Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240713

Community. Woouff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by Financial Services firm raymond james. When it comes to wireless, Consumer Cellular gives its customers the choice. Our nocontract plans give you as much or as little talk, text and data as you want, and our u. S. Based Customer Service team is on hand to help. To learn more, go to consumercellular. Tv fidelity investments. Bnsf railway. The john s. And james l. Knight foundation. Fostering informed and engaged communities. More at kf. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by thcorporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the pace of covid19 deaths across the United States is slowing tonight, but the total is nearing a new threshold 100,000. At the same time, the nations reopening keeps moving ahead, led by a major American Financial institution. Stephanie sy begins our coverage applause reporter an opening bell at the new york Stock Exchange, that may go down in history. opening bell Governor Andrew Cuomo did the honors, wearing a mask, the now telltale symbol of the pandemic. With that, the Trading Floor partially reopened for the first time in two months. The normally buzzing space saw only a few brokers return inperson, and most employees will continue to work remotely, for now. Cuomo said the opening after memorial day marked a critical moment. Were going to turn the page on covid19, and were going to start focusing on reopening and how we reopen and how smart we are in reopening. Reporter but even as some new york suburbs entered the first phase of relaxed restrictions, cuomo also highlighted data that lowincome and minority communities are still experiencing double the infection rates of the rest of the city. In california, churches are starting to open their doors. We reserve the right ourselves to determine the things that we should do, that would be in the interest of our people. Reporter after heated debate, the state laid out a plan this week to let individual counties decide when houses of worship should reopen. Meanwhile, at the white house today, the predent spoke at a rose garden event. One Top White House staffer, katie miller, Vice President pences press secretary, returned to work today after a series of negative covid tests. She tested positive earlier this month, prompting the white house to mandate face masks for all staff. But, even as the slow march toward normal progresses, there are new fears over meatpacking facilities, where workers continue to get sick. The Washington Post reported today that there are 11,000 covid19 cases linked to three major meat producers tyson foods, smithfield foods, and j. B. S. Each of those companies has taken steps to slow the spread of the virus. Still, plant closures and woer shortages have strained the nations meat supply. Overseas, in india, the number of new infections climbed for the seventh straight day. Cases have surged since the country lifted lockdown orders. Despite that, limited domestic air travel resumes there this week, with employees disinfecting bags and some travelers wearing conspicuous safety gear. Coronavirus is very dangerous. We have to accept it, and we have to take all those measures which the government is asking us to do. Reporter in russia today authorities reported the highest daily death toll there yet. The country has the third highest number of infections in the world, but the government has reported a relatively low mortality rate. Russian officials have denied that they are deliberately underreporting covid deaths. On the Global Economic front, french president Emmanuel Macron unveiled an 8. 8 billion plan to save the hardhit french auto industry. And, in south america, the continents largest air carrier, latam airlines, filed for u. S. Bankruptcy protection, citing a collapse in demand. That, as a u. S. Ban on foreign travelers from brazil took effect today. For the pbs newshour, im stephanie sy. Woodruff as wall street welcomed back traders to the floor of the Stock Exchange today, traders welcomed the moment. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 530 points to close at 24,995. The nasdaq rose 15 points, and the s p 500 added 36. In the days other news, the city of minneapolis fired four Police Officers in the death of an unarmed black man last night. A bystanders video shows a white officer pressing his knee on the mans neck as he pleads that he cannot breathe. We will take a closer look, after the news summary. The government in afghanistan began releasing 900 taliban prisoners today, and it urged the militants to extend a threeday ceasefire. Dozens of inmates walked out of the bagram jail near kabul. The release was part of a deal that the u. S. Signed with the taliban back in february. Hong kongs chief executive has dismissed fears that Mainland China is moving to snuff out dissent. Chinas ceremonial legislature is considering a bill to rein in prodemocracy protests that rocked hong kong last year. But, carrie lam said today, it is for the greater good. We are a very free society. So for the time being, people have the freedom to say whever they want to say. But ultimately, what is to be provided in this piece of legislation is for all of us to see, in order to be assured that hong kongs freedoms will be preserved. Woodruff the commander of the chinese Army Garrison in hong kong said today that his troops will firmly enforce beijings orders. Back in this country, the pentagons Deputy Inspector general glenn fine resigned, weeks after he was removed as overseer of pandemic relief spending. In a brief statement, he praised the watchdog role of inspectors general. In recent weeks, President Trump has fired the i. G. S for the state department and the intelligence community. The republican governor of georgia, brian kemp, is now ofring to host the Partys National convention in august. The president threatened to pull the event from charlotte, North Carolina over pandemic restrictions. Another republican governor, ron desantis of florida, said today he also isilling to host the convention. The white house announced medicare copays for insulin will be capped at 35. Recipients who select drug plans with the new benefit could save about 450 a year. President trump announced it as he looks to shore up support among seniors, who have taken the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. And, costa rica is now the first Central American country to legalize samesex marriage. The countrys Supreme Court had ruled in 2018 that a ban on gay unions was unconstitutional. That ruling formally took effect today, after the National Congress failed to pass a law addressing the issue. Still to come on the newshour an unarmed black man dies, after a Minneapolis Police officer kneelsn his neck. The impact of the coronavirus on the caregivers taking care of the sick. Sending astronauts back into space from the u. S. For the first time in nearly a decade. And, much more. Woodruff there is a protest in minneapolis tonight following the death of an African American man. He died after a Police Officer kneeled on his neck while apprehending him last night. Echoing the eric garner case from staten island, the man told the officer, i cant breathe. The consequences have been building throughout the day. Amna nawaz has a look at how the incident, captured on video, led to outrage in the twin cities area, and wider. Nawaz the video shows george floyd on the street, hands cuffed behind his back, pinned down by a Police Officers knee on his neck. Floyd repeatedly says i cant breathe. Please, please, i cant breathe nawaz witnesses on the sidewalk are heard begging one officer to listen to floyd. You got him down. Let him breathe. Nawaz . Then imploring the second officer to intervene. Youre just going to stand there . So you call what hes doing okay . Nawaz minutes into the video, one bystander alerts the police that floyd is no longer moving. Bro, hes not even bleep moving nawaz floyd was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County medical center, and pronounced dead. Minneapolis police said in a statement monday night that they were responding to a report of a forgery in progress, and that floyd physically resisted officers. He should not have died. Nawaz this morning, minneapolis mayor jacob frey addressed reporters after watching the video. For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man. For five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense. Nawaz by this afternoon, mayor frey announced four minneapolis officers involved in floyds death had been fired. Some reaction to all of this, from one of the areas leaders. Melvin carter is the mayor of st. Paul, part of the twin thank you for being with us. That video is so hard for toe many people to watch, your heart just goes out to the friends and family of george floyd. When you first saw that video, you lead a community right next door. What was your reaction . Exactly that. Thanks for having me on. We have a tenminute video just as mayor frye just set of a man, george floyd, having his neck pressed in from behind. Hes defenseless, hes helpless hes handcuffed the whole time. There couldnt be any distractions on this as we traditionally see folks blaming the victim there couldnt be any excuses. Theres no argument that there was a heat of the moment, theres no weapon, no sustained depression, theres no argument. The officer could have been acting in self defense or with fear for his life. We just have a man, george floyd who should be still alive today. Mayor carter, its sad to say twin cities have been here before. You think back to the 2015 Police Shooting of jamar clark. The 2016 Police Shooting of philando castile. You cannot hear george floyd say the words i cant breathe enough. Think back to eric garner after new york city Police Officer put him in a chokehold. Each time there are protests, theres calls for justice, months sometimes years go by. Wh do you make of the reaction you have seen so far next door in minneapolis to what happed . I think juror exactly right. You cant pretend this is one time stand alone thing. I can tell you in garner vox so many of the videos weve en, certainly in the one weve one of the most disturbing thing to me is the other officers. Thother officers who stand around. If it jt one officer, aing by himlf then somebody might be able to make the argent that hes a bad apple or that hes a rogue officer or Something Like that. Everyone knows the basic job of a Police Officer is to help when someone is being hurt. So for three officers to stand there not deem it in their job to intervene and stop this from happening right now, to george floyd, speaks to an undeniable culture a culture of violence, a culture of abuse that somehow been normalized. Thats been accepted. And that has to end right now. As we mentioned four Police Officers from minneapolis have alrey been fired. Why do you think mayor frye reacted so swiftly . I tell you, mayor frye is a good friend, he and i Work Together closely on a number of thing. I appreciate him making a very strong statement this morning saying that this was unacceptable. For being black in america to be a life sentence, i appreciate seeing them take strong action and fire these officers. I assume the mayor, he watched this video like so many of us just cant live witness. Cant sustain all of this. I tell you i appreciate him giving voice to that. I know its a difficult situation for him because part of his job right now, too, is to make sure he doesnt do or say anything the Minneapolis Police departments