us the impact it has on transportation. john. >> good evening, john from washington, d.c, the famous union station, amtrak hub. amtrak says none of its trains will head southeast, and the northeast corridor which is the businessest part of the service, they are running restricted. new jersey transit, long island metro? are following by the hour. the number of flights that have already been cancelled. according to flightaware.com, 3700 flights have already been cancelled and that will have a massive knock-on effect thursday, friday and into the weekend with delays at airports as they get the planes back into place and the airlines struggle to get back onto schedule. in washington, d.c, as emergency has been declared, anyone who is parked in an entrance or exit point, will have their vehicle towed overnight. there is a 75% chance the federal government will be closed tomorrow. >> for now john it looks like the cars are moving behind you right? >> at the moment the cars are moving. the snow began about 60 minutes ago here but the feeling is that this is going to be very big in washington, d.c. they rolled back the snowfall inches total a little bit somewhere between 9 and 2 inches. this is the nation's capital there is a lot of focus on this city and the last time there was a storm of this magnitude that passed through here the city was shut down for six days, john. >> and kevin voa is here to tell d kevin corriveau is here to tell us about the track of the storm. kevin. >> this is what it looked like 24 hours ago. let's put it into motion and stop it right now. you can see atlanta is still in the ice, snow all around. you can see the large swath of snow that goes all the way up to where john terret is in washington, d.c. i want to show you what we expect to see over the next couple of hours with the track of the storm. right now 8:00 p.m. we do have the ice down here. this is a forecast model. let's put this into motion. what we expect to have, around 2:00 a.m., finally georgia starts to clear out but you see the ice continues across the carolinas. they are already experiencing a lot of problems. it is going to be an issue all the way through the morning. by about 2012:00 noon you can see -- about 12:00 noon you can see the icing, rain sleet and snow as well. long island is going to be rain but you can see the icing line, right there going up just about i-95. right one more time intro motion, overnight hours into friday morning things begin to clear out put the temperatures behind this frontal system are going to be quite cool. so anything that fell on the ground is going to really stay there. also, we have another problem, john. i want to show you and take you down here towards parts of florida. we are going to be seeing, let me go to that map really quickly. we have severe storm watches believe it or not down here towards florida all associated with that same system. they are expecting to see wind, 70 mile-per-hour, going through parts of fort lauderdale, as well as miami, a lot of aspects to this storm. >> kevin corriveau, thank you. a direct of north carolina who was stick in this storm, cara welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> tell me how tough it was for you to get back home. >> it was kind of a nightmare. i definitely have never experienced anything like this in north carolina. i left work about 1:00. and pretty much as soon as i got on the road, i knew it was going to be an issue. everything was in a deadlock. and after about three and a half hours, i finally made it the six miles back to my house. so it was hard. >> all right. so tell us what you saw out on the road. >> surprisingly, i didn't see any collisions. one of the main roads in raleigh was closed. there's a small hill on it and i mean it was just covered in ice. you couldn't get up the hill. so although i didn't see any accidents, i mean there were just people sliding, sitting, i saw a lot of people abandoning their cars and walking. unfortunately, i didn't have a coat, so i decided to brave it. >> but didn't you hear there was a storm coming? >> i heard there was a storm coming. but i don't know. i guess i -- i guess i didn't learn a lesson from atlanta because i didn't think it was going to be that bad. >> i was going to say, didn't you see the pictures from atlanta that looked so bad for ice and snow where people couldn't get home for 24 hours at a time? >> i did see that. you would think since it was so recent that would have stuck with me. i thought when i left work so early, i would make it home okay, unfortunately that wasn't the case. >> cara have you seen anything like that in north carolina especially in raleigh? >> in 2008, we had a big ice storm but i lived closer to the coast so it wasn't that bad. i definitely have never seen anything like that, which is why i think i wasn't as prepared. people up north are looking at us like we don't know what we're doing but -- >> no, but maybe it's a good idea to stay inside tomorrow, it looks like. >> absolutely. >> cara, take care. joining us on the phone also is the deputy secretary of communications from the north carolina department of communications. mike saf charbonneau. good evening. >> thank you for having me. >> what are the major problems you had today? >> we're glad that cara is home safely. to remind folks, this is why people need to stay home unless they absolutely have to be on the roadways. what we saw is really throughout our entire state all 100 counties have been touched by winter weather one way or the other. heavy snow to snow and ice. here in raleigh where cara was calling from, we have seen a tremendous amount of though that started to come in around you lunch time. and so our crews have been out for the last several days preparing for the storm. putting the salt-brine mix down on the roadways to try help some, warning people to stay off if they could, warning our crews -- >> i want to stop you there mike. people didn't listen to you right? >> but for the most part people did -- >> but from atlanta people got off the road but when i look at the pictures from north carolina to me it looks like a lot of people didn't believe it was going to be that bad. >> sure. well our major school systems and a lot of large businesses did close in advance of the storm. they did hear that. we had some residents that got on the road. obviously as cars are driving over that, it is compacting and getting harder for our crews to get out there when the cars are out there, so we had some close spots -- >> are people still stranded? >> we have people making their way home. but traffic in some places is still moving. but the governor actually brought in the national guard, called them in under a state of emergency. right now they are patrolling the roadways. if there's anybody stranded, can't get off the road, they are there to help. but what we're hearing is the accidents are getting cleared, our crews are out there and we anticipate even though it might take people a lot longer to get home in some areas we will get them home safely. >> i know this is a busy night, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. >> thank you. >> all of this snow and ice around the country is putting a damper on the economy. as the temperatures heat up many businesses are waiting for sales to do the same. randall pinkston reports. travel disruptions, closed stores schools and government offices. more than inconvenient, the rough weather is costing consumers and businesses although economists can't yet say how much. charles prosser of the federal reserve says winter weather has continued to be disruptive and that is making it difficult to assess underlying economic trends. he suspects it will be another couple of months before we have a better read on the economy. but some trends are already apparent. in the areas hit worse, construction and the jobs that come with it are frozen. airlines forced to cancel thousands of flights have lost ticket revenues. automobile dealers say their sluggish returns were caused by the weather. in the midwest where fridge it temperatures are boosting the use of propane, the federal energy administration estimates the cost of fuel is 39% higher than a year ago. propane prices are also edging higher in the northeast by 14%. across the nation natural gas users are also feeling the pinch with prices 4% higher than last year. retailers are also blaming the weather for sluggish sales because heavy snowfall and treacherous roads are not exactly conducive to shopping. but a form he chief economist of the u.s. department of labor predicts the weather will do no long term harm to the economy. >> individually, there are problems, i don't mean to minimize the problems of these individuals. but if we look at total economic growth, a storm, for example, causes areas to spend more on snow removal and ice removal. so actually, there's increased spending. >> so for those taking a hit now, that means waiting out the storms. and hoping things heat up in the months ahead. randall pinkston al jazeera new york. >> and the united states is not the only place dealing with weather problems. the united kingdom, still under water after two weeks of severe flooding. now authorities have issued a high risk warning for northeast england and wales. ramping up following criticism of a sluggish response, the military says 2,000 soldiers are available if needed. up next, getting a raise. federal workers getting a hike to minimum wage, private employers urged to do the same. same sex marriage. and gone in 60 seconds. eight rare corvette swallowed by a sinkhole! >> fault lines, hard hitting... >> they're blocking the door... >> ground breaking... >> we have to get out of here. >> truth seeking... al jazeera america's breakthrough instigative documentary series. over a year after the bengazi attacks, chaos in the streets... unspeakable horrors... >> this is a crime against humanity >> is libya unraveling? >> there's coffin after coffin being carried into the cemetery. >> fault lines libya: state of insecurity only on al jazeera america >> federal contractors who earn the minimum wage will get a raise next year. president obama signed an executive order today increasing their minimum wage from 7.75 to $10.10. the president had a message for congress as well, white house correspondent mike viqueria explains. >> president obama took to the east room to follow on a promise he made in the state of the union two weeks ago. to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers. it doesn't go into effect until the beginning of next year, january 15th and those working under new contracts and the white house isn't saying how many workers