Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240703

And, we report from on the ground in ukraine as the grueling counteroffensive tries to recapture territory from russia. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these institutions and institutions individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour. Consumer cellular, this is sam. How may i help you . This is pocket dial. With consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. That is kind of our thing. Have a nice day. The foundation fostering informed and engaged communities. More at the website. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. Amna welcome to the newshour. Today, warnings from within and outside of government about the potential effects of a Government Shutdown. That includes concerns from the department of justice that National Security could be affected, a signal from moodys that it would downgrade u. S. Credit and red flags from scores of other groups from the military to lowincome families. Congress has until saturday to figure this out. Where do things stand . We go to our Congressional Correspondent Lisa Desjardins on capitol hill. Great to see you. At this stage, is there any hope on capitol hill that a shutdown could be avoided . Lisa that is always hope of course but i will say it is very faint at this moment. Its hard to see exactly how a shutdown is avoided. Part of the reason here is because this all started in the house side with the idea of competing interests. There is one potential solution on the senate side. I want to take a look at the senate floor as i speak to you. The senate is voting on a shortterm funding bill. This is a procedural vote but it does at this moment have the support to move forward. Descendants version of this is relatively simple. Keep government funded. They also would include some funding or ukraine. That is something thats more controversial on the house side. The sun is hoping to get that through sometime this week but it is not clear in fact, i would say it is unlikely that the house is going to simply pass that bill. Amna for Many Americans watching this unfold, this is a little baffling so help us understand where we are right now by reminding us why we are here right now. Amna far be it lisa far be it from modern congress is to be logical but this is an especially wild and i think confusing situation. Part of the problem, as i said earlier, House Republicans had competing goals within their own conference. Some wanted to have more spending cuts than others, some wanted to use tougher tactics than others. We talked about that before. It is more simple to talk about where we are in terms of the decisions that House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy has to make because the next moves are really up to him. He has a few key options realistically. First, lets talk about option one, the idea of bringing that past funding bill to the house floor. Lets talk about pros and cons. A shutdown likely would be avoided. There would probably be enough republicans to side with democrats to pass the funding bill but on the con side, if we need those democratic votes, that would potentially threaten Speaker Mccarthys speakership. That is not an option he likes for many reasons so lets talk about his next options Speaker Mccarthy has would be to pass essentially a republican only funding bill, large funding bill s, complicated funding bills. That would assuage conservatives in his speakership would be saved. That would essentially guarantee a shutdown because passing those large and more complicated yearlong funding bills would take weeks to resolve with the senate. They would simply run out of time. I asked Speaker Mccarthy today if he was concerned about his speakership. He said hes worried about the american people, about issues like border security, but to me, that left open the question of whether he really would try and get this done this week. There are some longshot options. The house could pass a shortterm funding bill. They are trying but so far, they have not been able to figure out amongst themselves what that would look like and then there is a discharge position. We have some of the smartest viewers in the world. You know that. If enough members of the house signed a petition, they could force through a funding bill but that again could put Speaker Mccarthys speakership in jeopardy so this is why we are where we are now. Amna with the clock ticking and days away. I need to ask you about another major story on the hill. There is increasing pressure on new jersey democratic senator bob menendez to resign. Hes facing bribery charges and an arraignment. Bring us up to speed on what we should know. Lisa the former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee is here today. We were not sure he came up for a vote. Calls for resignation by increasing numbers of Democratic Senators including cory booker who wrote this today. He said the faith and trust of new jerseyans have been shaken to the core. Stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that Holding Public Office Demands tremendous sacrifices. Senator menendezs seat is out next year and democrats cannot afford to spend money on it. They dont want someone under indictment to be running again. There is a lot of pressure for him to resign. So far, he says no way. Amna Lisa Desjardins covering all of these. Thank you. Good to see you. Lisa you are welcome. Amna in the days other headlines, a state court judge in new york ruled that former President Trump and his company the Trump Organization committed fraud for years. The judge issued a Summary Judgment that mr. Trump hugely overvalued his assets and exaggerated his net worth. The finding resolves the heart of the states case ahead of a nonjury trial on remaining claims. Meanwhile, in mr. Trumps 2020 election subversion case, his lawyers are attacking a proposed gag order, claiming it would violate his free speech rights. In a federal court filing late monday, they called it nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden Administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent. Special counsel jack smith says a gag order would target what he calls false and inflammatory statements. The auto strike hit day 12 today, and in a first President Biden joined a picket line against ford, stellantis, and general motors. He shook hands and bumped fists with rows of United Auto Workers members just outside detroit. With megaphone in hand, he urged them to stick with it. Pres. Biden uaw, you saved the Automobile Industry back in 2008 and before. You made a lot of sacrifices, you gave up a lot and the companies were in trouble. But now, theyre doing incredibly well, and guess what, you should be doing incredibly well too. Amna mr. Biden also said he backs the unions demands for a 40 pay raise. The u. S. Supreme court has cleared the way for a new Congressional District map in alabama. Without dissent, the justices today refused the states appeal to keep republicandrawn lines that a lower court had rejected. Instead, a courtappointed official has proposed maps with a second majorityblack district. Black residents make up more than a quarter of alabamas population. The federal government and 17 states are suing amazon, accusing it of stifling competition and forcing inflated prices on other platforms. The action filed today in Washington State said the ecommerce giant exploits its monopolies in ways that enrich amazon but harm its customers. The company replied that the lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law. The suit is one of the biggest legal challenges in amazons history. People kept pouring out of the nagornokarabakh region in azerbaijan today as an overnight explosion claimed new victims. Reports said at least 68 people died and scores were hurt outside stepanakert, when a gas station blew up. Most of the victims were Ethnic Armenians fleeing to armenia after azerbaijans military captured nagornokarabakh. In armenia, the usaid administrator Samantha Power appealed to the azeris. We know that there are injured civilians in nagornokarabakh who need to be evacuated and it is absolutely essential that evacuation be facilitated by the government of azerbaijan. Lisa armenian Officials Say some 28,000 people have fled nagornokarabakh, about 16 percent of the regions population. South korea held its First Military parade in a decade today, a show of force in the face of aggressive actions by the north. Thousands of troops marched through the rainy streets of seoul as tanks and weapons rolled by. President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to ramp up the souths defenses. If north korea provokes, the south Korean Military will immediately respond based on practical combat capabilities and firm military readiness. If north korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be brought to an end by an overwhelming response from the south korean u. S. Alliance. Amna meanwhile, north korea defended its spate of missile tests in the last year. Its envoy to the United Nations blamed washington and seoul for pushing the peninsula to the brink of nuclear war. Back in this country hunter biden is accusing trump ally Rudy Giuliani of violating his digital privacy. The president s son named giuliani and another lawyer in a lawsuit filed in california today. He says they wrongly obtained his personal data from a Computer Repair shop and gave it to others. The suit also alleges the data was altered to discredit the president. California now has a new law that blocks School Boards from banning textbooks that teach about race, Sexual Orientation and gender. Democratic governor gavin newsom signed the measure on monday. He said it was long overdue amid a nationwide surge in banning and censoring books in schools. And on wall street, the stock markets september swoon extended for another day, over worries about interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 388 points to close near 33,619. The nasdaq fell more than 1. 5 . The s p 500 was down nearly 1. 5 . Still to come on the newshour, our exclusive interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. The head of the United Auto Workers discusses ongoing negotiations and the president s trip to the picket line. Maui residents return to their communities more than a month after devastating wildfires and we report from the front lines of ukraine amid the brutal, ongoing counteroffensive. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna there are a number of issues swirling this week with potential economic and political fallout, from the ongoing auto workers strike to a looming shutdown to the first hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Geoff bennett spoke to Vice President Kamala Harris about all of it at Morehouse College in atlanta today where she courted young voters as part of a monthlong, multistate college tour. Modern Vice President , thanks so much for your time. We are here in atlanta today. President biden is in michigan, visiting the united article United Auto Workers pig never before has a president sided so publicly with labor during an active strike. Why that approach . Why not let the collective bargaining process play out . Vp. Harris President Biden has been very clear that we are proud, that we will be the most prolabor administration probably in the history of our country. We believe that it is important to support workers and to support the dignity of work so this has been a longstanding commitment that President Biden has had throughout his career. Very much the same for me. It is just the right thing to do what we