captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodrufi' good evening. judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: defense secretary james mattis argues u.s. efforts to curb civilian casualties in yemen are paying off.re we down the trump administration's military strategy. then, the kavanaugh record. mi continue our look at where the supreme court e stands on key issues.t, toniresidential powers. and, the push for a four-day school week, and whether theld change wake a difference in student performance. >> what are the positives of going to a four-day school week? what are the negatives? i want every single opportunity for my cldren and other children to have to learn. >> woodruff: all thaand more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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possible by the corporation for publicroadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the governor of puerto rico today dramatically raised the estimate ofcane maria's human toll. a study commissioned by the u.s. territory attributenearly 3,000 deaths to the storm in tht six after it hit, last september. that is more than twice the r pueran government's previous estimate. another study published last may put the figure at 4,600. governor ricardo rosello also announced that the government would create a database of vulnerable citizens, such as the elderly and the sick, to expedite aid in future storms. the bloody civil war in yemen, and the u.s. role in it, are ba in the headlines tonigh a united nations report finds that a saudi arabian coalition

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

and others today of rigging online searches for politica motives. in a morning tweet, he charged that the companies are suppressing news favorable to conservatives. this afternoon, he followed up, in 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 searchesla should be red. in response, google said in a statement, "we don't bias ourny results towardolitical ideology." the status of congressional districts in north ca is in limbo again, just over two months before the mid-termec ons. 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 thebl prints on the web. in austin, the company's owner, cody wiln, argued that he still has the right to sell the instructioe'. >> this juorder stopping ut from simply giving things away was only anrization that we could sell it, that we could mail it, that we could email it, that we could provide it by cure transfer. i will be doing all of those things now. >> woodruff: wilson said buyers can me their price for the plans, and that he's already received hundreds of orders. on wall street, the dow jones industrial avera gained 14 points to close at 26,0. the nasdaq rose 12, and the s&p 500 added a fraction of a point.

and, a public viewing began today for aretha franklin, theou queen of s in her hometown of detroit. hundreds of fans and mournersh filed througe city's african american history museum, past the gold-plated casket. thousands are expected to passdu througng 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 secretaresses threats from yemen and north korea. brettme court nomine kavanaugh's record on presidential powers. an effort to prevent brain drain in africa. and, much more. >> woodruff: u.s. secretary of defense james mattis held a rare, on-camera press briefing today at the pentagon-- his

first in more than fr months. he was joined by the chairman of the joint chiefs, marine general joe dunford. togeer, they fielded questio on severalopics, including yemen, north korea, and the trans-atlantic alliance. meantime, there renewed concern about that time-tested alliance in europe, voiced by top leaders ere. our nick schifrin was at the pentagon this morning, and jns me now to discuss all this. nick, welcome. so let's start with yettn. secretary did talk about the u.s. backing of this saudi-led coalition, going after the houthi rebels in yemen. how did he talk about thand what hid he say about the criticism that saudis are killing innocent people? >> there is a lot ofci cri, and he was in part responding to the u.n. report that came out today that accuses the saudi-led rialition of abusing international humaghts, humanitarian and even international criminal laws. 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 saudi-led coalition. what u.s. officials tell me is that they are refueling saudi jets that go from saudi into enmen, and they're also providing intell 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 timeabout some of these criticisms. he said, look, nothing's perfect, b he did say that th saudis hadn't proved. >> we've had pilots in the airhe who recognize danger of a specific mission and declined to drop even when they get the authority. we have seen staff procedures that put no fire areas aroarund s where there's hospitals or school we recognize every mistake likeh

is tragic in every way, but lousave not seen any cal disregard by the people we're working with. >> woodruff: so, nick, there e dence that the saudis are improving their targeting? >> some evidence. the people who i've spoken to who have worked wit saudis say they've come a long way, actually, that thtie tar with originally was with commercial satellites. some of the weapons theuseward dumb bakbs, so to sp, or even cluster weapons, and those people who have worked with th udis say, look, the weapons are smarter and the targeting is retter. but th a flip side, if they have better weapons and targets, why are these civilian casualty incidents still happening? and that is why some ofhe criticism of the u.s. role and 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. oe u.s. points out, look, this

