Spectacle of the first president ial debate hein cleveland, ohio. The candidates couldve chosen provide some spiration or guidance, quantities in short supply in the strange and difficult year. Instead, ignited by a bellicose President Trump, the night nt devolveda meanspirited shouting match that would not be tolerated in a middle school mock debate unprofessional, unpresident ial, anabfrequently unlistle, this debate was so profoundly troubled, that thcommission on president ial debates that it will change the rmat before the next one. And with just about a month until election day, most counties will start mailing out ballots to all registered voters in california next week. Joining me now by skype from San Francisco is omkqed newssenior editor of government of politics, mayor canning also joining me is government and politics reporter, guy marzorati. Scott, lets start with you. This has been another whirlwind week , yet were not talking about how much trump did not pay in taxes, his supreme courto nominee, were talking about the debate. Not yet, at least. Were starting off with how he says he and dythe first have contracted the coronavirus. How do you see this playing out in his campaign, and particularly in battleground states like wisconsin, which has seen some of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the nation . This was a shocker. I dont think anybody saw it coming, but given the present rarely wears a mask and is en often in groups of people who arent wearing masks, maybe it should not have been a surprise this happened. But it dihell get has upended the campaign with you know, just a little over a month ago. Peg le are already puttin many parts of the country. And really, how this affects the Campaign Going forward really i think depends on the course of his disease. Is he going to get sicker . Is he going to get so ck hes incapacitated in some way . That is what happened to Boris Johnson in great britain, so it really depends. Right now, there are hereports getting some sort of experimental treatment for fatigue. Thats not a good sign because immediately, we know he does have symptoms. He is 74 years old and overweight, so people will be hi wa this very carefully. In terms of the impact in places like wisconsin, you know, he wanted to go to wisconsin this week, and the mayor of la crosse, wisconsin begged him not to because the numbers of cases there are going up through the roof, the last thing they want is a erbig gag, so i think this is going to bring home, obviously make a focus of health care covid, t, covid pandemic and the way he has handled this. He sort of a victim of his own s sloppind refusal to listen to experts and scientists. Ilike to turn now to the president ial debate that happened earlier inthe week. President trump seemed to send a chilling message when he said, quote, proud boysbastand and stand by. Words which were immediately prlebrated by white acists on social media. And the president later said that he had used those words to encourage this group, which he saides not know who they are, but he used rdthose to encouraged them to not interfere with law enforcement. Scott, what rt of impact did this language ha on the race . Well, keep in mind theres a relatively small number of undecided voters at this point. Very unusual, and so i think people who are up for grabs, the voters who perhaps voted for trump four years ago, they are a little bit on the fence, im buthinking now an women in particular are really going to be turned off by this sort of thing. This is not what th want to hear from the commander in chief , and it has happed time and time again. I dont think the word racist is too strong to describe at the very least his actions and his comments, and so i think in that sense it does refocus the prfolem that hes had four years now in addressing this very radical, rightwing part of his base and refusing toco emn them, so i do think on the margins, it is going to hurt improbably with voters who are upin the air or perhaps were leaning toward biden pick i think its going to push them a little furthein that direction. Guy, with the language presented during the debate, did you feel either candidate was reaching more towards undecided voters are more towards encouraging their base . Tuhere a conscy they are aiming for . Interestingly enough, i felt the president spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to appeal to Joe Biden Space when he talked abs t bidecord in criminal justice and some laws he authored in the 90sev. When he spent the entire vote by mail section kind of talking about the false claims that to theres goinbe widespread vote by mail fraud. I think the audience for that was really may be unlikely li voters oral voters, and just trying to generally discourage people through misinformation about the voting process, ultimately brg wn turnout. During the debate, President Trump pointed to his accomplishments in shifting the american judiciary to the right , and id like to listen to that for a moment. And i will tell you something took some people tell meofy