captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: israel stepped up its air strikes on palestinians in gaza, hitting roughly every five minutes today, as hamas continued its rocket attacks with no resolution in sight. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. also ahead, closing the education gap for low-income kids by bolstering the number of words they hear each day as toddlers. >> at young ages, there are small gaps in achievement and ability between children and you see that gap grow and grow over time. early intervention is critical. >> woodruff: mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the week's news.

and lebron james is headed home. the pro basketball star announced he will leave the miami heat to return to the cleveland cavaliers. those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved,

staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> 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: the white house took criticism from both sides of the political spectrum today over the flood of migrant children illegally crossing the southern border. many leading republicans

complained the president's request for $3.7 billion in emergency funding is too much. arizona senator john mccain. >> neither i nor the majority of my republican colleagues will support expenditure of billions of dollars, which will only perpetuate the problem, until we address the source of the problem, and that means the repeal of the law that was passed that creates this loophole. >> woodruff: the law in question is a 2008 statute that bars quick deportations of children from central america. republicans are demanding it be changed, but democrats in the congressional hispanic caucus said they firmly oppose any such move. still, white house spokesman josh earnest left the door open to that possibility. >> what we're focused on is the ultimate goal. and if that means changing the 2008 law, if it means giving greater authority to the

secretary of homeland security, if it requires passing some other law, we're focused on the end results. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the u.s. border patrol suspended plans to send hundreds more migrant children from texas to the san diego area, after protests. u.s. business economists have dialed back their expectations for this year. the national association for business economics now projects expansion ran at an annual rate of 3% in the second quarter. that's down half a percent from an earlier forecast. the forecast for the year is just 1.6%-- nearly a full point lower than before. germany says it still wants close relations with the u.s. despite a spying scandal. that follows two incidents of german government employees allegedly passing secrets to the u.s. berlin has asked the c.i.a station chief to leave the

country, but the foreign minister said today it does not mean a permanent rift. >> ( translated ): despite the troubling incidents in recent weeks that led to yesterday's decisions, for me our partnership with the united states is without alternative. we want to reinvigorate our partnership, our friendship on an honest basis, and we are ready for this. >> woodruff: last year, it came out that the u.s. eavesdropped on german chancellor angela merkel, and intercepted german internet traffic. in ukraine, a rebel rocket attack killed said at least 19 government soldiers near the eastern border with russia. in turn, president petro poroshenko warned that for every soldier killed, "scores and hundreds" of militants will die. but in a phone call, german chancellor angela merkel urged the ukrainian leader to use "a sense of proportion" and protect civilians. kurdish forces in iraq have grabbed two major oil fields in the northern part of the country. the move today widens a split with the baghdad government.

the oil fields are outside the city of kirkuk, which kurdish fighters seized weeks ago amid the chaos of a sunni insurgency. secretary of state john kerry made an emergency trip to afghanistan today over the disputed presidential election. in kabul he urged presidential rivals abdullah abdullah and ashraf ghani to let the united nations investigate alleged voter fraud. >> we obviously have high hopes that the questions about the election will be resolved quickly, can be resolved, and that a way forward can take place which can give afghan's confidence that they have a presidency and a government that is capable of unifying all afghans and building the road to the future. >> woodruff: amid the political crisis, u.s. officials hope to get an agreement signed that keeps some american troops in afghanistan past year's end. the u.s. centers for disease

control and prevention will halt transfers of biological samples from its high-security labs. that follows an incident last month that could have exposed staffers to anthrax, plus an earlier incident involving bird flu. no one got sick, but c.d.c director doctor thomas frieden says lab safety has to improve. >> our laboratories are core to our ability to protect americans. our laboratories are the reason we are the gold standard for not just infectious diseases, but environmental health as well. and for this to happen and put our workers potentially at risk is totally unacceptable. >> woodruff: the c.d.c also announced that two vials of smallpox virus found recently after 60 years still contained live virus. they're being destroyed. the vials turned up at the national institutes of health in bethesda, maryland. chrysler announced the latest auto safety recall today, some 650,000 jeep and dodge s.u.v's

sold in the u.s. the wiring in their vanity mirror lights could be prone to short circuit and catch fire. there've been three injuries. the recall applies to vehicles built between 2011 and 2014. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 28 points to close at 16,943. the nasdaq rose 19, to close at 4,415. and the s&p 500 added just under three points, to finish at 1,967. but for the week, the dow lost seven-tenths of a percent, the s&p slipped 1% and the nasdaq fell more than 1.5%. veteran journalist john seigenthaler died today at his home in nashville, tennessee. over a long career, he edited the "nashville tennessean", and worked on civil rights under attorney general robert kennedy. later, he advised kennedy's presidential campaign and helped run "u.s.a today" in its early years. john seigenthaler was 86 years

