Pilgrims and tourists descended on the vatican, filling the square to capacity and packing into nearby streets to witness the historic moment. translated i cannot explain it. This is tremendous. This is the first time i am in rome and to have an argentinan pope, its tremendous. translated we are very happy as argentinians, i think he is a very well prepared person and we need to pray for the holy spirit and jesus christ to give him the strength to lead the Catholic Church. Ifill Italian Military bands and the swiss guard also marched through the square. But the new popes identity wasnt officially revealed until more than an hour later, when he finally emerged from the velvet curtained balcony of st. Peters basilica. The chosen one Cardinal Jorge bergoglio of argentina the first pontiff from the first pontiff from the americas and the first noneuropean in more than a millennium. The 76yearold chose the name pope francis the first. He delivered his first public address to the cheering crowd. Brother cardinals had to go almost to the end of the earth to find him. But here we are. Ifill the new pope has spent most of his career in argentina, where he oversaw churches and priests across the country. Now hell lead the 1. 2 billion members of the Roman Catholic church, all while addressing a number of difficult issues plaguing the church, from priest sex abuse scandals to allegations of corruption. Pope francis succeeds benedict the sixteenth who stepped down last month. He was the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. Pope francis the pope will be installed formally on tuesday. Vice President Joe Biden will lead the historic delegation. We get more now from Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic reporter. The first obvious question is, who is he . Some of us are all scrambling. I think he was a surprise choice in part because of his age. What weve learned is hes a very simple and humble man who, when he became the archbishop of buenos aires chose not to live in in big mansion but got a small apartment. He takes Public Transportation and did away with the limousine. Hes obviously conservative and i think youll see none of the candidates were what we in america would consider doctrinal liberals. Most importantly hes from latin america and for the last 50 years the issue the latin American Bishops have been dealing with is what is the preferential option for the poor mean and trying to wrestle with that on theologically but also practically. Is it going to be just words or is it really going to galvanize the church to care for the poor. Pelley was it also important the pope come from an area of the world where there is growth . Population growth in the church . I think so. I think this gets to the heart of the gospel which is good news for the poor and i think sometimes in america and in western europe were simply too affluent to hear it anymore in the way it was intend tpwhud africa, latin america there are desperately poor people for them it is still good news. Ifill but he has no roman experience. That is work inside the vatican. He didnt come from that experience. Does that put him in a disadvantage at all . This is the danger is obviously he although hes been on several congregations as a cardinal so he might know his way around hes never worked in rome and the danger is that the old guard will say, you know, were not going to tell you where the bathroom is unless you do what we want. So well see. But hes a very strong leader in buenos aires, has a reputation as a decisive man and i suspect has a mandate from the cardinals to clean up some of the messes that are there. Pelley one of the things he said when he came out in the square today was or on the balcony was that he would be the new bishop of rome. He specifically talked about the city of rome. What was that about . Again, this is our hope and at this point its all speculation. On theres been so much centralization in the Catholic Church in rome over the last 150 years. And i think bishops trying to do their best dont want to be considered just branch managers. The bishop of rome is the pope, but that doesnt mean youre the bishop of the entire world. And too many pontiffs have acted in that way. And have been not giving local bishop it is authority and decisionmaking power that i think that they want and were hopefully he will pursue that kind of decentralization of authority. Ifill even though pope francis wasnt the frontrunner, if there is such a thing, since we dont know what goes on inside that conclave, hes still considered or its been reported he was the runnerup in 2005 to pope benedict. Its hard to interpret that. One wonders you know, those were 40 votes he supposedly got in 2005 who were not voting for Joseph Ratzinger and that may indicate a certain amount of change. I just want to caution i think a lot of americans think when they think of reform and change they think were going to have women priests. That was not a realistic expectation given the cardinals who were in there. I think what they mean by reform touched other issues, partly reorganization of the curia, its relationships with local bishops and, again, are we going to focus a little bitless maybe on the traditional latin mass and a little bit more on caring for the poor. Ifill so this is not a pope or a papacy were going to see any kind of change when it comes to things like abortion or of course not. Ifill gay marriage. Of course not. Ifill or adoption or any social issues that get us so worked up, especially in the United States . No, and these are not issues in the latin american church. When 50 of your people are living below the poverty line, shame on you if youre worried about other issues like that. Youve got to be very hand on worried about feeding your people so they dont go to bet hungry at night. Ifill he was quoted as saying not too long ago if the church remains closed in on itself, selfreferential, it gets old. Does that harken some sort of change thats imminent . You know, my worry is that the church does sometimes become very selfreferential and when they talk about the new e advantagelyization they reduce it to teaching bishops how to use twitter and it has to mean more than that. Its curious he chose the name francis. Francis faced a very corrupt church and very degenerate culture in his day and he changed it by kiss ago leper. Ifill were talking about st. Francis of aceasesy. Yes. And thats how the church reforms, by becoming the gospel church. Ifill we have to go back to this process and how he came to be pope. Was there anybody besides americans were there anyone besides americans who thought an american would be pope . It was evidently a strong candidacy for cardinal omalley. It was being pushed by an african cardinal. Ifill the boston archbishop. And a couple latin american cardinals who were big fans of cardinal omalley. Well find out in the next couple of weeks, estimations and guesses about what the vote totals were. But i think that was a real there was a real buzz there. That was not just the media. Ifill Michael Sean Winters of National Catholic reporter, thank you so much. Thank you. Woodruff for more on what pope francis selection means for the future of the Catholic Church. Ray suarez picks up the story. Suarez and for that were joined by chester gillis, a dean and professor of theology at georgetown university. He has written extensively on the history of the papacy and catholicism. And Sister Simone campbell is the executive director of network, a progressive Catholic Organization which promotes social justice. Well the new pope joked that the fellow cardinals went to the ends of the earth to find him. He is the first pope from the global south. In his context, sister, what does it mean to be socially progressive and doctrinally conservative . I think in the argentine context especially in the global south it means to be keenly aware of the suffering of people at the margins of society. He has spoken very strongly against the income disparities, against the concentration of wealth in the north, first world countries, against the consequences, the adverse consequences of globalization and globalized greed for people who are poor. And then he is apparently very conservative on some of the social issues. But thats very consistent with this whole idea that its lifting up people out of poverty is the key. Thats where jesus went, thats where jesus was. So i think he lives its interesting he picked the name francis, because that francis was the most radical to reject the riches of his time and to embrace the whole concept of voluntary poverty, care for those at the margins. Its a significant step, i think. Suarez dean, he comes from a background of supervising priests rather than being a theologian or intellectual of the church. What practical aspect what Practical Application does that have in his new job . Well, that means hes a pastoral person, which is probably a good thing for the church. Hes also a jesuit and jesuits are intellectuals, all of them virtually, and a very powerful order in the church. So i think he has both sides. He has the pastoral side and jesuits are contemplatives in action. So theres a contemplation side and spiritual side but it is the activity side that has to manifest itself in culture and society and it has to be on the side of the poor as has been said. Thats part of his orientation. He supervised priests so he knows how to run an organization. He knows how to manage people. He knows the pressures of that job. But they havent he hasnt let that go to his head. Suarez at the election of the last pope, benedict xvi, it was observed because of his age that the electors were anticipating a short papacy and, in fact, thats what they got. But pope francis i is 76 years old, sister. Did they just do it again . Well, i think they did just do it again. But i think this is also an important step because in our fastpaced globalized world i think maybe the electors have some insights that a very long papacy like with john paul had a lot of positives but there was a lot of anguish at the end of the papacy, a lot of things went undone. Because we always need a variety of skills and a variety of gifts to make a difference and i think thats what theyre choosing. Some new gifts but not for too long. Suarez theres been stories of financial mismanagement, decline of the church in the west and, of course, the ongoing unfolding, consistent revelation of the sexual abuse scandals. Whats job one after the installation . I think job one is to put a Management Team in place, so to speak, to make some changes probably, even in the curia, and put people in whom he trusts and who will make some changes in those structures and maybe even more transparency in the roman structure. You know, who would want this job . We wonder. Were saying my goodness, its not an easy task. Hes coming in at a very difficult time. This is not coming in when things are smooth so he can make a big difference in a short period of time potentially. And part of that would be by what kind of Management Structure and with whom he surrounds himself to manage the affairs of the vatican. Suarez but thats a tough thing when youre coming in from the outside, isnt it . It is extremely difficult coming from the outside. But the thing that he brings, it appears, is a sense of humility, a sense of humor which is wonderful and the capacity to welcome in everyone to the center. And i think its that capacity to welcome people in that will allow him to form a Management Team that can do something different. He comes from a democratic country which is is led by a woman so he is used to having other voices to deal with. So i think the fact that he understands democracy, knows the value of various voices, has worked with strong women will allow us, then, to create a good team that is diverse and that is pastoral as well as administratively sound. Suarez his home, latin america, is also the home of a third of the worlds