Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20150325

Ifill and. The changing light in San Francisco is a sea light, an island light, and the light of fog blanketing the hills. Ifill a poets ode to a San Francisco that once was. Activist, author and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti laments the citys latest boom. A new brand of dot com millionaires and general Silicon Valley money have moved into San Francisco with bags full of cash and no manners. 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. Woodruff search teams and investigators have begun collecting the shattered bits of a german airliner that smashed into the french alps today. The plane went into an eight minute descent before it was lost near a popular ski resort, 700 miles from paris. There was no distress call, but officials said theres no indication of terrorism. Paul davies, of independent television news, reports. Reporter their journey should have taken them high over these mountains. Instead, for reasons that have yet to be explained, flight 9525 dropped down on to these slopes, killing all those on board. These are first pictures of wreckage scattered across the mountainside. There is very little that is recognizable. Thousands of fragments from a plane that was carrying Business People holidaymakers and schoolchildren returning to germany from an Exchange Trip. An emergency worker scrambles down the slope. The size of the task facing the these images. The crash site close to a ski resort is 2,000 meters above sea level and can be reached only by helicopter. Recovery teams are on standby but its likely to take days to locate all the bodies. The flight data recorder has already been found< this is the airbus a320 operated by the germanwings Budget Airline that left barcelona this morning. 144 passengers and six crew were on board most of them german and spanish nationals. At dusseldorf airport, they had waited in vain for the arrival of flight 4u9525. People who had been expecting to greet family and friends comforted by airline staff. Already it was clear there was no hope of survivors. Germanys chancellor merkel told of shocking news coming in from france. Nowhere more will that shock have been felt more than in this German School in the town of halton. 16 students had been on an Exchange Trip to barcelona. All are lost. The local mayor says its the darkest day in the towns history. The pain is being shared across europe. Here relatives of some of the 45 missing spanish nationals comfort each other. Theyre being flown to france to be closer to the crash scene while the Recovery Team tries to bring their loved ones down from the mountain. Woodruff by this evening, the state department was still trying to determine if any americans were on the plane. Well get an experts take on the job facing the crash investigators, after the news summary. Ifill president obama today declared the on again, off again israelipalestinian Peace Process all but over. Thats after israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, in the final days of his reelection campaign, appeared to rule out a palestinian state. Netanyahu has since backtracked a bit, but the president sounded unimpressed today. What we cant do is pretend that theres a possibility of something thats not there. And we cant continue to premise our Public Diplomacy based on something that Everybody Knows is not going to happen, at least in the next several years. Ifill mr. Obama also played down reports of personal animosity in his relations with the israel leader. He said, this cant be reduced to lets hold hands and sing kumbaya. woodruff on another issue, the president brushed aside a report that israel has spied on u. S. Nuclear talks with iran. The wall street journal said the israelis acquired confidential information and shared it with u. S. Lawmakers, to undercut any agreement. Israel denied the report, and the president said israel has been briefed on the negotiations. Ifill forces loyal to yemens proamerican president fought today to turn back advancing shiite rebels. The rebels, allied with iran, have already captured much of northern yemen. Today, they seized two key towns in the south before being forced to withdraw a few hours later. The rebels also entered a port on the red sea, near a key sea lane for oil shipments. Woodruff theres word the Islamic State group has recruited at least 400 children as fighters in syria in the last three months. The syrian observatory for human rights reports the young recruits are under 18. One appeared in a video this month, executing an accused spy. Ifill in nigeria reports circulated today of another mass kidnapping by boko haram. This time, residents say thec islamist militants took more than 400 women and children from a northern town this month. Nigerian officials could not immediately confirm the account. Woodruff actress director Angelina Jolie revealed today shes had a new round of preventive surgery, to head off cancer. She wrote in the New York Times that surgeons removed her ovaries and fallopian tubes after a blood test showed a possible early sign of cancer. Jolie had a double mastectomy in 2013 after learning she carries a faulty gene that greatly raises the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Ifill