Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240704

Major funding for the pbs has newshour husband has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson, and camilla and george smith. Pediatric surgeon. Volunteer. Topiary artist. Raymond James Financial advisors tailor advice to help you live. Life well planned. The john s and James L Knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. More at kf. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Stephanie im stephanie sy with newshour west. Here are the latest headlines. The nations weather has etched more entries today in the journal of extremes thats marked this summer. Millions of americans faced everything from steaming heat across the south, to stormy destruction in the northeast. Laura barronlopez has our report. Laura in North Baltimore county, emergency crews cleared through the damage. Enormous trees, completely uprooted, left homes crushed and roads impassable. This morning, Maryland Governor wes moore said its a long road ahead. This is going to take some time to fix. The damage from last night is significant, and it will take time to make sure that we are getting everything done. Laura a fastmoving storm swept through the east coast on monday night, prompting Severe Weather advisories in 10 states and the district of columbia. In upstate new york, outside dryden, tornado funnel clouds whipped through gray skies. Nearly 30 Million People were under a tornado watch yesterday, as strong gusts caused tree limbs in several states to snap. This is the worst ive seen it. I mean, i have no trees left, theyre all gone now. Laura the storm killed 2 people, officials said, after a tree fell on a 15 yearold boy in south carolina, and a 28yearold alabama man was struck by lightning. Last night, more than 1. 1 million households and businesses lost power. By midday today, that number was down to 240,000 customers. The huge storm front also wreaked havoc on air travel in the region. Yesterdays storm led to some 10,000 flights being canceled or delayed. By midday today, more than 2,500 flights in and out of the u. S. Were delayed, and 370 canceled, according to flight aware. And in washington, d. C. , as ominous clouds rolled over the white house on monday, federal offices shut down early, giving Government Employees time to dodge the hazardous commute. Today, about 10 million residents in new england remained under flood watches as the system moved north. Elsewhere in the u. S. , dangerous heat is in the forecast for 67 Million People, roughly 20 of the u. S. Population, from Southern California to the florida panhandle. Summer temperatures are increasing, and along with that increase is an increase in the frequency, the duration, and the intensity of heatwaves. Laura kristie ebi is a professor of Global Health at the university of washington. She says Health Problems caused by extreme heat are becoming more and more frequent. People, for example, who have a heart attack who didnt have a heart attack otherwise. Or pregnant women of having an increased prevalence of low birth weight babies, with babies coming sooner. And so, you see a wide variety of impacts that people experience that show up in doctors offices, urgent care facilities, and our emergency departments. Laura blistering heat and severe storms, both made more frequent and deadly by climate change, creating a more unpredictable world to live in. For the pbs newshour, im laura barron lopez. Stephanie Severe Weather also dominated Northern Europe again today, as a powerful storm battered the region. So far, the storm is blamed for 2 deaths in the baltics. Theres fresh evidence of Global Warming affecting antarctica. A study out today finds sea ice in the southern polar region hit a record low in february, and minimal ice levels were 20 below the 40year average. The findings appear in the journal frontiers in environmental science. In niger, leaders of the military coup rejected a proposed visit today by u. N. And african diplomats. They cited popular anger at the west African Regional bloc ecowas and its threat to use force to reinstate nigers elected president. Meanwhile, a delegation from neighboring burkina faso and mali arrived in nigers capital, in a show of support for the coup. To the brotherly people of niger, these are difficult times. Mali and burkina faso have been through similar ordeals. We would like to reassure them most firmly of our support and solidarity. Let us remain resilient and stoic. Stephanie later, the president of nigeria, who chairs the ecowas bloc, said the group now prefers a diplomatic resolution in niger. Thousands gathered in ireland today to say goodbye to sinead oconnor. Ahead of a private funeral, mourners lined up to view a procession through the late singers hometown of bray. A hearse carrying the coffin drew rounds of applause, and flowers, as fans honored oconnors legacy of music and activism. She was so passionate and she was so forthright and she stood up for people who couldnt stand up for themselves. And she spoke for people who couldnt speak for themselves. And she was vilified for it. And it was just wrong. And time has proven that she was right. Stephanie oconnor died on july 26th in london. She was 56. Back in this country, voters in ohio this evening have overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that had implications and would make it harder to enshrine abortion