Now On The News | Pbs

After serving almost nine months in a military prison for desertion, Camilo Mejia, a veteran of the Iraq conflict, talks about why he refused to return to the war in a web-exclusive interview.

Ahead of a much-anticipated vote in the Senate, Judy Shepard, whose homosexual son was beaten to death in 1998, talks to NOW about why she believes the government is "giving permission" for people to harass homosexuals. The Matthew Shepard Act, which would expand the coverage of federal hate crimes to include violent attacks against homosexuals, cleared the House in March. If the Senate approves the measure, President Bush is expected to veto the bill. In a web-exclusive audio interview, Shepard talks to Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa about the need for expanding the law, and her son's lasting legacy.

Reggie Cervantes, a 9-11 volunteer emergency responder featured in Michael Moore's new film "Sicko" says she's desperate for health care. Cervantes, who traveled to Cuba for Moore's new film about health care in America, says she was forced to seek medical treatment in Havana because she could not afford it in the U.S. As criticism mounts that ground zero rescue workers were not sufficiently protected from toxic pollutants, Cervantes told NOW: "We're sick, we're dying, we're begging for help."

In a Web-exclusive interview, actor, director, and environmentalist Robert Redford talks to NOW's David Brancaccio about why he thinks "change is in the air" as businesses find value in going green. Redford says environmental issues are gaining traction as social entrepreneurs discover "there [is] money to be made by doing good." An executive producer of the new documentary "The Unforeseen," Redford also talks to NOW about why he thinks global warming will be "huge" in the 2008 presidential election.

In a NOW on the News web-exclusive interview, a former secretary of labor, Robert Reich, calls the current Senate immigration bill "the last opportunity we have probably for the next ten or 15 years" to deal with immigration reform. Reich, who served under President Bill Clinton, told NOW's Senior Correspondent, Maria Hinojosa, that the divisive issue may be "too hot for politics."

Days after leaving the anti-war movement Cindy Sheehan says she'll "come back stronger." Sheehan tells NOW that she plans to rest up, spend time with her family, and then continue her struggle against the Iraqi war. "We're going to pull back and regroup and figure out a better way to come at this," Sheehan told NOW on the News in a web-exclusive audio interview. Sheehan -- whose son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, died in Iraq in 2004 -- announced on Memorial Day that she was done being the public face of the movement. "I think my mission, my activism has reached a brick wall," she told NOW's David Brancaccio. Sheehan gained national attention when she camped outside President Bush's Texas ranch in August 2005 demanding to talk with the President.

Bill Drayton, the innovator who popularized the term "social entrepreneur," talks to Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa about what he thinks social entrepreneurship is the next big thing. Drayton runs Ashoka, an organization that finds and fosters social entrepreneurs around the world. He is Bill Clinton's pick to become a winner of a Nobel prize.

Matthew Currier Burden, a military blogger and author of "The Blog of War," talks to Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa about new Army regulations for military bloggers and why he fears the rules will keep the truth from coming out of Iraq.

Chris Simcox, founder and head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which considers its mission to be "assisting Border Patrol in better defending" the border with Mexico, talks to Senior Correspondent, Maria Hinojosa, about his views on illegal immigration.

Activist and Writer Ellen Bravo, author of "Taking on the Big Boys," talks to Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa about why women make less money than men in the United States and what to do about it. Bravo shares her opinions on why corporations need to be redesigned "not just to shatter the glass ceiling" but to improve the lives of all working Americans.

Writer, activist, cultural critic and iconoclast Gore Vidal talks to Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa about what the killings at Virginia Tech, and their aftermath, say about the state of America today. Vidal also shares his strong views on President Bush, a potential war with Iran, and 'the loss of the republic.'

This week Paul Rieckoff, the Executive Director of IAVA, whose group represents tens of thousands of veterans, sheds light on the military's "personality disorder" diagnosis, which keeps injured soldiers from collecting benefits. Rieckoff also weighs in on what he calls unacceptable, dangerous behavior on the part of the V.A. Also, Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa speaks with Jon Town, a soldier who was wounded in Ramadi, Iraq in a rocket attack and received a purple heart from the military, only to find out that he lost all his benefits and actually owes the Army money.

Saad Eskander, the Director of the Iraqi National Library and Archives, discusses the painstaking struggles he faced rebuilding a looted and burned library after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Eskander, who returned to Iraq after the war started, talks about how a modern, fully-staffed library was able to emerge under his leadership, and the dangerous challenges that remain.

Maria Hinojosa speaks with Bud Cummins, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, who was one of eight federal prosecutors fired by the Justice Department. Cummins, a Republican, shares his beliefs on the involvement of senior administration officials, why he thinks the Justice Department has severe credibility and morale problems, and his concerns for the future of the Patriot Act.

This week, Maria Hinojosa speaks with political writer and Columbia University Professor Todd Gitlin about the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial and its wider historical perspective.

This week, Maria Hinojosa speaks with humanitarian Greg Mortenson about his efforts to educate children, particularly girls, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mortenson also shares his views on this week's arrest of a former Taliban defense minister.

This week, Maria Hinojosa speaks with longtime activist Angela Davis on Race in America, Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama, and the growing movement against the war in Iraq. Davis, who was once on the FBI's 'most wanted' list, tells us why she thinks young people today need to take more risks.

Maria Hinojosa speaks with David Kang, an expert on North Korea, about why the North Korean nuclear deal took so long, and how Pyongyang could still sell its arms to Al Qaeda.

Maria Hinojosa speaks with Elizabeth Warren, a leading expert on bankruptcy, debt and the middle class, about why so many American families are ending up in major financial trouble, and what should be done about it.

Jeannette Walls, author of the award winning memoir "The Glass Castle," talks to NOW about the need to help get homeless people off the streets and into housing and describes how the suffering she endured as a child helped her become a successful journalist. Walls believes the best way to help homeless people in America is to give them skills and education. "As far as I'm concerned the best public policies are the ones that help people help themselves," Walls tells NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa.