captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: on the newshourlln tonight, president obama weighs in on the presidential campaign, as donald trump's feud with the kahn family has more republicans distancing themselves from their party nominee. >> ifill: also ahead this tuesday, controlling zika in th u.s.: the c.d.c. issues an unprecedented warning urging pregnant women to stay away from a miami neighborhood where the virus is spreading. >> woodruff: and, debating the math myth: why one college professor says advanced math classes are not only unnecessary, but harmful. >> we immediately plunge peoplem into geometry and algebra. and as a result, americans are really quite illiterate in terms of numbers.

>> ifill: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> some say it's a calling. some say they lost someone they loved. many say it's to save lives, as, many and as often as possible. there's 100 reasons why someone becomes a doctor, but at m.d. anderson, it's because there's nothing-- and we mean nothing-- we won't do in making cancer d history.

>> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial futuren >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.hipo and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.yo thank you. >> woodruff: a presidential broadside today, aimed at donald trump. president obama took on the man who is running to succeed him, in his strongest terms yet. >> i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. i said so last week and he keepa

on proving it. >> woodruff: the rebuke came at a news conference, with the visiting prime minister of singapore. ce. the president drew a sharp distinction between donald trump and the republican nominees he had faced: john mccain and mitt romney. >> i never thought they couldn't do the job. and had they won, i would haveug been disappointed, but i would have said to all americans, this is our president and i know they are going to abide by certain norms or rules, common sense. will observe basic decency. >> woodruff: all of this followed trump's repeated criticisms of khizr and ghazala khan, parents of an army officer killed in iraq., republican leaders condemned the remarks, but mr. obama saidmn that's not enough.

>> this is daily and weekly where they are distancinge themselves from statements he's making.s there has to be a point in which you say this is not someone i can support for president of the united states. >> woodruff: one republican congressman, richard hanna of the syracuse, new york area, did just that today. in a newspaper op-ed, he wrote: "mr. trump has attacked theth parents of a slain u.s. soldier. where do we draw the line? while i disagree with her on many issues, i will vote for hillary clinton." trump was speaking in northernwa virginia as the president held his news conference, and he made no mention of the obamaa criticism or the khans. but it was in the air, just the same. >> a man came up to me and he handed me his purple heart. >> woodruff: the purple heart, given to those wounded or killed in action, came from a retired lieutenant colonel.

>> i always wanted to get the purple heart and this was mucht easier. >> woodruff: later, trump did answer the president, charging that he and his former secretarc of state betrayed american security and american workers. and, he declared: "hillary clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office."li trump supporters at the rally appeared unfazed by the latest blow-up. >> the coverage is just insane, they make a big deal about that. he was speaking from his heart. he was not accusing. >> woodruff: trump moves on to campaign in florida tomorrow.id clinton will be in colorado. also today, donald trump told "the washington post" he is not ready to endorse republican house speaker paul ryan for re- election, and said he won't support republican senators john mccain and kelly ayotte for new terms. >> ifill: in the day's other

news, the president also made a renewed pitch for the trans- pacific partnership, the tradene deal he's pushing in the face of growing opposition.. both presidential candidates have come out against it, but mr. obama warned against trying to pull back on trade, and away from globalization.y >> to try to pull-up a drawbridge on trade would only hurt us and hurt our workers.. the answer is to make sure that globalization and trade is working for us and not against us. and t.p.p. is designed to do precisely that. >> ifill: the president also played down russia's possibleru role in hacking the democratic national committee's e-mails.ee he said it only adds to an already long list ofy differences. >> woodruff: there's more fallout from those democratic party e-mails that showed staffers favoring hillary clinton and disparaging bernie sanders. the associated press reports the d.n.c.'s chief executive has resigned, and two other staffere also quit today. party chair, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, resigned last week. >> ifill: in syria, rebels

accused government forces of a new chemical weapons attack today. they say a helicopter dropped barrels of toxic gas in idlib province, near where a russian helicopter was shot down monday. 33 people were affected. video posted on social mediaed showed victims being treated with oxygen, but it's unclear what kind of gas was used. >> woodruff: thousands of mourners in normandy, france, attended a funeral mass today for a murdered catholic priest.c father jacques hamel had his throat cut by islamic state militants last week. today, an archbishop led a solemn public ceremony inside the rouen cathedral to pay tribute to the cleric. he was later buried in a private service. >> ifill: the death toll has climbed past 90 across india, after a week of monsoon flooding. a million other people have been forced to flee. the flooding has caused heavyfl damage across three states in the northern and eastern parts of the country. it follows two straight years of widespread drought.

