captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: on the newshour tonight: candidates race toward a critical day of primaries tomorrow, with eyes on ohio and florida as potential campaign game-changers. >> ifill: also ahead this monday, we sit down with the new head of the u.n. refugee agency, filippo grandi, on the eve of the 5th anniversary of the syrian civil war. >> woodruff: and, with public media partners "marketplace" and "frontline," we launch a new series, "how the deck is stacked," reported by kai ryssdal, on why many americans feel they can't get ahead. >> we've added a million jobs in this economy since the last time we went out in the field in september, and yet people aren't feeling it. and that to me is the most

interesting thing; that what's going on here is not being widely shared down at the bottom and middle ranges of this economy. >> ifill: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the well-being of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. ckefellerfoundation.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> 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: after a weekend of turmoil on the presidential campaign trail, candidates got down to business with just hours to go until polls open in another critical series of primaries. but the day began with more protests at a donald trump rally, this time in north carolina. the commotion was met, at first, by silence from the republican front runner... but when chants of "trump" and "usa" drowned out the demonstrators, the billionaire businessman spoke up... >> the press is now calling this saying 'oh but there's such violence.' no violence. you know how many people have been hurt at our rallies? i think like basically none,

other than i guess maybe somebody got hit once or there's no violence. there's love fests. these are love fests. >> ifill: it was similar scene later in the day in florida. the tumult comes amid a scramble for votes in five states tomorrow, featuring pivotal primaries in florida and ohio. focusing on his must-win home state, john kasich started his day in youngstown, taking aim at trump. >> leadership is not dividing people, leadership is not encouraging a toxic environment where we blame one group because of the failure or success of another. this country is about us coming together, this country is not about us tearing each other down or having fist fights at a campaign rally. that's not what america is. >> ifill: later in the day, kasich was joined by another trump critic, 2012 republican nominee mitt romney.

>> you look at this guy and, unlike the other people running, he has a real track record. he has the kind of record that you want in washington and that's why i'm convinced that you're gonna do the right thing tomorrow. agreed? >> tomorrow's the day where we're gonna shock the country. >> ifill: senator marco rubio, like kasich, has also taken a similar home state focus, buy in florida. the winner in either state will take home all the delegates. and as in ohio, frontrunner trump poses the greatest threat. >> tomorrow we have a chance to make a powerful statement to the country. and that is that the republican party is not gonna allow itself to be hijacked by fake conservatives and people who go around dividing us against each other. >> ifill: for texas senator ted cruz, illinois provides a ripe target. >> donald trump has made billions buying influence from politicians, supporting liberal democratic politicians and supporting the republican establishment all at the expense of working men and women.

>> ifill: democrat hillary clinton campaigned in illinois as well, meeting with latino activists and visiting a memorial for victims of gun violence. at a rally, she jabbed at republicans' economic proposals. >> folks that get excited by the rhetoric and the demagoguery on the republican side need to be reminded that they are george w. bush on steroids. (applause) their economic plans each and every one of them would throw us back into the mess that president obama was able to dig us out of. >> ifill: and back in ohio, bernie sanders predicted he'd beat clinton, as he hit her again for her wall street speeches. >> if you get paid $225,000 for a speech, it must be an extraordinary speech, it must be

shakespearean, it must have released to the american people. >> ifill: but, as with the republicans, the day's main target was trump. >> bringing our people together will always trump separating us and dividing us up. >> we have to have a big vote tomorrow that can send a strong message that love trumps hate! >> ifill: clinton called on democrats to unify around her as the best chance to defeat trump. >> ifill: we'll have more from newshour correspondent john yang who is in the battleground state of ohio, right after the news summary. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, russian president vladimir putin ordered his armed forces to begin pulling out of syria. he said it's because russia's military intervention has achieved its objectives, as a new round of syrian peace talks got underway today in geneva. putin discussed his decision

today by phone with president obama, who welcomed the move. syria's president bashar assad said the action was coordinated, and france's defense minister said russia has, "practically stopped hitting" moderate syrian rebels. for more on putin's announcement, i spoke late this afternoon with nathan hodge, moscow bureau chief for the "wall street journal." welcome, nathan. u.s. officials say they have seen no evidence yetçó of any movement by russian forces. is president putin believed to be serious about this? >> well there, didn't seem to be much evidence according to the u.s. officials we had spoken to that russians were ever planning to stay for the long haul but the announcement certainly comes as much of a surprise in many ways as russia' decision to commence this military operation back at the end of september. although it wasn't preceded by a speech that president putin delivered at the u.n. where he said russia wanted to create an alliance against terrorism, and

