captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a teste in the u.s. se dueling bills fail to open the government as airline workers offer a dire warning: the tyutdown is threatening sa in the skies. then, an uncertain road ahead for american truckers. we ride along for the story of one long haul driver as his profession approaches a turning point. plus, a prisoner in iran for 544 days. i sit down with "washington post" journalist jasoncuezaian about nting his captivity in a new book. >> it was such a huge relief to get on that plane and lift off and leave iranian airspace. but it was also enormous loss for both of us. so younow i'm still riddled with mixed emotions about the whole thing. >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi river, the columbiac river anss the united states. american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultud calm waterways.ru americane lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> babbel. a language app that teaches

real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, rman, italian, and more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, ad improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporat 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 madeco possible by thoration for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: they've been voting in the u.s. senate ton ending the partial government shutdown, but to no avail. meanwhile, thousands of federal workers are about to miss another pay check. congressional correspondent liss desjaras our report. n >> desjardins: "no deal"y 34 of the government shutdown. there were fiery speeches, from democrats blaming republicans... >> how ludicrous it is that the government is shut down over a promise the president couldn't keep, and the american people don't want hes to keep! >>rdins: and republicans pointing at democrats. >> they want to win a political victory agait the president. their objective is to have the president back down and ve not a single mile of border wall built. >> desjardins: the real action was inaction, on two measures to end the shutdown. both needed 60 votes to move

ahead. first, just 50 senators voted to back president trump's offer of temporary status for daca recipients in exchange the wall money he wants. just one democrat voted yes. next, 52 senators voted for what democrats want, a bill to fund agencies until february 8th. six republicans joined democrats on that one. both failed, and that was the point.ho tothat neither side's current stance has the votes right no chuck schur tried to find a way forward. >> if they come to a reasonable agreement, i would support it, yes. >> even ifhere's no wall ney or does it have to have wall money? >> look, i have other alternatives if i have to and i will use those alternatives if i have to. we want to go through thesy em. we have to have a wall in this country. >> but as leaders struggled to negotiate, federalorkers' stggles are growing.

tomorrow, some 800,000 federal employees miss a second paycheck. but bills are approaching, including, in two weeks, those workers' premiums for dental and vision coverage. the government is paying for medical coverage right now but not vision and dental. and lines at food banks for ntractorsorkers and continue to grow.ut >> desjard, commerce secretary wilbur ross was asked about reports of people going to homeless shelters and food bankm and confused: >> and i don't really quitehy understandbecause as i mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or credit union are in effect federally guaranteed. so the 30 days of pay that some people will be out is no real reason why they shouldt t be able to loan. >> desjardins: wle some federal workers can get short- term loans, that is not true for many, possibly millions of

contractors, who will not receive back pay and have lost a month's worth of salary. house speaker nancy pelosi said ross's suggestion shows the h:white house is out of to >> is this the "let-them-eat- cake" kind oattitude? or "call-your-father-for-money" or "this-is-character-building-fori you," it's all to end up well as long as you don't get your paychecks. >> desjardins: this, a day after pelosi won a kind of proxy fighi the president, after a battle over whether his state of the union adess would happen next week, as he wanted, president trump tweeted last night that he would de - as speaker pelosi requested. he wrote, "i will do the address when the shutdown is over," and, "i look forward to giving a great state of the union address in the near future!" the house speaker directed her thoughts about the change to the esident himself. >> thank you for recognizing that it's inappropriate to have a state of the union address with people working hard, very hard to protect all of us in that room, and not getting paid

for it. >> desjardins: pelos democrats are expected to present a new border securitypr osal tomorrow, with no wall funding. >> woodruff: and lisa and yamiche alcindor are joining me with the latest. lisa, we kw there was a meeting going on between the senate majority leader and the minority leader. what do we know has come of that? >> judy, this is an important moment. seems to me -- they did meet. atoreems to me that s lindsey graham speaking to the president and democrats is suggesting sething that will like this, permanent status for t.p.s. and daca recipients, different than the president'so offer, but alll money. the president's spokeperson saya the presidentts a down payment on his wall money. i came from walking with house

speaker nancy pelosi. she said she wasn't sure what that meant and she's not sure if that is reasonable agreement that the president said he coulp t. she's obviously analyzing this. we have good cop bad cop on both sides. nancy pelosi and president trump sort of being the bad cop here keeping their sides while mitch mcconnell and chuck chuck are trying to actually negoate. the biggest significance in this hour right now, judy, is there's iceso silence from the of that are engaged. in history and my experience dealing with these tough fisca crises, it's a sign there are actual tks happening. how far they will will go, i nn't say, and what this down payment means, whssments but seems like there are real attempts, the first in weeks a progress. >> woodruff: yamiche, we heard the president say whatever comes out of this, there has to be money in it foa wall, but what else is he saying about the possibility ofome kind of an agreement between mcconnell, schumer, other senators?

