Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160823

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial is committedfi to helping you take charge of your future. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helpingam people build immeasurably better lives. Et supported by the rockefeller foundation. Fo promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions w and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. Co and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff republican president ial hopeful donald trump insisted today hes not flipflopping on his plan to deport some 11 Million People living in the u. S. Illegally. That came after his campaign appeared to signal a shift in his immigration policy over the weekend. For his part, democratic Vice President ial nominee tim kaineti said trumps conflicting messages show he cant be trusted. Well take a closer look at the campaign right after this news summary. A federal judge in texas has temporarily blocked the Obama Administrations guidelines on transgender bathroom policies in public schools. They permitted students to use restrooms that correspond toom their chosen gender identity. The District Court judge granted the nationwide injunction latena sunday a move that had been sought by 13 states. Still, white house spokesmansm josh earnest defended the president s directive today in washington. Our goal has been from the beginning to provide for the safety, and security, and dignity of students all acrossde the country. We certainly have the confidencf in the legal basis for issuingin that guidance. But obviously, were respectful of rulings that are put forward by federal judges. And ill let my colleagues at the department of justice speak to the next step in the legal process. Woodruff well explore the implications of the texas ruling later in the program. Russia has stopped using an Iranian Military base to launch air strikes in syria for now. C the announcement came just houro after irans foreign minister criticized moscow, for publicizing their actions. Ed meanwhile, air strikes continued across syria today. That, as u. S. Secretary of state john kerry on a trip to kenya said talks with russia on stemming the violence are reaching an end. It is possible that something could be agreed upon before the end of the month, but i cant tell you whether its likely. I wouldnt express optimism, i would express hope. I will say this this has to end, this syrian travesty. Woodruff also today a Kurdish Militia launched a major assault on the northeastern cits of hasakah, to seize the last remaining governmentheld areas there. The death toll from a weekend Suicide Attack at a wedding in turkey has risen to 54 people. At least 22 victims in saturdays bombing near thee Syrian Border were younger than 14. Officials and residents cleaned up around the attack site today, as relatives buried their loved ones. Turkeys foreign minister vowed to battle the Islamic State group. translated well fight against the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations until the end. And well continue to support countries and forces who are also fighting it. As you know, the syrian oppositions operations at our border were concluded successfully. And of course our border needs c to be completely cleansed of isis. Woodruff isis has yet to officially claim responsibility for the wedding massacre. But theyve been blamed for similar attacks in the country in the past. In the philippines theres bees a dramatic spike in the number of People Killed as part of all crackdown on drugs. It began after new president Rodrigo Duterte took office seven weeks ago. Nearly 1,800 drug suspects have now been killed. Av 712 of them died in police clashes. Thats up from 525 earlier this month. And more than a thousand othern people were killed by vigilantee groups. Tokyo was battered by heavy rain and strong winds today after a powerful typhoon made landfall just south of the japanese capital. Some 500,000 residents were advised to evacuate, and at least one person died. Winds gusted up to 112 Miles Per Hour across the city, and swollen rivers sparked fears ofa flooding. Elsewhere, a commuter trainel derailed, and hundreds of flights were grounded. India is contending with its own deluge today. At least 40 people have died in flooding thats inundated central and eastern parts of tht country. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee. Days of heavy rain caused the ganges river to rise above its danger level. Its all part of indias monsoon season, which runs from june through september. Stocks were mostly lower on wall street today, as a drop in oil prices dragged down energy shares. The Dow Jones Industrial averagu lost 23 points to close at 18,529. The nasdaq rose six points, and the s p 500 dipped a point. And olympic medalist ryan lochte lost four of his major sponsors today. Speedo, ralph lauren, skincare firm syneroncandela, and airweave mattress announcedtr theyre ending their endorsements, after the swimmers drunken incident during the rio olympics. T speedo plans to donate 50,000 of lochtes fee to save the children, to help the needy into brazil. Lochte has apologized for making the claim about an armed robbery. Still to come on the newshour where the Clinton Campaign is vastly outspending donald trump, the issues still plaguing the two candidates less than three months before election day, the First Responders behind thee image that caught the worldsth attention, and much more. Woodruff we begin tonight with politics, and the role of money in the campaign for the white house. New federal Election Commission reports spell out how much each of the candidates has raised and spent so far. For the democrats, hillaryil clinton spent nearly 49 million in july. While, Republican Donald Trump spent 18. 