. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the "newshour" tonight, we get the latest on the efforts to resolve the impasse over tax hikes and spending cuts. >> brown: then, we get two views of a palestinian bid for limited statehood, ahead of a key vote tomorrow at the united nations. >> warner: wonder why your bills are going up? paul solman examines "the fine print" with author and journalist david cay johnston. >> i'm not against corporations. i am in favor of rules that make you earn your profits in the competitive market. you don't get them through a government rule that lets the company reach in your wallet and take money. the kinds of profits that we're >> brown: after the election, what's next for immigration reform? ray suarez asks texas senator kay bailey hutchison and illinois representative luis gutierrez. >> warner: and on the "daily download," we look at how the obama administration is re-using digital information gathered for the campaign to rally support now. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour

but that's my work. >> warner: why are you happy? to help these people because nobody takes care of them. >> warner: but life is hard in the camp especially with children. 40-year-old and her 11-year-old were barred official entry to turkey. do you have food? >> today they gave us only six tiny meals of old bread. >> warner: are there bathrooms? for all the women in the camp there are only six toil hes. >> warner: have you needed any kind of medical care for your children? >> if a child gets sick they prescribe medicine for us but it's not available. >> warner: one thing the camp does have is a makeshift mosque. despite the apparent calm, anger bubbles beneath the surface. >> we have no shelter, no food. there is no heat. children are cold and getting sick. this is what bashar and his people did. >> warner: what help they do get comes through syria's neighbors. turkey is a life line for civilians and for the fighters of the rebel free syrian army. money, guns and medical supplies all make it through official and unofficial crossings

>> warner: meaning what the other river disappeared. >> pretty much. >> warner: now there are real debunkers in this. >> yes, indeed carl carl's trom who speaks on we half of a large community of scientists says no that is not true. they do believe there were canyons there of that vintage but was it a grand canyon. so in many many senses this might be kind of a semantic debate. but it shows you how interesting this place is, to scientists. >> warner: first before we get to that you can explain in layman's terms how they came to different conclusions? in other words, are they testing different materials? using different methods? >> there is not much debate that they got a good number on the age of the rocks and the depths of the rocks. >> warner: you mean on the side of the canyon. >> on the side of the canyon as they measured helium isotope as it escaped. that is not the question, the question is that part of the the grand canyon or is it a paleo canyon that morphed into the canyon we see today. in a way it is a semantic debate them are sort of both right except the paper that came out says

. >> suarez: then, in her final report from turkey, margaret warner looks at the growing clout of syria's kurdish minority, and the impact that's having on the other side of the border. >> brown: when does a co-worker count as a supervisor? that question was before the supreme court today in a case about harassment. marcia coyle explains. >> suarez: and we examine new figures from the pew research center showing that young voters played a decisive role reelecting president obama. >> brown: 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 alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and 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: a still tentative american economy looked online today, as d

as margaret warner reports, many have become targets in the country's civil war. a warning-- some images may be disturbing. >> warner: within the walls of a secret school in northwest syria, young students are studying arithmetic, english and arabic. their wide eyes and smiles betray little of the war raging just outside in the streets of their town of al-bab and across their country. >> and what does he think of the planes when they fly overhead? >> ( translated ): he doesn't fear. >> warner: run by teachers who asked to remain anonymous, this classroom was opened just weeks ago in al-bab, a city of 120,000 less than an hour from aleppo and now ostensibly under control of the rebel forces of the free syrian army or f.s.a. in f.s.a. areas like these, the syrian government is increasingly turning to air and long-range artillery attacks, hitting not only rebels, but civilian institutions, too. six schools in al-bab were bombed in the last two months, this one by a mig fighter jet in september, just before students were set to return from summer vacation. although so

cross over and stay there, that is already support. >> warner: fide said the renewed p.k.k.ially upsetting after what he says have been several years of greater freedoms for kurds. >> there is no pressure on the kurds on expressing their language and their culture. there are not any problems between different ethnicities. the different nations all live together in peace. we call this one nation together. >> the kurds have had big pain. they have suffered a lot in this area. >> warner: back in nusaybin, mayor ayse gokkan, a former journalist elected four years ago from turkey's legal kurdish political party, takes issue with fides' rosy view. though her party doesn't espouse kurdish independence, she greeted us with a hearty welcome to kurdistan in her office overlooking the turkey-syria border. >> kurds were happy when iraqi kurdistan became autonomous. and of course after what happened in syria, kurds fighting for democratic autonomy there, many kurdish people here are happy, too. >> warner: but gokkan said that does not mean that most of turkey's kurds want to carve out in

>> warner: they are counting on two things, judy. they are first of all counting on thfact that barack obama, president obama in very few polls has hit 50% or t above. they think that the undecided, the late independent undecideds are are going to break their way. that... if that doesn't happe for them, they know they'll fall short. i mean they've essentially acknowledged that. the second thing we were counting on was what they believe is much bigger enthusiasm among romney supporters and republicans for their candidate than among the democrats for president obama. >> ifill: margaret, this is gwen. when they begin to figure this out by the end of the evening, have theyargeted certain races? we know virginia is a big deal. it's east coast, a fairly early closing time. ohio a big deal fairly early closing time. are there other states that they or u are are watching tonight to find out whether balloons drop atar romney headquarters people get a little depressed? >> warner: well, at 8:00 obviously if north carolina, if they didn't do ext

>> warner: tough decision.rick tabler, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> suarez: still to come on the "newshour": political turmoil in egypt; arizona's new senator; a broad range of steps for a minnesota dance company and the college conference switches. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: democrats and republicans accused each other today of refusing to talk specifics about how to avoid the fiscal cliff. the two sides traded charges of bad faith as year-end tax hikes and spending cuts moved another day closer. on the face of it there seemed to be little movement today. >> no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. >> sreenivasan: treasury secretary timothy geithner and legislative chief rob nabors arrived at the capitol this morning, for meetings with congressional leaders. house speaker john boehner also spoke to president obama on the phone last night. he said he wanted to know where the administrati

margaret warner has that. >> warner: and we're joined again by howard kurtz from the website daily download's also newsweek's washington bureau chief and host of cnn's "reliable sources." daily download's editor in chief lauren ashburn could not be with us tonight. howie, welcome back. >> thank you. >> warner: so in this final week or ten days of the campaign we've seen this frantic get out the vote drive, people knocking on doors, making phone calls. what kind of last-minute message are people get on their computers and mobile devices. >> the campaign is pulling out th e stops on line, on twitter, for example, lauren ashburn got a direct message signed barack obama saying "use your twitter influence to help us turn out the vote." so using that network to get people engaged. e-mails are becoming fast and furious to potential supporters. i seem to get an e-mail from barack obama, michelle, joe biden has been texting me lately. there's no escape. another interesting thing, margaret, is i got an unsolicited anti-obama text message from an anonymous source and lots of people in the washington a

ray suarez is in illinois, and margaret warner is in massachusetts. >> suarez: at obama campaign headquarters in chicago, they're confident of a narrow win. >> romney's strategists are counting on the undecided independent voters breaking his way. >> ifill: then, thousands of people in new york and new jersey are still without power, cold and in the dark even as schools and businesses reopen. kwame holman has our update, one week after the storm. >> woodruff: and special correspondent rick karr tells the story of a hard-hit brooklyn neighborhood struggling to get back on its feet. >> ifill: back on the campaign trail, we head to ohio, the ultimate battleground state, whervolunteersn both sides took to the streets this weekend. >> now that we know who our president is and what he's willing to do for us, we are even more excited about getting him re-elected. >> this morning we hit 600 houses. this afternoon we probably hit about 20 or 0 houses. not everybody was home but enough people were home that we were able to spread the word. >> woodruff: we assess the polls and the state of the race on e

i live two blocks from the jane warner plaza. i am opposed to the legislation. i think it goes a little too far. i understand people are uncomfortable with nudity and something they're not willing to accept on a daily basis but just because of that doesn't mean we have to ban it in the entire city. i think it's a problem and 12 guys and a two block stretch and suddenly going with the draconian measure in the entire city and can't walk around. we have the critical mass rides and for 20 years naked cyclists have been riding with this and this would be a kink in this and i know you have exceptions and the critical mass ride, those things don't fall under there. am i wrong. >> they're technically illegal but the city allows them. if they go after critical mass there are other ways than nudity but we don't. >> critical mass and people can get together and go on a bike road. it is our roads and we pay our taxes but i think this measure goes too far. in the last years there isn't a nudity ban and now we need one because of a district and business district of four block

the supervisor has seriously exaggerated the nudity in jane warner plaza and now a city wide problem and involving every elected official in local government. this has given the supervisor media attention and has name is known around the planet and throwing away san francisco live and let live and i ask you where is the evidence? i will tell you what evidence i have. i have a petition with 1500 signatures and comments and asking you ladies and gentlemen, the board of supervisors, not -- i politely repeat not to implement a city wide nudity ban. the supervisor from district eight refers to some of his own constituents as disgusting and a blight on the neighborhood. this has rendered intolerable in san francisco california. sadly many people in the community now refer to the castro district as district hate. ladies and gentlemen of the committee please stop this head line grabbing and i implore you to kill this legislation today, right now, today before this hearing adjourns. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning supervisors. my name is due and have been a resident of

margaret warner looks at the communist party congress charged with unveiling that country's new leadership. >> brown: that's all ahead o 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 alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and 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. >> woodruff: with the election over, there's new talk in washington about finally coming to grips with taxes, spending and the deficit. the mammoth problem has been hanging over congress and president for many months, and now, time is running out. in just five days, lawmakers troop back to the capitol for a final, lame-duck session. and they are under mounting pressure to avoid going off the much-talked-about fiscal cliff. come january 1,