captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, may 22: the frile middle east ceasefire appears to be holdin a hedge fundid for one of the country's largest publishing companies wins approval. >> f me, i didn't even think it was feasible for me to ever get to u.c.-berkeley. >> sreenivasan: and, in our signature segment, the new wave of o.w.l.s-- older, wiser learners-- on college campuses. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the jpb foundation.

barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard d norma klorfine foundation. the peter g. peterson and joan ganz cooney fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. 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 most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help fd one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to ur

pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thank you for joining us. a ceasefire between israel and hamas, the militant palestinian group that controls gaza, held for a second day. teams of egyptian mediators are in israel and gaza, working on terms for a permanent end to the fighting. in gaza, many returned to their homes and shops that were caught in the crossfire to survey the damage. >> ( translated ): when they said truce, we came to see how it is. it is disastrous. as you can see, nothing here can be used again. add to this, the smoke, dust and toxic material from the explosion that are clinging to the clothes. >> sreenivasan: united natio humanitarian relief officials toured the hdest-hit areas. the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is making relief efforts even more urgent. in addition to food and shelter needs, u.n. officials said rebuilding damaged healthcare facilities is a high priority. npr correspondent danielstrin is in gaza city, and he joined us earlier today.

daniel, you're in gaza city now. what have the last two days of this ceasefire been like? >> well, palestinians are finally venturing out of their homes after 11 days of conflict, and everyone has described to me the feelings of just being terrified during those days, describing huddling with their families, especially at night, in the center of their house, in the place where they feel that they're away from windows and feeling they were the safest. and now that we're on the second day of the ceasefire, you feel a sense of a rhythm of life again. st right over here, there's the beach and the promenade. the ice cream shop is open. peop, families, are walking on the promenade. i met this one family, the mother said she was visiting her father-in-law, and she said, "it's the first time we're venturing out of our homes and we are seeing the pain and the destruction that we only saw on the news, on tv, as we were huddled in our homes." so it's a really strange sight

because it's not that you see flattened ighborhoods. the destruction in this war was spread out throughout the gaza strip. and so what you'll see is, buildings intact, and then right next to it, almost completely intact building, you'll see a completely demolished building, with a pile of cement and twisted wires and mattresses and window drapes and refrigerators and socks and documents. and now, so many palestinians in gaza are venturing out and specifically going to see those sites themselves. >> sreenivasan: we're hearing that there are negottors, egyptian negotiators, meeting with multiple sides of this. is there any hope that the peace here is longer lasting than just a few days? >> well, egyptian mediators are in gaza and they have been the main player here in speaking to both hamas, also palestinian

authority, president mahmoud abbas, which, he's a rival of hamas in the west bank and israel. they are trying to now work out the terms of this ceasefire. hamas is demanding that jerusalem be at the center of negotiations, that israel be made to change some of its policies in jerusalem. israel wants commitments from the world that hamas will not be able to rebuild militarily. and so now it's just a sense of, will this ceasefire hold? we are two days in and both sides seem interested in being able to market this devastating period as an accomplishment and this victory to their own people. sreenivasan: you reported from a neighborhood in east jerusalem, which in a way, the tensions there are a microcosm

of the disputes all over the region. >> several palestinian families are facing court-ordered evictions to make way for jewi settler groups, which have claimed their properties, proving in court, saying in court, that these lands belong to jewish groups many, many decades ago. israeli law allows jews to reclaim those properties that were lost in the 1948 war. but the law does not allow palestinians to reclaim their properties that they lost in that same war, and that is at the heart of the tensions in this particular neighborhood. israel throws those court proceedings to cool down tensions. but by then, hamas had already issued a warning saying that israel would pay a heavy price if it did not stop its actions in that neighborhood and days later, the war broke

out between gaza and israel. >> sreenivasan: in the middle of all this, there was pposed to be parliamentary elections in palestine, an upcoming presidential election. what's the status? >> in fact, the palestinian legislative elections were supposed to be today, saturday, but the elections have been canceled. the palestinian president said that he was canceling the elections because israel did not give assurances the palestinians would be able to vote in jerusalem, in areas israel annexed decades ago. but analysts believe that the real reason that the elections were canceled was because palestinian president abbas realized that his rival hamas, which rules here in the gaza strip, might have had the upper hand and might have gained power in those elections, and after they were canceled very quickly, we saw that hamas captured the street and captured the hearts

