. >> 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 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

. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour tonight, we'll assess the texas-sized ramifications of the ruling with law professor richard hasen and political reporter shira toeplitz. >> woodruff: then, gwen ill updates us on the tightening g.o.p. presidential race, one day before the south carolina primary. >> may hinge on the decisions on the state's most conservative voters. >> suarez: plus we'll have analysis from mark shields and david brooks. >> woodruff: from our colleagues at wisconsin public television, we have an update on the effort to recall governor scott walker. >> all of this was set in motion a year ago when governor walker and the republicans passed a bill that removes most collective bargaining >> suarez: and margaret warner looks at the federal shutdown of one of the world's most popular online sites, the file-sharing web site megaupload.com. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: bnsf railway. and by the alfred p. sloan foun

. >> 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

. >> brown: ray suarez looks at today's jobs problem and the future role of manufacturing. >> warner: and, we have a conversation with veteran reporter tom edsall about the political landscape in a time of scarce resources. >> the fight now is a much more serious and brutal fight over basically sxhix and how do you cut up a smaller and smaller part? >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: the nation's military will have to make do with fewer soldiers and marines and wait longer for some next-generation weapons. that was the upshot today as defense department leaders laid out their plans for major savings. >> left, right, left. >> brown: as ar

ray suarez takes a look. >> suarez: it's often reported that americans spend more on health care than the citizens of any other industrialized country. what's also been true for many years is that the cost of health care has risen much faster than the cost of living overall. now a new report from the government shows the rise has slowed for the second consecutive year. it found that health care spending grew by 3.9% for 2010, the most recent year on record. that's just a shade higher than in 2009. still the total amount spent in 2010 was 2.6 trillion dollars or about $8400 a person. moreover, health insurance premiums continue to climb. while workers are paying an ever-growing share. money. to help flesh out what's behind these changes, we check in with susan dentzer, editor in chief of the journal health affairs where the report was published today. she's also an analyst for the newshour. susan, at 3.9% up, it's still going up much faster than the cost of living. but that's considered a tame number. >> it really is, ray. if you compare it to prior years, you can really see the differ

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 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

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 looks at the stakes. >> suarez: since the earliest days of the internet americans have gone to web addresses with familiar names to the right of the dot. as in dotcom or dot org. starting today the companies that assign what is duld main names are make a big change. it's rolling out a program meant to dramatically increase the number and kind of names, sign stead of a company like let's say marriott being called marriott.com, it might now choose to be called dot marriott. but it going to cost plenty. up to $185,000 just to apply for the new name and the total economic stakes could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars. some businesses and lawmakers are up set with what this could mean for commerce and the future of the web. we look at this now with rod bextrum, the president & ceo of ican, the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers and dan jaffie is with the association of national advertiser which is part of a coalition opposed to the rollout of the program. now, inside the trade press it's all full of just the shorthand gtld. what is a generic top line do