On Thursday's NewsHour...

ON THE NEWSHOUR -- March 4, 2010 at 5:05 PM EDT

On Thursday's NewsHour...

ELECTION VIOLENCE IN IRAQ - Bombs ripped through parts of Baghdad today as early voting began for Sunday's parliamentary elections. Ray Suarez narrates a report, and Jim Lehrer talks to Feisal Istrabadi, who served as Iraq's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, and Brian Katulis, who was on the National Security Council staff in the Clinton administration and is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

SCHOOL BOARD FIRES ALL TEACHERS- Rhode Island's Central Fall High School made national headlines this week when the school board voted to fire the entire faculty after the teacher's union refused to agree to state-mandated reforms. We get two views on the tactic and solutions for America's failing schools: Roy Romer is the former governor of Colorado and is currently the chairman of Strong American Schools, and Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers.

SECRETARY CLINTON IN LATIN AMERICA - Then, Margaret Warner looks at Secretary of State Clinton's trip to Latin America, her negotiations with Brazil over Iran, and other issues with the U.S.'s southern neighbors.

THE HURT LOCKER - Jeffrey Brown looks at Hollywood's latest portrayal of the war in Iraq -- one generating plenty of of praise but questions as well. His guests are Ann Hornaday, a film critic for the Washington Post, and Paul Reickhoff, an Army National Guard Lieutenant who led a platoon in Iraq and now heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an organization that advocates on behalf of troops still serving.

RELIGIOUS TENSION IN EGYPT - Finally, special correspondent Fred De Sam Lazaro reports from Cairo on tensions with the Coptic Church.

Beginning October 24, 2012, PBS NewsHour will allow open commenting for all registered users. We hope that the elimination of our moderation process will enable a more organic discussion amongst you, our audience. However, if a commenter violates our terms of use or abuses the commenting forum, their comment will be removed. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not follow these basic guidelines: comments must be relevant to the topic of the post; may not include profanity, personal attacks or hate speech; may not promote a business or raise money; may not be spam. Anything you post should be your own work. The PBS NewsHour reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the comments or emails that we receive. By submitting comments, you agree to the PBS Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.

**ELECTION VIOLENCE IN IRAQ** - Bombs ripped through parts of Baghdad today as early voting began for Sunday's parliamentary elections. Ray Suarez narrates a report, and Jim Lehrer talks to [Feisal Istrabadi,](http://alumni.indiana.edu/magazine/issues/200405/founding-father.shtml) who served as Iraq's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, and [Brian Katulis](http://www.americanprogress.org/experts/KatulisBrian.html), who was on the National Security Council staff in the Clinton administration and is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. **SCHOOL BOARD FIRES ALL TEACHERS**- Rhode Island's Central Fall High School made national headlines this week when the school board voted to fire the entire faculty after the teacher's union refused to agree to state-mandated reforms. We get two views on the tactic and solutions for America's failing schools: Roy Romer is the former governor of Colorado and is currently the chairman of Strong American Schools, and [Randi Weingarten](http://www.aft.org/about/leadership/index.cfm) is president of the American Federation of Teachers. **SECRETARY CLINTON IN LATIN AMERICA** - Then, Margaret Warner looks at Secretary of State Clinton's trip to Latin America, her negotiations with Brazil over Iran, and other issues with the U.S.'s southern neighbors. **THE HURT LOCKER** - Jeffrey Brown looks at Hollywood's latest portrayal of the war in Iraq -- one generating plenty of of praise but questions as well. His guests are [Ann Hornaday](http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/ann+hornaday/), a film critic for the Washington Post, and [Paul Reickhoff](http://iava.org/), an Army National Guard Lieutenant who led a platoon in Iraq and now heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an organization that advocates on behalf of troops still serving. **RELIGIOUS TENSION IN EGYPT** - Finally, special correspondent Fred De Sam Lazaro reports from Cairo on [tensions with the Coptic Church](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/february-26-2010/egypts-coptic-tensions/5786/).