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HARI SREENIVASAN: Good evening. I'm Hari Sreenivasan. Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff are away.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: As candidates storm Indiana ahead of tomorrow's primary, both
parties' front-runners aim to finally shake their rivals with enough Hoosier State delegates
to clinch the nomination.
Also ahead: It is the fifth anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death -- what the raid of
the al-Qaida leader and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks means for the U.S. today.
Plus: how farmer and philanthropist Howard Buffett is improving agriculture both here
and in Africa's most devastated areas.
HOWARD BUFFETT, Philanthropist: Well, you got to have a goal.
(LAUGHTER)
HOWARD BUFFETT: But we're not going to end world hunger, but, you know, I think every
step we can take in that direction is something positive.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
HARI SREENIVASAN: It's the eve of the presidential primaries in the Hoosier State; 57 delegates
are at stake for Republicans. And Ted Cruz is trying to wrestle whatever he can away
from his rival Donald Trump.
John Yang has our report.
MAN: You are the problem, politician. You are the problem.
JOHN YANG: Ted Cruz went for broke today, trying to pull off a crucial primary win in
Indiana. This afternoon, he faced off with backers of Republican front-runner Donald
Trump.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), Presidential Candidate: I think anyone that wants to be president
owes it to the people of this state to come in front of you and ask for your support.
And I'm running to be everyone's president, those who vote for me and those who don't.
MAN: We don't want you.
SEN. TED CRUZ: Well, you're entitled to your view, sir. And I will respect it.
(CROSSTALK)
MAN: Do the math.
(CROSSTALK)
MAN: You asked Kasich to drop out. It is your turn.
SEN. TED CRUZ: Well...
MAN: Take your own words.
JOHN YANG: But the words drop out don't seem to be in Cruz's vocabulary, not yet anyway.
SEN. TED CRUZ: I am in for the distance as long. As we have a viable path to victory,
I am competing to the end.
And the reason is simple. Listen, this isn't about me. It isn't about Donald Trump. It
isn't about any of the candidates. This is about our country and our future.
JOHN YANG: An Associated Press analysis has Cruz trailing Trump in the race for the nomination
by more than 400 delegates. Cruz won't win the delegates he needs to win for a first-ballot
nomination, so he is trying to keep Trump from locking up the nomination before the
convention in Cleveland.
Trump spent the day making his final pitch in the Indianapolis area.
DONALD TRUMP (R), Presidential Candidate: Honestly, if we win Indiana, it's over. It's
over.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
DONALD TRUMP: And if we don't, I will win it next week, or the week after, or the week
after. It's fine, because they have no path, whereas I have a very easy path. I mean, we
will win it on the first ballot.
JOHN YANG: Farther south, in Evansville, Democrat Bernie Sanders was whipping up support, not
just for the Indiana primary, but also for his effort to keep his campaign alive until
the convention.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (VT-I), Presidential Candidate: The way the system works is, you have establishment
candidates who win virtually all of the superdelegates. It makes it hard for insurgent candidacies
like ours to win. But you know what? We're going to fight for every last vote. And we're
going to...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JOHN YANG: Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead in delegates and seemed to be looking
beyond the convention. Today, she campaigned in Kentucky.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), Presidential Candidate: Here in Eastern Kentucky, and obviously West
Virginia, and Southeast Ohio, Appalachia coal has taken a huge hit. Talk about a ripple
effect. It is just decimating communities.
JOHN YANG: Late today, she paid a visit to West Virginia.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.
HARI SREENIVASAN: We will take a deeper look at the presidential campaign with Politics
Monday right after the news summary.
In the day's other news: The U.S. said progress is being made toward restoring a truce in
Syria. That came as the Syrian military extended its own unilateral cease-fire in some areas,
including Damascus. But violence continues to rage farther north in Aleppo.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Geneva today meeting with the U.N.'s envoy
for Syria. Kerry expressed optimism, but stopped short of detailing truce proposals.
JOHN KERRY, U.S. Secretary of State: We are working over these next hours intensely in
order to try to restore the cessation of hostilities and at the same time to raise the level of
accountability that will accompany the day-to-day process of implementing this cease-fire.
HARI SREENIVASAN: To that end, Kerry, who later spoke by phone with his counterpart
in Moscow, said the U.S. and Russia agreed to station personnel around the clock in Geneva
to better monitor a new truce.
An Islamic State car bomb killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens more in Southwestern
Baghdad today. Workers used shovels and water hoses to clear debris following the blast.
Many of those killed were Shiite pilgrims commemorating the death of a revered eighth
century imam.
Puerto Rico has defaulted on a $422 million bond payment that was due today. Its officials
warned, the U.S. territory's debt crisis could soon worsen without the help of Congress.
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he hopes this creates a -- quote
-- "new sense of urgency for lawmakers" to restore Puerto Rico's debt restructuring authority. The island's default
will likely prompt lawsuits from creditors, and could foreshadow more problems to come
when a much larger payment is due July 1.
Nearly all of Detroit's 97 public schools were forced to close today after teachers
staged their latest sick-out. They protested the possibility that some of them won't get
paid through the summer if the debt-stricken school district doesn't receive more funding
from the state. Today's closure impacted some 46,000 students.
Cancer researchers today issued a warning to New England residents who get their drinking
water from private wells. A study from the National Institutes of Health found a correlation
between bladder cancer and arsenic levels in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont wells.
Bladder cancer incidence in the region is 20 percent higher than the rest of the country.
