captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodrf: good evening. m judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: defense secretary james mattis argues u.s. efforts to curb civilian casualties in yemen are paying off. we break down the trump ministration's military strategy. then, the kavanaugh record. we continue our look at wheret the supreme cominee stands on key issues.ni t, presidential powers. and, the push for a four-day school week, and whether the w chanld make a difference in student performance. >> what are the positives of going to four-day school week? what are the negatives? i want every single opportunity for myhildren and other children to have to learn. >> woodruff: all tt and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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possible by the corporation for publ broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the governor of puerto rico day dramatically raised the estimate of hurricane maria's human toll. a study commissioned by the u.s. territory attributes nearly 3,000 deaths to the storm in the six months after it hit, last september. that is more than twice the puerto rican government'se. previous estim another study published last may put the figure at 4,600. governor rardo rosello also announced that the government s,uld create a database of vulnerable citizuch as the elderly and the sick, to expedite aid in future storms. thbloody civil war in yeme and the s. role in it, are back in the headlines tonight. a united nations report finds that a saudi araan coalition

may have committed war crimes, as it battles rebels aligned with iran. but u.s. defense secretary james mattis today defended american support for the coalition. we will examine his comments on yemen, after the news summary. in iran, lawmakers largely rejected president hassan rouhani's plans to revive the country's flagging economy.ca rouhani waed before parliament to defend his polies-- only the second tim that has happened. he admitted mistakes, but warned against panic. ): certainly, we de and we have made mistakes. we should work together to make up for these mistakes. painting a bleak picture of people's lives will lead to further darkness. >> woodruff: iran was already in a recession, with rising unemployment and inflation and a sinking currency. the situation worsened after the u.s. quit the 2015 nuclear dl and re-imposed economic sanctions. president trump accused google

anothers today of rigging online searches for political motives. in a morning tweet, he charged that the companies are suppressing news favorable to conservatives. this afternoon, he followed up, the oval office. >> i think google is really taking advantage of a lot of people, and i think that's a very serious thing, and a very serious charge. google and twitter and facebook, they're really treading on very, very troubled territory. and they have to be careful. it's not fair to large portions of the population. >> woodruff: his economic adviser larry kudlow said today that the white house is looking at whether google searchesre should blated. in response, google said in a statement, "we don't bias ourrd results tony political ideology." the status of congressional districts in north carolina is in lbo again, just over two months before the mid-term elections. on monday, a panel of federal judges ruled that the

congressional map drawn by republicans is unfairly weighted against democrats. the ruling is expected to be appealed to the u.s. supreme court. a texas company that makes 3d-printed plastic guns began selling the plans online today. that is despite a federal judge's order not to post the blueprints on the web. in austin, the company's owner, cody wilson, argued that he still has the right to sell the instrujuions. >> thie's order stopping us from simply giving thingsan away was onluthorization that we could sell it, that we could mail it, that we cou email it, that we could provide ity secure transfer. i will be doing all of those things now. >> woouff: wilson said buyers can name their price for the plans, and that he's already received hundreds of orders. on wall street, the dow jones industrial arage gained 14 points to close at ,064. the nasdaq rose 12, and the s&p 500 added a fraction of a pot.

and, a public viewing beganda for aretha franklin, the queen of soul, in her hometown of detroit. hundreds of fans and mourners filed through the city's african american history museum, past the gold-plated casket.pe thousands are ed to pass through during the two-day viewing. franklin died this month of cancer, at age 76. her funeral will be on friday. still to come on the newshour: the defense secretary addresses threats from yemen and north korea. supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh's record on presidential powers. an effort to prevent brain drain in africa. and, much more. >> woodruff: u.sfesecretary of e james mattis held a rare, on-camera press briefing today at the pentagon-- his

first in more than four months. he was joined by the chairman of enthe joint chiefs, marineal joe dunford. together, they fielded questions on several topics, including yemen, north kor, and the trans-atlantic alliance. meantime, there is renewed concern about that time-tested alliance in europe, voiced by top leaders there. our nick schifrin was at the pentagon this morning, and joins me now to discuss all this. nick, welcome. so let's start with yemen. secretary mattis did talk about the u.s. backing of this saudi-led coalition, hing after thuthi rebels in yemen. how did he talk about that and what hid he s about the criticism that saudis arei killinnocent people? >> there is a lot of criticism, and he was in part responding to e u.n. report that came out today that accuses the saudi-led coalitn of abusing international human rights, humanitarian and even international s.iminal law the report accses the u.. led

