Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20150218

Often on this end of the island is where we see the majority of our shorebirds. Ifill endangered birds head south for the winter to the sunny bahamas. Scientists work to protect their disappearing habitat from over development and Climate Change. Climate change is a serious threat to these birds, and equally serious is how we react to Climate Change. When we lose the habitat for these birds, we lose the birds. Woodruff those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by it doesnt matter what kind of weather. It doesnt matter what time of day or night. When mother natures done her worst, the only thing that matters to us, is keeping the lights on for you. Were the men and women of the International Brotherhood of electrical workers. Keeping the power on in communities like yours, all across the country. Because when bad weather strikes, well be there for you. The i. B. E. W. The power professionals. At bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from Electronics Systems to intelligence analysis and cyber operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. Knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. Thats bae systems. Thats inspired work. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the Obama Administration is delaying the president s executive actions on immigration, after a federal judge ruled it didnt follow proper legal procedure. The president s action would have shielded millions of people from deportation. It was set to go into effect tomorrow. The texas judges ruling freezes actions in 26 states now suing the government. The administration put the action on hold, but said it will appeal. Well have much more on this right after the news summary. Woodruff a wintry blast has left hundreds of thousands of people without power in the midatlantic and southern u. S. The carolinas and georgia bore the brunt of the outages after the region was covered with several inches of snow and ice. Snow plows were out in full force to clear the roads and highways. We will continue to see downed trees and power lines as they succumb to the weight of the ice. So that is a big concern as the days and nights go ahead, the ice on the power lines. And while we see some temperatures rise a few degrees above freezing this afternoon, these temperatures will drop below freezing tonight causing our roads to refreeze. Woodruff farther north in the nations capital, the federal government was closed today after the area got up to six inches of snow overnight. The same storm system is now barreling up the east coast, towards the already winterweary residents of new england. Ifill in West Virginia officials launched an investigation into why a train loaded with over a hundred tankers full of crude oil derailed. A massive fireball rose hundreds of feet into the air after yesterdays accident in mount carbon. The tracks may have been slippery from snowfall, but its not clear that caused the accident. Hundreds of families evacuated and two Water Treatment plants were forced to close. Woodruff the u. N. Security the u. S. Has changed its rules on weapon sales and will allow armed military drones to be sold to friendly nations. The state department announced the policy change today. Allies who buy the drones will have to agree not to use the Unmanned Aircraft illegally, for unlawful surveillance or against domestic populations. Ifill intelligence officials in denmark admitted today they had ifill intelligence officials in denmark admitted today they had received warnings about the suspected gunman in last weekends shootings in copenhagen. They came from prison officials who said Omar Abdel Hamid el hussein was at risk of becoming radicalized while in jail last year. Elhussein was killed in a shootout with police after he killed two people at a Cultural Center and synagogue. Woodruff the president of egypt called on the u. N. To form a coalition and intervene in libya to fight the threat of Islamic State militants there. The request comes after the terrorist group beheaded 21 egyptian Coptic Christians in libya. President Abdelfattah Elsisi made his plea during a recorded radio interview that aired in egypt today. translated what is going on in libya could change this country into a breeding ground that will threaten the whole region, and not only egypt. Egypt, the mediterranean basin and europe have to deal with this problem because the mission was unaccomplished, was unfinished by our european friends. We abandoned the libyan people as prisoners to extremist militias. Woodruff the u. N. Security council will meet for an emergency session in response to the crisis in libya tomorrow. Ifill in syria today, a surprise attack on six villages brought Government Forces closer to their goal of taking back rebelheld neighborhoods in aleppo. Parts of the countrys largest city have been in opposition control since 2012. More than 100 people died in heavy fighting on both sides. Late this afternoon, the syrian envoy to the u. N. Said now theyre willing to suspend the aerial bombardment of aleppo for six weeks. Woodruff a Suicide Attack killed at least 20 people today at a provincial Police Headquarters in afghanistan. Four taliban bombers stormed the heavily fortified compound about 40 miles south of kabul. Local officials said they were dressed in Afghan Police uniforms and detonated their explosives in several waves. Eight people were wounded. Ifill in haiti, the final day of carnival celebrations was canceled after an accident on a float killed 16 people and injured 78 others. A singer on a parade float ran into electrical wires in the Early Morning hours, setting off a stampede by bystanders. Many of those killed were trampled to death. Woodruff schools across liberia began opening their doors this week to students, for the first time in six months. They were forced to close with the spread of the ebola virus. The outbreak killed nearly 4000 liberians, but there are now only a handful of cases. Before students were allowed in, teachers explained how to protect against ebola. Schoolchildren also had to rinse their hands and have their temperature checked. Ifill on wall street today, stocks edged slightly higher as investors kept a wary eye on talks over greece and its debt. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 28 points to close over 18,000. The nasdaq rose five points. And the sandp 500 added three points. Ifill still to come on the newshour action on immigration put on hold; greeces uncertain economic future; child labor toxic chemicals and the pursuit of gold; a new understanding of the symptoms of menopause; tracking endangered birds that head south for the winter; and from africa to america, Alexandra Fuller explores place in a new memoir. Woodruff we now turn to that immigration decision handed down overnight. A federal judge in texas temporarily froze president obamas latest executive orders on immigration, blocking them as a legal challenge by two dozen states moves through the courts. The judges Action Centers on the steps the president initiated in november. At that time he said he would waive deportation for an additional 4 to 5 million people, some brought to the u. S. As children and others who are the undocumented parents of american citizens. Signups for those waivers were supposed to begin tomorrow. But last nights injunction halted that. In a stronglyworded opinion, judge andrew hanen of the Southern District of texas wrote that the president s actions are quote a massive change in immigration practice but hanen ruled largely on process, writing that the policy quote, should have undergone the noticeandcomment procedure, essentially get 90days of comments before going into effect. The Justice Department announced it will appeal this decision. President obama spoke today to reporters in the oval office stating the law and history are on his side. I disagree with the texas judges ruling and the Justice Department will appeal. This is not first time where a lower court judge has blocked something or attempted to block something that ultimately was shown to be lawful. Woodruff joining me now to discuss exactly what this means and how it might impact the fight over funding and immigration on capitol hill are stephen legomsky, professor of law at Washington University in st. Louis and alan gomez, immigration reporter for u. S. A. Today in miami. We welcome you both. Professor legomsky, its our understanding the judge in this case did not rule on the merits of what the president did but rather on a more narrow procedure in how this was carried out. Explain that. Yeah, thats correct, judy. Under a statute called the administrative procedure act, certain federal rules and policies have to go through a notice and comment process, as you were describing. The way it works is that the federal government issues a proposed version of this rule. The public has a chance to submit comments. The government evaluates those comments and then decides how best to proceed in light of those comments. The issue here is that there is an exception to that procedure. Its not required when all the government is doing is offering guidance as to how it proposes to exercise a discretionary power. The plaintiff states for their part that they dont believe real discretion is being exercised. We think these decisions are likely to be rubberstamped. The government for its part is saying the secretarys memo explicitly and repeatedly commands the officers on the ground to look at the facts of each individual case and to exercise discretion and there is no reason or evidence to think the officers are going to systematically disobey the secretary and they also point out that there have been about 38,000 denials so far, including some examples where it was undone on the side of discretion. Woodruff and thats for waivers on deportation. We know another court ruled earlier in favor of the president. Why does this ruling prevail then . Well the action by the District Court for the columbia, as youve pointed out, reached the opposite result. It simply refused to issue an injungion. So the result of that is nothing happened. This is actually positive action by this particular judge and therefore unless a decision is undone on appeal, the administration would have to comply with the notice and noticeandcomment procedure that this judge has said was necessary. Woodruff so stephen legomsky, the president himself said today that the administration will appeal. We know they will appeal to the fifth circuit in new orleans known to be a conservative court. What happens then . Do we have any sense of how long this could take in do you expect it to go as high as the Supreme Court . What are the expectations . Well, thats a great question. Its very hard to predict exactly what the government can do once it files its appeal is first of all ask the court of appeals to temporarily stay, that is put on hold the preliminary injunction that the judge ordered. They can also ask the court to expedite its review. I think there are a couple reasons why it might want this expedited. One is that even though the cost of this program, the administrative processing cost will be paid for by the applicants themselves, theres a cash flow issue. The government has the hire adjudicators and train them before the revenue comes in, so theyll want some indication the program is going to fly. Woodruff i want to. Go ahead. I want the move on the alan gomez now who reports on the immigration issue regularly. Alan, what is the practical effect of this going to be on the immigrant community in this country . Well the practical effect is that you have basically thousands of people who had their paperwork ready their applications ready to go. They were ready to run tomorrow to the post office and start mailing these into the department of Homeland Security. Obviously they woke up to this news this morning. So theres been a lot of. Ive been talking with a lot of them today, a lot of just painful confusion throughout that community. Some of them are just sort of giving up and saying, all right, we kind of figured Something Like this was going to happen so theyre moving on, but a lot of them are trying to get out the message that an Appeals Court could overturn this ruling, that this program can still go into effect at some point, so theres a lot of action going on the urge them