captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: radical rebuilding. as devastating floods tornadoes tear across the midwest, we exthe possibility of relocating entire towns after natural disaster. then, analysis of the u.s. supreme court's latest rullags on abortio. plus, research indicates that students of color do best when they see teachers who look like themselves. now, a college program seeks to bring more teachers of color into the u.s. public school system. >> having a teacher of color actually can move student achievement. it actually can help keep kids in school, andsist to college. >> woodruff: all that and more,

on tonight's pbs newshou f >> major fundi the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. rdering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> pg for showers. >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text andata. consumer cellular. consumercellular.tv >> for projects around house, home advisor helps find local pros to do the work. can check ratings, read customer reviews, and book appointments with pros online at homeadvisor.com. home advisor s proud to support pbs newshour.

>> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, an. >> bnsf railway. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a string of tornadoes cut a path of destruction across parts of ohio and indiana overnight. the twisters-- including one packing winds up to 140 miles per hour-- flattened entire neighborhoods, killing at least one person and injuring 130 others. in n westerio, the light of day revealed the devastation left by tornadoes hours earlier.

around midnight, a line of twisters tore through indiana and ohio. >> our housene. the tornado just hit our house. >> woodruff: thoseitnessed it, described a deafening noise as thetorms hit. >> within five, ten seconds, it goes from dead quiet to injet engine toff. the loudest noise i've ever heard. >> woodruff: more than 50 tornadoes are reported to have d down across eight stat in the midwest monday night. the area around dayton, ohio, was among the worst hit. local officials there are still assessing the damage. >> we do not y know the full extent of the damage, as crews are still working to reachaf fected areas, but we do know that the damage was significant and th fat many citizens aks are still without basic services. >> woodruff: in vandalia, ohio, just north of dayton, francis dutmers and his we hid in their basement.

>> i just got down on all fours and covered my head with my hands. it blew out most of the windows. you can just feel the wind gusting through the house. >> woodruff: he said their house had minimal damage. others across the region were not so lucky. ome places, rows of homes we razed to their foundations. in others, powerful winds ripped roofs off of homes and uprooted trees. emergency officials are going door to door, but tged residencheck on each other. >>ne thing i must ask everybody is, look out for your neighbors. if you hen't seen somebody that you know, please give us a call at 911. >> woouff: in industrial areas, delivery trucks were knocked over, and wahouses and businesses were destroyed. officials said millions are without power, and that restoration will be a multi-day

effort. monday's storms come just days after deadly tornadoes hit oklahoma oklahoma and arkansas are both experiencing severe flooding, as the arkansas river level rises. the flooding is expected to get worse in the coming days. n, a $n washingto billion disaster aid bill that would have brought much-needed assistance to those storm- ravaged areas has stalled for a second time in the house of representatives. kentucky republican thomas massie objected to the measure over its cost and lack of funds for the southern border. he demanded the vote be held after congress returns from its recess, next week. the legislation included money for rebuilding damaged frastructure and helping farmers cover crop losses, among other things. we will have more on the devastation in the midwest and beyond, after the news summary. in the d's other news, the u.s. supreme court upheld an indiana law requiring abortion providers to b cremate

fetal jmains. but, ttices opted not to aigh in on the debate ove separate indiana provision that would bar won from getting an abortion based on gender, race, or disability. awe will take a closer lo tuesday's supreme court actions, later in the program the first state trial against a drug manufacturer accused fueling the opioid crisis began today in oklahoma. prosecutors allege j & johnson contributed to the epidemic by deceptively marketing the painkillers. the company has denied the aim. the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention estimated that opioid-related overdoses killed more than 47,000 americans in 2017 alone. officials in iran today said that they see "no prospect" of nuclear negotiations with the u.s. the comments came a day after

president trump claimed that a new nuclear deal with iran was possible. during a press conference in t aehrapokesman for the iranian foreign minister blamed the trump administration's terms sanctions relief on iran, and said the 2015 nuclear deal was active despite the u.s. with. >> ( translated ): we consider secretary o 12 demands for iran unrealistic. they are not executable. his conditions are not acceptable by us, or any other independent country. furthermore, we had not left the negotiating table that we're alrey at. we still have a basis called the iran nuclear deal, and iis still alive. >> woodruff: iran's revolutionary ard also said today that it does not fear a possible war with the u.s. tensions between thewo counties escalated after the u.s. accused iran of attacking oil tankers in the gulf earlr this month. a human rights group has accused the egyptian military of committing war crimes against civians in the sinai peninsula.

egyptian forces have been battling islamic militants in the northern part of the peninsula for years. a new report out today from human rights watch descres widespread kidnapping, torture, and murder. also blames the militants for carrying out their own atrocities. back in the u.s., stocks fell sharply on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average plunged 238 points to close at 25,348. the nasdaq fell 29 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 23. still to come on the newshour: the deadly weather in the midwd south central u.s., and a sweeping plan to combat its effects. elections ope see traditional parties give way to both the right and the left. analysis of the supreme court's new actions on abortion. and, much more.

>> woodruff: we return to our lead story, the severe weather devastating the heartland. spring storms haveed to at least six deaths so far in oklahoma. it has been hit by tornado, and flooding there is nearing historic levels. i spoke by phone earlier this evening to oklahoma's governor kevin stitt. governor stitt, thank you very much for join us. tell us now where you have been in the state and what you have n en. >> well, we've bl over the state. i've started. i've been touring western oklahoma an saw some of our farmers that have had some devastation on the flood side. i've been... i toured el reno yesterday. that was the site of a deadly tornado. and i've been ein musko and tulsa, oklahoma, where we're experiencing kind of record floods right now. >> woodruff: and with regardul to, we've seen that video.

is that aesultf, as you say, ancord rain, or is it just inadequate water management system? what's going on there? >> you know, it's record rain. the keystone dam, the keystone watershed, we take a lot of water from kansas, so kansas, southern k northeast oklahoma has had just record rain over the last 30 days. about 11 of our 16 reservoirs are completely full. now they're releasing 275,000 cubic feet a second of water, and so basically thot's flooding af tulsa, south tulsa, and on down int muskogee, the arkansas river, and now all this flooding is going into arkansas and sto ting fect their state, as well. >> woodruff: so how are you and the other officials in dethe stating with it? >> well, you know, i've been on the phone with the head of fema, the secretary of the army, and then i met with the three-star

general with the corps of engineers in tulsa this morning, an our biggest concern is our levee system. so the corps and our city has done a great job over the last 50 yea on our levee system, but with this much water and pressu on it, that's the biggest concern is that we're going to have a levee failure. so we've evacuated some neighborhoods and we're just monitoring that very, very closely. i've got the national guard out walking the levee system, helping monitor that. we have a town dowsn outh around muskogee that actually evacuated because uit waserwater. so muskogee has been hit the hardest right now, and we're just really monitoring our levei ation, because if they go, we could have some other neighborhoods also get flooded. >> woodruff: so what do you need? what do you and local officials need at this point? >> we need the rain to stop up

north. there's more predictions of rain this afternoon in northeast oklahoma and also into kansas, which would exasperate this problem and the inflows into these reservoirs. then our corps has no option but to start increasing the release flows. so that's the problem. we're having record release coming out of the dams. that's just flooding rivers to historic levels. >> woodruff: how are you keeping peoplefe? >> you know, our local emergency management folks and our mayohas done a great job with our police and our fire of going out, not only rescuing certain folks that have been flooded out,urnd i got a n the airboat, and we actually saw, it was unbelievable, literally two-story houses with just a very top ofthe roof sticking out. but they're doing a good job of actually keeping us up to date

on what the maps were showing the citizens and the police going in. if we are seeing water, we're getting people out ahead of time some we haven't had any levee breaks where you're going to have instant increase in water. it's just been a slow rise. so we've been very fortunate. we've... it could have been much worse. we've had eight storm-related thaths since april 30th, and a couple o were in the el reno tornado. so the tornado and the flood stuff has just been a really tough couple weeks for our state.dr >> wf: certainly a really tough couple of weeks, thd we certainly hope for best and hope that the rain will let up. governor kevin stitt, we thank you. >> you so much. >> woodruff: beyond the immediate floong of this spring, the u.s. just experienced its wettest 12-month period on record. it comes amid warnings from many scientists that climate chge is causing more intense storms which, in turn, are increasing flooding risks for millions of

americans living near rivers and along the coasts. many communities are now struggling with how to prepare for that. special correspondent cat wise has our report about a small number of towns that have taken a uniqueach to addressing their problem. ( helicopter ) >> reporter: midwesterners are no strangers to floods. year's record-breaking floods, which have impacted hundreds of communities and cost billions iges, have caused some to question the wisdom of rebuilding, once again, in a different option is getting new attention: relocating entire towns. that's what recently dofw a caravan ars to a small town near the mississippi river: valmeyer, illinois. >> welcome tvalmeyer. >> reporter: the visitors, from as far away as japan and australi were touring several of the 20 or so towns that have moved over the past century. they wanted to hear how the town's former mayor, dennis