The risk is even greater if wells were dug before 1960, when arsenic-based pesticides
were common.
The person behind the digital currency Bitcoin may have finally been identified, after years
of speculation. Craig Wright, an Australian entrepreneur and computer scientist, told
several news agencies today he invented the currency back in 2009. Bitcoins allow consumers
to purchase goods or services and exchange money anonymously without involving banks
or other third parties.
In an interview with the BBC, Wright said he came forward with reluctance.
CRAIG WRIGHT, Entrepreneur: I didn't decide. I had people decide this matter for me. And
they are making life difficult, not for me, but my friends, my family, my staff. I don't
want money. I don't want fame. I don't want adoration. I just want to be left alone.
HARI SREENIVASAN: But several publications have questioned Wright's claim. Earlier today,
I spoke to Andy Greenberg, a senior writer from "Wired" via Google Hangouts. He said
today's revelation has raised even more questions.
ANDY GREENBERG, "Wired": This has only gotten hairier as a story. It was unclear at first
whether this was a hoax or whether we had found the creator of Bitcoin. And I think
we have only gone further down that rabbit hole.
HARI SREENIVASAN: For our full interview with Andy Greenberg, visit our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.
On Wall Street today, stocks bounced back after last week's losses. The Dow Jones industrial
average gained 117 points to close at 17891. The Nasdaq rose 42 points. And the S&P 500
added 16.
The first U.S. cruise liner in nearly 40 years docked in Cuba this morning. Passengers waved
to locals as the 700-passenger ship operated by Carnival Cruise subsidiary Fathom Travel
pulled into Havana. The arrival follows President Obama's restoration of ties with Cuba in late
2014.
For the record, Fathom Travel is a "NewsHour" underwriter.
And some history was made in English soccer today. Leicester City has won the Barclays
Premier League after overcoming 5,000-to-1 odds. The Foxes finished near the bottom of
the league last year, but lost only three times this season, and clinched the title
today, when second-place Tottenham played to a tie. It's Leicester City's first championship
in the club's 132-year history.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": Politics Monday, a look ahead to Indiana's make-or-break
election for Ted Cruz; then, CIA director Leon Panetta on the fight against al-Qaida
five years after Osama bin Laden's death; how Warren Buffett's son is helping Africa
feed itself; and much more.
All eyes are on Indiana in the race for the White House.
We examine the heightened significance of the Hoosier State in 2016 with our Politics
Monday team, Tamara Keith of NPR and Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report.
So, one of the things that we saw Ted Cruz say in that earlier piece was a viable path
to the candidacy, right, that he's in this until that ends. Does that end tomorrow night
for him?
AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Hari, I have been arguing that it's actually already
over.
I think that the race effectively ended last week with the primaries up and down the Northeast
Corridor, and Donald Trump putting up such big numbers. He's ahead in the polls right
now in Indiana. He's ahead in California. It's going to be, I think, all but impossible
for him to be stopped before we get to the convention.
And even then, I think he's going to get the 1,237 votes he needs before the convention.
I just think the momentum is strongly behind him. Cruz never caught on. The stop Trump
movement, it always had an antagonist, which was Donald Trump, but it never had a protagonist.
And I think that was its biggest challenge. But there was never a challenge to voters,
here's what you can support. It was always, here is what you can be against.
Voters want to vote -- support someone. And they also like supporting a winner. And right
now, Donald Trump looks like a winner.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, what about those stop Trump folks? Are they in denial? Is this an
inevitability?
TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: They're still working it.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Right.
TAMARA KEITH: And Ted Cruz is campaigning extremely hard. His campaign, between his
various surrogates, now his vice presidential pick, Carly Fiorina, they had 10 campaign
stops in a single day. They are working very hard in Indiana.
But it seems like, if Donald Trump wins in Indiana, after this disarmament pact was announced
with Governor John Kasich, and, really, Ted Cruz has had Donald Trump to himself mostly,
if he can't win, Donald Trump's going to be able to make a very strong argument: What
are you doing if you can't win in Indiana?
And if Donald Trump is able to win all of the delegates in Indiana, he'd only need -- he
would be 85 percent of the way to clinching. That's quite a long way toward clinching.
HARI SREENIVASAN: This alliance between Kasich and Cruz, it sort of was on, on a Tuesday,
and then off by a Saturday. Is it kind of still on? It seems that Kasich wasn't campaigning
in Indiana today.
AMY WALTER: No, he wasn't, but the stop Trump movement has spent almost as much money on
television -- these are these outside super PACs -- in Indiana as they did in Wisconsin,
where obviously Ted Cruz was successful.
But, as I said, I think that voters are desperately looking for someone to vote for. So, this
idea of just voting against Donald Trump really not catching fire. Plus, the one who is getting
the momentum beyond what you're seeing in the polling data is the endorsements, Donald
Trump picking up endorsements from royalty in Indiana, everybody from Lou Holtz, the
former Notre Dame coach, to Bobby Knight, the former Indiana coach.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Sports are -- college sports are huge.
AMY WALTER: Sports, big deal. The ring, the basketball ring, very big in Indiana.
(LAUGHTER)
HARI SREENIVASAN: Right.
So, let's shift gears to the Democratic side.
TAMARA KEITH: Yes.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Bernie Sanders still fighting it out. Is this as much of a race now in Indiana?
TAMARA KEITH: Bernie Sanders -- in Indiana, Bernie Sanders is demographically favored.
The state looks good for him in that way. Polling shows him ahead -- trailing somewhat,
shows Clinton ahead.