and minds of palestinians. not only in gaza, but elsewhere in the west bank, when they started lobbing rockets at israel and saying that they were defending jerusalem. and we don't see elections on the horizon, but we do see a emerged hamas. >> sreenivasan: npr's daniel estrin joining us from gaza city, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: new cases of the coronavirus have dropped to their lowest levels in nearly a year in the united states, a sign the country is turning a corner in the pandemic. the "new york times" reports the average number of new cases over the past week plunged to fewer than 28,000. it's a 90% decrease compared to the peak in early january. almost 50% of americans ages 18 and older are now fully vaccinated. but despite the promising trends, vaccination rates across the country have slowed by 45% since early last month.

15 states and puerto rico have vaccinated only a third or less of their eligible populations. the national hurricane center named the first storm in the atlantic today, and hurricane season is not officially here yet. it starts june 1. subtropical storm ana formed about 200 miles northeast of bermuda, which currently has a tropical storm watch in effect, ana has maximum winds of 45 miles per hour as of this afternoon, and is not expected to become a hurricane. forecasters expect the system to continue a slow and erratic course, and then dissipate in a few days. for more national and international news, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. sreenivasan: yesterday, shareholders at the tribune publishing company approved a $630 million deal from new york hedge fund alden global capital to acquire the newspaper chain. journalists rallied to stop the deal with tribune, which owns

newspapers including the "chicago tribune," "baltimore sun" and "new york daily news." alden already owns the digital first media chai which includes thesan jose mercury news," "denver post" and "boston herald." the deal is expected to close as early as next week. for more on the reactions to the deal and potential ramifications, i spoke with npr's david folkenflik. so, david, why does a hedge fund buying a newspaper chain cause such waves in the publishing world, the newspaper world? >> this particular fund has an established record. it owns papers in the media news, digital first chn, and it has a record of eviscerating a lot of those newsrooms. the "denver post" by a third, then promised if they all moved to the newsroom, to the printing press property outside of town, that they wouldn't have to go through another wave of cuts. they did that, they took away their newsroom, and then they cut them by another third.

the "san jose mercury news" was once one of the great regional newspapers. after all, there, right in the backyard of silicon valley, a vibrant area, part of the bay area, they used to have more than 200 journalists in that newsroom. they now have a couple dozen. you eliminate the ability of reporters to cover city hall, to cover great corporate actors, cover sophisticated figures whose decisions have great implications for the lives of your audience and people in your region. if you no longer have enough journalists and give those journalists enough time to do the reporting, to figure out and then explain what's going on in the communities around them. >> sreenivasan: so, there was resistance for this deal to take place. some voices from inside the very newsrooms that would be affected were trying to drum up support for local buyers, to say, "please come in as kind of the white knight, if you will, to save us." >> yeah, i think there's an extraordinary level of newsroom activism, in this case, spearheaded by a former colleague of mine at the

"baltimore sun," a woman named liz bailey, an education reporter there. she created something called project mayhem with like-minded urnalists, also union figures with the newsrooms, that a lot of the tribune publishing newspapers to try to say, "you need to save us if you believe in journalism, step forward and help us figure out a path forward." so, you saw not-for-profits, you saw significant investors. there were investors in south florida, other figures in allentown, pennsylvania, in hartford, connecticut, and in other markets who stepped forward to say, yes, we will participate in this. it fell short for a very specific reason. they weren't able to find anyone in chicago itself, the home of the tribune company, the "chicago tribune," no one stepped forward and said, "i'm willing to chip in $100 million for the overall bid in order to secure this paper, the largest in the chain, the dominant newspaper in the nation's third largest city. it's worth it to me." and despite all the wealth that's locked up from corporate figures in chicago, despite the

