♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs "newshour." >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the war between israel and hamas raged on today, with strikes on a united nations school and a busy market in gaza. after more than three weeks of fighting, the palestinian death toll reached 1,359 and in israel, 56 soldiers have been killed, along with three civilians. bodies were carried one-by-one out of a crowded shopping area in the eastern gaza strip today. the israeli airstrike hit when people were taking advantage of a four-hour cease-fire, but it applied only to certain areas. hamas also broke it by firing at least 20 rockets during that time period. the attack followed one of the israeli military's most active days since the four week conflict began. earlier in the day it was a u.n. school that came under fire. at least 16 people were killed and more than 100 injured. the school was one of dozens in gaza giving shelter to 200,000 displaced palestinians. >> ( translated ): people were >> ( translated ): children, men, everyone was dismembered at the abu hussein school. why were they killed? what did they do? >> woodruff: a u.n. spokesman on the ground said the light of day revealed the assault came from israeli tanks. >> we have visited the site and gathered evidence, we have analyzed fragments, examined craters and other damage. our initial assessment is that it was israeli artillery that hit our school in which 3,300 people had sought refuge. >> woodruff: israeli defense force spokesman peter lerner said his country's forces acted only in response to a mortar shell launched at them from near the school. >> there is a challenge on the ground where this terrorist organization is exploiting the reality on the ground, exploiting the civilian environment and exploiting the people of gaza themselves. we're up against a huge challenge and clearly that can be tragic results that we have seen. >> woodruff: still, the shelling of the u.n. school drew widespread condemnation, including from the white house. and in new york, the u.n. deputy secretary general expressed shock. >> for me this is a moment where you really have to say, "enough is enough" and you have to search for the right words to convince those who have the power to stop this. >> woodruff: mosques were again an israeli target and five were reduced to rubble. in daylight, the destruction was clear. korans littered the ground, the building's minaret was resting on a nearby apartment building. >> ( translated ): people come here to pray and do their duty five times a day. now we have been deprived from praying dawn, morning, noon, evening. where will people pray now? >> woodruff: but israeli officials said the mosques are being used by militant fighters. the israeli military dropped warning leaflets in gaza, urging residents to keep away from terrorists, and to report rocket launchers, tunnels and ammunition arsenals. meanwhile, hamas carried out its own campaign to boost morale. last night it broadcast video purportedly showing its fighters using a tunnel to carry out an attack on an israeli outpost near gaza's border. in washington today, the state department reacted to more criticism levied at secretary john kerry by israeli media. he's come under fire for his failed attempt to broker a cease-fire. his spokeswoman, marie harf, called the attacks "shocking and disappointing." >> the hours all of us have spent with the secretary in jerusalem and trying to get middle east peace, trying to work to protect security, that's why it's so disappointing is it's so at odds with reality and flies in the face of everything we have been trying to do. >> woodruff: during cease-fire negotiations, kerry had suggested hamas' demand to end the blockade of gaza be on the table, which set off the israeli criticism. >> ifill: at least 19 people were killed today in eastern ukraine, as new clashes flared between government forces and pro-russian separatists. much of the violence targeted areas in and around the rebel stronghold of donetsk. the fighting stopped international experts from reaching the malaysian airlines crash site for a fourth day. it's been two weeks since the plane went down. a ukrainian government spokesman warned the area is becoming more unsafe. >> ( translated ): at the crash site, terrorists set up new firing positions. they moved a lot of heavy artillery there and mined entrances to this territory. it prevents international experts from carrying out their work while they are trying to start fulfilling their duties and find causes of the downing of boeing 777. >> ifill: ukraine's border with russia is also the scene of russian troop movement. today, nato's military commander reported their numbers have risen sharply to over 12,000. >> woodruff: russia had harsh words today about the new round of u.s. sanctions president obama imposed yesterday. a statement from the russian foreign ministry read: both the u.s. and the european union imposed new sanctions against russian banks, energy and defense firms for russia's role in the separatist uprising in ukraine. >> ifill: officials in liberia shut all the country's schools and quarantined more communities to try to stop the rapid spread of the worst outbreak of ebola on record. the world health organization estimates the highly infectious disease has killed at least 129 people across the west african country. it has no known cure. the u.s. peace corps announced today it's withdrawing all of its volunteers-- about 350 people-- from liberia, sierra leone and guinea after two volunteers came in contact with someone who died of the virus. >> woodruff: the u.s. house of representatives voted to sue president obama today for overstepping his executive powers. the lawsuit-- sponsored by speaker john boehner-- claims the president failed to uphold the constitution during the