ctaptioning sponsored by newshour produns, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight:pl a fourth guilt in the mueller investigation, as a clearer picture emerges of vessia's attempts to decei americans and sow divisions. then, donald trump jr. kicks off a tour iindia to sell luxury apartments, but a planned speech sparks questions over mixing business with politics. and, while tcl debate over ate change plays out in the political sphere, a look at howl sciencassrooms in idaho are feeling the heat. >> when a legislative body decides to recommend against science content, we undergo a great risk in denying our children really important information that they will need. >> woodruff: all that and more,

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. bbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online.ma more infon on babbel.com. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs

station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump says hs calling for solutions to school shootings, amid newon demands for acn guns. he announced today that he's asking for regulations to ban devices like the bump stocks used in last october's las vegas massac. the president spoke at an awards ceremo at the white house, nearly a week after the school shooting in parkland, florida, that left 17 people dead. >> we must move past cliches and tired debates, and focus on evidence-based solutions and security measures, that actually work and that make it easier for men and women of law enforcement to protect our children and protect our safety. >> woodruff: mr. trump also said that he is meeting with

survivors and local officials this week to discuss school safety. meanwhile, some 100 parkland students are making a 400-mile t bus trthe state capitol in tallahassee. they will lobby lawmakers tomorrow for new gun laws. but today, the florida state house voted not to consider a baon assault rifles, as several parkland survivors looked on. in the day's other news, special counsel rortueller has obtained another guilty plea in l s probe of russian meddling in the 2016 presidentection. attorney alex van der zwaan appeared in federal court in washington. he admitteto lying about contacts with former trump campaign official rick gates. gates was indicted last year on money laundering and other charges. meanwhile, president trump charged again that president obama was not nearly tough enough on russia. the long-running war in syria flared on two fronts today, and the pace of killing escalated to levels not seen in five years.

p.j. tobia has our rept. >> reporter: rebel-held suburbs outside damascus echoed today with the sounds of government air strikes anshelling, and would-be rescuers. civil defense workers, known as white helmets, raced to pull survivors to safety amid the tos across eastern ghouta have wnsault. come under intense bombardment by president bashar al-assad's forces for weeks. the attacks spiked sunday, and war monitors say 250 people have been killed sie then. hundreds more have been hurt. e government offensive d condemnati today from the opposition's chief negotiator to the u.n.'s stalled peace talks. ussels.e in >> what is happening in ghouta is a war crime. all internationared lines have been crossed by the regime, but yet there's no accountability. >> reporter: meanwhile, a new, northern front has opened in thr cos seven-year civil war,

in the kurdish region of afrin. turkey has been attacking u.s.-backed kurdish fighters known as the y.p.g. the turks say they're linked to militant groups inside turkey. today, despite turkish warnings, syrian state tv showed pro-assad forces rolling into afrin to suppt the kurds. but in ankara, turkish president recep tayyip erdogan annnced that turkish guns had driven them off. >> ( translated ): when artillery fire was carried out by turkish military, they had to turn back. and this case is now closed for now. >> reporter: erdogan also said he'd asked russian president vladimir putin, an ally of assad, to intervene. instead, russian foreign thnister sergei lavrov sai situation can only be resolved through direct talks betweenka anra and damascus. american officials strongly t opposeurkish offensive against the kurds. the u.s. has been training andil arming kurdishia fighters against the islamic state group. u.s. tops are based about

70 miles east of afrin, near manbij, and the turks have threatened to move in that direction. secretary of state rex tillerson held intensive talks with erdogan in ankara last week, in a bid to ease tensions. for the pbs newshour, i'm p.j. tobia. >> woodruff: in iran, more than 300 sufi muslims have ten arrested after overni clashes that killed five police officers.d police sey were attacked as sufis rallied in tehran, demandindethe release of inees. sufi officials denied it. the sufis emphasize al experiences over traditional slim practices. they have been persecuted by iran's shiite regime. back in this country, the department of health and humanrv es proposed letting insurers sell limited health plans that do not comply with obamacare's mandates. they would offer lower-cost coverage witfewer benefits for up to 12 months. and, companies could denpeople

with pre-existing conditions or charge higher premiums. the proposal is open for public comment for 60 days. an outside legal review is out on npr's ouster last year of michael oreskes as top news executive, for alleged sexual harassment. it finds there were questions about his behavior even before he was hired, and repeatedly during his tenure. and separately , tavis smiley is suing pbs for breach of contract, after being fired last december, for alleged sexual misconduct. pbs says the suit is "meritless."e ancellor of the d.c. public school system is stepping down, under fire, mfter a litte than a year on the job. the "washington post" hadan reported thaan wilson bypassed a lottery system, so that his daughter could transfer to a top high school. s the d.ools are already

embroiled in a scandal for allegedly inflating graduation rates. on wall street today, the market's winning streak snapped after walmart reported weak online sales and sub-par earnings. that sent the dow jones industrial average down 254 points, to close at 24,964. the nasdaq fell five points, and the s&p 500 slipped 16. and, at the winter olympics in south korea, a big day for canada. ice dancers tessa virtue and scott moir won their third career gold medal with a record point total. american siblings maia and alext shi took home the bronze. and the u.s. men's hockey team beat slovakia five to one, to get into the quarterfi still to come on the newshour: the risks russian bots pose in the u.s. today. donald trump jr.'s trip to india under scrutiny for mixing business and politics.

and when climate change should be taught in schools. and, much more. w >> woodrufte house press secretary sarah sanders took questions from the press corps this afterno for the first time in a week. she was asked about russian election interference,l safety measures, and white house senior aide jared kushner's security clearance. on russia, sanders doubled down on the white house claim that president trump has been tougher on russia than his predecessors. >> the president has been ghtremely tough on russia. he helped push thr700 billion to help rebuild our military. i can assure you, russia is not excited about that. he has helped export energy to eastern europe. i can assure you, russia is not excited about that. he has put in, and upheld,

sanctions that the obamami stration put in place; he's upheld those. he has closed three diplomatic t propertit were russia's, here in the united states. he has taken a number of actions against russia and put pressure on them. he's helped arm the ukrainians. there are a number of places that obama was too weak and refused to take and put pressure on russia, where this president has. >> woodruff: our white house correspondent, yamiche alcindor has been trackg all of this. yamiche, we heard sarah sanders mention sanctions. she said the president has uphe what was te under the previous administration, but there were also sanctions that cousress passed againstsia last year. where do those stand? >> well, sarah sands made the point that there is still a process ongoing, and this white house needs time to impose those sanctions, but when i asked white house officials about them, they said that ess atially they heady been compliant with the law and they're doing all they're supposed to do. that comes as a bipartisan frustration. chuck schumer and peter king, a republican and a dem have

put together and said they want this president to impose these t sanctions, at comes, of course, as sarah sanders is making the point that president trump always believed that russia meddled in ou election, and that's simply not true. the president has repeateesy oned russia's role in the elections. >> woodruff: let's ask -- letu me ask yout the school shooting. the white house is saying today this is what, how many months, four or five months after the slaughter of those people in las vegas, with the guns using the so-called bump st the white house is now saying that the president will go along with some sort of provision to ban bump stocks. why the delay and how does this affect the whole gun debat >> the delay is because the white house is starting to thiuk thwhat it was going to do. but the white house is feeling pressured in particue president is feeling pressured from all these mass shootings ing up.se students spe he over the weekend threw his support behind a bill that would force states to further go through the background check

system and actually be come palestine with it.t en he's also taking unilateral steps witbump stocks. there had been a federal review reat has not been resolved. you're seeing asident trying to look like he's doing something, but the huge changes. this isn't changing whether or not you can get an ar-15 at 17 or 19. there are still a lot of things he could be doing differently. >> woodruff: we're continuing to watch that every day. finally and quickly, yamiche, the president's son-in-law, jared bernstein, a lot of discuss about the fact that he still has only an interim security clearce. she was asked about that. how does that affect the work he does in the white house? >> it does notffect it at all. he has top-secreur secy clearance that will continue. president trump can take that away from him, but there is no sign that he's going to do that. >> woodruff: well, again, an issue that keeps coming up. yamiche alcindor, thank you. s

>> woodrufcial counsel robert mueller's recent indictment of 13 russian individuals again confirms russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 u.s. election through the use of social media. but intelligence officials stress that russia's attempts did not end back then. toy, u.s. attorney general jeff sessions announced the creation of a cyber task force that will look into ways to fight this sort of activity by foreign governments and interests. to walk us through what we know about moscow's intere and cowhat we may expect in thng months, is nina jankowicz. she is a writer and analyst who focuses on rsian disinformation came igns. s recently a fellow at the

