captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: the massive data breach on the u.s. government may be far worse, with new claims that hackers stole personnel data for all federal employees. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. also ahead this thursday: the vatican takes new action to hold bishops accountable. catholic church leaders now face judgment if they fail to report sexual abuse. then... >> we still have a long hard road to get to zero. >> woodruff: cracking ebola's code, as health workers kick into overdrive to end an epidemic. the sophisticated predictions used to track and contain the virus's exponential threat. plus... >> the most expensive thing in

our business is an empty seat. >> woodruff: a revolution underway in the restaurant biz, to require diners to pay in advance to reserve a table. >> the people who aren't going to like this are the people that like to skip out on reservations. >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> 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 by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> 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: a government worker union today alleged the cyberattack on u.s. employee records was far worse than the obama administration initially indicated. in a letter to the office of personnel management, the president of the american federal government employees said the hackers stole the social security numbers and other personal data of every federal worker. for the latest we turn to associated press intelligence reporter ken dilanian. so, ken dilanian, how much worse is this than what's been previously acknowledged? >> well judy we knew this was a serious breach, but the letter today releaseed by the union lays out with a lot more

specificity than the the obama administration had what types of information was stolen and how comprehensive it was. the union is saying all the information in the compromised database was taken and there are about 780 category of information in the database-- military records, dates of birth, retirement dates, previous addresses, all sorts of very personal information on millions of federal and retired federal employees that this union is saying they believe were taken. >> woodruff: ands as i understand it it's all federal employees, civilian employees and all former employees as well. >> right, so that would not include military people and it doesn't include certain intelligence agency people but it includes almost everyonees. >> woodruff: i asked the white house press secretary a few minutes ago about this and they said they're not able to confirm it but the government employees union they must be basing this on information they have. >> right well they're basing it on their assessment of the sketchy information they're being told by the office of

personnel management, which is releasing very little information, and sort of hedging and saying "well, social security numbers could be a part of the information that was stolen." i mean, they have said "look, personnel information was hackd and four million people were affected" but they haven't said exactly what was taken and citing security reasons and the pending criminal investigation. >> woodruff: just very quickly what they think could be done with this? >> if in fact it's hackers based in china as senator harry reid said on the senate floor today the worry is that it's an espionage attack ask this information will be used to further compromise-- to use against employees to compromise government daebs throughs spear fishing attack glooz ken dilanian with the associated press we thank you. >> good to be with you judy, thanks. in another news a cleveland judge said there is enough evidence to charge two policemen in the november shooting death of tamir rice. they found officer timothy roman could face murder and

involuntary manslaughter. his far thener frank garms back could be charged charged with homicide and dereliction of duty. but the judge's ruling cannot compel prosecutors to charge the two officers. >> woodruff: china's former security chief has been sentenced to life in prison on charges of corruption. zhou yongkang is the highest- ranking former communist official to face such charges as part of current president xi jinping's anti-graft campaign. zhou was convicted of receiving bribes, abusing his power, and leaking state secrets. he appeared in the beijing courtroom following a closed- door trial. >> ( translated ): i accept the sentence. i decide not to appeal. i plead guilty and repent my wrongdoing. i broke the laws and the party rules incessantly, and the objective facts of my crimes have resulted in grave losses to the party and to the nation. >> woodruff: zhou retired in 2012, and was put under investigation a year later. the co-pilot who smashed a german passenger plane into the

french alps last march, was deemed unfit to fly by some of the doctors who saw him in the month before the crash. that word came today from a french prosecutor probing the crash, which killed all 150 people aboard. he said the co-pilot, andreas lubitz, was looking into problems with his vision, and feared going blind. but doctors did not raise concerns with his employers on account of germany's tough patient-privacy laws. the manhunt for two convicted murderers who escaped from an upstate new york prison over the weekend intensified today after bloodhounds appeared to pick up their scent. officials searched vehicles at checkpoints near the prison as investigators focused on an area two miles east of the facility. the associated press reported the men may have laid low in the area after their getaway driver backed out. >> at this time we are remaining in the area until we have conducted a thorough search. we are looking under every rock,

behind every tree and inside every structure until we catch these two. >> woodruff: 500 police officers are involved in the search efforts, which have also expanded into vermont. social media giant twitter announced its c.e.o. is stepping down. dick costolo will resign as chief executive on july 1, after a five-year tenure. former president bill clinton has said he could quit giving paid speeches, if his wife hillary is elected president. but he insisted, during an interview yesterday with bloomberg television, that he'll still give speeches, on subjects he's interested in. last month, the clintons revealed they earned more than $25 million dollars in speaking fees since the start of 2014. mr. clinton also said it would be up to his wife to decide if he'd stay at the clinton global initiative. >> i believe if you have been president, and the current

president of either party asks you to do anything, if in good conscience you can do it, you should do it. now that's the truth, quite apart from our being husband and wife. that will be not an easy decision, should she be elected president. >> woodruff: mr. clinton started the foundation in 2005. america's multiracial population is growing at a rate three times higher than the u.s. population as a whole. that's according to a new survey by the pew research center. it found 6.9% of the u.s. population has more than one race in their background, including parents or grandparents. whites with native american ancestry comprise half of the current population of mixed race americans. but they're also among the least likely to identify as multiracial. in economic news, the federal reserve reported american household wealth rose to a record high of $84.9 trillion in the first quarter.

