captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: a halt to the bombing. saudi arabia suspends strikes on neighboring yemen. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill, also ahead this tuesday. from somalia to syria, europe responds to a surge of migrants crossing the mediterranean. we talk to the united nation's point person on refugees. >> woodruff: plus, compromise on capitol hill senate leaders find middle ground and pave a path forward to confirm the nation's next attorney general. >> ifill: and, ohio tries to guarantee that students won't be promoted unless they are able to read by the end of third grade but falls short.

>> they just aren't ready for some of the things, i mean, you know, kids don't know how to sound out words, they're working on some phonics skills that they never received. but the reality is that kids are all over the place. >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> 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: saudi arabia abruptly announced an end today to a month-long air campaign against shiite rebels in yemen. the saudis and their sunni allies said they'll focus on political efforts, but continue military action, as needed. at the same time, a senior rebel leader said a political accord is "almost ready." meanwhile, the white house explained its decision to send in the aircraft carrier "theodore roosevelt" >> the movement of the of this particular aircraft carrier would augment the american military presence in the gulf of aden, and would send a clear signal about our continued insistence about the free flow of commerce and the freedom of movement in the region. >> ifill: that effort could also include intercepting iranian vessels trying to ferry weapons to the rebels. for more on all this, we turn now to our chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner. margaret, what was behind saudi arabia's decision to suspend whatever it is they were doing,

their military action? >> warner: gwen u.s. officials believe it was a cost-benefit analysis by the saudis that in fact the costs were outbuying the benefits. that is, this has been going on a month. they've been heavily criticized internationally for a lot of civilian deaths. they have not achieved two they have not achieved two of their three main objectives-- was to roll the houthis back north. that did not work upon and to restore the president to power when they have not been able to do. and that was going to require a ground campaign when they don't have the assets to do despite what they spend on military hardware, and no one was willing to help them, including the pakistanis. secondly, and importantly, the u.s. was pressing them hard. the u.s. was concerned about the civilian casualties. the u.s. intelligence viewfs they had an objective but they neverreally had a plan. they never thought through how to do it, and the u.s. was very, very concerned that all this chaos is giving al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and other

extreme terrorist groups more room to operate and a senior intelligence person told me today a.q.a.i.p., efforts have increased in months. >> ifill: you said saudi arabia did not achieve its goal of rolling back the houthis. they announced they will step back. some sort of accord has been reached? >> sreenivasan: there is and i confirmed this with u.s. officials and people close to the saudis. there is a commitment on the part of both the houthis and the saudis to get back to some sort of political dialogue, which originally was under the umbrella, the u.n. and the gulf cooperation council and i will so on. now, u.s. officials think it's for real, though they are very cautious about this. but apparently white house statements about to come out applauding the saudi decision and saying-- applauding the chance for political dialogue, and most important, talking about the possibility of resuming humanitarian aid. >> ifill: you're always ahead

of the curve on these things margaret, but i want to ask you one more thing and that is iran's role in all of this. they awms seem to be in the middle of these conflicts. >> and they are. the iranians put out a statement in which they predicted the sowdez were about to suspend their air campaign. this is hours before the saudis did it. so they knew something everybody else didn't know. secondly, and i don't even we can say that they have been encouraging the houthis to go to political dialogue. certainly the u.s. has been work the saudis hard. i cannot confirm that there has been any kind of tacit communication here because obviously also, the u.s. is being very critical of iran for moving ships in the area and are they moving weapons and so on. and, of course, this all gets tangled up with the iranian niewrld talks. and part of reason the u.s. got sucked into this in the first place, if you look at the timing-- march 26-- it was just as they were neither a deal with iran and they wanted to assure their gulf partners that, no,

no the u.s. isn't abandoning then them. you can figure iran is playing a major role here, both overtly and as a sort of motivation. >> ifill: it is a tangled web as always. >> warner: as always. >> ifill: margaret warner thank you. >> always a >> woodruff: elsewhere today, a 6court in egypt sentenced the ousted islamist president mohammed morsi to 20 years in prison. he was found guilty in the killings of protesters in 2012. morsi and about a dozen other muslim brotherhood defendants stood in a soundproof cage as the court made its pronouncement. it was the first verdict against morsi, since the military overthrew him in 2013. >> ifill: the boston marathon bombing trial took up the question today of whether to impose the death penalty on dzhokhar tsarnaev. he's already been convicted of the attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260. today, a prosecutor showed a photo of tsarnaev making an