woodrow wilson international cent for scholars. nina jankowicz, welcome to the program. i want the quickly read something from last weekend's indictment from the mueller team. it states that the defendants posing as u.nss. perand creating false u.s. personas operated social medes pagnd groups designed to attract u.s. audience and they used stolen identities to post on organization-controlled social media accounts. so what exactly are they saying these russians did? >> well, there's a lot of things we're alleging the internet research agency did. the main thing is they posed as american citizens a tomplify and spread con tetd that is divisive in our society in order to in some cases pump up the trumpgn campbreak down the clinton campaign, or deflect the vote, suppress voter turnout, especially among minority groups, in oer to create more chaos within our political system. >> woodruff: and how technically d they do that? how did they carry this out? >> so facebook calls these false

amplifiers. they're not precisely bot accounts, because bots are computationally controlled. >> woodruff: remind us what bots are? >> it's an accnt that may lok like a real person but often tweets or posts more frequentlyh a real person would tweet, and it's controlled by a computer program. what the internet researche agency or oll factory did, these were accounts that really looked like american citizens. they behaved like american citizens. and in the indictment, it even says one of the folks who was indicted wrote to family member and said, the americans are buying this because they were so legitimate in the types of iticisms that people were levying of politics at that time. >> woodruff: so pretty sophisticated stuff. >> absolutely, and long term. we thought this was going on since 2014. it was a widespread operation and pretty well funded. this is alleged that over $1

million a month was spent on this operation. ut woodruff: before indictments camethere was testimony on the hill by the heads of every intelligence, major intelligencagency in the country. they all said to a person that these kinds of effortsy the russians are continuing now and there is concern that they'reto goinffect this year's mid-term election. what are they doing now? are they doing the same things that th mueller team identified?a have they cnged their m.o. in any way? >> i think they're doing the exact same things. this is a tactic that they have practiced over more than a i decacentral and eastern europe, in countries like estonia and ukraine certainly and then we sait more recently in the u.k. and germany, and what they're doing is just amplifying divisive rhetoric in order to create more chaos and distrust in the system. ultimately, you know, a lot of people talk about hacking of the elections or hacking of voter rolls. dence of have any evi that happening yet, but what i'm most worried about going into the 2018 miderms is that

supression -- voter turnout will be suppressed because people will distst the system, distrusting that their vote mearlts. that's the most dangerous thi and the most different -- diffict thing to reverse. >> woodruff: italy is now another country concerned about russian interfence in it es. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: so we hear about what the russians wa to do is sow discord and division. what is their goal here actual? >> the gol is to discredit western democracy as we know it, terch then gives russia a bet seat at the bargaining table. 25 years ago there was a soviet union and the united states, the two superpowers in the world.er in the inning 25 years, we haven't talked a lot about russia, and now for the first time in 25 years, russia is on our lynzi ery day. i'm sure there hasn't been a day that you haven't covered it here onthhis show. ant's exactly what vladimir putin wants. it's exactly what ruswasints.

return to a great power status. >> woodruff: so now we have to ta about how does thget thwarted? we know the white house was announcing cyber task force today, but clearly much more has to be dne. >> absolutely. this is not only oobtdrs cyurity. i often advocate for a whole government approach, meaning not only do we need to make clear to ruhaia that this beor is unacceptable and clear to other actors who might do it, because there are plenty of others drawing from russia's playbook, but we need to educate our citizenry. we need the talk about media literacy so people have an unterstanding of how our sy works. right now we have not updated our media literacy curriculum since the 1980s, and there are atny, many groups doing gre work in relation to this, but we need an investment in it on f half of the government and certainly on beh social media companies, as well, which have a near ubiquitous access to every american's life. >> woodruff: which is another enormous set of questions out there about the role ofhese social media companies, whether it's tbitter, ebook, the rest

of them. but in the short term, is there anything that individual americans can do? what should they be on the lookout for, be creful about? is there any sort of tools they caequip themselves with? >> there are a lot of great fact-checking sites online that i would encourage people to check out, but you can do these sorts of things in 30 seconds yourself. if something seems spurious or unlikely to do, you this aquick search for a quote and see if it comes up anywhere else online and be very, very wary. they're very clever about the types of impersonations they do. there was a "guardian" site that used a turkish i instead of an keglish i in its web address. look for things hat. an talk to people of different backgrounds. get into civil discussions. break ur filter bubbl that's the best thing we can do to return to civil discourse and prect our democracy in this country. >> woodruff: a loof common sense. >> absutely. >> woodruff: nina jankowicz,

thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. dr >> wf: donald trump jr. landed in india today to begin what will be a weeklong trip across the country. lisa desjardins reports on some ethical questions raised by his visit. >> reporter: judy, the president's son says this trip is strictly business. he says he's there to promote and sell condominium u at four different trump-branded luxury properties-- sales that the president will profit from. but ethics experts say they're concerned nald trump jr. is also mixing busineaf with state fairs. he is set to deliver a foreign policy speech at the end of this week, an event that indian prime minister narendra modi is likely to attend. sumit ganguly is a political science professor at indiana universi-bloomington.

