captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening and happy fourth of july. i'm judy woodruff. t onhe newshour this independence day, embattled environmentaprotection chief scott pruitt faces more ethics complaints. then, hundreds of thousands of syrians flee their homes as air stris slam into rebel-held areas. and, race matters: creating more diverse sitors and employees in our nation's nation parks. >> we need to see more brown people represented in the national park service. we need to see more languageste repres more culture. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons a are available app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> suptrrting social reneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives throug and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful

world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionsioo your pbs stfrom viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: america marked its independence day with celebrations across the country, and a scorching heatwave accompanied festivities in the midwest and mid-atlantic. but as temperatures climbed well over 90 degrees in some places, heavy rain triggered flash flooding in houston, texas, rting travel and planned celebrations.wh mee, president trump and first lady melania held a fourth of july picnic for milary families on the white house lawn.

in northern thailand, diversef continued theirts to rescue twelve boys and their soccer coach who hav stuck in a flooded cave for 12 duns. they were on monday, about 2.5 miles from the main entrance of the tham laung cave complex in the northern chiang rai province. john irvine of independent television news alports on the nges of getting them to safety. >> reporter: trapped but no longer alone. the boys put their hands together in the traditional thai way and identified themselve for this progress report for a worried nation. the navy diver with them had a question: is there anything you want to say to your fan club out there? "don't forget about me," piped up one of them. the diver, who is also a doctor, applied creams to cuts and sratches and promised better care when they got out.

but the problems getting out were underlined by what he said about getting in. we set off at about 5:00 a.m. and reached here at 11:00, he said. six hours for an expert, how n will theseices ever manage it? despite all their smiles for th camera, ys look gaunt and it will take several days to reste the strength they'll need for whatever lies ahead. the thai army is trying to use the time wisely to improve their chances of survival. asell as diverting streams ountain,w into the they've been scouring the terrain from above looking for other ways in and out. as that went on day, two of the british divers who found the boys on monday went back in, to evaluate the feasibilityf scuba diving the children to safety. how dangerous would it be for

them to try to scuba out? >> it would be dangerous, i me cave diving when you are certified is dangerous and when you are not certified is even more so. and if you are afraid, on top of that. >> reporter: is it more dangerous to leave them there for the timeeing, or move them? that's the big question here. >> woodruff: that report from john irvine of independent television news. iran's president had harsh words for the trump administration today, amid talks with european union leaders to save the 2015 nuclear deal. in vienna, hassan rouhani warned that "iran will survive this round of u.s. sanctions as itm has survived tfore. this u.s. government will notn stayfice forever." rouhani hinted yesterday thatlo iran might regional oil .xports if the u.s. went through with new sanctio

in the u.k., investigators say two british nationals are critically ill aft exposed to the nerve agent novichok. it happened wiltshire county, just a few miles from where a former russian spy and his daughter were poisoned by the sa substance in march. britain blames russia for that incident, a charge russia denies. today, officials cordoned off several places the man and woman had visited. they said nothing in their backgrounds would suggest ey'd been targeted. back in this country, there's word that president trump asked top foreign policy aides about invading venezuela, during a meeting on sanctions last year. media reports say multiple advisers urged against military action but mr. trump pressed latin american leaders on the notion later. the u.s. along with allied nations have slapped sanctions on venezuelan president nicolas

maduro and dozens of other top officials for corruption and human rights abuses. and, a wildfire burning in colorado is now the third largest in state history.wi hends have spread theek spring cire across 94,000 acres, destroying more than 100 homes. the wildfire is only 5% contained, as others burn in the region. still to come on the newshour:d e.p.a. hott pruitt under renewed scrutiny for questionable ethics. the crisis of hundreds of thousands fleeing the war in syria. women become breadwinners as a result of drought in afghanistan, and much more. >> woodruff: environmental protection ancy chief scott pruitt has been in the news yet again this week, over new

allegations of impropriety. william brangham has this update. l >> brangham: test allegation against the e.p.a. chief is that he asked an aide gh help his wife secure a paying job. this on top of the dozen or more different federal investigations underway into scott pruitt. some are looking into his alleged lavish spending on travel and on personal security. he's being investigated for abuse of power for allegedly retaliating against staffers who questioned his behavior. and other investigators are examining how he rented a bedroom in a washington condo owned by the wife of an energy industry lobbyist at very favorable terms.if je dlouhy has been following all this for "bloomberg," and she joins me now. welcome to the "newshour". >> thank you. i should also say you are also the author of the very handy guide to the scott pruitt investigations that you can find on the bloomberg b site. so many investigations into scott pruitt right now. can you tell us about the mostn recent allegatainst him? >> the latest disclosures shed

