captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: on the newshour tonight, republican candidates take back their pledge to support the party's nominee, as new york and wisconsin become campaign grounds. >> woodruff: also ahead this wednesday, former secretary of state madeleine albright and former national security advisor stephen hadley--back from a recent trip to the middle east-- talk about a way forward. >> ifill: and, how california's coachella valley struck a unique deal between developers and conservationists to protect its desert life. >> a lot of places throughout this country, we know that we've done development perhaps in a rash and vast way. in the coachella valley we didn't want to do that. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> the republican party hasn't treated me properly. >> reporter: donald trump started his day in green bay, touting his strength with voters and seeming to warn party leaders not to block his nomination. >> they haven't treated me fairly. but i got millions of more votes and we've got a movement going on. millions of people are voting that didn't vote before. >> reporter: that followed last night's cnn town hall, where the republicans broke with commitments to support whoever gets nominated. >> do you continue to pledge whoever the republican nominee is? >> no. i don't anymore. >> you don't? >> no, we'll see who it is. >> let me tell you my solution to that-- ( laughter ) donald is not going to be the g.o.p. nominee. we're going to beat him. >> if the nominee is somebody that i think is really hurting the country, and dividing the country, i can't stand behind them, but we have a ways to go. >> reporter: today, trump argued that he-- and not cruz-- would be the strongest choice against democrat hillary clinton, come november.

>> he will not be able to beat with his strident manner. he will not be able to beat hillary. and believe me, the one person she does not want to run-- and i know this for a fact-- the one person she does not want to run against is donald trump. >> reporter: trump also continued defending his campaign manager, who's been charged with misdemeanor battery, for grabbing a reporter, michelle fields. by contrast, cruz was in madison, for what he called a "celebration of women," appearing with his wife heidi and former rival carly fiorina. >> i have news for the democratic party-- women are not a special interest. women are a majority of the united states of america. this campaign, at its core-- i believe-- is about three issues: jobs, freedom and security. and women, every bit as much as men, care about jobs, freedom and security. >> reporter: john kasich stumped in new york state, which votes on april 19, stopping in queens this afternoon. >> nobody is going to have enough delegates going into the convention. ted cruz now needs almost 90% of all the remaining delegates to be the nominee. that is not going to happen.

trump needs about 55% or more; that's not going to happen. >> hillary! hillary! hillary! >> reporter: clinton was also in new york, which she once represented in the u.s. senate. she blasted trump for "bluster and bigotry" as she campaigned in harlem: >> when a candidate for president says we can solve america's problems by building walls, discriminating against people based on their religion and turning against each other, well, new yorkers know better. ( cheers and applause ) our diversity is a strength, not a weakness. >> reporter: back in wisconsin, clinton's democratic rival bernie sanders insisted he's got the momentum, at a town hall in madison. >> i think there was a poll that came out today in wisconsin, similar to other polls which had us beating trump by big-time double-digit numbers. in every one of these polls--

virtually every one, not every one-- almost all of these polls, we do far better against trump and other republican candidates than does hillary clinton. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: sanders continues campaigning tonight in wisconsin. and trump and kasich will appear in a town hall, hosted by msnbc. for pbs newshour, i'm john yang in milwaukee. >> ifill: trump pre-taped his town hall appearance this afternoon, and caused a new stir over abortion. we'll look more closely at how he's managed to keep the spotlight on himself, after the news summary. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president obama commuted prison sentences for 61 drug offenders-- highlighting his push to overhaul the criminal justice system. more than a third were serving life sentences-- most will now be freed at the end of july. after the announcement, mr. obama lunched with people who've had their sentences commuted before. >> it is my strong belief that by exercising these presidential

powers, i have the chance to show people what a second chance can look like. that i can highlight the individuals who are getting these second chances and doing extraordinary things with their lives. >> woodruff: in all, president obama has now commuted the sentences of almost 250 inmates. the white house aid that's more than the previous six presidents combined. >> ifill: the city of newark, new jersey agreed today to reform the way its police treat minorities. federal investigators found the police made unconstitutional stops and arrests, and resorted to excessive force too often. under a settlement with the justice department, the police will revise its policies, and officers will start wearing body cameras. >> woodruff: two minneapolis police officers will face no charges in the killing of a black suspect that sparked protests. jamar clark was fatally wounded in a struggle with the officers

last november. today, the county prosecutor said the pair-- mark ringgenberg and dustin schwarze -- had reason to fear for their lives. >> in this case, the officer-- ringgenberg-- subjectively believed clark had or was in the process of obtaining control of his weapon. were clark able to remove the weapon from his holster, both ringgenberg and shwartze likely would be shot. ringgenberg's subjective belief is also objectively reasonable. >> woodruff: some community activists decried the decision and called for new protests. >> ifill: the governor of virginia has vetoed a bill that would allow clergy and others refuse to marry same-sex couples on the basis of religious beliefs. the republican-controlled legislature approved the bill, but democratic governor terry mcauliffe said it's unconstitutional. earlier this week, the republican governor of georgia vetoed a similar bill. >> woodruff: in iran today, the supreme leader defended test-

firing ballistic missiles and warned against weakening that effort. ayatollah ali khamenei posted a statement online, saying: "those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors." that was seen as a slap at former president akbar rafsanjani who'd called for "dialogue, not missiles." >> ifill: migrant sailings from turkey to greece surged today-- just before officials begin enforcing an agreement to send them back. nearly 770 people arrived in the last 24 hours, and as greek authorities dealt with them, the u.n.'s refugee chief made a fresh appeal in geneva. >> we must find a way to manage this crisis in a more humane, organized and equitable manner, and this is only possible if the international community is united and in agreement on how to move forward. >> ifill: meanwhile, as the weather warms, the migrant flow from north africa is also picking up.

the italian coast guard and navy rescued more than 1,300 people today. >> woodruff: japanese government regulators approved plans today to activate an ice wall around the wrecked fukushima nuclear plant. the underground structure is supposed to freeze the ground surrounding the facility. in an attempt to contain radioactive water from leaking into the pacific ocean. after the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, the plant has roughly 800,000 tons of contaminated water. >> ifill: taiwanese company "foxconn" has agreed to buy japan's struggling electronics brand "sharp," for $3.5 billion. it's the first foreign takeover of a major japanese electronics producer. "foxconn" also assembles apple's "iphones." >> woodruff: back in this country, the food and drug administration eased the rules for the abortion-inducing drug mifeprex, to expand access. women may now take the drug later in pregnancy and make fewer doctor's visits.

the f.d.a.'s changes are expected to undermine existing restrictions in several states. >> ifill: wall street managed to keep its rally going today. the dow jones industrial average was up 83 points to close at 17,716. the nasdaq rose 22 points, and the s&p 500 added nearly nine. >> woodruff: and, prominent m.i.t. economist lester thurow has died. he focused on income distribution early in his career, then turned to the challenges of globalization. and in recent years, warned of the gap between rich and poor. he also wrote several best- selling books on economic policy for general audiences. lester thurow was 77 years old. still to come on the newshour: why trump's rhetoric is appealing to millions of voters; madeline albright and stephen hadley discuss the u.s. role in the mideast; a peace deal that could change colombia's cocaine trade, and much more.

>> ifill: donald trump has now been leading in the polls for eight months, making him the prohibitive favorite to win the republican party nomination this summer. his celebrity has driven media coverage, which in turn has boosted his celebrity. the result? the new york times found trump has received nearly $2 billion of free media attention during the campaign, nearly twice as much as the original entire 17-member field. today, he once again demonstrated one of his greatest skills: hijacking the news cycle with a provocative comment-- this one about abortion. >> do you believe in punishment for abortion? yes or no, as a principle. >> the answer is that, there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> yes. there has to be some sort of punishment. >> ten cents? ten years? what? >> that i don't know. that i don't know. >> well why not? you take positions on everything

else. >> i don't know. frankly, i do take positions on everything else. it's a very complicated position. >> ifill: so why does trump survive? and how has he upended politics? let's zero on what's behind trump's appeal-- and what's changed about the electorate-- with: stuart stevens is a consultant and served as mitt romney's chief political strategist in the 2012 election. mckay coppins is a senior writer for buzzfeed news who has covered trump closely; he's the author of a book on the republican party's efforts to take back the white house called "the wilderness." and kathleen hall jameison is professor of communications and director of the annenberg public policy center at the university of pennsylvania. kathleen hall jameison, how much has donald trump exploded politics as usual? >> donald trump has changed the way we talk about politics, the kinds of things that are covered in news, and the ways in which politicians gain access. essentially, his free air time is what anybody else in an earlier campaign would have paid

