>> woodruff: as congress investigates leaks about war tactics, from drone strikes to cyber attacks, we talk with a journalist who has reported on the secret programs. >> brown: spencer michels looks at one city's plan to combat obesity and diabetes by discouraging people from drinking sodas. >> people in richmond, california, are debating a controversial measure on the ballot, to tax sugary beverages. >> woodruff: and we close with a profile of the newly named 19th u.s. poet laureate-- pulitzer prize winner, natasha trethewey. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> this is the at&t network-- a living, breathing intelligence bringing people together to bring new ideas to life. >> look, it's so simple. >> in a year, the bright minds from inside and outside the company come together to work on an idea. adding to it from the road, improving it in the cloud, all in real time. >> good idea. >> it's the at&t network. providing new ways to work together, so business works better. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: a new wave of international criticism followed the news of more horrific violence in syria. that came as u.n. observers on the ground were fired upon as they tried to access the site of the latest mass killing. ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: amateur video showed what's believed to be the aftermath of shelling in the central province of hama, at a small farming town called mazraat al-qubair. the faces of the victims have been blurred. after a six-hour artillery assault, opposition activists say government-backed militia's entered the town and executed men, women and children, leaving at least 78 dead. speaking today in turkey, secretary of state hillary clinton renewed her call for syrian president bashar al-assad to step aside. >> the regime-sponsored violence that we witnessed again in hama yesterday is simply unconscionable. assad has doubled down on his brutality and duplicity, and syria will not, cannot be peaceful, stable or certainly democratic until assad goes. >> suarez: this latest atrocity comes less than two weeks after the slaughter 30 miles south in houla. 108 died there. those killings led to international condemnation and the coordinated expulsion of syrian diplomats from the u.s. and countries around the world. the syrian government, however, has denied responsibility for either incident and maintains that armed rebel groups and terrorists are to blame. at the u.n.'s general assembly in new york, secretary general ban ki-moon described the acts in hama and houla as unspeakable barbarity. and he said u.n. observers-- there as part of an eight-week old ceasefire agreement-- were in immediate danger today. >> they are working now to get to the scene, and i just learned a few minutes ago that while trying to do so the u.n. monitors were shot at with small arms. >> suarez: special envoy kofi annan, former u.n. secretary general, met with president assad just days after the houla massacre and had strong words for the regime. >> president assad believed that the main obstacle was the actions of militants. clearly all parties must cease violence, but equally clear is that the first responsibility lies with the government. >> suarez: annan warned that the time to implement his peace plan is rapidly dwindling. >> if things do not change, the future is likely to be one of brutal repression, massacres, sectarian violence and even all out civil war. all syrians will lose. >> suarez: for his part, syria's ambassador to the united nations questioned the u.n.'s account of events. >> ( translated ): what's occurring in certain parts of my country is truly an atrocious matter. it is unjustifiable, but certain the analysis is based on media and political work which does not relate to what's occurring on the ground. >> suarez: russia and china-- permanent members of the security council-- have backed the syrian government's version of events and called for more time to allow annan's peace plan to work. but in washington, arizona republican john mccain, the ranking member of the senate armed services committee, said it's time to use force. >> how many more have to die, how many more young women have to be raped, how many more tortured, how many more before we will act. >> suarez: military action was not on the agenda at the u.n. just a short time ago ban ki-moon warned that civil war is imminent and real. for the latest on the diplomatic maneuvering on the united nations we check in with colum lynch of the "washington post." colum, the peace plan put forth by kofi annan and approved by u.n. members hasn't changed the situation on the ground in syria. is there a new initiative circulating? a new annan plan and, if so, how is it different? >> well, i mean, there is a feeling that the annan plan, which is supposed to start a political dialogue between the opposition and the government, has hit a dead end. the government is not willing to talk. the opposition is not willing to participate in talk. we're seeing all the violence unfolding. kofi annan has been looking for some way to recharge the diplomacy and he seems to be exploring this idea of setting up a contact group that would involve many of the members already in the security council, the united states, the europeans britain, france, and russia. it would also-- at least he's trying to include some of the key regional players who have an interest in the region, turkey, saudi arabia he floated the idea of iran but the americans are not that keen on sitting down with the iranians. but the idea is to achieve the same thing but bring in players who have more influence on syria. however russia has always been part of the political mediation. it has, perhaps, more influence than just about anyone else. maybe not iran or both of those countries have a lot of influence so i think that the whole game now is to try and put together a new process to try and get particularly russia to use its influence to put pressure on assad to accept a political transition. one that would lead to his removal, his willingness to step down from power. they have sent some hits they may be softening a bit. the russian ambassador told the council that russia is not wedded to assad today. he said that behind closed doors. said if there's some political transition that leads to his departure they wouldn't sort of cry over that, they would be perfectly willing to go along with that but they said it will havej