>> kevin. >> kevin! >> kev . >> advice for life. life well-planned.ra learn more aondjames.com. >> 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 le you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump's former campaign chairman is in legal hot water, again in a court filing late monday, prosecutors for special cosel robert mueller accused paul manafort of lying, to them and to the f.b.i., "on a variety of subject matters." manafort said in that same filing that "he has provided truthful information." he was previously convicted on a number of criminal charges mueller. and in september, he pleaded guilty to other crimes. in doing so, manafort also agreed to cooperate with the special counsel's team.he now to help us digest this newest accusation is renato mariotti. worked previously as a federal prosecutor focusing on white-collar crimes, and is now a defense attorney in private. practi renato mariotti, welcome back to the newshour. so, tell us how unusual is this alr a speounsel in a situation like this to have worked out a plea deal, but then to turn around and say the defendant, the person we're working with, haeds liand we think the plea deal is wornothls >> it is extremely unusual, judy. in my almost-decade as a formprr federaecutor, when i was in that job, i had never tne o the step of having a cooperation deal fall apart and having to go to the judge and make a statement like this. and i will tell you, i worked ir a large office in chicago with well over 10other osecutors. and i don't recall that ever happening during the almost-decade that i was doing . so it's very, very unusual situation because, typically, coordinators want to be on the government's team. that's why they sign the deal. there are hugeincentives for them to be truthful, to tell the government everything that they. kn that is what they are instructed by the prosecutors and by theg f.b.i.ts. and on the other side, the toosecutors are trying to work with the coope they want their testimony, they want their information. so typically, there is not th sort of falling apart to this level. it's something that is really hard t get your head around. we said,uff: so as paul manafort is saying what he has said was truthful. we've got two completely opposite versions of what happened here. but in doing so, i what robert mueller is saying is correct what, paul manafort has done is open himself up to a longer prison sentence. >> that's exactly right, juy. and the judge will ultimately make that decision. so paul manafort can have whatever positn he wants. ultimately, bob mueller's going to prentevidence and reasons res and an explanation to the judge. and it will up to the judge to decide, not beyond a reasonable doubt, but by essentially a 51% andard, as to whether or not paul manafort did these things. and if she believes that he did, in fact, lie to the f.b.i., she must, under law, consider all of his behavior, including that, when she fashions his sentence. and thu better believat if the judge decides that he did lie to the f.b.i. and he lied to mr. mueller and his team, she is going to give him a much higher sentence. it is not going to go very well for him. earsoodruff: so it app whatever the change exngs were that the special counsel believes is not truthful, not factual, that's going to come out later in the staytement t issued last night. they said that they were going to put forward the details ofth defendant's crimes. so does that tell usything, that robert mueller is prepared to lay out exactly what manafort it did? >> well, it certainly means, judy, first of all, he is asking the judge to consider this at sentencing. this means that he wants the judge to take this into account, as i mentioned a moment ago, that's the judge's duty to do. and what it also tells us is at least some portions of this,th e's enough there, that he feels it's not too sensitive to close. in other words, if paul manafort was lying about very sensitive classified matters you can imagine that all being done under seal. but here at least we can expect some portions of this will ultimately play themlves out in the sentencing process, and we'll hear at least about some or a good portion ofwht mr. mueller's is alleged mr. manafortoodid. >>uff: of course, there's so much we don't know. we know robert mueller is looking at any possib connection between the trump presidential campaign, russs.n offici we do know that this-- this filing by the special counsel comes out thrdays-- just a matter of a few days-- after president trump answered questions that robert mueller's office had put to him. and we have a statement today from the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani, telling reporters that maybe the prosecutor in his zeal to get th president may have gone too far.>> see no evidence to indicate that that is the case. and what we have seen, frankly, in the process of the interview process that you refer, to judy, is extraordinary deference being shown to the president. i will tell you, when i represent clients, the government doesn't let ment clrepresent-- you know, make their answers in writing. the process usual doesn't take a year long. so i think they've been deferential. as to mr. manafort, the facts are going to play out through the process we just discussed a moment ago. if mr. mueller is able to prove that mr. manafort lied to the f.b.i., that is going to be very bad news for mr. manafort, and i don't think anyone could say that he was treated unfaiiny that circumstance. >> woodruff: just quickly, i want to also say there was a reportn the british newspaper "the guardian" today that paul manafort m with the founder of wikileaks, julian assange, onth e different occasions, including in the spring of 2016, just exactly around the time he went to worr the trump campaign. now, manafort is denying this, but if it were true, it seems to me that could have a lot of significance here. st>> there's no qun. i mean, wikileaks was theth operatio distributed the hacked emails from democrats in the united stes. hacking a server in the united states is a federal crime. anyone who participated in that would-- a conspiracy to do that or aided tat, would be guty of a crime. obviously, knowing about that or having discussions about that n do necessarily constitute a crime, but it would certainly lead-- potentially could lead mueller down thart diection. >> woodruff: all right, renato mariotti, thank you very much. >> thank you >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president trump warned that he is consideri eliminating all federal subsidies for general motors. the threat, on twitter, followed g.m.'s plans to close plants in three states, and stop building its hybrid-electric "volt" model. at the white house, economic adviser larry kudlow said the president feels betred. >> there's disappointment that it seems like g.m. would rathe build its electric cars in china rather than in the united states. we are going to be looking at certain subsidies regarding electric cars and others and whether they should apply or not. i can't say anything final about that, but we're lookto it. >> woodruff: g.m. defended itself in a statement, saying it acted to ensure long-term success. the company also said it will give affected workers a chance to move to jobs at other plants. there are new questions tonight about a federal detention center for migrant teeners in west texas. it was established in june and quickly expanded to more than 2,300 children. the associated press reports that, in a bid to keep up, officials waived strictf. i. background checks for staffers, including screenings for child abuse. the non-profit group managing the shelter says it is exceptionally well-run. ree american soldiers we killed today in afghanistan, the deadliest such attack in 17 months. als said a roadside bomb went off near the eastern city of ghazni, as the troops were ghcarrying out raids with soldiers. the taliban claimed responsibility tensions stayed high today between russia and uaine, over a naval confrontation on sunday. moscow issued new warningso kiev, and it refused to return three ukrainian naval vessels and two dozen crewmen. foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: in russian annexed imea, masked soldiers paraded ukranian sailors in, and then quickly out, of a russian controlled court. and those same ukrainian sailors were paraded on russian tv, seemingly confessing to entering russian territorial waters illegally, a "crime" for whichne they'll be detfor two months. it's only been two days since their boats were fired on by russian ships as they sailed through the crimean peninsula's kerch strait, which both countries are legally allowed to use under a 2003 agreement. for four and a half years, ukraine and russia have been fighting. a moscow-backed insurgency in eastern ukraine has killed at least 10,000 and kept ukraine's government off balance.ri now ukraine's back with intercepted russian communications it says prove the crisis was manufactured by russialeaders. a russian captain says to another russn captain: "we should assault them. we have to destroy them. medvedev is in panic. it seems that the president is controlling all that." medvedev likely refers to geady medvedev, head of th the f.b.s.'s border service office in crimea. but today, moscow stood firm in blaming ukraine. it warned kiev's decision yesterday to impose martial law in parts of ukraine would lead to a surge in fighting in the pro-russian rebel-held areas of eastern ukine. and russia accused ukranian president petro petroshenko of playing politics ahead march 2019 election. russian prime minsiter dmitry medvedev: >> ( translated ): this the result is the declaration of this martial law allfor the authorities to flex their muscles a little bitr nd boost theipport amongst the population. to schifrin: but much of the worly supported ukraine. poland's president called for retalitory sanctions against moscow. >> ( translated ): there is no doubt that russia is an aggresso first time there is a violation of the agreements between russia and ukraine regarding navigation, and this can not be >> schifrin: european leadersdo have left th open for new sanctions against moscow, to be decided next month. >> president trump threatened to cancel his meeting with vladimir putin, saying, "i don't like that aggression at all." for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: in northeastern australia, firefighters today fought a major wildfire, fueled by record november heat, in the triple digits. crews queensland state have battled 40-mile-an hour winds that fanned flamescross nearly 50,000 acres since saturday. tomorrow could be worse still, with temperatures of 104 degrees. >> the end of the week is looking pretty horrendous from our point of view. it is a heatwave across most oft the particularly from the central to the northern part of the state, unprecedented, temperaturprecedented weather. we talked earlier about really this is uncharted waters. we don't expect this at this time of the year. >> woodruff: the fire has destroyed four homes, and hundreds of people have beenrc to flee its advance. trial opened in chicago today for three current and foer policemen accused of a cover-up after a white officer killed aac teenager. laquan mcdonald was shot 16 o times ober of 2014. last month, anothe jformer officeon van dyke, was g.nvicted of second-degree murder in the kill nasa has gotten more good news from its "insight" probe on the surface of mars. overnight, the spacecraft opened itsolar wings and began charging batteries-- a vital step in starting its mission. "insight" also sent , new photograowing part of the probe and the landscape around it. it will spend the next two years digging into the martian surface rito study the planet's in. on wall street today, stocks made up a bit more ground. the dow jones industrial average gained 108 points to close at 24,748. the nasdaq rose a fraction of at point, a s&p 500 added eight.an and, theho created the wildly popular "spongebob squarepants" cartoon series, has died. stephen hillenburg suffered from e muscle-wasting