the end the first term, i will have approximately 300 federal judges and court of appeals dges. 300, and hopefully 3 grurt supreme dresses. Justices. That is a record the likes of which very few people , and you know one of the reasons i will have so many judges . Reporter whether or not he wins the election, his gacy is going to be felt in the courts for many years to come. Is is one coof the stones of his campaign, along with economic progress, economic growth, and how is it sonating . This is exactly wh his basee , angelical voters, wanted him to do. Remember in 2016 toward the end of the campaign, he came up li with a. There were people who did not feel convinced he was actually a conservative. He used to be prochoice, and he was not alwa but he came up with a list of judges from which he would choose for the courts, including supreme court, and he has stuck to that, and hes right. He has a historic number of appoinow sitting at the District Court level, the Appeals Court level, and perhaps two or three on the supreme court. So that is a record and legacy thatngwill last beyond him, whether or not he gets reelected in november, so it is certainly a promise made ked promised, which is of great consternation to democrats and people who care about thissues thatcould come before the supreme court, for example the Affordable Care act which will be heard right after the elecon, week after the election, and is at risk of being struck down that would people who are currently relying on health care from the Affordable Care act, and the list gs on. Womens right choose, so on. He is right. The thing is i dont think that that is his base that cares a mout that. Guy, lets turn to ilin ballots, which has started to be sent out and will continuehe overcoming weeks. You have been doing reporting specifically on this. What have you learned about how california state officials are insuring the integrity of the voting process here in california, and perhaps you can broaden that out to tell us he about battleground states as well. Here in california, were expecting a historic participation in vote by mail wegosa poll this from the Berkeley Institute of governmental studies that found 78 of california voters are planning to vote by mail, how are officials preparing for that . On the front end, its a lot of encouragement to get llots in early. They are going to be allowed to stark counin balotelli, prepthe four final counts, not releasing or finalizing any accounting till election day put that the key difference with other states, where ballots are pretty much going to beuntouched until election day ticketwhite in many states, many swing states, you might see a longer vote count. The issue in california, its whnot voter fraud it come to vote by mail. Its the issue of rejected ballots,and i would be because a ballot postmarked too late or maybe theres an issue with the signature. There is with electi officials are trying to get around that. On the front in, itsreally saying to voters if youre going to headin or phthalates, close to election day, use the dropbox book do not use the usps. There could be a longer time frame of delivery. When it comes to issues of signatures, the socalled si curing process of atures, theres going to be opportunities for Election Officials after election day to reach out to voters if they forgot to sign their ballots, if theyve an incorrect signature, to try to get that and make sure their vote is counted. Scott, listen to voter measures in the state, specifically prop 15 that takes aim at the old paprop 13 ed in 1978, which looks at how property taxes are pegged, basically. Property taxes would be pegged at inthe purchase for a house. Now, theres a new prop on the , which takes aim at a is prop portion of the people impacted by prop 13, and it says its only for commercial landlords who have 3 million or more in holdings. How is this being receivre . Is ta chance it will pass . There is a chance it will pass. s been hovering ght around 50 which is what it needs in a couple of polls in the past couple of weeks. Prop 15 would bethe first major change to prop 13, which was 42 years ago. What it would do is creali a role. Something that democrats and liberals have wanted for a long time. Prop 13 was sold as a way to help seniors stay in their homes because property taxes were really at the whim asof locassors, and they were going up really quickly in the late 1970s, and corporations have benefited tremendously ei from this because taxes are based on the purchase price. Those properties dont turnov very much. Is a loophole that allows them to avoid triggering a reassessment. Prop 15 would reassess all those corporate properties, and would generate between 6 1 2 to 11 a half billion dollars a year in new revenue that would go 60 to local governments, 40 to the schools. Is this is, e t surprising, opposed. They say this is the runtime to raise taxes, but labor unions and a long list of democrats, including joe biden, governor gavin newsom, Kamala Harris or supporting a. Guy, lets turn to another prop being watched across the