i want to started, you just returnn from india. u take us through the role of trump business in india, where it fits and then also the politicsf a trip like this. >> right. to begin with, these aremassive investments and extremely high-end investments in real estate. some of the largest indian developers of real estate are working witp h trn developing these properties in four major metropolitan areas, including in the town where i grew up in, calcutta, with a population of m lion people. there is now a segment of india's population with a very substantial disposable income, which likes glitzy, luxury, high-end properties, which are also closed properties where you're spared from the squalor of india, and they have these nice, sequestered environments. e thehat better than to h name of the president of the

united states emblazoned as that property. >> reporter: so these are high-profile, high-intesst de in india, also raising eyebrows aresome ads we saw, full-page ads we saw in indian newspapers showing donald trump, jr.,, full page, an then thi quote saying, "trump is here, are you invited?" can you take us through the ethics here? they're selling condos, but there they're also advertising access. are they selling access? is that ho this is interpreted in india? >> they're not slling access correctly, but it raises a question, if the president's name is on this property, if his son is hawking these properties and thn giving a foreign policy address, it sort of comingles business and athe same politics. and of course, the entire apparatus of the united states

government that's present in india is going to be cilitating his visit. so it sort of raises questions about certain lines being blurred. where does a simple property development end, and where do sort of the president's personal interests, particularly financial interts, become implicated. >> reporter: donald h,ump, jr., thos a private businessman. he says he's already voluntarily said no new deals as longs my father is president, but should he be forced to limit himself because his namhie, wch he makes money off of, is also the president's name? if you follow me. >> i certainly do, but the issue is not simply a matter that these deals were already under way, but the fact is that why is a private citizen, is he giving a foreign policy speech where the prime minister of india may be pr.se and also when one of the

developersns hapto be a critical member of the party currently in power, it is blurring certain linies, whch i think really should be keptat quite sep >> reporter: the title of that address as advertised by the organization is "reinshapinoe pacific ties." that's an active title, evenar musc we reached out to the trump administration, and they did not get back to us. ngt is that usual for a businessman, sometike, that and would indians interpret what he says as representingy? u.s. pol >> they could certainly construe this as an o endorseme tementan policy or a sta of american policy given that it's coming from the president't son, wough he has no sort of formal role in government, hasevertheless been seen i

critical places in the white house. and consequently, again, were talking about sort of failing to keep certain lines very, very clear. one is a purely business enterprise, and anoer is reflecting american foreign policy interests. >> reporter: the state department has said he's there as a private citizen. sumit ganguly, thank you very much. >>y pleasure entirely. thank you. >> woodruf stay with us. coming up on the newshour: harnessing the sun's energy in the sahara desert. u.s. victories and disappointments in the olympicme plus, a novel about an american drbym and marriage torn apar a wrongful imprisonment. the politically charged battlema

over cli change is increasingly spreading to the classroom. at issue, how and whether to teach it-- including the scientific consensus about the role of human activity. it is a debate playingn states adopting new science standards, including in idaho, where a key vote could come this week.es special condent lisa stark, of our partner, "education week," reports from boise, forur weekly segment, "making the grade." >> what is cla >> the earth! >> reporter: these boise second graders are playing an unusual ga of tag. >> on your marks, set, go! >> reporter: ty're pretending to be sunlight. once they reach earth, they turn into heat. some bounce back. others are tagged and trapped by students masquerading as greenhouse gases. >> look at all my greenhouse gases! >> look at that, all right. >> reporter: the idea is to help students understand global warming.

>> the earth is actually warming up. >> so the more greenhouse gases we add, what happens to the earth? >> it gets hotter. >> it gets hotter. >> reporter: what is climate change? what did you learn about that when you were outside playing tag? >> it's when people put more carbon dioxide in the air and it makes it warmer. >> reporter: boise state university professor jenniferce piffers this lesson on climate change to elementary school classes. >> i think it's my obligation as a scientist and as an educator and as a parent to teach our kids about how the greenhouse effect works, how huma fossil fuels have contributed to the warming of our planet, and >> reporter: pierce crafted these lessons after becomingho alarmed when i republican- dominated legislature moved to soften proposed state science standards to play down the role of humans in climate change. well, the legislature seems to think that, you know, you need to present both sides