>> well, the bottom line is they president whatever deal those lawmakers strike, it has to include border funding and a prorated downpayment for the wall. that means the president wants to see some sort of money, even if a little, as a good faith gesture to show i'm going to get some money at some point for the wall it's important to note the president from the white house chtoday said he has nooice, has to have the wall. drones don't worhnk, tecogy doesn't work. he repeated misleading claims he's done, says aru pouring in and the country is invaded. whey know drugs are usually smuggled in at legal points of entry and border crossings are at historic lows in the last decade. the president says he feels republicans are holding the line and he's honored they are. he talked abt wilbur ross' controversial comments and saida wilbur ross p should have said something differently but eiso suggested, and had a lot of people scratching heads,

that grocery stores might work with people, some ia federal workers will be able to run up tabs at grocery stores and pay them when they get paid. the president is talking differently about speaker nancy pelosi. he decided the reason he decided to postpone the state of the union address is he fou ncy pelosi's office to be reasonable. reasonable is not a word he's used ithe past, bt with nancy pelosi, he says i'm not going to give you a nickname and i'm going to call you reasonable, so at might mean soe sort of changes are coming ahead. >> woodruff: we are watching it closely and the twof you more closely than anybody. yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you both. in the day's other news, venezuela's president nicolas maduro ordered his diplomats to leave the united states, and he accused washington of trying to put a puppet in his place. the main opposion leader, juan guaido, proclaimed himself interim president on wednesday, and the u.s. recognized him. maduro fired back, in a speech

today in caracas. >> ( translated ): he assumes, in the most informal, vulgar way, that he, is the president of a country. is that constitutional? in venezuela, from now on, the president is elected in washington and whomever wants to, swears in, on the street to be president. >> woodruff: on state tv, the venezuelan defense minister and top generals insisted maduro has the full support of the armed forces. but in washington, secretary of state mike pompeo warned the regime against harming guaido or his supporters. >> the regime of former pres nicolas maduro is illegitimate. his regime is morally bankrupt. it's economically incompetent and it's profoundly corrupt. wetsherefore consider of all decisions and actions illegitimate and invalid.

>> woodruff: this evening some diplomats were ordered to leave venezuela for security reasons. vladimir putin expressed suppo for maduro in a phone call today. china, iran and turkey expressed backinfor his government, also. ngo inaugurated a new president today in its first peaceful transfer of power since gaining indendence, nearly 60 years. felix tshisekedi, an opposition leader, was the surprise winner of december's election. at t swearing-in today, he shook hands with outgoing president joseph kabila. and he pledged to free all political prisoners. there've been claims that kabila rigged the election, in a secret deal to avoid corruption probes. thousands of students skipped school in belgium today, to demand more action on climate change. it's the third straight week that young people haen to the streets of brussels. police say today's crowd, at 35,000, was the largest so far. another climate march is planned

in brussels on sunday. an american-born anchor for iranian state television hasom been released ail in washington. marzieh hashemi was last night, after 10 days in custody. she had testified before federal grand jury as a material witnesin an undisclosed criminal case. hashemi holddual american and iranian citizenship. police in sebring, frida now say the victims in a mass shooting at a bank were killed execution-style five women were found lying face down, shot in the back of the head, after wednesday's assault. today, police said 21-year old zephen xaver walked in, and set about lining up victims. >> he immediately contacted nk employees and a bank customer and overtook the bank by force. he then shot everyone in the bank. after shooting them, he called 9-1-1.