isn't thenly fault of the saudi-led coalition. e houthis who ar inside of yemen use civilian areas to target riyadh, to target population centers in riyadh and also target into the gulf. an is helping the houthis but don't control the houthis at all. bottom line, the war will continue, the tension between the two sides will contie and, frankly, most officials i table to say te civilian casualties will sadly continue as well. >> woodruff: so nororth,s, as we know the president last friday abruptly canceled the trip planned, secretary pompeo was to go to pyongyang to meet with the north koreans. we're learning what was behind it. >> one official said it was like whipansh between the uncement and the cancellation f word was seom one of the leading north korean officialsto 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 of the national security officials, they decideddeth not the right time to go. ina eneral, this is flection of some frustration seeping in to the u.s. state department asa wethe white house that they haven't seen enough and heather nauert, the state department spokesman was asked about this today.n she didn't firm the letter, but she did say that north korea hadn't done enough. >> the secretary is not justg hopp a plane and flying to north korea for his health. he's going there to ve serious substantive talks. those talks have obviously occurred. many of you have been on those trips with us, but, in the president's view and in the national security team's view, sufficient progress espect to 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. w there's tensiothin the u.s. the department of defense officials i speak to say that some ofe th state department officials who have been leading this effort have been naive, that they have been going in expecting too much too quickly. a reflection, these officials say, of secretary of state pompeo's and the president's desire tot things done really quickly. there's also a tension between the unit states and south korea. the priorities are not necessarily the ame. the u.s.nts denuclearization, south korea wants peace on the peninsula. there's no sign president moo is going after his own and pushing for peace with the north koreans without the u.s. there is concern in washington he's pushing too far. the question i whrdz this leave u.s. and scree working togethert and ale joint exercises that the u.s. and sou 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. but heaid next year's exercises will continue, and that really forces president trum whether to cancel them or not, if he wants somhing that north korea has made a priority to remain canceled. >> woodruff: quickly, finally, to europatements today by the french president emmanuel macron about what europe shoul be prepared to do in the aftermath of president trump saying, months ago, hat the u.s. may not stand by its commitment to 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 states and the president so. let's listen to what was said first by emmanuel m the french president and the german foreign minister. >> europe can no longesorely ly on the united states for its security. it is up to us today to 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 presidt trump, we are confronted with new challenges. no country in the e.u. will be abor toalone, only together. europe united is our answer to america fist. >> so pretty extraordinary langinge. macron seuropean sovereignty, and the german foreign minister, new equilibrium. they're responding to u.s. policy and rhetoric. u.s. policy -- countering russia, u.s. sent weapons to ukraine. the obama administration did not do that. the u.s. has funded the u.s. presence of troops in europe, more than theedecessos. pore russians have been kicked out of the u.s. and more rusian consulates have been closed. that's the pol the rhetoric, as you pointed out, is very different. so european officials look at this. on the one hand, president macronants to be young,

aggressive and seem like he'sleading europe and the u.s. wants more europe mil spending. on the other hand we've never had a president since 1945 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. >> woodruff: 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 crimil justice reform today, as governor jerry brown signed a bill thatcaould eliminat bail for those awaiting trial. marisa lagos of public television station kqed has been covering this story, and joins me now.

