captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: police arrest the alleged gunman who killed nine in a historic black church in south carolina. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. also ahead this thursday: poperancis calls for swift action on climate change, and makes a moral case for humans to halt global warming. >> what he is doing i believe is calling all of us to recognize there are serious problems. >> ifill: then, overworked and underpaid. the economic push to expand overtime pay for millions of workers. >> because they put their managers on salary, they can work their managers as many hours as they want.

>> woodruff: plus, cuba's modern artists put their work on display before an eager international market, while limits to expression remain. 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. >> ifill: the mayor of charleston, south carolina called it "pure, pure concentrated evil." the city and state reeled today from a bloody assault, a white shooter gunning down black victims at a place of worship. the suspect was captured, in a neighboring state, t the motive remained a mystery. the manhunt ended late this morning when a tip led police to the alleged gunman's car, nearly 250 miles away from the shooting scene. confirmation came from the police chief in charleston. >> we've arrested dylann roof, r-o-o-f, from lexington, south carolina. approximately 30 minutes ago, he was arrested in shelby, north

carolina during a traffic stop. >> ifill: still images from surveillance video showed the 21-year-old roof outside the emanuel african methodist episcopal church last night. police said he was inside for an hour before opening fire in a prayer meeting. nine people died, including the pastor, clementa pinckney, a democratic state senator who recently helped pass legislation requiring police to wear body cameras. at the white house, president obama, who knew pinckney, voiced both sympathy and frustration with vice president biden at his side. >> now is the time for mourning and for healing. but let's be clear: at some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. it doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. and it is in our power to do something about it. >> ifill: members of congress

held a prayer vigil for the shooting victims, as did state lawmakers in columbia, south carolina, where clementa pinckney's desk was draped in black. in 2012, the preacher and lawmaker reflected on his political role, on the pbs series "many rivers to cross with henry louis gates, jr." >> we need to be a part, if we want a say in our own life, if we want to be independent, if we want to influence what's happening around us. or the reverse is to let everybody else control and influence and then we just sort of takes whatever comes. that's what slaves did. >> ifill: pinckney's emanuel a.m.e. church dates back to slave times-- 1816-- and is one of the oldest black churches in the south. but it was unclear today what turned it into a target. a facebook picture showed the suspect, roof, wearing a jacket with flag patches from artheid-era south africa and rhodesia, now zimbabwe. and, u.s. attorney general

loretta lynch said the justice department has formally launched a hate crime investigation. back in charleston, an emotional governor nikki haley spoke for many, struggling to make sense of it all. >> the heart and soul of south carolina was broken. and so we have some grieving to do and we've got some pain we have to go through. parents are having to explain to their kids how they can go to church and feel safe, and that's not something we ever thought we'd deal with. >> ifill: all of this came just two months after walter scott an unarmed black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer in neighboring north charleston. we'll come back to the charleston attack, and hate crimein general, after the news summary. >> woodruff: in the day's other developments, president obama's trade agenda got a reprieve, after democrats in the u.s. house of representatives blocked it last week. today, republicans pushed through fast-track negotiating

authority, clearing the way for an asian free-trade deal. the bill goes to the senate now. still to come: votes on helping workers who lose their jobs to overseas competition. >> ifill: wall street rallied today, on hopes that the federal reserve may wait just a while longer before raising interest rates. the dow jones industrial average gained 180 points to close at 18,115. the nasdaq rose 68 points, and the s&p 500 added 20. >> woodruff: leaders of the eurozone countries have called an emergency summit for monday on their deadlock with greece. finance ministers met in luxembourg today, as greece faced a looming deadline to make a huge loan repayment, or default. the eurogroup chair warned of "too little progress." >> as of today it is still possible, to find an agreement, and extend the current program before the end of the month. but the ball is clearly in the greek court to seize that last

opportunity. >> woodruff: meanwhile, greek prime minister alexis tsipras traveled to st. petersburg, russia to meet with president vladimir putin. there's widespread speculation that tsipras is now seeking rescue loans from the kremlin. ifill: the number of refugees fleeing war and persecution worldwide has reached an all- time high. the u.n. refugee agency reported today that nearly 60 million people were displaced from their homes last year. the largest single group 11.6 million, came from syria. >> woodruff: in hong kong, the governing council balked today at giving china's central government veto power over candidates for chief executive of the city. it was a victory for activists who staged long-running protests last year. today, pro-beijing lawmakers walked out before the vote leaving opponents of the election plan in control. officials in jing criticized the outcome. >> ifill: and, back in this

