captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, by a narrow vote, the supreme court allows president trump's restrictions on transgender people serving in the mitary to take hold while the legal battle continues. then, on day 32 of the federal government shutdown, we take a look at national secity concerns with the impacts felt by the coast guard and the f.b.i. plus, a conversation with barry jenkins, the oscar-winning writer and director behind the film "if beale street could talk." >> i wt people to know not only what it's like to walk ale n these characters' shoes, but to put their shoes on and really know what it feels like to go through these experiences. >> woodruff: all that and moreht on ton's pbs newshour.

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation foro publiccasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank yo >> woodruff: day 32 of the partial government shutdown has brought halting atteo end the impasse. the senate today set competing votes for thursday. one is a democratic plan to fund the government, but not a border wall. the other is president trump's proposal to re-open agencies, grant temporary prections for some migrants, and fund a wall. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell backs the trump plan.

>> the opportunity to end all of this is staring us right in the face. that's why we'll vote on this legislation on the senate floor this week. all that needs to happen is for our democratic friends to agree that it's time to put the country ahead of politics, take yes for an answer and vote to put the standoff behind us.dr >> wf: house speaker nancy pelosi and other democrats rejected the trump offer on so- called "dreamers" and others with temporary legal status. >> what the president proposed is granting what he already had taken away. s had theire rootection. t.p.s. had theirction, the president took it away. and now he's saying well i'll give you this back temporarily if you give me a wally lermanen >> woodruff: meanwsome 800,000 federal workers are set to miss a second paycheck, come friday.

some lined up in washington today, for free groceries and a meal. celeity chef jose andres organized the effort. and, the white house said president ump still plans to deliver the "state of the union" address, at the capitol, on january 29th. speaker pelosi had asked to delay it. the u.s. supreme court agreed today to let the trump administration restrict military service by transgender people, while legal challenges continue. by 5-to-4, the court set aside lower court injunctions against the policy. we'll explore this and the day's other supre court actions, right after the news summary. there's a tentative deal in the week-long teacher's strike in los angeles. the union and the school district reached agreement today on a new contract. mayor eric garcetti said teachers will go back to work tomorrow, and he suggested something good came out of the strike. >> we have seen over the last few weeks the way that the city

has rallied around public education. quite frankly it's been breathtaking. b itn inspiring to see. and for a city that embraced the idea that public education matters, that children matter,ch that ts matter, today is a day full of good news. >> woodruff: in broad terms, the izw contract will boost wages, reduce classroom, and add more librarians, nurses and counselors. another american service member ha.been killed in afghanist the u.s. military announced it today, but gave no details.me while, the confirmed death toll rose to 45 after monday's taliban atta in maidan wardak province. tosuicide bomber rammed a military humvee he main building at an intelligence base. that touched off an hours-long shootout. a russian court has ordered an american ex-marine to stay in jail, for now, on suspicion of being a spy. paul whelan s detained in

december. he allegedly had a flash drive containing russian state secrets. whelan appealed his arrest today, from inside a glass cage in a moscow courtroom. his lawyer said he had no idea he'd been given sensitive material. e united states turned up the heat today on venezuelan leader nicolas maduro. he faces growing opposition at home and abroad for retaining power after a disputed election. in an online message today, vice president mike pence encouraged nationwide protests, set for tomorrow in venezuela, and he pledged support to anti-maduro. forc >> nicolas maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power. he's never won the presidency in a free and fair election. as you make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf american people, we say to all the good people of venezuela: estamos con ustedes.

we are with you >> woodruff:n caracas today, canisters of tear gas andeb smolderings lay scattered in the streets, after yesterday's failed uprising by national guard members. the u.s. justice department has informed canada that it still wants extradite a chinese tech executive. meng wanzhou is chief financial officer of huawei. she was arrested in canada last month, on u.s. charges that she violated sanctions on iran. china today demanded that washington drop the extradition request. a north carolina judge is refusing to declare republican mark harris the winner, in the nation's last undecided congressional race. rarris has a narrow lead, but his campaign is un investigation for alleged absentee ballot fraud. the judge ruled today that the results will not be certified until that investigati is mplete.