>> woodruff: back in the u.s., new york city police commissioner bill bratton is stepping down. he led the nation's largest force in the 1990's, and returned to the position in 2014. he said today he's leaving at a time of extreme tensions betweee police and minorities, but he's confident in the department's future. >> the mistrust of the criminal justice system, particularly by our minority communities, thesy immigration issues that are so paramount at the moment, the anger directed at our muslim community. we, i believe, in new york city at this time are better prepared than any place else in america. >> woodruff: bratton has been hailed for cutting crime, butti criticized over incidents of alleged excessive force bys police. james o'neill, currently the new york city department's top chief, will take over asov commissioner. >> ifill: and, wall street slipped, on lackluster auto sales and falling oil prices. the dow jones industrial average

lost 90 points to close at 18,313. the nasdaq fell 46 points, and the s&p 500 gave up 13. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: florida's fight to contain the zika virus. the back-story to donald trump's latest comments on ukraine.kr an advocate for teaching more practical mathematics, and muchm more. >> ifill: in florida, workers went door to door today to check for mosquitoes, and to spray in neighborhoods, in the hope ofs, clamping down on the zika virus. officials say 15 people have become infected in miami's wynwood neighborhood and it's believed these are the first mosquito-transmitted cases inra the mainland u.s. the c.d.c. says the mosquitoes are proving harder to eradicate than expected. for an on-the-ground look, i'm

joined by alina hudak, the deputy mayor of miami-dade county. thank you for joining us. we know now of 15 locally transmitted case of zika infections. how many more are likely, andnd are you prepared to handle an increase?ea >> gwen, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight to you and to your viewers. i'd like to clarify first and foremost that the confirmed cases in miami-dade county are 12. i want to reiterate and really just be very clear about our mosquito control program here in miami-dade county. we have a very strong and aggressive program that we've had in place since 1935. we had many years of a proven track record of managing and controlling disease. we work together with our department of health, with the department of agriculture. we have had consultations with the c.d.c., and they are working very closely with us, so we feel

very confident that this can be contained and it can be contained to a very small area. i want the viewers to understand that we're talking about one square mile in a community that is over 2,000 square miles, and i think that's important for context and for people to understand exactly the area that we're talking about. >> ifill: why is it confined so far to this one area, wynwood, which contains an art district and attracts people from outside of the neighborhood? why there? >> you know, i certainly would be speculating relative to that. we have a high international presence there and a lot of travel in that community. it is unknown exactly how it is that the transmission takes place, and obviously there is a lot of focus on the mosquito, but there are many unknowns about this disease, and, you know, quite frankly, we have h been able to isolate at this point these particular cases

with the department of health. our crews have been there every single day, on the ground since day one. the moment a suspected case is identified, our crews are there. they do inspection, they do treatment, and we have again a very aggressive program. in addition to that, we have a very aggressive outreach program to our residents, and we're communicating with our residento regularly about the part and the role that they play in being our partner with this. >> ifill: pardon me. what are you asking them to do? >> we're asking our residents to look in their backyards, to drain any standing water. we're asking our residents and our visitors to wear repellent. i heard someone today in a meeting describe it as you leave your house in the morning in miami and you put on sunscreen. put on insect repellent and help us and be preventive and do your part in preventing the spread of this disease. >> ifill: for months now therer has been a discussion about this, that it was going to

spread, that it was going to come to the u.s., that there were going to be transmissions that began and ended here. why could this not have been avoided? >> well, you know, i would say to that we have disease in the world for millions of years, and we have mosquitoes in the world for millions of years. we again since february when our governor declared a public health concern, an emergency, our program, you know, continues to do all of the things that we do on a regular basis, not only in responding to service requests from our community, but in working with the departmentrt of health and making sure that at any point if there was a suspicion of a case, that we were out in that particular area, in that region, that we do inspections and that we do treatment. so there has been and there continues to be a very aggressive mosquito control program. >> ifill: how do you -- pardon me again. how do you encourage caution, like you said, put on sunscreen

and put on the repellent. how do you encourage that without inducing panic? >> well, we have several methods by which we do that. our mayor has blessed and authorized us to send whatever we need to send to be able to do the appropriate outreach. he personally has hosted media briefings. we have hosted a variety of media opportunities to get the message out to the community. we have information on our web site. we have information on all of our municipalities' web sites. we have our code enforcement personnel in the community. we've done direct mailing to our community. we work very closely with our local media to be sure that that message is being given to the public, and we provide information to any civic organization, any organization that wants the information. and we're making sure that that message and to everyone who is listening today, please put on you insect repellent if you're living in florida.fl i can tell you i was in the wynwood area this afternoon.

