>> axelrod: tonight, the battle over medicare moves to florida. chip reed is with republican vice presidential candidate pal ryan in the sunshine state. >> medicare should be the promise that is made to our current seniors, period, end of story. >> axelrod: drought has devastated many crops this summer, but john brennan tells us the heat's been sweet for fruits and vegetables. elect cars were supposed to jump start the economy of elkhart, indiana. sharyl attkisson tells us how a taxpayer-funded plan has stalled. and ben tracy from glacier national park where the ice is melting at a shocking rate. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. we begin tonight with

presidential politics in florida, the richest prize of the 11 battleground states with 29 electoral votes. today, paul ryan made his first trip to the state as part of the republican's pumpive ticket. chip reed is traveling with paul ryan. >> reporter: paul ryan came to center florida to make the case for medicare reform and he made that politically perilous argument right here in the villages, one of the largest retirement communities in the the nation. paul ryan brought his 78-year-old mother, betty, to the rally in the villages. >> i want to introduce you to my mom. >> reporter: where he promised the romney-ryan plan to medicare would not affect her or anyone else over age 55. >> how many of you are 55 or over? our plan does not affect the benefits for people who are in or near retirement. >> reporter: as for people now under 55, the details of the romney-ryan plan are still vague, but the basic idea is that seniors would get

government subsidies to purchase private insurance or traditional medicare. >> you save it for this generation. you have to reform it for my generation so it doesn't go bankrupt when we retire. >> reporter: for years the democrats have had the political advantage in the debate over the program's future, but mitt romney and paul ryan believe medicare's huge contribution to the towering national debt has changed the equation. >> we want this debate. we need this debate. and we are going to win this debate. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: here in the villages, where republicans outnumber democrats two to one, ryan's message was warmly received. >> we have to do something to change. otherwise we're going bankrupt. there's no way we can keep it as it is now. >> reporter: as ryan spoke and the crowd cheered, a banner circled overhead, a reminder of how emotional seniors can be anw politically risky it is even to suggest reform, especially here in florida, where 17% of residents are 65 and older, the highest in the nation.

earlier this week in virginia, vice president joe biden predicted the republican plan will backfire when people under 55 start to realize that medicare as they know it today might not be there for them. >> now, they'll tell you, "y'all are 65 or 66, you're not going to be affected now. but, man, we're waiting to get these next guys coming. >> reporter: before mitt romney chose paul ryan as his running mate the republican campaign was all about the economy. now they're talk become medicare. and, jim, it's a high-stakes gamble that could turn out to be a big winner or a major mistake. >> axelrod: chip reed reporting from florida. president obama took the medicare debate to another battleground state, new hampshire. in windam, the president argued the republican plan would cost seniors more than $6,000 a year while his program saves them money. >> i've made reforms that have extended the life of the program

program, that have saved seniors with medicare, hundreds of dollars on prescription drugs. the only changes to your benefits that i've made on medicare is that medicare now covers new preventive services like cancer screenings and wellness visits for free. >> axelrod: mitt romney was one state away fund-raising in massachusetts. the republican visited vacation spots in nantucket, martha's vineyard, and cape cod. some donors paid as much as $75,000 to attend the events. now to rush awhere some female punk rockers find themselves in the middle of a growing controversy. it all started when the group performed a song critical of russian leader vladimir putin. a judge then threw the book at the young women. kelly cobiella picks up the story. >> reporter:'s most famous punk rockers began serving their sentence today-- a year and a half in prison with credit for time served. the judge called them a danger

to society, hooligans who incited religious hatred, all because of this. their band, pussy riot, used ruciala's most sacred stage, moscow's main cathedral to lash out at president vladimir putin and the russian orthodox church for supporting him. crashing the cathedral didn't get them arrested. that happened nearly two weeks later when their video went viral. big-name musicians like madonna took up their cause, along with world leaders, who condemned the verdict and sentence. across the globe, fans of the band grabbed facemasks and staged protests of their own, demanding the women be freed, and accusing putin of trying to silence free speech and dissent. the kremlin was already moving in that direction after massive demonstrations against putin and his political party. protesters risk harsher fines, even prison time. yet, putin recently hinted this case might be different.

"i don't think they should be judged too harshly," he said. adding, "it was in the court's hands, not his." the band's supporters and the opposition don't believe it the leader of the main opposition party said the verdict was written by putin himself. he punished people who posed no threat. the band members plan to appeal, but they don't think they'll win and they don't seem to care as they were led out of the courtroom, one said, "we are happy because we brought the revolution closer." kelly cobiella, cbs news, london. >> axelrod: at the university of southern california today, protesters for immigrants' rights held an old-fashioned teach-in to explain a new program designed to protect undocumented workers brought to the u.s. as children from deportation. the program comes with strict guidelines, and terrell brown met one young person who just missed out. >> reporter: were there gangs where you were? >> yes. >> reporter: this