old. still to come on the newshour, the death toll climbs in the middle east with no signs of a ceasefire soon, h.i.v scientists suffer a major setback in their search for a cure, the importance of talking to low- income toddlers, what dwindling funds for the federal highway system could mean for states if congress does not act, shields and brooks analyze the week's news, plus, what lebron james' return means for cleveland and says about the business of basketball. >> woodruff: the battle between israel and hamas headed into the weekend today with no end in sight and the palestinian death toll topping 100. the two sides again traded heavy air strikes and rocket fire, with the israelis vowing to press their offensive, and hamas insisting it would not give in.

the early morning light showed chaos in gaza after another israeli air strike. they were hitting roughly every five minutes today. later in the day, streets in gaza city were mostly empty. shops were locked up and people stayed inside to keep safe. >> ( translated ): the situation is very bad and not normal. people in the month of ramadan used to visit each other. but now because of the atmosphere of war, people are afraid to go out and they're not earning money. >> woodruff: protests against israel's actions grew across the world, from marches in jordan, to rallies in indonesia where palestinian flags waved high above the crowds. and, as the list of the dead mounted, the u.n. human rights office warned the israeli air campaign may be illegal. >> it's very specific in international law that unless the homes are being used for

military purposes, in case of doubt, such homes are presumed not to be legitimate military targets. so if there is even an iota of a doubt, these are not legitimate military targets. >> woodruff: the israeli military insisted its air strikes on gaza are well thought out. >> ( translated ): we are using all our offensive abilities, not without reasoning, not without thinking, not without taking into account there are civilians in gaza. >> woodruff: and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu insisted the military offensive against hamas will go on. >> ( translated ): no international pressure will prevent us acting with all our force against a terror organization that is calling for our destruction. we will continue to forcefully attack anyone who is trying to hurt us. we will continue to defend-- both with determination and wisdom-- our home front, the citizens of israel. >> woodruff: still, hamas kept firing rockets into israel, more than 600 over the last four

days. israel says it has shot down at least 110 with its "iron dome" system. hamas warned airlines to stay away from ben gurion airport near tel aviv, saying it's a potential target but airlines continued to fly in. one rocket also hit a gas station in ashdod that sent a heavy black cloud wafting over the port city. >> ( translated ): it's too early to talk about a ceasefire under the crimes of the occupation. today the talk is about the bravery of our people and the steadfastness of the resistance in the face of the zionist occupation. >> woodruff: meanwhile, thousands of israeli troops were massed along the gaza border, but prime minister netanyahu would not say if or when a ground invasion might begin. >> woodruff: there's been a big disappointment in the hope to

find a cure for aids. it involves a young child who was thought to have been cured of hiv as a baby. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: it was in march of last year that doctors thought they might have made a breakthrough in the goal of finding a cure for aids, treating a baby girl in mississippi with early and unusually aggressive drug therapy. the mother had h.i.v and had not been treated during pregnancy. but the girl was treated within 30 hours of her birth and was free of the virus for two years. doctors allowed her to stay off therapy and still, there were no signs of h.i.v returning. but yesterday, officials announced that the girl, now almost four, had tested positive for h.i.v during a follow-up visit last week. doctor anthony fauci of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases joins me now. welcome back. well, this is something you and i talked about when the news came out last year. remind us first why this seemed so hopeful. how this early and aggressive treatment promised such a difference?

>> well, it promised such a difference because what happened with this particular baby was an unusual situation that the baby had been on therapy, this aggressive form that you correctly described, for about 18 months but then was lost to follow-up. and the mother discontinued the therapy because she just dropped out of the -- out of the healthcare system, came back five months later, and when the physicians examined the baby, they found out they couldn't find the virus anywhere, no virus in the plasma and no virus in the cells in the blood. so they decided that this possibly could have been a cure related to the fact that the baby was treated very early, as you mentioned, within 30 hours and aggressively. as it urn tuned out, they followed the baby very, very carefully and over a period of 27 months without any therapy at all, there was no indication at all of any virus in the baby. there was no plasma vierine meea

as we say, virus i in the blood. on a routine visit -- and this was very unusual that you would have 27 months off therapy, and as you know this was widely discussed throughout the world as a possible cure of a baby, and then last week on a regular routine visit to the clinic, the baby was doing quite well. they drew some blood and found that one of the lab tests was little bit abnormal, so they look at the level of virus, and they found to their surprise and disappointment that the virus had actually rebound. really it was -- the virus was not eradicated. >> brown: well, you use that word "disappointment." you've been doing this a long time. is it surprising to you? how deflating is it this time later to find out what happened? >> well, jeff, i would describe it not as deflating. i'm disappointed but not surprised, and that's a very good question you ask. this virus is extraordinarily uncanny, and we've been working with trying to figure out the complexities of this reservoir