coalition of targeting civilian targets. with all that criticismer which is echoed by some people here on capitol hill and even inside dod, there's a lot of questions about what the u.s. is doing to help the saudi-led coalition. what u.s. officials tell me is that they are refueling saudi ts that go from saudi into yemen, and they're alsoig providing intece on what not to hit. don't hit this building because it's a hospital, don't hit this building because it's the u.n. secretary mattis was asked many tis about some of these criticisms. he said, look, nothing's perfect,ut he did say that e saudis hadn'troved. >> we've had pilots in the air who recognize the danger of a specificd ission anclined to drop even when they get the we have seen staff procedures that put no fire areas around eas where there's hospitals ors. scho we recognize every mistake like

is is tragic in every way, but we have not seen any callous disregard by the people we'reh. working wi >> woodruff: so, nick, there is evidence that the saudis are proving their targeting? >> some evidence. the people who i've spoken to who have worked wie saudis say they've come a long way, actually, that thgee tarng with originally was with commercial satellites. some of the weapons they eward dumb bombs, so to speak, or even cluster weapons, and those people who have worked with the saudis say, look, the weapons are smarter and the targeting is ebetter. but 's a flip side, if they have better weapons and targets, why are these civilian caslty incidents still happening? and that is why some of the criticism of the u.s. role d the saudi-led coalition continues and one person i spoke to today accused the saudis of having callous disregard for some of their weapons systems and targets. so that's how far some of the criticism goes. the u.s. points out, look, this

isn't thenly fault of the saudi-led coalition. the houthis who are inside of yemen use civilian areas to target riyadh, to target population centers in riyadh and also target into the gulf. iran is helping the houthis but n't control the houthis at all. bottom line, the war will continue, the tension between the two sides will continue and, frankly, most officials itable to say the civilian casualties will sadly continue as wel. >> woodruff: so north korea,s, as we know the prstesident la friday abruptly canceled the trip planned, secretary pompeo was to go to pyongyang to meet with the north koreans. we're learning what was bind it. >> one official said it was like whlash between the nouncement and the cancellation. word was sent from one of the leading north korean officials to mike pompeo leading the

effort, and it was not as nice as the trump administration was hoping. secretary pompeo took that let tore the white house and in a large meeting ofhe national security officials, they decideddeth not the right time to go. general, this is reflection of some frustration seeping in to the u.s. state department asl s the white house that they haven't seen enough results. and heather nauert, the state departme spokesman wa asked about this today. she didn't confirm the letter, but she did say that north korea hadn't done enough. >> the secretary is not justin hoon a plane and flying to north korea for his health. he's going there thave serious substantive talks. those talks ve obvious occurred. many of you have been on those trips with us, but, in the aresident's view and in the national security s view, sufficient progress with respect denuclearization of the korean peninsula was not being made. >> woodruff: that's the state department's comment. where does the this lea things? >> on denuclearization, frozen.

it happens amid two tensions.ns there's tensithin the u.s. the department of defense officials i speak to say that some of th state department officials who have been leading this effort have been naive, that they have been going in expecting too much too quickly. as a reflection, these officialf say,secretary of state pompeo's and the president's g desire toet things done really quickly. there's also a tension between the uned states and south korea. the priorities are not necessarily th wsame. the u.nts deuclearization, south korea wants peace on the peninsula. there's no sign president moon is going after his own and pushing for peace with t north koreans without the u.s. there is concern in washington he's pushing too far.s the question whrdz this leave u.s. and scree working togethero and he joint exercises that the u.s. and south korea do together. secretary mattis was asked about that today. he said, well, we canceled this

year's exercises as a good faith effort because the negotiations were ongoing. buhe said next year's exercises will continue, and that really forces ump to decide whether to cancel them or not, if he wants something that north korea has made a priority to remain canceled. q >> woodrufickly, finally, to europe, statements today by the french president emmanuel macron about what europe should be prepared to do in the aftermath of president trump saying, months ago, that the u.s. may not stand by itnt commito n.a.t.o. > these are extraordinary comments from both sides, both from the united states president about europe and also europe about the united stnd the president so. let's listen to what was said nirst by emmanuel macron the french presidentd the german foreign minister. e ope can no longer rely solely on the united states for its security. it is up to us today t take up our responsibilities and guarantee european security and

consequently european sovereignty. we need to find a new equilibrium for the relationship. under the aegis of president trump, we are confronted with new challenges.r no coin the e.u. will be able to work alone, only europe united is our answer to america first. >> so pret exraordinary language. macron saying european sovereignty, and the german foreign minister, new equilibrium. they're responding to u.s. policy and rhetoric. u.s. policy -- contering russia, u.s. sent weapons to ukraine. the obama administrati did not do that. the u.s. has funded the u.s. presence of trops in europe, more than the predecessos. pore russianhave been kicked out of the u.s. and more russiao ulates have been closed. that's the policy. the rhetoric, as you pointed out, is very different. so european officials look at this. on the one hand, president maon wants to be young,