4 million a little over a third of what clinton spent. Since the race began, the Clinton Campaign has spent 319 million, while the Trump Campaign has spent 89. 5 million. We catch up on all of this now with matea gold. She covers money and influencece for the washington post. We welcome you wack to the newshour. Great to be with you. Woodruff matea, when you look at the numbers weve cited of what the two candidates have spent, what does that tell you about their priorities . When Donald Trumps filing came in late saturday night, it was surprising. He had a very successful fundraising month in july. He actually almost matched clinton and the d. N. C. Through his fundraising in connectionc with the r. N. C. So we expected to see a lot of spending. But this is a reflection of the unorthodox approach trump hasha taken to this campaign. He scoffed at some of the Traditional Campaign investments you see campaigns making overca the years. E he doesnt believe in expensivee tv ads, hes just starting that now, and he hasnt built a big infrastructure on the ground. R woodruff one way to look at infrastructure is the number of staff that theyve hired and you look at that and see that in these numbers of what you found in the filing. Its really remarkable, judy, so by the end of july, clinton had 705 paid staffers, trump had 82, barely maybe a half dozen more than june. Ha this is a period of time that both of the candidates were receiving their nominations at the conventions, a time when candidates traditionally are gearing up for the final four months of campaign and, really, whats happening here is donald trump is leaning on the Republican National committee, the party, to provide the ground motivation that often the candidate takes the lead in doing. Woodruff when you contrast the small size of Donald Trumps staff compared to previous president ial campaigns, its really a notallable notable difference. There is nole comparison. Trump is too vulnerable by leaning on the r. N. C. In this way. If trumps numbers do not improve late in the fall, if r. N. C. Decides to focus on senate and house candidates asn opposed to pushing their president ial candidate, he wont have anyone to make up the difference. Woodruff ma at aia its interesting how much they spente on television and advertising. What do you find there . Mind blowing. By the end of july, clintonson Campaign Already spent 108 million open tv productiont and air time and Just Announced another 80 million on national cable. Trump by comparison last week launched his first general election ad 4. 8 million. D reporter and what is is the trump camp saying . Their argument is their dont need television in the way he does. He has a huge meg phone through media. Woodruff coverage. Oo every remark and tweet gets incredibly amplified through tht media and he reaches people directly through social media so they dont feel they have to spend in the ways she does. The race was tight up through the summer through the conventions at the time she was spending a lot on television and that validated their theory. Th woodruff she raids about 90 million in july, he raised a about 82 million. It sounds like relative parody there, what more is there to see . One of the mysteries of trumr filing is why there wasnt more in his Actual Campaign account by theca end of the months. His Campaign Said they raised 64 million online and through direct mail. We thought we would see most of that in his campaign. He reported 36 million in the campaign which means it hasnt been transferred from the joint Fundraising Committee or spent in another way. Ay woodruff explain the joint Fundraising Committee and the campaign. Both of the candidates ares working through two joint Fundraising Committees. Its ai committee that raises money for both the campaign and National Party and splits the proceeds. So a share of the money that goes into the joint fundraisingu Committee Goes to the campaign and another share goes to the National Party and usually the small donations end upth with a campaign and those are traditionally the most valuablee because the candidate controlsl the money and directs the resources. Woodruff speaking of small donations, its interesting to look at how much i came from donors giving 200 or less. With clinton 62 million, 18 of what she raised. For trump, it was over 30 . There is no question as soon as he began fundraising he packed incredible enthusiasm among supporters and caught the Clinton Campaign by surprise with how much money he was ableb to raise quickly online through small donors and hes also put in a large share of his own money, 52 million by the end of july, into this president ialsi bid. Woodruff fascinating. One months reporting, a lot there. Matea gold with the washington post. Thank you. Thank you. T woodruff and that leads us to politics monday with amy walter of the Cook Political Report and tamara keith of npr. Amy and tam, lets talk about what matea was just reporting. Amy, when you hear the numbers and see what donald trump and Hillary Clinton are spending money on, what does that tellel you about the state of these campaign . Were dealing with two different these are of the case here. Donald trump is operating in a parallel universe where the normal rules of campaigning dont apry. You dont need staff, advertising, your meg phone being Media Coverage is going to be enough to do that. Thats not really working anymore and you can see it in the battleground states, especially states where Hillary Clinton has been spending aa great deal, donald trump is falling behind and in some cases so far behind that the Clinton Campaign is saying we have virginia, a battleground state, and colorado, and they wont advertise there anymore