captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the tucson gunman accused of killing six and wounding 13 people, including former congresswoman gabrielle giffords last year, will spend his life in prison. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we have the latest on jared lee loughner's appearance in court today, and how he convinced a judge he was now competent to plead guilty. >> woodruff: then we follow the campaign money trail, who's raised what and from whom, and what are the presidential candidates spending it on? >> brown: ray suarez begins a special series about the impact of natural gas and oil surpluses in america. tonight he's in a north dakota town trying to cope with its sudden prosperity.

>> woodruff: track and field heats up at the london olympics as gymnastics winds down. we get the latest from christine brennan of "u.s.a. today." >> brown: and we remember robert hughes and judith crist, two legendary critics of the arts whose deaths remind us of another era. >> warner: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: there won't be a trial for the man who shot up a political event for an arizona congresswoman last year. instead, the gunman pleaded guilty today, guaranteeing he'll spend his life behind bars.

psychiatrists medicated him for success friendna. today, the judge declared him mentally competent clearing him to plead guilty to 19 charges. he will be sentenced to life in prison sparing him the death penalty. in a statement issued before the judge's ruling giffords and her husband retired astronaut mark kelly welcomed the plea bargain and said avoiding a trial will

allow us and the southern arizona community to continue with our recovery. giffords was critically wounded in head during the shooting and made progress. in an emotional appearance on the floor of the house of representatives the three-term democrat formally resigned her seat. prosecutors and officials held a news conference outside the federal courthouse in tucson. here is some of what they had to say. >> well, no conclusions of this criminal prosecution will ever bring full closure to the victims of this crime or to their families. we hope that what we have accomplished today will be a positive step forward in the progress of healing and recovery from the tremendous losses that they have suffered. >> but today justice was done. the change of his plea, jared lee loughner will spend the remainder of his life in prison. he will never be able to harm

the tucson community or any other community ever again. >> and joining us is laurie levinson, professor of law at loyola law school. help us understand the issue before the judge. loughner's lawyers had to convince the judge that he was competent enough to enter a plea. what does that mean? >> it means he understood the charges against him and able to cooperate and be involved with his lawyer and the proceedings. so that he knew that when he pled guilty, that really meant that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. >> and you followed this case. this was a man before the same judge and was in very clearly in different circumstances in past appearances. >> oh, absolutely. this judge has seen jared lee loughner in all sorts of conditions. he is the judge who ordered the medication to be given and the

defense did not want that. they were happy to have jared loughner be in the prison hospital indefinitely. but the judge forced the medication and made him competent and meant we could have a resolution to the case. >> so still to try to follow this here, when we use that word "competent" we mean competent now different issue from whether he was competent or sane at the time of the act, correct? >> very, very different. two different time-frames. when we take a look at the time of the act we talk about sanity or insanity. did he understand what he was doing? did he know the consequences of his act? and he might have. but then there is the issue once he is brought to court does he understand the proceedings and the consequences can he participate in his defense? and that is where you have to have the experts come in like they did today and say, you know, with the medication, he is a changed person. he may have schizophrenia but it's under control and he

understands what is happening. >> the lawyers could have opted for an insanity defense? couldn't they have? what is the calculation for them in trying to figure out the right approach? >> big risk. and i think that there was something in on this plea bargain. the defense understood that he might get the death penalty with the claim of insanity and that is because even though he was mentally ill, he seemed to understand what he was doing and wanted to do it. and the legal test for insanity is a difficult test particularly in the jurisdiction. so i think the defense said better to take the deal, spend his life in prison than risk the death penalty and the prosecutors on the other hand, said if we go for the death penalty, there's no certainty that a jury will give it to him. some might say he is mentally ill and will give him a break. >> we heard some of the prosecutors outside the courtroom. you are saying, i guess in any plea there is clearly both sides are making calculations and

thinking they are coming ahead. in this case, on the federal prosecutors thought better to take this plea and settle it right now. >> i think that is what the federal prosecutors thought and i think they thought that in particular it would have been so much to put the victims and the victims' families through for this type of trial with no certainty at the end. at least now they know that jared lee loughner will never get out of prison. and they could do that without hearing all the episode of the crime again and that hoping that perhaps the jury would agree with the death penalty. and don't forget, maybe not all the victim family wanted the death penalty. >> how did they convince or what is required for convincing the judge of this competence question? it's not only a question of saying that he is fit for a trial but then also saying fit for a trial but we are not going to go for the trial we are going to go for the plea. they have expert witnesses, does the judge have to talk to