rights in the future. The republicansponsored measure would have raised the bar to pass future constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60 . Polls show ohioans favor abortion rights just shy of the 60 mark. The Supreme Court has reinstated a federal regulation aimed at curbing the spread of ghost guns. Such weapons, privately assembled from parts, have no serial numbers. A Biden Administration rule sought to change that, but a federal judge in texas tossed it out in june. The Supreme Court today set that ruling aside, while the legal challenge proceeds. More than 11,000 Los Angeles City employees were on a 24hour strike today. Sanitation workers, lifeguards, and airport staff accused the city of unfair labor practices. The mayor denied it. Two other major strikes are already under way in los angeles. Hollywood writers have been off the job since may, and actors walked out a month ago. Hotel workers have staged job actions through the summer. Rapper tory lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for shooting and wounding hiphop star megan thee stallion. Megan testified he fired at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance after they left a party in 2020. Lanez was convicted in december of three felonies, including assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Still to come on the newshour, ukraine continues its counteroffensive against russia but progress remains slow and casualties continue to mount. Questions mount about the lack of consequences for covid misinformation that led to injury and death. Awardwinning author James Mcbride discusses the themes of race, religion, and personal history in his new novel. And much more. This is the pbs newshour from wbt a studios in washington, and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna President Biden headed to arizona today, where he made an historic announcement, designating some million acres of land around the grand canyon as a national monument, protted by the government by creating this monument, were setting aside new spaces for families to hike, bike, hunt, fish, and camp, growing a tourism economy that already accounts for 11 of all arizona jobs. Folks, preserving these lands is good, not only for arizona, but for the planet. Its good for the economy, its good for the soul of the nation. And i believe with my core its the right thing to do. Amna the move would stop future uranium mining projects on the land, marking a key victory for environmentalists and tribal leaders, who have long noted the historical and cultural significance of the land to native tribes. Department of interior secretary deb haaland visited the area and met with tribal leaders just a few months ago. She joins me now secretary, welcome and thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Amna youve described your may visit to the area as one of the most meaningful trips of your life. Explain to us why this land is so important to indigenous communities. Earlier in the summer, we had an opportunity to hike down the grand canyon to visit with the tribes there who live at the bottom of the grand canyon. At one time, they were banished from their ancestral homelands, and it took a lot of work by tribal leaders and supporters and some lawsuits, and they were painstaking about needing their tribal homelands back. They are back there on the floor of the grand canyon. We had a chance to visit with people where they are. It was astounding. They are living on the land their ancestors lived on. There is beautiful bluegreen waterfalls. They cherish that land. The bones of their ancestors are there. So they understand how important those places are. Amna we should note, statewide in arizona theres broad support for the move President Biden made, but there are concern from local ranchers and others. Republican senator mitt romney of utah says ranchers in southern utah will also be impacted and expressed concerns about u. S. Energy independence. He said by eliminating this important source of uranium, President Biden has increased both our dependence russia and china and our ultimate carbon footprint. Is he wrong . Thank you so much. Well, i will address the collaboration issue first. We had many public meetings. This is what you call collaborative conservation where tribes and organizations and people get together and work towards something they want. This didnt just happen since President Biden came to office. This is a decades long stepbystep, one step forward, baby steps forward. People have been working on this issue for decades. And we are happy we are able to get it done under this administration. With respect to the lands that are conserved as a national monument, it doesnt come people who have valid existing rights within the existing area will keep those. That includes folks who have Mining Operations or those claims. Additionally, we should all know, and i think most people do know, that this land has already been, we are going with the status quo. The land has already been protected. There is a 20 year withdrawal on these parcels of land. There are places to mine and places not to mine. This area, with the bones of these tribal ancestors, with thousands of cultural sites and ecosystems that sustain wildlife, and species that we dont see every day, those places are to special to mine. Amna the Climate Crisis message im sure resonates in arizona where they have