becauseu they feel so confident about their lead in this state. St woodruff its interesting youre able to Say Something like this so early. There is two 1 2 months, andan there is still time to go in the campaign. Yes, and they could reverse course and run ads in the states. They have been since june pushing the message very hard that donald trump is temperamentally unfit, that he shouldnt have his finger near the button, theyre out with a new ad on that topic again today. They have really been driving that message. You know, i went to a donald trump event last week and was talking to his supporters and theyd seen Hillary Clintons ads. Building on mateas open secrets which looks at campaign spending, their analysis found r. N. C. Has less in the bank at this point in the campaign than in the last three elections. So in 2008, 2012, they had more nonny than now. The fundraising arm for the democrats outraised House Republicans in july by three times as much as, so this isnt just about i the Trump Campaignp this could trickle down to the others as well. Rs donald trump is leaning so heavily on the r. N. C. To do the basic fundamentals of a campaign and the r. N. C. Has less money than in the past. Woodruff i want to quickly move on to another issue. Cnn, kell Kellyanne Conway talka about removing undocumented immigrants from the united states. She said itgr was to be determined. Trump was asked whether he hase changed his mind this morning. I will tell you, were dealing with people, we have to be very firm, very, very strong when people come in illegally. Wele have a lot of people who wt to come in trust the legal process, its not there for them, and were working with ath lot of people in the Hispanic Community to come up with an answer. Youre not flipflopping . No, we want to come up with a fair and firm answer. It has to be very firm. Ir woodruff later today in a Union Convention in las vegas, democratic Vice President ial nominee tim kaine said they shouldnt be swied by temperatures plan. Hes not changing his policies. He is still going to have the Deportation Force and separate families. He says hes not flipflopping on immigration, thats what hisi campaign says, but we cant afford to be tricked by donald trump. This deportation thing is just another one. He says hell try to deport people in a humane way, whatevee that means. Its just wrong. Amy, what doso, we think is the thinking in trumps mind . You know, its clear from listening to his Campaign Surrogates and even trump in the last couple of days that he understands theres a softening that needs to happen around somn of these issues, especiallye something around mass deportation of 11 million immigrants. Its also clear that its really late in the game to change peoples perceptions of him. Im sure you will hear the same thing. If you sat with a group of voters and said what do you know about donald trump, the first thing they say is the wall, the second is a ban on mummings. Having a fight over deportation i dont think will change the basic perception that voters have of donald trump it was sounds like there is a battle inside the trump camp, tamara because earlier today we were told he was going to make a speech on immigration and now weve learned it wont happen this week. Maybe its still a work in progress. I think it will be hard to know exactly what his position is or whether its changed on immigration unl till we hear the speech and, even once we hear the speech, it may be hard to know precisely what the policy proposal is. He has talked about a Deportation Force before andio said it would be humane, they could take the citizen membersze of their family with them. So at this point, its really not clear to me whether there is movement happening or not. And who its aimed at. Some of this is aimed at making those White College suburban voters who have been moving away from donald trump more comfortable with him and his rhetoric but, at the same time, those voters, and if you talk to women voters in suburban areas, the number one concern of donald trump is his temperament and the idea of him as commanderinchief which is whye Hillary Clinton ismaker varyingr clear statement about his temperament and fitness with office with the concept that tam mentioned, you likely want thisi guy with his if you thinker onu the button . The ad ends with the sound of jet fighters and basically saying is this the risk you want to take . T woodruff and mean while the immigration story continues boiling. For Hillary Clintons part, the email story keeps bubbling and there are three differentee strands today, what is appears the difference shes had with former secretary of state colin powell that hes saying he thinks the clinton camp is trying to pin the email problem on him because she told the f. B. I. That she got the idea for using personal email from general powell. Then you have two other stories that the state department isnt going to be releasing 15,000 previously undisclosed emails sometimes in october and another strand of emails today having to do with the Clinton Foundation eng changes notice with clintons aide. Is this going to be with us til election day . Powell reportedly said i told her i used my aol account, that worked better. Et no one is arguing he said go put a server in your basement. So, you know, there is that. Judicial watch which is a conservative group which has been looking for problems withem Hillary Clinton has been releas ago steady stream of emails and some of this is part of that. And there is the question that keeps coming up about the theth Clinton Foundation and the relationship between staff at the Clinton Foundation and staff that worked with Hillary Clinton. There is no evidence secretary clinton did favors. Fa woodruff does this hurt her . If youre going to pin something on somebody, make surs they know you will do that and make sure they have a buyin. Probably should do both those things. Second, we just live in a world thats very different from the way it was 20 or 30 years ago and the way that people view institutions and the sense of distrust and dysfunction about whether its about government,rn whether its about corporations and whether its about the media. So any appearance of improprietary is going to be taken very seriously. The watch word is trans transparency, authenticity. Those have been missing from thh hillary Clinton Campaign and the the way Hillary Clinton has done her job and the globalg initiative from the beginning. Those expectations are differeni and theyre not meeting the expectations. Woodruff some of these things keep popping up again. We keep thinking well see the end of it. En its not. Woodruff amy walter, tamera keith, we thank you. Youre welcome. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour what a judges ruling means for president obamas order on transgender students, a jihadis charged with war crimes for destroying ancient monuments, and a massachusetts couples plan to end hunger and keep their sons memory alive. But first, virtually every day the skies over Northern Syria are filled with russian and assadregime jets and, often, the bombs they drop land on civilians. There is no 911 to dial, no one to call for help. But people do come rushing to save them, and more often than not, the rescuers are syrians wearing White Helmets. They are ordinary men and women whove chosen to stay, pressed into service by circumstance,vi charged with saving their fellow syrians amid a brutal war. We meet some of them now, thanke to special correspondent marcia biggs, who reports from turkey. Reporter we all saw this heartbreaking video 5year oldumran, pulled from under the rubble of his flattened home, his photo going viral. Stunned, bloodied, and caked with dust, his face a symbol of so many others. But the faces you didnt see in this video are of those who have been pulling people out of the rubble for five long years. This is the call to work for th brave members of the syrianyr Civil Defense an adhocc grassroots First Response unit within rebelheld syria. Nicknamed the White Helmets, they rush toward the scene of aa bombing to save victims, many on whom are trapped under rubble. Once tailors, bakers, pharmacists, these 3,000 ordinary syrian men and some women now unwitting heroes. 23yearold radi saad was a topography student at aleppo university, itching to get out of syria, when the revolution t began and his life changed. He now lives in turkey, but travels back and forth to syria to volunteer. translated i never thought about being a search and rescue worker, that idea didnt exist in syria. During shelling or after an airg strike, all the people come out to save lives. When someone in need comes to you, would you say i have nothing to offer you. So then why am i here . This is a question i asked myself. That was three years ago, and t ive been working in Civil Defense ever since. Reporter they work under thn harshest of conditions to claw through the remains of buildingb flattened by the syrian regimes weapon of choice the barrel bomb, a crudely made drum packed with explosives and nails, indiscriminately rolled out the back of a helicopter over civilian areas. The slow and silent descent a cruel harbinger of the devastation it creates. translated the hardest part is to get people under thee rubble out. Its exhausting and you dont have technical equipment to use, you have simple equipment. Often, the process of searching and rescuing takes 30 or 40 continuous hours. You get tired, but the hope inside you makes you forget, and you just keep going to try to reach the person who needs youro help. Reporter not all stories have a happy ending, radi remembers searching in vain for 25 hours for a 2monthold child. translated his father came to me and i was the teamme leader, he was begging me, not to continue trying to find his son. No, he just wanted me to find any piece of his sons body. These were moments id never forget. Youre not thinking, youre in a huge disaster so you dont think about whats happening. Your emotions go away, you dont have them anymore. When i got home that night, i remembered and i felt the same feeling i have now. I was shocked, do we have any feeling left . Have we lost our feelings . Has the hope become aboutec finding a piece of a loved one,o a body part . Even now, i cant comprehend the situation i was in or what happened. Reporter what makes it one w of the most dangerous jobs in the world the infamous double tap when planes circle back after the original strike to target rescue workers racing to the scene. Last october, White Helmets were responding to this bombing in Idlib Province when russian jets circled back, killing 31year old issam al saleh. translated i heard that russian airstrikes targeted a farm with women and children, so i jumped in the car and went. I couldnt drive fast enough. When i arrived, no one wasen there, just people under thee, rubble, but the jets were coming back. When i heard that issam had h died, it was a big shock. When we buried him, we all started crying. Issam was like a brother to me. Reporter issams cousin,te raed al saleh, is the head of syrian Civil Defense. Like most White Helmets, thrust into a job he never dreamed hed have. translated actually, my, work in Civil Defense just kind at that time, none of us in syria knew anything about Civil Defense, or how this work is done. So we went to a training in istanbul. Is a trainer put us in a dark room and asked what we were able to find. We said there was just debris, but then he turned on the light and we realized