there was a big spike this year in police officers killed by gunfire. the data come as tensions simmer over police tactics nationwide. and the new football coach in college who asked for less than expected and is still one of the highest-paid public employees in the country. ♪ we begin tonight in southeast asia where the grim retrooifal of bodies and debris continues in the java sea. harrowing concrete proof that the flight plunged into the ocean killing everybody on board. it is not far from the spot where the plane last had contact with air traffic controllers. scott heidler reports. >> reporter: finally news of their loved ones but not the news they wanted. >> translator: we will find things belongings bodies of the passengers of the plane and we are sure everything will be brought back into our base. >> reporter: they found this debris and bodies in sector 7, one of 13 areas being searched. it was just ten kilometers from where the air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane on sunday morning. the president came here to the airport. on the way he flew over the area where the bodies and debris were discovered and then met with the grieving families. >> translator: i ask them to do a massive search and i have told them to look for the plane and as the passengers as well as the crew. i have instructed them to focus on evacuating the passengers and the crew. >> reporter: with so many indonesians on board this was a tragedy for the nation and the three days of waiting took its toll across the country as it did with the family members. tuesday's find does not bring complete closure to this tragic story. it will take some time before all bodies can be recovered and brought back to the airport. then the difficult process of identifying bodies and the months possibly years before an investigation can reveal just what brought airasia flight 8501 to the bottom of the java sea. the airasia tragedy is just the latest in a string of aircraft disasters this year. earlier two mrash a -- malaysian jet liners went down. unravelling the mystery of an aircraft crash can take years. jonathan betz has more. >> searchers still have a long hard road to ho. this plane is still missing nine months later. searchers are looking, but have no idea where it is or what happened to it. before this flight this had been the longest search for a missing modern airliner. just eight years ago the flight disappeared over indonesia with 102 on board. a fisherman spotted debris in the ocean, and it took three more weeks to find the black boxes. the airline eventually paid to retrieve them. air france light 447 puzzled searchers for a long time. they found debris in the atlantic ocean five days after the crash, but that was just the beginning. floating debris can be miles from the wreckage and it would take two more years to find most of the plane and the black boxes. then this too went down over water. would take a week to recover the black boxes and months to recover 95% of the plane. rarely do crews find everything so for airasia it will likely be months in not years before we get answers. for nine long months the passengers of flight 370 have been searching for answers. adam joins us from washington. >> yeah coming up on "america tonight" as relatives of the passengers aboard the flight start coming to terms with this tragedy, we'll hear from someone who has lived through a similar nightmare. her lifetime partner was aboard that missing malaysian airlines fight 370. i asked her about he reaction of another missing plane was very emotional. >> oh no a whole other hundreds of people with heart ache and crisis in their life that really doesn't have to be there. and the second thing is how could it happen again in this is three major airplanes in one year all coming from malaysian-owned companies, which is its own coincidence i guess, and they share a lot of similarities. >> what are your thoughts for the families right now going through this? >> um . . . there's really not much to say. i mean you can't take away the crisis of losing a loved one especially under such shocking circumstances, but even though we can't choose what happens to us, we can choose how we react, and i hope that those families will first of all stay strong. make sure they surround themselves with people that they trust, and don't allow themselves to be taken advantage of. because that has happened. unfortunately there are a lot of crazy people stockers and people trying to be opportunists on crisis. so you have to protect yourself. but i also hope they will become part of the campaign to change. >> sarah your partner has been missing for more than nine months now. you sit here and look at what is happening with the aviation industry, what do you think needs to be done in what could have saved his life? >> well there are things that had been on record as being requested changes since air france. you know i mean there had already been discussion of better quality redundancies and communication systems. longer battery life on the black boxes, stronger signals, better equipment related to the elt's, the water-sensing devices that are supposed to go off and act on begones in the case of a water crash. and these are things that have been sitting on the table for years and years and years and the industry has refused to accept them. >> it is really quite incredible how she has turned this heart break into activism. more at the top of the hour david. >> following the disappearance of these aircraft and we heard sarah talking about changes to communication