knobloch, had managed to pull off one of the country's most successful relocations. >> we wanted to annex the relocation site to the original town site. to try to retain the original identity. >> reporter: what prompted the town's move was the great flood of 1993, which impacted hundreds of midwest towns and submerged valmeyer under up to 18 feet of water for more than a month. today, most of those flooded homes and businesses no loer exist. >> on the right, this was all residential property. very nice, newer homes. there was nothing available, as far as any kind of reference ation on how to move a town. we actually took it to the people as a vote. a majority of the residents said, "yeah, we'll help you out. we want to be a part of this." >> reporter: todaya mile and a half away and 400 bove the original town, is new valmeyer,

completed two years after the flood. the relocation was made possible by the federal government. since 1989, fema has provided $3.2 billi to states and local governments to b nearly 46,000 properties in flood-prone areas. once the homes are purased, from willing owners at pre-flood appraisal prices, they must demolished and turned into green space in perpetuity. many move away, but valmeyer's residents wanted to stay together, so they pooled their buyout money to purchase the town's new land. >> valis really the poster child of a floodplain relocation in the u.s. they got a lot right here. >> reporter: university of california davis professor nicholas pinter was the tour leer. he's a geologist who's spent years studying a process known as "managed retreat." >> instead of building a levee, a flood wall around your town, instead, giving nature its due,

backing away. >> reporter: when is managed retreat an appropriate strategy> ftentimes for a small rural community of a couo e hundred, up000 or more, it has been cost-effective and successful to r move them, ratan rebuilding. there's many wayhich you evaluate a project like this, but o is simply what fema wants to look at-- are they going to pay out more in disasters just by rebuilding i d the same spon in the floodplain, again, and again, and again? >> reporter: flood-risk modeling done by pinter and his colleagues has shown millions to tens of millions of dollars in damages and federally-backed insurance claims have been saved because of the moves. but, he says, towns considering relocation should pay attention to somimportant lessons learned. >> one persistent failure is our

ability to with the residents.g the u.s. govnment is willing to invest in moving home-owners, but not invest in moving the sinesses within those home- owners' communities. that's a challenge we have to overcome. >> reporter: another challenge? retreating from cherished land is not always a popular strategy. that's an issue jessica simms cares a lot about. she's a program manager for louisiana state's $48 million resttlement plan for isle de jean charles. ooding is now a common occurrence on the only road tohe predominantly native american coastal community. but not everyone is supportive of the government's plans. >> unles is something that the people who are going to be moving are leahemselves, it just won't work, right? you have to derstand what's portant to them. if they feel forced, or tessured in any way, it j won't work. >> repter: that struggle over

community identity is still playing out in a tun that split p a long time ago. old shawneetown, illinois, which sits on the banks of the ohio river. >> the town floods in 1875, 1882, 1883, 1884 and 1898. >> reporter: after another huge flood in 1937, many residents decided enough was enough, and built new shawneetown three miles away. but a small number of old town residents have chosen to endure trepeated floods rathn move. 50-year-old lee cook, who was raised in old shawneetown and is now raising his family there, is one of those who won't leave. >> you can't glood insurance here, as of now. i don't know if you'll ever be able to get flood insurance here. buwetill choose to stay.

it's in your blood. old town is in your blood, you know? you're just going to be here. >> reporter: back in valmeyer, the town igearing up for their annual midsummer celebration. rske last year, and many y before that, residents will return to their former lawns to wah a community parade. but if it starts raining, they can head for the hills. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in valmeyer, illinois. >> woodruff: today, a collection of government leaders met in brussels to begin crucial talks to choose who will head the european union. europe has just concluded one of the largest elections in the world, with 350 million eligible voters across 28 countries choosing members of the european parliament. the body oversees trade deals,

funds european defense, and regulates the european economy. and, as nick schifrin reports, the election revealed that europe's long-dominant centrist parties are weakening. >>rin: europe is at a crossroads, and the parliamentary election results leave polarized continent more fragmented. in france, the national rally party won the most sea. founded by a man accused of denying locaust and discriminating against muslims, it now speaks to french upset with ition. >> ( translated ): i am really happy becausy, we're giving france back to the french people. >> schifrin: in the united kingdom, a four-month-old party whose entire platform is its name-- brexitw- trounced the traditional governing parties that have failed to deliver brex. >> we are not going to go away until britain has left the e.u. >> schifrin: and in italy, the populist league pay won in a landslide. its hardline leader, matteo