there were people pretending to be wounded. It shocked us that we hadnt s found them. We decided then and there that we had to be serious about our training. Your mother or mine, your sister or brother, your friend could be under the rubble, and if theybb are not found, they will die. Reporter over the last five years, they say they have learned, saving almost 60,000 lives, working throughout allng parts of one of the most fractured areas on earth. Even some of the most radical groups allow them into theirm territory. translated to serve the civilians in the regions under control of armed groups, we have no choice but to deal with such groups in order to do our work. This happens all over syria. O we make it clear to all that we dont make any official links with any political or military a group in syria. Reporter do you have any agreements to work with isis to be able to work in those areas . translated we go and say well offer our services. If you allow us to do so, fine. If you dont, off we go. Reporter has any other grou this large been able to unify in rebelheld syria . translated all over syria, there is no other organization that offers these services and works under one management other than the syrian Civil Defense. Er reporter their tenacious leader has gone all over the world, begging for an end to the violence. Last year an impassioned speech at the United Nations. This year nominated for the nobel peace prize. All to no avail. translated in all my speeches, i was delivering a message to the people, to be int solidarity with us, i wasnt asking politicians to do that. Politicians arent concerned about human suffering. They dont look at the problem and get involved to solve it. They see the problems as opportunities, to see what they can get out of them. Reporter is anyone listening to you . translated we hope therl are people listening to us. We hope the people will stand by us, to pressure the politicians to change their policies, which only benefit politicians. And, instead, to base those policies on human rights andri take into account the crimes committed against civilians all over the world. Reporter do you feel like youre banging your head against a wall . translated actually, i used to feel like i was hitting my head against a wall, now i feel like im hitting my head against iron. Reporter how do you keepte going when no one is listening . translated we have to. What keeps us going are theni people we save from the rubble. People in syria see us as the hope that keeps them alive, at reporter one of their most hopeful moments came in the summer of 2014. 29yearold khaled omar harah had already been digging through the rubble for nine hours when he heard the faint sounds of a baby crying. Only two weeks, baby mahmud was trapped under three stories of n collapsed building. For several more hours they gingerly dug, finally pulling him out alive. Khaleds video went viral and he was nicknamed the baby savior. But in syria cruelty lies around every corner. Just over a week ago, khaled was killed in an airstrike, joiningn the other 134 White Helmets that have lost their lives. Khaleds unit was based in aleppo, which has been besiegedc for over a month by government forces, which allow no food or medical aid to the over 300,000 civilians trapped inside. The head of the aleppo unit recently sent to the United Nations Security Council this video. Throughout the message, battle rages in the background. translated what broke our hearts is that we heard nothing from the u. N. Reporter abdul rahman, a 30 yearold volunteer from aleppo says the food shortage is a main concern and half of the men in the unit are trying to learn too farm. Are they worried that they might starve . Are they worried that theyre going to run out of food . Of course, but theyre still working, because they believe in our job. Many people are asking if thee Civil Defense wants to get out of aleppo city. All guys answered no we want to stay here because our job to save peoples. Reporter despite all the deaths and the failures of International Community, the White Helmets soldier on. So translated its difficult to talk with our team everyday, and most of the time,o we have no answers to all the questions they ask. We are doing an important humanitarian job, and we will be rewarded by god. The quraan says in the name of god, the most gracious, theci most merciful, whosoever saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. If you save a human who was under the rubble, its like you saved all of mankind. Reporter for radi, his White Helmets uniform is a symbol of pride, and for the young man who dreamed of one day getting out of syria, a renewed pride in his country, which he and the others hope to someday rebuild. translated before the revolution, we didnt have a sense of belonging to this country at all. Un but now, we feel that if we dont build this country, no onu will. Reporter a small glimmer of hope for the future. But for now, every airstrike brings more devastation, and the men like fares muhamad ali, who dig with their hands and a their hearts to raise people out of the ruins and into the light. One can only wonder how long this light of hope can burn. Fares died last month after an airstrike. For the pbs newshour, im marcia biggs in istanbul, turkey. Woodruff the decision by a texas judge to block the obama t administrations rules on transgender bathrooms and lockea rooms comes just as the school year is starting. And its coming as Many School Districts are trying to determine what to do now. William brangham has our update. Reporter this ruling is the second setback in recent weeks for transgender advocates. Earlier this month, the Supremes Court said a Virginia School board could block a transgender student from using the