loughner himself and get personal testimony? >> well, the plea bargain process and the plea that is given has the judge interacting with the defendant and with his lawyers. what i understand happened today, is that the judge heard from an expert who said i know jared lee loughner i know how this medication is working on him and i see him in the courtroom today. and he is competent. he understands what is going on. and after the expert said that, the judge, himself, took the guilty plea which means that jared lee loughner had to acknowledge what he was pleading to, what rights he was giving up and the judge could see with his own eyes and the demeanor in fact this is a person who was competent. >> and we also noted that the congress woman and her husband and other victims were accepting of this. they said so before it was formalized. does that play any role, do you think, for the judge in his decision? >> i think that is huge. you know, the judge did not have

to accept this plea bargain. and i think the judge had on his mind how will the victims react? when you had a congress woman giffords and the other family members there saying we agree with this resolution it makes it a lot easier on the judge to say this is a just result. how unusual is something like this to have this change of plea and when it is you know, a national -- of national attention, how unusual is a case like this? >> it's unusual, but it's not unprecedented. and some of your viewers might remember the ted kaczynski case where he also had mental problems he took over his own defense. he wanted toáñk sometimes things happen. what is unusual here is the nature of the tragedy and how much the nation was watching this case. >> all right. thank you to too so much.

>> woodruff: still to come on the newshour, fundraising surges in the race for the white house; so does energy production in north dakota; cristine brennan from the olympics in london; and judith crist, robert hughes, and the influence of critics. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: investigators in wisconsin worked today to gain greater insight into the gunman who killed six people sunday at a sikh temple. three others who were wounded in the attack remained in critical condition. the killer has been identified as 40-year-old wade michael page, who was shot dead by police. he had ties to white supremacist groups, but investigators said they have not yet pinned down a motive for the attack. the leader of syria's embattled regime was seen publicly today, a rarity amid the growing civil war that's engulfed the country. we have a report narrated by inigo gilmore of independent television news. appearing on state television, syria's president bashar al-assad emerged from the shadows today. it was his first public appearance in two weeks, here turning out to meet iran's

security chief a loyal ally in a time of need. he referred to iran's relationship with syria as the access of resistance not easily broken. but this was not just a solidarity visit to syria's beleaguered leader. he was also in syria to discuss the pressing issue of the fate of more than 40 iranian hostages, seized by syrian rebels on sunday. the rebel fightners the video insist their hostages are members of iran's elite revolutionary guard sent to fight with assad's forces. iran says the men are pilgrims. the kidnapping crisis is another sign of a widening war in syria with battles intensifying across the country, including aleppo. and civilians are caught in the middle. in an incident that stirred

outrage, nine members of one family were killed when a fighter jet missed its target. they tried to hit a key rebel command post next door to where the family was sheltering. young and old, thousands remain trapped in syria's biggest city as assad's forces attempt to encircle the rebels who are running low on ammunition. with battles raging across aleppo and food in short supply, civilians continue to flee trying to get ahead of an anticipated onslaught by regime forces which many now fear is imminent. >> sreenivasan: authorities in turkey reported today that more than 1,300 syrians crossed from aleppo to the turkish side of the border in the last 24 hours. three men gunned down at least 19 people at a church in nigeria last night. it was the latest sign that muslim-christian violence is spreading in the african nation. the attack came in the central part of the country.

police said the gunmen opened fire with kalashnikov assault rifles. there was no immediate claim for responsibility, but suspicion fell on boko haram. the radical islamic sect is blamed for more than 660 killings this year alone. in the philippines, half of the capital city, manila, was submerged overnight in the worst flooding to hit the area since 2009. major dams and rivers overflowed, leaving thousands of people stranded on rooftops today, waiting for rescue. the water also triggered a landslide that killed at least nine people. the flooding followed monsoon rains that soaked the northern philippines, just days after a typhoon struck the region. nasa today unveiled the first color images beamed back from mars by the newly arrived "curiosity." one photo shows the red planet's rocky terrain and, in the distance, the northern rim of gale crater, where the rover landed. in another picture-- taken moments before landing-- swirls of dust are being kicked up by "curiosity's" approach. the rover landed late sunday night. it won't take its first test

drive for another couple of weeks. strong corporate earnings helped push wall street higher today. the dow jones industrial average gained 51 points to close at 13,168. the nasdaq rose nearly 26 points to close just short of 3016, the first time it's been above 3000 since may. the standard and poor's 500 also had a good day, finishing above 1400 for the first time in three months. composer and conductor marvin hamlisch has died. he passed away monday in los angeles after a brief illness. hamlisch won every major entertainment award during his career, including three academy awards, four emmys, four grammys, a tony, and three golden globes. his best-known soundtracks for film included "the entertainer" from "the sting," in 1973, and "the way we were," from the movie of the same name, the following year. he also composed the music for the broadway smash "a chorus line." here he is playing "one, singular sensation" from that show at a state department holiday reception in 2010.

[♪] [applause] >> sreenivasan: marvin hamlisch was 68 years old. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: we are three months away from election day, and the political money race is heating up. mitt romney's presidential campaign announced yesterday that, along with the republican national committee and state party efforts, it raised $101 million in the month of july. the republicans had nearly $186 million in the bank as of july 31. president obama's reelection

campaign said it raised more than $75 million in july, but did not disclose how much cash it has on hand. that's the third month in a row the romney team has outraised the president's. however, between january and june, mr. obama outspent his g.o.p. rival, $400 million to $131 million. to help sort through what all the numbers mean, we are joined by rick davis, who served as republican john mccain's national campaign manager in 2000 and again in 2008. he is now chief operating officer at pegasus capital advisors. and mo elleithee, a partner at hilltop public solutions, a d.c.-based political consulting firm. he worked on hillary clinton's 2008 presidential bid. we thank you both. good to see both of you. mo, let me start with you, why is the president having a harder time this year raising money? in 2008 he raised over $750 million.

>> well, i don't think he is having a hard time raising money. he is raising a significant amount of money but there's no question that the new rules of the game, i think, are absolutely benefiting the republicans. yes, mitt romney's outraising himgo4 and but when you are looking at the amount that the obama campaign versus the romney campaign are raising, they are both going to be very competitive. neither one of the guys is going to run out of money. what really stacks the deck against the president are the super packs all the outside money coming into the system and coming into the game. and that should put a little bit of fear and panic into democrats. >> rick davis, how fearful and panicked should the democrats be? >> well, certainly the tone has changed a lot from early remarks by thfr obama campaign how they were going to raise a billion dollars and be the first campaign in history to cross that huge mark. and certainly, i never thought that was any great shakes. i mean, obama outraisedwññuj in

2008 by a significant margin. and spent almost three to one, in some states 4 to one against us in television. this is quite a different table and i think that it's an indication of problems within the obama electorate. raising money is some indication of your level of support out in the country. and the fact that obama is not going to have an advantage for fundraising is a first-time since 2011 that he hasn't outspent his opponent. >> mo what about that? who is and who isn't giving to the obama campaign and to the romney campaign? do we have a sense of the portrait of who is writing checks this year? >> yeah, one area that i would differ from rick, is or actually agree with him, is that giving does indicate a certain amount of support. and when you look at the small grassroots donations that the obama campaign is receiving, there's no question.

a significant amount of his money is coming from small donors. the majority of his donors are people that have given $200 or less. and that cannot be said about the republican party and i read an astonishing figure on the way here, about like or 80-some percent of all the money that has been given in this election campaign is coming from just a very, very, very small group of people. that says a lot about the shifting paradigm of campaign fundraising. >> and rick davis it is a fact that we hear a lot about the fat cats to use the term millionaires and billionaires giving money. governor romney seems to be benefiting from those big checks going to the super pacts, doesn't he? >> aligning the two campaigns fundraising the thing you have to remember is barack obama raised more fat cat money per

cap ta than mitt mutt has. barack obama raised more money than mitt romney has. you can make comparisons but when you look at how many fat cats have donated to anyone campaign barack obama owns that title. and the fact that you have outside spending is not something new. it's been happening really over the last 20 years. and the facts are that barack obama in 2008 had an opportunity to fall under the campaign finance rules. he actually had an agreement with john mccain to do so and broke his agreement when he realized i cançr this time than i ever thought wildly possible. if anybody is undermining the campaign finance system or individual it's probably barack obama. so it's funny now that he would start complaining about it. he protests too much. >> you want to respond to that?

