captioning sponsored by nnewshour productllc >> senivasan: good evening. i'm hari sreenivasan. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: facebook under fire. a data firm linked to the trump campaign exploits millions of users' personal inform during the presidential election. then, the latest ocongress' massive spending bill. lawmakers push to avert another government shutdown, as disputes carry negotiations to the 11th hour. and, surviving boko haram. two women describe the horrors of living under the insurgent group's control, and their harrowing escape. >> ( translated ): i never thought i could escape, but it was the best thing to do at that moment, because i was nine months pregnant. i felt i may die in the process of giving birth, so i better die while escaping. >> sreenivasan: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the cooration for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> sreenivasan: the investigation of apparent serial bombings in texas shifted today. therhad already been four bombings in austin, that killed two people. overnight, a package exploded at a feex shipping center just outside san antonio. one worker suffered minor injuries, and the site was cordoned off for a painstaking, all-day search. >> we're still searching the packages right now to ensure that there is no other devices there. a so, we're juing people just to be patient, and if they know of something-- definitely call your local f.b.i., your local a.t.f. or your local police department and report it. elp righthe public's now. >> sreenivasan: the package was sent from austin to an address in austin. the investigation now includes more than 500 law enforcement officis. a high school in great mills, maryland is the latest to suffer a fatal shooting. a 17-year-old boy with a handgun wounded two other students today. then, he was fatally shot in ant confion with a deputy stationed at the school. one victim, a girl, was in itical condition. the local sheriff said it appears she previously hadit relationshipthe shooter.

president trump called russian president vladimir putinatoday, to conate him on his reelection. the white house said he did notu ask putin abouia's meddling in the 2016 u.s. election. mr. trump confirmed the call as he met with the saudi crow prince. he said a face-to-face meeting may be coming. >> we had a very good call. and i suspect that we'll nprobably be meeting in t- too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control. but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have. and also, to discuss ukraine and syria, and north korea, and various other things. blicanenivasan: re senator john mccain criticized the call. he said in a statement, "anan amerresident does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on sham elections." the senate intelligence committee is calling for major new efforts to block russianng meddn the mid-term elections this fall. republicans and democrats on tha

l urged a series of measures today. they include updating electioneq pment and improving communications between u.s. intelligence agencies and states, among other things. el russian diplomats left britain today, ed over the poisoning of a former russian double agent. vans carrying the diplomats and their families departed from the russian embassy in london, for y ights back to moscow. the british said te, in fact, spies. russia has denied trying to kill sergei skripal and hghter with a nerve agent, and it has, in turn, expelle23 british diplomats. in chi, president xi jinping sounded warnings today to opponents at home and abroadti he told the al congress that chinese citizens must follow the absolute, unquestioned leadership of t communist party. and, he told taiwan not to formally declare independence. >> ( translated ): safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is in the fundamental interest of the

chinese nation. any actions and tricks to split china are doed to fail, and will face the condemnation of the people and the punishment by history. >> sreenivasan: xi's tough talke days after the rubber- stamp parliament abolished term limits, effectively allowing hie to rule nitely. back in this country-- new legal action involving president trump. former playboy model karen mcdougal says she had an affairp with mr. t now, she's suing to void a deal with the "national enquirer." t she sa tabloid paid $150,000 for her story in 2016, but never ran it. and, a judge in new york ruled that summer zervos, a former contestant on "the apprentice," may continueer defamation suit against mr. trump. he has said her claim that he groped her is fictdgn. a federal in mississippi has temporarily blocked the state's new law s nning abortiter 15 weeks of pregnancy. the governor signed the measure into law yesterd, and state's sole abortion clinic quickly filed suit. today's ruling susw nds the new

til the case is decided. on wall street today, stocks made back some of monday's losses. the dow jones industrial average gained 116 points to close at 24,727. the nasdaq rose 20 points, and the s&p 500 added four. billionaire and former comrce secretary peter g. peterson died today. he worked in the nixon cabinet and became a leading voice for entitlement reform. he also co-founded blackstone group, one of the world's largest private-equity firms. pete peterson was 91 years old. and, the last male northern d white rhino has died of e, at a conservancy in kenya. the 45-year-old animal, named sudan, was euthanized monday. scientists hope his stored semen can be used in two surviving females and save the sub-species from extinction. the rhinos had fallen prey to rring armies in their african habitat, and to poachers. still to come on the newshour: privacy concerns raised, after a company collects data fromli 50 m unwitting facebook users. congress races toward another deadline to pass a spending

bill. an abortion case before the supreme court. and, much more. >> sreenivasan: facebook hasho been a powe and a corporate giant for years now. tonight, it's facing criticism and concerns about privacy and security at a whole w level. the company is pointing fingers at the political firm, cambridge analytica, for misusing its data that firm suspended its c.e.o.,l ander nix, today. but facebook's own decisions around safeguarding data and other recent scandals are front and center, as the company takes on its own reviews of what went wrong. john yang begins with this report. >> reporter: growing questions and criticism swirled around facebook in the u.s. and britain today, as officials questioned how data was used to influence elections. the british-based research firm, cambridge analytica, has been