country, gender equality is coming to the $10 bill. the u.s. treasury secretary announced today the redesigned version will feature a yet-to- be-named woman. it will be unveiled in 2020, marking 100 years since women gained the right to vote. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: the south carolina church shooting suspect in custody, as a city reels in the wake of shocking violence. the pope wades into controversial territory in a call to halt climate change. reshuffling big name anchors in tv news. two major first amendment decisions come down at the supreme court. workers fighting to earn the overtime pay they put in. and, a new market for cuban artists. >> ifill: we now return to the struggle for understanding in charleston, as the city mourns

nine people killed in a historic black church last night. for more on today's developments, we turn to south carolina representative jim clyburn, whose district includes parts of charleston. and, heidi beirich, who directs the southern poverty law center's intelligence project in montgomery, alabama. thank you both for joining us. congressman clyburn, how is charleston coping with this? >> well, charleston is coping very well. i think that the law enforcement people here, the mayor have both struck the right tone i think that the quick apprehension of the suspect in this case is serving this overall process very well. but the facts still remains-- people are wanting some answers to the question of why. why did this happen?

was he acting alone? how did this church other than most historic african american church in charleston in south carolina, for that matter in the entire south, why did he pick this church? is he a part of something else beyond him? i think when we get the answers to these questions, this community will know better how to respond. >> ifill: you yourself, i believe are a member of the african methodist episcopal church. and you knew reverend pinckney. how would you describe the personal scope of this loss? >> well, i think the church service we had at noon today was probably i think, bishop bryant said as well-- it was probably the most diverse group he said that he's seen in a long, long time. i was a part of all these events right here in charleston during

the 1969 hospital strike. back during the 70 and even the 60s, when we were involved in civil rights activities. but 95 have i seen a sanctuary in any church as representative of the entire community that i-- that i see today. and so i think this community is galvanizing. itis coalescing. it is coming together in a way that i think will serve great purposes going forward. >> ifill: heidi birich, we heard both the justice deparment and the mayor of charleston today describe this as a height haight crime. we could use a few definitions here. what makes it that? what would make it that? >> there are two pieces of evidence related to the shooter that probably make this a hate crime. one, the comments attributed to him about how "you people are taking over our country.

you're raping our women. of those are racist statements that could indicate motive. the other thing we found throughout the day today is this person ha pus on facebook pages and other places with pictures wearing racist patches, galorifying the apartheid government in rodeed dooezia. he had a licenselate that said, "the confederate state of america." fact that he said these things indicate his motives might be racial. >> ifill:re housing of worship typical targets for these kinds of crimes? we can think all the way back to birmingham, the 16th street baptist church. we can think about the church burnings in the south. i wonder if that's a theme or through-line in all of these. >> we have seen for decades decades that house of worship, particularly historically black churches have been targeted by white supremacists for violence. this has been happening for quite a long time. a klan group was sued in the

90s for attacking a black church also in south carolina. and i think the fact that this church was so significant historically may have actually made it more of an object for violence unfortunately. >> ifill: we are shocked when we hear things like this. the assumption, heidi beirich, is that this no longer happens, or at least doesn't happen in a regular way. are we mistaken in that? >> that would be a mistaken plaintiff. the fact of the matter is lone wolf takes have actually happened about every five weeks for last five years. they haven't all actually taken place, but there have been attempts. this kind of violence is really out of control, this kind of domestic terrorism. and if we just think for a little bit you'll remember the shooting at the sikh temple by a skinhead in 2012 the shooting a year ago by a white supremacist at a jewish community facility in kansas. these kinds of things are happening with frightening regulator. >> ifill: so congressman

clyburn, what should we as a people, or maybe even government or not government do about these things? what happens next? >> well let me say this about the lone wolf kind of thing. this young man may have been acting alone, but what were his motivations? who or what l to him developing these kind of feelings? he's got the distinct tattoos. he's posting things on facebook. he's got this confederate states of america insignia on the front of his automobile. these are not lone wolf activities. these are organized activities emanating from somewhere. now, just because he acted alone in this doesn't mean that he is not getting this motivation from some other kind of organized effort taking place. and that's why i think we need to get to the bottom of this.