are going to be affected by this. relatively marginal, perhaps a few hundred thousand. but it's part of the president's campaign to get congress off the mark to support a bill now in the senate and going absolutely nowhere in either the are senate or the house, to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10. >> let's get that done, raising the federal minimum wage to 10.10, its effect would lift wages for about 28 million americans. it would lift millions of americans out of poverty immediately. >> we've heard the president say it many times. he has a pen. he has a phone. this is going to be the year of action. he is going to go around congress, the executive order all part of that program. but if he is going to get significant things to help people across the board, to extend those long term unemployment benefits he's going to need congress. at this point it doesn't appear that either of those initiatives are going anywhere. back to you. >> millions of americans still stuck at $7 an hour. richelle carey is here with more. richelle. >> exactly. this executive order does nothing for so many low income workers or those fast food workers. what that breaks down to is an annual salary of $14,500. the federal poverty level for a family of two is $15,130. that is why the president is urging congress to increase the minimum wage for all americans. right now 20 states in the country pay $7.25. 21 states plus d.c. pay above the minimum wage. washington state pace the highest at $9.32 an hour. there are four states with a minimum wage below 7.25 and five states that don't have any minimum wage requirement. the white house estimates 28 million people would be positively affected if the federal minimum wage was boosted to 10.10 including four to six million married people with children, 12.4 million single people without children and 3 to 4 million people under the age of 18. but raising the federal minimum wage, and mike said this, will not happen with an executive order. that is up to congress and that is what the president has basically calling out congress trying to publicly urge them to do this. >> and it hasn't happened yet. >> no. >> all right richelle thank you. richard aco ascow is a senior huffington post writer. welcome richard. >> my pleasure. >> raising the minimum wage is good for the economy, good for the worker, whether or not it creates or causes a loss in jobs? >> well, i think evidence is pretty compelling on this and pretty clear. first of all there is no evidence that raising the minimum wage increases unemployment in any way and we have the experience of other countries and the experience of our own history. you know between 1938 and 1968 the minimum wage increased not just with inflation but with increases in productivity and yet in 1968, when the minimum wage in real dollars was much higher that happen it is today, unemployment was much lower. about half of what it is today. and that's just on the potential records. the real numbers were even better. so i don't think that raising the minimum wage kills jobs. i think the evidence is opposite. people earn more, they spend more, they contribute to the economy and the middle class grows, the economy grows, it's a good thing to do. >> so corporations who say you're going okill jobs if you raise -- to kill jobs if you raise the minimum wage they're just wrong. >> they just don't. >> we are lag far behind much of the developed countries so there again is another measurement, we're not doing well at all. >> all right, let me say, a new berkeley study showing growing disparity among what we term the top 1% could you talk to me about the widening gap and the impact it is having on our economy? >> well, look. this is when people talk about inequality this is what they should be talking about. even among the 1% there's inequality. if you're making 99% of the national -- you know in the top 99%, you may be a doctor, a lawyer, somebody like that, making a couple hundred, 300, 400,000 a year. but even among the 1%-ers you are barely denting the dispas. -- surface. a person at the top might be making 6 million or more, up and up and up, and that's a result of more financialization, as hedge fund brokers take a larger share of the economy, the upward transfer of wealth while the minimum wage and the middle class stagnate and that's what's suffocating economic growth to a larger extent. >> you say it won't cause job losses but won't it cause an increase in the cost of products. >> it may, for example but many minimum wage workers work at mcdonald's and similar fast food restaurants. studies show the impact on let's say a happy meal or another meal at a fast food restaurant would be for most people readily affordable. but remember, most middle class workers would see some ripple effect that would offset the change in the cost of products. >> richard ascow, thanks very much.. >> you bet. >> on the senate stopped two republicans went against tea party members wishes by voting to end the debate and approve the bill. the measure extends the government's borrowing authority for another 13 months. that legislation now heads to the president's desk. in kentucky, a federal judge today struck down part of the state's ban on same-sex marriage. the state must now recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries. the ruling did not deal with whether kentucky should perform same-sex marriages. that question was not included in the lawsuit. in texas a similar ban is being challenged in federal court. two same-sex couples have asked a judge to temporarily lift the ban. so far 17 states recognize same-sex marriage. coming up, former new orleans mayor ray nagin could be spending years in prison. plus life saver or not? a new study adds to the imution confusion over mammograms. and derek jeter announces his retirement. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. busy night tonight, lot to cover, including, guilty. the former mayor of new orleans, convicted on corruption charges. also swallowed up, eight rare corvettes, swallowed by a sinkhole. and derek jeter, says this is the lace season for him with the yankees. richelle. >> making its way north, talk about north carolina, talk about this, leaf snow started falling this -- heavy snow started falling this morning, prompting the governor to call a state of emergency. point a to point b. officials warned residents to stay off the roads. you can see in the video, they did not. some did but many ignored it and people just ended up abandoning their cars. the storm left a coating of thick ice further south tearing down trees and power lines and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. travel there is also dangerous. officials prepared in advance, warning drivers to stay off the roads to avoid a repeat of what happened in january which paralyzed atlanta, according to the flight tracking website flightstat.com, more than 4,000 flights have already been cancelled today. the hardest-hit today were atlanta and charlotte and those are two airline hubs that account for more than half the country's cancellations. and several airlines have already started cancelling for tomorrow as well. so this is going to be a backup for a few days to come john. >> i suspect there will be a lot of airport airlines will determining whether they will have flights tomorrow as well. richelle thank you. people digging out from these winter storms are sick of it. "real money"'s ali velshi is here. >> weaker holiday sales to disappointing job numbers, in all it's costing the country billions of dollars, in air travel alone an estimated 30 million fliers suffered from flight delays in january? i was one of them, costing, 2 and a half billion in productivity and extra expenses. airlines are estimated to have lost up to $150 million. consumer spending is being pinched. everything from valleys to cars and clothes -- from sales to cars and clothes. citigroup says this could all take more than a percentage point off of gdp in the first months of 2014. weather problems of a different kind are disrupting the west. california is experiencing a multiple year drought that has reached historic proportion. the san francisco bay area has received only a quarter of the rain that it normally gets this time of year. southern california has got a lot less. the snow pack in the western mountains is so low that ski resorts as far north as oregon and washington state haven't opened for business this season. so the hope that some sort of weather related losses can be recovered. march is going to be key especially for the housing industry. citigroup says if march is dry and mild a lot of that pent-up demand that was frozen could thaw, spark new spending on homes cars and other new products, eating out at restaurants which has seen a dip. but at this point trying to forecast spending is as easy as forecasting the weather in march, john. >> you can catch "real money," with ali velshi every day at 7. john. a reaction from former mayor nagin, that is, almost like he knew what was coming as the jury foreman rattled off the 21 counts, said guilty after every one but one of those counts. ray nagin guilty of 20 of 21 charges of corruption. his reaction in front of media after he left the courthouse was simply i maintain my innocence and his attorney simply said, we did the best that we could. a very confusing sort of trial for a lot of people. first, in the fact that ray nagin did not take a deal with prosecutors he did, instead, decide to go to trial in the first place. the second is that he took the stand in his own defense. and prosecutors had a whole lot of evidence against him. six other people have been charged or have been convicted or pled guilty in relation to nagin's case. so he had some idea of what was coming. but today was doomsday for him, john. >> ben lemoin in new york city, ben. thank you. a law aimed at stopping illegal immigrants from renting. the rule has the community deeply divided. paul beban has that story. >> fremont, nebraska is the sort of agricultural town you see all over the american midwest. this is a conservative community with a couple of commercial strips and a sleepy downtown. but as voters went to the polls on a chilly tuesday, mowtions es here were running high. jennifer bigsby voted yes. >> it pitted friend against friend, neighbor depend neighbor. you'll see vote no sign next to vote yes sign. >> fremont welcomes immigrants as long as they are in the u.s. legally he says. >> ttys word illegal. >> undocumented immigrants are driving up the cost of education, health care and law enforcement here in fremont ll city leaders dispute that claim. but what is