winter storm is bearing down on the eastern united states. the snow, windows will delay travel for millions of americans. the storm system slammed the west this week. >> the nation's high court takes on a case involving birth control and the obamacare. the owners of hobby lobby says religious beliefs stops them

observing some aspects of the act. >> the u.s. coast guard released a video showing 100 hatians clinging to the boat. there has been many trying to cross from dominican republic to puerto rico. >> the pope calls an global leaders to address education and health care. "america tonight" is up next. you can get the latest on aljazeera.com. lz

soledad o'brien goes along for the ride as louisiana's edwin mind. >> i'm too outspoken. >> you are known for your colorful phrases. >> well, else that a nice way of putting it and you already know where your flights this week are bound to be delayed. but there is a lot on the ground too. ♪ good evening, thanks for being with us. i'm joie chen. we begin tonight with developments in a case that rocked an ohio community and shocked the nation a year ago. in that crime two high school students from sue binville ohio

are currently in detention for the rape of a teenage girl after they posted pictures of her, an account of what they had done on social media. now an ohio grand jury has charged four adults on charges of a coverup. >> we must treat rape and sexual assault as a serious crime of violence that it is. >> reporter: the ohio attorney general is sending a strong message to anyone that will listen. if you cover up a sex crime, you will be held accountable. he is talking about the rape of a 16-year-old sue binville, ohio girl, and acquisitions that officials and school administrators helped the perpetrators cover it up. >> it is up to the adult to intervene. it's up to the adults to change things. it is up to the adults to set boundaries. it's up to the adults to teach the kids right from wrong.

>> reporter: these are the images and tweets that went viral after the rape. and this is the video that launched the case into the national spotlight. and she wasn't moving. there is usually a reaction to that. >> reporter: in september derrick told "america tonight" he is the person who posted the video online. he is a member of the online collective anonymous a group known for using social media to bring attention to perceived social injustices. >> that was the big bomb shell that got everybody going. it definitely made the splash needed. >> reporter: he is also the man behind this mask in this video, posted on the football team's website in december of 2012. in it he threatened to hold the another.

>> we got 2,000 people on the street peacefully who stood there with signs and rape victims coming forward for the first time it was very powerful. >> reporter: now two high school football players are serving time in juvenile detention for rape. a handful of school employees and administrators are facing a collective 15 counts for charges including obstructing justice, failing to report child abuse, tampering with evidence, and allowing underaged drinking. derrick believes without the help of social media the case did. >> i would definitely do it again. what they did to this girl was awful. 2,000 people in the stub inville streets that demanded justice. >> the people charged in the case including a superintendent, a former assistant football

coach, a district principle, and another teacher who was also an assistant coach. the penalties carry anywhere from 30 days jail to more than five years behind bars. and this seconds a strong message that the investigation isn't just limited to the initial crime. >> and doesn't it always send a message on social media? >> definitely. i think anonymous would like to take credit for influencing what the attorney general's role was. in missouri they were able to get a closed rape case reopened, but i asked the attorney general today if they thought he was impacted by the social media. he wants to hold people accountable, but if you look at the time line of events of when he announced he was going to

convene a grand jury, that came on the day of the verdict of when the two rape suspects were convicted. and that came after there had already been two protests in the community. it's hard to say whether this was just the legal process or how much he will admit social media effected it. >> we have seen public pressure on prosecutors certainly bring things to attention. it is just on a different scale. >> yeah, they definitely have a huge impact across the board. anonymous have such a huge web of people that want to be part of this movement to be sure that justice occurs, that they do make a huge impact. and you can't ignore those thing things, and like i said in reopened. >> thank you so much for

following up on this for us. and following up on the legal questions growing out of this case, we're joining by the former prosecutor for the state of california, robert talk about this. because it's kind of striking the sort of people who have been implicated around the case, a superintendent, a principal, a coach of an unrelated sport. why would these people -- i understand you are not directly involved in this investigation, but why would this sort of extension of -- of people be involved in the case? >> under the law for actually a very long time there has been culpability for people who are mandated reporters. those are the folks who have a special relationship with people based on their jobs, doctors, teachers, lawyers, law enforcement, psychologist, religious leaders. these are people we hold to a higher standard based upon their jobs.

