Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170315

With paralysis. Its very liberating to be able to utilize a portion of my body that has not worked to actually cause and effect is great fun. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And our tradition has been to take care of mother earth because it fed us, gave us water that gives us life. The land is here for everyone. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention. In the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. 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. Woodruff shortterm Interest Rates are going up again, for the second time in three months. The Federal Reserve announced another quarterpoint increase today. Policymakers suggested in a statement that Economic Growth is improving, and fed chair janet yellen said that makes it more likely there will be two additional rate hikes this year. The simple message is the economy is doing well. We have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience to shocks. Its performed well over the last several years. Woodruff the fed is predicting growth at a rate of 2. 1 this year and next. President trump has talked of four percent growth. Well have more on the potential economic effects of the rate hike later in the program. Two russian Intelligence Officers and two cyber hackers now face u. S. Criminal charges in a yahoo data breach that compromised 500 million accounts. The acting assistant attorney general, mary mccord, announced the action today. Its the first to implicate russian officials directly in cybercrime. We will not allow individuals, groups, nation states or a combination of them to compromise the privacy of our citizens, the economic interests of our companies, or the security of our country. There are no free passes for foreign, state sponsored criminal behavior. Woodruff one of the hackers is in custody in canada. The others remain at large, and its not clear if theyll ever see an american courtroom, since russia has no extradition treaty with the United States. In syria, suicide bombers killed at least 31 people in twin attacks in damascus. This as the country enters its sixth year of civil war. The state News Agency Says the first attacker blew himself up in the main judicial building, as police started to search him. A second bomb went off inside a nearby restaurant. Meanwhile, in afghanistan, the death toll from an assault on a Military Hospital rose to 50 today. The attack, a week ago, was claimed by the Islamic State group. Officials said a suicide bomber blew up his car, and gunmen disguised in lab coats stormed the hospital in kabul. Investigators have detained 24 people, including medical staffers. A disaster at a landfill outside ethiopias capital has now claimed 113 lives. The toll rose again today as search and rescue efforts continued. The mountain of garbage collapsed saturday, and buried makeshift huts at the site. Voting has ended in the netherlands, and exit polls show dutch voters have rejected a bid for power by an antiislam party. Geert vilders and his farright followers did worse than expected against centerright Prime Minister mark rutte, whod wrned against electing wilders. Having a political leader wants to take away the koran from muslims in the netherlands, and to close our mosques. The wrong sort of populism is not addressing the real issues of the people, only making them bigger, instead of solving them woodruff wilders acknowledged hed lost, but vowed hed be back. Back in this country, the Senate Confirmed former indiana senator dan coats as director of national intelligence. Hell oversee 16 intelligence agencies, and could be a key player in probes of russian meddling in the election. President trump moved today to dial back federal rules on auto fuel economy. Just before president obama left office, the e. P. A. Finalized a standard that auto makers reach an average of 54 miles a gallon by 2025. Thats double the current standard. The industry strongly objected, and today, in ypsilanti, mr. Trump said the e. P. A. Is going back to the drawing board. The assault on American Auto industry, believe me is over. Its over. Not going to have it anymore. If the standards threatened auto jobs, then common sense changes could have and should have been made. Woodruff environmentalists have argued the higher standard would promote use of hybrids and electric vehicles and cut Carbon Dioxide emissions. The white house signaled again today that its open to changing the republican replacement for obamacare. A spokesman said the president is working with House Speaker ryan and other leaders. There was also word that more than 12 Million People signed up for coverage this year under obamacare and enrolled on federal and state exchanges. One of the president s income tax returns has surfaced, for the first time. The leaked document shows that for the 2005 tax year, mr. Trump earned 153 million, and paid 36 million in taxes. He wrote off more than 100 million in business losses. The white house criticized the leak, but did not challenge its authenticity. In a tweet today, the president called it fake news. Reports of Sexual Assault rose at two of the three u. S. Service academies this year. According to the associated press, they were up at the Naval Academy and the military academy at west point. The air force academy saw a sharp drop. The a. P. Says a separate, Anonymous Survey found Sexual Misconduct is actually rising at all three schools. And on wall street, stocks took the latest Interest Rate hike in stride. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 112 points to close at 20,950. The nasdaq rose 43 points, and the s p 500 added nearly 20. Still to come on the newshour what lawmakers have and have not found in their ongoing russia investigation. A key u. S. Ally, turkey, is set to decide whether its strongman president should have even broader power, and much more. Woodruff russias role in last years election, alleged contacts between the trump team and moscow, and President Trumps allegation that he was wiretapped by his predecessor were front and center on capitol hill today. John yang reports. I dont think that there was an actual tap of trump tower. Yang leaders of the House Intelligence Committee cast fresh doubt today on President Trumps claim that then president obama illegally wiretapped trump tower. President obama wouldnt physically go over and wiretap trump tower. So now you have to decide, as i mentioned last week, are you going to take the tweets literally . And if you are, then clearly the president was wrong. But if youre not going to take the tweets literally and there is a concern that the president has about other people, other surveillance activities looking at him or his associates, either appropriately or inappropriately, we want to find that out. Yang the Committee Gave the Justice Department until last night to produce any evidence to support the president s claim. Instead, the department got an extension until next monday when f. B. I. Director james comey is to testify before the panel. Adam schiff is the committees top democrat i do think its incumbent that if we get to march 20th and we have the testimony i think we all expect from the director, that there was no substance to the allegation that barack obama illegally wiretapped trump tower, that the president explain himself. You cant level an accusation of that type without either retracting it or explaining just why it was done. Yang senator Lindsey Graham wants to know if a theres a warrant for a wiretap. Congress is going to flex its muscle here. Well issue a subpoena to get the information. Yang f. B. I. Director comey was on capitol hill this afternoon to brief leaders of the Senate Judiciary committee. Chairman Chuck Grassley and top democrat Dianne Feinstein want to know about former National Security advisor Michael Flynns contacts with russian officials. Flynn is one of several Trump Associates under scrutiny for dealings with russians during the campaign. Onetime trump adviser roger stone said today he thinks a special surveillance fisa Court Warrant uncovered his contacts with a russianlinked hacker who claimed credit for the cyberattack on the Democratic National committee. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff and late today came word that in an interview to air tonight on fox news, the president was asked again about his wiretapping accusation, and said wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think youre going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. Back on capitol hill, lawmakers from both parties expressed frustration with f. B. I. Director james comey, and what they say is an unwillingness to provide them with critical information. Joining us now, democratic senator joe manchin, a member of the intelligence committee. Senator, thank you for being with us. Are you getting the cooperation you need from the Intelligence Community . Well, judy, first of all, its good to be with you spp and we are going to be able to get that. We have been speaking to them. Weve been out to the c. I. A. Were looking at all the documents, and theyre providing those to us. The intele committee is able to get indepth, if you will, with all of our different intelligence agencies. I have great confidence in them, and weve got to get to the bottom. Theres an awful lot thats going on here. Flower two different paths. You have one with the russians involved in our election process. To what extent we know they made an attempt, they made more of an attempt this time than ever before. Wean outcome of the election. They were not able to intervene or interfere with that or disrupt that whatsoever, but their desire was there. We must prevent that from ever happening again. And, also, to help our allies. Then you have the other russian intervention, if you will, how much of an association is there . Is there any type of with associates, from President Trump during the campaign, his people, himself, his family, whatsoever . And is there any intertwinement . So i think the American People want to know. We need to get through this and get come to the conclusion, and do the business of this great country. And right now, thats our thats the hot topic. Woodruff well, at this point, do you think youre any closer to knowing whether there was any as you call it intertwinement or collusion between the Trump Campaign and russian officials . I can only say what we have seen to date, i dont see any evidence of that whatsoever. But were just in the start of this. So it would be premature for me to say anything definite, yes or no. Were going to look at everything. Were going to turn over every stone that we possibly can. Were going to make sure we interview and bring people in. Names have been mentioned that you mentioned on your newshour, and were going to make sure that we get the facts. Intelligence is to provide the fact be to us. The facts will usually take tout truth. And when we get to the truth we need to make the decisions and do whats best for this country. Woodruff . Aergt senator, lee stop you there and ask you, President Trump saying in the interview that we just mentioned that were going to see more, in his words, in next few weeks, come to the forefront about the wiretap that he accused president obama of being behind. What do you know at this point about that . Well, the only thing i can discuss and what i know about that is what you all have been reporting on and what has been reported in the news today. Jeff session said he didnt sales are and didnt say a thing about a wiretap and knowes of now of no wiretap, and theres no evidence of showing any wiretap to date. If theres other evidence to come forth, well be happy to look at that and evaluate it and investigate it, but as of right now it has not come forth. Woodruff is it up to the white house, for the president , to provide whatever evidence he has . Well, i would think that if he has evidence that the Intelligence Community does not have and its not being brought forth and he wants to make sure