captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: fierce battles flared again in syria's two largest cities, amid reports that al qaeda extremists are playing a role in the conflict. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, we get the latest on the fighting in damascus and ask a senior moroccan official what arab nations can do to stop the bloodshed. >> woodruff: then, we turn to the federal plan to clean up corruption in the new orleans police department and talk with assistant attorney general tom perez and the city's police chief ronal serpass. >> ifill: margaret warner examines the massive ice melt in greenland that took scientists by surprise. >> woodruff: spencer michels reports on the flourishing arts community in a midwestern city in decline. >> as you look around detroit the decay is obvious, but so,

too, is a purging art scene. the question is, which one will prevail? >> ifill: we look at the shifting sands on capitol hill on tax cuts and paying for the health care law. >> woodruff: and we close with the story of the british boy who evaded security and flew alone to italy without a ticket or a passport. >> letch-year-old boy turns up, he's very confident, mingled with other families, presented himself to security. at that point, we should have realized he didn't have a >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the battle for syria raged today in the country's political and commercial capitals. government tanks and planes blasted whole neighborhoods, trying to rout rebel fighters. and there were ominous signs that al-qaeda is entering the fight. we begin with a report from alex thomson of "independent television news" in damascus. >> just when people in the capital thought the battle was over, cardam, in the southern suburbs today, and for much of the daylight hours, tank shells, machine guns, automatic rounds reverberate around this district. people flee the fighting any way they can. the atmosphere is tense, people

are stressed out, even explaining to journalists what's happening openly is far too risky. "my family is still inside there in danger. it's the army. they're shelling our houses. lots of people are trapped and nobody can get in to save them." >> reporter: suddenly people shout, "look, straight ahead. see the soldiers, they're burning houses and they're looting." our camera certainly picks up two men with helmets in uniform. tomorrow, it will be exactly a week since the fighting began in the capital of syria itself. and in all that time, although the government forces have moved the rebels out of substantial areas, they have not sold their problem by any means. what they have done here as in so many places is harden opposition to the regime. >> ( translated ): the revolution will win. god is great. >> reporter: only a mile or

two away, and damascus is peaceful and normal. within sight of the shelling, the u.n. posse in town today making it clear both sides in this war are hearing what they say. neither side is listening, and time is running out. >> we have 30 days, and around today, 27 to go, so every opportunity will be seized to alleviate the suffering of the population. >> reporter: if they fail, the mission's probably over. they've sent half their peacekeepers home already. in the far north of the country, the free syrian army still fights to control parts of aleppo, syria's biggest city in commercial hub. this is the asha district, where rebelsed another police station today, a hand full of policemen now prisoners, lined up and made

to kneel on the ground. police stations are important because they contain ammunition. these fighters display what they salvaged from syrian forces. the discovery the gas masks wasn't lost on them. >> ( translated ): we gained lots of machine guns, ammunition, grenades and some gas masks. these masks were distributed by the regime because it intends to use chemical weapons. >> reporter: some of the fighters here appear to have an islamist tinge. the man in the front seat adorns the black flag of al-qaeda. ( cheering ) and as locals welcome them with open arms, policy makers in the west will no doubt be concerned about where this is leading. by air the regime has launched a relentless counter attack using helicopters and rocks to tame rebellious districts. and more government tanks are on the way. the rebels have managed to seize some heavy artillery. and are using in whatever way

they can. but a tank can't defend against these. a mig jet circles overhead. this conflict now appears to locked into a pattern of attack and counter attack on many different fronts. >> woodruff: a white house spokesman said today the use of heavy weapons in aleppo showed the, quote, "depth of depravity" by the government of bashar al- assad. for more on the conflict in syria we turn to youssef amrani, morocco's minister delegate for foreign affairs, the second highest ranking official in the ministry. morocco is a member of the arab league and currently is the only arab country with a seat on the united nations security council. mr. minister, thank you interest being with us. >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure. >> woodruff: what is your understanding right now of where the conflict in syria stands, who has the upper hand? >> today i think the situation is worsening. we are witnessing humanitarian crisis, and if nothing is done

right away, the country will go into civil war. we have tried, morocco as a member of the security council, we have tried. we have taken the lead in the security council, but we were vetoed by and china. now the priority must be given to save the civilians, to stop the violence against the civilians and to prepare the... conditions for political and democratic transition. >> woodruff: and how should that be done? you're here in washington today. you met with congressional leaders. you were at the white house, meeting with white house officials. what are you looking for? what are you asking? >> we're looking for the strengthening of the opposition, which would have the necessary measures to be able to build up in a sovereign way its future. then we need to support all the-- >> woodruff: build up in what manner? what sort of help-- >> the future of syria must be democratic and should include all different groupings of the syrian society.

and of course, the independence and the national integrity of syria should be respected. of course, this means that we need to-- that the current regime is not able to lead the democratic transition. >> woodruff: and are you asking the united states for more help? as you know, the u.s., other western countries have been reluctant to get involved militarily. >> listen, the u.s. has been committed since the beginning, as far as practical solution. morocco, also, as you correctly stated, the only arab country. we have taken all the decisions, taken by the arab like, to the security council. today, we need more pressure and we need to see because we think that we are stuck in the security council with these vetoes, and i think to move forward. >> woodruff: when you say "more pressure" what kind of pressure? >> more sanctions, more

international support consensus to work with the russians to see if they can help to find a solution and a way out because the status quo actually is not acceptable by the community. >> woodruff: we know some members of the arab league, some of the gulf states, are actually sending military support, military help, to the opposition. we know that turkey has closed the border to prevent trucks from going from turkey-- from iran into turkey. are you asking in any way for military support? >> for us, the priority is a negotiated solution to move forward, because we cannot forget that there are a lot of weapons in syria, and especially-- even chemical weapons. we need to avoid any catastrophe. that's why we are giving all the chance for peace and negotiation. if we fail on this issue, maybe we can think about alternative solutions. >> woodruff: and at what point do you decide diplomacy isn't

working because this has been tried and tried and tried again. >> we have to continue trying because it is important in the security council and elsewhere but we should work with the opposition, we should work with the neighboring countries to find a political solution humanitarian crisis will be not-- could not be managed. >> woodruff: so are you saying it's a mistake for any outside country right now to send more military support to the opposition? >> let's give-- >> woodruff: or intelligence support. >> of course intelligence is essential. it's important. let's give some more chance for negotiation. we hope that russia and china will understand that for their own interest, it is better to have a safe and political outcome for this crisis because nobody can manage the humanitarian issue knowing the interconnection between the terrorist organizations in the neighboring countries. >> woodruff: well, that brings me to the question, one of the reasons the u.s. and other countries have been reluctant to

get involved to support the opposition is because they don't know what a successor government is going to look like. we just saw in that report, al qaeda starting to show up among the opposition. how can you be sure that the next government won't be as repressive as this government? >> listen, we had some experiences in libya, in tunisia, that were successful. i think we have to believe that thanks to dialogue, thanks to negotiation we will be able to move forward because any escalation in violence won't be a solution. and we as-- as morocco, we believe we give more chance to dialogue and we hope to succeed. we today are a little bit stuck in the security council because of the vetoes, but we'll try. morocco is hosting the next meeting of the friend of syria. >> woodruff: friend of syria. >> friends of syria. we are thinking of some ideas because i think we should continue to make more pressure on the regime, maybe we find

out-- as you know, two, three years ago the arab league has sent some messages to bashar al-assad to see if he can lead. >> woodruff: any response from him? >> not yet. >> woodruff: do you think will be one? >> i cannot answer this question. i hope the syrian people continue to fight. >> woodruff: do you agree with those who say it's just a matter of time before his government falls? >> it is a matter of time and we have to continue believing that-- believing the syrian people are trying the best to overcome this dictator regime. >> woodruff: minister youssef armani of morocco, we thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: we explore whether the arab league can landlord diplomat effort in a syrian crisis. that is on the rundown. >> ifill: still to come on the "newshour": sweeping reforms for the new orleans police department; greenland's melting

ice sheet; detroit's vibrant art scene; tax cuts, health care and congress. and the boy who slipped through security. but first, with the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. housing market sent another signal of uneven recovery today. the commerce department reported new home sales fell in june to a five-month low. they'd been up sharply in may. the news kept wall street down for much of the day. in the end, the dow jones industrial average gained more than 58 points to break a three- day losing streak and close at 12,676. the nasdaq fell eight points to close at 2,854. the british economy has sunk much deeper into recession than first thought. newly released figures today showed economic output fell by 0.7% from april through june. the numbers could increase pressure on the conservative-led government to dial back its austerity policies. u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner today defended his response to problems with a benchmark lending rate. the libor-- set in london--

governs rates for financial contracts worldwide. in 2008, geithner was head of the federal reserve in new york, when he learned that a major british bank, barclays, was keeping the rate artificially low. he told a house hearing today that he notified superiors at the fed and regulators in britain. >> our first instinct as you might expect at that point was to go to the british and they said, "we agree with you, we're on it." now, we didn't know whether that was going to be sufficient or not. so we also i think did the appropriate thing. and we went and briefed the relevant authorities with enforcement authorities and responsibility for fraud and manipulation. >> sreenivasan: republicans at the hearing said geithner should have told congress what he knew, as well. the first of the funerals was held today for the victims of the colorado shootings. the governor and some 150 other mourners gathered at a service in aurora for gordon cowden. he was 51, the oldest of the dozen people killed at a movie theater last friday. meanwhile, state figures showed