accused of harvesting data from more than 50 million facebook users, starting in 2014, and misleading facebook about it. through an outside researcher, they p d users to take a personality quiz and download ac app thatollected information from their profiles and their alcebook friends. then, cambridge ica was hired by the trump campaign for the 2016 presidential election. >> have you met mr. trump? >> many times. >> reporter: today, brain's channel 4 news broadcast exclusive secretly filmed video oflexander nix, the firm's now-suspended c.e.o., discussing their work. >> we did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting. we ran all the digitpaign. the digital campaign, the television campaign d our data informed all the strategy. >> reporter: in another deo, nix belittled the house intelligence committee members he met with in 2017. >> i went to speak to them, and the republicans ked three

questions. five minutes, done. the democrats asked twohours of questions. >> and you had to answer everything? >> no, it's voluntary. but i did because i'm trying to help them. we have no secrets. they're politicians, they're not technical. they don't understand how it works. they don't understand, because the candidate never, is never involved. he's told what to do by the campaign team. >> reporter: the furor began over the weekend, after a former cambridge analytica employee, chris wylie, said the company used the information to influence voters behavior. yesterday, he spoke with nbc news' "today" program:hi >>data was used to create profiling algorithms that would al to explore mental vulnerabilities of people, and en map out ways to inject information into diffe streams or channels of content online, so that sople started

things all over the place that may or may not have been true. >> reporte the "new york times" reported that facebook failed to inform users whose data had been taasn for as long wo years. facebook has pushed back, saying "thelaim that this is a data breach is completely false." the company said users chose to share information. it also said it has hired auditors to make sure the data has been destroyed as promised. in now-deleted tweets, the company's chief security officer, alex stamos, admitted a researcher "lied" about how he would use the da. according to the "times," stamos plans to leave facebook later this year. the social media giant was already facing pressurover the use of its platform to spread russian misinformation and fake news during the 2016 election. today, the white house stopped short of calling for facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg to testify before congress. >> without knowing thet' specifics, idifficult to tell whether an individual

should testify, but we do support the privacy american citizens. >> reporter: but some, including connecticut democratic senator richard blumenthal, took a more aggressive stance. >> privacy is clearly at risk ia americ muck zuckerberg ought to be before the judiciary committee in public, under oath, to explain how 50 million americans and others were put at risk and still have no notice of teo they are so they can b secure themselves. >> reporter: this afternoon, the house energy and commerce commite said it will hear from facebook representatives tomorrow. and the federal trade commission ispening an investigation. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> sreenivasan: for more on thisi'm joined by roger mcnamee. he was one of facebook's original investors, and fo mentor to itder and c.e.o., mark zuckerberg. , 's now the co-founder of elevation partneprivate equity firm in california, and co-founder of the center for humane technology.

roger, one of the things that the company has said today is that we are-- the entire compane is outraged anere deceived. hit, you were pointing out some things similar tobefore the election in 2015 to mark zuckerberg and cherysandberg. at were they? >> beginning in 2016, i started to see things going on in thefa book platform that suggested that bad actors were taking the tools created for advertisers and using them to harm innocent people, and i saw them in severalfe difnt yays. politics was one. but also housing and areas related to civil rights. i raised the issue in october o0 with mark zuckerberg and cheryl sandberg and i said, "guys, i think there's a systemic problem here." i wasn't surprised that they didn't, you know, jump right on it. but i was disappointed because they treated it like a public relations problem, rash a business problem. and so i spent three months trying to persuade them before i realized that they were just determined to say-- to hide behi the legaltion that they were a platform, not a media coany, and, therefore,

not responsible for what third parties did. >> sreenivasan: but yo're saying something fundamentally is wrong with the business of this as the output. >> indeed. all of this is traced to the business model. the incentives created by an advertising business model are to essentially addict people psychologically to your product, and then to case outrage cycles. you want to feed them stuff that either makes them afraid orc angry, bse when they're excited by low-level emotions like that,rehey sha more stuff. they're more active. they spend more time on the site. and see more ads. they're just more valuable to them and facebook turned that into a fine art. and if you think about politics, some campaigns are full of outrage, and other campaigns are not. shd i saw this in brexit, which was the briampaign to leave the european union, where one sidwas totally about outrage and they won because facebook. >> sreenivasan: we're weir nt necessarily the customers, the users. the customers of facebook are the advertiser. >> that's right. re sreenivasan: so is th kind of an inherent tension or

