NEED TO KNOW for Friday, September 17th on PBS at 8:30 p.m. (check local listings). Episode #120. To find out about developing stories, visit www.pbs.org/needtoknow. Viewers can visit www.pbs.org/needtoknow for updates on these stories and more. Note: Stories are subject to change due to breaking news.
*20 Kilometers a Year- A dramatic video report on US soldiers in the frontlines of battle in Afghanistan from Sean Smith, a reporter with the UK's Guardian newspaper.
*Interview- Tom Gregg- Tom Gregg from New York Universtiy's Center on International Cooperation speaks with Jon Meacham about America's unintended role in institutionalizing corruption in Afghanistan.
*Cottage Industry- Need to Know, in cooperation with the Seattle Times, features an investigation that reveals exploitation and mistreatment of seniors at home-based facilities. Neglect and abuse by minimally-trained workers operating with little regulatory oversight often goes unreported and uninvestigated. *In Perspective, A Jon Meacham Essay- As the mid-term elections near, Jon Meacham cautions against what he calls "superlativism," the condition of believing that everything that happens to us in our time is the "most" this or the "worst" that. To fall victim to this condition is to foreclose the possibility that we might learn from the past.
*The Thin Green Line - In this installment of Blueprint America on Need To Know, Alison Stewart tours The High Line, the year-old elevated park that winds through the Meatpacking District and up along the West Side of Manhattan. Built atop an old train trestle, it has already drawn millions of admiring locals and tourists. But it's more than a nice place to relax and take in the view--it's an economic engine. The project is being credited with generating billions of dollars in urban redevelopment. Across the country other cities are investing big money in parks and parkland.
*Next Week's News- Andy Borowitz provides his satirical take on the news events of the future.
