Coming out of biscayne bay onto the streets until its about a foot deep. People go, oh, we broke a sewer main, or a water main broke thats not what it is, thats Sea Level Rise. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff toyota now formally admits it misled consumers and regulators over unintended acceleration problems in its cars that triggered global recalls. The auto maker agreed to pay 1. 2 billion the largest such federal penalty ever imposed on an auto company. Well take a closer look at the case right after the news summary. Woodruff in ukraine, the new leaders in kiev announced theyre drawing up plans to evacuate ukrainian troops from crimea. This came in the face of russian moves to consolidate their grip on the breakaway province. Woodruff prorussian militiamen pushed their way into part of the Ukrainian Naval headquarters in sevastopol this morning. Shortly afterward, the russian flag was raised at the entrance as the ukrainian servicemen gave way. Woodruff there is nothing we can do against the crowd, nothing. Everything happened spontaneously. There were many promises from the russian side and our side that the base will not be stormed, that all issues will be resolved through political means, but as you see now, there was a takeover. No issues had been resolved through political means. Woodruff the takeover came a day after russian president Vladimir Putin signed a treaty aimed at annexing crimea. In response, Ukraines National Security minister called today for turning crimea into a Demilitarized Zone as it tries to withdraw its troops. And he announced joint military exercises with the u. S. And britain. But crimeas new Prime Minister appeared unfazed. He banned ukrainian officials from entering the region, and called for other parts of ukraine to follow crimeas lead. translated this patriotic rise that we have in crimea and in russia today that united us all regardless of our political views or political parties, should continue and spread over to southEastern Ukraine woodruff and, indeed, pro russian militia members took up positions today outside donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine. They said they were ready to block any western forces from entering. Meanwhile, the u. S. And European Union again pressed moscow to relent. Vice President Joe Biden was in lithuania where he pledged the u. S. Will defend its n. A. T. O. Allies, and that russia will pay a price for seizing crimea. As long as russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation. There are those who say that this action shows the old rules still apply, but russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behavior. Woodruff in a bid to resolve the crisis, the u. N. Secretary general, ban kimoon, left this afternoon for talks in both moscow and kiev. Woodruff well talk with Margaret Warner, on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, later in the program. Woodruff israeli air strikes blasted Syrian Military posts today, killing one soldier and wounding seven. The raids happened in southwestern syria, near the israelioccupied part of the golan heights. Israel said it was retaliation for a roadside bombing in the golan that wounded four israeli soldiers. Suspicion for that attack fell on hezbollah, the Shiite Militia allied with syria. Woodruff the f. B. I. Has stepped up its role in the hunt for a missing malaysian airliner. U. S. Officials said today the bureau is helping analyze deleted data from the pilots flight simulator. That word came amid an uproar at the malaysian governments daily briefing. We have a report from lucy watson, of independent television news, in kuala lumpur. Reporter a mothers anguish for the whole world to see. Captured just moments before the media briefing. After traveling thousands of miles to beg for answers. This pandemonium is because the relatives have now been taken inside this room behind me by officials. They came here this morning because such is their frustration and distress towards the malaysian government at the lack of information theyre getting. Some 12 days on now. Hidden away because earlier, they dared to voice their anger. translated please help me bring my son back. I just want to see my son. So many days have passed and nobody from the government has come to see me. Reporter yet on a day of great drama, the investigation made little progress. The search is now focusing more on the southern indian ocean. The most remote and furthest point where the aircraft wouldve run out of fuel. But there are still guards outside the pilots home. And Police Continue to analyze data from his flights simulator. Some of which he removed. Some data has been deleted from the simulator and forensic work to retrieve this data is ongoing. I would like to take this opportunity to state that the passengers, the pilot and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise. Reporter its not what they came to hear. And this was not what they wanted. But this is an unprecedented event. Woodruff First Lady Michelle Obama is headed to china, for a sixday visit. White house Officials Say it is not intended to address any policy issues. Instead, mrs. Obama is scheduled to spend a day with the chinese president s wife, focusing on education. Later, she and her mother and two daughters will visit cultural and historical sites. Woodruff the governors race in illinois began in earnest today, one of the years toughest campaigns, in