Some of the president s supporters have probably misinformed him about the impact of immigrants. Every study shows that immigrants create much more jobs than they take away. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention. In the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. 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. Woodruff from mexico to the caribbean, natural disasters dominated this day. First, the earthquake that rocked central mexico on tuesday. The death toll rose to 225 today, and the nations president warned, every minute counts to save lives. A desperate search for life today in mexico city police, firefighters and volunteers digging into a collapsed school. Sometimes, they found survivors, sometimes not, but the search went on. translated people are helping. We are all gathering at the Collection Center and managing as we can. People are showing a lot of solidarity. Woodruff the quake hit tuesday afternoon near the puebla state town of raboso, 76 miles southeast of mexico city. The violence of the shaking was evident buildings swayed and convulsed, and at least 44 collapsed, lost in plumes of smoke. Pleasure boats were tossed like toys in a bathtub. Terrified people streamed from homes and offices. translated horrible, horrible, frighteningly horrible. Frighteningly horrible. Woodruff a wing of a school pancaked into concrete slabs. Rescuers dug frantically, some with bare hands. At times, raised arms signaled the crowd for silence as they listened for sounds of life. The search went on through the night, under the glare of floodlights and the watchful eye of anxious parents. translated my kids go to school in the next street, and when i saw the school, i panicked, and i ran and i ran for my children and well, i spent all afternoon here watching how they rescue people. Woodruff crews brought in wooden beams to shore up the school building. And, ultimately, they spotted one survivor, but pulled 25 bodies from the rubble, all but four of them, children. The same scenes were repeated over and over across the region hundreds of people hunting for the living and dead, and survivors telling of narrow escapes. translated it was a very hard hit that went down and then i went to find my child and i couldnt so i started to i was trapped on the third floor and my friend, over there, was on the fourth floor and we tried to get out and the people in the house next door helped me get out with a ladder. But i am just grateful to god that we are here for something. Woodruff in morelos state, where 60 of residents lost power, they began burying their dead and surveying the damage today. translated the good thing is that it my wife and my grandson were the only ones there. Shes injured a little but shes there alive, thanks to god. Woodruff the quake hit less than two weeks after Even Stronger tremor struck southern mexico, and killed nearly 100 people. It also came on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 earthquake in mexico city that killed thousands. There had even been earthquake drills yesterday morning. In a National Address last night, mexican president pena nieto spoke of his countrys resilience in the face of repeated disasters. translated this earthquake is a hard test and a painful one for our country. Mexicans have had very difficult experiences with earthquakes in the past and we have learnt how to respond to these incidents with a spirit of solidarity. Woodruff from new york today, President Trump spoke to pena nieto at length. And at the vatican, pope francis led thousands of people in prayer for the earthquake victims. We get an assessment of the destruction on the ground from gus, tell us where you are and what you have been seeing today. Hi, judy. I am in the North District of mexico city, a Residential Commercial area, and right behind me, as you can probably see, is an Apartment Building that came crumbling down. This obviously happened yesterday in the afternoon, and at least 20 bodies have been pulled out of the rubble, judy. A very sad moment for mexico and for this community. The good news is, apparently, they are hearing some noises that the experts believe are people who may still be alive inside those rubbles. So they are not losing hope that they will find more survivors. Woodruff gus val carcel reporting for us from mexico city, thank you. Next, hurricane maria. It blasted puerto rico today with sustained winds of 155 miles an hour. That left more than three Million People to ride out the islands strongest storm since 1932. P. J. Tobia begins our coverage. Reporter the people of puerto rico spent a long day, trapped in their homes, snatching cellphone glimpses of maria carving a slow, destructive path. The hurricane made landfall about dawn, and quickly set about ripping ripped roofs off buildings, tearing fences from the ground, and unleashed deadly storm surges and 20 inches of rain as it made its way swept across the island and past san juan. Raul pichardo recorded images of a home wrecked in his san juan neighborhood. translated that whole building over there is cmpletely destroyed. A homes satellite dish just fell right here. Reporter the storm knocked out 21 of the islands 22 weather stations, and left nearly all an estimated 80 to 90 of its people without power. Officials imposed an overnight curfew. Local reports said several coastal villages were largely wrecked. The mayor of fajardo, told one outlet ive never seen my city so destroyed. Marias power was intensified by extremely low pressure, lower even than hurricane irmas two weeks ago. That, coupled with the storms smaller, more concentrated center, added to