The Rundown News Blog

Cicada Sighting! Bug-Eyed Critters Emerging in Northern Virginia

2013-05-17T14:03:11-04:00

A cicada perches on a leaf of grass at Virginia’s Bull Run Regional Park. The full brood of cicadas is expected to emerge en masse in late May or June. Photos by Jenny Marder.

After an afternoon hunting for cicadas on Thursday, I finally discovered a nice crop of them in a nest of poison ivy in Virgina’s Bull Run Regional Park. It took some scouring, but then there they were, with their veiny golden wings and bright beady red eyes, clinging to grass and leaves and tree bark.

And the signs of them were probably more visible than the creatures themselves. Their exoskeletons, which they shed after molting from nymphs into winged adults, littered the ground and tree trunks.

Their tunnels, especially, were everywhere you looked. A sign perhaps of many more to come?

The brood II cicadas are expected to emerge en masse in late May or June through these tunnels they’ve dug from under the earth to its surface. The nymphs have been living quietly underground for 17 years, sucking on plant roots.

I suspect this is only a preview to the possibly million cicadas per acre that science and history have promised us. The ones I found were docile and quiet — no sign yet of the hundred-decibel mating shrieks for which the U.S. East Coast is bracing.

QUICK BITES

Kepler, the planet-hunting space telescope, has experienced a mechanical failure that may end its life. It is in “safe mode,” which means its no longer taking data. More from Astronomy Magazine.
Wired has this great graphic that charts how far extraterrestrial space vehicles have trekked. The frontrunner is the Russian Lunokhod 2 lunar rover, which landed on the moon in 1973 and covered 23 miles unmanned.
An invasive ant species from South America has the potential to wipe out the fire ant, this CNN post reports.
- From the Los Angeles Times: “It’s 1.7 miles long. Its surface is covered in a sticky black substance similar to the gunk at the bottom of a barbecue. If it impacted Earth it would probably result in global extinction. Good thing it is just making a flyby.”

NOT SAFE FOR LUNCH

The bad news is that the Gabon Viper, already carrier of the most deadly venom in the world, is also among the hardest to see. Super black patches make the snake almost undetectable as it slithers on the forest floor in sub-Saharan Africa, Ed Yong reports for his National Geographic blog. Its 2.2-inch long fangs are the longest of any snake, and “connected to such huge glands that they deliver more venom than any other snake — a cocktail of toxins that thin the blood, trigger massive internal bleeding, and can stop hearts.” * Rebecca Jacobson, Patti Parson and David Pelcyger contributed to this report.*

Inequality Today: Worse Than a Century Ago?

2013-05-17T13:34:07-04:00

The entrance at the 1912 Democratic National Convention held in Baltimore, Md. The theme of the presidential campaign of 1912 was economic inequality, but looking at the data, the problem is worse today than it was more than 100 years ago. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.

*Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here on his Making Sense Business Desk page.

Here's a question from Carolyn of Chicago, Ill., who writes:

"There is a lot of talk about income disparity between rich and poor today. How does it compare to the disparity 100 years ago?"

One hundred years ago? How about 101? Economic inequality is often cited as the key issue in the 1912 presidential election that pitted William Howard Taft against Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), ex-Republican Theodore Roosevelt (Bull Moose Party), Eugene V. Debs (Socialist Party) and Eugene Chafin (Prohibition Party).

Roosevelt said around that time in a famous speech that the struggle for liberty "appears as the struggle of freemen to gain and hold the right of self-government as against the special interests, who twist the methods of free government into machinery for defeating the popular will. At every stage, and under all circumstances, the essence of the struggle is to equalize opportunity, destroy privilege and give to the life and citizenship of every individual the highest possible value both to himself and to the commonwealth."

Sitting President Taft said in a 1912 campaign speech: "Insofar as inequality of condition can be lessened and equality of opportunity can be promoted by improvement of our educational systems, the betterment of the laws to ensure the quick administration of justice, and by the prevention of the acquisition of privilege without just compensation ... all are in sympathy with the continued effort to remedy injustice and to aid the weak."

Unfortunately, when asked what he would do about high unemployment, he said "God knows." He ran third in the election.

Given these facts, it might be reasonably supposed that inequality a century ago was greater than it is today. Not so, however.

The most definitive published analysis I'm aware of measures the share of pre-tax income going to the top 1 percent of Americans from 1913 through 2008. It comes courtesy of economists Thomas Picketty and Emmanuel Saez and looks like this:

Source: Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, "Income Inequality in the United States, 1913-1998," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118, 2003. Updated to 2008.

This picture suggests that, looking only at the 1 percent-99 percent split, we're back near the income inequality high of 1929 and above the gap in 1913 when a Socialist got 6 percent of the vote to the Republican incumbent's 23 percent. As I wrote in a post on the centennial of the income tax in April, it was originally established, in 1913, as a way to "soak the rich," so far above the common man were they thought to be perched.

(Incidentally, unemployment in 1912, best guess, from table 1 on page 215 of a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research was at 7.9 percent, just about what it is in 2013.)

Making Sense reader Carolyn writes that there's "been a lot of talk" about inequality. I'd like to remind readers, and especially new ones, that some of that talk has been ours. Indeed, I first reported on growing economic inequality for the NewsHour in 1987, not long after starting to work for the program, and have reported on the issue again and again. Here's a compendium of many of our inequality stories and a Making Sense Business Desk post chronicling our inequality coverage.

Those who just can't get enough inequality might enjoy taking this online inequality quiz run last year by the Christian Science Monitor.

Finally, anyone who hasn't yet seen the viral animated inequality video on YouTube should do so, if for no other reason than to keep pace with the more than 6 million people who already have.

Here is a more personal question about my hats.

Jim - Oklahoma City: Paul, I too have a cranium free of unsightly hair but my doc advised me to simply apply lotion with 55 SPF sunscreen and everyone gets to admire my scalp. Et tu?

Paul Solman: Jim, a woman once said she admired my scalp at Prairie View A&M University in the early '90s. The reason I remember is that's the only scalp admiration I ever got and even her comment was, I thought, more consolation than approval. "Grass doesn't grow on a busy street," she reassured me.

The truth to tell, though is I like hats. I even wore them in the early '70s, when I had enough hair for the two of us. Then, they were perhaps an affectation. But by now, they've become a signature.

Last item is this remarkable video of high-frequency trading (HFT), slowing down one half-second of trading to 10 minutes, so that you can actually see the action in milliseconds. Amazing.

And here's an article from the New York Times from Tuesday reporting on stratospheric real estate rental rates in northern New Jersey "because it is also where data centers house the digital guts of the New York Stock Exchange and other markets. Bankers and high-frequency traders are vying to have their computers or servers, as close as possible to those markets."

Watch my explanation of HFT that aired on PBS NewsHour in March 2012.

This entry is cross-posted on the Making Sen$e page, where correspondent Paul Solman answers your economic and business questions.

Follow @paulsolman

Military Sexual Assault Crisis Prompts Congress to Act

2013-05-17T10:32:44-04:00

President Barack Obama met with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, right, and other Pentagon leaders at the White House Thursday to discuss sexual assault in the military. The U.S. military vowed May 15 to address a wave of sexual assault cases after a soldier who worked in a rape prevention program was accused of forcing a subordinate into prostitution. Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images.

Over the last several days, the phrase "sexual assaults in the military" could be found within the top stories of almost every news organization.

First came a Defense Department report estimating that the crimes have risen sharply, that most victims are unwilling to report them, and that commanders summarily dismiss cases that had apparent merit. Then in rapid succession came charges two military officers responsible for stopping sexual misconduct had themselves committed it.

On Thursday, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey -- summoned along with other military leaders by President Barack Obama to the White House to talk about the problem -- called sexual assault in the military a "crisis."

Members of Congress have wrestled with the long-standing problem for years. Now, as a result of the hyper-attention to the issue this week, they were in legislative high gear.

What's emerged is two sides to a central question: should military commanders be stripped of their sole authority to decide whether complaints of sexual assault go forward?

Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio -- a member of the Armed Services Committee -- says he's not yet ready to take that authority away from the military chain of command.

On Wednesday he told PBS NewsHour that responsibility for investigating alleged sexual assaults should however be taken away from lower-level commanders who have been known to not act on complaints for fear that acknowledging such a problem could hurt the commander's chances of promotion.

"A lower-level chain of command decision can result in extreme bias and extreme pressure," Turner said in an interview in his Capitol Hill office.

Turner favors legislation that would move the adjudication decision on sexual assault to higher-ranking military officers then hold them to account if the cases are not handled properly.

"As we elevate up the chain of command and institute an accountability for the person that has that responsibility, their performance, their review, their promotions, should be decided based on their handling of these cases, instead of the silence these cases had before," Turner said.

"Making it a professional objective and a higher-level command, we think will make a difference."

On the other side of the question is New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

She's lost faith in the chain of command's ability to handle effectively sexual assault cases.

"If you judged all our commanders of today based on the occurrence of sexual assault and rape in the military, they would all be receiving a failing grade," Gillibrand said in an interview Thursday.