he's cast his campaign as supporting theçó assad regime as the best bulwark against islamic state and other extremist groups. >> woodruff: well, what is it exactly that is believed putin's forces have accomplished in syria? because as you said, i mean, he said this was intended to go after terrorists, but we know that civilian syrians, civilians have been targeted, hundreds if not thousands of them have been killed. >> right, and there have been accusations leveled against the russians of the indiscriminate use of force and the use of weaponry that has displaced lots of people and caused civilian harm. allegations, of coursu,rbo0 thae russians have pushed back quite hard against. but what this campaign did, in many ways, the introduction of russian air power in many ways reversed the momentum. back last summer, even president assad conceded he was having a difficult time because of

defections holding ground in syria, so this, in many ways -- it's hard to see if this is really putin's mission accomplished moment yet, but they did -- russian air power did succeed changing the momentum on the ground in syria and in recent weeks they had been pressing a very strong offense nigh the north of the country. >> woodruff: so what effect is this pullout expected to have on the course of the war there? >> what syrian opposition groups are telling us is we're waiting to see. doesn't necessarily mean putin is withdrawing all support entirely. putin spokesman said russia intends to keep bases in syria, but what does seem to be happening is russia could be exerting a little more pressure on bashar al-assad to negotiate in earnest. so once again, putin managed to insert himself quite forcefully into global affairs and in many

ways set the agenda here. >> woodruff: nathan hodge of the "wall street journal" reporting from moscow, we thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: also today, turkey struck back at kurdish rebel groups they believe were responsible for yesterday's deadly suicide bombing in ankara. authorities detained 11 people, and turkish warplanes pounded kurdish military sites in northern iraq. sunday's blast rocked a busy thoroughfare in the capital, killing 37 people and wounding more than 100. today, turkey's prime minister pledged further retaliation. >> ( translated ): i am calling on terrorist organizations and the forces behind them. you cannot weaken our will. last night, after this incident, after the name of the terrorist organization was established, our armed forces carried out comprehensive operations in northern iraq. our fight against these terrorist organizations continue with resolve in southeast >> ifill: yesterday's attack comes just a month after another suicide bombing targeted ankara, killing 29 people. kurdish rebels claimed responsibility for that blast.

>> woodruff: an amtrak passenger train derailed early this morning in rural southwestern kansas, injuring 32 people. none of their wounds were life- threatening. a government official told the associated press the train's engineer noticed a bend in the rail and hit the emergency brakes shortly before it went off the tracks. emergency crews rushed to rescue the more than 140 people on board. >> upon arrival we found that amtrak had overturned about 2.5 miles west of cimarron. we have about seven cars that are laying on their sides. we have taken and evacuated all the patients and personnel out of the train at this time. >> woodruff: federal investigators are on the scene to try to determine the cause of the derailment. the county's sheriff said they're looking into whether an earlier, unreported vehicle accident could have damaged the rails. >> ifill: southern states braced for a new round of flooding

today that threatened to damage hundreds more homes. officials warned the swollen pearl river along the louisiana and mississippi border could reach 21 feet, the highest level in over three decades. since last week, the flooding has killed four people, and damaged nearly 5,000 homes in louisiana. president obama signed a disaster declaration for the state yesterday. stocks finished flat on wall street today as investors awaited the outcome of the federal reserve's meeting later this week. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 16 points to close at 17,229. the nasdaq rose almost two points, and the s&p 500 slipped two points. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: john kasich tries to thwart donald trump in ohio, and why florida could be a big win or bust for marco rubio. the head of the u.n. refugee agency, as syria marks five years into its civil war plus, we launch a new series

exploring amercans' views on the economy. >> woodruff: tomorrow is an important day for the presidential race in both parties, with primaries being held in five major states. one of the biggest prizes is ohio. no republican has won the white house without winning the buckeye state. and this year, it's taken on heightened importance in the effort to derail donald trump's path to the republican nomination. newshour correspondent john yang reports from ohio. as ohio governor john kasich and donald trump criss-crossed the buckeye state, campaigning forw3 tomorrow's primary -- >> oh, i love ohio. it's about time we had an ohioan become president of the united states. it's been far too long. (cheers and applause) >> more is at stake than just

66-degree gats in this winner take contest. >> i want to win ohio. we really want to win ohio. ohio republicans say they're bat thing for their party's future. >> they don't like liars!# couldn't be more different. >> we'll fix these things when we remember we're americans and not republicans and democrats first but americans first and work together and lift this country, we will fix this. >> we're going to build the wall, folks. don't worry. (cheers and applause) who's going to pay for the wall? >> mexico! who? mexico! >> reporter: and it goes beyond style. party leaders fear trump isn't a real conservative says paul beck, a it mr. is scientist at ohio state university. >> that is what's scaring republican leaders more than anything is if trump gets the nomination and if he wins the presidency, he redefines the

party, and he moves the party away from what it has been for almost forever. >> reporter: that's why the state party is throwing its full weight behind kasich. >> volunteer for governor kasich's presidential cam poison. how are you? >> a former nine-term congressman -- >> we will project our favorite son to the white house in 2016. >> franklin county auditor clarence mingo said he wouldn't support trump as his party's no, ma'am neenchts it's a national embarrassment to have a diswrentman who insulted the disabled, war heros like john mccain and minorities. it's unassemble and the nation and the party will pay the price for this conduct. >> the charity's chamberren -- everyone knows you can't get a republican elected without carrying ohio and the best candidate to get ohio is john kasich. maybe it's about selecting the

right nominee and that person should be john kasich. >> don't forget to vote trump for president -- ♪ >> but that's not what voters said at a trump rally in dayton. what brings you out today? >> i want to see this man. he's the man. >> is he your man for tuesday? he is my man. take brenda hardesti. i am a democrat but i have flipped this year because there is nobody on that side and trump, he's just -- i don't know. he's our future, you know? he's just our future. >> loretta brown volunteered at the event. >> we are financially sick and this is the doctor that's going to make it well. that's what america and the people need. they need their jobs back, and financially the country needs his help. >> even waiting in line at a

kasich event in morrain, judy says he's a good governor but may vote for trump anyway. >> he's a businessman and i think that's what washington needs now. there is just too much going on that's not right right now. >> others say they prefer kasich's temperament and experience. bill reardon is a retired engineer. >> he's willing to stand up for his own beliefs and is not, you know, trying to make a big thing out of it, but he's telling the truth and is doing a good job in ohio. >> what gave him the edge over trump, in your mind? >> just because he's level-headed and has good common sense. >> this will be the first time ryan richie votes for president. >> trump has gone at this very unprofessionally. the presidency is something that should be taken very seriously.

it's not something that you can just walk into, not something you can insult your way into. john kasich is the only adult left in this race. >> tonight's rally will be postponed. >> friday, violence erupted after trump canceled a planned rally in chicago. kasich, who hadn'txd engaged trump, scolded the businessman. >> donald trump has created a toxic environment. thathis is no place for a natiol leader to prey on the fears of people who live in our great country. >> trump says kasich isn't strong enough. >> kasich is a baby. he's a baby. he can't be president. he can't be president. too many problems. >> voters have already been casting ballots for nearly a month even as the governor and billionaire intensify their battle over the air waves. >> kasich gave ohio obamacare and increased our budget more than any governor in the u.s. we don't need him in ohio and certainly not the washington.

>> as polls showed donald trump leading ohio, he attacked our john kasich with unhinged bold-faced lies. >> and at the grassroots. hi. we're stopping by on behalf of my brother john kapy!9ñ >> hi. ello. my name is christina and i'm with the trump campaign. >> party leaders' concerns go beyond the primary. some worry that trump at the top of the ticket could hurt republican candidates all the way down the ballot. >> he's done a great job for us as governor and he deserves to be president to have the united states. >> like senator rob portman who's been at kasich's side on the campaign trail. >> if there are a number of ohio republicans, people who would automatically, who say i cannot stomach this ticket with donald trump at the top, i can't vote democratic, that would be a violation of everything i believe in, so i'm just not going to turn out. and it, i thinks, is a legitimate worry. >> with so much at stake --

regoing to win ohio? -- trump's path to the nomination -- >> so now we're here, please don't screw this up for me. >> -- the survival of kasich''s campaign and the future to have republican party, ohio's hopes for a win of a kasich win tomorrow are more than just a matter of buckeye pride. john kasich acknowledges that if he loses his ohm state tomorrow, it's probably the end of the road for him or, as he puts it, he stays home. a trump loss here in ohio would complicate his drive for a first ballot nomination but not it would probably certainly put visions of a brokered convention dancing in the anti-trump forces' heads. judy. >> so, hi, john. tell us, there's also a serious race going on between the democrats in ohio, hillary clinton and bernie sanders. tell us a little what hat looks like. >> the bernie sanders campaign