nation, prop 22, related to gig workers bill can you tell us wh it is and its chances of passing . This was to gig workers specifically working fo company like uband lyft. He would basically accept those companies from state law and allow them to clwosify these ers as independent contractors instead of employees becoming uber and lyft would not have to pay on employment surance, workers comp, but they say they are unsuccessful in getting this measure passed, they would have to raise prices, drivers losing inflexibility, and haviewers probably seen the yes on 22 commercial purposes already the most expensive baot Measure Campaign in california history. Scott, talk about Governor Newsom signing some criminal justice legislation this week which includes a ban on the use of choke hold in the state that what elses in this package . Probably thst important one is ab 1506 with advocates the root cryer dement of attorney general to the independent investigation of Deadly Police shootings of unarmed civilians but that is something Kamala Harris opposed , Xavier Becerra po, but the governor signed up there were number bills that died in the legislature to restrict rubber bullets, further up oper police records, and it died at the end of august because theris a lack of time and a lot of opt sition from law enforcem groups. The university of utah has confirmed today they will still host the Vice President of the bait sr next week. Guy, what are you going to be watching for as you view this debate . What should be we were watcng at home . Its been interesting to see President Trump despite all his law and order talk also attacked joe biden for his tough on crime policies on the 90s. It will be interesting to see if mike pencgo after mala harris is career as a prosecutor . Hes more of a traditional republican. I dont know how wthl go, but well see. Is for kamala hathis will be the biggest audience shes had just got to press the case for joe biden anbe seenas someone plausible who could become president of the United States if that need were to arrive. Shegot to be edible as a commander in chief. Scott shafer, guy marzorati, thank you both so much. Yre welcome. As firefighte continue to battle blazes that have burned millions of acres , californ investigation by kqed and calmatters found roughly 2 Million People aged 65 and older live in areas ria high for wildfires that the investigation also revealed that wildfires are a significant hazard for more thanrs third of g homes and other longterm care facilities in california. State law requires the facility to he emergency plans and conduct training in fire state regulators is scarce. Emergency plans are a big question mark, leaning foldsele ors potentially exposed to Deadly Wildfires joining me now by skype or the lead others of the older and overlooked investigative se science reporter Molly Peterson and kqed senior producer and data journalist, lisa pickoff white. Laes, thank you both fo joining us molly, what prompted this investigation . Two things. Reporters have been lookinat the risks and hazards associated with wildfire over the last several years. We have thought about whuie people, what kind of requirements are around weldon ban interfaces. Course, naturally that leads to who lives arin these s and whos at risk and how we protect them. Before that, i lived in louisiana after katrina, d i covered this very big nursing home to see esther saint ritas nursg of disaster wher people drowned in floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. We have had more climate driven disasters in the last decade and half, and in california that is certainly true th wildfires. Ive been thinking about this intersection of climate getting worse and growing elder population in california. The data stwas not there to be simply. Up. This is something you needed to dig into. Lisa, can you tell us about that process . When molly came to me well over a yearago to talk about this project, i was really excited because we knew the first thing we needed wato do seewere wildfire was a significant hazard in california, and so we worked with large team do that. We also worked with Health Reporter april them bousquet, later we brought in someone who worked at calmatters and now the Washington Post whose a mapping expert. One created by the state, and another created by scientists. We looked at those maps, then we looked at where facilities are, and veere people in california. Combining all of that together, we were ab to see about a third of these longterm facilities and about a third of people 65 and older, that isll2 n people 65 and older in california, who are living in these fire prone areas. And so an example of that right now, molly, youve been reporting on the ass fire have you had a chance to talk with residents and people that ofd been part the investigation earlier to follow up with them . Earlier this week, we saw all older folks leaning on walkers and canes and slumps in chairs outsiterans in santa rosa. We saw these buses driving through these embers. Late at night on sunday night. Weve been following