conflict there on what we get from the convenience of being part of this community, and, perhaps, all of the good in finding people that we are care abd kinship groups and so forth, and the fact that we are the product at the end of th day that is being packaged and sold. >> hari, that is such an important point. i love facebook. i love the way it allo me to stay in touch with people. i have a rock 'n' roll band. i communicate with our fans ovr facebook. the problem is that the advertising business model, aste implemby facebook today, creates inctives to do things that undermine all of the good. and as we're seeing with cambridg cambridgenalytica, fak has made some choice where's essentially-- they were operating under a consent de, kere they were to make sure they had affirmatiwledge and support for any sharing they did of peoe's infmation. and between 2011 and before they sientd consent decree, and 2014, they had many, many applications

that harvested data-- appartly in contravention of the consent decree-- including the one that cambridge analytica caused. >> sreenivasan: if you had their ear now, what do you wan them to do? the first thing i want them to do is cooperate with the investigators. let's make sure we knw everything that happened in 2016. then, secondly, i want them to reach out to th6 12 million people on facebook and 20 million people ononstagram, wh are touched by the russian terference and explain expwhapped say, "this is a foreign country. they're interfering in our most basic de and the only way you as citizens, we as citizens can fight back, is if weote. we may not-- they may not be perfect for us, ayt the only to prevent interference is to ringgnize the people inter are trying to suppress our vote. they're trying to make us angry at democracyand we can't let them do that. >> sreenivasan: what can we actually do? there's been this idea of you can just get off facebook. >> that's not realistic for most

people. >> sreenivasan: for most people this is part of their a community nod even if i was to take myself off, there's so much data coming from my friends, they can kind of be interpolated or triangulated. vi>> my basic a to people is to recognize that there are a lot of people on facebook who are trying to bait you, to get you angry, to get you emotionally engaged, so that you will spend re time on there. but more importantly, they're trying to make you, you know, i politics, fed about the political system of the united states. they're trying to make you angry about things like whether it's vaccination or whether it's contrails or whether it's pizzaz ate. they're creating all of those phony issues. and i think people need to recognize the sources on soc media are terrible, and we should recognize that things like "newshour" or "the new york times" or, you know, "the wall street journal,"hose are good sources, and that's where people should try to get informed. >> sreenivasan: al right, rogenamee. also in the interest of full disclosure. are you not in a short position. are you still long on facebook.

i i am still an investor so got creamed with everybody else. >> sreenivasan: thank you so much for your time. >> my pleasure. >> sreenivasan: as congress negotiates a $1.3 trillion government spending bill before the friday night deadline, a local transportation project in new yorknd new jersey is causing a major holdup in the process. david cruz of member station njtv reports. >> reporter: when sandy, a on,-in-a-lifetime super sto slammed into new york and new jersey in 2012, it caused historic damage to the region's infrasucture, including the hudson river tunnels. but even before sandy struck, amtrak, whose critical northeast corridor service from d.c. to boston is dependent on the aging infrastructure, had begun planning for the gateway project, a $29 billion plan to replace the existing tunnels,

and the portal bridge over the hackensack river, which feeds almost 500 trains into and out of those tunnels every day. leaders from new york, new jersey and the obama administration all agreed to share the cost of the project. late last year, a bipartisan show of support as leaders broke ground on the $1.5 billion portal bridge project. art, soon thereafter, it all began to fall apt. no one is exactly sure why. peculate a personal feud with new york senator chuck schumer, but the president announced in december that he would not support fuy,ing for gatend the $900 million down payment became a sticking point the current omnibus spending bill negotiations. transportation secretary elaine chao pushed back against lawmakers trying to pin theow administrationon funding. >> a campaign is being waged in the public arena to bully the department, to presse the

federal government to fund these projects. >> do you think the gatewa project is a good idea? >> we are not arguing about whether this project should go forward. >> reporter: new jersey senator cory booker says it could lead to an economic cataclysm if one or both of the current tunnels has to be taken out of service. >> if the country is the body, the jugular vein, when it comes to transportation, is the northeast corridor. it's right here, running through our state. to sever the jugular here, would do undo damage to the entire country. >> reporter: last friday, the portal bridge got stuck again, causing a massive, hours-long, rush-hour backup of new jersey transit and amtrak trains. for supporters of the project, which includes all of newli jersey's repn congressmen, including the chairman of the appropriations committee, rodney frelinghuysen, it was right on cue.ws for the pbs ur, i'm david

cruz in kearny, new jersey. >> sreenivasan: the gateway project is just one sticking poinin the frantic negotiations on capitol hill, as lawmakers scramble to avert a third government shutdown this year. lisa desjardins has been following the negotiatio, and joins me now. let's top big picture-- omnibus. we hear ie every oin a while. what does it matter? >> first of all, is is a monster bill that i think has been off the raid, probably because congress makes it seemve complicated but actually it's very simple. let's do an omnibus appropriation 101. it's a noufrom latin. it's basically a sweeping bill. it coines every congressional spending bill in one. now, this year's bill is expected to be $1.2 trillion with a "t." it's important because this is going to include a large f theing increase, one largest in recent times. and more than anything, also, harry, this bill is seen as possibly, very probably the last major bill this congress will pass. it's only march, but that means if you want to getnything else done, people are trying to stack

