captioning sponsored byho news productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the governor of puerto rico resigns amid massive protests on the island. en, two members of congress assess the impact of former special counsel robert mueller's testimony. and, as the global bee population declines, researchers develop new technologies tolt support agrie and avoid food crises. >> our food will get way more expensive, so not only is it a huge public health concern, there's huge economic ramifications. >> woouff: all that and more r.on tonight's pbs newshou

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided b >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> consumer cellular. >> babbel. a language program that teaches, spanish, fretalian, german, and more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corprkation of new supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and securi.

at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing suppt of these institutions and individuals. >> this prram was made possible by the corporation for publ broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the people of puerto rico celebrated today after embattled governor ricardo rossello announced he is resigning at the end of next week. crowds turned out to mark the occasion after days of protests demanding that rossello step down. >> ( translated ): his resignation was expected. ere was too much pressur the whole country is against him right now he is one of the most hated people in thwhole world.

he had to resign. he had to leave. >> woodruff: we'll have a detailed look at all of this, after the news summary. in the day's other news, the white house accused a federal court of judicial "tyranny," for blocking new asylum rules. the policy shift denied asylumhe to migrants atouthern border who pass through another country first. the judge in san francisco put the policy on hold, pending at final cocision. that superceded a ruling by liother judge who let the stand. the white house had praised that ruling. the u.s. house ofve representatoday passed a two-year budget agreement and d nt it on to the senate. the white house eaker nancy pelosi worked out the dealwith increases for defen and domestic programs, and a suension of the debt limit supporters on both sides said it shows they can put aside politics for the national interest. >> this is an example, mr. speaker, of how we can

restore the faith american people in their government. avoid a shutdown, act responsibly, reach agreement, create consensus, showing them we can be responsiblstewards of the economy. >> this deal keeps our economy on solid ground because the united states will avoid defaulting on our nancial obligations. think of that.em with this agt, we continue to invest in rebuilding our nation's defense and protecting our strategic interests around the world. >> woodruff: a number of conservative republicans opposed the agreement as fiscally irresponsible. the house oversight committee authorized new subpoenas today aimed at the president's daughter ivanka trumpr, husband jared kushner and other white house officials. they had refused to hand over communications sent by private email and messaging. democrs say using such counts for official business violates federal law.s the president peatedly attacked hillary clinton foriv

using a e email server as secretary of state.y in britain, nented prime minister boris johnson urged the europe new brexit deal.ate a he arrived in the house of mmons to heckling by opposition lawmakers, and he warned again that britain will leave the e.u. on october 31, with or without a deal. meanwhile, record-breaking heat baked britain and the rest of europe for a second day. it was 105 in belgium, the hottest since record keeping began in 1833. northe germany had a record 108 degrees. so did paris, where people flocked to fountains and pools to cool down. but despite the searing temperatures, tourists largely seemed to take it in stride. >> we've had such a good time. the parisians have been so accommodating, we've been getting water wherever we go, wo to play in the fountain. this was amazing. we're really having a good time. >> we have bottles of water with us and we've put sunscreen on

all the time. and we try to stay in the shade. >> woodruff: the heat came from an air mass that drifted north from the sahara desert and got trapped by other weather systems over europe. temperatures are expected to begin easing by tomorrow. thousands of people protested today in pakistan, against prima minister imran just days after he met with president trump.ti the oppo rallies came on the first anniversary of khan's election. they charged that s s government ined the country's economy. they also accused khan of letting mr. trump dictate policy, at tir white house meeting. some 115 peoe are feared drowned off the coast of lr ya after theicrowded wooden boat capsized. more than 130 others were rescued. it happened near al khoms, east of tripoli. the victims were mainly from african and arab countries. united nations refugee officials say more than 600 migrants have

died this year, trying to sail from africa to europe. back in this country, 16 u.s. marines were arrested today at camp pendleton, california for crimes includi smuggling migrants across the border with mexico. none of the marines are involved in enforcing border security, but their base is just 55 miles away. some of those arrested also face drug charges. and, on wall street, stocks slipped, on disappointing corporate earnings reports. the dow jones industrial average lost 129 points to close below 27,141. the nasdaq fell nearly 83 points, and the s&p 500 was down almost 16. still to come on the newshour: d erto rico's governor resigns following scandal ssive protests. "after mueller." two members of congraluate the impact of robert mueller's testimony. attoesey general barr reinstat the federal death penalty.