clear, is that the number of latinos have soared to more than 3,000 in 2010. they are mostly here for jobs in meat packing plants like this one and that, some say, is the real source of the debate here in fremont. some like reverend scott jensen say latinos make an easy target. for a host of fremont's ills such as poverty. >> is the latino community becoming a scapegoat? i certainly think a case could be made for that. >> juan voted yes to repeal the law. he's been a citizen since 1998. >> this place is racist. you can feel it, you can sense, you know. ♪ ♪ >> valaria marquez, a preschool aid and aspiring mayo mariachi singer. >> a lot of people are scared that we're taking over. >> last night the fears of people like valaria who wanted to overturn the law were realize as they were -- realized as 60% of fremont voted to uphold it. this fight is far from over people say. they are going to push the city council to implement and enforce the law as soon as possible. they also say they are considering starting a recall effort against the city council. on the other side, the critics say the town is going to learn the hard way, how bad this is going to be for the town as businesses and families start to look elsewhere. the american civil liberties union say they are going to watch for implementation of this law to make sure it does not violate federal fair housing rules. >> paul beban thank you. people by the thousands are still leaving the syrian town of homs. it's part of a u.n. brokered deal between the government and the opposition leaders. food is beginning to reach hungry mouths. matt hollingsworth, we spoke to him in tonight's first person report. >> tonight we managed to take in 190 food rations, family rations, it is four trailer-loads of food about 12 and a half tons of food into the old city. we also managed to get in some medical supplies and we supported the obstruction, the evacuation of 217 more people from the old city of homs. what we're seeing is everybody is leaving now. a lot of people, a lot of men that do fall into that 15 to 55-year-old category want to leave because the situation is absolutely disastrous. it was a beautiful center, with beautiful churches and mosques and history. it is now in ruins. there is not a building that stands erect. everything is falling apart and the way that people are living is quite shocking to even the most seasoned aid worker. and you know, people living off grass and roots, and a man told me today that he's been putting out snares to catch a cat, in order to feed his children with some kind of protein. really quite phenomenal how difficult and destitute people have been. and following what has been a 600 day siege. everybody is physically and mentally exhausted. you know to live through not just days of bombardment but hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of days of bombardment. and violence and fighting. and you know, just -- it takes its toll on everybody. >> let's head to washington, d.c. now, joie chen standing by to tell us what's coming up on "america tonight" at the top of the hour. >> we'll follow up with the weather and we'll talk about weather extremes, are they our new normal? also look ahead to this friday many which is are valentine's day, one million men and women who will gather to dance for a movement. called one million rising. one in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime and the project's aim is to bring attention and answers to the crisis to save more women and more girls. it's a brain child of famed play right eve ensler, from the vagina monolog. >> the energy of dancing it's electric and it's contagious and it's beginning to create a kind of world energy. >> eve ensler on 1 billion rising at the top of the hour on "america tonight," john. for decades doctors have urged women to get mammograms. for years the recommendation has been in doubt. now a new study says the cancer screenings may not be saving lives. more on that. >> these are the largest studies, women between 40 and 59 over the course of 25 years. the findings are sure to renew the debate and the confusion over the efficacy of mammograms. published in the british medical journal, found that the results were about the same for those who got ma'am grans an mammograo not. 500 died, compared to those who did not have the screening and still were diagnosed with cancer, through manual exams, 505 died. additionally, it found women who got mammograms were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, which on the surface, seemed like a good thing, but that could lead to the over diagnosis of cancer. another way to think of it, one out of 424 women who were screened received treatment that was deemed unnecessary. based on the study's findings the lead author dr. anthony miller set women shouldn't get mammograms as part of their annual preventive care. >> there is no benefit in an era where we have modern treatment for breast cancer. adjutant chemotherapy to use mammography. >> he says the machines are unable to determine whether the cancer is slow growing or may be unharmful if left untreated. he believes mammograms should only be used as a tool after breast cancer has been detected. the mammogram debate has been going on for a number of years after a don't panel recommended that most women under 50 could skip the