issue. that you need to be even-handed. >> there aren't two sides of the ise. the global warming is happening, and humans are the cause. side of the anothe issue. >> we'd like to call the house education committee to order. >> reporter: the fight over new idaho science standards for grades kindergarten through 12 has now dragged on for three years. you are on the committee that drafted these standards, and redrafted these standards and redrafted these standards. >> yes. >>eporter: what was the problem? melyssa ferro, an award-winning idaho science teacher, belies lawmakers have tried to dismantle the group's hard work for political showmanship. >> i think the big concern here is that people think we're trying to sneak something by them, or trying to indoctrinate dthe children of idaho, a concepts that go against the moral or religious beliefs of the citizens. but i would argue that the science isound in these standards. >> reporter: last year, lawmakers temporarily approved the standards, but removed five

ions on climate change, including one that emphasized," the major role that human acvities play in causing t rise in global temperatures." lawmakers asked for a rewrite. representative ryan kirby supportethat, saying students were being force fed one-sided arguments. >> they just said, "man has x, y, z impact on the environment," or, "these things are bad," versus saying, "hey, student do some research, let's talk about the good things and the bad things that man do to the environment." the public has overwhelmingly disagreed. science education should not be a political issue. >> not some watered-down censored version. >> i ask that we not only keep the standards, but that we appreciate and accept all they have to offer. >> reporter: that did not sway the idaho house education committee, which this month voted again, this time deleting one science standard that linked air pollution with fossil fuels, and scraping pages and pages of content that backed up every

area of science instruction, including global warming. >> the motion passes. >> reporter: representative scott syme led the charge, saying he was deleting sectionst idn't allow students to do their own scientific discovery. >> when you have conclusions in standards, it stifles inquiry. e'at we're going to see if going to be developing scientists, kids who can think on their own and come to their conclusion. >> reporr: syme refused repeated requests for an interview, but told a newspape"e i don't f students come up with a conclusion that the earth is flat, as long as it's their conclusion, not something that's told to them." the debate over teaching climate change is hardly limited to idaho. there have been a number of states, as they have been revising their science standards, where this has also become a hot button issue. faw mexico's attempt last to weaken climate change instruction generated protests and fierce backlash.

>> the children, the future of new mexico, deserve better.or >> rr: ultimately, the state department of education backed down. recent attempts, in at least nine states, to block, repeal or modify state science standards, partly because of the treatment of climate change, have largely failed. all this comes during a government administration skeptical about global warming. the u.s. will withdraw from the paris climate accord. >> in the case of climate change, of course, there's been a concerted effort to deny the science. >> reporter: david evans is the executive director of the national science teachers ivsociation. >> when a legislbody decides to recommend against science content that's beethwell vetted bscience communityth aneducation community, i think we undergo a great risk in

denying our childrent eally importformation that they will need. each of these is a type of e source. see if you can dec it's renewable or nonrenewable. >> reporter: tdi boise school rict isn't waiting for the state to act. there's local control of education in idaho, and this district is teaching climate science. >> i know that global warminot even if it'saused by humans, it's happening, our earth is warming uslowly. >> i don't generally think of climate change, global warming, like, "i could change that, i could do that." i feel like that's something that everyone would have to come to, not just one person. >> reporter: science teacher nathan dean says in more rural, conservativt of idaho, global warming will only be taught if it's required by the state.

>> reporter: dean bristles at what's been happening in the state legislature. >> we really want the students to protect our environment, to protect our planet, but we want them thinking, not being spoon-fed. >> i'm making a tractor. >> reporter: back in the >> reporter: back in that second grade boise classroom, students have moved on, figuring out tlutions to global warming. >> like, if you wago to the zoo, you don't need to drive-- you can ride your bike there. >> it's basically a cooling vest, so whenever it's too hot, you can put on the cng vest. >> reporter: so far, though, there's no indication anyone is cooling off in idaho. it's now up to the senate

education committee to decide whether to go along with theirgu house colles, or leave the science standards intact. the vote is expected as early as this week. for the pbs newshour and "education week," i'm lisa stark in boise, idaho. >> woodruff: next, we turn to morocco, home to the largest solar energy plant in the worlde today, the pearth meets over 80% of its energy needs ncth either coal, oil or gas. but, as climate scand breakthroughechnology disrupt the energy sector, morocco is taking advantage of an abundant natusource-- unobstructed sunlight-- to power part of the noh african nation. t ecial correspondent monica villamizar looksgiant, $9 billion project, as part of

