captioning sponsored by wnet >> mitchelthis edition for saturday, december 28: a look at today's headlines. and, newshour weekend reporters and producers reflect on their favorite stories of the year. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >>pbs nehour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil.ar barbhope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we

believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: and by theorporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded bicthe am people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. frothtisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, karina mit ell. >> mitchell: od evening and thank you for joining us. in mogsoadishulia this morning, a truck filled with explosives blew up, killing at least 78 people and wounding more than 120 others. it was the deadliest attack in somalia's capiyetal city in rs. the bombing took place at a busy security checkpoint during lemorning rush hour, as pe returned to work after the weekend. mogadishu's mayor said many of the victims were university students returning to school.

there is no immediate claim of responsibility, but somalia's president condemned the tack as a "heinous act of terror," and blamed the al qaeda-linked terrorist group al-shabab. the trump administration has increased u.s. air strikes on al-shabab in recent years. the militant group has carried out attacks in somalia, as well as in neighboring kenya and uganda. al-shabab was blamed for two truck bombings in 2017 that killed nearly 600 people, also in mogadishu. in paris today, thousands marched to protest the french government's plan to change its pension programs. the demonstrators joined forces with the so-called yellow vests, a moveme for social and economic justice that is in its 59th weekend of protests. the nationwideension reform marches and actions have disrupted transit across france .r much of the past month scuffles broke out with police today, and some demonstrators burned construction terials. french president emmanuel macron wants to raise the re age from 62 to 64, and reform

pension categories. unions are opposed. and are calling for a major day of action against the proposals on january 9. in lafayette, louisiana today, five people died when a small private plane crashed in a wooded area near a post office. local officials said there was one survivor from the crash of the ght-passenger plane. three people on the ground were taken to arehospitals. a nearby walmart store was evacuated as a precaution, and lights and power went out near the site. the cause of the pla crash is under investigation. authorities are searching for efe missing person after a helicopter crashat least six people dead in hawaii. the crash occurred on thursday evening on mountain on the island of kauai. the helicopter was carrying two families on a tour of the island's coastline, a popular tourist destination. e coast guard says that two of the passengers are believed to be minors. there are no indications that anyone survived the crash.

a new law raising the lel a to buy tobacco products to 21 is e w in effect nationwide. yesterday, s. food and drug administration implemented the cha ange, part weeping spending bill that congress passed earlier this month. the new law applies to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaping devices that heat liquid containing ninic several states already had laws in place restricting tobacco use to those 21 and older. winter storms are exp tted througho southwest and midwest this weekend. this week, snow california shut down interstate-5 between the los angeles area and the san joaquin valley for 36 hours. the road was reopened yesterday. the national weather service says the low pressure system that brought that storm is heading through arizona and will continue east into colorado, the dakotas and the upper midwest, bringing heavy snow and ice. >> mitchell: for the latest on saturday's deadly truck bombing in mogadishu, somalia, visit www.pbs.org/newshour.

>> mitchell: as 2019 draws to an end, we're taking a look back at some of the stories we've brought you this year, with the producers and reporters behind them. the team of sam weber andi coe kargbo spend a good deal of time on the road with the host of this broadcast, hava sreenisan. they sat down recently to talk about this past year and what's in store for 2020. >> sreenivasansaconnie kargbo, weber, thanks for joining us. happy 2019. let's start with one of the stories that you roguysced with me, for me, out in the mangroves of florida. first of all, how did story idea come about in the first place? >> well, it was acatally a collabn with several other media outlets, including the non-profit, non-advocacy group, climate centra >> sreenivasan: uh-huh. >> so, it was a story that they brought to us, but it was a really sort of fascinating story of a inroads further and further north because there was less and less freezes and less and less vere cold. >> sreenivasan: and we got to go out and watch the scientists work. >> absolutely, and i think that was probably quite the most

interesting part of the story was beinable to follow as the scientists conducted some of the investigations they were doing. >> sreenivasan: each of these chambers is a glimpsinto the future. by shielding it from the elements, the temperature inside is a couple of degre centigrade warmer. by doing this, scientists can study what happens to thsalt marsh and the mangrove in here these higher temperatures, versus what's outside. >> what we see happening at least in our first six months of data is that the mangroves seem to be growing faster in the warming chambers. >> sreenivasan: the wetfeet project is a multi-year initiative funded by the national science foundation. researchers pull water samples to measure data, including salinity. >> it's kind of likgetting blood from a stone, though, right? >> sruseenivasan: the bluetooth-connected sensors to track environmental conditions like temperature and humidity both inside and outside of the chambers. is this mangrove going to replace that marsh? >> likely, yes. unless there's a deep freeze, it's going to overtop thitmarsh. and, aoes so, it's going to shade out the marshes under it, and it'ljust take over.

>> sreenivasan: and this is somewhat dirty work. i mean, this is... >> absolutely, yeah!iv >> sreenan: ...not the stuff that you learn in the abstrt in a classroom. th is really get your hands dirty, get your feet dirty.ol >> aely. you're walking through mud. you're walking in some swamps. hat was interesting was really following hari, to a degree, and catching some of the moments where the... the mud seemed to kind of taken hold of you. >> sreenivasan: oh, lost it, lost it, lost it! right. i had that special relationship with my boot, which kept... yeah, the foot would co and the boot would stay. yeah, that wasn't very fun. you were also one of the first teams that we went out in the field and took the newshour weekend program out to houston. it was around a big anniversary that the whole country, the whole world was celebrating. >>es. it was the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk. and for someone who obviously did not live... not obviously, but did not live... ( laughter ) ...did not live through that period, it was really interesting getting to see it from the perspective of those whwere alive and are now

currently actually working at nasa. >> and it was really hard to not get wraped up in that, getting to see a control room that they had literally restored down to packs of cigarettes, coffee cups. it just really brought home what a monumental feat this was using the technology they had 50 years ago. >> sreenivasan: right, because we have more in our smartphone now than i think what the "apollo 11" of the lander actually had, computing power-wise, right? it's stunning to think that even in t were... some of the projected images in the back, they werera litelly hand drawings of where this place should be. and we just take for granted on gh,.p.s. like, ell, shouldn't we be able to track x and y?" well, not then. >> and then, being able sort of catrech up with a flight or today and the really incredibl tight timeline that they've been charged with to complete the next set of manned missions into space. >> it was also really interesting getting to see some of the l you know, we spoke with a curator there who's been minding these and being able to send ese samples to researchers across the country. and to see these up close, to know that there abe 2,000

samplend some of these screens that we were looking at, that was pretty impressive. >> sreenivasan: and y that they actually store these, how they transport these. i mean, you're at the first thing like, "these are just rocks. oh, wait, they're rocks from the moon!" >> exactly. and what was also interesting was knowing that there was even more that we haven't seen, that they were just at the cusp of opening new vaults that would give us more information as what information we don't even have about the moon yet. so, that was great. >> sreenivasan: now, one of the stories that you did is an interesting one about a slave rebellion that most people don't know about. vhat was this one about? >> this was 1811 se rebellion. it took place in louisiana. and, essentially, it was the culmination of many, many enslaved people coming together, planning to take over the plantations that they re part of, march to new orleans, take over that ci and form a new country free of slavery. so, it was really interesting sparking with thst who was able to kind of trace this 30- mile journey to new orans, which obviously they never made that. >> sreenivasan: right. >> so, it was a.re it was a reat experience running

along 00ashese reenactors,- plus of them, walking from what was laplace now in louisiana, and actually making it to congo square in new orleans. >> sreenivasan: and how diftoficult was iet just that, even the reenactment? >> it was... it was really diinicult because, obviously certain parts, they were a little further away from you, so shooting some of those scenes were a little hard. but what was really fascindeing was how iled they got with some of the costumes. you know, this was 19thecentury clotthey were... they were wearing, machetes, muskets. itd they really got into the details of what ould have been like to wear these clothes at that time period, and they broughit to life here in 2019. >> sreenivasan: okay. and one of the stories that you folks are working on that will air soon is about wind energy. what... what's new about wind energy? what's interesting about it that puts it in the news today? >> it's an energy that maybe we might take for granted bit, and maybe especially for us here in the northeast where it's maybe not as prevalent. but it's a renewable source of power that, in the last decade, has reallyecome a powerhouse. and for the first time this year, in 2019 mong into 2020,

it will vertake hydro power as the biggest renewable energy source in the united states. it's really an industry that's gotten a hugbot from federal tax credits that are actually starting to phase out... >> sreenivasan: okay. >> ...aer 2020. so, it's sort of taking a look at that industry and some of the challenges that i think both energy producers and policymars know athey're going to face as we start thinking about how we're going to mtiake more of a tran to a carbon-free future, particularly when it comes to power generation. >> sreenivasan: so, where'd you go? what did you see? >> so, we were in texas, in the central part of texas, and it's really interesting because that's part of the country thaal so has a lot of oil fields. so, it was interesting contrasting this with one that's supposed to be the future for the united states. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> it's... it's also...gene of the binnovations in this industry is that the turbines have gotten so much more efficient. and part ofhat also means bigger. >> sreenivasan: yes. >> so, being on the ground at a project that's sort of just tting going.

