Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240622

Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. 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. Woodruff good evening and welcome to our new home for the pbs newshour. Ifill judy and i are settling into our new set, with fresh graphics and updated music, yet with the classic sound you have come to recognize as the signal that the newshour is on the air. Woodruff we think this new look will give us greater flexibility and new tools so that we can better present the same quality journalism and analysis that the newshour has been doing for almost 40 years ifill and now lets get to the news. Woodruff the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today to approve the nuclear deal negotiated in vienna last week. The vote was 15 to zero and it sets the stage for the lifting of economic sanctions, in exchange for limits on tehrans nuclear capabilities. In washington, president obama hailed the endorsement and called on congress which now has 60 days to review the deal to approve it. Theres broad, International Consensus around this issue not just among the International Community but also among experts in liberation. My assumption is congress will Pay Attention to that broadbased consensus. Woodruff president obama made the remarks as he met with nigerias president , muhammadu buhari. Its his First White House visit since he was elected in march in nigerias first democratic transition of power in decades. Ifill in turkey, an explosion rocked suruc near the border with syria, killing 31 people. Turkish officials said the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing inspired by the Islamic State group. The midday explosion took place at a cultural center, as a group of Young Political activists was wrapping up a News Conference. Nearly 100 people were wounded. Woodruff the death toll from fierce fighting in yemen yesterday has now risen to nearly 100. Shiite rebels bombarded a town close to the port city of aden. The head of an International Aid group said sundays fighting was the worst day in three months. Meanwhile, saudiled fighter jets kept up their Bombing Campaign and hit a popular market in the yemeni capital of sanaa. Ifill a nato airstrike on two Afghan Military checkpoints killed seven afghan troops today. Afghan officials described it as an accident. Taliban fighters were clashing with troops near their remote checkpoints in Logar Province at the same Time Coalition helicopters flew overhead. Afghan president ashraf ghani expressed his profound sorrow over the incident and ordered an investigation. Woodruff there were more questions than answers today in the death of a young black woman in a texas jail last week. Correspondent William Brangham has our story. We have chosen this spot because very clearly to us, this is a crime scene reporter religious leaders and Community Activists spoke today outside the Waller County jail the same texas jail where 28yearold sandra bland died under mysterious circumstances a week ago. The incident began on july 10th. In this video filmed on a bystanders cellphone, bland is seen being pinned to the ground by two state troopers. The troopers say bland had just assaulted an officer after theyd pulled her over for a traffic violation. Bland was arrested, and taken to the county jail. Three days later she was found dead in her cell. The Sheriffs Office says bland committed suicide by hanging herself with a plastic bag. Officials also pointed to a facebook video ms. Bland posted several months ago saying she was depressed. I am suffering from something that many of you may be dealing with right now. Its a little bit of depression as well as p. T. S. D. Reporter but blands family and others dont believe it. They say that video was made when bland was unemployed, and that shed just started a new job at her alma mater, prairie view a m university, and was very excited about her prospects. There was not a lazy woman, this was not an unmotivated woman. This is a woman who had dreams, desires and drives. Reporter todays press conference followed several days of vigils and protest marches for bland in her native illinois and in texas. Woodruff local prosecutors have promised a full investigation into blands death. Today, they pointed to Surveillance Video from inside the jail that shows no one entered or exited her cell around the time she is believed to have died. Ifill greeks lined up outside banks today to withdraw money for the first time in more than three weeks. A steady stream of customers made their way to a. T. Ms and banks, but there were strict limits on how much cash they could take out. And shopkeepers changed the prices on their goods to reflect the higher taxes theyre charging under the terms of an e. U. Rescue deal. Woodruff the price of gold continued its slide today hitting a fiveyear low. The drop was helped along by the dollars gain and a looming Interest Rate hike. On wall street today, stocks were relatively stagnant. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 13 points to close at 18,100. The nasdaq added eight points and the s p 500 gained more than a point. Ifill soccers world governing body fifa announced it will hold new elections next february. It comes in the wake of a corruption scandal, and dual american and swiss criminal investigations. Longtime fifa president sepp blatter is stepping down when a replacement is named. Hes a target of the u. S. Investigation, but hasnt been charged. At todays News Conference in zurich, blatter became a different kind of target of a joke. A prankster showered him in fake money, suggesting it was a payoff for a world cup bid by north korea. Ifill still to come on the newshour restoring diplomatic ties with cuba, after more than 50 years, the week ahead in politics with stu rothenberg and susan page, illegal guns, gangs and summer violence on the streets of chicago and much more. Woodruff the United States and cuba officially normalized diplomatic relations today and the Cuban Embassy in Washington Closed since 1961 reopened this morning. The newshours p. J. Tobia has this report. Reporter with a ceremonial flourish, the cuban flag was raised above the embassy in washington this morning a sight not seen in over five decades. As the mission officially opened, so did a new postcold war chapter in u. S. Cuba relations. But deep differences between the two countries remain, as was evident when foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez spoke inside the embassy. translated the Historic Events we are living today will only make sense with the removal of the blockade, and the return of occupied territory in guantanamo. Reporter the u. S. And cuba severed diplomatic ties in 1961, when cuban president fidel castro referred to the American Embassy as a nest of spies. Now after more than two years of negotiations, relations are slowly thawing. But sticking points remain, chief among them havanas demand for an end to a crippling trade embargo and u. S. Calls for democracy and human rights in cuba. Reaction was mixed on the streets outside the Cuban Embassy. As protesters from cuba and around latin america gathered. I support the cuban people definitely. Reporter rosa maria payas father was a cuban Opposition Leader who died in cuba under mysterious circumstances in 2012. She urged the u. S. To seize this opportunity to help improve cubas human rights record. So far we have seen very concrete and specific steps from the part of the American Administration in order to but not support and specific and concrete support to the demands of the cuban citizens to the demands of change for human rights to the demands of reporter secretary of state john kerry met with his cuban counterpart this afternoon at the state department. Cubas flag now hangs in the buildings lobby where it was installed in the predawn hours without fanfare. We are taking a historic and long overdue step in the right direction. To keep moving forward both hill, there remains significant of cigs to the move. I look forward to working with my colleagues in congress to try to block the expansion of the u. S. Embassy in cuba, to try to stop the confirmation of the u. S. Ambassador to the island. Reporter meanwhile in cuba, in u. S. Embassy reopened for business in havana. Cubans lined up for visas to travel to the u. S. Welcomed the occasion. Reporter the pomp and circumstance will wait until midaugust when kerry makes his historic visit to formally raise the american flag. Im p. J. Tobia for the pbs newshour in washington. Woodruff for more on the resumption of relations between the u. S. And cuba, we turn to Maria De Los Angeles torres. Shes a cubanborn american and a professor at the university of illinois, chicago, where she is also executive director of the Schools Program on latino research. Ms. Torres, thank you very much for joining us. First of all, how would you describe this new relationship . How is it going to be different from diplomatic relations the u. S. Has with other countries . With well, i think, first of all theres 50 years of hostility, and i think that its almost like the day after the storm. Right now, we have to see how many trees have fallen down and what were going to do with that. I think, also because of the intimate relationship that the United States has had with cuba the fact that there are many cubans living in the United States, the fact there are many other cubans who would like to come to the United States, i think there will be a unique set of challenges. The regime has not changed. I dont think this policy will change the regime. It will, however, help in what could be a peaceful transition. Woodruff what sort of restrictions are still going to be there for americans who want to travel to cuba . Where do you see that headed . Well, part of this is codified in law to congress. I do not see that congress is willing, at this moment or any time at least in the immediate future, to change the policy of the embargo. However, i think that this is going to allow a more porous, if you will embargo. Weve already seen that happen in. The last six months, weve seen an uptick in travel to cuba, restrictions on how much money could be sent to relatives has actually been expanded, so theres more money going into cuba. A lot of the Small Businesses are actually fueled by family members here in the United States, and i think that we will see increased in the next few months. Woodruff so you see commerce increasing between the two countries . Well, we already have cuba the United States is the largest importer of goods to cuba today. Their agriculture and pharmaceutical. This actually happened under the bush administration. As far as other kinds of activity, they are still going to be under the restriction of the embargo, which is congressional, but there will be other kinds of, i think smaller kinds of businesses that are being allowed under executive order and under the power of the president. Most of these are coming from family members. That is why we are seeing all sorts of little businesses pop up and people supporting the family. Woodruff what is going to happen to the homes, to the property left behind many years ago by cuban americans who fled that country, who came here, who are living in the United