implementation of the affordable care act. debate on the house floor was heated and completely along party lines. >> once again republicans are putting special interest in the howls of impeachment hungry extremists before the needs of the nation. the lawsuit is only the latest proof of house republicans contempt and disregard for the people. priorities of the america >> this isn't about republicans and democrats. it's about defending the constitution that we swore an oath to uphold and acting decisively when it may be compromised. >> woodruff: on the road in kansas city today, president obama weighed in on the lawsuit, calling it a "political stunt" and saying it was keeping lawmakers from doing real work. >> every vote they're taking like that means a vote they're not taking to actually help you. (laughter) when they've taken 50 votes to repeal the affordable care act, that was time that could have been spent working constructively to help you on some things. (applause) >> woodruff: the house also overwhelmingly approved a compromise bill to reform the department of veterans affairs and improve veterans' access to health care. the $17 billion overhaul now heads to the senate, which is expected to act it soon before heading home for the august recess. >> ifill: a massive clean-up effort was underway today in los angeles after a major water main break inundated the campus of u.c.l.a. a nearly century-old pipe ruptured yesterday and for three hours spewed nearly eight million gallons of water. crews began cleaning up six damaged facilities, including a recently-renovated basketball arena. an official from the city's department of water and power warned repairing the pipe could take several days. >> we found that we've got a number of valves leaking through that has complicated getting access to the repair. we are currently assessing all options to get the leakage down and what repairs we can make. we cannot begin any repairs until we get the water completely down and we're working on that. >> ifill: city officials have yet to determine what caused the pipe to burst. more than 700 cars parked in flooded underground garages remain submerged. >> woodruff: stocks were mixed on wall street today after a better-than-expected report on economic growth. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 31 points to close at 16,880. the nasdaq rose 20 points to close at nearly 4,463. nd the s&p added a fraction of a point to close at 1,970. we'll take a closer look at the state of the economy right after this news summary. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: how the u.s. economy looks from around the country, addressing sexual assaults on college campuses, terrorists turn to kidnapping europeans as a lucrative source of revenue, how tiny pieces of plastic in body wash and facial scrubs are causing big problems in the great lakes, plus, a comedian's take on race and changing demographics. >> woodruff: the u.s. economy rebounded strongly in the second quarter of this year. better, in fact, than most predicted. new numbers out today showed the gross domestic product grew at a 4% annual rate. that's far better than this winter, when the economy seemed to slump and shrank by about 2%. still, those numbers don't quite tell you what it feels like in different parts of the country. jeffrey brown gets some regional views. >> brown: in addition to today's numbers, the overall jobs picture has improved of late, averaging a more than 200,000 increase for five straight months. but again, questions: what kinds of jobs? and how long-lasting is the upward swing? we get a snapshot of three parts of the country, from: mark vitner, managing director and senior economist at wells fargo in charlotte, north carolina, tom binnings, senior partner at "summit economics" in colorado springs, colorado and shirley leung, a business editor at "the boston globe." shirley, start us off here: do the numbers showing an upswing jibe with what you see in the northeast? what sectors are better, what are still lagging? >> yeah, in massachusetts the economy has been going very strongly, and today's numbers, you know, look like the same upward growth. one of the things we're seeing here and continue to see is the growth is very uneven, you know, greater boston folks who work at tech or hospitals do very well. if you're out beyond the greater boston into the western part of massachusetts or southern parts of massachusetts where you don't have those kind of sectors, the unemployment rate is quite high. >> brown: mark vitner, start at the southeast where you are. what do you see? >> well, the southeast really gained momentum over the last year and i think it's pretty typical of what we've seen in the country. the first four years are really telling. we were bairlg making 2% growth. the last year it's been about 2.5% and we've seen job growth pick up in north carolina, georgia and florida, parts of tennessee, but it is more urban-oriented. the big areas, charlotte and raleigh, atlanta, nashville, all the big florida metro areas, miami, orlando, tampa, are all doing exceptionally well, but the rural areas are mostly lagging, in a few of the big cities most closely tied to the government are still sluggish because to have the effects of sequestration. >> brown: tom binnings, colorado, the larger mountain region, what's driving the growth there and where is it heading? >> i would echo what everyone else has said. the denver, salt lake city, metro area, they're doing well and have been doing well several years. robust growth, employment growth and you get into the outlying areas and the second and third-tier communities and cities and the the growth is lagging. >> brown: what about jobs, tom. does that fit into the picture you're talking about? >> absolutely, the job growth is strong in colorado as whole because of the denver metro to wyoming