a surge in weekend gun sales across colorado. background checks for would-be buyers were up 40% from a week earlier. officials in anaheim, california are appealing for calm. the city endured a fourth night of trouble overnight, after the weekend killings of two hispanic men by police. a peaceful rally turned violent with protesters throwing rocks and bottles, and smashing storefronts. hundreds of officers in riot gear used batons and fired beanbag rounds to disperse the crowd. at least two dozen people were arrested. today, anaheim mayor tom tait said the city means to stop any further violence. >> vandalism, arson, and other forms of violent protests will simply not be tolerated in our city. we don't expect last night's situation to be repeated but if it should, the police response will be the same: swift and appropriate. >> sreenivasan: last night's rioting went on for seven hours. and this afternoon, the mother of one of the men killed over the weekend made an emotional plea for peace.

>> please, please, please stop the violence. it's not going to bring my son back. it's not, and this is the worst thing any mother could go through. >> sreenivasan: so far this year, there've been six shootings by anaheim police. five were fatal. the u.s. justice department agreed today to do its own review of the two latest incidents. in northeastern india, thousands of troops fanned out to halt an outbreak of ethnic killing. the trouble erupted in western assam state late last week between members of the ethnic bodo community and muslim settlers. so far, nearly 40 people have died, and some 200,000 have been forced to flee. troops now have orders to shoot rioters on sight. british border control workers have canceled plans for a 24- hour strike tomorrow-- the day before the london olympic games open. the union representing the workers said today that talks with the government had made progress on pay and employment issues. also today, nine olympic track athletes were suspended for doping.

and greece expelled one of its triple-jumpers after she tweeted a racist joke about african immigrants. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: for years, the new orleans police department has labored under a long shadow of misconduct, investigations, charges and criminal convictions. now the city has agreed to major reforms. new orleans now faces a sweeping federal mandate-- to reform a police department plagued by corruption and abuse for decades. >> this consent decree will allow us to move forward together, and will enable the people of new orleans to have, in the words of mayor landrieu, "a world-class police department." >> ifill: u.s. attorney general eric holder formally outlined the deal yesterday, an agreement mayor mitch landrieu estimates will cost roughly $11 million a year to put in place. landrieu said it will "fundamentally change the

culture of the new orleans police, once and for all." the planned reforms include: mandatory training for officers in the use of force, routine stops and searches and bias-free policing. new standards for recruiting to increase diversity on the force. and videotaping of interrogations involving suspected homicides and sexual assaults. the department must also install video cameras in all patrol cars. >> this consent decree belongs to the entire community, and includes ideas that were brought to us by community members, front line officers, and experts alike. >> ifill: that extensive review grew in part out of actions taken by police after hurricane katrina devastated the city in 2005. but it also tackles a culture of misconduct years in the making. last year, the justice department reported that in the storm's wake, officers often made unlawful arrests, engaged in racial profiling and used deadly force without just cause. >> it also will resolve the government's allegations that

the new orleans police engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that was both discriminatory and unconstitutional, and that too often undermined the public's trust and the city's efforts to effectively prevent crime. >> ifill: criminal charges were brought against 20 officers after katrina. in the most notorious case, six unarmed civilians were shot-- two fatally-- at the danziger bridge. last april, five of the officers involved were sentenced to prison terms of up to 65 years. for more, we're joined by assistant u.s. attorney general thomas perez. and new orleans police superintendent ronal serpas. welcome to you both, gentlemen. assistant continual, what does this consent decree tell us about the history of the new orleans police department and about its future? >> well, the history was the department, as we discovered in

our review, was broken in many respects. and these problems predated hurricane katrina. anyone in new orleans knows the name len davis, a police officer in the mid-90s who was horrific and is on death row for the crimes he committed. we peeled the onion to its core. we found system problems across the board. that was then and now we fast forward to today where we have a comprehensive blueprint for sustainable reform, a blueprint that was developed in partnership with chief perpas, with the mayor, with the fronted line police officers and the community and it's the most sweeping blueprint that we've ever developed. and that's why, while the problems are deeply rooted, the solutions are there, and i come to this task with immense optimism because the ingredients for sustainable reform are in place, and they include leadership, they include community engagement. they include so many other things that are present. >> ifill: superintendent

acceptas, let's talk about that leadership question, if you know a lot of these problems have been percolating for years what about this decree will change what you do now? >> well, i think it's very important to point out working with the attorney general, mr. holder and his staff, particularly, mr. perez, we've been able to find solutions to long-term, systemic problems. the the new orleans police department is not as badda it was and it's not as good as it can be. we have taken steps during the landrieu administration and my administration to make sure we start to fix the fundamental things that should have been fixed year ago. taking the conkent decree on top of that, the strength of the federal government, the changes we make will not go away with successive mayors and police chiefs which was the case in 2005 and 2010, when things really began to fall off the wheels. >> ifill: let me ask you this-- will it guarantee the