where the virus hides in the body for a very long period of time. i've been doing this now for over 25 years. and i'm never surprised at some of the things that this virus can do, namely be in the body. any assei that we do we couldn't find it and all of a sudden 27 months into no therapy at all, the baby rebounds. so i'm not surprised, but i am a little bit disaopponented. >> brown: so in terms what happens next is and consequences, one thing that, in fact, you and i had talked about it when this first came out, was there was going to be a trial based on this to look further. what happens now to that trial? does it go forward in some form? >> well, okay. let's first -- just for moment talk about the baby. the baby was put back on antiviral drugs and is doing extremely well. the virus is already starting to dom back down. with regard to the study that you're talking about, this is something that we're going to look very carefully at particularly in the design of the study as well as the ethical

considerations about situations of the informed consent, which will now have to be altered, because this study was predicated on the fact that this baby may have been cured. now, the fact that the baby went 27 months without requiring therapy is a good thing. so we're going to have to change and maybe look at the design and make sure, above all things, that if it's an ethically sound study. >> brown: so go ahead with it, but ethically, you have to tell the people, here's the new situation. >> right, exactly. and even before you go ahead with it, make sure that the design of it is compatible with something that's ethical and something that we can learn, something that's beneficial to the entire cohort of babies in the future. >> brown: just in our last minute, going back to this thought of how long you've been at this and we've been talking about thisfor many years, do we have a tendency to make the highs too high and the lows too low when you're -- because this is such a long search for a cure? >> i think some people do that,

and it's human nature and understandable. as you remember, back then, jeff, when we discussed this, i said, we better be careful not to call something a cure. this a remission. how long the remission will last will depend upon whether it ultimately turns out to be a cure. so i tend to be circumspect and conservative with that. you can understand when you're dealing with a disease as serious as this, when you get good news you like to expand on good news. this is another step in the long process of what we have to learn about this very devastating disease. >> brown: all right, dr. anthony fauci. thank you so much. >> you're quite welcome. >> woodruff: now, closing the education and language gap for kids from low income families, special correspondent john tulenko of learning matters reports on one program trying to tackle the problem by talking

more to toddlers. >> reporter: in providence, rhode island, two-and-a-half year old nylasia jordan is part of a closely watched experiment in language development. to boost the number of words she hears, under her shirt she's been wearing a small, electronic word counter. called digital language processors, they've been given to some 55 toddlers whose families are on public assistance through a program called "providence talks". andrea riquetti is the director. >> and what we ask the families is that they put it inside of the vest pocket and then we ask the parents to put the vest on the child as soon as they wake up in the morning and then wear it throughout the day. >> reporter: the recordings last 18 hours and take place about once a month. while this technology is new, word counting has been done in other ways before and the findings have been troubling. james morgan is a linguist at brown university. >> kids in low income families just hear much less talk than do

kids in higher income families. now that's come into the public consciousness, even president obama has mentioned this, it's known as the 30 million word gap. >> reporter: by age four, researchers found toddlers in low income families hear 30 million fewer words than those in high income families. the result: in cities like providence, two-thirds of children enter kindergarten with poor vocabularies, and quickly fall behind in reading. >> at young ages, there are small gaps in achievement and ability between children and you see that gap grow and grow over time. early intervention is critical. >> hi fred, hi nylasia. how are you? >> reporter: besides counting words, providence is intervening with visits from social workers, like courtney soules. >> nylasia is doing really good. she was very shy at the beginning when i started working with her and now he's opening up a little more. she's starting to do a little more conversation.

so we're going to go over the results of the recording she's done. >> reporter: courtney's brought with her various graphs, showing the number of words spoken to nylasia. >> you can see she's heard about 5,000 words in the course of the day. >> 5,000 words a day. how does that compare? >> it's very low. an average child will hear about 16,000. >> reporter: the recordings have >> reporter: the recordings have picked up a problem. here on the child's chart, a period of almost no conversation from around 10:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. >> so if you turn the page, this one tells you all about her hourly tv. >> reporter: the recording devices count tv time too. >> a lot between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. >> reporter: the challenge is not just to turn off the television, but to roughly triple the number of words nylasia hears from her father, freddie.

