captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, february 17: new details about thbled past of the florida school shooting suspect as survivors demandhange. also: the fallout after the indictment of 13 russians for election meddling. and, why hiring -offenders might be good for business. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. a the cher philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided

by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >> additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbsfr statio viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. there are new reports tonightge that the teeuspect in this week's school shooting in parkland, florida was on the radar ofocal child welfare authorities a year and a half he opened fire and kill 17 people at marjory douglas stoneman high school on wednesday. guo florida newspapers are reporting that in of 2016, nikolas cruz posted a video on the social media network snapchat showing him cutting his arms. when the state investigated, it concluded that cruz had not been mistreated by his mother, was receiving care from a mental health counselor and was

attending school. today, students rallied at the federal courthouse in fort lauderdale, demanding stricter gun laws and criticizing elected officials who accept cpaign funds from the gun lobby: >> to every politician who is taking donations from the n.r.a., shame on you! >> he was able to legally purchase that semi-automatic rifle and come into my school and slaughter 17 of my people. because of these gun laws, people that i know, people that i love have died and i will ivver be able to see them again. >> srean: survivors are also raising their voices online on twitter, one young woman wrote, "we don't want our o achers to have guns. we don't want to school in a prison. we want change. ine, lasting change." while a student facebook page #never-again has tens of ndthouof followers. last night the president and first lady visited a local hospital whesh many of the ting victims are recovering. while brushing off questions about gun laws, the president had praise for the medical professionals: >> first respoers, everybody, the job they've done is incredible ani want to cogratulate you. incredible job.

>> did you see the vicms mr. president? >> yes, i did. i did indeed and it's very sad something like that could happen. >> sreenivasan: cruz's lawyer says cruz is willing to plead guilty to anaid the death ty. the broward county prosecutor says now is not the time to discuss a plea deal. a day after a stunning indictment by the u.s. justice department which accused 13 russians and three russs n compan meddling in america's 2016 presidential election, russian and american government officials responded. russia has repeatedly denied influencing the presidential election. today, at a security conferenc in munich, russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov said he had "no reaction" to the indictments. >> ( translated until we see the facts, everything else is just blather, i beg your pardon for a not really diplomatic wording. >> sreenivasan: at the same conference, america's national security advisor h.r. mcmaster, said the evidence of russia's meddliclear. >> we're becoming more and more adept at tracing the origins of this espionage and subversion.

and as you can see with the f.b.i. indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and availa the public domain. >> sreenivasan: the indictment by special counsel r mueller detailed a coordinated scheme by russians to interfere u.s. electoral process, boost president trump's apresidential campaig undermine hillary clinton. the indictment alleges that the russns posed as americans on social media and bought misleadi online ads staged political rallies in the u.s. without revealing their russian identities or backing; and solicited and paid americans to promote or disparage candidates. president trump s called russian meddling in the eleion a "hoax" and took to twitter yesterday to reiterate his cim there was "no collusion" and that the russian interference began in 2014, before he was a presidential candidate. for more on the russia indictments and the fallout, i'm joined by kimberly marten, a ndofessor of political science at barnard collegeolumbia university.

no sur said what the russians said today. we don't have the facts. this isn't us, et cetera, et cetera. >> t facts are pretty incontrovertible, assuming ey can back ue statements that they made in the indictment, because they got these peoplely not men election interference, but on things like wire fraud, and identity theft. and what's really interesting is ss tothey seem to have acce emails and phone call calls and internal documents that gift details about how theet inte research agency was divided upals a corporation. so themount of evidence that they appear to have is reallyin edible. >> sreenivasan: one of the things that the president comes about and says is, look, this is an exoneration. this says no collusion. this happened before i was even a presidential candidate. it seems rod rosenstein is splitting the middle here. on the one side he says the amount f evidenis overwhelming and we're presenting it to you. the other side we didn't actually say thahet this is

sum totality of the russia investigation. >> exactly. and, you know, we don't really know if there's more behindt this, one of the important things that the indictment does is act as a deterrent for other russians that might want to t intervene 2018 midterm elections, which we've heard is a real possibility, because the fact that they've got t incredibly indepth information means if they caught these people, they can catch other ople, too, and by indicting them it prevents them from traveling abroad becaubose ady who has an extradition treaty with the united states willth reis if they appear on their territory. d includes all the europe, israel, arge parts of east asia. and that's a real deterrent for ianybody doing this agayou realize that the justice department is going to get you. >> sreenivasan: the sanction expghtz penalties being put on these individuals, this is in the context of the administration that inn't takg >>rge-scale sanctions against russia. ight.

