ng sponsored by newshour productions, llc g.>> woodruff: good evenin i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonir t: prison timroger stone. president trump's long-time ally a sentenced to prison, int' case troiling the justice department. then: >> if they wish now to speak out and tell their side of the story about what it is they allege, that's now okay wi you? you're releasing them on television tonight? >> woodruff: a showdown las vegas. the highs and lows of last presidential debatemocratic and, inside venezuela. the impact of the untry's deteriorating economy, amid a year-long political power struggle. imagined that i'd see my people in venezuela eating from the garbage! that infuriates me! that infuriates me because this

is a rich country! >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newsur has been provided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experienci historic dtions along the mississippi river, the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines eet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> fidelity investments. >> collette. >> bnsf railway.

>> consumer cellular. >> carnegie corporation of new york.ti supp innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement security.ational peace and at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this ogram was made possible by the rporation for and by contributioyour pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: we have two lead stories tonight:ou the fafrom last night's fiery democratic presidential shortly. which we'll get to

and, the sentencing of one of presidt trump's closest allies, roger stone. a u.s. district court judge in washington sentencedne to 40 months in prison, for witness tampering and lying to congress. he is the president's seventh associate to face jail time for crimes stemmg from the special counsel's investigation into russian meddling during the 2016 election. hiat an event in las vegas afternoon, president trump said he will hold off on deciding whether to pardon stone. >> i'm going to watch the process.in i'm to watch it very closely. and at some point, i'll make a determination. but roger stone and everybody has to be treated fairly. and this has not been a fair process. >> woodruff: william brangham was in the courtro today, and joins me now. hello, william. you were there for this entire

proceeding. first of all, remind us what were the charges against roger stone that he w found guilty of. >> he was charged with lying to congress and witness tpering. this goes back to an investigation that the house hoe intelligence committee was doing into russian meddlg and t role wikileaks played during the release of the democratic e-mails in the campaign. stone was convicd to lying to the investigators of the house committen he was also victed of trying to get a witness to not testify to thotise invtors. he was accused of threatening the witness and the witss' dog. even though the witness later wrote a letter saying he didn't threaten, jackson sn't buying any of it. she said this witness intimidation was "a corrupt and unlawful campaign to tamper with the witness." and really, the judge, all day today, was very, very crical of roger stone. she said, in particular, shei

said stone tooupon himself to lie, to impede and to obstruct. to the accusation that the president and many of his was all a prosecution based on stone's allegiance to president trump, the judge said that stone was not prosecuted for standing up for the president, he was prosecuted for vering up for the president. h woodruff: sounds as if had quite an extensive statement to make. this sens tencing con the middle of this unusual turmoil between t in the ai white house, justice department, the president, the attorney general, the prose'stors, all thn the background as this is happening. >> right. it really is almost an unprecedented moment that with we have happening. just to remind you as what happened, the giril prosecutors on this case recommended a seven to roger stone.ng sentenc president trump immediately protested and said that was harsh and unfair.ry the next day attorney general william barr stepped in

and overruled his prosecutors and said, yes, it is too unfair and a harsh sentenc those four prosecutors then quit the case. everyone read it as a cleary but protest against this interventionua today, acty, during the prosecution, during the four empty chairs at thee these prosecution's table where those gentlemen would have been sitting and, instead, another u.s. attorney had to step in -- into their role. and the judgtried to get to the bottom of this. she asked u.s. attorney johni crab sevals who ordered you to write that memo. did you write that meo? did you sign that memo? she was seemingly trying to get to the bottom of all this. crab said in the end, i can't discuss deliberations. all of that said, the judge did still decided to sentence stone toess than what the prosecutors originally asked for. >> woodruff: a little than three years. so, finally, what happened now to roger stone.

>> well, he's going to go possibly for three and a half years in prison. we don't knactly when that might start. the looming question overalll of -- over of this is whether president trump, as you mentioned, will pardon him. the president, has, a as we know, been toying with the idea, retweeting fox news hostca ing him very specifically to do that, but we just don't kw yet. >> woodruff: well, we will continue to watc it. william brangham, fascinating story. thank you. >> woodruff: in the day'other news, there is word that intelligence officials warned house lawmakers last week that russia was trying to interfere in the 2020 presidtial campaign in a bid to get president trump re-elected. that is according to the "washington post" and the "new york times." president trump allegedl

lashed out at his now-outgoing acting director of natiol intelligence, seph maguire. the coronarus appears to be spreading at a slower rate in china, as the number of new f cases there fe another day. in all, the country has recorded arly 75,000 cases, and more than 2,100 deaths. meanwhile, japan reported its first deaths from a quarantined cruise ship-- an elderly japanese couple. world health organization officials said that while the number of cases outside china i small, still a concern. >> it doesn't mean that all the number of ca the rest of the world will stay the same for it's only a window opportunity, and that's why we say this is the time to attack the virus, while it is actually manageable. >> woodruff: meanwhile, southpo korea ed its first death from the virus.

workers sprayed disinfectant in the city of daegu after dozens of new cases were confirmed. 2.5 million residents there are now on lockdown. germany is reeling after a shooting rampage left nine people dead overnight. thgunman, suspected to hav far-right ties, opened fire on two hookah bars in an immigrant neighborhood near frankfurt. he was later found dead in his apartment. the attacks come amid a surge in extremism germany. richard pallot of independent television news has our report. >> reporter: in a small german city, home-grown extremism rears its ugly face again. nine people shot dead-- all believed to be of a migrant background. next door to the first attack: >> i heard mucshoots, and isa a gunman running, and i was in shock.

five, six mites later, i heard much shoots. 10 reporter: the shootin took place at around :00 p.m. last night, in the city of hanau, 20 the gunman has beed asrankfurt. tobias rathjen. he had shared hi sracist views ial media beforehand, as well as in a written manifesto of hat saying certain people should be exterminated. the authorities admit th they did not have the suspect on their radar at all d it is the modly of recent right-wing attacks here germany, and comes just days after a plot to blow up mosques around the country was spoiled. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has pledged to fight those who are tryingvide her country. "rascism is a poison" she said. "hate is a poison, and this poison exists in our society and it is responsible for far too many crimes." the gunman killed himself and his mother in their house as police closed in. a federal prosecutor is now investating whether rathjen

had accomplices or if anyone else knew about his plan. the country's open-door policy eaon immigration in cent is still fueling anger. but tonight, at the brandenburg gate in berlin, at the place that once signified division, germans stand unified. >> woodruff: that repo from richard pallot of independent television news. turkey said that two of its soaniers were killed in a sy government air strike in idlib province today.tu thish defense ministry said more than 50 syrian government soldiers were killed in retaliation. syrian forces, backed by russia's air force, are engaged in an offensive to recapture the thregion. intensified fighting in syris last rebel-held bastio has displaced nearly a million syrians since early december. >> ( translated ): we suffered a lot on the road, because displacement was difficult and ere are problems. we want the whole world to see us and learn about our conditions, the children and these camps.

turkey will either resolve ouror situatioake us return to our lands. we want one of these two solutions. it is really a difficult situation. >> woodruff: the fresh camshes in idliba day after turkey's president recep tayyip erdogan threatened to attack syrian forces if any more turkish soldiers were hurt. rival leaders in south sudan have agreed to form a long- delayed coalition government. the president and position leader met in the capital of weba today, to discuss their sharing deal ahead of a deadline saturday. it is a major breakthrough as the country recovers from aci five-yeal war that has claimed nearly 400,000 lives. ba investment bank morgan stanley is buying online discount broker e-trade financial for $13 billion. the deal is the biggest takeover by a major u.s. bank since the 2008 financial crisis. the move will give morgan stanley a bigger share of the

market for online trading, and over five million more clients. and, stocks closed lower on wall street today.do thjones industrial average lost 128 points to close just under 29,220.66 the nasdaq feloints, and the s&p 500 slipped 13. still to come on the newshour: analyzing the highs and lows of last night's contentious democratic debate. gamining the human suffer caused by economic and political chaos inside venezuela. california wrestles with its overwhelming homeless community. and, much more. >> woodruff: last night's democratic debate in las vegas

was e most contentious match- up yet for the party's leading contenders. as amna nawaz reports, it all came at a critical moment in the campaign, with early voting under way in a dozen states, and jus to go before thetart of the nevada caucuses. >> so how was your night last night? >> nawaz: michael bloomberg campaigning today in utah, just hours after his first democratic debate appearance in las vegas, whe he was the center of h rivals' attention. >> i think it is great you have got a lot of money, but i think you have got to come forward withour tax returns. >> nawaz: the billionaire businessman entered the race just threeonths ago, but his opponents made up for lost time, sharply challenging oomberg's record as a three-term mayor of new york city. >> mr. bloomberg had policies in new york city of stop and frisk which went after african american and latino peoplen an outrageous way. >> if i go back and look at my time in ofce, the one thing

that i'm really worried about, embarrassed about, was how it turned out with stop and frisk. >> it's not whether he apologized or not. it's the policy. the policy was abhorrent. >> nawaz: massachusetts senator elizabeth warren repeatedly questioned bloomberg on allegations his company covered up reports of sexual misconduct. >> s mr. mayor, are you willing to release all of those women from those nondisclosure agreements so we can hear their side of the story? ( cheers and applause ) >> we have a very few nondisclosure agreements-- how many is that? >> let me finish. >> how many is that? >> none of them accuse me of doing anything, other than maybe they didn't li a joke i told, d let me just-- ( booing ) --and let me point-- these are agreements between two partie quiet, and that is up to them. they signed those agreements, and we willive with it.