city has the $11 million a year it will take to put these kind of new plans in place over four years? that's $44 million. a lot of money. >> very fair question. what a consent decree can do-- and this is why the police officers will embrace it over time as they understand it-- is it can help them get the resources they needed all along, and the mayor is committed to the citizens of new orleans, that the police department reform is the number one priority to advance safety, economic development, neighborhood quality of life. i think we're not going to have a problem doing that. we have to do it and i think we should do it. >> when you talk about the cost, it's a very fair question. the costs are undeniable, but the benefits are priceless. when you are reducing crime, when you are enhancing public confidence in law enforcement, and when you're ensuring constitutional policing, you then reduce tort liability. that's a significant reduction? cost for the city. perhaps, most importantly, when you're saving lives, that's priceless. >> ifill: does that mean the federal government is going to

kick in tow to help pay for it. >> we have provided seven figures in technical assistance to the department because we have a vested interest in the success of this enterprise. >> ifill: new orleans is not the only city you have taken this action in. what is the track record of success and how much does transparency matter in a case like this? >> we have a very good track record for this and think the best example is in los angeles. los angeles had systemic problems in the 90s. we were able to work collaboratively with them and demonstrate while culture change is hard, it can, indeed, happen. it did happen, and and if you look at the independent studies in los angeles, crime went down, respect for the police department went up, and the quality of policing went up, and i think the same thing can happen here. >> ifill: superintendent serpas, he talks about the culture. one of the pieces of this unique to new orleans was this detail system where people could

basically make a lot of extra money on the decide and this is something which this decree would basically outlaw. there must be some push-back on that. it is taking money out of people's pockets. >> it's going to be a healthy change. speaking of change, i've been a change agent police chief four times so it does take a long time to get culture aligned with demand and respect. the private employment of public police had gotten out of control in new orleans and had been unchanged for 50 years. the practices had not changed obstantially for 50 years. we're going to move to a model followed across the nation so the value of the private employment of public police does not usurp the control and command of the police department. in new orleans, in a very simple statement, in new orleans, far too many people owed allegiance to the paid detail or moonlighting and didn't owe allegiance to the police department. we're going to fix that. that is an easy fix i think as far as technically and the police officer on the ground will not feel much different. ththe barons of police details

will feel it and they didn'tth shouldn't have existed in the first place. >> ifill: how do you restore trust? not just money, not just new rules but actually restoring trust between the people being policed and the police themselves? >> i think it's perfectly clear that we sea i lot of evidence in new orleans from survey data and from my personal walking in the streets. the people of new orleans want us to be successful. they need their police department to be successful and every police officer worth their salt who has worn a police suit more than a day knows this-- it is the information sharing that makes you a successful cop, a successful detective, a successful police department and that is what the exchange value is. what the public wants is respect and freedom to live in their street and what the police need is that exchange, the information to root from the street the people who have destroyed others' quality of life. it is a perfect win-win situation and good police

departments get that and we're going to get it. i am completely confident that we will implement this consent decree. mr. perez and his team have been wonderful to work with and we will make new orleans a safer place. there's no question in my mind about this. >> ifill: mr. perez. >> and you mentioned transparency before and that is key to moving forward and earning the trust of the community. there are a number of provisions in this agreement that are going to make the new orleans police department truly the people's police department-- more data collection, doing regular surveys to measure the level of community confidence, making sure that the people are, indeed, involved. and i think that's very important. community policing, this is a basic concept that chief serpas is implementing. and so i do come here today with my eyes wide open, culture change does take time, but i come here with a lot of optimism that chief serpas, mayor landrieu, the dedicated men and women of the police department, and the community are committed to this. >> ifill: assistant attorney

general for civil right thomas perez, and superintendent of the new orleans police department, ronal serpas, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> you can read the full 124-page agreement between the justice department and the new orleans police on our web site. we've also posted the 2011 federal report showing evidence of widespread corruption. >> woodruff: now, a scientific puzzle over the melting of one of planet earth's largest sheets of ice. margaret warner has our story. >> warner: this week, nasa announced a surprising finding: earlier this month, the surface of the ice sheet covering greenland melted more widely than has been seen in 33 years of satellite imagery. typically, about half of greenland's surface ice thaws each summer. most of it usually refreezes in place, while some flows into the ocean. but this month was different. on july 8, satellite imagery