ti really is a way for the department of j punishing russians and deterring russians from interfering in future elections. >> sreenivasan: one of the interesting characters that comes out of this is the person known as "the chef." >> yes. >> sreenivasan: who is the chef? who is the cook behind all of this? >> his history is sortf interesting. he started off as a young person, asort of a shady person imprisoned for robbery and other crimes. expheefs one of the entrepreneurs who just sort of took the opening up of the e soviet union tablish a little strawnlt. and somehow he caught the eye in st. peters burg of vladimir putin who is from st. peters burg, and who knows wherelet relationship started but he started directing people towards the guy's restaurant and he is a major contractor for the nistry of defense. and what's really interesting is he's a contract for the the russian intelligence agency, the g.r.u.

e same man, pergoagz is accused of doing contracts forsi the ru contracts serving in ukraine and sishia, officially not as russian military troops. d he's been in the news twice this week because he was also in the news when there was that incident of the russian contract forths being hiby u.s. air strike in syria, and the russian state not wanti to take responsibility for the fact that pr happened. buoagz was the contractor for that. >> kimberly marten of column wra and bar ourd. >> thanko much for surgeons describe what a bullet does to a human body. read more, at pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: if you commit a crime and then do your time, you might think you've paid etur debt to so but having a criminal record haunts the resumes ofillions of americans, who find-- perhaps not surprisingly-- employers aren't eager to re them. enter a four-year old program in baltimore that's trying to

change t odds for ex-offenders who are out of prison and ready to work. it helps them gea job, and develop the skills to move up in the workplace. newshour weekend special correspondent saskia de melker has our story from baltimore. >> i could wear this. >> reporter: 52-year-old collie thomas is trying to find just she's got an interview for a promotion at work. >> i'm nervous because i'm excelling. and when you excel, it gets more challenging and more challenging. >> reporter: just a few years ago, this would have been a distant dream. thomas was desperately trying to get any job. >> oh, my goodness, i searched and i searched. t i was papers, i was on the computers. my girlfriends, they took me to different places to fill out applications. >> reporter: but time after time, she says she got the same response. >> "ms. thom, you have a iminal background. oh, we don't hire people with criminal backgrounds."

i felt like, "wow, i'm not going to ever get a job." om>> reporter: in 2013, th had returned home to baltimore aft serving ten years in prison for a murder that she saysas domestic violence-related. >> i knew it was going to be hard for me to get aob, and it was, at the beginning, it really was. that's when my daughter told me about turnaround tuesday. >> reporter: every tuesday, city residents who have struggled to find employment come to this church basement in east baltimore >> if you come here and do everything that we ask you to do, we can almost guarantee you a job. but you got to come. >> reporter: turnaround tuesday is a non-profit program that helps people who are hard to employ find work, main with criminal records. since the program began in 2014, co-director melvin wilson says it has found jobs for more than 450 baltimore residents. >> there are a lot of people in this community that have been connected to the criminal justice system. we believe that the crimes problem is a jobs problem, and the jobs problem is a crimes

problem. >> reporter: these are the statistics. in the baltimore neighborhoods where turnaround tuesday operates, the incarceration rate is about four times higher than the national average. y also have higher than average unemployment. nearly half of people aged 16 to 64 aorre not wng. >> people co home, there's no opportunities for them. many people have been at home, and still been out of work for three or four years. employers have not opened their arms for ex-offenders to come to work. >> reporter: wilson says th once employers run a background check or see gaps in employment indicating a criminal history, they don't they see as a risk in hiring an ex-offender. >> the risk is the lel that society has put on folks, that people who have been arrested are lazy, or they're not going to show up on time. they're going to bring conflict to the workplace. they've got to be twice as good as everybody else, because the expectations are that they're going to fail. >> i had to realize i am valued. growing up the way i did, i didn't feel valued, and i never

felt valued. today, can't nobody beat me. >> reporter: terrell williams is turnaround tuesday's other co- director. he leads weekly lessons in woplace social skills. >> how to do individual meetings, public-private relationships, what is leadership, how do you handle conflict. everything that we do is about presentation. when oyou ask a questimake a comment, you stand up, you give your name. when inyou about all the tension and stress that we go through in a-- on a daily basis, you etter be able to laugh. >> regporter: williams says be away from society and labeled a criminal means ex-offenders often lack the confidence and communicati critical in work environments. but the structure of prison cam also help tansition to the workplace. >> thereha is datasuggests that people who have been in prison and comes out, they do far better, at the entry level, they do far better than people who are just in the community,