to continue to keep their paperwork to, continue getting ready so if and when that day comes when the program restarts they can go ahead and start jumping in right there. But in the meantime, theyre truly in limbo here . Absolutely. I mean, as one of them put it to me, were used to tough trails. Were used to trust voyages. A lot of them talking about those long treks that they made through the deserts and the mountains of the southwest boarder to get here, so as they put it a couple legal hurdles isnt that big of a deal but absolutely. Its absolutely painful for a lot of them. There are a lot of tears shed around the country as they woke up to that news this morning. A lot of folks woke up in the middle of the night expecting this ruling and seeing it. So its really difficult for them to sort of get so close, to be one day away from being able to finally be legal, being able to finally go to work without having to worry about looking over your shoulder and then all of a sudden it just gets taken away from them some its been a rough day. Quickly a question about where this leaves the political fight over immigration. We know in the congress right now Republicans Holding up funding for the department of Homeland Security. They say until the president withdraws these executive orders. The president saying im not going to do that. Some republicans today saying, well maybe we back off and let this go through since the fight is now in the courts. Others disagree. What do you see happening on the political front . Well, its. The republicans are basically faced with a fascinating opportunity now. Theyre off this week, so they have a few days to get together and figure out what theyll do. On the one with hand they can say, okay, look this court has ruled that this potentially if this is a program that needs to be stopped, so we need to go further. We need to push harder to make sure that the president ends this program and we use this funding bill to end it. But on the other hand, they can easily say, they got some cover now saying, look it looks like the courts will take care of this, we have one ruling thats favorable to us, so now we can kind of pull out that. Pull that out of the funding fight and allow the department of Homeland Security funding bill to move forward without risking a government shutdown, which is what were facing by february 27th when the department runs out of money. Woodruff well its certainly gotten all of our attention. We will be watching very closely. Alan gomez professor stephen legomsky, we thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. Ifill the escalating standoff between greece and other members of the European Union showed little sign of abating today, prompting more questions about whether the country might soon run out of money; whether it would agree to continuing austerity cuts; or possibly leave the eurozone altogether. Ifill the demand from the e. U. To greece agree to an extension of a quartertrillion dollar Bailout Program by friday or risk losing assistance altogether. That is not something many greek citizens want to hear. translated i am angry with the logic of the European Union. Perhaps we should consider from now on how this country will acquire a different policy, one that could possibly be outside the frame of the European Union. Ifill still, some have called on the popular new left wing government to reign in its resistance to what they have termed an ultimatum. translated i would have liked them to be more serious from the very beginning. When youre asking with your hand stretched out you cant have this attitude. Ifill european nations have propped up greeks unsteady finances since 2010, in exchange for deep spending cuts. But with unemployment topping 25 percent and shrinking bank deposits, many who voted for the new government blame the austerity itself for the countrys economic ills. In brussels today, the greek finance minister, who campaigned on a promise to scrap the bailout, denounced a plan to extend it as absurd. But he did not rule out a deal. The next step is the responsible step. Europe would continue to deliberate in order to enhance the chances of, and actually achieve, a very good outcome for the average european, not for ifill his german counterpart, speaking on behalf of the eurozone, said athens goal remained unclear translated greece needs to decide whether they want the program or not. Nobody understands what greece wants, and if greece knows what it wants. Ifill absent agreement, the current bailout plan expires at the end of the month. From the streets of greece to the floors of International Markets we look at whats at stake in the standoff with journalist John Psarapoulos in athens and Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for international economics. John psarapoulos, what started this . Why the breakdown on monday . I think that the problem centers around the fact that youve got a leftwing, radical leftwing government in athens, which wants to go fully frontally against the whole concept of austerity across the periphery of europe. It wants to raise the banner of involveernty and selfdetermination the banner of sovereignty and selfdetermination, in other words telling germany it cant tell other countries to do with their National Budgets and with their economic and fiscal policies. I think that a lot of the acrimony thats been seen, not just on monday, but also in last weaks euro group, has centered around the political symbolism of that standoff, not so much the substance the fact that the greeks are being told by the germans theyre running economic deficits and theyre coming back to the germans and telling them that they are running democratic deficits. And both sides, of course russia saying that both these deficits are going to be detrimental to the future of europe. So the greeks are trying to present themselves as being on an equal footing even though they are the debtors in this argument. Ifill Jacob Kirkegaard is this kind of political and economic standoff mean sure disaster for greece . Are they hided headed to default . I dont think were there yet. I think were in the political theater scene so to speak, because you have a newly elected greek