know is that when we support workers in terms of their need to have wages and benefits that are commensurate with their value and what they are contributing to society and to our economy overall, everybody benefits. So that is what you are seeing. It strikes me that the shift to electric vehicles which is a major point of contention in these contract talks, its almost as if the two goals are colliding on the one hand, fight climate change. On the other hand, you know, build out the middle class by supporting unions. Yet we know that when it comes to actually building electric vehicles, it requires less labor and many of those jobs are nonunion jobs. Vp. Harris i would suggest to you that that is that perspective that some people have is grounded in a very old false choice. You can do both. And that is our perspective. We can do both and that is about supporting, again, the importance of understanding the value of work and that it should be compensated commensurate with its value and what we must do to invest in our economy, invest in innovation, and take on one of the biggest crises world has ever known which is the climate crisis. Time is running out to avoid a Government Shutdown on saturday as House Republicans fight amongst themselves over whether or how to extend government funding. It appears likely that the House Speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, who has already slammed his far right flank, as trying to burn out the house, related consequences that come with it . Vp. Harris it would be completely rponsible to have a Government Shutdown. At this point, its very well known and understood. A Government Shutdown could mean that the members of our military Service Service men and women are getting paid. People who are doing critical work that is about upholding the structures of our government and all that we rely on in terms of those services could shut down so lets start there. It would be completely irresponsible. Second, people are playing politics, political games. There is a lot of showmanship that you are seeing and if those people put those same levels of effort and talent into something that was productive, i dont think we would be in this place talking about a Government Shutdown. Should democrats stepped in and help avoid a shutdown if that is what is required . Vp. Harris it is very much in the hands of the republicans in congress to be able to do that. On thursday, house impeachment inquiry to President Biden with their first impeachment hearing. What is the administrations approach for dealing with that House Republican effort . Vp. Harris i think that we are very clear that we are not going to be distracted by political games and we are going to stay focused on what we have been doing. I am here at Morehouse College, talking with a bunch of Young Leaders about the challenges that they face and the need for solutions p one of the big topics we talked about here was gun violence so our work has been to pass the most significant Gun Legislation that has been passed in 30 years because of our commitment to find solutions and to work on things that actually have a benefit direct direct benefit to the people who need it so we will continue doing that. You are overseeing the First White House office focused on preventing gun violence. Absent congressional action, how will that effort make a significant change . Vp. Harris congressional action is very important and the failure to act is to the discredit of the importance of actually taking hold of the solutions that are at hand. We have had one before and we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban. No reason for assault weapons to be on the streets of a civil society. We need background tricks. Its reasonable that you might want to know if someone can buy a Lethal Weapon if they have been found by a court to be a danger to themselves or others. Congress has the power to do that but sadly, a lot of folks dont have the courage to do it and have been selling this false choice which suggests we want to take everyones guns away. With the office that we have created, the White House Office on gun prevention, gun violence prevention, the work that we are doing is to make sure that we are implementing all of the executive orders that have already been implemented and passed. We are working with state and local officials in addition to the federal agencies to make sure that those things are playing out and then one of the areas that has been of particular focus for us is addressing the Mental Health issues. You have been seeing this with students today, asking students to raise their hand, collegeage students to raise their hand if they come through kindergarten or 12th grade, ever had to have a drill at school around an active shooter and almost every hand goes up. These kids are having a reality that most older adults do not understand. The trauma that they are experiencing, born out of fear that an active shooter might bust through their classroom door is something very real so through our White House Office on gun violence prevention, one of the areas of focus will also be what we need to do to address Mental Health, both in terms of getting resources to schools as well as just uplifting the issue as a general matter that needs to be a priority. Looking at all the isss in your portfolio, these are the most, as you well know, fraud issues, difficult for democrats to gain traction in congress. There has been no movement on abortion, no movement on voting rights. How will gun safety be different . Vp. Harris im going to disagree with you in terms of the premise. You look, for example, at the issue of abortion. I decided after the decision was leaked and then came out that i was going to hit the road, which i did. And i traveled around our country to red states and blue states, convened