captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, president trump's top economic advisor, gary cohn, is resigning after disputes over trade. then, are nuclear negotiations on the horizon? north korea claims it is open to talks with the u.s. about abandoning its nuclear weapons, acrding to south korean officials. and, building teacher confidence-- helping early education instructors end their own anxiety around math an science, tnspire their students. >> it's not an easy shift for teachers to make, it's something you feel as if you should know the answers to these things when kidssk you. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoinsesupport of tnstitutions: >> this program was ma possible by e corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a major resignation at the white house tonight, over trade policy. chief economic adviser gary cohn sayse's leaving. in a statement, he says it's been an honor to serve. ohn is a key opponent of the

kind of protectionist policies the president is favoring now-- president trump is calling for tariffs on imported steel and aluminum the president kept pushing his tariff plan today, but more and more, republicans in congress are pushing back. lisa desjardins reports on the day's developments. >> desjardins: republican leaders, at opthe mines for the first time since president trump's tariff announcement, were parts cautious and concned. from house republicans, including speaker paul ryan, the careful approach, first something positive: >> the president is right to int out that there are abuses. there clearly is dumping and transshipping of steel and aluminum. that's absolutely happbiing. there's overcapacity problem. let's go focus on that. let's go focusn the abusers of >> desjardins: then a less direct negative. >> and that is why we think the proper aroach is a more surgical approach so that we do not have unintended consequences. >> desjardins: in public, other republicans similarly downplayth

divide, and echoed one word: "targeted". congressman tom cole of oklahoma: >> desjardins: senator rob portman of ohio: w l, i think it should be more targeted, as i've said from the start. re>> desjardins: and, coman mark meadows of north carolina: >> tariffs on finished goods that are targeted towards >> desjardins: meaning smaller and more specific than the president's idea of broad, 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum. this as the aliauminum asson weighed in today, saying it is "deeply concerned" about possible job losses. matching that more direct tone was republican senate leader mitch mcconnell broaching fears of a trade ws. >> where mrepublican senators are right now, including myself, is genuine concern that this not escalate into something much broader. >> desjardins: but the president is not shifting. >> when we are behind on every

single country, trade wars aren't so bad. day the president stood next to the prime minister of sweden- - steel is one of his nation's ten biggest exports. mr. trump again stood his ground. >> when we are down by 30 billion, 40 billion, 60 billion, 100 billion, the trade war hurts them, it doesn't hurt us. we need steel and we need aluminum. you know there is a theory that if a country doesn't have steel, it doesn't have a country. and it's true. >> desjardins: the question for lawmakers today: what will be the president's final policy? >> the history of the president, ould be yes, because too often it goes this position today is not this position tomorrow. >> desjardins: also high on the concern listumcanada. mr. and canadian prime minister justin trudeau talked trade in a phone call last night. canada is the u.s.' number one foreign supplier of both steel and aluminum.

white house officials say the tariffs will be formalized in the next two weeks. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now. lisa, while we're watching this big division between the president and his own party, republicans, someoneun the white e who he has now relied on is leaving. >> not just anyone, the point person on thesearge economic issues. i have to tell you, talking to senators today, gary cohn isso one they were talking about, scratching their head. i talked to two different senate committee chair peoho said they weren't sure why gary cohn was staying because clearly the president is going ia different direction from what he believes in. the other man's name on eir lips, peter navarro. he is the one who wants these protectionist policies in place. he's someone at more and more we see concern with from people on capitol hill. >> woodruff: he was just recently give an promotion in the white house. the presidet announcedhat his positions are on tariffs, on steel and aluminum some wheredo things go in the congress with this kind of dissension amongst republicans? rst i guess the question is can congress do anything.

yes, they have that power. the constitution grants congress clear power here, but they would need a two-thirds vote to override the president on any terry mcaiffe -- tariff policy that he promotes. congress would have to vote on ariff. it's not clear how many votes they would have. talking to members ofongress, these are smart people they've done this a long time. there are two tangible approaches from republicans, one, hope the president changes his mind, and the work hope the president changes his mind. i can't convey enough how utterly members esof con will react to this because they have free trade in their veins. >> woodruff: we've see dissension before, but we're in >> this is not just by party this is regional. some democrats like joe manchin of west virginia w love wha the democrat -- president is

doing. the b iger storythis is a struggle over a balance of power sssue that's been with this country for hundrf years, and right now the president is showing the power is with him. congress is not sure how to deal with that. >> woodruff: and he doesn't seem to be prepared in any way to back down. >> that's right. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, thank you very much. on another major story, the president cautiously welcomed word that north korea would stop clear weapons an ballistic missiles, if the u.s. agrees to direct talks. the south koreans reported the offer today.ey lso say the leaders of the two koreas wi meet next month, the first summit since 2007. mr. trump reacted at the white house. >>e have come certainly a long way, at least rhetorically with north korea it would be a great thing for the world. it would be a great thing for north korea. it would be a great thing for the peninsula. but we'll see what happens. >> woodruff: we'll take a closer look at the possibility of nuclear talks with the north later in the program. in the day's other news,

president trulayed down concerns about russian meddling in the mid-term elections. he said, "we'll counteract whatever they do." he also denied the whiao house is in on twitter this morning, he call it "fake news." but he also said: "i still have later, at his news conference, he said: "i like conflict." a federal watchdog office says white house senior adviser kellyanne conway illegally tried .sto influence last year's senate race in alabama. that's a violation of the hatch act against political activity by federal employees. an involved conway's advocating for alabama republoy moore in tv appearances. he lost to democrat doug jones president trump will decide what, if any, punishment conway recves. in west virginia, a nine-day, statewide teachers' strike has ended. the republican-led legislature unanimously approved a 5% pay raise for all state employees today,nd spending cuts to make it possible.

republican governor jim justicen ha opposed the raise, but he told teachers today: a "good coach makes adjustment halftime." >> we are making an investment to make education, to putuc ion where in my opinion over and over it ought to be and that is first. so i thank you even though there was times when you beat on me pretty bad. i thank you and i mean that. >> woodruff: even with the increase, west virginia teachers will still earn some $10,000 less than the national average pay for teachers. in syria, russia's military today offered safe passage for rebels and their families to leave eastern ghouta.ur the damascus sis under intense shelling and air strikes, and aar monitoring group says at least 80 people were killed on monday alo. ritain is vowing a "robust" response if it turns osia

poisoned a former double agent who's been living in souther england. sergei skripal and his daughter are in critical condafter being found unconscious on a park bench. police say an "unknown substance" was involved. there've been similar incidents in the past, but moscow has denied any involvement. back in thisoury, the mayor of nashville, tennessee, democrat megan barry, resigned today after pleading guilty to theft of city funds. it's linked to official trips she took with her bodyguard while they were having an affair. he pleaded guty to the same arge. rry appeared in court today to enter her plea, then spoke at a news conference afterward. >> while my time today as your mayor concludes, my unwavering love and sincere affection for this wonderful city and great people will never come to an end. >> woodruff: barry was elected mayor in 201 she faces three years'

probation. stand, on wall streetks struggled in a day of choppy trading. the dow jones industrial average gained nine points to close at 24,884. the nasdaq rose 41 poind the s&p 500 added seven. still to come on the newshour: how congre might roll back nking regulations. orth korea puts de- nuclearizationthe negotiating table. isreal's benjamin netanyahu in the u.s. amiowd his political travails, and much more. >> woodruff: a decade after the financial crisis spurred tough financial regulation, the u.s. senate took a big step toward rolling back some of those rules today.an republ were joined by more than a dozen democrats to move forward with a bill easing requirements on banks worth 50

to $250 billion in assets. specifically, those institutions would not have to pass an annual stress test to make sure they are healthy to survive a financial peeanic, oras much capital on hand. critics worry it could increase the risk of some bank bailouts again. but senator heidi heitkamp, a democrat from north dakota, s strongports it and she joins me now. senator heitkamp, welcome to the news hour. i want to get to y e banking st just a moment, but first i have to ask you about our lead tonightand that is the surprise announcement from the white house that the president's chief economic c adviser, gan, is stepping down what have has clearly been a dispute with the president, who he works for, over imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.at your thought about that? how is that going to affect trade policy? >> well, ieey concerned that we won't have that voice

that is the voice of reason in the white house as it relates to economic understanding of the importancef trade. less than 5% globally of people in the world live in this country. if we're not trading, we're going to fail. i think that one of the biggest concerns i have withhe white house is their trade policy. gary was a great advoca common sense as it relates to trade, and i find it deeply disturbing that hel be leaving. >> woodruff: what does it mean for ur state or north dakota if these tariffs take effect? >> well, we don't know yet which countries will be involved, but obviously all of the concerns about renegotiating nafta has had huge ramifications in our relationships across both borders, botmexico and canada, which our areargest trading partners. at are deeply concerned about the renegon of nafta and fetaliation in the event these tariffs go into . >> woodruff: let me ask you now about this banking ledslation that moved forw in the senate today.

