Away here in iowa, and half a century ago. 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 the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. 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. Woodruff spending fights in states across the country are heating up over this long fourth of july holiday period, and none hotter than in new jersey. This was day three of a State Government shutdown with republican governor Chris Christie and democratic lawmakers at odds over a budget. Christie drew fire sunday for using the governors official residence at one of new jerseys public beaches that are now closed to the public. He has a place to go, so as long as he can go and his family can have a good holiday, i guess thats more important than the people of new jersey. Its very sad. Woodruff christie dismissed the criticism today in a phone call to a morning tv show. Asked about people being upset, he said, well, im sorry theyre not the governor. Meanwhile, maines State Government is also partially shut down, over a budget fight. And lawmakers in illinois are back in session, trying to resolve a budget standoff thats now in its third year. President trump shows no signs of backing off his public feud with the news media. In a new tweet today, he said at some point the fake news the president drew new criticism on sunday, after he tweeted mock video of him tackling a man with the cnn logo over his face. Chinese president xi jinping warned President Trump today that u. S. china relations are being harmed by a series of problems initiated by the United States. They include a new u. S. Arms deal with taiwan, and sanctions against a chinese bank for its dealings with north korea. Chinese state tv gave beijings assessment of the call. translated xi jinping stressed to mr. President trump that since our meeting at the maralago resort, u. S. China relations achieved important results. At the same time, the relationship between both countries has been impacted by some negative factors. We hope the u. S. Can act earnestly in accordance with the one china principle. Woodruff the phone call also came hours after the destroyer u. S. S. Stethem, seen here last summer, again sailed near a disputed island in the south china sea. Iraqi army units in mosul closed in today on the last sliver of the city still held by a few hundred Islamic State fighters. The Government Troops were backed by heavy air strikes by the u. S. Coalition. Isis fought back with female suicide bombers in mosul and elsewhere. They killed at least 15 people in the last 24 hours. One of bombers was just 15 years old. In germany, 18 people were killed when a bus full of Senior Citizens crashed this morning. Police say the bus rearended a semitruck in bavaria, then burst into flames. Nearly 200 emergency workers joined the response and tried to recover bodies from the charred wreckage. Authorities say the heat from the fire was so intense, only the buss twisted frame was left. Back in this country, automakers posted another poor showing for june, with Sales Numbers tumbling for the sixth straight month. Fiat chrysler fell more than 7 , while ford and g. M. Were down roughly 5 . Meanwhile, korean automaker hyundai posted a 19 loss. Analysts say a downturn was expected after last years record Sales Numbers. Wall street cut short its trading day, ahead of the fourth of july, but banks and Energy Companies made the most of it. They led the Dow Jones Industrial average higher, adding 129 points to close at 21,479. The nasdaq fell 30 points, and the s p 500 gained five. And, on the eve of the fourth of july, theres new evidence that americans need to brush up on their history. In a newshour npr marist poll, only 77 correctly said the United States won independence from britain. The rest were unsure or named another country, including russia and afghanistan. Even fewer, only 69 , knew the american colonies declared their independence in the year 1776. Still to come on the newshour the march of dimes president on replacing obamacare. A new report highlighting the broad reach of the opioid epidemic. Are americans less civil since President Trump took office . A newshour poll offers clues. And much more. Woodruff weve heard from a number of interested parties in recent weeks and months as republicans on capitol hill have been working to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act. Theyve included hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry, advocates for the homeless and the disabled, as well as lawmakers from both parties. Tonight we turn to stacey stewart, president of the march of dimes, a nonprofit that focuses on the health needs of mothers and babies, especially when it comes to preventing premature birth, birth defects and infant mortality. Stacey stewart, thank you very much for being here. So what is your main concern with the Senate Version of this healthcare reform plan . Well, the march of dimes, as you mentioned, what we care about is the health of pregnant women and their babies, and our main concern with the senate bill as proposed is it would put at risk the health of many of those women and their babies. Medicaid covers about half of all pregnancies in the United States and about 30 million children are covered by medicaid. Under what the senate proposed, about 6. 