that's largely due to rising stock and home prices. and on wall street, stocks traded slightly higher on strong retail sales and optimism about greece's debt talks. the dow jones industrial average gained almost 39 points to close at 18,039. the nasdaq rose nearly six points, and the s&p 500 was up more than three. jazz legend and saxophonist ornette coleman died today in manhattan. he was known for his groundbreaking, avant-garde playing style known as "free jazz." coleman's career spanned more than five decades, taking his innovative style to shows around the world like this 1987 performance in germany ♪ ♪ ♪

ornette coleman was 85 years old. tributes also poured in today for late british actor christopher lee. lee rose to fame portraying the blood-sucking title character in nine "dracula" films. he went on to play other notable villains including "scaramanga" in the james bond flick "the man with the golden gun," and the wizard "saruman" in the blockbuster series "the lord of the rings." lee died sunday at a hospital in london. he was 93 years old. still to come on the newshour: the white house scrambles in a down to the wire fight with congress over trade. a transition of power for media giants at 21st century fox. holding bishops accountable for child sex abuse cover-ups. nicola sturgeon the most senior politician is leading the cause for independence.

how predictive models helped stop the exponential spread of ebola. and, why more restaurants may require a deposit to reserve a table. >> woodruff: the white house and advocates of a pacific trade deal are scrambling as a critical vote to give the president fast-track trade authority is set for tomorrow. the issue has democrats divided- - with the president pushing for the trans-pacific partnership and others pushing back over worker concerns. i talked with white house press secretary josh earnest a short time ago. josh earnest, welcome. so the administration seems to be fighting a battle on two different fronts. where do the the votes stand today? >> well judy the case we're making, principally to democrats but to some republicans is that the trade promotion authority that congress is prepared to consider is the most progressive piece of trade legislation that the congress has ever tried to pass. it includes enforceable labor

standards, enforceable environmental standards. it includes written language about human rights and the need to respect basic human rights. this is all about raising standards so we can start to level the playing field and open up opportunities for american business and overseas markets. that will be good for our economy and good for creating jobs right here in america. and we feel like we've got a pretty persuasive pitch to make to democrats and republicans and i anticipate that we're going to be making that pitch right up until the deadline. >> woodruff: i'm sure you know, republicans have problems with the fast track authority. your democratic progressive friends are calling the trade package-- they're using words like "undue secrecy stretching limits of executive power." they are pretty upset about this. >> well judy when it comes to the secrecy argument there's just no truth to it. the fact of the matter is every single member of congress can see where the negotiating document currently stands. we, obviously, haven't finished this trade agreement, but we're hoping to soon.

so every member of congress before they cast a vote if they're curious to understand exactly where the negotiations stand, they can go see for themselves. the fact is, if and when a deal is completed the president has indicated that we would actually give the public 60 days to take a close look at that agreement before the president would even sign it. then after that, congress would have an opportunity to debate the wisdom of this agreement, and, of course that debate and the agreement would all take place in public. so there will be an opportunity for the public to have their say. but the fact is right now, we're still negotiating an agreement, so the fact is there's not an agreement to produce at this point. >> woodruff: if that's the case, why then, is there significant opposition from organized labor. rich trumka said, "this doesn't just hurt industrial workers. it hurts professional workers. it hurts tachers it hurts public workers buyer doing away with the tax base," and he goes on. >> judy, what we have seen-- this is not unusual.

democrats traditionally have reflexively been opposed to trade legislation, and a lot of that opposition is actually a reflection of the impact of previous trade bills. the fact is what the president has said is let's learn the lessons from those previous trade agreements and actually make sure we can put in place enforceable standards that will ensure this kind of trade agreement is good for our economy and middle class workers. you'll recall judy, when president ran for president back in 2007 and 2008, he made a promise to democratic voters at this time in a democratic prior that he would renegotiate nafta to correct some of the flaws that were in that trade agreement. turns out as a part of the trans-pacific partnership negotiation, both canada canada and mexico are included in those negotiations and for the first time we would write into our trade relationship with those two countries enforceable standards as it are thes to raising environmental standards and making sure there are protections in place for human right. this is the president keeping a promise on this. >> woodruff: i was just going to say if these arguments are so strong, why are you having such

