>> good evening, i am judy woodruff. on the newshour, fires dark and the skies in southeast australia, burning millions of acres in forci thousands to flee. then, the money trail. how democratic presidential ndidates fundraising stacks up one month before the iowa caucuses. losing their religion, why young americans are turning away from faith and how religious leaders are trying to bringhem back. >> people want something that matters for their lives. if the content is literally not healing you, connecting you to somethin bigger, then you're wasting your time. >> all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪

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station from viewers like you. thank you. stephanie: stephanie syg, i am judy woodruff will have more after the headlines. ao development ie conflict between the u.s. and iran playing out in iraq tonight.ke u.s. airst struck targets on the road to baghdad international airport. according to iraqi state tv, killed one of the highest ranking iranian commanders. also reportedly killed, the commander h of kabollah, and iranian m backeitia operating in iraq. i want to bring in our rrespondent makes shrift, joining us from washington, d.c.. if these deaths are confirmed, and there are multipleews outlets confirming these deaths, there are two big players in iran and iraq, especially solo

money -- soleimani. nick: its i impossible to overstate how significant this is to what iran does both inside iran and across the region. as you said, we do not have knnfirmation of his death, nor that the u.s he was in this convoy or struck it from y u.s. officials. let's make sure that caveat is said. who soleimani? a military comm most powerful military commander in the region because of what he does. he is a powerbroker. hes rlitant groups across four to five different countries around the region. helpediplomat who negotiate the government in iraq where he was during this strike. he is one of the single most powerful people in iran will respond and

context, he is the top military commander. the way iran works around the region is using proxies, weather has bola in lebanon, hamas in gaza, the houthis in yemen. all of them are run by soleimani and soleimani's lieutenants. irill certainly respond if it is true soleimani has been killed. stephanie: there have been previous reports in prior years of soleimani's death, that is how big of a fish he is in iran. , unconfirmed report reuters is reporting insignificant detail, quoting iraqi militia officials, that the iraan backed militia leader reportedly killed was going to the wrport to meeh soleimani and as

soleimani descended from the plane, that is when the airstrikes hit. that is being appointed by reuters. is this a maj escalation in the u.s. approach toward iran and what does it meanoing forward? ck: we are still not sure if the u.s. knew it was targeting senior officials, so we should be careful on what this means about u.s. strategy, but weid hear from secretary of defen mark esper torning. he warned iran not toonct any more attacks toward u.s. soldiers and he said the u.s. could launch a preemptive sike against any kind of iranianr pro-iranian officials and he did make that warning a few hours before the strike. he did give a hint about tha larger conte owhat is going on, detention has been increasing. the u.s. has been trying to

attack iran economically through sanctions, leaving the iran nuclear deal. thato pushed iran t respond in military form in iraq, that was targeting u.s. bases in iraq. we saw one american servicemember killed over the weekend. that led the u.s. to launch five strikes against a particular militia that is pro-iranian in iraq and killed more than two dozen people. we saw an unprecedented attack on the embassy in baghdad and now we have this. this is a very quick escalation d between the u.s. an. stephanie: we have not heard a comments yet from the u.s. >> no, i reached out to white house, defense, state department intelligence officials. nobody is willing to talk yet about what has happened in baghdad as you say, iraqi state tv reports are reporting about

this. the u.s. has been sayingd t worike iranian targets or pro-iranian targets. even the president warned iran that the u.s. would inflictag lot of don iran if it did cause any damage. that redline was crossed this past weekend whentiro-iranian mikilled a u.s. servicemember. we should also point out tresident trump says he does want a war if this is true, iran will ve a very violent response and a lot of fear that will leadhe u.s. to respond and we could have a cycle of escalation. stephanie: we expect more fallout fromheeports. nick schifrin, joining us from washington, d.c., we know you will stay on top o thank you. moving ono oth news, a vast

swath of australia burning tonight with forecasts of worse to come. thousands order evacuate. a record summer fire season charred 12 million acres, destroyed 1400 homes and left 17 people dead. fires are burning across the rest of the country. dan rivers of independent televisi news reports from new south wales where whole communities are in ashes. dan: on new year's eve ili felt the world was ending. not justr. the yea wildfires swept through in minutes. a local resident films as the fires approaches neighbor's house. this is all that is left. hpeter'e did not survive either. >> i jumped in the car. it was so hot, i cannot describe it. the ferocity and speed of this