But if -- talking to the campaigns, you get the feeling that they don't really trust the
polling and that they think Bernie could -- Bernie Sanders could win in Indiana.
And the challenge there, though, is he could wake up Wednesday morning and be further behind
in the chase for pledged delegates than he was when he started. And what I mean is that
he at this point needs to win every remaining contest by about 25 points -- that's a lot
-- if he wants to catch up to Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates.
That's why he held a press conference yesterday and he started pitching the idea very publicly
of flipping superdelegates. He proposed having superdelegates support the will of the voters
in their state. If that were to happen -- we did the calculations -- and Sanders would
still be behind by about 500 delegates, combining superdelegates and pledged delegates.
AMY WALTER: And the argument also doesn't really work very well.
It's not very consistent with the Bernie Sanders message, which has been, I'm one of you, I'm
the people, the people are standing up.
Well, right now, the people have been voting for Hillary Clinton. He's losing the popular
vote. He's only got about 41 percent of the popular vote, compared to her, somewhere around
56 percent. The pledged delegate count, he is behind.
So to argue that the way I'm going to win is to get the insiders and the establishment
to put me over the top, that sort of rings hollow for the guy who is running to break
up the establishment.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Tamara Keith, meanwhile, we have seen Hillary Clinton almost pivot
toward a general election posture.
TAMARA KEITH: That's absolutely happening.
She's campaigning in Appalachia today and tomorrow, a driving tour of these states.
And what she's doing, it is a combination. It is -- she's definitely in these states,
campaigning for these states, but she's using messaging and talking about issues that she
thinks will carry her into the general election.
The other thing is, she is also fighting with Donald Trump, and there was the woman card
comment that Donald Trump made. He's made it repeatedly, but he also made it on primary
night last Tuesday. Her campaign announced today that they raised $2.4 million in three
days on the woman card; 40 percent of those were new donors.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Wow. So, she has got kind of two flanks that she's battling on.
AMY WALTER: Yes, although I would argue she's spending really more time focusing on the
general election, and basically saying to Bernie Sanders this weekend, I hired general
election campaign managers in the big swing states. That's where my focus is. Yes, I'm
still going to campaign for the primary, but the general election really has started.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, thanks so much.
TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.
AMY WALTER: Thank you.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Five years ago,U.S. special operations forces launched one of the most
daring raids in history. They invaded a U.S. ally to kill the most wanted man on the planet.
I recorded this conversation last week with "NewsHour" special correspondent Nick Schifrin,
who visited the scene shortly after the battle.
Nick Schifrin was the first Western reporter to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that day,
and delivered exclusive, extraordinary video, images from inside the compound just hours
after bin Laden was killed.
At the time, Nick was ABC News correspondent in the region. And now he's a "NewsHour" special
correspondent.
And he joins me in the studio.
So, what did we see in that video?
NICK SCHIFRIN: Hari, we saw how the world's most wanted man lived and how he died.
In terms of how he lived, we see a bedroom, a large bed, bigger than any bed anywhere
else in the house. We saw the medications he was on, very simple medications available
at the local pharmacy. We saw a pantry where there was a week's worth of food stored up.
We saw so many signs of children.
There was a red wagon outside in the backyard. There were 12 kids living there. Half of them
were bin Laden's. We also saw a satellite dish outside. That was a one-way communication
device used to watch TV on that dish, of course, never used it to communicate with the outside
world.
And, of course, we saw how he died, the pools of blood in his bedroom and the room of Khaled,
his son, and the mess that Navy SEALs left behind. They ransacked the room where all
the computers were. And all the files from those computers became what intelligence officials
referred to as the Abbottabad files.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Here we are five years later. The news is almost -- almost on a daily basis
mentions ISIS. It doesn't mention al-Qaida so much. Is there -- explain the shift.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.
I think, as one longtime al-Qaida puts it, al-Qaida has kind of like become Microsoft.
It's still got a decent share of the market, but it's not preeminent. It's not really seen
as cutting edge. And it doesn't really appeal to the younger generation.
And that is because, of course what we call core al-Qaida, the al-Qaida leadership as
it was defined in 9/11 and the years after, has been decimated. And that started before
bin Laden was killed, about two or three years before, probably 2009. The CIA moved a lot
of assets and intelligence and technology into the region, and drones started picking
off these leaders.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What about the al-Qaida affiliates that have spread in other parts
of the world and still seem pretty active? I mean, are these essentially franchise operations?
NICK SCHIFRIN: That's exactly what it is.
And there was a reason that they were created even before bin Laden was killed, because
core al-Qaida was on the run. So you had to have these affiliates. And they still have
some success. And that's really still the threat of al-Qaida today, the most prominent
one, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen.
That's the group that has come closest to attacking the West. You had the underwear
bomber, if you remember, that print cartridge bomb that didn't go off. And, also, one of
the members of the team that attacked Charlie Hebdo in Paris probably got training from
al-Qaida.
But what they have succeeded at recently is one of bin Laden's other core tenants, not
only attacking the West, but really ingratiating the local population, again, something ISIS
doesn't do.
And what AQAP has done in Yemen recently is worked with local tribal chiefs. And that
has allowed them to actually gain ground in Yemen. So, right now, they are actually doing
quite well in Yemen.
There's three more affiliates. The most prominent one, other than AQAP, is al-Nusra in Syria,
again, also working with the local population, working with other groups that fight Assad,
no longer only focused on the West.