aggressive and seem like he'sleading europe and the u.s. wants more europe military spending. on the other hand we've never had a pre94sident since question article 5, so european officials are fearful and say the more the president questions their trans-atlantic alliance and niteo, who wins? russia, because they are looking for the alliance to weaken. >> woodruf action on so many different fronts today, watching us up on all of this, nick schifrin, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the state of california took a landmark step toward cminal justice reform today, as governor jerry brown signed a bill atat would elimcash bail for those awaiting trial. marisa lagos of publ television station kqed has been covering this story, and jns me now.

marisa lagos, welcome. quickly, who was behind this effort and what exactly would this new law do. >> well, this is a change backed by the governor,the chief justice of the court system here, and majority of the legislature as well as some criminal justice groups. it would basically eliminal cash b of october 2019 and replace it with a system that gives judges a lot mor discretion. they would be guided by risk assessment tools that would decide whether someone's a low, medium or high risk for release, but ultimately, unless somebody was aef misdemeanorendant, in which ways they would be automaticallreleased or very high risk or facing a violent eallyy, the judges would make that call. so it has been a controversial. some peoplthink it'giving judges too much power. >> woodruff: so this wouldy ap all criminal accusations -- criminalle tions? >> that's right. i mean, this is a huge change. we've seen some other changes in otor states that doesn't

this far, but, basically, as of next fall, if you're arrest ford a crime in california, cash bail will not be on the table. it will entirely be up to that court. and there uld be, of course, conditions. say an ankle monitor, probation oversight. but the idea is most low-risk and medium-risk defendants would get out and continue with jobswh and familieile they await trial. >> woodrf: marsa, tell us about the opposition to it, what's the based on. >> tt bail industry opposed because of financial reasons, but in the last few weeks as the final compromise bill was revealed. the aclu and other groups who pushed for the reform say they're going to oppose it and think it will result in more people deanained pretria have concerns of biases within the court system. for instance a judge might look

at an african-american differently than a white based on their own bases, or the risk assessment tools would look at someone's criminal history, job history, what they're facing this time, that those could have problems, so we did see the aclu come off this bill. interestingly, law enforcement, which had opposed earlier versions, is new central. so sort of a flip of who the opponents are. though i think it's important to y there are still some criminal justice groups that push this at remain in support. >> woodruff: going forward, california oen leads the country in legal measures and steps that it's taking, but is this expected to be c in the courts? >> it is. i talked to a therican coalition today. they believe that this requires a change to the state constitution and that it can't be done legislatively the way i was, a but as you said, this is very sweeping. it goes further tt be any other state has gone.

so i think we would expect any change like that to end up being challenged. ev woodruff: marisa lagos of kqed, public telision, thank you very much. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: one week from today, president trump's nominee to the supreme court begins what is expected to be a contentious confirmation process before the senate judiciary committee. jot yang continues our look where brett kavanaugh stands on llkey issues the senators likely ask him about. >> yang: judy, kavanaugh's inconfirmation hearings, a the backdrop of the mueller investigation, focuses attention on the nomines's record on ential powers. can a sitting president be charged with a crimeed can he be foo turn over evidence? we're joined by robert barnes, who covers the supreme court for the "washington post," and jonathan turley, a law professor

at george washington university. gentlemen, welcome to you both. thanks for being here, a lot to cover here. bob, let me start wi yo. these two questions, can a sitting question be charged wite a crcan he be compelled to turn over evidence, physical evidence or testimony? what has brett kavanaugh said about that in his record?l, >> we hasn't answered either of those specifically, but there are a couple of ings in his past that we know that the committee is going to look at closely., you knere are two cases about turning over evidence for the president to do that. one is u.s. v. nixon in which president nixon was order to turn over white house tapes. jones v clinton where clinton was told by the u.s. supreme court that yes he had to sit fop a deposition iula jones'l cise against him? n

u.s.xon, we have conflicting views from brett kavanaugh. in 1999 he raised the question whether the unanimous decision by the supreme court wasrongly decided. he knew that was hearsay but raised the issue but called it one of the great decisions the co t made in a realportant decision for judicial independence from e president. so that is a question that's going to be askedf brett kavanaugh, where exactly does he stand on that question, an it's one that deecmocrats esplly on the committee you can expect will hit him very hard on. >> reporter: and he has written about the uestion of whether or not tsihe prent could be or should be charged with the crime, a sitle president.>> hould be, yes. he was part of the star team, kenneth starr team investigating clinton. nton atvery tough on cli the time, said it was their job to get to the bottom of what he

