captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. on the newshour tonight: >> every time i think about those kids it gets me mad. and by the way, it happens on the streets of chicago everyday. >> woodruff: president obama makes an emotional appeal for background checks and outlines other actions to curb gun violence. also ahead this tuesday, how new hampshire is grappling with a heroin epidemic. >> we need to do something about it. if we don't, we're not going to have to worry about building more beds to try and treat people, we're going to have to start building more coffins. >> woodruff: and, photographer and macarthur grant winner, latoya ruby frazier, on why she documents her struggling hometown.

>> i'm not saying that it's a dying town. i'm saying that we survived. like look at all of the damage, all the abuse we've endured, and we're still steadfast and existing. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: the president was by turns tearful and tough today, as he pushed a plan to regulate more gun sales. he said he's targeting transactions at shows and flea markets because congress is afraid to cross the gun lobby. the national rifle association answered that the proposals are "ripe for abuse." we'll have the story in full, after the news summary. in the day's other news, an american soldier died in a firefight in southern afghanistan. two other u.s. service members were wounded, along with several afghan soldiers. pentagon officials said it happened in helmand province, and the fighting continued for hours. >> yes, there is fighting on the ground as we speak which is why it's hard for us to have every single detail as to what's transpired, and there's been an effort once again as i mentioned before to make sure that everything's being done to secure the safety of those

americans and the afghan forces they're accompanying in this particular situation in helmand. >> woodruff: u.s. special operations forces have been working with afghan troops in helmand in recent weeks to repel new taliban attacks. fighting in yemen returned to full pitch today, just days after a shaky truce ended. shiite rebels blasted the city of marib with a rocket barrage, while saudi arabia launched new air strikes in a series of cities, including sanaa. residents of the capital surveyed the damage today. some accused the saudis of hitting civilian targets, including a health center for the blind, but there were no casualties. in turkey, an all-too-familiar scene today, as the bodies of dozens more migrants washed up on shore. authorities say at least 36 people drowned when their boats capsized in the aegean sea, trying to reach greece. turkish crews found the victims strewn along beaches.

they also managed to rescue at least 12 others from the choppy waters, but a mass migration agency said the danger has not deterred people. >> migrants and refugees continue to enter greece at a rate of over 2,500 a day from turkey, which is very close to the average through december, so we see the migrant flows are continuing through the winter, and obviously the fatalities are continuing as well. >> woodruff: last year, nearly 3,800 migrants died trying to reach europe by sea. back in this country, the gun control debate dominated presidential politics today -- with one exception. democratic hopeful bernie sanders went after wall street, calling it an industry fueled by greed, fraud and arrogance. he told a crowd in new york that he'd break up the nation's big banks in his first year in office. the armed men occupying a national wildlife refuge in oregon now say they'll stay --

until federal officials let locals manage the land. they made that demand today at the site they've occupied since saturday night. their leader also dismissed a sheriff's appeal that they go home. he said local people welcome their presence. >> we also appreciate the advice that the community members have given us about how to reach out and how to share our message, so that other community members will know that we are not about we're not about fear. we're not about force. we're not about intimidation. >> woodruff: so far, federal agents have made no move to physically force the group to leave. 2015 was a banner year for u.s. auto makers-- the best ever, in fact. industry officials projected today that nearly 17.5 million vehicles were sold through december. that tops the old record, set in 2000. general motors led the pack with

more than three million cars and trucks sold. the stock market struggled to make any headway today, after monday's big losses. the dow jones industrial average gained nine points to close at 17,158. the nasdaq rose 11 points, and the s&p 500 added four. and, west point now has its first female commandant of cadets. brigadier general diana holland was sworn in today at the united states military academy. she's a west point graduate herself and a veteran of the iraq and afghanistan wars. holland's appointment comes one month after the military opened all combat roles to women, and 40 years since west point admitted women as cadets. still to come on the newshour: the president's order on guns-- too far or not far enough? a view from tehran as tensions with saudi arabia escalate. tracing benjamin netanyahu's path to power. what can be done to loosen

heroin's grip on new hampshire, and much more. >> woodruff: the president delivered a lengthy, emotional speech as he unveiled new steps to reduce gun violence. republicans quickly denounced many of his remarks, and others wondered just how much impact his changes could have in a country where americans own an estimated 300 million guns. victims families hailed many of the measures and the president argued that "we maybe cannot save everybody, but we could save some." >> fort hood, binghamton, aurora, oak creek, new town, the navy yard, santa barbara, charleston, san bernardino.

