william brangham is back with this report from vermont.rt of our occasional series of reports, "peril and promise: the challenge of climate change," and is also our weekly look at the "leading edge" of science and technology. >> come on! >> brangham: andrea mcmahan and her son caulder run a dog kennel and grooming business just outside waterbury, vermont. >> where's that ball? >> brangham: during the recent windstorm that knocked power out for hundreds of thousands of people in the northeast, the lights and blowdryers stayed on at their business. that's because mcmahan had just installed these: two brand-new tesla batteries connected to the solar panels on her roof. all your neighbors were out of power, but you weren't? >> no. it worked! >> brangham: mcmahon installed the panels five years ago. in the summer, with its ample sun, they generate more electricity than she can use, so the extra energy is sent to the local utility, green mountain power. >> and they credit our bill for the winter, because there's not much solar in the winter. we

william brangham begins our coverage. >> brangham: michael flynn walked into federal court in washingtons morning, and plead guilty to a single count of making false statements to the f.b.i. he's now the senior-most member of the trump administration to cooperate in special counsel robert mueller's probe into russian meddling in the election. prosecutors say flynn lied when he denied that he and russian ambassador sergey kislyak discussed u.s. sanctions against russia, during and after the 2016 campaign. according to court documents, flynn now says an unidentified "senior official" in the trump transition team directed his contacts with the russians. in a statement, flynn said his guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel are "in the best interests of my family and of our country." and, he said, "i accept full responsibility for my actions." >> yeah, that's right, lock her up! >> brangham: the retired lieutenant general was an ardent booster of candidate trump-- >> if i did one-tenth of what she did, i would be in jail. >> brangham: sometimes flynn lead chants again

william brangham has been following this, and he joins me now. william, we're talking about anwar, the alaska national wildlife rescue, a beautiful place. >> i think it'sgan called the certain getty of america. 19 acres in the neese corner of alaska, designated as a wildlife refuge in 1980 and, by all measures, it is this incredibly lush, rich, ecosystem, migratory birds, grizzly bears, musk oxen, fish. apparently, the marquee species is called the porcupine caribou and they migrate 2700 miles across canada to give birthright on the beaches there. >> o'brien: i think people imagine ice, and it is rich with wildlife, i've had the great opportunity to be there, and the amount of wildlife you see is rather extraordinary. in 1980, it is protected. why are we talking about drilling now? >> well, it's believed there is oil under the ground, that's the biggest issue. the estimates range 5- to 15 billion barrels of oil under the ground there. oil companies have long wanted to drill there and the alaska delegation said we need these jobs and resources and

as william brangham reports, details of the compromise are still emerging, as are some potential roadblocks. >> brangham: congressional republicans raced to keep their promise of sending a final tax overhaul bill to the white house by christmas. house speaker paul ryan: >> this tax cut will means less of a paycheck going to washington and more for the hardworking people who earned it. >> brangham: yesterday, g.o.p. lawmakers announced they reached a compromise in principle to bridge the house and senate bills. that clears the way for final votes on legislation that would cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over a decade. today, president trump again championed the bill, what could be his first, major legislative victory. >> i think we will get there it will be in a very short period of time it will be the greatest christmas present a lot of people have ever received. >> brangham: late changes to the bill include a corporate tax rate of 21% starting in 2018. that's a major reduction from the current rate of 35%. and for the richest americans, a lowered top individual tax rate of 37%-- that's down fro

william brangham has the latest on the u.s.e in this conflict. >> brangham: in december alone, according to the u.n., 136 civilians were killed in air strikes by the u.s.-backed, saudi-led coalition. one airstrike cost this man in northwest yemen dearly. >> ( translated ): they targeted my house while there were 18 to 20 guests. the whole family was inside, as well as all our cattle. everything is gone, there's nothing left. >> brangham: and on tuesday, the houthi rebels, whom the saudis are fighting, fired another ballistic missile from yemen towards the saudi capital of riyadh. the missile was intercepted by the kingdom's air defenses, and the saudis claim it was manufactured by iran, which is backing the houthis. this was the second failed attack on riyadh by the houthis in as many months. the trump administration has also repeatedly called out iran about its involvement in the conflict, a point driven home dramatically by u.n. ambassador nikki haley last week. >> these are the recovered pieces of a missile fired by houthi m

for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: california officials estimate that it's cost more than $48 million so far to battle the massive thomas fire. federal terrorism charges were filed against the suspect in yesterday's failed new york city subway bombing. prosecutors said that akayed ullah, an immigrant from bangladesh, wanted to set off a homemade bomb during the morning rush hour to "maximize destruction." meanwhile in washington, president trump again called on congress to overhaul the nation's immigration system, in the wake of a pair of terror incidents carried out by immigrants. >> there have now been two terrorist attacks in recent weeks, carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards. the first attacker came through the visa lottery, and the second through chain migration. we're going to end both of them. the lottery system and chain migration, we're going to end them, fast. >> woodruff: yesterday's blast happened less than two months after an immigrant from uzbekistan plowed his truck into a bike path near the world trade center. at least eight people

william brangham sat down with miles o'brien to get some perspective on it all, part of our weekly segmenteading edge." >> brangham: so what would you say is the most importance science story of the year. >> a political story, sort of political science. scientists concerned about the trump administration and its climate denial or climate skepticism took to the streets april 22, earth day. thousands of them marched, concerned about the climate policy but also environmental policies, the administration. also, frankly, concerned about their funding, and not long after the new administrator of the e.p.a. came in, scott pruitt, a lot of evidence that they had reason to be concerned. there was a purge of scientists that received e.p.a. funding, many of them associated with academic institutions, which made more room for corporate-sponsored science advising the environmental protection agency. one of those purged scientists from the university of minnesota told me she's really concerned about the precedent. >> it almost feels like this is the first of a wave of potential actions that are going to

william brangham has our report. >> brangham: by this morning, the largest of the fires had swept acrossn more of ventura county. along the way, the so-called thomas fire burned at least 430 homes and other buildings. the flames scorched a car and left a staircase that now leads nowhere. >> it's amazing to watch the magnitude of the winds and the firestorms, and how fast things change, you just have to really have to be alert. >> brangham: more than 2,500 firefighters have been working in ventura county. at least half a dozen blazes are burning across southern california. the thomas fire alone covers more than 200 square miles, stretching from the pacific ocean into the mountains. to the south, the lilac fire in san diego county ignited yesterday, and turned the small town of fallbrook into a battleground. >> the fire was coming right at us. i mean, within matters of minutes it had spread. >> brangham: wind-driven flames accelerated across more than six square miles in just a matter of hours, destroying at least 85 buildings, and leaving entire neighborhoods in ruins. that, in turn, forc

william brangham has the story. >> brangham: in salt lake city today, president trump announced his plandownsize two national monuments, to rectify what he says were overreach by prior administrations. >> as many of you know past administrations have severely abused the purpose and spirit of the antiquities act. >> brangham: the announcement comes after interior secretary ryan zinke completed a months- long review of 27 different national monuments across the country. today, the president took aim at two different spots in utah. the first is bears ears, which was declared a national monument a year ago by then president obama. today, trump proposed shrinking the 1.3 million-acre monument by 85%, turning it into two smaller, separate monuments the second is grand staircase- esclante, designated by president clinton in 1996. its 1.8 million-acres will be reduced by almost half, and split into three smaller pockets of land. both obama and clinton declared these monumens using the antiquities act of 1906, which gives the president broad legal authority to protect historic landmarks, includin

william brangham reports for our weekly series making the grade. >> cover your left eye for me. can you see that line under the red line? >> brangham: vision checks at the start of the school year are routine for many students around the country. it's the same here at matthew a. henson elementary in baltimore. reading those little letters from a distance is no problem for some. >> d, c, z, o, d, t, p. >> brangham: but for others... >> read that line again for me? is that all you can see? >> brangham: for kids with poor vision, their parents now have to start a long and expensive process: eye doctors, opticians, buying glasses. >> we live in a community where unfortunately so many of our children live below the poverty line where there are many barriers to care including transportation and ability to pay. >> brangham: doctor leana wen is the health commissioner at the baltimore city department of health. >> even parents finding out. the process of getting those test results relayed to parents. or, insurance and reimbursement. all these were barriers to care. >> brangham: dr. wen

and to william brangham. >> brangham: thanks judy. to help us wade through this thicket, we are joined by our politics monday team: tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." welcome to you both. >> thank you. am, let's talk about the tax bill. looks like the president is on the cusp of his first major legislative victory. is this all but over? >> pretty much. vice president mike pence announced he is definitely staying in town. he's delaying a trip to israel that was supposed to take place later this week until january just so that he can be in town just in case to make that deciding tiebreaking vote. but by every account, this is on a glide path at this point to passage, and if it does pass, this is not just a tax bill, this is president trump actually accomplishing a surprisingly large number of things. while everyone was focused on the russia investigation and the tweets, this bill not only is a $1.5 trillion tax cut, but it is also a repeal of the individual mandate under the affordable care act which is t

as william brangham reports, all this as new questions of rex tillerson's job security surfaced. >> we'reng to see what happens with north korea. we hope it works out. >> brangham: that was president trump this morning, shortly before his top diplomat appeared at the united nations to again press the case against north korea. >> the pressure campaign must and will continue, until denuclearization is achieved. we will in the meantime keep our channels of communication open. >> brangham: but secretary of state rex tillerson appeared to back off comments he'd made tuesday where he offered an open invitation to the north for talks. >> and we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition. let's just meet >> brangham: that was a marked shift in tone after months of tough statements from the president and other officials. tillerson's comments, which seemed to drop any preconditions for talks with the north koreans, was swiftly swatted down by the white house. press secretary sarah sanders said, "the president's views on north korea have not changed." it was one more flashpoint in the i

but the punishment from the international olympic committee, or i.o.c., is unprecedented, william brangham gets a fuller look at this surprising decision. >> brangham: today's decision means you won't see scenes like these. there will be no display of the russian flag at the games in february. the russian anthem will not be played. and government officials cannot attend. some russian athletes, who often medal in the winter games, can play if they can prove they are clean of drugs and wear a neutral outfit. russian president vladimir putin had already warned a tough punishment could provoke a boycott. and the country's sports officials have denied they doped at the sochi olympics. but the i.o.c. has found the russian sports ministry had an extensive doping program in effect at the last winter games. i.o.c. president thomas bach cited those findings today. >> the report clearly lays out an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the olympic games and sports. the report includes in particular the manipulation of the anti-doping laboratory at the olympic winter games in sochi 2014. this decis

william brangham gets a sense of that, as part of our continuing coverage of "race matters." >> brangham: boston is famous for a lot of great things, but it also has had a reputation as one of the most racist cities in america. that's due in part to horrible images from the 1960s and '70s, when white bostonians violently protested against the desegregation of the city's public schools. fast forward to this past may, when red sox fans hurled repeated racist insults at visiting baltimore oriole adam jones, prompting widespread criticism and an apology from the team. so does the city deserve this reputation? that's the difficult question that the "boston globe" spotlight investigative team set out to answer. >> is boston racist? >> brangham: in a new seven-part series, reporters examined racial disparities in the city's famed universities, its hospitals, even the city's halls of power. the series is called "boston. racism. image. reality." and i'm joined now by one of the reporters on that series, akilah johnson. welcome to the newshour. >> thanks for having me. >> brangham: so, the very fi

william brangham has that story, from the newshour bookshelf. >> brangham: it was 1971 when militarylyst daniel ellsberg leaked the pentagon papers to the press. they were a top secret defense department study of u.s. military involvement in the vietnam war. their controversial publication blew the lid off what one famous journalist called a bright shining lie. but few know that in the decade before that, during some of the cold war's most dangerous hair- trigger moments, daniel ellsberg also spent years analyzing america's nuclear weapons policy. his new memoir chronicles that period. it's called "the doomsday machine: confessions of a nuclear war planner." and in it, ellsberg argues very little has changed about what he calls our immoral and insane policies regarding nuclear weapons. daniel ellsberg welcome to the newshour. >> thank you. >> brangham: the title of your book comes from the famous stanley kubrick movie where a rogue u.s. military officer launches an attack on the soviets and as those weapons are flying, it's suddenly revealed that the soviets have built a" doomsday ma

william brangham takes a closer look at what's behind the so- called "war on christmas." applause) >> brangham: from the campaign trail -- >> by the way, we're also going to be saying merry christmas again. >> brangham: to the white house. >> we are saying merry christmas again. >> brangham: president trump has taken a vocal stand on saying merry christmas. >> we can and people are saying merry christmas again. >> brangham: merry christmas never went away. >> i want to wish every american a merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you, happy holiday. >> merry christmas and god bleth you all. >> three, two, one! (cheering) >> brangham: but as president trump marks his first christmas tree -- christmas in the white house, he is taking a stand on the "war on christmas." >> as the original war on christmas five-star general -- >> the war on christmas heads to "sin city." >> boca raton florida is ground zero for the war on christmas this year. >> brangham: county trump's pro christmas message seemed to rally christians to his side which many thought a hard sell for a thrice marr

for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in new york. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the finalh was on to drum up more support a day before voters cast ballots in alabama's special senate election. republican candidate and former alabama state chief justice roy moore is running neck and neck with democrat doug jones, a former federal prosecutor. moore has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls while he was a district attorney in his early 30's. we'll take a closer look at the race later in the program. three women who've previously accused president trump of sexual harassment spoke out again today in new york. they demanded a congressional investigation into the president, who's been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women. >> they've investigated other congress members so i think it only stands fair that he be investigated as well. and i think also a non-partisan investigation is also very important. not just for him but for anybody who has allegations against them. this isn't a partisan issue. >> woodruff: today, the white house cited mr. trump's