Off of my image. And i just thought to myself, theres got to be something wrong about this. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org Carnegie Corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff president Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, began making the rounds on capitol hill today. It came in the face of Senate Republicans saying they will not consider any nominee this year. Instead, garland started with minority leader harry reid and patrick leahy, ranking democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee. Leahy said the judge wont be commenting on the political fight. Hes not going to go out before the press like i am. Where he gets his chance to tell his side of the story is at a hearing, and thats what he ought to have. Woodruff a spokesman for Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell called the visits a stunt orchestrated by the white house. Well take a closer look at the nomination politics in the senate, later in the program. In the president ial race, House Speaker paul ryan tried again to shut down speculation that he might agree to be the republican nominee, instead of donald trump, if theres a contested convention. He said anyone whos saying otherwise should knock it off. But at a weekly briefing, ryan also criticized trump for warning his supporters might riot if hes denied the nomination. Nobody should say such things in my opinion, because to even address or hint to violence is unacceptable. Woodruff the republican frontrunner also drew fire from moscow. A spokesman for russian president Vladimir Putin charged an online ad for trump reflects a demonization of russia. The ad refers to putin as one of our toughest opponents. Russian president Vladimir Putin warned today hes prepared to send more war, if need be. Russian forces began a partial pullout this week after helping syrias military make major advances in the runup to peace talks. At a moscow ceremony today, putin made clear that he wont let those gains be lost. translated if necessary, literally within a few hours, russia can build up its contingent in the region to a size proportionate to the situation developing there and use the entire arsenal of capabilities at our disposal. Woodruff meanwhile, kurdish regions in Northern Syria announced theyre forming their own federal region. The area extends from the eastern border with iraq to the cities of kobani and near aleppo farther west. The Syrian Government and opposition groups rejected the move, and the United States said it wont recognize any self ruled region, unless the Syrian People vote on it. Secretary of state john kerry formally declared today that the Islamic State group is committing genocide in iraq and syria. The targets christians and other minorities. Congress and human Rights Groups pushed for the finding, and set today as a deadline. But the announcement does not obligate the u. S. To take any additional action. In turkey, a Kurdish Militant Group has claimed responsibility for sundays bombing in ankara that killed 37 people. The group is an offshoot of the main kurdish separatist group p. K. K. It warned there may be more attacks. And, german officials shuttered their embassy in ankara and consulate in istanbul in response to a threat. They called it concrete and very serious. The European Union is wrestling again with how to stop the human tide flowing out of turkey. A summit opened today, but there were signs that a tentative deal might fall through. Alex thomson of independent television news, is watching developments from greece, where some 40,000 migrants are stranded. Still unable to agree, leaders arrived for another twoday sumentd to discussion the migration crisis, which saw more than 1. 2 million migrants arrive in europe last year. If we all Work Together in a coordinated manner and keep our cool, we will achieve success. I am cautioutimistic, but frankly speaking more cautious than optimistic. Reporter under socalled one for one deal, for every syrian refugee just across the water there in turkey behind us, a refugee from greece goes back across the aegean. When all this was arranged ten days ago, the figures were vague. Since then its emerged the e. U. Is only prepared to take 72,000 such people, and there is no commitment yet beyond that figure. Further places may be available under a voluntary separate scheme, but this would require a change to e. U. Law and getting all 28 Member States on board is a tall order as the e. U. Summit chairman has acknowledged. But Charities Say the controversial plans are against european and international law. Woodruff all 28 e. U. Member states must agree to the deal. Saudi arabia has announced its paring back combat operations in yemen after nearly a year of air strikes and ground combat. The kingdom has been leading a Sunni Arab Coalition to roll back gains by shiite rebels in yemen. But the air raids have killed hundreds of civilians. And, the United Nations today raised the death toll to 119 in a strike tuesday, near the yemeni capital of sanaa. The earths temperature was much higher than usual last month. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports february 2016 beat the old record by sixtenths of a degree a much bigger margin than usual. In the process, Arctic Sea Ice reached a record low. Scientists say the heat was partly due to a super elnino effect. Automatic braking systems will be standard in most cars and light trucks within the next six years. 20 major automakers agreed to that voluntary schedule today, with the national highway Traffic Safety administration. U. S. Drivers have nearly two million rearend crashes each year. And on wall street, oil rose back above 40 a barrel, and helped push stocks higher. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 155 points to close above 17,480. The nasdaq rose 11 points, and the s p 500 added 13. Still to come on the newshour congress lambastes michigans governor and the epa over the flint water crisis. The economics of paying student athletes. Sea world ends its orca Breeding Program, and much more. Woodruff the water crisis in flint, michigan, was in the spotlight again today. This time, at a hearing before congress where the question seemed to be whos the most to blame for dangerous lead poisoning. It was heated at times, and there were calls for resignations of top officials. Correspondent john yang begins. Committee on government oversight and and reform will come to order. Reporter michigan Governor Rick Snyder and e. P. A Administrator Gina Mccarthy took the oath, settled into their seats, and the grilling began. Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings started with republican snyder. Governor snyder has been described as running the state of michigan like a business. Theres no doubt in my mind that if a corporate c. E. O. Did what Governor Snyders administration has done, he would be hauled up on criminal charges. Reporter an emergency manager appointed by snyders administration switched flints water supply to the flint river in april 2014, in a bid to save money. But no Corrosion Control was added. That allowed lead from aging pipes to leach into Drinking Water for more than a year. Snyder said today that michigans department of Environmental Quality repeatedly assured him the water was safe, until last fall. It was on october 1, 2015 that i learned that our state experts were wrong. Flints water had Dangerous Levels of lead. On that date i took immediate action. Not a day or night goes by that this tragedy doesnt weigh on my mind. The questions i should have asked, the answers i should have demanded. How i could have prevented this . Reporter that wasnt nearly enough to satisfy some on the committee. Plausible deniability only works when its plausible and im not buying that you didnt know about this until ocober 2015. You werent in a medically induced coma for a year and ive had about enough of your false contrition and your phony apologies. Reporter Republican Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz laid blame mostly with the Environmental Protection agency and its boss, gina mccarthy. I am asking the questions. Yes, ok. In february was when you first arrived on the scene and it wasnt until january of next year that you actually you did something. Thats the fundamental problem. Dont look around like youre mystified. Thats what happened. You didnt take action. You didnt. You could have pulled that switch. We consistently took action from that point forward. Consistently. There are a lot of people in this audience from flint. Nobody believes you took action. You had the presence, you had the authority, you had the backing of the federal government, and you did not act when you had the chance and if youre going to do the courageous thing, you too should step down. Reporter mccarthy maintained she did everything within her Legal Authority to respond. We just couldnt get a straight answer anywhere. People dont deserve that out of their government. I will take responsibility for not pushing hard enough but i will not take responsibility for causing this problem. It was not e. P. A. At the helm when this happened. Reporter the issue of lead in water also affects communities from ohio to North Carolina to mississippi to new jersey. Governor snyder today urged congress to approve 220 million for replacing contaminated pipes in flint and other cities. And, he said he wants michigan to spend a similar amount. No justice, no peace reporter but some Flint Residents who attended todays hearing said thats not good enough, given michigans Budget Surplus of 575 million. I was hearing stuff in snyders testimony today we was never told about any of this until january of 2016. He has ignored flint and all warnings then he says he has money put up for a rainy day fund. Well its pouring where is the money at . Reporter lead levels in flints water are dropping, but they still do not meet federal Drinking Water standards. That means City Residents will continue to use bottled water for the forseeable future. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff lets pick up further on these questions of what mistakes were made, and by whom, in flint, as well as growing concerns about the safety of water in other communities. David shepardson, a michigan native, has been reporting on flint and watching the latest developments for reuters. And mark edwards is a civil and environmental engineer and professor at Virginia Tech university. Widely credited with helping to expose the flint water problems, he testified before the same House Committee earlier this week. And we welcome you both. David shepardson, to you first. You get the impression from listening to this hearing today that everybody involved bares some responsibility. Is that accurate . I think everybody admits that things did not go well. I mean, the state, the local authorities, and the e. P. A. Has probably a little bit different position, that they do not admit specific wrongdoing. All they admit is they did not act fast enough. The agency yesterday released 1,200 pages of emails that show that as far back as september the administrator asked her deputies whether it was appropriate the intervene and she said this could get big very quickly. So certainly the agency knew this was a growing issue of concern, but they did not opt to take the step of issuing an emergency order to intervene until january. Woodruff so given that, is there one individual or one agency that bares more responsibility than others . Well, i guess it depends on your point of view. The main problem was that the state failed to add Corrosion Control to the water, and the e. P. A. Would say, and the state would agree, that they did not inform the e. P. A. Of this for months and months. Because of that, that catastrophic decision led to the ultimate poisoning of the water, but from there, depending on what Political Party youre in, it really. The putting of the blame depends on your point of view, thats what the last two hearings have been about. Woodruff its impossible to separate it from the politics, but well try. Professor mark edwards, you were asked to go in and look at the flint sweart water situation almost a year ago gamely that lived there. What would you add to where the responsibility lies here . Well, its very clear that Governor Snyder was guilty of not listening to the complaints of residents in flint. He was guilty of being overly trusting of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the e. P. A. Hes accepted that blame. He called it his katrina. He also now wants to be part of the solution, but i think the thing that concerns me most is e. P. A. s testimony, which i find to be outrageous and orwellian. Woodruff in what way . Well, i mean, for example, they said the e. P. A. Whistleblowers memo that blew the lid off this back in july was inconclusive when, in fact, it proved that the entire city was in danger. E. P. A. Today claimed that they didnt know if they could enforce federal law. E. P. A. Didnt know if they could enforce federal law or not. They said also that they were strong armed by the state. I mean, how can you be strong armed by someone youre supposed to be supervising . And even more outrageous is they claimed that they warned Flint Residents in july that the water was not safe to drink when, in fact, when Virginia Tech, our team tried to warn people in july, august and september that the water was unsafe, we had to fight the e. P. A. E. P. A. Said nothing to back us up. So they are a major part of what went wrong in flint, and for them to sit there and act like theyve done nothing wrong is just, again, outrageous and orwellian. Woodruff well, we should point out that we did invite the e. P. A. To participate in the discussion tonight to come on for an interview, and they declined our request. This story goes on, but for right now, david shepardson, in flint, the problem has gotten a little bit better, but it continues. Is that right . Right. So theres two funding issues right now. The water is not yet safe to drink, and there are still. The e. P. A. Is still doing tests, and there are still many people who are forced to use bottled water for cooking and drinking. But both the state, the governor has asked the state legislature to fund another 160 million over two years, and theres another fight in congress over whether the federal government should kick in about 2250 million for 220 million for flint and other cities struggling with lead in pipes. Woodruff all that to be resolved. Professor, while were talking about this, you have written that there are a number of older American Cities that are confronting very similar problems to what flint has experienced. Where are we talking about exactly in this country . Well, youre talking about all the major u. S. Cities that have lead pipe, whether its acknowledged that the intent of this rule, 70 of the cities would have to tell people the water is unsafe. Weve been arguing this with e. P. A. For ten years, warning them that Something Like flint was going to happen. The only thing thats unusual here is that they got caught in flint. A group of outsiders exposed that children were getting lead poisoning even as m. D. Q. And e. P. A. Are claiming the water is safe. To this day e. P. A. And m. D. Q. Have not admitted that the water broke federal law. Woodruff how much of the rest of the country should be worrying about this . Well, i think what youre going to do is when you start turning over rocks and looking whats going on with lead in Drinking Water, something will squirm out every time. Youre seeing that in new jersey, philadelphia, jackson. E. P. A. Has known about this problem for ten years and its done nothing. Weve been screaming at e. P. A. To try to stop Something Like flint from happening. Woodruff when you say we, you mean you and those folks who are working with you on this. Yeah. There were several us in washington, d. C. , who saw how this attitude of e. P. A. That anything goes in terms of cheating on measuring lead in water, so that it looks low when you sample it, but it could be high when people are drinking the water, it was leaving. Its left all americans in harms way. Woodruff dave shepardson, how well prepared are americas cities, states and the e. P. A. To deal with what apparently is a much bigger problem than anybody realized . Its a staggering issue. There are about 155,000 Water Systems the e. P. A. Enforces. The vast majority of states in the primary ones overseeing these water system, and by the e. P. A. s estimate over the next 20 years, the Water Infrastructure of the country needs at least 600 billion in investment. And there have been numerous reports recently of lead problems in mississippi and pennsylvania and throughout the country, and as mark said, clearly flint has cast attention on it, but its not just lead in water, but its also read lead in paint and other sources. The lead issue for children across the country goes far beyond certainly flint. Woodruff quickly, to what extent is this issue a priority to the congress and the administration . Well, michigan senator Debbie Stabenow was on the floor today complaining they didnt reach a deal before the senate goes on a twoweek recess, and there will be more fighting. Its also an issue in the president ial campaign. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have called for Governor Snyder to resign, and i do think the issue of infrastructure and funding for cities like flint is going to continue to be an issue throughout the campaign season. Woodruff well, we certainly need to continue to watch this, and we will do that. David shepardson, we thank you, and professor marketwards at Virginia Tech, thank you. Woodruff Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland made the trek to capitol hill today. President obamas selection for the Supreme Court made his First Official visit and met with key senate democrats. For more were joined by npr Congressional Correspondent ailsa chang. Shes on capitol hill. Hello, ailsa. So tell us what sort of a reception did judge garland get . Well, today because it was the two democrats, he got an overwhelmingly positive reception. But that was what was so conspicuous. Todays visit to capitol hill was just made up of two appointments with two key democrats. Usually when a Supreme Court nominee arrives on the hill, the first people he received are the top two senate leaders, one in each party, and the top senators on the Judiciary Committee of each party. So today because he only met with minority leader harry reid and the Ranking Member or top democrat on the Judiciary Committee, patrick leahy, it wasnt quite the reception that were usually used to seeing for Supreme Court nominees on the hill. Neither Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell nor the judiciary chair, chuck grassley, were on his schedule today. Woodruff any word, ailsa, on how these meetings went, or were they purely formalities . Theyre usually a formality. Theyre very ceremonial. Its a gracious affair, mostly a photo opportunity. The question now is how many meetings will he actually get with republican senators in the weeks ahead . He actually spoke on the phone with Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell yesterday. Mcconnell through his spokes pec told everybody that he wanted, he preferred to speak with garland on the phone because he didnt want to put garland through the unnecessary political routines and that he wanted to inform him that he will not get facetoface meeting with the Senate Majority leader because garland will not get a confirmation vote this year according to the Senate Majority leader. But he said that he did wish garland well. Now, chairman ted grassley, at least the white house yesterday said that grassleys office had said grassley planned to meet with the nominee in a couple weeks after the senate recess, but grassley this morning made it very clearly that he made no such promise, that when he spoke to garland personally on the phone yesterday he said garland should call him back after the recess is over and check in with him again, and they would decide how to go forward from there. Woodruff now a few republican senators have said that they will meet with him. Is that right . Just handful. Just handful. About five or six. Susan collins of maine, who has been known for a long time to be ad many rat from the very outset she said she thinks the nominee, whomever obama picks, should get a full confirmation process, should get a full confirmation hearing, should get a confirmation vote, so its no surprise she reiterated this week that she would meet with Merrick Garland. Three senators that are running in battleground states in 2016 said they would go ahead and meet with garland, kelly aidea aidea ayotte of new hampshire, and mark kirk from illinois. Kirk said from nearly the outset that he thinks obamas nominee should get a full confirmation hearing. Woodruff these are democrats who have to compete in states where democrats have some chance, so theyre feeling differently. So what does Merrick Garland vz v to face . Are we looking at weeks and months of no contact with the estimate . Well be coming to the hill for many, many meetings with democrats, but the question is how many more republicans will agree to these meetings . Now, if you talk to Chuck Schumer of new york, he says that the ice is breaking, the fact that five or six republican senators are saying now that they will meet with the nominee shows that there are many more republican senators who are going to crack because its untenable the position theyre taking, that sort of the hope that democrats are expressing right now. But its really going to be up to the nat democrats to try to keep this issue alive, especially now were going into a twoweek recess. You know, it means calling up press events. It means getting their Grassroots Efforts out there, continuing to push this into the public eye and getting reporters like me to keep writing about this story, because if the story ceases to change, its hard to keep justifying coverage of it. Woodruff well, its an unprecedented situation at least in my memory. I dont remember anything like this. Ailsa chang with npr, thank you very much. Youre welcome. Woodruff millions of viewers began tuning into the ncaas march madness games today. Billions are paid for the tv rights. Last year, an average of 11 Million People tuned in throughout the month. Yet, one question looms larger than ever should the players be entitled to further compensation . Our economics correspondent, paul solman, explores those issues, part of his weekly making sense report which airs thursdays on the newshour. I saw myself on a video game. Reporter former ucla star ed obannon, mvp of the 1995 ncaa finals. It was pretty cool to watch, i mean the guy was left handed, bald headed. The jumper was good and so i was very pleased about it. Reporter but the friend who showed obannon the game was puzzled. Whats funny about it is, he says, is we paid x amount of dollars for it for the video game and you didnt get one penny. Reporter it was this encounter that sparked a famous firestorm ed obannons eventual 2009 lawsuits against the ncaa and video game maker e. A. Sports for blatant and unlawful use of student athlete likenesses to increase sales and profits, while denying College Athletes any share of the revenues they generated, besides a fulltuition sports scholarship. Close to fifteen years later, and theyre still making money off of my image. And