thats considered into this whole process, then i would hope that they would. Woodruff let me turn you, senator, to the other issue that were covering right now on the hill, and that is, of course, health care of health care reform. The republican relationship legislation, seems to be running into more opposition from republican members of the house and the senate. Where do you think that stands right now . Well its over in the house, and i guess if they put the powive, they can push that out and send it over to the senate. I dont see a receptive audience. I dont know of one democrat that would vote for the process theyre sending over for the piece of legislation. Im not voting to repeal, judy. Ive been very clear. Im told President Trump this many weeks ago. Theres no way i can vote to repeal and throw people off when i know the political toxic atmosphere that we have in washington, thinking that we can come back and repair it. They can get rid of it with 51 votes. They dont need a democrat. But they cant fix it unless they have eight of me, eight democrats who are willing to sit down and work and fix some of the market dhans we have that make it so really costly and very hard very much a hardship on a lot of people that did not get the expansion or the subsidies or any of that. So i understand where the problems are. But no one seems to want to fix it. So i said this. I said why dont we vote and sit down, have a work group voting on the market repairs that we could do, and see if you can get 60 votes before you throw the baby out with the bath water. Woodruff and have they responded affirmatively to any to your suggestions or anything like it . Ive only had one one of my colleagues, republican senator, bill cass deerks has come over and see wee sat down twice to see if there was a pathway frpd he had a piece of legislation. We looked at it. We told him our qrnz it, but we had a dialogue going. But basically, the house has gone off on their own, and the things we, bill and i, were talking about, didnt materialize so nobody seems to want to do anything. Woodruff im sorry to interrupt, but just quick leash at this point where do you see the legislation headed . I dont see it moving on this side, i really dont, on the senate side right now, unless there are some tremendous changes made. Judy, let me just tell you, state of west virginia, 172,000 people got expansion. That means the people that were not on medicaid but within the 139 percentile. 172. Another 36,000, 38,000, got basically subsidies. That means because of their income they were subsidized by 388. We had the donut hole fill for our seniors. We have a poorer population. All of a sudden now, all of of a sudden, theyre going to give the wealthiest of the wealthiest in the country 575 billion tax credits, 575 billion dollars. And thats going to be on the backs of the poor, the elderly, and those who have been addicted and in Treatment Centers or being able to get treated for addiction, which is a horrible problem for my state. So i get hit three ways. The poor get hit harder, the elderly pay more, and the people that are addict read not gog get treatment thats needed. Woodruff senator joe manchin of west virginia. We thank you. Thank you, judy. Woodruff for more on questions about the Trump Campaigns connections with russia, the battle over healthcare and the president s newly leaked tax return, we turn to matt schlapp. He is chair of the american conservative union. And karine jeanpierre, she was a Senior Adviser to moveon. Org during the 2016 elections. And we welcome both of you to the program. Matt, im going to start with you. Its been more than 10 days, i think, since President Trump tweeted that president obama had wire tapped him. Right. Woodruff during the campaign. So far, no evidence of this, investigations under way weapon where does this stand . Well, first of all, this term wiretap is kind of an oldfashioned term. What we have been readin read an most of the respected newspapers across the country, back before want election, through the inauguration, and afterwards, was that there were people in the trump team, on the trump team, who were under investigation for inappropriate ties with russia. There were phone calls that had been intercepted. All of this was reported. The question is was something done inappropriately . And i think thats what inge thats what the president wants to know, and i think a lot of other people want to know as well . Woodruff how much urgency is there around this question, karine . I think there should be a lot more urgency than were currently thinking. I think at this point its up to the f. B. I. To step in and let us know what is really happening . I think one of the issues were seeing here is donald trump is not being president ial. He tweets without understanding the consequences of his tweet. Theres no measurement of what hes saying. And its incredibly dangerous to accuse yurm predecessor of potentially break the law. And i think at the end of the day, we have to we have to really look and ask the question, what happens if there is a true, actual National Security crisis . Are we going to believe donald trump . Woodruff how much does it matter, matt, that we get to the bottom of this . It matters to me a lot because i actually think that if the Obama Administration was investigating the Trump Campaign, that is something we have not seen before. That is historic. And i want ton why. If that did happen, i want to know why it happened. And i think theres some explaining to do to the american voter. Woodruff and if it didnt happen, then the question goes to why did President Trump make this allegation . , of course, i think its fair to say that people want to hear from the f. B. I. , but this might shock of two of you there are a lot of us who have lost a little confidence in jim comey over the years. We probably want to hear from more people than just jim comey. Woodruff and that calls to mind, karine, there is this wider investigation going on into connections that matt alluded to