Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160610

hamilton. but it really is unlike anything thats come on broadway before and its drawing audiences that broadway hasnt really brought in en masse in many years. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Fathom travel. Carnival corporations small ship line. Offering seven day cruises to three cities in cuba. Exploring the culture, cuisine and Historic Sites through its people. More at fathom. Org. You were born with two stories. One you write every day, and one you inherited thats written in your d. N. A. 23andme. Com is a Genetic Service that provides personalized reports about traits, health and ancestry. Learn more at www. 23andme. Com. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. 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 white house confirmed today that the military now has approval to expand air strikes in afghanistan. Theyll be in support of afghan troops against the taliban. And, u. S. Ground forces will be joining afghan units on more missions. At the same time, white house spokesman josh earnest stressed that the u. S. Will not be taking on direct combat roles. We are actually giving our commanders on the ground the ability to decide to do more where its appropriate. And thats why it is not a change in our mission but rather it gives them the ability to conduct this mission of advice and assistance in slightly more areas if our commanders have concluded that its beneficial. Woodruff afghan leaders have been appealing for american air power to resume backing up their soldiers. U. S. Air strikes on the taliban largely ended in 2014. In syria, food deliveries have reached a besieged rebel suburb of damascus, for the first time in four years. U. N. And red crescent officials entered the town of daraya overnight. Its been under siege by government forces. Dozens of convoys brought in basic food items and medical supplies. The u. N. Estimates between four and 8,000 people are living in daraya. The european soccer championship, euro 2016, kicked off today in france, amid tight security. The country is still under a state of emergency after terror attacks in recent months. And, tensions surged last night in marseilles, when fights broke out. Keme nzerem of independent Television News reports. Reporter this is not what france needs. More violence in marseille, where england play russia tomorrow. And reports spreading of more trouble between rival fans. And local youths. Like there was last night. The problem is people are twitchy for another reason. France is under a state of emergency but last night tens of thousands danced the night away at the opening concert in paris. Right now, nearly 100,000 more are flocking to the stad de france for the opening game. Yards away, this anonymous side street. Many fans will be oblivious to the secrets it holds. But not aca pavlovic. Last november 13th, he nearly died when shrapnel from suicide bombs strafed this lamppost and his flesh. But aca will be back tonight, selling scarves to raise money for survivors like him. translated it is a stadium. The game goes on, and so does life. People need to celebrate and go see games. And that makes me happy. Reporter into this cauldron of hopes and dreams, fans from 24 European Countries are pouring. But it is france, no doubt, with the most at stake. Woodruff the monthlong tournament comes as france is struggling with strikes by garbage collectors and Public Transit workers. A wave of religious murders surged again today in bangladesh. A hindu holy man was hacked to death by suspected islamist militants in the countrys north. That follows the killing of a hindu priest, and a fatal attack on a christian Grocery Store owner earlier this week. Police have launched a crackdown, and detained hundreds of suspects. Back in this country, the man they called mr. Hockey, gordie howe, died today. Hes considered one of the greatest players ever. John yang has more on his life. Heres gordie howe in, hes going to score reporter he had some of the best skills, and sharpest elbows, in the game second on the all time scoring list with 801 goals and winner of four stanley cups with the detroit red wings. Gordie howes 32year career spanned five decades, as the Detroit Free Press put it today, from world war ii through vietnam, truman to carter, sinatra to the sex pistols. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke of howes legacy. His career inspired and gave rise to many dreams and to many canadians of what could be. Howe is in the right place at the right time. Reporter howe was the leagues most valuable player six times. A gentleman off the ice, he was a ferocious competitor on it. During his career, he had some 500 stitches to his face alone. In my early days, id yell, look out and id hit him. If i didnt like him, id yell look out when i hit him. Reporter he retired after the 1971 season, but came back two years later to play in the upstart World Hockey Association with his sons, mark and marty. Howe over the line to his father, father to son, they score reporter they were the only fatherson teammates in pro sports. Howe called it the highlight of his career. He was a 52yearold grandfather when he left the game for good. Howe was diagnosed with dementia in 2012 and suffered two strokes in 2014. He was 88 years old. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff a milestone of a decidedly different sort for the first family, today president obamas oldest daughter, malia, graduated from high school. She attended the private Sidwell Friends School in washington, and plans to take a gap year before starting college at harvard. And, wall street had its second off day in a row, as stocks were hit by falling oil prices, and Global Growth concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost nearly 120 points to close at 17,865. The nasdaq fell 64, and the s p 500 slipped 19. Still to come on the newshour a funeral fit for the greatest, muhammad ali. Donald trump and Hillary Clinton trade barbs. A day in the life of a middle class family struggling to make ends meet, and much more. Woodruff the famous and the anonymous alike paid tribute today to muhammed ali. Their final farewell came in his home town of louisville, kentucky. It was a daylong tribute befitting the man known as the greatest. Muhammad ali began his final journey at a louisville funeral home. The casket, draped in an islamic shroud, was guided into a hearse by pallbearers who included actor will smith and former heavyweight champion mike tyson. A butterfly symbol, a nod to alis signature phrase, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, adorned the windshield. From there, the 17car motorcade wound its way through louisville, with thousands lining the streets ali his impact transcends across the world, and you know, its just a blessing and it makes us as louisvillians proud that hes from our city and our hometown. Woodruff some even touched the hearse, while others ran alongside it. And the procession paused at sites of significance, such as the ali center in downtown louisville, and the boxing legends childhood home. The 19mile procession ended at Cave Hill Cemetery on a road strewn with flower petals. Muhammad ali chose the site a decade ago as his final resting place, with a headstone to be inscribed simply ali. And he spoke to the people. He spoke to all people. All people came together regardless of race and gender and religion. Everyone came together. Woodruff the Burial Service was private, but 15,000 people turned out for the Public Memorial Service that followed, ali himself had requested the event be open to ordinary fans, and hundreds of celebrities, dignitaries and sports greats joined them. They ranged from Jesse Jackson to jim brown to utah senator orrin hatch, whom ali befriended in the 1980s, and who spoke at the service. The formal eulogies began with alis widow, lonnie on grandnr avenue in louisvie kentucky grew in wisdom from his journeys. He discovered something new, that the world really wasnt black and white at all. It was filled with many shades of rich colors, languages and religions. Andnr as he moved with ease arod the world, the rich and powerful were drawn to him, but he was drawn to the poor and the fo woodruff and there was comedian billy crystal, dubbed little brother by the three time heavyweight champion. Crystals famous 1979 routine 15 rounds was about ali. Its great to look at clips and its amazing that we have them, but to live in his time, watching his fights, experiencing the genius of his talent absolutely extraordinary. Every one of hisni fights was an aura of a super bowl. He didxd things nobody would do. He predicted the round he would knock somebody out and then he would do it he was funny. He was beautiful. He was the most perfect athlete you ever saw, and those were his own words. laughter woodruff journalist Bryant Woodruff journalist Bryant Gumbel met ali as a teenager, and, in 1991, interviewed him about the parkinsons disease that he battled for decades. Some of us like him took pride in being black, bold and brash, and because we were so unapologetic, we were in the eyes of many way too uppity, we were way too arrogant. Yet we reveled in being like him, by stretching societys boundaries as he did, he gave us levels of strength and courage we didnt even know we had. Woodruff former president bill Clinton Woodruff former president bill clinton presented ali with the citizens medal in 2001, and spoke at the dedication of the ali center four years later. He gave the days final eulogy. I think he decided, before he could possibly have worked it all out, and before fate and time could work their will on him, he decided that he would not be ever disempowered. He decided that not his race nor his place nor the expectations of others, positive, negative or otherwise, would strip from him the power to write his own story. Woodruff in the end, one man in the crowd summed up the day woodruff the two presumptive nominees for president were in washington today, each speaking to a friendly crowd and trying out attack lines aimed at the other. Political director Lisa Desjardins reports. Reporter it was an effort to reassure the religious right donald trump speaking to an evangelical christian audience at the faith and freedom coalitions conference in washington. We want to uphold the sanctity and dignity of