now it's one thing to wake up and pick up a book or look at tv and want to go out and emulate something. but it's something else again to develop a whole philosophy, a whole theory, a whole approach to life by tuning in to these coordinated efforts being put forth out there by hate groups all over the country. so just because you're acting alone does not mean that you're not motivated by something broader and higher than you are. >> ifill: well we will watch this unfold, representative jim clyburn, and heidi beirich of the southern poverty law center. thank you both very much. >> woodruff: the pope made an unprecedented call to action in tackling climate change globally today. he issued the first papal document dedicated solely to the

environment, and the vatican held a news conference watched around the world, kicking off an effort to spread the message to the faithful and others in months to come. pope francis issued a nearly 200-page document casting climate change as a moral issue, not simply a political or economic debate. lead climate researchers joined in the formal release at the vatican. >> i think the encyclical, by listening to the science and reflecting to the science, is bringing together two big messages: one message comes from reasoning, from ingenuity, from technological progress. the other comes from faith, moral, ethical values, christianity, but they combine into one message. >> woodruff: that message, to the world's 1.2 billion roman catholics, is: global warming is mostly man-made... it comes heavily from burning fossil fuel...

and it disproportionally harms th poor. in the encyclical, the pontiff warns: "the pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet's capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is can only precipitate catastrophes." rich countries must act immediately, francis says, to cut consumption of fossil fuels and help poor nations create sustainable development. but cardinal peter turkson, who helped pen the first draft, acknowledged today, it's a tough sell. >> ( translated ): there are discussions on environmental issues where it is not easy to achieve a consensus. the church does not claim to settle scientific questions or to replace politics, but quoting pope francis, "i encourage an honand open debate, so that particular interests or ideologies do not jeopardise the common good." >> woodruff: to promote that debate, catholics around the

world were able to view the announcement, via live-stream from the vatican. but the papal document also drew criticism. republican presidential candidate jeb bush, who's catholic, said yesterday in iowa: "i go to church to have my faith nourished, to have my faith challenged... i don't go to mass for economic policy or for things in politics." and the senate's leading climate change skeptic, republican james inhofe of oklahoma, dismissed what he called "the pope's philosophy on global warming." even so, supporters are hoping the encyclical will push united nations climate summit to reach agreement, later this year. president obama said he admired the pope's decision to issue today's historic call with his "full moral authority". but in the u.s. senate, republicans voted against funding several administration initiatives on curbing climate change and clean water rules.

this morning, i spoke with the archbishop of washington cardinal donald wuerl, aboutthe pope's encylical. we met at the national press club. your eminence, cardinal donald wuerl, thank you for speaking with us. >> judy it's a pleasure to be here. >> woodruff: why did pope francis want to devote an entire encylical to the environment, to climate change? >> what he is doing, i believe, is calling all of us to recognize that there are serious problems. there are serious problems that have to do with the environment, that have to do with the way in which we live and consume. and he's asking all of us to take a look at the world around us and what do we have to do to see that our which children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have the benefit of this magnificent

creation that we enjoy. it & so he's giving this call to everybody to participate in a discussion on how do we best serve one another in our home which is this planet? i think the starting point is thecognition the earth is our common home. this is where we all live. >> woodruff: how does he see the connection between caring for the earth and caring for the people who are alive today and generations to come and the focus on the poor? >> he says in any discussion whether you're talking about the biodiversity, whether you're talking about the pollution of water, whether you're talking about deforestation, you need to start with the person the human person. the goal of everything that we

have is the flourishing of human life. so we start there and then we say that has to take place in the context of a sustainable development of the resources that are available to us while protecting the planet. so you have these three elements it's person the planet, and reasonable, sustainable development. >> woodruff: it is not unprecedented for a pope to be taking a bold stand on an issue, a controversial issue. he is taking this further than his predecessors in pope john paul ii, pope benedict, in saying there's an urgency here. how unpress departmented is that? >> judy, i think what we're seeing in this encylical is a recognition that there-- there's

a time element involved, but the urgency is to get the discussion going. the urgency is to recognize-- he begins the encylical by listing all of these things that we recognize are damagin the earth. , the deforestation is one example. the lack of sufficient water the lack of clean water, all of these things are facts. >> woodruff: how did he satisfy himself that the science is settled on whether humans are causing climate change? as you know, there's still argument out there about that. >> i don't see any declarations affirming any particular theory about any type of scientific understanding of what's happening. he's just pointing to pointing to the fact that it's there, that these things are clearly happening around us,ing and what he's saying is should the starting point be with all of this not so

