captioning sponsored by wnet : on this edition for saturday, may 25: another roadblock in funding for a boer wall. president trump kicks-off a state visit to japan. and, in our signature segment: tackling maternal mortality, in a state with one of the highest uninsured rates in the country. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. sen melvin. the cheryl and philip milstein fami. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerbg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america--

designing customizedndividual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. t fr tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thank you for joining us. president trump's planvert billions of dollars from the defense department to fund construction of barriers and walls on the u.s.-mexico border is partially stalled aurer a federal ruling in northern california last night. u.s. district jue haywood gilliam jr. granted a preliminary injunction halting the redirection of milary funds to two projects that would add 51 miles of barriers iniz yuma, a and el paso, texas. gilliam is overseeing two s lawsuits filrtly after the president declared a national

emergency at theorder. that followed a two-month standoff with congress and a n partial government shutder funding to build a barrier wall. in his ring, gilliam wrote that the issues raised in the cases are "not about whether the challenged border barrier construction plan is wise or unwise. instead, this case presents strictly legal questions regarding whether the proposed plan for funding border barrier construction exceeds the executive branch's lawful authority." late this afternoon, president trump tweeted a response to the ruling, saying that "we are asking for an expedited appeal!n ay one of a four-day state visit to japan, president trump led off with criticism of what he called the "trade imbalance" between the two countries. japan has a $70 billion trade surplus with the u.s. shortly after arriving in tokyo with the first lady,drhe president sed the issue at a reception with business leaders. >> the united states aan are hard at work negotiating a bilateral trade agreement which will benefit both of our

countries. y that japan has had a substantial edge for many, many years, but that's okay: >> sreenivasst week, the trump administration announced it would delay new tariffs on japanese and european auto imports for six months, while they negotiate trade dea. during the visit, the president emll be the first head of state to meet japan's neror. we'll have more on the president's trip, and the u.s. and japan's relationship, after the news summary. another mountain cmber attempting to summit mount everest died today, bringing the death toll to ten, from what is being called a traffic jam on the world's highest peak. a record number of people are trying to use short windows of good weather, and are frequently stuck waiting for their turn to the top in the last narrow stretch of the climb, known as" "the death zon nepal's tourism ministry issue permits to a record 381 climbers this season, amid concerns expeditions are too loosely regulated. according to government officials, 17 people have died

during 2019's season, one of the worst death tolls in decades. south african president cyril ramaphosa was sworn into office today for a five-year term following a tumultuous electiona in his inaugurress, ramaphosa promised that he and his ruling african nationalre co party will fight corruption and work to end poverty in a generation. the unemployment rate in south rica is more than 25%, a half of all south africans live in hseholds where income is less than $90 per month. a major realstate title company admitted that a security lapse exposed bank account numbers and other nsitive information in its 885 million personal files. the data leak at first american financial, a fortune 500ir company, was reported on the blog, "krebs on security." a flaw in annternet application allowed anyone with a web browser to see confidential customer data in files that dated back more than 16 years. first american financial says it tis now blocked all outside

access, and is invting to see if the data was taken by outsider if it was, the security lapse will rank as one of the biggest data leaks in internet history. >> sreenivasan: for more on the japan-u.s. relationship and the president and first lady's state visit, we turn to sheila smith, senior fellow for japan studies at the council on foreign relations. she's also the author of "japan re-armed," and she joins us now from washington, d.c. this visit, the first by donald trump to see-- or actually, any major world leader, to see the new emperor, how big of a deal is that in japan? >> it's a huge deal, hari. it's, you know, this is the, the coming on-- coming of age of the new emperor and empress, and it will be their first international state visit. it's also portant for japan to show that the relationship with president trump and with united states is the iority for them.

there will be a large g-20 meeting next mth in japan, so lots of state leaders will be coming to the country. so, this really sets the sta for the japanese to say, "this is an alliance that matters to us." >> sreenivasan: now, one of the pressing concerns in that region right now is north korea and the missile tests that they've been having, and really the u.s.' t sture on what we consider to be a problem and w don't. >> exactly. and, you know, the japanese ha watched very closely the president's diplomacy with kim jong-un, the leader of the d.p.r.k. he, prime minister abe has been very supportive the president's engagement with mr. kim. but he has also continued to advocate maximum pressure-- in other words, not releasing or relieving the north koreans of the sanctions that the united nations has imposed on them. so, those recent missile tests, there was a little bit of a question in tokyo about the american response to them. do they matter? do they not? and i think you saw alreadyy national securvisor bolton making very clear in a press conference that, yes, they

violate u.n. sanctions and therefore they do matter. >> sreenivasan: yeah. on the one hand, we are very concerned about missiles that could go all the way across the ocean, but the japanese and everyone in the region is much more concerned about anything >> exactly.ke them. and the, the arsenal of north korean missiles in the shoge and medium rwith short range, of course, being able to hit south rea, and the more medium range reaching all the way across japan. those are the ones that our allies care abt, and there are a lot of them. and the north koreans in 2017 seoff barrages of these missiles to demonstrate that our allies in the region were vulnerable to the north korean arsenal. >> sreenivasan: let's talk a little bit about trade, as well. right now, as the united states tries to basically renegotiate nafta on the one hand, there's also the possible tariffs and the existing tariffs that are happening in china, but kind of it's hanging in the air, whether or not we're going to do something about how we deal with the auto industry, and a huge impact on the american consumer if we did something japanese-made cars. >> exactly. and you know, prime senister abe haup this visit to be a very diplomatically warm welcome

for japan. but hovering not far under the surface, of course, is this bilateral free trade talk. the talks that, that are going to reach an agreement between rited states and japan la this year. there's a lot of friction. as you pointed out, the president's use of tariffs hasja not-n has not been immune to that. the steel and aluminum tariffs that were imposed on our trading partners also affected japan, as it did europe. but that's really the auto industry, i think, in japan that would face the largest setback if united states decided to go in that direction. d just or two ago, the u.s. announced it would postpone that decision. so, that leverage on the part of the president is still hanging out there for japan. and he landed and immediately, you know, met sith japanese ss leaders in tokyo to say, your trade deficit with us is a probl, and we're going to correct the problem. >> sreenivasan: and where is japan's economy right now? where ishe, kind of, their overall health when it terms to trying to shore up the edrelationship with the un states, especially as the united states has more trouble

negotiating with china? >> well, japan's finally back on a growth trajectory. as you know, for, for almost all tte way through the 1990s, the japanese economy sed, in fact, was in recession for much of it. so, prime minister abe, through a very aggressive focus with monetary, fiscal and policy, and to a certain extent some structural rorms, has attempted to jump-start japanese growth. slow but nonheless positive for the japanese economic future. whatever happens in the global economy, of course, the japanesv are venerable to, and so any kind of distortion, such as the trade conflict between united states and the p.r.c., any kind of conflict in the middle east, the conversation today about iran, those would all be tremendously important for japan. but the bilateral trading relationship and economichi partnewith the united states is really vital to japan. it's not just that they export and import from the united states, but there's also foreign direct investment here in united states that creates somewhat obke, just a little short of a million american

so, japan is deeply enmeshed in elour national economy, as >> sreenivasan: all right. sheila smith, senior fellow for japan studies infohe council on ign relations. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, hari, for having me. >> sreenivasan: if you're an american woman, your chanc of dying from pregnancy-related causes are higher than someone who lives in sweden, poland or libya. in an historic move this past december, president trump allocated $50,000,000 in funding to decrease maternal mortality over the next five years. texas inadvertently became an atblem on the health crisis when it mistakenly over the number of maternal deaths in beeir state, but the error drew attention to the nof derican american women who still had higher maternah rates than other populations. newshour weekend special correspondent kirsty johansen traveled to texas to meet the woman who helped put this issu in the spotlight and is fightinn

for ch across the country. >> reporter: mornings in the thierry household are like those in many other american homes. shawn thierry, a single mother,g ting her daughter, klaire, ready for school and has a jam-y packederself. thierry tries not to take any og their timeher for granted, remembering sage words from her grandmother. >> she would always say, i remember when i was a little girl, "well, when a woman has a baby, that's the closest she's ever going to get to death." but that was true back in the... as they say, the old days. women died in childbirth. and so, i find it just boggling that in 2019 we're still having this conversation. i'm going to go get your clothes. >> reporter: texas has one of the most concerning maternal mortality rates in the country, estimated at 14.6 per 100,000 ve births. for black women, it's even worse: 27.8 per 100,00 shawn thierry almost became one

of the state's statistics nrself while giving birth 2012 to klaire. >> i started to tell the doctors the room, "something's not right." i asked them to put me under, to give me full anesthesia, thinking that if somehow isn conscious and awake of the level of pain that i was in, that maybe i could survive and they said, "well, the doctor's not even in the room. he... he has to make that order." and him."screamed, "go get >> reporter: thierry doesn't remember much else other thanki up and finding out she had given birth. she says her doctor never explained what had happened. >> later, i found out. a couple of nurses came in, and they said that i had what's called a high-block epidural.e and that can adverse reaction when i believe it's put too high in your spi the medicine goes to your heart instead of down to your legs. so, . was paralyzing my heart >> reporter: thierry bves her nurses and doctors didn't take her pain level serisly.