as we said, it would exempt something like two dozen banks, financiae companies, somewh between 50 and 250 billion in assets. they wouldn't be subject to the same sort of federal oversight that the are now and other requirements. why... as you knowthe concern about this is that it means if we come to the next financiais in this country, these banks are going to be back where we were in 2008 needing a big bailout from the federal government. >> i think that's come pleatly overstating the case. number one, i think at of the hour you said that they no long rer going to be subject to stress tests. that's not true. the fed has complete ability to stress test and o put anyone back into that designation if it's appropriate. but remember this, because countrywide used this as an example, we ha not changed the rules as it relates to qualifying mortgages. we have not change rules as to how it relates whether the

fed can stress test these institutions. we still have liquidity dtandards. we basically pron assumption that. assumption is if you're belowio $50 bi you do not project systematic risk to the economy. we said let's take a look at $250 as the presumption, but anything below that where there is systematic risk could still be included and regulated accordingly. >> woodruff: as you say, there s would e stress testing, but much less than what we're talking about now. small banks, as we understand it, would no longer be some protections for homeowners, for example, to go to court to prevent wrongful disclosures. in other words, these banks are being given break because they say there's just been too much ipaperwork. hink that's way overstating the case. let me tell you about north dakota. north dakota doesn't have thoset utions making mortgages because the compliance costs are way too expensive for these small community banks.

as a result, they're doing loans that are recourse loans, using other collateral like your paycheck as opposed to your mortgage, o they're basical transitioning those to large banks like wells fargo. when you don't have relationship lending, you're losing a big part of that capitalization in rural communities. so the protections are there, and, you know, i find it interesting because people always want to say, oh, theba s are going to take advantage of all these consumers. these banks are run by your neighbors. they're owned by youreighbors. they've been doing business for years and generations in these communities. and i think they know better what the community needs than a federal regulator. and let's put this back in focus. the reason w youhave the mortgage standards that you have is to prevent a collapsefhe economy using mortgage as a collateral in derivatives. so if you take these small community banks, they wee never part of the too big to fail. what we've created from too big

sto fail is tooll to succeed. and so i have total confidence that my immunity banks know better what my community needs than a federal regulator that's trying to impose big-bank standards on our smiewl community banks. >> woodruff: how do you know, though, senatoreitkamp, that -- clearly some regulations need to be in place. how do you know the right regulations are still going to be in place? for example, there is concern about whether banks, they won't have to report some of them, a number of them won't have to report the diversity ofeople they lend money to. in othere words, there some regulations in there now that people bay need continued, whether they are done in exactly the same way or not. >> well, let's take the hamda rules, and that's been a point of contention here. we are not eliminating the standard of making sure that we have fair lending rules. there were fair lending rules before dodd-frank.

the hamda rules, which were covered by all banks are 40 pages of regulation that doesn't add any value to making sure that there isn't discrimination. we're saying, look, we'll eliminate that rule making for the smallernsitutions, but if you fail, if you're a bad actor, oswe're going to i these regulations back on you. and the one thing that i think is critically important, when you overregulate, eventually you reach tipping point where everything is in question. we are doing veryodest and very limited changes to dodd-frank to respond to what in're hearing on main streets small communities like mine. and we're proud of this bill. we think that theesults of this bill have been completely overstated by people who have been advocating against this bill because they want to seefu amentally absolutely no change to dodd-frank, even if the regulation doesn' make sense. >> woodruff: senator heidi heitkamp of north dakota, thank you try much. nk you, judy.