systems and black boxes. is anybody talking about the desire people have for tracking systems so data goes back to air traffic controllers in real time. >> yeah absolutely. the families want that. and as sarah said this is not a new phenomenon. after air france in 2009. the french version of the ntsb make out with recommendations which called for transmission devices and after the yemeni flight went down there was a soul survivor who said he heard people still in the water that passed away before help could get there. the former head of the 234shgs tsb, said it's simply a matter of economics. >> you can see more of that interview on "america tonight" tonight. adam thanks as always. the long march to palestinian statehood stumbled today. it failed to get enough votes on the u.n. 15-member security council. >> reporter: it was a disappointing result for the palestinians who had hoped to achieve nine votes in favor of the resolution. nine votes would have given them the majority of the security council members and a symbolic victory, even though the united states would have vetoed it anyway. they did, of course vote no and samantha power say it was one-sided and undermined efforts to return to an atmosphere conducive for negotiations. she criticized the palestinians for not giving any time for negotiation or discussions, a sentiment echoed by the united kingdom. the united kingdom abstained from the vote saying they too were upset by this even though they supported much of the content of the resolution. so what is next for the palestinians? the ambassador said that the leadership would have to consider it's next steps to hold israel accountable for violations of international law that could be a reference to going to the international criminal court to attempt to take charges out against israel there, and to move the process forward in that way. >> kristin sa loumy reporting from the united nations. the pentagon said it is still assessing the results of a drone attack carried out in somali. they say no civilians are believed to have been harm in the attack. >> reporter: a senior pentagon official is confirming that the u.s. was targeting a man identified as the chief of intelligence for al-shabab, an islamist group affiliated with al-qaeda. the pentagon is not confirming his death in the drone strike but somali officials say he was killed in the attack. the pentagon statement issued yesterday said simply the u.s. military conducted an air strike in the vicinity against the al-shabab network, and said that the target was quote, a senior al-shabab leader. it's an ultra conservative islamic group that wants to one somali by its interpretation of islamic law. al-shabab remains a threat. on christmas day, al-shabab gunman attacked the main african union base in mogadishu. they said it was in retaliation for the death of al-shabab leader, who was killed in that u.s. air strike back in september. african union troops supporting somalia's army have pushed al-shabab out of major strong holds, but al-shabab fighters still carry out attacks in somalia's capitol. >> jamie thank you. up next the protests in moscow are building after the conviction of one of vladimir putin's top critics. and with security getting tighter along the u.s./mexico border we will talk to the families still willing to risk everything for the american dream. ♪ in russia today protesters took to the streets after a top kremlin critic was convicted on criminal fraud charges. aleksei navalny was later picked up after breaking his house arrest to attend the demonstration. peter sharpe reports. >> reporter: aleksei navalny arrives in court in moscow with state prosecutors calling for a ten-year term. instead he and his brother were sentenced to three and a half years. his supporters claim the trial is another attempt to curb discent in russia. and the terms will certainly remove one of the most effective opposition campaigners from the political stage. while depriving him of a long jail term that would only increase his popularity. aleksei navalny is for many the credible face of russian opposition. he has been one of the most vocal opponents of vladimir putin. but in february his political am beneficiaries came to an abrupt end when he was placed under house arrest. throughout his trial he has remained definant. >> translator: this hunter which has laid their hands on everything in russia and a building resources based futile capitalism, will sooner or later fall. >> reporter: the kremlin denies influencing the judiciary. but he blames the political establishment for trying to silence him. in just a few years this young anti-corruption blogger has become one of the biggest challenges to president putin's grip on power. a u.s. state department has strongly condemned the sentencing: steven coen is professor of russian studies at new york university and also has an hon -- honorary degree from my university. first of all how much power does navalny have in >> not much. he was enormously important and influential about a year ago. he is a young-ish guy, he is an internet guy not like me. and he became known as an anti corruption fighter on the internet. explosioning corruption, and became very popular, then the regime allowed him to run for mayor of moscow a year ago against the incumbent, and he got 27%. he did very very well. i thought at that moment as a candidate, he is handsome his wife is good looking, he could talk to russians he is also a nationalist, though some democrats tonight like him. he supported putin's takeover of crimea for