"Listen, this problem is nothing new. It's been going on for decades. And the military has tried to fix this problem for decades, and they're still failing. To go from 19,000 unwanted sexual advances, assaults and rapes the year before last to the 26,000 last year, its unacceptable."

"What we have heard from the victims themselves is that they don't report often because they believe they will be either retaliated against, marginalized, or blamed for the incident themselves. You don't want a commander who may be biased, who may know the victim, who may know the perpetrator, who's maybe being judged based on whether there's been sexual assault in the ranks," she said.

Under legislation Gillibrand unveiled Thursday, a separate prosecutorial body would be created in the military to handle sexual assault and other serious crimes.

"If you have an independent review by a trained prosecutor and professional who understands sexual assault, who has legal training ... you have to take it out of the chain of command. Give it to trained military prosecutors to do the review, the investigation, and then decide. This way, I think, the huge gap between the number of incident rates and the reporting will narrow. We have to get to a place where it's not just zero tolerance for this kind of behavior, we have to a place where its zero occurrence. And I don't think that's ever going to happen if victims are too afraid to report these crimes."

Turner acknowledges an independent set of military prosecutors may be needed. But not yet.

"Ultimately, we may need to turn to that sort of a structure, if we're not able to -- within the military structure -- increase the prosecution and prevention aspect," he said.

"[The] military justice system is ingrained and connected to our whole military structure. And to carve something out ... is probably a knife too strong to wield. At this point, I think we can address those issues, and then hold the Department of Defense accountable to what we actually see in the data and the numbers. Ultimately, if DoD cannot rise to this occasion, then we will have to go in and take it away from them."

If the spotlight on sexual assault in the military remains nearly as intense as it was this week, lawmakers soon are likely to be voting on reform bills, not just talking about them.

Related Content:

House Committee Holds First Hearing on IRS Scandal

2013-05-17T09:08:08-04:00

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold the first hearing on the IRS scandal. Watch a live stream of the hearing.

The former acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven Miller, will take his place in the hot seat Friday morning when the House Ways and Means Committee holds the first hearing on the tax collection agency's targeting of conservative groups.

Members of the panel are expected to spend hours grilling Miller about the IRS' practice of zeroing in on groups with the words "Tea Party," "Patriots" or "9/12" in their names that had applied for tax-exempt status.

According to the report released Tuesday by the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration, Miller first learned of the additional screening procedures in March 2012 but did not inform lawmakers, despite some having raised concerns that the IRS was singling out conservative groups. The timeline of events, and Miller's decision to hold back information, will surely draw a good deal of scrutiny from committee members Friday.

The Ways and Means Committee will also hear testimony from J. Russell George, the inspector general for tax administration who conducted the review of the IRS' practices.

The report found, "The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign interventions."

The inappropriate criteria remained in place for 18 months, according to the report, and "resulted in substantial delays" in processing the applications of certain groups. However, the audit also found that IRS employees said no parties outside the agency had any influence in developing the practices.

Friday's session comes exactly one week after the conduct of IRS agents first became public and amid growing demands for answers and accountability across official Washington.

On Thursday, the IRS announced the departure of another top official, Joseph Grant, the commissioner of the agency's tax-exempt and government entities division. He will retire next month.

Also Thursday, President Barack Obama appointed Daniel Werfel, an official with the Office of Management and Budget, as the new acting commissioner of the IRS to replace Miller.

"Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill," Mr. Obama said in a statement. "The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time."

The Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe and Josh Hicks examine the reaction to Werfel's selection. Among the new acting commissioner's supporters is Joshua Bolten, who served as OMB director in the George W. Bush administration.

"I think he's a smart choice because the IRS is clearly an agency that has been badly mismanaged, with the insertion of extremely inappropriate political considerations and gone badly awry," Bolten told the Post. "He's a guy who is a nonpartisan professional who has dealt with tough management situations and should rapidly earn the respect of career folks there."

Earlier in the day, the president again reiterated his desire to "fully investigate" the IRS' actions to "make sure that it doesn't happen again." Mr. Obama said that could involve looking at "some of the laws that create a bunch of ambiguity in which the IRS may not have enough guidance and not be clear about what exactly they need to be doing and doing it right."

The president, however, said he did not see the need for a special prosecutor to handle the Justice Department investigation, noting that Attorney General Eric Holder had launched a criminal probe and lawmakers on Capitol Hill were also looking into the matter.

"Between those investigations, I think we're going to be able to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went wrong, and we're going to be able to implement steps to fix it," Mr. Obama said.

Watch the president's full remarks from Thursday's news conference here or below:

In addition to Friday's Ways and Means session, two other committees have scheduled hearings on the IRS next week. That includes a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting next Wednesday, where former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, who led the agency during most of the period when the screening practices took place, has agreed to appear. Shulman told lawmakers in March 2012 there was "absolutely no targeting" of conservative groups. His term as commissioner ended in November 2012.

The Huffington Post's Jon Ward notes that Lois Lerner, who led the IRS unit responsible for overseeing tax-exempt applications, has not yet agreed to testify.

Judy Woodruff reported on Thursday's developments with the IRS scandal, as well as the administration's ongoing response to last year's attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press phone records.

Then she spoke with White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri, who pushed back on those who have criticized Mr. Obama's response to the IRS situation as too passive.

"I think you always want to respond quickly. And that is your first instinct. But the worst thing you can do is respond ... before you have the facts or respond in a way that would get you into more trouble over the long term," Palmieri said.

Watch Judy's report and her interview with Palmieri here or below:

REFLECTING ON WATERGATE

Friday night's NewsHour will deliver a special report looking back at the 40-year anniversary of the Senate Watergate hearings, which launched the birth of a new type of journalism and a partnership between Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil.

Jeffrey Brown talked to the NewsHour's founding fathers about what struck them four decades ago, reprising memorable moments from the hearings that would eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The piece, produced by Elizabeth Summers, is part of our ongoing coverage this year of the NewsHour's evolution.

Tune in Friday, or watch the full piece online now. And check out our special Watergate page, which includes Meena Ganesan's look at where major figures from the Watergate era are today. Ahead of the report, we also asked viewers to share their memories from the summer of 1973. We received hundreds of responses. Here are some of them.

LINE ITEMS

There was some good news for Mr. Obama on Thursday. By a vote of 97-0 the Senate confirmed Ernest Moniz as energy secretary.
Mr. Obama's nominee to head the EPA, Gina McCarthy, advanced to consideration by the full Senate after a 10-8 party-line vote in the Environmental and Public Works Committee. Just last week, Republicans had boycotted a vote on McCarthy, but given the close vote in committee, her confirmation is less certain than Moniz's.
And the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in favor of Sri Srinivasan, Mr. Obama's nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals -- a court to which no one has been confirmed since 2006. His confirmation now goes to the full Senate.
By a vote of 229-195, the House voted to repeal "Obamacare" Thursday, marking the 37th time it has attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act or parts of it. While the legislative fate of the repeal bill is certain to hit a dead end in the Senate, the GOP seized the opportunity to revive opposition to the bill.
Although specifics remain unknown, a bipartisan group in the House of Representatives reached a tentative deal Thursday night on immigration reform efforts in a "last-ditch effort to save the legislation."
Mr. Obama named a few appointees Thursday night, including the wife of one of his top press aides. Natalie Wyeth Earnest, who is married to deputy press secretary Josh Earnest, was nominated to be assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department. He also named former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as a member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
In his first general election ad for the Massachusetts Senate contest, Republican Gabriel Gomez reprises an earlier ad from the primaries, reminding voters he's a moderate Hispanic, while Democratic Rep. Ed Markey unleashes the first negative ad of the campaign, going after Gomez on gun control.
A top Democratic target in 2014, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was out in force Thursday, headlining a rally against IRS treatment of tea party groups and touting the House's vote to repeal "Obamacare" in a new ad.
The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter looks at Democrats' political landscape heading into next year's midterm elections.
Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law Thursday strict new gun control measures, but the NRA has promised to challenge the law.
Roll Call's David Drucker interviews Nevada GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval about his views on the health care law and immigration reform. Here is the second part of the interview.
The GOP field in Georgia thickens: Former Secretary of State Karen Handel has announced her candidacy for retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss' seat just ahead of the state's GOP convention.
The Washington Post provides an update on the FBI's investigation into who may have smeared Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., with charges of prostitution. Meanwhile, NBC.com's editor instructed his staff not to pick up the story.
Roll Call's Meredith Shiner has an interesting scoop: A video posted on the Politico website featuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's chief of staff has been taken down after the Kentucky Republican's office objected to its placement on a page designed to solicit advertisers. The video, posted earlier this week under the "audience" tab of Politico's advertising page, features Josh Holmes and identifies him with the title: "Chief of Staff, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, KY." Holmes spends the first half of the video explaining his job, with shots taken inside McConnell's office, and the second half of the video explaining why he reads Politico. The video ends with the top staffer saying, "I'm Josh Holmes and I'm a Politico."
Welcome back to Washington, Rep. "Mark Sanfrod"! Turns out, writing press releases is no easy walk on the Appalachian Trail.
It's amazing what the Carolinas can do for comebacks. John Edwards has reactivated his law license and is preparing to make public speaking engagements.

