Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170722

Bureaucrat to a household name as one of americas beloved cooks. I taught myself how to cook when i worked in washington, using julia childs cookbooks. Sreenivasan all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan moving and shaking today, in the White House Communications staff. Sean spicer resigned as press secretary after just six months, saying the president needs a clean slate. But it was widely reported that he objected to the naming of wall street financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. At a white house briefing, scaramucci sought to play down talk of any discord. For me, as it relates to sean, it speaks volumes to who he is as a human being, who he is as a team player. Okay . So his attitude is, if anthonys coming in, let me clear the slate for anthony. And i do appreciate that about sean, and i do love him for it. But i dont have any friction with sean. Sreenivasan scaramucci also named spicers deputy, Sarah Huckabee sanders, to be the new press secretary. In a statement, President Trump praised spicers work, and said, just look at his Great Television ratings the spokesman for the president s legal team, mark corallo, also resigned today. That came amid reports that the lawyers are hunting possible conflicts of interest by special counsel robert mueller. Mueller is investigating russian meddling in the 2016 election. The white would neither confirm nor deny the reports. The president s lead lawyer did deny a Washington Post account that theyre examining whether mr. Trump could pardon relatives, aides and even himself. Well take a closer look at all of this, after the news summary. Israelipalestinian tensions erupted into street battles today between police and protesters in jerusalem and the west bank. At least three palestinians were killed, and nearly 400 hurt. Exploding stun grenades drowned out friday prayers in jerusalem, as ambulance sirens wailed. Palestinians called it a day of rage, protesting israels installation of metal detectors at a holy site revered by both sides. translated this place is made for worshipping god. They cannot prevent muslims from entering to pray. They are acting against god. Sreenivasan the israelis installed the metal detectors after arabisraeli gunmen killed two Police Officers last friday. It happened at the complex known as the temple mount to israelis and the noble sanctuary to muslims. Inside alaqsa mosque, the third holiest site in islam, and the dome of the rock. Theyre bordered by the western wall, the holiest site in judaism. Tensions have been building ever since the shooting. Overnight, the streets of jerusalems old city were filled with protesters throwing stones and Security Forces firing back with grenades. Today, police refused to remove the metal detectors, and barred muslim men younger than 50 from entering the holy site. Security checkpoints also blocked busloads of muslims traveling to jerusalem. The security measures will continue in and around the area of the old city and the temple mount, in order to prevent any further terrorist attacks. Sreenivasan but the grand mufti of jerusalem rallied thousands of muslims to pray outside the gates of the old city, under the watch of israeli forces. He predicted a long test of wills. translated we reject all we do not accept any restrictions on the door of the alaqsa mosque. Therefore, all the Palestinian People reject these gates and refuse to accept or enter through them. Sreenivasan the violence broke out after prayers, and spilled over to towns across the west bank. Later, the day of rage turned to grief, as mourners held a funeral for one of the palestinian dead, amid fears and, a palestinian stabbed three israelis to death, in a west bank settlement. Tonight, palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced hes freezing contacts with israel on all levels. In afghanistan, the u. S. Military confirms that a nato air strike mistakenly killed afghan troops today. Officials say it happened during an operation against taliban fighters in helmand province, in the south. The provincial governor says at least two afghan commanders died. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson is urging gulf nations to lift their economic blockade of qatar. Saudi arabia, bahrain, egypt and the u. A. E. Have imposed sanctions on qatar over charges of financing terror groups. Today, tillerson met with the omani foreign minister and commended the oil states efforts to comply with an agreement on curbing terror financing. They have been very aggressive in implementing that agreement. So we are, i think, were satisfied with the effort they are putting forth. I think they also have indicated a willingness to sit with the four parties and negotiate, discuss the demands. Sreenivasan meanwhile, qatars emir denounced the blockade as a smear campaign, but said hes open to dialogue. President trump is demanding that iran release the american citizens it is holding. In a statement this evening, the white house warned of new and serious consequences unless tehran frees all unjustly imprisoned americans. At least three u. S. Citizens are currently jailed in iran. A powerful earthquake shook the coasts of turkey and greece early today, killing at least two people. The quake was centered near the greek island of kos, and the turkish tourist hub of bodrum. Nearly 500 people were injured, and the tremor caused heavy damage to buildings, roads and historical sites. Thousands of tourists were forced to sleep outdoors. Some tried to leave, but got stranded. translated we were woken up at 1 30 in the morning. We were wondering what happened, everything was shaking. We panicked and didnt know what was going on. So we quickly gathered our stuff and went out of the hotel, because as it was several floors high, we did not want it to fall on our heads. Everyone was out in the street. It was a massive panic. In the hotel lobby, vases and lamps were upside down. Sreenivasan the two People Killed were identified as tourists from turkey and sweden. The state department has announced a ban on americans traveling to north korea. A Statement Today cited the serious risk of arrest and long term detention in the north. The move follows the death of College Student otto warmbier. He was jailed in north korea on a charge of stealing a propaganda poster, then sent home in a coma. He died last month. And, on wall street, stocks ended the week in retreat. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 31 points to close at 21,580. The nasdaq fell two points, and the s p 500 lost about one point. For the week, the dow was down a fraction of a percent. The nasdaq rose more than 1 , and the s p was up half a percent. Still to come on the newshour multiple white house shakeups press Secretary Sean Spicer, and the president s legal team. The partisanship thats plagued efforts to revamp the Nations Health care. Mark shields and david brooks analyze the weeks news. And, much more. Sreenivasan White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer abruptly announced his resignation earlier today, the same day the administration announced it has tapped businessman Anthony Scaramucci to serve as communications director. As the staff shakeup reverberates through the white house, the administration is also contending with more questions from special counsel Robert Mullers russia investigation. For more on all of this, were joined by rosalind helderman, political enterprise and investigations reporter for the Washington Post. Thanks for joining us. Whats the trumps Legal Team Strategy to deal with this investigation. Well we reported today that the legal team is copyin examina broad array of options that would lead to the restraining or restricting of the special counsels investigation. At present, they say they are cooperating with special counsel bob mueller but we understand that they are doing research into possible conflicts by bob mueller himself, conflicts of interest or members of his staff that he is assembling. Keep in mind that conflict of interest is one of the only things in the regulations establishing the special counsel that can be used by the attorney general or in this case the acting attorney general, rod rose stein to dismiss the special counsel. So they are looking at that and a number of other things that would try to curb this sort of scope of this expanding investigation. Sreenivasan did any of these conflicts of interest come up when mueller was originally assigned to the task . Did Jeff Sessions or anyone else give him a pass on these . Thats a good question that we dont entirely know yet. We do know that President Trump himself has said that he interviewed bob mueller to be f. B. I. Director very shortly before his appointment as special counsel. One of the conflict that we reported today, the whitehouse has been examing is of all things bob muellers membership at the Trump National golf course in northern virginia. Apparently whitehouse advisors tell us there was some variety of dispute over his membership fees at that club. Now muellers office has told us thats not true. There was no membership fee dispute so were continuing to try to learn more about that. But whatever happened at the golf club, President Trump clearly did not see it as an impediment to potentially appointing bob mueller to be f. B. I. Director so its interesting theyre now returning to that autopsy i been. Sreenivasan lets thank you a little bit about the legal team it seems to be changing. Thats right. We saw the resignation of mark koralo who was the spokeman for the team. He was the spokesman for mark mc kazowits. Hes a new york base attorney who worked for trump on various matters who has been until today the leader of this team. There have been some reports that he is leaving the team altogether. Our reporting is that cast witnesse kasowits is taking at role. A washington letter had been involved in the investigation of pete rose of baseball fame. Also familiar to Television Viewers remains on the team as sort of i sreenivasan the individuals you mentioned, mr. Dowd actually came out in the wall street journal and questioned this reporting that the Washington Post had done and said its not true that President Trump and his team were looking into the act of possibly pardoning his aides or himself. There are multiple lawyers, just the lawyers you spoke to with mr. Dowd. We feel very comfortable in our sourcing for our story. When he said that this morning we did add those comments. Theyre on the record to our story to reflect his denial. We feel comfortable that our story was accurate and accurately reflecting conversations that have been going on amongst this large legal team. I would note mr. Dowd gave an interview to the wall street journal in which he said that in fact the legal team is not at all interested in the topic of conflicts of interest. Jay was quoted in that very same story as saying they are looking at conflict. That any reasonable lawyer would do so. So there was a conflict right there in the same story from two different lawyers for the team. Sreenivasan if im a lawyer representing somebody like the president , wouldnt it be normal for me to say lets look at the tools my clients have if one of the tools includes a president ial pardon shouldnt i just investigate what the parameters of that pardon are. Yes, absolutely. As we reported, we do believe that this was a conversation about Legal Options that this was not the president saying that he plans to pardon himself or that he believes he is ultimately going to need a pardon which is to say he believes hes going to be accused of a crime. This is a conversation about Legal Options and the powers of the presidency. How does the president go about or whats the breadth of his authority to pardon staff, to pardon family members and indeed what does the constitution say and the law say about a president pardoning himself which actually is a question of rather distinct dispute in the legal community. Sreenivasan finally briefly in the courses youve spoken with is the shake up or at least the change over in the legal team as well in the Communications Department part of something bigger. I think theres a sort of sense of the whitehouse on edge right now. Theres a lot of turmoil. I certainly would not guarantee that weve seen the end of the changes. Of course well all note that the president had those very harsh words for attorney general Jeff Sessions earlier this week in an interview with the New York Times. Were told that people in the whitehouse were quite surprised that those comments did not result in Jeff Sessions resigning. He instead came out and said he planned to stay on the job. So thats in the air. The chief of staff Reince Preibus, theres been many rumors that hes on his way out. So i dont think that the team is settled by any means. Sreenivasan all right. Wrawroz lind helderman from the washingtotheWashington Post. Sreenivasan from the white house, to capitol hill. For seven months, Congressional Republicans have taken a sharply partisan route on health care. They have made several attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act, which have failed. But why did republicans go partisan in the first place . Its part of a cultural shift in congress, years in the making, for both parties. Our Lisa Desjardins explains. Reporter congress these days has an obvious theme. I should think that every republican should be embarrassed. Our democratic friends are trying to make it more difficult for President Trump to do his job. We urge our republican colleagues to change their tune. Reporter . More blame than legislation on the floor. Veteran g. O. P. Senator Susan Collins of maine has long been considered one of its most bipartisan members, but she admits its becoming harder. We are in a time of hyperpartisanship that is unlike any other that ive seen in my time in the senate. Reporter some examples this year . Republicans going it alone on healthcare, with a partisan house vote and a republicanonly closeddoor process in the senate. Democrats forcing symbolic latenight sessions and boycotting committee hearings, slowing the legislative process to a near stop. And this month, republican Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell blamed democrats for his decision to postpone the senates august recess. Due to this unprecedented level of obstruction that weve been experiencing, we will be in session the first two weeks of august. Reporter all just five weeks after this gunfire a gunman opening fire on a republican baseball practice, leaving House Majority whip Steve Scalise initially in critical condition, and still recovering. The attack triggered a chorus of calls for bipartisanship we are not one caucus or the other in this house today. We are united. Reporter later that day, the managers of the republican and democratic teams urged an end to the sharp divide we have an r or a d by our name, but our title our title is United States representative. Reporter we caught up with representatives joe barton and mike doyle again, and asked if things have changed. Theres no cure for this. And its not just our responsibility. Bipartisanship either gets fanned or, you know, encouraged by outside forces, too. Reporter but both say too many members get attention now with sharp words. At the end of every 2 years, do you want to go home and say, man, i gave a heck of a press conference. Or do you want to put Something Else on your wall, that youve got a bill signed into law . Reporter barton admits he was once a young bomb thrower, and accepts some blame for his party. When i got elected, i joined the gingrich group. So i was a part of the problem at the time. Reporter in the 1994 republican revoluton, thennew speaker gingrich made partisan battles a central strategy. Years later, in 2013, democrats upped the partisan ante, changing senate rules to push through some nominees with no republican votes. Outside the House Chamber when you can still see the blood sustains from the newspaper reporter shot a former member of congress in 1890. Mr. Sullivan, aye, mr. Rono, no. But divide can have a purpose, says amy walter of the Cook Political Report i dont think partisanship in and of itself is a bad thing. I think the challenge is when that alone is what prevents people from working together to do other things. Reporter part of the trouble fewer moderates. Data from the Cook Political Report shows that 20 years ago, more than a third of all house districts were moderate, voting similarly to the nation as a whole. But since, then house districts have become more partisan red or blue and the number of moderate or swing seats has fallen by half. And they have all been replaced by idealogues these are on the left or the right. Reporter one reason special Interest Groups on the left and the right are spending record amounts of money in ads, and increasingly scoring lawmakers votes on sometimes narrow issues. Again, Susan Collins unfortunately, theres a lot of pressure from outside special Interest Groups to toe the party line. They want 100 of fidelity, 100 of the time, to 100 of their views. And if you deviate, you are going to feel the consequences. Reporter all this underscores how a major issue Like Health Care remains unresolved, and it sets up a great struggle to get anything done, republicans in power, may soon have to work with democrats. For the pbs newshour, im Lisa Desjardins. Sreenivasan stay with us. Coming up on the newshour whats stifling Race Relations in detroit, 50 years after the 1967 riots. Lessons on life and cooking, from ina garten. And, a Behavioral Scientists advice on talking to your kids about marijuana. But first, the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields, and New York Times columnist david brooks. All right, so. Lets start with healthcare. This week we started with repealing and replace and then it went to repeal now replace later. It doesnt seem to be going anywhere. The republicans Healthcare Plan had three problems. It wasnt healthy, it wasnt caring and there was no plan. It was just that simple. I mean, you cant get people to vote for something when they dont know what it is, theres no public case for it. But beyond that, it just, the conservatives led by rand paul objected that it didnt root out and repeal obamacare. That was correct. And 9 moderates embodied by Susan Collins we just saw in the previous piece objected that it was going to hurt unnecessarily gratuitously minutes of americans who are needy and depend on medicaid. So the two are almost irreconcilable and i think they cant figure out now how to leave the field without embarrassment. Ideally, if youre a republican, you do not want to vote on this. You do not want to vote tuesday because its going to be used against you. It is incredibly unpopular. 16 support in the country. There is not one person of the 213 in the house of representatives voted against it who regrets having voted against it. And there are scores of house members in the 217 who are nervous that they voted for it. Thats where it is. I think from what i hear theyre leaning on mike lee, the decisive no vote to change his mind or buy him out with something or offer him something. They figure once they get him on board theres another 15 senators who would like to volt no but they dont want to be the one person who feels it. You can get mike lee you can get some of the others. They might pass it, i dont say its something likely but its too welder to say its dea weld. Mitch mcconnel has two parts of his job. One is to create a process where reasonable last gets promoted and the second to wait for that legislation. I think he did an abysmal job on one and a remarkable job on to. You have 16 approval nobody in the senate likes it including the republicans. They all hate having to vote it and they still got 48 votes. Thats kind of impressive. But the underlying problem is you have a chance to form healthcare. There are a lot of conservative ideas to reform healthcare and it was also promised. You can pick some things that a lot of people like. You can have catastrophic coverage for the 20 odd Million People still uninsured after obamacare. You can offer a lot of things to a lot of people and do it in a conservative way. Thats not what this Republican Party does, it just says we want to cut medicaid. Theyre unwilling to talk about anything positive though there are some things in the bill that look what can we take away from you and 9 poor and the needy and the children. Its a publicity and a substantive disaster area theyre just trying to live it. Sreenivasan what is the president on this. Its mercurial. He said let obama tumble and burn. Then the next day he says no within 24 hours republican senators you need to come up with a plan. He knows nothing about the specifics. He knows nothing about the substances. Hes made no public case for it. It makes a very compelling point. I just say this, that Mitch Mcconnel had a rend take as this master strategist. And what Mitch Mcconnels greatest accomplishment as leader has been that he denied a hearing to one of the six most qualified nominees to the Supreme Court in the last century. Thats it. Theres a big difference between obstruction and construction and putting together a coalition. Its a lot easier to get people to vote against something than to vote for something. Take the chance. When youre denied the individual mandate, that is healthy young people not pay anything, you lose as a pool of people for insurance who are older and sicker. Therefore its going to be more expensive. I mean, you know, this isnt rocket scientists inspite of the president saying its a lot more complacomplicated than it is. What happened with the republican views with the president. Theyre having all these meetings in the whitehouse and awe perimently theyd have these subsz stiff meetings with mike pence or somebody else with staff they tried to talk through things make some progress and the president would difficult in and Say Something extremely stupid, extremely ill informed. And then they would all groan and he would say i wish you would leave and then he would go. That could be a change in psychology. Everybody in the senate has problems with the president. But if you begin to have just the crazy uncle like the average content, then relationships between the republicans on the hill and the whitehouse really do begin to change. Its not some guy some political magic that some guy who really just is annoying and gets in the way. Sreenivasan lets talk about the interview he gave to some pople well call the paper of record and the president of trump calls it the failing New York Times. In this conversation which is worth reading in its entirety, its just fascinating. He lashes out at lots of his supporters. He under minds his own attorney general. He goes after almost a broadside of robert mueller. He talks about blackmail and comey. What do you glean out of that. First, there are subscriptions for the trump era and one of the our journalists brought it up failed at failing. There are a couple things to say about the interview. One, i was shocked by the lack of just articulate those. We all hate when we read a transcript of ourselves. Its embarrassing but these are random not even thoughts just little word patterns one following another about napoleon, this and that. Its a disturbing leveled of incoherent thinking. Second, it is, you know, people work for the whitehouse work for the guy 1620 hours a day. Jeff sessions in the administration among them. And to dumb ove dump over every. Usually when someone is corrupt, they are clever. They try to desemble. They mask their corruption with some attempt to be dishonest. Donald trump, give him credit, hes completely transparent. He basically said in that interview my corruption can be found in my tax returns. If you look at my tax returns i will fire you. He transmits everything hes thinking out in public in a incredibly transparent way so were looking at the fact where bob mueller will probably go to the tax returns. Donald trump will probably fire bob mueller and then well be in some sort of constitutional crises. Its all telegraphed right there out