Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240703

The case for themselves as alternatives to the absent, and leading candidate, former president donald trump. Amna and thousands of Ethnic Armenians flee after Azerbaijani Forces violently take control of the breakaway republic of nagornokarabakh. Stopping their food and all the essentials to the people in nagornokarabakh. That is a classic genocide inflicting conditions. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. Pediatric surgeon. Volunteer. Topiary artist. A raymondjames Financial Advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. Life wellplanned. The kendeda fund, committed to advancing Restorative Justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. More at kendedafund. Org. 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 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 federal workers were put on notice today that a shutdown is imminent. Millions of Government Employees and active duty military members could stop being paid in just three days time. Geoff the u. S. Senate has been working in a bipartisan manner to prevent a shutdown, but the holdup is with House Republicans, some of whom are refusing to support any shortterm measure that would buy congress more time to act. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is on capitol hill following all the twists and turns. Lisa, congress now has less than three days to reach a deal. The house and senate appear to be moving in different directions. What is the latest . Lisa this deadline is quite serious and it is approaching more quickly now. However, things at the capitol are becoming more complicated and it feels almost as if slowing down. First of all, lets talk about the senate, which has a compromise idea. However, a single senator, rand paul of kentucky, is saying he will not allow that to proceed any quickly than according to senate rules because he objects to ukraine funding in that bill. What that means essentially is that we are on track for the senate to be able to vote on its compromised spending plan no sooner than monday. Something would have to change print lets review where we are. Right now the shutdown would start for most Government Agencies sunday morning at 12 01, just after midnight sunday morning here in america. And the senate right now is on track to have a final vote no sooner than monday. The house, we do not know what their plan is. We are waiting to see it. House speaker Kevin Mccarthy said he wanted to have a vote on it tomorrow but we are waiting to see. There are so many details in the air right now but think of it in terms of two pivot points. One is tonight. The house of representatives will try and pass a yearlong funding bill, possibly two, for a few agencies. That will be a test if publicans can agree on anything. The other pivot point is saturday when some senators are going to try and amend that Senate Bipartisan deal. That may be changing. We will see how many votes there are on saturday. We will also see if the deadline itself makes the senate move a little more quickly. Geoff you mentioned read ukraine funding. Remind us of what other issues are at play. Lisa ukraine funding has been a major factor but we are seeing the riser republicans talk more and more about Border Security. Initially the reason we were not able to see spending bills passed and the house and the reason we got to this point was overspending amounts. The idea of the national debt. Holdouts saying they had to be lower spending levels and even republicans themselves agreed to a few months ago. That was the real reason we got here. Now we are hearing more and more republicans saying we have been concerned about Border Security. We want more Border Security provisions in any kind of temporary deal and we are hearing that conversation among Senate Republicans as well. That is what i mean by saying this is becoming more complicated, not less. Geoff there was other news on capitol hill today. Attended the first House Republican impeachment inquiry. Tell us about that. Lisa for months House Republicans have been investigated in the biden family. Today that effort entered a new phase. The committee on oversight and accountability will come to order. Lisa in a relatively small hearing room, Big Questions and profound politics. The American People demand accountability for this culture of corruption. Lisa for republicans, led by House Oversight chairman james comer, the top question is whether they will move to impeach president joe biden. In a 30page memo released last night, republicans outlined their accusation, writing they have evidence suggesting that President Biden knew of, participated, and profited from his familys International Business activities. In other words, the suggestion is influence peddling. As we all know, the bidens had nothing to sell except the brand, which was joe biden. Hunter biden sold the brand well, making the biden family millions from china and elsewhere. Lisa republicans are looking at millions of dollars made by hunter biden, the president s son, and james biden, his brother, especially in 2019 and 2020, for consulting with foreign businesses, including in ukraine and china. They have charts of Shell Companies, and spoke of texts and phone calls between biden family members. But in all of that, democrats repeatedly pointed out there is no direct evidence of payments to or influence peddling by joe biden. If the republicans had a smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol, they would be presenting it today. But theyve got nothing on joe biden. Lisa republican witnesses were broad experts in law and investigation, and they raised broad questions. Forensic accountant bruce dubinsky. Why were members of the biden family and Close Business Associates receiving millions of dollars of payments from foreign entities and