captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff.sh on the nr tonight, in the wake of russia's nerve gas attack on a former spy in the u.k., and after mo ohs of evidenelection meddling and cyberattacks, the trump administration hits runcia with new ons. then, embattled veterans affairs secretary david shulkin says the department is getting ck on track after being rocked by controversy and an ethics investigation. and, sneakerhead economics: making sense of a marketplace where footwear, status, and art come together. >> i think it's a great way for young kids to learn about business 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. orting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democrati engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. atarnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.ut and by contrns 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 ascc officials alsoed moscow of a sweeping campaign to disrupt key industries. >> the president has also shown that he's been extremely tough on russia throughout his adminiration, i think particularly you saw that today in the russia sanctions thator were putrd. >> woodruff: with the icnouncement, the trump administration olly moved

to punish russia for cyber- antacks and election meddling in the united stateeurope. thsanctions target 19 russians, 13 of whom have been indictedn special counsel robert mueller's investigation. the 13 worked at a place called the "internet research agency" in st. petersburg. it is accused of orchestrating a vast online campaign of chaos and disinformation during the 2016 u.s. election. four other entities, including russian security services and military intelligence, will havtheir 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 the white house. he said it again, just last week.

>> the russians d no impact on our votes whatsoever. but certainly ther meddling, and probably there was meddling from other countries, and maybe other individuals. >> woodruff: still, white house officials joined the u.s. treasury, the f.b.i., homeland security, and inteigence agencies in making today's announcement. they also looked beyond e u.s. election and described an even broader campaign by moscow. it allegedly includeling in french and german elections, russia's annexation of crimea and interference in eastern ukraine, and a cyber-attack that srippled computers acr europe, asia and the americas last june. the department of holand security and f.b.i. also charged that russia has attempted tou. penetrate th energy grid in what they called a "multi- stage intrusion campaign." the head of the internet research agency scoffed at the

u.s. actions. u.vgeny prigozhin said he has no business in the s. and will not be affected.ep russia'sy foreign minister said his government has begun to prepare a response to the sanctions. we'll take a longer look at all 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 multiple deaths, and several injuries at florida ternational university. eight vehicles were crushed when the bridge gave way and landed on the eight-lane road. emergency crews were still at the scene this ivening. an assure you that our teams are still in rescue and they are still working the debris pile. we have search dogs in place. we have technical listenin devices with fiberoptics. we're drilling holes into the pile to try to locate any viable patients. >> woodruff: the $14 million bridge was installed this past

saturday, using what was calledr an acced construction method. for the first time, the special counsel in the russia investigation is going after the trump ornization's business records. "the new york times" and others reported today that bert mueller has subpoenaed records from the president's company. the trump organization called it "old news" and said it's been turning over documents for months. the united states joined european leaders today in blaming russia for poisoning a former spy, sergei skripal, and ranc fmentths., ussad geidy there is "no ple alternative explanation" for the nerve agent attack. at a meeting with the prime minister of ireland, president trump said the u.s. anain are talking about what to do next. thet certainly looks li russians were behind it. something that should never ever happen.

and we're taking it very seriously, as i think are many others.dr >> woof: british prime minister theresa may has already expelled 23 russian diplom vs. today, sheited the scene of the alleged attack, in salisbury, and said moscow must be held accountable. in syria, thousands of civilians fled the rebel-enclave in eastern ghouta today. war monitors said more than 12- thousand people streamed out of the ar as government troops closed in and russian air strikes poundethe area. today marked seven years since the uprising in syria that led civil war. more than half a million people have been killed in that time. president trump went back andad forth with ctoday, over trade. it first ce 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 trudeau

denied canada runs a trade surplus with the u.s. wa itrump said he argued str , ue >> i said, "wrong, justin, you do." i didn't even know. josh, i had no idea. i just said, "you're wrong." you know why? because we're so stupid. >> woodruff: the president r,peated his claim on twit and the white house said he's right, if timber and energy are included but canadian officials said whe tr services is also counted, the u.s. actually has u trade suwith canada. republican leaders in the u.s. house say they'll reject ati banking deregu bill that passed the senate laht. the chair of the house financial anrvices committee, republ jeb hensarling, warned today the bill needs to go even further. the senate measure would easeon regulaon all but the very largest banks. democrats are celebrating the outcome of tuesday's special