so therefore the law has said if you, these special people do not report things that you know are expected child abusers, suspected sexual assault then crime. >> and that is to say you have a legal obligation to report even if your knowledge is not direct? >> that's right. and not only does your knowledge need to be direct, but the law makes it super easy. it says all you need to do is suspect that there is some sort of abuse. you don't need to conduct an investigation, interview a single witness or believe it necessarily to be true. you could have heard something by way of rumor in the hallway of a school and have an obligation to report. the people who are out there on the front lines next to our young children, next to people in positions of danger, you having that special relationship are the one to ring the bell so

an investigation is conducted. >> we have -- and i know you have said here that this requirement has existed for sometime. but is there some sort of ground swell now that, yeah, these responsibilities have to extent beyond the immediate people involved? do you see a growing interest in pursuing obstruction-type charges in this case, beyond the initial people involved directly in the case? >> i think the first most mom you mental time we have seen a nationwide shake up in those people who have kept quiet was in the sandusky case. but these laws have been on the books for quite sometime. the fact is, is that prosecutors have been reluctant to utilize these laws, figuring, okay. we have got the bad guy. we're not going to really mess up a school or shake up a superintendent's office or cause

hey ware within an athletic team. but people have said listen, these people have known what has happened. if it's having those people do their jobs, children and kids abused. >> just for a moment let's talk about political pressure. a lot of the questions related to this case have to do with social media, and the growing pressure of social media forcing action here. do you see that being a greater influence on offices? >> i think knowledge is power. and we all ask the same question? how did this happen? why did this happen? and when you see those red flags and warning signs and missed opportunities and point to specific people who have failed to do their jobs, we as a society want to hold those people accountable and nothing better than transmitting that message, vis-a-vis the internet where you can get lots of people

to say time to do something. >> certainly people are very interested in this indication as well. >> robin sachs thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you and on the rise once again? soledad o'brien catches up with a former louisiana governor, to talk about three things he knows politics. ♪

before the seahawks finale but in the meantime his suspension released leaves a hole in the secondary, brandon browner nefrnlth. jim abbott spent tens years as a baseball as jessica reports, abbott considers giving back to be his greatest achievement in life. >> when jim abbott pitched a know-hit -- no-hitter in 1993, he did more than cement himself in baseball history. the yankees pitcher who was born without his right hand became an inspiration for those who thought having a disability meant they couldn't go after their dreams. >> i don't know if i could really truly put into words all that baseball has meant to me on a number of different levels. i think it provides

a wonderful message to people. at a time doesn't matter how you do it. it matters if you can do it. >> now 20 years later, joe rogers, a senior hockey player lately we have been shocked even entertained by the antics of toronto's mayor, but the united states has plenty of its own history with outrageous politicians, one in particular,

edwin edwards. still one of the most popular politicians in his state of louisiana. now he wants to run for office again. soledad o'brien caught up with the colorful former governor in his home in louisiana. >> you did good. >> thank you. thank you for coming. >> the crazy thing is if he met you one time and you talked about two minutes, he would never forget that. >> reporter: edwin edwards has been out of office for almost two decades, and he is still wildly popular. a 2011 poll of likely voters found roughly a third thought edwards was one of the state's best governors, second only to the current one, bobby jindal.

