Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20151218

It becomes a thing that all of us connect to on some level. Woodruff 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 and individuals. 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 the republicanled house of representatives pushed through a huge tax cut bill today, costing an estimated 680 billion over 10 years. The vote was 318 to 109 for a package that keeps alive an array of tax breaks for businesses and families. It drew bipartisan support. Speaker paul ryan says theyll vote tomorrow on a separate, trilliondollar spending package to fund the government in 2016. We are where we are, and we have a bipartisan compromise. Where, by the way, i think weve got some good wins. And look, democrats win some things, too. Thats the nature of bipartisan compromises. And so the way i look at this is we have made the best of the situation we have. There are some really good wins in here for the american people. There are very good wins in here for the economy, for job creators, for taxpayers. Woodruff but Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the omnibus spending bill might not get much democratic support. Thats partly because it ends a 40year ban on exporting oil, and because it denies debt relief to puerto rico. Many of our democrats still have some concerns about what is in the omnibus and what isnt in the omnibus. And particularly what isnt, and that is what we wanted the opportunity for puerto rico to do restructuring to declare bankruptcy. Woodruff the senate may pass both bills tomorrow, before adjourning for the year. The man who bought the rifles used in the San Bernardino shootings was arrested today. Enrique marquez faces federal charges. He purchased the weapons in 2011 and 2012 for his friend, syed farook. This month, farook and his wife, tashfeen malik, shot 14 people to death at a holiday party. President obama meets with relatives of the San Bernardino victims tomorrow, in california. Today, he urged americans to be vigilant over the holidays, but he said at this time, theres no credible information of any new plot. He spoke at the National Counterterrorism center in mclean, virginia, after getting briefed on the current threat level. Anyone trying to harm americans need to know they need to know that were strong, were resilient. And we will not be terrorized. We have prevailed over much greater threats than this. We will prevail again. Woodruff meanwhile, the u. N. Security council moved to disrupt the Islamic State groups revenue flow. Security Council Members approved a resolution sponsored by the u. S. And russia. It targets money from smuggled oil and looted antiquities, plus ransom payments. Libyas two rival governments agreed on a unity deal today in the face of a growing Islamic State presence. Officials from the internationally recognized parliament in eastern libya, and the islamicbacked one in tripoli, signed the agreement in morocco. It was unclear if all of the countrys warring groups will go along. Russian president Vladimir Putin says moscow wants improved ties with washington, despite tensions over syria and ukraine. But, turkey is a different matter. In a yearend briefing today, putin cited turkeys downing of a russian warplane last month. Then, he used decidedly off color language to suggest the turks might have acted to gain favor with the u. S. translated you asked whether it was possible that a third party is involved. I get your inference, but we do not know this. If someone in the turkish government decided to lick the americans in some of their private parts, well i dont know. I can imagine that on some level there were agreements. Woodruff putin also confirmed, for the first time, the presence of Russian Forces in eastern ukraine, but said they are not regular troops. Back this in country, theres word that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is recovering from a stroke, six weeks ago. His lawyer says hastert is hospitalized in illinois. Last october, the Onetime Republican leader pleaded guilty in a hushmoney scheme to hide personal misconduct from decades ago. Hes to be sentenced in february. Defense secretary Ashton Carter acknowledged today he used an unsecured, personal email account to conduct government business, early in his tenure. Carter was asked about it during a stop in iraq, after a New York Times report. What i was doing that i shouldnt have been doing until a few months ago which meant that i was doing it longer than i should have been obviously is using my iphone which has my personal email on it to send messages to my office. Administrative messages, not classified information. Woodruff carter said he stopped doing that a few months ago. That was well after democratic president ial frontrunner Hillary Clinton was criticized for using her own email server as secretary of state. On wall street, stocks gave up all of yesterdays gains, and then some. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost more than 250 points to close back below 17,500. The nasdaq fell 68 points, and the s p 500 dropped 31. And, theres new hope for paralyzed veterans who want to walk again. The federal Veterans Affairs department will begin paying for robotic legs to help vets with spinal cord injuries. The powered exoskeleton, called a rewalk, costs 77,000, a sum well beyond what most veterans could afford. Still to come on the newshour how a fragile ceasefire in yemen impacts the fight against isis. A portrait of parenting in the u. S. The refugee crisis takes a toll on greek fishermen. And much more. Woodruff now, yemen. There were small signs of progress today at peace negotiations, but no sign the shooting will stop in a country thats been wracked by conflict for more than a year. Our chief Foreign Correspondent Margaret Warner reports. Warner it doesnt look like a ceasefire in yemen this week. Allahu akbar warner tanks are still blasting, gunfire still cracking across battle lines, and dozens being killed. Each side blames the other. translated the houthis are the ones that rejected the United Nations and Security Council resolutions and carried out attacks and struck Residential Homes and civilians. And we are just defending them. Warner the strife started in fall 2014, when shiite houthi rebels, backed by iran, overran broad swaths of the country. They seized the capital sanaa from Government Forces and militias loyal to president abd Rabbu Mansour hadi. He spent months in exile in saudi arabia, returning only after a Saudiled Coalition of nine Sunni Arab States launched air strikes in march against the houthis. Much of the coalitions weaponry comes from the u. S. And britain. Fighting was supposed to halt this week, as u. N. Backed peace talks began in a small town in switzerland. translated our meeting comes at a crucial moment in which threats and dangers abound and challenges are increasing both locally and regionally. The failure to reach a solution will have disastrous human and material consequences for the nation. Anyone who does not participate in the solution is effectively helping to perpetuate the crisis. Warner theres much at stake for the u. S. As well. Yemen is home to a lethal alqaeda affiliate, aqap, which has vowed and tried to wage terror attacks against the u. S. Yemeni forces. And u. S. Air power had beaten back aqap fighters, but the chaos has enabled them to regain much of that territory. The strife has also made room for a new branch of the Islamic State group to take root. And the fight against the houthis is diverting the gulf countries from the broader war against isis. Whats more, it has ravaged what was already the arab worlds poorest country. Some 6,000 have been killed, and more than two Million People have fled their homes. translated we fled due to the shelling and shooting that continues to happen there. So i took my kids and came here. Warner Majed Mohammed lives in taiz, yemens Third Largest city. Many families like his have found shelter in empty school buildings, abandoned because of the violence. Indeed, entire neighborhoods now lie empty. The u. N. Estimates the humanitarian crisis has affected 21 Million People, more than 80 of the population. translated some have fled to the countryside, some have fled the country all together, and some have fled to other cities. This neighborhood has become a town of ghosts. Warner some aid deliveries are getting to yemen, but distribution inside the country has been nearly impossible. Tarak bach baouab of Doctors Without Borders explains. So it is much difficult for humanitarian workers to access those areas, for convoys to reach sometimes besieged areas, hospitals that are basically in areas which are completely surrounded by checkpoints and where different fighting parties are not allowing humanitarian assistance to get through. Warner u. S. Officials hope these talks will lead to a permanent cease fire and a flow of aid. Today, negotiators did agree to let supplies into hardhit taiz and elsewhere. And houthis and government fighters in aden exchanged hundreds of prisoners. But a political settlement still looks far away. Woodruff economic and racial divides are very much a focus in the United States right now, whether through the lens of criminal justice, education, or income inequality. Today, a major new survey documents the extent to which those divides also play a role in parenting, and the choices and concerns mothers and fathers face. As an example, the report, released by the pew research center, finds that lowerincome parents tend to worry that their child might be a victim of violence, or run into trouble with the police. While higherincome parents are more likely to worry that their childrens overlybusy schedules may be causing them stress. To help us explore more of the reports findings, and the potential effects different childraisiing practices might have, we turn to kim parker, of the pew research center, and Lawrence Aber, professor of psychology and Public Policy at new york university. And we welcome you both. Kim parker, broadly speaking, to start this off, how much difference is there in the parenting styles and approaches of parents at the lower end of the income scale and at the upperend . I think the differences are in not in their style and approach but in yowlt look and worries and concerns and aspirations. As operation aspirations, we found for lower income parents their financial instability can limit their childrens access to a safe environment and the kinds of extracurricular and enriching activities that many more affluent parents take for granted. Woodruff for example we saw, i think we have a graphic to sew this, participating, this is just participating in after school activities, families earning over 75,000 a year, 84 of those children participate in organized sports, 62 in some sort of organized music and art. Under 30,000 income families, 59 in sports, still a significant percentage but less. 41 in mix and art that tells you something. It dusk we also found, we asked about after School Programming for kids, so many parents are working now and the kids need somewhere to go after school. There was a lot of concern among lower income parents about the affordability and availability of high quality after School Programs. We found that more affluent parents are more likely to take advantage of those kinds of programs. So with after School Programs and also the extracurriculars kids do on the weekends, and