parties to decide themselves and that's a big question mark. would assad ever be willing to agree to a process that would lead to him stepping down. and so far he looks like a man who wants to stay where he is. ray ray kofi annan is also a pretty restrained guy, very care informal the way he uses language. it also sounds back in new york he's saying this is a pretty serious situation in syria. >> well, i think there's a lot at stake for syria, for the international community. there's real concerns. what we're seeing is really awful, violent massacres taking place. there's a real concern that this could explode, that it would not only affect syria but that it would spread throughout the region. that it could play into the regional tensions between religious sunnis and shi'a. that you could see a lot worse than we're seeing now and i think that his... you know, his sort of discussions have been really focused on trying to get everybody to focus on how bad things could get. and part of this is a way of trying to spook some of the key players, including russia, and the others, to get behind a concerted strategy that would put pressure on the parties to accept some sort of transition. i mean, this was the first time you heard kofi using the words that there needs to be consequencers if anybody who stands in the way of a political transition. and that could mean things like sanctions. i didn't think anybody's talking about use of military force here but other means of pressure. ray ray colum lynch covers the u.n. for the "washington post." thanks a lot. >> all right. thanks for having me, ray. >> woodruff: still to come on the "newshour": romney campaign co-chair tim pawlenty; the dangers of leaks about drone warfare and cyber attacks; a tax on sugary drinks and the new poet laureate of the united states. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said today the central bank is prepared to take further steps to revive the u.s. economy. but he did not say any action was imminent. bernanke acknowledged to congress's joint economic committee europe's on-going debt crisis does pose significant risk to u.s. financial markets. he said that underscores the need for the u.s. to put its own fiscal house in order. >> the main things that congress could do would be to help strengthen our own economy. the more momentum, the stronger our economy, the better able we would be to withstand the financial spillover from problems in europe. we obviously have to monitor it very carefully. i think the best thing we can do is try to make sure that we're strong and prepared here in the united states. >> holman: stocks on wall street today lost steam in the last hour of trading and ended the day mixed. the dow jones industrial average gained 46 points to close just under 12,461. the nasdaq fell more than 13 points to close at 2,831. the u.s. stepped up pressure on pakistan today to do more to root out the al-qaeda-linked haqqani network in their country. defense secretary leon panetta said the u.s. is near the limit of its patience waiting for pakistan to act. visiting neighboring afghanistan to assess the war there, panetta said it's time for pakistan to move to prevent insurgents from crossing the border to wage attacks in afghanistan. >> we are reaching the limits of our patience here. and for that reason it is extremely important that pakistan take action to prevent this kind of safe haven from taking place and from allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces. >> holman: the most recent cross-border attack happened last friday. haqqani fighters from pakistan detonated a truck bomb in eastern afghanistan and attempted to storm a u.s. base there. nearly 2,000 former pro football players are suing the national football league for deliberately concealing the risk of permanent brain injuries. the complaint, filed today in a federal court in philadelphia, consolidates more than 80 similar pending lawsuits. the plaintiffs hope to hold the n.f.l. responsible for the care of players suffering from brain damage caused by football- related head trauma. n.f.l. officials said the suit was groundless and maintained they never intentionally misled players. a nearly 70-foot long dock torn loose during last year's tsunami in japan has turned up on a beach in oregon. the dock traveled roughly 5000 miles across the pacific ocean since last march from the fishing town of misawa, japan to agate beach, oregon. it's the first known large piece of debris from the tsunami to turn up on the u.s. mainland. the dock drew curious onlookers to the beach. an oregon parks and recreation official explained how it was identified. >> there was a plaque attached to this dock, that had in japanese, information about the company that made it, the company that installed it, the date and where it was used in japan. we took photos of that, sent it to the japanese consulate, they translated it and used it to trace this back to a specific area in japan, on the northeast coast. >> holman: oregon officials also organized volunteers to scrape the dock clean of marine organisms today. scientists are concerned the tiny species of crab and starfish native to japan that were attached to the dock could take hold on the west coast. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: and we turn to the election, with both presidential campaigns releasing fundraising figures today. as mitt romney was out front clinching the republican nomination for president last month, he was raking in millions behind the scenes. the romney presidential campaign and the republican national committee reported today that they raised a combined $76.8 million in may-- far outpacing the $60 million raised by president obama and the democrats last month. it's the first time in the 2012 campaign that fundraising for governor romney has surpassed that of the obama campaign. romney and the r.n.c. had $107 million in the bank, the obama campaign has not yet disclosed that figure. with a strengthened campaign arsenal, romney continued to pound the president on the economy at a military contracting plant in st. louis. >> over the last three and a record numbers of americans have lost their jobs or simply record numbers of americans are living in poverty today, over 46 million of our fellow americans are living below the poverty line. this is not just a failure of policy; it is a moral failure. >> woodruff: while the president's camp was also focused on the