all the way to the border. a lot of professional technical services, we have a vibrant construction industry, a lot of growth in the last couple of years, accommodations and food service, so our growth is pretty broad-based throughout the different economic sectors. >> brown: and mark vitner when you look around the country do you see other large regions that are a little slower than yours or is it uneven regionally? >> it is uneven regionally. i think there are large parts that are growing at a sluggish pace. when you get away from boston and new york city, it's really, really sluggish. atlantic city is having a really tough time now as is a part of new jersey. detroit is doing better in the auto sector but you get away from that and things haven't picked up all that much. there's a real contrast between the areas that have vibrant energy and technology sectors and the areas that don't -- seattle, san francisco, austin are some of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. >> brown: i gather the globe did a poll recently looking at people's attitudes about the economy and you found some disconnect between the growth and whether people really are experiencing it? >> yeah, i mean, absolutely. unemployment rate is 5.5% here and, you know, the housing market here is -- a lot of parts of it in greater boston have more than recovered. they actually surpassed the peak from 2005. but in a recent survey, eight out of ten voters say that they feel that their personal financial situation is worse or the same compared to last year. half the respondents in our survey say they're cutting back on basic necessities. i think also people are dining out less and they're cutting back on discretionary spending. >> brown: is there any sense of what's causing the disconnect? >> i think they're a little nervous about their jobs, still. i think they're a little nervous about what's happening in washington and kind of really the political future of the country. i think the stock market is reaching some, you know, new highs and they're in the sure why they're going along with it, so i think there is just a lot of uncertainty. >> brown: tom binnings, do you have a sense of public sentiment out there in that region vis-a-vis the economy? >> well, yeah, i do. i think it's more positive but there's still caution. a lot of it has to do with the aging baby boomers, with retirement looming ahead, and just sort of trying to forecast their own futures. and then we get a lot of young people moving into colorado, and then they're generally optimistic, but, on the other hand, a lot of them are bringing with them a lot of student debt so they're challenged in that regard. >> mark vitner, what about housing? it's come up in this discussion but it's such an important sector for so many people. >> well, it is really stuck in a hard place right now. i think that it fits in with your previous question when you're asking about the uncertainty people are feeling. older households are staying in place. maybe they had an interruption in their employment and that's hit their savings and they're worried about how they're positioned for retirement, so they're not selling their home and relocating or downsizing. at the other end, the younger households are having a tough time getting started. they graduated into a very weak job market, many are working part-time jobs or working outside their chosen field. they have huge student loan debts and they're choosing to rent rather than buy. so we're really having a tough time getting to minimum in housing. it's true in the south and most parts of the country. there are a few sectors where housing is is doing. we salt lake city is one, orange county in california, in particular, san diego is beginning to pick up, but very spotty. >> brown: tom binnings, an important sector where you are is the energy industry. >> well, the energy sector, it's not as important as sometimes we think in colorado, but it's concentrated north of denver and weld county, and that's doing well, but that's not what's driving the economic growth in the colorado and the mountain region. so the housing is actually booming in denver right now, but it's more higher-density housing versus traditional and a lot more rental housing was mentioned, difficulty in people qualifying to buy, and developers having a difficult time developing for purchase. >> brown: just as we get in the last couple of minutes here, i just wonder, is there a sector or maybe even a local business that you like to watch as your bellweather to tell you how things are going? >> well, that's definitely a good question. you know, one thing i have been watching closely is restaurants and just hospitality because that's about discretionary spending. we actually have had a lot of new restaurant openings and you didn't see that a lot. you saw more restaurants closing during the recession and, so, i feel like even though people are cautious about eating out here in our survey, i think restaurants feel comfortable about that. i feel like a lot of new restaurants are opening all over the city now. >> brown: mark vitner, i know you take a wide look at the country, but is there one store or company you like to look at? >> well, there's not so much one store or company. i look at sectors and i watch retail very closely and look at what's happening with different retailers, looking at what's happening with the furniture stores, their business has been very, very good. you look at what's happening with the discounters and we're struggling and i think that's where the split is occurring and consumers and lower and middle income households are really having a tough time because while inflation is relatively low, food and energy prices are up a little bit more than the overall inflation rate and wages aren't rising as rapidly and are getting squeezed. >> brown: that's a little