seen hot temperatures. But americans, 57 disapprove of the administration handling the Climate Crisis. Why do you think that is . Today the president talked about his goal of conserving 30 of our land and waters by 2030. He has conserved more land and waters than any president since john f. Kennedy, i believe. Amna our time is limited. Why do you think people disapprove of his handling . I feel strongly that perhaps the message isnt getting out. This has been the best president in modern history for conservation of our lands. The conserved lands help avert the Climate Crisis. So we are going to keep doing what we are doing. The president has clean energy goals. We have conservation goals. I feel honored to serve under him and we are going to keep moving forward. Amna that is secretary of the interior deb haaland joining us. Thank you for joining us. Please come back soon. Amna in the federal criminal cases involving former President Trump this week, weve seen the first legal skirmishes. Significant questions over venues and evidence, and from trump himself, a push for the judge assigned to his criminal trial in d. C. To recuse herself. Lisa desjardins has more on the brewing legal fight. Lisa the former president has set on his social media platforms that he couldnt receive a fair trial in a case presided over by this judge, who was nominated by former president obama and 950 in the senate. She issued sentences in cases involving january 6 rioters. This is one of the former president s arguments to shape the perception of the trial in these important early days. Joining me as the former u. S. Attorney of the Southern District of new york. Lets start with the idea of venues. How often do judges, given this argument, agree with Defense Attorneys that a venue should change . These are rarely granted. There are applications made but rarely are they granted. I think part of that is the tremendous faith that the system has and should have been the ability of of jurors to abide to their oath and decide cases based on the facts, putting aside any kind of preconceived notions of the issues involved. Lisa now, the judge also in the florida case, the classified documents case is raising a different question about venues. She is asking the Justice Department why they had one grand jury initially start this case in washington and then transferred the case to a grand jury in florida. Trumps team is making a lot of that. What do you make . Is that unusual to have two grand jurors for one indictment . Its a little unusual, but i dont see it as a big deal. The grand jury rules for the federal system are pretty, pretty liberal in that regard. So for example, if jack smith did present a tremendous amount of evidence in d. C. On this particular case, but then decided the venue was more properly placed in the Southern District of florida, it would be very simple for instance, to sit down with the florida grand jury and simply read to them the transcript of the proceedings before the grand jury in d. C. So its a Pretty Simple procedure. And i dont really think its, its a big deal for them to have used both grand juries, so long as sufficient evidence was presented to the grand jury in Southern District of florida. And i would have no question that it has been. Lisa the former president is known for sharply attacking opponents. He said he had problems with the judge in the deke the d. C. Case. Judy woodruff spoke to another former federal judge about his accusations against her yesterday. Former president is criticizing the judge who is hearing the case, saying he cant get a fair trial and she should be removed. How does that sit . This is radical. It is unprecedented in american history. That any person, let alone a president of the United States of america, would conduct himself towards the courts of the United States in the way he has already begun to do. And will continue. Lisa those are some strong words. Is this kind of idea unprecedented . And what do you think the chances are success for a judge removing herself . Look. This judge is one of the more thoughtful and accomplished jurists in this country. And i wouldnt disagree with him at all. I think that the accusations are completely baseless. I mean, he hasnt even really had any contact with this judge. And already, hes making claims that she should be recused. And its funny that his own appointee in florida, hes not making those accusations about, and hes had about as much contact in her as he has with the judge in d. C. So it is unfortunate that he is taking this attack and i think its unfortunate because i think it sets a really bad example for people in the country number one. Number two, from a legal and strategic standpoint, it gets him absolutely nowhere. Lisa i want to think more big picture. It is the job of every defense attorney to try and poke holes in what the prosecutors are doing. But in this case, we know that the trump team from my reporting, is raising a very broad idea. They are asking, i know if the client get a fair trial anywhere in this country. Hes a unique defendant. Most of this country decided whether they wanted him as president or not, has rendered an opinion on him. What do you think of the idea they are putting out there, that any fair jury might be hard to find . First off, on both issues, one of the old sayings is, if you have a really good case, you pound the facts. And if you have a really bad case against you, you pound the table and thats what we are hearing. A lot of screaming. No ones really dealing with the facts here. I dont think its a Fair Assessment to say you cant get a fair trial anywhere. Thats really a bogus claim. And that when you look at cases where there have been change of venues, motions that have been unsuccessful, you still see at the end of the day, a very fair trial, one that is unassailable. And i think thats what were going to see here. This is not an election. The issues for the jury to decide are not about public policy. Theyre not about politics. Theyre about facts, and jurors are sworn to uphold an oath to listen carefully to the facts, to the evidence committed the testimony, and make their decision based on that. My experience, having tried a number of cases and been around the justice system, i think jurors, i like to say nobody says they like to get jury duty. They complain and moan about doing jury service, but once they take that oath, i find that the vast majority have applied the oath dutifully. Lisa thank you for your time, david kelly. Amna this has been a long and brutal summer in ukraine. As the counteroffensive continues to retake its lands in the east and south now occupied by russia, a leading British Military think tank today reports that the ukrainian operation is going more slowly than expected, and blames the slow provision of advanced weaponry by western partners. Meantime, the fighting, and dying, continue at a horrendous pace. In the eastern ukrainian city of pokrovsk, a desperate search for survivors, a day after a deadly russian attack. Residents, still reeling from the strikest kill at least 7 people and wounded dozens, even the most innocent. Ukraine says russia launched two missiles, 40 minutes apart, to target rescue workers after the initial strike, a tactic called a double tap. The attack came late in the evening, destroying vehicles and apartment buildings. 58yearold kateryna was at home at the time of the blast. The blood from injuries on her face, still fresh. The flame filled up my eyes. I fell down on the floor, on the ground. My eyes hurt a lot. Otherwise, i am ok, just the shrapnel in my neck. Amna meanwhile, ukrainian soldiers continue the fight against russia, in their now twomonth counteroffensive. They have western training, u. S. And europeanmade weapons, and seemingly infinite resolve, despite soaring temperatures. We dont Pay Attention to heat. Work must be done. We dont spare ourselves. Amna at the end of july, ukraine liberated staromaiorske, in a campaign that aims to cut russias land bridge from the east to the south and occupied crimea. But progress has been slow along the 900mile frontline, and it comes at great cost. Theres no official figure for ukrainian casualties, but at field hospitals like this one near bakhmut, soldiers stream in from the battlefield, their injuries a relentless reminder of the toll of war. Ukrainians are facing deeply dugin russian forces, whove constructed and fortified hardtoovercome obstacles, including these socalled dragon teeth barricades, and hundreds of miles of concentrated landmines, where now even russian corpses can kill. When they leave, they plant quite a lot of explosives under their own soldiers. And this is very dangerous for us. Amna despite the frontline dangers, last week president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ukraine is succeeding. The occupiers are trying to stop our boys with all their strength. But whatever the enemy does, it is ukrainian strength that dominates. Amna for more on the state of the war, we get two views. Michael vickers was a Senior Defense Department Official under president s george w. Bush and obama and was the cia strategist for reagan. He is the author of a book. And jennifer is the chief of staff and National Security fellow at the institute for study of war, a think tank that tracks military developments. Welcome. I want to begin with the counteroffensive we were reporting on. You heard president zelenskyy say they are succeeding. What is your assessment . Is he right . I think they hold the Strategic Initiative but the counteroffensive is going slower and proving more difficult than many hoped. It is important to note ukraine hasnt committed its primary force yet, but they havent been able to make much progress against the dug in, numerically superior enemy that has had time to prepare defenses. Amna what is your take . Why have the Ukrainian Forces run into these problems . The operation ukraine has launched is difficult area they face an enemy that had months to prepare and layer in defensive positions and fortifications. We are watching ukrainians do what all hardfought military gains were wire, to learn and adapt on the battlefield. They are learning and adapting and experiencing some success, although they havent achieved the breakthrough we hope they will ultimately achieve. They are expecting russian forces, the ukrainians have a reserve and the russians do not. There are reasons to think that while this is a grind, the ukrainians could advance. Amna expectations from americans going into the counteroffensive or high. There was a optimism, the idea that with the cluster bombs and munitions, ukrainians could break through russian lines. Were those unrealistic . We have given ukraine a lot of military assistance but i dont think we have given them