>> woodruff: returning to one of our top stories, on north korea's reported offer of possible talks to give up its nuclear weapons program, and to stop testingpo those w while those talks are underway. william brangham explores whether this is a real breakthrough or simply the north stalling for time. >> brangham: the announcement came from top south korean officials, who just completed a two-day visit to pyongyang for meetings with kim jong-un. enit said kim was o talks on denuclearization if his regime could be assur-t of its own m security. if true, this is the first time the north koreans have said they'll even discuss disarming, which has been a consistent demand of the u.s. we turn now to two men with years of experience dealing with north korea, and different views of what this means: joseph detrani was special envoy for korea during the george w. bu administration and he

oversaw the intelligence community's work on north korea for the director fll national inence. he's now adjunct professor at missouri state university graduate shool of strategic studies. and bruce klingner had a 20 year career in the inlligence community where he focused on korea, including chief of the c.i.a. station in south korea in the 90s. he's now a senior research fellow at the heritage foundation. gentlemen, thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> brangham: joseph, i'd like the start with you first. what do you make of this overture. the north koreans allegedly say they will talk about eenuclearization if they can assured of their security. what do you make of that? >> i think it's a positive statement. the fact is we've been having this discussion with nor korea since 1994, ande had some progress in 2005 with a joint statement. so we've been. there we've had this discussion. the key will be the particularst what ay talking about when they talk about security assurances? wehink of a peace treaty. we think of some assurances that we have no ill intentions.

occasionally, or more thanca onally, north korea has other interpretations of security assurances. it could even include ou presence on the korean peninsula, our military presence onthe korean peninsula or our presence in the region. it's a question of us sitting down and getting the particulars, the details. what does this young man, because we've not negotiated with this young man. >> brangham: kim jong-un. >> kim jong-un, we negotiated with kim jong il, who agreed to a joint statement in 2005, commitin to comprehensive reversible dismalement of all their programs. now this young man comes into arsenalas a significant of weapons and delivery systems and is saying, i'm not prepared to denuclearization. now 's saying he is. what does that mean? >> brangham: bruce klinger, d you share that trace of optimism i heard there? >> well, right now the twore koreasushing down the path of reconciliation. it's a well-trodden path to date it's always led to both of them rushing off the cliff

like lemmings, but we can always run down the path again and hope for a different result. you know, it is aignificant development. it is a bit surprising, especially considering whe we were in late december when it seemed like we were on an inevitable path some kind of military conflict. so this is really a dramatic change. the koreas really are leading the game right now. there's some concerns in washington as to how eager south korean president moon is, whether he willave less conditions or more eagerness than the u.s. may want.bu at least right now we're starting from a good place. the south korean preside is a progressive, but he's adopted a much more centrist policy toward north korea than many of us had expected. he reversed himself on a number of issues. up until now he has been pushing pressure over engagement.jo >> branghamph detrani, explain, why should we believe them now? there are plenty of administrations. you have both been through this process where the north koreans

ke promises and then those promises are broken. why believe them now? >> he has pain. north korea is suffering now.ec >> woodruff:se of our sanctions? >> the sanctions are biting, there's no questio m also titary exercises. we've introduceed strategic forces in those. >> brangham: these are trust-south korean exercises. >> u.s.-south korean exercises, and it's got to be intimidating. but also kim jong-un has had a good year in regard to his nuclear and missile p rogram. ssile launches to include an intermediate-range missile that can touch the whole of the united states.dr a en bomb test. so he's coming to the table feeling better about himself. >>in brangham: so you his success in his testing reg. fekes these talks more ible? >> i think that's part of the equation. it's not only the sanctions thad are biting the military joint exercises that are intimidating, it's him feing a ttle more confident that he has this arsenal and he'll be treated i think hawith they usually talk about, greater respect. so what does that mean?

rtit's the paulars. it's in the details. that's why some exploratorys discussion i'm not saying negotiations. i don't think we should go into negotiationsuntil we're clear as to what their intentions are. is he serious about comprehensive, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement? that is our position. it's a correct position. i think everyone agrees norre with nuclear weapons would be catastrophic. >>rangham: bruce klinger, what do you make of the other news that came out of this that kim jong-un and moonae-in ght be meeting face to face very soon? how significant is that? >> well, it's very significt because it would be the third time, only the third time that two korean leaders have me i think it's a positive development that it will be in the border area. also the area is fairly austere, so it's not going to have al th diplomatic trappings of state dinners, and if it was in north korea, the north could have controlled the message more. here it will be much more business-like.

