captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, in the most closely watched race on this election day, democrat ralph northam beats republican ed gillespie in the contest for governor of virginia. also ahead, the u.s. air force admits it made an error that allowed a shooter to buy the guns he used to kill 26 people at a texas church. then, president trump arrives in south korea pushing for diplomatic solutions with the north, changing his tune from earlier threats of fire and fury. and, teaching diversity to the youngest students, how some schools are adding anti-bias lessons to their curriculum by

allowing kids to talk about their differences. >> the truth is that young children noticed differences very early, by the age of three and four they're asking questions, they're beginning to absorb the stereotypes and misinformation. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

>> collette. celebrating 100 years of travel, together. >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> 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: on this election night, democrats have picked up wins in the two biggest races. raplh northam has outpaced

republican ed gillespie in the virginia governor's race. northam received nearly 52% of the vote to 46% for gillespie. and in the contest for new jersey's governor, democrat phil murphy is projected to win over republican kim guadagno. we break down these results with stuart rothenberg of inside elections. >> so stu, this is a clear win for the democrats. we're not waiting no. midnight for answer. -- until midnight for the answer. >> this is a solid win. you compare this showing to last year the clinton, trump race where hillary clinton won the state by 5 and four years ago to the previous race, terry mmcauliffe by 3, high end of the most of the polls showed.

>> woodruff: we're talking about new jersey -- >> that will be a easy democratic win. >> woodruff: those numbers have now come in and you're able to look at how people voteby age gender race so forth. let's talk about whites and nonwhites and what that looks like. >> right. this has been a predictive voting group for years. and what we see now is that 67% of the electorate was white. that is a relatively low percentage in virginia. four years ago, with 72% and last year in the presidential race, whites constituted 71%, now it's only 67. more diverse electorate, more people of color, good for the democrats, that's bad for the republicans, but in fact ed gillespie did not match -- did

not exceed certainly what other republicans have been doing with white voters. so white voters were down as a percentage of the electorate and gillespie did not overperform among them. >> woodruff: let's talk about party i.d., the turnout of republicans versus are democrats in virginia. what are you seeing? >> self identification, people doing exit polls, what party do you consider yourself, the breakdown with today said 29% said they wesh independents, four years ago 37% he sed they were democrats now 41. so it's a more democratic ectorate. so you shouldn't be surprised that the are democratic nominee for governor got more votes. but the mix of the electorate is interesting and either democrats were more enthusiastic or more republicans switched out of the party and became independents. so while gillespie won

independents narrowly, not much more than ken cuccinelli did. college graduates, 60-40 and gillespie won noncollege graduates, more narrowly than she have. 7% election results. >> woodruff: women's went overwhelmingly 60% to the democrat ralph northham while men barely went almost split evenly. >> right, another gender gap but this one northham kept his gap among men and rung up big numbers among women voters. >> woodruff: stu what does this mean for 2018, how much should we take from this? >> younger voters, 18 to 44, depends what categories you use, they got minority voters out,

african americans, asian americans, latinos, thee are groups we have been wondering are the democrats going to be enthusiastic or not. >> woodruff: and saying in effect donald trump was the reason they turned out. >> half said he was the reason and those went 2 to 1 for northham. republicans should look at this with some concern about the suburbs and upscale segment, no question good it. >> woodruff: stu rothenberg, thank you. >> woodruff: the day's other major story: the texas church massacre. new disclosures emerged today about the bloodbath in tiny sutherland springs, and about the killer. william brangham begins our coverage. >> all of a sudden, i hear like, firecrackers popping. ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. everybody get down! they're shooting at us! >> brangham: from survivors today, new accounts of sunday's horror. rosanne solis and her husbd joaquin ramirez were in the congregation when the shooting started. she was wounded in the arm. >> everybody started screaming,

yelling, everybody got down, crawling under-- i mean, wherever they could hide. i mean, it was so scary and that man was shooting. i mean, he was shooting hard. >> brangham: solis says the gunman, devin kelley, shouted "everybody die!" as he blasted away with a semi-automatic rifle. ramirez says anyone making noise, even the youngest, was targeted. >> the babies were crying and when the babies were crying... ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. >> brangham: records now show that kelley passed background checks for four guns he bought between 2014 and 2017. that's despite a 2012 domestic assault conviction in the air force, followed by death threats against his superior officers, attempting to sneak weapons onto a military base, and a brief escape from a mental health facility. he spent a year in a military prison and was given a bad conduct discharge. but the air force acknowledges it failed to enter that conviction into an f.b.i.