this occurred at approximately 12:36. he told dispatchers that he had bakilled five people in th. >> woodruff: a swat team finally burst into t bank and captured xaver. investigators say there's no indication victims, and no clear motive yet. president trump's former rsonal lawyer, michael cohen, has been subpoenaed to appearre behe u.s. senate intelligence committee. cohen's lawyer annout today. he said cohen will comply, but yesterday, cohen delayed testimony before a house panel there's word that access to thef micrsearch engine bing has been at least partially restored in china. it had been cut off day, in an ongoing crackdown on online speech, by the ruling communist party. bing is the only major foreign search engine available in china. on wall stet today, the dow jones industrial average lost 22 points to close at 24,553. the nasdaq rose 47 points, and

the s&p 500 added three. and, a new york pent still under construction, is now the most expensi home ever, in the united states. "the wall street journal" reports billionaire ken griffin paid $238 million for the property. griffin founded the citadel hedge fund. still to come on the newshour: turbulence ahead-- aire warning from airline workers on security risks of the shutdownhe an american althcare worker is s held prisoner ia for two years. film director bryan singer faces multiple allegations of rape and abuse, plus, much more. >> woodruff: for a couple ofe' weeks now, seen more reports of temporary shutdowns of som checkpoints at major airports

like in houston and mi there have also been reports of growing security lines peodically. and a rising percentage of t.s.a. wkers calling in sick. but on wednesday, the unions that represent pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers issued a jointtt warning that the prolonged shutdown is threatening air traffic safety. they spoke at reagan national airport today and were jmaned by senato warner, a democrat from virginia. >> there are 6,300 projects going on at airports across the country, many of them safety related, tt have all been stalled by the shutdown and when the shutdown ends, it's not like you can immediately the day after get back to normal. the day after it will take a 45 to 60 day delay even after shutdown to get us back on these safety products to business as

usual. >> woodruff: air traffic controllers have been working without pay for over a month. some have been forced to work aertime, sometimes six da week.h trlbert is executive vice president of the national air traffic controllers association and joins me now from new york. ms. gilbert, thank you very much for joining us. across the board, how have air traffic controllers been affected by this shutdown? >> well, you know, depending on whe they're working, they're handling it differently. they're all coming to work, as you mentioned, since theo shutdownurred without receiving pay. they're working overtime without receiving that pay,rking holidays, weekends, nights to be ere to provide the service that the public deserves, safe passage irrough our aspace to get goods where they need to go, to keep the economy movin they're there, but the strain is becoming significant. each day this shutdown continues, they worry about their next paycheck, and now

we're set to get a second paycheck without any pay int it. and it's not ju t abo pay. it's the fact that they don't know how long this is going to occur. so, now, a job, where you need to be focused 100% of the time on making sure planes don't hit each other, they' worried about the length of the shutdown and whether they will have to find other employment, whether they will have to take jobs before or after their shift, which could add morse stres and fatigue to the work environment. some are already doing that. or wel they have to sll their homes or move? what are they going to be able to do? theyon't know howong their savings will last because they don't know how long the shutdown will continue. it's really an unreasonable thing to ask of american citizens thatovide service for american citizens. >> woodruff: trish trish, how are -- trish gilbert, how you getting information about wht these air traffic controllers are feeling now? >> i represent the 20,000 safety

professionals in t f.a.a., 000 furloughed without coming to work and getting pay. they will get the back pay as the law says, when we open, but i represent manair traffic controllers along with other aviation safety professionals that are coming to work, as wely previoentioned, and they are writing the letters, notes, ve taken phone calls. i was an air traffic controller t years in houston, texas before elected tis position, so i know them well. i see them in pain. they're heart brken. the system they hold and safeguard, they hold so dear to them and they safe guard the people wo fly through it is strained and unraveling. the safety components that arer sotical to our system are being stripped away each and ovary day and they're watching it happen, and they're upset is.ut th they feel like there's nothing they can do. they are at airports, they've come to d.c. on a day off when

they have it to talk to their elected representatives. they are also talking to the media across toue cntry. they are really, really trying to help all of us that wouldh like to sees government running at full capacity so n we sure safety back open. we need the government back open and we need it back open yesterday. we cannot sustain this irresponsible and reckless government shutdown. >> woodruff: this has to be, not alarming, at the very least concerning to americans who are listeninwhto thiso are watching you right now. give us a sense, take us inside the job of an air traffic controller who comes to the job, is worried about whether they can make the next mortgage payment or ha what their family needs, how does that affect the work they do? >> they are already work very long hoursecause we are at a