>> nawaz: warren continued her attacks at a campaign stop today. >> it was job to make sure that america got a little closer came to understandof all and the people standing on the stage, he is the riskiest for the democrats. >> nawaz: last night, others, like vermont senator berni sanders, confronted bloomberg on his estimated $60 billion personalortune. >> mike bloomberg owns more weal than the bottom 125 million americans. that's wrong. that's immoral. >> nawaz: bloomberg, a republican-turned-democrat who is running as a modera alternative to sanders, pushed back. >> what a wonderful country we have. the best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. what did i miss here? >> nawaz: sanders and bloomberg are leading the field in the most recent pbs newshour/npr/ marist poll.cu but both were d by former south bend indiana mayor pete buttigieg of being too >> let's put forward somebody who's actually a democrat.

look, we shouldn't have to woose between one candida wants to burn this party down, and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. >> nawaz: wednesday's debate was one of the last chances for trailing candidates to breakh throfore super tuesday on march 3, when a thirof all democratic delegates are up for grabs. >> i'm the only one on this stage that actuadoy got anything on healthcare. >> nawaz: debate battle lines were drawn once again on health care. >> it's not a plan, it's a powen and amy's plan is even less. "t is like a post-it note, "insert plan her >> nawaz: and on immigration, of particular interest in nevada, where latinos make up one in every five democratirs, here's mayor buttigieg addressing senator klobuchar. >> if you are going to run based on yr record of voting in washington, then you have to own those votes, especially when it comes to immigration. >> i wiseveryone was as perfect as you, pete. you have memorized a bunch ofta ing pots, and a bunch of things, but i can tell you one thing-- what the people of this

country want, they want a leader that has the heart for thef immigrantsis country. and that is me. >> nawaz: at the end of a bruising night, a clear sign that no one is ready yet to hang up their gloves. >> yes or no: leading person with the delegates, should teey be the nomr not? >> no. let the process work its way out. >> nawaz: if no candidate has the majority of delegates by sanders said the delegate leader should become the nominee. after trading brutal blows at last night's debate, some candidates are back out working the crowds today, fighting for last minute caucus commitments, like senator elizabeth warren here. the democratic candidates will face off again in another debate next tuesday in south carolina. judy? >> woodruff: thank you, amna. so, afr last night's drama- filled debate in las vegas, where does this unpredictable race for the democratic nomination stand now? michael meehan was a long-time aide for congressional democrats

and onemocratic campaigns, including then-senator john kerry's 2004 presidential bid. ian sams mt recently served during this current election cycle, as the campaign press secretary for senator kamala harr. and, matthew dowd.hi he was the strategist on president george w. bush's re-election mpaign in 2004. he is now a political analyst for "abc news." we welcome all of you to the "newshour". thank you for being here. let's start out with considering this debate. now that we've ha a day to let it sink in, how does it cha the shape of this contest? ian sams? i hink that, first of all, the biggest question that was outstanding was how many pe ale watched we saw it was upwards of 20 million americans. that's a lot of people.t there's no e that the debate will have some sort of lasting impact on this race. now, we are really close to voting, which i think is why you saw so many candidates willing to go after oneanother last night and really draw a stark contrast between each other

because the pressure is on. you have to make moves right now if you want to win especially with bernie sanders having a pretty commanding position atop of the field. so i think what we saw last ghght was mayor bloomberg probably got brdown a peg with elizabeth warren's pretty searing attacks on his history and r oecord, but whenot all the benefit goes to her i think is still up in the air. >> woodruff: michael meehan, what changes if anything as a resultof last night? >> i think michael bloomberg getting on stage was sort of the big news and i think the fact iowa and new hampshire didn't actually do the winnowingpr ess in the way they typically have done in the last years, so people are voting high.s bloomberg nother chance. the calendar works for him. he gets back on the debate stage next tuesday. he doesn't have to simmer for weeks and weeks before he has a chance to do better than he's done. >> woodruff: matthew dowd, how

do you see the results? >> to me it was the most significant debate because to have the timing and the number of viewers. e total number of people that are going to vote in the democratic primaries and 20 million people, and that's basically how many watched that, so, to me, it's the most cruciae part of thate. i think you basically have one through five, the candidatesth basically finished one through five and howell they did. the gap between them is much smaller than the gap between the number five and the numberi candidate which was bloomberg. i think his performance was bad for him. thlse is lef bad. his was the worst level of bad in a debate for somebody who came from the mayor of new york. i think he finally came out from under the air cover of his television ads and think voters wanted to see what he was like. so as i agree with the prepevios on that said we don't know where, if he fall also in the polls from where he is today,wh e that will go to for joe biden.

i thought elizabeth warren did well. i think she will do well in nevada and south carolina. so this vase still still full of many twists and turns. i was ping you allhree would tell me where this thing stood very much in flux.ds like still my question, ian, is how much in flux. bernie sanders is leading in a number of polls, as you all have suggested, but you do this bunching of other candidates and this big question mark, michael bloomberg and all his money. so, you know, some people are already asking, buzz bernie sanders, coulhe possibly be so far ahead a.p. at this point it's hard to cch up withim? >> the lead-in package before we started having this conversation hit e nail on the heawhen they showed vice president biden's comment which was mirrored by ry other candidate on stage last night eybesides bernie sanders, ay be willing to go to the convention as long as delegates are coming to the campaigns and as long as the campgns ha enough cash to stay afloat and not fold, which changes the

bernie is on pace to get somewhere between 30, 35, 40% of the delegates, which is not a majority over the next little bit, if nothing changes. so bernie is aheas. buong as these other candidates are pocketing away some number of delates and not getting blown out completely, we they're all willing to go to the convention and trying to fight it out there. >> woodrf: michael meeha am i hearing some of you say literally any one of these six c candidatld make it to the nomination? >> oh, for sure, because, while bernie sanders has a lead, it's a leads one delegate. the buttigieg campaign would say we're tied with delegates. i would say any one of the six, bloomberg didn't have eat performance but he doesn't lose money because he doesn't need the money, warren had a good night, will raise a bunch o money online today. sanders has a huge ability to continue to fund himself all the way to mil.wauk so those kinds of dynamics mean

the caucuses -- there are more people who voted in this caucus than last time in 2016 and we haven't reached the state of the caucus yet. there's a high level of energy and everyone is bunched in between 25% and 15%, the sma amount of delegates to be determined by that numbe >> woodruff: matthew dowd wide up to to an extent and a lot of angst among democrats about rnie sanders and the fact he's shown the strength that he has. >>meah, it's fascinating te. there's angst about bernie sanders but there's angst aboutd joe biden there's angstab t elizabeth warren and about almost every candidate in this race. i think what you have today is we've gone from a one-week frontrunner, joe biden, to no frontrunner, to another weak frontrunner. the electoral moves and shapes. bill ntonnan 1992 was not

lectable. black barack obama was not the most lectable n 2008, and donald trump was certainly not the most electable candidate in 2016, all went on to win theid prcy. so i think deciding today who's the most lectable or who's got e greatest vulnerability, i think everybody thought michael bloomberg would be powerful, then shows up at thed debate does awful. now everyone is questioning so i think there areab vulnities has because of his own labels on himself, but i don't think we know where the race will go and who is the bes candidate to beat donald trump. >> woodruff: you hear a lot of discussion, ian sams, about the so-called divide among the more liberal are in the bernie sanders camp or in the elizabeth warren or still maybar and then the more moderate democrats. i think i'm trying to understand to what extent is each side saying i'm not going to support your guy. if i'm a moderate, i'm nottooing upport bernie and vice

versa, if i'm a bernie supporter, i'm not going to support anybody else out there. >> i don't think there's thaght evel of division in the party. i think all the candidates were specifically saying, well, we'll support the nominee, no matter what. we have to.mp donald ts an existential threat to the country and we have to get him out of there.lo i think thger it goes on, it depends on the tone and tenor of the race. last night was sharp but i don't think catastrophic. i think people were pointing out differences with each other and why certain opponents might not make the best nominee. but right now you see more unity among the party and the candidates than you do divisiot i doink that will go away. which matt and michael were both a part of that contests, the primaries were tough and sharp and people hit each other but came together at the end of the day and won the election. >> woodruff: michael you did hear michael bloomberg say last night if bernie sanders is the nominee, s going to lose to donald trump. that was pretty definitive.

>> we all won the last campaign over again and donald trump won by 77,000 votes in three staplt, so pmake the premises of their campaigns on their ability to walk to the midstern states , igan, wisconsin. you flip 80,000 votes, someone else is in the white house. donald trump is running the same play again. he hasn't changed his strategy a lick. the question is who can turn t0e 80eople in those three states. that's why we're fighting over such a narrow sliver. >> woodruff: we're looking at the polls and seeing intesting numbers. matthew dowd is somebody who has been at the center of aca aign, and the other party, but watching the democrats very closely, how do you see this party coming togethertu evly? or do you see this as something that could -- that could be really uy rightp until the end? >> well, i remember very well when i was involved in 2000 for bush -- when bush and mccain

ran against each her, talk about a bitter race. the party came together because they had a principle they wanted to get done which is to win the i think one of the benefits the democrats have that they have not had in a long time is there is a unifying principle in the democratic party today among all voters, eversingle er, which is donald trump. they tonight want donald trump to be president for anotheri our years, sink by the time the conventions come, they're going to have to iron some ings out, they're going to have to work out what's the best way to go in this because i thk for sure we're going in the convention because nobody ums the total number of delegates when tgoes in, but i think donald trump will help them unify the party. >> woodruff: it's every reporter's dream to get to a w conventiere the result are a surprise. >> every operative's nigoohtmar. >>uff: but what a story we have and so important to pay close attention. ian sams, michael meehan, matthew dowd, thank you all. >> thanks, judy.

>> woodruff: tonight, we begin a series, "inside venezuela," a country in political, economic and humanitarian crisis. venezuela was once one of the rtalthiest countries in the world, in large ue to its massive oil reserves. in 1999, hugo chavezecame president, and he used that oil wealth to create a socialist state. but since his death in 2013, under his successor, president nicolas maduro, venezuela's economy has collapsed. with support from the pulitzerer cespecial correspondent marcia biggs reports. >> reporter: this is you when you were little! >> si, soy yo. >> reporter: 53-year-old nelly larco remembers a veneof an earlier time, one filled with birthday parties, confirmationst and chs presents. >> wow!

>> reporter: it was a land of opportunity for an immigrant like her.en she moved touela from her native ecuador when she was still a teenager, and worked as a housekeeper. >> t translated ): i ss with huge pride, because i came here working and that's how i earned way to improve myself, and i'm so attached to and so thankful to venezuela. >> reporter: this country gave her a life, and a family: nelly's three daughts were able to go to school, and her eldest, marielena, became lawyer and a professor. but for years, they've been struggling to get by, living one of the many slums surrounding the sprawlg capital of cacas. is there water? hay agua? >> reporter: there's never enough water, enough propane for cooking, enough food to t. for more than two decades, nelly has watched her adopted country slip away,nd with it, her dream of a better life for her family. >> ( translated ): i'm very frustrated and very angry to think that because of a few people, we've lost venezuela.

>> reporter: for her, thede ine began with hugo chavez, the former soldier who in 1999si became predent, and it has continued under his successor, nicolas maduro. since 2013, the country has been in free-fall by nearly every available metric: a cratering economy, skyrocktaing violence, ing oil production, a crippling gas shortage.e millions hready fled the country, creating the second- largest refugee crisis in the world. and for the millions who remain, including many children, hunger has made them desperate. t ( translated ): wnever imagined is that we'd reach this extent. i neveimagined that i'd see my people in venezuela eating from the garbage! that infurias me! that infuriates me because this is a rich country! >> reporter: this time last year, nelly, marielena and manyg others tho that venezuela was on the precipice of change. in january, then-34-year-old juan guaidó, a civil engineer

who'd just been elected to lead the country's parliament, was bdeclared interim preside members of the opposition, after president maduro won a second term in an election dely criticized as illegitimate. aidó promised new elections, and nearly 60 countries around the world-- including the u.s.-- threw their support behind him, as did thousands of protestors in the streets of venezuela, including nelly and marielena. >> ( translated ): we're the majority, and that's why i keep fighting but the truth is, my hop are actually more in god than guaidó. but we have to help him. i feel that he's like an angel that god put he so that we can get out of this situation, to get out of this insaty. >> reporter: and marielena says she thought the protests woulde foduro's hand. >> ( translated ): i sincerely thought that taking to the streets would put pressure on maduro to leave the presidency, ould somehow be able to have free elections, which is what we want. >> reporte then on april 30 came a critical moment: guaidó called on the military to help him overthrow maduro in a coup.

>> ( translated re speaking to the armed forces, and today it is clear that the forces are with the peop of venezuela and not the dictator. >> reporter: that was the call both nelly and marielena had been waiting for.er >> my mooke me up and said, "dear! the soldiers have risen up!" suddenly i was totalth awake, and ght: the moment has come! finally, the military has found the necessary couragit is with the people. >> reporter: but guaidó had miscalculated. only a few soldiers joined him. the vast majority remained loyal to maduro, and then the protests turned violent. national guard troops moved on protestors, ramminthem with armored vehicles and opening fire. a young woman from marielena's school died. another frnd from herho neighb was wounded. for marielena-- and for thousands of others who had spent years waiting for this moment-- it s a bitter disappointment, and a stk reminder of what they could lose. >> ( translated ): then i said,h 's it.

what are you waiting for? to be killed yourself and leave your family without any help, because they killed you? >> reporter: you had all of this hope that things would change. did juan guaidó fail you? >> ( translated ): yes, i do think that juan guaidó failed. and i'm nosure whether it was intentional, or it was-- because maybe-- well, he's a human being, too. but the truth is that all venezuelans have put our faith >> reporter: i met juan guaidó at his office in caracas, and i put that question to him. we've spoken to some opposition supporters, people who came out to protest, who are very, very frustrated by the process and by you anthe progress. do you think you promised too much, too soon? >> ( translated ): certainly, the management of expectations is something impor vnt to manage ezuela, especially when we have no water, no electricity, and our children are dyingf starvation. so it's natural that we feel frustrated for not having achieved change already, when we feel that we have the strength, that we have the majority, that we count on internatio support. so the first thing, as a leader, as the acting president at this f me, is to understand the legitimate claimr people and do what's necessary to

address those just claims of venezuelans who need change in venezuela today. >> reporter: but how guaió achieves that change remains unclear. we were there last month when national guard troops blocked him from entering the national t assembbe reelected speaker,hile maduro supporters inside elected their own speaker without a formal vote. guaidó came back two days later, broke through and was sworn in again by his own supporters. but since then, he's been physically blocked from entering the assembly to carry out parliament's business. two weeks later, he snuck out of the country, embarking on a world tour to shore up support abroad. >> joining us in the gallery is the true president of venezuela. >> reporter: he even attended the .ate of the union address but after that warm reception, he returned home to a cold reality. at the airport, he was mobbed by president maduro's supporters, a reminder of o remains in the

presidential palace and in control of the military. and in the past femonths, maduro has shown he's willing to adapt to keep it that way. he's annnced new parliamentary elections this year, in an attempt to consolidate his hd on the legislature. in the wake of u.s. sanctions on his government, including on the struggling state-run oil industry, he's invited russian and chinescompanies in to help ramp up production. in another major departure from hugo chavez, he's also reled strict import and export controls, and even allowed u.s. dolls into the country. that's led to a small boom among some restaurants and stores in cities like caracas.ar dohave now flooded the market here in venezuela. one year ago, you wouldn't have seen prices listed in a store like this in dollars. they were officially prohibited. here, you see rice listed at 75 cents per bag. oou're also seeing a lot more imported for those who can afford it. and yet, many cannot. at this neighborhood in caracas, where residents typically support the government, we found ople fed up with the economic situation. >> ( translated ): venezuela was a d country, that nowadays

is terribly managed. that's a lie.y love us. they don't love the people. s ( translated ): it like before. that was beautif, there was but now... imagineard the situation it is. >> reporter: there, i met cawilliam yaguaran, a poli ganizer at a university in rracas, and a true believer in chavez's socialiolution. at his home, he showed me the free box of od that comes monthly from the government. for william, social programs like this one were of the ma reasons he was first drawn to chavez so many years ago. >> ( translated ): because he did what he said he was going to do, and that's what made him connect with the population and the youth in that moment, and that hooked me. >> rorter: is maduro doing what he said he would do? >> ( translated ): he tries, but the structure doesn't help him. the people around him aren't helping m. >> reporter: but isn't he in control of the structure? >> ( translated ): now you're asking a very difficult question.

he's in power, but the problem is that his decisions don't get executed. >> reporter:n addition to corruption and mismanagement, william also blames u.s. sanctions for hurting the economy, and says that regardless of who's at fault, he support the opposition. do you think the opposition cares about the poor people? >> ( translated ): no, they've never care they have never cared for us at all. >> reporter: back at nelly and marielena' there's debate over w to move forward. marielena is tired of hearing the same things from guaidó progress, despite sees. >>e translated ):imhas passed, and nothing's happened. we're still waiting, and we're still hearing, "we're doing well.">> eporter: millions have given up and already left venezuela, her family too much, especially her niece. rad she's afraid of having to start over from h in a new country. cr mother, nelly, knows too well how hard th be. so for her, the choice isot

simple, ifasy. >> ( translated ): i'm indebted to venezuela, because venezuela gave me everything. it's given me it all: a family,. my daughte it's the least i can do. staying at home, watching what's happening and blaming someone because he tried but couldn't do it? no! i prefer to go out and fight by the si of the person that is trying to do something. and every time guaidó calls me, or whoever is there the time, they can call me to go out to the streets to support democracy; i'm going to be there. i'm going to go out. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm marciaiggs in caracas. >> woodruff: stay with us.on still to comhe newshour: too young to retire, but too old to find a well-paying job?e" "making sef a fragile workforce. more than half a million

americans are homeless on a given night, but on the west coast, the problem has grown worse in recent years. and as john yang explains, that is especially pronounced in califoia. >> yang: judy, the federal government says more than a quarter of america's homifess are in cnia. while homelessness fell in most states last year, in the golden state, it rose 16%. the issue was the sole topic o democratic governor gavin newsom's state of the state address. >> let's call it what it is-- it's disgrace. that the richest state ithe richest nation, succeeding across so many sectors, is failing to properly house, heal, and humanely treat so many of its own people. the state of california cano longer treat homelessness and housing insecurity as someone else's problem, buried below other priorities which areea er to win or better suited for soundbites. it is our responsibility. and it must be at the top of our

agenda. >> yang: t governor laid out a series of proposals and asked lawmakers to work with him. anita chabria covers california state politics and policy for the "los angeles times." she's based in sacramento, which is where she is tonight. anita, thanks so much for joining us. this is not a few issue for golifornia. thrnor himself had a deal with this when he was mayor o san francisco. why now? why is he saying this is at the top of the agenda for the next year? >> i think there are a couple os s you're seeing it happen so visibly right now. one is not just that we have the largest homeless population in the country, it's that we have the lar ugeheltered population. so we have more than 100,000 sidewalks, on our streetn our corners, in our parks, in places where they are visib our voters and our residents every day. it's a problem that's in the rural areas, it's in the

suburbs, it's in front of our schools and our libries and our grocery store, and, so, really, you're seeing a governor and a legislature that can't ignore it because it isle vis every day. >> and you're getting pressurehi onfrom the president saying if california can't solve this, the federal government will. >> absolutely, he's getting political pressure fm several angles so president trump is vocal about some federal action, not a lot of details on that, could happen if t state doesn't make progress, and newsom is facing pressure from his own constituentsre han about a third of the state considers this their top priority as an issue and interestingly, a poll that just came out showed almost 40% of someone they know fallthey or into homelessness. so it's a real fear heret the economic inecall the, the rising housing prices, te

systemic racism that we're addressing throughout the country are all things that are increasing homelessness for >> reporter: you't now talked about some of the problem. they're adding to this is the governor proposing? >> the governor is proposing a multitude f this. most uprecently, he came up with 750 million tikat he'd lto put towards a one-time funding he's asking the legislature to fast track that money. it would do towards rental assistance, toard stabilizing board and care homes which help people with disabilities or mental illness have shelter andw care, ld go through an affordable housing thing. t's also asking the stao streamline how we can force people to have mental health actreatment, how we can pthem in conservatorship, and he's asking for money for aordable housing as well. one of the most interesting things that is the big topic in the state right now i

accountability. the governor is asking for countability. we've spent $1.5 billion, or allocated $1.5 billion over the past couple of years to address homelessness, where we haven't really tracked that money very well orseen what the ults are from it, so there's a real big push now to make sure we keep track to have theoney we're spending and make sure it shows results. >> reporter: talk about money, lethe governor c for a dedicated, staed revenue stream. sounds like a new tax. it could be. is this issueucf sh big concern in california that people will support newes tax to address it? the big question. going to be so, originally, the governor did not want to have ongoing funding precisely for that reason, to not put it -- another urn on the general fund and to not go after taxes. so he had originally phed for one-time funding of 750 million.

and you saw a lot of pushback from the groups that are actually doing homeless work and from a lot othe legislators saying, no, we simply can't fix this with one shot of money. and, so, now the question does become what is the appetite for people to be taxed on it. one idea that has been floated is we have a milonaire's tax that pays for mental health services and perhaps ext that tax, increasing it on the wealthiest residents, but reall that's going the debate coming up for the next couple of months is if you pay fort ongoing, how do you pay for it? >> reporter: how much support is there in the legislature? how mum support is thereong the voters for the other things he talked about in hispeech? >> there is tremendous support for action. so what that action is, i thi people just want to see results. another rece poll that came out said that more than 50% of beam are in support of removing homeless encampments from public space. so tere's a rea desire to see

people moved from this unsheltered situation into shelters and permanent housing. i just think it's how we doth . the devil will be in the details in terms of public support. the fact is, if weon't have enough -- the fact is we don't have enough shelters or affordable housing. so there is nothing we can do in the very, very immediate sense to get people into permanent housing because it doesn't exist. so we're at this strange point wherrwe have to make sue that we're doing something in the short term while really looki toward th long-term solutions because it's a probl thatma ully you need a house to solve and we don't have the hotees. >> repor anita chabria of the los angeles "times" in sack meanto -- sacramento, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: many americans say

they focus on saving for retirement in their 50s.re but whathe obstacles if you lose your job at that age? our economics correspondent paul solman looks at those challenges. he and producer diane lincoln estes profile one worker's story as part of our "making sense"un series, "finished business." >> reporter: every mr-ning, 59-yead jaye crist leavesennsylk at a local print shop. >> i'm a fulfillmentssociate, fulfilling individual orders, and then making sure that all the product is printednd needs to be distributed locally is delivered. so, like a delivery driver. >> reporter: crist spent his career in a higher echelon of the printing industry than this. for almost 30 years, crist was a manager at printing giant rr donnelly. >> i've always supervised. there was part of me that was like, i'll be one of those guys >> reporter: no suk. he was laid off in 2016, his plans derailed when the firm reorganized.

economist richard johnson's work has shown that crist is far from alone. >> we found that more than half, 56% of workers, experienced an involuntary, employer-related job separation after age 50.or >> repter: crist, who'd made $100,000 a year, began looking for a comparable job. but he soon realized... >> where i had been after all those years, with salary and benefits and things, was not what i was going to get if i stayed here. but also, at the same time, kim looking at, i still ha in school, i had bought a house, all the things that kind of hold you to a place. >> reporter: crist is a case inn of what, in our ostensibly booming economy, so many workers in their 50s and older faceda thes, says professor teresa ghilarducci. >> they're less bile. older workers are sticky to their geographical pla. they have relationships with people in the community. they have a house for all th

reasons that we all know. and so they can't move to get a better job. >> reporte crist also faced another hurdle shared with americans turning his age: 59. 400 of us every single minute. >> a lot of companies don't want to hire somebody who's 50-plus and needs, you know, has a salary expectation that's above what they're willing to pa so they can easily say it's because of salary or wag >> reporter: crist found the job at local h&h printing after about a year of looking. cut in pay, but i ppy of a about it. about $40,000 a year. it's-- it's hourly. >> reporter: that's not unusuala richard johnson. >> almost all workers who lose their job at older ages end up than they did on t job. new job we found that only 10% of people earned as much on the new job as on the old job, and on average, they tended to earn only about. half as mu >> reporter: crist's printing job doesn't pay enough, so he also works nights, from 7:30 to 2:00 a.m., at planet fitness,

for $1an hour. >> it's your front count service, and you're checking people in and you're helping withem, you know, help the their memberships. so it's abt four and a half hours of sleep during the week that i'm getting. >> reporter: half a night's sleep, and then back to h&h printing.f >>wanted to lay down right now and fall asleep, it would easy. >> reporter: but he ca not even on sundays, when crist heads to a third job, at a local brewery. >> it's nice to get, you know, o a little bcash for tips, because it's just a minimum wage job otherwe. because then you have a little extra money, and you're not waiting, you know, between paychecks, and having to manage all of that. >> reporter: with three jobs, plus a $14,000-a-year pensn from rr donnelly, crist still brings in barely 70% of his previous income. >> can i manage to continue to work this many hours, these many, this many jobs? well, my mind says i can. i will.ha

to. you know, at's the mindset. hamean, if i start thinking i can't or it's to, then-- mentally, you wouldn't be able to manage it. so, so long as i'm, you know...a stayhy and can manage it,e and i'll h. daughter is in col's younger his wife's depression and e anxiety have worsened sis layoff, preventing her from working. >> i see my wife a her, you know, the depression andhe physical things that she's gone through. just the economics of, you know, care, medicine, these days. it's just... it's outrageous. so, i try not to think about that, because that almost would put you over the edge. just do whatever you got to do to keeeverything else afloat. >> reporter: so many older workers are struggling to do

just that, says ghildarducci. >> when you look at real lives, and you see the turmoil between let's say, 59 to 63, and their health, there's a lot of scks that are going on with their spouse and with themselves, because they're interdependent. >> reporter: which raises the stakes for workers like jaye crist to stay healthy. >> i was unloading off of one of the trucks and fell y shoulder and back. thank god i didn't break anything. didn't, you know, tear anything, i didn't cut anything. i didn't lose any days of work. and it wasn't you know, it was, i st lucky as hell. and i thought, man, ldat's all it we taken. >> reporter: traditional retirement, as for so many oncer secure omericans, is out of the question. >> so at this point, there's, inthere's like really no s. i me, this, the house, and

still paying a mortgage on it is, that's w ft i have. itstrating that, you know, in my mind, somebo who's done the things you kind of were told as a kid and as you wererowing up, you needed to do, you know? learn, youob, wor know, be helpful, get promions, do right by people and then you find yourself at this point in your career goin"" that doesn't mean shit." >> reporter: crist now understands what he didn't when he was in the manager'seat. >> i had to lay off an entire family. husband, wife and da. and i, prior to that, i kept telling them, you guys need to try to find somethg, you need to now, i find myself in that situation, that's-- that wasn't really helpful, to be able to say those things. because you can't just go out, find another job. and i was the guy who laid them off. at least i'm not that ( bleep ) anymore. >> reporter: no, he's not.ja crist works more, is paid

less. and now that a third of the workforce is 50-plus, there figure to be many more like him. for the pbs newshour, this is paul solman. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruf u joonline, and again here tomorrow evening with the analysis of mark shields and david brks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by: >> before we talk abou investments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> gndparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again?

you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> american cruise lines. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> collette. >> the ford foundation.rk g with visionaries on the frontlines of social changee. worldw >> and by the alfred p. sloanfo dation. supporting scien, technology, d improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> andith the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour.

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