screening. according to the situation here, 60% have had a mammogram in the last two years. earlier i spoke with the american cancer society, they continue to recommend women 40 and over have mammograms every year and should continue to do so as long as they remain in good health. they are currently in the review process. they will take this study among others into account and may update their guidelines later this year. >> all right, jennifer thank you. the upcoming baseball season will be derek jeter's farewell tour. jessica taff is here with some sad news. a lot of new yorkers hate to see this. >> unlike this, you have the brebrett favres. don't expect derek jeter to change his mind either. he is 100% sure his decision is final. he last made that announcement final, the 39-year-old's career beginning in 1996 where he made an immediate impact winning a world series ring and rookie of the year honors in 19 seasons in pin stripes jeter would win four more world series rings and the only yankee to reach the 4,000 hit mark. joe girardi had this to say about the person, stating "derek jeter has been a great representative of what the yankees have stood for, for years. he has been a team player that only cared about winning, and he has been a fine person on and off the field. it has been a real pleasure to manage him and play alongside him." jeter, one of the cower 4, the yankees won 14 of 15 playoff series and for this, jack o'connell secretary treasure of the baseball writers association of america. jack thank you first for joining us. let's just talk about this announcement ve via facebook, nonetheless. how big a surprise was this? >> it was a huge surprise. i happened to be at yankees stadium, and we were having a staff meeting and just before the meeting broke up someone looked on his phone and said, derek jeter announced this was his last season. this was news to the rank and file at the stadium caused quite a buzz over there today. >> that is certainly telling. we could get more to that but let's talk about a rarity this guy is. 20 seasons with just one team. are we going to ever see something like that again? >> it's interesting, jessica. this is the fourth yankees career player to retire in the last six as soon as. marian ah rivera, derek jeter did a full 20 years with the yankees. robinson cano, bob gibson ended up going to anaheim. i think it's going to be quite a while before we see somebody put in two decades with the same uniform on. >> the steroid era, everybody has a cell phone, social media, everything going on. jeter still managed to stay out of the headlines. how did he manage to do it? >> it says a lot about the family he came from. my good fortunate, meeting his parents and his sister. a very close knit group. it was very important that jeter protected that name. it is always what he wanted to be was play shortstop for the yankees and i think he took that seriously. he knew when to leave a place if things looked like it was going oget out of hand and it's just remarkable when you think two decades in this town with all the things that could happen to a celebrity, celebrity athlete. that he has somehow gotten dust-free through this career. >> absolutely. thank you so much, jack o'connell comfortable for joining us and it's certainly -- for joining us and it's, with jeter being this year, everything is more expensive. $eigh$803 is the average price r what hi, ticket price for what s final season will be. next up, brain drain, france's president looking for a little high tech help in silicon valley. and take a look, a group of rare corvettes literally swallowed up by a sinkhole! >> well, things about to improve here across the southeast. we're talking about atlanta specifically. many states though talking about the carolinas are not going to be improving any time soon. here is the rain. here is the ice as well as the snow. we think by about 11:00 tonight atlanta you're going to start to clear out and finally get a break. we're also watching a development down near florida, notice this line of thunderstorms coming in. that is severe weather, pushing through fort lauderdale and miami and may believe it or not push in tornadoes. here is the snow event going on, this is going to push through. highs, 32° in atlanta. we're not going to get much in terms of melting across that area. up towards charlotte dealing with major icing going on, up to an inch of ice, they're going to see about 30° as well. atlanta, things will get better believe me. thursday, friday, saturday, those temperatures warming up and you are going to be in the clear at least for the next couple of days. up here to the northwest though major story here. we are seeing wave after wave coming in off the pacific, bringing rain and snow. this is causing lots of problems in terms of mudslides and landslides, on that west coast. news is coming up right now. >> the president of france got out of washington before the snow storm. he's in silicon valley tonight. the bay area is home to 60,000 french residents, one of the largest population he outside of paris and many are searching for business opportunities. lisa bernard reports. >> carlos diaz left paris for san francisco, his high tech company. >> you say that your friends or your family, everybody look at you like you're crazy. >> so he and about 400 other