captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, june 16: massive protests in hont kong ue over an unpopular extradition bill. making the case for a nutrition revolution.si and, in ouature segment: weighing the costs and benefits of opportunity zones. next on pbs newshour weekend. s pbs newshour weekendde possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. g. barbara hope zuckerb corporate funding is providedua

by mof america-- designing customized individual tirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional suppo been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. the u.s. milary confirmed today that a modified iranian surface-to-air missile was launched at an amecan drone-- in an attempt to disrupt surveillance of thursday's attack on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. in a statement, u.s. central command also said a houthi surface-to-air missile shot down a u.s. drone earlier this month in yemen, "enabled by iranian assistance." on the sunday talk shows, secretary of state mike pompeo isain blamed iran for the attacks and said heaching out to allies for support. >> china gets over 80% of its

crude oil transiting through the strait of hormuz. south korea, japan, thes nations are incredibly dependent on these resources. we're prepared to do our part. we always defend freedom ofna gation. we are going to work to build out a set of countries that have deep vested intest in keeping that strait open to help us do that. udi arabia's crown princ mohammed bin salman was quoted in a saudi-owned newspaper, saying the country does not seek war but "will not hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, sovereignty and vital interests.no great britaiplans to deploy 100 marines to the persian gulf to protect british ships and the country's foreign minister said today it believes that iran is responsible for the recent attacks. en well, we have done our own intelligence asses and the phrase we use is "almost certain."ow you we've got videos of what happened, we've seen evidence, we don't believe anyone ee could have done this. hundreds of thousands of protesters fled hong kong's streets again today-- one day after the semi-autonomous territory's chief executive

suspended consideration of a proposed extradition law. the demonstrations stretched across parks and streets throughout the downtown area... continuing into the night. hours after the protest began, the government, led by chief executive carrie lam, issued ano apolog"causing disappointment and grief." budemonstrators were not satisfied. >> only when carrie lam apologizes, withdraws the bill, and steps down, will hong kong people end all of our protests. >> sreenivasan: many of the w protesters tode black and visited a memorial to a man who fell to ath late yesterday while standing on scaffolding and unfurling a protest banner. a massive power failure in an interconnected power grichleft f argentina, uruguay and paraguay, as well asnsmaller portiof chile and brazil, without electricity this morning. cars traveled through darkness and subways were out of service as power companies scrambled to restore power to tens of

millions sf people. intement released this morning, an argentinian official called the outage" precedented." the cause of the power collapse is unknown, but an investigation is undery. trade tensions between the united states d india rose today as delhi began imposing tariffs on $1.4 billn of u.s. goods, including almonds, walnuts, apples and finished metal items. the new taxes-- some as high as 70%-- come after washington refused to exempindia from tariffs on aluminum and steel twports. the trade dispute n the two countries accelerated earlier this month when the white house anunced that the u.s. is rescinding a preferential trade agreement with india. president trump and india's recently reelected prime minister narendra modi are a expected to methe g-20 summit in japan later this month. >> sreenivasan: hurricane season officially begins again this month, but for people in the

panhandle of florida, it's almost as if it never ended. edhurricane michael devasthe region last october, leaving residents homeless, jobless, and in search of goverent aid and services. but now, children, inul part, are feeling another kind of after-effect-- mental health issues.d" "miami hereporter elizabeth koh is reporting on rois. she joins us now tallahassee. >> sreenivasan: toll me, what are some of the things that teachers are seeing in their students? >> they are tell me, what are some of the things that teachers are seedeg in their ss? >> they're seeing a lot of symptoms of depression and anxiety and p.t.s.d. bay coty, which was directly hit by the storm, has put together a list of mental health needs that ty've been seeing in their students, and it's taken a lot of forms. we've seen students who start crying just when they start hearing the rain, because it reminds them of what the storm sounded like. we've had some extreme cases, like a couple of girls coming to school with razor blades and a icide pact, cutting their wrists open in front of their classmates. we've had children as as six, telling teachers and people at school that they want to kill

themselves. it's a pretty serious situation that's starting to develop in the panhandle. >> sreenivasan: and do they have any kind of mental health ifrastructure to deal with this at the school level, or wider? >> the school has some mental health resources, but what we're oseing in the panhandle after the storm is that resources aren't enough. so, you'll remember the parkland shooting that happened last year in florida spurred lawmakers to actually dedicditional funding for mental health resources in school. and some of at funding has actually been helpful, particularly for bay county. but in terms of funding directly related to hurricaneichael and the mental health after-effects, bay county and other school districts haven't gottenyt ng for that. >> sreenivasan: and so when yous look athe entire community, are adults as well as children suffering some of these long-tm effects? >> it's everybody. ste panhandle was particularly devastated by thm. hurricane michael was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the country. so this is something, a real disaster, that they were never

really anticipating, and you can see it when you just walk around this region. there are still trees down. there's still debris in so places. and some of that debris may never even be picked up, just because there's so mh of it. what i've heard from providers in the area is that, eight months after the storm, was, people are starting to adjust to the fact that this is their new normal. this is when some of these symptoms are starting to set in. >> sreenivasan: you know, from the school board report, basic needs are still not being met for many residents, including shelter, food, water and security. how is that possible?e' >> well, looking at a situation where the panhandle is still waiting on a lot of staten and federal fu keep in mind that a lot of the communities that were hit were already communities ere pretty low in terms of their socioeconomic status. 've seen communities, fo example, like mexico beach, where their annual budget is completely overwhelmed by the cost of just debris removal, let alone addressing all of these other needs. and given the delays and getting federal funding even passed in congress, let alone passed down

to people at the local level, these are people who are still waiting on contractors thelp fix their homes, get some of their debris hauled out from their homes' back yards. they're people who are dealingua with sons where, even if their housing is all right, maybe their jobs were not all right. and so, there is a lot of after- effects that just have continued to snowball since the storm hit. >> sreenivasan: so i'm assuming that even if a teacher or a school district are able to recruimental health counselors to be able to come to the area, that housing is excansive, just e the stock is down. >> exactly. well, in panama citylone, we've seen more than 70%-- about 70% of housing be damaged destroyed. the rents on places that are still remaining have gone up almost four-fold. so for someone who is thinking about coming to this area to help fill these huge gaps ong mental health providers, the pay's not that high, and where u going to live? >> sreenivasan: all right. elizabeth koh from the "miami herald," joining us fromto tallahasseght. thanks so much. >> thanks very much for your

time. >> sreenivasan: in 2017, president trump signed the bideest overhaul to the tax in 30 years. tucked inside the bill's 186ge was a tax incentive its proponents claim was designed to help low-income mmunities. they're called "opportunity zones."bu as i learned on a recent trip to arizona, whether or not these areas with special tax breaks for investors will truly help distressed communities is still uncertain. this former plant nursery in tempe, arizona, just outside phoenix, has been vacant for more than six years. but this week, a developer broke ground on something new. so what's this place going to look like? >> this is going to be a four-story, modern-style, contemporary apartment building; 90 units. >> sreenivasan: quinn palomino is the co-founder and c.e.o. of virtua partners, a private equity and real tate developer

based in scottsdale, arizona. she says the first resents will be moving into this $20 million complex next yea >> here you have an opportunity to build entry level housing, and you have investors who are looking at an opportunity to invest their... their funds. sreenivasan: for virtua and its investors, this isn't just any ordinary residential development.mo it's the first projects in the country to use a federal tax incentivcreated in the 2017 tax overhaul. >> with opportunity zones, we are drawing investment into neglected and under-served communities of americahat all americans, regardless of zip code, have access to the american dream. to>> sreenivasan: accordints supporters, the influx of private investment will spur economic development, including job creation, in disadvantaged communities around the country. last june, the u.s. treasury department certified me than 8,700 census tracts as opportunity zones. r the most part, the tracts are low-income. to qualify, the poverty rate has

to be above 20%, or the median family income has to be below 80% of the state's median , come. in temere are five opportunity zones including the 320 acres within which virtua's aparent complex will be buil the poverty rate here is nearly 40%. >> there weren't enough dollars in the community to redevelop these areas. so it's a solution where vestors could put money into this. without the opportunity zones, a lot of investors wouldn't know about this project, or wouldn't invest a dollar here. >> sreenivasan: by investing in an opportunity zone, either by funding or expanding a business or developing re estate, investors receive a significant incentive. for example, let's say you have $10,000 profit from selling stock. depending on your income, you might pay 20% in federal taxes. instead, you can defer those taxes and invest that money in an opportunity zone. depending on how lonhold the investment, the taxable

total of your $10,000 decreases by up to 15%. on top of that, after ten years, any new profit that comes from that oppornity zone investment is totally ax-free. in tempe, virtua's planned apartment complex is mting a real need, according to maria laughner, an economic development manager for the city.p to hplain why, she took me six stories up to the roof of an office building under construction. i can see, in downtown tempe, it's a lot of dense residential as well. >> yes. there's a great need for housing so we're having more... more multi-family going up. >> sreenivasan: tempe, a city of nearly 200,000, estimates that it will need 21,000 units of affordable housing by 2040 to meet demand. >> we don't nt to be just an area where everyone is building luxury homes. we have other issues that are very important for our community, and housing ia big one. so what we're trying to do is work with partners to make tha happen.

so far, so good. >> sreenivasan: virtua's apartment complex will be priced at market rate. but the company says it will voluntarily set aside at least st nine of the 90 units for those earning around the median income, aategory known as workforce housing. but there is no requirement within the legislation for a plal estate developer to provide a benefit beyond screating a "substantial improvement;" meaning an increase in the value of the property over a 30-month period. that means cities like tempe can't force developers to build projects in opportunity zones that deliver specific benefits, like affordable housing. >> they're not really getting anything from us, it's hard for us, you know... on private property, it's hard fo to impose itself. >> sreenivasan: right. >> so i think, more than anything, it's come out of... i hate to say, it sounds so cheesy, but the goodness of their heart. that they want to do somethings thatigned with the vision of the city. >> sreenivasan: but, short of the goodness of their heart, how

do you make sure that somebody thdoesn't take advantage o and leave tempe a little bit worse f? >> well, we also do have zoning codes in place. if someone wted to build something that wasn't in the zoning code, they would have to go through a relatively lengthy process. >> sreenivasan: but existing tools like zoning codes don't alleviate the fears of some critics, that opportunity zonent investmecould push out the very communities they are designed to help. >> when you're bringing that size of capital into low-income communities, it could rapidly increase that timeline of gentrification, displacement of people in this community. >> sreenivasan: victor vidalesde is the lof a community group in neighboring south phoenix. he also lives and works in portunity zones. the tools are there for municipalities to combat some of those potential fears that low income communities have. but do they have the when they understand those developments bring jobs, they bring dollars, they bring tax base that helps the cities? >> sreenivasan: how do you make

sure that social impact is almost a requirent in this? because right now the legislation doesn't require an investor to make those kinds of commitments. >> many of us in business have a heart. we have wanted to give back to the community. here is an opportunity for us to work togetheo that. and we need to develop metrics. we need to require those in this industry to identify, how many mjobs are you creating, hy units are you providing that are entry level? >> sreenivasan: palomino is not alone in calling for more regulatory guidance on measuring the impact of opportunity zone investments.>> 've been on a national opportunity tour... >> sreenivasan: republican senator tim scott of south carolina is one of the itchitects of the opportun zone incentive. in february, he attended the groundbreaking for virtua's first project to use the tax break, a hotel being built just west of phoenix. in may, he co-sponsored a bill requiring that data on opportunity zone investments be collected and reported to congress. in a statement to newshour

