Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240703

Farright republicans, after making a deal to avoid a Government Shutdown. Amna the United Nations Security Council votes to send armed forces to haiti to combat the violent gangs that have largely overrun the capital city. Geoff and the u. S. Supreme court begins a new term with major cases on the docket and growing concern over court ethics. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma and patricia ewing. The william and flora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett. 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. Former President Donald Trump was in court today in new york for a civil fraud trial over his real estate dealings. Geoff the judge already ruled on one of the major arguments from prosecutors last week, saying mr. Trump and his executives fraudulently inflated the value of their real estate holdings. The judge still has to weigh in on other claims in the suit. Before heading into the courtroom this morning, the former president accused prosecutors of interfering in the upcoming president ial election. Its a scam. Its a sham. This trial could have been brought years ago, but they waited till i was right in the middle of my campaign. Geoff joining us now is russ buettner, who has been covering the former president s business dealings for the new york times. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me. Geoff a judge has found donald trump and his codefendants liable for business fraud. This trial is aimed at determining the amount of damages. What is at stake . What are prosecutors seeking . They are seeking what they estimate to be 250 million in fines. They are seeking essentially to have a receiver, somebody else put in charge of running his company. This, to make sure enough cash is available on hand to pay whatever fine is determined. The judge granted the receivership, someone else will be in charge and there will be this long process to prove these remaining six counts to see what damages should be assessed in relation to this. Geoff donald trump did not have to show up for court today but he chose to. The anger and frustration was fairly palpable. With the judge finding last week that donald trump and the other defendants have committed persistent and repeated fraud, that is a direct quote, what is the Trump Defense . The defense has been in some ways revisiting the prior defenses they issued that have been shot down by this judge in appellate court. They are trying this again, saying that reasonable minds can disagree when talking about property valuations. Two, that some of these were based on professionally done product that should result in something that has a real value attached to it, and also, if i can check my notes, also that no one really relied on this. That is not a great defense. They are saying we assigned these values, we submitted them to banks and Insurance Companies to get more favorable rates but they do what they are going to do anyway. It doesnt matter what we put on these documents. Geoff so the trump team says this is a victimless crime, that no one was harmed by any of this . Thats right. And these loans were repaid. The judge made clear that is not a component of the law under which the case was brought, whether or not there was, whether the loans failed, whether or not fraud resulted in damage to the other party is unimportant. In this case there is an element of that because the banks and Insurance Companies gave mr. Trump much lower rates than they would have perhaps if he had submitted truthful documents and records. Geoff if the new York Attorney general gets what she wants in the civil case, what would it mean for the future of the Trump Organization, this 250 million in damage . That is the big question hanging over this. I dont want to say least because that is what the estimate is, but they are calculating how this will work out. It will all be appealed. This will probably take more than a year to get resolved after the case is brought to a conclusion, i would expect. And if the final judgment is in the neighborhood of 250 million and there is a receiver in charge of this thing to figure out what has to be, whether something has to be sold to do that, at the end of the day donald trump has a much diminished empire and has lost his licenses to conduct business in new york, that is an existential threat to the Trump Organization and the trump family enterprise. And more importantly to him. That is why he is so angry. His personal identity, everything he says about himself since he was a young man, but that he built a massive empire entirely on his own, that is not true either but it is important to him to hang onto that. It is the argument he makes over and over to his supporters in the political realm as to why he has the expertise and experience to be president. Geoff we have been looking at court sketches from the hearing. This case as i understand is expected to last three months. There are 200 names on the witness list. What comes next . Right now, starting today the accountant who filled out all of Donald Trumps tax returns for the last 15 or 20 years that we obtained a couple years ago, going back 20 years, some years there were 500 returns for each entity and the accountants name was on everyone. It seems he will testify. I put on those returns information i was given. They didnt tell me they had an appraisal saying it was worth something else. That will help them backstop whatever things the Trump Organization sites as part of that. The big thing i think will be the gap between what the Trump Organization knew to be true because they had an appraisal on the property, or the property had annexed a restriction on it, and what they told the banks to seek loans. If they had an appraisal in some cases of 200 million, they put the property is worth 600 million. When it was appraised at 30 million, in one case they put 300 million. There were properties they couldnt build on much but they created a value for the purpose of getting loans that suggested that they could actually put whatever they wanted on it. That is the gap where the fraud lies and where the damages will rest when they try to compute the gains that came out of this for the Trump Organization. Geoff thank you for sharing your reporting with us. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Vanessa im vanessa ruiz, in for stephanie sy with newshour west. Here are the latest headlines. Representative matt gaetz filed a resolution late this evening to oust Kevin Mccarthy as House Speaker. Gaetz cited mccarthys negotiations with democrats to avoid a Government Shutdown over the weekend. European Union Leaders gathered in ukraines capital, and insisted theyre still united over supporting ukraines war effort. The meeting came a day after the u. S. Congress removed aid for ukraine from a bill to avert a Government Shutdown. But in washington, the white house said the consensus on ukraine is still strong. Theres a bipartisan support, as we have seen from day one. And, look. Lets not forget what the purpose of this is for. This is for the continuation of the brave people of ukraine to fight for their freedom, fight for their democracy. Vanessa meantime, the pentagon has told congress that its already low on money to replace weapons for ukraine. Another worry came in slovakia, which borders ukraine to the west. Today, the slovak president asked the newly elected prorussian Prime Minister to form a government. The last of some 100,000 people from nagornokarabakh crossed into armenia today. That ended a weeklong exodus after azerbaijan recaptured the region. Refugees have been waiting on streets in southern armenia for buses to bring their belongings. More than 80 of nagornokarabakhs population has fled. This years nobel prize for medicine goes to two scientists whose discoveries paved the way for vaccines against covid19. They are american drew weissman and hungarianamerican katalin kariko. Both are professors at the university of pennsylvania. Today, they recalled their pioneering work with genetic material, known as rna, to fight infections. We would sit together, in 1997 and afterwards, and talk about all the things that we thought rna could do, all of the vaccines and therapeutics and gene therapies, and just realizing how important it had the potential to be. And thats why we never gave up. We just kept perservering and kept working at it, and here we are today. Vanessa the approach may eventually help to immunize people against some cancers. The cdc is moving to endorse a common antibiotic for preventing sexually transmitted diseases in gay and bisexual men. The proposal released today involves doxycycline. Recent studies show it can stop some stds from developing if taken within 72 hours of exposure. The guideline is subject to 45 days of Public Comment before it becomes final. Stilto come on the newshour, Childcare Centers scramble to adapt after pandemicera assistance expires. A former Army Reservist exposed to toxic burn pits wins a precedentsetting lawsuit. And a novel medical program focuses on keeping singers, dancers, and musicians healthy. 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 the government is open today, after House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy sidestepped the hardright flank of his party this weekend and pushed through a temporary spending bill with the help of democrats. But this week, he may need to broker another crossaisle bargain to keep his job. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins on capitol hill is here to help make sense of it all. Its good to see you. Two questions i have been asking a lot these past three weeks. Help us understand what happened. Lisa even by the tornadic standards of this modern congress, this was a wild weekend. Lets explain how we got to the no shutdown results. First, as viewers may remember, Kevin Mccarthy had a choice to make. He had to choose between a shutdown essentially or between working with democrats to avoid the shutdown. In the end, he did work with democrats and they passed the 45 day funding bill easily after republicans couldnt agree on a solution. The bill would include 16 billion in Disaster Relief but no money for ukraine, not at this point. That would have slowed things down too much so they dropped it. In the end 90 House Republicans did vote against it, essentially those 90 were willing to have a shutdown. In the end across the country right now on relief, from farmers whose payments can keep going to some who are using wic, women infants and children. In northwest ohio, williams county, they posted this, program called donuts and diapers. This is something to get more people enrolled in wic and it may not have happened if there was a shutdown because there may not have been funding. It was a wild weekend. There was a democrat pulling fire alarms, he said it was an accident but it will be under investigation. The ukraine money is something we will watch closely. Congress has 45 days and ukraine says it may run out of money in the pipeline in that time. It is a heavy task to try to figure out from both sides what to do. Could we be back here again in 45 days . Yes very much so. Amna shutdown averted for