and coming to appbe for a job. cause they are already institutionalized. they are used to taking orders. >> i'm a motivator. i like to motivate ople. >> see, dig inside of yourself. don't be afraid of telling people your story. i want to hire you, if you feel confident in you. we say, don't run from your ur story.un to use your story as an instrument to pierce the heart of the interviewer. because if the interviewer can understand where you came from, and they can understand that now you're on the road to tning your life around, what better person could you have? >> eai have 14 years in addiction. i'm, i'm a nurturer, i'm good with people. >> and that's a good place to useel you >> reporter: thomas has spent countless hours with williams, wortoking on hoell a hiring manager about her crime, how she overcame struggles with substance abuse and trauma, and her rcination. she also learned how to build a resume with the jobs that she

did behind bars. turnaround tuesday actually encourages people to include their prin work experience. >> i worked hard in there, you know, but for $1 a day. we started at 6:00, didn't get off till 2:00, did laundry from 3:00 to 8:00. 9:00, i was going out through the kitchen and working in the o.d.r. for the officers. >> reporter: but coaching ex-offenders like collie thomaso y half the solution, says williams. >> it really is about changing the hearts and mds of those hat are in positions to give people jobs. >> reporter: that's why williams and wilson have been forming relationships with baltimore employers, asking them to give ex-offenders a fair shot. >> we had to say to them, if we vet the people, will y at least give them an interview? that's all wwanted. >> reporter: johns hopkins was the first to sign on. between its medical center and university, it's the largest private employer in baltimore, and its hospital is just a mile from the neighborhood where turnaround tuesday meets.

hopkins is also where collie thomas finally landed a job as a housrseeper two and a half yea ago. she still remembers the moment. >> i actually cried, at first. because i was given a second chan they didn't judge me on my criminal history. and i told them i'd give them my all, because appreciate the cond chance of having this job. >> johns hopkins and baltimore city are inextricably ted. we need to have every able- bodied person who's able to work, working in this city. >> reporter: yiela kerr- donovan is johns hopkins director of strategic workforce development. she says hopki' effort to hire ex-offenders started because of a shortage of workers to fill jobs ranging from administrative support staff to community health workers. ex-offendein are becoming easingly essential at hopkins. on average, 5% to 10% of their annual hires he a criminal record. >> we are still doing our due dilince in screening and

hiring. we have not compromised our standards. the key point is making sure that whatever their infraction was or whatever that caused them reto go to prison, doesn'te a conflict or a risk for the job to which they've applied. >> reporter: a 2009 internal study at hopkins found that turnover among employees with criminal records is lower than among employees without records for the first three years of employment. >> the individuals who may have made those mistakes and are coming back, they appreciate and recognize the value of the employment and the career opportunities that are here. they've been to a place where they don't ever want to go back to, so they work very hard to be successful. >>eporter: while many ex- offenders come in at the entry level, as collie thomas did, they earn living wages. thomas started in 2015 at $11.68 an hour, plus benefits. they are also ceovided with to educational and career training to help them move up and fill hig need positions in the ever-growing healthcare

industry. >> and already i saw a cart that needed it in there, and it's not even in there, so. >> reporter: less than a year into her initial job as a housekeeper, thomas was promoced to unit ate on the hospital's critical care rard. >> we tport patients. we make sure each ratient at eam have all the necessary supplies that's needed. >> reporter: now she's looking er next career move at hopkins. that interview that she's been prepping for is to becomes a peer recovery specialist: rces to who offers res those who are struggling with issues that she herself has dealt with, like substance abuse and domestic violence. >> imagine, something that was this negative thing in your life and caused you pain, is the thing that's going to be someone else's redemption through you, someone else's support. >> reporter: at least nine baltimore employers, ranging from healthcare to construction to transportation services, have interviewed or hired ex-offenders from turnaround

tuesday. that includes the university of maryland medical system and methdstar hebaltimore's other top private employers. >> we want you to stay engaged. we're goin you for two years, but we also want you to take ownership of s city >> reporter: even after people are hired, turnaround tuesday conemtinues to coach and make sure they are succeeding on the job. >> our model has proven to be successfu we are currently experiencing cout an 83% retention rate for the individuals the to turnaround tuesday that are working. >> reporter: it has expanded to a second meeting location in west biraltimore, and one of t best recruiters is callie thomas. s probably personall been responsible for bringing, probably 25 to 30 people to turnaround tuesday, many of which have gotten jobs. >> sometimes i come in from work, and i t in the kitchen, i say, "wow. wow." because i remember it was times... it's emotional.

