unprecedented exposure to senate races. that's it, we're on facebook and twitter @ajconsiderthis and you can tweet me @amora.tv. we'll see you next time. ♪ hi, everyone. this is "al jazeera america." i am john siegenthaler in new york. tonight, an exclusive look inside north korea. a dying wish from boxer hurricane carter comes true. plus a different kind of perk for women in the workplace. but first, our top story: >> confusion inside the cdc over why a sick nurse who treated an ebola patient was allowed to get on an airliner. the cdc admits it made a mistake. >> these protocols work. >> the president is trying to

reassure america that ebola is under control. but are u.s. hospitals really prepared? >> the things that we are supplied may not be adequate. >> the ebola crisis. our special report. >> tough new questions tonight about the government response to ebola. a second dallas nurse diagnosed with the disease arrived for treatment at emeory university hospitaln a few hours ago. we allowed the cdc allowed that nurse to board a commercial flight earlier this week, even after she reported having a slight fever. the cdc says it regrets that decision. all 132 passengers on board that flight are being urged to come forward. a few hours earlier, president obama tried to calm growing fears about how the health system is handling ebola. >> the key thing to understand about this disease is that these protocols work.

we know that because they have been used for decades now in ebola cases around the world including the cases that were treated in emory and in nebraska. so, if they are done properly, they work. >> despite the president's reainsurance tonight, developments call in to question the competency of the cdc, which has repeatedly said the situation is under control. here is director thomas frieden on september 30th. >> we are stopping it in its tracks in this country. we can do that because of two things: strong healthcare infection control that stops the spread of ebola and strong core public health functions. >> robert ray is in atlanta with the latest tonight. robert? >> reporter: john, good evening. indeed, as you reported, the latest patient, the 29-year-old nurse, was flown here from dallas this evening. she is in an isolation unit

behind me at emory university hospital where they are monitoring her health. we should find out more about her condition tomorrow morning at, at latest, tomorrow afternoon. now, on to the mishap in cleveland where the nurse was allowed to board the flight that was going from cleveland back to dallas. when i spoke with the federal official inside the cdc earlier, this evening, that federal official said they have remorse over this decision, that the decision to allow her to fly should not have occurred and that there is some confusion with inside the cdc. now, the cdc is telling those folks that were on frontier airlines that flew with the nurse, the infected nurse, to call this hotline. i called the hotline a couple of hours ago and waited an hour and finally, had to hang up. clearly, who knows how long people are having to wait. earlier today, the head of the cdc, dr. thomas frieden came out and he said this about the

flight: >> healthcare worker number 2 should not have been allowed to travel by plane or any public transport by virtue of the fact that she was in an exposed group and, although she did not report any symptoms and she did not meet the fever threshold of 100.4, she did report at that time that she took her temperature and found it to be 99.5. john, the question is, did dr. thomas frieden, the head of the cdc, the leader, know that she spoke with someone inside the cdc to say that she had a fever? did she have that information? because if he did have that information, he did not reveal that in the press conference earlier today, john. >> so she's taken on private plane now from dallas to atlanta. why was she taken to emory instead of staying in dallas?

>> they could take a third patient if someone else were to become inif he had, john. >> do we know much about the other patient that is at emory that has ebola? >> well, we haven't known a whole lot until today. >> other patient flew in from

sierra leone on september 9th. so quite some time ago. >> patient put out a press release earlier today. the patient said that he was in critical condition at some point after arriving here in atlanta and that, you know, he hopes to be out of the hospital in the coming days or weeks, that he's on his road to recovery, john. >> robert ray, thank you. now, president obama today cancelled high-profile campaign event so he could address public concerns about ebola. he has been facing growing criticism with some saying the government should have done more to prevent the virus from coming to the u.s. lisa stark is at the whitehouse. >> john, the latest revelations at the cdc, someone there gave permission for this nurse to get on that airplane is likely to increase criticism of the obama administration and its efforts to get a handle on the ebola situation in the u.s. the president did hold a nearly 2 hour meeting today with his