life. Religious freedom, the right for people of faith to freely practice their faith, is so important. Reporter at the same time, he tried to address recent accusations of racism, including from some in his own party. Freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their color and the color of their skin, should not be judged that way. And right now we have a very divided nation and were going to bring our nation together. Reporter trump seemed to gain ground with the crowd, if not a full embrace. I came in a little skeptical, but his speech was really what i wanted to here. Im going to continue to be a little skeptical. But i am more excited about the outcome of what the president could offer christian voters. This is a room full of conservative voters, so i think they came into this ready to vote for him but the question now, but the question is will they fight for him. Reporter and how many as the republican presumptive nominee tries to shore up his argument with the religious right, Hillary Clinton shes pounding away with her base on the left. Reporter clinton was also in the nations capital, at a planned parenthood event, giving her first speech as the democratic partys presumptive nominee. When donald trump says lets make America Great again that is code for lets take america backward, back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some, not all. Back to the days when abortion was illegal, women had far fewer options and life for too many women and girls was limited. Reporter last night, following a day of endorsements from the president and Vice President , clinton also received the backing of progressive champion, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States and to make sure that donald trump never gets any place close to the white house. Reporter this morning, the senator and the candidate met at the clintons washington home. Clinton later declined to respond when asked if warren is a potential running mate. Clinton hosts a fundraiser at her d. C. Home tonight, while trump holds a rally in richmond, virginia. Their job now excite their respective bases enough to come out in november. For the pbs newshour, im Lisa Desjardins. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour mark shields and david brooks on this weeks political news. And broadways landmark year ahead of sundays tony awards. But first, the financial pressures of the middle class. Its part of what youre hearing from voters and on the campaign trail this year. Tonight, we zero in on the case of a California Family feeling the squeeze. Its part of our joint project with American Public medias marketplace and pbs frontline, called how the deck is stacked, funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. The correspondent is the host of marketplace, kai ryssdal. Dont i call my insurance first . To make a claim . Yeah. Do you think its totaled . Yeah. Reporter this has not been a good morning for aaron and mary murray and vandy, their five yearold daughter. They came out to find aarons car had been hit overnight, one of those unexpected expenses hat can throw a lot of middle class families offtrack. Thank you for calling esurance my name is rebecca, how can i help . Hello rebecca. I am calling because my car got sideswiped. I did not see them, they just left a note on my car. Ah the note. They swerved to avoid a cat dashing across the street. Got to brake for animals. Reporter things get back on track, though, with marys car, and they head to the Los Angeles Zoo to meet some friends. Vandys really looking forward to the dinosaurs. Oh my gosh. Its okay, ill protect you. Reporter over a standard zoo lunch of chicken fingers, talk turns back to the car accident. The check goes to pay off the car, it doesnt go to me. Reporter next up, groceries at target fruit, chicken, taco kit, and george bedding. Nice. High five. Reporter mary keeps a close eye on the family budget. Money saving apps are key. Bread any bread. Unlocked. 25 cents. Chaching. Alright. Reporter the tricky thing when youre talking about the middle class is who exactly youre talking about. One definition, according to the pew Research Center, is a family of four, making between 48 and 145 thousand dollars a year, which is basically the murrays. Theyre both teachers. Household income is right at 90,000. And theyre the ones politicians talk about all the time. Hey, howre you . This is vandy. Reporter how are you sweetie . You good . Crazy day today. Aaron you walked out to get your laptop and. Yeah, ive been sideswiped this morning, the rear axels broke, i mean this is. Reporter is that part of the wheel . Yeah, thats the wheel. The tow trucks here. Reporter how big of a pain is this . Youre insured, but. Thats exactly it. Im insured but, even if they pay everything out, i now dont have a new car. Do we get a new car . How do we find the money to get the down payment . Like, thats really the big thing. Reporter whats that going to do to your Monthly Budget . This month is shot, next month is shot. Im a teacher, i dont get paid over the summer. Reporter so as you try to get ahead, this is like two steps back. Yeah. Reporter maybe more. They say theyre going to cover everything, but