congressional election insy peania. conor lamb has a slender lead and has claimed viory over republican rick saccone. a recount remains possible, but today, house minority leader nancy pelosi hailed lamb's showing in a district that president trump carried by 20 points. >> middle class, labor played a very major role there. so this was a great victory.hi 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. >> woodruff: lamb ran supporting much but not all of the national democratic agenda, and calling afor pelosi to give way t 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 expected to takeeveral years. it's all part of a major anti-

smoking initiative launched last summer.to the goal iut the rate of smoking among americans and prevent tobahso- related de about 15% of american adults rrently smoke and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial avege gained 115 pointso close at 24,873. the nasdaq fell 15 points, and the s&p 500 slippetwo. still to come on the newshour: unpacking the new u.s. sanctions ainst russia. turmoil at the top of the veterans affairs department. a tinderbox in the middle east. the htential for conflict wit israel, hezbollah and its syrian and iranian allies, plus, much more. >> woodruff: we return to thead trumnistration's sanctions on russia announced today. t

and why say about washington's relationship with moscow.mc michaeul was u.s. ambassador to russia during the obama administration and is now at stanford university his latest book is "from cold war to hot peace: am american ambassador in putin's russia." michael mcfaul, welcome back to the newshour. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: thank you being with us. what effect do you think these steps, these measures willave? >> well, in the short term not much. let'be clear. they're pretty minor sanctions on minor individuals. at lst the ons affiliated with the i.r.a. that you just described, the ones that interfered in our elect.io >> woodruff: the internet research agency? >> exactly. they're the ones that were heavily involved in all kinds oe propaganforts during the 2016 elections and afterward, by the way. symbolically, i think it's important. of all, it's better they did something rather than

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 note chatin's calculus right away, but i think that was an important symbolic first. >> woodruff: how noteworthy isha it it has taken this many months for the administration to make that acknoedgment as you describe it? >> it's been disappointingo me, you know, that we've been having this debate as a country for years. now everybody agrees that thisha ened. and for literally years, first candidate trump and the president trump was saying it's all a hoax, it's all made up.to y, as you just played on you cip before us coming on, he has now said somethincrete about it. i wish he would be moreth iastic about his own administration's policy toward russia. i wish he would say, this is outrageous, this should neer happen, and there needs to be a price to pay, and not only for20

, but for the many other things that putin has done, including the assassination attempt in the u.k. he's not quite there yet, but at least thiss a smallep in the right direction. >> woodruff: you said taken one by one these ar mnimal steps for the u.s. to take, but let me ask you about that. sanctions targeting 19 rusians. we heard just a moment ago yevgeny prigozhin, one of the oligarchs of people close to vladimir putin, someone -- >> yes, he is. >> woodruff: someone in th private sector in russia. on said, "this isn't going to have any effec 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 the causal impact of sanctions on thent target c is hard question. russia's a big country, so it takes longer for sanctions to have a bit there. my own view is that over the

years sanctions have bee 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 largestoint veture in the history of russian-american relations betweenhe oil company russian oil company and exxon-mobil, that dissolved. that's the result of sanctions. and third, on an individual level, mr. prigozhin's life just became a lot more difficult, rst because of the indictment, an now because of the sanctions. ndon.n't just show up to lo he can't go to the italian ecvery ramp he has to be concerned with exto the indictment, and likewise the individuals who are sanctioneit oes make their lives a lot harder. >> woodruff: so when we reported as we did a moment ago russian security services, military intelligence are eing to have r u.s. assets frozen, you're saying that might have... might make them feel something? >> well, that's a different category.

i'm glad you brought that up, because that cat iegor fact, in the new sanctions that 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 if we can track them down, we should free them. they're probably clandestine assets. i don't expect that to be great as far as how they do theirio oper around the world. but calling them out, acknowledging this happened, that they're attacking ourfr tructure. remember, that's what's in the indictment today, that in and of itself i think is advancing the ball to make amerins, to make the rest of the world understand the dangers of vladimirutin and these what i consider outrageous behaviors in the u.k., in the united states, in the ukraine, i syr. it's time we have a consorted push back on all of these acvities. >> woodruff: michael mcfaul, what do you make that this is