fire. anyone who thought they would beat this fire were taking life into their own hands. dan: he has not experienced fea like this si escaped the war in lebanon. >> you could hear trees, bottles exploding. it was leica war zone. i have lived in a war zone and that is what it rded me of. dan: for those who losty everything the owned, the only comfort is knowing family and friends survive. this is what hpens when a fire storm collides with the community. this is all that is left of the park where at least 89 homes have been destroyediln one persond. it was literally hot enough to meltars. dowying, just a few miles the coast, other places facing the same prospect. the princess highway isy the oy wat and it is closed. a 200 mile traffic jam as the

clock ticks down. >> i would like to home, not sleep in my car tonight. t i know there are others who do not have water with them. dan: the australian navy have been evacuating people where 4000 were stranded on the beach. exposed to choking smoke and doing what they can to protect vulnerable lgs as they leave. the town may be cut offek for wewith water supplies out, being brought in by boat. the smoke means it is too dangerous to fly. a state of emergency has been declared as austral's prime nister fends off accusations of failing to helphis crisis. residents refused to shake his hand, hedkling him as he visit the devastated town. >> our town does not have a lot

of money, bute have hearts ofgo , mr. prime minister. >> you saw the strength of that says everything about australia, the spirit that will get them through this t weeke rebuild. dan: some already blaming climate change for the three year drought that preceded this, reeling from their lost. there might be more to come this weekend. stephanie: that was dan rivers of independent television news reporting. back in this country the democratic presidential priedry field narr with julian castro dropping out. the former obama secretary failed to make headway in the polls m in raisingey. he was the only latino still in the race. we will return to the presidential campaign with the latest fundraising reports after the news. top democrats stepping up demands for full disclosure atme senate impea trial of president trump. they said today claims by the

online forum just security prove is hiding something unredacted white house emails show mr. trump directlordered a hold on security funds to ukraine and later ordered their release. the trump administtion today announced a ban on most of the flavored e-cigarettes. cartridge-bas products, but does exempt menthol and tobacco flavors and large tank-type devices that cater to adult 39 of the 52 republican u.s. senators asked the supreme court to overturn roe v. wade, the decision that le.lized aborti more than 160ou republicans assigned the brief supporting a it requires doctors performg abortions to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles. the court will hear arguments in march. rtcarolina will have the

largest ash cleanup and history. duke energy will dig up ash a six sites andove it to live landfills to prevent leaking. the leak ctaminated 70 miles of the dan river. major indexes surged closes after china central-bank announced economias stimulus es. the dow jones gained 330 points. the nasdaq rose 119 points and the s&p 500 added 27. the only man to pitch a perfect baseball game in world series has died. don larsen passed away last night in idaho. he had esophageal canc. his moment came in the 1956 series with the u.s. lanky's. lars beat the brooklyn dodgers , retiring all 27 batters in order. the inky's went on to win the

yetle. don larson wass old. nt trump, can presi hold onto his support for evangelical voters? losing their religion, the compcated relationship between young americans and faith. follow the money, what is included in the $1.4 trillion federal bill. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from ashington and from the walter cronkite university. judy: 2019 was a year of dramatic changes in new trends in campaign finance. some presidential candidates spend big money getting donors to meet new democratic party debate criteria. amllionaires bankrolled their

ownign while other candidates struggled to raise enough money to keep their campaigns running. to talk about this and more, i am joined by the washington post. good to see you. thank you for joining us. first of all, how does this year in fsing generally compare other election years? remichelle: there ajor new trends in political fundraising. one of which is the rise of small dollar donors and the power of giving at really had to be harnessed by democratic candidates. bespecialause the democratic national committee made a oonor thresho of the qualifications for making it onto a debate stage. so we saw democratic candidateso arying degrees of success, be able to build online donation programs, rehing out to donors, grassroot supporters, just to even ask for a dollar or $5 at a time to help show momentum for their candidacy.