covering everything is never everything. Reporter our family, the murrays, they make 90,000 a year, now granted they live in l. A. , an expensive part of the country, housing is ridiculous, theyre middle class, right . They would be, yeah, by definition. Reporter Jennifer Pate is an economist at Loyola Marymount university. When we hear politicians and others say the middle class in america is being hollowed out. What does that mean . That means its getting smaller . People are either going up, which is called upward mobility or more likely its downward mobility, were seeing a hollowing out of the middle. These are people who purchase goods and services across the year that leads to higher Economic Prosperity in our country. What do families do when they struggle . Reporter they dont spend, right . They retrench. They spend less. They sometimes have to take jobs that have better security but pay lower wages. Wages have been stagnant in real terms roughly since the 70s. Reporter our family, the murrays, theyre teachers, theyre hustling to get by. Getting wrecked was not in their budget. When youre living very close to your means, or just barely living within your means, when you have a catastrophic event, Something Like having your car totaled unexpectedly, that disproportionately weighs on you. I dont feel middle class. Id like to feel middle class. I dont. I hardly feel like an adult. Reporter we asked the murrays whether they expected things to turn out like this. In my best remembrance we actually had planned on having bought a house, even here in l. A. We were going to have somebodys loans paid off. Yeah, and i would be done with my masters program, and i would be in a teaching job for l. A. U. S. D. Reporter okay so run me through that howd we do . No loans are paid off. We do not have a house. I hate to say Student Loans are the only reason, but they are a large reason. I could have purchased a house for the amount of my Student Loans. Reporter are there months you choose not to pay bills . I have from time to time chosen not to pay something or to skip something. I never skipped the rent, the car payment, i never skip the insurance. Reporter when you guys look at this election, do you feel like the candidates are paying attention to your situation . Hillary clinton talks about the middle class all the time. Donald trump has a middle class element in his platform. I dont think they see the reality of the middle class. I think theres an idea of what middle class is. I think middleclass is you dont live paycheck to paycheck. Reporter do you think your fortunes are going to change based on this election . I dont. Reporter maybe a better question is what about the fortunes of their daughter. Are you two setting vandy up to be better off than you are right now . I hope so, i dont really know. When you say save money. Cut this out. Dont do that, it doesnt always work that way because the one person i have the hardest time saying no to is my daughter. If she says can we go to pinkberry and we say no because we only have 50 left for the rest of the month, thats kind of hard shes loves going to gymnastics, thats not negotiable. That is something we pay every month for her, she loves it, and we did cut out a lot so that she could do that. Reporter this isnt a story or a series about one family. Its about an economy thats changing, and what it means when something as simple as your car getting sideswiped can set you back on your heels. The middle class is what makes this economy go. The murrays and the millions of families like them being able to buy stuff. Its that basic. And if theyre getting squeezed, if the deck is stacked, then everybodys going to feel it. For the pbs newshour, this is kai ryssdal from los angeles, california. Woodruff a historic week for Hillary Clinton. Bernie sanders stays in the race but pledges his support. And Donald Trumps campaign tries to recover from a stumble. That brings us to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. So lets talk a little bit about the history. It took, what, just 240 years, but we do now have a woman as the nominee for president of a Major Political party. Did you feel the history, david, this week . Weirdly not. Maybe im a chauvinist or something, but, you know, obviously, the transformation of the role of women is the biggest event of our lifetime, the biggest pope francis formation after thousands of years of history to getting closer to equality on that front. But Hillary Clinton, it was so long in coming, it didnt, to me, feel like the big Seismic Shift the way barack obama felt in 2008 i think because shes so much a political figure and it was so long in coming that it didnt seem like such a breakthrough moment. It wasnt like a feminist tide. It was a tide of her grown grit, a lot of issues, the democratic establishment. If you poll sanders voters versus clinton voters, sanders voters were more likely to think there was structural discrimination against women than clinton voters. She road on the tide of merit, issues, but not necessarily a feminist tide. This particularly event did not feel a seismic opening, at least to me, that, say, the obama thing did. Woodruff mark . Im a