much trying to fuss over this piece or that piece but all of that together calls us to work together with a sense of urgency to make sure that the environment is preserved. >> woodruff: he'salling on political leaders. he's calling on captains of industry to change the direction they're going in to make a dramatic change-- changes- in effect. how much power does the pope have, does he believe, do you believe, to get that kind of dramatic change to take place? >> i think what our holy father is asking-- and that's why he's not imposing anything. he's not saying what the solutions are, but he is lifting up the problems and for us to try to resolve these problems. what he brings is the moral dimension. it's not any longer what can we

do be? the the question now is what should we do? what ought we to do when we're dealing with this environment when we're dealing with this good earth? >> woodruff: there is push-back already from climate change skeptics,m political conservatives. just yesterday one of the candidates for president for the republican nomination former florida governor jeffrey brown, who is roman catholic, said i respect the popsicle, but i think it's better to solve this problem in the political realm. he said religion is about making us better as people and less about things in the political realm. >> i don't think the pope is saying to politicians, here is what you must do. here is the answer." but what he is saying as a spiritual leader, a religious leader-- together with other religious leaders-- i'm calling on everyone to looat the problems and begin to come up

with some solutions. highs not saying to politicians, "this is what your public policy or your political platform shouldbe." and he's not saying to people involved in the world of industry, the world of development, "this is what you must do." but he is saying, in light of all the problems that there are and even if you might prioritize them differently we all recognize we have to work together to resolve these problems. >> woodruff: but it sounds as if governor bush other ands are saying we're not going to listen to the pope on this issue. >> well, i correspond if as time goes on and people begin to look more deeply into this and hear what the pope is saying, there will be a stronger sense of-- a realization of what he's actually asking. >> woodruff: how is the pope how are you, as a leader in the catholic church going to follow up on this? what is the plan to move this

forward beyond today's announcement? >> judy that's a very very important question. what we're going to have to do is using today using the announcement of the encylical as a starting point we're going to have to devote a lot of energy to education and even getting the issue out into the public. what we're going to be doing in this archdiocese, for example we're going to spend a lot of time getting this message out, pulling apart-- unpacking this encylical, and helping our people understand better what it's saying. but this is a long-term project. but everything in the church is long term. >> woodruff: long term and, yet, the pope is trying to influence whates out of the climate change summit this winter in paris. >> it's-- it's true. there are some short-term

measures, but the church doesn't e her teaching in those terms. she sees her teaching as formative of conscience that will be ultimately directive long-term-wise, of a better world. >> woodruff: cardinal donald wuerl, your eminence we thank you very much. >> judy, it's been a pleasure to be here with you. thank you. god bless you. >> ifill: after months of review, nbc news announced today that longtime anchorman brian williams will not be returning as anchor of the network's "nightly news" program. he will, hover, stay with nbc and join its cable outlet msnbc as a breaking news anchor. lester holt, william's temporary replacement, will now officially get the job as anchor of nbc nightly news. williams was suspended after the discovery that he fabricated a story about coming under fire on a helicopter during the iraq

war. but there was more. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> sreenivasan: an internal nbc review also found williams made a number of inaccute statements about his experience reporting in the field. the network is calling the move to msnbc a chance to earn back everyone's trust. two views on the wisdom of this decision: andrew heyward is the former president of cbs news. mark feldstein is a professor at the university of maryland college of journalism. he's a former investigative correspondent for abc and cnn. andrew heyward, i want to start with you. it seems that this was a practical decision more so than a principl one. if brian williams can be trusted, why not give him his job back? if he can't be trusted doesn't this create sort of a double standard? is massachusetts nbc just a little lower than nbc? >> i don't think there's a double standard for accuracy. the viewer has the right to expect accuracy from a reporter reporting from a mudslide in

marin county just as from the anchor of an evening newscast. i do think there's a hierarchy in the television news world, and the evening news or the nightly news has traditionally been the so-called flagship program, and with the slight exception of abc now, traditionally, the anchor of that program has been the so-called face of the network. soening this case, brian is paying a price for severe errors in judgment. i don't think that anybody's going to hold him to a different standard for accuracy and i think the viewers will understand exactly what'soing into will not think that somehow they're being given some kind of second-class citizen as a journalist. >> sreenivasan: mark feldstein, can williams regain his credibility as the face of breaking news, as nbc would like him to be? >> i don't know. we'll see. i'm skeptical. you know if you don't tell the truth, whether it's on the air or on your newscast or an entertainment show, and you do it 10 or 11 times-- which is what's been reported-- i think