the destruction. A day earlier, it had blasted the tiny islands of dominica and guadeloupe, plus st. Croix in the u. S. Virgin islands. Scattered reports today told of major damage and little or no communications. Puerto rico had already suffered an estimated 1 billion in damage from irma, after a decadelong struggle to recover from recession. Now, housing in the territory is a growing concern, with more than 11,000 people in shelters. But in a statement today, Governor Ricardo Rossello insisted we are stronger than any hurricane. Together we will rebuild. Meanwhile, the storm is rolling on. Its expected to skirt the domincan republic by tomorrow, continuing northeast and passing near turks and caicos thursday night and the bahamas by saturday morning. It may also regain some of the power it lost crossing puerto rico. Fearing the worst, officials on in the Dominican Republic scrambled today to get ready as rain began to fall. For the pbs newshour, im p. J. Tobia in washington. Woodruff as of this evening, the hurricanes sustained winds dropped to 110 miles an hour. We keep our focus on puerto rico now and are joined by carlos mercader, spokesman for puerto ricos governor. Mr. Mercader, were seeing reports power is out across the entire extent of the island of puerto rico. Is that right . Thats right. The governor, days before the storm, basically warned everyone that the infrastructure of the electric system was really vulnerable to what we were facing. In the wake of whats probably the most damaging hurricane weve ever seen in our history, that was going to be one of the areas that were going to feel the damage more closely. Woodruff do you have any sort of assessment yet of how much damage has been done to buildings, to homes . No, well, to be honest, were still facing some of the effects of the hurricane. Right now, in san juan, there is still rain, there are still some winds, necessarily. There are still some winds of 40 to 60 miles per hour, so theyve got to wait until the rain ends and the winds just go down so that they can deploy all of the brigades that they have. We have kind of like a passwords created with fema, dod, department of Homeland Security and the local state agencies that basically once the storm is out they will deploy to the whole island to assess damages and then we will able to talk about a number. I would just like to say this, in terms of infrastructure, material damage, its total devastation. Woodruff i should have asked you this first, what about casualties, loss of life, injuries . I believe thats one of the good stories here so far is that, because of the preparation that the government ensued during the days before the storm, the federal authorities, all of the sectors, political, private sector all joined the governor in his warning this was going to be a damaging storm and people either would seek refuge in one of the shelters or they would face life danger or they would endanger their life. In that sense, people responded well. We had about right now, we still have about 12,500 evacuees that are in the 500 shelters we have throughout the island, and we are expecting the number may keep more or less around that same figure because you know a lot of people lost their homes. Were talking about major devastation. When we say major devastation, that means in terms of infrastructure, we have full communities that 80 or 90 of the homes are a complete disaster. They are totally lost. So those people probably, once they go back and see that they dont have a home or the home is inhabitable, they have to go back to the shelter. So we have those shelters. People are in for some long stays. Woodruff puerto rico is facing the need of a lot of help in the weeks an months to come, looks like. I would like to say one thing, throughout irma and maria, weve had a big support from the president of the United States donald trump, his agencies, the administrator of fema, the advisor to the president and Homeland Security, the secretary price, all of them have been in constant communication with the governor. They call him on a daily basis almost and not only show their support in words but in actions. We have a big team of fema working on the ground now in puerto rico. They employed people from d. H. S. We have helicopters in puerto rico ready to start working the different crisis well work once the storm goes. We have a lot of help but we need more. I want to talk about irma. While irma didnt hit puerto rico directly, irma did cause a lot of damage in the neighboring islands, and puerto rico became a safe haven for a lot of citizens that were stranded in those islands. Puerto rico helped even though we needed help. Now were calling on congress and all political leaders to support your fellow citizens in puerto rico. Woodruff we are certainly wishing the very best for all the people of puerto rico. Carlos mercader, representative of the governor of puerto rico, we thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Woodruff in the days other news, the president of iran condemned President Trumps u. N. Address yesterday as ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric. Mr. Trump had charged iran is, an economically depleted rogue state that represses its people and exports violence. Hassan rouhani answered today in his speech to the u. N. General assembly, and he warned against abrogating the nuclear deal with iran. translated the Islamic Republic of iran will not be the first country to violate this agreement but it will respond decisively and resolutely to its violation. Woodruff meanwhile, President Trump said in new york today that he s made a decision on