catholics. But its also a place thats seen a lot of decline in the church, a lot of move to protestant churches, to a more exuberant form of worship. Great inroad in the church. Evangelism is being talked about a lot. That is spreading the faith, hes been living that struggle, hasnt he . Yes, and the evangelism has been an evangelism to catholics. Ironically. Evangelism has been trying to convert people to catholicism. In this case its the bring people back to catholicism as you suggested and latin america theres a great migration to evangelical protestantism thats problematic. In europe theres just a decline in religious interest and people just drop out. So to evangelize in both contexts is a very important element of the church and someone who can carry that message but also has a certain credibility about his own character and humility i think will help in that. But its a struggle. Its not going to be easy. This is not going to turn around on a dime. Suarez sister, what are your hopes now . Were approaching the installation of a new pope, the seating and anointing of a new pope and easter. Well, i live in hope and i think this peace of evangelization is very important because its also that the people will evangelize our leaders. Our leaders between church need to hear from ordinary people and that, i believe, pope francis i has already been touched by them. But he will now need to be touched by the whole world and when you touch the pain of the world as real there is a a solidarity, an engagement with the gospel, a living faith that blossoms forth and lets pray for a moment of blossoming. Suarez it must be a shocking thing to go to rome and then find out youre really never going to live in your home again. Youre not going home. When youre elected, thats it. Somebody brings your belongings from your home country and you are and you never have the same identity. You will be known as francis for the rest of your life and the first thing the cardinals do is pledge obedience to him. These were his colleagues and his peers a few hours ago and now hes the holy father, as hes referred to the in rome all the time. The holy father. It has to be an astonishing change to him. Im sure he contemplated it to some degree but im sure its humbling, i hope its humbling and probably a little bit frightening saying i hope i can do this. I hope i have the courage to do this, the insight, the spirituality and the stamina to do the job. Pelley dean gillis, Sister Simone, good to talk to you both. Ifill still to come on the newshour the search for bipartisanship; danger in your Drinking Water and Sexual Assault in the military. But first, with the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the u. S. House voted today to block the Obama Administration from granting state waivers to work requirements under welfare. Republicans charged the president is trying to gut the 1996 welfare reform law. Last summer, the white house said it would grant waivers, if states can meet welfaretowork goals by other means. So far, no state has applied for a waiver. The house bill is not expected to pass the democratic controlled senate. A Juvenile Court in steubenville, ohio today opened a rape trial thats drawn international attention. The two defendants are High School Football players, ages 16 and 17. Theyre accused of raping a 16 yearold girl last august. Social media postings have fueled claims that other students should have been charged and that police under played the incident to protect the football team. The police have denied it. In china, authorities near shanghai pulled hundreds more dead pigs from a river that provides Drinking Water to the city. In all, theyve found more than 6,600 pig carcasses in the water since friday. Officials say the dead animals may have been dumped by swine farms upstream. The Shanghai City government said it is monitoring water quality, and that so far, there is no sign of contamination. On wall street, stocks managed small gains in another relatively calm day of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained five points to close at 14,455. The nasdaq rose more than two points to close at 3,245. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff amid a backdrop of budget negotiations, president obama kept up his bipartisan outreach today. Newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. Reporter the president s meeting with House Republicans at the capitol was his first with them, on their turf, since january 2009, a week after his first inauguration. In an interview that aired on abc this morning, he sounded a note of optimism. Right now, what im trying to do is create an atmosphere where democrats and republicans can go ahead, get together, and try to get something done. Reporter but at the same time, the president said a sweeping, longterm deficit deal could be impossible, given Republican Opposition to higher taxes. Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide. If their position is, we cant do any revenue, or, we can only do revenue if we gut medicare or gut Social Security or gut medicaid, if thats the position, then were probably not going to be able to get a deal. Reporter after the president left, House Speaker john boehner replied that its mr. Obama whos the obstacle to getting a deal. We have a spending problem. We have to attack the spending. And the president understands, yeah weve got some long term spending that we need to deal with. But hes going to hold hostage the fact that he wants to raise taxes on the American People again. Thats not going to get us very far. Reporter some republicans, such as house budget chair paul ryan, on msnbc today, also questioned whether the meetings with lawmakers are just for show. The question is, is he going was the socalled Charm Offensive a temporary, you know, polldriven political calculation, or was it a sincere conversion to try and bring people together and start communicating . Reporter other republicans expressed more optimism