captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour toght: a rare public fight. the f.b.i. pushes back on the accuracy of a controversial mo created by republican lawmakers, and white house plans to release it. then, how to define this "american moment." the biest takeaways from the president's first state of the union address. then, i sit down with senator bernie sanders, on one of the democratic responses to the address, and the first year of the trump administration. and, author jesmyn ward answers your questions about her book, "sing, unburied, sing," the first novel in our new book club with the "new york times." >> as an artist, i feel a certain responsibility to write

about difficult subject matters. uff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> bnsf ilway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation.

commitd to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. ur supported by the john d. and catherine t. macar foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: b this program was made possibthe corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. dr >> wf: from the f.b.i. today, a rare rebuke of the president. the bureau strongly criticized a congpuressional ican memo that president trump wants made public. it is said to criticize f.b.i. and justice department actions the russia investigatio we will have a full report, right after the news summary. t the day's other news, an

amtrin carrying republican members of congress collided with a garbage truck in ia, killing one person i the truck. there were no reports of serious nejuries on the train. it hapjust west of charlottesville, as the republicans headed to a retreat in west virginia. president trump spoke later with house speaker paul ryan, who was aboard the train. >> the train accident was a tough one, a tremendous jolt. and they are proceeding to their conference. we don't have a full understanding yet as to what happened, but it was a train hitting a truck going at a pretty good speed. >> woodruff: later, the university of virginia hospital reported one injured person was brought there in critical condition. the cause of the wreck is under envestigation. the presdrew widely divergent reactions today to his first state of the union in his 80-minute speech last

ecght, he coupled optimism about thomy with warnings about undocumented immigrants and violenub. today, rcan senator marco rubio from florida defended thne president's >> there are divisive issues in america, and sometimes raising them are going to create divisions among us. that dsn't mean that we shouldn't seek to unify behind other things that should bring in together, and we should all be unified bthe common purpose of solving problems, even if we're divided on the right way to sol them. >> woodruff: democrats labeled the speech "divisive." house minority leader nancy pelosi said that it was "d poid of serioicy ideas." >> it was a very transformative speech for some of us last night, because while our expectations for greatness and vision of the president are not high, he stooped to a new low. democrats believe that the american people deserve better than what president talked about last night. >> woodruff: oveeas, japan's government praised mr. trump's vow to keep the pressure on north korea.

the president also branded iran a "corrupt dictatorship." but today, the country's foreign minister javad zarif tweeted that president trump "again confirms his ignorance of iran." we will return to the speech, later in the program. the director of the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention resigned today over ingoing financial conflicts of rest. brenda fitzgerald had pledged to nfsolve those conflicts during her mation hearing, but "polit financial manager bought tobacco and drug stocks, one month after tee took the c.d.c. job. the stocks were sold. u.s.a. gymnastics announced today that its remaining directors have resigned. they had been accused of ignoring yearsbyf sexual abuse arry nassar. the former sports doctor was back in court in lansing, michigan today h this timis being sentenced for molesting at least0

gymnasts at a private spts club. meanwhile, john engler took over as interim president at miigan state university, where nassar also worked. he vowed to support the victims. >> i've been amazed by your strength and your courage, and i pledge that i won't let your efforts be in vain. mark my words, change is coming. >> woodruff: in a separate development, former presidential nominee hillary clinton now says she should have fired a senior adviser from her 2008 campaign. burns strider was accused of sexually harassing a young, female staffer. f was demoted, but not fired. ebook last night, clinton lamented her decision to keep him on. she wrote, "if i had it to do again, i wouldn't." more questions today about adult film star stormy daniels and her alleged affair with donald trump in 2006. the president's lawyer has

denied it, and daniels' lawyer released a signewestatement this , also denying any affair. but, last night, on "jimmy kimmel live!", daniels would not confirm or deny the reports. in hong kong, laakers voted today to end theivorld's largest y market by 2021. the vote in the local , gislature came aprotesters gathered oanting "stop reng kong ivory trade." a or for the world wildlife fund hailed the decision. >> what is needed next is to step up e enforcement to make sure there will no longer be any illegal trade into or through hong kong. and what we want to happen is that the commercial ban in the ivory trade will spread to other asian countries. >> woodruff: mainland china banned ivory sales as of january 1. an estimated 30,000 elephants

