In the death of a 25yearold black man, freddie gray. A look at why the prosecution is having such a hard time making its case. All that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by some say its a calling. Some say they lost someone they loved. Many say its to save lives, as many and as often as possible. Theres 100 reasons why someone becomes a doctor, but at m. D. Anderson, its because theres nothing and we mean nothing we wont do in making cancer history. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. 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. Woodruff for Hillary Clinton today, a recommendation and a rebuke from the federal bureau of investigation. They came after a yearlong investigation into her use of a private email server, when she was the nations top diplomat. No charges are appropriate in this case. Woodruff with those seven words, f. B. I. Director james comey all but lifted the legal threat to the democrats president ial nomineetobe. He said, in essence investigators found no wanton wrongdoing to make criminal charges stick. Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Woodruff but comey also spoke in blistering terms about clintons use of a private e mail server as secretary of state. Although we did not find clear evidence that secretary clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. Woodruff clinton has acknowledged it was a mistake to use a private email system, but shes asserted that classified material was never handled improperly. I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. Woodruff today, however, the f. B. I. Found that 110 emails contained information that was classified when it was sent or received. And, the fbi also found it is possible that hostile actors got access to the secretarys account. Any reasonable person in secretary clintons position, or in the position of those Government Employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation. Woodruff the announcement came after the f. B. I. Interviewed clinton for three andahalf hours on saturday. The candidate was speaking in washington as comey made his report. She did not address it there, or later, in charlotte, North Carolina. Instead, her campaign issued a statement, saying republican reaction to comeys announcement was swift and strongly negative. The g. O. Ps presumptive president ial nominee donald trump took to twitter, saying and House Speaker paul ryan said in a statement the white house said it would have no official response to the f. B. I. Findings. They now go to the Justice Department, where attorney general Loretta Lynch said last week shell follow prosecutors recommendations. That followed a furor over her impromptu meeting with former president bill clinton. The f. B. I. Also found the state department was generally lax about handling classified material. A Department Spokesman responded that we take it very, very seriously. Well take a closer look at the f. B. I. Findings, after the news summary. All of this unfolded on the same day that president obama campaigned with Hillary Clinton for the first time this year. The onetime rivals flew together on air force one, and appeared at a rally in charlotte, North Carolina. The president said clinton is ready for the oval office. I can tell you this Hillary Clinton has been tested, she has seen up close whats involved in making those decisions, she has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton, ever. Woodruff Republican Donald Trump also campaigns in North Carolina tonight. Iraqi search teams recovered more bodies in baghdad today, and the death toll from sundays bombing soared to 175. Distraught family members held funeral processions in the iraqi capital. They carried caskets past charred buildings as word came that the countrys interior minister has resigned. Meanwhile, officials in istanbul, turkey jailed 17 more suspects in last weeks airport bombings that killed 45. An el al flight from new york to tel aviv made it safely to israel today, after a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax. The flight was escorted across europe by french, swiss and bulgarian warplanes. In tel aviv, family members anxiously waited for relatives whod been on board and were unaware of the drama until landing. I heard that the plane was accompanied by a fighter plane, from switzerland or from what, but i did not see it. Just as well that i didnt see it, it wouldnt have helped my situation. Woodruff el al israels National Carrier is considered one of the worlds most secure airlines. Theres fresh economic fallout from britains decision to leave the european union. The british pound tumbled today to a new 31year low against the dollar, while Business Confidence dropped sharply. And, major real estate funds moved to stop a run on their assets. The bank of england reacted with moves to help banks free up more money for lending. In france, the government invoked special constitutional powers to push a labor reform bill closer to enactment. The measure would make it easier to hire and fire workers, and it has angered labor unions. Thousands of Union Members marched through paris in protest today, and opposition lawmakers walked out as the Prime Minister defended the bill in the national assembly. translated i decided after much deliberation, to commit the responsibility of the government to the vote, in its new reading. The government is proudly transparent, and proudly courageous, because we are acting in the interests of the french people. Woodruff the labor bill still has to get through the french senate, and through the national assembly, a final time. On wall street stocks fell as concerns about britains economy grew and oil prices slumped. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 108 points to close at 17,840. The nasdaq fell 39 points, and the s p 500 slipped 14. Nasas juno spacecraft is now safely in orbit around jupiter. The solarpowered probe completed the final leg of its fiveyear journey last night. On the ground, in pasadena, california the flight team burst into cheers as juno beamed back signals confirming its arrival. Its amazing. I mean the more you know about the mission you know just how tricky this was and have it be flawless, i mean i cant really put it into words. You imagine what it might feel like, but to actually have it to know we can all go to bed tonight and not worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, is pretty awesome. Woodruff beginning in august, the probe is due to begin its mission of mapping jupiter, over a period of 20 months. And, former congressman, federal judge and white House Counsel abner mikva died monday, of bladder cancer. The illinois democrat spent ten years in the house, before serving on a federal appeals court, and then, at the Clinton White house. He received the president ial medal of freedom in 2014, and in a statement today, president obama called him a mentor and friend. Abner mikva was 90 years old. Still to come on the newshour how the f. B. I. s recommendation of no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton could influence the election, inside the simmering conflict in ukraines separatist regions, questions of justice denied in the freddie gray trial, and much more. Woodruff now, back to todays announcement from the f. B. I, and the bureaus year long probe into Hillary Clintons email practices as secretary of state. First, well delve into the f. B. Is findings, with carrie johnson, justice correspondent for npr. Carrie johnson, welcome back to the newshour. First of all, you told us today that what the f. B. I. Director did, how he said this today was unusual. What did you mean by that . Judy, maybe even unprecedented. Nobody ive talked with whos worked with the Justice Department or the f. B. I. Over the last 25 years can remember an incident in which an f. B. I. Director held a News Conference to announce his recommendation about an ongoing criminal matter. That is what happened today. Moreover, f. B. I. Director jim comey entered into an unusual amount of detail about the nature of the investigation and all the steps the f. B. I. Has taken, painstaking steps, thousands of hours to have f. B. I. Agents time, a puzzle the f. B. I. Director likened to getting a jigsaw puzzle thats completed, dumping it on the ground and putting all the pieces back together again. Thats what jim comey says the f. B. I. s task is in investigating Hillary Clintons email server. I have to i was going to say. Go ahead. Woodruff no, finish your thought. Sure. In fact, he said it wasnt just email server, judy. Apparently, she used different servers over time and multiple different blackberrys, so this was a complicated investigation, more than we knew. Woodruff in the end, director comey said they did not feel there was support information, there was no determination that criminal charges should be made. I think people are having a hard time squaring that. Woodruff yes, including some republicans, as you mentioned in your newscast. So what the f. B. I. Director said was they looked at three Different Things in the course of this investigation, and ultimately concluded that no reasonable prosecutor would bring a criminal case based on the facts that the f. B. I. Had at hand. What they were looking at was, a, whether Hillary Clintons email server had been hacked by any foreign governments or criminals. B, whether there was any willful or intentional activity with respect to mishandling classified information and, c, whether there was gross negligence in the handling of government secrets. What the f. B. I. Concluded after reviewing tens of thousands of pages of documents, interviewing Hillary Clinton on saturday for three and a half hours in a room, many of her closest aides, was they could find no clear evidence of intent to mishandle government information and government secrets, no direct evidence whatsoever that anybody engaged in obstruction of justice or lied to investigators and, certainly, the f. B. I. Director said no evidence of spying or disloyalty to the u. S. Government, and because they look back at a series of plea deals and indictments over the last many years, they couldnt find a case quite like this one. Jim comey said the facts were just not there to go forward with an intentional criminal case against Hillary Clinton or against anybody else in her inner circle. Woodruff all right, carrie johnson, we thank you. We know its now up to the department of justice to decide what to do to make that announcement. That comes next. Carrie johnson, we thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Woodruff now, the political fallout from todays f. B. I. Announcement. We start with sean spicer, chief strategist and Communications Director for the Republican National committee. I spoke to him a short time ago. Sean spicer, welcome. So the f. B. I. Director excuse me the f. B. I. Director said that, despite the finding by his investigators that emails were handled in an extremely careless way, that they would not recommend a criminal prosecution. Whats your reaction . Well, today was an indictment on Hillary Clintons judgment more than anything, and an indictment on, frankly, her fitness to be president. The 15minute press conference was started with 14 minutes of the director laying out her recklessness, her mishandling of stuff, the culture created at the state department, i dont see how the conclusion matches the first 14 minutes. The director made a very clear case there were excessive classified emails she handled. Over 100 at top secret level, she was reckless with her handling of email, and for someone who wants to be president and oversee our National Security, whether or not there was a criminal indictment was sort of beside the point. The fact of the matter is the f. B. I. Recognized her handling of classified information, her handling of National Security was, indeed, reckless and not up to someone who should be president. Woodruff well, as you know, he said that, in