enough to win. While cluster munitions were a step forward, we havent given them long range surface to surface missiles or the Army Tactical Missile System that can reach 300 kilometers, lighter aircraft is on the way, as are some on armored vehicles. The ammunition supply is being built up over time. We wouldnt fight the way we are asking ukraine to fight. We hope they will have success but if we want them to win, we will have to provide more assistance. Amna do you agree . I would. We would never fight this way in part because of the casualties being so high and the cost is so high but the ukrainians are committed to this fight and they are advancing. This is a question of enabling them to advance faster, reduce costs and overpowered the russians before they can catch the vulnerabilities that plagued them. Amna what about the casualties . We talk about losses on the russian side. What about casualties on the ukrainian side and the morale . The ukrainians are tightlipped about the casualties for good reasons. We know ukrainian commitment to the fight remains extraordinarily high. The ukrainians dont seem deterred by the slow progress they are experiencing on the battlefield. In many respects, they may have had more realistic expectations about the nature of the fighting and the cost, then perhaps some in washington looking at the situation, hoping for a major breakthrough. Amna some of the condor the conversation was about ukraine making enough gains to where they could improve their position for a better potential negotiating position down the line. Do you see that happening . It may take into next year. There is a chance the russian army could collapse this year but if we want to increase the odds of that outcome, and i hope we do, we will have to make the political case for and provide the assistance i mentioned. Amna what do you make of that, jennifer . I think it is important that we not impose upon ukraine a desire for what they might regard as a premature negotiation. The ukrainian position is there. They expect to retake their terrain and they expect the russians to pay for damages and war crimes to be prosecuted. Those are the ukrainian aims. Diplomacy always has a place and we hope it is possible to negotiate an end to the conflict that sees a withdrawal of russian forces, but so far pruden has shown no willingness to negotiate. Amna do you see the conflict changing as we move into the end of the fighting season later this year . Eventually, whether we will slow down offensive operations, the conflict has morphed in many ways since the beginning and the ukrainians have performed in spectacular fashion throughout. The decisive phase is yet to come. As i mentioned, the ukrainians need more assistance to give them the best odds. We are asking them to fight essentially world war i style right now and military affairs have moved beyond that. Amna if there is not significant Additional Support coming, how do you see this unfolding . Are we moving into a much longer term frozen conflict . Some of the next support is more short range antiaircraft systems. That will help with mobile air defenses. The ukrainians will need more than that to achieve fire superiority and breakthrough russian lines and cut off the land route to crimea from the russian mainland. That is the next phase. Amna jennifer, look ahead. The concerns about a longerterm frozen conflict come are they real . Concerns about a protraction of the conflict are real and argument for why the west needs to not only provide aid but ideally accelerate the provision of aid. We need to keep in mind that this kind of war will not be linear. Im sure there will be further surprises, which can include a loss of russian morale or a breakdown in russian defenses at one place in the front line, which could fundamentally change the conflict. It is difficult to predict when or where that could happen, but it is still on the table. So there could be surprises to come in the coming months. Amna i would love to have you back to talk about those. Jennifer and michael, thank you for joining us tonight. My pleasure. Thank you. Amna what happens when, in the middle of a pandemic, doctors spread misinformation, potentially endangering people lives . William brangham spoke recently with a reporter who set out to answer that very question. A new investigation from the Washington Post reveals how doctors who pushed medical misinformation, particularly about dangerous alleged covid remedies, faced few if any repercussions. One of the lead reporters on the investigation was lena who covers health and Infectious Diseases for the post. Welcome back to the newshour. You looked at complaints against doctors in all 50 states. From the start of the pandemic until recently, and can you tell us, what were these doctors alleged to have been doing . It covers a range but many of the doctors we looked into that actually were disciplined were prescribing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, two treatments that are shown to be not effective for treating covid19 but they gained a lot of popularity during the pandemic because they were pushed by former President Trump and his allies. That was the prescription side. There were other physicians who were spreading false and misleading statements about vaccines and masks and treatments, saying things like equating the Covid Vaccine to needle rape. Needle rape . Needle