it is a beautiful community. and it is a place i love to go to with my family. i go often. i am planning to go. i have family visiting from pennsylvania next week. i intend to take them there for lunch or minuter. >> ifill: okay. deputy mar you alina hudak from miami-dade county, thank you very much. >> thank you.miou >> ifill: tonight, we launch a new election year series: "candidates in context." c between now and election day, w will strive to go beyond the headlines to explain what's happening and why. lisa dejardins kicks it off with a closer look at donald trump's recent statements on russia and ukraine.

>> reporter: first here's what donald trump said. it was over the weekend about ukraine and russian president vladimir putin.ir >> you now, i have my own ideas. he's not going into ukraine, just so you understand.rs he's not going to go into ukraine. you can mark it down. you can put it down.. >> he's there, isn't he? >> he's there in a certain way, but i'm not there. you have obama there.er >> reporter: critics point out vladimir putin and russia are in ukraine now. let's look at some facts. you're talking about crimea, on the black sea, and the region in eastern ukraine. first crimea. in 1991, as the soviet union dissolved, ukraine and russia became separate nations. voters in crimea were split, but they voted 54% for ukrainian independence. protests erupted and in 2014, ukrainians pushed out a pro-russian government in kiev. in crime, yeah unidentified forces, no flags on their uniform, foment an uprising an a referendum going the other way,h in favor of russia.

then russia annexed crimea with international outcry but little bloodshed. meanwhile, war broke out as militant separatists took over towns and fought ukrainianan government forces in a war that continues today. the key question: what was russia's role? we know russian troops stationed in crimea did seize key positions there, and russia confirmed that it sent soldiers on intelligence missions in gone dak. the ukrainian government says russia has done far more, sending soldiers and weapons. uh anyhow back to mr. trump. his clarification on his words that putin isn't going into ukraine from a speech yesterdaye >> a couple papers said, "donalo trump doesn't realize that the crimea was already taken." i noticed that two years ago approximately, approximately.. it was taken during obama's watch.wa

>> reporter: in other words, trump argues that he knew about crimea but he wasn't talking about crimea when he spoke of putin and ukraine. that is notable. it would be a profound shift in u.s. policy. the obama administration sees crimea and eastern ukraine as sovereign parts of ukraine, and it accuses putin of vie lating international law, but the sharp turn in policy, as is something else trump said last week. he was asked if he'd remove u.s. sanctions against russia. his answer... >> we'll be looking at, that yeah, we'll be looking. >> and this is change from where trump was in 2014, when he said this about punishing russia over ukraine. >> we should definitely bee strong. we should definitely do sanctions, and we have to show some strength. s >> reporter: one final piece of context about trump's campaign chairman paul manafort. manaforted a voids the government of yanukovych, saying he was pushing western interest.

as we look closely at the candidate's words, the trump campaign insist mrs. trump'smr overall belief is that the u.s. should be less involved in the entire rage. lisa desjardins, for the pbs "newshour." >> woodruff: now, a look at how required math classes may factor into the academic success or failure of high school and college students. hari sreenivasan has the story as part of our weekly education series, "making the grade."g >> words and numbers, we use them both, we use them for different reasons. >> sreenivasan: even if you aren't going to be an engineer, getting through high school or college means getting through math. >> why do we need to take all these math classes, it's not necessary for what we are learning. >> sreenivasan: andrew hacker, the college professor teachingll at the front of this classroom at new york's queens college agrees.ro >> the goal is to have everybody

do a full menu of mathematics, up to and including calculus.us and i don't see any rational reason for this at all. what i'm suggesting is that at least there should be other options, alternatives, instead of this rigid math curriculum for everyone. >> sreenivasan: minimum requirements for math are different across the country, but many states today demandda getting through the quadratic equations in two years of algebra to graduate high school, and most college degrees also require some math credits. hacker writes about this perceived disconnect between academic requirements and the everyday needs of graduates in his recent book, "the math myth." >> it's actually several myths. one of the myths is that everyhs one of us is going to have to know algebra, geometry, trigonometry in the 21st century because that's the way the high- tech age is going.te it's a total myth. at most five percent of people

really use math, advanced math in their work. >> sreenivasan: you're also drawing a distinction in your book between mathematics and arithmetic. explain that. >> yes. we use math, the term, indiscriminately. i think we teach arithmetic really very well up through grades let's say 5 or 6. we do it. but then instead of continuing with arithmetic to what i'd call adult arithmetic, or sophisticated arithmetic, we immediately plunge people into geometry and algebra. and as a result, americans are really quite illiterate in terms of numbers. >> sreenivasan: hacker's alternative? teaching what he calls "numeracy." >> it's income per hour per person, essentially. is norway well ahead of the united states? okay. let's continue with that. >> sreenivasan: where he focuses on developing his students' mathematical literacy, giving them some real-world perspective on the subject. lje >> how to read a corporateow

report, how to look at the federal budget, how to parse the numbers on the campaign trail, how votes are cast and how many seats are won. all sorts of assignments like this, which only require arithmetic, but adult arithmetic. >> sreenivasan: a political scientist by training, hackerke and his assertions have predictably put college and high school math departments across the country on the defensive. >> we need algebra as a basic way of making sense of our world. many mathematical relationships are described using algebra. >> sreenivasan: diane briars iss president of the national council of teachers ofna mathematics. we chatted with her on nearly her home turf; the national museum of mathematics in manhattan. >> algebra gives us a way of representing relationships in general so that we can reason about them in the general caseem instead of specific cases. algebraic equations and expressions are also ways of

describing patterns that we may see and differences between those patterns. >> this is put about by the mathematicians, i think they have to say this: mathematics trains the mind. there's no evidence for this whatever. mathematics trains the mind for mathematics. >> sreenivasan: hacker thinks math is a powerful divider of high school success.gh a number of students succeed and move onward, while a sizeable fraction do not. >> one out of every five of our citizens has not finished high school. we have a 20% dropout rate. i t's one of the highest in the developed world. and the chief academic reason for this dropout rate is algebra in the 9th grade. >> sreenivasan: the fail rate is something diane briars does not dispute.ot >> the fact that failing algebrg 1 as a 9th grader makes a student more likely to drop out is a huge problem that the

mathematics education community is actively engaged in. one of the ways we're addressing that is by building a stronger foundation in k-8 mathematics, with more conceptual understanding. and you see that throughout. we want students to be able to flexibly do arithmetic. with a more solid conceptual understanding in k-8sthm >> sreenivasan: but hacker sayss the math failure is greater thai just high school. >> 47% of people who start a four-year college do not get a degree. that's a very high dropout rateo close to half. chief academic reason, freshman math course, which people failfa and don't make up. and why don't we ask ourselves, look at the talent we're losing. >> sreenivasan: why are the institutions in high school and in college structured the way they are to emphasize math as we do today? >> here's the big word i always hear, let's be rigorous.s. the big r. let's be rigorous, so let's make everybody coming into community college pass a stiff algebrao test.

that shows how rigorous we are. same thing at a higher level. if you take princeton, stanford, yale, they want virtually all of their incoming students, excepte for athletes and a few alumni children, to have an s.a.t. score on math of at least 700. that's very high, that's the top seven percent. why? we're princeton, we're rigorous. and in the name of rigor, we have this irrational math barrier. >> sreenivasan: diane briars agrees with that too, but only up to a point.en >> you can argue that for someue of them that requirement may have been put there to ensure that they filter people out. on the other hand, being able to be facile with symbols and equations is necessary for als number of trades. for example the electrician's union has passing a course in algebra 1 as a requirement for r an apprenticeship program.

>> sreenivasan: so both sides agree that the formula for theot right amount of math isn't optimal, figuring out the right equation maybe one of the first major problems for new graduates everywhere. f for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan, in new york.sr niw o >> ifill: stay with us, coming up on the newshour, a midwest mayor's plans to build trust between police and her community. and the troubles still plaguing rio just days before the opening ceremony.ou but first, a report on the bakken oil fields in north dakota, where employment and the economy are directly affected by the price of oil. oil prices have dropped since their peak in 2014, and drilling has slowed, idling rigs and sending the once booming economy into uncertainty. inside energy's emily guerin takes us on a tour of oil bust

alley, a short stretch of highway where the boom and bust of the oil industry plays out. >> reporter: i've spent two years reporting on the bakken oilfield in north dakota. i've seen it when it was booming, back in 2014, and now, when it's busting. there's one highway in the oilfield town of dickinson,ow highway 22, where you can see the entire boom and bust story. so we're going on a road trip through oil bust alley to see what we can learn in this five- mile stretch of road about how a community changes when the pric of oil crashes. let's start with the obvious losers: business directly involved in the drilling and production of oil. so i'm standing in front a field of stacked drilling rigs there are about 27 back there, we just counted. and that's about the same amount that are actively drilling fort oil in north dakota. two years ago when the price of oil was high, there were over 180.

and it's a sign of how much things have slowed down here inw the oilfield. every time a drilling rig gets idled, about 120 people lose their jobs. people like kaley haugen's husband, who worked on a drilling rig for over a decade before being laid off last year. haugen has also seen a huge impact of the slowdown on her business, the uniform unit, which is right on highway 22. >> we do flame resistant for the oil and gas industry, scrubs, medical uniforms, and we've brought in tactical for e.m.s. management services. >> reporter: the uniform unit just opened last spring, right as oil prices were tanking. o >> if we would've been operating two years ago, three years ago, i would bet 90% of our business would've been oilfield. now we're pretty even within the different fields.

i would say 30% oil, 30% tactical, 30% scrubs.ta so definitely different than i thought. >> reporter: hotels have also been hit hard by the slowdown. over a thousand new hotel rooms were built in dickinson in the past 12 years. connie hank and bill evans manage and do maintenance ine three of those hotels just off highway 22. >> when i got here in march of '14, there were no vacancies. if somebody checked out, you already had somebody's name who was waiting on that room. you would've been paying $80 a night for a single and just about $100 for a double. that was cheap. and now you can get a room for $32 a night, that's a big change. drastic.ge >> reporter: now, their three hotels are at less than 30% occupancy. they end up with a lot of time on their hands. >> i'm sitting here waiting, praying for a car to pull into my parking lot.

we look like a bunch of vultures, like hey thank you for coming here, you know! >> reporter: just down the highway, there are signs that other parts of the housing market are also hurting.in coming up there's a man camp graveyard, this field full of trailers that are jumbled together, almost piled on top of each other, people don't have a need to house these workers anymore cause they've laid off so many employees. the slowdown in the oilfield hasn't been uniformly bad. custom cabinet manufacturer t.m.i. systems had 25% growth last year. that means they need a lot of new workers. general manager tom krank says a few years ago, the cost of living was high in dickinson due to the housing shortage broughtn on by the influx of oil workers.

>> with the rents where they were at, it was tough to attrac, people because even though we had good wages, rents beyond where they could justify moving out here to work for us. >> reporter: but now, there's no longer a labor shortage. there are far more applicants than job openings. and rental prices are dropping. so t.m.i. systems is having no trouble hiring. >> as time went on the oilfield layoffs got deeper and deeper and pretty soon we started seeing some of our former employees coming back. >> reporter: scott weiand is one of them. he worked at t.m.i. for 21 yeary before leaving in 2012 load crude oil onto rail cars. >> for me, i was looking for a challenge, possibly higher pay, obviously that's an attraction. but with the slowdown in the oit business i wanted to look for other opportunities and one of the first things in mind for me was t.m.i. >> reporter: the slowdown is also benefiting the local government. dickinson city administrator shawn kessel says hiring is

easier and expenses are lower, because they no longer have too compete with higher oilfield salaries. but on the down side, the oil bust has sent tax revenue tumbling. >> we've lost about $1.5 million into our general fund. and that's a big hit to the general fund. our general fund is about $16it6 million. so to lose one and a half out of that fund causes you to be creative. >> reporter: creative. if i've learned anything covering the oilfield, it's thae oil booms and busts force communities, individuals and businesses to be creative. take this taco bell right on highway 22. >> you can order when you're ready! >> can i get an order of nachos please? >> reporter: they couldn't hire or retain workers during the boom because it was so easy to get a higher paying job. so they decided to triage. for a while, only through was open. you couldn't go inside. now they're fully staffed again.

as we headed out of town, we drove past the drilling rig graveyard one last time. for kessell, those idled rigs are actually a sign that the oil industry hasn't given up onst north dakota. >> what that means when they stack them like that is they can respond quickly when things change, when that price goes up, they can simply move it from that rig yard to wherever that list is of wells they want to invest in next. >> reporter: like many people in western north dakota, kessell wants the oil activity to come back-- just not quite as crazy as last time. for the pbs newshour, i'm emily guerin, reporting from highway 22 in dickinson, north dakota. >> woodruff: tonight, police officers across the country are heading out in their

neighborhoods to talk to citizens; part of an effort called "national night out." from minneapolis to dallas to baton rouge, this summer has been marked by killings and heated tensions between lawan enforcement and those they serve. l but there are cities leading the way in improving relations as part of our year-long race matters conversations focusing on solutions, specialars correspondent charlayne hunter- gault reports from gary, indiana.ne >> reporter: mayor freeman- wilson thank you for joining us. how high on your list of priorities was police community the predominantly black community, not great in a town with high unemployment dating back to theprh steel mill closs in the '70s. in addition to a history of police brutality and crime. but mayor freeman wrote is striving to change gary, and we sat down >> reporter: mayor freeman- wilson thank you for joining us. how high on your list of priorities was police community relations? >> well police community

relations was very high on my list, because public safety was one of the greatest concerns in our community. we had and still have a very high murder rate. h we had and have a high rate of crime even though it's gone down.nd a lot has to do with the fact that there's frustration associated with not having employment, with not having adequate income, with poverty, and as a result of that, people tend to be angry or angrier and as a result of that anger, you will find that people resort to violence sometimes. >> reporter: but at the time you took office, there was reall conflict between the community and the police. what was the biggest problem you had to deal with there? >> well there was distrust of the police. >> reporter: why? >> residents often thought that. perhaps the police were involved in illegal activity or more

often didn't care about what happened in neighborhoods. there's a big gulf in between the fact that some of our police officers do not live in the city, and as a result of them not living, they did not understand what was happening in the neighborhoods., >> reporter: so what did you do? >> well we became involved in the national initiative on building police and community trust, an initiative out of the john jay college of criminal justice as well as other organizations: yale university, national institute of justice and other research organizations that really look at ways to build police and communityys trust. and so they come in, they talk to the community, they provide training for the police department. our police departments have allh gone through implicit bias training.tr >> reporter: what's that? >> that's training to really check your biases.

to ask you to look at the way you look at other people. do i look at you and think a certain thing and how does that impact how i interact with you? so as a police officer do i look at an african-american male,at whether i am an african-american male or not, and think a certain thing and as a result act a certain way towards that person? >> reporter: so what would you say is a result of that? >> what we've found is thatld police listen to the community more, the community listen to c our police officers more, t there's more positive interaction, we've also found that there's more of an effort to interact when a crisis is not occurring. and so in august we will have our national night out when the community comes out on an evening and the police, fire,li

and other departments of the city get together, but it's really focused on public safety and the fact that you can go ouh after dark, you can interact after dark in a positive way, the police bring their k-9 units out and young people get a g chance to interact with the k-9. >> reporter: and not be bitten by them.o b >> and not be bitten by them. it's a positive thing. >> reporter: what's the complexion of your police department and does that matter? >> about 55% of our police department is african american, another 35 to 40% is caucasian and the remaining officers are latino and that absolutely does matter.. i think it's important that young african american children see police officers, see people in authority that look like them. >> reporter: what you've achieved here sounds prettyac good, actually sounds very good. is it applicable in other

circumstances in other cities? >> i believe that the solution is really for the police to establish a rapport with the community that does not necessarily involve an official interaction. sometimes it's midnight basketball, other times it's some type of youth league, sometimes it's an explorers program where you are recruiting young people to be involved with the police, other times it's just neighborhood forums orms neighborhood meetings where you help people to keep theirwh community safe. when you know the officers then you're less inclined to think that they are there to harass you and when you know the community you understand that the overwhelming, the overwhelming number of citizene are law abiding people. >> reporter: and you mentioned earlier that your murder rate is going down. what do you attribute that to? >> we attribute the reduction in

the murder rate to the fact that we have now focused on those most likely to be involved in criminal activity and so there was a time when we were just doing sweeps. i think a lot of people were calling it broken window policing. >> and there might be positive results in being able to detect a crime or there might not. now we focus on those who are most likely to be involved in criminal behavior, and we send them not just a punitive message, but we send them a message that we would like message that we would like toss see you become productive law abiding citizens. we want to support you in that effort, but if you choose to continue in the road of crime, if you continue to be involved in non-productive behavior, we'll hold you accountable for that. >> reporter: and when do you tell them that? con >> well we focus on those

individuals who are on probation and parole and we conduct what they refer to as call-ins. and so these call-ins are meetings, that involve the community, meetings that involve individuals on probation and parole, and essentially what we tell them is we want to help you, we want to support you, but we also want peace and safety in this community and the killing has to stop. >> reporter: well mayor freemanl wilson, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. . >> ifill: with the summer olympics set to open in brazil later this week, big questions remain about whether rio de janeiro is ready, and can get completely ready in time. jeffrey brown has our look. >> brown: the governor recently declared a "state of public calamity." city waterways are fouled and

filled with bacteria, streets are clogged with traffic and transportation projects aren't finished, and some of the and beyond the olympics:e political chaos, as president dilma rouseff awaits an a impeachment trial. days before the start of theef olympic games, we look at the state of play in brazil, withh npr's rio de janeiro-based lourdes garcia-navarro. alex cuadros, author of the book, "brazilionaires," a look at wealth and inequality in brazil in the decade leading up to the olympics.s. and paulo sotero, director of the "brazil institute" at the 'woodrow wilson internationalrn center for scholars' in washington. welcome to all of you. lourdes garcia-navarro, let me start with you. how prepared or unprepared is brazil for these game, and how are people that you're talking to feeling about the games just before they start? >> i mean, i think it's undeniable that it's been very bumpy. starting with the athletes and the olympic village, half of

them couldn't move in. they had to send in an army of repairmen to fix basic infrastructure questions like electricity and plumbing, and, we've seen a lot of other complaints. just today in the media villagel some of the reporters complaining about the lack and quality of food. so it has been very bumpy. if you speak to ordinary brazilians, they are not surprised by the problems, but they are definitely disappointed. >> brown: just to stay with you a moment, even today we heard of reports of huge amounts of traffic, 70-mile back-ups there in rio. have you experienced some of that? >> i have. i mean, rio is always a challenging city to move around in. it's a city with huge mountainsn and poor infrastructure. add to that the fact that you have dedicated lanes now that are for olympic transportation, buses and cars for the ioc minutes, and that's meant that people who are moving around the city in regular vehicles have

had to face enormous amounts of traffic getting from copacabanao to the main olympic venues, which are about 20 miles away, took me about two and a half a hours. so it is a challenge. >> brown: alex cuadros, the promise was that these games would benefit brazil beyond the olympics, right, that they would reach the larger society. in what ways do you see that happening, and where is it falling short? >> well, look, i think that the olympics were pitched to brazilians as an excuse to modernize all of this woefully lacking infrastructure in rio, and some of the projects that were built really will help the population at large. a number of express bus lines were created that will be a big benefit to the working-class-c brazilians who can spend two and a half hours commuting each way every day.

but lourdes talking about the traffic, you know, she brings up a really interesting point, which is why were most of the olympic installations put inn this wealthy suburb? it's an area of the city where only300,000 people live and where people are generally much wealthier than the rest of the city. meanwhile, poorer areas of the city like the north side remain desperately in need of public works. >> brown: paulo sotero, the original idea, this goes back to when brazil got the olympics in 2009 i think, was a coming out party for the country on the world stage, right, to present itself as a major power, certainly an economic power? how does that look now? >> well, it looks like the government oversold the story, because that really did not come

to pass. brazil a few years after that entered into its most serious economic crisis in a century. 11 million people lost their jobs. so the promise of the olympics did not have a chance. at the same time, we know now that people in the government were involved in a criminal organization so that the attorney general of the country is accused of assaulting the largest company in the country, petro brazil. if we knew what we know now i believe most brazilians would be against hosting the olympics. now most brazilians are disappointed and not expecting much from the olympics. >> christa:>> brown: so lourdese go back the you inch rio one major issue is security. with all that's happened in various cities around the worldw

over the past month, how big a threat is it there? how seriously is this being taken? >> i think it's being taken extremely seriously, but as with everything, the brazilian government took the threat seriously too late. if you look around the streets of rio de janeiro, it's a heavily militarized city. you have over 80,000 security forces here. that's twice the number of the london games. and so you're not lacking for security. but certainly there are serious questions about how safe the venues are. there were just questions today about some of the security measures at some of the main venues. and so we still have to see exactly how the brazilian government is going to deal with the very real threat of terrorism. >> brown: so alex cuadros, you've been looking at the financial state and economic state of the country for the last decade or so. apart... sports aside, what would constitute success for brazil at this point?nt what are the prospects? >> well, look, i think that the

near term for brazil is not pretty. you know, it's in the deepest recession in possibly a century. millions of jobs have been lost. but at the same time, i think that paulo pointed to this moment when there was this amazing optimism about brazil, and i think that people exaggerated then in their euphoria about brazil's prospects as a country. i think that by the same token, right now people may be exaggerating in their pessimism. so it may be that we're approaching if we haven't reached the bottom of the well. and simply by virtue of the facc that we've fallen so much in brazil, things are going the g start to bounce back. >> brown: you mean expectations are so low that perhaps things will look okay? >> look, you know, the economy has shrunk by so much that when there is a rebound, it's goingoi

to be significant, just becausee of the base of comparison. and, you know, brazil is not a venezuela. we're not seeing kleptocracy one the scale that we see there. this is a functioning country. it's a diverse economy. and i think that at least in the medium term it's going to bounce back. >> brown: it's also true, sotero, that we've gone into many other olympicsm thinking they're not ready, thi is going to be a disaster,st they're going to have all kinds of problems, only the see some great success.gr what do you think the prospects are here? >> i think prospects to have a good olympics is reasonable. >> brown: reasonable? >> reasonable. do not underestimate the capability of brazilians to throw a party. we're famous for that. we have the carnival every year. they're great parties.

they are very well organized. i believe also as the athletes converge, you know, their efforts, their merits will take over, and this will be a story of the real olympics, but itt will be above all a story about the olympics. this is a very positive, interesting event. people actually tourists coming to rio will be very warmly welcomed by people here. and i think the people should go up to the hills and be with the people. the people are very generous and nice. so don't equate rio and slums with crime. yes, there's crime there, but as lourdes said, have the security for 15 days. enjoy rio. enjoy the olympics.

>> brown: lourdes, your sense, do people feel the weight of this, that there's a lot riding on this? >> i feel they do feel there is a lot riding on, this but they're also very much ready for it to be over. it's been a huge buildup. this has been a country going through so many different things, economic, political crises. the world cup just two years ago and now this. i think they want this to be a success, but i also think they very much want these games to be over soon. >> brown: in the meantime, let them begin, right? lourdes garcia-navarro, alex cuadros, paulo sotero, thank you all three very much. >> woodruff: finally, pbs will be airing three olympic-themed documentaries tonight. one profiles the story of thery world's top-ranked female boxer, claressa shields, who comes froa flint, michigan and has struggled with a difficult past. she goes by the nickname "t- rex," and was 17 when she was ma the first u.s. woman to ever win boxing gold in 2012.in she hasn't lost since. tonight's independent lens follows her rise, but also looks at why she's never gotten the fame or endorsements that often follow the gold.

here's a look. >> just talk about a few things of how we want to help you and see if there are other ways. i know you're trying to get some sponsorships and endorsements,sp et cetera. >> we see e other people getting all these big endorsements and all that. >> claressa was one of 46 gold medals for the u.s. team. >> did you even sit down whoo from that group. there's gabby douglas and ryan lochte. when you have somebody who was in homes every night on prime time television on national television, the reality is people see them some what do we do to address that situation? i want every time you're on tv if a potential sponsor sees you to be drawn to you and say, i would love to work with that girl.

>> why? >> when it comes to somebody wanting to get behind me and say, i want this person to represent my brand, i box. i understand that. >> i understand what you're saying. >> it's like, an image thing. you have to kind of tone it down a little bit. b >> i hear you say so many other things about being a role mod until your community, wanting to be this and that and wanting to bring something positive to flint and all of that. >> that all builds on it. >> okay. i can do that. >> just something to think about. >> reword that. >> i really haven't been letting people get in my ear. they're all like, gabby has this, gabby getting that, gabby, gabby, gabby. okay. she won a gold medal. she won two of them. i can't help what the society ii doing. they ignore me, but they love her. i can't help that.

if u.s.a. boxing won't give me the money, i'm... i deserve what the males got. i won a gold medal. there's in way in the world i shouldn't get what they have. it's not about money. it's about getting what you deserve. respect me as being a woman. respect me as being black. respected me as being an athlete who represented the united states, you know. that's what it's about. >> woodruff: watch the entire independent lens film "t-rex: her fight for gold" tonight onr most pbs stations. or streaming now at pbs.org. on the newshour online right now, would a $15 minimum wage hurt the economy? on our making sense page, one columnist looks to wage hike examples in washington state an sees little to fear. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> ifill: tune in later tonight

on charlie rose, john dickerson of cbs news on the state of the politics in america and the fal election season. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff.oo join us online, and again hered 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: >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.onth >> carnegie corporation of new

york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org.or.edgati >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.prn b t captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.orgio

this is nightly bu. with tyler matheson and sue herera >> the dow sees its longest losing streak in nearly a year and oil prices settle below $40 a barrel. new concerns. consumers are spending. businesses are not. and that's raising a lot of questions about how where the economy is headed. scaling back. aetna runs up losses on its health exchange business, becoming the latest to consider its participation in the program. those std m tonig on nightly business report for tuesday, august 2nd. good evening, everyone. i'm sue herera. tyler is off this evening. blue chip dow