it's going to be in these pavilion, which are very austere. i think it will be a case of they arrive andge they down to business. now, the business is the difficult part, and we've been down this path many times. so i think there is a lot of reason and justification for being skeptical. >> brangham: joseph d if you wered a voiding the trump administration, how would you have them respond to this overture in. >> i think exploratory discussions would bejustified. indeed, if north korea halts its missile launches and indeed has no nuclear tests, i think that will end. eey know we will m forward with our joint military exercises in south korea... >> brangham: which they did not ask us to walk away. >> eventually they'll ask us to scale them back and eventuly ey'll ask us to cease and desist. they're moving down that path. but i think exploratory discussions where we're not ving anything to them, they, in fact, are halting what they're doin we should listen to them. and question them. because there is a joint statement. i keep mentioning the 2005 joint

statement. it took us two years of hard negotiations to get that, and then fouries of pursuing it, and north korea then walked away from it. there's a document there. there's a lot of work there. that could be revisited and north korea could be asked, well, if your fathe kim jong il, committed to this, why have you persisted with your nuclear weapons? and if you're so concerned about security assurance, what doou mean by that, besides a peace treaty? i think in the statement from the south korean, i think they noted they would like normalla retions with the united states. this is something they've always wanted. indeed, that is the best security assurance they can get. but they need to work hard getting that. not only because of nuclear, missilut human rights and illicit activity issues. >> woodruff:>> brangham: bruce , what would you are the adminiration do? >>we need close coordination andh our allies, south korea japa but right the momentum is such that we can't stay out of the diplomacy game. there have been a lot of questions of whether president

trump was supportive of diplomacy or not. a lot of focus hasbeen on whether the u.s. would do a preventative attack or not. now that we're getting to diplomacy, because in a way we're being dragged into it by the two kor it's a case of the dog catching the car. we don't really know what to do with the car now, because the straight hasn't articulated what it's looking for or what its conditions or preconditions are for engaging with the north. >> brangham: bruce klinger, joseph etrani, thank you both very much. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: training to "stem" preschool teacheut' anxieties abo teaching math and science. but first, israel's prime mister benjamin netanyahu spoke today in washington, at an annual meeting of american supporters of israel.

as nick schiepfrints, the enthusiastic welcome in this country comes as israel's prime minister faces deep political, and possibly criminal, problems back in israel. >> the prime state of israel, benjamin netanyahu. ( cheers an >> reporter: back home, benjamin netanyahu is surrounded by scanarl. but in theembrace of washington, he's hailed like a hero. >> good morinng, aipac! >> reporter: today netanyahu addressed the friendliest crowd om all, the american israeli public affairsttee. they gave him complete support on his main message. >> we must stop iran. we will stop iran. ( applause ) >> reporte5 the 201iran nuclear deal froze iran's nuclear program in exchange for massive sanctions relief. netanyahu said tldt relief emboed iran to spread its influence across the region, from lebanon to yemen. >> darkness is descending on ou. regi iran is building an aggressive empire. reporter: and netanyahu presented himself in lockstep with president trump.

he has made clear that he too will never accept a nuclear armed iran. that is the right policy. i salute president trump on this. >> repwoter: yesterday the saluted each other in the oval office. >> we have, i would say, probably the best relationitip right now israel that we ever had. >> reporter: it was a remarkable show of strategic unity and mutual admiratide. >> mr. pre, i've been here for necaly four s with talking, seekingero build the an-israel alliance. under your leadership, it's never been stronger. >> risorter: for netanyahu imagery is a welcome contrast to israeli news coverage. >> continuing our coverage of the ongoing corruption investigations into the prime minister. >> yet another twist in the alleged corruption investigation of benjamin neahu. >> reporter: for months, the tv coverage and the protd ts have focu multiple cases against netanyahu and his wife, sara, of cruption, bribery,

and fraud. just yesterday, netanyahu's former chief spokesman nir hefetz turned state's witness, the third former aide who's agreed to testify. but netanyahu is leading israeli polls, and he benefits by helping deliver president trump's pro-israeli policies, like moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem. for the palestinians, who want east jerusalem as their capital, the move is unacceptable. but it boosted president trump with his base, and he says it can help the peace process. b >> tgest difficulty that anybody has had, you look over 25 years, nobody could get past, number one, jerusalem. they couldn't get past it. we've taken it off the table. >> reporter: so does taking jerusalem offre the table ie the chances of peace? and what's the future of iran policy and netanyahu's career? for more on that i'm joined by aaron david miller. he served republican and democratic adnistrations as a top diplomat on the middle east. he's now vicet presidente wilson center, a washington think tank.