called his revolting behavior, but he had a change of heart later on. he wrote a piece for a law review and he's talked about it in which he says that those kind of investigations could be put aside while theresident was in office. impeachment is the way to go if you think that the president has really engaged in wrongdoing, but he suggested that congress might want to protect a president from those sorts of w investigatiole he's in office because the job of the presidency is just too tough to be taken up with those kinds of things. >> reporter: so, jonathan, he suggested the heresy of u.s. v nixon was wrong. he said congress should pass a law to prevent the president from being charged new yorcity necessarily he finds that in the constitution. >> that's right, that's an important distincti he did not say the president cannot be criminally investig ped orrosecuted, he

said that would have to come from congress, but there's no question that his natural default position seems to be article 2, that when he ha tough questions, he tends to default to article 2 on presidential powers. that's different for many people including myself who tend treat article 1 as a default position. for so of us, we view congress as a more stabilizing institution where different views are hashed out. kavanaugh views the president as the stabilizing position. >> reporter: how is this man different than the man the president nts him to replace anthony kennedy? >> affirmative action, criminal justice issues are at risk whera he w 5-4 vote. presidential poer, kennedy was

in the middle on that one, he tended to give the presidey deference on recognize privileges. but on critical moments he sparted from that poition including a case on detainee rightsy he recognizeda hbeas corpus or jiewrmd review rights on these issues in guantanamo bay. kavanaugh has ruled against them, and the expeation is that's one of the areas of kennedy's legacy that's likely to go. >> reporter: bob, given sort of the political environment, what's doing on with the mueller investigation, how do you think this will play outeext wek in the committee room when they have the confirmation hearings? >> re, last time with justice gorsuch, a constant theme in the committee's questioning was can independent, can you stand up to the pre president trump, at the time, was really talking about federal judges wh had stood inway of his travel ban, that they were geting in the way of what he wanted to do, and there weren

a lot of questo gorsuch about his independence and the independence of the fedal judiciary. i think you will see that even amplified in this cas as jonathan mentioned, you know, this is a replacement that could really change theirection of the court in many ways. so it's important as ramped up and this is all playing out against a daily backdrop of indictments and conctions and guilty pleas that mueller and s staff are racking up. it's one of the sort of estions in the forefront of the public's mind right now, and if there is somab questiout whether cav knew would be a vote to stop this or not let this investigation go forward, i think that's something you're going to hear a lot of next week. >> reporter: jonathan, how unthual is this? is a nominee who has things on the written record about an issue that's front burner right

now. >> that's right. first of all, the nom of presidents refer are sort of blind dates, they try to get w peop haven't said anything interesting in their entire lives. he his sad a lot that's interesting and controversial. the benefit other nominees have are the level of abtraction with constitutional questions yoat allow you to get beyond them. don't want to talk about a fire department budget with a five alarm fire wn the street. that's what's happening. there's going to be an immediacy. people will not be satisfy i expect with the type o answers they get from kavanaugh. reporter: robert barnes, jonathan rugman, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay wi coming up on the newshour: a four-day school week. e ripple effects for bot students and teachers. and, this month's book club

author answers your questions. but first, across the continent of africa, a "brain sends many of its highest-skilled professionals abroad, but, as fred de sam lazaro reports from uganda, one organization is trying to build a piline to keep medical professionals working in their native cotry. it is part of fred's series, "agents for change." >> reporter: this class of 30 soon-to-be nurse midwives are training in lira, in northern uganda, at a new university set up to address this country's severe shortage of trained medical professionals. >> so it's all about the neck being in the right position. >> reporter: key members of the d culty are american volunteers, with a program ca"seed global health." over the past five years, it has sent 184 medical professionals to five african countries, training nearly 14,000 students.

emergency room physician vanessa kerry founded the non-profit. >> if you look at sub-saharanaf ca, it has 24% of the world's global burden ofnl disease, and3% of the world's healthcare workforce with which to address that disease. that's a huge disparity. >> reporter: kerry, who is the daughter of former secretary of state john kerry, first became interested in global health as a teenager, when her father-- then a senator-- took her to vietnam. >> that trip was game-changing for me., jue absence of resources, no electricity, no running water, no shoes on kids. >> reporter: in 2012, some two decades later, with degrees medicine and public , she founded "seed" in partnership with the peace corps, sending u.s. doctors, nurses and midwes for one year stints i rural africa. >> go ahead and hold the baby. >> reporter: midwife linda jacobson, from olympia, washington, served a year in tanzania, and is now in uganda