5 lowincome women of child bearing age would lose their coverage under medicaid, and we think that that pughts at risk those women in terms of them being able to access prenatal care to have a healthy baby and pregnancy. Woodruff about half pregnant women in this country depend on government help to cover a pregnancy . Medicaid covers lowincome pregnant women with prenatal care and delivery. If the waib baby is born too soon, low birth wait or has defects, medicaid covers those babies as well. So it ends up covering a lot of the babies and providing the need to make sure they have the support they need if there are complications. Woodruff there hasnt been a great deal of talk about prevention, but prevention is a big part of this. One of the big conversations is how do we stabilize the Health Market and medicaid and healthcare in general, and i think one of the conversations we need to have as a country is how do we do more, to put more emphasis on prevention and care earlier on versus having a system that really is fund ago lot of chronic disease and illness. One of the reasons we focus on maternity coverage and prenatal care is because thats what happens to enable those women to have healthy babies if they get the help they need and certainly if they before they get pregnant, if they are healthy, that creates the best outcome for the baby. Healthy women equals healthy babies. The more we can put emphasis on early prevention efforts and fund a system that actually focuses on that, we think will improve Health Outcomes, reduce cost and premiums, which is what everybody wants. Woodruff isnt it the case, though, stacey stewart, under traditional medicaid states are required to cover pregnancy, to cover prenatal care and babies, so even if medicaid is scaled back, which looks like would be the case under the Senate Republican plan, they would still be required to cover women in these circumstances, wouldnt they . The problem is, with reductions as proposed, were not sure how much of the need would be covered. With women coming off medicaid coverage as a result of the pullback of the expansion of medicaid, i think there is a concern we have. And the concern isnt just in the medicaid market, its also in the private market. Before the Affordable Care act, private Healthcare Plans did not necessarily include maternity coverage as a requirement as did employbased plans and medicaid. We need to make sure all women have accesses to the resources they need, whether private plan or medicaid, and we believe much of the support women need could be at risk and thats our primary concern. Woodruff how do you answer the argument from conservatives that something has to be done, that maibd has grown at a rate thats out of control, cannot be sustained, and unless some methods are found to scale that back, medicaid wont be there in the lon long term for people who need it. We share the concern. The costs of medicaid are exorbitant and growing. But lets look at whats going on in the medicaid market. You have a lot of lowincome women, women of color, and we see Health Outcomes not improving. One of the big issues with the march of dimes, the government issued statistics showing preterm birth rates increased for the second time in the past two years after some decline over the past seven years. Health outcomes are not improving for pregnant mothers and babies. Its actually going down. So one of the things that we can do to control the costs of medicaid and healthcare in general, again, is to focus on what all the interventions could be put in place, what prevention methods could be put in place, to educate and perform and provide the support and healthcare coverage women need so both kind of Health Outcomes can be avoided. If we can avoid those outcomes we can keep costs under control and have a much more manageable system over time. Woodruff weve heard the argument among republicans, why should single men be required to buy coverage at the includes maternity and cover births and costs. We all buy insurance for thaingts may never happen to us, including Health Insurance for Health Outcomes we may never suffer from. The fact that women are responsible for child bearing, does that mean theyre responsible for creating the baby in the first place by themselves . It takes men and women together to create babies and, so, we believe its very important that the Insurance Market cover those thingsthat are risks that each one of us individually may not experience but they are risks and they are costs that are in the system that are important to make sure get covered. So i think its really important to say, look, when we buy insurance, we buy for a lot of things we personally may not experience or be impacted by, but thats the point of having insurance and a larger pool of risk included in insurance so that it reduces the cost for everyone to participate. Woodruff stacey stewart, president of the march of dimes, and the debate goes on. Thank you. Thank you so much, judy. Woodruff now, a new study by one of the nations biggest Health Insurance companies gives a startling look at the toll that prescription opioids are taking on its policyholders. William brangham has that. Brangham the insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield analyzed medical records for 30 million customers and found striking results. In 2015, roughly 20 of customers, one in five, filled at least one prescription for opioid painkillers, almost half of those patients were prescribed high doses of the drugs which are more likely to cause dependence. Between 2010 and 2016 the rate of abuse or addiction to those painkillers shot up dramatically by almost 500 , this while the rate of medically assisted treatment considered the most successful way to curb the addictions grew by 65 in the same