marisa lagos, welcome. quickly, who was behind thisef fort 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 eliminate o cash bail october 2019 and replace it with a system that gives judges a lot more discretion. they would be guided by risk assessment tools that would decide whether someone's a low,o medihigh risk for release, but ultimately, unless somebody was aenmisdemeanor defnt, in which ways they would be automatically reased or very high risk or facing a violent felony, the judges would rea make that call. so it has been a controversial. some people thgink it's ing judges too much power. >> woodruff: so this would apply in all criminal accusations -- criminal allegations? >> that's right. i mean, this is a huge change. h've seen some otheranges in other states that doesn't go

this far, but, basicly, 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 cod be, ofourse, conditions. say an ankle monitor, probation oversight. but the idea is most low-risk and medium-risk defendants would get out and continue with jobs and families while they await trial. >> woodruff: marsa, tell us about the opposition to it, what's the based on. >> theail industry opposed i 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 itill result in more people detained pretrial and 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 bises, or the risk assessment tools would look at someone's criminal history, job history, what they're facing this time, that thouose 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 sathere are still some criminal justice groups that push this tht remain in support. >> woodruff: going forward, california oft leads the country in legal measures and steps that it's takg, but is this expected to be challenged in the couirts? >> i. i talked to the american coalition today. they believe that this requires a change to the state nstitution and that it can't be done legislatively the way i- was, anut as you said, this is very sweeping. it goes further thabe any other state has gone.

i think we would expect any change like that to end up being challenged. >> woodruff: marisa lagos of kqed, public television, thank you very much. >> thanks, judy. ne >> woodruff:eek from today, president trump's nominee to the supreme court begins what is expected to be a contentious nfirmation process before the senate judiciary committee. g continues our look at where brett kavanaugh stands on issues the senators will likely ask him about. >> yang: judy, kavanaugh's irmation hearings, again the backdrop of the mueller investigation, focuses attention on the nominee's record on enesidential powers. can a sitting presbe charged with a crime? can he be forced to 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 with you. these two questions, can a sitting question be charged with a crime, can he be compelled to turn over evidence, physical evidence or testimony? what has brett kaanaugh said about that in his record?e >> well,sn't answered either of those specifically, but there are a couple of thiins is past that we know that the committee is going to look at closely.er you know, are two cases about turning oveevidence for the president to do that. one is u.s. v. nixonic in wh president nixon was order to turn over white house tap. jones v clinton where clinton was told by the.s. supreme uourt that yes he had to sit for a deposition in p jones'se civil gainst him?

u.s. v nixon, we have conflicting viewfrom bret kavanaugh. in 1999 he raised the question whether the unanimous decision by the supreme court was wongly decided. he knew that was hearsay but raised the issue but called it one of the great decisions the court de in a real ortant decision for judicial independence from the president. so that is aa question t's going to be asked of brett okavanaugh, where exactlys he stand on that question, an it's one that dellmocrats especon the committee you can expect will hit him very hard on. >> reporter: and he has written about the uestion of whether or not thent presi could be or should be charged with the crime, a sitle president.ho >>d be, yes. he was part of the star team, vestigatingrr team in clinton. he was very tough on clinton at the time, said it was their job to get to ttom of what he

called his revolting behavior, but he had a change of heart ter 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 the pesident was in office. impeachment is the way to go if u think that the president has really engaged in wrongdoing, but he suggested that congress might want to protect at presidom those sorts of investigations while he's infi 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 ar law tovent the president from being charged new york city necessarily he finds that in the constitution. >> that's right, that's an important distinction. he did not say the president cannot be criminally investigat orosecuted, 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 has tough questions, he tends toto defaul article 2 on presidential powers. that different for many people including myself who tend to treat article 1 as a fault position. for some of us, we view congress as a more stabilizing institution where different views are hashed out. kavanaugh views the presidents as the stabizing position. >> reporter: how is this man differenthan the man the laceident wants him to rep anthony kennedy? >> affirmative action, criminal justice issues are at risk where he was a 5-4 vte. presidential power, kennedy was

in the middle on that one, he tended to give the presidency deference on recognize privileges. but on critical moments he departed from that position including a case on detainee rightsy he recognized habeas corpus or jiewrmd review rights on these issues in guantanamo bay. kavanaugh has ruled against them, and the expectatn 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 out next week 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 you independent, can you stand up to the president? president trump, at the time, was really talking about federal judges who hwad stood in thy of his travel ban, that they were getting in the way of what he wanted to do, and there were

