. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the "newshour" tonight, judy woodruff talks to the panel's co-chairmen: republican alan simpson and democrat erskine bowles. >> i believe we have a chance if we deal with trust, we pull all the facts on the table, to make progress. this is bigger than me, or erskine, or you. this is about, this is about the future of america. >> lehrer: then, a look at the new nicks in u.s.-china relations keyed to the president's white house chat today with the dalai lama. >> brown: spencer michels reports from san francisco on one man's mission to send specially-designed wheelchairs around the world. >> not only do they need a wheelchair, but they need the best of wheelchairs because they have the worst of terrain. >> lehrer: a newsmaker interview with john holmes, the united nations chief aid coordinator, on the state of the relief efforts in haiti. >> brown: and paul solman continues his series on banking tonight with a former head of the federal deposit insurance corporation. >> lehrer: that's

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: good evening. i'm jeffrey brown. president obama said today the fiscal stimulus package averted an economic calamity this past year, but more needs to be done. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, one year after the president signed the $787 billion stimulus bill. what worked, what didn't, and what's to come. >> brown: then, the brewing storm over nuclear energy. after the administration offers to fund two new reactors. >> ifill: ray suarez reports on secretary of state hillary clinton's tough talk on iran. >> this is a qualitative change in u.s. policy. it's not an outstretched hand. it's more of a clenched fist, make no doubt about that. >> brown: margaret warner looks at the mysterious circumstances surrounding the assassination of a hamas official in dubai. >> ifill: and paul solman talks to a former bank regulator about how the 1980s savings and loan scandal compares to today's banking crisis. >> the financial firms get this burst of short-term profits, they max out their personal bonuss of t

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight: democrats lose their 60 vote majority as scott brown becomes massachusetts' junior senator; >> lehrer: then, a new probe into brake problems raises new questions about toyota cars and trucks. >> brown: ray suarez reports on the monumental task ahead to rebuild haiti's shattered government. >> the haitian recognize that the president is in the same situation as they are. he doesn't have a place to stay; doesn't have a place to live. >> lehrer: we'll debrief ray about his reporting experience in haiti. >> brown: plus, paul solman finds some humor in what's been a very sore subject-- the economy. >> knock, knock. >> who's there? >> economist. >> economist who? >> economist the financial crisis but i promise i'll do better next time. major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what is that energy came from an energy compan

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the "newshour" tonight, we ok at the latest numbers, proposals for job creation and what it all means for the economy. >> lehrer: then, betty ann bowser reports on new figures on health care spending. >> brown: paul solman talks with reagan budget director, david stockman, and gets a surprising take on big banks and taxes. >> the republicans think their mission in life is to cut taxes. sorry, game over. the tax raising business and we're going to be in the tax raising business for the next decade. >> lehrer: mark shields and david brooks provide their weekly analysis. >> brown: and haitian poet michele voltaire marcelin reflects on the country's tragedy. >> no one knows the exact number of the dead. they were out. they were yours and mine. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: good evening. i'm jeffrey brown. president obama said today the fiscal stimulus package averted an economic calamity this past year, but more needs to be done. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, one year after the president signed the $787 billion stimulus bill. what worked, what didn't, and what's to come. >> brown: then, the brewing storm over nuclear energy. after the administration offers to fund two new reactors. >> ifill: ray suarez reports on secretary of state hillary it's not this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> tom: good evening everyone. a birthday bash at the white house today: america's stimulus package is one year old. >> susie: tom, a year ago today president obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, the largest in u.s. history. the question many people are asking >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's pbs "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> what the world needs now

and scott brown's anatomy is already fodder for "saturday night live" with brown played by the star of "mad man." >> i'm looking forward to working closely with you. >> reporter: seducing democrats like house speaker nancy pelosi. >> i want to introduce something to the floor. it's called your panties. >> reporter: senator brown didn't get his panties in a twist over "snl." it was great, he told the "boston herald. t i think he's a little bit better dancer than i am. the cosmo centerfold is what turned him into a hunk of burning senator. >> are you worried this could make you a joke? >> no. i was 22 years old. do i regret doing that? no. >> reporter: would he have been sitting on jay leno's show impersonating the guy in one of his favorite movies? >> adrian, adrian, we did it, i did it. >> reporter: he did it, all right. made it into congressman's barney frank's imagination on "snl." >> you worried about a filibuster? because i'm about to fill a bust out of these jeans. >> reporter: he got into the head of the senate's oldest member. admirerers have put his image to music. ♪ i believ

