. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour tonight, judy woodruff is in jacksonville with the latest on the no-holds- barred contest. >> brown: then, we examine president obama's plan to tie college financial aid programs to the institution's affordability. >> suarez: margaret warner updates the situation in syria, as fighting intensified in the city of homs today. >> brown: david brooks and e.j. dionne analyze the week's news. >> suarez: and we close with poet rae armantrout, whose new book, "money shot," deals in part with the financial crisis. >> is to write about the intersection of the public and private. or what's left of the flight our lives. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by bnsf railway. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program

. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour tonight, we have the latest from alex thomson of independent television news, plus we sort through some of the legal and safety issues stemming from such maritime accidents. >> woodruff: we get a campaign 2012 update from christina bellantoni and susan page as the g.o.p. presidential field narrows to five. >> suarez: we look at the rebuilding and recovery efforts in haiti two years after a devastating earthquake killed over 300,000 people and left more than a million homeless. >> woodruff: and we close on this martin luther king, jr., birthday with two takes on his powerful rhetoric. >> i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up. >> we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >. bnsf railway. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and wit

ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: north carolina was by no means the only state to have people sterilized against their will. but it was among the most aggressive in pursuing the policy. roughly 7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974, many of them poor, sick, uneducated, or institutionalized, sometimes through force and coercion. the vast majority of the procedures took place in the years after world war ii, when other states pulled back from such programs. the state apologized for the offenses in 2002. today a task force voted to pay the remaining living victims $50,000 apiece. we look at the history and today's decision with one of the principal activists working with the state's task force. charmaine fuller-cooper is the executive director of a state foundation for victims of sterilization. >> north carolina first became involved in the whole sterilization procedure at the height of eugenics in america, at the height of eugenics we had approximately over 30 states that had sterilization programs with indiana being the first state. ironically north carolina actually didn't s

. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the "newshour" tonight, we look at the state of play in the g.o.p. race, eight days before the first in the south primary. >> woodruff: then, margaret warner looks at president obama's proposal that congress give him the authority to consolidate federal agencies. >> suarez: betty ann bowser reports on the challenges that still remain to find cures for certain cancers even while new advances mean the disease can be managed more effectively. >> for 40 years it's known as the war on cancer. doctors here at uc case of in northern california wonder if it's really a war and if it's winnable. >> woodruff: binyamin applebaum of the "new york times" sifts through newly released transcripts suggesting the federal reserve bank missed early warning signs of the collapse of the housing bubble and subsequent financial crisis. >> suarez: plus mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been pr

ray suarez explores the challenges ahead, beginning with some background. >> suarez: a conveyor-belt manufacturing plant in cedar rapids, iowa yesterday was president obama's first stop on a three-day tour. a major part of his economic message: the u.s. needs a renewed commitment to manufacturing. >> we're going to keep boosting american manufacturing. we're going to keep training workers with the skills they need to find these jobs. we're going to keep creating new jobs in american energy, including alternative energy that's been a source of strength for a lot of rural communities in iowa. >> suarez: the u.s. remains the world's largest manufacturing economy. roughly 9% of the american workforce-- about 12 million americans-- are employed directly in manufacturing today. but as jobs have increasingly moved to asia and elsewhere, the role of manufacturing is down sharply from the industry's heyday. to encourage the opening of new plants, the president is proposing more training, additional education and new tax incentives. but republicans say the president's economic policies have co

ray suarez has that story. >> suarez: amid the glitter of a black-tie fund-raiser in new york city, aownright unglittery guest made his way into the room. dr. hans rosling, a swedish global health professor was given a humanitarian award at the annual action against hunger gala and was the night's star attraction. >> tonight you'll hear from one of the world's most inspired thinkers. ladies and gentlemen, will you join me in giving hans rosling a very warm welcome. ( applause ) >> suarez: over the last five years, this unassuming professor has collected millions of fans around the world with a usually unglitzy topic: statistics. >> 1,000 dollar, 10,000 dollar, 100,000 dollars the difference.... >> suarez: his goal for the evening and the focus of his life's work was to wow his audience and teach it something. he brings to life global health and development statistics, often dense and inaccessible, using a sophisticated visualization software he and his team created. >> because what do we have on the axis? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,, 7, 8. large families, small families. here we have the child mor

ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: since the weekend syrian tanks and troops have been blasting rebel fighters in the suburbs of damascus itself. at least 100 people were killed monday alone. and by today, protestors were left to pick up the wounded since the military regained control. farther north in hommes, more deaths with activists reporting heavy shelling and machine gun fire by the syrian army. all of which means the u.n.'s most recent estimate, more than 5400 syrians killed since march, is already out of date. >> what's going on in syria is an absolute scandal. i've been saying it for weeks not to say months. >> suarez: french foreign minister voiced the west's mounting frustration on french radio today. >> the butchering continues despite the presence of observers who the arab league who have just left. there are dozens or hundreds of deaths every week. this is not acceptable. this president has blood on his hands. it's not possible for him to continue to assume responsibility for his country. >> suarez: he took that message to new york and the united nations where western an

ray suarez has our story. >> suarez: the first car fire broke out just after midnight on friday in the city of west hollywood. four more were reported in quick succession. by the end of the night, the total had reached at least 21 fires in hollywood and west hollywood, mostly in carports and underground garages. nobody was hurt but flames damaged several homes and apartment buildings. the outbreak of apparent arson left firefighters scrambling and residents shaken. >> that's my home. i live there. like i could have died. >> suarez: early saturday morning another 16 suspected arson fires turned cars to charred metal. and new year's eve brought still more. >> it was done while people were sleeping. and that's a scary part. >> suarez: another dozen fires erupted early today. that made more than 50 in at least four separate parts of the los angeles area. over the span of just four nights. it was the region's worst arson spree in two decades. but investigators caught a break with this surveillance video. showing a man with a pony tail. he was coming out of a parking garage on hollywood boul

ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: north carolina was by no means the only state to have people sterilized against their will. but it was among the most aggressive in pursuing the policy. roughly 7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974, many of them poor, sick, uneducated, or institutionalized, sometimes through force and coercion. the vast majority of the procedures took place in the years after world war ii, when other states pulled back from such programs. the state apologized for the offenses in 2002. today a task force voted to pay the remaining living victims $50,000 apiece. we look at the history and today's decision with one of the principal activists working with the state's task force. charmaine fuller-cooper is the executive director of a state foundation for victims of sterilization. >> north carolina first became involved in the whole sterilization procedure at the height of eugenics in america, at the height of eugenics we had approximately over 30 states that had sterilization programs with indiana being the first state. ironically north carolina actually didn't s

ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: if you normally turn to wikipedia to look things up, you'll have to go elsewhere tomorrow. the english version of wikipedia along with other popular sites such as read-it and boing boing will go black for 24 hours to protest anti-piracy legislation. the company has opposed two federal bills to stop on-line piracy act known sass op-a and the protect i.p.act. the legislation could force websites to monitor material from users that may include copyrighted content. it could also give the government the right to block entire websites. major content providers, including the film and recording industry, say they need greater protection from copyright theft. the obama administration said over the weekend it would not support the current versions of the bill. two principal figures from that debate join me now. the ceo of cheese burger, a network of 50 websites it plans to go dark tomorrow. and rick cotton is an executive president at nbc universal which favors the legislation. he's also the chair of the chamber of commerce coalition against piracy. let me s

. >> brown: ray suarez updates the situation in syria, after president assad rejects the arab league's plan to end the ten- month-old crisis. >> ifill: from the philippines, we look at the effort to promote family planning, as the population grows and food supplies dwindle. >> in villages we train and identify community-based distributors like this to be able to sell condoms any time. >> brown: and paul solman sits down with president obama's consumer financial watchdog, richard cordray. >> this is a valid appointment. the law is pretty clear on that. the important thing is we needed a director in order to be able to fulfill the promise to the american people that congress made. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contrib