NEWSHOUR ROUNDUP

For more perspective on how the Obama administration is responding to the series of crises this week, Jeffrey Brown talks with Democrat Tom Perriello, the president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and Republican strategist and author Ron Christie, who worked in the George W. Bush White House and on Capitol Hill.
After Mr. Obama's meeting Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Margaret Warner speaks with Henri Barkey of Lehigh University and Steve Heydemann of the United States Institute of Peace about international efforts to stop the violence in Syria.
Ray Suarez reports from Colorado on how evangelical groups are advocating for immigration reform as demographic shifts alter the composition of their parishes.
Jeffrey Brown talks with NPR's Jeffrey Stein to explore the scientific and ethical dimensions of Oregon Health and Science University's cloning of a human embryo to derive stem cells.
Jenny Marder posts Chris Hadfield's reflections on four months in orbit.

TOP TWEETS

Thank you Jon Stewart for the new graphic for C-SPAN Road to the White House! h/t @cspanlaura twitter.com/HowardMortman/...
— HowardMortman (@HowardMortman) May 17, 2013

Imagine if the WH had picked the other Heisman Trophy winning QB from FL to be IRS commissioner. #tebow
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) May 17, 2013

Per Playbook, this is day two of the White House on offense. Yeah, got 'em right where they want 'em.
— Sam Youngman (@samyoungman) May 17, 2013

RT @speakerboehner: Arrogance of power --> RT @whitehouse: It's. The. Law. #ObamaCareInThreeWords, twitter.com/whitehouse/sta...
— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) May 16, 2013

Bad F'N Deal #ObamaCareInThreeWords Sign the Petition to Repeal ObamaCare at: bit.ly/14tgeTh
— Brad Dayspring (@BDayspring) May 16, 2013

The seat nobody wants. RT @jenniferjjacobs: W Des Moines Mayor Gaer, R mulling US Senate bid, just announced he'll seek reelection as mayor.
— Byron York (@ByronYork) May 16, 2013

Christina Bellantoni, Meena Ganesan and desk assistant Simone Pathe contributed to this report.

For more political coverage, visit our politics page.

Questions or comments? Email Christina Bellantoni at cbellantoni-at-newshour-dot-org.

Follow the politics team on Twitter:

Follow @cbellantoni

Follow @burliji Follow @kpolantz Follow @elizsummers Follow @tiffanymullon Follow @meenaganesan Follow @ljspbs

A Look Back at the Senate Watergate Hearings

2013-05-17T08:34:00-04:00

The Watergate hearings began on May 17, 1973. Public Television aired all 250 hours of testimony that summer. Here are some of the highlights. Video edited by Justin Scuiletti

The Watergate scandal began with a burglary in June 1972 and ended with a president's resignation in August 1974. During the summer of 1973, a special Senate Committee held hearings, co-chaired by Sens. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., and Howard Baker, R-Tenn., to investigate the burglaries and whether "illegal, improper or unethical activities" had been committed in connection to President Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign for re-election.

Public television aired all 250 hours of the hearings, gavel-to-gavel. The parade of witnesses and testimony, from former White House counsel John Dean's allegation that President Nixon knew about the cover-up of the burglary, to former presidential aide Alexander Butterfield's revelation that there were tapes that could prove it, shocked the country and ultimately led Nixon to resign from office -- the only time an American president has done so. Here are some of the highlights from those remarkable hearings.

Related

15 Figures Who Made Watergate an American Epic
Good Evening from Washington: MacNeil And Lehrer on Covering Watergate
Viewers Share their Watergate Memories
Share Your Watergate Memories
The Watergate Hearings 40 Years Later
For Students and Teachers: Article and Lesson Plan

The PBS NewsHour is marking the 40th anniversary of the Watergate hearings with reflections from Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer, who covered the hearings gavel-to-gavel. Watch their conversation with senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown on Friday's NewsHour.

Tweet #CoveringWatergate

Gwen's Take: I See Your Benghazi and Raise You One IRS

2013-05-17T06:00:57-04:00

It was scandal week in Washington, but because of an accident of scheduling, I had the opportunity to view it through an altered lens.

The president's week was turning into a very bad one -- with new revelations about Benghazi talking points, IRS political targeting, and the seizure of news organizations' phone records -- as I was completing my very first visit to Israel.

On one side of the world, scandals were collapsing on one another like an origami bird -- fragile and complex. On the other side, hard up beside the Sea of Galilee -- the old and enduring disputes existed side by side.

It was all about juxtaposition. Taken separately, the Benghazi, IRS and phone records stories are each hugely complicated. But for them all to unfold in one week was a bit mindboggling.

The natural response for the president's political opponents was to find a common thread: It went like this: the president must have known. If he didn't, he should have. If new information suggests he neither knew nor had reason to know, it was a failure of leadership.

The truth is usually more complicated than political accusations suggest. The president clearly endorsed the Department of Justice's investigation into leaks following reporting conducted by the Associated Press on the grounds that national security was at risk. This he is not apologizing for.

When it comes to Benghazi, the White House has repeatedly dismissed out of hand the argument that officials concocted talking points to disguise its early assessments of the attack that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. Because the debate has centered on what people said in the wake of the attack, rather than on how to prevent it from happening again, the stacks of emails released this week proved to be anticlimactic when evidence of collusion did not surface.

The most politically dangerous of the week's dustups was the revelation that the IRS appeared to target conservative groups for special scrutiny while ignoring liberal organizations. You can tell it was the most dangerous because it was the only one where someone was fired -- in this case the Acting IRS Commissioner.

These disputes were so all-consuming that they all but eclipsed other big stories, with relatively little attention paid to the declining deficit, the Keystone oil pipeline or the news that military sexual assaults are skyrocketing.

Politics, you see, trumps all.

But if you want to see enduring conflict that runs far deeper than this week's Washington scandal, go to Israel. There are not just disagreements; there are walls. On the day I visited the Wailing Wall, wandering around as a tourist, dozens of black-clad Israeli police with cans of tear gas strapped across their chests had just broken up a protest among orthodox women over who should pray on the men's side of the wall. In the Middle East, the distance to conflict is measured in land, not political theory.

Survival, you see, trumps all.

It helped me to put this week's Washington uproar into a certain context. But it also reminded me of the thing our hyper-partisan nation's capital shares in common with flashpoints around the world.

With Democrats digging their heels in and Republicans throwing rocks over the wall, there is precious little incentive for compromise. I call it geopolitical poker.

I leave it to you to decide who is winning -- or losing -- the game.

Latest Forecast Shows the U.S. Drought Moving West

2013-05-16T17:21:02-04:00

Last year's drought scorched over half of country last year. Now that drought is shifting towards the Southwest and western Plains, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which held a meeting on summer drought outlook Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Mark Svoboda, climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, says the American Southwest and western Great Plains are likely to see the effects of the drought deepen, and it's possible for the drought to reach areas of the Pacific Northwest, like Oregon and Idaho.

But the conditions in the East are improving. Rain from last year's Tropical Storm Isaac brought much needed relief to the Midwest, and a wet, cool April has improved conditions for much of the Mississippi Valley.

At the end of last summer, about 65 percent of the country was experiencing drought. Today, the extent of the drought has dropped to 48 percent -- but it is far from over, Svoboda warns.

"It wouldn't take too much for the drought to push east again," he said. "It's still vulnerable and not in a full recovery."

Farmers and ranchers are still reeling from last year's heat, but this spring hasn't shown any relief to farmers and ranchers in the western Great Plains, where the drought is expected to continue. Chip Ramsey, a cattle rancher in the Nebraska panhandle, says if the region doesn't see half of its annual rainfall by the end of May, farms are in trouble. At that point, the cost of raising cattle will double. It means that cattle ranchers will have to start selling their herd, and paying higher costs for feed. And for ranchers like himself, there's a high emotional price tag as well.

"You spent your life building a herd, and now you're selling them off," he said. "It's quite tough to live with."

And people are running out of optimism, said Bradley Fuller, owner of Western Horizons Corporation in southwest Kansas. As a result of drought in his county, water bills have doubled, he said at today's meeting, because they haven't had normal rainfall since 2007.

"My pastures are going to take years to recover," he said.

You can check out PBS NewsHour's temperature widget to find out about record-breaking weather where you live:

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15 Figures Who Made Watergate an American Epic

2013-05-16T16:56:04-04:00

On May 17, 1973, Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., gavelled in the first public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, better known as the Senate Watergate Committee. The impending result was almost unfathomable.

The months that followed would bring testimony from White House officials and questions from senators on whether "illegal, improper or unethical activities" had been committed in connection to President Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign for re-election. What had started out as a story about a bungled break-in to Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate complex the previous summer eventually ended in the downfall and resignation of President Nixon on Aug. 9, 1974.

Four decades later, we look back at the process that engrossed the country and convulsed Washington with its unwavering characters and cliff-hanging moments.