downer but we have to leave it there. mark vitner, tom binnings and shirley leung, thank you all very much. >> thanks. you. >> ifill: now to a serious problem increasingly plaguing the nation's college campuses: the crime of sexual assault. the white house says one in five female students has been affected, and now a bipartisan group of senators is calling for universities to act. >> it is time to protect those who were wronged. the time is now. >> ifill: "anna" was not yet ready to reveal her last name today, but she was prepared to tell her story of surviving sexual assault. >> what happened to me and to too many other women and men is wrong. it should not matter what you drink or what you wear, that does not give anyone the right to sexually assault you. >> ifill: the former hobart and william smith student joined other sexual assault survivors and a bipartisan collection of eight u.s. senators in supporting a proposal to improve the way colleges deal with crime on campus. annie clark spoke on behalf of an advocacy group called end rape on campus. >> the institutional betrayal that these students faced is sometimes worse than the assault itself. at the university of north carolina at chapel hill, when i reported that i was sexually assaulted, someone told me that rape was like a football game and that i should look back on that game to figure out what i would do differently in that situation. >> our students deserve better than this. >> ifill: new york democrat kirsten gillibrand said the numbers show women in college are more likely to be victims of sexually assault than women who are not. >> with this bill, we are flipping the incentives. currently accurate reporting makes a school an outlier. because no school wants to be alone in admitting such a serious problem. with this bill underreporting will have stiff fines and real teeth. >> ifill: florida republican marco rubio noted that some campus investigations have favored student athletes. >> i do think it does a tremendous job of advancing the cause forward. by creating a uniform system where every single victim and every single instance is treated the same. where there is no special preference because someone can dunk a basketball or throw a ball 80 yards down the field. >> ifill: gillibrand and co- sponsor claire mccaskill said they hope to get the bill passed this year. joining me now are two of the sponsors of this bill: senator claire mccaskill, a democrat from missouri and senator kelly ayotte, a republican from new hampshire. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> reporter: one of the most interesting numbers that came out of the white house report and again today is one of five women in college campuses are subject to sexual assault or victims of sexual assault. what do colleges do about that? >> we're trying to make clear that there has to be a system or process in place that will allow confidential place for victims to come forward and make sure the investigations are done in a competent way. frankly, the more startling statistic is that 40% of the college campuses in the country have not investigated a single case of sexual assault in five years, and we know that this is a silent epidemics on your college campuses, so we've got a lot of work to do. this bill covers a lot of ground and it's a great bipartisan effort. >> ifill: senator ayotte, how do you define sexual assault on campus? >> gwen, the bottom line is every allegation of sexual assault needs to be fully investigated and that's what we're trying to ensure here because there has been great inconsistency. on some campuses the allegations are not being investigated as that's right mccaskill mentioned, it's been investigated inconsistency. in some cases athletic departments were investigating them which is inappropriate. there needs to be best practices, full investigation and victims need to be supported which is not happening. our young people in this country deserve to have a safe environment on campus and both of us are former prosecutors. we understand the victims won't come forward if they feel like their allegations aren't investigated or taken seriously and they won't receive the support they deserve. >> ifill: senator mccaskill are colleges ignoring the problem or covering it up? >> i think a little of both. i think it's better to hope it's not really happening and what this bill will do is force them to be more transparent, to do a climate survey so that we have an apples to apples comparison on campuses. how do kids feel on campuses? are they safe? is there a lot going on not reported? ultimately, building bridges between campuses and law enforcement so that when a victim is confident and can come forward, we get a good prosecution out of it because very few people rape someone once. these are repeat offenders, even on these college campuses. >> ifill: some educators said you're pointing the finger in wrong direction and they're educating and don't need to be the cops. >> we're working with higher education institutions to have best practices in place on their campuses and we don't want them to feel like they have to be law enforcement. that's the point of this bill is to ensure there is an understanding between each college and their local law enforcement agencies so that they know that the law enforcement investigate these crimes, but the institution has a responsibility to have a safe climate on campus and victims, when they come forward, should know they will be supported by the institution, that victims will have a confidential advisor to help them through the process. so this is part of the responsibility of these institutions to ensure it's safe on campus for the young people who attend these colleges and looking for a better life and more opportunity. >> ifill: senator mccaskill, there are a lot of women who never get to college. what about at them? this seems to be paying special attention to women who have a lot of advantages already. what about women who don't? >> believe it or not, gwen, the statistics show incident of rate is higher among this population than the non-college population. this is about the requirements of a safe campus and about the conduct of students on campus. but, obviously, both kelly and i have worked for a lot of our lives in this area of sexual assault and we have been very active in the violence against women act and other pieces of legislation that provide support and counseling and those same services we were talking about on college campuses to every woman who finds herself in one of these situations. >> ifill: what will assessing penalties for non-compliance make in helping colleges and universities pay better attention to the problem? >> the difference i think it will make is colleges receive a substantial amount of federal support in many ways and this will just ensure more accountability that there is uniformity on campus as to how this is handled and they're reaching out to the student body to help victims of sexual assault and prevention efforts. in higher ed, we see federal dollars under the clery act and title 9 which is putting more teeth into efforts already in place to ensure we can work with institution force them to do the right thing and to have t a safe climate on campus. >> ifill: senator mccaskill do we trunk risk of shifting responsibility from local law enforcement to campus police who may not be as skilled or prepared to deal with this? >> no, in fact, we're hoping for the opposite. what we're hoping is that with this confidential advisor where a victim can go and get good information and the right kind of forensic interview, then she will have the offcan dense and the right information to allow her to go to law enforcement and have law enforcement do what they should be doing and that is investigating this crime. in that regard, we have to make everyone is trained and make sure that not just law enforcement is trained on these crimes but campus law enforcement is trained and the people who are adjudicating these administrative procedures where a student could be punished by suspension or expulsion from the school that they understand this crime and, right now, it is a hodgepodge of misfits that are trying to do this. as kelly mentioned, we even have athletic departments doing it for their athletes which is a terrible conflict of interest. it's hard enough for a victim to come forward, if she senses there might be a level playing field. they'll never come forward if they sense an unlevel playing field. >> ifill: we've had the fortune of talking about bipartisanship this week on veterans affairs and we want to talk to you about the possibility that you may get this passed this year. senator ayotte. >> you saw a great group of bipartisan work today. we're going to find a lot of bipartisan support for this legislation because every state in this nation has a college or a higher ed institution and we want to ensure -- i know all my colleagues do -- that those campuses are safe for our young men and women to go to. >> ifill: senator mccaskill. f we can't set aside partisan relationships on this issue we are without hope. people on both sides of the aisle want to get this right and make it supportive for victims and universities and i think we'll get this done. >> ifill: thank you both very much. >> thank you, gwen. >> woodruff: a new report documents how al quaida is bringing in money to finance its operations. investigation by the "new york times" reveals european and gulf states government have routinely paid millions of dollars in ransom to win the release of their citizens kidnapped by al quaida in. all since $2,008,125 million has been paid out by france, switzerland, spain, austria, qatar andoman. three different al quaida coordinate efforts and abide by a common kidnapping protocol. we have rukmini callimachi who wrote the story. tell us about how the groups operated. it seems more coordinated than i think most people would expect. >> yes, exactly. it's much more coordinated than i think we realized. there's a letter that i was able to recover in mali last year when i was on assignment from the a.p. and it was a letter from a leading cell in north africa under al quaida's tutelage to a commander who had botched the ransom negotiations for a hostage he had and, in the letter, one of the things that they say to him is that he had gotten a much lower ransom figure because he had decided to negotiate the ransom himful is rather than letting the leaders in pakistan -- a reference to al quaida central -- carry out the negotiations. so what is clear is these kidnappings are not just by individual units in foreign places in the world. they're actually being coordinated by al quaida core. >> woodruff: has this become the prince the source of funding for al quaida? i know we talked to other terror ex spirits who said it is a significant source of funding on the african continent, maybe less so for other branches. >> one of the documents we found in malley last year was a letter from the number two of al quaida who is the head of al quaida affiliate in yemen and in that letter he advises other jihadists to begin kidnapping and says the spurs of kidnapping represent 50% of his operating revenue. so in their own words they're saying ransoms have become very important. the u.s. department of treasury has said as much that ransoms have now become the main source of financing for the terror network. >> woodruff: how are the hostages treated? because on the one hand, they are threatened with their lives every moment they're held captive. on the other hand, the captors want to keep them healthy in order to get the ransom. >> that's exactly it. a decade ago when westerners were taken by al quaida, it was