States but left a lot behind there . Well, i think all these issues are negotiable right . And what weve not had in the past is a means through which to negotiate. I think the reestablishment of diplomatic relations opens up those channels. Whether or not these are things that will be put on the table i think is too early to tell. Id like to say i have been back to the home i was raised in until six years of age and the lady whos living in the home has tried to sell me that home several times over. Actually, rather cheaply. I would not want to buy that home. So i think its going to be interesting, but what we do have now is that channel through which we can put these issues on the table and negotiate them and hopefully move forward in what we do with our enemies and our friends. Woodruff Maria De Los Angeles torres at the university of illinois, chicago, we thank you. Thank you judy. Ifill for most democrats and republicans, 2016 has turned into a season of disruption as candidates have attempted to woo voters from the left and the right and encountered attacks from within. Here to sort it out this politics monday susan page, Washington Bureau chief for u. S. A. Today and stu rothenberg of the rothenberg and gonzales political report. And the roll call newspaper. Part of the disruption for the last several weeks has been donald trump. This week he was at a faith and values summit in iowa and asked about john mccain who said that donald trump was stirring up the crazies so donald trump responded. I supported him. I supported him for president. I raised a Million Dollars for him. Its a lot of money. I supported him. He lost. So i never liked him as much after that because i dont like losers, but hes a war hero. Because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. Ifill so what effect do we think that Donald Trumps statements this weekend not only on that but also religion had to do with this race . Its interesting because when donald trump made outrageous statements about mexican immigrants saying they were rapists and drug dealers, there were pshbacks among the rivals. On this, hes been called to apologize which he refused to do. The question is will this reinforce donald Trump Supporters who like the fact hes a no surrender type of guy or will this mean his phenomenal rise will be reversed . Ifill what do you think, stu . Its too early the to know. The indication of the past two weeks is hes been in first or second place either in National Polls or iowa. Hes clearly touched a nerve. Im skeptical its going to last much longer, but the republican electorate, the core republican voter is angry, frustrated, disappointed not only at the president but at leadership within their own party, and donald trump goes out there and hes bomb bombastic explosive, causes trouble, and it has resonated. Over the long haul, its hard to believe donald trump will be republican nominee for president , but in the short term hes obviously a factor in the debate and discussions. Ifill what struck me is he voted the guy most republicans voted for in 2008 but he also did another interesting thing in that he kind of insulted evangelicals a little bit, even though he was at a evangelical conference. He said hes a presbyterian, he takes the little cracker but hes never asked god for forgiveness, which seems that hurt. Him saying h wafer in a dismissive way and that he didnt ask forgiveness thats shortcomings. But his part of the Republican Party is a tea party which thinks washington doesnt work, politicians cant the be trusted, heres a guy who tells hard truths. We dont punch too much story in a single poll but a washington d. C. Poll out tonight says donald trump in first place 24 . But said the polling sunday night when people possibly heard about the mccain exchange his support fell to single digits. That may be one early sign this will hurt him. Lets remember that right now when people answer poll questions, theyre not really answering the question of who do you want to be president of the United States. Theyre answering a different question. Who is reflecting your anger and frustrations and disappointments . Who is giving voice to your feelings . Ifill okay so thats the answer to your question for now. There are 20 other people in the race, and they all have to respond every single day to the donald trump whirlwind. So what does it tell us about that . I think the greatest one is its kind of frozen the race. Nobody else can get much traction. How do you get through when donald trump is saying donald trumpisms, whatever they are. Individual candidates i think are hurt because of his appeal to the tea party and angry old voters is eating into ted cruzs. His emphasis on a straighttalking, republican ill tell you whats really going on eats into chris christies. So more than anything else, he has been, as you said, a disrupter. And an opportunity cost, right . Other candidates not only cant get any attention, they cant talk about issues including issues that are likely to be much more important in the president ial campaign. Ifill what does it do for candidates like scott walker the governor of wisconsin got into the race last week, john kasich the governor of ohio gets into the race this week and who we assume would be strong midwestern governors do they get blown out of the water with all this going on . I think it cost scott walker some he expected to get from the announcement. If governor kasich announces tomorrow, does the the attention of trump cost him . For john kasich that could be important because youre coming up on the first debate next month, need to be in the top ten to participate. Kasich is expecting