on wall street, stocks fell ie woabout global growth and trade with china. the dow jones industrial averag3 lost more th points to close at 24,404. the nasdaq fell nearly 137 points, and the s&p 500 gave up 37. still come on the newshour: the supreme court allows president trump's baon transgender people in the military to gin. how the shutwn is impacting the work of the f.b.i., and much more. >> woodruff: from guns to immigration to who can serve our country. the supreme court todatouched on some of the most politically charged issues in e nation. as always, marcia coyle, chief washington correspondent for the "national law journal" is here

to help explain what happened. hello, marcia. so-- >> hi, judy. >> woodruff: a lot going on. we haven't seen you for a while. but today the court did move on several fronts. t's talk, first, h what y ey've done with respect to the pag's poln transgender people. what did they do? >> first of all, the trump ration had asked the supreme court to do two things. first it wanted the court to lift the injunctions that were block the transgender policy. and, second, at the present timed the supreme court o hear the meritz of whether the policy was constitutional before the lower federal appellate courts woond consider that ques so the court did agree to lift the injctions against the policy, meaning the policy is in effect. that was a 5-4 decision, dissenting were justices ginsberg, breyer, kagan, and sotomayor. but the court refused to leapfrog over the lower fed appellate courts and said that the policy is going to remain in effect until the supreme court gets a straitforward petition

for review from whoever loses in the lower federal appellate courts. >> woodruff: so you are contingent us, you're somewhat surprised that the judges chose to do this. >> i'm not surprised that they refused to leapfrog overthe lower federal appellate courts. that is always disfavored.wa the courts the reasoning-- the benefit of the reasoning of lower federou appellaterts. to allow the policy to go into effect while the process ges was a little surprising. certainly, there are transgender service members who will be affected by this. >> woodruff: let's talk about some of the other ruloingsay, or nonrulings, on guns. the justices have now chosen take up a significant case. tell us about that. >> all right the new york state rifle and pistol association is challenging new york city's premises license. tricts a license that r the transport of a gun to shootingranges within the

city's bound reas. if you want to go outside of the city, you have to get a carry license. thassociation claims it violates the second amendment. the right to travel, and theco erce clause. and, judy, it's potentially significant because the court could rule on what is the constitutional test for gun regulations, as well as can ere be public carry of guns, either open or concealed? >> woodruff: and you were telling us that's significant because you're going to see justices who have never ruled on gun case likthis. >> that's right, that's right. >> woodruff: and they'll have to weigh in.>> ou have justices kagan,ka gorsuch annaugh facing their first major gun case. >> woodruff: and finally, i want to ask yomarcia, about the court taking no action on wh the trump administration asked them to do, and that has to do with the daca recipients. these are young people who came to the united stat with their parents without documentation. the administration wanted them to act on this.ai theythey will not do it right now.

>> well, the court really didn't say anything. it jst has left untouched the government's petition toan hea appeal of a ruling by the u.s. court of appeals for the nnth circuit, which found the way in which the trump administration was trying to end this program violated federal law. so no one really knows what the' cothinking is on this opinion will they consider it next term? wie there be a spal order at? point? we don't know. but right now, it looks as though it may be too late for the court to hear the case this term. this is usually the cutoff point for new cases. >> woodruff: and just very quickly, marcia, you were saying it's unusual to see the court asked, in so many words, fast track cases like theones they have been asked to by this administration. >> that's right. this administration has done quite a fewthe last few months, and the court hasn't been all that ree ceptive. test one was just late this afternoon involving the citizenship question on the u.s.

census. the trump administration notified the court that it was going to seek review of a trial judge's order finding that, that question violated multiple federal laws and wanted the court to heart before the appellate court hears >> woodruff: marcia coyle, thank you. a busy day at the court. >> very. thank you, judy. >> woodruff: now to the story of a transgender sailor whose case the supreme court ruled on today.ic asschifrin reports, she says she is fighting not only for her job in the navy, but for future transgender service members. >> schifrin: what does the water mean to you?>> t's freedom. wi schifrin: for as long as petty officer megaers can remember, she's felt compelled to serve on the water and in the military. >> i joined the military to serve my country. t my father was service. he joined the army right out of high school. i wanted to follow in his

footsteps. >> schifrin: those footsteps took her onto the george h. w. bush aircraft carrier. she works in information technology. >> roughly 5,000 people coming together putting bombs on aircraft to getting i.p.sh services to a ip. it's a lot of cogs and a lot o l people doing of great work. >> schifrin: have you ever thought about your contribution to the military as different from any other sailor? >> not one bit. >> schifrin: and why not? >> again, i am that small cog. i do what i'm suppose to do, when i'm supposed to do it. i and i well. i do it damn well. >> schifrin: in her 2017 evaluation report, her commander wrote she "embodies the qualities the navy seeks in its future leaders" and "strongly recommended" her for promotion. last year her commander wrote she ranked in the top 1% of her peers. and in the category of military bearing and appearance, she "greatly exceeds standards." for winters, that appearance has

she was born male. >> i just never -- it was never me.r i new myself. looking in the mirror for so long, and not seeing oneself, y a war own body like completely betraying you. chifrin: what did you se when you looked in the mirror? >> not me. it was scary for so long, so many years of just not being able to relate to the person looking back at me. >> schifrin: through her mid-'s she was self-destructive. she would drive fast and not care if she crashed, or even died. and then, this moment -- her first hormone erapy pill, paid for by the military. it allowed her to transition. over one year, megan winters became megan winters. a new uniform. a new blouse. a new dress. and when you look in the mirror today? >> i can't put it into words. it's me.

