jeffrey brown caps this baseball season for beantown. >> it hasn't happened in fenway park for 95 years brown: in fact, the last time the red sox clinched a world series in boston, babe ruth played for the team and he was a pitcher. >> the red sox are world champions! >> brown: but last night the very hairy 2013 edition of the team did it with a game six win over the st. louis cardinals, after a series that featured dramatic, game-ending plays, including an unprecedented obstruction call against boston and the pickoff of a st. louis base-runner. boston slugger david ortiz was named most valuable player, leading a team that had finished last in its division just a year ago. >> this is the kind of situation where the unpredictable happens. we had a little chip on our shoulder, that we want to come in and prove everyone wrong. and thanks god we did. >> greatest place on earth! >> brown: the win sent fans pouring into the streets, celebrating their team's third title in ten seasons and marking another emotional turnaround, just six months after the boston marathon bombings shook the city. l

jeffrey brown continues his travels with poet laureate natasha trethewey. >> poetry lives on your doorstep like a baby in a basket waiting for a new family. >> sreenivasan: and visits a motor city school where poetry lives. >> this poetry really gets them truly motivated and excited. and i'm talking about my football players, my athletes, my basketball players want poetry. >> sreenivasan: and from the pacific northwest, a report on how climate change could be making the local shellfish toxic.

jeffrey brown talked with mcdermott recently.ere's an excerpt of their conversation. >> understood that this was a character who in her own life her voice hadn't much been heard and in literature her life isn't much heard so -- >>brown: you were conscious of that? >> yes. yes. for me it was resisting all the more appealing characters. and listening to the voice that hadn't been much heard from. >>brown: i've read that this story began as something bigger, that i think you referred to another interview as a teeming noafl you were working on and somehow it was this one remarkable woman. >> yes. brown: that's true? the sense of her voice alone, to give the entire novel to her voice, to her character, to the way she sees things and doesn't see things. to hear her voice the way she uses language. she's a shy child. she's a plain woman. yes, an unremarkable, on the surface, character but with a very active internal life. and i wanted to capture that. >>brown: and where does she come from? there are some connections, family connections,

jeffrey brown has our newsmaker interview.and its aftermath with president obama's chief counterterrorism advisor lisa monaco. welcome to you. in his press conference today the president said where we've got active plots and active networks we're going to go after them. was there an active, imminent threat the case of al-libi? >> well, i think, jeff, what you saw here was a demonstration of the incredible professionalism of the men and women in the armed forces and conducting the raid that occurred over the weekend. and an ays in a al-libiÑi did pe a threat to the united states, he was a senior al qaeda member and somebody who is also charged in an indictment for his role as part of the al qaeda worldwide conspiracy. >> one of the questions that aridess in a case like these, is there a clear standard in determining when the u.s. goes into another country? >> the standard is one to go after those who would seek to do us harm. and what you saw in the case of the al-libiçó raid was,Ñi frank, the unrelenting focus to go after them

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the 1.8 million year- old skull is the most complete ever found of a human ancestor from what's known as the human genus homo. it was unearthed in 2005 below a medieval village in the former soviet republic of georgia. now, after eight years of research, the scientists who found it say it may show that human evolution followed a more straight-forward line than has been thought and that fossils currently identified as different species, may actually be variations within a single species. >> this new discovery shows that many features which we previously thought as variability and diversity could be lumped in one group. and the dmanisi skull is best preserved find that we ever had in the world. so it helps us to see from different angles human evolution and history of our genus homo. >> brown: other scientists were more cautious in making that leap, though, even as they acknowledged that the new findings, published in the journal "science", were spectacular, indeed. one of those scientists joins me now. donald johanson is professor of human evolutio

jeffrey brown explains. >> brown: the awards are known as the sammys. the medalist are tara palmore and julie segre who used genome sequences to stop an infection from spreading through hospitals. morris williams brown worked only financial matters in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, andrew rabbens handles kwraoupblg engagement for state department. daniel madrz wr +*rbgskowski i believe proved firefighting techniques. john mackinnon's forensic work led to the arrest of 55 people arrested for child pornography. this man oversaw the deliver riff of polio vaccine to children in india. david laveery was critical to the development of nasa's mars rover. antonio mendez helps free six diplomats trapped in iran and his story inspired last year's oscar-winning film "argo." joining me now is kevin geiss, the deputy assistant secretary for energy at the department of the air force. he worked on alternative fuels and helped save more than one billion dollars and welcome and congratulations to you. >> thank you, jeffrey. >> brown: so first i want to ask how does a

