captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, in the wake of russia's nerve gas attack on a former spy in the u.k., and after months of evidence of election meddling and cyberattacks, the trump administration hits russia with new sanctions. then, embattled veterans affairs secretary david shulkin says the departme is getting back on track after being rocked by controversy and an ethics investigation. and, sneakerhead economics: making sen of a marketplace where footwear, status, and art come together. >> i think it's a great way for young kids to learn aboutsi ss and how to make money and sometimes lose money. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performae and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> 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: the united states is striking back at russia for interfering in the 2016 election, with the strongest response since president trump took office. that word came today as officials also accused moscow of a sweeping campaign to disrupt key industries. >>nhe president has also sh that he's been extremely tough on russia throughout his administration, i th particularly you saw that today in the russia sanctions that were put forward. >> woodruff: with the

announcement, the trumpst admition officially moved to punish russia for cyber- attacks and electionuneddling in thed states and europe.rg the sanctions 19 russians, 13 of whom have been indicted in special l robert mueller's investigation. the 13 worked at a plaled the "internet research agency" in st.etersburg. it is accused of orchestrating a vast online campaign of chaos and disinformation during e 2016 u.s. election. four other entities, incding russian security services and military intelligence, will have their u.s. assets frozen, and be barred from doing business with americans. the u.s. congress had originally set a january deadline for imposing the sanctions. but president trump has dismissed claims of russian election meddling as a "hoax," or insisted it did not contribute to his winning thee whuse.

he said it again, just last week. >>onhe russians had no impac our votes whatsoever. but certainly there was meddling, and probably there was meddling from other countriehe and maybe otindividuals. >> woodruff: still, white house officials joined the u.s. trsury, the f.b.i., homela security, and intelligence agencies in making today's announcement. they also looked beyond the u.sc elon and described an even broader campaign by moscow. it allegedly includes meddling in french and german elections, russia's annexation of crimea and interference in eastern ukraine, and a cyber-attack that crippled cputers across europe, asia and the americas last june. the department of homeland security and f.b.i. also charged that rusa has attempted to penetrate the u.s. energy grid in what they called a "multi- stage intrusion campaign."

the head of the internet research agency scoffed at the u.s. actions. yevgeny prigozhin saidnee has no busiss in the u.s. and will not be affected. russia's deputy foreign minister said his government has begun to prepare a response to the sanctions. al'll take a longer look a of this, after the news summary. in the day's other news, a newly built pedestrian bridge collapsed over a major highway in the miami area today. authorities reported multiplse deaths, and veral injuries at florida international univsity. y ght vehicles were crushed when the bridge gave wad landed on the eight-lane road. emergency crews were still at the scene this evening. >> i can assure you that our teams are still in rescue and search mode. they are still working the debris pe. we have search dogs in place. we have technil listening devices with fiberoptics. we're drilling holes into the pile to try to locate any viable patients. >> woodruff: the $14 milli

bridge was installed this past saturday, using what was called an accelerated construction method. sir the first time, the special counsel in the r investigation is going after the trump organization's bs records. "the new york times" and others reportedoday that robert mueller has subpoenaed records from the president'sompany. the trump organization called it "old news" and said it's bn turning over documents for months. the united states joinedpe eu leaders today in blaming russia for poisoning a former spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter, in britain.ta in a jointment, the u.s., britain, france and germany sai th "no plausible alternative explanation" for the nerve agent attack. at a meeting with the prime minister of ireland, presidenthe trump said.s. and britain are talking about what to do next. >> it certainly looks like the russians were behind it. evmething that should neve

happen. and we're taking it very seriously, as i think are many others. >> woodruff: british prime minister theresa may has already expelled 23 russian diplomats. today, she visited the scene of the alleged attack, in salisbury, and said moscow must be held accounble. in syria, thousands of civilianl ayed the rnclave in eastern ghouta t. war monitors said more than 12- thousand people streamed out of the area as government troops cled in and russian air strikes pounded the area. today marked seven years since the uprising in syria that led to civil war. more than half a million people have been killed in that time. president trump nt back and forth with canada today, over trade. it first came up at a private, political fundraiser in st. louis last night. in an audio recording, obtained by nbc news, the president said

prime minister justin trudeauns denied canada trade surplus with the u.s. . trump said he argued it was true, without really knowing. >> i said, "wrong, justin, you do." i didn't even know. josh, i had no idea.ai i just sd, "you're wrong." you know why?so because we'rtupid. >> woodruff: the president repeated his claim on twitter, and the white house said he's right, if timber and energy are included. but canadian officials said when trade in services is also cound, the u.s. actually has trade surplus with canada.de republican l in the u.s. house say they'll reject a banking deregulation bill that passed the senate last night. the chair of the houseinancial services committee, republicanar jeb heng, warned today the bill needs to go even further. the senate measure would ease regulations on all but the very largest banks. democrats are celebrating the