i'm starting to live my life authentically, and it's the best feeling in my entire -- my entire life. >> schifrin: winters' transition became possible in 2016 when secretary of defense ash carter lifted a ban on transgender service members. >> effective immediately, transgender americans may servep ly, and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military just for being transgender. n being allowed to be me, in the military, it rejuvenated my spirit in, not only myself,, but my job -- st my whole being was just elate >> schifrin: she says her fellow service members asked a lot of questions.mo some were rude were curious, and respectful. a changed with a tweet. in july 2017, president trump

wrote, "the untied states government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the u.s. military." seven months later mattis released formal guidance -- no future transgender service members. but active duty transgender service members would allowed to stay, as would service members who might consider themselves transgender, but remain in their biological sex. the report said ansgender service members could "undermine readiness, disrupt unit cohesion, and impose an unreasonable burden on the military." >> much higher medical costs, much higher utilization of the mental health system, and so forth, so in that sense there is a problem. they are probably not on average, going to be as available for deployment as other service members are. >> schifrin: peter sprigg is a senior fellow at the family research council, which supports the transgender ban. ti these are essentially elective and cos procedures, rather than -- i don't accept the claim that thic

is mly necessary. the purpose of our military is to fight and win america's wars. 's not to provide specialized medical care at taxpayer expense. >> to treat transgender people, as megan has already has explained, differently when they can shoot just as well as their peers, they can meet every veysical standard as their peers, they pass mental test that's required of them. that's a form of discrimination, and at violates the constitution. >> schifrin: sasha buchert is winters' lawyer, and an attorney with lambda legal that sntd the governo reverse the transgender ban. multiple circuit court cases argue president trump's decision transgender service members don't reduce readiness.st army chief of f and incoming chairman of the joint chiefs gen. mark milley, agreed: >> have you said how they are harminesunit cohn. >> no, i have received precisely zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale,

and all those sorts of things. >> schifrin: as did chief of naval operations admiral john richardson. >> i'm not aware of any issues. >> schifrin: but marine commandant gen. robert neller acknowledged concern about medical care. >> is, in some cases, because of the medial requirements because of some of these ind tiduals, thre is a burden on the commands to handle all their medical stuff. but discipline, cohesion of the force, no. >> they've had well over a year this litigation began, a year and a half, to bring forward evidence showing that there's been some effect on military readiness, and they have failed. they provided no evidence. >> schifrin: winters feltto compelleerve. compelled to transition.an if compelled to leave -- >> i do what i'm supposed to do, when i'm supposed to do it, whever i'm asked. if it's a lawful order, you follow it. in that sense, if my commander

in chief had asked me to leave the military, i would have had to. >> schifrin: throughout, she also struggled to explain to h father, the veteran. one of her brothers, cut off all contact. >> my parents and my two older brothers didn't ite understand. not only was i going to transition, but my family it was kind of transition with me. >> schifrin: she was willing to walk away from her family, but first she asked for a favor: the name she would have been, had she been born a woman. >> i feel like my parents had to mourn the loss. but then to understand that then actually lose anybody. they gained somebody.ri >> sch that is what she hopes the giving future transgender

service memberththe freedom of water, the freedom to serve. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick hifrin. >> woodruff: it has been 32 days and perhaps the first signs of a way out of the government shutdown. there will be two votes on thursday in the u.s. sen de. our own lijardin and yamiche alcindor join us with the latest. hello to both of you. so, lisa, tell us what do we know about what is in this agreement between leannder mcl and senator schumer for thursday? >> all right, it's important. this is not a final deal tond the shud. instead, this is a deal to hold two votes, which will be the first votes on funding that this senate and this congress will hold. let me break down what these votes will be on thursday. number one: a vote on president trump's plan that would have $5.7 billion for a wall, plus temporary three-year status for daca recipients.

