captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the c.d.c. ramps up ebola guidelines to keep healthcare workers safe, we get an update from director thomas frieden. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. also ahead this tuesday, we go inside the heated georgia senate race that's dividing a once-red state >> woodruff: plus, start-ups vie for success in silicon valley, but what happens to the ones that can't make it? >> kind of like zombies, that's actually what they're called here, startup zombies, a company that's not succeeding or failing, it's just burning investors' money by staying

alive. >> ifill: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from electronics systems to intelligence analysis and cyber- operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. that's bae systems. that's inspired work. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions

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: from now on, people flying to the u.s. from three west african countries will have to enter through one of five airports to be screened for ebola. the announcement today named the five as new york's j.f.k. international, newark liberty, washington dulles, chicago o'hare and atlanta's hartsfield jackson. the white house is under political pressure for an outright ban on travel from west africa, but spokesman josh earnest again dismissed that option. >> a travel ban would only serve to put the american people at greater risk. the reason for that is simply if you institute a travel ban

they can feel the true nature of their travel history in an attempt to enter the country. >> woodruff: last night, the centers for disease control released new ebola guidelines for health care workers. today, the c.d.c. staged a mass training exercise in new york city. we'll speak with the head of the agency right after the news summary. >> ifill: an american detained in north korea for nearly six months has been released, and is on his way home. jeffrey fowle of miamisburg, ohio had been charged with leaving a bible at a nightclub. the state department said today that sweden negotiated his freedom. americans matthew miller and kenneth bae are still being held, for convictions ranging from "hostile acts" to espionage. >> woodruff: islamic state fighters in syria are claiming they seized weapons air-dropped by the u.s. yesterday. the guns and ammunition were meant for kurds defending the town of kobani. video posted online showed militants looking through crates of rocket-propelled grenades and other arms. they also posted sarcastic

"thank you" notes. at the pentagon, rear admiral john kirby acknowledged a least one load went astray. but he said the overall air campaign is helping. >> what i can tell you is that the constant pressure from the air and it's not insignificant, the pressure from the ground by these kurdish forces has done a lot to keep isil at bay from taking the whole town. >> woodruff: kirby also said the campaign against "islamic state" forces has cost $424 million since august. >> ifill: there was no let-up today in the barrage of bombings in iraq. a series of attacks in or near baghdad killed at least 30 people in shiite districts. the targets were restaurants and markets, and the force of the explosions blew buildings and store fronts to shreds. charred, mangled cars littered the streets afterward. >> woodruff: in afghanistan, the opium poppy crop hit a new record last year.

that's despite u.s. counter- narcotics efforts that cost $7.6 billion over the past decade. a federal audit reported today the afghan crop netted nearly $3 billion in profit up from $2 billion in 2012. >> ifill: student leaders in hong kong held talks with government officials today, but made little progress toward ending a standoff. the meeting came as hong kong's chief executive refused again to let the public nominate candidates for elections in 2017. he did talk of a public role in choosing the nominating committee, but that didn't satisfy protesters. >> ( translated ): you have just mentioned some solutions, but is there a timetable or roadmap to show the people of hong kong and add their voice to the issue of political reform? i believe most hong kong people still cannot get an answer to this. >> ifill: demonstrators have tied up key sections of hong kong for several weeks.

>> woodruff: south african paralympic sprinter oscar pistorius was sentenced today to five years in prison for shooting his girlfriend to death. he'd been found guilty of negligent homicide. pistorius left the court in pretoria and was driven away to begin serving his sentence. the double amputee will be confined in a prison hospital wing. he could be released to house arrest, after just ten months. >> ifill: back in this country, a house committee announced it wants answers about potentially faulty air bags in five million recalled vehicles. the devices were made by takata corporation of japan, and can spray metal shards in a crash. yesterday, the national highway traffic and safety administration warned owners to get the air bags fixed right away. but auto makers say they're still waiting for parts. >> woodruff: wall street had another good day, thanks partly to upbeat earnings reports. the dow jones industrial average gained 215 points to close well above 16,614.

the nasdaq rose 103 points to close at 4,419. and the s-and-p 500 added 37, to finish at 1,941. still to come on the newshour: c.d.c. director thomas frieden on new ebola guidelines for health care workers; the race for an open senate seat in georgia is closer than anyone predicted; a paralyzed man walks again, thanks to a pioneering new surgery; fashion designer oscar de la renta helped define american style, from first ladies to hollywood, and beyond; the struggle to survive in silicon valley, a look at so-called "zombie start-ups"; the kansas city royals' heroic rise to the world series; and a new memoir on overcoming abuse and reclaiming identity.