top team fighting ebola both here and enterabroad and he tried to reassure the american public? >> the bottom line in terms of the public, i want people to understand that the dangers of you contracting ebola, the dangers of a serious outbreak are extraordinarily low. but we are taking this very seriously at the highest levels of government. >> the president has hoarded much more aggressive action by cdc. it will set up rapid response teams to get to hospitals hopefully within 24 hours if they have a suspected ebola case to make sure that protocols are strictly followed. now, some, including speaker john boehner, are calling on the president to institute a travel ban for people coming from the affected countries to the u.s. as of now, the white house says a travel ban is not on the table. and the president is saying that it's critical for people to get in and out of the west african countries to try to fight the

epidemic there. mr. obama is saying that is key to stopping the outbreak from spreading around the world. john? >> lease a stark, thank you very much. diagnosing someone with ebola requires a lot of patience. current testing procedures can take several days, making time a crucial factor in combatting the virus. for more, let's turn to our science and technology correspondent, jake ward, who is in dallas tonight. jake? >> reporter: john, here in dallas, there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty, confusion. it is a mess, as robert suggested, and certainly, here the question on everyone's mind is: how did they not know sooner that these healthcare workers, these nurses, were infected. well, it turns out that determining, diagnosis ebola in a patient is very complicated. >> in a perfect world, anyone in close contact with a person infected with ebola would be tested in the first moments affection pose you're. but unfortunately, the virus doesn't show up that early.

the amount of virus in the body grows over time. and it doesn't reach a reliably detectible level until symptoms appear. testing peeling too early leads to missed diagnoses and false positives. so the current procedure is to monitor patients until they develop symptoms like fever or bleeding. but while we can't test earlier, we might be able to to test faster. currentlying, the test for ebola can take as long as three days to process. consider that nina pham reported her storms on friday. of her test results came back positive on sunday. >> window meant the second worker was already on a plane between the time pham's symptoms confirmed until she had ebola t could reduce the waiting time until 10 minutes. perhaps a faster test for ni nina pham could have kept her co-worker off of the plane. >> it's worth considering that this is the reason ebola becomes more contagious as the symptoms

progress. it's not just that a patient is producing more and more bodily fluids as they get sicker, but also, there is a greater level of virus in the body, why they can't detect it as early as they would like to on the front end and why you become so infectious on the back end of the disease. >> let's go back to the story about the cdc's decision to allow amber vincent to fly. is theres their decision defendable? >> it certainly doesn't seem that way. certainly by cdc's own guidelines, anyone who is exposed to the bodily fluids of an infected person and is then exhibiting any symptoms of any kind, that person should be isolated. public health officials are supposed to be called. every, you know, the jets are supposed to be scrambled under those circumstances. >> that's just with outward symptoms. at that point, you then bring in and isolate the patient. you test them to see whether they are, in fact, infected and go from there. so, certainly just from having

reported a fever and having been as directly in touch with thomas duncan as this nurse was, that should have been the deal right there. >> should have just closed the case, but at this point, the cdc was, it seems, going along the lines of a 100.4 fever as the threshold at which they decided that she would be too infectious to fly and i guess just decided this was okay, but that kind of i am improvisation won't be going forward. >> an infectious disease specialist, i asked him about the apparent communication problems between local hospitals and the federal government, especially the cdc. here is what he had to say. >> this is a virus that is unforgiving. we can't afford to make any mistakes with this. not from isolation, not from missing diagnosis. not from allowing people to travel when they shouldn't be traveling. we can't allow this virus to

spread. and it's very low-tech things we need to do in order to stop it, but it seems to be slipping away with these missteps that have occurred. >> what struck you first of all about what you heard about cdc saying, on the one hand, the nurse early today, the head of the cdc said the nurse shouldn't have gotten on a plane and come back from cleveland and then said, the cdc tonight is c confirming to "al jazeera america" that the cdc actually told her to get back on the plane? >> it doesn't make sense to me. if this patient was under self-monitoring because she had been in contact with an ebola patient and measuring her temperature, those people vushl to have permission to travel and they are not supposed to necessarily travel on commercial flights. they are supposed to go only by private -- private means if even allowed to do that. so that strikes me as odd. then the other thing s you know, a fever, you have to look at it. it's sglouft a static measurement. a fever might be at 98.61 minute

and 99.something and meet the threshold. so sticking hard and fast to thresholds, it's easy easy for protocols to be developed that way but you have to look at at a time in the context is it a fever striking and going to be above the threshold? it's not a static thing. it's a dynamic measurement. >> nurses came forward and complained they hadn't been trained properly, didn't have the right protocols, the right equipment. let's listen to the director of the cdc talk a little more about what happened in dallas. >> we see a lot of variability in the use of personal protective equipment, and when our team arrived the same day the patient was diagnosed, we noted, for example, that some healthcare workers were putting on three or four layers of protective equipment in the belief that this would be more protective. >> it seems that the more the cdc director speaks, the worse it gets. how can the government turn this

around and win back the trust of the american people? >> we can win this battle against obama and it's going to require taking -- first of all, dealing with the outbreak in west africa and being honest with the american people about what we do and what we don't know about this virus. we still don't understand how these two individuals were infected. we still don't know why this one individual traveled. we are getting -- we have to do a real root-cause analysis to figure out what went wrong with these patients, with this parent in texas because that's the first thing that's causing a credibility problem because it's unclear what actually happened in this story's shift that. legitimate matly worries a lot of americans because you want to have a strong, confident voice telling you what things are. and it makes it hard to -- makes it hard to understand what's going on if you are not getting a straight -- the straight answer and the answer is changing. >> i mean people were worried about this. we had you on to talk about it. we had you on several times to talk about what's true and what's not true. what's fact and what's fiction.

but when people are scared, they often believe some of the fiction. you know, you get back to the issue of communication. it's one thing to properly train and protect the nurses there, but when cdc isn't telling either the truth or telling the wrong version of the

breaks down? fifteen days ago, ebola arrives in the u.s. thomas eric duncan is the first case diagnosed in america. he dies eight days later. this past saturday, american airports start screening passengers from west africa. the next day, the cdc confirms an american nurse who treated did you knowcan is infected. days later, another nurse would be diagnosed. today, the virus is still raging out of control. nearly 4500 people have died in 11 months after ebola first and in guinea. >> that's jonathan betz. next, ebola's impact on the airlines. new concerns about a patient who flew from cleveland to dallas despite having a low-grade fever, plus north korea's kim jong un is back in the public after after a brief disappearance. we will talk to our reporter who

just returned from jung yang.

as we reported, amber vincent, the second american nurse to contract the ebola virus arrived in atlanta tonight. she is being treated at emmory

university hospital. she was flown on a private jet. it's her trip on a commercial airline flight earlier in the week that has many people concerned. paul beban is here with that part of the story. >> this latest case of ebola infection is not entirely unexpected. federal health officials have warned more infections were possible among the hospital staff who treated thomas eric duncan in dallas. for the first time what this new case is doing is spreading real concerns far beyond dallas. >> it was after 6:00 a.m. wednesday morning that officials in cleveland say they first heard that the ebola outbreak had arrived in their town on a flight from dallas. >> today, we were notified by frontier airlines and cdc that an airplane at hopkins trans aparted person now diagnosed with ebola. >> amber vincent flew into cleveland from dallas last wednesday then returned to dallas monday night. the next day, tuesday, she was

diagnosed with ebola. according to the website, flight aware.com after transporting vincent back to dallas, the plane flew at least 5 more times between atlanta, fort lauderdale, cleveland and dallas before arriving back in cleveland late tuesday sitting overnight and then finally,be being taken out of service early wednesday morning. cleveland airport officials say as soon as they knew, they moved quickly to ice the late and disinfect the plane. since this morning, the frontier aircraft, frontier airlines aircraft, has been decontaminated twice at a remote location on the airport. >> plane has since, while in about 30 minutes, that plane will be put back in to service. >> later wednesday, the plane was scheduled to fly from cleveland to atlanta, then on to denver. those flights were cancelled. not clear whether concerns over c contamination or other factors prompted the cancellations. cleveland officials say they are taking steps above and beyond

cdc guidelines to disinfect the airport. >> but this is sure to heighten the kind of concerns that prompted workers who clean airplane bathrooms and cabins at new york's laguardia airport to walk off the job last week saying not enough was being ton to protect them. >> over the weekend, travelers arriving from the hardest hit parts of west africa started to get screened for signs of ebola at new york's jfk airport and starting tomorrow, that screening's going to be expanded to four more of the country's busiest airports. officials say together, these five airports handle about 90% of the people flying to the u.s. from the ebola zone. >> some of the experts we have talked to in the past week have suggested maybe that's not the best way to spend the u.s. resources but at the same time, people are concerned. right? >> that's right. they say really this is like security theatre, much like some of the security screening that we already have in place at airports. they say the best use of our resources would be stopping the outbreak at its source in west

africa. >> paul beban, thank you. treating a patient for ebola is expensive. it costs about a thousand dollars an hour. the total bill for america's first ebola patient, thomas eric duncan, will reach about a half a million dollars. standard care includes treatments to maintain bodily fluids, replace blood, and fight infection infection. it's the isolation procedures that add up fast. >> can cost twice as much as traditional intensive care. there is the cost of protective gear, time-consuming protocol and training and last but not least, security. but that's just one portion of the enormous cost of ebola. in west africa, hardest hit by illness, food prices are skyrocketing. business owners are struggling as they explain in tonight's first person report.

>> the u.n. world food program says it's been working to address the food shortage. so far, it has sent assistance to about 1 million affected people by the outbreak in west africa. coming up next: an exclusive look inside north korea. plus, a new perk for women working in silicone valley who might be putting family on hold. also: >> this is manacota, alaska. a dry town. alcohol is illegal here what happens if alaskans approve recreational marijuana up and down city leaders can't say no to pot smokeing? we will have that just ahead.

this is "al jazeera america." i am john siegenthaler in new york. coming up: an exclusive look inside north korea while kim jong un went out of the public ice plus a dying wish from "hurricane" carter comes true six months later. converse wants to take companies to come for alledgedly ripping off it's iconic chuck taylor all

stars. >> iraqi officials say isil is gathering forces 25 miles west of baghdad in anbar professor. u.s. air strikes have ramped up as isil advanced but iraq says ground support is needed. isil is reportedly advancing for the city of kobane, too. president obama told allies that strikes against isil will keep focusing on those areas but he warned it will be a long-term campaign and retired general john allen, the u.s. special envoy on isil talked about the difficulty of forming a unified mission in syria. >> it's a wholistic sproe approach. it's not just building is the additional sforsz. they need to begin to build and work together to create a coherent political super structure within which they will ultimately have a political role to play in the outcome. >> general allen said the

coalition is working with many syrian groups but says the focus remains on iraq. ross land jordan has more. >> john, this was the first on-camera press briefing for retired general john allen in his new role as special envoy for dealing with isil. the retired general who just finished his first overseas trip working on the coalition against isil fighters said that it's not just going to be a military campaign intas going to defeat this terrorist group. it's going to try to disrupt the financing for isil, trying to deal with the ideology that isil that e spouses that is atracking foreign fighters to iraq and syria. he also said it's going to take a lot of hard work in terms of promoting political stability inside iraq, which he says is still the primary focus of the international coalition's efforts. however, the retired general said that during his talks, he heard a lot of concern about

whether people are too vulnerable to the message that isil is putting forward about trying to establish an international caliphate. he said the u.s. and others are trying to counter that message and in essence try to starve isil of perhaps most valuable resource of people willing to take up arms and die for their cause. >> north korea is one of the world's most sec risk states. when more than a month went by without any sign of the country's leader, there was a flood of speculation about his health and his hold on power. this week, state media put some of those rumors to rest with new photos of kim. al jazeera's teresa beau was reporting while all of this was going on. teresa, what's your insight into what was going on with kim? those pictures show him with a cane, and how were north korean's reap acting to his

absence? >> reporter: those i am itages of him walking with a stick came out. people were telling us they had a lot of -- they had to celebrate, that they were very happy that their leader was seen again. it's interesting because when we arrived with rumors about what was happening with him, whether he was ilor whether there was a coup going on, there were rumors that pyon yang was shut down. there were celebrations for the worker he's party of korea. people dancing on the streets and celebrating everywhere they are going to happen on the 70th anniversary ye, next year. people were celebrating. everybody seemed to be worried about what was going on. nobody ever mentioned the possibility of the coup but they were worried their leader could

be il. the day we left the country and new images and, people were relieved. it was impressive because when talking to people, they would start crying and saying how much they missed their leader. they even said they were praying so that their leader would be back soon. all of this emotion is very, very interesting in a country that seems to be completely isolated from the rest of the world. >> after you left north korea, teresa, you tweeted, it was a difficult trip but worth it. what was difficult about it, and what surprised you? >> it was different because it was a planned trip for the media. media rarely go there so it's difficult for us, t.v. crews, to be filming around, you know, everything as planned, the interviews are planned. it's difficult to go and talk to people on the streets because they want us to talk to the people they want. very, very controlled, we are told what to film and what not to film and it's difficult as a journalist, also, to put it in

perspective about what is actually going on in the country. they are very, very sensitive to criticism. at one point for example, saying we are not allowed to film this and they started screaming at me because they said, this is not true. we are allowing you to film everything you want. this is the type of exposure that journalists in other parts of the world would never get. you are supposed to be able to film except in military areas everything you want. this is not something you see. so for us professionally it was very difficult. but it was fascinating, it was so interesting. people were very nice to us. but at the same time, very wary of us because they had been told and we have been hearing for the last sixty years that they are going to be, where the country in a car we would area, all of this tension situation continues to happen every day, they fear an attack every day. so, it was fascinating as a journalist and as a person to be in a country such as that because in many

cases, it's not, you know, it's without the influence from the outside world and what's been going on the world today as we know it. >> it is fascinating. so, did you see anything during your trip to suggest that north korea's government is at all becoming more open? >> reporter: well, no. we didn't. we saw -- what we saw is in the capitol, there is lots of construction going okay, new parks, new he recreation centers. there is even, for example, equestrian centers for people to learn how to ride on horseback. horses, stallions brought from russia, for example. there is all of this new entertainment things going on. now, people have cell phones. so they are using cell phones. so we see this little things that are happening in country, but of course when we mention the possibility of reforms where we are clearly reminded by the government appointed minders or guides that are with us all the time that there is no reforms

going on the country. and, of course, politically, it's very, very difficult to expect any type of opening any time soon. there is no free press whatsoever. people basically repeat the same thing. the presidency says over and over again. so politically action i don't think there is any type of opening going on right now but there are little things that are happening communication wise, for example, but for example, went to a school and children there don't know what internet is. so you can imagine how isolated the country continues to be. >> teresa beau who got to see a lot of what people outside very rarely gets to see. teresa? >>, thank you very much. wall street had a wild day. it ended in more losses. stocks had one of the worst days in years. the dow was downing 460 points early in the day. it ended with just over 173 points. the s & p fell 15. the nas daq was down 12. analysts are blaming a growing

list of negative news that includes weak global economic reports, weak oil prices, geopolitical risks from isil and growing fears about the spread of ebola. now, to politics. this week, our focus is on one of the battleground states in the mid-term elections: alaska. the outcome there could impact the balance of pour in congress. one of the hot issues on the bal otd: whether to legalize marijuana. if the measure passes, residents in alaska could legally possess onous of pot and up to six marijuana plants. alan shoveler went to alaska's native community worried about the broad legalization of marijuana. >> reporter: john, form neil 40 years, it's been legal to have a little bit of pot and smoke a little bit of pot on your own property. the state supreme court covered all of that is covered by privacy rights in alaska. you are medical marijuana has been legal since 1998 and alaskans smoke a lot of pot, a lot more than the rest of the u.s. so the marijuana policy project

seeds fertile ground here opponents, though, worry that this could lessen their ability to control the social environment in many smaller communities. >> manakotic in what thing call "the bush" flying is the easiest way in. it's 4,000 miles from washington, d.c. where the campaign to regulate marijuana like alcohol in alaska has its roots and it's money. >> why would somebody else in the outside of alaska try to produce legalization in alaska for marijuana. i don't think that's right. >> this is a place where local control is important. a matter of health and safety. >> we are here visiting this little town like many communities in alaska. it's completely dry. no alcohol allowed. so we are here to find out what they think about the possibility of broad legalization of recreational marijuana. >> drinking takes a disproppositionat poll in the native alaskan population.

federal studies have shown alcohol related directs nooerm nine times the u.s. average. booze has been banned since the town was founded 42 years ago. it is a local option allowed under state law and used by more than 100 communities. >> alcohol destroys minds and make people do things that they shouldn't do. >> but there is not the same kind of local option built into the proposed pot law. much of the pro-marijuana campaign is built on branding it as safer than alcohol. manikotic leaders would like to make their own decisions about marijuana but legalization supporters have different ideas. >> i think alaska bens understand it's tired of this. they are tired of seeing this wasteful failed policy of proceed hinition and realize it's time for a new approach. >> have you ever been to manicotic? >> i have not. >> chris recommendpert worked in d.c. and was sent north by the project. the mpp has committed more than $700,000 to this campaign, part

after national strategy proving they can win in a staunchly red state like alaska would be a political victorye political victory for legal weed after yes, sir votes in washington. still, recommendpert calls this al grassroots effort? >> it's a little disengine with us. the mpp is running campaign. it made no secret about it? >> right but our chair is a local professor and our board is completely made up of alaskans and they provide vital input every step of the way. >> but virtually 100% funded by the mpp? >> not 100, but close to it. >> 95? >> yeah. yeah. sure. >> back in the village, in a carribou cleaning session, it is clear there is a generational split over legalization. >> what do you think the young people in this village think about legalized marijuana? >> i think they are happy about it.

>> do you think it would be a problem among the young people? >> yes. i think it would be a problem. it they will ask money, money from their parents or their uncles, aunts. >> just talked to a 19-year-old girl who said, frankly, in this village, a lot of people smoke marijuana and alaskans are much more likely than other americans to smoke regularly. teens and young adults, about 30% more likely to smoke marijuana regularly and for ages 26 and up, the numbers are even greater. >> manicotic, a tiny player in a national game that could bring big changes to the far flung villages of alaska. >> do you think they know you, that they understand maficotic? >> no. >> it the is based upon a colorado law that allows home growing and rile sales for 21 and older. oregon's nians are voting on a similar measure.

>> alison holcomb was the primary architect behind legalizing marijuana. she is the criminal justice in washington state. we are proud to have her in new york. >> thank you for having me. >> you are a mom, a lawyer, and you are the architect of the marijuana law in washington state. how did that happen? >> well, i think the secret is that for me, initiative 502, washington's law wasn't as much about marijuana as it is about our marijuana laws and how they don't work very well for our communities and families. it was about changing that and bringing marijuana under regulation. >> how that it worked in washington state so far? >> so far, it's been good. slow. our state liquor control board is the regular ltory agency, th careful in rolling out rules. it's been a slow process. other stores didn't even open until july. >> there are several ballot initiatives around the country. is this -- is this a train that's not going to stop in your opinion, or i mean there is the talk of a repeal in colorado.

>> you know, i think that what we are seeing with voters is that they are tired of the fact of what we have been doing before isn't working. it may be that they start to feel like there is some issues with the way this rolls out going forward. it's going to be bumpy. i don't think anyone is interested in going back to what we had before. >> do you think of marijuana laws in this country, do you think they failed the people? >> i do. i do. i think we have spent far too many criminal justice resources on marijuana arrests nationwide, drug arrests are the number 1 category of arrests. marijuana makes up half of those arizona. people know our criminal justice resources need to be used for violent crime, for example, and, frankly, you know, it's not really fair that people are getting problem with employment and renting houses simply because they were using marijuana instead of drinking gin for example. >> we know the marijuana policy project targeted alaska but you have oregon, washington state, alaska. >> that's right. >> why are people different in

the northwest? >> we are far away from the rest of you. so we can get away with more. >> that's true. >> i think a very libertarian state. they have already had in essence a form of legalization. you can grow a few plants at home, pods he is it at home so it's not that far of a reach to have a regulatory system. oregon is right next to washington. it's a place that's had a million marijuana law since 1998. sot voters are pretty familiar with marijuana. >> what's your sense? will these initiatives pass? >> i think it will be a little tighter. this is not a presidential election year. we have younger turnout. it could be a little bit closer vote. but i think people are looking at washington and colorado and say, william, it doesn't look like the sky is falling. let's go ahead and move in this direction. >> younger people tend to vote for these initiatives? right? >> that's right. that's right. >> it might bring some younger people out or not? >> you know, actually, history has shown us it doesn't bring young voters out as much as we

would like it to. california had prop snienings on the fwhaltd 2010 and after election polling shows at the didn't turn out in much higher numbers than normal. >> we will see. >> we will. >> thank you to. make sure you tune in on friday night for a special report, five days in alaska. it airs at 11:30 eastern and 8:30 eastern. a new york man who spent 29 years behind bars for a murder he did not committee has been released from the prison. it was a dying wish from boxer hurricane carter who was, himself, wrongly convicted of murder. kristin salumi has the story. >> reporter: the last time david mccallum and before a judge, he was just 16. he was found guilty of murder. now, at age 45, the judge admitted there had been a mistake. >> i dismiss the indictment. >> sitting beside mccallum was road e. her shown been convicted with mccallum. mccallum has spent the last

three decades. >> these two teenagers had no chance with professional interrogators. >> mccallum's case was championed by the late hurricane carter, a boxer and symbol of racial injustice who had himself been wrongfully convicted in the 1960s. but the stunning reversal came at the recommendation of the brooklyn district attorney. in less than a year since taking office, ken thompson has ov overturned 10 convictions of his pretty sessors. >> it is not just to convict but to do justice. when i walk through the doors of this office in january, i inherited a legacy of disgrace with respect to wrongful conviction cases. >> mccallum confess today stealing a car. so, did stucky. each accused the other. thomson said a review found not a shred of evidence linking either of them to the crimes. the confessions were forced. >> he was lied to, manipulated,

physically assaulted and all of those things led to him saying, i will say whatever i need to do to get out. >> tests performed by his legal team found someone else's dna on cigarettes in the stolen vehicle. >> dna evidence has helped exonerate over 300 people in the last 25 years, and it's really changed the way experts look at confessions. about a third of those people who had their convictioned overturned as a result of dna had at one point confess today the crime. >> i feel like i want to go home. after 29 years, this is a bittersweet moment because i am walking out alone. >> mccallum now plans to help others who have been wrongfully convicted. >> the system can be fixed but i think people need to pay more attention to those individuals who cry out for help. >> 100 convictions are being re-eval waited in brooklyn alone, kristin saloomey, brooklyn, new york. >> two big tech companies are

starting to offer employees an unusual benefit paying for women to freeze their egg. facebook and apple announced the perk this week. volume asking is this a benefit at all or another way of saying, you can't be a working mom and -- you could be on working woman and be a mom at the same time. rachel is a founder of change the reratio. it focuses on gender inequality. >> i think it's fantastic. i think it's a great benefit, and i think it will be a great recruiting tool frankly. >> why not spimd the money on child care? why not spend the money on -- >> they women don't need child care. they are not having children yet. >> but doesn't this say to women, look. you know, we really don't want you to have a family while you work for us? >> no. what it says to a woman -- >> to postpone it? >> what it says to a woman is you are making choices. we are going to assist and facility ta one choice.

the fact of the matter is women who want to freeze their eggs want to freeze their egds because of where they are in life. it has nothing to do with, you know, feeling like they need to pledge their singlehood to their company. it has to do with the fact that women are getting married later, they are having children later. they are having children alone. the family -- >> isn't the system -- doesn't the system force them to do that in why shouldn't they have the opportunity? if, koz were more friendly to families, and both men and women, if they did provide extensive child care, if they did provide the sort of services that women need and men need to have family lives, then wouldn't women, more women, be in the tech industry? >> well, i don't think that's really the question. >> not mutually exclusive. >> we are not talking about women who have children right now. we are talking about women who want to have children but at the point in life where they don't have -- either don't have someone to have that child with or are not ready to.

>> that's a woman's choice. and facebook and apple are offering, like, a wonderful benefit to women who are in the position to want to take advantage of it. >> let me push back on it just a little bit because some women i talk to who are in law firms or in tech companies say, you know, the companies aren't really -- they discourage you from having a family. they are really not interested in women who decide to have children and are -- and their time is divided between it you their family. >> that may be the case for some companies. but i think that facebook and apple are really making a statement here saying, we are supportive of women at all stage of their life choices. the i mean i have to say, i wish this kind of perk had been offered when i came to new york and i started working in a law firm or any of my jobs along the way. this wasn't even discussed. this was reflecting a need. this wasn't coming out of nowhe nowhere. they was reflecting a need women have articulated they. i am for it. bring it on.

