Tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by what if this year, we went around the table and instead of saying what we were thankful for, we say who were thankful for. Lincoln financial helps provide Financial Security for those who are always there for you, because this is what you do for people who love. Lincoln financial youre in charge. Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions 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 two major stories tonight in baltimore, a mistrial. A jury deadlocked over the guilt or innocence of a policeman in the deathin custody of freddie gray. The incident last april touched off violent protests, and six officers were charged. This was the first case to go to trial. And, the Federal Reserve is doing something it hasnt done since 2006 its raising Interest Rates. Todays longawaited announcement hikes a key shortterm rate by a quarter point from near zero. Well explore the feds decision and the baltimore mistrial, in full, after the news summary. In the days other news, wall street surged on the feds reasoning that the economy is finally Strong Enough to stand a rate hike. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 224 points to close near 17,750. The nasdaq rose 75 points, and the s p 500 added 29. Public schools in los angeles reopened today. Officials canceled classes for 640,000 students yesterday over an emailed threat that cited bombs and guns. It was later deemed a hoax. Students returning this morning encountered steppedup security, and the School Districts decision was still a topic of dispute. Im really glad they did shut down the school, because for all we know, it could have been our school or any other school around this district that could have been bombed and a lot of kids would have gotten hurt. It didnt inconvenience me, but i do think that they overreacted; i certainly think they overreacted. Ifill new york citys School System received a similar threat, but remained open. Schools all over pakistan closed today, marking one year since a Taliban Attack that killed more than 140 people nearly all of them children. A special ceremony in peshawar began with a moment of silence, honoring those who died in the assault on an armyrun school. Prime minister nawaz sharif addressed todays crowd and promised vengeance on behalf of the victims. In yemen, a dayold ceasefire appeared in peril, as continued fighting killed at least 42 people. Clashes broke out in five provinces, including around the besieged city of taiz, in southwestern yemen. Security officials said shelling by Houthi Rebels killed six civilians. They said field commanders and fighters from both sides were ignoring ceasefire orders. The violence threatened to undermine peace talks in switzerland. The Supreme Court of india is laying down the law about air pollution in new delhi, deemed the worlds mostpolluted city. The court today ordered a threemonth ban on sales of large diesel vehicles, imposed higher tolls for trucks, and mandated that taxis switch to natural gas. Environmentalists welcomed the moves, and urged indias government to see that theyre put into effect. They are going to look at emission standards and public transport strategy for the industry. Its a great rebinning and were hoping the momentum were building must not go down. Ifill air pollution contributes to more than 600,000 deaths each year across india. The Supreme Court in japan dealt a major setback to womens rights activists in the country. It upheld a law dating back to the 19thcentury that requires married couples to use the same surname. The law dates back to the 1800s. About 96 of married women in japan take their husbands surname. Still to come on the newshour the freddie gray case declared a mistrial; what the fed rate hike means for the u. S. Economy; factchecking the Republican Debate, and much more. Ifill now, to baltimore and the nodecision in the trial of officer William Porter, for the death of freddie gray. The jury deliberated 15 hours over three days, but it deadlocked on manslaughter and other charges. Grays death in custody had touched off violent protests last april. After news of the mistrial today, protesters gathered in downtown baltimore, and mayor stephanie rawlingsblake appealed for calm. Twelve Baltimore City residents answered the solemn call to serve. They listened to the evidence presented and they rendered a decision. If some choose to protest, they must peacefully demonstrate. That is their right. But we also want to be very, very clear about any potential disturbances in our city. We are prepared to respond. Ifill William Porter was the first of six officers to go on trial in the case, and in a statement, freddie grays stepfather expressed confidence in the proceedings, and also urged calm. We want to thank the hardworking jury for their service to the public, and their quest for justice, and their personal sacrifice for their time and effort. We are not at all upset with them, and neither should the public be upset. They did the best that they could. Ifill our William Brangham has been in baltimore throughout the day today. I spoke to him a short time ago. Hes outside the courthouse. William, thank you for joining us. Youve spent the day in baltimore. What has been the Immediate Reaction to the news of the hung jury . Brangham when the word came out outside the courthouse, it was like a ripple went through the crowd. Only a few dozen protesters were out here. They have been waiting all day. They were visibly upset. They started chanting black