30-year low of fully certified air traffic controllers and now the staffing crisis will continue well ter th government opens. so they are going to look forward to many, many years of mandatory overtime to keep the system running because they've quring. they've shut our academy in oklahoma city where our new hires start the career. we have 2,000 eligible to retire, likely to go out of frustration, so they're looking at a career of many months and years of working six days a week. so they're frustrated with that. so th come into the profession that they love but nobody wants to work that long every -- forever and ever. they need to get soe relief. they need some -- we need to start hiring more, once this ends. we need to work on training. all the things that we're not doing now in this government shutdown. we're not training people to replace those that ae getting fatigued and need to focus on,ag

n, separating planes, preventing them from hitting each other. i'm tting notes from people that are saying they're making mistakes that they hadn't made in the ten, 15, 20 years of service they have been an air traffic controller. they're making them because they're stressed out, because they don't know when this is going to end, and they're distracted. we cannot have that in our system. it's unsafe, and we need to open the government, get them paid, get their support team there, our quality assurance people, our training teams, all of em there. >> and make no mistake about it, we hear you saying that safety is being compromised right now. >> i think we are less safe than were a month ago, absolutely. there are less processes in place. we report safety incidents, like we always ve, in th last several decades or the last decade, but nothing is hapni with those reports. the people that would not -- would take action and mitigate

that risk being reported by the front line workforce are furloued, so we're not seeing that occur. we're seeing maintenance of theu infrastructureraiders and our technology not being mainatined at the level tht is when we're open. it's a o fixn fail type policy, and that's not adequate as well, so all of these tings add risk into a system that needs to be completely safe r the amrican public. >> it is an alarming account, and trish gilbert with the airnt traffic llers association, we thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: today in syria, isis and u.s. backed forces fought over one of isis' final holdouts. and the u.s. is reinforcing the area with additional troops, to prepare for a withdrawal.

but as the u.s. draws down,th e are still americans being held by the syrian regime. nick schifrin brings us one of their stories, with a family that is just now going public. >> schifrin: when majd kamalmaz wasn't throwing the football, hiking up a mountain, or fishing in the ocean, he was with his brood of grandchildren. >> he was an amazing grandather. we have family in indiana, texas, iowa d virginia, and he was the glue that brought everybody together. az>> schifrin: khalid kamas majd's son. and when majd wasn't with his children and grandchildren, he was lping other people's children who'd suffered through conflict or natural disasters. >> he had a big heart, and he couldn't help seeing anyone in pain. he saw a shortage and felt there was a need, and we was an vocate of that need. >> schifrin: after the war in bosnia, the tsunami in indonesia, and hurricane katrina, he led an n.g.o. that treated children who needed help. in 2012, he told an arab news outlet how children can be resilient, with their parents'

support. >> ( translated ): the parents should always stand with their children. this gives the child confidence in his or her family and ensures they c overcome any issue in the future. >> he's a father, a husband, a brother, a son, he is a friend of many, a colleague, and he is missed very deeply. >> schifrin: kamalmaz was last seen in damascus in 2017. his family says he was not part of the war, or helping rebelgh rs, but instead, paying respects for his father-in-law's death.n a westplomat told the family he was picked up by police, and transferred into a syrian prison. >> on "cbs this morning," the daughters of a syrian... >> schifrin: and now after two years of no proginss, they are public with a media blitz to deliver a direct appeal to the president. l they wrote himter asking for his assistance. h>> we're trying to appro president donald trump to see if we can get his attention so he

lln take this matter perso he's the only one we feel who can bring our father back home to us. >> we are very happy to have aya back home. >> schifrin: president trump has secured the release of several americans held hosge overseas. aya hijazi spent three years in an egyptian jail. last may the president greeted americans at the airport after negotiating their release with north korean leadekim jong-un. and two months later, the president welcomed pastor drew brunson, who'd been held by turkey. >> lord god i ask that you put your holy spirit on president enump. >> there hasn't day we haven't been praying and thinking about him, is he ok, ie live? we believe president trump has the ability and the heart to do it. >> schifrin: but the u.s. has cut all diplomatic relations eth syria, and so has lit leverage over syrian president bashar al-assad. assad is believed to be holding at least one more american: journalist austin tice.

on the anniversary of tice's disappearance last august, his mother debra pleaded for his release. >> our beloved austiptwas taken caive in syria. we have had no contact at all. with h five years is a very long time for any parent to be missing their child.if >> sn: a state department spokesman says "our embassies and consulates abroad have no greater responsibility than the rotection of u.s. citizens overseas," and is ular contact with the kamalmaz family. majd's children say ey government has been helpful. and they have a message to their father.e >>ve you and that we're working very hard, as hard as we can to bring you back home. and we haven't given up on you.n >> pleas these two years have been hard for us, not knowing where you are,our health. er are doing our best. our best to bring you back home.