scott brown becomes united states senator. scott brown. newest senator from massachusetts. we are watching this. we are standing by and he will be answering reporters' questions. we will take that live and see how he does answering questions. also, we are standing by for the president of the united states. hay is raising money for the democratic party. we are watching to see what he says. hay supposedly will be taking questions from democratic fund-raisers. you will see it all live here in "the situation room." 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email on vacation. that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. right now get a free 3g/4g device for your laptop. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilitie. >>> we are waiting for the news conference with senator scott brown. he has just been sworn in it is a 41st republican senator in the senate. once the news confe

but brown has a star factor going right now. people want to be associated with him, he's part of a movement that's sort of fire thed up the american party, and when you hear president obama talking about wanting to be more bipartisan, i'm sure there's nothing he would like more than to be able to get the scott brown seal of approval on health care or deficit reduction or any of the issues that the democrats have been unable to get passed with a supermajority. on the other side, republicans are going to want to get some of the reflected glow from a young, attractive, sort of mr. it for the republican party right now. so brown may be the most junior senator there, but he has some star appeal that people are going to want to have rub off on them. jon: when he campaigned, as you said, as the 41st vote against health care, it would seem he would be an unlikely ally for the obama administration in any kind of big health care reform. i mean, they might nibble at it at the sides, i suppose, huh? >> i think you're right. the only people

ayla brown. ayla brown not giving her a lot of space. another turnover. 16. >> robin: nc state forces over 21 turnovers a game in acc play. they are third in the conference. but right now they are pushing that limit in the first halfle. >> rich: running the point right now. this is not a deep nc state team. they play just three off the bench in their rotation. shot clock. beal. good dish to. >> robin: when you get to the inside of the defense, forced to tip. shooting very well just inside the arc. >> rich: just 19 against baylor. 13 right now. johnson lines up a three. >> reporter: playing out her fifth year and working on a masters degree. brings experience. brings a lot of poise to the floor. you see that in the shot. >> robin: great shot clock by brown. needs to clear out some space not giving nc state second shot opportunities. >> rich: boston college. >> robin: fantastic high low look in transition. you hit your trailer and then you belt it back inside. doing a good job. ellison down low going on the backside. nice job on the pin. w

>> brown: make the connection for us. greece gets itself in trouble. why does that affect the rest of the euro zone. >> because they're sharing the same currency. if this country goes down, it will reduce the value of the euro vis-a-vis other major currencies. so therefore you can't let one country falter, not in this zone. i think the real danger really is outside the euro zone which is the other countries which are not using the euro because that's where the other shoe is waiting to fall. >> brown: other countries such as? >> such as hungary, romania. latvia. >> brown: you started with a domino. it's a bit of a domino effect. you started that. how widespread? i mean, you've argued that this could affect global recovery. >> certainly it can affect the global economy. our attempts to get a recovery going particularly if it affects banks around the world. i would stress right now wu don't see the dominos falling. we're worried about it either going to the east or to the west working around the so- called club med set of countries. ireland has problems a

what's interesting about it is what it showed about scott brown. you know, i have to go on gut instinct. my first impression of this guy, watching him at his first press conference, he's a tough, combative guy, who is aimed straight at the heart of the obama administration. maybe he was bipartisan up there in massachusetts some of the time. i think he's going to be very much a part of the team, the republican rejectionist team from the get-go. that was my dominant impression especially having made that crack about not one job having been created by the stim. >> is that why he flip flopped on the date of being installed? he had said the 11th and now suddenly it had to be today. is this about a filibuster of the jobs bill? >> partly. i think possibly because that would make sense because his crack about the stimulus bill came in answer to a question about what are you going to do about the jobs bill? and so his predicate there was, you know, i don't believe these kinds of bills work. they don't work at all. so if the stimulus package didn't work at a

but i think the new scott brown congress will diss this high tax policy. i don't think the votes will be there. that could be a stock market message, hampton. let's bring in stock market experts. we have jimmy paulson of wells capital management and michael zanian of forbes magazine. i know you're a fierce supply cider such as your host today, your humble reporting host. i want to ask you now with all the talk about high taxes on wealthy individuals and investors and banks and whatnot, maybe, mike, the market rally this week is saying, no, it ain't going to happen. what's your thought? >> i agree 100%, larry. after brown won with the massachusetts miracle, the dollar was rebounding. there was a lot of optimism. what we have seen since they started leaking the budget and the state of the union and the actual budget came out, the dollar has been back in a tailspin. gold and commodities have been up. i think there is a big war going on between, you know, is the republican revolution going to take place in the mid-term elections and are we getting back to a pr