up with facilities in the santa rosa ea to see how the have evacuated, how they were prepared, what they thought they were going todo if they had to evacuate not to one location but possibly to two if the fire spreha. A chance to speak to jerry canaday, a 68yearold man who originally just saved his own life after the tubbs fire by waking up in his coffee park home aland walking outside to the sound of, you know, trees snapping and these chunks of ash flying through the air. He is now evacuated four times. Hes a senior, 68 years old. Lisa, there are multiple obstacles that get in the way of improving safety at somee of senior care facilities, one of those obstacles is the demand for the services. And you talk us to the demographics of seniors in californiaand why that gets in the way . Wyatt bumps up against the safety protocols . Yeah, we r shifts occurring at the same time. We have increasing climate change, which is making fires worse when they happen and lymo lito. We also have an aging population. There are more seniors in california currently been in florida, and towere expecting see a doubng of older people in california in the next decade pretty soon, well have p a pretty high tion of people who are older in our state. At the same time, we have housing problemsthat arng chanhere people live, and we also need beds for these people. You know, on one hand, were talking about how a lot of these facilities are in dangerous areas, but on the other hand as our population ages, we also need Skilled Nursing facilities and Residential Care facilities where people can ligo and safely. Molly, what percentage of seniors are currently living in Skilled Nursing home facilities . Itl a relatively sm percentage of seniors who live in longterm care facilities, including both the Skilled Health care faci s which are regulated by the California Department of Public Health and the longterm care facilities caed assisted living informally, which are regulated by the California Department of social services. Its just around 4 of seniors. But thats hundreds of d thousands of beds people around the state. Can you tell us about the state rules and regulations they nee to follow, ev though the facilities may be slightly different . Well, so the assisted living facilities, there was this very dramatic abandonment of seniors in 2017 ads arena and villa capri in santa sa. And that incident prompted increased scrutiny on these residential communities for the elrly, regulated by the department of social seices. Now, those facilities have to have keys for transport available to all staff. They need to have more training for staff. They need to have thevgs caught uation chairs, which help people get downstairs who have limited mobility. And they have to have two evacuation destination, and that is all as a result of the state built ab 3098. Of those state laws apply to the assisted living facilities. The increased scrutiny on Emergency Preparedness comes at the federal level and is really originating with those incidents i talked abouat the beginning in Hurricane Katrina and on the gulf coast since then. There are some rules and lareons in place. Lisa, what is keeping these rules from being enforced . It erseems like s not enough regulatory oversight, and sometimes these facilities get to keep operating despite having violations. Yes. Its very rare for facility to be closed by thstate, and its also incredibly rare for them to be fined. In villa capri for instance which molly was talkg about which is the facility where residents, the States Residents were over 100 residents abandoned that facility in another thfacility duringtubbs fire. They actually have paid no fines of those two facility did me out to about 10,000, and thats about what someone, about a months rent could run up to that amount for an individual. When we talked to state regulators, they say they need make sure at facilities stay open, that theres enough beds for seniors out there. When we talk to advocates, ththough, they say think regulators need to have more teeth, that if companies can just get a ap on thwrist, pay the fine, and move on, they dont really have a reason to change what they are doing. Molly, you mentioned seniors are not all living in these facilities. Why is it that so many seniors seem to still choose to live in extremely fi prone areas ch as San Luis Obispo . What we have seen with where seniors livean, we did a pretty basic analysis of using census data. Lisa was in charge of that. Is that seniors are choosing, making the same choices we all are choosing, to live in risky areas. Its a statewide problem, and seniors are no different than anyone else. Lisa, would you like to add to that . Like molly said, when we did the assessmeab, we found t a 30 californians live in fire prone areas, and seniors were simila when we talk to experts about that, they said they would hope seniors would live in less fire prone areas, that they would be attenuated to that risk. However, theres a lot of reasons for why people live where they live. I mean, you might havegrown up in an area. You