We need to be educators and train students to think in new ways, to understand the feelings of others, to be sensitive to the feelings, and the rights of other people. Woodruff plus, it used to be boston strong but after this winter its boston stubborn. Woodruff staying home or getting paid. The chilly effect of Winter Weather on wages for hourly workers. Some employers simply said, dont come in because were closed. We cant we cant serve our customers. Stay home and youre on your own. Ifill and, maybe im out of my mind. Ifill the verdict is in. The Music Industry reels after a jury rules robin thicke and Pharrell Williams blurred the copyright lines in their big hit. Those are 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. At lincoln financial, we believe that you are the boss of your life. The chief life officer. In charge of providing for loved ones. Growing your nest egg. And protecting what matters the most. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. Life, income, retirement, group benefits, and advice. Lincoln financial. Youre in charge. 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 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. Woodruff a military investigation began today after a fatal Helicopter Crash during a night Training Mission along the florida gulf coast. Seven u. S. Marines from camp lejeune, north carolina, and four Louisiana National guard crewmen were presumed dead. Their u. H. 60 black hawk helicopter went down in heavy fog, close to Eglin Air Force base, between pensacola and destin. The louisiana guard commander said today its unclear if the fog was a factor. They are very cognizant of weather conditions before they depart on a mission. But you know you could depart from one station and hit weather that you didnt expect and so the conditions have to be right for them to take off. Now, what they run into while theyre airborne is a different story. Woodruff the fog hampered search efforts, but teams found some human remains and debris, as they fanned out along a remote beach on the florida panhandle. Ifill the police chief of ferguson, missouri resigned today, in the latest fallout from a scathing federal report. Tom jackson had been under pressure since a white officer killed michael brown, an unarmed black teenager, last august. The officer was cleared, but the Justice Department found systemic racial bias in the citys police and courts. Jackson is the sixth local officer to resign or be fired since the report came out. Woodruff the Associated Press went to federal court today, to force the state department to release Hillary Clintons emails. In a statement, the News Organization said the documents will shed light on actions by the state department and former secretary clinton. During some of the most significant issues of our time. Clinton used a private account exclusively as secretary. She pledged yesterday that all her workrelated emails will be made public. Ifill the secretary of state lashed out today at Senate Republicans who sent a letter to iran warning against a possible nuclear deal. John kerry has been leading the negotiations. He told a Senate Hearing that the letter, signed by 47 republicans, undermines American Foreign policy. My, reaction to the letter was utter disbelief. During my 29 years here in the senate i never heard of nor even heard of it being proposed anything comparable to this. Ifill kerry also challenged the letters claim that any deal must have congressional approval, or it could expire the day president obama leaves office. Tennessee senator bob corker chairing the hearing, answered with his own criticism. I will say that i didnt sign the letter. Im very disappointed though that you have gone back on your statement. That any agreement must pass a muster of congress. The way we pass muster here is we vote. Ifill kerry meets irans foreign minister next week for further talks, ahead of a deadline at the end of march. Woodruff 15 gunmen in france made off with millions of dollars in precious jewels overnight, southeast of paris. Investigators combed the burgundy countryside where the gang ambushed and then burned two transport vans. The drivers were forced from the vehicles and left unharmed. Its the latest in a string of major jewel robberies in france. Ifill in economic news, the European Central bank chief said today the eurozones recovery is gaining momentum and that a slowdown in growth has reversed. And on wall street, stocks gave a little more ground. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 27 points, but managed to stay above 17,600. The nasdaq fell about 10 points, and the s p 500 slipped four. Woodruff still to come on the newshour Congress Questions the plan to take down the Islamic State group. Students refuse to take common core tests. How to move a University Forward after a racist video. Why snow puts a freeze on hourly workers wages. And, the blurred lines of copyrights in the Music Industry. Ifill next, the fight against the Islamic State group, from the frontlines, to the halls of congress. Shiite militias and iraqi troops closed in today on Islamic State militants in saddam husseins hometown. translated our security troops have started advancing towards the centre of tikrit. We started clearing the neighborhoods close to the city center. Ifill just 80 miles north of baghdad, tikrit lies on the main road to iraqs secondlargest city, mosul, still held