it into this bill. >> sreenivasan: big, complicated things, like immigration. we even saw a roundtable today about sanctuary cities. they were trying toure out if there was legislation they could get into this. >> as late as this wekend, hari, the president was trying to get a deal over daca and his border wall ino this bill. he wanted border wall money in exchange for a tempora daca fix. democrats say that's not good enough and it looks like neither ofhose things will be ihis bill. that means daca could remain in limbo for quite some time. >> sreenivasan: what else is at stak >> let's talk about gubz. that's a very important bill right now. there is a bill that would shore up the background system. it has 76 sponsors in the senate. if the republicans wanted that in this omnibus bill. it's not clear it will go in becausees conservatant other things as well on guns. also, health care. many republicans in a bipartisay effort want to to bring back the subs dpeers insurers and insurance that thil thinkl stabilize the market.

that's something on the table right now, but it also looks like it might not make the bill because of debate over abortion and how those subsidies pay for or don't pay for abortion coverage. guns and also health care-- if they don'take this bill, those are two issues that may not see the light of day again this year. >> sreenivasan: how about how agencies are funded. is this part of it? >> that's a huge, huge issue. this will be one of the largest spending increas we have seen in years. who gets that money? which agencies and what do they use it for? some of it we know. $6 bilon for opioids for the opioid crisis. where does that go exactly? we're waiting to find out. will any agencies see cuts in th year of a spending increase. republicans want to cut some things but we don't know, hari, because we haven't seen the bill. >> sreenivasan: let's talk about a timeline. whons what's in the bill now, --d who will know what's in it >> i will check my phone and see what emails i have gotten in the last two minutes. there was a meeting at 1:00 today among staffers for the big

four leaders in congress. they have ben meeng since 1:00. they haven't finished meeting. theyre the only people who know what's in this bill, including chairmen and airwomen in the commitez. they don't know what's decided yet. they're trying toize the outstanding,some of of which we just talked about. they want to do it by midnight tonight. that would allow the house to live by their own rules and vota by thu they want to have technically three days to vote. right now, hari, very few people know tbhoos this bill. it's in the outer screen zoen. it's a massive bill, still not written. >> sreenivasan: the only time ing to bers are informed on this is, let's say, some time before midnight tonight, en it hits the system. they're going to have read-- >> 1,000 pages. >> sreenivasan: 1,000 pages. figure out if they're foit or against it or we head forr anotovernment shutdown? >> that's right. they need to get this bill doney riday night. that's when government funding will run out. it's possible the house votes

thursday, the senate friday, if they don't make it they willbl pass probaanother short-term spending bill and work this weekend. but it's very much a mtter of stay tuned. >> sreenivasan: lisa desjardins, thanks so much. >> sure thing. >>.reenivasan: stay with us coming up on the newshour: an ohio school that's taking steps to keep chnically absent students in the classroom. t an harrowing story of two nigerian women who survived being kidnapped by the militant group boko haram. but rst, abortion and free speech collide at the supreme court today. william brgham takes a look at arguments made before the nine justices this morning. >> brangham: the case before the court involves so-called "crisis pregnancy centers"-- these are clinics run by anti-abortion groups-- and whether a california law can require those centers to more fully disclose what they are, and what services they do and don't offer.

marcia coyle was in the courtroom for today's arguments. she is chief washington correspondent of the "national law journal.". >> hi, how are you? >> brangham: great. so tell us a little bit more. what is thicase all about? >> this is a first amendment claim that was brought by an organization that represents many of these crisis pregnancy centers. and they are contending that ouder the first amendment, these notices are-- a to compelled speech, that they are being compelledto speak a message that is against their religious beliefs or theirs, beli period, about abortion. thlaw itself provides notice-- would require them to provide notices of a range of services, not just abortion-- family planning, contraception, prenatal care, andbortion services. they raised their challe ge in wer federal courts. they lost, and they are the the challengers who brought the case to the supreme court today for

the oral arguments.so >> sreenivasa the law in california said, if someone walks into a crisis pregnancy ceer, which have been accused of sometimes misleading people. >>e ys. >> brangham: into thinking you might be getting birth control or abortioesrelated servthe law says you have to say to people, "we don't have medical doctors here," or you have to tell them, "if you do want an abortion, there are services provided by the state wh california," and that't they object to. >> there are really two times of notices. one for unlicensed centers. they simply have to say that they are not licensed medicalan facilitiesthey have no licensed medical provider on ths premo supervise what they're doing. if you are a licensed center, then you have to prode a notice that sayers are low-cost, free family planning, abortion, pretal care, contraception services available, and include a phone number that would allow the

