Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20151104

Droughtstricken california farmers . Ifill all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the puzzle of what brought down a Russian Airliner over egypt, remained far from solved today. U. S. Officials said images shot from space may contain clues to why the plane broke up on saturday, killing all 224 people on board. Paul davies of independent Television News reports on the days developments. Reporter a stretch of men formed a guard of honor as the journey home to st. Petersburg was complete. This is a city in mourning. There are painful days ahead. Relatives have been arriving at the morgue to give d. N. A. Samples to help in the grim process of identification. Russian officials have been giving a daily update on the recovery operation and the spread of wreckage on the ground. But still no hard information on whether this was an act of terrorism. Bereaved families are having to make due with rumors. The latest clues are all unconfirmed. Russian media is reporting that unusual sounds were recorded by the planes black boxes. American sources say their spy satellites detected a strong heat flash, which could have been an on board explosion, and there are reports of mysterious debris at the crash site. Said not to be part of the plane. Its hoped the examination of flight recorders, due to start tonight, could turn rumors into answers. All thats known at this stage is that the russian airbus appeared to break up in midair after leaving the egyptian red sea resort of Sharm Elsheikh and that all 224 on board perished. Egyptian investigators say they will solve this mystery but warn it could be a long process. Woodruff in turkey today, ao crackdown intensified on allegep supporters of a major opposition leader. T Police Arrested at least 44to people accused of ties tola muslim cleric fethullah gulen, whos in exile in the u. S. A former police chief and three state governors were among thosg detained. The turkish government accuses gulen of running a terrorist group. Ifill china and taiwan plana a historic summit on saturday. They announced today that chinese president xi jinping and taiwanese president ma yingjeoa will meet saturday in singapores its the first such meeting since 1949, when communists won chinas civil war. Woodruff the head of u. S. Pacific forces played down tensions with china today, over disputes in the South China Sea. Last week, the u. S. Navy sent a warship past chinesebuilt islands, through waters that beijing claims. At a meeting there today, admiral harry harris said the move wasnt meant as a threat. But a top chinese general complained it soured relations. translated i had planned to have a good talk with you on the South China Sea issue. E. However, regardless of the o solemn representations of the chinese side, the incident has created a disharmonious atmosphere. We are resolute in our determination and will to rafeguard our sovereignty and maritime rights. Woodruff at a separatema meeting in malaysia, chinasr defense minister told u. S. Ar defense secretary ash carter that theres a bottom line onb challenges to chinasla territorial claims. He did not elaborate. Ifill the iraqi politician who played a key role in promoting the u. S. Invasion in 2003, has died. State t. V. Reports ahmad chalab had a heart attack and passed away in baghdad. After 9 11, the exiled leader helped persuade officials in the Bush Administration that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. That turned out to be false. Chalabi later served as iraqs deputy Prime Minister. He was 71 years old. Ifill the vatican faced new exposes today, in book form, about gross financial mismanagement. The Associated Press reported merchants in the temple tells of wasteful spending, outright greed and entrenched resistance to pope francis reforms. A second book, avarice, claims that money from a Hospital Foundation went to renovate a vatican officials plush apartment. Woodruff back in this country, republican president ial candidate donald trump dismissed his rivals complaints about debate formats and questions today. But, he did not confirm reports that his campaign plans to negotiate its own debate terms with t. V. Networks. The billionaire celebrity was asked about the issue at a News Conference in new york. Ill go any way they want. I dont care too much about the debates. Look, im the one that gets all the nasty questions anyway. I like the debates, i think theyre good for me. But, we have to be treated a little bit fairly. As far as im concerned, i really dont care that much. I just want to debate. I think debating is a good thing, its healthy, gets everything into the open. Woodruff separately, trump accused the u. S. Federal reserve of keeping Interest Rates low at the request of president obama. The white house flatly rejected the claim. Ifill japans Takata Corporation will pay 70 million in u. S. Fines for mishandling a huge airbag recall. It could reach 200 million, if the Company Fails to comply with terms announced today. Takata now admits it delayed recalling more than 20 million airbag inflators that can explode with too much force. Ifill the u. S. Auto industry is now on track for a record year in sales. Most major automakers saw doubledigit gains last month. G. M. Led the way with sales up nearly 16 from a year ago. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 89 points to close at 17,918. The nasdaq rose nearly 18 points. And the s p 500 added more than five points. Ifill still to come on the newshour from legalizing marijuana to l. G. B. T rights, voters go to the polls to decide. The controversial keystone pipeline, is it effectively dead . The woman in charge of the upcoming Global Climate change summit. And much more. Woodruff the president ial election may still be a year away, but a handful of states voted today to elect state and local leaders and decide on a number of important ballot measures. Issues ranged from the legalization of marijuana to the expansion of lgbt protections. For a look at the big races and voter initiatives around the country, we are joined by reid wilson of the web site and newsletter the morning consult. Welcome, reid wilson. Lets start out talking about some of these major ballot measures around the country. Ohio looking at legalizing marijuana, but in a limited way. Tell us about that one. Ohio would become fifth state along with the District Of Columbia to legalize marijuana for recreational use, but there is a little twist here. As states create new laws about marijuana, they have to come up with new regulatory structures. Nobody has ever regulated marijuana because its always simply been illegal. So what ohio is thinking of doing is allowing ten groups, ten businesses to control production for the first four years or so. It seems a way to sort of control what makes it to the market and to sort of demand some quality, however, there are a lot of people who are worried that theyre essentially handing over monopoly control of a major industry and it is a major industry, there are millions at stake here to a small handful of people. Woodruff so if it passed, it would set a precedent . Well, every state who has legalized marijuana does it in a different way. Washington state regulates it like alcohol. Colorado does it in a slightly different way that allows sellers to grow their own marijuana. Everyone is trying to figure out whats the right way to do these things. The big question is with what is going to come on the ballot in 2016. There are at least 17 statesroir considering some kind of marijuana legislation or ballots initiative, including ten alonei in the state of california. Woodruff you were telling us thats a way the look at b several of these ballot measures. Lets talk about two of the city measures. H in houston you have voters looking at nondiscrimination protection for lgbt individualsy this has become verynd controversial, and a lot ofn focus on public restrooms. It has. Last year a nondiscrimination law passed the city of houston. This measure, if it passes, would repeal that previoust nondiscrimination measure. And the focus on restrooms i think sort of hints at the next step in the fight over gayve rights. The focus on restrooms has to do with those who are transgender. Now, theres public support fora nondiscrimination against those who are transgender has laggedup behind public support forg nonrim nation against gays and lesbians. So this is a way to sort of shift the focus from a questionn that opponents of this l nondiscrimination law would lose to some other element that they might have a better pathwam toward a majority public opinion. G woodruff again, hotlye controversial there in houston. A meanwhile, San Francisco is looking at an initiative on airh bnb. This is the company that helpsh you rent out a room in youru house, rent out your apartment. T tell us about that one. What this legislation would do is limit the ability ofre homeowners to rent out their apartments on a shortterm basis, their apartments, theirm home, whatever room they have to rent, it would limit it to 75 days a year. Currently most homeowners can rent out their place for 90 days a year. So its a small little change,es however, it does have to. It t does speak to this larger battle between the traditional economy and the rising sharing economy. Weve seen big legislativees fights in cities across the country over uber, as uber takes on the taxi industry. Now weve got air bnb taking on the hotel industry, both of whom have millions of dollars at stake in this. F woodruff as far as we a know, first time air bnb has been on a ballot. First time we know. Woodruff lets look at these races. A you have a contested governors race in kentucky. You have interesting staten senate races in virginia. Lets look at those. So in 2010 and 2014, one of the overlooked consequences of the republican wave that swept power in congress back toward the republicans was that itre swept even more power back to republicans in state legislatures. There are very few democratice state legislators in the country these days compared to beforen. The last election. On in ducky, one of the very few democrats who still governs as Southern State is term limited, so the two candidates who are g running, attorney general jack conway, the democrat, istl probably slightly favored, butht only slightly, over the republican businessman. You may remember him. R m he ran against Mitch Mcconnell two years ago, last year rather in the primary. Un matt bevin has run a very pooren race at the moment, but its a very heavily republican state. What really matters to thea outcome of this race is whatki voters are thinking about whenth they head into the polls. Hi are they thinking about nationa issues and president obama, hisi Approval Rating is at 34 in kentucky, or are they thinking about how the outgoing governore steve bashir, the democrat, has run the state. R his Approval Rating is at 59 . F democrats want to focus ons. Statewide issues. Republicans want to focus on the national. Woodruff finally, a word, reid wilson, about the senate races in virginia. Right now both houses intr virginia are controlled by the republicans. And the senate is onlyed narrowly controlled by b republicans, just by one seat. F there are about four races were all closely watching, a couplemo down near richmond, a coupleer down here in the washington suburbs. This is a case where democrats lost so many legislative seats,e they have a chance to win back a chamber tonight. S its. Maybe this is a preview of 2016 and how democrats can do that. Woodruff Governor Terry mcauliffe doing a lot of pacing tonight. There you go. Re woodruff reid wilson p giving us a preview of all those races. M thank you very much. Thank you. R ifill the longrunninge debate over the keystone a pipeline has taken another sharn turn, as the Company Behind its construction asked to suspend an review of its plans, triggeringb many questions about whether the Obama Administration is plannina to reject it anyway. I given how long its taken, i seems unusual to me to suggestsh that somehow it should be paused yet again. Ou ifill white house pressne secretary josh earnest expressev skepticism today over trans canadas abrupt request to suspend the keystone application process. The company said it wants toit r wait for statelevel reviews and litigation to play out. A but earnest said another motive may be at work. T theres no doubt that thisea debate has been heavilyol influenced by politics, and theo president is doing his best toac try to shield the actual procese that will consider the merits of the project from those politicso ifill earnest said thela president still plans to decide the issue before he leaves office in early 2017. If approved, the pipeline would connect oil sands in alberta,ri canada to refineries along the gulf coast, passing through six u. S. States. 