captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: the opening ceremonies may still be a day away, but for some, the competition's already begun. we look at the emerging stars, and some american favorites for gold at the sochi olympics. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. also ahead, a look at the lives of adjunct professors. they carry much of the load of teaching our country's college students, yet many struggle to get by. >> we are not given any kind of benefits. no medical, no dental, no vision, no retirement, no family leave, no sick leave, nothing. >> ifill: plus, jay leno's second farewell to "the tonight show". this time, he says, for good. but what does his departure mean

for the business of late night t.v.? those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology,

and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and the william and flora >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the latest attempt to restore benefits for the long-term unemployed has stalled in the senate again. democrats fell one vote short of the 60 needed to limit debate. republicans today blocked the bill for the second time this year. an estimated 1.7 million americans have been affected since the benefits began expiring in late december. prospects for passing immigration legislation appeared to dim today. house speaker john boehner argued the root of the problem is that congress and the country

doubt president obama would fully implement a new law, even if one did pass. >> the president seems to change the health care law on a whim wherever he likes. now he's running around the country telling everyone that he's going to keep acting on his own. listen, there's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws and it's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes. >> woodruff: at the white house, spokesman jay carney dismissed boehner's criticism. he said the president's trustworthiness is not in question. >> the president's record on this issue bears that out. is more over, when it comes to executive actions versus legislation, we've been saying from the begin that this is a question of doing both and immigration reform is something that needs to be done through the legislature, through the

congress. >> woodruff: carney said the real problem on immigration lies in the divisions within republican ranks. wall street had its best day of the year. stocks made up nearly all of losses from earlier this week. the dow jones industrial average gained 188 points to close at 15,628. the nasdaq rose 45 points to close at 4,057. the american heart association today issued its first guideline for preventing strokes in women. among other things, it's now recommended that women check for high blood pressure before starting on oral contraceptives and those who have high blood pressure and become pregnant should consider low-dose aspirin after the first trimester. stroke is the third-leading cause of death among women. hundreds of thousands of people in the mid-atlantic spent a second day in the dark after a winter storm walloped the region-- most were in pennsylvania. there, utility crews scrambled to repair power lines that

snapped after ice-coated trees and limbs fell on them. governor tom corbett declared a state of emergency and asked for patience while crews do their work. >> anytime you're working with high voltage electricity, these men and women have to be cautious. and i would hope that the people who are without electricity will have some understanding and some patience to understand that these individuals are really risking their lives when they get up there and they're working among those trees-- particularly with that ice and snow. and it is bitter cold for them. >> woodruff: the governor said the situation is worse than after super storm sandy because then at least the weather was warmer. the olympic competition got underway today in sochi, russia a day before the official opening ceremony. slope-style snowboarding made its olympic debut with qualifying runs. team figure skating events also began, along with freestyle skiing. we'll take a look at the winter games right after this news summary. the u.n. security council

pressed syria today to speed up shipping its worst chemical weapons agents out of the country. damascus missed its latest deadline yesterday, blaming security concerns and lack of needed equipment. the u.s. has accused the assad regime of foot dragging. the security council called for expedited action by syria to meet its obligation under a u.n. agreement. at the same time, the u.n. hailed syria's announcement of a deal to let civilians leave the city of homs and let humanitarian convoys enter. government forces have besieged the city for more than a year. opposition activists say 2,500 people are trapped there. in new york, a u.n. spokesman said relief workers are ready to help as soon as possible. >> pelley: we welcome the report that the parties have agreed a humanitarian pause to aloud civilians out of and aid into hold mubarak city.

partners have prepositioned food on the outskirts of hosni mubarak ready for immediate delivery as soon as the green light was given for safe passage. >> woodruff: the regime said the agreement applies to innocent civilians, but it gave no definition of who might qualify as innocent. we'll turn to the plight of syrian children caught in the conflict later in the program. there's word that thousands of women have been detained illegally in iraq. human rights watch reported today that government forces seize women as part of terrorist sweeps targeting male relatives. it said the captives are subjected to torture, sexual abuse and other violence. the rights group warned: in pakistan, peace talks began between the government and taliban insurgents. state-run t.v. showed negotiators at a joint news conference in islamabad. the head of the government delegation said they've begun a journey for peace.

the militants have been trying to overturn pakistan's elected government and establish strict islamic rules. the u.s. senate overwhelmingly confirmed one of its own today,- max baucus, to be the american ambassador in china. the montana democrat is 72 years old, and has been in the senate since 1978. he currently chairs the finance committee. baucus will succeed gary locke, the first chinese-american to serve as ambassador in beijing. still to come on the newshour, competition kicks off at the sochi olympics, the syrian civil war's toll on children, adjunct professors struggling to get by, jay leno says goodbye to "the tonight show," campaign dollars shaping the battle for the senate, plus, the history and grandeur of one of the world's great structures.