>> he bragged the only way i can lose this election is if they catch me in bed with a dead woman or a young boy. >> i'm too outspoken. >> reporter: you are known for your colorful phrases. >> well, that's a nice way of putting it. >> reporter: the governor was also known for his corruption to his critics. this is a fifth generation new orleans-ian. >> he was a fun governor to cover. he would always say something that was either really funny or really important. >> reporter: he started as a preacher, then a lawyer, but found success as a judge, congressman and a governor, the only louisiana politician to work in all three branches of government. by the early 1980s, edwards was

the most power man in louisiana. by then he also had been hauled before more than a dozen grand juries, facing charges of racketeering, conspiracy and insurance fraud. >> the first 15 grand juries he was still somewhat popular because he kept us entertained and because the money flowed. >> reporter: in 2000 call. >> i'm facing a very long large prison term. >> reporter: the man was convicted on 17 counts of racketeering, mail and wire laundering. >> reporter: the prosecutors have a common philosophy with hunters, the bigger the game, the better the prize. and i felt all along that i was the big prize in in louisiana. we're still under a gag order,

say. >> reporter: four years after leaving office, governor edwards was sentenced to ten years in a federal prison. >> the chinese have a saying that if you sit by the river long enough, the dead body of your enemy will come floating down the river. i suppose the fedded sat by the river long enough so here comes my body. i didn't whine and complain. >> reporter: even in prison he maintain maintained his innocence. >> part of the reason i took the assignment is because i realized this was a great opportunity to crook. >> reporter: leo is his biographer. he came to believe the prosecution wasn't fair. >> i bought into the fact that

he was guilty in the 2000 trial, but when i started peeling back what the operation was, even going down to the fbi transcripts from the wiretaps, it's not there. it's just not there. >> reporter: and he said when he got convicted, i believe in in a system. i think there was a lot of unfairness in his trial. as a lawyer myself and a business owner and political writer, it bothers me that that happened. it doesn't bother me as much that it happened to him. because there was very little that was fair about the way he gave away casino licenses, oil field permits and other things. it's not necessarily the best justice, but he had very good lawyers and they lawyered all the way up the chain of command. the supreme court, and they all said nope. if it was error it was harmless error, go to jail. >> reporter:

trina. >> she wrote me and said she was a republican and never voted democratic except one time for a lady who ran for governor of louisiana, other than that she always voted republican. >> reporter: she was beautiful, blonde, and 50 years his, jr. - junior. >> i had a limited number visitors on my visiting list because of prison regulations. so i wrote back and told her that i didn't think i could arrange for her to visit because i thought she was some nice lady that wrote a nice letter. she wrote back and asked again to visit and was smart enough to send a picture. well, i looked at the picture and i said, well, she is

probably 30 years old, but i'll take a chance. every saturday and sunday when it was time for the visitors to show up, half of the inmates would line up at the bunk house to watch her walk across the parking lot. >> reporter: they were married weeks after his release from the halfway house. >> the governor's wife has it all. >> reporter: the reality show called "the governor's wife" was her idea he says he understands the confusion. >> why a beautiful intelligent young women with a college degree in psychology would be looked up with an old guy like me, especially since i'm pretty well broke. >> reporter: the show drew some 1.2 million viewers when it debuted in october. but viewership fell off in the coming weeks. along with the program and the brisk book sales and consistent

speaking engagements, the governor says he is busy and making money. they have moved to a bigger home in a quiet neighborhood on a golf course about 20 minutes outside of baton rouge. dramatically. >> reporter: you have a baby. >> yes, beautiful little boy. eli. three months old. >> reporter: you'll be 107 when he is going to college. >> i'll be there to welcome him. i plan to live at least until 100. maybe i'll make it to 107, but i don't know. >> i kind of feel sorry for him. because he was once one of the most powerful men in louisiana, and now he is reduced to being a comic prop on a badly written, even more badly acted faux reality tv show. >> reporter: but the governor

seems unphased by its critics. his goal, he says is to get back into politics. you had hoped you could get a pardon i think from president obama. >> president bush. disappointed? >> of course. president bush's father and i were good friends, and he himself asked his son to issue the pardon. >> reporter: a louisiana constitutional amendment passed while edwards was in prison, mandates the 15 year wait after rebefore he can run for state office again. >> he is a cautionary tale, but politically he is not relevant at all, other than we're still cleaning up a lot of his mess. >> reporter: he is wristful

