PBS NewsHour

Robotic technology is increasingly infiltrating our everyday world, and as robots become more capable of human labor, people will likely have to develop new skills for new jobs. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to Erik Brynjolfsson and Andy McAfee, who argue in their new book, "The Second Machine Age," that we are facing a radical new industrial revolution.

In Chattanooga, Tenn., workers at a Volkswagen plant are voting to decide whether to join the United Auto Workers union. While VW has remained neutral, state politicians and Republican Sen. Bob Corker have vocally opposed the union option. Jeffrey Brown gets views from Vincent Vernuccio of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Harley Shaiken of the University of California, Berkeley.

Comcast is making a bid to buy Time Warner for $45 billion. If approved, Comcast will extend its geographic reach and control nearly 30 percent of all paid cable subscribers in the United States. Gwen Ifill learns more about the motivation behind the deal and possible changes for consumers from Edmund Lee of Bloomberg News.

In our news wrap Thursday, the Afghan government released 65 accused Taliban militants from a prison formerly run by the U.S. military, despite American objections. Also, the U.N. mediator met with envoys from the U.S. and Russia to pledge to help keep up talks between Syria’s warring parties.

With the latest powerful storm, the city of Philadelphia broke a 130-year record for snowfall in a season. Judy Woodruff talks to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett about how his state is coping with keeping citizens safe and warm during relentlessly wintry weather.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain swept across a large swath of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and the South, where hundreds of thousands of residents lost power. Airport runways and federal offices were closed in Washington, and in some drivers in Raleigh, N.C., abandoned their cars on icy roads. Kwame Holman reports.

The European Union is built on the idea of free movement of people and capital, but some factions wish to curb immigration and control their sovereign identity. Judy Woodruff talks to Heather Conley with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Charles Kupchan of Georgetown University about the rising influence of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe.

Swiss citizens narrowly voted Sunday to impose quotas on the number of foreigners allowed to enter their country. While Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, the new referendum threatens an agreement with the rest of Europe that allows the free movement of workers. Judy Woodruff reports.

Gwen Ifill gets an update on the Sochi Olympics from Christine Brennan of USA Today and ABC News, who talks about the introduction of women’s ski jumping into the Games, star snowboarder Shaun White’s bad run, plus how temperate weather is affecting the competition.

With the push of a button – plus a lot of design work and hours of waiting – the emerging technology of 3-D printing can produce food, plastic phone accessories, even human tissue. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien explores how businesses and schools are creating everything from speakers to ballet shoes, as well as serious challenges and risks presented by ever-widening printing possibilities.

In the debate over how to cure income inequality, talk about poverty and opportunity are increasingly converging. In a series of conversations about the growing divide between rich and poor, Gwen Ifill talks to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., about the importance of encouraging strong families and improving educational opportunities as keys to restoring the American dream.

A Canadian study conducted across more than two decades raises doubt that annual mammogram screenings reduce the risk of death among women between the ages of 40 and 59. What do the latest findings mean for women and their health? Judy Woodruff gets different viewpoints from Dr. Carol Lee of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of the Dartmouth Institute.

In our news wrap Wednesday, a powerful winter storm has begun to sweep across the South. A thick coat of ice has already knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Georgia, while black ice in North Carolina caused havoc for drivers. Also, the Senate gave final approval Wednesday to raise the national debt ceiling.

During World War II, the Nazis systematically looted art works from all over Europe, while combat and aerial bombing unintentionally destroyed major landmarks. The story of the quest to protect, rescue and restore Europe’s cultural treasures is told in a new movie, "The Monuments Men." Robert Edsel, author of the book that inspired the new film, joins Jeffrey Brown for a conversation.

North Carolina mandates that all elementary school students have equal access to art instruction, but enforcement of the law appears inconsistent across the state. Special correspondent for education John Merrow reports on two elementary schools' different approaches to arts education and the effects on student performance.