really hopes tomorrow they can show michigan was not a fluke. they have high hopes for ohio. when they look at ohio, they see a lot of the things that helped them in michigan -- industrial manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas, a slow recovery. ohio only got back to their pre-recession employment level in october, much later than a lot of other states. so sanders is little hard on the trade issue both in speeches and rallies and on television. this morning, he added a stop in youngstown, a place where the steel industry used to be big but no more. they also see ohio as a home to a lot of little college towns across the state which would play to his strength for young people. for their part, the clinton campaign says only they expect a close race tomorrow but they had been talking about being here today. they did not, they were not, they were in illinois and north carolina instead, and tomorrow night, to watch the

election returns, they will be not here but in florida. judy? >> and john just quickly, what about television advertising? is that playing much of a role on the democratic side? >> it is -- i mean, just like last time, ohio is blanketed with television ads. it's hard to watch television and not see even the same sanders or clinton ad repeating. but a lot of people here say it is so saturated that it becomes background noise, that it may not really be having an effect. judy. >> woodruff: john yang reporting for us from ohio. you will be there tomorrow when they're voting. thanks. >> ifill: we'll be paying close attention to ohio, but tomorrow's key votes also include contests in florida, illinois, missouri and north carolina. for all of that and more, we turn to "politics monday," with amy walter of the "cook political report" and stuart rothenberg of the "rothenberg and gonzales political report."

welcome to you both. amy, i want to start with you. for every candidate not named trump, how critical is tomorrow? >> very critical. of course, trump is important as well. i think there are two people whose future begins or ends tomorrow. one of those is marco rubio who's been hunkering down in florida hoping that maybe the polls showing him down double digits are wrong and things can turn around in the lastñi few hours here before voting begins. sort of doubtful. if he loses his home state, he doesn't move on. john kasich, of course, as we just learned in the piece before this counting on ohio to deliver him the home state. however, that doesn't mean that john kasich is in the hunt for the nomination. all it means is that he denied donald trump the ability to sort of run away with the day and amass enough delegates to stay on the path to winning the 137 del cats he would need to be the outright nominee before we hit the clevelandñr republican

convention. kasich would still be a spoiler -- in other words, splitting up the votes, once again, between the trump and the nontrump and probably leading us to what could be a contested convention. >> so, stu, for a while, as marco rubio us a a non-trump and now it's john kasich? >> that's what it looks like. rubio seems to be flowfnedderring in his own state and other states. the air went out of the balloon for marco rubio and the attention is on kasich. kasich has not put together a national campaign for the republican nomination. he's fought in a couple of states. michigan he came in narrowly in third. if he wins ohio it's almost as if he's the safe to son and the thquestion is whether he can broaden appeal beyond that. kasich people will say we're the only establishment game in town. even though john kasich says

he's not establishment that's whose backing him. >> ifill: amy, we're also seeing primaries in illinois, north carolina and missouri tomorrow. >> yeah, and for the two parties, you have very different scenarios playing out here. the other thing i want to point out is ted cruz is still in this race on the republican side and he actually has won more votes and more delegates than john kasich or marco rubio. he's likely to stay in this race as well regardless of where the results are. he may be able to pick up a win and delegates in missouri. he's also looking to pick up delegates in illinois. the question of whether trump goes is not just ohio and florida, whether he can sweep those two states, but whether he does well enough in missouri and illinois that he can pick up another delegates because of the way that they proportion out their delegates there, he could actually get a big lead even while he loses ohio narrowly to

john kasich. so the math will be important to watch. on the democratic side we're watching for almost a rerain of what we saw on the -- in michigan which is bernie sanders likely to do well in ohio, illinois and missouri. hillary clinton likely to do well in florida and north carolina. the challenge for bernie sanders is that coming close or winning narrowly isn't enough for him. he needs now to win at least 55% of all the delegates going forward in order to have a chance to watch up with her. >> ifill: is this one of those cases i guess on both sides in which, stu, you can win and lose and still keep winning. does that make sense? if you're hillary clinton, you can lose and still get enough delegates that he can't catch up. >> right, exactly. she has an advantage right now of 200 in terms of pledged delegates that she won but she has another over 400 superdelegate advantage.

as amy said, each of these states with large -- basically the red states, secretary clinton was really well in the republican states. doesn't do so well. there's a tradeoff. in the michigan-mississippi contest, she lost michigan but won all the delegates from mississippi and ended up winning even though all the attention was on how she lost michigan. >> let's talk about the down-ballot consequences because this is not just about the presidential race. people who are sitting in the senate and even theñr house are watching this all play out very carefully, amy. >> absolutely. and we're talking about a state like ohio. rob portman, the freshman republican senator elected in 2010 rather easily up for reelection this year. he's already in a very close race with the former governor, democratic governor of this state. with somebody like trump on the top of the ticket who is as polarizing as he is, it is going to be very tough for rob portman

to not get pulled underxd by the trump phenomenon and not in a good way. i think he will be a weight on many republicans running in these swing states, pulling them down. you could even see that as the house level, too. it is very hard for me to believe that, with donald trump as the top of the ticket, that republicans could hold the senate. they'd likely lose the senate. the only question is how many seats they lose. >> but all the talk and chatter this weekend about violence at trump event, it's not really losing trump any support at the top. >> there is no evidence of that yet. look, trump supporters were attracted to him very early. they locked in, and their whole world view is his world view. it basically is a sense that he's fighting against the media, the political establishment. so, of course, when they attack him, when they portray him as inciting violence, they're just trying to destroy him. so his supporters i think are pretty solid. now, i don't think he's going to lose support there.

now, it may limit his ability to broaden support at any point, but i don't think it's shaken up the race dramatically. >> let me ask you both finally, what are you chances here on super tuesday 3e or whatever e.r. calling this? what is your guess about the chances of this leading to a contested convention, amy? >> you put me on the shot here. (laughter) i think kasich can win ohio tomorrow. to me, i'm going to look at the margins coming out of illinois and ohio to give an answer but we could be looking at a contested convention if cruz runs well. it's a question of where the rest ofo the vote goes, trump is not moving. >> ifill: stu? agree with amy that -- well, i think trump's going to have a really good day. the question is can he win enough and how close will he

get? will he get the delegates? they may not be able to deny him the nomination. >> ifill: amy walter, stu rothenberg, thank you both very much. >> thanks, gwen. >> ifill: we have more politics coverage online, including a story about which g.o.p. candidates have benefited the most from lobbyists. there's a breakdown, at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: tomorrow marks five years since syria's brutal civil war began, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions more. the humanitarian situation remains the most dire since the second world war, as halting peace talks toward a resolution begin again. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner

begins our coverage. >> warner: huddled together, hand-in-hand, hundreds of migrants streamed out of a camp in northern greece today. they trudged along muddy trails and forded surging rivers in search of a break in the border fence. we hope we can cross because we are a lot of people. our number is big now. >> warner: they're fleeing the overcrowded, rain-soaked idomeni camp where they've been stranded since its northern neighbor macedonia closed its border to refugees last week. many are syrians fleeing the war in at home. in geneva today, the first round of united nations-brokered peace talks aimed at ending that conflict got underway, as u.n. special envoy to syria, staffan de mistura, hosted syria's ambassador to the u.n. >> we believe that we should have at least a clear roadmap. i'm not saying an agreement, but a clear roadmap because that's

what syria is expecting from all of us. as far as i know, the only plan b available is return to war, and to even worse war than we had so far. >> warner: the start of talks come as a tenuous cessation of hostilities in syria entered its third week. today, five years since the conflict began, unicef painted a dire picture for the country's children: one in three syrian children have been born since the war broke out. and 8.4 million, or nearly 80% of syrian children, are affected by the violence, either within the country or as refugees elsewhere. meanwhile, the u.n. refugee agency, unhcr, reported that 46% of the more than 150,000 refugees inundating europe this year came from syria. those numbers outpace last year's, when a record one

million people fled to europe. many make the perilous sea crossing from turkey to greece, but now, because balkan borders are blocked, thousands are stranded in greece. at an e.u. summit last week, turkish prime minister ahmet davutoglu offered to take back huge numbers of migrants in exchange for $3 billion in aid and progress on turkey's joining the european union. >> warner: the e.u. summit with turkey resumes later this week. >> brown: for more on this ever- growing refugee crisis, five years into the syria war, i'm joined by filippo grandi, who two months ago started his five- year term as the united nations high commissioner for refugees. >> brown: let's start with the tentativedale margaret was talking about between the e.u. and turkey. what is your objection to being turkey bring back some of those refugees? >> i think we should put this in context. turkey is the country that hosts