now but what about Speaker Mccarthy . A precarious moment for him. Do we expect someone to try to oust him . Lisa matt gaetz of florida says he will try to oust him this week. It could be as soon as tonight. If that fails, he says he will try again and again. The motion to vacate is something we will talk about in days ahead but Speaker Mccarthy is saying bring it on. He is daring gaetz to get enough votes. The question will be, if margins are so close, if democrats want to, they could cause problems on the house floor and have no speaker or do they vote present and allow mccarthy to keep his job. Amna lisa, thank you. Geoff lets dig deeper into the developments on capitol hill with our politics monday team. Tamra of an pr and andrew a punch bowl news. Another monday, another torrent of news. As we heard lisa say, congressman matt gaetz is threatening to use the procedural tool called the motion to vacate to strip mccarthy of his speakership. The speakership took 15 ballots on the floor for him to get. Can he successfully defend against the effort . He can but ironically his fate rests with democrats. Democrats know that and they may try to exact concessions from him. We arent sure what that would look like, may be some sort of, not quite powersharing but the ability to do certain things that the minority usually doesnt get to do. That is something mccarthy will have to weigh. Matt gaetz has said he will continue doing this to, every time mccarthy needs democrats to pass something. He will need democrats to pass ukraine funding and the defense bill, he will need democrats to pass the farm bill, all that stuff later this year. Is the hells going to be paralyzed by this chaos for months and months to come . The house going to be paralyzed by this chaos for months and months to come . What is the Decision Matrix for democrats as they decide whether to bailout mccarthy . You and impeachment, we give you will vote. Clean funding for ukraine, we give you the votes. Im not sure that is the deal mccarthy would make. He is a very weak speaker because of all of the concessions he already made. He seems to be at a point where he is like, all right, bring it. I dont know how much more he will be willing to give up. For democrats there is this calculation of, the devil you know when the devil you dont know. They know mccarthy and in the end, when pressed, he did actually choose to govern over choosing to shut the government down, choosing to take the far right position. That is something that weighs in his favor with got with democrats. From the white house side, they dont want to touch this with a 10 foot pole. This is one of those things that they are happy to be hands off on. There is a question, who is waiting in the wings . Congressman gaetz mentioned the House Majority leader steve scalise, who one would imagine, he has helped issues. Is there another Republican People are talking about who could lead this fractured conference . Ask the short answer is no end that is part of the problem. There is no alternative. If you press gaetz on who he wants to see in the position, it is someone who says publicly he wants mccarthy to remain. There is no one taking up the mantle and saying i want to be the antimccarthy candidate. That is why when you see democrats on the white house, you see their posture on this, i think a lot of them think if it is not mccarthy, it could be someone worse. The devil you know versus the devil you dont know. They would be more comfortable if mccarthy remained. Lets focus on the hill and talk about it gavin newsom choosing the president of emilys list, named to fill the seat of dianne feinstein, who passed lately recently. She will be the server the third black woman to represent in the senate. She said for women and girls, for workers and unions, for struggling parents waiting for our leaders to bring opportunity back to their homes, for all of california, im ready to serve. There is nothing that suggests she is looking at this as being a caretaker. She might run for reelection or stand for a reelection to a full term. That will show throw a wrench in the primary in california. You have adam schiff, lee and katie porter running for the seat, current house democrats. Adam schiff is viewed as the frontrunner. The Congressional Black Caucus was pushing for barbara lee to be named as the replacement for feinstein. Whoever is the incumbent has the advantage which means you have the Democratic Party Campaign Apparatus behind you in everything you do. If butler decides to run for reelection, she is automatically the frontrunner. She will most likely have the support of the Democratic Campaign arm and adam schiff, katie porter and barbara lee are left wondering what their political future is. I want to talk about President Biden gave an 2024. Interview to journalist john harwood that published yesterday, where he asked biden about the democratic handwringing about his age. Here is how he responded. Im not the only democrat that can protect it. I just happen to be the democrat who i think is best positioned to see to it that the guy i was worried about taking on democracy is not president. The specific question was, why are you the only democrat who can protect democracy . Can we expect to hear more on this theme from biden . In terms of defending democracy against donald trump, at will be one of the pillars of President Bidens campaign. The speech he gave in arizona is the beginning of what will be a lot of that. In terms of bidens point, that he is not the only democrat but the best democrat, back to the power of incumbency. He is the incumbent president with the