rape. That is an idaho pathologist was under investigation. Or saying if you take ivermectin , it is up to 90 effective getting rid of the disease. These are blatantly untrue. What happened is, they would fill the vacuum on social media. A lot of people wanted to know, remember during the pandemic there was confusion. Lots of people latched onto these conspiracy theories. They would march into the hospital er demanding these medications. Was their actual harm that came from these untruths and prescriptions . What the disciplinary documents show us is that some doctors would prescribe these unproven treatments to people, and days later, the person died. They died whether it was a direct link, or if they were going to die from other causes, it is unclear but we do know they were prescribed this medication and then they died. You have to think about the delayed opportunity costs. If im prescribing you some aquatic medicine quack medicine and that prevents you from getting an antiviral that prevents you from dying, you figure it out. This is so important because for the american public, doctors are most trusted, have the greatest credibility and for doctors to go out and spread this misinformation is a huge disservice and harm. You examined what happened to many doctors. What did you find overall . We surveyed all 50 states medical boards, asked for their records. It was a long process. We found nobody really monitors complaints about covid misinformation or misleading statements about vaccines and masks. We were able to get at least 480 covid misinformation related complaints. We looked at the disciplinary records, and it showed at least 20 doctors nationally were sanctioned in some way. Seems like a small fraction. It is. 400 80 is not the entire universe. This is just what we were able to find. Many states dont monitor and if they do, they will not share with us. It is a drop in a bucket. Of those 20, 5 lost their licenses. Only one had his license revoked , which is the ultimate penalty. How do you explain that . The agencies that regulate doctors in this country, there are over a million licensed u. S. Physicians regulated by state medical boards. Each one is different. They are covered under different state medical practices acts in their states. They are traditionally underfunded, under resourced. They have to be the ones who give you the license in the first place, they have to do all these other mundane tasks. They dont have time to monitor social media. In most cases, the complaint process only starts if there is a complaint filed. Somebody has to file a complaint. Finally, these boards are made up of doctors and may be public members and doctors are loath to tread on the rights of a physician to do what he or she thinks is in their best medical judgment. It is not illegal, quote unquote, to off label prescribe something. That is something doctors do, that is their right. But what we have here is doctors prescribing medications that are way outside medical consensus. It is not like this might work this was done after the centers for Disease Control and prevention and the food and drug them in an expressly warned against doing this because of potential harm. Not only are these oversight boards overtaxed and have a myriad set of different rules governing them, some states are taking specific steps to make it harder for them to do their jobs, specifically about this issue. Exactly. You have state medical boards that are underfunded, under resourced, have their hands tied. Then you have state legislatures or attorneys general who say, you know what . You guys dont have the authority to discipline any doctors if they are prescribing ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine. Those drugs specifically. Thank you so much. Tremendous investigation. Thank you. Amna in american cities, two problems loom large. A housing shortage and an office collect. With millions of square feet of office space vacant, office to housing conversions are becoming an increasingly popular to win one solution for city leaders. Will they result in housing that is affordable for all americans . Paul heads to new york city to investigate. This is one of the places in new york city where the vacancy rate is so high, the tenants, the people renting these offices are gone. In manhattan, long known as the homeless hero, this man advocates for those like him who lived in shelters. Everyone deserves a home. Housing justice is racial justice. The owners of these buildings still have to pay property taxes and insurance, all of those things with no income. Eventually they give it back to the lender. It becomes an empty building. How does that make sense in an environment where we have so much of a need for Affordable Housing . A migrant crisis has swelled new yorks already substantial homeless population, driving more than 100,000 to the city shelters. They are horrible places. To be warehoused there for years on end doesnt make sense. He left for the streets. What is the alternative . The average rental is 3236 per month for a studio apartment. He says lets take these buildings that are now empty and convert those into Affordable Housing. But conversions are already happening, says this architect. We are seeing developers and owners making the decision to go residential because there is a lack of confidence in the office market. There is real confidence and there is a real housing needed especially in manhattan. Not far from wall street, this 1972 Office Building is being converted into nearly 600 apartments. What do you have to do is a designer to make this into housing . The first thing we do is analyze the building to see if it has the right zones and structure, the right depth from elevators to windows, to make units. This building fits the bill. The core of the building, 60 feet from the windows, is dark, uninhabitable and useless for apartments. Puts some mechanical shops in their. We can redeploy that space, the density in there, to the roof to create rooftop amenities. This is the amenity floor. 