tonight on "kqedeewsroom," lorida school shooting raies fresh questions about how edge k educators keep students safe. rkeley declares itself a sanctuary city for marijuana. and the mayor of richmond on the opportunities channels cing hiscity, from the economy to air pollution.s, at 96, she's the oest active national park ranger. she reflects on her remarkable life from world war ii to theci il rights struggle. hello, and welcome to "kqed newsroom." we begin with school safety. in the wake of the deadly florida, at a school in president trump pledged to hold a summit on school safety. 17 childre were killed and dozens more injured after an

expelled student opened fire on wednesday. it's the latest in a string of similar tragedies in the last few months alone. while congresss been hesitant the c tighten guntrol measures, we turn to what schools are doing to k students safe. nd joining me now is jill tucker. jill, good to see you. >> good to see you, too. >> i know that this morning you attended an active shooter training session put on by the oakland school district. tell us what y heard and saw. >> oakland had been plan thing training f months. as they said unfortunate and yet important timing coming two days aft what happened in florida. it was sittii there schoolteachers and principals,n custodians other school staff, and the knowing that what they were learning had just happened somewhere eiee two days ea

the trainer really went through what could happen, what they should do, you know, what are some of the best practices. >> a trainer even showed video on florida. >> exactly. he really wanted to reinforce these ideas and one of the things that he showed was a vid that a student took at the school in parkland and the video showed the students crouching in the corner of a classroom. and you could hear the rapid succession of gunshots just boornl boom, boom, boom, children screaming. when he turned it off, he basically -- and everybody was, you know, just had chills and just looks of, just, anxiety and fear and sadness. and he said, what was wrong?o what did they in there? what he pointed out, and really

drove the pointhome was that they were sheltering in the classroom, as often is the case is what you should do. but nothing was barricaded. he was really driving home the point, they're crouchingn cover, but no kover if the shooter had gotten through, there wasnothing. he was driving home the point of -- >> be proactive. >> barricing, delay that entry. it was interesting watching the faces of these educators and absorbing the things, because as he told them, we had the a whomebody starts shooting, you duck. thate isn't the instinct. you need to get through your denial very quickly, becaus we li a world where this happens. >> what is the number o thing people should do, did he say? >> you know, what he said is that is different.

and that the best thing you can do is to be trained, to be prepared, to think about the things that you need to do.om because in cases, the best option is going to be and oftentimes that's not what people want to do. and if you have kinder gardners, that may not be possible, but you have think about all of your options. and just ducking and crouchino is probablyour so he went through various scenarios and show videos of shootings and other things to drive home the point of what teachers and staff need to think about. >> "the washington post" has reported that on average, there has been at least one school shootings u look around the bay area, what are they doing in terms of sponding, reviewing and

strengthening the security procedures anden equi >> well, unfortunately, thishe wasn't irst shooting. shootings have been going on for a long time. school districts cross the country, especially in california the bay area, have been very proactive in many ways about these you know, they're doingacve shooter trainings. they do them with the kids. they do tem with the staff. they al, in san francisco, for example, they have an emeency coordinator, somebody who has been hired very eecifically. only job is to prepare the district for emergencies, be that earthquakes shooters yo there's debates about what is the best use of money, what is thest use, do you have armed guards at schools. in the case of parkland, there made it to where the shooter was. do you have metal detectors. so we go through phases,

different communities want thi. i think the idea that people are acknowledging this is going to happen, thate live in a world, the police chief said for e school districttoday, in 2018, you have to go home and tell your 3-year-old, this isha you do if somebody comes tnd tryill you. >> it's so sad that's the newrm . we both have children, and it is sad that this is what we have to talk to kids wabout. ted to ask you, i shooter, like in the case of florida, if the shooter is a former student, in nikolaus cruz's case, and he's gone through the same security training, he knows the procedures, he knows what the drills are. how do you protect yourself when the shooter knows what the layoutif the school and what the procedures are? >> right. i think that's where thein trg comes in to try to, you know, you're going to have to