republican senator dan coats of indiana announced he wont run for reelection next year. Hes 71, and said in a statement its time for the next generation of leaders. He gave up the seat once before, in 1999, to keep a term limits pledge. Coats has a solidly conservative record, but he was one of the few republicans who would not sign a letter to irans leaders this month protesting a potential nuclear arms agreement. Woodruff and, wall street headed south, on concerns about the strong dollar and weak utility stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 105 points to close just above 18,000. The nasdaq fell 16 points, and the s p 500 slipped 13. Ifill still to come on the newshour what might have caused the deadly plane crash in the alps. Afghan president ashraf ghaniohu3 comes to washington asking for more help. Utah approves the use of firing squads for inmates on death row. Why some medicaid beneficiaries are being billed for Health Care Even after they die. A San Francisco legend laments life in iran. Woodruff there are lots of questions still being asked tonight about the crash of the german plane that crashed in france. We look at some of the factors that investigators may be pursuing. Alan diehl is an aviation Safety Consultant and crash analyst who has worked with the National Transportation safety board, the federal aviation adminisrtation and others. Hes the author of air safety investigators using science to save lives one crash at a time. Alan diehl, we welcome you to the program. It was daylight. The weather was mostly clear. What do you focus on as you try to understand what happened to this airplane . Well obviously there are three potential areas if you eliminate weather. You have to look at human error, mechanical problems and you cant discount some sort of criminal act, although i know everybody is downplaying that and, of course it is very strange. But this is such a highspeed impact, thats the thing that is so surprising the fact that they descended. Well, you could have a minor problem and get busy and not tell the controllers keeping your speeds up over 500mph in the mountains, that is incomprehensible if youre actually in control of your own faculties and the aircraft. Woodruff why incomprehensible . Well, ive had to make a force landing in the mountains, incidentally, judy, in a light plane the first thing you do when you get down below the level, you want the start slowing down to look for a place to set it down but it appears there was no indication of any kind of maneuvering. I know there have only been a couple eyewitnesses produced so far. The plane was very low, very fast, almost like a military aircraft colliding with the terrain. We havent seen anything like that since 9 11 when the aircraft, of course, hit the buildings and the field in pennsylvania. Woodruff since 9 11. What do you make of the fact that as far as we know, no distress call, no attempt to communicate between the cockpit and the ground, air traffic. Judy we alwiy say that pilots aviate navigate and comun kate but in reality, they aviate, trouble shoot navigate and communicate. So they may have been very, very busy with a fullblown emergency, and its possible that they just became overcome by pressurization, smoke flame, whatever. We dont know. Obviously the recorders will tell the story and im convinced theyll find the recorders. They have already found the one. They always lead you to what else you need to examine. Woodruff they have found one of the black boxes. Does that mean well find all the answers there . Not necessarily, but usually between the two boxes i always say judy, i talk about it in the book the flight data recorder, which has hundreds of channel, it takes several days to download as,as you know. Thats reportedly what they found. That tells you what happened typically, but you have to listen to the voice recorder very carefully to understand the whys. Woodruff anything about the track record of this airplane the airbus 320 that tells you something . Well they have had some problems with the airbus family. As you know, theyre highly computerized more so than the boeings, but basically this is a very safe aircraft. My daughter asked me the other day, should she getc on an airbus and get to her destination quicker so she doesnt have to rush to her meeting or wait for a boeing flight. I told her take the airbus, the most dangerous part of the trip is going to be the drive to the airport. So airbuses are certainly safe. They have a slightly worse track record than their competitors, the 320 competes with the latemodel boeing 737s. The boeings are slightly safer, but these are basically safe aircraft even though weve lost a couple of them recently, this one and the tragic air asia over the java sea early last year. Alan diehl air Safety Consultant, we thank you very money. Thank you judy. Ifill president obama announced today the u. S. Would scale back the pace of its promised troop pullout from afghanistan. Allowing forces to stay in place this year, and revisiting those numbers again next year. That was at the top of the wish list afghanistans new leadership brought to town this week. We agreed to continue to keep in place our close security cooperation. Afghanistan remains a very dangerous place. Ifill on his first president