Individual and the lives of a community. Ifill those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. At lincoln financial, we believe that you are the boss of your life. The chief life officer. In charge of providing for loved ones. Growing your nest egg. And protecting what matters the most. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. Life, income, retirement, group benefits, and advice. Lincoln financial. Youre in charge. And with the ongoing support of these institutions 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. Ifill f. B. I. Agents in new york arrested two men today who they say were planning to join Islamic State forces in syria. One was stopped at kennedy airport, before he could board a flight to turkey. The other was arrested in brooklyn. Hed allegedly spoken of trying to kill the president. A third man, in jacksonville, florida, is charged with helping finance the effort. Meanwhile, kurdish fighters in syria have cut a key Islamic State supply line from iraq. The kurds launched an offensive over the weekend, with heavy fighting just a few miles from the iraqi border. Amid the fighting, isis combatants have seized up to 150 christians in the region. A war of words escalated today between the white house and israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu. It involved his planned address to Congress Next week on the Nuclear Talks with iran. Republicans invited him, without consulting the white house. Some democrats have now said they will skip the speech. Last night, National Security advisor susan rice offered the sharpest criticism yet, to charlie rose on pbs. Ifill netanyahu, whos in the middle of an election campaign, fired back today during a visit to a jewish settlement near jerusalem. translated there are many reasons to worry about the agreement that is forming now. The world powers have committed. Ifill the Obama Administration has said, despite early reports, no deal is in place. Iran staged a major show of military force today, taking aim at a lifesize model of a u. S. Aircraft carrier. State Television Broadcast war games near the entrance to the persian gulf. Spectators looked on as speedboats raced in, and missile batteries fired on the mockup, doing heavy damage. The u. S. Navy dismissed the exercise. A spokesman said theyve attempted to destroy the equivalent of a hollywood movie set. In afghanistan, at least 124 people died in avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall. Homes in four northeastern provinces were buried in the snow slides. The hardest hit area, about 60 miles outside kabul, affected hundreds of families. Back in this country, a new winter storm rolled into the deep south and midatlantic today, with up to eight inches of snow expected overnight. In georgia, governor nathan deal declared a state of emergency, and said this time, officials are ready. Last year, a winter storm crippled the city for days. Far to the north, the weather caused havoc in maine, where more than 75 vehicles crashed on a snowy stretch of interstate 95 early today. At least 17 people were hurt. And boston got two more inches of snow overnight, taking its total over 100 inches this winter. Only the winter of 199596 was worse. The former marine who killed american sniper author chris kyle will serve life in a texas prison, without parole. Eddie ray routh was found guilty last night of fatally shooting kyle and another man in 2013. A jury rejected his insanity defense. His lawyers said theyll appeal. The race for mayor of chicago will go to a runoff in april. Incumbent rahm emanuel fell short of winning a second term outright on tuesday. He got 45 of the vote to 34 for cook county commissioner jesus chuy garcia. As the results came in, they urged their supporters on. The runoff takes place april 7. Wall street failed to make much headway today. The Dow Jones Industrial average managed a gain of 15 points to stay above 18,200. But the nasdaq fell a point. And the s p 500 was down slightly as well. Still to come on the newshour. A showdown over funding the department of Homeland Security. Does a retailers dress code trump religious freedom . Creating Artificial Intelligence that can think and learn like a human. Why cutting edge Tech Companies struggle with gender equality. Chinas secret plan to supplant the u. S. As the leader of the world. And, using art to Foster Community in a struggling houston neighborhood. Ifill congress now has just three days left to pass a budget for the department of Homeland Security, but hasnt agreed exactly how to get there. The agencys funding has been caught up in a wider debate over president obamas use of executive action to change immigration law. The disagreement has made for a rare, but clear, split among republicans leaders in the house and the senate. Political editor Lisa Desjardins has the story. Reporter this shutdown split, for republicans, is a question of priorities. Everyone agrees the department of Homeland Security must be funded. And republicans in general all oppose the president s executive actions to protect more undocumented immigrants. House republicans say the immigration issue is priority. They voted to fund Homeland Security but only with a block of the president s policies attached. But that bill has died in the senate, where Senate Republicans are prioritizing Homeland Security with a bill that does nothing but fund the agency. It is a back and forth with an agency in the