for and called advertising. >> ifill: mckay coppins, has he changed inherently the way the g.o.p. is formulated, the way it functions, the kinds of candidates it will nominate in the future? >> i think he's exploited a shift in the g.o.p. over the past eight years or so in the obama era which is basically the crumbling of the traditional g.o.p. establishments, the parties, the fundraisers, donors who used to wield all the influence and has taken advantage of the right wing counterestablishment made up of new right wing media outfits and pressure groups and really figured out how to court them and ride a wave of influence into becoming basically, you know, the six, seven, eight-month frontrunner of the republican party nomination fight. >> ifill: stuart stevens, it hasn't been four years since you were helping to run mitt romney's come pain yet so much changed. you have been pretty outspoken in your criticism of donald

trump. take a step back as an analyst and tell me why you think this is right now. >> well, i think there is two ways to look at donald trump. one is that he's a function of a weak field that miscalculated what i would call the guns of august, the great book about world war i, no one wanted it to happen but yet it's happening. the other thing would be something not unusual in a crowded field where a crowded electorate will nominate somebody who will make him unelectable in the fall. todd akin in the missouri senate race, cheryl ingle in nevada. what might be happening here is what's happening on a national scale played out in states which can s not that crazy because a

primary is a series of states that's playing out. it's the same people voting in the states, we just haven't seen it in aptle primary. >> ifill: one of the things, kathleen hall jameison, that seems different about donald trump is he has great skill at changing the topic and stealing the headline from somebody who seems to be having a good day. is that part of what you think is different. >> yes, vulnerability opens up for mr. trump and the news cycle features the vulnerability, he changes the topic by attacking, doing something outrageous and eccentric and suddenly the entire news agenda shifts and instead of focusing on the serious potential exchange and the vulnerability initially exposed, we're galloping in some other direction and the electorate isn't informed about the substantive that might have been concerned about the original statement. >> ifill: we watched the coverage on his statement about

abortion. he since put out a statement saying that's not exactly what he meant. is that an example of what kathleen is talking about? >> yeah, i do think trump has a remarkable skill for hijacking news cycles. i also think it's what drives him more than almost anything else. i remember i spent time with him in 2014, and i ended up on his plane, you know, the massive 757 trump jet, and i remember watching him. he had just given a speech that morning in new hampshire. i remember watching him spend 20, 30 minutes changing the channel back from msnbc, cnn, fox news, searching for coverage of the speech. the thing that struck me was how much he cared about media coverage and attention. in a sense, his entire presidential campaign has been one long media spectacle. i don't know how much it appraiser him or shows -- prepares him or shows whether he's ready to be president but it certainly shoals off his

skills as a marketer and he really has unparalleled tall minute that regard. >> ifill: stuart stevens, let's pivot back to what you said a moment ago as to what happens in the fall campaign. we have seen polls in wisconsin today, a new one, that shows donald trump is at 70% unpopularity. we've also seen national polls, we show him as unpopular as well. what does that mean about the g.o.p.'s chances in the fall? >> well, i think that we shouldn't talk about donald trump as a success. he's running the worst campaign we've ever seen in modern history. the reason he's able to hijack news cycles is he doesn't care what he says and he doesn't care about the ramifications about it. when you're willing to do that, when you're willing to put on a suicide vest and pull the cord, you will get attention but you will lose a general election. he's going to get killed in the general election, absolutely slaughtered and it will be a disaster for the republican

party. >> ifill: kathleen hall jameison, the trump voters we have seen are loyal and steadfast, even if they are presented with evidence that what he is saying is not true. so is that the brand that we see at work? >> what we see, i think, is a candidate who artfully has capitalized on a large scale sentiment in the american electorate that says government doesn't appear to be working well, politicians have promised and not delivered, and here's someone who comes outside the political establishment, outside any political background and argues i have a different kind of competence that will let us win again, the first part of his brand, that is demonstrated by what i've already done as a businessman, highly successful, second part of the brand, hence all the photo ops he's build and third, i'm uncorruptable because i'm financing myself. if you assume everybody else signals politics as usual, then the trump alternative looks like change, even if at times he's

inconsistent and says outrageous things, even if the voters don't believe he'll do something he said, we saw that in party hart's focus group, some of his own voters said, no, i don't believe he's actually going to build a wall or deport all those people, i like him anyway. >> ifill: mckay coppins, i know you're covering more than the republican side, does donald trump's ability to dominate the headlines, dominate the day, does that hurt or help the frontrunner on the d. j. side? does it hurt or help bernie sanders and hillary clinton? >> well, i think stuart is right that the way trump managed to dominate the media is saying outlandish things that in one poll showed him to be the most unpopular presidential candidate since david duke ran for president. so he is nationally very unpopular. but i think there is something to be said for the fact that so much attention and coverage has been focused on trump on the