might think a place is really beautiful and want to live t pre. Sople also say that housing may be a part of this. For instance, we have seen areas of calirnia where there is some cheaper housing. In the Sacramento Valley area and part of the crsa lot more of the older population is growing at an increased rate concern to oer areas of lifornia as well. But its difficult to pin down one reason about why people live where they do. So molly, inaddition tothe fire emergency and fire danger that these facilities have to plan for, they are also not dealing with the pandemic. How has the coronavirus impacted the planng for fire evacuations . Well, i should say that certain at the federal level, the Emergency Preparedness rule that ruires them to epare for fires would also require them to prepare for a pandemic, to prepare for flooding, to acprepare for an ve shooter situation or a mountain lion. I met one facility manager, ray beaudoin, who works for sequoiah living wmanages three Northern California properties, and he had a binder going through all these things with the pandfeic specifically, ion control has always been a concern at skilled rs g facilities. For us its a living, were talking about a new level of training where people have had to implement new controls and new practices. In what is essentially not a alth care facility, so is just an additional burden on a system where we see that staffing is constantly a problem. Lisa, what kindof concerned Family Member do to help make sure their parent or grandparent in one of these facilities is safe . Well, the most important thing you can do is ask questions. Facilities are supposed haveyoplans, and are allowed to see them. Molly wrote a guide you can use that has questions we suggest e you ask facility. We suggest you call them up. If you have a loved one who lives independentl its also realportant that that person knows when to evacuate. Weve also talked to some committee organizers. There is other groups as well where people have set a buddy system ople, where someone might r give them a call so they know, you know, you need to really get out whe you can, and heres where you can go. Molci, tells about and emotional impacts to seniors going through evacuations. They are significant. We know for exple that seniors with dementia are at elevated risk for dying in the t after a traumatic evacuation. That idea of transfer trauma extends to not just enphysical ai but also mentalones. And that is true for seniors not just in facilities but also livi on their own. Jerry canaday, who i mentioned earlier whose house burned down and coffey park, ved to oakmont village and had to evacuate again this week. And he literally was carrying auma in the sense that he not only had his go back which he did not know to makeit so we told him he was living in a risky area, but also all the paperwork required to get there his life now. You bring up an intereining many seniors may not even know that they are living in a fire prone area. Lisa, whats e been the respto your reporting . Are you seeing more information coming or legislative or Community Action . Shortly after our weseries aired, into august, eight regulators issued guidelines for facilities on how they should evacuate during covid 19. However, another bill, sb 12 failed, and that wouldve required facilities have generators. Lisa pickupwhite, molly you for thisimportant , thank investigative work. You can read the older and overlooked investigative series and check out a helpful, interactive map on the wildfire risk to california seniors by going to kqed. Org wildfires. Im priya david clements. Bring you a look and a listen to something beautiful. For the past 19 yearhardly strictly bluegrass was put on with a ee music visible first week of october in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park it relegates roots music and has his ugly drawn more than 750,000 attendees pivoted to the ongoing global pariemic, hardly ly bluegrass will celebrate its 20th anniversary online this year because the broadcast is being called let the music play on, and will feature performances byemmylou harris, the mccrery sisters, shaky grays, and many more. You can rsstream the ile festival saturday by going to hardly strictly bluegrass. Com. Once there, you can also donate vid19. Rtists fected by from all of us here at kqed newsroom, thanks for good night. Show. Do do do do, do do do do, do do do do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Captioning sponsored by wnet for sunday, october 4 the president remains hospitalized with a diagnosis of coronavirus, but his doctors say he could rnretuo the white house soon. And roads to election 2020, voters will decide the future of gig workers in the state of california. Next on pbs newshour weekend. Pbs newshour weekend is made ssible by sue and Edgar Wachenheim iii. The Anderson Family fund. Bernard d denise schwartz. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. Barbara hope ckerberg. The leonard and Norma Klorfine foundation. Charles ronb
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