new light on the ent to which administrator pruitt relied on his personal aides to do personal errands, specifically a former associate administrator told congressional investigators last week that pritt enouraged her to contact a association where she and pruitt both worked toncourage or seek t a job for his wife, on top of the earlier disclosures that aides for pruitt contacted afi chica executive to acquire about a franchise opportunity for pruitt's wife, and that she accepted a $2,000 payment from a manhattan nonprofit group to work at a conference pruitt spoke last year. >> there is also a recent allegation heag retaliateinst employees who raised concern about his behavior. what is the concern ander allegation t >> the concern and allegation is a number of employees found

themselves shted to another jobs or moved to other locations after they raised qustions about his spending or questioned his decision-making, an that's a subject of a special counsel probe. >> i know's hard to keep track of all the questions aboui behavior and the different investigations. from your reporting, do you have a sense of which of these is the most sere for the administrator? >> my reporting indicates many of thse are brushed aside by a number of his supporters, but whats concerning to the conservative supporters of this president that i'm talking to are these allegations about using the public office for personal gain. partly that's because there are federal ethics rules that bar that kind of behavior, that kind of self-enrichment and they bara feemployees from seeking gifts from subordinates, one of egations here. >> those are flat-out illegal. right. it's a violation of these rules, yeah. >> the cycle every time is quite

striking. new allegatio emerge, democrats call for his head, republicans express co, yet the very next week he's doing his job. how do you explain he is where k is? >> we have to lo how he got here. frankly, this is a guy whowon conservative acclimb and his previous role as oklahoma attorney general for attacking the e.p.a. and he carried that into rolling back obama climate change and and water pollution. but top white house officials say they're concerned about replacing him. frankly potential successors who can be conrmed by thearly divided senate would probably not bring the same enthusiasm as rolling back .e ep.a. rules. >> he's good at his job and they want to kep him. >> that's interesting. the president has made a distinction increasingly between

pruitt's performance at the e.p.a. on e..a.-related tasks and personal behavior. so on one hand the president a few weekago said hes doing a great job at the e.p.a. but he is not happy with these other disclosures. >> you wrote a story last week in "bloomberg ne" that's fascinating that argued maybe the scandals won't be what den his career in the e.p.a. but a fight over biofuels might. can you explain? >> right, so what is interesting is that pruitt is caught in the middle of some of thse really deep disputes at the e.p.a., one is over the nation's biofuel mandate, it requires renewable fuel to be used. he's under pressure from corn state farmers, and their allies in congress, particularly senator chuck grassy, to up the quotas essentially for using biofuel. >> ethanol in our gas right. and refiners hate the mandate or many dislike it deply, so allies for refiners including senator ted cruz and other oil

at a time senators are pushing pruitt in the opposite direction. it came to a head in recent weeks over plicy changes are late to this biofuel program. senator grassley said he would call for pruitt's resignationf he didn't support this mandate strongly in office and, meanwhile, senator cruz through aides said he would also call for pruitt's resignation if he didn't back off from changes refiners tin what i think is interesting about this is t we te think about allegations against pruitt being very personal i nature, and here is a case where they are being used politically and luthey are infcing policy decisions or at least being used as leverage by people who wish to do just that. >> jennifer dlouhy, bloomberg news, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we turn now to

syria, and its ongoing civil war. the uprising there was sparked in 2011 in the southern city of deraa, and since then it has been largely held by rebel forces. but now, the assad regime, backed by russia, has launched a military operation to retake it. and as nick schifrin reports, that has led to the latest, massive, and forced displacement of civilians, osught in the ire. >> schifrin:n this war, those who flee bombs carry the world, and everything they own, on their shoulders. in the last few weeks, more than 270,000 syrians have fled for their lives. they walk for hours to aof desolate cornehe deserto with ninfrastructure, because it's safer tn staying at home. one man who didn't give his name carried his son toafety. >> ( translated ): we were surrounded. we're refugees. we're under attack. where should we go? i swear, where should we go? >> schifrin: they went to the closest, safest place: the jordanian border, guarded by