are killed illegally for their tusks every year. back in this country, the justice department has dropped its corruption case against senato federal prosecutors had accused the new jersey democrat ofin trpolitical favors for gifts and cash. his first trial ended in a hung jury, and last week, a federal judge threw out several counts against him. south carolina congressman trey gowdy says he won't run for re-election, the ninth house republican chairman to do so. gowdy led the investigation of 12 attacks in benghazi, libya, and now chairs the oversight committee. the former prosecutor said today that he will return to the courts, and added that he has come to believthat "it is the bs that both seek and reward fairness that are the most rewarding." the federal reserve today left its benchmark interest rat unchanged. it said it expects to resume raising rates later thisear. and, wall street recovered a

little of yesterday's big losses. the dow jones industrial average gained 72 points to close at 26,149. the nasdaq rose nine points, and the s&p 500 added one int. and, early risers in parts of the u.s. witnessed a rare lunar event this morning. it was the second full moon this month, and also appeared biggerl than uecause it was closer to earth. on top of that, a total lunar eclipse gave the moon a blood red tinge. the overall combination had not happened since 1982. e ill to come on the newshour: controversial and classified memo president tru says he plans to make public. we break down some key moments s in tte of the union address. and, i speak to senator bernie sanders for his reaction. and, much more.

>> woodruff: now, to the renrkable public fight betw the white house and the f.b.i. over theelease of a secret house intelligence committee memo that, as john yarg reports, isof the russia investigation. >> yang: judy, cservative republicans have been urging president trump to releasehe four-page classified document, believing would discredit the f.b.i. and the russia investigation. last night, as mr. trump left te house chamber after the state union address, he seemed to assure republican representative jeff duncan of south carolina that he would make it public. s great to meet you. let'lease the memo. >> oh, yeah. oh, don't worry, 100%. >> yang: this morning, white house press secretary sarah sanders suggested on cnn that the release could take some time. >> we've said all along, from day one, that we want full transparency in this process. we haven't hidden that. but at the same timee

still going to complete the legal and national security review. that has to take place before putting something out publicly. and that's the place where we are right now. >> yang: later, the f.b.i. issued a statement saying, "we ve grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." sense of all of this, we are joined now by devlin barrett, who covers stice department and f.b.i. for the "washington post." thanks for j rning us. as yorted, deputy attorney general ready rosenstein and fbi director christopher ray were at the white house on monday to make their case in person to the chief of staff john kelly. what does it mean that they felt the need to go public this afternoon or today withthat statement? >> frankly in some ways it meanh expect they have already lost this the ba el. as you saw in the preside's atement on the congressional floor last night, as you see in oankly the body languagf many public officials in the administration and on the hill,

everyone involved inhis really expect this memo will come out very soon. and i think as much as the statement is an attempt to say e reasons why it shouldn't come out, i think it's also yrankly a statement to the public to on't assume what you read here is the absolute truth. this may not be, and obviously the fbi is saying it isn't, this isn't an accg rate account what we do and how we do it. >> because of the underlying documents or what this is based on, they can't-- they are constrained on what they can say after it's released, is that rit? >> right, part of the rub from the point of view of the intelligence agencies is that the house is going to release a set-- a classified document that has a set ofssertions in it. to rebut those aers ises presumably you will need and i am told you would need another set of classified information ich those agencies aren't allowed or really incleu- inclined to release because it's classified. so for some folks on the intelligence community and they

fbi, tel like they are going to be handcuffed in terms of responding to the allegations in the first place. >> drksz devlin what is the main concern of the f berks. what are they worried about. >> two main thing one that it would involve the release of sensitive information involving an ooi investigation. two, that this could set you a precedent in which every time an intelligence investigation intersectings with a political matter, that a polital committee may decide to just make it public for reasons that may or may not be valid. and so that's a dangerous precedent in tir mind. and what some people would call you know politicizing the intelligence system. >> now that the fbi has gone public with their objections to this and we know what the president trump's feel being loyalty is, what do you think eeis does to the standing of rod rosen and christopher ray? >> i think rosenstein has been on thin ice for awhile and the

ice is probably getting thinner, but that is not a unique nondition in this administration and certainl a unique condition in a number of parts is the justice department. so i think there level of risk of alienation. you know, the white house and the fbi are greeing furtherhe apart by ay. some ways the white house and vus tis department are going further apart. does that reach a breaking point? we really don't know. in your reports ing of the fbi and the justice department, do they feel under ige, unde attack by the white house, but this drum beat of critism? >> i think they do feel under seige and they feel like a lot of that is coming from the hill and conservatives on the hi who are cleeshly, seem clearly very antagonized and antagoniic to the the russian investigation, but clearly a lot coming from the white house. there is a great deal of tensitn e and they feel that. >> and you've also got some reporting about the-- what is behind the earlier than expected