a moment ago between the Trump Campaign and russian officials. We dont know where that stands. Right, and we need to have a full, thorough investigation on that. Clearly, there is serkial evidence that shows the Trump Organization has had some sort of contact with russia, and we really need to get to the bottom of it. Yes, there should be a special prosecutor, but i also think there should be an independent Bipartisan Commission to really get down to the bottom of it, so we know that that commission has jurisdiction, that they could have spp power, and also that its public, so we know, the American People know whats going on. Woodruff right now you have all these investigations under way. Step by step. We havent even filled the senateconfirmed positions at the department of justice. Both the house committees with jurisdiction need to do a full investigation, and then we can draw conclusions of what needs to do done after that. I think we could do all three. I dont think we have to do one or the other. Dont we just want the answers . What does it matter what way you get the answers . Why not give it to the public . Why not show the public whats going on . Woodruff i want to turn you both to something that he was were watching very closely and that is Health Care Repeal and replace, the American Health care act, matt. We are now seeing more and more republicans right. Woodruff saying they cant support the Republican Leadership bill that the white house signed on to. Where is this headed . What they decided to do was just roll this out and jam it through. And in 21st century american politics that is a very difficult path to take. They would be smarter to bring people in. Nothing, it seems, judy, gets people more passionate than the idea of their health care and their very life, and they want to make sure we get it right. And i think jamming through a piece of legislation was the wrong way to start. Theyre now bringing people in. The president is bringing people in. I think thats going to give it a better chance of passage, but its not there yet. Woodruff ithis is truly in trouble, karine, where do you see this going next . Well, what theyve presented, the republicans, with trumpcare, is it seems to be a plan thats more the survival of the fittest. Like you were saying, alluding to, health care is incredibly personal. And the republicans had seven years, seven years to come up with something that would work for everyone. And they jammed this thing through, as you mentioned. They introduced it on march 7. They want to have a vote on it on april 7, and, of course, republicans are very upset about it. This is an assault on speernz you have costs going up, premiums going up, for people who really need it, as theyre getting older. Woodruff so if this version doesnt work, were going to look at some changes coming. If republicans dont pass a replacement for obamacare this year, they are going to be nay world of hurt. Now maybe i could expand it and say by the midterm election. But there has to be a plan thats put on place that pass so they have to figure out a way to go forward. I think they started off in the wrong way. But i think much of whats included in this plan does represent what needs to be done to fix the incredible mess obamacare left us in. Woodruff two pages of donald trump, President Trumps tax returns from 2005. He paid a quarter of his income in taxes. How much have we really learned here . I think it brings up more questions than answers. Its unfortunate that we have to play this catandmouse game just to get the president s tax returns. We still dont know who does he do business with . Who does he owe money to . We know hes in debt. Which foreign banks does he owe money. To . And i think all of these things are important ton because pease putting forth Foreign Policy and domestic policy, and we just dont have those answers yet. Woodruff matt. He complied with the law. He had to give thorough Financial Disclosure documents to want s. E. C. People can go right now online and get those documents. I think what we learned on this rather Ridiculous Television Show the other day with this leaked tax return is this ridiculous concept that he didnt pay taxes for the last 10 or 20 years was wrong, and actually, when you look at this year, he paid a higher percentage of thiz hiz taxes or his tax rate was higher than president obama, than bernie sanders, than mitt romney, than a lot of the people who have been criticizing him. Woodruff well have to leave it there. Obviously a lot more to talk about. Matt schlapp, karine jeanpierre, thank you. Great to be with you. Thank you. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour, whats behind the feds Interest Rate hike. Computers and brain implants that restore want ability to communicate. And the artistic process of putting a face to fossils. But first, citizens of turkey vote next month in a referendum that could grant president reegypt edjuan controversial new powers. Erdogans push led to a showdown this week with dutch leaders, who denied two turkish ministers permission to rally support among turks in holland. And it comes amid an ongoing purge of tens of thousands of turkish state employees, as special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from istanbul. Reporter we wont shut up, were not afraid, we will not obey, they chant. Turkeys new outcasts are daring to protest, despite being labeled as enemies of the state in the great purge following last julys failed coup attempt. Tens of thousands of teachers, academics, judges, Police Officers and Civil Servants have been dismissed from their jobs and stripped of their passports. Derya keskin, an assistant University Professor was purged last september after she signed a petition calling for peace in turkey. Well we can make a comparison between the mccarthy era and turkey right now. But this is, i think, worse. There are similarities, im sure but this is worse. Its just a pretext to get rid of all leftie people, all democrats, even liberals, it is expanding to the