>> ifill: the buildup to the start of the winter olympics in sochi, russia has been fraught with tension, some fear and no small amount of debate. but russian organizers as well as the athletes competing have a lot riding on the outcome. the pageantry neared its peak in sochi today, as u.n. secretary general ban ki moon and other leaders carried the olympic torch on a final tour. after weeks of being overshadowed by reports on russia's human rights record, unfinished hotels, and security worries, the winter games are finally set to begin. the latest: warnings from u.s. officials that terrorists could try to smuggle explosives in toothpaste tubes on flights bound for russia. the russian deputy prime minister offered no details on that, today except to say this: >> ( translated ): we can guarantee security in the same way as any other government nowadays does, when conducting any public event in a place

where a lot of people are. we can give such a guarantee as much as we can. >> ifill: but the spotlight has already begun shifting to the competition at hand, with preliminaries today in skating, skiing and a new snowboarding event: slopestyle. american star shaun white pulled out of that competition yesterday, saying he was concerned about the course's safety. instead, he'll focus on winning a third straight gold medal in the half-pipe. >> for me, i have a list of tricks that i would like to do. usually that list narrows down once you have seen the competition, once you have seen the pipe, what the conditions are like and there a lot of variables, but i am hoping to take some of that training that i have had and put it to good use. >> ifill: white is one of many high-profile olympic veterans competing for team u.s.a in sochi. >> you know, i think i am at a much better spot this year than i was in 2010. >> ifill: 36-year-old downhill skier bode miller returns for his fifth olympics, hoping to

add to his five-medal collection. and ice dancers charlie white and meryl davis seek to improve on their finish in vancouver, four years ago. >> the name of the game for us is just to go out there and do what we do in practice and if we can do that we'll be really proud. you know, we got the silver in the 2010 games and this time we're definitely looking to come away with the gold medal. >> ifill: there are new faces, in these olympics too. including 22-year-old figure skater ashley wagner. two-time summer olympian and hurdler lolo jones makes her first winter games appearance, now as a member of the u.s. bobsled team. and the u.s. hockey team once again harbors hopes of winning gold. the opening ceremonies are tomorrow night. a late development today on the security issue. delta airlines says the transportation security administration has now banned all liquids from carry on luggage on flights bound for

russia. this afternoon i spoke with steve wilson of the associated press about what's happening on the ground in sochi. he's covering his 14th olympics. steve wilson, thanks so much for joining us. it seems there's a big question about readiness for the games and for overall security. let's start with the security piece. what are you hearing about how secure people feel on the ground in sochi? >> well, i think people have heard all about the security measure which is seem to be the most stringent security measures we've ever had pat any olympic games. we've got maybe 40,000 russian security forces in place. there's warships in the black sea. there's u.s. warships also nearby so there's a sense -- there was a bit of a sense of foreboding coming to these games. now that it's about to start people are on the ground, they're at work, they're ready for the games to start tomorrow. still on edge but hoping for the best. >> ifill: let's talk about the games particularly. i'm curious about how the venues look and how the athletes seem. >> well, these games are

particular in that everything's been built from scratch, literally, in the past seven years. so these venues are brand new, they're sparkling. they're gleaming. i think the athletes seem to like them. the competitions have started a bit today from qualifying and it looked great on t.v., the weather was good. so for all the money they've spent on the venues, it seems to be well spent. it's perhaps some of the things around the venues, outside the venues which are a little bit worrying in terms of preparation. a sense of last minute preparationss still going on, hotels which aren't quite ready, rooms which are -- have things falling from the ceiling, stray dogs here and there, wet paint. so there's a bit of a feel of -- let's get this ting together at the last minute. >> ifill: so let's move on to the games. who are you watching for? there are some familiar names and unfamiliar names. i'd like to start with shaun white. >> yeah, shaun white may be the biggest name of all in terms of

rock star, celebrity status here. it was disappointment, of course, that he had to pull out of one of the events the slope style which is a new event he was hoping to medal in. he decided to withdraw from that and is concentrating on his preferred event, the halfpipe, which he's most famous for. he's won two gold medals already in that. so he'll be going for a third gold medal. so all eyes are definitely on shaun white up there. >> ifill: in hockey, another game we watch closely during the olympics. what are do the u.s.'s chances look like? >> hockey will be one of the featured sports here for sure, one reason being that it's almost a national sport here in russia and if there's one competition, one gold medal that the host country wants the most it's in hockey. and they've had some disappointments in the sport in vancouver four years ago, they failed to even win a medal. now that they're playing at home they have star players, alex ovechkin from the washington capitals will be their top player. so look for russia to make a big

move. then again, of course, you'll always have the u.s., you'll have canada. it should be between those three teams. >> ifill: and some of the n.h.l. players, like you mentioned, alex ovechkin, are playing for other countries. >> absolutely. n.h.l. shuts down their season in order for the players to come to the olympics and there's so many international players in the n.h.l. from sweden, finland, russia, u.s., canada, it's one of the most international events there is and they are professionals and household names in their countries. >> ifill: as we're watching skiing, who are you looking at? we know some of the names like bode miller. >> the biggest name of all is lindsay vaughn. she's not here, she had to withdrawn. she didn't recover from her knee surgery. that was a big blow to the u.s. team and also probably the t.v. networks who are broadcasting here. but there's still some skiers to watch from the american side. you've got bode miller going in the downhill. of course he's won five olympic medals already in his career.

he's back here after missing all of last season after a knee surgery and he's showing strong signs that he's back so you've got give him a not? the men's downhill coming up. otherwise on the women's side, you've got an 18-year-old superstar, mikaila shifrin who's already the best in the world in her events which the slalom so look for a gold medal for her in the -- on the u.s. side. >> ifill: there are new events in this olympics that we haven't seen before. >> yeah. in fact, there's 12 new medal event this is time. 98 medal events in total and perhaps the event which might get the most attention is women's ski jumping because we've never had women's ski jumping in the olympics before. they had a lodge battle to get in. they were refused entry four years ago in vancouver. they went to court to get in the games and fail bud they've been admitted to the olympics and that will be one of the premier events and the u.s. has a star at fleet that, sara henrickson, she's a world champion. she's coming off knee surgery

she had in the last few months in knee ligaments so there's question marks about whether she's in good shape or not and there's 17-year-old ski jumper from japan who was a household name back in japan and it should be a good battle. other new sports to watch: we've got slope style, both in snowboarding and in free style skiing. it's a fantastic event to watch, huge jumps, tricks, rails, it is's an x games event, it's meant to draw in newer, younger viewers. and i think we'll see a lot of excitement in the that. >> ifill: i know we can't wait for the olympic games to begin. steve wilson, european sports editor for the a.p. in sochi, thanks a lot. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: this week, the united nations released a report on children and the syria conflict. it found that the syrian government responsible for thousands of deaths, and charged

it put children as young as 11 in prisons where they suffered, quote "beatings with metal cables, sexual violence and mock executions." it also accuses armed opposition groups of summary executions of children. joining me now is one of the authors of the report, leila zerrougui, the u.n. special representative of the secretary- general for children and armed conflict. and we thank you for speaking with us. leila zerrougui, you describe in this report unspeakable violence against these children. what were some of the main findings? >> we were gathering information and documenting abuses committed against children since the beginning of this war and we, as you know today, are talking about 10,000 at least of children who have been killed, thousands have

been injured, more than a million are either displaced or fled in neighboring countries. 70% of the children are not anymore going to school and it's the third year. their schools have been looted, have been destroyed, used militarily. they don't have access toe the basic health care. they don't have access to even food. they saw their family killed. they are forced to take part in the this conflict and to be recruited and used in military and other support function and from the other side they are arrested, detained because of their perceived association with

armed groups. so this is what we are saying and this is what it is happening this is what i saw myself in my two visits in syria and this is just not only unspeakable, it is unacceptable. >> woodruff: and what did you find were the differences between what the government-- the syrian government-- has done in the way it's treated children and the opposition groups? >> i think at the beginning, as we mentioned in the report, the government was confronted to self-defense militia and more civilian opposition, but with the access from the opposition to heavy weaponry. so it's become more and more a war between two parties and making this happening in the

middle of cities, in area where populated areas and the consequences for children is just unbearable because the number of killed and injured is very high in this brutal war. but the we can -- what we are reporting is that governments are, of course, using aerial bombardments in populated area, a lot of children have been killed and maimed and also as we mentioned the detention of children and the ill treatment in detention. but we also receive information on opposition groups because with all this faction now operating in different areas also they are detaining the children and they are -- but most important when we talk about the opposition is the recruitment and use of children in this conflict. >> woodruff: how confident are you in your findings? we're already hearing of denials