so, there was basieslly five turbp when we were there out of 191 that will be built and online in 2020. and gettg to see, for instance, these blades getting trucked in past us. i mean, it's really w dropping to see the amount of infrastructure and the amount of logistical work that goes into even just physically getting these things tthe place, let alone, you know, for instance, taking a tower segment off of av sized truck and carefully placing on the ground to be staged to then be lifted up. >> sreenivasan: all right, sam weber, connie kargbo, thank you both. >> thank you. >> mitchell: newshour weekend introduced a new serie year called "the future of food." it explores what's being done global to increase food sustainability, and combat food insecurity. for more, here's hari sreenivasan again with the series' co-produpsrs, megan and melanie saltzman. sreenivasan: our resident foodies are in the house.

melanie, megan, how did this series about food come in the first place? >> we all eat food... >> sreenivasan: yeah. ...and it's the intersy tion of so mings-- politics, the environment, climate change, technology. so many things, leard, kind of revolve around it and are affected by it. and then, also reached out to mark bittman, who's well-known food author, and he kind of came on board as both one of our reporters a as our host. >> so, we ended up coming up with three different sort of topic themes. we did a few stories about technology and food. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> and we did a few stories about faing. and we did a couple of stories about what we're calling food waste and food security.iv >> srean: let's start with the tech angle. you had a couple of pieces around that. what dyou find fascinating about it? >> genetically-modified salmon is the first animal approved for human nsumption. millions of dollars went into research. the f.d.a. took decades to approve it. and now, it's actually happening. so, we thought that it was a worthwhile story to kind of look at genetic modificatio and see how the salmon could... could be on your plate in the very, vy near future. >> a genetically-engineered salmon that grows twice as fast

as regular salmon while actlly consumg less feed. it's really hard to believe that these salmon are the same age, and there's such a huge size difference between the two of. th >> this fish is five kilos, rey for market. that fish is a ng ways from market. >> in the united states, the majority of the salmon consumed is atlantic salmon. but almost all of it is imported from ocn farms in norway, chile and canada. that's because, in the u.s., wild atlantic salmon is endangered, so catching it is illegal. ocean farming is only permitted in a few places, and, until recently, the wasn't much interest in expensive land-based production like aquabounty's. >> if you have a fish that grows a little faster, such as an aquaadvantage that reaches rket weight in half the time, u can produce those fish almost anywhere, because you can grow them in a land-based aquaculture fality closer to consumers. so, you can reduce the transportation costs, you can

reduce the carbon footprint associated with transportation. so, this... this opens up a whole new opportunity foglobal salmon production. >> this is a pretty big deal. i mean, this company, aquabounty, is doing something that's never been done before. what i think we both kind of found fascinating was that when we actually went to visit the company, it's actually sort of a really modest and sort of isolated operation. >> sreenivasan: where isolated? >> so, the main operations where they're producing the fish, or where they have been at least-- inthey had been-- irince edward island, canada, which is off the coast... east coast of canada. it's a small island. >> sreenivasan: there's no non- stops from new york. >> there are no non-stops from new york. >> the plane was tiny tiny, and there was one guy that did everything. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> he was the stewardess, he was the pilot, he was the...the luggage guy. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> it was... it was g treat. >>re was literally no door on the cockpit. it was, you kno and then, once you get to the island, yveou have to dri another hour out to the edge. and, you know, it's this small building behind a chain-link fence. you'd have no idea what was happen there. there's only really a handful of

people even in this building. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >>gut they're doing someth that's really huge and sort of groundbreaking. that was really interesting to>> see. reenivasan: okay. then, you also had a piece also tech-related, but meat grown in a lab. i think anybody hears that sentence, there's a "hmm," hesitant moment about it. but when did you..yswhat did you ind? >> people think of meat in a lab, and they think of plant-bad. >> sreenivasan: mm-hmm. >> but this was fascinating to us because it's actual animal cells being taken into t lab and producing meat from the animal cells. and it's... it's fascinating. you know, with all of our stories, we wanted to kind of ta a solutions-based approach and say there are all these problems witour food system. how can we tell reports that e both really digging into those problems but are possible solutions, as well? but we're finding that they'reer rely contrsial. there are people who, for ethical reasons, really oppose cell-based meat, and, in the same vein, for ethical reasons, really, really support it. so, it's been interesting, kind of diving into the controversy. >> valenti started researching the idea of creatg at in a lab. he'd always been bothered by the environmental impacts of meat also the factd that billions of animals are slaughtered for meat each year. valenti walked away from his

