>> brangham: allt and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin!ke >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> for projects around the house, home advisor helpfind local pros to do the work. you can check ratings, read customer reviews, and book appointments with pros online at homeadvisor.com. home advisors proud to support pbs newshour.s bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economicpr performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.rn >> ie corporation of new>> york. supporting innovations in education, demoatic engagement, and the advancement of international peace andti security.e. at carneg. >> and with the ongoing support> of these institutions: and individual ra >> this prwas made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.than by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brangham: president trump is back on the attack against special counsel rert mueller and his now-closed russia investigation. yesrday, mueller explicitly said that his report did not clear the president of obstruction of justice. today, the president called mueller a "never-trumper." he also tried to clarify ancl earlier tweet that said, "i had nothing to do with russiahe ing me get elected." >> no, russia did not help med. get elect you know who got me elected? you know who got me elected? i got me elected. russia didn't help me at all. it was all a hoax, and then they say, "gee, he fought back." isn't that terrible? " "he fought back." of course they fight back, because it was a false accusation. >> brangham: as for impeachmente thedent called it "a dirty, filthy, disgusting word." serately, president trump denied knowing of white housede efforuháo keep a warship out of his sight while he was in japan this week. the u.s.s. "john s. mccain" is tenamed in part for the l arizona senator who was a noted antagonist of the presint's. mr. trump acknowledged as much today,ut he insisted, "i wou never do a thing like that." in singapore, acting defense, secretary patrick shanahan said he, too, was in the dark.>> never authorized, i never approved any action around the movement or activity regarding that ship. furthermore, i would never dishonor the memory of a great american patriot like senator mccain. >> brangham: shanahan said he's asked for an investigation. the push to pass a disaster aid package in congress has failed yet again. the $19 billion measure wou help victims of hurricanes, floods and wildfires. democrats tried again today to have the house of representatives pass it by unanimous consent, butco republicaressman john rosese of tennessee blocked tion. severe flooding plagued several states today, and threatened to burst through aging levees. the arkansas river has hit record levels, and submerged rdrts of fort smith, arkansas near the oklahoma r. the mayor today warned there may be worse to come. >> let's be patient. this is a long, dwn out process. as i moved about, i could feel that the fear that citizens felt is beginning to subside when thr nuwere given about the crest. the fear is beginning to subside, but the suffering is about to begin. >> brangham: a series of stos dropped more than 20 inches of rain across the region ov the past month. prosecutors in chicago today filed new sex-relateges against r&b singer r.kelly. the "chicago sun-times" reportsn the 11 fcounts include aggravated criminal sexual assault and apparentlyertain to one underage victim.of somhe charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years ins prison. a new lawsuit today charged that mississippi's method of electino rnors and other state officials is racist, and should be thrown out. currently, candidates must win the popular vote, and carry a majority of state house districts.orri mississippi adopted that rule in 1890, to suppress black voting power. no other state has a similar system. former mississippi senator thads cochran has died. he first won his seat in 1978, becoming the first republicann elected to statewide office in mississippi since reconstruction. he nt on to serve six terms before resigning last year. thad cochran was 81 years old. o anwall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 43 points to close at 25,16 the nasdaq rose 20 points, and the s&p 500 added five. still to come on the newshour: will missouri's only abortion clinic stop providing abortions tomorrow? the future of the israelifu vernment hangs in the balance as new elections are called. cstldren in the world's lar refugee camp go to desperate legths to get an education and much more. >> brangham: in the ever- escalating battle over artion, missouri is one of the central battlegrounds. that's due in part to a new law that is among the toughest in the country, if it were to be enacted. it's also because the state isls trying to close o access to abortion as early as tomorrow. the legal battle playing out in missouri is over this one planned parenthood clinic inni st. louis. it's the only abortion clinic left in the state. thclinic's annual license, which it needs to perform abortions, expires friday. but, the state is fighting to withhold that license, which, if successl, would make missouri the first state in 45 years to not offer the procedure. >> planned parenthood has beend actively owingly violating state law on numerous occasions. >> brangham: missouri's republican govnor mike parson p alleges that state health inspectors have found that the clinic violated state regulations around abortion-- like requiring pelvic exams and counseling, before performing any abortion procedures. >> there are a number of >> brangham: parson insists the move is about protecting women'a safety is not a political move. >> if you suppo abortion or not, planned parenthood should able to meet the basic standards of health care underde the law. >> brangham: t planned parenthood said it has addressed the state's complaints. ined by abortion-rights supporters in st. louis today, planned parenthood argued the state constantly changing its regulations in an effort to endt all abortion services in the stateor more than one millionat women. >> the high quality health care provider that planned parenthood is has bent over backwards with trying to comply with, frankly, medically unnecessary and medically inappropriate rules, by the state, only to have eme change. brangham: missouri's mo comes less than two weeks after governor parson signed a law tht bans abortions after ei weeks of pregnancy, joining aof recent wave of six other states, including louisiana just last night, that have passed similar, historic abortion restrictions.o the missouri law, which would go into effect in august, also kes performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.ea it has no exception for rape or incest. planned parenthood says that law is why several providers at the clic have been unwilling t cooperate with state investigators. we get two views now on the abortion batle in missouri, and elsewhere in the country. we begin with dr. leana wen. she's the president of plannedsh parenthood. i spoke with her earlier thisis evening. dr. wen, thank you very much for being. here. the state of missouri argues th the planned parenthood clinic in st. louis has not been complying with state health regulations and that it shouldou lose its lense because of that. how do you respond tof that? >> it's simply not true. actually, what's happened is that, over the last decade, thee state s layered on restriction upon restriction things that have no basis in medicine or icience -- things like forced 72-hour wa period, mandating hallways have to be extra wide, eve forcing, most recently, for women to undgoer multiple invasive pelvic exams for no mecal reason. the national academy of medicine had said that these types ofof regulations are burdensome, that they just impede medical care and have no basis in medicine, and this most recent attack by the state comes less than a week after the governor of missouri signed into law on of the most restrictive regulations, one of the most restrictive laws banning abortion care in thee country, jailingoctors for upup to 15 years for providing care, with no exceptionsor rape or incest, and there's no other way to describe what's happeni here than the weaponization and the politicization of the licensing process with one goal in mind, to end safe legalre abortion c in missouri. >> and as you know, missouri is just oat of many that is trying out different versions of this law, and as i'm sure you also know, these other states are having a great deal of ccccess. the legislatures are passing these, governors for the most part a signing them. >> this is a public healthlt crisis. it's a state of emergency for women's healthcare aoss the country. there are at least six states now that have banned abortions from the time women could evenn know that they're pregnant. multiple states have laws that they have just passed too criminalize doctors, includingo in alabama,t doctors in jail for up to 99 years for providing care to our patients, even allowing the state inn alabama and georgia and missouri to investigate women for having miscarriages. it'sin an unprecedented time for women across america, and women a paying attention. and plannedged, parenthood is leading the fight to fight back with everythingng that we have because our healthn our rights are on the line. >> some of the advocates cat of these laws are very open argue weg're pushing theseue restrictions, one,th because thy vehemently disagree withutth abortion,lso they would like to trigger a legal fight for this to go tos. the u.s. supreme court where they hope they will be victorious. would you and planneparenthood welcome a review of the supreme court on roe v. wade?? >> well, first, i want to say that what the consequence of these laws will be is to directlme endanger w's lives.. missouri could very well be the firsttate in the country to have no health center to provide abortion care in almost 50 years, which means thatns 1.1 million missouri women of productive age will no longerng be able to access essential healthcare in their states. banning abortion is not going to stop abortion, but it will stop safe, legal abortions, and thed consequence co women's lives. now, we are very concerned about the challenge to roe, because if roe is overturned or furth eroded, that means one in three women of reproductive age in this country, 25 million could be living in states wherertre abn is banned, criminalized and outlawed, and the consequence will be an impact on women's health and andd futures. >> some oftu thesegislativee moves do come from, albeit it's a minority of voters, accordingo to most polls, but what do you peoplethat minority of in the united states who believe that, no matter when an abortion occurs, that it is tantamount to taking a life? how do you respond to that argument that they make?e? >> you are entitled to your own ononion, but please do impose it on other people. i'm a physician, and i've treated women, patients, families who have been in veryy challengings, circumstanc and these women need our compassion ane support. st thing that they. need is for politicians to be telling them what they should be doing with their personal health. this is a point of view that the majority of amerins agree with. actually, support for roe v. wade is at 73%, higher than it's ever been. there's not one state in thewhth countre the majority of people support overturning the american people stand with us, and they runsing thatat abortion care ipart of the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare, which is healthcare. >> dr. leana wen, president of planned parenthood, thank youha very much. >> thank you.w >> brangham: and now for the other side. i'm joined now by mallory san b. anthony list, a national pro-life organization. elcome to the "newshour". > thank you so much for having me. the state of missouri is saying it's got to