obscene gesture in his jail cell. she said it proves he is "unrepentant and unchanged." >> woodruff: the u.s. justice department has opened a civil rights investigation in the case of a baltimore man who died in police custody. freddie gray was arrested april 12th, and died sunday from a severe spinal injury. six white officers involved in gray's arrest have been suspended with pay, pending an investigation. >> ifill: drug enforcement administration chief michele leonhart announced today she is stepping down. attorney general eric holder praised her years of service to the agency, but she came under fire from both parties in congress after reports surfaced that d.e.a. agents attended sex parties with prostitutes. >> woodruff: a full-scale recall is now under way for all products from "blue bell creameries." they're being pulled from shelves in 23 states and overseas because they could be tainted with listeria. overnight, the texas company expanded an earlier recall after the deadly bacteria turned up in

ice cream at two plants. >> originally, in this facility we had a positive test on some snacks. and we thought it was isolated to one machine in one room. and so we shut down the machine and closed off the room. and what the positive test on the cookie dough half gallon did was let us know that it was in other areas of the plant, also. >> woodruff: so far, federal health officials have linked the contamination to three deaths in kansas. it's the first recall in blue bell's 108 years of operation. >> ifill: the state of california may have encountered a roadblock as it tries to conserve water in the face of extreme drought. a state appeals court ruled monday that san juan capistrano's multi-tiered water rates are illegal. the pricing structure makes major users pay more, to promote conservation. two-thirds of the state's water districts use similar rate plans. >> woodruff: wall street struggled to make headway today, as major companies turned in a

mixed batch of earnings reports. the dow jones industrial average lost 85 points to close back near 17,950. the nasdaq rose 19 and the s- and-p 500 slipped three. and the world's fastest passenger train set a new speed record today in japan. the magnetic-levitation train, or mag-lev, reached 375 miles an hour on a test track near mount fuji. it uses powerful magnets to hover just above the rails. japan aims to build a 250 mile mag lev link between tokyo and osaka. there's already one in shanghai china. still to come on the newshour. dangerous routes for migrants fleeing war and persecution; senate leaders end a standoff over the nominee for attorney general; battling islamic state forces in the sunni heartland of iraq; struggling to raise reading rates in ohio schools; and the best of journalism winners of the 2015 pulitzer prizes.

>> woodruff: now to the migrant boat disaster in europe which is feared to have claimed up to 900 lives. today, brought news of arrests and new details of the tragedy. >> woodruff: exhausted, and still stunned, the 28 survivors of the mediterranean's worst- ever migrant boat sinking arrived in catania, sicily, overnight. >> they were very tired and very traumatized. one of them was taken to the hospital, the others received medical attention, they had new clothes distributed to them and had some food before being transported to reception facility. >> woodruff: among their number: the boat's tunisian captain and a syrian crew member. italian prosecutors took both into custody on suspicion of smuggling, reckless homicide and causing a shipwreck. migrants who made it to shore say when the smugglers collided

with a would-be rescue ship terrified passengers rushed to the other side, causing their overloaded trawler to roll over. they also told humanitarian officials that hundreds of people were locked below deck. >> everyone told us that there were about 800 so we have to say that 800 people have died apparently at this point. unfortunately, we must confirm that. >> woodruff: the tragedy has thrust the migrant issue back into the spotlight, and the u.n. refugee agency is urging the european union to adopt an emergency action plan. >> obviously the devil is in the detail, we need to make sure that the asylum component and the protection of people component is one that is prioritized within these measures. >> woodruff: the crisis in the mediterranean has intensified, as more people fleeing conflict

and poverty pour into libya from western sub-saharan africa. from east african countries, including eritrea, and even from war-torn syria in the middle east. some syrian refugees travel to turkey, then to sudan, and then cross-country to libya, itself beset by civil war. the united nations has asked developed countries to shelter 130,000 syrian refugees over the next two years. in february, the state department announced the u.s. response. >> the united states has admitted 524 syrians since 2011. we're likely to admit 1,000 to 2,000 syrian refugees for permanent resettlement in fiscal year 2015 and a somewhat higher number, though still in the low thousands, in fiscal year 2016. >> woodruff: republicans, led by representative michael mccaul of texas, chair of the house homeland security committee, are resisting even that number.