>> everybody wants their kids to learn more, talk more, full words. >> does it help to see how you're doing on a graph? >> yeah. the graphs help me understand how many words we're putting out, because all the baby speak, i never understood none of it. >> freddie is a quiet guy. >> yes, he is. but he's a great dad and he really wants to get that education piece for his daughter. >> reporter: what are you doing to help freddie talk more? >> modeling conversations and asking her questions, and giving her choices. do a lot of pointing, like when you're in the kitchen. and also labeling, like when you're taking a walk and you're pointing out birds and trees, and animals to when you are sitting in the house and reading a book together.

you don't have to read the words, just point to the pictures and talk. >> reporter: all that would be picked up by the digital language processor, except for one thing it'll miss. >> the device has no way of discerning one word from another, it has no idea which words are being used, it can only estimate the total count for us. >> with the recorder, i don't hear a word, i don't hear any language at all. >> reporter: okay, so can i try something out on you? >> sure. >> so you're counting words. if a parent said to their kid, "damn, why do you always make such a mess?" that would be counted as nine words. >> correct. >> if i said, "honey, you are cute. let us clean you up." also nine words, but a fundamentally different message. >> right. i think that's not where we are at this point. our focus is just to get children to hear more words yes, i'd like then to hear more positive words than negative ones, but i feel that it would maybe discourage parents if we

heard what was being said. >> reporter: but what parents say is as important as how much they say. and it's been well documented that middle and high income parents say far more words of praise than discouragement, while in low income families, it's the other way around. >> kids who are constantly receiving a lot of prohibitions, it leads them to be less curious, less exploratory, more likely to end up with learned helplessness, so there are a variety of developmental outcomes, none of which are positive. >> reporter: while the recording devices are blind to meaning, they do count the number of conversation turns, back and forth exchanges. program director andrea riquetti looks to that data for clues into what's been said. >> when we see that there is only adult counts, and there's no turn-taking, you can certainly say, you don't know what those words are. but when you start seeing that

there's conversational turns, those conversational turns happen when there's, good, positive, interactions. >> reporter: the program, supported by a private foundation, costs around $2,500 per family, per year. what's the return? parents of the four children courtney soules has been following, started out saying between 5,000 and 7,000 words per day. how many more words are they speaking to their children a year later? >> anywhere between three and five. >> 100? >> yes, which is great. >> 500 more words a day: it's probably not going to have a huge effect. >> reporter: james morgan of brown university. >> which is not to say it'll have no effect, but 500 words a day the child is still far below the average. that's not enough improvement. >> reporter: in morgan's view, conversation coaching for low income parents only goes so far because it fails to address their circumstances.

>> it's tough to be a parent in a low income family. think about a simple trip to the grocery store: if you have to rely on public transportation and watch every penny, then you don't have a lot of energy. you don't have a lot of time. it's not hard to see why kids in low income families are probably getting less interaction with their parents than are kids in higher income families. >> we already know that this is changing behaviors in families. what we're trying to do is let parents know that regardless of their background, regardless of their experiences, they can give their children a better opportunity. >> reporter: in the next three years, providence plans to expand the program from 55 families to as many as 2,000.

>> woodruff: the federal highway trust fund, which pays for the building and fixing of many of the roads and bridges in this country is running out of money. congress only has a few weeks to figure out how to keep it going. and if it doesn't, it could cost thousands of jobs. newshour's quinn bowman traveled to west virginia, where he looked in on one project dependent on the funds, and talked to west virginians who could be affected. >> we're in logan, west virginia, this project is part of route ten relocation and it allows the traveling public to go from man to logan. it's about ten millions cubic yards of excavation and contract wise its about $75-million. >> reporter: gary taylor's company, bizzack construction, is part of the team turning this winding, two-lane road into a new one double in size.

much of the money for this and projects like it nationwide comes from the federal highway trust fund. it was created in 1956 to finance and maintain the federal highway system, and relies on a gasoline tax, now pegged at 18.4 cents a gallon. the revenue goes to reimburse states, which in turn, pay companies like bizzack for construction and maintenance. but the fund has been spending more than it takes in for years, as inflation eats away at the value of the tax, and increased fuel efficiency reduces gasoline usage. the money will start to dry up in august, but congress is deadlocked over what to do. democrat nick rahall has represented west virginia's third congressional district for 38 years. >> i got first $50 million for route ten. this is where you have loaded school buses playing chicken with coal trucks in winding section, a disaster waiting to happen.