by isis, or isil. In their largest offensive yet, iraqi forces have been advancing on tikrit and surrounding villages for more than a week. American air power has played no role because the shiite militias dominate the attacking force, and theyre backed by iran. Theyre going to run isil out of tikrit. Ifill u. S. Military leaders welcome the advance, but they also warn of possible shiite reprisals against sunnis. General Martin Dempsey chairs the joint chiefs. The question is what comes after in terms of their willingness to let sunni families move back into their neighborhoods, whether they work to restore the basic services that are going to be necessary or whether it results in atrocities and retribution. Ifill dempsey and the secretaries of state and defense went before the Senate ForeignRelations Committee this morning. They were there to seek authorization for a war thats already been under way for seven months against isis forces. The president has ordered thousands of air strikes, and dispatched 3,000 Ground Troops to train iraqis. But he does not want americans directly involved in the fighting. That priority highlighted stark divisions between democrats and republicans. What that does on this side of the aisle is put republican senators in the position of looking at a limited authorization for the use of military force that, in some ways, ratifies a strategy, especially in syria, that many people do not believe is effective. Theres a need to define exactly what would be allowed. And it would seem to me that, legally, there is at least the potential for large numbers of u. S. Troops to be deployed in iraq and syria, and maybe beyond, with the authorization as submitted. Ifill indeed, secretary of state john kerry said there is no geographic limitation confining operations to iraq and syria. That, he argued, would only aid the militants he called dash using their arabic acronym. What a mistake it would be to send the message to daesh that there are safe havens, that there is somehow just a two country limitation. Ifill fighting also continues in Northern Iraq, along a 650mile battle line. Last summer, isis came within 20 miles of the Kurdish Regional capital, erbil. But kurdish peshmerga, backed by thunderous Coalition Air strikes, have now retaken land just west of kirkuk. Leading the fight the president of the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional government, masoud barzani. Initially, his forces received little of the u. S. Arms that flowed to baghdad, but chairman dempsey told colorado republican cory gardner today, that could be changing. We think weve weve managed our way through that. And, so, right now, you feel confident that the process which weve arms will reach erbil, or is now being settled and resolved . I am confident that we broke through the initial friction but it doesnt mean it wont recur. Ifill earlier this week special correspondent jane arraf traveled to Northern Iraq to interview masoud barzani. She began by asking him about the arms issue. Reporter youve said in the past that the u. S. Should be playing perhaps a more active role here they should be doing more, should be supplying under weapons. Do you still feel that way . translated we are satisfied with the air support. We are getting good support, but in reality, to this property moment, we have the same view as in the the past on arming and equipping the Peshmerga Forces with the right weapons. Its not to the standard we want. Reporter theres been a lot of concern in various parts of the world about the role that iran is playing here, particularly with the militias that its backing. Do you share that concern . translated we have a principle wherever we can strike were not going to hold back and whoever will take part and help us attack i. S. , we will thank them. Right now i dont share that concern if upper asking me about helping to fight and defeat i. S. What happens after that, we cant predict. Reporter do you worry that at some point the peshmerga, the Kurdish Forces could endip fighting the shia militias . translated i dont envision that. Right now we are in an alliance to fight i. S. I am hoping no one singling of that. We never wish to fight with anyone. Make no mistake. Whoever is going to attack the region, we will defend ourselves, but right now that is unimaginable. Reporter a lot of this fight now is moving into almost purely sunni arab territory tikrit, mosul what role do you see the peshmerga playing in those fights . translated if theres a program to Liberate Mosul or anywhere else that is on the door stecht kurdistan region, we can study the situation. In principle, we have no objections in helping the Iraqi Military forces, the Popular Mobilization forces and the sunni forces. If they have a program, we will help and support them, but we are not going to do anything on our own. Reporter the kurds have been through many battles, of course. Its part of your kurdish history, but this this enemy, the Islamic State group, seems like nothing that youve battled before. For instance theyve captured 21 of your peshmerga and theyre threatening to behead them on a Major Kurdish hol day. How are you able to confront Something Like that . translated its true, this is a different type of fight to all the others weve fought before. The tactic is different. The style of the fighter is different. The peshmerga and the Kurdish People have been given the honor