captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifill. president obama met with afghan president hamid karzai at the white house today. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the meeting was intended to help repair ties after months of strained relations between the u.s. and afghanistan. we get analysis from former ambassador zalmay khalilzad and former u.n. official alexander thier. >> ifill: then, tom bearden has the latest on the gulf oil spill, including news that a key safety device failed on the rig just hours before the explosion.

>> woodruff: ray suarez joins us from the 2010 world expo in shanghai. nations and. >> close to 200 nations and continents are represented here. it's part trade fair, part national festival, part cultural event. >> ifill: betty ann bowser looks at how one state is tackling a health epidemic among children. >> this city has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation, and while people here are trying to do something about that, it's a difficult problem to solve. >> woodruff: and 41 years after the moon landing, kwame holman reports on a rare public appearance by astronaut neil armstrong testifying today in favor of staying the course in space exploration. >> ifill: and a tale of two boys-- now men-- who share the same name, but very different life stories. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs

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thank you. >> ifill: presidents obama and karzai shared a common goal today-- getting back on the same page. it was all smiles today between the leaders of the u.s. and afghanistan. only last month, u.s. relations with afghan president hamid karzai had frayeafter a diplomatic war of words erupted between the two governments. but that was then. >> i am very pleased to welcome president karzai. >> ifill: today's white house visit was the capstone of an elaborately choreographed four- day washington trip. >> this visit's an opportunity for us to assess the progress of our shared strategy in afghanistan... >> ifill: karzai won a disputed reelection last november after a protracted fight. in its wake, u.s. officials questioned his ability to control government corruption and the resurgent local taliban. in march, mr. obama surprised

karzai with a quick trip to kabul described by white house officials as an opportunity for face-to-face tough talk. the president suggested today any divide that existed then was never that wide. >> with respect to perceived tensions between the u.s. government and the afghan government, let me begin by saying a lot of them were simply overstated. we've had very frank discussions. and president karzai agrees with me that we can't win through a military strategy alone. >> ifill: president karzai echoed that assessment. >> the relationship between afghanistan and the united states is now into its tenth year in the form that it has since september 11, 2001. it's not an imaginary relationship; it's a real relationship. it's based on some very hard and difficult realities. >> ifill: but sticking points

remain, including afghanistan's continued warm relations with iran, whose president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, recently received a lavish welcome in kabul. >> we've also spoken with our american counterparts, from the very beginning, that iran is our neighbor and a brother, and we want to have the best of relations with him. we wish both countries the best. and if there is anything we can do to make things better, call us. >> ifill: another outstanding issue-- the afghan government's determination to work with elements of the taliban. karzai has invited those willing to lay down their arms to a "peace jirga," or conference. >> and it's these thousands of taliban who are not against afghanistan or against the afghan people or their country; who are not against america either, or the rest of the world; and who want to come back to afghanistan, if given an opportunity and provided the

political means. >> ifill: the u.s. has added 30,000 u.s. troops to the force on the ground in afghanistan, in part, mr. obama said, to support that effort. >> the incentives for the taliban to lay down arms, or at least portions of the taliban to lay down arms, and make peace with the afghan government in part depends on our effectiveness in breaking their momentum militarily. >> ifill: both leaders acknowledged another longstanding sore spot between the two countries-- the war's high number of civilian casualties. >> i am ultimately accountable, just as general mcchrystal is accountable, for somebody who's not on the battlefield who got killed. now, war is tough and difficult, and mistakes are going to be made. and our troops put themselves at

risk, oftentimes, in order to reduce civilian casualties. >> ifill: that tough war promises to become only more difficult, as u.s. forces fight this summer to retake kandahar, the taliban's spiritual home and a center of the insurgency. so, is the strain between the u.s. and afghanistan really a thing of the past? we get two points of view: from zalmay khalilzad, who was u.s. ambassador to afghanistan and iraq during the bush administration. he's now a counselor at the center for strategic and international studies. and from alexander thier, the director for afghanistan and pakistan at the united states institute of peace, a nonpartisan group that promotes conflict resolution. he worked for the u.n. in afghanistan during the 1990s, and from 2002 to 2004. ambassador khalilzad, when the president said that this widely documented tension with afghanistan had been overstated, was he right?