salvini, said anti-e.u. parties winning 25% of parliament represented a referendum on europe's future. ( translated ): it's the sign of a europe that is changing. >> schifrin: but europe is not changing only to the right. in germany, the two ruling parties had their worst national election results since world war ii. and the centrist, pro-european green party won more than 20% of vote, its best-ever result. >> ( translated ): the people in germany, the people in europe, have voted for climate protection and for european solidarity. >> schifrin: a green wave extended up to finland, over to ireland, down to portugal, and back to belgium. those pro-european candidates will combine witnuel macron's party in france, and smaller pro-european parties in the u.k., to keep the majority of parliament pro-e.u. 's a thin majority, and pro-european parties would need to unite, said manfred weber, leader of the center-right european people's party. >> from now on, those who want

to have a strong european union have to join their forces. >> schifrin: and for more, we turn to heather conley, senior ofce president and directo the europe program at the center for stragic and international studies, and former deputy assistant seetary of state for europe during the george w. bush administration. welcome back to the newshour. >> great to be with you. >> schifrin: let's start big picture. we saw a weakeninof the centre-left and the centre-right parties that have dominated european politics for decades. does that mean the european union, the european experims ent itselftting weaker? >> well, the european unity that was once held by these two traditional parties, the centre-right and the cent-left, that order is ending. so there is some new organic forces coming into ple . certainly rage right is here to stay. they earned 25% of the vote. but theres a new exciting force coming to the forefront,

the liberals, the the green party. there a regeneration. what this means right now is there is total fragmentation. really no one party can hold a majority. now it will take two, three,ev four parties to put forward a majority. and european leaders don't kno how to do that type ofty complet the european level. so we are in some unchartered t it's exciting but probably not the excitement that those 28 european leaders tught they uld have. >> schifrin: no, it usually isn't these days for europe. you mentioned how the pop lis did get about 25%. there were fears that that number would be higher, though. and so isome ways because the pro european parties still have majority in the european parliament, as you and i were talking earlier, does this mean this election is a little bit more about continuity than it is about change? >> it will feel like there's ss change because now th will take three to four political groupings to come together, and they will still hold that center.

there's still a two-thirds majority that's very pro e.u. but that 25% can disrupt, they n prevent the e.u. fromoing forward. ave problem is those pro e.u. forcesvery different ideas about how to lead, what'pos iant in trade and the economy and migration. so there's going to be some very interesting conversations. we saw the first one this evening when e.u. leaders met. they really couldnagree on much some this may be a long, hot, complicated summer tore fiut the most important six new positions across the e.u. this summer. >> schifrin: many of these elections, as you know, are about the countries themselves and kind of a referendum to be leaders in those countries. let's zoom in a little bit. italy, matteo salvini, deputy prime minister, critics call him authoritarian. does he emerge as more strong after these elections? he hasertainly emerged as the dominant political force in italy. and what he was trying to do was

using his acceleration of popularity in italy and create basically a pan-european far right group,erging with france's marine le pen and others in the e.u. to cobble together this far-right group. it didn't work quite as to plan. and what's so hard about these groups, they're very nationalistic. they don't agree on very much. so his sort of proclaimed sngret block as great as he anticipated. but again, at me today matteo salvini was already pushing the e.u. on its economic policies he wants to grow italian debt. he wants a lot of relief fornk italian and the e.u. basically said today, no, you have to stick to the rules. so he's going to challenge the e.u. quite a bit. >> schifrin: germa angela merkel the glue many people believe is together.ope a lot of turmoil inside her coalition, but she's trying the westay in for next few years. >> yes, that glue is going

through rya ve difficult political position. act -- angela merkel will stay until 2021678 he wahoping her heir apparent would be ready, but her party and the new leader is not quite ready. now markle's coalition partner is now the third largest party, could almost be th fourth party. that old post world war ii political structuresjust giving way. e germany can't find a path forwarope can't find path forward some it's so important. >> schifrin: just quickly in the time wehave left, that last point is so key. what should americans know, what should ame care about these lead there's we're talking about and these elections? >> well, as we prepare for europent trump to vis on the 75th anniversary of d-day, europe is so tal to america's economic prosperity, jobs, our economic grollh, as s to our security, which is why we have u.s. forces it helps ensure america's security. so europe is very importanet. we h lost so much blood, so

many treasure. it's a project we have to keep fighting for. there are a lot of ghosts that are coming back that we don't want to see. >> schifrin: heather conley, a former state department official in the george w. bush foundatian the center for strategic and international studies. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruf stay with us. coming up on the newshour: the need forteachers of color in the u.s. education system. trhis year's death toll climbers seeking to summit mount everest hits 11, as crowds build. and, the late towitz on chronicling his journeys across the american south. but first, new developments today abortion rights in the united states, and how it took a surprisetoday at the u.s. supreme court. lisa desjardins has that. >> desjardins: for all of the recent attention on thue,