jordanian soldiers. and they sit, waiting for help that is not arriving. >> there are women, children, anderly, all kinds of civi that are stranded along the border desert area, where there there are injures and even deaths that are taking place. >> schifrin: darikha erkataeva is the head of doctors without border's jordan and syria mission. she has on been able to send in two trucks of supplies. >> there is no medical health care that is being provided. the people are trapped with no access to basic services or basic needs. >> schifrin: this is what they've fled. massive air stris by russian jets. and a trail of destruction left by syrian and iranian-backed troops targeting one oe country's last two rebel-held territorie this is what consolidating government control looks like: a syrian soldier firing artillery. a column of syrian tanks... that have made dar'a a ghost

town. the markets are blown out and empty. what used to be an apartment complex is an abandoned shell. this was once the al-musayfra hospital. a russian bomb exploded in the main lobby. the stretchers are cut in half. the gurneys are pockmarked and deserted. dar'a is where the uprising began in early 2011. since then, syria s spiraled from crisis, to calamity, to catastrophe. 12 million people displaced, more than half the country. 400,000 plus dead. but what's different about this time, is that it's in a particularly sensitive location. those fleeing their homes ha ended up in the corner of three countries: syria, jordan, and israel. the exodus has put pressure onel isnd jordan, and threatened to entangle both countries. jordan has sent aid across the border into syria. but jordan's already home to 1.3 million syrian refees who live in the region's largest camp, and won't take in any more, said jordanian government spokesman

jumana ghunaimat. >> ( translated ): we feel t pain of our syrian brothers, but we have jordanian priorities, its security and safety in the rerst place. everybody knows thity of the extremists organizations inside syria and we are not, able, honest take that risk and allow the refugees n. >> schifrir the israeli border, displaced syrians set up a tent city. israel's moved tanks toward the border, and issued a warning to syrips and iranian-backed troo not to get too close, as delivered byrime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> ( translated ): we have a separation of forces with syria since 1974. this is a fundamental agreement we will followticulously. and it's incumbent on all others to do the same. >> schifrin: the u.s. has 2,000 troops in syria, but they are far from the location of this crisis. and the u.s. explicitly told the rebels not to expect any help. which means the outcome of this ained.is pre-o the rebels are out-gunned. and there is nothing stopping

the syrian and russian assault. in dar'a town, rescue workers managed to pull out a girl, alive, from the rubble... w but manyho stayed in daraa, paid with eir lives. rescue workers had to dig outdi bo and walk them through destroyed streets. and the horrorf this war for syria's civilians, continues. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: we have covered vation, and terrorism in afghanistan for years. but there is another crisis there that is causing nearly asi many problems:te change. it causes epic droughts, and forces desperate afghans toward desperate measures. there does seem to be one key factor in thhelping stave of knock-on effects of drought: education for girls. special correspondent beth murhpy, of t ground truth project, has covered those

efforts to improve girls education for year and tonight looks at the difference teaching girls is making. >> reporter: drought is drying up farms across afghanistan, cracking the earth and threatening the only way of life the majority of the country has ever known. this community outside kabul city is called green village. it was once the breadbasket of the region, but today the name rings hollow.sl >> ( tred ): the drought is upon us, beyond our control. we cannot do anything about it. our crops are becoming smaller every year. maybe this year, there will be more drought because there hasn't been any rain or snow yet. our river is dry. >> reporter: farmers like been hitah azami ha again and again over the past three decades with droughts. they've become longer and more intense, making afghanistan one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. haffizullah's daughter wazeela remembers althe times her dad struggled to make money and feed the family.an

>> ( ated ): when my father came home, he was very unhappy. so that made us all unhappy.no he didn't haveh money to cover our expenses. and when we didn't have enough food miserable.was really >> reporter: hafizullah's grape field may not look like a battlefield, but this is where a new war in afghanistan is being waged. with farmers caught between two forces they can't control: climate chan and terrorism. so this is the negotiation with the community people. daud rimi is with the united nations development program. $7he's helping to oversee million program to protect afghanistan's most vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change. >> climate change is a multiplier, a threat multiplier, one of which is the recruitmen of young people by the terrorists groups, by insurgent groups. >> reporter: that insurgency is bankrolled by the drug trade, specifically the opioppy, which is heavily controlled by

violent taliban extremists who are now openly operating in 70% of the country, reversing the gains of america's longest war. in this taliban-cont area on the pakistan border, it may be w spreading the seeds of what will become heroin. >> ( translated ): we have very little land and big families. so we are cultivating opiumpp it brings in more income. our goal with growing poppy is to earn more money. we don't want to harm anyone.he >> reporter:'s a reason farmers are attracted to growing opium poppy. hafizullah considered it because e drought resistant than other crops. there's also more of a market for it. >> ( translated ): i've never cultivated it, but everyone knows it'she way to make a od income. >> reporter: opium is a $60 ghanistan,dustry in which supplies most of thein world's he. the amount grown here is skyrocketing. it's almost doubled over the past year, despite a mountg u.s. campaign to target the