about the talks and about the larger process of compromise. There are going to be places we are going to disagree, and he recognizes that we recognize it, but that doesnt mean that we cant find places where as he would say where there is overlap and try to do those things and so it was encouraging, i was glad to have him come. Reporter for now, House Republicans are going ahead with ryans budget proposal, unveiled yesterday, to balance the federal ledger by 2023, relying heavily on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. Democrats in the senate are pushing their own plan, a 5050 mix of spending cuts and higher tax revenues. Neither plan is given much chance of being enacted into law. Woodruff with the president putting renewed emphasis on bipartisanship, we take a broad look at whether that has been a successful strategy in politics and policy. Joining us are michael beschloss, our regular president ial historian and marc hetherington, a Political Science professor at Vanderbilt University and the author of two books on polarization and trust in u. S. Politics. Welcome to you both. So we just heard some republicans, michael beschloss, questioning whether the president is sincere in this and we know separately that a senior official at the white house was telling a reporter that they thought that he put that the outreach was just joke because they didnt expect it to produce results. So the first question i want to get out of the way with both of you is has it made a difference historically whether president s, political leaders, were sincere in an effort . Oh, certainly. And theyre usually sincere, particularly eager to be conciliatory when theres one or both houses of congress in the hands of the other party as is the case now but the last 25 years or so have been different in American History in the intensity of the combat between the two parties and the aversion to compromise and i think youre seeing is the suspicion of the opposite party. Look what happened to Charlie Crist in florida. They embraced, that killed his political career and hes now a democrat. Woodruff to so the intensity has gotten worse. What about that, mark heatherring to be . Is that how you see it . That were dealing with a much more strongly felt version of whats been here before . I think michael is right, especially compared with 25, 30 years ago. Think about the reagan presidency and he was facing a house of representatives that was strongly democratic at that point but there were a lot of moderates in the Democratic Party back in that day and age. There were no moderates on either side of the aisle for a president to reach out to. In this case a democratic president reaching out to republican moderates. If there were then this would probably be a more successful effort. Its worth doing. I think its one of those things where we live in these this media environment where all we hear is our side of things so getting the two sides together is certainly helpful process but whether it is able to overcome the polarization that we have these days, thats another story. Woodruff mark hetherington, i a question i often hear from people is is this a partisanship born out of ideological differences, stronglyheld views that are opposite ends at the spectrum of belief or is it something structural thats due to the way the parties are organized . Well, i think its a little bit of both. Back in 1950s and 60s there was a lot of overlap in washington. There were conservative southern democrats, northern northeastern liberal republicans. And these days those things have changed. You cant really find moderates and liberals in the Republican Party or conservatives and too many moderates in the Democratic Party. So part of it is really ideological. We all agree on the ends that we want. We want peace, we want prosperity. But the means that the parties have in mind about how to accomplish those end, theyre quite a lot different. So bringing the parties together these days is very, very difficult. Woodruff michael beschloss, what about this question of whether its borne out of ideology, strongly different views, or is it the structure of the way our politics i dont think it has much to do with ideology at all. You look at this intense conflict, and most people who are in congress now will say its worse than theyve ever seen it. You look at the kind of people who want to be the leaders of their party in congress, its not a gerald ford of the old days, someone who could make deals with the other side and is friendly with people from the other party. Its someone who can be the most intense partisan leader. Thats also different. And youd think that this all came from there being issue differences like over the bank of the United States with Andrew Jackson or the runup to world war two, stay out or go in. Franklin park zoo, 1940, nothing remotely close to that in terms of magnitude yet the intensity of the conflict is perhaps greater than most times in history. Woodruff yet if you were to sit a partisan republican and a partisan democrat the down here at this desk they would say we have very different views on taxes, on the role of government. I would say they certainly do. But you look out in the historical context, does that rise to the intensity of the conflict over slavery, for instance, in 1860 . I dont think so. Woodruff mark hetherington, how do you see that . Maybe so, but hopefully weve come a long way since the 1860s and slavery. I hope we have. I would hope so, too. The fact of the matter is, there used to be a situation in washington where the parties had different wings. A moderate wing and a liberal wing. So the Party Leaders who tended to come from the political middle had to bring the various parts of the caucuses together. Now the split is in the caucuses are in, say, between for the republicans between the conservative and the very conservative. Theres very little centrist incentive to move the parties in that direction in congress and, you know, at this