departure of the deputy fbi director andrew mckai>>b. ight, we know what they have brn investigating for a number of months. theye really been trying to unpack the weeks of october the month before the election that trump won. and some of that focu we're told, a big part of that focus for months has been on why does there seem to be some delay ine int between when a laptop is found with some neweemingly new hillary clinton related emails on iten and here is a full exploration of what those iails are and whether or not they areortant. that gap has been very important in terms of internal fights within the fbi. and obviously because it's alli become puy known, that gap has also become important in terms of the questions that the inspector general has been ssesng of witne >> does the fact that mr. ray asked or suggested that mckaib leave earlier than expected suggest something about what is in that i report or what the ig is finding? >> i think it ggests that the

report will not serve andrew mckaib a clean bill of health. but i think a lot of e are going to be sbtd to some type of criticism in that report ultimately. you know, andrew mckib is sort of a unique figure in some ways because is he still in the governmentr at least was until this monday. so that played a large role and obviously it affecting him now. but i think there will be criticism dod out, frankly, in a number of areas related to the inton investigation. >> and on the russia investigation, we've just learned that the justice department is asking that michael flynn, the former national security virs, that his sentencing be delayed. what does that tell ut the investigation? >> well, it tells us that we are a ys away from special counsel bob mueller winding this up. you know, you put off a sentencing like that when the witness still nes to do work for you, when there are still things that have to happen on the pros cue toral and investigative side. and you don't want to show all

your cards in the formf a plea or sentencing hearing. so that is what it shows. at mueller need more time to finish his work. and you know, i wouldn't tak that as a huge surprise but i think it's another indicate thary this is likely to g on for many months more. >> devlin barrett from the washton post, thank you a so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we turn back now to last night's state of the union address, and what it can tell us about president trump's agenda for the coming year. here to dissect the president's words-- some of them-- are karen tumulty of the "washington post," and our white house correspondent, yamiche alcindor. and welcome to both of you. so the president spoke for an hour and 20 minutes there were a lot of words said. but there were some speci messages. it seemed that he spent most of the time either talking about

the econ iy origration. and i want to focus specifically m.on immigration refor dl plugged his plan as a kind of ideal, mground. and here is just a part of what he said and then we're going to talk about it. >> i'm extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, democrats and republicans, to protect our citizens of every background, color, religeon and creed. (applause) ty duty and the sacred duty of every el official in this chamber is to defend americans, to protect their safety, their families their communand their right to the american dream. because americans are dreamers too. >> woodruff: so yamiche, a lo t of reactiwhat the president said there. e o was he appealing to? >>s appealing to republican, the republican base

and republican lawmakers who are getting ready to make the case that immigration and hard-line e followed.d to b he really handed a rallying cry to republicans when he said americans are dreamers too. you can just see that slogan on t-shirts and on hats. because he was really trying to trmmer home the fact that democrats arng to pit t erican citizens against immigrants and tmocrats are choosing immigrants. and he hammered that home also with the guts that he chose. he brought families that were impacted by immigrants, arguing at immigrants were committing crimes in the communities. and hurting people. and that is-- that was his message and that is, i think, as an hour and 20 minutes. that was the most memorable part of the speech to me. >> woodruff: ka, how did you see it and how effective did you think it was? all sides are under a very, very tight deadline to come up with some way to deal with all of these young people, young immigrants who were brought to this country illegally by their

parents. the president's plan in the white house's view has sweetness for both sides, it hceas enhan border security t has restrictions on legal immigrants for the right and it had it has a very much more expansion proteksz for these so called dreamers, for liberals, for the democrats. the fact is though, the hardest, the hardest audience, the toughest part of this wholeoi process isg it be getting it through the house. so that is why hiwas mng this appeal to essentially bring his ownary on board his proposal. >> is there a sensema hhave helped himself or caused problems. >> it seems though he probably caused some problems. a reaction from democrats who have been very much a backlash. the cdc is using saying he used racist rhetoric, the professional black caucus that s the althis is happening

another shutdown is looming. even though we just got out of one shut debn, onuary 8th they have to vote again to fund the government and you can already mme that ration is going to be at the center of that. s d it will be a lot of the same argumeat we had before. there is going to be either one side democrats saying daca needs to be fixed imdiately. republicans will be saying we have a whole other month, why are you holding up amerins for immigrants. >> i want to bring up something else, this is foreign policy. he touched on a few areas t wasn't the bulk of the speech but one the points he made had to do with the nuclear arsenal of united states. liss' listen to that. >> around the world we face rogue gime,s terrrist groups and rivals like china and russia that cllenge our interests, our economy, and our values. >> we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but poking it so strong and so

rful that it will debtor any acts of aggression by any other nation or anyone else. (applause) perhaps some day in the future there will be a magical moment when the countries of the world will get together to eliminate their nuclear weapons. unfortunately, we are not there yet. sadly. >> so karen he is saying maybe a magical moment in the future but we're not there. ce to, this is a refer he was not very specific. but the fact is, i think everyone in the room knew that e back drop is the president's plan to revamp the nuclear arsenal and specifically what they are are talking about is adding smaller nuclear weapons. what they call low yeem nuclear weapons. is this idea you can essentially love small nuclear swipes. that concerns of people because a lot of experts say this igoing to expand the

sirks under which nuclear weapon-- the circumstances under which nuclr weapons might be a real option including for iation f retal cyberattacks. >> woodruff: it is interesting, the president as car be just said wasn't detailed. he put out a thoght and an intention but we don't know much about it. >> we don't know much about it. and what is really-- what is important about this fight is that this is the only time in hour and 20 minutes that iohe med the word "russia" and it was sur priesing that he say the word russia in frof all these people but two, the fact that he choses to use the word "russia" while also casting it e a challenger by saying they allenging our american economy. the important thing is though that russia continues to loo over this white house as a large cloud. russia has yet--nt the presi has yet to really explain whether or not he thinks that russia can influence our elections. there is a lot of talk about the mid terms and what democrats are going to do what republg icans e go do. but what is russia going to do rhe social media companies have

not really fig out how russia impacted the last election. s pretty understandable that russia could influence the mid-term. >> good point but of course it leaves the program and another aspect. we continue to cover testify ree day. one of the thing that i wan ito bring the number of personal stories that were striking to me. there were so many, maybe half a dozen or more instances of theergs art-wrenching accounts of what people have lived durough 689 here is one where the president intrs a young plition officer from albuquerque, new mexico. >> officer ryan was on dutdee when he saw a preg nantd rihomeless woman prepa to inject heroin. when ryan told her she was going to harm her unborn child, shen be weep. toe told him she didn't know wherurn. but badly wanted a safe home for he baby. that moment ryan said he felt god speak to him.

then he went home to tell his ca.e rebec in an instant she agreed to adopt. they named their new dauteh hope. >> woodruff: a very emotional oemoment last night, what the president accomplish, what does he do by things like this, stories like this? >> well, to me, one of the most striking contrasts of this speech were jus about everything else we have a ever heard from this president, and i'm not going to call it a pivot because we haveo often see the president go in one direction and change dreks immedialy. but he kept telling these stories of avera,ge america generally when donald trump speaks it is very self-referential. he points to himself as he said at the convention. i alone can fix it. in this speech he actually said it is the people who make 24 country great.i anink that that in many ways is what a lot of republicans would hope would be

the kind of message that heke might forward on the campaign going forward. this president as we know can baange course very quickly and he may b on the old twitter pretty quickly and attacking ople and being thin skinned about attacks on him. but that was, i think, a good message for republicans that he was delivering last night. >> and as karen points out,t yamiche, is as we launch lea mid-termion year. the white house, everybody, sitting in the house chamber, was very mindful of. >> the opioid crisis is also something that republicans and democrats seem to think that they can work together on. reat is much like infrastrucpeople understand that there is a problem there, that they want to come up with some sort of solution. the important thing though is that while they were inta about baby hope, the mother of hope, at least accoding to reporting is that she is still struggling with addiction. and today the democrats leady elizabeth warren and pattee mur a, they actually filed paperkr

to have an investigation into what or not donald trump is handling the opioid crisis effectively. he said that there was going to be this public health crisis, that he s declaring i a public health crisis in october. but since we haven't reallylo heard from the white house about what they are actually voing and what resources they are ng to that. so democrats are already using that today to go back to president and say what are you actually going to do about it. >> it is an issue he raised so i will see h plays out. yamiche alcindor, kare tumty, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: renewed attention on the harmful effects of diesel emissions. ind, jesymn ward discusses her book, unburied, sing," as part of our new book club.