showed about 40% of greenland's top ice layer-- shown here in shades of pink-- had thawed. the white area was still solid ice. just four days later, 97% of the ice-- again shown in pink -- had thawed. it coincided with another striking development in greenland. a major glacier in the northwest-- known as the petermann glacier-- lost a major chunk of ice. the iceberg that broke off-- as shown here in time lapse photos -- was more than twice the size of manhattan. an even bigger piece of the glacier separated in 2010. for more on all this, i'm joined by thomas wagner of nasa. he directs the agency's programs for glaciers, sea ice and polar regions. welcome, mr. wagner. >> thanks for having me. >> warner: first of all, how surprising-- let's start with the thaw, the melt that occurred on greenland itself. how surprising was this? >> complete surprise, so much of a surprise one of the scientists who studied this thought there

must be something wrong with his instrument. >> warner: then you tomorrowed this was for real? >> right. we got reports there was melt going on all around greenland, literally so much water running off it was washing out bridges and things, there were runways on the snow having problems. what we did was look at the satellite records which are great because they cover the whole ice sheathe, and what we found pretty quickly was it had melted and it melted in places we had never seen melt before. >> warner: this is nonpress departmented, though. how unusual is this? >> it's unusual for us, because what you have to understand is the top parts of the greenland ice sheet are 12,000 feet above sea level. it's very, very cold there. it's never above freezing. we had temperatures go upon to almost 42 degrees in places. when we look, though, kind of in deep time, which we can get from ice cores around greenland, we found out melting like this probably does happen maybe on average every 150 years. this is really unusual. maybe the last time it happened was 1889.

>> warner: but not unprecedented. >> not unprecedented. we see a teen-time example where we have seen this before. this is a case where we had observations and know what's going on and correlate it with weather partnerships. >> warner: what explanation it. >> we had pockets of warm air form around greenland that literally washed up over the entire ice sheathe. lawyer some indices people use to describe the state atmosphere. one is the north atlantic oscillation and this year it happened to have a really strong, high-pressure system form over ice lalled that allowed the warm air sit around and move overgalled. >> warner: you're basically talking about the weather? >> yes, that is a way to look at it. we're seem an extreme variation in greenland. >> warner: you're saying you can't really attribute this to climate change. >> no, and we spent a long time trying to word the document we put out describing it. we said, look, there is evidence that this has happened before.

now, that doesn't mean-- we really don't know the explanation for this one. if it happens again, if it starts to happen repeatedly, there is an indication of a real shift in the arctic system. >> warner: it has been about a week since the photos that we showed. what's happening now on the ground? do you even know? >> up high on the greenland ice sheathe, the instruments we have are saying things are cooling off already. >> warner: they're starting to refreeze. >> right, but at the lower elevations it's still really warm. at high elevations, think of good packing snow. you have a lot of water between the snow particles. but at lower elevations, there's so much melt is coalesced into lakes and ponds and rivers and that stuff is still running. we have scientists down on the ground right now studying this. >> warner: now, let's move on to petermann glacier, and the rather dramatic picture-- i guess it's in the fjord, but broke off. >> yes. >> warner: that happened

before as well. look into deep time. how unusual is this event? >> it's almost as if i poured hon nethe middle of the table, snow builds up and flows out of the side. when it hits the ocean, it begins to float, and that forms an ice shelf, which normally breaks off and it's continuously fed by snow building up in the middle. in the case of petermann there's a debate going on right now as to what's going on. it could be normal that this occurs or it could be ocean warming, which has also been observed in that area, caused this. >> warner: so nobody knows what caused this, either. >> right, but we can't lose sight of the bigger picture which is this-- the greenland ice sheathe has been losing tremendous amounts of ice for decades, on average 150 gigatons a year. year talking so much ice that this is contributing about .3 millimeters of sea level rise a year, around the globe. >> warner: how much of the sea level rights is that? >> it's about three millimeters

a year overall, but the problem, too, with greenland is that it looks like it's been accelerating in recent years so depending on what time range you look at it, now it could be contributing half a millimeter, maybe more. >> warner: big picture-- what are the consequences of these two events, wharf the cause? i take your point it will take subsequent years to know. what are the consequences. >> this is a phenomenal natural experiment that has been run so this is a chance for us to look at the effects are of water on the ice sheathe, and if we are in a warming world we can look does that water make it to the bottom of the ice and lubricate the glacier so they form faster? there is also a debate how does greenland lose all of its ice? is it melting or is it the flow of glackiers out to the ocean. we think it's about 50-50. after this year, we may have new ideas on this. >> warner: does this effect, say, the broader picture of the whole water system in the arctic. >> oh,. and this also gives us a chance

to highlight what's going on in the arctic. this year we're losing sea ice overall, we're down close to another record year and we're probably at a record year the sea ice thinner than it's ever been. we have seem warming around want arctic perma soft, it does look like it's shifting. >> warner: is it fair to say, some of this, the breaking off the of the glacier, but more importantly, the melt is going to add both warmth-- is it going to add warmth and also volumes to the oceans in very basic terms? >> oh, definitely, yes. that water, most of it goes down and flows out. a lot of it refreezes but if it's at lower elevations it flows out into the ocean. and the glaciers that break off are the mechanism-- both of these things are the mechanism by which we raise sea levels from the eith sheathes. >> warner: tom wagner, thank you very much.

