good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. a reality check for both political parties. how clinton won another state today, and the message from house speaker paul ryan. >> republicans think the people deserve a voice in this critical decision. >> this is too important. >> the battle over supreme court nominee merrick garland, his visit to capitol hill, and the g.o.p.'s pledge to wait for the next president. >> if you are going to do the dangerous thing, you too should step down. >> anger at the governor and the e.p.a. the publishing lashing over flint firebirds's water crisis.

>> and the theme change at a famous sea world park. pa decision to end the breeding of captive orcas on a day when prominent conservatives called for a unity ticket, a fight to stop front-runner donald trump, the republican race in missouri is too close to call. days after the voting bernie sanders conceded the democratic primary. hillary clinton beat sanders by 1500 votes. they split the delegates. donald trump leads ted cruz by a small margin. the party says the winner will receive 12 delegates. david shuster has more on the presidential race. >> on capitol hill thursday how's speak are paul ryan

stepped up to the microphone. >> happy st. patrick's day. >> and then threw water on donald trump being president, offering himself up. >> i saw john boehner last fight had telling him to knock him off. >> reporter: he says he doesn't want to be the g.o.p. and republicans should cross him off a lift. >> it's not going to be me. it should be someone running for president. i made a decision not to run for president. i believe if you want to be president, you should run. reporter: that's music to the ears of donald trump's rivals, john kasich, and ted cruz. >> only one campaign has beaten trump over and over and over again. without a contested convention, cruz can only reach the 1,037 by

capturing 87% of all the delegates in the remaining contest. john kasich's maths is worse. if he wins all the remaining delegates, he'd still fall short. as for trump, it's almost a mathematical certainty that he would enter with a plurality of delegates. >> if we are 100 short, and we are at 1,100 and someone is at 500 or 400, i don't think you can say that we don't get it auto matticly. i think you'd have riots. >> in the senate former presidential candidate marco rubio. it's a very unusual political year. people will write books about the year. the final chapter could be written in trump's favour before the convention. to reach his magic number of

1237, trump needs to maintain the usual vote ratios in the proportional delegate contest. and grab some of these contests that are winner take all. meanwhile, the desperate effort to block trump is playing out in the endorsement game. i think the alternative is ted cruz. i'll help in every way i can. the presidential candidate says he would rather we shot our poisoned than support ted cruz. he illustrated the sentiment of cruz's colleagues in this way. >> if you killed ted cruz? a. no one could convict you. >> politics makes for strange bed fellos.

the big problem for these dreaming of anyone but donald trump, is his nom nation may now be unaffordable. >> my party is going crazy now to the battle over president barack obama's pick to replace supreme court justice scalia. judge merrick garland made the round meeting with democrats. john terrett reports. >> reporter: good evening, merrick garland made the drive up capitol hill. it's true, a handful have begun reaching out. it's a hard party line. no nomination or confirmation hearing and no up or down vote. the white house sells its man hard. one day after the nomination. the judge was in capitol hill,

in whose hands his fate lies. both democrats, as the republicans show few signs of backing down on refusing merrick garland a hearing. leahy says it's the most important vote that has to be made. >> it's too important. they shouldn't talk by phone. >> he has referring to mitch mcconnell who spoke by phone, saying he had no plans to schedule a hearing. on the senate floor they noted how the nomination could change the direction of the court. and republicans and democrats disagree on that. >> republicans think the people deserve a voice in this decision. the president does not. so we disagree in this instance. as a result we act as a check and balance. >> mitch mcconnell's opposite number met with the nominee.

their photo op was brief. reed said americans were begging rugg cans to do their job, and merrick garland really is the impeccable choice. >> my job is to study the qualifications of the people going on in the court behind me. it's an awesome responsibility. we should look at the record as we are begging the republicans to do. the white house is pushing them as far as they can: launching a twitter page. white house spokesman josh ernst is a consensus candidate. the president put forward a nominee that would say they do a good job. the senator described merrick garland as a consensus nominee. that's why it shouldn't be difficult for republicans to put them aside.