democrats may be united in opposing president trump, but last night, they could not unify around a single message to erespond to his state of union address. there were no fewer than five democratic respohoes. one of speakers was bernie sanders, the independent senator from vermont and former democratic presidential candida. senator sanders, welcome. senator sanders, welcome back to the newshour, thank i was going to start with the state of the union but i do want to first binge up this story that we are paying attention to tonight, thi dispute that has broken out into the open between the white house and the department of justice, the fbi over whether to release this confidential classified memo. esat are your thoughts about the ishat are raised by this, issues df df. >> well, first of all, let's understand this confidential b memo was writtrepublican staffers. that is who wrote it. and what the fbi and the

intelligence agencies are concerned about is the of information that at this point should not be made public. and what the fbe and many americans are really wondering about is how does it happen that you have a republican party, which for so m yanyrs defended law enforcement, defended thein lligence agencies, are now turning against them. and this gets you back to the mueller investigation and the ea of disparaging mr. mueller who has had widespread, bipartisan support for the work he did as fbi director. but now that he'sth looking a possibility of trump's campaign, colluding with the russians, suddenly they are trying to really denigrate this man. i think that is what this is about, very political. >> woodruff: what w i understathat the core of this memo though is whether the foreign inteligence surveillance act court, the fisa court and the department of justice may have been used in a political way to help one party over another in 2016.

do you think it's psible that that happened. >> i think, well, first of all, as i understand it, had chosen not to release the house mem which deals with this issue as well. so they only memo bng release is the republican memo. bottomline is mueller is doing an independent investigation and republicans in the house are doing everything they can to obstruct that investigation. >> woodruff: well, let may turn turn you-- so in other words you are not comnting on whether it's possible thenat ha, whether there was some political use. >> i'm not a great fan of-- i voted against a lot of the intelligence, the fesa efforts because i thins a nation we are invading people's privacy to a significant degree, both governent and the corporate world. but i would say that with republicans are doing is 0-- 100% political a tht

moment. >> let's talk about the state of re union there were se popts in the speech last night where the president said i want to reach across the aisle, i want to work with democrats on whether its' the economy, immigration, infrastructure, do you see potential areas of common ground where you can work with the president? >> i would hope. so i would hope so but let's understand. when we talk about immigration t is the president himself who precipitated this daca crisis by revoking obama'sxecutive order on daca in september. and where we are now is the situation where 80%, according to poll after poll,0% or more of the american people say we have got to provide legal status to these 7800-- 800,000 dreamers and a path towards citizenship. now the good news is, is that in nhe house there is ma jolter supporow. i think you have something like 30 republicans joining, in support of the dreamers act. you have majority supportow i the senate. my guess is 55, 56 people in the

senate who support a dreamers act. now the question is whether the leadership wilcome together in the house and the senate and allow us to go forwa. to do the right thing, the moral thing, and make sure that pethee younle do not lose their legal status. >> woodruff: do you think it is likely that there will be some agreement? >> i woulhope so. i would think if we are 56, 57 voteds in the senate right now h k we can get three or four more and i would hope that mitch mcconnell and paulryan will allow us to go forward and protect these young people. >> so senator, you gave a response to the president last night, a live streamed on utube and facebook at the same time the quote official decratic party response. >> not true. we gave it after the democratic response. >> woodruff: sorry. >> joe kennedy did a fine job, we did it after he did it. woodruff: what i wated to ask you, among other 24eu7bgs it was congressman kennedy who made the response.

he talked about a better deal ryr all who called this count home. he talked about democrats supporting a higher minimum wage. paid leave for employees, affordable child care. and son. how does h message different from yours which was described as a progressive democratic message. >> his message is fine, i'm not iere to argue with congressman kennedy whhink gave a very good speech. the theme of my remarks is to suggest that this cou is moving very rapidly into an oligarchic form of society where we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. recently, i'm sure you saw, that the koch brotherrs and thei billionaire allies are now planning to spend 400 millon dollars in the 2018 elections. so you have got a handful of llionaires whoave enormous inflawns over the economic and political life of this count, in my view the democratic party needs to be active in organizing at the grass roots effort, and some of us are working very hard

on tha, a mass movement to demand that we have a government that represents the middle class working people and not just the 1%. -- and that includes doing what every othemajor country on earth does, dividing health providing health care t il a, medicare for all, singer payor program it meanstr sforming our energy system ciay from fossil fuel to energy efcy and sustainable energy it means raising the qunimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, payty for women it means rebuilding the ine astructure, not in thy that trump is proposing, which is calling for states to do a lot of privatization of th roads and water systems, but a real investment in our infra -- infrastructure to create up to 15 million jobs >> i was just going to say, is s a problem for democrats though that you heral different messages there with congressman kennedy, there was yours. >> the so called modere democratic response.

>> i don't think it's a response at all. i think right now there is magazinessive revulsion if i may use that word, against donald trump for his divisiveness, dishonesty and a bigotry. and diffent people are approaching how you deal with trump and how you bring america forward in different ways. ngd the truth is that different voices bn different respondents, people who have different perspectives. but the goal right now is to rally the american people around a progressive a gnda. what i am a's talking about, making public colleges and universities tuition free, instead of giving massive tax breaks to the billionaires and large korpgsas trump has done, most americans think we need to sct billionaire class start paying more in taxes, not less. >> how soon do democrats need to get together and have a unified message? >> right now i mean again what most of these polls suggest that the democrats are doing quite well. you look at november 7th,

democrats did very well in new jersey and virginia, they won a huge upset in alabama.l winning at loc levels. i think the momentum is with us. the problem that we have, jud, is take on the koch brothers, the second wealthiest family iin ountry and other billionaires who will pour huge amounts of money into the political, into the election of 2018. >> wuff: senator bernie sanders, it is always a pleasure. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: two years ago, ialkswagen admitted to essenty cheating on emissions standards with diesel vehicles. as part of a nearly-$3 billion settlement with the federal government, volkswagen was quired to establish a fund that could used by states to reduce air pollution, specifically from diesel exhaust.

irates are now figuring out how to spend thare of the settlement. special correspondent cat wise reports from oregon on efforts to reduce diesel exhaust from older engines. her story is part of our breakthroughs reporting for our weekly series on the "leading edge" of sence and technology. >> reporter: portland, oregon is booming. more than 20 cranes dot the skyline. much of the heavy-duty work construction sites and freeways, rtvers, train tracks, in poland and throughout the country, is powered by diesel engines. diesel exhaust is toxic. it's been classified as human carcinogen by the world health organization, and it's a contributor to climate change. since 2007, new on-road vehicles have had to be built with emission controls that greatly reduce-- as much as 95%-- the sooty mix coming out of diesel tailpipes. for off-road equipment, the same rules phased in around 2014. but, there are no regulations for the estimated several million older diesel engines

still in use, and unthey can r very long time. in oregon, their impact on air quality has been the focus of one dedicated scientistnewho has turher family station wagon into a lab on wheels. >> diesel particulate matter is one of the air toxics that didn't get regulated in the clean air act. so it's part of thunfinished business of the clean air act. >> reporter: linda george is an chemist at portland who is studyingy diesel lels in the city's air. >> what we're doing is driving around with an instrument called aethalometer. and an aethalometer basically suasures black carbon, which is a rrogate for diesel particulate matter. sometimes, when we've had it set up so we could see the instrument while we're drivi, which is probably not too safe, but that was when we really discovered the construction equipment. you know, driving by construction sites, saying, "whoa." >> reporter: she's had some "whoa moments" because there

have been a lot of questions about how much diesel exhaust is actually in the air. computer models have been the main tool used in oregon, and most states, to estimate diesel pollution. those models predicted elevated levels throughout the portland buea. t, some have questioned their accuracy. george says her instruments ely confirmed the models and found even higher periodic spikes in some areas. as i set out to try and make ements to really ground- truth these models. sowe whae seen so far is that the diesel particulate matter measured in the city of are above the health standards set by the state, just about everywhere. and then, if we look at areas where there's a lot of activity, like near cotrain or by ruction equipment, we see really elevated levels, surprisingly elevated levels, 00 times higher than the standards. >> reporter: those high levels im some areas can have an pact on public health. it's estimed as many as 400 oregonians die prematurely

every year from exposureo diesel exhaust, and overall health and welfare cts can be as much as $3 billion annually. some groups, though, are impacted more than others. a 2014 county report found diesel pollution is two to three times worse for minority communities. >> you can see multiple semi- trucks coming off and on these highways. and just, every time, they rev their engines, and a puff of ack smoke comes out, and it's just really gross. >> reporter: 27-year-old alex mijares is one of those concerned about diesel exhaust. he lives in tualatin, just outside portland, in an apartment building near a major terstate. r at least a mile and a half radius around oufreeway exits are all low-income apartment buildings where, you know, the populace are mostly hispanics, or pacific islanders. i'm worried for a lot of kids

around hhae, you know. lots of friends, they all hve young children. >> reportee in oregon, there's be and concern about diesel exhaust and its impacts on human health. but thissue has taken on more urgency in the past year in the wake of the thw. settlement. state expects to get about $70 million in funds to help it clean up its air, and there's a big debate going on now about how best to spend that money. >> we're strapped, budgetarily. and so the v.w. money came at a very opportune tim >> reporter: michael dembrow is a democratic oregon state senator, whose district includes parts of portlan last year, he introduced a bill that, among otr things, would have used v.w. settlement funds to help owners retrofit older engines or buy newer models. >> we know that the trucks that e e going interstate and that ned by the larger, wealthier companies are dealing with this problem. but those that are owned by

smaller companies, minority women-owned, are having a real challenge, because the new trucks are more expensive. and as far as construction equipment, we just don't know. >> reporter: thas because the state doesn't have a license or registration system for off-road diesel equipment like tractors and backhoes. dembrow sa is for oregon to do what california did a decade ago: orquire older diesel engines to be phased ouetrofitted. california is the only state vich has enacted regulations for older diesicles. >> we have to make this change so tt our trucks are where california is today. we'll have to prioritize; we don't have enough moneelp everyone. but certainly, we will want to use anfunds that we have to help those companies that most need the help. >> reporter: but senatorembrow and his allies face an uphill battle. his origin bill was largely gutted in committee after hoposition from industry groups

and some lawmakersaised a number of concerns. a compromise was reached to use some of the v.w. funds to clean up the state's school bus fleet, but it'sstimated that upgrading the entire fleet of older diesel vehicles hout oregon could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. some owners of older diesel vehicles, like sandora morsette, who operates a 1997 dump truck, worry those high costs might fall on them if new regulations are passed. morsette supports efforts to s ean up the air, but she wants lawmaker be careful about implementation. >> i think that they should really consider how it's going o impact us. people just want tart the business to make money. they don't think about making uck perfect, they think about making their next paycheck. that could make or break a business. >> reporter: kevin downing is well aware of argume both sides of the issue. he's the state's clean diesel

program coordinator. we mof up with him on the lot a local excavating company, where he used a white pillowcase to show just how mucofsoot spews ould engines. >> this is what's going up in the air. th're trying to go from this, to , and it's possible to get trucks to run like this. >> reporter: downing has beesmin charge of l voluntary program that's used federal dollars, and some state dollars, to nudge owners like ron roth to scrap thr old vehicles. on the night we visited, roth was ing just that. instead of selling this 1994 truck for about $35,000, one of his workers burned a hole in the engine and cut the frame so it could never be used again. and roth got a check for nearly double that amount from the lyate. >> it's defini win for me because i'm getting rid of it either way, but someone else didn't get it so now it's offad the >> we're using taxpayer money, $60,000, to put into encouraging scrapping an old truck and

getting a new truc we're getting a return of about $30,000 to $40,000 a year in avoided health effects. that's an incredible investment of money. >> reporter: for her part, a land state professor linda george says better scientific understanding of diesel exhaust is vital to help infolm the publicy debates. as on a political level, models get dismisseust being models, but what's really powerful is having models combined with measurements to really nail down what's going on. >> reporter: later thie year, the stis planning a one-time inventory of all off-road vehicles, and advotes of stricter diesel regulations y they will introduce new legislation. for the pbs newshour, i'm ca wise in portland, oregon.

>> woodruff: now, we wanted to catch up with many of you and our new book club. it is our joint effort with the "new york times," called "now read this." g launched it just a few weeks ago, gotat response from many viewers who joined, and we promised at the time that authors would answer some of your questions. tonight, jeffrey brown returns with those and our author of the month, as well as a look at next month's selection. i want to begik with a big thu to all who joined us for "now read this" and read along and sent in thoughtquand tions. our first book the novel sing unburied sing is set engineer the mississippi gulf coast that has themes that feel as up to the minute as today's news but also ahost story. the dead in several cases do not stay dead. it recently received the national book award and jes gratulationsd, con to you for that and thank you for helping us to get off to such a great start. >> thank you. >> this was a pleasure to have you as our first book of the new

book club. >> i'm really honored and grate 68, so thank you. >> so we asked people to send in questions an wore going t get right to that for this portion of our talk. let's go to the first couple of quis. there were a number that were about how your work connes to your life, let's look at a couple. >> okay. >> i'm mary len zigletter from the chicago areeand i wato ask if you based your characters on family or extended family. >> my name is jackie from new hampshire, i would like to ask the thor how her experiences with racism affected this story. >> i don't really se any of my characters on specific peopl k thatw. although my characters are informed by theind of people who live in my community. when i sayhat mean i mostly write about, you know, poor pele, black people, southern and those are the kind plof p that make up my community. so those are the kind of people e about.rit

as far as the second part, the scond question, i have sphrug eluggled with racism and i guess the object of racist-- especially when i was younger. and i think that my awareness of racism definy itforms my work. and informs what my charactersgo hrough and what they struggle with. >> okay, i mentioned that there are ghosts in this story. and a wrmber of 350e7ote us to and sent in questions about the supernatural elemen let's look at those. >> i am terry margarita from colgate, wisconsin. here fiction can be fan tas kal if they are in a christmas carol but yours remind me more of theh ts in 100 years of solitude. you can tell me what influenced you to give ghosts such an important role in your sing buried sing. >> i knew from the very beginning that the characters what travel parson prison and so when i begin to rea about

the prison farm i read that in the 1940s, that kids, black boys, children as young as 12 were charged with petty crimes like vag rancee or theft or loitering and they were sent to parchment pri on farm, right, where they were basically enslaved. and i was so shocked by that fact at also horrified t i didn't know about it before hand. and immediate felt very strngly for these children, right, who in some ways had en erased from history. so i thought well, i really want to write about a 12 year old kid, you know, i really want to write a charcta who endured this, but who is able to interact with jo jo who was able to hav s somet of agency that person dt have when they from alive.

and i figured out that 9 only way i could do that was by maki that character, this 12 year old kid, macking that charter into a ghost. >> come back to life. >> exactly. cultou tackle some diffi subjects. and we got questions about that. here is on >> i'm kirsten from portland, oregon. some facebook readers have saidt they cannecommend or enjoy this novel no matter howfu beatify written because of the painful realities that it delves into. my question for ms. ward is, whatons your take a writers or a reader's accounted ality to plum uncomfortable depths in art. d has your take on this changed at all as the world has grown increasingly diter and difficult icive. >> that is a really good question. and i under-- understand and i do it too right, as a reader sometimes i justwant to not think. you know, i want to read something that is purely enjoyable, escapism. >> yes. n artist, i feel a

certainsponsibility to write about difficult subject matters. i mean i am a black person from the south, right, and so i come from a place and from a community where often people's lives are really hard. i mean they're livng with the, you know, the difficult things that i am writing about they arw livih addiction, they're living with grief. so i feel a certain responsibility f i'm choosing to write about the people that i write about then have i to be honest about their lives and about what they a livig through. >> all right, we'll continue with our questions, more questions from readers but we'll do that so readers and viewers can much what the full conversation online n our "now read this" facebook page. we invite to you go there later. before we g though, i get to announce our book club choic for february, we are switching to nonfiction with a real life murder mystery a a fascinating

but lesser known period in american historythe book i killers of the flower moon. the osage murders and th of the fbi by david grann, a staff writer for "the new yorker." and we will ve readers, guide and more material on the bng and author. and of course an interew with david grann tend of the month. i hope will you read along with us. and for now thank you again for joining now read this. and thank you jesmyn ward, thank you very much. >> tha you. >> woodruff: fally tonight, we share a story that caught our eye. you' probably heard of anima such as wolves hunting in packs, but what aut killer whales? science producer nsikan akpan oup ofus what one lucky adventure travelers to antarctica witnessed. >> reporter: on a recent trip along the western side of th antarctic peninsula, passengers

on an adventure cruise encountered a rare bout of mortal combat. four orcas systematically hunting a crab-eater seal on an ice floe. the whales' spy hopped and then created waves to dislodge the seal into the water. after each successive wave, the seal struggled aga and again to scoot back to safety. pack hunting is regarded as a highly intelligent behavior, because it requires large degrees of coordination and haoperation. the or was first witnessed in orcas in 1979, and since then has been primarily observed in the antarctic, and not elsewhere. on january 2, these orcas displayed th intelligence in ades. >> after several attempts of trying to wash the crab-eater

seal off of the ice flow, the killerhales tried to crack the icinto smaller pieces. >> reporter: soosa the seal's zone grew too small, and it e floe.toward another round two. this time, three whas approach, and one waits, jaws eiady. but while thwhales' dorsal fins were turned, the seal spotted an openi and scooted away to safety. >> the group decided to name the seal kevin, and kevin got away,a so igood news for all of us. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm nsikan akpan. >> woodruff: wow. and that is the newshour for toght. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evenin for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> babbel. a language app that teaches areal-life conversations ew 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. >> consumellular. >> bnsf railwa >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, b building resilience and inclusive economies. more a www.rockefellerfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

>> this program was made adssible by the corporation for public bsting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ecaptioning sponsy newshour productions, llc ptioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org g g >> you're watukufu: this week, on an encore presentation

of history detectives: what role did this strikiy t in explosive events of 1960s america? i didn't think we had reached that point where we were going to starle shooting at peop, my god. elyse: how was this wooden fragment connected to one of the most celebrated political protests of the 19th century? wes: what bales does thket weave of the heroism of an american-indian woman? jack points it at canby and pulls the trigger. elvis costello: ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry ♪ when the teardrops sta♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ it's just like watchin' the detectives ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives