captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. gwen ifill is away. on the newshour tonight: the east coast is digging out from a deadly blizzard that crippled cities. then, we're just one week away from the iowa caucuses. a perfect time for our "politics monday" analysis of the race for the white house. and we trek to the pacific northwest, where a battle is brewing between miners and environmentalists. >> gold fever is a very, very real thing. it's, it's an adrenaline thing, and it always keeps you coming back. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> 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: at least 37 dead, business and government disrupted, uncounted tons of snow to remove. that was the tally today as the eastern united states struggled to recover from a weekend walloping. our apologies, we have a report and's going to bring that to you in a moment but standing by is the mayor of new york city whose city was hit as hard as any place by this storm, mr. mayor, thank you for joining us. just how big is the challenge at

this point? >> well, judy, new york city is coming out of this pretty quick am we certainly have some parts of the five boreeaus where we have more work to do in terms of some of our side streets and residential areas. but i think amazing work was done by our san taition department getting out there right at the beginning of the storm with a huge amount of personnel and apparatuses out to deal with this. so by the time we got to this morning rush hour, we were in pretty good shape here in new york city. we managed to have school open. not business as usual but by and large the day went pretty smoothly. >> woodruff: there are news reports that that even though the city has pretty much returned to normal, the borou gh of queens had a tougher time. what is the distinction between places that have done well and others that have, has just taken longer? >> right, well, look, we had a huge operation in queens. we started with 850 plows and we

sent 70 more over from different parts of the city. as those other borough's got cleaned up we sent additional personnel to help out queens. a lot of narrow, small side streets in queens. queens got a little more snow in the rest of the city n central park just over 27 inches, at jfk30 and a half inches. that made it harder in some neighborhoods. some parts of queens actually were handled particularly well. others i think there were some challenges we'll look at and figure out if we have to make some adjustments am but the big story here is i think that by and large, new yorkers honored the travel ban that we put if place. and that was so important. we did that late morning saturday. that got the roads essentially clear of vehicles. so our san taition workers could plow nonstop the remainer of saturday into sunday. i think that is the number one reason we got back and running so will with. we'll figure out afterwards if we have to make adjustments for the next one.

>> woodruff: that is what i wanted to ask you about. there were clearly decisions made early on that seemed to make a difference. what do you think the lessons are coming out of this? what do you see working and what might you do differently the next time. >> first of all i think we are in the age of extroam weather, whether we like it or not. this is obviously the result of global warming. this was .2 inches away from being literally the biggest snow fall in the history of new york city since records were kept back in 1869 originally, with the same exact monitoring station in central park, over almost 150 years. so we've seen one of our biggest storms ever. we saw lastier we were predicted to get another one like that inned up hitting boston and areas to the east of us with outstanding force. so we have got to get used to the fact that we'll have these kinds of blizzards. we saw very, very extreme hot temperatures in the summer. obviously a few years ago hurricane sandy, worst natural disaster this city has ever seen. so something is going on. it's quite obvious. we're going to have to do more

early presentation, more warning people to change their habits, to change their daily schedule and one of these things is going on. travel bans, we will need to use from time to time in the future cuz it works. and then again we're going to figure out afterwards where were some of the soft spots. where could we have done better. the real story is tell people early, something very large is coming am you cannot do business as usual. change your plans, change your habits. that's our best chance of getting it right. >> woodruff: just very quickly, mayor de blasio, is an experience in the city like new york, is that transferable, translatable to other cities or is every city facing a completely different set of circumstances. >> i woon say completely different. i think in new york we have obviously a huge public workforce and a lot of equipment. we have a blessing in that way. but i think what is yeuferlings among cities is communicating with our people. setting an expectation early on that we need them to handle a storm a certain way. i think because of extreme weather in recent years people are more receptive. if we tell them they need to

evacuate or do something differently, i think they hear it differently than even five or ten years ago when those extreme weather instances were much rarer. so it's about communication and early action. >> woodruff: mayor bill de blasio of new york city, we thank you. and good luck. >> thank you. >> woodruff: let's turn back to washington d.c. where the digging out and cleaning up is going a little more slowly. and there has been some frustration around the city. christopher geldart is the emergency manager for the district of columbia. and he joins us from the reeves meuns pap-- reefs municipal center in dc. thank you for being with us. i know these are two very different cities. but there are reports that d.c. has had a harder time getting on top of this storm. is that true? >> good evening, judy. i don't know of those reports. and to be quite honest, i have no idea what is going on in new york. we are extremely focused on the district here and what we need to do to get the district back in operating order and get

people back to business and kids back to school. >> woodruff: how is it going? how would you describe the challenge? >> you know, judy, 24 inches of snow throughout the city, that's a challenge. that, those are numbers that we haven't seen in one single falling since like 1922, in our nicker boxer storm so it's very challenging. we've got a lot of volume to remove. you know, you can't just, in a city you just can't push snow off on to the sides because we don't have that kind of area. we actually have to pick it up. so our main focus has been on cleaning our main arterials on our secondary streets and we've got those to 100 percent pass ability today. and now we're going to focus on really digging into our main areas where our residents are. >> woodruff: do you have the resources you need? >> you know, judy, we have a whole lot of resources. we probably have about 35 to 40% more resources than we normally

do at any given time. and you know, we could always use more resources, everybody could. we're still looking for them. we've put a call out for some more resources today. especially removal areas. our back hoes and our bob cats and dump trucks. so we are continuously looking for more resources. but we're well into this an our crews are working hard. our men and women of our department of public works, national guard, department of transportation, the homeland security emergency management agency, all the agencies in the city have been really putting their back into it and getting the job done. >> woodruff: are there steps that you now wish you could have taken ahead of time to make this easier at this point and what are you telling residents in terms of getting all the streets cleared? >> you know, swrudy, i think we put our response in place. we had planned for this for several days as the storm came. as we became more and more clear we would get this kind of storm. i think we were positioned where we needed to be.

in that sense. and you know we're basically telling residents, this say big storm. we need them to clean their sidewalks. and shovel those out. we're asking businesses to shovel in front of businesses. that's their responsibility. and we're taking care of the streets and we just want folks to be safe. the mayor just announced today schools will open on wednesday. so another day that we want to make sure the students aren't walking in the street and being in harm away. so we're taking the precautions we need to and cleaning the city up like it needs to be. >> woodruff: christopher geldart, the director of the district of columbia emergency management agency, we thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: the storm brought damage across the east coast, and had many trying to dig out. with snow plows, shovels, and shoving, it was another long day of digging for millions of people. and the first attempt at getting to work since the blizzard hit.

>> it's just really, really bad. i've never seen it like this before in a long, long time. >> i didn't think it was going to be this bad. like, no transportation? really? like, not everybody has a car. >> woodruff: for many, the wintry blast made for a three day weekend, at least, with businesses shuttered and schools closed from virginia to new jersey. but in new york, city buses, subways and commuter rail service moved toward restoring regular schedules. that permitted schools and wall street to reopen, despite the second-largest snowfall ever recorded in the big apple. >> if we had had .2 more inches at the central park monitoring station, we would have had literally the largest snow accumulation in the history of new york city. >> woodruff: mayor bill de blasio today praised the city's preparation, and response. >> we are so blessed to have the personnel, the training, the equipment that allows n.y.c. to turn on a dime.

and things are not entirely normal today but a lot of the city is operating well thanks to the people working for the agencies represented here. >> woodruff: in nearby new jersey, however, coastal dwellers assessed the damage after flooding compounded the storm's effect. >> the damage was bad. there was more debris than there was from sandy laying all over the streets. >> woodruff: meanwhile, philadelphia and baltimore braced for longer clean-ups from more snow than they've ever seen. philly mayor jim kenney: >> we received 18 some inches. it was the largest single snowfall in a 24-hour period. so, we do appreciate your patience. we're getting to your streets. we have to take care of the big ones first to get everything rolling that affects the most number of people. we haven't forgotten you. we are coming or we are already there. >> woodruff: and in washington dc, where more than two feet of snow fell, government buildings remained closed today. and the u.s. house of

representatives announced all votes would be put off until next week. limited bus and subway service resumed in the capital, but the push to clear buried side streets and entire neighborhoods throughout the capital region, went on. >> this is the worst i have seen in 25 years. the side streets are not cleaned, period. i mean i haven't seen a plow on this block since friday. >> woodruff: the city continued under a state of emergency and mayor muriel bowser cautioned it could take days to move all that snow. >> we knew that we would have, with 24 inches of snow in the district and very cold temperatures throughout the week, several days of cleanup ahead of us, know that we are going to be dealing with snow all this week. it is important to note that the roads are still dangerous. we talked to you about the weather conditions. it's getting warmer during the day and freezing at night so any

wet surfaces can become icy. >> woodruff: part of the travel nightmare left by the blizzard. nearly 12,000 flights were canceled over the weekend. and even as limited service resumed in washington, new york and elsewhere, delays and more cancellations reverberated around the country. still, the big blast of winter did not stop people from looking for fun. in washington, there was sledding down the snowbound steps of the lincoln memorial. kite-surfing on the national mall. and kids and adults alike turned out for a massive snowball fight in one city square on sunday. >> i've never been to like a citywide snowball fight, and this is fantastic. i'm absolutely loving it. >> woodruff: even the first dogs - beau and sunny - managed to enjoy a romp on the white house grounds. >> woodruff: you can find more coverage of the storm and its aftermath on our website:

pbs.org/newshour in the day's other news, deadly cold is sweeping across parts of asia as well, bringing decades- low temperatures and causing more than 65 deaths. most of the deaths came in taiwan, where readings hit a 16- year low of 39 degrees. temperatures for january in taiwan usually average in the 60's. and in mainland china on sunday, the city of guangzhou saw its first snow since 1967. residents took part in snowball fights and captured the flurries on their phones. a pair of suicide bombings in syria and cameroon today left more than 50 dead. in syria, a man driving a fuel tank blew himself up at a checkpoint in the city of aleppo, killing at least 23. and in cameroon, four bombers attacked a market and town in the far north region. at least 35 people died there. the islamist group boko haram is

suspected in the cameroon bombing. more attacks in the west bank today. israeli police say two palestinians stabbed and wounded two israeli women in a jewish settlement. the attackers were shot dead. it's the latest sign that a surge of palestinian violence has shifted its focus to jewish settlers. the united nations health agency is raising new alarm about the zika virus. it's been linked to brain damage in thousands of infants. and now, the world health organization says the mosquito- borne virus will likely spread to every country in the americas. the only exceptions are canada and chile. in geneva today, the agency's director said researchers don't have much experience with zika. >> the explosive spread of zika virus to new geographical areas, with little population immunity, is another cause for concern, especially given the possible

link between infection during pregnancy and babies born with small heads. >> woodruff: until now, the disease has been largely confined to brazil, where there've been nearly 4,000 suspected cases of fetal deformation. back in this country, a houston grand jury has cleared planned parenthood officials of wrongdoing. instead, the panel today indicted two anti-abortion activists who secretly taped them. the activists are accused of tampering with a governmental record and a separate, misdemeanor count. a u.s. supreme court decision today means some 1,200 prison inmates, convicted of murder, will get a chance at parole. the court had ruled in 2012 that people given life terms as teenagers should have that opportunity. today's decision makes the ruling retroactive. separately, the court upheld a federal program that pays major electricity users to cut usage

during peak hours. a judge in detroit has denied a restraining order to stop public school teachers from skipping class in protest. they've staged a number of "sick-outs" in recent weeks. it's a protest over pay, class sizes, building conditions and a plan to overhaul the district. on wall street today, slumping oil prices dealt stocks yet another blow. the dow jones industrial average lost 208 points to close at 15,885. the nasdaq fell 72 points to close at 4,518. and the s&p 500 lost 30. still to come on the newshour: the latest on the race for the white house, just one week from the iowa caucuses. on the ground in egypt. five years after their political uprising. gold wars in the waters of the pacific northwest. and much more.

>> woodruff: in the race for the white house, we're just one week away now from a new phase in the campaign: when actually people start to decide. and that means the candidates are all over the map, working to garner support in those early voting states. republican frontrunner donald trump told an iowa crowd he was confident that his supporters would stick with him. >> my people are so smart. and you know what else they say about my people? the polls, they say i have the most loyal people. did you ever see that? where i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody, and i wouldn't lose any voters, ok? it's, like, incredible. >> woodruff: but in iowa today, trump's closest rival --ted cruz-- tried to pull voters away pushing back at the republican frontrunner's recent attacks on immigration and other topics. >> he is insulting me everyday. i do not intend to respond in kind.

i think the people of iowa...of this country deserve better. >> woodruff: there's a bigger question in iowa, though: whose supporters will actually show up to caucus? both trump's campaign and the team behind democratic candidate bernie sanders have been reaching out to their supporters with online videos on how caucusing works. >> the caucuses are a secret ballot. if you can write t-r-u-m-p, you have just caucused for donald trump. >> it's 6:59, let's get off the boards. i gotta make the point, if you're not here by 7:00, you won't get in. >> woodruff: the sanders camp isn't just focusing on getting out the vote. it's also trying to dent hillary clinton's liberal credentials. in the last few weeks, he's focused his attacks on the speaking fees she collected from wall street. and on sunday, clinton responded.

>> you know, first of all, i was a senator from new york. i took them on when i was senator. i took on the carried-interest loophole. i took on what was happening in the mortgage markets. i was talking about that in 2006. they know exactly where i stand. >> woodruff: and that brings us to "politcs monday" with tamara kieth of npr and amy walter of "the cook political report." believe t it's just one week away. >> i can't believe it at all. >> woodruff: how long have we been waiting for this. so tamara, you were in iowa toward the end of last week. let's talk about the democratic race first. where it seems to be tighter than the republican race, although we don't know. we'll find out. but what are you hearing voters say about clinton and sanders. >> they are certainly engaged. they're showing up to their events. and the candidates are trading bar bees now-- bars now, this is for real, it's getting close, and the candidates are painting each other, hillary clinton is painting bernie sanders as an

idealist, as someone who has ideas that can't really get done. while i was there she rolled out some attack lines on that. bernie sanders is saying why should we go with establishment politics. and i think that it is in some ways breaking through to voters. as you talk to them you start to hear those lines echoed back in the interviews with voters at these events. >> woodruff: amy, what works at a time like this? >> well, we're all wondering, can you translate that enthusiasm into people showing up. as you saw in that video, caucusing is not easy to do. you don't just walk in and spend five minutes and put your vote out for the person that you like. you have to commit yourself to a significant amount of time. the democratic caucus is much more complicated and much more labor intensive than the republican side. so getting people to show up, getting people like bernie sanders to do to register, you can register on the day of the caucus as a democrat that all

takes a great deal of time and a great deal of effort. remember, this is for just a tiny, tiny slice of all the people who were registered in iowa. >> is there more pressure, tamara, on sanders and on trump to get these, their supporters out. because it appears they have more first time caucus goers. if these people actually show up, they have more than the others do. >> absolutely. they are counting on people who are these first time caucus goers to show up and caucus for them. bernie sanders is actually, his campaign has created a website. i think it's something like prove them wrong and caucus.com. and it is designed to get those first time caucus goersk people who the establishment would say won't show up, to get them to show up. donald trump is very much pushing to get his people to show up. their line is if someone is going to stand outside in the cold and snow for seven hours, then why wouldn't they show up for two hours on a monday night. but life gets in the way. and i think that everybody is

talking a good game on their ground game right now. their effort to get people to the polls. i think we really, truly will not know until a week from tonight. and that's really what we'll be looking for while we're out there on caucus night is what the lines look like to get into these caucus places. not just are a bunch of people showing up. but when i talked to somebody who was there in 2008 in the obama campaign, they said we felt really confident in our chances when we saw the line, to register, that means people who never showed up before, who weren't even registered to voats, that line snaked around the block. >> woodruff: i will be out with both of you next monday night. but in the mean time, amy, this comment from donald trump about i could stand on fifth avenue and shoot somebody and it wouldn't affect my support. does something like that have a bearing on people's thinking. >> about how we get-- how we get to this next point? the question to me about donald trump is not do his supporters leave him. because he is correct. that he has a core group of people who say they support him

in polls. one is do do they show up. the second is just how big is that core. and so the question is not where do his voters go, it is where does everybody else go once the race starts to winnow down. does he have enough support that if it is a two person or three person race he can still win. now there are some polls that come out that show that he is still ahead, but remember this say delegate race, not a popularity race, and so how those states break out will be critical. >> woodruff: good to be reminded of that as delicate shall-- delegates. but endorsements. you had the major newspaper in the state, endorsing hillary clinton and marco rubio on the republican side. and then you have a few other notables, senator, republican senator, joanie ernst endorsing rubio as well. do do these endorsements matter. >> and i'm not sure that she actually endorsed him. she appeared at an event with

him. but i don't believe. >> she said something like the country would be in good hands. >> yes. >> but she, i think that both she and kruk chuck grassley are not officially endorsing. you know, it's not a question of how much these endorsements matter. i'm sure some people open up their des moines register and say all right, i geses that is the person i will go caucus for am but there is not a great record on the democratic side that the des moines register has never picked an iowa winner. at least not in many, many, many, many years. and on the republican side they have some what of a better record. but based on the polls, and obviously things can change, and they can change quickly in iowa, and there can be surprises. but based on the polls as they are right now, marco rubio is not number one, or number two or even number three in a lot of them. >> woodruff: you see this endorsement thing. we talk about every three or four years. >> a lot of it is how this impacts the people doing the endorsing. chuck grassley, for example, is up for re-election this year. he doesn't have a serious race

am but if you were at all concerned about a primary challenge, you have to make sure that you are touching every single republican voter out there. especially those who might not have been engaged before. joan yeerch-- joanie ernst is not up this next year but she was elected on a tea party enthusiasm. she qunt afford to alienate any part of it. so it is as much about covering their own political tail as it is about showing support for somebody else. >> woodruff: and in the last few seconds, as we've heard, the republican race, the democratic race is tough but the republican race has gotten really nasty with lying, calling each other liars. does that go over well in a place like iowa. i mean people say they don't like negative politics and yet every time there are negative ads and they are pretty effective. >> and that goes to show. does marco rubio get a bump out of this. do the frontrunners cruz and trump going after each other so hard that someone comes up the middle, a little like john edwards and john kerry said when