promising cardiology career and moved his family to the san francisco bay area to pursue the idea of creating what's known as cell-based meat. in 2015, valenti launched memphis meats, one of the first private companies in the world focused on the technology. the next year, memphis meats debuted its first product. >> it tastes like a meatball. >> sreensaa okay, you did both taste it. >> mm-hmm. >> sreenivasan: and? it was pretty good. you know, we... we tasted two diff one of the companies was making a chicken nugget. ground meat products are little bit easier to make because it's basically a combination of animal cells erey've grown in a lab and o ingredients, right? you know, these other ingredients help with the texture and the taste. >> sreenivasan: mm-hmm. >> so, the chicken nugget was pretty tasty. it was fried. it was, you know, dipp in a sauce. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> and it sort of brings up another, you know, kind of minbe awkward pot about these stories, which was before we did this series about food, i don't think i have ever had to eat camera before! >> sreenivasan: ( laughs )

>> i had to eat for, like... on like, three different of the stories. >> i've been getting so much joy. it's so weird. i... i feel like i'm putting her through her paces, but i'm like, "just takene more bite. just take one more bite." >> sreenivasan: yeah. >ne> and yeah, we've bunch of shooting, a bunch of scenes of getting her to eat everything from the chicken, to the chicken nuggets, hetoalmon, to hamburgers. >> okay, here i go. >> go for i>>t. t's very tender. do youhink that they'll ever be able to grow a hamburger like this in a lab? >> i think, given enough time and research and development, yes. >> he gave me a taste of the duct. it's delicious. >> ( lau gs ) >> tin is nice and cruny. it's got a nice chew to it. >> sreenivasan: all right, let's talk a little bit about the farming pieces tat you guys also did, and how...hnow not just tlogy, but how we need to be thinking about how our food i grown. >> i mean, a lot of tries we did do have these internatiol components, but we rely wted to do farming in the united states. and we started looking into

sewa. they're a powerhroducer of corn, of soy. you know, 23 million acres of farmland produces those two crops. and it hasn't always been like that. but as a result, you know, we learned that there is soil erosion, there's issues with flooding because the... the water doesn't get held onto the land like it used to. and there's nitrthes going into water, so there's water pollution. we kind ozef just reabecause of this agricultural system, all of these issues have come to light. and wwe mh a small group of farmers that are trying to both continue their businesses, thr livelihoods, but implement ch more sustainable solutions as they... as they move forward. >> sam bennett is a sixth- generation farmer. >> not like his. >> his family'iss been on th land in northwest iowa since 1883. like most farmers here, he grows mainly corn and soybeans. but today, bennett is showing close to 100 fellow farmers som anges he's making on his land. we're going to harvest probably middle of july. it looks like the rye will be ready before the oats. >> we have about 2,000 acres altogether'vn our farm.

started integrating small grains like oats and rye into our rotation, too. and theasey aren't crops that are found really anywhere in iowa. there... there's not a lot of acres of those. >> this practice of growing a variety of crops, taking a break from the corn and soybeans, is called "diversified crop rotations." bennett says he plants these o crops closer together sthere are more of them. that means more roots in the soil, which improves soil and watequality. >> i think my dad comes from a generation that, if you work harder, you'll be more successful. and i think what i'd like to san y generation is that if you work smarter, you'll be more successful. and taking on some of these newer practices, some of these sustainable practices, is ing smarter. >> it's interesting because i had never bn to iowa. >> sreenivasan: mm-hmm. >> i don't know many frmers. and making those calls and trying to get people to open up to us, it was more challenging than i initially thought. it was lot of just making phe calls and explaining our

intentions and saying, "look, we want to see what it's like being a farmer out here and some of the challenges you're dealing with. please be open to talk to us." and in the end, they were great. actually, the one... one of the people who were hesitant to speak with me at first, at the end of a really long shoot day, he had a newborn baby at home; his wife, he said, "you know, if we're done by:00, i might be getting divorced," like, w.ve got to hur so, we're leaving, d my shooter, he was driving and got stuck in the ditch. >> currently, we're stuck in a ditch heinide of the road. i don't even know if this is actually road. >> and i had to call farmer sam and say, "i b'm really sorr we really need you to get us out of this ditch." and he had to come and leave the baby and leave the wif and he was great. e >> sam, you've come to sus? >> working on it. does this babydave four-wheel rive? maybe, probably not. h came out, got us, gave us a hug, and we were on ou nway. so, it we that he was willing to do that and he didn't leave us in the ditch. i felt good about it. >> sreenivthan: yeah. so was iowa. where else did you go?

>> in doing some of the reporting for this story, we were both working on it, and somebody mentioned something k callnza. and we weri think both like, "what is kernza?" iturns out it's actually a very fascinating story. i mean, a lot of the environmental problems tt melanie was just talking about exist in farming because pretty much all the cropt,that we plr the vast majority, are annual plants. something you don't really thin about. but what that means is after one on, the plant dies. they have... you know, the roots have to be pulled out of the ground, and the soil has to be turned over and replanted. and that actually is very damaging to the soil. >> sreenivasan: sure. >> and it'also a contributor to climate change. i mean, carbon dioxide is released out of the soil. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> so, there are some scientists back in the '70s and '80s that said we shount be looking figuring out how to create crops that are perennials, crps that stay in e groundor many years and can actually repair the soil and trap carbon. and the most successful thing ty' come up with so far is something called kernza. so, it was a really fascinating story... >> sreenivasan: ah. >> ...about something that not many of us... i mean, i did not realize that most of our food

that we eat are these annual plants. >> mitchell: for more on our reporter's year-end favorites, watch here or online, at www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: so, after having done all of thishow has it impacted the way that you sit down at the table, whether it's your own or at a restaurant? does it cross your mind, considering that you now have all of this new information? >> it's funny. i i coo the office everyday. i go to the coffee shop downstairgus-- yo know this about me-- and i see them throwing away food everyrn g. >> sreenivasan: hmm. >> and it got to a point where i went to the manager, and i said, "i'm doing this series. you know, i'm really passionate about it." and a few times i've convinced them, i've gotten a big garbage baand put all the food into it and then gave it out to everyone in the office. it's small things. >> sreenivasan: hmm? hold on. i think i've had one of those snacks. no. >> it's small things, but, like, i think doing this reporting for both of us, it makes me much more conscious about the things that we can be doing as consumers because it can be really depressing if you look at

the system as a whole. but i thinhere really are ngible things that at least i've been trying to kind of implement into my life as... as we've been doing stories. >> i would say the same thing. i mean, there are a lot d these issuesid think about before, but, to your point, once you actually really start digging in and lengni lot more about them, it's almost like it makes grocery shopping and eating a little bit more ste ressful becau're sort of burdened with this knowledge now, right? "am i doing the right thing? am i eating th am i feeding mfamily the right foods?" but, i mean, ultimately, i think we both really enjoyed working on this series because, you know, we're sort of helping heucate ourselves and our audience about all different issues. and we've really just barely scratched the surface, so... >> sreenivasan: okay. >> i think a lot of the reporting that we saw before this is very negative, right? it's not that this reporting hasn't been done before, but it was all about the problems with our foysodm. and, i think, as we've been trying to explore it, it's not only about the probms, but it's about what on small levels can be done, b what on much larger levels is currently being done, as well. so, it's not so "dm and gloom." >> sreenivasan: melanie saltzman, megan thompson, thanks

to you both. >> thanks, hari. >> mitchell: tomorrow, we will continue our special series with our newshour weekend producers and reporters as they look back at 2019, and ahead to our coverage plans for 20. that's all for this edition of pwebs newekend. i'm karina mitchell. thanksor watching. 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 ene schwartz.

sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein fami. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. barbara hope zuckerberg.se charles rolum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the mo of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: y the corporation fo public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like u. thank you. you're watching pbs.

michael: i start hand-sewing things that i called wall hangings. peoole said, "oh, those lk like quilts," and i said, "what's a quilt?" ha ha! carolyn:veuilts really reflectthing, from the very, very personal to the really big social m and culturnings. ken: for me, quilt is the record of a country as written in the bottom-up story of so-called ordary people. jim: quilts are magic. they're special. they can keep u warm. jim: they can comfort you. they can protect you, and they even heal.sa sun: people always ask me, "don't you feel bad when you give them away?" i go, "no. that's what they're for."or vi: the best part of quilt making is being able to give the quilt to somebody else. it's a hug. wacheryl: it's a of honoring our vets and the service that they have provided to our country.er