boyssi bathroom, while the higher Court Decides if itll take up thes broader case. Yesterdays decision is the first to say that the Obama Administrations directive could be blocked nationwide. Those directives instructed School Districts to allow trans students to use the bathroom of their choice. Texas was one of 13 statesof challenging the constitutionality of the directive. In this case the judge wrote that the administration hadis exceeded its authority under title nine, the 1970sera law banning sex discrimination in schools. To help us wade through the meaning of this im joined now by evie blad of education week, whos been covering this story. So, evie, what does this ruling say and how significant is thiss its very significant in that its the first time weve heard a federal court weigh in on a nationwide basis. There are several cases winding their way through the federall courts now, but the only one that has had a ruling so far applied only in one circuit. Its significant in that thea school year is about to start, and this judge is saying nationwide that the Obama Administrations regulations under title nine, its civil rights guidance, does not need n to be implemented. So what that means is if a school does not want to create a policy to allow trrgz to use a rest room of their choice, it doesnt want to. But if a school wants to, it can keep the policy, just doesnt have a federal epermission to do so. There are two primary things yoy will see in these lawsuits, one is something were all familiar with which is the argument that folks are making about privacy rights of students. Does my student or child who wasnt transgender have a righta to use aroom that doesnt have transgender students in it. Ud there is some discomfort because some transgender students havent undergone sex operations. When the Obama Administration created civil rights guidance, did it interpret regulation, or what the states argue that it did sit created a new one under the guise of interpreting law. Er and if it was to running mate a new policy, the states argues that it should have gone through the administrative procedure acr and given them time to comment and weigh in on the issue. Sreenivasan so thats what w the judge said in this case, that the way the Obama Administration went about issuing the directive was what was illegal in its view . Yeah, he said the states had proven theres merit to thisi says so its worth hearing, sori this is a temporary delay, so hes halting the directive until he has a chance to hear and weigh in on the full case. But, yes, he said his order was pretty clear that they may have violated the administrativeiv procedures act. Sreenivasan so thats the judges ruling but as weve seen with a lot of these laws arounda the country, some of the resistance to them comes from the belief that somehow if these laws are passed, the men, not transgender men, will somehow dress up as women and go into the womens restrooms. Is there any evidence that thatt kind of activity actually goes on . Right. Well, and the argument at the school level is oftentimes that boys there decide one day to be one thing and another thing, that there will be mischievous necessary. Long before the federal regulations came out or long before the Obama Administration began asserting these things in courts, School Districts were making these decisions on their own. So l. A. Unified, for example. Xa brangham los angeles. Yes, the second largesthe district in the country for mor than a decade had a policy to allow transgender students toen use a restroom that identified with their gender identity. The school said they can count on one hand the numbers of times a student student had to clarify and they dont have any documentation of incidents last time i checked. We are talking to districts oftentimes defending policies they feel strongly about. Some may say even if there arent being documented problems that they still feel their students have privacy interests that need to be protected. Brangham if im a transgender student and i start School Tomorrow two, weeks from now, what does this ruling mean for me . If your school doesnt have a policy that directs what restroom youre allowed to use, you dont have the ability to take enforcement through the department of education becausen the judge has said you cant enforce this directive. Previously, a transgender student could go to thed department and say i feel like my civil rights are being violated. Right now that has been put on hold through this order. Transgender students say bathrooms are not their only concern in school, so feeling safe and a sense of belonging, a that they say they do matter because when a school doesnt allow them to use a restroom of their choice or al or requiree them to use a single stall or separate classroom they feel the school isnt respecting their decision and that can cause trouble with their classmates. C brangham so a lot of legal cases going on in texas, virginia and other places. Is itnd your analysis this willi end up in the Supreme Court . Co a lot of spokes in school law felt it was bound for that for a long time. There is a decision in virginia that the Supreme Court put a temporary hold on that case. In that instance, the court of appeals sided with the Obama Administration on these rulessi and said it is an appropriate interpretation of title nine,e that the Supreme Court put a temporary halt on that while it decides whether it will consider the issue in its next term. In that case second get a decision. Even if the Supreme Court court doesnt decide to take up thehe case, we could see differing opinions on the Circuit Court level and could go to the Supreme Court for further clarity. So chances are it might end up there sooner or later. Brangham evie blad, thank you so much. Thank you. Woodruff its a first for the International Criminal court at the hague a trial dealing with the destruction of Cultural Heritage. Its over the deliberate wrecking in 2012 of historic earthen buildings and religious shrines in the west african nation of mali. Jeffrey brown has the story its part of our ongoing series, culture at risk. Brown 16 holy tombs, dating back to the 14th century, all reduced to rubble in a wave ofe violence unleashed on timbuktu by islamist militants four years ago. Today, one of those responsible stood in front of the International Criminal court ant admitted his guilt. translated i regret all the damage that my actions have caused. I regret what i have caused toha my family, my community in timbuktu, what i have caused my home nation mali. Brown prosecutors say al mahdi directed the destruction of nine mausoleums and damage to a mosque. Hed been recruited to lead aui vice squad by a group of islamist rebels, affiliated wite al qaeda, who seized control of northern mali in 2012. Al translated i was influenced by a group of deviant people from al qaeda, and they were able to influence me, to carry me in their evil wave, through actions that affected the whole population. Brown the rebels were eventually driven out by french troops in 2013. The heaps of rubble they left behind have since been rebuilt with help from unesco. In recent years, Cultural Relics across Northern Africa and the mideast have been targeted by militant groups, most dramatically by the Islamic State. At sites including the ancient cities of palmyra, syria, andd nimrud, in iraq. Unlike mali, those countrieses are not subject to the jurisdiction of the i. C. C. Mahdi, who in the plea bargain faces 11 years in prison, today called for an end to such acts. translated i would likel to give a piece of advice to muslims all over the world not to get involved in the same acts i got involved in, because they are not going to lead to any good to humanity. Brown human Rights Groups say mahdi and others alsoy committed crimes against the local community, including rape and sexual slavery. The i. C. C. Says further chargesr may follow. And for more on this case and its broader implications, were joined by patty gerstenblith. S shes a professor of law at Depaul University and head of its center for art, museum andum Cultural Heritage law. Welcome to you. First thing i want to ask is how significant is this case as a war crime prosecution . Yes, it is very significant. Its the first case that we have on an International Level where somebody was prosecuted only for the crime of destruction of Cultural Heritage. Cu we have other examples of prosecutions during the world war ii and the balkan conflict, but in all those cases the defendants had committed am variety of war crimes and crimes against humanity mass killing of civilians, rapes, things like that and this is the first case weve had where the defendant was charged with only destruction of Cultural Heritage and i believe its significant that it sends a message that the International Community willco take these kinds of crimes and destruction seriously. Brown why is it so hard to bring these kind of cases . Ca is it the lack of the law or the lack of the will to bring these cases . I would say its a variety. V the laws, until this point, or the prosecutions have been based on special criminal tribunals set up such as the nuremberg and International Tribunal for yugoslavia following the balkan conflict. In those cases, horrible things were done of which Cultural Property destruction was just one. Unfortunately, the International Community didnt always regardlw the Cultural Heritage destruction as necessarily the most significant of the different kinds of crimes that were committed. We now have the structure of the International Criminal court established and thats where this particular prosecution was brought. There is always the problem thar Different Countries ratified Different International congresr investigations and so you can only bring a prosecution when a country has ratified the appropriate instrument. In this case, mali is a member of the International Criminal court and ratified their own statute which made this feasible under this particular legislation. This perhaps, at this point, was brought as a sole charge, sole crime because of what were witnessing going on, particularly in the middle east where we have the Islamic State carrying out largescaleca destruction of cultural and religious sites. T this has not been seen on this kind of a level with this muchnr publicity in a long time and not with what weve seen happening. The world stood buy, seeing this happen, and we have been able to send a message that these kind of destructions will be takenak seriously by the International Community. Brown so when you look at l the specific timbuktu case, though, can you say why it was successful . Are there particularsxd there . Before we use it to see how it might look to other cases, whats happened there . Well with, i think one of the most important things that made this case feasible, first of c all, the law was in place, as i mentioned, the international law. Secondly, it happened that mr. Almahdi was apprehended in a different country and then turned over to the International Criminal court. Al but i think the most importanta thing from a straight, factual, evidentiary perspective is theri were films made, videos of him made showing him destroying and bragging about destroying the sites. In a lot of cases, proving exactly what did what becomes difficult, so we can haveav documentation a state was destroyed and say this clearly violated international law, but moving exactly who and underun what circumstances did it, improving the intention that