jeffrey brown is back with more. china has seen tremendous economic and urban growth but one of the costs is some of the worst air quality in the world. it's a health issue and increasingly a political one as well. a require for "the new yorker" magazine just reasoned to the u.s. after living in beijing for eight years and joins us now, welcome to you. >> thank you. >> what is the significance of a reading this high. you watched this for many year, put it in some context. >> this is unusually high. this is, to put it in perspective people walked out of their houses today and thought that there was a blizzard. but in fact it wasn't snowing. this is how intense the air pollution wasment they had to close the airport. this he had to close schools. >> brown: it is stunning to say, just the idea of shutting down a city of 11 million people or so. what does that mean? >> a city of two and a half times the size of los angeles. this is way up in the northeast corner of the country. it's sort of the buffalo of china. it's ver

jeffrey brown has more. >> brown: the trial began today in federal court in detroit. matthew dolan of the wall street journal was there and joins me now to explain what the arguments are about. matthew, before we get to the specifics, this trial is really to see if the city is even entitled to go through with the bankruptcy and who's bringing the case? >> that's right. well, what happened was the city filed for bankruptcy protection back in july. but now they're at the stage of the trial where they actually need to prove to a judge that the conditions were right, that they should have bankruptcy protection. some of those conditions would include whether or not the city is truly insolve enter. it also would include whether or not the city had state authorization when it filed for bankruptcy nejuly. and it also has to prove whether or not it tried to argue in good faith with its many creditors before they actually filed for bankruptcy. so all of those issues are coming to a head before judge steven rhodes today in detroit federal bankruptcy court. >> brown: tell us who

jeffrey brown gets the latest. >> brown: the day started with testimony from kevyn orr, the city's emergency manager. then for three hours, michigan governor rick snyder, who appointed orr, took the stand. it's the first time in modern state history a governor testified in court, and he faced a series of questions from the unions and retirees about whether the state and the city really did all they could do to avoid moving into bankruptcy. christy mcdonald of detroit public television was in the courtroom today, and joins me now. welcome to you. but first remind us briefly the issue in this trial is whether the city can go ahead with its bankruptcy process, right? >> right. it has to prove that it's insolvent and that's what they are seek for bankruptcy protection right now. but what the opposition wants to know is did detroit actually negotiate in good faith before they filed for bankruptcy. >> brown: all right, so today you heard from governor rick snyder, what were the lawyers opposing him arguing and what was his response? >> well, jeffrey, it was far from the typical day at bankruptcy c

jeffrey brown has our book conversation.so rights debora spar in her new book "wonder women: sex, power and the quest for perfection." spar is the president of barnard college in new york and former professor at the harvard business school and welcome to you. >> thank you. >> brown: explain that quote i just read. what did you and others get wrong about feminism? >> i think women of my generation who were born right after the height of the feminist movement somehow thought that because the feminists had fought to give women these wonderful opportunities and possibilities that we could just kind of go out there and be whatever we wanted to be-- nuclear scientists, heads of corporations, and still still have the babies and the wonderful marriages and the clothes and the money. and i think we somehow forgot that -- or we lost sight of the fact that it was going to be much harder than we imagined it would be. >> brown: you describe yourself as someone who really wasn't even particularly interested in feminism per say. didn't stu

jeffrey brown has our book conversation. the. >> brown: the trouble of poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry, more guppys crowding the fish tank. lines from billy collins, former poet laureate and one of the nation's best known poets. his new collection is titled "aimless love: new and selected poems "from his work of the last decade. welcome to you. >> thank you very much, jeff. >> brown: i thought i would sfrel a blur northbound this book. alice fulton writes "billy collins put the fun back in profundity." are you consciously aiming for fun? are you constantly aiming for pro fund any what are you doing? >> well, there's a lot of unconscious activity that goes on in the composition of a poem so i can't -- i can't picture myself starting out aiming to do anything, having much of an agenda. i think in writing a poem i'm making some tonal adjustments and it took me a long time to allow anything like fun into my poetry. >> brown: it did? >> well, i thought originally when i was in school and i wanted to be a p

jeffrey brown reports. >> reporter: the apparent rift became public late last week following a vote in the united nations that elected saudi arabia to the security council, the seat the saudis long covet then came the stunning response on state television. >> ( translated ): the kingdom has no other option but to turn down security council membership until it is reformed and given the means to accomplish its duties and assume its responsibilities in preserving the world's peace and security. >> brown: today's "wall street journal" reported it's part of a broader message. the account said the head of saudi intelligence, prince bandar, a former saudi envoy to washington, is trying to distance the kingdom from the u.s. it cited saudi anger at a perceived lack of support for syrian rebels and the u.s. decision not to attack after the assad regime's apparent use of chemical weapons. secretary of state john kerry responded in london at a meeting of nations backing the syrian opposition. >> we know that the saudis were obviously disappointed that the strike didn't take place and have question