close the planned parenthood clinic because that clinic, they say, is violating health standards. >> mm-hm >> reporteru heard dr. leana wen of plannede parenthood, they say theor hst e just keeps trying to move the goalpost, that their real aim is just to close tclinic and stop abortions in missouri totally. what your take on that? >> i think we just have to look at the facts. it was ats patient complaint tht actually prompted the investigation into the clinic, and they fund multiple violations. a woman who went in for an ortion actually remained pregnant. botchedtalk of abortions, failure to do proper informed consent. actually, an ambulance has beenn called to this particular facility in st. louis more than 70 times since 2009. that, as she mentioned, a public health crisis. l that soundse a public health crisis to me.cr we know what happens when public health offinals don'tect abortion facilities. it happened in pennsylvania forr 17 years, they did not inspect clinics. gosnellcl was convicted of killg children who had been born alive and the death of one patient. in fact, e.m.s. could not get her out because the hallways re not wide enough, and there was debris everywhere. so these regulations aren't arbitrary, they're about the health and safety of women. >> i should state for the recoro the case you're citing is not a plned parenthood clinic. >> true. you know, the missouri departmentf health is tasked with protecting the health and a safety of women.en that's what they're trying to d here. >> let's just say that planned parenthood clinic,a the only abortion-providing clinic in missouri, were to not be able to do that, don'tou worry that women who still would like toke have an abortion will proceed to find that procedure in much more dangerous, much more unregulated ways and in fact, in tend, could be much more harmful to women in missouri? >> well, i think just becausess it's the last abortion facility doesn't mean it shouldn't bebe held to any standard.ta planned parenthoodthouldn't special treatment because they llntb to stay open.op there is act a plannedd parenthood clinic doing abortions just across the river nearby to st. louis. reallyalhat we're speaking about the issue ofor on and less access, we need to provide better for women who are facingg unexpected pregnancies. abortion ist the best solution. >> right, but should women --- 's still a legal procedure under roe v. wade that women across theuntry -- and the majority of women polled inn almosevery state in the country argue i understand the position of the anti-abortion movement, but this is still a legal pryedure, it is body and i would like to have the right, with consultation with my doctor partner, perhaps, to make this choice for mys >> well, in missouri, the people, the duly-elected of the people, sent them to jackson city with a mandate to protect life, and i would argue that this is the problem with roe v. wade is that it wasroundly undemocratic, prevented the states from reaching consensus, and now what we're having is a breakthrough moment where state legislators wt to go ahead and have these debates and missouri has passed sweepg pro-li protections, the way it waswa meant to be done, through the legislature, not through theth courts. >> missouri, as you mentioned, is one of many states that isth goinugh this process off enacting restrictions onn abortion and many advocates sayy we areg to trigger a supreme court challenge, weng would love the supreme court to take this up. do you think that that review wouldo go in favor? >> well, i don't have a crystall i don't know which bill that they will choose to take up. missouri, for example, the theslators really threw in kitchen sink. it limits abortion at eight wees, it also limits abortion at five months, which is when science tell us the unborn chill can feel pain, and there's a slew of other regulations.s. so i think a time is coming the court is probably looking at what's happening across country, not just states in missouri and louisiana and in the deepsouth. we have, you know, probably protections passing elsewhere across the country. there'slly a lot of r momentum, and this tell usthat roe v. wade isn't settled in the hearts and minds of the american people, and, so i do believe that the court is going to have to eventually take up one of thesecases give the court a wide range of oions. >> mallory quigley of the susan b. anthony lt, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. brangham: just six weeks after apparently winning another term as prime minister, benjami netanyahu was back to square one as the clock struck midnight last night. his bid to form a new coalition government failed, and with it, israel is plunged into a summer of political uncertainty. as john yang tells us, this first-of-its-kind impasse will trigger new elections in four months. >> yang: second by second, the clock ran out last night on prime minister benjamin netanyahu's efforts to form a coalition government. so, the legislature, called the "knesset," voted to dissolve itself, barely a month after it was sworn in, sending the country into an unprecedented re-do election. afterward, the prime minister sounded confident. >> ( translated ): we will run sharp, clear election campaign which will bring us victory. we will win. we will win, and the public will win. > yang: but on the streets: frustration. >> in my view, it is a very sad day for israel. we've become like a third-world country, when people are worried about their personalities, instead of about the couny's politics. >> as every other citi israel, i was very surprised and even shocked from what happened last night. >> yang: just last month, netanyahu and his right-wi "likud" party celebrated victory. but his efforts tform a coalition crumbled over disagreements aboulitary draft exemptions for ultra- orthodox jews. avigdor liberman, head of a small, ultra-nationalist and secular party, insisted on ending the exemptions. wheultra-orthodox