french entrepreneurs have set up shop in the bay area. >> nobody in france really wants to change the world. >> french president francois hollande is seeing if he can adjust that attitude. he's the first french president in 30 years to come take a look at the innovation and technology in the san francisco bay area. on president hollande's itinerary a reception at the san francisco city hall and seeing what is attracting french entrepreneurs to come here and learn how to build a tech presence back in france. president hollande has plans to meet with elon musk, the president of tesla, and with officials in google. he wants the french government to make it easier for businesses to expand and thrive. but there are other issues. u.s. tech companies are routinely under the microscope of european regulators, and the 40% french tax on technology could be in jeopardy. the executive of the chamber of commerce says it's not easy for french entrepreneurs to set up shop in silicon valley. interyou need to set up, operating is particularly deceptive. >> the french president has plans to build a tech hup outside of paris. >> -- hub outside of paris. >> a digital threat, we see that as an opportunity here. >> symbolically hollande's visit to silicon valley is a chance for tech companies to thrive. >> they are rare and historic and you would think you would be well protected in kentucky's national corvette museum. but check out this security footage. a giant sinkhole, suddenly swallows up these pricey vehicles. no one was in the museum at the time. there's science behind those sinkholes. our science and technology expert jake ward explains. >> it's tempting to think of the earth as solid ground but it's not. it's made up of carst landscapes, an area where caves and tunnels are underground. in kentucky, more than haft of the state sits on layer of limestone. rainwater carries a bit of limestone, allowing the caves to form, eventually these hole low spaces cannot support the size of a building and that's when a sinkhole develops and disaster strikes. but human conditions can create sinkholes. we can create sinkholes by accident. when underground plumbing or sewer systems burst, they often leave hollow space under the asphalt, that eventually gives way. that was the case of a 2012 incident in china, the pavement gave way underneat a woman walking down the street. or mining, too, 2012 collapse in louisiana. mining at an underground salt mine seems to be the culprit. this covered 24 acres and was 750 feet deep. we expect a certain reliability from the earth but it turns out for the ground to be truly solid it has to be that way far deeper into the earth than we probably realize. >> jake ward in san francisco tonight. for us, coming up, the trouble a doctor face he after operating on patients without proper training. that much more at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacific. and here is an image that caught our attention. our freeze frame is over southern israel. a flock of starlings, flying in a heart shape precision. their synchronized can make stunning black clouds like this one. the headlines are next. >> stories that have impact... that make a difference... that open your world... >> this is what we do... >> america tonight next only on al jazeera america >> every sunday night, al jazeera america presents... award winning films telling stories... >> she doesn't wanna come as someone who was manipulative. >> revealing secrets... >> information became our most powerful weapon... >> taking chances... >> everyone that was involved in the clandestant movement, had a code name. >> each week, a new eye opening experience. >> now they're going to go to jail... >> al jazeera america presents... remarkable documentaries real reporting that brings you the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. here are tonight's top stories. hundreds of thousands of people in the southeast are spending tonight in the cold in the dark. the winter storm has left trees and power lines coated with ice in several southern states. officials are telling residents to stay off the roads. at least 11 deaths are blamed on the storm. the wicked weather forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights. atlanta and charlotte account for more than half of the 4,000 cancellations today. federal contractors who earn the minimum wage will be getting a raise next year. the president signed an executive order today increasing their hourly wage by nearly $3 from 7.25 to $10.10. the raise doesn't take effect until january 1st, 2015. a jury has found former new orleans mayor ray nagin the guilty of 20 corruption charges. kick backs in exchange for city contracts in his time in office. he was the first in new orleans history to be convicted. derek jeter will retire at the end of this season. his are injury prone 2013 season led him to want to retire. you can get the latest on aljazeera.com. the flooding, t drought rigt now. extreme weather of every kind, and why all of this could be our new normal. >> the next 48 hours are going to be very tough here in the carolinas. >> extreme weather has become all too common and all too frequent. >> from upstart reformer to a raft of corruption convictions even in a city well known for political implosions, the

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