a difficult time with members of your own party? the president has been making his case for months now and it's coming right down to the wire and it's not clear you will getta you're asking for. >> we have seen for decades democrats have almost consistently been opposed to trade agreements. we knew we were going to be moving upsill faeps the stream which it comes to our own party politics upon we had our chance to make a case to the senate, and we got almost two-thirds to vote in favor of the legislation. i don't even we're going to get that high a percentage in the house but it is a good indication when democrats keep an open mind and consider this approach, there's ample reason for them to support approach the president is advocating. >> woodruff: so at this point, just quickly, what do-- what do you think is going to happen when it comes to a vote joat this point, judy, we feel confident as we sort of work our way through the sausage making process we're going to be able to build enough of a bipartisan

majority with democrats and republicans supporting it to advance the legislation and give the president the opportunity to complete negotiations with the trans-pacific partnership inactions, and actually open up overseas markets to american goods and services that will create opportunity here in the united states. it will be good for our economy. and most importantly twill create the kind of good, middle-class jobs that our relies on. >> woodruff: josh earnest press secretary to the president, thank you very much. >> thank you, >> woodruff: rupert murdoch, one of the biggest media moguls, who's long headed an empire worth tens of billions of dollars and major influence, announced he's ready to step aside from the top job. the 84-year-old media titan is paving the way to keep the family business in the family. numerous reports today, including from fox news, said he

will hand the c.e.o. job to his 42-year-old son, james, and another son, lachlan will become executive chairman but the elder murdoch won't go far: he will also remain co- executive chairman, and retain many decision-making powers. the re-organization is the next step in a succession plan for one of the industry's most powerful figures. murdoch's wide ambitions were evident when he was inducted into the television academy hall of fame in 2011: >> none of us should be satisfied at what we have done. surely, we must be excited at the prospect of what we can and will do. >> woodruff: murdoch's career started when he took over a single newspaper in his native australia in the 1950s. he bought more papers in australia, the u.k., and the u.s. and two u.s. publishing companies, forming harper- collins.

he had also created a burgeoning media behemoth: news corporation. in the 1980s, he started the fox network, before tackling cable tv with fox news in 1996. >> and welcome back to hannity time for media mash, our weekly >> woodruff: the right-leaning channel now dominates cable news. but despite big moves like the purchase of "wall street journal" owner dow jones in 2007, his newspapers have struggled. >> this is the most humble day of my life. >> woodruff: a phone hacking scandal engulfed murdoch's british tabloid empire in 2011; james murdoch was the head of its u.k. businesses, and forced to resign in the scandal's wake, the original "news corporation" was split into two parts: a print business, known as news corp, and the film and broadcasting business, 21st century fox. the latest moves are set to be discussed at a board meeting in coming weeks.

let's look at the impact of rupert murdoch as his role changes within his company. david folkenflik is the media correspondent for npr, and the author of: "murdoch's world: the last of the old media empires." david folkenflick, welcome back to the program. i know that news corp has not made an official statement yet but what do they-- what are they saying about what's happening? >> well, of course, there are these two great arms of the murdoch empire 21st century fox and news corp. 21st century fox is merely saying that the issue of succession will be addressed at the next board meeting as planned and they're saying nothing else. inside the company, of course they're signaling what we now know to be the case and that's that murdoch is executing a plan that he essentially one way or another hatched when these two men were boys. he always wanted to hand this over to murdochs to run, as his father had before him. he's of an age-- he never serious he considered giving it

to either two of the adult daughters to run and james and lachlan are sort of collegial competitors competitive colleagues, if you will. they have been pitted against each energy succession stakes and here they are going to be running 21st century fox in tandem below their father. >> woodruff: how is it expected that things will change? >> i don't even at first it will change greatly except if you think in some ways about james, that he's put an emphasis on new media, digital. he's left behind the romanticism of newspaper that his father has embraced for so many decades. in some ways the most palpable change is you've seen the exight of chase carey, a longtime senior executive before him peter churnin. these were the senior executives not named murdoch who had effectively run the place and helped to set a tone of trust with major investors outside the murdoch family. now rupert murdoch is saying he trusts his own judgment and his own d.n.a. to ensure the company's financial legacy for

the years ahead. >> woodruff: so what are-- you mentioned digital. what are the sons' interests? how do you see them taking the-- what direction do you see them taking the company in? >> well, there are some very interesting investments and projects that i think you can look to for providing some guidance, even as the landscape in media shifts so quickly and significantly from year to year that it's hard to predict. james murdoch was said to be significantly involved in the decision by 21st century fox to invest a decent chunk of change in vice the multiplatform, multioutlet entity that its own kind of pirate entity run by shane smith in new york. that's not something you would have thought of fox news as investing in kind of outfit. there has been a significant dus dis trust and ill well between the murderoks' sons and ales. i don't think you'll see ales