80 it would carry 800,000 barrels of oil a day. P the application process began i 2008, but a final decision has been delayed time and time again. Re the president has remained publicly noncomittal about thes project, but, in south carolinah earlier this year, he offeredci some pointed criticism. T were not going to authorize a pipeline that benefits,t ig largely, a foreign company, ifn it cant be shown that it is safe, and if it cant be shown w that overall it would not contribute to Climate Change. Ter ifill in february, theve president also vetoed al republican bill to forcee construction of the pipeline. Up environmental groups opposed tot keystone argued today that transcanada is now hoping a hie president friendlier to the project will be elected next year. Wyoming senator john barrasso, a leading republican and pipeline supporter, agreed. By putting the pause buttonpi now that allows things to stay active, in my opinion, untilct after the 2016 election, when we may have a republican president h in office who can then approve it. I think the fear right now isnt that the president was gettingit ready to oppose it and put a o final closedown on it and thisv just keeps it alive. Ifill for now, the statein department continues its review of the project, with no end date announced. Ifill how much this latestin twist in the pipeline is driven by politics, and how much by policy . T for that, we turn to julietrs eilperin, who covers the whitesh house for the washington post. E you also cover the environmental matters, juliet. So we know. We heard what josj earnest said. The president is going to decids before he leaves office, butng theres a listening period of time between now and then. Where do we know or where do wed think, what does your reporting tell us that the administration is in this process. S my sense is the administration has been debating whether to give a final decision in advance of the u. N. Climate negotiations that are at the end of this month. Theres an argument one way or another. T you could say this would help give added momentum for theai global fight against Climate Change, or they could wait until after this period. The move by transcanada is a little unexpected. It throws more uncertainty in the process. Thats one of the things theyre awaiting. My sense is from my reporting is that the review is finished, the determination is made, and its a question of when are they going to announce what theyre going to do. Ifill the assumptionie amongst many parties is theen decision thats been made is against the pipeline. Yes, thats my sense of whera they are, and its certainly interesting to hear senator brasso and others to say theyhe assume thats where it is andd they would like this decisiont delayed so the next president ub who could be a public could decide it. Ha ifill whats behindsi transcanadas decision tong request the pulling of the plug . How would a delay for them affect the outcome here . Really the only question is that it would give them anou opportunity to potentially make the case before a different administration. Ifill thats it . Aside from that, theres notd real benefit, and when you talk to them, they say theyre notdr interested in withdrawing theh application, which would be ultimately. Ifill they could do that if they wanted to. They could do that, but ius talked to them just today, and they have no interest in doingso that. So given, that it seems very td unlikely they would do that. Ifill a lot ofga environmental organizations youb would think would be dancing a victory dance arent. No, theyre worried it could be put over to the next administration, where they dont have a commitment, particularlyc if its a republican. If its a democrat, all the democrats are opposed to it. But thats not the case in the g. O. P. So they really want the president to reject this soor thats done before he leaves office. Ifill are they pressuring the white house at this stage . T they are not letting up on the previous pressure of the white house to go ahead and make thiso decision. They are pressing veryey fiercely. All the groups opposed to itup issued statements. An whence transcanada asked for a delay, there is no variation. Theyre all saying, this,be pipeline needs to be rejected bf president obama before he leaves office. Ifill part offea transcanadas reasoning is there are still unresolved issues,at especially the path of the pipeline through nebraska. Ll what is that challenge and wher . Does it stand . Its kind of complicated, but the easy way to put it is they t had a route through nebraska,ll which essentially was thrown oud over procedural grounds stemming from a lawsuit. They have detailed three possible routes, all of whichth have been on the table before with a couple slight alterations. And so a state commission has td approve that, and that process could take between 7 and 12 months. Ifill theres a southern route thats already approved. Y exactly. T were talking about this upper route, which is 1,179 miles that goes to steel city. The connection from steel city c down to the gulf coast was o approved by the Obama Administration. The president went out and talked about t increase accessibility to oil. Bi so thats been up and running and its profitable. Ifill pardon me. In canada, we now have the potential of different leadership. Stephen harper, the former primy minister, was very much in favor of. This now we have justin trudeau. Is there a different Political Climate many. Theres a slightly differentt Political Climate, although incoming Prime Minister trudeaun has said hes in favor of this pipeline. That said, when he talked to the president right after hisfte reelection, he emphasized that he thought the relationship. Between the u. S. And canada is broader than one pipeline and also talked about the importancn of balancing economic interests against environmental priorities. So clearly theres a little wiggle room on that front. T ifill what role does the state department play in thispls decision process between now and the end of the president s term . They need to issue a National Interest determination toh essentially say whether or not this cross border permit isa justified on the basis of theer u. S. National interest, which is a very broad issue. At that point the president e could intervene if he wanted to or not. So at this point it is seen thas whatever the state departmente does it would be in concert wit. The white house. It would seem quite unlikely theyd issue something and thend the president would do something. Ifill so thats next shoe waiting to drop. Waiting to drop. Ifill Juliet Eilperin with the west coast. Thank you. Thank you, gwyn. Wi woodruff stay with us. He coming up on the newshour or dams, the problem or solution ie a droughtstricken state. T teenagers screen time spikes to nine hours a day. And author john irving revealses his creative process. Nd i always get endings first. I cant tell you why, but i do. , there is a sense that i alwaysth have as a writer that my endingm are always predetermined for met woodruff but first, in justn a few weeks, countries from around the world will meet inre paris to try to reach a new agreement on limiting orin reducing Greenhouse Gasou emissions. But prior climate summits have often hit a wall overut disagreements about economics,ha development and what should bes. The ultimate goals. As the paris conference nears,rx Jeffrey Brown explores the prospects ahead. Y brown last year marked thee warmest for the planet sincest records were first kept, lendinl new urgency to calls from scientists and many leaders forn slowing Greenhouse Gas emissions. Ar to that end, the paris summitjo could present a major opportunity. D a key goal find a way to slow t the rise in global temperaturess to about two degrees celsius ore by the end of the century. President obama, who traveled t alaska this summer to show theng effects of warming, has made ith a central focus of his second term, including new limits onis Carbon Dioxide emissions from power plants. C in recent months, china, indiaun and the European Union have alll announced longterm plans. But a similar conference in copenhagen six years ago failed to reach a deal. On and there are questions about c whether voluntary commitmentse, will work this time, andca continued political opposition here and abroad. Christina figueres is the u. N. a point person in charge of the paris summit. I sat down with her in t washington earlier today. Welcome. Let me start with the big question, six years in copenhagen widely seen as aethe failure. Now paris. Have things changed. Well, you know, i often said that copenhagen was the mostre successful failure of the United Nations because we learned an awful lot from copenhagen, but,c yes, things have changed. G brown is that good spin . No, no, no. A truly we made actually a very indepth study of everything that went wrong in copenhagen sn that we could learn. So its definitely the case. But, you know, in addition to the way that we handle conferences nowadays, in addition to that, what has changed dramatically is the context in which this meeting in paris is going to take place for many different reason,a technology perhaps being one oft the very salient differencesfo where we had before it wasnt really sure whether renewable b energies would be able toss compete with fossil fuel. He today we have the answer, yes,a they are already competing. So, you know, technology is b definitely much better. Dy finance is already beginning to flow. Av we already have 2. 6 trillion thats already moving into green technology. Brown let me stop you on mu finances then because i want toe get to some of the continuingce problems you face. Y the pledge by industrial countries to help poorer countries with 1400 billion r 100 billion a year. That part hasnt happened. It is a pledge to helpe developing countries with 100 billion by 2020. Reports a couple weeks ago show that in 2013 the flow was at 51 billion. In 2014 the flow was at 62 billion. We dont have the numbers for 2015, obviously also not for next year, but there is already a trend going up and hence ass very good possibility we willy be. That they will be able to get to 100 billion. Ha those numbers that i quote havet not been accepted by developing countries because there still t has to be a discussion aboutde methodologies, definitions and assumptions. But order of magnitude, it showm that were moving certainly in the right direction. Brown political will is more thanghe it was . L political will is definitely there. Brown give me an example. Gie where do you see that . Ve its very simple. All you have to do is take a look at the 157 national Climate Change plans we are already received and counting because we will receive more before paris. So 157 different countries. Ne every single one of thent industrialized countries, every one, and over 100 other countries have buttah putt iney writing what theyre going to do to contribute to bringingwe emissions down as well as makinu their infrastructure more resilient. F brown most of that nonbinding agreements from. These countries. A lot of experts continue to question that. Circumstances change. Politics change. How do you know they stick to it . Well, first of all, i dont know of anything binding that is actually a guarantee. The kyoto protocol is the best example of that because we have countries adopt the kyoto protocol and not ratify. We had countries adopt, ratify and still not comply. So even if its legal andot binding, thats not a guarantee. I think one of the major, goingi back to your first question, ths major, major shifts that we hade between where we were in copenhagen and now