To support other Small Businesses. Why cant we qualify . Judy all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by when the world gets complicated to, a lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailoec advice andmendations to your life. That is fidelity wealth management. Consumer cellular. Ohjohnson jon. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Womens suffrage centennial. The candida fund, committed to advancing Restorative Justice and meaningful work tough investments in transformative leaders and ideas. Pocarnegie ction of new york. Education, democratics in engagement, and the advancement of International Peace security. At carnegie. Org. And s with the ongoiport of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possibye he corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy stephanie good evening. We will return to Judy Woodruff and the rest of ththprogram aftelatest headlines. White house officials a Democratic Leaders ended a meeting a short time ago about a Coronavirus Relief bill with both sides saying they are still far apart on big issues. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said white house negotiators were unwilling to meet in the miusle and white chief of staff Steven Mnuchin said the president will sign a bill with a lar amount of money for state and local governments, wcrch is what des want. I said notiators will try to narrow differenca meeting tomorrow. The deadlock comes as fresh data. Shighlights the economys deep scars from covid19. Another 1. 2 Million People filed for state Unemployment Benefits last week. Thats 20 straight weeks of more than one million claims. The pandemics nationwide toll in human lives is nearing 160,000, as confirmed cases approach 4. 9illion. One of the latest to be infected is Ohio Governor mike dewine. He tested positive today and canceled plans to greet present trump in cleveland this afternoon. In beirut, lebanon, authoneties have det16 employees at the citys port as they investigateuesdays catastrophic explosion. The blast killed at least 135 people, injured more than 5000, and fueled a new wav. Of public fu special correspondent Jane Ferguson repts. Jane after the massive blast destroyed much of beirut, now comes th groups ofolunteers are working together, salvaging what they can. In some small way, it helps stract from the trauma. We cant do anything in lebanon. There is nothing to be sad about or think about. Jane the shutter of glass continues. As if the city kee breaking. The funerals of rescue workers began today. This one for a young female firefighte distraught family and colleagues wept goodbye. The scale of this tragedy has drawn the attention of the world. French president Emmanuel Macron walked the streets of beirut and was quickly mobbed by angry people. U it iscceptable. The corruption is unacceptable. Help us. Ere is no future for our kids here. Jane france has led efforts together aid for leban in the gripf an economic collapse in recent months. Now, even more help will be needed. An International Initiative to bring money and hp directly to people. Ea r anger. The anger is against politicians. [chanting] jane protests calling for justice have begun. Mass demonstraons against government corruption and mismanagement have rocked lebanon for nine mon now with the blast seemingly caused byegligence, highly explosive chemicals carelessly left in a warehouse, ine fury is gr america is sending help. General frank mckenzie, commander of u. S. Central command, pledged continued support,ng inclu food, water, and medical supplies. Even before the disasr, lebanon wa bankrupt and unable to afford food and fuel. Now, several hundred thousand of its people are homeles with a government incapable of helping them. For the pbs newshour, im Jane Ferguson. Stephanie flooding across th Korean Peninsula has led to at least 15 deaths and 11 others inmiin recent days. In south korea, torrenal rain led the closure of several highways and a key bridge in seoul. 44 consecutive dayof rain. In north korea, leader kim jongun inspected an aret in the southw the country where the state new j agency reported news agency reported hundreds of houses destroyed. They said there were no casualties. Today marks 75 yea since the United States dropped to the worlds first atomic bomb on hiroshima,. Japan eldey survivors marked the event at the hiroshima pee memorial park. The pandemic reduced turnout to fewer than 1000. Wl return to hiroshima later in the program. Neyork state went to court today in a bid to dissolve the National Rifle association. The civil suit accuses top of dollars in funds for personal use. The state attorney general says it is a blatant violation of the nras nonprofit status in new york, where the group is incorporat. It is clear that the nra has been failing to i carry o stated mission for many years and instead has operated as a brdinground for greed, abuse, and brazen illegality. Stephanie the nra called the alawsuit a baselesack on Second Amendment rights and President Trump suggested the nra move to texas. New Campaign Fundraising numbers are in and president true and former vesident biden now have almost the same amount of cash to spend. Mr. Trump and the Republican National committee reported taking in 165 million. The biden camoaign and the atic National Committee brought in 140 million. Still to come on the newshour with Judy Woodruff, congress and the whit house struggle to counteract the economic damage inflicted by covid19. An increasing number of School Districts opt for Remote Learning andts challenges. 