one-year-old, who asked cbs news to protect her identity, thread el salvador at the age of 16. she said the gang violence was so bad, she was too afraid to go to school. >> i like to go at the school, but i didn't want to. because i was scared to be outside. >> reporter: she left her country behind for an expensive, grueling, six-week journey alone to the united states. she said smugglers dealt harshly with those who didn't pay their way. >> they killed them in the middle of the dessert. >> reporter: did you see it? >> yeah. >> reporter: the department of health and human services says it's placed more than 11,000 immigrant children in shelters this yeerks more than twice than a year ago. the majority of central american and believed to be fleeing drug and gang violence. three nations, guatemala, el salvador and honduras, have some of the highest murder rates in the world. wendy young of kids in need of

defense, says these children need psychological counseling and lawyers. >> it's important to get services into these children so we can talk to them and really find out what's happening in their lives in the home country. why are they coming now and are they eligible for some form of protection in the united states or should they be returned home? >> reporter: what are you hoping for? >> to stay because i wanna make all my dreams to come true. >> reporter: her dream is to become a doctor, but for now, she lives under the threat of deportation, back to a country where her only hope would be to stay alive. terrell brown, cbs of cbs news, new york. >> axelrod: across the nation, the prolonged heat is being blamed for an explosive outbreak of west nile virus. in texas, west nile is blamed for 20 deaths. trucktrucks and planes had been spraying to kill off mosquitoes that carry the virus, but rainstorms have temporarily halted the spraying tonight. the hot, dry weather is part of the worst drought in several

generations, but amid all the devastation, a few benefits, for one, the drought has cut down on the number of tornadoes, near record low this year. and john brennan now reports on another. >> reporter: the worst u.s. drought in 56 years has dried up business for many farmers. but the heat has been sweet for fruit farmers. triple-digit temperatures are bringing out the best in fruit crops this summer. >> plenty of sunshine and the heat. it just keeps the peaches and the trees growing. >> reporter: peach grow ezat thes can mao orchard said the extreme heat has pushed harvest ahead by weeks. >> when the tree grows well, it provides great sugar and flavors to the peach. who doesn't like a great, juicy peach? >> consumers are finding juicier cherries, berries, nelons, and plumbs at outdoor markets and stores. >> all those are going to be

amplified in these high-heat conditions. >> reporter: dave myers is an agnommist. >> when you think about quality fruit you think about something that is sweet and good flavor. if you get too much water you wash out the flavor as well as the sweetness. >> reporter: heat stress is also giving a boost to vineyards. even though there will be fewer grapes harvested, the wine quality will be more intense. >> the flavor itself will start to get more developed, so it's going to have a richer body to it. i actually expect this to be probably up there with the best vint annual that i've personal made and i've been in virginia since 2007. >> reporter: this week the federal government announced the drought impact is beginning to decline, but with harvest ahead of schedule, that means some market fruits could be gone by mid-september. margaret brennan, cbs news, washington. >> axelrod: it may be one of tv's institutions, but nbc is

downsizing the "tonight show." cbs news has learned host jay leno is taking a big pay cut to save jobs at the show. still, two dozen staffers have been fired as part of a cost-cutting move. coming up, a taxpayer-financed bet on a boom in electric cars goes bad. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk

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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! has become boring and tasteless... only one man can save the day... ♪ with his sweet and nutty, sweet and nutty crunchy nut ♪ delicious! [ male announcer ] kellogg's crunchy nut. it's super delicious. >> >> axelrod: elkhart, indiana, lost jobs more than any other city. the government promised to reenergize the city backing a new electric car plan. instead of a boom, things went bust. sharyl attkisson investigates. >> reporter: with unemployment peaking above 20%, elkhart, indiana, was at the white hot

center of the economic meltdown. a natural launch point for president obama's electric vehicle initiative. >> that's why i'm here today, to announce $2.4 billion in highly competitive grants. >> reporter: republican governor mitch daniels was also on board in convincing norwegian company, think global, to open a plant in elkhart to build think city electric cars-- sticker price, about $42,000. as incentive, the federal government offered think city $17 million in stimulus tax credits. dorinda heiden guss heads up the local economic development effort. >> we were excited. we were invigorated at a very devastating time. >> reporter: but it turns out the company had a checkered track record, including three previous bankruptcies. we recently visited think city's indiana plant and here's what we found-- a largely empty warehouse. everybody hoped by this time there would be more than 400 workers inside a bustling plant.

instead, today, there are just two workers at think city. rodney and josh are slowly finishing assembly on a new dozen 2011 models shipped in from norway. we were able to drive a think city car around the empty space, where investors once envisioned an assembly line churning out 20,000 investigation a year. now in its fourth bankruptcy, think global has been bought by a russian investor who didn't return our calls. think's woes also caused one of its investorred, ener1, to file for bankruptcy in january. ener1 spent a $55 million federal government grant to make batteries at this factory in indianapolis for think city cars. what happened? >> the market has not been what everybody anticipated it to be with electric vehicles. >> reporter: indiana hoped to become the electric car capital. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: what would you say about that today? >> you know, you can hope for a lot of things. what reality is, is something different, oftentimes. >> reporter: on the bright side, elkhart's jobless rate is

less than what it was before think city came to town but that's due to an uptick in other manufacturing after electric cars ran out of juice. sharyl attkisson, cbs news, elkhart, indiana. >> axelrod: long before green cars there were muscle cars and in suburban detroit today there were more than 40,000 of them. 16 miles of muscle cars proud along the streets there. the woodward dream cruise is billed as the largest one-day classic carrousel braigz in the world. ahead, young people push for a million new jobs. be properly absorbing it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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remains stubbornly high. nationally the unemployment rate now stands at 8.3%, but among 20- to 24 years old, it's worst, 16.4%. instead of waiting for someone else to help, there is a group of young people taking matters into their own hand. at the age of 25, matthew segal knows firsthand the struggles of his generation. >> many experts and sociologists are saying our generation will be the first one less better off than our parent. >> reporter: segal is the founder of onetime.org, an

organization more than 300,000 strong, all under the age of 30. isn't what you're suggesting, though, make, youth just another special interest? >> we're the largest generation in history, the millennials. secondly, we are going to comprise 75% of the workforce by the year 2025. >> axelrod: young people, jut graduating from college, what are their prospects for jobs? >> roughly, you have a one in two chance of having no job when you graduate. >> axelrod: the people at ourtime, are making job creation their number one issue this election year, and they're thinking big. >> we've said, let's be bold, ambitious, and go for a million. >> axelrod: segal proposes expanding the existing public service program amercore to demonstrate their muscle. they want to collect 1 million digital signatures from people like samantha greenberg. >> i never thought i would have to subsist on granola bars. >> reporter: armed with an ivy

league diploma greenberg entered the job market in may 2011, looking for work in public service. >> if i knew that there was an option to give back to society, work in a service job through the government, through an agency and to also make a living, that would have been completory ideal. >> axelrod: 15 months after graduating, greenberg is still struggling, while segal is trying to mobilize people like her through the internet, enlisting stars like larry david. >> would support any effort to create a new service job. >> axelrod: it will take far more than the enthusiasm of the hollywood set to get congress to fund a program that could cost as much as $18 billion. >> our house of representatives, our senate leaders cannot ignore the voices of a million people signing petitions saying we want jobs and we want to serve our country. >> axelrod: soinar, ourtime has collected more than

signatures. 62-year-old diana nyad hit the water in cuba today, making her third attempt to swim more than 100 miles to u.s. shores. if all goes well, the crossing would take some 60 hours. nyad is making the swim without a shark cage. ahead, it's called the crown of the continent, but the glaciers that gave this national park its name are melting fast.

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>> axelrod: earlier, we told you about the hot weather gripping much of the country. july was the hottest month in the lower 48 states since records starting being kept in 1895, and one place where it's easy to see the effects of that change is montana's glacier national park. ben tracy went there and discovered the ice is disappearing fast. >> reporter: dplaisher national park is an iconic american landscape. its turquoise waters and jacked mountain peaks are aptly called the crown of the continent. >> i think it's a gen is the clouds. >> reporter: corrie holloway has seen the glacial melt that once would have taken a lifetime. >> personally, it's sad. i have kids they would love for them to be able to see this at this stage, you know, and it keeps getting smaller. >> reporter: corey took us on a five-mile hike to the top of grinell glacier. it used to be one of the park's

largest. in 1938 it covered an entire value. between 1981 and 2009, it rapidly dissolved. the glaciers have been shrinking since 1850, yet scientists say human-fueled climate change has made the melt quicker and more extreme. since 1966, 11 have completely melted away. it's true the glaciers would be melting naturally, but scientists believe they'd likely last another 100 years. with the human factor, they say all of these glaciers could be gone in just 10 to 20 years. >> we are into something that is very unusual. >> dan fagre is a scientist with the united states geological survey. what changes are you seeing here in glacier? >> the glaciers are only the most obvious. we've seen changes in our snow pack, for instance. they disappear two to three weeks earlier. we have had a 50-year decline overall on average of the snow pack. and snow feeds everything that you see here. i mean, all the trees, the streams and so forth are all i mean, all the trees, the streams and so forth are all directly impacted by the snow

pack. >> reporter: that water say lives line for the animals thats big horn sheep and mousse. hotter summers are also making the forest drier, leading to more extreme wildfires. how different does this park look 20 or 30 years from now? >> it will still be a terrific landscape to come and enjoy but it will have been changed by climate change. >> reporter: while some may argue about how much humans are to blame, there is no debate that what we are witnessing is the twilight of the glaciers. ben tracy, cbs news, montana. >> axelrod: and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. later on cbs, "48 hours mystery." for all of us here at cbs news, i'm jim axelrod in new york. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org