then there will be a second vote, judy. that would be on essentially no wall funding, just a short-term billto fund government through february 8. remember, something like that is what the last ngress, the last senate voted for in december. the short-tthm dea was passed unanimously. the president said he was going to reject it at that time. and, judy, i just got off t phone with several different sources in the senate, and i'm sorry to say that right now, the expectations are that neither one of these will pass. so why are they even doing this? well, one source just told me the idea is, perhaps, to signal to both bases, which are locking in farther and farther, thatth are doing as much as they can to appease them. but there's no solution there. t so they'ing to say, "we need to come to the middle." these votes may end up being symbolic but we will watch them closely. o they are signs of tryingt somewhere. >> woodruff: even if they're symbolic, tell us what is ichn ne of the measures. >> let's look at the deal the president announced over the

weekend quickly. $5.7 for a wall or fencing. it would also include money for border agents and detention beds as he's requesting. it would have the three-yr status for daca recipients. here's one reason the democrats are outright rejecting this. s th it also includes provisions that would force those seeking asylumfro central american countries to do so in country, and that includes children. so any child who is brought to the border would not be allowed to request asylum unr that bill. they would have to do it in that country. demoats say this is a nonstarter. >> woodruff: now, yamiche, let me turn to you. how is the white house trying to silent arguments -- despite what lisa said they mott gano here-- what are they doing to silent argument? >> the argument is these are compromise bills. of course, he's saying he got the idea for asylum and for basically telling children that they have to stay in their country to seek asylum. that he got that idea from meetings with democrats. so the white house is basngally sahy don't you thriek

idea? you're the one who came up with it? they're also sayinget somng that isn't really very interesting, or something that is kind of interesting is that they're basically saying this is best for theountry. this is all about border security, and the democrats need to come somewhere. it's interesting, stephen miller, who is of course a very high-ranking white house official, his plan has been to change the asylum laws. use saysthe white this is a democratic idea, it's really an idea that stephmi er backs. i should also add, larry kudlow, the director of the nationalom ec council, he was out at the white house today, and he said we understand there is human suffering but at the end of the day, human security iat risk and we have to keep pushing for the president's plan. i just got off th pho with several source as well, they're not sure the president would pass a demoratic versiof this if it was topaz, even though it's a long shot, that it would pass. >> woodruff: not sure he would sign it if it would pass. meantime, there has been back-and-forth over the stu address which the preside would give towards the end ofnu

jay. what's the latest on that? >> the state of the union negotiations is basical of chicken right now. the president is saying, "i'm going to be givinthe state of the union. i'm going full on. i'm preparing as should." er the weekend the white house sent an email to the sergeant at arms at the congress, as well as house officials they say, that we want to do a walk-through. we want to get ready and get this set. they also say the security concerns that nancy pelosi has been talking abt, all those have been resolved and everything is a go. it's now nancy pelosi's move whether or not she wants to say, you know what, you still can't come here. or i accept what you're saying d you canctually come here. we're not sure if the state of the union is going to happen, which is pretty remarkable to think about. >> woodruff: remarkable. >> one week. emberodruff: i don't rem anything like it. >> there has never been anything like it. >> woodruff: and never anything like the shud going on this long. >> that's right. >> woodruff: for more on what

the government shutdown means in practical terms, an date now on the u.s. coast guard. more than 42,000 coast guard personnel missed a paycheck earlier this month, making it the only branch of the u.s. military to work without pay. that's because the coast guard is funded by the department of homeland security and its money is tied up in the shutdown. yet crews are still deploying on national security operations. just this weekend, the crew ofth cutter bertholf departed alameda, california for a five mont pacific ocean.western the crew and their families are gucing pressure. in a tweet, coasd commandant karl sch utz, wrote "og members sail across the world to protect u.s. naonal interests while the loved ones cope with financial challeng and no pay at home." he also tweeted out edis video prody the coast guard.

it included this message from vicedmiral linda fagan, a pacific area commander. >> during these uncertain timese ofapse of appropriations of the government shutdown, i know it's hard for these crewsbe to be leavinnd their dependents and spouses. it's a thousand times mo so when everybody's wondering when their next paycheck will be and amhow they can support they they are leaving behind. there has been an incredibleou ouring of support for the families here in the alameda area, but the tension and the anxiety for the crew is real. >> woodruff: without legislative action, or an end to the partial shutdown, coast guard members will miss their second paycheck on january 30th and retirees will start missing out on benefits next month. virginia senator tim kaine, a democrat, spoke on the senate floor today about the coast guard. >> they're deploying for multiple months and they're saying goodbye to their families but their families in alameda n it cheap will have to keep paying rent bills and thingst

while co deployed and not being paid. >> woodruff: according to the coast guard, an esti31% of active duty members do not have ough money in an emergen savings fund to cover one month's worth of expenses. an alarming report released today by the f.b.i. agents association warns the ment shutdown impacts the f.b.i.'s capility to execute itical intelligence gathering and law enforcement tasks. it also compromises agents ability to maintain their security clearances. thomas o'connor is president of the association and he joins u now. mr. o'connor, thank you for being with us. so putting it all together, what has this shutdown meant for f.b.i. agents? and there are, what, 13,000stome-odd. >> about 13,000 agents. our membership is about 90% of those 13,000.