>> ifill: now, to an update on the ebola crisis. as more potentially infected individuals have emerged from quarantine and treatment in the u.s. in recent days, the centers for disease control and prevention has issued a new set of protocols designed to reduce risk for health care workers. and the department of homeland security announced today it will allow travelers from liberia, sierra leone and guinea to enter the country only through five airports equipped for additional screening. this evening i spoke with doctor thomas frieden, the executive director of the cdc. dr. frieden, thank yousj for joining us again. we've had some interesting news the past few days, the news of the end of the ebola epidemic in nigeria at least, the people in quarantine in dallas and this afternoon we heard the upgraded condition of one of the nurses affected in value else. now i'm wondering whether it's too soon to be getting optimistic about the course of this infection. >> we have to keep our guard up.

there are still thousands of cases in west africa, the epidemic is still increasing in sierra leone and parts of guinea, and there's no time for complacency. we absolutely need to keep it up. >> ifill: we talk about the new protocols you announced last night for healthcare workers and what difference they will make. >> what we're doing is being more protective, adding a margin of safety and doing that in three fundamental ways. first, ensuring that healthcare workers know what to do to put on and take off protective gear, so there's training and practice over and over again so that it's done well. second, the gear that we're recommending now has no skin exposed. they have that extra margin how far safety. and third, a trained observer watches and checks off each and every step, putting on and@vtak. that's criticallycb important to protect healthcare workers. because even a single infection is one infection too many.

>> ifill: these protocols are voluntary, are they not? >> we find that the hospital generally follows these safety guideline. cdc is not a regulatory agency but other parts of the federal government and states can impose regulations. >> ifill: do these hospitals where this training will take effect do they have enough beds, enough isolation units for people. >> the physical space is not the hardest part but there are hard parts about that because you need a room or separate area to put on and take off the protective gear. and it doesn't require special rooms. wh $btraining, special equipment fr protion and rigorous monitoring and oversight. we found in africa and here. you need someone there full time watching and checking to make sure that there are no missteps. >> ifill: but you don't need to have isolation areas, isolated rooms, isolated beds? >> you do need a separate area to take care of patients with ebola. and there are a lot of

complicated aspects of creating that. you need a clean area and a dirty area. you need an ante room, a separate lace for putting on]3 d taking off the protective gear. with this new guideline, it becomes much more challenging and requires a much more specialized approach for hospitals. but every hospital, every emergency department in the country needs to think ebola. for anyone with fever or other signs of infection, ask about travel history. have you been to guinea, liberia or sierra leone in the past 21 days. if they have, stop, isolate, assess, call for help. >> ifill: you talk about travel experience. today we heard from the department of homeland security that they're going to limit the egress, i guess, the entrance to the united states to five airports from any of these three infected countries. is that maybe dying people, what effect does that have. >> that's actually very helpful for us. at cdc what we've done is work closely with homeland security and borderland protection.

we're at each of these five>3÷?q airports with a team 24/7 and what we do is ensure every person coming in that's initially screened by customs and if they either have a fever or they've had contact with ebola, they've come to us for tertiary screening. if we find anyone who has any symptoms and we know people with flu or colds or people who vomited on the plane because they felt bad. if there's any suspicion of ebola, then we will take them to a hospital that's prepared to deal with ebola. >> ifill: let's been much conversation here in washington about the appoint some people call an ebola czar what the whitehouse calls an ebola coordinator. two questions. is that something which is needed, is that helpful to you. and why aren't you the ebola czar. >> i'm delayed there's an ebola coordinator. i'm looking forward to his visit to atlanta next week. i've spoken to him already. and it's really important that we have coordination across the whole government. we can do the public health part at cdc but there's so many aspects of this response that

require a whole government approach for counter ability coordination, liaison functions6 troubleshooting. there's been, everyone has been doing their part but a coordinator allows us to do that more efficiently and effectively. >> ifill: finally i want to ask you about the way the public has been reacting through all of this. there's a gallop poll which says it's among the top ten issues americans worry about. and there's a poll that says 41% say they're worried that they or someone they know some family member will be infected. do they have reason to worry. >> it's hard to gauge risk sometimes but realistically if you're a healthcare worker caring for one of the two patients with ebola, three patients being cared for in the u.s. today, you should be very careful. if you are an emergency room doctor or nurse treating people with fever, you should think about ebola. for everyone else, the risk of ebola is really extraordinarily remote but we can't let our guard down.