Here are some of those figures and instances:

Sam Ervin

Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken from archival PBS video of the Senate Watergate hearings.

Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr. was chairman of the Senate Watergate committee in 1973.

At the start of the television hearings in May of that year, Ervin noted:

If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate were in effect breaking into the home of every citizen of the United States. And if these allegations prove to be true, what they were seeking to steal was not the jewels, money or other precious property of American citizens, but something much more valuable -- their most precious heritage: the right to vote in a free election.

Ervin joined the Senate in 1954. As a freshman, he served on a committee charged with studying whether Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., required censure for his anti-Communist investigations. In his 20 years in the Senate, the Harvard-trained statesman became well-known for his constitutional knowledge, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office. Ervin retired from the Senate in December 1974. He died April 23, 1985. He was 88.

Howard Baker

Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., R-Tenn., was vice chairman of the Senate Watergate committee in 1973.

During proceedings, Baker asked a question that would become very well-known in Washington: "What did the president know, and when did he know it?"

Baker served three terms in the U.S. Senate, from 1967 to 1985, and as majority leader for the last four years of his tenure. He was a presidential hopeful for the 1980 Republican nomination, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984, worked as President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff from 1987 to 1988, served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2001 to 2005 and co-founded the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank in 2007. Baker, now 87, is senior counsel to the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

Fred Thompson

Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., was the Senate Watergate Committee's chief minority counsel in 1973 and 1974.

Thompson, the lawyer turned lobbyist turned actor turned politician, wrote a Watergate memoir called "At That Point in Time" in 1975, served as special counsel to then-Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and to both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, ran for and won the special election for Vice President Al Gore's Senate seat, and chaired the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee from 1997 to 2001. Thompson lives in Washington, D.C., and has appeared in television movies and series, as well as 18 feature films.

James McCord

A former officer in the CIA and FBI, James M. McCord was one of the five original men arrested for breaking into the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. He was later convicted of burglary, wiretapping and conspiracy. McCord had been hired by White House security liaison Jack Caulfield in January 1972 to provide security for the Republican National Committee and the Committee to Re-Elect the President.

When McCord's March 1973 letter to Judge John J. Sirica -- claiming that the defendants had pleaded guilty under pressure and had committed perjury -- was read aloud in court, the story found sudden notoriety across the country.

In January 1973, Caulfield had told McCord the White House would grant him clemency, money and a job if he accepted his prison sentence and didn't testify against members of the administration. When McCord relayed he had been offered clemency "from the highest levels of the White House" before the Senate Watergate committee on May 18, 1973, Nixon's ties to the efforts of the White House to break into Democratic National Committee Headquarters surfaced -- eventually leading to the president's downfall. In 1974, McCord would publish a book about the scandal called "A Piece of Tape -- The Watergate Story: Fact and Fiction."

John Dean

After serving as White House counsel from July 1970 to April 1973, John W. Dean III pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in October 1973. He spent four months in prison for helping cover up the role of administration members in the Watergate break-in and wiretapping before leaving his White House post.

Dean famously presented this turn of phrase before the Senate Watergate committee:

I began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it. I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly every day.

Barred from practicing law, Dean would later author several books including "Blind Ambition," "Lost Honor," "Worse than Watergate," "The Rehnquist Choice," "Conservatives Without Conscience," and "Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches."

Dean, now 74, occasionally appears on news and political television programs.

H.R. Haldeman

Known for fiercely calling himself "the president's son-of-a-bitch," President Nixon's chief of staff H.R. Haldeman served 18 months in prison for his role in Watergate.

Central to the Watergate scandal were tapes Nixon had made of White House meetings. And while investigators finally received access to them, one recording's controversial 18-and-a-half minute gap would have included a conversation between Haldeman and the president. Once the Supreme Court ordered a subpoena of all the Watergate tapes, a "smoking gun" recording was found in which the president discusses with Haldeman a plan to have the CIA divert the FBI from the probe because it involved national security. Haldeman resigned in April 1973.

He'd later publish "The Ends of Power", a memoir, in 1978 and then become vice president of the David H. Murdoch real estate development company. Haldeman died of cancer at his home in Santa Barbara on Nov. 12, 1993. He was 67.

Alexander Butterfield

On July 16, 1973, Alexander Butterfield, President Nixon's deputy chief of staff from 1969 to 1973, revealed to the Senate Watergate Committee he knew of a taping system in the oval office of the president.

Fred Thompson: Mr Butterfield, are you aware of any listening devices in the office of the president?

Alexander Butterfield: I was aware of listening devices, yes sir.

Still feeling reverent of Nixon's wishes at the time of his testimony, 39 years later Butterfield recounted to The Washington Post: "When Don Sanders, the deputy minority counsel ... asked the $64,000 question, clearly and directly, I felt I had no choice but to respond in like manner."

After Watergate, Butterfield became the administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Donald Segretti

A former military prosecutor, Donald Segretti was known widely for his smear tactic campaigning against Democrats in 1972 while serving on the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Segretti spent four-and-a-half months in prison in 1974 for spreading illegal political campaign literature.

After an unsuccessful bid in 1995 for a Superior Court judgeship in Orange County, Calif., Segretti would later leave politics, citing the shadows of Watergate.

Jeb Stuart Magruder

For his involvement in the Watergate scandal and cover-up, then-deputy director of the Committee to Re-Elect the President Jeb Stuart Magruder spent seven months in prison. A former aide to Chief of Staff Haldeman, Magruder was charged with perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He later left politics to become a Presbyterian minister in Marble Cliff, Ohio from 1984 to 1990 and then a senior pastor in Lexington, Ky. Magruder retired in 1998 to become a consultant.

John Ehrlichman

John D. Ehrlichman was President Nixon's assistant for domestic affairs from November 1969 through May 1973. Closely connected to the White House "plumbers unit," Ehrlichman had also been involved in the break-in at the psychiatrist's office of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press.

After resigning from his White House post and serving 18 months in prison for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury, Ehrlichman moved to New Mexico and authored several titles, including "Witness to Power: The Nixon Years." He'd later move to Atlanta in 1991 to become a business consultant.

In 1997 after the Nixon recordings were released to the general public, Ehrlichman would explain to the NewsHour the kind of audience that would keep in the Oval Office when the president gave orders that were seemingly illegal.

There were many times that you simply did not call Richard Nixon in a situation like that if you wanted to continue to do business with him. He could freeze you out. So they were being very politic, I guess, and letting him spout off. That was the Queen of Hearts syndrome, we called it, "off with their heads."

Ehrlichman died on Feb. 14, 1999. He was 73.

Richard Nixon

photo courtesy National Archives

On Aug. 8, 1974, after a grueling congressional investigation, President Richard Nixon gave his 37th and final speech as the the president of the United States:

To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

Leaving the oval office with two "indelible marks", Nixon -- who started his career in politics in 1946 -- returned home to San Clemente, Calif. with his wife, where they lived until moving to New York City in 1980 and then Bergen County, N.J. in 1981. Nixon traveled throughout the U.S. and the world during his retirement, suggesting diplomatic relationships and maintaining speaking appointments. He also published nine books and helped plan his presidential library in Yorba Linda, Calif.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Bob Woodward, left, and Carl Bernstein in the Washington Post newsroom. Photo by Ken Feil/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Intrigued by a June 18, 1972 story -- in which five men were held for plotting to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee -- Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein began investigating the arrest. The story would enthrall Washington, lead to the Senate Watergate hearings and land Woodward and Bernstein a 1973 Pulitzer Prize for their reporting, along with Hollywood fame and over a dozen book deals. Bernstein left the Washington Post in 1976. Woodward is now an associate editor for the newspaper.

Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer

In the summer of 1973, Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer led public broadcasting's gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings -- co-anchoring all 250 hours of the proceedings, and launching the beginnings of what the PBS NewsHour is today. Their partnership and creed of journalism would go on to change not only the face of television journalism, but also their lives.

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Economics, Game Theory, and Jane Austen

2013-05-16T14:00:36-04:00

Economist Michael Chwe has written a book called "Jane Austen: Game Theorist." Do you need more of a reason to read this post? Video from Michael Chwe's YouTube channel.

I'm a specialist in game theory, the mathematical analysis of strategic thinking. Probably the best-known game theorist is John Nash, who received the Nobel Prize in economics and was featured in the movie "A Beautiful Mind."

I have published mathematical economics papers in journals such as the "Journal of Economic Theory." But my latest book is built around the theoretical insights of Jane Austen. This popular and beloved writer used little mathematics or economics. But Austen's novels, written in the early 1800s, anticipated by more than a century the most fundamental game-theoretic concepts, including the emphasis on choice, the theory of utility, and the theoretical analysis of strategic thinking. In fact, Austen's novels contain game-theoretic insights not yet superseded by modern social science.

Before going into Austen's theoretical contributions, let me briefly introduce how game theory is used in economics.

How Game Theory Is Used in Economics

For most of its history, economics concentrated on the analysis of what it calls "perfectly competitive" markets: markets with a multitude of buyers and a multitude of sellers, with no single firm having any influence over market prices.

