captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, november 7: investigators focus on a sound captured on the cockpit voice recorder from the russian plane that crashed in egypt. in our signature segment, from memphis: how police are trying to keep people with mental illnesses out of jail. and actor george takei-- his personal journey from "star trek" to broadway. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thanks for joining us. the head of egypt's investigation into last week's russian airliner crash in the sinai peninsula said today while the plane was on auto-pilot, the cockpit recording registered a noise in its last second. >> all scenarios are on table. it may be the lithium batteries or one of the passengers, it may be an explosion in the fuel tank, it may be fatigue to the body of the plane. it may be that something exploded. >> sreenivasan: the head of the investigation told reporters the recording is being sent to a lab for further analysis, and it is

still too soon to draw conclusions. the chartered airbus 321 jet from the red sea resort of sharm el-sheik crashed 23 minutes after take-off, killing 224 people on board. egypt's foreign minister complained today u.s. and u.k. intelligence agencies have not shared their information about a "flash," pointing to an explosion bringing down the plane. today, aviation officials in france where the airbus is made said they are ruling out any "technical failure." russia has suspended all commercial flights to egypt over airport security concerns but is sending 90 planes there this weekend to pick up stranded russian tourists. the leaders of china and taiwan have met for the first time in 66 years. china's xi jinping and taiwan's ma ying-jeou attended a historic summit today at a hotel in singapore. the leaders shook hands for more than a minute before heading into private talks for an hour. the largely symbolic meeting ended with no new agreements signed. since the end of the chinese

civil war in 1949, communist party-ruled china has regarded taiwan as a breakaway province and wants the island politically reunited with the mainland, and president xi said nothing to back away from that view. president ma, of self-ruled, democratic taiwan, said both countries "should respect each other's values and way of life." president ma also voiced concerns about missiles that china still has pointed at taiwan. the world health organization says the west african nation of sierra leone is ebola free because it's been 42 days, the equivalent of two virus incubation periods, with no new cases. thousands gathered to celebrate the end of an outbreak that killed nearly 4,000 people in sierra leone in the past two years. neighboring liberia was declared "ebola free" in september; the virus claimed nearly 5,000 lives there. guinea, where the outbreak began, has found seven new cases in the past few weeks. two louisiana police officers are charged with second degree

murder for shooting to death a six-year-old boy who was inside his father's s.u.v. following a police chase. officers norris greenhouse and derrick stafford were taken into custody last night. louisiana's state police superintendent says the video from body cameras worn by the officers is "extremely disturbing." the officers allegedly fired 18 rounds on the s.u.v. tuesday in the central louisiana town of marksville. the boy, buckled in the front passenger seat, was struck five times. his father, who was unarmed, was also shot and remains hospitalized. the officers are charged with second-degree attempted murder for shooting him. >> sreenivasan: federal funding for the nation's roads, bridges and mass transit is one step closer after the house of representatives passed a $325 billion transportation bill this week. that sounds like a lot of money, but the obama administration requested $478 billion to fix

the nation's infrastructure. the bill, which now goes back to the senate, approved six years of projects but funding for only three years. one of the underlying issues is that congress won't raise the gas tax that funds transportation projects; it's been stuck at 18 cents a gallon since 1993. joining me now from washington to discuss all this is bart jansen, the transportation reporter for "u.s.a. today." so, bart, it's kind of classic math that only seems to work in congress where you can approve maybe a project for six years and only fund it for three. >> well, it is an accomplishment that they got a six-year bill that they hope to reconcile and get completed, get sent to the president's desk by thanksgiving. the last time we had a six-year bill was 1998. the four-year bill that expired in 2009, there have been 35 short-term extensions since then. so everybody's pleased to get a six-year set of policies so that state and local officials can plan road building, bridge building better, but now the

hard part comes-- how do you find the funding to support $325 or $342 billion worth of crugz goals. >> sreenivasan: where have they found the funding so far? what nip nips and cuts have been made to try to make this possible? >> so far, there are three maj pots of money to add to the amount they raise from the gas tax. they would take-- the senate version would take $17 billion from dividends that the federal reserve pays to banks for investing in the federal reserve. there's also $9 billion from a sell-offave portion of the strategic petroleum reserve. and there's $9 billion in basically travel fees paid to customs and to the transportation security administration. those amounts are combining to basically bolster the gas tax. >> sreenivasan: what are the the infrastructure needs right now? why is this spending even

necessary? >> well, one of the reasons lawmakers are joined in agreeing that spending needs to go up is because everybody can see potholes in the road or troubles with their subways. one of the most prominent examples was in 2007, the interstate 35 bridge in minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people. in washington here, our subway system has routine fires and a woman died from the smoke of a fire in january in one of the subway tunnels. so it's a problem that lawmakers are aware of in both partys. and so the federal highway administration has said as they debate whether to spend about $50 billion a year, the federal highway administration says it would take $65 billion to $83 billion a year just to maintain current standards. the federal transit administration says that there is a $76 billion backlog in construction projects for transit projects nationwide.

and the highway folks at the state level, the american association of state highway and transportation officials, estimate there is a $700 billion backlog in highway projects to meet capacity, congestion, and also bridges. so the size of the problem is agreed upon. the problem is how to pay to fix those problems. >> sreenivasan: all right bart jansen from "usa today," thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: a decades-long decline in hospital beds for the mentally ill has contributed to many americans with mental illnesses ending up in jails. to address that, the city of memphis pioneered police training techniques to help people with mental illness avoid getting arrested. one thing the memphis police are taught is that the mentally ill are actually more likely to be victims of violent crimes than perpetrators. in tonight's signature segment, the newshour's megan thompson looks at a policing approach

that's become a national model. >> reporter: police officer christopher ross patrols a precinct on the south side of memphis, an area with a very high rate of crime. ross sees a lot of violence, drug use and prostitution, but those aren't the only types of calls that ross responds to. >> the mom's involved with her son, and he's diagnosed with a.d.h.d. and mood disorder, and she said she's been taking his meds. but he's being unruly, so we are going to go see what we can do to help. >> reporter: ross is part of the memphis police department's "crisis intervention team," or c.i.t... >> what's going on? >> reporter: ...officers specially trained to handle people with mental illness. here, ross finds a teenage boy in crisis. his mom says he's being bullied at school. >> so, everybody at the school knows that you are smart, that

you've got something going for yourself. and what they are trying to do is to stop you from being all that you can be. >> reporter: ross is trained to deescalate situations using mostly verbal techniques, to keep both officers and citizens safe and keep people with mental health issues out of jail. >> as a matter of fact, i'm going to give you my number so when you have a problem call me, okay? if you're feeling sad, if you're feeling depressed, call me, and you can tell me whatever you want to tell me. i don't care what it is. handshake on that. >> reporter: after 20 minutes, the teen is calm and agrees to go back inside. memphis started its c.i.t. program 27 years ago after the police shot and killed a man with mental illness who charged at them with a knife. the city formed a task force including the police and the national alliance on mental illness. at the time, university of memphis psychiatry professor

randy dupont was directing the city's main psychiatric emergency service. he helped develop the c.i.t. program. >> in an event that's going to escalate and become a crisis, it's going to be those first few minutes that are pretty critical. so, what they thought about when they came up with this concept, was, why don't we take some of that expertise... let's identify those officers that want to do this that could be good at it, give them the best training we can find, and then let's look and see what kind of differences that makes. >> reporter: that training starts with changing officers' attitudes and perceptions. dupont says people in crisis often act out of fear and may not understand what's happening around them. an untrained officer could interpret such behavior as defiance or "non-compliance." >> officers are often trained in the academy to see non- compliance and respond with greater use of force. that's part of their training. but in c.i.t., what we're trying to say to the officers is, "let's analyze the non- compliance. let's look strategically at it." so, we're looking for that different interpretation of behavior.

>> first of all, we have a talk about having compassion. >> reporter: major vincent beasley is in charge of the memphis c.i.t. program. he patrolled the streets as a c.i.t. officer for eight years. are all officers cut out to do this kind of work? >> i don't think so. i really think it takes a special person to do that. not everybody's cut out for that because you have to have patience, and you... and you have to really care about people. and you have to understand that it's not the individual himself. it's something that's going on. it's something, you know, in his brain that's not working properly. it's a chemical imbalance. >> reporter: c.i.t. is having a measurable impact. major beasley says of the 14,000 911 calls last year that c.i.t. officers responded to, only 19 encounters resulted in injuries to a person with mental illness. and the vast majority ended without a person being detained. around 4,400 were taken to mental treatment facilities, and