time frame. The report detailed abuse of opioids between men and women and different parts of the country. Im joined by dr. Trent haywood, chief medical officer for the Blue Cross Blue Shield association. Welcome to the newshour. This is an interesting set of data produced from your patients records. Weve said one in five have had a prescription for these painkillers, obviously most of them for legitimate pain suppression needs, but weve also discovered the rate of addiction shot up. Why do you think that has been happening . The reason why we wanted to focus on this particular issue is just what you just alluded to, the escalation in the opioid addiction from physicians prescribing these particular opioids, in the 90s, we were aggressive as physicians making sure we address pain. Unfortunately, it was found out later, as we see unfold now, we underestimated the risk of the high doses prescribed in the particular ownoids and are suffering the consequences of that. Brangham some of the data you guys have put together is not necessarily new news. Why hasnt the message seemingly gotten out to the medical Community Just how serious these drugs really are . One of the things we know when it comes to medicine and the practice of medicine sit really requires a substantial amount of time for it to change. Were headed into the independence holiday, so people are moving off to make sure they enjoy time with friends and family, but, as this report highlights, all of us want to be independent this day, because whether it be your family or someone elses, were all struggling with opioid addiction. Over 2 millionmines americans a year are suffering from opioid addiction. Its not one specific demographic. Brangham the bestknown streams for the addictions have barely kept up with the pace. Why do you think that is . Were talking about someone moving from an acute situation to a chronic condition. The opioid addiction is chronic con diction and we need to treat it that way and make sure people have the necessary support they need to have. Brangham if i am a Blue Cross Blue Shield policy holder and i recognize i have a problem and try to get treatment, will my policy cover that Addiction Treatment . Yeah, one of the reasons were highlighting this is you need to make certain you follow up at your local plan level to get that treatment this is something that is actually covered in most members policies so you should be following up to get that treatment. Brangham one of the things i was struck by in the report is the gender differences. When men and women are younger, men seem to be more have you cial. As we age, women seem to become more vol herbal to addiction. Do you have a sense of why that is . One of the reasons we think women are being imacted into an Older Age Group is the fact that theyre appropriately following up with their physicians. The more you follow up, the more likely youre prescribed an opioid. Women in Older Age Groups are more predescribed to getting the prescribed opioid. Brangham the senate is debating a healthcare bill that could eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars from medicaid. Medicaid itself pays for much of adduction treatment around the country. Do you share concern of many that if this bill were to become law the doubts medicaid could only worsen an already awful epidemic . From every indication, this particular issue is not partisan. Whether on the right or left, as relates to the opioid epidemic, both sides of the aisle are to address that particular concern. While there may be broader implications relating to the medicaid reform, we ought to stand together as americans. Brangham dr. Trent haywood, chief medical officer Blue Cross Blue Shield, thank you so much. Thank you. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour bringing hope to children with a birth defect in india. How one undocumented family in wisconsin chose to come out of the shadows. And from our newshour bookshelf, a retelling of a greek tragedy. But first, we break down the latest results from our pbs newshour npr marist poll, the president s continued attacks against the media, and the battle over healthcare on capitol hill. Its time for politics monday with tamara keith of npr and stu rothenberg, Senior Editor at inside elections. And welcome to you both on this day before the fourth of july. Thank you for wearing red, white and blue. , so tam so, tam, the white house is saying they fully respect some version of the Healthcare Plan the republicans like is going to pass the senate and congress. What is your reporting telling you . Its possible, though at the moment Mitch Mcconnell described the effort to find a healthcare bill 50 republicans can support in the senate is like working with a rubrics cube you move one piece, and then some other piece moves out of the way. Its a very delicate negotiation thats happening right now. Its not clear that theyll get there. Some of the medicaid tests discussed in the last segment are a hangup. There are other hangups for more conservative republicans, but they are highly motivated to get to a win, so you cant discount the motivation that exists to find a way. Stu, i think ive asked this question before, what is the cal clues, if youre a Senate Republican, what are you thinking . I think the choice is not passing anything, or passing something thats going to be broadly unpopular but going to find a lot of support within republican and conservative circles. Thats the choice. For most republicans, i think for most republicans campaign strategists, passing