Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160929

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Ifill the name of the game in the president ial race today momentum from monday nights debate. One candidate is hoping to keep it going, and make new inroads. The other is looking to recover. The university of New Hampshire was the backdrop for Hillary Clintons latest effort to win over young voters. She was joined by former rival bernie sanders, whose primary campaign was fueled, in large part, by millennials burdened by student debt. Going to college should be hard, but paying for college shouldnt be so hard that it prevents you from getting an education. I dont know how we got to where we are, but we are going to fix it. This is wrong. Its wrong for students, its wrong for families, and its wrong for our country. Ifill First Lady Michelle Obama made a College Swing of her own today through pennsylvania, campaigning for clinton and taking repeated swings at donald trump. If a candidate regularly and flippantly makes cruel and insulting comments about women, about how we look and how we act, well, sadly, thats who that candidate really is. Ifill donald trump, campaigning in the suburbs of the upper midwest, rallied his troops by stepping up his criticisms of clinton she disgraced the office of secretary of state by putting it up to sale. And if she ever got the chance, she would put the oval office up for sale too. And nobody has any doubt about it. And we cant let that happen. Ifill but the campaign is shifting in other ways, most of them helpful to clinton. In virginia, former senator john warner, a republican, appeared with clinton running mate tim kaine to endorse the democratic ticket. And the Arizona Republic threw its support behind clinton endorsing a democrat for the first time in the newspapers 126year history. There was also more fallout from mondays debate, when clinton raised trumps criticism of a former miss universe, alicia machado, over her weight. Trump defended himself tuesday, but machado called out trump again today, on nbc translated that same person i knew, i see in each one of his speeches. And i see it getting worse and i see it even more harmful and even more damaging. Ifill the campaign is now between debates; faceoff number the next topoftheticket face off is set for october 9. Woodruff in the days other news, congress averted a crisis over funding the government past friday. The senate easily approved a bill to keep things running into december, and the house moved to follow suit. The stalemate ended after house leaders compromised on helping flint, michigan with its lead tainted water. Ifill the report is in, on the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane over Eastern Ukraine two years ago. An international investigation, led by the dutch, announced the findings today. Jonathan miller, of independent television news, reports. Reporter bodies and baggage and wreckage were scattered over 50 square kilometers when the malaysian 777200, en route from amsterdam to kuala lumpur, disintegrated at 33,000 feet at the answers as to the how, who and why have been fought over ever since. Now, we know the how for sure. translated we have no doubt about the correctness of the conclusions that we present today. And the conclusion is that on 17th july 2014, flight mh17 was brought down with a buk rocket that was launched from farmland at pervomaysk and that the Missile System arrived from the russian federation, and was returned there afterwards. Reporter they presented videos of the Missile System entering the russianbacked separatist region, east of donetsk, four buk missiles on board. Then there was film of the low loader leaving, heading back into russia, later the same day, with only three missiles. The journey, reconstructed, with computer graphics. Here, triangulated evidence from photographs of smoke trails taken by two different witnesses, pointing to this charred corner of a field. The launch site. They translated and transcribed mobile phone intercepts in which rebel fighters give the convoy directions. Today, russia fired back, unleashing a barrage of denials. The international channel, russia today, widely seen as prokremlin, citing doubts about most of the findings. The kremlin, insisting ukraine is to blame, insists. The attack struck a residential building in nongarhar province in the east. The u. S. Military said it is investigating the report of civilian casualties. Ifill the United States is sending another 615 troops to iraq, adding to 4,500 already there. It is part of an ongoing buildup to battle Islamic State forces, and helps set the stage for an offensive to recapture mosul. The u. S. Units are officially in a support role and are not to take a direct hand in combat, unless attacked. Woodruff protesters gathered overnight in another American City after a Fatal Police Shooting of a black suspect. Officers in el cajon, california say the man was behaving erratically. A woman who identified herself as the mans sister, said he was mentally ill. A cellphone image showed him by a white truck, apparently in a shooting stance, and pointing something, before he was shot. It turned out, later, he did not have a gun. Ifill in economic news, Federal Reserve chair janet yellen reaffirmed there is no fixed timetable for raising Interest Rates again. But, she told a house hearing, she believes the economy will be ready for a rate hike before the year is out. Many of my colleagues indicated in their recent projections, the majority that they would see it as appropriate to make a move to take a step in that direction this year if things continue on the current path and no significant new risks arise. Ifill the feds next policy meeting is in early november, just before the election. Woodruff the oil cartel, opec, has agreed on cutting output, for the First Time Since 2008. It is a bid to push up prices, and Member States said today they will finalize the details at a meeting in november. In response, prices jumped 2 per barrel today. Ifill that oil surge helped Energy Stocks in particular, and wall street in general. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 111 points to close at 18,339. The nasdaq rose almost 13 points, and the s p 500 added 11. Ifill still to come on the newshour a first veto override for president obama; the legacy of one of israels Founding Fathers; how lead became so pervasive in our infrastructure, and much more. Woodruff now, to the votes today on capitol hill to override for the first time the veto of a bill by president obama. The issue a diplomatically sensitive measure to permit americans to sue Foreign Governments for supporting terrorism inside the United States. It was a rare show of unity senators voted 971 to override the president s veto, with minority leader harry reid, the lone holdout. The bill permits families of 9 11 victims to sue saudi arabia over its alleged support of the 19 9 11 hijackers, most of whom were saudis. How can anyone look at the families in the eye and tell them that they shouldnt have the opportunity to seek justice against a Foreign Government responsible for the death of their loved one . Every entity, including its very simple. If the saudis were culpable, they should be held accountable. If they had nothing to do with 9 11, they have nothing to fear. Woodruff the attack left nearly 3,000 people dead, and the saudis have long rejected any claim they were involved. Their foreign minister spoke this past july, after congress released a longclassified section of the official u. S. Government report on the 9 11 attacks the cia director, the director of National Intelligence came out and said that there was no involvement of the saudi government or saudi officials in the events of 9 11. The Senate Intelligence committee did its own investigation came to the same conclusion and so the matter is now finished. Woodruff the saudis also strongly opposed this lawsuit bill. President obama warned it could strain relations with riyadh, and spur retaliation against americans elsewhere. In his veto message to congress on friday, the president said the bill does not enhance the safety of americans from terrorist attacks, and undermines core u. S. Interests. Today, c. I. A. Director john defense secretary ash carter also wrote to congress, predicting potentially devastating consequences for american troops abroad. But, supporters largely dismissed those fears, and the house joined the senate this afternoon, overwhelmingly rejecting the president s veto. Woodruff so what will be the effect of this bill, now that it will become law . We get two views. Jack quinn is a lawyer representing the families who were impacted by the attacks on 9 11 and who are suing saudi arabia. He was also white House Counsel during the bill clinton administration; and Michael Mukasey was attorney general of the United States during the george w. Bush administration. And we welcome both of you. Jack quinn, let me start with you. Why did these families believe the government of saudi arabia should be subject to lawsuits . Well, they think any government with respect to which there is credible evidence of governmental involvement in a terrorist attack should be held accountable in the United States. The justice against sponsors of terrorism act says quite simply that if a sovereign government aids and abets a terrorist attack inside the United States that causes death or injury in the United States, then the courts of this country have jurisdiction over that government. I think if you ask most people in the street should that be the law, they would be shocked its not. For a long time, frankly, it was. The administration which general mccasey served the Bush Administration went into court and said it allaws for lawsuits for terrorist attacks in the United States like 9 11. Woodruff it sounds like a reasonable request the families are making. Sounds reasonable but if you look closely, it isnt. First of all, i dont think anybody disputes that the families deserve not only sympathy but recompense and compensation to the extent that these losses can be compensated and they cant, but this bill doesnt do it for at least two reasons. Number one, there were not one, not two, not three but at least four investigations by national security, officials in the United States, by the the c. I. A. , the f. B. I. And then 9 11 commission that found directly conclude that there was no saudi government involvement or involvement by high saudi officials in 9 11. That has been investigated and reinvestigated. So there is simply no evidence there to show saudi involvement. Woodruff let me just stop you right there its also counterintuitive that there would be because osama bin laden, when he was listing his reasons for 9 11, said that the presence of u. S. Troops in the Arabian Peninsula was a principal reason. They were there at the invitation of the United States. He was trying to overthrow the saudi government. It was counterintuitive they would participate. Woodruff jack quinn, what is the evidence of the families that you are basing this on . I want to start by saying what the judge just said the flatly untrue. Those investigations concluded no such thing. The 9 11 commission reported itself in a very carefully constructed sentence that said even though it had not found evidence of official saudi government involvement, it conceded that it was likely that there was involvement in terms of People Associated with the government and sponsored by the governments that had provided funds to the terrorist organization al quaida that was behind the 9 11 attack. Woodruff but why not sue those individuals or charitable organizations rather than the government . They are sued, but the government is responsible because we allege there were officials of the government that participated in the provision of those finances to the hijackers. The story is, frankly, quite shocking. 9 11 commissioners former senator bob kerry, former congressman tim roama, former Navy Secretary john lemann completely dispute what the judge just said about the 9 11 commission report. But, look, whether im right or hes right, the congress has completely rejected this argument that the families should not have their day in court. It is now the law of land. They will have their day in court and, as senator schumer said, if the saudis are completely innocent of any responsibility here, they will do just fine. Woodruff mr. Mukasey, what about that point . If it turns out that there is no proof that the saudi government or anyone associated with the saudi government was involved, why not let this go forward . A couple reasons. First of all, i dont know whether you know this or not, but all a party has to do in order to have a lawsuit go forward is make allegations, claims in a complaint. If that survives a motion to dismiss and crafty lawyers can file a complaint that will survive a motion to dismiss, then they get into whats called discovery, meaning they can rifle through the files, in this case, of the saudi government, depose witnesses of the saudi government, make them disclose national secrets. There is no sovereign government in the world that would ever participate in an exercise like that, we certainly wouldnt, and its inconceivable the saudis would. So what youre going to get is a situation essentially where theyre blackmailed into writing a check. Plenty of governments independence dated go ahead. Woodruff let mr. Quinn respond. Thats entirely correct. The judge should know a Foreign Government has an immunity to protect state secrets and classified information, that is a fact. What he describes is being able to bring a lawsuit by making allegations and going to court, thats the american system of justice and thats the system of justice thats been denied to the 9 11 families. The congress has overwhelmingly said these citizens deserve that just. Woodruff Michael Mukasey, you and others who oppose this are concerned about the precedent. What is the dangerous precedent that youre concerned about . There have been other there have been parties in other countries who have tried to get at government officials and at soldiers in places as diverse as belgium and italy. There was an attempt to get secretary rumsfeld charged in belgium. There have been attempts to get u. S. Soldiers charged in italy. This is the sort of thing that sovereign immunity was meant to prevent. We are the most present nation in the world. We have more people in more countries in the world than anybody else. More soldiers, more diplomats, more intelligence gatherers. Every one of them is going to have a target on his back after this legislation because people have been trying to curtail our activities by going after those people and now they will have a good excuse for doing it. The notion they would somehow go after the u. S. Government is absurd. This isnt going to be tit for tat, its going to be rataat tharatatattat for at the tatl be on the wrong end of it. If somebody runs you over, you are entitled to a Law Enforcement why would american justice allow that and not Something Like this. Youre not talking about suing a person, youre talking about sue ago government. In both cases. Woodruff thank you both. Thank you. Ifill the rapid deterioration of the situation in aleppo, syria, accelerated today. Two hospitals were bombed, among dozens of other targets. Unicef reports that nearly 100 children are among the hundreds killed since last friday. And harsh words resumed at the united nations, as the u. S. Threatened to cut off all cooperation with russia over syria. Hari sreenivasan reports. And a warning images in this story will disturb many viewers reporter blood mingled with fresh bread on the streets of east aleppo the remains of a bakery, and its customers, struck this morning amid the ongoing, thunderous bombardment. In the terrible stillness after the attack, a medical worker told of the carnage. translated the russian planes started dropping missiles and rockets. People who were coming to get bread from the bakery, were martyred; there are a number we cannot reach due to the number of shells that were dropped. Reporter and nearby, two hospitals referred to by codenames m2 and m10 to hide their locations were also hit. They are supported by the syrianamerican medical society, an n. G. O. On a social media chat group monitored by the newshour, medical personnel and activists said m10 was the lone Trauma Center left, and that only six hospitals remain operational. Those serve a quartermillion people. Now, just two can perform surgery. A worker at one hospital, gave a guided video tour of the destruction translated at 4 00 this morning the barrel bombs surprised us. This is where they landed. A total targeting. Reporter activists say that in the last eight days, there have been 1,700 airstrikes, and at least 400 people killed. The