middle. Today, Speaker Boehner pointed back to the republicanled senate. The house has done its job to fund the department of Homeland Security and to stop the president s overreach on immigration and were waiting for the senate to do its job. Reporter and the senate responded within hours. Voting overwhelmingly to start debating its nostringsattached funding bill. The ayes are 98, the nays are 2. Reporter in the halls of the capitol it is a fight among conservatives. Alabamas mo brooks is determined and defiant on immigration. I am not going to vote for any legislation whether it be longterm or short term that supports illegal and unconstitutional conduct. And so i dont know what the speakers plan is Going Forward but i can tell you what my position is and i think there are a substantial number of republicans in the house of representatives who agree that the United States constitution comes first. Reporter but representative john carter of texas worries about Border Patrol agents. I want to make sure that those guys down in the kareezo cane down in south texas where drug dealers cross everyday carrying heavy firearms those guys are getting a paycheck. Reporter this policy battle over immigration and the department of Homeland Security of course has very large political underpinnings. Right now im standing a few feet away from the house chamber. If you look over my shoulder you can see the long hallway leading to the u. S. Senate. Its about 600 feet, the length of two football fields. But for republicans this week that distance has never been greater and it has everything to do with the different political problems for republicans in the house and the senate. Following the 2010 census, the gop made the election districts that they controlled in various states, more republican. Not only more republican, but more conservative. Reporter Stan Collender is a policy analyst and strategist for qorvis communications. He says while the house swept with more conservative districts, Senate Republicans won their majority by winning overall in purple states with moderate votes, like North Carolina and iowa. If they go too far to the right, that is if republican senators try to duplicate what the Republican House members are doing, it will hurt politically. Reporter this is whats fueling the gop divide. In the senate, Mitch Mcconnell has a thin majority with 54 seats. If he loses four seats, the senate is tied. Problem is, next year, mcconnell has seven seats that could be vulnerable. Now, look at Speaker Boehners situation in the house. He has a wide majority 57 more seats than democrats. Republicans could lose all of their vulnerable members and still keep the house. A bigger issue is finding agreement boehner has some 20 60 conservatives calling for tough, nocompromise stances, that makes any vote difficult. And add to that some conservatives regularly issue threats and question if boehner should be speaker. Result . For now, boehener is not taking a Firm Position either way. I dont know what the senates capable of passing and until i see what theyre going to pass, no decisions been made. Reporter which is precisely the problem for Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson. There are concrete dramatic consequences for the Homeland Security of this nation if we allow the funding of the department to lapse. Ifill and lisa joins me now from the u. S. Capitol lisa, if this past 982 in the senate, whats the real holdup in the house . An overwhelming vote in the senate, i think, gwen, it comes down to the fact among conservatives, the houses that more conservatives and those folks are in fact more conservative themselves. Its just a more conservative body in the house, and they are approaching this immigration issue with kind of tougher stances, digging in fatherrer than the senate. Also, gwen id like to mention i think two bodies operate differently. They always have and what were seeing here is republicans have yet to fully sync up. They are in charge in both bodies but they havent yet figured out how to make the machinery work while theyre in charge. Ifill so is there a plan to get through this . Is there an end game or is it going to come to another standoff like we have seen before . There is not an end game yet officially, but reading the tea leaves, gwen, talking to sources up here on the hill, it looks like what will likely happen is some time tomorrow we could see the senate move forward with perhaps a final vote on its funding plan. That, of course, depends on maybe will there be objections from ted cruz or Jeff Sessions and others. But likely a senate vote some time tomorrow night. Then if that moves to the house, that would be a funding bill without any strings attached, the pressure is on the house. Are they ready to shut down government over this or rather shut down Homeland Security over this issue . They know that a shutdown really is not the right word that in fact most of Homeland Security will stay operating and just in fact Homeland Security officers will not get paid immediately. Theyre trying to figure out what the tradeoff is there, how much will they get blamed for such a practical, and in fact gwen, it looks like a lot of talk right now means pee would be here this weekend working out this problem. Perhaps theres a partial shutdown of a day or two for Homeland Security, technically, but already in congress mind its monday that matters when Homeland SecuritySecurity Workforce in bulk would go back to work. Ifill okay, lisa, heres a theory. We saw jeh johnson just now in your piece but we also know he came out today, standing beside him were two former republican d. H. S. Secretaries, Michael Chertoff and tom ridge who called the plan to try to hold i think the word chertoff used was hostage, holding it hostage and the term tom ridge called it was folly. Is that a persuasive argument for these very conservative republicans who just disagree with the president on this . This is a theory thats out here put pressure on republicans from republicans. But gwen, honestly yolk that pressure is working yet on the house. That is something the senate is responding to. Thats why we saw such a big vote today to move along, lets get the agency funded. In the house the priorities are different, as we said in the story. They are concerned about this immigration action and there are conservatives there who say they dont want anything else to happen until imgration is dealt with. One other note, gwen. I think this is a sign of more things to come. While this immigration showdown could be resolved within a few days, there are many more cliffs, showdowns like this ahead. Well see if republicans can get on the same page several more times this summer. Ifill Lisa Desjardins watching it all unfold up on capitol hill. Thank you. You got it. Ifill now we turn to the Supreme Court, where the justices today heard the case of a woman who went to a Job Interview wearing a head scarf, and didnt get the job. But why . At the heart of the case business rights versus religious freedom. As always, newshour contributor marcia coyle of the National Law Journal was at the court. How did this case get to the Supreme Court, marcia . Gwen, title 7 is our nations major bob bias law and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. It actually makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to reasonably accommodate religious beliefs or practices unless that would create an undue hardship on the business itself. A lower federal Appellate Court here ruled that abercrombie and fitch was not liable under title vii when it failed to hire samantha elove, who is muslim and wears a head scarf a what jeeb because the Appellate Court said an employer can only be liable if the employer receives direct notice from the job applicant or the employee that there is a need for a religious accommodation. The equal Employment Opportunity commission brought the appeal to the Supreme Court challenging that rule, and that was the case that the court heard today. Ifill in this case abercrombie and fitch this kind of caters to the youth market and has a certain look said her hajib, or the way she was dressed for this Job Interview didnt match their look that they wanted their employees to have. Did they say at any point that it was because of religion . No, abercrombie and fitchs lawyer today said the socalled look policy is a religionneutral policy and that she was not hired just because her hajib would violate the look policy. The arguments were very spirited today, and i would say that the abercrombie and fitchs counsel really bore the brunt of the questioning. It seemed as though more than than a majority of justices were skeptical of that argument of the companys argument. Ifill for example. Heres the real problem. The government believes that the burden should be on the employer because the employer here to take the first step in a Job Interview because the employer has superior know, knows the work rules, and if the employer senses perceives understands or knows that there could be a religious issue, the employer should just bring it up and start what congress intended a dialogue with the job applicant to see if there was a religious issue, and is there a need for an accommodation . Otherwise, if you put the burden on the employee or job applicant, as the lower court here did, theyre reluctant to bring religion up in a Job Interview. An employer can remain silent perhaps knowing theres a religious issue, discriminate and escape liable. Ifill even Justice Alito who usually comes down in favor of business in these kinds of cases was among the skeptical ones today. He was. And hes actually very concerned about religious discrimination in general and he said he really simplified this and said, look, why cant an employer just say, for one of the hypotheticals you have somebody wearing a beard in front of you why cant an employer just say curing the interview we have a work policy that excludes beerdz. Do you have a problem with that . it doesnt draw religion into it right away. But the onus shifts to the job applicant to say if he or she does have a problem with it. Ifill i have a very quick question for you, which is weve had a couple of other religious freedom cases before the court, whether the hobby lobby case, whether they have the right to give abortion benefits or you mentioned the beard a muslim prisoner who had a beard. Is there similar or different . Well, its different because it falls under a particular statute that does make it illegal to fail to reasonably accommodate religious beliefs. But the court i mean, the law is very clear, and the court, even under the First Amendment and religious freedom, is quite protective of those freedoms. This is an important case. Business is watching it closely, too, because it believes that if it loses here, its going to be forced into stereotyping people who apply for jobs