Transcripts For WHYY PBS NewsHour 20140820

It bothers me, you know, the police feel they can do whatever they want because thats not true. Theyre here to protect us, not harm us. Woodruff plus, the story of a virginia furniture maker who saved hundreds of American Manufacturing jobs in an age when many factories have closed and moved overseas. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering 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. Charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs newshour. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill u. S. Warplanes and drones have launched new attacks on the Islamic State group in Northern Iraq. The strikes hit targets near the mosul dam. Kurdish forces recaptured the dam this week, and are trying to establish a buffer zone. Yesterday, Islamic State militants who beheaded journalist james foley, threatened to kill another american, if the air strikes dont stop. Well have more on the killing of james foley after the news summary. Woodruff israel and hamas attacked each other today with fierce new rounds of rockets and air strikes. One strike targeted the head of hamas military wing. Gazan officials said he escaped, but his wife and infant son were killed. Jonathan miller of independent Television News filed this report. Reporter in gaza, it was a loud and dangerous night. 22 killed; many wounded. This, one of the five missiles which killed the hamas military chiefs baby boy. Thousands of chanting mourners urged the hamas alqassam brigades to target tel aviv. Which they did. The baby was buried today with his mother, along with the cease fire, which had lasted 10 days. Israel says nearly 140 rockets have been fired by palestinian militant groups into israel since hopes of renewing the truce disintegrated. Code red alerts in tel aviv and jerusalem. No one killed; no one wounded. Israel responding with a vengeance; more than 80 drone and f16 strikes. By dawn, the gaza ghetto was going up in smoke yet again. More houses visited by the israeli air force, from beit hanoun in the north to rafah, here, right down in the south. We cant reach our homes. One day theres a truce. The next day its off. What kind of life is this . We want to live like everyone else in the world. We are human beings. A few miles away, inside israel, target of 3,400 unguided missiles, which have killed three civilians, that indignation and frustration is mirrored. Its impossible to live like that. And im sure that every mom, or father who lives across the board, not in israel, have to understand that this is not a normal way to live. Reporter the israeli Prime Minister appeared live on national t. V. Channels. Hamas will not wear us down, he said. This operations not over. Hamas will be hit with unprecedented force. Woodruff later, there were still more rockets and more air strikes. In a statement, u. N. Secretary general ban kimoon urged both sides not to let things escalate. Ifill police and soldiers in liberia fired live ammunition and tear gas today to enforce an ebola quarantine. Its unclear if anyone was hurt. The Security Forces opened fire when angry residents stormed barricades around the west point slum in monrovia, the countrys capital. The government quarantined the neighborhood on tuesday, in a bid to curb the spread of the ebola virus. Woodruff in pakistan, thousands of demonstrators blocked entrances to parliament today. They demanded that Prime Minister nawaz sharif resign over for an alleged fraud in last years election. Crowds chanted go nawaz go at blockades in front of the building. Sharif and other lawmakers managed to leave through a heavily guarded back exit. translated god has given us victory and we have reached parliament house. God willing, we will not go back until this system changes according to the will of our leader and a complete victory comes to us. Woodruff later, the head of Pakistans Army called for the government to negotiate with the protesters. Ifill back in this country, the Supreme Court delayed a Lower Court Ruling that struck down virginias ban on gay marriage. Samesex couples in the state would have been allowed to get married, starting tomorrow morning. The high court did not explain its action, but most other rulings allowing gay marriage have also been put on hold. Woodruff the u. S. Navy is discharging at least 34 sailors in a cheating scandal at a Nuclear Training site. That word today follows februarys announcement that sailors in charleston, South Carolina had cheated on qualification exams. They were being trained to operate reactors on submarines and aircraft carriers. The navy says the cheating dates back to 2007. Ifill republicans in alaska have chosen their nominee for the u. S. Senate as the party tries to capture control of the chamber in november. Former state attorney general dan sullivan held off a Tea Party Challenger in tuesdays primary. Hell face democratic incumbent mark begich in november. Woodruff on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 59 points to close at 16,979. The nasdaq fell a point to close at 4,526. And the s p 500 added nearly five points to finish at 1,986. Still to come on the newshour, remembering american journalist and newshour contributor james foley, the humanitarian crisis in refugee camps along the iraq syria border, local perspectives on the protests and violence in ferguson, missouri, keeping American Manufacturing jobs from moving to china and how a Warming Arctic is made worse by creating more methane. Ifill as family, friends and colleagues mourned the death of american journalist james foley, president obama today had strong words for the sunni extremists who killed the reporter. Jim was taken from us in an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world. Ifill the president