Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160402 : vimarsana.com

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Woodruff most of the president ial hopefuls hit the trail hard today, and while accusations of lies are nothing new this campaign season, this time, the war of words was on the democratic side. If im so fortunate enough to be your president , i will never forget new york. Woodruff despite the cheerful greeting, the jabs are getting sharper in the democratic contest. Heres Hillary Clinton thursday after she was confronted with accusations shes taken money from the fossil fuel industry. I am so sick of the Sanders Campaign lying about me, i am sick of it. Woodruff sanders fired back this morning in a tv interview. Well, im not crazy about people disrupting meetings, but the fact of the matter is secretary clinton has taken significant sums of money from the fossil fuel industry. Woodruff the Nonpartisan Center for responsive politics says it is a fraction of one percent of clintons fundraising. The candidate herself focused elsewhere today, talking manufacturing with Business Owners in syracuse. On the republican side john kasich stumped in pennsylvania, ahead of its primary at the end of this month, where polls show him inching up on donald trump. Id rather us be a hopeful country, rather than a country that is hopeless. Because hopelessness never gets us anywhere. Woodruff as for the front runner, new details emerged about his surprise meeting with Republican Leaders in washington thursday. Heres r. N. C. Chair Reince Priebus on their discussion about the partys convention in ohio we did talk about unity and working together and making sure when we go to cleveland, and when we come out of cleveland, that were working in the same direction. And part of that is just talking more and making sure that weve got open channels of communication, so pretty normal stuff actually. Woodruff meanwhile, a pro trump tv spot hit the airwaves in wisconsin, where candidates face their next major test on tuesday. And ted cruz he wanted to let in more Syrian Refugees and give amnesty to illegal immigrants. That wont protect my family. Donald trump will. Woodruff ted cruz will campaign in the badger state later tonight. And well get a report from our own john yang, on the ground in wisconsin, after the news summary. In todays other news, the u. S. Economy added 215,000 new jobs in march, thanks to gains in the construction, retail and health care industries. The increased hiring encouraged more americans to look for work, and caused the Unemployment Rate to tick up slightly to 5 . The betterthanexpected jobs report helped give stocks a boost on wall street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 107 points to close above 17,792. The nasdaq rose 44 points, and the s p 500 added 13. For the week, both the dow and the s p 500 gained nearly 2 . The nasdaq rose 3 . President obama cautioned the International Community today against becoming complacent in the face of a lingering threat of a nuclear attack. At the same time, the president hailed efforts to reduce stockpiles of highlyenriched uranium, which could be used to build a Nuclear Weapon. He spoke late today at the conclusion of a Nuclear Security summit in washington. Well take a closer look at the progress made at this weeks Nuclear Summit, right after this news summary. The death toll from a collapsed highway overpass in eastern india has now risen to 24 people. It was under construction when it came crashing down yesterday in kolkata, just hours after concrete was poured. Rescuers continued to sift through the wreckage today but said there is little hope of finding more survivors. Police have detained five Construction Company officials on possible culpable homicide charges. Back in this country, thousands of Chicago Public School Teachers went on strike today, shutting down the nations thirdlargest school district. Educators and supporters protested funding cuts and sluggish contract negotiations. Bargaining between School Officials and the Teachers Union has gone on for more than a year without a final agreement. It is a shame that in order to have our voices heard weve had to close every school in the city. It is a shame to make our voices heard weve had to go on strike, and yet if that is what we have to do, that is what well do. Woodruff nearly 400,000 Chicago Public School Students were impacted by todays strike. And, the storm system that sparked flooding and twisters along the gulf coast has headed east. The carolinas were under a tornado watch for most of the day, and the National Weather service confirmed one twister touched down near allentown, georgia. Heavy winds could be seen whipping across Central Georgia this morning, a day after at least four tornadoes hit louisiana, mississippi and alabama. No serious injuries were reported. Still to come on the newshour a world summit to ensure the security of Nuclear Material; two states raise the minimum wage to 15 an hour; the impact of voter i. D. Laws in wisconsin,and much more. Woodruff today here in washington, World Leaders led by president obama pledged to continue the effort to secure Nuclear Material and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Margaret warner has the details. Warner it was president obamas fourth and final Nuclear Security summit, an event he launched in 2010. And with less than ten months remaining in office, he used the meeting of more than 50 World Leaders in washington to showcase progress on one of his signature Foreign Policy initiatives secure Nuclear Material and sites worldwide. This is a perfect example of a 21st century security challenge that no one nation can solve alone. And the good news is weve made significant progress. Warner but the summit comes amid growing fears that terrorists could get their hands on this deadly material. New evidence of the danger a raid in brussels last november at the apartment of a suspected paris attack planner. It uncovered Surveillance Video of a nuclear official working at a Belgian Research facility. There is no doubt that if these madmen ever got their hands on a nuclear bomb or Nuclear Material, they most certainly would use it to kill as many innocent people as possible. It would change our world. So we cannot be complacent. Warner even so, Administration Officials say the video didnt tell them much they didnt already know about the Islamic States intentions. What really keeps them up at night, they said, is Something Else unpredictable north koreas growing pace of Nuclear Tests and missile launches, and evermore bellicose language. Pyongyang released a propaganda video last saturday called last chance that depicted a Nuclear Strike on washington. And just today, south korean officials in seoul said the north fired a shortrange missile into the sea. In geneva, north koreas ambassador to the United Nations said his country will keep pursuing its nuclear and ballistic programs, as long as joint u. S. South korea military drills continue. Back in washington there was progress, apart from north korea. Nations have improved their Nuclear Security, including stronger regulations and more physical security of Nuclear Facilities. Warner