individuals . What services, if any, were being provided . Lisa he concluded much more information is still needed in order to be able to answer these questions. Lisa none said theyve seen enough to add up to a crime. Law professor and conservative commentator jonathan turley. This is a question of an impeachment inquiry. It is not a vote on articles of impeachment. In fact, i do not believe the Current Evidence would support articles of impeachment. Lisa this is the first step in an inquiry initiated by House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy earlier this month under pressure from hard right members of the house. Republicans argue there is real concern about the biden family. Democrats have fired back, charging this is an attempt to distract from the criminal charges now against former president donald trump. And making a point in this hearing, by reversing their laptops to show ticking clocks, that a shutdown is just two days away. Why in the hell are we playing this game . And why dont we be honest. If this were so important, it could wait. This is whats important, protecting this government and protecting the people who pay taxes here. But we want to play games with all of this. Lisa democrats sole witness, law professor michael gerhardt, stressed the stakes. An impeachment inquiry is deadly serious. It is, again, just about the most serious thing any House Committee ever undertakes. Lisa republicans expect more impeachment hearings as soon as next month. Today speaking with House Republicans, there is divide produce some say the impeachment hearings were necessary. But i spoke to more than one House Republican who said it was an embarrassment. They are concerned about the evidence and it can be. s even though there are not a lot of documents. They say they are waiting for more evidence and perhaps this hearing should have waited. Geoff lets turn now to our White House Correspondent laura barronlopez here with us in the studio. We heard in lisas report that the gops handpicked witnesses said there were no evidence to support articles of impeachment. How is the white house responding to this hours long hearing . Laura that fact, that the republican witnesses said that there is no evidence, is exactly what the height the white house is seizing on. They put out statements quoting the republican witnesses saying there is no evidence for impeachment. They also had their own shutdown clock. The issued a statement every 30 minutes as the hearing was playing out over the course of the day to say there is only this many hours left before a shutdown occurs and essentially highlighting and focusing on the fact that House Republicans have been unable to come to an agreement among themselves on how to fund the government and the impact that would have on Food Assistance programs come on payments to active duty military members and the like across the board. That is what the white house is focusing on. Geoff as the hearing was happening, President Biden was in arizona paying tribute to his late friend, the gop senator john mccain. And it gave President Biden a chance to talk about what he sees as the threats to democracy. Laura thats right. At this speech in arizona, President Biden specifically days gave his most detailed remarks to date about what he sees as a really present and clear threat from not just donald trump also from other republican candidates running for the president ial nomination. He focused on the fact that a number of those candidates including trump have said that they want to overhaul the federal agencies. That if they were to have the presidency, the oval office, they want to got federal agencies, that they want to install loyalists across all the different departments, specifically the justice department. And the president said this is not normal and this is something americans need to Pay Attention to. Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, inciting violence against those who risk their life to keep americans safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as americans. This maga threat is a threat to the brickandmortar of our democratic institutions. It is also a threat to the character of our nation. Laura those are some of the most specific remarks the president have given to really say that if republicans were to take power and take the presidency in 2024, that the federal agencies that you have known since americas existence would not exist. He also talked a lot about john mccain, the late senator, and struck this contrast to say that john mccain was a republican who is willig to pu the Country First and was willing to call out what he saw and he does not see that anymore among republicans. He also addressed the fact no republicans, or a majority of republicans have remained silent after the former president issued a death threat suggesting the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff should be executed. Geoff should we expect to hear more about this from President Biden as this campaign moves forward . Laura we will. This is the fourth speech the president has given to date on threats to democracy and the campaign has made clear this is something he will be talking about aggressively heading into the election cycle. Geoff laura barronlopez, thank you so much. Amna for more perspective on todays impeachment hearing and the legal basis for the inquiry, were joined by frank bowman. He is Professor Emeritus at the university of Missouri School of law and author of high crimes and misdemeanors a history of impeachment for the age of trump. professor, welcome and thank you for joining us. I want to begin with your reaction to that impeachment hearing today. What were some of the Key Takeaways for you . What new information did you learn . Frank regrettably, very little. I think it is certainly true to say that no impeachment inquiry of a