outcomof tuesday's special congressional election in pennsylvania. conor lamb has a slender lead and s claimed victory over republican rick saccone. a recount remains possible, but today, house minority ader nancy pelosi hailed lamb's showing in a district that president trump carried by 20in . >> middle class, labor played a very major role there. so this was a great victory. his personal story and his record are an important part of it. the comparison between the two candidates was drastic. he's superb and we look forward to welcoming him here.dr >> wf: lamb ran supporting much but not all of the national democratic agenda, and callingo for pelosive way to a younger generation of leaders. the food and drug administration took a first step today to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes, making them less addictive. the regulatory process is ex.cted to take several yea

it's all part of a major anti- smoking initiative launched last summer. the goal is to cut the rate of smoking among americans and prevent tobacco- related deaths. about 15% of american adultse currently and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 115 points to close at 24,873. the nasdaq fell 15 points, and the s&p 500 slipped two. still to come on the newshour: unpacking the new u.s. sanctions against russia. turmoil at t top of the veterans affairs department. cotinderbox in theiddle east. the potential for lict with israel, hezbollah and its syrian and iranian allies, plus, much more. >> woodruff: we return to the trump administration's sanctions

on russia announced today. and what they say about washington's relationship with moscow. michael mcfaul was u.s. ambassador to russia during the obama administration and is now at stanford university. his latest book is "from cold hot peace: am american ambassador in putin's russia." michael mcfaul, welcome back to the newshour. >> thanks for having te. >> woodrufnk you for being with us. what effect do you think these steps, these measures will have? >> well, in the short term not much. let's be clear. they're pretty minor sactions on minor individuals. at least the ones affiliated withhe i.r.a. that you just described, the ones that interfered in our eltions. >> woodruff: the internet research agency?xa >>ctly. they're the ones that were heavily involved in all kinds of opaganda efforts during the 2016 elections and afterward, by the way.

symbolically, i think it's important. first of all, it's better they did somethinrather an nothing. second of all, it shows now that the trump administration itself acknowledges that there was interference in our elections, and that mueller's investigation is achieving results. so it may no cnge putin's calculus right away, but i think that was an imporcnt symbo first. >> woodruff: how noteworthy is it that it has taken thimany months for the administration to make that acknowledgment as youc be it? >> it's been disappointing to me, you know, that we've been having this debate as a country. for ye now everybody agrees that this happened. and for lit, erally yearst candidate trump and then president trump was saying it's all a hx, it's all made up. today, as you just played on you clip before us coming on, he has now said something concrete about it.sh i e would be more enthusiastic about his ownti administ's policy toward russia. i wish he would say, this is outrageous, this should never

happen, and there needs to be a price pay, and not only for 2016, but for the many other things that putin has done, including the assassination attempt in the u.k.'s ot quite there yet, but at least this is a small step in the right direction. >> woodruff: you said taken one by one these are minimal steps for the u.s. to te, but let me ask you about that. sanctions targeting 19 russians. we heard just a moment ago yevgeny prigozhin, one of the oligarchs of people clse to vladimir putin, someone -- >> yes, he is. >> woodruff: soiveone in the e sector in russia. he said, "this isn't going to e have afect on me." that raises a question: are they going to have any bite at all? >> generally speaking, putting on my social science hat for a minute, measuring t causal impact of sanctions on the target country is hard questions 's a big country, so it takes longer for sanctions to have a bite thre.

my own view is that over the years sanctions have been working. i think there's a way to measure that in terms of reduction in g.d.p. i think secondly the fact that the largestnt joienture in the history of russian-american relations between the oil company russianil company and exxon-mobil, that dissolved. that's she result ofanctions. and third, on an individual leve mr. prigozhin's life just became a lot more difficult, t first because indictment, an now because of the sanctions. he can't just show up to loon. he can't go to the italian rivery ramp he has to bed concerth expect to the indictment, and likewise the individuals who are sanctioned, it does make their lives a lot harder. >> woodruff: so when we reported as we did a moment ago russian security services, military intelgence are going have their u.s. assets frozen, you're saying miaght have... might make them feel something?