as long as the outbreak continues in africa, the risk of another traveler coming in or responder goingv2 back and gettg it is there. so it won't be here until we stop the outbreak at the source in africa. >> ifill: thomas frieden the director for the center of disease control and prevention. thank you very much for joining us again. >> thank you. >> woodruff: exactly two weeks from election day, and georgia is a surprise place democrats are suddenly hopeful about. the two candidates running for the open senate seat are first- time candidates, but both come from well-known political families. this weekend i traveled to the peach state to find out how a race between two non-politicians has become a nail-biter. ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: worshipers at the historic ebenezer baptist church

in downtown atlanta were fired up on sunday determined to make heir voices heard. >> we have to vote like we've never voted before. >> woodruff: it was the sort of "stars of the civil rights movement" turnout you'd expect in a presidential election year, with dr. martin luther king junior's sister christine, arm in arm with congressman john lewis, leading the way at a large "get out the vote" drive called "souls to the polls." but it's not a presidential election year and the first african american president, barack obama, is not on the ballot. except in tv spots being aired by most republican senate candidates this year, including david perdue here in georgia. >> job losses come from bad policies in washington. the policies of president obama and michelle nunn. the president himself said, "make no mistake, these policies are on the ballot." >> woodruff: perdue, a 64-year- old former corporate executive

and first time candidate, is trying to take advantage of president obama's unpopularity with most georgia voters, by saying his democratic opponent, michelle nunn, would be a rubber stamp for obama policies. it's an argument that perdue supporters, like 31-year-old massage therapist and mother of three, erin krenz, who regularly volunteers to make calls and knock on doors for him, enthusiastically embraces: >> because there are so many bad policies coming out of washington that are going to kill all of the jobs, that are killing jobs right now. there are small business owners trying to put their heads together, figuring out "how am i going to surmount this obamacare thing." >> woodruff: meanwhile, the 47- year old nunn, daughter of former four-term georgia democratic senator sam nunn, has spent her adult life running large non-profit volunteer service organizations.

she has focused her campaign on how she wants to be a voice for moderation in washington. someone who will work with both political parties to get things done. i spoke to her after she greeted people at the morehouse college homecoming tailgate parties. >> i am going to work across party lines. but there are places i differ from the president. i believe we should have moved forward with the keystone pipeline. i believe the president and the congress should have done more to address our long-term debt. but i do agree with the president we should raise minimum wage. i think we should pass pay equity legislation. i think we should pass bipartisan immigration reform. >> nunn has had to walk a careful line, appealing to white voters, who have lately been voting mostly republican in georgia. but not in a way that turns off black voters, whom she needs to show up in record-breaking numbers for a mid-term election.

♪ >> woodruff: those we spoke to say they understand the balance she must strike. valerie dorsey rode the "souls to the polls" bus on sunday to cast her vote. >> i don't think in our politics it's necessary to absolutely support the president in 100% of all his policies. but if you're able to reason. if you're able to be educated about the issues, and try to find common ground, i believe michelle nunn will try to do that. >> woodruff: emory university political scientist merle black: >> she's gotta get through two things, according to her own strategy: she's got to get a composition of the electorate in which african americans make up 30% of the voters. barack obama got 98% of that vote in '08 and still lost by four to five points. what's the other target? the other target is white voters. the democrats need at least 30% of the white vote.

>> woodruff: black says this is a tall order for nunn, but he believes she can pull it off. he argues that's because she's run a strong campaign, while perdue has run a weak one, since he won the republican primary: >> he's not doing the number one thing an unknown politician needs to do, and that is advertise himself. show his stuff, get out there debate and engage. he doesn't do that right now, so this has given a tremendous opportunity for the michelle nunn campaign to paint their portrait of david perdue, and that's a very, very unattractive portrait. >> woodruff: black says nunn is trying to appeal to white voters, particularly women, by saying perdue has made a career out of outsourcing jobs to other countries. >> the attorney asks can you describe your experience with outsourcing. perdue responds, "yeah, i spent most of my career doing that." >> and when asked by reporters how he defends outsourcing

perdue doubled down. >> defend it? i'm proud of it. >> woodruff: perdue was unavailable for an interview while we were in georgia, but his cousin, former governor sonny perdue speaking on his behalf, insists nunn is taking the remarks out of context. >> when david said that it was in a legal document. and what david talks about is what corporate america is all about. it may be outsourcing to a small business next door that can do that particular task more efficiently than a big corporation can do. >> woodruff: he says georgia voters want someone to go to washington to undo obama policies. >> this is essentially a national election about the policies of this current administration and who will support those and who will repudiate those in the senate. >> woodruff: both the nunn and perdue families come from houston county in rural central georgia. we found that voters here and nearby are as divided as across the rest of the state. don wood will likely vote for nunn because he worries perdue