huge foundations that are based there, despite journalism foundations in the country at large, no one came forward and said, we'll plug the gap and make this happen. >> sreenivasan: and we should emphasize that this is happening not in a vacuum. this is at a time when local journalism, specifically newspapers, they've been battered now for decades. >> after all these cuts. even beforalden took a 32% share in tribune publishing, tribune had been cutting back and often mismanaging these properties for some years. they've been cut back rather severely. they are profitable. i obtained audio of the chief content officer of the company, who also happens to be the itor in chief of the "chicago tribune," telling his staff, "hey, look, we make profit margins in this company of about 10% to 13% per newspaper." now, that's significant profit margin. what he warned them was that alden would want to basically double it, to something north of 20% per newspaper. that's a significant chunk. the only way you get that, you

can do consolidation, but the only way you ultimately get that is reducing headcount, which means reducing the number of people around to do the journalism, and also often reducing the seniority of the people you do hire, to make sure that they come in at a much lower pay grade. so, you know, what you have, in essence, is an already very tough climate for local newspaper, and that is nonetheless settled in a seemingly profitable moment, if not an enviable one. and they're saying, that's great. now we've t to do more. and for all we know, alden has the legal authority to load up the company with a couple of hundred million dollars to get as well. and that couldccasion more cuts just to pay off those loans. >> sreenivasan: npr's david folkenflik, thanks so much. >> you bet. >> sreenivasan: as america's baby boomers age, their influence continues to reshape

the economy, the labor force, infrastructure and institutions. some have called the demographic shift a "silver tsunami." and that shift is apparent in higher education, as a new wave of older students return to college campuses in pursuit of new opportunities. special correspondent mike cerre has our report. this segment is part of our ongoing series, "chasing the dream: poverty, justice and economic opportunity in america." >> reporter: call it "the half century college plan." it's taken jules means all of her adult life to finally have the time and resources to earn her degree at the university of california, berkeley, at age 67. >> with berkeley, i got a fu ride. and i'm so grateful for that because on a social security salary it's almost impossible to afford the tuiti. >> reporter: sometimes mistaken on campus as either a professor or a staff worker, she didn't let her teenage pregnancy, early

poverty in the san francisco bay area, widowhood, and a debilitating stroke in her 60s cancel out her college dreams. >> being a black girl trying to survive, in a world where there was a lot of racial tension, for me, i didn't even think was feasible for me to ever get to u.c.-berkeley. >> i was going through the ster and i was just calling out everybody's names. and i came to hers and i said, "jules," and she immediately stopped me, and said, "no, it's miss jules." >> reporter: u.c.-berkeley sociology professor andy barlow quickly discovered how much of class, as berkeley would have on her. >> she was somebody who shared with students a long history of her struggles and her resilience, and inspired them. she was somebody who really was compassionate and caring for the other students in a way that made them feel very safe.

>> does anyone know what birmingham's nickname was in the '60s? >> reporter: her history class on social justice last year was more academic for her younger classmates. for miss jules, it was more connecting the societal dots of her life story: working at age 15, raising four sons mostly on her own, and workinger way up from a short order cook to a corporate executive assistant. >> i worked at deloitte & touche. i worked at mckesson corporation. i woed at ernst & young, llp. it gives them opportunity to, if they never been around african american people d they have this mindset that we're taking drugs or, you know, we're going to jails and all that kind of thing. >> reporter: getting one's college degree in your 50s or 60s isn't as nearly unique as it once was, given the silver tsunami of the country's age wave has reached academia, and college campusike this one at the university of california-

berkeley are trying to stay abreast of this major demographic shift. >> i do believe that covid will accelerate the trend of older people returning to education. people have lost their jobs. the nature of work is changing. >> reporter: u.c.-berkeley chancellor carol crist believes attracting older students should be part of a state university's diversity efforts, to better reflect the changing society it serves. >> learning doesn't stop when you're 22, and many people have life choices that have kept them from going to university at the traditional age, and so it's extraordinarily important to enable them to bring all the richness and experience to our student body. >> reporter: kelly richeson started his career with the ventura county fire department straight out of high school. he got accepted at u.c.-berkeley at age 56, after attending community college, and wants to start a new career as a writer. he went to college for the first