too many. >> woodruff: with that litany of mass shootings, president obama announced his decision to use executive action. >> people are dying, and constant excuses for inaction no longer do. no longer suffice. that's why we're here today. not to debate the last mass shooting, but to do something to try to prevent the next one. >> woodruff: the audience was filled with victims of gun violence-- including former arizona congresswoman gabby giffords, who received a standing ovation when she arrived. standing behind the president were other survivors and family members of people killed by guns over the past 20 years. they included parents of some of the 26 slain at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut, in 2012. the president was moved to tears over the 20 children who died there.

>> first graders. and from every family who never imagined their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun, every time i think about those kids, it gets me mad. and by the way, it happens on the streets of chicago every day. >> woodruff: after newtown, mr. obama hoped congress would pass comprehensive background checks for gun buyers, but it failed. today, he declared it can't end there. >> the gun lobby might be holding congress hostage, but they cannot hold america hostage. we do not have to accept this

carnage as the price of freedom. >> woodruff: now, he's using presidential powers for a limited effort to expand private gun sales subject to background checks. to do that, the government will widen the definition of gun dealers and sellers to include gun shows, websites and flea markets. and the f.b.i. will hire 230 background check processors to help strengthen enforcement. a recent harvard study found that up to 40% of guns purchased in the u.s. don't go through any background checks at all. separately, mr. obama called today for more research into technologies to keep guns safe. >> if we can set it up so you can't unlock your phone unless you've got the right fingerprint, why can't we do the same thing for our guns? ( applause ) if a child can't open a bottle

of aspirin, we should make sure they can't pull a trigger on a gun! alright? ( applause ) >> woodruff: on the presidential campaign trail, republican candidates roundly rejected president obama's actions. ted cruz was in iowa: >> i can tell you right now, that those executive orders are not worth the paper they are printed on. because when you live by the pen, you die by the pen and my pen has got an eraser. >> woodruff: and jeb bush spoke in new hampshire: >> it's not going to solve any problems by having the so-called "gun show loop hole" be taken care of by executive order. the president doesn't have the authority to do it. if there is an issue related to federal gun laws, he ought to go to congress and forge consensus to make it happen. he doesn't have this power! >> woodruff: the president had anticipated some of the reaction, insisting he's within his authority-- and that he's upholding the second amendment's "right to bear arms." >> contrary to the claims of

what some gun rights proponents have suggested, this hasn't been the first step in some slippery slope to mask confiscation. contrary to claims of some presidential candidates, apparently before this meeting, this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns. >> woodruff: still, the executive orders may need additional funding from congress, for mental health care and extra f.b.i. workers-- money the republican-controlled congress is unlikely to approve. speaker of the house paul ryan made that clear today in a statement that said: "his words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty." meanwhile, gun sales are soaring. more guns were sold in december, after the attacks in san bernardino, california, than

almost any month in the last 20 years. let's look at both the symbol and substance of what the president announced today, and what its impact is likely to be. john feinblatt is the president of everytown for gun safety, which was created after the newtown shootings and supported in part by former new york city mayor michael bloomberg. and david kopel is research director at the "independence institute," a libertarian think tank, as well as is an adjunct professor of constitutional law at the university of denver. we welcome both of you. john feinblatt, is the president on the right track with these moves that he says are going to reduce the number of gun deaths? >> i think what the president did today was pretty straightforward. what he did is took some actions to enforce laws already on the books. one was he clarified the law. if you're in the business of selling guns, you need to get a license and do a background

check. and the second is he said that he's going to devote the resources to enforce it. i think when you combine clarifying the law with additional enforcement resources, what you're going to do is interrupt some commercial sellers who are actually taking advantage of loopholes in the law, not getting licenses and selling without background checks. >> woodruff: excuse me for interrupting. david kopel, do you agree the president is generally on the right track with this? >> i agree with most of what mr. feinblatt just said, because the president didn't do anything at all that changes the law. he just very forcefully and passionately restated what has been the law since 1968, which is if you are engaged in the business, as the statute says, of selling firearm, then you have to have a federal firearms license. of course he's correct that that mandate is the same whether you sell in your basement or at a gun store or on the internet or at a gun show. it's us a been like that.