coming just a day of imraib, the u.k., took some significant steps against russia, as well. the statent by prime minister theresa may yesterday that they overwhelming evidence that the ssians were behind tht nerve gas attack on the former russian spy? >> i don't know if it's coincidence or if it changed thh nel, 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 ally, demands another response. this is not tht. and if you listen to ambassador thaley, if you look e statement which i applaud that the four countries put out, germany, france, the u.k. and the united states conttmning thisk and saying that it was the russian government, that's the good news.no they havcalled them out. now comes the hard part. how are we going to respond to that attack? i think it does demand another set of sanctions andaybe other

kinds of responses to come from the united states. >> woodruff: so you're lookinghi for more from administration? >> absolutely. they've all said this is a defining moment. i think that's what ambassador haley said. well, a defining moment mands a defining response. >> woodruff:ormer u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: the re of high level departures from the trump administration recently is unprecedented. 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 trackea record and ader under fire. >> mr. secretary, do you have any concerns about your b today? e >> brangham:attled veterans affairs secretary david shulkin expressed regret for the distractions gripping his department at a house committee

hearing today. >> i've come here for one reas 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 cabinet official held over from the obama years, is the latest member of the trump administration rumored to be on the chopping block. an early favorite of mr. trump, the president once joked of his firing. >> we'll never have to use those words. >> brangham: but in the oval office today, the president said rumors of a staff shakp were wrong. it was a false story, a very exaggerated and false story. >>rangham: still, the physician and former hospital utive's standing is taki hits on multiple fronts. the first fissure came in february after an internal probe found the secretary improperly acpted tickets to the wimbeldon tennis match and used tax payer funds for his wife's

trel. shulkin repaid the government for both but began saying publicly that politically appointed members fr the white house were trying to force him t over personality and policy reasons. on the campaign trail, then- candate 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. facilityr at a private medical center. we must extend this right to all veterans. >> brangham:, 20 inefo16wsx used to run a veterans agreed wh this idea. >> brangham: media reports have said the president is rensidering hegseth, along with current energy sry rick

perry, as possible candidates to replace shulkin. back in the hearing, sk lkin pushed bainst the wider privatization of his agency, and said the president agreed th him. >> i've been clear that i think thon would be the wrong deci for our country's veterans to privatize the v.a. i've also been clear that i think v.a. can't do this alone. e president is very, ver committed to improving services for veterans. there is no pressure to privatize. takesangham: this debat 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, d.c. veterans medical center. at the time, shulkin was the va's undersecretary. the secretary said today that was a systemic breakdown and vowed to improve. >> it was a failure at every level of our organizat 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 this afternoon that president trp is, in fact, leaning on firing secretaryshulkin and possibly replacing him wth peter hegstaff. why has the presidentoured on shulkin so much? >> we know he has talked about shaking up his cabinet, whichar d with the firing of secretary of state rex tillerson, and the president has always actually liked secretary shulkin. they're both new yorkers. they say what they mean. they're brash. shulkin isctor, very well-respected former hospital executive,ut the president has soured on him because there have been in the last month kind of an unending barrage negative headlines about sectary shulkin that center on two things. one is an inspector general report on a trp 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 what he 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 it. and just shulkin didn't get h along wis appointees, and they were trying to oust him because of personality and policy differences, and the president has told aids tha him tan lly soured on him. >> brangham: so am i right that the core issue underlying this is policy debate within the v. a. over how much we privateize the system or not? is that right? >> that's right. this has been talked about for several years now since in 014 there was a big scandal over v.

a. maners who were fudging wait times for patients. it became clear that 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 obama, congress passed a ginormous billion dollar, multibillion dollar bill to give some veterans the option but with restrictions to see private doctors in the community.t e trump administration has come in and conservatives generally favor more private care. the pis will pi, you know, from 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 has really been how much should we advance thi licy change, and who really should be making e decision

over access to care? should it be the veteran, or ould it be theoctors and nurses at v.a.? and it sounds like kind ofn arcane decision that wouldn't have such a big impact, but in reality it does. just because it's a big 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 tha particular choice? >> this has been a very, very ttter conversation in rec years. traditional groups like the gmerican legion, the v. f.w., these are the b groups whose members really support the president, they really fear what ey call a move toward privatization that this administration is pushing,ld because it worain resources from v.a.'s current system. e then you havnservatives in the white house and at v. who are backed by a group concerned veterans for america, backed by the koch brothers, who really