onslaught triggered new condemnation at the u. N. Security council today; secretary general ban kimoon leveled his harshest judgment to date, blaming russia and the assad regime in all but name. They know they are committing war crimes. Imagine a slaughterhouse. This is worse. Even a slaughterhouse is more humane. Reporter Russias Deputy envoy said the scenes from aleppo were the work of rebel propagandists. We call for a rejection of provocative rhetoric and to focus all of our attention and forces on bringing an end to conflict in syria, and we have a very good basis for this based in russianamerican cooperation. But that cooperation, already tenuous, may be ending. Today, secretary of state kerry told foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in a phone call that the u. S. Holds russia responsible, and will cease cooperation with moscow on syria if the bombing does not stop. Lavrov said its the u. S. That must do more. The western, government controlled sectors of aleppo, where more than a million syrians live, do come under attack from rebels, but nothing on the scale of whats happening in the east. Syrian army ground units have now progressed into the rebel held sectors; syrian state tv showed its forces fighting yesterday in a central area translated we entered farafrah district and broke the First Defense line of the armed terrorist groups in the area. Reporter breaking those lines also means breaking the people who live there, with strikes from above. The vast majority are trapped civilians. This video, also filmed yesterday, is of the crushing aftermath of a bombing, and a father retrieving his lifeless son. screams those screams echoed within the sanctums of the vatican today, compelling pope francis to warn of a higher judgment that awaits the bombers of aleppo. translated i make an appeal to conscience of those who are responsible for the bombings, who will one day will have to face the judgment of god. Reporter that reckoning is still to come. But for now, no more horrendous sense of the sheer despair can be found than in the panicked cries of this man, filmed by the bbc. His name is muhammad janidi, and he calls out for his son husam, lying in a body bag, to get up. As the body is taken away, muhammad is heard to say his mother is going to go crazy. She will go crazy. For the pbs newshour, im hari sreenivasan. Woodruff one of israels Founding Fathers died last night. Shimon peres was present at the countrys very beginning, and served in just about every high level office in the jewish state. William brangham has this remembrance. We invite shimon peres to come up. Brangham it was a moment of great promise. Shimon peres, then the Israeli Foreign minister, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Leader yasser arafat. Peres had helped negotiate the socalled oslo accords which and accepting the award, peres spoke of his hopes for a new middle east. A middle east without wars, without enemies, without ballistic missiles, without nuclear warheads. Brangham born in presentday belarus, shimon peres was a boy when his family emigrated to tel aviv in 1934. He joined the Jewish Resistance in the 1948 war of independence, and became a protege of david ben gurion, israels very first Prime Minister. He went on to hold numerous top defense jobs helping build the jewish States Military and its topsecret Nuclear Weapons program. With ben gurions backing, peres won a seat in the Israeli Parliament in 1959, launching a political career that extended for over five decades. As defense minister under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, he oversaw the dramatic 1976 rescue of israeli hostages at entebbe airport in uganda. Peres himself went on to serve as Prime Minister first in 1977, and again as part of a unity government in 1984. He took a conciliatory stance toward the palestinians, and later, with rabin back in power, he conducted the oslo negotiations in secret. The resulting deal, signed in 1993 in washington, aimed at establishing mutual recognition between israel and the palestinians and setting them on a path toward peace. From this green promising lawn of the white house, lets say together in the language of our bible, peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near. Brangham just two years later, rabin was assassinated by a jewish extremist, and peres again became acting Prime Minister for a time. But amid renewed confrontation with the palestinians, a harder line Israeli Government took power, led by benjamin netanyahu. The conflict soon deepened, and the second palestinian intifada, or uprising, erupted. In early 2002, as the fighting began to peak, peres, who was again serving as foreign minister, sat for an interview with the newshour. Its very hard upon us, and even our eyes are full of tears. But the palestinians are killing their political existence. Brangham still, peres continued advocating for peace after his 2007 election as president , which, in israel is a largely ceremonial role. Shimon peres left israeli politics for good in 2014. In recent weeks, he suffered a stroke that finally took his life. Prime minister netanyahu reflected today on their long, sometimes contentious relationship. translated we had disagreements, a natural part of democratic life, but even in those cases, the respect i had for shimon was not impacted in any way. Brangham palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called peres a partner, one who strived to find a just peace. Shimon peres was 93 years old. Joining me now to help us understand more about peres life and legacy is a man who knew him well journalist