power of incumbency and additially, he has consolidated the democratic establishment behind him in part with the idea that if there were a robust primary challenge, there isnt one but if there were, that would put democrats in a disadvantage heading into 2024. You look back at history and the one term president s robust primary challenges, that is why joe biden is the establishment choice. What is the word on the hill . There isnt a serious challenge to biden within the Democratic Party but over the weekend you saw dean phillips, a democrat from minnesota, step down from his elected leadership post in the House Democratic caucus chair because he has been openly skeptical about the idea of President Biden being there, being the party standardbearer. He suggested he could be the one to challenge him but suggested that maybe democrats would be better off with someone else. If you open this up to a primary process and someone emerges, whether it is biden or someone else, in the end, that hurts the party as they try to take on donald trump. The power of incumbency. Thanks so much. Amna today, the United Nations Security Council approved sending an International Police force led by ken yetta haiti. The resolution was approved with extensions by china and russia and aims to combat rising Gang Violence in the caribbean nation. In port au prince, desperation and anger as president s take to the streets. The city is held hostage by gangs controlling 80 of the capital. According to u. N. Estimates, killing more than 2000 people since january. After the president was assassinated in july of 2021, the caretaker government, led by the Prime Minister, failed to keep peace, leaving him to request the same Foreign Police force approved by the u. N. Today. The resolution authorizes a yearlong Foreign Police mission to provide Operational Support to hades police. To haitis police. The u. S. Pledged 100 million and Logistical Support including transport and communications. Amna linda thomas greenfield, u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , has been a central figure in the push to send an armed Multinational Force to haiti, and she joins me now. Im back to the newshour. Thank you very much. Delighted to be with you. This is a kenyan led force. The u. S. And brazil are the two largest nations in the americas and they have previously sent forces to haiti. Born why arent either offering peacekeeping forces . This was an initiative taken by the haitian government with the support of the secretary of secretarygeneral asking for this mission to step in and help haiti deal with Gang Violence. The u. S. Has been a strong supporter of this. Kenya stepped up to the plate and offered to be of assistance, and we are backing them with over 100 million in assistance as well as additional Logistical Support. We think kenya as an african country doing this sends a strong message to the world that kenya is playing on the international stage, that kenya and african countries have taken the lead in supporting this effort. Amna these International Forces are meant to support and empower the Haitian Police. An awardwinning journalist with the haitian times says the police force is compromised. 20 of the force is either sympathizing with the gangs or members of the gangs. Every attempt at eradicating the gang strongholds have been met with failure because the gangs know exactly what is going on. Amna we know those Police Forces are severely outgunned. How can a kenyan led force combat that . They will work with the haiti an national police. He said 20 but we got 80 of the police who are committed to addressing the issue. Amna he said 40 , just wanted to make sure we have that right. Even with that, 60 are committed to working with the force. That 60 will get the support and the backing of the canyons as well as the kenyans as well as other forces who will support building the capacity and also working with the communities to address this issue of violence. I think the vast majority of haitians been clear that they want security, they want stability, they want the ability to carry out their daytoday lives without the threat of these gangs. This will be an opportunity to do that. Amna some have raised concerns about accusations of abuse by kenyan forces elsewhere. Previous International Interventions in haiti led to a colorado outbreak and horrific sexual abuse by peacekeepers sent there to secure the population. Who is in charge of monitoring that and making sure haitians arent victimized . This resolution builds in very Strong Language on venting, accountability, and monitoring what will be happening on the ground. Kenyans have participated in an International Peacekeeping forces before. They come with a lot of experience, but they also know that we will take the venting responsibilities very seriously. And monitoring and accountability will be seriously looked at as we work to put this force on the ground. We have learned from the mistakes of the past, and this is an opportunity to address a strong call from the haitian people this time around for the International Communitys support. Amna we know the gangs on the ground are heavily armed. What are the rules of engagement for these peacekeeping troops . Can they use lethal force . The kenyans, after they did their assessment on the ground, they realized a static force would not be engaged. The secretarygeneral asked for a robust force. The rules of engagement will be developed as the mission gets prepared to get on the ground, but the force will be robust. They will be backing the Haitian Police as the police work to engage these gangs. I think the story here is that the International Community has responded and they are ready to bring peace and stability to the people of haiti. U. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Linda thomasgreenfield, thank you. Thank you. Geoff a new term for the u. S. Supreme court kicks off. On the docket are consequential cases that could determine the future of key issues like gun ownership and redistricting. Looming large over the term are calls for greater ethics guidelines for the justices. Marcia coyle joins us to review all of this. This new term, only a few cases are scheduled so far. What are the big ones . I think this could be a huge term for social media. The owners of social media platforms as well as users. Im watching four cases under that broad heading. Two involve laws from florida and texas that put restrictions on how social Media Companies can manage their content. Those laws arise from suspicions that social Media Companies are censoring conservative comments. The other cases under that umbrella involve Public Officials who used their personal social media accounts to communicate with their constituents. Can they block their critics and not violate the First Amendment . It is social media and First Amendment. Besides that, guns are back, as you mentioned. This is an interesting case. There is a provision in the federal crimes code that prohibits firearm ownership by anyone who is under a Domestic Violence prevention protection order. The lower federal court struck that provision down because it violated the second amendment, because it couldnt pass the test that the Supreme Courts 63 conservative majority implemented. That has caused frustration among the judges because it is based on history. They arent historians and dont feel like they have the tools to look up whether the restrictions played 100200 years ago. Also, looking at voting rights, i think we will see a lot of these coming to the court. This one is from South Carolina. A threejudge panel said the South Carolina legislature created a racial gerrymander when it moved roughly 30,000 black voters out of a district into another district. South carolina says race wasnt a motive, we were trying to shore up a solid republican district. Finally, a longterm goal of conservative businesses and legal organizations has been terrain in what they call the regulatory or administrative state. Federal agencies that enforce federal laws. There are three cases. Tomorrow morning the Supreme Court will hear arguments in one of the three, involving the Consumer Financial protection bureau, which has been under legal attack since its inception. This time, the payday lender industry has brought a challenge claiming that the bureaus unique funding mechanism violates the appropriations clause of the constitution. Those are the other four that im really keeping. Geoff hanging over this term are a host of ethical questions. Justice elena kagan spoke at notre dame last week and had this to say. What we could do is just adapt the code of conduct that the other Court Systems have in order to reflect those certain differences. I think it would be a good thing for the court to do that. It would help in our own compliance with the rules. And it would i think go far in persuading other people that we were adhering to the highest standards of conduct. Geoff she is making clear where she stands. Just today, clarence for the first time or if recused himself from a case on the january 6 the attack. Do we know yet whether the court has adopted for itself a code of ethics . I think if they had, we would know about it. There hasnt been a word. I dont think there will be until there is a unanimous agreement on the court about what a code of ethicswould entail for the Supreme Court. Justice thomass recusal, without comment we dont know why, it involved john eastman, a former clerk of his. It could be because of that relationship or it could be because justice thomass wife was involved in trying to undo the results of the president ial election. I will note two justices have started to explain why they recused from cases. That is a huge step i think for the court. Justices kagan and jackson today , Justice Kagan recused from a case because of her prior governmental service. She was formerly solicit algae solicitor general of the united states. Justice jackson says it was because of prior judicial service, many years on a Federal District court and also on the court of appeals. That was a big step but it is only two of nine. We will have to wait and see what they do. Adopting an ethics code for the Supreme Court, Justice Kagan made it sound easy. It took a long time for the lower federal courts to adopt their own code of ethics, but still, i think she is right about what impact it could have on the courts image and support within the American Public if they got it done. Geoff marcia coyle, pleasure to speak with you. Take care. Amna key funding for Child Care Centers dating back to the pandemic ended on saturday. Stephanie sy has more on what that means for families. Stephanie more than 220,000 Childcare Centers in the u. S. Received these grants to help pay the bills and raise wages for staff during the pandemic. The temporary aid amounted to 24 billion dollars. With the loss of funding, one progressive think tank projects that as many as 70,000 facilities could be forced to close in the long run, affecting more than 3. 