a pump bump in tomorrows announcement to get him at number 9 or 10 to participate in the debate. Ifill the democrats, the net roots nation conference where the liberal candidates show up and they tell them what they want to hear. But both Bernie Sanders and Martin Omalley got shouted down by people who were there on behalf of the black lives Matter Movement and none came out smelling like a rose. I think that told less about the candidates and more about the constituents there. This is the Tea Party Version on the democratic, on the progressive side, people who are distrustful of the democratic partys leadership want more ideology, more confrontation. Right now the democrats dont quite have the problem the republicans have with the tea party and the division, but this conference was i think, a warning that the democrats have to worry about that kind of disruption. Ifill is this the kind of thing Hillary Clinton has to worry about . Yeah, i think it is. We dont think Martin Omalley or Bernie Sanders will be the nominee we think Hillary Clinton will be the democratic nominee and she will have to deal with the party that moved significantly to the left since her husband ran for president and that is distressful for her even though her support remains strong among liberals. She will have to deal with a liberal party who feels energized. Ifill and dealing with energies far left, far right. Fun summer. Susan page, u. S. A. Today, stu rothenberg, rothenberg and gonzales political report, thank you. Thank you. Woodruff in chicago this summer, police are dealing with an unsettling spike in Violent Crime, after a drop in the homicide rate over the last two years. This weekend, 11 dead and 34 injured. More now from special correspondent chris bury. Reporter in chicago, this is the season of sorrow and grief. Every summer, tears flow as the body count climbs with the temperatures. This is the killing season. Many of those killed are kids filled with promise, including vonzell banks, just 17. For his family, the pain is unbearable. But so many young people like him are dying that the whole city is grieving, too. Do you think its too much for a city to let its parents see their kids graduate . Reporter even chicagos hardcharging mayor, rahm emanuel, had to choke back his tears. I will tell you this as a father of three. This is not natural. This is not right. They deserve better. Reporter by all accounts vonzell banks deserved better, too. Playing by the rules, staying out of trouble, spending time at church. They called him drummer boy for his talent keeping the beat for the choir. For his pastor, derail smith, the pain is personal. He watched vonzell grow up. He was brought up in a traditional type family where it was yes, sir, yes maam, and thank you very much, and i appreciate you, those type of things. There was never any indication for me to see that he had any type of interaction with drugs or with any type of violence. He was not that, no. Not at all. Reporter so a good kid. Absolutely. Absolutely. Reporter that promising life ended during a family outing over the july 4th weekend at this playground, a gritty slab of asphalt on the citys south side. In a bitter irony, it had recently been renamed for Hadiya Pendleton, the 15year old honor student whose killing drew National Attention when she was shot to death in another park just days after performing at president obamas second inauguration. Her parents were beyond dismay to learn of vonzells killing here. I was devastated. The park, you know, we just got the park renamed, and already, you know, there was a murder here. My emotions really got the best of me to be perfectly honest, because the situations were so similar between what happened to my daughter, and what happened to their son. Reporter like Hadiya Pendleton and so many others in chicago vonzell banks died from a bullet intended for someone else. In this case, a gang member who ran onto this Basketball Court fleeing a rival. Police say the gangbanger pulled out a gun and fired indiscriminately, hitting banks in the back. His cousin, also shot, survived. Vonzell died in his fathers arms. A father not only lost his son, he held him as he took his last breath. Shots fired. Reporter already this year chicago has seen more than 2,000 shootings. The number of murders, more than 200, climbing again after dropping each of the last two years. Summer nights are the worst. Its definitely related to heat, theres definitely more shootings when it gets warm out thats just the way it goes. Reporter we spent a recent friday night with pauley lapointe, a nightcrawler who races to crime scenes to shoot footage for local t. V. Stations. Just after 11, Police Radios crackled with reports of the first of ten shootings that night. What have you heard so far from the scanner . What do you know . So far we got a person shot, sounds like a victim in their 20s, critical condition, ambulance en route. Reporter when we arrive, a young woman is clearly distraught. 25yearold keith cannon has been shot in the chest. He died a few hours later, one of three men killed that night. Even as police investigated that shooting, another erupted a few blocks away. Shots fired 7908 halsted. 