especially from the syrian government, the syrian regime. how much evidence were you able to get to back this up? >> as i said, we were gathering information from the beginnings, we were documenting, i visit twice syria and neighboring country. we are in contact with both sides, i met with people that are -- have been affected by this war that are directly victim children but were, for example, detained and released and they report on what happened to them. they report on what others still in detention. i spoke with parents that their children have been either killed or have been detained or disappeared. i also spoke with children that have been associated with armed groups fighting along side with

them. i met with those who left -- who lost arms or legs. so if we gather this information and we also go through triangulation of information coming through our partners on the ground. we consider that what we were -- you see in our report that some information are confirmed and verified or they are reported and we are asking the government side and opposition to allow us to getting access if they can test something we would like to get the access and very phi with them. >> pelley: just finally let me ask you. is it your hope that the two sides would change -- the kind of violence that they've been guilty of or is this more a matter of documenting this for

some sort of future accountability that these two sides will be held against. >> i think documentation is important because those committing atrocities on both sides need to be held accountable. so it's important. the documentation is also necessary because it's the only way that you can engage with parties and bring the evidence to let them act on that. it is also important because we have to push -- it is my duty to continue to do what i am doing. i will not stop and i will not give up because it's my responsibility. and it's also the only way to see -- to put the pressure not only on those who are fighting but those who can make a difference because they are supporting them. we have to continue to reach the all parties.

the only way to stop this brutal war that is affecting children. >> woodruff: well, it is a disturbing report and i appreciate your talking with us. leila zerrougui, who has, along with others, authored a report on violence against children in the syrian war, we thank you. >> pelley: thank you. >> woodruff: and next week's "frontline" gets inside the bats of the northern fight where al qaeda-linked factions join the fight. that's tuesday on your pbs station. >> ifill: now, a look at a growing trend at colleges and universities across the country: >> woodruff: now universities are increasingly relying on part time add junk professors. newshour economics correspondent paul solomon has the story. it's part of his ongoing

reporting "making sense of financial news." >> reporter: life in academia turns out to be different than what french professor and single mother nicole beth wallenbrock had in mind. >> i've been on food stamps for, i think, about six months. >> reporter: arik greenberg teaches theology at loyola marymount university. >> reporter: we are not given any kind of benefits. no medical, no dental, no vision, no retirement, no family leave, no sick leave, nothing. >> reporter: to support his family, rob balla drives to three different ohio universities to teach six english classes and tutors on the side. he had pneumonia last fall, worked anyway. >> we go to school under any circumstances really, because you can't afford to have your pay docked. >> reporter: these are adjuncts, part-time professors paid an average of $2,000-$3,000 per

class with few to no benefits who now make up half of college faculties-- a drastic change from just a few decades ago. >> in 1970, about 80% of the faculty were on the tenure track. >> reporter: but non-tenured faculty have become the rule, says education professor adrianna kezar. >> this trajectory started in community colleges, it spread across four-year institutions and research universities and it's public and private. >> reporter: nicole beth wallenbrock got a ph.d. in french lit to become a full-time professor anywhere. >> i had this idea that i could get a job so that i could have a good income to support my son, and it didn't work out that way. >> reporter: since graduating in 2012, she's worked part-time and is now teaching just two courses at the city university of new york, making $2,800 a class, though she's more highly-rated than almost all of her peers. she's moved to the cheapest

place she could find on the outskirts of the city, a three- hour a day commute. but she can't make it without public assistance and help from her family. >> i'm a precarious worker. i have no job security. so i have to accept whatever i can get. it's depressing. it makes me feel like a failure in a lot of ways. >> it has gone in the direction of big business-- of hiring more and more part-timers to do the work of full-timers. >> reporter: arik greenberg has been an adjunct for more than a decade. he brings in $20,000 a year. >> if i'm not teaching during the summer, i go on unemployment. it keeps us going for a while. it puts food on the table. >> reporter: and these are just a few examples of the adjunctivitis epidemic. adding these part-timers-- who are half of all faculty -- to full-time professors without tenure and much lower pay, more than 70% of america's college

teachers are so-called contingent. many are unavailable to their myriad students, given their necessarily shorter office hours, says longtime adjunct joe fruscione. less energy in the classroom, fewer comments when grading papers or tests. >> you can race through them, but to give meaningful, concrete, detailed feedback that a lot of these students need, it's virtually impossible. >> reporter: but are students really getting short shrift? terry hartle is with the american council on education. >> in some disciplines-- particularly occupationally oriented fields-- you may be ahead by having an adjunct faculty member who's got extraordinary levels of real world experience. >> reporter: but don't adjuncts teach in all disciplines? look, says hartle, bottom line, schools have no choice. >> the pressures on colleges and universities to maintain tuition, to prevent tuition hikes, are extraordinarily high. does the use of contingent faculty like adjuncts provide

more flexibility to colleges and universities as economic enterprises that need to stay in business, yes it certainly does that. >> reporter: would you be happy if your members were paying a little more to adjuncts? >> nobody forces someone to become an adjunct. it is a very difficult way to make a full-time living. >> reporter: peter brown, professor emeritus at the state university of new york, new paltz, believes colleges are exploiting adjuncts so they can spend more on non-academic niceties. >> a lot of money is spent not just on coaches, but on athletics, on stadiums, on fancy facilities, on climbing walls. the tuition dollars ought to go towards the instruction in the classroom, not what happens outside. >> what's outrageous? adjunct wages! >> reporter: students and faculty across the country are now rallying for higher adjunct pay and the right to unionize. >> adjuncts are the lowest paid people on campus. they get paid less than the folks who come in at night to

clean the classrooms. >> reporter: brown is campaigning to up adjunct compensation at new paltz where the average part-timer makes just $12,000 a year. >> on the other end of the spectrum, there are people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars as provosts, as presidents, as chancellors. between 1970 and 2008, adjunct pay has come down 49%. college presidents' salary has gone up 35%. >> reporter: brown, and others throughout academia, were galvanized by the death last fall of 83-year-old duquesne university adjunct margaret mary vojtko. >> she had been teaching there for over 20 years and getting good evaluations. she was suddenly non-renewed. she was impoverished and basically died so poor that she had to be buried in a cardboard box.

>> reporter: duquesnes response? they tried to help with shelter and other assistance in the months before her death. but if poverty is what half of college faculty might be facing, why do schools continue to offer graduate degrees to the likes of nicole beth wallenbrock? >> they keep accepting more and more ph.d. students at american universities because they need to keep their own classes full. >> reporter: i put the question to college spokesman terry hartle. are universities arguably being irresponsible by turning out as many ph.d.s into a job market where some people wind up going on food stamps? >> people who get ph.dds owe it to themselves to think long and hard about the labor market that they're entering. >> reporter: former george washington university president stephen trachtenberg goes further. >> i have counseled adjunct faculty at some point if they are not earning enough to support themselves to not do

that and go do something else with their lives. merely because you've earned a ph.d. does not oblige you to take on a life of tenure. >> reporter: though he wasn't personally counseled by trachtenberg, adjunct joe fruscione is taking that advice after 14 years teaching english at george washington and elsewhere. >> all of the experience i have gained hasn't gotten me and won't get me any kind of meaningful tenure track position. i have decided that my way of fixing all that is leaving the system. >> reporter: entirely? >> entirely, yes i'm going to be doing some freelance editing and writing. >> reporter: we first met fruscione last year while reporting on the graying workforce in academia. he was working part-time jobs at multiple schools and leading workshops at a bookstore on the side. since then, he's lost one of the college gigs and says he's had enough. >> i am very, very fortunate in that my wife is the breadwinner >> reporter: nicole beth wallenbrock says she can't give

up teaching and doesn't want to. >> i don't know what other place in society there is for me. i love teaching and i love researching and writing, so i haven't given up on this dream yet. >> reporter: and considering all the resources she and our society have put into her education, there's arguably an economic reason to keep on dreaming. >> woodruff: a longtime fixture and ratings champion of late night television prepares to say goodbye as the network aims to expand its audience in an increasingly fragmented market of viewers. hari sreenivasan looks at the thinking behind the move. >> sreenivasan: after 22 years of hosting "the tonight show," jay leno is packing it in after one last program tonight. the 63-year-old comedian began his run as host in 1992, when

johnny carson retired after 30 years on the job. in 2009, n.b.c briefly moved leno to a 10 p.m. time slot and tapped conan o'brien to replace him on "the tonight show," but the ratings did poorly and leno returned to his late night gig. >> h.b.o, when you make the movie about this whole n.b.c late night fiasco i would like to be played by academy award- winning actress tilda swinton. >> sreenivasan: this time, leno is leaving for good, andsays he'll play comedy clubs and do occasional t.v. work. replacing him: jimmy fallon, who's hosted "late night with jimmy fallon" since 2009. he and his hip-hop studio band the roots promise to bring a younger, hipper air to the venerable "tonight show". fallon formally takes over on february 17th. >> sreenivasan: we're joined now by bill carter from the "new york times" who's written