But even back in the 19th century, economists realized how imperfect markets were becoming. This was the era of "oligopoly" -- a "market situation in which producers are so few that the actions of each of them have an impact on price and on competitors." The oligopolists of the era were the industrial giants like Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the American Tobacco Company, and U.S. Steel. Some oligopolies, like Rockefeller's, were partially dismantled, but many oligopolies, old and new, exist today.

Economists today routinely analyze oligopolies using game theory, once described as the discipline of looking ahead and reasoning backward (to figure out what you should do in anticipation of what others will do). Game theory's popularity is relatively recent. Its mathematical techniques were pioneered in the 1940s and 1950s by John Nash, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, although one of the earliest game-theoretic analyses of oligopoly was by Antoine Augustine Cournot in 1838.

Most economics students are taught first about monopolies and perfectly competitive markets because they are easier to analyze. Analyzing monopolies is not difficult: since there is only one firm, it simply acts in order to maximize its profits.

Analyzing perfectly competitive markets is not difficult either: each firm only worries about overall market conditions and not specific competitors because no single competitor is big enough to change market conditions by itself. For example, among taco trucks in Los Angeles, each taco truck worries only about the going price for tacos, not about the decisions of any other particular truck; each truck is a "price taker" and takes the going price of tacos as given.

In oligopolies, however, the situation is more complicated. Each firm must think carefully about its competitors: for example, before releasing a low-cost iPhone for emerging markets, Apple must consider whether its major competitors, Samsung and Huawei, will respond by making smartphones that are even cheaper. Apple must anticipate what Samsung and Huawei will do.

Of course, many markets are perfectly competitive (the restaurant business is a common example). But I suspect that today most economists would say that oligopolies, in which each firm must worry about each of its competitors, are more typical, or at least more interesting.

In other words, competition (and cooperation) among firms these days is usually not a matter of "price taking" -- accepting the price that a perfectly competitive market determines by the interplay of supply and demand - but of "price making," a situation that demands strategy. This is where game theory, the mathematical analysis of strategic thinking, comes in.

How Jane Austen Used Game Theory in her Books

Might it be useful in understanding Jane Austen? I am not the first to use game theory to approach literature. In 1980, Steve Brams wrote a book using game theory to interpret the Bible. The economists Bertrand Crettez and Régis Deloche have written on coordination in Molière's play "Tartuffe." Ilias Chrissochoidis and Steffen Huck have analyzed the mythic plots of Richard Wagner's operas "Lohengrin" and "Tannhauser."

But let's stick with Austen. Maybe it's just me, but as a game theorist, I am sensitive to how her characters act strategically in anticipation of the actions of others. For example, Marianne Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility" seems to indulge in emotional paroxysms, in one case not changing out of her wet clothes, falling ill and almost dying. But, hearing that she is close to death, her one-time suitor Willoughby abruptly visits to tell her that he did indeed have true affection for her, and married someone else only because of money.

A game theorist might suspect that Marianne broadcasts her suffering anticipating that Willoughby would come back to her or at least acknowledge that he had loved her. Later, Marianne tells her sister Elinor: "My illness, I well knew, had been entirely brought on by myself."

I believe that Austen is a game theorist herself, interested in how people make choices and how people anticipate the choices of others. Like any game theorist, Austen's interest is both practical and theoretical.

For example, what distinguishes game theory, and economics generally, from other social science approaches is its emphasis on individual choice. That's how economists explain behavior. For Austen, choice is an obsession.

She mentions "the power of choice" and states that it is "a great deal better to chuse than to be chosen." When Fanny Price, in "Mansfield Park," receives the proposal of the rich but smarmy Henry Crawford, her entire adoptive family pressures her to accept, but Fanny heroically resists, telling her uncle Sir Thomas that it is simply her choice: "I -- I cannot like him, sir, well enough to marry him."

Economists love results that are not intuitive. One such result, which still gives people pause, is that a country technologically worse at producing everything should still trade with a technologically superior country -- as long as it has a comparative advantage in producing one good relative to another.

Austen loves non-intuitive results too. Fanny Price has an amber cross ornament, a gift from her beloved brother William, but has nothing to wear it with for the upcoming ball. Mary Crawford, Henry Crawford's sister, gives Fanny a gold necklace. Edmund Bertram, the young man whom Fanny really likes, gives Fanny a gold chain. Fanny must choose between Mary's necklace and Edmund's chain. This choice is difficult because Edmund likes Mary, and thus Edmund asks Fanny to wear Mary's necklace in order to show gratitude toward Mary. But Fanny would much rather wear Edmund's chain.

Fanny is relieved to find that "upon trial the one given her by Miss Crawford would by no means go through the ring of the cross. She had, to oblige Edmund, resolved to wear it -- but it was too large for the purpose. His therefore must be worn; and having, with delightful feelings, joined the chain and the cross, those memorials of the two most beloved of her heart ... she was able, without an effort, to resolve on wearing Miss Crawford's necklace too."

With this episode, Austen illustrates how in some situations, not having a choice can be better. This is a nonintuitive result well known in game theory. But Austen does it one better. She is so committed to individual choice that she cannot leave it at this: she has Fanny choose to wear Mary's necklace too. Even when it seems better not to have to make a choice, Austen shows that another choice can make things better still.

Essential to economic theory is the idea of utility: when a person chooses among several alternatives, the economist models this by assigning to each alternative a number corresponding to that alternative's "utility."

For example, if a person chooses between two houses, one house might be in a better location but have fewer bathrooms, while the other might have a quieter backyard but have higher maintenance costs. Economists assume that when a person chooses among houses, the many aspects of a house in the end reduce to a single utility number.

People who are not economists might find this strange, but not Jane Austen. Austen consistently argues for commensurability: the many aspects of an alternative are in the end reducible to a single feeling. In "Northanger Abbey," Catherine Morland plans a walk with Henry and Eleanor Tilney but they do not show up, perhaps because of the rain. Thus she decides to go with her brother and John and Isabella Thorpe on a carriage ride. "Catherine's feelings ... were in a very unsettled state; divided between regret for the loss of one great pleasure, and the hope of enjoying another, almost its equal in degree, however unlike in kind.... To feel herself slighted by [the Tilneys] was very painful. On the other hand, the delight of [the carriage ride] ... was such a counterpoise of good as might console her for almost any thing."

Austen even sometimes uses numbers to quantify feelings: in "Pride and Prejudice," when her sister Lydia runs off unmarried with Wickham, Elizabeth Bennet worries that her love interest Mr. Darcy's opinion of their family will further decrease, and thus "had she known nothing of Darcy, she could have borne the dread of Lydia's infamy somewhat better. It would have spared her, she thought, one sleepless night out of two."

Non-economists often object that real people surely do not calculate as economists do in complicated mathematical models. But for Austen, calculation is not the least bit unnatural. For example, in "Emma," after Emma and Mr. Knightley reveal the news of their engagement to their friends, they predict together how quickly the news will spread through the town: "they had calculated from the time of its being known ... how soon it would be over Highbury ... with great sagacity."

Austen has several names for strategic thinking, including "foresight" and "penetration." For example, Mr. John Knightley warns Emma that Mr. Elton might be interested in her, but Emma is certain that Mr. Elton is interested in Harriet Smith. Mr. George Knightley had earlier warned Emma that Mr. Elton would never marry Harriet because of her lack of wealth. After Mr. Elton drunkenly proposes to Emma in a carriage, however, Emma admits to herself, "There was no denying that those brothers had penetration."

Game theory assumes that a person thinks strategically about others. However, sometimes a person clearly does not. The conspicuous absence of strategic thinking, what I call "cluelessness," is not something modern game theory tries to explain. But Austen does.

For example, in "Northanger Abbey," General Tilney thinks that Catherine Morland is an heiress and thus invites her to Northanger Abbey to encourage her progress with his son Henry. When General Tilney finds out that Catherine is not wealthy at all, he ritually expels her, sending Catherine home without even a servant to accompany her.

But this move backfires badly: "Henry's indignation on hearing how Catherine had been treated ... had been open and bold ... He felt himself bound as much in honour as in affection to Miss Morland."

General Tilney's action only increases Henry's attachment to Catherine, and his sending Catherine home without an escort provides the perfect excuse for Henry to visit her to see if she arrived home safely. During this visit, Henry proposes.

General Tilney could have foreseen all this if he weren't clueless. He did not think strategically about Henry; he did not consider how Henry would react. "The General, accustomed on every ordinary occasion to give the law in his family, prepared for no reluctance."

What explains General Tilney's lack of strategic thinking, his cluelessness? Austen offers several explanations. One is that high-status people believe that they should not have to enter into the minds of low-status people, and in fact, not doing so is a mark of their higher status.

Thus, when a high-status person interacts with a low-status person, the high-status person has difficulty understanding the low-status person as strategic. This is an advantage that the low-status person can exploit. This can help us understand why, for example, after the U.S. invaded Iraq, the resulting Iraqi insurgency came as a complete surprise to U.S. leaders, even though anyone who puts himself in the shoes of an Iraqi commander would easily see the futility of engaging U.S. forces conventionally.