30,000 square feet of amenities. Private dining rooms, a terrace, a barbecue. Turns out conversions arent so amana ties amenitized. There was a push for residential conversion in the 1990s that turned Lower Manhattan from nine to five offices into a 24 7 community. 9 11 accelerated the trend. Some of these changes felt unfathomable at the time. Now, they are just part of the experience of being in new york city. New yorks director of city planning says much of the Vacant Office space, 29 empire state buildings, is ripe for conversion. We have seen the population go up and we have not kept pace in the last decade. We created 800,000 jobs and only 200,000 new homes. We have a housing crisis. We need ways to create housing. What is stopping you . There is nothing stopping us other than our own process for changing the rules. Rules dominated by old zoning restrictions, which make conversion of pre1961 buildings impossible. In Lower Manhattan the cut off his 77, making this building eligible. We now support and want to see mixed use 24 hour neighborhoods. We are looking to update our own rules to allow for more opportunities for office to residential conversion. S cities almost everywhere are, says this policy research director. Many urban places in the country that have office space, we went through the pandemic. They are all asking the same question. Chicago announced a plan to turn about a million and a halfs bare feet of Vacant Office space into mixed income housing. Mayors in washington dc and San Francisco land to ease Financial Burdens to encourage conversions. They want to rollbot rollbacks zoning restrictions. This firm looked at nearly 1000 Office Buildings in the u. S. And canada. Calgary, San Francisco, boston, seattle, denver. It is 30 of the buildings across the u. S. And canada that make good conversion candidates. The question i have, will these conversions really do anything to address new york and other cities housing crises . This one will cost literally hundreds of millions of dollars. A cost that will inevitably be passed on to future tenants. Our studios will range from 3500 up to 7500. The Street Vendor on the corners response . That is a lot of money. Not possible. Where do you live . Brooklyn. Four people, 1800 per month. It is tough. Barbara was passing by and is looking to move on from her parents and get a new york apartment closer to her work. She earns 54,000 per year. This building is being converted for offices to apartments. Studios started 3400. I will never take it. I cant afford that. Right on the property itself . There are hundreds of people working here. They wont be able to afford to live here. I asked a couple and they said no way. This is not on Affordable Housing project. What i will say is, what we are doing, we are helping the overall housing crisis. How . We are putting more units on the market. Putting more supply into the system, and that will bring prices down. Which would mean more Affordable Housing for some. But of course not everyone. We arent going to get Affordable Housing, purpose for low income housing. Not if the market did hates price dictates price. To get the type of housing that reaches the workers, that takes purposeful subsidy. That model worked in new york city. There is no reason we couldnt make it work for offices. Ask at the moment, Street Vendors, construction workers and barbara are left out. Amna the National Book Award Winning author james mick ride has a new novel out today, the heaven and Earth Grocery store. Like much of his work, it is rooted in race, religion and personal history. Jeffrey brown turns the page. A rehearsal for a musical called bobos. It is a would be musical. James met ride wrote it already five years ago and it has since done nothing. No productions, zero success. But mcbride is unfazed. I just cant let it go, in part because i think its good. And also, i dont mind failing. Writers, what we do, most of what we do fails. And thats the lesson that writing teaches you. You know, i tell young writing students all the time. Fail and fail better. By that and pretty much any standard, the 65 year old mcbride, who lives in lambertville, new jersey, has been failing quite well. Hes author of five novels, including miracle at saint anna, made into a film by spike lee. And good lord bird my name is captain john brown and i hear the name of the great redeemer. An irreverent take on the abolitionist john brown that won the 2013 National Book award and was later made into a showtime series. Hes also written a biography of singer james brown, and the bestselling 1996 memoir, the color of water a black mans tribute to his white mother, the story of his white jewish mother, ruth. Ostracized by her family for marrying a black man, she converted to