and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Welcome. You knew the man, you traveled with him, he was your friend. Tell us a little bit about the man you knew. Well, i think the thing that stands out most about peres is at the end of his days, he could stand in another mans shoes. Thats very unusual in the middle east. In the middle east, its im strong, why should i compromise. Rarely do you get a leader to say maybe we could find middle ground and as he grau older as a statesman, peres was that kind of personwoman this is a man who spent the early part of his life building israel military, weapons programs, settlements, defenses, then the last half of his life trying to promote piece, in essence, not having to use the weapons. Is that contribution or just progression. I think he came to realize in that part of the world its so easy to keep letting the past bury the future and i think, after doing that for enough years, he was really in politics, you know, for 70 years of his life, he saw the military solution on both sides fail and fail and fail. He decided to see if he could get the future to bury the past westbound we saw netanyahu and abbas speak both movingly of him after he died, but the truth is we are a very long way from a twostate solution or any Peace Process. From the palestinian point of view, what does his legacy look like to them . From the palestinian point of view, peres was a defense minister. He helped israel win the 48 war. He helped as a young man. In 56, he was part of the britishfrench takeover of the sinai. He was one to have the, frankly, promoters early of the Settlement Movement in the west bank and lost control of it and eventually turned gerches it. He was not a dove from palestinian point of view westbound given all of that, given he sort of created the germ that, in essence, is the irritant of the Peace Process now, how did he reconcile that in his later life. He was not a dove in that sense, but he also understood that the jews would never be at home, never be able to take their shoes off unless palestinian could as well in a twostate solution that would grant them a state as well. So thats where he was at the end of his life. He spent the early part of his life building walls and really believed that they were essential to protect and defend the enterprise of the jewish state, but at the end i think he came to realize it was only integration of israel into the region that was going to ultimately make it secure. Brangham given he was one to have the Founding Fathers for the First Century of israels existence, he was there. Where does he and his legacy fit into israel today . Well, you know, there is something about peres and his generation and all those people and the Palestinian Arafat as well, and what you feel today, william, is there is nobody that big anymore and because there is nobody that big anymore, very hard for anyone to make big compromises, were at the age of incremental movement at best. But the titans who fought each other all those years, theyve passed from the scene and were missing anyone who could really call it quits. Brangham Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, thank you very much. My pleasure. Ifill and now, the risks of lead exposure, particularly for children. After some debate, congress appears poised to provide special aid to flint, michigan, and possibly other cities with lead in their water. Our science correspondent, miles obrien, looks at why lead was used for so long in so many places, and the health concerns; part of our weekly series on the leading edge of science and technology. My greatgrandfather would be quite proud right now. Reporter but he also might be a little worried. Because fourthgeneration plumber Richard Trethewey is showing me the technique for molding, shaping and joining pipe made of lead. We met in the cellar of the latest renovation project for the venerable pbs series, this old house. Its a 1909 arts and crafts home in arlington, massachusetts. Lets get started by talking with rich trethewey, the plumber. Reporter trethewey has been part of this famous band of tv renovators since the show debuted in 1979. So in 1909, this was high living, because you had a basement laundry. Reporter he fired up a burner and put some lead in a pot, to do some plumbing the oldfashioned way. When this house was plumbed, that lead pot wouldve been going all day long. Reporter in those days, pipes were not mass produced, but rather custom tailored on the worksite. So, you could take sheets of lead and you could shape it into all sorts of things you need. You could shape it into a round pipe. And so, the nice thing about it was, it has a relatively low melting point. Reporter lead melts at about 620 degrees fahrenheit, and holds the heat, so its easy to mold. A lead pipe cinch. It is a work of art. I guess so, i guess so. It will kill you, but its a work of art. Reporter there is that little detail. Our love hate relationship with the element lead is as old as history itself. The romans used lead pipes to carry water from the aqueducts into their homes. In fact, the word plumbing comes from the latin word for lead plumbum. Even then, the romans knew high exposure to lead was dangerous. The ancient physician dioscorides once wrote lead makes the mind give way. But for centuries, no one knew the consequences of low doses of lead. But that changed in the 1970s, thanks to this man pediatrician and child psychiatrist Herbert Needleman conducted a series of studies measuring lead in childrens teeth. He published the first evidence that even relatively low lead exposure can reduce i. Q. S, shorten attention spans, delay Language Proficiency and cause behavioral problems. There is a broad consensus on the part of everybody except the lead industry and its spokesmen that lead is extremely toxic at extremely low doses. Reporter up until the mid 20th century, lead was mined and manufactured for all kinds of things besides plumbing. Most notably, it was used for decades as an additive to gasoline and paint. In the bad old days, the average lead level in American Children was high. In 1976, it was 15 m. C. G. d. L. But as lead was banned in Consumer Products, that number dropped precipitously. It is now about one m. C. G. d. L. , a decrease of more than 90 . Its remarkable. Its a Great Public Health achievement. But what we now know is that the job isnt finished. Reporter epidemiologist David Bellinger is a professor of neurology at harvard medical school. In most places in the u. S. , we use the children to tell us where the lead is. We wait for a child to be over exposed before theres investigation into that childs environment. Reporter lead persists in the soil near busy highways or smelters; in old, flaking paint; and also in vintage plumbing still in use as we discovered in flint, michigan. There are tremendous reservoirs of lead remaining in the environment as legacy of those past heavy uses. And those sources of lead we can come in contact with remarkably easily. Reporter when lead gets in our system, it becomes an imposter. It is similar enough to calcium that our bodies get tricked, so cells seeking that essential element take on lead instead. Its really a global assault on multiple organ systems at multiple levels. Its just a really bad actor. Reporter especially for children. They absorb more lead than adults and are much more likely to be harmed by it, because their brains are still in development. It introduces noise into the system, so the brain is not working as efficiently as it would in the absence of lead. The consensus now by multiple authoritative International Bodies is, there is no safe level of lead. Reporter an estimated ten million u. S. Homes are still connected to the water main with an old lead pipe, usually buried under the front yard. Its bad, but it could be worse. Over time, other metals in the water interact with the lead, creating a barrier between the pipe and the water, so it can flow through without becoming contaminated with lead. So you can see the layer, the coating on the inside right here. Thats the dissolved oxygen, and where its shiny is where its going to leach. So where i cut it, you can see its leaching. Reporter to ensure that barrier is not washed away, municipalities usually add an anticorrosive chemical to the water. In flint, they stopped doing that when they changed water sources. The water gradually ate away the protective barrier. It broke down that inner layer. Here, it was perfectly encased and all the lead wasnt going to leach, and now you change what happens inside with the chlorine or fluorides or some sort of change on the water chemistry. And now, that inner coating is gone and now it becomes really deadly. Reporter so how would you know if your home was connected to the water main with lead pipes . Richard trethewey says you need to find the where the Service Comes in and look for the distinctive gray color. Its a soft, formable pipe and youll really get by eye, youll be able to tell it. Reporter if you see it, have your water tested right away. While the mineral liner might be enough to protect your water, the safest, longterm solution is to get the lead out. Digging up and replacing it is neither cheap nor easy, but the alternative is a huge health risk to children that will persist for generations to come. Miles obrien, the pbs newshour, arlington, massachusetts. Woodruff nearly a decade after the great recession, the pace of creating a new business is still slower than it was back in 2007. A new report finds a small uptick this year, including in the u. S. When it comes to tech startups, the image is often of young white men in hoodies but it turns out, African American women control about 1. 3 million businesses, and they are the countrys Fastest Growing group of entrepreneurs. Special correspondent april brown recently met two women trying to break into the club. Mmm, i love peanut butter. Reporter zola bowie works as a caregiver in the San Francisco bay area for a Company Called oneva. She often can be found watching the santos familys three kids, who are all under the age of four. The childrens mother, arlene santos, says she couldnt run her tech Company Without the help. As a career woman, you dont want to feel guilty that you have a meeting or you know that, you want to make sure that home life is taken care of as you are working on your career at work. And thats really what oneva does. Reporter marvie jean darden, who also lives in the bay area, had a stroke two years ago and is nearly blind. But she wants to remain in her home as long as possible. After i had the stroke, i couldnt do what i had done before. I also worried about different people that we didnt know coming in to the home and everything. Reporter but since oneva introduced mrs. Darden to seadawn thomas, those problems have been solved. Shes more than a caregiver. You know, i feel like shes a friend. Reporter several of mrs. Dardens Adult Children live nearby, but have busy lives and children of their own. Anita Darden Gardyne is one of them, and part of the socalled sandwich generation, with elder and childcare needs. She has an 11year old daughter, and marvie jean is her mother. Gardyne realized many others had the same issues, so in 2014, she