address the tuation, because it's never going to be the same. columbine was not the same as parkland. all of these were very different. las vegas was a very different shooting for a mass shooting. so i think that being pre red, being ready, what he was telling the teachers today, and the staff, is the more you think about this and make changes, the better prepared you are to deal with whatev i really want to say this, that we also ne to prevent this, to look for the signs, and there were many in all of these shootings that people missed, to the message we've beenst place. hearing over and over again. jill tucker, thank you. now to marijuana. on tuesday, the city of berkeley became a sanctuary city for cannabis. the mayor tweeted the move was response to attorney general jeff sessions' "misguided prakdown on our democratic

division to legalize recreation cannabis." across the bay, san francisco has a plan to help communities affected by the war on drugs enter the lucrative cannabis industry. here to talk about this is david downs. good to have you back. >> thanks for having me.o what is this declaration really mean in beeley, is it symbolic, since a federal crackdown hasn't happened yet? >> aot of activists have noted that berkeley has long been a sanctuary city for itel definin response to what sessions has done in erms of the rhetoric around cannabis, but it remains to be seen if this crackdown is going to manifest in any tangible action. >> because at the end of the day, federal law supersedes city and state laws. >> that's right. that law hasn't changed through

the obama administration until now. what jef sessions has done is rescinded guidance to u.s. attorneys about their priorities. so youight see u.s. attorneys make cannabis a bigger priority. a loteo ofle are saying they don't expect u.s. attorneys in california to go after state legal cannabis. there was a big confab of attorneys in washington talking about how to control interstate trafficking ofthis substance. >> you alluded to this earlier. berkeleyas long beforeort of a sanctuary city for marijuan any in 1979,edoters pa a law to make marijuana enforcement low on the police priority. >> that's right. a number of cities passed things likemethis ure, which downgrades marijuana enforcement to the lowest priorityin the state. we know that berkeley has some es the most generous laws when it cto your ability to grow a couple of pot plants in your backyard, which is something the jority of citie in california have already banned.

>> let's talk about the so-called equity cannabis programs that we're now seeing in a few cities lifornia, in oakland, san francisco, los. angel what is the main reasoning behind these programs? >>inorities have borne a disproportional impact on the war on drugs. blacks are often arrested multiple times of the rates of whites using marijuana, een thou the usage on the street r. >> between the twora es. >> exactly. activists are saying let's give franchised and dis groups leg up in the cannabis industry and coming up with thes t rulest inject more minorities into this legal business. there's aot of anxiety about who going to end up with legal cannabis, andit's entering traditional capitalism, where we have a lot of power that's concentrated in the hands of a very few people. >> what is the makeup of the cannabis industry now?t from w read and seen, it's

still creating sort a racial inequity of its own, in that the people who primarily involved are young, wte male, fairly wealthy. >> i think the traditionals cannandustry under prohibition was rather diverse. as itrs en main stream american commerce, people are hoping to head off thequity issues we already have there. and so we havedi sts, we have surveys where we talked to people who a runningannabis businesses. women are generally betterse reped in cannabis than in congress. ditto for minorities. that sad, people don't want to e dy started to see that under the hands of people with capital. >> how do the rules for these equity programs work. how do they address that gap? >> imagine you're a small business owner and the city tells us how you employ people with criminal recorse from th bad neighborhoods and submit

documents to us and we'll give yo license when they meet rem makes it harder for smallco businesses tpete. so we're seeing that the big businesses stand ready toe capital these capital programs and incue kcubate these minorities. but the other 85% that doesn't have the money, they're thinking about leaving oakland. >> you seem to be say these equities, good in theorot they may be working as planned? >> everyone knows that the road to heck is paved with good intentions it's a good headline to say we're goi to this. but where the rubber meets the road, it's been a real turbulent period. oakland seems to be making up rules athey go, and a lot of businesses are closing down. uncertainty is the death nil of these equity programs create

terrible uncertainty for the t businesses tist. and the reports we're getting from the industry that are actually opating in the cities, they're pulling their hair out. >> i want to go back to the berkeley city council. they lowered the city's t rate on recreational pot from 10% down to 5%. what was the thinking behind that, and do you other cities thinking of following suit? >> tax rates are as high as 40% in cannabis in california,yo wh add state and local sales, ilus regulations in the new supply c when the final bill comes due, it's higher than the cannabis available on thestreet, which sort of props up the black market, which is what we don't want to under proposition 64. as i have been sayin taxes a regulations are going to be bad before get better, and we're starting locals think about adjusting those regulations to allow those to it takes a 2/3 vote to change taxes at the tate level,