state legislators and talked with them and local folks and local Community Leaders about the need to organize around local elections and state elections that were happening and what you probably remember is that the pundits were saying there was going to be a red wave. It never happened. And wherever the issue of Abortion Access was on the ballot, wherever the issue of a freedom to make a decision about ones own body was on the ballot , from kansas to california, the voters voted in favor of freedom and liberty. So we are seeing progress and it comes from doing the kind of thing that i am doing right now which is to be here, where people are, where they live, and let them know we see them, that we are listening to them, and that we are responding to their needs, whether it be with the students and what we have done with 1 trillion to address the climate crisis, whether it be the work i have been doing the last 2. 5 years and even before, to get more access to capital for small businesses, that work is making a difference in the lives of people. We are on the campus of Morehouse College, a legendary hbcu. We should know you were the first Vice President to graduate from an sbc you, first Sorority Member who served as Vice President. Hbcus comprise less than 5 of all institutions of Higher Education and yet they produce half of all doctors and lawyers in this country, 80 of judges, half of all Public School teachers in this country. Secretary cardona said 100 of the Vice President s in this country. When you think about the Value Proposition of hbcus today, what do you tell people . Especially in light of the Supreme Court ruling overturning the use of race Conscious College admissions practices . Vp. Harris as a proud hbcu graduate, i know what these educational institutions do. They are exceptional. Exceptional institutions of Higher Learning with a history that has been about nurturing and educating young people to go on to be national and global leaders. The experience that a student receives at an hbcu is that from every direction, they are told they can be and do anything. They are told that they should never be burdened by the fact that someone like them may not have done the work before. They are told that they are expected to think about the future of our country and contribute to its strength and productivity. All of that in an environment that gives them a sense of understanding that they are important and valued. And that we expect them to exercise selfdetermination. These institutions, like you said, have an outsized impact on who populates the stream of these very important professions. I met earlier with some of the stem students who are focused on space and partnerships with nasa. These are future leaders of not only the country but the world and beyond and so, we are proud that we have put 7 billion so far into hbcus. President biden and i feel very strongly about that. We will continue to do it. Thank you. Amna in a first for a sitting president , President Biden joined a picket line in michigan to show support to striking members of the United Auto Workers union. Its the second week of strikes against detroitbig 3 automakers, gm, ford, and stellantis. Joining me now is uaw president shawn fain. Welcome to the newshour. It was a remarkable scene to see President Biden out there on the picket line today. You previously said this is not about any president , current or former. You seem to want to keep politics out of it so why host president aydin at the picket line today . Shawn i think the workers encouraged this. This is the workers fight and it is a just fight. I believe this is a working class thing, not just about the uaw. Its about workers all over this country. We put an invitation out there for people to join us and the white house responded right away. It was great to see that. We have never seen it before in the history of this nation so its obviously it shows that for a sitting president , for the first time in our history to visit a picket line, i think that goes a long way in showing where he stands with workingclass people. Amna did the president offer any additional help in your negotiations . Did you ask him for any . The negotiations are up to our National Negotiating committees, Vice President s, and our team. We have got that handled. You know, naturally, the president is just asking how things are going and keeping updates and you know, just checking in to see, you know, how things are progressing. Amna former President Trump will be visiting michigan tomorrow. He has been attacking you. He is saying the uaw leadership is not protecting its members. He has been saying the push to electric vehicles means fewer union jobs ahead, that you are not protecting. Do you share this concern that he is articulating that we know some of your members have about the future of electric vehicles meaning fewer union jobs ahead . Shawn it depends on where we go as a nation. We support a green economy. We have to have an earth we can live on that is sustainable for life but it has to be a Just Transition. That is part of what this fight is about. Our tax dollars are helping finance this transition and these companies are taking e billions of dollars that are our tax dollars but they are trying to drive a race to the bottom by paying substandard wages and benefits. We dont stand for that so we are pushing very hard for these jobs to have our standards in them so people can live off of it and so, you know, that is what this fight is about and that is what a Just Transition is to us. As it stands right now, it has to change because as it stands, we dont have a piece of a lot of that work so we are fighting to get it. Amna let me ask you about some of the things you are asking for. I want to put to you what Stephen Ratner wrote. He served as president obamas