that seniority does not automatically transfer to a new guy. i've been able to get these monies i mentioned earlier for transportation projects in southern west virginia regardless of which party controls the house of representatives, regardless of which party controls the white house. >> reporter: he wants to keep the program funded but does not support raising the federal gas tax and has not been specific about a solution. for decades, longtime senator robert byrd made sure west virginia got its share and then some. delivering billions in earmarks to the state where several roads bear his name but the. but the political tide has changed. where democrats once ran without challenge, rahall is now viewed

as one of the year's most vulnerable incumbents. his republican challenger is evan jenkins, a state senator who recently abandoned the democratic party. >> we've got to be more efficient. i'm not for raising taxes. washington attitude of bring in more money, spend more money. and maybe then we'll get the job done. that hasn't worked. we have a $17 trillion debt in this country. >> reporter: jenkins thinks decreasing coal regulation could lead to more jobs and generate revenue for roads without any increase in the federal gas tax. indeed, most of this year's republican candidates, have signed a pledge with americans for tax reform not to raise taxes. mattie dupler works on transportation issues for the group. it makes a really good political point for law makers, standing in front of a bridge. standing in front of a highway. it's really great campaign stop for these folks. however, when that project ends, they struggle with the notion

that the political capital then ends along with it. >> reporter: the obama administration warns that unless congress finds more revenue, states will see a 28% reduction in federal highway money, come august. it says that would put 700,000 construction jobs at risk. president obama has mocked lawmakers for leaving the highway fund hanging. >> i haven't heard of a good reason why congress hasn't acted. it's not like they've been busy with other stuff. >> reporter: as the debate continues, concern is rising among west virginia's political and business leaders, including paul mattox, the state's secretary of transportation. >> the dysfunction we are seeing in washington unfortunately is affecting west virginia. each day passes i get more and more concerned. i can't see them get the funding not addressed and get an

extension to keep it up and running. the consequences in west virginia, we possibly lose rest of the construction season. people are going to lose their jobs. >> reporter: back at bizzack construction, gary taylor is hoping both sides will decide that keeping the money flowing is vital. appalachian coal work that's here, good roads are very important. it's the only hope that people have of having work and having industry come in. >> infrastructure is important. conservatives struggle with that message because it's important, we should be spending as well as we can on it instead of throwing dollars at a problem that isn't going to go away.

>> reporter: the house and senate are preparing plans to move enough money into the fund to keep it solvent for a few months. a deal could be finalized as early as next week. both sides agree that a long- term solution would be best. but, like a lot of things on capitol hill, neither side can agree on how to pay for it. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome back, gentlemen. we missed you. >> thank you. woodruff: so the highway trust fundal, many of many disagreements between republicans and democrats right now. and i get the biggest one, though, david, is the speaker john boehner saying he's going to sue the pre-of the united states because the president's overstepped his line as president. is there merit in this suit? is it a good idea? what do you think? >> there's some merit but i, of course, have sympathy for both sides. you normally pass a big piece of

legislation like the aca, the healthcare bill. and everybody cooperates to fix it. but since we're so dysfunctional, we can't do that. so the president is left saying, well, we've got to really change the law to drop some things to make it worker at least delay it. and so he goes ahead and does that for probably some defensible reason, some political reasons, but it is a pretty bold step for the president to do tuft off the top of his head. it really does delay and probably wipe out a pretty significant part of the law. so when boehner says i'm suing because the president can't just change the law without congressional approval, technically, he's right. but it does grow out of the general dysfunction where you don't have two parties working to make an already passed law function. >> woodruff: is that what the president is doing? is he changing the law? >> yes, he is. it did change the affordable care act. just one point on the highway fund. this is the perfect proof of what's happened in washington. this was always a consensus.

the highway -- the national highway system grew out of dwight eisenhower as a young army captain in 1919 leaving the first convoy across the united states. it took him 6 62 days. and when i became president, said, i'm going to build this system, the biggest puth lug works project in the history of the world. it's always been a consensus. and agreement. and to not be able to on this one, on executive power, judy, democrats were very sensitive to it when george bush pushed the envelope and assumed more executive power. and then democrats seem to be less more easy and cantankerous when their own president does it. republicans who were mute when george bush was expanding the definition of executive power by power grabs now are sensitive constitutional. this is going nowhere. what it is -- >> woodruff: the lawsuit. the lawsuit. it's a base sweetener for the election of 2014.

it's john boehner being able to say, look, we're going after him. we're bringing it t and all of a sudden, joh john boehner looks somewhat moderate because john mccain's vice presidential running mate, former governor palin, is leading an impeachment charge supported by such esteemed groups as sean hannity and the grudge report. the lawsuit looks quite civil. >> woodruff: is that what this is? it's the speaker throwing a bone or a -- whether it's a bone that's going to develop or not? >> impeachment is probably cuckoo land. but there's a natural tussle between the legislature and the white house and especially when everything is dysfunctional. the president has been quite unshy about that and the legislature's job is to push back. you're going to -- it's a gray area. the president is charged with executing the laws. congress passed it. the president's got it make it work. whatever party.