i just thought to myself theres got to be something wrong about this. If i was an entertainer of any other sort, would i have the same things happened to me, you know . Reporter no. You get royalties, residuals, absolutely. Reporter wed come to find out whats happened to ed obannon and his suit, landing in las vegas, passing the strip, more decked out than ever, winding up in henderson, nevada, where obannon works, lives, and helps coach basketball at liberty high school. He now coaches the ncaaers of tomorrow who, if theyre absurdly good and lucky, will play in a final four themselves someday. The rights paid to the ncaa to broadcast the ncaa tournament this year . Nearly a billion dollars. The players take . Still zero. New york times columnist joe nocera has long made the case for paying socalled student athletes. Its starkly laid out in his new book, indentured. They are fundamentally exploited by a system that makes not millions of dollars but billions of dollars and that enriches everybody around them except themselves. Reporter but athletes, if they make it, make millions of dollars. Sure. The very small five percent who make it from college to the pros will get, will get very rich. What about the other 95 . Reporter obannon was one of the five percent. And yet in college, he often went hungry for lack of cash. There were many nights when i went through the night without eating. Reporter you . Absolutely. Its simple, gentlemen; the Little Things is whats going to win us the game. Reporter back at liberty high, the coaches were prepping the patriots for a playoff game. Do what got us here. Have some fun. Keep us winning. Reporter kyle thaxton is one of the teams stars. Should College Athletes get paid . If theyre the ones playing and doing it on the court then they should be the ones getting paid also, it shouldnt just be the coaches. Reporter coaches who can make 6 million a year or more. And its not just pay. In ncaa sports you have players who can be stuck with sportsrelated medical expenses. Reporter ramogi huma, who played football at ucla, has been doing the lonely work of organizing players. Injured players can lose their scholarships, Graduation Rates hover around 50 amongst the sports who are generating this money, and the ncaas refusing to adopt the same concussion reforms that the nfl has adopted. Were not advocating for professional salaries and things like that but were saying that, look, some of that value should be given in the form of basic protections like medical expenses and degree completion. Reporter ncaa president mark emmert declined an interview, but we caught up with him at a press conference. Why not pay College Athletes . Because theyre students and theyre not employees at the end of the day. You know, young men and women come to college because they want to get an education, because they want to participate in their sport as part of that educational experience. Reporter we relayed emmerts response to ed obannon. The way that they run their business and thats what theyre doing, they are running a business you cant possibly do that and think that your employees because these athletes are employees they shouldnt get paid. That is to me is mind boggling. Reporter but it was time for the tipoff. In the playoff game, the home team seemed comfortably ahead. But bigtime College Sports is rarely comfortable, says joe nocera. Really being an athlete on a campus is a full time job. The ncaa rules say its only supposed to be 20 hours a week, but if you go on a road trip they only count the time youre on the floor. So, when youre in the airplane, when youre in the hotel, that doesnt count. Reporter and on campus. You have weightlifting in the morning, then you go to some classes. Then youve got practice, then youve got more strength training, then youve got, enforced study hall, then, you know, you go to bed at midnight, you get up at 6 00, you do the whole thing all over, its a full time job. And not only that. Lets be honest, theres a cartel that is suppressing the wages of a labor force. If you want to think about it in economic terms. Reporter cartel . We asked the ncaas emmert. Hes allowed his opinions. Reporter as it turns out, its not just the ncaa that has a problem paying players, though. Cardozo Law School Professor eko yankah. The more and more we treat them as young, minor league professional athletes, the further theyll get from the other things we find valuable about college. Reporter or as liberty high senior khalil deruen put it we dont want the importance of being a student to be diminished. Reporter moreover, eco yankah asks, if you pay basketball, football and baseball players. What does that mean for the Water Polo Team . What does that mean for volleyball . There is a very dangerous line here where the very natural thing to do would be to have three Revenue Generating sports and get rid of all the others. Reporter so professor yankah has an alternative for athletes who arent students. If there are young people who are not at all interested in being student athletes, and their lifes project is to develop their particular athletic talent, there ought to be professional developmental leagues into which they can go. Reporter right now, of course, the only option for Young Athletes is college. Do almost all of them think they are going pro . That is people who play in Division One College lets say. In my experience, yes. Reporter and its a delusion right . Its a delusion but i think its the right delusion. And that you have to think youre going to go in order to get there. Reporter okay, so what happened to obannons liberty city patriots . Hoop dreams dashed theirs and by this time ours they wound up losing, 67 to 61. We as the coaching staff, we tip our hats to you guys. You played hard all season. What you did today, and in the previous four years, you will get to further your education, and get