Questions about the Mental Health of pilots. Well explore what can be done in the name of aviation safety. And an unexpected new use for ridesharing apps. Crab poaching off the bay area coast. Well talk to fish and wildlife about how theyre fighting back against this new criminal trend. But first, finally, a new speaker of the house, 22 days after former speaker Kevin Mccarthy was ousted by his own party. Reporter falcons placed their trust in a relative unknown. Youre watching getting answers. Im kristen sze. In the end, it wasnt Steve Scalise or jim jordan or tom emmer. It was 51 year old mike johnson from louisiana. First elected to congress in 2016. He got 220 votes on the house floor, winning over the right wing of the gop, which had ousted mccarthy. It is now my solemn honor and responsible committee to hand over the peoples gavel here in the United States house of representatives to the gentleman man from the great state of louisiana and the 56th speaker of the United States house of representatives. The honorable mike johnson. And with th have a new speaker joining us live now to talk about how johnson may lead the house and what this signals about the Republican Party. Someone who did not vote for johnson, east bay congressman, democrat mark desaulnier. Congressman dosanjh, thanks for your time. Thank you for inviting me, as always. Yes, its great to have you on. I realize theres a whole lot about this process and the result that you may not be comfortable with, no doubt. But do you feel some relief that there is finally a House Speaker after three weeks . I do. Not as much relief as my republican colleagues. I just was talking to a few of them. I think theyve been in very difficult situations where very emotional arguments in their meetings between their different factions. Yes. And weve seen some of that play out. But no doubt behind closed doors there were more. But how do you feel about johnson . Because most people here had never heard of him before. How did he rise to the top . Well, i think he survived. I think he got to a point where people were tired and they realized that the American People werent happy with them. With all this dysfunction. An so i think he had good timing. It is a win for the far right. Trump faction of the caucus. He is a less abrasive than jim jordan and personality. Hes quiet. Hes an attorney, but hes every bit as a trump follower. He was a key architect in the election denial efforts in the last election for President Trump. And hes very conservative. Hes very anti womens choice, very anti gay rights and very, very poor on gun violence, things like that. So hes very conservative. Yeah. In fact, i think the guy before him, majority whip tom emmer of minnesota, actually did not get the hard line conservative support because he had support of same sex marriage and had voted to certify the 2020 election. But a little bit more explanation if you will, because we have heard that speaker johnson had done things in the house in terms of leading the republicans to try to overturn the Election Results in 2020. How did he do that . And i think it has to do with his background as a lawyer. Yes. So he led a case in texas that was replicated, challenging the electoral college. Who are the people who are get to vote by state and proportion for the presidency. And we know that the former president tried to use this to get us not to certify the election. And call into question which over 50 court cases had decided these challenges were not justified. So he was a key architect of that. And he didnt vote to certify by the president ial election. So he he is very concerning to me and others about his threat to democracy, because as he continues to make this argument, it a lie that President Biden is, in fact, not the winner. And imagine if hes speaker here and President Trump or former President Trump runs and loses. Theres this transition period that we went through before that led to the attack on january 6th, where they refused to certify the election. So he was one of those people we could have a similar situation where we win the house next year. The democrats and trump runs and loses and we could have him in the speaker seat saying that he doesnt want to certify the election. So its a concern. Uh are you talking to some of your republican colleagues, those that you deem you could talk to about this concern . I have since. January 3rd january 6th. Ive got friends on the other side, you know, dont agree with them, dont vote with them. But i still respect their positions because of their positions, reflect their districts often. But we all should believe in the sanctity of elections and elections done transparently and open and abiding by the outcome. If we dont, we dont have democracy. So thats sort of the biggest concern i have are the ideological differences. Do they have the gavel . Thats the way democracy works. But you got to believe in elections as accurately done. Well, reporters did try to ask him if he acknowledges that President Biden won the election fair and square. I think it was last night. I think he dodged it. And some of his colleagues boo. The reporter who asked that. So, again, hes not committing to that. President biden won. So is that a deal breaker, do you think, for you and the democrats in terms of being able to work with him or do you think despite that very big elephant in the room, there are ways to Work Together and get things done, such as addressing the spending bill, right. That we need