2 million children. In the near term, parents may see higher Childcare Costs and fewer classrooms. To help us understand the ramifications, im joined by julie, senior fellow and director for womens ohmic Economic Justice at the Century Foundation, which wished this. You published this. You estimated tens of thousands of childcare facilities might close. Which operations are most vulnerable to closure in the face of this funding loss . The childcare programs that are in states that have not put in additional funding are at risk. Family childcare homes, homebased childcare that do generally serve fewer kids but more conveniently in the communities, those are programs that are often more at risk because what childcare providers who run those end up doing is, their first option is stop paying themselves a salary to go into personal debt, not great options. They are likely to be more at risk than other programs. Although the reality is, childcare providers do this work because they love children, because they want to serve parents in the community. Most of them will do everything they can to keep their doors open. As you said, they will first raise their rates, they will then serve fewer kids or close the classroom, and closures will be a last resort. This may take some time. We have gone over the cliff, the deadline has passed, but the impact of that will be felt over a long period of time for months to come. Stephanie some of the impacts may already be felt as far as the rising tuition. The Labor Department reported that the average 90 National Price of daycare rose 6 in july from a year earlier. How much of that would you attribute to daycare is preparing for the loss of these federal grants, and how will parents manna . I thinksmart providers have been thinking about what their budget is and have started to raise prices. Any parent who is paying for child care knows it is expensive. Childcare can cost 10,000, 20,000 per year depending on the edge of your child and what community you live in, what kind of childcare you choose. It is already really expensive. Parents are paying at the top of their budget for child care, so these price increases are really going to be problematic. Stephanie im curious how you see these rising costs affecting working parents, especially working mothers. Whether we will see for example, impacts on the labor force, women having to stayathome because they cant afford the rising costs of childcare. We do expect parents will be impacted and the majority of the impact will be on moms. That means they will shift their hours around, cut their hours or ultimately have to leave the workforce. That has impacts on their families, on their own future earnings, and on whole communities. The Century Foundation report found about 9 billion per year could be lost in parents earnings as a result of the tough choices they will have to make. Stephanie some are saying the notion that this is a Childcare Cliff is somewhat hyperbole because as you point out, a lot of states have put solutions in place to address the loss of this federal assistance. Can you give us a sense of how many states have that plan and how many states have done nothing . About 15 states have put in things that will make a difference in terms of the stabilization. None of it is enough to really stabilize the sector the same way. But it will help in those states in a significant way. A lot of states that have it, we have seen in wisconsin 42 providers have shut down and others have raised their rates. We have seen it depends on the state. One thing to know, the sector was precarious before anyone ever were heard of covid19. This was an area where the treasury secretary caused called a broken market. It doesnt work. Parents are asked to pay at the top of their budget, providers have to pay early educators Poverty Level wages because there is not enough money in the system. We dont ask parents to pay for a fourth grade class but we ask them to do that for infants and toddlers. The stabilization money showed what life could be like if we actually partnered with government and families to make it work. Stephanie julie with the Century Foundation, thank you for joining the newshour with your insights. Thank you. Geoff our thanks to stephanie. A jury has ruled in favor of an army veteran who sued texas over William Brangham reports, the verdict is a victory for veterans who have long pushed to raise awareness over their exposure to toxic chemicals. William texas state trooper Le Roy Torres was also an Army Reservist when he was called to active duty in 2007, and deployed to iraq. While there, torres says he was constantly exposed to the smoke from what are called burnpits, where the army burns its trash in open fires following that exposure, he was diagnosed with a severe lung disease, and once back home in texas, had to live with a steady supply of concentrated oxygen. Its a mental battle. But here, lately, its been the best thing that i can do to help me. William torres asked for an accomodation at his old job, to take a different position within the Texas Department of public safety, but torres says they told him to resign instead. So he tried to sue the state, but texas argued it couldnt be sued because of whats known as sovereign immunity. Torres challenged that position all the way up to the u. S. Supreme court, where he prevailed, granting him permission to sue texas. Torres suit, which just finished last week, was decided in his favor. The jury awarded him a financial settlement to cover lost wages, benefits, and retirement. For more on this landmark case, we turn to leroys wife, rosie torres. Together, they created the organization burn pits 360, which advocates on behalf of veterans exposed to toxic environments. Rosie torres, so good to have you on the program again. I wondered this remarkable legal victory