conducting specialized seminars. >> there's incredible satisfaction about making-- what would be a small difference in the united states, can make a huge difference in the lives of women and babies in these settings. >> reporter: the curriculum, the first to offer bachelor's degrees, is meant to radically upgrade the way nursing is perceived and practiced in uganda, to revive a profession that currently gets little respect and resources, with predictable results, says okaka dokotum, deputy vice chancellor s lira university. >> you have motho die in childbirth because of neglect, or nurses who are late. there is a lack of kindness, and i see that lack of professionalism as an ethical issue. over and over, we talk to our students and say, "we want you to do something different." >> reporter: third-year student patience nafula says herg clinical trains already

given her fulfilling experience, recalling one new ther's deep gratitude after a difficult delivery. >> i talked her through it, and when i came back the folwing day, she knelt down for me. >> reporter: she knelt before you? >> that really touched me, and i knew from that point, i can make a difference. m i can hahers yearn to be with me. >> reporter: the emerging crop of nurses and midwives have been trained under conditions that would be considered normal in the west, or in ivate clinics here-- things like access to clean water, stable electricity, adequate supplles. the pris, these basics are far from guaranteed in much of the workplace they'ring into, especially in rural areas. lira university's dokotum does worry that uganda's public health system is not yet fully equipped to absorb the new, highly-skilled graduates. >> it's like having a ferrari and ju going 20 kilometers per hour, you know? so it's going to take a change in policy. we will have to influence policy to make sure room is created for

these new cadre of nurses and midwives. eporter: geoffrey odong would certainly like to see th policy chang the recent graduate from the seed program is inicrning at a puospital, and says he often feels resented for his higher-level skills.ed he's allostly to just observe, he complains. >> what we were trained on, we are not allowed to practice. >> reporter: so you could be doing much more than you are doing? >> absolutely. >> reporter: for its par the seed global health program faces a threat of its own. the peace corps recently announced it would exit, starting this fall, citing a change in its approach to such partnerships. the corps clined our request for an interview. >> i am really, really proud of what we've done. and i am frustrated. >> reporter: dr. kerry blames the peace corps decision on politics, and says the resulting cutbacks will force a significant scaling back, from five countries to two, and faram fewer ican medical volunteers. >> there's been, i think, a real

concern around global health funding, a worry that global health funding is going to be at risk. >> reporter: as she and colleagues regroup and seek other funding, uganda's health care system must contend with a different kind of threat: poaching. well-trained nurses are in high demand i gulf states, and elsewhere in africa, where salaries and working conditions are far better than in uganda.rs as uniy officials and advocates work to improve conditions here, studente such as patiefula face a reaught personal dilemma. >> i prefer being if we have everyo go out, who will stay to help our country? the temptation is there. there's tter pay, the resources are there, so that's the challenge. >> reporter: the challenge for uganda will be to improve itsth heare system and coax students like these to stay and

work here, particularly in rural areas. it's estimated that one of every four midwife positions in that system is unfilled. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam laro in lira, uganda. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with theun r-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: before he was elected, president trump called nafta "possibly the woade deal ever," and said he would consider withdrawing entirely. well, the u.s. and mexico actually have been negotiating for months, before a deadline expires this week. the goal?a sew nafta-like agreement in place with canada and mexico before the next mexica government administration takes office..s yesterday, theand mexico

announced they had reached a deal. to avoid tariffs, autos would have to produce at least 75% of an automobile'sarts and amenities in the u.s. or mexico. erit also requires more wo earn better wages-- at least $16 an hour.bu talks with canada-- america's second largest trading partner-- broke down weeks ago. today, canadian foreigminister chrystia freeland left europe and joined last minute talks greg ip of the "wall street journal" joins me again to walk o through the situation. so, greg, i tick a few things we think are part of the u.s.-mexico agreement. what more should we know about that? >> well, they've taken a step of actually incorporating in the agreement some of things mexico previously agreed to, for example the right of unions to negotiate freely, those protections have been strength new areas of trade have cropped up that this agreement deals with -- stonger protection for

copyght, for biological dru for example. weakening of thedispu mechanisms under the existing treaty. under the existing treaty if investors or the government feel they have been wronged they can appeal to ate disettlement body, that's been narrowed. under the trecay, say inada is hit with tariffs for subsidizing exports, they cn appeal the u.s. decision to the a binational panel.ha that mesm is also gone from the agreement. >> woodruff: so there are changes from the current to this u.s.-mexico agreement. >> yes. >> woodruff: so yesterday, and i want to play this, the president, in talking about this, made it sound as if it's possible he could go ahead without canad in other words epst do u.s.-mexico. >> we could have aate deal or put into it this deal. i like to call this deal the united states-mexico trade agreement. i think it's an elegant name. i think ta has a lot of bad connotations for the united

states because it was a rip off. we will see whether or not wet decide to up canada or do a separate deal with canada ifa they to make a deal. the simplest deal is more or less already made. ed woodruff: he's reminding everybody we tabout ripping this thing up, we need to do this without canada, but canada is now paying attention. >> the canadian officials are in washington and washinon has given canada till saturday to make a tue trilateral agreement. a lot of problematic issues for canada. it's important canada keep the dispute mechanism so it has recourse to unfair tariffs. not clear they can ccept that but they don't have a ton of leverage. canada more than any other country has thrown its lot in with free 30ade in the las years and its economy has become integrated with the u.s. he american side knowst and are using the dependence as eeverage to get canada to agr with it. >> woodruff: today, we know, as you mentioned, the canadian

foreign minister chrystia freeland is in washington. so what are the canadians looking for? do we foe? >> well, the canadians are probably looking for perhaps a little support from the mexicans, the mexicans will want hee canadians to feel comfortable beforeagree wit, and they're looking for support from congress. it's well known there are a lot of people especially republicans who are not coortable with the tough tactician the president pursued on the trade front. today we heard key senators say trump does not have the authority to negotiate a bilateral deal with necks co-. it has to be tri-lateral. if it ends up being bilateral, he has to go ba to th drawing board, fake more time and pushes the negotiing process past the midterms. >> woodruff: that's something the administration presumably doesn't want. >> that's right. there are a lot of deadlines. te administration wants everyoagree by friday, so that starts a 90 day clock ticking and gies mexico's

current president the time to sign it before he leaves office in november. if themisthe friday deadline a lot of the other events may not come together. >> woodruff: so, greg, again, this is something the president talked a lot about in the campaign. he frequently said nafta is hurting american workers, wet need to rip up, start over, do bilateral deals. i know this process isn't finished, but does it look as if what they're working toward would be significantly different than the current naa. >> i don't think significantly different. for an example, if an amerin company outsourced cars to mexicoo they would be hit by a 40% tariff coming back to the u.s. bottom line, the ability of tariffs are low in this agreement, it's still a freeag tradeement. iit's weaker and impstoses ctions that didn't exist before.

>> woodruff: if this works out, who's happy and who's not in the u.s. >> for canada and mexico, happy with the agreement the way it was, this is a matter of limiting losses, they wanted to keep the broad structure the way it was. if they can get away with it onlynaking mior concession from mexico, for example, on increasing north american coent for cars, maybe canada gives in on allowing more dairy into their country, they walk taway saying it's betthan it could have been. >> woodruff: for u.s. consumers? >> the goal of thest admition has not been so much to lower prices for consumers, it's to bring more manufacturing work to the united states to the benefit of cerin workers. this is more -- this is not the traditional way the united states pursued free trade agreements but this is the strategy this administration has chosen upto pursue. >> woodruff: greg ip joiningxp us to eain this complicated story. thank you. >> all right, good to be here.

>> woodruff: it's ba to school season around the country, which makes it a good time to look at a trend under way in many school districts. many have switched from a five-day week to four days-- particularly in western states. in colorado, for example, more than half of all districts now follow a four-day week. in new mexico, around 40%. but officials in new mexico have placed a moratorium on the practice because of theirns concbout the impact. special correspondent kavitha cardoza, with our partne "education week," visited bayard, new mexico, to visit a school district that j completed its first year of the change, for our weekly segment,. "making the gr >> the life cycle of a chicken, right? lexis parela and michael lozano's reactions to the shortened week couldn't be more different. >> when i heard that the school was moving from five to four, i was like, "yes!" >> i kind of don't like it a little bit because i just really

want to learn about thgs. >> reporter: a year ago, cobreed consolidchool district moved to a four-day week to save money. now, on fridays, schools are osed. but overall, students spend almost the same number of totalh hours in classrough longer days and shortened breaks. superintendent robert mendoza says 90% of parents agreed with the change. >> overall, it's, it's been real positive. >> reporter: but state senator wie morales has serious concerns about a four-day week: >> i want every single opportunity for my children and other children to have to learn. >> reporter: georgia heyward is a researcher with the university of washington-bothell. she says while most distcts shorten school weeks to save money, they don't save much. >> there very little savings in the four-day school week. it might be 2% of the district budget. >> reporter: cobre schools have saved $71,000 the first year, far less than the $160,000 they

projected. but mendoza says there are other advantages. it's such a geograph large school district, it saves students time. >> they ride abuong time in the ses. an hour and a half to come, and an hour and a half to go back home. that's thr hours a day. what happens after that fertilization takes place? >> reporter: sixth-grade teacher laura brown says a big reason she moved to cobrechools was the four-day week. >> i feel that extra day gave me that possible one day off to rest and recover as well, but it also made my classroom and my teaching that much better, because my lesson plans were better. more in-depth. >> reporter: it also mnt she could start a district-wide drama club on fridays. >> hours and hours and hrs went in on our days off to bring those kiddos in. it was their day off, too. not once did we have one kid missing. >> reporter: n mexico has a teaching shortage. mendoza says that's particularly a problem in ruralistricts like this one, where there's usually only one educator for

each grade, who teaches all subjects. >> right before we went to ts, we had a hard time filling, we had vacancies. and this year, we have none. >> reporter: student bria martinez's week is jam-packed. >> i play volleyball, basketball and softball.d school, i'm involved in national honor society, student council and i'm a class officer. >> reporter: but she was alwaysn stressed tryg to juggle everything. not anymore. >> a lot of our games are now scheduled on friday, which is awesome for us! >> jaguars, you guys are in the lge. cage, you guys areive. >> reporter: like many parents he, coach randy dominguez works at the copper mines. >> as a coach, it is beneficial just being that we could bring the girls or boys in on fridays and get a little bit of extra work in. >> reporter: but as father of three, it's tough to find childcare. his wife works full-time as well, so they have to rely o family >> there are times when we're like, we don't know exactly what

we're going to do. >> we're a little more than halfway through the book. >> reporter: at first, high hool teacher kathy ryan didn't like the idea. >> my first reservation had to be with, how am i going to teach everything that i need to, with one less day a week? >> reporter: now, she preferslo ther class periods and full days of professional development. ryan also says more of her students show up. >> my absenteeism has diminished quite a bit. >> reporter: it's not just students. teacher attendance improved as well. in fact, the district's biggest saving was from substitute teachers. but does ryan worry about what her students do on frida? >> well, i teach high school, so i worry about what they do every day! >> reporter: there are concerns outside school. >> i was dumbfounded! >> reporter: sonya dixon runs the bayard public library. she beefed up programming on fridays, but didn't see a big increase in attendance. also, she found parents were dropping off their kids forur unattended, while they worked.

so, dixon had to limit library time. she's not in favor of the four- day week. >> it's great for teachers. they love it, and why wouldn't they? but i see a lot of grandparents and relatives seemingly a little overwhelmed and rdened. >> reporter: new mexico ranks last in the nation for child well-being, according to the ll18 kidscount data book. >> sixth street e this side of the table. >> reporter: it's friday. volunteers are packing supplies for almost 300 kids to take home for the traditional rio-day weekend at a neighis schooltrict. john conway, wog runs the prm, says he worries about what kids with three-day weekends will t. >> we have a large percent of the population that are below the poverty level. they may be hungry and not getting enough to eat, particularly on the weekend. >> reporter: athletic events are now held on fridays. howie morales, the state senator, says he's seeing a

domino effect, where larger, urban school districts also want to change to four-day weeks. orked to temporarily sto the practice until he gets answers. >> how are the students performing? is it really helping, as far asa finay and savings for the school district? what's going to happen in an economic development, jobs perspective, when parents may have to take fridays off to care for their kids? we have to get a handle on it and see if this is something we should allow all school districts to do, or if it's someing that we need to just put the brakes on. >> reporter: researcher georgia heyward says there's no consensus on how four-day weeks affect academics. >> there's a bunch of different research, some of it rigorous,ot some n. and basically, we see a kind of neutral impact.ts so, studver time do about the same as they did on the yeve-day week. >> reporter: this , cobre schools saw an increase in reading and math test scores overall, but it's unclear what the impact is on students who struggle academicay and might need more time in class. the deba is far from over.

even after a year, sixth graders michael and alexis haven't changed their minds. what would your reaction be if the schooluddenly announced, "you know what? we're going to go back to five- day?" >> i would be happy, because i love my teacher and i love my friends and i wa to stay with them, as long as i can. >> i'd be like, "ion't really like this! i don't think i want to do this, no way!" >> reporter: for the pbs newshour and "education week," i'm kavitha cardoza in bayard county, new mexico. >> woodruff: so far, brought you an epic family saga, a comedic novel about a failed writer, an acclaimed memoir about growing up in rural idaho, and is month for "now read this," our book club in partnership with the "new york