it's been especially important because it was such a wide field to begin with, and still is quite large, with so many competitive candidates, that one two or a handful, really, rise to the top by being able to tap into that online donor momentum. judy: interesting, because we have seen in the past some candidates raising big amounts of money tough political action committees, so-called, super paper political action committees. those are still around, but th'y just dont function the way they used to. michelle: they're still around. but we have seen in the imdemocratic presidential y that there is almost a vilification of the participation of such donors and people who have ties to special interests. increasingly, democrats have begun to distance themselves from cporate pac donations, fossil fuel money, you know, saying they won't take money from pharmaceutical executives. so there have been almost these purity tests that have been t each other in terms of the

type of money that you should and can raise from. some candidates still continue to raise money in thesefu high-dolla-raisers, private events that cater to more wealthy donors. judy: right. michelle: othiss are stl g lots of money from a healthy small dollar base. judy: let's look atome of the numbers. we had the reporting just in. leading off,mp president t raised 40 $6 million, overshadowing any one of the other democrats but not so far behind him, bernie sanders, 34.5, joe biden he came in third among democrats at 22.7 million dollars. what do we learn about these numbers? michelle: these are early looks at the most flattering figures. once public filings are revealed, we will get to see exactly how muchoney they have

to spend going into the early stages. mbthese s show there is a lot of donor energy forming on the left that a lot strategists hope will coalesce around the nominee. meanile, president trump is just rolling on forward with a very, very powerful reelection mache that raises a lot of money from both small donors and wealthy donors. hae top fund-raisers so fa pretty much stayed in that place over the past over e previous quarter too. and they're the top-polling candidates as well going into the early states. they reflect just how unsettled the democratic primary field still is and could be for another few weeks. judy: money has eliminated some of theseandidates. day julian castro annoced he is dropping out. he hasn't been able tomoaise y, get his numbers up in the polls. on one hand money matters, but it makes a difference for these

candidates. michelle: icould drive up momentum. for example, the sanders campaign, when they came out.5 with $illion today, that was eye-popping. that's not only the biggest that's not only the biggest quarterly haul this year, it's one of the top quarterly hauls in an of election. presidential that was especially remarkable compared to the previous quarter, when he was kind of stagnating in the polls. and then on the first day of the fourth-quarter fund-raising period, he had a heart attack, and people were asking how viable his candidacy was going to be, how this was going to grfect him. but he really had t revival and raised a ton of money. going into the next few weeks,es cially before the nitty-gritty details are made public about the money itself, this is going to help him generate a lot of new donors and donations. judy: o a lotf interest in these numbers. still waiting to hear from elizabeth warren. michelle ye hee lee,hank you very much. chelle: thank you.

♪ judy: there areofigns emerging deepening rift among one of presiden' trump' biggest voting blocs, white evangelic. christia the effort, he will be in miami to kick off the evangelicals for trump coalition. lisa desjardins pickp. >> a recent editorial published in christianity today founded by billy graham started aate during the height ofhe impeachment calling for trump to be removed from office, saying his actions in ukraine were profoundly immoral and said president trump abused his constitutional oath. to explore how the president support might be shifting or not, i am joined by richard land

and executive esttor of the chn post. and collin hansen, thank you for joining us. dr. land, aesponse for that call to impeachment in another publicatiodefending your president and his christian supporters. tell us how you see this. dr. land: first of all, we are this close to an election, we ought to let people decide whether mr. trump should be removed from offic most evangelicals feel the president, despite misgivings they have about his language or some of his behavior, believe ifat he's the most pro president in the modern era, that he's done more religious liberty through the appointment of conservative judges and through speaking out for religious liberty around the world, for muslims, for christns, for jews, his statements against anti-semitism and his actions against anti-semitism, that he is, at

the very least, at the ver ast, the lesser of two evils against mrs. clinton and also against thcurrent crop of democratic candidates. and so i find that most evangelicals still support him. they don't condone everything he does. he was my last choice in the primaries. i know a lot of evangelicals that he was either their second, third, fourth, fifth or last choice in thprimaries, but once it became a binary choice between mrs. clinton and mr. trump, we decided that mr. trump was the better choice. and most of us have been pleasantly surprised that he's done bettethan we thought he would. lisa: clin, why didn't you vote for president trump and why do you think he shouldn't be president? does he represent? christian valu collin: well, he is our president, and i haven't taken any positionn the peachment proceedings. i do not think i am qualifiedo

speak to that. what i have seen with president trump is silar to what dr. land talked about. many evangelicals, like myself, who had been skeptical of him, actually saw he's actually turned out to be, in some ways, better than we expected. 'nd, at the same time, many of the things that were discouraged by, some of his racially charged comments and some of his -- well, basically his constant twitter presence, t are things tre well known to everybody who voted for him last time around. in that sense things haven't changed. i do not oppose him in that regard. i think the bible very clearly calls us to vote -- excuse me, not to vote but to pray for , those people in office, whoever they might be, and ultimately to trust them for the outcome. my main concern is the perception of white evangelicalp as a sort tisan part of the republican party, essentially the republican party at prayer. i think that's a problem for the church going forward. lisa: this is a president who does not tk about asking god