7908 halsted. Five shots were fired at the door of the restaurant. Reporter more shootings. Yup. Here they come. Reporter this time two men have been shot outside this fast food joint, the gun casings still in clear view. By the end of the weekend, 32 people had been shot. Six of them died. How frustrating is it for you to see the level of violence that chicago is experiencing this summer . Well, its very frustrating because i see clearly what needs to be done. Reporter Police Superintendent Garry Mccarthy says coping with chicagos violence is like drinking from a fire hose. His officers take more illegal guns off the street than new york and l. A. Combined more than 3,400 in the First Six Months of this year. But even that has not been enough to stem the killings. The biggest reason is, the people who we arrest with firearms do not do jail time here in the state of illinois. Possession of a loaded firearm illegally, in the state of illinois is not even considered a Violent Crime for sentencing purposes. And its very frustrating to know that its like 7 of the population causes 80 of the Violent Crime. Well, lets put that 7 of the population in jail. Somebody has to go to jail. Reporter mccarthy also blames a chicago gang culture that is even more entrenched and deadly than the ones he knew during previous stints in new york city and newark. Gangs here are theyre traditional gangs that are generational, if you will. The grandfather was a gang member, fathers a gang member, and the kid right now is going to be a gang member. Reporter how easy is it for these kids, 12, 13 years old, to get guns . Its so easy for kids here to get guns, its like comparing it to going to the gas station and getting a 50cent juice. Reporter for 12 years, Diane Latiker has run an after School Program called kids off the block in one of chicagos deadliest neighborhoods. In 2007, she built a memorial with bricks containing the names of children and teens killed in chicago violence. After 374 bricks, she had to stop. There was no more room. Nearly 600 more young people have died violently since then. If we would have kept with the bricks, it would have took over the whole block, sadly, sadly. Reporter Diane Latikers idea is to keep kids away from gangs before they can be recruited. A big percentage say they made the decision to join a gang, or not to join, or participate in violence between fifth and eighth grade, so i said, well, thats who i should target, because if they make that decision at that time, maybe i can get a few of them to say no, im not going to do it, because im involved in something positive, i feel like i have hope, and i have a future. Reporter nearly all of the kids here told us they had heard gunshots and knew someone who had been shot. What many fear most is becoming the unintended targets of bullets meant for others. Because i have to come outside every day, and people just end up killing innocent people, like mostly every day. When its hot outside, people do dumb stuff. Everybody be outside, it gets to arguments, they have guns and point them at the wrong person, shoot for no apparent reason. Reporter the deadly violence that afflicts chicago is rarely visible in the gleaming downtown that tourists see. Nearly all of it takes place in the impoverished neighborhoods of the south and west sides. The victims, overwhelmingly black and latino. For Diane Latiker, the strongest antidote to the killing is shoring up the economy. Jobs, investment, economics business is afraid to come here because of crime, its like a catch 22. We need the investment and the economics to show up, so we can stop having the guns so readily available. Reporter but, from the police point of view, poverty alone does not lead people to shoot each other. Superintendent mccarthy is convinced that only tougher penalties on gun law violators much stiffer prison terms will make a real impact. Its just such a simple formula. New york state did it. Stiffened the gun laws. Lighten up on the narcotics penalties. And youll see incarceration rates go down, youll see gun seizures go down, and youll see murders go down at the same time. Reporter for chicagos mayor emanuel, the fundamental problem and solution is a matter of values. At the funeral of vonzell banks, he struck a strident tone on the role of fathers, in particular. Theres a big debate out there about fatherhood. Its a fair discussion. Lets have it. Because the fathers have to be present. The fathers have to be there and teach. These are gods children. These are your children. These are my children. Reporter in the lively gospel service, mixed with notes of sorrow were songs of joy for the life that this 17yearold lived. Demonstrations of faith that his spirit was now in a better place. But the songs and prayers could not mask the deeper anguish in this congregation and in this city that far too many of its children are taken away in senseless acts of violence. Im chris bury for the pbs newshour in chicago. Woodruff still ahead on the newshour the search for signs of intelligent life in the universe expands and learning to think on ones feet, through dance. Ifill next delivering cutting edge medical care from a most unusual vehicle. Special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from vietnam. Its part of his ongoing series agents for change. Reporter back in 1970 when this wide body d. C. 10 went into service war was still raging all around this airport in hue vietnam. There are still reminders of the conflict that ended 40 years ago, including the exhibit that captured American Military hardware. But at the airport a very different perception. Hey, how you doing . Reporter the d. C. 10 crew got a flowery welcome then quickly got to work on board. We convert this airplane into a fully equipped eye hospital, state of art facility. We have a team of 22 professionals, covering all what is needed to run the hospital. Reporter dr. Ahmed gomaa is medical director of the orbis flying eye hospital. Started in 1982 with grants from the u. S. Government and corporate and individual donors mostly from the airline