woman to access those services. >> brangham: so the state of california is saying this is just, in essence, truth in advertising, that if you walk into a center, you should know what you're getting when you walk pnto thatace. >> absolutely. in fact, the state feels that it's filling an information gape the state hasn expanding its health care services, and claims that there are a large number of low-income pregnant won who aren't aware of the services that they can get for free or at low cost if they're eligible. they don't see this as targeting crisis pregnancy centers,th gh, the centers feel that they are being targeted. >> brangham: and what was your sense from listening to the arguments day, how the justices came down on this? >> my sense was that many of the justicesm to be leaning against the law. almost all of them voiced some concern, some more substantial than others. for example, justice alito said

that the law has so many exemptions, that when you finally put aside all the exemptions, the onl wy oneho seem suspiciously to be targeted are these antiabortion cenrs justices sotomayor and kennedy raised some concer about even the unlicensed center notice, that if you advertise as anun censed center, you have to put in large print that you are not a licensed medical facility, and you have to put that in 13 different languages. at the same time, justice sotomayor said that she had gone on the web to look at me of these centers to see how they advertise, and even though tese unlicensed centers claim they do not provide medical services, she said some of them are showing women in nurses'o uniforms in nt of ultrasound machines, in an examining room-- which could be quitele mising.

on the other hand, justice kagan point out what california's law here is doing is almost the flip side of whamet the supourt has said states can require docts who perform abortions to ents.o their cli she noted that some of the statements that state require those doctors to give to women have virtually nothing to do with the abortion procedure itself. picking up on that, justice breyer said, well, you know in the law what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. >> brangham: in other legal news today, a defamation suit that was brought by a former contestant of "the apprentice"-- this was donald trump's formeha show--tried to sue the president for defamation. according to a new yok rule because he is president doesn't mean he doesn't get out of this potentialse. explain what happened. >> it seems to me what happened here is the prsident's lawyers were relying on a supreme court decision, "cinton v. jones."

>> brangham: the famous "clinton v. jones." >> yes, and oddly enough it seemed to work aga the president because the supreme court held that president clinton could be sured fo sexual harassment claimed by paula jones. but the courtid nt-- well, the court explicitly said that it was not deciding whether a suit in ste court could go forward. it was only addressing-- this was a suit against president clinton that was brought in federal court. so i think theump administration is-- or president ngump's lawyers are reln that opening in that decision to carry forward, and probably within wan appeal. but the new york state cou ruling today was basically on the supremacy clause, saying that nobody is above the law, and so, this suit could go forward in state court. so we'll have to see what happens next. b ngham: marcia coyle, as always, thank you so much. >> my peasure. mi

>> sreenivasaning a day of school here, two days there, may not seem like a big deal. but before long, those days add up, and st and they're struggling to keep up academically. seven million childrene u.s. are considered "chronically -- that means missing 10 of the school year. states are beginning to take the problem seriously. for the last few years, schools dein cleveland, ohio have big effort to encourage students to get to class every day. special correspondent kavitha cardoza, with our partne "education wee" found steady progress there, but also a long way to go, for our weekly segment, "making the grade." >> good morning! >> reporter: it's 7:00 in cleveland, ohio, and it's dark, cold and swing. the kind of day when it's difficult to get out the door. >> snow is real hard.

>> reporter: but amanda watkins prides herself on her daughters' peect school attendance. >> i can't miss a day! it's my perfect attendance, not even hers! >> reporter: in cleveland public schools though, that kind ofec attendance rd is not typical. a couple of years ago, school system leaders found more than half of their 40,000 students were chronically absent. the problem starts as earlas kindergarten.ar >> oh,ul now! >> reporter: principal brittany anderson at patrick henry school greets every child as they comed in--heir parents. >> we appreciate you for keeping them safe. y reporter: a lot of parents expressed that tdidn't feel welcomed in the school in prior years. so once a week, she sets out coffee and pastries. >> at first, it was a way to get them in. but th, coffee clubs turned into a way for the parents to talk to teachers that way, we can have these conversations with our parents without it feeling formal. ( laughter >> reporter: diamond gadomski has three kids in the school. she preciates the warm

welcome. >> when you come in, they smiling and friendly faces with stuff to give to you, hot treats or whatever, it makes you feel od! >> all right, s.p.o. meeting tomorrow. >> reporter: anderson saysbu ding good relationships with parents makes it more likely they will bring their children to school, en on a day like today. >> if our scholars are not here, then they are not learning. >> reporter: students who miss a lot of school are more likely to drop out. robert balfanz, a researcher with johns hopkins university, found a direct link between attendance and academics in florida. >> essentially, we found that each additional day of missed schooling, students had one fewer point on the state test. miss ten days, lose ten points. miss 15 days, lose 15 points. >> reporter: but because schools used to track attendance differently, balfanz says, until recently, states didn't evene realize ths a problem. >> traditionally, schools have measured average daily attendance, which is how many kids are in the building on a given day, and except in the

