. >>> jeffrey brown on a cultural icon turning 40. next on pbs "newshour weekend." >>> pbs "newshour weekend" is made possible by judy and josh westin, joyce b. hail, walloch, bernard and irene shorts, citi foundation, roselyn walter. corporate by mutual of america customized and mutual retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station and viewers like you. thank you. from studios at lincoln senator in new york, this is pbs "newshour weekend." >>> good evening, thanks for joining us. muslim extremists who have over run much of northern and western iraq have seized another town 90 miles from iraq's border with jordan. the capture means extremists control a final stretch of a major highway connecting iraq to jordan. in a television interview that aired today president obama expressed concern about problem, al qaeda in yemen and isis in iraq. he says america has to proceed carefully. >> this is going to b

jeffrey brown has the story. (music) >> brown: it's is voice and the energy that grab you first.ew force in old-fashioned soul music. it's garnered a small but growing following for charles bradley. supported by a group of funk all-star called the mennahan street band, he's been on tour for a year to promote his album "victim of love" packing intimate venues across north america, europe and down under. fans who come to witness and preach the gospel of soul. >> when i get on that stage, i open my heart and let the spirit run free. i show the love that god gave me. ♪ we've got to change our evil ways ♪ >> when i scream, i scream because it's like 30 words coming to me at one time. how can i say those 30 words? i can't. i scream it. (screaming) ♪ >> brown: the intensity comes honestly. after a life of hard knocks, bradley got his first big break at age 62, when dabtone, a record label helped him bring about a resurgence of soul music helped him release his first album "no time for dreaming," rolling stone named it one of the best albums of 2011. but for bradley his success is the ac

. >>> watch jeffrey brown's interview with the author of "the snowden files" on what the world has learned about american surveillance since the snowden leaks. visit news hour.pbs.org. >>> the united nations reports that as many as 1 in 3 somalis suffer from some kind of mental illness. this in ey that as you're about to see places a huge stigma on those who need help aixt popular methods of treatment includes scorismism or 6, exorcisexorcis. this is a mentally ill somali man, i met him chained up like an animal. his family kept him locked up saying he was a danger to himself and others. he was unwashed, ignored, and isolated. but his case is not exceptional. in somalia, there is little understanding or treatment of mental health illness. men like this one are the focus known as the madman. up to 17 years of a chained man, a mental health nurse came to his rescue. with the shackle fz his life removed, he was walking into a life full of hope. eight months of treatment, here he is. in it the same clinic the nurse brought him to. >> she is assuring him life as a chained man is now behind him.

jeffrey brown has our report. >> brown: pianist and composer jason moran is one of today's best-known younger jazz musicians. performing solo and with his trio around the world. he's a true believer that his art form can transport and transform an audience. >> there's a power that kind of starts to stir in the body, you know. molecules start to, start to want to jump around. it has a possibility to change how a body feels, how a mind feels. and that is something that you can't quantify. so when the music hits, when it hits the audience, when it hits the space, the air, it has the possibility to change everything in that person's being. >> brown: now the thirty-nine year old has a distinctive public perch here at the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts in washington, d.c., where he's been named artistic director for jazz. with a goal of both preserving a tradition and building new audiences, a prestigious position previously held by renowned musician and educator billy taylor, who died in 2010. it would seem an uphill challenge: jazz accounted for only 2% of overall album sa

jeffrey brown taped this conversation last week. >> brown: the american higher education system has long been regarded as a crowning achievement. but these days focus has been more on its problems. rising tuition bills that stoke ballooning debt, too many students who never graduate, misplaced and overly lavish expenditures on facilities and housing and much more. a new documentary ivory tower looks at a range of such issues. it opens in many u.s. cities this month. here's a short clip that features within of its main themes. >> higher education in america has been very successful for centuries but now things are changing. because the scale and the cost is enormous. we have a product that is so expensive that a lot of people can't pay for it and they have to go into debt. and it just isn't viable. >> the rise in student tuition is unsustainable. we cannot continue to charge a significantly more year after year after year without running into some kind of a brick wall. >> and filmmaker andrew rossi joins me now, welcome to you. >> thanks so much for having me. >> the starting point seems