parties siding with netanyahu balked, lieberman refused to join, thus denying the prime minister a working majority in the knesset. >> ( translated the fact that the state of israel is headingel toward anothetion is only because of the likud. they did not reach a coalition agreement with any party until yesterday. >> yang: looming over all this: pending corruption charges netanyahu. he faces a pre-indictment hearing just two weeks before israelis go to the polls again, in mid-september. the political upheaval also th oatens u.s. plans to roll an israeli-palestinian peace proposal, shepherded bymp president t son-in-law, jared kushner. he met with netanyahu in jerusalem today. >> even though we had a little event lasnight, that's not going to stop us. we're going to continue working together. >> yang: for now, any talk of peace is likely to be pued off once again, as the prime minister fights to keep his job. the trump administration had already agreed to release that plan after last month's israeli election, so it would not become an issue. joininus now is david makovsky. he is a distinguished fellow at the washington institute, and director of the project on arab- israel relations. after the election last month, no one said this was going to be easy for netanyahu to build a coalition to form government. what happened? >> what happened is the person who's kind of known as the magician in israel seemed to have lost his magic.ry he's a formidable political campaigner, but part of his guccess is, after the results, it's cobblin together the requisite government, you need 61 out of 120 seats in the parliament. part of his success in the past is his ability to reach across the aisle and bring in parties when he has recalcitrants from the other side within the ranks. it's polarized the system in israel, that the center party that normally would have been more open to what they call unity government, a bigent, they said we will not talk to this guy as long as he is under a legal cloud, that healing cloud has -- legal cloud has to be lifted. so his ro to maneuver shrunk dramatically and he became more behol the parties to have the right. lieberman identified where the schism in the right, and he had nowhere to go, so it was a straitjacket politically. >> why is lieberman doing this? he has five seats in the cay c knesset. >> lieberman was his chief of staff in the '90s. lieberman was like a bridge with a link to a million plus immigrants who came to israel after theivil war with the former soviet union. he started his own immigrants party. now it's almost 30 years after the end of the cold war and these immigrants have kids and they feel like they're israelis, not russians. so he'trying to rebrand his party as being the secular right, as he pointed out in the setup piece, to be a guardian for israel's secular virtues and that means ending the exemptions ulfor thera orthodox, and he said i'm sticking to it, and he did. but, of course, it was said it's a vendetta, a pretext, not incipal. >> how big a hit has netanyahu's taken and how will that affect his in the election? >> part of his success is he said dominated israeli politics for a decad i want my firth term. he said i brought pros territory and brought relatively stability in a region that's got a lot of choppy waters, and i've done a lot of outreach to a lot of countries around the world, that i'm one of the only people that can talk both to trump and president putin and the israelii publis they have a leader playing on the world stage that way. so iny, a certain w he's looking very good, evenhough he and neither the northernni paless have moved an inch on that issue. sinceeptember 9, he's done a couple of moves to help the blue white party he named afterr l's flag, and when he wants to change his personal immunity in the can knesset, in the particle comment and to change the judicial rule over the parliamentary measures to insulate himself from legal proceedings, the israeli public says you've gone too far and i predict his rifle blue/white party will run and say we're safeguarding israeli democracy in 2019. so i think they'll run on that, and he will run on trying to reach out to the russian i wouldn't be surprised if he invites vladimir putin to israeu be the russian immigrants find president putin s aseone who has been better toward israel and he could siphon off some of the voters lieberman always had thei maj on. >> david makovsky, tnks for joining us. >> brangham: inside the sprawling rohingya refugee camps in bangladesh live an entire generation of children without proper edution. as special correspondent tania rashid reports, some of them are still finding ways to make it to school, even if it means t breaki law. >> reporter: in the world's largest refugee camp on the bangladeshi-myanmar border, this 14-year-old rohingya girl, whose name and face we concealed to protect her identity, has sked it all to follow her dreams. she left the schools inside the camps for a formal education that could offer her a better future. >> ( translated ): i want to work in human rights and education, so my people, the rohingyas, haveights. i will do everything to empowerp ple to get an education, for all those kids in the camps unable to study, i want to fight for them. i want to give opportunities for my generation. if they can't study, what will they do? how can they le their lives?oh >> reporter:gya children, according to bangladeshi law, are not allowed to attend local schools. that's because they a not recognized as refugees. but this girl didn't let that stop her. she's presently enrolled in school in south eastern bangladesh, illegally. stateless and displacedover 730,000 muslim rohingya refugees ifled their native myanmo bangladesh in 2017, amid a brutal crackdown led by myanmar militar forces. u.n. investigors have described it as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. today, half a million children living in these camps have no accesso a formal education. and, it's young girls like herne who are most vble to exploitation. they risk early marriaild labor, or being trafficked onto the black market. but her mother wasn't going to allow that that to happe she fought to push her daughter out of the camps. er father wanted to marry her off at just ten years old. >> ( translated her father said she's ready to be married. but my daughter and i fought with him. if she got married now, i said y can't force my daughter to get married. lots of people in the camps can't get an education. my daughter has the opportunity. why wouldn't i give that to her? >> reporter: she sold her food rations, and borrowed money from family to pay a teacher to create a fake, bangladeshi birth certificate. shortly after, amuggler took her daughter out of the camps and into a local school. >> ( translated ): i tolher to go, go somewhere else. we have no stability at the camps. it's not safe here for my children. i had to think for my daughter and her future. >> reporter: today, she studies at a bangladeshi government- grfunded school in the 9te, with access to a range of subjects including english,ba gla, math, science religion, and history. it's a different world from the camps, that offer a limited education. >> ( translated ): they don't teach you anything in the camps. they taught us burmese and english. they won't teach us bangla. but for me to live hre, i need to know bangla. the only way i could learn bangla is if i leavthe camps. they only teach you up until fifth grade, anthen there are no opportunities. >> reporter: her older sister, who works for a lal n.g.o., barely manages to pay $50 per month to fund her education and lodging in the city. but faking her identity as ash banglanational comes with high risks. since january, scores of rohingya students have been h pelled from schools in south eastern bangladr not having citizenship. many of them have been studying in the schools for years, arriving with previous influxes. but this girl managed not to get catoht, and plans to continu live in hiding. >> ( translated ): people hatehe the rohingy. i don't tell people i am one. we are the most persecut community in the world. that's why i don't say i am rohingya. i have to lie about my identity to survive. even though it's a big struggle for me, i am able ty. there are hundreds of thousands of kids like me inside of the camps who are forced to married off early, they are living a very tough life. they have no opportunities. >> reporter: they include kids like 13-year-old halim. but instead of giving up on his education, he took matters into his own hands. today, he runs a tutorg service deep inside the settlements, where he teaches more than 20 children. he says teaching is his wayof remembering what he learned in myanmar. >i ( translated ):ally miss my friends and education of that school. >> ( translated ): as we are forgetting the education of our nation, i am teaching them so that they can fight. i am teaching them so that they can do something for our nation ey don't learn anything, they can't prosper in their life, as well as, they can't fight for the nation. >> reporter: the camps are a grim space-- disease-ridden, a crowd congested, with over a million inhabitants. everyone here depends on aid, with no opportunity to generate income. a with onomy or ability to control their futures, drug addictions to yaba, a methamphetamine, especially among the youth, are on the rise. recently, international donors have set up learning centers r wheringya youth are taught basic english, burmese and math. but even these spaces arepo tery. they do not provide a long-term education or technical training skills. unicef has set up over 1,900 learning centers so far, and has plans to set vocational trainine for lon opportunities for teenagers and young adults, the ndemographic most lacking opportunity. >> we are developing 100nt developing s, different trades on what's needed, what they want to learn themselves, sewing embroidery, mobile phones, service repairing computer skills, improve digital competence as well, covering a wide range of areas. >> reporter: but as it stands, the local population are being outnumbered by the refugees. with tensions moting between both groups, the bangladeshi government has no plans to keep the rohingyas. >> ( translated ): right now, there is no future, so actually, who will work for them is thetu question. will it be government or the international community? if the government they have to stay in our country, they have to stay in our country r a long time. that is why government is waiting as soon as possible tore triate them peacefully in their country. >> reporter: the government also has plans to send the hingya to a remote island, that is underwater half the year, offay the coast of bf bengal. but none of that stops this girl from continuing to push forward with her dreams. >> ( translad ): i was scared before, but now i am focused on my goals and career. and now my fears went away. if i want to survive, i need to push forward with my life, even if.it means i have to l >> reporter: and though her mother is stuck in the campsal ne, she feels at peace knowing her daughter is helping herself, and others. >> ( translated ): i couldn't do anything with my life, but mygh dar is. i feel good. there aren't many girls like mya daughtthe rohingya camp. my daughter is unique. i am a very lucky mother to have a daughter like her.mo she's a roll. >> reporter: and with her motesr's blessing, she hohe can continue to fight for the education of future generations to me. for the pbs newshour, i'm tania rashid, reporting from cox's bazaar, bangladesh. >> brangham: now, a retired general takes on a new mission. over the past few months, economics correspondent paul solman has beeneporting on the tensions in louisiana between energy production, jobs and environmental concerns. tonight, he looks at a most unlikely bate that's been playing out on that front. it's