illicit crop and the taliban. according to the united nations, it's impossible to untangle the , drought and war, and those with the least power suffer most. >> girls and minorities are affected more than anyone else by the climate change. >> reporter: for one family in herat province, not having enough water set off a devastating chain reaction. >> ( translated ): it was the reason i became indebted and lost everything, because of the drought. >> reporter: to settle his debts, shah mohammad took his daughter khudija out of school. instead of her getting a diploma, he was paid a dowry when he forced her to get married. late last year she tried to fine own way out. she attempted suicide by settin hers fire.tr >> ( slated ): it's all because of my husband. he physically and mentally abused me.

without my knowledge, they married me to that man when afghan people are broke, they sell their daughter. i'm not dead i'm not alive. >> reporter: it's impossible to know what khudihja l life would e if she had been able to stay in school, but theris increasing evidence that when girls are educated, theirst communities arnger, safer, and more resilient. in a recent study of 162ro countries, theokings institution reports that forev y additional year of schooling a girl receives, her country is better prepared for, and better able to recover from climate disasters like droughts and floods. author of "the kite runner" and united nations goodwill ambassador khaled hosseini,ha explainseducated girls are more likely to become decision makers who re-invest in their community. >> there's a saying that when you educate a boy, you educate an individual, but if you ate a girl, you educate entire community and change the culture. r >>eporter: for hafizullah,

even when drought is responsible for another bad harvest, he's got a secret weapon farmers don't: two daughters who are edated. this conservative countryth has long limited the role of women, fazeela and wazeela worked hard to convince their dad, who has just a h grade education, to let them graduate from high school and then earn teaching degrees. now, they are both making a living as elementary school teachers. >> ( translated ):r efore this, onomic situation was terrible. so, i wanted to go to school and be able to earn money. my salary, ii can provide for myself and my family. i'm really happy to be earning an income. >> reporter: together, the sisters are earning about $4,000 a year. that's the same amount the father used to make off the farm before the drought. now, he's lucky to make $1,000. >> ( translated ): if my daughters didn't work?

i can't imagine it. our mily couldn't survive. their teaching salary helps our family survi >> reporter: at the girls' school where wazeela and fazeela teach, there are nearly 700st ents whose whole lives have been defined by drought, and everything it is linked to-- the poverty, the drugs, the war. and while they lose so much to these catastrophic problems, their education is something no one can take from them. for e pbs newshour, i'm beth murphy in deh'subz, afghanistan. >> woodruff: last fall, science coespondent miles o'brien traveled to cuba, a crown jewel of biodiversity in the caribbean. there, he found scientists and oconservationists working protect the island's wildlife, some of it found nowhere else on rth, from growing outside pressures.

tonight a reprise of that story, part of our weeklyaderies on the g edge of science. >> reporter: toby ras is cuba's croc whisperer. for more than four decades, he has lived in cuba'zapata swamp, hoping to bring the reptiles back from the brink of extinction. they are feisty, ferocious, and able to jump-- as we saw at a nearby breeding center.at >> ( tran ): the cuban croc is very bold and unafraid of humans. they come right up to investigate any disturbance in the water. they stand their ground even if you try to capture them. this makes them easier to catch than their american counterpart. >> reporter: which is one big reason they are in such trouble. the crocs were huntedth relentlessly ifirst half

of the 20th century. 13,000 were killed in one year alone, for their skins and meat. today, the poaching continues relentlessly. onght now, the wild cuban crocodile populatis estimated at only about 3,000. they are critically ered. they are not extinct, thanks in lae part to toby ramos. he works closely with natalia rossi ofhe wildlife conservation society. >> he's not only professionally a person that has a body of work for 40 years, but he is a brave person to work in e field. he's still fit and eager to grab a crocodile. >> reporter: they offered no narantees that we would e lay eyes on one, but nevertheless, we came to this remote warden's tpost to try our luck. and not long aft we arrived... it seems there is a crocodile. >> reporter: oh, is there a crocodile? let's see. where? where? a curious croc surfaced nearby.