a lot of questions to gorsuch about hisndependence and the independence of the fedal judiciary. i think you will see that even amplified in this case. jonathan mentioned, you know, this is a replacement that could ally change theirection of the court in many ways. i sot's important as ramped up. and this is all playing out against a daily backdrop of indictments and convictions andt guilty pleat mueller and his staff are racking up. it's one of the sort of questions in the forefront of the punolic's mind righ, and if there is some question about whether cav knew would be a vote to stop this or not let this vestigation go forward, i think that's something you're going to hear a lot of next week. >>orter: jonathan, how unusual is this? this is a nominee who has things on the written record about an issue that's front burner right

t'now. >> tright. first of all, the nominees a lot of presidents refer are sort of blind datey try to get people who haven't said anyining interein their entire lives. he has said a lot that's interesting and controversial. the benef other nominees have are the level of abstraction with constitutional question a thow you to get beyond them. you don't want to talk about rea epartment budget with a five alarm fire down the street that's whappening. there's going to be an immediacy. ople will not be satisfy i expect with the type of answers they get from kavanaugh.>> reporter: robert barnes, jonathan rugman, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: a four-day school week. the rile effects for both students and teachers. and, this month's book club

author answers your questions. but first, across the continent of africa, a "brain drain" sends many of its ghest-skilled professionals abroad, but, as fred de sam lazaroeports from uganda, one organization is trying to build a pipeli to keep medical professionals working in their native countr it is part of fred's series, "agents for change." >> reporter: this class of 30 soon-to-be nurse midwives a training in lira, in northern uganda, at a new university set up to address this country's severe shortage of trained medical pressionals. >> so it's all about the neck being in the right position. >> reporter: key members of the faculty are american volunteers, with a program called"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 vanesse y founded the non-profit. >> if you look at sub-saharanca afit has 24% of the world's global burden of disease, and only 3% of the world's healthcare workforce with which to address that disease. e disparity. >> reporter: kerry, who is the daughter of former secretary of state john kerry, first became interest teenager, when her father-- then a senator-- took her to vietnam. >> tt trip was game-changing for me. just, the absence of resources, no electrici, no running water, no shoes on k is. >> reporte2012, some two decades later, with degrs medicine and public health, she founded "seed" in partnership with the peace corps, nding u.s. doctors, nurses and midwives for one year stints in 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 scialized seminars. >> there's incredible satisfaction about making-- what would be a small differen in the united states, can make a huge difference in the lives ofe 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 wh lira university. >> you have motherdie in childbirth because of neglect, or nurses who are late. there is aack of kindness, d 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 her clinical training has already

given her fulfilling experience, recalling one new mother's deep gratitude after a difficult delivery. >> i talked her through it, and when i came back the following day, she knelt down for me. s >> reporte knelt before you? >> that really touched me, and i knew from that point, i can make a difference.he i can have m 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 private clinics here-- things like access to cleaban water, electricity, adequate supplies. the problem is, these basics arg far frranteed in much of inthe workplace they're gog 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 just gng 20 kilometers per hour, you know? so it's going to take a change in policy. we will have to influence polic to mre room is created for

these new cadre of nurses an midwives. >> reporter: geoffrey odong would certainly like to see that policy change. g the reraduate from the seed program is inte hing at a publpital, and says he often feels resented for his gher-level skills. he's allowed mostly to just observe, he complains. we what we were trained on are not allowed to practice. y reporter: so you could be doing much more th are doing? >> absolutely. >> reporter: for its part, t seed global health program faces a threat of its own. the peace corps recently announced it would exit,ar ting this fall, citing a change in its approach to such partnerships. ed 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 far fewer american 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.ra welled nurses are in high demand in the west, middle east gulf states, and elsewhere in africa, where salaries and working conditions are far better than in uganda.it as univeofficials and advocates work to improve conditions here, students nach as patiencla face a fraught personal dilemma. >> i prefer being he if we have everyoneo out, who will stay to help our country? the temptation is there. there's bett pay, the resources are there, so that's the challenge. >> reporter: the challenge for uganda will be to improve its health care system and coax students like these to stay an