the shutdown has created a financial insecurity within the nkly, population, and, fr within all of our professional employees throughout the f.b.i. that finanal insecurity to us equalaise national security in and of itself. >> woodruff: what does that mean? i mean, is the country's security arisk becse agents can't do their jobs? >> well, so, f.b.i. agents areti going to ce to do their job. the problem is that the f.b.i., as an organization,as a budget, a funded amount of money which isinal. and every day, the thousands of investigations that are being done throughout the united states and overseas, those cost ndney. as we sponey on those investigations, there's nothing being put back into the general budget of the f.b.i. inow, f.b.i. headquarters trying very hard to try and mov money around to make as little impact as possible. but we're finding, from our

voices in the field, that there is an impact already being felt. >> woodruff: you asked the bureaus around the country toe send in ir comments, how they're fielding this. and many of them wrote in and they talked abut how their work is being affected, and it crosses the spectrum from counter-intelligence, as you just mention the, to crimest agaihildren-- sex trafficking, violent crimes. it is affecting e f.b.i. does. >> the f.b.i. has a vast responsibility of investigative programs, and that does cover criminal, counter-terrorism, and counter-intelligence. the bureau is funded as an organization as ale. and the lack of funding coming into the f.b.i. causes al of those programs to suffer in some way. >> woodruff: how is itaf cting agents individually? you asked them to talk about-- to write about that, and number of them commented on the stresses it has meant for them, for their families. >> people were very honest with

us. hundreds of agents wrote in to us and they wrote their stories about their spouses being ill, d the difficulty that-- they're now having to go toas family t for help. personally, find that disgusting that an f.i. agent or an f.b.i. employee, who works for the federal governnt, works every day-- and the key is, these agents are working. they are on the street. they are not home. they are working. they are just not getting paid. h d to have those people suffer throis financial hardship for over a month now, f.b.i. encies and support employees, have gotten no money for the wo that they've done, which means that all the things that we have to pay at the end of the month, we have to pull that out of our savings. and i don't care hownc finally secure are you, you can't go on forever with that. i most worry about our you agents with families and our support employees who may be at a lower pay scale. these are the peopleho are going to suffer and are suffering the soonest. >> woodruff: and you were just v telling y quickly how this

makes you think about how the federal government is making these de >> well, i mean, the f.b.i. agents association is completely nonpolitical. we have no dog in any fight when it comes t our goal is to get the f.b.i. fully funded so we can do ur jobs with alm the tools that are necessary to do our jobs to its fullest extent, and, also, to pay want f.b.i. employees for the work they're doing. >> woodruff: thomas the president of the f.b.i. agents association, thank you very much. >> and thank you very much for helping us get the word out that, you know, financial insecurity is national security. crime doesn't pay, and right now, neither does the federal government, and that's wrong. >> woodruff: there are more than one million children whose

parents are active military-duty in the u.s., most of whom attend public schools. military children often move six to nine times before they finish high school.mm it's also for a military kid to have a parent gone for long periods of time. many school don't know who these kids are or how to support them. but that's starting to change special correspondent kavitha cardoza with our partner "education week" went to for our weekly segment, making the grade. >> reporter: children from shelton park elementary schoolha been working with a nearby military installation on an oyster restoration project. many are military children. they've spent months measuringan aaphing their results. >> looks like it15. >> reporter: base commander joey frantzen says these educational partnerships are a win-win. oysters help filter the water his trps train in and... rs the kids get the opportunity to learn about oys and it h reallyps the base. >> reorter: more important, h says, these interactions help school staff understand some of thenchallenges military chil face.

>> at one pot, my boys had been in five different schools in a two and half year period. so having that community and a school system that understands that dynamic, reallyllows those children to be able to come in so they aren't lost. >> reporter: frantzen says knowing their ds are supported helps service members concentrate on their jobs and stay in the military. but because nationally, less than one percent of the u. population serves, these children's challenges often go unnoticed. teacher cynthia dufour says her military students bring different perspectives to class discussions. >> they just are so used to going new places, that curiosity is kind of ingrained in them >> reporter: but for tse children who are just ten, moving doesn't always feel positive. >> i started in italthen i moved to new york then i moved to virginia. >> i always make friends and then i have to leave. >> military children, they move and move and move and that aesn't really make me hap all.