to keep the government from shutting down. And i dont know how many more days from now. Not a lot. And of course, theres israel, theres ukraine. All those situations that are requiring funding. No, i believe my job is to work with people who disagree with me, who represent a constituency thats very different from mine in the bay area. I not im principled on my progressive voting record for over 30 years in politics, but our job in a country with 325 Million People and 435 members in the house of representatives is to work with people under the rules, is to reach compromise. And thats not a dirty word. Thats the way democracy works. So ill work with Mister Johnson , but i am very concerned about his election denialism and his active city in promoting that. So what are some of the top issues . I mentioned a few, which obviously will take up your attention, but what do you hope to get to work on quickly . Well, the appropriations process, we need to get those bills passed. We cant shut down the government on november 17th. So thats what we have gone right to work on today. Thats good news, is the republican approved appropriations bills, we will consider and are considering on bigger other things, Energy Transition is a big thing for me and people in the bay area changing our energy source, making sure were protecting them, saving the climate for future generations to live in. And thats difficult with very conservative fossil fuel funded colleagues from places like louisiana where theyre very, very close to the oil industry. So well keep working on them because thats where the markets going. But thats a big one. What do you think is the short and long term impact of this three week battle and void . Well, the real impact is more americans dont trust congress and dont trust democracy. And that takes a lot to rebuild. So weve got to keep working at it. The fact that more americans dont trust congress, how heavily does that weigh on you and your colleagues and are you talking to people about whether this is prompting some to think about retirement and walking away . Oh, absolutely. I like to read american history. Weve gone through these cycles before where people lose trust. We were too partizan but i, i love this institution and i love it when it works well. And i realize its a Human Institution that goes back and forth. So for me, im honored to be here and im honored to be as jack kennedy said in his inaugural speech, a few generations get to defend liberty in its ultimate moment of challenge that speaks to me at this moment. Kennedy all those years ago, when i was a young person, we get to fight for american democracy in a very difficult circumstance. So i love being here. I dont like whats happening, but but im im glad that i can defend the things that i respect in this institution, which is listening to one another, compromise. But by playing by the rules and acknowledging when you lose an election, when well, when you say compromising, that that implies a willingness on both sides to veer more towards the middle. But i think there are a lot of American Voters who look at the way things are playing out now and say and feel like that power is wielded only by those on the extremes and that no matter what with each election, you have 40 to 60 of the people being extremely unhappy. Do you worry about that and how can we bridge that . I do, but im about as liberal and progressive as any member here, but i dont see a symmetry between the two sides at all. And also somebody when i first ran for local election, i was a republican. So i left the Republican Party because i could see what the koch network and others and then donald trump are doing. Theyre driving them further and further to the extreme right. So i dont see a symmetry between there are people on the left that are difficult to deal with. I will acknowledge that. But its not remotely like whats happening in the Republican Party and what happened in the last three weeks drove the Republican Party either further to the extreme. A lot of people who dont believe in governing and dont really believe in democracy, in my view. All right. Well congressman mark desaulnier, always great talking with you, even if some of these issues that come up are truly frightening. But we got to face it. Thank you so much. Much. Thank you. Up next, Airlines Pilots and their Mental Health. That story of an off duty pilot trying to shut off the engines on an sfo bound flight has us asking a lot of questions. How is Mental Health handled . Addressed in the industry and what more can be done . Thats next on [deep exhale] [trumpet music plays] 579 breaths to show em your stuff. Every breath matters. Dont like rsv take your breath away. Protect yourself from rsv. With abrysvo, pfizers rsv vaccine. Abrysvo is a vaccine for the prevention of lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Rsv can be serious if you are 60 or older. Having asthma, copd, diabetes, or Heart Disease puts you at even higher risk. Abrysvo is not for everyone and may not protect all who receive the vaccine. Dont get abrysvo if youve had a severe allergic reaction to its ingredients. People with a weakened immune system may have a decreased response to abrysvo. The most common side effects are tiredness, headache, pain at the injection site, and muscle pain. Ask your pharmacist or doctor about pfizers rsv vaccine, abrysvo. Visit these retailers or find other retailers near you at abrysvo. Com. [deep breath] critical questions about the Mental Health of pilots and the current Safety Standards set by the faa. Heres audio from that flight. After the frightening episode happened. A crew member is speaking to the faa. Okay, ill just give you a heads up. Weve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit and he doesnt sound like hes causing any issue in the back right now. I think hes subdued, thankfully. Well, joseph emerson, a bay area pilot, is facing 83, attempted murder charges for allegedly trying to shut off a planes engines as it was heading to sfo. He told investigators he hadnt slept in 40 hours and that he was having a nervous breakdown and mentioned using psychedelic mushrooms as about 48 hours before the incident. So how did this happen and what can the us do to prevent future incidents . Is joining us live to talk more about this is shawn prunicki, a former Airline Pilot whos now professor of aviation safety at the ohio state university. By the way, the university does in cyst on that article the right. Thanks for joining us. Yes we do yeah appreciate your time. Professor prunicki, does it shock you as a former pilot looking at what happened there . Yeah, it certainly does. I mean, this is this is definitely a i guess, what we could categorize as a one off. This is extremely rare that Something Like this would happen historically speaking. Right. It is news because we dont see it all the time. Thankfully but how emerson described his mental state. Im wondering how was that not noticed earlier along the way . Right. Faa records show he passed a medical exam just last month. Wouldnt that have included a Mental Health aspect . Well, the way that pilots are are certified for their for their flight physicals is that they see an aeromedical physician at. And its basically done on the honor system that we answer a long list of questions about numerous types of diseases. And you check boxes, yes or no . And if you have any boxes where you check, yes. Then you need to explain further. So when you get to the section where it talks about psychiatric illnesses or depression or so forth, its just a matter of checking. No. To those boxes. And then that would go that would go undiscovered. I see. I mean, if he had checked. Yes. To taking psychedelics or medication like that, lets say assume we dont know. But lets say he was prescribed that for anxiety or depression. Would that be something that would be a red flag where they might say, hey, were going to hold off on your flying . Absolutely. That would be immediately grounding. He would not receive his his medical that day and that would be something that would be elevated throughout the faa, air, medical system to have a much closer look, he would have to produce a lot of documentation that the faa aeromedical folks would ask for to see if he would still be eligible for an faa medical. Its quite a lengthy process for Something Like that. Could a pilot be cleared to fly with active depression or an Anxiety Stress levels high. So there are some allowances. His for depression, but theres some very tight tolerances associated with that. And some types of medication that can be taken. But again, these are very tight tolerances and very, very limited. And so this is definitely a very rare situation. So if you had to guess, he probably didnt answer honestly to all the boxes. If you had to guess. I mean, we dont know for sure. Right uh to get the clearance. Yes. If he received his medical, then he definitely did not check. Yes to psychiatric problems. That would have immediately grounded him had he checked. Yes. To that box. Are there reasons that pilots may not want to answer truthfully . That is, you know, are they worried about their jobs . Are they worried about they wouldnt get enough support . Well its a matter of both, right . I mean, theres very much a stigma associated with this. And probably the bigger factor is that if you do report Something Like this on your medical, then theres a very good chance that youre not going to receive your medical and you may never receive your medical. So your career could be effectively over at that point. So yeah, theres a huge. Disincentive to necessarily be 100 truthful and, you know, i think its important to understand that, you know, with this being such extreme pilots that do have you know, low levels of depression might feel that theyre handling this adequately on their own with their counselors or so forth. And that might also encourage some of those folks to not, you know, to not be truthful. But that could also be said for other other other questions that are asked on there, like kidney stones and sleep apnea and some of the other things that are listed there as well. Well, this episode has certainly gotten people talking, like you know, how well do the airlines screen should there be any changes in the process is what do you think . What would be better, safer to the flying public and to the pilots themselves as i dont think at this point in time that we need to rework the rework the system. I think to do that, there needs to be a demonstrated problem. And i think that just because we had this one event doesnt necessarily eerily indicate that we have a nationwide problem with Airline Pilots. So i dont think that this one event necessitates that we completely rework the system and the other thing that i want to add here is that the pilot unions actually have very strong support structures for pilots that have Substance Abuse problems, alcohol abuse and certain types of psychiatric disorders that they can go to their unions for help to help with recovery from those from those problems. So there are support structures out there within the industry. Okay. So if i read you right, we have to go, but i just want to offer a little reassurance to our viewers. Overall. You do not feel like its a nationwide problem or a crisis level more of a one off. And would you say you feel absolutely safe flying and think travelers should feel good about that . Oh, absolutely. In fact, myself and my children are getting on an airplane at a couple of weeks from now and have absolutely no concerns whatsoever, even if there is a jump seat are up there right. All right. Thank you very much for your insight, professor sean brudnicki, former pilot. Thank you so much. Youre welcome. Up next, crab poachers, ridesharing and crime. Some weird combination sort of, right . But its making for a new trend that this dungeness crab season. Why is it happening . How are they connected . Well get an state wildlife officials have picked up a new trend. People are using Ride Hailing Services such as uber to get into secluded spots to poach crab. And officials have cited hundreds of people on the rural San Mateo County coast for doing just that. Joining us live now is james ober, lieutenant with the Law Enforcement division of the California Department of fish and wildlife. Thank you so much for joining us. James thank you for having me. Okay. So i just wanted to find what crab poaching means in this context is that when you are going out crabbing, fishing illegally, like before the season actually starts, which i think is in three weeks or something, correct . So. What we were specifically referring to was people who were taking him during the close season. Some people were also taking crabs that if the season was open would be undersized, used, and then some people were taking what would be over limits if the season had been open as well. Got it. Im sure this is not a new problem right . It is not. But what you have noticed, which is new, at least new to me, covering it as a news story is this using uber and other ride sharing apps to kind of get away. Talk to us about what youre seeing. So one of the nights we saw some people who showed up uh a couple of people were dropped off from a car. They walked up and down the beach for maybe a half hour to 45 minutes, called on their cell phone, and then in a few other groups of people were then dropped off at that beach when the other group joined them. Then they all got out their flashlights and started walking in the surf and picking up the crabs. When we went out and contacted them and issued them citations and took the crabs, the officers asked them how they had arrived at the beach and they had said that theyd used an uber and we asked them how they were going to be leaving, and they also said that they were going to use an uber. And what is the benefit of using uber . Is it just that you guys dont see a car parked there and starting to get suspicious . So that is a distinct advantage, is that if theyre dropped off by a rideshare program, there isnt a vehicle parked on the side of the road to indicate that theres people who are at the beach and taking crabs. I see. Is this a danger. What do you mean by is it a danger . Is it a danger to the people who are engaged in it . Is it a danger to the residents of that community . Is it a danger to the crab population . There are many ways i can see this potentially being a danger to. So it does have a Significant Impact on the crab population. One of the ways that they design the seasons for dungeness crabs and other fish and wildlife is based around the ability to allow them to have a time to breed. And so when they take the crabs during this time, there, eliminating what we saw primarily was a lot of the female crabs, which has a much greater impact on the fishery for the next couple of years because its all the progeny that they would put back into the population then. I see. I see. And of course, you know, and then i wanted to ask you about the incentive. But of course, i imagine theres an illegal market for it. People want them as delicacies as so what are you doing now to stop it . Are you stepping up patrols . Perhaps oh, yes. So this summer we were very fortunate that a lot of wardens from out of the area were willing to come and work. And we set up details with a large number of people to be able to saturate the coast along san mateo and in the evenings and thus we were able to catch a lot more people doing this activity. All right. We totally have to go. But i got to ask you, how much is the fine if youre violating it and get caught . So thats always up to the judge. I see. They can. We do have to go. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Lieutenant ober, well take a short break and be right back. Thank you welcome to big tobaccos fantasyland. A new, healthier World Without cigarettes. As long as you dont count the 6 trillion sold worldwide every year. And vaping wont lead to smoking, if you ignore the research that says otherwise. In big tobaccos fantasyland, the deadliest industry is your friend. Shh. This october. Spirits come home to rest. Arrrgh . All month long. With hallowstream on disney . [screaming] home is where the haunt is. Boo only on disney . David tonight, for the first several breaking news. Finally a new speaker of the house. No new york city, donald trump called to the witness stand and find by the judge. Breaking news from