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 lazaro in lira, uganda. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with thede unr-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: before he was elected, president trump called adfta "possibly the worst deal ever," and said he would consider withdrawing entirely. well, e u.s. and mexico actually have been negotiating for months, before a deadline expires this week. the goal? set a new nafta-like agreement p ce with canada and mexico before the next mexican government administration takes . fice. yesterday, the ud mexico

announced they had reached a deal. erto avoid tariffs, auto-m would have to produce at least 75% of an automobile's pts and amenities in the u.s. or mexico. s also requires more work earn better wages-- at least $16 an hour. but, talks with canada-- america's second largest trading partner-- broke down weeks ago. today, canadian foreign minister chrystia freeland left europe and joined last minute talks. greg ip of the "wall street journal" joins me again to walk us through the situation. so, greg, i ticked off 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 the things mexico previously agreed to, for example the ght of unions to negotiate freely, those protections have been strengthened in the agreement. new areas of trade have cropped up that is agreement deals with -- stronger protection for

copyright, for biological drugsp for exa. weakening of the dispute mechanisms under the existing treaty. under the existing treaty if investors or the government feel they have been wronged they can appeal to a dispute settlement body, that'seen narrowed. under the treaty, say if canada is hit withariffs fo subsidizing exports, they can appeal the u.s. decision to the a binational panel. that mechanism is also gone from the agreement. >> woodrf: so there are changes from the current to this u.s.-mexico agreement. >> yeso >> woodruff:esterday, and i want to play this, the president, in talking about this, made it sound as if it's possible h acould gohead without canada, in other words just do u.s.-mexico. >> we could have a separate deal or put into it this al. i like to call this deal the deited states-mexico tra agreement. i think it's an elegant name. i think nafta has a lot of bad connotations for the united

states because it was a rip off. we will see whether or not we decide to putp canada or do a separate deal with canada if they wa make a deal. the simplest deal is more or less already made. >> woodruff: he's reminding everybody we talkedbout ripping this thing up, we need to do this without canada, but canada is now paying attention. >> the canadian officials are in washington and washingtonas given canada till saturday to make au tre trilateral agreement. a lot of problematic issues for caitda. important canada keep the dispute mechanism so it hasur re to unfair tariffs. not clear they can accept that but they don't have a ton o leverage. canada more than any other country has thrown its lot in in the last 30 years and its economy has become integrated with the u.s. the t erican side knows thd are using the dependence as leverage to get canada to agree with it. >> woodruff: today, we know, as youentioned, the canadian

foreign minister chrystia freeland is in washington.e so what e canadians looking for? do we foe? >> well, the canadians ar probably looking for perhaps a little support from the mexicans, the mexicans will wann the ians to feel comfortable before they agree wit, and they're lking for support from congress. it's well known there are a lot of people esecially republicans who are not comfortable with the tough tactician the predent pursued on the trade front. today we heard key senators sa trump does not have the authority to negotiate ade bilatera with necks co-. it has to be tri-lateral. if it ends up being bilateral, he has to go back to the drawing board, fake more time and pushes the negotiating process past the midterms.t' >> woodruff: tsomething the administration presumably doesn't want. >> that's right. there are a lot of deadlines. the administration wants everyone to agree by friday, so th star90 day clock ticking and gives mexico's

current president the time to sign it before heicleaves off in november. if they misthe friday deadline a lot of the other events may not come together. >> woodruff: so, greg, again, this is mething the president talked a lot about in the campaign. he frequently said nafta is hurting american workers, we need to rip it up, start over, aldo bilateals. i know this process isn't finished, but does it look as if what they're working toward would be significantly different than theurrent nafta.nk >> i don't tignificantly different. for an example, if an american 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 thisre ent, it's still a free trade agreement. iit's weaker and imposes restrictions that didn't exist before. >> woodruff: if this'sorks