. >> ifill: jeffrey brown has more on the dramatic capture. >> brown: the special forces team apprehended abu khattala, with the help of the f.b.i. in a secret raid outside benghazi. he's the first accused perpetrator of the 2012 attacks to be nabbed and taken into u.s. custody. joining me now is the reporter who first broke this story: karen deyoung of the washington post. karen, thanks for joining us. how much detail do we know at this point about the operation that led to his capture? >> well, we don't know a whole lot. we know that it occurred on sunday afternoon washington time, that it was, according to the pentagon, months in the planning, that president obama approved it on friday, and that it was pretty much carried out without any violence at all. nobody was hurt, and he was very quickly removed from his villa in the south of benghazi. >> and done with or without the cooperation or coordination with the libyan government? >> the libyans were not informed prior to this operation. of course, there have been previous operations in libya, notably one last october where an al quaida

jeffrey brown talked to the filmmaker on "art beat."e is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later this evening. here's a preview. from thad cochran in mississippi to hillary clinton on the road we dissect the policy of the week. the fallout of the supreme court decisions and the political collapse in iraq tonight on washington week. >> woodruff: tomorrow's edition of "pbs newshour weekend" looks at the deals cut by some generic drug manufacturers with brand name pharmaceutical companies that can result in higher prices for consumers. here's an excerpt from megan thompson's report. >> marcus meyers heads the federal trade commission's anti-trust division for healthcare. he says fighting these so-called pay for delay deals is one of the ftc's top priorities. >> so if you can keep the generic out, the brand can continue to make all the sales at the monopoly price and still pay the generic to make it worthwhile for

jeffrey brown has that. >> reporter: for weeks the v.a. been rocked by reports that scheduling clerks were forced to falsify records about how long patients had to wait for appointments. the department's own audits found systemic problems across the country. last month, president obama accepted secretary eric shinseki's resignation. this week saw several new developments, including accusations from a whistle- blower at the v.a. hospital in phoenix. to bring us up to date, we turn to dennis wagner. an investigative reporter with "the arizona republic" and "u.s.a. today." he broke the orginal story. dennis, this new whistle-blower, pauline dewenter, says she kept a secret list of veterans who were waiting months for treatment. tell us about that. >> basically what she said was they didn't -- they weren't able to get people in to see the deposition within a certain prescribed period of time, so rather than put them on the link, the actual official list, she would take screenshots of the appointment requests that weren't retained in the comput

. >>> jeffrey brown on a cultural icon turning 40. next on pbs "newshour weekend." >>> pbs

jeffrey brown was there for the publishing industry's annual trade show that wrapped up this past weekendre's his report. >> brown: publishers large and small, book sellers from far and wide, agents, editors, publicists and, yes, authors. the annual book expo america in new york was the center's largest trade fair, a place to sell your wares, make new connections and bask in the glory of the written word. james patterson is a rock star at b.e.a., a publishing titan with dozens of best sellers. for him, all would seem well, but he sees a continuing crisis in the world of books today, and he's donating a million dollars to independent book sellers around the country to help them raise awareness of their plight. >> this is a period of evolution, revolution, whatever you want to call it big shift to ebooks, and i think we just have to slow down and make sure it's an orderly transition. people need to understand what is at risk here is american literature. >> brown: that's been a long-running thought line in this industry with ebooks and amazon. this year, a more upbeat story. >> we're in the

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: the 32 national teams are tuning up, fans are beginning to partyt for many brazilians the joys of hosting, and seeking the country's sixth world title, have been greatly diminished since the heady day in 2007 when f.i.f.a.. soccer's international organizing body, awarded brazil the world cup. >> the 2014 world cup goes to brazil! >> brown: the chief reason: sticker shock. brazil is spending $15 billion to host the celebration of what brazilians call the "jogo bonito," the beautiful game, but that has led to recriminations: thousands of poor brazilians were relocated from their homes in slums, called "favelas," the government has denied charges that the displacements were to make way for world cup building projects, and for the 2016 summer olympics in rio. major construction problems have led to deaths of workers at still-unfinished venues and transpiration hub points, one died just this past monday night when a section of monorail collapsed. and some projects slated for the world cup were barely begun, then scrapped. in the meantime, protests have