feminist laughter no, golda maher is my icon. 31 years ago when Geraldine Ferrara was named by walter mondale, i was emotional and thought about my mother, wife, daughter. It was such a surprise. It was such a pioneer. This has been woodruff this was less. And Hillary Clinton has been a formidable, significant political figure and actor for 25 years, but there was genuine emotion in the hall. You could feel it if you watched it, when she accepted that nomination, and she obviously reciprocated it. Its not just a powerful campaign, it was a Political Campaign and an effective one. Woodruff lets bring it down to politics. Quite a good week for the democrats whether history or not, david. You had Hillary Clinton finished, she won california by a pretty big margin, got the president s endorsement, she got the endorsement of the Vice President , bender, bernie s is not getting out of the race but is signaling hes going to support her. Democrats seemed to have pulled it together this week. What did you make of that . California was a big one. If she had lost that, we would have a whole different feeling to the thing. Winning california is a reminder of all we have been surprise bid sanders. She won this cleanly and in a big way over the whole course of the primary season and, so, she clearly deserves to be the nominee, and the democratic big chieftains are coming together now. The questions i would have for clinton are that people are coming together and theyre uniting and strong, people like warren, but this is not a year where the establishment is doing particularly well with the voters, so im not sure how much it will help her in the campaign. While trumps poll numbers are taking a hit, hers are steady and not in a great place. Im struck by the threeway races where shes at 39 or 40 opened trump is at 35 and then suddenly gary johnson, libertarian candidate is, at a 10. One can see there is so much dissatisfaction with those two that if johnson could run a good campaign, he could stick around in the double digits and be a big story as we talk about the rest of the year. Woodruff how much do you think they said the white house orchestrated this, this week, in a way they gave Bernie Sanders gave the space to get out when helped to. Democrats, historically, when they form a firing squad from the circle, this was a total exception. It was brilliantly corp choreographed. A man not noted for his self doubt to say she was the most qualified president ial candidate in his lifetime was quite an admission and statement. I thought the other part of it, judy, was the deference and respect and space they have given to Bernie Sanders, that hes paid homage, tribute, and i think deservedly so. He lost the nomination, but won the future of the democratic party, and i think the awareness of this and the awareness of the need for him not to be a Gene Mccarthy as Gene Mccarthy was in 1968 when Hubert Humphrey lost the presidency to Richard Nixon by 511,000 votes and Gene Mccarthy waited the great antiwar candidate till six days before the election to endorse humphrey when, undoubtedly, that would have made a difference in the outcome and Bernie Sanders is not going to play this role. I think all of that was good and positive and encouraging, and the idea that the democrats are going to have a peaceful convention, theyre on the love boat now. A week ago, it looked like a civil war, or two weeks ago, and the republicans who looked were going to have a boring convention, now theres a restlessness in the ranks. The two of you have been saying for some weeks that you dont think Hillary Clinton has a single message for her campaign, and, david, you were just hinting at that still the case. Where do you come down, mark . Well, she doesnt. The reality is this is a change election year. As popular as barack obama, is hes at 51 favorable rating, four to five American Voters want the country to head in a different direction. Theyre not satisfied with the economy. Barack obama could not win a third term on a referendum. He could if he was running against donald trump. So theres a change you know, after two terms, theres a desire for change in the country, and Hillary Clinton is a candidate of continuity, and thats a problem, and her message as of now is the change of donald trump is so reckless and so dangerous that i am the safe and sensible alternative. Woodruff is that enough . Oh, yeah, probably. I mean, i still sense people will be sick of donald trump and at least shell be confident and normal. But its not sufficient for the country. Its enough politically. As sanders spoke this week, i was struck about how he opened the campaign well with a core message. But the message sat there. He had the same message from the beginning to end, the same few talking points from beginning to end. It would have been interesting if he had expanded that message and taken it the next step, a different kind of issues, he would have done better. But clinton has not had those issues and her incrementalism has not been a success. The country just want different and theyre willing to grab from column a and b. Trump is a flawed messenger but if clinton could grab some from column a and unpredictable things