there's a cloud that's going to hang over him. and it was breaking news where he got himself into trouble in the first place telling some of these exaggerations. you know, as a journalism professor, i try to teach my student that the most important thing is the truth is accuracy, and the trouble is, this sends a message that, no, really, fame matterses more slickness matters more being cozy with your bosses matters more. and that's troubling. >> i respectfully disagree with that. i don't think this is about coziness with the bozs. i think this was a business decision that the chairman of the nbc news group, andy lack made if a business-like way. yes, it's a practical decision, but i actually don't think that brian is going to-- well, the viewers will get to ultimately decide whether he can regain his credibility. but just a slight correction. no one is alleging he distorted his breaking news reporting. most of these sins were well after the fact on talk shows.

again, i don't want to split hairs. these were very bad floors judgment. but the one thing we can be pretty darn sure of is brian williams is never going to exaggerate his exploits again. >> well we don't know this. you kno you're taking the network's word for it. they have kept their report secret. they have not revealed it to the public. the investigation was held in secret by internal employees who once answered to brian williams. the fact tathey're not releasing releasing this report, frankly is suspect, and it raises suspicioning tanbc would never accept from a politician or corporation it were investigating. >> sreenivasan: mark feldstein, how does this play into the role of the anchor changing? it's certainly dinner than it was 25 years ago. >> well that's true. one of the dirty little secrets of television news is that in many respects the famous anchors are glorified announcers-- present company excepted here, pbs is smaller staff and not

commercial. most of the journalistic news gathering is done off camera by producers who are much lower paid and there's this sort of contemptkin village. maybe if nbc were to cop to that and we went to a postmodern anchor, a younger saffier hipper audience might get that. >> i think mark is on to something, that the pretense and the phony omniscient of television news has to either whither away or be stripped away for the next generation to accept it upon i think, ironically brian-- this may seem counter-intuitive-- is a good person to do that, and cable is annvironment where he's going to have a chance to do much more exesm rains reporting, especially if he's doing live or breaking events. i think the breakdown is when you're covering a live breaking event. that's a high level of skill. yes, it's collaborative but trust me-- and i know, mark,

also-- we both worked with lots of network anchors. they are very, very talented people and brian williams is among them. >> sreenivasan: all right andrewandrew heyward and mark feldstein, thanks so much. >> you bet. >> woodruff: today at the supreme court, two significant rulings on the first amendment. the court ruled, five to four, that the texas state government has the right to not issue confederate flag license plates. and, in a unanimous decision, the court said the sign ordinance in the town of gilbert, arizona, was too restrictive of a local church. for more on these cases, as always, is marcia coyle of the national law journal. marcia. >> hi, judy. >> woodruff: let's take this texas license plate case. is was a case brought on behalf of the sons of confederate veterans. >> right. they wanted to have a specialty

license plate that include the confederate battle flag. the state of texas turned them down. they had a number of public comments finding that display offensive. the supreme court today ruled that texas did not violate the first amendment rights of this organization. justice breyer wrote the opinion. he says sade this is not private sech protected by the first amendment. what appears on your license plate is government speech. government has traditionally used license plates to convey messages. it uses licenseates for identification and registration of drivers and the state ultimately has the authority to decide what goes on the license plate. he asked, "why would this organization prefer its message on a license plate instead of maybe a bumper sticker next to the license plate." high said, "perhaps it's because they want th message to appear to be the official message of the state." but just as the state can't

compel a private party to convey a state midge that it disagrees with, he said, the sons of confederate veterans can't compel the state to convey a message with which it disagrees. >> woodruff: and the dissenters among other things argue these license plates can issue a private-- that they are privately owned privately controlled. >> justice alito wrote the dissent, and said this is private speech protected by the first amendment and texas' denial of the display was blatant viewpoint discrimination. he said how could any reasonable person looking at a display plate that says, "rather be golfing" think that is the official message of the state. >> woodruff: how common mash afor justice clarence tho to vote with the four liberal justices. >> wouldn't say it's common but it's not unusual to see cross-overs between left and right sides of the bench, and i think it's a reminder to us that these are not monolithic blocs on the court and there are