about not getting the po poor -- pardons, but he definitely has said many times he is not a guy who lives with a lot of regrets and he keeps track of every person who testified against him or anyone he ruled against him, as much as he says i'm fine with it, but very much knows what has happened with everyone. >> you talk about keeping tabs here and keeping poll numbers as well. number two still to bobby jindal. has time healed all wounds is all forgiven? or are some things forgotten. >> reporter: i think there were things he did that was colorful. and there were things that he did that i think have offset some of the realities of, and

the issues of his electorate, right? he went off to prison, and there were numerous times he was facing grand juries. i think people liked the character, the jokes, the fun, and he also was a pop list, so there were times they were able to just pay people, give people money. what critics have a problem with is that money didn't go to invest in infrastructure. they look at states like texas and say look at schools in texas those were schools where there was investment where in louisiana the money didn't necessarily go into investment. and those critics were angry, could win the populous but not necessarily following where the dollars went. >> so can he be govern again? >> that and $2.50 will get you on the subway in new york. i'm not a political an cyst, certainly. but he is in his mid-80s.

he only wants the big job. he practically shutters when you suggest maybe you can do something beside governorship. there are other elected positions. and he practically shutters. i don't think it is something he is able to do fast enough or something he will be able to do period, so would i put my money on him being the next governor of the state of louisiana? no, i would not. >> maybe the one after that, considering the timing? but at his age he really does look quite healthy? >> what is so interesting for a guy with a lot of vices, a lot of vices. he spent a lot of time in prison, you know, he looks great. he doesn't drink. he doesn't smoke. he is in great shape. he definitely has challenges

with his hearing. he is hard-of-hearing, but other than that, he is in better shape than some 60 and 70 year olds i have met. so i thought that was ironic for a guy who has had -- we talk about his vices. but he is in really good shape. >> and having a three-month-old baby at home, that will keep you young, i guess. >> or old. i think it aged me. [ laughter ] >> soledad o'brien thank for being with us tonight. >> you bet ya. after the break here on "america tonight" winter storm definitely an uninvited guest for the holiday. but are there other changes that could disappoint you? we'll help you navigate your holiday itinerary next. and later in our program, a significant discovery for millions of buddhists worldwide.

where will it lead? >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america power of the people until we restore ou

now snapshot of stories making headlines on america merck. federal government and attorney general eric holder will provide funding to help combat the city's street and gun violence problem. last year the nation's third large city topped 500 murders. a this supreme court will take a look at the affordable care act birth control requirement. delta and us air have announced they will wave flight change fees to give passengers extra flexibility to avoid wednesday travel. flight fee waiver could benefit the more than 4 million people expected to take to the skies this thanksgiving weekend.

this continues to hamper the busiest travel day of year. the winds, snow, and rain have been effects air travel since sunday, the dallas-fort worth area hardest hit. and for the more than 40 million americans planning to drive to their thanksgiving destinations, guess what? officials are warning travelers slow down, use extra caution. early in in the morning snow snarled the morning commute in the pittsburgh area. and in virginia a cold wintery mix caused icing on lawns and cars as well. while the storm is now marching its way across the country, kevin corriveau is tracking the seas season -- conditions.

kevin we're looking at something that looks an awful lot like an nor'easter is that possible? >> absolutely. because of the trajectory up towards the northeast, it is nor easter. you can see the pressure here on the gulf coast, but what will happen is it will make its way towards the northeast. and what happens with nor easters, if they move a little bit more towards east, more snow, a little bit more towards the west more rain on the coast. we think it will be more rain on the coast and more snow towards the west. >> i don't see a lot happening toward indiana and ohio. does that mean the worst is over for the west? >> we think it is over there,

but towards the east coast, you can see we can expect to see snow on the eastern side of ohio. as you can see here, it is going to be quite substantial, anywhere between four and six inches in these western states. in new york we expect to see eight to ten inches of snow. that means watertown, new york there. >> wow, i'm thinking of a lot of friends who are traveling to the northeast, or at least they think they are. where should people be most concerned about thes conditions? the >> i think pennsylvania. they have seen quite a bit of snow already, but it will be all up along the eastern seaboard. the rain, especially 95, going all the way down the coastline.