out, w 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 geay with it only making minor concession from mexico, for example, on increasing north american content for cars, maybe canada gives in on allowing more dairy into their country, they walk ay saying it's betterhan it could have been. >> woodruff: for u.s. consumers? >> the goal of thera adminion has not been so much to lower prices for consumers, it's to bring mor manufacturing work to the united states to the benefit of certain workers. this is more -- this is not th traditional way the united states pursued free trade agreements but this is the rategy this admistration has chosen upto pursue. >> woodruff: greg ip joiningl us to expn this complicated story. thank you. >> all right, good to be here.

>> woodruff: it's back tschool 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.ex in newo, around 40%. but officials in new mexico have placed a moratorium on the practice because of theirbo concerns the impact. special correspondent kavitha cardoza, with our partner "education week," visited bayard, new mexico, to visit a school district that just completed its first year of the change, for our weekly segment, "making the grade." >> the life cycle of a chickengh >> reporter: alexis parela and michael lozano's reactions to the shortened week couldn't be >> when i heard that the school was moving from five to four, i was like, "yes >> i kind of don't like it aec little bitse i just really

want to learn about things.ea >> reporter: aago, cobre consolidated school district moved to a four-day week to save money. now, on fridays, schools are cled. but overall, students spend romost the same number of total hours in class, thugh longer days and shortened breaks. superintendent robert mendoza says 90% of parents agreed with the change. >> overall, it's, 's been real positive. >> reporter: but state sator howie 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 district shorten school weeks to save money, they don't save much. >> there's vy 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 mendozsays there are other advantages. it's such a geographically large school district, it saves students time. >> they ride a lonsetime in the s. an hour and a half to come, and an hour and half to go back home. that's three hours a day. >> what happens after thatio fertiliztakes place? >> reporter: sixth-grade teacher laura brown says a big reason she moved to cobre schools was the four-daytheek. >> i fee extra day gave me that possible one day off to rest and recovers well, but it also made my classroom and my teaching that much bette because my lesson plans were better. moren-depth. >> reporter: it also meant she could start a district-wide drama club on fridays. >> hours and hours and hours 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: new mexico has a teaching srtage. mendoza says that's particularly a problem in rural districtse, like this here there's usually only one educator for

each grade, who teaches all subjects. >> right before we went to this, we had a hard time filwe had vacancies. and this year, we have none. >> reporter: student briana acmartinez's week is jam-pd. >> i play volleyball, basketball and softball. and in school, i'm involved in national honor society, student council and i'm a class officer. >> reporter: but she was always stressed trying to juggle everything. not anymore.ga >> a lot of ous are now scheduled on friday, which is awesome for us! >> jaguars, you guys are in the cage. cage, you guys are le. >> reporter: like many parents herecoach 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 a ther of three, it's tough toind childcar 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 exwhat

we're going to do. >> we're a little more than halfway through the book. >> reporter: at first, highsc ol 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, e prefers the longer 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. ggestct, the district's 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 runsub the bayard pc 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 fors, honattended, while they worked.

so, dixon had to limit libraryti . 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 burdened.r: >> reporew mexico ranks last in the nation for child well-being, according tohe 2018 kidscount data book. >> sixth street willis side of the table. >> reporter: it's friday. lunteers are packing foo supplies for almost 300 kids to take home for the traditional twngday weekend at a neighbois school dtrict. john conway, who rm,s the prograays he worries about what kids with three-day weekends will ea >> 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, ban school districts also want to change to four-day weeks. ked to temporarily stop the practice until he gets answers. >> how are the studentsrf ming? is it really helping, as far as financially and savings for the school district? what's going to happen in an jeconomic development, inobs 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 something that we need to just put the brakes on. >> reporte heyward says there's no consensus on how four-day weeks affect academics. >> there's a bunch odifferent research, some of it rigorous, some not.d anbasically, we see a kind of neutral impact. so, students over time do about the sames they did on the five-day week. >> reporter: this year, cobre schools saw an increase in ading and math test scor overall, but it's unclear what the impact is on students who struggle academicalland might need more time in class. the debates far from over.