example. he said it belongs to us. but he has been under house arrest for a few months and what he did today i think was a break with the previous group. he said today on his twitter account and to reporters, we must destroy this system. that's no longer electoral. that's something older in russian history, and how it is going to go down with people who admired him before we'll see in the next week. >> how would it go down though with putin. and when he and his supporters say this is political pay back does that matter? >> what they did was convicted navalny and his brother of the exact same crime. they gave him a suspended sentence. and sent his brother to sentence for three years. clearly they made the brother a hostage. aleksei stays free but watch what you do because we have got your brother. it is so stupid and provocative, you have got to wonder who advises putin in the kremlin. but the most important thing -- and i lived among soviet dissidents in the '70s and '80s but when relations between russia and the u.s. are bad, any kind of democracy shrinks. it is not as bad in russia today as it was in the soviet union. it's not as bad as it is in egypt today. but the space is shrinking. >> can we look at the space shrinking, and draw the conclusion that putin is starting to get more nervous than he lead on? >> i don't think he is the kind of man who gets nervous. he gets worried. he has got a lot of problems but this notion that somehow he's going to be overthrown or the economy is going to collapse or the oligarchs are losing their money because of sanctions, this is a misunderstanding of russia and putin. when we are hold that putin has 81% popular ratings, there is a reason. and navalny was to run for president against putin tomorrow it would be 80 to -- and navalny could get 11 or 12. that is just russia today, like it or not. the question is what are the other oppositions in russia and there are quite a few of them who are useings some space, still some television and some newspapers, and the government has said go out and get ourselves elected to local small cities just don't try it in moscow. >> how quickly do you see the courts reversing the decision about navalny. >> the brother you mean? >> yeah. >> i don't want to predict that. i just think the russian political class makes stupid mistakes and then it tries to correct them. it looks like this is set up to show leniency. we're going to suspend the brother's sentence because it does look like they are holding him hostage. they don't care about the brother. it's alex -- alex see. >> what does the future hold for putin? >> ever year he gets stronger. stronger in the sense that according to the polls -- and they do cook the elections, but the polling is honest more and more russians see him as an indensable man. no alternative has emerged. it's rather like saying hillary clinton is going to get the democratic nomination because we can't figure out what the alternative is. so when there is no alternative, you can't think what life would be like without putin. will somebody emerge? the regime doesn't want anybody to emerge. so we'll see what happens. >> profresz or thank you for coming in. demonstrations like the one today in moscow are banned in iraq, but one of bagdad's historical sites has become something of a speaker's corner. jane reports from the iraqi capitol. >> reporter: it's a blunt message to iraqi leaders accused of being corrupt globetrotters. lying politicians robbing our loved ones. the people chanting would like to be protesting in bagdad's square. but the government has banned those demonstrations. protests are allowed only here. the ottoman era military headquarters. after renovating the historic clock tow toward years ago, iraqi authoritiys opened the choir to the public. it was abandoned for years, but now it has come back to life. here within the safety of these old walls, you'll find politicians, poets, dreamers, all of them daring to imagine a different iraq. here at least for now there is the freedom to say what you want, dress the way you want and do what you want. during the week yasser and his friends hold down jobs while trying to finish high school. >> translator: this is the only place for us to breathe. some people come to listen to poetry. some come to read books. but this friday we changed our routine. >> reporter: this friday he has put a cigarette package on a stick in a parity of the smartphones used to take selfies. we don't have money for a camera, he says. across the square amateur poetry is a spectator's sport. gray hair recites this man. we grow older, but we are young. i look in the mirror and i see my shattered image. he tosses to the next poet who has to start a new poem with the last syllable of the previous one. his poem is about love gone wrong. our relationship is like the falling leaves of autumn he says. the audience approves. the square is all about expressing yourself. and in a troubled country in uncertain times, just having space to breathe. up next a new report shows there was a spike this year in the number of u.s. police officers shot to death in the line of duty. we will take a closer look. plus -- >> they will never forget 2014 here in washington state valley and the reason is obvious. i'm looking back at the oso landslide, the deadliest in u.s. history. ♪ this is al jazeera america, i'm david shuster in new york. just ahead. on the line a grim new report on the number of police killed by guns in 2014. what is behind the sharp rise in firearm fatalities? asia's airline industry is growing