it will be very heavy rain on wednesday. it is not until we get towards north carolina that we're going to break out of that rain. down towards the south some minor inconveniences. >> all right. and in air travel where will they have the biggest trouble? >> it will be the rainy areas. that's where the major airports will be, such as boston, ga ga -- laguardia and washington. >> my in-laws in pittsburgh are going to have a time of it, i'm sure. kevin corriveau thanks very much for joining us here. two things that don't go well together winter storms and the busiest travel week of the year. when you combine that with the many changes that are hitting

the airlines, it can be even more difficult. you know, there are a lot of things happening here, and part of it is there are fewer this. >> that's right. we have seen consolidation, mergers and consolidation is code word for mergers. >> we were talking mergers making three. >> that's right. once this deal goes through, they hope to close in november, then there will be three big airlines left. southwest isn't to be discounted but they are not a traditional airline the way the others are. so we have really seen this lineup of the so-called traditional legacy carriers shrink, and these are the ones that fought to have hubs and to fly everywhere. >> so that's the point then, when you have fewer airlines, less competition to those smaller places, fewer airlines, fewer routes. >> that's generally the rule.

of course it kind of depends on where you sit. that is the overall theme nationally. but it depends where you are. right now we're seeing a very fierce battle in seattle, where alaska, delta, united are all trying to take control. you will see lots of fairs, discounts and promotions, but if you are in cincinnati, memphis, that have seen a lot of flights go away, those cities it's not the same story. and even smaller cities, the really small communities, sioux falls, vermont, it's a lot hard for them because they only have three big airlines they can try to lure to their airports. so it's not the same for every city across the country, but the trend has been smaller airports have been the hardest hit. they have less frequent flights.

they lose -- if they have two or three different routes, there might be less access. when you are in sioux falls, losing a fight to new york city is a big deal. >> yeah, so something that has happened that isn't necessarily this year but has been growing over time is the notion of the department of transportation's penalties. and this leads to what? >> right. this is really interesting, and i think it's very pertinent given today's weather. keeping passengers stuck on the ground, the airline does not give passenger's the option to get off of the plane within three hours they are fined. it's $27,500 per passenger. and that adds up quickly.

the dot has so far enforced this sporadi sporadically. but they really hit united recently with a multi-million dollars fine, and what this means for passengers is that as this rule has come into effect and airlines figure out how to work with it, they have chosen to pre-emptively cancel flights rather than risk flying into the brink of the storm and possibly passengers. >> so that's why they said you can change your ticket. >> that's right. on sunday american airlines canceled almost a thousand flights. it turned out the storm wasn't so bad, but american tried to operate into the storm and

guessed wrong, a thousand passengers getting stuck because of ice that could have been puj puj -- huge penalties. >> so airlines are doing a little of their own calculation trying to figure out what the risk is for them. >> that's right. >> let's talk about another thing that the airlines are adding up on, and that has to do with fees. $27.1 billion for the airlines in fees. that's fees for what? >> fees for everything. you might say what is left? you charge for carry on, you charge for a checked bag, almost everything. well, now you have $8 to sit in an aisle seat, or $20 for a comfort seat, so the airlines have gotten creative in

everything from early boarding to frequent flier modifiers they have tried to figure out ways that can upsell you. some of them are money grabs. american airlines has a new fair that i really like. it's a little bit more expensive than their basic fair. but it allows the 50, $70 extra, if you need to change your ticket then they won't charge you the trade fee because you have paid for the more expensive fair. so there is a little bit of an upside in some of them, other ones the airlines are just trying to make you -- anything that is of value to you, they want to make you pay for it. >> okay. so there was big news recently about cell phones and this notion that the faa is finally going to say cell phones are safe. that means you will be able to use them on the planes or no? >> they have allowed it so you can use it gate to gate.