in the open. I was amazed by it. I mean first of all, i guess just in a person level. This is a man for whom there is no loyalty, no sense of loyalty in any way. I mean Jeff Sessions was a republican senator from alabama, the first senator in the country to endorse donald trump and a strong supporter. And the attorney general all donald trump cares about is Jeff Sessions going to protect me. He shows i think a couple things. It shows the obsession he has with the russian investigation. Theres no two ways about it. And again he recycles these baseless charges about jim comey that he perjured himself in testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee that he did not. That he leaked confidential information which he did not. And but theres absolutely no sense of loyalty that he has to anyone else, donald trump. I just find that, you know, we talk about if theres smoke, his obsession with the russian investigation. Not only is he back blaming rod rosestein for firing comey but he went on lester holt. It doesnt make any differences what rosestein recommended, hes going to fire him anyway. Theres no coherence to the man but theres an obsession. Sreenivasan lets talk a little bit about somebody who has been loyal to the president , sean spicer who stepped down today. He resigned over the announcement that Anthony Scaramucci was going to be named communications director. Scaramucci played it down. He and spicer and i think Reince Preibus were all scheduled to go on fox tonight in a yawn fide unified show. What do you make of it. Sean spicer prior to going to work at the whitehouse those of us who dealt with him over the years, he was likeable, he was helpful t he was a loyal republican but a square shooter. As soon as he made the bargain to go to work for donald trump, you know, i dont know if he sold his soul but he certainly sold part of his self respect. The first thing frum demanded he do is lie about the size of the crowd at the trump inauguration. And sean spicer did it and then he lied about the orders that barack obama had in fact bugged or wire tapped president obama had the headquarters in Donald Trumps building. Then undocument immigrants voting on election day, thats why donald trump. So it was tragic to watch this erosion of his own beingity. Integrity. Hes not a bad guy or anything of sort. But anybody with exception who has been associated with this administration and this president has been diminished by it. His rendation has been tarnished, theyre smaller people 15r89 of i as a result od thats strategic. I cant think of anybodys rendation has been enhanced by going into the trump administration. Rex tillerson was a serious businessman, well respected. Jeff session was a serious senator. Pretty conservative, quite serious. Sean spicer is a normal Communications Guy in washington. So hes like an antimentor. He takes everybody around him and makes them worse. Thats what spicer had to face and hell have to live with that and live with the reputational damage that hes incurred. Scaramucci is a very interesting case. Hes a guy from long island. Trump is from queens. They made it big financially in the big city. They have some sort of parallel careers. Scaramucci is a fun guy and i thought his Performance Today was quite good, actually. And so it could be that he will flourish in this whitehouse. Hes very smart. Hes not to be intellectually estimated. It could be he would be chief of staff before long, well see. Hes someone who has a much more deft personal man while being kind of a wild guy than anybody else in there right now. Sreenivasan finally, john mccain this past week, the entire senate vote was delayed because of a surgery. It turned out what they found in that surgery was much more serious. Yes. I mean, i just think that john mccain stands alone. I make no apologies thinking that highly of him. You look at these people on television, bad guys has a good performance. The flag will tell patriots. John mccain never wore a flag lapel. John mccain didnt wave the flag. He defended it and hes been a leader in the United States senate on so many issues and especially, i mean not just simply taking on big tobacco and big money but reaching across the aisle. Also the cemeteries of europe full of indispensable men. I would say john mccain is indispensable and i hope he recovers. We covered him a long time and we both think highly of him. Hes a man with intense honesty. He never lied to himself. Sreenivasan all right, david brooks, mark shields. A transcript of this will be very clear. Thank you both. Thank you. Sreenivasan tonight, we begin a look back, over the next few weeks, at the unrest that hit cities across america in the summer of 1967. Detroit particularly captured the nations attention. 50 years later, special correspondent Soledad Obrien reports on what sparked it all in detroit, and the scars that remain today. Reporter on july 23, 1967, detroit was hit by a riot. Everything broke loose. Reporter 43 dead, thousands injured, and a city in flames. All we could hear is fire engines and police sirens. I guess when im being politically correct, ill say unrest. Its a riot, a straightout riot. It was just pure rage. Detroit had been what some people thought was a model city, a place where blacks and whites had found a way to get along. There was a lot of enmity and anger between the young black guys and the young white officers. I think we locked up about 7,000 people total. A lot of people hollering and screaming and saying, why do you keep messing with us and not go to your neighborhoods . There were more than 2,500 buildings that were destroyed, looted or burned to the ground, at least 1,200 injuries documented. A rebellion. Insurrection. The White Community was calling it a riot. Reporter detroit 1967 a riot or rebellion . To this day, they still debate what it was. A lot of the smoke was on 12th street, which is what it was called then. Reporter the disturbances began on 12th street, since renamed rosa parks boulevard. They started spontaneously after a routine police raid on an illegal bar or what locals called a blind pig. Dan mckane was a young street cop in detroits tactical mobile unit. Each precinct had a vice crew, and they would arrest the proprietors, and then probably write tickets to the rest of the guys. Reporter how would you have described the Detroit Police department back in 1967 . Well, it was majority white male. Reporter tensions between the police and the African American community appeared to have reached their limit. It came to a boil. People were just tired of being hassled, they was tired of them coming into their neighborhoods. Reporter Loretta Holmes was in that blind pig that night, to welcome back soldiers coming home from vietnam. Suddenly the police burst in. I saw a sledgehammer go in through the door. Next thing we know, the police was in there, nobody move, nobody anything it was about three or four paddywagons parked out front, and oh my god, it was a Million People out there. Its like somebody got on the bullhorn and said, 12th and clairmont. Reporter the angry crowd outside exploded into five days of fullout violence. Life magazine captured 15yearold Frank Robinson playing in the rubble that was left of 12th street. They threw a couple bricks through windows and the police didnt come. People saw an opportunity. Reporter and the opportunity was to do what . To loot. It may have turned into a racial situation later, but from the beginning, it was just people seeing an opportunity to loot. Reporter detroits violent unrest was the largest in the u. S. In about 100 years. Violence had also erupted earlier in newark and l. A. Quickly, president Lyndon Johnson named a commission to explore the causes. Named for its chair, illinois governor otto kerner, the Kerner Commissions only surviving member is former oklahoma senator fred harris. What we said was, we can describe with particularity the conditions that exist in the places where these riots occur almost criminally inferior schools, no jobs, housing really terrible, and we have to get at these kinds of basic problems. Reporter what was the biggest finding of the Kerner Commission report . Our nation is moving towards two societies one white, one black. Separate and unequal. Reporter the report was rejected by the president. None of its recommendations were ever adopted. The fact that it never went anywhere, that it really did not drive the level of policy and drive the level of people dealing with race, is a testament to how deepseated and how tough it is to not only have the conversations, but to make the change that would be required. Reporter sheila cockrel, who served on the Detroit City Council for 15 years, says that the white flight already plaguing detroit escalated rapidly after the unrest. Other forces were at play. The Auto Industry was hit by an oil crisis and foreign competition. There were two decades of government corruption. In 2008 the Global Financial crash hit detroit particularly hard. Then, in 2013, detroit became the largest municipality ever to file for bankruptcy. Today, Detroit Police are adamant that they are trying to repair their relationship with the public. They trained Police Officers in all 12 precincts to build Stronger Community ties. Officer Donald Parker how do you build trust in a neighborhood . Building now is us filtering into the community, saying hi to ms. Jones, and saying, hey, were here, were touchable and reachable. To let them know not to be afraid. Reporter the composition of the force has also changed. In 1967, it was just 5 African American. Today, it is about 65 African American, including the chief, james craig. What happened 50 years ago, i cant say would never happen in detroit, because theres still issues. We have one of the highest poverty rates, and while we have an aboveaverage relationship with the community, theres the issue of opportunities. And while thats Getting Better and while the city has made a major turnaround, theres still this belief that while the turnaround is happening in certain parts of the city, its not in others. Reporter a sign of the work remaining to be done detroits poverty rate is double what it was in 1967. The city struggles with segregation, inadequate housing and has the lowest School Test Scores and Graduation Rates in the nation. Anika goss foster is with future cities detroit, which imagines modern day uses for blighted properties. Gossfosters focus is the next 50 years. We call them dinosaurs, where there are old monster plants that are now sitting vacant in the middle of residential neighborhoods. Reporter the old packard plant, a dinosaur abandoned since the 1990s, is being developed into the shops and galleries in hopes of reviving the neighborhood. Things arent happening the way as quickly as they want it to happen. And they certainly arent happening at a rate where it should happen. But if you really pushed there are a lot of good things happening all over the city. There are parks that are being taken care of, that have never been taken care of before. The city is completely lit. People are much more involved. Reporter entrepreneurs and Business Leaders have transformed 7. 2 miles of downtown into a booming neighborhood that has attracted tourists, Tech Startups and new businesses. But the boom hasnt yet trickled down into the neighborhoods that gossfoster is trying to develop. I think that there are a lot of black people that would say they do feel left out. I wouldnt say that they feel ignored. I think they feel like, when is it my turn . Reporter to get investment. To get the same kind of attention and investment. We dont have anything, theres nothing here anymore. Reporter Loretta Holmes stayed behind. We were at central, we were a community, this is a community, we took care of each other. Reporter she mentors students at her alma mater, detroits central high. We get scholarships. We go ahead and buy the jerseys for the football team. A kid that doesnt have a coat, we do it undercover. Because we dont want the other kids to know. Reporter her investment in those kids is what gives her hope for a Better Future for detroit. Is the city of detroit better off than it was before . Heck no. Reporter in the 60s . No. Because. Reporter better off than five years ago . Than five years ago . Yeah, i can see the change. I really can. Reporter change, that for a city with a history of struggle and racial conflict, is long overdue. For the pbs newshour, im Soledad Obrien in detroit. Sreenivasan now we visit one of the most successful, prolific women in america the Creative Force behind the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks and tv shows. William brangham recently went to see ina garten at her home on long island, new york, and has this look at her life and career. Brangham can i have another bite . You can have as much as you want. Brangham this is the best job. Isnt it . This is what i get to do for a living. Isnt it unbelievable . Brangham its fantastic. Ina garten is one of the most famous and beloved cooks in america today. Better known as the Barefoot Contessa, she sits atop a culinary empire built on her bestselling cookbooks with millions of copies sold; a string of hit tv shows. Just because its a week night dinner, doesnt mean it has to be boring. Brangham . And a legion of devoted fans. This is my little backyard garden. Brangham we visited garten at her home and headquarters in east hampton, new york. We talked in the huge barn she built next to her house thats now her office, test kitchen and tv studio, all in one. This is where we test recipes and every morning, i walk across the lawn and i meet the two people, barbara and lidey, who work with me. We just go, okay, what are we going to do today . Brangham thats the extent of your commute . Thats my commute. Its like 100 yards, i think. Maybe less, maybe 50. I usually just put it right in the middle. Brangham gartens career began 40 years ago. But at first, she gave no hint as to how shed evolve. In the 1970s, newly married to husband jeffrey, garten was a budget analyst in washington, d. C. I was working at o. M. B. , office of management and budget. Brangham for the federal government . Yeah, for ford and carter, and i worked on Nuclear Energy policy. Hows that for precedent for the food business . Brangham it makes no sense whatsoever i ran from it. And by the late 70s, i thought, ive been working here for four years and nothing has happened. And i just didnt feel like i had any impact on anything. And i hit 30, and i thought, i want to do what i want to do. And i thought, i want to be in the food business. Brangham one day, she saw an ad for a Specialty Food store for sale in the hamptons, the exclusive beach destination for new yorkers. I went home and i told jeffrey about it, and he said, pick something you love to do. If you love doing it, youll be really good at it. And so i made her a very low offer, the woman who was selling it, thinking, well, well come back. Well negotiate. We drove back to washington. I was in my office the next day and the phone rang. She said, thank you very much. I accept your offer. I just remember going, oh, bleep . Brangham what have i gotten myself into . What have i done . Brangham and that was it . That was it. Two months later, i was behind the counter of a Specialty Foods store, trying to figure it out. Brangham the store she bought was called the Barefoot Contessa. That was the nickname of the prior owner. It was 1978, and this was gartens very first job in the food industry. So, had you been a cook before . No. Id never worked in a store. I never worked in a restaurant. I mean, i cooked at home, but thats not really the same thing. I taught myself how to cook when i worked in washington, using julia childs cookbooks. Brangham totally self taught . Brangham youve had no training beyond that . No, no. Brangham thats amazing. Thank you. Brangham the store was a smash, and later moved to a bigger location in east hampton. After 18 years, she sold the store and tried her hand at a new venture in 1999, the Barefoot Contessa cookbook was published, and it quickly became a bestseller. Nine additional books have followed, each a bestseller. All contain her trademark simple and accessible recipes. I think that i had a very clear vision when i started writing cookbooks, what i wanted it to be. That you would open the book, that you would look at the photograph and go, that looks delicious. And then youd look at the recipe and say, i can actually make that and i can make it with ingredients i can find in the grocery store. I dont think thats changed at all. Brangham having taught yourself how to cook, does that inform the recipes that end up in your book . Becaus youre thinking of them, not from a professionally trained mind, but as someone who did this on her own . Thats really smart. Actually, when i first started writing cookbooks, i remember thinking to myself, what makes me think i can write a cookbook . There are these great chefs who are really trained. And as i started, i realized actually, what is my lack is actually exactly right, because i can connect with cookings hard for me. I never worked on line brangham cooking is hard for you . It is so hard for me. Anybody that works with me will tell you. Its so hard for me, and thats why my recipes are really simple, because i want to be able to do them. Brangham soon, executives at the food network came calling. And calling. And calling. I understand you were reluctant at first to do television. Reluctant is the understatement. Brangham really . I just said no over and over and over again. Brangham why . I just didnt think id be good on tv. I just couldnt imagine why anybody would watch it, and food network fortunately kept coming back again and again. And they said, just try it. I thought, well, ill just do 13 shows, and then theyll leave me alone. Brangham and that was how many shows ago . Happily, that was 15 years later. Im still doing it. Im going to show you my recipes and my techniques. Brangham the Barefoot Contessa series is now 13 seasons strong. Now you too can cook like a pro. Brangham her latest version, cook like a pro, shows tips and