something is a strong imperative. You have to do something for the base, even if you risk alienating a larger electorate. For individual members, that has different equations for someone like Lisa Murkowski in alaska, susan collins, rand paul, portman, they have their own ideas. Woodruff it looks like its hard to circle the circle or the square. At this point, it does look that way, but it kind of looked that way in the house, too. It looked like it was a dead bill so we were calling it a zombie bill and the next thing you knew they passed it. They came up with a compromise that didnt seem to materially change anything, yet it passed and they were able to move it to the senate. So, you know, dont declare this thing dead. It could be back. So maybe, stew, where theres a will, theres a way. And where theres a Mitch Mcconnell theres always a possibility. Woodruff lets go back to the president s tweets. He tweeted a couple of times about healthcare but hes tweeted a number of times about the news media. Last week, it was the cable show host Mika Brzezinski and joe scarborough. Yesterday it was a new tweet where it was an edit video of a president pummeling a man on the ground, showing it here, with cnn over his face. How do we interpret this . There are many ways to interpret it, but, you know, President Trump, as a candidate and now as a president , to use the wrestling analogy, he wanted a heel, he needs a foe, you know, and he has decided that the media is going to be his foe, his heel in this wrestling match that is his presidency, and, so, i mean, that image, that video is a pretty perfect description of the way he is approaching this, having that fight, having that feud really excites some people who support him. Now, there are others who are turned off by it and, you know, we could go down the road of the dangers of having a video that looks like it is encouraging violence against members of the media, but it works for this is the same donald trump who ran for president and won. Woodruff how does it advance his cause now . First of all, i think tam is exactly right on this. I would just add two things. One, advancement is caused by mobilizing and motivating his base. They love it when he attacks the media. They think its exciting and they agree with him. Second of all, he enjoys it. Lets remember, judy, he did that in that wrestling show. He actually did that. Its his ego. He wants to be the center of attention. He wants to be the focus of everything, and i think he just has a lot of fun when he does that. For donald trump, its more fun to do that han to actually get into the weeds and public policy. I was talking to rapp consultant today who said its a distraction but maybe a rec med distraction. If the people are talking about tweets and wrestl wrestlemania, they arent talking about medicaid cuts. Woodruff and the role of democracy, and we can talk about that at a later time. I want to talk about the new poll that the newshour and npr did in conjunction with marist where, one of the things we looked at, stu, exactly what you mentioned, high distrust of the news media. More than twothirds of americans were asked what do you think about trust and institutions and here it is. 37 , a good deal or a great amount of trust in the trump administration. 30 , even less trust in the made meadia and 20, about on same par, as trust in congress. And you go on to see trust in the intelligence community, twice that much, 60 , and in the courts 60 . But the bottom line here, stew, is that the media may be a good whipping boy. Yeah, and i think the public sees the media as a political institution, just as they see the white house, president and congress and now nobody trusts politicians or people covering poll degrees. Its a horrible trend. I look back at the gallup numbers in the early 1970s and were regarded much worse than last then but its been getting worse over the last couple of decades. Its been said there is concern the president is trying to weaponize distrust. We are at a place where we dont have a republic with shared facts. This is a long trend of institutions losing trust with the American People and puts america at risk. Woodruff i want to show our audience and you the other question in the poll, since President Trump was elected, that is overall tone and level of civility in washington got worse, 70 stayed the same, 20 improved, 6, no surprise here. 17 strong republicans say it improved and white evangelicals, 10 said improved, but the overall sample is very clear and correct, things have deteriorated, coarser, more vulgar. Its not a time of better tone. Woodruff we are glad to promote civility here at the newshour. Stu rothenberg, tamera keith, thank you both. Thanks, judy. Woodruff you can read more about the findings from our joint pbs newshour npr marist poll on our website, pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff next, bringing treatment for a treatable, but widely untreatedbirth defect, to developing countries. Fred de sam lazaro has a report from indias commercial capital, mumbai, on a condition called club foot. Its part of his ongoing series agents for change. Reporter it only sounds painful. This wailing fiveyearold is receiving the very same treatment a full leg plaster cast as this young, perfectly the therapy here in mumbais Wadia Charitable hospital will save these children from a life of pain and social isolation that comes from club foot. Its a common birth defect that in wealthy countries is usually corrected early in life. But in the developing world, it