it paid for. Thats the goal. Reporter and maybe even getting paid extra, in cash. And so, in the end, whats happened to the lawsuits . Well, e. A. Sports actually settled for roughly 60 million, with thousands of players, past and present, getting, on average, about 1,600 each, the money finally awarded just this week. In 2014, the court ruled the ncaas refusal to pay players was an antitrust violation, and also ordered up to 5,000 per student athlete be put in trust for using their likenesses. The ncaa appealed; the money award, reversed. And so, this tuesday, obannons lawyers asked the Supreme Court to review the case. From henderson, nevada, this is economics correspondent paul solman for the pbs newshour. Woodruff the popular theme park, sea world, has been under evergrowing criticism for the way it breeds and shows its popular orcas. But sea world is now bowing to pressure and making a big change. Jeffrey brown has the story. Brown orca whales have been entertaining audiences at seaworld parks since 1964. Once feared theyre commonly known as killer whales they became hugely popular and even beloved. Todays announcement, made with the Humane Society, means the era of public exhibition is coming to an end. Current orcas under our care will be the last generation at seaworld. Were going to phase out our theatrical shows. Brown seaworld is ending its Breeding Program for the animals, though its keeping the whales it already has. And the orlandobased company says the shows will gradually give way to what it calls inspiring natural orca encounters. Animal rights activists have long criticized keeping the animals in captivity. Any of us would be miserable if we had to spend out life living in a bathtub and orcas at seaworld are just as miserable. They spend their lives confined to tiny tanks where they go mad from confinement and boredom. Brown the parks came under new scrutiny in 2010 after one of the whales drowned a trainer. That attack was captured on later became the peg for 2013s blackfish, a documentary examining the effects of captivity on killer whales. The company also faced regulatory and legislative efforts to ban orca captivity. And ticket sales to the parks have dropped significantly. And were joined now by the man who made todays announcement sea world c. E. O. And president , joel manby. And by wayne pacelle, c. E. O. Of the Humane Society of the United States, a longtime critic of sea world that worked with it on the new reform measures. Welcome to both of you. Joel manby, let me start with you. Is this an acknowledgment that raising and using the whales for public exhibition has been wrong . Jeffrey, whats really clear to me, ive been c. E. O. For about 11 months now, is that society has shifted. And peoples view of having these majestic, very large animals under human care has changed over time. And more and more people are becoming uncomfortable with it. I had to make some difficult decisions to move the company forward, and i felt that the right thing to do for the company and all Things Considered is to end our Breeding Program. Brown the right thing to do for the company, so should it be seen mostly as a business decision . Yeah, i think any business in todays world has to be connected to a corset of values. Our corset of values is to help animals in the wild. A lot of people dont maybe realize that about seaworld, but we have the best zoological organization i think in the world. Were passionate about animals. Were passionate about animals in the wild. I felt that the orca issue was an overhang for us that was stopping our incredible story from being told to a country thats changing. I think its great that the millennial, the younger folks care about conservation, they care about animals. We do too, and i wanted them to hear our story more and more. Brown so wayne pacelle, a longtime critic of seaworld, now working with them. What do you see as the importance of this move, and what would a move toward a more educational or more natural approach be . What do you want to see happen now . Well, we celebrate the end of breeding of orcas in activity. This has been a longheld aspiration of the Humane Society and so many other groups in our field. Obviously attitudes changed dramatically after the airing of blackfish. In terms of these animals, they are longlived animals. They are going to be around if they are not released into the wild. There would be a whole set of challenges if their were contemplated. Were very focused on the idea of an orca centric experience where trainers allow them to exhibit their natural behaviors, that theyre exercised, that within the captive setting theres enrichment. Its a great challenge with these highly intelligent, complex, sociable animals who live in pods in the while. We think theres a ceiling in terms of how much can be done for them, but obviously seaworld and its staff need to do their best to accommodate their needs. Brown mr. Pacelle, staying with you, i wonder if you would go further, because your organization has been critical of keeping dolphins in captivity. Are you pushing seaworld to go there . Do you expect this to continue to Something Like that any time soon . Well, we think theres actually a very artful solution, which is if seaworld has continuing needs for animals to populate its expi bigs, if they can get animals who are beached or otherwise in distress from the wild and those animals can be brought in, rehabilitated and in some cases if they cannot be rehoboth leased, then they can meet those needs. That is a de facto sanctuary. Thats what big cat sanctuaries and chimp sanctuaries and lots of otherfanimalbased sanctuaries do. Some animals simply cant be released into the wild again. And a lot of very progressive zoos and others are relying on rescues to populate their exhibits. We hope thats the direction of seaworld in the years ahead. Brown what about that, mr. Manby. If i could. Brown go ahead. I want your response on where you see this going, and why not if there are cultural shift, why in the move to other animals like dolphins. Well, a pit that wayne made that is very important, a lot of people dont realize that there is a tremendous need for rescue operations, and the capacity is much lower than the demand. One thing i announced today was seaworld is committing 50 million over the next five years with a goal of being the largest rescue organization in the world. And just in the last year, we rescued seven animals a day, 1,000 dolphins stranded last year alone. There are hundreds and hundreds of sea lions in california that we save. This good work cant continue unless seaworld has the expertise and the facilities. Brown is there, mr. Manby, with the orcas, you said it would be dangerous to release the ones you have, what about on a casebycase basis or transferring them to some kind of transitional area . You know, this is something that actually wayne and i have talked a lot about. We dont always agree on everything, and we wont, but were trying to look for common ground. And the truth is, any research you read, any Peer Reviewed research, a whale thats born into human care is not a good candidate for release. In fact, in the history of mankind, no whale or dolphin born under human care has been released successfully. The only time it has been done successfully, if theyre wild, theyre brought in for a short period of time and released. We have four whales taken from the wild over 35 years ago, theyre quite old now. Theyve been under human care for a long, long time. We dont think its worth the risk for those four whales. Brown mr. Pacelle, i want to ask you about the largest context here. Do you see this as part of a movement. In the way zoos and aquariums look at the treatment of animals, movies and a much larger cultural shift here . No question. Ive got a back coming out next month called the humane economy, and my argument is that business and commerce must narrate itself with these emergent values about animals and their wellbeing. It was march last year we saw ringling brothers give up its traveling elephant act. We have seen movies migrate away from live animals to Computer Generated imagery. Were seeing changes in the food sector where Companies Like walmart and kroger and mcdonalds are now buying their products that come from more humane farms. This is a cultural live shift, and this happens to be one manifestation with a Live Entertainment company like seaworld getting on board. Were happy at that, but were very happy about the broader trends in society. You think about for 20 years we have been adversaries, really monologuing against each other. Now were dialoguing. I think the winner is animals in the wild and their habitats. And lets focus there because the crisis is bigger than any organization can handle. We can do more together than if we fight all the time. I think its a good move. Brown joel manby and wayne pacelle, thank you both very much. Thank you. Thank you, jeffrey. Woodruff now, an editorial note. In our report tuesday night on a North Carolina family thats supporting donald trump, we were continuing a long newshour tradition of talking directly to voters. We want to hear from them, in their own voices, speaking about what motivates their political preferences. Regrettably, none of us at the newshour recognized the questions that could arise from grace tillys tattoos, and didnt raise them with her until after the report aired. At that point, our producer contacted ms. Tilly and she insisted the tattoos are religious in nature and have nothing to do with a neonazi theme or white supremacy. We referenced her comments in an editors note, posted on our website. Many of our online commenters have since let us know they reject that explanation. Were now posting this note as a follow up. The newshour remains committed to being as transparent as possible in covering this election. And well be back in just a moment. But first, take this time to hear from your local pbs station. Its a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. Woodruff for those stations still with us, Silicon Valley has long been criticized for its lack of diversity. On average, 71 of the industrys workforce are men. 60 are white. So, what exactly is Silicon Valley doing to improve its diversity . Hari sreenivasan has our encore report. Raise your hand if youve heard of unconscious bias before. Sreenivasan the notion that hidden bias can be methodically stamped out of the workplace has become popular with Tech Companies across Silicon Valley. By managing unconscious bias, we make better decisions. So, unconscious bias acts as a significant barrier to objective datadriven decision making. Sreenivasan that was the message being delivered by joelle emerson, a former Sexual Harassment litigator who now spends most of her time helping multibilliondollar startups diversify their workforces. We think that if you can get this right early, youre going to much more successfully, more organically grow as an Inclusive Company rather than starting when youre so far down the line. If the word is associated with female, i want you to raise your right hand and say right. Sreenivasan on this day, emerson is conducting a workshop at slack, a 2. 