industry, it has visited 92 countries. This is the sixth visit to vietnam. Besides the paid staff, there are dozens of volunteers, including the pilots. Nurses and doctors do hands on care during the week long visit but the main goal is trainingto sustain care long after they leave, says california based surgeon mary ohara. This is very, very different than being the great white surgeon who comes in and does some magical surgeries and then leaves without imparting any of the magic to the surgeons in the community. Its teaching the doctors the surgical skills to go forth and do good things for the community, and also teach other doctors. So theres a ripple effect. Reporter so, well before the plane arrives, orbis has alerted local eye care providers who in turn alert likely patients. For eightyearold thuy, its a rare chance at surgery for her strabismus, or lazy eye. translated we took her to see a doctor four years ago. translated we went to a we were afraid to even ask how much it would cost. Reporter thuys father is disabled. Her mother earns less than two dollars a day gathering and selling recyclables. translated i hope the doctors help me because i dont want to be crosseyed anymore. Reporter strabismus is common, affecting perhaps four percent of all people. Patients can lose sight in the wayward eye and depth perception. There also are painful psycho social effects, says dr. Ohara were keyed to be attracted to symmetry and repulsed by asymmetry on a very subconscious level and people who have crooked eyes tend to be down rated in society. Reporter just because of the appearance of that person. Right. Reporter sixyearold van doesnt seem affected by social stigma, at least not yet. translated her life is pretty normal. She gets teased a bit, but her life is pretty normal. Reporter vans parents also struggle to make ends meet and cannot afford surgery. translated we had been to a doctor three years ago. They said wait for a Charity Group to come. Reporter the next day they and others gathered at the local eye hospital for screening about 75 patients are being screened here at the local hospital. Some 45 will be chosen for surgery or laser treatment, based on a variety of criteria. They need to be particularly good teachable cases. Young patients with good prognoses have priority, as do those in danger of losing their sight altogether. Orbis volunteers surrounded by local doctors and students assessed patients with various eye diseases. Including diabetesrelated conditions, glaucoma and strabismus thuy, it turns out, wasnt a good teachable case and not really ready for surgery. Dr. Ohara says she needed more patching therapy, in which the good eye is covered up so the wandering one can be exercised. We really need to have her in her glasses and have her amblyopia treated to the maximum that it can be treated and then think about surgery. Reporter the let down was plain to see on the faces of thuy and her mother. translated of course were sad, seeing my daughter sad. We were hopeful working with these people so its a little sad that nothing came of it. And is she otherwise healthy . Reporter it was vans turn see how much bigger the exotropia is here than down here . I would do 10mm bilateral lateral rectus recessions. Reporter meaning van would get surgery on both eyes to bring them into alignment. The next morning, as she and her father walked up to the airplane, lectures were underway in what normally is the first class section. Its now a 48 seat classroom. In the back, the team led by dr. Ohara was preparing. You ready . Does she have any allergies . translated no reporter no allergies and clearly no fears as she underwent a 90minute procedure following closely on video screen in the classroom. While there are more economical ways to do this. Even flying trainees to california would cost less than but for orbis a key part of the mission is publicity for the cause. Which is often neglected amid myriad challenges faced in developing nations. Dr. Gomaa says the sheer gee whiz factor helps draw attention to eye disease, the young doctors in vietnam are very good. They need support. They need machines. Slow, good, up, beautiful reporter local surgeon thao phuong says she also learned about processes that help deliver care efficiently. The surgery went fine. The person i was training on this particular surgery had done surgery before and she was very good and attentive listening to instruction and following instruction. Dr. Ohara was very clear in her instructions. The whole process, from tiny things, from anesthesia, it was very detailed stepbystep. Reporter she and other local doctors hope orbisthrough lobbying and sometimes securing them expand care allowing families like thuys to afford care. For orbis part, while it needs lots of money to run its operation, it gets almost as much in kindthrough volunteers, like pilot Bob Rutherford you see things that you never see in life. Young children whove never had vision, they have their sight restored. Those things really kinda pull at your heartstrings, makes it easy to do. Reporter the morning the morning after surgery, van was still puffy and a bit groggy. Orbis sent us this video taken a few days later of a child who in dr. Oharas words, had symmetry restored to her life. This is fred de sam lazaro for the pbs newshour in hue, vietnam woodruff freds reporting is a partnership with the under told stories project at st. Marys university of minnesota. Ifill the search for signs of intelligent life in the universe may have been a fruitless one so far, but the effort got a major boost today with a new initiative from scientists Stephen Hawking and