remains largely untreated and becomes a disability, says orthopedist dr alaric aroojis. It is probably the second or third important cause of physical disability in india after road traffic accidents and trauma. Its more of a cosmetic problem initially and as they grow older and they can no longer play with their friends, thats when it sinks it that its a functional problem. Reporter club foot is diagnosed at birth when a foot in some cases both feetgrow inward. Patients learn to walk on the side of the foot. 26yearold madhu varma says its painful for sustained periods, but like most sufferers, shes learned to adapt. What she could not deal with was the sight of her daughter, madhuri, when she too was born with club foot. translated it was really difficult. I cried for days when i saw my childs foot, i could not eat, i was just sick with worry. They told me that with plaster they can treat it. So this is the daughter and this is the mother. The daughters foot is fully corrected. Reporter that correction once required extensive surgery. Dr. Aroojis says. Now treatment in most cases is a series of plaster casts over several weeks less invasive, less expensive and less painful. Its such a supple method, we dont force the foot in any way at all. Each time, we move the foot just as much as the child allows. This is a procedure that is done without any anesthetic. Reporter once corrected, patients like fiveyearold nishant wear a brace attached to an outward facing pair of shoes. In a few months, as in this case, its only needed at night and nap time. Nishant shows no sign of an abnormal gait. His parents, struggling slum dwellers, spent hundreds of dollars at ill equipped and poorly informed private clinics with little success. translated we had never heard of club foot until he was born. We felt terrible but when we brought him to bombay, two or three people told me that wadia hospital has the best treatment. Reporter that treatment was developed by an Orthopedic Surgeon named ignacio ponseti, half a world away here in iowa and half a century ago. It would take decades before the ponseti method became Standard Practice for treating club foot. Why do you suppose it took as long as it did . One is that the kinds of people that were treating club foot at least in the u. S. Were Orthopedic Surgeons and i think they became surgeons for a reason. They like doing surgery and this was introducing a nonsurgical technique and i think there was some resistance to that. Reporter chesca colloredo mansfeld, a business consultant, lived in iowa city, where ponseti, a spanish immigrant, was a local legend. Dr. Ponsetis dying wish, he was in his 90s at that time, was to try to get his treatment out to the rest of the world. Reporter colloredo manfeld started one of several non profit efforts to fulfill dr ponsetis wish to take the non surgical approach finally standard in the u. S to developing countries. She cofounded a charity in 2010 called miracle feet, supported mostly by High Net Worth individuals and foundations. Its taken the ponseti method and message to clinics in 19 countries so far, with some 23,000 patients, including those in mumbai, providing training and supplies at low or no cost including braces patients will use after their cast treatments are done. In india casting is done by surgeons but in countries where they arent available, non physicians are trained. Another key role is that of clinic assistants, paid by miracle feet. They work to educate that family during the bracing phase to make sure the Children Wear the brace at night and complete the treatment over the next four years. The correction itself only takes two to three months but the follow up period of maintaining that correction is absolutely critical. Reporter veteran Orthopedic Surgeon rujuta mehta says parents of club foot patients, once terrified at the prospect and cost of surgery, are elated when they discover its no longer needed. Acceptability therefore of ponseti is huge. Reporter its much simpler, less intimidating and its cheaper . Cheaper and this is the kind of thing you can apply in a Public Health program. Reporter the number of children being treated has tripled in the past decade or so. Yet five out of six clubfoot patients go untreated in developing countries like india, still enduring an easily correctable condition for the rest of their lives. So the challenge is to get the word out early . Absolutely, and the more awareness there, the earlier they come easier to treat the better the deformity correction. Reporter a deformity correctable even in adulthood, as madhu varma discovered when getting her daughter treated she became the oldest patient this clinic has ever treated. Theres a very good possibility that just with serial castings by the ponseti method we should be able to get a full correction in her. Reporter she had a wedding to attend, she told the doctors, where she and daughter madhuri would be able to dance. For pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in mumbai. Woodruff freds reporting is a partnership with the under told stories project at the university of st. Thomas in minnesota. Woodruff in the wake of the 2016 election, many undocumented immigrants across the country have become anxious, fearful of increased immigration enforcement. Tonight, a story about one family in milwaukee, wisconsin where the children are american citizens but whose parents are not. From milwaukee public television, portia young reports. Luis, would you like cookies with your lunch . Reporter every morning lola flores gets her children ready for school and her husband jose plays with their youngest daughter before leaving for work. But for jose and lola, ever since the new president ial administration took over, each morning has become the start of another day of living in fear. Fear that they may be separated from their four children, who are american citizens, by u. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents due to increased immigration enforcement. The more important thing for my family is that we stay together. I cant imagine a separation with my littles. We live with fear every day and, its not easy. translated if i get deported i dont know what will happen with my children. Reporter their 15year old daughter, leslie, is equally frightened her parents may be arrested by immigration Customs Enforcement agents, or ice. I am worried that, theres been rumors that theres been raids and im scared that what if they go to the store and get taken by ice . Reporter the flores family, says it is not just the risk of deportation that scares many of the families, but also the negative attitude that anti immigrant supporters have taken against undocumented immigrants since President Trump took office. translated a person came to me and said nice truck and nice family, but get the hell out of this country my son then turned around to look at me and said what happened daddy . Why is this person telling us this . I told my son, its nothing. Dont worry and then the man said get out of this country, this is not your country. We have a new president now and his name is donald trump. So this hurts me and breaks my heart, not for me, but because of the experience my little boy went through. Reporter jose and lola have lived in the u. S. For 20 years. With the ongoing violence among cartels, going back to mexico, their country of origin, they say, would be very difficult, if not deadly. translated i cannot go back to a country like this. I dont know anyone who wishes to take mr. Flores and his wife and deport them, make their children parentless here in the United States. Reporter Brian Westrate, chairman of the wisconsin 3rd district republican party, says the current laws for legalization should be changed. We need to Work Together, and by we, the American People, but through our representatives because they are the only ones that can write law, they are the only ones that can change law. We need to Work Together to come up with a pathway to legalization. Reporter others believe more security is needed. We would be much better off if we could welcome as many immigrants who would love to come here and to support that American Dream for them. Reporter as a former member of the Army National guard, Milwaukee County supervisor Deanna Alexander, has been on the front lines of the u. S. Mexico border. And its her experiences there that have her calling for increased Law Enforcement and tougher security. Living in a world with terrorism and drug smuggling and people who would do americans harm on purpose, by choice or through their own negligence, we have to be conscientious of what that means, and be careful of who we allow to come in our door. Reporter immigration attorney cain oulahan, who is giving legal advice to the flores family, says a pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants such as the flores, is not easy to obtain. You can only really get it if you have a Family Member who is a permanent resident or u. S. Citizen to apply for you and if you dont have that is very difficult and often times impossible to get legal status under current laws. Reporter under the current immigration laws, the only current solution for the lola and jose to start a process for legal status, would be through their children. But for a u. S. Citizen child to petition for a parent, the child must be at least 21 years of age. Well it feels good to know that theres is a point in my life where i can help them like they helped me, but its hard to know that, im 15 right now and thats until you are 21 i believe so its a long time to be waiting but we are going to try our best to do that. Reporter last summer, the flores family tracked down their governor, republican scott walker, at a president ial Campaign Event in iowa to confront him about deferred action for parents of americans and lawful permanent residents, known as dapa, created under president obama. Why are you blocking dapa . I went that time because ive seen and read about his politics and his views and i dont agree with that time i went because of my family and friends and i told them why do you want to deport my family, why are you against dapa . Why dont you answer my question, why are you trying to break my family apart . We are a nation of laws and the president said 22 times last year he didnt make the law himself, he wasnt the emperor of the United States and he couldnt change the law. My point is you have to follow the law, the process. I completely sympathize with the situation you are in and others. Reporter g. O. P. Party district chair Brian Westrate says republicans must find a way to incorporate immigrants. Speaking for the republican party, there is a great deal of compassion and acknowledgement that our society is largely better off with people like the flores family than without it. At the same time, we have to find a pathway to legalization. The solution cannot simply be to just continue to let them exist in the shadows. Reporter Milwaukee County supervisor Deanna Alexander says her own parents were immigrants, so she understands people