in a january letter, he and two other committee members wrote: >> woodruff: meanwhile, the migrant sailings go on. on monday alone, more than 600 people were rescued in separate incidents. they included nearly 100 palestinian and syrian nationals packed aboard a luxury yacht. >> woodruff: and joining me now is united nations' high commissioner for refugees antonio guterres. he's in washington meeting with state department officials and members of congress. commissioner guterres, thank you for joining us again to talk about this. how would you describe right now, the scale of this migrant boat crisis facing europe and the world? >> well, i think it is a tragedy

within a tragedy. we are seeing the dramatic evolution in syria and iraq. we are seeing a conflict that is causing the largest displacement since the second world war. we have now four million syrian refugees, more than 2.5 million people displaced inside iraq, more than seven million people displaced inside syria. even those living in neighboring countries, live in appallingly difficult conditions. we see more and more syrians trying to come to europe and it really breaks my heart to see families that have lost their homes lost members of the family, and interest to risk their live-- and have to risk their lives again in unsaid worthy botts, and violators of human rights, and perish because there is not an effective at-sea rescue operation in the central mediterranean. that's why we have been asking,

europe will have to assume the responsibility. to us, it was the case last year, to have an effective rescue-at-sea operation, to at least be able to respond in an efficient way to the needs of these desperate people. >> woodruff: well, how much of the responsibility does lie with the european union. as you just noted, last year the italians had a very robust search-and-rescue operation under way. now that has been scaled back to something much smaller by the e.u. >> unfortunately many people in europe were saying that the italian's efforts were attracting people to cross. the truth is without that without an effective mechanism of rescue at sea more people are coming coming in 2013 than in 2014. they're crossing out of despair.

it is not because you don't have a mechanism, an effective mechanism to rescue them that they will stop on the other side. unfortunately, we're having more people crossing and more people dying, and that is why it is so important to re-establish a robust mechanism of rescue at sea. and promote more legal avenues to come legally into europe and address the root causes that force people to move in countries of origin and creating better protection conditions in countries of transit-- namely northern africa-- knowing at the moment, libya with a chaotic situation that libya faces, will not be a part under for an effective operation of combined action to reduce this drama. >> warner:drama. >> woodruff: i know there is an emergency meeting thursday. do you expect the european countries to do what what you are asking?

>> we hope so poop we have to recognize seven european countries are doing a very good job. they are showing an enormous effort, receiving syrians and giving them accident conditions. it's the case of germany. it's the case of sweden. and what we believe is that europe needs to assume that responsibility collectively and to properly receive people, to see those that need protection, those that are economic migrants that only seek a better life, and, of course, they need to be respected. but they have a different set of rights. and guarantee a fair share of the distribution within the european continent in order to be able to be much more generous in the european attitude towards refugees crossing the mediterranean at the present moment. >> woodruff: you started out describing it as a crisis, one refugee crisis in the middle of another refugee crisis, of

course, referring to syria. we just learned from the last hour that a group of bipartisan united states senators have sent a letter to president obama asking him to work with u.s. allies to create safe zones inside syria for displaced people and to create a way for humanitarian aid to get in. is this the kind of they think would be helpful for syria's refugee crisis? >> i think that to have corridors for humanitarian aid is a very positive thing, and we are doing a lot of humanitarian aid cross-border and cross-line inside syria and to create conditions for it to be much more developed would, in my opinion, be extremely important. to conceive the idea of a safe zone inside syria to keep the refugees there our experience in the past is not a positive one. remember the safe zone in srebrenica in bosnia and the tragedy that created because how

would we guarantee the safety of that zone in the middle of a civil war with the characteristics of the syrian civil war at the present moment. i think it's very important to create more conditions for humanitarian aid to be distributedded in syria, and more than that, what would be very important is to bring together those countries that have an influence in the conflict to understand this is a war in which nobody is winning. everybody is losing. and there is now a threat not only to regional stability-- let's see what has happened in iraq-- but also to global peace and security and the terrorist threat for the whole world. so it's high time for those countries that have an influence on the parties in the conflict to forget their differences, to forget their contributions and to come together and put an end to this nonsense. >> woodruff: just quickly, you have been meeting on capitol hill with members of congress. you had asked the united states to accept just a few thousands

syrian refugees. there has been push-back as we mentioned from committee chairs saying how does the united states know they won't be terrorists? what are your answer to that? >> the united states has the largest resettlement program in the world. we resettle about 100,000 a year, and they come from all over the world and many area where's you have conflicts to the syrian ones. and there are security checks that are implemented, both from our sight sideand from the side of the american administration. other countries-- canada australia other european cries to guarantee that those that come are really people in need of protection. we are not here to give shelter to terrorists. we are here to give shelter to those who are the first victims of terrorism, and the first victimes of terrorism today are the syrians themselves. >> woodruff: gurk the u.n.