u. S. President should begin unless there is at least significant proof that the president did engage in some sort of wrongdoing. That has been the case in every prior president ial impeachment. The difficulty for the republicans is, on the one hand, they have the advantage of dealing with hunter biden, the president s son. And the one uncontested point one can agree on is hunter biden has spent his entire life being in the profession of being the son of joe biden, in the sense that he has gained a lot of advantages in terms of getting jobs, and later on in his life inducing people to invest in his companies by virtue of the fact his last name is biden. No doubt about that. But that is not a crime, even as to hunter biden, and it is certainly not an Impeachable Offense to joe biden. The problem is the republicans launched this impeachment investigation without any material evidence that President Biden has done anything that is either criminal or impeachable. And it is worth remembering that we do not come into this inquiry about hunter and his relationship with his father anew, as if this is suddenly a new thing. This is something that has been investigated by multiple authorities since 2018. The trump appointed u. S. Attorney in delaware and how special counsel has been investigating hunter since then. A Senate Committee investigated biden into 2020 and issued a report. The house has been investigating all of this since the beginning of this year. And so far, although we still know that hunter biden has been trading on his fathers name, they have no evidence. Amna let me ask, even republicans we speak to will say this is a factfinding mission, we believe we have a lot more questions. Where there is smoke, there is fire. They say this inquiry, these hearings are a means to get to some of that specific evidence you are saying they have not shown yet. Could it be as a result of these hearings they do uncover that . Frank sure, in theory. But i think it is profoundly unlikely. And given the exhausted investigations by republicans over the past five years of these very same transactions that have failed to produce the evidence they say they are looking for, i think the republican legislators who you are quoting say we really need more before we take the grave step of a formal impeachment inquiry. They are right. And Nothing Happened today to dispel that concern. Amna so what are the possible outcomes from this hearing . If they do find evidence of impeachable acts they could move forward with articles of impeachment, or they could reach the end of the hearings and just say, never mind, nothing to see here . Frank sure. I mean, one is at least disposed to suspect that the purpose of these hearings is not really ultimate impeachment, but simply to keep the name hunter biden in the News Associated with his father, to maintain the suspicion that something is amiss. And to carry that public concern forward into an election year. Perhaps i am wrong. Perhaps everything the republicans are doing here is being done in good faith. But one i think has to doubt that is the case given the doubts being expressed by this process even by members of their own party. Amna we have heard a lot about some of the arguments laid out, the overarching idea of influence peddling, this idea of Shell Companies being created as well. From a legal perspective, what is the bar republicans have to meet here, from your expertise, in your view . Frank they want to try to show that joe biden committed an Impeachable Offense and they want to show it is basically corruption. Today they adopted the phrase influence peddling. It is a particular favorite of professor charlie. It sounds bad and and i think in a broad sense it is bad but if you want to make a crime or Impeachable Offense out of it you have to show that someone in public office, in this case thenpresident , now President Biden, actually offered or gave or performed some sort of official action or at least intimated that he would engage in some official action in response for favors. There is no evidence of that at all. They are going to have to show that. Maybe they can. Maybe some smoking gun will emerge. But at this point there is no indication of that. And it is telling that they began this hearing, this momentous process with no evidence. Amna that is Professor Emeritus of the university of Missouri School of law frank bowman joining us tonight. Thank you so much. Good speaking with you. Amna in the days other headlines, the pentagon confirmed that an american soldier who ran away to north korea in july has returned to the United States. Early morning video showed private travis king exiting a plane at Lackland Air Force base in san antonio, texas. He was taken to an army hospital. A day earlier north korea sent king to china where he was handed over to u. S. Authorities. And at about 5 00 the river was blocked up from debris under the bridge. Amna that earlier storm killed 16 people in greece and caused more than 2 billion in damage. In switzerland, scientists rapidly melting glaciers, caused by recordlow snowfall and extreme summer heat. A new report said swiss glaciers have lost 10 of their ice volume in the past two years alone. That equals the total melt of the 30 years between 1960 and 1990. Back in this country, the United States senate now has an official dress code. A bipartisan resolution passed last night requires business attire for men on the senate floor. It was prompted by pennsylvania Democrat John fetterman, who routinely wears a hoodie and shorts, although not on the senate floor. Last week, majority leader Chuck Schumer had said members could wear what they want. Fast food workers in california will make at least 20 an hour, starting next april. That becamlaw today, guaranteeing one of the highest minimum wages in the country. As part of the deal, fast food corporations agreed to remove a referendum on wages from next years ballot. On wall street, stocks recouped some losses as oil prices eased, along with Interest Rates on treasury bonds. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 116 points to close at 33,666. The nasdaq rose 108 points. The s p 500 was up 25. And Michael Gambon, who gained global fame as harry potters wise wizard headmaster, has died in britain. Jeffrey brown looks at his long career. Help will always be given at hogwarts, harry, to those who need it. Jeffrey he was known to millions as the bearded, longrobed, wise wizard, professor dumbledore, appearing in six of the eight harry potter films, taking over the role in 2004 following the death of actor richard harris. But Michael Gambon had long established himself as one of the great actors of his time, first on the london stage, as a member of the Prestigious National theater, eventually winning three olivier awards. In films and television, he played everything from gangsters, to greats like Winston Churchill in churchills secret. His comic turn role as the father in an adaptation of Jane Austens Emma earned an emmy nomination. And he took home a bafta, the british film and tv award, for his 1986 performance as a mystery writer struck with a debilitating disease in the singing detective. Whether as supporting actor, or lead, gambon commanded attention. Throughout a career spanning nearly 60 years. He died last night following a bout of pneumonia. Michael gambon was 82 years old. For the pbs newshour, im jeffrey brown. Amna still to come on the newshour, residents in maui return to destroyed communities as investigations into wildfires continue. An International Sports tribunal considers evidence in the russian figure skater doping scandal. And musician nat myers uses the blues to amplify his message about modernday america. 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. Geoff last night in simi valley, california, seven republican president ial candidates took the stage for the second primary debate held at the Ronald Reagan president ial library. On display, the partys unequivocal transformation since the reagan era. White house correspondent laura barronlopez has our report on the night. Laura at times combative and unfocused, seven gop president ial hopefuls desperately tried to steal the spotlight away from former president donald trump. This is where President Trump got it wrong. Laura some risked new jabs at the partys standardbearer, including Florida Governor ron desantis in center stage. You know who else is missing in action . Donald trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record where they added 7. 8 trillion to the debt that set the stage for the inflation that we have. Laura but early attacks against the absent frontrunner flopped. Youre ducking these things. And let me tell you whats going to happen. You keep doing that, no one up here is going to call you donald trump anymore. Were going to call you donald duck. Laura and faded. [crosstalk] laura chaos reigned among the candidates who are trailing trump on average by 40 points. Former South Carolina governor nikki haley landed a blow against businessman vivek ramaswamy. Every time i hear you i feel a little bit dumber. Laura not long after, she got into it with senator tim scott over curtains. Do your homework, tim, because obama bought those curtains. Did you send them back . And its in the press. Did you send them back . Its the state department. Did you send them back . Did you send them back . Youre the one that works in congress. Laura desantis defended floridas African American studies curriculum which claims that some enslaved people benefited from slavery. These are great black history scholars, so we need to stop playing these games. Laura African American history scholars dispute that, and so did scott. There is not a redeeming quality in slavery. Its why i can say i have been discriminated against but america is not a racist country. Laura fights over race and gender identity, now cornerstones of the modern gop, came into play as well from former Vice President mike pence. Were going to pass a federal ban on transgender chemical or surgical surgery anywhere in the country. Weve got to protect our kids from this radical gender ideology agenda. Laura gender affirming care surgery for minors is rare. And pences position is opposed by every Major Medical association in the country which say such care for minors is safe and effective. On the most frequent topic of the night, immigration, ramaswamy promoted ending birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants born in the u. S. , a right enumerated in the constitution. Well, if the kid of a mexican diplomat doesnt enjoy birthright citizenship, then neither does the kid of an illegal migrant who broke the law to come here. The moderators largely avoided asking about trump, with no question on the mounting indictments. Or recent extremist statements, including suggesting last week that chairman to the joint chiefs of staff mark milley should be executed. Trump again counterprogrammed with his own event, though his opponents were on his mind. Theyre all job candidates, they wanna theyll do anything. Secretary of something, they even say vp. Does anybody see any vp in the group . I dont think so. Laura in michigan, where the United Auto Workers union is on strike, trump rallied supporters at a nonunion facility, and made direct appeals for labors support. Do me a favor. Just get your union guys, your leaders, to endorse me. But your leadership should endorse me and i will not say a dad about them again. Laura but with trump comfortably leading the debate participants, the twohour spectacle appeared unlikely to change anything. For the pbs newshour, im laura barronlopez. Amna today, the government of nagornokarabakh said it would dissolve, formally ending more