is that countries have increasingly understood that addressing Climate Change is not just a global issue. S it is actually also a national priority. It is National Development opportunity. On so theyre no longer seeing as having to choose between what il important nationally and how they can contribute globally ani theyre beginning to see the coincidence. That to me is a much morein compelling driving force because countries will operate in theirs own interests. Brown going into this conference, one of the huge goals, major goals holding the warming to two degrees celsius, already declared unreachable, according to your analysis. The sum total of all of thosp Climate Change plans make a huge dent in both the growth ofo emissions, that would have t projected without those Climate Change plan, and certainly in the core responding temperature. So without those Climate Changev plans, we would have been where we were if copenhagen, for i example, moving into a scenario of a world that would have warmed four, five, six degrees centigrade. Today, with these climate changh plan, assuming theyre implemented awb we can talk about that, were moving into ac world that currently, with the current level of effort, would warm somewhere between 2. 7 to 3 degrees. A major improvement. Ou is it enough . Br no. Brown huge dent but not enough. Not enough, which is why paris is not just going to be the receiving vessel for those Climate Change plans as currently being planned, but u rather it will understand that that is the floor of globalrt effort and certainly not the ceiling. Lk brown you talk about thebe political will being there, buti continued scepticism from manyis quarters in this country in congress, where, of course, were now in a president ial y campaign again where you hear about opposition to making changes in the economy, in policy for Climate Change. Ci you are still facing that. Yes. But what i see is an increasing support on the part of certainly the private sector as well as different subnationalhe governments, whether they are state or city level or presidenw obamas clean power plan, buttl more importantly than that, mort importantly, let us remember that this is not the first time, that this country has grappled with the question of do we stay bound in a operating mode that has been prevalent in the past, or do we movetotoward something completely new . It is not the first time. And if you look at the history of the United States last century and this century, it is a very tough call. But the u. S. , as every otherly country, eventually does make, the right choice, and there is only one right choice to make. C and i am very confident that this country will make the right choice. Clearly. Brown thank you very much. K thank you very much for the invitation. S ifill a storm swept across a californias bay area yesterdayr but the inch of rain it broughtt with it is scant relief for ari state thats experiencing one os the worst droughts on record. Ol one potential solution building more reservoirs toerab store unpredictable rainfall,ea which could mean more dams. Newshour special correspondentep Spencer Michels reports on thea viability of such a proposal anr the consequences for the golden state. Y reporter it may be the signr of a hopeful farmer a biplane o spreading fertilizer on a dryrn field in californias central valley. At theres no irrigation in thisle part of the valley, so, for noww rain is the only way these croph will grow, and there hasnt been much of that for the last four years. Rs and the reservoirs, like folsome lake near sacramento, thate normally fill the canals and make the crops bloom, are depleted. Folsom is just 17 full. Ti tim quinn is executive director of the association of California Water agencies. S. W reporter and whats the solution to this, build another, reservoir . Well, if wed had more water, going into storage, we could still have more left than weve got today. Th reporter and thats important, says quinn, not justu to californians. Rt were a big part of this economy. T we provide food to the nation and to the world. N, reporter quinn, and many in, state government, want alu comprehensive solution including conservation. Bu we do need to build moreo dams, and we also need to connect them with morege underground storage. B reporter but building newt dams goes against a recent treni in some states, includingac washington, of actually demolishing dams, mostly for environmental reasons liked protecting fish and restoring wildlife habitat. Li these days in california the mood is quite different. Us the gold rush, buildingls dams and canals has beenr californias answer toai unpredictable rain and snowfallf to get the water from where itai falls in the mountains hundredse of miles away to the dry farmsea and populated areas,ns californians have constructedda more than 1,400 dams, includings shasta dam on the sacramento river. D in 1968, the state dedicatedes oroville dam, tallest dam in the country, and sent water south to farms and cities. S. For many farmers and those whose livelihoods are tied to farminge the success of those dams is a t key to what needs to happen now. Grant garland is Vice President s of bar ale, a livestock andin poultry feed mill in williams, california. T we could solve the problemsy fairly easily by buildinge Something Like the equivalent of five more lake orovilles, andf wed have plenty of water tove store, and wed haveow hydroelectric power for both u agricultural or urban andpo industrial purposes, and for thl environment as well. T reporter that sentiment isa echoed in radio ads playing in i ag communities in the centrali valley and on the internet. N the solution is more dam storage. St people are frustrated. They dont have as much water as they want. M s they want to do something withon somebody elses money. St reporter ron stork is policy director for friends of the river, an environmental group. E when you do the arithmetic,ar the big dams that are beingw proposed right now wouldnt adda more than 1 to californiaspp developed water supply. On the real solution is tou recognize that you cant develop much more water. , reporter stork, and other l environmentalists, likern university of california fishoy biologist peter moyle, allegeat that dams have created major f problems in rivers for theti native fish population,th especially in the drought. You get these severe problems, the environment alwaym seems to lose. Reporter more dams, he says will exacerbate the situation, especially for salmon. Iany there are many places where t the flows below the dams areto simply not adequate to supportf big populations of salmon. Reporter besides, moyle says, new dams dont make economic sense. A essentially, all the good da. Sites are taken. Yo so whatever dams you build to try to increase storage, youret really picking at the fringes. Ve reporter nevertheless, a o year ago, spurred on by theia drought, californians approved e 7. 