just over 600 were taken to jail. >> so, we're not taking nearly as many people to penal facilities that are... that are suffering from mental illnesses because we realize they don't need to be there in most cases. >> reporter: those with mental illness who do get arrested wind up here at the shelby county jail, where there is special wing with 46 cells for people with mental illness. hundreds more inmates on psychiatric medication are housed in the jail's general population, where many are also offered psychiatric treatment and group therapy for things like addiction and anger management. >> what else would you all do when he throws up this, "how are you going to help me?" >> reporter: joining the police department's crisis intervention team is voluntary, and officers and dispatchers must attend 40 hours of training. there are three days of intensive role-playing based on real situations officers have faced in the field. >> i see that you're very upset, and i want to help you. >> nobody cares about me. and with me out of a job, man, there's nothing for me to be here for. >> i want to say from the

standpoint, like you said, dealing with being handled by c.i.t. >> reporter: the trainees-- dressed here in plain clothes-- also spend a day meeting people with mental illness to learn >> i'm at a point now where i can go back to independent living. i still must take my medication. >> reporter: they learn about what it's like to live with their conditions and about their experiences with the police. >> they coim to my house, the sheriff's department came to my house and kicked my door in. >> he told me to shut my freaking mouth. >> could you have a paramedic make the scene over here? >> reporter: today there are 274 active c.i.t. officers like chris ross on the memphis force of almost 2,100, or about one of every eight officers. the c.i.t. program is operated within the department's existing budgets. officers wear these pins to identify themselves. ross, who's been c.i.t. for three years, never answers a call without back-up. when he is flagged down by a man who says he's a vietnam veteran and has bipolar disorder, ross pulls over to talk. he uses simple strategies,

introducing himself and being calm. >> i'm officer ross, but call me chris, okay? >> reporter: ross says a huge part of his job is simply listening and keeping tabs people he knows might need help. >> and talk to me. that's what i'm here for. >> i'm going to explode. >> don't explode. nobody got to explode. >> because i'm talking to you. >> because you're talking to me. >> reporter: here he checks up on a man he's gotten to know. >> third eye, you in there? >> reporter: he lives in an abandoned motel. >> are you asleep? come out here and talk to me. i just want to make sure you're doing all right, make sure everything is going good. >> i got all-seeing eyes. i'm a power ranger and a super hero. you're really on my side. >> i'm on your side. you always try to get them comfortable and let them know i'm here to help. and whatever they say, you listen to it. you repeat it to them so they'll know that you're listening to them. and eventually, you'll establish that relationship, and they'll feel more or less like you're there to help them, versus trying to lock them up. >> reporter: if memphis police determine people might pose a

danger to themselves or others, an officer can take them to the crisis assessment center for evaluation and medication. many of the services here are free. it's inside the memphis mental health institute, so if they need long-term, in-patient care, patients don't have to go far. after they leave, there's also a new outpatient program for continuing psychiatric care. officials say it's reduced the number of repeat visits to both the crisis center and the institute. mark havener has been a patient at the memphis mental health institute. he has bipolar disorder and began having psychotic episodes 17 years ago, locking himself in a closet for hours at a time and attempting to kill himself. do you have any idea how many times you've tried to end your life? >> lost count at about 25. >> reporter: 25? >> and i lost count of my hospitalizations at about... i got tired of counting at 25. >> reporter: during one psychotic episode in 2002,

havener started to strangle his wife. >> i grabbed her by the throat, and i got up and i shoved her up against the inside of the front door of the house. >> reporter: after he let her go, she called 911, and c.i.t. officers responded. >> by this time, i'm pretty much non-verbal. i can't express what's going on because it's a hurricane inside of me. maelstrom. they don't even handcuff me because they... they see what kind of condition i'm in, treating me as a human being in crisis and not a potential perpetrator. >> reporter: havener was hospitalized and never faced criminal charges. he got treatment and today he is stable, has reconciled with his wife and works as a counselor to others with mental illness. he's also become an advocate, sharing his story with the new c.i.t. trainees. >> and that officer crouched

down to my eye level, and he looked me in the eye, and he recognized me as a person. >> reporter: the strategies developed in memphis are now called the "memphis model" and have now been adopted by almost 3,000 of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies. studies have shown that c.i.t.- trained officers are less likely to arrest people with mental illness than non-trained officers. for chris ross, that's one of the things he likes most about this job-- the potential to help people rather than put them in jail. >> that's why i work, that's why do it, because if we get to the point where we're making a difference, we won't have to lock so many people up. >> sreenivasan: actor george takei is probably best known for his role as sulu on the original "star trek" tv series and movies. tomorrow night, at age 78, takei

makes his debut on broadway in a musical he helped inspire. it's called "allegiance," and it's about the internment of japanese-americans during world war ii. for takei, this historic story is personal. the newshour's mori rothman has this preview. ♪ ♪ gotta get it, gotea get it >> reporter: george takei believes a musical is the perfect format to retell the history of the japanese-american internment during world war ii. >> music has the power to hit people right here in the heart, emotionally as well as intellectually. >> reporter: in early 1942, the u.s. ordered 110,000 japanese- americans living on the west coast to internment camps. five-year-old takei and his family were sent to camps in arkansas and utah for nearly four years. the musical, "allegiance," is loosely based on their experience. takei's family had lived in los angeles. his father, who emigrated as a child, ran a dry cleaner.

his mother raised the three kids. takei's family couldn't understand why their country made them live behind barbed wire fences. >> i couldn't reconcile what i read in civics books and history books about the shining ideals of our democracy with what i knew to be my childhood imprisonment, and to be suspected of being the enemy when we were americans. >> reporter: in "allegiance," takei plays the grandfather of the main character, sammy, who struggles to reconcile his pride in being american with his family's suffering in the camp, where they lived in cold barracks without plumbing or privacy. >> they're treating us like animals! >> isamu, gaman. >> gaman? >> it means to carry on. >> hold head high. >> reporter: the musical focuses on sammy and his sister, kei, siblings driven apart after internment by conflicting ideas about loyalty and patriotism. >> we wanted to humanize the internment experience.

we wanted to make them people who were resilient. part of resilience is the ability to find joy even under those harsh circumstances and love. >> i'm so sorry. >> reporter: for takei, reliving the painful events of 70 years ago is a chance to make amends with his own family. >> in one heated discussion with my father, i said, "daddy, you led us like sheeps to slaughter into the internment camps." and then he looked at me and said, "well, maybe you're right," and he got up, went into his bedroom and closed the door. and i felt terrible, and i never apologized. i'm apologizing to my dad every night. >> reporter: the cast of "allegiance" is the first to be led by asian actors on broadway since the revival of the musical "flower drum song" 13 years ago. but takei is used to breaking

barriers. barriers. >> ready to leave orbit, captain. >> reporter: when "star trek" began in 1966, he was one of the first asians to star on american tv. for years, takei spoke publicly about his internment, but the idea for "allegiance" did not occur until he discussed it with composer jay kuo in 2008. you yourself have been very outspoken, going around the country to speak about the internment. why is that? >> people i consider well informed people are shocked when i tell them about my childhood. it's a vital part of american history, and americans don't know it. and we have to know our history to learn from it. >> reporter: and takei says the internment needs to be remembered so it is never repeated. >> sreenivasan: hear more from george takei, including his views on how the japanese- american internment during world war ii remains relevant today. visit us on facebook at facebook.com/newshour.

>> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> sreenivasan: cancer researchers are optimistic about an experimental leukemia treatment that involves taking immune cells and changing their genes to make them cancer killers. i.t.n.'s martha fairlie has the story of the one-year-old patient in london the new treatment seems to have helped. >> reporter: one-year-old layla is here today because of an experimental treatment and her parents' sheer determination. specialists at great ormond street hospital had tried everything for her aggressive form of leukemia, but it kept coming back. her family refused to give up and persuaded the doctors to give her the world's first dose of a new cell therapy. >> we didn't see it as a tough decision. we saw it as the only decision. there was no other option. we didn't agree to do nothing. >> reporter: special cells called t-cells seek out and fight infection in cancer but they can't always recognize

leukemia cells because they height hyde from them. this designer immune trial therapy implanted t-cells from a donor into her body. the cells had been modified so genes that would lead them to reject them were removed. after one typy dose of the treatment, layla's leukemia was successfully destroyed. the pioneering treatment given to layla was so new it had only ever been tested in the lab. the results with her have been remarkable, but now doctors have to put it through full clinical trials to make sure it's suitable for other patients. it's not often treatments like this work first time, so this is seen as a big breakthrough. >> it does mean we have a new weapon, and it does mean, therefore, that children like layla who really are up against it now have something that we can do. >> reporter: in time, this could change the way we treat many cancers, but it's already changed layla's life.

>> sreenivasan: on the program tomorrow, we report on unaccompanied immigrant children from central america, hoping to stay legally in the united states. and a look at elections in myanmar as that country moves gradually towards more democracy. that's it for edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made

possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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