liberals actually. Reporter the blanket allegation made by the government is that the purged are followers of this man, Fethullah Gulen. A supposedly moderate muslim preacher, gulen is a former ally of president erdogan, who runs islamist schools and has a fervent following. The government alleges he runs a terrorist Organization Called feto, accuses him of orchestrating the coup attempt and is demanding that the u. S. Extradites him from exile in pennsylvania. Are you a gulenist, are you a terrorist . Im not a gulenist, im not a terrorist. Im against all kinds of violence. I condemn every kind of violence, thats why i signed the peace petition. During the mccarthy era and during the stalin era, the historical circumstances were totally different. Reporter political scientist Ahmet Kasim Han says turks traditionally favor stability over liberty. And suggests there is some merit in the governments depiction of Fethullah Gulen as a dark force trying to destabilize turkey. In turkey there is an issue which is very hard for the western mind to grasp. Turkey has really gone through a very aberrant coup attempt which has unfolded a series of events that has even made the most informed turk surprised to the level of infiltration of the Gulenist Movement to the state. Reporter if politics is a source of division in turkey, then so is religion. Almost all of the roughly 80 million turks are muslims. But opinion polls suggest around half the population opposes the growing islamization of the country under president erdogan. Since 2002, when he became the dominant figure in turkish politics, the state has built an estimated 17,000 mosques. This small traditional mosque will soon be dwarfed by minarets of a new islamic landmark slated for Taksim Square in the secular heart of istanbul. Hassan kara is the chief imam of sultanahmed, istanbuls blue mosque. translated because recip Tayyip Erdogan is a muslim, a man of character and brave, who speaks out fearlessly, the public have taken to him as a man of the people and view him as an idol and role model. Reporter what worries tens of millions of turks is that the vision of kemal ataturk, the father of the modern nation, is more seriously under threat than ever before. Ataturk revolutionized turkey in the 1920s by realigning it away from the eastern world towards the west, and enshrining secularism in the constitution. Ataturks legacy was at the heart of this Campaign Meeting to fight against erdogans education policy, whereby state schools are transformed into overtly religious institutions, and creationism is promoted over evolution. Aysel celikel heads the society for the promotion of contemporary life. translated this situation is of course worrying us because the political powers have said they want to raise a religious generation. With all these prayer rooms and small mosques opening up at schools with the kind of education on offer, they are really pumping this idea of a religious generation. Reporter this is fatih, a traditionally conservative district of istanbul, where the majority of women cover their heads. Weve come to meet ihsan eliacik, a renowned muslim theologian and writer. He worries the turkish leader might not be able to control more radical islamists within the country. Hes concerned about home grown extremists as well as Islamic State militants, who, earlier in the syria conflict, enjoyed fairly Free Movement in turkey. translated there might be a danger of conflict because with the ruling party, islamic extremists became too powerful. The ruling party unwittingly helped them flourish and especially because of the syrian conflict they grew stronger, they got hold of weapons and they got organized, they thrived. So it will take time to eliminate them and to neutralize them. Reporter president erdogan inspires adulation and disdain in fairly equal measure. He argues that changing the constitution will help make government more efficient. translated turkey has come to a crossroads on changing the system of government. The process has started. Reporter the popularity and policies of president erdogan are about to be put to the test in a referendum to determine whether the country should have a United States style executive presidency, but without the checks and balances. If erdogan wins, he will have much more power, enabling him to get rid of the Prime Minister. The role of parliament will be much reduced. His opponents fear that victory would turn an already authoritarian leader into a fully fledged dictator. The changes could enable erdogan to stay in office until 2029. This pro government rally was addressed by the Prime Minister, who was effectively campaigning for the president to make him redundant. translated these reforms are a historic opportunity for our country. With a strong presidency, military authority, military coups and elite groups will be history. Nobody will try to interfere in the business of people and politicians elected by people. translated i am here for the unity of our country and for sake of our youths future. Reporter we dont want to be in chains. We wont allow anyone to lord over us, cry the no campaigners. President erdogans opponents fear that his victory on april 16th will accelerate turkey towards becoming a theocracy or religious state like iran. Thats why turkeys nato partners will be watching this historic vote with keen interest. For the pbs newshour, im Malcolm Brabant in istanbul. Woodruff after years of holding Interest Rates at a near zero level, the fed has raised its benchmark rate again and seems to be moving toward a more regular rise in rates. Jeffrey brown looks at how the fed has changed its outlook for the economy, and the path ahead for policymakers. Brown in the past, Federal Reserve chairwoman janet yellen has expressed concerns about the strength of the recovery. But today she told reporters, we have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience to shocks. David wessel is the director of the Hutchins Center on fiscal brookings institution, and contributing