our ongoing series, "pnd promise," on the challenge of climate change. >> reporter: glimmering in the sahara desert, a first-of-its- kind solar energy plant. noor, which means light ino arabic, isst, it can be seen from space. from the air, it's an ocean of reflective mirrors; buon the ground, as we drive into noor, sunglasses are mandatory protection from the blinding rays. >> i like it; it's a great projec great opportunity. >> reporter: 28-year-old mustapha ibarritane is part of the team of local engineers working for the project.or s owned by the state of morocco, and built by spanish company sener. the project is based in ouarzazate, a tiny tourist town at the edge of the desert. >> in morocco, we don't have petrol, we don't have gas. to be independent, to have our own energy, we have chosen toer use clean , because of the

climate change challenge. >> reporter: morocco does have sunlight, about 3,000 hours of sun every year. and, harnessing that light is an evolutionary leap for they. coun >> right now, it's the most popular solar project in the world. i'm prouto be part of this project. >> reporter: noor uses c.s.p.,so or concentrater power. concave mirrors direct the sun dle tube to heat an oil solution. the mirrors rotate as the sun moves, like sunflowers. the heated fluid, which reaches 750 deees fahrenheit, produces steam to power a turbine. the king of rocco is making a huge bet on clean energy. and the goal is that renewablesr will powalf of this country by 2040. within this strategy, noor, the solar plant, is the flagship project. the north african nation says it wants to be the saudi arabia of solar energy, tapping its vast "solar reserve." morocco's king inaugurated noor, and flipped the plants'

"on" switch in february of 2016. >> this was a huge, brave decision at the time. when they took it, 2009 to '10, everybody was laughi it was a very expensive. it was a very brave decision. >> reporter: back in 2003, the think tank, club of rome, came up with an ambllious project desertec. the idea: harness solar and wind energy across the sahara tol power europe. >> desertec set the guidelines on how to produce renewable energy in the desert to supply electricity to europe and cover european energy demand. >> reporter: francisco stepo is president emeritus of the club iz rome in the u.s. >> now other orgions are implementing the desertec concept. >> reporter:tepo says the noor plant in morocco, and anotherde plant undelopment in tunisia, are pilots the desertec idea. the plan originally had ambitions open solar energy farms across the sahara, but the arab spring uprisings of 2011

a d terrorist attacks on gas facilities in algerced them to scale back. >> geopolitical instability has always been the main obstacle for the implementation of these kind of projects. >> renewable energy continues to be the fastest growing segment of the energy space. >> reporter: sarah ladislaw is a senior fellow at the center for strategic and international studies. she says there is economic risk to any new large infraure technology. >> the downside with any project that is groundbreaking is that you are going to experience cost, or logistical or technological or market-basedrd s that you might not have expected. i the upsithat once you've done it, then we know more about the costand the ability, for those costs to decline over a period of time. >> reporter: c.s.p.'s critics say it isn't cost effective. noor's price tag was $9 billion. long-term, it could recover the investment if the tech

doesn't become outdated too quickly. before the government of morocco started building the noor plant in the town of ouarzazate, the area was best known as a tourist stop, with breataking sights, and its own miniature version of hollywood. "game of thrones," "gladiatoof and "lawrencrabia" were all fied in the area. the classic "casablanca" actually hinted at why concentrated solar power technology is a challenge to implement morocco. c.s.p. requires vast amounts of water. >> the waters? >> what waters? we're in the desert? >> i was misinformed. >> reporter: engineer mohsine ait ali showed us this man-made lake that was built just so noor could operat he said the reservoir addresses the plant's water demands. >> ( translated ): the solar complex uses about six million

cubic feet each year, and that is only about 1% of the storage pacity of the lake. >> it's distributed, the water, to all the plant on site. >> reporter: the engineers are e moited to talk about the next phase, still under construction: noor 3. >> this is the tower. after the construction, it will be the highest building in africa, at 246 meters. >> reporter: the tower looms over noor 3. it will incorporate a newer technology, where flat mirrors bounce the sun's rays to the tiw of the. >> so here in noor 3, we have around 7,000 mirrors.. >> reporter: w the solar energy is stored in molten salts, which means the ant can keep making electricity for seven hours after sunset. when it's fished later this ar, noor will provide electricity to over two million people. it has generated high expectations for morocco and the future of solar power.

for the pbs newshour, i'm monica villamizar in ouarzazate, morocco. >> woodruff: the past few days have been rougher for the american team at the winter games in pyeongchang. dime of the bigger names h into these olympics have not won as many medals as hoped. but as william brangham checks in with an update from south o korea, tmpics are still providing their share of memorable moments in skill, drama and grace. >> brangham: i spoke earlier with christine brennan of "usa today," who's also a sports commentator for cnn. she's in pyeongchang. and i began by asking about some of the standout performances in e gure skating over the last week, including e dance competition last night. >> when you think of figure skating, it's one of the most dramatic locations for the gme, and this is no different.