5 billion water bond, thatng requires spending 2. 7 billion on water storage. Ar several projects are vying for that money, including a plan to raise shasta dam by 18 feet,re even though the present lake rarely fills. Another project would add aer second dam and reservoir behinds friant dam near fresno. On a river that largely is, depleted of water, most of it j channeled to San Joaquin Valley farmers. S some politicians want to removes federal protections from the f mostly wild and free flowingw merced river, below yosemiteo national park, so a reservoir can be enlarged. Di theres almost no disagreement,r especially in the drought, thatm california needs more water storage. E but building more dams andta reservoirs, in a state wherer every major river is alreadyso dammed, strikes some people as l waste of money, a lot of money. One proposal would put this valley under 350 feet of water, with a big dam at the other end. Its a very bittersweet situation. L i dont want to lose my home of 40 some years. We reporter mary wells lives in the hamlet of sites, which woulh be inundated by the reservoir. L but most of her farm lands are beyond the proposed lake. At we all ultimately look on th other side of these hills, andiv thats where our livelihood is. C the trees, the rice fields, they all need water. N and if im to sustain there business ive created as afa fifthgeneration farming familyd we have got to have additional water. Reporter wells raisesll cattle, and grows hay, almonds and rice on land beyond themo reservoir site, most of it irrigated. On she has served on various waterc boards, and has advocated forhe decades to dam her valley and develop more water, even thoughr private landowners, like her, who benefit will have to pay for at least half. T reporter the argument is c that these things cost a lot of money, and why should the reporter but not everyone agrees this is the best use for water. A water policy analyst for aqua a alliance in nearby chico saysld the state should encourage more unirrigated land. Al california really needs to o put a moratorium on theri expansion of irrigatednd agriculture on land that is currently being usednc successfully as ranch land. Re california has already overextended its waterbased agriculture. Ve and grazing is a very suitabled use for the land up there. De reporter besides, he says,es the cost of sites reservoir, as much as 4 billion, could maker the price of water prohibitive. N this water will never berm affordable by farmers who neede very inexpensive water. Th reporter as the state k continues to grow, keeping upr with the demand for water willus remain contentious. Ne the water bond money will beim allocated sometime next year. Ou for the pbs newshour, im c Spencer Michels in californias central valley. Os woodruff most of us are spending more time with screens. Than ever before. Mp from t. V. And computers, to thec smart phones we carry in our pockets. Di a new report on media use by s teens and tweens shows that ma be even more true for children. 0 the survey of 2,600 kids between the ages of eight and 18 paintst a picture of constant connection. Children between eight and 12g reported spending an average ofh four and a half hours a daynd using a screen, and nearly six m hours consuming media of any kind. Av among teenagers, average screena time was more than six and ay half hours a day and almost nine hours with media overall. O c those totals dont count educational uses in school or for homework. T joining me now to dig into thest findings is james steyer. O he is the c. E. O. Of common sensf media, the nonprofit childrens media Rating Organization behind todays report. Ew welcome to the newshour, james steyer. Nd so just remind us, your organization looks at how young people use media. Thats right, and how ites affects their lives, how itch affects them in school. Then we advocate on behalf ofoo kids in schools across the country. Woodruff so you did thisod survey. You said 2,600 people, 8 to 18. What were the findings. Well, the sheer volume. Nine hours a day on average is what teenagers spend with media and technology. T thats way more than they spend with their parents, teachers, t even more time than they spend sleeping. R the numberone abdifficult in their life is media and technology. M woodruff you made awe distinction between the tweens versus teenagers. En how are they spending that time . What are they doing . Well, first of all, there isy no one archetype. There is no onesizefitsall kid. On you have kids on social media, l watching tv, listening to music, even reading books, remember them . And then doing different formsi of media, but the bottom line is the sheer volume of time that kids spend today means they have a 24 7 reality with media and technology thats shaping their lives in so my many ways. Woodruff and a lot of whatnd theyre doing is multitasking. Ng theyre listening to music whilr they do their homework ortv theyre watching tv whileet theyre doing something else. Thats right. And as parent of four kids, youi cant multitask and concentrate, on your homework, but twothirds of teenagers surveyed say they continue to multitask whilehe theyre doing their homework. D theyre supposed to be reading homework, but theyre texting their friends. Woodruff we start to hear a their brains are wiredth differently and they are able to