toby ramos is a total pro. in all these years, he has captured thousands of animals and yet only been bitten twice. we were eager to watch-- from a safe distance.t he is no it for the thrill, but rather to protect the species. poaching is only part of the problem. the other threat comes froman her species that has flourished here: american crocodiles. they thrive here, crowding out their cuban cousins, and also crossbreeding with them, h creatingrid species. >> ( translated ): we have only seen this hybridization happening in two very specific eas. plus other areas where only american crocs are present. >> we are working hard to protect wh we have today, because we might lose one of these unique populations. le>> reporter: cuba is rep

with unique populations of rare and endangered species. scientists say the country is a crown jewel of bio-diversity in the caribbean; its mangrove swamps, coral reefs and its populations of unique amphibians, reptiles and birds are all unsurpassed. >> now, we are heading onto an open area with palm trees, which is seasonally flooded right now. >> reporter: biologist maydiel morera gave me an eye-opening tour of some rare birds in another corner of the zapata swamp. >> that flooding movement or cycle keeps this area clear, and it's very, very goodor birds mainly. >> reporter: cuba is home to 370 species of birds; 27 found only her including this one. what is that? what is that called? >> cuban trogan, it's the b nationd of cuba, and it's

my perfect bird in cuba, also. >> reporter: beautiful, plumage. we also saw a great lizard cuckoo, a cuban pygmy owl, a west indian woodpecker, a cuban green woodpecker and a cuban screh owl. >> you see my dot here. >> reporter: yeah, yeah. i see hi i see him. >> that is it. >> reporter: beautiful bird. look at that bird. >> i think theost fitting english word for this is "cute." >> reporter: we were joined by wildlife biologist ana porezecanski. she is director of tter for bio-diversity and conservation at the americantu museum of l history in new york. 2 5, the museum launched a partnership with the cuban museum of natural history. they funded an expedition to cuba's humboldt national park, 275 square miles ofrd extrary diversity, from sea level to peaks of nearly 4,00feet. >> we were able to go and do

an inventory, a survey of the bio-diversity of the parkto ther with park technicians, cuban scientists and museum scientists. and we found amazing things, some species and some cases that we didn't know were in the park and probably, several species s w to science. >> reporter: cubological bounty is a consequence of some deliberate planning by the cuban regime, which protected about 20% of the nation's land andor terrl waters and also years of geopolitical and itonomic isolation. >> the politicaltion kept cuba isolated from fast development. so in a way, there was not a like a strong competing interest of money versus conservation. >> reporter: for scientists, cuba is a tantalizing mystery. >> it's kind oa black box in terms of knowledge because there has been a lot oresearch done in cuba, but the connection of that research to the research done in north america and other countries in the continent has

not been yet integrated. >> reporter: cuban scientists don't have the funding to answer some complex questions on thr p own, like, cane cuban crocodiles survive? and does habitat loss, poaching and cross breeding make it rekely the heartier cuban- american cross beds will esevail? on the front linn the zapata swamp, toby ramos is also trying to find the answer, studying animals that he understands perhaps better than anyone. how many times have you done that before, toby? ( speaking spanish ) >> thousands. >> reporter: can i touch? >> yes. ( speaking spanish ) >> reporter: much dryer than you think. once we let our crocodile swim, fr got back in the boat and gunned it.de a big thtorm was brewing.oc keeping these ile alive is not easy already, but add to the mix the growing press

tourism increases here in cuba. more people come here, there's more pressure on these animal and it makes it much harder to ke them alive. in cuba's zapatawamp, i'm miles o'brien for the pbs newshour. op>> woodruff: 47 million are expected to travel for fourth of july this year and many of them are spending the holiday at national parks. but the parks do not have a history of attracting a broad cross section of ame population. as tyler fingert from the cronkite school of journalism reports as part of our race matters series, some parks officials are trying to change that. >> reporter: thousands of feet above the canyon floor, it's a view you can feel. >> no picture could ever do it justice, it's everything i

expected and then some. >> reporter: lisa brokenbrough and doug griffin drove three days from delaware just to get to the grand canyon and a chance to see what more than six million visitors saw last yearon >> when you are here you get to experience more the, just a pictou know the pictures are beautiful, but being hereac you get the al full exrience and just the wow factor of everything. >> reporter: the park boasts some of the best views of this beautiful canyon, that stretche more than les across the southwest. eebut that view is largelyby a select group of people. a 2011 nional park service report shows visitors to parmi are overwhelly white. with just one in ten visanors being hi, and just 7% african american. both und-represented compared to their populations in the country. >> we should be concerned because something is there keeping us from attendg in the same numbers as the rest of the population. >> reporter: xitlaly reyes works