and so how much do you allow him to change the law to make it function? and so that's sort of a gray area. i think the president and on some occasions has gone quite aggressively to chathing laws to make them work. but how do you draw that line? we'll see. i agree with mark, though, the lawsuit is not going anywhere. but i do think it's a substantive matter that's built into our constitution. >> it's like the nsa. the national security agency. if the republicans were in power, democrats would have been up in arms and leading protests against this overreaching police state. but because it's a democratic administration, they've been less critical. >> if there's one truth in wosh on matters of process, every single elected official is a complete hypocrite. on the matter of process, they flip their position 180 degrees without blinking an eye. and it's sort of baffling, you thank god they didn't write the constitution. we actually had some people who cared about process. >> woodruff: does it work for boehner to do this? you said it's to appease or stir

up the base. does it help? >> i think it probably does help. i've had four requests for contributions already to support the lawsuit and i hope there will be more to come. >> i didn't know were you on the boehner donor list. >> i've always been very active on the boehner recipient list, not necessarily -- it's a one-way correspondence. >> woodruff: all right. let's talk about the story that has been -- i think the headline every single day this week, and that's been immigration story. these children coming across the border, very poignant, heart-stirring stories about kids coming from central america, coming from poverty, coming from crime. but, david, you've now got the president going to texas, asking for 4 1/2, $4.7 billion. is -- and both sides, republicans pointing a finger at the president, the president continuepointing a finger. who's responsible? what should be done? >> the responsibility goes both ways. the original law, which is sort of a trafficking law, was passed

under president bush. the lack of enforcement, the lack of sending the kids back mostly happened under president obama. you've got this explosion of kids. it's a really tough one, i think. whether the president -- it's just sort of the normal circus we go through. but to me it's a tough one. you got these kids here, lots of them, tens of thousands now. they're being dragged apart by these jackals who take them across the border. kids alone on the border, sort of loss of control. how do you get that to stop? well, it seems to me the way you get to stop is to do something which i admit is cruel, which is to take some percentage of the kids that you can be confident they're going back to some decent place and deport them. i do think until we deport them, that this fraud will just continue to magnify and magnify. treat the kids from central america the way we treat kids from mexico and canada. it's cruel but it's the only way to prevent the larger cruelty of this gigantic flow.

>> woodruff: is that the right -- >> i'm not sure it is the right -- i will say that david is not suggesting you do that without changing the law. >> that's what i meant. e law is very, very clear on it, that each child is entitled to -- >> again, the 2008 -- the 2008 -- passed without dissent in either the house or the senate and voice vote -- and for many very good reason to stop trafficking of young minors and sex traffic for money. i mean, it was a very noble purpose, and it was a -- there was more than a consensus. it was u man muss. >> woodruff: and it was a much smaller number. >> it was a much smaller number. this is a humantarian crisis. there's nobody that has a child, a grandchild, a niece, a nephew, a brother, sister could look at these 8, 10-year-old kids and say a 1300-mile trip. we have to provide them safety. we have to provide them health. we have to provide them shelter. but the reality is that is it

going to just continue? and what i would draw the historical metaphor to is politically and i think it's dangerous for democrats and for everybody really is the mario boat lift in 1980. in 1980 when fidel castro said, okay, next, want to leave cuba, hundreds of them ended up in arkansas. there was a fellow running for re-election of governor that year in arkansas and his opponent put a thing on and said -- commercial saying, our state is less safe because the governor has let these children -- prisoners in and bill clinton was the last race he lost. there is a sense of out of control that we don't control our own borders. i mean, as open and as compassionate as we must be and want to be and will be to these children, there is a sense that we're -- 70,000 people deported

last year, but there is a porousness about our border. >> and if you want to pass immigration reform, which i do, you've got to secure the border. you're just not going to get the votes any other way. this is what's happened -- what's happened has been a devastating blow to any chance -- >> woodruff: you think it hurts. people want to feel that somehow the authority of government is basically functioning. >> yeah. and that's really hard to see when you look at what -- the images we've seen. >> one more problem quite frankly, and i say this as a liberal. it's one more problem for democrats. i mean, because it erodes further the confidence of government to act effectively and to execute the law and to control the borders of the country. >> woodruff: why do you say that's a problem for dem -- >> for democrats, i mean, the president can rail against washington and all the rest of it. i'm happy to be out of washington. the democrats believe that government is an instrument of social justice, an engine of economic progress. rockies don't. republicans are for the

