good morning, everyone, i'm tamron hall and this is "news nation." we begin with developing news. the fbi is now assisting in the investigation into malaysia flight 370. fbi agents have been asked to complete a forensic analysis of the flight simulator taken from the home of pilot zaharie shah. now, this comes after malaysian authorities announced some of the data on that simulator was deleted in february. the fbi has also been given copies of the hard drives of computers from both the pilot and the co-pilot. now, the simulator and hard drives were removed from sla's home during a search over the weekend. malaysia's transportation minister cautioned, though, not to rush to judgment here. >> local and international expertise have been recruited to examen the pilot's flight

simulator, the passengers, the pilots and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise. for the sake of their families, i ask that we repran from any unnecessary speculation that might make an already difficult time harder. >> u.s. defense and intelligence officials strongly denied reports that the u.s. is withholding or refusing to share any information with the malaysian government regarding this missing plane. now, they confirm malaysia's transport minister contacted defense secretary chuck hagel requesting information gathered by u.s. surveillance satellites that could provide some clues. meanwhile, 12 days into this disappearance investigators are also still unsure who programmed the turn west that the plane took as a part of the path flight. also, you see what's behind me here. the lack of clear answers is taking an obvious emotional toll on family members of the missing passengers. a chaotic scene unfolded this morning inside the media

briefing room in kuala lumpur as family members grew frustrated with authorities. a number of people, including an upset mom actually had cob carried away by authorities. some are threatening a hunger strike. in beijing relatives threatening that hunger strike. they want clear answers. and they say that there's been just too many contradicting statements at this point. nbc's keri sanders has been following this closely. and attorney general holder made statements regarding missing flight 370. he says they are working with authorities in malaysia and "we are trying to offer whatever assistance that we can but at this point i don't think we have any theories that i can propound." so new comment there from attorney general eric holder here as, again, more theories still float around from the internet to everyday conversations. >> exactly, tamron. and really everybody continues to turn back to what took place here inside the cockpit of

flight 777 here -- of the 777 flight 370. and the focus has been on a piece of equipment right here. that's the flight management system. and in that flight management system somebody programmed that u-turn. now, what's significant is nbc news is now reporting that sources tell us that that was programmed at least 12 minutes before there was that radio call saying good buy to kuala lumpur. so he says "all right, good night" and then shortly thereafter the plane makes that turn. but it had been programmed so who programmed it? again, goes back to the pilot and co-pilot who would have had access to this. now, it could have been programmed moments after takeoff. why would somebody have programmed it moments after take off. >> an innocuous possibility is that the pilot who had a tremendous amount of experience

knows sometimes when you're taking a flight there is going to be an emergency. very rarely but it may be an emergency so as part of the best standards practices you just put in automatically on every flight an emergency turnaround of where you can go if there's an emergency. so it may be that he just put that in there. or there may be a nefarious act that took place here and that is what the authorities are trying to figure out. now, as to these searches going on, i'm going to take you down to the southern hemisphere down here towards -- here we go. off the coast of australia. now, there's an area here in the indian ocean that the ntsb now says their analysis shows likely the plane traveled. the australians, the navy from new zealand and an airplane from the u.s. navy is now out in this area. it's off perth, a little less than 2,300 kilometers.

it started as an area that was 600,000 square kilometers which was just gigantic but they've been able to narrow that down and so especially the p-8 which is a very advanced u.s. anti-submarine aircraft that is now flying over the area, they can take in a good 10 to maybe even 20,000 square miles on every flight with their electronics looking down. the sea state, sort of rough, tamron. you have seas of about nine to 12 feet, winds of 25 knots which means that whatever debris might be there is being moved around considerably. but bottom line is they're now focussing, as the u.s. has said all along, the ntsb believes that that is possibly where the plane went down jrjts. >> kerry, thank you. joining me now retired pilot and flight instructor tom casy. he flew the boeing 777. tom, the fbi looking at the hard drive in this flight simulator. what kind of data is kept?