>> late this evening. in a lame duck deal the republicans would confirm merrick garland between the election in november and the inauguration in january, if hillary clinton wins the election. this after remarks. the white house was asked. they said there's no good reason to wait, and urged the republicans to go ahead and confirm the nominee in a timely fashion. >> john terrett in wrashz flint's water crisis took center stage in b.c. governor rick schneider and another took turns getting grilled. the hearing punctuated for calls for their resignation. environmental agency chief and the governor both under fire for

deflecting blame for the lead contamination, and the government's slow response. >> let me be blunt. this was a failure of government at haul levels. local, state and federal officials failed the families of flint. >> the e.p.a. did not cause the led problem. in hindsight we should not have been so trusting of the state for so long when they provided overly six plistic assurances. members of congress weren't buying it. during a contentious hearing, they attacked the e.p.a. for not acting fast enough after the sit switched in the detroit water supply to the river to save money. governor schneider has been accused of running the state like a business. there's no doubt in my mind if a corporate ceo did what governor

schneider's administration had done, it would be hauled up on criminal charges. >> administrator mccarthy, you had the ability to act when you find out things aren't going right in the systems. you have a compliance authority under law, don't you. >> yes, sir. >> and who was fired or held accountable in e.p.a. >> well sir, you have to look... >> was anyone fired? >> no, sir. >> reporter: residents and officials from flint were watching the testimony and just as critical as lawmakers. >> i think governor schneider is trying to act and play like he's really concerned and accountable and he didn't know. he knew, and he needs to admit when he knew and how fast he knew. >> looks like they were dancing around the questions and the

issues. rather than give direct answers. >> governor schneider says michigan is spending millions, and taking steps to clean up the water. a similar crisis from happening again. >> not a day or night goes by that the tragedy doesn't play on my mind. the more i listened and the more i watched the governor, i think it's time to go. i did not act. and you are going to do the courageous thing, you, too, should step down. >> in south florida. growing concerns about a nuclear plant. a study shows a turkey nuclear plant is leaking radiation or polluting waters. local environmental issues are

worried that it will affect the fish. last month a clean up plan was offered. the plant poses no danger to the public. schools have begun voluntary blood chests to check students for traces of led. it comes a week after the largest school district announced elevated levels had been found in the drinking water. 17,000 checked for lead poisoning, and wider testing next week. declarations of genocide still to come. some of i.s.i.l.'s actions meet the definition of genocide. and we'll look at the ramifications of the mood.

the pentagon said north korea fired two missiles.

the state department says it established contact with the american student imprisoned in north korea. ot otto was sentenced for crimes against the state for stealing a propaganda banner. the state department will do everything it can to win his release. facing pressure from congress, secretary of state john kerry said i.s.i.l.'s persecution of certain groups meets the definition of genocide. it could have legal, moral and legal ramifications. >> several groups including the holocaust museum and others issued a report saying the mass murder of religious and ethnic groups constitutes genocide. it took an act of congress to get the u.s. government to agree. >> the u.s. condemned i.s.i.l.'s

brutal execution for years. the state department only recently issued a declaration that it amounted to crimes against humanity. >> in my judgment. d.a.e.s.h. is responsible for genocide against yazidi, christian and shia muslims. dash is genocidal by self prom lambation, ideology and actions in what it says, believes and does. >> kerry's statement meets the march 17th deadline included in a spending bill and comes three days after the house passed a non-branding resolution. it was a rare vote. 393 to nothing. the declaration does not oblegate the u.s. to take action against i.s.i.l. much like the other time.

in 2004, secretary of state said atrocities in sudan's darfur region constituted genocide. but only after lawyers did not intervene in sudan. meanwhile on capitol hill. defense secretary ash carter and the top military advisor said the effort to deal a lasting defeat ratcheted up pressure on the group. neither could say if the strongholds in iran or syria would be retaken. >> did you see raqqa fulling this year, taken away from isil. >> limiting the freedom of movement. i can't put a time line on it. i can say we were working closely with indigenous forces.

>> the likelihood of raqqa falling between now and the election is remote. >> again, i haven't put a time line on it. the state department says the declaration would have little practical effect. the u.s. treating isil even without the formal designation. it's a specific meaning. it's not just killing people, but doing it with a religious group in whole or in part. secretary of state john kerry called for an independent investigation to document the atrocities so all is accountable in the future. >> jamie mcintyre at the pentagon. now to the peace talks. to release thousands of imprisoned people. both sides in the war is have detainees, numbers on the government side are higher. the issue has been added to the

work from human task force. nothing is more important to get out some groups in particular. women and children. and the sick and the wounded among the detainees. so, yes, we are hopeful to make progress. >> it is not doing enough to get aid to the siege by government forces. still to come. see world makes a change to the work up programme. we'll talk with an expert on marine mammals about its significance.