as long as you network is turned off. but the fcc has now announced they are reconsidering the rule that would allow voice calls in flight. this will be something for the last three things we talked about that have been big this year, this will be big starting now into the next year. can you -- i'll come out on record and say i'm against it. >> nobody wants to listen to these people yapping away. >> can you imagine sitting in the middle seat and people on both sides of you are talking on the phone? some senators and congressmen have threatened legislation to block this. but there could be other hurdles too. this won't be as simple as making a phone call like you are on the ground calling someone in a domestic call.

there will be roaming fees and a charge to k assess the network, whoever the provider is going to be at 30,000 feet. so it could be prohibitively expensive. so maybe it won't be as much as we were worried about. >> okay. so don't get on the plane and yet. coming. >> thanks very much for being with us. thanksgiving and hanukkah turn out to overlap this year for the first time since the late 19th century. many of the jewish fate are boiling over and in just a little bit of panic. >> reporter: a canish is a yiddish word, and it means dumpling. it musz be round and banked.

if you have never had a additional kanish, you have never had a kanish. christof putzel talks us to manhattan where they are working around the clock to avert the crisis. after the break the other america, we introduced our series and you responded with your own stories. our digital delivers more coming up next. the stream is uniquely interactive television. in fact, we depend on you, your ideas, your concerns. >> all these folks are making a whole lot of money. >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> i think you've offended everyone with that kathy. >> hold on, there's some room to offend people, i'm here. >> we have a right to know what's in our food and monsanto do not have the right to hide it from us. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> watch the stream.

>> and join the conversation online @ajamstream. determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of those that exist as well.

consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the government shutdown. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete? >> a humbling statistic here. more than half f all americans will second a year near poverty

at some point in their lifetime. recently we launched our series the other america, a look into the lives of americans having trouble just making ends meet. after our first profile we received more than a hundred responses. people really wanted to share their stories. >> absolutely. this is a look at how far-reaching main stream poverty is. we asked others to share their stories and we received more than 200 responses. so i want to show an except of stacy's story to give viewers a glimpse of what it was. >> 6:00 i go in to wake my two younger children up. i make their lunches the night before. pack them in the morning. breakfasts are done at night and then just warmed up in the

morning. last minute checkbook bags are packed, we're normally out the door at 6:30, 6:35 if all goes well. most mornings prayer is essential. i don't have reliable transportation because i don't have a car, because in order for me to go to their school i have to catch a cab from my job to their school. which is $40. for me to go to award ceremonies or pick up a sick child it's not in my budget. i love you. behave. other than that i normally still get the kids out on time. it's just a matter of whether i'll my bus. this is the first bus and then i take a train and then another bus.

>> we put her story online and people responded writing back to us. i want to start with the story of mikey barnham who is a college graduate who struggles with medical bills. let's take a look. >> i'm mikey barnham i'm 31 years old, and i live in south gate, california. i'm a college graduate. i work 36 hours a week as a cashier earning a little over $500 a week. and sometimes i have to make a choice between my hiv medication and other bills. last year i was without my medication for about two months and it's kind of scary because you don't know if during that time you are going to become resistant to the medication and sometimes you just lay awake at night wondering how am i going to make my ends meet this week or this month.

>> this is something we always here that most of us are just one big bad disaster. >> and a lot of time those are the result of unpaid medical bills. nearly 2 million americans will file for bankruptcy on account of unpaid medical bills just this year alone. and it extends beyond the insured. it extended beyond the ininsured, i mean. a large number of uninsured are struggling to pay medical bills. a lot of times they have to pay high out of pocket prices as a deductibles. >> one of the things i noticed about him. graduate. >> yes. >> we were guaranteed went to college, worked hard, you would get ahead and have a solid economic foundation.

>> he is not alone. we heard from so many college graduates. i want to share the story of rebecca who sent in her own video about what she is going through. take a look. >> my name is rebecca, i'm 26 years old, and i live in fort lauderdale, florida, i live an hour away from my job as an it service technician, and i have never been able to afford to live closer than. after my bills are paid every monthed, not including food, i have a hundred dollars left for food. any emergency at all completely drains my savings and i have nothing left. i feel a little cheated because i went to college, i graduated from college, and i have been working full-time for a decade now, and i still can't afford to live like an adult. i can't afford to get married. i can't afford to have kids, and neither can anybody else i know.

>> this is really frustrating because you are talking about people you said with phd poverty. >> exactly. we heard from people with phd's homeless. >> homeless? >> we heard from one woman who graduated with a phd from cornell and has been homeless for a period of time. the numbers of people with advanced degrees between 2007 and 2010 who sought aid whether it was food stamps or some other form of assistance nearly tripled. the numbers climbed from about 101,000 to 203,000. so you are seeing these numbers for populations we wouldn't expect getting even higher. and what is happening is a lot of them are taking jobs that are lower skilled lower wage job and

pushing then in turn pushing others out of those jobs who might be lower skilled and lower wage workers who are either seeking opportunity elsewhere, working part-time jobs or unemployed, so it continues to have a cyclical effect. and some of the biggest sectors in which we have seen jobs created are in this those lower wage industries. the fastest growing occupations are retail, food service and home health aids. so this is something that has far reaching effects. >> this has been one of the big debates in higher education. how do people pay off these huge billals that they come out of college with their advance degrees with student loans that get enormous debt. >> that's right. melissa sent in a video explaining how she is committed not to take on debt because she saw that happened to so many around here.

>> i'm 25 years old and i live in iowa. i am a full-time nursing student with two part-time jobs. i work as a nurse's aid in a hospital, and work with people at facilities. i make an average of $11 an hour, and i live below the poverty line. i am frequently stressed out about money and i don't have any savings. i don't want to get bogged down with a lot of student debt like my friends have, and that is the main reason why i have decided to work so hard at this time in my life in hopes that i can secure a job in nursing. >> so the -- the cost -- the debt that people are graduating with are getting higher and higher. in 2011, about 57% of public university graduates came out of school with debt. it's even higher at private universities where

people -- where 66% of graduates came out with debt at around $30,000. the number is getting higher, and you know it is going to effect them down the line. a lot of the studies are looking at what we're seeing people who have graduated and are struggling with paying their student loans. and we're only going to see this get worse in years to come as the debt gets higher and higher. >> we're talking about really it feels like a new kind of poor and markable in a way because people are so willing to share their stories with you. >> right. i heard people talk about the stigma of that, and getting over that. some people are afraid to share it -- we're still looking for more people to share their stories, and just because the selected a few day that were people you might not expect to hear from, some of th dem -- demographics who have always been in poverty are pushed further into it.

and we're still looking for stories. visit our website and you can america. >> all right. we want to hear from you all. thanks. sure. ahead in our final segment this evening an ancient discovery the oldest buda's shrine has been unearthed. birthday is changing? >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. >> here are the headlines at this hour. >> only on al jazeera america.

>> and now a techknow minute...

a mystery of buddhism. there is now new evidence that thu beauty was borned much earlier than previously believed. archeologists have made a remarkable discovery at the heart of a revered site. the temple is named after buda's mother and celebrated as his birthplace. archeologists uncovered a wooden structure.

elements have been scientifically proven to date back to 1600 bc. >> up until now we haven't know if we had any evidence of the structure there. but now we know during the time of buda there was a structure, which was a timber structure, which was superseded in the decades prior. >> reporter: buddhism has maintained the buda was born 2500 years ago. but some scholars have argued he was born 200 years later. further study has shown tree roots once grown here. important because buda is said to have been born under a tree.

>> we are going to open a trench in the center of the temple. we know the center of the temple should be one of the most important points. >> reporter: the monsterriesry monsterry -- monasteries around the temple bake back to 300 bc. millions visit every year, making it even more amazing that such an important monument has been so well preserved. there are about 400 million buddhists worldwide about 1.5 million americans identify themselves as buddhists. that's it for us here on "america tonight" tonight. if you would like to comment on any of the stories you have seen here tonight log on to our website, aljazeera.com/americatonight. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow.check: are.

. . . > thousands of protesters occupy ministries in the thai