>> i don't say -- i just suggest that companies could go a little bit further and freezing eggs is a great idea but they could -- but corporations, until they become family frernlingd aren't going to get women in big tech firms? >> i think this particular move will get women at the particular stage of life where freezing eggs is appealing. i think that it is a very beneficial perk, saves a lot of money up to $220,000 for two cycles. it's expensive. >> saves them a lot of money so they don't have to spend it on child care. >> it not really about that. >> i am just pushing back on you. >> i just think that it's the wrong way to look at it. i think to think of women only as baby making machines. the child care is not germane to these women at this point. what they want to do is be able to have that option in the future, and i say i am all for

it. >> it's an interesting discussion. racial, it's good to have you back. our picture of the day is coming up next, plus converse taking dozens of retailers to court. we will explain why right after the break.

converse, the 100-year-old maker of the classic all star sneaker is going to court. on tuesday, it filed 22 lawsuits against 31 companies accusing them of trademark infringement

including wal-mart, k mart and sketchers, which makes shoes similar to the converse all star and not only is converse suing for money. it's also trying to keep those other shoes off of the shelves. susan skafiti is founder of the fashion law institute, the world's first sentencer dedicated to legal issues involving the fashion industry and you founded it. it's great to have you in the studios. >> thank you for having me. >> are we talking about shoes that you might call kno knock-o? >> we are although converse would probably call them counterfits bringing that into the trademark legal realm. >> so the idea is, they don't want wal-mart to make shoes that look like theirs? >> exactly. they have created the iconic sneaker that men wear and children wear and have for almost a century. they want to keep it that way. >> in fashion, this has been going on for a long time. hasn't it? you know, in men's and women's fashion, people knock off big designers all the time.

>> that's absolutely true. and the designers don't love it. and in many places, it's illegal. in europe, it's illegal. in japan, it's illegal. in the u.s., we allow them as knock offs. >> you can make a sure that looks almost exactly like the one and just not put converse's name to and it's legal? >> most of the time. >> that's what converse is trying to change. there is an exception to that general rule that the knock-offs are legal and that is if your design is so iconic even without seeing the blue star or reading the name converse, everybody recognizes it, then you can trademark that design, itself. >> so i would assume that the other companies are going to could in and say, look. here are the reasons why it's different. let me show you. is that right? >> absolutely. they are going to say two things. they are going to say your design has been out there so long and so many people have done versions of it, you don't deserve a trademark. there is no likelihood of consumer confusion, which is the legal test and the second thing they are going to say is look at all of our differences. >> why has it taken so long for something like this to happen? >> you know what?

this special subset of trademark, trade dress law hasn't really been portsmouth until quite recently. the fashion industry is reaching for ways to try to protect itself in this era of mass production and overseas production. >> what could it mean for converse if they win? >> it could mean a huge monopoly on sneakers that look like that. for the rest of us, it could mean those companies, k mart and wal-mart and sketchers start to give you more variety. >> it could mean they can't knock them off for a much chieffchief cheaper chiropractors and they will pay more for the original converse because those only ones they can get? >> that's right. >> that's a huge benefit for converse. >> when you talk about money, i would assume if converse were to win this, you know, these other companies would have to pay a fortunate possibly. >> there is a the phonecial. if converse wins big >> if all of these other look-something like shoes are considered counterfits, absolutely. when you start to talk about all of the profits on all of those

shoes multiplied over a number of years. >> converse's parent company is nike? >> it is. >> they've got the money to go after this. are there other companies that have been thinking about doing this in the fashion world? >> just a few years ago, louie viton, the red soled shoes. >> exactly? >> he sued izzima. and he won in the sense he got to keep that trademark, now they can make mono chromatic red shoes, red on red but no one else request put red soles on anything. >> how much did those cost? >> the converse? >> no. >> 20 times as much as a converse. those are going to start at five or $600. >> and go on up to a thousand? >> at the low end. >> it's great to see you. thank you very much? >> my great pleasure. thank you. >> here is an image from kansas city, muz eerie. the kansas city royals swept the

orioles to win the american league title. the next step, world series, 29 years since they made at a time toward series. i am john siegenthaler. that's our broadcast tonight. "america tonight" is next. we will see you back here tomorrow night. ♪

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news.

>> on "america tonight": fears of the contagion spread. a nurse infected with ebola boards a commercial flight. could dozens of passengers now be at risk? did her own hospital leave her vulnerable? why ebola is spreading so rapidly and what the government is doing to stop this modern playing. also tonight, a follow-up to an "america tonight" investigation. "america tonight's" adam may first told us about a widely used stop smoking drug chantix