condemned james foleys killers, in a brief appearance at marthas vineyard. Their victims are overwhelmingly muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day. From governments and peoples across the middle east, there has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so that it does not spread. There has to be a clear rejection of this kind of nihilistic ideologies. Ifill the National Security council confirmed it is foley in the gruesome video posted yesterday by the Islamic State group, and titled a message to america. The newshour has chosen not to show any of the images. Foley was abducted in syria, in november 2012, while reporting for the news site globalpost. A grim routine has taken hold in the fight for syrias largest city. Ifill just a few months earlier, he filed this report on what life looked like in a rebelcontrolled neighborhood of aleppo. His career as a freelance photojournalist spanned a number of countries and conflicts. In 2010, reporting for the newshour in afghanistan, foley found himself in the line of fire, as he shared a firsthand look at a taliban ambush on an american infantry unit. It was only after this near catastrophe that we see the convoys front truck is on fire, and, worse, the soldiers have pulled a casualty to the side of the mountain, as others frantically begin to work on him. Ifill in 2011, in libya, foley was held for 45 days by forces loyal to former dictator muammar gaddafi. Following his release, he spoke about that kidnapping on the newshour. I never worried that i would be in captivity for, lets say, a year. I was concerned, i was really concerned to tell my mom that i was okay. And when we hit that twoweek mark, i knew, okay, this is going to be a long time. Theyre telling us two to three days, but theyre just playing mind games with us. Ifill it was unclear who initially abducted foley in syria, or when he fell into the hands of Islamic State forces. But his death marked the first time theyve killed an american citizen in the syrian conflict. It haunts me how much pain he was in and how cruel this method of execution is. Ifill still shaken, foleys parents emerge from their home in rochester, new hampshire, today to remember their son. He ifill still shaken, foleys parents emerged from their home in rochester, new hampshire, today to remember their son. Jim had kind of had nine lives. I mean he came out of libya and i guess we just never gave up hope either. We just kept thinking somehow were getting closer we know hes alive we just ran out of time. He ran out of time. Ifill foley was 40 years old. The same video also showed another american journalist Steven Sotloff who has written for time magazine. The militants threatened hell be killed next, if u. S. Air strikes in iraq continue. Ifill the committee to protect journalists estimates at least 20 other news professionals are being held in syria. It is an act of murder and murder without any justification. Ifill meanwhile, british Prime Minister David Cameron announced a manhunt for the hooded militant with a british accent who appeared in the beheading video. Joining me now to talk about james foley and the threat that reporters like him Face Covering conflicts today. Is globalpost cofounder and journalist Charles Sennott and Robert Mahoney, Deputy Director of the committee to protect journalists. Charles sennott, first of all, our condolences to you and your colleagues in the loss of james foley. Whats can you tell us about him and how he came to be held. Thanks, gwen. The best way to start to describe who is james foley is probably to start with the way his parents talked about him today. Anyone who saw how much faith they have, how strong they are, they know where james came from, and thats really important to understanding him. Jim had strong faith in himself, but his parents had tremendous faith in what he did as a journalist. They understood that jim wanted to do work that mattered. He wanted to do work that made a difference. They understood his motivations and they were unwaveringly supportive of it, and that really is who jim boehei jim foe was a courageous report who took great risks to bring the story was gwen ifill do we know where he physically was yesterday when this happened . We dont. If youve seen this video and i hope you viewers have not seen it, its the most dark and horrific thing ive ever watched its about four minutes long. Its very clear hes under great duress. Its clear the statements hes making are forced and its in a barren landscape that could be syria or iraq. Its very difficult to distinguish that and we dont know precisely where that happened. Ifill have the people who have been holding him been in touch asking for ransom . There was a report there was a threat made they would kill him a week ago. Thats correct. Our c. E. O. Has really tirelessly followed this every day for two years and has amassed really quite an extensive body of facts and information through a lot of information weve gathered from Law Enforcement, private investigators, our own private investigators, and importantly from colleagues on the ground. You know, we have a lot of colleagues who really cared about jim and every bit of information they could glean would come to us and would be filtered and its hard to sort of share in great detail without putting some of the other hostages who may still be being held and whose lives as we know are hanging in the balance, we cant share a lot of that information, but it is safe to say that at first there was information he was being held by the syrian government. That information changed shape over time. It appeared quickly he was being held by islamic militants. Thats when fear really set in. He was held in different locations, first in arepo and later in a different location. The