AQIM in Northwest Africa has had some headline-grabbing attacks recently, although not quite clear
how organized they are as a group anymore. And, lastly, Al-Shabaab, totally locally focused
on the Somali government and Kenyans who have come into Somalia.
So, to use a sports metaphor, al-Qaida still fields a team. They're still on the field,
but not a lot of long passes anymore, not a lot of touchdowns, trying to gain two, three
yards at a time. And the coach, Zawahri, isn't particularly well-liked by the players, can't
communicate that well. The bench is very weak, but still a threat.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Nick Schifrin, thanks so much.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Thanks a lot, Hari.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The raid on bin Laden's compound was watched closely by President
Obama and his national security advisers, among them, Leon Panetta, who was CIA director
at the time. He watched the raid unfold in real time from the agency's Langley headquarters.
And he joins me now.
So, Secretary, what was that day like for you? It was a culmination of a lot of work
that went into it for years.
LEON PANETTA, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense: It was.
It was an awful lot of work that stretched back 10 years, almost to 9/11. And an awful
lot of people deserve tremendous credit for that, the CIA, the intelligence agencies,
those involved with the special forces operation.
There were just an awful lot of people who did various pieces of the intelligence effort
and the military effort that resulted in the raid itself. But it was -- it was something
that -- as an individual responsible for kind of overseeing the operation from the CIA,
it was a remarkable operation.
And a lot of tribute goes to the bravery and courage of those who conducted it.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Where is al-Qaida now, meaning, is the infrastructure, the network that Osama
bin Laden exploited, does that still exist?
LEON PANETTA: We have done a very good job at decimating al-Qaida's leadership, particularly
in Pakistan.
And I think, obviously, the bin Laden operation was kind of the primary effort to go after
the spiritual leader of al-Qaida. And so I think, generally, a good job at decimating
their leadership.
At the same time, al-Qaida's probably metastasized, as we have seen with other terrorist operations
in the Middle East. There are variations of al-Qaida that are still operating very much
in the Middle East and North Africa.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Have we succeeded then as a policy to degrade their network to almost
zero, or, as you mentioned, they have sort of sprung out into different branch operations
in other parts of the world?
LEON PANETTA: The reality is that terrorism remains a threat.
It's metastasized into ISIS. It's metastasized into Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. And so it
continues to be very much a threat that the United States and other countries in the world
have to focus on. This is a long-term effort.
We have had some success, there is no question about it. We have gone after their leadership.
We have done well to prevent another 9/11-type attack, but there remains an awful lot more
work to be done in order to protect this country.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Five years on, have we fully understood the complicity of Pakistan in all
this?
LEON PANETTA: It's -- it's been a challenging period to develop the relationship with Pakistan.
Obviously, Pakistan was helpful in being able to work with us in many areas. Certainly,
in the intelligence area, we worked together. On military efforts, we worked together. But,
at the same time, Pakistan was difficult because they had a close relationship to various terrorist
networks, and you were never quite sure just exactly where their loyalties would lie.
And it was for that reason, very frankly, that when we were looking at the bin Laden
operation, which we would have preferred, frankly, to have worked with Pakistan. But
there are so many questions raised about whether or not we could trust them that the president
decided that we should do it alone.
HARI SREENIVASAN: When you look at the landscape from your vantage point, it seems like the
terrorists learned more from us about how we hunted down bin Laden, how we went after
organizations, their leadership infrastructure.
And now we're in an era where terror groups operate almost singularly, in cells. And it's
hard to find a single person that runs anything that we can go after.
LEON PANETTA: Well, you're right, in the sense that, just as we have learned how to confront
terrorist groups and try to track them and go after their planning for possible attacks
in this country, they have learned as well.
They have learned, you know, a lot of our technology, our process, how we operate. And
the result is that they operate much more in a lone wolf fashion, in the sense that,
you know, they do outreach, they have individuals that are well-placed, but they minimize the
contacts. They minimize the planning. And that makes them even a greater threat.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Secretary Leon Panetta, thanks so much for joining us.
LEON PANETTA: Thank you very much.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Stay with us.
Coming up on the "NewsHour": Katie Couric's exclusive interview with the refugees Pope
Francis brought back from Greece. And does Malia Obama's decision to take a gap year
before college mean the trend is going mainstream?
But first: Africa has vast agricultural potential, yet, over the past half-century, its per capita
food production has declined drastically. In fact, it's gone from being a net food exporter
to now importing much of its food.
The reasons are complex, but they include rapid population growth, political strife
and weak institutions.
As part of our ongoing collaboration with "The Atlantic," we profile an American farmer
and philanthropist who has made it his mission to reverse the trend in Africa.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Howard Buffett is a serious farmer. He is a conservationist, intent on
finding better, more sustainable ways to grow food.
And he is a teacher, sharing what he knows with farmers in Africa, giving them tools
to better feed their people.
HOWARD BUFFETT, Philanthropist: This is all going to take nutrients out of the soil.
JUDY WOODRUFF: He is also a man with a lot of money to spend on making those things happen.
It's been described that one of your goals or your main goal is ending world hunger.
HOWARD BUFFETT: Well, you got to have a goal.
(LAUGHTER)
HOWARD BUFFETT: But we're not going to end world hunger, but, you know, I think every
step we can take in that direction is something positive.
Just slam it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You just slam it?
HOWARD BUFFETT: Hard. There. You got it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, now, what do you call this machine again?
HOWARD BUFFETT: 82-25-R John Deere. It's a tractor.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Howard Buffett loves his toys.