others. Using some of the worlds biggest radio telescopes, the project will spend the next ten years surveying one million of the closest stars to earth, trying to find any signals from the 100 closest galaxies. Its called the Breakthrough Initiative and its funded by russian billionaire and Silicon Valley tech investor yuri milner. Hes pledged 100 million for the project. Earlier today in london, physicist Stephen Hawking spoke to reporters about the eternal quest. Its time to commit to finding the answer to search for life beyond earth. The great initiatives are making that commitment. We are alive, we are intelligent, we must know. Ifill Andrew Siemion is director of the berkeley s. E. T. I. Research center and is affiliated with the Breakthrough Initiative. The acronym s. E. T. I. Stands for search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Andrew siemion, thank you for joining us. Aside from hollywood movies, how hard have we been looking for extraterrestrial life in the universe . We have been looking pretty hard. The modern radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence this is the experiment to try to detect extraterrestrial technologies by radio emissions has been going on for about 55 years. Ifill this 100 Million Investment thats being made, how significant is that and what will it do . Its absolutely incredible, and its coming at a very fortuitous time. In the last couple of years, weve learned at least 10 of the stars in our galaxy have an earth like planet, about the size of the earth that liquid water could exist on the surface. At the same time our Computer Technology has advanced dramatically. So we have the opportunity now to pair our knowledge of extrasolar planets and possibilities for life in the universe with incredible advances and Computing Technology to conduct the most sensitive search for extraterrestrial intelligence ever undertakenan the h history of humanity. Ifill are we talking bigger tell scopes higher frequency radios signals . We dont know exactly what frequency extraterrestrial intelligence may be scanning on. So we need to scan much to have the electromagnetic and radio spectrum as we can and thats what the Computer Technology gets us. It gets us the ability to search a huge ability amount of radio spectrum, 20 to 50 times more than weve ever been able to look at before, and were hooking the instruments were building up toatlargest radio tell scopes in the world to conduct a very sensitive search. Ifill the public can be involved in this search . Thats absolutely right. Theres a brorksd open philosophy to the entry project. All the data will be open, all the software we use, hardware, everything will be open source. A component of that is a pairing with the study at home project. This is a screen saver some of your audience may have heard of that they can download on their computer and run it and actually analyze some of the data from the tell scopes we collect on their home computer and contribute to the search. Ifill so there are two pieces of this, one is what we want the universe to know about us and what we want to learn about the universe. So who gets to decide how much we want them to know about us . Thats right. Well, thats the beautiful thing about this project is that we all get to decide. Two Breakthrough Initiatives were announced today. One is listen. Thats the search for extraterrestrial initiative we just talked about. The other is called message. This is a project thats going to try to unite the world in considering what we might want advanced civilization that we might some day get in contact with. Its important to point out theres no commitment to send the message, but this is just a project to try to determine what type of message we might send. Would it be art, music would it be pictures . Would it be sound . And the whole world will participate in that enterrify to think of this message. Ifill what if we discover life out there that is not friendly and, therefore, there is only so much we want them to know about us . Who controls that . Thats a very good question. As i said theres no commitment to send a response. I personally think that if we do detect advanced life, we should undertake a broad discussion with all segments of humanity social, political governments, economic and consider whether we do want to try to communicate with the life we encounter. Ifill very fascinating. A lot of questions to be answered as well as asked here. Andrew siemion with u. C. Berkeley seti project. Thank you very much. Thank you. Woodruff for nearly 40 years, the National Dance institute in new york has given free lessons to new York Public School students. And as Jeffrey Brown found out these kids are learning some incredible steps, take a look. Brown fifth graders at Public School 2 in new yorks chinatown learning to think on their feet. Theyre among 6000 new York City School children who receive dance instruction each week at no cost. But, according to their teacher at great benefit. They find a different form to express themselves, they find their selfconfidence and you really see them becoming their own person. Brown its the work of the National Dance institute, a nonprofit thats been sending instructional teams into new York City Schools for nearly 40 years. Filling a gap where School Budgets fall short, filling a need, says shuen lin, where educational priorities are elsewhere. Most of the kids in our school, and in any school right now, were so focused on high stakes testing. And kids do nothing but basic reading, math, reading math. They sit so much in the school in my classroom and this provides an opportunity for them