the largest number of syrian refugees. we have heard 2.7 million. in fact, it's the countries that host the largest numbers -- number of refugees worldwide, all kinds of refugees, and we have always promoted the idea that the responsibility of hosting syrian refugees should be shared more widely. many have reached europe together with refugees of other countries and we've always encouraged europe to manage that flow in an orderly way. unfortunately, that wasn't done. chaos has followed. what we see in greece today is very worried. europe is reacting in an emergency manner and is now discussing with turkey the possibility of sending back to turkey some of these people. now -- >> brown: would that not create more of an orderly passage? >> first of all, it needs to be done and, if it is done, it is

called technically readmission of refugees from one country to the other. it needs to be done in a manner that respects the human rights, the rights of these refugees. so what we're saying to europe, what we're advising europe, if it is done, it needs to be done in a manner that fully, fully ensures the guarantees for the people that go back that their protection and rights are observed. >> brown: speaking of turkey and other countries that border syria where there are so many refugees and so many financial precious on these countries, you've had a lot of pledges of money, do they have the resources to handle the refugees they have? is it money coming through that you need? >> this was a conference in london at the beginning of february in which $11 billion were pledged to support refugees and hosting communities and host countries in the region. some of that money has been paid

and pledged and paid but we haven't got the full picture yet. what we are telling donor governments is those pledges need to be expedited because, for people on the ground, results have to be tangible and visible. otherwise, the risk is they will move on and also try to reach europe. >> brown: when you look at countries in europe closing their borders, you look at political trends, even this weekend elections in germany, do you see the tide turning against refugees in europe? >> we see a hardening of the position of certain governments in respect to receiving refugees. what we are, of course, telling europe is that the responsibility to take care of refugees should be shared globally. syria has shown that this cannot be any more the responsibility of two, three countries bordering the country at war, syria in this case, but has to be shared more widely, including

by europe. >> brown: so thousands of refugees now stranded in greece, right? what should be done -- what is the situation there? how dire is it and what should be done for those people in the short term? >> the situation is dire. people were trying to move on for greece. the northern border was closed, so now about 40,000 are stranded there, and more are coming. the important thing is to find adequate sites to host them temporarily until solutions are found, including, perhaps, relocation through europe, a decision that europe made many months ago but which it didn't implement. >> brown: you were talking earlier about donor countries, the pledges you've received. i wonder about the united states. what do you want to see come from the united states? is it more money? should the united states take in more refugees? >> the united states is the largest donor country to refugee programs, and it's also the country that takes the largest

number of resettled refugees from old nationalities. of course, the number of syrians that all countries are taking through resettlementñr and other legal means of transferring them from one country to the other, of course those numbers are still inadequate compared to the 4.7 million that are hosted by the countries neighboring syria. >> brown: so why is this so tough to crack? i mean, why does it seem to get worse? why is there intransigents from governments that keeps people in flight. >> i think things have made governments and public opinion more resistant to hosting refugees, there are economic reasons, economic downturn, there is security reasons, the fear, the unjustified fears that refugees bring terror, refugees flee terror. they don't bring terror to

countries. their arrival is very carefully vetted, so there should be no fear. but there is an irrational fear which is, in many countries, fueled by political propaganda. >> brown: and margaret's piece was talking about a pongs the peace settlement. do you think the flight of refugees will continue? >> until there is war, people will try to flee. this is in human nature. people are afraid of bombs and destruction and want to go away. that is what happened in geneva today five years after the beginning to have the war, the peace talks must succeed. >> brown: filippo grandi, united nations high commissioner for refugees, thank you so much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: the start about the new election year series about the economic lives of americans, the frustrations many face trying to get ahead and the forces shapings the economy. in many way the recovery seems solid. the unemployment rate is at its lowest level since the recession and there's been six consecutive years of job growth, but many americans say they don't feel it. our new multimedia series will explore why and how economic forces are affecting individuals. a joint project of the "newshour", marketplace and pbs's "frontline," we'retite ling it how the deck is stacked. kai ryssdal joins us from los angeles to discuss a poll commissioned by marketplace looking at these issues. kai, welcome. you will be tackling something we have been trying to understand for a long time. >> yeah, we are. you see people consistently rate the economy as the number one thing they're worried about in

this country, topping terrorism and national security from most recent polls in other organizations. he know why, what is it about people's individual economies that makes them say this is the most important thing for us? we went out with edison research and said to people, a thousand people across the country, why? what is going on? what are you feeling in your own personal economy? that's what this poll is all about. >> you start with new numbers that quantify people's attitudes. there was a percentage there i found striking who say they are sometimes frequently anxious about their financial situation. >> two thirds of people in the country, 61% of people say they are sometimes or frequently anxious about what's going on in their lives. it's a bunch of things, car payments, their jobs, their future do. they have enough saved for retirement, they are not feeling the thing the numbers tell them they should feel. jobs run. we add a million jobs in the country since september and people aren't feeling it.

that's the most interesting thing. what's going on is not widely shared down at the middle and bottom ranges of this economy. >> woodruff: kai you also found the anxiety is higher among african-americans and among hispanics. >> right. they're the ones who have not saved for retirement. they use pay valentine's day loans more. they see problems with their inherents. all the things the rest of russ feeling day in and day out and i should say you have to separate the wealthiest part of the economy from the rest of it. if you get down below the 1%, the 5%, there is deep economic stress and african-americans and latinos feel it more acutely than anybody. >> woodruff: you asked a specific question about how people would handle an unexpected expense. >> right. we asked people, if you had an unexpected expense of $1,000 today, right now, would you be able to handle it? and we asked it because you can get $1,000 like that -- a

fender-bender, tripping on a curb, there is is thousand dollars. would you be able to make the payment? 59% of the people said they would have difficulty making the payment and fully half of that group said they have nowhere to turn for help. they don't have a friend or relative that could help them out with $1,000. when you think of how easy it is in this economy today to be hit for a $1,000 bill for some kind of expense, that's a big issue. >> woodruff: you also got interesting results when you asked people about the role they feel washington has played in all this, how angry they are specifically at the nation's capital. >> there is some discontent. i mean, and there are some racial and ethnic cross currents in there you have to sort of parse out. as you see out on the campaign trail today, nobody is very happy with what's going on in washington. you see it in democrats, republicans, independents. people are not satisfied with what's going on. but -- and this is also really interesting -- there is great support for a government safety

net. people want the government, just not the way it is now. >> that one i know you will keep trying to understand. tell us a little bit finally, kai, where you will be going, what parts of the country and what kinds of questions you will be trying to understand. >> right. so what we're going to do is go out with front line and folks from pbs "newshour" and find the stories that tell the people side of this thing, right? and i'll give you an example. i was in tuscaloosa, alabama a number of months ago working for amarketplace story and we met a ph.d. student in material science at the fort of alabama, she will get a job in this new economy no matter what, right? she's working at a bbq joint in alabama to make ends meet, $102,000 worth of debt, and will get a job once she gets her degree. i said what's it like as you think about the future? she says, i'm scared. so we'll find the stories that sort of pull that thread through, why people aren't feeling good about what,

according to the numbers, is a rising economy. >> woodruff: we are looking forward to the entire series, going to be working with you, talking to you throughout the rest of this election year and beyond. kai ryssdal, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> woodruff: we want to hear more from you about where we should go and what issues you feel should be part of our series. the series is funded in part by the corporation for public broadcasting. go to our website and you'll see a place where you can give us your feedback on "how the deck is stacked." >> ifill: we'll be back in just a moment. but first, take this time to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air.

>> ifill: for those stations still with us, join us for a second look at a company that aims to make it easier for people with food allergies to eat out, starting with a portable gluten test. special correspondent cat wise reports from san francisco. >> reporter: 31-year-old shireen yates loves dining out with friends, but when she's ordering, it's often a stressful experience. >> i would love the empanadas and black beans and plantains. those are gluten free right? >> yes, everything is gluten free. >> reporter: yates says she suffers from severe gluten sensitivities, and she also has problems with soy, dairy and egg. despite her best efforts to avoid those foods, she often finds herself in situations where she doesn't know -- or trust what she's told -- is in the food. if she ingests even the smallest amount of the foods she has issues with, her health can be impacted for days.

while in graduate school at m.i.t., yates attended a friend's wedding and had an unpleasant dining experience that sparked an idea. >> this waitress comes by with these delicious looking appetizers, and i asked her are these appetizers gluten free, and she said, "how allergic are you?" i was really angry, you know, just like starving, and i was like "why can't i just test this?" and that was that ah-ha moment, i said, well, why not, how hard could that be? it's hard. >> reporter: three years later, after teaming up with scott sundvor, a fellow m.i.t grad, who also has to avoid gluten due to a health condition, yates is on the verge of turning that idea into a reality. with this small portable gluten detecting device called the nima. nima means "fair" and "equitable" in farsi, yates' family's native language. >> so this is the nima... >> reporter: in the kitchen of their small san francisco startup, yates gave us a demo on

some fresh, supposedly gluten free, waffles that had just been delivered from a local restaurant. >> so what we would do, is we would take a sample of food, and we put it in this little capsule, and then were going to take the top, the action of closing this will grind the food. i'm just going to put it in the sensor right now, and then were going to start it. >> reporter: it takes about two minutes for the results to come back. during that time, the device uses a sophisticated antibody the company developed to test if gluten is present. they are testing to levels set by the food and drug administration for what constitutes gluten free, 20 gluten protein parts per million. a smiley face means no gluten at those levels, a frown means gluten is present. so we got a smiley face, so what does that mean? >> that means i feel a lot better about eating my waffle. >> reporter: could some other part of this waffle have gluten in it? >> yeah, that is absolutely a possibility. but what we are doing is giving

you that extra piece of data to really improve your odds of staying your healthiest self when you're eating out, and actively trying to avoid certain foods. >> reporter: those trying to avoid gluten is a big market, about one in five americans these days. a team of engineers and scientists who are part of the company now called 6sensorlabs, are making final tweaks to the nima before the company begins shipping it out to customers next summer. it will cost about $250 and each disposable capsule will be $4 to $5 depending on the quantity ordered. testing foods for gluten isn't new of course. it's often done in clinical labs, and there are some home testing kits out there. but many are time-consuming and require multiple steps to get results. that presented the team with a design challenge. >> this is a consumer product, it's not a medical device. and because of that, it has to be something that's really easy to use. it has to be fast, it has to be

discreet. >> reporter: the company is aiming for 99.5% accuracy and they're comparing their results with the results of other independent gluten testing labs. what they have found so far is about a quarter of the foods they've tested, labeled "gluten- free," have in fact had some gluten in them. yates says that doesn't surprise her. >> i don't know if you've ever worked in a kitchen, but it's chaos. and so the idea of getting your order in, making sure it was heard correctly, getting it to the chef, making sure everything was prepared in the right way, getting the dish, and putting it back in front of that consumer that has that real sensitivity, there's a lot that can go wrong. >> reporter: the nima currently tests only for gluten, but the company is planning to eventually test for other allergens like dairy and peanuts. but that's proving harder to do. >> there hasn't been a clear guideline regarding what level do you have to detect to make sure people aren't getting sick at those levels.

>> reporter: while 6sensorlabs is focused on getting their product to market quickly, their competition is heating up. several other companies are developing different food testing technologies, including the use of smartphones. all are attempting to capitalize on the growing number of americans who are food focused, especially when it comes to gluten. it's a trend that has more than a few skeptics. but for the estimated three million americans who suffer from celiac disease, an inflammation of the intestines, there's no disputing that gluten ingestion is a serious health problem. >> there's some studies that suggest that as little as 50 to 100 milligrams is enough to activate an immune response. to put that into perspective, a slice of bread has 5,000 milligrams. so it really doesn't take a lot. >> reporter: dr. nielsen fernandez-becker is the director of the celiac management clinic at stanford university hospital. she says that products like the nima could be helpful, but they shouldn't be a crutch for patients. >> i think it would be valuable.

but i think it's only one tool in the arsenal. i hope what it doesn't do is that it makes patients more complacent. if you have a piece of steak and you sample one side, could we be missing gluten in some other side. >> reporter: the nima team is now developing an app that will allow users to share information about the tests they've done on foods, and where gluten-free is truly gluten free. for shireen yates, that kind of knowledge can make or break her meal out. after getting the smiley face sign she was hoping for, she dived right into her gluten free empanadas. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in san francisco.

>> ifill: john king is the next secretary of education. ehad been serving ago acting secretary since arne duncan stepped down last year and previously served at new york state's commissioner of education. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, math geeks and sweet tooths alike celebrate "pi day" today. march 14th marks the mathematical constant, that begins with 3.14. but our resident science producer isn't convinced that pi is so special. read his take, on our home page. and in our poetry series, how language and verse helped a young undocumented poet find his voice to speak about immigration. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> ifill: later tonight on charlie rose, what's behind the drawdown of russia's troops in syria. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, with voters heading to the polls in five states, we'll have reports from ohio, florida and illinois. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy

woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provid by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> 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

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>> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and hong kong tourism board. >> want to know hong kong's most romantic spots? i will show you. i love heading to repulse bay for an evening stroll. it's a perfect, stunning backdrop for making romantic moments utterly unforgettable.