want more private care and what they call more choic the veteran would be able to basically have the option to seo or of their choice. >> brangham: all right. lisa rein of the "washington post t thank you. ank 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 proxy war, andne of the main mbatants supporting assad is hezbollah, the lebanese shiite militant group. its op relationship with iran, and its power in lebanon, are a constant concern of israel. d now, there is talk of another hezbollah-israel war in the offing. with me now for more on this tinderbox is special correspondent jane ferguson,ve

whom we he pleasure of hosting here in studio on a visit from her home base in beirut. jane, it's good to have you us with. there has been more talk recently of a posn ble war betwrael and hezbollah. what does it lookike? >> we've been hearing this talk for several years now. it now appears both sides seetom ct knock that a war could be himing, may even be an inevitability, andis because, of course, hezbollah have been growing in strwiength the war in syria. they've been gaining a huge amount of military epertise there and experience, and from the israeli perspective, that strength that is unacceptable to them is very much so focused on the missiles that hezbollah have. israel sees these as an exest cell research threat.t. luenceiran's reaching right across to the mediterranean. that's what they really want to secure. but it ao means that israel feels increasingly encircled. there were: so

a war, what would it look like? how would this be different from wh we saw in 2006? >> the reason that it would be different is ao extremely -- it's tied in with why the war has not started yet. both sides know this war wouldr be much dangerous and much more destructive than in 2006.ra the isis have already said that because of hezbollah's gring influence and power in with the lebanese government that they're what ey perceive to be hezbollah targets could be more open than what we saw in 2006 and we saw hezbollah neighborhoods iny route being attacked. there's the potential for the greater civilian casualties this time around as well as infrurl damage and for the israelis,he risk is the missiles that could be launched inside israel.e sould see both sides risk hurting a lot more in this war. and the other danger, of course, is that this war could become much more widespread. >> woodruff: polling in other countries in the region

ipotentially. s very difficult to imagine this war wouldn't simply because there are so many multilayered problemy wars going on already next dor in syria. hezbollah are inside syria now fighting alongside iranian troops, their backers, their financial backers, and it's very difficult to imagiat you could see a war with israel and hezbollah that wouldn't draw in those other elements. >> woodruff: well, it's jus when we think, as we look ande wait to se whether something develops between hezbollah in israel, we see what's going on in sy.r we keep thinking it's winding down. it's clearly not. 've been watching this terrible humanitarian situation and in damascus suburb of ostern gouta. it just keeps goi. >> people keep talking about this war, it's winding down, but it doesn't really appear to wish to wind down. h whatpening in goutha is a

huge humanitarian crisis that you haven't seen since the siega eppo. there are thousands of civilians fleeing or trying to flee thate area as ariel bombardment becomes completely relentles has been for weeks now. >> woodruff: are people surprised that president assad is going after this area in such a vicious manner? >> i think not. after the last seven years and what people ha seen, the use of chemical weapons, bombardment of civilian areas, the targeting of hospitals, n'is isout of character. and now that the assad rege has these oppfiioos surrounded, it's not unsurprisiha that 're ering them in this way. >> woodruff: everyone assumes assad comes out of thisus victor y. notes inl mplicated than that. i think there are a lot of players that have influence in syria right now. iran, of course, and russia, his

main allyoy, but, know, we heard today from the numr-two at hezbollah that they will not accept a peace agreement that doesn't include c assad inharge. so at the same time, it's very unlikely any opposition figures are ever going to accept assad in charge post peaceful agreements. >> woodruff: just a horrific situation. it had gone on for ya. jane ferguson, really good to have you here in the states for a while. we look forward to more of your reporting from over there. hthank you. >>nks. >> 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.t it's par 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. >> 210! 210! >> reporter: here's one of the inttest markets in america i knew almost nothabout: 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 "sneakerheads" a t planned arou 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 of sneakers, 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. >> reporter: much hyped, limited releases of nike air jordans, as in "michael," and adidas yeezys, the brand of kanye west, have spurred a billion-dollar resale mark. when they appear, they bring

chaos, sometimes even violence, to the few stores that have them.th an 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 ,000 on average per pair. >> reporter: that's what you're selling him for? >> yeah. that's what i'm sellinthem for. and i also have a pair signed by kim kardashian which is kanye west's wife. those are, irice those at about seven, 8,000. >> reporter: wait a minute: thousands of dollars for a pair of sneakers? as a mom here put it: >> it is insane! and we're having a ton of fun owbut it's incredible to s much sneakers cost! >> reporter: but there were some bargains.re sneakerhead ty coles was hocking used kicks from his own ever-burgeoning collection. >> i love nikes to the bottom of my heart. i'd buy,'d buy any pair. >> reporter: nickson dess-koss was selling a pair of nike airmax trophies he'd bought for 00 t$3.tey i'll tsell 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 bule of the marketplace. >> i like buying the shoes, selling the shoes, 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 jt sneakers. brandon shore dealt in leather. >> i bought this. tn y 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 ofi >> 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 agts an item just to like about everyone that they have the newest coolest item even ifd th't like it. >> reporter: convention founder yu-ming wu.sa >> i always y they want to ok fshre their peers, their friends, their classmates. and also have some level of status. i have something cooler, i haie this rarer i have something that you weren't, not that you couldn't afford but that you couldn't get. >> cool ben in the 1950s as rebel cool. >> reporter: steven quartz has studied "cool" as a cal tech neuro economist. his theory: >> what happened in the 1950s was that, as we bega sto increase ondard of living, in a hierarchical society, it c realated 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 began to do, was create alternative 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 i will say have never eclipsed over $350 until that nike came with the crazy self-lacing shoe r at cost $800. but that's an outl 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 w culture has taken on a commercial life of its own, s th prize pairso sought-after, unterfeits now abound. hence the long lin the convention's "legit-check" table, where bryan mora ferreted out fakes. >> it'll be the glue smell, it will be the way the shoe is shaped. >> reporter: how many fakes have you guys caught today? >> we caught about like 30 pairs. >> reporter: there's even a lone

ranger of kicks, yeezy busta, who's built a brand aroundkn bustink-offs. >> the reason why i wear my mask is because what i do is i call out celebrities who wear fake yeezys. and some of them wanted to come after me and sue me so i decided i wouldn't reveal my face. >> reporter: now fans or "family members" of the "busta fam" can get their own anded masks for 20 bucks. i would imagine this is also fairly healthy right? >> yeah, i mean if anybody's sick a somebody tries to cough on you you don't get it in your mouth.yo know? >> reporter: okay, so sneakers are fun aninrust trade, a mark of status, comfortable of course, and finally, argues, yu-ming wu, s rkof. art >> i believe that sneakers are mass-produced sculptures. ,we have incredible artis incredible designers who design and create these incrediblesh s >> reporter: most famously, h tinkfield, the nike

designer behind the most iconic piece of paper and coming up with a design. it's a lot of effort that goes into trying to be meaningful >> reporter: a legend in the sneaker world, he got mainstream attention via a netflix documentary. >> he saw architecture as inspiration for sneakers, and i. tink hatfield is the leonardo of sakers, are you equating the achievement with the achievements of leondo, say? >> centuries from today, we will look back in 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 th beholder. some people collect things. i'm a collector, but not of sneakers. i.en you were a kid when they were collecting g. joes. you had a set of g.i. joes don't tell me you di >> 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 generation. d got cars 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. >> reporter: as the 20,000 people in new york for the convention, and millions more ss t country, love their sneakers, so long as they're the re t.al paul solman, the real paul solman, reporting from sneakercon in new york city for the pbs newshour.

>> woodruff: and now, it's a story of adventure, war, and the search for the perfect cup o ffee. jeffrey brown sat down with author dave eggers to talk abouk "the monk of," the latest addition to the neurwseginwith n in a turban drinking from a cup, or hills brothers coffee.go fhe for mokhtar alkanshali it markeq the beginning te a journey. from wayward san francisco youth, to his family homeland of yemen caught up in a civil war, cessful coffee importer and businessman with many stopss along the way. his story is told in hebook "the moewnk of mokha" by author dave eggers. and he and mokhtar alkanshali join us now. welcome to both of you. you know it's interesting to take a daily commoditye something that we're all very familiar with and sort of defamiliarize 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 from 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 w a fruit until three years ago. so i was able to sort of follow mokhtar's discovery of coffee the history of it whicis really unbelievae and so many fanttical stories of adventu and daring do and eniehands very too involving a lot of slavery ffee haven the people that be expitedor cturi.ck w aco andrond g but the as such potential to change lives in countries like yemen by ndincoffee to lifemers giving 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 uplift these farmers who create this incredible beverage. >> brown: the farmers e this story yemen and you're going back to a family homeland right, but one in great turmoil. now americans typically see. talk about yemen.t it's always abrror, war. what image did you want to >> one of my goals in life was to try to teach people nyecate them aboutmet w . anisd you're right. most people when asked about yemen l whatheyee ithe wsthan ally thw headlines and those are ofs.ntimes very negative thi but it's reaand beautiful country with such afud 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 and

coffee fuelled europe's s lightenment in coffee houses in vienna and pad london people had incredible llec cougffee is such a huge thing. and i always tell people that oil powers factories and machines and coffee powers rirons and dreams. b>>buwn: u in yemen including c ivil warpt getting ed by some of the >> i did.rtic s pan going on for over three yearsipn niw and it's the single worst maanhurisitari t c an ngd realiecu and i did have to goa dltfi e ta bight do thourney ved i'm t bro: ths is t for youy.da ne first time you've writ about a particularly american story t through a foreign lens

otlitical mission to this and s.orr ie american dream. 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 s wh i think immigrants dream the american dream a lot harder a t better than anybody else. the sons of daughters of immigrants stream it better and harder than anybody else and embody it perfectly. so i'm interested in those stories ani'm also interested in.ur when we'reest as a nation when we embrace people from around the wld 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 thu.elp ou. of pd vihery tnt

no hsity t stuck abroad. and i think that we should leart something frt where are >> brown: where are you now? how's the coffeeusiness and what do you see coming from all is experience. >> for me i think coffee is an incredible thing that crosses borderand cultures and political hardships to find its way through our cup. and i hope that when pple look cofe th knothathey have so much more wer as veatnsths y the tha in my case in yemen my worisk onof t few ways that people get relief into yemen and money heto tlboanens ndatn 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

a lot to take in with your morning coffee but it's a wonderful story. mokhtar alkanshali, dave eggersh new book is "the monk of mokha." thank you both very much for being here. >>fonk tvir s s.ngha u >> woodruff: and we'll be back but first, take a moment to hear

>> woodruff: now to our newshour shares. when two black bears were badly burned recently in a california wildfire, veterinary teams camer to tescue with a treatment never tried before on animals: fish skins. the newshour's julia griffin explains. >> reporter: december's thomas fire was the largest on record

in california, scorching more anan 280,000 acres and destroying more th,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. trapped by the flames, they had suffered severe, second- and third-degree burns to their paws. >> this is all that is left of her normal pad. >> reporter: for u.c. davis r'terinarian jamie peyton, addressing the beainjuries would require outside-the-boxin thng. namely, treating the burns with tilapia skins. i >> the beaill tell you, is probably the one that really inspired mheinto te toook 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 brazil had seen success in 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 deg burns just hasn't been done. >> reporter: the collagen in tilapia skin acts like a biological bandage, protecting and moisturizing the skin while promoting healing. and in this instance, peyton wrapped the sutured wounds with corn husks to delay her patients' attempts to eat their edible dressings. positive results were almost immediate. >> nothing is more rewarding than when you take an animal that won't walk because she's so painful. and we try a new therapy, andos put the those bandages, the tilapia skin, on her feet and right after we got done, and she woke up, she stood up for the first time was able to walk. >> reporter: the speedy recovery was crucial.ti li the bears' time in captivity would greatly improve their chances of long term survival, especially one was pregnant and would be better off delivering in the wild. so while peyton oversaw the aars' final treatment, fi wildlife officials set in motion

plans to release them, building two man-made, bear-approved dens five miles apart in unburned s of los padres national forest. >> bye sweetheart, you are a good girl. >> reporter: sedated and secured, all that was left to do was deliver e bears to their new homes. her patients discharged, peyton reflected on the success of her unique treatmentlan. >> the tilapia skin, in my opinion is one of those things that you know, people said to me "what? that doesn't makes sse, you can't do that." and when someone says you can't, i always think to myself, "oh i will." and i'll make it happen, because i'm just passionate about these animals and helping them andm allowing t heal. >> reporter: the california department of fish and wildlife continues to monitor the bears' progress with trail cameras and g.p.s. trackers. for the pbs newshour, i'm julia griffin. >> woodruff: and we hope they're okay. and a news update, vanessa trun

is seekingncontested divorce from donald trump, jr., according to court records. e two have been married since 2005 and have five children. 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.ge er also served in that role and as an editor for the "washington post." michael getler was 82 years old. i'm judy woodruff.al foof us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for tbs newshour has been provid by:h >> and we ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs

station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wshour productions, captioning sponsored by

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