howard dean and dik gep hart went toe to toe. >> woodruff: we remember those names. >> from long long ago. >> woodruff: the next time i see the two of you it might be somewhere in eye with. >> it will probably be warmer than here. >> woodruff: amy walter, tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: five years ago today, egyptians took to the streets in protest against the government of hosni mubarak. 18 days later, mubarak was gone - a landmark of what became known as "the arab spring." but these five years on have been tumultuous and difficult in egypt: with a presidential election in 2012, that brought mohammed morsi of the muslim brotherhood to power. then the military-led removal and imprisonment of morsi in 2013. and the subsequent election of the general who unseated morsi, the current president, abdel

fatah al-sisi. egyptians today are marking a somber and tense anniversary. for more we turn to hari sreenivanan. >> sreenivasan: joining me now is newshour special correspondent in kie ro. nick, you have reported from the regon mul pel times over the past few years. here are you on this anniversary. what did you see today. >> yeah, hari, we saw an absolute crackdown in what usually is one of the world's busiest cities. an extraordinary amount of police guarding stations, guarding government buildings, but also guarding anywhere where demonstrators might actually come together. and we saw that especially in tarr ear square this afternoon. we met a few hundred people, the only people allowed in the square today were prosisi demonstrators. and we spoke to them and a few of them toll me they believe only president sisi could defend this country against terrorism. and where was the opposition? well, take a look at this.

this is 21 year old, a prominent activist and today she walked alone, just her. her jacket says the revolution continues but hari, the revolution did not continue today. the opposition was too scared to come out on the streets, the muslim brotherhood which has officially been called a terrorist organization, has really been cracked down and so today, at least on the streets, there was zero opposition to president sisi. >> sreenivasan: you point out that there are two different factions that oppose sisi, the young people that were calling for a revolution five years ago and the muslim brotherhood. what's happened to them over the year sms. >> well, hari, what is amazing about the revolution from five years ago is that those two groups were together. there was so much hope and such a feeling that across-current of egypt were going to come together and really depose mubarak t was secretary you lar activist, it was more conservative muslim brotherhood, it was even members of the government. and what has happened is that this crackdown that this

government has really undergone has taken away not only that hope, but also the feeling that all of those groups are combined. and just to give you a sense of how big the crackdown is, there are now 40,000 pli sonars, political prisoners in egyptian jails. and just in the last ten days there were 5,000 raids in cairo. these are raids that lead to a rests or perhaps just some pointed questions. but that is a raid every two minutes in cairo. that sends a very direct signal. and that is why we saw no opposition on the street. and that is why one opposition activist put it this way. there might be freedom of speech in egypt, but there is no freedom after speech. an many activists right now are saying that this government is the same kind of government they risk their lives to escape five years ago. >> sreenivasan: all right, so besides that indirect message through those crackdowns, what is the government saying. >> it is important to know that president sisi came out yesterday and praised the revolution of five years ago am but he praised even more what he

called the fix to that revolution, namely the military cou p that brought him to power. and he defends a lot of these security crackdowns as the only way to defend egypt against the insurgency, especially groups that are affiliated with isis right now. but the crackdown in the last couple of weeks was in the very neighborhoods where the opposition is used to using as their real base, and that is undo town cairo and that's why we see an opposition that is so demore allized. those are feeling that you really see across this country. hari, there have been eight elections here in the last four and a half years. the turnout of the last one was 28%. there is a tiredness, there say real fraction among the opposition. and that means that if if there were protests right now in egypt, there is simply no organized alternative to this government. >> sreenivasan: all right, nick, joining us from cairo tonight, thanks so much. >> thanks, hari.

>> woodruff: next, it's been more than 150 years since the start of the california gold rush. though dreams of striking it rich may have faded for many, there are still some in the u.s. hoping to strike it rich in streams and creeks. one method of mining for gold is at the center of a growing debate between miners and environmentalists. in washington state, the controversy has reached a fever pitch. correspondent nils cowan from member station kcts in seattle and earthfix, a public media partnership, reports. >> reporter: in the rugged mountain wilderness of washington state, a unique group of enthusiasts is carrying on an age-old tradition. >> we're probably going to put the dredge right here. >> right in that area, ok. >> reporter: they're searching for gold. >> gold has always had an allure

for man and man has always chased it. >> reporter: for modern small scale miners like ron larson, the most effective tool is a fairly new invention known as the hydraulic dredge. >> locked and loaded. >> a hydraulic dredge is essentially a floating platform with a power plant that supplies air and power to move water over a riffle box, to sort out the heavy material. gold is heavier than any other mineral in the stream and the only way to get the gold is to remove what is called overburden. >> reporter: to strip away this layer of rock and sediment, miners are equipped with diving gear and a high-powered underwater vacuum. also known as suction dredging, this method allows miners to go through as much as forty times more sediment than non-motorized mining. but growing concern over possible environmental impacts, has caused lawmakers in california, oregon and idaho to

take action to restrict it. that leaves washington as one of just a few western states to allow dredging in most of its waterways, setting up a key battle between small scale gold miners. >> there's a dredge right over here. >> oh yeah. >> reporter: and the activists looking to shut them down. >> reporter: in central washington, a team of fish enthusiasts and environmental activists is heading into prime dredging territory. they're looking for evidence of how this mining method impacts fish. >> wow. >> are you kidding? >> they've altered the channel of the water so they can bring it into their sluice. >> reporter: gregg bafundo is the washington field coordinator for trout unlimited. >> we've been seeing waters getting warmer, we've been seeing droughts across the west that have been impacting fish. and right now we have steelhead that are trying to get up the stream to spawn and they can't.

i'm looking at this and i'm seeing some pretty good blockages. i mean this is, you know, that looks like a bomb went off in that thing. >> reporter: farther upstream, bafundo and restoration ecologist crystal elliott-perez check for impacts to water quality just below a dredging operation. >> when you run sediment through a sluice and you get a sediment plume coming out the back end, that impacts turbidity or increases turbidity. >> reporter: excess sediment makes it difficult for fish to breathe and can cause water temperatures to rise to harmful levels. >> remember what it was back there? >> 2.7? >> yup. it's 10.2. >> are you kidding? >> reporter: four times higher than farther downstream. not enough to kill fish, but they are more concerned about the overall impacts dredging could be having, impacts that currently aren't being measured.

washington was among the first states to publish rules for small scale mining in 1980. current regulations don't allow dredging during spawning seasons, and place restrictions on where in the stream miners can operate, how large their motors and hoses can be, and how close together they can dredge. but permits, which are free, are required only for projects that don't fall within these rules. this means that the state isn't tracking where or when dredging is taking place. that's a problem for mark johnson, a fish biologist with the yakima nation. he says suction dredging can have a negative impact on fish spawning habitat. >> when you get up in the isolated areas, people tend not to follow those rules. they will get into areas that are smaller, coarse gravel and that's typically where fish like to spawn. they dig their nests or their reds in the ground, lay their eggs and then they die. >> reporter: the nutrients from these dead fish build the food web for the next generation.

miners say that current regulations are restrictive enough. >> if you are caught out here you will get fined and some of them are pretty stiff fines, up to $5,000 if you're not following the provisions. >> reporter: they contend their activities clear the streams of trash and debris, and have little to no impact on fish. >> a great many of the prospectors that i know are also fishermen and none of us go up here looking to kill fish. >> reporter: angler and activist kim mcdonald says it's time for tighter controls and more oversight. >> we'll be able to see if there's any impacts from monitoring these guys, from having better enforcement, we'll be able to see those impacts fairly quickly. >> reporter: caught in the middle is the state's department of fish and wildlife. they're responsible for enforcing mining rules. >> we receive a lot of pressure from both ends of the spectrum on mineral prospecting. >> reporter: deputy director jeff davis says that small scale mining is on the rise.

but more rules aren't necessarily the answer. >> part of the ecosystem are humans and their way of life on the land, and that has to be part of how our agency achieves our mission. i don't think you can regulate your way to long term healthy fish and wildlife resources in every circumstance. >> reporter: mcdonald believes the increase in mining in already threatened fish habitat underscores the need for change. >> if you take out a map of washington state, every stream and river has anadromous fish. and almost every single one is dealing with fish that are going extinct. and we've spent since the late 1990s talking about what we should do about it. this is something we can do. >> reporter: back on the river, miner ron larson and his partner are shutting down for the day. >> let's see if we're getting any gold.

ooh yes, i believe it is. >> wow! >> maybe a $40 or $50 nugget. >> reporter: it doesn't pay for the gas to get here, but larson insists it's worth it. >> gold fever is a very, very real thing. it's, it's an adrenaline thing, and it always keeps you coming back. >> reporter: as long as there's gold in these rivers, larson says, he'll keep fighting for his right to search for it. for the pbs newshour, i'm nils cowan in seattle. >> woodruff: there's more political fallout and anger in flint, michigan where public officials are being challenged on their response to the water crisis. residents are anxious over the massive lead contamination of their water supply. and today, the state's attorney general named a special counsel

to investigate exactly what happened. former prosecutor todd flood was appointed to the job because the attorney general is also defending the state against water-related lawsuits, but there's been some question about how independent this investigation will be. here's some of what mr. flood had to say today. >> this is an investigation i can assure you we're going to open up every door. we're going to get asked the tough questions. those proverbial questions of what did you know and when did you know it. we're going to get through and to the bottom of what happened in this situation. the people deserve that. and then we will report back as it should be to the attorney general. >> woodruff: william brangham has been covering this story and he joins me now. so william, tell us exactly what this special investigator is charged with finding out. >> the basic mission is this

mr. flood is supposed to look at exactly whether or not any laws were broken. and that could be anywhere a lock the process of how this lead in flint got into the water and how people drank it for so long. that is really what he is charged with investigating. >> woodruff: and to whom does he report. because as we said, questions about just how independent he is, he is named by the state attorney general. so he's already part of the. >> he is supposed to report to the attorney general and these exactly are the questions that you are bringing up. what has been revealed in the last day is that flood himself donated upwards of 10,000 dollars to the attorney swren's different campaigns over the years. and so people are looking at that and thinking if you are reporting to the attorney general, and you are investigating the governor who flood has also donated money to, how impartial can you really be. an solt head of the democratic party in michigan has called in incomprehensible that flood was put in charge. and they have asked that the u.s. justice department investigate instead.

>> woodruff: but there is no sign yet that the attorney general is going to change this appointment? >> no, no. he rejects that there is any real conflict of interest here. and says as he said today, the chips will fall where they may in this investigation. >> woodruff: all right, well, what build the water fly itself. we have been reporting on this for days and weeks. what is the safety of the water supply in flint, michigan, right now. >> it's safer than it used to be am but it is not 100% safe and that's why we see residents still drinking out of botd eled walter or use filters that take the lead out of the water. the epa has recently come in as of last week and told the local officials who have been charged with monitoring the water that the epa was concerned with how well they were actually dos their jobs. and so the epa, the federal agency has now stepped in and said we're going to take over that job. we'll look after the water so that we can guarantee what we tell the res dnts is accurate. which is really one of the big complaints all along, that people haven't gotten straight answers on how safe their water is. >> woodruff: and is there any

better understanding of how this happened, why this happened? >> well, we know the mechanics of how it happened. they put the river water into the pipes. they were old lead popes. the cor rosive river water leeched lead into the water and people drank that water. the biggest problem really for most residents in flint is the failure of all the safeguards along the way that were supposed to protect people from that. so why wasn't a chemical added to the water that would have protected the cor rose from happening. why weren't people monitoring the levels appropriately so they knew there was a danger. when danger and red flags were raised, why didn't people do something about that. so that is where the trust has really crumbled in the city. and people are thinking, how do we really know when you tell us now okay, it might shall safe. how can we trust that. >> woodruff: well, what is happening. why while all these investigations are going on. what is happening right now to try to satisfy people's, in some cases they have to be fran particular because of what lead means for their children's health. >> right, there are all of these small safeguards.

you have seen these images of people being given, donated bottles of water. they have been given filters. they have been told not to drink the tap water. they have been told to limit their exposure to it in baths and showers. they have been told there would be proper monitoring going forward. the trust has been lost. and every single person we talk to in flint last week when we were there said we cannot trust what public officials are telling us. so we are not going near that water for the time being. >> woodruff: so is the city just in a state of upheaval right now? >> if is. i mean the mayor, as you know, flint has been under emergency management for a long time, partly because they were so broke. that is really what lead to this crisis. >> woodruff: the budget. >> exactly. the mayor has asserted herself more forcefully and said i'm now going to make sure we stop using the river water to drink out of. i am going to help and try to demand a better federal investigation into what went on. but people are still very uncertain. >> woodruff: it's such a tough story william brangham, thank you. >> pie pleasure-- my pleasure

>> woodruff: now, an exhibition bringing together ancient sculptures once thought lost forever. jeffrey brown has our report. >> brown: it stands in san daleh between soaber and sad. aya cross more than 2,000 years, we can see the care taken by the unknown artist in capturing the expression, and the details that give life to this and some 50 other sculptures. >> it's an incredible par a doks that-- paradox if everything in this exhibition survivors through catastrophe. >> brown: catastrophe such as.e, volume can owe, city sac, and we found them because they were buried and thus weren't melted down. >> woodruff: they are made of bronze, a metal alloy that could be and was refused for everything from weapons to hinges. >> the onces that we don't have

and we haven't found are gone forever because they were melted down. and that's the vast majority, thousands and thousands. >> woodruff: the cocurator of the exhibition power and pathos. now at the national gallery of art in washington, the last leg of a tour that began at the ged-- gety museum in los angeles. unliked carved marble that lasted long and were more familiar with, these sculptures were made from molds. the artist began with soft wax which allowed for detailed styling. it was used to make a clay mold. once fired, it was filled with molten bronze which hardened into the sculpture. >> you see the marbling of the face, the brow, the finely insiesed eyebrows, the soft flesh, the broken nose, the fur rows, here in the helen statistics period, we have for the first time portrait ture as we represented, that really represents an individual. >> woodruff: the way we think of it now.

>> yes. >> brown: as sort of capturings. >> right. and not only their physical, external aspect but also something of their internal thought. and this is really about art of the sculpture. >> brown: today fewer than 200bt a quarter gathered here. the exhibition includes the base of one missing statue, signed by its famous artist. >> the statue base has the name of liciphou s the favorite sculpture of alexander great who was more prolific than anyone. we know from ancient writers that he made 1500 statues, not a single one survives and that stone base is the closest we can get to his work. >> brown: it was alexander whocn world from his home in macedonia to northern india spreading greek culture along the way. the period following his death became known as the helen statistics period, lasting roughly from 323 about krvment to the rice of rome in 31bc. >> cultures are interactingk

greeks and peshans, romans and hetrus cans sailing around the mediterranean, interacting and trading. 10% of the works in the show, more like 20% were found in ship wrecks and that's because the works of art were traveling. at the end of this period. >> brown: traveling for trade.t. they are changing forms. the romans begin to collect old masters, it is in this period at the end that rome conquers greece. >> brown: wait, wait, wait, roas a period where rome is rising and looking to greece as their old masters the way we would look at the renaissance. >> exactly, exactly. >> brown: and these old mastersr sculpture. aros the god of love as a sleeping child. a statue of a man probably a prominent roman general who bears an uncanny resemblance to ted kennedy. and then there is the boy runner. >> you should think of him as being shiny, copper, brassy.

>> brown: originally.originally. >> brown: george maysonuniversis studied and written wildly on the bronze sculptures. >> he was destroyed in the he are you tune-- eruption of mount ve suv iu s which also preserved him in this wonderful condition, along with a companion who looks just like this statue. both in the same gard en. we can conclude they come from the same workshop. >> brown: this idea of theworksf things being mass produced, right. >> uh-huh. >> brown: is that a fair analoga sense mass produced? >> i guess the best way to describe them is that they were mass produced or produced in editions and so its question is, are they really originals when we know there are so many of them. we thought so until we started

finding two or three of the same thing made in bronze. >> brown: so do we just notworrd what is a so called copy any more? what do you think about it? >> i think that it's best to avoid the term original and to use the word model. there is a wish today for the original, but in the case of bronzes, all that we have is proof of repeat production. the whole nature of the medium is reproduction, of deficits so few have survived. when you see 50 bronzes together in one exhibition, this has never happened before, never will again. there has never been so many bronzes face to face with one another. >> brown: the exhibition lastsun these works return to their homes around the world. from the national gallery of art

in washington, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: next, we asked our network of middle and high school reporters from the student reporting labs to examine how their generation is challenging traditional gender stereotypes. tonight we profile lexi dresser, a football kicker from south carolina who tried out for her high school team to win a bet with her mom. little did she know that wager would change the way the whole school views girls on the gridiron. this is the first part of a series we are calling "outside the box." number 19, lexi dressing. actually a female kicker of the game. you don't see that that often. >> it all started with a bet.

i was just joking with my mosm i was like yeah, mom, they need a kicker for the football team. so i'm going to try out. she said i bet you won't. i won that bet. >> lexi dressing is a 16 year old girl who kicks down the barrier of gender stereo types. what started out as a bet with her mom turned into a huge part of her high school career. although lexi is the only girl on an all-male team, it seems that gender is the only thing that sets them apart. >> for the most part, it solves-- they're all the same. they don't treat me any different. it's just like a big family. i have have like 34 brothers. >> the support that lexi receives from her team definitely contributes to her success. however, they were taken aback when they heard that the new addition was a pony tail sporting powerhouse. >> first time i heard a girl was trying out i was a little bit surprised but she surprised all of us and turned out to be a really good kicker. it's nice to know every time we score we will get 7 points. she treats us the same way we

treat her, with respect and we really depend ent on her. >> not only does lexi seem to fit right in, she even goes the extra yard to be better than her competition, constantly competing for the spot as starting kicker, her skills clinched the crosstown rivalry cup. >> to see more stories how generation z refuses to be pij on holed, you can visit our website pbs does news disz hour.o-- newshour.org. >> woodruff: tune in later tonight on pbs. "independent lens" explores the growing number of young men from polynesia recruited to play football in the united states. "in football we trust" follows pacific islanders playing football in utah who see the sport as a way out of poverty and a way to escape gang culture. on the newshour online: researchers in china have developed what could be a major

tool in cracking autism, by genetically engineering features of the disorder in monkeys. given that primates are closely related to humans, these genetically modified monkeys could fill a major gap in the quest to understand autism spectrum disorders. read more about the findings, on our home page: pbs.org/newshour and that's the newshour for tonight. 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: >> bnsf railway. >> 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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ >> this is bbc world news america. >> 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, and aarp. >> what is fearless at 50? just ask jessie anderson, who jumped out of her own 50th birthday cake. boom. or how about dr. hector flores, who he grabbed life by the microphone to do some improv. don't forget my man guy ford, the firefighter who's lighting