For a possible example in economics, Clayton Christensen finds that companies that are industry leaders often underestimate the disruptive potential of low-status competitors that start by producing cheap, low-quality goods but gradually improve.

It might be a while before we know how useful game theory is for studying literature in general. After all, game theory was around for 20 to 30 years before economics fully embraced it. In the meantime, I look forward to more conversations between the social sciences and the humanities. Perhaps in the future, the connections between economics and the study of literature will no longer be considered surprising.

Michael Chwe is a professor at University of California, Los Angeles who teaches courses on game theory to graduate and undergraduate students. His books include "Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge" and now "Jane Austen: Game Theorist.

This entry is cross-posted on the Making Sen$e page, where correspondent Paul Solman answers your economic and business questions.

Follow @paulsolman

Turkish Prime Minister Talks Syria with Obama at White House

2013-05-16T13:17:51-04:00

Watch the full joint press conference from Wednesday with President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who discuss the current issues regarding a political transition in Syria. President Obama also addressed questions on domestic issues, including the recent resignation of the head of the IRS and the Justice Department's seizure of reporters' phone records.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and Turkey will keep ramping up pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, with his country's civil war having "wracked the region."

At a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the White House Rose Garden, Obama says the only way to resolve the crisis is for Assad to hand over power to a transitional government. He says Turkey will play a critical role in that process.

"We're going to keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working with the Syrian opposition," Obama said. "We both agree that Assad needs to go."

Obama said the U.S. will continue helping nations in the region deal with refugees with humanitarian aid.

Erdogan says the U.S. and Turkey have overlapping goals when it comes to Syria. Neither leader mentioned that the U.S. and Turkey remain far apart on just how to handle Syria's bloody civil war.

Erdogan is visiting Washington just days after two car bombs in Turkey killed dozens in the deadliest terrorist attack there in years. Turkish authorities have blamed Syrian intelligence, and Erdogan has been calling for more aggressive steps to topple Assad's government. Obama extended condolences for what he called the "outrageous bombings" and said the United States stands with Turkey in fighting terror threats.

But the Obama administration remains reluctant to take the kind of action Turkey would like to see, including establishing a no-fly zone in Syria.

The disagreement was unlikely to spoil a day of pomp for Erdogan, who arrived at the White House under the flags of a U.S. military honor guard lining the north driveway. He met with Obama in the Oval Office for three hours focusing largely on Mideast security issues, but Obama said they also agreed to create "a new high level committee" to focus on increasing trade and investment between the two countries.

Erdogan also was being treated to a formal lunch at the State Department lunch with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry before his return to the White House for a working dinner with the president.

Despite differences over Syria, Erdogan will welcome the opportunity to showcase his close ties with Obama. He arrives after recently marking 10 years in office as a dominant figure in Turkish politics. As much as Erdogan wants the U.S. to exert greater power in Syria, the Obama administration sees Turkey as a critical broker on a host of issues in the region.

The administration recently negotiated a deal to repair ties between Turkey and Israel, which were severed following a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which eight Turks and a Turkish-American were killed. The administration hopes to see an understanding sealed during Erdogan's visit on compensation for the victims of the raid and their families. The U.S. sees reconciliation between Turkey and Israel as critical as it seeks to revitalize peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

It is also looking for Turkish help in ramping up sanctions on Iran and in cooling ethnic tensions in Iraq. Both Turkey and the U.S. see an opportunity this year to restart talks on the reunification of Cyprus, an issue that is also likely to come up in talks between Obama and Erdogan. Cyprus was split in 1974, when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of a union with Greece. A Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in 1983 is recognized only by Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops there. Turkey doesn't recognize Cyprus as a sovereign country.

Following the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey, Erdogan and Obama also will look to step up cooperation on counterterrorism.

Finally, the U.S. administration is likely to reassure Erdogan that Turkey will not lose out as the administration seeks a massive free trade deal with the European Union. Obama may also offer praise for Erdogan's initiative to make peace with Kurdish rebels after a nearly 30-year battle.

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield Reflects on Four Months in Orbit

2013-05-16T12:11:38-04:00

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who returned to Earth this week after four months on the International Space Station, fields questions on Thursday about his time in orbit.

The astronaut whose unmatched commitment to connecting with the world while in orbit, answered questions from Houston Thursday morning during his first press conference since returning to Earth. Canadian Space Agency Commander Chris Hadfield, arguably the first contemporary astronaut to achieve superstar status , spent an hour discussing his four months on the International Space Station, his scientific experiments in space and the perils of adapting to weightlessness and then readapting back to gravity. The trip also affected his health.

"My blood vessels have hardened," he said. "My cardiovascular system has changed."

Symptoms of adapting to Earth after four months of weightlessness on the International Space Station include dizziness, a sore body and neck and difficulty walking and exercising, he said. He has to sit down while taking a shower so he doesn't faint, and with no callouses on his hands and feet, he said he felt like he was "walking on hot coals." During the press conference, he wore a G-suit underneath his clothing to coax the blood back up to his head, he told reporters. Even speaking requires adjustment.

"I've had to change the way I'm talking," Hadfield said. "I hadn't realized I'd learned to talk with a weightless tongue."

But many of the changes, he said, are similar to what humans undergo as they age, and as he and crewmates "totter around," doctors gain new insights into the human body.

My blood vessels have hardened. My cardiovascular system has changed.
-- Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris Hadfield

He spoke of the science experiments in orbit. One involved studying dark matter. Another aimed to improve spinal ultrasounds.

Especially memorable was his description of his first moments back on Earth, upon landing in Kazakhstan. Suddenly, he said, they looked outside the window, and there was earth and grass where space had been before.

"As soon as we opened door, and air started coming in, we could smell the prairie, and it smelled of wind and the grass," he recalled. "It smelled of spring. We could smell the grass, but we could also smell the charred spaceship."

We have more on Hadfield's return to Earth, his musical endeavors in microgravity and his unparalleled social media acumen here. And you can see more of his photographs from the International Space Station, tips on how to eat an apple in space and his attempt to crowdsource vacation spots here.

And if you haven't yet seen his cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," the first music video ever filmed in space, here it is. Enjoy:

Obama Attempts Damage Control on IRS, Benghazi, AP Scandals

2013-05-16T09:19:33-04:00

President Obama makes a statement Wednesday at the White House. Photo by Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images.

To catch you up on the last 24 hours in politics: President Barack Obama canned the man at the helm of the Internal Revenue Service, released 100 pages of emails between intelligence analysts and State Department officials following the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and asked a Senate Democrat to reintroduce a bill to help reporters protect the identity of their sources.

In other words: a whole lotta damage control.

"Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a four-minute statement from the East Room of the White House. He was referring to the swelling scandal at the IRS, which put extra layers of scrutiny on conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status.

"I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency, but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives," he said.

Earlier in the day, Attorney General Eric Holder told members of the House Judiciary Committee that the Justice Department would conduct a full investigation into the IRS' conduct.

"The facts will take us wherever they take us," Holder said. "This will not be about parties. This will not be about ideological persuasions. Anyone who has broken the law will be held accountable."

The administration's response came as lawmakers ramped up their demands for answers.

"My question isn't about who's going to resign. My question is, who is going to jail over this scandal?" House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declared at a morning news conference.

Amid the mounting pressure, Mr. Obama huddled late Wednesday with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who asked for and received the resignation of acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller.

"This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation's tax agency," Miller wrote in a memo distributed to agency employees. "I believe the Service will benefit from having a new Acting Commissioner in place during this challenging period."

Miller said he will officially depart the IRS when his assignment ends early next month. The 25-year agency veteran is scheduled to appear Friday before the House Ways and Means Committee to answer questions about the IRS' actions. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will get the next bite at the apple, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday.

NPR condensed the treasury inspector general's report into "10 Things We Learned," one of them being that the IRS sat on some applications for as long as three years and expected applicants to respond to its requests for information within three weeks.

For his part, Mr. Obama will take questions at noon Thursday during a Rose Garden event with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The NewsHour will live-stream the news conference.

On Benghazi, Mr. Obama is attempting to put to rest the evolution of talking points about whether the events on Sept. 11, 2012, were a terrorist attack -- a story that has involved the press as well.

ABC News' Jonathan Karl had a big scoop Friday, reporting the talking points had been revised 12 times over the course of a few days. But CNN's Jake Tapper, formerly with ABC, reported Tuesday that reading the emails contradicts that report.

That's one reason the White House aimed to let people see for themselves. The emails, already given to congressional investigators, are posted in full here.

The Washington Post's Scott Wilson and Karen DeYoung have a helpful explainer. From the piece:

According to the e-mails and initial CIA-drafted talking points, the agency believed the attack included a mix of Islamist extremists from Ansar al-Sharia, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda, and angry demonstrators.

White House officials did not challenge that analysis, the e-mails show, nor did they object to its inclusion in the public talking points.