from the right column that appeals to the family we just havent seen imagination. Weve seen determinism and industriousness. Woodruff trump has had a bad week as his campaign has gone. He has not backed down from the comments he made about the judge and hispanic, mexican heritage. You see the Republican Party struggling to try to figure out what to do about it. What shape is he in right now . Hes in bad shape, and i say that, judy, because think about this if youre a republican, a week ago the democrats had a terrible, terrible week. The inspector generals reports and the state department came through on Hillary Clintons private email. Showed the clinton people had disassembled, not cooperated, that they actually made it more difficult for the investigation and had not been forthcoming. In addition to that, we had the worth job creation numbers wed had in six years and yet donald trump dominated the news the whole week and Hillary Clinton made the news and dominated it in a positive sense with her speech critical of him. So, you know, donald trump now is going to a teleprompter as we saw today and we saw on election night. Donald trump on a teleprompter is about as electrifying as the recorded message you get calling the ai airlines and saying calls will be answered in the order they were received. He loses all of donald trump. Woodruff david, how much damage has been done . Is he going to be able to pick himself up and keep going . He will pick up, there will be ebbs and flows. Hes had so many bad weeks and no effect in the polls. This week he had effect in the polls. There was a chunk down. Then the republicans, the ryans and even the mitch mcconnells, scott walker, the whole party is, like, oh, no what are we going to do . I understand why ryan is trying to hang in. He wants unity. His theory is if we get unified thats the only way we can win as a party. He has a policy if i hug trump maybe hell take part of it but if i push him away hell never embrace my agenda and i care about my agenda but i think that policy is unworkable because you cant share a stage with donald trump. Hes not a sharing guy. Hes a sole figure who does not do collaboration. He does not do reciprocity. He does not do teamwork, and you cant have unity with a guy like that. I wrote in my column today its like trying to hug a tornado, its not going to work because you will get what we say. Its amoral because you cant embrace somebody who says racist things because he agrees with your defense budget. The character is foundational and ryan is trying to paper over a moral chasm with policy. Its not the right thing to do, in my view. Woodruff pretty tough. It was tough. It was good column and it was david said it well. Donald trump, to quote david, which im always reluctant to do, but he has no horizontal relationships, and i think thats true. The wonderful congress canman from arizona said always be aware of any president ial candidate who does not have friends his own age who can tell him to go to hell when youre wrong, and i just dont see that in donald trump. I mean, i see a lot of relationships and a lot of vertical relationships and good lairptions with his family, but, i mean, i think, judy, the vote for president is a very personal one and people are going to make their decisions based on, as was said 25 centuries ago, character is destiny and it will be in 2012. Woodruff i guess next week hell try to talk about Hillary Clintons character. Well see what he says. Mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. Woodruff broadways 70th annual tony awards air sunday night with all eyes on the musical hamilton. But as Jeffrey Brown reports, there are many more Stage Productions which may provide surprises. Brown no question about it it was the year of hamilton and the hip hop musical about americas first treasury secretary received a record 16 tony nominations. Its also took in over a billion dollars in ticket sales and helped make this a profitable, as well as buzzed about, year on broadway. Another contender in the best musical category, shuffle along, with an allstar cast led by Audra Mcdonald and its history, also got much buzz, even if it faces tough tony odds. In the best play category, the humans. And eclipsed were among the standouts. The former presents a thanksgiving gathering where tensions reach a boiling point and, with humor, family fault lines are exposed. Eclipsed, starring lupita nyongo, is a drama set amidst the liberian civil war. The best revival of a musical category includes new takes on two wellknown stories the color purple, based on alice walkers Pulitzer Prize winning novel, centers on African American women in the 1930s south. And tevya and tradition returned in fiddler on the roof, first produced on broadway in 1964. And in the best revival of a play category, famed Playwright Arthur Miller faces off against himself as well as others. Theres the crucible, about the salem witch trials, and an allegory of mccarthyism in later years and a view from the bridge, millers 1956 drama of a brooklyn longshoreman. And as it happens, both miller revivals were directed by ivo van hove. And for a further look, joined by ben brantley chief theater critic for the New York Times. Lets start with the hamilton phenomenon. There is no other way to refer to it. There is a song from hamilton, i want to be in the room when it happens which is referring to the political ambitions of aaron burr, but became the mantra for everyone. I want to be in the room id never received so many questions when people started crawling out of the woodwork of my past asking if i could get them tickets. Theyre hard to come by. That kind of feeds the fuel. And this is one case, though, in which that kind of hype is justified. It really is unlike anything thats come on broadway before andeth drawing audiences that broadway hasnt really brought in en masse in many years. Brown one aspect noted hamilton and other plays is the diversity in theater. The oscars look especially pale by comparison to broadway this year. The point of hamilton or one of the many points of hamilton which is a multileveled production in so many ways is that this country was founded by immigrants, and one of the strokes of genius was casting all the dead white Founding Fathers with very vital young men and women of color. Rise up, rise up it fuses the language of hiphop, the braggadocio, the energy and showoff aspect of it as the natural language for young people who would be revolting. Brown other plays aside from hamilton. Lets talk about the new play category. We hatched the humans and eclipsed. What stood out for you . The humes is a portrait of family dysfunction but theres kind of a nimbus of the supernatural within it that suggests that the ghost, what really haunts us, the horror, the monsters, are us. Eclipsed is its own creature. I dont think there is ever been a play like this on broadway before. A woman playwright, all female cast, and its about african brides, basically, who have been kidnapped by revolutionaries at a time of civil war, and its their very limited existences and hopes of escaping it. Its sort of a conventional play in the way its told, but i think its really good, and the accents are thick, the lingo is thick, the historical or cop the context is so thick that you have to Pay Attention when you follow it and if you do, youre hooked. Cynthia, in the musical the color purple which came to london and had been on broadway not long ago, she is extraordinary. Its based on alice waters novel and she plays a repressed young girl intro into a sense of herself and watching cynthia grow in presence on stage is like watching a star being born before your eyes. Its thrilling. Brown let me ask you briefly to sum up the year. There is years where the talk about broadway is, oh, blockbuster musicals. Nothing all that new and really exciting. Where do you think were at right now . This year, hamilton is so singular that it really does sort of put Everything Else in the shade, but its good that something this original and it is Truly Original is whats casting that shadow. Aside from that the fact we had ivo van hove, a radically experienced director, bringing into musicals to broad way the crucible and a view from the bridge and making them seem so new and startling and emotionally engaging, in a way. Yeah, any show that includes the humans and broadway and the color purple, its a season to give thanks for. Brown ben brantley from the New York Times, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Woodruff well be back in a moment. But first, take this time to hear from your local pbs station. Its a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. Woodruff for those stations still with us, we travel to stone quarries in the rural, northern part of india, where a deadly disease has trapped workers in poverty for generations. Fred de sam lazaro has our encore report. Reporter across the urban landscape rise majestic sandstone palaces, monuments and temples, built in indias timeless architectural traditions. But whats also timeless is how the stone continues to be mined, far from the cities, here in the rajasthan desert. No one is spared the drudgery, it seems. How old are you . Ten. Reporter he should be in school. Its the law. But history suggests hell soon graduate to a quarry; part of a vicious cycle of generational poverty and disease. The work is physically brutal under a blazing desert sun. But behind their thick clouds of dust, miners wear nothing but flip flops on their feetand nothing at all on their faces. They earn two to four dollars a day, depending on their tasks, the law of the mines is that no work no wage. So the days when they cant turn to work, because of an illness or because of some other problem, they cant make any money. Reporter and, Prakash Tyagi says for an Alarming Number perhaps a third of the 250,000 sandstone miners, the work is lethal, linked to silicosis, a slow, irreversible loss of lung function. Silicosis is a shame. Silicosis is something that should not exist in the contemporary times. Reporter silicosis is easily preventable with face masks and wet drilling using water to tamp down the dust and the disease is now rarely seen in developed countries. And yet tyagi says no one around here had ever addressed it seemed to know about it even three decades ago, when his late father started a charity called