order to bring a criminal charge, there had to be finding that secretary clinton or the people around her were intentional in the way they violated whatever rules there were at the state department. Are you saying that was an erroneous finding on his part . Well, obviously, i think there is one thing the investigation i think was thorough. I dont have a problem with that. I dont understand the conclusion, to be honest with you, on two fronts. Number one, the definition is gross negligence. I think that by what the director laid out meets the Legal Definition of that. She clearly, whether intentionally or not, broke the law. The law was broken, the rules werent followed. The law doesnt say unless you meant to break it. The law is the law, and if you break it, you face a penalty. Thousands of people have been prosecuted for mishandling classified information, and there is no question she did that. But number two, just when it goes to the intent, the entire reason she set up these private servers, and make sure we all get that thats something that sort of came out today, it wasnt just one server, its multiple, he talked about how it was susceptible to foreign hacking, but the fact is she set the server up in the first place to avoid detection, to avoid being monitored and transparency. So this wasnt the use of a gmail or private yahoo account. She specifically set this server up to evade detection and monitoring. That goes to intent, as far as im concerned. Woodruff what is an appropriate punishment, in your view . Well, im not a lawyer, im not the department of justice, but i think not saying that you can lay out a case of 14 minutes of how it was wrong and then say it shouldnt be prosecuted, i dont understand how you square that circle, right. He ld out 14 minutes of ways she personally mishandled classified information and then said the culture at the state department was reckless under her leadership. So i dont understand how you come to the conclusion that you dont seek prosecution. I hope that the department of justice actually overrules this. Woodruff your partys nominee for president tobe donald trump is saying that the system is rigged. He looked at what happened, said the system is rigged. Do you agree with him and, if so, whos rigging it . Well, i think theres no question when you look at the countless people who have been prosecuted including general petraeus, you have to say, how do you come to this conclusion and not say that there should be a prosecution . I actually believe that the director left more questions than he answered, and i think thats where i think, after a week where the attorney general Loretta Lynch has a private secret meeting with former president bill clinton, then secretary clinton gets a special meet fog one else in america would get on the saturday of a Holiday Weekend at f. B. I. Headquarters and tuesday they come out with the announcement. Tuesday afternoon they go to North Carolina to have a unity rally with the president of the United States on air force one, i think today created more questions than it answered. Woodruff sean spicer with the Republican National committee, thank you very much. Thanks, judy. Woodruff and now woodruff and now, a different view. Joining us live from capitol hill is u. S. Representative Xavier Becerra of california he is one of the topranking democrats in congress. Representative becerra, thank you for being here. Even without a recommendation to prosecute, these were it from damning findings, werent they . Judy, thanks for having me. As weve known and as the secretary of her said, we need to do things differently, all of us, whether the state department or our own home, weve learned we need to evolve because technology is moving so quickly that you cant have the old password you used to have on your email account because you know its not sufficient enough to clear you and clearly if youre going to be passing along information thats classified, sensitive matters at state department, you have to be more careful. Yeah, i think its clear and the secretary admitted that we need to be sure were doing Everything Possible to protect americans and the information we generate. Woodruff how do you explain, though, congressman, secretary clintons repeated statements that no classified information was sent or received when the f. B. I. Found that it was . And, judy, i think were all interested in learning a little bit more about what director comey was saying because it could be the difference between what you are communicating at a particular moment, which doesnt receive a classified designation or a topsecret designation, and afterwards may, or, in the opinion of someone who would have seen that email, say, at the f. B. I. Or at c. I. A. , they may have said, oh, this particular communication should have been classified. There has been a dispute thats run for years between state department and some of our intelligence agencies about what really should be classified. We got to the point we were overclassifying information, and, so, its a matter overbalance, i think, but well find out a little bit more once we have the information that director comey was referring to. Woodruff we just heard sean spicer a spokesman at the Republican National committee saying whatever was done in a criminal manner, what happened with regard to these emails showed, in his word, or demonstrated, in his words, an indictment of her fitness to be president. Well, lets step back for a moment, as mr. Spicer himself said, he is not an attorney. Hes a partisan. Clearly, his words were very partisan, and thats why weve not put partisans in charge of the investigation. We put the professionals, the investigators at the f. B. I. In charge of this because we dont need partisans to Start Talking about these things and making decisions. We want people who are dispassionate, who are nonpartisan, who will look at this information objectively, and those who are professionals and do this for a living, for the safety