than 30 years of separatist rule for the ethnically armenian enclave inside azerbaijan. As ali rogin reports, this comes after azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive last week that has triggered a massive humanitarian crisis, with more than half of nagornokarabakhs population fleeing to neighboring armenia. Ali a massive exodus visible from space. The only road connecting nagornokarabakh to armenia, now an escape corridor for a traumatized population, jammed with thousands of cars as people try and flee. They arrived in armenia hungry and scared. The ony way to survive. It was horrible. Children were hungry and they were crying. Ali that is a reference to last weeks artillery attack. Nagornokarabakh residents ran for cover. Azerbaijan called it an antiterrorist operation and released video of drone strikes on what they said were Armenian Defense positions. The 24 hour offensive ended in a russian brokered ceasefire, forcing separatist karabakh troops to dissolve their formations and disarm. Azerbaijani soldiers ripped out the armenian flag and raise to their own in villages they say the liberated. Azerbaijani president declared victory. As a result, azerbaijan has restored its sovereignty. I think his objective is to erase karabakh. Ali a former u. S. Ambassador to azerbaijan. It was not that long ago he was talking about pushing armenians not only out of karabakh but out of our media itself. Ali last weeks attack was shortlived but the damage was deep. On a trip to the region this week, Samantha Power pledged 11. 5 million in aid, but food and medicine are still scarce, and the offensive exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. For 10 months, azerbaijan blocked the only our cave stopping the food and all the essentials to the people in nagornokarabakh, that is a classic genocide condition. Ali chief prosecutor for the International Criminal court says azerbaijan uses starvation as a weapon, even after the International Court of justice this year rules the blockade may have a serious touch of mental impact. Which he says proves his genocidal intent. He took the position to fully blockade the corridor after the International Court of justice said to him that blocking the corridor created risk of death. So he knew, and he did it willingly. Ali todays crisis is not new. Nagornokarabakh first declared its autonomy within azerbaijan during the soviet union. But for the past 30 years, intermittent violence plagued the region. What did happen in the breakup of the soviet union was that you had a group of armenian nationalists who wanted to make it in independent entity. Ali when the soviet union collapsed the enclave was ceased by armenian separatist forces in a war that ended in 1994. Then in 2020, azerbaijan launched a brutal 44 day war and regained most of its previously lost territory. The fighting left tens of thousands of armenians living in the region without a plan for peace, but under the protection of 2000 russian peacekeepers. The armenian president said they failed to ensure security. The responsibility for these developments will be completely on azerbaijan, who adopted an ethnic cleansing policy and russian peacekeepers in nagornokarabakh. Ali but moscow says its peacekeepers evacuated civilians and armenia is accusations are unfounded. Russias for Ministry Said the armenian leadership is making a huge mistake by deliberately attempting to sever armenias multifaceted and centuriesold ties with russia. It should be of because of concern about what role a Russian Peacekeeping operation would play, having basically attacked one party in the conflict. What russia is trying to do is what it been trying to do, is to make sure that these countries do not resolve their conflict without russia being the key actor. Ali after several rounds of talks, today, nagornokarabakhs government said it will cease to exist, ending is three decade bid for independence. This week saw another player with a historic relationship with the region, turkeys recep tayyip erdogan, who wants to create a land corridor between turkey and azerbaijan through armenia. But despite months long talks brokered by the eu, u. S. , and other efforts to broker a deal, a peace settlement now scen seems elusive. What will be difficult to happen is to recreate the environment before this fighting broke out, where the u. S. And the eu in particular have been trying to mediate a peace agreement. Ali from the u. S. So far, calls for calm. In the last week secretary of state Antony Blinken has spoken twice with azerbaijans president to prevent further violence and maintain the ceasefire. We think it is important that the ceasefire be maintained, that he humanitarian needs be addressed. The People Living in the karabakh region are azerbaijan citizens regardless of their nationality. Their safety, security, and wellbeing will be insured by the state of azerbaijan. Ali but how azerbaijan treats its own citizens is also questionable. The president has concert traded power and weakened any form of opposition. Independent organizations say there are as many as 200 Political Prisoners including journalists and activists. Among them, world renowned academic, who faces up to 12 years in prison under allegations he denies. His young son is in the u. S. He was an economist, a civil rights defender, and that made him powerful. Ali over the years he investigated corruption within the azerbaijani government, including in nagornokarabakh. He is now in pretrial detention where he has been denied access for food and medicine to treat his diabetes. It creates a domino effect where Civil Society has been abolished. That seems to be the reality, where people are scared to talk. Ali but his children talk even as they are intimidated. He spent us these photos of his ransacked room in new jersey by what he suspects are azerbaijani officials. The