Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20150313

Why go to college for four years and work up the corporate ladder to get in the position to do something great when you can just learn to create something great . Ifill and, with spring training underway, we look at how baseball is trying to make nine long innings go faster. Woodruff those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by this is about more than work. It is about growing a community. Everyday across the country, the men and women of the i. B. E. W. Are committed to doing the job right, doing the job safe, and doing the job on time. Because while we might wire your street, were also your friends and neighbors. I. B. E. W. The power professionals in your neighborhood. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org 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. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the latest incident involving secret Service Agents took a new turn today. Two senior agents had allegedly been drinking when their car hit a security barricade at the white house last week. Now, the Washington Post reports, they may have disrupted a bomb investigation and driven over a suspicious package that later turned out to be a book. Officials said today the Homeland Security department has opened an investigation into the incident. Woodruff divers off the Florida Panhandle have found an Army Helicopter that crashed in the gulf of mexico, killing 11 servicemen. The seven u. S. Marines and four National Guardsmen were on a special Operations Training mission tuesday night. The fire chief from nearby Eglin Air Force base says a salvage unit will try to raise the wreckage. But as you can see with the conditions and weve got some weather coming in later on theyre probably not gonna be able to start any operation tonight. I dont know what the weather is tomorrow, but i believe we have some more weather coming tomorrow, so that may hamper the beginning of their operation. Woodruff the helicopter went down in heavy fog, after another helicopter had turned back because of the conditions. Ifill another Canadian National Railway Train derailed overnight, the third in a week. 13 cars jumped the tracks in rural manitoba near the town of gregg, and one of them spilled an oil product. Theres been growing concern in canada and the u. S. Over oil train derailments. Woodruff in bangladesh, at least five people were killed when a Cement Factory collapsed. Dozens more were feared trapped. Rescue workers in the port city of mongla struggled to break through the mangled debris and beams throughout the day. They managed to rescue at least 40 people. Two years ago more than 1,100 died when a garment factory building collapsed in dhaka, the countrys capital. Ifill irans Supreme Leader today rejected a warning letter from u. S. Senators, over nuclear negotiations. In the letter, 47 republicans said any agreement that lacks congressional approval, might be scrapped by the next u. S. President. In tehran today, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fired back that the letter shows american deceit and disintegration. translated these gentlemen, the senators have openly announced that when the Current Administration is no longer in office, the deal that america is making will be null and void. This is the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics. Ifill khamenei has generally supported the Nuclear Talks while expressing doubt about u. S. Motives. Woodruff tensions between yemen and saudi arabia ratcheted up today. Shiite rebels who now control much of yemen began military exercises in their home province near saudi arabia. The saudis regard them as terrorists backed by iran. Also today, rebels opened fire on sunni protesters in southern yemen, killing at least one person. Ifill the death toll from ebola in west africa has passed the 10,000 mark. The World Health Organization marked the milestone today, in the yearold outbreak. And there was word that an american medical worker has been infected in sierra leone. The National Institutes of health said the patient will arrive at its hospital in bethesda, maryland, on friday. Woodruff the kremlin tried today to quash rumors that russian president Vladimir Putin is ailing. Putin is 62 years old. He has not been seen in public since march 5, and he canceled a trip to kazakhstan. But a spokesman insisted today theres nothing wrong. Well, there is absolutely no reason for any doubts about the state of his health, his health is really perfect and everything is ok with him, and hes working in accordance with his traditionally overloaded working schedule. Woodruff meanwhile, russias actions in ukraine prompted the government of poland today to announce nationwide defense exercises. Ifill back in this country wall street bounced back from mondays big losses, partly on upbeat news about bank dividends. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 260 points to close near 17,900. The nasdaq rose 43 points and the s p 500 was up 25. And the reverend Willie Barrow died at a chicago hospital today. She was a civil rights field organizer for dr. Martin luther king jr. In the 60s and took part in the marchs on washington and in selma, alabama. More recently she focused on gun violence in chicago. Reverend Willie Barrow was 90 years old. Ifill still to come on the newshour how Police Respond to the latest ferguson shooting. Friendly fire kills 25 iraqi soldiers. Israels elections go down to the wire. Why learning to code could spell job security. And, new rules to make baseball move faster. Woodruff now to last nights violence in ferguson, missouri where two Police Officers were shot outside a protest. This shaky amateur video captured the moment that the gunfire erupted, shortly after midnight. An otherwise peaceful demonstration had been winding down, outside the Ferguson Police department. We heard, the crowd, what sound like a firecracker so we looked up to the top of the hill and we saw two or three more actual gunshot flares from the muzzle of the gun firing towards the officers. Woodruff police said those flashes likely came from a handgun, some 125 yards away. There were three or four shots and two struck home. St. Louis county police chief jon belmar. This is really an ambush is what it is. You cant see it coming. You dont understand that its going to happen and youre basically defenseless from the fact that it is happening to you at the time. Woodruff one of the wounded officers was shot in the face, the bullet lodged behind his ear. The other was hit in the shoulder by a bullet that just missed his spine. We could have buried two Police Officers next week over this. Woodruff instead, officials said neither man suffered permanent injury, and both were released from a hospital late this morning. The shootings came just hours after Ferguson Police chief tom jackson resigned. Hed been under pressure since the august shooting death of Michael Brown by officer darren wilson, whos since left the force. Then, last week the u. S. Justice department accused fergusons police and courts of rampant racism, prompting chief jackson and five others to quit or be fired. In washington today, however, attorney general eric holder warned last nights shootings threaten any attempt to move forward. This was not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson. This was a damn punk, a punk who was trying to sow discord in an area that is trying to get its act together and trying to bring together a community that has been fractured for too long. This really disgusting and cowardly attack might have been intended to unravel any sense of progress that exists but i hope that does not in fact happen. Woodruff president obama tweeted his own reaction, as he left for a trip to los angeles, saying violence against police is unacceptable. Our prayers are with the officers in missouri . Path to justice is one all of us must travel together. For now, the focus in ferguson is on finding the shooter. Officers searched a house today, and took several people in for questioning. Woodruff now to discuss how st. Louis county police told the newshour that county and state police will take over security at any ferguson protest tonight. Now for a look at what this moment means for Law Enforcement officers in ferguson and around the country, im joined by since nat police chief james jeffrey, who is in atlanta for a Law Enforcement conference. By chuck wexler. Hes the executive director of the Police Executive research forum. And Darrell Stephens. Hes the executive director of the major cities chiefs association. Welcome to all three of you. Darrell stephens, let me start with you. You do represent tens of thousands of Police Officers across the country. What is your reaction to what happened last night in ferguson . Well, unfortunately, its another one of those tragic situation wheres Police Officers have been ambushed. Police officers that were at a peaceful protest that were completely unaware that someone was waiting in the background to take a shot at them. So its it puts the Police Officers not only in the st. Louis county area in a situation of being fearful when they hit the streets. It has an impact throughout the country. Its something that theyre used to something that theyre trained to respond to, but nevertheless, its an increasing challenge for them to go out do their job, police, and police effectively when they have this on their mind all the time. Woodruff chief blackwell, what were your thoughts when you heard about what happened . And do you agree with mr. Stephens that this kind of thing has an impact everywhere . It absolutely does. I agree with him wholeheartedly. I think anything like this i say it all the time what affects us anywhere affects us everywhere in american policing. And so this act of cowardly injustice committed against these Police Officers has those officers more on edge now today at a time when were trying to increase collaboration and mend the fracture that is existing in that community. It makes it hard to move forward when you have these type of activities taking place. Woodruff chuck wexler, lets talk about moving forward. You work with Police Departments across the country who have been cited for different kind of mismanagement, some accused of abuse, departmentlike ferguson and others. What are you saying in these circumstances not just because of what