>> reporter: frequent transitions can also mean an" inconsistent and uneven" education.uc eileenk with the national military family association says that's because public schools vary so much. some have mail military chdren. >> they set up welcome centers for families, garrison commanders are members of the school board. buwe also have school districts that have just a few militaryonnected kids and it can be more difficult for teachers and school personnel in those situations to recognize the needs of those kids. >> reporter: a federal report arund there are "no national public data on mil dependent students' academic progress, attendance, or long- term outcomes, such lege attendance or workplace readines" advocates hope having a military identifier on enrollment forms will help track how well public schools are meeting these students' needs. >> we'rene of the largest military-connected school divisions in the country. >> reporter: aaron spence is superintendent of the virginia beach city public school district.

almost a third of the approximately 70,000 students here are military children. educating them can be challenging. >> figurinout their transcripts, what are the classes they may have taken elsewhere that we don't offer here. we have a different curriculum in virginia than much of the country and so parents will want to know, if my child is in third grade math, arthey learning the same thing that they were learning in third grade math in yolifornia? >> reporter: amandr is a school counselor and a navy combat veteran. she's hired by the district specifically to support military students. yoder says it's tough always being the "new" kid. >> so the biggest thing we hear is who am i going to eat lunch with? is the sports team already full when they arrive? it's really important that we get those who haven't serviced and don't have a connection,lv in and trained to inderstand terms and emotions. >> reporter: so vi beach schools have several programs to celebrate these childrrt displays, military partnerships, outings to bases and a day whe

everyone wears purple. >> it's their life, it's what they expience. so we want to recognize that. >> reporter: principal tara brewer loves the diversity and experiences her milita students bring. but as a school administrator, it also means frequent testi and re-teaching lessons because students arrive in the middle of the year. other times, it means getting creative. for ample, one of her studen was taking standardized tests when her father was deployed in the middle east. >> so every morning we've either set up a situation where he can skype her and wish her luck or when she comes in, or when she gets her the teacher will text him and he will call. >> reporter: another challenge is having parents deploy, often to war zones.ea that canto children getting upset or acting out in school.ls some schoo in virginia beach have after-school clubs where civilian children can support their classmates.y >>iend in the military moved away and his dad was deployed so sometimes he would

cry. >> this is a ¡with you all the way' kit and this is ¡dealing with deployment'... >> renorter: research shows wh schools offer an understanding environment, it can have a protective effect. >> you need to have on a collared shirt with either a tie or bow tie. >> reporter: this year was especially difficult for 17- year-old jazmine jewell. she had to move from california to virginia for her senior year. >> this graduation isn't going to be super important to me because i'm happy to get my diploma, i'm finally done, but i'm not graduating with my friends. >> reporter: both jazmine's parents served in the navy a she's moved seven times already. but she says, it's also taught her important life lesso. >> military kids are more appreciative of the things they have and the friends they make. every moment counts. you take a lot of things to heart. >> reporter: and despite the challenges of being a military child, after graduation, jazmine joined the navy and is lookingve

forward to tng the world. >> jazmine kaitlyn jewell. >> i want to be able to experience all the things my mom got experience! she has told me so many different adventures that she's gotten to go on, all the beautiful cultures sheotten to see. and that's what i really want to do. >> rorter: for the pbs newshour and "education week," i'm kavitha cardoza virginia beach, virginia. >> woodruff: it's easy to lose sight of how dangerous and deadly working in a coal mine can be. a new investigation by frontlin and npr that anight -- called "coal's deadly dust" -- sheds fresh light on that. it turns outhat for decades thousands of miners were exposed to a toxic dust th led to a deadly form of black lung disease. john yang tells us that 's a >> yang: judy, this is all due

to breathing in silica dust. while regulaons about monitoring mine dust have been on the books since the mid-70s, this new investigation finds thatederal regulators failed to pay close enough attention to their own data. since 2010, the government counted 115 cases of advanced black lung nationwide. but the npr/frontline investigation identified more than 2300 cases in just five appalachian states. frontline and npr visited a southwestern virginia clinic that has diagnosed the biggest t cluster se cases. the clinic's former director talked about how his team found so many miners with the disease. >> we came back, andwe sarted doing a study. i mean, we actually had pulling x-rays back to 2014 to 2017, three yearsf x-rays. we quieckly idntified 416 during that three-year period. however, if we had went back to

2010, at a minimum, we could have probably doubled that. >> breathe in and out deep and fast. ( huffing ) and out.st . >> and i don't know what your tests will reveal today, but-- and i tell everybody this for almost 30 yetars-- don't ge discouraged. >> reporter: but the count here at stonnomountain iw nearly 800 wa dozen new cases a month. >> my buddy her god bless you. >> god bless you. >> i just think that america needs to know that these miners, they have paid a price. so many years tese miners extract this coal so that youd can-- i get teary-eyed. i'm sor.

