Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170629

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. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Carnegie corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and 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 after months of legal and political wrangling, President Trumps executive order banning entry into the u. S. From six muslimmajority countries goes into effect tonight. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court gave a partial green light to get started, ordering those with bona fide family or business ties to the u. S. Be granted entry. Today, the Trump Administration laid out which connections count. To discuss these guidelines is yeganeh torbati. She covers the state department for reuters. Welcome back to the program. So what is the administration saying now about who is permitted in and who isnt. From these six countries, and individuals who have certain family connections so spouses, mothers, fathers, children, siblings, even step siblings, they can be allowed in. The state dement is counting that as a bona fide connection but if you are the grandparents of a u. S. Citizen, for instance, or grand child and you are trying to get in and a citizen from one of these six countries 245 does not count in the u. S. Administrations view. Woodruff there was also a definition of business relationship. So if you are a student that has been accepted into a u. S. University, someone with an offer of employment from an American Company or even a lecturer coming in to lecture at a conference, for instance or university, you can be allowed in, but if are you someone who just booked a hotel room or a tour or Something Like that, that does in the count. Woodruff and what about those people who were in the process of trying to get a visa to come here . So any have i who has been granted a visa, thoses will not be revoked they are still valid and will still be able to km into the unt United States. But there are thousands potentially of people who applied for visa, waiting to hear back. Those individuals, were not exactly sure. That is going to be something that now officers will have to take into account these guide lines when they are assessing, are they actually going to give that visa to that person or not. Woodruff an yeganeh, did the administration explain how it made this dividing line when it comes to family relationships. It seemed a little arbitrary from the outside. What the administration said today to reporters is that they looked at guide lines that they have the immigration nationality act which is the main u. S. Law that gf earns u. S. Mim graition, and they said that that is how they are going to assess which family relationships count and which dont. Critics, of course, say that theyre still viewing this very narrowly, interpreting the Supreme Court ban, Supreme Court ruling narrowly so they can let in as few people as possible. Woodruff so we know this has been subject to litigation. Is it expected there are going to be more lawsuits or does this settle it . We havent seen people, and refugee groups or institutions like the aclu running yet saying that they are going to be suing over this or filing new complainlts it is certainly a possibility. One other thing to mention is that the administration seems to be very narrowly interpreting which refugees it going to let in. It is saying that just having a relationship to a Resettlement Agency is not enough and therefore any additional refugees that will be coming in this area will have to have some family relationship in the United States. The refugee groups are very upset about that. They think that that vay lates the spirit if not the letter of the Supreme Courts order. And that is something we will see if there is going to be litigation or hit it doesnt seem like as of yet there have been any complaints filed. Woodruff yeganeh torbati, thanks very much, this goes into effect tonight at 8 00 eastern. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff in the days other news, republicans in the u. S. House pushed through two bills on illegal immigration. One toughens prison terms for deportees who reenter the u. S. Illegally. The other blocks some federal funds to socalled sanctuary cities that refuse to assist immigration officials. The secretary of Homeland Security and Congressional Democrats traded arguments today over that second bill. The word sanctuary calls to mind some place safe. But too often for families and victims affected by illegal immigrant crime, sanctuary cities are anything but safe. Instead these cities are places that allow some criminal go free, undermine federal Law Enforcement and make our communities less safe. A sanctuary city is a city that allows a mom to take her kid to School Without being fearful that the principal will call Homeland Security on her. It allows a Domestic Violence victim the ability to go to the local precinct and report a batterer. It is a safety net for people that are part of our family. Woodruff the bills now move to the senate, but its not clear either can pass there. Senate Republican Leaders struggled again today to revise their health care bill, and win enough republican votes to pass it. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said theres been good progress. But senator Susan Collins of maine warned the bill needs a major overhaul. Also today further analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found the bill would cut federal medicaid spending by 35 over 20 years. A top vatican official, Cardinal George pell, was charged today with Sexual Assault in his native australia. Hes the top Financial Adviser to pope francis, and the highestranking vatican official implicated in the longrunning scandal of clergymen abusing children. Jonathan miller of independent Television News has our report. Reporter Cardinal Pell is fieght murlt pell charges, sexual offenses and there are multiple complain ants relating to those charges. Reporter last year the former archbishop of melbourne and sydney who is now one of the popes top advisors testified to a Royal Commission investigating child sex abuse. The Commission Found shocking levels of abuse by the clergy over