is too partisan. >> he's not going to be able to help fix the problems that are there. because you at least have to be able to talk and get along with people there. >> woodruff: but terri marcum says she likes a candidate who stands firm. >> sticks to principles. sticks to the conservative. i'm a conservative person so i like the conservative way of thinking. >> woodruff: to keep her distance from washington, nunn rarely uses the word democrat, refers to herself as a "moderate." >> woodruff: but there's no question that you would, the majority of the time, be voting with the democrats in the senate? >> i've spent 26 years mobilizing volunteers and solving problems. my lens for this race and for service is to get things done that matter for people. so it's not from a partisan lens. >> woodruff: in these final weeks both the nunn and perdue

camps are spending millions of dollars airing tv spots, and getting out their vote. she's helped by a new infusion from national democrats who praise her for keeping the race competitive. and perdue with help from national republicans worried at the closeness of a contest they thought they could count on. but political scientist merle black notes neither party has a majority in georgia: he argues even if perdue captures the republican base, he has another hurdle to jump: >> when the republicans have been doing well it's because they've been carrying very large majorities among the independents. currently in these polls, perdue is not achieving that degree of success among independents. >> woodruff: perdue's cousin, the former governor acknowledges the steadily rising percentage of african americans and other minorities in georgia, does make republican's job harder: >> i think that's part of why the race appears to be tightening. i don't think the race is as

tight as the current media is portraying it to be. >> woodruff: complicating matters for both is the libertarian candidate, who polls show is drawing around 3% of the vote, enough to deny either nunn or perdue the 50% georgia law mandates. a runoff would be in january, requiring both to turn out their supporters all over again. >> ifill: a man paralyzed from the chest down is now able to walk again thanks to a pioneering transplant using cells from his nose. the 38-year-old was treated by surgeons in poland, and is the first known patient to ever recover from a complete severing of the spinal nerves. alex thomson of independent television news has the story. >> reporter: seeing is believing. two years home from surgery in

poland, darek fidyka is walking. his spinal cord seved in an attack where he was paralyzed from the arms down. the london medical team behind this break through say just one man. but the implications if they can replicate it are huge for all mankind. >> i still think myself that this is bigger than a man landing on the moon. he can move his thigh, now he can move his knee. it's not quite movement but for him it's being reborn. >> reporter: he was paralyzed from the chest down by a knife attack in 2010. a polish teamworking with professor raisman took cells from his nasal cavities. these olfactory ensheathing cells help the smell the damage of the nose that replaces nerve fibers within the nasal cavity. the team hopes the nerves will do the same when transplanted into the spine. they injected strips of cells into an eight millimeter gap in

darek's spine with ankle issue to bridge the gap. this slowly restored the nerve fiber closing the gap, allowing the brain signals toagain. >> what we have found could be of enormous benefit to mankind. if we can carry out the next steps and prove it. and we can take initial( observation and turn it into something that will work for everyone. so i'm not looking back at where we're got to, it's what lies ahead. >> reporter: the 11 year road to discovery began at a beach in sydney australia in 2003. an 18 year old paralyzed in a diving accident. his father vowed then he would walk again. since then david nicholls should be searching for a bringing through for his son daniel.

now he please. >> the chronic pain of paralysis. the patient is paralyzed for 15 months, he knees sentics. the other significance is nobody has ever reconnected to a broken cord. we've done that. and the third issue is that the patient has been reclassified from completely paralyzed to not completely paralyzed. you don't do that, if you're complete, it's finite, it's over. >> reporter: the london's royal national orthopedic hospital, caution and excitement evenly balanced at today's news. >> it's exciting if the actual claims are de finity and the patient is improving with function improvement. if it's happening, it has to be repeated and it has to be a random high level evidence ran did youized trial. >> reporter: two and-a-half million people globally are paralyzed as a result of spinal

cord trauma. when david nicholls told his son daniel suddenly there was hope is it was a game changer. darek fidyka is one man. they need to fund ten more patients from the treatment. as professor raisman put it today, we may possibly be the wright brothers but what we want is a 747. >> woodruff: now to the legacy of a fashion icon, remembering oscar de la renta and his giant impact. >> woodruff: from the runway to the red carpet to the white house, for more than four decades, oscar de la renta dressed america's best-known and most powerful women. so seeing the changes on that