but i remember it was times when i used to sit in my cell. coming home to my home, my own home again, this is what i work hard for. >> sreenivasan: if you're wondering whether or not collie thomas got that promotion, we can tell you she did well enough in her first interview to advance to a second round. she should know more in a couple of weeks. >> sreenivasan: it's rare these days to hear that democrats and repus blicans in congrve found common ground on just about anything. but this week, there was bi- partisan agreement on a bi m to makeor changes to the criminal justice system, especially for non-violent drug offender this bill has been years in the making. the iasenate jud committee overwhelmingly approved it, but on the eve of the , mmittee's votorney general jeff sessions made it quite clear he does not support th that has triggered an ugly war

of words bill is now very uncertain. joining me now with more is npr's justice correspondent carrie johnson. carrie, let's talk about what's in the bill. what's working its rough committee. what do they agree on? >> three main elements of this bill. one is to put more power, more discretion, in the hands of individual judges to determine a sentenc individual in front of them. second, thiidea that some of the drug laws were much more punishing in the past than they are now, and so there's a valve in this bill that would give about 3,000 people the ability petition a judge for a reduced sentence, getting them out of prison earlier. and finally, another bucket that would allow people who are in for non-violent offences to get "good time" credit for taking programming before they leave prison to ease their return to society. >> sreenivasan: and this is something that liberals as well as libertarians are in agreement on? >> yeah, there's been an unusual onsensus.

everyone from koch industries and the koch brothers, to the american civil liberties union, to e kato institute, has come together over the last five years or elements of the justice system. and theotion that we're ocking up too many people and it's too expensive, and we need to do more tare people for life outside prison, because of course, that 90% of inmates, 95%, eventually leave prison. >> sreenivasan: all right, what is the attorney general's primary concern? >> the attorney general sent a letter to the senate judiciary committee-- on which he used to sit when he was a senator-- earlier this week. jeff sessions says he has "grave concerns" about this legislation. he thinks now, in the midst of an opioid epidemic, is the wrong time, in his view, to "go ft on drug offenders," and he thinks that violent offenders could be released from prison and take advantage of this legislation. that haseen enormously controversial. >> sreenivasan: and this also provoked a tweet that i want t

chuck grassley, he said: this is a personal affront to him. >> it was remarkable, hari. chuck grassley said at the hearing that he considered jeff nssess friend. he actually worked very hard to get jeff sessions confirmed as attorney general. and grassley said, last year when the president wanted to fire jeff sessions over his recusal from the r investigation, grassley stuck his neck out for sessions, and this was no way to treat a friend. in fact, earlier today, i checked in with grassley's office, grass still angry at jeff sessions. he said jeff sessions promised to help him with this bill, he's gone back on his word, and he needs to do better. >> sreenivasan: all right, carrie johnson of npr, thanks so much for joining us. >> my pleasure.

>> this is "pbs newshour weekend," saturday. >> sreenivasan: at least 13 people are dead after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit soexutheasterno last night. all thirteen were killed today when a helicopter carrying ofrvficials ing the damage crashed during landing. 15 others were injured. there are, so far, no deaths as a result of the quake itself, or its strong aftershock. dozens of buildings were damaged and nearly a million homes and businesses were left without power. today at an international curity conference in munich president trump's national secuorrity adv.r. mcmaster called on the nations of the world to hold syria accountable for its use of chemical weapons. mcmaster said public accounts and photos clearly show that the regime of syrian president bashaalssad continues to use chemical weapons against its own people, a charge assas government has long denied. a state of emergency is in eecin ethiopia tonight, as authorities there try to tamp iown the violence following the surprise resignof prime

minister hailemariam desalegn on thur. al protests, and any publications that the cvernment beliould incite more violence, are ba for six onths in an effort to stop almost three yearsanti- government protests demanding expanded democ rcy. desalegnignation marks the first time in modern ethiopian history th a sitting prime nister has quit. he said he was stepping aside for the sake of reform. pope francis has revived an advisory commission on the church sex abuse scandal, after criticism that he had allowed the commission to lapse. omthe vatican es to give survivors of sexual abuse more say in the commission's work. the popre-appointed u.s. cardinal sean o'malley of boston as the group's leader. pope francis came under fire last month for his support of a chilean bishop accused of covering up sex cres committed a priest under his supervision. the pope later ordered an investigation.

>> sreenivasan: tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend, five moongz after hurricane maria, displaced puerto ricoians are still living i limbo on the the mainland. captioning sponsored by wnet media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.

the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and gar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter, in memory of abby m. o'neill. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutuaof america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that'shy we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: nd by the corporation fo public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be more. pbs. be more.

orannouncer: exe new worlds and new ideas l through programsike this de available for everyone through co yributions tor pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ magic ♪ents announcer: tonight public television brings back the magic moments from the 1950s. ♪ sincerely the mcguire sisters, pat boone, pa and your favorite artists from the 1950s pop era bring back the music that makes memories. ♪ love is a many splendored thing ♪ join us for my music magic moments, the best of '50s pop.