whether to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. He would not say what he decided, but he told reporters ill let you know. On north korea, u. N. Ambassador nikki haley is defending the president s warning that the north will be totally destroyed if it threatens the u. S. Haley said today that mr. Trump is not yet giving up on diplomacy to end north Koreas Nuclear and missile programs. More than 40 nations today signed the worlds first Treaty Banning Nuclear weapons. It takes effect once 51 nations ratify it. The signing took place at a ceremony along the sidelines of the annual u. N. General assembly meeting. More than 120 nations had approved the pact in july. The u. S. And other Nuclear Powers have rejected the treaty and are not subject to its terms. The white house is denying President Trump apologized to turkeys president over an incident last may. Recep Tayyip Erdogans bodyguards and supporters attacked protesters during his visit in may. In his newshour interview this week, erdogan said mr. Trump had called to say hes sorry about what happened. The white house says there was no apology. In economic news, the Federal Reserve announced its ready to begin reducing its enormous bond holdings. But fed chair janet yellen said it will be gradual, to try to prevent a surge in longterm Interest Rates. The central bank bought up bonds during the recession to stimulate the economy. Now, yellen says growth is steadier, despite some short term setbacks. In the Third Quarter however Economic Growth will be held down by the severe disruptions caused by harvy, irma and maria. As activity resumes and rebuilding gets underway, growth will likely bounce back. Woodruff the fed also signaled it expects to raise shortterm Interest Rates once more this year, and possibly three times in 2018. On wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 41 points to close at 22,412. The nasdaq fell five points, and the s p 500 added a point. And, two milestones in sports tonight boxer jake lamotta, whose life inspired the movie raging bull, has died. His career spanned the 1940s and early 50s, including six fights against sugar ray robinson. And, he eventually became world middleweight champion. Jake lamotta was 95 years old. And, Major League Baseball is celebrating a new record most combined home runs in a single season. It came last night when kansas citys alex gordon homered against toronto. That was number 5,694, by all teams, this season. The old was set in 2000 when steroid use was at an alltime high. Still to come on the newshour republicans latest efforts to revive an obamacare replacement plan. The Science Behind mexicos deadly quake. One on one with former new york city mayor michael bloomberg, and much more. Woodruff a few weeks ago, republicans longfraught efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act looked all but dead on capitol hill. But in the past few days, a new proposal is gaining sudden momentum in the senate, as a critical deadline looms for the gop. John yang has more. Yang judy, the new healthcare bill is sponsored by four republican senators lindsay graham, bill cassidy, dean heller and ron johnson. It would bring sweeping changes to the current healthcare system, including ending the individual mandate that everyone have insurance, or pay a penalty, eliminating the Medicaid Expansion for states, and instead give states lump sums to spend as they choose. Eliminating federal tax credits to help offset healthcare costs, and removing protections so that insurers cannot charge more for preexisting conditions. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said he intends to have a vote next week, before senate loses its chance to pass a healthcare bill with just 50 votes, instead of 60. One of the bills original sponsors, Lindsey Graham of south carolina, defended the push you can have different opinions about the quality of this bill. At the end of the day, this is the only process left available to stop a march towards socialism. We have between now and the end of the month to have a vote and a debate about whether this is better than the status quo. My friends on the other side are never doing to agree to a bipartisan proposal that does anything other than prop up obamacare. Yang today former president barack obama, at a bill and Melinda GatesFoundation Event in new york city, ripped into it when i see people trying to undo that hardwon progress for the 50th or 60th time, it is aggravating. And all of this being done without any demonstrable economic or actuarial or plain common sense rationale, it it frustrates. Yang here to help us understand the policy, and the politics behind all this are sarah kliff, who covers Health Policy for vox. And our own lisa desjardins. Lisa, a lot of changes not only to the Current System but also to the previous repeal bills. One is how the federal money will be distributed. What are those changes . This is a massive change in healthcare spending, would shift money to the states. Specifically, right now under the Affordable Care act, the federal government pays tax credits for premiums for lower and middle income people and helps with deductibilities and then Medicaid Expansion. The grahamcassidy bill would shift it to states, 1. 4 trillion worth. Republicans say that gives states many more options but without the limits there is also no guidance, theres no plan now for what to do with that money. Yang this morning you wrote that of the four repeal Bills Congress considered so far that this is the most radical of them all. Explain that in terms of the protections, the benefits and coverage this bill would afford. Yeah, i