The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight the national education testing debate with Education Sec. Riley and Congressman Goodling; an update of the struggle to close unneeded U.S. military bases; and two stories from the world of music about Kansa s City jazz and about the late great orchestra conductor, Sir Georg Solti. It all follows our summary of the news this Monday. NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: A ferryboat sank of the coast of Haiti today. Four hundred passengers are missing and feared drowned. The ship sank at dawn near a western port town 50 miles Northwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince. At least 700 people were believed on board. U.S. officials said the ferry had a maximum capacity of 80 people. The ferry's manager said its capacity was 400. There were unconfirmed reports hundreds of passengers swam to safety. Haitian radio reported 25 bodies had washed ashore. The exact number of survivors is still not known. In Washington, President Clinton today renewed his call for national tests to measure education achievement. He spoke to students at a Maryland elementary school. He said standardized tests in reading and math should be put in place by 1999, so children who don't score well can get the help they need.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: These tests that we've proposed to give our voluntary, no school or school district will be forced to use them if they don't want to, but they will give us a sense of a national level of achievement in reading for fourth graders and math for eighth graders. They'll be developed by an independent bipartisan board. There's no politics in this--only our children.

JIM LEHRER: Congressional opponents of the testing proposal have threatened to block funding for it. We'll have more on this story right after the News Summary. In San Francisco today the area's high speed commuter trains were shut down by a strike. Traffic backed up as commuters on Bay Area Rapid Transit, known as BART, were forced to drive or take buses and ferries. Two hundred and seventy-five thousand riders take those trains daily. BART workers went on strike yesterday in a pay dispute. There was business news in the computer world today. America Online will take over rival CompuServe's 2.6 million Internet subscriptions. The deal is three-way. World Com, a long distance phone and Internet company, is also involved. There were more problems aboard the Russian space station Mir today. The main computer failed for the third time in three months. Russian space officials said the lives of the crew were not in danger, and by late today, repairs had been made, and the main computer was running again. The 11-year- old Mir collided with a cargo ship in June. A space walk Saturday to find holes caused by the accident was unsuccessful. The former leader of Zaire died in Morocco last night of cancer. Mobutu Sese Seko was ousted from his country, renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the end of a seven-month civil war. We have more on the 66-year-old Mobutu from Gaby Rado of Independent Television News.

GABY RADO, ITN: Earlier this year Mobutu Sese Seko tried to survive the inexorable advance of the rebels, almost certainly knowing that the prostate cancer from which he was suffering would soon kill him anyway. When his 32 years in power ended, nobody had any illusions left that he was one of the last African tyrants. The Belgian prime minister, Jean Lupe De Harner, today said Mobutu would not be missed very much. After the Belgians abandoned Congo amid chaos in the early 60's, Mobutu was able to seize power and hold onto it to a great extent because of support from France. The United States also ignored the way he was fleecing Zaire's mineral wealth, seeing him as an ally against Marxism. But after the collapse of Communism, all that was left of the Mobutu regime was shameless corruption. Mobutu bought himself luxurious properties in France, Switzerland, and other desirable European locations from the profits of Zaire's diamond and copper industries. The USA guessed his personal fortune was 2 + billion pounds. The government of the new Democratic Republic of Congo puts it far higher and has demanded that Swiss banks hand it back.

JIM LEHRER: In the Middle East today Palestinian security forces arrested 35 suspected Islamic militants in the West Bank. The action follows Thursday's triple suicide bombings in Jerusalem and precedes Secretary of State Albright's trip to the region Wednesday. The military wing of Hamas has been blamed for the recent suicide attacks, which have killed 20 people. Israeli officials said they expect another attack this week and put its military forces on high alert. And that's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to national education test standards, a military base closings update, and two music stories about jazz and about the late Sir Georg Solti. FOCUS - COMMON KNOWLEDGE

JIM LEHRER: National testing. Charles Krause begins our coverage.

CHARLES KRAUSE:It was in his State of the Union address last February that President Clinton announced his proposal for national school testing.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Tonight I issue a challenge to the nation: Every state should adopt high national standards. And by 1999, every state should test every fourth grader in reading and every eighth grader in math to make sure these standards are met.

CHARLES KRAUSE: The President and his Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, say that national tests are needed to establish a uniform standard to evaluate students' abilities, also, to determine how American schoolchildren perform compared to children in other countries:

RICHARD RILEY, Secretary of Education: The world, of course, is a changing place. And the workforce of the future, these young people who are going through the school system now, are going to require a very high levelof skills. The workforce of the future requires that.

CHARLES KRAUSE:The Department of Education is spending $15 million this year to develop the standardized tests--money that opponents of the tests say Congress should have approved first. Nonetheless, the President has asked for another $16 million for next year. The standardized tests will not be mandated by the federal government. It will be up to each state or local school district to decide whether or not it wants to administer them. Since the President's address in February, seven states--Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Alaska, and West Virginia--have indicated they will use the tests. Fifteen big-city school districts, including New York and Los Angeles, have also responded favorably. But the administration's proposal has run into a barrage of criticism from the Republican leadership, who say that the projected yearly cost of $96 million to administer the tests is exorbitant. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said last week that parents already know how schools are failing and need vouchers or tax breaks instead to give their children a private or parochial school education. Rep. Bill Goodling is the Republican chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee and a former teacher. He testified last week before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING, Chairman, Education and Workforce Committee: We are told that 50 percent of our 17-year-olds do well in mathematics and science, do well in reading. That means 50 percent do not do well. Who are those 50 percent? Those 50 percent are the same 50 percent of students and parents who have been told after test, every standardized test, every Iowa test, every California test, every classroom test, and they've been told the same thing over and over and over again--your children are doing poorly, your children are doing poorly. Now, we're going to spend $90 million more to tell them your children are doing poorly. And what these parents are saying and these children are saying, "Don't tell us we're doing poorly one more time, with one more test. Tell us as a matter of fact what is it you're going to do to help us."