wanting to come to the u. S. For a better life. But i also understand that we have some major problems, and it may not be just at our southern border. We have some major problems with people who want to break our laws or do our Society Great harm that will come to this country with an opportunity they have. Reporter the message jose flores would like to get across immigrants are not bad people. translated we all came here to work, and i have behaved correctly in this country, i contribute to this country and i try to do everything the right way and stay out of trouble. I just dont have a Social Security or a working permit but that is all. Neither i or my family are criminals, and there are many like me who are not criminals. Reporter its a message jose hopes resonates with lawmakers and the rest of the country. For pbs newshour, im portia young in milwaukee, wisconsin. Woodruff next, a new take on a literary classic. Jeffrey brown has the newest addition to the newshour bookshelf. Brown a king sacrifices his own daughter to appease the gods. His wife takes revenge by killing her husband. The story of king agamemnon, queen clytemnestra and their children, set against the backdrop of the trojan war, is quite literally the stuff of greek tragedy. And now comes a new telling in house of names, a novel by one of todays leading writers, colm toibin. His acclaimed books include the master, nora webster and brooklyn, which was made into a film in 2015. Welcome to you. Thank you. Yeah,ates retelling of the story and this is a great story of war within a family, its an intimate war. As for example, the war in syria is going on. If you want some version of that as so a sort of myth, a sense of how what it looks like when this happens intimately rather than one country at war with another, this is the great story, this is the myth of origin of all civil brown but it is, as you say, at heart, a family drama, a family tragedy. Once you start working with a family, youre working with two sorts of feelings, which is elemental love, but if that goes wrong, you get rage and hatred on a new sort of level. And i suppose i was attempting to use a contemporary novelist system. I mean, it is set in ancient greece, but psychologically trying to establish why would a woman murder her husband . Shes not a psychopath. But shes got very good reasons to murder her husband. Brown yes. I mean, hes behaved atrociously toward her. But much harder to imagine how would a son murder his own mother. And so i was yeah, i became absolutely involved as though i knew as though i knew them, as though i could see everything they did, working in detail all the time with each of them and their motives and their shifting motives and the rage they felt. But they were also eating together in the evening. I mean, when orestes comes home, his mother, like any mother, says i hope your bedroom is o. K. For you. brown yeah, the Little Details of everyday life. And his sisters hugging him but actually what they all have in mind is where are the weapons . What are they eventually going to do . Brown you told this in alternating voices. But especially the voice the womans voice, clytemnestra, in a first person, right . Yes. Theres a late play by euripides called iphigenia at aulis, which tells the story from her point of view. She was lured to the camp. Her husband said there was going to be a wedding. But in fact, they were going to sacrifice her daughter. So i wanted to open it with her voice saying, i have been acquainted with the smell of death. brown thats literally the opening line. Yes, thats the opening line and its meant to be, its meant to describe how she took a lover so she could get someone to help her. So this is a novel, besides about family its about power. And so anyone who is seeking power should read this book because it gives you a look into how much planning you have to do for that single moment. If you get one thing wrong, everything goes wrong. And so she plans to kill her husband when he returns victorious from the trojan war. Brown from the beginning in ancient times to now, these stories are about the cycle of violence, right . how did it all begin . right . What led to one death after another . But it also raises the question of when does it ever end. Yeah, that with any civil war, for example the troubles in Northern Ireland or whats happening in syria, it begins with one killing. And then its impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. Its retaliation after retaliation. So violence within a civil war or violence with a gang feud is always a spiral, you know. So to that extent were still living in that idea of violence not as a single act but as a cycle. Brown you also have in this, questions of morality, questions of religion. Its very hard to put the gods into a contemporary novel. So i had early on in the novel i had clytemnestra as different from the others because she does not pray to the gods or appeal to the gods. She has will. She makes the decisions. So what i wanted to do was move it away from the godly into the idea of its people who cause this, not the gods. These killings are done by people who decide to do them as people, rather than having this almighty power. Brown i saw where you said once that a novel really begins for you in a sentence. That a sentence somehow and this is the quote i saw contains the full weight of a novel. Thats an interesting idea. Yeah. You have something on one side of your head i dont know if im not a brain surgeon but one side of your story make story formation. Or an