in the evening, those things take resources. And i think for lower income parent there are just other places where they have to put that money. Woodruff kim parkers i was struck and we cited some of this that parents at these different income levels what they worry about, there are real differences. Real differences. It was quite interesting to see. We asked about a whole range of Different Things parents could be concerned about. And we found that lower income parents have really a different set of concerns and they tend to resolve around their childrens safety. So they are more likely to worry that their child might be shot or be beat up or attacked or be kidnapped. And all parents we found, the overall, the biggest concern was that the child might be bullied. But for more affluent parents, the Emotional Wellbeing of their kids whether they might be bullied or suffer from depression or anxiety, those things trump those other types of safety concerns that lower income parents have. Woodruff professor aber at new york university, how does this track with what you have done a lot of research and writing on this, how does it track with what you see . Very, very well. I think the pew report is important in getting these facts out. Over the last two decades we have increasingly realized that the kinds of worries that the report calls out for safety, and the kinds of concerns that parents have of low income, that they cant get their kids into extracurricular activities. These come from a real environment, differences that children and their families live in. Parents, hirn in the upper income sector and in the lower income sector are living in different neighborhoods, different schools. And this affects parents philosophies, attitudes and behaviors. Woodruff and it affects the time these parents can spend with their children including at an early age. It affects time and it affects the opportunities that children have. Parents have two jobs. Throughout their childrens minority. One job is to protect them from safety and to provide kind of security and protect them from danger and provide them security and safety to go out into the world. And the second is when they go out into the world, to provide opportunities to learn and to develop. And these are both things that are affected by the neighborhoods that theyre in, as witnessed by the data that pew has been reporting. What do you see in terms of discipline and expectations about School Performance . That is really interesting findings about parental influence in schools. We found cross the social yo economic spectrum parents are very vofled. Low income and high income are just as likely to say they go to pta meeghts and Parent Teacher conferences. But we asked do wish you could be more involved and we found lower income parents are more likely than high income say they do wish they could be more involved. We had another question where we pitted two opinions against each other. One was you can ever be too involved in your childs education or could too much involvement be sometimes a bad thing. And higher income and more real educated parents, a majority of said too much involvement can be a bad thing. But for the lower income parents said you can never be too volume of the. Woodruff fascinating. Professor aber what are the implication of this for these children as they grow up . Well, the kind of thing that was just describe where parents are over concerned, perhaps, has to be seen in this environmental context. The kind of things were talking about really affect two kinds of things. One is childrens language and Cognitive Development and their social yo emotional development, the soft skills, the interpersonal skills. And these are the very roots 6 inequality that were seeing in this report. This is how our nation is beginning to pull apart. And we need to close that so that parents worries in the low income neighborhoods are reduced and the opportunities for their kids are much, much brighter. Woodruff kim paryk what do you see as implications forth children as they become adults. One thing we havent really touched on is the back drop for this is the changing family structure. And the lower share of children that are living in households with two married parents, is at a record low, 62 . And a rising share of children living in single parnlt homes and they are different economic outcomes for those types of families. If those trends continue, this could have real implications for childrens economic wellbeing going forward. Woodruff a lot to think about and for policy makers to Pay Attention to kim parker with the pew research center, professor Lawrence Aber at new york university, thank you both. Thank you. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour the work of two detectives raises questions of how police handle rape cases. A liberal arts college with a focus on innovation. And the force awakens the business phenomenon of the star wars franchise. But first, the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency show that more than 800,000 refugees and migrants have landed in greece by sea during 2015. Most of them have arrived on the island of lesbos five miles from the turkish coast. The impact of the crisis on the greeks who live on the island has been both economic and profoundly emotional, as special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports. Reporter 2015 has been a transform tiff year for every inhab tafnt less bose, lesbos, not least of fisherman. Up until this year, the sea for me meant fishing. This year, it has changed things. Now it means fishing for people. The consequences have been a drop in my income because when i see someone in urgent need when im out fishing, i drop everything