republican side of the race in general but trump in particular that it does have a fascinating dynamic played out in the democratic side where hillary clinton actually might face a lot of tough scrutiny in the general election that she hasn't necessarily failed on a wide scale in the primary. i still, though, think trump has done so much damage to his own brand, as you were just talking about, with the national electorate that it's going to be hard for him to fix that before november. >> ifill: stu stevens, why is it when mitt romney came out not once, twice but multiple times criticizing donald trump using tough language, why didn't that stick? >> oh, i think it has stuck. he did it in ohio and trump lost ohio. he did it in utah and he lost in utah. i think there is good indication here this is beginning to sink in with republican voters. the latest numbers showed him ten points behind in wisconsin to take cruz who probably is not going to be accused of being one

of the great natural politicians of our day. i think republicans are probably taking a second look here. look, on average, the polls show that donald trump is 17.5 points behind bernie sanders. you have to likel really think t that. very quickly you're into a discussion not about holding the white house or the senate but about holding the house. hillary clinton has 50 f.b.i. agents looking into her according to "the washington post and donald trump is still 10 points considered less honest than hillary clinton. that's hard to do. we don't have a lot of hispanic republicans, and 60% of the hispanic republicans don't like donald trump. so this is a toxic candidacy, and i think before republicans embark on that, i think they're beginning to take a look at what it would mean for the party. you're seeing a lot of conservatives.

benn sass a deeply conservative senator from nebraska said he will not support him and look for an alternative. so i think there is something happening here and i hope republicans will go in a different direction. >> ifill: thank you all very much for the record, "newshour" requested an interview repeatedly with will trump and they have yet to make that happen. we'll keep trying. mckay coppins, senior writer for buzzfeed, kathleen hall, professor of communications and to you stevens, consultant. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: since the start of the arab uprisings five years ago, we've seen a tectonic shift across the middle st and north africa, upending the political order of the last century. what began with hope, has dissolved into civil war, extremist violence and strife. the human toll has been

enormous, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced. and the role the united states has played-- and will play-- in the middle east is now being examined in depth. one group looking at these issues is the "middle east strategy taskforce" at the atlantic council, a think tank here in washington; the co- chairs of the task force join me now. they are former secretary of state madeleine albright, who served in the clinton white house; and former national security adviser stephen hadley. he served in the george w. bush administration. we welcome both of you back to the "newshour". secretary albright, let me start with you. why take on this added responsibility now co-chairing this task force? >> it's great to be with you and with my friend steve. the reason that we did this is because we're concerned about the fact that people are looking at the middle east kind of in short-term ways and doing band

aids that have been going on and it was important to take a deeper, longer look because the issues, as you raised them, are going to take a long time to resolve and we really needed to take a deeper look. we also wanted it to be bipartisan, and we looked at a number of areas. one was the security issue, but governance issues. issues to do with religion, refugees, education, the economy. we had papers that we did with that. then we went to the countries in order to really get a view of what is going on. we also have a lot of international advisors, but part of it, judy, is the way, and the way you opened this, it is a serious and terrible as you described but also has whole opportunities and those are the things we wanted to look at. >> woodruff: that's what i wanted to ask you about because you've just come back as secretary mentioned from a trip in the region. many people look at this part of the world and see a crisis in every country, whether i.s.i.s.,

repressive leader or a refugee influx crisis. how do you see the region? do you see it as a collection of problems or a place that has a manageable set of issues that you can get your arms around? >> well, it's very tough. i mean, it is a crisis in the middle east, but it's also a crisis from the middle east, and what i think people don't realize is the global consequences of this. there are, of course, economic crises, but we have, of course, refugee flows that are taxing neighboring states that are a real problem for the european union, putting enormous stress on the european union. there is, of course, a terrorist problem that is increased with attacks on brussels and paris. so it is a crisis from the middle east, it's affecting the whole country, the whole globe. at the same time, as madeleine pointed out, there are positive things going on. one of the things we noticed was

youth are playing a role in their societies. they are empowered, they are connected, they are entrepreneurial and you are seeing commercial ventures starting, you seeing start-up bottom-up community organizations that are trying to solve local community problems. there's a real bottom-up entrepreneurship that is going. >> woodruff: but we don't hear about that. >> we don't hear those things. we want to bring that to attention. there is an opportunity for the refugees not just to be a burden but with the training and education, they can actually be a benefit to the societies in which they are now residing and to rebuilding the societies they can return to. there are opportunities for education, to teach people problem solving and count interest violent extremists. >> woodruff: is it possible, secretary albright, to prioritize which country is more important than the other or does the united states have to approach this as we've got to look at the entire region?