of defeating and tarnishing the image of i. S. Of course, it is very sad to see a group of them falling into the hands of i. S. Ofwe will try the utmost to free them but if that doesnt materialize we will classify them as martyrs and the number of our martyrs will increase. Reporter just a few months before this came up, before the Islamic State group came in and seized all this territory last year, there was some talk you would be pushing towards move for vcialg independence. Has that all been set aside or pushed back now . translated the conflict delayed this process, but the process is still valid. Were not going to abandon it. Were going to do it through dialogue. We will talk with baghdad about it. We are not going to challenge people. We are not going to fight with them. But as i said, the process is still valid, and were not going to retreat from it but we need to study. We need to use wisdom. We need to be united. We cant use force. We cannot shed blood. Reporter just finally the Islamic State group and their advance into iraq and syria has really changed the course of history in many ways. Do you think it has changed kurdish history in any sense . translated i cant say they changed the course of history, but it strengthened the spirit of defense and sacrifice, and the unity of the Kurdish People a great deal. Reporter president barzani, thank you so much. Thank you. Woodruff testing for the Common Core Learning Standards in u. S. Public schools began earlier this month. And just as a rebellion is brewing against the common core there are now protests building against the National Tests associated with them. Reports of students refusing to take the tests are coming in daily, and if those numbers keep building, it could endanger the goals of the standards themselves. Our special correspondent for education john merrow has the story from new jersey. Were live, were live. Reporter Something Big is happening in new jersey, and its being broadcast on youtube. If youre following us on twitter or instagram, make sure you use the tash tags occupy nps. Reporter in newark, High School Students occupied the Superintendents Office for three days. One of their issues the common core test. This is a pretty big deal. Were taking back our district. Politicians actually get very nervous when they see how many people are against one thing. They have money power. They have political power, put we have people power. Reporter its happening in montclair, where a protest Group Released this video. Were fighting back. Im trying to push back against the test because im not just a number and im not a dollar sign. We are refusing the test. Refuse the test. Reporter and its happening in the state capital. In conclusion the highstrikes standardized tests will hurt our students, teachers, and school. That is why i am repewses the test. When i heard about what happened in new york, how like, 60,000 people opted out and i thought wow, thats something we can do about it. Reporter park is one of two National Tests of the common core state standards being given to about 15 Million Students starting with third graders in 28 states in washington, d. C. This spring. The common core and the tests have their defenders. I think the common core state standards have upped the ante for everybody that it is, indeed, more rig rution russ. So we need a more rigorous assessment to address whether or not we were providing more rigorous instruction. Reporter but resistance to common core testing has been building. In florida, new york, washington, colorado, and elsewhere, including new jersey which has 590 School Districts 1. 4 Million Students and these days, antitesting activity just about every night, often with strong language. Im willing to go as far as i have to go in order to get this done. I would be arrested because of this. Reporter protesters are from across the spectrum and from opposite sides of the political aisle. We dont want a National School board. We really dont. Reporter Carol Lee Adams is new jersey president of the eagle forum a conservative group. When it comed to, perhaps, social issues we may not agree, but on this issue, we are shoulder to shoulder parents, conservatives progressives, the teachers were all opposed to this because this is not about learning. This is not about education. And its really exciting, john because its pure democracy. Reporter julia rubin is one of the founders of save our schools new jersey. Nobody really cares about the ideology of the group. Its about saving our schools. Its about protecting those children. Reporter strange bedfellows is what they say . And its so much fun. One message many voices. And that winning strategy. Reporter the message tests take away from teaching and learning. Theyre impacting the kind of education kids are getting because theyre eating up a lot of introduction time with Test Preparation and test drilling. If what youre measuring is english and math then all the unimportant subjects like art and exphiewsk science and social studies languages you know that gets put aside. So how was your day . Reporter her 12yearold daughter singles out the park test. Reporter have you taken is . I have taken some sample tests. What did you think . Its very confusing. Youre supposed to pick one right answer which is hard for a lot of people. People. Reporter but the test must have a right answer. They did have a right answer. They had a define