certain issues where they do disagree within their particular ideological groupgs. >> woodruff: and interesting this had to be of to do with the confederate flags. the other decision involved road signs sp a church where they wanted to put a directional sign. >> right. gilbert, arizona had a sign code and categorized signs as ideological, political, and directional. the good news community church needed directional signs because it didn't have a permanent home. it had to tell people where it was meeting each week. they ran afoul of the time limits on temporary directional signs. they sued the town saying that their first amendment speech rights were being violated, and today in a unanimous decision, justice thomas he wrote that the town did violate the first amendment rights of this church. >> woodruff: now, some of the dissenters, at least one of them, pointed out their concern is this could have wider

repercussions. this could affect what many cities do around the country. >> right. the reason for that isjustice thomas aplield the constitution's toughest test for constitutionality to this town's sign code. he said that the code was content based, and it had to survive strict scrutiny-- that is the town could only keep its code if it could justify it as serving a compelling government interest and it was narrowly tailored to do that. and he said the code was hopelessly underinclusive. justice kagan-- >> woodruff: not a dissenter, expressing concern. >> exactly she said this code was so unconstitutional it could have failed under lesser scrutiny, but because justice thomas aplield theoughest scrutiny, she felt that many reasonable sign codes will be challenged and may also be struck down. and she said the supreme court itself may become a supreme court board of sign review as those cases get to it.

>> woodruff: language we're going to remember. marcia coyle-- and big decisions to come from this court in the weeks to come. >> i think we have about 11 left-- same-sex marriage, major challenge to a health care law. the court will meet again monday. >> woodruff: marcia coyle, we thank you. >> my pleasure. >> ifill: this month the administration is expected to revamp workplace rules that would make millions more workers eligible for overtime pay. economics correspondent paul solman reports. it's part of our weekly segment "making sense," whichs every thursday on the newshour. >> time to make the donuts. >> reporter: fred the baker, icon for the freshness of dunkin' donuts more than 30 years ago. >> time to make the donuts! >> reporter: fred was a fiction, but the reality for one dunkin' donuts worker looked a lot like

the ads. >> i'm working 75 hours a week, or 80 hours a week. >> reporter: for years, guhsahn marzook worked fred-like hou as a salaried manager at this outlet outside boston. problem is, he never saw one cent in overtime. >> if you work 40 hours, or if you work 100 hours, it's the same pay. >> reporter: divide marzook's hours by his barely $800 a week salary, and, on a per hour basis... >> i'm making only $9, $10 an hour. which is less, even lower than the regular employees, what they are making. >> reporter: under current law you get time-and-a-half for every hour you work in a week past 40, unless you make more than $23,600 a year and you're an executive, administrator or professional with advanced knowledge. marzook's employer classified him as an executive, even though he very often did the same work as the hourly employees. >> you serving customers, you

pouring coffee, you cleaning, you'll clean the bathrooms, clean the parking lot, the title does not mean anything. >> reporter: the salary threshold under which all employees were paid overtime in 1975, if you figure in inflation, would now be $51,000, compared to today's actual $23,600, an amount that's been raised just once in the last 40 years. more than 60% of salaried employees were eligible for overtime in 1975. today less than 10% qualify. >> reporter: so last year president obama signed a memorandum directing the department of labor to update overtime rules elp workers like marzook. >> now overtime's a pretty simple idea. if you have to work more, you should get paid more. >> reporter: ogressive mega

investor nick hanauer first made us aware of the overtime issue's importance to economic inequality in a post on our making sense website that drew nearly a million readers. >> a high overtime threshold is indispensable to creating a thriving middle class, because in the absence if it, an employer like me will pitch a fake title like assistant manager to somebody and work them 60 hours a week instead of 40, and get 20 hours of work for free. >> reporter: lawyer shannon liss-riordan argues her client, guhsan marzook, should have received overtime and has sued his former employer, which rns 50 dunkin donuts outlets in massachusetts. >> this is common practice in america. because they put their managers on salary, they can work their managers as many hours as they want.