with latino outdoors, which is >> there is definitely maybe a message not getting across that that is their park that they can y it and maybe that issue i think we have there. >> reporter: diversity is a big issue for the national park service, their goal is to increase diversity of visitors and bring more people from eyckgrounds to places like the grand canyon, but e also trying to increase the diversity of their own staff, hoping that helps to bringore people to the parks. to do a lot of stuff within our park as well and that's you know everything from making sure the staff looks like the american public making sure that there's visibility inbl ations. >> reporter: vanessa ceja- cervantes is the outreachto coordiat the grand canyon. she's working to bring more people to the park as they get ready to celebrate 100 years. reyes says she hopes some of those people are wearingrv national park e uniforms. >> i think we need to see more brown pele represented in the national park service we need to see more languages represented more culture. >> reporter: beyond hiring, the grand canyon is also reaching out to underrepresenasd

communitieng about their interests. >> not everyone enjoys the outdoors the same way you know someone might enjoy an eight ele hike into the canyon, while someone else migoy watching the wildlife hanging out with their family. so we're taking all those things into conderation. >> reporter: ceja cervantes also says the park seice is using their best asset, people, by making sure a friendly face is there to answer questions. >> when i go out to a trail and i see someone, i see an hispic family, i get really excited and i'm like hey i can speak spanish if you guys need help let me know. >> reporter: but all tse efforts could be in vain as the national parservice gets ready to raise entrance fees. kevin dahl works with the national parks conservation association. >> there's no question about it, access to the parks will be affected as the price goes up. >> reporter: the price to see all this will increase only $5, >> every dollar more that it lutakes to get to a park es some people. >> reporter: the interior department is raising entrance fees to help fix the parks.

many have a growing list of projects that need to be done to a total b of more than $11 billion. at yellowstone natnal park, they need about a half billion. dollars in fix har the great smoky mountains they need more tn 200 million. and the grand canyon more than 300 million. >> at the heart of the issue isr that congress ponsible for funding the operations and maintenance of our national parks. funding for parks has gone down, which is just incredibti because visi is at an all time high. >> reporter: back with lisa and doug, the short trip was worth it. >> some things you can't afford, but some things you can't no afford, and this right here you can't not afford. >> reporter: for them, a view that can't be seen in pictures. for the pbs newshour, i'm tyler fingert at the grand canyon national park in arizona.

>> woodruff: now the latest entry to the newshour bookshelf, advice for parents coping with very sick children. after a career and counselor specializing in e care of children with cancer, joanna breyer hasn writhen your child is sick: a guide for parents of children undergoing medical care for serious illnesses." joanna breyewelcome to the newshour. >> thank you. >> woodruff: i'll be candid at the outset. i wanted to talk to you because among other things my husband and i have had a son w serious medical issues and we knowi know, firsthand what a serious subject this is and how important is to tackle it. r d you did this book just grow naturally out of yars of being a psychologist or did you have to be talked intot?

>> i began by writing a book for children who hated treatment with a section for parents and enough people told me that the part for section for parents was really good. another person suggested perhaps i could write a book for parents reflecting their stories and my own observations over the years. and that's what i started to do. >> woodruff: you break some of the advice, much of the advice in the book up by the age of the child: babies, toddlers, and then children in school, and then adolescents. you do that because of obviously different levels of maturity but also the importance of communicating. i mean you've got some items here with us that you'vese actuallyin your practice. >> yes.

let me introduce ned.pu he is et who was a friend of many children. some children used him to talk to. he developed the same problems often at they had, and together we would all figure out how he couldeal with the problem and the child was much more likely to be thusiastic about joining in if it was ned who had the problem. >> woodruff: there are so many different bits of i think wonderful advice for immediate family members but also i think it works for people on the outside. family who are not there all the time for distant family because you're dealing with not just the eysical but you're also dealing with the emotionect of what's happened. >> and that's where parents are very different. i mean some parents immediately want to access a whole lot of people around them who will be

the supports for them and other people may be more difficult to do that maybe they've come from far away maybe they won't have those supports immediately available. >> woodruff: is there universal advice you give parents when ey're dealing with this or does it so vary from family toly fand child to child? >> i think the general adviceld that i wave is for parents to take as good care ofey themselves as ossibly can in the hospital because it's so easy not to. and it's so stressful. and to actually remember to gete a good meal, tmber to exercise, to remember to take breaks. that's pretty good universal advice i would say. >> woodruff: it's the physical illness but it's the emotional impact it's the chileither maybe not understanding what theye going through or just out and out resisting what they're being asked to do. >> the more they can understand that what they're getting