>> well, thas a diferent category. i'm glad you brought that up, because that category, in fact, inhhe new sanctions were done today is different and independent from the set of sanctions that were put in place with respect to our elections. >> woodruff: right. >> those organizations, they probably haves assets i we can track them down, we should free them they're probably clandestine assets. i don't epect tha be great as far as how they do their operations around the world. but calling them out,g acknowledgis happened, that they're attacking our infrastructure. remember, that's what's in the indictmenttoday, that in and of itself i think is advancing the ball to make americans, to mak the rest of the world understand the dangers of vladimir putin and these what i consider outrageous behaviors in the u.k., in the united states, in the ukraine, in syria. it's time we have a consorted push back on all of these activities. >> woodruff: michael mcfaul,

what do you make that this is coming just a day of imraib, the u.k., took some sigfint steps against russia, as well. the statement by prime minister theresa y yesterday that ey overwhelming evidence that the russians were behind that nerve gas attack on the former russian spy? >> i don't know if it's coincidence or if it changed the channel, i honestly don't know, but i do know that assassination, some are calling it a terrorist attack in the u.k., one of our closest ally, nato allmy, deands another response. this is not that. and if you listen to ambassadoru haley, if ook at the statement which i applaud that the four countries put ou, germany, france, the u.k. and the united states con this attack and saying that it was the russian government, that's the good news. they have now called them out. now comes the hard part. how are we going to respond to that attack? i think it dodemand another

set of sanctions and maybe other kinds of responses to come from the united states. >> woodruff: so you're looking for more from this administration? absolutely. they've all said this is a hafining moment. i think that'st ambassador haley said. well, a defining moment demands a defining response. >> woodruff: former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael ul, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: the rate of high level departures from the trump administration recently is unecedented. among the original cabinet members that remain, there are a number of questions around potential ethics violations. william brangham reports on one agency with a troubled trackre cord and a leader under fire. >> mr. secretary, do you have any concns about your job today?>> rangham: embattled veterans affairs secretary david shulkin expressed regret for thedi

ractions gripping his department at a house committee hearing today. >> i've come here r one reason and that's to improve the lives o veterans and that's what i'm focused solely on doing. there are a lot of people that, frankly, are more interested in politics than i am. >> brangham: shulkin, the only binet official held over from the obama years, is the latest member of the trump administration rumored to ng on the choplock. an early favorite of mr. trump, the president once joked of his firing. >> we'll never have to use thosd >> brangham: but in the oval office today, the president said rumors of staff shakeup were it was a false story, a very , aggerated and false story. >> brangham: stie ngysician and former hospital executive's stans taking hits on multiple fronts. the first fissure came in february after an internal probe tund the secretary improperly accepted ticketsthe wimbeldon tennis match and used

tax payer funds for his wife's travel. shulkin repaid the government for both but began saying publicly that politically appointemembers from the white house were trying to force him out over personality and policy reasons. on the campaign trail, then- candidate trump vowed to modernize the v.a., and said veterans should be able to go to private doctors if needed. >> veterans should be guaranteed the right to choose their doctor and clinics, whether at a v.a. facility or at a private medical center.hi we must extendright to all veterans. >> brangham: in 2016, fox news contributor pete hegseth, who used to run a veterans group baed by the conservative billionaire koch brothers, agreed with this i h>> brangham: media repore said the president is considering hegseth, along with

current energy secretary rick perry, as possible candidates to place shulkin. back in the hearing, shulkin pushed back against the wider privatization of his agency, and said the president agreed with him. >> i've been clearhat i think this would be the wrong decision for our country's terans to privatize the v.a. i've also been clear that i think v.a. can't do this alone. the president is very, very committed to improving services for veterans. there is no prsure to privatize. >> brangh: this debate takes place as the v.a. continues to deal with ongoing scandals about how it delivers care. last week, an inspector general report blamed "failures in leadership" during the obama administration for wasteful spending and dirty conditions in one washington, c. veterans medical center. at the time, shulkin was the va's undersecretary. the secretary said today that waa systemic breakdown and vowed to improve. >> it was a failure at every o level of oanization. it should've never gotten to that point. >> brangham: still amid the

controversies, shulkin says he has no intentions of stepping down. let's take a closer look at what's ahead for shulkin and the v.a. with lisa rein, who's been covering the story for the "washington post." welcome. >> thank you. >> brangham: so you reported inis afternoon that president trump isact, leaning onta firing sec shulkin and possibly replacing him with peter hegstaff. why has the prsident soured on shulkin so much? >> we know he has talked about shaking up his cabinet, which started with the firing of secretary of state rex tillerson, and the president has always actually liked sectary shulkin. they're both new yorkers. they say what they mean. they're brash. shulkin is a doctor, very well-respected former hospital enexecutive, but the preshas soured on him because there have been in the last month kind of annending barrage of negative headlines about secretary shulkin that center on two things. one is an inspector general

report on a trip that he took to europe that had some lapses, including his acceptance of some free wimbledon tickets, some other improprieties. but dr. shulkin himself actually went very public with whaet h said was an attempt by his own political appointees who were installed by the white house at v.a. to oust him. this kind of opened this festering wound at v.a., and there was just more and more press coverage of . and just shulkin didn't get along with his appointees, and they were trying to oust him because naf perty and policy differences, and the president has told aids that it's just sort of too much for him and he's really on him. >> brangham: so am i right y at the core issue underlying this is polbate within the v. a. over how much we privateize the system or not? t t right? >> that's right. this has been talked about for several yars nw since in 014

