captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: violence strikes ferguson again. a manhunt is underway after shots wound two police officers standing guard during protests. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. also ahead this thursday: down to the wire. an election preview, as polls show israeli prime minister netanyahu's party losing ground. >> netanyahu thinks-- he really thinks so-- that he is the only one that can protect the country. its really strange, but that's how netanyahu thinks. >> woodruff: plus, computer coding as a career. americans struggling to find jobs turn to web development and programming for better work and wages.

>> why go to college for four years and work up the corporate ladder to get in the position to do something great when you can just learn to create something great? >> ifill: and, with spring training underway, we look at how baseball is trying to make nine long innings go faster. >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> this is about more than work. it is about growing a community. everyday across the country, the men and women of the i.b.e.w. are committed to doing the job right, doing the job safe, and doing the job on time. because while we might wire your street, we're also your friends and neighbors. i.b.e.w. the power professionals in your neighborhood.

>> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> 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.

>> ifill: the latest incident involving secret service agents took a new turn today. two senior agents had allegedly been drinking when their car hit a security barricade at the white house last week. now, "the washington post" reports, they may have disrupted a bomb investigation and driven over a suspicious package that later turned out to be a book. officials said today the homeland security department has opened an investigation into the incident. >> woodruff: divers off the florida panhandle have found an army helicopter that crashed in the gulf of mexico, killing 11 servicemen. the seven u.s. marines and four national guardsmen were on a special operations training mission tuesday night. the fire chief from nearby eglin air force base says a salvage unit will try to raise the wreckage. >> but as you can see with the conditions-- and we've got some weather coming in later on-- they're probably not gonna be

able to start any operation tonight. i don't know what the weather is tomorrow, but i believe we have some more weather coming tomorrow, so that may hamper the beginning of their operation. >> woodruff: the helicopter went down in heavy fog, after another helicopter had turned back because of the conditions. >> ifill: another canadian national railway train derailed overnight, the third in a week. 13 cars jumped the tracks in rural manitoba near the town of gregg, and one of them spilled an oil product. there's been growing concern in canada and the u.s. over oil train derailments. >> woodruff: in bangladesh, at least five people were killed when a cement factory collapsed. dozens more were feared trapped. rescue workers in the port city of mongla struggled to break through the mangled debris and beams throughout the day. they managed to rescue at least 40 people. two years ago more than 1,100 died when a garment factory building collapsed in dhaka, the country's capital. >> ifill: iran's supreme leader

today rejected a warning letter from u.s. senators, over nuclear negotiations. in the letter, 47 republicans said any agreement that lacks congressional approval, might be scrapped by the next u.s. president. in tehran today, ayatollah ali khamenei fired back that the letter shows american deceit and disintegration... >> ( translated ): these gentlemen, the senators have openly announced that when the current administration is no longer in office, the deal that america is making will be null and void. this is the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics. >> ifill: khamenei has generally supported the nuclear talks while expressing doubt about u.s. motives. >> woodruff: tensions between yemen and saudi arabia ratcheted up today. shiite rebels who now control much of yemen began military exercises in their home province near saudi arabia. the saudis regard them as terrorists backed by iran. also today, rebels opened fire on sunni protesters in southern

yemen, killing at least one person. >> ifill: the death toll from ebola in west africa has passed the 10,000 mark. the world health organization marked the milestone today, in the year-old outbreak. and there was word that an american medical worker has been infected in sierra leone. the national institutes of health said the patient will arrive at its hospital in bethesda, maryland, on friday. >> woodruff: the kremlin tried today to quash rumors that russian president vladimir putin is ailing. putin is 62 years old. he has not been seen in public since march 5, and he canceled a trip to kazakhstan. but a spokesman insisted today there's nothing wrong. >> well, there is absolutely no reason for any doubts about the state of his health, his health is really perfect and everything is ok with him, and he's working in accordance with his traditionally overloaded working schedule. >> woodruff: meanwhile, russia's actions in ukraine

prompted the government of poland today to announce nationwide defense exercises. >> ifill: back in this country wall street bounced back from monday's big losses, partly on upbeat news about bank dividends. the dow jones industrial average gained 260 points to close near 17,900. the nasdaq rose 43 points and the s&p 500 was up 25. >> and the reverend willie barrow died at a chicago hospital today. she was a civil rights field organizer for dr. martin luther king jr. in the 60s and took part in the marchs on washington and in selma, alabama. more recently she focused on gun violence in chicago. reverend willie barrow was 90 years old. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: how police respond to the latest ferguson shooting. friendly fire kills 25 iraqi soldiers. israel's elections go down to the wire. why learning to code could spell job security. and, new rules to make baseball

move faster. >> woodruff: now to last night's violence in ferguson, missouri where two police officers were shot outside a protest. this shaky amateur video captured the moment that the gunfire erupted, shortly after midnight. an otherwise peaceful demonstration had been winding down, outside the ferguson police department. >> we heard, the crowd, what sound like a firecracker so we looked up to the top of the hill and we saw two or three more actual gunshot flares from the muzzle of the gun firing towards the officers. >> woodruff: police said those flashes likely came from a handgun, some 125 yards away. there were three or four shots and two struck home. st. louis county police chief jon belmar.

>> this is really an ambush is what it is. you can't see it coming. you don't understand that it's going to happen and you're basically defenseless from the fact that it is happening to you at the time. >> woodruff: one of the wounded officers was shot in the face, the bullet lodged behind his ear. the other was hit in the shoulder by a bullet that just missed his spine. >> we could have buried two police officers next week over this. >> woodruff: instead, officials said neither man suffered permanent injury, and both were released from a hospital late this morning. the shootings came just hours after ferguson police chief tom jackson resigned. he'd been under pressure since the august shooting death of michael brown by officer darren wilson, who's since left the force. then, last week the u.s. justice department accused ferguson's police and courts of rampant racism, prompting chief jackson and five others to quit or be fired. in washington today, however,

attorney general eric holder warned last night's shootings threaten any attempt to move forward. >> this was not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson. this was a damn punk, a punk who was trying to sow discord in an area that is trying to get its act together and trying to bring together a community that has been fractured for too long. this really disgusting and cowardly attack might have been intended to unravel any sense of progress that exists but i hope that does not in fact happen. >> woodruff: president obama tweeted his own reaction, as he left for a trip to los angeles, saying: "violence against police is unacceptable. our prayers are with the officers in (missouri). path to justice is one all of us must travel together." for now, the focus in ferguson is on finding the shooter. officers searched a house today,

and took several people in for questioning. >> woodruff: now to discuss how st. louis county police told the newshour that county and state police will take over security at any ferguson protest tonight. now for a look at what this moment means for law enforcement officers in ferguson and around the country, i'm joined by since nat police chief james jeffrey, who is in atlanta for a law enforcement conference. by chuck wexler. he's the executive director of the police executive research forum. and darrell stephens. he's the executive director of the major cities' chiefs association. welcome to all three of you. darrell stephens, let me start with you. you do represent tens of thousands of police officers across the country. what is your reaction to what happened last night in ferguson? >> well, unfortunately, it's another one of those tragic situation where's police officers have been ambushed. police officers that were at a peaceful protest that were

completely unaware that someone was waiting in the background to take a shot at them. so it's-- it puts the police officers not only in the st. louis county area in a situation of being fearful when they hit the streets. it has an impact throughout the country. it's something that they're used to something that they're trained to respond to, but nevertheless, it's an increasing challenge for them to go out do their job, police, and police effectively when they have this on their mind all the time. >> woodruff: chief blackwell, what were your thoughts when you heard about what happened? and do you agree with mr. stephens that this kind of thing has an impact everywhere? >> it absolutely does. i agree with him wholeheartedly. i think anything like this i say it all the time-- what affects us anywhere affects us everywhere in american policing. and so this act of cowardly injustice committed against these police officers has those officers more on edge now today