ial visit to washington, ashraf ghani qame away with the commitment he wanted most a promise from the u. S. President. Ive decided that we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through end of this year. The bottom line is our men and women in uniform make enormous sacrifices. Their families do too. They service alongside them. This will mean that there are going to be some of our folks who are in afghanistan under the new schedule who would have been home. Ifill the u. S. And International Combat mission in afghanistan formally ended late last year, and the u. S. Military has been steadily reducing its footprint aiming to have only a skeleton force in place by the end of next year. The taliban responded by stepping up attacks and seizing territory from oftenineffective Afghan Forces. And the downsized u. S. Presence led to a sharp reduction in air support for the afghans. Another key Mission Training Afghan Forces. They now number 330,000, but the size of the force has fallen as casualties have risen, desertions are also on the rise. Yesterday, secretary of defense Ashton Carter announced the u. S. Would help out here as well committing billions of dollars in additional support. The Defense Department intends to seek funding for Afghan Forces to sustain a strength of 352,000 personnel through 2017. Ifill the announcements and warm words highlight a distinct thaw in u. S. Afghan relations since the0dys of ghanis predecessor, hamid karzai. U. S. Dealings with him had become poisonous, and he ultimately refused to sign a Security Agreement to formalize the american presence in afghanistan. But once ghani took office, the deal was signed immediately. In another sign of renewed goodwill, ghani took pains during this visit to honor the sacrifice of more than 2,200 americans killed fighting in afghanistan since 2001, joining Vice President biden today to lay a wreath at Arlington National cemetery. The new leader is being accompanied by former rival abdullah abdullah, afghanistans new c. E. O. That post was created after last years president ial election was marred by allegations of fraud. translated we now have proved that Political Affairs cannot be solved through the use of guns but can be solved through talks and negotiations. Ifill the two meghcreated a socalled National Unity government, although key positions remain unfilled. Ghani faces many other challenges. A recent, disturbing example the stoning and burning death of a young woman in central kabul by a mob of men. Shed been falsely accused of desecrating the koran. Ghanis u. S. Visit continues tomorrow when he speaks to a joint meeting of congress before heading to new york and the United Nations thursday. Ifill shortly after the white house News Conference ended, i spoke with president ghani. Mr. President , thank you for joining us. You having just come from a pretty successful meeting at the white house. Youre at blair house right across the street right now. You asked the president the freeze troop withdrawals, at least for this year. He agreed to that. And to rethink it for 2016. What about that openended part about next year . Did you hope that perhaps they would give you a more definitive idea of how many troops would be on the ground this Time Next Year . The flexibility that we asked for and the stability has been provideed. With evolving conditioning on the ground, one has to make use of this major opportunity for reforms of our Security Forces and then assess the conditions. Ifill you talk about the evolving situation on the ground. What would you describe as the most urgent threat . The military operations by pakistan have brought about a displacement effect where a significant number of foreign terror groups that are a threat to practically every one of our neighbors near and far have been pushed toward our territory while their leadership and their networks remain in pakistan or elsewhere. A new ecology of terror is forming because the weakening or collapse of the states in the middle east is bringing new opportunities to strengthen these networks. We have to deal with this threat, not just by our own action, but by coordinated action. The beginning of awareness is taking place, but its important to understand that violence is changing its forms. Its rapidly acquiring new sets of capabilities, and unless wec grasp them, we understand them and then preempt them from forming and acting, we will be in a defensive position. Ifill we know that part of this ecology of terror you referred to in the past at least, in the present has been the taliban the resurgence of the taliban in afghanistan. But i also wonder whether isis which we spent a lot of time talking about is also getting a foothold in afghanistan. Is there any evidence of that . Its four faces organize, orient, decide and act. But because its recruitment is mediabased and not just through old personal networks, one has to be both vigilant and cautious in terms of the extent of their presence. We have made sure that it does not go beyond this stage of deciding to act. So weve seen some evidence but it could also be copycatting or in relation and we need to share information analysis in a coherent way, so that then one is not surprised the way one imagines, the way iraq and syria, both governments