happened last night, but throughout the last year . What are you saying to Police Departments, to Police Officials about how they should be thinking not only about interacting with the community, but about the work they do . Well its complicated, and certainly, thank god those two officers are okay last time. And you see hoe complicated their job is from one day theyre deescalating a situation, one day theyre dealing with a homeless person, the next day theyre being fired. But i think the report that came out from the justice deparment was a very significant report, and in some ways, the police chief leaving, the city manager leaving gives them an opportunity to move forward. Woodruff this in ferguson. This is in ferguson. But, you know, this is a defining moment for policing. So as difficult as it is, there can be some good things that can come out of it. I think theres a way to move forward. In cincinnati certainly, where the chief is from, they had this experience. In other cities, in pittsburgh and so forth, there can be some opportunities to learn. The ferg sop situation was particularly problematic because of the revenue aspect of it it. You dont usually see that. Woodruff where they were trying to raise a lot of money by giving out many tickets and it appeared to be racially slanted. Right. And the interesting thing about ferguson, too is its size. Its a city of 22,000. Its 50 officers. Most of these incidents that weve have had been in larger jurisdictions. But most of the Police Departments in this country are more like ferguson. 85 90 are 50 officers or less. So thats a challenge. How do you get these smaller agencies to come up to professional standards . Woodruff well, whether its a small or Larger Agency Darrell Stephens what are some examples of the kinds of things police are doing or should be doing as they walk this line between respecting the community on the one hand and on the other hand keeping safe themselves . Well, i think weve seen for a number of years policing implementing community policing, problem solving, engaging the community in a partnership to help make their neighborhoods safer. Were revisiting all of those policies and aproaches that weve seen, effective in our larger cities and elsewhere throughout the country. And i think since ferguson and actually over the past couple of years, theres been a reengagement. I think the other thing that were seeing is woodruff let me just interrupt. What do you mean by reengagement . I we lost touch with our communities in many cities. The economic downturn through 2008 we saw a lot of our cities lose 300, 400, 500 Police Officers from their force, and they had to emphasize responding to calls for service. So their ability to spend the time thats required to develop those relationships was impacted heavily. Now they continued to try to do that as well as they can, and i think through that process we did lose a little bit of touch and so were now trying to reengage and work through those relationships. Were also investing a lot in procedural justice training, in bias training so that officers have a lot better understanding about some of the issues that they face on the street. Woodruff chief blackwell, chief of the police in cincinnati we know youre in atlanta for the conference of black chief Police Executives. What would you add to what he just said and whats the conversation i know you just arrived there today, but what is the conversation gamong black Police Officials about all this . Well i agree with darrell and chuck. You know, they get us together the major city chiefs, four or five times a year and we talk about, you know, constitutional policing, biasfree policing and community engagement. And darrell is right when he said that when we lost officers due to the economic downturn, a lot of chiefs responded back to our police models traditional policing, where officers simply respond to 911 calls and put fires out and move around and never take the time to engage the community. And unless you have authentic relationships with people in your city you are doomed because there will always be a fracture that exists between cops and community unless you include the community in problem solving policing. Woodruff chuck wexler, what would you to do that . And id like to you just add to it, what should people know about the work of the Police Officer . Because i think sometimes it becomes a stereotype. Sure. First an interesting point, which is crime is actually at its lowest point since the 1960s. Thats the irony of this whole situation is that, you know, there was a time 20 years ago there were 2200 homicides in new york city. Today theres around 300. So at the same time that crime has decreased, we have this issue of community trust. So they dont theyre not connected. So thats where we have to reinvest with the communities, engage with the communities and maybe we lost a little bit of that. I think the job of a Police Officer is incredibly complicated incredibly. One minute as i said before theyre trying to deal with someone in crisis. Next minute theyre calming them down. One minute its very calm. The next minute theyre being shot at. One minute they have to make splitsecond decisions on the use of force. And in ferguson, you see that in other cities you see that so we want people to be really well trained, well selected, we want divorce workforces, all of those things. Its a really important job and a difficult one. Woodruff well, we appreciate all of you talking with us its a difficult subject. Chief wexler, james ifill in iraq, there was more heavy fighting in tikrit today as iraqi forces and militias moved in on the Islamic State group. Elsewhere, the Iraqi Military reports that several iraqi soldiers were killed in a friendly fire incident involving an aircraft from the u. S. Led coalition. Newshour special correspondent jane arraf is on the ground in iraq. I spoke to her a short time ago. Jane, thank you for joining us. Can we start by talking about the significance of this battle for tikrit. The government seems to have made some progress towards reentering the city. Reporter absolutely, gwen. This is a huge test. Its the biggest sunni city that the forces have tried to take back, and these are government forces, of course, backed by shia militia. So theyre facing a lot of opposition. Its an isil stronghold, an i. S. Group stronghold, and theyve held it, essentially, since they rolled into the country starting last june. So its really going to show whether theyre able to take a city like this on the way to mosul. This is a necessary step to mosul. And theyre facing a lot of resistance. Theyve been at this for almost 10 days now still inside only part of the city and fighting very fiercely with Islamic State fighters who have laid explosives all the way along the roads. Gwen. Ifill there have been some concerns the iraqi forces were not ready for prime time. Has this shown that they are or are they getting significant support from Coalition Forces . Reporter well, thats the really interesting thing because this isnt really just one battle against the Islamic State group. Its many different battles, and the dynamics in tikrit are that the u. S. Is really not involved. Its iran at the front of this. Its iranianbacked militias. There are twice as many militiamen as there are regular iraqi army troops. So this really is an indication of how different that kind of fight is. Now, here in the north there have of course been Peshmerga Kurdish forces, backed by u. S. Air strikes and there are u. S. Air strikes in anbar the western province. But tikrit really is a show thats run by the iranianbacked militias, by the iraqis themselves, and the u. S. Is very carefully stayed out of that. So the real test here isnt even so much can they take back the city because they are expected to . Its what happens after . How do they hold the city . And will people be confident that its safe enough to come back given that there are concerns about revenge killings and ethnic cleansing as well. Ifill you mentioned anbar province. There is another complication on that front. A friendly fire incident. What can you tell bus that . Reporter well that one is murky. What we know is approximately 25 iraqi soldiers have been killed when what appears to be their military barracks were hit by an air strike. Some iraqi officials have said it was a u. S. Air strike. The u. S. Has said it actually did launch an air strike in ramadi, but that it hit Islamic State fighting positions, and it says it knows of no friendly fire casualties. So that leaves one more option, basically. The only other aircraft operating in the area were iraqi. The implication is that it might have been iraqi friendly fire but thats still being investigated. Ifill so much is still being investigated and the story changes every day. Thank you for covering it for us, jane arraf in baghdad. Reporter thank you, gwen. Woodruff the political future of the israeli Prime Minister, who dominated headlines last week with a speech to congress, is very much up in the air tonight, as a rival political faction inched ahead of his party in the latest polls. Newshour special correspondent Martin Seemungal traveled to israel to see what the leader is up against in this coming tuesdays election. Reporter one man has dominated israels knesset for the last six years benjamin netanyahu, leader of the center right likud party. In fact, if you include the three years he served as Prime Minister in the late 90s, he is the secondlongest serving israeli leader behind david ben guirion, known as the father of israel. Netanyahu was just two years into his term when he called this election, and it will be pivotal one, a referendum on Benjamin Bibi netanyahu. There will be people who say we have to have netanyahu. We cant trust to have anyone else lead this country in this fraught region. Reporter David Horowitz is the former editor of the influential jerusalem post. He now runs his own paper, the times of israel. And there will be part of the electorate that says anyone but netanyahu. The mans a disaster, hes plunging israel into pariah status, and we need a change of leadership. Reporter when he campaigns, netanyahu is, as always confident of victory. translated pushing the line that israel faces an existential threat from iran and hamas in gaza, telling audiences about his responsibility to protect the Nations National security. Reporter Aviv Bushinsky netanyahus media adviser when he was Prime Minister in 1998. Netanyahu thinks he really thinks so that he is the only one that can protect the country. Its really strange, but thats how netanyahu thinks. Reporter but israelis are dividedand undecided. The polls are close. The labour party, led by isaac herzog and his new ally, tzipi livni, have formed a formidable alliance, the Zionist Union, sometimes called the zionist camp. Often campaigning together, they are going after center and centerleft voters. Herzog and the zionist camp are looking to capitalize on that perception that israel is looking for a change. speaking hebrew reporter herzog tells potential supporters to forget about labours past electoral defeats, to focus on replacing netanyahu. He won many supporters at this kibbutz near tel aviv. People say that bibi is strong. So what . What it means for us . Hes strong, okay, but nothing is good. Thats why we need someone that can make a change. Tens of thousands turned out last weekend in tel avivs rabbin square, not as a statement of support for any Single Police plil faction but as a uniifying call for the ouster of the Prime Minister, even some former supporters are turning. I think netanyahu right now is the best, but still no results for the last six years. Reporter so, time for a change . Yes, its time for a change. Reporter who did you vote for in the last election . The last election, i voted for netanyahu. Reporter and why not this time . Because he fight with mr. Obama. Reporter and you dont like that . No, i dont like this. Reporter why dont you like that . Because obama is good for us, and its not good that mr. Netanyahu fight with him. We the younger people we need hope. We need hope, we seek hope, and the Economic Situation is not going any better, and the situation with the palestinians isnt getting any better. Reporter despite netanyahus public support for two states for two peoples, the Peace Process remains at a standstill. Tzipi livni, the Zionist Unions other leader, regularly attacks netanyahu on the palestinian issue. Livni has long experience negotiating with the palestinians in previous governments, including netanyahus most recent one. I do believe in the right of the jewish people on their land, but i also believe that the vision of two states for two people represents the interest of israel not a favor to the palestinians, not even a favor to the president of the united states. It is our interests and the only way to keep israel a Jewish Democratic state. Reporter again, the message is clear the zionist camp represents the real israel, that victory is near. And do you think youre going to win . Yes, of course. Of course we should win reporter but livni and herzog are seen to lack on that one issue that polls show israelis are deeply concerned about security. Herzog has impeccable political credentials, but he isnt a former general and unlike netanyahu, herzog didnt serve in an elite military unit. The likud ad campaigns portray the Zionist Union leaders as weak and indecisive. The centerleft tries to steer away to the economy and other areas of dissatisfaction, including corruption and the skyhigh cost of living and housing prices which have left many israelis behind. But that strategy is proving difficult. You will often hear people talk about social issues on the street, but, so far, those issues have not been a major factor in the campaign. Netanyahu has somehow managed to keep those issues out of the preelection debate and keep the focus on security. It is critical to his re election campaign. Heres why the latest polling has the centerleft zionist camp inching ahead to the center right likud, but many analysts believe the gap must be significant wide enough to counter netanyahus strength, a better chance of forming a coalition with the smaller right wing parties. It doesnt block irans path to the bomb. It paves irans path to the bomb. Reporter analysts believe thats why netanyahu talks about iran, why he went to Congress Despite opposition from nearly half the israeli population. Netanyahu is not talking to the entire population; he is talking to the right wingers. Because he wants to capture the most seats, and he knows he will not get it from the left; hell get it from the right. Reporter within the right wing itself, netanyahu could face challenges from Nafthali Bennett of the ultra nationalist Jewish Home Party or moshe khalon, one of netanyahus former ministers now leading his own party. Both are expected to join netanyahu in a coalition, but nothing is a sure thing. And for the first time, israels arab parties have united. They are running as one bloc and are expected to do well. Kassim sulieman is an arab israeli talk show host. She says the arab parties could end up with 12 to 15 seats enough to influence who becomes Prime Minister. They will find a way to help lets say, leftwing government but without being a part of the government. Reporter israels president reuven rivlin, will ultimately decide who will be Prime Minister, and it wont necessarily be the leader with the most seats, rather the person best able to put together a coalition. If the results are close, there could be days of horse trading. The morning after, when they add up the votes, it may not be clear who these Party Leaders will recommend to the president their choice for Prime Minister. It might take a while to play out. Reporter israelis and the world will be watching. Will netanyahu emerge as Prime Minister again, or will it be someone new . For the newshour, im Martin Seemungal in jerusalem. Ifill now, becoming a professional Computer Programmer in weeks. Economics correspondent paul solman has the story. Its part of our ongoing reporting, making sense, which airs every thursday on the newshour. Reporter whats making this drone fly . Not a remotecontrol gizmo but computer code written by students at new yorks flat iron school. One of numerous coding bootcamps online and around the country designed to land their graduates gigs in perhaps the hottest field in america right now web development. I think that if you program today, youre a man that can see in a blind mans world. Reporter programming is big right now says flat iron cofounder and dean avipositive flanned balm, and will be even big nert future. Theres just such a demand for these kinds of skills that if you are competent and you are passionate about this and a selfdriven person, there are more opportunities than they can possibly fill. Reporter 12 weeks of immersive coding, no experience required, at a cost of 12,000 to 15,000. But at the end, 99 of flat iron graduates get jobs as developers making, on average 74 a year to start. Armondo amedure graduated a year ago after losing hiss marketing design job in 2013. I remember being unemployed, and i couldnt find anything. I couldnt find not even an interview. People would not respond back to emails. And once i finished the program and i changed my job title to software engineer, just that same hour my in bosks full of messages, just like people sending you emails, and calling you. Reporter how did you feel . I felt like i was on top of a mountain. I just felt like, powerful, like, where were you guys a couple of months ago when i was looking for a job in. Reporter at manhattan startup wizard development, amador now makes double what he used to. Its jobs like his that drew current student geraldinea garcia to flat iron. She dropped out of college to attend. I kind of got into the Tech Industry and realized how unimportant a College Degree really is. Reporter garcia, who majored in computer science, joins a growing chorus of those questioning the value of a degree from a traditional fouryear university especially if it means assuming debt. A lot of my friends that graduate this past year and the year before are still looking for jobs. I think part of the reason for that is that they know a lot of the theory, but they dont have handson experience. Reporter maybe thats why college didnt work out for class leewad. I took two intro to programming classes at the university of michigan. I failed the first time and then i failed again the second time. I thought im not a programmer. Im definitely not cut out for this. Reporter but he went online, started learning how to code on his own, then applied to flat iron. Why go to college for four years and work up a corporate ladder to get in the position to do something great when you can just learn to create something great . Reporter now the dropout and code approach isnt for everyone. After all, the Unemployment Rate for those without a traditional College Degree is double the rate of those who graduated. Moreover, few applicants get into flatiron at the moment. The 6 acceptance rate rivals harv orders, but insist founder flambomb literally anyone can learn to code. Right now were look at your web site making sense. You can view the pages source and immediately see the source code that is describing the instructions to the browser for how to make your page look. If i want, i can change this text to say welcome to Flatiron School, paul. Reporter i see these are just all instructions. Yeah, thats what code is just instructions. We call this as a programmer joke, string theory all the worldwide web wikipedia, twitter, your web site are, giant strings of code. Reporter his own interest in coding began with a computer game called nibbles in elementary school. Eventually i got so good at that game i could beat it every time and i opened up the source code to try to make the game harder. Reporter he went on to teach himself how to code, although it wasnt easy. The way in which i learned how to program was one of the darkest times of my life. I was in high school and i was all alone, and i had no support. And it was really a struggle. So with all the beginners that come through Flatiron School we very much talk about what the process of learning something difficult feels like, and not to give up. To just continue struggling through it because one day you will understand it. Reporter 37yearold Natasha Springer was in biotech but left the job market to raise two children. When she tried to go back they thought i was out of the market. Maybe i didnt really have the same skills anymore. So they they wanted to offer me a job at entry level. Reporter so she applied to flatiron and now creates web sites at dow jones. So if you clip on thomas. Mail that person. Reporter i see. Thats cool. This was my first project when i got here and this is my team. Reporter but youre the only woman here. Thats right. laughs reporter well why is that . In the Tech Industry its mostly men a lot of, like 25yearold men. Reporter and its not just that the field is dominated by young men. On tv and in reality most of them are either white or asian. Normally, the tech world is 2 women. Guys, these next three days, 15 . Reporter we heard many explanations for the lack of diversity. You see Mark Zuckerberg from facebook, and you dont see people that look like you. Reporter growing up in the bronx Armando Amador couldnt afford a laptop. I just didnt have the resources to play around and hack and around just really learn all about technology. Reporter the wellknown Digital Divide may help explain some of the minority exclusion but what about women . Boys like to play more video games so it might have to do with how theyve grown up in the curlt of video games. I think its a confidence issue for girls because they expect it to be a boys club, and its hard for a woman to get into a boys club. Reporter but whatever the historical reasons a Young Boys Club it has been for years. There are efforts under way to make the coding community more diverse. For instance, amador taeppedded flatiron as part of a new york citysponsored free fellowship for underrepresented groups. And francele gol atta, amadors boss said diversity is a market opportunity. Everyone has a different approach to solving problems. Reporter he believes his company has a competitive advantage hiring programertion who look and think differently why young, white boys like him. I am representative of most mid to seniorlevel developers but i dont think a team like me would make good products why we were doing what we were doing didnt make sense to him when it made perfect sense to me. Of course it made sense to me because i came up with it. The same problem he was having is the same problem i imagine most of our users are anything to be having. Reporter meanwhile, the jobs are there for pretty much everyone these days. So many web sites, so much software the programming pool will simply have to grow to keep up with the men. This is economics correspondent paul solman reporting for the pbs newshour from new york. Woodruff dont go anywhere, well be right back with changes to baseball to make the game go faster. But first, its pledge week on pbs. This break allows your Public Television station to ask for your support. Woodruff baseball has always been, famously, a game played with few concerns about time and pacing, with no time constraints to guide it play goes on until someone wins. Well, spring training has begun and there are new rules this year intended to speed up the game. Hari sreenivasan has the story. Sreenivasan have you been to a ballgame in the last few years . Or watched one on tv . The average duration of a regular game is now three hours and two minutes. That means a game is about a halfhour longer than it was in the early eighties. Major League Baseball is concerned about that and with exhibition games under way in arizona and florida, the league is making some adjustments, including what happens between innings and in the batters box. Mike pesca is host of slates daily news and discussion podcast, the gist, and a contributor to npr. So first of all, what are the changes that theyre trying to make . Well one of them is just enforcing a rule thats on the books. The batter cannot step out of the batters box, always has to have a foot there. The the reason is if you watch a baseball game and this is a recent trend the batters adjust every piece of equipment, even when all they do is stand there and take a pitch. Somehow their batting gloves got loose during that. Its a few things. Its an afecitation, its a habit. Sometimes its trying to get in the heads of the pitchers. Heres baseball saying guys, stay in the batters box and get ready for the next pitch. Theres not a clock during the game but in between innings it will be two minutes, 25 second, or nationally televised, two minutes, 45 seconds. With 20 seconds remaining they will start to announce that the batter is entering the box. And then the pitcher will be ending hez warmups before the next starts. So when you come back from commercial, the batter will be right there ready to receive the pitch, the pitcher will be ready to go and this will speed things up they hope. Sreenivasan the pitcher has on the books now only a finite amount of time and the batters box rule has been there. How do you get to ren enforce it this . They have very very rarely but in the past have threatened to find relievers. Now that you know its a rule, the umpire, who has great discretion in the game, will say, lets go lets go. With 40 seconds left the guys will be walk up. What baseball is trying to do, baseball purists and clocks dont go well together. The great appeal of baseball among great appeals ta game without time. It is a pastoral game separated from time. Now, theres a Minor League System and some colleges actually have a clock while the pitcher is on the mound but major League Baseball does not want to do it. They evening they do these changes, which are around the margins, which wont ever offend a purist in fact stop adjusting your gloves, i think the purists will really like that. Those are the sort of things they can do to shave a couple of minute of these really long games. Sreenivasan is this an interest to try to stay competitive, the action and excitement of football or basketball . I mean baseball is, as you say quintessentially not those games. Its a different kind of experience if you go with your friend, if youre watching air, lot of it is the socializing and relaxing. But i think that was true in 1981 when the average game was two and a half hours. And remember if the average is three hours, that means, you know, half the games are more than three hours. Thats a problem. And i think baseball knows what its niche is. In a way, you could argue very factually baseball has never been more successful, the owners are making money money than ever, more people are going to the ballpark. Baseball has great appeal, i dont want the new commissioner knows you cant rest on your laurels. The youth market has shorter Attention Spans and you have to give a little more exciting game thats a little more at say 20ith,ing if not 21st century pace to the roots of the game. Sreenivasan say nationally televised and some people are going to wonder how much of this is the broadcast cart driving the horse. I dont know that its a huge broadcast consideration because a lot of those naturally broadcast games are the longest games expect there are 20 more secondes of commercials in between innings and they put the yankeesyankeesyankees and retd sox on against each other. They good ratings and play the longest baseball games known to man. The nationally televised aspect baseball less important than a sport like football where every game, every weekend, there are nationally televised game less more so with baseball. Baseball is more day inday out 162 games making that experience more relative to modernity. Sreenivasan and what about those superstitious players who say i have to adjust the glove four times before i take a swing because thats when im going to get the home run . That could be beaten out of them. And i think especially for the Minor Leagues they come up knowing thats not the sort of thing to be done. We also have seen derek jeter retired. He was one of the huge glove adjustors, maybe his exiting from the game will speed things along a little bit. Sreenivasan finally, speed and baseball, wilfarrell for a charitable cause what is he trying to do . Playing nine positions actually 10 positions because hes going to five different games, so that means thereby 10 teams. He will be the umpire in one of these games. Hes honoring the former athletic bert camp narris, the first player to perform this feat. Ferrell is a 40yearold comedian, las vegas or offshore betting has odds on will he commit an error . Its quite likely and so well see how that goes. Sreenivasan mike pesca well see how that goes thank you. Youre welcome. Ifill finally, to our newshour shares of the day. Something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. 82 years ago today, president Franklin Delano roosevelt delivered the first of 30 radio speeches, which came to be known as the fireside chats. The addresses comforted american audiences and were designed to inspire confidence in the nations leaders during the great depression. Heres a bit from the first fireside chat families gathered around their radios to hear, in 1933. Ifill Technology May have changed, but roosevelts idea of a fireside chat still lives even in todays social media, where the phrase is used regularly to mean a more intimate or personal explanation of something. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day president obama and attorney general eric holder condemned the wounding of two policemen in ferguson, missouri last night. A manhunt for the gunman was under way. And the Washington Post reported two secret Service Agents disrupted a potential bomb scene when their car struck white house barricades last week. Theyd allegedly been drinking and may have driven over a suspicious package that later turned out to be a book. Ifill on the newshour online, a trilliondollar transfer of wealth is hurting the middle class. Thats what guest columnist nick hanauer says. And he would know, because the billionaire investor has transferred more than a little wealth himself through stock buybacks. Learn how they work, and read his argument against them on our homepage. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. On friday, well look at a scathing report on the failures to ease the humanitarian crisis in syria. Im judy woodruff. Ifill and im gwen ifill. Well see you online, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and michael gerson. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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 newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is nightly Business Report sue herera. Much more tonight on nightly Business Report for march 12th. Wipe away your tears from a past couple of days. Wipe those losses away. More importantly stocks are once again positive for the year helped by a strong showing in financials