and much more. >> woodruff: there's a great deal of excitement in puerto rico this evening, even a sensio that a revolhas been mounted against the island's government and goverr ricardo rossello. while the celebrations are underway, as john yang tells us, there are enormous challenges ahead. >> yang: there was jubilation in the streets of san juan today, for the thousands of protesters who had demanded the resignation of puerto rico governor ricardo rossello. last night, outside his official residence in old san juan, demonstrators huddled around their phones, awaiting rossello's announcement. >> ( translated ): despite having a mandate from the people who elected me democratically,i todael that continuing in this position presents

insurmountable difficulties.vi heard the complaints, 've taken the following decision: i announce to you today that i will be resigning as governor, effective friday, 2 augu. >> yang: the reaction was immediate.an >> ( ated ): we wanted ricky to leave not just because of the obscenities and insults up've seen on chat messages, but also because of thtion we've put up with for decades. within this ruckus, puerto rico has demand some respect. >> yang: rossello's final crisis was sparked nearly two weeks ago with corruption charges against six members of his administration. then came a leak of offensive chat messas between rossello and his aides that denigrated women, lgbtq peoe, political opponents and even hurricane survivors. and amid growing protests, puerto rican lawmakers said they would begin impeachment proceedings if rossello refused to resign. the scandal resulted in more than a dozen resignations, including the island's secretary of state, o was poised to

succeed rossello. now, justice secretary wanda vázquez is in line for the office. but some puerto ricans say she was not aggressive enough in rsuing an investigation into the leaked chat messages. for many residents, the frustratn reflects years of economic recession, austerity measures imposed by the financial control board created by congress, and anger over corruption and a sluggish government response to 2017'shu icane maria. the succession process, already complicated by cabinet vacancies, is far fromettled. analysts say someone other than .ustice secretary vazquez could end up as govern new york times correspondent frances robles has been covering the unfolding drama in san juan-- which is where she is tonight-- and joins y skype. frances robles, thanks for being with us. jubilation of the people on the streets of san juan today. in you were out there ta to them, what does this moment mean to them?

>> this is citical juncture, john. for one thing, it's a victory. there is no other way to describe it. they see this as a popular upriding in which the people of puerto rico won. but it's also a key moment, because if they use this opportunity to put kind of a same-old character of the same-old party politics in the position of governor, then it's goe g to be a hugsetback for them. the people are very, very wary of that. t. yang: talk about tha because as we mentioned, the justice secretary is in line because of the cabinet vacancy, the secretary of state, but there is -- does shme comand a lot of support? >> oh, not at all. yoalready see there was#r kiereuninco, telling the governor to resign. and there were plenty of hashtags saying juan that

renuncio. they don't want her. she used to be the only budswoman for the woman's affairs office and the femgrinit ps didn't like her. so she is a really complicated candidate for thaposition, and i don't even think she wants it. >> yang: the succession is dictated by the constitution. is there a way tt vazquez could not be the successor under ise constitution? >> i think thera really good chance that vazquez is not going to be the successor. her statement last night wasli really t. she said something like, "i will assume this responsibility if necessary." you know, the key there was "if" necessar so the trick really is going to be that the governohas thi vacancy in his cabinet, the secretary of state position. he iunstill governoil next fridayand he is within his rights until next friday to fill that positio so if he fills that position and if that person is confirmed by the senate and the house of puerto rico, then that person ie going toome governor of puerto rico, not the secretary

of justice. >> yang: so much of the frustration expressed in theset protests agaiossello came from deep-seated problems, the economy, the debt crisis. how much is going to be solved by rossello leaving, and how much is ing to be sort of hard slogging ahead? >> a lot of it is edemic, but a lot of it isn't endemic. a lot of the discontent here has very specifically to do with what this administration did, how it handled hurricane recovery, how it handled the deaths, the corruption of mbers of its administration. so while the endemic issues are t going to goway, if they have a new administration that seems much more responsive to theeople, i think that person could have more success. there'no question it's a bi challenge. it's going to be a really tough challenge. >> yang: will they, the corruption that's been described

in the system seems pretty deep-seated. is this new regime, the new governor really going to be more responsive to the people? >> that's a really good question. that's what... that's question everyone is waiting for an answer on. if they hire, and they e basically hiring a governor, because they're naming a person they know is about toing governor, a party hack, the people are not going to have it they will be inviting for all of those people to get back on theg streetn tomorrow, because they now have had that taste of victory, and they now know, hold on a second, our say does matter here. so that is the qustio can they find a person who is not just about the same o party machinery giving contracts to their cronies and embezzling money? that's the history of puerto rico that peop are trying to change. >> yang: could th sense of victory, this sense of empowerment lead to a greater push for morthe sovereignty on

part of puerto rico? >> i don't know, b yecaus know, you have to remember that a lot of the people that were on the street were peoplnthat wat statehood. so the beauty of this movements at it was people of all of the different parties, the people who want more sovereignty, the people who want full sovereignty, and the people who want to join te union. it wasn't about that. that was the first time in puerto rican politics that an issue, a problem, a crisis did not boil down to party lines here. and so that was kind of what was really special about it. >> yang: frances robles of the any timesfrom san juan, thanks so much. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: one day after former special counsel robert mueller testified on capitol hill, the fallout continues over what it means for president

trump, for republicans who support him, and for democrats who want him held accountable. a short time ago, i spoke with representative hakeem jeffries of new york, chairman of the house democratic caucus, and began by asking about criticism that the hearinganidn't produce hing new. >> robert mueller established three important things that rtspring forth from his re one, russia attacked our democracy in sweeping and systematic fashion for the sole purpose of trying to honelpd trump and artificially place him at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. two, that the trump campaign welcomed russian interference and assistance at the highest level, which is quinte extraordinary finding. and three, when a criminal investigation was launched into trying to figure out what happened with respect to russia's attack on our democracy, there is substantial evidence that exists that

demonstrates that the president timself engaged in obstr of justice. >> woodruff: but as you know, the special counsel, mr. mueller, repeated that he found no evidence to move conspiracy, which is what is required to move ahead with any sort of legal case. and he chose not to reach a decision on the question of obstruction. so the question is: have the republicans now frankly gained the upper hand in all of this? >> not at all. this is not an issue for democrats or republicans. this should be an issue about what's right for the american people. because we cannot tolerate a circumstance where a hostile foreign pow o interferes r elections, impedeshe integrity of the democratic process in order to uphold their own self-interest, not the well being of the american people. and that's exactly what happened in 2016 in terms of russia's

attack on our dmocracy. what was established by robert mueller, and he was very clear on this, was that en if he did not find criminal conspiracy peth res to coordination between russian spies and operatives at vladimir putin's direction and donald trump or members of thearumpmpaign, that the president of the united states, be he a democrat or be he a democrat or republican, should be held to a higher standard of decency and respect for our democracy. that was qute an extraordinary statement by bob mueller, because he's been so limited in sharing his views otherwise. >> woodruff: there is no more evidence according to your leadership to proceed with an impeachment inquiry. we don't see an movement by the justice department. so what are democrats left with? are you not further away today from impeachment than you were

before? >> well, from my staasndpoint, thisever about whether to proceed with impeachment or not to proceed with impeachment. we have to follow the facts, apply the law, and be guided by the united states constitution consistent with our responsibility as members of the house of repatives, which is a separate and co-equal branch of government. we don't work for donald ump. we work for the american people. and the constitution is very clear. we have a an article 1on constitu responsibility to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. we have oversight responsibilities. we need the make sure we undertake them. we shouldn't overreach. we shouldn't over politicize. we shouldn't overinvestigate, but we need to follow the truth and elucidate that to the american people, gded simply, judy, by this principle: no single individl in america is above the law, not even the president of the united states >> woodruff: but the question remains: where do you go from here

we know democrats are issuing a subpoena for the president's former legal coudonsel mcgahn. there is interest in other people around the president. so far none of those individual have been will provide more information some where do the democrats go from here? what's next? >> important question. all of those individuals are part of a massive executive branch cover-up that is takinga place and tis quite extraordinary, unlike anything we've seen since richard nixon. there is a dipute right now between the congress in terms of our rightful oversight ability to secure witnesses and information, and the executive branch is stonewalling day after we expect the courts will continue to rule in our favor and that we will be able to getp tont where witnesses like don mcgahn or hope hicks or cory lewandowski and others, reince priebus can participate in oversight hearings to share formation with the american

people about what actually took place over the last two years ic coon with the mueller investigation and the troubling findings. jerry nadler has also be clear that we're going to have hearings dealing with three issues -- obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and the culture of corruption. this was the beginning of that process, not the middle and certainly not the end. >> woodruff: but aren't you up against the election clock, congressman, in that n are the throes, the beginning throes of the 2020 presidential election? you have primaries coming up early next year. how do you get this done in this climate in this season? i >> welhink we'll reevaluate where we are in september. over next six weeks, we'll have k opportunity to go baome, spend time with our constituents, get a sense ofr thmes, their dreams, their aspirations both as it relates to the issues want to focus on and how we can hold thison administra accountable from hearings or oversigig

inveions or an impeachment inquiry. when we reconvene in september, i'm certaithat the house democratic caucus will have a group conversation, sharing our perspectives, based on what we've heard from our constituents about the way forward in the fall. >> woodrf: congressman hakeem jeffries, chair of the house democratic congress, thank you very >> woodruff: for a republican perspective, we turn to the ranking member of the house judiciary committee, representative doug coins of georgia. he joins us now from capitol hill. inngressman collins, thank you very much for joius. as you just heard from congressman jeffries, it is a case that the former special counsel, mr. mueller, didn't struction,nclusion about the evidence is there. they are continuing to pursue that. >> well, it was pretty amazing. my friend hakeem jeffries, we worked on a lot of pieces f legislation together. i wish he would go back the legislating, but that's not been the case. one the most striking rebuffs

to the obstruction arguments waf to mr.eys when he laid out in on instruction argument and mr. mueller said, don't agree with your analysis." what i think we saw with mr. jeffries, he's having to lead a conference whlost because they have spent all of their time focused on these t investigatiot have gone nowhere. they focused on the mueller report. they showed us nothing we didn't learn three months ago. i pe there is a reevaluation. my hope is what he said in september is they come back wanting to legislate. we had another hearing about problems at thborder. in seven months, they have never brought a piece of legislation to actually fix the underlying problems that president obama or president trump pointed ouon the border. that's democratic party's problem. they're rud >> woodruff: we did hear congressman jeffreys tell us that they want to pursue other issues, but meantime they are tsaying no person is aboe law in this country, and he talked about a massive executive branch cover-up that's under way.

>> again, it's amazing. you tell yourself a story so long that you have to try and make everyone else believe it and i hear this. they say this massive cover-up. we have had hearing after hearing after hearing, and some of the most farcical hearings i've seen on the judiciary committee since i've been there withohn dean and others. we even had a hearing in which nessesof their own wit said their subpoena to bill barr was illegal. gow much more do we have to through this? uewould love to work with my democratic colleto solve immigration and to work on intellectual property. this week has ben terrible for them and their narrative. they have been deceiving the american people for now seven months. two years if you count trying to protect the mueller investigation. we need a landing patternp i'm g august will give him that chance to find something to, come back to capitol hill and work for the american people. >> woodruff: well, another point that we heard mr. jeffreys and other democrats make is that what mr. mueller did say yesterday is that he is alarmed about what the russians did in interfering with the rust elections in 2016. w they continue toe intent

on interfering ins, and how in his words ere was cooperation at the highest levels of the trump campaign with this. >> mr. nadler or mr. jeffreys are not concerned about that. you want to know how i know about they? love to say it, but they have never put a bill in or committee to atually address russian or any foreign interference in our elections. if they are serious, they would actually put bills up that we could neg sthait that we could actually have markups. if you want to know if they're serious, look at wh they do, not what they say. they're just simply trying to spin a very bad week for them plsm mueller has said that si ce the repome out. where is their solution? they don't have one. that's what they want to talk about. >> woodruff: well, they point out that democrats in the house have passed a nr um bills aimed at election security, but the republins have stopped them at every turn. a majority of republicans in thn housin the senate. they're saying there is an effort by the majority leader and others to block any action on election security. >> if they claim the bill they

passed, r-1, is an election security bill, that's the biggest joke perpetrated because that's simply an incumbent protection act. it was public financing of aselections. itrying to federalize state elections. did not do anything to take the foreign influence out. you want to look at an act that would do tha at? lothe deter act that ewith put forward. look at the things we have to deter foreign influnstead of making the election something that is federalized so they w believe thuld have a advantage in future elections. don't let thtm tell you tha they passed something. that is not true. they know it's not true. >> woodruff: well, let me turn you to another thing we heard from mr.ll m yesterday. that was when he was asked about president trump praising wikileaks, which is said by the intelligence community to be a serious concern to an security, the president has said on a number of occasions he loves wikileaks, loves to read

wikileaks. how do you as a promember member of the united states congress and how do you explain that? >> i don'txplain that. we're in an election cycle. people want to report the issues of the mueller inestigation. how do we move forward? i think what was very cear, three points were collusion and conspiracy were actually finall rest by mr. mueller. they are one in the same and i'm tired of democrats saying there is solution in plain sight when they say that, they are lying to the american public. number the work any time they talk about tissues. mr. mueller said i don't agree with your legal theo obstruction. so we come to the third thing that actually from those reports th were actually the, and that was, when we -- how we got to this investigation, how it started, and how we got to the part of where we had a corrupt ca. l at the f.bnd the department of justice that began this whole thing. when mr. mueller said it's not in my purview, well, mr. mueller, the report named the steele dossier. it named some of these people,