and analysts alike were surprised. Youre referring to what we call isil or isil. Im also curious about the taliban negotiations. How do you get them back to the table when they wont agree to the basics that they renounce al qaeda that they accept the afghan constitution, that they renounce violence . Is it pakistan . Is that the key to getting them back to the table . Its two things. One is, of course pakistan because pakistan is facing an internal threat. It is going through heavy fighting last year. Its going to have a fighting season of its own unfortunately this year. So in light of that, in light of the decision of the Pakistani Army and the pakistani government and parliament to confront the phenomena of terror in direct use of spores in response to the heinous crime against the children that took place in peshawar, were going to see new forms of activity q at now will hopefully bring about a policy that will not differentiate between good terrorists and bad terrorists. This could be a significant driver for separating the taliban from these other groups. The second is that isil is also a threat to the taliban and to the religious groups because a krstic characteristic of isil is to swallow its competition, the way it did with the syrian army. So the room for maneuver within these two factors limits their option. The other is that now that the combat role of the International Forces has ended they are clearly coming in support. 4,000 of our religious colors about six weeks ago clearly endorsed the afghanistan Security Forces. The other significant event is that of muslim response, the conference in mecca has condemned terrorism and identified a common platform for action. These are pressures that should hopefully get the taliban to the negotiating table. Ifill in addition to those erks ternal pressures, you also have internal pressures. We saw the story about the woman stoned to death in kabul. We have heard many reports about internal corruption in the government. I wonder as you take over now, youve been in office since september, how do you rank those in terms of major domestic concerns that you have to tackle . Corruption is clearly the cancer that leads to our society. Weve taken Decisive Action from the second day where we tackled the notorious case. Were focused on all key drivers of corruption, whether its smuggling, land grabbing or the most difficult which is narcotics. So we are systematically focusing on underlying causes and not just symptoms. Our society after 36 years of conf ct is deeply traumatized. We suffer from the postconflict distress syndrome as a society so the tragic lynching, totally unacceptable, either according to islamic law or our civil laws that took place is a manifestation of this. And we need to very clearly come, not just to have the police fight terror, but do their fundamental duty which is enforcement of rights and upholding the rule of law. Finally, mr. President , how different is your relationship now with the u. S. Than President Hamid karzais was. That was tense toward the end. And president obama eluded to that today. How has that changed . It has changed fundamentally because we believe in a revitalized partnership. Were not engaging in a blame game. We are engaged in common understanding in common actionment part of this, of course is also that the combat role of the United States has ended, as agreed between our two governments, and the trade, advise, assist mission that u. S. Forces are currently engaged in, thats not involved in combat roles. We have common interests. Were facing common threats and need to engage in an enduring partnership, and that is our key goal. I hope that this trip is consolidated and revitalized this vital relationship for us. Ifill ashraf ghani, the president of afghanistan, thank you so much for joining us. Pleasure to be with you. Woodruff executions by firing squad are back on the books in utah. Governor gary herbert signed a law that authorizes the method if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. The move comes amidst a nation wide shortage of such drugs. To discuss how the new law would work, and other states eyeing similar moves, we are joined by Jennifer Dobner, justice reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune, and andrew novak. He teaches International Criminal justice at George Mason University and has authored several books on the Death Penalty. We welcome you both to the newshour. Jennifer dobner, to you first. Why did the Utah Legislature pass this new law and why has the governor signed it . Well, like other states utah is recognizing that its difficult now to get the drugs needed forlethal injection, and also that there have been problems with lethal injection elsewhere. So i think they wanted to put something on the books that would allow them to reinstate the use of the firing squad should it become necessary. Its been a secondary use for Capital Punishment since 2004 but this sort of adds a new condition under which it could be used. Previously we were at a default to lethal injection, unless that had been declared unconstitutional by the supreme court. Woodruff so in this instance, as i understand it, if the drugs are not available for 30 days, then the state would redort to the use of a firing squad. Thats