for forgiveness. he's not known as a churchgoer in general, hadn't been before this. and he's someone who right now is accused of using his political power for his own personal gain, which clearly is something that jesus was against. jesus was the opposite. use your power to help people richard, i want to ask you, then, how do you justify this president, who some people question how he reflects chstian values or not? dr. land: f welst of all, i would share some of those concerns. and that's why he was my last choice in the primaries. but when it mes to trying to save the lives of the 1,150 babies a day that are being aborted in the united states, which i think is a moral issue, mr. trump is on e right sidesu of that moral the democratic party is trying to make abortion a sacrament. in pubc life, you have to make prudential choices. i believe most evangelicals made a prudential choice, the vast majority of them, and will again to vote for someone who is going

to seek to protect them from having their own goverent weaponized against them through the courts, and is going to continue to put nservative, strict constructionist judges on the courts that are going to eive the american people the freedom to make own choices, instead of having them imposed by a judicial imperium, and to protect the unborn in this country. lisa: collin, is this the endea justifying the is that ? what evangelicals for trump are accepting? collin: was fairly surprised at the outcome in 2016, not only, like everybody else, about president trumwinning, but by e overwhelming support of evangelicals. i do not think the 81% accurately counts how many evangelitls sat home and didn' make that same moral calculus described right there.es i also undmated the way evangelicals, as basically all americans do, see our elections, our presidential elections, as a binary choice, as dr. land has said. we are not in a parliamentary system. were, we would probably

see many different options in terms of voting for parties and voting according to their beliefs. ultimately i think both political sides make a number of compromises when it comes to the kind of person they want and that is the ture of our two-party system, for better or worse. lisa: why is it that so many evangelical leaders are talking about politics right now, not the ministry? how do you know that politicians are not manipulating you and your voters for their gain? dr. land: well, let me say, first of all evangelicals i know spend most of their time preaching, most of their time spreading the gospel, not talking about politics. they talk about politics more when they get asked by the media about politics. they do talk about being pro-life. they do talk about being pro-freedom. they do talk about the persecuted christians and persecuted muslims overseas an those who are being persecuted by china and those who are being persecuted by india. they talk about freedom of conscience. lisa collin, i want to ask you,

is there a political rison the other sidef this? somevangelicals might see their goals forwarded by president trump, but is it possible that politicians could be manipulated by evangelicals or not? ion't have an opinion, i am just wondering. collin: yes, there's always tha concat, ultimately, evangelicals may win temporary political battles, but ultimately lose the culture war. i have been very surprised the last number of years just to see how eager both sides are for a cultural war, and how, for as much as we want to talk about foreign policy or talk about economic policy, really, so many of our issues really come down to, are you on this side or that side of this sort of big political game? and i do think, insofar as evangelicals are drawn into tha kindme, it does present a major problem in terms of our proclamation of the gospel long run. but i do agree with dr. land ash wellgh, that there's a lot of things that are happening all the time with evangelicals, caring for their neighbors, eve, sufferut giving god glory, and loving their neighbors with joy, but those things don't make

the news. what makes the news is the 25% of evangelicals who throw their weight around in politics every four years. lisa: thank you for this conversation not just about , litics, but about faith. richard land and collin hansen. dr. land: god bless you. collin: thank you. ♪ judy: while evangelicals remain an important demographic groupli for cians, the percent of americans who identify with any religion has been on the decline for decades. in a recent pewrc rescenter study, the biggest general -- generational dropoff has occurred with millennials -- young adults born between 81 and 1996. cat wise reports from southern california on young people changing beliefs and efforts by

faith communities to bring them back. the pew research center is a "newshour" funder. cat: a sunday service that isra part t session, part standup comedy routine, and part live concert. all followed by a round of beers with your pastor in a rented crossfit gym? this is not your grandmother's idea of church. >> we wanted everyone to be able to hear the good news. cat: welcome to new abbey, a christian, lgbtq-affirming, progressive, family friendly church in pasadena, lifornia. it was started six years ago in the living room of this guy. >> for all the ways that wee don't beliat we're human enough or good enough. cat: cory marquez is a 34-year-old ordained pastor who left a larger evangelical congregation after he saw many of his own friends were no longer interested in attending church.