treated for is for a particular condition, they need this x, y and z. if they're young, only a little bit at a time in advance because their idea of time is a little shortened. but if they can understand what something is being done for they are more likely, not always, but more likely to at least try to cooperate. it was very hard and sad, particularly ii had worked a long time with the family and the child, and that i would n'tays remember it was anything as hard for me as the parents. sometimes in a way it was a privilege to be wh a family,

talking with them to the extent that they wan it's sometimes about things that were quite unrelated, sometimes things that were fun. sometimes wonderful mories ey had of their child, with their child, and sometimes how they wanted to deal with the situation. >> woodruff: there are so many forms of painful loss, but losing a child is unimaginabl for most people. >> many parents did wonder howu they wld manage, and i think that, for many parents, during the time of a child's illness and getting worse, their priority, in a way, for many parents, iso be able to be with that child in the best wayh can be, in a way that they would be there. they wt to remember the time they had as a time that was a good time. >> woodruff: and i have to

finish >> woodruff: and i have finish by asking, by pointing out that it's not as if you don't live a stress-free life.yo re married to one of the justices of the supreme court. he's been sitting on the court,r justice stepheer, for 24 years. did you take your work to him? and does he take his work to you? >> luckily, he is a lawyer and i am a psychologist. what i can say is that he was always-- he was terribly sad if he learned i had to go to a funeral and he has been enormously eouraging every step of the way of me writing this book. >> woodruff: joanna breyer, the igok is "when your child is sick: a guide to ning the practical and emotional challenges of caring for a chi who's very ill." thank you. >> thank you so much, judy.

>> woodruff: millions of children grew up with misterge and his neighborhood. now a new documentary explores his life and lessons. jeffrey brown has more. >> brown: the trolley, the cute sock-puppets, the cardigan sweater-- millions loved mister rogers and his neighborhood, others found it all a bit, well, o "nice." filmmaker morgan neville watched as a kid and, looking again as an adult, found something worth exploring, celebting today. >> when i started digging into f him i jut like this was a voice i don't hear in our culture anymore.t it's a voice teds a place at the table and it's a voice that speaks up for a lot of things that nobody else is eaking out for. it's arownup voice that's empathetic and that's looking out for our own cultural long- term well-being.

>> brown: neville, who won an oscar for his documentary, "20 feet from stardom," s now made "won't you be my neighbor," a new, fuller look at the life and work of fred rogers. >> a television program for children made its inauspicious debut on wqed in pittsburgh. its host? fred rogers. >> brown: "mr. rogers neighborhood" had its national debut on public television in68 original episodes and re-runs would air until 2001. the show quickly hit a chord with children across the country. >> mr. rogers? >> yes? >> i want to tell you something. >> what would you like to tell me? de i like you. >> i like you, m. thank you very much for telling me that. >> reporter: a presbyterian nister who studied child psychology, rogers was on a mission, says neville: to harness the power of television reach and teach children, but without any high tech glitz. >> i've always felt that i did

hnot have to have a funny or jump through hoops to have a relationship with that child. >> for fred rogers, television was almost the necessary evil to do what he wanted to do with his mission. and he knew that from the moment he first saw television and really changed his life's course. but at t same time he hated television. so in a certaiway he's the least likely tv star of all time. >> did you ever knowny grownups who got married and then later they got a divorce? ro brown: as the film shows, the program didn't shy addressing tough issues of the day. >> there is officer clemmons, come in! >> hi mr. rogers, how are you? >> brown: francois clemmons, who played a friendly policeman in the 'neighborhood' recalls aem gly benign scene intended to send a bigger message. >> they did not want black people to swim in their swimming pools. s my being on the program statement for fred.

>> i think fred rogers made this decision very early in his career that what he was going to do was to level with children, because i think the adult instinct we have and i parent know this, you want to tell your kids not to pay attention to bad things or don't woty about things and the f of theatter is children are way too smart to not worry about things. they know when bad this happen. >> brown: there were spoofs and mockery including eddie murphyht on "saturday nive."wo >> and manered: is this guy for real? >> brown: the queson so many of us had was: is this all an act, a performance? surely there's some dark side to

fred rogers? but you seem to show he was who he was. >> without a doubt, that's the most common question i got was some veron of, "is this guy for real?" the conclusion i came to after years of working on this is he is 100% for real and in fact that's kind of the surprise, the reveal is that he is even more mr. rogers like in real life than he is on the show. soifference between mr. rogers and fred rogers is fred was a more dimensional, more willful, more intellectual version of mr. rogers. >> brown: more willful, tougher than those colorful cardigans might suggest, but also hints of doubt and fears that he wasn't fulfilling his mission. is moving to watch him and think how television and the world were not what he wanted t thbe. how did you come to think about this? >> well, he was somebody thatn believede potential of television and dedo ated his life because he believed

it could be a place where we could build communitie and you know there a t times whenevision has done that but more often than not we live in an era where television is incentized to do the opposite, to actually divide us. and i think fred found that very painful. but it didn't mean he stopped believing. i think if he we here he would still be trying to figure out ways to us these message positively and i think it's part of why i made the film. >> brown: fred rogs died in 2003. the film "won't you be my neighbor" is n playing in theaters nationwide. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodrf: finally tonight, author sebastian junger has spent a number of years reporting on the men and women in various branches of the united states military.

heon this independence day reflects on american heroes in tonight's in my humble opinion. >> several years ago i spent much of a deployment with a atoon of combat infantry at a remote outpost called restrepo.m it was after the medic, p.f.c. juan sebastian restrepo, who was born in colombia, emigrated to america as a child, tod died fighting at the b of a hill in afghanistan. athere was no running wat restrepo, no cooked food, no communication with the outside acrld and absolutely no pry. mostly, there was just aot of combat. hundred firefights that year, and everyone out there was almost kled. and yet over and over again i watched perfectly ordinary people risk their lives to keep others safe. no one was more important e an anyone elsd race, religion,ad and politics hbsolutely no importance at restrepo. evy fourth of july i think about men like private restrepo and what this country must mean

to them. four percent of our military aren't even u.s. citizens. t d yet they emigrate to our shores, a uniform and fight and die for us. what is it they are fighting for? what is it they are risking death for? for many, of course, it is economic opportunity. but that very economic opportunity is rooted in the idea of a just society where people are judged on their own merits rather than for the sound of their last name or the color of their skin. ine america we are all hoping for-- now may exists purest form on the frontlines of our nation's wars. how sad.ir how onic. soldiers now return to society that is tearing itself apart nialong every possible ethc and demographic boundary. the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, many people live in racially segregatedun coies and rampage shootings seem to happen every week or two. to make matters worse, powerful people in this country talk with

incredible contempt about, dependg on their views, the president, the government, the foreign-bornnd entire segments of the population. i'm sorry to say tt some of my fellow americans would judge p.f.c. juan restrepo for re before they got around to honoring him for his heroism. i don't believe this would be happening if people in this country had a minimum unsing of true plic service. i wonder if any of them thought to give up their salary for aso year idarity for the millions of americans who lostbs their uring a recession. i wonder if any of them are prepared to make a pure sacrifice for this nation, yet in abundance among the citizens they serve, marty last year a lifelong new yorker named marty bauman died at age 86. mr. bauman contracted polio while in the army, attended college on the g.i. bill and went on to start a successful

executive search firm in manhattan. when his company ran into financial trouble in the 1990's, he secretly gave up his salary so he wouldn't have e anyone that year.s his employly found out what he'd done because the company bookkeeper told them. people like mr. bauman are the true heroes of this country. this fourth of july, think about the people-- young and old, rich and poor, citizen and non- citizen-- who have made u sacrifices fall. some are in uniform but many are not. they all deserve our respeth but more tha, they deserve a country that respects self. i don't hear that sentiment in the halls of power. i only hear it at the outpos of afghanistan and on the streets and in the workplaces of this great land. just a few days ago i was walking by some housing projects in new york city and i saw someone carelessly throw a candy wrapper on the ground. another person saw him as well. "hey man," he said, "that's our country."

that's right. that's our country. if the powerful do not learn this oneesson from the rest of us, they will not remain the powerful for long. >> woodruff: and don't go anywhere. right here on pbs, america's national independence day celebration kicks off with a star-spangled party and all-star by john stamos, "a capitol fourth" is brought to you from the west lawn of the u.s. capitol. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, happy fourth of july. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: mer cellular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan. our u.s.-basedustomer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your learn more, go toe, nothing consumercellular.tv

>> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spaniench, german, italian, and more. >> 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.th k you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ >> a thousand years ago, doeys, each carrying 100 pounds of tea, trekking this winding path, this is part of the ancient tea road, outside of chengdu. historians also called this the southern silk road, a vital trade route that opened western china to india,as the middle e and beyond. for all the tea in chengdu, next o"yan can cook." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