correct. Currently the state does not have any drugs in its possession, so if an execution was imminent and we couldnt obtain them then we would default to the firing squad. Woodruff , Jennifer Dobner, tell us briefly how this works, how its worked in the past in utah . Well i witnessed the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Its carried out by a team of five marksmen. They use a matched set of. 30caliber winchester rifles. And the condemned sits in a black metal chair about 25 feet from a in it. The rifles are handed out randomly to the team of shooters. And those folks, i should say, are by statute anonymous. And then theres a cadence countdown to a moment when they all fire. The condemned is strapped into a chair. A hood is placed over their head if they choose. Woodruff we understand its only Law Enforcement officers who can be part of the firing squad. Thats correct. Woodruff it is the case theyre all given bullets but one of them is give an blank is that right in. Yes, there are four live rounds and one blank. The rifles are handed out sort of in random order, so no one knows who is getting the live round and who is getting the blank. Woodruff andrew novak, we know there are 32 states where the Death Penalty is legal. We know that utah would become the only state along with okeechobee where the along with oklahoma, where the backup would be the firing scad. Two other states have hanging. And five more states use the electric chair, in addition to oak hoe ma, where its either or. Why is there so much concern about these lethal injections . Sure. I think the lethal injection has shown itself to be for a lot of reasons the most commonly used form of execution in the United States, but with the shortage of drugs from the pharmaceuticals and their distributors, were seeing some states take a second look at their method of execution. That also includes the gas chamber. Theres a gas chamber bill proceeding in oklahoma. All of these methods of execution have their concerns. Theyre not 100 liable. Woodruff the firing squad and. Lethal injection, weve seen some cases botched in the last year or two as states experiment with new cocktails to make up for the drugs they cant find. The firing squad and the electric chair, these have risks too. The f the target is off a little bit. You could have an execution thats not instantaneous. Woodruff why do you dhi more states havent resorted to the firing squad, which i think many people didnt realize its a possibility. There is some concern. I think as a cultural matter we in the United States perceive of our methods of execution as being humane as being sort of medical procedures as being the sanitized process like you would do with assisted suicide or o pet that needs to be euthanized. The firing squad is fundamentally violent. It uses force to kill. And even if its not necessarily more painful as an objective matter, it is more violent. And it strikes us as kind of a reversal or back ward trend from this process. Woodruff Jennifer Dobner one other question. What do the people in the state of utah think about the Death Penalty, about the firing squad . Well, this is a very conservative place. And weve us a been very pro Death Penalty. So i dont know that there is great surprise that this is become on the books so to speak. I was sort of struck though by the votes in both the house and the senate. They were not as close in favor of reinstating this method. So that shows perhaps some shift in public opinion. I mean, certainly there are those in t e community who are opposed to the Death Penalty at all, and we heard from those people as this process moved through the legislature. But im not surprised that it was reinstated. Woodruff Jennifer Dobner with the Salt Lake Tribune and professor andrew novak with George Mason University, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ifill our next story is about medicaid, the Government Health Insurance Program recently expanded to millions of americans. Although often considered free Health Insurance for the poor, federal law requires medicaid to charge recipients for certain services, and they are sometimes billed after they die. Medicaid then charges the expenses to their leftover assets. Its called estate recovery, and its making many people think twice. Sally schilling, a student at the university of california Berkeley Journalism School brings us the story. Reporter the rollout of the Affordable Care act and the expansion of medicaid brought hope to people like ruth and rod morgan, who had gone without Health Insurance for ten years. When i heard about the Affordable Care act, we were very excited. We were finally going to have health coverage. Reporter the morgans live in stockton, california. They are in their early 60s and are retired, aside from rods occasional construction jobs. We were pretty much forced into retirement because of the economic downturn. There just wasnt any work. And i mean we dont have much. But i would love to give our kids something. Id like to leave them a Little Something when were gone. Reporter in states that have opted to expand medicaid, like california, anyone making 16,000 or less per year now qualifies for medicaid. But the morgans were hesitant to sign up for californias medicaid program, medical. They