The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

GWEN IFILL: Good evening. I'm Gwen Ifill. Jim Lehrer is on vacation. On the NewsHour tonight, our summary of the news; then, yet another massive breach in credit card security-- how bad was it?; Voters in Lebanon reject Syria; a report on the rising number of teenage gambling addicts; the civil rights-era murder trial in Mississippi; and an update on the embattled Bolton nomination to the U.N.

NEWS SUMMARY

GWEN IFILL: Suicide bombers in Iraq killed at least 28 people today, wounding more than 100. That adds up to more than 80 people killed in the last two days. In the deadliest blast today, 15 policemen died in Irbil in the North. The bomber, dressed in a police uniform, rammed his car into a crowd of 200 officers gathered outside a station for roll call. Eight more policemen and a baby died in southern Baghdad. Insurgents attacked a station there with suicide car bombs, grenades and mortars. Also today, a U.S. Soldier was killed near the Syrian border by a roadside bomb. The latest attacks came as two U.S.-led offensives were getting under way in western Iraq. The operations, dubbed "Spear" and "Dagger," began late last week near the Syrian border. About 1,000 American and Iraqi forces were taking part. U.S. officials said they've killed at least 60 insurgents and have discovered stockpiled weapons and foreign passports. President Bush defended his Iraq policy today. He said the deaths of more than 1,700 Americans will not be in vain. He assessed the situation after a meeting with European leaders at the White House.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: The report from the field is that while it's tough, more and more Iraqis are becoming battle- hardened and trained to defend themselves. And that's exactly the strategy that's going to work. And it is going to work. We will complete this mission for the sake of world peace.

GWEN IFILL: The president also pressed the Senate to move on the stalled nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations. Democrats claimed he bullied State Department employees and tried to influence intelligence. Most Republicans reject those allegations. A vote to cut off debate was scheduled for this evening. Mr. Bush would not say if he'd give Bolton a temporary appointment, onethat does not require Senate confirmation if that effort fails. We'll have more on this story later in the program.

In Afghanistan today, in Afghanistan today, authorities announced they foiled a plot to kill U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. They said three Pakistanis were arrested in a northeastern province on Sunday. Khalilzad was due to make an official visit there today. An anti-Syrian alliance declared victory today in Lebanon's elections. The opposition swept the final phase of voting yesterday and won a clear majority in parliament. The opposition leader is Saad Hariri. The murder of his father, a former prime minister, sparked the revolt against Syrian control. We'll have more on this story later in the program. Officials in Iran today dismissed claims of fraud in last week's presidential election. Former President Rafsanjani, campaigning as a reformist, narrowly led Friday's vote. But the hard-line mayor of Teheran came in a surprise second. The two men now face a run-off this Friday. Reformists charged the first vote was fixed. But the ruling Guardian Council rejected the allegations after recounting 100 ballot boxes out of thousands used. Today in Egypt, Secretary of State Rice again criticized Iran.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: In Iran, people are losing patience with an oppressive regime that denies them their liberty and their rights. The appearance of elections does not mask the organized cruelty of Iran's theocratic state. The Iranian people, ladies and gentlemen, are capable of liberty. They desire liberty. And they deserve liberty.

GWEN IFILL: Rice also pressed Egypt to see that its elections next fall are free and fair. She said that includes allowing opposition candidates access to media outlets. U.S. officials appealed today for Palestinian leaders to rein in renewed violence. In the latest incidents, gunmen killed an Israeli man, and Israeli troops stopped a Palestinian woman from blowing herself up. Yesterday, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to tear down the houses of Jewish settlers who leave Gaza this summer. The pullout date is Aug. 16. The Supreme Court overturned another death sentence today. By 5-4, the Justices ordered a new trial for a Pennsylvania man. They found his lawyer did not properly investigate evidence he might be mentally retarded. Last week the court threw out a Texas death sentence, saying blacks were systematically kept off the black defendant's jury. The head of a credit card processing company has admitted the firm improperly kept consumer data. Some 40 million accounts for Visa, MasterCard and other card companies were compromised when hackers breached the records. In today's New York Times, the chief executive at Card Systems Solutions said the data was being stored for research purposes. He acknowledged that's against company policies. We'll have more on this story right after the News Summary. The founder of Adelphia Communications, John Rigas, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison today. His son, Timothy, got 20 years at a hearing in New York. They were convicted of looting the cable TV giant of $100 million and hiding more than $2 billion in debt. Adelphia collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002. A key measure of U.S. economic activity fell in May, more than expected. The Conference Board, a business research group, reported today its index of leading economic indicators was down 0.5 percent. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 14 points to close at 10,609. And the NASDAQ fell nearly two points to close at 2088. That's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to: Credit card fraud; elections in Lebanon; teenage gambling addicts; murder in Mississippi; and the Bolton battle.

FOCUS - SECURITY BREACH

GWEN IFILL: Ray Suarez has the story on the latest security breach involving personal data. This time it's affecting major credit cards and cardholders.

RAY SUAREZ: This data theft, which involves Visa and MasterCard customers, follows a series of other cases involving significant losses of personal information. In February, Choicepoint, a credit and personal information vendor, informed 145,000 customers that criminals may have gained access to their names, addresses and Social Security numbers. Then Lexis-Nexis announced this spring that more than 300,000 people may have had their personal information stolen. Just two weeks ago, Citigroup announced that UPS lost a box of computer tapes containing personal information for 3.9 million individuals.