especially someone were to have a personal flight simulator at their home? >> well, the data that they'd find in a personal flight simulator would be practice flight maneuvers, either practice trips or usually approaches, missed approaches, approaches to runways and airports that might offer a challenge. they'll find whatever files are there. they'll bring more facts to this but as it stands now facts are sparse and we have theories of the possible, theories of the probable and theories that are just plane ridiculous. >> to say the least. bottom line also now you've got the fbi participating in this, attorney general eric holder within the last few minutes saying that his department and the u.s. obviously willing to help in any way, including this request regarding satellite images that may come from u.s. satellites here. are you concerned that so much time has passed where the malaysian government felt that they could go it alone that

valuable information, valuable clues may be lost indefinitely here? >> well, time is always your enemy in investigations like this and this is an extraordinary amount of time without really many solid facts. lots of conjecture, a few small notions with respect to why the plane or how the plane diverted from its flight path. incidentally, it's not uncommon to put a divert flight path program in the flight management computer because, as was said, if you do experience an emergency, you just execute that divert and you go to your nearest suitable airfield and that's a very common procedure. >> and just quickly, tom, with your expertise, you've flown the 777, what is your number-one question other than the obvious of where is this plane? >> why? >> and you're look for a theory that there and you think that would piece together everything? >> well, if we knew the why we'd

have a lot more answers about the who, what, where, how. >> tom, greatly appreciated. developing now, a major deal just announced between toyota and the justice department. the world's largest automaker has agreed to a $1.2 billion settlement over its handling of sudden acceleration problems with some of its cars five years ago. now, the penalty is the largest ever imposed against an automaker. attorney general eric holder announced this big settlement. >> the president promptly dis -- rather than promptly disclosing safety issues about which they were aware, toyota made misleading statements to consumers and gave inaccurate facts to members of congress that's why this agreement is really so important. it's concessions that will change the plaque thyss of the company and i believe of the industry to better ensuring public safety and awareness. >> nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us live. pete, this apparently saves

toyota from a criminal prosecution, right? >> well, in fact, it is -- there is a criminal prosecution. it puts toyota on probation in essence. the justice department files the charges, but then says it will drop them if toyota agrees to make changes and continues to obey new rules that it has set for itself on disclosing problems. there will be a monitor in place to watch them. so in essence they're on probation but they do have to pay that $1.2 billion fine. the government says toyota became aware of this problem of sticking accelerators as early as 2007 but decided to recall only floor mats, not cars. then after a family of four died in a spectacular crash in 2009 the company did start recalling some cars but the justice department says didn't issue a recall for one of its most popular models, the corolla, even though toyota knew that it had an accelerator problem as well and then when it discovered that it wasn't just floor mats

but it was sticky accelerator pedals themselves it failed to promptly notify the public and congress about that and when you put all this together, the government says here toyota was putting its own reputation ahead of safety and that's the reason for this settlement. >> and also, pete, obviously this makes people wonder what eventually as the investigation continues and the hearings in the next few weeks or with gm how this might impact any investigation and any eventual conclusion there. >> the very clear message between the lines today was what the government has done with toyota it's going to pursue with general motors and i think we can expect to see this coming soon, perhaps -- i don't know when but soon and it's -- you know, it's telling car companies that the days of just civil fines are over. that the government is willing to prosecute. >> pete, thank you very much for those details. now to the crisis in ukraine where russian troops today stormed ukraine's naval headquarters in crimea and

raised the russian flag. the dramatic scene came without resistance, no shots fired. that niece contrast to yesterday when a ukrainian soldier and a member of the local self-defense brigade were killed, reportedly when russian troops opened fire as they took over another ukrainian base in crimea. now, the two are thought to be the first casualties of the russian takeover of crimea. meantime, vice president joe biden is holding meetings in the baltic state of lithuania today and he has a new message for moscow. >> as long as russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation. russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behavior. nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us live from eastern ukraine.

richard, let's talk about the events today, the images we were just showing to our audience there. what more can you tell me? >> so what happened is we've just left a fairly tense situation in which some pro-russia militia have surrounded a ukrainian military base in eastern ukraine, they are blocking the gates, they are not allowing the ukrainian soldiers on or off. they don't want the ukrainian military to take ammunition from this base and bring it to kiev and this is a disturbing new development, this is the first time we've seen this. we are not in crimea, crimea's already fall on the russia. as i said, we are in mainland ukraine and it's increasingly difficult for the ukrainian army to move its personnel, move ammunition and exert its authority in the heartland of the country. >> and, richard, as mentioned, even though this tense scene you're watching play out right now, reporting these details to

us, yesterday ukrainian soldier and a member of this brigade were killed reportedly by russian troops when they opened fire at another base in crimea. yes. so what happened is about three weeks ago russian troops initially took over crimea. russian troops were always in crimea, they've been there for a long time. they took it over with the help of pro-russian militias. some ukrainian troops stayed behind, stayed on their bases and several hundred are still holed up in the center of those bases surrounded under siege and there have been negotiations to try and get them to leave. yesterday it appears that these were pro-russian militias in crimea, although some officials say that -- some ukrainian officials say they were russian troops, went in on to a base in crimea where the troops were holed up and opened fire and killed at least one of them.