. >> ifill: jeffrey brown picks up the story from there. >> brown: so how are the events of 25 years viewed today in china? and how have those events helped shape today's china? for that we turn to louisa lim, who's covered china for the last decade, first for the b.b.c. and now for n.p.r. she's the author of "the people's republic of amnesia: tiananmen revisited." and chow chung is an adjunct professor at the university of california at berkeley. he's the founder and editor-in- chief of china digital times, a bilingual china news website. louisa lim, let me start with you. you used the word amnesia. you have a telling story in your book about taking an image, that famous photo we saw of the man standing in front of the tank, and showing it to a bunch of university students, most of them who didn't know what it was. >> that's right, i took that picture and i took it around four beijing universities, those that have been most instrumental in the protests in 1989, and i showed it to 100 students, and i was really surprised at the level of ignorance. most of them looked at it with compl

jeffrey brown reports. >> brown: sergeant bowe bergdahl remained today at the u.s. military hospital at landstuhl germany, undergoing evaluation and debriefing after five years in captivity. but questions swirled in washington and in kabul, especially about the five senior taliban leaders swapped for bergdahl. they'd been held at the guantanamo bay prison and were flown to qatar on sunday. the afghan government complained today that it was never consulted. >> ( translated ): the recent release of five afghan citizens in exchange for american army sergeant bowe bergdahl goes against the agreement we have had with the u.s. government and their transfer to the qatar government was not agreed upon by the afghan government. >> brown: the released men are all in their mid-to-late forties. the most senior is khirullah said wali khairkhwa, a founding member of the taliban, former interior minister, and an associate of osama bin laden's; he was handed over to the u.s. by pakistan in 2002. mullah mohammad fazl was the taliban army chief of staff, he is wanted by the u.n. for

jeffrey brown has our report. >> would you please rise to take the oath? raise your right hand. a little higher. thank you. >> brown: even the oath-taking seemed contentious last night, as i.r.s. commissioner john koskinen appeared before the house oversight committee. >> we have a problem with you and you have a problem with maintaining your credibility. >> brown: at issue: lost e-mails from former i.r.s. official lois lerner. she resigned last year after disclosures that her division targeted tea party and other groups for reviews before the 2012 election. the controversy revived this month, when the i.r.s. reported thousands of lerner's e-mails vanished when her computer crashed, in 2011. california republican darrell issa chaired last night's hearing. >> so you told us that all emails would be provided. when you discovered that all emails would not be provided you did not come back and inform us. is that correct? >> all the emails we have will be provided. i did not say i would provide you emails that disappeared. if you have a magical way for me to do that, i'd be happy to

jeffrey brown has the story. >> in september, new orleans will be home to the country's first all-charterool district. it's an evolution that began more than a decade ago. and was greatly accelerated after the devastation of hurricane katrina. when state officials and others seized the opportunity to overhaul the city's troubled system. special correspondent for education, john merrow, reported on the effort over the years in a series of stories for us. and has now produced a documentary, titled "re-birth." here's a short clip that takes us back to early days for the charter movement, in 2005. >> december 14th, 2005. much of the city is still deserted. old perry walker high school, one of the few school buildings to escape serious damage is about to reopen. >> hopefully never, ever again in the history of this country-- where any group of folks will be given an opportunity-- because of a katrina or some other natural disaster. but the reality is, we had this opportunity, and we need to seize this moment. >> we have to be on my toes when the kids come. in and you set the stage, we all know

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: are you a "mobile mixer"? an "urban scrambler"?you know what those mean? or that you yourself might be characterized as one or the other? according to a new study by the federal trade commission, large companies called data brokers use such labels as they track our online buying habits, what we do in our free time, religious affiliations and much, much more. in an industry the f.t.c says suffers from a fundamental lack of transparency. it found that one company's database alone had information that included 1.4 billion consumer transactions and more than 700 billion aggregated pieces of data. the f.t.c is calling on congress to take new steps to protect consumers. and its chairwoman, edith ramirez, joins us to talk about it. welcome. first, tell us how this works. who are these data brokers? who are they collecting information for and to what end? >> jeff, thank you for having me here with you. well, these are companies that consumers simply don't know about, but they're companies that collect massive amounts of information about a

jeffrey brown has that debate. >> brown: president obama has been expanding these executive actions.s something he promised to do earlier this year. >> we're not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing americans the kind of help they need. i've got a pen and i've got a phone. >> brown: and he's followed through, on a wide range of issues, including equal pay for women, student loans, and more recently carbon pollution. but every time president obama does this, he's faced backlash from those who charge that he's an "imperial president." we have our own debate on the subject now, with: jonathan turley, a law professor at george washington university. and michael waldman, president of the brennan center for justice at new york university's school of law. welcome to both of you. jonathan turley, start with you. you made the case the actions by president obama have gone too far. what have you seen? >> certainly, he didn't start this process, concentration of authority in the executive branch, but it has reached a level that frankly is a matter o

earlier this spring, jeffrey brown caught up with cranston as he was getting wide acclaim for his broadway debut. here's a second look. is is the most important erection of your lifetime and the choices couldn't be clearer! >> lyndon b. johnson, ambitious, impatient, tortured and troubled in a million different ways, while captured by actor bryan cranston. >> him and the rest of his harvard blue bloods would look down their nose at me like i was some kind of country bumpkin! >> in three hours, you see him go through a myriad of emotions. it's rare to have a character of that scope. i'm grateful for it. >> this is not about the constitution! this is about those who got more wanting to hang on to what they got! >> the play called "all the way" opened on broadway in march written by robert shanken, it's a look back at 1964, president johnson's first year in office after the assassination of john f. kennedy, a tumultuous time for the presidency and the entire nation. >> we have people in this country living in unbelievable poverty! i know! i grew up like that in the hill country. >> i saw you

jeffrey brown has a preview, starting with some background followed by a conversation recorded beforeay's match. >> reporter: soccer fans from around the world flocked to the corinthians arena in sao paulo today as celebrations kicked off the 20th edition of the fifa world cup. supporters of the host team were out in force. revving up the opening match of the competition, brazil against croatia. >> ( translated ): i feel a lot of emotion, a lot of joy, it's a pleasure to see all the world here, it's very good. >> reporter: that, of course, comes after a mostly bad lead- up, featuring construction delays and accidents; and protests over the costs of hosting the world cup. even as demonstrations continued today, the main event got underway. with 32 countries participating in the world's most watched sporting event. five-time champion brazil is one favorite to take this year's cup. another top contender, spain, warmed up for the competition in brazil with a so-called friendly match last weekend in washington d.c. against el salvador. that match and others around the u.s. drew large crowd

jeffrey brown has the story, beginning with more background. >> brown: the $40 million settlement comesyears after one of the most sensationalized crimes in new york city's history. in 1989, passersby found the nearly lifeless body of a white 28-year-old woman, much later identified as trisha meili, in a wooded area of central park. she had been raped, beaten, and left for dead while jogging. she was in a coma for 12 days. five black and latino defendants, all between 14 and 16, were arrested and portrayed by police and in the media as part a marauding and "wilding" pack of youths who rampaged through the park that night. the five were convicted on a series of charges related to the assault, and served sentences ranging from seven to 13 years. but lawyers argued there was a lack of physical evidence linking e five to the crime, and that the convictions were based almost entirely on coerced written and video taped confessions like this one. >> what happened when you charged her? >> we charged her. she was on the ground. everybody stomping and everything. >> brown: then, in 2002, convicte

jeffrey brown has our coverage. >> brown: more than 250 million cars are on american roads, and six months ago, general motors recalled 2.6 million of them, for potentially deadly ignition switch problems. the auto-maker had known about the problem for more than a decade, and ultimately acknowledged it's role in at least 13 deaths. today came the details on a compensation fund for victims. >> i want to explain a bit the dollars and the compensation available under the program. >> brown: kenneth feinberg has previously run a number of high- profile funds for victims, including after 9/11 and the gulf oil spill. now, he'll administer the g.m. program. he says there will be no cap on damages for anyone who's eligible. >> the driver, any passengers in the automobile. any pedestrian. any occupant of a second vehicle involved in the accident. all eligible to file a claim. >> brownthe fund covers chevrolet cobalts, saturn ions and other models. it will pay at least $1 million for all deaths, plus $300,000 dollars to surviving spouses and children. some of the relatives were on hand for feinberg's