The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. The citi foundation. Supporting innovation and enabling urban progress. The john and Helen Glessner family trust. Supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. Sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios at Lincoln Center in new york, hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan good evening and thanks for joining us. Campaign 2016 is in the flyby phase before primaries and caucuses in a dozen states two days from now, including seven southern states. Today, Democrat Hillary Clinton campaigned in tennessee and arkansas, while her lone rival, vermont senator bernie sanders, was in minnesota, colorado, and oklahoma. The republicans businessman donald trump, florida senator marco rubio, texas senator ted cruz, Ohio Governor john kasich, and doctor ben carson campaigned across the south from georgia to oklahoma, and up north in massachusetts. Former secretary of state clinton is riding momentum from last nights landslide win in south carolina. She won 73. 5 of the vote to 26 for sanders, and captured 39 of the 53 delegates. Clinton has 544 total delegates, including 453 superdelegates, those Party Officials who vote on the nominee at the national convention. Sanders has 85 total delegates. 2,383 are needed to win. Last night, clinton sounded like she was positioning herself for the general election, possibly against trump. We dont need to make America Great again. America never stopped being great. Sreenivasan after winning in south carolina, nevada, and new hampshire, trump leads the republican delegate count, with 82. Cruz has 17, rubio, 16, kasich, 6 and carson, 4. 1,237 delegates are needed to win the republican nomination. Cruz and rubio released their tax returns yesterday and are pressing trump to do the same. Donald trump is clearly hiding something, and its probably the fact that he doesnt make as much money as he says he does. Sreenivasan today, trump said hes not ready to release even a summary of his returns, because the i. R. S. Is auditing him for at least the tenth time. Until the audit is completed, obviously i wouldnt show anything, ill show it as soon as its completed. I have nothing to hide. Sreenivasan today, kasich lamented the personal insults dominating the rhetoric from trump, cruz, and rubio. The way in which you beat somebody like donald trump is not wrestling in the mud with him, but rather talking about your record, your accomplishments, and your vision. Sreenivasan at stake tuesday are roughly onefourth of the delegates each party has to choose its president ial nominee. The ceasefire in syria brokered by the United States and russia is showing cracks on its second day. Syrias capital of damascus was calm, but opposition groups claimed syrian president Bashar Alassad has violated the truce. The syrian observatory for human rights said today there were air strikes on two northern syrian villages, but didnt know who carried them out. The ceasefire covers Government Forces and opposition groups, but not militants of the Islamic State group, or isis, or the nusra front, an al qaeda affiliate. Joining me now by skype from turkey to talk about the syrian truce is Washington Post reporter liz sly. Liz, the treus has been up for more than 24 hours. What are you hearing today . Its looking a little bit wobbly today. We have had quite a few russian air strikes, not as many as unusual but the number in the north of the country to let people know that the air strikes are back. And there has been some quite significant fighting in the east of the country which is some what separate from the syrian treus. This is Islamic State attacking americas kurdish allies in the north. And american warplanes have had to go and rescue them from what looked like quite a nasty situation. Sreenivasan so the Islamic State was not party to the tru ce. Right, and pretty of the day before the truce they stormed into a northern town in the kurdish selfproclaimed autonomous region that they are carving out up there. And they pretty much took control of the town for a few hours, they took over several buildings, they rampaged through the town, they beheaded a tribal leader and u. S. Airplanes were called in and carried out a large number of strikes hitting their positions and taking it back for most of the town but we understand there are still Islamic State people there, perhaps holding some hostages. Sreenivasan do the rebel groups that are party to this believe that this truce is a stepping stone to the longer lasting peace, or do they think its a tack kal move by assad and the russian sms. Well, the rebels are extremely suspicious. The government helped by the russians now has the upper hand of fighting in syria. They have been making a lot of advances. Nobody really sees what interest it is for the syrians at the moment, to abide by a truce to hold their gains. The Syrian Government has made it clear it believes with the Russian Support it can win this fight completely. So yes, a lot of rebels are deeply suspicious but at the same time they are on the back foot, they are not nearly in a position at the moment to challenge the truce and it could potentially work to their advantage if it does the front lines where they are right now. Sreenivasan what about the idea that in march 7th the u. N. Can try to restart peace talks. Is anybody on the ground thinking that far ahead . After what we have seen today with u. S. Air strikes, new fighting, i think most people are a bit worried that the truce wont hold long enough. I think the powers are really very determined to have this happen and they could well usher their allies on the ground to those talks even if the fighting does start up again. Liz sly of the Washington Post, joining us via scriep, thanks so much. Thank you. Sreenivasan russian authorities have halted rescue operations at a coal mine where gas explosions killed 36 people. A methane gas leak triggered the explosions thursday in a mine north of the arctic circle. The mine collapsed, but rescuers saved 81 miners trapped underground. Another explosion today killed five rescuers before the operation was called off. Should americans be worried that aging Voting Machines could malfunction in the primaries or in the november election . Read more at pbs. Org newshour. Sreenivasan since 2010, the number of American Homes with rooftop Solar Systems has grown almost 20 times over, from 48,000 homes six years ago to more than 900,000 homes today. Federal and State Government incentives, as well as a drop in the cost of solar panels, have fueled the industrys growth, but across the country traditional Utility Companies seeing solar as a threat are challenging the financial benefits homeowners have come to expect when they generate their own electricity. One place this battle is playing out is nevada, where higher utility charges for rooftop solar are now taking effect. In tonights signature segment, special correspondent john larson reports on those changes and how they might affect the future of solar power across the country. Were not going to take it were not going to take it reporter the rhetoric in nevada sounds, at times, less like testimony on electricity rates and more like the runup to a las vegas prize fight. We should be promoting solar energy, not destroying it talk to your representatives and fix this reporter thats because the clash between the states most powerful electrical utility, nv energy, and the surging solar Power Industry has all the makings of a heavyweight bout. We bait and switched on our own citizens reporter at stake is the future of solar energy in one of the sunniest places in the country. And how that will affect everyday nevadans, like pat and craig carrell. The day we moved here, the temperature was 115 degrees, so that was a welcome to nevada. Reporter former academics, the carrells moved to a Retirement Community outside of las vegas in 2002. What did you notice about the energy bills as it crept towards summer . They crept higher and the air conditioning kicks in, and our bills, over time rose to over 450. Reporter a month . Yeah. Reporter to reduce their electric bill, the carrells added insulation to the attic and sunblocking ultraviolet film to the windows. Then in 2014, they decided to go solar. So weve got panels up there and there. Reporter the carrells spent 45,000 dollars on roof solar panels for their twobedroom home. Federal government rebates and credits from the Energy Company reduced their outofpocket cost by more than 40 , and they expected the rest of the investment to pay for itself through Lower Electric bills. On average, their bills dropped by about 95 . So in the hottest days of the summer, what you had been paying 400 or more, now what was it . Thats when it went down to about 15. Reporter their bill was so low, because their solar panels produced most of their power, and because of a special arrangement with the Utility Company called net metering. Across the country, net metering allows customers to sell excess power their solar panels generate during the day to the Utility Company, and buy the power back at night. That, along with federal and state incentives, helped nevada increase the amount of rooftop Solar Installed from 2014 to 2015 by more than 400 , becoming one of the Fastest Growing solar markets in the country. For customers worried about climate change, rooftop solar is carbonfree. So once they inspect it and it passes inspection, three to four weeks after that you can turn it on. Reporter in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, nevada saw thousands of new solarrelated jobs some created by solarcity, the nations largest rooftop solar company, which with a state grant built its National Customer call center in las vegas. You see all the trucks sitting here. Reporter Marco Krapels is solarcitys executive Vice President for strategy. Nevada is a great state for solar. Theres 320 days of sunshine, rising utility rates. And were giving People Choice and the ability to fix their cost of power. Its a fantastic state. Reporter but krapels says the utility has a monopoly on electricity that is threatened by rooftop solar. Now solar is becoming real. The utility monopolies are saying, well wait a minute, weve got to crush it before it gets too big. they want to build more plants so they can make more money, and if we take a little bite out of that apple, and we say, hey guys, weve got solar panels everywhere on all these homes, you dont need to build them any more power plants. then the utility goes, well, wait a minute, how am i going to make more money next year . reporter now, after heavy lobbying by the Utility Company and solar companies, nevadas solar landscape has changed. Last december 23, nevadas three member Public Utilities commission decided, to triple the basic service fee for rooftop solar from 12. 75 a month, to more than 38 a month. The increases began january 1 and will be fully phased in over 12 years. The Commission Also decided nv energy no longer needed to credit customers with rooftop solar the retail rate for electricity, but instead would credit them closer to the wholesale rate, a 75 cut. In other words, the Power Company will gradually charge people with rooftop solar more to be connected to the grid and then give them less, a lot less, for the power they generate up on their roofs. Citing the pending rule changes, none of the Public Utility Commissioners would agree to an interview. But staff member anne marie cuneo, who directs regulatory operations for the commission, did. The customers who are participating in net metering were not sharing in the costs of the utilitys distribution and transmission system, the pipes and the wires that get the electricity to your home. Reporter cuneo says the rate changes were based on data provided by nv energy showing that solar users were not paying their fair share of the electric grids operating costs. They were avoiding those costs, and those costs were getting shifted onto non participating customers. Reporter how much cost was being shifted . According to the utilitys figures, it was about 16 million a year. Reporter no one from nv energy would agree to an interview, but in a written statement to the newshour, the company said, the net metering debate is not about nv energy being pro or antisolar, its about who pays for solar. The new net metering rules and rates adopted in nevada will phase out the subsidy nonsolar customers pay, which will be 100 million over the next 12 years. Ashley brown is the executive director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, which receives funding from utility and energy companies. He believes rooftop solar owners are being paid too much for the energy they sell Utility Companies. Because of the way its priced, which is youre basically paying a retail price for whats a wholesale product, its way overpriced. Whats happened is the electricity market has become far, far more competitive. Weve also seen the cost of Renewable Energy declining dramatically. Reporter opposing sides strongly disagree on whether there really is a cost to non solar owners, and if there is, what that cost might be. But last year when the Nevada Legislature directed the Public Utility Commission to review the issue, it asked the commission to consider only the costs of rooftop solar, but none of its benefits. So, the benefits of distributed rooftop solar werent really weighed into your recommendation . It wasnt, because this wasnt a cost benefit study. This was a cost study. And we were attempting to determine what sort of cost shift there was to the other customers. Reporter in nevadas Third Largest city, reno, customers at another solar company, called sunworks began putting their orders on hold as soon as they heard of the rate changes. Weve got his blueprints ready to go. Reporter project manager Travis Miller says more than one Million Dollars of work is in limbo. So they froze your business . Frozen business. Not a dime in revenue has come in our office since december 23. Reporter adding to its troubles, sunworks recently signed a threeyear lease for more office space and a bigger warehouse. So literally its empty for the next, well, however . For the foreseeable future, yeah. Theres not a single truck arriving. Theres not a single truck leaving. Back in las vegas, at solarcity, 550 jobs are gone. This was bustling. People were coming in and out, trucks in and out. This was one of our best warehouses in the country. Reporter none of the existing 17,000 nevada homeowners who already have rooftop solar panels, like pat and craig carrell, are exempt from the new solar rates. They will see their energy bills go up,. Its not the rules that we bought into, they changed the game on us. That was hardearned savings, but we decided it was worth it to put it up on our roof, to have that kind of energy independence, and now it seems like its gone. We have created a generator out here, were like a little Power Company, that they did not have to pay for. Reporter you put it up . I put it up. I built the plant, and theyre deriving the benefit from it. Reporter the Public Utility Commissions regulatory operations staff director rejects the notion that solar homeowners are being unfairly penalized with retroactive rate changes. I dont know where they got the idea that they were going to have a deal. The utilities Interconnection Agreement that i read says that the law can change and the rates can change. Reporter in the meantime, rooftop solar installations have effectively ground to a halt in nevada. Ashley brown of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group argues net metering the paying of Solar Panel Owners a full retail rate for their excess power has outgrown its usefulness. It was never meant to be a permanent subsidy. Why would we devise a permanent subsidy for any technology . If youre going to have a subsidy, its short term. Its designed to get things past the commercial hump. Solar costs are declining rapidly. Its past the commercial hump. We would design a system at this size first. Reporter back in solarcitys new National Call center in las vegas, the company is suddenly in the odd position of reaching out to customers almost everywhere except nevada.