commissioner for refugees we thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: it took more than five months, but senate negotiators finally came to agreement on the bill that had blocked loretta lynch's path to confirmation as president obama's second attorney general. the hitch appeared in an entirely unrelated fight over access to abortion for victims of human trafficking. >> mr. president? >> the majority leader. >> ifill: word of the deal came first thing this morning on the senate floor, from republican majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> i'm glad we can now say there is a bipartisan proposal that will allow us to complete action on this important legislation so we can provide help to the victims who desperately need it. >> ifill: the agreement also means the senate will likely vote, mcconnell said "in the next day or so," on attorney

general nominee loretta lynch. that was welcome news to minority leader harry reid. >> let's get out of this quickly. let's get loretta lynch confirmed. >> ifill: the human trafficking bill and the nomination had been blocked for months. initially there was bi-partisan backing for the bill that sets up a fund for victims of trafficking. but an impasse developed when democrats objected to language that would expand prohibitions on abortion funding. republicans, in turn, insisted they would not take up the lynch nomination until the human trafficking bill passed. today's deal tweaks the abortion language in a way that both sides say they can accept. it also comes several days after president obama blasted the delay of the lynch nomination. >> there are times where the dysfunction in the senate just goes too far.

this is an example of it. it's gone too far. enough, enough. call loretta lynch for a vote. get her confirmed. put her in place. let her do her job. this is embarrassing. >> ifill: the president nominated lynch last november to replace eric holder. if confirmed, the career prosecutor from new york would become the first black woman to hold the office. the white house today called news of the senate deal "an encouraging sign." >> ifill: so what broke the logjam? for that, i spoke a short time ago to two members of the senate. we start with mississippi republican roger wicker. senator wicker, welcome. there seem to be two arguments going on here in the senate recently that you reached an agreement about today, but one was about a human trafficking bill, one was about loretta lynch. what was the connection? >> well, the connection is actually we needed to break the logjam on the trafficking bill,

a very important piece of legislation to protect vulnerable young americans and also people who will be trafficked into the united states. senator mcconnell had made it clear that the schedule would be the trafficking bill then the lynch nomination. and i think it was important for him to stand firm on that, and as it turns out tbroke the logjam. both matters will now be considered, and we'll be able to move on, i think in a bipartisan fashion. >> ifill: asun, democrats think republicans were basically holding the attorney general's nomination hostage for an abortion-related amendment included in this human trafficking bill. what's your response to that? >> well, my response is the hyde language has been part of legislation for over three decades, and really this sort of came as a surprise that this would be thought of as an issue holding up a trafficking bill.

as it turns out here's the upshot-- the hyde language was neither expanded nor diminished in this negotiation process. it is exactly as it has been over the decades. we've broken the logjam on the trafficking bill now, and by the end of the week, i think we'll have a new attorney general confirmed and that issue will-- will not be there to divide americans anymore. so i think it's a good result. and frankly, if miss lynch has been instrumental in breaking a logjam on a very important trafficking bill i have to feel like she would feel that it might actually have been worth the delay. gl. >> ifill: does that mean you would vote to confirm her? >> i made it clear. i thought she should be-- i think she should be brought to the floor. i think she will be confirmed,

and i've made it clear all along that i'll be a no vote. but there are going to be plenty of votes for her confirmation, and there won't be much of a dust-up over there because of some of the support of some of the president's executive over-reaches, i'll abe no vote. but she'll be confirmed and at the end of the day, the president will have a new attorney general. >> ifill: we saw the medicare doctors fix. we've seen a trade agreement reached so far at least. it still has to work its way through the congress. and now this. is this a new day a new day post-gridlock in the united states senate? >> well i think so, and also there's an education bill that has come out of the help committee with strong support not only from chairman alexander but also the ranke member senator murray. i actually think our new majority leader senator mcconnell, by being firm but also by opening up the amendment process has created an

atmosphere where we're gog see a lot more bipartisanship and a lot more legislation moving, and frankly, as someone in charge of the campaign committee, i think legislative accomplishment and ending gridlock, i think that is good politics for both parties and i think the american people are going to find it a bit refreshing. >> ifill: was it worth it to keep the nominee waiting this long? >> well, i'm sorry that it was held up so long. i'm sorry that a trafficking bill that should have been passed, frankly by unanimous conassociate virtual unanimous vote was held up for some four weeks. but this is the sort of thing that sometimes happens in legislative bodies. the good thiewz news is that we have i think a very positive result. we'll have a strong trafficking bill to move on to the exphowts president's desk and the president will haveaise have his nominee,

with not an inordinate amount of delay considering we're trying to break a logjam and i think now we've reached a point where we're gog see a lot of bipartisan accomplishments. >> ifill: senator roger wicker from mississippi, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me again. >> ifill: now we turn to democratic senator chris coons from delaware. thank you for joining us. in the end, what was the disagreement over the trafficking bill, in your view? >> the trafficking victim's act was brought to the floor with the expectation it would pass easily. it's a broad bipartisan bills to strengthen protections for those who were the victim of human trafficking but there was language stuck in the bill dealing with the hyde amendment with a new fund created by act a fund that comes from penalties paid by those convicted of being involved in sex trafficking. and that would be an unwarranted expansion of the hyde amendment to a new pool of federal funds