extensively about late night television. bill, why is this transition so important? >> well, the changeover at the "tonight show" has always been kind of a national event. i think this one is being watched really closely because the last one went so badly. and it is a generational shift. it is a true generational shift like n that leno could be jimmy fallon's father. he's 24 years older and clearly has had a long run and fallon has been designated as heir and it's getting a lot of attention because of that. >> sreenivasan: nbc has tried a younger host before as you mentioned. why is jimmy fallon different? >> i think fallon is a broader performer, more of a variety style entertainer. he does have i think sort of a boyish appeal that they like. and he's been on "saturday night live," they like that idea that

the show will change up from being a standupcentric to much more of a sketch performer and they think this guy is going to be much more likable and they're putting their chips on him based on his success so far. >> sreenivasan: how relevant is late night television? how much of it does it matter to advertisers. >> it's not as lucrative as it used to be and part of the reason far is that the landscape is packed with these shows. there's so many of them. if there's only two of them you'd probably see bigger ratings and much better advertising revenue. i think advertisers like the fact that the guy is on five nights a week. there's a lot of airtime and if you get a host that people decide they like and tune into regularly it's a steady audience and the shows are not particularly expensive. the hosts tend to be very well paid but, you know, for five hours of television, this is not an expensive format. however, i do think it is

critical that they reach a certain amount of viewers or if they go below it then the show starts to fall into the red. nobody needs that. i think this is going to be a very interesting test. they need fallon to broaden the younger audience and keep a good chunk of leno's older audience and they'll be fine. >>. >> pelley: nbc has had a rough go of it so how important is this show to their business? >> i think it's more important to nbc's image than their business. kok cast is an enormous organization that owns nbc nbc and they have fantastic profit centers on cable but the "tonight show" is an institution. it's an american cultural institution and for nbc it's an enormously important part of their history and their portfolio. like the "today" show and saturday night life. those franchises that nobody else has, nbc really wants to keep them alive and going. it's going to be very visible going forward in the future because a lot of the time people are going to watch these guys on video, not necessarily on

television. but for nbc, the idea of the "tonight show" is still a very big part of their portfolio. >> sreenivasan: when a viewer looks at this genre from the outside, it's three guys doing pretty much the same thing. how different tse this program likely to be? >> well, the basic structure doesn't change, i think, because each time one of the hosts have tried to change it has failed. so it always starts with a monologue, it always has a desk and couch. beyond that, i think what you'll see different from fallon is way more variety and sketch and music oriented material because that's what he's great at. he's an impressionist and he does bits with springsteen with music. i think he's more an entertainer than a comic. so the style of the show will be fundamentally changed from what you've seen with jay leno all these years. >> sreenivasan: there are rumors out there that jay leno might go elsewhere. what are you hearing? >> well, a lot of people are speculating about jay but jay

has kept his fire down i think he will wait until his contract is up which is september then he'll take calls. but he has to be careful. i don't think he wants to jump into something where it would really look like it's a lame version of the "tonight show" somebody will call him, though, because he's been a winner and winners always get calls so i think he would probably turn up on television or perhaps the internet if he decides there's a format like -- seinfeld came up with a great format for him left do something because jay likes to tell jokes everyday. he loves that and i think he'll continue to do that as long as he finds the right forum. >> sreenivasan: bill carter from the "new york times," thanks so much. >> okay. >> woodruff: in this november's mid-term elections, having to defend 21 seats compared to 14 for republicans. among the top targets for

republicans are seven seats currently held by democrats in states that mitt romney won in 2012: alaska, arkansas, louisiana, montana, north carolina, south dakota and west virginia. democrats, meanwhile, view kentucky and georgia as their best pick-up opportunities. as the two parties stockpile resources for the fall campaign, outside groups have already begun spending massive sums of money. in fact, americans for prosperity, which is backed by conservative billionaires charles and david koch, has spent $27 million on ads since august. we examine the role this money could play in shaping the battle for the senate with matea gold. she reports on money and politics for "the washington post." welcome again to the program. >> great to be here judy. >> pelley: mattea, political fund raising is so complex. i don't think people realize how many different ways money can flow into a campaign. just remind us what those are.

>> sure. at the heart of it you've always had your candidate committee, so candidates running for reelection. they raise money to their reelection committees then you have the party committee. but post-citizen united --. >> woodruff: the supreme court ruling. >> that allowed corporations to spend directly on politics and ushered in other changes as well. we have a real explosion of activity outside their traditional structures so there's been a creation of something called super pacs which most people have heard about which are also political committees but they can take in unlimited sums of money. now we have tax-exempt groups, 501(c)(4) organizations that are set up under a section of the tax code as social welfare organizations that are permitted to do some political activity but are increasingly engaging in campaigns. the. >> woodruff: some of your reporting is focusing on these particular groups because, as we were just saying, they are raising extraordinary amounts of money. what are you finding? >> they really are. i think what we're seeing is an acceleration of the trends we

saw through the last two elections which is that the money is increasingly flowing to the unregulated, undisclosed organizations outside the traditional structure. so tax-exempt groups like americans for prosperity are taking on an outsized role. what's so striking about their spending is not just the amount but how early we're seeing them jump in and define landscape for these midterms. >> woodruff: by the way, this this may be taking money away-- we're not sure yet completely-- from other groups that were trying to raise money. >> we're not sure how it will play out in the end. one thing that's been striking is the big conservative super pacs from 2012 such as american cross roads have had paltry fund raising so far this year. there's a sense among conservative donors that i think they're watching where they give their money because so much was tent? 2012 and they obviously didn't achieve their aims. but c 4 groups seem to be very healthy and candidate super pacs are seeing specifics, race-based

pacs set up in the states and everyone has their own super pac now. >> woodruff: where is this falling on the political spectrum. the nonprofit groups you've been focused on in this latest story are pretty much on the right end of the spectrum, right? >> there's no question that the most robust spending by c-4s is on the right end of the spectrum. conservatives use the vehicles more than on the left but we do see that spending on the left as well and what's been interesting this cycle is the democratic super pacs that were struggling to match the fund raising with the republican counterparts last time are seeing very healthy fund-raising and democrats seem very willing to give to these groups right now. >> woodruff: so you've been talking to people and doing your reporting. what are they saying about why they're doing it so early? why this much money this earlly. >> one of the lessons from 2012 i think was the traditional flood of spending we see in the fall right before election day. that's too late now. people are so bombarded with messages that you need to reach

increasingly early to get your point across. knew means the fall before. so i think one of the risks is that a lot of voters are going to start tuning out these ads way before they make up their mind about who they'll vote for. >> woodruff: it's interesting that it's happening before even -- in all these cases before the primaries and before one even knows who the candidate is going to be. >> for sure. >> woodruff: so what's their thinking in doing it before it's known who the contestants are going to be? >> well, each group has different motivations, what's interesting is americans for prosperity has been really focused just on hitting vulnerable democrats, particularly incumbent democrats facing tough reelections in the fall. they're not engaging in primary fights and they really kind of softening them up before some of the republican candidates are even selected in the primaries. and a lot of the money being spent on the right is actually being spent by conservative groups versus establish republican groups that are really fighting over the direction of the party.

so we're seeing that underscore all across the political spectrum. >> woodruff: and you found, though, a common theme in some of these ads being aired. >> sure. americans for prosper city really just hitting democrats on obamacare. there's the core for the president's signature health care legislation. another lesson from 2012 by groups on the right was that they had too many messages. voters were hearing too many reasons why they should vote against obama so there's focus on message discipline this time around. >> woodruff: meanwhile, what are democrats saying to you about their hopes of being able to catch up with this amount of money and advertising? >> well, the democrats are aggressively focusing on the connection between a.s.p. and the koch brothers. that's a great fund-raising tool for them and they're making a lot out of that in each specific race. and they're succeeding in cases and raising healthy sums of money and i think we're going to see -- they're not going to have

a match, i don't think, the resources that the tax-exempt groups on the right will have but they will probably be able to be very engaged throughout the year. >> woodruff: matea gold, a lot to keep your eye on. thank you. >> my pleasure, thanks. >> ifill: taking a fresh look at a timeless treasure, jeffrey brown has our book conversation. >> brown: it's perhaps the most famous building in the world, the parthenon in athens, greece, built in the 5th century b.c., it's become a symbol of the very idea of democracy in western civilization as well as an architectural model for other important structures including the u.s. supreme court. a new book "the parthenon enigma" tells the story of the people who built it and how it's been understood rightly and wrongly. joan bretton connelly is a architect and professor at new york university.