CHARLES KRAUSE: Goodling has introduced an amendment to a spending bill on education that would prohibit the Department of Education from spending any money to develop the tests. For its part, the education department has urged the President to veto the spending bill if Goodling's amendment passes. In his speech today at a Maryland elementary school, Clinton took aim at political opponents of his testing proposal.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: This should be something that has nothing to do with party politics. I think every American--Republicans, Democrats, Independents--should favor high standards. I think people from all backgrounds should want all of our children to learn at a high level.

CHARLES KRAUSE: Besides Republicans, some liberal Democrats and civil rights groups, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also oppose new national tests. They argue that standardized tests could hurt poor and minority children, since they would be held back by poor scores and thus stigmatized by failure.

JIM LEHRER: Secretary Riley and Congressman Goodling are with us now to pick up on the debate. Mr. Secretary, why should education testing be a concern of the federal government?

RICHARD RILEY, Secretary of Education: Well, it's a national look at a very important matter. Education is more important today than it's ever been in the history of the world. We then should have a way certainly to raise expectations for all of the nation's children. We believe that the states responsible for education, local government is where the function takes place, but it must be a national priority. The nation must have it as a priority and do all we can to help states and school districts and parents see that a good education is there for their children.

JIM LEHRER: In the best of all possible worlds make the connection between a nationalized test that's given all over the country to every schoolchild, where it's relevant, and an improvement in that child's performance.

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Well, this is more than just a test. This is really focusing the nation on high, rigorous standards. And testing is a way to do that. States are working on standards now, but this is a way to get into the classroom and into the family this idea of how is my child doing, how--

JIM LEHRER: You mean, how my child in South Carolina compared to somebody else's child in North Carolina or North Dakota or whatever?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: That's part of it. It is a very significant variance from state to state in stat testing. It's a very significant difference. But another thing is to focus the nation--and this is very important, Jim,--to focus the nation on high standards, basic skills at these key grades of fourth grade reading and eighth grade math.

JIM LEHRER: But would--I know it's going it's voluntary, but is the idea that every student, say every fourth grader, take exactly the same test all over the United States?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Absolutely. That's one of the beauties of it. And the test, of course, is linked to the so-called NAEP test that's given now on a sample basis, the National Assessment of Education & Progress. It is an accepted test given in 43 states for state scores, but it's a sample test. What we're simply trying to do is to make the sample test personalized so every parent will know how their children stand.

JIM LEHRER: Congressman, what would be the harm in that?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING, Chairman, Education and Workforce Committee: Well, there are a lot of harms in that. First of all, 46 states have already moved to higher standards. They have all their testing programs. But there are a lot of other problems, problems, first of all, as I've indicated many times, 50 percent of the students are not doing very well. They have had Iowa tests; they've had Stanford tests. They've had every standardized test there is. They've had local municipal tests. They've had state tests. They've had classroom tests, and they've been told over and over and over again, you're doing poorly. They want to know what you're going to do to help us, not tell us one more time that some national tests--you know, you don't fatten cattle by weighing them. You don't speed up a car by putting in one more speedometer. You don't help children learn by offering one more test. When do you prepare the teacher to teach to the higher standards? Why test if you haven't prepared the teacher to teach to them?

JIM LEHRER: Is it--is the kind of information that Secretary Riley says would help, is that already available to these other tests--

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: It is available.

JIM LEHRER: --on a comparative basis?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: On a comparative basis.

JIM LEHRER: North Dakota and North Carolina?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: First of all, your NAEP test--we spend 350 some million dollars now on tests from the federal level. We'll spend $30/40 million on NAEP tests. We'll spend another six to eight million on a TIMS test. We just had 22 school districts out in Illinois take the TIMS test and--

JIM LEHRER: What's the TIMS test?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: Well, it's an international test on math and science. They came out, if I remember correctly, No. 1 in science, and No. 2 in math. They're doing it all over the country.

JIM LEHRER: And so your position basically is that this wouldn't do any good, right, I mean, an international test--

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: It wouldn't do any good. And if you were ever going to design a test, you sure wouldn't want the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., doing anything of that nature.

JIM LEHRER: Why not?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: First of all, you have to narrowly focus a test if it's going to be valid at all. Every testing expert will tell you that. I've heard four or five different reasons that they say they want a test. Some in the department say they're not happy with the curriculum. Are we going to develop a curriculum in Washington, D.C., and then are we going to develop the test to test that curriculum? And when are we going to train the teacher? And are you going to develop a valid test in one year's time? Every expert tells you it takes three or four years to do that.