there was a big scandal over v. a. managers whore fudging wait times for patients.ea it became that the v.a. system just couldn't handle all the appointments that veterans needed to see doctors. and there's just a huge increasing demand for healthcare. so under obama, president oba, congress passed a ginormous billion dollar, multibillion dollar bill to give some veterans the opon but with restrictions to see private doctors in the community. but the trump administration has come in and conservatives generally favor mre priva care. the pis will pi, you kow, fro many people in the trump administration has been let's have more private care and conservatives in congress are also pushing this. but the debate hase rally been how much should we advance this policy change, and who really m

should bing the decision over access to care? should it be the veteran, or should it be the doctors and nurses a v.a.? and it sounds like kind of an arcane decision that uldn't have such a big impact, but in reality it does. just because it's ag bi ideological difference. >> reporter: so let's say shulkin is pushed out and someone else comes in who this does want to push for more privatization. how do traditional veterans' groups come down on that particular choice? >> this has been a very, very bitter conversation in recent years. aditional groups like th american legion, the v. f.w., these are the big groups whose members really support the president, they really fear what they call a move toward privatization that this administration iuspushing, beit would drain resources from v.a.'s current system. then you hae conservatives in the white house and at v.a. who are backed by a group concerned veterans for america, backed by

the koch brothers, who really want more private care and whatr they call choice, so the veteran would be able to basically have the option to see a doctor of their choice. >> brangham: all right. lisa rein of the "washington post," thank you. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: this week marks seven years of syria's civil war. what began as an uprising against the regime of bashar al- assad has become a regional priny war, and one of the ma combatants supporting assad is hezbollah, the lebanese shiite militant group. its operations in syts relationship with iran, and its power in lebanon, are a constant concern of israel. and now, there is talk of another hezbollah-israel war in oe offing. with me now for mothis tinderbox is special

n,correspondent jane fergu whom we have the pleasure of hosting here in studio on a nvisit from her home base beirut. jane, it's good to have you us with. there has been more talk recently of a possible war between israel and hezbollah. what does it look like? >> we've been hearing this tavek for l years now. it now appears both sides seem to act knock that a war could b comiy even be an inevitability, and this is because, of course, hezbollah have been growing in strength with the war in syria.'v thbeen gaining a huge amount ofl miitary expertise there and experience, and from the israeli perspective, that strength that is unacceptable to them is very much so foced on the missiles that hezbollah have. israel sees these as an exestem cell research threat. -- existential threat. re also see iran's influence reaching right aoss to the mediterranean. that's what they really want to secure. but it also means that israel feels increasingly encircled.

>> wedruff: so if there we a war, what would it look like? how would this be different from what we sawn 2006? >> the reason that it would be different is also extremely -- it's tie in with wh the war has not started yet. both sides know this war would be much more dangerous and much more destructive than in 200 the israelis have already said that because o hezbollah's growing influence and power in th the lebanese government that there what they perceive to be hezbollah targets could be more open than wat we saw in 2006 and we saw hezbollah neighborhoods in by route being attacked. there's the pottial for the greater civilian casualties this time around as well as infrurl damage and for the israelis, the risk is the miles that could be launched inside israel. so we could see both sides risk hurting a lot more in this war. and the other da is that this war could become much more widespread. >> woodruff: polling in othertr cos in the region

potentially. >> it's very difficultago e this war wouldn't simply because there are so many multilayered problemy wars going on already next door in syria. hezbollah are inside syria now fighting alongside iranian troops, thr backers, their financial backers, and it's very difficult to imagine that you could see a war with israel and hezbollah that wouldn't draw in those other elements. >> woodruff: well, it's just when we think, as we look and wait to see whether something develops between hezbollah in israel, we see what's going on in syria. we keep thinking it's winding down. it's clearly not. we've been waching this terrible humanitarian situation and in damascus suburb of eastern gouta. it just keeps going on. >> people keep talking about this war, it's winding down, but it doesn't rally appear to wish to wind down.

what's happening in goutha is a huge humanitarian crisis thatn' you haseen since the siege of aleppo. there are thousands ofivilians fleeing or trying to flee that area as the ariel bombardment becomes completely relentless or has been for weeks now.uf >> woo are people surprised that president assad is going after this area i such a vicious manner? >> i think not after the last seven years and what people have seen, the use chemical weapons, bombardment of civilian areas, the targeting of hospitals, this isn't out of character. and nowhat the assad regime has these opposition fighters surrounded, it's not unsurprising that they're hammering them in this way. >> woodruff: everyone asses assad comes out of this victorious? >> notes inly. i think ito going more complicated than that. i think there are a lot ofa players have influence in syria right now.

iran, of course, and russia, his main allty, , you know, we heard today from the number-two at hezbollah that they will not accept apeace agreement that doesn't include assad in charge. so at the same time, it's very unlikely any opposition figuresg are ever goo accept assad in charge post peaceful agreements. >> woodruff: just a horrific situation. it had go on for years. jane ferguson, really good to have you here in the states for a while. we look forward to me of your reporting from over there. >> thanks. >> woodruff: now to a surprising way to make money: the sneaker resale market, where used nikes and adidas can sell for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. our economics correspondent paul solman has the story. it's part of our series, "making

sense" which airs every thursday. >> reporter: in the back of new york's javits convention center buyers and sellers, teenage boys, mostly, haggled in the trading pit.10 >> 2 210! >> reporter: here's one of the hottest marketknin america i almost nothing about: sneakers. >> this weekend we're gonna have 20,000 people. >> reporter: when yu-ming wu founded sneakercon nine years ago, just 800 people showed up. this year eight conventions of so-called "sneakerhands" are d around the country; new york's is the biggest. >> we created this space for anyone to come in to buy a pair of sneakers, to sell a pair sn kers, or trade a pair of sneakers. >> reporter: so in a sense, this is a physical ebay? >> it is a physical ebay. yes, correct. for sneakers. it reporter: much hyped, l releases of nike air jordans, as in "michael," and adidas yeezys, the brand of kanye west, have spurred a billion-dollar resale market.

when they appear, they bring chaos, sometimes even violence, to the few stores that have them. and then bring premium prices on the secondary market, like here. sneaker-monger matt bogy. >> so these are the red octobers. >> they're worth about five to $6,000 on average per pair.t' >> reporter: twhat you're selling him for? >> yeah. that's what i'm selling them for. and i also have a pair signed by kim kardashian which is kanye west's wife. those are, i price those at about seven, 8,000.ep >>ter: wait a minute: thousands of dollars for a pair of sneakers? as a mom here put it: >> it is insane!ha and we'rng a ton of fun but it's incredible to see how much sneakers cost! >> reporter: but there w.e some bargai sneakerhead tyre coles was hocking used kicks from his own ever-burgeoning collection. >> i love nikes to the bottom of my heart. i'd buy, i'd buy any p >> reporter: nickson dess-koss was selling a pair of nike airmax trophies he'd bought for $300. >> i wear them a lot, they're a little beat.

i'll try to sell them around 150, maybe two. >> reporter: for used sneakers? what's going on here? well, one thing, says nickson descas... >> we just love the hustle. we just love the game. >> reporter: ah, the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. >> i like buying the shoes,oe selling the sh trading the shoes. >> i think it's a great way for young kids to learn about business and how to make money and sometimes lose money. make smart decisions that they made. why not learn early? >> reporter: and not just sneakers.e brandon shalt in leather. >> i bought this. and then i was able to sell it for more and then buy a second one. >> reporter: but sneakerhead culture drives the market and it is, above all, about identity by proxy, for example, through the michael jordans and kanye wests. >> wow! smells like a brand new pair of denim. >> reporter: or a new breed of celebs, like kice omar, who vlog, video blog, that is, about sneakers on youtube. mainly, though, through peer-to- peer connection and competition.

>> there's a term it's called a hypebeast where someone just gets an item just to like brag about everyone that they have the newest coolest item even if they don't like it. >> reporter: convention founder yu-ming wu. i always say they want to look fresher than the next. they wt to look cooler than their peers, their friends, their classmates. and also have stme level of us. i have something cooler, i have this rarer pair, i have something that you weren't, not that you couldn't affoou but that youn't get. >> cool began in the 1950s as bel cool. >> reporter: steven quartz has studied "cool" as a cal tech neuro economist. his thry: >> what happened in the 1950s was th, as we began to crease our standard of living, in a hierarchical society, it really created what we can think of as a status dilemma. there just wasn't enough status to go around. and what people began to do, especially kids begateto do, was crlternative status systems. >> reporter: at his nashville

showroom, sneaker reseller young-run "z" john also drew a connection to the increased inequality of recent decades. sure, the sneaker market is status-driven, he says, but it's affordable status. >> the retail of any sneakers is wi have never eclipsed over $350 until that nike came with the cra self-lacing shoe that cost $800. but that's an outlier in itself, so people with no money or some people with no financial means can also get the limited edition sneaker just like a person with a lot of money. >> reporter: back at sneaker con it was clear that sneaker culture has taken on a commercial life of its own, with prize pairs so sought-after, counterfeits now abound. hence the long lines at the convention's "legit-check" table, where bryan mora ferreted out fakes. >> it'll be the glue sll, it will be the way the shoe is shaped. >> reporter: how many fakes have u guys caught today? >> we caught about like 30 pairs.

>> reporter: there's even a lone ranger of kicks, yeezy busta, who'built a brand around busting knock-offs. >> the reason y i wear my mask is because what i do is i call out celebrities who wear fake ezys. and some of them wanted to come after me and sue me so i decided i wouldn't real my face. >> reporter: now fans or "family bumembers" of the "a fam" can get their own branded masks for 20 bucks. i would imagine this is also fairly healthy right? >> yeah, i mean if anybody's sick and somebody tries to cough on you you don't get it in your mouth. you know? >> reporter: okay, so sneakers are fun and instructive to trade, a mark of status, comfortable of course, and finally, argues, yu-miu, works of art.el >> ive that sneakers are mass-produced sculptures.ib we have incredle artists, incredible designers who design and create these incredible shoes >> reporter: most famously,

tinker hatfield, the nike designer behind the st iconic air jordans. >> it's not just scribbling on a piece of paper and coming up with a design. it's a lot oeffort that goes into trying to be meaningful >> reporter: a legd in the sneaker world, he got mainstream attention via a netflix documentary. >> he saw architectu inspiration for sneakers, and i abelieve he is a leonardo vinci of the sneaker world. >>eporter: so when you say tinker hatfield is the leonardo of sneakers, are you equating the achievement with the achievemts of leonardo, say? >> centuries from today,k e will look b history and consider him to be one of the most incredible artists. >> reporter: and centuries from now, maybe a pair of air jordans will sell for $450 million, as da vinci's "salvator mundi" recently did. who knows?

as concert promoter darryll brooks put it: >> value is in the eye of the beholder. some people i'llect things. a collector, but not of sneakers. when you were a kid when they were collecting g.i. joes. you had a set of g.i. joes don'l e you didn't. >> reporter: i never had a g.i. joe in my life but i did collect a variety of things: minerals, baseball cards... >> same thing. different geolration. i gocars. wouldn't look at my cars. what would they do the 1976 el dorado convertible? they probably wouldn't know what the heck that was. but it is a big boat to me. i love it.te >> repor as the 20,000 people in new york for the convention, and millions more across the country, love their sneakers, so long as they're the real thing. paul solman, the real paul solman, reporting from sneakercon in new yo city for the pbs newshour.

>> woodruff: and now, it's a story of adventure, war, and the search for theerfect cup of coffee. jeffrey brown sat down with author dave eggers to talk about monk of mokha," the latest addition to the newshour bookshelf. >> brown: it begins with a statue in san francisco of a man in a turban drinking from a cup, an image many of us know as the logo for hills brothers coffee. for mokhtar alkanshali it marked the beginning of quite a journey. from wayward san francisco youth, to his family homeland of yemen caught up in a civil war, to successful coffee importer and businessman with many stops along the way.y his st told in the new book "the monk of mokha" by author dave eggers. and he and mokhtar alkanshali join us now. welcome to both of you. u know it's interesting take a daily commodity coffee something that we're all very familiar with and sort of defamiarize it.

you're you're explaining in this book where it comes from, how it's made, the way it's spread throughout the world, you enjoy that i can see writing about it. >> well i like to start om scratch. i had my first cup of coffee when i was 35. i had no interest in its history or i didn't know anything about it. i don't know where it came from. i didn't know it was a fruit until three years ago. so i was able to sort of follow mokhtar's discovery of coffee the histy of it which is s ally unbelievable and so many fantastical stor adventure and daring do and thievery and then it has a very dark history too involving a lot of slavery and you know the people that pick and and grow coffee have been exploit for centuries. but the recent history of it has such potential to change les in countries like yemen by empowering the farmers giving them more control over their crop and bringing coffee to li

the same state that we take we have for wine. you know varietals matter the farmers matter that the soil matters and if we give credit to it and we really care about where it comes from we can f uplift themers who create this incredible beverage. >> brown story are in yemen and you'reba goin to a family homeland right, but one in great turmoilr now ans typically see. i mean on this news program we talk about yemen it's always about terror, war. what image did you want to present? >> one of my goals in life waste to try th people and educate them about what yemen is. and yore right. most people when asked about yemen all they can all they know is what they see in the news headlines and those are oftentimes very negative thingsu it's really a wonderful and beautiful country with such a rich history and heritage. and it's the reason why we have coffee. there is a city in yemen called

mokha first port for coffee an coffee fuelled europe's enlightenment in coffee housesie ina and paris and london people had incredible intellectual thoughts and now coffee is such a huge thing. and i always tell people that oil powers factories and machines and coffee powers humans and dreams. >> brown: but you did go through quite a bit in your experience in yemen including civil war getting captured by some of the participants there. >> i did. yemen is going through a really horrific civil war that's been f going over three years now and it's the single worst humanitarian crisis in the world and everything that we consume comes from somewhere and yemen's realities a very difficult political reality. ghand i did have to go thr quite a bit to do that journey and i'm very thankful where i am today. >> brown: this is not for you y the first ti've written foout a particularly american

story but through ign lens right or with another land kind of looking in. is there a is there a kind of political mission to this and othestories. >> i am interested in the american dam. i think it's always alive and it's always under threat. and i think that it's best illustrated through the eyes of one person who embodies it and who lives it. i think immigrants dream the american dream a lot harder a lot better than anybody else. the sons of daughters of immigrants stream itetter and harder than anybody else and embody it perfectly. so i'm interested in those stories and i'm also ited in. en we're our best as a nation when we embrace people from around the world we take the man we care for them we lift them up. and i'm interested in times when we fall short and in the case of thousands of yemeni americans that were left to their own devices when the civil war began the u.s. provided no helpg getty of these americans

out of the country. i think we could have done a lot better. i take over responsibility to take care of our own peomee in of turmoil when they're stuck abroad. and i think that we should learo thing from that where are >> brown: where are you now? hos the coffee business an what do you see coming from all. this experie >> for me i think coffee is an acredible thing that crosses borders and cultur political hardships to find its way through our cup. and i ho that when people look at coffee they know that they haveo much more power as consumers that they have the power to uplift someone. in my case in yemen my work is one of the few ways that people get relief into yemen and money to these farmers who need at support. and i believe that my work will outlast bombs and when this war does end i hope we had laid a good foundation to continue doing this work and helping farmers and bridging the gap between these two worlds and how we think is incredible bridge

for us. >> brown: all right well that's lot to take in with your morning coffee but it's a wonderful story. mokhtar alkanshali, dave eggers the new book is "the monk of mokha."u thank th very much for being here. >> thanks for having us. >> woodruff: and we'll be back but first, from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations staying with us, we take a second look at efforts to teach tolerance to the very youngest students. special correspondent cat wise visited a pair of noteworthy programs in californiaast fall. >> we're going to take out the mirror now and look at ourselves ad make our own face. >> reporter: in thlameda california preschoon, a box of crwith a multitude of colors is helping little kids arn big lessons. >> put your hand inside and see

whats best for you. >> reporter: teacher tiffani battle asks the children to look carefully at tir own skin color and their classmates' skin colors, and to note differences and similarities. >> i'm black and white. >> reporter: the artroject is just one of many ways children are introduced tan anti-bias curriculum here at the child unique montessori school, a private, tuition funded school. >> okay, so go ahead and color your skin . >> reporter: cindy acker is the school's founder and principal. >> within any color of someone's skin there are many, many different colors, and so we want them to appreciate the diversity within their own individuality, and then we want them to be ablq to see astion, other children's differences. >> reporter: talking about racial differences is not new at the school-- acker started the program more than 30 years ago and it was among the first of its kind in the country to focus on diversity and inclusion at such an early age, but she says the curriculum seems more important than ever.in >> to me, the that are

going on in the world today give us an indication that we need a vejor shift in how we perc people, how we treat people, because i a firm believer that it begins at the preschool level, i think that's where we s ed to start. >> reporter: ackerints to racial dividesitnessed in the violent neo-nazi protests in charlottesville, virginia, the n,lice shootings of black and the debate over n.f.l. football players taking a knee taking a knee to protest racism. >> what we have seen is a resurfacing or a surfacing of bat we thought was absen sits within the psyche of some individuals. >> reporter: louise derman sparks h about teaching anti-bias to preschoolers. >> the truth is that young children noticed differences very early, by the age of three and four, they're asking questions, they're beginning to absorb the stereotypes and misinformation, discomforts, i

don't like to call it prejudices, it's kind of like pre-prejudice, that they begin so, the myth that they aren't noticing, the idea of being color blind, actually harms kids. d >> reporteman-sparks says preschool teachers who talk about the differences and similarities among their c studenate an environment where misinformation and fears n be addressed. >> for instance, if you have dolls of different types, and a child refuses to play with ago doll that's dark skin, the teacher can say, "hot come you don'want to play with so and so?", and depending on what the child says you can then decide to help overcome whateve ithe discomfo >> reporter: that's exactly the atmosphere teacher francesca conterno hopes to create for her scstudents at a public prehool. >> look at this boys eyes,hat different about his eyes? >> blue. >> yes he's got blue eyes. and i see marianna's ge eyes. and you made blue eyes in your picture up there.

what about kim, what color are kim's eyes? >> black. >> reporter: cterno teaches three and four-year-olds in the hayward unified district, one of someone might hear about a program like this and think, gosh, you know, race and racism, that's not something that should be done in a classroom, especially a preschool classroom, how would you respond? >> i would say why not? it's the perfect setting, it is absolutely the perfect setting, we have families in the classroom, it's a safe place, ople develop relationships, rfect setup for honest conversations.te >> rep conterno does not epk children directly about fears or misconcons about race, instead she believes materials that highlight equality can provide a powerful message in the classro >> if most of the books show

white people, and very few show people of color, then that's a message. if all the teachers the white, or iteachers are white but the assistants are always people of color, these are all messages to kids about who mattles, who is viswho is not, who has power. >> reporter: contero sees the sometimes uncomfortable questions children do ask about race and gender as teachable moments. >> too many times in classrooms see teachers will respond to that by "play ni" or "we're all friends in here" when it's a perfect opportunity to go att li bit deeper. >> see how you have one shade of brown, we have even a lighter shade here? soght we have all of these different colors, have a feeling there's probably more than two, right? >> reporter: back at the child unique montessori school, parent shawnee ck says she choose the program for her three children because of it's strong focus on equity and social justice, but e says, her husband did have

questions about the anti-bias curriculum. >> i have a tall, white husband, and he was absolutely concerned, especially for our son, saying does this make him feel worse, h does this ma feel like he might be somebody that should be feeling bad about his whiteness, and i don't think so, it's not pie, you know, just because you have a piece doesn't mean somebody else doesn't get a piece. >> reporter: amitra mamdouhi also chose the school for it's focus on diverty, but she points out that for two, three and four year olds, the conversation is kept very simple. >> of course you don't start talking about the new jim crow, or the prison industrial complex, b just to recognize different colors exist because of melanin, and is is natural, and it's all, we're all different, but we're als similar, we bleed, we cry, we love, you know, that's how i >> reporter: for the pbs

newshour, i'm cat wise in alameda county, california. >> woodruff: now to our newshour shares. when two black bears were badly burned recently in a californiad re, veterinary teams came to their rescue with a treatment never tried before on animals: sh skins. the newshour's julia griffin explains. >> reporter: december's thomas fire was the largest on record in california, scorching more than 280,000 acres and destroying more than 1,000 homes. but while human residents could escape the inferno, two black bears rescued by the california department of fish and wildlife weren't so lucky. onapped by the flames, they had suffered severe, s and third-degree burns to their paws.

>> this is all that is left of her normal pad. >> reporter: for u.c. davis veterinarian jamie peyton, addressing the bear's injuires would requoutside-the-box thinking. namely, treating the burns with tilapia skins. >> the bear, i wl tell you, is probably the one that really inspired me to look into the tilapia bandages because her wounds were so extensive and her pain was so severe. she was the one that made me say, you know i need to do something else. what else can i do. >> reporter: peyton knew doctors inrazil had seen success i treating human burn victims with sterilized tilapia skin and was keen to try it on her animal patients. >> if you look at the literature, treating wild animals that that have experienced this degree ofurns just hasn't been done. >> reporter: the collagen in tilapia skin acts like a biological bandage, protecting and moisturizing the skin whilem pring healing. and in this instance, peyton wrapped the sutured wounds with corn husks to delay herat patientsmpts to eat their

erible dressings. positive resultsalmost immediate. >> nothing is more rewarding than when you take an animal that won't walk because she's so painful. t and a new therapy, and put those those bandages, the tilapia skin, on her feet and right after we got done, and sh, woke u she stood up for the first time was able to walk. >> reporter: the speedy recovery was crucial. limiting the bears' time in captivity would greatly improve their chances of long term survival, especially sincene was pregnant and would be better off delivering in the wild. so while peyton overe bears' final treatment, fish and wildlife officials set in motion plans to release them, building two man-made, bear-approved dens five mil apart in unburned parts of los padres national forest.ye >> bweetheart, you are a good girl. >> reporter: sedated and secured, all that was left to do was deliver the bears to their new homes. her patients discharged, peyton reflected on the success of her

unique treatment plan. >> the tilapia skin, in my opinion is one of those things that you know, people said to me "what? that doesn't makes sense, you can't do that." and when someone says you can't, , i always think to myselfh i will." and i'll make it happen, because i'm just passionate about these animals and helping them and allowing them to hea >> reporter: the californiant departf fish and wildlife continues to monitor the bears' progress with trail cameras and g.p.s. trackers.ho for the pbs ne, i'm julia iffin. >> wdruff: and we hope they're okay. and a news update, vanessa trump is seeking an uncontested divorcfrom donald trump, jr, according to court records. e e two have been married since 2005 and have fiildren. and that's the newshour for tonight. before we go, we want to mark the passing of michael getler. he was the first ombudsnman for pbs. getler also served in that role and as an editor for the "washington post." w

michael getl 82 years old. i'm judy woodruff. for all ofwss at the pbs ur, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with thongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for tblic broadcasting. and by contributioyour pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. pt ning sponsored by ning sponsored by newshour produ

elyse: we're the history detectives, and we're going to investigate so untold stories om america's past. gwendolyn: this week, howdore these yellowinments connected to a nuclear submarine which sank with all hands during the height of the cold war? elyse: in do these unsigned draw from the golden age of comics tell the tale of a real-life superhero? wes: and do these scribbled papers record a crisis of conscience g amonscientists who built the world's first atomic bomb? elvis costello: iv♪ watchin' the detect ♪ i get so angry whenhe teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