a state with one of the hardesthit economies. Venture capitalist bruce rauner won tuesdays republican primary, spending 6 million of his own money. This morning, democratic incumbent pat quinn and rauner were already swapping charges over the minimum wage and economic leadership. A billionaire with nine mansions calling for a reduction in the minimum wage and taking 2,000 dollars out of the pockets of everyday people who are doing the best they can. Im proud of the businesses weve built, im proud of the success weve brought. And i wanna bring that success to springfield. Run it more like a business, make it efficient, effective, transparent. Woodruff democrats have held the Governors Office in illinois for more than a decade. Woodruff the Federal Reserve signaled today it may start raising shortterm Interest Rates sometime next year. That would follow the end of the f. E. D. s stimulus program, which it dialed back another notch today. The combination did not go down well on wall street. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 114 points to close at 16,222. The nasdaq fell more than 25 points to close at 4,307. And the standard and poors 500 dropped 11 points to finish at 1,860. Well hear some of what fed chair janet yellen had to say today, later in the program. Woodruff also ahead on the newshour two major automakers under fire; russianspeaking troops seize a Ukrainian Navy base in crimea; worries over rising sea levels along the south florida coast; a new book on the looming generational showdown in the u. S. ; plus, one of the most renowned painters of the 20th centruy, seen in a new light. Ifill four years after launching a criminal investigation of toyota, the government wrapped up its case today by announcing a major settlement, in which the company admitted criminal wrongdoing for concealing safety concerns. Today we can say for certain that toyota intentionally concealed information and misled the public about the safety issues behind these recalls. Reporter in a toughly worded statement, attorney general eric holder announced the record 1. 2 billion settlement this morning. Toyota, the federal investigators said, purposely concealed what it knew about the full scope of unintended acceleration issues, linking them to faulty brakes, sticking gas pedals and tangled floor mats. Toyota confronted a Public Safety emergency as if it were simply a Public Relations problem. Put simply, toyotas conduct was shameful. It showed a blatant disregard for systems and laws designed to look after the safety of consumers. By the companys own admissions, it protected its brand ahead of its own customers. Ifill recalls began in 2009 and ultimately spread to more than 10 million toyota vehicles. Company sales plunged, but have since rebounded. In a news release today, toyota u. S. A. s chief legal officer, christopher reynolds, insisted the auto giant has become more responsive since 2009. He said but holder said the case also serves as a warning to others in the auto industry. Other Car Companies should not repeat toyotas mistake a recall may damage a companys reputation, but deceiving your customers makes that damage far more lasting. Reporter thats a notso veiled reference to General Motors, now facing its own federal investigation over its handling of faulty ignition switches. The Company Finally recalled 1. 6 million vehicles last month. Amid revelations it had known of the problem since 2004. Another 1. 7 million additional vehicles were recalled for different problems on monday. G. M. Says thereve been 13 deaths, but a study for the center for auto safety found the real number could total more than 300, a number g. M. Disputes. In a video posted to gms website monday, new c. E. O. Mary barra promised the company is completely focused on the problem. We are putting the consumer first and that is guiding every decision we make. Ifill yesterday, barra apologized, saying shes very sorry for the loss of life tied to the defects. The g. M. Probe could last months. As for toyota, federal prosecutors say theyll dismiss a criminal wire fraud charge in three years, if the Company Fully complies with the settlement. Ifill some further detail on todays settlement and what it means for the auto industry. David shepardson covers it for the detroit news. And Joan Claybrook is a past president of Public Citizen and served as chief of the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration during the carter administration. How does this compare to previous settlements weve heard about . This is by far the biggest ever. This was a huge blow to the company. You dont see this type of language used i mean, shameful, coverup and said that toyota, during the 2009 time frame knew it had problems and not only did it opt not to do anything but it canceled a proposed fix. So this is as strong as company as the government could be and finally extracted an admission of wrongdoing from toyota which it steadfastly refused to do for five years. Ifill we invited representatives from toyota and gm to join us and they declined. How big deal is this . I think it wants huge. Its huge because the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not have authority so it depends on the Justice Department to do something they never have before and suggests in the settlement theyre going to do something more with General Motors and are putting out a warning to all the companies. Companies are looking at their defect files, what they have not reported and should have reported. This is going to force them to behave and act in the consumer interest. Ifill in these business settlements, the affected company says im not admitting wrongdoing but dont want to go to court. Toyota admits criminal wrongdoing . Yes, its the deferred prosecution agreements. Theyre not pleading guilty. Thats something the Justice Department wanted in the negotiations, they wanted toyota to admit they had done wrong. On the other hand, toyota has turned the page like other companies, theyre now recalling vehicles a lot faster. The Company Changed dramatically since then but are still paying the price for what happened then. Reporter is it true, Joan Claybrook, companies are already learning the lessons of the lawsuits and threats and investigations . They are because the companies have been able to keep a lot of this information secret and the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not had lot of transparency, its something wed like to see changed. So its hard for the consumer, but it goes no place. These companies have been unmasked, its very embarrassing, i hope certainly all of them will be more responsive to consumer complaints and lawsuits because thats a source of information about problems on the road. Ifill a billion dollars is a lot of money, 1. 2 billion, but there have been a lot of lawsuits, federal, state, civil lawsuits which i assume are still out there . The legal bills for gm total are topping 3 billion. 1. 6 billion settlement for owners of toyotas for various reasons, theyve settled with state attorney generals, there are individual claims for crashes, so when youd all the costs up tore toyota, it will be well over 3 billion. But remember, for this year, toyota expects the make about 19 billion in profits, double what they made the year before and 30 of the revenue comes from the u. S. Ifill this hasnt affected their bottom line . Certainly, but one out of 19 billion is still significant, but theyre about getting past this because this is a profitable market and the more they can do to show customers theyre way beyond this the better since theyre making a lot of money here. Ifill david, you were here last week talking about the General Motors recall and i wonder if this rings a bell for you, Joan Claybrook, that youre looking at this and thinking, oh, General Motors is definitely next and theres definitely been a coverup of the General Motors problem. Oh, absolutely, the Company Founded tests in 2004, sent out bulletins to dealers in 2005 and 2006 in which they identified what the fix was. They had a meeting with the department of transportation in 2007 where the department of transportation had an investigation where the investigators said by the way the ignition switch was on accessory which meant it didnt operate the car but you could play the radio and wouldnt inflate the air bag. So it was clear way back then. And i think that the department of transportation has completely failed in its duty here and General Motors has harmed the public serrably and i think there are going to be many more deaths and injuries that are going to show up. Now that the public is aware of this, theyre calling General Motors, they have 50 people answering the phones, and youre going to hear a lot more. If it is true that theres handwriting on the wall here, what strategy is General Motors using to respond to try to get out ahead of it . I think they publicly apologized this week, said they were going to take care of the victims, havent explained how, but i do think there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Yes, the chronology is laid out that they didnt know significant problems over ten years, we dont have the emails, the memos, the congress are seeking to know what did they know, when did they know it, did gm really think this was a serious problem or was it as someone suggested a failure to connect the dots . So i think there are still a lot of questions. We dont know if what happened to gm rises to the same level as toyota but thats what congress is going to get to the bottom of and what gm has to be worried about are they going to take the same hit. Ifill that was very Strong Language from the Justice Department, not just from the attorney general, but the secretary of transportation, the investigator from the f. B. I. So what does that say about a change in attitude maybe in the federal government towards these kinds of investigations. Its interesting that nisa can only impose penalties of 60 million on toyota and the Justice Department said, no, well find you a billion point two for all the vehicles you sold which we believe were fraudulently sold. So that basically means they can fine gm or any other auto company, sky is the limit, if they determine they broke the law and every auto company has to be very nervous and checking their books carefully. Ifill do you think its a change in the federal government approach . We need newlation, criminal peanuts, higher civil penalties, more transparency at the agency. Yeah, like dont ask, dont tell, they dont scrks they didnt tell. I think they should have. So there are a number of changes including submission of documents and they need a higher budget, the budget is 134 million for the whole auto safety program, for the entire united states, totally insufficient. Joan claybrook, Public Citizen, how are you, and David Shepardson of the det