that's true of southeastern virginia.respondent cathy lewis of whro in hampton roads brings us this update on how her region is coping. her story is part of our collaboration with public media partners across the country in a series we call "battleground dispatches." >> no more furloughs... >> reporter: these federal civilian workers know furlough notices are coming and they're not happy to lose the work. in the hampton roads region of southeastern virginia, where nearly half the economy relies on federal spending, workers were protesting being forced to take days off without pay between now and september. today's news from the defense department will ease that pain, reducing the number of furlough days from 22 to 14, but this region remains anxious over the impact of sequestration on the local economy. the cuts are the result of the so-called sequestration act-- the automatic, across the board reduction in spending that started to kick in march 1. it mandates roughly $85 billion cut from federal spending by september. >>

reporter cathy lewis examines the very real impact of across-the-board federal spending cuts on a southeastern virginia community that relies heavily on the military. >> wooduff: and we close with two stories on child development. how do you prevent bullying? a program in seattle is having success using babies. >> when i first heard about the program, i thought that's crazy to bring a new infant in a classroom of 23 five-year-olds. but then i saw it in action and i saw the power of it and i was a true believer. >> suarez: and we talk to the atlantic's hanna rosin about toddlers and young children choosing smartphones and tablets over rattles and teddy bears. >> wooduff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

southeastern part of the country. just counting the number of branches, it's the numb three in georgia and tennessee, fourth large nest virginia washington, d.c. and a top-ten player in north carolina, south carolina and maryland. in other words, there is a major regional bank with serious scale, a dominant presence and a just gigantic deposit base. in the markets where they have the most share, housing prices have been rebounding and they've been rebounding dramatically. according to the all important, all knowing k shiller house price index, house prices are up 10% in atlanta. remember suntrust is number one in georgia. up 7% in tampa, the housing price, 11% in miami, these are important florida cities where suntrust has a major presence and housing prices are up 6% in d.c. plus the employment situation is improving dramatically all over the states where suntrust operates. unemployment is done 3.3% in florida, down 1.9% in georgia. meanwhile suntrust has been growing ielts deposit base. balance sheet has been cleaned up to where they have a tangible common equity ratio. i give you the numbers. some guys understand the number