that many in my caucus thought was completely inappropriate. there was an injection of a partisan issue bowhat should not have been a partisan concern, the protection of those who have been victims of trafficking. >> ifill: if that's true if that was the injection of a partisan issue, how did it end up holding up tripping up-- whatever word you want to use for it-- the nomination of loretta lynch for five and a half months? >> well i don't see any connection, but the republican majority leader said we would not move to consider the nomination of loretta lynch until the trafficking victims' protection act cleared the floor. so we're in the unacceptable position today, gwen, of having this remarkable, qualified, capable nominee, who was nominated 174 days ago, who has now been sitting waiting for action on the floor longer than all seven previous nominees to attorney general and double-- she's been wait longer than all seven before her double that amount of time because the

trafficking bill has been holding it up. it has taken that long for us to clear republican objections to making a responsible compromise that would allow us to move forward. there are rumors that the final deal has been reached, but we've spent all day today waiting to hear which amendments republicans will insist on our voting on some time today or tomorrow before we can move to consider loretta lynch's nomination. >> ifill: now, maybe-- do you understand how your constituents might be watching this standoff and thinking they agree on this bill. they agree on its goals, but they can't move forward? does that send the wrong message? >> of course, it does. it's incredibly frustrating. it suggests that the senate is having great difficulty moving forward on even simple bipartisan gilz bilz that should make it possible for us to strengthen protections for those who are victims of the heinous crime of human trafficking. it also means that the republican majority in the senate is having difficulty

priortizing. i think it's a civil rights issue that we haven't been able to move forward loretta lynch, an incredibly qualified nominee to be attorney general who's previously been confirmed twice to serve as the u.s. attorney for the eastern district. >> ifill: why is that a civil rights issue? >> because we've got pressing issues in the united states, gwen. we've got issues all over this country of relationships between law enforcement and communities where she would be particularly capable particularly adept at helping resolve those long-standing and challenging issues. she's also someone who has shown particular strength and skill in prosecuting corruption and prosecuting human trafficking and prosecuting gang activities. so she would be a talented, and capable attorney general. she would be the first-ever african american woman to serve in this position, but she also would, i think bring a well-needed-- a badly needed voice of calm and bridge building between many of america's communities and the concerns of law enforcement.

>> ifill: sounds like she has your vote. does she have enough votes? >> she's absolutely got my vote. in fact, she came out of judiciary commit wea fairly strong bipartisan vote months ago. but it will be very close on the floor. i think at this point there are only five republicans who have publicly expressed some support for her. so it's my hope that having finally cleared the hurdle of this trafficking victims act that we will continue and move and confirm loretta lynch on a bipartisan basis. >> ifill: senator chris coons, democrat of delaware, thank you very much. >> thank you, gwen. >> woodruff: the u.s.-led coalition today launched 28 air strikes in iraq and syria against "islamic state" group targets, and in iraq, i.s. positions were struck in anbar province, where the militants are strongest. newshour special correspondent jane arraf reports now from

anbar on a battle to reclaim iraq's largest province. >> reporter: the latest wave of iraqis fleeing the islamic state group. this time its in the sunni heartland of al-anbar. driven out of tikrit, the group, also known as isis, has made a renewed push into western anbar province and its capitol ramadi. these families are the tip of a huge humanitarian crisis, hundreds of thousands of iraqis in iraq's biggest province forced out by the conflict, joining two million iraqis already displaced. fatima has moved three times since she left her home in haditha in western al-anbar last year, always just one step ahead of the fighting. >> ( translated ): they were striking us with rockets, there were explosions in the houses. there were houses being hit during air strikes at night. finally we had to leave. >> reporter: the iraqi government sees these people as

a potential security risk. isis has now controlled most of anbar for most of a year and its government is wary of letting in people from isis strongholds. these families have managed to escape the isis onslaught on ramadi. but even here they're not safe. to reach baghdad they have to prove they have a sponsor there who will vouch for them. the problem is that some of them have now moved three or four times and they've run out of relatives to stay with. when we met him this ramadi resident had been waiting here for two days in the hope someone would sponsor him. the government later said it would allow families to enter without a sponsor but would keep out young single men. um ahmed saw two of her sons married just two days ago. the wedding party took place in a prefabricated trailer. "this is the only thing we ever got from them," she says, holding up a piece of chocolate.

"i'm going to save it as a souvenir." the interior ministry says it is concerned that isis operatives could be hiding among displaced people. in baghdad, the interior ministry paraded some of its latest isis suspects. these they say have confessed to attacks against security forces and involvement in a bomb-making ring. on the floor, police have arranged the explosives they've captured from a site near baghdad. they include bombs designed to detonate when a door is opened or when a car drives over them. the western edge of the battle against isis is in iraq's vast anbar province, stretching from the edge of baghdad all the way to the jordanian, saudi and syrian borders. just 35 miles from baghdad is fallujah, where u.s. soldiers and marines in 2004 faced the fiercest urban fighting since vietnam. the enemy then was al-qaeda. now it's a group even more difficult to fight.

isis fighters have re-emerged near garma, between fallujah and the iraqi capitol. >> now we achieved the first goal which prevented the enemy to target our people in baghdad. the second step is to go forward to liberate the center of al- garma. >> reporter: but the day after iraqi forces launched that offensive they were pushed back by isis fighters. >> the u.s. is wary of getting involved into a complicated process. after surviving an assassination it's too dangerous even for the provincial governor to stay in anbar. after surviving an assassination attempt in ramadi, suhaib al rawi spoke to us from an emergency office set up in baghdad.

>> ( translated ): the situation is critical, after the operations that took place in tikrit isis is focusing hugely on anbar and ramadi to create a morale boost with a victory there, the security forces are fighting fierce battles and suffering quite substantial losses. there are iraqi and coalition air strikes but they are not enough. >> reporter: anbar is in the grip of war. this school is now an army outpost. at this forward operating base soldiers pulling security are on alert for snipers and suicide bombers. behind me is the city of garma. the iraqi army and its allies have been advancing forward and pushing isis back until they're now within about three miles from the city, once they take garma they believe they can push on to fallujah. >> reporter: this iraqi army colonel explains that they need to take garma because it's a main supply route for isis. isis fighters are like gangsters he says. >> ( translated ): we are trying to surround garma because garma

is the access point, if we take garma and god willing we will take it, then isis will be locked in, finished. >> reporter: after that he says is fallujah, a city won and lost twice since 2003. soldiers here are expecting this battle to be even tougher than the others. jane arraf for pbs newshour near garma, iraq >> ifill: a growing number of states are promising to stop promoting students who haven't learned to read by the end of third grade. it's a controversial idea we first reported on two years ago. tonight, special correspondent john tulenko of learning matters television, which produces reports on education for the newshour, returned to ohio to see how that's working. >> reporter: two years ago, the city of cincinnati and others across ohio faced a major problem: on a national reading test, 60% of fourth-graders were failing, a gap that many we

spoke with then feared would just grow wider. >> we don't teach reading in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh grade. so if they haven't learned that, they're not going to learn it. and that's just unacceptable. >> reporter: so two years ago, republican state senator peggy lehner put a wall around fourth grade, passing legislation that promised to hold back any third grader who failed the state's reading test. ohio called it the third grade reading guarantee. >> it's now or never. we're finished with passing kids along that are unable and unprepared to actually reach success at the higher grade levels. >> reporter: at the outset, third-grade teacher linda hissett of carson elementary in cincinnati welcomed the guarantee, and saw it as a solution. >> i had some students who were at a kindergarten-level reading first-grade-level reading, second grade. you know, i guess, i just, i look at it with dismay. >> reporter: but carson's

principal, ruthenia jackson, was wary of the guarantee. some 40% of her students were in danger of being held back. >> the research shows that if you retain children over, it does not help them down the line, because they're just getting older, and then eventually they'll get in high school, and they'll just drop out. who wants to be 17 in ninth grade? nobody. >> reporter: no doubt, the reading guarantee had raised the stakes considerably for ohio's 125,000 third-graders and their teachers. but how would it all turn out? would the threat to hold students back spur schools to innovate? just how many students would make it over the bar? what emerged in the end is a story with both good news and bad news, and we'll tell it in that order. >> the result was remarkable. 96% of our third-graders passed the test this year. >> reporter: we returned recently to speak with senator lehrner, who told us ohio's results have a simple explanation. >> that kind of improvement is incredible.

but that only came about because of a lot of hard work, a lot of attention to the importance of reading. >> reporter: carson elementary seemed to be a case in point. ruthenia jackson is still principal. so two years ago, you were apprehensive. >> yes. >> reporter: how do you feel about the reading guarantee today? >> pretty good. and that's because we're making some gains. >> reporter: reading scores here had risen ten points, following changes made across the school. the entire staff had been reassigned to teach individual subjects. that way, the strongest reading teachers could concentrate on that. >> let's check that vowel before you write. >> reporter: reading specialists were also brought in, with some $13 million ohio set aside for schools. >> now we have two. one reading specialist works with those kids who we consider non-readers, and teaching them phonics. >> reporter: the second

specialist focuses on kids just on the cusp of passing. for everyone else, local high school students were brought in as volunteer tutors. there were reading workshops for parents. hundreds of books were sent to homes. and in the end, 94% of carson's third-graders passed ohio's reading test and were promoted. >> all right, keep on reading. >> reporter: good news for early supporters of the reading guarantee, like linda hissett. >> what we've started here is hugely different than how it was prior to three years ago. that focus that they have on the reading, and the intensity; it's just a totally different tone. >> a col-- >> college? >> reporter: but how different was it? hissett's third grade class still had struggling readers. more than a few. and we found the reading guarantee, which had promised to bring everyone up to grade level, had another side. >> to answer the question "are the kids are more prepared?" it's very hard, because a lot of the kids that we actually

educate, a lot of them will leave. >> reporter: 40% in fact. while another 40% come in, all mid-year. this revolving door, not unusual in urban schools, poses problems for the reading guarantee. >> we get non-readers. we will get a-- a third-grader who, who's never heard of a sound. cannot read. >> reporter: so is it that the reading guarantee, it only works in a bubble? >> right, exactly true. >> reporter: was it any better in carson's fourth grade? remember, under the guarantee, to get here, students first had to pass a test, prove they were ready. how many of your kids are actually reading at a fourth- grade level? >> probably 50%. but the reality is that kids are all over the place. they just aren't ready for some of the things, i mean, you know, kids don't know how to sound out words; they're working on some phonics skills that they never

received. it's, it's an eye-opener. >> reporter: and yet, all of them passed ohio's reading test, and that could be the bigger problem. >> they get to take it multiple times, the same test. they get to take it in the fall. if they don't pass it, they take it again in the spring. if they don't pass it, they take it again in the summer. and now they've thrown in a new test. >> reporter: and how high was the bar? it turns out the score for promotion, advancing to fourth grade, was set below the mark that defines a proficient reader. >> there are different scores and here's why. this is a very, very hard policy. parents don't want their kids retained; schools don't want to retain them. it's expensive to retain them. $10,000 a year. if we had set those at the exact-same level, at that proficient level, which is of course where we want kids to be; this policy would have been dead within a year. >> i don't think that that little window of promotable versus proficient is really

anything to discuss. because it's, it's too close. it's like three questions. >> reporter: to hissett, the lower pass score is a good thing because it gives students a cushion, which makes sense, she says, when the test is high stakes. it's an isolated day. who knows what happened the night before; who knows if they had sleep; who knows if they even ate dinner. so yes; if they've got the basic skills and they can at least get it close, it's that little shadow of a doubt; that's fine with me. >> reporter: but a big shadow of doubt still hangs over ohio's 96% pass rate. a close look at test documents reveals more on just how low the bar was set: ohio will promote third graders even if they lag behind 85% of their peers, nationwide. >> aren't you just setting those kids up for failure? >> reporter: no. i think they're getting help because we have focused this attention on reading. and the teachers are aware. >> that, to me, now it's just, this is just my opinion, that to me, would be a state issue:

wanting to make it look like, you know, the kids are doing better. >> well, you know, if they want to take that attitude, fine. but what we're trying to do here is so terribly important. it's important that we do it right, and not try to do it all at once. that only invites failure. >> reporter: ohio is on track to slowly raise the score for promotion until it matches the score for proficient. at the higher score, ohio third- graders will still lag behind roughly 75% of their peers nationwide. in cincinnati, ohio, i'm john tulenko, reporting for the newshour. >> woodruff: finally tonight, a pulitzer-prize winning newspaper series that cast a spotlight on the deadly problem of domestic violence in south carolina. charleston's post and courier won the public service prize for its series titled, "til death do us part." jeffrey brown has a look behind the work.

>> brown: it grew into a major seven-part series documenting from many point of view victims, law enforcement and others a huge problem in south carolina and other states. domestic violence and abuse of women. among the violence, it was the most deadly state for domestic violence. glenn smith is one of the lead reporters who was part of the team. he joins me now. congratulations to you, first. i gather this all really began when members of your teem saw some of these statistics and they jumped out at you. tell us what happened. >> well, it was in the fall of 2013, the violence policy center in washington, d.c. they put out an annual ranking of the most dangerous states for women based on the rate of women killed by men. south carolina came out at the top of the list. they put out a press release. it didn't seem to attract much attention at all, and we started to wonder why is that so?

why haven't we paid more attention this? looking bag over a 15-year period, we have led the list three times and been in the top 10 every year that the list had been published. and we said why is south carolina so bad? what is driving this? >> brown: one of the things you end up documenting in a lot of different ways is a kind of culture of violence or a culture of tolerance of violence. tell us what struck you there. >> i think particularly in the upper part of the state where it's sort of in the bible belt, it's not a tolerance of violence so much as deeply religious-reld beliefs about the sanctity of marge and women's place in the home. churches might be counseling victims to stay with their abuser to keep the marriage together. so a lot of this stuff stays behind closed doors and people don't get help. >> announcer: you and your colleagues talked to many, many women for this and there are some powerful videos you have included.

i want to show a short clip of one of them. this is a woman named dolly richie. she described what happened to her for a man she was involved with and for our audience i will say it contains some graphic material. >> he was mr. charmer at first and he turned out to be mr. harm. and what started happening is i noticed i could not talk to certain people. i had to keep my head down because that meant i was flirting if i dared to look at another man. i was continuously assaulted at least three times a night. i was being raped. and whenever i complained about the treatment, i was threatened that i would be thrown up against the wall ( crying ) and it would be best for me just to keep my mouth shut. the last month i knew that if i did not get away from him, that i would-- i would die.

he would wind up killing me. >> brown: was it hard to find these stories or did women want to-- want to tell what had happened to them, want to speak out? >> it was very hard. it's very brave of a woman like dolly to come forward and tell a story like this. it's unbelievably awful thing to have happen to you. and to be brave enough to share that with a wider audience, it was not easy. >> brown: you found that state and local governments were-- and law enforcement-- they weren't taking strong action. there weren't even tough penalties on the books to deal with this. tell us a little bit about what you found. >> yeah, here in south carolina if you kick your dog you beat your dog, you will end up in facing a maximum five years in prison. if you end up abusing your girlfriend or your wife on a first offense you're not going to face any more than 30 days in

jail. ends up we have something in the neighborhood of 36,000 criminal domestic violence cases every year and the courts are clogged with them. it's a misdemeanor offense in a lot of cases in most cases and the police, the prosecutors, there's a lot of well-intentioned folks working on it but kind of working in silos. and it just allowed abusers to get off, more often than not. >> brown: what kind of responses did you get to the series? what impact did it have? >> well, we got a great response to the series right off the bat. we were kind of curious as to how lawmakers would receive it because we called a lot of them out by name and held them accountable for not taking more action over the course of a decade. there were just dozens of bills that this hgotten introduced and languished in committees and died for lack of attention. but when the series was published, the response was overwhelming. the state house speak eat the time, he appointed a special

committee and said he wanted them to come up with a reform bill by the time the session started in january. the senate's judiciary chairman jumped right on it, came up with his own bill. local groups the charleston police have done a magnificent job trying to build a family violence unit to tackle this stuff. the prosecutor's office, she sent people to massachusetts to learn the latest techniques for tracking abusers and protecting women, and it's created a really large dialogue statewide on the issue. >> brown: just recently though, i think i saw that you reported that some of these legislative efforts have stalled or seem to have stalled. >> well, the house has its plan for how to solve this, and the senate has its plan and they're not all that far off, but they seem to want to be going in different directions on this rather than one choosing the other bill to work on and getting it passed. there's still some time left. it's. >> -- it remains to be seen what's going to become of it.

>> brown: let me ask you briefly, a relatively small newspaper are you to take on smshes this ambitious, and let's face it in an age where newspapers, most of them are shrinking. >> right, right. well, i've got to say i'm work at the "post and courier" for 15 years, and it's just a great place where from the top down the belief is that these stories matter, that good thoroughly reported, in-depth journalism matters so they gifs the time and resources. we also got a big boost on this when the center for investigative reporting in california came along and offered to do some editing help and give us some guidance on other resources so that was really able to work with a crackerjack team there. >> brown: glenn smith of the pulitzer prize-winning "post and courier" in charleston, south carolina. thanks so much. >> thanks for having me on. >> ifill: on the newshour online, the world's first space

telescope turns 25 this friday. nasa's hubble telescope launched into orbit a quarter of a century ago. to celebrate, we've selected 25 stunning photos showing everything from martian dust storms to massive stars. you can find those images, on our home page. that's pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: tune in later this evening. charlie rose talks with the creative team behind "hamilton," the new musical about the youngest founding father. >> ifill: and on tonight's frontline, documents released by edward snowden shed new light on what the intelligence community knew about those plotting the 2008 terrorist attack in mumbai, india. check local listings for the time. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at students who speak up when classmates threaten violence. part of our series on school security, the new safe. i'm judy woodruff >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs

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