point i think republicans realize, boy, if we make a grand bargain with the president hes going to get credit for it, its not going to be us. So the incentives in the process will have to change to see anything different happening. And they fear they might get primaried, which is a relatively recent verb but its something thats very much on their mind in a way that wasnt so much before. The way you raise money is to exaggerate conflict. The way you get on not the newshour but most peeve too ef is to hype up your differences with the other side. So there are a lot of rewards for a member of congress who wants to be combative and a penalty if he wants to or she wants to compromise. Woodruff let me ask both of you to put this question in some context. Given where we are today, whats the likelihood that the two sides this time are going to be able to come together and work something out. Mark hetherington . Well, im im a little bit pessimistic at this point. We know that the woodruff only a little bit . laughter well, im more than a little bit pessimistic. We know the sides are drawn the way they are. It used to be there is a time when there were less partisan people in the public at large. So Ronald Reagan could go out to the public and say hey, look, i have this idea. Lets put pressure on your members of congress to come around to that. But that wont happen these days. Both partisans in washington and partisans in the electorate, they dont like the other side. And that make compromise very difficult to come by. Woodruff how do you see it, michael . The last 12 years we had the first attack of the continental United States by someone else since the war of 1812. Not much bipartisanship after that catastrophe. The worst economic cataclysm since the great depression, not too much bipartisanship after that, either so. My view is if they didnt knock it off after events like this, it is rather bleak. Woodruff so maybe we need to have a discussion on whether it matters that theres bipartisanship or not. Whether were better off if they dont agree. Maybe theyre telling us something. A lot to say. Woodruff michael beschloss, mike hetherington. Thank you. Thanks, judy. Thanks for having us. Ifill now, newshour science correspondent miles obrien begins a twopart look at americas Drinking Water, and the regulatory system that is supposed to guarantee its safety. His report is the result of a partnership with the center for Public Integrity. It begins in the small desert town that made Erin Brockovich a household name. Come on, you want some water. Come on, drink some drink. Reporter clean water is something most of us take for granted. But not roberta walker. She, her dogs, and her family drink spring water that is either bottled or trucked in. Because where she lives, people cant drink the well water. Welcome to hinkley, california. This was bought out, this home on the right, this is all boarded up. Reporter roberta drove me around town whats left of it. There was a home here on the corner and that of course is gone. Reporter it is a ghost town . Ya, ya. Reporter the steady decline of hinkley is rooted here at a natural gas pipeline pumping station owned by the giant california utility pacific gas and electric. In the 1950s and 60s, p. G. E. Admits it dumped 26 tons of coolant made of chromium 6 into unlined retaining ponds here. The chemical is toxic and causes cancer. It leached into the soil and contaminated the aquifer the Drinking Water in hinkley. The hollywood version of the story is writ large in the movie Erin Brockovich, released in 2000. Julia roberts won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the crusading legal assistant who forced p. G. E. Into a 333 million settlement with the residents of hinkley in 1996. But for roberta, there was no hollywood ending. So your house was right about here . Um, yes. Reporter p. G. E. Did buy and raze her old home, as they did for many others here. So she built this place on the outskirts of town out of harms way, or so she thought. So far, p. G. E. Has spent 700 million trying to clean up the stubborn mess. But the plume of chromium 6 tainted water persists. Sheryl bilbrey is in charge of p. G. E. s remediation effort. Why is it taking so long . Its a very complex project. We are highly regulated. There are a lot of interested parties. The other thing is its very important to us that we get it right. Reporter recent testing shows there is still chromium 6 in the groundwater in roberta walkers neighborhood. It is less than it was in the bad old days, but roberta is still girding to move once again, this time away from hinkley. Did you ever think you would ever have to deal with chromium 6 or p. G. E. Again. Absolutely not, absolutely not. In front of god and the world they said they were going to clean it up. Reporter and . And they didnt. It was just its a shocker. Reporter for the real life Erin Brockovich it was also an unwelcome surprise. I thought it was being cleaned up. The state thought it was being cleaned up. The community thought it was being cleaned up. So here it is ten years later, im not paying attention because i thought its all being handled. Reporter brockovich is now an environmental activist on a larger stage, curating a crowd sourced map of reported cancer clusters, which she says are largely linked to chromium 6 contaminated water nationwide. Theres more and more amounting evidence or what chromium 6 does to the human health, what it does to the environment, what it does to the air. Every community that i deal with that has been exposed to chromium 6, they have the same health symptoms, they have the same problems. Reporter in 2010, a nonprofit advocacy organization, the environmental working group, tested tap water in 35 u. S. Cities 31 of them were contaminated with chromium 6. Utility testing records how about 70 million americans are drinking this tainted water. With evidence mounting that chromium 6 may be more dangerous than once thought, the Environmental Protection agency decided to revisit the Drinking Water standard for the chemical. The standard 100 parts per billion was set 20 years ago. It is 5,000 times greater than the california e. P. A. S Public Health goal for chromium 6 in Drinking Water . 