that you have just achieved, how is that sitting with the two of you on this side of that victory . It feels surreal. Its been such a long journey of heartache and injustice that its still, you know, making its way to settle in our minds and primarily in our hearts, because weve just suffered, along with so many other families, the injustice of life after war and just all the battles that we have faced. William when you and your husband spoke with my colleagues a year ago in texas, you both shared some very difficult times that your husband had been through emotionally. And i wonder, how is he doing now . Hows he feeling . Hows everything with him . Well, it is very emotional. I mean, i know weve shared very publicly about, you know, the night that he had a suicide attempt. You know, to me, as his wife, what i saw was a man who served his nation and his state honorably. And he was stripped of his integrity and his dignity and his childhood dream from the state. So to see him now with that sense of peace and the mending of his heart is just heart wrenching. But its so im so grateful to god for what he has given leroy. As his wife, as his friend, as his advocate, im honored to be standing by him. William its fantastic to hear. I know that he originally the whole genesis of this case was his desire to get a a different job with the force back in texas. I understand that was not part of the legal settlement of this most recent resolution. Is there anything else you still want from the force, though . You know, i have to say that most Police Officers who serve in a capacity of Law Enforcement that usually when they retire, theyre able to sit in their patrol car one last time and properly sign off. And i would love to see them honor leroy in this way, where they would allow him to sit in his patrol car one last time. He went to war and served his nation, and thats all he did. And so if they would just give him that, it would be amazing because it would be closure. William and do you have any sense as to whether that might happen or not . I have no idea. I mean, you know, its the right thing to do. But have they done the right thing all along . No. I mean, its what he deserved. He went to serve his nation and he came back to this. So it should have never happened. William regarding this other ongoing struggle you have with the department of veterans affairs, passage of what was called the pact act was supposed to clear the way and really smooth a lot of veterans getting disability benefits through the va. And i understand that there is still an issue with the va recognizing the very particular illness that leroy has, constrictive bronchiolitis. Can you tell us what the issue is with that . Where does that stand . So the issue with constrictive bronchiolitis is that the v. A. Has not established a code to properly compensate veterans on that disease. There isnt a process in place to also properly screen the function of the lung. And so that results in veterans like leroy being not only sometimes misdiagnosed, but not compensated properly for the damage thats been done to their, to their lungs. William so it seems like you have this one tremendous legal victory, and yet the ongoing struggle just does not seem to end. Yes, correct. You know, two decades ago, dr. Miller presented and advocates presented the issue of constrictive bronchiolitis, which is, you know, i have to say over 90 of people selfreport that theyre suffering from, you know, the issue, not being able to breathe and so the fact that were still one year post that and having these conversations with leadership, this is a huge issue. People are still dying and theyre still sick. So its unfortunate. William all right. Rosie torres of burn pits 360, wife of leroy torres. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Amna its an unusual partnership, a worldclass hospital and worldclass performing arts organizations. A model in the growing field that brings together health and the arts. Jeffrey brown reports from houston for our ongoing series, canvas. We are going to get a look at your throat and your vocal cords. Jeffrey were up close and personal with 25 year old opera singer Emily Treigle and her vocal cords. This is her instrument, requiring Constant Care and attention. Again. [singing] and its not like, you know, im playing the trumpet or piano. Like, if something goes wrong, you can see it. So you need the professional to be able to go in and make sure that everythings going well. Jeffrey in july, after multiple tonsil infections, treigle, a mezzo soprano, had a tonsillectomy. All went well, and this day she was getting a check up ahead of the houston grand operas new season. For someone in your position, whats the problem . I mean, whats the thing you have to deal with or worry about most with your voice . The short answer is everything. The long answer is, its incredibly challenging to be in a career that there are so many variables attached to. And so, our task as singers is to have such a good, solid Technical Foundation that we can defy whatever odds are thrown at us and just continue to be able to produce a really beautiful sound. When it is something thats outside of our control, our technical realm, thats when we end up back here and say, you know, somethings not working. Can we do a check up and make sure that everything is where its supposed to be . We really encourage our singers as vocal athletes. Jeffrey working with treigle, dr. Yin yiu, a laryngologist at the Texas Voice Center at the houston methodist hospital. As she puts it, shes the t in the e. N. T. She doesnt sing herself, though some of her