government that was elected on a lot of promise, a lot of things they would do, and many including myself, would argue that many of those election promises are at odds with economic reality. So you are in a situation where the greek government is going to have to renege on many of those promises, and one of the things in which you do that is to at least appear to be fighting to the last drop of blood politically for the interests of the greek people, et cetera. So i dont think you will get a deal until five minutes to midnight, and were in the quite there yet. Ifill John Psarapoulos, i want to bounce some of that off of you. Youre talking to people, there not only the politicians but also the residents of greece. This is a very popular government. This is a very popular stance to push back against the e. U. Does the e. U. Just seem heavy handed to the residents of greece . Well yes. A lot of people have now gathered around this government to support it, privately and publicly. Whats remarkable is that opinion polls last week showed that the number of greeks who support this government now has troubled since the election compared to the number of greeks who voted for it. And i think there was a great deal of concern. People are nervous. Theres been a slow bank run here. About 17 billion has been withdrawns from banks in just two months. People know what is at stake. They know its a highrisk strategy to elect an antiausterity government in the midst of an austerity program. They know how weak greeces position is in europe. They know that greece can be forced to leave the eurozone if its liquidity is cut off by the European Central bank and the eurozone countries. So yes i mean people have shown a remarkable kind of courage. Nonetheless in gathering around this government and showing solidarity as much as possible as a nation rather than a leftwing faction. Having said that, there are of course, those who disagree with a lot of the specifics of what has been said. They think weve take an step too far and treaded on european toes and on the traditional values of consensus within europe. Ifill youre talking about the Popular Party just elected to government. So what is it the e. U. Is asking for and what can they hope to get realistically . Well, i think a twostage approach here. There is first approach and first stage where basically the e. U. Is telling the new greek government, you have to ask for an extension of the existing program with greece. What that basically is saying, its symbolic. What it means is that you, a newly elected greek government, have to accept that in a currency union, you are not a fully sovereign government and youre in the a fully sovereign country. You have to play by the rules and part of these rules russia you know, agreeing in theory or in practice, but there is an existing program some the greeks have to ask for an extension of that program. Then once that is done, we can sit down and have a longerterm negotiation about what is the relationship going to look like between the euro area, the other creditors and greece years ahead. Ifill is there any discussion under way at all about the fact there may not be a relationship that this may be the beginning of greece ending the eurozone in. I think the probability of an exit of greece from the your zone is extremely low, because i think as john said from athens that there is a clear recognition in greece that theres a lot at risk here. So far the posturing if you like, by the government is popular but at the same time, many greeks, weve seen that it was mentioned that more and more people are taking their money out of the bank. So theyre hedging. Once the economic consequences, which would be very dramatic for greece if theres a break with the eurozone, the government will money out of money in a matter of a relatively few weeks. It doesnt matter that you have a great ewill Election Program and a lot of public spending youd like to do and a lot of Public Officials youd like to rehire. If youre out of cash. So once the screws are being tightened on the Greek Economy which they will very rapidly, i think there will be a real crude awakening by the many people who right now in the opinion poll support the greek government. Ifill were waiting for another shoe to drop on friday and perhaps another one next week. John psarapoulos in athens and Jacob Kirkegaard here in washington, thank you both very much. My pleasure. Woodruff the chinese new year, celebrated this week often marks a frenzy of gold buying. But some of that gold comes at a high price for the impoverished nations that produce it. The newshours p. J. Tobia has this report, the latest in a series by photographer larry c. Price. It was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on crisis reporting. Reporter these best friends duku and yoyo, just eight and ten years old, earn just a few dollars a day, every day, mining gold in sulawesi, indonesia. Yoyos mother thinks it may be all they ever do. I have a plan to get out of here, just no money. Reporter duku and yoyo have worked the mines for two years. They dont get many breaks, they dont have any toys, and theyre not in school regularly. Yoyo can read a little but duku cannot because he hasnt gone to school yet. Reporter when asked if hed rather be in school, duku just shrugs and gets back to work. Other children labor underground, unfortunately well suited for this work. Tiny tunnels, tiny bodies. Small, artisanal gold mines can be found on every continent, often in remote regions of unstable countries. Indonesia is one of the worlds leading suppliers of this precious metal. The philippines also produces tons of gold. Much of it ripped from the earth by hands like these. Parents dont choose this life for their children, but theres no other option. Parents are forcing them. Reporter carlos conde is a researcher at Human Rights Watch in the philippines. You always have that issue there of parents, if not forcing, at least convincing them that they have to work in the fields, that they have to work in the factory or that they have to work in the mining operations. Its poverty basically. Reporter these children spend their days crushing the rocks that miners like