>> well, i think the president recognizes that things have gone a little too far between afghanistan, president karzai and the united states, in recent months. i think president karzai also recognized that, and i think they have both agreed to turn a new page, to work together to make progress, but i think today was a start in order to reestablish the kind of partnership that existed at times in the past between the united states and afghanistan. the agreement that has been made in terms of updating the strategic partnership, the new division of labor, if you like, between the united afghanistan on military cooperation who will do well. civilian casualties issues, raiding afghan homes , holding afghan prisoners. we'll have to see whether an agreement that is mutually

acceptable can be made by the end of the year, which they have committed to. and, of course, it will also depend on the situation on the ground whether anything improves or not. we criticized prime minister maliki a lot in the beginning, that he was tied to the militias that he wasn't decisive enough, but when the it improved, the criticism improved. relations will also improve. if they get worse or stays the same, i think we'll come back to the same contentiousness that we have seen in the receipt weeks . >> ifill: a lot of things still have to happen. today's red carpet treatment, mr. thier , did that go a long way towards reaching an agreement? >> i think what you have is aization where you have two presidents who both genuinely share similar objectives to try and reverse the negative

momentum of the last several years in afghanistan. and they have been searching individually and together to try and find a way to do that. i think that the obama administration has accepted that president karzai is going to be the president of afghanistan, and they're now looking at how to work with his government in order to achieve some of those steps. >> ifill: let me ask you this-- does this mean putting issues like corruption on the back burner gihope not. i think what they're trying to do, in addition to repairing the personal relationship between the presidents-- and this you see there are 15 cabinet members. they're meeting with a lot of our cabinet officials. they're trying to broaden the relationships so that this isn't just about obama and karzai or hole brook and karzai. it's about two governments trying to work together on a problem, and i think significantly, it was strongly emphasized today, they're trying

to look past july 2011. they're trying to say this is a long-term partnership that transcends these two individuals that transcends any individual and is a long-term partnership that's important for our security and for their security. >> ifill: there are still fundamental differences on things like includingth taliban in the rebuilding of afghanistan or the relationships with iran. how do you past 2011. how do you get past those kinds of potholes? >> i think the key issue has established trust which did not exist, or at least diminished, given some of the interactions, statements, that karzai's perception that the obama administration worked against them. >> ifill: the vice president was tough on them. the national security council was tough on them. >> i'm proposing that's what he believes happened. and president obama

did not spend a lot of time with president karzai, unlike president bush who spent spent a lot of purpose time with him i think they had a chance to spend quality time together but i think a lot of issues remain that will determine the future of this relationship and you alulded to a couple of them , but i think the whole issue of july of next year is an issue because in afghanistan, and i think president karzai's mind as well, there is a fear that come july '11, the u.s. will begin to disengage militarily. do we emphasize the political and economic-- that may not be sufficient for success. i think a good start has been made to repair the relationship that has been damaged in recent months, but i think there is a long way to go to have the kind of strong partnership that is

needed , that can produce results on the ground. >> ifill: in order to repair that relationship, in order to create this kind of strong-- recreate this kind of strong partnership, does-- do they have to degree to disagree on things like iran and engaging the taliban? >> i think there are certain things that are fundamental to u.s. engagement in the region, and there are certain things that we can allow the afghans to deal with. on the iranian question, there's no question that the -- that iran and afghanistan need to have a positive relationship. they share a large border. they cooperate on a lot of issues-- energy, security , narcotics-- and that relationship has to exist and will continue inconfidential. -- indefinitely. i think other issues like corruption, which you raised earlier, are fundamental. and i think the critical thing there is our shared objectives include building the legitimacy of the afghan government, and corruption is one of the things that has undermind fundamental

ly the legitimacy of the afghanistan government and emboldened the--. >> ifill: is it the kind of conversation that won't happen in public anymore? i think it will happen publicly but the way you're going to hear it happening is on specifics. beyond the past broad, vague, generalizations about trying to deal with corruption, since then the afghan government has tried to make specific equipments, like the establishment and empowerment of a high oversight office, that they will undertake prosecutions of ministers and others who are involved in corruption . so we have to translate that discussion from a general, "yes, we generally agree" on some measurable specifics so we can make sure the afghans not only say they're going to do that but they actually are going to do it. >> ifill: what about the civilian casualty issue? this is something that has really been sticking with president karzai.