specifically to kill them in the most gruesome possible way to make a political statement. now, when hostages are taken, the goal is to keep them alive and to trade them for money or prisoner exchange. so i was able to speak to numerous hostages who were held both in africa and yemen and several people told me that there were logistics in place to deal with whatever their illness was. one woman had breast cancer, they were able to bring in breast cancer administration. one person had a kidney ailment. they were able to truck in specialized kidney medicine. in general, this is a business for them. they see the hostages as a commodity and having them die on you is not useful. >> woodruff: rukmini callimachi, talk about how the different governments in europe deal with this because you pointed out united states and great britain don't pay, typically, a ransom for hostages but the other governments do. how do they arrive at that philosophy? we have to say they publicly deny they're doing this. >> exactly. so all of the governments deny that they pay ransoms. i was able to through a lot of footwork to finally track down several of the main negotiators both on the european side and on the african and the yemen side who are the ones who made the bridge with the al quaida groups. what they're doing is european governments are often paying these ransoms but they're hiding them by calling it an aid payment to the country where the hostages are being kept. for instance, one of the very first ransoms was in 2003, paid by germany, and i was able to speak to six officials who confirmed that germany sent a high-level emissary with three suitcases of cash, arrived in the capital of mali, handed them over to the president of mali, and in the budget for that year they wrote it off as humanitarian aid to mali. >> woodruff: so al quaida has seen this as a systematic way, a successful thing for them to do, because one assumes there are operations that don't work out for them. >> yes. there have for sure been rescue attempts by france, also by the united states when their people have been taken, so there is some risk to it. but what struck me when i was speaking to these former hostages is, in general, just how easy it is to take foreigners like us. when you point a gun at an unarmed civilian, what are they going to do? very few people run. the majority just put up their hands and go with their captors and once they're being held in north africa or yemen, they're in the desert, and hundreds if not thousands of miles away from anywhere. and, so, the hostages say that, even though they obsessively think about running away, even though they're not chained up, they find themselves in an open-air prison and, so, they're able to hold them for another time. >> woodruff: so finally a question about our governments coming up with strategies to deal with this. are they telling tourists? because so often i was struck by how many people were taken hostage were simply tourists in the wrong place at the wrong time. a government saying to people don't go to certain countries or parts of countries. how are governments reacting? >> yes, for sure, and the arc of this is in the early years starting in 2003 -- [ audio difficulty ] >> woodruff: my apology. apparently, we have lost the signal from new york city with rukmini callimachi of the "new york times." we apologize. sometimes that happens. we'll be back. >> ifill: scientists are looking into a surprising new pollutant in the country's waterways: the existence of tiny plastic microbeads. the state of illinois has become the first state to ban these microbeads. brandis friedman has that story from w.t.t.w chicago. >> what if you could shrink your pores, just by washing your face? >> reporter: microbeads have been all the rage in hand sanitizers, body wash and facial scrub, even toothpaste. they're supposed to help remove dead cells or tighten pores as the product in this commercial claims. but they worry olga lyandres. >> when you think about how many of these are being used daily and washed down the drain, it's quite staggering. >> reporter: lyandres is the research manager for the alliance for the great lakes. >> this is something that impacts the ecosystem the wildlife by entangling fish and birds ingest these particles, and it impacts their health. but also it's a sort of a cultural issue, because people who grew up around great lakes, go to the beach don't want to go to beach that's littered and dirty with plastic items. >> reporter: scientists are also seeing evidence that the microbeads are reaching the water. at loyola university chicago, professor timothy hoellein and his student researchers are looking for the plastic beads in samples of water taken from rivers in and around chicago, as well as lake michigan. last year, sherri mason at the state university of new york in fredonia found anywhere from 1,500 to 1.1 million microbeads per square mile in the great lakes-- the world's largest source of freshwater. >> what we're interested in doing is determining concentration, determining the source of microplastic and also different types of these small plastic pieces that we find in the river. >> reporter: so far, hoellein says his research shows that the synthetic microbeads are coming from treated wastewater that flows into sanitary canals and rivers, which feed into larger bodies of water. >> our initial findings from the north shore channel showed very high concentrations of microplastic downstream of our wastewater effluent source, and in fact our concentrations were higher than what had been found in ocean. not only did we find it, but we found a lot of material. >> reporter: in june, governor pat quinn signed into law legislation making illinois the first state in the union to ban the manufacture and sale of personal care products containing synthetic plastic microbeads. the