. >> brown: as the political map shrinks, we join anna sale of wnyc radio on her tour of the nation's battleground states. >> brown: from panama, the story of a tug-of-war in the rain forest between a canadian mining company and the local community. >> is building what would be one of the biggest compromises in the world. right in the middle of the rain forest. home to thousands of animal and plant species. some of them endangered. >> ifill: and we close with a mystery about an electric guitar that just might be the same one bob dylan played at the 1965

stories, i'm joined by todd zwillich, a reporter for public radio international's "the takeaway" on wnyc. and julie rovner, who covers health care policy for npr. todd, there was a little drama on the senate floor today. what was the significance, if any of this tax cut vote-- two tax cut vote. two tax cut vote, as republican version and a democratic one. in practical terms right now nterms of people's taxes -- your taxes and mine-- not a lot of important implications because nobody is going to pass a bill that the president can sign in this election year. however u, the election is really what this is about, and these votes are really what the election is about for the american people. >> ifill: so the democratic plan, which is essentially the president's plan to extend-- to extend the tax cuts-- i say it-- i always get it backwards-- for people who earn $250,000 or more, to end the tax cut exteion r that, that passed. >> that did pass. there's one important part to remember. their bill extends tax cuts for all income up to $250,000. even the 10 millionaires get their tax cuts on the fi

. >> brown: as the political map shrinks, we join anna sale of wnyc radio on her tour of the nation's battleground states. >> brown: from panama, the story of a tug-of-war in the rain forest between a canadian mining company and the local community. >> is building what would be one of the biggest compromises in the world. right in the middle of the rain forest. home to thousands of animal and plant species. some of them endangered. >> ifill: and we close with a mystery about an electric guitar that just might be the same one bob dylan played at the 1965 newport folk festival. it's rock and roll history. we'd love to see his guitar to either learn if we made a mistake and how we made the mistake or if we have the real thing. >> ifill: that's all ahead newsh. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided 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 was made possible b

wnyc. >> and i didn't know what it was. but i knew that there was something smart about it.e to kind of move in and sit down and say hmm, i wonder what they're going to say now? >> right now, the story that we're telling is you born poor and at some time you get populated slowly with bacteria. there is an odd couple aspect of this. he's 25 years older than me. we have very different styles. >> the despairing mouths went globally. >> he's insane. >> i'll say you're an idiot. i say it all of the time. and that's what friends do. >> he's the kind of person that has to make you laugh every five minutes. he's the most brilliant guy i've ever known. i start to get kind of crazy in the story telling and i'm like do you really know that? okay. let's go report that. but they're actually deep in you and they determine who you are moment to moment, in some sense. >> that's its secret is that it's got an open heart. >> i don't know, for some reason, the movie "seven" comes to mind. morgan freeman, brad pitt. i'm the brad pitt. he's kind of been there, done that. >> i think that they thi

>> now, he's given his first interstrew since resigning on wnyc show. and he addressed the scandal. a very, very high price. but i'm still committed to the same things i was and i have a 6-month-old that i have to go and feed now. as i said when i resigned i feel great regret for the people i let down. >> now, he sounds contrite, but he's not saying much more than what he's already said. i know weiner. not hang out buddies, but i've known and dealt with him through the years. very ambitious. very much ahead. no reverse in his transmission. it's full ahead. and i think he's the kind of guy that i don't know that he could get politics out of his blood. >> right now we're all political junk kies so we can appreciate d understand. as much as he's considering a run, he's also really excited to have his name back in the mix. he wants his name to be floated. he wants his name to be relevant. there's a reason not only he's talking about running but floating that idea to the press but also he's doing all of these press interviews and it will be a personal choice he has to make. there are som

i ask that question, because our brethren at wnyc, the public radio station here in new york, recently ran a series in which they reported that one in five people stopped last year by new york city police were teenagers 14 to 18 years old. 86% of those teenagers stopped were either black or latino, most of them boys. last year, more than 120,000 stops of black and latino, the total number of black and latino boys that age in new york city isn't much more than that. 177,000 or so, which suggests that every teenage boy who's black and latino in this city of new york is likely before he graduates to have been stopped and frisked by the police. so you're a historian. what does history have to tell me about stop and frisk? >> it tells us that it's an old and enduring form of surveillance and racial control. so if we think about the moment immediately following the civil war, there was the invention of something called the black codes in every southern state. and those codes were intended to use the criminal justice system to restrict the freedom and mobility of black people. and if you cros

anna sale of wnyc public radio's "it's a free country" program set out to talk to the voters along the way. on this swing, she began in colorado, before heading off to iowa, wisconsin, and ohio. she joins us now from des moines. >> thank you. >> now, define for us what in your hip pocket, how do you define a swing state. >> well first swing states are states where polls are close and also that have swung back and forth over the last several presidential cycles. it's also the states where we're seeing the presidential campaigns focused all of their visits and their efforts. so we wanted to go to these states not in the shadow of these campaign rallies but to talk to voters this summer going about their daily business as they're at shopping centers and fairs and at work and see what they're talking about outside the shadow of the campaign. >> no two of these states are very much alike. how do you decide to prioritize. how do you decide where to go. >> we decided to go to colorado because it's such an interesting state because it really, the obama campaign's western strategy sort of hinge

. >> you know, right after the supreme court decision on health care, he did do one interview with wnycio station here in new york. he was asked whether or not he was kind of putting his toes back in the waters. and he said at that time he was not. >> mary snow in new york for us watching the story. let us know if it changes. appreciate it. coming up in the 5:00 p.m. eastern hour. there's a reason why airlines will let pot belly pigs and other animals ride along with human passengers. and during the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour of "the situation room," now worries of the security team in london is simply not ready for the olympic days. >>> and next, real crime fighting robots. they don't look like the kind we see in movies and comic books, but they're certainly designed to stop a terrorist. c250 sport . but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends july 31st. the mercedes-benz summer event by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hund