eah there's been outside spending for 20 years but never at this level. never, the citizens united court case just scrambled the playing field and changed the dynamic completely and no question it's benefiting the republicans in this election. >> and the other thing i want to ask is the obama campaign is to coin a term burning through the money that it has at a much higher rate than the romney camp. $400 million in the first half of the year versus $130 million, what are they spending the money on? >> on two things primary will. one, message and two, organization. organization, they made early investments in the key battleground states to put organizers on the ground and setup field offices. by the time mitt romney had opened up his first office in virginia, barack obama had 13 offices and dozens of organizers on the ground. that is going to matter in the long-run. and secondly, early ads helping

to define himself as well as his opponent and that is important. >> rick davis, how do you see the decision by the obama campaign to spend a lot more money faster than the romney camp? >> look it, it just depends which state and what they are getting for it. you talk about virginia and the number of offices he has there. i've heard as many as 40 in the state of north carolina. knowing what has been happening in north carolina over the last six months to a year i'm not sure i would have invested in 40 different offices in north carolina even though barack obama won that state you have to question whether or not it's winnable for him now. the states change. there are a dozen states that are probably in play right now. and i would say that you have to be careful about sinking a lot of heavy-duty cash into the ground in a lot of states that may not be competitive to you a month from now. >> and let me get a sense from both of you how much money makes a difference having television ads on the air and reaching a lot of people but ultimately in

a campaign like this, is that going to be what makes the difference? >> well it's going to matter. you don't want to be overwhelmed by the other side. i think that is one of the reasons you see the obama campaign aggressively courting the small donors we need you to pony up because when you factor in the super pacts we run the risk to be outraised. the ads matter and the organization on the ground is going to matter. so the money is what builds both of those things. without it, you can really, really struggle. and i don't think the president will be in a position where he is struggling on either side. but he does run the risk of being drowned out. >> how do you see that, rick davis? how determinative is the amount of money? >> well, i do think there is an issue with barack obama being the first sitting president who gets outspent. it's indicative of the fact that people are unhappy with his

presidency. and i think there will be a lot of campaign spending and certainly nobody should want to be outspent as badly as we were in 2008. but the bottom line is the realch use for barack obama's reelection is whether or not he has an economy that he can pitch to people is what they want four more years of. i don't think all the ad spending in the country is going are unhappy with the economy and it's the economy that barack obama gave them. >> message heard from both of you. one thing we know both candidate also continue to raise money as much as they can between now and election day. rick davis, mo elleithee, thank you both. >> thank you. >> brown: tonight we begin a series on the changing landscape of energy in the u.s. and the consequences of ever-increasing development. ray suarez is our guide this week. tonight he visits the booming economy in western north dakota, where new drilling technologies have opened up massive oil

reserves. in western north dakota near the montana border, there's so much oil around it almost feels risky to say it. boom. a 1% unemployment rate. heavy traffic in what was once a sleepy town of 12,000. nowhere to live. restaurants that close early because they cannot find enough people to work at $15 an hour and others offering signing bonuses to dishwashers and fast food workers. >> geologists say there is a small ocean of oil hundreds of billions of barrels trapped undergod here in north dakota. so thousands of workers flocked to williston to pull itsçha out. instant towns rose instead of corn and wheat as williston joined a new american energy

boom driving growth in parts of the west. just two years ago, the united states was importing two thirds of its oil. today, imports are down to less than half u.s. oil needs. oil companies have known about the supplies for decades. but new technology makes the deposit known as the bakken profitable to drill. lance lang ford manages the bakken for statoil. >> it's just the tip of the iceberg right now. we are going to be here for many, many years. and once we are finished drilling the wells, the wells will produce for 30-40 years. >> reporter: for williston that means growing pains and a gusher of cash. surging through a town not totally ready for t williston's population doubled in size in two years, suddenly, the parking lots are full with cars from all