gravis, dedicated to improving life in this impoverished region. In the early days, many patients they saw were assumed to have tuberculosis, which is treatable with antibiotics. The treatment was given. Still people were dying with lung issues. Lung symptoms which were very similar to t. B. But it was not t. B. Reporter only after sending 250 xrays to a Research Center in delhi did gravis learn it was dealing with silicosis. And design ways to help patients cope with the slowly degenerative and fatal condition. Today gravis runs field clinics near quarries, offering diagnostic services and a limited amount of drugs, like cough suppressants and inhalers that can control though not cure symptoms, you have t. B. . Reporter many, like this 25 yearold mother of two, hope that they just have t. B. , which is a common coinfection and however, the paper she carried, but was unable to readindicated that she, for sure, had silicosis. She may live to be 40 years old . At the most. Shes one of those accelerated cases. She has been working in mines for 810 years, shes 25. She would have started when she was 15 or 16. Reporter many start even younger, though it typically takes about 20 years of dust exposure for silicosis to develop, destroying lung tissue, rendering sufferers unable to do much physical activity. translated ive been ill for about seven years. For two years ive just havent been able to work at all. Reporter their condition will worsen inevitably until, like joga ram, they are literally unable to breathe. Ideally, he would receive oxygen and steroids and die in a hospital or hospice setting. None of that is available or affordable. The prolonged illness forces many families to incur debt, prolonging their medieval poverty into the next generation. Gita devi echoed the sentiments of many in this group of silicosis widows. translated we have to send our children to work. There is no other way to put food in our stomachs. Reporter its not very much food. It was around 10 00 a. M. When we visited this village. What have you eaten today, i asked . They hadnt. The truck will come by around midday and only when we load it up will we get the money to buy food, she said. How much will you get paid . 150 rupees. Reporter thats about two dollars and fifty cents. The magnificent sandstone buildings in delhi, from which government officials govern may seem a world away and aloof from the suffering and labor of miners in rajasthan. In fact, india actually passed laws decades ago to protect them. Theres a wide gap between whats on paper and the ground reality. Here the combination of official neglect, social indifference and poor education insure laws are rarely enforced. This mine owner insisted that he makes masks and helmets available. translated they just dont wear them. They dont like to wear them. Reporter why not require them, i asked . Theyll just leave and go to the next mine, he said for their part, workers said they sometimes used masks while drilling, but in the blazing hot weather, they are suffocating translated its impossible to breathe in them. Reporter gravis, which is funded by charitable donations from abroad and some Indian Government grants, also helps affected miners navigate the there is a lot of paperwork, a lot of bureaucracy, there is a lot of delay. But we try to make sure that these people who are illiterate, and less capable, go through those hurdles. Reporter the compensation, about 1,700 u. S. Dollars for living victims, 3,000 for to their survivorsprovides some debt reliefeven money to start a micro enterprise. But tyagi says his and a few other groups meet only a small fraction of the need. While he says thousands of silicosis victims suffer and die each year without even a diagnosis. For the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro, in rajasthan, india. Woodruff on the newshour online right now, whats the best way to ensure Financial Security for your family . Think of your family as a business, says one of our making sense columnists. Find eight principles to guide you in managing and growing your familys wealth. All that and more is on our web site, pbs. Org newshour. And gwen ifill is preparing for Washington Week which airs tonight on pbs and has a preview. Gwen . Ifill thanks, judy. Hillary clinton wins the week, making history by clinching the democratic nomination, then rolling out coordinated high profile endorsements. So where does that leave donald trump . Still defending himself against his own comments, while Bernie Sanders works out his slow motion surrender. All that, tonight on Washington Week. Judy . Woodruff look forward. And well be back, right here, on monday with our regular political analysis from amy walters and tamara keith. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Have a great weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by you were born with two stories. One you write every day, and one you inherited thats written in your d. N. A. 23andme. Com is a Genetic Service that provides personalized reports about traits, health and ancestry. Learn more at www. 23andme. Com. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. 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