techniques aimed at helping viewers become more comfortable in the kitchen. Everything you need to know, from trussing the bird, to carving it. Brangham what do you know of your audience . Who is watching it . You know, theres this moment in time when i really got a vision of who the audience was. I was walking up madison avenue and there was a woman in a big fur coat and she said, oh, darling, love your cookbooks. I thought, thats very nice. Then i kept going. About a half a block later, a truck driver pulled over and said, hey, baby, love your show and i thought, thats food. I think my cookbook audience might be slightly different from my tv audience, but i think theyre people that are interested in food, and thats everybody. By the way, youre doing beautifully. Brangham youre just saying that. During our visit, garten showed us a few simple recipes you can see her demonstrate them on our website. Meanwhile, she says her days are now spent testing new recipes for her upcoming 11th cookbook. Its due in the fall of next year. I love what im doing. Im really happy doing it, and i hope i can do it forever. And im having a ball. Brangham ina garten, so great to talk to you. Thanks very much. So much fun to talk to you too, william. Sreenivasan online, one newshour staffer shares what ina garten taught her about life, love, and dijon vinaigrette. Thats at www. Pbs. Org newshour. Sreenivasan finally tonight, with marijuana broadly legal in some form in 26 states and the district of columbia, many of our kids have questions about pot. Rand corporation Behavioral Scientist Elizabeth Damico offers her humble opinion on how to answer their queries. Among family and friends, im regarded as the dear abby of adolescent, socalled bad behavior. Heres the reason why. Because ive researched alcohol and drug use among teens for more than 20 years, and im a parent, people always assume ive devised a foolproof strategy for talking to kids about such issues. Lately, ive been fielding a lot of questions about marijuana legalization. I do feel like i have an edge when it comes to talking to my kids about marijuana. But sometimes, it seems like i am coming up with my informationsharing strategies on the fly, as i drive my children down a busy l. A. Street to and from school. Since marijuana was legalized in california last fall, a new billboard pops up practically every day to advertise the fine art of smoking weed, or the location of a new pot shop where weed is readily available. This leads my kids, 11 and 13, to ask a lot of questions. Why do people smoke marijuana . It cant be bad if its legal and they can advertise, right, mom . As always, it is best to give balanced, honest answers based on facts. Why do people smoke marijuana . Some people may smoke it for medical reasons, to help with pain. Others may smoke it recreationally. You might liken it to alcohol you know how some people have a glass of wine with dinner to relax . Now, some people may smoke marijuana for the same reason. Now, its also important that your kids know that getting high can change their mood, and possibly affect their motor functions. And just like alcohol, its illegal to drive after youve used it. I tell my kids the main reason that marijuana is illegal for those under 21 is because their brains are still developing, and marijuana can affect their concentration and memory. It may mean you dont do as well in school; that can mean fewer opportunities, like getting a good job. Given this changing legal landscape, my kids and yours are probably going to be exposed to marijuana as frequently as they are to alcohol. And now that its legal, theyll be hit with advertisements and Marketing Campaigns which all make smoking pot seem normal. And just like alcohol and tobacco ads, marijuana ads may influence the choices they make. And kids who reported seeing ads for medical marijuana were more likely to report smoking pot one year later. You cant just say dont do it. But, you can get the facts, talk to your kids about it, and help them make a healthy choice. Sreenivasan on the newshour online right now virginias closely watched governors race could offer hints about the 2018 election. Well be Live Streaming tomorrows gubenatorial debate, moderated by our own newshour anchor and managing editor judy woodruff, at our website, starting at 11 00 a. M. Eastern. Also, you can now watch a Short Documentary compiled from our special reporting series, inside putins russia. All that and more is on our website, www. Pbs. Org newshour. Robert costa is preparing for washington week. Bob, whats on tap . Well have more on the staff shakeup at the white house, and tell you why press Secretary Sean Spicers exit could be a sign of bigger tremors to come. Plus, why President Trump seems to be doubling down on his criticism of the special counsel investigating russia. Thats later tonight, on washington week. Hari . Sreenivasan thanks. Tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend, new jersey launches one of the most comprehensive bail Reform Efforts in the nation. And well be back, right here, on monday, with a look at the road ahead for democrats, with tom perez, head of the d. N. C. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im hari sreenivasan. Have a great weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org yo hello, and welcome to kqed newsroom im thuy vu. Coming up on tonights program, Silicon Valley is steering a revolution to make cars smart enough to drive themselves. And meet a san jose native who stars in the Tony Award Winning hit, hamilton. First, more signs of chaos in the trump administration. Today White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned saying he strongly disagreed with President Trumps pick for a communications director. Meanwhile the Senate Debate over health care continues. On tuesday the gop bill looked all but dead when several republican lawmakers refused to repeal obamacare without a plan to replace it. But after President Trump met with wavering republicans on wednesday the senate gop leader said he wouldno