>> i have lived through a period of life where the woman that i started dressing 50 years ago is such a very different woman than today. >> woodruff: de la renta was born in 1932 and raised in the dominican republic. as a teenager, he moved to spain to study painting but took to fashion instead. after a stint in paris, he arrived in new york in the 1960's and began to help define american fashion. robin givhan is a fashion critic for the washington post. >> he was one of the first designers who stepped out of the shadows, who made it clear that american designers could perform on the world stage, that they compete with the best the french had to offer. and i think by doing that, he gave seventh avenue a level of confidence that's trickled down all the way through multiple generations. >> woodruff: simon collins is dean of fashion at the parsons new school for design in new york. >> our students at parsons, you know, we were on the next block,

we would see his team in neighborhood. his stature, business, people who wore his gowns. was influential. >> woodruff: specializing in evening gowns and daytime suits, he designed for first ladies through the years, from jacqueline kennedy onassis, to hillary clinton. laura bush. and just last month, michelle obama wore de la renta. >> he was very adept at being >> he was able to balance the sense of the regal that we have in the first lady, but also the sense of accessibility that we demand in the first lady. >> woodruff: away from washington, de la renta's designs were coveted by women from new york to hollywood. >> i think one of the things he was really able to do was, in a strange way, was get out of the way of the design and allow the

woman to shine through. i think that's the reason why women from 70 and 80 years old to women in their 20's found his work compelling. >> woodruff: his influence was felt wide throughout the industry. major designers paid tribute to him on twitter. diane von furstenberg wrote "oscar de la renta was a wonderful designer, a true renaissance man. his voice will continue to sing in our hearts." and vera wang tweeted "oscar created a whole world of luxury, style and elegance all his own." ádown through the market in perhaps a year and-a-half when oscar showed on the runway, it shows up on your local high street fashion retailer. and i think that was much as it

was play for lost in the movie it's actually very very true. >> and the wedding to george clooney. last night entertainers a >> woodruff: last night, entertainers and actresses remembered the man they turned to for their biggest moments. >> he was the most beautiful, elegant soul. i was lucky to have worked with him so much, i'm lucky to have sketches that he's done of me in his dresses. >> we've lost a genius. you know, we've lost a brilliant artist and an elegant and lovely, kind human being and his dresses and his work will live on forever i think. >> woodruff: givhan agrees that his impact will be felt for decades to come. >> i do think he kind of held up a certain standard for attire, and the idea that it's a responsibility to, when you go out in public, to look your best. and not necessarily wear expensive clothing but just to

take notice of how your presence is affecting the landscape. >> woodruff: despite all of his success, de la renta maintained that he still had much to learn. >> people ask me how long are you going to be doing this and i say the day that i've learned everything, that day i will quit. every day is a learning process and every day i learn something new and that's what makes it exciting. >> woodruff: oscar de la renta died at his home in connecticut yesterday. he was 82. >> ifill: behind all the blockbuster success stories out of silicon valley, there are scores of ideas that don't make it and some die a pretty slow death. special correspondent steve goldbloom has our story. >> we've got a great name, we've got a great team, we've got a great logo and we've got a great name, now we just need an idea. now, let's pivot!

>> reporter: hbo's comedy "silicon valley" lampoons startup culture in the bay area. but for those working in the tech scene, it's like art imitating life. in other words, people really do talk that way: >> pivot is a great one. >> killing it, crushing it. >> disrupt is the classic one. >> jedi's ninja's. >> lean in. >> fail fast >> growth hacker. really just marketing >> i think it was the "social network" movie that over romanticized how easy it is for college students in a dorm room to come up with the next billion dollar company. >> there is no shortage of messianic language. >> reporter: nitasha tiku is an editor at "valleywag," which is owned by "gawker media." they're like the "us weekly" of tech. she explains some of the hyperbole behind startups. >> they all want to start a movement. they all want to start a revolution. it's particularly funny because once one person said they were going to change the world, if you present just like a simple app, what are you gonna do next to that?

>> reporter: she says it's no good to have a straightforward idea anymore. it has to be groundbreaking. entrepreneurs arrive in the bay area with dreams of turning their scrappy startup into the next big thing. but the reality is, most startups don't work out. >> we help very early stage companies get started. >> reporter: sam altman runs y combinator, a silicon valley firms that mentors entrepreneurs. it's called as an "incubator," which is basically a camp for startups. altman is like a rockstar for young entrepreneurs: a stanford dropout, he launched an app at age 20 and sold it seven years later for nearly $40 million. >> the magnitude of problems that can go wrong is one of the surprising things that young startups face. one day your product does not work and the next day a patent troll is suing you. the next day a competitor is taking your users the day after that your key employee quits. >> reporter: y-combinator helps young startups avoid these pitfalls. the program has graduated some heavy hitters too, like: dropbox