So what do we know about the latest case involving card system solutions? Can anything be done to make personal information safer in an era of electronic commerce?

To explore these questions, we turn to: Susan Crawford, a professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York City and a fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Evan Hendricks, editor of the Privacy Times, a Washington- based newsletter that covers the information world. He is author of "Credit Scores and Credit Reports: How the System Really Works; What You Can Do."

And, Evan Hendricks, what can you tell us? Do we know yet about how this breach was accomplished?

EVAN HENDRICKS: Well, we know limited information. We know that people doing this were actually getting credit card numbers for the purpose of doing fraud and identity theft. And we know they're planting scripts on the insider codes that would be able to export the credit card numbers to their system. So we know these were thieves. They're having the run of the place. What's disturbing is all the things that we don't know. We know that the credit card processor was the weak link in the system. But we don't know how long it's was going on. We don't know exactly how many cases of identity theft we have. And so this is going to put a tremendous burden on millions of consumers to start monitoring their own credit card statements and their credit reports.

RAY SUAREZ: When a pool of data like this has been broken into and messed around with, is there any way to know how many files were taken, how many things the thieves have seen?

EVAN HENDRICKS: If you set up your systems with security in mind so you have audit trails and other checks about how data is coming and going, and you have detection, then you can know those things much more quickly. But if security is just an afterthought, just the way you sprinkle parmesan cheese on your spaghetti rather than baking it into the sauce, then you're not going to know... and then you have to do all this extra work to find out. And that's what we're doing right now. All of a sudden their systems were not set up with enough security in mind, and so they're going in by hand trying to figure out what's happened and they're finding out they don't really know.

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Crawford, where is Card Systems Solutions in the chain of events that starts with you putting down a charge plate at a retailer or restaurant and then maybe getting a bill in your mail slot several weeks later?

SUSAN CRAWFORD: Well, Card Systems has contractual relationships with both the merchants who then present the card to Card Systems for processing and then also on the other end with the credit card networks like the Visa or MasterCard network that clear the payment and get the charge paid for.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, banks are heavily involved in the credit card business. Is Card Systems Solutions and companies like it regulated the way a bank is?

SUSAN CRAWFORD: Not quite. And that's an open question now for the legislative process. Financial institutions are clearly covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the security safeguard that the FTC requires of those covered institutions but a vendor like Card Systems is subject to contractual relationships with Visa and MasterCard but not necessarily subject to the same security federal regime.

RAY SUAREZ: And when you see, depending on what day you're reading the newspaper, different numbers being handed out by the companies as to the number of people affected, are they so far or for some time just educated guesses?

SUSAN CRAWFORD: I think that is the case, but think of it this way. If you're one of the 68,000 people -- that's the most recent number of files that was actually hacked into by the hackers -- if you're one of those people, what do you do? As Evan suggests, the answer is you should be more aware of your credit reports and your monthly statements. Be sure to open your monthly statements. But you as a consumer are protected by the Federal Credit Billing Act which says you'll never be liable for anything beyond the first $50 of an unauthorized charge. Also, all consumers by the end of the year will be able to get a copy of their credit report for free.

RAY SUAREZ: But, well, let's say something more than just your card number and your name has been taken. Doesn't this kind of breach also open you to something more serious than the $50, that is, people being able to open new lines of credit under your name?

SUSAN CRAWFORD: Well, it is important to note that in this situation all that was breached was the card number and the identifying three-digit number. That's only enough to open a duplicate or request a duplicate card -- not to get a new account. It is true that with more information, like Social Security number and address, much more can happen, and that's where we get into the real question of identity theft which isn't raised by this recent MasterCard issue.

RAY SUAREZ: Evan Hendricks.

EVAN HENDRICKS: Well, the trouble is in this case they got the name and address and the credit card number and the three digit code. And that information can be leveraged in to getting more information because you can find brokers that will still sell your Social Security number because it's not illegal right now. So this kind of information can lead to identity theft.

That's why the methamphetamine users are hitting mailboxes just to grab mail. If they don't do identity thefts themselves, they'll sell the information to a fence. That's why we have fences dealing in this now.

And so if you look at the numbers here which you mentioned, you know, when the "do not call list" first started about 50 million Americans immediately signed up to show they cared about their privacy. Now we total these numbers and we're finding close to 50 million Americans have been exposed to these sort of security breeches. And to me it's screaming out for a stronger national policy.

Susan was correctly pointing out that we have one law for the banks, the Gramm-Leach- Bliley Law, but when the Choicepoint thing hit we realized they're not covered by federal law. This thing hits and we go, oh, the credit card process is not covered by federal law. And so we see the weakness of this sort of sector by sector approach that we've had because we're in an age of convergence. Consumers don't care. They want their information protected. And that's why we have to go much more comprehensive in protecting it.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, let me make a distinction here because Visa USA announced that 22 million files had been compromised. MasterCard said 13.9 million of its customers but then announced that a much smaller subset in the tens of thousands were really in trouble. What's the difference between those numbers? What happened different to that tens of thousands of people compared to the 13.9 million who are compromised?