decades. Pell supported by bishops as a man of integrity completed institutional errors but denied any sexual offenses himself. News from australia reached the vit can overnight, and before dawn on the fifth day of st. Peters and paul, Cardinal Pell released his first statement saying he would return home next month to clear his name. Then early this morning he spoke to the press. I am looking forward finally to having my day in court. I am innocent of these charges. They are false. The bhol idea of the whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me. Pope francis who pell said he talked later presided over mass in saint peters square. Use wrees in the square today wanted gods truth to shine through. Theres been a lot of bad press about pell, in the australian media. He is not very well liked and a lot of people are very angry that the church in australia didnt do enough to cover any sexual abuse over many years. You know youre not feeling well. Song by musician tim minchin which pleaded with the ailing cardinal to return to australia to testify to the Royal Commission went viral last year. I hear the tolling of the bell. And i want. Now Cardinal George pell order answered 51 years oord ordained 51 years ago is coming home to face his accusers. He will appear before melbournes imagine Straight Court on the the of july. 89 woodruff that report, from Jonathan Miller of independent Television News. In russia, five men were found guilty today in the murder of Opposition Leader boris nemtsov, in 2015. One was the man who pulled the trigger, a former Security Officer in the chechnya region. But nemtsovs allies say authorities have done nothing to find out who ordered the killing. President trump will come face to face with russian president Vladimir Putin next week, for the First Time Since taking office. The white house and the kremlin announced today theyll meet on the sidelines of the g20 summit in germany. Syria and russian accused the u. S. Today of making baseless allegations that damascus is preparing a new chemical attack. The white house issued the warning on tuesday. Syrian state tv today called the accusation devoid of truth. A Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman accused the u. S. Of trying to destabilize the syrian regime. translated the goal of it is obvious to reanimate the theme of so called crimes of the government and to return the situation in syria to the same dead end where it has been led into by the rhetoric of the west saying that president assad needs to leave. At the same time, its a provocation for the rebels to commit crimes linked to mass deaths of civilians. Woodruff the u. S. State department dismissed the criticism, and said theres no doubt the Syrian Government has used chemical weapons in the past. Back in this country, the federal bureau of justice statistics reports most hate crimes over the past decade went unreported. Thats based on a survey of households. It found an average of 250,000 hate crimes each year between 2004 and 2015. More than half were not reported, most often because they were handled some other way. The report says others decided the incidents were not important, or they doubted police would do anything. More than 800 firefighters are now battling a Northern Arizona wildfire fire thats scorched almost 39 square miles. Officials say lighter winds today will help them make progress on the goodwin fire. Already, evacuations for one small town outside prescott have been lifted. Major wildfires are also burning in utah, Southern California and washington state. Dozens of employees at the New York Times staged a walkout today against a new round of job cuts. Reporters and editors tweeted pictures of staffers leaving, as well as signs in support of the staff. The newspaper is considering restructuring the newsroom, and possibly laying off dozens of copy editors. And on wall street, tech stocks took another hit, and pulled the Broader Market down. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 167 points to close at 21,287. The nasdaq fell 90 points, and the s p 500 gave up 21. Still to come on the newshour how does President Trumps latest twitter attack fit the character of the american presidency and does it matter . Isis loses its birthplace mosque where it declared a caliphate three years ago. Firehouses step up to provide health care for those who need it most, and much more. Woodruff President Trumps use of twitter has often brought praise from supporters for reaching out directly to the American People. But mr. Trump has also managed to spark controversy in 140 characters, and today, his tweets prompted some of the harshest criticism yet. John yang has more. President donald trump. Yang as Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough wrapped up their msnbc show this morning, President Trump had a few choice words for them. Mr. Trump said the hosts, whom he called low i. Q. Crazy mika and psycho joe, were speaking badly of him. Even though they insisted on joining him at maralago. Adding that brzezinski was bleeding badly from a face lift at the time. Within minutes, brzezinski responded, resurrecting the little hands insult that had been directed at him during the 2016 president ial primaries. The president s words ignited a firestorm, that even included mr. Trumps republican allies i thought it was inappropriate, beneath the office, and not helpful. I wish, i wish he hadnt made the tweet. I dont see that as an appropriate comment. What were trying to do is improve tone, civility. This obviously doesnt do that. Did you see the president s tweets about Mika Brzezinski this morning . Do you have any reaction to that . Distasteful. This is not acceptable, mr. President. Principal white house secretary sarah yang Principal Deputy White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders insisted the president was just defending himself. I dont think that its a surprise to anybody that he fights fire with fire. Hes not going to sit back and 6be attacked by the liberal media and the hollywood elites. And when they hit him, hes going to hit back. Yang it recalled mr. Trumps past comments about women. In 2015, talking about journalist megyn kelly, then of fox news, after she moderated the first republican debate. She gets out and starts asking all sorts of ridiculous questions and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever. But she was in my opinion she was off base. Yang Rolling Stone quoted him saying of rival candidate Carly Fiorina look at that face. Would anyone vote for that . And there was the 2005 access hollywood tape. Just in case i start kissing her. You know, im automatically its like a magnet. I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab em by the bleep . You can do anything. Yang namecalling was a staple of mr. Trumps campaign lyin ted cruz. I watched little marco. Crooked hillary. Yang . And it continued today, as the president of the United States taunted two Cable Television hosts. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff for more now on the president s words and tone since taking office and the implications of what he says publicly, we turn to matthew dowd. Hes the former chief strategist for george w. Bush in 2004 and author of a new way embracing the paradox as we lead and serve. And beverly gage, professor of American History at yale university. Both of you back to the newshour, matt dowd i will start with you, we know we have seen politicians get into some tough language over the years. How does what we heard from President Trump today on twitter fit into all of that . Well, we have come a long way from when i worked for george w. Bush in 2 thousand when he pledged to bring honor and dignity back to the oval office and won as being part of his platform. I think this is a bigger problem. First as you know in this democracy, in order to vay healthy democracy we have to get to the common good but the only way to get to the common good is if we have a common set of facts which we dont seem to have today and we have a common level of decency. My problem with the president and what happened today and why i think it affects the country as a whole, first we bring up our kids better than this. We teach our kids not to do, we tell them not to do this, it is not the right standard of we laughier. But for a president , secondly, he sets a paryntd of behavior for the entire country and what we can expect for how we each other act and how we should be in politics. And third just from a practical aspect of it, just totally looking at it practicing matically, his behavior in this in the midst of what he is trying to do on health care and the votes is he trying to get sin credibly counterproductive some of from all of those avenues, one from a history of our democracy t is depend ent on a leel of decent decency that doesnt seem to be apparent. But if he wants wants to get sog done, this makes it harder. Woodruff i want to ask you about that latter part in a moment. You about beverly gage, how does what this president is saying when these kinds of tweets go out, how does it compare from what we heard from other president s over time . Unfortunately, i dont think that american president s have always lived up to the standard of de sensee that we have tended to expect of them but i think president s before trump, when those moments happened, they tended to be the exception rather than the rule. So there was a famous moment in 1950 when harry tru man was president truman was president and a music critic wrote a very critical piece about trumans daughter who had just given a singing recital. And truman fired off this ferocious letter threatening to punch the guy out, and telling him that he was a gutter snipe and an idiot and he was going to kick him in the nuts. It was pretty aggressive language. And there was a big reaction to that at the time, a president kind of attacking a private citizen. Many people thought it wasnt dignified. But nobody would have said that this is Harry Trumans mode of being all the time. It was seen as an authentic moment of outrage and not a kind of permanent president ial style. Woodruff matt dowd is there a level of dignity that americans expect from a president . I mean is there a defined or undefined line over which president s shouldnt go . Well, the americans expect our president to be human beings. And as imhe perfect as all of us are they expect us to make mistakes and all that. But they like if you make a mistake then awe poll giez or then you correct that behavior and said you have learned, are you going to do better. You are going to achieve better. Will you serve a higher purpose in that. Lets keep in mind that donald trump didnt win because of himself, he won in spite of himself. A quarter of his voters voted for donald trump believing he was not president ial and did not have the temperment but they had hope that he would grow into the office and become more president ial. That does not seem to have happened, and i dont think it will happen for a 71 year old man. Woodruff and beverly, you know, apropos of what just matt just said and you said, clearly there are moments when president s have grown angry, they are upset because they have been criticized, so is there some kind of standard written or otherwise for how a president is to speak to the American People . I dont think there is a written standard but i think up until this moment there have been some sort of accepted norms that the president in particular on the campaign trail, its one thing, that is a place where people attack each other, when they have differences of opinion or maybe even personal attacks in that venue t is sort of expected. There trump took it to a new level as well, i think. But when you are the president , the idea that you cannot rise to the office, that you would attack private citizens, i think that that is something that a lot of people find troubling and sort of unworthy of the office. Woodruff matt dowd clearly this was part and parcel of the president lashing out at the news media. He was reacting to i guess some of the conversation this morning on that program, on cable news. But what what is it that the president , in anyway does this further the agenda of the president . You mentioned a minute ago his Healthcare Plan, the fact that he is trying to get this Healthcare Plan through the senate, through the congress, and this takes all the attention away from that. Well, i think attributing any