use of social media against us, and we do feel threatened. But our love for our father and country is greater. Ali a country corn apart by decades of trauma, and a rift that grows as tens of thousands flee into an uncertain future. For the pbs newshour, im ali rogen. Geoff children can return to schools in lahaina, hawaii next month, and tourists will also be allowed back into parts of west maui weeks after the devastating fires there. Officials are trying to help restart an economy that ground to a halt on parts of the island. William brangham is in west maui and has been talking with residents about these plans. It is good to see you. On tuesday, you and the team gave us a glimpse of how people are still dealing with the aftermath of these fires, nearly two months on. Officials there are now putting out some more concrete plans for when places will start to reopen. What exactly are they proposing . William as you mentioned, schools will reopen the middle of next month. Since this infernal tour through this community, thousands of students have either had to go to school in other counties or doing remote schooling are not going to school at all. And that just puts an incredible stress on the parents, who are also dealing with all the other aspects of disaster recovery. So, there were four schools in lahaina. One of them burned so badly it cannot be recovered. The other three were damaged, and so they think that they can reopen those. So theyve been cleaning them, doing all sorts of safety testing on the soil and air and the water to make sure its ok for the kids to come back, and that is supposed to happen starting next month. On this issue of tourism, october 8 is the date that the governor set, and so local officials have been trying to figure out what that really looks like. And so they have got this phased in plan where hotels will start to be opened, not immediately in lahaina, but in areas adjacent to it, and tourists will be able to start to come back in. And the hope is is that more jobs, more money will start to flow into this economy, which desperately needs it. Geoff what do local residents there make of these plans . Are they prepared for tourists to return . William the residents that we have heard from are not happy with this at all. Yesterday we attended the Maui County Council meeting and hundreds of people showed up. It was standing room only. Many people expressing a sense of anger and frustration and grief and solidarity. This was local hawaiians and native hawaiians, many of them speaking native hawaiian language in this meeting, and they were expressing all manner of things, that they dont want to keep feeling like second class citizens in their own community, that they dont want to feel like they are subservient to a tourist economy. They argue that they dont have to rely solely on tourism here , that you can diversify this economy. They want to be more in control of the decisions that are being made about how we go forward. And they feel that is not the case right now. I want to play a little bit of sound of what we heard yesterday. This is tiare lawrence. She is a Community Organizer in the area. Heres what she had to say. I keep thinking that i ran out of tears. It just keeps coming. But im asking the council to do whatever it takes to keep lahaina, lahaina. I know for myself, i live in puka lani because i couldnt afford to live at home. And i would love so much to be able to move back home one day, and i know a lot of my family feel the same sentiment. So im asking you guys to stand behind the people. The multigenerational families, most importantly. William so it was just a very, very powerful meeting, lots of expressions like that. And in some ways, geoff, reminded me of other tragic, galvanizing experiences that ive covered. I think of things like katrina, or newtown, or standing rock, where a tragedy falls on a community and people feel galvanized to action by that, and that is absolutely what it feels like is happening in lahaina right now. Geoff whats the response been from local officials to that prevailing sentiment, william . William on this very specific issue of tourism, i talked to the mayor earlier this week, the mayor of maui county, and he is very sensitive to the idea that tourists would come here and treat the burned devastation of lahaina as another tourist attraction. He does not want to see that. In fact, as you drive around here, you will see miles and miles of black fabric that they have strung up to try to create a privacy screen, so the tourists do not stop and take pictures of the devastation. The governor has similarly argued that tourism done respectfully can honor the people who are still dealing with this tragedy every single day, but can also bring people back to help boost this economy. I mean, it is estimated that 13 million a day have been lost since this fire swept through this area. But despite those arguments, the community does not seem sold on it. I think its Something Like 9000 people signed a petition saying, please delay the reopening, but officials are not heeding that call. Theyre going forward. Geoff William Branham reporting for us tonight from west maui, alongside newshour producers. Thank you. William thanks, geoff. Amna 19 months after the Winter Olympics ended in beijing, one medal ceremony for the u. S. Figure skating team has still not been held. It all goes back to a doping scandal that erupted during the games back in february of 2022. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, then 15 years old, helped lead her team to a gold medal with a stunning performance. The u. S team won silver, and japan won bronze. But as the athletes prepared for the medal ceremony, news suddenly broke that valieva had tested positive for a banned performanceenhancing heart medication, months earlier. Valieva claims the medicine was her grandfathers and she accidentally ingested some of it. The olympics medal ceremony was indefinitely delayed. Since then, its been tied up in a long appeals process and its the subject of a hearing this week in switzerland by an International Sports tribunal. Christine brennan is there covering it for usa today. She joins us now. It is good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Christine my pleasure. Amna so this positive test was nearly 600 days ago. The hearing is just starting this week and now we understand it has been delayed even further. Why is this dragging out so long . Christine that is a great question and a question these athletes would like to know. They won these medals, and that is the highlight of ones career and you want to actually have it. This is unprecedented. Never before has there been an Olympic Event held and no medal ceremony. The fact it will be 600 days on saturday is extraordinary. It is one of those things that is the loveliest and simplest of all events and things that the olympics, is to get out that gold medal to that deserving athlete. So, what has happened is as you mentioned, there have been delays. This week the court of arbitration for sort for sport has been meeting and i i have not been in the room, it is a closed hearing. And as we thought they were basically ready to finish their deliberations and then start with the decisionmaking process over the next month or two, they abruptly adjourned and said they need more documents. That really surprised everybody. Almost 600 days and you still need another document . Infuriating news for them. Amna what are the possible outcomes from this hearing . What could we possibly see when this is all said and done, and when the youth it wendy expected to be done . Christine there are two options. Kamila valieva, 15 years old, she is a protective person, in other words, a minor. So she might just get a slap on the wrist because of that. But if she is found innocent, the orders of the metals will stay the same. Russia, the u. S. , then japan. But if he is found guilty, and who knows with this story, i have never seen anything quite like this, but you would presume the u. S. Would move up, brush would be disqualified russia would be disqualified because of using the tacitly the u. S. Would move to the gold and japan would move up to the silver and candidate which finished in fourth place would move up to the bronze. As to when this could happen, if the hearing stopped today they would take between one and three months to render the verdict. Now that the hearing is being postponed for six weeks, there are a lot of numbers and a lot of alphabet soup. The court of arbitration for sport welcome back on november 9 and look at this new documentation they wanted to see. From that point the clock starts again and it will be between one and three months. Now we are pushing into 2024. Basically a decision will probably not be made until the twoyear anniversary of those olympic games, february of 2022. Amna it is just remarkable. How about our other skaters viewing this . Most of the members of the u. S. Team have been relatively quiet. Male single skater vincent joe issued a lengthy statement saying justice delayed is justice denied. My teammates will never get back the chance to celebrate a lifetimes work of hard work culminating in a career defining achievement. Is that the sentiment among most of the athletes . Christine it certainly is. There are nine members of the u. S. Figure skating team. It is the team competition, not the one we are so used to in figure skating. All nine of them wrote a letter and month ago and asked if they could have a seat at the hearing. Could they just be one of them . They were told no. No, you cannot come. Again, this was a closed hearing. In this case i thought they were incredibly classy and dignified when they said could we come and watch this . Of course this is determining our fate as either silver or gold medalist, which can also impact the earning potential for those athletes. In the court of arbitration for sports said no, it is closed. If Kamila Valieva had wanted the u. S. Team to have a representative were to be a public hearing, then it would have been a public hearing. So this was Kamila Valieva and her lawyers basically deciding no, no one can see this. Irony of ironies, while the u. S. Wanted to come, she did not show up and she testified on tuesday through video, which is allowed. Amna just a remarkable turn of events and still this process is not over. Christine brennan covering this hearing and joining us. Thank you. Always good to see you. Christine my pleasure. Thank you. Geoff the blues guitar legend buddy guy once wrote, funny thing about the blues. You play em cause you got em. But when you play em, you lose em. The blues chase the blues away. For many, thats still as true in the 2020s as it was in the 1920s. And its perhaps especially true for 32yearold kentuckian nat myers. Special correspondent tom casciato has the story for our arts culture series, canvas. And a warning that some racial slurs myers was called are named in this piece. Everywhere i been, somebodys been abused. Tom everywhere ive been, somebodys been abused, sings nat meyers in his song yellow peril. never going to win, some of us are born to lose. Tom never going to win, some of us are born to lose. The song has what npr music deemed a swagger that leaps out of the speaker. its nat meyers reaction to the racism, particularly the antiasian hate crimes that he observed during the pandemic lockdown. My thing about this song is, anything that tries to insert itself and breaks apart what it means to be a minority or a person of color in america, we aint going to let that happen, you know. Tom but nat meyers relationship to the blues goes back a long time before that. All the way back to the beginning. I had like a pretty archetypical, just like, american childhood, i guess, you know. Put my hand tomy heart every day, said the pledge. Watched disney stuff. Tom the son of a mom from south korea and a white dad from indiana, he was raised in a mostly white part of northern kentucky. My parents didnt really kind of instill in me a sense of my own identity in terms of me being asian. Look at younger pictures of myself and i look at a kid who really thought he was white. Tom he speaks of a certain sadness growing up. I didnt have a very happy childhood. I got picked on a lot, you know what i mean . I dont want to use the terminology, but, you know, like , but maybe i should. Being called chinky, being called gookie. people pressin their eyes at you, you know, buckteethin at you. Its all real, you know what i mean . Tom he took solace in skateboarding and the folks he met doing it. People i skated with taught me what true friendship was, and when i started hanging out with these cats, maybe it helped that they were two years older than me, though, but people stopped bullying me. Skateboarding helped me survive. Tom another thing that helped him poetry. I was real young when i didnt know what poet was but i wanted to be a poet. Everything in my fiberwanted to be a poet. So like, write about the green grass and the blue skies, you know . Tom he loved the classics, homer and shakespeare. But nothing nourished his soul like the lyric and musical poetry of the prewar blues. I listened to all of these kinds of music when i was growing up, but when i started listening to like old blues, and particularly when i started getting deep into patton. Tom charlie patton. Yeah, charlie patton. The feeling id ever experienced writing music before was dwarfed. By the feeling and the emotion i got from listening to that, that old music. And to me, its the only kind of stuff ive ever wanted to play. Tom and play he did, putting his own poetry to music. Meanwhile, he soaked up the works of artists like ferry lewis, big bill broonzy, and mississippis Robert Pettway and tommy mcclennan. Just in terms of the sheer ferocity of their playing and their singing. Tom mclennan sounds like hes been smoking unfiltered cigarets for 80 years and is still able to keep a note. Tom but as meyers developed his own craft, he did so in private. Playing music was something i did purely to myself and to annoy my roommates. It was something that i kept completely to myself. Tom it was when he came north to new york city in 2015 to study poetry at the new school that the idea of performance took root. What you really discover is how many cats are playing music out here on the streets. Whether it be on the block, whether it be down on the subways. I just started looking at them cats was just like, what . What am i doing right now . And i remember just going out on the block. I played for like 10 hours or Something Like that. I made like maybe 20. But to me back then, i remember that was the first money id ever made as a poet. They paid me to do this stuff. Maybe they paid me to keep quiet. But it was kind of a revelation in terms of like, oh, man, this is where the breads at. tom soon came covid19, and like lots of musicians, all he could do was post his work online. Thats when this video on instagram caught the eye and ear of an instant admirer. I got this random email one day. It was like, hello, this is easy eye sound, record label owned by dan auerbach. Tom dan auerbach is one half of the superstar duo the black keys. It sounded like a joke. I almost deleted the email. Tom fortunately, he returned the email and soon he was writing songs with noted nashville songwriter pat mclaughlin, as well as dan auerbach himself, and recording right in auerbachs nashville home. The result, his debut album, yellow peril. 10 bluesy tracks, he says that owe an enormous debt to the prewar artists he so admires. The songs also perform a key function this music has provided for over a century. You tweeted in the summer, on the road, im happy and blue. Off the road im just blue. Yeah. I think im just im just a low down fellow all the time. You know what i mean . Im just a sad person generally. Being by myself, its a crippling kind of loneliness. And when out on the road, life gets so simple, you just trying to get from a to b in one piece. And when you get from a to b, just making sure that youre in like an energy type enough to be able to do your job, you know. Tom you say youre not a happy person, but when you perform music and you see that thats making people happy, does that make you happy . Oh, no doubt. A lot of people say they play music for the fans or they make the music for these people like, we do this all for you. i dont know about that, because i do this music because, like, literally, id die if if i werent playing this stuff. And so the fact that i can bring joy to other folks, its such an impossible thing that ive been given the privilege of to do. Tom for the pbs newshour, im tom casciato in brooklyn, new york. Amna theres a lot more online, including a look at the impetus behind this years surge in labor union strikes, including the ongoing auto workers strike, and what it means for working americans. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Geoff and join us again here tomorrow night for a look inside comedian and actor cheech marins museum for chicano art. And thats the newshour for tonight. Amna and im amna navaz. 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[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] youre watching pbs. Hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour and company. Heres whats coming up. After rolling back Carbon Neutral targets, britain now doubles down, drilling for more gas and oil. Senior Green Party Leader Zack Polanski joins me. Then President Bidens historic picket. Where his climate targets are an issue for striking auto workers