even after a year, sixth graders michael and alex haven't changed their minds. what would your reaction be if the school suddenly 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 wanto stay with them, as long as i can. >> i'd be like, "i d't really like this! i don't think i want to do this, no way!" t >> reporter: f pbs newshour and "education week," i'm kavitha cardoza in bayard county, new mexico. >> woodruff: so far, we've brought you an epic family saga, a comedic novel about a failed writer, an acclaimed memoir about growing up in rural idaho, and th month for "now read this," our book club in partnership with the "new york

times," a debubook that ranges from realism to folk tale to scfi. here's jeffrey brown. >> brown: 12 stories that move between the u.s. and nigeria, and between different styles, but always with vivid characters and writing that packs a punch. our "now read this" book club pick for august was the story enllection "what it means man falls from the sky." authoresley 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. . thank you for having >> brown: this is our first short story collection in the book club and thas what the first question is about. let's go right to that. >> i'm intreating between the difference of creating a novel and creating a book of short stories. e en you were writing the stories, did you h commonality in mind for them, and did that change as the stories took shape? >> brownthat'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 their own inividual

entities. i was not consciously pairing or trying to have them connect to each other, but they all deal with the things i'm curious about in the world and if quesons that i have abut the colder, so that created that link between all of the ories. brown: and different parts of your world, i mean different plac in your world? >> yeah, mostly nigeria and the united states, and both nigeria of the pat, present and speculative future. >> brown: so let's go to the next question.ng >> while wrihis book, did you use personal experiences and/orerstories from people you? kn if so, was writing this book cay that's correct for you? >> i think because i write about young nigerian woman, the readers ofen think i'm writing autobiographical work, but l the stories, they're all imagined, with the exception of

on the war stories where the father tells the daughter the stories about when he was in e army, i borrowed my father's stories that he told me. >> brown: that was oy 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, a girl who might have ae fevioral issues and sort of causing 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 ths by telling her stories about his se storiess, and th were my father's stories. i exaggerated the last one a bit, just for story effect, but 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. ry brown: it's a family sto but embedded in history.

i yeah. the wa 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? how have they contoured the way that you think an 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 focus ton weight of societal expectations, especin young women, why did you choose to high light this theme? >> there are all so social rules that women and girls are supposed to follow, at least in sort of my own expience of growing up in nigeria, and ibo wanted to talk it, and i wanted to interrogate the many different ways that we are putting pressurandreating

false shapes of womanhood and girlhood and what it does to people who live through that.ro >>: without being particularly autobiographical, you say. >> the events aren't autobiographical, but the emotionsyou mine your interior, or should. t're all humans of the world and know howat works. >> brown: next question. what would you like your readers to take awayom the stories and the feedback 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 very special episode of, you know, a day in this girl's life and hat lessons can be learned. that's sort of didactic. instructional writing is not something that appeals to me. ii'm more interest sort of conjuring up a person. you know, you'rspinning 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 worln is shapethe condition of the world now. of course, there are lessons c thld be learned, but i don't write with that intention. i let the story sort of live on their own. >> report: all right, so ourre going to continu conversation with questions from our readers and we'll put all that online and on our facebook page. for now, lesley neka arimah, ank you for beg part of this. >> thank you. >> brown: before we go, i want onto announce our selec for september september. "earning the rockies: ho geography shapes america's role in the world" is a short butwe ul and provocative book by robert kaplan, a mix of road-trip, memoir, history, and political analysis of where we've been and where we are day.

i've been reading it with pleasure, and i hope you will too, in our "now read this" book club, a partnership with thek "new ymes." 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 and florida. you can follow them live at www.pbs.org/newshour. all that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. d that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us line, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> maj ulwshour has been provided by: >> consumer cell. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> babbel. tea language program that hes real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more.

>> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.rp >> carnegie ation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc

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