over, job seekers coming from every direction. joe moveed from montana and says he is making the best money of his life. >> it's been good, really good. i mean, anything you want. money is not really an issue. i mean, if you want it just buy it and make it work. >> reporter: the word's out. men are getting in their cars and trucks and driving to north dakota. >> it's easy to find a job here. it's just what you are going to get is the issue. within 24 hours of being here, i already had maybe five different job offers and took one of them. >> reporter: tyler is working as a cook until something opens up in the oil fields and living in his car. >> that is the food section down there. that is the kitchen. out back that is toilet r.b.i.'s. what i do is move everything from back to the front whenever i want to sleep and the front to

the back whenever i want to drive around or fit a passenger in. i have my cooler. and i have good camping gear but there's nowhere to camp here unless i want to pay a ridiculous amount of money. welcome to my home. >> so for now, home is a parking place. the price of housing comes up again and again. from long time residents, newcomers and businesses. labor-hungry companies found one solution; workers' camps built and operated by outside contractors. workers who cannot find an affordable place to live want to leave williston a clean room in a prefab building, three meals a day and a private shower take a little of the sting out of an 80-hour week. >> you don't want permanent housing sitting on the market. >> vice-president travis kelly oversees accommodation for almost 4,000 workers in williston for housing contractor

target logistics. >> i know the general public when they see one of our lodges it is a man camp and you know, these are rough and tumble guys getting in fights all the time. it's not true. the demographic of folks that we have staying with us, come from all over the country. and most are family guys. they have wife and kids that they are trying to support back at home. >> jeff did not expect to windup running a kitchen in a workers' camp 1500 mile miles from home r living dorm-style without his wife and family. when the economic crisis hit he tried to hang on. but eventually had to close his restaurant in mesa, arizona. >> my first week i did not sleep much but thank god technology i am on the phone every night with skype and see my kids everyday. tell them good night you know. give them the old kiss on the phone. it's not the same but at least i

see their face and i tell my wife i love her and it's like looking at her. >> trying to manage his city's wild ride is the mayor. thousands of new people crowd the roads, drive up local wages and mean the local sewer system has to handle thousands more flushessism tell us one of the biggest things is the cost of employees for the city. we added three policemen last year, three more dispatchers seven people in public works, building inspectors and down the road you have to add these people. >> reporter: raising the cost of local government by almost $3 million. and the town has had to borrow the money for personnel and infrastructure like new streets and garbage collection. the surge in oil royalties and sales taxes is collected by the state, not by williston. >> here we have a rig statoil drilling and looking to drill four wells off of this location. and it's interesting how close it is to the city.

there is a human cost in this whole process. just the stress that is right here. north dakota has been known as a stress-free state. and i don't know that williston would be considered that right now. >> the mayor seems to have his finger on his constituents' pulse. >> the lack of housing. we are frustrated with the lack of services. we are frustrated with traffic. we are frustrated with driving. we are not alone. and i don't care if you have been here a long or short time we are all are. there's not enough police and ambulance and not enough fire and restaurants. there's not enough anything. >> the traffic woes come from a tremendous rise in truck traffic. hydraulic frackerring takes millions of gallons of water pumped into high pressure in wells to break open oil deposits. the water hauled around williston by hundreds of tanker trucks. and water that is dirty has to

go someplace after it's used. the possibility of contaminated water making its way into local water supplies worries some long time residents. mark directed the dakota resource council for the past 18 years. last spring when we had a wet spring season, we had over 50 reserve pits across the state which contained drilling fluids and mud and oil and lots of stuff you don't want in your water. and overflowed during that spring thaw and some got into surface water. >> a saltwater pipe broke on linda's land and contaminated soil and the water source her cattle rely on. >> actually, they say that the creek is ok to drink out of. there's just one spot down here where they are pumping the water under the ground and there is

one spot where it's coming to the top of the ground and they don't want them to drink. they test t. >> ken salizar is the secretary of the interior and knows there are worries nationwide about tracking fluid. >> that is why we have proposed and moving forward to finalize rules that will require full disclosure to the american public of the fluids being injected. requirements that will make sure there's well b.ore integrity. >> salizar visited north dakota and says he is glad to see the development and the jobs. >> there is a lot of opportunities. >> the mayor, if it goes according to plan... >> as we grow there's quality of life things that we can do so some of the people moving here to work will fall in love with williston, north dakota will want to raise their family here. >> and maybe, if williston gets it right, the mayor hopes, long time residents will fall in love

again with their transformed hometown. >> brown: our energy series continues tomorrow, when ray reports from colorado, where a major coal producer is betting all on natural gas. online you can find more about the impact on boomtowns like williston, north dakota. we have an interview with john mcchesney, a former npr reporter who has a new documentary about this from the center for the american west at stanford university. >> woodruff: now to the london olympics, where the british are finding plenty to celebrate in the second week of competition. margaret warner has the story, including some of today's results. a spoiler alert: if you don't want to hear what happened today, you might want to tune out for the next few minutes. >> after a week-and-a-half of competition british fans at olympic park were showing the flag today. and they weren't disappointed.

british athletes won gold again. four of them to be pro size, including in cycling and in the men's triathalon where brothers alister and jonathan finished first and third for gold and bronze. that left britain already with its best showing since london first hosted the olympic games in 1908 and the home fans were overjoyed. >> we have to wait and see, but right now, it's excited a generation looking has taken something from the games. and yes, there is a legacy that we'll hold and sustain. >> as for the american team, the final day of gymnastics saw final heroics. alley raceman won gold in the floor exercise and took bronze in the balance beam competition where china won gold. the women's all around champion gabby douglas lost her footing and fell off the balance beam

failing to medal today. the u.s. women's soccer team was still relevant lirning the 3-4 win over canada in the semifinals yesterday. some of the canadian players claimed the norwegian referee had unfairly advantaged the americans. meanwhile, in track and field, jamaica's usain bolt won a qualifying heat today in the 200-meter race. he is aiming to repeat his gold medal performance from the beijing olympics just as he did sunday in the 100-meter dash when he set an olympic record. in fact, bolt is one of several carribbean athletes showing dominance in track and field at the london games. 34-year-old felix sanchez of the dominican republic won the 400 hurdles recapturing the 2004 olympics.

and grenada won gold in the race. that victory gave the small carribbean island its first-ever olympic medal. more on the state's events with christine brennan and joins us from london and welcome back. let's start with gymnastics which americans have been so rivotted on. this is the last day and it seems that alley is going t allo home with as many medals as gabby douglas. >> gabby douglas has the most important one. she is the break out star of the games. not just in gymnastics but all sports in the united states. having said that after douglas won the all-around title and the u.s. team won the gold as well, it has -- there's been a lot ofn celebrations and a lot of media and gabby has not had a chance to focus on heroux teens.

hence an 8th place finish on the uneven bars today and seven place on the balance beam today holding on for dear life. that is not the image that you want to have. but it's tough. it shows the pressure. it also shows how much fun she has been having celebrating. an ally her teammate won a gold and a bronze is the star of the show for this day each though gabby has the big prize from last week. >> neither have anything to be ashamed or unhappy about. moving on to track and field where there is a lot of focus now, most of the focus even though usain bolt was only in a qualifying round is on him. >> without a doubt. i was in the stadium on saturday and sunday when usain bolt was running and winning the men's 100 meters sunday night and it was electric. and it is like the old days of the great prize fights that we

hear about from the past the boxes matches when the world is watching and the cameras are on and everyone is rivotted. less than 10 seconds but it was amazing theater. and bolt from jamaica part of an amazing group of jamaican men and women sprinters. winning everything they have not lost since 2008. bolt is a legend in the making and if he wins the men's 200, i think we maybe able to say that usain bolt is the greatest olympic sprinter of all time. carl lewis and others usain bolt will have that argument he is the greatest ever. >> well, as you said, the jamaicans and the carribbean nations as a whole have done well. what explains it? the u.s. used to dominate track and field. >> that is true. i think one of the things for the u.s. is that so many good

young athletees go to other sports. and so especially with women, we have so many opportunities because of title 9 you see more women, young girl and women playing soccer and lacrosse and basketball and those things. that is opportunities have opened up there that is part of the u.s the other side not for one moment say anything about other than praise for the carribbean nations especially jamaica, is that the great history there, the role models that come from the 1970s, don corey an olympic gold medalist in '76 he is a name that so many of the young sprinters over the last few generations have got into know and it builds on itself. and there is a great pride in sprinting in jamaica. ben johnson who ran for canada is jamaican. sonya richards ross, the u.s. woman who won the 400 meters spent the first 11 years of her life in jamaica. and do we see a common