certainly ice dance had all kinds of thrills and chills and falls and spills. the canadians actually won their fifth olympic medal. that's most olympic medals ever won in figure skating. they've had team competitions and individual ice dance, as well. they go all e way back the vancouver winning gold in 2010 in their ohm country. now they came back again. it's a terrific story, staying together in a sport that people often split up, fire coach, change partners. these two have been together since they were kids. so a great victory. the u.., the twins, great result for them and their perseverance. but the other u. ice dancers both fell, and really you rareln see fallince dance. you almost can't believe this, that this is happening in ice dance, especially with the country that's the deepest and strongest in ice dance, which is

the united states. >> brangham: let's talk about fnight. it's a big nighr women's figure skating. >> women's figure skating is th crown jewel e olympic games. don't expect a u.s. medal. the three americans, possibly a bronze, but it looks liksie rus at the top. the russians have not won a individual medal yet in figure skating, whi they usually own they had a team silver, but no individual medals in the other three events. i think there will be some young names and young face, especially with the russians. there's a 15-year-old, an 18-year-old, they're really the class of theield at this point. so don't expect a u.s. medal. i think that's the story of these games in many way, not just in figure skating, but the u.s. perrmance here. >> brangham: speaking of that, there have been a number of competitions whe the u.s. has come up short. what do you think is going on

there? is this a function of the other countries being a lot stronger than we anticipated? >> the u.s. olympic committee would love the answer the that e question. thave been olympics in the past where the u.s. has not done well at all.ng it's inter, because in 1968the u.s. wo one gold nce.l at the games in fra the most amazing gold medal the u.s. has won, peggy fleming with r figure skating gold in6850 years ago. and even going back the lake play sydney, a home olympics, only six goledals, five by eric heiden and his trendous speedskating performance. then the most famous olympic gold med i will of all for the unitedtates in the winter game, and that's the miracle on ice in 1980. so there havbeen other olympics where the u.s. has not had th inredible medal haul, but going back the vancouver a few years ago, well over to 30 medals. this one is different. you're seeing some athletes who are well-known, people like von

hartmann, makayla schifrin not having the performances we expected, although schifr does have a gold. lindsey vonn is going for aig one in the downhill. i think that's part of the problem. but i think it's the relity of the winter sports team and the world. the united states is good, but often not great. and that's certaly not satisfying to a lot of americans who are used to winning, sports fansho want to only see victory, but i also think there is something enticing about seeing it in this platform, seeing the world come together, the greatest and largest peacetime gathering of the world, and i think thacan be something in and of itself that you don't have to say, okay, the u.s. is t goi to win gold, silver or bronze, i don't want to watch, i don't know that americans feel thaway. >> brangham: as we speak, norway is leading every other country. >> well, forway is having the games of its life. i harkin all the way back to 1994 and the lillehammer olympics, and norway put on such

a push there to have a great i game, ans i ski jumping and the cross country skiing and so many other things they are so good at. they were great then. then ty had a dip. i think you can see now how much they put thetion's effort back into winning. and this is no surprise. canada had a g games in vancouver. russia had a great games in sochojust four years a, although we found out about the ate-sponsored doping that changes our picture and our image of what those games were for russia. and so norway, the fact that they ebb and flow, and now it's terrifickic to see. and the exuberance of the norwegian, you run into them and they are so proud and happy, and it makes you smile. >> brangham: finally, there have been three different allegations of doping in the current olympics, one most notably against a russian curler alo because of that nation's prior doping scaas having to compete under a neutral flag. >> yeah, absolutely.

it's almoshard to believe that russia, nobody as o.a.r. here, ympic athletes from russia, d re we are, allegations of doping, and lo hold, it's an olympic athlete from russia, in curling no less. you almost can't make this stuff up. they're onblousecret probation here. they barely got into the olympic games. it's individual athletes. no flag, no russian flag. no russian anthem. anhen theping allegation we hear about is a russian athlete. it's just uncredible. there has been a lot of talk in the international olympic ay they might allow the russian flag into the closing ceremony. the idea being russibehaved, russia played by the i.o.c. rules. now as a reward, you'll get to have your flag come into the closing ceremony. and i think there's great doubt now about whether russia will be allowedment o.a.r. will be allowed to have their flag because the i.o.c. frankly