and go to help. Because my work is not as important as saving human lives. The worst thing is the drowned people, drowned mothers, drowned children. Reporter one of the worst days was in late october when a boat carrying 300 people capsized. More than 30, including several children, lost their lives. Seven, eight, nine, ten. 14, 15. The pictures i saw during those incidents which i was seeing almost on a daily basis would come back to me while i was trying to sleep in bed at night. I kept seeing repeated pictures of the same incidents as night mayors. I couldnt sleep at all. Children of lesbos are groag up on the front line of the new europe and here they are getting a practical lesson in the greek tradition, of unconditional hospitality and generosity to strangers. They are brightening up a new refugee camp on the northern coast, under the direction of their teemp. We want more language. 100 percent we want that, and other lan gaidges, if you can find farsi also. We met her in late october. Local volunteers helped to off load a stricken boat in rough seas. Its inhumane, its horrendous that they are putting people in boats, sendzing them across in weather like. This. Lets change first of all it has changed first of all my daily reality. I wake up now and the first thing i have to do is go to my Families Hotel and see there are boats arriving. How can we help them. Thand is in the morning. I have children, have i a husband. Have i my own business. And so the daily things that we take for granted, i was able to realize that i took a lot of things for granted very quickly. Even just a moment of free time, a moment of spending with your own children. These are the things that i miss because there is no more free time. Also, moments of feeling carefully, they dont exist any more because we see what is going on around us in other parts of the world. It has come so its something that you cant sleep very easily at night any more either. Reporter for most new arrivals lesbos say springboard to the rest of the European Union but it has become a base for aslamb, abad formally an aid worker who remained in greece to help fellow travelers. While he is full of praise for local people and international volunteers, hes disdainful of europes response. What is europe doing . She is being forced to accept these people but what are they doing. Paig trinkets, a few billion euro to stop refugees from coming, yeah, thank you, did you spend one million or. Europe has been paying for transportation for people. Latest rigs from the u. N. Refugee agency suggest that over 800,000 people have arrived in greece by sea this year. The average cost from turkey to lesbos is 1,000. That means the traffickers and turkish side could have made as much as 800 Million Dollars. The syrian and fisherman have conflicting views on this issue. For me, they come here, they are as far as im concerned they are murderers because the boats they are using to push these people from turkey are not sea worthy for this passage. They are not suitable for this part the aegean. Reporter the topography of lesbos has met more fossed as a result. This covers an area the size of a soccer pitch. There are literally hundreds of thousands of jackets here, every one representing a human life but the Economic Impact on lesbos is the main entry point to europe for these refugees and my grants has been seismic. The vacation business on which so many people depend has collapsed. Two years ago the charm of lesbos saw 75,000 vacationers on package tours on charter flights. And the island had 60 lucrative cruise liner stopovers in high season. But so far projected charter bookings and cruiseship dockings for next year stand at zero. All the businesses, we have loans, we have to pay the banks. Our biggest fear is we wont be able to cover our costs. If we can cover our costs and get through the year, we will be more than happy with that. Because we want to be able to sustain our existence as long as we can until things turn and we have an increase again in tourism. Reporter spending by volunteers, aid agencies and the my grants to the teuive a hundred Million Dollars has offset some of the losses. But the overall longterm picture is bleak. My wish is that the powers that be may work to find a solution so that people may live in peace. That the whole world may live in peace. Reporter if anything, the violence is escalating which means that lesbos crucial position on the my grant trail will continue. For the pbs newshour, im martin brabant. Woodruff now, how one Investigative Journalism project is shining light on how police should handle rape investigations. And to hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan on august 11, 2008, an 18year Old Washington woman reported she had been raped at knifepoint in her apartment. Days later, after police questioned her about inconsistencies in her story, the woman said she made the whole thing up. Except, theres more. An unbelievable story of rape is the joint effort by two non profit news organizations, the Marshall Project and propublica, to tell the tale of how two very Different Police departments treated the investigation. We are joined now by coauthor ken armstrong, a staff writer for the Marshall Project. He joins frus seattle, ken, i want to ask, i want to tell our audience that we are going to talk about the ends of this story as well f they hadnt read it yet. But what happens to this woman when she goes into a Police Department in linwood, washington, and tells them this she has been raped . Well, she tells police that she was raped. And initially there is no indication that plition doubt the truth of what she is telling them. But quickly, as soon as one day after, she reports being raped, doubts