when you were talking to yours frieout why they didn't go to church, what were you hearing from them? >> thiisn't relevant for m sexuality, that's a big one, that the church is not honestly talking about sexuality. >> you can ask my wife. cat: sexuality is not a boo topic here. marquez's fellow pastor, brittany barron, speaks openlywi the congregation about being a lesbian, and many of those who attend are from the lgbtq community. the congregation has grown from 20 to 400 over the last several years. >> it's less about form and more le wantontent, that pe something that actually matters ir their lives. so, if the conteliterally not healing you, connecting youg to somethingr, then you're wasting your time. cat: new abbey is one of a number of new religiouson organizatipopping up across the country trying to appeal to ung people, who are increasingly leaving the religions of their ancestors. according to an october report

from the pew research center, 76 percent of the baby boomer generation describe themselves as christians. in contrast, only half of millnials identify as four in 10 say they are religiously unaffiliated, and one in 10 identify with non-christian faiths. >> this is what interests me, ke, if people say they feel nothing. cat: diane winston is a professor of religion and media at the university of southern california who has been studying religious trenad among young ults. >> many religions just don't feel relevant to a lot of these young people. theyhe don't speak language. now there are other ways to make connections. mayou ca them online. you can make them at an interest group or an affinity group. cat: she also says many young people have lost trust in religious institutions. >> their scandals, theexuality improprieties, these problems of, you know, pedophilia, of sexism, of misogyny. why would you wanto give your

time and money to an institution that countenances or protects people who do these kinds of things? cat: some of those turned off by traditional religions continue to seek fulfillment in other ways. according to pew, three in 10 adults ageen18 to 49 now fy as spiritual, but not religious. one of those who has made the switch is jaison perez. the 32-year-old from los angeles was raised catholic and attended weekly services with his famy, but he says he never felt truly connected to the church and left in his early 20's. >> as a queer person, the catholic church is unsafe. i go to church, and i'm immediately sinful. it's this feeling of not being .le to show up fully myse cat: now he works as a healer at mostly angels, a store specializing in mystical a servic products in culver city. perez says there'been a significant uptick in business over the last three to five

years. >>d we're not s old fantasy of what the church can provide you, what spirituality, structural sprrituality can ide. cat: while new ageractices and beliefs have been growing since the 1960's and the internet and 1970's, social media have played a big role in the spread among the younger generations.mo than 60% of alts ages 18 to 49 have at leasone new age belief, according to pew. and many are turning to new horoscope apps and online astrologers for guidance. or much more intimate ways to spread the word. >> in what ways do we take o the challenge of wrestling with our shadow? cat: at the open temple in venice, california, rabbi lorish iro incorporates a variety of new age practices, even a colorfulus, to reach new people in the community. >> there are a lot of reass why people have fallen away, i think the least of which is

ideology. people are hgry for these ideas we just need to makh accsible again. cat: but many faith leaders aren't rushing to change long-held practices and beliefs in order to keep young people in the pews. reverend mary minor is the pastor of brookins-kirkland community church in los anles' inglewood neighborhood. the church once had about 10,000 members. today, there are about 300, and many are older adults. do you feel that, in an effort to reach younger people, that the church might need to change its views on certain issues, like gay marriage, for example? >> i don't think the church c needs nge that. my denomination doesn't believe in gay marriage. however, my denomination embraces those that are of the lgbtq community. cat: according to pew, black

millennials tend to be less religious than older black adults, but they are considerably more religious tha thers. reverend minor says she is concerned about losing so many young people i worries they are missing out on an important aspect of religion: community. >> when you're not assembled with believers, then you fee' like you' on an island all by yourself. cat: back at new abbey, pastor cory marquez says a sense of counity is what's bringing people back sunday after sunday. and their approach isn't all that radical. >> i have never opened a door in christian tradition where i found that i was the first enrson there. there have always eople, monks and priests and nuns and theologians and philosophers, who have been asking these questis for thousands of years. cat: once the congregation qnishes pondering life's most ancient and endustions, they get to celebrate with pizza and cold beverages.