multitask. The truth is multitaskinghe doesnt work. U so of my colleagues did a major study on this at stanford an showed you simply cant have two conversations at once and youte cant concentrate on more than one thing well. I think about how important it is to concentrate on information. So the multitasking, finding this study has very bigsc implications for schools, and also for parents giving guidance to their kids. Woodruff what are the implications, and how much do parents know . You asked these teenagers and tweens hope do their parents t know about what theyre doing. What did they say . They said they dont know very much. We didnt grow up with these devices. Thats a big part of it. Pa i think that one thing we really see from this study is thatok parents need to look in the mirror. A you have to look at your own behavior. If youre glued to your celll phone all the time. If youre bringing your devices to the dining room table or tod the restaurant and youre not having conversations with yourr kids when youre present with them because youre too busy with email or text message, what example are you setting . So i think this report, while it displays this remarkable impact of mead yes and technology onen kids, it also sends a clearen message the parents about their own behavior. H woodruff what about schools, teachers, educators, d what can they do in what should . Shea think about . I think first and foremost, every kid in this Society Needs to learn Digital Literacy and citizenship, the safe, smart, ethical use of digital devices. H we all hear about cyber bullyinc and privacy violations and really not so good stuff that happens on media and technologyc platforms some schools need to teach this like they taught drivers ed or sex ed. Ic its a basic part of life today. The second thing you can do if you look at mull pi tasking. Ca teach kids you cant do your y homework while youre facebooking your friends. Fr you need to concentrate. This is an ongoing challenge. But i think the report is abo message to everybody in this country. About we have to recognize thate this is a reality that our kids are living in. Ng theres something we can all do to make sure its a positives. Reality for our kids. Woodruff how much of this is made harder by the fact that so much of it is out of sight oy parents or any other adult inli that childs life because son much of it is on a device that others cant see. Thats a great question, judy. In the old days we talked about no tv in the bedroom. G no video game in the bedroom. When you have teenagers, you have to say, you cant take your cell phone to bed. Fe it really interferes with sleepv you have to have very differenth rules, but i think its important for parents toge understand phones get in the way of sleep. They stimulate the brain. P you should have place not in tht bedroom and not in the dining room where devices can be parked. I think were literally having o to set new rules of the road for families and for young people across the country. P woodruff if parents areg, out there watching, this and teens themselves and educators, where this they go to. Is there a set of rules to follow, or should every family try toor figure this out for themselves . I think there are rules. Shamelessly ill say commones sense media gives out tips and tools to everybody, but i thinkd every school in this countryin should be teaching the basics ot digital citizenship to parents and to kids. This is important to educateit parents about it as it is to kids. I think there are rules outy there, and theyre not that complicated. Its basic common sense. You need to put the device away at times. Em you need to remember that the most important conversations you ever have are face to face. R in the long run, the jeanie is out of the bottle. This worlds here to stay, so we have to set new rules for our kids and for ourselves. Woodruff and maybe sometimes take that device away from your child. Absolutely. Judy, by the way, if theyre aar teenager, thats a hard thing t do, but absolutely you should do that. No media and technology are at privilege, not a right, and thar is part of parenting. Ke you have to take the device away. Te im sorry to tell you that, but every parent including thee Steyer Family needs to do that, yours, too. F woodruff thanks for the advice. James steyer, common sense media, thank you. E good the see you, judy. Ifill a poor child who sortr garbage in mexico grows up tot become a prominent american writer. Pe how did that happen . Ve the new novel, avenue ofus mysteries, takes us through a a life that includes a host ofte other vivid characters, events and places. H its author is himself aic prominent american novelist, john irving, whose books includg the world according to garp, ciderhouse rules, a prayerad for owen meany, and other bestsellers. Ey he joined Jeffrey Brown for ourc newshour bookshelf conversationi brown john irving, welcome to you. Thank you. St brown so the story of ame writer, hes named juan diego. H in your head we meet him old and new. Y in your head, did you see him first as an older man or as a young boy . Rs i saw him first as a child,le then as an adolescent. I saw him as a dump kid, an orphan. Brown literally, a dump kid, he works. Al yes, theyre calledub children of the rubbish. Ru and its still true today, as it was in 1970, that children aree the workers in the dump that do the sorting and the sifting ofhe the stuff thats there. Th brown and so the avenue ofp mysteries is the specific storn of this man, juan diego, and ino a sense, how we become who we are. Yes. Th it wouldnt be the first timeoc for me that the focus of a novel begins at that threshold age ine early adolescence, when an adolescent is becoming an adultg a child is becoming an adolescent. Ie ive always believed in a storyu if something traumatic or h calamitous enough happens to aiv kid in a formative age, that t will make him or her the adult they become. Ca brown in this case, the kid, he works in a dump, but he pickm up books, right . T and he learns to read, heto teaches himself to read, heng teaches himself languages. Yo did that interest you, the sortn of book as a way into a larger life . E . Oh, very much. On it was the perfect connection tr the jesuits interest in him. Ri given the high priority thewa jesuits have always put on education, the fact that theregh was a kid who taught himself tod read, the dump reader, theye call him, they were more inclined to think he could be one of their children, in theire orphanage, because he was sohe teachable that he already taught himself. S brown theres also therear are many vivid characters inis here; one is his sister, lupe, right . An who is clairvoyant knowss whats in peoples minds. , that, of course, allows you to have this mix of realism, realf realism, right . T in the dump but also a sense of. Magic. This is the third time ivebr been tempted to bring a character into a novel who is partially informed of what i always know. Brown youre smiling as you say that. Well, because i always get endings first. Hy i cant tell you why but i do. T there is a sense that i alwaysth have as a writer that my endingr are always predetermined for met and this is now the third timeme that ive given some part ofs that gift its a dubious gift, if you are a child especially,bu and you bear the burden of itc at least the conviction that he or she knows whats going tos happen. Th its a burden for those characters, especially ifa theyre young and innocent in other ways. T lupe has she has these two ancestors in earlier novels. But when a character like thatee happens to me, a clearar repetition of a character thatef ive invented before, im nothe even aware of the repetitione until its too late to turndy back, its already there. , brown but you, the author, t are clairvoyant in that sense, right . Ghu you have said you write backwards. G you know the ending of these stories. I do. Im not proselytizing my methodi i dont believe that one writerr should tell other writers how to write. Wr its just long been my habitab when im thinking about a novelt when the characters begin tory form, when the story begins tono emerge, i always know more abouh the ending, and the aftermath ok an ending, than i know about the beginning. C and so theres a construction b that works from back to front. I dont begin a novel until ivh written, not just the lastal sentence, but usually as a result thereof, many of theny surrounding final paragraphs. Pan so that in addition to knowingno what happens, i know what the h voice is, i know how melancholic, or not, i know howe i sound, when im telling thed. Story at the end. Brown this story is notablyi about an author, in older age,li looking back, filling in that story. E so i suppose the requisitewh question is about whether you r are, yourself, in retrospectivee mode, and how one becomes an author, or novelist. Rl i think in earlier novels,s the main characters who werexa writers, were exactly, as you a say they were, an attempt on mym part to understand my own origins,e, but in this case, because of what happened to juan diego as an older man, he would almostwr have to be a writer in order to live as much in his imagination as he does. I dont want to say so much thaa i give the story away, but imis not so sure if this characteron werent a fiction writer, imt not so sure that he would get in quite as much trouble as he does. Bl i brown and that interested you. It did. Im a worst Case Scenario person. Ed im only interested in a storyof because i kind of go like at magnet to the worst thing that can happen. Pe brown and hopefully theo reader will want to come along, right . Yes. Yes. Ve brown the novel is avenue of mysteries. John irving, thanks so much. Thank you. O the woodruff on the newshourma online the aroma of a freshlyo brewed cup of coffee can strike a punch to your senses just when you need it. C but what is it about coffees scent that makes it so sublime in the morning . Ew we visited the newly opened museum of food and drink in newa york city to learn a little a about the smells and flavors that make us fall in love with the things we eat. And drink. Learn more on our home page pbs. Org newshourr fr ifill on frontlinees tonight, an investigation with propublica into the unsolvedri murders of a string of vietnameseamerican journalistst in cities across the u. S. In the 1980s. Ig terror in little saigonc focuses on an Anticommunist Organization called the front. A its goal to restart the vietnau war, in part by using a secretqu assassination squad to targetwh the journalists who disagreed with them. Thats tonight on most pbs stations. On woodruff and tonight on. C charlie rose, f. C. C. Chairmant tom wheeler on net neutrality, media mergers and the upcomingle auction of television airwaves. ifill and thats the newshour for tonight. R on wednesday, actor jeff daniele at home on screen, stage and his native michigan. Im gwen ifill. m woodruff and im judy woodruff. D join us online and again hereg. Tomorrow evening. P for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by or om moving our economy for 160 years. T bnsf, the engine that connects us. At the ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. S co support also comes fromat Carnegie Corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. Yoticinri this program was made possible by the corporation for. Public broadcasting. On and by contributions to your pbe station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored Byod Newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Orggr this is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and sue herara. All revved up and everywhere to go but up. Auto sales take off in october with the economy growing so tepidly, why is the industry on track for its best year ever . Cutting cash. The Federal Reserve temporarily stops billions of dollars of u. S. Money from going to iraqs central bank. And the reasons might surprise you. Tough medicine and well introduce you to a publicly traded company under investigation in at least six states and shrouded in controversy. All that and more tonight on nightly Business Report for tuesday, november 3rd. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Talk about motoring along, americas Auto Industry is now on pace to