captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, march 28: new revelations about the pilot who authorities say deliberately crashed a jetliner into the alps. we'll have a report from germany. in our signature segment: the conversation. doctors and patients getting past the politics to talk about end-of-life decisions. and from here in san francisco, a novel plan to help young people discover classical music. next on pbs newshour weekend.

ñi >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from kqed in san francisco, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening. thanks for joining us. while definitive answers remain elusive, new information emerged today about the young co-pilot who authorities believe deliberately flew a germanwings airbus into the side of a mountain in the alps. all 150 people on board were killed. for the latest, we are joined by jack ewing of the new york times. he joins us tonight via skype from montabaur germany where the

copilot was from. so what do we know today? >> good afternoon. the latest as my colleague in paris has determined, he had sought treatment for vision problems some time before the crash. so that suggest that's perhaps his ability to fly was in question, and perhaps gives us some idea what his motivation might have been. and he had concealed this from his employer. >> sreenivasan: and we've got these reports that perhaps his long-term relationship ended just the day before this crash? >> i've seen that speculation. i haven't been able to confirm it myself. we know he had a girlfriend. what the status of the relationship was, whether there was any problems, i haven't been able to determine that with certainty. >> sreenivasan: so the doctors' notes that he had did that include the day of this crash? i mean, was he basically supposed to stay home or had an excuse to stay home from the

doctor for whatever the medical reason was? >> yeah, that's my understanding. in germany, the way the system works, if a doctor gives you one of these srktz you're supposed to stay home. you're obligated to stay home and you should ipform your employer about that and it seems he did not do that. >> sreenivasan: there was also a report today that the girlfriend had said he at some points woke nupt middle of the night and said, "one day i'll do something. my name will be known forever." >> this is coming from what is called the bild site, a german tabloid newspaper. i would take that with a grain of salt. they don't say who this person is and we have no way of really knowing how credible that account is. >> sreenivasan: what's the state of the investigation now? >> well, i think the-- both the french and the german authorities areñi going through material that they've seized from his apartment in dusseldorf, and apparently, also from his parents' house here in mont bower and they're

trying to determine what his motivation might have been, what-- when he knew about these conditions that he had and how much he had told the germanwings and lufthansa his employers. so they're just trying to determine the whole seqeps of dismingz find out how much as they can about why he might have done this terrible thing. >> sreenivasan: jack, you've been looking into the life of this copilot. what more you have learned? >> well the one thing that you get over and over again whenñr you talk to people about him is they say he seemed veryñiñi normal. he was friendly. hezó)u in pretty well. he wasn't a loner. at the same time, he was pretty reserved. he wasn't somebody that stoodñi out. and you keep hearing that over and over again, that he wasñr very norma'f the one thing that stood out was that he extremely passionate about flying. that was really his big thing. and he started when he was 14 here learning how to fly a glider. i talked to the president of the

glider club today and all they remembered was he was very motivated to fly and they had no inc. ling that anything like this would ever happen. >> sreenivasan: all right, jack ewing of the "new york times" joining usñi have a skype from germany. thanks so much. >> you're welcome. >> sreenivasan: leaders of 21 nations from the arab league gathered today in an egyptian resort town to consider whether to create a joint arab military force to counter pro-iranian rebels in yemen. saudi arabia continued air strikes on the rebel-held areas in yemen for a third consecutive day. dozens of civilians reportedly have been killed. the fighting in yemen is seen asñi a proxy war between sunni muslim nations, like saudi arabia, and shiite muslim nations like iran. american officials have said theñi conflict in yemen undermines their efforts to contain al qaeda. its members there took responsibility for the terror attacks in paris in january.çó in somalia, officials said today they have regained full controlñi of a hotel in the capital city of mogadishu that had been attacked by islamic extremists. at least 20 people were killed,ñi

including a somali diplomat to the united nations. the militant group, al-shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, which began with a car bomb, followed by armed gunmen storming the hotel building. six gunmen were among those killed. the al-shabab extremists, who are linked to al-qaeda, have been waging similar attacks against civilian targets and the somali government since 2006.ñi american astronaut scott kelly and two russian cosmonauts arrived at the international space station last night, for a nearly a year long spaceçóñrñi mission, the longest ever by an american astronaut. kelly and the others will undergo extensive medical tests to see how they rebs("ur:u(r long trip. kelly's twin brother, retired astronaut mark kelly, on the left, will undergo similar tests while on earth so nasa can compare how two identical humans respond to different conditions. the republican governor of arkansas, asa hutchinson, saysñr he will sign a bill, allowing businesses there not to provide services to groups whose lifestyle violate the owner's religious beliefs.