and proving the identity of thef person who carried it out. So for example in the balkan cases, the cases of destruction in bosnia and in croatia, it was often difficult to determine exactly who was responsible, whi gave the order, who carried it out and was it intentional and also i guess another important aspect is there was no Armed Conflict going on at the time that the shrines in timbuktu were destroyed. In most cases, destruction of Cultural Heritage can be excused to whats called military necessity. This was an example in timbuktu where there was clearly no military necessity for carrying out the destruction. Brown youve mentioned and weve reported on these dramatic cases in syria and iraq and elsewhere the widespread scale of them now. Ow can you see this case in timbuktu as a real precedent that might have an impact . I certainly think it is a precedent. Its a very good precedent. Whether it will have an impact is always difficult to tell because presumably the Islamic State members who were carrying out the most egregious of the destruction, maybe theyre not worried about whether some day they will be brought before a criminal tribunal, it will be difficult to tell who exactly ordered the destruction. I also think there is a message that other destructions, particularly in syria for example being quarried out by the assad regime, perhaps accidentally, perhaps intentionally, perhaps negligently or extreme form of negligence. So i hope the message is going not only to the obvious examples of the Islamic State but also to other governments, to other individuals who also are carrying out or are responsible for this kindns of heritageag destruction. Patty gerstenblith, thank you very much. Sure. Thank you, jeff. Woodruff one massachusetts couple is on a mission to end hunger in their town of framingham about 20 miles outside of boston. As tina martin from pbs member station wgbh reports, their trailer full of food is making a difference in the lives of lowe income families. Its also helping keep their sons memory alive. Reporter one smile and one plate of food at a time is how david and alicia blais of framingham plan to knock out hunger in their hometown. Over dinner one night i wasas talking to alicia and i said, what if we just solved it, what would it look like if we just solved hunger in framingham . You know yourself when your hungry you dont study well, you dont work well, you dont think straight. Reporter the Greater Boston food bank estimates about one in 12 people in easternas massachusetts get assistance with food. Many are families with children. That especially touched they couple who started daniels table two years ago. My son daniel died at birth 21 years ago, and when we started with this project we thought that we would name it after him, its kind of a motivating factor for me. Reporter their food trailero is designed with a picture of daniel as his parents picturent him. They fill it up and hitch it tot their pick up truck and head tot different neighborhoods in whats considered the largestre town in the country. This trailer can serve about two to 300 people a night . Yes, about two to 300. Reporter and how many times are you going out a week . We go out three nights a week with the trailer, and then we do something with the Salvations Army on saturdays. Reporter we met them in freddie franjuls neighborhoodfr where seeing the truck is a huge relief. Actually its a big deal for pretty much family around here because everyone is on a fixed income. Reporter franjul is a single dad raising three girls. Like tonight we didnt have to spend money on dinner. We get to take advantage of this opportunity over here. If we can cover a couple of meals a week for them, then theyre able to manage their budget. Reporter thats the idea,te especially when school is out. These hot dogs and hamburgers a often replace meals children would otherwise receive through free lunch programs. Summer is probably the most challenging time for some of these kids because their parents are going to have to feed them three times a day instead ofgo just once. Reporter david and alicia feed close to 1,000 a week for free. Expenses like food, equipment, and gas for the truck add up. Ad they have some donors and something else. We pray a lot. Its probably our we get our strongest response when we do that. Reporter and prayer works they just bought a bigger trailer that can feed about 3,000 people a day. Alicia thinks they have an angel watching over them the son who is always with them in spirit. I think he looks down and probably helps make it all happen. Reporter for the pbs newshour, im tina martin, in framingham, massachusetts. Woodruff on the newshour online right now texas singer songwriter and artist hayes carl, the grammynominated artist talks about hisal influences and his latest album in a video on our art beat page. All that and more is on our website pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour fors tonight. Im judy woodruff. 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 ho lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. 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 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 newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org. Announcer this is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and sue herera. Big prize form pfizer beat out its rival to buy the maker of a blockbuster cancer drug and is pay ago big premium. Taking aim. Two senators want to know while the price of epipens have shot higher. A ceo from the dotcom days is returning to the u. S. After being indicted a decade ago. Those story and more on nightly business r for monday, august 22nd. Pfizer won the bidding war. The largest u. S. Drug maker is buyi ingg