fast with new flights and millions of new customers, but is the rapid pace hurting safety. on the border there are surprising new findings today on the changing face of immigration. we will take you to texas and the families risking everything as they hope for a better life. and homecoming a former national football league coach is getting a big day pay to go back to his college team. the debate is on for contracts for ncaa coaches. major bill dee -- de blasio met with some of his biggest critics union members. some police shouted at the mayor and even turned their backs on him at public events. >> there were a number of discussions especially about the safety issues that our members face. there was no resolve. and our thought here today is that actions speak louder than words, and time will tell. >> critics say de blasio had sided with protesters who took to the streets after the killings of unarmed black men in missouri and new york. we have new numbers on the dangers that police officers face every day. the number of officers killed in the line of duty spiked in 2014. gun-related deaths were up by more than 50%. paul brennan joins us with more. >> david the national law enforcement memorial fund has been tracking officer's deaths for decades. and last year was actually a banner year for law enforcement safety. the lowest number of officer deaths since 1944 but this year's numbers tell darren and complicated story. they came to brooklyn from near and far, thousands of police officers from around the country. wearing white gloves honoring a fallen comrade. new york city police officer was gunned down the weekend before christmas along with his partner. they were two of the 126 local, state, and federal officers who lost their lives in the line of duty last year up 24% over 2013. the funeral came amid a heated national debate about the treatment of african-americans by law enforcement. the killer was a man who posted online threats against police after the officer involved deaths of michael brown in missouri and eric garner in new york. >> officers are at greater risks today than i have seen in recent times, and we need to do something to stop it. >> reporter: 50 officers were shot and killed in 2014. 15 of those were ambush-style assaults like the one that claimed the lives of the officers in brooklyn. that's the most in nearly 20 years. but while the number of officers killed by gunfire was up sharply, the overall number of deaths did increase compared to last year the long-term trend is clear, officer deaths are going down. 2014's total of 126 fatalities is far below the average of 151 over the past decade and a significant drop from 2011 when 171 died. according to the national law enforcement officer's memorial funds new report this year california lead the count think with 14 officers killed followed by texas, new york florida, and georgia. >> we should remember there are 900,000 men and women in law enforcement who put their lives at risk for our safety and protection. >> reporter: and sometimes losing them. their names carved in stone. on average the officers who died in 2014 were 41 years old, and served for 12 years. so it's not the rookies who are dying on duty. it's the veterans. >> there are some reports that the nypd has essentially stopped doing its job since the officers were murdered. what is the latest? >> yeah this was in the "new york post." the post says overall arrests are down 66% since december 22nd, compared with the same period last year. traffic tickets and summons for minor offenses are down even more 94%. and they say this is a work slow down because the nypd says city hall and the mayor do not support them. not a lot of progress in the meetings, so if this is a sign of how much bad blood there is between the police unions and the city it's really having an impact. >> yeah, certainly less money going into city hall coffers because of tickets. now to washington and new trouble for republicans. today new york congressman michael grimm announced he plans to resign after pleading guilty to tax evasion, a felony of fen. he was indicted on 20 charges, but in november he was elected to serve a third term. he will be sentenced in june and faces up to three years in prison. also one of the top republican leaders acknowledged speaking to a white supremacist group, and said it was a mistake. he made remarks before the kkk group. congressional republicans insist that immigration reform will be a top issue for them in the new year. last year tens of thousands of undocumented migrants tried to enter the united states and for the first time on record more non-mexicans than mexicans were seized at u.s. border. 29,000 mexicans were caught by border control, as opposed to 259,000 non-mexicans. border apprehensions were up by 16%. more than 68,000 of immigrants seized were children. increased border security has drastically decreased the flow of children into the united states. heidi zhou castro joins us live now with part two of her on the border series. heidi heidi? >> reporter: hi, david. these family units continue to cross the border at record numbers in the texas rio grand valley. there is an average of 108 of these families apprehended each day. and the detention centers still remain so full that the government processes these families and then release them as they wait for a deportation hearing. it's the same scene repeated twice daily since the peak of the immigration crisis. a homeland security bus pulls into the public terminal in texas, an officer steps aside, and a stream of families mostly single mothers with their children pours out. they are orderly, nervous, and most of all exhausted. some have been on the road for more than 20 days. how was your trip here? very, very tiring? six of these families are from guatemala, another six from honduras, and nine from el salvador. i asked them why make this journey now. they said one thing has not changed in their home countries, too little opportunity, too much violence. linda lived in massachusetts for nearly two decades before voluntarily returning to guatemala a year ago to bring back her son. >> he was a newborn when i left him with my sister. >> reporter: the two journeys for 15 days and swam across the rio grand before they were detained. for 17 years they have seen each other only in pictures and video. >> he had to study and be a good person. to show that he is a good man. >> reporter: he could don't that in guatemala. >> no, no money. >> reporter: valdes was already in guatemala when she heard president obama's decision to no longer deport parents of u.s. citizens. she has two daughters born in the u.s. >> we have waited for this to many years. not only me a lot of immigrants. >> reporter: is that what made you decide to come now? >> yes. >> reporter: but what had been lost on valdes and many other migrants is that recent border crossers will not qualify. >> yes, i'm very worried, because i have my whole family over here. >> reporter: for now she's allowed to join them in massachusetts. then an immigration judge will decide how long the family reunion will last. the vast majority of these families try to argue for asylum to stay in the united states and their chances of success depend very much on whether or not they have an attorney and what part of the united states they land in. auk success rate varies from 60% to 20 in other states. >> thank you. caesar as we heard from heidi zhou castro, the number of unaccompanied children has been decreasing. do you see that trend? >> yeah no we're seeing the trend of the tragedies of what was happening in south america, but also we're seeing that many border -- is secure right? the border has been able to intercept many of these children, many people crossing. so what we're seeing now is the ability now for congress to do their job now and to be able to address this issue. >> it was a few weeks ago when president obama noted that congress had been unable to pass anything so he took executive action. what has been the impact along the border of what the president has done? >> well, he is actually imcorporating more resources to the border. he is going to be incorporated more money, more agents and we're already spending $18 billion in border enforcement, immigration enforcement, that's more than the other agencies of law enforcement combined. so we already have a lot of resources being directed at the border. i think what the president really directed was not so much what he wants but that the congress needs to get their job done. because they are going to address not only the border but what do we do with the undocumented population we have in the u.s. >> does the change of power change things in your estimation? >> it will be interesting how mitch mcconnell, and speaker boehner really manage their party, especially with people like ted cruz who encouraged many members in the house to pursue a shutdown over the president's actions. so i think it's a matter of who wins. >> do you think that the republicans are more concerned about the politics than the policy in that a number of republicans look up and say oh my goodness we're going to get killed in 2016 unless we can convince latino voters that we are actually doing something to try to solve problems. >> you have the speaker boehner, and center lindsay graham telling the party the only way to win immigration in a fair way will lead to good politics. so i think we are seeing the debate now between the two sides of those who really want to get it done. then there's the other side like senator ted cruz again, who are a shutdown government or not. so it will be exciting. hopefully we will continue to work with both parties to modernize the system. >> another republican potential presidential candidate rick perry. how successful was his effort? >> it was useless, period. what he did was pretty much an antics for his potential presidential run. the fact that we have a governor with a machine gun, with fox news and a bullet-proof vest shows you how much this governor has been extreme on the issue, rather than sitting down and working for a settlement. unfortunately the governor is playing more of a political theater than actually solving an issue that needs to be addressed. >> cesar thanks so much for coming in. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me again. in indonesia crews have resumed the search for more debris and bodies from the crash of airasia flight. it is just a few miles from where the airbus last had contact with air traffic control. 