of our country, have come to the conclusion that the information does not warrant any action against a secretary. So i take the word of someone whos at the f. B. I. And is a professional versus the claims of a partisan. Woodruff well, even democrats, though, congressman, say that the decision by the secretary to use a private email server was, in their words, with the potential for classified information to get out there, was a serious laps in judgment. And i think the secretary would say to you that she made a mistake, she would do it differently today. So far, there is no evidence that shows that the emails were hacked and that any information was lost to anyone in particular. But, judy, i think everyone agrees the reason the f. B. I. Is looking into this is because its a serious matter. By the way, this should be a reminder to all of us, you better be updating your paz words, you better be making sure your own systems you use to communicate electronically are secure because technology is running way faster than most people believe and those who are trying to do us harm are trying to keep up, and, so, its up to us to do the best we can and certainly the department of state, they certainly should be doing the best job possible as well. Woodruff very quickly, do you now believe this matter is closed . Certainly, it should run the time thats necessary, and ill leave that to the professionals, those who are the investigators to tell us when its ultimately dope. Clearly by the f. B. I. Saying they find know of basis to take any action, i think were coming close, but we have to hear from the department of justice and their career prosecutors. But my sense is that, if the evidence isnt there to move forward with any action, that the prosecutors will say, we probably need to bring this to a close. Woodruff representative Xavier Becerra, thank you very much. Thank you, judy. Woodruff tonight we begin a weeklong series from Eastern Europe that were calling fault lines. On friday, nato will announce the Largest Military buildup in europe since the cold war. Tensions between the west and russia have reached the highest level since the fall of the soviet union. This week we will examine the causes of that tension. Tonight we begin with europes only active front line in Eastern Ukraine. For two years, fighters for the selfproclaimed donetsk peoples republic with the backing of russia have fought the Ukrainian Government to gain autonomy. The west, including the u. S. , is backing ukraines government. 10,000 people have died. With the help of the Pulitzer Center on crisis reporting, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer zach fannin traveled to donetsk, and discovered that what is supposed to be a cease fire, is anything but. Reporter on the front line in Eastern Ukraine, the war is fought in trenches. At the end of each trench, small outposts are manned by men who call themselves rebels. They fight to separate from ukraine and join russia. translated its intense all the time. All the time. Reporter ivan, who declined to give his last name, grew up in a nearby village. Their enemies fellow ukrainians fighting to stay united are only 1,000 feet away. translated i can see their positions over there. Reporter theres supposed to be a ceasefire. But the fighting starts every night. [gunfire] reporter on average one fighter for the selfdeclared donetsk peoples republic dies every day. [gunfire] this war is like going back 100 years. This is a trench war, and you can hear some of the explosions in the distance, and not very far away from us. These guys have been fighting here since january, and they say the front line hasnt moved at all. What motivates you to be here . translated my home is five kilometers from here. How could i not fight if the war is so close . I decided to be useful here reporter andrew, who also refused to give his last name, is former soviet special forces. He says he came here to train a ragtag army. Were you sent here by russia . [gunfire] reporter their base used to be a local school. They resist ukraines alliance with europe. They align with russia. And as the war persists, their desire to separate grows. translated once an army targets its own people, they become the enemy. Reporter so you have to separate now . Reporter the front is 280 miles long. To get to the village of spartak, we needed an armed escort. On this front line, anya who also declined to give her last name leads what she calls an infantry brigade. The professional russian soldiers here whom u. S. Officials say number in the thousands are invisible. So as we walk down this road what is the risk here . translated total risk. Were now walking in their snipers scopes. Here, everything is within their snipers reach. [gunfire] reporter thats incoming weve been here just a few minutes when we heard the incoming bullets above our heads, so weve taken cover or at least staying low right now. And were beginning to hear rebel soldiers beginning to fire back. [gunfire] [gunfire] reporter like many of these fighters, anyas not a trained soldier. She was a successful chain store owner. But shes become a true believer in a prorussian and anti european future. translated the entire ukraine is fighting with us following nato orders. They are nothing on their own. You are writing that im a blond separatist who will come and start killing your children. Yes, ill do just that. Reporter are you willing to die for this cause . translated yes, of course, im ready to die for my home. I will not let a single fascist into my home. I will fight them as long as my heart beats. Reporter when she and this city use fascist, its inspired by the soviet unions role in the war against fascist, nazi germany. In may, a downtown parade celebrated the soviet unions world war ii victory. Today the children of world war ii veterans say this war is against the same enemy. Training for that war starts young. Teenage girls spend saturday afternoons with russian kalashnikovs. The average russian soldier needs more than ten seconds to do this. 15yearold katerina needs nine seconds. translated since i was little i preferred playing football with boys to playing with dolls. Reporter next up, soviet haz mat suits. Their teacher, sergey fomchenko, is a former soviet soldier and police officer. translated why, when we look toward russia, do they call it a crime . In general, the whole of Eastern Ukraine aligns with russia. I would like us to be part of russia. Reporter upstairs, he shows me where a rocket struck this school. Ukraine and russia have agreed donetsk should eventually reintegrate into ukraine. But everyone we spoke to rejected that. Would you ever be able to go back to ukraine . translated a lot of blood was spilled. Many people died. Graduates of this school and other schools are now in the army. For what . To go back to ukraine . I think it wont happen. Reporter so the training continues. They know their a. K. S by heart. When theyre not training, theyre proselytizing. The donetsk military is short on recruits. So the girls hand out recruiting flyers to fighting age males anyone between 18 and 55. Katerina also rejects returning to ukraine, because of what this war has forced her to see. translated there was a shell in my apartment block everything was blown up. When someone you know gets injured or killed, its very hard to keep going. That unwillingness to reunite means donetsk with the help of russia is becoming more and more autonomous. Downtown, city workers whose salaries are paid by russia, look after public gardens. In supermarkets, the shelves are stocked with russian products. The only currency accepted, is russian rubles. Residents try and lead normal lives. In the main square, with the Vladimir Lenin statue, families rent toy cars by the hour. In the opera house built under stalin, a matinee showing of Giuseppe Verdis masked ball. The audience was about two thirds full, at three dollars a ticket. And across the street, at the chicago nightclub, an italian band invited by the local government delivers distraction and ideology. Reporter but this city is an orphan. The donetsk peoples republic was birthed with the help of russian soldiers. Today its not claimed by russia, and its isolated from ukraine. There are no working banks, and no way to pick up pensions. The best salary in town is a soldiers 225 per month. Vadim bazey and alexandr goryakin are both 17. Right now, theres no prospects here. The best option in terms of opportunities is to go abroad, for example to america or england. Reporter but thats impossible because theyre physically stuck. They cant get ukrainian passports. And their donetsk i. D. S allow access only to russia. For those without the means to leave the front lines, life is even more difficult. Valentina nikolayevna sleeps in her cellar because shes scared of shelling. She hasnt had Running Water or electricity in two years. Has it been worth it . translated during the Second World War it took us the soviet union four years to cross half of europe. Here, its been two years and were in the same spot. Reporter can you just describe how difficult life has gotten . translated i would have never believed it if two years ago youd have told me i was going to live in a basement. Very hard. Reporter nearby, this is all thats left of the donetsk airport. It was built only four years ago. Down the street, this neighborhood is full of homes partially or completely damaged. But this is where we found zakharova vladimirovna and her threeyearold grandson peter. Theyve spent nearly the entire war on these streets. They invited me in their home. Her husband zakharoff pavlovich grew up in this house. A Ukrainian Rocket landed in their backyard. translated there were so many rockets we just heard the noise of one above us. Reporter this collection of bricks used to be their bomb shelter. They stay because they fear looters. They both agree theyve suffered, but dont necessarily agree on the solution. translated good people from around here were killed. They were good guys. What did they die for . translated we have always known this part of ukraine was very different from the rest. But we didnt know that they hated us so much. We want to have autonomy here. Reporter that desire to separate means they will keep fighting. But they cant overpower their enemy. So the front lines will remain frozen in place, with little chance of a thaw. For the pbs newshour, im Nick Schifrin in donetsk. Woodruff tune in tomorrow, as Nick Schifrin continues his reporting from the other side as ukraine fights not only the war in its east, but deep corruption from within. Now the latest on the freddie gray case and the trials surrounding his death. Six officers were charged after gray broke his neck and died while in a police van in baltimore april 2015. His death led to riots and civil unrest in baltimore. But prosecutors have not secured any convictions in the trial of those Police Officers yet. Jeffrey brown has our look. Brown the first prosecution of an officer ended in a hung jury. The two that followed both heard and decided by a judge resulted in acquittals. Now lieutenant brian rice has elected to have judge Barry Williams decide his fate, rather than a jury, in a trial that begins this week. In the meantime, states attorney Marilyn Mosby and prosecutors face wide and critical scrutiny. We look at these cases and beyond with debbie hines, a former baltimore prosecutor and now a practicing trial attorney, and lawrence brown, a professor of Public Health at morgan state university. He wrote a recent oped in the New York Times titled more injustice in baltimore. Welcome to both of you. I want to start with you, debbie hines. Why has it been so hard for prosecutors to get a conviction . Well, you know, despite what everybody thinks, these cases have always been an uphill battle. Theyve not been the slam dunk that the public may think. Brown from the start, you mean . From the very start. There are circumstantial murder cases and they are extremely difficult because what we mean when we say circumstantial is theres no eyewitness. The only people who really know what happen is the victim who is deceased and the Police Officers who are tried. So i try to compare this case not just this case but the other infamous case of Casey Anthony where everyone thought in america that she had killed her 2yearold toddler, but that was a circumstantial case, and its really hard to pull them together. Brown lawrence brown, do you buy that as a reason for the no convictions in this case, or do you see something more going on . Well, i think thats certainly a part of it, but whats really also a factor is i dont believe that the prosecution has ever shown exactly when the murder of freddie gray had taken place. I dont think theyve shown the exact time of the jury, who caused it, what was what is it that caused his vertebrae to crack in three separate places and his voice box to be crushed . So without showing that, all the officers can say, well, i wasnt involved in this part, or that part, and no one is held accountable. Brown so staying with you, are you saying its a weak prosecution strategy . Do you think that state attorney marliMarilyn Mosby overstated wt she had as evidence . When she went out on may 1, 2015 to reassure baltimore and let teampeople know she was going to secret justice for freddie gray, that had a really powerful effect because it wasnt just what she said, it was the way she said it. So to see now the way that the efforts are going, its a real disappointment, i think, to many. Its not just the Police Brutality that i think a lot of people are looking at, its also a way that the prosecution and seemingly the entire criminal Justice System is failing people who live in those disinvested redline black communities who are more exposed to Police Brutal brutality. Brown debbie hines and others from the beginning raised questions of more systemic involving the police and young what can men in plamplet do you see some people thought, for example, that the judge might be giving the extra benefit of the doubt to the police . I think the judge, and i have all respect for judge williams, but i think that he doesnt like the prosecutions case. What he is saying, though, is not that they have a weak case, he is saying as to going to what lawrence said that he understands what the prosecution is saying as to how freddie gray died and what was the fourth at what was the fourth stop of the van when he was injured at that moment in time, but he also sees the defenses position, which is that it was a freak accident, it just happened, it was nothing criminal, and in a criminal case where a judge says, i see what the pro prosecn is saying, i see what the defense is saying, you cant have those things equal because then the state doesnt meet its burden of proof. Brown so, lawrence brown, youre in baltimore, what is the mood there . Is there a gathering sense that there just may not be any convictions in this case that got so much attention and roused the community so much . Well, i think there is the sense that people are really disappointed at this point in the efforts of the prosecution team. Again, the passion with which she came out with Marilyn Mosby on may 1, which is only four days after the uprising itself on april 27th, which was the day that trea freddie gray was g laid to rest, you know, it really did set up a situation where we thought it was a moment of catharsis, a moment of jubilation, and now that sort of sense of catharsis and jubilation is rapidly fading away with the hung jury, two notguilty verdicts, and what looks like a possibility that none of the officers will be held accountable, and i think thats something thats very frustrating for many residents here in the city, and i feel were really a city on edge right now, and i dont know that were really doing anything to really address that. Brown debbie hines, if you look at this case and others beyond freddie gray, some have said just by bringing them to trial, right, it raises enough public scrutiny to perhaps bring some changes, certainly in police processes, do you see that . I definitely see that. Ive always said i think the cases should always have been brought. I think there was always enough there in terms of probable cause to bring the cases and even judge williams, although there may have been the acquittals and the hung jury, he did not dismiss the case, even today that is what lieutenant rice warnghtsd was a wanted was a disballistic missile of the charges and he did not dismiss the charges. But out of the cases i see a greater thing happening and by that i mean the Police Department in baltimore has already instituted changes as a result of this case. Theyre going to require body cameras. Theyre going to require that the Police Officers must sign off when they get the general orders. They cant say, oh, i wasnt at work that day, i didnt have the general order, and the most important thing in terms of with respect to the freddie gray case, the chief of police is saying if someone like freddie gray or any other prisoner in Baltimore City requests a medic, the Baltimore Police must take the prisoner to the hospital. Brown whether there are convictions or not. Exactly. Brown debbie hines, lawrence brown, thank you both very much. Thank you. Woodruff next, how much emphasis should we put on reading and other subjects in the earliest years of school and preschool . Some say that Crucial Development through playtime is getting lost in the shuffle for the very youngest students. Special correspondent cat wise has the story for our weekly series on education, making the grade. Lets go liam, yeah, lets go karen. Reporter at ages three, four, and five most children want to play pretend. This is our babies. Reporter but in todays world of highstakes academic testing, some preschool teachers feel pressure to put away the baby dolls and pick up the school books. Ive been teaching for 25 years, and ive seen a big change. So youre pretending to be the sister . And youre pretending to go on a walk . Reporter Geralyn Bywater Mclaughlin teaches pre kindergarten at mission hill a Public School in boston. Im the momma. So youre the momma . Reporter she and other educators have started a campaign they call defending the early years. The goal of defending the early years is to really help rally Early Childhood educators to push back against this push down of academics into the early years. The standardized tests, the disappearance of play teachers are feeling it and were helping to bring voice to their frustrations and their concerns. This is my baby. Reporter Bywater Mclaughlin says education policies that tie government funding to academic performance like no child left behind and race to the top have put pressure on preschool and Kindergarten Teachers to prepare students to compete in higher grades. The teachers feel like theyre over a barrel, theyve got to drill the kids on these things to get the scores so the program doesnt lose funds. Reporter Nancy Carlsson paige is a professor emerita at Lesley University and author of taking back childhood. Theres been a snowball thats been rolling for 15 or 16 years. Its propelled by a belief that you will improve education and close the achievement gap if you have accountability, if you have more testing. Reporter carlssonpaige points to new expectations for children to read in kindergarten. Whats the harm in getting a kindergartener to learn to read . I mean is there a harm . There is an absolute harm. Its harmful because youre forcing children to learn things that are out of step with where they are developmentally. And, youre doing it in a way that it contradicts how they learn. Reporter advocates of defending the early years say Young Children do best in schools that emphasize play and projectbased learning Like Mission Hill elementary, a pilot school. So the cabinet is for what . Reporter here, desks are replaced by project areas, where Kindergarten Teacher jada brown says Young Students can pursue interests at their own pace. Our school is really focused on trying to make sure that kids are engaged in activities that they are choosing, that theyre interested in. And that its not the adults who are pushing particular things on them. We could use this for measurements. We could use that for measurements. Reporter on this day, kindergarteners built cabinets for a pretend kitchen, and learned some math while along the way. Were putting a math thing over there, because josie is trying to help me with my math. What kind of math . Theres so much math that actually happens in building. How do you build a structure, how do you make sure that its standing. Its all math. Its science, its trying to figure out how do you make something thats stable. The fact of the matter is, play and learning are the same thing with children. Josie, i need a few sticks for this. Reporter how do you respond to those that say, but kids are coming to school to learn. They should be writing their a. B. C. S, and they can play at home. The home looks very different from school. There is a lot thats going on in that classroom, whether its art or math. The materials that are in the classroom are a lot different from what you might see at home. Reporter ayla gavins is the principal of mission hill. For us, the skills are not taught in isolation, but theyre taught embedded in some sort of meaningful work or exercise. I believe they learn more because theyre motivated. What do you think, ayan . Reporter parent byllye toussiants daughter attends preschool at mission hill. One of the things i wanted my own children to have. Is this ability to not always need an adult pushing, pushing, pushing, and able to take control of their own learning. You go straight to your independent work. Reporter kindergarten looks and feels a lot different at harlem prep, a highperforming Charter School in new york city. The focus is on school work over play. Reporter Robert Pondiscio a fellow at the fordham institute, who also teaches civics at harlem preps high school, says playbased learning does benefit some children, but may not the best way to serve lowincome students. If you are a lowincome kid you dont have the enrichment opportunities that more fortunate kids get. And that really means that you show up for school on day one further behind. So if schools are not aggressively attacking that problem from day one, those kids will not only not catch up, they will fall further behind. Reporter pondiscio believes high expectations, like reading in kindergarten, have helped harlem prep students excel. Nobody but nobody is going to sensibly argue that Young Children should not spend a lot of time on prek and kindergarten playing. Im not suggesting that we should be turning anybodys pre k or kindergarten into an academic hothouse. But i worry that i could become easily an intellectual death sentence for lowincome. Students like ours are simply not going to get that rich vocabulary, that linguistic proficiency that other kids bring to school from home. Reporter harlem prep takes pride in preparing children for college at a young age. 93 of the students in the democracy prep network go on to college, including some of the countrys most elite schools. For her part, Nancy Carlsson paige says the best preparation for College Start with age appropriate teaching. The faulty thinking is well prepare kids to be college and career ready by drilling them on letters and numbers when theyre really little, and that will get them ready for success in school. But the truth is the complete opposite is what happens. Reporter both experts agree the final destination should be college. The issue is how to start the very young on that path. For the pbs newshour, im cat wise. Woodruff finally tonight, wizards young and old harry potter is back. And so is Jeffrey Brown, with a look at the latest version of pottermania, from his recent trip to the united kingdom. Brown at platform