EVAN HENDRICKS: As I understand it, the 68,000 or so were the ones that they actually were able to trace where the numbers were exported out of their system maybe by these sort of key logger programs, a way of transmitting information from your system to another system. So I think that's what that means. But they also saw that the intrusion basically they're into the whole file. So they don't know what other information they could have taken. They just aren't able to trace what other information was actually taken. Could it all have been a downloaded or snapshot in a way so they could be available later? They just don't know.

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Crawford, when companies hold this kind of information, are they required to encrypt it, that is, hold it in a code that can't easily be read by outsiders?

SUSAN CRAWFORD: Well, there are a couple of answers to that question. They're not required by any explicit federal law, no. But Visa's relationship with these vendors made clear, I would guess in its contract, that any processor had to encrypt data and keep adequate safeguards in place. It's very clear here that this processor breached those promises to Visa.

So before we jump into talking about widespread, wide-ranging legislation, I think we need to take a step back here. Credit card fraud is at an all- time low in the United States. In fact, credit card companies are very good at detecting fraud. And MasterCard was able to catch this anomaly very quickly.

RAY SUAREZ: Evan Hendricks, do you agree with that conclusion, that this is not a time for more laws on how these are done?

EVAN HENDRICKS: No, I think that's ridiculous considering the scope of this problem, is that -- look what's happened here. The last person that is being thought about is the individual whose information is really being compromised. And the credit card might be down and he might be protected under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

The real damage from all this is identity theft when they do start making charges in your name and it comes up on your credit report. Then you have to go through the misery of trying to clean up the credit report.

We need to put a stronger duty on organizations so if they want to have the benefit of trafficking in our personal information, they have got to take the responsibility to protect it. And, look, in this situation, no one is going to the individuals that information is being compromised and really doing anything for them. Just saying I'm sorry.

RAY SUAREZ: A quick response, professor.

SUSAN CRAWFORD: Well, I think it's important to note that the consumer here has a lot of arms in its possession. In fact I'll make a deal with Evan. We should extend the act to cover any entity that's dealing with sensitive financial information.

EVAN HENDRICKS: I love making deals. Let's have a deal where you can always get access to your record no matter who is holding it.

RAY SUAREZ: Okay.

SUSAN CRAWFORD: I'd go...

RAY SUAREZ: We almost settled this whole thing tonight. Guests, thanks a lot for being with us.

SUSAN CRAWFORD: Thanks so much for having us.

FOCUS - LEBANON VOTES

GWEN IFILL: Historic elections in Lebanon. Margaret Warner has that story.

MARGARET WARNER: Lebanon's main anti-Syria opposition alliance promised sweeping changes today after nailing a victory in yesterday's fourth and final round of parliamentary elections. Saad Hariri, who heads the alliance, spoke with reporters after unofficial results showed his group sweeping all of the seats at stake yesterday in the North.

SAAD HARIRI: We are following the footsteps that my father has begun. His political program and his economic program is to have a country where it has a legal system that is free. It has... that we need to have growth. In order to have growth we need to change a lot of laws in parliament.

MARGARET WARNER: Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in February, sparking massive protests in Lebanon. Demonstrators called for political change and an end to nearly 30 years of Syrian military occupation and de-facto rule.

The opposition charged Syria had arranged for Hariri's killing after Hariri broke with Damascus over his opposition to extending the term of the pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahud. Damascus denied any role in his death, but in April, under mounting international pressure, Syria pulled out its 15,000 troops.

Lebanon's staggered parliamentary elections began on May 29. The polling, held over four weekends in four different areas, reflected the age-old political tensions among the country's many religious and ethnic sects.

In the first round, Saad Hariri's anti-Syrian alliance of Sunni Muslims, Druze and Christians ran strongly in cosmopolitan Beirut. In the second round, in the South, the voters favored the pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim groups, Amal and Hezbollah. The third round, in the Christian heartland of mount Lebanon, saw a bizarre twist.

SPOKESMAN: -- Michel Naim Aoun.

MARGARET WARNER: A former anti-Syrian figure, the Maronite Christian Army General Michel Aoun, who'd just returned from 14 years in exile, allied himself with local pro-Syrian politicians and won. Aoun denied accusations that he was acting on Syria's behalf.

GEN. MIICHEL AOUN (Translated): I am extremist in defending the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon, defending justice and the rights of the Lebanese people.

MARGARET WARNER: Whatever his motives, Aoun seemed poised to deny Hariri's slate a parliamentary majority. But in yesterday's fourth and final round, in the northern mountains long dominated by rival Christian and Muslim warlords, Hariri's coalition staged its unexpectedly strong comeback. The results mean Hariri's slate should control 72 seats in Lebanon's new 128-member parliament. Still to be determined: A new prime minister and cabinet and the fate of pro-Syrian President Lahud.

MARGARET WARNER: So what explains the opposition's victory, and what will it mean for Lebanon's political future? For that we're joined by: Adib Farha, a former adviser to Rafik Hariri and now a Middle East political analyst, and David Ignatius, a foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Post who's covered Lebanon since the early 1980s. He was there earlier this month. Welcome to you both.

Mr. Farha, first of all, what does explain the opposition sweeping these elections yesterday? I mean going into yesterday's election it didn't look like they could get enough to get a majority in parliament.