he restrainted it. he didn't change anything, but it's fine to remind people who might not know about that requirement that it exists. >> woodruff: so john feinblatt, it's not that much of a change? it's just a matter of enforcing what's already there? >> the law has been blurry. the law has been if you're engaged in the business of selling gun, you need to get a license. the problem was there was never any meat on the bones. people didn't know what account engaged in the business" actually meant. what the president did that was significant is he indicated what would be the criteria to know whether you were engaged. >> woodruff: what are those criteria? >> did you buy a gun and recently resell it? clearly you're in it for commerce. it is new in the box with price tags already on it? do you have business cards printed that actually show that you're repeatedly selling guns? are you showing up at gun shows month after month, things like that. they're common sense, but they are very important because what

they're offering is guidance to both law enforcement and to people who are selling guns about who needs to get a license and who doesn't, and then by saying that heñi would put enforcement might behind it, what i think will happen is that you'll seeñr dealers becoming licensed, doingñi background checks where heretofore they hadn't. >> woodruff: so david kopel, just spelling out these specifics could lead to a reduction in gun deaths? >> well, it will lead to the public being better informed. i read the guidance document the atf published today. it was fine. it adhered very closely to the statutory definition enacted by congress and provided some examples. part of what it did is based on court cases interpreted the statute. so that's good. i think it will lead to more people getting federal firearms license, which is necessary to be engaged in the business of selling guns, because what the president is doing is implicitly reversing a clinton-era policy

which was to revoke dealer's licenses because supposedly they weren't selling enough guns to count as being engaged in the business. so 200,000 people lost their firearms licenses under the clinton administration program, so hopefully this is a step to restore those licenses that probably never should have been taken away. >> woodruff: david kopel, what about some of the other things the president is talkingñr abou, spending more money on mental health, making mental health treatment more available, spading money to advance research, to make guns safer in the hands of children. what about those things? will those make a difference? >> oh, the mental health is really important, and we as a country tend to only focus on it when there are these notorious crimes committed by a severely mentally ill person. but just on a day-to-day basis, one out of five prisoners in state prisons for homicide is seriously mentally ill. and, of course, people with mental illness are victimized by violent crime at a much higher

rate than the general population.çó so i applaud the president for putting resources toward that, and that's something we ought to be working on constantly. both sides of the gun debate ought to be able to come together to support helping mentally ill people, not stigmatizing them and not having punitive harsh laws against people, but just giving people treatment resources. >> meaghan:>> woodruff: john fe, giving the fact that at least the two of you agree on this coming from different places, how do you explain the -- >> it's not just me and david. it's 90% of americans. gun members believe in background checks. 74% of nra members believe in it. so this is what the american public actually wants and the president is taking steps to do it. you know, for years we've heard these issues, if the president acts he's going the take people's guns away. he's confiscated guns. it's a slippery slope. i think david and i agree that

background checks can save lives. americans believe in it. all the president is really doing today is enforcing the laws already on the books, which is what people who oppose any efforts at gun safety always say, why don't you just enforce the laws on the books. so it's surprising to hear that today when, in fact, what the president has done is exactly what people have called for. >> woodruff: david kopel, though, is there more the president... what more --ñi lete put it this way. what more could congress do to make it harder for a gun to be in the hands of someone who is going to commit a terrible crime? >> well, i think as mr. feinblatt said, enforcing existing laws. we have cases where people have been straw purchasers, that's somebody where you're a legal buyer, but you're buying on behalf of someone else so that they can avoid the background check and get the gun, and that's a very common way that criminals get guns. the background check system can't stop that. and the obama administration's

prosecution of straw purchase cases has been very lax, especially compared to the previous administration. >> the most important thing you can do is pass universal background checks. 18 states have passed universal background checks. >> woodruff: which the u.s. doesn't have. >> which the u.s. doesn't have. we're moving state by state. in the past year or two you've seen oregon, colorado, washington state in two cases by the legislature and one case by ballot. if you look at the states that passed universal background checks, 48% fewer homicides of cops. 48% fewer domestic homicides with guns. almost half the amount of terrificking. background checks work. it's important to know that that's the step that we have to do. that's the final step here. it's the major step. >> woodruff: but david kopel, that's not what the president has done so far. it's not what he's doing today. would that make a huge difference in unnecessary gun deaths? >> universal background checks.3 >> well, we have one of these