guardian reported that location. We thought it better not to report it but it was a known i. S. I. S. Center inside syria. Ifill Robert Mahoney, how does syria rank as a danger zone for journalists . Its the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist, has been for the last year or so. Weve noted 70 journalists have been killed in syria since the conflict started in 2011. Ifill many syrians, right . Most of them, actually, are local journalists. Also, to james story, syria is the single worst place weve seen in the entire history as an organization where hostage activity is happening in the zone. Ifill its difficult to negotiate or to figure out a way to rescue these hostages. Whats are the special problems, the special delicacies for someone like you or the u. S. Government, for that matter, in trying to free people like james foley . Well, in many cases, the families or the News Organizations that some of the journalists work for dont want to jeopardize their safety and dont want us to publicly talk about where they might be or even who they are. Stephen sadler, for example, appeared in the video this week, we knew about him but we did not publicly disclose that because we just dont know sometimes who were dealing with. There are very many groups. Theyre splintered. Some were Holding Hostages for criminal ransom and others were holding them for political purposes. So with all that uncertainty, it was very difficult to get precise information about the captors. Ifill bob, is it more complicated when theyre free license journalists not working for major News Organizations . Absolutely. And we at the committee, you know, are very, very concerned for the freelancers. They dont have the big institutionl support of journalists going in for big News Organizations and the majority of the journalists now around there are people like jim working as freelancers. Ifill charl charl, james foleys phat Charles Sennott, james father said today they were considering raising money for ransom. Were you involved in that . I was not involved in that. Sadly, we have been down this road before with james and other correspondents, and what you abide by is the family will dictate what will be made public. This is their decision. We feel thats extremely important and weve always deferred to the foley family. Just to speak to the point of freelancers. Globalpost, we deal with freelancerfreelancers every dayd theyre deeply at risk. Theres a concern about how to build a News Organization that has a culture of caution and caring for if correspondents on the ground. Weve worked with a lot of journalists and different organizations to think that through and i think jims death, this horrific news, theres a lot of sobering lessons to learn and one is we are responsible as News Organizations for the people we send into the field, we take that seriously, but its also really important to remember this is a deep reminder that there are journalists doing courageous work. We live in a cynical time where theres a lot of criticism of the media from the left and the right, but there is also time to remember there are journalists like jim foley out there representing News Organizations, believing in what theyre doing and doing the best they can outside of the big Network Production companies or the big newspapers, theyre doing the best work they can to bring home the stories that matter, and i think thats important to remember today. Ifill bob mahoney, how hard does it make it to get reporters out of syria at this point . Makes it hard. Who and what has happened will be rushing into syria especially freelancers who dont have the backing and dont earn the money that will make it worthwhile going in. What we rely on and the News Organizations rely on, the local journalists, some of whom are outside, theyre the ones who have born the brunt in terms of death and capture in this conflict and theyre the ones who dont have necessarily an international voice. Ifill Robert Mahoney and Charles Sennott, thank you very much. Thank you. How has social media adapted to deal with violent terrorist imagery . Hari sreenivasan spoke with the chair of the Journalism Department at quinnipiac university. You can watch their conversation online. Woodruff other victims of the Islamic State in recent weeks include christians and members of the yazidi miniority. Most who were lucky enough to escape have flooded the kurdish controlled region in Northern Iraq with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Tonight, chief foreign affaris correspondent Margaret Warner takes a close look at these newly internally displaced persons or i. D. Ps and efforts to contain their suffering. Warner the boeing 747 touched down in the afternoon heat of erbils today, carrying 3,300 United Nations Relief Agency tents the first wave of fresh supplies since the u. N. Announced last week a heightened level of emergency for northeastern iraq. Were not just getting the materials we already have in stock but are bringing them from around the world. Reporter the tents will shelter 20,000 people, just a fraction of the estimated 1. 