nine and threequarters in londons king cross station, its time again for fans to take the leap into the magical world of harry potter. The young wizard of eight films, and, of course, the books that have sold in the hundreds of millions. Now, harry is back, quite a bit older and with children of his own, played by actor jamie parker. And for the first time, on stage, in the new play told in two parts, harry potter and the cursed child, at the Palace Theater in londons west end. Youve been amazing for years, at keeping harry potter secrets. So you didnt spoil the books for readers after you. Brown its still in previews and all very hushhush so no, we cant show you scenes. Potter author j. K. Rowling, who worked on this with an experienced theater team, is begging fans not to spoil the plot. So im asking you one more time to keep secrets and let audiences be surprised. Brown timeout london staff writer kate lloyd got a look, but wasnt giving much away. It felt like going to the greatest hit show of your favorite pop star. It just felt like everyone there had read the books, loved them and now i was reliving the experience with a bit of new stuff, but it was very much rooted in the old stories. Brown just a block away, we saw the harry potter phenomenon in action, at an exhibition of graphic art and original film props now at the house of minalima gallery. Mira phoramina and her partner eduardo lima helped create the potter look for the films. Her theory of potters appeal . So everything you see story wise and propwise, you as an audience can think, oh, im going to get my letter, or im going to read that newspaper. Its believable but not quite, when you look at the details. Completely reinvented world, its kind of the real world and shifted about 20 . Brown in many ways, perhaps, its more a reimagining than a reinvention something we found some 400 hundred miles to the north, at the source of all things potter. The story of harry potter comes with its own legend, of course. And much of that begins here in edinburgh, scotland. So eric, youre an american student in edinburgh wearing a cape. Its a dream job really. Brown dream job, why . Read all the books, seen all the movies, played all the video games, bought all the toys since i was a little kid. Brown 22yearold eric geistfeld of eden prairie, minnesota is finishing his studies at the university of edinburgh, with a degree in physics real magic as he told me. But he may be an even bigger student of j. K. Rowling and harry potter. We followed as he led a group along the citys potter trail. It includes the famed greyfriars kirkyard, the cemetery where j. K. Rowling gathered names for characters. H she would come here and have the brain story for her first harry potter novel within these very walls. Brown beyond that. Hogwarts. Brown the Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Then theres the elephant house cafe where, as all potterheads know, rowling, then a poor, singlemom, would sit for hours with one cup of coffee and write. Standing over victoria street, which rowling turned into a kind of wizard mall in her books, our guide said the sense of place is a key to understanding the world of harry potter. J. K. Rowling came here in the mid to late 1990s and just saw something in this street, felt a magic of her own and decided to base an entire location off of it in the books. The history of edinburgh has really bled into harry potter, its settings, its characters, and sort of a lot of the themes of harry potter as well. Brown back in london, where things can look plenty potter esque as well, Financial Times journalist jenny lee told me the spell for her has always been in the storytelling. A really epic piece of storytelling, which is incredibly compelling and unlike anything id ever read before. Brown and, as a playwright herself, shes interested to see how it works in a new form. There is an excitement, not a hype but an excitement, around the fact that it is theater. That people can come to the theater in the same way that she got a new generation of kids reading, that we may get a new generation of kids coming to theater for the first time. Brown you think that could happen . Absolutely, i think so. I think this is not going to be published as a novel, its going to be published as a play text. If people cant make it to the theater, they might just have to read the play text. That could be a Young Persons First Encounter with that medium, with the play text itself. And that excites me. Brown of course, eric geistfeld and no doubt millions of others want more than the text, but the first batch of tickets sold out almost immediately. Accio tickets accio is a summoning spell, so whenever you wave your wand and you yell accio, it will fly to you. Brown accio tickets . They havent come yet . They havent come yet. I assume theyre flying from london to here, so it might take a little while, but i hope theyre on their way. Brown good luck thank you. Brown from edinburgh and london, im Jeffrey Brown for the pbs newshour. Brown tune in later tonight our own Hari Sreenivasan sits in for charlie rose and discusses the changing ways we get our news with vox medias melissa bell. We can get distracted by facebook as a sole conversation topic. I think theres more of a theme with the overall internet and how were presenting news to people in todays day and age. It is one of many Access Points where we can meet people. Its an opportunity in that theres a hungry audience waiting for us there, but we also need to remember that theres a lot of different places for us to reach audiences in this day and age. Woodruff thats tonight on charlie rose. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. 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. 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 etrade. Etrade is all about seizing opportunity. Cut. So i am going to take this opportunity to direct. Thank you. Well call you. Evening. Film noir, smoke, atmosphere. You are a young farmhand