aaron david miller, how imperilled is prime minister netanyahu, and can a trip like this to d.c. help save him? >> you know, netanyahu has been around for a long time. he's currently working i think oon the 13th his nine lives. anybody who next year, assumin survives, will surpass israel's greatest prime minister david ben gurion as the longest-serving prime nister in israel's history can't be counted out. at the same time, three of his longime confidantes have turned state's witness. the level of detail that has been leaking to substantiate charges that the police have made, bribery, fraud, breech of trust, seem to be extremely serious. what we're waiting for is the atrney general to decide whether or not an indictment is in order. i think it's going to be exemely difficult based the foritics and the legalities the prime minister simply to go on as if it's busine as usual.

at the same time, nick, if elections were held,cording to a recent poll last week,d liuld probably garner the most mandates in the knesset. so netanyahu is still there. >> schifrin: he's still leading the polls. the u.s. says it does wt to introduce the peace plan. is there a plan that the trump administration is woing on that can be acceptable in this environment to both the palestinians and the israelis? >> no, i tn answer first question, having worked on various peace processes for over 20 years,the degree of silence on this one is quite impressive. there have been almost no lea, none that are authoritative, and it suggestsgsne of two th, there's either something there worth protecting, or alternatively, perhaps, nothing. it'sos ible to say what's in this thing. we have heard that it's going to be detailed, that it's going to address all of the core issues.o

in answeour second question, do i believe that anything the trump administration will lay down will be able address themu legitimateal needs and requirements of both sides, absolutely not. we don't have a peace ocess in large part because the gaps on jerusalem, border, security, refugees, recognition of israel as the nation state of the jews and end of conflict and claim, those six coresss, the gaps are simply not bridgeable. it's not the trump administration that's the obstacle. it's the uboillingness o israelis and palestinians to make the kinds of choices ands deons that are necessary in order to allow a third party, ah least one knew what it was doing presumably, to broker an agreement. so the answer is, yes, i think there will be plan. it may actually have some substance. but i think the odds of getting both sides to sign on are slim to none. >> schifrin: president trump says his plan the move the embassy to jerusalemill

actually improve the prospects of peace. is he right? >> she'sad just aren aly-fraught situation immensely more problematic. he's turned a missionbl impos i would argue, at least on the jerusalem issue, into a mission implausible. so, no, i can understand why many israelis are happy. can understand why it does a lot for him politically. understand why evangelicals and the american jewish sommunity is excited about t move. but the reality, when it was taken, it certainly wasn't done with foreignolicymplications or other negotiations in mind. >> we saw a lo of dynamics today and yesterday, netanyahu and trump both agreeing on iran. they're talking a lot about iran. netanyahu's speech today was well received. did that put pressure n president trump to nix the deal, the iran nuclear deal, which he has a deadline on in the next couple months? >> the president doesn't want to go to war with irane despite

blusterriness of some of his rhetoric.sn and he clearly in the position to make peace with iran. the default position is an continue toe, to try to find a way to stay in the iran nuclear cord, perhaps try for an add-on agreement constraining iran's missile technology or try to push the sunset clauses out to make them forever clauses so i think, no, i think the big difference between the prime minister and the president is passertive american rule against the iranians in the regionan the trump administration seems to be almost as risk averse as thenbama adstration in this regard and seems to be unwilling certainly syr to risk a confrontation with the russians or the iranians over the future of hellah or the assad regime. so i suspect in may when it comes time fo another certification, the president will decertify probably as d earlier in january, but he'll find a way i suspect to at

least keep most of the deal intact. >> schifrin: aaron david miller, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. >> woodruff: one of the major movements in american education is to get more students engaged and learning when it comes to science, technology, engineering and math, often referred to as "stem. hari sreenivasan has a report from chicago on efforts to boosc sclearning among some of the youngest students by boosting t ceachfidence, for our weekly segment, "making the grade." >> who had fun? >> me. >> sreenivasan: anyone who's spent time with three, four and five year olds knows children at this age ask a lot of questions.

ey when they look at me, th want someone with all the answers. any question they ask me, they want me to have thes answer it. okay. where is my good listener? >> says the children's unrestrained riosity can sometimes make him feel anxious about teaching certain subjects, like science. il i feel i don't want to them. i don't want to let them down. >> sreenivasan: marshall is not alone. a recenttudy from michigan state university found that a majority of preschool teachers experience the same discomfort teaching science. >> i'll focus more on reading and not really look at science because i thought it was complicated. >> i'm i'm just uncomfortable with it. >> i wasn't a big science person. i remember biology in high school, but that's about it. >> sreenivasan: with only 38of the nations' fourth graders testing proficient in the sciences, some educatorsok are w g to the preschool years

to address the problem. here, at the univer osi chicago, early education experts who specialize in science, technology, and math, are partnering with local childcare centers to boost teacher confidence. >> we hear sall the time teach go into early education to avoid th and science courses themselves. >> sreenivasan: liesje spaepen and liz lehman, from the university of chicago's stem edation center, say that when teachers feel uneasy about a subjec lt matter, it cve a powerful impression on students, even at an early age. >> if you're afraid, if you have anxiety around a topic, you' very unlikely to want to teach it to your students the proble with anxiety is that it gets passed down. if i anxious about something, my students see that in me, and they k there must be a reason to be anxious about this. >> sreenivasan: lehman and spaepen have been coaching preschool teachers from chicago's austin neighborhood, where students from low-income

families are at a greater risk ng behind in science and math. >> we'rgoing to see what things can roll down this ramp, ok can you say the word ramp? >> ramp. >> sreenivasan: at channings childcare academy, teacher odessa mcbroom introduced a ramp while the coaches observed. >> let it go, what did it do? >> sreenasan: the exercise allowed teachers to use a simple activiphty to teacics. >> what's the word i'm looking for? >> rolls. >> thiset is reallyng into some of those physical science concepts. we're talking about things like gravity, and friction. what do they do when things down a ramp? some of them will slide, some of them will roll. >> what you going to do to make it move? you gonna push it?li is it going to down? >> no. >> they were curious. they wanted tosee what's going to happen, they love to know what's going on. >> sreenivasan: later in the day, lehman and spaepen observed

children who gathered around a water tank at betty's daycare academy to test which objects sink or float. >> when you put t in the water, what do yothink is going to happen to it? >> it's going to float. >> what did it do? >> it float. >> the science content there is around density, and the properties of water, and the properties of materials. we aren't expecting children to learn the word density. you just want three year olds to have those experiences to draw on. if you can say, "oh yeah, i rememb this when i was a kid, i dropped things into the water and some floated and some didn't, that's density." >> it' >> sreenivasan: even with this simple activity, the teachers had moments of doubt, like when l realized he didn fully understand the properties of the materials. >> i wtethem to stick their hand in the bag and then ask them, what do you think it's utde of. and when i got to that part, "i'm like oh my god, i don't know what this is. >> sreenivasan: later, he talked insecure feelings. his >> some of the objects, i didn't

know whe at they were m, so i was kind of thinking should i ask th>>at questions. 'm a big believer that it's ok for teachers to say, if it's something they dong, know somethight, "you know, i don't know, we'll have to investigate this" that's okay" >> so hyi have a questions, "w didn't the branch sink?" >> sreenivasan: marshall's teaching partner tina smith- miller had science questions of r own. >> the kids was saying it was going to float, and i thought it was going to sink. i didn't tell anyone i didn't know tr,he ansither, i was keeping it to myself. >> it's not an easy shift for teachers to make, it's something you feel as if you should know the answers to these things when kids ask you. >> sreenivasan: the university coaches do not teach science. instead the goal is to promote science inquiry. >> if you feel uncomfortable about the anst wers, abving the answers, or finding the answers, your going to avoid those questions, and what we always tell teachers is use those opportunities, it's okay if you have to say, "let's figure this out together."

>> they gave me the courage to ask more questions, and it wasn't a wrong answer, or i didn't feel silly or scared, or afraid. i think they helped me be more courageous. >> i learned a lot. exploring, finding things out, doing lots of investigating. we had a lot of trial and error. >> i shitould have learne long time ago. i'm sot glad that we volved in this program, because okay, i need some help on this, everything elsi got it, this i dn't have. >> sreenivasan: the teacher coaches hope to expand their early learning project in the coming years.ic in chago for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with new numbers that reveala spike in opioid overdose cases in u.s. emergency rooms.

but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a

>> woodruff: finally tonight, a stark neport shows the opioids crisis seems to deepening across the country. the centers for disease control released dawing overdoses are increasing at an alarming rate. in factro, emergenc visits for suspected overdoses rose by an aveearage of 30% in a william brangham is back with mo on this report. slliam, what did the c.d. in. >> just as you described. the headline out of this report is that the opioid crisis is stl awful and it is getting worse. remember, we lose on average about 115 people die every

single day in america was because of a drug overdose. in this report the seed si went to emergency reports and looked at how many people come to your hospitals are coming because of these overdoses. 30% of the overdoses, they've seen a 30% increase in overdoses between 2016 and 2017. and in certain place, it'sbeen particularly bad. the midwest was really hard hit. pennsylvania, illinois overdoses were up 50% or more. delaware up by 105% with wisconsin up by 109%. so these are really, really startlingly high increases in the number of people who are coming in this terrible circumstances. some states did see moderate decreases in the number of overdoses, but not nearly as dramatic as the rises. disturbing. so and these numbers are recent, right up through 2017. so why is this happeng? what do they say? >> the c.d.c. didn't really gett int. i think the argument is that it's the same par of this

crisis we've seena all along. people are addicted to these drugs. nd more.taking more one of the obvious factors is the rise of what's called fentany these additives added to other opioids on the streets at makes them much mo poe tent and makes them much more likely to cause people to have an overdose. additionally, we've also been using more and more of this drug lled narcan, which if you do overdose, you can shoot the drug atto your arm or leg, and it revives you from overdose, so in some way we're saving more people who are overdosing, andr theygetting to emergency room, whereas in the past they would have just died. >> woodruff: so following on that, what is the c.d.c. saying about whatan be done? what kind of interventions need to happen that clearly don't seem to be happening. you were -- i was reading earlier, they were saying that numberese people are coming back after an initial crisis. >> exactly. e.r.s will see what they call repeat customers, people who are coming for multiple overdoses.

and a lot of health researchers would say an overdose and you gng to the e.r. is this moment of soportunity, it's like a window when you can reachone when they're in a terrible circumstance and maybe you can do some kind of an intervention there. so the c.d.c. is saying people should be started on treatment, such methadone. start people on those medica but that's years of possible treatment going forward. they also argue that we shoulde be giving m narcan to family members so if you were there at the bedside with a loved one, teach those people how to use narcan in case this happens again. additionally, the thing the c.d.c. was pressing is the importance of having someone who can shepherd that person out of hospital and into treatment.ca e too often we bandage them up an let them go and they find treatment if they're lucky, if they have money. the idea is to deploy someone to go to the bedside, start a

conversation with that person at the very vulnerable moment, and hopefully that person can become a bridge to wal thatrson out of the hospital, literally and negatively, get them enter treatment, help them figure item out, help figure out how to pay for it. but again, these are all relatively small interventions. >> woodruff: and this is the kind of thing, though, it istt g them into treatment, but then it's following up on this and staying with them. r ht. we're talking about years of treatment. this is not a broken arm, you geit fixed and have the cast cut off. you're talking about a lifetime's worth of treatmen >> woodruff: and very hard to this on you own without help from the outside. >> indeed. >> woodruff: william brangham, so disturbing. than>>you very much. you're welcome, judy. >> woodruff: you can explore all our stories on the opioid crisis, fromhe many ways it is crippling communities to new ideas on how the epidemic can be stopped. all that and more, in our "amerid"ca addiceries. on the newshour online right now, experts offer recomme efficient upgrades that can help improve your standard of living

and make your home a little "smarter." that and more is on our web site, pborg/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. s online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> you were born with two stories. one you write every day, and one you inherited that's written in >> consumer cellular. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, demo, atic engagemeand the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of thesinstitutions is program was made possible by the corporation for public and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org - [narrator] explore new worlds

and new ideas through programs like this. made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you thank you. (lighthearted music) (laughing) - [rebecca] little women is one of the most deeply loved books in merican literature. - [sophie] there's something about it that has a vy strong moral compass of acceptance, accepting who you are, accepting who you are not, and accepting other people around you. - [rebecca] it was written by louisa may alcott in 1868, 150 years ago, and proof of its timelessness is the fact that this novel has been adapted again and again for film and television all over the world. and now, masterpiec ihas chosen to produ again. - this production has signifant differences