>> sreenivasan: we have a slideshow of the work of artist michael mcmillen. patchwork nation looks at the search for a g.o.p. frontrunner. our science unit reports on the runoff of pesticides and fertilizer into the gulf of mexico itself. and you can still submit your questions to the space shuttle crew and join us online tomorrow morning for a live interview with the astronauts. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at, president obama's speech on the political upheaval in the middle east. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alternatives, right? wind, solar, algae. >> i think it's got to work on a big scale. and i think it's got to be affordable. >> so, where are

mcmillen: and it took years to get funding. what kept this project going was the steadfastness of the community -- they knew they needed sewage, and they just kept plugging along till we got through every issue that came up. the project will consist of 44 miles of line that we're going to put in, and a treatment plant. it will permanently eliminate the problem, the health hazards. i anticipate a definite regrowth in herminie, and it will be a good thing for everybody. zdravecky: maybe it won't help me too much because i'm an old lady, but whoever comes along after me will get the benefit. schwartz: there's nothing isolated about the herminie situation. it's a very common problem. it's a town that was built before current standards. this is not backwoods rural america at all. it's just an unfortunate situation that was created probably a hundred years ago or more. and the people have to pay for it in a big way now. because the government is choosing to spend its money elsewhere right now, there's very limited money for communiti

to meet mcmillen, then the prime minister. they had a great relationship. one older and one younger. john f. kennedy arrived. harold wilson at down sting -- mcmillen was still asleep. he -- he slept in. they had to -- john f. kennedy had to sit on downing street reading his newspaper in the waiting room for half an hour. >> is that right? >> if that happened now or -- on any presidential visit, you know, the second nature of these visits, if anything goes wrong like that it would be a national outcry. >> david cameron would have to resign. >> it would be -- then you have the -- where harry truman invited atley across to washington. they were deep in the negotiations that brought about nato and -- march ever marshall plan and everything else. truman was invited to the washington residents of the british ambassador. i think it was near christmas and so they spent the time singing. and -- played the piano. harry truman did the singing. >> did you ever do this? president bush. president bush and you rent a piano? >> i don't think he would appreciate my singing.