they paid a pri. they have paid a price so that we can have luxy. and i just feel likea america hs just forgotten about them. >> yang: the narrators voice you just heard belongs to npr correspondent howard berkes. he is the lead reporter on the snvestigation and he joins u now. howard thanks so much for being with us. this is not coal dust. what is arhis? and hothe miners exposed to it? >> it's silica dust. silica dust is generated when m minihines cut rock with coal, and they've been cutting a lot more rock with coal in the last three decades because the big coal sems seams in appalachn were played out, and what we're

s left with ithinner seams embedded in this rock. this rock createsuartz, so when you cut it, you create silicaanust. >> yang: talk about the state of that, or what that silica dust does in the miners' lungs. >> when t mining chines cut up the silica dust, the part crelz very, very fine, so they're easily inhaled. anthen there also very sharp. and they actually lodge in lungs forever. and then the lungs, of course, are trying to fight the presence of this foreign substance, the tilica dust particles, so i builds up fibrotic tissue, and that fibrotic tissue continues to build and continues to build. and essentially what is a device that is the toacilitate breathing becomes hard and calcified and no longer can function as a lung and can no nger make breathing possible. >> yang: you quote a doctor saying it's like suricating

while you're alive. >> a pull monnologist we spoke with described it thaway. and when you talk to the miners-- and we spoke with three dozen oro mins in the last year, all suffering from this sease, the they all have descriptions of struggling for breath, waki up in the middle of the night unable to breathe. and, ultimately, this disease will kill them, and thewill be unable to breathe any more. >> yang: and you found many, many more times the number of these cases in your survey of just five clinics-- clinics in five states, rther, thathe government tracked nationwide. why is that? and what are the implications o that? >> the government is looking at only working miners and is actually offering free lung x-rays to work miners, and then they count the occurrence of disease as they do those x-rays. the law lims em to only testing working miners. and the testing is voluntary. so-- and the participation rate is really low. it's only 35% nationwide and

ofly 17% in the coal fields eastern kentucky. so that's one subset of a larger group of people. what the clinics are seeing are miners who have beelaid off or are retired-- and there are tens of thousands more of thse in the late eight years because of the downturn in mining. and those miners ar t going ino get tested because they're not working anymore. they're not getting paid. if they have disease, they canf appl black lung benefits. so that's the difference is the government is n looking at the great number of retired and laid off miners, and that's what we're seeing in the occurrence of disease now. >> yang: and this is also not a new discovery. you found docckents dating to the clinton administration that express concern over this. >> that's right. the fedanal mine safety d health administration back in the clinton administration had identified a cluster of advanced lung disease among coal mins in west virginia, and they were so alasmed in these memos thauni

that they actually sent out a warning to the mining industry saying, "we've got advance disease. silica is the cause. you have to do something about silica." there's really nothing that's occurring today that's surprising, except for the la number of miners who are sick and dying. >> yang: you've covered the mining industry for quite a bit. the trump administration isyi to revive mining. how is that going? and how does that fitwh int you found about advced black lung? >> well, there's really no connection between what the trump administration's promises are on restoring mining and what's happening to these miners. what woulreally help these miners is an attempt by the trump administration and congress to make sure that they get the benefity need when they become sick, and to change theegulations, bese the regulations don't directly address silica exposure. that's been recommended for

decades. that hasn't happened for decades. and there's no proposal in t trump administration to address that. the oth ier thithat mining has declined. there's little that ait polian can do to restore it. this is all about the price ofna ral gas, and as long as natural gas is a lot cheaper, coal's not going to be able to cofrete. but asid that, the reality is that there are 1,000 min still operating today across the country, and 50,000 coal miners ill working. and there will be tens of thousands of coal miners still work for years to come, and ty deserve to be able to come home from work every day healthy and whole and alive. >> yang: howard berkes of npr, his investigation airs tonight on "fontline" on pbs stations. howard, thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me on. n

>> woodruff: tinations for the 91st academy awards were announced today. "the favorite," and "roma," got the most nominations. the film, "if beale street could talk," earned three nominations includg for best adapted screenplay for writer and director barry jenkins. jeffrey browrecently talked with jenkins about the process of turning the words of writer james baldwin into aeature film. >> i love you. do you know that? >> i do. and i understand what you are going through because i am with you. >> brown: two young people looking at each other through the glass of a prison visiting room." if beale street could talk" is the story of tish, played by kiki lane, and fonnystephen james. childhood best friends growing up in harlem in the 1960s and