sidelined immediately. he is in his mid-70s. he's not in particularly good health and the actuarial tables favor the boys. how can they shift it to be more measured, more like sky news in the u.k., australia, and elsewhere-- that is, lively, peppy, sometimes strong voices on the air but not itself taking a strong point of view in the way fox sooemed seems to by the selection of stories and guests. those are real significant indications of where things could go. >> woodruff: i saw that roger ales will continue to report directly to rupert murdoch at least that was the early reporting. just quickly so at this point, david folkenflick, what would you say is the legacy of rupert murdoch?" >> well, i would say that rupert murdoch has shown innovation by circumvention, going around conventional wisdom sometimes going around regulations and laws, refusing many times to take no for an answer, being a creative force in many ways a fourth network in fox, fox news as a challenge and reinvention of what week of as cable news, and the tabloid spirit, of

course, animating so much of what he does but as well as being creative a destructive one a pugilistic, often mean-spirited character that would flar up on his front pages here in the u.s. sometimes in the opinion voice on fox news in particular. i think that's very much a part of who murdoch is. he's a champion for media. he's a friend to the old-line media and newspapers, but he's also got a very different take on what it means to be a newspaperman, more crusading, not always particularly fair figure but always one of great interest as you look at how the media works. >> woodruff: 21st century fox making serious changes. david folkenflick, we thank you. >> you bet. >> woodruff: pope francis has made his most significant move yet to deal with the sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the church for more than three decades. yesterday, the vatican announced an unprecedented step that victims have long sought: a

tribunal to judge and discipline bishops accused of covering up or failing to act on reports of child sexual abuse. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> sreenivasan: more than 800 priests have been defrocked over the years, and 2,500 have been penalized. but until now, no pope has publicly confronted or punished a bishop himself for such offenses. several bishops here and aboard are under investigation after being accused of covering up such crimes. a number of victims' groups supported the move, but some also said it did not go far enough. john allen closely covers the vatican. he is an associate editor of the "boston globe" and crux, the globe's web site covering the catholic church. so john, i remember how momentous it was when pope john paul ii apologized for sexual abuse. how big of a deal is this tribunal that will go after bishops? >> well hari, i think it's an enormously big deal if it works as it's been described. the central bone of contention

among survivorses of, biews and their advocacy group over the years has been the catholic church has adopted very stern policies for abuse. they've officially embraced zero tolerance. today if a priest is accused of of abusing a minor he's going to be yanked out of ministry and probably ultimately kicked out of the priesthood relatively quickly. their complaint has been there hasn't been a similar system of accountability for bishop hoz covered up these crimes, and that's,ob, the hole that provost is trying to fill. we should say hari, that vatican officials have been at pains to insist that this new system is not intended to replace criminal liability in terms of secular law enforcement. that is, if a bishop's failure to act on a complaint of child abuse constitutes a crime in the place where he lives are the vatican is saying he still has to face the music for that. this is intended to ensure that in addition to that criminal exposure there is also internal

eccles aftical liability which typically in practice means the bishop would lose his job. >> sreenivasan: so those bishops that could lose their job includes some bishops in the united states that have been caught up in this and accused of covering things up right? >> yeah, that's right. up until very recently, many people would have argued that the first logical case for this tribunal to take up would have been the case of bishop robert finn of kansas city st. joseph in missouri, who became the first american bishop to be criminally convicted on a misdemeanor charge of delaying to report a charge of child abuse. and yet for another 2.5 years continued to sit with no apparent church consequences as the leader of that dioceses. in february, pope francis accepted his resignation so finn has already lost his position. but another situation that a lot of people would have their eyes would be in the archdiocese of

st. paul, minneapolis lis, in minnesota, where the arch bishop there has been accused of knowingly allowing at least two priests, one of whom has been accused of child abuse the other actually convicted of it, to continue to serve as recently as 2013-2014 which if true would be a clear violation of the church's zero-tolerance policy. many people believe that that might be one of the first cases this new tribunal takes up. >> sreenivasan: so since this announcement came out, you have had a chance to talk to survivors' groups. what do they say? >> i think the reaction is mixed, hari. on the one hand, i think there are many survivors who would say that to them this comes off as church officials judging other church officials and they, frankly have, relatively little confidence in the speght of those procedures. others think there is something new about the commitment of pope francis to get this right. pope francis has vowed that on

his watch-- this is his along there will be no requested daddy's boys." that is, church officials who get special treatment because they're higher you want food chain and they want to believe that that's going to be translated into action. i spoke recently with a survivor by the name of peter saunders in great britain who actually sits on a papal commission advising the pontiff on sex abuse matters who described this as a very positive step that indicates the pope is listening to survivors. so i think the climate out there is that people want to believe this is a step in the right direction but they're going to withhold judgment until they see how it actually works disploo. >> sreenivasan: john allen of the "boston globe" and the crux, thanks so much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: now, a look at a

rising political powerhouse from scotland-- nicola sturgeon, the first female scottish first minister. last month in front of one of scotland's iconic structures, the forth bridge, nicola sturgeon celebrated her scottish national party's win of nearly all of the seats in parliament allocated to scotland in the uk elections. a few days later, the group of s.n.p. members made their way to london and the entrance to westminster, where prime minister david cameron's conservative party kept its grip on power. >> we are absolutely here to stand up for scotland and david cameron should be in no doubt about that. >> woodruff: just nine months ago scotland went to the polls and voted "no" to independence by 55 to 45%. then, s.n.p. leader alex salmond resigned, and into his shoes stepped the 44-year-old nicola sturgeon.

prime minister cameron made his way to scotland shortly after last month's election to discuss the future of britain, even as sturgeon called for the power to set income tax and welfare spending. now, she's on a whirlwind tour of the u.s. promoting scottish products and businesses. today, she sat down to talk with us at the council on foreign relations in washington. first minister nicola sturgeon, thank you for talking with us. >> thank you very much. it's a joy to be here. >> woodruff: so americans looking across the atlantic ocean seeing this new relationship. is that what we should call it, between scotland and the rest of the u.k.? >> yeah, i think that's a reasonable way to describe it. scotland is still part of the united kingdom. we're more autonomous, and our parliament will be more autonomous, and the influence of the scottish government i think will increase in the years to come. and for the united states, that means i think a greater recognition of the fact that

scotland is a partner in trading terms, and an ally in terms of the big international debates we have. >> woodruff: you said in your remarks this morning you questioned how much of a mandate prime minister david cameron had, given the results of these last parliamentary election, where the scottish national party did so well what, do you mean by that? what are you saying? are you challenging his authority? >> i'm not challenging his authority. david cameron won the election-- if you look at the u.k. as one whole unit. he won the election. he won most seats and most votes and, therefore, he is the prime minister and he formed the government. the argument i'm may going is a political one. u.k. is not just one state. it's a family of four nations-- england, scotland, wales, and northern ireland. and david cameron only won the election in one of those four nations, in england. fipg he is sensible will demonstrate or want to demonstrate that he recognizes

the different parts of the united kingdom voted in different ways and that puts a responsibility on his shoulders to take account of the different views and the different priorities of people in scotland, wales and northern ireland. >> woodruff: how would that manifest itself in a concrete way? what would you look for him to do that he's not doing? >> in a scottish context to, recognize people in scotland want to see the scottish parliament become more powerful and autonomous. david cameron is propose something limited additional powers for the scottish government but there's an appetite in scott land for him to go further. scotland also vote forward a party, the party i lead, that argue aid different monetary policy. that there should be a standard of continued austerity-- not that we should continue to focus on deficit reduction, but we should be anthrax invest in infrastructure and skills in order to grow the economy faster and i think his economic policies should take account of

that as well. >> woodruff: how do you strike that balance? he is pushing for an austerity program, as you described it, that's something you're not comfortable with. how do you push for that at the same time maintaining the place that you have in the government structure? >> talking to david cameron if he uses his majority on to push things through then he'll send a message to scotland and wales and northern ireland that says he doesn't really care how people in these parts of the u.k. voted. he's going to do what he wants anyway. and over time, that may be counter-productive to his objective of keeping the u.k. together as a family of nations. >> woodruff: is there any doubt in your mind that scottish independence is in the cards, that it's coming at some point in the future? >> i believe scotland will be an independent country at some point in the future. and i should say, being independent in the modern model means independent in a very interdependent world. an independent scotland is not apart from the rest of the united kingdom.

we would work very closely with the rest of the united kingdom and be a key part of the european union and an ally in the international community. i can't say for certainty when that will happen. there's no second independence referendum on the immediate horizon. >> woodruff: you've made it very clear you disagree with any moves to withdraw the u.k. from the european union so, we know there's a difference there. are there other significant differences we should know about between you the scottish national party, and the u.k., the british government on foreign policy? >> we support not just the stance of the united qingdom government, but the international community, including the united states, on issues like u.k. and russia. we are very supportive of the actions taken there. >> dealing with the isis threat and the middle east generally. >> woodruff: a big debate in this country right now about whether u.s. forces should do

more. the white house has just announced in the last day or so that more advisers will be going into iraq to train iraqi troops in the fight against isis, against isil. are you in favor of more ground troops if that's what it takes to get rid of isis? >> i would certainly, you know, be supportive of the actions of president obama. we need to make sure we in the international community are taking appropriate action to make sure we are combating the threat of isil. i think president obama, generally, in terms of foreign policy, has been a very responsible and measured president. i think there is-- and i think there should be a greater appreciation, particularly with big powers like the united states, that influence and power can be softer and more persuasive than simply intervening in different parts of the world. i get the impression president obama instinctively understands that. >> woodruff: last question europe-- the victory, the