that is part of the ongoing takeover in crimea which is at this stage a fait accompli and the government in moscow has formally annexed crimea. what -- the question is what will happen next. will eastern ukraine be the area that is next and that's why what we saw a short while ago is potentially significant because we have these militiamen who aren't backed up by moscow who are acting apparently on their own authority have decided to block ukrainian troops and not and not let them move around the country. >> richard engel live for us with new developments in eastern ukraine. thank you, richard. up next, the fight over equal pay for women is causing new headaches for some republicans in texas after a top ally of candidate for governor greg abbot said this. >> we believe women want real world solutions to this problem not more rhetoric. >> what was the rhetoric she suggested? that women are "too busy" to fight for equal pay.

busy doing what? well, she clarified it and we're going to play what she said. plus a former florida police chief refuses to reveal the identity of a tipster and instead he does this, he actually ate the tip in court. now he's facing time behind bars. his reason is our gut check. and this. >> of course a little bit of nostril hair. >> yeah. that don't hurt anything. >> no, as a matter of fact i'm rather fond of it. >> that is the travel channel's andrew zimmer sampling moose head soup in alaska? hmm. well, he's going to join us to talk about his new season of "bizarre foods america" and we'll talk about his incredible journey struggling as a homeless person to being a tv star and you can join our conversation on twitter find me@tamron hall. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire?

then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ marge: you know, there's for a more enjoyableent. way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips.

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well, the issue of equal pay is pitting women against women in texas and perhaps throughout the nation. on sunday, the head of red state women, a republican group in texas supporting gubernatorial candidate greg abbot, who's going up against state senator wendy davis, said women don't want the rhetoric that comes with an equal pay act. take a listen. >> we don't believe that lilly ledbetter act is what's going to solve that problem for women. women are extremely busy. we lead busy lives, whether working professionally or from home and times are extremely -- extremely busy. >> on monday, the executive

director of the texas republican party tried to clarify the gop's solution to fair pay. take a listen. >> men are better negotiators and i would encourage women instead of pursuing the courts for action to become better negotiators. >> but this fight isn't only a problem, of course, in texas. we are seeing this nationwide. in fact, nia-malika henderson writes in an op-ed for the "washington post" "republicans have yet to figure out how to effectively push back on the democrats' war on women rhetoric. having conservative women in the conversation is a great start. it remains to be seen whether they will be better at selling the republican message and helping to close the gender gap." with me now, laura basset, political reporter for the huffington post. thank you for your time. i should point out that a state representative from minnesota, republican andrea kiefr said "we are losing the respect that we so dearly want in the workplace by bringing up all these special bills for women and almost making us look like whiners."

so that in to the pot here. i don't know, i think renders people speechless and how the connection is made between lilly ledbetter and equal pay to women being too busy or bad negotiators. >> i think you're right. women are extremely busy but they're not stupid and they're certainly not worth less than their male colleagues who are doing the same work they're doing. and i think women are looking for real, honest, relevant answers to the question of why republicans continue to oppose and to block fair pay legislation and they're not getting those answers. >> why is it believed that republicans are struggling to come up with a mess snaj i mean, the latest texas gubernatorial poll shows greg abbot 49%, wendy davis at 4 %, a close race there. a lot of money coming in. but why -- what is the fair answer here for why it appears some republican women -- and i they because in this example these are women -- are struggling with this answer and you say women are busy -- men

are busy, too, we all want to be paid our worth and we certainly all want to be respected. i'm just baffled by this, i have to be honest. >> well, i think problem is that they know women are 53% of the electorate and they need a good answer to this question because it's a big problem and candidates, republican candidates are continuing to be asked this question and continuing to dodge the question. i think the real answer to why republicans oppose equal pay legislation is because businesses oppose it. the chamber of commerce opposes it. >> but in her statement, the woman who said the "too busy" remark said "without question, women deserve equal pay for equal work and current law protects women from sex-based wage discrimination. this issue is a red herring to distract from the democrats' anti-growth, anti-opportunity agenda." so in her clarification she fairly i should note says women do deserve equal pay for equal