colleagues do, but she loves the challenge of caring for singers. We think about athletes, right . And they have like this whole team of people that take care of them. And we dont really think about performers. So singers, actors, people who do like, use their voice in that capacity. We dont think about them in that same way. But they can also have injuries, right . So they can be performing and have Different Things happening. The vocal cords can get swollen. They can have a vocal cord hemorrhage, or bleed whenever theyre singing. These are all things that can happen and we get to be that team for them. Jeffrey the Texas Voice Center is part of the hospitals highly unusual program, the center for performing arts medicine. Founded by dr. Richard stasney in 1992, it all began with a focus on singers. But then, something unexpected happened. Todd frazier has led the center since 2012. We started to get preachers, newscasters, classroom teachers, anyone that would associate their voice to what they do professionally. And thats when the hospital realized that, yes, there really is Something Special and unique here, and thats unique to houston as well. Jeffrey the center then grew to support performing artists of all kinds from houstons thriving Arts Community, as well as from all over the country. Crucially, it also developed official relationships with several of houstons leading Performance Art groups. There are a lot of unique Health Issues that show up in the Arts Community that deserve a home and deserve a place to be cared for. Jeffrey are you surprised that this is a thing now between the hospital and arts organizations . Im not surprised that its successful because i am from the Arts Community and i really knew that the artists were yearning for a home and a sympathetic place that they would be understood. But i have to be surprised that, you know, a Major Hospital would sort of take this on ia way thats sort of unprecedented. They felt it fit with their values to be supporting the arts and culture within the community of houston, which all the hospitals are in houston. And the physicians really enjoyed being able to help these talented people making their lives and homes here in houston. How is it feeling . It is ok. Jeffrey one major partner, the houston ballet, which now has an onsite clinic, giving dancers like kellen hornbuckle, daily access to athletic trainers and physical therapists. The types of injuries that ballet dancers get are very unique. Its a very unique population. And while they are performing artists, they are incredible athletes. Jeffrey kevin varner is the chairman of orthopedic surgery at houston methodist orthopedic sports medicine. Its interesting to look at how things evolved over the last 15 or 20 years in terms of dancer health. And remember, its a big team approach, right . So you really need a system, a hospital that wants to be a partner because you need not just orthopedic surgery, you need nutrition, you need cardiology. You need primary care, sports medicine. So people that take care of the dancer as a whole. When you do that, it really does improve dancer health. We are dancing. Jeffrey in this session, hornbuckle received dry needling, cupping, massaging and other treatments to alleviate pain in her legs and prevent serious injury. The big idea, according to houston ballet executive director james nelson, change from reactive to proactive care. When i was dancing, we never had any on site care. It was always, wait until youre broken, then go to the doctor, then get it fixed. At the end of the day, its a very short career. And so, to be able to give an artist a year, two years, five years more of this precious time is such a gift. I attribute a lot of that to to this partnership with methodist. You wont find this kind of relationship in most ballet companies. Jeffrey back at the hospital, frazier sees this kind of focus on the performing arts only growing in the future. Many universities are starting arts and health certificates, music therapy, degrees. And even medical schools are looking at internships in Artists Health or how artists might be cared for to develop those skills. It is growing. [singing] jeffrey meanwhile, singer emily is ready to go. Okay, your throat looks great. Thank you. Who knew my tonsils were so big . I had no idea. But now that i dont have them, i certainly notice their absence. So yeah, im very excited about this coming season and seeing how how things change now that i dont have this obstacle. Jeffrey treigle performs with the houston grand opera later this month in the verdi opera falstaff. For the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown in houston, texas. Geoff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im geoff bennett. Amna and im amna nawaz. On behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. Major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by architect. Beekeeper. Mentor. A raymondjames Financial Advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. Life well planned. It was an aha moment. This is what i love doing. Companies have this energy that energizes me. These are people who are trying to change the world. When i volunteer with entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. Im helping people reach their dreams. Im thriving by helping others every day. People who no, no bdo. The kendeda fund, committed to advancing Restorative Justice and meaningful work through investments and transformative leaders and ideas. More at kendedafund. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. 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