at a time when we're trying to increase collaboration and mend the fracture that is existing in that community. it makes it hard to move forward when you have these type of activities taking place. >> woodruff: chuck wexler, let's talk about moving forward. you work with police departments across the country who have been cited for different kind of mismanagement, some accused of abuse, departmentlike ferguson and others. what are you saying in these circumstances not just because of what happened last night, but throughout the last year? what are you saying to police departments, to police officials about how they should be thinking not only about interacting with the community, but about the work they do? >> well it's complicated, and certainly, thank god those two officers are okay last time. and you see hoe complicated their job is from one day they're de-escalating a situation, one day they're

dealing with a homeless person, the next day they're being fired. but i think the report that came out from the justice deparment was a very significant report, and in some ways, the police chief leaving, the city manager leaving gives them an opportunity to move forward. >> woodruff: this in ferguson. >> this is in ferguson. but, you know, this is a defining moment for policing. so as difficult as it is, there can be some good things that can come out of it. i think there's a way to move forward. in cincinnati certainly, where the chief is from, they had this experience. in other cities, in pittsburgh and so forth, there can be some opportunities to learn. the ferg sop situation was particularly problematic because of the revenue aspect of it it. you don't usually see that. >> woodruff: where they were trying to raise a lot of money by giving out many tickets and it appeared to be racially slanted. >> right. and the interesting thing about ferguson, too is its size. it's a city of 22,000. it's 50 officers. most of these incidents that

we've have had been in larger jurisdictions. but most of the police departments in this country are more like ferguson. 85% 90% are 50 officers or less. so that's a challenge. how do you get these smaller agencies to come up to professional standards? >> woodruff: well, whether it's a small or larger agency darrell stephens what are some examples of the kinds of things police are doing or should be doing as they walk this line between respecting the community on the one hand and on the other hand keeping safe themselves? >> well, i think we've seen for a number of years policing implementing community policing, problem solving, engaging the community in a partnership to help make their neighborhoods safer. we're revisiting all of those policies and aproaches that we've seen, effective in our larger cities and elsewhere throughout the country. and i think since ferguson and actually over the past couple of

years, there's been a re-engagement. i think the other thing that we're seeing is-- >> woodruff: let me just interrupt. what do you mean by "re-engagement?" >> i we lost touch with our communities in many cities. the economic downturn through 2008 we saw a lot of our cities lose 300, 400, 500 police officers from their force, and they had to emphasize responding to calls for service. so their ability to spend the time that's required to develop those relationships was impacted heavily. now they continued to try to do that as well as they can, and i think through that process we did lose a little bit of touch and so we're now trying to re-engage and work through those relationships. we're also investing a lot in procedural justice training, in bias training so that officers have a lot better understanding about some of the issues that they face on the street. >> woodruff: chief blackwell,

chief of the police in cincinnati we know you're in atlanta for the conference of black chief-- police executives. what would you add to what he just said and what's the conversation-- i know you just arrived there today, but what is the conversation gamong black police officials about all this? >> well i agree with darrell and chuck. you know, they get us together the major city chiefs, four or five times a year and we talk about, you know, constitutional policing, bias-free policing and community engagement. and darrell is right when he said that when we lost officers due to the economic downturn, a lot of chiefs responded back to our police models traditional policing, where officers simply respond to 911 calls and put fires out and move around and never take the time to engage the community. and unless you have authentic relationships with people in your city you are doomed because there will always be a fracture that exists between cops and community unless you

include the community in problem solving policing. >> woodruff: chuck wexler, what would you to do that? and i'd like to you just add to it, what should people know about the work of the police officer? because i think sometimes it becomes a stereotype. >> sure. first an interesting point, which is crime is actually at its lowest point since the 1960s. that's the irony of this whole situation is that, you know, there was a time 20 years ago there were 2200 homicides in new york city. today there's around 300. so at the same time that crime has decreased, we have this issue of community trust. so they don't-- they're not connected. so that's where we have to reinvest with the communities, engage with the communities and maybe we lost a little bit of that. i think the job of a police officer is incredibly complicated incredibly. one minute as i said before they're trying to deal with someone in crisis.