idea or a memory or something. And that moves, of its own accord, into rhythm. And you get a line that line i have been acquainted with the smell of death. and once you get that you can work. Until you get that you cant. And so you wait for it. But once its there, theres no point in waiting for it again. You must work. Brown yeah. Then the work comes of actually writing the book. Yeah. Brown alright the new novel is house of names. Colm toibin, thank you very much. Thanks, jeff. Thank you very much. Woodruff and now a story about the founding of our nation. A distant ancestor of Rohulamin Quander was enslaved at George Washingtons mt. Vernon estate in virginia. Quander is now a tour guide there where he offers a unique perspective on the contributions of African Americans to our countrys history. This story was filmed, edited and produced by middle and High School Students who are part of the newshours student reporting labs program. The past always has an impact on the future. Those who do not know their past are kind of destined to repeat it. We have that Program Every year. Ive been coming here all my life, i remember when i was like about 12 years old. But i didnt fully understand or appreciate the familys longstanding connection. Were going to go up to the exhibit lives bound together slavery at George Washingtons mt. Vernon. I am a licensed tour guide in the District Of Columbia and i come and i bring groups all over the metropolitan washington, d. C. , including to George Washingtons mt. Vernon, which the quander family has a long standing historical connection with. Nancy carter was a young girl, really, who was 11 years old in 1799 when George Washington made provisions in his will to free his slaves. Her mother, suckey bay was her name, was an enslaved woman who lived on one of washingtons five farms and was a field hand. So when washington freed his slaves then nancy carter was free. She later married Charles Quander who was a member of the quander family and so there are many descendants that come down from that and are part of the large quander family, which as you know is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, documented African American family in the country. The Family History goes back to maryland in the 1600s. We hear about the hamiltons and the madisons and the jeffersons. Well, do we hear about the enslaved people who made sure the crops were in, made sure the fishing was proper, who made sure the distillery was run . They were the ones who were the backbone so that George Washington could go off and become the father of our nation. You really cant understand George Washingtons life without understanding the lives of the people, whose lives were intertwined with his, whose work supported his estate. I try to instill into everyone where we as americans came from. I often say this is not a black history tour, this is an American History tour. I think for me, its really, it gives me a sense of history to share with my kids, and its also really neat to be able to participate in this tour with mr. Quander as he has relatives and his ancestry line is here at mount vernon. Its also, i think, important to honor the lives and the contributions of the people who were enslaved here, and elsewhere, whose stories have not been told, have perhaps not been remembered, have not been appreciated. We are a bridge from the past to the present and we have a responsibility of upholding the quander name and lifting others as we climb. And its important for people to understand that we have earned our rights. We built, literally physically built, mt. Vernon, built the United States capitol, built the white house, along with other people of course, but we need people in the African American diaspora to understand that we have always been a part of what constitutes america. Woodruff later tonight on pbs, pov presents a film about young syrians who joined the antigovernment resistance. The war show follows a tight knit group of syrian idealists as they protest against the regime of Bashar Al Assad and depicts the countrys descent into civil war. The war show airs tonight on most pbs stations. On the newshour next week, an indepth look inside Vladimir Putins russia. In russia today, insurgent nationalism. Its official. Built by and around one man. Russians suddenly felt like a super power again. But for putins opponents. People who tried to leave the putin family voluntarily have not fared very well. A rare look inside putins russia next week on the pbs newshour. Woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, just in time for tomorrows fourth of july celebrations, our sciencescope team reveals a beer whose yeast comes from bees. 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 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 glor welcome to the program. Im jeff glor filling in for charlie rose. We begin this evening with politics and talk to julie hirschfielddavis of the New York Times and Philip Rucker of the the washington post. This is the third week in a row where theyve had like a themed week. It was infrastructure weeks then it was technology week, now its energy week. There is so little talk of the subject at hand. The media is partially responsible for that but the president is getting in the way of his own message with these tweets and the other fights and the focus on an adversarial relationship with the media. Its tough to get the band width to cover what they say is the subjects of the day. Glor we conclude with architect norman foster. The best art to me