new law requires that the beads be removed from manufacturing by the end of 2018 and the products can no longer be sold starting at the end of 2019. and since major manufacturers make products for the entire country, other states will begin to notice the change on their store shelves as well, whether or not they've passed their own ban. lyandres, whose organization was pushing for the ban in illinois, wanted the products gone sooner. >> we would've liked to have seen a more compressed timeline for phase out. the sooner you can get these companies to make products available with alternatives, the better and less of it ends up in waterways. >> reporter: two organizations representing the personal care product industry worked with environmental advocates and lawmakers to craft the illinois bill. representatives from the personal care products council declined an on-camera interview, but in a statement said quote, it is true that the long term impact of the microbeads on the environment is not known. and scientists are looking into how they might carry other organisms and chemicals. >> one of the concerns is that microbes on that plastic could be pathogenic, disease-causing and they may be dispersed further in environment on a plastic surface than on a natural surface. >> reporter: and because the beads float on the water's surface, fish mistake them for food. the plastic alone is bad for fish health, but so are the microbes that the beads can carry. >> once the plastic is inside their guts, it can come off, may represent a delivery mechanism for these harmful chemicals that didn't exist previously. >> reporter: among other unanswered questions: do humans end up unknowingly eating the plastic after it's been consumed by fish? >> there's no research on long- term impact, because we've just started to look at the problem. >> reporter: microbeads end up in the waterways because water treatment plants simply can't catch them-- they're too small. >> so small that even if there's a sand filter in a plant, it doesn't stop them from passing through the plant and into the water environment. >> this is the third step in the water treatment process so water is aerated so, lighter material rises to the top and heavier waste sinks to the bottom. but somewhere in the process are the microbeads, which make it through the entire multi-step process and out to the sanitary and ship canal along with fully treated water. nothing you all can do about that? not without a significant investment? >> reporter: david saint pierre is the executive director of the metropolitan water reclamation district of greater chicago. he argues we should focus on prevention. >> if we were to adapt our plants to deal with microbeads it would be very expensive. if we deal with it on front end, take care of it before it's a problem, by eliminating it as a pollutant source, very inexpensive way to deal with the problem. >> finding a new problem in our freshwater ecosystems is alarming and concerning and we should all be worried, but i think what a ban on microbeads has shown is that once we become aware of the problem and scale and context and sources we can really start to take some real action towards solutions. >> reporter: legislatures in new york, california and ohio are considering bans similar to illinois. instead of plastics, some manufacturers are already planning to use natural ingredients, like apricot seeds, sand or oatmeal to achieve the same goals. >> woodruff: finally tonight, an increasingly successful comedian who talks about race and ethnicity as the country's demographic picture continues to change substantially. hari sreenivasan has our conversation. >> sreenivasan: comedian hari kondabolu has made a name for himself for the brand of humor that doesn't pull punches when it comes to race. >> when you ask your white friends what their cultural heritage is they never say just white, they give you a math equation. a third german, a fourth irish, 1/15 welsh and 25 prs for college application. see, all these years, thought you were just white. thank you so much. >> sreenivasan: and he hasn't been afraid to bring his jokes to national audiences on david letterman, conan. his album, is talking about when whites will become a minority. i caught up with him and learned why colonialism can be a ripe subject for humor and why comics can say things the rest of us can't. harrhari interviewing hari. >> fascinating. >> sreenivasan: your comedy has a lot of headiness to it. you try to make fun of colonialism and some of the repercussions we're living with today. >> yeah. >> sreenivasan: how is colonialism funny and how is it funny in the context of how we live today. >> i think about it in terms of how people made fun of my parents for their accent. i thought, you realize it's absurd they're speaking english. they're not speaking english. they have to speak it because they grew up in a colonized country and also they're here for greater economic opportunities so that's funny for me. so before we begin i'd like you to know the theme of my set tonight will be colonialism. which is why i am speaking only in english. no, this is absurd. this is all absurd. >> sreenivasan: and your comedy has evolved over the years. >> yeah. >> sreenivasan: when you first started out, you were able to make fun of indian accents you were around when you grew up. how did that change? >> age comedian wants to make the audience laugh, that's standard for any comic, but when you're starting, that's all you're thinking about. there isn't the possibility of what do i want to say and do i know what i want to say and what's my point of view? that all comes later, so initially that's all i want to do. if i did a funny voice, we saw it on the simpsons -- >> sreenivasan: he was the most famous when we were growing up. >> and gandhi, those were the two options we had. >> sreenivasan: right. and i knew there was precedent for it so i did impressions of my father. >> sreenivasan: over time, did you get to realize that's the low bar is this. >> well, it felt low even then when i was 17, 18, i knew this was easy, but when you're trying to make people laugh, that's what you did. thinking about my parents and thinking about how hard it was for them to have accents and communicate in this country and the fact that, okay, i'm making a joke with an accent, people are laughing at the accent, i think, not the joke -- or at the accent. >> sreenivasan: are they laughing at me or with me? >> when my parents talk to people do people laugh behind their backs and do impressions of them? i started to think about it. post-9/11, everything felt more complicated. it was that interesting thing of what am i talking about, really? this is the most base level experience and i'm talking about that versus what's really happening in america. at that point, a 19, 20, 21 year old, i was making other college students laugh on campus but i wasn't doing any of substance and i thought there must be a way to say something funny but that i meant. >> sreenivasan: what happens in 2042? >> accordinaccording to the rep, white people will be a minority in america. >> sreenivasan: why does that matter? >> the census is counting it so clearly people are freaked out about it and there are groups of people who are very afraid of being the minority and what that would mean. first of all, 49%, which is a number that doesn't make you the minority which doesn't mean the other 51% is exactly the same and also all white people are the same. it's made up of things, it's a construct. the irish, italians, polish, the jews weren'jews weren't all tha. we're giving ourselves numbers. >> sreenivasan: on the album cover is a picture worth a thousand words for any south asian, but why the picture? >> the picture of me on the back of a bicycle being driven by an old white man wearing a suit. it's me pointing into the distance like some kind of colonial hero, you know, wearing a crown. i know it bothers some people and other people love it, and i want it etched on my grave stone because i'm sure it's what's going to get me killed. >> sreenivasan: have you gotten pushback for the picture. >> yes, but mostly for the content of the album. i don't think the people who are angry have even heard the record. i think it's folks who don't like the idea of me talking about race in this way and accuse me of beingo seased with race even though i'm not the one talking about 2042, really, i'm commenting observ on people beig obsessed with the demographics. >> sreenivasan: what is it about comedy that allows us to have different conversations about race. you've seen african-americans for decades go through and say things on stage they'd never say at a dinner party -- or maybe they would if they were the comedian. >> they have the ability to be kind of uncomfortable or inappropriate, but then they're on stage and it's appropriate. if you can make people laugh, you can get away with a lot. and sometimes that's terrible but sometimes i also think, you know, i remember being a kid, i didn't read a lot of academic journals or follow the news as much as i probably should have, but the people that conveyed the news to me and taught me about it were comedians because they traveled and saw the world and met many different types of people and they were outside of whatever bubble opinions in as a young person, so comedians can convey messages to the masses. like not everyone will watch "newshour" but they will watch comics and see them perform and that's incredible. and i want to make people laugh but i do see some responsibility. i might be somebody exposing you to a new point of view and i might be the only person doing that. >> sreenivasan: this is your first time interviewed by hari. how did it go? >> very comfortable. >> sreenivasan: thanks so much. >> so nice to do this with you. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: the house of representatives passed a bill tonight to sue president obama for overstepping his executive powers in the implementation of the affordable care act. the vote was along party lines: 225 to 201. the u.s. and u.n. condemned the shelling of a u.n. school in gaza that was sheltering war refugees, the u.s. economy shook off the winter blues and grew by 4% in the second quarter and authorities in liberia shut schools and quarantined more communities as the threat of the deadly ebola virus grew. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now: it's a good thing for fans of soul music that curtis harding didn't pursue his original dream-- to become an oceanographer. growing up in a family of musicians definitely left its mark on him, and now he's released his first solo album, "soul power." you can watch him perform a song from that, on art beat. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, the house votes on an immigration bill, but the prospect of capitol hill coming i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs "newshour." >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org re susie gharib. firing on all cylinders, the economy bounced back last quarter growing at a 4% annual rate, but how long will the good times last? >> rates debate. it's heating up but did the federal reserve offer any hint as to when and by how much it might start hiking. super size decision, a legal finding at the national relations board triggers a fire storm between big business and big labor and at the center of it all, mcdonalds that and more tonight for "nightly business report" for wednesday, july 30th. and good evening, everyone. welcome. i'm tyler mathisen. >> i'm sue herrera, filling in tonight for susie gharib. the day started out with a pleasant suse

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