jeffrey brown has our look. >> they were singing last week, but today as federal funded head start programs in at least nine states began to laps, there was no school for the children at the little river preschool in cherokee county, georgia. >> they're only going to be three one time in their life, or four one time in their life. and so if they miss out on learning during those really important moments of those years, it will impact the rest of their life. and so this is a critical time for the interruption. >> even as the shutdown effects take hold, longer term fights over safety net programs continue. prominently including food stamps. last month the house voted to cut the program by 40 billion dollars over ten years. the bill passed along party lines after heated debate. >> and most people don't choose to be on food stamps. most people want a job. most people want to go out and be productive. so that they can earn a living. >> and if others, and there may be some, that choose to abuse the system. that's not out of the realm of possibility, frankly it's wrong for hardworking middle class

jeffrey brown reports. >> brown: as a busy world leader, german chancellor angela merkel checks her cellne during high-level meetings, in her car and while waiting for the elevator. today, at a european union summit in brussels, merkel said her trust in the u.s. had been damaged by reports that her calls were monitored. >> ( translated ): i have made it clear to the president of the united states that spying on friends is not acceptable at all. i said that when he was in berlin in july and also yesterday in a telephone call. it's not just about me but about every german citizen. >> brown: the u.s. ambassador to germany was summoned to the foreign ministry in berlin to give an explanation. german officials said if the reports are true, the relationship is badly damaged. >> as far as i am concerned it would be a severe breach of trust. >> spying on close friendship partners is totally unacceptable. this undermines trust and this can harm our friendship. we expect that these activities that have been reported will be comprehensively investigated. we need the truth now. >> brown: in washingt

jeffrey brown has a conversation about what's wrong with one of america's favorite pastimes. >> browne glory and scandal of big time college football. there is a lot of both in the sport that generates millions of dollars in fans an huge amounts of excitement and controversy. that line also serves as the subtitle of a new book that explores numerous case studies and investigations. titled the system, co-authored by jeff benedict and joining us now armen keteyian, correspondent for cbs news and "60 minutes" sports on showtime. welcome to you. >> thank you, jeff. >> brown: first of all, the system, not the sport, right, and not the game. why explain what college football is, why is it the system? >> well, when we were thinking about the book, i always had the vision in my head of a machine, almost like a matrix like machine made up of all these different component part approximates, whether it's a coach or athletic director, recruit, a hostess, a tutor. and what jeff and i really ended up trying to produce was a book that was smart, was sweeping, took you behind the scenes but really th

jeffrey brown has our book conversation. >> brown: in his lifetime and since, he was the stuff of legend. his playing and recordings on the saxophone remain influential to this day. the man-- charlie "yardbird" parker-- was the product of a very particular place, kansas city, who in a few short years would help change the sound of jazz before his death at age 34 in 1955. his story is told in the new biography "kansas city lightening." it's the first of a planned two- volume biography by writer and jazz scholar stanley crouch. he joins me now. welcome to you. >> welcome to be here. >> brown: who is charlie parker? why was so so important? >> well, he actually embodied the word "genius" which is now used as just an advertising term but he was there. >> brown: he was the real thing? >> he was there. >> brown: which mean what? >> he had a superior sophisticated find and he could react musically doing improvisation at a high speed with an incredibly high quality of melody-making, because that was what he wanted to do. he wanted to make melody on the spot very fast. >> brown: and why did he co

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the list includes the famous and little-known ancient and modern urban and remote. among them the world renowned destination of venice, overrun by cruise ships and tourism, and mimar's capitol as development encroaches on a historic city center, with its vast real estate of temples and colonial architecture. in the u.s., six sites were singled out including the gateway arch in slaus, experiencing corrosion threatening the symbol of expansion. bonnie burnham.. what is the criteria that gets something on this list? what are you looking at? >> we're looking at sites that are on the cusp of going in the wrong direction, where they're facing some kind of physical issue, some kind of development-related threat, sites that have been through catastrophes, and even sites that are pregnant with opportunity, and we feel that by making-- bringing more public attention, we can change the situation. >> brown: you have different examples, different themes. one obvious one we cover on this program all the time is war, notably today, syria. tell us-- give us an exa

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the n.f.l. is already playing under a new spotlight on concussions. days before the season began, the league agreed to a $765 million settlement with 4,500 former players. they'd charged that owners concealed information on the effects of repeated head injuries. that history was the focus of a pbs "frontline" investigation that aired earlier this month on the links between head injuries and brain disease. now, a new study explores the risks for athletes well before they reach their college and professional years. the report by the institute of medicine-- a non-profit, independent organization-- focuses on sports-related concussions in youth, from elementary school through adolescence. one member of the panel, dr. frederick rivara-- of the university of washington school of medicine-- pointed to a key problem: the lack of data for this age group. >> there's essentially nothing known about concussions in elementary school and middle aged kids. and that's really why there's a need for more research