find the time lapse satellite images of greenland's ice melt on our science page. >> ifill: next, a midwestern city embraces art to help spark its economic comeback. "newshour" correspondent spencer michels has the story. >> reporter: when they lit off fireworks in detroit in late june-- a preview of the fourth of july-- detroiters flocked to the city's downtown riverfront. it was a reason to rejoice, in a city that hasn't had much good news of late. police were on the alert for possible gang violence, and the populace had been told that celebrations like these were too expensive and the city might not pay for them again. the crowd reflected the demographics of the city: a city that today is 82% african american, about 8% white, and 7% hispanic. it's a place where first whites, and then blacks, fled to the suburbs, where the population has dropped nearly two million people since 1950, to just 700,000.

like the detroit river, where ships used to carry materials to ford plants, the city of detroit has experienced major changes. after a serious decline in livability, residents now say the city has started to come back, and with it there's been a flowering of art. the easiest place to find it is on the side of abandoned buildings. graffiti is everywhere in detroit, and some of it is spectacular. >> the work we have out there is world class, you know. >> reporter: world class? >> world class. we have artists here that come from around to world. we have a great, vibrant art scene. >> reporter: vito valdez spends part of his time in el paso,

texas, and part in detroit, where he teaches and paints. his family, like many mexicans, came here to work in the auto industry decades ago. his murals that celebrate his heritage adorn many buildings, and there are plenty to adorn. but he acknowledges that some of the outdoor graffiti isn't really art. >> the stuff's great. the only thing is when we get some gang tags, groups that want to mark their turf, and that's where things get a little rough. >> reporter: things have been rough in detroit for a long time. and so it's a town where real and so it's a town where real estate is cheap, and artists can thrive and

>> reporter: 57-year-old gilda snowden-- a detroit native and expressionist painter-- has watched her city decline, never giving up hope. she works in a spacious studio in an old building where artists are welcomed. her work has been influenced by the graffiti that surrounds her. she says some old aphorisms apply to detroit. >> "a bohemian can live and an animal will die." another one: "artists make real estate." artists go into places that may not be so beautiful, but if you can go in and you can make your work, it's a great place. and we've always found places like that. the city is coming back. it can't help but come back. when you're down at rock bottom, where else are you going to go? >> reporter: detroit's predicament has become its own object d'art. the prestigious detroit institute of art asked detroiters to get creative. the institute, which has had its

distributed 750 cameras to people all over the city, and told them to shoot what they wanted and tell the city's story and their own. 12,000 photos later, the city library is displaying what detroiters see about themselves. >> people are making art. they're talking about art, they're listening to art. art is really on the cutting edge of all the things that are happening in detroit. i do know that detroiters don't quit. i think you see that in every single one of these pictures and i think you see it out on the streets. >> reporter: you certainly see it on heidelberg street, where artist tyree guyton has turned two blocks of the city into an outdoor museum of found objects and abandoned houses. he says the heidelberg project, which he began in 1986, makes you laugh, it makes you happy. it's a very accessible monument to detroit's decay and abandonment, and to its hope of resurrection.

more than 200,000 people visit each year. across town another group of artists is taking advantage of empty buildings. the "555" collective has moved into the abandoned third police precinct station and is developing space for artists' studios and galleries using foundation funds and donated labor to fix the place up. painter hugh navarro was among the first to start work here in a holding cell where he thought the light was just right. somehow it inspired him. >> there's a good feeling of getting here, opening your own jail cells, and leave any time that you want. i need that freedom, yes, yes. >> reporter: but for navarro-- a native of chile, with another studio in southern california-- it's more than the jail cell. >> detroit to me is an inspiration as a whole. >> reporter: he and his landlords work at improving the space, getting it ready to show

to the public. among their prized possessions is a concrete slab with graffiti by the celebrated and secretive british artist banksy, that was rescued from a demolished packard plant. 555 organizers are hoping to draw people to look at and buy the art they produce. some artists are doing well, despite the economy. bethany shorb, who moved to detroit 13 years ago, designs silk-screened neckties. she employs five people, and she's produced 100,000 ties, which are sold all over the world. >> there's definitely no shortage of bad things happening. but there's an influx of really great things happening. i think we have a flight returning to the city, of all colors, all persuasions. >> reporter: shorb shows her neckties at a pop up retail store in downtown detroit, run by margarita barry, a graphic designer. she's the creator of a website called "i am young detroit",