duku and yoyo chisel from the earth. They sift through the ore, looking for sparkling gold residue, no bigger than a grain of sand. Its tedious, but the worst is still ahead. Liquid mercury, one of the most dangerous heavy metals on the planet, is used throughout the processing of gold ore. Mercury is an Immediate Public Health issue because its toxic, its one of the most potent neurotoxins out there. Reporter demetria durano owns a few of these Processing Centers in the philippines. Shes worked with mercury for much of her life. translated some of my operators will really get sick because when they open the tumblers, they inhale, if there is mercury it really stinks. They dont wear masks and thats why most of my operators get sick. They look pale and their skin turns yellow. Reporter while it destroys the body, mercury is a cheap way to protect the gold from dirt and rock particles. translated sometimes i feel so weak afterwards. I always wash right away. I wash my hands with soapy water. But you will really get a headache, you will really feel badly. Reporter Richard Gutierrez is the founder and director of ban toxics, an organization in the philippines dedicated to preventing the trade of toxic chemicals. Its a heavy metal, therefore it is persistent. Its persistent therefore it bio accumulates in the food chain in a country such as the philippines, composed of 7,100 islands at least, eating seafood, seafood is a primary source of protein for both since mercury bio accumulates it bio accumulates in the sea food, so its poisoning contaminating a major protein source for a lot of people. Reporter the final step in processing the gold begins with a spark. The tiny balls of mercury encased gold dust are blasted with an acetylene torch, releasing vapors that are pure poison. Unprotected workers breath it all in. The danger reaches well beyond here. Charlita balwis spent nearly a decade as a Health Inspector in the town of diwal wal, philippines, where smallscale gold mining is a way of life. She became ill from the mercury smoke. translated our Health Center was on the top floor of a building, near a chimney from one of the gold melting shops. It was too close to our center. Even if we just stood up we really inhaled it. Reporter she estimates 50 of the townspeople have shown symptoms of mercury poisoning. translated most of the people who cook or melt the gold felt tremors. But it wasnt just the workers. Also just people who were passersby, because they would inhale the smoke. So we cant just say that only the one who cooks or melts the gold is the one thats been contaminated or infected. Also anyone who lived nearby. Reporter even when the symptoms subside, the heavy metal stays in the system and will likely maim or kill. You do have deformities children that are born with, that are disfigured. So these types of symptoms, especially the more benign ones or unseen ones, make screening for mercury poisoning very difficult, especially for Health Workers that are untrained and unfamiliar with the symptoms. Reporter dealers keep a steady supply of mercury available in mining towns. This woman runs a shop in sulawesi, indonesia. She says that customers come day and night for the mercury she supplies. In one week we sell one tank, each tank is 34 kilos. So in a month we can sell more than 120 kilos. Reporter five years ago she started selling mercury illegally. She was arrested but not jailed. Instead, the police put her in touch with a legal supplier. They now do business together. Its an example of how the local authorities are complicit in this deadly trade. translated this was made in spain, previously there was some from america. Reporter when asked about mercurys health affects on her community, she shrugs. translated what can i do . Im here to make a living also. We need it others need it which means all of us here need each other. Mercury supports this chain. Reporter the end of that chain is often china or india. Some of it ends up in local markets, like this gold shop in borneo. Gold from artisinal mines makes up only ten to fifteen percent of the four ton global gold market, according to analysts at thompson reuters. But after its processed, gold is impossible to trace. L. J. Johnson is the director of International Labor office in the philippines whether were talking gold or silver that we buy, its a bulk commodity. So when we ask consumers, are you sure that ring that youre wearing, the earring, the necklaces are free from child labor . Thats more difficult. But its up to consumers to start making that choice. Reporter in a tragic irony there is a cheaper, easily available and even more efficient alternative to using mercury when processing gold. Its borax, commonly found in household cleaning products. But gutierrez of ban toxics says its only being used in a few philippine communities. The utilization of borax at the refining stage, to improve gold quality so that when they sell it to the gold buyers, they get more money in return. So this is an ideal process or there is an existing community of miners who have adopted it. Reporter but change comes slowly with these old methods and their young victims. Introducing alternatives to communities is much trickier than it sounds. Its not just about planting a technology in front of them and saying this makes your job easier. Reporter even if the problem of mercury pollution and poisoning is solved, duku and yoyo will continue to mine for gold, probably for the rest of their lives, as long as poverty persists, and gold dust can help put food on the table. Ifill you can find links to more of larry c. Prices work for the Pulitzer Center on our website, including photo essays, a podcast and an ebook on gold mining issues around the world. Woodruff its well known that four out of every five middleaged women deal with hot flashes, night sweats and other difficult symptoms of menopause. New Research Finds those symptoms often last a great deal longer than conventional wisdom had it. It comes from the largest study of its kind done so far of more than 3,300 women. It concluded that tthe median durationfor hot flashes lasted seven years, and that in some cases symptoms can last as long as 14 years. Moreover, the problems were worse for some women of color. The median duration was 10 years for africanamerican women and almost nine years for latinas. Nancy avis is the lead researcher of the study. Shes a professor of Public Health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in winstonsalem, north carolina. Professor avis, thank you for joining us. What is different that was learned in this study that wasnt previously understood . I think one of the things that is different is that we were able to follow women for a longer period of time, so we did learn that there are women who experience hot flashes for at least 14 years, that up to 40 of our sample was still experiencing hot flashes night sweats after 14 years. And is it understood anymore why that is happening and how many women are experiencing it . Well, in our sample, its about 40 of our sample thats still experiencing hot flashes at that time. We will continue. We are continuing to follow women and we will know in a few years how much longer they might last and what that percentage is. But this is what we found at this time. And what about in terms of the why . Well we do know that women who begin to get their hot flashes when theyre younger and earlier before they reach menopause experience them a longer period of time and women who dont get them until they reach menopause experience them a shorter period of time. And that was a big difference that we found. So bad news potentially if it happens sooner rather than later. What about other correlations among women experiencing these symptoms of hot flashes longer. We mentioned a difference in racial, ethnic groups is that right . Thats right. And as you pointed out, we did find that African American women reported them for a longer period of time, and in our sample we had chinese and japanese women living in the u. S. , but of chinese and japanese origin, and they experience,ed them for a shorter period of time. And again, any understanding of why that would be . You know, we have found this in Cross Sectional studies conducted around the world where asian women do tend to report in general fewer hot flashes and weve also found in the u. S. That African American women report more hot flashes in terms of prevalence. So thats a consistent finding. Its very hard to try to figure out just why because there could be differences in lifestyle, differences in diet, reproductive factors hormonal factors. Its very complicated. Its a fascinating question, but we really dont have an answer just yet. Woodruff so youre saying the study continues. In the middle of this, though is there any new information or advice for women going through these difficult symptoms . I think one of the important messages is that there is a huge variability among women. We found that about 20 only experienced hot flashes and night sweats for maybe two years while another percentage found experienced them for 14 years. Thiss just a wide variability of what women experience and we dont know what can explain it ahead of time for women, but for those who do experience them a long period of time, we need to find some safe and effective ways to relieve these symptoms. As of now we really dont have good methods on the long term. People are investigating some methods such as acupuncture hypnosis, mindfulness, stress reduction. Those are safe and necktive for some women, worth a try. Pharmaceuticals potentially but they should talk to a Health Care Provider about those. Woodruff well all very interesting i know to many many americans. Thank you very much dr. Nancy avis. Thank you. Ifill now, finding, tracking and protecting endangered birds. Last year, a National Audubon Society Report found Climate Change is likely to disrupt the habitat of about half of north americas bird species by 2080. While a number of conservation efforts are being made in america, scientists want to get a better understanding of where some birds go when they leave the u. S. , in order to protect that habitat as well. Like humans, many head to warmer climates in the winter. The newshours cat wise reports on a new effort to track them. birds chirping reporter as the sun came up on a recent morning, a team of u. S. Scientists, who were camping out on a Remote Island in the bahamas, packed up and loaded their gear into an awaiting boat. They were part of a National Audubon society led expedition searching the sandy shorelines for a special visitor to these uninhabited spits of land called the joulter cays. Often on this end of the island is where we see the majority of our shore birds. Reporter this breathtaking area is home to dozens of species of native and migratory bird, including a small, gray shorebird called a Piping Plover which has been on the endangered species list in the United States since 1986. They fly about 4,000 miles round trip from their breeding grounds, to their wintering grounds. Its an amazing migration. Reporter Walker Golder is a biologist with the National Audubon society. He was part of a small team of scientists who went looking for Piping Plovers in the bahamas about five years ago. We got to one place on the very northern tip of the joulter cays and found nearly a hundred Piping Plovers in one place. That was a wonderful moment, and we realized that this is a significant place in the wintering grounds of this species. Reporter the birds, which nest along beaches in eastern parts of the u. S. And canada used to be a common sight in those areas, but their numbers have dropped to 8,000 worldwide. Much of that decline can be attributed to human development. And now, says walker, like many shorebirds, Piping Plovers are already feeling the impacts of from rising sea levels. Climate change is a serious threat to these birds, and equally serious is how we react to Climate Change. When we begin to try to harden our shorelines, and build stone or hard structures on our beaches in an attempt to hold back the ocean, the habitat for these birds disappears. When we lose the habitat for these birds, we lose the birds. Reporter for a number of years now, a big effort has been made to protect the birds while they are nesting in the u. S. Portions of certain east coast beaches are even closed off during their breeding season, to the chagrin of some beachgoers. But until recently their winter habitat was a mystery. Now that the scientists know theyre trying to track and study the birds here. Lets pull in here, yeah, and see what we see. Reporter but first you have to find them. No easy task with miles and miles of beaches to search. I think theyve already left. Reporter then, after a bit more searching, success. Wait, look right over there. Look left. Very tip in. You see them . Yep you got them . Reporter they moved in for a closer look. I got 47. So we would put one to two nets here. Right . One here and one where you are. Reporter the team began setting up for a key task of their expedition, to net and capture the birds. It took some time, and a bit of patience, but soon they were launching their nets. After removing and inspecting the birds, they put easily identifiable bands, pink for the bahamas, on their legs. Dan catlin is with the Virginia Tech shorebird program. Hes helped capture and band more than 4,000 Piping Plovers. We can actually see where each one of these birds is found during migration and where they are found during the breeding season. And so, we can start to put these areas into perspective and determine what levels of protection are needed and what is already there. Reporter over the course of their three week expedition, the team was able to capture 27 birds. While the primary focus of the scientists here is to advance their understanding of the Piping Plover and where it spends the winter, they also have another goal to preserve this pristine habitat by enlisting the help of the local community, the government of the bahamas, and the tens of millions of bird enthusiasts in the u. S. And around the world. How many people would like to take people out bird watching and get paid for it . laughs reporter matt jeffery is with the audubons International Alliances program. They would like to see the joulter cays turned into a National Park to protect the Piping Plovers winter habitat from the kind of tourism and Big Development that have become a hallmark of the bahamas. But in order to do that, they need the support of communities near the joulters, communities that havent benefited much from tourism. 46. 7 million bird watchers in the United States. This is what people are paying to go and watch birds, 17. 3 billion. Do you guys want some of that . Yeah reporter interested locals who complete a 14week course will be given an audubon birding certification but jeffery says the real key to the effort is making sure the joulters are kept pristine. We could go on forever answering science questions and wed lose the habitat, somebody would come in and build a resort, or take out that habitat if we dont address the conservation needs right now. We really need to bring economics into the equation in order to get people to give a greater value to the environments were trying to conserve and preserve. Reporter but not everyone is enthusiastic about turning the area into a National Park. Phillip rolle is a local bone fishing guide, bones, as they are known, are fast, hardto catch fish which live in shallow waters. The sport is one the few sources of tourism income in this area. Rolle doesnt want the joulters to become overly developed. But he says many locals are equally worried about the area becoming offlimits to them. They are concerned, not knowing exactly what they mean by being a park, whether that means they cant go out and bonefish anymore. They think when you say it is a park then you cant touch it you cant do anything. Thats why most of the natives are saying no, we dont want it to be a park. Reporter even if everyone agrees going forward, money is a problem. Just a few park rangers currently manage several million acres. The joulter cays is a fairly remote area, it is going to require two or three staff, its going to require a boat. Reporter eric carey is the executive director of the Bahamas National trust which manages the countrys parks. We certainly believe it makes sense for a legislator in the u. S. When theyre thinking about funding conservation to note that it doesnt make sense to only protect within the u. S. Borders because these birds fly south. Of course it doesnt take away the responsibility of the bahamas government to protect the environment, and we take that very seriously. Reporter meanwhile, back on the joulters, the scientists hope a decision about whether the area will be turned into a National Park will be made sometime soon. But for now, the focus around the campfire is about where to look for plovers in the morning. Im cat wise in the bahamas for the pbs newshour. Woodruff finally tonight, a gutsy personal account of a crumbling marriage. Jeffrey brown has our book conversation. Brown Alexandra Fuller grew up in Southern Africa rhodesia, now zimbabwe, malawi and zambia. This backdrop of war, beauty, hard living and two almost largerthanlife parents has been the inspiration for two best selling memoirs dont lets go to the dogs tonight and cocktail hour under the tree of forgetfulness. Now comes a third, leaving before the rains come, about her move to the u. S. , the end of her marriage, and her continuing connection to all she left behind in africa. Alexandra fuller, welcome. Thank you. Brown lets start with that last thought about connections to place because part of this or at least it struck me about blonding and not belonging. Thats something you wanted to explore and gnaws at you . I knew thats just part of the condition of being a white Southern African. Particularly at my age youre just possessed at birth and very aware of it particularly when you have parents like mine who sort of fought on what i consider the wrong side of history, but then felt the connection to that land that they stayed. So youre a sort of living disconnect. Youre white african, and then. And you sort of proved to proved moved to the u. S. And you look like white, middleclass u. S. Housewife. Brown but youre not. But im african. Brown your parents, who youve written about now in the two memoirs i used larger than life because i wasnt sure what to say. They are. You almost cant make up these two in a way. Theres