But CIA deputy director Michael Morell later removed the reference to Ansar al-Sharia because the assessment was still classified and because FBI officials believed that making the information public could compromise their investigation, said senior administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal debate.

Those officials said Wednesday that the e-mails capture a fairly routine conversation between agencies over how to talk about a major event.

What was most challenging in this case, senior administration officials said, was doing so within days of the attack as intelligence agencies working in a volatile environment were trying to piece together what happened.

The New York Times has more on the internal divisions the emails lay bare. Politico writes that the email chains "suggest it was the State Department that was most concerned about taking the blame for the attack."

Then there is the matter of the Justice Department's seizure of phone records from the Associated Press as part of an investigation into leaks about a failed terror plot last year.

Holder told lawmakers Wednesday that he had recused himself from the probe early on because he was one of the officials who had access to the information that was leaked. But he pledged to review the matter once the investigation was completed.

"I do think that at the conclusion of this matter, and when I can be back involved in it, that given the -- the attention that it has generated, that some kind of after-action analysis would be appropriate," Holder said.

The Justice Department's decision to subpoena the records has drawn criticism from lawmakers and news organizations about the impact on 1st Amendment protections. In response, the Obama administration announced Wednesday that it would support a new media shield law that would provide greater protections to reporters seeking to keep their sources confidential.

The NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown examined the IRS scandal Wednesday night. Watch that segment here or below:

Mr. Obama's statement is here or below.

Watch Holder's testimony here.

Video streaming by Ustream

HATCAM! GOES RUNNING

Strong from start to finish: Team NewsHour races at the ACLI Capital Challenge.

Wednesday morning 14 NewsHour runners hit the pavement for a three-mile race to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.

Your Morning Line dynamic duo rounded the halfway mark side-by-side, before Terence blew past Christina to finish strong.

NewsHour's "No Commercials, No Mercy" team* placed fourth of the 17 teams in the Electronic Media category. Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., became the fastest man in Congress, finishing three miles in 17 minutes 55 seconds. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., were the fastest senators. Heard on the Hill has more here.

NewsHour social media editor Colleen Shalby won the bravest staffer award, wearing our HatCam! from start to finish. We've cut together some video highlights that you can watch here or below:

*Yes, the name is inspired by "Anchorman."

LINE ITEMS

The Wall Street Journal looks at the tech sector's involvement in shaping the immigration bill. Roll Call reports that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wants to be wooed on the issue.
As the House GOP prepares to vote for the 37th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a new congressional budget analysts suggests doing so would "increase the deficit by scrapping the law's taxes, fees and spending cuts," The Hill reports.
Mr. Obama met with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Wednesday on immigration and budget issues.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., plans to introduce legislation Thursday that would empower military prosecutors, instead of commanders, to decide whether individual sexual assault cases would be tried. Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is engaing her campaign supporters through emails on the issue. Margaret Warner reported about the issue on the NewsHour.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe leading GOP Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, 43 percent to 38 percent, in the state's 2013 gubernatorial contest. But more voters say Cuccinelli has "the right kind of experience" to be governor.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a moderate Republican who opted against challenging Cuccinelli, formed a group called the Virginia Mainstream Project.
House Republicans spoofed "Arrested Development" to tweak the Obama administration on the economy. Really.
Speaker Boehner is attempting to get his members on board with increasing the debt ceiling.
Sarah Palin has endorsed a candidate, state Rep. Jason Smith, ahead of Missouri's special House election to replace former Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.
The Denver Post reports that former GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo is considering a bid for governor next year.
The clues to Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman's political aspirations lie in whom he's talking to. The Republican governor has been consulting governors who became senators. His team expects him to make a decision about running for retiring GOP Sen. Mike Johann's seat within a month.
Roll Call's Meredith Shiner reports that the House and Senate Press Galleries are getting involved in the phone records story.
Was Wednesday really the best day for a personal financial document dump? The White House released documents showing the value of the Obamas' assets is between $1.9 and $6.9 million.

NEWSHOUR ROUNDUP

An author looks at what it means to attend law school, and it's not all good.
Spencer Michels uses this weekend's Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco to explore how cities are using surveillance cameras in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Gwen Ifill gets more information on the medical implications of Angelina Jolie's mastectomy.

TOP TWEETS

You know, Mr. Prez, some of us have 6 pm news programs. #newshour #mayhem
— gwen ifill (@pbsgwen) May 15, 2013

Daily Kos was audited by the IRS earlier this year, because we're so conservative, obviously.
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) May 15, 2013

Holder's House Judiciary appearances are like a trip to the Star Wars cantina on a good day. Can't imagine what today is going to be like.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 15, 2013

stu stevens says dems shld run against Hillary in '16. does not say if they shld use Orca or not buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/top...
— E McMorris-Santoro (@EvanMcSan) May 15, 2013

@dansagalyn NEVER goes on a shoot without his trusty fanny pack. Cc @elainemgrossman @justinpkenny twitter.com/PJTobia/status...
— P.J. Tobia (@PJTobia) May 15, 2013

Carney shows up with pics of himself (!) twitter.com/StevenTDennis/...
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) May 15, 2013

Moment of bipartisanship -- the 7yo got a letter from the President.Made her day.She'd invited him to dinner.He won't be able to come.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 15, 2013

My staff & I were proud to participate in the ACLI Capital Challenge this morning! Team name was the Coal Burners. twitter.com/RepShelley/sta...
— Shelley Moore Capito (@RepShelley) May 15, 2013

. @newshour online represented on'No Commercials, No Mercy' team at #ACLI race. "We better get best team name." twitter.com/MeenaGanesan/s...
— Meena (@MeenaGanesan) May 15, 2013

Caught a pic of team @chuckgrassley at the ACLI Capital Challenge while cheering on team @newshour. twitter.com/anmccartney/st...
— Allison McCartney (@anmccartney) May 15, 2013

OH at #ACLI starting line: 'The Attorney General is bugging all the press' bib chips.'
— Hannah Hess (@ha_nah_nah) May 15, 2013

I'm gonna buy the CIA a better scanner.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 15, 2013

Get your tickets now for 6/26 charity softball game. Bad News Babes vs. female Members. bitly.com/girlsbeatcancer
— Bad News Babes (@BadNewsBabes1) May 15, 2013

Desk assistants Mallory Sofastaii and Simone Pathe contributed to this report.

For more political coverage, visit our politics page.

Questions or comments? Email Christina Bellantoni at cbellantoni-at-newshour-dot-org.

Follow the politics team on Twitter:

Follow @cbellantoni

Follow @burliji Follow @kpolantz Follow @elizsummers Follow @tiffanymullon Follow @meenaganesan Follow @ljspbs

HatCam Goes Running: PBS NewsHour Team Takes 4th of 17 in Charity Race

2013-05-15T18:35:53-04:00

Social media editor Colleen Shalby sported NewsHour's celebrated HatCam Wednesday as she ran the ACLI Capitol Challenge. Video edited by Meena Ganesan

Members of Congress, journalists, judges and agency staffers ran on common ground Wednesday morning in the annual ACLI Capital Challenge at Washington's Anacostia Park.

The PBS NewsHour team, "No Commercials, No Mercy," placed fourth out of 17 teams in the electronic media category. Also present at the 3-mile race was NewsHour's own HatCam. Watch some of the course's highlights captured by the GoPro-connected device in the the video above.

Find the full list of winners here. Here are a few highlights:

1st Senator -- Male
Sen. Rob Portman
Team Portman
24:47

It's worth noting NewsHour's own deputy political editor Terence Burlij came in alongside the Republican senator, who hails from his home state of Ohio.

1st Senator -- Female
Sen. Kelly Ayotte
Galloping Granite Staters
26:44

NewsHour's Political Editor Christina Bellantoni, the captain of our team, finished ahead of Ayotte by 24 seconds.

1st Rep. -- Male
Rep. Tom Cotton
Cotton Tail Rabbits
17:55

1st Rep. -- Female
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema
Hot Mess
25:13

1st Agency Head - Male
Daniel Elliott
STB-Surface Transport Board
21:29

1st Agency Head - Female
Leocadia Zak
USTDA - Trade Runners
36:00

1st Fed. Judge -- Male Judge Brett Kavanaugh
D. C. Circuitry (U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit)
21:13

1st Fed Judge -- Female
Judge Catharine Easterly
Race Judicata (D.C. Court of Appeals)
26:15

Best Named Team
Broken Down by Age & Sex
Howard Hogan, Chief Demographer
Census Bureau

2nd Best Name
Sciquest Racin'
Jeffery Mercis
Science Magazine

3rd Best Name
For Boston Inspired
Michael Kortan, Assistant Director
FBI

Worst Named Team
Swall's Well That End's Well

2nd Worst Name
Hoosier Mama Express
Rep. Susan Brooks

3rd Worst Name
Running Stimulates the Census
Doug Clift
Census Bureau

Best Spirit
NPR

Winning Teams

1st Senate Team
Team Portman
Sen. Rob Portman

2nd Senate Team
The Grassley Panters
Sen. Charles Grassley

1st House Team
Cotton Tail Rabbits
Rep. Tom Cotton

2nd House Team
Red, White & Blumenauer
Rep. Earl Blumenauer

1st Executive Branch Team Navy's Global Force for Speed U.S. Navy

2nd Executive Branch Team
Full Blooded Intensity
FBI

1st Print Media Team
Bloomberg Terminal Velocity
Bloomberg News

2nd Print Media Team
CQ RC News Travels Fast
CQ/Roll Call

1st Electronic Media Team
FBN: The Power to Perspire
Fox Business News

2nd Electronic Media Team
North Capital Challengers
NPR

1st Judicial Team
D.C. Circuitry
US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

2nd Judicial Team
Expedited Motion
D.C. Court of Appeals

Study Pinpoints Link Between Fitness and Cancer in Men

2013-05-15T18:00:00-04:00

Photo courtesy: Flickr user Josiah Mackenzie

There's new evidence out today that being fit reduces your risk for getting cancer.