came up with the idea for oneva a Service Providing f. B. I. Backgroundchecked care providers that customers can learn more about before they ever enter the home. Hi, im zola. Reporter gardynes business currently provides helpers for her parents, the santos and 60 other clients. But being an African American Woman Entrepreneur is not without its challenges. Our biggest challenge is cash. We have to turn stones that some folks dont have. I mean, in all candor, i dont have the hoodie and im not the 20something that most people expect to see or would want to invest in, when you think about who in Silicon Valley is most like to be able to secure that investment. Reporter at a 2015 startup competition, gardyne was about to make a pitch for oneva when a potential investor turned to her husband bob, onevas chief technology officer, and another business partner. He just looked at them and the two men and said, youre going to let the black girl pitch . And that one floored me. Reporter what was going through your head . I was angry. You certainly believe, as a woman, youve done all the appropriate things that one needs to do to become competitive as a c. E. O. , and its disappointing when all that work is culminating and someone minimizing you as just a black girl. Reporter gardyne ending up winning the competition and being named best start up of 2015. Nevertheless, shes had a tough time getting the attention of venture capitalists, or v. C. s. So gardyne is seeking alternative funding sources, like kiva, the crowdfunding site that lets people invest in the company for as little as 25. The goal, 10,000 which she just raised. Across the board, women start businesses with less money than men, whether they are in technology or whether they are in Consumer Products or whatever. It is about half 50 . This is a worldwide statistic. Reporter candida brush is professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College near boston. She says gardynes financial struggle is not unique. For minorityowned businesses, so femaleowned, blackowned firms, start with half the money of maleblack owned firms. And all minorities start with less than money than nonblack firms so. Its a challenge. Thats just startup. V. C. s generally dont look like me, from a racial perspective or gender perspective. I think were seeing that change particularly because of changing demographics, millennials, especially millennial women, are crashing through ceilings in ways that my generation was not always able to. So certainly im optimistic about the future. Reporter angel rich is one of those millennials trying to break through the Glass Ceiling not only for African American Women Entrepreneurs but for game developers. She started a washington d. C. Based Company Called the wealth factory, which recently developed a free gaming app called credit stacker. Credit stacker teaches people how to make wise credit decisions. Essentially you have to swap various pieces around that represent monthly payments. So you have your home loan, your student loans, your car loans and so forth. Reporter and why a game . We feel as though a game almost tricks people into having fun, and they end up learning how to manage their money at the same time. Reporter and as for money for her own startup we were honored to recently be the global winner of Jp Morgan Chase Financial Inclusion competition for the best solution in the world for serving vulnerable populations. They provided us with a 10,000 grant to turn our online version into the mobile app reporter winning a 10,000 grant to help improve the Financial Literacy of students and families in underserved communities does help. However funding is definitely an issue for use. Weve been very creative at bootstrapping this company off of revenue since 2014. Reporter what is bootstrapping, for those who dont know . So bootstrapping essentially means operating with no cash. You have to become very creative as to how you come up with things. So for instance we brought on 15 recent graduates, gave them Work Experience to develop the game and job recommendations, and in turn we were able to develop our game for free. What we find is, women tend to be more resourceful and they tend to bootstrap their businesses a little bit better. And so, in the long run, what that means is that they tend to survive and they may not grow as rapidly, but they tend to be more sustainable. When you look at, sort of, spheres of influence when you are raising money, it really comes down to, sort of, who you know and who you have access to. So im hopeful that in the future, those pipelines will be opened up more to diverse communities. Reporter back in the bay area, oneva is ramping up to potentially serve more families like the santos. The Company Recently signed a deal with a seattlebased fortune 50 tech firm that will offer the service as a wellness benefit to employees. No upfront money for oneva but immediate access to thousands of potential clients for the pbs newshour, im april brown. Ifill now, back to the campaign. This time, through the eyes of a highly influential columnist who says shes never seen anything like it. I sat down recently with New York Times writer maureen dowd about her new book the year of voting dangerously. It is the latest addition to our series, political ink. You say after years of covering these people, president obama is too cool, Hillary Clinton is too cold and donald trump is way too hot. Whats a voter to do . Where were you when i was writing my book . Thats perfect. Thats the wild thing about this election year. Its like the revenge of the 90s. All of those characters we started with are back, you know, in different capacities. Bill is back as first lady. Monica lewinsky is back as a bullying antiadvocate. You know, hillary is back. Rudy giuliani is back, Newt Gingrich is back. Seinfeld back in the sense steve bannon whos running Trumps Campaign made all his money from seinfeld. Ifill theyre all back. Theyre all back. Ifill i read this book and trump. Ifill of course. When i read them altogether, i come up with the impression you dont like any of these people. Actually, i start out kind of gushing about barack obama and hillary, some of the people who have interviewed me said it sounded like you had a girl crush on her in the beginning, because when i covered her as the spouse of bill clinton in 92, i was super supportive and i talked about what a tight rope the first lady job is because women like hillary and michelle have the same educational credentials as their husbands, and then theyve got to go into these antidliewfian, antiquated role of the first lady, and i remember when hillary, during the campaign, got delivered stationery and they dropped the rodham from her name and she got all upset and sent it back. So the beginning columns were supportive. Ifill and with barack obama. And with healthcare, i was glowing about her when she went up to the hill to present healthcare. But then she began the pattern that has proved to be so destructive to her till this day where she just builds a wall of secrecy and defensiveness and blocking out the press and my way or the highway, and thats the pattern thats been repeated again and again. It doesnt help her. Ifill let me ask you about something president obama said about a fundraiser in new york about Hillary Clinton. He said, this should not be a close election, but it will be and the reason it will be is not because of hillarys flaws. He went on to say, its about sexism. Right. Well, i think that the election of the first africanamerican president and now the first woman running on a Major Party Ticket has definitely stirred up a lot of racism and sexism and, in some ways, h this election is the primal scream and death rattle of, you know, white men running america. But i also think that barack obama set a tone where he never talked about things as racist, even when they really were racist, and i think that would be a good model for hillary, even though when i watch donald trump rallies on youtube and i see the scroll of running comments, they are so nefarious and vicious, i just want to run and sign up for a hillary you know, to lick envelopes for hillary. Do they do that anymore . Ifill i dont believe so. Send emails for hillary because theyre so nasty. So a lot of that has been stirred up. But, on the other hand, i think she would be better off not calling sexism and modeling herself on the way obama didnt call racism. Ifill who would you say you admired in politics . You speak kindly of george w. Bush and joe biden. Yeah. Its hard because i dont really want to be the kind of economist like in the old days who wanted to be friends with politicians and go to dinner parties with them. I think of myself as the watchdog which creates problems sometimes with times readers because im not coming from the left or the right. Im treating it more like a political reporter. Ifill you are a washington native, something a lot of people dont know about you, so youve watched the city not only as a collection of model buildings but also as a community. How has politics changed . How has washington changed in your years as an arm chair observer, as it were . Well, you know, when i went to see george h. W. Bush for lunch a few years ago, i think he was just appalled at what had happened because he was a bipartisan and he believed in everyone working together and civility and, so, i think it was very hard for him to even fathom the kind of politics that is being played no nowadays, and i hope he doesnt tune in to the debates because he cant stand donald trump. He called him an epithet when i was at lunch with him and that was before donald trump eviscerated jeb. So its much coarser and im not sure if that leads to a lot of other celebrities jumping in because they think if donald trump can do it, i can do it and we have a dancing with the stars b and c level celebrities jumping in to every race from now on, or if this will cause people to snap out of it and try to get more hightone candidates. Ifill whether the candidates become more hightone enough, its still tough for the voters. Your book is the year of voting dangerously. Its worth it for the cover, actually. The dearrangement of american politics. Thanks, maureen. Thanks, gwen. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Ifill and im gwen ifill. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. 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 financial future. Xq institute. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at www. Rockefellerfoundation. Org. 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. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is nightly busine wi. Handshake . Stocks took off late today on reports that opec reached a deal many thought elusive. To limit oil production. But will the deal stick . Severing ties. California took the unusual step of temporarily suspending its dealings with wells fargo, effective immediately. And costly misclassif senato want to know if mylan incorrecy classified its to san payments to states. Those stories and more tonight on nightly bu for wednesday, sep good evening, everyone. And welcome. Not many saw this coming. Opec has reportedly agreed to cut oil production. And this is something