>> well, we do. i mean, we were taking about it this way -- we have to look at the local aspect of things because we need to respond to some of the changes that are taking place inside, as steve mentioned, but also regionally. we do have to look at it regionally and globally. so the countries can help each other, and we did discuss with them the possibility of looking at some kind of regional security agreement, but, at the same time, i think we have to recognize the differences in the countries. ttunisia, quite different place from egypt in terms of how it's beginning to deal with its political situation and its economic situation. a good place to invest. egypt has the problem of being very large with a huge, unemployed young population. so we've looked at the specifics in the countries but also how they could be dealt with regionally. >> woodruff: stephen hadley, doesn't security have to come first, dealing with i.s.i.s.,

dealing with whether it's a repressive dictator, civil war as you have in syria? >> absolutely. the message is there are green shoots, we call them, coming out of the middle east that need to be nurtured and we need to nurture them now because in the medium and long term they offer a hope of more prosperous middle east. but in the short term they're vulnerable to the terrorists and the tie rants. in the short one, we have to deal with exactly the problems you've described and one of the things we'll do is talk about some of the things that in the short to medium term we need to do. we need to work on all three problems together, countering i.s.i.s., bringing down sectarianism and solving the civil wars. >> one of the things, judy, everybody is concerned about i.s.i.s. or daesh but the priorities are a little different because they also have

internal priorities -- >> woodruff: they being -- the countries in the region. also, they have conflicts between the two countries. for instance, the saudi-iranian, the historic aspects, or the tunisias and egyptians are very worried about the libyans. so there is the general aspect that dealing with i.s.i.s. is a priority, but not the only thing they're thinking about. >> woodruff: how does the united states avoid, steve inskeep, being overwhelmed by this? because as secretary albright just said, every country has its own set of issues. the u.s. has to look at this, it seems, and make some sense of it and figure out what should be tackled first. >> it is an overwhelming problem and the first point that we want to make in this task force is that the united states is affected by this problem as is europe and a lot of other countries and it is in the united states' interest to try to help the middle east get to a more stable and prosperous future. but we heard in the region a lot of criticism.

some people said the united states historically and sometimes the bush administration did too much and the obama administration did too little, how come you americans can't get it right, and one of the things we're trying to do is come up and approach the middle east that protects our interests, that contributes to what the people in the middle east believe is their future, but does it in a way that is sustainable over time. i think, with the right kinds of investments, we can do that, but we're going to have to re-think it, we're going to have to build a bipartisan consensus is and sustain it because this problem will be a long time in fixing. >> woodruff: and it isn't easy to get it right, is it, secretary albright. sometimes as we've heard the u.s. is seen as doing too much, getting too involved, other times it's seen as not doing nearly enough. >> i think because it is so overwhelming and complicated, we

need to do a better job of explaining why this matters to us. as steve said, it's not only things happening inside, but also the pressures globally and to try to explain why it's important to americans. it's important to us, obviously, because the president wants to keep americans safe, but also because we're concerned about the humanitarian aspects of it. obviously, the resource aspect, our relationship with israel, so we have to explain that, but i do think, also, we need to understand, we found it's not easy to be the united states there. we were saying damned if you do, damned if you don't. but i believe, as so does steve, that we have to be involved, and, so, we are going to make a point of talking about what the opportunities are as well as the problems so that the american public understands why the united states needs to be involved with partners, and that is what we also have to do is make clear that the coalitions

that are being built need to stay in place. >> well, we will continue to follow the progress of the task force and hope to stay in touch with you as you move forward. >> thank you. former secretary of state madeleine albright and former national security ad advisor stephen hadley, thank you. >> good to be with you. >> ifill: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: conservation versus development in california's desert valley; and the story of holocaust survivors told in photos of abandoned books. but first, the government of colombia is in negotiations with marxist rebels-- the revolutionary armed forces of colombia, or "farc"-- to end 50 years of war. the country's infamous drug trade, which fuels the conflict and helps finance the insurgency, has been a major

point of debate at the peace talks. if a deal is signed, it could prompt radical changes in the production of illicit crops, like coca, the raw material for cocaine. special correspondents bruno federico and nadja drost traveled to the heart of the coca trade in the southern region of putumayo to find out what impact a peace deal would have. the report is narrated by ms. drost. it's high noon and the sun scorching as pickers grab at the leaves of coca plants. >> for us owners of the crop and workers who puck it, it's a big process to harvest it, to get the powder. >> long before white powder cocaine hits the streets of the u.s. and europe, it starts in a field like this, in an isolated patch of the putumayo region in south colombia. they are harvested and put into a base, the foundation of

cocaine. >> two acres produceds $5,000 or $6,000 grams of coca base and sold cheap. >> these pickers are at the bottom of the rung of colombia's multi-million-dollar cocaine industry. but in providing the material for raw cocaine, they risk arrest on drug-related charges and don't want to appear on camera. >> this is illegal, you know. if the government comes and sees the laboratory, they'll purpose be it -- they'll burn it and if they see the guys working, they'll take them away. it's a real problem. >> even so, these workers face the risks of the job because they have few other options. if they were to grow food crops, they say, they would have to travel great distances to market for rock-bottom prices and little profit. coca provides them a way the make a -- to make a living. >> legal work doesn't pay much but this pays well. these guys can make $25, $30 a

day but elsewhere $6 a day for day labor. >> that's where here coca is the main livelihood for locals, but that could drastically change should a peace deal be signed between the f.a.r.c. and government, negotiators debating how to address colombia's infamous drug trade agreed to put an end to the illicit crops. an estimated $200 million a year according to inside crime a group that traffic the trade. the rebels are considered traffickers. gomez, the king commander of the southern bloc says that's an unfair characterization. he says the f.a.r.c. doesn't exist because to have the drug trade, they draw on it by taxing it to finance their cause. >> there's been one relationship or another indirectly with narcotrafficking but that's why crimes are related to rebellion,

to get funds-means to keep confronting the enemy of class. >> the u.s. state department claims gomez has oversean the production of thousands of tons of cocaine and offers a reward of $2.5 million for his capture, but as part of a peace deal, colombia's president santos visited the u.s. in february and asked washington to drop drug-related charges against f.a.r.c. leaders. since 2000, the u.s. has spent over $9 billion on plan colombia fighting the narcotics field insurgency. part of the effort, aerial fumigations to eradicate the coca plant. drops dropped by over half in 2014. but production is back on the rise and colombia has overtaken peru as the world's top producer. aerial spraying also killed food crops and been blamed for serious health problems. now as a part of the expected peace accords, both the government and the f.a.r.c. have committed to supporting farmers to substitute their coca crops

for legal ones, but locals worry. >> what's the fear? that if coca ends, there will be a lot of people without jobs. >> and coca base is so important to this town it's even used to buy goods, a valid currency here. the only way locals can imagine coca substitution program working is if the governments invests in ways to make alternative crops viable so communities don't have to relay on coca. >> we hope instead of gunshots there is social investment. we'll leave coca to the side and invest in cattle raising or something. >> coca leaves, ammonium, cement, sodium hydroxide and gasoline. rudimentary labs like this keep churning out coca base. >> if there's peace, we won't count on coca. if the government doesn't come through, well, we'll have to keep going with coca. >> if a peace deal doesn't provide alternatives to coca,

there will be no shortage of cappacino's willing to fill demand for drugs abroad far away from these coca fields. for the pbs "newshour", reporting with bruno federico, i'm nadja drost in putamayo, colombia. >> ifill: the colombian government announced today that it would soon begin peace talks with the country's second- largest rebel group, the national liberation army, or "e.l.n." colombia's half-century of violence has killed nearly a quarter million people. >> woodruff: next, striking a balance between development and conservation, to protect the desert ecosytem of the coachella valley in california. special correspondent cat wise has the story. >> reporter: the views from chino canyon-- high above palm

springs-- are grand. the rocky hillsides are home to the endangered peninsular bighorn sheep and a number of other species. but this tranquil canyon has long been an environmental battleground. >> if the project would have been completed, you would have been looking at a 500-room hotel, a five-star resort, all surrounded by an 18-hole golf course. >> reporter: nickie mclaughlin heads up a local nonprofit that recently purchased 600 acres of privately owned land in the canyon to prevent that development. >> there will be nothing here. it will be preserved in perpetuity. but this was a huge success. >> reporter: the push to save chino canyon is part of a much larger environmental conservation effort unfolding in coachella valley, a 45-mile stretch of desert, dotted with upscale cities like palm springs, as well as areas of deep poverty. the population here is expected to almost double in the next 20

years. golf courses and condos butt up against fragile desert ecosystems. >> a lot of places throughout this country, we know that we've done development perhaps in a rash and vast way. in the coachella valley we didn't want to do that. >> reporter: tom kirk heads-up the local government agency now managing a plan that took more than ten years to develop, and that will be on the books 75 years into the future. it's called the "coachella valley multiple species habitat conservation plan." nearly 2,000 pages long, it is essentially a huge compromise between government agencies, private landowners and developers, scientists, and environmental groups. how did you bring everyone together? >> they were brought together perhaps not by choice but by need. before there was a plan every project was evaluated on its own. it would take a lot of time, there'd be a lot of uncertainty. today, instead of dealing with

every project individually, we look at a million acres at the same time. >> reporter: kirk-- who brought us to a now preserved area called whitewater canyon that had been slated to be an a.t.v. park-- showed me how the habitat plan works. >> you can actually develop anywhere in the plan, but it is very difficult to do so in the conservation areas, and very easy to do so relatively on the valley floor. >> reporter: out of the million or so acres in the valley, 700,000 have been designated as "conservation areas," where the land is kept mostly pristine. outside of the conservation areas, development can go forward in timely manner because the necessary endangered species permits have already been secured. the plan is designed to ensure the survival of 27 endangered and threatened species-- large and small animals, rare plants, and one little desert dweller, well known in these parts: the fringe-toed lizard.

>> here's a little baby fringe- toed lizard. this just hatched probably this past fall. >> reporter: i met up with one of the few people who has a special permit to catch this endangered species: cameron barrows. he's an ecologist who is monitoring-- with a team of scientists-- how the protected species are faring under the plan. >> even though we have a finite number of species that we're trying to protect here, we're really trying to protect the entire ecosystem. we're measuring everything; we want to make sure that this is an intact system. we don't want to be able to say in 75 years, "you know, we forgot about that mouse, and it went extinct, oh well." >> reporter: barrows was on the scientific advisory committee that provided guidance about which areas of the valley needed to be protected, an effort he says that charted new ground in conservation science. >> we're striking this balance between habitat and development and this was one of the first places in the nation that tried to strike an effective balance.

but to do that, we had to apply the best science we possibly could. nature's complex. it's really complex. and to be able to say "this patch is enough," or "this level of connection is enough," is really challenging to do that. >> reporter: this underpass behind me has an important role to play in the habitat plan: keeping animals safe as they travel from one side of busy the i-10 highway to the other side. it is one of a number of so- called wildlife corridors scattered throughout the valley. but ensuring the protected areas are connected-- in perpetuity-- has been an on-going effort. about 25% of the conservation areas were privately owned when the plan went into effect in 2008. private landowners are not forced to sell-- but if they do, they are compensated at market rates, or they can pursue minimal development approved by the plan. so far, tens of millions have been spent to secure about

90,000 acres-- or a third of the designated conservation areas. still, many landowners, developers, and even some cities in the valley initially opposed the plan due to the limits on development. >> there was some struggles. nothing is ever easy when you take on a project of this size. >> reporter: gretchen gutierrez is c.e.o. of the desert valley builders association. >> there's going to be 166 single-family houses. >> reporter: the permitting process went fairly quickly and no lawsuits were filed. and that's why gutierrez says developers eventually got on board. >> what it's provided for our members is the surety that they can move their projects forward. i don't think anyone wants to see the plastification of any of the communities out here, or the paving over of the world with concrete. but at the same point in time, you need to have continued

growth for residences and businesses so the quality of life. >> reporter: developers now pay a fee for each property they build and that money goes toward purchasing more land in the conservation areas. additional funds come from a variety of sources including government grants. while many in the valley agree the plan is working, whether it can hold up over the long run is up for debate. recently, plans for a new housing development within this conservation area were submitted to the county for consideration. the project-- called "paradise valley"-- would back up to joshua tree national park on one side, and the area is considered critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise. the development highlights one of the gray areas of the plan: in the large conservation areas, up to 10% of the land can be developed. the developer, glorious land company enterprises, declined to speak with us on camera, but provided a written statement. it reads in part that the development will incorporate

"new urbanism" and "smart growth" concepts, and that "planners and environmental consultants for the project are in consultation with regulatory agencies..." cameron barrows is one of a number of scientists and local environmental groups opposed to the development. >> without any question, the tortoise population will decline if that happens. it's incumbent on all of us, the scientists as well as everybody else that's involved in this plan, to sit down with these folks on a regular basis and say, "remember why we're doing this, remember why you got to do this development or that development. because the plan is here." >> reporter: the proposed development still faces extensive review before any ground is broken, but many here will be watching closely for how things play out as conservation efforts continue. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in coachella valley, california. >> woodruff: coachella valley's plan was among the first of its kind when it was developed, but in recent years the strategy has been catching on.