25 million iraqis who fled into the kurd, region since the self proclaimed Islamic State began its onslowght eight months ago. Yesterday a bruting wind ripped through the camp near iraqikurdistans border with syria. This camp was empty two weeks ago, before i. S. Attacked members of the minority yazidi religious community in the town of sinjar, and they raced for refuge on sinjar mountain. U. S airstrikes and Kurdish Forces helped thousands escape to sunscorched sanctuary here. We accompanied dr. Syed jaffer hussein, iraq country director for the u. N. s world health organization, as he made his rounds through the camp. I think this is one of the extremely complex i. D. P crises at least i have witness not only in the region but beyond. Not only the number but also the fast pace it happened, taking the u. N. And the government unaware and unprepared for such a huge number of i. D. Ps. Warner how does the psychological state in which they arrive . Is there anything different about the yazidis . They seem to be. Interviews we have conducted with many of the seem to be extremely, what we call the posttraumatic stress disorder. You can see the gloom in their eyes like a person who doesnt know what will happen to him. Warner he stopped to see a family that had been in the camp more than two weeks. Have you taken your kids to the clinic . translated no, we havent but they got here and did vaccinations. But we lack food, we only get some soup and bad quality rice. Warner we were invited by 19yearold fuad hassan to the tent he shares with his parents and eight siblings. They fled sinjar when they heard Islamic State forces were nearby, but one night on the mountain was enough. translated it was very bad on the mountain, we saw people being eaten by insects. Warner they were fortunate to find an escape route into syria opened up by Syrian Kurdish fighters and made their way on foot to this camp. So fuad, what comes next for you . My grades were high, i would have entered medical college, but now everything is ruined. We want to go back to the homeland of our forefathers, but if we can find a country that welcomes us, we may leave here. Warner his 37yearold mother, zaineb yusuf asim, was overcome by feelings of betrayal. translated we dont cry only for ourselves, but for all yazidis. They tortured us, attacked our honor, our religion. We have lived together with our muslim arab neighbors during the iraniraq war, during the first gulf war. We protected each other, now they became our enemies. Warner this camp for 15,000 people originally built for Syrian Refugees was the first place yazidis found shelter when they escaped from sinjar mountain. As hot, dusty, wind blown and undersupplied as this camp is, its far better than what others fleeing the mountain found when they arrived. 40 miles east, in duhok, capital of iraqs northwesternmost province, we found whats far more typical here thousands of yazidis living in half constructed buildings. Khuduid hussein, a construction worker, says the 150 people in his group are subsisting on private donations from local citizens they have received no government help so far. translated people in duhok are very welcoming, theyve helped us, they give us bread, water and food. Warner youre surrounded by these beautiful children what future do you see for them . translated if this situation remains like this i dont see that theyll have any future. Soon it will be winter here and many of them will die if cold. Warner his relative, 20 yearold afra hassan, is seven months pregnant. translated i tried to go to the hospital here, but they wouldnt give me any medicine because i didnt have any money. Its such a miserable situation. I wish i had died in my home. Duhok is the smallest governorate, with the smallest resources with the highest intensity of i. D. P and refugees. Warner haval amedi is Deputy Director of a committee set up by the provincial government just last week to coordinate the local response. He admits they are overwhelmed now the problem becoming more and more, its beyond the capacity of a small governorate to host all those people together to the here because of the limitation of the resources. Warner he explained the waves of syrians and iraqis fleeing Islamic State extremists have doubled the population of his tiny province. But he said most kurds had generous feelings toward the new arrivals. One day each of us was refugee or i. D. P somewhere and mainly they believe in helping people. There are people who are hosting them, receiving them at the border, at the schools, at the public buildings and everything. Warner yet no amount of aid can heal the psychic wounds here. Back at the camp, the man of the hassan house walid hassan stopped us before we left. He had something to say. What was our fault . What wrong have we done . We are peaceful human beings. What is the fault of those kids who died . They have killed so many kids, they shot them in their heads. I want to deliver this letter to anyone who cares about humanity, help us. Humanity in iraq is just gone. Iraq has become the country of monsters. Woodruff i spoke to margaret earlier this afternoon. Margaret, thanks for joining us. First of all, whats the reaction of where you are in erbil to the beheading of american journalist james foley . Well, judy, it is a big story here. It is leading a lot of media web sites. President obamas remarks just now, recently led the web site and its being interpreted or described as the president vowing to crush the Islamic State forces. I frankly was surprised. I thought the attitude here would be weve had thousands of our own people kill, one american killed, whats the big deal . But not at all. Woodruff we just saw the report you did on the situation that the iraqi minorities are facing. Youve reported on many other refugee displaced populations. Whats different about the yazidis and the christians you have been speaking to there . I think its the shock, the surprise at being suddenly uprooted from their lives, given 24 hours or less to clear out or be killed. All refugees are traumatized, of course. Afghanistan, pakistan, refugees from syria whove fled to turkey and lebanon, but the difference is most of them made a collective decision or a Family Decision that the fighting had become too intense, they were being shelled by one side or the other and decided to flee together and could take things with them. These people here feel, to me, as if theyre completely shell shocked, individually targeted, hunted, really, because of their religion. Woodruff finally, margaret, yesterday we know the iraqi Army Launched a new offensive to try to recapture the city of tikrit from the Islamic State force. Is this just one day after the mosul dam was retaken. They failed. They abandoned the fight. What are you hearing as to why . Judy, the analysis is there were two missing ingredients in the assault on tikrit. One, of course, is coordination with american airstrikes. The retaking of the mosul dam was a collective effort of kurdish, iraqi fighters and american airstrikes, very strategically targeted out of a joint Operations Center in erbil. The second thing that was missing was a cohesive iraqi force. This time the iraqis were fighting on their own and according to a senior Kurdish Military official here, it was a hodgepodge of regular iraqi army and shiite militia. He said they had great weapons but poorly led by commanders appointed on sectarian grounds, he said, and they were not really committed to the fight. And he said that essentially, he described the same kind of iraqi army that fled from Northern Iraq in june when the Islamic State attacked mosul and all these other outposts up here near the kurdish region, and thats a bad sign. If thats true, thats a bad sign for the test that president obama has set for greater u. S. Military involvement, that is that you have a cohesive and politically and militarily united iraq. Woodruff Margaret Warner reporting from erbil. Thank you. Thanks, judy. Ifill the nations top Law Enforcement officer traveled to ferguson, missouri today. Hari sreenivassan has our story on the latest efforts to ease the unrest. Sreenivasan attorney general holder arrived with twin goals to help calm the community, and check on the ongoing federal investigation. Why would i be anyplace other than right here right now to talk to people in this area who are deserving of our attention . We also want to listen. Thats the main part of this trip. Need to see are there ways we can help. Sreenivasan holder also met with the family of 18yearold michael brown, who was fatally shot on august ninth, by a white police officer, darren wilson. A federal civil rights investigation into the shooting is now underway, and holder received an update during his visit. Overnight, in a message published on the st. Louis postdispatch website, he promised a complete review some in ferguson have called for officer wilsonshown in this newly released video to be charged with murder. But this morning, the head of the missouri fraternal order of police defended him. He has been vilified in the media and by the politicians and we felt it was necessary that we had to come out and just ask for due process for darren wilson. Sreenivasan at the same time, protesters have demanded that county prosecutor Bob Mcculloch step aside. His father was a policeman and was killed on a call involving a black suspect. Today, mcculloch said hes staying. Some legitimately believe, or honestly believe i should say, that they dont think im best suited for this case and thats fine. I understand that. Nobodys not everybody is always happy with whats going on so what im trying to convey to them is ive got that responsibility. Im not walking away from it. Sreenivasan the prosecutor also said a grand jury investigation starting today could last until october. Justice for you and me justice for mike brown sreenivasan meanwhile, officials hoped last nights more subdued protests mean the violence thats plagued ferguson is subsiding. Things were mostly peaceful, although police did arrest at least 47 people, mostly for refusing to disperse. Highway patrol captain ron johnson has been overseeing police operations. We saw a different dynamic. Protest crowds were a bit smaller, and they were out earlier. We had to respond to fewer incidents than the night before. There were no molotov cocktails tonight. There were no shootings. Sreenivasan more local leaders were on the streets last night, trying to maintain calm. Attorney general holder spent time with some of those leaders today, and with local elected officials. Amid the demonstrations and the tensions between protestors and Law Enforcement is reflection about what the events in ferguson mean for the community and the country. Here is a sampling of what ferguson residents and others have told the newshour in recent days. George paige has lived in ferguson for decades. Im almost 50 years old, so ive been in the shoes of these young people. Ive had cops put guns to my head in the middle of the street, so i understand all the protests and the anger. My nerves are real bad about just the whole situation, because some days i want to be mad, some days i cant be mad because somebodys got to have structure for those young people. Weve got to have a level head for them young people. They i can see their grief. I see it. I lived it, i lived it. So i know why they feel it. Sreenivasan cheryl frager grew up in ferguson and has seen the community transformed in recent days. The police in our district are being portrayed as the bad guys right now, and that needs to stop. I support the police, i support our community, and i support justice. Rioting and justice cannot go handinhand. We have to have peace, and police have to go home to their families and be able to protect and serve everybody not just one race. Were all humans. We all bleed red. Sreenivasan 18yearold yale harris went to school with michael brown. My purpose is being there, im supporting. Im trying to get justice to what happened to mike brown. Because i actually went to school with him. I just know he was a cool person to be around. He was very calm. Sreenivasan 23yearold ferguson resident ahyria butler says the episode has raised questions about the actions of Law Enforcement. It bothers me, you know, that the police feel like they can do whatever they want. Because thats not true. Because theyre here to protect us, not kill us, not harm us. If youre gonna wear that badge, wear that badge privately, dont wear it like its the i can do what i want and get away with it badge. Thats not it. Sreenivasan texas native Angelique Kidd has lived in ferguson now for 11 years. We have been for the most part heart broken, angry sometimes. There is a big divide. A lot of ferguson wishes pretty much it would just all go away. I mean,ip not sure we actually took a break yesterday in protests. We have been protesting in the streets since last thursday with signs in our yard since last tuesday, so were exhausted. Sreenivasan devario mcdonald traveled to ferguson from milwaukee to make his voice heard. I want them to kind of make a change with the police system. I mean anything any incident involving, like, a shooting, especially without no weapon, no firearm i think that it should be, that the officer should get in trouble because, you just shot this person down, this person wasnt a threat, this person had no weapon on them nothing. This person didnt try to fight you, you just shot this person down like an animal. Sreenivasan ann brown has lived in ferguson for three decades. I hope michaels family continues to heal. And i also feel really sorry for the Police Officers family. Everybodys affected. Their lives have been threatened. Even the mayors life has been threatened, from people from out of town, on twitter. How sad is that . Sreenivasan a question, ifill you can find all the voices from ferguson collected by the newwshours mike fritz and quinn bowman in our rundown. Woodruff next, Jeffrey Brown takes us to the blue Ridge Mountains of virginia, for a story of music, factories, and one mans fight against the outflow of u. S. Jobs overseas. Brown heavy rains couldnt keep fans and musicians from gathering for the 79th Old Fiddlers Convention in galax, virginia. Where they spent days singing, dancing and catching up with old friends. Its the music. A lot of us have roots in the North Carolina mountains or the virginia mountains, and this is part of our heritage. Brown it was here in galax in the 1920s, in fact, that a Group Calling itself the hill billies two words got together to jam in a barbershop on main street. Its now a fiddle shop where musicians still gather. This is the originally hillbilly band that hillbilly music is named for. Brown folklorist joe wilson helped found the crooked road, a 330mile Heritage Music tour through the blue ridge of virginia. And he draws a direct tie between the musical tradition of playing and making instruments and the industry that also once defined this region furniture building. Furniture was everything here, and a lot of commercial Country Music is based on the fact that there came a time of when these furniture factory guys, they had a little more leisure time than theyd had on the mountain farm, where i came from. Brown for much of the 20th century, southern virginia and North Carolina were home to the worlds Biggest Furniture factories and suppliers. But that was then, before the majority of factories closed down and moved overseas. The rise and fall of the industry is told in the new book, factory man, by beth macy, who began it while a reporter for the roanoke times. I had initially set out to tell the story in martinsville and henry county of what had happened to 19,000 20,000 workers that had lost their jobs. Brown what she saw were places like bassett, virginia where between 1989 and 2007 seven furniture factories closed. There was one day kind of late in my reporting where i was driving home from bassett, and i just found myself in tears. In tears. Not anything particular had happened that day, but i had just interviewed so many people and had witnessed so much destruction, like id seen those plants get taken down month after month after month. Brown but macy also had a more uplifting story to tell. And it also was named bassett john bassett the third. Hes this incredible character, hes relentless, hes wealthy, he doesnt have to do this, so what are his motivations . I was born in a furniture family, my grandfather was one of the founders of the Bassett Industries of 1902, my father was chairman of the board of bassett. Brown john bassett came from the family, the company, that owned everything in town the homes employees lived in, the bank, the churches where they worshipped, even the electricity. You came home every night and you spoke about furniture, i mean, i was indoctrinated in this for all my life, and ive been doing this for 52 years. Brown macys book details an american epic the industrys growth in a region with abundant hardwood forests, an eager and, compared to the north, cheaper workforce, and a Railroad Running through it. The family dramas that, among much else, forced john bassett to leave the main company in bassett to join the much smaller vaughanbassett in galax. And, of course, the impact of the rise of a furnituremaking industry in asia, based on even cheaper labor. There are vivid stories, as when john bassett first visited a vast factory in china and met its confident overseer. He said, im going to take all the business away from all of you. Brown he just said that to you . Absolutely. And he said you need to close your factories and put yourself in my hands. And i thought to myself my grandfather would roll over in his grave if he thought his grandson was closing his factories, and put it in the hands of a chinese. Brown many, of course, did do that, but john bassett fought back. Bringing and winning what was then the largestever Illegal Dumping case before the World Trade Organization and plowing millions of dollars in duties imposed on chinese imports into new equipment in his factory. Brown today, with 700 workers, its the largest employer in town. But it wasnt and isnt easy. Well, we had a lot of sleepless nights, okay . Brown you did . Oh sure we did, and then we thought about it, we talked to our people here, we talked to our board of directors about it, we knew what we had to invest in money, and then we made up our mind, we were going to compete, and remain an american manufacturer, and from that time on we never looked back. Brown in addition to equipment upgrades, Vaughan Bassett began offering retailers sameday shipping, holding more inventory in its own warehouse. And the company asks more of its employees. Delania grapes, an 11year veteran here, says shes gone from gluing the bottoms of 700 dresser drawers an hour to about 1,000. Brown how did you get to speed up . We learned our job better. Brown 23yearold lee rigney recently became the Third Generation in his family to work at vaughanbassett. I was unemployed for six months before i got hired here, and luckily Vaughan Bassett took me in. I was working for ashland, a big named company and everything, and i got laid off, and they luckily let me in here, and i love it here. Brown but so many others in this area arent so fortunate. Were going to have to go buy some more spaghetti sauce and canned goods and im going have to put a notice on facebook that were really in need. Brown a former manufacturing executive, jill burcham left the corporate world ten years ago to found push ministries in galax. We have people come in here every day in tears, you know, i dont know how, i just got a 600 electric bill, how am i going to pay this . You know, we have paperwork, they have paperwork that they dont understand, they cant pay their child support, they cant, they dont have gas in their car, you know, to get to where they need to get. Brown for author beth macy, this story was personal as well. Her mother was an ohio factory worker whod get laid off in hard times. Macy says she wanted to explore the human side of globalization. Economists would say we shouldnt be making furniture in this country. Many economists would say that. Brown because it can be made more efficiently elsewhere. We should be training our workers for hightech jobs, new jobs. I agree, it sound like a great theory, and it is a great theory, and ive been to indonesia and ive seen what happens when the people come in from the rice paddies and they can send their kids to school for the first time. Brown their wages go up. Their wages go up, their lives get better, but what we didnt plan for is, everybody said when china joins the w. T. O, that will be a win win for everybody. We wont lose jobs because we will be exporting our goods to the growing consumer class in china and elsewhere in asia. And maybe thatll happen, but not for decades and it certainly hasnt happened in martinsville or henry county. Brown for now, the work goes on at this factory in galax. A small remnant of a much larger world of craft, industry, music and tradition. Ifill we have more with folklorist joe wilson on the legacy of mountain music and why its worth preserving. Thats on art beat. Woodruff finally tonight, new indications that the planet is warming, especially in the north. Scientists have been tracking arctic thawing for decades and have seen a dramatic increase since 2000. When holes opened up in the earth recently in siberia, a wave of speculation was set off as to their cause. Scientists now think warming is the culprit. To help us understand all this, we welcome back tom wagner, who directs studies of the polar regions for nasa. Its good to have you on the program again. Thanks. Glad to be back. Woodruff for those folks who dont follow the polar region so closely on a regular basis like you do, remind us what is the arctic made out of and how are you seeing the change . Yes, the top of the arctic is an ocean covered by sea ice but all around it are land like russia and alaska and its ground like in your backyard but frozen. Woodruff what have you been observing in terms of the change . We know its been warming and theres less than sea ice and snow. But this latest story from siberia took us by surprise because literally holes the size of a football field opened up in the ground. Woodruff we have pictures. What do scientists think is going on . This is one case where the internet is amazing because the Scientific Community is taws tag about it. Originally, they thought it was methane. Woodruff which would come from . You can think of the arctic like a frozen swath with decaying plant matter which releases methane they store in a couple of ways. One of the initials questions was had there been a buildup of gas underground that caused an explosion. Woodruff but as time has gone by, what are you now thinking . Well, no one knows, but more likely its something akin to a sinkhole like kind of whats happened in florida or under a street when you get a water main break and blows out a lot of the soil underneath and the street collapses. Woodruff but why is it a concern . For those thinking about the arctic, thinking about the health of the planet, the health of humans on the planet, why is this a worry . Nothing on this scale had been observed before and this is an extremely cold part of the world. So what were saying is, hey, this part that should have stayed frozen is melting and melting so fast, this is something going on that we havent seen before. Woodruff what do you think is going on . Probably by the release of water causing tunnels and caves under the per ma frost and we probably had a collapse and the water blew out material you saw erupted around the edges. In permafrost is a tremendous amount of carbon and methane, so the feel that as this melts that carbon methane gets released into the atmosphere and rapidly increases the rate at which the planet warms. Woodruff because it adds to the carbon levels that create warming all over the planet. Exactly, more carbon dioxide, also methane is more powerful at warming the planet than co2. There was just a big National Academy released calls the Climate Change and fortunately one of the things they concluded is maybe we dont have to worry about a rapid loss of methane from the arctic in the next century but its speculative. Woodruff for someone like you who looks at this, you would have to believe the methane was going to come out at some point. Im curious, are you now saying its coming out faster thanio thought it would be released into the atmosphere and thats why humans have to be worried . Right, there are two Different Things going on. We fly airplanes and satellites to see how much methane is coming out of the arctic. Its tough to do because youre talking about a gas seeping out of the ground or in some cases coming out of the ocean. But we know that gas loss is intimately tied to the physical process of melting and thats why the holes are important because theyre saying, hearings even in remote, cold corners, look like melting is going on. Woodruff does this improve the ability of scientists to measure the weight of global warming, the rate of Climate Change . Gives us a better handle on whats happening in some parts of the arctic we didnt know before. Its also important because whats happening when the sea ice in the russian seconder has reseeded in other receded in other parts of the arctic and this helps us understand the process better of how the arctic is changes. Woodruff how much time do scientists have at the sites, the craters where the sinkholes are happening . Thats a tough question. Its a remote part of the world and difficult to get there. I was talking to some of the people is they were working closely be the scientists who work with there and even for those scientists to get there its difficult to do, its remote. Woodruff somebodys there, but youre saying for many people to get there it makes it challenging. Permafrost and if interarea in the generics going there and working is profoundly difficult. You cant drive across it because in the summer months the surface layer melts and its impassable. Woodruff if youre sit hearing in the united states, here in washington, d. C. Or tampa, florida, or houston, texas, or los angeles, california, do you worry about this . What are we to make of this . What you should make of it is were starting to understand better how the earth system works and these holes are an example of how the dynamic can be. We have to understand, the planet isnt just changing. Its changed and we need to prepare for more. Woodruff and what does that mean . What can people do . Well, some changes are already happening. Its getting warmer in lots of parts of the world. Sea levels are rising along the coasts and those things cofnlt theres also the National Climate assessment which just came out where precipitation patterns will change, there will be more flooding and intense rainfall in some parts to have the world. There are a lot of great resources to help plan from the local to the federal level. Woodruff another wakeup call. One that i hope makes people enjoy science, mysterious holes in some part of the world. Woodruff tom wagner, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Ifill again, the major developments of the day president obama branded the Islamic State group a cancer after its fighters beheaded american journalist james foley, u. S. Warplanes and drones launched new air strikes in Northern Iraq, despite Islamic State threats to kill another american, and attorney general ifill a special force has been sent into syria this summer to rescue foley and other hostages but did not find them. Attorney general eric holder spent the day in ferguson, missouri promising a full investigation of the Fatal Police Shooting that tumped off ten days of violence. Woodruff if youve ever been stung by a jellyfish, youll understand the latest video from scientist Destin Sandlin its a closeup, slowmotion view of a tentacle injecting its venom using dozens of tiny needles. Watch what that looks like under the microscope, on our rundown. Certain species of spiders thrive in urban settings and can grow larger in the city. That story also in the rundown. That and more on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. Ifill and again, to our honor roll of American Service personnel killed in the afghanistan conflict. We add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. Here, in silence, is one more. Ifill and thats the newshour for tonight. On thursday, well look at the public corruption trial of Bob Mcdonnell as the former Virginia Governor takes the stand. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs newshour. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. 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 Macneil Lehrer productions captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and susie gharib. The great divide, when will the Federal Reserve start hiking Interest Rates . That question is intensifying a debate and grabbing the attention of investors, wall street and main street. Turning point, target cuts the profit forecast as it tries to win back customers and increase sales but there may be a glimmer of hope in the latest earnings report. And subprime trouble, is a bubble brewing in one of the hottest segments of the economy . Well have that and more tonight for wednesday, august 20th. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. Thanks for joining us. Great rate debate intensified today. Some of the most powerful people in Monetary Policy gathered