JIM LEHRER: Mr. Secretary, three years to do what you want to do?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Well, first of all, any comment about curriculum was a result of the TIMS test. The TIMS test questioned a lot of the curriculum in this country in various subjects, especially math and science. And we simply notified people of that. Let me point out, the difference--this is a chart that shows the difference between state testing and the NAEP test, which is a federal, high standards test that is given and it is accepted throughout the country. But it is a sample test. Three states here as you'll notice--have a proficiency rating on a state level of over 80 percent. The NAEP federal level is 20 and 30 percent.

JIM LEHRER: I'm not sure we can see that. Let's be specific here.

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: All right. It's Wisconsin.

JIM LEHRER: All right.

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: The Wisconsin state test shows proficient reading, fourth graders, 88 percent.

JIM LEHRER: Okay.

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: The NAEP test says 35. So it's quite a difference between what the state test and what the federal--

JIM LEHRER: So, in other words, you're saying it would not be valid to compare that 88 of Wisconsin's say with Georgia's 39, but it would be valid to compare their 26 with Wisconsin's 39?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Absolutely--and the other states: South Carolina, Louisiana--

JIM LEHRER: You don't buy that?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: No. I don't buy that at all. First of all the NAEP's test is a spot test. It doesn't test every child at all. And secondly, he's talking a lot about testing that was done in states before they all became involved in rigorous standards. And, you know, I'm afraid we're going to dumb down what states are doing. I can just see the federal government--you know, it's the arrogance of the federal government--we can do it better.

JIM LEHRER: Arrogance of the federal government?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Dumbing down? This is a high, rigorous, challenging test. That's-- that's very, very clear. The dumbing down is the ones that do not want the accountability.

JIM LEHRER: What about the Congressman's point? And others have made this point too: This is not something the federal government should be involved in?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: It's a voluntary test. It's basic skills. Reading is--

JIM LEHRER: Voluntary to the states, or--it's not voluntary to each individual child, is it?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: It's however the school districts want do to do that.

JIM LEHRER: School district. I see.

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: If they want to make it voluntary or whatever. But it's voluntary to the state and the school district. And then it's basic skills. And that's a very important thing. Reading is reading. Math is math. Two plus two is four. The test in the eighth grade math and fourth grade reading is basic skills offered to the states and the school districts in a high, challenging, rigorous, voluntary test.

JIM LEHRER: What about the Congressman's point about--I'm not sure I've got it all completely right--but the pig on the scale doesn't improve education, all it does is tell you you've got a problem, they already know you've got a problem.

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Well, you know you have a problem in the country by sample tests that Bill was talking about, and you might know you have trouble in a state or in a school district or the 50 percent he was talking about. That's not fair to each child. What we're talking about is measuring each child on these basic skills so their parents will know how their child stands, not how people in the community stand, or a particular region. Every parent is entitled to know that.

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: But, you see, when he talks about basic skills and higher standards, again, I come back to who is going to prepare the teacher in order to teach to the higher standards? Why do you test anybody if you haven't prepared the teacher for the higher standards? I don't understand it.

JIM LEHRER: The idea would be, Mr. Secretary, that this would stimulate people to--

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Absolutely. And I agree with Bill 100 percent on that. We worked together on trying to improve things. We've significantly added resources in education for the years that I've been here, and we've worked very well on that and want to continue that. This would point out needs, specific needs, that then we could focus resources in to respond to.

JIM LEHRER: Congressman, the President said today in this talk at the school in Maryland that politics should stay out of this, suggesting that politics has, in fact, entered this.

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: As a matter of fact, it has nothing to do with politics. I spent 22 years in education. I was a teacher. I was a guidance counselor. I was a principal. I was a superintendent. I supervised student teachers. I was a school board president. I think I know an awful lot about how children learn and why children don't learn. I agree with the President. Politics--when you talk about education--stops at the classroom door. I told him that for 45 minutes that we had a one-on-one. I told him that his program is extremely weak, No. 1. He does nothing to improve the parents so that they can become the child's first and most important teacher. You know, if we can just focus on that 50 percent; it's tough for us to do that, because we had reading readiness programs; we have the family at home who could help us, get us ready so we were reading ready when we went to first grade. That 50 percent doesn't have that opportunity, and that's where we should be focusing our effort.

JIM LEHRER: Mr. Secretary, are you going to ask the President to veto the Appropriations Bill if Congressman Goodling is successful in putting the amendment in there which would delete the funds for this program?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: Well, it certainly is too early to say whether the President is going to veto it or not.

JIM LEHRER: But would youask him to?

SEC. RICHARD RILEY: I would certainly ask him to veto it if this is passed, which takes out of the Appropriation Bill any developmental possibilities for these tests that serve parents and students. And we think that would be a terrible mistake.

JIM LEHRER: You're all the way on this one, Congressman?

REP. WILLIAM GOODLING: I'm all the way on this. We have no business from the federal level. We're going to interfere with what states and local governments are doing to improve education in this country. And we have no business doing it.

JIM LEHRER: Gentlemen, thank you both very much. UPDATE - CLOSE TO HOME

JIM LEHRER: Now, an update on military base closings. Kwame Holman reports.

KWAME HOLMAN: These days, the small town of Ayer, Massachusetts, looks much like any quaint New England community. But for several months in 1991, Ayer was a town on edge, biting its nails and pacing the floor. The people of Ayer had been told Fort Devens, their No. 1 resident, the state's second largest employer and the largest military base in New England, was on the Pentagon's short list of installations it wanted to close. Since 1917, Fort Devens had provided a steady stream of thousands of civilian jobs for Central Massachusetts that contributed millions to the regional economy. But more than that, Fort Devens gave the area its character. Ayer was a base town and proud of it. Suddenly, all of that was in danger of disappearing. The people decided to make a stand.

GOV. WILLIAM WELD, [R] Massachusetts: [1991] We know how important this base is to the Massachusetts economy. It's not just Ayer. It's not just a handful of towns. The closure of this base would punch a huge hole in Central Massachusetts. And, in some sense, it's not merely the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that needs this base, it's the United States of America.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY, [D] Massachusetts: [1991] The army has been the kind of mule, stubborn mule, and its judgment and decision to close Fort Devens is unwise, unjust, and unfair. And we hope this commission will reverse it.

KWAME HOLMAN: The Commission was the Independent Base Closing Commission, created by Congress in 1988 to make the tough decisions about which domestic military bases to close, decisions Congress found impossible to make on its own. With Fort Devens on the preliminary base closing list, the people of Ayer saw the commission as their last hope. On May 31, 1991, a handful of commission members arrived for an inspection of the Fort Devens base and the town of Ayer. Nick Sifakis, owner of Tony's Restaurant Lounge on Main Street, obviously was concerned.

NICK SIFAKIS, Restaurant Owner: [1991] Probably 20 percent of most of the retail business around here is associated with the direct military personnel or personnel that work on post. TEACHER: Raise your hands if you're from Fort Devens.

KWAME HOLMAN: The commissioners also visited Hilltop Elementary School and heard from teacher Kathy Casey.

KATHY CASEY, Schoolteacher: [1991] Our schools would be decimated. We have 67 percent of our school population is from Fort Devens. This little third grade teacher wouldn't be here anymore. I have 18 years, and I wouldn't have enough seniority to keep my job.

KWAME HOLMAN: Between 1988 and 1995, those same kinds of concerns could be heard in hundreds of base towns all across America. Over that period 97 military installations were closed, or began the process of shutting down. That's a reduction of 20 percent. But it's still not enough, according to Defense Sec. William Cohen.

WILLIAM COHEN, Secretary of Defense: The hard reality is that we have reduced the force structure 33 percent, climbing to 36 percent. The infrastructure has been reduced roughly 21 percent. We're carrying extra weight.

KWAME HOLMAN: It's ironic that as Defense Sec. William Cohen is leading the call for more domestic base closings, as a Senator Cohen fought in vain to prevent Loring Air Force Base in his home state of Maine from being closed. And as a young Congressman in 1976, Cohen pushed through broad legislation requiring the Pentagon to conduct lengthy environmental impact studies before shutting down any military base. As a result of that process, not one major military base was shut down over the next 11 years. So in May, when Cohen asked Congress to authorize more base closings, he spoke from experience.

SEC. WILLIAM COHEN: I understand the anxiety that's involved and the heartache and the trauma that every single community that has a facility goes through whenever you talk about reducing infrastructure. But the fact is that we have too much.

KWAME HOLMAN: And too many bases also was the reason that on July 1, 1991, the base closing commission agreed that Fort Devens should be shut down.

KATHY CASEY: It was devastating. The whole town was just--the phones were bonkers. Everybody was on the phone. It can't be; they couldn't do this to us; there's nothing left in New England that's worthwhile. It was very devastating.

NICK SIFAKIS: It wasn't so unexpected, except that the final news is like anything. It hits you, and now you've got to try to make plans.

KWAME HOLMAN: It wasn't until April 1, 1996, that the United States Army lowered the flag at Fort Devens for the last time, but, in reality, the base had been disappearing gradually for years. Eventually, some 2500 troops moved out, and so did an equal number of civilian jobs, leaving behind the town of Ayer. We returned to Ayer just two weeks ago and found Kathy Casey. Despite her prediction she'd be out of a job if Fort Devens closed, she still is teaching, even though the school system has lost more than half its students.

KATHY CASEY: There were huge fears among the staff of 50 people who will be let go next year. Well, they didn't have to do that. Ten retired; they're going to hang onto us another year. Well, now, they'll do 50 next year, and 10 more retired; and they hung onto us. So every year we lived with that fear, and every year it didn't happen.

KWAME HOLMAN: At Tony's Restaurant & Lounge on Main Street owner Nick Safakis said the closing of Fort Devens had had a significant impact on business.

NICK SAFAKIS: It was slow in coming at first, you know, a little bit of despair and fear involved, and you try to make plans. And they always seem to fall short. By '93, Devens was pretty near 50 percent gone, and at that point in time the impact was almost at max. It didn't get much worse after that. But I'd say we lost easily 40 percent of our business.

KWAME HOLMAN: But Paul Bresnahan, a town selectman and chairman of the local bank, says the local economy never did crash, as many expected, but only took a dip and has come back strongly.

PAUL BRESNAHAN, Ayer Selectman: What we have here on the Main Street is a number of small businesses. Businesses now are different than they were six years ago, but as we have lost businesses for one reason or the other, we've had new businesses come in. And our occupancy rate is very high.