antigovernment party. for that reason it doesn't erode confidence in them the same way. >> woodruff: david, you think there's a way to find out enough of these children can be sent back and have a secure place to go? >> that's why governing is hard. this is why it's through hard boards. how do you investigate where these kids -- they can't tell you. it's just this problem from hell. how do you find out who can go back safely, who you can't? how do you set up a process for that? and yet somehow we just can't continue the way we're going because the horror that the kids are going through to try to get here is horrible enough. >> woodruff: yeah, right. so it's typical government. that's why it's so ease tee be a pundit. you're faced with cruelty on either side of this issue. >> woodruff: all right. very, very different, last topic i want to bring up, but the news broke today, the city of cleveland, the hometown boy, mark, is going home. lebron james leaving the miami heat that he joined four years ago. he said he's going to rejoin -- come back to cleveland, join the

calcavaliers. is this bigger news than the republicans announcing that cleveland is going to be the convention site -- >> it's a book end. it's bigger news. it's goodbye, sunbelt, hello, west belt. it's a great lift for cleveland. say goodbye to miami in my rearview mirror. i'm coming home to cleveland, a city that's had a lot of belt wabs lot of bruises, a lot of setbacks, and lebron james -- the republicans have chosen it as their 2016. it's terrific, cleveland. it's the home of paul newman, the rock 'n' roll museum, drew carey, lebron james. what more could any city ask for? >> a few jobs. they have great downtown theaters there. and the republicans will be nominating lebron. he'll pick sarah palin. it's also a good thing for the owner of the cleveland cavaliers, dan gilbert who has been a champion in helping detroit get back on its feet.

so it's a good -- we're morally obligated to root for the economically challenged cities. >> that's right. and when we follow our sports teams and so it's good for that. >> woodruff: well, we're so glad to have the two of you back. david brooks, mark shields. thank you. >> woodruff: and for more on the surprise from cleveland's home town star today. jeff is back with that. >> brown: four years ago cleveland cavalier fans were torching lebron james jerseys after the akron native-- and the team's all-time leading scorer-- announced he was leaving for the miami heat. >> i'm taking my talents to south beach. >> brown: a high school phenomenon, the cavs made lebron the n.b.a's number one pick in 2003 and he skyrocketed to stardom, carrying cleveland to the n.b.a finals in 2007, before losing to san antonio. in miami, james joined with fellow stars chris bosh and dwayne wade. >> we believe we can win

multiple championships, if we take care of business and do it the right way. >> brown: the so-called "big three" did just that, taking miami to the finals four straight years and winning two titles. after losing this year to san antonio, james opted to become a free agent. and today, came word that the ten-time all star is heading home. in a personal essay published on sportsillustrated.com, he wrote: >> brown: with that, heartbreak turned to euphoria for cleveland fans. >> the king is coming home! >> brown: at the cavaliers ticket office this afternoon, the extension for season tickets rang busy. more now on all this from glenn moore of "the cleveland plain- dealer" and kevin blackistone, sportswriter and commentator for e.s.p.n.

he's a professor of sports journalism at the university of maryland. so glenn moore, really? all is forgiven? what's the mood there today? >> it's a celebratory mood here in cleveland. i never would have thought driving downtown i would see lebron james on the side of a building after him leaving. that's the sights and sounds today as yelling and screaming of joy, and dusting off the lebron james jerseys and putting them back on, number 23, have to buy new ones, number 6. but a lot of people wearing number 23 and celebrating here in cleveland. >> brown: i don't know if you were able to hear the discussion between mark and david right now, talking a little bit oinlt pack of cleveland. how important is it to the psyche and the economy? >> it's a huge impact. obviously downtown people want to come downtown. they have a reason to come downtown. new casino by dan gilbert, the cavs owner. he brings in lebron.

it's going to be sold out. you mentioned it in the opening. tickets are going off like hotcakes, and people want to come downtown and enjoy the city. and what they're attraction, lebron james, a winner here in cleveland. the browns, johnny manziel has been in the news for the last couple months. time for the cavaliers to step up. who better to have on your side than lebron james? >> brown: so important to the city and also to the league. >> absolutely. particularly to the players who he represents. i mean, four years ago, when lebron james -- what lebron james did was flip the script. for a long time, owners had thought that players would only file the money -- follow the money and they had locked them in. they had real restricted their free agency through a lot of different things they had done with the collective bargaining agreement. lebron james changed that. and he continues to threaten that agreement. >> brown: well, slain that a little bit because all of this is taking place within this capped salary. >> right. brown: teams must abide by. so everybody was waiting to see where lebron would end up under that cap.