to not really just get away from learning, because theyre still learning. Brown Ellen Weinstein is n. D. I. s creative director and a longtime instructor. The children learn grit and tenacity and to take chances and to learn that its okay to make a mistake, because if they work hard and they commit to something, theyre going to be successful. Brown assistant principal joanna cohen 96 of our kids qualify for free or reduced price lunch. And many of our students are very recent immigrants to the United States. All i can say is theres not enough of it, schools desperately, children desperately need more. I always thought i would be either a doctor, or an archaeologist or a crook. A really good crook. Brown the force behind all this is a legend in the world of dance Jacques Damboise who calls himself the new yorker with the fancy french name. In fact, damboise grew up in hard circumstances in 1930s and 40s new york. His mother started him in ballet at seven as a way to keep him out of trouble. He left school at 15 to pursue dance fulltime. And at just age 17, became a principal dancer in the new york city ballet. If you think back, why are you doing what youre doing. Its those early teachers, those early influences. Your teachers, especially, and your parents, that kind of write the scripts that you end up acting out the rest of your life. Brown damboise would dance on stages around the world for decades. And in 1976, even while still with the new york city ballet, he began going into Public Schools to offer free lessons to students. I know how it transformed me. And i never paid a nickel or a dime for a lesson, i had free all the time. Brown the institute grew into a citywide force, with a headquarters in harlem. There, every saturday, children selected by their instructors at n. D. I come for additional, higherlevel training also free in preparation for a yearend performance. Damboise still comes down to watch and offer a few pointers. Its the best theater. Its better than broadway to watch these fabulous new york city children dancing and it sets my saturdays off like having a birthday party. Brown the organizations been around long enough that former students, like dufftin garcia, have themselves become instructors. Garcia was just eight when he was selected to join n. D. I. s saturday program. He says his schoolmates didnt make it easy at first. They totally made fun of me and they called me twinkle toes, and they called me, they had the nicknames and so forth. And of course i quit because i couldnt handle the pressure, i thought it just wasnt for me, and i went into martial arts thinking maybe i can get my manhood back that way. Brown distant memories now. Garcia found his way back to dance and uses laughter and his own experience to put children at ease. You make it so that the ones who dont feel like theyre cool, you make it cool. The ones who dont feel like theyre maybe comfortable, you make them comfortable. Those that you feel like maybe its just not for them, you make it seem, you make it so that they understand that its for everyone. Brown 11yearold Jonathan Rosario had clearly decided dancing is for him. Brown i was watching and your teacher was saying attitude, attitude, right . What does that mean to you, attitude . Like put more of your spice in it. Brown your own what, spice . What does that mean . Like your own movement, maybe. Like when you walk, you go. Brown jonathans mother, jessica candelario, danced in school, and says her son has gained friends and confidence from the program. He talks about going to college, and mommy i want to do this dancing, i want to go for this. Im like, do it. Children will play til they drop, right . Ask them to put out the garbage im too tired, mommy. Im too tired. But if you say, can you put out the garbage walking backwards . And then hop on one leg, or singing the star spangled banner, make play and testing right. Part of the game and people will kill themselves to be able to do it. Brown a glimmer in his eye, a lightness to his step damboise told us how dance almost killed him nearly every bodily part broken or replaced at one time or another. So what keeps you going now at nearly 81 . Well, breathing and a heartbeat. Hopefully. Brown from harlem, new york im Jeffrey Brown for the pbs newshour. Woodruff on the newshour online tonight we continue our series from cartoonist jack ohman, who illustrates the poignant and heartwrenching story of the final days of his fathers life. Find his latest, on our home page. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Ifill tonight on most of these pbs stations join charlie rose as he gets the view from israel, on the iran nuclear deal. Woodruff as we close tonight from our new home at the nweshour, we want to take note of all of the hard work that went into getting this designed, built and ready for you to see and hear tonight. Ifill if you can imagine, this took only a week or two to get done to move to one studio from one studio to another and now we have our beautiful, new place. We want to thank everyone involved, the design team and everybody leer at the home station in washington weta. They put a lot into it. Woodruff we like what were in the middle of right nower. Ifill were very happy. T for joining us. And thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday we meet some americans who have traveled to iraq, on their own, to fight join the fight against isis. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. 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. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news america. 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