work but the current law she believes suffices and protects women. >> exactly. i think that's the problem. republicans aren't supporting discrimination. they're not saying employers should pay women less for the same work, they just oppose the legislation that would help close the pay gap. and it's because businesses oppose it and republicans are more concerned with protecting employer rights than employee rights and unfortunately candidates in races don't want to come out and say that because they know it doesn't sound good so they come up with these kind of convoluted irrelevant answers and women aren't buying it. >> i'm too busy to continue but we've got to go. >> me too. >> laura, thank you very much. we're busy women, have to keep it moving. up next, i'll talk to a former teacher who wants to scrap the traditional "a-f" letter grade system and implement a whole new idea. we'll tell you her solution to what she sees as a grade problem. and here's a look at what's happening today, wednesday,

march 19. the president will host a screening of the biopick cesar chavez at the white house and the first lady and first daughters will depart the u.s. for a trip to china. mrs. obama plans to visit a university and two high schools and republican kentucky senator rand paul will speak at berkeley university tonight and voice his concerns about privacy and then say. iwe don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com

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teachers, encourages students to avoid challenging work and teaches students to value grades over knowledge. and guess who's with us right now. jessica lahey joins us. thank you so much. so for background you taught middle school for how long? >> i taught for ten years, english and latin and writing. >> and you loved it, it was your passion. you're one of those teachers where this is truly your calling but in your article you talk about feeling that in a sense that children were being failed in the way we have traditionally laid out grades. >> well every grading period i struggle with the subjectivity of grading and wherever parents come in to talk about grades with me and ask me to defend why their child has a b minus instead of a b it's really hard to get down to those tight details about exactly why they got a "b" versus a "b minus". >> i imagine this happened in classes like english or social studies as opposed to math where it's absolute, right? >> it happens in every class

because grading is so subjective based on the teacher's decide to difference between "a" work and "b" work and it's hard to make that decision student by student. >> in your article you say when a child earns a b in algebra 1, what does that "b" represent? >> what does your kid snow when your kid brings that "b" home you're left to say okay, well, i don't know, can he do fractions, does he know what decimals are? switching over to a standard space grading system would really help us find out if a kid has mastfully a school versus what does he know, what doesn't he snow. >> let me show what you're saying when you would grade someone on mastery or knowledge. you say that you would determine if a kid is proficient or advanced and so instead of saying, for example, in this case zoe got 80% on her home work or quiz, you would say not proficient, partially proficient or advanced. >> and i really liked -- i really wish i had used the word

mastery. the key should be does the kid have mastery of a skill? can they use in the new applications? >> but isn't that subjective as well, though? >> it's less subjective than sending home one brigade that covers everything from writing to language to can they use grammar, do they know how the ask for help. all of those elements. instead you could get this really wonderful report that says, yes, your child knows how the deal with functions. yes, your child knows how the deal with decimals and it's very specific. it gives the parents so much more information. >> with that said. what kind of support are you getting while out on the road spreading this word? >> well, it's not my idea. this has been around for 100 years, the regular grades have been around for 150, this has been around for about 100 and teachers are saying oh, thank goodness, finally it's in the mainstream media. we've been talking about that for ages so it's not my idea. >> well, thank you very much for coming on and discussing it and writing about it because your article helped bring this, even though it's 100-year conversation, bring it to light in a more clear way i think.

>> and right now's the perfect time. we happen to have a set of standards sitting out there we could use. >> too bad it wasn't around when i was getting -- i won't say what i was getting. thank you very much. and you can always tweet us on these topics. what do you think about this idea of changing the grade system? a big regret from the chick-fil-a ceo over his controversial stance on same-sex marriage. it's one of the things we thought you should know. plus this. >> how'd that taste? >> pretty dry to tell you the truth. so the head of miami crime stoppers could be locked up for eating what you see there which was a tip instead of giving it to the judge. the former chief of police says it was to protect an anonymous tipster which is what crimestoppers is supposed to do. well, the judge will decide if he goes to jail. if this guy goes to jail. it's our news nation gut check. find out what you think about it. . put in on my capital one venture card. i earn unlimited double miles.