auto czar to negotiate that 2008 deal amid the financial crisis and he says, absolutely, autoworkers deserve a pay raise but they are not going to get it. They will not meet your demands. He says because they cant. Or if they do, the workers are likely to pay the ultimate price. His argument essentially that manufacturing, unlike services, can basically offset higher labor costs by shifting their work elsewhere so can the big three compete if they have to pay labor costs at two or three times what toyota, honda, ntr paying . Amna is shawn this comes down to two words, corporate greed feud i dont know where he has been living but in the last 20 years, we made massive concessions. Everything has been done on the backs of our workers and these companies in the big three have still shut down 65 plants. So that math does not add up. In the last decade, these companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars. The last six months, they made 21 billion and thats on the backs of our workers. The price of vehicles went up 35 in the last four years. Ceo pay went up 40 and our wages went backwards but no one cried a river when the ceos were giving themselves 40 increases and the companies were making record profits. That is the problem. We have to stop the fear tactics and putting this fear out there that if workers ever demand anything or get their fair share, it will be the end of the world. It is just not true. Amna is there any longterm concern you have if labor costs go up . Mentos mean they are paying higher labor costs and nonunionized shops that are largely operating across the south. Do you have a longterm concern about the ability for them to continue competing and then employing more Union Workers . Shawn we have a longterm concern for the working class in general. Workers at nonunion shops are making a lot less than we do so i know they are scraping to get by. This is not just our fight. This is a fight for the working class no matter what work some people do. We set the new standard and we organize those places. That is how the uaw was built. It was born out of a depression in the worst of times. Workers saw a better way of life, they joined unions, the uaw, and they won economic and social justice. It was lifechanging. That is what created the American Dream and the American Dream has been dead in this country for years at the expense of the corporate class and the corporate greed taking everything so that is what we had to change in this country. Amna you have 150,000 workers. Given where things are today in negotiations, how much wider do you see the strike going shawn and when do shawn you plan to make the next decision . Its going to be up to the strike going and when do you plan to make the next decision . Shawn its going to be up to the workers. Amna do you have a date set for when you plan to make a decision about how much wider it may go . Shawn it will depend on how bargaining progresses in the next few days. As things progress or dont, we will make those decisions. Amna the strike is now in day 12. Is this the kind of thing you are prepared to see go for weeks or months if necessary . Shawn we are prepared to do whatever we have to do to win economic or social justice. There is not a timetable. We dont want to be out here. The company wasted seven weeks of bargaining. They waited until the last week to get serious about talking. We told them at the outset, we have been there every day and we expect them to get the agreements done by the deadline. They chose not to do that. They chose to drag it out so they chose to put our workers in the street so we will see how things play out. Amna if there is an extended strike, there are some economists warning it could have brought a ripple effects in the communities where many of your workers live but also across the broader economy. Small impact but meaningful. Are you worried about that . Shawn im worried about how the economy is impacted by people scraping to get by paychecktopaycheck. When workers get pay increases and have more money, more job security, it is great for the economy. That is what drives the economy. A billionaire or ceo getting another 10 million on their already bloated salaries does not move the economy when they buy a third milliondollar home somewhere else, that does not move the economy. Move the economy is the majority of the working class people having more money in their pockets so they have purchasing power. That is what drives the economy. Amna that is the president of the United Auto Workers union joining us tonight. Thank you for joining us. Please come back soon. Shawn thank you. Amna its been seven weeks since the deadliest american wildfires in more than a century swept through the Hawaiian Island of maui. And some residents in the hardest hit neighborhoods of lahaina are just now finally getting a chance to return home. William brangham and our team report from maui on what life is like for those who survived. What goes through your mind when you see fire that close to your home . Oh my god. Am i going to die . This house is gone. Like our life for 50 years here at this home is going to be gone. Shawn Edith Jacinto thought shed always live in her familys home in lahaina, on the west coast of maui. But now, more than a month and a half after wildfires destroyed their house, along with most of her beloved community, shes still trying to process all thats been lost. Every time i would drive past it was like, ill either cry or i get goosebumps or just say like, this is not real right now. This is not real, but it is. William edith cares full time for her parents, her 101 yearold dad, arsenio, and her 83 yearold mom, victoria, who needs oxygen 24 7. On that terrible day, the jacintos were all together at home when ediths nephew sent a startling message, a fire was fast