>> corruption, if i might, for one minute. >> ifill: certainly. >> paradoxally because of the deadline of july of next year, the afghans believe that the u.s. might leave afghanistan. so the sense of confidence about the future has declined. and that in turn, paradoxically, has produced a situation in which the people are becoming short timers than they're thinking and corruption has increased in recent time. i think one of the challenges facing the president-- and i understand the various pressures that has led him to go to the july deadline-- is to how to interpret that more and more , the sense to the afghans the commitment militarily will also be enduring if necessary, but it won't just be economic and political. also, civilian casualtys, i think there are a greater effort to avoid them and you saw

president karzai welcoming the efforts of general mcchrystal on that thought. >> ifill: we will talk about that separately another time. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: an update on the oil spill in the gulf; the big expo in shanghai; the battle against fat for mississippi's children; astronaut neil armstrong's voice in support of the space program; and the stories of two men named wes moore. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: a libyan plane crashed today in tripoli, with only one known survivor. the other 103 people on board perished in the crash. many were from the netherlands. the airbus took off from johannesburg, south africa, and went down as it was preparing to land at tripoli's international airport. a 10-year-old dutch boy was believed to be the sole survivor. he was treated for non-life- threatening injuries. meanwhile, search teams combed through the smoldering debris, and investigators began trying to determine what brought the plane down. seven children and two adults at

a school in china were hacked to death by the owner of the property. it's the fifth major assault on schools and young students in china. the killer returned home after the attack and committed suicide. chinese state media reported the man had argued with the school's manager, who was among the victims. early reports of the incident were removed from chinese web sites, and there was no mention of it on state television's evening news in fear of copycat attacks. today was the first day of britain's new government, a coalition between the conservatives and liberal democrats. the newshour's simon marks has our report. >> reporter: last night, he became britain's prime minister, the conservatives' david cameron moving in to number 10 downing street and ending 13 years of labour party rule. this morning, one of the first visitors to his new home-- the man who made his government possible, nick clegg, leader of the liberal democrats. they headed to the backyard. mr. clegg, now deputy prime minister and, according to mr.

cameron, a pivotal figure in the first formal coalition government the country has seen for 65 years. >> we have for five years , we can act for the long term. >> reporter: leading members of the new government spent the day coming and going in downing street. david cameron has given the liberal democrats five seats in his cabinet, and mr. clegg told reporters this new political alliance will stand the test of time. >> he told reporters this new political alliance will stand test of time. >> there will be bumps and scrapes along the way. we are different parties and we have different ideas. this is a government that will last, despite those differences because we are united by a common purpose for a job we want to do together in the next five >> reporter: but there are skeptics who wonder whether two political parties with very limited shared political philosophy can go the distance, and whether they'll find common ground on key issues that

divided them on the campaign trail, including the economy, electoral reform and foreign and defense policy. their alliance is governed by a seven-page agreement that insists they can. it promises, among other things, to introduce five year, fixed- term sessions of parliament, effectively ending the british prime minister's age-old discretion to pick the date of the country's election at the most politically advantageous moment. nick clegg will head up the effort to reform the british political system. but one reporter reminded the two 43-year-olds now governing britain just how recently they were at odds. >> reporter: mr. clegg did come back for the rest of the press conference. for david cameron, the trick now will be to keep him onside for the next five years. >> sreenivasan: also today, the bidding for leadership of the now opposition labour party began. former foreign minister david miliband announced he'll be a candidate for the post.

supreme court nominee elena kagan made the rounds on capitol hill today. she began her courtesy calls this morning with senate leaders from both parties. later, she met with members of the judiciary committee, the panel that will hold her confirmation hearing. majority leader harry reid said he'll ensure that her transition will be made as smooth as possible. minority leader mitch mcconnell said kagan must prove she won't "rubber stamp" obama administration policies. the federal budget deficit hit an all-time high for april. the treasury department figures showed it soared to $82.7 billion. economists had predicted a number closer to $30 billion. it's the largest imbalance for april on record. april is normally a month that runs surpluses from taxpayers filing income tax returns. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 148 points to close at 10,897. the nasdaq rose nearly 50 points to close at 2,425. those are some of the day's main stories. i'll be back at the end of the program with a preview of what you'll find tonight on the newshour's web site.

but for now, back to judy. >> woodruff: now, the latest on the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. b.p. and coast guard officials said today they were hopeful a new containment dome would capture some leaking oil as early as tomorrow night. that came amid new questions in washington today about failsafe equipment. newshour correspondent tom bearden reports. >> reporter: late into the night, workers lowered a second containment dome into the gulf of mexico in another attempt to finally cap the blown-out well. engineers worked to configure it today to avoid slush buildup that last week doomed an effort to cap the well with a much bigger dome. but in washington, lawmakers said their patience was waning as top officials from the companies in charge of running and operating the rig appeared for a second day on capitol hill.

>> as the result of the b.p. deepwater disaster, lives have been lost, lives threatened, and huge ecosystem endangered, we have duty to find out what happened here. >> reporter: the house subcommittee on oversight and investigations held today's hearing as part of its own inquiry into the spill. michigan democrat bart stupak said their investigation found there was a critical failure in a device on the sea floor that was designed to prevent a leak in an emergency. >> the blowout preventer had a significant leak in a key hydraulic system. this leak was found in the hydraulic system that provides emergency power to the shear... to the shear rams, which are the devices that are supposed to cut the drill pipe and seal the well. >> reporter: jack moore, the c.e.o. of cameron, the blowout preventer's manufacturer, said it was too early to draw any conclusions.

>> we don't know what happened. i think that's what we're trying to learn, and until we know what happens with this investigation, we will not be able to answer if that blowout preventer was functioning for that purpose. >> reporter: california's henry waxman, a democrat, also said the committee's investigation found the oil rig failed a pressure test just hours before the april 20 explosion. the c.e.o. of the rig's owner, transocean, acknowledged that the test may have been a signal of trouble. >> it would lead to a conclusion that there was something happening in the well bore that shouldn't be happening. >> reporter: texas democrat gene green also pressed transocean's c.e.o. about statements rig workers signed in the aftermath of the spill. one of the survivors told the newshour in an interview this week that some workers felt pressured to sign waivers soon after the accident saying they didn't witness the blast and were not injured. >> can you comment on the

statements these employees were forced to take, and is there a copy we could see? >> we absolutely will provide the copy of the statements, and i can categorically deny that they were forced to sign. >> reporter: joe barton, a republican from texas, also criticized the companies, but warned lawmakers shouldn't overreact. >> we'll find out facts and take corrective measures, but what we should not do is make a decision to fence off the outer shelf, to use this like three mile island and set back domestic production for the next 20 30 years. >> reporter: but the massive oil spill and its effects along the gulf coast have already begun shaping legislative action in washington. this afternoon, lawmakers from the senate unveiled a long-

delayed energy and climate bill. >> right now, as one of the worst spill in history washes to our shores, no one can doubt how urgently we need a new energy policy. >> reporter: the thousand-page bill would impose the first mandatory caps and prices on greenhouse gas emissions, and calls for a 17% cut in carbon pollution from 2005 levels. but it would also allow coastal states to veto drilling off the shores of neighboring states if they think it will lead to harm. for its part, the obama administration unveiled new legislation today to make sure b.p. pays for ever-growing costs and damage. the white house will ask congress to raise a prior liability cap that could limit damages b.p. has to pay, add a penny-per-barrel tax to replenish a federal cleanup fund, and provide assistance for fishermen and others affected by the spill. here in new orleans' french quarter, seafood restaurants are among the biggest tourist attractions, but the products are becoming increasingly scarce, and some people are

beginning to as if they're safe to eat. gary wollerman is the owner and manager of g.w. finn's restaurant, just off bourbon street. the restaurant didn't get a local seafood delivery today, but are getting fish from other parts of the gulf. he says supply is down, but is adequate for the moment. and he says a few customers are asking questions about some of the things they see on his menu. what do you tell people when they ask about safety? >> that there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. in fact, i'm almost a little surprised by the question when i get it. nobody is going to risk serving unsafe food to anybody. >> reporter: wollerman says there are redundant levels of food inspection that simply won't allow bad seafood to reach the markets and restaurants. he says the state is desperately trying to reassure the country about the state's seafood. >> we cannot afford an economic tragedy, or to have our markets

completely collapse because people, they have a perception across the nation that our seafood is completely tainted or whatever. >> the overall impact of our fisheries is $2.4 billion to this state. we represent about 30% of all the domestic seafood harvested in the continental united states comes from our state. >> reporter: smith says national demand hasn't fallen yet, and local demand is actually, as gulf coast residents stock up against the possibility of a shortage in the future. >> ifill: now, a story from the banks of the huangpu river in china. that's in shanghai, where ray suarez has been reporting for our global health unit. off at the huge international as part of his trip, he stopped off at the huge international expo 2010, which launched there this month. jeffrey brown spoke with him yesterday. >> two years ago was the olympics in buying. now the world's fair in shanghai. another chance for china to show its new place in the world, right? >> a lot of worlds fairs over the jeerz, jeff, have only able to

attract two-thirds, three-quarters, of the world's nation to come to its playground. when china anouxed it was going to host the world expo in 2010, it got, properlyly, everybody to come. close to 200 nations and continents and regional groups around the world are represented here with civilians. it's part trade fair, part nationalist festival, part cultural events. but china certainly has shown its power as a cob vening country. it snapped its fingers, and the world is here. >> so what are you seeing here? what are all these countries, including the u.s., doing with their exhibitions? >> well, there's a strong theme internationally of energy efficiency reducing carbon emission, the world trying to get to grips with this program and maybe shanghai is a good place to have that international conversation as china is on the road to becoming the greenest and blackest nation on earth, both the number one emitter and really , in the vanguard of trying to figure

out ways of more efficiently developing renewable energy. that's a very strong theme. a lot of the countries have done the regular world's fair thing, which is native dress, national foods, national music, and culture, and so there are shows, and you can hear music all around the fair as you walk around during the day. the u.s. has kind of an interesting story. they were having some real troubles raising the money for the fair, as it is against the law it use government money to build an american display at an international exhibition like this one. the secretary of state hillary clinton stepped in and basically started shaking the trees and appointed new heads for the american delegation and put her own stam to raise private money to be here , and a who's who of american corporations have stepped up and ponyed up, and there is an american pavilion. the head of our delegation said it would have been unthinkable

not to be here , and so the u.s.a also has some of the longest lines here at the expo. >> with the olympics there was the mix of the spectacular alongside the issues of the heavy hand of the government trying to control things. was there that same mix on display here? >> shanghai cleared the land for this world expo. basically , we locate relocating 18,000 families to other parts of the region. the government says they were almost all compensated and able to agree to a fair price to replace their house and to be moved elsewhere. we kind of have to take their word for it. but it is an example of the kind of four that a regional government has, that it can, without an endless string of hearings and environmental impact statements and discussions, basically say, "well, we're taking this land . let's make a deal," and they moved an awful lot of people out

of here to get access. and by doing so they opened up the two banks of the huangpu river, at a place where all around it, tremendous skyscrapers and tremendously intense development is going on. so they've created what cities would really lust for all around the world, ready-for-development land right in the heart of town. it's going to end up being some of the most expensive real estate in the world. >> and finally, ray, give us a preview of the stories you're working on. >> well, jeff, we -- we we'll move around china to talk about obesityy, which is a rapidly rising problem in this country, in part because it's becoming a more prosperous place where it had been a place of periodic famine and chronic food shortage in the past. 00 so we'll be looking at obesity. 90 to 100 million chinese are obese but that great is growing 9%, to 10% a year.

also, the government runs a monopoly on cigarettes and is a major producer of cigarettes and a major grower of tobacco. at the same time, as another arm of the government is trying to urge chinese not to smoke. the health care system is very fragile. very over-border burdened in this country, and if you play out these trends in obesity and smoking for the decades to come , china's going to have a whaleave public health problem on its hands if it doesn't come to grips with it now. those are some of the stories along with the shanghai fair and the remarkable economic changes in this part of chine pap those are some of the stories we'll be telling in the coming week. >> okay, we'll await those sfrpz ray suarez at the shanghai world expo. thanks a lot. >> good to talk to you, jeff. >> woodruff: and speaking of obesity, we turn next to a campaign in the u.s. to reduce the problem among children. that's a signature issue for first lady michelle obama. yesterday, she made public recommendations from a federal

task force on how to tackle the epidemic. she called for government help in reducing sugar in children's diets, increasing the number of fruits and vegetables they eat, working to open larger grocery stores in under-served areas, known as "food deserts," and boosting the number of kids in physical education classes. the first lady said those goals were achievable. >> we just need everyone to do their part. and it's going to take everyone. no one gets off the hook on this one-- from governments to schools, corporations to non- profits, all the way down to families sitting around their dinner table. >> woodruff: newshour health correspondent betty ann bowser has been looking into how one state with a big problem is trying to make some big changes. here is the first of two reports she will file from mississippi. the health unit is a partnership with the robert wood johnson foundation. >> reporter: the state of mississippi00 is doing battle

with one of its most cherished culinary traditions-- fried food. kids in mississippi00 are the most obese in the nation . so in january, using federal and private money, 94 of the state's 1,055 schools got rid of the food fliers in their cafeterias, and replaced them with special combination steam ovens that don't use any kind of cooking oil. out went the deep-fat-fried chicken and pork chops and in came potatoes baked. the move did not sit well with a lot of the teenagers at palmer high school. when we heard from student was typical. >> just don't like it.

>> i understand they're being healthful with the food. everybody can't cooked baked food. it don't taste right. >> reporter: obesity is not just a mississippi problem. the c.d.c. says 30% of all american children between two and 19 are too heavy or obese. triple the number of 30 years ago. and according to a new report published this month, the percentage of obese girls increased more than twice as much as it did for boys among middle and high school kids. and between 203 and 2007 , black and hispanic kids were twice as likely as their white counter to be overweight and obese, but nowhere are the numbers more sobering than in mississippi where 44% of kids aged 10-17 are considered overweight or obese compared it nearly 32% nationwide. that extra weight puts them at

risk for diabetes , high blood pressure , stroke, cancer, and other causes of premature death when they grow up. >> i've seen numerous patients that have had a lot of ill effects from carrying too much weight , overlappinging to diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol. >> reporter: dr. lawrence couch is an internist at a community center in nearby clarksdale, where some obese kids go for treatment. he says some of them develop serious medical problems as early as their teen years. >> i've seen them progress to end stage recently disease. i've seen them to have a heart attack at age 28 and that's hard to imagine, 25, 28-year-old having a heart attack, but i have patients that are like that. and that's scary. >> reporter: it's estimated more than 50% of obese children will become obese in adulthood. last year, alone, treating adult

obesity-related illnesses cost near $147 billion. mississippi already has the highest rate of obese adults in the nation . it's a problem those who serve as role models struggle with, like kirkpatrick elementary school principal suzanne walt. >> i have been diagnosed obese. my husband has just been diagnosed diabetes, so together we're changing the way we eat and preerp food and we both can tell a difference also. >> reporter: walton says she'll do whatever she can to improve their students' health. they will bring nay yoga teacher twice a week. studentss are also screen forward body mass index, oh, b.m.i., which determines what a healthy weight is for each child.

>> work on it a little bit to knock the number down, and then you'll be more healthier. >> we are beginning to see a small difference. i think it's going to take some time. but i think we will eventually make a difference with these children. >> reporter: and kirkpatrick isn't the only school making the effort. >> as an activity... >> reporter: in 2007, mississippi passed a law requiring public schools to provide 45 minutes of health education instruction and 150 minutes of physical activity each week for grades k-8. until then, gym class had been optional. and lower calorie, lower fat food are replacing some of the high-starch lunch room staples that food service managers in poor countys have a hard time finding a way to bring the more-expensive fresh fruits and vegetables into their cafeterias. is it & this is what walton and other community leaders are up against. we visited this buffet nearby.

it featured homestyle southern cuisine-- fried chicken and pork chop chops, vegetables cooked in bacon fat, hot corn bread and rolls slathered in butter. >> culturally, this is fat heaven. if it's not grease or dmookd fat or fried, it's not edible. >> reporter: dr. rouseen is the state's health officer for 18 countys in northwest mississippi. >> today we have an abundance of processed food, and the whole unite, our country has , each individual has 3500 calories available every day. that's what we have in food in the pipeline. and you only need 1200 for what we do. it's def estating. if you constantly consume excess calories and most of of those are going to come from the processed food that are rich in calories. >> reporter: more than 97% of children in the county and surrounding areas come from familys that have incomes so low

their kids qualify for the federal government's free school breakfast and lunch programs. that means two of their daily meals are eaten at school. >> i stay within my ability life. >> reporter: delores clayton is the health teacher at palmer high school. >> you have to be honest. this is the only food kids get is here at school. you may not believe it, but it's not always at home for them. and i've heard kids say, "well, i'll just eat at school." some of them just don't have anything at home, period. >> reporter: but some kids are trying to change. 17-year-old victoria crawford say junior at palmer high. she's dropped two clothing sizes since she started paying attention to her diet. >> i feel great. i can-- i just walk and i enjoy it. i didn't like to be outside in the sun because it was too hot. i'm out more than i used to. >> reporter: victoria got the whole family into the act,

including her grandmother, 63-year-old freddie johnson, who does most of the family's cooking. >> and i went to the doctor, like, in january , and i went back again in march , i had lost 11 pounds. i said, wow, i like this. and it made me feel good, you know. i have more energy. and i like that. i get around better. my back don't bother me. >> reporter: mrs. johnson also no longer needs medication to control her high blp. >>. we just start here, getting our weight down and myself at the age i am, getting my weight down and seeing how active i am... >> reporter: despite a changing time in this one household and in schools across the state, health officials acknowledge their war against fat is going to take time. it will be

an uphill climb. >> woodruff: betty ann's next story looks at so-called "food deserts" in mississippi, where large grocery stores are few and far between. >> ifill: next, the reclusive astronaut neil armstrong came to capitol hill today to make a rare public pitch about his passion for space exploration. congressional correspondent kwame holman tells the story. >> one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> holman: those words, on july 20, 1969, instantly made american astronaut neil armstrong an international hero to the 500 million who watched on tv, and millions more who listened on radio when he became the first person to step on the surface of the moon. armstrong was dedicated to the mission from its early stages. after taking those historic steps, armstrong worked briefly at nasa, taught about space, and worked in the computer industry, but rarely made public appearances.

he refused most media requests, choosing instead a quiet life in an ohio farming town. armstrong has gone public to promote space flight and served on two nasa panels-- to review the accident that nearly destroyed apollo 13 in 1970, and to investigate the explosion of the "challenger" shuttle in 1986. armstrong declares that "space is the frontier," but mostly stayed out of debates over nasa policy in the last four decades until this year. when president obama announced he was ending the constellation program aimed at returning astronauts to the moon in favor of a concentration on basic space science, armstrong and fellow former astronauts eugene cernan and jim lovell released a statement calling the decision "devastating." mr. obama's plan would boost nasa's budget by $6 billion over five years, focusing on spurring the private space transportation industry, while nasa looks to develop rockets to take crews to asteroids, the moon and,

eventually, mars. at a senate hearing today, armstrong said the president should have stayed the course. and continuing that investment, sharing it with the rest of the world, has been made wisely. >> holman: but john holdren, director of the office of science and technology, said the administration's goal is to find new ways to explore space. >> we couldn't have it both ways, couldn't continue to invest in the old program at levels it was requiring and invest in these possibilities. >> holman: but armstrong said what will be lost cannot be regained. >> america's respected for its contributions it has made in learning to sail on this new ocean. it's a leadership we have acquired through our investment

is simply allowed to fade away. other nations will surely step in where we have faltered. i do not believe that would be in our best interests. >> reporter: going forward, neil armstrong wants congress to override nasa and fund more immediate human missions to space. >> woodruff: finally tonight, two men-- one name, two different lives. why does one go one way and not the other? that's the theme of baltimore native wes moore's new book about choices and expectations. to hear this wes moore tell it, his new book-- "the other wes moore"-- about two boys living in baltimore with similar stories and an identical name-- can be traced back to a conversation he had with his mother a decade ago. >> i was a junior at johns hopkins at the time, i was doing a study abroad in south africa, and my mother calls to say, "i've got something crazy to tell you.

there are posters in your neighborhood looking for wes moore for killing a police officer." and i was like, "what?!" and that's when she said, there are wanted posters all over different homes and buildings saying, "if you see wes moore, do not approach because he's assumed to be armed and very dangerous." and that was really the beginning, and the thing that really triggered my interest to want to learn more about the other wes moore and about his life and circumstances. >> reporter: as the years went by and wes looked more closely at the other wes's life, he found that, while their present circumstances were starkly different, their pasts were very much alike. both weses were raised by their mothers, had troubles in school, and run-ins with the law. but that is where their stories diverge. wes's mother, widowed when he was very young, decided to send him to a military academy in pennsylvania at the age of 13. from there, wes attended johns

hopkins university, and later won a rhodes scholarship to oxford. as an army reservist, he served in afghanistan with the 82nd airborne division. meanwhile, the other wes began dealing drugs, dropped out of school, and fathered his first child at the age of 16. then, in 2001, the other wes was convicted for his role in the shooting death of a baltimore county police sergeant during a jewelry store robbery a year earlier. his sentence-- life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> the story always stuck with me. how did this happen-- where you had two kids, who came up in similar neighborhoods, who were around the same age, who both came up in single-parent households, who both had trouble with school and trouble with the law growing up-- how did this happen that we ended up on two completely different paths? and a few years after i learned about him, i decided to write him a note in prison. so i got his information and wrote him a note with a list of questions, and i sent it off to

jessup correctional institution. and then a month later i get a note back from him, from jessup correctional institution from wes moore, answering a lot of those questions. and that is how the relationship that we've built-- that's how it began. >> woodruff: so he answered the questions, and you wanted to know more about him? >> that letter just triggered more questions, and literally that one letter turned into dozens of letters, and those dozens of letters have turned into dozens of visits. and now, i have visited wes over two dozen times. i know his family, his friends, his kids. so really, that was the origin and the foundation for what the story is built on. >> woodruff: so were there truly that many similarities between the two of you? >> there were. >> there were. in fact, the one thing i realized-- there were even more similarities than what i first thought, as i was just reading the articles. one thing i say in the book is, "the chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. and the tragedy is that my story could have been his." and i think that's absolutely true. >> woodruff: you also write, wes, about expectations. the different expectations-- and you have an important

conversation with the other wes, while he was in prison about that. >> i think expectations play a huge role. as wes even said to me, if people expect you to do well in school, you'll do well in school. and if people expect you to graduate, then you'll graduate. and if people expect you to be on the corner selling drugs, then that's what you'll do as well. you know, one thing my mother always says, and i think it's accurate-- kids need to think that you care before they care what you think. and i think for so many kids, particularly ones who are growing up in precarious environments, many kids don't feel like many people care about them and care about their future. when you have a child who is going to a school that you have a better chance of dropping out than of completing high school, or you live in a city with a recidivism rate of 60% and 70%, or kids who are bullied so bad that they feel like suicide is the best option for them-- it becomes very difficult for kids to carry that burden of adulthood, or that burgeoning adulthood on their own.

>> woodruff: do you really believe that you could have ended up with a fate like his, and he could have ended up with a life like yours? is it really that simple, do you think? >> i do, and especially after talking with him so much, and learning about his life and his history, and learning about his family. i think about some of the decisions i made, and had it not been for a lot of luck, had it not been for people stepping up for me when the didn't have to, had it not been for my mother taking some pretty aggressive and creative decisions on where i was going to go to school and how i was going to be, i could have easily seen myself going in another direction. and also because, i know the kids who i grew up with, and i know for so many kids i grew up with, their story is a lot closer to wes's than it is to mine. and i look at wes-- wes is not a learned guy. he doesn't have a bunch of letters after his name, but he's a very smart guy. and he's very insightful about the neighborhoods and the communities and things that are going on. and this is also a guy with leadership ability. when he was 14 and 15 years old,

he was running a significant drug operation in baltimore. so this is a guy who understands the basics of leadership and the basics of... and has a basic understanding of what life was like, and has a lot intellectual capacity, and just made some unforgivable decisions. so i honestly believe, had there been that proper intervention in his life, or had there not been that proper intervention in my life, that our fates absolutely could have been definitely different from where they ended up. >> woodruff: so then, what are the lessons from this. at the end of the book you list a number of agencies, resources for people to turn to in inner- city situations like here in baltimore. but what should people take away? because you look at somebody like the other wes moore, and he has no hope for the rest of his life. what can give people hope? >> i think the thing that can give people hope is when they are able to see these stories, they're able to see just how blurry at times that line is between the people that we will look to and admire, and the people who we admonish and push off to the side.

the... our potency as people, our potency as human beings is beyond our capacity that's in front of us right now. and sometimes it's simply things, simple conversations, it's a simple tutoring session. it's simply showing someone that you care enough about their future and care enough about their life, and the massive amount of impact you can have-- not just on their life-- but on the lives that they're going to touch as well. i think the larger point of this is that this book-- i don't want it to be a novel that people just pick up and say, "great story" and throw off the side. it's a call to action. it's a call to action for every community, for every environment, both rural and urban, because the fact is there are wes moores in every community in this country. the question is, which type of wes moores are we helping to foster, and what type of environment are we helping to create for them? >> woodruff: wes moore, author of "the other wes moore," thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you so much. thank you. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: president obama met with afghan president hamid karzai at the white house.

and a congressional investigation found a key safety device failed on the deepwater horizon oil rig hours before it exploded. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: there's more on childhood obesity. ray is filing web dispatches; read tonight's about china's zigzagging path to modernity. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening with an interview with general stanley mcchrystal, commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, among others. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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