>> reporter: consider former dollar general store manager dawn hughey. she was paid $35,000 a year but regularly worked 60-70 hours a week, no overtime. >> i'm the free help, i'm the one they got to, you know, take over. i could never commit to anything as far as plans with friends or family because my store was always my number one responsibility. >> reporter: any day now, the administration is expected to redefine which workers are exempt and hike the threshold. labor advocates say if it's boosted to $51,000 a year, more than six million workers would automatically qualify for overtime pay. but, say employers... >> we don't think very many more people are going to get overtime as a result of this rule. >> reporter: fact is, says david french of the national retail federation, his industry simply can't afford the estimated $9.5 billion a year it would cost to pay overtime to every worker making up to $51,000 a year. so... >> instead of providing overtime for millions more workers, employers are going to make rational choices, and they're going to spread the same amount of money across a slightly

larger pl of hourly and part time workers. >> reporter: in other words, no more behind-the-counter executives. at white castle, famous for its square sliders, vice president jamie richardson thinks the company's almost 400 salaried general managers will be given lower benefits or switched to hourly jobs. that, he says, would stifle career advancement. >> it would take opportunity away from literally hundreds of people who worked so hard to get to that point. our general managers take tremendous pride in being considered salaried, that's a big accomplishment. >> reporter:: overtime activist nick hanauer's response? >> a company has a certain amount of responsibility to hand out, you can't run the company without giving people that responsibility, and people are not going to have less responsibility because they don't have fake titles anymore. it's just not true. >> reporter: but what about the argument that employers are simply not going to have managers anymore, like this? because they can't afford to and so, everybody will be an hourly employee?

>> it's certainly likely that most employers won't pay people time and a half. that's very expensive. and what employers are likely to do is simply add workers to their payrolls, which lowers the unemployment rate, adds, adds frankly customers to our economy, and drives up wages, which is the source of the problem. >> reporter: whatever the changes, though, they're too ate for guhsan marzook. >> i never had the time to enjoy my kids' childhoods to be with them. because i dedicated my life to work at dunkin' donuts. >> reporter: parent-teacher conferences. did you go to them? >> none. >> reporter: sports activities? >> none. >> reporter: graduation of your kids? >> i missed graduation. >> reporter: because you were working? >> reporter: marzook had come to america from kuwait, shooting for the american dream. but given the toll the job took, why did he put up with it? suppose you'd said "no, i'm only

going to work 40 hours, i'm sorry. i can't work any more, you're not paying me for that." >> be terminated. if you don't like it, you'll leave. but what you going to do? i'm not educated person, i don't have a degree. >> reporter: (and so these days guhsan marzook pumps gas, a part-time job so, no overtime here eit. this is economics correspondent paul solman reporting for the pbs newshour from boston. >> woodruff: and to cuba. tonight jeffrey brown visits the havanennial art show to report on cuba's booming art market, as well as the very real limits on free expression that remain in the socialist country. it's another installment in our series this week, "the cuban evolution." >> brown: on a recent fine

evening in havana, one could: follow the yellow brick road leading intthe sea. hop scotch through an american flag made of giant pick-up sticks. enter a translucent cube, and look out at a blue world. all part of a grand festival-- the havana biennial. there is art all along the famous malecon and throughout the city right now, art, in ct, is one of the ways this isolated island has chosen to show itself to the world, and the world is paying attention. this is the city's 12th biennial, but it's the first since the u.s and cuba announced efforts to normalize diplomatic relations. everywhere you looked, in various corners of the city: work by artists from some 42 countries. some of it fairly traditional, some of it, not, like this tropical ice-skating rink, why is the biennial so important here, what does it mean?

margarita sanchez is one of the biennial curators. >> in cuba, culture is very important, we live, and work, and express out of our home, in the street, maybe because of the weather, we don't know, because we are cubans, we are very expressive. >> brown: and, increasingly very prominent on the international art scene. at the biennial, more than 250 cuban artists exhibited works in the historic 16th century fortress on a bluff above havana. tony rubenstein, an american with a new guide book on cuban contemporary art, says demand for this work is high. >> the art market right now is exploding, especially on the very, very top end. there are artists here who are already in the tate modern, that are already in the museum of modern art in new york, and when there is established here, a museum of contemporary ar those artists, the value of their works, will explode. >> hello, nice to meet you, hello senor.

>> brown: howard farber is one of the top collectors. >> hi, hi. >> brown: at the biennial, he sponsored a gala affair to announce the first international cuban art awards. >> our mission is to spread the word on how great the art scene is in cuba. >> brown: farber began buying cuban art in earnest, and bulk, in the last decade, after making millions on the sale of his contemporary chinese art collection in 2007. you told me that you find cuban art sexy, what does sexy mean? >> brown: is part of th attraction for you as a collector, the forbidden? >> i guess so. i never really thought about it but i like to go where people haven't gone before. >> brown: it's a paradox in this home of the socialist revolution: big money flowing from outside, to artists inside. indeed, artists here are positively entrepreneurial. adrian fernandez and his partners were able to create this upscale studio after new