designed to counteract the negative image of the city. >> detroit is a cool place to test ideas and businesses because you know, the startup costs aren't as hi as if it were a new york or a chicago. we kind of have our own vibe here. it's a little bit more casual, it's a little bit more laid back. >> reporter: but detroit's art isn't laid back, according to the owner of one of the city's top fine art galleries-- george n'namdi. >> detroit has a very unique kind of-- it's like down to earth, kind of an in-your-face kind of art. i think it has to do with the general history of detroit, just being a tough kind of place where people live and made things happen and people love very much being here. >> reporter: n'namdi's gallery is currently showing styrofoam works by jim pallas, portrats of art giants of detroit, including one of n'namdi himself. he is working to bring back his midtown neighborhood and he is

convinced there is a core of detroiters who will buy the expensive art he has to sell. >> you have a whole big large professional class of people, particularly like african american people, that are living here. and you have one of the highest number of african american businesses in the country. >> reporter: still-- for all the optimism-- detroit has a long artists, like jacob martinez at the 555 project, are afraid of what will happen if the city turns around. >> we want to stimulate the economy as artists because we know that it will help us, but we don't want to be used by the economy once more. again, it's historic that artists get used to flourish economies and then once the economy is flourishing, then we get discarded. we get pushed aside. and then we're no longer seen as a driving force. that's the part that worries me the most. >> reporter: for detroit, a turnaround would be very welcome, and the flourishing art

scene could well be a catalyst to make that happen. >> on our art beat >> woodruff: on our art beat page, we profile detroit graffiti artist antonio "shades" agee, whose work has gone from city walls to museum walls. >> ifill: two contentious debates are playing out in washington this summer, as the senate votes on competing democratic and republican tax cut proposals. and the congressional budget office delivers a new estimate on how supreme court action could affect the cost of the new health care law. for more on each of these stories, i'm joined by todd zwillich, a reporter for public radio international's "the takeaway" on wnyc. and julie rovner, who covers health care policy for npr. todd, there was a little drama on the senate floor today. what was the significance, if any of this tax cut vote-- two tax cut vote. >> two tax cut vote, as

republican version and a democratic one. in practical terms right now nterms of people's taxes -- your taxes and mine-- not a lot of important implications because nobody is going to pass a bill that the president can sign in this election year. however u, the election is really what this is about, and these votes are really what the election is about for the american people. >> ifill: so the democratic plan, which is essentially the president's plan to extend-- to extend the tax cuts-- i say it-- i always get it backwards-- for people who earn $250,000 or more, to end the tax cut extension for that, that passed. >> that did pass. there's one important part to remember. their bill extends tax cuts for all income up to $250,000. even the 10 millionaires get their tax cuts on the first 250 extended, but $250001 and up,

the tax rate would go back to 31.6. >> ifill: the republican plan which would have extended tax cuts for everybody, including those who earned the most failed, was that significant in any way? >> that was a close vote. significant in a couple ways. the house republicans who control the agenda on the other side will vote on the same plan, extending all tax cuts for the year next week. it's significant because really like i said this is what the election is about. it's really about democrats' and republicans' competing visions how to reorder income distribution after the election. mitt romney is on board with the republicanes, on board with the ryan budget, which is to extend all of the bush tax cuts and deal with debt and deficit cutting in other places. president obama has said many, many times-- not just recently but really since 20 between when, by the way, he signed an extension of all these tax cuts himself, that he wants to get rid of the bush tax cuts for anybody at 250 and above. >> ifill: it was critical enough that they brought vice president biden into the chair

in case he needed to break a tie. >> and that led to some funny moments, mitch mcconnell alluding to the fact that it was good that the former senator wasn't able to speak because he might speak for a long time, a bit of a chuckle i don't think anybody thought a tie would come. the democrats lost two of their numbers, joe lieberman and jim webb, both retiring senators -- >> ifill: lieberman an independent who votes with the democrats. >> you're right. he's a democrat, he votes with them. but interestingly not for political considerations because they're both leaving. neither of these gentlemen has to worry about reelection. >> ifill: but jim webb still represents a state that is in a very tight race where the democrat he hopes will succeed him probably wouldn't want that hanging around. >> jim webb volted no on both proposals, the republicans and democrat, because of the earned income tax credit which is not extended in the republican provision. he really cares about that. it hits a lot of middle-income

people. this isn't just about marginal rates, your income taxes. there are others mixed in, earned income tax credit, tax deductions for college tuition, estate tax if you're wealthy-- all of those things are sort of in the mix now. >> ifill: the congressional budget office, julie, to bring you into this, they said because of the affordable care act, because of the supreme court's action, may not be as expensive as originally thought. >> that was a little bitave surprise. there were some people who thought because of the changes the court made-- the court only made one small change. it said the expansion of the medicaid programs would become optional rather than mandatory. there are some who thought the law would not be paid for, because some of the people instead of getting medicaid would go into the health insurance exchanges, the state-run exchanges where they would get federal subsidies. the subsidies would be more expensive to the federal government than even the federal

government paying the majority of medicaid costs. >> ifill: what they didn't anticipate is a lot of states said we have a chance to opt out of this. >> they did anticipate the states could opt out of it. they didn't anticipate that the c.b.o. saying a lot of people will go into the exchanges but a lot will not be eligible because you have to have income up to a certain level to be eligible and a lot of people will end up without insurance. >> ifill: what you're saying is money is being saved but people will not be insured. >> that's correct. that's basically what the c.b.o. said, the law will cost less than they originally said back in march but there are will be three million fewer people getting coverage. >> ifill: it seems from the democratic point of view, the right thing happened for the wrong reason. the act was supposed to provide coverage for everybody but now it seems balls of the supreme court's action it was a dead letter, universal coverage. >> it was never going to be

universal coverage. there were going to be several million people-- illegal immigrants were not going to be covered. now we're actually at the point where the c.b.o. is saying 30 million will gain coverage and 30 million will not be covered still. it's basically the same number of people who will get covered who will remain uncovered. it's half and half. if you imagine, todd juves saying how the election is going to be very much about taxes and the economy, i think this election is also going to be very much about this health care law. if the democrats, certainly, if president obama is re-elected and the democrats retain at least one house of congress, the law will almost certainly go forward. if the republicans are elected, the law will automatic certainly be repealed, and these people will not get coverage if the law is repealed and you could end up with 60 million people uninsured. >> ifill: what's the current count of the states opting out of the medicaid expansion. >> we've had five or six governors who said so far they

really won't do it, but we have had governors who started to pull back on that. pretty much i think they're waiting until after the election to decide what they want to do. it's a lot of money from the federal government. every state eventually came into medicaid. every state came into the children's health insurance program-- >> ifill: so we don't know yet. >> we don't really know yet. >> ifill: todd, final question for you on what happened on the hill. the president came out with a statement saying the house, if they don't pass this bill that passlet the senate, they will be holding-- they will be holding people hostage, tax cuts hostage. what is going to happen in the house? >> well, next week the house will vote on a one-year extension of all the bush tax cuts, they call them the existing tax rates but what the democrats call the bush tax cuts. that will pass and you'll have the exiting stalemate, the president obama position of extending them for the middle class, versus the republican position. one thing that is important that senate democrats managed to do and they gave voice to this was

delinking the middle class tax cuts from those from the wellie. the senate has the votes to say they don't all have to go together. you don't have to have tax extensions for the wealth tow get the middle class tax cuts. we've shown we have the votes to separate them and president obama loves that. >> ifill: two big issues which as you point out are going to play out throughout the entire election. todd zwillich, wnyc, julie officerrener of npr, thank you both very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: finally tonight, the school boy stowaway who slipped on to a jet in england and ended up in italy. ciaran kieran jenkins of independent television news tells the story. >> reporter: liam corcoran flew jet 2 to rome yesterday afternoon, and nobody knew he was there, which is surprising given that liam is 11 years old and had no money, no passport, and no ticket.

>> we're certainly not proud of what's happened, and that's why we and the airline are doing an investigation. if you think about what security is like at this time of year, there's lots of families traveling on holiday. an 11-year-old boy turns up. he's very confidential. he's mingled with other families, presented himself to security. at that point, we should have realized he didn't have a boarding card. >> reporter: what he did have was a knack for evading detection, wandering off from his mom while they were out shopping and then somehow navigating the three miles from the shops to the manchester airport. now, only the meticulous security checks of an olympic host nation stood between him and italy. anyone who has flown recently will know just how tough they are on what you can take on board-- no oversized luggage, no big bottles of water. but if he's cunning enough to slip alongside you, you can take

on an 11-year-old boy without anyone really noticing. tagged along with a family, liam slid past security when he should have been asked for his boarding card and passport. of course, he had neither, and yet he stilled eased through the second check at the boarding gate. finally, he snuck on to the plane, this time without cabin crew seeing his boarding card or spotting him during a routine head count. liam's adventure only ended when fellow passengers clocked he was alone. >> it is obviously quite an exceptional thing that has happened but we need to learn from it and take the necessary steps to make sure it doesn't happen in the future. >> jet2 said they're investigating the incident and have suspended three members of staff. they put liam on the return plane home and he was reunited last night with his mom.

>> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: fierce battles flared again in syria's two largest cities, amid reports that al qaeda extremists are playing a role in the conflict. and the funerals began for the colorado shooting victims. the governor and more than 100 other mourners attended a service for a 51-year-old man-- the oldest of the dozen people killed. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll preview the london olympic games and talk with kelly mcevers of npr, just back from a reporting trip to the rebel-occupied region of syria. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org