162 people were on board the airlinen when it went out over the weekend. as investigators try to determine what caused the jet liner to crash, it brings more attention on the region. >> reporter: more and more people are traveling by plane. indonesia is on track to become one of the world's top ten aviation markets by 2020, and airlines are struggling to keep up. the crash is renewing questions about air safety in the region. in indonesia there have been 13 serious incidents involving passenger planes four resulted in deaths. until now airasia has had no fatalities, but on monday they said they will look for ways to improve safety. >> translator: we will review airasia indonesia to make sure its performance will be better in the future. >> reporter: since 2010 the number of passengers flying each year in the asia pacific region has jumped to 1 billion, a 66% increase, with more passengers now traveling by air than in europe and north america combined. countries are scrambling to meet the demand partly with low-cost companies. the region has an estimated 1600 jets filling the skies, another 1600 are on order. each of those planes needs at least ten trained pilots. but there aren't enough local pilots so the airlines are hiring abroad. the rapid growth in air travel has always outpaced infrastructure to handle the increased traffic. for example, some airports in indonesia don't have the proper equipment to determine wind speed and direction. roxana saberi thank you. a town in washington state is still recovering from the deadliest mud slide in u.s. history. alan takes a look back at the disaster and what has happened since then. >> reporter: in washington state scenic valley they will never forget 2014. the landslide that dammed a river, spread mud up to 50 feet deep won't let them. it wiped out a neighborhood killed 43 people on steal head drive. clearing and repairing the state highway, a critical transportation link in the area took six months. marla grew up here. >> it's a constant reminder of how many friends i lost and everything else that hand. >> reporter: two wrongful death lawsuits target the county the state, local native american tribes, and a logging company, and more legal action is expected. this shoulder of the foothills has slid before and been studied and worked on so often, the slide zone has its own name hazel. the dangers should have been better understood they the lawsuits. a governor's commission which pointedly did not seek to place blame praises emergency responders, and recommends statewide landslide mapping and landslide risk assessment. it calls for smother coordination between responding agencies. the national guard wasn't put into action until a full week after the slide hit, and a request to activate a multi-agency response usually reserved for wild land fire emergencies was turned down because this wasn't a fire. kathy chaired the governor's commission. did we miss some opportunities? >> potentially, yes. can the system work more quickly? yes, probably so. >> reporter: the report concludes the state needs better planning and more funding to handle more urn usual disasters. >> and how do you get responders there faster and more of them? >> reporter: and year's end with memorial trees deck -- decorated for the holidays, the traffic is moving again but the scar on the mountain is there for all of time. >> i am always going to see the devastation and -- forever. >> reporter: and marla says some of his neighborhood slide survivors have simply moved away. up next the debate over big money for a new ncaa head coach. but mymy's jim harbaugh could have gotten even more. and we'll bring you a health update on george h.w. bush, america's 41st president. the final numbers are in on the u.s. auto bailout. earlier this month the federal government sold the final shares it purchased to prop up the industry. the government loaned almost $80 billion to gm chrysler chrysler financial and allied financial, and recovered just over $70 billion of that amount. there was a glimmer of hope today for sports fans who see greed and corporate revenue models poisoning college athletics. the university of michigan announced the hire of jim harbaugh as its new football coach. michigan, the program with the most victories in college history, and the biggest stadium, has been struggling for seven years. and in recent weeks with harbaugh considered one of the best football coaches at any level, multiple report indicates they were prepared to pay him between 8 million$8,000,010,000,000 a year. but harbaugh says he asked for the same terms he had with the 49ers, $5 million a year. joining us from ann arbor, michigan is john bacon. his most recent book is "forth and long." john good to have you on the program as always. $5 million is still a lot, but it could have been much more. fair to say that harbaugh was motivated by heart instead of his wall let? and how unusual is that in this day and age. >> $5 million is not exactly a vow of austerity, but when jim hackett asked him about finances, about his salary jim said and i quote -- gym hackett said that jim insisted that he not be the highest paid coach in the ncaa overall or even the big ten itself. which is pretty amazing. so i don't know how many times any head coach has said let's put the money bark on the table. so that is very unusual, and all of the nfl writers and elsewhere who thought he had to be going to the nfl, boil it down david in some ways college ball remains more of a religion than a business and today in ann arbor kind ofproofed that. >> i want to get a sound bite that we have it gets to the point that a lot of people have seen harbaugh as being some sort of savior. let's watch. >> as i was out last night, somebody asked me if i was going to come to ann arbor and see the messiah. i'm wondering how comfortable you are with this perception? >> i'm not comfortable with that at all. [ laughter ] >> as i said -- [ laughter ] >> as i said this is -- i'm standing on a foundation that has been built for over 100 years by some great men, and i feel like i'm standing on their shoulders, and i want to do a good job. i want to be good. i want to win. i want to win at -- at practice. we want to win on the practice field, in the classroom, in the community, we want to win on fall saturday afternoons and we'll have great expectations for that. well, great expectations for the first team meeting and the first week of winter conditioning. i can't wait. >> john how high are the expectations? and i wonder if you can quantify the amount of pressure that both harbaugh and universities like michigan are under in this area? >> it's -- i would go with insane, david. look if you are making $5 million even though it could be 8 or $9 million, that's still $5 million. so that a lot of eggs in one basket, and one thing that college football has not figured out that the nfl is, that half of the teams on any given saturday actually lose so your team cannot always be the champions obviously. so the whole thing is utterly irrational, and i love michigan football and jim harbaugh is a good friend of mine but the pressure on him in some ways is super human. that is what is great about college football, is if we had gone to chicago or new york he would be a great football coach. when you come back to ann arbor, you are in fact the messiah. on some levels it reaches an irrationality that can be beautiful and crazy at the same time. >> and the craziness extends to so many states which have to look up. the highest paid public employees across the country and in state after state, state after state, the highest is either a football coach or a basketball coach. again, the -- the pressure that that puts on universities to deliver, what is that doing to the integrity of college sports and what it was supposed to be? >> that's a great question, david, and not only the integrity of college sports but the integrity of the universities themselves. 37 out of 50 states as you indicated there, the highest paid employee in the state is a football or basketball coach, i think vermont it's a hockey coach. and only four states is it a university president. so i think when you put this many eggs in one basket to me it's like a race horse where you build it up build it up but the legs on the horse are no thicker than they were before and sooner or later the legs are going to break. as much as i love college football and i appreciate harbaugh only taking $5 million, which sounds crazy, but is realistic in this case you are still pushing the envelope too sooner or later the whole thing is going to collapse. >> what jumps out at you the most over the developments today in ann arbor. >> now i'm going right back to being a fan dude so check this out. jim harbaugh turned down bigger money, the bigger cities all of the fame that goes with that to follow his heart and not his pocketbook and come back to his alma matre so in that sense the whole college football thing was reaffirmed to be as much as a religion as a business. so david there is still help for us all. >> john thanks so much for coming on the show. we appreciate it. former president george h.w. bush is out of the hospital and resting at home tonight. he was admitted after having trouble breathing and remained there for a week. the spokesman says he is grateful to the doctors and nurses who treated him. we'll be right back after this. ♪ >> on techknow >> we should not be having earthquakes in texas >> the true cost of energy hits home... >> my yard is gone... >> are we destroying our way of life? >> contaminated water from the fracking activities come here >> they stick it to the core of the earth >> but this cutting edge technology could be the answer >> the future of fracking is about the water >> protecting the planet saving lives... >> how do you convince a big oil company to use this? techknow only on al jazeera america comes up at 11:00 pm eastern, making the school daye longer why boston will make its students spending 40 more minutes in the classroom every day. these stories and more at 11:00 eastern. finally today's freeze frame. these are post-it messages in singapore left for the passengers of the downed flight. i'm david shuster in new york. "america tonight" is next. ♪ >> on "america tonight" - losing track of airliners. as the wreckage of airasia comes to surface - we ask why has a safety recommendation been delayed for years. could a simple piece of technology have saved lives. also - shot and killed by police - now months later the l.a.p.d. releases the autopsy. >> the coroner's autopsy identified that the death was caused by a gunshot wound to the flight flank and a contact wound to the back.

Related Keywords

Honduras , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States , Brooklyn , New York , Vermont , Mogadishu , Banaadir , Somalia , California , Russia , Washington , District Of Columbia , Bagdad , Baghdad , Iraq , Reunion , Mexico , Was Sarah , Dhamar , Yemen , Egypt , Massachusetts , El Salvador , Singapore , Moscow , Moskva , Malaysia , Texas , Missouri , Boston , Georgia , Indonesia , Kremlin , Guatemala , United Kingdom , Israel , New York University , Java Sea , Oceans General , Oceans , France , Americans , Mexicans , Russian , Indonesians , French , Iraqi , Soviet , Malaysian , Yemeni , Palestinian , Somali , Russians , American , Jim Harbaugh , Michael Brown , Roxana Saberi , Heidi Zhou Castro , Atlantic Ocean , Vladimir Putin , Michael Grimm , Rick Perry , Steven Coen , David Shuster , Paul Brennan , Chrysler , Al Jazeera America , Heidi , Peter Sharpe , Mitch Mcconnell , Jim Hackett , Jonathan Betz , Ted Cruz , Hillary Clinton , Aleksei Navalny , Alex ,