he thinks he's a more serious student than many of his younger classmates, just as he would have been as a tnager. >> i saw these 18-, 19-year-old kids that were just putting in the motions to get through class, to get the grade and to move on to their next class, to get their degreend move on in their career. i devoured every tidbit of information i had here. >> some of the kids came up and they said, "miss jules, hey, you want to go out with us? we're going to"-- what they call it?-- "turn it up." and i said, "'turn it up,' what does that mean?" theyaid, "we're going to party, miss jules." and i said, while you kids are turning up, i'm going to be turning it down, reading my textbooks. >> reporter: in addition to her campus job before covid advising married students and veterans adjusting to campus life, miss jules and kelly richeson belonged to a campus support group for older students called the o.w.l.s. >> owls stands for older, wiser learners. that's what it stands for.

and i don't like that word, "old," so i say mature. >> reporter: since the covid shutdown, they continue to meet weekly online to share problems and tips for coexisting with classmates younger than their children. >> let's face it-- my brain does not work as well as it did when i was 20. so it's imperative that i form these relationships with these younger students and come together in study groups. >> i'm going to ask you just one mo question to see how you're doing. >> reporter: miss jules used the covid shutdown to home-tutor her youngest son, stephon, who is attending the same community college she started at. he and his older brother, harrold, promised to go to coege for the first time as well, if she was able to get into u.c.-berkeley. >> she kind of puts, like, you know, quite a bit of pressure, but i know she does it because, like, you know, she loves me and she just wants me to succeed in college and, you know, do really

good in my life. >> i had a dream that this is what i wanted in my life. >> reporter: miss jules spent much of her life overcoming challenges, the most serious being a series of strokes in her 60s that ended her working career. >> i was very depressed and almost didn't have a will to live, and i thought, what can i do with my life that i didn't do rearing my boys? and the first thing that came to my mind was, jules, go back to school. go back to school and do something and get a degree. >> reporter: miss jules got her sociology degree last year, with honors, but is still waiting for a formal college graduation ceremony, which was cancelled once again this year due to covid. >> i dreamt of walking across the stage with my family and friends all in the audience,

just congratulating me on my achievement. i even had my announcements made, and as you can see, it has the date. and when they closed the cam i cried several times, but i knew there was nothing no one can do. >> reporter: miss juleand her fellow owls believe their life experiences give them a significant advaage over the younger students in one critical lesson: resilience. >> i'm happy. wonder why? i'm going to interview you now. >> reporter: okay. >> because i'm going to wear this gown. i'm going to wear it, and that's because i got accepted into grad school. so i still am going to be able to use my cap and gown. >> this is pbs newshour weekend,

saturday. >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, the youtube series i host,“ take on fake,” helps to debunk disinformation claims that are seen or shared online, by finding credible sources to get to the truth. here's an excerpt from our second season, which you can see at youtube.com/takeonfake. i'm just picturing these 12 people out there pumping out lies. >> that is senator amy klobuchar, stop the fw of vaccine misinformation on their platforms. this may seem too tall an order with how vast these networks are but it turns ot that 65% of all covid vaccine misinformation shared on facebook and twitter comes from only 12 people! the disinformation dozen. half of american adults have gotten the shot but according to the cdc, vaccination rates are slowing down.

vaccine hesincy is part much it but keep in mind that's been around way but social media has amplified the anti-vax movement, and allowed it to spread across platforms. that's given the 12 accounts making up the "disinformation dozen" time to build their base and perfect their messages. >> they're luck in industry. they're well-resourced, they're well-financed, they've thought a lot about how they can target their market. >> sreenivasan: that's imran ahmed, the c.e.o. of the center for countering digital hate. his organization, identify the disinformation, does it by looking at their massive social media followings, and the high volume of anti-vaccine content that they put out. >> and what they're looking to do is target people with any uncertainty-- whether they feel uncertainty about coronavirus and how deadly it is; whether they're unsure about vaccines and how they work-- and they try to instill in them a belief that you can't trust the medical establishment. what you can trust is them. and then they've got a false cure to sell you on the side.

>> sreenivasan: that's allor this edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.g/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night. ptioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the jpb foundation. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard and norma klorfine foundation. the peter g.eterson and joan ganz cooney fund. the estate of worthington

mayo-smith. 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 most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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