set in. And it really originates with the call that comes into the Police Station from the womans foster mother. The foster mother says that she has questions about whether this had really happened. She wonders if maybe this was a bid for attention. With that one phone call, the focus of the investigation shifts. And instead of pursuing the evidence that is available to them, the detectives decide to confront the victim in this case, to confront marie about whether she, what she has reported has really happened. So they bring her into the Police Station. And they intergate her as a criminal suspect, instead of questioning her as a rape victim. And you know, she was 18 years old. She had no experience with police. In the case of this interrogation, she took what under the circumstances she considered to be the easiest way out, which was to say i lied about what had happened. So she, in essence, recanted everything that she had said on the morning. Rape. And as a result of that, she wound up being charged with filing a false Police Report. Sreenivasan now this is all happening in linwood, washington. How does this connect to a case in colorado . Well, after she admits to making the story up, she takes a plea deal in which she agrees to certain conditions which include the need to get counseling for lying about being raped. And she agrees to go on superviezed probation for a year. Two and a half years later, two and a half years after she is charged with filing a false Police Report, a serial rapist is arrested in colorado. And when Police Execute a search warrant, they find in his possession photographs which turn out to prove definitively that he had, indeed, raped marie in linwood two and a half years before. Sreenivasan and then what happens, you know, this is a tale of two Different Police departments. But the Police Department in washington got this wrong. What happened when they figured this out . It did they were confronted with the fact that they had made a mistake of dramk proportions, not only had they not believed a woman who had, indeed been raped. They had gone further and they had punished her. They had filed a sigh taition charging her with false reporting. So they had to find her and go and tell her that she had been right all along. They now recognized that. And they tried to find out ways that they could prevent this from happening again. They ordered an independent review and external review to reconstruct the ways in which they had gone off the rails in this investigation. Sreenivasan so do Police Departments around the country keep track of how many rapes are reported, how many people rekanlt there . Bus it seems like in the general arc of Domestic Violence that this would be a common o kerns occurrence, that people say yes, he hit me, something happened and they were perhaps intimidated by their attacker to say no, no, im not going to pretion charges, it wasnt rape t was con sen all. They do keep statistics. Local Police Departments report numbers to the fbi but it can be a pretty murky data set in general what the fbi bleefs is that about five percent of rape cases turn out to be unfounded. Whats less clear is how often rape victims are subsequently charged with filek a false Police Report that would be a traction of that, fraction but its an unknown number. Sreenivasan why did the Colorado Department behave sco differently when they were tracking their sptd based on interviews that they had with victims versus the Washington Department . You know, the the story proved to be a remarkable contrast in the dos and donts of investigating rape. Everything that the police in washington did wrong, the police in colorado did right. They listened to their victims. They pursue the evidence, chasing every lead. They coordinated with one another. And they didnt fall pray to stereotypes about how someone who is hurt should react. They recognize that people react in all kinds of different ways to trauma and they shouldnt fall prey to these misguided assumptions about somebody being uncredible simply because they are not hysterical, necessarily. Or their body language in some ways seems off. The police in colorado did a remarkable job of identifying and arresting mark oleary. Sreenivasan all right, you can read about the rapes in colorado and the one in washington, in a fantastic story. Ken armstrong, thanks so much for joing us. Thank you, hari, appreciate it woodruff traditionally, liberal arts colleges are not necessarily the place youd look to as an incubator for startup ventures. But theres change in the air, and some schools are ready to move into new territory. Our economics correspondent, paul solman, looks at why, part of our weekly segment making sense, which airs every thursday on the newshour. Reporter what if all you need to do to grow the perfect garden is to lay down a mat of vegetable seeds, add water, and wait . So you have an optimally designed, prefabricated garden that is embedded in a sheet. The idea was, how can i simplify the process of gardening so that anybody can have a garden without any work . Reporter this is gardening for the vegetablychallenged . Or, herbally, fruitally, flowerlychallenged. Reporter cam mackugler is a newgrown entrepreneur, nurtured in an unlikely hothouse Middlebury College, with just 2,500 students, known for over 200 years as a safe haven for the liberal arts. Now its spawning Companies Like seedsheet and iris virtual reality. You wear goggles and youre able to look through the goggles and actually see the architectural rendering of, maybe your new house or a new building that youve asked the architects to build. Reporter administrator liz robinson says these projects are just two of many now being cultivated in northern vermont, a lot of them in the campuss incubator space, the Old Stone Mill. Middlebury helped a lot because joyryde was just an idea. And they helped to make it into a tangible product. Reporter joyryde, an app that incentivizes safe driving, won a business challenge competition at middlebury, basically their version of the show shark tank. It sets a limit to your interactions with your phone. After three strikes, it shuts down the ride. Reporter theres also a fresh food delivery service; a skateboard company, and dozens more. At middlebury, even musicians are now entrepreneurs. We approach this very seriously, like you would a startup. We applied to middleburys mid challenge grant, and that gave us the money we needed to make an album. Reporter all beneficiaries of the schools programs on innovation that provide mentors, money and space like the Old Stone Mill no strings attached; no royalties to the school. We came because wed heard about middlebury and wondered are the liberal arts undergoing an Economic Transformation . I think that the next stage for everyone around entrepreneurship and Higher Education is to integrate it, better and differently into the traditional curriculum. Reporter new middlebury president laurie patton, freshly hired from duke, which has a major center for entrepreneurship. But for patton, a professor of ancient hinduism, the entrepreneuracademic connection didnt click until she met a young scholar trying to show the relevance of Indian Culture with sanskrit greeting cards. And so what she started, was a greeting card company. And she is really thriving in this business because sanskrit is, its perfect as a greeting, the language of greeting. Reporter entrepreneurship might even be a way of saving a Sanskrit Department somewhere, as universities yield to economic pressure and sound the knell for liberal arts departments that dont attract enough students. But to Brandeis University english professor billy flesch, though the economic pressures are a problem, entrepreneurship ought not be the answer. I understand that universities probably have to become more entrepreneurial. But i think that if what universities are selling is a better life of the mind, thats great. If what universities are selling is the idea that youll become a better salesman or woman, thats not so great. I think that risks corrupting everything that we do. Reporter do you see the emphasis on entrepreneurship encroaching on liberal arts schools like middlebury or brandeis . I do. Reporter a liberal arts school, middleburys emphasis is on social entrepreneurship, businesses which hope to do well by doing good. Its a sword and plough day pack and its made out of repurposed coast guard uniform material. Reporter and, this is. This is like a backpack . And that can convert even those who come for its famed focus on languages. Thats why i originally wanted to go to middlebury, to study foreign languages. And i never would have imagined that i would have thought of an idea to launch a social enterprise before i graduated. Reporter Emily Nunez Cavness started sword plough as a senior. She was a french major from a military family. In rotc at middlebury, she served in the army in afghanistan and other undisclosed locations as a green beret. The idea is to work with veterans to repurpose military surplus material that would otherwise be thrown away and turn it into really beautiful and functional bags. And then, also donate back to veteran organizations with 10 of our profits. Reporter a recycling enthusiast, cavness is also an enthusiast of entrepreneurship in the college environment. Its really the perfect incubator to launch a business. Youre in the setting where youre supposed to encourage to learn and think and dream as much as you can. And there is also all of these amazing resources, especially at Middlebury College that help you, take that idea and turn it into a successful startup. Reporter is the new emphasis on entrepreneurship in Higher Education a function of the lack of good jobs out there for graduates . I think that the market right now, makes students more anxious than it did 25 years ago, for sure. I think there is Something Else happening, though students are not seeing themselves as in one job forever. I had one recent grad hand me her card with a name and a number on it and she said, i could tell you what company i am working at, but i am not going to because we dont do careers now, we do projects. Reporter but the obvious objection is, this is dumbing down, playing to the, lowest common denominator. Yeah, i think that that is true of a bad entrepreneurial curriculum. But a good one, that really focuses on the rationale for an innovation, that truly focuses on creativity, that forces students to think through, exactly what their plan is for their new idea. I would say, its the opposite of dumbing down. Reporter but professor flesch wonders about practical coaching over intellectual debate. Teaching and learning come out of conflict and opposition and trying to convince the other person that their idea is wrong in some way or other. More and more theres a sense that what were supposed to be doing is empowering students rather than teaching, of letting them take the ideas that they already have and sell them, whereas i actually think teaching is selling new ideas to students. Reporter okay, so that. And so, these, the little seeds are here. Back at middlebury, cam mackugler, selling his new idea, to us. So then, the customer unfolds this and places it on top of their soil. Reporter i think im, uh, seedpod challenged. Once watered, these pods dissolve and the plants that are embedded within them will sprout and come up through the openings in the weed barrier fabric. And you have the perfectly arranged garden that youve planted in 30 seconds. Reporter and so, in the yellow wood where robert frost taught for four decades, students are starting down the road more taken these days using college to start a business. For the pbs newshour, this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from the yellow woods and Green Mountains of northern new england. Woodruff now the ever continuing, and yes, inescapable saga of star wars, as the feature film, episode vii the force awakens, opens nationwide this weekend, including at some theaters tonight. Jeffrey brown has our look at whats become a touchstone of movie storytelling and money making. We could say the forgs has reawakened but for fans, and they are leg, on, its barely taken a nap, not since the lart 1970s. They were out in force at the frenzied glittery, weird and wild los angeles premier earlier this week. Nothing will stand in our way. To see the start of a new triology for a series, franchise, a universe that can seemingly go on forever. In its article, the force will be with us always, adam rogers of wired magazine refers to star wars as an example of a parras could am. In psychology terms it is an imagine world. You can have a year zero and go forward and back and just set stories in the perocosm and people are familiar, oh it is a star wars story, these are designed to not end and not even begin, they can stretch 10,000 in either direction. Star wars especially. An adventure unlike anything on your planet. It all back in 1977. Fim maker george lucas brought out the first star wars, introa deution the world luke skywalker, princess leia, hands solo and a host of other characters, human and decidedly not so. I am c3po, a human sie borg relations. The enormous success came as a surprise. They didnt think it would do much. Nobody thought it would do much. The expectations werent low. Expectations were incredibly how but hollywood, i think, was so desperate for something consistent to work with like a model or tell plate that they thought if they could just repeat and rebot theal lightning over and over again, that they would do t that is why we have our superhero comic book franchise culture today within the beginning of the franchise. Absolutely. Here is a path to the dark side. The second triology unfolded between 1999 and 2005. And now the story expands. In a film directed by jj abrams, speaking to jimmy kim el, the director explained he was reluctant to take it on. I was only reluctant because a, i love the Movie Star Wars so much. I love the original, i was 11 when i saw the first one. This a profound impact on me. So to get so close to something kind of scared me a little bit. I will show you the dark side. The force awakens introduces a new cast. Tell me your name. Fin, whats yours. Daysie ridley and os car ice afnlgt while tieing into the original triology with the prefns its stars. If i do this. Its a purposeful approach to casting that keeps the story moving in all directions. Because characters can enter and then leave. In the star wars universe, that they are building right now, characters can die and that is okay because that is what happens in a real universe. And then new characters can come in and you can keep making movies about them. Its he a sphorreetelling and money making power house. Disney bought the franchise in 2012 for a gal ago particular 4 billion. Advance ticket sales for the new film have already broken records. And Investment Bank Goldman Sachs predicts the force a waings will take in some 8 billion all together. The breakdown, about 2 billion in global box office, and 6 billion in retail sales. New games and gaj ets, of course. But also branded mac n cheese. Star wars kraft macaroni and cheese. It is your only hope. Better matters. Star wars Dodge Caravan prosessions. Were going to need more val ets. You can build the millennium falcon to defeat them. A whole lot more. Films and merchandising hands in hand. Part of this generation does have to do with the merchandising, the toys and u big wit of the projects and the saturday morning cartoons. This universe, these characters and these narratives have taken all these different forms and these different platforms that you and i might not even be aware of but it show carried generation after generation so that we can arrive at the place and tiement. Lives in this place and time. Inhabiting the star wars universe, all across planet earth. You see it in japan. Hello, tokyo. Australia. So exciting. And mexico. And millions mofer us it seems are ready to go along for the ride with every any turn. Star wars transcends again re in some ways. It becomes whatever we bring to it. It is western, science fiction, philosophy, a family drama t becomes a thing that all of you can us can connect to on some level. And the new film does it live up to the hoopla . Early reviews including from the Washington Post are strongly positive. Though i wondered aloud how much that even matters. This movie sort of comes presold, right. Yes. Is it critic proof. Does it matter what you say toarve. Probably not. Again, going back to how this changed the movies, that is another piece. It introduced that idea to a presold audience and that is increasingly what hollywood has wanted over the last 20 or po years is something that comes ready made, they call it execution depend ent it does matter if the movie is bad or good but they will come because they are curious and loyal. But it is probably right that the critics dont matter but well try to make our presence felt anyway. She will have her work cut out for her. Disney plans to roll out at least five more star wars fims over the next few years. From a gal axey quite near you, im jeffry brown for the pbs newshour. Woodruff next, we turn to our weekly series, brief but spectacular, our occasional series where we ask interesting people to discuss their passions. Tonight, we hear from musicians jack conte and nataly dawn of the group pomplamoose. Their music is funded directly by fans through the site patreon. Com, which was co created by jack conte. Here, they explain the term shotgun creators. I think its funny when people say should music be free . Music is free. Music is free. Get over that. Yeah. Now figure out what to do about it. One, two, three. Covers are basically free advertising for our original music. And for our music in general. We usually reharmonnize and just sort of make it our own. Wake me up snoalt before you go go snet dont leave me hanging wake me up before you go go i dont want to miss it. It took us awhile to start making music together. We put out probably four, five songs and then sort of realized oh my gosh, there is a Search Engine and people are searching for songs like Single Ladies, if we cover that, people will accidentally find our Single Ladies song. All the Single Ladies all the single lady all the Single Ladies all the Single Ladies. The day after we released the video, kayne got up with the grammys and did his thing. And the next day, millions of people went on to youtube and serchedz beyonce Single Ladies and they seen natalys face an click it we got about 500,000 views in a 24 hour period fsm you see nataly singing the take, that is the take we recorded in the studio. You get to see how sounds are made because we like to make a lot of weird sounds and show people how to make them. You also get to see how late people work in the stud jo and how not elegant the whole recording process. Is we make everything at home. The music we do all of the video editing. We do all of the instruments. We did a far elg williams mashup, the idea for the video was that basically we would cut out these big bits of foam core and projict things on to them and try to get this natural 3d thing going on with 3d objects. Come along if you feel like happy sns the truth. The whole thing in one take with the camera kind of swooping around. It was an filmed with an i foafnlt i like the term shotgun kreert it is just it sprais everywhere. A creator who can dot whole thing. A creator who can edit and write songs and a creator who can sing and build teams and manage people. And a kreelter who can under scene cameras their c. E. O. Of their own media company. And they run every deptd. I am nataly. Im jack conte. We where pomplamoose. This sour brief but spectacular take. On shotgun creators. Woodruff and it was pretty spectacular. Woodruff finally tonight, our newshour shares something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. In 1891, James Naismith invented the sport of basketball while a he was a physical Education Teacher at Springfield College in massachusetts. Michael zogry, an associate professor of religious studies at the university of kansas, recently discovered what is thought to be the only known recording of naismith a 1939 radio interview, in which he recounts telling players to throw a soccer ball into peach baskets hed nailed up in the schools gymnasium. Heres an excerpt and, what rules did you have for your first game dr. Naismith . Well i didnt have enough, and thats where i made my big mistake. The boys began tackling, kicking and punching in the clinches. They ended up in a free for all in the middle of the gym floor. Before i could pull them apart, one boy was knocked out. Several of them had black eyes and one of them had a dislocated shoulder. It certainly was murder. Well after that first match, i was afraid theyd kill each other. They kept nagging me to let them play again, so i made up some more rules. The most important one was there should be no running with the ball. That stopped tackling and slugging. We tried out the game with those rules, and we didnt have one casualty. We had a fine clean sport. Woodruff thank you, mr. Naismith t all spai paid off. On the news d hour online y is it so hard to tract potential terrorists, an answer to that question with two form fbi agents who worked in counterterrorism for this weeks episode of his podcast short way. Can find it on our home page. Find it on our homepage, pbs. Org newshour. Friday on the newshour, we have my report on the final season of Downton Abbey. The drama returns to pbs next month. Actor Elizabeth Mcgovern plays cora, the countess of grantham, and told me why she thinks the show is so popular i think there is something relaxing about this world of Downton Abbey and things were more peaceful, youre not inundated with Text Messages youre just in your house and life is simpler. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening, with mark shields and david brooks. For all of us 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. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention. In the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org announcer this is nightly Business Report, with Tyler Mathisen and sue herera. Stocks plunge. The dow falls more than 250 points, and theres one very big reason why. Taken into custody. The poster boy for hiking drug prices. Martin shkreli arrested today for securities fraud. Ding dong. Server is calling. The private equity firm takes a big stake in one of the most recognizable Cosmetics Companies in the world. All that and more tonight on nightly Business Report for thursday december 17th. Good evening, everyone and welcome. And like that, the gains of yesterday are gone. Stocks sank today snapping a threeday win streak and the reason why is a familiar one. Falling oil prices. That dragged down Energy Shares like