disease, a.l.s.eb "spo" debuted in 1999 with a wide cast of oceanic friends.a it has run fory 250 episodes, plus two movies and a broadway musical. stephen hillenburg was 57 years old. still to come on the newshour: thlifornia begins to grapple he aftermath of the deadliest fire in state history. congress' to-do list before democrats take control of the house in january. inside iran's jewish population and why they often side with their government against the un.ed states, plus, much mo >> woodruff: now, let's get an wdate from califoia about the deaddfires and their aftermath. the camp fire in northern california is fully contained more than two weeks after it first broke out. it is the deadliest fire in the state's history and the toll continues to climb. at least 88 people were killed. more than 50 of those people have now been identified. but more than 200 people are still missing and unacunted for. amna nawaz has more. >> nawaz: there are other big problems in butte county too.0, some0 people have been displaced by the fires in a region that has a housing crunch as it is. our william brangham is at a red cross shelter in gridley, california. we spoke earlier and i asked him to give us a sense of how people are coping with this disaster. >> brangham: now that the fires are out, everyone is lieved by that. don't get me wrong. that's a great thing, obviously. but everyone is coming to this daunting realization now that there is a very long-term is the here, and th fact that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are now homeless. their community is,mafor intents and purposes, gone. it has burned to the ground. and those people are now living in shelters.gh i'm now if a very busy red cross shelter. we can't show the faces of the repeople who are staying , but this is a bustling, busy place, onlyoing to get busier later today. people have nowhere to live. they have children that have to go to school. they suddenly are to figure out what to do with their lives. yeerday, we went to a fema emergency center, and there, you got a sense of homany needs people have to address. it's like a one-stop shop inside this place. you could get red croass . you could get aid from fema. you could register your kids fol sc you could talk to the i.r.s. about your tax return. you can go to the dmv. you can submit d.n.a. so they can try to identify a missing family member. so people hereare dealing with the emotional loss on top of all of the logistil challenges o suddenly becoming homeless and having their homeesstroyed. >> nawaz: william, on a disaster of this scale, it is so easy to ose sight of the details of people's lives. so you're there talking to people. what kind of stories are they telling you about what they lo and how they're coping? >> brangham: i met a woman who had lost her home in paradise. it was a double-wide trailer. she loved the place. she had sunk her retirement save intotion this home. i"itowas goinbe my future," is what she said, and now that future is totally gone and she could barely conattendant tears and we hear that all the time from people. i almost met a first-grade teacher yesterday in chico california, who is getfong ready school to start on monday but she has now got to take a st gradersr set of fir -- these are children who lived in paradise. almost all of the schools in paradise were destroyed or badly damaged. they will filter into local public schools and she was explaining the difficulty of all of a sudden she has her normal class, and now that class is going to get a lotht bigger children who are themselves homeless, who have lost their homes, are dealing with trauma. again, anotherring about challenge. >> nawaz: there is, of course, the sear for the missin ongoing, families looking for their loved ones. tlliam, we have heard a about the list authorities are working off of. what can you tell us aboutthis list. >> brangham: that's right, the list is a mystery. the sheriff's office is painstakingly going through the list, calling the people who first made the call saying, "i'm looking for this person." trying scour social media profiles, trying to understand thwhether the people o list are in fact missing or whether they're in a shelter or ved away and are safe and sound. there is a table here to my right that is covered with papers-- we can't show you the close-up of it-- but it is full of persal notes people have written saying, "i'm looking for my mother. i'm looking for my aunt. please call this number." there is just an ongoing sense of where are these people? we just don't know where they are. simultaneously to that search is the search that's going on inside the burned buildings all over paradise anthe towns around it. and you can imagine, when a building burns to the ground and all that is left is ash, it's full of debris, sharp metals, housechemicals. and sear-and-rescue teams and forensic anthropologists are combing through that ash, literally sifting ash trying to find what may be an inch, inch-and-a-half-size piece of bone or tooth that could help identify whether or not one of these missing peoplei hafact, perished, and help some family try to get some sense of closure. >> nawaz: that's william brangham in northern california for us. thank you, william. >> woodruff: for the fst time this month, white house press secretary sarah sanders stepped up to the podium to answer questions from reporters. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor was in the room and joins me now. hi, yamichnt so the presias made it very clear, he is not happy with general motors for announcing that it is going tom close soe plants, it is going to lay off thousands of employees. wee president just today're learning, given an interview where he's commented on that too the "washipost." tell us what you know. >> well, the president is makeit bundantly clear that he is not happy with general motors. on twitter, he railed against the company, and he said he was considering cutting all subsidies to the auto maker,g includbsidies that allow them to be able to make electric cars. he accused g.m. of wanting make cars in mexico and china instead of in the united states, and that white ouse top adviser, larry kudlow, came to the podium, and said that he had a lengthy conversation with the c.e.o. of g.m., and he personally expressed how disappointed he was, how the president gave a wide-ranging interview to the "washington post," and in it he blames federal reserve chairman jay powell as part of the reason why g.m. is closing those plants. sarah sanders, of c put it most bluntly-- she is, of course, e white house press secretary. she said g.m. is simply making cars pet le don't w buy. so she is criticizing g.m.'s business model. >> woodruff: different subject, yamiche. there has been a lot of speculation about whether the president would pardon his former campaign manager, paul manafort, whis very much in the news today. what is the white house saying about that? ingthe white house is say that president trump has not spoken to anyone at the white house about pardoning his fomir campaign chairman, paul manafort. but the president has been going after bob mueller and the russia investigation pretty tough. he tweeted today that robert mueller was "a rogue prosecutor," and that he was doing tremendous damage to the criminal justice system. but sarah sanders said because president trump has notred robert mueller yet, and because he has not stopped the russia dvestigation, that we sho all look at that, reporters and the public included, and asce evidhat president trump is going to continue to let robert mueller do his job. >> woodruff: just last th, quickly, yamiche, the press at the white house, there's been a really contentious relationship there for a few weeks. how did today's session go? >> well, despite the tension, it was really business as usual at the white house. sarah sanders, who, of course, held her first briefing this month, which, of course, we are 27 days into the month, and this is the first one, whicis pret rare. but she took questions from porters. she even called on jim acosta, who is, of course, the cnn correspondent whose hard pass was revoked and then het got i back after the court said he had to be give 10 back. but she was allowing reporters to ask questions. she had a new set of rules for reporters answer questions and ask questions, but, really, everyone was allowed to do what they do, so everything went very smoothly. >> woodruff: they could do follow-ups, apparently, at least today. >> yup. >> wodruff: we shall see, yamiche alcindor, thank you. >> woodruff: on the other end of pennsylvania avenue, congress returned from recess with a lo-d list before the end of the year and the democrats taking control of the house. our capitol hill correspondent jardins has been reporting on what congress is likely to accomplish. hello, lisa. >> hello. >> woodruff: so let's start with the two things tha congre looking at as a deadline, and that is the nation's flood insurance program, an thfunding the government. could we be looking at some kind of government shutdown soon? the truth is yet again, we don't know. the deadline, of course, say week from friday.ov but let's gr where things stand right now. he biggest hitch is over immigration and thesident's demand for more funding for a border wall. the prident personally-- we ian look at the noobz has requested $5 bi in funding right now for the wall. democrats have offered $1.6 billion, not for a wall, but they say for border security in general. there's a difference there, but talking to sources, judy, toay on the hill, on both sides, there is a real belief that a dealan be made here. perhaps democrats get something. ioey would love something on dreamer popul those children brought here illegally as children, or perhaps some swap for the next congress' committee position. fhose kinds of things. there is a lot optimism a deal can be made. it's up to the president, more than anye else. >> woodruff: we know, and you were telling us, that they're running out of time. but the republicans have their t wish list, ans is as they are facing the point in january >>en democrats take over the house. 'm going to try to tick through some very big they have a little bit of time to get through, judy, and the three are giving people a road map here-- saudi arabia. there is a lot of concern fro both parties. there is also another issue, criminal justice reform. and final leash t mueller investigation. so a little more on each now, on saudi arabia, we could see a vote as soon as tomorrow on rea lution from bernie sanders from vermont, the independent, who would like the u.s. to stop its support of saudi arabia in yemen. unlikely to pass, but even if it gets a vote, that's a sign that things are changing. and there could be another vote later on about arms sales to saudi. then you move to criminalst e reform. a bill that could change sentencing laws and the power that judgis is are moving through the senate ask is getting more and more support.pu icans think this might be its last chance. they think a house run by demoats next year would not like this bill. they would at the present time to go farther. so we'll watching the next two weeks sosee if criminal justice lou.m makes it >> woodruff: the president is very much behind that. >> thiewrt. and that's another reason th r want to do ight now. finally, on the mueller investigation, news today from mitch ma coverage the senate majority leader, he is open to allowing a vote on a bill that would protectobert mueller's investigation and limit who could fire mr. mueller. thit has to do wh senator jeff flake, who has withheld his vote on other things to try to get this. it's uncle if that would pass. but, again, we're seeing a lot of these big issues coming up very fast. >> brangham: lot of big issues. and finally, something we' been reporting on just a few weeks ago, lisa, and that is the california wildfires. >> right, as of the farm bill air, massive, sweeping bill, the very last hitch in that negotiation has to do with forestry requirements. conservatives are asking for new rules that would allow more clearing of land. democrats say that's just a boon to logging companies and would allow overlogging. nservatives say, no, would help prevent wildfires. as we speak. that is a hitch they're tryit to work see if an entire farm bill would be passed or not. >> woodruff: that's a big issue. now, when does congress go home? what's the expectation? >> sus osedly in three we when they would like to leave. it's a lot to do in that time. it's possible. they really only work on deadlines after all, right? so... >> woodruff: you could say that about a lot of >> us, too, that's true. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: inside the small towns whose shrinking populations have forced school closures. and the man behind "giving tuesday" on how connected citizens can lead to real change. now, the major faiths of the middle east predate the borders and conflicts of today. perhaps nowhere does the resonance of antiquity and the ndates of faith collide with ilitics than in iran. thparticularly true within ers jewish community, which has existed for nearly three millennia. for many of the jews of iran, well, life is... complicated. special correspondent reza says. report >> reporter: at abrishamiip synagogue, worrs recite early morning prayers. ithey remove the torah fr ark to read passages from judaiss most sacred book. jews practice this ritual they world over, evy. but this ceremony is taking place in the islamic republic of iran, a country that's a sworn enemy of the state of israel. but home to what somestimates say is the second largest jewish population in the middle east, outside of israel. so life for you as a jew is good in iran? >> yes. >> reporter: you're happy here? >> if i was not happy i can immigrate. >> reporter: siamak morsadegh is . jewish resident of the capital tehr inside his office, moses is on one wall, iran's supreme leader on the other. you don't want to leave? >> everyone who wants to leave can leave. >> reporter: you don't want to leave? >> i don't wan i am living here. >> reporter: 20 years ago, morsadegh's wife wanted the couple to move to america. she left.os he stayed, cg iran's more conservative culture. so you gave up your wife to stay in iran? >> yes, it'sery important for me. i think i cannot live withoute. wianian cult i can't tolerate m to dress in bikini in seaside anbecause i grew up in ira culture. iranian culture, iranian living. >> reporter: today, morsadegh is an elected member of iran's parliament, proof he says that ws here are a respected minority with religious rights. you say everything for t jewish community is fine. >> no, no one can say everything is fine. >> reporter: you say most things ste improving. >> yes, hings are improving. >> reporter: many people outside iran are going to remark that you're not being completely truthful and open. how can you convince people?no >> i cconvince a man who cannot understand our condition. >> reporter: conditions for jews in iran haveeen many ups and downs. jews began settling in iran in the 6th century b.c., when iran was the persian empire and its king, cyrus, freed jews from babylonian captivity.sl >> ( tred ): we've been in iran for 2,700 years. >> reporter: homayoon sameyeh ir thident of the tehran jewish committee, a 700 year-old organization that works on his office walls are lined with past generations of iran's l jewiders. >> ( translated ): irausans have give lot of good. we are iranians ourselves. sure, there are tiaps when thingsn. but our community always stands htrong and demands our rig >>eporter: iran's jews fac perhaptheir toughest challenge soon after the 1979 islamic revolution islamist revolutionaries linked many jews to the regime of the ousted shaof iran. they declared israeln enemy of islam. several jews were arrested. habib elghanian, a well-known jewish businessman, was executed. >> ( translated ): they said mr. ighanian was a zionist, b still don't believe that was the case. he had a big factory. h 99% employees were muslims. he invested 100% of his money into iran, but he was still executed. >> reporter: fearing for their safety, many jews left the country. someyeh insists, today, iran's jews are safe and spected again. >> ( translated ): in the beginning of the revolution, there was a lot of pressure on minorities especially for jews. there was immigration because people felt insecure. with time, things have improved. fortunately, right now in iran, weave complete freedom to carry out our religious duties. >> reporter: today, an estimated 15,000 jews still live here. most are in the capital tehran, there are five jewish private schools. several kosher restaurants. and tehran's oldest charity hospital was founded and is still run by jews. tehran is a city w.h 13 synagogu some were confiscated by the governmentfter the revolution. jewish leaders say when they sued to get th back, iran's revolutionary court ruled in their favor. today, all 13 are en, with little or no security measures in place. here's one of the most remarkable things about this synagogue. in a region where almost a synagogues are protected with cttight security, metal des, even armed guards this synagogue's doors are always wide ope worshippers, or anyone else for that matter, can walk right in.e manouc behravan used to live in new york city. one thing he values in iran he says is the absence of anti semitism. have you ever experienced any violen here in iran?semitism >> no, i feel safe. i feel safer here probably more than united states because in united states a lot of people have access to guns. an reporter: three years ago, the government of n president hassan rouhani recognized saturday as theab jewish sth and a religious holiday. parents have permission to stay home from work and children have permission to stay home from school. for yafa mahgerefteh, it was a sign. >> ( translated ): it showed that they acknowledge us and our faith, because this is part of our religion. thank god they accepted it. >> reporter: iran's jews say they're also free to travel to israel, a trip the government bans for all other citizens. not everything is perfect fo iran's jews. they're still kept away from senior government and military positions, some are believed to be closely watched by iran's intelligence agencies, and many still question if they're freely expressing their true feelgs. they also find themselves in a seemingly difficult position. they live in a country whose leaders are sworn enemies of israel, the homeland of their faith. iran doesn't recognized israel as a legitimate state. hardliners still scream death to israel at every friday prayers. and in international sporting events, iran bans its athletes from competing with iselis who often end up winning by forfeit. but jews here say iranian policy is strictly against the israeli government and its leader benjamin netanyahu, not jews or israeli people. it's a policy many jews here publicly support. >> my decisi about israel is based on iranian national interest. everyone who is enemy of my untry is enemy of me, an >> reporter: and you suggest israel is an enemy of iran? >> if rael behaves in such a way that its' doing, israel is enemy of peace in our part of the world. >> reporter: jewish committee leader homayoun sayeh denounces israeli policiesoo. n ( translated ): unfortunately, manyahu doesn't have the desire to improve relations with the world or iran. >> reporter: but he also rejects fellow iranians who chant death to israel. >> ( translated ): it's better to talk about life and peace in the world instead of wishing someone's death. i hope god guides in the anght path. >> reporter:jews here hope tehran and tel aviv will one day resolve their differences. but even if they do, home, they say, will always be iran. for the pbs newshour, i'm reza sayah in tehran. >> woodruff: we've tried to show lately a number of efforts aimed at reviving small towns and rural areas around the country. tonight, we focus on a problem that's tied to towns and small cities losing too many residents. some rural schools are being forced to shut down as consolidate eople move away. jeffrey brown reports from wecentral wisconsin for ouekly education segment, "making the grade." >> brown: ery morning six-year old brady schlamp boards the bus in arena, wisconn to travel the ten miles to his new school in the neighboring town of spring green. just a few blocks away: arena elementary, a now-abandoned building where he attended kindergart last year. his mom, deborah, says the transition has been tough. >> he's adjusting. slowly starting to make some new friends, which he's happy about. but i think he's sad some days, especially when we go by the school and it's sitting empty. >> brown: empty schools, closed to consolidate and save money: it's happening in rural areas all over the country, including here in the river valley school district in central wisconsin, which shuttered elementary schools in two towns in the last two years. some here commute to work in madison less than an hour away, and the area boasts attractions like frank lloyd wright's home and studio, taliesin. but the rural economy and demographics are changing, and that, says superintendent tom wermuth, impacts schools. >> although our area is growing, we're growing primarily over the age of 60 and becoming more of a retirement destination. we're not attracting the famies that traditionally we of child bearing age. >> brown: so it's a numbers game in part? >> it's a numbers game. and it's a numbers game because student headcount dictates how we're financed. >> brown: but for everhere, of course, it'about much more than just numbers. the school closures have split communities and pitted against one another. >> it was hard. it was emotionally hard. still hard. >> brown: i see. because? >> because it was such a part of our lives. >> brown: karen wilkinson was a teacher at arena elementary for years, until she retired t years ago. >> neighbors stopped speaking to neighbors. friendships were divided. >> brown: really? it got to that point? >> it did get to that point. >> brown: she and others say when the arena school was closed, the heart of the town was lost, leaving just one cafe and a cheese shop as the main social and economic engines. and deborah schlamp says without a school to attract younger people, a vicious cycle is onrpetuated. >> i think families are going to want to come here anymore. they're going to start looking at the other towns and nothing's going to happen with arena. it's just going to eventually kind of dry up.si >> brown: nts of nearby ane rock have similar concerns. kathy rossing taugits elementary school until it was closed. she, like many students, made the move to spring green and now teaches at the consolidated school. >> it was very, very hard. both having taught mentire teaching career there in this nice small family atmosphere and then also being from lone rock. that was a whole dferent concern with being a property owner and worrying about what the value of our house is and we are losinghat. >> brown: superintendent wermuth says the decision to close schools wasn't easy, but the failure of residents to vote for a tax increase two years ago, coupled with what he calls an" antiquated" state funding formula, meant he had no choice. >> i think we made the difficult decision we had to make in ordeo ontinue to provide the students that we're serving the best possible academic and co- curricular experiences that we uld. >> brown: that is: consolidation does bring benefits, as wermuth was eager to show on a tour of the newly configuredls. >> there are more children in the building than there has been in years. >> brown: which means?>> hich is a good thing. it allows us to do things like balance classrooms by gender and behaviorbility. me brown: and he said students have made the adju more easily than many of the adults. i'm making a lot of new friends and all that stuff. >> bro: case in point: ten- year-olds lydia johnson and kaylie killoy, who now go to the consolidat middle school as fifth graders. >> we have lockers and we have more responsibilities. we have to travel from one class to another. >> i le having the lockers too. and having an actual study hall >> brown: you didn't have that before? >> no. >> brown: as elsewhere, consolidation nothing new here: in the 1960s, in another period of change, the district went from four high schools down one. then as now, superintendent wermuth says the goal is to offer students access to classes and programs unavailable at smaller schools. >> we've got phenomenal career and technology educationog ms. we have a welding program, we have an automotive program, we have an electronics program, we amve a business program, we have an agriculture pro >> lots of times when a school oses a community. community, it >> brown: education expert julie underwood says although closurei can be devas to small towns, consolidation is often the only choice to keep school districts viable. >> you want to stay vibrant as ch as possible. d once you start losing that-- by losing students or cutting programs-- you're going to lose more students and cut more ograms. it's a bad cycle. >> brown: she says rural school districts like river valley are victims of a double economic whammy. >> if you ok at the demographic maps of wisconsin, not only has theopulation shifted out of rural areas, but those rural areas haveecome poorer in terms of income, so they have less resources to deal with greater problems. >> brown: and now, despite the consolidation, the district finds it's still short of operational funds. it put another tax increase before the voters earlier this month, which failed to pass. when we spoke before the election, tom wermuth told me a no vote could lead to programs being cut. >> we have phenomenal co- curricular eeriences for our students from arts and music to our equestrian team. >> brown: you're saying all these things could be at risk? they could be at risk, without question. >> brown: as for the town of arena, there is hope for building a new future, out of the old.wn >> b50 years ago, as an eighth grader, jay jones was giving tours of this arena school building, then a k to 8sc ol. >> brown: today, he's part of a tizen's group aiming to repurpose the abandoned building into a community cenolice station, daycare and even a commercial kitchen for start-up chefs. >> i was part of the fight to keep the sool open. we lost. we were hand lemons, so now you try to make lemonade and that's what we're doin. >> brown: it will take commitment and funding, says jones, but hthinks the will to keep the town alive is there. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in arena, wisconsin. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with the man behind "giving tuesday" on how to harness the power of the digital age. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. l woodruff: for those stations stth us, a young startup called relativity is pushingte spacnology forward by building the largest metal 3-d cointer in the world. and other majoanies are anxious to try these new ways of manufacturing, too. science correspondent miles o'brien has this encore look at some of these amazing advances. >> reporter: just another day in an office park near l.a.x. no clue to the travelers above that a whole new approach to manufacturing is underway beneattheir feet. it's happening at a young startup called relativity; a team of for-real rocket scientists pushing space ecchnology, by pushing 3-d printingology to its limits. here they are printing rockets, nose cone to nozzle. >> rockets are the lightest weight, most expensive, largest, difficult-to- make thing that really 3-d printing is the optimal solution for. >> reporter: relativity co- founders tim ellis and jordan noone both realized this while working at one. they figured technology now makes it possible to think bigger. but to do this, they first had to build something bigger; the largest metal 3-d printer in the world. >> we made our own printing head ere we have aluminum wire by this nozzle here and then we're using 11 kilowatt fiber laser to actually melt the aluminum. as it startso feed in material on the right, then the laser melts it. so, it's very, vr.y powerful la it can actually blind you from over 50 lometers away. >> reporter: their mega printer ar called te, a three-armed 15, foot tall robot. it hasn't made a whole rocket yet, but it has printed out a fuel tank and an engine. relativity's full throttled thrust into 3-d printing is just one milestone on the long road from prototypes and sml parts to mass manufacturing. mechanical engineer john hart is director of thlaboratory for manufacturing and productivity at m.i.t. >> i'm certain we'rerly stages. and i think that the things that we do with that in manufacturing in the end, say 10, 20, 30, 50 years from now, are in some part beyond our imagination. 3-d printing is slow, it's expensive, there's fewthhings you can 3-d print and then use right away, you often have to do post processing and c.finishing and painting, but we're getting there. >> reporter: hart and colleagues founded a compoy called desktop metal t develop a solution. traditionally 3-d printing works by fusing metal powder together layer by layer with a laser, a single-point process limited by the speed of the laser. at desktop metal they alternate at desktop metal, they alternate layers of metal powder, with a glue-likbinder. the layers are sprayed with multiple print heads, inkjet yle. after the part takes shape, it ced in a furnace where the blast of heat fuses the metal while cooking away the binder. the companclaims the process is about 100 times faster than the single point laser technique. based outside of boston, desktop metal is growing fast. c.e.o. ric fulop gave me a tour of his factory foractories. so, this is the main event right here, right? this is-- ction, this is our pro system this is the world's fastest tal printer. this machine can make a 150 metric tons of metal per year, 150 metric tons. there's nothing else like it. >> reporter: the production scale metal 3-d printer is slated for its first delivery to customers early next year. the machine is well suited to make higher-end, lower demand parts like this. >> this is a part made in our production system. this is for bmw. this is a bmw part. >> reporter: and that's-- it looks like some kind of coolingg fan or somethi like that or imter. >> that's a water peller that goes inside a water pump. >> reporter:ut 3-d printing is also spurring another revolution, in industrial e design. chnique enables the creation of objects unimaginable using traditional tool and die techniques. the company is designing with software made smart by the artificial intelligee technique called machine learning. and here's the ironic t; the machine is designing parts that appear to come from nature's playbook. check out these two parts. on the left, a sleek human sign. on the right, the rootlike a handiwork mart computer. andy roberts is a software engineer. so, you've tested this and what happened >> what we find is that the parts have been self-organized so that ey distribute the strain evenly across the parts. so, there is no sort of hotspots where you get a crack forming for example.>> eporter: so, this is better than a human could do? >> oh, yes. it is better than a human could do >> reporter: it may be some time before organic looking parts take root. but in the short term, some big players like bmw and caterpillar are anxious to try new ways of manufacturing their current designs. >> a lot of customers for industrial printing do get it. they have been working with the technologies for many years. studying them and prototyping with them, and there's this urge and thirst for mass production. i wouldn't have said these three to five years ago, but i'm convinced of it now because you see more demonstrated applications. >> reporter: at relativity theye are stilloping designs and printing process, but they have reason to believe they have launched a good idea. they printed this giant, 14-foot tall fuel tank in a matter of days. a traditional manufacturer woula have takenear. but for relativity, the real proof is in the testing, and they have successfully fired their printed rocket engine 85 times, at nasa's fabled rocket testing center in missi. >> so, that's like a fully printed design that would normally be almost 3,000 parts but we've gotten it down to 3 and really shown thathat's robust and that it works. >> reporter: by the end of 2020, the team hopes to be deliving satellites and other payloads to low earth orbit with fully 3-d- printed rockets. they predict they can cut the cost of even the cheapest flights today by more than 80%. a game changing number like that would destine manufacturing for a tectonic re-tooling layer by layer. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien. >> woodruff: finally tonight, this week's "that moment when," newshour's series on facebook watch, features henry timms, the creator of "giving tuesday" which is today. timms is the co-author of the bestseller "new power" that explains how interconnected groups, often organized through social media, are changing the world. tnry, can you tell me the moment you decidapply new power tactics to an old challenge, fund-raising. >> we had this idea, you know about black friday, and cyber monday. and so we were thinking, okay, what about adding giving tuesday? could you add a day thatre rsed the trend. after all this consumerism that people would give back, they would engage with the world. the idea hebegan at 92nd st. y, and it was a really simple idea. we designed that from the start in a way we hoped other people would grab this idea and take it somewhere new. s what winteresting about giving tuesday, as we watched it grow, was from the very firstas days, it story of other people stepping up and saying, "i'd like to makethis idea better." one really super-charged giving tuesday was small communitieses, families, people all around the country who just said, "you know what? i'm going to start making this part of my annuaal trtion." so giving tuesday in the first llar we were lucky, because people like gates were tweeting about it. ut underneetion that was what was realhanging is people were sitting around with their kids saying what are the charities we care about? why is philanthropy for us?nt and that's been a joy to watch. >> what are the dangers and eochallenges of the ple who treat the internet like it's a cash register? >> the dangr with the internet, of course, is we have this scale of engagement now. so people who a entering that space just trying to get people's money and do nothing else with them aren't getting as r as they should bese the big shift in fund-raising, in particular, is we need to stop seeing people as donors and start seeing them as owners. what i mean by that is we need to stop seeing people in this very old-power way, that their job is simply to give us money so we can solve problems. and we need to say tos oursel how do we mobilize these people who want to help to do more thhe simply give money, but to give their time, to gi their voice, to give their eas. and i think that's the big shift we're seeing with giving tuesday and across the sector. >> woodruff: "that moment when" debuts on facebook watch every tuesday at 3:00 p.m. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the ford foundati working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new yonn. supportingations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security.e. at carneg. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersyou. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org hello everyone. and welcomeo "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. >> mr. speaker, this is the right deal for britain,ecause it delivers on the democratic decision of the british people. tish prime b minister get her brexit deal pastme parl? and an election in the deep south of the united states expo as racial political fault lines. what we can learn from mississippi's senate runoff. plus, why one of amera's long-time tech entrepreneurs is looking beyond silicon value qu -- valley for his next hit. >> uniworld is a proud sponsor. when bae tollman founded a