time donald truch does this, President Trump does this, people attributed some grand strategy. I think what the president really has is a lack of impulse control. He has done this throughout and it has hurt him through the process. He won the election but as i say he won it in spite of himself. Keep in mind that there are three key votes that are needed in the Healthcare Plan. Showing more lisa murcowsky and susan quol inns. He attacks a woman basically in a sexist way, you cant argue any other wades, a woman who serves as an anchor on a television program. None of that is going to be helpful in getting those votes. I think it is counter productive but anybody that goes to donald trump, first nobody seems to go to trump to correct his behavior but anyone that goes to him would have to make the argument this doesnt help you. I dont think donald trump cares. Woodruff beverly gage, does history shows that americans are forgiving of a president when they, i dont know, go off the rails or however you want to describe this . Well, i think americans have often warmed to a kind of pugilistic style. So trump is not the first president to kind of marshal this hypermasculinity, you think of Theodore Roosevelt bringing wrestlers into the white house. Or even a figure like Ronald Reagan who we are have a much more benign view of now but actually could be quite aggressive in his rhetoric. I think what is different for trump is that he is specifically demeaning women, and hes demeaning particular women. Its hard 20 see how that is going to be a benefit to him. On the other hand i do think the record is that often this has worked as a kind of form of entertainment. Certainly it is one of the things that people liked about teddy roosevelt, this kind of man who wasnt going to take it from any one. So unfortunately i dont think its clear that this is going to be something that there is a lot of incentive to stop. What does this mean for the president and his allies in the Republican Party . Well, im just going to one response says yes, the American Public loves a fighter but they want a fight thary is fighting on their behalf not on their own behalf. He has not connected the dots and these tweets are no connection, as we talked about. It will make it worse for him to achieve any legislative platform as opposed to better. There is no connection in fighting on americans behalf. I think you saw today and as your piece laid out is republicans are upset about this, they have grown weary of this, they know it made it more difficult on them and i think if as his approval numbers continue to drop, at the lowest level of any president in his first term or any term at this point without a scandal involved, i think it makes it much harder and sets up a problem for the mid term elections in 2018. I think all of that republicans are nervous about. But quickly, matt, they are still sticking with him for the most part, arent they . For the most part. I think that is one of the frustrations by many of us. I think you can say oh, just discount his words and all that. At some point they will have to hold his feet to the fire. They can do that, house members, they can basically say we are not going to pass an appointment. We are not going to pass legislation until you correct your behavior. There is no way right now we know, or there is no evidence that we have that theyre willing to do that. But that is in the end what they have control over. We have not seen that yet. Matthew dowd, beverly gage, we thank you both. Woodruff the battle for the largest city held by isis appears close to over iraqi forces captured an ancient landmark in the old city of mosul today, a significant symbolic victory. The militants now hold very little territory in the city, once home to oneandahalf million iraqis. William brangham reports. Brangham for iraqi forces, its clearly a major victory after months of blockbyblock fighting. Theyve recaptured western mosuls alnouri mosque compound, and what remains of its 12th century minaret. translated we stormed the area in the early hours of the morning from different directions. We stormed the mosque and secured the area and operations are going on to fully clear and search the area. Brangham the compound was blown up by isis fighters last week as they retreated, but that did little to diminish the symbolism of todays events. In a statement, iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said it marks the end of the isis state of falsehood. In july 2014, the isis leader, abu bakr al baghdadi, stood in the alnouri mosque just weeks after his forces seized the city and announced the formation of a socalled caliphate across much of iraq and syria. translated god has granted your brothers, the mujahideen victory and a conquest after years of patience and holy struggle, and enabled them to achieve their objective. Brangham now, the group now holds less than one square mile of territory in the western half of the city. Part of mosuls old city remains under isis control, as does a key nearby hospital complex. U. S. Army colonel ryan dillon is a spokesman for the coalition thats supporting iraqi forces, the i. S. F. The old city still remains a difficult, dense, suffocating fight. Tight alleyways with boobytraps, civilians, and isis fighters around every corner make the i. S. F. s advance extremely challenging. Brangham last october, iraqi units and their allies opened the campaign to retake mosul, and captured the eastern half of the city by late january. The assault on western mosul began in february. Even now, its believed thousands of people are still trapped there. translated yes, there many families there still. Hundreds of families. From here all the way. All families. Its miserable, there is no water or bread at all. Brangham these months of battle have displaced more than 850,000 people. Hundreds arrived today at a Processing Center run by iraqi forces, as they attempted to flee for refugee camps. Military trucks carried men, women and children out, as others tried to make their way back in to newly reclaimed areas. translated our neighborhood was liberated more than three months ago. We fled even before the liberation of our neighborhood and isis was chasing us from house to house. Brangham meanwhile, in syria, u. S. Backed kurdish fighters have seized the last road into raqqa, the islamic states selfproclaimed capital. The Syrian Democratic forces are now in control of all major routes into the city. For the the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Woodruff now, a healthcare story about providing help to those who need it most. Even as the debate over replacing the Affordable Care act continues, one California City has come up with an Innovative Solution to an intractable problem. Special correspondent Kathleen Mccleery reports from Alameda County. Reporter on the south edge of the city of hayward sits a neighborhood with especially high rates of poverty, unemployment and violent crime. People are sicker, too. Many suffer from diabetes, obesity, asthma and other ailments. Options for care here are limited. Theres just one hospital, and few doctors welcome medicaid patients. Some call it a health care desert. South hayward is the poster child for lack of access to primary care. Reporter when alex briscoe was with Alameda County Health Care Services he was Agency Director for six years he hunted for ways to improve access to care. In 2009, as he coped with the swine flu, or h1n1, epidemic, briscoe had a light bulb moment. Fire fighters joined our Public Health nurses, and many other providers, and we, very successfully, vaccinated, immunized, hundreds of thousands of people. Air way aids and tracheal tubes to assist with respiratory arrest. Reporter briscoe wondered if firefighters skills as trained paramedics could help solve another piece of the health care puzzle. This h1n1 experience, combined with our already robust relationship with fire on the e. M. S. System, its kind of like Peanut Butter and chocolate. Do these two ideas go together, and is there a way for us to use this already existing resource . And preexisting trust, as well. Reporter trust, because Approval Ratings for firefighters far exceed other public servants. That got officials here thinking about how to leverage manpower and location. Kristel acacio runs special projects for the county agency. Fire stations, fire fighters, are strategically located in every community. So we saw this as an existing, but perhaps untapped resource, to serve our patient population. Around the fire station, there is a concentration of low income residents. Reporter when acacio examined data about that population, she discovered that the neediest area was just where the county planned to build a new fire station. And what we can see in this map is that in hayward, and in particular, south hayward, that the concentration of Avoidable Emergency Department visits is 1. 5 times or greater the county rate. Reporter county Health Officials seized the chance to collaborate with the city, a Community Health center and a nonprofit Architectural Firm to design and build two structures on the same campus. They opened in late 2015. The clinic is right in front of us, and the fire station is right here. Yeah, same style, they look integrated. And basically, taking advantage of that known trust and location reporter fire chief Garrett Contreras was a supporter from the start. Upwards of 70 of our 911 calls in the Hayward Fire Department are for medical emergencies. Some of these more routinetype medical problems can be treated at a much lowercost setting and keep the emergency room beds available for our most critical patients. Reporter reducing the number of transports to the e. R. Is one way to measure success, says david b. Vliet, c. E. O. Of the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, which runs eight community clinics, including this one. Because weve delivered 6,000 urgent care, convenient care visits here, those are visits that didnt go to the e. R. , so right away we know weve kept that volume out of the emergency room. Reporter but not everything went according to plan. Initially, what we wanted the firefighters to do, what we had thought, was that we could possibly dedicate a couple paramedics to actually work in the clinic. Reporter that idea was quickly squelched by the california nurses association. Karen rothblatt has been a nurse for 30 years. You wouldnt want me to come and respond to you in that critical first moment, not what my training is about, same, turn that around, i think you could say that a paramedic hasnt been trained to do what a nurse has been trained to do, so why would you have them do that . I think it would be putting people at risk. My first thought is the family feud sound buzzer look, no nurse would say that while a paramedic is traching them, or starting an i. V. Line, paramedics are extremely highly trained, and highly skilled, and i think that they can do far more than what theyre currently doing, if we remember that the point of our Healthcare Delivery system is to serve people, not to protect Healthcare Market share. I find that insulting, actually. There are jobs out there for nurses, its not about that, you know. Its really, really about making sure that that clinic really functions in a way that is best for the patients that arrive there. Or, can i listen to your heart and lungs and do an examination of your abdomen . Reporter at the clinic, patients are seen by a Nurse Practitioner or physicians assistant. No doctor is on staff yet, but they say they are hiring one soon. Firefighters are close by if the clinic needs livesaving care for heart attacks, strokes or to get patients to a fully staffed emergency room. And proximity promotes communication, too. Those in field, like captain lashon earnest, encourage people to use the clinic. We go on a lot of calls where we can make a determination where somebody who doesnt necessarily need to go to the emergency room, to tax the system, for something, say, for a stubbed toe, thats someone that could probably use the clinic. Well, did you know the clinic was right next door to the fire house . Oh, i didnt know that, okay. Well, maybe im fine right now, i dont need to go to the hospital, ill have my mother drive me tomorrow to the clinic. Ill just need to borrow one of your arms, please. Reporter tina greives lost her insurance after an onthe job injury as a longdistance trucker. For her, the location, next to the fire station, is convenient. I dont have a vehicle, which is unusual for somebody in california. This one is seriously within walking distance if im doing good, or a 15minute bus ride. So, its in a perfect location. Reporter greives, like most treated in this clinic, qualifies for medicaid. More than 120,000 people in Alameda County were added to the rolls with the passage of the Affordable Care act. The uncertainty over health care in washington is causing worry here in south hayward. Cuts to medicaid could reduce a key funding stream for this clinic keeping it from being selfsustaining in the coming years. And thats a concern for providers and patients alike. I wouldnt be covered by the new bill. Thats all there is to it, and its just like holy, dirty word. So, its an uncertainty, and its scary. Ultimately it means that more folks cannot be seen in a Health Center like this, and would not have a paying source in order to do that. Reporter the partnership of firefighters and Health Care Workers is a first for california. The attempt to bridge the 911 system and the primary care system, i think thats a unique experiment. I do believe it can be a model. I do believe it can be repeated. Its not easy. Not so easy to do to get multiple governmental agencies to work together, drop the boundaries, drop the egos, drop the who said what, whos doing what, whos getting credit for anything, and just do it because its the right thing to do and itll improve service to the community. Reporter im Kathleen Mccleery for the pbs newshour in hayward, california. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour why a deadly disaster is bringing to light the problem of existing gas and oil wells near homes. And journalist ann friedman gives her brief but spectacular take on finding her voice. But first, a key part of President Trumps campaign was pledging to restore prosperity and ease the anxiety for those left behind by globalization. Income inequality was a problem during president obamas tenure, too. The trend began well before either took office. And the widening gap here is connected to growth in other parts of the world. Our economics correspondent, paul solman, has been exploring those trends, and its the focus of his weekly segment, making sense. What is also good news is that people around this point, like one third of the global population, have done really quite well. Reporter at the City University of new york graduate center, economist Branko Milanovic and the hottest curve in economics right now, charting the climb of a billion out of poverty, and explaining the rise of china, the rise of populism in europe, the rise of donald trump. And thanks to its pachydermal profile, and twitter, it has an almost unforgettable name the elephant chart. I remember in june 2012, the first time that i saw what later became the elephant chart, i was immediately struck, because i thought, well thats exactly what we all knew. Reporter and what is it that we knew . Well we knew that china and large groups of people in asia who were not very rich compared to americans have done very well. We knew that lower and middle class americans and japanese and germans have not done well and then we also knew that the top one percent in the rich countries have done well. Reporter now, at the risk of dumboing this down, lets take the elephant chart from tail to tusk. For that, we have to head into the Wild Blue Yonder of my producers basement. On the bottom, the horizontal axis the entire world population, arranged by their incomes back in 1988 poorest over here to the left; the richest to the right. Just past the middle, at about the 55th percentile, a family of four with 3,000 a year after tax income. A middleclass us family taking home 30,000 a year would land about here at the 80th percentile. And in 1988, 160,000 of after tax income wouldve lifted you into the global 1 . On the vertical axis, going from bottom to top, is how much income grew, in percentage terms, over 20 years, from 1988 to 2008. The two winning groups the fabled one percent and those in the middle of the Income Distribution. As for the poorest, they had about a 10 rise. If they started with like 2 a day now they have 2. 3 a day. Reporter but now what this story is telling us is here, at the middle of the Income Distribution globally, those people have almost doubled their income in real terms after taxes. After taxes, yes. And as you can see this is not a small group of people. So we are talking about people from the 40th percentile to the 70th. So this is almost like one third of the global population who have done really quite well. Reporter and who are we talking about here . These are the indians in bangalore, the brazilian middle class, the south koreans, the chinese whove flocked from the countryside to the cities. There was a large chunk of people, two and a half billion, who have done extremely well. Reporter and those are the people up at the top of the back of the elephant. Top of the back of the elephant, so basically what is called resurgent asia. Reporter resurgent asia. Resurgent asia, indeed. Now, you may have seen one of the most popular ted talks of all time. Income per person on this axis, poor down here, rich up there. Reporter . The late great hans rosling, depicting this phenomenon in his own inimitably graphic way. You see china under foreign domination actually lowered their income and came down to the indian level here, whereas u. K. And United States is getting richer and richer and after Second World War United States is richer than u. K. , but independence is coming here growth is starting economic reform growth is faster. Reporter so the good news is that income inequality has, from a global perspective, gone down, as the incomes in the developing world rise, catching up with incomes in the developed world. And thats a point the elephant chart is often used to make. But perhaps the charts most memorable message of the moment is the crisis of inequality in the very well developed world the hollowing out of the middle class in france, the United Kingdom and especially the United States of america. Here, at incomes of about 20,000 to 100,000 a year, inflationadjusted, theres been negligible Income Growth for decades once you get to the 70th percentile, so youre the richest 30 of the worlds Income Distribution, it falls off a cliff. True. People who are generally dissatisfied with their economic position and who feel threatened by migration and who feel threatened by lack of jobs or insecurity of jobs, what is you look at actually who voted for le pen in france, who voted for brexit, and then trump. We saw that this sort of growth of right wing populism is driven on one hand by this insecurity of jobs which is a result of globalization and by migration, which is also part and parcel of globalization. Reporter and globalization was supposed to be winwin for everyone, wasnt it . One thing was promised to them essentially with globalization they would all get better off and then gradually they see that their wages are stagnant and theyve been stagnant for 25 years. Reporter if youre middle class, you look ahead, and you see the rich getting richer, the trunk of the elephant, tilting skyward. And then of course you look backwards, and then you see that these people might be catching up to you. Right, because they actually are coming on the big tide, like a wave, and then really your relative position is going to really slide down quite quickly. Reporter and so we end with the jumbo takeaway that while a rising middle class in the developing world has been narrowing Global Inequality for decades,hetory has been just the opposite closer to home, and fueling a reaction as radical as it is understandable. For the pbs newshour, this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from the City University of new york, and my producers basement. Woodruff theres more of pauls conversation with economist Branko Milanovic on our website. Find it at pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff colorado is taking a close look at all oil and gas operations across the state. That follows a fatal explosion in april at home in the denver suburb of firestone caused by a leaking underground gas line. Tomorrow is the deadline set by the governor for companies to complete inspection of oil and gas lines near homes and businesses. The accident has revived the debate over how drilling can co exist with growing suburban development. Dan boyce with public medias inside energy reports. I dont have the vocabulary to describe it, it was just a massive, massive explosion. Reporter firestone resident gayle mertz was in her backyard when it happened. But neighbors inside their homes felt it too. Like, our whole house shook, and like, jumped. Reporter one, single blast leveled the martinez home over on twilight avenue. As the home began burning, parents including laura elges grabbed up their children and evacuated. Really, and we thought we werent going back. Reporter the blast killed Mark Martinez and his brother in law joey irwin. Martinezs wife erin was hospitalized with serious injuries. Following the explosion, anadarko petroleum, colorados largest oil producer, announced it had voluntarily shut down 3,000 nearby wells. Within another week, firestone fire chief ted poszywak confirmed the swirling rumors the explosion was caused by gas that entered the home through the basement. Due to a cut and abandoned line attached to an oil and gas well in the vicinity. Reporter basically, odorless gas seeped in through the basement and the family had no idea. It was from a well 178 feet from the martinez home. Its not an uncommon site in northern colorado, and other parts of the country such as texas and pennsylvania. Surging populations leading to the construction of new homes near and on top of land previously the domain of the oil industry. The collision of those two sectors has led to political uproar in colorado over the last few years. Communities banning drilling, judges throwing out those bans. State law now requires new oil wells be drilled at least 500 feet from homes. But lisa mckenzie, a professor at the university of Colorado School of Public Health, has been researching this for years, and she says its not drilling new wells near homes thats the only problem. It was actually more common for homes to be built near to where an oil and gas well already existed rather than an reporter in fact, inside Energy Analysis has found between 2010 and 2015, the number of People Living in areas with more than 10 wells per square mile increased by nearly 50,000 in colorado, most noticeably along the front range north of denver. And while the state mandates that 500 foot setback for new wells, theres no state regulation for how far new homes must be constructed from alreadyexisting oil wells. Laura goodwin says she bought her home with the understanding that utilities and oil and Gas Companies were doing everything they could to protect nearby families. Thats why they get to drill, thats why they get the oil, thats why get the permits because they are supposed to keep the people around it safe, and they didnt do it. Reporter in the wake of the explosion, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper ordered Oil Companies inspect all underground oil and gas lines within 1,000 feet of occupied buildings. He says this all used to be open farmland, and there was no or homeowners the location of underground oil and gas pipes was known only to the Oil Companies and the property owners. Now we can see that sometimes that property gets sold, and next thing you know youre building a housing development. How could we not know where the flowlines are, have a map and a record of them . Reporter hickenlooper expects that g. P. S. Data provided by Oil Companies through the required inspections should allow the state to provide a comprehensive map of all flowlines for the first time. Anadarko owns the leaking well responsible for the explosion. Theyre Holding Community meetings and now offering free gas detectors to any home in the neighborhood as a way to calm fears. Still, that hasnt stopped about 100 of these homeowners from launching lawsuits against the oil company as well as the developer and builder of the martinez home. Anadarko turned down our interview requests, but colorado oil and Gas Association president dan haley says as tragic as this accident is, the public can still feel confident in his industry. We have been operating in colorado for longer than weve been a state. More than 100 years. We have drilled tens of thousands of wells. We have logged millions of man hours out in the field working and it is a safe industry. It is not to excuse what happened. It is not to forget or pretend that two people didnt die. They did. We need to do all we can do to make sure it doesnt happen again. Reporter some colorado lawmakers are now calling for much larger distances between homes and wells, something still staunchly opposed by industry. And speak to homebuilders, they say setbacks like that are just not practical. Gregory miedema works with a local Home Builders trade association. He says with all the wells, 54 thousand active wells statewide, you cant really go somewhere where youre not building next to one. I mean, quite frankly, you have to be prudent and safe about your distances, but you really cant. If you were to rule out all the land that were next to a well, youd rule it all out. Reporter he says hes not against any setbacks, but the more land you rule out, the more you raise housing prices on whats left. Thats the last thing colorado needs. Prices around here are already rising at some of the fastest rates in the country. At least for now theres still plenty of demand for new housing in the area, in fact if you look right behind the site of the explosion, you can see construction of a brand new apartment complex, with nearly 300 units. But leaking gas lines are not the only hazard, and just five weeks after the explosion. We start with breaking news. Explosion and fire at an oil and gas site once again rocking weld county. Reporter less than four miles away from the martinez home, an anadarko owned oil tank burst into flames. It happened during a maintenance check. This explosion killed one worker and injured three others. The oil and gas industry can be hazardous 42 deaths nationwide from fires and explosions between 2010 and 2014. But a house explosion raises whole new fears. And now its up to the state regulators and Oil Companies to do whatever they can to make these residents feel safe again in their homes. For the pbs newshour, im dan boyce in firestone, colorado. Woodruff next, our brief but spectacular series, where we ask interesting people to describe their passions. Tonight, journalist ann friedman, cohost of the podcast call your girlfriend, explores why its important to find your own voice. Women are frequently asked to couch their opinions in a lot of filler words, which is why i find it so interesting that we are simultaneously seen as unserious when we use phrases like um you know or like because frankly if you say things directly without a lot of you know what i think sort of padding around them, its difficult for both men and women to hear. I dont think its just men who have a hard time hearing direct especially criticism when its coming from a woman, and knowing it doesnt really change the fact that like in the real world women have to do a lot more emotional labor to convey their opinions and decisions and ideas. I am one of those boring people who has only wanted to do one thing for my entire life, which was be a journalist. Its pretty impossible to equip someone for a ten plus year career in media right now. Youre going to get fired or laid off at some point. It will happen. And you probably are going to have to learn a bunch of new skills. You are probably going to have to come to terms with the fact that youre not only going to write long format magazine articles in the style of 1960s esquire. I did not wake up one day and say, you know what, i should have a podcast. I have a good friend here called gina nelvak. She had said for a long time to me, and to my friend, aminatou sow, hey you guys have a great chemistry, you would be great podcast cohosts. I think it was somewhere around where we came up with the name. I guess we just create a fun, safe place for ourselves and discuss the things that we are interested in and it turns out that a lot of other women are interested in those things, too. Voice is one of those things that when you talk about it in a classroom or with a group of writers it can feel very big and abstract. I think when i was earlier in my career, i had more doubts about the validity of my career as a journalist and i preferred to copy the tone of the places that i was writing for as much as they had an institutional tone. And the longer i had been working and the more confident i had become in my opinions or my reporting or frankly my career or my place in the world, it becomes easier to write the way that i speak. If someone cant hear the substance of what im saying because of the tone i say it with or because of the little filler words that i use, which p. S. Men use, too. We all use. Then thats their problem. My name is ann friedman and this is my brief but spectacular take on finding your voice in journalism. Woodruff you can watch additional brief but spectacular episodes on our website, pbs. Org newshour brief. On the newshour online right now, two decades since her critically acclaimed first novel, the god of small things, indian writer Arundhati Roy is out with another work of fiction. She offers insight into her new book, as well as the social and political backdrop in her country. That and more is on our web site, pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shield and david brooks. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org. Welcome to the program. We begin this evening with bill burns, the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former deputy secretary of state. I think we are lead leaving too much uncertainty in peoples minds, there is too much unpredict ability and people have gotten accustomed, whether they liked or disliked particular american policies ohe United States trying make sense of all these changes and trying to mobilize coalitions of countries to deal with them. So thats why when the United States pulls out of the paris climate agreement, it leaves a hole there, which is difficult for other players to fill. We conclude with the great john mcenroe, his new memoir is called but seriously. I was very fortunate when young to fall into the lap of legendary tennis icons in the