HOWARD BUFFETT: My mom always told me I didn't have enough Tonka toys when I grew up, so
I think I have them now.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Mom would be the late Susan Buffett, who died in 2004. And dad, you guessed
it, is Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men.
You grew up in Nebraska. What was it like? I mean, what do you remember about being in
this family?
HOWARD BUFFETT: I think people think it was different because of my dad.
And the truth is, when I was growing up, my dad wasn't well-known at all. We grew up in
a very normal environment, went to public schools, walked down to the bus stop and went
to school.
JUDY WOODRUFF: At the same time, your dad -- because of your dad's success, you were
leading a pretty comfortable upbringing.
HOWARD BUFFETT: Oh, we didn't have to worry about anything. And we were always told that,
if we wanted to go to college, it would be paid for, if we wanted to go to medical school,
it would be paid for, which is kind of funny, because none of the three of us actually finished
college. We all started, but we never quite made it all the way through.
I just had a hard time adjusting in college. So I went out and I bought a bulldozer, and
I started building terraces on farm ground and taking out trees and building basements.
And it was something I always wanted to do, so I went out and did it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And what did that lead to next?
HOWARD BUFFETT: Well, ultimately, it led to the fact that I'm sitting here, because I
had some experiences with neighbors who are farmers and who let me get involved in some
of the fieldwork and some of the things that they did.
And I really fell in love with farming.
We have a total of 4,500 acres.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Buffet's Illinois farms can produce more than 8,000 tons of corn and soybeans
in a year. But they're also living laboratories, part of research funded by the Howard G. Buffett
Foundation, to improve agriculture both here and overseas.
HOWARD BUFFETT: So, what we have in this field, the first thing I want to point out is all
the cornstalks from last year.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
HOWARD BUFFETT: We do no tillage in this field, zero.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Why not?
HOWARD BUFFETT: Because it helps build soil health. You save fuel, because you only make
one pass over this field, instead of maybe three or four.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, but you just let the stalks rot; is that basically it?
HOWARD BUFFETT: Yes, exactly.
So, if you pull this out, you see the earthworm right here, and the earthworm right there?
JUDY WOODRUFF: Oh, my gosh, yes, right there.
HOWARD BUFFETT: OK?
So, any gardener will tell you this. Worms are the best thing you can have. But if I
take that shovel and I go to dig up a shovel worth of soil across the road, where they
have tilled it year after year, finding these earthworms, it's pretty unlikely.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Howard G. Buffett foundation plans to give away an estimated $4 billion
over the next 30 years, most of the money coming from shares of Berkshire Hathaway,
the company founded by the senior Mr. Buffett.
HOWARD BUFFETT: My dad gave us this great opportunity with the foundation, and it was
natural for me to look at smallholder farmers and see, well, how do we improve agriculture,
and how do we make it so the farmers feed their families better?
JUDY WOODRUFF: Howard Buffett has immersed himself on the African continent as few other
philanthropists have.
HOWARD BUFFETT: My dad has said, go out and don't try to hit the ball out of the park
every time, but don't be scared to swing. And swing means you're going to miss, and
it means that you're going to fail some of the times.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The foundation has invested heavily in the strife-ridden Democratic Republic
of Congo.
HOWARD BUFFETT: We're building three hydro plants in Eastern Congo. And we started the
first one in 2012-2013, in the middle of very intense conflict, with the M23 and the Congolese
government.
And we had the site. When we started, it was shelled by RPGs and everything else.
CALESTOUS JUMA, Harvard University: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is an area where not
many donors are interested in operating. And so he's taking very high risks in going to
those areas.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Harvard Professor Calestous Juma says Buffett's willingness to take those
risks has brought him respect across the continent.
CALESTOUS JUMA: He's visited all the African countries. He's looked at what happens, what's
happening on the ground. He is a farmer himself.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Most other foundations wouldn't dare go into a country where there's that
level of conflict, where that -- where you could see fighting break out.
HOWARD BUFFETT: To me, those are the people who need the most help.
I mean, you're looking at the most devastated populations. You're looking at devastated
infrastructure, no governance, no rule of law. If you want to talk about helping the
most impoverished populations, you're talking about going to where conflict is. There's
no doubt about that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Yet one of Buffett's most ambitious projects is in one of Africa's currently most
peaceful nations, Rwanda, where the foundation will spend half-a-billion dollars, principally
to train young Rwandan farmers.
HOWARD BUFFETT: You would have young adults graduating with four-year degrees in agricultural
processing and plant science, and things that today they don't really have access to.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And why is that important? Why does it matter?
HOWARD BUFFETT: Well, if you want to advance agriculture, I mean, look at what we did in
this country. The university system is what built our agriculture into a powerhouse originally.
CALESTOUS JUMA: Historically, African agriculture was considered to be something that peasants
did, therefore, didn't require training.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Back in Illinois, we see yet another aspect of the farmer-philanthropist,
Auxiliary Deputy Sheriff Howard Buffett. For the past four years, he's volunteered for
a job it's safe to say few other foundation heads have held.
HOWARD BUFFETT: The one thing that I have gotten out of being an auxiliary sheriff,
deputy sheriff, is seeing a whole underside of this country that I had no idea existed.
I mean, the poverty, the domestic abuse, the substance abuse, the attitude of people about
a lot of things, I mean, I have been -- it's hard to surprise me, but I have been surprised
at some of the things I have experienced and seen as a deputy sheriff.