correspondent to the wall street journal. David, a largely positive message, right, the Sustainable Growth continues and can continue. What is the fed seeing . Well, the fed is seeing that unemployment has come down to the level that they consider full employment. They seem to have a great deal of confidence that the economy has finally got some momentum. Janet yellen cited the confidence of the Business Community and consumers showing up in surveys. So and she was very, very upbeat, i think. Brown slightly higher inflation but at a reasonable level, right . So theyre not worried about overheatath this point. Theyre finally getting to their goal of getting inflation close to 2 , getting unemployment down. She noted that the Labor Force Participation rate, the fraction of people work orglooking for work seems to be going up a little bit, even though we have an aging population. So she seemed to be very happy with the way the economy is going. Brown but clearly signaling that this is the trend, right, that there will be more hikes to come . This is the trend, but gradual. There was a lot of talk about gradual. If you look at the forecast that the members of the feds policymaking committee said, theyre basically seeing a couple of Interest Rate increases this year. That would still get ug to, like, maybe 1. 5 by the beginning of next year, still very, very low. Brown so you put together today and this kind of trend. What impact on consumers . Well, this will mean that people are going to pay more to borrow. Mortgage rates have already gone up. Theyre around 4. 2 fair 30year mortgage. They were below 4 just a few months ago. People who borrow on their credit cards will see more. And eventually although it use takes a long time people who have money in the banks, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, will see those rates creep up. Brown there has been a lot of discussion in recent weeks as the fed raises the rates, versus this with a steady growth in mind versus the president , who talks about a real push forward, right . Right. Brown and really getting the economy going. I think what the fed fears is that if donald trump gets big tax cuts and big spending increases that take effect right now, when the economy is close to full employment, theyll have to raise rates more rapidly. But janet yellen made clear theyre raising rates now without much anticipation of a big fiscal move. If they get one, i suspect theyll raise rates more rapidly. She did make the point if congress and the president could agree on things that get the longterm growth representative up the rate of productivity growth or bringing people into the workforce thats something the felled would applaud. Brown she was scaid little bit about relations with the new administration. Its always a little dellicate dance a bit, right. I think she was prepared for the question. Brown clearly. She said wonderful things about the treasury secretary. She said she had met donald trump. I think her attitude is going to be we have an independent Central Bank Fair reason. Im going to do what i think is right. And i suspect the people at the fed realize at some point theyre likely to be the target of an angry donald trump tweet when he thinks theyre raising rates too fast. Brown very quickly, in the meantime the stock market keeps going up, even with the rates going up. That doesnt seem to matter. The stock market was relieved the fed didnt sound tougher today, and the stock market figures everything they like about crump will come true, and everything theyre afraid of about donald trump will not come true. Brown david wessel, thank you as always. Youre welcome. Woodruff for decades, researchers have worked to create a better and more direct connection between a human brain and computer to improve the lives of people who are paralyzed or have severe limb weakness from diseases like a. L. S. Those advances have been notable, but now the work is yielding groundbreaking results. Special correspondent cat wise has the story, for our weekly segment about the leading edge of science and technology. Reporter Dennis Degray is a 64yearold quadriplegic who is writing a sentence on the computer screen in front of him using only his brain. A former volunteer firefighter, degray had a bad fall 10 years ago which severed his spinal cord. As part of an early Stage Clinical Research study led by stanford university, degray and two other volunteer participants with a. L. S. Had small sensors implanted in their brains in an area called the motor cortex which controls movement. Even though degray can no longer physically move his arms, the neurons in that part of his brain, and in the brains of many other paralyzed individuals, remain active. The sensors in degrays brain listen in to those neurons which emit different electrical signals depending on the direction degray thinks about moving his hand. To move the pointer around. I imagine a ball lying on a table and with my hand lying on the ball. And as i roll the ball forward the pointer goes up, and as i roll the ball back toward me the pointer goes down. And of course left and right correspondingly. Reporter the neural signals are transmitted to the computer through two devices that screw into small pieces of equipment called pedestals protruding from degrays scalp. In the computer, sophisticated algorithms turn the movements in his mind into cursor movements on the screen. To be able to utilize a portion of my body that has not worked to actually cause and effect is great fun. Just great fun. If youd asked me five years ago if i thought i would see these types of systems becoming available anytime within my lifetime, i would have been pretty skeptical. But i would say now that within the next 10 years or so, we will probably begin to see systems that can restore function to people with paralysis. Reporter dr. Jaimie henderson is a professor of neurosurgery at stanford university. He implanted the sensors in degrays brain, and he is one of the leaders of a scientific team, from several universities