and airbnb, both now valued in the billions. but these are the exceptions. a more common path is the one taken by yin yin wu and xuwen cao, from the y-combinator class of 2013. they created a business that was going to be the "uber of dry cleaning." >> you could push a button and we would pick up your laundry wash fold and return in the same day. we found that business model didn't really work. >> we were really demoralized. we ask ourselves, "is it our problem or is it objectively a market problem?" >> i think we come from a perspective of, "oh we are going to you know, be really successful if we just work hard." and that's just not true with startups. >> reporter: wu and cao are now developing a phone notification app for android. they've pivoted. but what if they hadn't thrown in the towel. >> not every company dies fast. >> reporter: gary kremen is a veteran entrepreneur and investor in the valley. remember that 90's craze of buying domain names? well, kremen was pretty much ahead of the curve on that, he made an early fortune

registering sites like jobs.com, auto.com, and sex.com. >> entrepreneurs, they don't' like to give up. a company will shrink down when they're almost out of money to six people, getting internet from starbucks and them not even ordering from starbucks probably bringing in a cup of water there in an old starbucks cup and keep working on it and working on it. they're not dead but they're not alive. kind of like zombies. >> reporter: that's actually what they're called here: startup zombies. a company that's not succeeding or failing it's just burning investors money by staying alive. here's where gary kremen and his partner michael mcteigue come in. they founded the company capgain solutions, registered privately as zombie apocalypse holdings llc. they buy zombie companies so that the investor can write off the losses on their tax return. in other words, they kill zombies. >> to make them dead so you can use the tax losses, you would sell those companies interest to us and we would allow you to

realize your gains. we're lik1-800-junk you have some junk we'll come by and get it we'll take it out of your house and we'll try to resell it at a later date for more money than we paid. >> in a state with fifty three percent tax rates, that loss is worth a lot of money to me! >> reporter: ben black is a venture capitalist and uses capgain solutions. >> i turn to gary and say, "i need you to buy this stock." he buys it. i get my letter, i get my loss. >> reporter: another way out of zombie purgatory is to be acquired by a more established firm. that's what's called an "acqui- hire." >> an acqui-hire is kind of a coined term to me that it is an exit for a company primarily not for the ip or the assets but for the team or for the experience that those people have. >> reporter: jacob mullins runs exitround. >> people describe us as either something like an ebay for companies or as like a match.com or a tinder for comapnies. >> reporter: as a matchmaker, mullins has plenty to work with. according to the online tracker crunchbase, 19,500 companies received venture capital funding last year. >> it's clear we're in the middle of a boom, some people

might call it a bubble and what that means for startups in particular is a lot of vc's are willing to fund ten companies with the idea that one of them is twitter. >> reporter: but that still leaves nine companies that won't be the next twitter. are they doomed to become startup zombies? and if we are in a bubble, how much longer can that go on? >> every two to three years, there's an investment cycle. >> reporter: steve gerbsman is a crisis management expert for businesses in need of an exit strategy. his forecast isn't so bright. >> you had the investment cycle starting in 2011 and 2012, we haven't had the bust yet but it's coming because every two and half to three years after the investment cycle our business gets good. >> reporter: meanwhile, entrepreneurs will continue to take big swings and a cottage industry of valley types will be there to profit when they miss. as for zombies, ceo danielle morrill is ready for halloween. >> reporter: for the newshour in san francisco, i'm steve goldbloom.

>> ifill: the world series gets underway tonight, a matchup of two wild card teams who have made it all the way, the first time that's happened in more than a decade. yet it features a perennial contender and former champion against a team and a city, that's been waiting for a winner for decades. >> 29 years of frustration has ended. the royals are going to the world series! >> ifill: for kansas city, it's been a long hard road back since winning the world series in 1985. the team hadn't even made the playoffs since then. but in a time when baseball economics make it tougher for smaller market teams to compete, the royals beat the odds. with a mix of speed, timely pitching and stout defense, propelling the team back to major league baseball's biggest stage. >> it's been a wonderful experience not only for our

players, but you know, this is a fan base that has been longing for this for a long, long time. >> ifill: the royals began their playoff run with a 12 inning victory over the oakland a's in the wild card game. then, they won seven more in a row, sweeping the los angeles angels and baltimore orioles to capture the american league pennant. tonight, kansas city hosts san francisco for game one of the world series. the giants also made the playoffs as a wild card, and are playing for their third title in five years. >> ifill: there's nothing like a cinderella story to capture even the most casual fan's attention. and for kansas city, tonight is a fairy tale. but is it good for baseball? i'm joined by mike pesca, host of slate's daily news and discussion podcast, "the gist." he's also a contributor to npr. and hampton stevens, a kansas city native and writer for the atlantic and espn the magazine.

