Transcripts For WHYY PBS NewsHour 20140915

Money. Ifill plus, voters in scotland weigh in ahead of a crucial vote for independence from the United Kingdom. I mean itll be a tumultuous event. Most significant for the last three and a half centuries by far. 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. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill there were reports of heavy damage today after hurricane odile smashed ashore on mexicos Baja California peninsula. The storm struck near Cabo San Lucas overnight with torrential rain, and sustained winds of 125milesanhour. At daybreak, residents and tourists emerged to find debris and destruction everywhere. The storm blew out windows in homes and resort hotels alike, and left extensive flooding in its wake. Its now confirmed that two mediterranean shipwrecks have killed more than 700 people trying to reach europe from africa and the middle east. The International Organization for migration said today the deaths equal the total for all of last year. The latest incidents occurred within the last week, off the coasts of malta and libya. More than half of air frances flights worldwide were halted today, as pilots began a one week strike. The walkout targeted the airlines plans to transfer much of its european operations to a lowcost subsidiary. The head of the pilots union said thats unacceptable. translated air france pilots are not against the development of the new company. But what we see here is the prospect of delocalization of our jobs. That destroys pilots plans and that destroys jobs that exist today. So this is about the project of delocalization and social dumping, and that is why pilots are angry. Ifill air france says only 40 of flights are guaranteed to take off tomorrow. Meanwhile, pilots at the German National carrier lufthansa plan to walk out tomorrow, in a dispute over an early retirement plan. Ifill back in this country, the number of deaths linked to faulty ignition switches in General Motors cars has risen from 13 to 19. G. M. s compensation expert, kenneth feinberg, made the announcement today, and said there will certainly be others. G. M. Has admitted knowing about the switch problem for more than a decade. Recalls did not begin until earlier this year. Two soldiers who fought in vietnam were awarded the medal of honor today by president obama. In 1966, Sergeant Bennie Adkins battled north vietnamese troops for 38 hours, and rescued wounded comrades despite being wounded himself. Adkins is now 80. He finally received his medal of honor after Congress Waived the usual threeyear time limit. Sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the fog of war or the passage of time. Yet, when new evidence comes to light, certain actions can be reconsidered for this honor and it is entirely right and proper that we have done so and that is why we are here today. The other recipient, Army Specialist donald sloat, was killed in 1970, when he used his body to shield fellow soldiers from a grenade blast. The Minnesota Vikings re instated player Adrian Peterson today. The running back is charged with child abuse in texas, for whipping his young son with a switch. Peterson said today he never meant to cause harm. The team said it wants the Legal Process to play out. Peterson did not play in yesterdays 30 to seven loss to new england. Meanwhile, former Baltimore Ravens running back ray rice is expected to appeal his indefinite suspension from the n. F. L. , for domestic violence. Microsoft has officially announced its buying mojang, maker of the wildly Popular Video game minecraft. The Purchase Price is 2. 5 billion. The move comes as microsoft is investing further in its xbox Gaming Platform and trying to boost mobile phone sales. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 43 points to close at 17,031; the nasdaq fell 48 points to close below 4,519; and the s p 500 lost one point, to finish at 1,984. Still to come on the newshour. The push for partners to combat the Islamic State group. How free and open should the internet be . Voters in scotland voice their opinions ahead of a crucial vote for independence. How to slow the rise of pre diabetes and diabetes, which affect nearly half of all american adults. And, how one big American Company turned diversity into big profits. Ifill the public is making itself heard in the big debate over whats called Net Neutrality, or how content should be delivered over the web. Earlier this year, the federal Communications Commission proposed allowing the creation of faster and slower traffic lanes on the web. Companies could charge more for faster delivery. Today was the last day for comments. The issue may sound arcane, but it has apparently struck a chord. More than three million comments have been registered at the fcc, so far. Hari sreenivasan, in our new york studios, turns to a well known tech writer and columnist to find out why. Sreenivasan joining me is david poge of yahoo tech. Imagine without the sock puppets, the Net Neutrality debay. What is it . The idea that all internet traffic should be equivalent. It shouldnt matter whether youre netflix or a startup. The carriers of your internet signal, come cast or so on, should treat it all the same. Just as if they cant presume that you will say on your phone call. All internet traffic is treated and charged the same. Sreenivasan thats the status quo. Yes. The Cable Companies and like verizon and comcast say ne netfx is responsible of 30 of all data going on all pikes. There are no current rules specifying whether theres Net Neutrality. Its just always been. So lets put laws down. Well say in general were in favor of you will internet traffic equally. However, you the verizons and comcast, its okay to make deals with the big providers and to charge them more for the right to have their data to go stutterfree and go faster. They want a faster lane for internet communities who want to say more. Thats upsetting to consumers because that means, a, well pay more on our end, consumersen and, b, what about interesting Startup Companies, the next facebook or twitter . They dont have the big bucks to pay for the fast lane. Youre going to stifle the setups. So the verizons of the world are saying what . No, actually, these are the costs we need to have to make sure the infrastructure survives . The verizons are saying were building out for the next generation, better towers, faster pipes, need money, which they really dont. Verizons profit last year was 11 billion, comcast was 8 billion or so. So theyre doing just fine. The really interesting thing is were this close to having Net Neutrality written into law. So 2010, the f. C. C. Said, guys, Net Neutrality, heres the law, and a District Court threw it out, not because they didnt believe in the principle, but because the f. C. C. Itself this is where it gets complicated the f. C. C. Itself years before that had classified internet providers like verizon not as utilities like phone companies but instead as an information service, like a tv studio or something. Therefore, the court said, so its not that we dont believe in your rule, its you dont have the jurisdiction to govern them. You yourself classified them as not a utility where you would be able to govern them but as an information service. Its not your business. Sreenivasan so if these rules were to change, whats an example of something that would be different for joe consumer . Its already begun. Netflix is now paying comcast, not because it had to but because i wanted to, for faster delivery, stutterfree delivery of netflix videos. The data showed netflix streams were getting slower and slower to people so they felt they had to. So the only answer was higher prices. Its going to mean we pay more, if this f. C. C. Rule is permitted to go through. Theres a concern some of these people like comcast own content creators so they could favor one over the other. Comcast owns nbc, so whats to stop comcast from helping nbcs signal to get through faster and stutterfree and maybe slowing down pbss a little bit. Sreenivasan wha the head of the f. C. C. Said, no, that wont happen, well write it in the rules. The head of the th f. C. C. Isn charge of writing this stuff. He spent 30 years before this job as chief lobbyist for the telecommunication and Cable Companies, its the fox guarding the henhouse at least thats how its perceived. He says, no, no, no, thats not going to happen. We promise, were for an open internet, he says. So his argument is we put this clause in, as long as its commercially reasonable, these side deals will be permitted. We wont let anything bad happen, hes saying, so hes asking us to trust them. Sreenivasan so during this open comment period, it has been amazing to see hundreds of thousands of emails, comments, phone calls to congress. Are you surprised . This is a ree relatively wonk Ch Technology corner. Its legal, wordy, a long history. The way the Government Works behind the scene suddenly flashed in the faces of the public. So theres a bad guysgood guys picture painted here. Its more nuance and more complicated than that. Its not saying youre going to pay more and the Cable Companies win, its not that simple, but its been reduced to a black hatwhite hat situation. Its more complicated. I bet many people commenting at sec. Gov dont understand the history, the business of classification of the utility, all that stuff. But i can say for sure if the f. C. C. Rules go through as proposed, we will wind up paying more and, yes, the little interesting internet Startup Companies will need more money sreenivasan thank you so much. Thank you. Ifill following another beheading of a westerner by the Islamic State group over the weekend, representatives from several countries met today to figure out how to stop the militant group which has taken over large swaths of iraq and syria. More than two dozen european and arab nations convened in paris, pledging to fight Islamic State extremists by any means necessary. translated the fight of the iraqi people against terrorists is ours as well and we have to act together and this is the whole purpose of this conference, we have to stand by the iraqi authorities, clearly, loyally and strongly and theres no time to lose. Ifill the president of iraq, fouad massoum, echoed that appeal, and urged that Islamic State forces be targeted on many fronts. We are asking for Airborne Operations to be continued regularly against terrorist sites. We must not allow them to set up sanctuaries, we must pursue them wherever they are. We must cut off their financing. We must besiege them with laws that forbid people to work with them, we must bring them to justice and we must stop the fighters in the neighboring countries joining them. Ifill the conference followed president obamas call last week for a Broad Coalition to fight the Islamic State in both iraq and syria. Todays Washington Post reported several unnamed arab states have offered to assist in u. S. Air strikes. And the French Foreign minister announced his country has begun reconnaissance flights to set up its own air strikes in iraq. But few others have made concrete commitments at least publicly. White House Press Secretary josh earnest said specifics will come in time. We want to make sure that their commitment matches whats actually needed and that were not duplicating efforts and that the country that is in the best position to fulfill a specific need is the one that actually follows through and fills that need. Ifill while that process continues, the sense of urgency amplified over the weekend as british aid worker david haines was beheaded in syria. Hes the third hostage to be killed there by a british accented militant. Today, attorney general eric holder announced new efforts to deter americans from joining terror groups. These programs will bring together community representatives, Public Safety officials, religious leaders, and United States attorneys to improve local engagement; to counter violent extremism; and ultimately, to build a Broad Network of Community Partnerships to keep our nation safe. Ifill no such cooperative effort is coming from iran which was not invited to the paris conference, at the insistence of the United States. Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei claimed that in fact, tehran rejected overtures from washington. translated the americans hands are dirty. How can we cooperate with those whose hands and intentions are dirty . The u. S. Secretary of state, who has personally asked for irans cooperation. After iranian officials rejected their requests, they now say we dont want to invite iran for the talks. Ifill but secretary of state john kerry said while he wont rule out working with iran diplomatically, he would reject any military coordination. He also rejected any cooperation with the syrian government. That drew criticism from the russians. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov argued syria and iran are natural allies in the fight. There cannot be double standards in the war against terrorism. Terrorists cant be good or bad. We must be consistent and not involve our personal political projects, not prioritize them over the general goal of fighting terrorism. Ifill the debate over crafting a coalition moves next to congress, when secretary of state kerry testifies at a Senate Hearing on wednesday. So, how much support is the u. S. Getting for its coalition . For answers, we turn to retired colonel derek harvey. He was an Intelligence Officer and special adviser to general David Petraeus and is now director of the Global Initiative on Civil Society and conflict at the university of south florida and steven simon, he was senior director for middle eastern and north African Affairs on the National Security Council Staff from 2011 to 2012. Hes now a senior fellow at the middle east institute. Thank you both for joining us. Colonel harvey, how well is this coalition we talk about coming together . Its too early to tell at the moment. But there are major concerns. I applaud the efforts to hold the conference in paris and the right things are being said. Given that, moving beyond that, the coalition is going to be required to do heavy lifting and the test will be in the substantive and meaningful actions by coalition members. Contributing in the ke kinetic realm and verbally with information campaigns and some legal mechanisms to diminish recruitment, and that means an arab country or countries need to get out front and be there in the kinetic operations and not just offer inkind assistance. Air refueling, intelligence support, basing. They need to be participants in this because it cant be the westerners doing this alone. Ifill do you see it happening, the involvement of the arab countries . I think it will be a battle in washington. Secretary kerry approached it with his customary energy but i think the president has given him a very hard job. The arab states whose cooperation were seeking are mostly concerned about unseating assad in syria. Theyre concerned about regime change there. Theyre not so concerned, i think, about defeating i. S. I. L. Or i. S. I. S. Theyve got their goal and they have been maneuvering toward that goal for several years, now, fighting essentially a proxy war in syria against assad. So what the United States is asking them to do, really, is to shift gears and change direction in a fairly major way. Now, i dont think its an impossible battle in terms of air support. I mean, real kinetic, as derek harvey put it, kinetic support for u. S. Operations from the United Arab Emirates and perhaps saudi arabia. But the saudis seemed very focused on providing armed and train help for the fight against i. S. I. S. The u. A. E. Has staged operations and staged them rather far from the United Arab Emirates, as far away as libya. So its quite possible they would join the United States in these kinetic attacks, in the air attacks were talking about, but i think these will take a while to arrange. These are complicated things to work out, to harmonize. The United States needs to work with these other countries on divisions of labor, on deconfliction, so they can tell whos friend and foe. There are technical issues that need to be sorted through and that will take time. Ifill technical, diplomatic, military, there are a lot of issues to work through. Another country in the region thats used as a staging platform for us in these kind of interventions is turkey. Are they on board or hanging back . At this point, it appears turkey is hanging back. They have a history of relationships with a number of the Islamist Groups in syria and they dont want to be perceived as being aligned with the United States at this point in time, so they have rebuffed our administrations efforts. And it points to the concerns across the region. Theres a great deal of empathy in a number of these countries. We see it on twitter and social media extensively, empathy for the Islamic State and sympathy. Not support, but empathy. They have to be concerned about their domestic constituencies and how far out they can get on this. So theyre looking for the United States to take the lead and probably do the heavy lifting, and thats a mainly concern. John kerry, with his customer energy, as you described, steven simon, did not close the door to potential collaboration with iran. How important is that in this situation . Well, frankly, i dont think its hugely important. Look, whats really important here, first of all, is what the Iraqi Government does on its own territory visavis its sunni citizens. Is it going to reach out to them . Is it going to be inclusive . Is it going to give them a fair shake . Ultimately, thats going to be required to undermine the i. S. I. S. Cause and i. S. I. S. Influence in that area, and until they do that, i think its going to be very difficult. The administration has made that a priority. Thus far, the Iraqi Government has done one very important thing and that, believe it or not, is to say that its forces would no longer shell sunni villages indiscriminately, if they think theres an i. S. I. S. Presence in those villages. Now, if that counts as a major advance, then i think we have some sense of how far the Iraqi Government really has to go. As far as washington is concerned, getting out in front militarily in the fight against i. S. I. S. When that sort of basis for the fight hasnt really yet been consolidated, is not a very appetizing notion. So the background, what iran does or doesnt do or the kinds of coordination we have with iran is really not all that significant. Ifill white house staff speaker said success, destroying i. S. I. L. , Islamic State, means it cannot longer be a threat to the region and u. S. And somehow will stop attracting followers. That sounds like a Steep Mountain to climb if you do not have on board people in the region with not only your boots in the ground but other boots in the ground. It is a Tall Mountain to climb and a gap between the strategic means of the United States and the ability to align coalition partners. This will take serious dedicated focused engagement by the president and other members of the administration and its going to take a george h. W. Bush type effort of 1990 to build this coalition and to stay focused on it because, to be frank, theres a lot of doubt and concern in the region about the commitment and the steadfastness of the United States on this issue if they come on board and they dont want to walk out on that plank when theyre not absolutely certain about the u. S. Role. Ifill derek harvey of the Global Initiative and steven simon, thank you very much. Thank you very much, again. Off. Ifill yes for independence, no to stay part of the United Kingdom. Thats the decision facing voters in scotland when they go to the polls on thursday, for a referendum that will test three centuries of history. Think very carefully about the future. Ifill yesterday, in her first comments on the issue, Queen Elizabeth said scots should think very carefully about the future. The latest polls released this weekend show the vote could go either way. Prime minister David Cameron made one last visit north today in an appeal to keep the union intact. Jeffrey brown takes a closer look at whats motivating the votes to stay, and the votes to go. Its the season for highland games. Brinscottish dancing, neighbor tossing, hammer throwing and tug of war. The scots put their bravado and National Pride on display. The scottish people are having a political tug of war of their own, whether to stay in a 307 year relationship with england or strike out on their own. The choice is captivating and dividing scotland virtually down the middle. Scotland will be more sustainable and education will be stronger if a part of the u. K. Im against this because im fairly tired o. Brown full independence has been in the works for years. Some say it began in 10707 when the acts of the union were signed. Scotland had its own parliament in endboro separate from westminster in london after a british decision led by a labor government at the time to let regions govern themselves on issues like health, education, transportation and law and order. But for alex, the Scottish First minister and leader of the Scottish National party, those powers are not enough. Its an opportunity of the century, and i believe in my heart that people will grasp that opportunity. Brown the no side known as Better Together or no thanks, believes scotland gains more by sticking with the United Kingdom, led by a farmer u. K. Treasury secretary. We can have a Better Future and a Stronger Parliament with the security that comes from england and something bigger, thats what the bigger majority of people in scotland will say. Brown the pair debated each other twice publicly and one of the issues was the question of currency. The yes campaign vows it will keep the british pound despite insistence from the Political Parties in westminster, thats impossible. Scotlands economy drifted over the past 40 years as it went true deindustrialization and the scots turned to a serviceoriented economy, now the largest sector. What happens to the economy including revenues from north sea oil and gas is a mainly flashpoint for the campaign and the questions over how much oil and revenue independent scotland would actually get in disputes over how much oil is left. London and the houses of parliament at westminster have been pleased to stay and warnings to choose carefully. British Prime Minister David Cameron traveled north. This is a decision that could break up our family of nations and rip scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. We must be very clear, there is no going back from this, no rerun. This is a once and for all decision. If scotland votes yes, the u. K. Will split, and we will go our separate ways forever. Brown an Eleventh Hour promise of westminster for more powers for scotland in exchange for no vote was called phony by the yes campaign. Four miles north, drurymaker sally calls it home. Shes a yes supporter and like the majority of scots has never voted for a conservative british government. Its so important. My son is 17, just about to vote for the first time. Its a great opportunity for them and that will be an experience for him but also a new experience for me the idea that my voice is actually going to be heard. Brown she and her son can vote in the referendum because the age was lowered to accommodate citizens in scotland over the age of 16. This man votes yes. I think its important for our country to become independent. It gives itself the ability and opportunity to look after and govern itself. Every Little Country should be on its own during some time. Brown for rory mcdonald, a Third Generation butcher, carving up the United Kingdom raises too many questions for his business that he says the Independence Campaign hasnt been able to answer. No one has confirmed anything to me, if we were to be outside of the u. K. And europe, it would be difficult for any business south of the border. Were no longer u. K. Or made in the u. K. , were made in a foreign country and who knows how we will be treated. Brown ellen mcdade, another no voter says she thinks people many her camp are keeping decisions quiet because of certain intimidation. Certain people in the pub have been told youre a traitor to scotland because youre not voting for this. It doesnt have to be common for you to live in the community im in and i dont expect that. I think there is an issue about how we move on after the referendum, whatever happens. Brown scottish his historian said its waxed and waned but is stronger now. In 18th century, it was thought scotland would become part of britain and lose its identity. That didnt happen. Theres a mix of scottish and britishness. The pendulum swung during the Second World War and thereafter, britishness was at its peak. But the scottishness didnt disappear and had a strong identity. Brown this could bring a no vote to a yes because he believes the union needs fundamental reform. Reform. If the yes votes wins, he thinks its his torque. It will be a cataclysmic event in britain, significant for the last centuries by far, and then there will be a bedding down period. There will be tesh lance. But in the long run, it will be better relationship for the two countries. Brown there have been pleas to say from regular citizens in england. I think the two countries effectively, i think an alliance is essential and thats what we should be focused on. Brown livestock farmer jim fairliy a lifelong Scottish Nationalist has this message for england. Its not about us wanting to be antienglish as scotland saying tha this is what we are d what weve done. Why do we let another country make the Big Decisions about what we do from here. Brown the big decision is up to scotlands 4 million voters who have a deceptively easy question to answer, should scotland be an independent country, yes or no. Ifill weve talked frequently about the growing burden of diabetes. But new data show the picture is more sobering than ever. A recent study found the risk for some cancers, such as those the in breast, liver, pancreas or stomach, is 15 higher if a person has higher than normal blood sugar. A condition often referred to as prediabete. And the centers for Disease Control is reporting that one out of three americans over the age of 20 or 85 Million People have prediabetes. Another 29 million already have diabetes. Which would put half of the u. S. Adult population at risk of developing Serious Health problems. Dr. David nathan is director of the Diabetes Center at massachusetts general hospital. As well as professor of medicine at harvard medical school. He joins me now. Dr. Nathan, what explains this kind of increase over just a decade, an increase of 27 . We have been seeing this increase not just in the past decade but even in the past several decades and it seems to be attributable almost entirely to the coepidemic, if you will, of obesity and overweight. 35 of the population is overweight and the other 35 is actually obese. Obese and overweight as well as sedentary lifestyle are the major risk factors for the development of diabetes. Ifill lets make a distinction between type 2 and prediabetes. How often does one lead to the other . Prediabetes is a term we invented years ago, meant to capture those persons who are average or high risk for developing diabetes. The term is a bit unfortunate because not everyone with prediabetes actually develops diabetes but approximately 50 go on to develop diabetes over time. Ifill remind us of the medical issues were talking about, the result once a diabetic diagnosis is made Heart Disease, what other diseases . So diabetes, whether type one, which is the juvenile form, or twiep two which is the diall the onset form which is tepdemic form now, both lead to longterm complications which affect either the small vessels in the eyes, the kidneys, the nervous system or the medium to larger sizes haveles that sly the heart and the brain. So the kind of complications people with diabetes develop over the course of their lifetime including blind mess, Kidney Disease, amputations, Heart Disease and stroke, and currently diabetes is the most common cause of blindness, kids any disease and contributes largely to the Heart Disease in the u. S. Ifill is age a risk factor . There are. Type two is sometimes called adult onset because it does affect people beyond age 40 and can develop at earlier ages. The population greater than 65, about 25 have type two diabetes. Ethnicity and race are important risk factors. Hispanicamericans, africanamericans, asianamerican and American Indians all have higher risk than caucasians. Ifill what about the report linking it to a higher risk of cancer . Weve known some time unfortunately that in addition to all those vascular complications that there appears to be an increased risk for cancer in the diabetic population. What hasnt been very clear up until now is whether that is attributable mostly to the increased obesity and older weight because thats what diabetes is occurring in, overweight and obese people or whether it is owing to the diabetes itself. Its not clear which one contributes and im not sure it makes a difference because, one way or the other, people who are overweight, obese and have type two diabetes appear to be at increased risk for a number of the cancers you mentioned earlier. Ifill what kind of intervention is really warranted . Obviously diet and exercise but also medication . Well, so there is good news behind the story, actually, in some ways, and that is we have known now for more than a decade that there are ways o either preventing or delaying the onset of type two diabetes. The Diabetes Prevention program showed more than a decade ago that if you change the factors that appear to lead to type two diabetes specifically, you lose weight and increase your activity levels you can lower the risk of diabetes by almost 60 . Theres a medication called met foreman phonetic which is a common medication used to treat diabetes but you can also use it earlier to try to prevent diabetes. It was shown in the same study to reduce diabetes by 31 . So we have answers to how to decrease the epidemic. In addition, the f someone escapes the prevention and develop diabetes, we have a good understanding of how to prevent the complications, how to decrease the development of blindness and Kidney Disease and that involves a careful maintenance or achievement of good levels of blood sugar control, Blood Pressure control and cholesterol control as well. Ifill dr. David nathan of massacheusetts general hospital, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Ifill next, how a fortune 500 Company Changed its approach to Corporate Diversity an effort that began more than two decades ago. Our economics correspondent, paul solman, has the story part of his reporting on making sense of financial news. I cant type. I dont take dictation. Reporter the face of xerox in the early 1960s, soft selling the companys first retail copier. My boss calls me indispensable. Miss jones . Just a minute. Will you make a copy of this . Naturally. Reporter xerox has come a long way. Besides copiers and, increasingly, document services, the c. E. O. Is selling Something Else these days diversity. You have to have as many people who are capable engaged in a solution. And if you dont, then, you know, shame on you. Reporter a 22 billion company in more than 180 countries with 140,000 employees and hundreds of plants, xerox has been run by ursula burns since 2009. Her predecessor was also a woman. So, how did the company go from this. I make perfect copies for whatever my boss needs by just turning a knob and pressing a button reporter to the first fortune 500 firm ever to have successive female c. E. O. s . Well, the drive to diversity began not long after the ad. In the summer of 1964, amid race riots near xerox headquarters in rochester, new york, founder joe wilson met with black leaders. And found out that the reason why they were rioting is because they did not have access to jobs. So he pledged that the black people of the community would be able to get jobs at xerox. Reporter by 1991, when we first reported on diversity at xerox, nine percent of its top managers were black, compared to a National Average of just half a percent. The company told managers like kent amos to fulfill its diversity mission. Were going to trust it, trust you and empower you to be africanamericans and bring that to the table. And it worked. Reporter in fact, ursula burns was recruited by xerox as part of its summer Minority Internship Program in 1980. But, she says, affirmative action didnt extend to gender. We looked up one day and all the African American men were doing better, i mean, you know, they were leaders of the company and there were very few women, of any race, right . So we said, oh my god, we need to do something about women. Reporter for instance, why were there so few female plant managers, a key rung up the ladder . It turns out you have to actually work the shifts in manufacturing you have to be there from nine, or eight to five, we would put plant managers in and they would bomb out, women plant managers, primarily because we had zero flexibility. These things we would have never, ever, ever figured out until we realized, a woman in there said, were not dumb in manufacturing, we need a lot more flexibility than youre allowing us to have. Reporter and so job sharing was instituted. Still, for years, women were more visible than audible says fortyyear xerox veteran diane oconnor. Im almost always the last person to speak up. Early on in my career they never would have gotten to me, because the first three or four guys that said heres what you have to go do, they said yup were going to go do it im still sitting in my chair and theyve all gone to the mens room and im still sitting there going, well, i guess thats decided reporter as a Vice President , oconnor now runs the meetings and is active in the Womens Alliance, a xerox sanctioned independent worker group, which advocates, mentors, networks. Hi janice. Nice to meet you hi, im natalie. Reporter corporate speed pitch. Dating make a contact, make a pitch. Innovative, energetic, resultsoriented. Right now, i manage one account nationally. Reporter five minutes, and on to the next. ding okay, thats time. Reporter the Womens Alliance is one of several caucus groups that promote women at xerox offices around the country. Theres also the black womens leadership council. You have goals and aspirations. People wont know that unless you tell them. Reporter xerox engineer mareena thuhruhyil chaired the womens innovation group, which addresses a common malady shrinking violet syndrome. Ive heard someone say, if its gold, it will shine. Its not your job to market yourself or to kind of showcase your work because thats considered immodest. Reporter but its not just women helping women. You might want to start focusing and saying what is that ultimate next position and career that id like to pursue . Reporter president of technology, jeff jacobson, at xeroxs london office. A natural fit as i think about my career progressing is to lead one of the Business Group organizations. Reporter in rochester, new york, v. P. Rognee mehtah is his protege. And i wanted to get your feedback on whether you think that thats too ambitious and what are some of the experiences would i need to accrue in order to be an eligible candidate for one of those roles . So certainly never think anything is too ambitious for you. Reporter now, not every woman needs pumping up. Paul allaire, c. E. O. In the 1990s, mentored ursula burns. Appearing on the history makers with host gwen ifill, allaire recalled that burns was no wallflower. We went through a number of fairly high level meetings and on the way back from them i asked her, ursula, what did you think . And her answer was, i could do this. laughter i said, what . She says, i could do this i could do your job. I could be c. E. O. laughter reporter now that she is c. E. O. , burns is one of nine female top executives at xerox. More than a quarter of the companys Corporate Leaders are women compared to just 15 at other fortune 500 companies. And 20 of top managers are minorities. We approach issues from different perspectives. No doubt about it. If i actually had my Leadership Team and they were all African American female from new york city engineer, the conversation would be easy. And you would trust each other implicitly. And we would trust each other implicitly, and your perspective would be excluding a lot of perspectives. So we would feel great in the room. Yeah that was a really efficient meeting, we got it all kind of wrapped up, everything is pretty cool we walk out, and our clients are different, our workforce is different from that, its just it wouldnt be a Good Business model, right . Reporter burns thinks diversity helped save the company. Long threatened by digital imaging, xerox transformed itself, from machine maker to service provider. Ezpass, toll collection, and call centers now account for more than half of all revenue. The way to weather change, says burns. Is to engage as much difference, as much breadth as you can, because that gives you little peeks into where some of the big opportunities will be. Reporter and big ideas from new perspectives. Moreover, says, senior sales Vice President pat elizondo, diversity in general and women in particular are vital to courting customers for the growing services business. Women are better listeners. It takes patience to truly, actively listen and understand, and walk away from a client discussion, understanding what are they asking us to give them. Reporter as somebody whose profession is to listen, i am taking some umbrage. I have repeated a couple of things twice for you, paul. laughter reporter looking for some reassurance, perhaps, i had to ask burns we men arent in any danger of becoming obsolete, are we . Yeah, men are useful. laughter theyre more than useful. Obviously we want men in there. Reporter men. Women. Minorities from around the world. Xerox has had a gay and lesbian caucus for more than twenty years. Multiple points of view to adapt to a global, evermorphing market. The only thing the company doesnt have the stereotypes of the past. Here mr. Smith, im going to lunch, with mother. Ifill finally tonight, with the new school year now in full swing. One urban district in california is implementing an ambitious plan to transform their Lunch Program to provide healthier, locallysourced food. This report comes from Jake Schoneker and his student journalists at media enterprise alliance, part of our Student Reporting Labs Network that trains young people in public media journalism. For many kids in lowincome communities, the meals served at their schools are the best chance for them to eat food that will serve them up and keep them healthy. As any High School Student will tell you, school food often leaves a lot to be desired. Its like cardboard. Cheetos, cookies, soda. Its not healthy enough for the students at school. School officials are undertaking an ambitious plan to transform the school lunch plan. Theyre working to pull food from local farms instead of Big Companies and to provide california food for california kids. One of the things that inspired us to do the farmtoschool movement is a project Cleveland Elementary School fifth graders did. On earth day they did the food miles for the particular lunch and found out that the asparagus that they served, that we served to them, had traveled 17,000 miles before they ate it. And this was a real shocker for me because asparagus is grown 50 miles from here, maybe 100 at the most. But what they found out is that the asparagus they ate on earth day was grown in south america, flown to china for processing and then flown back to the bay area for us to get it and serve it. That blew my mind. On earth day, they launched a new program at the heart of the farmtoschool effort. California thursday. The goal of the farmtoschool initiative is to offer fresh, locally grown food each week to every student in their schools. Thats a big deal, procuring fresh food for 20,000 lunches a day, thats a lot of food. I just bought 4,600 pounds of chicken from marions chicken in sanger, california, so this is a really exciting thing for me. This is the first time weve been able to buy local chicken and reflects a big change. In order to provide students with desirable food, the safer ecoliteracy was on hand to provide a food test to ensure diversity of food choice. I like halibut. After lunch, School Board Members stopped by the school to taste the california thursday School Lunch Menu for themselves. Im very excited that the Pike School District has taken the lead at looking at school lunches, partnering with centers and families and parents and saying, okay, we want healthier lunches for our young people and i think its a very bold thing. Its only the beginning of the efforts to include school lunch. In 2012, oakland voters approved the construction of brandnew central kitchen in west oakland where students will be able to grow their own food and the district will be able to provide fresher meals to every school. The kitchen will be much more of a kitchen. Were planning on having an Educational Center there that students, communities will be able to benefit from. It will have a 1. 5 airstrike district farm that will be used as an instructional farm. The proposed district farm is said to improve students education and help the environment by reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions contributed by industrialized food processing. In a country which usually means school lunch is a pizza, this provides locallygrown food good for your health and tastes good, too. Ifill again, the major developments of the day, more than two dozen european and arab states met in paris, and pledged to fight Islamic State militants by any means necessary. And hurricane odile left heavy damage across mexicos southern baja peninsula after smashing ashore overnight. On the newshour online right now, its a lesserknown government agency, but its responsible for propping up u. S. Exports around the world. Now, the Exportimport Bank is in danger of losing funding if congress doesnt pass a spending bill by october first. Read an explainer on the bank, and why it matters to american businesses. Thats on our making sense page. You can find all that and more on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. And thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, well go to iowa, where Judy Woodruff reports on one of most hotly contested senate races in the country. Im gwen ifill. 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 ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. 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. Is something brewing . Potential big deals in the Beer Industry may have been rebuffed. But that doesnt mean the story is over. 19 and counting. The man running General Motors Victim Compensation fund says the number of ignition switch related deaths is higher than initial estimates and will go even higher. And breaking point . The author of a new report explains why the widening wealth gap is starting to take a toll on state government. We have all that and more tonight on nightly Business Report for monday, september 15th. Good evening. Everyone. Tylers on assignment tonight. Big and bold, that was the buzzword on wall street today on a week thats expected to end with the biggest initial public st