ADIB FARHA: Well, it's onlynatural that after being dominated by Syria for 15 years what happened yesterday in the outcome of yesterday's round was the natural thing. The outcome of the previous round where Michel Aoun who had allied himself with Syria's friends and Syria's allies was the unnatural one, so yesterday's outcome was -- in my opinion was predictable. Of course, things were made worse by anti-sectarian sentiments. Unfortunately all parties are guilty of that -- winners and losers alike.

MARGARET WARNER: David Ignatius, even though our pictures showed a lot of Lebanese flags being waved I gather in this final round up in the north some of the old flags from back in your days there came out again from the different militias. Did this election process exacerbate sectarian tensions and is that troubling?

DAVID IGNATIUS: You know, I don't think it exacerbated them. They're still there. The flags are still being kept and the arms are still in the basement even though the militias in theory have disarmed.

But I don't think you should make too much of that. I think that what's happened in Lebanon really ought to be seen as a significant, really exciting, break with the past. Syrian troops have left after 29 years. If I had said to you a year ago that that was going to happen, you would have laughed at me but it's happened. And the reason that it's happened is because Lebanese across confessional lines, Christians, Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites all were just enraged by the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a man that they loved.

And they just decided enough. We're not going to put up with this anymore. They've lived through a history of blood like this. Often they've submitted to pressure from Syria and other outside forces. This time they said no. And I think that's the spirit that carried through to the result that was announced yesterday.

MARGARET WARNER: And so do you think that's what was at play in the North yesterday in the votes because it didn't look as if this one coalition could win all those at first. You say you weren't surprised.

ADIB FARHA: Yesterday was a vote against continued foreign interference.

MARGARET WARNER: By Syria.

ADIB FARHA: By Syria. It was a rejection of Michel Aoun's - you know, the former exiled prime minister, army commander before.

MARGARET WARNER: Who had done well in Round 3.

ADIB FARHA: You know, it was - you know, people rejected the fact that, you know, they had respected him for 15 years as someone who was fighting for the liberation of Lebanon and getting rid of the Syrian dominance. He came back to Lebanon.

It is commonly believed by people who don't like him that he struck a deal with the Syrians or at least with the pro-Syrian Lebanese president and here he is reaching out to Syria's allies. So he's betrayed the program -- the platform that he had ran against for the last 15 years.

MARGARET WARNER: But you had said earlier that you thought each of these groups in a way ended up winning what they won by appealing to the sectarian divide.

ADIB FARHA: That's true.

MARGARET WARNER: So do you think the glass on that point is half empty or half full? In other words, do you share David's more optimistic perhaps view?

ADIB FARHA: I think there are good things that came out of the elections overall and bad things. The good thing is it confirmed that democracy in Lebanon is very much alive and that the Lebanese are attached to democracy. And the external presence had marred their democracy but now that, thanks to the international community, the foreign occupier is out, you know, we're eager to practice it again.

The other positive thing is that the group that now has the majority is strongly anti-Syrian and determined to bring in reforms, structural reforms, political reforms, economic reforms.

The down side is that to get to this outcome, all parties were guilty of enticing sectarian sentiments.

MARGARET WARNER: So how united is Saad Hariri's coalition?

DAVID IGNATIUS: Not very. I think people are excited about change. He has an actual working majority in parliament. I think that there are fractures in this movement.

And what Adib says is true. I mean, one thing this election reminded us of is that each sectarian group unites around its own. The Sunnis united around Saad Hariri. One of the first round the Shiite, the two militias, Amal and Hezbollah hate each other but they united in the second round. In the third round the Christians grouped around Aoun. So that is certainly true.

But now the question is: how does this country first, get strong enough to keep the Syrians out? I think the first task for this new government will be to find a way to strengthen security, get new people in the security services, get these Syrian intelligence agents out, and really take hold of the country, and then put together a real reformist government.

Lebanon is a very corrupt country. And every Lebanese knows it. It's time that they break with that. A symbol of this -- just to finish -- is the election of a new speaker in parliament. Nabih Berri, who is the head of the Shiite Moshe Amal has been the speaker; he is the symbol of the old pro-Syrian ways. If they can get him out, and that's what the Americans are urging in Beirut today, if they can get him out that's a big break.

ADIB FARHA: More than likely - if I can interject -- more than likely though even though the majority of the elected members of parliament do not favor Nabih Berri because of the sectarian system that we have, it is not politically wise, not good for national unity, you know, for... since the presidency is assigned to a Christian, the speaker of the parliament is to a Muslim Shiite, it is not wise to elect a Muslim Shiite who does not have the overwhelming support of the Shiites.

Nabih Berri, whether we like it or not, and I'm not necessarily a fan of his, you know, does have the support of all 35 Shiite members of parliament. Therefore, more than likely the remainder of the other members of parliament, even though they're a majority, they're not going to go against the will of that sect to whom this seat is assigned unfortunately.

MARGARET WARNER: What do you think this will mean for Syrian influence? I mean, as we know after the troops left they still retained quite a bit of influence including through controlling parliament. Will this really be a setback for them, or does this government have a lot work ahead?

DAVID IGNATIUS: You know, it's a huge setback for Syria and also an opportunity for Syria. Syria was caught in the corrupt, decaying system of its own influence. It was trapped in Lebanon as much as it was dominating Lebanon. And I was in Damascus just before going to Beirut to look at the elections. I didn't hear a Syrian who didn't express some measure of relief that that chapter was over.