>> right. stars like him, they can make most of their money when they become free agents and are able to seek employment elsewhere, can make most of their money with the team that they're with. lebron james left for less money, so he changed the dynamics of that cba. not only did he leave for less money, but the only thing he's challenging here is that there's also a luxury tax that owners have to pay anytime they want to go over the salary cap and try and create the best team that they can. and so they kind of keep each other in check. and once again, that's something i think lebron james has been challenging, and he's been a very loud critic behind doors of the financial structure of the nba and how it benefits owners and doesn't benefit players as much. >> brown: and glenn, the cavaliers had to work within that structure to make some room to bring lebron james in. so this is very much part of the

picture there, right? >> yeah, i mean, they had a three-team tried to get -- trade to get enough cap space to get lebron back. it wasn't more about money with lebron. it was about coming home to people he's familiar with. i've heard that in miami he wasn't extremely happy. yes, he was winning but he wanted to be home with his family at a full-time basis. and his friends here in akron, in cleveland, the connections. he missed having that. and the chance to come back home for a little bit less money but with a core of young guys hoor in cleveland, it's a poor fit for lebron to come back, the perfect time for lebron to come back, and he's ready to bring a championship here to cleveland. >> brown: kev, this is interesting, because this is a guy, anybody who follows sports has followed him since he was in high school. >> exactly. brown: and at such a high level. and it is about money but it always is about his own psyche and his own, in this case, desire to go home. >> yeah. it's self-determination. and i think that's ultimately what free agency is really supposed to be all about. and in lebron james, i thought it was really interesting, a few

years ago, there was a documentary done on him and his high school team, and it happened to premier right here in washington, d.c., at the silver docks film festival. lebron came. his teammates came. and i was impressed that night by the way he still had a great deal of camaraderie with his old coach, his old team. he talked about being in akron. he talked about the state of ohio in very loving ways. and it made me think about the loyalty that this guy had and the sense of community. and that's really what he's exercising. >> brown: and for the league now that he has made this move, a lot of other dominoes will fall. >> absolutely. brown: everybody was frozen. absolutely. and that is the power that lebron james holds over the nba. every free agent was waiting to see what he was going to decide to do, where he was going to go before they themselves ha made their decisions and their general managers and coaches around the nba as well were

atuating to see what lebron james was going to do in order to then go out and fix their rosters to compete with whichever one he was going to be on. >> brown: and gln gln, i think i -- glenn moore, i think i heard you say he's coming home to bring a championship. is that the expectation that it what haz to happen right away? they haven't been a championship team up till now. >> it's been a while since cleveland had a championship, but i think the mixture of lebron james with a young core here in cleveland, i'm not going to say next year, but next few years, the cavs should be a regular in the eastern conference finals and the nba finals, because you mix in calle irving and the possible trade with love. fans are excited and they're going to be partying all weekend here in cleveland. >> brown: all right, well, party on and good luck. glenn moore, kevin blackistone. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: again, the other major developments of the day. the battle between israel and

hamas raged on, with the palestinian death toll topping 100 and the white house took fire from democrats and republicans alike over a surge in migrant children crossing the border illegally. on the newshour online right now: strawberry farmers in southern california have a new best friend: math! using numerical models, mathematicians are helping growers produce more fruit with less water. see how they're doing that, on our science page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later this evening. here's a preview: ifill: the world is a tense place. in washington as the white house and congress trade rhetorical assaults in the middle east where israel and gaza trade real ones, and on the diplomatic front where germany pushes back against u.s. spying.

for all your non-lebron news, tune in tonight to washington week. >> woodruff: on tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend, hari sreenivasan reports on managing the online estates of the deceased, which can prove to be quite complicated. >> do you bank online? shop online? pay your gas, light or cable tv bill over the internet? these accounts don't die with us. the passwords to each of them are oftentimes locked away with only one person, the deceased, which means that valuable online assets could be lost forever. >> i have received panicked calls from family members who don't know passwords. they simply know mom paid the bills online, and they may not even be sure about the bank. >> sreenivasan: the main problem is one of access. in many cases we've made it virtually illegal for anyone else to use our online accounts. it starts with those terms of sibs agreements. once the "i agree" button is pressed, it's as good as a

contract. >> many of them prohibit the sharing of passwords and they prohibit third-party access. so right now they tend to bar anybody about the account holder accessing the account. >> sreenivasan: that means even if the account holder is dead. >> woodruff: that's saturday's signature piece on the newshour weekend and we'll be back, right here, on monday with a look back at the world cup as germany takes on argentina on sunday for the championship match. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement

of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org 

this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. >> vital signs, wells fargo hit by a drop in mortgage lending, what that says about the health of the housing market and one of the nation's largest banks. tech talk, next week's earnings focus, technology companies, expectations are high, so will the numbers measure up? >> and the doctor is in, why senior physicians are using a computer for routine visits might be just the beginning. we have the second and final part of our series, telemedicine. that and more for "nightly business report" for friday, july 11th. good evening, everybody and welcome. the first of the major banks to report profits did so today. wells fargo, the biggest lender