success of the scottish national party in these last elections has put scotland on the map, in the headlines again in a way it hasn't been in a long time. what do you want americans to know? what should they look for to come from scotland in the months ask years to come? >> i often have said when i've done bn here this week there are more people in the united states who claim a scottish connection than there are in scotland. the scottish diaspora here is very large sp very strong. the trading and economic relationship between our countries is strong and i hope will get stronger in the future. scotland is a friend to the united states. i hope the united states sees itself as a froand scotland and i think we can look forward to the link and the friendships between our two companies strengthening in the years to come. >> woodruff: first minister nicola sturgeon, thank you very much. >> woodruff: now to our special series on stopping ebola. the worst of the epidemic has passed, but recently there has

been a small uptick in cases in west africa. more than 11,000 people died since the outbreak began, 27,000 were infected over the past year. at its height, experts warned the death toll could climb much higher if certain actions were not taken. how experts went about doing that is the focus of our piece from science correspondent miles o'brien. part of his series "cracking ebola's code," showcasing research and innovation to help treat ebola or prevent its spread. >> reporter: ever since ebola came to sierra leone, the traditional sunday morning run near the beach in freetown has moved to an urgent cadence. but the double-time march to end the ebola crisis is not over. the virus, and the finish line remain moving targets. and an army of public health workers in command centers here and all around the globe are employing sophisticated

modeling technology in new ways to track the trajectory of the epidemic. >> we still have a long hard road to get to zero. getting to zero means finding every case of ebola, every contact, and making sure people are rapidly isolated. >> reporter: tom frieden is the director of the centers for disease control and prevention. he says they would be nowhere near zero if it wasn't for the power of sophisticated predictions. >> getting a rapid robust response in west africa was incredibly important. the model projected what would happen if we didn't do that, and providing that information was quite important in galvanizing the energy and progress that we've seen. >> reporter: at an ebola treatment center run by the international medical corps in kambia, sierra leone, it's time for the shift change briefing.

>> the patient is in critical condition. he needs a close monitoring when you enter, he has redness of the eyes, and there's bleeding from the nose. >> reporter: there are eight patients here, most at death's doorstep. dr. kashif islam siddiqui is one of the physicians taking great risks to treat ebola patients while they are most contagious. >> although all of them are at the stage where the symptoms are maximum, but still we are hopeful that most of them will make it. >> reporter: it may be the end game, but it is no time to relax. >> in the tail end of the epidemic curve, we have had a very bumpy time. sometimes we have several cases per week and other times we might have one in some districts quite a few districts it's zero. >> reporter: dr. paul armstrong is a field coordinator for the world health organization. his job here is made more complex by geography. we are only three miles from the guinean border.

on the other side there's a duplicate team making their own plans, in a different language. and while there are checkpoints with infrared cameras at the main roads, the border is completely porous most everywhere else. >> so whenever we have a case we must work at who are the close contacts of that person who also might be harboring the infection. if they cross the border then we must tell our counterparts over there, and because they speak french and we speak english, that adds quite a complexity to it. >> reporter: meanwhile, 4,800 miles away, at c.d.c. headquarters in atlanta, they are watching it all unfold, monitoring globally, but acting locally. >> this is the nerve center where we track what's happening both the epidemic, the response to the epidemic. >> reporter: but who and what to send? and where? and what is job one? frieden admits he had a hard time answering those questions. there was no playbook for this. >> one of the tremendous challenges with the ebola

epidemic from august and september was that it was a fog of war situation. we didn't have a clear sense of what was really happening with the epidemic. >> particularly, as you know we're now going to face even more questions about those lines that go up. >> reporter: so he turned to this man. martin meltzer is a senior health economist who heads the modeling team at the c.d.c. >> we don't make up the answer that will make all the decisions for them. we produce some numbers that help them come to a decision. >> reporter: they formulated a model designed to predict how bad things might get. they factored in things like how many cases there are how long people stay sick, how likely they are to survive, how many will seek care and how many are accurately diagnosed, although there's a lot of complicated mathematics beneath what you see on the screen, the result is a simple spreadsheet that is shared publicly. meltzer believes in transparency. >> these people here, in the red, are where, you don't want

your patients to be-- they are at home, they're not isolated, there are still connection and contact with the family and the rest of the community and there is no safe burial. >> reporter: when meltzer and his team first ran the numbers, the results took their breath away. the line quickly went off the charts. an exponential train wreck-- 1.4 million confirmed ebola cases predicted in a few months if assistance was not mobilized immediately. >> every month of delay more than doubled the number of cases that might occur because of that delay. the model ultimately showed not only the problem but the need to solve it by going big and going fast. >> you double and you double and you double. and if you don't break the back of exponential growth, you get into a situation that's even more horrific than what we saw. >> reporter: other disease modelers were equally alarmed. at northeastern university, alessandro vespignani also created an ebola epidemic model at his laboratory for the modeling of biological and

socio-technical systems. it predicted that if nothing was done, ebola would spread way beyond west africa. >> and you will see that by february already, you get africa that is in a very bad situation but then, you start to have places which have serious outbreaks in various places in europe. >> reporter: paris london and new york would have all been coping with serious ebola outbreaks. >> this is something that would be really a worst case scenario. so that would be something that you don't even want to think about it. >> reporter: wow! that's many millions of people afflicted, right? >> that would be obviously something that is unthinkable. >> reporter: but the c.d.c. makes no apology for sharing the worst-case scenario.n't think of terms of scaring or not scaring people. i look at the numbers. i look at them and say, "is this a fair representation we know at that time?" >> reporter: the trickier part was how to respond.

the models made it frighteningly clear, there was no earthly way to build ebola treatment centers fast enough to answer the crushing need for isolation care. so the only way to stop the epidemic was to change human behavior. public health professionals had to educate people to routinely wash their hands, stop embracing each other, and most important, refrain from the ritual washing of the dead. if all this could happen, the model yielded some good news. >> if you got the 70% safe burial or safe treatment, you got it to a tipping point. that was really important. that gave us a goal. surprisingly, it showed that if you did that it would also come down exponentially as well. >> reporter: in freetown sierra leone, public health officials, already under siege, were stunned by the grim outlook. dr. mohamed samai is provost of the college of medicine and allied health sciences. >> well, initially, the first

thing is denial. you may just say it's impossible. but then looking at the cultural beliefs of our people, then you'll be tempted to believe that that projection will definitely come to pass. >> reporter: in the isolated villages of west africa, many believe in witchcraft and home remedies. some are convinced ebola is a plot by white people, if it exists at all. vandy kamara does outreach for the international medical corps. >> a lot of the chiefdoms, a lot of the people that we meet in the chiefdoms simply have been challenging us that ebola is no real, that it's just something that was made up, and they are still in denial. >> reporter: but the grim reality of the epidemic coupled with an intense public outreach effort eventually turn the tide. safe burial practices became common, and people in the

densely populated cities of west africa changed the way they interacted with each other. the predictions of millions of ebola cases did not pan out. >> we don't want to be right. i don't want to have millions of people die. what we want to say is, "look. this is going to happen if we don't do something." >> reporter: today there are hundreds of surplus isolation beds in temporary structures like these all throughout west africa. built by the u.s. and other western nations, they were too late. fortunately they are too much, for now. but when modelers run the numbers on the people and the diseases that intersect in this part of the world, they are certain another exponential threat lies ahead. miles o'brien for the pbs newshour, freetown, sierra, leone.

>> woodruff: before you head out for a meal tonight, a story that asks how much do you really want that dinner reservation? economics correspondent paul solman explores why some restaurants are requiring customers to pay for their meal ahead of time. it's part of our ongoing reporting, "making sense," which airs every thursday on the newshour. >> good afternoon, rpm italian. >> reporter: a popular mid-range restaurant in chicago. looking for a prime time table a few weeks out? >> it looks like i can do 5:00 or you're looking at about 10:00. >> reporter: reservations, it seems, are a problem at, and for, pretty much every eatery tonier than arby's, all the way up to alinea, #1 in chicago on tripadvisor, 26th in the world says restaurant magazine. to co-owner nick kokonas, reservations can be a dance of deception between restaurant and customer. >> i think we've all had that

experience where we call a restaurant, and we feel like the person's lying to them. it's evidenced by the fact that when you show up at an 8:00 reservation on a saturday, your table is hardly ever waiting for you. >> reporter: why is that? >> one, there's a no-show rate, of 10% percent, 12% percent. >> reporter: so, restaurants are overbooking. >> just like the airlines do. and the other thing is that they're afraid to say no to people. so, they know people will, if they arrive at a restaurant and the table's not quite ready they'll go to the bar for 40 minutes, they'll spend a little more money, and then they're not gonna leave at that point, it's saturday night. >> reporter: so the restaurants lie to the people, and then the people who know they might not show up are lying to the restaurant. >> i think it's a minority of the restaurants, and a minority with the people, but it sort of spoils the kettle for everybody else. >> reporter: alinea, he says, played it straight, at considerable cost. the temple of molecular gastronomy he created with chef grant achatz serves salad that's still growing, an 86-component

lamb dish, a helium-filled green apple balloon for dessert, cuisine that doesn't come cheap at a restaurant where dinners for two, including wine, tax, and tip can reach $1,000, no- shows are a pricy proposition. >> we had about 110 people a month that didn't show up, who said they were showing up. and, you multiply that by a few hundred dollars a person, and all the time it takes to make all that food and all the waste i mean, it's $4-, $5-, $600,000 a year, just at our one 64-seat restaurant. this is a problem which is ubiquitous in a huge industry. 8% percent of the g.d.p., or something like that, is food service. >> reporter: so four years ago, when kokonas and achatz opened a new restaurant, called next they replaced reservations with tickets, requiring full payment in advance. but kokonas thinks tickets are an option for restaurants far more modest than his own.