it's going to be hard to move things at thee stvel. s so a bumpy art. david downs of the san francisco chronicle, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. mov on to local politics. richmond is home to a chevron oil refinery that employs 1200 people. but last month, richmond joined other california cities and lounties to sue big companies for actions that they allege harm the environment and public health. joining me now to discuss this and more is the mayor of richmond. nice to have you here. >> glad to be here. >> the city of richmond joined , santacruz and others. you're suing 29 oil companies. what are you hping to accomplish? first of all, i wouo say the richmond refinery is a good corporate neighbor in

richmond. we get along well, they're involved in a lot of things. so this is not about them. it's about the entire fossil fuel industry. chevron corporation is a tiny part of that. i think everybody knows the stoy, but the story basically is, these industries concealed the fact that they knew the effect that fossil fuels would havel on glo warming for decades. and they all were involved in efforts lbbyists and other organizations. they spent millions and milliond lars trying to convince people that clima change was a fraud and that it was not something we neededato worry ut. in fact, a lot of them are still doing that. >> how does it affect your city in terms of what you have to extend to cut down on some of the effects? >> as you just mentioned,

richmond has 32 miles of shoreline, more than any other city on san francisco bay. we have two intercontinentalra lroad terminals in richmond. we have two waste wat treatmen plants. we have thousands of acres of regional parks. we have neighborhoods. and we have a refinery, all of which are subject to inundation for sea level sorise. we're already in the process of for that.yo know, our city, along with other cities on the water, arei to have to spend a lot on infrastructure in the fure to adapt to climate change. it's going to be billions of dollaran >> and you the oil companies to reimburse that? >> we want them to be part of the solution of part of the problem. >> chevron has sai these lawsuits will not curb climate change, that it demands global

engagem t. >> they'rright, but you have to start somewhere. if everybody says it's not my problem, it's a global problem, nothing happens. and let me ju throw this out, one of the things that's climate , i was at the summit in paris a couple of years ago, and one of the things they pointed out is not only all of the pioneering efforts to deal with climate change, but o what's going happen in the future is, it's going to be on 'cities. all going to happen in cities and mayors are going to be at the forefront. >> jcpenney closed last year, a newveloper came in last july. what is going to happen? >> it's a new o they're in a two-step process. the first start is they're going to put a lot of money into the existing infrastructure there to tive and to attr try to get it leased up to a higher level. and the second p rt is,ey're

going to do somewhat's happening to malls all over the country, they're going to take those parking lots and bring in high densi housing and create a whole community there. >> hopin for revitalization? >> yeah, they could build up to 10,000its there. and it would totally change the nature of it from being just a retail destination, to being a mixed use community. >> what your biggest priority right now as mayor? ricond once was considered the most dangerous cities. over the years, violentrime has declined. but that image still sticks for many people how big a challenge is that for you? od well, there's ews and this year, we had the lowest homicide -- the second lowest homicide rate in decades. and our violent crime rate is down also. and that's great and it's part of a trend that's been going on now for a decade.

the fli side is w still have a lot of homicides in richmond. you asked what is mnumber one goal? my number one goal would be to have at least one year where we do not have a single homicide in richmond and for it to stay that way. youalked about rebranding richmond as a big priority as ay r. how affordable is richmond and what is the housing si richmond expensive place to buy or rent a home in theay ea. the median home price is just under $440,000. and the median apartment rental is about $2400 a month. richmond an i in san francisco, you probably know it's about $3800 ath mo we finished a marketing and branding study in richmond onehe elements is pushing richmond as an affordable placew to livich it is. it's a great place to commute to and from. i took b.a.r.t. to the city

