captioning sponsor byro newshourctions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight,he punishing cold lingers over the midwest, with temperatures pllyging to record lows norm felt only in the arctic. then, european nations make a plano do business with iran despite president trump's sanctions. will this new arrangement keep iran's nuclear ambitio check? and, a conversation with chris christie on his new book "let me finish," chronicling his tumultus time as head of the trump transition team. plus, n.f.l. players can rake in millions of dollars, but careers in the league often only last a few years. making sense of the economics of life after the gridiron. >> if the average career in the f.l. is three and a half

years, and the average lifespan is seventy something years, that is a tiny blip on your lifs pan. if t all that you really care about, and this is who makes you what you are, then you're going to suffer for a long time in the grand scheme of life. n woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbsshour. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by: american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour.

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possible by the corporation for nsblic broadcasting. and by contributo your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: for the midwest today, there's been little respite from the deep freeze. that will come this weekend, as the polar air mass pushes on. but, it leaves at le dead and a long list of all-time low temperatures. >> this is appleton, wisconsin. it's negative 22. it feels like negative 42. >> nawaz: days of dangerous cold came to a head early this morning for much of the midwest. in northeastern wisconsin, wind chills of 43 below zero froze hot water in mid air. in illinois, a state-record breaking minus-38 degrees in mount caroll, not counhing the wind.

in houston, minnesota, minus 37 degrees. negative 49 with the windchill. and in michigan, wind-chill readings in thnegative 40's, compounded by a fire yesterday at a natural gas station north of detroit. >> we made it through the night. >> naw whitmer and michigan's main natural gas utility had to ask people to turn trmostats down to 65 degrees. automakers general motors, fordt hrysler, and other big energy users suspended production at 18 plants. >> i would just suggest that the voluntary efforts and the curtailment efrts that dropped e load by about 10% was needed in order to be able to weather the peak that we saw this morning. >> nawaz: meanile, crews scrambled to restore electric grids and gas lines elsewhere, including to some 60,000 customers who lost power around chicago yesterday. the city was already frozen over, and mayor rahm emanuel warned of a new storm. >> with more snow on the way we're not out of the woods yet.t >> nawaz: but vulnerable to pee long stretch of cold,

thousands of homelople across the region. in madison, wisconsin, first united methodist church has been running an emergency shelter since monday. karen andro is in charge. >> here, is that in this kind of crisis, and it is a crisis. it really is akin to a hurricane, a tornado, a fire, losing your home. what's happening right now is that conditions that are already ysressed. >> nawaz: andro saer group and others could use financial contributions, volunteers and shipments of hd warmers and ankets. >> outerwear. we see people coming in with very ill-equipped outwear like the thin mittens, the thin clot, mittheir socks, their appropriate socks. all of that outwear. >> nawaz: and, as the cold blast reaches the east coast, officials from washing new york are urging caution.

>> so stay in, stay warm, help your neighbor. >> nawaz: new york governor for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. woodruff: in the day's other news, president trump and house speaker nancy pelosi faced off, in the funding fight over the president's demand for a southern border wall. in a tweet storm, mr. trump dismissed negotiations in congress, and warned "republicans on the homeland security committee are wasting their time." later, at a white house event, he vowed to reject any deal that fails to fund a border wall. >> if they don't have a wall, i don't even want to waste my time reading what they have because it's a waste of time, because the only thing that works for security and safety for our country is a wall. >> woodruff: speaker pelosi wasn equally adagainst a border wall, but she did not rule out other types of barriers. >> there isn't going to be any wall money in the legislation. normandy fencing would work, but

let them have that discussion because it's all about two things: cost benefit analysis, t what best way, and what do you get for your dollar in order to protect the border. >> woodruff:ongressional negotiators have a february 15th deadline to reach an agreement, before the next government shutdown deadline. federal officials confirmed ngday that at least 15 detained migrants are staunger strikes around the country, and some are being forceed. immigration and customs enforcement said six are being fed through nasal tubes in el paso, texas, underourt order. the hunger strikers are mainly from india and cuba. they say they face verbal abuse and threats by guards. u.s. customs andorder protection has announced its biggest-ever bust involving fentanyl. agents in nogales, arizona today showed off 250 pounds of the deadly drug. they found it saturday, hiddenoa

in aof mexican produce entering the u.s. the synthetic opioid has caused surge in fatal overdoses. in the u.s. senate, republicansr and des joined today in challenging president trump's plans to withdraw troops from syria and afghanistan. majority leader mitch mcconnell offered a resolution that warns against any sudden pull- outs. republican marco rubio said terror groups still pose serioun threatoth syria and afghanistan.f >>e united states and the anti-isis coalition is not in syria and operating until isis is completely wipeout there will be no sustained pressure on isis or on al quaeda. and they will both grow back stronger and have the capability to plot against the homeland a american interests around the world. >> woodruff: the procedural vote advanced the non-binding mcconnell measure with republican and some democratic support. that virtually assures final

passage. separately, a federal court has ordered syria to pay $302 million in the death of amican journalist marie colvin, in 2012. the court found she was deliberately targeted by syrian artillery. the u.s. military says an air strike has killed 24 al-shabab militants in somalia. wednesday's raid was the ninth already this year. officials say it targeted a camp used by the extremist group north of mogadishu. al-shabab was behind an assault on a hotel complex in kenya this month that killed 21 people. the u.s. and china wound up two days of trade talks aiming for agreement before march 2n when a new round of u.s. tariffs kicks in. president trump met with china's vice premier, and presented a letter from presid jinping saying he hopes china and thu.s. can meet halfway.

mr. trump said he and xi will likely have to meet before there's any final deal. and, stocks were mixed on wall street today. e dow jones industrial average fell 15 points to close at 24,999. the nasdaq rose 98 points,nd the s&p 500 added 23. still toome on the newshour: european countries try to rescue their business dealings with iran. a conversation wh chris christie about his new memoir. state-level democrs making abortion more accessible, and much more. >> woodruff: the u.s. and its european allies work together on many issues, but they diverge dramatically over iran's nuclear program. when the u.s. withdrew from the

iran nuclear deal last year, and then snapped back sanctions on iran, the europeans objected strongly. today, they took a major step ta try and helpget around .hose sanctions. here's nick schifr >> schifrin: when the u.s., iran, and the europeans sileed the 2014 n deal, iran froze its nuclear program in exchge for billions of dolla of economic benefits. the trump administration's withdrawal fm the deal meant iran never received much of the revenue it was promised. which is why the europeans todap announced a y, financed by germany, france and u.k., that's designed to allow iran to both gain some of that revenue, a keep them in the nuclear deal. the new company allows iran to barter goods with foreign companies without any money exchanged. that means they avoid u.s. banks and u.s. dollars, so they could avoid u.s. sanctions. the europeans say the first goods that iran will receive include drugs and medical devices, which iran nes. to talk about this i'm joined by david o'sullivan, e.u.

ambassador to the u.s. ambassador, thank you very much, lcome back to the "newshour". >> thank you. >> reporter: ar.are you trying e u.s. efforts in ira >> absolutely not. i think the most important thing to underline is that we, in the european union, believe that keeping iran in this nuclearre deal, and they complying with this deal as was announjucd this week by the c.i.a. in return for that, they areed entio expect some economic benefit and some increased trade and economic activity, and the purpose of the announcement today to allow this to ho happen. as you say, the primary focus in the beginning will be on goodse which t actually under sanction at all, which are humanitarian goo , exceptions e sanctions regime, but which is sometimes difficult to trade because of the reluctance of financial bodies to deal with anything to do with iran, so this will make that, i hope, easier. >> why risk, exacerbating the difference with the u.s.? >> we respec the administration's decision to withdraw from the agreement but

imagine they also respect the fact that we are still signanories to the agreement feel bound by it, and it is also profoundly in europe's security interest to prevent iran from developing or obtaining nuclear weapons. but, of course, we also share many of the concerns ofhe administration on other iranian activities and indeed recently announced sanctions in response to some of the terrorist plotves und in europe. so we're trying to work with the administration even as we have some disagreements about thispr ise deal as you say, the point of this is to keep iran in the deal. do you think it's enough? many companies that deal in iran have already said that they won't try and use this vehicle because thon fear u.s. secry sanctions? es well, at the end of the day, you know, compaill have to decide whether they feel comforta and we know that some companies may take the decision not to foe fear to haveecondary sanctions, but we, on the european side, are determined to make every effort we can o continue to allow iran to have

the commercial benefit from thi deal which was promised. >> schifrin: but if the folks fs is on drugs, how do you get iran the economi benefit you say t needs to stay in the deal? >> well, i think the focus is on deliver stuff permitted ander humanitaxceptions, but we are also looking at ways to improve s onomic conditith iran. there are small and medium-sized european companies that don't necessarily trade heavily with the united states orat all who may be interested in doing business. of course, it's challenging, no point pretending it isn't, but we still believe it is very much in our national security centers to prerve this deal d deliver some of the benefits iran is entitled to expt. >> schifrin: let me read a statement from the state department, entities that continue to engage in obrveddable activity with iran risk losing access to the national intelligence system and the ability to do business with

the united states or u.s. companies. do you fear the u.s. could k.,ually sanction the u. germany or france? >> i think the u.s. and the european european union are very strong strategic partners, we fespect fully the decision this administration to withdraw from the new nucle deal. we believe they should also respect the fact that the european nations have decided to remain party to this, which is sanctioned by u.n. resolutions. >> do you think any of the u.s. pressure on theffort is misplaced? >> well, we don't share the administration's analysis, but we understand that they take a different view, and we are friends and allies, but sometimes we takeifferent view, and that is the case in is instance. >> two months to brexit day. is the e.u. willing to renegotiate the deal as prime minister theresa may opponents in parliament pushed her to do. >> we believe the deal signed ab greed is thst deal.

the so-called backstop, the provision designed to prevent the reemergence of a harboer between northern ireland and the republic of ireland is a fail-safe. it's not the end point we hope to rea we hope to teach the objective of no border. i think people will listen to what mrs. may has to say and if there is something in there that uld be done to be helpful, such as the declaration on the future relations, i think people will try to be as helpful as ssible. but it took us 18 months to negotiate this deal and, in fact, the final version of the backstop whi wacontained in the deal was very much designed by the u.k. itself, not something imposed the european union. >> another option, would the european union be wling to extend the deadline if the british prime minister scdz for that? >> this is possible, it requiree the unanimous ent of the other 27, but if there were to be a request, i'm sure people

uld listen carefully to the reasons force such an extension and people will try to be helpful, but i think they will need to understand what hoped to be achieved. >> schifrin:. >> schifrin: david o'sullivan, e.u. ambassador to the u.s., thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the revolving door of those in president s orbit has sparked a boon in thoks attempting to offer inside accounts of perhapmost tumultuous campaign, transition and presidency in modern american politics. out this week, "let me finish: trump, the kushners, bannon, new jersey, and the power of in- your-face politics." its author, former republicanrs new governor chris christie. he ran for preside in 2016, then became a vocal supporter of mr. trump and, for a time, ersaw the president elect's transition team.

governor christie, welce to the "newshour". there's so much ground you cover in this book, so many stories,er s one anecdote i want to ask you about, though. you say this is a perfect capsule of president trump. this was the first you have been with him. you had dinner with him. it was 2003. afterwards, a woman comes up, was a fan of his, wants to take a picture.en he camera doesn't work, what happens? what does he d >> well, this was in may 22, judy, outside the john george restaurant, which is in one of y,ump's hotels in new york cit and it was a woman and her husband, obvious tourists waiting outside the restaurant, pleaded with him for a photo with her husband, and that's before the day we were all walking around with phones in our pockets on our cellne pho so no camera, she had a disposable camera, one of those black and yellow kodak dispose also. she keeps hitting the button, it won't go off. you could see donald is getting more and more impatient. he finally just stes away and

says to her, sweetheart, let's do this next time we get together. turned, got into his limousine and refer to. and the woman who did not know me at the time at all, turned to me and said, but we're never going to get back together.hi i said, i k that's the point. s d he called me the next day to say, hey, that a pretty good line, huh, got me out of there. it was just a real icture of donald trump, deliver and funny, interesting and also doing twhatever he can doo get what he wants. >> woodruff: and as you say, he ordered your dinner for you that night. >> he did. extraordinary. ordered me two things, one i was allergic to and one i detested. it was not spicious beginning. >> woodruff: governor, in the book you tell your own story and talk about how close you became to him over the years. ofu had dinnen with your wife mary pat, with president trump and his wifell efore he ran for president, but then you get to 2016, the two of you are running against each other. he cmes to new jersey, and you

cite a speech he gave where you say it was full of whoppers and untruths, anyou wrote -- u said i had no problem with hard ball politics, but knowingly lying? you said, to me, that was over the line. u don't do that to anyone, let alone a friend of longstanding. yet, you've gone on to support him. >> well, listen, judy, what happened after that, as you know from reading the is that i went after him pretty hard. he did that in the aternoon in south carolina. i went after him very hashedr that evening ohe lying in iowa. the next day, he called, and hed i was angry, i went over the line, it wasn'true, i know it wasn't true, i apologize. and, you know, in my view, when you've had someone who's friend for 14 years, you understand that, in politicsso times, the emotions run high, you've got to decide you accept the apology or don't you, and, based upon 14 years of

friendship, i accepted the pollingy. the important thing is he never said those things again epuher inic or private. >> woodruff: but you worked hard for him. you worked hard for his election. he thanked you and said he wou consider you for vice president. he didn't. for attorney general, they tok u off the transition. why stay with them, with him when you've had -- again, whe you've had this kind of close relationship but payoff, so to speak, franhay. >> first, a job at the time, i was the governor of new jersey, so i didn't need a job. and secondly, listen, we have one president at a time, and we have one country, and the fact is that i think my relationship with the president helps him. i think it's good to have friends of old standing available to you to spe t to bounce ideas off, to get suggestions from. >> woodruff: let's bring you today. if you were he, would you be making the issue he is right now

out of a physical barrier at thn soutorder? >> well, i'm not him. what i would tell you is it's very important tthhim. fact is, you know, he compromised by reopening the government, and, now, i think it's time for democrats to think about how they want this to end. my criticism of the president in closing down the governmenthwas had no end game. >> woodruff: but i've also said, governor, that you tnk the immigration issue should be gettled in a way that honors our national heri is the president doing that? >> listen, i think that's much bigger than just a wall. i think that's total immigration reform which is what i talked about in my campaign for president and what i prefer congress do right ow is come up with a total immigration reform package including border security that they could send to the president for his consideration, and theifcould do thathey wanted to, judy, and part of the problem is they don't want to do that because it's hard,eth really hard, because you're going to offend on stitch wednesdayys no matr which way you turn, but that's

why -- i thought that's why you ran for the job was to get things gone, and i will tell you that, on the president, i'm deconfident that the pre would be willing to compromise -- >> woodruff: without -- in other wos, you think he's ready to settle for an agreement that doeave money for a wall? >> no, that's not what i said. he wants $5.7 billion for a wall, and if the democrats deny him any type of partial compromise for what he wants, then they're going to leave him with no alternative but to take acnon on his , that will wind up in the courts, and that's not good for the country. >> woodruff: moving ahad, if you're president trump, who do you least want the to face as a democratic challenger? >> well, listen, first of all, it's impossiblto tell, rig? because if you look at this time four years ago, the republican frontrunner was jeb bush. so you can't judge this thing in january of 19.on >> what abouhe republican side. do you think there would be a

challenge to the republican nomination and particulay you long-time friend maryland otvernor larry hogueson ruling it out? >> i don't believe there would be a challenger to the president when i looke most recent polls of republican primary voters, show the prident with an 81% approval rating, that only leaves 189% who don't approve of his job. toat's not a lot of roo build a primary campaign on. so i think given the circumstances right now, i don't see any type of primary clalg to t --challenge to the president. i think he will be the republican no 2minee in0. >> woodruff: you told stephen colbert ye you thought you would be a better president than donald trump. how so? j >> wely, i ran for president, so if you don't believe you would be better, you had no business run first place. so i do think i would be a better president, but if idi 't think that, i had no business asking for people's ldney and votes two years ago. >> woodruff: how wou be better? >> listen, judy, if you're going to give me half an hour, we'll do an interview and go through

it chapter and verse. >> woodruff: okay. but i would say one thing as an example in order to not totally evade your question, i talked with my experience as a governor for eight years dealing with a democratic legislature. when you do that day in and day out, you do learn things about how to work with the legislative branch of government, how to forge compromise and how to make re that those compromises are tht debilitating to future deals. k that experience would stand me in fairly good steadn today's political world. but as for the rest of it, we could do a whole half hour, sometimes. >> woodruff: the book "let me finish." thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: stay with us, lming up on the newshour: the economics ofe after the n.f.l.

how news media layoffs are particularly harmful to localra co. plus, artist and activist melissa malzkuhn gives her brief but spectacular take on human connection. proposed legislation in the virginia house of des has sparked outrage among conservatives nationwide. the bill, sponsored by a democratic lawmaker, would loosen restrictions on third trimester abortions. a warning that this story contains strong content that may be difficult to hear. lisa desjardins reports. changing the standard, yes. >> desjardins: this one-minute exchange, with virginia delegate kathy tran defending hered propegislation, sparked a firestorm wednesday. >> how late in the thirdul trimester a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the of the woman? >> or physical health. >> okay, okay. i'm talkinabout the mental health. >> so i mean through the thirde trimester ird trimester

goes all the way up to 40 weeks. >> okay. but to the end of the third trimester. >> ye wp, i don't thihave a limit in the bill. >> where it's obvious that a woman is about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could requf t an abortione was so certified? >> that would be a, you know, a decision that the doctor the physician and the woma >> i understand that. i'm asking if your bill allows that >> my bill would allow that. yes. >> desjardins: president trump reacted to tran's comments in an interview with the dailyg aller, assertmocrats want to "rip babies from wombs" and that "it's terrible." but in a radio interview virginia governor ralph northam, a democrat, refuted that, saying anis was for rare circumstces. >> when we talk about third trimester abortions, it's done in ces where there may be severe deformities. there may be a fetus that's not viable. so in this particular example, if a mother's in labor, i can tell you exactly what would

ppen. the infant would be delivered,in thnt would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that's what e mother and the familsired. and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. >> desjardins: national conservatives focused on histe last two ses, about resuscitation, and reaction was swift. senator marco rubio equated it to "openly support(ing) legal infanticide." all this underscores abortion battles pushed by both parties in dozens of states, including new york, which st passed a law to make third trimester abortions possible. today, governor northam said he regretted that his comnts had been "mischaracterized." to pick up the conversation from ere, i'm joined via skype by mary ziegler. she's a law professor at florida state unersity and the author of several books on abortion politics including: "after roe: the lost history of the abortion debate."so

mary, let's start with this moment right now and what we're seeing in those two states. democrat-led efforts to broaden out e category, the health of the woman who could be allowed for a third trimester abortion. can you help us understand howio many abo could that effect in theory and what are these lawmakers tryi to do? >> well, the number of abortione ed especially by the expansion of late-term i borings would be quite small. so the vast majority of abortions in this cou been in the first trimester. i think what swlairts are tryinn to do, many ways, is toep e for a post-roe v. wade landscape, so it's widel expected that the supreme court is going to substantially scale back on abortion rights, if not overturn roe altogether and prototypically blue pro-choiceat are making sure policy in those states is welcoming to women in a post-roe world. >> to help our viewers, a

reminder, when we're talking about a third trimester pregnancy, we're talking 26 weeks into the pregnancy. can you take us through the science on this?i >> third tster abortions are complicated. the dispute is why they're often performed. so abortion rights groups claimp for the most, that when women have later-term abortions it's either in cases in which a child has a condition incompatible with life or which e woman's own health will b substantially impacted if a pregnancy is carried to term. anti-abortion groups that are skeptical of this claim many abortion providers will be willing to perform procedures for any point in pregnancy. the science is isputed but also, too, is who is performing the procedures on the ground an why, and we don't have enough data to answer that in a difientive way. >> as the left is trying to expand abortion rigmhts in y states, this comes out after in years of the rights trying to

restrict abortion rights and they point to status and talk about when is a fetus not jus viable but when is it conscious of pain for example, can you talk about the science on that end and what we know about human life and i beginnings? >> sure. i think part of the challenge is some of these questions arelyn partly scientific, so there's not much disagreement, for example, abo when from a genetic standpoint a human lifet begins, but that means from a legal or philosophical standpoint remains contested. when it comes to fetal pain, it's a more straightforward question of when pain is ifssible, but there the challenge is proand pro-choice groups don't necessarily trust the sameso ces to answer the question. so pro-choice groups or abortion righ groups have emphasizedle the american c of obstetricians and gynecologists and medical authorities in the u.k. have found that fetal pain isn't possible as early in pregnancy as many statutes wouln provide and ning abortion at

the 20th week. anti-abortion groups rese nd that thoups are simply putting political correctness ahead of the truy th and mre, in fact, dominated by pro-choice obstetricians. so it's difficult, i think, in many of these cases, to find a o common s facts that everyone in the abortion debate can agree on, much less what those facts should mean in terms of the constitutionality or morality of abortion. >> so where es this moment fit in how you see the abortion debate? are we in for theext one very heated, difficult battles over this? or where ar we? >> in some ways, i think we're in a very unpredictable moment, ud it seems that most commentators, ing me, think that the supreme court will undermine abortion rights. but what happens next, i think, is sort of a brave-new world because, for so long, the fight on both sides has really been r out preserving or undoing roe. if roe is no lonthe law, i think you will see a lot more

unpredictability in of whether states whether ban abortion, what they mean when they ban abortion, does that include, for example, i.u.d.s, will blue states go further than we've seen in protecting or funding abortion? i think we don't know really what this future w hold much beyond the probability that the court will, in fact, transform abortion law and undo roe. >> mary ziegler, florida state university, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: in just a few days the new england patriots and los angeles rams will battle it out in super bowl liii. for the players on the field, it will be the pinnacle of their n.f.l. career.ut but what aife after football? orr economics correspondent paul solman talked tor tight

end martellus bennett about his pursuit of an entirely different career. it's part of our series "making sense." >> i'm weird as ( bleep ). i mean, weird as stuff. i mean, i'm weird as >> reporter: i'm very weird. how's that? >> i'm very, very ird. >> reporter: martellus bennett may be the most outspoken professional football player of his generation. he also excelled at tight end for five teams, won the 2016 super bowl with the new england patriots, and then, while on a spiritl retreat in japan retired, at age 31. >> i don't always answer bird calls, b when i do they're from tom brady and gronk. >> reporter: but during his ten, year carennett was known as much for candor and wit as winning plays. and he's notably candid aboutth economics of pro sports. when did you realize that football was a business? >> well one of the moments was when i first had to write a check for taxes. i didn't know what the ( bleep ) taxes were, you know what i'm

saying. taxes, i thought they took that directly out my check. you mean, they only withhold 20% when they supposed to do another 17%? now i got to write checks to this guy i have hearof, but i never met personally, uncle sam. like what the hell's going on?ow you p, no one really teaches you about taxes, especially as an athlete. e >> reporten in bennett's middle class family, finances weren't discussed. but he did learn a lasting economics lesson at age 14, when the energy high flyer enron went bust due to corporate malfeasance, and put his dad out of a job. >> i just remember that economically changing in our household too.om my dad out, he's a black guy that's it, there's 15,000 people all wanting the same job. for him to try to find a job in that space, not being able to find work for a long period of time-- >> reporter: in houston? >> in houston. and at th moment is when i realized i was going to be a entrepreneur the rest of my life. i never waed to work for anybody because the circumstances that we went through as a family wasn't because of my dad, it was because of the people at the top of a company that he worked with. >> reporter: seven years later, bennett was a high draft pick in

the n.f.l. what was your signing bonus? >> was it 2.5 or was it 1.5? whatever it was, it wasn't enough. >> reporter: you're talking 1.5 or $2.5 million? ye>> yeah, million dollars. >> reporter: and what did you do with the money? >> i don't have any of that money from that contract don't know where it's at, don't know where it went to, where it, how it was spent. i s a 20 year old kid. didn't really have people arouno me w managed that amount of money in their lifetime, so they couldn't really tell me how to manage it as well. >> reporter: what he did with the money was straight out fantasyland. >> so, yeah, i casd a big eck, and i got a briefcase. and i handcuffed myself to thefc bre, and i took it home, and i just threw the money ind the air 's like, "i'm rich, ( bleep ) !" you know, just throwing money in the air. and i laid in it. and i woke up, there was lik f 20s on my fam sweating in the money. then i put it all back, and took it back to the bank. i turned the ceiling fan out too, for the spe ral effects. orter: so that the money was swirling? >> yeah at the fundraisers as a kid, they used to do this thing where yod get in this machine, and they'd turn the air on, all

this money would fly up. >> reporter: yeah, yeah. i've seen those. >> and i never really got picked to go in that machine. i'm like, "damn! if i can get $20." i ha'ma plan. gonna do my shirt like this," like the whole time i'm just, "pick me! pick me! pick me! pick me!" and all through middle school i never got picked. i always wanted to bthe guy in the money machine. and every time i knew they would come i would dress appropriately for-- >> reporter: with a big apron, you mean?t >> yeah, i jd a big plan to get all the money. i'm like, "why everybody wait for e money to float, and no one gets it off the ground? just sit down and like they never encked me. but got drafted, and i had all the money. and then i created the machine for myself, and i was able to get all that money, and i felt great about it. >> reporter: at its peak, bennett's annual pay was over $5 million. inbut he soon realized tha football the money only floats for so long. so he began saving and in 2014 formed a multimedia storytelling company, "the imagination agency," whichrew out of his love for cartoons ansketching a

th his love of books. >> my goal is to be surrounded by books. >> reporter: even more books than his literary inspiration. >> i've never seen so many books in all my life! >> belle from beauty and the beast. i think it's every reader's dream to have that library. >> reporter: did your teammates read? (laughs) no? whis it funny? >> the majority re them, no. wh? your world is totally different, so you not grong your skills. a lot of times in college and high school you didn't need to read either. you were just pushed ang by your talent. oh, hey. i'm just a dinosaur reading about dinosaurs.r: >> reporut bennett, who says he majored in "eligibilit"" in college, read voraciously on his own, pursued a lifelong interest in art, and began releasing work while still playing, preparing for life after the n.f.l., the initials, some say, of "not for long." >> if the average career in the n.f.l. is three and a half years, right? and the average lifespan is 70-

something years. that is a tiny blip r lifespan. so if this is all that you really care about, and this is whthmakes you what you are, en you're gonna suffer for a long time in the grand scheme of fe. but, you know, i wanted more. rs reporter: even n.f.l. pla who do try to diversify away from football, like recently retired brian orakpo and michael griffin, get into business too late, says bennett >> you got to ride that wave while you have their attention. i always tell guys, "you have their attention right now." because once you're out of the league, no one's really going to care. ye reporter: since his own retirement last , bennett has hurtled himself into his work at the imagination agency, producing an animated series, mobile apps, and children's books about "a.j.," a character based on his four-year-old daughter, austyn jett rose. a new book will come out in march: a letter of encouragement co black boys >> within the blmmunity

it's important to, we don't really get to perience escapism as kids. we don't get to dream of being astronauts, and seeing ourselves or kids that look like us in these movies or any sci, especially scifi. we was just happy with lando in star wars, but other than that you know what i'm saying? >> you got a lot of guts coming here. >> you get to the library. you shuffle through all the books, you're looking through the books like "dang." b thk, this book, no characters in these books that look like you. only 2% of children's books are books of color. >> try some of this. it'll do you good. >> reporter: consider roald dahl, who, under pressure from his agent, uolorized the lead character of one of bennett's all-time favorite books," charlie and the chocolate factory." >> it came out that, in roald dahl's mind, chaie was black. his estate said that. and i was like, hoa." for me to be able to... as a kid who admired willy wonka and to have a kid that logoed like me o the chocolate factory, could you imagine how that would've blown my mind? i probably would be making chocolate right now somewhere. >> reporter: now football is still a big part of bennett's life.

he co-hosts a weekly digital show called "mostly football." his brother, eagles defensive end michael beett was a guest when we dropped by. so, on the eve of the super bowl, a final question for the former new england tight end. so, everybody hates thnew england patriots except of course people who live in the region, right? >> yeah.or >> rr: why? and is it justified? >> because everyone has a team they want to root for, and they have all these, every year the sucowboys are gonna win thr bowl, right? every single year you know, "baltimore ravens are gonna be a new team." "the steelers are going to go back to the playoffs." "the giants." everyone's rooting for this team, and then at thend of the day who's always there? the patriots. it's like damn, how do they get to enjoy this moment so often? it's just hard when you dconstantly have hopes an dreams, and always have to watch someone else win.

>> reporter: on sunday we'll learn if the patriots dash yet more hopes and dreams. but martellus bennett will be trying to cash in on dreams of an entirely different sort. this is economics correspondent and reluctant patriots fan paul solman, reporting from los angeles. >> woodruff: the past couple of weeks are showing once again just how tough the news business is economically, with layoffs by digital upstarts and the country's largest newspaper chain, gannett. fizzfeed laid off 15% of its staff, while the hton post and yahoo news cut hundreds of jobs under their new owner, verizon. many in the field are more worried that a hedge fund known for gutting newsrooms might y gannett. that would potentially be an even bigger hit to local

coverage nationwide. all of this has led to the growth of so-called news deserts, places where there's limited accesso news outlets. for a look at the fallout from all this, we're joined by steve cavendish, editor of the "nashville banner."-p that's a nfit news start 98 he's relaunching after the paper folded in and penny abernathy at thert university of carolina. she's written a major report about this and how it increases our countrs polarization. welcome to both of you. thank you for joining us. steve cavendish, i'm going t start with you. you wrote the other day that what's going on right now forur lists is a blood bath. is it really that bad? >> well, it has been over a long period of time. it's over the last -- over the last couple of decades we've seen journalism jobs around the country being cleaved off at a

rate like either coal miners steelworkers or fisher mern, and those are are not what you would call thriving industries. journalism has had revenue problems for years, and we're starting to see, as print is really sort of -- is sort of wiped out, that the conversion over to digital for many ofes properties, many of these newspapers just isn't the same. so we're h eing witit a lot of jobs lost. >> woodruff: penny abernathy, you agree it's that b, and, if so, what's driving this? >> well, i think there are two things we need to look at. one is the total loss of newspapers are often the prime if not the sole source of news and information especially in small -sized communities. so, over the last decade and a half, we've sen 1800 news disappear off the landscape of hee u.s. but there's also equally troubling situation that we have with the surviving newerspapers we've lost more than half

to have the newspaper news room journalists that we had just in 2008. we're calling that the rise ofe ghost newspaper in which papers are basicallylls of their former selves and as ste suggests is driven by a couple of things, one is the rapid decline of advertising, especially print advertising and the inability of newss organizati make up for that in any kind of digital revee, be that subscription or advertising revenue. >> woodruff: steve cavendish, a lot of conversation about the role of theseanizations that have become so powerful over the last decade -- facebook, google. what is their role in all this? >> well, as newspapers have tried to become digital operations and tried to selll digivertising, the problem is that they get into these markets, and google and facebook have, between the two of them, about 80% of the

digital ad market, so what's left really pushes down on what they can make as -- what you can make as aornization. so the print dollars that many news chains have walked way from have been replaced by digital pennies, and that replacement is reflected in the number of jobs that have been lost. >> woodruff: and penny abernathy, what does that mean for news consumers, people who have counted on whether it's a newspaper or something else for hews and information? >> well, it means rise of news deserts in which ridents in hundreds of communities, even thousands in this country have limited, very limited access to the sort of news and information that's been the lifeblood of our democracy. everything from when and where to vote to topicsa such s education, health, emergency and safeat information the need. the f.c.c. put o earlier in this decade a list of eight

topics that thedey cond to be critical information needs for communities. as we've looked at newspapers and the content that comes out of newspapers as well as digital startup sites, we often find that some essential information that we need as citizens and just residents to make wise decisions we don't have acess to anymore. >> woodruff: and steve cavendish, how do you see that playing out in tennessee? what are people missing now >> well, so, take for example, the nashville banner which was the afternoon paper here and where i got my start in the early '90was sold to the gannett paper here in town. they took about a third of the news room and combined itin the tennesseans staff, so you had about 180 journalists. that number is now less than 70. what does that mean? it means that, you know, large swaths of what was oce covered of courts, of institutions, of o

major ki stories just don't get covered, and it afects everything from the cover of healthcare which is a big h induste to high school know. to politics, y in the last set of elections where we had a senate and a governor's race here back in the fall, you had basically one reporter covering those races each for -- gannett owns dailies in three of the furggest markets in tennessee. so you're seeing fewer and fewer ople covering things. the state house reporting is kind of a crisis across the country. in tennessee, there were 35 pele covering the state legislature and the state government at one time about three decades ago. that number i now ten and, really, a couple of those areli specs, so you only have eight people covering a $37 billion -- a billion state government and the

legislature. >> and we've seen that in state after state and, penny abernathy, it's so important for to high light this because here in washington you look at, say, a presidential news conference and you see a lot of journalists. you don't get a sense, looking bu washington, what happened around the countryi want to ask you something that you've pointed out and that's how all this contributes to the litical polarization in e country. how is that happening? s well, one of the things that we found through ody of looking at where people -- communities have lost newspapers and where they are living wit severely diminished newspapers is that it tends to -- news deserts tend to coarolesce und areas that are much poorer, much less educated d old than other types of communities, that can be communities that are middle, inner city neighborhoods, that can be suburbs around metro areas, and it can be what we call the

flyoveregions of the country, the rural areas that are out there. i live in what you would call a news desert, the congressional ninth, where we still do not have a house of representatives member because of alleged voter fraud. it is -- and it is a classic news desert where, in 20 years ten or so, you could have got ample coverage of the congressional race through three different newspapers, the charlotte, the raleigh and the fayetteville paper, and there are no newspaps that ciculate in my county now. >> woodruff: what determines quickly, penny abrnathy whether, this is going to turn around anytime soon? >> well, i'm most opthimistic if you have a publisher and owner in an area that has a good economic foundation, that if the publisher is both creative and rnsciplined that you can t around. we've seen several examples of at. where i am most concerned is on

the low-income areas, which i do not see a viable to-profit economic model emerging, and i'm hoping we can begin to get media funders to begin to look at these overlooked areas, because it's critical for s ouriety, it has political, social and economic implicationthat are long-term. >> so important to focus on this. penny abernathy, steve cavendish, thank you both.y. >> thanks, j you. woodruff: learning language can be a challenge for some, but none more so maybe than for those who cannot hear. in tonight's brief but uectacular, melissa malzkuhn, who was born deas her experience to build human connections through storytelling and technology. malzkuhn is the creative

director of "motion life lab," a research center at gallaudet abiversity. >> when you thint language, it's something that you were expos to from birth.it assumed that it's a given and that language then in turn is your key to opening up doorse to dnt worlds. it's your key to understanding who you are, the way you're thinng, your self-expression and your identity, that's so integral to having language. y don't have access to language, you don't have access to your humanity. i grew up as a person who comes from a family with three generations of deapeople. that means my grandparents are deaf, my parents, and my siblings are deaf. i come from a long line of storytellers. and so, i grew up in a familof storytellers which became a part of who i am. my inspiration goes back to my

grandmother. i see her as a pioneer in so many ways. she was a deaf woman who was born in a time when captioning wasn't available. she was always pushing for human rights and she often said,"om don't wait forrow, start today," and she talked about the human rights of deafren and asked, "who will protect deaf children? who will speak for them? who is going to advocate for them?" i acquired language just like any other child acquires their rom their community and family. you star and then make them into phrases and then sentences. so that's how i learned to sign. having access to sign language from birth, is an experience that only 5% of deaf people have. the remaining 95% of deaf children are born into hearing families. what that means is that language access is not a given, it's not granted.

you have to build it. it's just a matter of connecting their parents with the community so that they can learn to sign and give their children everything. and that can build the bond that all children shod have with parents who love them, care for them, and can communicate with them. i adopted my son when he was four years old. he didn't have any language then. i understood up close and personal, the realities of language deprivation in trying to communicate with him. it was a full on family effortto ave him develop language. i saw firsthand his experiences and how he would copy signs from the story. and to get to see that in my own home drove home the point of what happens when someone doesn't have language.e to see the deg frustration that they experience and to seea how theye as they're able to use language to engage in conversations with people. so seeing his experience has been really emotional for me. n e is melissa malzkuhn and

this is my brief but spectacular take on human connections through language and storytelling. >> woodruff: for a separate take on language, you can find a special episode of brief but spectacular online with caroline that's on our weneite at pbs.orhour/brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judyoodruff. .oin us online and again here tomorrow evening for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons rare available as an app, online. more information on babbel.com.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contrutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbhor access.wgb

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. venezuelas stage me protests, now maduro says he's ready to talk. with temperatures rising on the , president trump voices support for the opposition leader. the lowdown. plus, temperatures plummeting across the midwest. more on the record-breakin polar vortex behind it all. and back to the future with cold war. oscar nominated director pawel% pawelkovski drops by to discuss his latest film. alsorv sing to study. why a 1/3 of college students in worry about hg enough to