part of our regular series, "making sense.">> our greatest gift has become our problem. >> reporter: general russel honoreé earned three stars durig his army career, and a lot of nicknames. the "ragin' cajun." >> don't get stuck on stupid, reporters! >> reporter: the "black john wayne.">> hey! weapons down! weapons down, dammit! >> reporter: the "category five general." >> the next 24 hours will be critical to us as we try to evacuate the approximately 25,000 people the convention center. nd reporter: honoreé had commanded the senfantry division in korea, saw action in operation desert storm, was commanding general of the first u.s. army. >> hey tiger, let's go. >> reporter: but it was his ervice in 2005 as commander of the joint katrina task force that won him national acclaim. and, he says, itadicalized him. >> i remember flying out froman new orles on a navy helicopter, and as we we flying out, i saw these streaks of oil. and i asked the pilots, what the hell is that? he said, general, that's the oil derricks that have fallen over. and i said, oh my god. >> repter: louisiana's greatest gift-- the basifor its economy-- was, honoreé suddenly realized, perhaps its biggest problem. the three-star retired from the army in 20entually moved back home to his native louiana, where he began a ne career, as an environmental activist. in this ted talk, for example. >> our coastline is disappearing, and it could be measured by the hour, not the year. our air is some of the worst in america, and many of the industries we have create high rates of canr among our people. we must act now, becae the future that we fear is here. >>nkeporter: the general this he knows a disaster when he es one. ngd he found plenty in his own backyard, startiith bayou corne, about an hous drive south of baton rouge, near a strip of the mississippi studdem with petroal plants, known as cancer alley. on august 3, 2012, bayou rne cracked open into a giant cknkhole, leaving an oil-s lake. mike schaff, an offshore drilling platform worker, hadn livedyou corne since the early '90s. t >>s pipeline right here is where this whole bayou right here was bubbling. little bubbles all over the place. it looked like alka-seltzer in there. ts>> reporter: the bayou n what's called a salt dome, which had been mined for decades by a firm called texas brine, creatng a cavern. what caused the sinkhole? >> what caused it was the cavern collapse. >> reporter: as "nova" explained in a 2015 documentary, rock and soiloured in through a breac in the cavern wall.nd his, in turn, sucked the surface down into a massive sinkhole. for months, gas shot out of the vent wells. was it dangerous? >> oh, yes. if it got through your cracks in thur slab and into your house, then you, if yow a switch, light switch, on, if your home wat filled up with the gas, would explode your home. >> reporter: this is the slab of mike schaff's home. >> that's my house. what's left of it. >> reporter: it didn't explode. tsxas brine entually bought out the residen of crawfish stew street, tearing down some houses, moving others, even s thouaff and some neighbors had wanted to stay. >> this doesn't look like paradise to people, but it is su me. >> reporter: a lit led to a settlement with texas brine. general honoreé had been called in for help. >> everybody knows about him, with the work that he's done for katrina, the rk he's done in our military, and now the work that he's doing with us. >> ey said, the state's not helping us. the federal government is not helping us. and we created the green army to help give voice. >> reporter: a green army of environmental activists. but how to recruit in such a red state? >> if i go in and say i'm talking about global warming, nobody's listening. they get up and walk out. >> reporter: because that's suc eological trigger. >> right.ak it's fe news, it's a hoax. well, bull ( bleep ) . we got pollution. >> reporter: which is why the general has taken to the speech circuitke the larger case. >> how many people like clean air? how many people like clean, safe water? how many people like their crawfish without any oil on them? >> reporter: we contacted the state'sive largest industry groups about general honoreé's comments. all declined an on-camera interview. j but innt written statement, three of the groups said: "industry in our stateks wos a willing partner with the louisiana department of environmental quality, our communities, our partnd employees, to ensure our most precious assets-- our environment and our citizens-- are protected. the entire state of louisiana continues to meeall of the u.s. e.p.a.'s national ambient air quality standards." meanwhile, back on the bayou... you were, and are, a member of the tea party, ght? >> that is correct. >> reporter: so is mike shaff enlisting in general honoreé's green army a harbinger? are fellow conservatives like you becoming more environmentally aware? >> my barometer on how many ofen my f are with me on certain issues is my facebook posts. i'd say 80% of the time, i postc somethinservative. >> reporter: and how many likes do you get? >> i get many likes. and then when i post somethingvi about the nment, i get four or five likes. >> reporter: so you're still an outlier in conservative circles. >> yeah, but, you know, i'm not banished. around here it's oil industry that has got them. the logic that's thrown at the ispeople, including myself that, if we restrict them orul ree them, then they're going to pick up and move, and we're not going to have those jobs. >> reporter: but with the jobs may come risks, says schaff. everybody here that passed away while i was here-- i lived here for 25 years-- died of cancer. >> reporter: everyone? >> everyone that died, died of cancer. >> reporter: ten out of 100 residents, says schaff, and schaff himself has kidney cancer and a sarcoma on his leg. >> who's to know, you know, if it wasn't my lifestyle or anythg like that? we have chemical plants along the river, about 20 miles that way. but if you want to live in paradise, you have to sacrifice something. >> reporter: russel honoreé doesn't see it that way. >> i'm generally pissed off. i spent 37 years, thr months and three days defending this country. i spent 9.5 years overse. okay? ifin some of the most ho places you ever want to see and have to work in and train. and to come back to my home state and see it controlled by multinational corporations is a crying damn shame. that's the exxon fl on top of the capitol. >> reporter: is that the exxon fla >> no. physically it is not, but mentally, it is. >> reporter: now, honoreé's beef isn't with exxon mobil in particular. it's with the entire industry. >> they own the legislature.ni the com do. less regulation bring you more pollution. >> reporter: but it also bringyo more growth. >> well, you don't see that growth bearing out, because we're the third largest energy producer, and we're thsecondst poorese. >> reporter: exxon mobil had no comment.in in their statement, the three industry groups said:" there are many voices speaking on behalf olouisiana families, workers and businesses at the capitol. they all have an importt role to play in the democratic process. we are proud of our efforts to promote free enterprise and onomic growth on behalf louisiana employers and entrepreneurs of all sizes working to improve our great state." but general honoreé is paying a price for his activism. for example, his work in saint rose, louisiana, where residents wersickened by emissions fr a plant operated jointly by ay complled i.m.t.t. and shell oil. two months later, says honoreé, he was asked to resign from thec board wford and company, an insurance claims manager. >> the chairman said, "we have a pending contract with shell. and they said they won't give uh contingency contract if you're on our board. we got to look out for the ployees here, general." i said, well, you're right. and that may meeting was my last meeting. >> reporter: crawford and co. had no comment, and shell told us the matter was under investigation. as for the general? he is undeterred >> i'm still in this fight, and it's not over. and one of these days, we'll get them. >> reporter: for the pbs onwshour, i'm business and economics corrent paul solman, reporting from louisiana. " brangham: and to our monthly conversation for ow read this" book club, which is a partnership we have with thew "rk times," where we encourage you to join on our facebook page, read along with us and thousands of others, and hear directly from the authors. jeffrey brown has our june pick, a story at once epic and intimate. it's part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." >> brown: wh happens whenan 81-year-old father sits in on his college professor son class, and what if the subjects of that class is one of iterature's greatest epics, at the heart of which is the story of a father and his son. "an odyssey" is a personal memoir about the oddsy and family teaching, learning and much more. author daniel mendelsohn is a writer and literacy professor at bart college and he's here to answer questions of the readers. thanks for being a part of this. >> thanks for being having me. >> brown: first, tell us and the rest of the audience, what was this book about? what are you after here? >> well, the book is really two stories twined together. the first story is a personal story. my father at the age of 81 announced he wanted to be a student in myrhman homer class, so that becomes the story, what'st like to have your father as a student. then, at the end of that semester, we heard about a cruise that recreates the voyages of odysseous, so we went the cruise, had another interesting set of experiences, and then he fell ill not so long after. so there are three acts, the classroom, the cruise and th hospital, all filtered through the odyssey. >> we'll go to the firs question which gets us into the oddsy and your father. >> repeatedly chamgd challenged euless seize challenge as a her don't see your take on that. t you considedo you ulyses her? >> well, i think thing about heros that are interesting is they'r heroes not because they're necessarily 100% good but because they're 100% interesting, and, so, odysseous has dark sides, he's difficult, he's liar, a cheat. >> which your father calls you ut on. he cheated on his wife, he lostc hisw, couldn't get his way home. >> right. mydad, a mathematician, wasn't charmed by him and kept challe aes me semester long. said i don't think he's a hero, kept interrupting my speeches in class. e tension between me and my dad in the classroom became kind of a vehicle forts the stud to learn about the odyssey. >> that leads to the next quyotion. >> catalk about the feelings of embarrassment and shame that your dad's behavior in your classroom broughtor up you and about how those feelings changed? >> this reallytgoes to w are the most touching aspects of the book, the peonal, how you felt about having your father as an outsider there. >> i'll have to say, i won't lie, it wasn't always easy. when you're teaching, you have to establish kind of an authority in your own classroom, especially with freshmen. >> right. and here was my daditting behind me all semester raisingnd his hand interrupting me. but i began to see aspects of m father t thought were very touching through his combative interaction with me, the professor, his son, and i was very touched by how important it was for himto show that he knew something about the life experience that h this greatme is about. >> all right. the next question came in, and this is irresistible to us,au b it's both from a father and a son. let's see that. >> from uselessies point ofv w, a paradigm or a confession? >> so the paradigm question we went back and checked about exachy what he meant wich is sort of asking were you trying to rite a primer about fathers and sons or a confession of your own life? >> i thinkieit probably between those two polls. i don't think it's aonssion. i've written three memoirs. i just tell things the way they are, but i thought this experience of interacting withm father in this classroom, in the cruise ship, in the hospital, having been thinking for a full year about the oddsy, homer's oddsy, which is, you know, largely about fathers and sons. i mean, everybody knows it's a abouguy trying to get back to his wife. >> right. but there's also a great father-son story. i should say parents and children, it's nots just fath and sons. >> let's go to the next video. have you taught the odyssey since this class and, if so, have you been more flexible about allowing your students to take moreeadership in the discussion? >> i was glad to get the question. so much of it is aboutache act of tng, right, and the experiencing of it and learning from your students. >> yeah, so admit, in the book, that i learned a lot from the students in this class, among whom was my own father, you know, about teaching, and i felt that, during that semester, i learned something very important. i love the odyssey, i have beenn reading it teaching it my whole life, and i wanted the students to love the odyss actly the way i loved it, and that was amistake. >> right. as if there's one way, right? at yeah. i learned after to loosen up a little and to let the students approach the work i their own way. so i like to think that iom learnedhing that semester, and i'm a little more flexible than i used to be. >> you like to think it. you look like you're not so sure. >> well, you know, you only know what you know, you know. >> l right. we'll continue this conversation and have it all available online and on our facebook page. for now, daniel mendelsohnnd "an odyssey." thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. and next aery different kind of trip, our june book club pick takes place on a planet not our own awe but theremise is too timely. in "the fifth season," the world is menaced byvi nmental catastrophe and its inhabitants struggle to survive. t won the 2016 hugo wared, science fiction's highest honor. we hope you'll join us, read along, get to knowth author and many other readers, now a part of "now read this," a partnership with the "new york times. >> brangham: earlier this month, our "brief but spectacular" team highlighted the need to raise awareness of sexual assault cases on the navajo nation. tonight, meskee yana yatsayte tells us about another silent epidemic in t navajo community. she leads an organization that aims to provide a voice for those who don't have one.on > a person goes missing, i always tell the families, you know, be aware that you belsme the advocate, you a become the investigator. nobody knows what is going on, on our reservation. not just the navajo resvation, but nationwide. these cases are not taken seriously. they don't hit headline news. we asked where were these cases going and, we are told that tey are being looked at, but are they? t >> when i fiarted this, i realized that our people did not have a place to go to report our missing people. i decided to create a booklet. this includes all of our updated missing persons from back from 196. a lot of them do get found, but there are some that'seen in these booklets ever since i've made them. the goals of the group is spreading awareness, and then t helpi families get their voices heard, because this is a silent epidemic. and to try and get people to listen to our voices and hearou cries is, you know, almost near impossible to do. the case thareally meant a lot to me was katczizki ariel begay. hold on. we did marches, we did awareness stands. and we were going to do another awareness event for her, and that week is when we found out that they had found the remains of ariel. ariel was murdered. even after her murder, her mom took it to the next level to find justice for arl. and just recently, she just e ssed. so, we will conti seek justice for ariel because we know that was her mo jacqueline's, wish. i have been a target of threats ve the other four of our advocates. but these are the things that have to face. i always tell the people that want to help and become a volunteer advocate, this is something that you have to be comfortable with.ve een scared for most of my life, because i was told not to speak. but, but now, i have the voice, and i'm t scared anymore. pm not scared to speak, and i will do this for tple that are not able to speak now. my name is meskee yana yatsayte, and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on findinour missing relatives. >> brangham: you can learn more about her work on the "navajo nations missing persons updates" ge on facebook. and, you can find additional "brief but spectacular" episodes on our wsite, www.pbs.org/newshour/brief. the last three decades of u.s. elections show presidential hopefuls usually do not prevail if they try and run again the trend is especially relevant for democrats now whose top twp sidential candidates, according to early polling, have both been past candidates. read more on our web site. all that and more is on our web site pbs.org/newshour. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm william brangham. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm william brangham. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life convsations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consume cellular. >> bnsf railway. >> home advisor. >> fancial services firm raymond james. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributis to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productns, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh martha: hi. i'm m martha stewart. wowhat if i told you uld come to your home and teach you how to cook? from the best of the basics to the secrets of the spectacular, i'm abouake your love of cooking to a whole new level. welcome to "martha's cooking school," lessons and recipes for the home cook. 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