The pressure on Syria to reform now is really quite overwhelming. Lebanon is going to accelerate, I think, in this new period. It has very strong support from the United States and France. And Syria really cannot afford to be as isolated as it is. So that's the next... I don't want to say the next domino. That sounds triumphalist, but that's the next issue.

MARGARET WARNER: Back to Lebanon. What about Saad Hariri himself, does he want to become prime minister?

ADIB FARHA: I don't think he's made up his mind yet. If he wants to be prime minister, he certainly has a large enough bloc of votes to get him to be prime minister. However, those of us who like him and who wish him well would much rather see him defer taking the mantle of the prime ministership until he has a bit more experience under his belt.

MARGARET WARNER: Because in fact we didn't say this in the set-up but he's only been back really spending time in the country for a very short time.

ADIB FARHA: You know, he had been a very successful businessman running his father's business empire primarily out of Saudi Arabia. And he was catapulted into this political role after his father's assassination on Valentine's Day.

MARGARET WARNER: What is U.S. interest here? What does the U.S. mostly care about in the coming year, say, in Lebanon?

DAVID IGNATIUS: Maintaining the momentum of what we have taken to calling the Lebanese Intifada, the Lebanese uprising. U.N. Resolution 1559 called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops. It happened. Lebanese elections happened on schedule and democratically.

The next issue which is really going to be a hard one is the disarming of the Shiite militia Hezbollah which Israel regards as a primary threat. U.N. Resolution 1559 speaks about disarming Hezbollah. And, frankly you can't have an armed militia that challenges the authority of the state and have a real state.

But I think everybody who looks at Lebanon knows that if you try to do this too quickly, too suddenly, the whole thing is going to break. Again American diplomats, I'm told in the last several days, have been going around Beirut saying to people, you know, we understand that you want to do this gently. If you make progress and get it done, we'll support that.

MARGARET WARNER: And, briefly from you, what do you think is the first big challenge?

ADIB FARHA: The first big challenge to the new parliament is going to be enacting a new electoral law which they have all ran on a platform that promises that. The other big challenge is disarming the Lebanese and the Palestinian militias in Lebanon. That is something that has to be handled with a great deal of tact.

MARGARET WARNER: All right. Adib Farha, David Ignatius, thank you.

GWEN IFILL: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight: Teenage gambling addicts; old ghosts in Mississippi; and an update on the Bolton battle.

FOCUS - TEENAGE GAMBLING

GWEN IFILL: Lee Hochberg of Oregon Public Broadcasting has the teen gambling story.

TEEN: You guys want to buy in?

TEEN: Yeah, I do.

LEE HOCHBERG: A dozen teenaged boys in the Seattle-area town of Snohomish gather after school and on weekends, sometimes twice a day, and the poker bets and the money fly.

TEEN: $20...

TEEN: You got $100.

TEEN: $30...

TEEN: No, it's probably like $75.

TEEN: $40, $50, $60, $70, $80, $90... 104 bucks.

LEE HOCHBERG: They said the purse could reach $150 before long. 17-year-old Seth Follis said he's walked away from poker games with twice that in his pocket.

TEEN: In a night, I've lost 50 bucks. But then the next day I won close to $300, so...

LEE HOCHBERG: So you're a net winner.

TEEN: Yeah. Since the beginning of last summer, I've won, like, $700.

LEE HOCHBERG: Poker has moved from the smoke-filled back rooms of yesterday to the suburban living rooms and basements of today. Many of the players aren't roughhewn grownups chomping cigars, but baby-faced teens munching fast foodburritos. It's all been triggered by gambling on the Internet, and an explosion of poker programming on cable television.

SPOKESPERSON: Tonight from Las Vegas, the Omaha world championship.

TEEN: Jacks!

LEE HOCHBERG: A current fad is an old game that's been refreshed on television: No-limit Texas hold 'em, in which a player can bet all of his money in one risky move. The game has the drama needed to hold a TV audience and to electrify thrill-seeking teenagers.

TEEN: Oh, my God!

TEEN: Oh!

LEE HOCHBERG: Nick Joy loved the game. An incoming sophomore at Central Washington University, he played it frequently as a high school student in the Seattle suburb of Shoreline. He liked it so much, he and a partner decided to shoot a movie about it. Through the lens, though, he saw some things he hadn't noticed as a player.

NICK JOY: I definitely saw kids getting into it too deep.

MUSIC: She was young and I was young -- we both had the hope...

NICK JOY: But playing so much. You know, they'd want to play every single day. You know, all the time. You have kids playing at school. I mean, that's not even after school. That's during school and after stool. (Kids shouting) Kids were playing just to win so bad instead of playing with their friends. So the money kind of took a step above the friendship.

LEE HOCHBERG: He filmed teens gambling in casinos near his high school. Casinos operate in about 30 states, including Washington, which sets an age limit of 18 for entry.

TEEN: Here we go.

LEE HOCHBERG: Joy's movie showed younger teens being admitted. And casinos are where Dustin Waggoner's life spiraled out of control. Now 20, he started playing poker a few years ago in the lunchroom of his high school in Puyallup, Washington, then every night at college.