the white house announced at least two more countries argentina and indonesia, were joining some dozen other nations in removing all their highlyenriched uranium and plutonium, essential fuels for Nuclear Weapons. Woodruff so how much was accomplished at this fourth and final Nuclear Summit . Hari screenivasan picks up the story from there. Sreenivasan and for that, we turn to matthew bunn, professor of practice at Harvard Universitys John Kennedy School of government. Hes also the lead author of a biannual report on preventing nuclear terrorism. So, matthew, what did the leaders accomplish in the way of making sure terrorists dont get their hands on Nuclear Materials snnches well, i think weve seen some solid progress at this summit today. Weve got, finally, the entry into force of a key Nuclear Security treaty that provides a letter Legal Foundation for our Nuclear Security work and china has agreed to implement an initiative that focuses on all of the i. E. A. , that is the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Security recommendations and accepting peer reviews. Weve got hundreds of kilograms of weapongrade highly enriched uranium and plutonium moved from japan and these two countries committing to eliminate all the weaponsusable material on their soil. But i think we also see some missed opportunities. We still have no global rule that says if you have a Nuclear Weapon or the materials to make one it should be at least this secure. And we have only modest strengthening of the Nuclear Security institutions that will have to take up the slack when were not meeting at the summit level anymorehouse right, so there is an agreement that there will be continued meetings, right . But it wont be between president s. Thats correct. So essentially a group of interested states have agreed to keep meeting at a senior official level once a year or so on the margins of International Atomic Energy Agency meetings to try to keep the attention on Nuclear Security and get us on a path to Continuous Improvement in Nuclear Security. Sreenivasan when we heard about nation states deciding to take highly enriched uranium and make it less so, there is still a concern that in other parts of the world there are components that are readily available or somehow can be accessed that can turn into a dirty bomb that a terrorist doesnt necessarily to have a warhead to put on a rocket to cause havoc. What were worried about is not really a warhead on a rocket. There are three sets of things you might worry ant. One is terrorists getting ahold of Nuclear Material they could use to make a crude nuclear bomb. Reported government studies said its plausible if a sophisticated terrorist group got ahold of highly enriched uranium or plutonium, they could make a crude bomb that could incinerate the heart of a city. The other is sabotage of Nuclear Facilities causing an accident like the fukushima we saw a few years ago. The third concern is getting ahold of radiological material used for beneficial purposes in hospitals, industrial sites and elsewhere, but if territories got it and spread over an area, they could cause panic, force us to evacuate several blocks of a city and could cause Major Economic disruption. Probably wouldnt kill anybody beyond those killed by the explosives that might be used to disperse the radioactive material. Sreenivasan you rattled off hospitals, ac terchg institutions outside military facilities. Is there any security standard that says lets protect all these things because they could be used in a dirty bomb . Unfortunately, as i mentioned, we dont yet have a global rule that says if there is materials that could be used to make a Nuclear Weapon, it needs to be made secure. I think thats one thing we need to be working on in terms of get ac political commitment among key states to implement key element of Nuclear Security for those things. I think we need a faster effort to do simple, fairly lowcost security for these radiological sources. Things like making sure there is a Security Camera that sends a signal to the local police. Making sure the machine where the source is embedded inside the huge machine is built so you cant take the source out without special equipment. Lets talk about who was pt there. Rust was absent at this. A lot of people are concerned russia has one of the largest stockpiles of Nuclear Material. Russia has the Worlds Largest stockpile of Nuclear Weapons and the material used to make Nuclear Weapons and is in the Worlds Largest number of buildings and bunkers. To be fair, security in russia is dramatically improved compared to a quarter century ago, but there is still work to be done and, unfortunately, russia has cut off most of the very useful cooperation that the United States and russia had on Nuclear Security and refused to participate in the fourth of the Nuclear Security summits. There are channels where the United States and russia are cooperating on these issues but we need to focus on building a different, more equal kind of cooperation between the United States and russia. We have a special responsibility of the countries with the biggest stocks. Finally, i want to ask about india and pakistan. Twhats level of whats the level of concern about Nuclear Security in those scunts countries . Both countries take Nuclear Security seriously as russia, but they have a fast growing stockpile and terrorist in the same country in pakistan and thats serious concern. In india they have a serious terrorist threat, not as big in pakistan but quite serious. So theres more to be done in both countries. But i would argue there is more to be done in pretty much every country where this material exists including in the United States. Matthew bunn, thank you so much. Thank you. Woodruff the fight for a 15 an hour minimum wage just netted its biggest victories yet this week. Yesterday lawmakers in california voted for a bill that will raise the states minimum wage to 15 by 2022. On monday, governor jerry brown is expected to sign it into law. Last night, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he reached a budget deal hiking the minimum to 15 in new york city by the end of 2018. Suburbs and other parts of the state would reach that level in 2021. The combined moves could affect as many as ten million workers. But there are continuing questions about whether that level of wage might have unintended consequences. We explore that with two who watch this closely with different political lenses david cooper is with the Economic Policy institute; and douglas holtzeakin is with the American Action forum. And we welcome both of you to the program. David cooper to you first, you have been watching this issue for a long time but this has come about pretty suddenly, hasnt it . It has. I dont think anyone expected both states to move so quickly like this. Of course, there had been talk in new york of being some sort of increase to 15. Governor cuomo talked about it a few weeks ago and there were these ballots measures moving in california so we expected there to be some action on the minimum wage in both states but no one anticipated deals happening in the same week. Woodruff david cooper, what difference do you think this w