there is one key question that looms over the debate over abortion rights and access: what will the supreme courto? today, new clues... maybe. the justices resolved a lega dispute over abortion restrictions in indiana today. and, marcia coyle of the "national law journal" is here with us to break it all down. marcia, a fascinating ruling here today. the justices broke this law into two parts. let's do that here, as well to, help our viers out. first let's start with what the justices concluded on the aspect of the lathat dealt with romposing of fetal tissue f abortions. >> okay. this is the indiana law that was signed byer then-govr mike pence in 2016. the part we're talking about said that abortion clinics have to dispose of fetal remains either by cremation or burial. and the court today said that it had ear said in other opinions that states have

legitimate interest in the proper disposal of fetal remains. the lower court in this case, according to the justices, erred in failing to recognize that legitimate interest. the only question that was left r the supreme court, the justices said, was whether the lawas rational related to the state's interests. the justices found, yes, it was, and they upheld that part of the law.rd >> dess: so going forward, in the state of indiana now, abortion clinics will be required to dispose according to the law. the justices ruled the otr way on the rest of the indiana law. indiana was attempting to ban any abortions based on the gender, disdisability, or race of the fetus. >> that's correct. the law made it illegal for an aboron provider to knowingly perform an abortion on those basises. here the court didn't do the isposite. what the court dit said it wasn't going to decide because

only one court, the court in this particular case, had considered that issue as to whether that kind of a prohibition was constie tional. and preme court said it's ordinary practice to wait untial umber of additional courts consider the issue. justices like these issues to percolate in the lower courts so they have the benefit of the analysis of the lower courts before they actually jump in. >> desjardins: so the effect of that decision to not rule essentiay on that aspect is that the indiana law in this regard is erturned, does not go into place, is that right? >> that's right. that part ofhe law has been blocked by an injunction by the lower court, and the injunction will still stand as to that part. >> desjardins: so much interesting language in this. notably justice thomas wrote a 20-page concurring opinion. want to read somof that here. he spoke at length, he wrote at

length about eugenics tid ab. he said, "although the court declines to wade into these ot avoidoday, we ca them forever, having created the constitutional right to an utabortion, this court is bound to address its scope." he says, "having created that constitutional right." can you talk about his languanae also that of justice ginsburg in response? >> you write with a 20-pe concurring opinion, the actual opinion of the court was only three pages. he used his con rbs to trace basically he tied together birth control, abotion, and eugenics, and he said that abortion in particular was rife, his words work the potential for eugenic manipulation. he used the term "supposed constitutional right to abortion" in part of his opinion. justice ginsburg, she would have turned away indiana's appeal in s entirety, and she used constitutionally pro cted right

woman to have an abortion, and she also called out juomstie in a footnote. he had spoken about the mother't right minate her pregnancy. justice ginsburg sand, "a wom who terminates -- who exercises her constitutionally protected right ertonate her pregnancy is not a mother." so there is this battle over the language, and it does reflect how they view the constitution right. >> desjardins: finally, what does this tell us about where the court is on this very large issue? >> well, i think it shows once again that they are divided, that there are justices like justice ginsburg and justice sotomayor also would have turned thay indiana's appeal in its entirety, who viewe type of restrictions as an undue burden on a woman's right to an abortion. justice ginsburg usedthat term. that is the current test for whether state restrictions vie late the constitutional right to

an abortion. on the other hand, you have someone like justice thomas, who obviously feels just as deeply th the right to anbortion is made up, that it does not have a constial basis. it was made up by the supreme court. so we have a divide court, and we will all have to ait until more cases come. we knoey're coming. in fact, there are right now atc the suprert three additional abortion-related cases. any one of them cod possibly bring up roe v. wade if the justices are so inclined, and also in the pipeline, there is the alabama and the missouri recent bans. they'll take a while to get to the supreme court, but they wil come one way or another. >> desjardins: when we hear about those cases, you'll be hear to talk to us about them. >> i hope so. >> desjar cdins: marcle, thank you. >> my pleasure, lisa.

>> woodruff: racial disparities in academic achievement remains one of the leading problems in american education-- and that's true as well at the college and university level. a number of studies show greater diversity in the teaching thofession can address some of e concerns. hari sreenivasan has a look at a teacher training program that is mpming to increase diversity in the classroom, andve results all the way through college. it is the latest story in our special series on "rethinking college," and part or "egular education segment, "making the grad >> sreenivasan: francisco martinez will earn his teaching r-rtificate this month, but the 26-yd teacher-to-be wants to be more to his students. >> my goal is to be a good role model. o sreenivasan: martinez, was born in the u.s. to immigrant parents, says that his own overwhelmingly white. he hopes his background will resonate with elementary school

students in fresno, california, where the districts' enrollment is 67% hispanic. >> i fl like some of the experiences they're going through, i'vseen myself, and i guess in a sense, i can kiot of provide r ear, or another person to rely on. >> sreenivasan: martinez may be right. cassandra herring heads an alliance that helps prepare teachers for diverse student classrooms. >> we know from research that having a teacher of color actually can move student achievement. it actually can help keep kids in school and persist to college. >> sreenivasan: according to the national center for education statisticsmore than half of all public school students in america are racial or ethnic minorities, and that number is only rising. rs the same time, 80% of their teacre white. experts in higher education are trying to fix that gap. >> we need to make sure that every single ed prep program is training every single teacher candidate to bring about student

achievement gains for all learners. >> sreenivasan: while minority students have made gains in recent years, an achievement gap still exists between the races. ticording to the u.s. department of eon, in some grades, twe gap in reading and math achievement beeen whites and their hispanic and bla classmates remains in the double digits. herrings' alliance, called eganch ed, launched a new initiative with co across the country to improve teacher preparation programs. when we go into our classroom, capture what you see and ar teachers doing. >> sreenivasan: thisonth, the alliance met in fresno at vang pao elementary school to obsee student teacher candidates from california sta university, including francisco martinez' class. >> how many of us thoughthat was false? raise your hands. >> sreenivasan: observers used a rubric to assess the role of diversity in teaching and learning. >> by looking through the lens of that tool, it gives

educator these faculty, the opportunity to reflect back on what they're doi on their own campuses. >> from our observations, we want to process the infoation, then go deeper with it. >> sreenivasan: one observation came from nykesha williams, ant assistofessor from north carolina a&t state university. >> there was one black female in the classroom. she did not participate, in l'aring out, and i didn't hear that gvoice in the classroom at all. there's research that supports aris marginalization of black females,cularly as it relates to math, and it struck menkhat, as a teacher, you t about how you can be more inclusive. >> sreenivasan: does teaching need to change, as o demographics and as our country changes? hink it does. i think the race-blind, color-blind, language-blind, culture-blind educational system

of the past is failing us. it's obsolete. bomecause our classare becoming so diverse, to not equip teachers to know how to really leverage that diversity in a positive way, to move t,rward student achievemens only going to increase the achievement gap. >> sreenivasan: a shward what's called culturally responsive teaching, or cultural proficiency, is gainintraction among educators. to better serve students of color, teachers create conversation about inequities and cultural relevance. >> the time she got on what? >> the bus. >> sreenivasan: francisco martinez uses spanish referees in his lesson plans. >> for example, there was one math lesson i lead once, we were working with distances, so i i said, so and so wants to go get an horchata beve how long does so and so have to solk to get that beverage? he students found it very

ivgaging. >> srean: while california state university at fresno has been successful at recruiting llny minority teacher- candidates, enrog african american males is still a challenge. >> we do need to improve on how we recruit african american deles. i think nationthat should be at the forefront of the discussion. >> sreenivasan: laura alamillo is the dean of thechool of education at the university. she recently visited local black churches to try and attract more african americans toward a teaching career. >> it's time to reach out to this particular community, to see if maybe it could spark some interest. it's not only the presence of a teacher of color, it's the lens, it's the mindset.

>> sreenivasan: ultimately, cultivating great teachers is likely to be the best recruiting tool of all. >> most teachers, if you ask a teacher, "why did you become a teacher?," their "why" is because they had a teacher, irone teacher, that in them, that encouraged them to be the best that they could be, and push them. >> sreenivasan: for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan in fresno, california. >> woouff: mount everest remains the ultimate achievement for many mountain climbers. and the number of ople who try it just keeps growing, far above the levels of even two decades ago. may is the mon when many try to reach the summit. but, as amna naw y tells us, thr has had a number of fatalities once again, are those deathsrompting questions about whether there are too many climbers, and how nepal