a major announcement from sea world - the park says it will stop breeding orcas in captivity, animal welfare groups criticized them for years over breeding the killer whales. >> reporter: they have been making a big slash for more than 50 years. sea world's captive and controversial killer whales. the massive marine mammals long delighted audiences and angered animal rights activists.

the theme park announced a change, the orca freeding programme will be history. orcas in our care will be the last generation of orcas at sea world. it will end orca breeding and continues to live ou their lives where they continue to inspire and educate our guests. >> the change comes three years after the documentary black fish. focussing on violent interests. it raised ethical questions about the breeding programs. >> thursday's move signals how bad the backlash has been for the bottom line. since the film came out in 2013 numbers have blum eted, and the -- plummeted and the stock price has tanked. on twitter, people for the ethical treatment of animals said the win is huge. sea world will no longer breed orcas, and that will be the last

to suffer in their tanks. sea world announced that orca shows will end at the san diego mark in 2017. shows in san antonio and orlando end by 2019. in spite of the changes, the era of captive orcas are far from over. some activists called for them to be released into the wild. sea world said they'd probably die there. in an op-ed in los angeles times. ceo says for as long as they live, the orcas at sea world will stay in the parks. sea world's 29 remaining whales will no longer perform tricks. it will develop new orca encounters that show case the animal's natural behaviours. the ceo makes the case that sea world is a victim of success. >> we make orcas among the most

loved marine animals. society's understanding changes, sea world is changing with it. whatever the reason it is the end of an era for what some call entertainment and other call cruel joinings us from washington via skype is naomi rose, a marine namologist. this came from an agreement between sea world and the human society, you see it as an important step. >> i have to correct up. i'm with the animal welfare institute. i left the human society a couple of years ago. i worked with them for 20 years. this is an amazing announcement. it is exciting. >> i apologise for the mistake. they are believed to live to 100 in some cases in the wild. they are highly social and separating them from family units is damaging and leads to shorter life spans. they don't live to be 100 years

in capacity. they don't typically live to be 100 years in the wild. they can live to be 80 to 90. in captivity they live half bad. not much behind 25-30. there's a few whales who are older than 30. a couple older than 40. most die before they are 25. >> how much do you think this decision was inspired by black fish, that documentary that argued that placing the whales in kaptisty -- captivity stressed them. >> i've been working on the campaign for 23 years. black fish came along three years ago. i have maintained that the animals don't belong in captivity. when don was killed in 2010, it started a series of events, and it energized a number of people. it all cull mipated when --

culminated when black fish was released. so many saw it and were horrified by what they saw. it brought forward a social media movement that is - it's been unprecedented. >> sea world says it needs to keep the orcas it has because releasing them into the wild is not a wise option. do you agree with that. >> dependents on what you mean by releasing them to the wild. if you are talking about sendling them off to be independent. i agree with sea world. what i propose is a retirement to a coastal sanctuariy where they'd be enclosed and under huge ya care. they'd have more room, it would be natural habitat and more choices and stimulation. until they are in that situation, if they remain in the concrete tanks, the welfare will suffer. >> it's not likely the

sanctuaries will happen. >> we are working on them. absolutely it will happen. >> reporter: what about the argument about having orcas at sea world is a good thing because it made people love them and protect animals and wild places. >> back in the 1960, i agree that probably happened, that there was a transition from viewing orcas, known as killer whales, mindless killers, transitioning once they were in places about sea world, to recognising highly social and family bonded. and quite friendly. but that happened in the 1960s. to argue that they need to stay in captivity year after year after year now that we know the welfare suffers suggests that we'll forget that. >> what about other marine mammals. the whales, dolphins, where should it stop?

>> it's not supposed to stop here. i believe that all suffer in captivity. i would like to see them all phase the out. i'm going to accept this first big step and acknowledge that it is an amazing decision on sea world's part, and we will continue a dialogue to talk about everything else that needs to be done. >> naomi rose, great to have you with us. >> former senator george mitchell was the grand marshall. omly gay groups -- openly gay groups were allowed to march under their own banners, leading bill de blasio to march in the parade. the first time he has done so. p i'm antonio mora, thank you for joining us.

ray suarez is up next. have a great night. night.