The study, released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, looked at the link between fitness in middle-aged men and the likelihood of a cancer diagnosis later in life.

Doctors focused on the top three cancers in men: prostate, colorectal and lung. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400,000 men were diagnosed with one of these cancers in 2007.

The study tracked 7,000 healthy, 45-year old men. Their fitness was assessed during their regular preventive health exam by putting them on the treadmill. How far -- and how well they were able to tolerate increases in the speed and grade of the treadmill -- determined how "fit" they were.

Two decades later, when the men were 65, doctors looked at who had developed cancer and compared that to their previous fitness levels. They saw a link -- "fit" individuals were less likely to develop cancer, and if they did develop it, they generally had better prognoses.

"That's what's really sort of amazing is that there's really no other population where we have the assessment back in time, when they were in their middle age," according to Dr. Susan Lakoski, the study's primary author. "We followed them all the way to past the age of 65 and beyond to track whether or not they've developed cancer to see what this relationship was between fitness and cancer risk."

The study began in 1970 at the Cooper Center Longitudinal Studies in Dallas. The participants were predominantly Caucasian.

Dr. Lakoski focuses on cardiovascular health among cancer patients. She spoke with PBS NewsHour earlier this week.

PBS NewsHour: In a nutshell, what did the study reveal?

Dr. Susan Lakoski, University of Vermont College of Medicine: The study shows that cardiorespiratory fitness predicts cancer risk and prognosis after a cancer diagnosis in men. This is a new finding, because traditionally patients self-report their physical activity. But in our study, we measured it with an objective exercise sonar test.

This is the first study that really addresses the issue of fitness being a prognostic marker of cancer risk in men, and then a marker of prognosis after a cancer diagnosis. We specifically looked at if "fitness," or the ability to get on a treadmill and go as far as you can, predicted whether or not you'll develop cancer. And it did predict it. So people who had lower fitness, or went less time on the treadmill, were more at risk for developing cancer later in life.

NewsHour: What's the difference between physical activity and fitness?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: Physical activity is one part of fitness, and so when you are being physically active and you're working out, you're contributing to your overall fitness. When we ask the participants to get on a treadmill, we're measuring their cardiorespiratory or cardiopulmonary fitness. That's the efficiency of oxygen consumption during maximum exercise. Fitness from a clinical standpoint is really, we're going to see how far you can go on this treadmill, and how well you do -- that tells us whether or not you're going to live longer after a cancer diagnosis, or whether you'll develop cancer in the first place.

There are lots of different activities that go into what someone's fitness is -- your exercise training, whether it's running or walking, all are contributing to your fitness. So there's lots of different physical activities you could do to improve your fitness.

NewsHour: How did you measure their fitness?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: One of the real strengths of this study, because we did it in more than 7,000 men, at baseline, instead of asking them, "How much did you exercise?" We didn't do that, we actually got them on a treadmill and increased the grade on the treadmill, the speed of the treadmill, over time to see how far they could go. So it was a very accurate way to look at exercise exposure instead of just asking them, "How much do you exercise?"

NewsHour: Is there any way to know what causes this reduced link of cancer from exercising?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: Your fitness is your ability to be efficient at getting oxygen to all of your organs. And we know that being efficient and getting oxygen to all of your organs is very important in modulating different pathways involved in inflammation, hormone levels, immune surveillance, oxidative damage. All of these things play into reducing cancer risk. We did not assess those pathways in this particular study, but what we did show was that fitness does reduce the risk of cancer.

NewsHour: Have there been other studies looking at, generally, exercise and cancer?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: Yes, there have been some studies done on physical activity and cancer risk. In those studies, there's been supportive data to show that physical activity reduces risk for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, there's some controversy on prostate cancer risk.

NewsHour: Explain the controversy.

Dr. Susan Lakoski: It's very hard to measure someone's physical activity. I can ask you, how active were you in middle age? What were you doing? How often were you doing it? What intensity were you doing it? You would get a lot of different answers and a lot of different recall bias, because people don't remember or they might tweak a little what they're actually doing in terms of physical activity. And because of that, the measure of physical activity is a little bit messy, and we can't see the signal between physical activity and cancer risk as powerfully because our measure, our questionnaire, is not that great.

So that's why fitness, where we're actually measuring someone's exercise exposure, with a treadmill test is a much more powerful predictor because it's not based on someone's recollection of their physical activities. It's based on how well they do on a treadmill test, which is highly determined by their past physical activity exposure.

NewsHour: Can you tell if it's the fitness that is reducing their cancer risk, or some other factor like weight, or smoking?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: When we did the study, we adjusted and accounted for other factors. We accounted for smoking, we accounted for body weight, so that it wasn't just if something's related to an outcome and we put BMI in the model and that relationship goes away, we can see with confidence that fitness is not really related to the outcome of interest. But when we accounted for those things - or things that might be related - we saw that fitness was equally predictive of outcomes. And so, that's the best we can do in an epidemiological study.

NewsHour: Bottom line, what would you tell your patients or other patients to do?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: In terms of what patients and clinicians should do, I feel that our focus should be on not only on our standard predictors, but we now know that being fit is very important in reducing risk for chronic illness, specifically for cardiovascular disease and now for men. So the focus should also be fitness, irrespective of your body weight. And that you can get your fitness assessed by seeing your primary care doctor and/or a doctor that specializes in cardio-oncology, which is what I am. So the message is, be fit.

NewsHour: What's next?

Dr. Susan Lakoski: We need to determine what specific pathways are associated with fitness and cancer risk, and we need to do this study across all different cancers in men and women.

I'm also a very big proponent of bringing exercise tolerance testing to assess fitness in a broader range of populations. We do it very well in the cardiovascular population, but now every cancer patient that comes to see me, I'm putting them on the treadmill and assessing their fitness. Because I know that fitness is an important tool to assess your ability to get through their cancer treatment, and also their prognosis after a cancer diagnosis. And so I think this is going to be a very useful tool as we go forward in the cancer setting, but it's not really utilized at this point. That's our goal down the road.

This conversation was lightly edited for clarity. Photo of Dr. Lakoski courtesy of ASCO and the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

How Cities Are Preparing for the Next Big Disaster

2013-05-15T17:39:43-04:00

Homes in the Rockaways, N.Y., were severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Photo by Spencer Platt/ Getty Images.

Last fall Hurricane Sandy crippled sections of the East Coast of North America. It left New York City and cities in New Jersey with damages totaling in the billions of dollars. And the fallout from that super storm continues, as displaced residents are still looking for housing, according to a recent report from The Huffington Post.

Wednesday on the PBS NewsHour, Judith Rodin of the Rockefeller Foundation and Tomas Regalado, mayor of Miami, discuss how major cities are preparing for future disasters -- not just hurricanes, but floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, snowstorms, droughts and even blackouts.

Recently the Rockefeller Foundation announced a $35 million grant program to help cities develop disaster preparedness plans and to ensure resilient cities that can bounce back.

As part of the NewsHour's Coping with Climate Change series, we've followed how extreme weather events are already affecting communities. Here's a look at some of those reports:

Protecting New York From Future Superstorms as Sea Levels Rise

When Hurricane Sandy barreled through New York, the city had no protective barriers to keep the water out. Engineers are going back to the drawing board, looking at plans to prevent another flood.

Battleground Dispatches -Norfolk, Va Prepares for Rising Seas

Hurricane Sandy left the city of Norfolk, Va., wondering, is rebuilding worth it? NewsHour's Mike Melia asks Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim about how the city should rebuild, keeping an eye on the rising sea levels on the Virginia coast.

Will Your City Be Underwater? There's a Map for That

Climate Central drew a map of the United States, looking at where rising sea levels and extreme flooding put communities at risk. You can explore the map here or view the report below:

Louisiana Fishermen Pioneer Floating Architecture

Fishermen on the vulnerable Louisiana coast are designing homes to keep on top of rising sea levels.

From Rooftop to Alleyway, Chicago Fights Extreme Urban Heat With Greener Ideas

After coping with deadly heat waves, Chicago is designing green roofs to cool the city and prepare for intense summers in the future. You can also check out our conversation with urban planner Peter Calthorpe on how trees are the key to keeping cities cool: