Someone is dying alone in the night. If we do anything with patients were really i think immersing ourselves in their stories, really hearing their voices in a profound way. And certainly thats what a poem, i think, does. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs 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 the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to 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 there was talk of a Senate Compromise today on resuming benefits for the long term unemployed. Democrats proposed funding the program into late fall. They said theyd pay the 18 billion cost with cuts elsewhere, as republicans demanded. But ohio senator rob portman and other republicans said they also want various reforms in the program. Lets sit down and talk. Were adults. You know, we have been elected by millions of people to represent them, and its our responsibility and indeed our commitment to them that we would sit down across the aisle and work these things out as you would in any other relationship, in your marriage, in your business, with your neighbors. Woodruff democratic majority leader harry reid rejected that appeal. He said its one more example of republican stalling. Nothing is ever quite good enough. They always want more amendments. They always want amendments. But the issue is here before us. Is this body going to vote to extend Unemployment Benefits paid for. And with structural changes, or are they going to turn their back on people who are desperate . Woodruff by days end, the two sides remained deadlocked. The number of firsttime applications for Unemployment Benefits fell more than expected last week. And on wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost about 18 points to close at 16,444. The nasdaq fell nine points to close at 4,156. New jerseys republican governor Chris Christie apologized today in a brewing political scandal. He said hed had no knowledge that part of the traffic on a major bridge apparently was closed in order to punish a democratic mayor. He also said hes fired a top aide for lying about it. Christie is a potential president ial candidate for 2016. Well take a closer look at the scandal after the news summary. The president of afghanistan, hamid karzai, has ordered the release of 72 prisoners over u. S. Objections. He said today theres not enough evidence to hold them. American Officials Say the prisoners had killed or wounded dozens of coalition troops. U. S. Senators have warned that releasing the prisoners will hurt u. S. Afghan relations. A suicide bomber in iraq blew himself up at a military recruiting center in baghdad today. At least 21 people were killed in the attack. It appeared to be retaliation for the militarys push to retake two cities seized by al qaeda fighters last week. One of the cities, fallujah, saw a lull in fighting today, and some people claimed things are returning to normal. I call upon residents of fallujah to come back home, the security situation is now stable. State offices and banks have opened their doors. Offices have started giving salaries to Civil Servants and policeman have started working as usual. Woodruff meanwhile, the speaker of the u. S. House, john boehner, said the u. S. Needs to do more to secure iraq, with equipment and other aid. But he said theres no reason to consider sending u. S. Troops back in, at least for now. In egypt, courts convicted 113 Muslim Brotherhood supporters on charges stemming from protests last year. They had been accused of attacking police and rioting after the military deposed president Mohammed Morsi in july. 63 of the defendants were given threeyear prison terms. Its the largest mass sentencing yet in an ongoing crackdown against the brotherhood. The u. S. Nuclear force suffered a new blow today. Defense officials said two Missile Launch officers been implicated in an illegal drug investigation at an air force base in montana. That follows a series of Security Problems in nuclear ranks. The news came as defense secretary chuck hagel appeared at a missile base in wyoming. 16 leading u. S. Food companies have in the past several years cut the calorie counts in their products by about 78 calories a person, per day, if spread across the entire population. The Robert Wood Johnson foundation reported today thats four times the reduction they promised by 2015. The savings are roughly equivalent to an average cookie or a mediumsized apple. Its part of an effort to reduce obesity nationwide. Poet, author and playwright amiri baraka died today at a newark, new jersey, hospital. He began as a beat generation poet in the 1950s. In the years that followed, he evolved into a leading black militant voice and a provocative cultural force. His work influenced a generation of artists and anticipated rap and hiphop. Amiri baraka was 79 years old. Still to come on the newshour new jersey governor Chris Christie gets snarled in a scandal; warnings of a heroin crisis from Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin; the n. F. L. s 760 million concussion settlement; doctors using poetry to provide better care; an update on implementing the new health care law; plus, a former middle eastern diplomat on the arab springs uncertain future. Ifill now, the traffic jam thats jammed up a governor and possible president ial candidate in new jersey. Republican Chris Christie spent nearly two hours today responding to allegations that his closest aides have been punishing his political foes. Holman begins our coverage. E i come out here today to apologize to the people of new jersey. Reporter governor christie started with a mea culpa that the scandal happened on his watch while insisting he was blindsided. I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution, and i am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here. Reporter the issue unfolded in september at the George Washington bridge, one of the busiest in the world. It connects fort lee, new jersey, to new york city. Without warning, several vehicle lanes were shut down for four consecutive days, triggering backups that stretched for miles. The governor says he was told the closures were for a traffic study. But newly revealed emails and Text Messages suggest it was aimed at punishing fort lees democratic mayor, mark sokolich, for not endorsing republican christies reelection. In one message, the governors deputy chief of staff, bridget anne kelly, wrote to a Port Authority executive several weeks later, that executive, david wildstein, a close personal friend of the governors, ordered the closures. Christie at first had denied it was an act of political vengeance. This morning, he fired kelly, saying she lied to him. Ive had a tightknit group of people who i trust implicitly. I had no reason to believe they werent telling me the truth. It is heartbreaking to me that i wasnt told truth. Reporter new jerseys state legislature has been investigating the traffic tie ups since allegations of political wrongdoing first surfaced four months ago. And today, the u. S. Attorney in new jersey opened a separate inquiry to determine whether the bridge lane closures violated any federal laws. Wildstein, who resigned in december, invoked his fifth amendment right against self incrimination today, refusing to answer questions at a legislative hearing. As for the alleged target of the closings, the fort lee mayor, the governor said hes mystified. Mayor sokolich was never on my radar screen. He was never mentioned to me as someone whose endorsement we were even pursuing. Reporter sokolich had his own take a few hours later in fort lee. This is a complete disruption of our lives, politically, professionally, personally. Its been a rather trying period. I never knew that i could possibly garner this much attention, especially for something i didnt do as opposed to something i did do. Reporter the mayor said he found it all appalling, but he welcomed what he called christies decisive action. Later, christie visited fort lee and apologized in person to sokolich. The governor brushed aside any talk of a possible president ial bid in 2016 or how the scandal might affect his chances. So who knew a traffic scandal could attract this kind of national attention. For a look at how Chris Christie became the countrys most closely watched governor, we turn to stu rothenberg and Michael Scherer, Washington Bureau chief for the time magazine, he wrote the magazines november cover story on christie. So was this two hour Tour De Force today, michael, vintage Chris Christie. It was, i think he did very well. He did what he had to do which was to company out, be con trait, take responsibility. But also to distance himself from what is clearly horrific acts of Public Service that took place. The question now is whether the facts as they continue to come out, we dont know the full story now. Match what christie told the people of new jersey and the people of the Republican Party who will decide the 2016 nominee. And if they dont, if they continue to be drips and drips of information that come out, christie is going to continue to have a big problem. Ifill what do you think, stu, what do you think his Performance Today and the whole run raveling of the unraveling of the scandal tell about his gopher governing skill. I think his performance was quite good, he was contrite. And when was the last time you associated the governor with being embarrassed and humiliated. I means thats something for him to say that. This is a guy we think of a as as as sometimes a bully, even. But he was humiliated and embarrassed and con trait. You know contrite. What mike said is exactly right. Today was a very good performance. I think the governor seemed sympathetic. I think he seemed like he was shocked and saddened. He said that repeatedly, he was saddened. The question is what happens tomorrow. Democrats are not going to let this sit. Im already getting emails from democratic members of the assembly and from democratic talking heads, saying the governor needs to company clean. Ifill but heres the thing that seemed to be missing in that press conference which i couldnt take my eyes off of either, is that even though he was contrite and sorry, he was sorry that he got lied to that his staff. The underlying actions, the question remains do the people who work for him work for a man who they believe he would approve of such a thing. There are two story lines, assuming he continues to move toward running in 2016 we will hear pore about both of them. For chris drisie, he is a straighttalking, nononsense, nonblowdried tell it like it is guy. Ifill he almost said that word for word within for the democrats hes a bully. That is the story he wants to get out it is clear from the governors record that there are plenty of times as governor where his office has exacted retribution on people who havent, in government, people who havent vote add long with the governor. That happens a lot in government. Most people in government do that. There are ways of moneyishing people. The different in this scandal is the retribution was exacted not on an official but on the people of the city of fort lee, people getting on a road. Its a big difference to lay someones jude delay a judician nominee than stopping people from their daily commute. Ifill everybody gets bad traffic. So i think the question is whether, you know, these two competing narratives, which develops. And really the facts will tell us. I mean Chris Christie is still very much an unvetted candidate on the president ial level. And theres a lot more to come. And how he weathers it. I think he did very well today. But he is sort of at the mercy of the fact pattern. This is not a oneday story or 1 week story or one month story. This is going to go on for an extended period of time. Ifill take us back. Explain why Chris Christie is considered to be such a formidable 2016 candidate. Well, i think some people consider him to be more formidable than i do, actually. Ive written, i think that, im not well, i think he would be a great general i just dont think can get there. I think there are parts of the country, republicans in the critiquely the south and parts of the west, the more they see him the less theyll like. But look, he just was elected and reelected easily in a democratic state. He has a reputation as somebody who is not your typical politician that is a wonderful image to have these days. And when you look at the early polls, hes very wellknown. So shockingly, he tends to be at the front, top of the polls. So all those things make him a very interesting figure. And just personally, he is an interesting guy. And i think that gets him a lot of attention. Ifill but he is he the kind of candidate that conservative republicans dont like because they seem too blue state to to them and the democrats dont like because they fear his electoral capability . I mean all sides. He actually won a significant share of democratic voters in new jersey in his reelection. So he has a Proven Ability to get democratic independent votes at least in new jersey. Conservative republicans dont like him but its also worth saying that those are sort of ideaological purist republicans who are ascendant now in the party. But its also true if you look at most of the recent cycles, the eventual nominee of the Republican Party has significant problems with the idea loll core base, i mean mitt romney was not a purist. So there is a path for christie, its going to be messy. They campaigned to some extent as purists, certainly mitt romney went out of his way to emphasize the conservative credential. The purists didnt always believe that. They distrusted him. The question is will Chris Christie, i will use a controversial word, will he pander to them, and if so, doesnt that undercut his entire actually, i think thats the key to christie in the next days, weeks, months, years. He has to be able to maintain his greatest asset now which is this idea that he just is who he is. He said in the press conference i am who i am. I am not a bully. The first part he said lots of times before, im not a bully. I can see that showing up in attack ads. Ifill is he a pragmatist or visionary in this kind of thing, he is the kind of guy, he said i dont know what a traffic study is. On the other hand he doesnt seem like someone ho has an overarching view of how the world should be. Right. He doesnt he doesnt market himself as an ideaologue or visionary but as a pragmatist that gets things done. He will say to the people we have a lot of problems, are you up set with how things are going. I have prove then new jersey i can at the time go stuff done, i will get stuff done for you, that is his message. An this is why as a governor he has an advantage. He doesnt get caught in the washington d. C. Weeds, he will say its about delivering it its about getting my from point a to point b. Now they had a problem from getting to point a to point b so they have a problem with that its about the nuts and gots of bolts of government. Ifill he recovers unless what. Unless more things come out he didnt tell the truth, he knew things that he suggests he didnt. That somehow he was part of the plan of this, any of those kinds of things within i think the issue is this idea that hes a bully. That he goes beyond what is acceptable to get his way. And even on this issue, in this traffic sure, if there are other scandals that come out in which there is documentation of him exacting retribution that people see is beyond the peal, it will be a big problem. Ifill Michael Scherer of time magazine, stu rothenberg of the political report, thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff a governor broke with tradition yesterday and devoted his entire state of the state address to drug addiction. Peter shumlin, the governor of vermont, urged residents to open their eyes to the growing problem in their front yards rather than leaving it only to law enforcement, medical personnel and Addiction Treatment providers. Shumlin argued the facts speak for themselves. In vermont, since 2000, there has been a 770 increase in treatment for all opiates. He stated it turns out vermont is not the only state facing this crisis. According to the white houses office of National Drug control policy, the number of deaths involving heroin surged 45 between 1999 and 2010. For more on this, im joined by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and Huffington PostWashington Bureau chief ryan grim. Hes also the author of this is your country on drugs. And gentlemen, we thank you both for being us. Governor, i will start with you, a fullblown heroin crisising how serious is it . Serious. I mean obviously its no more serious than the other states around us. I think, i hope that the difference is that im willing to confront it as governor, taking it on head on. And listen, heres the challenge. We had lost the war on drugs. The notion that we can arrest our way out of this problem is yesterdays theory. And you know, the one thing vermonters