had heard that medical would bill their estate after they die. The first person i asked when we went to sign up said, oh, we cant possibly charge you like that on an insurance policy that we are forcing you to have. Reporter with that reassurance, the morgans signed up. And then weeks later we got a letter in the mail saying congratulations, congratulations you qualified for medical. And then on the back page this little paragraph says, you are subject to estate reso ery and do not contact your social worker about this. Reporter in 1993, Congress Passed a law requiring states to recover the costs of longterm Care Services spent on medicaid recipients over age 55 after they die. The exact burden the couple was hoping to avoid. If you have the resources to pay for your own care, to pay for your own nursing home care, to pay for your own home health care, you should. Reporter matt salo is executive director of the National Association of medicaid directors. Medicaid recovery helps pay back a little for the massive amount spent on Nursing Homes and long term Care Services. Medicaid is the largest payer of Long Term Care in this country. Medicaid should not and cannot sustain itself if it continues to provide all Long Term Care to all people, especially those who have the means of paying for some of it on their own. Reporter medicals managed care premiums are typically hundreds of dollars per month. But recipients arent notified of how much money is being spent on them. Rod says he asked a medical representative how much money he was accruing. She said, oh we dont have any idea, we dont figure that out until after you die. Reporter heirs can apply for a hardship waiver if they can show that their parents medicaid bill would cause an undue hardship or that they were a caretaker for their parents in the family home. Jo ann bell lyvm in oakland, california, in the home her grandparents purchased in the 1940s. She cared for her mother with alzheimers in the home. Where i went, she went. We had a wonderful time. Reporter bell put her mother in adult daycare while she went to work. Her mothers care was covered by medical. Her mother passed away in 2012. Then i got, bam , this letter in the mail from the state of california saying i owe 54,000. I was like, what . reporter bell applied for a hardship waiver. But because the family home was entrusted to her and her three brothers, the state only waived her quarter of the recovery fees. The state now has a lien on the house for 43,000 at 7 interest. She worries she might have to sell the family home to pay off medical. And i would never be able to come down adeline street again because, the memories, it would be too hard, it would really be too hard. Having a home is one of the key factors in being able to escape poverty. Reporter pat mcginnis, the executive director of california advocates for nursing home reform, says estate recovery hurts the people who need inheritance the most. What youre doing is destabilizing lowincome communities and creating a cycle of poverty that people will never get out. In many cases what we see across this country is people who are trying to have it both ways, trying to say the family home and the family estate are super important to me and i need to pass them on untouched to my children. But when the time comes to pay for longterm care, that should be governments responsibility. And thats just not a sustainable policy for medicaid. Reporter last august, Health Advocates put forward a bill that would have limited estate recovery in calyf federal minimum requirement, recovering only for longterm care. It also would have eliminated the rule that allows only portions of a claim to be waivedthe problem that bell ran into. Both houses passed the bill unanimously, but at the advice of his budget staff, governor jerry brown vetoed it. Browns office declined an interview request. But in a veto message he said allowing more estate protection for the next generation may be a reasonable policy goal. The cost of this change, however, needs to be considered in the budget process next year. The money we collect from the medical Recovery Program is a drop in the bucket. Its absolutely nothing compared to the misery and the burdens that are caused on the economy. Somehow we cant seem to get that through to the finance people for the governor. Reporter so far, three states have scaled back their Recovery Programs. Washington, oregon and connecticut made these changes citing concerns over estate recovery being a barrier to enrollment. Reporter california will hear a new bill aimed at scaling back estate recovery tomorrow. For the pbs newshour, im Sally Schilling in oakland, california. Woodruff everywhere we look these days, theres evidence of the tech boom supposedly exciting, thrilling, wonderful for us all. Well, maybe not for all of us. One of San Franciscos legendary figures, who celebrates a birthday today, laments what its done to his city. Jeffrey brown explains. Brown at 96, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet, painter and publisher, is still revered as a cultural treasure in the San Francisco bay area. How are you . I brought you some flowers. Brown a recent opening for a retrospective exhibition of his artwork at the Marine Museum of contemporary art