approaching. He tried to get a hold of all of us texting, calling, saying, you guys got to get out, like. Aunty, it jumped, the fire, jumped across the street. Its by the park, go. Now. Adjuster happened to open the back door, and then smoke just filled the home. William the family narrowly escaped but they lost everything. Their once proud, family home now nothing more than these columns. Jacintos are one of more than 7000 maui residents who have been forced into temporary housing. They now live in a hotel provided by the red cross. My dad couldnt quite understand, and he kept asking, when are we going home . My mom, shes always had bouts of insomnia, but its more so now. Like she would scream in the middle of the night. William their nightmare began just after midnight on august 8 when the first fires were reported in the central part of the island. The flames soon grew, devouring homes, business, and priceless native hawaiian treasures. In the weeks since, rescue teams have delicately combed through ash and rubble, searching for human remains. Officials say 97 people died, but another 20 or more are still missing. In all, more than 2000 structures were destroyed. Yesterday, the first group of residents was allowed back into their neighborhood to see whats left of their homes. Some have lost everything. Some have lost loved ones. Somehow no one was spared. Everyone has some loss. William Richard Bissen is the mayor of maui county. Amazingly, this event has brought us closer, closer together. This community is a resilient community. No one was prepared for Something Like this to happen. But were learning and were sticking together. William but the mayor, who has been in office less than a year has also faced criticism for how the county initially responded to the fires, and for a lack of transparency in the weeks since. People trusting you and believing what you say and how you are leading is critical. Do you feel that you have regained the Publics Trust . I, first of all, accept all the criticism. You know, i wish i knew how to do all this stuff before i came mayor. Theres no shortage of investigations of what happened here. We never want this to happen again. We want to do everything we can to not just restore trust but to prevent Something Like this from happening. William there are many factors that contributed to the extent of this tragedy. The local utility acknowledged downed power lines triggered an initial blaze and since parts of maui were experiencing a severe drought, the hillsides around lahaina were thick with dry grasses. High winds from a nearby hurricane then blew this into a violent, fast moving fire. The one paved road out of town was clogged with traffic. And there was no clear, Early Warning to evacuate. Im listening to the news and still nothing. I dont see no cops. I hear no sirens. William Aaron Kamaunu lived on maui for over 50 years. He says he had no idea just how dangerous the situation had become, that is, until the flames were less than a mile away from where he was living with his wife and a 99yearold man he was caring for. The neighbors, they are coming back and reporting to us, saying the fire is getting close. I said, no way. I just left the area. Cannot be that fast. Guess what . That puppy was a block away. It had gone from a mile to a block away in minutes. In minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes. It was like, unreal. Unbelievable. William aaron said the winds that day were the strongest hed ever seen. He captured this footage on his cell phone. His home was destroyed but he escaped and now lives on hawaiis big island with the family of the men he cares for, but aarons good friend and former neighbor, 80yearold freeman, a man he affectionately called uncle freeman, did not make it out of lahaina. I give him a call. How are you . He starts laughing and then all of a sudden, click. The phone is dead. That was it. The last thing i heard, him laughing. William those who survive are trying to figure out the future and how to rebuild their lives. Many are relying on help from their fellow hawaiians. Donations have poured into centers like this one in nearby napili. We knew what people would be experiencing. We had no idea of the magnitude of it. William kaipo kekona has helped run this center since the fires were extinguished. They serve hundreds of families a day, with free groceries, clothes, household supplies, and a sense of community. We tried to develop our site to be a reflection of our island values. So it incorporates mainly our we try to orientate all our operations to keep families involved so it keeps our community really tight and in good mindset so that we can stick together moving forward. William the jacinto family says they hope to one day rebuild their home in lahaina. 83 yearold victoria says she can still vividly remember what it was like. I close my eyes, and im there cooking. Cleaning. But no more. Amna william what you see behind me is what is remaining of lahaina. All the concrete foundations are all that is left. Thats thousands of people in this community that are dealing with the loss of their neighborhoods as well as a very uncertain future. Amna it is remarkable to see seven weeks later but let me ask you about something we have heard from the mayor which is that there is no shortage of investigations into the start of the fires come into why they were so bad. What do we know about the status of those investigations . William the Hawaii Attorney general has deputized an organization to get to the bottom of some of those questions so they will be looking at how this fire started , why it got so bad, building a whole timeline of what each of the local officials and how they responded, so that is police, fire, emts, and emergency managers. We will get from that investigation soon. There is a question