weekend, he said, in part, "i'm pleased to see initiatives being taken across the administration and in congress to ensure that folks in distressed mom opportunity zones." meanwhile, virtua ing ahead. it has raised $100 million to invest in opportunity zones, and has a pipeline of nearly 100 projects. >> youe now seeing a huge population of investors that, t have soldwould the stock, and they would have kept those dollars on the sidelines.ok now they're g at investing here. >> sreenivasan: but incentivizing these investments is not free. congress's joint committee on etaxation estimates that opportunity zone incentive willl cost $1.6 n in lost federal tax revenue over ten years. >> this is a public cost. these are public dollars. n's a public investment. there should be sous with public benefit, and eere's no way ure that there is. >> sreenivasan: mark stapp is the director of the real estate developmt program at arizona state university, and a long-

time developerimself. he says the influx of capital could distort the market, and points to exisng incentives as being more targeted to deliver benefits like affordable housing. >> where is the definable, measurable public outcome that should go with making th public investment, which is the tax incentive? will there be a lot of money p thrs into it? absolutely. will all of that capit be properly deployed and provide the public benefit that equals the public cost? i don't think so. en sreenivasan: some opportunity zones have also riticized for not being economically distressed. almost 200 of the zones qualified simply by being next to low-income areas. in tempe, the future site of virtua's apartment complex also has a lot of positives for a veloper, in addition to its location in an opportunity zone. it's close to public transportation, it's about two anles from arizona state's sprawling campustempe is a fast-growing city with a housing shortage. fact, quinn palomino concedes

that virtua would have built this project even if it was not in an opportunity zone.ld if you wave invested in this place anyway, that's the market at work. why should a tax payer in kansas subsidize an investmat's happening here that might have happened anyway? >> might have happened anyway, this project, and i-- we would haveone this one. but how do you scale thaho hari? i mean how can you take what's happening here and take it across the couny? this is 90 units, and i understand that's a small project. that's not going to solve the country's problems. but if we could take this model and take it across the country, then we can. >> sreenivasan: invests like virtua and residents of opportunity zones across the country will have until 2027 to see how this model takes hold.

>> sreenivasan: next week, we will kick off our special series, "the future of food," where we'll explore global problems and solutions involving food supply and nutrition. for some early perspective on a few of the challenges and possibilities, i recently sat down with amanda little, professor ofnvestigative journalism and science writing at vanderbilt university, and the author of thbook, "the fate of food: what we'll eat in a bigger, hotter, smarter world." let's put this in perspectiv kind of the big picture here. what kind of a food crisis is the planet facing?el >> we're pretty, kind of close to a crisis, but we're not probably in one. it's hard to say, you know, you know, in very definitive terms. there are a lot of-- there's a lot of evidence of clima change in the way it's affecting food systems all over the place. and, you know, in the midwest, for example, we've seen the impacts on corn and soy farmers right now because of all the storms that are really saturating the soil and making it hard tolant-- >> sreenivasan: and that's going to move markets. less food in the field means the price is going to go up. >> yes, and i mean, itu know, in italy we're hearing about the devastation to olive groves. and in georgia and florida, we

hear about the impacts on peach and citrus production. we hear about, you know, cacao and coffee damage to farms in equatori i mean, it's just sort of endless. you can look almost anywhere in any food system and see the impacts of heat, drought, flooding, invasive insects. and, you know, there's just trauma t in different ways.elf it's hard for consers to relate to, right, because we're so displaced from the source of our food. so, as farmers begin to experience this in different ways, consumers are maybe experiencing it as, you know, fluctuations in cost. but the real, you know, sort of crisis iterms of food security, and, you know, and disruption food supply, you know, will happen regionally. you know, in one region hit by floods or blizzards or droughts, there might be a temporaryti disr. certainly in parts of india and you know, subsaharan africa,er ase serious famines going

on in the middle so, you know, in one region, it might be, you know, a to, you know, chardonnay and strawberries. innother region, it might serious food security issues. which is why that question, you know, "is this a criw?" it's hard to answer. certainly the beginning-- this sort of early stages of isis are becoming evident. 10, 20 years from now, will we ,see serious food, you kn disruptions and supply? very, very possibly. >> sreenivasan: and you're saying that those general trendlines are heading in, sort of the wrong direction. >> i came out of this really often, i became really optimistic this is sort of a narrative as old as civilization, right? , you know, we have been wondering are we going to run out of 0 food? will we have enough to food humanity for, you know, agin millennia. and, you know, we have always found a way to, you know, adapt

and to survive. and a what is interesting is this is, you know, sort of engaging and motivating ourin incts for survival, so some of what i encountered was, you know, capable of not only 0 sort of beginning to preempt andar pr for these precious six pressures that are coming on 0d line but to ss the problems that existed -- you know, that have to come have iustrial, from industrial agriculture. we have this system to begin with that is, you know, very chemically inten receive, that is eroding the soil that is unhealthy in a lot ofdways an have all of this new pressure coming online. utions some of these sol do both? what i found out was that, in fact, a lot of what emerging, the really, really, great interesting, you know, approaches to solutions are doing both.dd they canss the problems of the past, and sort to prepare to for what is coming. so the answer in short is yes, i think we are going to do it.

>> sreenivasan: seen more of my conversation with amanda little >> sreenivasan: see more of my conversation with amanda little here, or online, ats. www.g/newshour. imes we paint technology 0 as the ultimate savior to all of these problems that we have. how do we mind kind of mix between where leading edge technology is and maybe things that we have learned from farming for a few thousand years? >> the thing thahit i reallt on, two key things, one is the main way we are going experience climate change is through its impact on the food system, most people o planet earth there will be regional disturbances but across the board we are all goncg to experthis in some way or another. the second thing is that the food debate is very polarized, it is vey, you know, politicized and even, you know, it is very elitist and accessible to a lotf people. there needs to be a third way that we really draw on the wisdom of sustainable and traditional food systems and we leverage ande, usake use of the best technologies that are

available today. lying are ways of ap technology that can support and sustain sustainable food systems, o approaches to food production. there is one side nventis saying, let's rei food, i think that's a quote bill gates said, the food is ripe for reinvention a coue of years ago, and then the sustainable food books are saying i want my food deinvented thank you very much, i want to return to prindustrial agriculture. and we need to move beyond at sort of binary approach and a think about how do we do technology 0 right? and so i looked at, you know, crisper and vertical farms and drones and artificial intelligence and robotics and also at insects and as you plant, and, you know, perma culture and there are ways we can sort of do thte best of boh approaches. >> amanda little, vanderbilt university, the back into is fate of od thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks so much.

>> sreenivasan: >> sreenivasan: also on our newshour facebook page: a recent investigation by reveal from the center for investigative reporting uncovered hundreds of law enforcement officers whowe members of facebook groups sharing extremist, racist, misogynist and homophobic messag. see my conversation with reveal reporter will carless at facebook.com/newshour. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. happy father's day. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.

sue and edgar wachenheim iii.me setoin. the cheryl and philip milstein 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 mual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. ditional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like yo thank you. be more. pbs.

- [narrator] expxplore new worlds and new ideas throu programs like this, made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs soution from viewers like. thank you. - hello i'm paula kerger, presidt of pbs. our goal in public television is to bring you a wide array of perspectives and voices in history, science and the arts. today we are so pleased to psent henry louis gates jr. uncovering america which celebrates one of our most pactful historians. professor gates is an award winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist and cultural critic who helps us discover our shared history by revealing surprising connections across time and place. this insightful look at an extraordinary man is made possible because of your financiasupport. thank you so much. - professor gates, well he's an amazing, amazing guy.