scott brown, sworn in as a senator. for a party now clearly intent on siding publicly with wall street. and the president calls uganda's proposed kill the gays bill odious and unconscionable, and he does so in public out loud. we've got a lot to get to this hour but we begin tonight with president obama as he continues to campaign for his agenda and by extension for the political fortunes of every other democrat in the country. an hour ago the president gave democrats a rather rousing

he's 3' tall, weighs 30 pounds, brown hair, brown airs. >>> amazing emergency landing at a southern california airport after the nose gear failed to work correctly. the nose hit the runway forcing the tail in the air as it come to a stop. at this time no word on the condition of the pilot or the one passenger who was on board. we've got breaking news as i mentioned out of haiti this hour. at least some of the ten american missionaries arrested for allegedly trying to take children out of haiti for legal adoptions could be free to come home. they have been taken from jail to a courthouse. let's get the latest from kerry sanders. he's outside the courthouse where that hearing is taking place. kerry, what's the update there? >> reporter: tamron, they have been inside this hearing for at least an hour now. we're trying to connect the dots. they are not allowing reporters inside. right here is a vehicle, a pickup truck that has all their legislatage. that might be an indication they will be escorted to the airport and told to leave. it's possible they will be detand in this country, taking them to

. >> ifill: jeffrey brown gets the story of joseph pulitzer-- the media baron who helped shape the news business from biographer james mcgrath morris. >> the very idea of purchasing news, the way it's written, the style it's written, the basis of a story being part of news are all gifts that pulitzer gave to us and changed america. >> warner: and a show of lights over the night skies of vancouver during the olympics. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> every business day, bank of america lends nearly $3 billion to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses in every corner of the economy. america-- growing stronger everyday. >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> chevron. this is the power of human energy. grant thornton. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and envir

scott brown is getting a lot of heat today. his facebook fan page is flooded with cries of rhino and the rest. should he be getting attacked? in case you don't know, he voted for harry reid spending -- jobs bill yesterday. the one harry reid said, you know, vote for, otherwise women are going to get beat up by those nasty, testy, unemployed men. right. one of three things happened with brown. he misrepresented himself and said he was conservative and would cut back on spending. i don't think it's true. it could be a trick. he may be doing what benjamin franklin said and you have to compromise. taking an easy one now to come back later and say no, no, no. or the third one, the american people lied to themselves. voters misunderstood who he was. thought maybe he was something that he never claimed to be. we are going to talk about lies today. it's for you to decide! >> glenn: hello, america. the white house can still call at any time. i'm wearing a shirt and tie to throw them off. makings them dizzy -- makes them dizzy. it was 1.

you heard scott brown say it there, republican scott brown calling for a fast transition on his victory night in that tape and now this week, as of yesterday afternoon he's demanding to be seated right away. he's trying to speed up this whole process, the swearing in. the senator-elect sending a letter to duvall patrick and secretary of state bill gavin asking them to, quote, certify without delay, and brown has gotten his way, he will be sworn in as the new republican senator from massachusetts today. he is one of several gop victories leading into the 2010 mid-term elections. so what does all this mean for the political landscape right now? david drucker is staff writing with roll call, and great observer of all things in washington. david, welcome, good to see you. >> good to be here martha. martha: i was pretty surprised when i got this coming across the blackberry yesterday afternoon that he would be sworn in today, it was supposed to be february february 11th. what changed in massachusetts? >> reporter: i think scott brown probably looked the a the fact that there was no reason he

>> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we look at the latest jockeying over policy and power after some conservatives rallied around sarah palin at this weekend's tea party convention. >> ifill: then, nearly one month after the quake hit, a report from haiti on the ongoing struggle for survival. >> brown: and ray suarez gets two views on what it will take to rebuild haiti's government. >> ifill: making a list and checking it twice: betty ann bowser looks at one way to cut health care costs. >> in michigan they had a two-third reduction in within a year, saved 600 lives an 2 $am dollars. >> brown: and more than just a football game, as new orleans celebrates a super bowl victory. we play for so much more than just ourselves, we play for our city. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's pbs newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that en