75 years on, survivors of hiroshima d nagasaki say they are running out of time to pass on their message. And much more. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism ae arizona stat university. Judy a deal on the next Coronavirus Relief package seems far from sight as democrats and impasse on key issues. At a report on where things stand. What do we know at this hour . Hopes for a deal this wk are very dim. There has been no re progress between the two sides in the last 48 hours, though they have continued to meet. It does not sm like any side is giving in on key issues here. In fact, republicans tonight and today said that if there is no deal, they are increasingly considering executive action by President Trump. But it is not clear exactly what President Trump would do. Perhaps he could initiate a mepayroll tax cut of sort, but that is not even popular with all of his senate republicans. Some democrats think the aecutive action idea may bluff. It is not clear. The timeline seems t f be moving awm this week and into a potential bill next week. Republics dont like that, but that seems to be where we are. Ioverall,t is a staring contest at this moment over a dozen different issues. Think about this. These negotiations are probably the largest divide our two partiesave had in terms of dollar figures in modern american history. Rithere may be 2ion apart on what the deal needs to look like. Judy et me ask you to drill down a little on oneue i i know a lot of people care about and that is aid to schools. At is known about thece differthere at this point . It isth wooking at that. Lets talk about the dollar figures. Republicans are proposi democrats rather republicans proposing 90 billion f schools. Democrats have upped what they would like from their original ask and are now requesting 345 billion. They would divide it different ways. Republicanwouldiktwo thirds of that money for k12 schools to go to schools which reopen. Republicans pushing for reopening in someorm. Democrats instead would distribute that money by population. There you see the crux of the impasse right now. Idthe two are divided over dollar figures and over philosophy ovehow to handle the coronavirus and reopening itself. Judy such a frustrating moment and so Many Americans watching these negotiations closely. Thank u. Youre welcome. Judy and now for the trump administrations view of these negotiations we are joined by larry kudlow, the director of the National Economic council. Welcome back to the newshour. We just heard lisa say like a staring contest. There doesnt seem to be any tangible progress. What do you see . Do you see the two sides any closer togetr . Larry well, thanks for having me back, judy. They are negotiating right now as we talk. They are up the hill. Mark meadows, secretary of the treasury steve mnuchin, and the Democratic Leadership, and the republican leadership, both houses, both parties they are talking. Nki tt is fair to say that the tone has probably improved a bit. They are going through a number of list items that divide them to see where compromise is possible. But no, i think tac reporting is rate. I dont think any deals have been made. Has said iws nothing is achieved by friday, we might conceivably walk away from it. That is the trump people might walk away from it. The president has said repeatedly and said again today that he can do a lot of important things on unemployment extensions, on preveing evictions, on a payroll tax cut he can do many things by executivede order for preial fiat. He does not necessarily need thes negotiations. We will see how it turns out. At the moment,t i donhink i have much new to report. Sady let me ask you about with the president ing there. Just to clarify something first of all. We heard lisa say some democrats think the president is just ufng about acting unilaterally. You are saying he is serious . Larry i think he is quite serious. I myself have been engaged in a lot of the drafting of these orde. And particularly the payroll tax cut. Awe are lookithe eviction stuff, student loans, and various unemployment, employment reforms, and possibly added benefits for reemployment. This is a very serious matter. Right now, the lawyers up in the White House Counsels Office are pouring over a payroll tax cut. Ju let me ask you about that. A number of things. On the payroll tax cut, as you know a number of republican oppose this, all the democrats oppose it. Does the president have the authority to cut the payroll tax, which goes to social serity and medicare . Larry yes, of course, but our lawyers think he does have the authority. Pea lot ole have the authority. Certainly, as you know, we have deferred payment of the income tax. In the legislation last march, there