for the "pbs newshour," i'm cat wise in pasadena, california. judy:ne as thyear begins when the government was in the middle ofhu the longest down in history and congress was crippled by this agreements ong spen before leaving town for the holidays, lawmakers came together on a huge spending bill. nick schifrin sat down with it lisa desjardins yesterday to arn where your tax dollars are going. nick: this was a msive bil $1.4 trillion and it raised the age to purchase tobaccoreo 21, but ts a lot more. our capitol hill correspondent, lisa desjardins, and the "newshour" team have been combing through 2,400

lisa joins me now to examine the government's 2020 priorities. lisa, let's start with a major issue, immigration, the issue s tht down the government last year. this bill has huge immigration changes. lisa: it does. not a lot is being talkedbout. we have talked before about the fact the president got $1.3 billion to build new border that's something that he wanted, barriers. that's something that he wanted, a little less than he wanted. but he got something else too. this bill has fewer restrictions in where he can build it and it also gives him more leeway in tatsng money from other acco to do that. something rains the same, however. it still limits the kind of barrier that can be built. still can be only fencing, stesl fencing, no concrete wall, examples like you see right now, what's already on the border. overall, though, democrats, in exchange for that border money, what did they get for the border barrier? two new things that are notable. a new ombudsman in charge of immigration detention to oversee

the conditions for detainees, and also millions of dollars to help detainees navigate the legal system and court work. now, that's interesting, begause that program for detainees is something that former attorneyeneral jeff sessions wanted to stop altogether but, , here, democrats were able to expand that program. thousands of more detainees in the coming year will have the abilityo gesome counseling to try and figure out their situation legally. nick: so give and take, but some fallout, especially on the democratic side? lisa: that is the thing. in truth, the members of the congressional hispanic caucus and many democrats were not happy with this deal. many votedgainst it for this reason. they wanted this to cap t number of thtention beds. feel like now the administration still has the ability to detain as manwapeople as it nts. there are no new requirements on exactly what conditions the detainees will be under. i want to take you back to earlier this summer, when members were touring those facilities. hereh's the chairperson of congressional hispanic caucus, joaquin castro, speaking at one of those facilities, talking about how important changing

those conditions was for them. >> we came today, and we saw that the system istill broken, that people's human rights are still being abused. we remain very concerned about the conditions in which people are being kept. nick: -- lisa: for members of the congressional hispanic caucus, this is a moraissue. and they're concerned that this sort of detente right now that we're not talking about over immigration may actually be a rmalization of things th they find unacceptable. for republicans, however, they want that normalization.an theyth wall to be a normal part of policy. nick: all right, topic mber two, these spending bills do something new and headline-worthy on education. lisa: yes this is something we , hear people want to talk about all the time. and here is a major change. let's start with the background a birift over this. president trump would like to cuton educa spending. he proposed a 10% cut this year. here is what his education

secrety betsy devos said to congress earlier this year about why it should be cut. she said there is not enough money. >> that it's easier to keep spending, to keep sa sng yes, to kedling tomorrow's generations with today's growing debt. but, as it's been said, the government will run out of other ople's money. lisa: she was proposing a cut in her education funding. democrats wanted an increase. democrats won and they won very big. this bill has a record amount of funding for education in it from the federal government. it includes more than $2 billion of an increase, especiallyioor early educand for k-12. and it's interesting, nick. those k-12 dolrs, all of these llars, specifically go to low come communities. they're through block grants in part. and, also, we will s tens of thousands more openings for head starts, especially in those low-income communities. no people know, education still mainly funded by the states, but, here, the federal government is adding more ofthts own role t. nick: lisa, this isn't only

rsout dollars and dollars and a whole lot of dolright? this is about some policy shifts in this bill as well, especially on coal miners. nick: it is a really big shift, something the federal government has never done before, permanently making up for the gap in a private penystem, in this case of coal miners. now, specificall we have to tell the bigger story here, e know coal mining has been on the decline overall. in fact, if you look at the numbers, nick, it's rather astounding. since 2008, between then and 2018, the coal industry lost 32,000 jobs, or 37% of its jobs, largely to bankruptcies. those companies could not pay the pensions, including nsions of this man, daymond tucker, who we talke in 2017, longtime coal miner, depends on his pension. hee 's what he said at timeth , when the pension was running out. >> it is not likesk we areg for a handout. we work hard, wefi want the be we negotiated. all we want to is just what was promised to us. lisa: daymond tucker is one of

100,000 miners in th same, positirried about his pension, running out, could have been last week, could have been next year. instead, the federal government hiis permanently paying fo pension. i talked to him this week. he just retired last year and said we got the pension -- he said without the pension he and his wife would have been deaistated. he was an enormous relief to see this bill extend his pension. however, nick, this is the only time the federal government iss ever done extending federal money to pay for private pensions for one industry, the coal mining industry. inck: let's zoom out. how much speis this? how much are we talking about and what does it do to the u l'' , botte? nick: this is an oce of red ink. between this spending bill and the bill -- the budget set earlier this year $2.2 trillion , of red ink has been passed by this congress and signed b president this year. to give you some bigger perspective, the kind of spending that congress governs is called diretionary spending. since 2017, under president

trump, that kind of spending has seen an increase of 15% in just this from a president who has a couple years. this from a president who has said he in government spanning. -- spending. this has been one of the more dramatic increases that we have en really in generations nick: remind us, what i the take away, why does this matter? lisa: this matters, nick, because, honestl especially in an age of gridlock, li we're in right now, this is what government does. government spends money. it is the thing they can agree on. it was a compromise by both sides to help each other by spending a vast array of money. and we have hit someriorities here, but there are a lot of other b policies. for example this bill says the governnt will help somalia restructure its debt. there's tremendous policy implications here. this is what government does even though it may not be the , most dramatic headline, it mae bef the most important. nick: lisa desjardins, following the important headlines, thank you very much. lisa: my pleasure.

♪ judy: a man named carlos ghosn was once in the dver's seat of two of the most iconic automakers and credite for saving both from insolvency come but we -- insolvency, but he is facing criminal allegations, record bail d now his mysterious escape from t jap lebanon. >> reporters huddled outside they rootouse hoping to catch a glimpse of carlos ghosn, once a ceo, now an international fugitive. in tokyo prosecutors searched hise, hearching for clues to how the high-profile businessman mysteriously escaped house arrest and embarked on a flight to freedom. ghosn was reportedlymuggled out of japan on his private jet.

he stopped in istanbul, before riving on new year's eve in lebanon, where he is a citizen. today, turkish officials arrested seven people, including pilots, for allegedly taking part in the escape. and banon received a notice from interpol, the international policing organization, calling for ghosn's arrest. lebanon's justice minister said, even though osn had entered the country legally, they mpuld with the request. >> i suppose the generalpr ecution will fully implement the notice, and that includes summoning him and listening to his testimony. and then, if there are measures to be taken, then they will be taken. >> but lebanon has no extradition treaty with japan. what's more, ghosn also holds brazilian and french citizenshi french officials have said, if ghosn arrived in france, he woulreceive support. >> if a foreign citizen was fleeing the french judicial system, we would be very angry. on the other hand, he is a lebanese, brazilian and french citizen, and he benefits from

consular support, like all french citizens. >> before his ouster in november 2018, the automotive titan oversaw both nissan and the c frenmaker renault. he was credited with rescuing both from near bankruptcy by closing plants and cutting j thousands s. p but japarosecutors say he also lavishly enriched hself by under-reporting hncome and funneling payments to car dealerships he controlled in the middle east. ghosn posted record $14 million bail last april, and was confined to house arrest, underu 24-hsurveillance. he reportedly decided eave japan after learning that his trial would be delayed until april 2021. in a statement, ghosn said he had jumped bail to escape injustice and political persecution in japan. today, he discredited theories isat his wife had engineered escape as inaccurate and false. ghosn said he will speak to reporters next week.

for the "pbs newshour," i'm john yang. ♪ judy:la young people, soml generation z, born from the mid-1990's around 2010, growg up in an increasingly cashless society which raises the question, how does tha affect their relationship to money and finance? we took a group of kids on a trip last winter to fin out. this encore report is part of our weekly series, making cents. >>? its right over here. >> a chilly day in manhattan, but for 10 and 11-year-olds there arele no unseason treats. >> [indiscernible] >> peppermint sticks. >> excitement for the grown-ups,

this was a transaction with an unfamiliar twist. this store does not take cash, like a growing number of retail shops, it is mobile or credit only. >> cookies and cream. >>ugar cone. >> they are also growing up at a time when only one in three purchases are made with cash. we wanted to know, doesn't increasinglyashless economy keep kids from grasping the basics of price and value? >> how much you think this is worth? >> three dollars to seven dollars. >> they charged two dollars and $.75. >> theyre familiar with relative prices, but can they calibrate value? wiif i said to you, give you $5.50, instead of the ice

cream cone, which would you choose, the cone or the money? >> the money. >> why? >> because iould get something else, and i could mae get a cheaper ice cream. >> you can g the same amount, a bigger amount of ice cream, for $2.75 at trader joe's, or $3.99 at trader joe's, and then you can have ice cream for a whole week. >> i know what i will do. i will offer $2. who will still give ir ice cream for $2? what about a dollar? >> but, in the end, two of thell kids actuatook my lowball $1 cash offer for half-eaten ice cream, whose allure was apparently meltie as fast as odstuff itself. this suggested not only the economic concept of diminishing returns, but also thd currency has the same cachet, oo re, than it did when beth kobliner and i were first luredm into the sugararket. >> when i k was a littl, 10

or 11 i remember going to the ice cream store and my dad would give me a dollar. and ice cream th and the sprinkles were 5 cents. >> in my day, a quarter. an ice cream cone was a quarter. >> i would get change. the whole transaction was really about learning addition, subtraction, numeracy. today, 7 of all our purchases are done online or with cards. >> h many of you have smartphones? every one of you. about half of 10-to-12-year-olde martphones, and 40 percent of teenagers have debit cards. so, is cash arithmetic a lost art? how many quarters in $3? >> twelve. >> h many quarters in $3.75? >> fifteen. >> fifteen. very good. kids can still count whout burning much cash but aren't , they being suckered into

ending by switching to a credit card? >> i don't think i would be responsible with one, because i would just want to go around spending, spending, then all your money is wasted on stupid stuff sometimes. ewis' reluctance was echoed by the others. >> i'm going to be going on, ,ke, shopping sprees and like, ok, everything is on me. >> i can't use credit cards, because then i will be, like, ooh, i will buy that, i'm going to buy that, i'm going . buy that >> money doesn't grow off of trees. >> when it comes to credit cards, in fact, gen zers may be more penny-wise than their parents. dawood's mom, huda qatabi, for example. >> credit cards, especially me s just swippe, swipe. and then, at the end of the week, it's like $500, $600, and i don't know what i did with it. >> really? so, you're as bad as they are? >> [laughter] [laughter] i am worse. >> so, are these gen zers safe with their or their parents' money? no. take it one further removed, and to tech savvy marketers, they're sitting ducks. that's because kids this age spend about six hours a day online, on averagemuch of it

playing video games, and spding on them. the industry's new business model, selling items within the game, like the outfits the characters wear, also known asin sks, in the game sensation "fortnite." >>n-game purchases, i feel like it's just like, click, click. it's just not real money. >> inside the game, it's just feels like you're just using, like, game money. >> these kids aren't alone. facebook came under scrutiny earlier this year when documents revealed it made more than $34 million from in-app purchases made by minors. and, as ale richelson told us, these aren't always one-time charges. >> got a subscription on a coloring app, and it just kept fking money from every month, and, finally, my dnd out, and i got in trouble. >> yes, she somehow signed up on

itunes for o a bunch games they kept charging every month and i did not get the receipts. they went to her email, but i change that now. i did not know was happening, so i shut that off. >> but when it comes to otherrc in-game ses, jason said -- >> iiven sometimes because they keep bothering me. [laughter] >> impulsive kids pestpaed nts, all overmatched by ne credit, cash-free, card-free. and that's why the actual way we finally purchased our ice cream gave me pause. you don't accept cash? >>o, we do not, sir, card or apple pay. >> well, appleay, i don't have. a card. >> i could do it, i have apple pay. >> kobliner uses mobile pay ncapps, but she does have ns about them. >> there is a studyhalooked at mobile pay. it turns out when you use your phone to buy things, you are more likely to feel that you have got a good deal at that store, because it's like that

magic wand. you're getting something for nothing. you're not giving up dollars. >> really? >> yes. stores have an incentive to not let us use cash. >> even friendly cash-free stores like this one, as if the magic spell of ice cream wasn't troublesomenough. for the "pbs newshour," economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from manhattan's lower east side. ♪ judy: that is the newshour tonight. i am judy woodruff. join us online in here tomorrow evening -- evening with analysis of the week's political news. for all of us at "pbs newshour," thank you and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by fidelity investments. american cruz lines -- cruise

lines. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made orssible by theration for public broadcasting. s this is pbwshour west from weta studios in washingtou and/or burea the walter cronkite bureau of journalism at ♪zona state university. ♪zona state university.

♪ ♪ - you know, i've been cooking a long time, and so when i entertain, i keep it really simple. soup or stew, maybe a salad, and maybe a dessert. three recipes, tops. but there are times of year, around the holidays, when you really want to do something spectacular. so we have two great recipes for you today on milk strt. the first is a roast from argentina. inthey use beef; we're to use pork. we stuff it with capicola, red peppers, and olives. and then, inr ead of pecan pie anksgiving, we suggest you try something a little more elegant--