DUSTIN WAGGONER: It was everywhere. That's a good way of looking at it. It was everywhere. If the friends weren't playing it, it was on TV. If it wasn't on TV, it's on the computer. If nobody is doing it, we're talking about it. We're talking about what happened the night before.

LEE HOCHBERG: He quit college after a year to support his newborn son.

DUSTIN WAGGONER: This is my favorite picture of him and me.

LEE HOCHBERG: But he found himself regularly at this casino in nearby Tacoma, where he began winning and winning.

DUSTIN WAGGONER: My wallet was just full of cash. I mean, what greater feeling it is when you've got all this money I made in two days? So the very next day I called in sick at work and did the exact same routine and won more money. You know, I had bouncers walk me out. Man, I felt like a celebrity. A teen doesn't get treated like that every day.

LEE HOCHBERG: When his luck and money ran out, though, he felt like a desperate teen.

DUSTIN WAGGONER: I had $1,000 in my son's bank. And I took that out and spent it. I don't know why I did it. As I was drawing the money out of the bank, I felt like a bullet was going through me, but I wasn't smart enough to put it back. I remember I lost that $1,000. I remember leaving the casino at about 2:00 in the morning. I was just bawling my eyes out. And I usually don't cry, but I mean, I cried and cried.

LEE HOCHBERG: Waggoner's family split up, and he went to Gamblers Anonymous. Waggoner is not alone, according to Gary Hansen of the Washington State Council on Problem Gambling.

GARY HANSEN: The actual number in Washington State of teens that have gambling problems is 8.4 percent. I'm going to tell you, that's way more than the adult rate.

LEE HOCHBERG: The Council on Problem Gambling estimates 200,000 American teens are addicted to gambling. Hansen travels to schools like the high school in Snohomish to warn kids about the dangers.

GARY HANSEN: Have any of you seen teens with gambling problems?

TEENS: Yeah.

GARY HANSEN: They're gambling too much? They're betting too much, getting in over their heads?

LEE HOCHBERG: But young gamblers say it's hard for the message of caution to compete with TV shows.

SPOKESMAN: Welcome back to the horseshoe and the pot limit...

LEE HOCHBERG: Like the world series of poker. It's presented as a sporting event, with tiny cameras showing the competing players' cards so the viewer can play along at home.

SPOKESMAN: So we have four players going to the flop.

LEE HOCHBERG: ESPN has hit the jackpot with the program, with ratings comparable to its major league baseball coverage. The Travel Channel, Bravo, and the History Channel also present tense poker matches with cunning, engaging contestants. Chris Moneymaker has won $2.5 million in TV tournaments.

DUSTIN WAGGONER: While we were playing poker ourselves, we would sometimes talk about the guys on TV, or give ourselves their name, you know, and say "I'm 'Moneymaker,'" and et cetera. They made it on TV look like anybody can do it.

SPOKESMAN: Oh, thank you, Lord!

DUSTIN WAGGONER: You can win lots of money. You can win this fame. They never show you the guy losing and walking away and is broke. They don't care about me; they don't care about the other people like me. They'd rather put it on TV and get their ratings and make their money.

LEE HOCHBERG: ESPN answers that in fact, its audience for poker is overwhelmingly adult. It says only 6 percent of its poker viewers are between the ages of 12 and 17. The network notes it airs public service announcements about problem gambling. "We present all our programming, including poker, responsibly and with context." It said in a statement: "At the end of the day, parents are responsible for raising their children - not television."

TEEN: Well played, well played.

LEE HOCHBERG: And many parents believe the poker craze is harmless to their teens. Seth Follis's mother, Darlene, says she's glad just to have a full house of boys downstairs.

DARLENE FOLLIS: Exactly that. They're not on the streets. I know where they are. I know exactly what they're doing. And if I hear of any trouble, I know none of them were involved... (laughs) ...because they were here.

TEEN: You guys, one more can sit here...

DARLENE FOLLIS: I think they're just having fun.

LEE HOCHBERG: But amidst the fun, these teens, who admit they've sometimes borrowed money to play, wonder if addiction may be just another hand away.

TEEN: Whenever I lose, I always want to play again.

TEEN: Yeah, he probably is addicted. ( Laughter )

TEEN: He could be.

TEEN: Whenever you borrow money from your grandmother to play, I'm pretty sure you're probably addicted.

LEE HOCHBERG: Nick Joy's documentary on the risks of teen gambling was chosen to play at the Seattle International Film Festival in June. He says he's glad he knew when to fold 'em. The challenge will be if these kids and thousands of other new poker players show the judgment to do the same.

FOCUS - MURDERS IN MISSISSIPPI

GWEN IFILL: Mississippi breaks its silence and confronts its past: The decades-old legacy of "freedom summer."

SINGING: I want my freedom...

GWEN IFILL: The crowd that gathered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, yesterday came to pay their respects to the victims of a 41-year-old crime. Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, three members of the wave of young people who came to register black voters in June 1964, were murdered that freedom summer, shot and buried underneath a 15-foot earthen dam. The car carrying the young civil rights workers was found burned. Reports said as many as 22 members of the local Ku Klux Klan were responsible. Leading civil rights activists descended on the small town.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: In this county, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner were brutally murdered, and I believe in my heart that the murderers are somewhere around me at this moment. ( Cheers )

GWEN IFILL: An all-white jury convicted seven men on conspiracy charges related to the case in 1967. None served more than six years. But jurors deadlocked over charges against Edgar Ray Killen, a part-time preacher and Klan member. It was not until 1999 that he was charged with orchestrating the murders. Today, the 80-year-old Killen, who still denies any role in the crimes, faces the prospect of life in prison after a week-long trial. James Earl Chaney's mother, now 82 years old, testified the Klan continued to threaten her even after her son's death.