laws made it possible to buy and sell property. they now sell their work directly to consumers, mostly abroad, avoiding government-run galleries and reaping their own profits >> it's dealing directly with the people that reach us here, we connect directly. >> brown: and indeed, he and his friends were receiving american visitors by the busload during the biennial. in another part of town, an even more unexpected scene: the beverly hills women's club talking money and monopoly art at the home of one of cuba's most prominent artists. >> i mix it all with coca-cola signs. >> brown: kadir lopez takes old signs from american companies that were active here before the revolution, and superimposes images and photographs on top of them. >> so, i like to put some kind of metaphors in between. >> brown: it's a layering of times amessages, working through metaphors, he says, not overt politics, that can be read

a variety of ways. but what about the seeming contradiction oking art in a socialist country for americans from beverly hills? >> when i paint, when i create something i put x amount of energy in a canvas or a piece of metal on a sculpture or an installation. that energy could have a value in the market. >> brown: yes, it does. >> a person comes and says, here is x amount of money, that i'm willing to trade for you, if you give me that. so that's how i balance that. >> brown: is that not capitalism? >> sure, so that could be capitalistic or no, i have no idea, and i'm not thinking about it. i know there's something good comes from my art. >> brown: call it what you will clearly things are changing here. but some things remain, casting a shadow over the biennial: >> i've been accused by the government to incite people to be delinquent that i incite people to do public disturbances.

>> brown: in the 2009 biennial, tania bruguera presented a piece of performance art in which cubans were invited to speak their minds. when she tried to stage it again in december, in response to the announcement of a re-opening of diplomatic relations with the u.s., she was stopped and detained, her passport taken. were you trying to provoke? >> absolutely not, absolutely not. i think i believed that it was a historical moment, and that art has a role to play during historical moments. people were in shock. why? because it is an announcement that puts into reflection, into doubt, into rethink what it means to be cuban, what it means to be revolutionary, i think it was a historic moment because it was a moment of identity crisis for the revolution. >> brown: she says fellow cuban artists practice a form of self- censorship. >> it's kind of sad when you

have to conform, which means that the work the state has done to make you afraid has worked. >> brown: bruguera says she's been told she can leave cuba but only if she never returns, a deal she's refused. in the meantime, she awaits possible prosecution. the havana biennial, minus tan bruguera, will be on display until june 22. from cuba, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> ifill: today,we are launching a new series on facebook we are calling "brief but spectacular." these are interviews conducted by producer steve goldbloom featuring personal insights from artists, authors, leaders, and thinkers, telling us, iefly, what they are passionate about.

look for them every thursday on newshour's facebook page and often times, here on the broadcast. we kicked off the series with a message of gratitude from poet sarah kay. i tell people that spoken word poetry is a type of poetry that doesn't just want to live on paper, that something about it demands to be heard out loud and witnessed in person. it's a very immediate art form. you get to see visibly on people's faces and hear out loud if and when they are responding. there's a lot of people who have been led to believe that poetry is not for them orhey don't get poetry. and that always makes me sad because a big part of what i try to do in my work, not only in my art, but also in my work in classrooms is try to make poetry feel a little bit me accessible. sometimes i'm in an audience where it is helpful to give them time to realize that a poem is going to happen. and other times, it's actually more effective to not warn

people. when i'm inside writing, all i can think about is how i should be outside living. when i'm outside living, all i can do is notice all there is to write about. when i read about love i think i should be out loving. when i love i think i need to read more. i'm stumbling in pursuit of grace. i hunt paeshes with a vengeance. on mornings when my brother's tired muscles helded to pillow my fath ed to tell hem, "for every moment you aren't playing basketball someone else is on the court practicing." i spend most of my time wondering if i should be somewhere else. so instead, i have learned to shape the words "thank you" with my first breath each morning my last breath each night when the very last brea comes, at least i will know i was grateful for all the places i was so sure i was not supposed to be, all the places i made it to, all the loves i held, all the words i

wrote, and even if it is just for one moment i know i will be exactly where i'm supposed to be. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, we continue our series on the cuba evolution with a special report from inside yemen. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us 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 "bbc world news." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, mufg and sony pictures classics, now presenting "testament of youth." >> they say the oldest trees bear the sweetest fruit. at mufg, we've believed in nurturing banking relationships for centuries, because strong financial partnerships are best cultivated for the years to come giving your company the resources and stability to thrive. mufg -- we build relationships that build the world.