the quote from your father that says the problem with most people is they want to be alive for as long as possible without having any idea what whatsoever how to live. I think the extraordinary thing for me is the older i get, theyre not larger than life, theyre simply alive. Theyre just deeply authentic. They have i think issued every tribe that would have them a member and really deeply become themselves. Its not a bad model to follow. Brown there is a passage in here i loved because it kind of goes through the talk we have in this country about how the raise children, you know and coddling them and scheduling them. And your father says he tells do you run around freely and he says, you have the whole of bloody africa to play in. I love that. Just get out there. That was his philosophy of parenting . Pretty much. My sister an i were laughing about that. We were free to do anything we wanted as long as we didnt shoot each other above the knees. That was the limit. Brown you laugh, but guns were around quite a bit. Yeah. And i think one of the things that i explore in all my work is that theres this constant sort of conflict. Its not easy. Its a lot of contradictions. I adore my family. I dont love their politics. Theyre wonderful parents. They were dreadful at parenting. I admire them enormously. You know, i assiduously do not follow most of what theyve told me to do, and yet the one thing my father did say is, you know live your own life and youll know its your own life because its lonely and its frightening. When you look back there will be only one set of fingerprints and theyre yours. Brown this book is a memoir of a divorce. Uhhuh. Brown one reviewer had a line i liked that said Alexandra Fuller has written a divorce memoir for people who may not like divorce memoirs. And its interesting because you say that yourself in the book. Right. You go around and start reading these things as your own marriage is breaking up, and you dont like what youre reading. So how did you come to it . How did you find your way to writing this . I think thats what i do i write and read and write and read my way into and out of ideas and life. Thats what we do. Thats what storytellers do. And the closest i could come to anything was actually joan didions the year of magical thinking because it felt to me not like a divorce. It felt to me kind of like a death. 20 years with someone when youve committed so much of yourself, when you have made such an attempt i think to mold yourself in a relationship and then find yourself in what feels like really solitary confinement. To break out of that there must be a kind of death. I mean, anything else, you know, i think the one thing i really was allergic to is this idea that it was divorce was some kind of celebration. It felt to me like a really catastrophic ending. And, yes, something new came from it. But it was much more carl jung than lets celebrate the freedom of something. Whatever the other paradigm was. You know you said youre a writer so you write about what happened. That sort of goes to the larger question. So youre sort of telling your life story in all these memoirs. Why . Well, you know i wanted to be a writer. That was just it. So i think you either have that compulsion or you dont. Its for me like breathing. Im. I want to make words out of life. Thats bigger than me. Thats as big a Creative Force as. Bigger than for me even having children. That felt more accidental. Wonderful but accidental. This is a deliberate and very enormous feeling in me. I did try to write fiction. I wrote ten novels. They were all just awful. And my agent at the time inspired me. She said you may have a minuscule bit of talent. But you have no story, so youre on your own. No wait i do have a story. Brown and im going to tell it. And what happened is that first book, dont lets go to the dogs tonight, was a mmr of growing up with my extraordinary memoir, everyone called it brutally honest. That really made me realize how much everyone else must be lying through their teeth all the time. And i knew that is part of the gift of growing up Southern African. For all our fault we really hash things out. Were very funny. Were very direct, and were very honest. I think, you know because someone is not waving a gun at you, really whats the worst thing i can happen, let me tell the truth. So we dont have freedom of speech, and we use it. And freedom of speech and people take the fifth. Brown all right. Well the new memoir is leaving before the rains come. Alexandra fuller, thank you. Thank you. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day. President obamas executive actions on immigration were stalled by a federal judge but it will be appealed. And the white house announced more than 11 million americans signed up for private Health Coverage under the Affordable Care act. Ifill on the newshour online, its fat tuesday. Read what we discovered about Human Behavior and revelry, on our homepage. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Before we go, a correction on friday i said, the soon to be outgoing governor of oregon was john kitzhaber. We heard from many of you, it is actually pronounced kitz hahber. My apologies. Im Judy Woodruff and im gwen ifill, well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. I. B. E. W. The power professionals in your neighborhood. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. Carnegie corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. 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 nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and sue herera. Record setter. New highs for the s p 500 and the russell 2000. Why stocks shrugged off worries. Yield spike. Whats happening in one of the biggest markets in the world . Treasuries. What it could mean for your investment. Danger on the rails. Two rains carrying crude run off the track. West virginias governor declares a state of emergency in two counties. Tonight, the growing risk as america ships more and more oil in tanker cars. All that and more tonight on nightly Business Report for tuesday, february 17th. Good evening, everyone. Im Tyler Mathisen. Sue herera is off tonight. Well put it in the record books. The