8 billion startup just named company of the year by inc. Magazine. Even though his company is still young, slack c. E. O. Stewart butterfield is still playing a little catch up. We didnt get started in the beginning, right, when this was cofounded by four white men. But it was something that became apparent as a priority to us when we were relatively small, you know, by 30 or 40 people. Sreenivasan known for its workplace communication app, slack is regarded as one of the hottest and Fastest Growing tech startups. We are growing incredibly quickly. I mean, we have to do a lot of hiring, which means that theres a lot of positions that need to get filled. Every week, theres new people starting; every week, there are open roles. Sreenivasan and when theres rapid growth, a Natural Inclination is to recruit from familiar networks. Senior engineer erica baker says thats at the core of techs diversity problem. Theres a lot of focus put on hiring people you know, who youre comfortable with or whatever. A lot of people who get into Silicon Valley come from backgrounds that are predominantly white, so they hire the people that they know who are predominantly white, and its cyclical. It will take someone stopping that cycle purposefully to fix it. Sreenivasan slacks Vice President for people and policy, anne toth, says shes working hard to break that cycle. One of the things im trying to do here early stage is build the type of tools from the outset that allow us to look at the data in realtime and make adjustments as we go. Are we promoting women and people of color at the same rate . Are we retaining them at the same rate . Are we paying them equitably . Are they as engaged as other employees across the board . Sreenivasan on the day we visited, toth, and diversity consultant joelle emerson, were reviewing questions with a group of hiring managers where we often go wrong is that we ask questions that produce answers that cannot be objectively evaluated, that almost force us to draw on unconscious biases, on subjectivity, on our own beliefs about the world to evaluate the candidates answer. Sreenivasan the goal to eliminate any potential bias that might unfairly favor one type of applicant over another. What do you do for fun . What do you think of that question . We want to know more about how you are, not just what you do for work. We dont want to take the humanity out of this process, but it really isnt relevant to your ability to do work here, sreenivasan despite these efforts, slacks diversity numbers are still not dramatically different from the industry. 70 of its employees are white, and 61 are men. But slack c. E. O. Stewart butterfield says there are some encouraging trends. 41 of employees at slack report to a woman, and 45 of the managers and executives are women. So, thats definitely better than the industry average. Sreenivasan for erica baker, an African American engineer, diversity is about race as well as gender. Right now, it seems like in the industry that diversity is code for hire more women. That is what diversity has become. And its not great because the demographics of the industry, usually, it skews to more white women. Sreenivasan but baker says she is encouraged by the direction slack is heading. 7 of the companys engineers are African American. Compare that with the industry average of 1 to 2 . To change the demographics of an industry takes time, and one longterm effort involves encouraging more women and people of color to study engineering. Many companies are now sponsoring training for high school and College Students like this code camp hosted by the mobile payment firm, square. One of the things ive always loved about programming and Computer Science is that you can truly build something from scratch. Sreenivasan while c. E. O. Jack dorsey has not yet publicized squares diversity figures, his executive Team Includes several women in key roles like c. F. O. And head of engineering. Vanessa slavich, diversity lead at square, says the company is constantly on the lookout for tools to expand the pool of prospective employees. Here we have a Job Description for our Data Scientist team. Sreenivasan one such tool is textio. The software uses a form of Artificial Intelligence to detect bias in Job Descriptions. This is the before copy. On a scale of oneto100, it scores 47. Phrases like rapidly growing are regarded as inclusive; builds relationships, feminine; and words like relentlessly, masculine. Once all the changes are made, the newly revised Job Description scores a 95. We did a small anonymous test with our Job Descriptions before and after, and they doubled in applications for both men and women. Sreenivasan while such efforts can widen the pool of candidates, slacks erica baker says real, lasting change will require a cultural shift in the workplace, taking people beyond their comfort zones. People should know that youre going to feel weird about talking about race. Just sit with it and then move past it. But its going to get uncomfortable. And i think people shy away from talkin about those sorts of things because it is uncomfortable. I think that we need to get to the uncomfortable spaces to make good progress. Sreenivasan for the pbs newshour, im hari sreenivasan. Woodruff and a news update. President ial candidate Bernie Sanders has conceded the primary to Hillary Clinton after the am p. Declared her the winner. He derailed by 1,500 votes but says he will not seek a recount. The republican race in missouri remains too close to call between donald trump and ted cruz. And u. S. Officials confirm that north korea has test fired another ballistic missile. It comes a day after the u. S. Imposed new sanctions for earlier nuclear and missile tests. And that is the newshour for t and thats the newshour for tonight. On friday well look at eye in the sky and the myriad of ethical questions surrounding drone warfare. Im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. For all of us at the pbs newshour, 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. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention. In the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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 newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs, and hong kong tourism board. Want to know hong kongs most romantic spots . I will show you. I love heading to repulse bay for an evening stroll. Its a perfect, stunning backdrop for making romantic