>> schifrin: all they can do now is wait, and try to hold on to the resilience their father gave them. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: an uncertain road ahead for long haul truckers. and jason rezaian's new book documenting his time as prisoner in iran. there are new allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by a prominent filmmaker, bryan singer. singer directed "bohemian stapsody," which was just nominated for a icture oscar earlier this week. he was behind a number of other major films as well, including several of the "x-men" movies and "the u his movies have earned three billion dollars at the box

office. amna nawaz looks at the allegations and how they once again raise questions about hollywood. >> nawaz: judy, bryan has faced similar allegations and even lawsuits before that were eventually dismissed. but an investigation published in "the atlantic" de oils new claiabuse and sexual assault from four men who say they were minors at the time. three of them remaed anonymous in the piece. a fourth went public by name. in some cases, singer isccused outright of rape and assault. in others, he's accused of seduction, sexual encounters and misconduct when the men were underage. the article also reports that singer engaged in other predatory behavior dating back to 1997. and that he was sometimes aided by peoound him. singer has disputed these claims and hit back hard at the aheicle

whicalled a "homophobic smear piece." alex french is one of the two journalists who worked on this investigation. he joins me now by skype. alex, welcome to the "newshour". this isn't the first time these allegations have beene against singer. so what was it now about these four men and their stories that made you and your reporting partner max potter, seshed mention, look into this? >> we kicked things off las december after caesar goodsman accused mr. singer of raping him in 2003 when sanchez guzman was 17. not long afterat, my reporting partner max pointed out to me tha you know, mr. singer had been trailed by allegations of sexual miconduct against underaged men for two decades. we spent a year researching and reporting around mr. singer's behavior. we spoke to, you know, 50 sources and, as you mentioned in your intro, along the way, w met these four guys, you know,

none of them had ever spoken to the media before. all fourf them claim tat they had sexual contact with mr. singer when they were underaged. you know, i think these guys had watched the #metoo movement unfold and decided it was time to tell theriir sto. what was really striking about them, especially the alias guys, wathey didn't want anything. you know, they haven't filed suit, they're not asking for money, they're not looking for attention, they just really felt like it was time to tell their story. >> so, obviously, in a story like this where the allegations are this serious, granting anonymity is a very seious decision you have to make. why did these three help want to remain ano and why did you decide their stories were credible enough tht you granted them that and moved forward with the story? >> that was not something we ok lightly. i can assure you these guys are very, very real to max and i. you know, we didn't interview erviewedt once, we int them, you know, a dozen times,

in person, over the phone.l we got to knowabout their lives. you know, we really soaked in the details that they provided to us about these encounters with mr.inger. and max and i spent a lot of time working to corromsrate their cl you know, we -- you know, one of the men in the story claims that he was assaulted in a house in beverly hills in a specific bedroom and we went and found a floor plan for the house to corroborate those claims. you know, along the way, one of the guys said to us in reaction ow, questions abo going on the record andet , if it's me, you know, alex, i work paycheck to paycheck, this sort of bravery that you are asking me to haveux is really aury. you know, like this guy is not an actor still pulling ten dollars million a film. a lot of these guys had

reservations because they were ofafraid of some sor retaliation. >> you and m were reporting this for another publication, esquire, where you both work for. and you clarified in a statement later that it went through a fact-checking process there. executives there decided not to run it before you took it to "the atlantic" where it was eventually run. do you know why it wasn't run ridge riin "esquire," why theyed kit? >> it was conceived of by "esquire magazine." we went through their process including fact checking in an extensive legal-vetting process. when that was done our story and the full support of thesquire executive in chief andxecutive editorial director, the guys fought hard for the story, and in the end it wa killed by executives at hurst and we don't know why. we weren't provided rationale.

bringing the story to "the atlantic" was not a long conversation. the magazine has a reputation of journalistic excellence and max and i arerateful to those at "the atlantic" for giving the story a home and putting it through another rigorous fact check and vetting. >>efore this came out b. singer issued a response knowing that it waing reported. he claimed you were making assumptions that were fictional and irresponsible, rehashing lawsuits, and heer reed a lot of these comments when the piece was published.d he se timing was suspect. he has a big movie out now, claims yout getting attention by publishing this now. what do you have to say to that? >> in past in these allegations

mr. singer resulted to countertactics and victim shaming. in his statement in october when he first caught wind of the story d yesterday, we failed to address a very detailed accusations made by the men in this story. theyust don't hold water. >> alex, oftentimes when we've heard similar stories against powerful figures fist reported, additional accusations or alletions then surfaced since this has run. have you been approached by anyone else who's made similar allegations? >> i'm not at liberty say that now, sorry. >> alex french, who ltest piece now is in "the atlantic," thank you so much for your time. >> thank you so much for your time. >> woodruff: last month the newshour brought you a series of

stories looking at the future of work, including a segment in which economics correspondent paul solman explored the seeming contradiction between the fear of job loss due to the rise of driverless trucks and the current shortage of truck drivers in america. tonight, paul takes a closer look at the life of one of those drers, and the state of hi profession, part of his weekly series, making sense. >> reporter: so now, when did you first start driving? >> 1981. >> reporter: you were how old? >> 21. >> reporter: and why. >> why. oh... >> reporter: a man whose job may may not be threatened b technology: long haul trucknn driver, urphy. >> i was at colby college. >> reporter: up in maine. >> waterville, maine. and then i'd come ba to connecticut in the summers that i'd worked for callahan brothers moving and storage. and i took a road trip with a driver, my first ride in a big truck.

and it was amazing. over the george washington bridge in a big truck down route 13 through delaware, chesapeake bay bridge tunnel into vginia beach. i had never been in the south. i was seduced by it, i loved it. and so after my this was my junior year summer vacation and llat's when i decided i wasn't going to finish e. >> reporter: and so murphy got his commercial license and his career as a truck driver and professional mover of high priced home furnishings. he's dtilled the experience into a memoir: "the long haul: a trucker'tales of life on the road," describing an odd job for a colle kid whose father was a well-known illustrator, the cartoonist behind "prince valiant." >> after i told him i was leaving college after completing three years and was going work for north american van lines, he came down and he handed me a bill for thr c years lege. and three years of rens and said if t the path that you choose then you need to pay me back the college that you've squandered. i never did pay him and he never did ask me again. r orter: but what drove a

colby kid from a literacy-laden faitly; brother cullen is ed at large of vanity fair; to hits the high it can't just be the allure of the road, i mean. >> well it was the work too. moving people's uff is very fun and complicated and hard. i enjoyed the camaraderiof working with a group of men. i mean, that's how human beings lived for 100,000 years. we all lived in small societies and we all did manual labor and we all did it with you know are our brothers. >> reporter: but there was a long period of time when you did not drive, right? >> correct. so i drove for 10 years in the '80s. and then i drove, i've been driving since 2009. so another 10 years no so i've had two stints of 10 years. >> reporter: and 20 years in between. >> and 20 years in between. >> reporter: in those two decades, he and his wife started a successful cashmere importing business, and rphy became a city councilman in nantucket.

that life all fell art when his marriage did, so he dusted off his commercial drivers license and got back on the road. >> when i climb up into the truck and i turn on this engine and i know i'm going to be gone for four months. ked there's a lot of guys me out there. you know we're running away from situations or. bankruptcy or bad relationships or anything. this is a great way to be out on the lam and still get paid. >> reporter: driving again, and tlping move people and their possessions around country, murphy salvaged a sensof purpose. >> and i was making a ton of money because all i was ing was high end executive relocation. so i'm moving all these rich execs. >> reporter: how much are you making a year. how much do you make a year? >> well if i work 50 weeks a year i can make a anuple hundred >> reporter: that's the absolute high end of... e >> it's the hi of

trucking. a furniture mover who's doingat corpore relocation is going to be the high end, yeah, the very >> reporter: but what does a typical trucker make? >> i think the average is about you know 36 to $40,000 a year. and that's for a guy who's he's getting pa by the mile. could be gone for months at a time. this isn't a you know a highly skilled or highly paying job at all. i read "the economist" every week, probably the only long haul driver who reads he economist" every week and this is a conundrum right now in today's labor market. which is you know we're at 3.9% unemployment but wages are stagnant.or >> repter: indeed, wages have barely kept up with inflation in the past year. for truckers, as for so many in jobs that aren't highly skilled, they've fared far worse, for decades. >> compared to what th industry paid in the 1970s we're way behind the eight b because this was a solid middle class job back then.

even into the 1980s and now it's a poverty profession. >> reporter: and why was it so well-paying back then? >> it was unionized and you had freight rates you had a regulated freight market that was regulated by the federal government just like thein ai. this all happened in the motor carrier act of 1935 with f.d.r.a e all the trucking companies were going out of business in 1935. >> reporter: and this is when he propped up prices. >> exactly. t he did it wi airlines. he did it with the trucking business he did with the railroads. t and that's wse were middle class jobs because you had the management and unions working together. because the prices were fixed. >> reporter: and then that wasre lated further under jimmy carter, or at least the airlines were. >> yes, it started with jimmy carter in trucking and it ended, was finished up by ronald reagan. >> reporter: but of course that means it's cheaper for the consumer right? >>t was a great consumer benefit. freight rates fell almost overnight. and this is the question-- thi is the question that everybody needs to ask as a citizen of any place.

which is: how much money do you want to save at the expense of good jobs, community character. you know we all have our nine dollar sneakers from walmartow and that's great. hat in order to get those nine dollars sneakers wto export all of our manufacturing. ow we don't have good jo but we have nine dollar sneakers. is that a good tradeoff? in my opinion, no. >> reporter: well a loemof americans o agree with you, and that is a lot of the impetus behind donald trump's make america great again, right? >> it is. and you know i certainly wouldn't want to be cast into the trump camp and i don't care who knows it. but, you know, 250 million people have been taken out of poverty in the last 30 years in the far east in and other places. and a lot of that has to do with free trade and the decisions that countries like the united states have made. and i think i think that's

great. but we need to keep our eye on the ball about our own people. the middle class has been hollowed out in the united states. certainly in the trucking business and i'm not an expert on anything else. but this is not a middle class job anymore. >> reporter: welit's a middle class job for somebody like you. >> it's an upper class job somebody like me. right. well it's an upper class incomil stnot an upper class job. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, this is economics coespondent paul solman, o on the road. >> woodruff: now, to my conversation with the nejournalists jason and ye rezaian. jason rezaian this week published a memoir that recounta his 18 months iranian prison. it's entitled "prisoner."

the airy kitchen of their washington home is now quiet comfort for jason and yeganeh rezaian, three years after jason's release from an iranian prison, following 544 days iny captiv rezaian was the "washingtonpo 's" tehran bureau chief when, in july 2014, he and yeganeh were arrested. they were newlyweds, both holding official journalist's inrmits, re-authorized the very day they were de. you were just about as unlikely a political prisoner as i can think that. why do youhink they chose you? >> i think they chose me because i was the best available option. an american citizen working form a major americia organization. one of the few based in iran few media organizations. the only american and a duel iranian national so they could

have their cake and eat it too. you know treat me as an iranianh citizen, put mugh the rigmarole of a judicial process there. and at the same time try and extract concessions from the united states i was doing my job. and like any journalist i had contacts in the u.e government, anian government, in the iranian construction of this case against me, thewas that by doing all of this work and making all of this information gathered on the ground in iran publicly available to the united states in the washington post newspaper, this is a threat to our national security. >>toodruff: it's two differ worlds. i mean they had one understanding of what you were doing and it was completely different from what was.in >> well i they understood. i think they understood exactly what i was doing. how they interpreted how that could hurt them was their own sort of crazy conclusi >> woodruff: of okurse it all

lace during the negotiations over the iran nuclear deal. did you feel you wera pawn? >> i mean i don't like the term "pawn" and i don't think anybody would. but i do believe that i was taken by the forces in the iranian regime that captured us to cause problems for those and kill our negotiations. oodruff: the rezaians we held at tehran's notorious evin prison. yeganeh was released after three months; jason would remain f imprison another 15 months. you write so vividly about how terrible it was of course. you said you were not tortured but you re treated horribly and you were left in a room with a light on all the time. you were pulled in for daily constant interrogations. how did you get through it? >> well a year and a half is a long time.

and when you are surrounded by the same peoe you see the best and the worst that they're capable of in that period of time.im i believe aswent on that i built a rapport with some of my interrogators ptors that they let their guards down a little bit. knthought in the moment yo better tbe as myself as possible in the hopes that i might be able to get a slightly better situation because you're just trying to survive. >> i didn't want to be released without jason. i was resisting to leave the prison because i wanted to makee sure io we do we do leave it together. it was not a sweet happy moment for me. rs woodruff: how do you how did you deal with the of this in terms, were there times when you thought he was not going to come? >> i was told many, many timeser that we won't e together

or he will be executed or at least he will be in prison for ten years. i contemplated suicide.gl interestone day i went towa visit him and crying. and i said i think it was seven months through his imprisonment, i said jason i can't do this anymore. and we're meeting behind these windows and talking through phones. and he said we came this far we

son go a little bit longer. and he told me a as we are released we're going to go to america, i'm going to take you to america and you're going to be aamerican, there's no can't. american can do so i mean i always remembered his words. it was just funny to me how he had energy to play with words to make me happy. so i think those little kind of things that gave you hope. re i had no idea about the negotiations that oing on. although my captors talked about it at certain times, you know, there's going to be a prisoner swap. i was incredibly skeanptical, y. if you remember, it was during that period of time where they started admitting, you know, we

thingyou didn't do any wrong, you know, but we needed something to work with. it was such a huge relief to get on that plane and lift off and leave iranian airspace, but it was also enormous loss for both of us. so, you know, i'm still, you know, riddled with mixed emotions about the whole thing. >> many people go through this harrowing experiences and they never come back as who they were. also, i think after he was released and we finally came to the united states, we are going through two different experiences. for him it's coming back home.in for me is lehome maybe forever. >> woodruff: can you talk about your feelings about your country and about the people in your country?y >> i'm voud of being iranian. i love my country.

i love my land. i love my people. i miss my frnds. i just miss everything about it. but at the same time i know i most likely won't be able to go back anytime soon. >> i mean i think about the people that we left behind friends and family all the time. i think that's the biggest heartbreak of this whole experience especially for yegi not being able to see your family and you know by no fault of our own. that's the part of this that is so heartbreaking. >> woodruff: if you each could deliver a message to the leaders raof the united states and what would you say >> i would say in both cases do a better job of trying tfigure out what's making the other on tick because on both sides

they're off base. the leaders of iran should be treating their people much better. open the doors let people out of prison. let people flourish. let them live their lives. >> i want to say both sides for their own political agenda or >> woodruff: jason rezaian how do you now think about your role as a journalist? i mean you think of yourself as having a particular mission connected to what happened to you? how do you feel about your future? >> i just went back to work about a year ago. and the role that i'm in has evolved over that time. i'm on the opinion side now. there's a possibility for me to use platforms available to me tk bout issues relating to iran and specifically foreigns nationing held there because i know that story as well as anybody. but so about why it's important to protect press freedoms here home and around e world. so i'm going to be doing that as long as i have the opportunity

to. as long as i have a platform to do that, i'm not going to stop doing that. >> woodruff: but amid that mission, jason admits, the lasting, bone-deep recollection of those 544 days changed him profoundly. >> it still affects me and everything that i do. i was a carefree person that traveled the world with a backpack and a one way ticket r many years. there's none of that anymore. i need to know exactly where i'm going, how i'm getting there, who's going to be there waiting for me and how i'm coming home. i'm a different person now. >> woodruff: finally, t, fans across africa and the world are mourning zimbabwe music legend oliver mtukudzi, who died wednesday of diabetes.

he was widely known as "tuku," with a distinctive style, in the shona language, that spannedre han four decades. ♪ ♪ over the years, he recorded more than 60 albums and toured acternationally. and, he largely cuss zimbabwe's political divides, playing for the ruling party and opposition alike. oliver mtukudzi was 66 years old. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. 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. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online.

more information on babbel.com. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by conibutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, c

captioneby media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org s are only as good

as your ingredients. on this season martha bakes, join me in the kitchen with the experts on this season who know these ingredients best. i'll teach you how to use them in original recipes, on this season whfrom pies to cakes and tartst. that your family and friends will lov plus, some of my favorite bakers will use these prize ingredients in their recipes. welcome to martha bakes. martha bakes is made possible by... for more200 years, domino and c&h sugars have been used by home bakers to help bring recipes to life and create memories for each new generation of baking enthusiasts. ♪ is proud to sponsor n"martha bakes"u care ♪