database, which would've blocked his gun purchases. air force secretary heather wilson: >> we don't know, but we are checking all of the air force databases, and there are seven of them, to find out and confirm that all court martial convictions for these kinds of offenses have been reported in the civilian database. >> brangham: christopher combs, the f.b.i. agent in charge in the church shooting, says the failure in this case meant kelley was not on the f.b.i.'s radar. >> unfortunately this has happened in the past from a number of agencies. nothing is perfect. >> brangham: texas republican congressman mac thornberry chairs the house armed services committee. in a statement today, he called the situation "appalling" and said: "...the failure to properly report domestic violence convictions may be a systemic issue" within the air force. another texas republican, senator john cornyn, said he'll introduce legislation to ensure national databases are updated. >> when the shooter or the gun purchasers like this lie about their background.

he lied that he had a felony charge. he lied that he had a domestic violence charge. then the only way to catch them is through the background database. >> brangham: back in sutherland springs, investigators say they hope to wrap up their work at the church tomorrow. and, vice president pence now plans to travel to the town tomorrow, to meet with families of the victims. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: we'll talk about gun laws, background checks and the victims in texas, after the news summary. in the day's other news, a texas law cracking dn on sanctuary cities, for undocumented immigrants, went before a federal appeals court in new orleans. under the law, police must cooperate with immigration authorities, or they could face criminal charges. most of the state's major cities are challenging the statute. members of both parties in congress called today for permanent action to let some 5,000 nicaraguans stay in the

u.s. they were admitted nearly 20 years ago, under a temporary program, after a hurricane hit their homeland. last night, the trump administration gave them 14 months to leave the united states. a new warning today that puerto rico needs help on an "unprecedented scale." a house committee heard that nearly 60% of the island still has no electricity more than a month after hurricane "maria." and, thousands of people are still in temporary shelters. natalie jaresko chairs a federal board overseeing the u.s. territory's finances. she appealed for more federal aid. >> because of the damage to the ability to collect revenues, the disruption in the underlying economic activity, and storm recovery spending, the commonwealth and its instrumentalities are facing billions of dollars in cash shortfalls just to provide the basic functions of government. >> woodruff: puerto rican officials estimate the storm inflicted up to $95 billion in damage.

so far, congress has approved about $5 billion in aid. in india, air pollution has hit severe levels in new delhi. heavy smog hung over the capital city today, and officials urged people to stay indoors and schools to close. the problem worsens with the onset of winter, caused by dust, crop burning and factory emissions. u.n. humanitarian aid flights to yemen were grounded today. it came as a saudi-led coalition tries to block iran from sending arms to rebels in yemen. the coalition has closed all of yemen's air and sea ports. but u.n. officials warn of disaster in the making. >> the situation is catastrophic in yemen. it is the worst food crisis we are looking at in the world today-- seven million people on the brink of famine, millions of people being kept alive by our humanitarian operation. so this is a lifeline that must

be continued. >> woodruff: a cholera epidemic is also raging in yemen, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. a former foreign policy adviser to the trump campaign now says he did speak with a high-level russian official last year. carter page previously denied it. but he's told a house committee that he "briefly said hello" to the deputy prime minister after a speech in moscow. he says others in the campaign knew about the trip, including senator jeff sessions, now the attorney general. today marked 100th anniversary of the bolshevik revolution in russia, that created the soviet union. supporters carried soviet flags and marched in moscow. the russian government mostly ignored the anniversary. the soviet union collapsed in 1991. from twitter today, word of a major expansion. it's doubling the longstanding

limit of 140 characters per tweet, to 280, in a bid to get more people tweeting. the old limit still applies for tweets in chinese, japanese and korean because it takes fewer characters to message in those languages. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained about nine points to close at 23,557-- another record high. the nasdaq fell 18 points, and the s&p 500 slipped a fraction. still to come on the newshour: we break down how gun background checks work and when they don't. president trump's stop in south korea amid nuclear threats from the north, and much more. >> woodruff: back to our lead story, sunday's massacre in a texas church. as we reported, the killer's past behavior should've legally

blocked him from purchasing the guns he used to kill 26 people. our nation's gun laws are a patchwork, varying from state to state, and requiring the diligence of many different agencies and officials. william brangham is back with a explanation of this complicated legal landscape. >> brangham: in the united states, the settlement gives citizens entered right to keep and bear arms. the supreme court has several times affirm this fact, but there are some legal restrictions on who can purchase or keep guns. under federal law to buy a gun from a licensed dealer, you have to be 21 to get handgun and 18 to get a rifle or shotgun. your name must be checked in a background check system. federal and state laws designate four main categories that restrict your ability to get a gun -- committing a violent crime, known drug or alcohol abuse, or crimes committed when you were a juvenile. these are all things that would

show up in that background check. these restrictions might seem obvious, but not every at the present time has these rules and not every state enforces the laws in the same way. for example, in 23 states and washington, d.c., you can't have a gun if you've been convicted of a violent or gun-related crime. the killer in texas, devin kelley, should have been blocked from buying a gun cause he violently abused his wife and her toddler several years ago when he was in the air force. a 1996 bar bars domestic abusers from buying gun, but as we mentioned before, the air fours did not report his record to other authorities. on the issue of mental illness, a majority of states and d.c. bar people with a history of mental problems from accessing firearms. but it's by no means foolproof. the great majority of people suffering from mental illness are not violent, so who determines who is a threat? sometimes an individual will be flagged by the legal system or by a mental health provider, but often reporting it to federal and state databases never happens. on the issue of drug abuse, if

you're known to authorities to abuse drugs or have been convicted of a drug-related crime, 28 states and washington, d.c., will block your access to a firearm. the same goes for alcohol in 18 states and the district of columbia. with each of these restriction, handful of states only block people from having handguns, not shotguns or rifles. of course, people can often bypass state and federal rules entirely, simply by buying firearms from private sellers, often at gun shows. those sales from one private citizen to another are largely exempt from any reporting rules. this is what's known as the gun show loophole. it's estimated that almost a quarter of all guns are bought this way, with no background checks at all. another loophole, there is no federal system for removing firearms if a person later falls into one of these prohibited categories. so if you bought a gun legally but then developed mental illness or commit a violent act or abuse drugs, it's nearly impossible for authorities to take those guns back.

so here's a crucial question: do any of these laws actually make a difference in reducing gun deaths? do they make us safer as a society? according to one analysis, done by the law center to prevent gun violence, that's the group associated with former congresswoman and gun control advocate gabi giffords, the answer is clearly yes. the center graded all 50 states from a through f on how they act ensor force gun laws and compared those grades to actual gun deaths in each state. they conclude, "states with stronger laws have fewer gun deaths per capita while states with weaker laws have more gun deaths." many gun rights group take strong issue with this kind of analysis. they argue that fewer restrictions and more gun ownership is the way to better public safety. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: as more becomes known about the alleged shooter's troubled past, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are looking at ways to address what some critics call a broken background check system.

senator chris murphy, a democrat from connecticut, has been one of the most vocal critics for reforming gun laws following the tragedy at sandyhook elementary school. we spoke a short time ago and i started by asking him what needs to happen now. >> well, it's an open secret that the existing background check system is broken. people are waking up to the knowledge now that the department of defense has not been uploading lots and lots of records of people who shouldn't be able to get guns into the system. but the fact of the matter is there are many states that upload almost no records to the background check system, leaving the f.b.i. to go out and try to get those records through other means. that means there are hundreds of thousands of people who should not buy weapons who are either seriously mentally ill or who have been convicted of serious crimes who walk into gun stores and are able to walk out with weapons like the shooter in texas. hopefully this may be one of the

few areas of common cause. i talked today with senator jon cornyn, one of the biggest n.r.a. proponents in the senate, and we committed to try to work together on tightening up the existing background check system. this guy should have never gotten a gun, and hopefully republicans and democrats can do something about that. >> woodruff: so, senator, you're suggesting that the loopholes in the background system were well-known. if that's the case, why wasn't it brought to the public's attention before now? >> well, it has been brought to the public's attention. we've had legislation in congress for multiple sessions to improve and strengthen the background check system, the house of representatives passed funding a few years ago to give states more money to upload records. republicans in congress have never been willing to move this legislation. they have never been willing to fund states in order to put records online. in fact, they've been moving the opposite direction, earlier this year republicans passed legislation that was signed by

president trump that took 75,000 people with serious mental illness off the list of people who are prohibited from buying weapons. it seems that maybe in light of this tragedy there is some willingness to finally close these loopholes and make sure that the background check system works, but everybody has known about this and many of us have been trying to fix it for years. >> woodruff: so do you think there is a genuine change of view on the other side? >> well, i know that senator cornyn has been the strongest opponent of many of the common sense gun safety changes like universal background checks that we've tried the make. and today he and i talked seriously about working together to try the make sure that states are uploading this information about criminals and people with serious mental illness into the database. that's not sufficient in order to protect americans. in part because that only applies if you buy your gun at a gun store, if you buy it at a gun show or online, even if you're on the prohibited list, you'll still walk out with a

weapon. it's a step in the right direction if you can work together on this. >> woodruff: and you're prepared to work with senator cornen and others on this? >> i think you have the crawl before you can walk, and i am willing to do anything to try to show the american public that we are not just going to sit idly by and allow shooting after shooting to happen. i think if republicans can flex that muscle a little bit and tighten up our gun laws, maybe show a little bit of resistance for the gun lobby, they'll find out it's in the that hard an they get a lot of applause from a cross section of their constituents back home. >> woodruff: but just to clarify, the air force acknowledging that there was an error, you're suggesting it's more than just a single error? >> it is much more than a single error. the data that i've seen suggests that while the military is uploading information relative to people who have been given dishonorable discharges, those

that have been bad conduct discharges are very often not put into the system. it does not look to me like this was an individual act of oversight. it looks like a much bigger systematic problem that we need to fix. >> woodruff: president trump for the second day in a row now, he has commented on the shooting. today he is arguing again that it's fortunate that someone had a gun and was able to use it on the shooter outside the church. he's gone on to say more gun restrictions might have prevented this neighbor from doing what he did. >> i don't know if anybody has told the president that 26 people died inside that church and he was only pursued by civilians once he had murdered 26 people, including children and seniors, and despite the fact that texas allows you to carry a concealed weapon almost anywhere, explicitly inside church, this shooter by using a

military-style assault weapon was able to engage one of the worst mass shootings in american history. so clearly a good guy with a gun did not stop a bad guy with a gun this weekend in texas. it is part of this absurd mythology that the gun industry has tried to perpetuate in this country, which is never ever true. plenty of places that have lots of good guys with guns have mass shootings that are not stopped in that manner. >> woodruff: i'm sure you know, senator, even some democrats have this view. on the newshour last night there was a democratic congressman who pointed out that people with guns could help prevent things like this. >> it's just not what the data shows. and that's not what the anecdotal evidence shows. there are plenty of people in dallas with weapons when a sniper started firing from above the scene. there's the ability in nevada to carry weapons in public spaces. they didn't stop that sniper. and similarly, in texas, some of the loosest gun laws in the world didn't stop him.

if you own a gun, whether you like it or not, the data tells you that gun is much more likely to be used to kill you than to be used by you to kill an assailant or an intruder. that's not my opinion. that's the facts. >> woodruff: and finally, senator, the question of bump stocks, they got a lot of attention after the las vegas shooting. where does that stand right now? >> republicans say they want to work on it, but we have not seen any movement forward. the existing statue is ambiguous. it is not clear that the a.t.f. has the ability to ban these after-market modifications by themselves. thus it's up to congress to make clear what we have always agreed upon, that people should not have automatic weapons. the a.t.f. likely can't do this by themselves. congress has to do it. but republicans who say they're open to it don't seem will be to actually put forward the legislation. we're going to try to hold them to it in the coming days and

weeks. >> woodruff: senator chris murphy of connecticut, thank you very much. >> thanks. >> woodruff: two days after the shooting, we are learning more about the lives of the 26 people who died. tonight, we remember 18 of them, including one family that suffered a devastating series of losses. the holcombes lost family members across three generations. 60-year-old bryan holcombe was an assistant pastor, seen here delivering a sermon last year. he was leading the service sunday at the first baptist church. his wife karla was also killed, as was their son danny, their pregnant daughter-in-law crystal, and four grandchildren: 13-year-old greg, 11-year-old emily, eight-year-old megan, and noah, an infant. "the holcombe family is not like any other," a former classmate wrote on facebook.

"love, grace, servitude and kind-heartedness that stretched generations." 14-year-old annabelle pomeroy was one of the first victims to be identified. her father frank was the church's pastor, but was out of town with his wife, sherri. she said her daughter "was surrounded sunday by her church family that she loved fiercely. and vice versa." 51-year-old richard rodriguez was a retired railroad worker who went to church every sunday. his daughter said he was always the center of attention. he and his wife, theresa, wed in 2006 and loved working in their garden. joann ward was killed as she tried to shield her children during the shooting, but two of them also died: five-year-old brooke and seven-year-old emily. her five-year-old son ryland, whom she shielded, was shot multiple times and lifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital.

ward was "such a wonderful mother whose whole life was her children and family," her uncle remarked. robert and shani corrigan were high school sweethearts from northern michigan. their 25-year-old son committed suicide last year. his memorial service was at the first baptist church. "bob loved playing guitar for the church music ministry more than anything else and was likely doing that" when the couple was killed, a friend wrote. he added: the two "now are hopefully back together" with their son. 16-year-old haley krueger loved babies and had dreams of becoming a neonatal intensive care nurse. her mother said "haley loved life and was the most dramatic person."

>> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: teaching preschoolers tolerance. and how harvey weinstein hired undercover agents to gather information from women accusing him of assault. but first, it's wednesday morning in east asia, and president trump is wrapping up his visit to south korea. earlier, bad weather forced mr. trump and a small press pool to cancel a surprise visit to the demilitarized zone that separates north and south korea. they were aboard helicopters and in the air, but heavy fog forced them to return to seoul. the president is now addressing the south korean national assembly, and the top threat facing that country: north korea mr. trump's speech is the capstone of a busy visit to south korea, amid the ongoing nuclear showdown with pyongyang. south korea is the second stop on the president's five-nation asia tour.

john yang reports. >> yang: in south korea today, just miles from one of the world's most dangerous borders, president trump's tone toward north korea shifted from long- distance threats of "fire and fury" to 'let's make a deal.' at a news conference with president moon jae-in, mr. trump said he saw signs diplomacy would work. >> i really believe that it makes sense for north korea to come to the table and to make a deal that's good for the people of north korea and the people of the world. i do see a certain movement, yes. but let's see what happens. >> yang: mr. moon called on north korean leader kim jong-un to respond in kind. >> ( translated ): we strongly urge north korea again to immediately stop its nuclear and missile provocations and come out to dialogue for denuclearisation as soon as

possible. >> yang: south of seoul, at camp humphreys, the biggest u.s. army garrison in asia, mr. trump talked about curbing the north's nuclear ambitions. >> i think we're going to have lots of good answers for you over a period of time, and ultimately it will all work out. because it always works out-- has to work out. >> yang: competing rallies in the capital reflected a split in south korea, some supporting the president's threats to use u.s. military might, others warning he's provoking war with the north. president moon spoke to those fears during the official welcome, at the presidential residence, the blue house. >> ( translated ): i hope that your visit to korea and to the asia pacific region will offer us the opportunity to release some of the anxiety that the korean people have due to north korea's provocations and also assert a turning point in resolving the north korea nuclear issue. >> yang: in turn, mr. trump made

clear that defending the south goes hand in hand with another of his priorities, adding to america's bottom line. >> the amount of equipment and things you will be ordering from the united states will be very substantially increased and therefore will be bringing the trade deficit way down. >> yang: tonight, as thousands of south koreans staged a candlelight protest against the visit, mr. trump pledged to unity with south korea. >> you have never had a time where this ally has been more loyal or stood by your side more than right now. >> yang: for now, a united front, together facing the nuclear threat from the north. so how do south koreans view president trump's approach to dealing with kim jong-un's regime? david kang is professor of international relations and business at the university of southern california. his latest book is "american grand strategy and east asian security in the 21st century." david kang, welcome.

thanks for joining us. are president moon and president trump on the same page about the approach to north korea? >> i think they're more on the same page now than they were before, and this is exactly why presidents travel. moon was able to talk to him about what they worry about, which is starting a war, and trump was able to reassure him in many ways. so i think they're much closer now than they were before. >> yang: you say mr. trump was able to reassure him. was that part of the goal of this trip, do you think? >> i think much of this trip might be called say "damage control," meaning there are a lot of questions about what the u.s. is going to do and whether we have a policy for asia, and from japan to korea, across through china and southeast asia, i think this is what trump is doing is coming out and reassuring allies and partners about what the united states wants to do. >> yang: we heard president moon talk about the anxieties of south koreans. south koreans have lived within the range of if north korean nuclear threat for a long time now. how does that shape their view

of what's going on, and how is the south korean view of what's going on different from the u.s. view? >> i think the main difference is that south koreans feel that deterrents can work on north korea. it's one reason they want a strong u.s. alliance, and it's one reason the south koreans are not trying to have tactical nuclear weapons as much, because they feel if there is a strong u.s. alliance, the north can be deterred. so in that way i think they view the situation as more open to stability than perhaps we might feel here in the united states. >> yang: talk about deterrents. do the south koreans see president trump's talk about fire and fury, referring to kim as rocketman, did they view that as deterrents? >> you know, i think this president is perhaps more flamboyant than other presidents, but he said essentially a deterrent message, and it's actually been the same

as obama and bush before him. they have all said they won't live with nuclear weapons and that all options are on the table if the north attacks first. so i think the south koreans like anyone else wanted to clarify, that but i think trump essentially was sending a deterrent message. >> yang: the protests we've seen on the streets of seoul and outside camp humphreys, are the south koreans worried? is there greater anxiety now among the south koreans, do you think? >> i think there's greater anxiety than there was, but i think there is less anxiety about a war in south korea than there is in the united states. south koreans have lived with the threat of war from north korea for 64 years. this is something they're very used to, and it doesn't seem particularly as out of character as perhaps we might think in the united states. we don't pay attention to that constantly. >> yang: there are some in the trump administration who believe that a preemptive limited strike is manageable, that it would not trigger an all-out response from the north koreans. do the south koreans share that

view? >> no. i think there is a tremendous amount of belief that north korean will do whatever it says it will do, which is it will fight back. and that's one reason the deterrents has worked on both sides. they have spent... north korea spends a lot of time convincing the south koreans and the americans that they will fight back if they're attacked, and so essentially that's a... we tend to believe that. >> yang: is there greater anxiety among south koreans about what north korea will do or about what the united states will do? >> i mean, i think that's one reason president trump is making this visit. the defense secretary has been out, secretary of state has been out to the region many times, but what they need to see is a u.s. president who will come out, who can actually talk to the leaders and reassure and explain what the united states is going to do. so i think in some ways there is more focus on what the americans are going to do, because that's the new player in town. >> yang: david kang of the university of southern california, thanks so much for joining us.

>> my pleasure. >> woodruff: now, teaching about tolerance to the very youngest children in school. the lessons are certainly not new, but in some communities, they are taking on a new urgency and relevance in the wake of deep racial divides, social tensions and violent tragedies around the country. special correspondent cat wise visits a pair of noteworthy programs in california, for our weekly series, "making the grade." >> we're going to take out the mirror now and look at ourselves and make our own face. >> reporter: in this alameda california preschool, a box of crayons with a multitude of colors is helping little kids learn big lessons. >> put your hand inside and see what is best for you. >> reporter: teacher tiffani battle asks the children to look carefully at their own skin color and their classmates' skin colors, and to notice differences and similarities.

>> i'm black and white. >> reporter: the art project is just one of many ways children are introduced to an anti-bias curriculum here at the child unique montessori school, a private, tuition funded school. >> okay, so go ahead and color your skin in. >> reporter: cindy acker is the school's founder and principal. >> within any color of someone's skin there are many, many different colors, and so we want them to appreciate the diversity within their own individuality, and then we want them to be able to see and question, other children's differences. >> we're different on the outside, but on the inside we have a heart, and lungs, and a mind, and that's the same. >> reporter: talking about racial differences is not new at the school-- acker started the program more than 30 years ago and it was among the first of its kind in the country to focus on diversity and inclusion at such an early age, but she says the curriculum seems more

important than ever. >> to me, the things that are going on in the world today give us an indication that we need a major shift in how we perceive people, how we treat people, because i am a firm believer that it begins at the preschool level, i think that's where we need to start. >> reporter: acker points to racial divides witnessed in the violent neo-nazi protests in charlottesville, virginia, the police shootings of black men, and the debate over n.f.l. football players taking a knee to protest racism. >> what we have seen is a resurfacing or a surfacing of what we thought was absent, but sits within the psyche of some individuals. >> reporter: louise derman sparks has written several books about teaching anti-bias to preschoolers. >> the truth is that young children noticed differences very early, by the age of three and four, they're asking questions, they're beginning to absorb the stereotypes and

misinformation, discomforts, i don't like to call it prejudices, it's kind of like pre-prejudice, that they begin so, the myth that they aren't noticing, the idea of being color blind, actually harms kids. >> reporter: derman-sparks says preschool teachers who talk about the differences and similarities among their students create an environment where misinformation and fears can be addressed. >> for instance, if you have dolls of different types, and a child refuses to play with a doll that's got dark skin, the teacher can say, "how come you don't want to play with so and so?", and depending on what the child says you can then decide to help overcome whatever the discomfort is. >> reporter: that's exactly the atmosphere teacher francesca conterno hopes to create for her students at a public preschool. >> look at this boys eyes, what different about his eyes? >> blue. >> yes he's got blue eyes. and i see marianna's got blue eyes. and you made blue eyes in your

picture up there. what about kim, what color are kim's eyes? >> black. >> yes, they're definitely black. >> reporter: conterno teaches three and four-year-olds in the hayward unified district, one of someone might hear about a program like this and think, gosh, you know, race and racism, that's not something that should be done in a classroom, especially a preschool classroom, how would you respond? >> i would say why not? it's the perfect setting, it is absolutely the perfect setting, we have families in the classroom, it's a safe place, people develop relationships, perfect setup for honest conversations. >> reporter: conterno does not ask children directly about fears or misconceptions about race, instead she believes materials that highlight equality can provide a powerful message in the classroom. >> if most of the books show

white people, and very few show people of color, then that's a message. if all the teachers are white, or if the teachers are white but the assistants are always people of color, these are all messages to kids about who matters, who is visible, who is not, who has power. >> reporter: contero sees the sometimes uncomfortable questions children do ask about race and gender as teachable moments. >> too many times in classrooms see teachers will respond to that by "play nice" or "we're all friends in here" when it's a perfect opportunity to go a little bit deeper. >> see how you have one shade of brown, we have even a lighter shade here? right we have all of these different colors, so i have a feeling there's probably more than two, right? >> reporter: back at the child unique montessori school, parent shawnee keck says she choose the program for her three children because of it's strong focus on equity and social justice, but

she says, her husband did have questions about the anti-bias curriculum. >> i have a tall, white husband, and he was absolutely concerned, especially for our son, saying does this make him feel worse, does this make him feel like he might be somebody that should be feeling bad about his whiteness, and i don't think so, it's not pie, you know, just because you have a piece doesn't mean somebody else doesn't get a piece. >> reporter: amitra mamdouhi also chose the school for it's focus on diversity, but she points out that for two, three and four year olds, the conversation is kept very simple. >> of course you don't start talking about the new jim crow, or the prison industrial complex, but just to recognize different colors exist because of melanin, and this is natural, and it's all, we're all different, but we're also similar, we bleed, we cry, we

love, you know, that's how i >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in alameda county, california. >> woodruff: finally, we return to the harvey weinstein story and new revelations about the great lengths he allegedly went to in order to quash stories, silence his accusers and intimidate journalists. the latest investigation in the "new yorker" chronicles those efforts. it includes details of how weinstein hired private investigative firms to collect damaging information on his accusers, including one that used former israeli intelligence agents to allegedly befriend and spy on actress, rose mcgowan. mcgowan has alleged that

weinstein raped her. he has denied that accusation and his spokeswomen told the new yorker: "it is a fiction to suggest that any individuals were targeted or suppressed at any time." ronan farrow is the journalist who wrote this and the prior he joins me now. ronan farrow, this is a stunning collection of reporting. do we know what triggered these actions on harvey weinstein's part? >> judy, in the fall of last year, women began the speak to reporters and speak publicly in some cases, most prominently perhaps rose mcgowan tweeted describing in her words her rapist and implying heavily that that was harvey weinstein. this was one of several factors that precipitated this rush to staff up with criminal defense attorneys and private investigation firms, and as you just described, to engage in some pretty aggressive human intelligence tactics. >> woodruff: so who... what kind of folks work at these investigative agencies?

what do they do? >> you know, those are an array of firms, and they would say that their work is very legitimate and that they do all sorts of open-source research for clients and consulting for clients, but certainly in some cases for harvey weinstein, these firms were either, a, compiling information that was specifically, according to the documents that we have, designed to undermine and smear people, both women with allegations and reporters, and in other cases were actually engaging in hands-on human intelligence tactics, insinuating themselves into people's lives using false identities. >> woodruff: using false identities and specifically what happened with rose mcgowan, the actress? >> a woman calling herself diana philip of reuben capital partner, a wealth manage. firm in london, reached out the mcgowan through agents working with her, and over the course of several months met with her repeatedly, offering to invest

in her company and to enlist her in a women's rights campaign, and over the course of those meetings recorded secretly hours of audio that were then relayed back to weinstein in the form of transcripts. that same diana philip reached out to me, actually reached out to and successfully met with another reporter, ben wallis of "new york" magazine multiple times posing as a woman with allegations. she used several identities, and the truth of the matter, judy, is she was an undercover operative working for the israeli intelligence firm black cube. >> woodruff: so using a false identity, talking to you, what kinds of questions was she asking you? >> well, in my case she reached out repeatedly, both through representatives of mine and directly to me in e-mail, and i did not respond. a representative of mine, a speaking agent that she got to, did speak to her and found it suspicious that she was demanding a meeting before discussing a supposed speaking engagement that she wanted to approach me about, and so it

didn't go further than that. but as i said, you know, this was a tactic used on a number of reporters and in some cases this resulted in meetings with this woman using a range of identity, posing as a source. >> woodruff: you also point out and you refer to this a minute ago that weinstein tried to use and then did use his own attorney, david bois of the law firm. he is well-known. he represented al gore in the 2000 election. what happened there? >> david boyce is someone i know well. he used to appear on my show. he's extremely well regarded in many circles. he personally signed contracts directing undercover operatives for black cube to kill a "new york times" story about the weinstein allegations and to obtain a manuscript of rose mcgowan's in-progress book, which they believed would

contain rape allegations. and they were successful in sending to weinstein numerous transcripts describing the contents of that book. now, david boyce role in this is interesting. he's defended his actions in detail in the story. we quote him at length. i had many conversations with him, but it certainly raises questions, because his firm was representing the "new york times" while this all happened. >> woodruff: right, which is another part of. this i was going the read part of the statement that he put out today, "had i known at the time that this contract would have been used for the services that i know understand it was used for i would never have signed it or been associated in any way with this effort. so he's not denying that it happened, but he's saying he didn't know. >> look, he confirmed all of this in our conversation, which again are quoted on the record in the story, as well, you know, he also said he regretted it at the time. he is now saying in a still more

forceful way that he regrets it and that he didn't understand fully what services he was contracting for, but i will say, judy, that the contract is extremely explicit, and it is one of several that either he or his firm signed. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about the fact that there were... you name at least one journalist, a person you describe as a chef content officer at the "national enquirer," who seemed to be working on helping harvey weinstein. >> in that case, dylan howard, who is the editor-in-chief of the "national enquirer" and works at the company that publishes the "national enquirer," as you said, did exchange e-mails with harvey weinstein in which he appeared to be collaborating with weinstein, generating contacts and having several reporters working for him reach out to those women, secretly record the conversation with a woman in one case, and relay that to weinstein, information about those interviews. >> woodruff: ronan farrow, where are we in this harvey

weinstein reporting? is it your sense after spending a lot of time immersed on this that we now have a pretty full sense of what happened? >> you know, judy, i wish i could say that were the case. there is still much more to learn about the ways in which the powerful elites of this country manipulate the media and manilate people coming forward with important allegations. the way in which the tools of the kinds described in this article can forestall the public dissemination of allegations and also potentially in some cases criminal proceedings about them. we are seeing that only now are lawmaker agencies really picking up the baton where it was dropped so often before in the weinstein case. i think this is a much bigger issue that has even been unpacked so far and that the reporting is going to continue to go on about this. >> woodruff: well, a lot of disturbing information here, ronan farrow writing for "the new yorker" magazine. thank you very much.

>> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: in the wake of the weinstein stories there have been a number of other accusations of assault or harassment brought to light. at npr, the head of news, michael oreskes resigned after accusations of sexual harassment from a number of women. this evening, jarl mohn, the c.e.o. of npr says he is going on medical leave for a month. mohn cites the fact that he suffers from hypertension at a dangerous level. in a letter to staff, he apologizes, saying he could have handled the allegations against oreskes "faster and more decisively." >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, rallies in moscow marked the centennial of the russian revolution, but some russians are ambivalent about the anniversary.

we explore all of the reactions in photos on our web site, 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 see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> 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. >> so it's not systematic, is it? >> not at all. >> nobody can top it. >> this is the best place in the world to do astronomy. >> and somewhere there might be a telltale sign of whether it's going to continue erupting or not. >> leading edge with miles o'brien, wednesdays on the pbs newshour.

>> so you don't think the senate majority leader mcconnell will have to resort to the so-called nuclear option? >> last you seemed to be reluctant to get involved in the syrian issue? >> major impact on the species that live here? >> not all courses can go online like np. >> why not? >> what's like okay we have got to get involved here. bullying would that have to be the red line? >> going to be. >> making the grade, tuesdays on

the pbs newshour. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ - you know, america's famous for the two layered cake with a filling and frosting, and it's also something that's served at almost every birthday party. but if you look around the world, they have a whole different kinds of cakes, usually one layer cakes. they have tea cakes, they have pound cakes, biscuits, et cetera, scones. so today on milk street, we're going to take a fresh look at cakes and do simple cakes. we'll start with a strawberry shortcake, but it's made with a whipped cream biscuit. we actually whip the cream and fold it into the batter.