that we heard which is why didnt they signal to evacuate . There are emergency beacons all over this area and they did not go after and the fire and i talked with the head of the countys Emergency Operations here and he said those are tsunami beacons and people are conditioned that if those go off, they are supposed to head up hill, which is exactly what they didnt want people doing in this fire so thats why they did not go off touring the fire. Amna what about the role of the electrical utility . I know you have reported that they did acknowledge that their lines were responsible for one initial blaze. What else do we know about whether they played a larger role . William theres about a dozen different lawsuits against Hawaii Electric Company including the county of maui as one of the people suing them and all of those lawsuits are alleging one way or another that the utility did a poor job over the years of strengthening their utility poles, trying to make them resistant enough so that when winds swept through here, that those poles did not come down and those lines did not come down. So we dont know what is going to happen with those lawsuits. We do know that the ceo of that utility will be testifying before congress that are this week. In a statement that they sent to the newshour on this front, they argue that over the years, they have spent millions of dollars doing doing those exact things that people allege they should have been doing more of and that this is in essence trying to find blame where it does not exist. Amna we heard from some of the many folks you have been talking to on the ground who have been through the unimaginable, but what else are you hearing from people about how they are coping . William we have seen an incredible resilient spirit coming up here as it happens with every disaster. Aid comes in from all over the country and all over the world but one of the other things we have seen here that has been very powerful is local people stepping up to help each other. Hawaiians helping hawaiians. Several people that we talked to said that process of people who are themselves going through a traumatic experience, reaching out, stepping up to help others, has in and of itself been therapeutic for them so it has been a very beautiful and powerful thing for us to witness that. Amna recovery still a long way from over. William reporting for us from maui. William, thank you. William thanks. Amna tonight, we go inside ukraines counteroffensive. The u. S. Has sent ukraine tens of billions of dollars of weapons, and senior u. S. Military officials predict ukraine has only about a month to make progress before Rainy Weather makes movement difficult. The counteroffensives primary goal is in the south, toward the city of melitopol, to cut into russian occupied territory north of crimea. With the help of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin, videographer eric oconnor, and their team spent a week on the frontline, and report from south of the town of orikhiv. Nick at the epicenter of an existential war, ukrainians try to move forward. By any means necessary. They fire and antitank rocket propelled grenade unconventionally and Russian Troops a mile and a half away. This is a rare look at ukraines special forces unit. The callsign is he is named for a ukrainian warrior. What is your message to america . If you want to be free, help us. With shells. Shells and weapons. The rest, we will do ourselves. Nick they are the counteroffensives tip of the spear. A drone flies over russian lines and provides realtime feedback to adjust their fire. Down the road just after daybreak, that drone unit brings us to their hidden position. It is an active morning. This is the epicenter of the counteroffensive where ukrainians have pushed the russians back little, trying to expand their territory. The russian lion is half a mile both that way and that way and you could hear all the firing. Cracks this is the meaning of past and present that helps define the war. Soldiers walk through the kind of trenches that troops have use for two millennia to be able to launch the most modern warfare ukraine is helping to invent. They are from the 15th operational brigade in the mock no unit. It was named for a revolutionary born more than a century ago but its not just reconnaissance. Explosives on top, a charge on the bottom, and a drone in the middle that will be flown as a kamikaze. Their first up is a surveillance drone that will guide the pilot. The chinese made surveillance drone flies towards the russian position. But, because the drones are called firstperson view for video goggles. The pilot races the drone towards russian positions. The surveillance drone helping guide him in and then they see their target. He flies the kamikaze across no mans land until it loses connection. The moment it explodes in a russian trench. I them up in the trench. I was trying to hit behind him. I flew like that and the fragments flew all over the trench. Nick after the hundreds become the hunted, they take cover from russian drones. Another Surveillance Team searches for russian positions. Those craters are from artillery shells. They explain how a network of drones feeds intelligence into an interactive map. You can indicate what you see. Artillery, infantry, and equipment, and everyone will have access to the map. Nick they say a platoon life can hinge on a single drone. The units connection depends on this startling satellite. They could not fly for more than an hour because nearby Russian Troops jammed the signal. If they are two to three kilometers away, i can see how our artillery is working, same with intelligence p or i can take a photo and we can sit and plan in the Group Already know where there is a foxhole, where there is a dugout. They will not go in darkness but this advantage is not only for us. It is also for them. Nick since june, ukraine has pushed russians back a few miles deep and wide and in recent days, near there. The short term goal is to push further and sever the russian land bridge towards crimea. The job of protecting ukrainian flanks falls on this unit here at forward base taxi driver. Theres a lot of waiting in war but also contests of strategy, challenges of strength, and even handtohand combat. You are holding your phone and you have the messaging application signal open. Why . There is an Artillery Group where we get targets and at any moment, we will need to hit it immediately. That is it. There is no other way. Nick eugene is from this region. His hometown is occupied. His grandmother and brother still live there. They are being terrorized. The Russian Intelligence Services take them to the basement and ask about me, where am i . I asked them to keep a low profile and just to wait. We will be there really soon. Nick the 128th brigade is one of ukraines most experienced units and last month liberated and occupied village. Despite that success, despite fighting with 21stcentury tools , his units munitions feed a weapon twice his age. The d 20 howitzer. Ukraine fires more than 90,000 shells a month. This is a soviet era workhorse that soldiers rely on an arm with help from foreign supporters. Pakistan, estonia. Nick this melting pot of munitions is not enough. Now, they have a fraction of that. We are ready to work almost around the clock just changing ships but we dont have ammunition. Amna the lieutenant nick the Lieutenant Colonel is the commander of the division. You have had to ration your firing. Have you seen the same thing on the russian side . Yes. Not like we have, but yes. There is a decrease in the use of an intensity of their artillery. It is the same for them as it is for us. The shortage exacerbates the challenge of russian defenses. Hundreds of miles of antitank ditches. Extensive Trench Network in the largest minefields in the world. They demonstrate how they dig up minds by hand or use specialized vehicles to clear a path to drivethru. This is the view from a drone infrared camera. Each white spot is a mind you in on average, one mine every two square feet for hundreds of miles. It has led to losses of western Weapons Systems and ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine does not disclose casualties. U. S. Officials say the number of wounded and dead since the beginning of the war is more than 150,000. On the southern frontline, medics have never been busier. All of these videos are found by the medics of the brigade. Solomon is one of them. It is hard to say how many there have been because one dead or one wounded is already too much. What was the city like before the war . The largest city near the front where silence is suspended by sounds of war. Nick it is a nearly empty shell. Apartment complexes cut in half and what used to be a school, the sole pillar standing still holds childrens backpacks. All that remains of a hospital. This is also a Hospital Building and civilians were living in the basement. The missile hit here. We see now the result. There was no military equipment. For the russians, there are no rules. Civilians, soldiers, medics, there is no difference, and we know they are intentionally targeting and want to destroy an armored medical vehicle during evacuation. Amna the 15 nick the 15th fights on this front every day but neither their soldiers nor medics have as modern equipment as regular army brigades. Has that increased because of the minefields . Of course. Over the last year, very much. They had time. There are so many minds here and we dont know about most of them. This 30yearold is also with the 15th. The civilian medical infrastructure is obliterated. Military medics are the only source of medical care. Civilian ambulances are not coming here so we hope the civilian population and it is more difficult because there is only one road which is being shelled and each trip, there is a lottery whether we will return safely. Nick that risk applies to even the most elite units. Pthat is the commander of the at on special forces unit at the funeral of his former commander. Our commander died. We were working with a rocket propelled grenade, there was incoming, and he was instantly killed. How will ukraine win this war . Only victory at only after we return all of our land. Without all of our land, my belief is that the war will not end. Nick there is no plan b. Ukraine will keep fighting for every inch, every yard, no matter how long, no matter how hard. For the pbs newshour, i am nick schifrin, ukraine. Amna and there is a lot in the upcoming Supreme Court term after the justices met behind closed doors today to consider which cases they will take up. That is that pbs. Org newshour, and that is the newshour for tonight. On behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist. A raymondjames Financial Advisor teams advice to help you live your life. Life well planned. It was like an ahha moment. This is what i love doing. Earlystage companies have this energy that energizes me. These are people who are trying to change the world. When i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. Im helping people reach their dreams. Im thriving by helping others every day. People who know know bdo. Carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour company. Heres whats coming up. We have to stand with ukraine because ukraine is also defending our peace, our liberty. Russia pounds the black seaport of odesa yet again. I ask German Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock if ukraine can still count on support from the west. Also ahead, how not to be a politician. Former tory minister and mp rory stewart on whats wrong with todays elected officials