KWAME HOLMAN: But the most noticeable changes are inside the gates of what once was Fort Devens. Spread over nearly 10,000 acresare ghostly reminders of the Army's 80-year existence here. Thousands of barracks and housing units stand abandoned. The parade field and historic headquarters buildings that surround it remain empty, and the movie theater hasn't shown a film in years. Some reserve units use part of the base for training, as does the Massachusetts National Guard. And the nine-hold golf course still gets occasional use. But that is all part of Fort Devens' past. The future simply is called Devens. And it's being touted as the hottest commercial business site in the Northeast. Coordinating the reuse effort is Mike Hogan, executive director of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency.

MIKE HOGAN, Massachusetts Development Finance Agency: What we've done with this facility is to position it as a low-cost center of innovation in a campus that can provide very quick response to somebody from out of state or from out of the country who's looking to make a decision to locate in the Northeast.

KWAME HOLMAN: Gillette, maker of blades and razors, was the first to move in. It's now leasing a massive built-to-order warehouse at Devens, and a new distribution center is under construction as well. A 600-bed federal prison hospital, with state of the art medical facilities, will provide services for all of the states East of the Mississippi. And there's Nichols Aircraft, maker of lubrication pumps for commercial and military jet engines. It's leaving its old and decaying site just outside Boston and expects to move into its new facility at Devens by late fall. Scott Ledbetter is the company's general manager.

SCOTT LEDBETTER, General Manager, Nichols Aircraft: We had read in the paper about the base closing and what they were trying to do is make it into a business park. There's going to be a restaurant on site. There's going to be a daycare center on site, hotel on site, which will also be good for our customers and our suppliers that come in. There's also some nice communities in terms of if people wanted to relocate in this area. There's a lot of nice towns in the area that they could do so.

KWAME HOLMAN: To date, eight private companies have moved their operations to Devens, and more than 2,000 jobs have been created, almost as many civilian jobs as when the army occupied this site. The plan to transform Devens into a commerce center first had to be approved by the town of Ayer and the surrounding communities. Forty-four hundred acres of land had to be purchased from the army. Its original asking prices was $100 million. The state of Massachusetts settled on $17 million.

MIKE HOGAN: From our perspective, a lot of what the Army left here actually has a negative value. You've got asbestos-lined water mains; you've got sewer mains that are sized to support barracks but not industrial buildings. You've got to rip those out--roads that are laid out in the wrong configuration because they're running down the middle of the barracks bivouac area, not wide enough to support an industrial road for Gillette or somebody like that. So it was a very difficult negotiation because they're looking at raw land value and the value of the improvements that they had made. We were looking at it from the value of the improvements that they had made that we'd have to remove. And that really changed the dynamic.

KWAME HOLMAN: Devens now has its own zip code. And during our recent visit there mass development head Mike Hogan signed a long-term agreement with state police to provide the law enforcement and security to the area.

MIKE HOGAN: We've got a fire department. We're responsible for plowing the streets, maintaining the roads, operating the utilities, the water, the sewer.

KWAME HOLMAN: All of that costs money. And so the Massachusetts legislature has given Devens $200 million in startup funds because from an operational standpoint, Devens doesn't project to take in enough revenues to support itself until the year 2008. But back in Washington, Pentagon officials point to as one of their base closing success stories.

PAUL DEMPSEY, Base Closure & Community Reinvestment: I would consider it very much a success. And they're doing a heck of a job up there.

KWAME HOLMAN: Paul Dempsey is director of Base Closure & Community Reinvestment.

PAUL DEMPSEY: What we've drummed to the community officials around the country is that if you move out quickly and embrace the process of reuse, it can be very successful, and in the long run, your community and your economy will be much stronger and more diverse after a base closure than it was when you had the base.

KWAME HOLMAN: But if there are to be more base closings, Congress must be convinced of the need for them. In July, the Senate rejected Sec. Cohen's call to reauthorize the base closing process. Some Senators complained the promised budget savings from base closings haven't yet been realized. Others claimed President Clinton politicized the process in 1995 by privatizing thousands of government jobs on bases scheduled to be closed in both rich California and Texas, keeping the work from shifting to other states. And some said base closing simply was too painful a process to put their constituents through. But while the town of Ayer is showing signs of prosperity, some of its people do miss the good old days.

KATHY CASEY: I liked it then. I liked the mix. I like the kids. I like the differences. I like what they bring to class, to school. I like the experiences they have. It's great being a teacher, having that. You don't have to go anywhere; they're all there.

NICK SAFAKIS: It's a little quieter town. Some people like it. Myself, I'd rather be busy as ever. I used to liken it--I'd call it Dodge City--but it's not Dodge anymore. Dodge is done.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight, two stories from the world of music, one about jazz, the other about a great orchestra conductor. FOCUS - JAZZ SPOT

JIM LEHRER: Jazz has many beginnings and styles, few more distinctive than that that comes from Kansas City. Betty Anne Bowser begins our coverage.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: When you hear the distinctive sounds of trumpets, saxophones, trombones, and pianos, you might think of New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz--or Chicago, with its distinctive sound. But in the late 1920's and 30's, Kansas City was a Mecca for jazz. It was the home of the young and talented Charlie Parker and the legendary Count Basie. Music hummed from nearly every building in a neighborhood known as 18th and Vine.

[MUSIC IN BACKGROUND]

JAY McSHANN: The town was wide open. They never did close--you know. And when I hit 12th Street, I couldn't get down to the clubs fast enough because they piped the music out, and you could hear old Jim Turner hollerin' them blues. You could hear his voice and the closer you get the faster you walk.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: The Kansas City political machine run by Tom Pendergast ignored the prohibition laws and allowed the speakeasies, taverns, and honky tonks to flourish. Musicians flocked to Kansas City from all over the country. There, they devised a new way to perform-- improvisational jazz.

MAX ROACH, Drummer: Improvisation--improvisational arrangements--collective orchestrations. So what the music has done, when I see it around the world now, is that it liberated the musicians.

JAY McSHANN, Jazz Pianist: You know, man, these guys did one tune and it would last an hour and you would wonder where all the notes was comin' from or where the words was comin' from. So after that I knew I was hooked, you know.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Count Basie came to Kansas City as a young pianist. Soon his big band sound was world renowned. He talked about the distinctive sound of Kansas city jazz on this television show from the 1950's.

COUNT BASIE: I really had never heard the blues until I did go, I had the pleasure of visiting Kansas City, which was in the very, very early days. I got a chance to wander--over on 18th Street at that time was blazing--I mean, everything was happening there, beautiful. I mean, you could hear the blues from any window or door. I had never seen anything like it.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Basie and fellow jazz legend Charlie "Bird" Parker took the Kansas City sound to the rest of the country. [Music in background] But by the 1950's, the jazz center had moved on to New York and the once hopping and bopping neighborhood in Kansas City became rundown and less traveled by the jazz greats. Last year, Robert Altman's film "Kansas City" brought national attention to the heyday of jazz in this Midwestern City. And recently, the city has spent more than $27 million attempting to rebuild and restore the famous neighborhood, including a Negro league baseball museum and revamping the famous Gem Theater. On Friday, the neighborhood had its reopening Kansas City style. [Music in background] This star-packed gala officially opened the doors to the nation's largest jazz museum. The museum is dedicated to the greats of the jazz world, with artifacts and exhibits celebrating those great music makers of the past. The museum also houses a new jazz club to bring back the Kansas City sound. [Music in background]

JIM LEHRER: Elizabeth Farnsworth takes the story from there. She does so from the Studios of KQED-San Francisco, which as of tonight becomes--when she's not in Washington--the place from where she will regularly appear here on the NewsHour. Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Thanks, Jim. And now we go back to Kansas City for more on the jazz story and to Claude "Fiddler" Williams, one of a handful of musicians still active today, who helped develop the jazz style known as "swing" in the 1930's. His latest CD, "Claude Williams, King of Kansas City," was released this month. And to Chuck Haddix, archivist at the Marr Sound Archives, a collection of historic jazz recordings at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He's currently working on a book about the history of Kansas City jazz. Thank you both for being with us.

CHUCK HADDIX, Jazz Archivist: Well, it's nice to be here with you, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Williams, you arrived in Kansas City in about 1928, right, with your violin and--

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS, Jazz Violinist: Right.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: --by the 30's, you were playing with Count Basie. Tell us what it was like to be a musician there then. What was the scene like? Why did it produce so much great jazz?

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: Well, Kansas City was jumping so good. I mean, and-- just seemed like all the musicians would come to Kansas City on their way to Chicago or New York or farther East.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: How--

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: And just fine times.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And, Mr. Haddix, how would you explain Kansas City? How did Kansas City become so important in jazz? What was it about Kansas City, in your view?

CHUCK HADDIX: Well, Kansas City was the center for entertainment and commerce for points North, West, and South. This was a railroad hub, so if you wanted to get to points West you had to come through Kansas City. And there was a lot of prosperity here, even during the darkest days of Depression. They had early kind of WPA projects. The Municipal Auditorium was built in the 30's, as was the county courthouse. Tom Pendergast owned the Readi-Mix concrete company, dropped a lot of concrete before he parted. And also, this--you know, being an entertainment center, this was a wide open town. That's kind of a cliche, but I think it would be more accurate to say it's a 24-hour town. There was lots of clubs for--there were lots of clubs for musicians to play. The entertainment district, 12th street, began downtown--it stretched East for miles. Prohibition was pretty much ignored, as were gambling laws. Claude tells a great story of how he first came here and watched 'em shoot dice in the front window of the Lone Star, because it was a wide open town. There was a red light district on 14th Street. And the prostitutes used to- -the ladies of the night used to lounge in these storefront windows in lingerie and tap nickels on the glass to attract the patrons that would be walking by--the johns. This was known as the Paris of the Plains--not so much--well, partly because of the boulevards and the park system, but also because this was basically a sin capital of the Midwest. And so this environment created a lot of jobs for musicians.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Claude Williams, tell us about the jam sessions and especially the jam sessions that took place in the Black Musicians Union. That was an important part of the scene, wasn't it?

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: Yes. Between the musicians union and the Lone Star, which was here on 12th Street, where Pete Johnson and Joe Turner--they come right out of Kansas City and took 'em right to New York to star--those two.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And tell us how the jam sessions worked. It was different from what you'd done before, right, in Kansas City?

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: Well, it was just like Pete and Joe and a drummer would start playing in the club, and you know, as long as they play, the bigger the bad got. You know, as the musicians come by, they'd just join in and start jammin' with the--and it might start out with like two or three of them and in the next hour it might be seven, eight, or ten up there playin'.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And is this how you started improvising too?

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: Yes. Everybody had different ideas, but it seemed like they liked the Kansas City style more than others. That's what was happening.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And, Chuck Haddix, do you have anything to add to that about improvisation and jamming?

CHUCK HADDIX: Yes. You know, at places like the Sunset and the Lone Star and Wolf's-- what they call Wolf Buffet--they had these Blue Monday parties that would begin Sunday night at midnight and literally go all day on Monday. And since the musicians were off and a lot of the individuals in the community were involved in the service industry, they would all be available for these Blue Monday parties. And so that's where the jams would happen. And what they would do is on the bandstand, the band would set what they call a "rif." Members of the band would set a rif, and that would provide the foundation for the soloist to work. A rif is a--it's a melodic phrase stated in forceful rhythmic terms. It's kind of an academic description of it. But what they would do is they would repeat that phrase and then the soloist would solo over that phrase. And they would rif--it would enable them to play songs--15-minute, hour-long songs. They'd jam on on "Honeysuckle Rose" and other popular songs of the day. And these were also cutting contests where aspiring musicians could test their mettle playing with the older, more experienced musicians.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Williams, what happened to Kansas City's jazz scene? I know there is still an important--I know there's a large amount of jazz still--but it's not like it was in the 30's. When did it end and why?

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: Well, when the--it's hard times and tough times here in Kansas City--you know--as it went on, it got a little better for the musicians, you know, because back in '32 the musicians, their regular scale note was $1.50 a night, you know. So as it went on, it got better than that.

CHUCK HADDIX: What happened was, is that there was a cleanup of a town, and reformers took over the town. And basically, they started closing down the clubs. And this is at the same time World War II broke out. And because of the war, the musicians could no longer tour because there was a shortage of gasoline and also rubber used in tires. And the ranks were really decimated by the draft. And so you had that happen in the 40's, and then after the war, Kansas City continued to be a stop on the circuit. And there were rooms like the Orchid Room and the Mardi Gras, where Miles Davis used to play here, and it was a regular part of the circuit, but it didn't contribute as much as it did during the 30's, Kansas City did not contribute quite as much. But there were some fine players that still came out of here over the years. And fine players continue to come out of here. The tradition continues. I mean, if you go down to 1823 Highland, at the Mutual Musicians Foundation, about 2 o'clock in the morning on Saturday night--the cats are still jamming down there. There's a lot of world-class musicians still coming out of Kansas City: Kevin Mahogany, Coreon Alleysson and Pat Matheny. And so Kansas City still continues to contribute to the development of jazz.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Haddix, Chuck Haddix, thanks for being with us, and Mr. Williams, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, thanks to you too.

CLAUDE "FIDDLER" WILLIAMS: You're welcome.

CHUCK HADDIX: Thank you very much. FINALLY - MAESTRO

JIM LEHRER: Now, our second music story: Remembering Conductor, Sir Georg Solti, and to Phil Ponce.

PHIL PONCE: A maestro considered one of the greatest orchestral conductors of the modern era, Solti died in his sleep this weekend at the age of 84. In a career spanning more than six decades the Hungarian-born Solti held directorships at nine major orchestras, opera houses, and music festivals worldwide. But he was best known for guiding the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to international acclaim as music director from 1969 to 1991. Here is Solti in action with the Chicago Symphony in a rehearsal and performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

SIR GEORG SOLTI: [1989] That four notes probably most famous four notes in the history of music, the most well-known four notes in the history of music--ta-ta-ta-ta. Here it is. ["Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" playing] A little more. A little more. Ta-ta very beginning-- almost nearly have it. Could you use a little more sound--it should be violent--really violent. ["Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" playing]

PHIL PONCE: With us now is Tim Page, classical music writer for the "Washington Post," and 1996 Pulitzer Prize winner for music criticism. Mr. Page, you just heard one of the most familiar pieces of music that exists. What makes--what made a Solti performance of "Beethoven's Fifth" different from that of any other conductor?

TIM PAGE, Washington Post: Well, he was terribly vigorous and terribly alive. There was something charged and exciting about almost all of his performances, a real intensity, and there was also something which was, I think, his own, which was this kind of vast dialectic of, you know, the strings would play and the brass would play, and they'd get a little bit louder, and it would become kind of a real--not exactly a competition but a sort of agitated partnership.

PHIL PONCE: So when you say vast dialectic, you mean this sort of--

TIM PAGE: Pushing--

PHIL PONCE: --tension between the different sections.

TIM PAGE: Yes and no. And, yes, that's more--that's what was going on, and--

PHIL PONCE: What kind of a sound was he after?

TIM PAGE: A big fall three-dimensional sound, I mean, just a sound that had a great deal of power, had a great deal of intensity, and force, and one thing about Solti was you never ever thought he was going to run out of energy. I think that's a terrific clip we just saw because it shows him when he must have been probably pushing 80. And there he is, absolutely dynamic, on the podium, saying, I want it more violent, I want to hear the brass, I want to, you know, I'm just getting very excited and conducting that sort of trademark style. You know, it almost looks like he's doing the twist at times.

PHIL PONCE: Would you say that it was more of a muscular approach to music, as opposed to more lyrical?

TIM PAGE: It was a very muscular approach. I mean, people would sometimes say that the Chicago sound sort of mirrored the city, itself, that it was big and brash and bold and really quite strong. And I think there's something to be said for that with Solti too because he--his performances--they could be very sensitive but they weren't known for reticence.

PHIL PONCE: What would an audience see? I mean, if you're sitting in an orchestra hall or someplace else watching Sir Georg conduct, what would you see as an audience member that you might not see in another conductor?

TIM PAGE: Well, a great deal of agitation on the podium. I mean, it's funny that one of his earlier colleagues was Fritz Reiner, who would conduct sort of like this, you know, and then you had Solti, and, of course, he was sort of all over the place, although he wasn't as balletic and histrionic as say somebody like Leonard Bernstein.

PHIL PONCE: Although, at one point he actually hurt himself on the podium, didn't he?

TIM PAGE: Oh, it doesn't surprise me. Yes. You know, conductors have died in the middle of performances. I mean, it's a very strenuous workout. I think it was Bernstein that said he used to lose about three pounds in one performance. It sounds a little high to me, but maybe not that high.

PHIL PONCE: Can an ordinary person tell the difference between conductors when listening to a recording or if you're sitting in a--sitting in a concert hall say with your eyes closed?

TIM PAGE: It depends on who it is.

PHIL PONCE: Could you tell the difference when it was Solti?

TIM PAGE: Absolutely when it was Solti. For better and for worse, there is real emphasis on strain and strife and dazzling the audience and dazzling the music. Sometimes, for me at least, itgot a little much, especially in his last years, but there was never ever doubting that this was an absolute master of the podium, who knew what he was doing, and he gave you that. And in certain pieces he was absolutely unsurpassed. I would still say that his first performance of that huge work by Wagner, "The Ring Cycle," is probably still the best recording. And they began making that record just about 40 years ago.

PHIL PONCE: And some of the criticisms of the sound that he was after were--what would people say as far as his possibly going over the top?

TIM PAGE: I think there was sometimes a sense that he was--he was goal-oriented and sort of furious to a degree that maybe went a little to far. You sometimes had the sense that we were hearing the most amazing horns in the world, the most amazing orchestra in the world, the most amazing, the most amazing, on and on, but we we're always hearing gentler moments in a piece, more subtle moments in a piece.

PHIL PONCE: Some people might saying that he was playing to the orchestra's strengths, for example, the CSO, the Chicago Symphony, was known for their brass--

TIM PAGE: Sure. Absolutely. And the question becomes whether an orchestra really should be known for one section, like Chicago was, or whether it should be something like the Cleveland Orchestra, which is known for not being known for its sections. It's known as sort of a big communal orchestra, where everybody is sort of on the same level as the others. And it's--you know, it's a difference in philosophies. It doesn't matter--I would never want to say one was right or one was wrong. But--

PHIL PONCE: But as long as you brought up the issue of orchestras, I mean, there's such sensitivity and interest in the relative ranks of the different orchestras. What kind of an impact did Sir Georg Solti have on the Chicago symphony as far as its reputation?

TIM PAGE: Well, he took what was already there and made it more so. It was already well known as a terrific virtuoso orchestra. Some of his old Fritz Reiner recordings are still--again, like Solti's "Ring"--

PHIL PONCE: Again, Fritz Reiner being one of his predecessors.

TIM PAGE: Fritz Reiner was one of his predecessors. And some of those recordings show that it was just a spectacular orchestra then, but Solti brought electricity and muscle and a certain personal style. Many conductors nowadays try to avoid having a personal style. They prefer to let the--let the music determine their style, rather than their style determine the music. Again, it's a question of philosophy. But Solti knew exactly what he anted from an orchestra. And what was amazing when he left Chicago is that he could conduct say a student orchestra one night and the Vienna Philharmonic the next, and they'd all sound like a Chicago symphony. I mean, he really carried that sound with him, and he instilled into any musicians that he worked with. And you have to hand it to him for that. You know, in an era of faceless proficiency, he really managed to have his own style.

PHIL PONCE: Would you say that the prevailing philosophy among other conductors now is- -for want of a better term--a more homogenous approach then?

TIM PAGE: I would say so. And I would say also it tends to be a little more focused on the music, itself, rather than the effects that can be made with the music. There were times when Solti reminded me a little bit of Stakovsky, Leopold Stakovsky, who I think is probably best known to people from "Fantasia," but he was with the Philadelphia orchestra for many years. He emphasized the strings, but you were always talking about the Stakovsky sound, and even those of us who felt that he sometimes went a little far and made it too creamy and too smooth, we still knew it was Stakovsky and that was terrific. Now, the thing with Solti, of course, is the opposite. It's--sometimes people found him too agitated and too fast, and too brilliant. There was always a rumor that the Chicago Symphony tuned it's "a" to a higher "a" than the usual 44 cycles per second. You know, the oboe comes out and plays the "a" note and the orchestra tunes to that. And it was always rumored, although never proven, that Solti would actually tune it a little bit higher just for a little extra brilliance.

PHIL PONCE: A question which will have to remain unanswered. Tim Page, I thank you very much.

TIM PAGE: It's been a pleasure. RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the major stories of this Monday, a ferryboat sank off the coast of Haiti. Four hundred passengers are missing and feared drowned. President Clinton renewed his call for national tests to measure education achievement, and astronauts on the Russian space station Mir repaired the main computer, which failed for the third time in three months. We'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.