drew a large crowd. You really true are a legend of the bay area. Brown ferlinghetti once wrote, all i ever wanted to do is paint light on the walls of life. That hes done, here in poetry. The changing light in San Francisco is a sea light, an island light, and the light of fog blanketing the hills, drifting in at night, through the golden gate to lie on the city at dawn. Brown when ferlinghetti first arrived in San Francisco from new york in 1951, he celtled into a 65 a month apartment in the italian workingclass neighborhood of north beach. It was still the last frontier when i arrived in 1951. You could come here and start anything you wanted because in new york city it would have been impossible to start a bookstore unless you had lots of money. Brown ferlinghetti opened City Lights Book shop and Publishing House in 1953. The beginning of his journey to help put San Francisco on the maps countercultural map. He published the works of beat writers such as Allen Ginsburg and jack kerouac. For decades on a range of causes he served as an antiestablishment conscious. Womens liberation means mens liberation. Brown but these days the establishment has changed, along with the city. Today San Francisco is better known as the central hub of the tech boom ark city of entrepreneurs and Companies Like twit theyre have become international giants. And while that boom is credited with driving unemployment to an alltime low, its also blamed for rapid gentrification, making the city unaffordable for many. And that rankles ferlinghetti. A new blend of dot com millionaires and Silicon Valley money have moved into San Francisco with bags full of cash and no manners. Brown the pace of change ferlinghetti says, has quickened beyond control, but its not a new issue for him. He read for us a passage from a 2001 piece titled the poetic city that was. 50 years later, he awoke one fine morning, looking for anywhere he could live and work. The new owners of his old flat now wandered 4,500 a month. Many of his friends were also evicted. Brown one example close to home, the george dress i can gallery in downtown San Francisco, which had shown ferlinghettis work for two decades, was forced out of its building to make way for a Cloud Computing startup. Kresky now sells most of his artwork online. Of course ferlinghettis is not the only view of San Francisco these days. A version of this story drew support online, but there were a few blasts, as well. What a crank, wrote one person. The city is still as vibrant and creative as it ever was except now young ambitious people are in tech. Another wrote, in 60 years ill be complaining about the new crop of san franciscans. Fogies going to foag. Still ferlinghetti finds his way forward through poetry. Theres always help in love. Love and hate are viruses. Love can make a civilization bloom and hate can kill a civilization. This is a little poem with hope. One grand boulevard with trees. One grand cafeee in sun with very black coffee in very small cups. One not necessarily very beautiful man or woman who loves you one fine day. Brown im Jeffrey Brown for the pbs newshour. Ifill tonight, the first in a series of short films we will bring you by thomas erdbrink, the Tehran Bureau chief of the New York Times. The dutch born journalist has lived in iran since 2002. Personal rather than political his portraits show a side of life in the country that few get to see. Tonight an introduction to our series, dispatch iran. Reporter this is where it all started, here in the desert in the middle of iran. I was a Young Journalist and came here the write about the student uprising. I fell in love with an iranian photographer and decided to move to tehran. It was so different for me to be here and i think nousha in many ways symbolized that. Of course i could have married a girl from the dutch countryside and it maybe would have been different and maybe in many ways easier but im happy i choose you. Of course you should be. Reporter this is the mysterious and isolated country where i arrived as a young man and where i have been working as a correspondent for the past 12 years. First, for some dutch newspapers and Television Channels and since a couple years for the New York Times. Thomas erdbrink, welcome to the program and thank you for joining me. You mustnt forget these people have been living under incredible pressure. Tell us how iranians are viewing the Islamic State as a deliberate. Reporter isis is an american invention. It has taken me four years to finally get permission to produce this series. Were given permits to film on the streets. Of course there are some suspicious officials who refuse to believe us and tell us were not allowed to film. But usually, after a bit of waiting, some discussion and many phone calls we part the best of friends and are free to carry on. In this country working as a western reporter is complicated. Sometimes im unpleasantly reminded of this fact. Like that morning in july when my friend and colleague jason of the Washington Post was arrested. Nobody knows why hes being held. I will be able to file. Of course. What else can we do . Reporter working here is like walking a tightrope, but0e reporter can do much more than one might expect. There is no problem for me and a colleague to visit the friday prayer session. If you want to know whats going on in the minds of the religious leaders, you should come here and listen carefully. translated first of all the imam has said that as long as the American House hostilities continue and the u. S. Government and Congress Keep using hostile language any interaction with america is completely pointless. Reporter simultaneously, the iranian president is favoring negotiations. He is convinced such talks will end the sanctions against iran. Reporting here means covering all sides of a story and finding out the impact of, for instance those sanctions. We cannot locate the bank that your card belongs to. Of course, you cant use atms because our banks are in the allowed to do business with iran. You end up with stacks of cash. Try stuffing this in your wallet or pocket. Politicians are talking for months to end the sanctions, my shopkeepers tell me he has more foreign products for sale than ever. translated the sanctions mean nothing. The boarders not closed. Products still make their way into the country. It doesnt affect us. Reporter in iran, nothing is what it seems. That is one of the reasons why being a journalist here is not always easy, but dont feel sorry for me. I like being amongst iranians. Every now and then i buy a card from the man with a little bird. It will give yaw poem that will predict your future and has an answer to all your questions, even the political ones. translated whats the biggest question for you as far as the future is concerned . translated what will be the outcome of the Nuclear Negotiations. translated okay. Lets draw a prediction. What will be the outcome of the Nuclear Negotiations . Its fine. Dont worry. Read it. I cant read farsi. translated i see support. What happened to our friends . Where are those who support you now . Everything will be fine. Really . Why all those conflicts . We used to be friends. Why are we enemies now . [singing] reporter after 12 years of reporting here and slowly starting to understand this place. Join oe in the coming weeks for some random stories from a country that is both confusing and surprising at the same time. Ifill a different woodruff a different view, dispatch iran. Thomass reporting and more of his films can be found at nytimes. Com video. We hope to have the next installment and a conversation with thomas very soon. Ifill finally, to our newshour shares of the day. Something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. Australian james mort survived being buried in an avalanche while skiing in the swiss alps earlier this year. Several friends came to his rescue, and one captured the frantic search on a camera mounted to his helmet. The video was viewed widely online. James mort spoke with us about that experience, and what he hopes others will learn from it. Avalanche [bleeped] are you okay . Wheres jameses . The first thing i thought is, youre dead. Youre an idiot. You shouldnt have stayed here. Hes over there. Oxygen was pretty limited. I was starting to feel a little lightheaded by the time the guys got to me. If my pole hadnt had been sticking out, they wouldnt have found me at all. Because the snow was so dense, i didnt see anything or realize they were nearby until the shovel slammed into my face. We got him. It was four minutes of not knowing at all which is horrifying. [bleeped] i hope that people will see this video and decide to do an avalanche awareness course and buy all the correct gear before they go out, because it means they may well save a life if they have to and prevent further accidents in the future. Ifill some good advice, if you happen to find yourself in an avalanche. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day search teams found the shattered fragments of a german airliner that crashed in the french alps. All 150 people on board were killed. And president obama announced the u. S. Will slow its military pullout from afghanistan. Nearly 10,000 troops will stay into next year, about twice as many as originally planned. Ifill on the newshour online, its a scourge as old as humanity itself. Tuberculosis, or the white death, has afflicted humans for centuries. But on this day 133 years ago, a german physician discovered that it was caused by a bacteria, not heredity, as experts had insisted. Read the full story, from medical historian Howard Markel on our home page. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. On wednesday, well look at using robots on the front line in the fight agianst ebola. Im Judy Woodruff ifill 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. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. 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 sue herera. Building a foundation is probably the biggest purchase youll ever make and a lot of americans bought new homes last month. But theres more to the data meet it is eye. Payout at risk . Mack macklamor dividends, will others follow . Dont leave home without it. American express ceo addresses investors tomorrow. And the pressure is on for him to outline a fix. All that and more tonight on nightly Business Report, for tuesday, march 23 24. Good evening, and welcome. The Federal Reserve today didnt exactly get the definitive economic signals it might like to have. The fed say it will be