times," a det book that ranges from realism to folk tale to i-fi. here's jeffrey brown. >> brown: 12 stories that move between the u.s. and nigeria,ff and between ent styles, but always with vivid characters and writing at packs a punch. our "now read this" book club pick for august was the story whcollection "what it mean a man falls from the sky." auth lesley neka arimah is here now to answer some of the question our readers sent in. welcome and thank you for being part of the book club. me>> thank you for having >> brown: this is our first short story collection in the book club and that's what the first question is about. let's go right to that. >> i'm intreating between the difference of eating a novel and creating a book of short stories. aven you were writing the stories, did youa commonality in mind for them, and did that change as the stories took shape? >> bro: that's a good way of introduce ago little bit about of what you're up to here. >> when i was writing the short stories, i thought of them that is as thedir own inividual

entities. i was not consciouslyairing or trying to have them connect to each ot der, but they alleal with the things i'm curious about in the world and if qutions that i have out the colder, so that created that link between all of thestories. >> brown: and different parts of your world, i mean different ples in your world? >> yeah, mostly nigeria and the united states, andboth nigeria of the past, present and speculative future. >> brown: so let's go to the next question.ti >> while w this book, did you use personal experiences and/orerstories from people youw if so, was writing this book cay that's correct for you? >> i think because i write abut young nigerian woman, the readers often think i'm witing autobiographical work, but all the stories, they're all imagined, with the exception of

e, the war stories whre the father tells the daughter the stories about when he was in the army, i borrowed my father's stories that he told me. >> brown: that wasne of m favorites. fill that in a little bit because that's a young woman and her father sort of slowly unreeling his story. >> yes, awh giro might have a few behavioral issues and sort of caung fights at school. >> brown: yeah. and at home, her father is, you know, this older nigerian man who's been shell shocked by the war and he copes with this by telling her stories about his experiences, and those stories were my father's stories. i exaggerated the last one a bit, just for sto,ry effeut those were his stories. it was sort of very gratifying that he understood what i was doing and liked what i had sor of turned his stories into. >> brown: it's a family story but embedded in history.

ys>> yeah. the n which, like, our past traumas inform our present selves, i'm really interested in how that ma manifests. everything that's happened to you leads to this moment and how have those experiences shaped you? d w have they contoured the way that you think e way that you view the world and other people? >> brown: okay, let's go to our next question from one of the readers. >> many of your stories fo ton weight of societal expectations, especially on young women, why did you choose to high light this theme? >> there are all sort of social rules that wom a and gire supposed to follow, at least in sort of my own experience of growing up in nigeria, and i a wanted to taut it, and i wanted to interrogate the many different ways that we are putting pressure and creating

false shapes of womanhood and girlhood and what it does to people who live through that. b wn: without being particularly autobiographical, you say. >> the events aren't autobiographical, but the emotio, you mine your interior, or should. we're all humans of the world and know how that works. >> brown: next qustion. what would you like your readers to take away from the stories and the edback you received so far, are they in line with your intended message? thank you. >> i don't write fiction with a message in that i don't want the stories to feel like a vey special episode of, you know, a day in this girl's life and what lessons can be learned. that's sort of didactic. instructional writing is notth sog that appeals to me. i'm more interested in sort of conjuring up a person. you know, youe spinning a

person out of nothing and who are they, what are the particular idiosyncrasies that they have? what bhaiks them them -- makes them them? because i sort of have my own concerns about the way the world is shaped and the condition of the world no c. urse, there are lessons that could be learned, but i don't write with that intention. i let the story sort of live on their own. >> reporter: all right, so we're going to contie our conversation with questions from our readers and we'll put all that online and on our facebook page. for now, lesley neka arimah, thank you for bing part of this. >> thank you. >> brown: before we go, i want to announce our selection for september september. "earning the rockies: how geography shap america's role the world" is a short but powerful and provocative book h robert kaplan, a mix of road-trip, memoitory, and political analysis of where we've been and where we are today.

i've been reading it with pleasure, ani hope you will too, in our "now read this" book club, a partnership with theor "newtimes." you can join us-- some 60,000 members and growing-- on our facebook page. >> woodruff: and tonight, online, we'll be posting results from the closely-watched primary races in arizona andlorida. you can follow them live at www.pbs.org/newshour.th al and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> babbel. a language program thaaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more.

>> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlinesf social change rldwide.co >> carnegioration of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with thongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made fossible by the corporatio public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pb statom viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc

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♪ ♪ linda olverton: when i was writing "b" i knew that our heroine was going to meet the beast, and confront the beast. so she hadgho be a strong enharacter to do that. o i set out deliberatelyt create a character that was the perfect victim. the poor stepchild stuck in the basement, scrubbing the floor waiting for the prince to come and save her. i just didn't think it was right to shove that idea down the throats of generations of young women. but the idea of this new belle didn't go over well.