please, first warmly welcome the ceo of the corporation for public broadcasting, pat harrison. >>> i want to thank bob for all he's doing to help america become a grad nation. it's great to be with so many people concerned with america's young people and putting that concern into action through america's promise alliance. as alma powell says in the grad nation report, we can't afford excuses. and america's promise alliance is one of the most effective and largest partnerships increasing champions for the nation's children and champions never make excuses. they do work toward the mission every single day. and our kids really need these champions. we should think of them as our kids. our best and brightest. because that's how they start out. believing that they do have a bright future. believing that they can be among the best. who do eventually graduate. but somewhere along the way, they lose their way. and when that happens, they and we all lose. because, as their success goes forward or it falters, or it fails, so goes our nation. let me tell you what the nation's public media statio

our first big institutional alignment with the civic marshall plan is the corporation for public broadcasting's american graduate initiative presented by pat harrison, their dynamic president and ceo. i can tell you, i think it's one of the most exciting developments we've had in the last year. grad nation has seen the power of media to raise awareness and spur action to address the high

additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator again. gwen: good evening. rick santorum is out. newt gingrich and ron paul inexplicably are still in. but all that matters now is mitt romney and barack obama racing to define the other as a man you do not want to be president. romney made his case today in st. louis at the national rifle association convention. >> the truth is we're struggling because our government is too big, not because of our stimulus being too small. i'm running for president because i have the experience and vision to get us out of this mess. gwen: the president spent his week pushing for the buffett rule, which would raise taxes on the nation's well-yest, which is something he thought ronald reagan would have supported. >> he thought the wealthiest should pay their fair share and he said so what ronald reagan was calling for then is the same thing we're calling for now. a return to basic fairness

additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. i suppose there are one or two of you out there who are still at the edge of your seat, waiting for the general election to officially begin. wait no more, because this week offered no-looking-back evidence that barack obama and mitt romney are in their corners, and the bell just rang. the fight, as well outline tonight, will be about policy as well as politics. example number one -- the president this week challenged republicans to extend low interest rates for a college loan program. romney said yes, they should be kept low. but for congressional republicans, there was a catch. the house voted today for the extension, but only if the cost comes out of the presidents health care plan. the white house, in response, called it a "politically motivated proposal and not the serious response that the problem facing americas college students deserves

and the corporation for public broadcasting. >>> welcome, i'm bob abernethy.t's good to have you with us. second-degree murder charges were filed this week against george zimmerman, the volunteer neighborhood watchman who shot and killed unarmed teenager, trayvon martin. e anuncement came after weeks of protests demanding zimmerman's arrest. several religious groups also called for an investigation into martin's death. recent polls show that attitudes about the case vary dramatically by race. joining me with more on this are kim lawton, managing editor of this program, and harold dean trulear, associate professor of applied theology at howard university in washington, d.c., and national director of the healing communities prisoner re-entry initiative. professor, welcome, we're glad to have you here again. >> thank you, it's my privilege. >> good to see you again. >> the contrast in the way people saw this case in florida just couldn't have been more stark. overwhelming differences in the way whites and blacks saw it and what they saw in it. how did you see it?

additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. we had a severe case of political overlap this week as the president took on the supreme court, mitt romney took on the president, rick santorum took on mitt romney, and all the while, the economy continued its slow recovery. we'll tackle it all in a special roundtable tonight beginning with a sudden jump-start for the general election. from now on, almost everything that happens in policy and politics will have to be viewed through that lens. but don't tell rick santorum. he says the fat lady has not yet sung. >> we've got a strng base of support here -- strong base of support here. we're going to work very hard and get into may. may looks very, very good. there's a move in texas to make texas a winner take all state. you throw those 154 delegates on our pile and all of a sudden this race becomes a very different race. gwen: perhaps. but romney has

, rethink possible, additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. we are experts here in washington at the fine art of distraction. from dogs to shuttle fly-bys which was pretty cool by the way. but most americans remain focused like a laser beam as a certain former president used to say on the state of the economy. and no matter what you hear, the candidates for president know it. and they know where to go to talk about it. the general election battleground state of ohio. >> should we settle for an economy where a few people do really well and then a growing number are struggling to get by? or do we build an economy where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does their fair share and everybody's playing by the same set of rules? [applause] >> now, as you can tell, we're in a factory. this factory is empty. it's owned by national gypsum. it was closed in 2008 at the beginning of the economic downturn.

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan, committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, supportingnvestigative rertinand terprise journalism. (man speaking japanese) >> (translated): on march 11, there was a relaxed atmosphere at work. i was at my computer, writing reports. before that day, we'd had a few earthquakes, around magnitude four. then, i think it was about 2:46 pm, i felt an incredible rumbling in the earth. it was like nothing i'd ever experienced. >> narrator: the earthquake that shook the fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant was the most powerful to strike japan since records began. the company that operates the plant, tepco, has forbidden its workers from spe

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the u.s. supreme court heard arguments today over arizona's immigration law. the justices appeared skeptical of the administration's claim that the state had overstepped federal law. following the arguments, supporters and critics of the measure made their case outside the court. >> this law is a paradigm of cooperation with the federal government. the law mirrors federal law so we drafted the arizona statute so that it uses the exact terminology, the exact phrasing of federal law. so all it says is that if some behavior is prohibited at the federal level then we're going to make it a state crime as well. that is mirroring and supporting the federal government. when the justice department sued arizona that was an unprecedented thing in american because never before has the justice department sued a state for trying to help. >> it is clear that in america we should not have laws in which 50 states have

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: millions of american taxpayers scrambled today to get their returns in on time. the annual deadline came against the backdrop of a growing discussion about who should pay what in taxes. >> too many people no longer recognize that private wealth creation requires public investment. >> ifill: filing day 2012 brought protests and rallies around the country both for tax cuts and tax fairness. the issues are intertwined and have become key debating points in congress and in the presidential campaign. in recent days, president obama pushed again for tax fairness in the form of a so- called buffet rule. >> you might have heard of this but warren buffet is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. now that's wrong. that's not fair. >> ifill: the president wanted a minimum 30% tax rate on people making more than a million dollars a year. >> i'm saying you're bringing in a million bucks or more a year. then w

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan, committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, with a grant from millicent bell through the millicent and eugene bell foundation. major funding for this program is provided by the alfred p. sloan foundation, supporting public understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. >> o'brien: passed. there's something that's both scary and awesome about nuclear energy. >> it will you give the rate at which you're receiving radiation as well as how much you've accumulated. >> o'brien: oh, i see. thanks to the magic of nuclear fission, this plant, indian point, generates about a quarter of new york city's electricity, with no

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the conflict in syria threatened to spread today, as plans for a cease-fire appeared close to collapsing. syria fired at refugees across the turkish border, and in lebanon, a television cameraman was reportedly shot and killed by syrian soldiers. we have a report from alex thomson of independent television news. a warning: this story contains some disturbing images. >> reporter: today the syrianr civilxdç international frontier. >> they fired from two sides and wound more than four people whom we took to the hospital. but three people who were wounded died in the camp because we could not evacuate them. >> reporter: they shout "god is great" as shots ring out at the turkish-syrian border. nobody knows why syria6dçó forcs appear to haveÑi fired into a turkish refugee camp toda2Ñ, but at least one person was killed. several more injured.ÑiñrçóÑl÷dq and still they começswxdñ;b showing exhausted people gu

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. and by reva & david logan. coitteto investiti journali as thgudian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. additional funding for this program and for frontline's expanded broadcast season is provided by the bill and melinda gates foundation. >> thompson: i'm heading to amarillo, texas, to investigate a case that began 11 years ago. it was a saturday morning, and a mechanic named ernie lopez was babysitting the children of a local doctor at his home. the youngest was six-month-old isis vas. >> i fed the kids breakfast. i had them on the kitchen table, and i had isis in her swing. she had her bottle but she wasn't eating it. so i got her out of the sw

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan, committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, with a grant from millicent bell, through the millicent and eugene bell foundation. >> bergmacsi is the most watched drama series in the world, brimming with flash and glamour, where cutting-edge forensic technology always reveals the truth. (siren wailing) but crime scene investigations in the real world are rarely so simple. >> (on radio): go ahead. >> county 51, can you advise the tow yard that's housing the 187 vehicle from the ninth? case number 275. >> 10-4, you there? >> negative. i need to know so i can... >> 10-4, give me just a momen. i'm finishing up with a spanish interpreter.

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan. committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. ( phones ringing ) >> smith: the news broke on december 11, 2008, and within seconds, phones were ringing around the world. ( phones ringing ) michael bienes was in london when he got a phone call from his business partner, frank avellino. >> "and i said, frank, what's wrong?" because i could hear it in his voice. "michael, bernie madoff..." i said, "he died." in a nanosecond, "he died." "...was arrested..." i said, "oh, no," and then another nanosecond-- "...sex crime or some [no audio], you know?" "...for stock fraud." >> s