today and walked here in less than an hour. >> mayor, pleasure to have you here. thank you. fally, 96-year-old betty has seen a lot. the nation's oldest park ranger was born in 1921. during world war ii, she was a file clerkafelping can-american workers, witnessed the civil rights movement, and helped create a record store in berkeley that still stands today. currently, she's a park ranger at the national historicark in richmond, where she's worked since 2007. her new book chronicles her remarkable life. abetty, such a pleasure to her. >> thank you very much. >> you're a ranger at the rosy the riveter national park. you graduated from oakland in 1942. what did you do after that during the 'forts? >> among the things i did do was work at the union hall during

world war >> it was sregated at the time. >>yes, at that time. that would have been t befo labor movement. so i worked there. all of the black workers were put in those unions, and they paid du, but they had no power, >> the image of rosy the riveter in denim, muscles, welding ships, doing this work, it was always the image of a white woman did you identify with that? >> no, i never did. because i never did see a ship being launched. allowed to.'t >> no, the union hall where i worked was in the city of the hall, nowhere near the so that whole part of the home front story escaped me at time. >> so why did you decide to

become a park ranger at the age of 85? because that was not your story. >>yeah. i never did decide. i came into rhmond, and the park bloomed into my district. and i began to attend those first planning meetings, because it was something that wascu ing in the 14th assembly district. and gradually became involved in that planning operation. >> and you became involved for a reason. i mean, you spoke up and said look, there areto nuance this story. >> the reason that richmond had been selected, though there were boomtowns around the country, it was here in richmond that there was enough still standing structures to interpre history. the structures that would have told my story, thca african-ame story, had been long, long ago so in order to see that history

was moree, inclusihere was more than the story of rosy the riveter, the white woman's story, there was the story of 120,000 japanese-americans being interned, the explosion where 320 lives were lost. the story of african-americans who had come out of the sharecroppers, out of the south to answer the call for those storiesg were go untold. to see that history was inclusive, became part of the >> you grew up in the bay area in the 1940s, '50s. what was life like here? what happened when you trieto build a house in berkeley? > i grew up as a second generation californian, not as an african-american. i gr up knowing there were 10,000 african-americans between seaside and sacramento.

so there -- segregation was not form it is in the south. so i didn't grow up with that kind of stigma learned after migration of so many african-americans out of he south, th this was an unreal aspect of it was something that simply we into.o grow >> there was some redlining, right, that happened when you tried to buy a house in berkeley, then you moved to walnut creek. >> yes, we built a huse in walnut creek in the unincorporated area. we lived with death threatsor about five years. >> because you were an african-american family in the town? yes, because there were only two african-american families in the diablovalley, and we were one of them. >> during the civil rights era, you decided to become a bridge with whites in walnut creek and

the black panthers. what did you do? >> participated fund-raising activities delivered them -- i was called a bag lady. - because i w >> you put the money in a bag? >> not literally. but that was a time of redefinition for me. i had been in the suburbs as a white family and was -- put more in m touch with black roots than ever, than needed to be in so that was a period of redefinition >> you have lived through so much. you are a national treasure. you were w honorh a presidential coin from president barack obama. ven the tumultuous political climate we live in today, what is yo view of race relations? >> i think that there are new voices, exciting voices that are coming out, of the black

movement now. they're really exciting now. black lives matter and joy reed. there are many voices comingout now. i think that since i have lost my sense of future, because i'm 96, my senseof past has been enhanced. and i am aware nis that country has been going through these cyclical periods of chaos since 1776, and we're in another one now. but it's ates those t that the ssmocracy is being redefined, and we have ac to the reset buttons. and we're one of those placesw, right so that for me, it's very hopeful and exciting, because all thoseha things were very negative, very ugly, are now available to be seen by the entire nation when they used to be simply things ttet ex in the black community. we all saw charlottesville.

>> we are so lucky to have you, and your ndperspective, i wish you the best of luck with your new >> thank you very much. >> betty, thank you for being here. >> thank you. well, that does it for us. find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. thuy vu. thank you for

captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, february 18: calls for gun control get louder after the florida school shooting as new details emerge about the suect. president trump takes to twitter to respond to the latest in the russia investigation. and five months after hurricane maria, many puerto ricans are living in limbo on the mainland. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possibld by: bernd irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. i.e and edgar wachenheim, 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 a