bloomberg laws passed in colorado, and i'm currently representing most of the state sheriffs in federal court in a lawsuit against it because it's so badly structured. it makes it very difficult for people to teach gun safety classes. for example, in washington, it's illegal if you're a gun safety instructdor to hand a gun to a student empty unloaded and show the student how to handle it. those are... these are ridiculous laws. they're not universal background checks. the colorado law was so badly structured that it reduced the number of people getting background checks because it made them so difficult to obtain. so whatever polls say about the theory of background checks, the practice and the laws pushed by every town has been terrible and highly destructive to the shooting sports and responsible gun use. >> woodruff: quickly, once one gets beyond what the president suggested today, you do see opposition? >> you see it, but you see it certainly david objects it to, but every poll would show that

90% of americans believe in universal background checks, whether you're a gun owner, whether you're not a gun owner, whether you live in a rural community or an urban community. it's what the american public wants. it's what the people of washington state voted for on their own at the ballot, and it's what state legislatures are passing. >> woodruff: today we're lookingwhat the president did through his executive action. john feinblatt, david kopel, we thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the tensions between saudi arabia and iran continued to echo throughout the persian gulf today, as kuwait became the latest sunni nation to pull its ambassador from teheran, though it did not fully cut off diplomatic ties. but how is this crisis seen from iran? we go to william brangham for that.

>> brangham: for more on the story i'm joined on the phone by thomas erdbrink, a "new york times" bureau chief in tehran. so thomas, saudi arabia executes this shiite cleric, nimr al-nimr. protests in iran against the saudis get out of hand, and the saudi independence iran is destroyed. you reported this morning that the government likely instigated those initial protests, but did they want it to get as far out of hand as it did. >> just today one of the heads of the iranian revolutionary guard corps told a news agency that what happened at the embassy was completely unjustifiable. it should have never happened. and he was sure that muslims were not involved. we've been hearing similar claims of other people in the iranian establishment, which is clearly a sign that either they feel the protests have gone too far or, of course, that they're shocked by the level of blowback from saudi arabia and are now trying to do some damage control. the focus has completely shifted

toward them because of their own actions, and this is what action iranian officials are telling me off the record, look, we don't like to admit it, but we shoved ourselves to the front by doing. this. >> brangham: you report this crisis comes at a time when iran was really hoping to emerge as a middle power in the middle east. they just signed a nuclear deal. sanctions were soon to be eased. president rouhani was hoping to celebrate, not be dealing with this. what does this mean for him and other reformers in iran? >> well, of course mr. rouhani came to power with the promise of mending relations with other countries. the h clear example of his administration going out, negotiating for two years and then getting iran an deal that its supreme leader ayatollah khamenei could sign off on. this was a major boost for president rouhani. but of course now in a time that he was hoping to see the result of those negotiations, and sanctions are about to be lifted in the coming days or weeks, he

is faced with the remains of the saudi arabiaian embassy and several countries, bahrain, the united arab emirates and other nations have completely disconnected their diplomatic relations with iran or have at least seriously downgraded them. so for president rouhani, this is a setback. at the same time, he is trying literally to come out with a more positive spin on this. he's been condemning, like many other officials, what happened at the embassy. and, of course, the iranians are hoping that in the long run it will be saudi arabia that will come out as the bad guy, if you will, out of this. >> brangham: let's look a little more broadly in the region. does this jeopardize the larger diplomat irk initiatives that iran was involved in, the talks about ending the syrian civil war and the fighting in yemen? what does this crisis do to those efforts? >> well, it's absolutely a major

obstacle. let's face it, iran is a player in those two theaters that you mentioned. it allegedly supports the hutu rebels in yemen and, of course, it supports president bashar al assad in syria. iran has just through negotiations, they were invited in these major talks we've seen every couple months in saudi arabia. the next one is about the take place on january 25th, but now the whole debate has shifted toward the relationship between rain and saudi arabia instead of solving the crisis inside syria. so if that meeting was to happen on the 25th, will saudi arabia allow it? will iran go along as it is now? because we don't know how this will spin out of control. so all inxd all this is a major obstacle to peace in syria and yemen. >> brangham: again, does this indicate that the saudis intentionally killed al-nimr to

incited this very reaction and set back the talks because they didn't like how it was headed? >> absolutely. the iranians feel like a trap was laid out for them and they sort of stepped in it with their eyes closed. the view of the iranians is that saudi arabia has always been the regional competitor. so whenever there is a conflict involving a shia minority, for example the execution of this ayatollah in saudi arabia, the iranians feel as if the saudis are trying to hurt them. >> brangham: thomas erdbrink of "the new york times," thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: one additional fall-out from the u.s.-led nuclear deal with iran, the growing rift with long-time ally, israel. tonight's frontline explores the rise to power of prime minister netanyahu.