most extreme cases, that'ss almost alw the 90s. and we're hardwired to think 90, a, good! but it turns out, you can have a rage daily attendance in the low 90s and still have a quarter of your kids missing a month or more of school. >> reporter: chronic absenteeisn affects all st, says hedy chang with the nonprofit attendance works. >> a teacherow is faced with the choice of repeating lessons or keeping going on for the kids who have been there. and that churn slo down the ability of an entire classroom m e forward. >> reporter: a new federal education law signed into effect by former president barack obama goes into effect this year. now, all states will be required to track chronic absteeism. it's typically considered missing 18 school days or more, but cleveland leaders found even missing just one day a month made a difference. so they started a public relations blitz. the slogan, "get to school, you can make it!" was on billboards, posters, magnets, t-shirts, even

grocery store bags. everyone helped staff a daily phone bank-- board membe, principals, bus drivers. they made 16,000 calls the first year. >> the reason for the call is, jaylen h missed four more days of school. >> reporter: keisha bullard is r kirten teacher. >> is there anything we can do to assist you?t in the pasur, for instance, i think that i've dialed maybe om, 30 numbers. >> reporter: low i families, in particular, face many challenges.e >> with ather being like it is, it's asthma. most of the time it isan ortation or illness issues. >> reporter: lorri hobson, who's in charge of attendance for the district, found lots of kids miss school simply because they don't have clean clothes. >> we pride uniforms to any family who needs a uniform, and what we discovered was, attendance improves for as much as six weeks after receiving a uniform.

>> reporter: cleveland schools partner with several organizations to help provide families with everything from a bus pass to emergency shelter t lelp. this makes sense, chang says, because a school district can't solve deeper, social problems on its own. >> when you have high levels of chronic absence, often it means there are these bigger challenges, and you really need to have a community approach to address it. >> reporter: in cleveland, it's an all-out effort. a community college offers scholarships as incentive, local businesses check attendance before hiring, and the cleveland browns players visit schools regularly.ne >> wr you are late, that means you don't have respect for the other person's time.in he n.f.l., you get fined. so, our fine, i think, if you eiss a meeting, might be l $10,000. di wow! >> reporter: somricts do use punishments such as fines, jail time and taking away drivers' licenses, but cleveland

schools have found focon positive messages far more effective. >> we show up every day, and so should cleveland students, even when it's co outside. get to school, we know you can make it! >> reporter: in thlast two years, cleveland's chronicte absenteeism raas dropped from 50% to 30%. at cleveland higschool forta diarts, principal jasmine maze and a local radio celebrity are hosting a surprise celebration, because students l.have made their attendan >> you ner know when dj incognito's going to show up and ast come here and throw u party! >> it's crazy in here! >> reporter: ninth grade is another year when students are most likely to miss school. but today, everyone is glad they're here. >> that's the icing on the cake! z 109.7 being here! >> it's cool because igs everyone together! >> i think it motivates kids to come to school, because they don't want to miss stuff like this. sc reporter: eric gordon, the c.e.o. of clevelanols, says they've moved from

rewarding perfect attendance to recognizing students who come to school regularly. someone watching might say "really? a party just for coming to school isn't that what kids are kpposed to do?" >> yes, it is whs are supposed to do. i would challenge people to loor at their ownlace environments, though, where companies give bonuses for all kinds of things, including highe attendwhere they have parties for their staff performing well.ar incentive ist of how you create behaviors. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: in clev thousands more children now attend classes regularly, but a third of the dtrict is still mi oing 18 days or more days school, and gordon says it will continue to take a lot of effort. for pbs newshour and "education week," i'm kavitha cardoza in cleveland, ohio. >> sreenivasan: one update to our education story from a couple of weeks ago, on the teacher's strike in west virginia. it ended after more than a week, t our colleagues at "education week" report, that emboldened

teachers to push for pay raises in other states, including oklahoma, arizona and kentucky. in oklahoma, there could be a walkout in early april. >> sreenivasan: boko haram has cut an infamous and deadly reputation for itself in nigeria, and a particularly cruel tactic of the islamist militant group is every parent's worst fear: the kidnapping and killing of children. in a moment, you'll hear testimonials from two young women who survived that experienfi. but, some background on the group, and the fight against it. n boko haramr-decade-long campaign of terror aki violence haed tens of thousands and displaced two million people. f their maus: to overthrow nigea's government and establish an islamic state that

forbids western-styltical and social activity.la boko haram tras to "western education is forbidden." the group has carried out attacks in cameroon, niger and chad, all from its base in remote, noheastern nigeria since 2009, the militants have terrorized africa's most populous country with bombings, assassinations and abductions. just last month, an isis- affiliated faction of boko haram kidnappe110 girls from a boarding school in northeast nigeria-- some as young as1 years old. last week, the nigerian government shuttered boarding schools in the northeastern state, and sent drones and jets to search for the girls. boko haram often marries the captives off to fighters; they've also been used as suicide bombers. in 2014, the militants abducted nearly 300 students from a school in the village of chibok, prompting an international campaign to free them.