handling it. >> nawaz: judy, i'm sure many of our viewers have seen this picture over the weekend, tweeted out by a climber. the summit of mount everest essentially had a traffic jam this past week. once upon a time, this kind of crowd was unimaginable. but now, there are even more troubles ascending and descending from the top. at least 11 people have died this climbing season. most recently, an american attorney from boulder, colorado, who died on monday. for more on what it takes to make it to the top of everest, and the crowding, conditions, d the deaths, we turn to alan arnette, a mountaineer and climbing coach who summitted he is the oldest american to summit k-2, the second-highest untain in the world. and he joins us via skype from fort collins, colorado. alan, welcome to the newshour. we hear this word "crowded" a lot in reference to what we're seeing. there why is it so crowded on everest right now? >> well,it's t highest

mountain in the world. for many people it's the minute cal, it's the dream. they grew up watching national gee graphics orc!mj document watching documentaries on pbs drout climbing everest, and it's a childhooeam. as the world improves and middle ngasses have more money, we're startio see more and more people try to go there. >> nawaz: so more and more, people, alnt to get to everest. the nepalese government has also hisued more permits than ever before in story. is it the fact that it's more crowded that we're seeing more deaths? >> that's very true. nepal issued a record 381 permits to foreigrs. they also require that ereach foigner hire a sherpa guide. so that meant there were 800 taople attempting the mouin this year. now, that in and of itself is not a big problem, b the problem was that the jetstream, the high winds aloft, normally move off of the mountain in mid-may. last year they moved off and allowed for 11 consecutive summit days and a record nber of people summited with the normal, sadly to say, the normal

five deaths. this year that summit window, there were only five of them. so you had roughly 800 people tryi to squeeze through three-day window, and on may 23rd, it was the worst-case scenario. it all came together in a very eoort period of time. >> nawaz: so moree trying to summit in fewer possible days. olook, we've heard a lof people who are coming off the mountain talking about what it's like up there, what conditions are like on the ground. you have been there. ouey've talked about chaos. they have talked stepping over bodies. they have talked about it being like a zoo. what is it like when you're up ere in the moment? >> so i think this year again,re what people xperiencing was the worst case, but there is another phenomenon going on. there is a new generation of guide services which are affering everest at $30,000 instead of the no $40,000 $50,000, $60,000. that low price is attracting people who haven't had the experience they need to have before attempting a mountain

like evest. they don't know what they don't know. when they're up there, they don't realize that they're suffering from altitude sickness. the support staff that they're with hasn't been trained in the medical aspect. so they don't know when to turn people around. so that's what's getting most people in trouble, and also, that's influencing the chaos that we're seeing, and this idea that people are jostling to be le to stand on top of the summit, experienced mountaineers atuld never do th that tells me that this year we have a lot of novices up there that honestly needed more support and more experience before they arrived. >> nawaz: alan, help u understand, less than a minute left, by i'm hoping you can provide some color for us here, when you're there and you've spent tens of thousands of dollars to do this once in a lifetime summit, what is that pressure like? because we hear about people who are willing to passy other climbers who are having difficulty. what are some of the unspoken rules when you're trying to vesummitst? >> well, this is a tough one. when you climb a mountain like

everest, it really comes down to self-preservation. you're in what's call "the death zone" where your body is degrading. you're running out oxygen. when you get into lines where you burn up the limited amount of oxygen you have, you're hanging on to the edge. if all of a sudden what should have been a 12-hour summit day turns into a 20 and you run out of oxygen, you die. if you get low on oxygen, you may discover altitude sickness otherthe ability to help people becomes very, very limited to those strongest people on the mountain, and those are typicall most experienced sherpas up there. c's not the normal person thatmbing. it's someone like myself. >> nawaz: alan arnette who has himself made it to e top of mt. everest, thank you so much for being with us today. >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally tonight, we rember, and hear from, author and pulitzer prize- ienning journalist tony horwitz.

hesuddenly yesterday of an apparent cardiac arrest. horwitz was best known as the author of "confederates in the atic," a look at modern-day southeitudes about the civil war, and the people who re-enact it. the book was a best-seller. as a journalist, he covered conflicts in the middle east, africa and the balkans for the "wall street journal." he won the pulitzer in 1995 for a series on income inequality and w-wage jobs, including working at chicken processing z'ants in the south. a number of horwbooks are told through the narrative of a first-person account that's true of his latest book, "spying on the south." william brangham recently sat down with him about it. here's that interview. >> brangham: almost 160 years ago, with america on the brink of civil war, a young writeer utom connecticut was sent to file regular dispatches from the so-called "cotton kingdom" of the slave-holding states.

that report was frederick law ole. sted. he later designed central park in manhattan, the capitol grounds in washington, and many other famous sites. a few years ago another writeer from the north, pulitzer winner tony horwitz, recreated olmsted's trek state by state, often using similar modes of transport and painting similarly indelible portraits of the people he met. the resulting work is called "spying on the south: an odyssey across the aan divide." tony horwitz joins me now. welcome back to the newshour. >> thanks for having me again. >> brangham: i haveq this book was such a surprise, as a former new yorkerand now someone who lives in washington, d.c., i have spent many, many hours in the genius creations of frederick law olmsted, and i had no idea that he was a writer and good one and a good reporter. >> uh-huh. >> brangha how did you find this story and decide this is what you wanted to do? >> the truetory is that it

happened while i was cleaning house. my wife and i live in an old farm stead in massachusetts where everything sags. and our overflowing books don't help, and whiro sorting gh them as we were fighting over shelf space, i discovered "the cotton kingdom," a book that grew out of olmsted's reporting that i had been assigned in college. i dove back into it and was jusl instcaptivated by his vivid writing about the south. brangham: can you give us a sense of what was that it he was aporting. we know whererica was roughly on the cusp of the civil war. but he was doing th for a northern audience. what were the stories, what were the dispatches hes sending back north? >> well, he was nt by "the new york times," which had just opened shop, and saw itselfth as temperate and measured voice of reason at a time when papersv wey overheated and

partisan. and so they wanted quite a sober analysis of the south's economy and society, but olmsted is this adventuroupid and fellow who is constantly wandering away into whatever he was curious about. so he ndered through the en door of a black church in new orleans, and then he would write about the service that he witnessed. or what it was like staying at fte homes of poor whites where he lodged on the road at night. he would just knock on the door and pay them $1 for fod and lodging. er he really wrote about the ay fabric of life in the south. that was the strength of his writing. >>ham: he wasn't an anti-slavery crusader, right? he did report othe gruesomeness that he saw, but he wasn't there to try to convince the north of the rightness of e.e ca when he sets off he's by no means an abolitionist. he's actually quite in line with lincoln at that time.

in the course of his joy, his views harden when he se slavery up close and he sees the intransigence of slave hoers who he realizes are willing to fight rather than give an inch. so while he doesn't become an abolitionist unt the vil war, his views become harder and harder as he travels the south. >>rangham: so you , discovered these works, and you decim going to do this, too. what were you hoping to do? >> well, one, i identified with olmsted. i was a newspaper --ism you nder off your beat all the time. d ator many years abroad home i complained about my desk and my bwn-out expense budget as olmsted does in his personal letters. i liked his spirit of just approaching strangers and ordinary people rather than, you know, so-called experts and other sources that journalists often rely on to just sense what

he called the drthift ofgs. and i like that, and i thought, well, here we are at anothe moment of national fracture. i will retrace his jrney to see what he saw then and what ia see not another moment of polangzation. >> bm: if you say he's setting off when the country is on the cusp of civil war, we're obviously not that, but as you omite, i want the read a quote here, this is 150 years later. you write that you found inescapable echoes of thes, 18xtreme polarization, racial strife, demonization of the other side, embrace of inflamed opinion, overreond dialogue and debate. obviously we have tanged. we're at war, but do you see those similarities that tstrongly? >>nk all of those things hold. they're real echoes of the18 s. you know, obviously entirely different eras, different is wes, so i wouldnnt to overplay it, but, you know,

wee really shouting at and past each other in a way that is quite reminiscent, and our government seems paralyzed by its divisions, as it was in the 1850s. loss of faith in our institutions. so i don't think we're on the cusp of violent breakup, and i certainly hope not, but i certainly think there are warnings to be found in what olmsted described in the 1850s. >> brangham: we had jared diamond on the show a few days ago. he was arguing that political polarization is one of the greatest threats to our democracy. but you're more optimistic aboub thity of the country to get past these division, right? >> well, i think the divisions pre certainly exaggerated, both byeople who want to exploit our differences for political or other gain, but also by social media and the ways that we inhabit our separate silos and

precincts. when you do as i did, go outor a long period and meet people on barschols and inches and workplaces and their homes, we may ha very different view but we can sit down and discuss them in a civil and even friendly manner. does that solve the proble no, but i think it lowers the domperature on our conflict which think can get am f by our media and politics. >> brangham: the book isn spyinge south. tony horwitz, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: that interview was do only recently. tony horwitz died yesterday at the age of 60. and that is the newshour f tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. f >> major fundi the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel.

a language program that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular.a >> homisor. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> 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 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, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

] [theme musicic playing hi. i'm rick bayless, and i've been exploring, cooking, and eating in mexico for over 40 years. now i'm taking you to mexico city for a deep dive into the classic dishes it's time to share my best recipes ever. announcer: "mexico one plate at a time" is made le by these funders... [music playing]