your subtitle refers to the parthenon as the world's most iconic building. ionic in what sense in how do you define what it's come to mean? >> it stands for so much to so many generations of people. it is a building that is instantly recognizable. it is a buildinging that is endowed with meeting, the birthplace of democracy in particular over the ages, especially the enlightenment onwards it sets the stage for everything that we regard as our highest ideals, perfection in proportion and aesthetics. the. >> brown: but then your argument is that in taking all that in from the enlightenment on we've somehow missed something. we've missed the grex themselves >> we got it wrong, when you're confronted with an object of beauty we like that see ourselves in it, reflected glory. but when we try to look at it through ancient eye wes see a very different reality, a

spiritual reality, one a deep, dark myth behind it. >> brown: explain that. first of all we think of it as a temple of democracy but it was a religious temple, right? >> it involve it is foundation of athens itself. the first king and queen of athens and how when the first bar baneian hoards came and surrounded the acropolis they went to the oracle and said "how can we save our any" and the oracle demands that their virgin caught ther be sacrificed. and so nay give the ultimate sacrifice for saving of the city. this is extraordinary against the backdrop of their own times. that is the notion that the most elite people in the city, the royal family itself, would make the sacrifice so that their people could survive. >> brown: so human sacrifice does not go very well with contemporary boundaries. >> absolutely. and it's disarming to see that

the icon of democracy might have above its door a scene of human sacrifice. but this is a metaphor for what the athenians valued most and what is important here is that their notion of democracy had at its core the idea of the common good. individual interests were fine, we talk about them a lot today but the building blocks, the spiritual core of athenian democracy was this notion of a common good. >> brown: scholars like yourself have been looking at this for a long, long time, right? what's interesting reading here is that it's always interpreted through our own -- anybody's contemporary time. >> this is very understandable. it's completely human to see yourselves in the past the most basic human question is "where do i come from"?

and you want to find yourself the past. so i don't have a problem with that, it's just that we've got new data. and when new data emerges, this data changes our old ideals and assumptions. >> brown: what has changed in the last decades that we know more now >> well, for starters, it has 30 years, the acropolis restoration program has undertake anicom pleat renewal of the acropolis, taking down the building block by block, cleaning, laser scanning, looking at every angle of the block and putting them back up again. so this has given us an enormous amount of new information about how the building was built. secondly we house the new papyrus that i set north this book, that is a lors play by euripides which was known but for which we had very few lines until the 1960s when a mummy in paris that had been excavated in

egypt in 1901 finally --. >> brown: it's quite a detective story, actually. >> it is a real detective story. building on one discovery, the discovery of an archaeologist in 1901 and the break through in the 1960s of how to peel the layers of papyrus off of the mummy, that is the hard papier mache casing. this year this text tells us the story of the first king of athens and his family. >> brown: there's an ongoing debate about whether the sculpt nurse the british museum and elsewhere should be returned to athens where there's been a new museum built for them. you think they should be. why is that important? >> the parthenon sculptures were not made as stand alone objects. they were made as part of a building, a building that still stands in the middle of athens today. they reflect a people, they

reflect an ancient history, they reflect a religion that can only be understood when put together as a coherent whole. there is a narrative. there it is a story. the story to be understood deeply and completely must be brought together again. >> brown: the new book is "the parthenon enigma." joan connelly, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: senate republicans again blocked a bid by democrats to restore benefits for the long-term unemployed, competition began in skiing, skating and snowboard events at the winter olympics in sochi, russia-- one day before the opening ceremonies. and wall street rebounded from losses earlier this week. the dow industrials gained 188 points. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, revelations made by former n.s.a contractor edward snowden have given

reporters a lot to chew on the past several months. but there are tradeoffs between informing the public and jeopardizing critical intelligence capabilities. our chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner sat down with two journalists from the german magazine "der spiegel" to get their take on covering the international spy scandal that has lead a lot of americans to re-think the fine line between privacy and security. read her blog on our world page. and stephen hawking had his fellow physicists scratching their heads when he declared last week that there are no black holes. our science team explains what he means by that on our homepage. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, we break down the latest jobs numbers and talk with the author of the book behind the new film, "the monuments men". i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again

here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks, among others. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. brought to you in part by -- >> the street.com. founded by jim cramer, the street.com is an independent source for stock market analysis. cramer's action alerts plus service is home to his multimillion dollar portfolio. you can learn more at the street.com/nbr. triple digit rally, the dow marks the best day of the year after an upbeat reading on the job market. but tomorrow's employment report will be the real test. and could determine whether the rally keeps going. the road ahead, general motors reports a big profit miss. and with its global market share under pressure, will the new ceo of the largest u.s. automaker have to shift her focus? new recipes. shares of green mountain soar on de