FANNIE LEE CHANEY: They was threatening me so bad, me and my little son, Ben. They told me they were going to put dynamite under the house, blow us to bits and everything.

GWEN IFILL: Killen's sister and brother testified on their sibling's behalf, maintaining his innocence.

ATTORNEY: Did you know that Edgar ray was in the Klan?

OSCAR KILLEN: No, sir. I didn't even know that. I've heard more talk that your dad and granddaddy was in the Klan more than I have him. Sure have, that's honest. I swore on the bible, gentlemen. That's the way I've heard it all these years.

GWEN IFILL: A former Philadelphia mayor also defended Killen today, testifying that the Ku Klux Klan is a "peaceful organization" that "did a lot of good." The jury began its deliberations late today.

GWEN IFILL: Jerry Mitchell, a reporter with the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, has been digging into closed civil rights-era murder cases for more than 15 years, reporting that has led to the reinvestigation of more than 20 cases. He's been covering the Killen trial and joins us from Philadelphia, Mississippi. Welcome, Jerry.

JERRY MITCHELL: Good to be here.

GWEN IFILL: Tell us a little bit about this trial to catch us up. Was there any new evidence that was provided during this week- long trial?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, there was a man who was an inmate named Mike Winstead, who came forward and said that Killen, when he was ten years old, Killen had showed up at his grandfather's house, and his grandfather asked him if he had anything to do with killing those boys, and Killen replied, "Yes, and I'm proud of it," according to Mr. Winstead. And then Mike Hatcher who did testify in '67, testified in this trial, but I'd have to say his testimony is far stronger, I think, than it was back in '67 in terms of more details and things like that, which, of course, the defense tried to make hay of today.

GWEN IFILL: Jerry Mitchell, it's been 40 years since this crime happened. There have been other trials which didn't quite get to the nub of this murder charge. How did the case... how was the case reconstructed after all this time? There are people who are dead.

JERRY MITCHELL: Absolutely. Well, the thing that really helped this case is the fact that there was a transcript. And so there are a number of witnesses that the state used who are basically transcript witnesses, the people who testified in the 1967 federal conspiracy trial whose testimony then was used in this trial. Without that, this case wouldn't be going forward. And that's really been a key element. And that's one of the reasons why some of these other cases are so difficult to bring forward; if there wasn't a good investigation or if there wasn't a trial at the time that makes it particularly difficult to bring a case now.

GWEN IFILL: After all this time also, why now? Why... how did this trial come to court now after all this time?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, a group of citizens here in Philadelphia called the Philadelphia Coalition basically began to call for justice in this case early last year. In addition to that, you have a new district attorney, Mark Duncan, a new attorney general, Jim Hood, who said today in closing arguments he wished his predecessors had taken on this case but didn't. And so he felt it was his obligation to take it on.

GWEN IFILL: I was watching a little bit of the feed from the courtroom today. And I noticed Edgar Killen was asleep for some of the closing arguments. How was he able to defend himself, or did he?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, mainly he slept during the transcript testimony as far as I saw. I did notice he was alert at the point that Mr. Hood pointed at him and called him a coward. I noticed that he kind of perked up at that point.

GWEN IFILL: Mr. Hood is...?

JERRY MITCHELL: The attorney general, Jim Hood.

GWEN IFILL: Was there any effort at all or thought given to putting him on the stand to defend himself?

JERRY MITCHELL: The defense said there wasn't really any need. They felt like the state had a weak case and therefore that there wasn't any need for him to get up and to rebut any kind of testimony. But of course there's always the risk any time the defense puts a defendant on the stand that he may say something that really makes him look bad or put him in a bad light. Plus, he has a previous...

GWEN IFILL: Go ahead.

JERRY MITCHELL: ...a previous conviction, too, so. He has a previous conviction.

GWEN IFILL: Right. He has said in the past that he had nothing to do with this actual murder that night -

JERRY MITCHELL: That's right.

GWEN IFILL: -- that he was actually at a funeral home sitting with a friend or something like that.

JERRY MITCHELL: Correct.

GWEN IFILL: But how is it that... his siblings testified. The former mayor of Philadelphia testified today. And we mentioned that he defended the Klan. What else came out in that testimony?

JERRY MITCHELL: Yes, he did. What's that again?

GWEN IFILL: I'm sorry, I know there are trucks and traffic passing you by. What else came out of that testimony?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, just the brother of the convict who testified who said he overheard the testimony said that his brother was a liar, basically is what he said. He said he saw him on TV and said he's lying and contacted the defense. Under cross-examination he did admit that he's friends with Mr. Killen. But said, you know, that still his brother is a liar.

GWEN IFILL: James McIntyre, Mr. Killen's defense attorney, as part of his closing statement said, "We don't live 41 years ago." Was there any sense in this city and the county that this was just old business?