next minute they're calming them down. one minute it's very calm. the next minute they're being shot at. one minute they have to make split-second decisions on the use of force. and in ferguson, you see that-- in other cities-- you see that so we want people to be really well trained, well selected, we want divorce workforces, all of those things. it's a really important job and a difficult one. >> woodruff: well, we appreciate all of you talking with us it's a difficult subject. chief wexler, james >> ifill: in iraq, there was more heavy fighting in tikrit today as iraqi forces and militias moved in on the islamic state group. elsewhere, the iraqi military reports that several iraqi soldiers were killed in a friendly fire incident involving an aircraft from the u.s. led coalition. newshour special correspondent

jane arraf is on the ground in iraq. i spoke to her a short time ago. jane, thank you for joining us. can we start by talking about the significance of this battle for tikrit. the government seems to have made some progress towards re-entering the city. >> reporter: absolutely, gwen. this is a huge test. it's the biggest sunni city that the forces have tried to take back, and these are government forces, of course, backed by shi'a militia. so they're facing a lot of opposition. it's an isil stronghold, an i.s. group stronghold, and they've held it, essentially, since they rolled into the country starting last june. so it's really going to show whether they're able to take a city like this on the way to mosul. this is a necessary step to mosul. and they're facing a lot of resistance. they've been at this for almost 10 days now still inside only part of the city and fighting very fiercely with islamic state fighters who have laid explosives all the way along the

roads. gwen. >> ifill: there have been some concerns the iraqi forces were not ready for prime time. has this shown that they are or are they getting significant support from coalition forces? >> reporter: well, that's the really interesting thing because this isn't really just one battle against the islamic state group. it's many different battles, and the dynamics in tikrit are that the u.s. is really not involved. it's iran at the front of this. it's iranian-backed militias. there are twice as many militiamen as there are regular iraqi army troops. so this really is an indication of how different that kind of fight is. now, here in the north there have of course been peshmerga kurdish forces, backed by u.s. air strikes and there are u.s. air strikes in anbar the western province. but tikrit really is a show that's run by the iranian-backed militias, by the iraqis themselves, and the u.s. is very carefully stayed out of that.

so the real test here isn't even so much can they take back the city because they are expected to? it's what happens after? how do they hold the city? and will people be confident that it's safe enough to come back given that there are concerns about revenge killings and ethnic cleansing as well. >> ifill: you mentioned anbar province. there is another complication on that front. a friendly fire incident. what can you tell bus that? >> reporter: well that one is murky. what we know is approximately 25 iraqi soldiers have been killed when what appears to be their military barracks were hit by an air strike. some iraqi officials have said it was a u.s. air strike. the u.s. has said it actually did launch an air strike in ramadi, but that it hit islamic state fighting positions, and it says it knows of no friendly fire casualties. so that leaves one more option, basically. the only other aircraft operating in the area were

iraqi. the implication is that it might have been iraqi friendly fire but that's still being investigated. >> ifill: so much is still being investigated and the story changes every day. thank you for covering it for us, jane arraf in baghdad. >> reporter: thank you, gwen. >> woodruff: the political future of the israeli prime minister, who dominated headlines last week with a speech to congress, is very much up in the air tonight, as a rival political faction inched ahead of his party in the latest polls. newshour special correspondent martin seemungal traveled to israel to see what the leader is up against in this coming tuesday's election. >> reporter: one man has dominated israel's knesset for the last six years: benjamin netanyahu, leader of the center- right likud party. in fact, if you include the three years he served as prime minister in the late '90s, he is the second-longest serving

israeli leader behind david ben guirion, known as the father of israel. netanyahu was just two years into his term when he called this election, and it will be pivotal one, a referendum on benjamin "bibi" netanyahu. >> there will be people who say we have to have netanyahu. we can't trust to have anyone else lead this country in this fraught region. >> reporter: david horowitz is the former editor of the influential "jerusalem post." he now runs his own paper, the "times of israel." >> and there will be part of the electorate that says "anyone but netanyahu. the man's a disaster, he's plunging israel into pariah status, and we need a change of leadership." >> reporter: when he campaigns, netanyahu is, as always confident of victory. >> ( translated ): pushing the line that israel faces an existential threat from iran and hamas in gaza, telling audiences about his responsibility to protect the nations national security. >> reporter: aviv bushinsky

netanyahu's media adviser when he was prime minister in 1998. >> netanyahu thinks-- he really thinks so-- that he is the only one that can protect the country. its really strange, but that's how netanyahu thinks. >> reporter: but israelis are divided-and undecided. the polls are close. the labour party, led by isaac herzog and his new ally, tzipi livni, have formed a formidable alliance, the zionist union, sometimes called the zionist camp. often campaigning together, they are going after center and center-left voters. herzog and the zionist camp are looking to capitalize on that perception that israel is looking for a change. >> ( speaking hebrew ) >> reporter: herzog tells potential supporters to forget about labour's past electoral defeats, to focus on replacing netanyahu. he won many supporters at this kibbutz near tel aviv. >> people say that bibi is strong.

so what? what it means for us? he's strong, okay, but nothing is good. that's why we need someone that can make a change. >> tens of thousands turned out last weekend in tel aviv's rabbin square, not as a statement of support for any single police plil faction but as a uniifying call for the ouster of the prime minister, even some former supporters are turning. >> i think netanyahu right now is the best, but still no results for the last six years. >> reporter: so, time for a change? >> yes, it's time for a change. >> reporter: who did you vote for in the last election? >> the last election, i voted for netanyahu. >> reporter: and why not this time? >> because he fight with mr. obama. >> reporter: and you don't like that? >> no, i don't like this. >> reporter: why don't you like that?

>> because obama is good for us, and it's not good that mr. netanyahu fight with him. >> we the younger people we need hope. we need hope, we seek hope, and the economic situation is not going any better, and the situation with the palestinians isn't getting any better. >> reporter: despite netanyahu's public support for two states for two peoples, the peace process remains at a standstill. tzipi livni, the zionist union's other leader, regularly attacks netanyahu on the palestinian issue. livni has long experience negotiating with the palestinians in previous governments, including netanyahu's most recent one. >> i do believe in the right of the jewish people on their land, but i also believe that the vision of two states for two people represents the interest of israel-- not a favor to the palestinians, not even a favor to the president of the united states. it is our interests and the only way to keep israel a jewish democratic state.

>> reporter: again, the message is clear: the zionist camp represents the real israel, that victory is near. and do you think you're going to win? >> yes, of course. of course we should win! >> reporter: but livni and herzog are seen to lack on that one issue that polls show israelis are deeply concerned about: security. herzog has impeccable political credentials, but he isn't a former general and unlike netanyahu, herzog didn't serve in an elite military unit. the likud ad campaigns portray the zionist union leaders as weak and indecisive. the center-left tries to steer away to the economy and other areas of dissatisfaction, including corruption and the sky-high cost of living and housing prices which have left many israelis behind.

but that strategy is proving difficult. you will often hear people talk about social issues on the street, but, so far, those issues have not been a major factor in the campaign. netanyahu has somehow managed to keep those issues out of the pre-election debate and keep the focus on security. it is critical to his re- election campaign. here's why: the latest polling has the center-left zionist camp inching ahead to the center- right likud, but many analysts believe the gap must be significant-- wide enough to counter netanyahu's strength, a better chance of forming a coalition with the smaller right wing parties. >> it doesn't block iran's path to the bomb. it paves iran's path to the bomb. >> reporter: analysts believe that's why netanyahu talks about iran, why he went to congress despite opposition from nearly half the israeli population. >> netanyahu is not talking to the entire population; he is talking to the right wingers.

because he wants to capture the most seats, and he knows he will not get it from the left; he'll get it from the right. >> reporter: within the right wing itself, netanyahu could face challenges from nafthali bennett of the ultra nationalist jewish home party or moshe khalon, one of netanyahu's former ministers now leading his own party. both are expected to join netanyahu in a coalition, but nothing is a sure thing. and for the first time, israel's arab parties have united. they are running as one bloc and are expected to do well. kassim sulieman is an arab israeli talk show host. she says the arab parties could end up with 12 to 15 seats enough to influence who becomes prime minister. >> they will find a way to help let's say, left-wing government but without being a part of the government. >> reporter: israel's president reuven rivlin, will ultimately decide who will be prime minister, and it won't necessarily be the leader with the most seats, rather the

person best able to put together a coalition. if the results are close, there could be days of horse trading. >> the morning after, when they add up the votes, it may not be clear who these party leaders will recommend to the president their choice for prime minister. it might take a while to play out. >> reporter: israelis and the world will be watching. will netanyahu emerge as prime minister again, or will it be someone new? for the newshour, i'm martin seemungal in jerusalem. >> ifill: now, becoming a professional computer programmer in weeks. economics correspondent paul solman has the story. it's part of our ongoing reporting, "making sense," which airs every thursday on the newshour. >> reporter: what's making this drone fly? not a remote-control gizmo but

computer code written by students at new york's flat iron school. one of numerous coding bootcamps online and around the country designed to land their graduates gigs in perhaps the hottest field in america right now web development. >> i think that if you program today, you're a man that can see in a blind man's world. >> reporter: programming is big right now says flat iron cofounder and dean avipositive flanned balm, and will be even big nert future. >> there's just such a demand for these kinds of skills that if you are competent and you are passionate about this and a self-driven person, there are more opportunities than they can possibly fill. >> reporter: 12 weeks of immersive coding, no experience required, at a cost of $12,000 to $15,000. but at the end, 99% of flat iron graduates get jobs as developers

making, on average $74 a year to start. armondo amedure graduated a year ago after losing hiss marketing design job in 2013. >> i remember being unemployed, and i couldn't find anything. i couldn't find-- not even an interview. people would not respond back to e-mails. and once i finished the program and i changed my job title to software engineer, just that same hour my in bosks full of messages, just like people sending you e-mails, and calling you. >> reporter: how did you feel? >> i felt like i was on top of a mountain. i just felt like, powerful, like, where were you guys a couple of months ago when i was looking for a job in. >> reporter: at manhattan start-up wizard development, amador now makes double what he used to. it's jobs like his that drew current student geraldinea garcia to flat iron. she dropped out of college to attend. >> i kind of got into the tech

industry and realized how unimportant a college degree really is. >> reporter: garcia, who majored in computer science, joins a growing chorus of those questioning the value of a degree from a traditional four-year university especially if it means assuming debt. >> a lot of my friends that graduate this past year and the year before are still looking for jobs. i think part of the reason for that is that they know a lot of the theory, but they don't have hands-on experience. >> reporter: maybe that's why college didn't work out for class leewad. >> i took two intro to programming classes at the university of michigan. i failed the first time and then i failed again the second time. i thought i'm not a programmer. i'm definitely not cut out for this. >> reporter: but he went online, started learning how to code on his own, then applied to flat iron. >> why go to college for four years and work up a corporate ladder to get in the position to do something great when you can just learn to create something great? >> reporter: now the dropout

and code approach isn't for everyone. after all, the unemployment rate for those without a traditional college degree is double the rate of those who graduated. moreover, few applicants get into flatiron at the moment. the 6% acceptance rate rival's harv orders, but insist founder flambomb literally anyone can learn to code. >> right now we're look at your web site making sense. you can view the page's source and immediately see the source code that is describing the instructions to the browser for how to make your page look. if i want, i can change this text to say "welcome to flatiron school, paul." >> reporter: i see these are just all instructions. >> yeah, that's what code is just instructions. we call this as a programmer joke, string theory all the worldwide web wikipedia, twitter, your web site are, giant strings of code. >> reporter: his own interest

in coding began with a computer game called nibbles in elementary school. >> eventually i got so good at that game i could beat it every time and i opened up the source code to try to make the game harder. >> reporter: he went on to teach himself how to code, although it wasn't easy. >> the way in which i learned how to program was one of the darkest times of my life. i was in high school and i was all alone, and i had no support. and it was really a struggle. so with all the beginners that come through flatiron school we very much talk about what the process of learning something difficult feels like, and not to give up. to just continue struggling through it because one day you will understand it. >> reporter: 37-year-old natasha springer was in biotech but left the job market to raise two children. when she tried to go back-- >> they thought i was out of the market. maybe i didn't really have the same skills anymore. so they-- they wanted to offer me a job at entry level. >> reporter: so she applied to flatiron and now creates web sites at dow jones.

so if you clip on thomas. >> mail that person. >> reporter: i see. that's cool. >> this was my first project when i got here and this is my team. >> reporter: but you're the only woman here. >> that's right. ( laughs ) >> reporter: well why is that? >> in the tech industry it's mostly men a lot of, like 25-year-old men. >> reporter: and it's not just that the field is dominated by young men. on tv and in reality most of them are either white or asian. >> normally, the tech world is 2% women. guys, these next three days, 15%. >> reporter: we heard many explanations for the lack of diversity. >> you see mark zuckerberg from facebook, and you don't see people that look like you. >> reporter: growing up in the bronx armando amador couldn't afford a laptop. >> i just didn't have the resources to play around and hack and around just really learn all about technology. >> reporter: the well-known digital divide may help explain some of the minority exclusion but what about women?

>> boys like to play more video games so it might have to do with how they've grown up in the curlt of video games. >> i think it's a confidence issue for girls because they expect it to be a boys' club, and it's hard for a woman to get into a boys' club. >> reporter: but whatever the historical reasons a young boys' club it has been for years. there are efforts under way to make the coding community more diverse. for instance, amador taeppedded flatiron as part of a new york city-sponsored free fellowship for underrepresented groups. and francele gol atta, amador's boss said diversity is a market opportunity. >> everyone has a different approach to solving problems. >> reporter: he believes his company has a competitive advantage-- hiring programertion who look and think differently why young, white boys like him. >> i am representative of most

mid- to senior-level developers but i don't think a team like me would make good products why we were doing what we were doing didn't make sense to him when it made perfect sense to me. of course it made sense to me because i came up with it. the same problem he was having is the same problem i imagine most of our users are anything to be having. >> reporter: meanwhile, the jobs are there for pretty much everyone these days. so many web sites, so much software the programming pool will simply have to grow to keep up with the men. this is economics correspondent paul solman reporting for the pbs newshour from new york. >> woodruff: don't go anywhere, we'll be right back with changes to baseball to make the game go faster. but first, it's pledge week on pbs. this break allows your public television station to ask for

your support.

>> woodruff: baseball has always been, famously, a game played with few concerns about time and pacing, with no time constraints to guide it-- play goes on

until someone wins. well, spring training has begun and there are new rules this year intended to speed up the game. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> sreenivasan: have you been to a ballgame in the last few years? or watched one on tv? the average duration of a regular game is now three hours and two minutes. that means a game is about a half-hour longer than it was in the early eighties. major league baseball is concerned about that and with exhibition games under way in arizona and florida, the league is making some adjustments, including what happens between innings and in the batter's box. mike pesca is host of slate's daily news and discussion podcast, "the gist," and a contributor to npr. so first of all, what are the changes that they're trying to make? >> well one of them is just enforcing a rule that's on the books. the batter cannot step out of the batter's box, always has to have a foot there. the the reason is if you watch a baseball game-- and this is a recent trend-- the batters adjust every piece of equipment, even when all they do is stand there and take a pitch. somehow their batting gloves got

loose during that. it's a few things. it's an afecitation, it's a habit. sometimes it's trying to get in the heads of the pitchers. here's baseball saying guys, stay in the batter's box and get ready for the next pitch. there's not a clock during the game but in between innings it will be two minutes, 25 second, or nationally televised, two minutes, 45 seconds. with 20 seconds remaining they will start to announce that the batter is entering the box. and then the pitcher will be ending hez warm-ups before the next starts. so when you come back from commercial, the batter will be right there ready to receive the pitch, the pitcher will be ready to go and this will speed things up they hope. >> sreenivasan: the pitcher has on the books now only a finite amount of time and the batter's box rule has been there. how do you get to ren enforce it this? >> they have very very rarely but in the past have threatened to find relievers. now that you know it's a rule, the umpire, who has great discretion in the game, will

say, "let's go let's go." with 40 seconds left the guys will be walk up. what baseball is trying to do, baseball purists and clocks don't go well together. the great appeal of baseball among great appeals ta game without time. it is a pastoral game separated from time. now, there's a minor league system and some colleges actually have a clock while the pitcher is on the mound but major league baseball does not want to do it. they evening they do these changes, which are around the margins, which won't ever offend a purist in fact stop adjusting your gloves, i think the purists will really like that. those are the sort of things they can do to shave a couple of minute of these really long games. >> sreenivasan: is this an interest to try to stay competitive, the action and excitement of football or basketball? i mean baseball is, as you say quintessentially not those games. it's a different kind of experience if you go with your friend, if you're watching air, lot of it is the socializing and relaxing. >> but i think that was true in 1981 when the average game was two and a half hours. and remember if the average is three hours, that means, you know, half the games are more

than three hours. that's a problem. and i think baseball knows what its niche is. in a way, you could argue very factually baseball has never been more successful, the owners are making money money than ever, more people are going to the ballpark. baseball has great appeal, i don't want the new commissioner knows you can't rest on your laurels. the youth market has shorter attention spans and you have to give a little more exciting game that's a little more at say 20-ith,ing if not 21st century pace to the roots of the game. >> sreenivasan: say nationally televised and some people are going to wonder how much of this is the broadcast cart driving the horse. >> i don't know that it's a huge broadcast consideration because a lot of those naturally broadcast games are the longest games expect there are 20 more secondes of commercials in between innings and they put the yankeesyankeesyankees and retd sox on against each other. they good ratings and play the longest baseball games known to man.

the nationally televised aspect baseball less important than a sport like football where every game, every weekend, there are nationally televised game less more so with baseball. baseball is more day in-day out 162 games making that experience more relative to modernity. >> sreenivasan: and what about those superstitious players who say i have to adjust the glove four times before i take a swing because that's when i'm going to get the home run? >> that could be beaten out of them. and i think especially for the minor leagues they come up knowing that's not the sort of thing to be done. we also have seen derek jeter retired. he was one of the huge glove adjustors, maybe his exiting from the game will speed things along a little bit. >> sreenivasan: finally, speed and baseball, wilfarrell for a charitable cause what is he trying to do? >> playing nine positions-- actually 10 positions because he's going to five different games, so that means thereby 10 teams. he will be the umpire in one of these games. he's honoring the former athletic bert camp narris, the

first player to perform this feat. ferrell is a 40-year-old comedian, las vegas or offshore betting has odds on will he commit an error? it's quite likely and so we'll see how that goes. >> sreenivasan: mike pesca we'll see how that goes thank you. >> you're welcome. >> ifill: finally, to our "newshour shares" of the day. something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. 82 years ago today, president franklin delano roosevelt delivered the first of 30 radio speeches, which came to be known as the fireside chats. the addresses comforted american audiences and were designed to inspire confidence in the nation's leaders during the great depression. here's a bit from the first fireside chat families gathered around their radios to hear, in 1933.

>> ifill: technology may have changed, but roosevelt's idea of a fireside chat still lives even in today's social media, where the phrase is used regularly to mean a more intimate or personal explanation of something. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: president obama and attorney general eric holder condemned the wounding of two policemen in ferguson, missouri last night. a manhunt for the gunman was under way. and "the washington post" reported two secret service agents disrupted a potential bomb scene when their car struck white house barricades last week. they'd allegedly been drinking and may have driven over a suspicious package that later turned out to be a book. >> ifill: on the newshour

online, a trillion-dollar transfer of wealth is hurting the middle class. that's what guest columnist nick hanauer says. and he would know, because the billionaire investor has transferred more than a little wealth himself through stock buybacks. learn how they work, and read his argument against them on our homepage. that's at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, we'll look at a scathing report on the failures to ease the humanitarian crisis in syria. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you on-line, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and michael gerson. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪

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this is "nightly business report sue herera. much more tonight on "nightly business report" for march 12th. >> wipe away your tears from a past couple of days. wipe those losses away. more importantly stocks are once again positive for the year helped by a strong showing in financials.