denominator? absolutely. and it is a rich history, great pride and just an excellent generation of sprinters led by usain bolt. >> now, speaking of being on a roll, britain is on a roll four more golds. what i mean, people there must be going crazy over this? >> it is. and it's great they are in third place in the medal count and probably where they will stay. china and u.s. are one, two and britain three after a slow start for team gb as they are calling them here did not have a gold medal in the first few days. rowing, cycling it's been a bonanza and it's great to see. traditionally, the host country does do well at the home limit picks, whether it's vancouver canada, the canadians were great, china emerged. and really announced itself to the world in so many ways four years ago in beijing. almost every olympics the host

country has a great performance and that is happening here as well. what is interesting they are talking about having a legacy for future generations that is the theme of the london games. a legacy and then some, because every 12-year-old boy and girl in this country is saying i want to play sports now. so i think great britain will be great for many years to come in the olympics because of these two weeks. >> and the u.s., the u.s. women's soccer team, won yesterday over canada in the semifinals but that was a nail-biter wasn't it ? >> it sure was. in january an olympic qualifying in vancouver, the u.s. beat the canadians 4-0. this was not the same canadian team. and canada led throughout u.s. kept coming back and canada took the lead again and this is one of the great games in the history of u.s. soccerpto maler female. >> rivoting and alice morgan, the break out star for the united states scored the winning goal and had a header in the 123rd minute. stoppage time of overtime.

that means they have been playing for a longtime and the u.s. was able to put canada away 4-3 going to play japan on thursday for the gold medal. this is the u.s. has always been in the gold medal games either winning gold or one time silver in the olympics this is a place that the united states is often in. in othds, the gold medal game in women's soccer. and they are playing japan a year ago in the women's world cup final. japan beat the united states in penalty kicks. the u.s. has been pointing towards the opportunity to play japan again in a meaningful game and now they've got t the u.s. against japan for the gold and it should be fascinating to see if the americans can come back and win this game over the rivals who took that world cup from them last year. >> well, we all will be watching. christine brennan thank you and we'll talk to you again. >> thank you very much, margaret.

>> brown: finally tonight, the critic speaks, and sometimes roars: we remember two legends of the genre. art critic and historian robert hughes died monday in new york after a long illness. he was 72 years old. a native of australia, hughes spent more than three decades as art critic for "time" magazine, and reached many millions more through his work on television. his 1980 documentary, "the shock of the new," changed conceptions about 20th century art. it originated on the bbc, and also aired on pbs. later, hughes wrote and presented "american visions," another series that aired on pbs. here's an excerpt of hughes discssuing the work of the american painter, winslow homer. >> his great subject was always before him, the sea. it is a field of primal encounter. homer insists that you are always alone before it, which you are. for him it is bound up with his

rejection of industrial america. the machine enslaves the men who serve it. only in the woods or on the ocean or on its rocks are we truly free, truly american. he understood the structure of waves, currents, surges, loops of foam, the sheer power of the water breaking over cannon rock, its relentlessness and its strange, fickle, yet maternal beauty. >> brown: another hugely influential figure in the world of cultural criticism, judith crist, died today at age 90. she was a champion of a new generation of american and international directors and actors in the 1960s. and, like robert hughes, she was more than ready with a sharp zinger when she disliked a work. crist wrote for a number of major print organizations, including the "new york herald tribune" and "tv guide." and she was the first regular movie critic on the "today" show, serving there for a decade beginning in 1963.