more than 50 girls escaped. about 100 more were freed last year, after the nigerian government paid a nearly $4 million ransom. some had been forced to converto slam and sold as sex slaves. they were beaten, starved and a sexualaulted. recently, judy woodruff sat down eth two young women who w akducted in 2014, and escaped. yakaka was 15 when; hawa: 14. .sthey were brought to theby a non-profit called "too young to wed," dedicateduno protecting girls and ending child marriage. and a warning: their accounts are harrowing and disturbing, and will upset many viewers. >> woodruff: yakaka, i'm going to start with you. tell us what happened to you. >> ( translated ): i was living in b-- >bama, my home town,and boko ha.

they took us to th forest, and up till now, there's no news about them. >> woodruff: what about your parents? >> ( translated ): i am together with my parents. >> woodruff: when they took you away, what happened? how long were you there and how were you treated? >> ( translated ): i had been with them for a long time. we sfered a. it was rough treatment every day. my first huamong the insurgents was one of the people that abducted me. after ving sex with me, he would send me out naked into the camp. other insurgents would drag me and have sex with me. when i rturned, he knew exactly that his own fellow shaergz hadh sex e, but he flooding me for wasting time. that was my daily lif i delivered a baby boy before i escaped with three other abductees. >> woodruff: did you believe you weuld escape when yoe being held? >> ( translated ): i never thought that i woapld esc because they took us far into

the forest and there was no indication that they would ever take us back into the town. >> woodruff: and hawa, you re just 14 when you were abducted. tell us what happened to you and youramily. >> ( translated ): i lived in bama, along with my parents, before the advent of boko hari . s a student going to school, no problem. boko haram came and invaded boama. on the third day of t invasion, a childhood friend to my senior brother, who had joanh boram, led other boko haram men to our house looking for my brother. he could not see him, so he said they're going with me to te sh to go and marry me. my father obj they held him, and in my presence, they used a knife to slice his throat and kill him instantly. my step-mother also protested. they also held her and killed her. fortunately enough, my mother was not at home, so they took me away. >> woodruff: i can't even imagine.

and you were held for how long? and how you treated? >> ( translated ): got egnant in their custody, and my pregnancy was about nine months when i escaped. i can't say precisely the amount of months i stayed in thir custody. one day i brvegged they were not paying attention in the night when they were in the mosque. i succeeded in escaping. >> woodruff: did you believe you uld be ablto safely escape? >> ( translated ): i never thought i could escape, but it was the best ting do at that moment because i was nine months fromnant, no support anywhere, no arrangement to take care of me, nobody to help me out, no experience. i felt i may die in the process of giving birth, so i better die while escaping. >> woodruff: and what has happened to your child? >> ( translated ): i escaped from the camp. i watrekking in the bush. on the seventh day, i got to a deserted village, where i found old woman that was there. she saw my condition. she send me, kepte in her

house. two days later, i delivered a the old woman helped me. she supported me. after a few days, when i got a little stronger, we resolved at i should leave because if the insurgents came to find me in her cusdy, they will kill both of us. so she showed me the road to bama. i kept trekking. on the third day in the night,gh my dr became ill, and she died. at first i thought she was sleeping, but later i reazed that her hands became very stiff. i couldn't even move them. then i knew she was dead. there was a rag donated to me by the old woman. i used it to wrap the corpse. inside, i dug a hole, buried the girl, and proceeded. >> woodruff: i am so sorry. and you were alone through this whole thing, through thi journey? and yakaka, how did you finally escaperom boko haram? >> ( translated ): i joined three other s to escape along with them because we could

not number the situation. the suffering was becoming too much. so we left the camp in the night when most of the soldiers were apeeping. we e through the bush and trekked to maiduguri. a military truck pic ud p and dropped us close to a camp. >> woodr went to a camp or a place for displaced persons, people. and there, you were also treated badly. is that right? >> ( translated ): the soldiers that took us in their truck dropped us off at the lorry camp. it was a large camp with a lot of people. a the feeding w problem. you hardly get food to eat. sometimes went for two days without food. yes, there were somerkide s that were sharing food, but i never benefitted. i watched the red cross ice distributing such aid materials, but it got finished befor reaching m turn. and another problem we usually at oncethat camp was th it was evening, all the aid workers left the camp, leaving us with soldierandher security agencies.

soldiers went to our various room s demanding f, and it was better to accept it, or you would be intimidated and dealt with.co so when i dired i had left the problem and i had jumped into another problem, i decided to leave the camp to another community where my child fell ius. and bei had no access to medication, he died. so that was how i lost my son. >> woodruff: well, we can't even begin to t imagi sadness and the hardship that you've lived through. and i know everyone hearing your story is iawe of you and your rength and being able o tell these stories today, in hopes that thungz will change. hawa, how have you been treated? how has your lifcebeen sinou escaped? and how hard is this for you now? are you able to put that behind you and think about the future? >> ( translated ): at the time i escaped and t geto maid, guri,