TOM SCHNEIDER, Macon County, Illinois, Sheriff: Howard Buffett is probably more prepared than
a lot of other younger deputies coming on.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Macon County Sheriff Tom Schneider sings his praises.
TOM SCHNEIDER: The amount of hours that he has put in with deputies, it is -- basically
surpasses everybody else. He goes through training on a daily basis, and he's always
educating himself to see how he can perform at a higher level.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, here you are, somebody who's seen the world, who's seen a lot, and
yet this is something that only in the last few years you have been able to witness up
close.
HOWARD BUFFETT: I have witnessed in a way that a civilian, a normal citizen wouldn't
be able to witness it.
You see it every single day. And you're making decisions about how to deal with it, which
makes it very real.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, my question is, then how do you decide, where's your greater passion?
Because you clearly have that great passion to make changes in a place like Rwanda, but
you also -- you also clearly have a passion here.
HOWARD BUFFETT: Your first obligation is always at home. I mean, you can't ever walk away
from the responsibilities that you have at home. But I also think we have a huge responsibility
internationally, because we are a leader. And we need to maintain that leadership.
And so, for me, I don't see that -- you can't separate them. They're both critical. But
you cannot -- you can never walk away from your responsibilities at home.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Does it bother you that you're known to so many people as Warren Buffett's
son?
HOWARD BUFFETT: Never bothered me ever, never, no. I don't think about it that way. I feel
like I'm doing what I can do.
And the truth is, I'm able to do so many things because of my dad that I couldn't do otherwise.
He's been an amazing father.
CALESTOUS JUMA: Howard Buffett is someone who has brought his own personal experience
and integrity to probably one of the world's largest and critical challenges, which is
being able to generate food security for a billion people.
And I think that takes incredible courage and commitment to be able to do something
of that kind.
TOM SCHNEIDER: Here, within the last week, he was out with an officer that had did an
arrest, and the individual was cold. He offered up his coat to that individual, so that they
would be warm. The individual said, "Boo-fay."
And he goes, "Yes, some people say that -- well, or Buffett, like Warren Buffett."
And he goes, "Yes, Yes, I have heard of him."
And the individual sits back and goes, "Well, you kind of look like him."
"Yes, I have heard that."
Never once did they even realize that it was Howard Buffett, his son.
(LAUGHTER)
HARI SREENIVASAN: We want to note that BNSF Railway, an underwriter of this broadcast,
is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. That connection had no impact on the reporting
of this story.
Two weeks ago, Pope Francis visited refugees on the Greek island of ***, a way station
on the migrant trail to Europe.
Though he was there but a few hours, the pontiff made headlines the world over when he left
the island with three Syrian families, 12 people in all, bound for Rome.
Late last week, Yahoo News global anchor Katie Couric sat down with four of the refugees
at the Vatican.
Here is a brief portion of that interview.
KATIE COURIC, Yahoo News: It must be wonderful to be safe, but it also must be hard to leave
your country.
®MD-UL¯HASAN, Syrian Refugee: Yes.
NOUR, Syrian refugee: Yes.
SUHILA, Syrian refugee (through translator): No doubt, God willing, we will adapt to this
country, and, most importantly, we will learn Italian.
(LAUGHTER)
KATIE COURIC: Is it hard to leave your home, though?
SUHILA (through translator): We try and forget that moment.
KATIE COURIC: It must be nice not to be frightened every day.
NOUR: Yes, because, for a moment, when were in Turkey, I was afraid from the sounds of
things. Every time the planes passed, I was very afraid for my son.
KATIE COURIC: If you had a chance to see the pope -- have you been able to see him at all,
Pope Francis?
HASAN: We don't know, but -- we hope -- we hope that we could meet him again.
KATIE COURIC: You met him when you traveled with him?
NOUR: Yes.
HASAN: Yes.
KATIE COURIC: And you met him in ***?
HASAN: Yes.
NOUR: Yes, just before...
KATIE COURIC: Just before you got on the airplane?
NOUR: Yes.
KATIE COURIC: What did you think of him?
NOUR: He's very kind man. He's a real human being.
For me, I appreciate him more than any Islamic leader or Islamic religious man or more than
any Arabic leader, because nothing has been done by these men like him, by the Arabic
leaders or by Muslim leaders.
KATIE COURIC: No one has done.
NOUR: No one has done the same thing. Not one has visited the camps. No one has shown
the suffering people like him. No one has thought about us, although they participate
with us the same religion, on the same language.
KATIE COURIC: And, Ramy, what did you think about the pope?
RAMY, ®MD-UL¯Syrian Refugee (through translator): His actions didn't have to do with our skin
color and religion. And it has proven that human beings are brothers with other human
beings.
KATIE COURIC: If you had a chance to say something to Pope Francis today, what would you say?
RAMY (through translator): I will thank him from the bottom of my heart. And I wish that
hope all Western and Arabic countries do the same.
KATIE COURIC: What about you, Suhila? What would you say to the pope?
SUHILA (through translator): I will say to him thank you. Because of him, hope came back.
We have come back to life and we're living our lives for those that we lost in Syria.
KATIE COURIC: And what about you, Nour?
(LAUGHTER)
NOUR: I would like to say to him also thank you for giving me this opportunity and for
giving us security, for giving a better life for my son, the new life for my son, stable
life for my son. And I thank him for all -- all his prayers for the refugees. And I thank
him for all the steps that he has done for the refugees.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Joining me now is Katie Couric.
Katie, this is almost a lottery ticket that the pope gave to these families. How did it
come about? How were they chosen?
KATIE COURIC: Well, you know, the pope obviously took this trip to ***, Hari.
And then I think he claims -- gives credit to a top adviser and also sort of the divine
being for inspiring him to go ahead and take these three families with six children in
total with him back to Rome.
And, obviously, for secular reasons, they had to make sure that their papers were in
order, so they had to deal with the Italian and the Greek authorities to ensure that everybody
had their documents in order and that they qualified for asylum. So, it was really just
the luck of the draw that these three families did, in fact, qualify and the pope said, please
come with us.
But they didn't realize until they were getting ready to board the plane, the papal plane,
that in fact they were going with the pope back to Rome. So, they described it as an
"Alice in Wonderland" experience. And you can only imagine how thrilled they were to
leave ***, where I think the conditions are quite difficult, and finally get to Rome.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, what was the backstory of these families? Were they supporters of
either the rebels or Assad?
KATIE COURIC: You know, they were caught in the crossfire, the proverbial crossfire.
The younger couple, Hasan and Nour, were civil engineers working outside. They lived in a
suburb of Damascus and they were working for the government, but they were not sympathetic
to the Assad regime. So they were caught between all these different groups that are against
the Assad regime, anti-Assad groups and ISIS and all kinds of different individuals.
And they have a 2-year-old son, so, clearly, they very felt very unsafe on a daily basis.
And they were worried that people, because they worked for the government, would think
they were sympathetic to Assad, which they were not at all.
Meanwhile, the other couple, Suhila and Ramy, he's a teacher and she's a tailor. And they
lived in a city close to the Iraqi border that was surrounded by ISIS. There was a lot
of hunger, people dying from starvation, people stranded there.
And, again, they were caught between these two different worlds, the pro Assad forces
and the anti-Assad forces, specifically ISIS. So, they felt -- they feared for their lives
and decided they should leave with their children, who are 18, 16 and 7.
Plus -- plus, I should mention, Hari, that both Hasan and the son, the 18-year-old son
of Suhila and Ramy, were being drafted to fight in the war. And that's another reason
they wanted to leave the country, because I guess they thought that that would lead
to certain death.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, Katie, how did these families get to *** to be picked by the
pope?
KATIE COURIC: Well, Hari, first, they had to make it to Turkey.
And Hasan and Nour stayed in Turkey for three months just waiting to make the treacherous
journey across the Aegean Sea to ***. And they had to try on four different occasions.
They were caught by the Turkish authorities twice. Once, they didn't want to get in because
they thought it was too dangerous.
You can only imagine making this journey with a 2-year-old child. But they finally made
it on the fourth try. And then the other couple, Ramy and Suhila, they were able to get into
a rubber boat, but the motor stopped working in the middle of the Aegean Sea. They had
to wait for very a nerve-racking hour-and-a-half, until, finally, it started working again.
And so you can only imagine just how stressful this is. One of the couples who wasn't able
to join us, Hari, they have two small children. One of their children stopped talking for
a period of time because that child was so traumatized. And another wakes up in the middle
of the night.
So, this is really the human cost of this refugee crisis. And I think hearing from these
families personally, I think that brought that home in a way that, you know, is in a
way that we don't often hear.
So, I really was grateful that we were able to hear about their experiences firsthand.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What are that are plans now? Are they going to stay in Italy?
KATIE COURIC: They are going to stay in Italy. They're learning to speak Italian. Their children
are in school or in day care. They're hoping they're going to find some kind of employment.
But unemployment is 12 in Italy, 37 percent, if you can believe it, for younger people.
That's why they were hoping to go to France or Germany. But I think, because they have
been so embraced, Catholic Charities is caring for them, they have given them a place to
stay, they're so grateful for their security, I think they're going to try to build a new
life in Italy and hopefully, they say, return to Syria one day, if they can.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Yahoo News global anchor Katie Couric, thanks so much for joining us.
KATIE COURIC: Thanks, Hari.
HARI SREENIVASAN: As you have likely heard by now, Malia Obama has decided to take a
so-called gap year before she attends Harvard University in 2017.
It's an idea that's taking hold among more students, often at elite schools, but not
only those.
William Brangham looks at the broader trend.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's estimated that, last year in the U.S., 30,000 to 40,000 students
tried out a gap year. And that's a 20 percent jump from the previous year.
So, what are they, why the growing interest?
To help fill in the picture, I'm joined from Boston by Joe O'Shea. He's the author of "Gap
Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs." He also directs
the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement at Florida State University.
So, Joe, welcome.
JOSEPH O'SHEA, Author, "Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs":
Thank you.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I think a lot of our viewers have this stereotype that a gap year is for
rich kids to put on a backpack and travel around Europe and find themselves. I know
that's not totally true, so, tell us, what is a gap year?
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Sure.
There are so many misconceptions about what a gap year is, and some people think it's
just waiting around in your home community, maybe sitting on your parents' couch, taking
a year off from school.
But we think of gap year as something very different, a very powerful educational experience.
It's a structured, deliberate and purposeful experience, in which students challenge themselves
outside their comfort zones. Often it involves traveling or working or interning, sometimes
overseas, sometimes domestically, but it's designed as an experience that accelerates
their personal growth and prepares them for college.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, could you give me some examples of actual gap year activities that
kids are doing now?
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Sure.
So, City Year, for instance, one in the U.S. in which students -- or young people work
in inner-city schools, is a powerful one and popular one. Many students go overseas. An
organization Global Citizen Year, for instance, or Omprakash work with local community-based
organizations in developing communities around the world.
And students will intern there. Maybe they're doing something with young people or a community
role or public health kind of work. But it really runs the spectrum.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Is there any research indicating what impact a gap year has on a student?
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Sure.
We have done some research both in the American Gap Association and in the academic world.
And what's very clear to us is that, when students take these kind of structured, deliberate
gap years, that their growth is really accelerated across a number of ways.
They become better thinkers, better people and better citizens. And what is really interesting
is that they perform better when they get to college. They are more likely to go to
college, retain, and graduate and get higher GPAs.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, I realize that this can vary, but there has got to be a cost associated
with this. Do we know how much -- what does it cost to take a gap year?
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Sure.
It really ranges and depends on what you do. Gap years can cost as much as $30,000 a year,
but they can also cost very little. There are some programs like Omprakash, for instance,
which works directly with nonprofit organizations around the world. And some of them are free
room and board for up to a year.
And what is interesting is now we're seeing gap year organizations provide increasing
levels of scholarship to students to support low-income schools -- low-income students
-- sorry -- and many universities, like my university, Florida State, subsidizing gap
year experiences.
We are, for the first year, dedicating $50,000 in scholarships to support low-income students
in their gap year experiences.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, help me understand that. Why would a university, which I understand
that they are increasingly interested in this -- why would colleges and universities want
their students to do this?
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Well, we now know very clearly that this is a transformational educational
experience.
So, from our side, we know we're going to get really good and motivated and purposeful
students when they come back to Florida State. And many universities are beginning to recognize
this and see it as a powerful educational intervention.
The students are going to retain better, graduate from the university. And we want to spearhead
this and help signal to students and their families and other stakeholders in the education
system that gap years are an important part of the educational ecosystem.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, I understand that there are scholarships available for low-income
students, but isn't this still mostly the province of wealthier students?
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Unfortunately, gap years still are mostly done by students in the middle
class and above.
And that's a real big problem for America, especially since we know how beneficial gap
year education can be for students to. And to get that to scale, we're going to need
institutions and the government at the federal and state level to begin to recognize gap
years and to federally and -- subsidize those experiences for students.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Joe O'Shea, Florida State University, thank you very much.
JOSEPH O'SHEA: Thank you.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Finally tonight, as part of our Broken Justice series, we have a "NewsHour"
essay.
Paton Blough opens up about his bipolar disorder and frequent encounters with law enforcement.
PATON BLOUGH, Founder, Rehinge: I have two labels I will carry the rest of my life, bipolar
and convicted felon. They're not mutually exclusive.
I have been arrested six different times, all the while in a delusional, paranoid state
of mind caused by my illness. What you know about society and how people typically behave
doesn't apply to me. I enter a department store, and it feels right to immediately take
off my shoes.
I'm convinced the government is plotting to control me, playing carefully selected songs
on the radio to persuade me into making a certain decision, so I change the station
just to spite them. I throw three fingers up at a public security camera and tell President
Obama to read between the lines.
No, the rules of society don't apply to me, not when I'm having one of my episodes.
I just raise my hand like this.
My episodes, which are rare, can happen at any time and take many forms, from creating
a piece of art, to aggressively accusing UPS employees of being government workers smuggling
weapons through their delivery routes.
I'm able to show you these pictures because my wife has documented these episodes, so
that we can learn more about myself and ultimately help others learn.
WOMAN: My gosh, this is a mess. You created a studio up here, baby. You look like a true
artist.
PATON BLOUGH: You see, I'm not alone.
More than half of all prison and jail inmates have a mental health issue. You can imagine
the kind of reaction someone like me might have when delusions trigger an incident in
which a police officer wants to engage with me or, worse, arrest me.
Three of my six arrests went relatively well, with police getting me into custody safely.
The other three were extremely violent, because, in my head, I was fighting for my life.
I was Tased in the back of the police car in our hospital parking lot with leg irons
and handcuffs on. And one of my charges that night were destruction of county property,
because I broke the leg irons.
Thankfully, around six years ago, my recovery killed into high gear. I was asked to share
my experiences with officers as part of something called crisis intervention training. In my
experience, most officers want to help, but often simply lack the training to know what
to do in these tough situations.
One time, I was arrested by an officer who I believed naturally possess many of the things
we train. He slowed down and didn't force the issue when I accused him of being an undercover
agent. He waited for my brother to come from across town to bring my meds.
When I accused him of giving me a poisoned bottle of water so I could take my pills,
he immediately offered to take a sip to prove it was fine. There is no doubt we need more
officers like this today.
I came up with a training sheet which quickly describes for the police how to deal with
someone like myself. Let the person think they're in control. Slow down and stay calm.
One thing I always tell them is to imagine the person they're dealing they're dealing
with is their brother, mother or good friend.
The biggest shame of my life has been my criminal record, but now I get to take those experiences
and help my community.
HARI SREENIVASAN: On the "NewsHour" online: In East Jerusalem, where tensions between
Arabs and Israelis can be high, there's at least one space where children can leave their
anxieties at the door: on the basketball court.
PeacePlayers International unites children from all backgrounds while they learn the
lessons of teamwork and competition. Read more about this organization that bridges
cultural divides on our home page.
All that and more is on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.
And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.
On Tuesday, we hear from parents whose children fled home to fight for ISIS.
I'm Hari Sreenivasan.
Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank
you, and good night.