economy, his campaign kept its attention on congress in a tv spot released today in nine battleground states. >> the president's jobs plan would put teachers, firefighters, police officers, and construction workers back to work right now. and it's paid for by asking the wealthiest americans to pay a little more. but congress refuses to act. tell congress we can't wait. >> woodruff: and in las vegas today mr. obama reiterated that message to a crowd of students. >> we're still going through this process of recovery from that crisis. we've taken some tough steps together and the good news is our economy is growing again. but we need it to grow faster. >> woodruff: earlier this week, i sat down with former president bill clinton, who defended mr. obama's record on the economy. to hear the republican perspective, we went to former minnesota governor tim pawlenty -- a one-time romney opponent who now serves as national co- chair for the romney campaign. governor tim pawlenty, thank you for talking with us. >> it's good to be with you, judy, thanks for having me. rough rough let me ask you first about the economy. president obama, former president bill clinton whom i talked to two days ago say that despite the weak jobs numbers from last month that the underpinnings of this economy and r strong and that this is an economy that's eventually on the way to full recovery. how do you and governor romney see it? >> well, we can set aside the partisan spin and look at the numbers, judy. you have 40 months of above 8% unemployment. you have 23 million-- let me repeat that-- 23 million americans unemployed, underemployed, or have given up looking for work and those numbers are worse in many other categories. so to look at that and to say that we're on the road to recovery or somehow this is a positive situation is political spin of the highest order. president obama has had his chance. he's been in office nearly four years. he hasn't been able to get in economy ignited in any meaningful way. we have too many people hurting and he's failed in that regard so it's time for a new president mitt romney has the deep business private sector economic experience. he'll get economy moving again. >> but specifically what about the point they make that the united states economy underpinings are strong. that the u.s. is the world's largest exporter. that manufacturing is coming back. what about that? >> well, judy, the numbers don't lie. there's below 2% g.d.p. growth in the last quarter. anemic g.d.p. growth or nearly non-existent g.d.p. growth in the quarters preceding that. so to look at that and say that somehow that's a strong economy with positive momentum just isn't accurate. if you look at what president obamañ burdens of obamacare and the deterrence to job growth that that's caused, killing american energy exploration through canceling the keystone pipeline and deterring further development of natural gas and oil exploration in this country, refusing to do tax reform, trying to add tax increases to economy. if you go talk to the business leaders in this country they'll tell you his initiatives and his directions have dramatically hurt the economy, not helped it. so both objectively on the numbers and in terms of the people who are in the front seat of trying to get this economy moving until then all of the indicators suggest that president obama's not working. his presidency has failed with respect to the economy. rough rough well, one other point the white house has made is that if the economy and republicans in the congress had gone along with the president's jobs plan that included infrastructure spending and spending on state and local governments that more jobs would have been created by now. ed infrastructure spending and spending on state and local governments that more jobs would have been created by now. >> that's almost laughable. if you look at the projects and give aways to subunits of government and that didn't work. remember when they passed that? they said if we don't pass the stimulus bill unemployment could go as high as 8%. of course, it went to 10% or more and is still above 8%. so to suggest another round of stimulus like that, more cash for local units of government, infrastructure programs as the way forward, it was tried in a very large way, didn't work, it failed and it belies what people are telling us, they have six million people in this country. about this 5.9 million of them have 500 employees or fewer. request f you ask them what's bothering them, why they're deterred from investing and growing their business they say get the government off my back, taxes are too high, the insurance costs are too heavy, the regulations are too heavy and slow, the energy costs are too high and down the list. and president obama's approach on all of these issues more government, more costs, more burden and it's exactly wrong direction. >> woodruff: what would you say is the essence of governor romney's plan to create millions of private sector jobs in these difficult economic times? >> well, i'm glad you asked. he's got the most extensive economic proposal of any candidate in the race, including the president, and it has these key features. first of all, he's called for dramatic tax reform and restructuring. lowering the corporate tax rate in this country which is the highest in the developed world down to 25% to something to be more competitive. reducing income tax rates for individuals and small businesses across the board by a 20% reduction. having a health care reform that's real health care reform focused on the private markets and controlling costs, starting with repealing obamacare then instituting private sector reforms in that regard. having an american energy policy so we take advantage of this transformational game-changing opportunity that we have with natural gas and oil within the territorial reach of the united states. reforming our labor laws and regulations in this country so that we have an opportunity to be more competitive and still fair in that regard. and the list goes on and on. but those are just some of the examples that stand in contrast to president obama's adding more burdens rather than taking away burdens to the private economy. >> woodruff: you mentioned the romney tax plan. as you know, there are some analysts out there who say that what it would actually do is raise taxes on lower income people at the same time it cuts taxes for those who are very wealthy, p