i didn't know anyon i had no one to stay with. i went to the host community and stayed with some peot ple. body wanted me around. nobody was happy i was living there because they all called me the ex-wife of boko haram. they were all calling me names. i had only one drtess se any time i wanted to go out or do something, fiwanted to wash my dress, i had to remove my dress, wash it, dr, it offd find somewhere to hide nude until the dress dried off. "too young to wed" provide meth resses and re dresses and enroln one of the best s i had to latest area i was living in as a richer person to another part where thotey do know much about me. and now they see me as well to-do in this society. before i reconnected with my mother. >> sreenivasan: yakaka, how hard is it for you now, and what do you want to do now? what do you want to do in the

future? >> ( translated ): my major problem is when i go out in the streets of mid, guri, and i see survivors who have beenot been able to access any help. they live out of schayool. i hey get the type of assistance i got, be in sch change their status, get good dress, be accepted by the society and whenever they finish school. i am hoping in my own case, when i finish school, i will come back and assist other growing children from my community that have been neglected. i also want all others to get the same treatment. >> woodruff: hawa, what do you want american tos about the future possible for peoples like-- forooung women, fr people like you and yakaka, and otr children onigeria, who have had this terrible thing ppeno them, and many of whom are still at risk? what should americans know? whato you want them to be about the future that wouant?

>> ( translated ): i am pleading with the people of america and the government to please assist us. there are thousands of other children that have nocrois, that are abducted in the forest. nobody is talking of let the u.s. government put pressure where necessary.nm the govt and all the relevant agencies should see that a lot of efforts will be put towardserecg these people, put them in schools, so that they can save my generation. >> woodruff: finally, let me ask both of you, do you ha good feeling about your own? futu yakaka, do you feel you will be able to fulfill and have the life that you want to have? >> ( translated ): yes. my future is bright. i am a student of western education, and i know the value of a western education. through, that i can have a brighter future. >> woodruff:t,nd hawaw about you? what do you think not only the future is for you, buthe other young people of nigeria in the part of the country where you're from? >> in my own case, so longaise

remain in school oth my future is bright. but at the same time, i request that other children should live like me or even better than me. let the entire world devise various means of recovering all the kidnapped children, send them to school, and let them develop once more a hpe in their lives. >> woodruff: well, we are moved by yor stories. we are very sad with you on the loss of yo family members, and your loved ones, ad certainly wish for you the very, very best. kingk you for coming and tal with us about what happened. >> thank you.nk >> tou very much. >> sreenivasan: amnesty international reported the nigerian security forced were alerted but failed to act last month against boko haram militants. they captured 100 children there.

>> sreenivasan: finally tonights sad rom the newshour family. betty ann bowser, long-time correspondent for the pbs newshour, died friday night atij her home in , mexico. she was 73. betty ann was a proud virginia yarnlg, starting her career int 1985 wavy. eight years later, she was rking for cbs news during the walter cronkite era, eventually becoming the coanchor of a newsa ne program "30 minutes." >> the recovery is still in its early stages. >> sreenivasan: she began filing stories for theou "new as a correspondent in 1986, covering stories like the oakes city bombing, 9/11, and a long list of natural disasters. she spent time getting to know victims of thosegedies, and she wasn't afraid to push more well-known public figures for answers,a was the cense whhe

sat down with donald trump in 1992. at reporter: are you a republican or demo >> i'm probably a republican, but-- >> reporter: an economic republican? a social democrat? >> but i'm really for an individual more than i am for a party. >> sreenivasan: she always kept digging, asking civil engineers why the levs failed after hurricane katrina. >> they owingly built a levee below their own standards in the first place? >> and that's correct. >> and now they're building it back to what it wasore, and it didn't work. >> and that's correct.an >> sreenivshortly before the passage of the affordable care act in 2010, betty ann was named health correspondent for the "newshour." she toerok vito the front lines of the raging health care battles and far beyond the beltway, where she tried to convey the daily challenges americans faced. >> if you live in lambert and you need groceries, your only option is this convenience store. >> sreenivasan: we'll remember betty ann for hir tenacity and wit and for the many complex stories she helped us tell. lawy

on the newshour online right now-- six months after hurricane maria, whole towns in puerto ricotill remain without powe but some communities are getting assistance setting up renewable enn gy sources. lar power light up the island's recovery? we explore that and moour website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm hari sreenivasan. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the p newshour, thank you, and see you soon. >> maj funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> the ford foundation. v working wiionaries on the frontlines of social changewo dwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. cupporting innovations in education, democra 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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org and we're going to investigate

some untold stories from america's past. w theek... man over radio: oh, the humany! was this device snatched ni from the burng wreckage of the hindenburg? wes: is this stamp conencted to a momt when he u.s. army advanced with fixed bayonets against fellow soldiers in the nation's capital? tukufu: and, in an encorepre, did this bell ring in a golden age of sports during jack dempsey's legendary wo d championship fight? did this bell ring in a golden age of sports el s costello: ♪detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded h 'cause he's got noeart ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ it'injust like watch' the detectives ♪