and to kwame holman for what's on the "newshour" online. kwame? n: for science thursday, hari sreeenivasan spoke with nature photographer joel sartore. he's taking portraits of roughly 6,000 species of captive animals, many of which are endangered. he's about a third of the way through his project. and what would be the impact on small businesses if taxes are raised on the wealthy? paul solman examines that on his making sense page. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. >> suarez: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm ray suarez. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see yoonline and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks among others. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: 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 was made possible by the corporation for public b

and to kwame holman for what's on the newshour online. kwame. >> holman: later tonight, we'll have more from mark and david on "the doubleheader." on "art beat," jeffrey brown has a conversation with irish poet eavan boland, who also reads from her work. a week after the area's worst tornado outbreak in 40 years, we have a video report on recovery efforts in henryville, indiana, from public media station wfyi in indianapolis. all that and more is on our web site, newshourpbs.org. >> suarez: and again to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are nine more. >> suarez: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll look at the second of miles o'brien's reports from fukushima, where he examines the efforts to decontaminate the land around the power plant. i'm ray suarez. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see y

kwame holman reports on where the g.o.p. candidates are, and what they're saying. >> reporter: for mitt romney today was about staying focused on one of tomorrow's biggest prizes: ohio. and on president obama and the economy. >> this is a failed presidency. he's a nice guy. but he's over his head. >> reporter: romney did not mention his republican opponents by name but in canton, ohio, he said his background stands out. >> i understand why jobs come and why they go. other people in this race have debated about the economy. they've read about the economy. they've talked about it in sub committee meetings, but i've actually been in it. >> reporter: late polling has romney coming back in ohio to take a 34-31% lead over former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. the survey put former house speaker newt gingrich and texas congressman ron paul far behind. but at a town hall near dayton santorum urged ohio voters not to be swayed by those numbers. >> don't listen to the polls. don't listen to all the media hype and all the things a

newshour correspondent kwame holman has our report. >> reporter: at times the president took a tongue in cheek approach to his challengers on their big day. >> today is super tuesday. i wonder if you might weigh in on some of our potential republican opponents. mitt romney has criticized you on iran and said hope is not a foreign policy. he also said that you are america's most feckless president since carter. what would you like to say to mr. romney? >> good luck tonight. (laughing) >> no, really. >> really. >> reporter: but mr. obama turned serious on republicans demands for military action against iran's nuclear program. he said they're beating the drums of war but don't understand the costs. >> this is not a game. there's nothing casual about it. you know, when i see some of these folks who have a lot of bluferter and a lot of big talk but when you actually ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we've been doing over the last three years. if some of these folks think that it's time to launch a war, they should say so. they should explain

kwame holman has our report. >> holman: the candidates largely were focused on the ten states that vote on super tuesday. but mitt romney took time to swing through bellevue, washington, hoping to secure a win in tomorrow's caucuses there. >> there are going to be a bunch of states that are going to make their mind up in the next couple of days, but you guys are first, and your voice is going to be heard. ( applause ) it will just make a big difference, so please make sure and go to the caucus site, and get your friends to do the same thing. >> holman: ron paul also was in washington, speaking in spokane. >> you know, things have been going very well. we keep coming back to washington because we expect to do real well here. ( cheers and applause ) >> holman: from the pacific northwest, romney headed to ohio, a critical super tuesday prize, where rick santorum held a small lead in a new poll. santorum appealed for support today in chillicothe. >> you have a chance to make a statement that we want someone who is a conservative in their heart, in their soul, in their mind; someone who's no

newshour congressional correspondent kwame holman has our report. >> reporter: thousands of afghans celebrated their new year today at an ancient festival marking the first day of spring. but by western calendars there's been little for afghans or americans to celebrate in 2012. in washington marine general john allen, commanding nato and u.s. forces in afghanistan, acknowledged as much at a house armed services committee hearing. >> i wish i could tell you that this war was simple and that progress could easily be measured but that's not the way of counterinsurgencies. they are fraught with both successes and setbacks which can exist in the same space and in the same time. but each must be seen in the larger context of the overall campaign. and i believe the campaign is on track. >> reporter: allen conceded there had been setbacks. the burning of korans at a u.s. base that set off violent protests and killings. and now the massacre of afghan civilians alleged by an american soldier. the general called the incidents tragic but said the mission remains intact. the current u.s. plan calls for a

"newshour" correspondent kwame holman reports on the day's events, in the run-up to super tuesday. >> reporter: mitt romney started his campaign day in energy-rich north dakota hammering president obama over the surging price of gasoline. >> he should be hanging his head and taking a little bit of the blame for what's going on today. >> reporter: gas prices have pushed their way onto the campaign agenda, rising 45 cents a gallon since the first of the year. but in a blog post today, the white house again highlighted figures showing u.s. reliae on oil imports falling in each of the three years of the obama presidency. back in fargo, romney argued it would be down even more, if not for the president's policies, including his veto of a plan to speed up the keystone oil pipeline project. >> when someone says do you want to bring in a pipeline that's going to create tens of thousands of jobs to bring oil in from canada how in the world can you say no? but he did. this is a president that does not understand energy. he is the problem not the solution. >> reporter: the president counterpunch