this is a wonderful story for you, hampton stevens, is it like cinderella. >> it's a complete fairytale and it's a complete dream and the city is fantastic. >> ifill: tell us what it's like. >> they're making sure every!+*, christmas lights. people are driving crazy like on the way here you can see the tension in the traffic. it's pretty electric around here. >> ifill: it's always good to be around the winner. but mike pesca, let me ask you about this. as you step back a little bit from the excitement happening rightí#this good for baseball ta small market team in the world series. >> oh yeah, i think it is. and even if they are crashing the party they're not someíí creepy guy skulking in the corner, they're grabbing with both hands high fiving everyone. they're the life of the party. they're so compelling you really want to watch them.

i think it draws in the casual fan and not to take anything awayrom the giants, like we shouldn't damn them for their excellence making three world series in five years but when the team hasn't shown up in all these years in 29 years, even the person who only casually likes baseball will say how about that, let's give them a chance. >> ifill: isn't there a possibility hampton stevens that maybe they're mismatched. you got the big time san francisco giants won three times in five years as mike pointed outgoing against someone who hasn't been going for the big ball in a long time. >> i think they play similar styles of baseballthat will hele speed, the defense. i would say obviously the giants have experience. the angels certainly have some big boppers. >> ifill: i heard the price

for a ticket is well north of $600. is this making money for kansas city or just the team. >> i think it's making money for everybody. that's not the important thing but this is the kind of exposure you can't get anywhere else. it's been truly phenomenal for the city just the kind of recognition we're getting across the country. it's pretty exciting, people are starting to get clued in. this is a renaissance and this feels like a culmination of it. >> ifill: mike pesca if i'm airing these games and trying to get eyeball, i'm not as thrilled about the idea of the under dog in the finals. i kind of want new york, i want the big big market. does that cost them? >> yes. well you know, but then again, who aligns themselves and roots for the interests of the networks or major league baseball itself? i mean, theebc/ thing is we sayt but when the yankees are in the world series or the red sox are in the world sees it usually draws. that's not great, the world sees used to be transcendent and you

need the big market teams, san francisco is a huge market. i think it's just better to have a team like the royals where i could what i out all these íshouldn't be there and they've been winning these one-one games which is luck. it's the skilled part of luck but it's luck. you add that up. if they get to game seven that's what really draws ratings a competitive series that goes long. if they get to game seven i can see them being compelling and captivating a lot of people. >> ifill: mike let me follow up on that. how much does it matter what we have here is good news at a time when so much of sports is tarnished? >> well i think that the people who propagate sports are always going to want to emphasize the good news story. and you know, there are narratives that we could bake into things and we could read into things and we can assign things. i mean every team is supposed to be a plucky under dog. and by the way, the giants even at the seventh highest payroll in baseball coming in, that doesn't mean they're bad people right. maybe they're in their own way plucky under dogs and

individuals who transcended whatever up staw kulzjs put in their way. yes, it is definitely true, especially sin the nfl has become so transcendent and they'and definitely with an armn the bottom line. and can be oppressive. baseball is whimsical and it can be magical and as we see with these kansas city royals, it can be a little something special that's not as exactly regimented as this great national sport the nfl is. >> ifill: hampton stevens, how much of the royals excellence is because frankly they were bad for so long and therefore got adjusted and ready to rebuild a team. and how much it is just their turn? >> it's not that it's drastic so much as the decision the franchise made. we can't build from within, we can't really compete with those big market teams because of revenue sharing and lack thereof and a bunch of boring stuff like that. what they did with dayton moore

was really decide to rebuild from the pharmacist tell up. that's one of the gratifying things about this team it's a lot of locally produced, the club produce the talent or traded for it. there's not really a lot of free agents that we brought in, are so i think that's exciting for people as well. some of these players won a champion in single a, double a and triple a together and not appear in the big leagues >> ifill: one final big question. if this is the witnessed mess versus the west, urban versus suburban, winner versus loses, is there any excitement aboutth. start with you hampton. >> well for me it's certainly mid western heartland values against the coastal people. i love sanjit's a world class c. but it's our turn, i think, i hope. and we're just really excited about the values, self sacrifice, teamwork, giving up glory for the sake of your teammate and the kind of things

we want to see and represent. it's pretty exciting. it's goodness against light for me. >> ifill: careful. mike. >> yes, beef versus tofu.w>> if. i get the beef versus tofu, okay. you know which-oj way i'm rootig for. mike pesca, hampton stephens >> woodruff: finally tonight, a prominent observer of american life today takes a look back at his own beginnings. jeffrey brown has our conversation. >> thank you. 5ç>> brown: todaa high profile approach as a columnist for the "new york times," he got there by way of a small segregated town of louisiana. the child hood marked by poverty and a family life that was both sustaining and sometimes violence including sexual