around the country, working on the technology called braingate. The principles by which were reading out brain signals are well established. The research advance is using the computer algorithms to figure out what the brain is doing. An operating system that can read out signals on millisecond timescales and feed that back to the user so that they can be in very tight feedback loop with the machine and use it more efficiently. Reporter that improved efficiency in the braingate operating system, which has been in development for more than a decade, is at the heart of a new Research Paper dr. Henderson and his colleagues released. The study, which was funded in part by the National Institutes of health, also a newshour funder, highlighted the typing results of degray and the two others in the study. Our participants in this study were able to type at anywhere between 20 to up to almost 40 correct characters per minute, which translates to somewhere between four and eight words per minute, which is the fastest typing now demonstrated in people with paralysis by a factor of anywhere from two to four. This allows you to type at speeds that are now approaching what you can use on a cellphone. Reporter surveys of those with paralysis show that speed of communication is important to them. Thats one of the frustrations with current systems that track eye and face movements. One of the goals of the research now is evaluate the safety of braincomputer interfaces, but there are still a lot of questions and concerns about connecting brains to computers. Its a debate the Stanford Team embraces. Over the past few decades weve become increasingly comfortable with having various devices implanted in our bodies. Reporter study coauthor Krishna Shenoy says his Broader Research with neural prosthetics shows people are comfortable with much more now than just knee replacements. For example, electrodes to control parkinsons tremors. 15 Years Ago Society started to become comfortable with deep brain stimulators. When you turn the system on, the tremor essentially stops. Its like magic. Tens of thousands of people are Walking Around every day with these Electronic Systems in their brains. So the question is, is there something sacrosanct about the brain, that we shouldnt go there, this is extremely important to be guided by bio ethics, neuroethics, but this is a case where we can do tremendous good if this is developed and deployed correctly. Reporter Dennis Degray says that while hes able to utilize a range of communication systems, hes participating in the trial to help advance a technology that may benefit those who dont have as many options. What were performing here is basic science. Were building a Foundation Upon which the roboticists, the communicators, the mechanical engineers, medical prosthetic device manufacturers, all of them will be able to utilize the controls that we are learning about at this point. Weve i think made slow but steady progress, and are getting to the point where we can now really imagine systems that can be fully implanted, wireless, able to be used 24 hours a day without calibration. I think were still a ways away from that, but were getting closer. Reporter the Stanford Research team hopes to enroll another trial participant in the next year or two. And they are now exploring ways to connect people, and their brains, to new devices. For the pbs newshour, im cat wise in palo alto, california. Woodruff and well be back shortly with a look at an artist who brings dinosaur fossils to life. But first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. Its a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. Woodruff for those stations still with us we take a second look at an effort to combine Sustainable Agriculture with entrepreneurship in developing countries. Special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from Earth University, a campus in costa rica that aims to do just that. This story originally aired last fall. Reporter it is quite likely is the only university in the world where traffic stops for bananas millions of them wrapped tightly in blue plastic. Earth university actually was a commercial banana plantation before being converted in 1992 to a university to train students from developing countries grappling with Climate Change and growing populations. Funds came from the u. S. And costa rican governments and the michigan based kellogg foundation. When we first came to this property, the whole river was contaminated with the blue plastic bag. That also have chemical inside to protect it, to protect it from insects. And when the first group of students came, we brought them here and we started to pick all the plastic. Reporter today, University Co founder joze zaglul says the blue plastic bags are recycled and tons of plant wastestalks; fruits that dont make the grade things that used to be discarded are collected and fed to livestock. So we dont use chemicals in the bags. And we also are using an organic fungicide. Reporter these bananas are labeled as responsibly grown and sold across the u. S. In whole foods stores. The enterprise supports dozens of local jobs and scholarships that girl over there, shes from panama. That guy is from brazil. She is from ecuador. That guy you see, hes from somaliland in africa. Reporter 43 countries are represented here; a majority of the 400 students depend on financial aid. From 1,600 applications, about 110 are admitted each year what we attempt to discover their interest to go back to the countries, because we are about forming leaders, and individuals that really overcome barriers. Reporter yves rusanganwa is a First Year Student from rwandaborn soon after that countrys genocide. I grew up hearing about hunger, hearing about poverty, hearing epidemic diseases, i grew up in that environment so as i was growing up i grew up a passion inside me of doing something in this world and try to change that history. Reporter many students say a lack of knowledge hinders productivity and keeps most farmers in