christianity and raised her twelve black children in new york, much of the time on her own. Mcbrides new novel, the heaven and Earth Grocery store, began with the story of another family member, but one he never knew and only learned about later in life, his grandmother. My grandmother was jewish, and my mother was jewish, of course, but my grandmother i never met. She died in 1942, but i wanted and she died, and she was an immigrant from poland and she had a very unhappy marriage. And i wanted my grandmother to be, to have a wonderful life. I wanted her to be loved. So i wrote a book, in which she was loved, and i made her loved. So this became a kind of alternate life of a grandmother who you never knew. That i never knew. Jeffrey through fiction. Through fiction, yeah, yeah. Fiction is magical that way. Fiction allows your dreams to come true. Like his own grandmother, mcbrides main character runs a Grocery Store in a predominantly black neighborhood. Hes grounded his fiction in a real place and time, pottstown, pennsylvania in the 1930s and 40s. This is a notebook that i keep notes in. I have all kinds of jewish faith, friday night, cant touch money. Combing through archives and local histories, he took notes about the largely black community of chicken hill, with a mix of jews and other immigrant groups, all facing levels of discrimination and antipathy by the surrounding white majority. Everyone was just kind of trying to stay in their own lane. But it was impossible because of outside influences. And so in that regard, pottstown is the same as pottstown represents, its my mayberry. You know, mayberry was where Andy Griffith was, and everyone was happy and all the folks were white and everything was, you know, good old america. Which is just fiction. Pottstown, my pottstown, my mayberry, which is pottstown, is real. Its much more real, its more in my opinion, accurate in terms of its depiction of american life. Mcbride has always grounded his life in music, often tying it to his writing, as when he toured the country with his good lord bird band when that book came out. I hear a song about freedom hes also taught music to children at new brown memorial, the Brooklyn Church his parents founded in 1954. His art, he says, explores big themes in american life, including race, but always through characters he creates who live and survive on the margins, like the people hes known and loved. If youre a writer and youre writing about race, the best thing you can do is forget about it and deal with the humanity of characters. You know what the boundaries are. Now you have to see which characters can kick up against those boundaries or illuminate those boundaries, so to make your story go. So i look at it from that point of view. And also from the point of view that, you know, cynicism is like, cynicism in a story is toxic. You have to really have a desire to see the good in people, to see them push past their boundaries. Jeffrey an openness to who they are. An openness to who they are, because they will lead you into a story that shows you good stuff. And so im trying to get these characters to move, to show readers, in a way thats not boring, that this history is important. Someone came here before you. And, believe me, its going to be okay. Watch what he or she did. That sense of hope amid adversity clearly comes from his mother, who died in 2010, and the story mcbride told in his memoir has remained a touchstone for many, as mixedrace families have become more common. When my mother married my father and had us, and wed go on the subway and so forth, people would call her names. Like, i remember one time in the subway and somebody went at her, you know, calling her nlover and all this crap. And we got off the train, and later on, i said, ma, why do you why do you, you know, you cant let people talk to you like that. She said, their names cant hurt me. Im happy. I just did you do your homework . Wheres your homework she didnt care. Her world was good. Selfdefinition is the First Step Towards selfcontrol. And peace. Now that journey is difficult, i agree. And ive been through it. But ultimately, the best way to be happy in that regard is to just appreciate everyone for who they are. Read in that light, the heaven and Earth Grocery store, weaving together characters from different backgrounds, is James Mcbrides latest appreciation of the lives lived just below the surface of american history. For the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown in lambertville, new jersey. Amna a great line. Fiction allows your dreams to come true. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im amna nawaz. On behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by for 25 years, Consumer Cellular has offered wireless lans designed to help people do more of what they like. To learn more, visit Consumer Cellular. Tv. Carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of International Peace and security at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington, and from our bureau at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Introducing a technological achievement so advanced. It rivals the moon landing. Wow ok. Rude. Thats one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind. Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following. No, take me home vgan chocolate, norwegian flavor, available in walmart stores. [ wind blowing ]