was a business side payroll tax holiday. A lot of people thinhe has the payroll tax on the workers side. T think republicans oppo it. I think the issue was rather lukewarm. I think republicans on the hill are looking to put more Economic Growth incentives into a potentiapackage. I think many of them would welcome the payroll tax. It creates a terrific incentive for hiring, for new erloyment, and eople to return back to work. If you tax sething less, you ll get more of it. I think that thought is uppermost in republica minds. Judy i have actually heard several republican senators say they are against it, including a believe the majority leader mitch mcconnell. About his Unemployment Benefits. The president mentioned he able to e might be something by executive order. How would he do that . Where would the money comerom . I know there is some unspent money from what was passed in the ring. Is that with the white house is looking at . Larry there may be some purposed thing of unspen funds, judy. I cant say. Im not a lawyer. They are combing through a number of things. I dont want to give awawa i don to negotiate here. Im just saying it is something we are worried about, rst of look, the economy is doing much, much better. We all still believe in the vshaped recovery. Have very good news today on unemployment claims dropping again. We have seen a housing boom, afa mauring boom. Inventories at rock bottom. It looks to us like a selfsustaining recovery, but there is still hardshihere is still heartbreak as we deal with the virus. And we want to make sure at people have a good, constructive unemployment pn with, i might add, added benefits for returning to work. Esore looking at all that carefully. Judy well, just to clarify, this is the 20th straight week when over one million americans have filed for Unemployment Benefits. Over 33 millionlomericans have their jobs. So for you to say the economy ib doingter, i think that needs to be in perspective. But i do want to ask you, are you saying there is money that was appropriated that you are saying that the white use believes that he could then tscreate unemployment bene 600 a week . Which is whatunas flowing up l last week. Larry i dont want to put numbers on it. Ani dontto give away any of the drafts. He is looking at v carefullying along with the evictions and along with the payroll tax and along with some student loan breaks, as well. These are all part of what our council is looking at, treasury, and ec, omb. T i just w say one thing. I appreciate the context of the jobs. As i said, there is still a good deal of hardship out there. However, jobs have come back by nearly 8 million in the last couple of month unemployment claims have fallen igsubstantially from the of this winter and a lot of people have gone back to work. Some of that was because of a bipartisan rescue package last march, which really helped the jobs story and helped deal with the virus. Unfortunately, we cant seem to find any more bipartisanship. And tha is a problem which is leading the president to act on his own. Judy but im sure you dont deny that until there is a vaccine, until there is some in sight right now, many Small Businesses wl remain closed. Businesses are just not operating anymore as they cant employ people. Larry if ien may, youon inordinate amount of money on vaccine research. Right now, there are six or seven companies that are in stage three, phase 3 of a vaccine. Judy corrected larry it may come before the end of the yea so im really proud of that and hopeful and prayerful that we can get this done. Judy i know everyone shares that hope. And that prayer just quickly, on the divide on schools, as you know, the republican proposal is to make two thirds of that mon contingent on schools being physically open, in class experience. Fa lot of teachers, a lot parents just are not prepared to send their children back to why have a punitive approach in terms of giving money to schools . Larry look, we have offered over 100 billion. So many groups have divisions like anyone else, but so many groups of doctors and experts and psychologists and psychiatrists have said the very best thingor our kids is to get them back to school. There may be some mix that is acceptable in terms of in the school as well asmp by er, butno, we think the ohtrwhelming wef the evidence is what is good for the kids, k12 in school. Get them back to by the way, it has Economic Impact and a lot of parents cant afford additional care at home. From an educationalnd sint, from a psychological standpoint, so many professional groups have said, get those kids back to school. Judy and in just a few words, how long is President Trump prepared to wait before he asked loon acts unilaterally . Larry i will let him make that decision. I appreciate coming on t i will say he is working very hard at it and we are looking at judy larry kudlow with the council of ecomic advisers. Thank you very much. Judy many schools, speaking of schools, around the count have decided to start the school year with distance learning. In some cases, School Districts have reversed course in the past few weeks. Williams branghaming to look at the dilemmas that School Districts, teachers, parents, and Public Officials are all facing in two states. First, lets hear from teachers who have been grappling with their own ugh choices. This was produced by our student reporting teams. Our school has really ambitis plans right now. Th decid to use a hybrid. There is a plan for us to go back in person and a plan for students to take classes online. It is ambitious and a little scary right now. I love my career, i want to go back to the classroom. I just want it to be a safe classroo this is historic. Weve nev had a school year like this. So the challenges are going to range from my own childca to my own health to my Mental Health to the students Mental Health and just actually learningnd engaging and feeling thathis year is productive. My husband has heart disease. I really worry about bringing the virus home. So i have really had to think abousi what de would make if we do the back in person. N mighteed to take a year off teaching. That has been tough. I have thyroidssues. Which complicates everything. There are so manyhings you have to become conscious of in the situation now. Fuching your face. It is kind ofstrating. It is a concern i have. Nobody is going to be doing anythingrong. There are a lot of people saying we shouldnt go back to school, we should go back to school. What i know is that education earthquake for a very long time. I think that we need to learn from this time and fundamentally change, make it more equitable, make it better for everybody. Ur county released a 16page docume to the teachers about a week ago. T was released to the community and it was over 20 pages at that pnt. There is a lot of debate between the county and the families and the teachers union. Teaching in a remote world is hard. Like many educators, ive been working 1012 hour days preparing classes for online. A point of difficulty is student engagement. En school is not in person, when you are not physically with theaids, it is hard to buil relationship, it is hard to get them cnected. The other big concern i have is student accountability. E district at this policy were no student was allowed t lsubmit anythis than a b. We had countless students that further. Applied themselves a lot of our students do have orcioeconomic that makes it difficult oftenhem to have access to the internet. I dont know how its gonna luck. That is so hard to just say. I dont know. I as a teacher and teachers in general are flexible and adaptable and will make it work no matter what happens a we just got to keep the students right in front of us. I think the best possible thing to hopeor is that my students know that i care for them and that im there for them even if im not physically in the classroom. That i care that they have an education, even if that education is different. I dont know what else we ca do other than say this is the pplan for right w now andn the plans change, i will let you know. This is a situation we cant control. If we can give ourselves grace and we can model to oustudents resiliency, we are going to be ok. Its not going to be perfect, but were going to take care of each other. I hope we go back to school safe, sound, and healthy, and that this becomes part of our history. That we are able to tell people about someday. William some of those hopes and concerns that you just heard are part of the reason why School Districts nationwide are changing course. In indianapolis, families anden students have told they would soon be returning to in earthen teaching. Cthnged last thursday when officials announcedll class work will be done virtually at least until october. To help m us understae about that decision, im joined by the superintendent of indianapolis public schools. Superintendent com a nice to ha you on the newshour. Help us understand what you s going on in yourommunity that made you want to say, weve got to change course. Sur thanks for having me. The decision really for usdo cae to what we saw happening in our community more broadly. We kw and understand that schools are not in bubbles, are we are a part of the greater community. We were concerned that we saw the positivity rates in our Community Going up and not coming down. We are really concerned about what that meant in terms of the impact iwould have on our students and families returning to school with a pretty high adrate of spt this point. William so you see theirus spreading in your community at levels you did not like and you say, we are not going to be in person, we are going to go virtual. That changes what the teachers have to do. Howhe does respond to this change in course . We had said in je that we were going to return in person, so our educators were getting but we also said we were going to be w responsive to wh happening in terms of the health they were certainl ready to take that step. They have been able to do there has been overall a feeling of belief, of knowing that we are concerned about the safety of our staff and students for most and that theyn e situation where they can teach comfortably and safely for the time being. William how is that received by the parents . Evas a parent myselfy parent wants their child to be safe when they go to school, but it is very hard to hold down a job if your kids are still at home. How did they take this decision . Thais one of the things th is heaviest imy mind during this time. Inethat in making a recommendation to go fully virtual to our board, our board thsigning in and agreeing that, you cant deny the fact that that creates a burden for woing families who now need to make our decisions. So, on one hand, we had a number of parents be very supportive of that decision and again feel good about the district position on keeping students and staff burden on a number of ourre is a working families who are having to make otherccommodations for their children. That is incredibly challenging and hard. Willia a lot of students and a lot of parents and a lot of teachers would acknowledge that the distance arning this last around was difficult. There was a lot of steep involved. Curve for everybody improve we try this againl in the fall . I think we have h, first of all, more time. During the last severalee, we have planned for the possibility of being all virtual, which we knew was going to be a potential scenario, even as we were planning for the other ways in which students might be learning. For us, we were not a one device per Student School district in march, so m we hadture of devices for High School Students , paper and pencil for which obviously makes it quite challeing to have live instruction, realtime instruction happening. We are now a 121 district. Every studenwill have a vice. We have a number of hotspots for ilen who need internet access, but at least we have the fundamental tools avail ale we have been engaging with our teachers, who aed not trao teach fully in a virtual environment. A lot of professional development to make sure they are comfortable andin thi about the ways in which their instruction shifts from in person to that viral environment. I know we will havbumps along the way. We will all be navigating these new experiences together. But we feel much more prepared now prior to march, when we sort of had to flip everything on a dime. William t w will it take to you feel confident that you can bring kids back into school . We are talking regularly with the director of our local parlic health dent. Taking her guidance under consideration, obviously. As a district, we look at the 5 positivityr rate o14day period being that average of 5 as an important indicator for us to know that we can morey saf return students into our classrooms, into our schools. We are really committed to making sure until we get to that point that we have a high ality virtual experience, learning environment for our studen to have. Inlliam all right, the superintendent oanapolis public schools, good luck and thank you very much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. William speaking of schools and difficult decisions, we wanted to widen ourocus to lo at another state dealing with a serious outbreak. Mississippi is one of the nations worst hotspots and has been for several weeks. Its among the worst in the country when it comes to confirmed cases perpe 100,000 le and it has very high positive test rates. Hospitalizations and deaths ar also up. O days ago, the governor issued a statewide mandate on Wearing Masks in public places. Im joined by dr. Thomas hobbes, mississippis chief health officer. Thank you for being here. Weve just heard from the superintendent in indianapolis about the difficulty are having opening schools. I know a few days ago youaid you were urging mississippi schools not to open and you said ses would soar even more if they did. How did that message go over . You know, i think it went over well. It does reflect a lot of peoples concern in our state about opening schools and t concept of having such High Community ansmission. It is not something other places have tried to open in person clses kids who are going to have it coming in. We hav learned pretty quickly we do have a School System that has a really good plan. They do have onlinoptions. 80 80 5 of the kids coming in person. In theirst week or so, we had eight cases. Ghnot cases transmitted among kids, but there is so much out there in the community, when you bring these folks in, they are just going to bring it in with them. William i know that the governor had said he would close or ask schools in certain particul hotspots in mississippi to close, but did not want to try to ask them statewide to do the same. Do youhe wish had taken your advice and asked all schools to go remotely initi in mississip, we do defer a lot of authority to the local we ha districts, bu spoken with the Different School boards across the state. Ive personally recommended the delay in Person School openingl and we w sending out additional conversations with them to try to make sure that they feel strongly to Delay School Opening of possible. M will as we are learning more abouthis vis and how it spreads, teamshat indoor owes contact between indivi vals is w thus gets around. Bars, restaurant gyms. A lot a of them open in mississippi still. Why are those places still ope in your state . Ig there areficant restrictions and i think a lot of them make a lot of sense with the bs. Essentially, you can only serve a drink in a restaurant style. We do have a reduced capacity at 50 . It might could be lower, but but to be honest, when we invigate the cases and ive been investigating them personally to have that personal sort of conversation with people to see where they are getting it , mostly where people are getting coronavirus are getting coronavirus rs social events thatpuall outside othic sphere. It is going to be a wedding sher, it is going to be a Birthday Party for 15 people, it is going to be a funeral. It is going to be a few people went out for drinks. The big one we are seeing his faly gettogethers among extended familyen and the ed family gets together. When people let their guard down and social circumstances indoors and outdoors, that is where we see our greatest vulnerability. William we have also heard a good deal of concern about hospitals bein able to take care of a surge of cases. How ar the hospitals in mississippi doing and the icus . S. It is a str it has been very difficult to maintain capacity. We have been working very and they have donetasticsystems job of creating new intensive scarece. We have almost 400 Covid Patients in intensive care in context of a Health System that had very little flexibility or Surge Capacity and hospital space anyway. They have donejoeally a great what we are heading up at the brim. We need the community to focus on limiting transmission, we are very excited to have a statewide mask mandate. We do notice,ic as puealth folks have more compliance, but it is going to say take some sustained focus with the simple measures space, a mask, small groups, or no b groupsore we are really going to have it under control. William thank you ver much and good luck out there. Thank you for having me. Dy as we mentioned earlier, today marks 75 years since the atomic bombing of hiroshima. Another blast h nagasaki three ys later. More than 200,000 japanese died in the two attacks. Horrifying an told and retold by survivors through the years. The youngest of them are today in their late 70s and 80s. Now, a g youngeration is trying to ensure that ose memories are not lost. Special correspondent grace l in hiroshima has the story. [applause] in a room full of his peers, this 17yearold asks an important question. He learned about the horror from his great uncle, a survivor of the hiroshima bombing who lost his eyesight due to the blast. I often go to his house and hear testimony. H now,is sharing that testimony with his High School Ace studies class, a regular part of the curriculum for many scols of hiroshima, different than the rest of japan. One High Schools Program was developed by the vice principal. My father was a bomb victim. Im secondgeneration. The japanese word for survivors of the atomic bombings. Thumbers dwindling, the race agnst time to preserve their memories has been a rallying cry for young people in hiroshima. I would like to do something that i s can keep theirries for the future. Some to do just that. Ways students are working with Virtual Reality under the watchful eye of their teacher. They let me experience the project firsthand. With a headset and earphones, im transported to hiroshima in 1945 before the city was bombed. We want people to know what happens when Nuclear Weapons are used. We want themt to think ab using it to attack others, but nobody thinks about what it is like to have a bomb exploded right above your head. Studentser understand that message, especially when they are able to stand right on top of ground zero. There is a park now, but the sight of the bombg used to be town. Pei ho that by knowing that town existednd seeing it through, vr people will be able to f ol the realithe atomic mbing. It is awful to see it play so beautiful thatould be turned into a pile of rubble like that. It happens in a second. There is a blinding light, everything is destroyed. The student seemed to show their project to as many survivors as possible in hopes of creating a more accurate version of a rebombing hiroshima. Education about the bomng starts as ely as Elementary School in hiroshima. This Elementary School tells the story on its own. Located about a third of a mile away from the bombingscpicenter, thols west wing was the only structure left standing after august to 6, 1945. It was used as a relief station for survivors. This part of the school is now a museum. Several of its walls served as Message Boards for victims trying to reach loved ones. This is a note from one teacher to another saying a badly burned student undergoing treaent has become orphaned students here make paper cranes every year for the museum. They are sina symbols of hope after the bbing. Students knowenbout what ha here. They learn about it in peace studies. Hiroshima archive is another massive feet. It gathers messages to put them on a digital archive. U if take a look here, you can see where they were on that day. You can see their testimony. At that moment, there was a flash as if someone had lit a huge amount of magnesium on fire and the house was blasted to eces. For a moment, i