almosttannot do that afer these allegations. >> brangham: all right. christine brennan of "usa today," thank you very much. >> thanks very much. i woodruff: now, jeffrey brown discovers the nem on the "newshour bookshelf;" author taya jones talks about her latest work. >> brown: two people come together, get married, and see their lives torn apart when the husband is falsely accused of a crime. thnew novel explores love and marriage in extreme circumstances against the larger background of race and incarceration. it's called "an american jrriage." author tayari jonins me now. >> thank you. t>> brown: is it corret began with you thinking about mass incarceration >> i was doing mass

ind rceration. i much research. i learned so many disturbing things, but i'm not ane nothing ferment i'm not a sociologist. i'm a novelist, and i hadto nothinhow for my time. the deadline was ticking for the presentation. and i had not written one fictional word. but i went to atlanta to visit my mother, and we went to the mall, and while i was at the mall, i overheard a couple arguing, and i heard the woman say, "roy, you know you would not have waited on me for seven years. " with that my imgination went wild with imagining this conflict between these two people. >> beown: so you crated your fictional roy, the character, and celestial, his wife, who gets sent off to prison. and then it becomes what happens, how do people behave pleer stress, what do two peo owe each other. >> how do you balance your desires and your responsibilities. celestial is about 25 when he's

arrested. they have only been married 18 months. her daddy is still paying for the weing when he is taken away. can we really expect hero basically live her life for him? how could you ask that of her, lingthen there is a fee like, how could she not: and that i think is the conflict of the story. >> brown: you wrote this with alternating voices through leers they sent to each other, but this was to give the two ices of the marriage? >> the letters for sure because i'm a letter writer in real life. i write five or six letters a week. >>: actual let centers. >> yes. nobody writes me back. it's terrible, but i love the idea of with him in prison the letters, because it's literal small canvas. it's all they have to try t be husband and wife. you can see how it's a losing battle. but i did want both their voices, because with him being in prison and her bngin the world, they inhabit two different worhelds. neof them is able to tell

the full story. >> brown: there is a heartbreaking moment in the exchange o tletters wherehe stress of imprisonment is so profoundand he writes to her, one sentence, "dear celestial, i am innocent," and she writes back and says, "dear roy, i innocent, too." >> yes, because it's true. she is innocent. his innocence feels more elevatedecause he is jailed for a crime he didn't commit, but she also as his wife is being jailed for a crime she didn't commit either. and they really have to figure out will they remain married while he's in prison, and if they do, what du that mean to be married to someone you can not touch. >> brown: race is a constant along with inctarceration, also the questioning of growing up in a kind of well-to-do black atlanta. and i read that this is your own upbringing. what were you trying to br out? >> well, i do think that modern

southern life for blacpeople is really underrepresented. people think of the south as short-hand for black misery, but i grew up in atlanta where there is this reabllly robusack middle class, where needed a doctor and my god mother was reluctant to sent me to the doctor because the doctor had not gone to morehouse college. the doctor had gone to hvar. she said, well, this will be okay for your cold. so atlanta is a black oasis, but celestial and roy i think forget about the circumstances in the rest of the world, the resof the country, and they visit his family in the small town where he's from, and he is a celestial father says, the wrong race at the wrong time. >> brown: bu youclearly wanted to put the african american sorof at the front of the story. >> yes, i mean, that's really the question of progress, what is tour responsibilithe

collective, what is your responsibility as an individual, how is this amplified by ract e, isir? so these are the hard, very modern questions. i think it's a very modern moment for a blackharacter to have to wonder whether or not the problems of one are the problems of all. irkts i have to ask you, the title, "an american marriage," that's a big title, right? that sort of ups the stakes. >> i was reluctant thtake it for two reasons. for one, i had never really thought of myself as american thout saying black american or african american. i told my editor that i felt like an american marriage sounded like a novel about whitn people in necticut. and he said, connecticut is a veryy mall state, whuld you think what happens in that small state wasomehow more representative of america than what happens in atlanta, oe of the largest cities in the

country? so i had the really think it over. thenere asked me ano question. he said: if you feel that this title does not represent your work, i will support you in changing it. epping you're afraid of st into the world of big ideas, if wu're afraid that your novel cannot support tight of the claim of an american story, i really implore you to rethink it. i id to him, i'll tell ou tomorrow. and then i just thought about it, and i decided to be brave.di >> brown: yo, and you stepped into a big idea. >> yes. >> brown: the tle is an american marriage. tayari jones, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: and thais the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and agomn right hererow evening. 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:

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