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the ncaa tournament start this is week and president obama is continuing an annual tradition by filling out his bracket. last night he revealed his final four on espn and today he released his entire bracket picking fourth-seed michigan state to win it all. but this year the presidential bracket compaes with a twist wi just 12 days to go for the deadline for all americans to have health insurance. the white house is taking advantage of curiosity over the president's bracket to launch a full court press, dare i say, over health care. the white house is also enlisted top college basketball coaches to promote the importance of getting cover ed. >> we've got a different bracket we want you to check out. it's got to sweet 16 reasons you should sign up for health insurance. >> nba star kevin durant is also getting in on the action tweeting "not usually a tar heel huskies fan" to talk more about this strategy nbc political

editor joins us. mark, there was some people waiting for the president to fill out the bracket and say he was distracted by sports but this stays current with what we're talking about most days which is sports with, of course, the health care law. >> and tamron there is the particular purpose here in getting the young men who might not have health insurance to get them covered. this has been the really big campaign when you look at everything they've targeted now over the last two or three weeks and that is to get young folks ensured and point them in that direction. a lot has improved for the white house in the obama administration on health care signups. enrollments have gone up from 100,000 in october to now more than $5 million. where they haven't gone up much is getting younger folks those ages 18 to 34. so this is the objective here. >> all right, mark, thank you very much. we'll speak with you tomorrow very likely about rand paul's speech at berkeley. we'll see what happens there. thanks buddy. up next, the man who craves what most people cringe about.

>> moose nose and chin, charred black over alder wood. >> it don't hurt anything. >> as a matter of fact, i'm fond of it. >> i hope you've had your breakfast because andrew zimmer -- i love this guy -- is on the road in alaska for the new season of his hit show "bizarre foods america." we'll talk about his journey, struggling as a person who was homeless to a tv star. he's going to join with us a sneak peek. and what caused this truck to gar go air born narrowly avoiding an officer just off to the side. we'll tell you what happened there. it's one of the stories in our news around the nation. [ giggling ] again! again! [ giggles ] again! [ mom ] when we're having this much fun, why quit? and new bounty has no quit in it either. it's 2x more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand, and then stays strong, so you can use less. watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. [ bubbles, baby giggling ] again!

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with limited availability in select markets. ♪ withis really what makes it slike two deals in one.he $1,000 fuel reward card salesperson #2: actually, getting a great car with 42 highway miles per gallon makes it like two deals in one. salesperson #1: point is there's never been a better time to buy a jetta tdi clean diesel. avo: during the first ever volkswagen tdi clean diesel event get a great deal on a jetta tdi. it gets 42 highway miles per gallon. and get a $1,000 fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. volkswagen has the most tdi clean diesel models of any brand. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months on tdi models. so if you are what you eat, what does that say about andrew zimmer and host of one of the most popular shows on tv "bizarre foods america." around. >> around here a good soup starts with moose bones. nearly 20 pounds in all added to a pot of boiling water and

chopping up large chunks of moose head. >> a lot of meat for a head, new. >> it's unbelievable! there's nearly 0 pounds of meat in total and that's before you add the piece deresistance, moose nose and chin charred black over alder wood. >> and the black part where it's burned gives it the flavor. >> and, of course, nostril hair. >> nostril hair. with a new season of "bizarre foods america" next monday night on the travel channel with an episode filmed in alaska, we'll sample strange foods from canada, south america, as well as my home of dallas, fort worth. joining me now, andrew zimmer, food writer and host of "bizarre foods america" on the travel channel. thank you so much for joining us. >> oh, i'm excited to talk with you. >> they have what's called crush wednesday where you go online and tell people your woman crush. i have to change mine to andrew crush wednesday because you are my crush. i have to admit. yes, i'm flirting on tv. >> what a small world!

what a small world. i confessed to your producer about five minutes ago that you were one of mine. >> it's a love fest, andrew! meanwhile, in addition to you being my crush you've enlightened all of us with your incredible travels with your show. what inspired the show? >>. >> you know, i've been in kitchens my whole life and i've always traveled and i always brought home ideas about food from my travels which were always very extreme. what you see on tv is what you get. the difference maker became about 15 years ago when i decided that it was the right moment to tell stories about cultures and people, real people, using food as a lens. i felt that we lived in a world where we divided ourselves with terminology and defined ourselves by argument about sexuality, politics, religion, skin color, language. we love mexican food. it's a horrible, horrible

cultural motif. i want to tell stories about things that united us and that we were all happy about. and i thought stories about foods that people haven't heard about it, foods from the fringe could achieve that and we could preach about patience, tolerance, and understanding in a world that i thought really needed it. >> i love that. it's so beautifully worded. i noted that you're going to my hometown fort worth texas to have rattlesnake paella. i've been on this planet a long time, i've never had that. a frog smoothie? >> dallas is a great example. the rattlesnake sausage paella tim love's woodshed is fantastic. barbecue that we have in that town and environs is fantastic but we told stories about a family a restaurant called "resolver taco" that's selling some of the most honest and authentic mexican food in america but people are walking past them because they'd rather

have some sort of crappy tex-mex male. we do a story about a russian entrepreneur who opened up a russian bathhouse so he could serve uzbek and russian food to people after they've taken iscvitz. >> i know you have to get going and they're telling know wrap but i have to ask you. i know off charity, a new york organization, you're devoted to helping people get housing, particularly homeless veterans because of your own struggles before becoming this huge tv star. >> yes, i was a homeless street junky. i lived in abandoned buildings, people crossed the street to avoid me. you know, alcoholic, sobered up and stayed soaper 22 years ago and i'm on the board of a lot of organizations that help a lot of people. i'm on the board of taste of the nfl, i'm on the board of services for the underserved in new york city where we provide services to people that can't get those services anywhere else. i'll rope you in for next year's benefit. at the very least you can have

dinner with me at my able to. >> done! and i'll even try a bizarre food if it means that i'll become more enlightened about another culture and i just think it's fantastic. i already loved you before i got to know you but now knowing you're a great guy, you're a 10. thank you, andrew. >> the feeling is mutual. take care. >> oh, make sure you watch his show. it's amazing and new details about the winning megamillions ticket, that tops our look at stories around the nation today. the tickets were sold at a place called lady liquors -- my kind of joint -- in maryland about 35 miles from washington, d.c. and at this florida convenience store that does not have such a cool name in merit island. officials say maryland's winner manually selected their numbers instead of going for the quick pick. no one has come forward to claim the cash. $400 million jackpot with a lump sum of $224 million. this one is amazing. a shocking near-miss caught on

tape. take a look. a pickup truck tore right through an accident scene on the side of an iowa interstate barely missing two officers. police say a tractor-trailer driver failed to slow down near the crash and rear ended that pickup sending it flying nearly air born. police ran to check on the man who was take on the the hospital but we're told remarkably he is okay. unbelievable. up next, girls who code. a growing program wants to close the gender gap by teaching science and technology making it more accessible to all girls. we'll talk live with the founder on why the future of equality and innovation depends on yuck women. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day

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this month, google is pledging a million dollars to more than three dozen organizations to get more women in the technology sector. it's part of an effort known as google for entrepreneurs to establish more female-led tech

companies through the 40 forward campaign. 40 companies will get funding as part of a challenge to increase female participation by 25% over the next year. now, the push comes as the so-called gender gap in the technology sector the technolog sector has gotten increased tension in the last year. according to "the new york times," women now make up half of the u.s. work force, they only hold about 24% of technology jobs. one organization leading the way in the effort to change this trend is the girls who code initiative, working to close the gap by reaching young girls and exposing them to various opportunities in the tech sector. joining me now the founder of girls who code. she wrote the book "women who don't wait in line." thank you so much for joining. >> thank you, tamron, for having me. >> again, this is about policy changes. it's also personal for you. you and your family ended up moving to illinois, the only

indian family. you were this kid trying to fit in in a new state but also trying to fit in in school where you were intimidated by math and science. >> my parents came here as ref jus -- refugees in the '70s. my parents' lives wouldn't have been saved had it not been for them being engineers. it's that talent gap. technology has been the great equalizer. i wanted to give back. that's why i started girls who code. >> here you are a kid who grew up in a home of engineers, yet you were afraid of math and science. so imagine parents who were not as technical as yours and are. >> all the messages were send out there to girls that math and science is not for them. the barbie dolls. the t-shirt that says i'm allergic to algebra. >> there's a science barbie now. >> i think barbie has come a long way. >> yes, she has. >> but we need even more. i always say you can't be what you cannot see.

right? and we've had an increase of female doctors and lawyers because we've had so many positive images of women. but when young girls want to be a scientist or they want to be, you know, an entrepreneur or a hacker or computer scientist, there's no one who looks like them. and so we have to make sure that we have these popular images and that we take this on as a policy initiative. >> what policy changes do you think need to be implemented here? >> i believe that we need computer science in every single school. and until we do, girls who code is leading the movement to teach a million girls how to computer program by 2020. and we're doing that through our girls who code summer programs. we're imbedding classrooms in technology companies, building the pipeline for twitter, ge. girls who code clubs in every single high school and middle school so girls can start experimenting, building applications, helping to solve our world's problems. >> but part of the solving of this problem, at least in the near future with the education system struggling and there's a battle between public versus charter, it sounds, though that this is something the private

sector can get involved and fill these gaps. >> absolutely. and we would not be here today if it wasn't for google, twitter, ge. because they said, you know what? we need more female engineers and we have a huge supply side problem. and you can't just recruit them when they're in college, it's too late. we've got to start younger. that's what they're doing at girls who code. you have 20 young women, 19 different companies this year in 2014. 20 young girls for seven weeks learning how to computer program. you know, it's incredible. and we have twitter engineers, ge engineers working with these young girls, solving the problems. i just don't even think we know how much innovation we are losing out on because only 24% of women are failing technology. how many international problems are not being fixed. how many basic problems that we face are not being solved because we don't have women at the forefront of innovation. >> what is it, you cannot be what you cannot see? that is the phrase of the day.

thank you very much. greatly appreciate it. continued success. and we'll make sure we give our audience information on our facebook page and where they can get more details. congratulations on the success so far. >> thanks. there's a lot going on today. here's some things we just thought you should know. the billionaire ceo of fast-food chain chick-fil-a says it was wrong for his family to take a public stand against same-sex marriage, which was on the ballot in four states. the move prompted protests by gay rights activists. now dan kathy says he hasn't changed his mind on same-sex marriage, but he told the atlanta journal constitution, the wise thing to do is to stay focused on customer service. and time now for the "news nation" gut check. a pretty bizarre controversy out of florida. the director of the miami-dade crime stoppers, the tip line, where callers can report illegal activity, is now facing up to two weeks in jail for stuffing a document in his mouth and eating

it. robert matheson was ordered by a judge to turn over a tip involving a cocaine bust. he refused because crime stoppers corrects the identity of its anonymous tipsters. so instead of sharing the tip, you see what he did there. he swallowed and threw another piece of paper. the judge slapped him with a -- not literally, but figuratively, slapped him with a contempt of court charge, for which he could go to jail. but matson is standing by his decision to protect the identity of the crime stopper's source. >> you do it, in this case, the question comes down the road, you did it in that case, why not this case? well, i'm not going to do it in this case. >> he makes a great point. matson is set to appear in court tomorrow. he says he will bring his toothbrush and pjs to court, just in case he's sent to jail. tough. what does your gut tell you? should the crime stoppers director be forced to go to jail for refusing to identify his tipster? go to newsnation.msnbc.com to

vote. my floor director says no, he shouldn't be sent to jail. we'll see if we can get a chance to talk to him. before we go, a special visitor stopped by my other gig at the "today" show this morning. i've kissed a lot of frogs, but none this cute. it is kermit the frog, the real kermit, who sent a cute note to my leases laila and giana. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i am tamron the hall, as in kermit the frog. tomorrow, edwin edwards and his wife will join me. i'll ask him about his upcoming run for congress after spending nearly nine years behind bars. plus, his reality show with his wife who, get this, is 51 years younger than him. 51 years younger. up next, "andrea mitchell reports" with senator joe manchin and why he's challenging the fda to change its mind about a powerful new painkiller.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a new twist. the fbi is looking at the hard drives of the pilots of malaysia flight 370 after investigators say data was deleted from that flight simulator found in the captain's home. seen here in this youtube video. now 12 days in for the families of passengers and crew, frustration has turned to fury. in a heart wrenching scene today, a grief stricken mother collapsed and was physically removed from a press briefing by malaysian authorities after she cried out for her son. power grab. after signing the treaty to annex crimea, russian is enforcing its takeover with military might. russian troops stormed in crimea, and in eastern ukraine, richard