thought our house was hit directly withn incendiary bomb, but when i looked around, the whole city wastr ded and i saw people covered in gray ash standing on the street corners. It was like seeing a scene from hell. This year, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the bombing have been scaled back due to covid19. For survivors, the pandemic has been a difficult time. When i saw a pile of dead bodies of the covid19 victim, that remindede m of what i experienced in hiroshima 75 years ago. She still remembers vividly what it was like when the bomb hit her hometown. It happened in the morning. It was dark like twilight. Situation. S got used to the i started seeing some moving dark objects. Sand that a procession of injured people. Theyre parts of the bodies were almissing, the hair wa burned and standing up. Hanging down, off the bones. They were bleeding, burnt, blkened, and swollen. And activist and a leading figure for thenternational campaign to abapish nuclear s. Her advice to young people, reach out to local politicians. Get in touch with them, k let thw how you feel. I think you deserve a decent future waiting for you. Your lives are just starting. Yodeserve better. Her message is well received in hiroshima, where the next generation has already been plantingheir seed. They are passing away a lot yearbyyear, so we should keep this memory, this idea for a long time. And the generation after that is well on their way. I would like to spread in countries what happened in hiroshima and knock a sake. On august 6, 19 45, 100 50,000 lives were lost in hiroshima. Three days later, another 75,000 ople were lled in nagasaki. 75 years have passed, but their deaths are still fresh in the minds for many here every summer. And every year, new voices are speaking out on their behalf. For the pbs newshour, im greatly in hiroshima grace lee in hiroshima. Judy businesses hit by the ecndemic haveved hundreds of billions of dollars in loans since the Paycheck Protection Program open f applications about four months ago. But as our economics correspondent discovered, accessing that funding has been a challenge for Business Owners with a criminal rerd. This report is part of our new series searching forusce. I went to prison for a murder. I was charged with murder in the second degree. I was charged with killing my abuser. Ior was incarcerated selling crack cocaine. Paul among them, more than four decades behind bars. But since coming home, successful entrepreneurs. Dante thomas runs a oneman personal training business in new jersey. I would train them for a dollar a day inside and that is how i got good. I started learning more about the body. Island about nutrition supplements. I get goo at my craft. I can utilize it when i go home. Every day iould study 12, 1 hours a day. Yamiche released in paul released in 2017, his team chisel built up to almost 40 clients. This man began worng on the cleaning crew in the hospital. I know aut pathogens, bloodborne, pathogens, cleani sanitizing. X months after i got home, i saw an opportunityf building a cleaning company and i created a company and got the email of the Building Owner and emailed him and wat isn we got our first contract. Paul his jade janitorss cle office buildings, tv studios, and restaurants. Exconvicts. Or pool, same for Sharon Richardson, whot launched j soul catering after she got out. We hire women to come and work with us so they donhave to feel that stigma or feel judged about bei incarcerated. That is not something i asked. I justyo need to know, ca cook . Can you work with a you love people . Paul they think that those who have done hard time. They come with a passion. We ust want to be accepted. They are resourcefu loyal, they are gogetters. They go the extra mile. Ree vast majority a looking for a second chance. Paul dante thomas says a lot of convicted felons have Serious Business skills, however illgotten. Like he did dealing crack. It was wrong, but it taught me how to be a businessman today. I had to deal with numbers. Im employing people because of the way of what i was doing in the streets myself. Paul sweve got felons who turned their skills into plowshares, excons whose higher unemoyment rate is seven times the average. Driving entrepreneurs who seem rehabilitated. The pandemic cost thomas most of his clients. Richardsons income plummeted. Like hundreds of thousands of others, they turned to the paycheck protectio program or ppp. There was one not small problem. The Small Business administraons ppp four masked about applicants criminal status. Facing charges, on probation or pale, convicted or pleaded guilty to a felony in the past five years, it even asked about pretrial diversion. If the answer was yes to any of these, sba application denied. It is like, thats where the heart drops. Right when i clicked yes, the computeruswent gray and i could not hit next and i realized that means i dont qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program. Paul were you surprised . Yes. I built m Company Since i came home from prison. Mypa tng dollars and those of my employees are helping to support others through this time, but why couifnt we qu paul Sharon Richardson applied for multiple loans. I never heard from them. To be honest, it did cross my hearing from them because they did a background check on m and realized, formerly incarcerated individual and alike, we areot giving this loan to her. Paul not even to those just facing misdemeanor charges. Not getting loans or jobs has long been a barrier f x inmates. Literally tens of thousands of laws in the u. S. Still stand in their ways. They managed to start a business, they are employingop other. Prison entrepreneurship program. Why does it make sense to prevent them from gettingy very opportun a Business Owner . They are paying taxes, paying ges. Paul in june, the sba changed the applicion language. Now, the aylication o asks about current felony charges and besides certain financial crimes about felony convictions, guilty pleas, and parole, or probation going back just one year. I dont knowca how the up with that to be the rule. I have no idea. Obviously, they had no idea either so they changed it. Paul tr why the rtions in the first place . We asked and spokesperson declined to comment. For Sharon Richardson, the application change was vital. Shreapplied and got her loan and has been cooking for essential workers, hospitals, and new residents ever since. He successfully reapplied. He has pivoted to sanitation against covid and his business is actually growing. Dante thomas has tried everything. We aint giving up. No excuses. Paul facebook and zoom training, selling team chisel i havent even looked back into it. Iscouraged me from filin every time you go back, you think you are getting second chance, but it is always what you are getting in the past. Paul it turned out he had no idea the application had changed. Let me be the first to tell you you should reapplyha because thy changed the rules. Ok, i will definitely look at it now. Paul and maybe he will be back in business. For the pbs newshour, i am paul solman. Judy the signs of systemi a racism oftenear in small, daily actions. Author dawn turner n ares her opin why the incidents that dont make headlines should be examined, too. My nephew, who is black, is 22 years old and 69. He has been stopped by the police twice for mor traffic violations. When he was asked to step out of his car, hes did so with t warning. Im getting out, but i want you to know that im really tall. In both cases, the officers smiled, taking in his height. My nephew breathed a sigh of relief. Both encounters were good on. Yet we, his family, worry. What hpens if he runs into an office ornwilling to give him the benefit of the doubt, one who simply wants to cut him dn to size . Black people know that there are good Police Officers there. We want to believe that there are only a few bad apples, but imprinted on our brains are decadespon decades of painful images of encounters with the police. Officers sicking dogs on protesters, rodney king being beat, engulfed in a flurry of batons. In the cell phone era, videos of men, women, and children dying at the hands of police. We know that there are good officers,ut we are terrified of the police not only because of the ones who inflict lethal harm, but because of the ones who intimidate, who humiliate, who wielded their power in ways that may not cause injury, but are harmful nonetheless. Thosetho live in the tough zip codes need both most. Even though we know there are go Police Officers,hey are not the ones we imagine when we sit our children down and t give them tk. They are not the ones we contemplate even in ourost desperate moments when we have to decide whether our desperation is worth dialing 911. That is because we are unsure answer. Pe of officer will we pray for the day when we encounter the police and wont have to worry about our height, our hoodie, our hair, our hands, or our blackness. For giving us that to think you about. That is the newshour for tonight. Ooim judyuff. Join us online and again here tomorrow. For all of us, thank you, plee stay safe, and we will see you soon. By[captioning performehe national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] major funding has been provided by the womens suffrage centennial. Offering 100 years of the 19th amendment. The forward into light campaign. Learn more. Since our beginning, our business has been peoplena and their ial wellbeing. That mission gives us purpose f and a wward. Today and always. Consumer cellular. Johnson johnson. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. Re the ap sloan foundation. Driven by the promise of great ideas. And with the ongoing supportu of these insons. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible broadcasting and byr public contributions to your pbs station fromiewers like you. Thank you. This is pbs newshour west fromneta studios in washingto and from our bureau at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State univsity. Here is a french tart, fully dressed in a glittering diadem of apple slices. And here in the wings is a simple, innocent, mysteriously light and buttery shell that supports it. Were making french tarts, apple style, today on the french chef. theme music playing