for instance, a bakery not having to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. proponents say the measure upholds religious freedom. opponents say it fosters discrimination against homosexuals. indiana passed a similar law earlier this week. several corporate leaders have criticized the legislation, nowxd on the books in 19 states. in colorado, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit to hold ammunition retailers liable for the 2012 aurora movie theater shooting that left 12 people dead.ñi parents of one of the shooting victims had sued four ammo dealers charging that they sold bullets and other equipment to alleged shooter james holmes without fully screening him. in his ruling yesterday, the judge said, the plaintiffs failed to prove negligence on the part of the retailers. holmes faces trial next month. the prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. a new study suggests that aerobic exercise could change the biology of malignant tumors and make chemotherapy more

effective. the idea is that exercise creates oxygen-rich blood vessels that can wrap around blood vessels feeding the tumor, essentially starving it. the study, done on mice at duke mass general and memorial sloan kettering, was published in the journal of the national cancer institute. additional tests are underway to help determine its implications for humans.çó >> sreenivasan: and now to our signature segment. there's a new movement toñr encourage people to think and talk about death, long before it happens, but it's not as dark as it sounds, its also creating an opportunity for families to talkçó about life, and how people wishñi to live it near the end. it all begins with a simple conversation. our report is by newshour special correspondent lynn sherr.çóñiñi >> what's the matter, mama? >> i'm dying, forrest. >> reporter: it's been a

hollywood staple for decades: the deathbed scene. here, forrest gump's mom reminding her son that death is a natural part of life. but when end-of-lifeçó conversations with doctors were encouraged by the government back in 2009 during the obamacare debate, opponents called them “death panels” and the idea became toxic. some called it “pulling the plug on grandma.” that was then. >> it is exactly the opposite.çó it is about grandma controlling the plug. >> reporter: dr. lachlan forrowñr a specialist in ethics and palliative care at boston's beth israel deaconess medical center is at the forefront of a new national movement to make talking about death public policy. he chaired the expert medical panel that helped lead to newñi massachusetts regulations-- the first in the nation, which took effect in december-- mandating that health facilities from

hospitals to assisted living communities tell terminally ill patients their end-of-life options. >> the full range of the choices, from “keep me alive no matter what, as long as medicine can do that,” to “i just want to be home with my family, with hospice,” to anything in between or any sequence. >> reporter: nationally a number of private insurers are already reimbursing doctors for having those talks.ñr among the critical first steps:ñi an advance directive and a health care proxy so someone you trust can legally make decisions if you're incapacitated. and almost six years after the obamacare proposal perished in the political graveyard, medicare is now reviewing the possibility of paying for such discussions, which have been endorsed by the american medical association. a decision could come by the end of this year. >> we are just starting to emerge so that politicians and others realize this is not the

third rail of politics. >> reporter: but advocates say policy doesn't change until the culture does, and inserting such private conversations into the public arena may require a new approach. >> sometimes people think you talk about dying and you let it into the room. >> reporter: pulitzer-prize winning journalist ellen goodman is on a mission to make death part of popular conversation. for more than 35 years, she chronicled american social change in her widely syndicated columns for the "boston globe." she wrote about the values instilled in her as a child by her father, who helped run john f. kennedy's first senate campaign, and her homemaker mother, edith. but goodman only realized the consequences of leaving certain things unsaid about a dozenñr years ago, when her mother's health started to fail. >> i think we all have this fantasy that we're going to live to 90, and then kaboom, you know? but, in fact, the reality is

that many of us will face a long period of being frail and declining. and i would say that my mother began to decline somewhere in her 80s, really. >> reporter: after her mother moved to a long-term care facility a few miles away goodman found herself making medical decisions she hadn't dreamed of, especially because edith began to suffer from dementia. >> my mother could really no longer decide what she wanted for lunch, let alone what she wanted for health care decisions. so i was faced with a kind of cascading number of decisions for which i was unprepared. in fact, blindsided. >> and i remember particularly one day when i got a call on the phone and i was on deadline. and the doctor said to me, "your mother has another bout of pneumonia. do you want her to have antibiotics?" and i remember my hands being poised over the keyboard,