back in 2013, the obama administration held secret talks with tehran. israel was not happy to be left in the dark. airport for a face-to-face meeting with kerry. >> we feel it's ridiculous, unjustified, immoral and it will be more of the same and worse than the same. >> reporter: while kerry waited in the first-class lounge, netanyahu stopped for a word with the press. >> i understand the iranians are walking around very satisfied, as well they should be, because they got everything and paid nothing. this is a very bad deal.

and israel utterly rejects it. >> reporter: then netanyahu headed for kerry. he did not hold back. >> it was just kerry and netanyahu, but i was outside the room and i could hear it. i could hear it, that's for sure. >> he had a really strong sense of betrayal. he was furious. when bibi gets upset, he starts screaming. he was pounding the table. and so it's one of those moments. >> reporter: but he was not done. before leaving, netanyahu went before the cameras one more time. >> this is a bad deal. a very, very bad deal. it's the deal of the century for iran. it's a very dangerous and bad deal for peace in the international community. >> reporter: later that day indicated indicate summoned obama's former adviser donald

ross. >> bibi asked me to come and see him on friday evening. it is at the prime minister's residence. i get there and i have to wait about close to an hour because he's on the phone with the president. >> reporter: in an emergency phone call from air force one, obama tried the calm netanyahu down and persuade him that a deal with iran would make israel safer, but it didn't work. >> as many times as i have dealt with bibi, i had never seen him this way. he wasn't angry, but he was... the only way i can put it is that he was feeling alarmed, not angry, but alarmed. and the first thing he says to me is, "the president decided he has no choice but to do a deal with the iranians." >> i said, he didn't say that to

you. he said, he did. i said, he didn't say that to you. he said, he did. >> reporter: netanyahu believes the iranians would only respond to the threat of force. to him if that was not an option, obama was surrendering to the iranians. >> woodruff: watch the entire film "netanyahu at war" >> woodruff: watch the entire film, "netenyahu at war," tonight on frontline. check you local listing for times. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: a first for female students in afghanistan, and a macarthur fellow's complicated portrait of her hometown. but first, say "new hampshire" and most people in the political world think "first in the nation primary," coming up february 9. but these days, there's another, more disturbing distinction for the granite state-- the expectation that last year's

fatal drug overdoses will hit a record 400 deaths. today presidential candidates and state political leaders gathered for a forum to tackle addiction and the growing heroin crisis. i traveled to new hampshire last month to get a first hand look at the epidemic and its repercussions. like the rest of the country, new hampshire has long grappled with its share of drug abuse. but in the past few years, the easy availability of cheap heroin and fentanyl- another opiate- has exploded into a crisis that leaders in both parties say needs urgent attention: >> the opioid epidemic is really our most pressing public health and public safety issue right now. >> drug abuse has always been a challenge for new hampshire, but with the opioid crisis it has reached epic proportions. >> woodruff: democrats like governor maggie hassan and republicans like the former speaker of the state assembly

donna sytek, agree the state was slow to recognize what was happening in front of everyone's eyes. but there's no mistaking it here at "hope for new hampshire" - where the holidays mean no slow-down in people needing help on their road to recovery: >> some people are staying busy, connecting with their peers, staying in recovery. >> woodruff: the center provides non-clinical support for men and women coping with an alcohol or drug addiction, that in many cases started with a painkiller prescribed by a physician. >> you can be tall, short, white black. you could speak english, you could not. you could be a c.e.o. or you could be a homeless vet. it really just doesn't discriminate. >> woodruff: director of recovery supports holly cekala - herself in long-term recovery - told us the center was created in response to a growing need in

new hampshire's largest city, manchester. >> even if i opened up six more treatment centers, you're still going to fill them. and you're still going to have a rotation, unless you protect your investment in treatment. >> woodruff: the statistics are staggering: in 2013 new hampshire saw 192 drug overdose deaths. that number shot up to 326 in 2014. as of mid-december, 342 people died this past year. and the fatalities are just the tip of the iceberg. >> we have a population in new hampshire of about 1.3 million people. and approximately 100,000 folks are in need of substance use treatment. >> woodruff: linda saunders paquette is the executive director of new futures- a group that advocates for drug and alcohol abuse prevention and reduction. >> with those high rates of people with substance use

disorder, we are also second to last in the country when it comes to somebody in need of treatment being able to access it. >> i have not owned that. >> my daughter comes running upstairs. we of course rushed down there and justin we of course rushed down there and jesse was gone. immediately my husband did the chest compressions and i tried to breathing in his mouth. and i knew in my heart that he and so you know it has taken me a long time and he wasn't... they weren't married but he was one of mine. >> woodruff: johnsen says just weeks before jesse's death, he

had tried to get help for his addiction. >> it still hurts my soul. i watched him call place after place after place after place, saying "i really need help, can you find me a place?" and he could not find a place because he didn't have any money'. >> woodruff: bryan patriquin, an intern at hope for new hampshire, told us that although he has gotten help throughout his four years of recovery, stories like jesse's are all too common. >> if we were to walk down the streets of manchester, it would be a matter of time before we saw a drug deal happen. but if you call a treatment center right now, you're going to get a waiting list for four to six weeks on average. >> woodruff: the drug crisis here is not just happening behind closed doors. among the cans and bottles littering the state's parks and little league fields, authorities have found lots of

drug paraphernalia including hundreds of needles. drug abuse is such a problem, that manchester's mayor ted gatsas says he has regular visits from parents of young people who've overdosed on opioids like heroin and fentanyl. >> we need to do something about it. if we don't, we're not going to have to worry about building more beds to try and treat people, we're going to have to start building more coffins. >> woodruff: governor maggie hassan has presented her own set of proposals to combat the opioid crisis. it seems likely the legislature will adopt at least some of them. >> the most important thing we know we need to do is increase access to treatment in new hampshire, and that really boils down to making sure we re- authorize our medicaid expansion program, because for the first time, under medicaid expansion, the medicaid program covers treatment and behavioral health issues. >> woodruff: realizing drug abuse has become an issue important to new hampshire, the

presidential hopefuls have also responded. >> look i have some personal experience with this as a dad- its the most heartbreaking thing in the world to deal with. >> my friend, they found him dead in a motel room by himself with an empty bottle of percocet and an empty bottle of vodka. he was 52 years old. my friend had every success in the world as we define it and then because of his addiction he had nothing. >> woodruff: gladys johnsen, the state representative, raised the drug crisis at a clinton campaign event: >> we are grandparents raising our 10-year-old grandson, because his father, we lost him to an overdose. >> well i have to say you're the third grandmother i have met in new hampshire in the last several months that is raising a grandchild.

>> woodruff: donna sytek, who recently endorsed new jersey governor chris christie, says the debate now lies in how to solve it. >> when budgets get tight that's one area where there are cutbacks, and so it has been a problem, there hasn't been a lot of money. it's not surprising that new hampshire doesn't spend a lot on that, we don't spend a lot on a lot of other programs, because we believe in small government. >> woodruff: this is, after all, the state with the motto, "live free or die." even so, republican mayor gatsas is in favor of spending more on law enforcement to tackle the crisis. >> we need to start from the top, and preventing folks from getting addicted by preventing the cross line of heroin coming across into this state. >> woodruff: governor hassan- who is backing hillary clinton for president- argues the state's investment in treatment is not only the right thing to do for addicts, but also in the

best interest of the business community. >> this has got a huge economic impact. we have a 3.2% unemployment rate in new hampshire, it's one of the lowest in the country. if we can't find a workforce that isn't struggling with an addiction problem, that has a direct economic impact on us. >> woodruff: advocates say that understanding addiction and eliminating its stigma should go hand in hand with treatment. >> in the past, a person who had an addiction was thought to have a moral failing. but thanks to science, we now know that addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disease. >> woodruff: and that's exactly what hope for new hampshire stresses to politicians-- and to those struggling with addiction. >> at 21 years-old, i was well over 500 pounds, i was unhealthy, and a daily substance user. i found this group of people who

i still, still see today... sorry, it's kind of an emotional thing. it's an emotional thing for me. and they stuck behind me and supported me. >> i believe that if i had a place like this to come to when i was struggling with my addiction, it would have taken me much less time to put my life back together. that's why i do what i do. >> woodruff: now, a different look at the war in afghanistan, through the lens of inspiring young women, making history by way of education. last year we brought you the story of the zabuli girls school about 100 miles north of kabul. just before christmas the first class graduated. beth murphy of the ground truth

project has their story. >> reporter: winter in afghanistan signals that the school year is ending. in this village this unprecedented graduation comes at a difficult time in the country. >> today is a very good day for us. it is beyond anything i could have dreamed that we would be sitting here with our first graduating class. >> reporter: this is the first time girls in this village have ever graduated from high school. when the zabuli education center opened in 2008, the villagers wanted it to be a boys' school. but attitudes here have changed.

>> she is the first student to get married and still in school and wants to continue her education. >> ( translated ): and thanks to the people of this village who really supported and helped the school. without your help this would not be possible. >> ( translated ): and also you really helped us. without your help this would not be possible. >> ( translated ): it is my duty and i feel a strong responsibility. these are our students, and they are like my daughters. coming to this ceremony will help convince them to continue their education, and also help to convince their parents. >> reporter: this first graduation followed many of the traditions you'd expect, parents overcome with pride...

and time spent reminiscing. >> you have opened a door that at one time i couldn't even imagine. this is truly a dream come true. >> reporter: highlights from their high school years include field trips to kabul, video- conference calls with girls in sharon, massachusetts-- razia's u.s. hometown, and the groundbreaking of the razia jan institute, that will allow them to go to college right in their own village. despite the successes challenges remain. >> when we started there was great hope that things will get better but within these eight years things have gotten worse. many schools have been burned, many girls have been poisoned. believe me we are very cautious

we can't put our guards down. >> reporter: 2015 has not been a good year for afghanistan. according to a new pentagon report, things have gotten worse since afghan forces took over the u.s. and nato-led mission one year ago. taliban attacks in kabul alone jumped nearly 30%. >> ( translated ): the security of this village is better than a lot of places. because here we support the government and police. we are supporting them. the international community and obama decided to get out of the country. they decided to leave. at the time, isis wasn't in afghanistan and the taliban was weak. but now isis is here, and the taliban is getting stronger. >> reporter: stronger and more deadly. 54 people dead after a 24-hour taliban assault on the kandahar airport-- an attack that was staged from a nearby school. and then another attack.

>> ( translated ): there was an explosion here. it was really powerful and right after the blast this area was shaking. reporter: amidst all the danger, a pocket of relative peace and a success to celebrate. it's the kind of investment the u.s. wants to protect and a reason for troops to remain on the ground. the administration made an about face on pulling u.s. troops-- a recognition that there's no end in sight to increased threats from insurgent and terrorist groups. president obama announced the change in october. >> i've decided to maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops in afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. this modest but meaningful extension of our presence, while sticking to our current narrow missions, can make a real difference. >> ( translated ): without their help we will have more terrorists here. regional security and world security will be at risk. we need them to be here.

>> america has and other international countries have invested so much here. it is really something that they cannot lose completely because there are such great other supreme powers that will come in a very passive way. like russia and china. i think america will never leave. america is going to be always. i think there is a great interest of america in this country for their own security. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm beth murphy in deh sabz district, afghanistan. >> woodruff: finally, a look at a photographer's more than decade-long project documenting

hope and despair in her hometown. jeffrey brown has that story. >> brown: braddock, pennsylvania, about nine miles outside of pittsburgh. a once thriving steel town of some 20,000. now down to one-tenth of that, and captured through the very personal lens of latoya ruby frazier. the 32-year-old winner of one of this year's macarthur fellowships. >> i see myself as an artist and a citizen that's documenting and telling the story and building the archive of working-class families facing all this change that's happening. because it has to be documented. >> brown: these days frazier teaches and lives in chicago, where we talked to her, but her true "home," her childhood home, is the one found in her work. it's a project, titled "the notion of family," that she began more than a decade ago, documenting three generations of african american women in a particular time and place. >> my grandmother, who grew up there in the '30s when braddock

was prosperous, and a city itself that everyone came to; to my mother growing up there in the '60s during segregation and white flight and the beginning of the collapse of the steel industry; to myself growing up there in the '80s and '90s when the factories were already dismantled and the war on drugs kind of hit its peak. >> brown: educator and photographer lewis hine used his camera for social reform. photographers from the farm security administration documented the poverty of the depression. the pioneering work of gordon parks in the 1940s and 50s. frazier sees herself working in this tradition, first and foremost, though, as a visual artist. >> the art comes in with how it's crafted, how it's made. the material. me understanding the history. the images, they're not purely documents. if you look at them, first and foremost the fact that i appear on the other side of the camera

lets you know that this is contemporary art. because now i'm performing and doing gestures in front of the camera to create-- >> brown: you're part of the scene. >> the narrative and the scene. >> brown: but are they posed photographs? >> they sit in between staged and documentation. >> for example, i know my grandmother's routine. if you think about the image grandma ruby and me, 2005, i know her routine. i know she'll get up, she'll have her folger's cup of coffee, she'll smoke her pall mall cigarettes, she'll clean her dolls. so looking at my grandmother one day, i said, "well, grandma, could you redo my hair the way you used to when i was a child?" i'm in my 20s in this image. so i come and i sit next to her while she's rearranging her dolls, and then we both quietly happen to look over our shoulders and the cable release

so that's how it sits between documentation and actual staged portraiture. >> brown: in 2013 frazier flew in a helicopter above braddock to expand her view of the town. >> i just knew i had to shoot this so the family could see what was happening to their property. >> brown: and to capture the plight of one particular home-- owned by the bunn family-- in the neighborhood known as "the bottom," right near the old plant, now surrounded by bundles of crushed rubber tires. >> what's interesting is at one point, anyone who immigrated or migrated to work in this factory lived exactly these two blocks. and this is really important to me because it's not about being black or white. this was our rite of passage, so it didn't matter if you came from germany, croatia, italy, africa, north carolina or south carolina. we all lived here together. over the years, these were all, through eminent domain, taken because people died from terminal illnesses, couldn't

upstand or keep their homes. and then this family, the bund family, decided that they didn't want to move. >> brown: in more recent years, a new story of braddock has been told-- one of grit and revival. levi's even used the city in a 2010 ad campaign called "ready for work". >> maybe the world breaks on purpose so we can have work to do. >> brown: frazier isn't buying that. >> out of concern for this narrative, and what i saw as propaganda, i started to make the portraits to counterbalance this narrative, and what i it's not empty land, it's not a frontier, like people actually live here and have been dealing

with the environmental crisis for decades. >> brown: she points to government policies and corporate decisions like the closing of the main hospital -- which had served many in the town, including frazier's own family, who say they suffer from environment-related illnesses. the fight over the hospital was captured in a 2012 documentary by tony buba, who's been filming life in braddock since the 1970s. the protests became another point of frazier's own mix of art and activism. >> brown: taken altogether, it's a complicated picture. frazier wants us not to forget those who continue to struggle amid the changes. >> i'm not saying that it's a dying town. i'm saying that we survived. like look at all of the damage, all the abuse we've endured, and we're still steadfast and existing. so for me, it's a triumphant story, it's really a testimony, it's not, we're not dying. >> brown: even though it looks,

i mean much of it looks so depressed and depressing type scenes. >> but look at me in the flesh right now in front of you. i'm not that girl. >> brown: and she plans to use the money from the macarthur grant- $625,000 over five years - to continue to document and complicate our picture of braddock, pennsylvania. i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: on the newshour online-- five long years of civil war haven't stopped syrian artists from showing the world the country they call home. we talked to two filmmakers currently living outside of syria, on the urgency of telling their stories of war, and everyday life. it's part of an ongoing series highlighting syrian artists; you can find today's story, on our home page. and el nino-related weather has

recently battered the south and midwest, but the trouble may just be getting started. in the first of a two-part science series, we explore what's in store for blossoming flowers, the cost of cookies and all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. tune in later, tonight on charlie rose: saudi arabia, iran, and the deepening divide between sunni and shia. and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday we'll look at efforts to crackdown on sky-high interest rates for payday loans. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herara. >> best year ever. car sales accelerated in 2015 as automakers report their highest annual sales in history. >> turn around time. will some of the blue chip stocks that lost their shine in 2015 gain is back in the new year. >> and trouble in texas? the lone star state's economy boomed along with the price of oil. how is it holding up now that crude is cratering. all that and more on "nightly business report" for tuesday january 5th. >> good evening, everyone. and welcome. investors may not have liked 2015 very much, but automakers sure did. the industry sold a record number of vehicles last year. in 2015, americans purchased hl