lives matter, put the racist cops in jail, no justice, no peace. There was a lot of visceral anger and disappointment no verdict was reached today. Ifill is there any reasons given for this mistrial is this. Brangham no, its not clear why the jury couldnt come to a final decision. Its important to remember, in this particular case, unlike a lot of other Police Killing cases weve seen in recent months, there is not obvious evidence. There is no dash cam video to show exactly what happened to freddie gray when he went into the back to have the van and came out after multiple stops around the city of baltimore in this near fatal state. Other cases were clear cut, you could see the results of shooting a young man. In this case, the evidence is not crystal clear. That said, we dont know why jury couldnt come to a final decision. Ifill as we mentioned, this was the first of six trials for six officers involved in the events of that day, is there a sense that this mistrial will endanger the other prosecutions . Brangham well, there is a possibility thats the case. Obviously, officer porter, the gentleman who was on trial, tonight he was being relied on to testify in some subsequent cases of the other officers involved. We heard from the lawyer for the gray family tonight and they seem to think they were still confident that the prosecution would be able to go forward, that the other Police Officers will be able to be brought to justice and they refer to this as a bump in the road, not anything calamitous for the case itself. Ifill did the lawyer for the gray family join with the mayor and the police chief in calling for calm because this was obviously a trigger the last time . Absolutely. We heard that from them and a lot of people here today because everybody remembers what happened back in april right after freddie grays funeral when the city literally came apart at the seams. Buildings were on fire. People were venting visceral anger at what they saw happened to that young man. People are worried thats what will happen here if these cases dont come to a verdict that the community thinks is legitimate. Ifill can officer porter be tried again for the same alleged crime . Yes, my understanding is if he were to be tried again and well hear from attorney Marilyn Mosby tomorrow, shell decide whether to retry him. If they appeal and can bring a second case against him, i believe they will go forward but well learn more about it tomorrow. Ifill William Brangham in baltimore. Thank you. Ifill now, up it finally went; the longawaited, and longpredicted Interest Rate hike was announced today by the Federal Reserve. This afternoon in washington, fed chair janet yellen explained Economic Conditions were ripe for the increase. The Underlying Health of the u. S. Economy, i consider to be quite sound. I think its a myth that expansions die of old age. I do not think that they die of old age. So the fact that this has been quite a long expansion doesnt lead me to believe that its days are numbered. Ifill for a closer look at todays rate hike, both in terms of how the fed makes its decisions, as well as what this move might mean for the Household Budgets of average americans, we turn to david wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on fiscal and Monetary Policy at the brookings institution, a nonpartisan research center, and contributing correspondent to the wall street journal; and tara siegelbernard, personal finance reporter at the new york times. David, welcome. So, tell me we have been talking about this for a long time and as you heard her talk about the long expansion, what took so long for them to finally make such an incremental move . I think the fed thought Interest Rates needed to be slow for a long time because the economy was slow to recover from a devastating recession and because of their strategy is to get inflation to a 2 target and theyre still not there. So there was no reason to rush and now theyve decided the economy is healthy enough for them to just to begin to lift their foot gradually off the accelerator. Ifill you mentioned inflation. She put in a caveat that if things were to beginning to look southward, she would consider going back down again . People want to know whats the fed going to do next. Thats what matters. A Party Percentage point doesnt matter but this is the beginning of a longer process. What she said is my colleagues on the fed expect Interest Rates to go up perhaps a full Percentage Rate in the next year, but well only do that if were convinced inflation is moving to our target. She was careful to leave herself flexibility on that. Ifill tara siegelbernard, when we hear 1 increase in Interest Rates over the next year, what does that mean for peoples ability to buy a house or a car in. The big takeaway is it doesnt have that much of an immediate impact. Weve only seen the rates rise a quarter of a percentage point today, and the fed has telegraphed this was going to be a very slow and gradual increase. Even if we get to 1 , yes, the cost of borrowing marginally, you may be able to get a higher rate on a savings account, but for now its really pretty much status quo for the most part. Ifill so if youre a retiree whos had a lot of your money in c. D. S and conservative investments, does this have any immediate effect or make you make a little bit more money now . A teeny tiny amount of more money. Its really going to be a small amount for People Holding c. D. S, people that have deposit accounts at their local bank. Dont wait for them to immediately hike your rate. Its probably not going to happen. Banks are sitting on a lot of deposits and what usually prompts them to raise their rate is to attract more. So right now they really dont need to. So you shouldnt expect an immediate hike on your deposit or your c. D. S. That said, there are institutions that have raised their rates. You can find a whopping 1 at some online institutions. So the big takeaway is to shop around. There are some better opportunities, but its still pretty meager at the end of the day. Ifill so, david, if this is pretty meager at the end of the day, are we talking about the impact of the increase or the trend line theyre setting . Were talking about the trend line. They expect this to be gradual. Because this is such a big change in Monetary Policy, because weve had seven years of zero Interest Rates, almost unprecedented in american history, she wants to be very careful she doesnt throw the economy off balance. So this was designed not to upset anybody and they succeeded in that. But if the economy continues to get better, they ratchet rates up and those people you referred to on c. D. S will be getting more interest on their savings a year from now and people will be paying more on their mortgages a year from now. Ifill are people watching around the world what she does as a cue to what they do, around the world . Absolutely. What the fed does really matters around the world. There is been a loft anxiety in emerging markets. When rates were low, a loft money went to emerging markets. It started to come back. Emerging markets have to manage their accounts carefully when the fed is moving. China is changing the way it manages currency as a result of the dollar when the fed tightens. She said the u. S. Economy is Getting Better but shes worried about the rest of the world. Her judgment is the u. S. Economy is Strong Enough to offset the weakness abroad but that could change. Ifill tara siegelbernard, a lot of people have a pocket full of credit cards at holiday time which they are using liberally. Does todays actions affect how they treat their credit standing, their credit investment, their spending . Well, the rate hike will jack up your credit card Interest Rate a bit and pretty much in line with the feds action today. People can expect that to be reflected in their credit card statements within one to two billing cycles. If people are carrying that on their credit cards and slowly paying it off, nows the time to find the Balance Transfer offers and take advantage of those while available. But variable rates will rise in line with the fed. Ifill so, david, wall street seems to take this in streed and see this coming, this gradual buildup clearly has its effect. By design. When you score janet yellen, how did she do . A, they wonted to prepare the markets for this so there wouldnt be an uproar. In 1984 when the fed raised Interest Rates after a long period of calm there was an uprising. She succeeded in that. The bigger goal is to keep the committee she chairs, ten voters, unanimous. When you want a big change, you dont want a lot of dissent. We know people who are impatient want rates to go up faster. We know some others, some governors on the board expressed reservations about this, so she must have worked hard to get them all to agree that not everybody likes this but were going to do this, but lets do it together because it strengthens their hand and credibility. Shes been in the chair two years. Hows she measuring up . The republicans claimed they dont like the fed and the democrats are having mixed responses to todays move. Yeah, Bernie Sanders and Gene Sperling an advisor to Hillary Clinton criticized the move. I didnt see the republicans. The republicans in general thought the fed was keeping Interest Rates too low. I think this is her first big test. Until now, shes basically followed the game plan ben bernanke left her. There will be a series of calls like this over the next year. She will have to decide did this work out as expected . Shall i continue to ratchet things up . She has a Real Communications problem because she wants to tell people rates are going up but she also wants to assure them the economy deteriorates, she wont do it and everybody will complain shes confusing them. Must be fun to be chairman of the fed. David wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on fiscal and Monetary Policy. Tara siegelbernard, personal phi nantz reporter at the new york times. Thank you. Thank you. Ifill stay with us. Coming up on the newshour sticking points in the trilliondollar budget bill; the creator of humans of new york profiles syrians seeking refuge in the empire state; and classical meets hiphop in the musical duo black violin. But first, nine candidates made it to the main stage for the final Republican Debate of the year. Four others appeared in an earlier, undercard face off. The candidates left las vegas much as they arrived jockeying to survive into the new year. The cast of characters has shifted, but there has been one constant this Republican Debate season frontrunner donald trump, center stage. Last night, the candidates competed to prove who would be best prepared as commander in chief to keep the country safe. For trump, it meant defending his plan to ban muslims, at least temporarily, from entering the u. S. We are not talking about isolation. Were talking about security. Were not talking about religion. Were talking about security. Ifill for former Florida Governor jeb bush, it meant seizing the opportunity to try to take trump down a peg.