there are now more than 1,00 plans that seek to protect single and multiple species. efforts in the valley got a boost when president obama named three national monuments in southern california and one of them overlaps with the conservation plan. >> ifill: finally tonight, imagine finding a library from the 1940s-- a window into the time before the deportation of some 70,000 jews from then- czechoslovakia. jeffrey brown reports on a photographer who learned something about himself in the decades-old bookshelves. >> brown: at first glance, you might wonder: what is this? what am i looking at? then it hits you: these are books, fragments of books, in various states of decay. they were photographed where

they'd been left: an abandoned schoolhouse in the town of bardieyov, slovakia. yuri dojc, a successful art and commercial photographer who's lived in canada since 1968, returned to his native country after his father's death, to learn more about his own jewish roots. he came upon the schoolhouse almost by accident, when a man he'd met told dojc there was something he must see. >> he takes us across the square. he opened this door. and we were just stunned. >> brown: you were stunned. you had no idea what you were walking into? >> i had no clue. but i was stunned by the beauty of decaying books. i wasn't thinking about history at that moment. it's the visual effect of the old books that was so beautiful. >> brown: beautiful, but horrible at the same time, as the sense of "history" set in. for this was a jewish schoolhouse, left as it had been in 1942, as jews were being rounded up and taken by train to

the concentration camp at auschwitz. the story is told in a documentary dojc worked on with another emigre from the former czechoslovakia, katya krausova. the two began by seeking out and listening to the stories of holocaust survivors. so you went to meet these people essentially, right? one led to another. >> exactly. so here is a mixture and a selection of some that, by the time i joined him, were dead, and others that we had found together like this couple. >> brown: tell me about them. >> they're very important to the whole story because we heard about them in another town. and she didn't want to even let us come to the house. and eventually i said, "can we just come and have tea?" and once we were there, she said, "i might as well tell you my story, maybe nobody will ever

come again to ask." and so she told us her story, very strong woman who talked about how they were betrayed and how when they were taken to the camps, they actually believed that they were going to work. >> brown: almost all of these people are now gone. in "last folio," the two try to capture what remains. so these are books literally sitting on the shelves as you walked in? >> yes, but i focused on those, on this particular group. >>brown: why? >> there is something like a rhythm here. there's colors, a-- from this color to this color to this. so there's a beautiful, look at this, there's shades of color are just stunning. >> brown: first, an aesthetic experience, and then more: the books standing in for, almost becoming, the lives of the people who'd held them in their hands. >> i changed as a photographer

on this project. i only started understanding what it's all about. until then, i was just-- i had fun. i understand certain aesthetics. but i was missing something. and i realized that you don't take art pictures with your eyes, you take them with your brains, and i didn't know that. >> brown: what does that mean to take it with you brain? >> you try to express something which was, which is more than just what i see. this is a process of showing you what happened to those people. like i'm projecting really, people and this whole pain and all that's lost into the pictures. >> brown: and there was one more shock for dojc and krausovah, when they visited another abandoned building that contained books from all over eastern europe, including-- incredibly-- one that had belonged to dojc's grandfather, who died at auschwitz.

>> that was a miracle. just pure, pure miracle. and i was thinking if this whole journey's not miracle. >> brown: for katya krausovah, there's more: important echoes to the destruction of people and culture still going on today. >> you know, what is happening now in the middle east is very tragic, because libraries are being burned, and monuments are being destroyed, and that is our heritage, and we need to somehow do everything to preserve it. so when i say privileged to have worked on this, it was a privilege to learn people's lives and their stories. i think we need to on telling it to each other and to others. >> brown: from washington, d.c., i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> ifill: on the newshour

online: a college education can be a ticket out of poverty for millions of americans. but, new research shows that those who grew up poor may get less of a payoff for a college degree than those who did not. what's behind this disparity? "making sense" columnist denise cummins writes that, for many, success after college is all about who you know. read her take, on our home page, at www.pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. join us on-line, 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 provided by: ♪ ♪

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this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathin and sue herera. >> earnings shock. this season is expected to be ugly. but even if the results are lousy, is it possible the stock market could still rise? costly coverage. patients on the exchanges need more care than others. raising concerns that insurers may not participate for the long haul. detroit's comeback. how small businessowners are helping that city get back on its feet. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for wednesday march 30th. good evening, everyone, and welcome. day two, stocks extend their gains as global markets rally thanks to the market-friendly speech by the fed chair yesterday. as we reported then, janet