their homelands in poverty. Jose zaglul says doing agriculture on small land or even no landis an important part of the curriculum. At home, in the schools, on rooftops in the cities. And you dont have to utilize so much energy and fossil fuels to transport them. Reporter across campus, fruits and vegetables are grown in unlikely containers, with unlikely tools. All the bottles that you see there, its like drip irrigation. Reporter the campus tries to model the ideal, Carbon Neutral world it wants its graduates to help create. Zaglul says thats sometimes involved taking riskslike the decision at the start to keep producing bananas it used to cost us 25 cents more per box to do all this sustainable practices, and nobody would pay us for that. I tell you we were losing money, but we had to show the students that it is possible to do sustainable business. Reporter possible, he says, because over time recycling and not using pesticides save money. Then came the right Large Customer whole foods. Besides the classroom and field emphasis on sustainable practices, students are encouraged to develop business ideas. 23yearold senior diderot saintilma plans for when he returns to his native haiti. translated where i come from there are a lot of peanut farmers. They dont do very much post harvest processing. So id like to start an association or cooperative of small peanut farmers so they can get added value for products. Reporter many graduates have taken ideas from here to the business world. For costa rican joaquin viquez, it was animal Waste Recycling solids are separated to make fertilizer while large bladders or biodigesters break down liquid wastes to capture methane, or biogas. Its not new technology, he says, it simply wasnt commercialized for farms in developing countries there was no one you could call or no store you could go and say hey i want a digester. and so we made it technically accessible and we do a lot of efforts to make it economically feasible for the farmer. Reporter on this day, they were installing a digester at the calderon family farm, with about 100 head of dairy and beef cows. translated i took a course recently at the National Institute of learning and they talked about Global Warming and hygiene and i really came back wanting to have a clean farm, so i contacted a microfinance agency, talked to my husband, used our savings to do this. Reporter viquez says not only will this family be reducing Greenhouse Gases emitted by unprocessed animal wastes but their Energy Savings over time will more than cover the digesters 3400 cost theyre not going to have to use any firewood or propane for the cooking. Theyre going to have a surplus reporter viquez is one of about 2,000 Earth University alumni, jose zaglul says each on average has created four other jobs and their influence has spread in other ways. Many commercial Banana Producers have adopted practices that began here, he says. For the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in guapile, costa rica. Woodruff now to our newshour shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. Nothing captures the imaginations of children and adults alike quite like dinosaurs. But for one artist, a childhood love of prehistoric creatures inspired a unique, and prolific, career. Special correspondent david biello explains. Reporter Julius Csotonyi draws dinosaurs, for a living. Csotonyi is a paleoartist. His job is using his artistic skills to bring fossilized bones back to life. We cant go out and photograph it anymore. This is why paleoart is crucial to communicating certain aspects of the science. Reporter csotonyis skills are highly sought after by paleontologists such as michael ryan, the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of natural history. It takes our research one step further than we could do it on our own. Reporter ryans specialty is horned dinosaurs, called known as ceratopsians, of which triceratops is the most famous example. When ryan discovers uncovers a new ceratopsian, he often calls on csotonyi to introduce it to the public bring it back to life. Julius is one of the best of the current crop of new dinosaur artists. He did a beautiful piece when we named a new horned dinosaur from southern alberta called xenoceratops. Reporter just before the published, when a new dinosaur is identified, csotonyi and ryan discuss its major anatomical features, and what its Living Environment may have been. Then csotonyi gets to work. I mostly start at the head. Over several rounds of revision and review, we come to a rough sketch that is agreeable to everybody and then i start to add the color layers to it. Reporter the final piece shows what a dinosaur like xenoceratops might have looked like in real life. Were trying to get our research out to the public. We can do that by writing scientific papers, we can put the bones that make up those fossils on display in museums. People visually cue off a nice, colorful painting of a dinosaur. Reporter every year, millions of people see csotonyis work in books, in magazines, and at more than 20 museums around the world. I would be doing it in my free time anyway, even if it wasnt a job. I do my best at visualizing what these looked like when they were actually alive and to try to take people through this world that is no longer accessible to us. Reporter for the pbs newshour, im aaron martin in cleveland, ohio. Woodruff late breaking news out of hawaii. A federal judge there has granted a temporary restraining order blocking presiden trump, s revised travel ban from taking effect nationwide. The ban was set to take effect at midnight. It temporarily barred travelers from six muslimmajrity countries and most refugees from entering the u. S. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by its hard not to feel pride as a citizen of this country when were in a place like this. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. 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 and individuals. 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