JERRY MITCHELL: Yes. I mean, I think you've got a real split on people. I mean, certain people feel like it's just that. "Let's just leave it alone. Why do we have to be talking about this? This is living in the past." And then, on the other hand, you've got people who, like the Philadelphia Coalition, who feel like, "Hey, this is a black cloud hanging over our heads. It hasn't been taken care of. We need to do something about it."

GWEN IFILL: Did the prosecutor in the end prove who pulled the trigger that night?

JERRY MITCHELL: Not really. I think it's pretty widely known, but I think that they were just trying to show as they explained the role of Mr. Killen, and so in terms of identifying who the shooters were, I don't know if that's necessary. They're not saying he was there that night. They're saying he kind of orchestrated the events. As I mentioned, they referred to him as a coward several times in the closing arguments.

GWEN IFILL: Is there any way to tell looking at their jury as they're listening to these arguments that that was enough of a case to make?

JERRY MITCHELL: I think the jury seemed very attentive. They looked very attentive and seemed to be focused on the lawyers as they made their arguments, so I think this looks like a pretty good jury. We'll just have to see, though.

GWEN IFILL: Yeah. As we've listened to the testimony, especially from family members of the victims, what have we learned in this trial, new or relearned about the three men who were victimized in this case, Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, I think one of the more poignant moments was where Caroline Goodman, the mother of Andy Goodman, read the postcard that he wrote the day he died, the morning of the day he died in Mississippi. It sounded like a postcard a kid might write from summer camp. "Hi, Mom, Dad, I'm doing great. This town is great. We're having a good time." And I think any parent hearing that note, it was just so touching and poignant by simplicity. Attorney General Jim Hood used that, read that postcard in his closing argument to the jury.

GWEN IFILL: And when you look back, you said that he wrote in the postcard, "This seems like a pretty good town." Forty years later, forty-one years later, how is this town... is the town going to be divided over this or is this something everyone is anxious to put behind them?

JERRY MITCHELL: Well, I think they're probably uniform in wanting to get it behind them. I think you've probably got unity in that question. But obviously they're split in how to pull that off. But I think this town has changed a tremendous amount. I think it's so easy to see the movie like "Mississippi Burning" and think that's the way Philadelphia is today. It's just not true. Philadelphia is a diverse place of white, black, African-American. Mississippi now has more black elected officials than any other state. So Mississippi has changed and the county has changed. And we'll just have to wait and see if the jury feels like that enough evidence has been presented to convict Mr. Killen or if the state has failed its burden of proof.

GWEN IFILL: Jerry Mitchell, thanks for all your good work.

JERRY MITCHELL: Thank you.

FOCUS - THE BOLTON BATTLE

GWEN IFILL: Now the John Bolton fight in the united states Senate. It resumed early this evening. Kwame Holman reports.

SPOKESPERSON: Mr. Biden, no. Mr. Baucus, no.

KWAME HOLMAN: John Bolton's chances of becoming U.N. Ambassador hung in the balance tonight as Senate Democrats once again threw a procedural block in front of his nomination. Majority Leader Bill Frist needed at least 60 votes to end debate and force an up-or-down, simple majority vote on the troubled nominee. But the Bolton nomination fell far short.

SPOKESPERSON: The motion is not agreed to.

KWAME HOLMAN: Democrats now have blocked Bolton twice in the last month because, they say, of the Bush administration's refusal to supply materials documenting Bolton's use of classified intelligence while at the State Department. Delaware Democrat Joseph Biden is the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN: The fact that the President of the United States in this case says he does not believe that the information that we seek is relevant to our fulfilling our constitutional responsibility is somewhat presumptuous, to say the least. I am aware, as we all are, on both sides of the aisle, of the sometimes admirable but most time-excessive obsession with secrecy on the part of this administration. But notwithstanding that, Mr. President, we should not forfeit our responsibility to accommodate that obsession.

KWAME HOLMAN: Democrats did offer to clear Bolton for a final vote if the administration released the names of U.S. officials whose secret communications were intercepted by the National Security Agency and later passed on to Bolton at his request. Republicans argued that no longer should be an issue because senior members of the Intelligence Committee from both parties were briefed on the intercept matter and reported no wrongdoing by Bolton. Virginia's George Allen:

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN: The other side said, "we want a list of names. We want to see cross check," and got to Sen. Roberts and Sen. Rockefeller, the chair and the ranking member on the Intelligence Committee. And so then there were a few of those names, cross-check that. Nothing new there. And so then what comes up? Oh, now we want three dozen names we want cross-checked now, as the fishing expedition continues. And it is just going to continue and continue. It doesn't matter what the answers are. It doesn't matter what the truth is.

KWAME HOLMAN: Nevertheless, several Democrats this evening argued it was time for President Bush to send up the name of another nominee. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut:

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD: Is Mr. Bolton the kind of individual who we can trust to carry out the United States' agenda at the United Nations at this critical juncture? Mr. President, I think not.

KWAME HOLMAN: However, President Bush still could get his man. He could install John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador through a temporary recess appointment while Congress is away for the July 4 holiday. It would be a year-long term and would not require Senate approval.

RECAP

GWEN IFILL: Again, the major developments of the day: Suicide bombers in Iraq killed at least 28 people. President Bush defended his Iraq policy. He said the deaths of more than 1,700 Americans will not be in vain. And an anti-Syrian alliance declared victory in Lebanon's elections. We'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Gwen Ifill. Thank you and good night.