02 parts per billion. Ann mason is a senior director with the american chemistry council, which represents the chemical industry. The people in the United States are Drinking Water that meets the e. P. A. Safe Drinking Water level. Reporter would you say categorically, its okay . Everybody is safe . I would say if the Drinking Water meets the safe Drinking Water level that e. P. A. Has set that level and thats the rule of the land as we see it right now. Reporter there is a lot of research that links chromium 6 in Drinking Water to cancer. In 2008, the National Institutes of health weighed in with an eyeopening rodent study. It uncovered clear evidence that high doses of chromium 6 in Drinking Water cause cancer in rats and mice. Heather white is executive director of the environmental working group. We think that science is clear. Theres been a lot more research that weve seen of the last decade that shows that there is a big cause for concern about drinking hexavalent chromium whether it would be stomach cancer, whether it be liver damage, whether it be toxicity. Reporter after the Erin Brockovich movie in 2000, california lawmakers decided life should imitate art. They chartered a socalled Blue Ribbon Panel of scientists to help set a chromium 6 Drinking Water standard for the state. One of the scientists on the panel was this man, dennis paustenbach. The newshour and the center for Public Integrity learned the company he ran, chemrisk, had been hired by pacific gas and electric during the lawsuit. At the time, the most compelling Scientific Study that linked chromium 6 in Drinking Water to cancer came from china in 1987. It studied villagers in Liaoning Province who lived near a chromium ore smelter and drank tainted water for years. The lead author a dr. Zhang jiandong. Found they had increased rates of stomach cancer. Acting on behalf of its client p. G. E. , chemrisk paid zhang to redo his study. Paustenbach offered this explanation before the california senate. After he saw the questions that we raised about the analysis, he went back and examined and said, of course not, it cant be true. My original conclusions dont make sense. Reporter the revised study reversed the original conclusion that chromium 6 was the likely cause of the villagers developing cancer. Scientists at the california Environmental Protection agency were skeptical and took a look at the underlying data themselves. Allan hirsch is with cal e. P. A. Reporter the original study itself, was it good science . Well, our analysis which we completed in 2008 agreed with the original 1987 paper. We found that the rates of stomach cancer in these five villages were significantly higher than stomach cancer rates in the overall province. Reporter the california epa set itS Public Health goal of. 02 parts per billion in 2011. The next step, changing the Drinking Water standards, has not happened. Theres been a fair amount of study about hexavalent chromium over the years. Is that scientific jury in . I dont think so. There are a lot of scientists that are still debating that question. I think thats why the process has taken so long from what ive read both at e. P. A. And at the state level. So, i think theyre still trying to figure out exactly what is the right answer there. Reporter back in hinkley, i got tour of the massive p. G. E. Cleanup project. Kevin sullivan is the engineer in charge. They have buried a concrete barrier and are pumping ethanol into the ground, which converts chromium 6 into a more benign form of chemical called chromium 3. They have also planted acres of alfalfa that is irrigated with the tainted water. The rich organic soil also makes the conversion. So that is now chromium 3 in your hand. Exactly. Reporter there is so much alfalfa, the utility now owns a thriving dairy farm. But since the ethanol injections began, a new problem seems to have surfaced. Residents have started reporting elevated levels of arsenic and manganese in their wells. P. G. E. Says its occurs naturally and has always been there. Nevertheless, when sullivan appears at Community Meetings here. There is dirty water on the table and angry accusations in the air. The community is in an uproar right now. We are not just being poisoned by chromium. We got high arsenic levels, manganese. All this can lead you to believe that p. G. E. Really dont give a crap about anyone of you. I dont want to live here. I dont want my family here. I have no choice. No one will buy my home. Who wants to move into this . Reporter but sullivan insists they are making progress. We have cleaned up like 54 acres. Now i know that i know if it is not yours, what have you done for me lately, but 54 acres is a lot of progress. We have a long way to go but these are positive signs that we have been able to achieve in the last few years. Reporter it will be anopther 40 years ifill in part two of his report on friday miles takes a closer look at the Environmental Protection agencys system for regulating toxic chemicals in the environment. Online, we go behindthescenes in hinkley and you can also check out chromium levels in the water of 31 u. S. Cities. Woodruff well be back shortly with a look at Sexual Assault cases in the u. S. Military. But first this is pledge week on pbs. This break allows your Public Television station to ask for your support. And that support helps keep programs like ours on the air. Ifill for those stations not taking a pledge break, we take a second look at a story about art and activism. Jeffrey brown recently visited the First North American exhibit for chinese Artist Ai Weiwei at the smithsonian institutions Hirshhorn Museum in washington, d. C. Reporter antique wooden stools from the qing dynasty, repurposed into a sculpture called grapes. A video documenting changes along a major street in beijing; an ancient vase, creatively altered or debased. You decide with a modern day logo. These are works by the chinese artist ai wei wei. A prankster who can make a tea house literally out of tea leaves. And represents the real surveillance camera that watches him at his home in china as a marble sculpture. Hes also a visionary who helped design the birds nest stadium for the beijing olympics. And whose use of social media is shifting the boundaries of art and activism and a dissident pressing for human rights, who took a picture and tweeted it even as he was being arrested in 2009. And then spent 81 days in prison, was beaten and made the xray image of the damage he suffered into an art work, brain inflation. Reporter ai lives and works in beijing and is not allowed by the government to travel outside china. He spoke recently to a camera crew hired by the newshour to pose our questions. Reporter born in 1957, ai is the son of a renowned poet. The father and his family, including the young wei wei, were sent to be reeducated in a rural village for two years during the cultural revolution. Ai wei wei came of age as part of a generation of Young Chinese artists breaking out of past strictures and beginning in 1981, lived in the u. S. For 12 years. His new york photographs for me, ai wei wei has been one of the most important artists that has emerged from this new wave of chinese art from the 90s and the 2000s. Reporter Kerry Brougher is chief curator at the hirshhorn. You can see the history of china reflected in much of the work. You can see conflicts with western culture and eastern culture and you can see critiques of the Chinese Government or of other governments as well. Power in general. Reporter often you can see a provocation, as in one of ais most famous works, dropping a han dynasty urn. Three photographs showing exactly that the destruction of a 2,000yearold cultural relic. One of the things i think hes saying is, sometimes, its necessary to destroy the old before you can move forward with the new. And also, by destroying something thats important, it suddenly makes you have to think about the value of things. What are they worth . Who says theyre valuable . Reporter ai returned to china in 1993 and became part of the countrys cultural elite, eventually tapped by the government to collaborate with a swiss Architectural Firm to design the 2008 olympics stadium. Photos are on the floors and but he grew critical of the communist partys attempt to control the event. His biggest confrontation with the authorities soon followed, after the earthquake in Sichuan Province and more than 5,000 children were killed in poorly constructed schools that collapsed, leading to accusations of official corruption and a coverup. Ai photographed the destruction and started an Online Campaign to collect the names, ages and other data for each victim. That became a wallsized display and an audio recording called remembrance. He also transformed tragedy into art collecting some 38 tons of twisted steel rebar from the destruction, straightening and and, picking up one particularly poignant image from the rubble. He created a long, serpentine work constructed of childrens backpacks. The documentary film ai wei wei never sorry captured some of his attempts to gain information on what had happened. Filmmaker Alison Klayman spent three years watching ai wei wei up close in his work as artist and activist. To him, what is the definition of an artist . Its someone who is interested in communication, who is interested in engagement, who has to be talking about the things that are relevant to the world around him or her. Reporter indeed, communication and new technology the internet and social media became a passion for ai. Beginning in 2006 and lasting three years, he wrote a blog about art, life and politics before it was shut down by the government. He now spends hours a day online and remains very active on twitter, though it is blocked within china. Reporter ai wei wei continues to make museumready objects, such as cube light, a huge chandelier that refers to the traditions of both chinese lanterns and western minimalist art. He also continues to speak his mind. Reporter after his release from prison in 2011, ai was charged with tax evasion and hit with a multimillion dollar fine, which his backers see as further punishment for his activism. Woodruff online you can see more of our interview with ai wei wei. He said hell never be optimistic about chinas new leadership. We also have more from our interviews about the artist and you can view a slide show of images from the exhibit. Woodruff finally tonight, we return to the issue of Sexual Assaults in the military. Earlier today, victims testified before congress about what they went through and the changes they think need to be made in the armed forces. Women in combat zones are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by the enemy. But, of the nearly 4,000 reports of Sexual Assault in the military last year, only 191 defendants were convicted at courts martial. And, because very few victims actually come forward, the real number of cases is estimated at 19,000. Those numbers from the pentagon have fixed new attention on the problem with stories in the New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine on rape survivors and the oscarnominated documentary the invisible war, filled with testimonials from military veterans who were sexually assaulted. I reported it two different times to my squad leader, and he told me there was nothing i could do about it because i didnt have any proof. They took me before my lieutenant commander, he says do you think this is funny, and i said what do you mean . And hes like, is this all a joke to you . I was like what do you mean . And he goes, youre the third girl to report rape this week are you guys like all in cahoots, do you think this is a game . Woodruff today, a Senate Armed Services subcommittee took up the issue, starting with anu bhagwati of the Service Womens action network. During my five years as a marine officer i experienced daily discrimination and sexual harassment. I was exposed to a culture rife with sexism, rape jokes, pornography, and widespread commercial Sexual Exploitation of women and girls both in the United States and overseas. Woodruff from there, the panel heard firsthand accounts from victims, both women and men. Brigette mccoy is a former army specialist. Im a gulf war era Service Disabled veteran. I was raped during military service and during my first assignment. That was 1988, i was 18 years old, it was two weeks before my 19th birthday. Woodruff former Navy Petty Officer brian lewis also appeared said to be the first male victim of military rape to testify before congress. During my tour on the u. S. S. Frank cable, i was raped by a superior non commissioned officer. I was ordered by my command not to report this crime. Woodruff rebekah havrilla, a former army sergeant, said she did not report her rape initially and then. Approximately a year after separating from active duty, i was on orders for job training. And during that time i ran into my rapist at a post store. He recognized me and told me he was stationed on same installation. I was so retraumatized that i removed myself from training and i sought out assistance from chaplain who told me among other things that the rape was gods will and god was trying to get my attention so that i would go back to church. Six months later, perp had taken photographs during my rape, at that point i felt it would always haunt me unless i did something about it. I went to c. I. D. And a full investigation was completed. It was the most humiliating thing i have experienced. I had to relive the entire event for four hours and explain what was going on in each of the pictures. Woodruff senator Kirsten Gillibrand chairing the subcommittee got a mixed response, when she asked if an outside prosecutor would help in reporting crimes, by moving the process outside the chain of command. An independent prosecutor would have made a world of difference. It would have gotten reporting outside chain of command and not enabled my Commanding Officer to sweep this under the rug. Had i actually gone through with a full investigation while serving, i would have had to live with the men who were abusive toward me. Thats not anything i would have ever wanted to go through. Independent prosecutor aside. The challenge is partially changing the culture within the military with how women are viewed. Woodruff later, Defense Department officials acknowledged the military culture must change. Major general gary patton directs the Sexual Assault prevention and response office. Underpinning all efforts is need for culture change. Where sexist behavior are not tolerated, condoned. I believe we will know change when prevention of Sexual Assault is as scrutinized as friendly fire. We will know when they produce same reaction as hearing racist slur. We are not there yet. Woodruff the new defense secretary chuck hagel promised Stronger Leadership on the issue, at his confirmation hearing last month. Its not good enough just to say zero tolerance. The whole chain of command needs to be accountable for this all the way down to the bottom. Woodruff hagel has already ordered a review of an air force generals decision to overturn a Sexual Assault conviction against an officer who served in italy. Ifill again, the major developments of the day Cardinal Jorge bergoglio of argentina was elected pope the first leader of the worlds catholics to hail from the americas. He took the name francis. Vatican officials announced the new pontiff will be formally installed next tuesday. Vice President Biden will lead the u. S. Delegation. Woodruff online, we give you three rules for getting the most from your Social Security benefits. Hari sreenivasan explains. Sreenivasan the system for determining your eligibility is not very userfriendly. Larry kotlikoff offers some general rules to help maximize your benefit check without the headache on making sense. Why does china have its own plus, on mondays newshour, we discussed what happens to your Digital Assets after death. In a live chat tomorrow at 1 00 p. M. Eastern time. All that and more is on our website newshour. Pbs. Org. Gwen . Ifill and thats the newshour for tonight. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. Celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie. Org. 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. Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the Freeman Foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newmans own foundation, union bank, and fidelity investments. This is what a personal economy looks like. As life changes, fidelity can help you readjust your investments along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your plan as retirement gets closer. Wherever you are today, fidelitys guidance can help here. Relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering Specialized Solutions and growth objectives. Solutions for Small Businesses and major corporations. What can we do for you . And now, bbc world news. This is a special edition of bbc world news america. Meet pope francis. A surprise announcement at the vatican. He is named the next leader of the Roman Catholic church. Tens of thousands of people gathered outside of the vatican to wait for the announcement and to hear him speak. Now comes the tough job of guiding this troubled search through difficult times. Is frances the right man for that task . Tonight there is a new post of the Roman Catholic church. Jorge bergoglio was elected and chose the name francis. It is a historic church. He is the first from outside of europe in more than a millennium. Thousandth part the square who did packed the square to hear the announcement. Thank you very much. We got a call a puff of white we got a call a puff of white