saying, "what is he asking me? is he asking me do i want her to live or die? you know, can i call you back? could i have a minute?" and so, it was quite shocking to me that those decisions fell to me. i'd just never thought about it before. >> reporter: what you're saying is, you never talked to her about these things ahead of time? >> well, we didn't talk in a way that was useful. from time to time, if we were together, my mother would say, "i never want to be like that. pull the plug." you know, a lot of people say that. well, there's generally no plug to pull. >> reporter: edith holtz died at 92 in 2006. four years later, goodman co- founded the conversation project, a non-profit to urge people to express their end-of- life desires, to have the conversation with those close to them early on before it's too late. advised by a group of healthcare professionals including dr. forrow, its web site has attracted almost a quarter

million visitors. more than half have downloaded the starter kit, a kind of security blanket to jump start the process. when you download the kit you'll find plenty of useful and practical advice on how to get an otherwise uncomfortable discussion going. for openers, you are asked to complete the following sentence:“ what matters to me at the end of life is..." you're also invited to consider where you want to have the conversation, with whom and where. and there are suggestions of the actual words you can use to break the ice. for instance, "i need to think about the future. will you help me?" >> we talked about nursing homes and, you know, living at home. we talked about pain management. we talked about all kinds of issues that we wouldn't otherwise have ever talked about until the time was upon us.

>> reporter: husband and wife chuck koplik and sue tafler of lexington, massachusetts recently had the conversation with their only child, sarah yukich. inspired by a workshop on the conversation project at their synagogue, chuck and sue-- in their 60s and in good health except for recent surgery on sue's foot-- sat down here in their living room. they were most concerned about the effect on sarah. >> i could just tell i was unsettling her, so that was difficult. >> i'm 32. i have a two-year-old. i'm an adult, and i know that. but, at the same time interacting with my parents, i'm their child; i'm not their caretaker. and trying to think about that eventual role reversal is very scary. >> reporter: so, when they suggested having the conversation, your first reaction was... >> i was happy that they were suggesting it because it's something that i have wanted to talk to them about, but i didn't

really have any idea of how to bring it up. >> reporter: sarah says she was especially relieved when they said that moving them to maryland, where she lives, for long-term care would be acceptable. >> it was like, 'oh, okay." so, now i don't have to be sort of holding that inside but not really knowing how to bring it up. >> reporter: was this about gaining control over the end of your life? >> yeah, i'm very much a planner and manager. i think in some ways it kind of gives me a little bit of a sense of control. >> yeah, my biggest fears would be that, you know, that i'd be in pain. or maybe i wasn't so clearheaded and the doctors would be making decisions on what my treatment would be, and then they'd be making the decisions. >> reporter: individuals-- not medical staff-- should determine those issues, says the conversation project. according to a survey the group conducted, more than 90% of people agree, saying they should have the conversation. but only 30% have done so, which is why they're expanding their

public engagement campaign. goodman herself, who used to cover social change and its influence on our institutions, now makes it happen. >> let me show you statistics. 70% of americans say they want to die at home, and 70% of americans are dying in hospitals and institutions. >> reporter: they're co- sponsoring "death over dinner" parties-- social gatherings to approach the subject in a cozy setting so people can break bread while breaking the taboo. they've also had some luck convincing tv writers to include family conversations about death in their scripts. >> it was a decision we made together. >> reporter: it's all about making the subject safe, bringing it home, because, the conversation project says, nothing will change until people start talking about it. you have kids, you have grandkids, you have a husband.

have you had the conversation? >> oh, yes, i've had it. my daughter's a comedian, and her first response when i said, "let's have this conversation," was, "can't we have lunch?" but we did get through it, we did talk about it, and i have talked about it with my husband and with most of the people in my family. people, when they have these conversations with each other describe them as some of the richest personal moments they've had with people they love. someone described having the conversation to us as a gift. it's a gift you give your family. >> sreenivasan: a conversation on the conversation will happen online, thursday on twitter from 1:00-2:00 p.m. eastern. join representatives from the conversation project and pbs frontline. follow along at #newshourchats. and now to the arts, and new

efforts to help young people discover classical music. a group known as “americans for the arts” estimates that attendance at performances by symphony orchestras has declined by about 15% since the year 2000. how can that trend be reversed? welcome to something known as“ soundbox,” here in san francisco. kqed's cy musiker reports. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: many who come here tonight may not know a lot about classical music, but that's part of the experiment. >> soundbox is designed to appeal to people, many of them younger people who never have attended many classical concerts before. ♪ >> reporter: this is a laboratory for the san francisco symphony and music director michael tilson thomas, who are looking for ways to create new

musical experiences and entice new audiences. >> since the 1970s, i've been really interested in how the installation of music can change the audience's perception of it.ñrñi how to bring people who are listening to the music more inside the world that we the performers are experiencing? >> reporter: by day, the space is a cavernous rehearsal hall. by show time, lighting, a barñr and custom acoustics designed for the event completely transform the space. ♪ the musicians are menrim of the same orchestra that performs on the main stage of davies symphony hall, where they've honed their skills playing classical symphonies. but in this venue, there are multiple stages and opportunities to broaden the repertoire. >> musically, we do get to do different things. the piece that i played was a very angular, loud, rambunctious piece.ñi

>> reporter: each set lasts 20 to 30 minutes, with ample intermissions to mingle and buy drinks. and at $25, the price of entry here is a fraction of higher- tier symphony seats. >> it's a more relaxed atmosphere, and i think that is the first thing that kind of turns younger, maybe less exposed people off the whole symphony experience. they think they're going to come in here, and they have to be quiet and it's stuffy, and everyone is wearing a tuxedo or a ball gown, and you can't talk and youa=gnpgd you don't know when to clap. >> reporter: the free-flowing atmosphere is targeting a younger, more diverse audience but the goal is to hook them into serious music. ♪ >> it is very challenging music. i usually tend to, when i go out, go to more kind of either rock-oriented shows, or hip hop shows, or kind of more modernçó shows. but i find that it blew my mind. ♪

>> reporter: the series is just four months old, and the symphony has made some unusual marketing choices like not putting a link to soundbox on its homepage, says classical music critic joshua kosman. >> it's a sort of an anti- marketing strategy where you kind of make sure not to giveñi too much information that will bring in the regulars and squeeze out the newcomers and the adventurers. >> reporter: kosman said that symphonies need to justify their existence in a landscape crowded with entertainment options. ♪ san francisco symphony board president sakurako fisher argues that soundbox is about more than selling tickets; it's about staying relevant. >> it's not a business, it is part of the necessity of the human heart. it's a part of what makes a vibrant community. >> reporter: if the current run of sold-out performances means anything, soundbox may be the prototype for the next era in classical music. ( applause )

this is pbs newshour weekend saturday. >> sreenivasan: and now to viewers like you. your comments about some of our recent work. we heard from many of you about last sunday's signature piece exploring whether gambling on sports events should be legalized.ñi many of you told us you think it's a bad idea. donna williams-terry wrote us:ñi "it would be extremely addictive for too many people. more so than regular casino gambling because sports in itself is addictive." diane roman said: "making it legal doesn't cure the disease." and larry scheller told us he's seen the harm gambling causes.ñr "i know two people that have mortgaged their homes and lost them due to their gambling addiction."ñiñi normanium eldred said: "gambling is basically a tax on the poor and desperate." kurt rex cooper worried there'd be "too much opportunity for corruption."

andhwalliam giegrich called the idea “disgusting. totally corrupting." but more of you thought states should try to take advantage of an activity many people are engaged in anyway. erik somoroff said: "make it legal... not my place to judge and i'd rather see someñi revenue for the states come in... and be properly managed of course." jason michael o'rourke wrote:ñi "tax and regulate. those that will gamble what they don't have to lose will do it anyway. the law should never be designed to protect one, from oneself. andrew jones said: "it's legal in other countries that seem to do ok. like the drug war driving it underground just makes it harder to control in a reasonable manner." and finally this from nathan engle: "since we apparently can't even indict the wall street gamblers who crashed the global economy i'm not re i see the point in persecuting sports fans for putting their money where their mouths are." as always we welcome your comments at pbs.org/newshour, on our facebook page, or tweet us

@newshour. >> sreenivasan: some more news before we leave you tonight: angie's list, the customer referral website says it is dropping plans to expand its operations in indiana. it joins yelp, salesforce.com and others in protest of indiana state's passage of a religious freedom act. critics say the new law will promote discrimination against gays. and what's known as “earth hour,” from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, is being observed around the world. the dimming of lights, like here at saint basil's cathedral on red square in moscow, is meant to call attention to climate change. that's all for tonight. we'll be back here at kqed in san francisco again tomorrow night. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for joining us. captioning sponsored by wnet

captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs thank you.

narrator: when talking tv sex therapy, it is one name that springs to mind. there is nothing more interesting in this entire world than what people do at home in a certain room. dr. ruth westheimer. famous around the world, dr. ruth is the little lady with the no-nonsense approach to sex. man: when i'm with a woman, i can't seem to get excited. you don't seem to be able to get an erection? narrator: ruth's strong advocacy for the use of contraception and her support of legalized abortion and aids awareness have put her firmly in the public consciousness.