she says a university of virginia report may hold the key as to why. >> they surveyed medicalst ents who actually believed that african americans have thicker skin. they reveal that they thought that african americans had a higher pain threshold. and so, findings are coming out that blacks are less likely to receive pain medication in the e.r. >> reporter: as a black woman in texas, thierry knows all too well how big the problem is. she's a texas house representative. her district includes three of the zip codes with the highest maternal mortality rates. driven by her persal ordeal, she's pushing the state to study maternal mortality, anssue that dr. carla ortique says hasa becorisis. >> at least 50% to 80% of aths are of these preventable. >> reporter: ortique is vice chair of the texas maternal mortality and morbidity task

force, which was established int 20study the state's maternal mortality rate.ow >> we hat for every maternal death, there are10 approximatelsevere maternin morbidities. ther words, bad things that happen-- near misses, near death instances. and so, it's really important that we recognize that the mortality is just that. it's the tip of the iceberg. >> reporter: ortique says 55% of women who give bir in texas are covered by medicaid. mostose that coverage 42 day after delivery. >> and so, it's likely not a coincidence that y see a higher incidence of death after that 42-day mark. >> reporter: texas has the largest uninsured rate in the country, in part because in 2012 the state legislature rejected billions of dollars in federal aid to expand medicaid under the

affordable care act. dr. ortique says that decisionup d with poverty, obesity and increases in opiate abuse has served only to furer marginalize those in need. >> she was always experimenting with hair. >> reporter: cheryl perkins'ss daughter, ndra, had insurance when she gave birth to twins camille and catreyal, now four years old. she already had an older daughter, journii, who is now six. but even with insurance, doctors missed early signs of trouble. >> she had went to the e.r. 22 times, with... with ic resolution, .. that never should have happened b, you know, it would seem like the doctors would say, "why is this person cing back here? we're doing... we're not doing something." >> reporter: cassaundra was eventually diagnosed with an

infection, and her labor was induced just six months into her pregnancy. her twins weighed only two pounds each. she died a week and a half later after her liver failed. >> trying to get these little hairs back in place. >> reporter: her mother is now raising three young children alone. >> there. >> no, i want to wash it. >> catreyal, go get your brother's pole so he can eat. reporter: catreyal, meanwhile, has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and needs 24/7 assistance. >> that's like... that is so hard. >>eporter: three years aft cassaundra's death, dr. ortique's task force found that the rate of racial disparity had t changed. mortality among black women was more than double that of white women. t though the state has since developed a better method thatse foon tracking numbers, it still does not include women who die outside the 42-day medicaid cut-off.

>> now, this room here, this is our obstetric room.te >> rep shawn thierry has also proposed a maternal mortality and morbidity data registry bill which would require collecting health data at the time a pregnant woman is admitted for delivery, through 364 days ptpartum. under the bill, data would be collected on a daily basis and would include the st high-risk conditions, such as hemorrhaging and pregnancy-induced hypertension.of onhe reasons thierry wants to introduce the data registry is so broader statistics canth reinforcseverity of maternal deaths and set a new standard for states across the u.s.o thierry is aying to pass two more bills. one would extend m ficaid covera eligible women up to one year after they deliver or experience a miscarriage. the other would require cultural coletency training for medi professionals to remove bias in treatment of african-american women, something the task force recommended.

physicians like dr. carla ortique say that's fine, but only as long as it's voluntary. >> while i did say i absolutely support having training, i'm not... i can't say that i totally support mandates. >> reporter: meanwhile, the state has already made some changeto address maternal health issues. texas children's hospital women's pavilion has its ownre intensive ard within the labor and delivery unit, the first of its kind in the country. and the texas department of state health services introduced maternal safe bundles which detail treatment policies, safety equipment, training programs and internal reviews that every hospital should have. so far, 85% of birthing amcilities in the state have rolled out the pro you're putting three bills forward. what happens if they don't pass? >> i'll be very disappointed. that's the first thing that's going to happen. but i'm... then, after that,

i'll have to wait two more years. >> reporter: in fact, this month, her data registry bill was passed by the texas house, but her two other bills were not granted a committee hearing. but she vows to keep up the fight even if she has to wait for the next biennial legislative session. can texas wait two more years? >> one of the things i said in the very beginning is, the time is now. we can't wait because we have a list of names of women that have lost their lives behind this. >> sreenivasan: the study of climate change is no longer limited to laboratories andnt scts. citizen scientists are helping with research, including a look back through centuries-old ship's log books. rachel becker, environment reporter for cal matters and formerly a reporter for the verge, joined me recently via skype from sacramento for more on what these handwritten

histors are telling us. >> it's pretty big. so far, about 200 log books have been tracribed so far. >> sreenivasan: and these are people who were actually tasked with keeping track of the weather on a daily basis. these ships, there'd be somebody waterd to go test t temperature, the air temperature or the barometric pressure, and write it all down. >> mm-hmm. so, thes from all sorts of different ships. there were merchant ships traveling from the u.k. and scandinavia down to trade with new zealand and australia. there were exploration vessels traveling all the way down to antarctica. there were whaling ships hunting whales in the waters around new zealand and australia, all the way down to antarctica. and they were markg down these measurements, you know, through sometimes horrendous conditions, to write down, you know, temperatures, air pressure, the things that are key, you know, to sailors, but also now are useful to scntists who want to know what the climate was like 100, 150 years ago. >> sreenivasan: they haven't mapped, they haven't sort of translated, all these-- or

digitized all these books yet. but have they found anything interesting so far from some of the observations? >> so, they're still processing the data. one thing that they'd like to do-- i was speaking with the scientists at new zealand's national institute of water anc atmosphesearch, named petra pierce, who's part of this project. g and one of tls, she told me, is to basically be able to tie extreme impacts flooding to what the weather was ing at the time. maybe there was a storm or something strange going on with e weather. and so, that's one goal. another goal is to groundn climate modelsasurements from the past. and so, if these models can kinf round truth their projections with past, what we know was actually going on historically, they can potentially better predict what's going to happen in the future. so, those are some long-term goals.y' right now, t still processing the data. but they have had some

interesting observations of eyebergs further north, in warmer water than maybe expect. observations of wildlife and the aurora. and pierce, the scientist that i spoke with, told me that one of the really interesting log books, several of the interesting log books that, that have been analyzed came from robert falcon scott's expedition to antarctica in the early 20th century. and these explorers raced to the south pole, and, on their way back, they died. but they werkeeping their measurements right up until the end.er and told me that you can see the measurements get more sporad and infrequent. d eventually, the log books were rescued, and its-- she told me it was very inspiring tlesee these peoing what they could and taking the measurements they could and taking the observations they could, you know, right up unti they couldn't anymore. >> sreenivasan: to watch our

full interview on how centuries- old ship logs may help us learn about climate change, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: how do citizens get involved in something like that large research project? >> citizen accounts go to a website called southern weather discovery, and they can s pieces of old ships logs from the mid 1,800s through the 1900s that recorded things like air temperature, water temperature, air pressure, what the wind was doing, whether there was sea ice nearby, and they can help by looking at this difficult to decipher curly, you know, sometimes illegible handwriting and transcribing the numbers that they see, and so thise websves people little guides to make sure that they tan tell, you know, if tha little squiggle was a 7 or a four, and this -- these measurements are really key and the public's help is key to get these measurements from the page

into computers where they can put into climate dels and they can be used to help understand what the climate was like in the past in order to understand what the climate could do in the future. >> sreenivasan: what about sort of the quality control on this and what >> sreenivasan: what about sort of the qualityl cont this? what if i think it's a seven? am i the only person that's ever going to see that? and then, are we going to have bad data? le that's a great question. so, they have multeople transcribe each entry to weed out outliers. so, you know, maybe it really s a four, but i thought it was a seven. but if everybody else thinks it's a four, then my data will get weeded out, so they don't accidentally get propagad to the climate models. >> sreenivasan: right. and what's their end goal? okonce they get all these finished, what are they hoping to find? >> they're hoping to fill in these gaps in the historical weather record for the waters surrounding new zealand. you know, because to understand how the climate has changed over the long-term, you need a haarting point. you need to knowthe climate was doing in the past. >> sreenivasan: yeah.gh all rachel becker from cal matters, thanks so much for joining us today. >> thanks so much for having me here.

>> sreenivasan: finally tonight, a hiker lost in a dense forest on hawaii's maui island for more than two weeks was found alive yesterday, with only minor injuries. a volunteer search team in a helicopter spotted amanda eller, a 35-year-old yoga instructor d physical therapist, in a creek bed between tworf wals, miles away from where she had left her car andho her cell on may 8. the volunteers were elated, but they did have some advice for those heading into t wilderness: "don't go without your phone, without your friend, or a plan." that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captiong sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

ar bernard and irene sc. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. seton melvin. the cheryl and philip milste family. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. ditional support has bee provided by: and by t corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs ation from viewers like you. thank you. be more. pb

hello. i'm greg sherwood. and here in northern california we're used to emergencies or every kind. in recent years we've dealt th severe drought and massive fires and we've learned the painful but necessary lessons about how to prepare. but we a know another emergency is coming because major earthquakes that can strike at any time are central to our history. we all know another one will hit, and over the next half hour we're going to look at the latest science and explain hownd you can be proactiverotect yourself and your loved ones. b we're going talking with our first guest in a few moments, but first we'd like to invite you to support kqed and emergency planning at the same time. you to consider.wo levels for so take a look and then make a pledge at ed.org/donate or give us a call at 1-800-568-9999.