a short time ago, i talked about crist, hughes, and the art of criticism with a.o. scott, chief film critic for the "new york times." >> welcome. let's start with judy woodruff. in your own judith crist in your own field of criticism what will she be most remembered for? >> well, she was for one thing the first woman to serve as a regular critic on a daily newspaper at the new york herald tribune and had enormous range in the kinds of media that she appeared in in newspapers the first critic in new york magazine and wrote for tv guide and appeared on television on the "today" show. i think what she will be remembered for and what she is remembered for among critics and among her readers and viewers is the sharpness of her opinions whether pro or con. she could be very, very flashing and witty. the director said that to offer

one of your films to her for review is like asking for a neck massage from the boston strangler. >> ouch. and she was witty and sharp and you know, always, always gave, i think, a very clear opinion. so she was, i think, a very helpful critic for people who wanted to go to the movies and wanted to know what she thought of them. and she also was not -- she was the furthest thing from a film snob. she championed popular art with fun films and adventureious films. she did not have any use for the hierarchies of art and entertainment. >> turn to robert hughes then. in a different field, but also a critic of great stature in art criticism and speaking to a huge audience and also through print and television. >> yeah, he also traveled from magazines and books in the world of print to television.

i think i first became aware of him through the shock of the news his extraordinary pbs series on modern art. that was full of contentious opinion and wit and his writing in time was the same way. he, too, shared with judith crist a reputation for certain civilized savage ri you might say. he was wellyl of english prose and also a master of the elegant take down. he could really if he thought an artist or a work of art was shoddy or bad in anyway he could say it with the most devastating learning and economy and humor. >> and both interestingly, to me, both sort of reaching out to very large general audiences and explaining some new changes in

their world. christ looking at the world of film opening up an international world to an audience and hughes explaining this inexapplicable, the 20th century modern art. >> i think that is right. you make a good point that they were both very smart and learned and sophisticated people who wrote about material that was sometimes difficult or confusing or strange to their readers and they were writing for the widest possible general audience. and they managed to explain and argue about this stuff whether it was avant guard art or experimental film in a way that was clear and acceptable and never conned sending. they practiced criticism in a democratic form which is not to say they did not have standards. they had high and explicit and

rigorous standards for the stuff they were judging. but the idea was anyone would participate. you could pick up time magazine and read about foreign films or experimental art and find that you could understand it. and that the person who was talking to you was speaking your language and communicating with you in a very clear and persuasive way. >> i want to bring it up-to-date. how has the role of the critic changed? it's your world now. there's new technology. there's -- there are a lot of changes out there. what is different now and what remains the same? >> well, i think that there are two ways to look at it. you know, you can look back at the 50s and the 60s and the 70s into the 80s, and you can see there were these large heroic dominating critical figures whether it was judith

crist pauline cale, andrew who passed way in film or robert hughes, hilton kramer, john richardson in art, the great theater critics who could open and close. i think now, you know, you don't have that kind of authoritative figures. some would say well, the art of criticism declined. on the other hand if you think as i do what criticism essentially is is a form of argument and conversation. it's talking in a passionate and knowledgeable and opinioniated way about art and culture. then i think we are in an age where criticism is flourishing there's almost too much to keep track of. it's more democratic and pleasure list particular and noisier and ill mannered and it happens on social networks and the internet. as well as radio in print. and i think that it's a very

lively and exciting if sometimes confusing time to be a critic. one difference now, for example, is that if you are a critic as i am working at a publication like "the new york times" and you write something that people take issue with or are offended by or disagree with, or if you make a mistake or error in judgment you will hear about it right away. within hours if not minutes. but people who are not always friendly or polite but sometimes know quite a lot about what they are talking about and what you are talking about. you have to be on your game in a way that i think is very healthy. if also sometimes exhausting. >> all right. judith crist, robert hughes and the continuing role of critics. thank you so much. >> it was a great pleasure, thank you.

>> woodruff: again, the other major developments of the day. jared lee loughner pleaded guilty to killing six people in tucson, arizona, and wounding 13, including former congresswoman gabrielle giffords. he'll spend his life in prison. syrian president bashar al- assad was seen publicly for the first time in weeks. he met with an envoy from iran, who pledged continued support for the assad government in its civil war with rebels. with ally raiseman winning a gold and bronze. on-line we examine a possible loophole in some parents' health insurance plans coveringlxe? kis under 26. >> the affordable car >> sreenivasan: the affordable care act ensures that parents can keep their children insured up to age 26, but some plans won't cover the cost of pregnancy for those dependent adults.

read more about that on the rundown. read a dispatch from our partners at global post inside aleppo, syria, where government jets are facing off against rebel guerilla factions. and you can watch an interview and performance by experimental rock band battles on art beat. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, ray suarez report on the natural gas boom in colorado in part two of our energy series. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible

by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org