. >>> just ahead on the "morning news," newly sworn in senator scott brown gets down to business. >>> plus, jet setting giant pandas arrive in china this morning. >>> first, katie curry with a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." >> my exclusive interview with new orleans saints quarterback drew brees about his commitment to the game and the city he now calls home. tonight, only on the "cbs evening news." in great shape. so i was surprised when my doctor told me i still had high cholesterol. that really hit me, and got me thinking about my health. i knew i had to get my cholesterol under control. but exercise and eating healthy weren't enough for me. now i trust my heart to lipitor. (announcer) when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol 39 to 60%. lipitor is backed by over 17 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or i

scott brown is taking heat for voting for the jobs bill. and mitt romney's under attack by rush limbaugh just for backing john mccain's re-election to the senate out in arizona. also, we learned today from politico that the president's closest advisers are already planning his re-election strategy. here's a question. would obama be better off or worse off if the democrats kept control of congress in 2010 or if he repeated the experience of 1994 and lost, as bill clinton did, the house or the senate? plus, could we be seeing the beginning of a bush comeback? not george w. bush. jeb bush. finally, talk about foxes guarding the hen house. professor -- i'm just kidding. professor rod blagojevich is heading a panel at northwestern on the issue of ethics. that story of course in the sideshow tonight, where it belongs. we start with tomorrow's health care summit. with us two u.s. congressmen. chris van holg, democrat from maryland, and john shaddock, republican from arizona. well, let me ask you both to respond to a couple of clips and tell me if

we're seeing scott brown is morphing himself as a massachusetts republican. he's not trying to be the face of the tea party, which were the folks that helped him get elect postponed it's interesting. >> and we're seeing this in our hot file, written statements from scott brown saying we need to put partisanship aside to put people back to work. i would i supported this measure because it does contain some tax relief that will help massachusetts businesses put people back to work. >> and that's what it's all about with scott brown, monica. he's all about massachusetts. one of the staple holds of his campaign was saying, we don't need this national health care system because we have it here in massachusetts pep really is trying to brand himself as massachusetts first, party second. >> now i have -- we want to segue -- i couldn't even come up with a natural segue for this. but apparently the president and the vice president had an interesting visit from a certain high profile columbian singer. >> usually we look at these and maybe someone like hengry kissinger.

so welcome to washington, senator brown. welcome to a republican party that is now actively campaigning against the jobs bill, against getting taxpayer money back from the banks, agenls taxing the aig bonuses and for seniors handing their retirement money to wall street and for big business's right to influence american elections at the expense of the american people. even foreign big businesses. democrats, this is a long, slow curveball right across the plate. swing, batter, batter, swing. yot what it needs for the next, oh, 10 years. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census anncr vo: ...you can get help gwith a flat tire.... anncr vo: ...find a nearby tow truck or gas station... anncr vo: ...call emergency services... anncr vo: ...collect accident information. anncr vo: or just watch some fun videos. anncr vo: it's so easy, a caveman can do it. caveman: unbelievable... caveman: where's my coat? it was suede with the fringe. vo: download the glovebox app free at geico.com. because with national, i roll past

he should have been doing that before scott brown's election. now, just getting the democrats together isn't going to be enough because the fact of the matter is if republicans hold together, and they have, they will filibuster anything important coming down the pike. that attitude has to shift because he has to get the republicans to play ball. on the prayer meeting this morning you saw the president's tactic, basically to guilt people to the table, to say come on, folks, you can't just stand in my way. you've got to at least talk to me. and the republicans response so far has been you haven't been talking to us. it's now bogged down in this procedural fight over who is talking to whom right now. >> left in the middle of everything are a series of challenges, none of which are met, in a country that hasn't seen this difficult of time in many years. >> that's right. and there's no consensus on how to meet it. of course everybody understand that 10% unemployment is a horrible situation. 17%, if you consider all the people who aren't looking for w

you look at scott brown. he is basically a fairly moderate republican. he is a pro-choice republican, but he's a fiscal conservative. if you look at massachusetts, that tea party presence there is not like a huge presence. he was elected b independent, rank-and-file voters who are really put out with what is happening with the economy and washington, and they are not being driven by a tea party movement. the are being driven by their own frustration and anger. that is true also of new jersey and it is true of virginia. the threat to the democrats is much bigger than just this idea the tea party people are out there. this much, much bigger. it is the independents, and the republicans are starting to figure out how to take that tea party energy and work it to their behalf, in their behalf, and we saw that in illinois and we are seeing that in florida, where, again, really mainstream candidates are running on the republican ticket, but they are harnessing the energy of the tea party. it is smart. >> it is built on a fundamental contradiction, which is that

so why worry. >> woodruff: geoffrey brown takes the story from there. >> brown: we look more now at greece, europe and the connection to the u.s. with nariman behreavesh. nariman, greece is the immediate focus here, but other european countries are facing a similar problem. correct? how widespread. >> that is correct. there are about five countries that investors are particularly worried about. portugal, ireland, italy, greece, and spain. the acronymn for this is the pigs, if you will, unfortunately. all of these countries have large amounts of debt. the recession that we just went through and some of is still going through like spain is still going through a recession have exposed the fault lines, if you will, and have made this problem far worse than it was before. unfortunately, as the story was said earlier, in the case of greece, they essentially lied about the numbers. so all of a sudden the picture in greece was looking a lot worse than it did just, you know, a pew months ago. not only are the investors focused on greece but all of a sudden they're beginning to worry about the other

the weather now, as a snowstorm blanketed the region with nearly a foot of snow in the area, pamela brown kicks off our storm watch coverage from maryland. >> by around 7:00 this morning, the temperatures began to rise, with snow and slush on the roadways melting, but in some spots, looks were deceiving. white powder blanketing the ground and coding tree branches sure does look pretty, but for some it was downright ugly. >> you are taking a long commute from hagerstown or southern maryland, is really atrocious. >> 250 trucks have been busy plowing and salting the secondary and main roads since last night. neighborhood roads were dicey for some commuters. >> my road was not clear at all, but it was just a little bit of snow so did not matter. >> conditions significantly improve and drivers to notice. with snow piled up on type of snow from the weekend, it measured six inches in parts. >> more snow this winter than the last three combined. we just having a snowy winter. >> more of the six expected in the next two days. -- more of the same is expected in theext two days. prince george's coun

. >> neil: scott brown 59 minutes away from being sworn n stocks selling off, way off. the dow in and out of 10,000 levels it hasn't seen since last fall, careening more than 270 points. man oh monday it doesn't get whackier than this day. the man who said he came to shake up washington, finding he's about to become a senator pretty much business at usual in washington. item one, the president meeting behind closed doors with democrats on healthcare. two, democrats working on even more generous exemptions for unions to shield them from the cadillac tax on healthcare. three, at least 120 democrats signing a letter to keep the public option at all costs in healthcare. then of course this selloff, well, what to make of all this? with us, one of the democrats looking at the options, pennsylvania congressman -- >> neil. >> are we in a death swoon or what? >> i think we haven't blame the newly elected senator for the stock market falling. >> neil: i don't think i did that. what i did blame is on is maybe -- >> no. >> neil: no, you guys are out of control. >> no i wasn't sayin

they're trying to score points for gm. >> peter brown, what's your take on this? >> they have no incentive to dump on toyota. i think what's happening is ray lahood has proved himself to be a crazy loose cannon. that is not appropriate behavior for the guy who's ahead of the transportation department. this is a very serious regulatory issue and he's been saying goofy things and wrong things and he quickly acknowledges a wrong. he's just doing a terrible job. but there's no government conspiracy to help general motors in this case. >> there are lots of other things. >> i love a good conspiracy theory, so i plead guilty to that. peter let me ask you finally one. as a long-time expert of the car industry, people who own toy as the, okay, people who own them today, what advice do you give them? i mean mr. lahood says get out of the car and run for your life. what advice do you give them? how serious is this safety problem with the excacceleratord the brake? >> well, it's fairly rare, but when it happens it's horrifying. if you heard on the radio the phone call from th

so welcome to washington, senator brown. welcome to a republican party that is now actively campaigning against the jobs bill, against getting taxpayer money back from the banks, against taxing the aig bonuses and for seniors handing their retirement money to wall street and for big business's right to influence american elections at the expense of the american people. even foreign big businesses. democrats, this is a long, slow curveball right across the plate. swing, batter, batter, swing. dd. how's it going? what's up? what's shakin'? poppin'. crackin'. yeah, buddy. brother! dude! dude! what's up? what's up? hey. bro. hey. hey! daddy! darlin'. sweetie! buddy. beautiful. aww. buddy! [ male announcer ] now you can call who you want, when you want, for a whole lot less. at&t introduces unlimited calling nationwide for only $69.99. at&t. this valentine's day, buy any smartphone after mail-in rebate and get any messaging phone free after mail-in rebate. - ( whirring ) - oh, you know what? let me call you back. announcer: you d

and music from vv brown. with cleto and the cletones. ♪ it's "jimmy kimmel live" and now, come closer. here's jimmy kimmel! [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: thank you, cleto. hi, everyone. i appreciate that. i'm jimmy, i'm the host of the show. and i'm so hopped up on sudafed and cold medication right now. if i killed somebody, i'd walk. i'd get off free. i've got a license to kill this evening and i'm going to -- i'll pick one member of our studio audience tonight to murder. you guys been watching the, what do they call them the olympics? well, tonight, they had the women's figure skating finale. it's one of the few sporting events for which the audience is mostly women. primarily made up, the audience, of women and perverts, watching. and -- i didn't watch it because -- i'm not either of those two things. the olympics have been a mixed blessing for canada. this was their big chance to showcase themselves to the world. but it didn't go exactly as planned. they were hoping to win more medals than any other

i'm pamela brown live at the mixing bowl. i will tell you everything you need to know for your morning commute. >> we are watching the system, by off the coast. it is the wind that will impact us the most. we'll give you the word of >> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >>> a winter weather advisory for most of the metro area until 9:00 this morning. the wind gusts will be causing big problems, not the snow. good morning, washington. we're glad you're joining us. i'm alison starling. >> and i'm doug mckelway. your traffic and weather together every 10 minutes. lisa is watching the roads. first up, brian. >> temperatures have been above freezing. precipitation is sliding by. it will gain some strength off the new england. and off of long island. it will make a twist and drop it back to the south. it could bring us some more snow later tonight. there is moisture down through southern maryland. temperatures, 35 downtown. 32 in gaithersburg. we may see some clearing through the midmorning and midday.

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the greek debt crisis extended to both wall street and washington today. greece is facing the possibility of a default and the certainty of austerity measures that have already sparked protests over job, wage, and service cuts. there are also now increasing questions about the role that wall street banks might have played in, first, helping greece mask its real problems. and, more recently, harming its chances for recovery. all that came up at a senate hearing today with fed chairman ben bernanke. >> we have a situation in which major financial institutions are amplifying a public crisis for what would appear to be for private gain. i want to ask you here whether or not you think there ought to be limits on the use of credit default swaps to prevent the intentional creation of runs against governments. do you have any quick comments on that? >> using these instruments in a way that intentionally destabilizes a company or a country is... is counterproductive, and i'm sure the sec will be looking into that. we'll certainly be evaluating what we can le

brown will take the seat held by the late senator kennedy. the swearing in will be an end to the democrat's filibuster proof. late word out of pakistan, taliban militants claiming responsibility for a bombing that killed three american soldiers today. the roadside bomb destroyed part of a school, three young girls also died. more than 100 people were injured. this happened in pakistan's hostile northwest region near the border with afghanistan. american soldiers were training local security forces. i'm ainsley earhardt. back to greta. thanks for watch ing. >> greta: great news, uncle sam wants you! lots of you. in 2010 the federal payroll is expected to hit 2.15 million employees. that is the highest level since 1992. who is going to pay for this? what are they going to do? steve moore joins us live. so, lots of government employees, good jobs, stimulus bill? >> at least somebody is hiring out there. it is amazing we've lost something like three to four million jobs over the last two years overall in the economy. but the federal government ha

scott brown does very well. he's a social moderate and fiscal conservative and i think we're going to repeat that here. it is so important to take this seat back. and to be a check and balance on the spending and irresponsibility of this congress. >> we invited your opponent pat hughes, i guess he was busy. he declined the offer. mark kirk, best of luck today. look forward to seeing the results in an exciting race as we get set for november. congressman kirk, thanks. >> you bet. thanks, guys. >> you bet. coming up on the show, president obama vowed to rid washington of lobbyists influences. so why is the white house now the focus of a new probe? >> uh-oh. she's not -- that woman screen left is not an emperor or royalty but president obama did bow to her. the mayor of tampa is that woman and she will join us live in 20 minutes to tell us what that's about. >> and the oscar nomination announced this morning. will "avatar" walk away with the bulk of the nominations? i doubt it! hi, may i help you? yes, i hear progr

vegas. >>> i'm crust tina brown. here is what is happening a judge in haiti has indicted ten american baptists on child trafficking and conspiracy charges. they could be temporarily released on a form of bail but will not be allowed to leave the country. they may also be moved to a prison outside port-au-prince. right now, they are being held in the only prison still standing in the capital. >>> back here at home, some airlines are already canceling flights and amtrak is shutting down some train lines as a massive winter storm moves into the northeast. winter storm warnings are already in effect in many states and on capitol hill, newly elected massachusetts senator scott brown was sworn in today, a full week earlier than expected. >>> and a moderate magnitude 5.9 earthquake rattled the northwestern coast of california. this there are no reports of any serious damage or injuries. >>> and a brutal selloff on wall street today. the dow plunging more than 268 points, dropping below 10,000. now back to "hardball." >>> we

you see the situation with scott brown up in massachusetts, he's pro-choice. they know they can't win with a pro-lifer up there, so they go with a guy that can win. it looks like the fellow who won in illinois the other night, mark kirk, i'll bet on him in the general. they're picking a guy that's not a tea party guy. it seems they're not really using this litmus test. >> i agree with you. i don't agree -- >> i don't think the republican party is ready to throw in the towel on moderate republicans. >> i don't think you ought to have a national litmus test. let the state party do it. but i can tell you this -- if a guy comes in at the state level and he wins the united states senate seat and he's pro choice, and liberal on the social issue, i can tell you, chris, he's got a cutoff point in his career. >> where are you in mccain versus hayworth? >> if i'm out in arizona, i would vote for j.d. hayworth who is a friend of mine. >> we know where you stand. >> we absolutely know where you stand. he's a birther, an extremist. thank you, pat. >> this is why you lose -

. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we look at the latest numbers, and how they're impacting the political and policy landscape; >> lehrer: then, mark shields and david brooks offer their weekly analysis; >> brown: paul solman's reporting on goldman sachs-- tonight, how the firm used taxpayer money to make more money. >> goldman sachs recently was borrowing between 100 to 150 basis points-- that's between one percentage point and 1.5 percentage points above what the government was borrowing-- in the aftermath of the greatest financial crisis since world war ii. that's incredible. it makes no sense. >> lehrer: then comes a preview of the winter olympics with reporter christine brennan in vancouver, where a training run proved deadly for one athlete today. >> lehrer: and the grit and determination of u .s. olympic snowboarder chris klug, taking to the slopes after receiving someone else's liver. >> they told me that one day i feeded a liver transplant. i will never forget, i was looking around, wh

. >>> scott brown, senator-elect. today the republican is soon to fill the seat left by ted kennedy. good morning, everyone, i'm don lemon in for tony harris and you are in the "cnn newsroom." >>> the last thing toyota needs is another problem, but it got one. this time it is the brakes on the prius, the company's popular hybrid. the transportation department today announced an investigation into brake problems on the 2010 prius. toyota says it is a software glitch that's to blame but the company says it has fixed the problem on models sold since late last month. it's still deciding what to do about the ones sold earlier and toyota has put a price tag on the recall involving sticky gas pedals. the automaker estimates it will cost as much as, get this, $2 billion. >>> we are hearing from you about toyota's troubles through your ireports. many of you say the automaker should have acted quickly, more quickly in handling the problem. >> we got a letter saying take off the mats. we got a letter saying this is what you shou

megyn: we could be seeing senator he select scott brown moments from now. we have a live camera at the entrance where he is expected any time now. vice president biden will swear him in today. james rosen is live on capitol hill covering that story for us. even if this morning's official proceeding in boston, there was nonetheless some controversy. what was it? >> well, duval patrick, the governor of massachusetts and the secretary of state signed the necessary paperwork and certified cot brown as the winner of last month's massachusetts race. outside his home scott brown took the opportunity to explain why this swearing in is being sped up, and in so doing he paid a compliment to the secretary of state. but after signing the certificate of election, he took the opportunity to lecture him. >> he took a procedural vote because i should be there, i'm the elected senator. we have been patient. the secretary of state has done a nice job in getting the certifications and i'm looking forward to going down there. >> i hope we'll be able to see an up or down vote o