'70s who become lovers as adults, only to see their dream crushed in a deeply racist society when fonny is falsely accused of a crime. >> dyou want me to die in here? >> brown: based on the 1974 novel by the great james baldwin, it's been adapted byr writer-direcrry jenkins. >> what mr. baldwin does so well is to crystallize these moments, you know these moments in timesl these fegs and describe them to the reader in a way that sey're both relatable, distinctive and alcific in a way that makes them univhesal. you knowas a very observant person, a very wise personnd he spoke the truth. and i think that, unfortunately, the truth or the fact of america is so many tngs that have been issues going back 50, 60, 70 years, that are stl issues today. >> brown: hewing closely to baldwin's words and storyline, jenkins has made a film that is itself both small and

large: the intimate lives of individuals captured amid the much larger burden of african- american history in this country. i spoke with jenkins recently at the eaton hotel in washington, d.c.. >> in this book the two voices were perfectly fused. and my job i felt like was to arrive at a certain level of parity in telling the story. it's one thing to read a book so i felt like the love story was the thing that was going to carry the day. it was was going to see themselves most readily in. and then we kind of slip in this other element. you know, there's less of it.mu but it's s heavier that now you don't realize, oh, i'm actually experiencing something that's real and vital and important. >> brown: you're balancing these two very different registers >> yes, exactly.: >> broe is a love story. one is rage and anger. >> and i think the power ofld ban was and is that in balancing those two things you really show the relationship between the two. er>> brown: when tish disc she's pregnant, her family

rallies to snaport her. reing plays tish's mother. >> we are drking to new life, tish going to have fonny's baby> rown: so much of it is the interior life of the character. i see at you've done with the way people look at each other, with the way the camoks at them, sometimes they look at us. ry unusual. >> you read a book and everything is activated. you watch a movie and it a very passive experience. in a book the author describes the smell of cinnamon, you intellectuly smell this thing in your head. the author writes a lot of dialogue, you hear it in your head, whereas in a move it's all outside you. and also the camera is always around the actors. even now, these camera are just outside of us. i'm looking at you so the camera can't know what it feels like to look you in the eye. this is a very differentin macy than that intimacy. and so when making this film, because you're right, baldwin's stock in trade was the interior voice, the interior life, and like, how can i give that experience to the audience. i want people to know not onlyat

t's like to walk a mile in these characters shoes but to put their shoes on and really know what it feels likthto go ugh these experiences. >> brown: "beale street" is just jenkin's third feature film, but it follows the remarkable" moonlight," winner of an oscar for best film in 2017. few knew of jenkins when that enlm came out. i asked about thmous expectations and pressures on him with "beale street." >> even beyond whether i won eight oscars or no oars -- it's james damn baldwin, you know? it's james baldwin. that's pressure enough in and of itself because i wanted to honor his legacy and the way that i thought it shoulbe honored. and he had never been adapted into a feature film the english language before and so that was essure enough. and i kind of like, it was a nice escape, to be able to slip into that i've got to be on my a

game, to this author justice and not worry about the expectations of the film. >> brown: you were talking a little earlier about the african-american experience in this country and how it comes out in this story. and it's something we talked about with moonlight as well. do you see that story being to more now in hollywood? >> absolutely! and i think the really beautiful thing about it is it's being told in so many different ways. you know you can look at literally just the last year ofi s that were released, so many that i'm going to forgettt some in rang off the list, you have "sorry to bother you""" black klansman", "blac" panther"hich made $8 billion!" the hate you give". i mean there's so many of these films and they are n alike. i think it speaks tothe freedom of expression, i think speaks to the access to tools, and i think, i mean this as a compliment, it speaks to the dirsity of the audience. i think people don't want the african-american experience to be presented as a monolith.

>> brown: and yet it's interesting to me, i'm coming from a news program, a new perspective. and you well know, we're living in a time where much of the news is about division. >> yes. i think it's smoke and mirrors, man. i think that change has been ongoing for the last 15, 20, 30 years, but these this appear that make us believe that change is actually not what we believe it to be. when i think about the crew or my film, we actually filmed in new york, los angeles and the dominican republic, a completely wide, wide spectrum of peopleer from many dit backgrounds, many different races coming together to tell the story of an american black family in the 1970s. so what do i see in that? you know i see a coming together, like a literal coming together to now foster my voice, and that inspires me to go out and help other people foster their voices about their own experiences. >> brown: "if beale street could talk" took home a golden globd awarfor regina king's

the film is playing in theaters nationwide for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the changenes of soci worldwide. >> carnegie corporation 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. og >> this m was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored ynewshour productions, llc captioned by bh media access group at access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ - so if you came to me and asked, "how can i change ok the way i for the better, of course, and if you wanted to focus on one region of the world or one countr i'd say china has a huge culinary history. obviously very different styles of cooking as well in all of its different regions. ay so tn milkstreet we're going to go to china to pick up three recipes. the first is a sichuan chili chicken. it's also a dish made here in restaurants. secondly, we're going to do a chicken salad based on a very famousecipe,