but undoubtedly he didn't realize that or didn't remember it. i think those are the thing have to look at. >> woodruff: as you know, he pointed out those are a subj of ongoing investigation and review at the justice department. but finally, are you saying, congressman, collins, that you found mr. mueller not credie? >> i fuled mr. mueller told the truth. i think what the democrats are saying is they didn't like what he said. i found him credible in the sense that he took a massive organization over two years, multiple millions of dollars, many, many witnesses, many foreign intelligence sources, d he did hi best yesterday to make sure he presented the report as he presented it back in march. what the democrats don't like is the story didn't change. i could have told them that while back. we wanted anything new, it came in march. read the report. they just didn't like what it said. >> woodruff: congressman doug collins, who is a ranking republican on the house judiciary commyotee. than >> thank you, judy. take care. us

stay wit coming up on the newshour: the buzz aboutew technology to deal with the dwindling population of bees. how one city in the netherlands became a playgroun.for architec hid scientist prosanta chakrabarty givebrief but spectacular take on life on earth. bufirst, attorney general william barr announced today the federal government will resume enfoing the death penalty. as amna nawaz reports, the u.s. bureau of prisons has not executed anyone since 2003. >> nawaz: the department of justice said today, those executions can continue because the department is doneeviewing issues that had been raised about lethal-injection drugs. the "washington post's" devlin barrett is here to break down this policy shift. welcome to the n.s hour, devl >> hi. thanks for having me. >> nawaz: so let's talking about the timing first. what it is that prompted this rule change? >> well, the trump

administration hasf á supportivee death penalty. jeff session, the previous ettorney general, talked about how he wanted moreath cases brought. whey were always headed here. and i think frankl they have come up with is they think they have come up with a chemical formula really around the biggest logistical hurdle to executing people, which has been this legal debate and frank policy and political debate over what drugs to use and where to get those drugs. >> nawaz: when you say they ve come up with a chemical formula, what's the answer they're proposing here? >> for many years te way people were executed in this country was a three-drug cocktail. opponents for a long time pt building pressure on not just the states that applied thoseco drugs, but thpanies that provided those drugs to the states. and that began the choke off the supply for some places for those drugs. what the federal government now says is iting to use a single drug that he says it has the ility to obtain an doesn't have a resource problem,

and they're going to use that drugonl they think they have essentially solved the logistical and frankly the legal an policy hurdle that that created before. >> nawaz: so with this ne rule, how many people are actually affected by it right now and potentially in the future? >> the federal death row is in indiana. there are about 60 people on that death row. the federal death penalty is ch different than the state-by-state death penalty, however, the feral death penalty hasn't been applied in 16 years, and when it is applied, it's applied infrequently. so what they have done today is they've said, the following five people now have execution dates. those execution dates are ice er and january. realistically, there should be a lot of litigation and a lot of arguments to the court trying t deose dates. >> nawaz: those five people alve all exhausted their leg appeals. they are all five men, all convicted of heinous crimes, right? >> absolutely. >> one killed family of three including a young gir another molested and beat to death his two-year-old daughter,

but yomention the difference between the federal and state executions. we have not d a federal execution since 2003. state executions have continued, but what's the trend? >> the trend is fewer and fewer executions. so take 20 years ago. 20 years ago there were just about 100 executions by various states around the year. this last here were 25. so you have seen a significant shrinking. re are 21 states that have taken the death penalty off their law books. another group of states have the death penalty on their law books but aren't execumany people. the biggest example of that would be california, where there is something on the order of 70 peopleath row, and they have not executed anyone in over ten years. >> nawaz: it's worth noting th decline mirrors public opinion, right? >> it does. the height of public support for the death penalty, not surprisingly, came in the early '90s when the crime rate was much higher. as the crime rate has gone down, lhis has become a less popular

criminal justice ution. >> nawaz: just to punch home that trend, take a will be at these numbers right here from the pew research center. this shows public support for the death penalty back in 199 78% of americans favored it. that has dropped down to 54%. still the majority of american, but a significantazecline. >> nthere is an interesting political split where it now stas. w most republicans favor the death penalty. most democrats don't. when this policy change was announced thning, most of the democrats running for president immediately criticized it and said they opposed the ath penalty. and ten, 20 years ago, democrats were much more split on the question of the deth penalty. they're more cohesive now in thr opposition to it. >> nawaz: we're already starting to see some of the political oppositionubble up om democratic members of congress. but when it comes to public opinion, when comes to legal challenges, what do we expect to happen now? the rule thanges outere, is there going to be a legal challenge to this, as well? >> yes, there are constant legal chalnges to executions, both

sort of as a policy and in the specific cases. we will see more of those, the aclu has said it plans to challenge this. certainly the lawyers for the five people who have be given execution dates. i have no doubt they will challenge this. o we'll see at more activity on this front, but remember, you ow, death penalty cases are always being brought up through the courts. the supreme court faces these types of decaisions at lest on individual cases all the time. >> nawaz: is it fair to say it's going to have a big i or we don't know what's going to happen yet? >> i think we n't kno the federal government's action might push some of the states into getting more active on the death penalty, because clearly the administration has a policy goal here. and other states have had the same policy goal, and they have sort of st those fights. it will be interesting to see if any states actually follow the federal government's example here. >> nawaz: we'll be tracking it and so will you. devlin barrett of the "washington post," thanks for beinhere. >> thanks for having me.

>> woodruff: hums rely heavily on pollinator bees to sustain food production globally, but for decades these insects have seen significant population decline. the problem is not new, but now there are groups working onno intive ways to tackle the issue of dying bees. william brangham reporor our "breakthroughs" series on thein leedge of science and technology. >> get zen about it and don't freak out. >> brangham: kristy allen's business is bees. this small business owner manages 150 hives in and around minneapolis. she produces honey, she teaches beekeepid she even invented this pedal-powered honey extractor. >> i fell in love with the

honeybee. they're just incredible. they're a woman-run organization. we have more of these cells which is not a good si >> brangham: but here in minnesota-- and around the world-- there's a problem: bees last year alone beekeepers in oe u.s. reported a 40% dr among their bees. ep bees are struggling these days, and as a bee i see it through the eyes of a honeybee and it being really difficult to keep them healthy and thriving. >> here's some honey. >> brangham: across the river at the university of minnesota's bee lab, dr. marla spivak, who's studied bees for or thirty years, says this decline boils down to three things. >> the pesticides, the parasites, and the poor nutrition. humans love to meddle and love to grow different things. and like these plants here and these plants not here.

and so all of that affects what's available to bees to support their nutrition.>> rangham: spivak, who received a 2010 macarthur fellowship for her work with bees, says the die off started with the dramatic rise in the use of pescides after world war two. >> the greatest potentiality for ddt lies in dispersal planes. >> brangham: and it's a prlem that continues to worsen today. just this month, the environmental protection agency approved the use of sulfoxaflor, a pesticide that's toxic to bees. >> there's something going on with the other queen, that they don't like her.ha >> bra kristy allen worries that the declining bee population is going to hurt more than just her business. t of everythree four crops rely on bees for pollination. >> our food will get way more expeive. the people who have money are going to be the ones that have lyaccess to things like re good fruits and vegetables that keep us healthy.

so not only is it a huge public health concern, there's huge onomic ramifications. >> brangham: the central valley of california is where more than half the produce in america is grown. every spring, close to 80% of the commercial bees in the country are put onto semi-trucks and carted thousands of miles out here. the hives are then placed at the edge of fields to help pollinate the flowering crops. itakes about two hives per acre. when bees move from flower to flower searching for nectar, c polllects on their back legs. and as they travel, that pollen gets spread arnd, fertilizing the flowers. but with bees in decline as demand for them is rising, some see a business opportunity. a company called dropcopter is trying to create a technological fix for farmers who can't get enough bees.ou coer matt koball says his business partner had started

look delivery, but then they had fiother idea. >> i'm out in thd with a friend of mine who grows almonds and we're talking about bees and pollination. so one thing led to another, went down and visited ate engineers re making his device, and we switched it over to make it so it carries pollen. >> brangham: their mechanical, flying pollinator, still in its infancy, is simple in t. pollen is poured into a container attached to the bottom of the drone. >>hree, two, one.>> rangham: the drone is pre- programmed to follow an exact pathway ove an orchard, shooting out the pollen in an even, regular spray as it flies. >> it'll just come, slide to the left and head backwards up the hill. >> brangham: they demonstrated their one for us over these fig trees, which don't actually need pollination. but this year, the company did real pollination on almond, apple, cherry and pear orchards in california and new york. chief marketing officer mike

winch says they're not here to replace bees. >> we feel really strongly that it's a supplement to the bees. we can help provide a solution that doesn't provide further stress to the bee colonies that enhances the food production capabilities for which they're responsible. t year they were anywhere from $200 to $225 a hive.ha >> bra per hive? >> per hive. >> brangham: almond farmer kevin hebrew was o of dropcopter's rst clients. >> it's uniform. and what i like about it is it's hard to judge your bee activity. and with a drone you have a lot re opportunity. re three, two, one, go. >> brangham: dr. f helbling is part of a team at a rvard university's wyss institute designinniature autonomous flying vehicle. they call theirs the robo-bee. >> down at this scalwe kind of take inspiration from insects and trng to get this flapping motion that you can see. >> brangham: it's an amazing amount of engineering with something at that scale.

>> it's incredible. and you know, everything we do here, we have to come up with how we're going to build i how we're going to manufacture it, how we're going to, you know, laser cut all of our materials. >> brangham: the goal is to create a small flying robot that mimics what a bee or a fly does. helbling says if they can get the technology right, they could be used for anything from search and rescue, to medicine, airal y monitoring, and maybe even pollination. >> you can make many of them for not that much money. the material cost of these is actually very, very low. u can outfit these vehicles with different sensors or different capabilities. and so y them interacting with the environment. >> brangham: of course, the idea of autonomous flying robots is the stuff of science fiction. i. we think one of your a. may be involved in an unexplained death. >> sorry? a death? >> uh huh. i >> branghathe netflix series "black mirror," tiny robot bees are corrupted for ate

more sinuse. >> brangham: where are you doing that work? is that over there with the killerees in that room? >> no. no no no no. there's no killer bees here. we promi. i ink it'll be many years before you get to see one of >> brangham: so this is? >> honey and wax. >> brangham: back in minnesota, dr. spivak is pretty skeptical of a technological fix for pollination. she says we need to focus more on protecting the real, live bees that are still here. >> it's been a hundred million years of evolution to evolve all of these diverse bee species. and so creating one robot bee is going to miss out on all the other species that they could be pollinating. i would much prefer that we take that technology and use it to deliver pesticides in minute

quantities when needed and only where needed. >> brangham: and for beekeepers like kristy allen, there's also no replaceme for the real thing. >> i hear about, you know, different technologies. i understand there are benefits, but at what cost. i'm not a total luddite, and i n't think we should just scrap all technology, but a droneee versus a there's-- it's a no-brainer decision for me. >> brangham: for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: and now to a city a the netherlands, where experimentation hitecture has become a way of life. jeffrey brown visited rotterdam amid some colder weath earlier this year, as part of "canvas," our ongoing coverage of arts and culture.

>> brown: arriving at rotterdam's central train station, you experience at once one of the things thisutch city is best known for-- its architecture. quirky, lively, in your face. most cities have a signature style. c this oneelebrates a kind of mash-up. its "style" is many styles overlapping and evolving over time. >> this is the mess that is rotterdam, and rotterdammers are proud of it, including myself. >> brown: renowned dutch architect reinier de graaf waser born in rom, and has worked here for decades. >> you have a tower there. i think that's l zeros., early there's this green thing here. that is the 1980s. >> brown: and then there's the w buildinge were standing in, that de graaf had design, the. timmerhu se building starts to rec with roof terraces the moment it peeps over the attics of ing buildings, so the style is very modern and

individual. >> brown: it merged a 1950s office building with a new steel and glass structure that houses city offices, shops and apartments. long known as a great and grittt inal port city, rotterdam today has a made a reputation as one of the world's leading laboratories for archicture and design, a place where you can find buildings and structures of all kinds. one reason? its particular history. >> flights of unopposed nazi bombers flew low over the center of rotterdam and methodically bombed it into a heap of rubble. >> brown: what was once a traditional european city was destroyed by the germans early in world war ii, flattening the city center, forever changing its landscape. >> one of the teresting thing rotterdam is the construction took place without any sent

mentality toward was what was gone and the emptiness that was left in the wake of the bombing was used to make a new beginning. >> brown: that new beginning became an ongoing experiment as architectural styles changed, c well as a source of pride and identity for they. among much else, there are 1970s-era cube houses designedd by piet blom, s 1980s pencil building righ door. the asymmetrical erasmus bridge, knn as "the swan," opened 1996. and the enormous, six-year-old "de rotterdam" buildinacks of cubes that look different from every direction-- by porhouse architect rem koolhaas and his rotterdam-based design firm, o.m.a., where reiner de aaf is a partner. >> you feel a tremendous amount of freedom. i'm hesitant to verbalize even an answer to the question of what's the style or character of rotterdam, because i think once that is defined, then there will be pressure to conform to it.

and then the very freedom that's the essence of the city will be gone. >> brown: you can see it in another of the city's newest iconic buildings-- the market hall, designed by architect winy maas. horseshoe-shaped, with huge glass windows onto the city on both ends, its curved walls containing offices and apartments. a giant mural floats above aly lindoor food market. >> you have a kind of nice intimate atmosphere because of the market is say, for people. so you want when you sit on the terrace ah, this one is going to dinner. that one is going to a bathroom, athat one is going to tak bath. so i think that makes it also more intimate as such. >> brown: it's inter because it's intimate, but also ig a very large public space. >> yeah, exactly, exactly. but i think our cities need erat, to have like spaces you don't feel so distant to each other a you can see each other more close.

i think that encourages safety, actually, and encourages more collectiveness.ro >> b: a short ride away is a very different kind ofme experint in creative and sustainable ways of living-- a new small neighborhood built on a former field hockey arena. >> there were some rules in, kind of, the way you had to design your use, how big it can be, where you position it. >> brown: otherwise it would be crazy. >> yeah, exactly. >> brown: architect stefan prins lives here with his paner, diana, and their young daughter, in a home he designed. an open floor plan, large windows positioned tprovide maximum light all year. the home runs entirely on ectric and solar power, gas. his neighbors, too, were all invited to come up with their own designs, making for esmix of stlike rotterdam itself, but all with sustainability in

mind.ll >>hese houses-- i mean, they look sustainable because of the materials. so it's not only aboutnergy reduction. it's of course also about the materials you choose to work with, right? and i think even, even in the big projec in rotterdam, you see, you'll see this change in being more conscious about how your design is now, with sustainability as edvery integratart of the design. >> brown: and then there's this: an even less likely mix of sustainability and design. a farm, in the waters of rotterdam's famous harbor. >> it's not a farm as we ever have seen a farm. >> brown: no, it doesn't look like anything i've seen. >> brown: minke van wingerden is tie of the designers of the world's first fl dairy farm-- a way to bring farming back to the city, and to design for a future that may include more flooding. >> we think that the agriculture

sector is not so sexy anymore, and we want to make it sexier again, and we want to attract young people. food is such an important thing, d it should be popular to be a farmer. >> brown: you're saying the design makes it more sexy? >> yes, because it's so strange. it's a future design and it's an open design, and it' important for us because we think it's important that everybody can see what's goinghe on-- your food comes from, td how do we process the milk, and how we proce manure. so that's why. it's iconic. it's open, it's transparent. >> brown: we were therre the cows arrived, but they're onboard w, and milk is being delivered to local supermarkets. the short delivery distance, plus the solaranels, reduces energy use. you've seen rotterdam change quite a bit. >> yeah. >> brown: where does something like this fit into the chaes

that you've seen? >> rotterdam, it has a vibe of doing things, making things happen, and it's never strange enough. >> brown: even a floating farm. >> even a floating farm. yes, indeed. >> brown: all part of a cityscape that's ever-changing, and redefining urban living. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in rotterdam, the netherlands. >> woodruff: tonight's "brief but spectacular" feature ichthyologist prosanta chakrabarty, who studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and the planet.ro he's assor and curator of fishes at the museum of natural science and department of biological science at louisiana

state university.in >> every onc while, you go to someplace new where no one has been before, andee something that is so different that you know it's new right away. it's l?e, "what is this thi this is so new, i can't believe it, i'm going to go home now and describe thithing before anyone else finds out about it. >> i grew up loving animals and nature despite growing up in queens, new york. and i went as a kid to the bronx zoo and the american museum of natural history and looked up at dinosaurs and blue whales and i never looked down. i just wanted to study biology. in the bigger scheme, i'm trying to understand who's related to whom on this planet. one of the things i love to study are freshwater fishes.

one cave fish is in australia, and the other one is in madagascar, which is actually a thing i discovered. that their last connection together wasn't through swimming across the pacific ocean which, where they would not be able to survive instead they were last together when those continents where together almost 100ll n years ago. the tools that we have available to us are everything frof the d.n.a. oe organism, to theth bodies oorganisms. we can study entire genomes now, and so we can understand things at levels that weren't possible in the past. the things that i've learned abjut geological history is how interconnected this planet is. i've learned, you know, goinn to the persiagulf, which is only about 20,000 yrs old, that this area can tell me about why it rains so much in the himalayas during monsoon sean. or why the connection between north and south america, which is only three million years old, has led to climate cnge that's changed the dimensions of this planet and the currents,

sometimes what i'm doing is putting together a puzzle, but i don't have that little box that tells me what the puzzle will be. d so each little piece is a different species on the planet. and the other problem is many of those species that i need to fill in the puzzle have gone extinct. my name is prosanta chakrabarty and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on life on earth. >> woodruff: you can find more episodes of our "brief but spectacular" series on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour/brief on the newshour's website right now, a viral social media challenge involving a photo editing app has raised fresh questions about data security. w re experts are saying the concerns are not overblown. that and more is at www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.ne join us onnd again here brmorrow evening with mark shields and daviks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you

and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshouras been provided by: >> babbel. a language learning app that a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian german, and more. babbel's ten to 15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> consumer cellular. >> financial servicefirm raymond james. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this prog possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by

newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh.w acceh.org >> you're watching pbs.

hello everyone and welcome to "amenpour." >> finally mueller speaks. e former special counsel spends hours under congressionat questions aboump and the russian campaign. jim baker themer general counsel joins uo tell us whether there's more to investigate. and we dissect mueller's testimony with the "new york times"s washington correspondent. >> criminals are making more money around the world in cyber attacks than they are through selling narcotics. >> former czar t