molestation by a cousin. coming to age of manhood that included both learning and rights. all brought to life in a new memoir fire shot up from my bones. charles blow joins me. >> thank you for having me. >> brown: you have this clear voice that comes through in your column. what comes through in the book is a long struggle to get there. did you get a sense of yourself. >> exactly. i think this kind of coming of age is kind of a national part of what most of us go through. and i just wanted to document mine, you know, the part of the writing experience where people say you should write it because you want to read it. and i wanted to read this experience that i had. and i thought it would be helpful too to have other people be able to understand what poverty is like, what this kind of quest for manhood and fluidity, i feel like what struggle through abuse and

trauma. >> brown: the setting feels very much like the old segregated south. >> the year that i was born was the year that my local school actually integratqin 1970. and the town was still relatively segregated and still is to this day in some ways. i mean the cemetery where many of my relatives are buried, black and white race are still segregated. >> brown: you talk about the masculinity sexually played. a core scene which opens the book involves the sexual abuse by a cousin and the very real possibility years later you would kill him for that. >> right. >> brown: explain how that came to play a sexual role in your understanding of yourself. >> through sexual abuse, if you don't deal with it, you push it down and it comes back out in all of these kind of unpredictable ways and this is one of these very unpredictable illogical violent ways it was

expressing myself in13 years al incident. i think the question you're asking is about how that impacts identity. >> brown: yes. because that's what you're exploring through your book. >> right. and i think that you have to separate two things. one is,of a child which i expla very long time in the book. i think that for the child, because they are when the abuse occurs, they're kind of presexual being at that point. you're catapulted from this kind of presexual innocence naivety into a sexual reality, a violent one, kind of psych collageally violated, where you're not fully capable of understanding and putting it into any sort of context. so you can quite naturally and understand brave together these

ideas of identity and attraction and abuse. >> brown: which can become confining. >> right. and also wrong. they tell us that's probably not the way it works but it takes a mature mind, help from professionals looking at what it is to begin and some people never get to the point where they do. in my case i get to the point where i start as a adult.zh that whatever your attractions are going to be that probably either predisposed to that or predetermined to do that. that yes, child sexual abuse has some really horrible side effects that can be sometimes affect over a lifetime. but identity is not a mega thing, it's a different thing. >> brown: do you think, i'm wondering from reading this, was it a question, because you also talked about remaking yourself in some sense from the country

boy to a sphis -- sophisticate or how do you see it looking back now. >> i think it is what you have to try to do is to figure out in life what thingsocne!an and shod be changed and what things cannot and should not be changed. and having the wisdom to be able to separate those two things into separate bass -- baskets. sometimes we don't have that presence of mind or presence of self to be able to understand that identity in particular. it's something that is actually beautiful the way it is doesn't need to be changed and no one else could actually change it for you. >> brown: let me ask you finally, how does all of this factor into the work you do now? because not only are you writing

about societal issues and you're looking at all of these things that show through, masculinity, racialsociety today. >> the things that i write are things you just mentioned. there were very cursory because they are part of my life experience. in addition to that, the kind of voice of the writing is informed by the people that i grew up around. when i'm writing i try to imagine that i'm writing to explain to someone who was a neighbor, or the older gentleman across the street. >> brown: you have them in mind. >> those are the people who i'm trying to talk to. because i think that that to me is most genuine. >> brown: yn all right. the them war isó7óp fire shot un my bones. charles, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. the government announced that all travelers from three west

african countries will have to enter the u.s. through one of five airports to be screened for ebola. a freelance cameraman for n.b.c. is now free of the ebola virus and expected to leave the nebraska hospital on wednesday. and north korea released an ohio man who'd been held six months for leaving a bible in a nightclub. >> ifill: on the newshour online right now, students at high schools and colleges across the country are using business skills to raise money for charities in developing nations, all thanks to "nourish international." the nonprofit started in 2003 as a small venture by a single student at the university of north carolina. now, 60 student groups have distributed funds to over 25 countries. see how they're doing it, on our world page. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at this election's hotly contested fights for governor. i'm judy woodruff >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill,

we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. 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 by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

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this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib, brought to you in part by. >> the street.com, featuring stephanie link who shares her market insights, the multi-million dollar portfolio she manages with jim cramer, you can learn more at the street.com/nbr. the s&p 500 logs its best day of the year, the dow back for 2014, are the steep drops you saw behind us? and estimates after the closing bell, is the turnaround there on track and could the results help shape the trading day tomorrow? and