>> in the case of alinea or next, we charge for the entire meal. in a more casual restaurant that the check might be $25 a person, it's just a $5 or $10 deposit, and it's very important to note that all of that money it's not a cover charge. all that money gets applied to your bill. >> reporter: so people just by putting down $5 bucks, will then more consistently honor the reservation they've made? >> hugely more consistently. they don't want to lose that deposit. >> reporter: putting his now- ample money where his well-fed mouth was, kokonas founded tock, to scale up next's ticketing software for restaurants worldwide. >> today is actually the launch day. >> reporter: 11:00 launch! what time is it? >> it's 11:00. (laughter) >> reporter: you're literally launching now! >> yeah, any minute. >> reporter: well, just as soon as they exterminate a few bugs. >> it looks like tock has caused the next site to crash, which looks really bad. >> one more problem.

>> reporter: brian fitzpatrick, started google's engineering office, now right across the street, left last november to co-found tock. >> here it is, it's fixed. >> are you good? >> i'm good? >> nicole? are you good. >> i'm good. >> do it, you're good. >> post. >> fighter missiles. >> here we go. >> reporter: at exactly 12:28, they went live. >> hey, it's up! >> reporter: within moments, dozens of customers were on next's website, buying thousands of dollars worth of tickets via tock. why was fitzpatrick willing to leave a cushy career at google for a food startup? >> because i thought that nick's idea is something that could transform an industry. >> reporter: by total transparency and variable pricing, as here on friday, july 3. at 5:30: a $90-per-person early bird special two tables left.

8:00: $120, and back down to lower prices at 10:00. >> so it's full transparency there. >> reporter: so that's what the customer sees of tock. and the restaurant? >> red is tables sold. yellow is tables held every restaurant holds a few tables every night. friends of the chef, v.i.p.s that sort of thing, right? green tables are tables that are available. your goal as a restaurateur is to have everything here turn red. >> the most expensive thing in our business is an empty seat. >> reporter: jerrod melman is a managing partner of lettuce entertain you enterprises, a family business that owns or operates a hundred restaurants across the country, from burger joints on up. his father, an original investor in the open table reservation website, also invested in tock, tested it in their top restaurant, intro. it's been a palpable hit. >> one of the most appealing things about tock has been how low the no-show rate has been, while using the system. it's virtually zero.

as a company with restaurants at all sorts of different price points we think that the model, you know, where people aren't necessarily paying for the entire meal ahead of time, will hopefully be successful in, in all of our restaurants. >> reporter: now there is a substantial cost to restaurants for this service: $695 a month. and the cost to the public? >> the people who aren't going to like this are the people that like to skip out on reservations. >> reporter: aren't you potentially offending customers by suggesting that they were going to break their reservation, and the only way to get them to honor it is to have them pony up? >> does the opera assume that you're a culprit if they ask you to buy a ticket? i think that just like it would've seemed weird to go online and buy a plane ticket 15 years ago, a few years from now, it'll seem really weird to not be able to book a restaurant this way. >> want to do 10:00? >> reporter: until then, however, the folks at tock suggest taking this receptionist's advice: >> i would give us a call back the day before.

that would be the best way to check on any cancellations. >> reporter: this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting for the pbs newshour from the cutting edge of high tech cuisine, chicago, illinois. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, they're about survival confidence and empowerment, but some of the most famous songs embraced by the modern gay rights movement, including diana ross's "i'm coming out," almost never came to be. read about their origins and listen to a playlist of iconic lgbt anthems, on our home page. that's at pbs.org/newshour. tonight on charlie rose, airing on most of these pbs stations the "new yorker magazine's" dexter filkins on the additional u.s. military advisors going into iraq to support iraq's fight against isis. and that's the newshour for

tonight. on friday, we'll have miles o'brien's final report from west africa on the on going hunt for effective ebola vaccines. i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening, with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> 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

this is "nightly business with tyler mathisen and sue herera. >> taking the bitter with the tweet. the ceo of twitter is out after months of disappointing growth and growing pressure. >> let's go shopping that's what people did in may as the latest numbers shows hasn't forgotten how to individual stocks. all thfo thursday, june good evening, i'm sharon epperson. i tyler mathisen. stocks rise on strong retail