ability to hold these officers fully accountable. You mention the Police Department. I should point out their first statement, somearts of it were contradicted when the video surfaced and started becoming much more widely seen. There was no mention in the Police Statement of a neon the neck. Or of gorge floyd losing consciousness it was said it was medical incident. Those kind of states and stories can lead people to think the police are hiding something or not telling the full story. Leads to mistrust. In the same communities they are sworn to protect. As an elected official, how do you fix that . You are so right. Its such a big problem. Philando was my childs lunch guy. It wasnt the sainted paul Police Department. That video didnt happen in st. Paul. It wasnt the st. Paul Police Department andeve been working for years, we have fantastic police chief, my father is retired st. Paul Police Officer. We worked for years to build t type of trust, to build the credibility. To engage community and community leaders, when this happens whether its in minneapolis or anywhere around the country, it sets us back years on that work that weve done to build trust. It puts every single officer in our country in a bad swage. Thats one of the most tragic things about this. We know that the process of Building Trust is never complete. Its never done and so that just means we have to continue to double down on that work. Ive spoken to my police chief this morning, he always talks about the bank of trust the needs that make deposit in that bank of trust before you ever have to make a withdrawal. Thats what were focused on in st. Paul. Mayor carter as we sithere are protests in minneapolis, people calling for justice. As we sit here there is the tric american truth that nationwide u. S. Police disproportionately kill black people in america. When were looking for what needs to happen next, tell me as an elected official, what would you like to see happen now, specifically. So theres not just justice for mr. Floyds family but we can make sure this doesnt keep happening. I think youre absolutely right. Unfortunately we have seen historically too many times that no one is held accountable for things like this. I can only pray that we have a legal system here in minnesota, here in america that is capable for holding these officers accountable. For taking George Floyds life in a way this they did. I dont think that we should send this to a grand jury. Im looking to Hennepin County attorney mike freeman to make a charging decision to make it soon so that we can healed these officers accountable. If we cant or if we wont hold these officers accountable then it will just be another painful reminder in a mountain of evidence that tells our young in particular our young African American men that their lives are not valued in the same way as other peoples lives are. That has to be unacceptable. Im speaking up loud and clear about this ever chance i can get to everyone who i can. But thats not surprising, im a young African American man. We need everyone speaking up on this. We need our senior citizens, we need our white women, we need every member of our community who values life, who values humani who can look at a video like that, george floyd, theres no reason he shouldnt be going home to his family today. We need to all be speaking up so all of our families here, all of our coworkers hear us, our elected officials, judges, Police Officers, that were all speaking up saying that is not the america that we want to live in. Reporter that is mayor Melvin Carter of st. Paul, minnesota, joining you. Thank you for your time, mr. Mayor. Woodruff the number of americans who provide unpaid caregiving for their loved ones has been rising. More than 50 Million People now provide care for their loved ones. The pandemic and the shutdowns have made it that much harder, further isolating people in too many cases. Were going to begin with the voices of some of those people who contacted us, far more than we could even show. Heres some of what they told us. Ana warning this segment contains sensitive suect material, particularly for younger viewers. My name is deanna ludwig, and i live in port washington, wisconsin. And im 50 years old. My name is stephanie campbell, and i live in ellenwood, georgia. My name is lydia giordano. Im 61 years old, and my son is 20 years old. And i live in stamford, connecticut. My name is hector alvarado. Im 37, and i live in san jose, california. My name is karen roedrick. Am 66 years old, and i live in farmington, minnesota, a suburb of the twin cities. My name is shawn moore. I am from kansas city, missouri, and i just turned the big 50 a few months ago. I provide care for my 94yearold father. This is a man who has lived through a couple of strokes and many heart attacks, but the covid situation really throws him off. He absolutely does not want to die alone in the hospital. And so, he restricts himself completely from seeing anyone else and having any other interaction other than with me. So, i live here with my grandma. Ive taken care of her since i was a little kid, but, about three years ago, she went into a dementiarelated psychosis. And ever since then, shes required, like, round the clock care. I havent had a break since the middle of march. My caregiving began five years ago, actually, to my grandfather, who is 89. He has dementia, and he has had it now for going on eight years. Well, my husband, he had a massive bilateral stroke about 25 years ago. He does feed himself, but, other than that, he requires everything. So, i am a caregiver to my spouse, who is a 23year army veteran who completed seven combat tours to afghanistan. And for the most part, with our caregiving, my husband has chronic p. T. S. D. And suicidality, as well as anxiety, major depression. He has adrenoleukodystrophy, and that happened at the age of seven. Stevie stopped walking, talking and went blind in three months. He had to get trached at seven because he almost died, and hes had a trach since hes seven, and now hes 20. So, constantly with this disease, you have to suction in order for them to breathe, to clear the airways. With the pandemic, it was really getting extremely difficult before. And then, any help that i was getting, whether it was someone coming in, that stopped. Me having to remind him every day that there is a pandemic going on, its repetitive to me but not so much him because, again, he has dementia. So, i have to make sure i tell him,granddad, were not going anywhere today. So, for a minute, hell take it, and hell try to understand the concept of were staying at home just like everybody else. But within the next hour, hes saying, are we going somewhere today . When they first started talking about the virus, i knew that i was going to, like, guard him like fort knox. I said, he cant go to respite unless im laying here dead. Do you know what i mean . Like, he will not go to a facility. Ill do this. Whatever. So, thats kind of changed over time. If they had an opening in a respite facility where theres some sort of like, we dont have any cases, but theres a chance, id be like, lets go. His Mental Health has been declining. Hes been in a depressive episode here the last several weeks, and he had a trigger sunday morning. And he left the house, and he found himself purchasing a gun. So, i called the police, and we went into a situation of trying to find him, trying to track him down. But im going to get so, ive told this i told his therapist today and didnt cry. But im going to cry with you. So, i must be getting to the the stage of reality, right, of what really could have happened. This is one of the hardest jobs ive ever had in my entire life. The emotional toll its taken on me has been indescribable at times. And not getting enough sleep is my other issue, which is very hard because as soon as the sun goes down, its dark. I try to keep the house as bright as possible, but the thoughts in my head is about the coronavirus and my son, if its going to be the one that takes him away from me. Thats my biggest fear. Woodruff so powerful. Thank you all. Lets talk more about the challenges andhat people need to know. C. Grace whiting is the president and c. E. O. Of the National Alliance for caregiving, which just issued a report on the state of thank you very much. These stories take your breath away. What these people are going through, i think most americans dont realize. I agree judy. Thank you for showcasing those stories. I think to us what is most surprising is that the pandemic has really removed the veneer, now we can see what caregivers are going through. But so many millions of americans, 53 million americans have been going through this on a daytoday basis. And now were thinking about it but theres so much more that needs to be done. Woodruff talk about the toll this is taking especially now during the pandemic when these folks are isolated and they are not getting any of the outside help that they might have been getting before. Caregivers are facing, even before the pandemic when study was conducted, Mental Health challenges, physical Health Challenges and financial Health Challenges. We know one out of five feel isolated and we know not from the data but from our community that is something that has gotten worse. Since the pandemic many dont have access to respite care, even before the pandemic, even though 40 of folks say they would find it helpful to have access to respite care. And we see caregivers reporting that they dont take care of themselves. They dont have enough time for self care. And that financial strain, merely half saying that they had some kind of Financial Impact like giving up savings or taking on debtor selling assets in order to cover the cost of care. Now we dont know for sure from this research but we suspect that those issues are only magnified by the pressers were receiving by the pandemic. Woodruff the young men, hector, he is taking care of his grandmother he hadnt had a break since the middle of march. So over two months and in some cases, they are facing situations that clearly cry out for professional help. For psychiatrists or someone who has direct experience with this kind of severe condition. Absolutely. And i think one of the scariest things that families are now facing is, when you look at the legislation that was passed following the pandemic and congressional action a lot of that legislation doesnt help caregivers in the type of situation, particularly if youre caring for someone who does not have covid19, you may not have job protection. And your sick days, the paid sick day extension wouldnt count if you got covid and then still needed time off work to care for someone earl for any reason or for covid if you used all your days. Theres a lot of gaps that i think people are feeling and to not have had a break or to have a place to go to get the support youre talking about, i think puts new and uncertain strains on several families and threatens their own health and wellness and ability to have a career. Woodruff from your perspective, what is the most important thing that needs to be done now for these caregivers . We need to address their Mental Health, physical health and financial health. Making sure caregivers are i were included in care delivery bless that new telehealth thats available. Or conversations with providers. And the financial piece, making sure that the protections under covid19 for paid sick day and paid family leave, that those are extended to caregivers who may no longer have actors to dependent care support because of all the shutdowns and quarantines. Woodruff grace whiting, president of the National Alliance for caregiving. Thank you so much for helping us tell their story and shine a light on what these caregivers do and why we owe them so much. Thank you. Thank you, judy. Woodruff it has been nearly a decade since an American Space crew last lifted off from u. S. Soil in a spacecraft built here. That is expected to change tomorrow afternoon, with the relaunch of manned space flight. But it will be very different in some ways, with the private sector leading the way and partnering with nasa. Miles obrien has the story, the latest in our series of reports on breakthroughs on the leading edge of science. Reporter at the Kennedy Space center in florida, the stage is reset for nasas next act in space. Whats been envisioned for years is now becoming real, nearly nine years after the last shuttle flew. Its probably a dream of every Test Pilot School student to have the opportunity to fly on a brand new spaceship. And im lucky enough to get that opportunity with my good fend here, doug hurley. Reporter veteran astronauts bob behnken d doug hurley will be sporting some stylish new space suits when they are strapped into a dragon capsule sitting atop a falcon 9 rocket. All dressed up for a new way to go. It is the First Crewed Mission to the International Space station on a vehicle designed and built by california based spacex, founded 18 years ago by elon musk. In the history of space exploration, how big a deal is this launch, do you think . Well, i think it could be revolutionary. Reporter thats former Space Shuttle program nager wayne hale. If it works out the way that we all hope it does, and it starts a Virtuous Cycle of industry providing competitive transportation to lowearth orbit, i think it will be great. But we dont know how its going to turn out. Its an experiment. Announcer liftoff the final liftoff of atlantis. Reporter the Space Shuttle, and every piloted nasa spacecraft that preceded it, was designed by Civil Servants and built by Big Aerospace cpanies under close supervision, with lucrative costplus contracts. Announcer ignition, liftoff. Reporter spacex signed a different sort of deal. It is providing a service to nasa transportation to low earth orbit for a fixed price. And, the Company Retains ownership of its intellectual property. This type of procurement works best when the company is going to have a market beyond what theyre actually bidding for. So, they are going to put in their own skin in the game, because they recognize, theyre going to not only be able to Service Government requirements, bubeyond that. Reporter li garver was deputy nasa administrator during the obama administration, which cancelled nasas constellation program. Announcer ignition and liftoff of ares ix. Reporter it had already begun testing a suite of spacecraft built in the traditional manner. The cancellation spun up a buzz saw of opposition from the contractors and allied politicians. There were all kinds of behindthescenes difficulties, Companies Just really trying to block this innovativway of doing things. Unfortunately, a lot of people have come to nasa because they just want to build a rocket, and they dont want someone else building it. Panel will be seated, please. Reporter current and former astronauts werent happy either. In 2010, apollo legends Neil Armstrong and gene cernan, the first and last man to walk on the moon, testified in congress against this new way of doing business. I support the encouragement of newcomers towards the goal of lowercost access to space, but having cut my teeth in rockets more than 50 years ago, i am not confident. Reporter former nasa astronaut Garrett Reisman is an advisor to spacex. The biggest fear, especially in the astronaut office, was that we would be somewhat risky. That there would be reckless decisions made in the name of innovation. And they just didnt trust this culture that was very different from the culture that they had grown up with at nasa. Reporter many at the agency were leery in the wake of early efforts to commercialize space by the cashstrapped russians. They flew an inflatable pepsi can, made pizza hut es, and plugged a golf club with a shot off the space station. In 2001, california entrepreneur dennis tito paid the russians 20 million for a trip to the space station on a soyuz rocket. He was the first of seven well heeled tourists to do the same. Mike lopezalegria is a former astronaut who later led the association that represents commercial space companies. Why were astronauts skeptical . Its a natural response. I mean, most of us had dreamed about doing what we were doing for a long time, and worked very hard to achieve it, ne through a lot of training. And to have somebody lay down some mon and be able to join you and do theame thing and have the same experience is a little disheartening at firs reporter but spacex already had its nose in the nasa tent. In 2012, it began flying cargo to the space station using the falcon 9 dragon design. Its done that 2times, with one failure. And meanwhile, spacex rockets now dominate the commercial launch business, validating this publicprivate partnership. In all, falcon 9 rockets have successfully flown to space more than 80 times. applause if nasa has done the exact same thing, it would have cost many times more. Reporter keith cowing is editor of nasawatch. Com. Theyve done this many times with the exact same rocket, and after one accident, they fixed a few things and nasas saying, yeah, it seems to be perfectly safe. And so now you have the ability to launch things in falcon 9s that nasa may well now use in its trips back to the moon. Reporter nasa is building the rocket at the center of the Artemis Moon Missions under a costplus contract with boeing. But, it is years late and billions overbudget. Meanwhile, spacex is developing a buck rogerslike rocket called starship that nasa is considering as a vehicle to take astronauts to and from the lunar surface. The Lessons Learned and the savings accrued in low earth orbit are changing the way nasa thinks as it looks farther into space. For the pbs newshour, im miles obrien in vero beach, florida. Woodruff and you can watch the launch live tomorrow at 4 33 p. M. Eastern on our website, www. Pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff President Trumps messages to his more than 80 million twitter followers often carry a lot of weight. Twitter is putting a note on a tweet. Yamiche alcindor reports on the controversy that has erupted when the president s words arent based on facts. Alcindor an angry president. A murder conspiracy theory. And a pained family. Today, its a letter from a widower that is calling attention to President Trumps open embrace of false theories. Last week, Timothy Klausutis wrote to the c. E. O. Of twitter, urging him to delete tweets by President Trump that suggested his wife, lori, was murdered. In the letter, obtained by the new york times, klausutis says that conspiracy theorists, including most recently the president of the United States, continue to spread their bile and misinformation on the platform, disparaging the memory of his wife. Lori klausutis died in 2001. President trump has repeatedly spread the baseless idea that her former boss, current cable news host joe scarborough, might have had something to do with her death. Late todayt the white house, the president doubled down. You know, its a very suspicious thing. And, i hope somebody gets to the bottom of it. Alcindor today, scarborough, who has been a frequent critic of President Trump, said the claim compounds the familys grief. Whether its the president or whether its people foowing the president , it is unspeakably cruel. Alcindor Timothy Klausutis wrote in his letter that lori had an undiagnosed heart condition. She fell and hit her head on her desk at work, and was found dead the next morning. He wrote that he had a simple request for twitter. Please delete these tweets. President trumps actions have also drawn criticism from some republican congressman like Adam Kinzinger of illinois. President trumps actions have he wrote, stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us. Alcindor the president s tweets raise questions about his political motivations, the responsibility of Tech Companies and the role of the media. To discuss all of that, im joined by Craig Silverman. Hes doubling 2001 saying its a sear use issue a basement claim. What do you make of that, craig . Its in character, he does not apologize. He does not correct for things. When he is pushed back on something he tends to double down on it. Also i think we have to recognize dynamics here where he is kind of pushing this baseless claim into the news cycle. He is forcing media to cover it. He is forcing people to talk about it on twitter and elsewhere. When you talk about this kind of claim, theres less time to talk about other things. So in a sense its maybe not surprising that hes doubling down, not apologizings but trying to make this last for more news cycles and get more attention on this instead of other things that he may consider to be inconvenient for him. Reporter in other words, its working for the president , you think . I think this is part of the dynamic that weve seen going on now really since he started his campaign five years ago. Where he goes extreme, he says completely outlandish, crazy things that you would think would discounted and hurt anyone. But just gets him more and more attention. Brings more and more people too him. In the end hell take any kind of aention. Hes been very savvy about hacking the media to get that attention. Reporter the family of the young woman who died, who was a former staffer of joe scarborough. They wrote a letter, wrote a letter to twitter asking that the company delete the president s tweets. What do you make of that letter and fact that twitter is not going to be deletinghose tweets . First of all, clearly, its a really powerful letter. Its him speaking very personally about the suffering that he and his late wifes family have gone through. And how they could be targeted with harassment. How this is bringing up the grieving process all over again. The second part of this is that twitter has been extremely hands off, extremely reticent to do anything in terms of restricting President Trumps behavior on the platform. So as much as its a very moving letter, i have to say im not surprised that twitter has held its line said were not going to remove these tweets because hes the president. What he says is newsworthy. They basically given him and to a certain extent other World Leaders a different standard than pretty much everyone else on the platform. Reporter f Bigger Picture is conspiracy theories and misinformation that theyre spreading more in the middle of this pandemic . What are Media Companies 20 do given fact that you cover them youre giving energy to conspiracy theories. I think were absolutely seeing a really dangerous and concerning High Water Mark in terms of the spread of false and misleading. In the are in a sense thats been the case during pandemic if you look through history, they have always spread in this time. But of course we have this digital accelerant here in our environment. And it is so quick and so fast and things move and are organized to spread really, really quickly in this environment. In terms of the compani, i think it shows some of the weaknesses of their approach where they are very reactive. Where they wait until things hit a certain tipping point. Then by then potentially thousands, hundreds of thousands or millionsf people have already seen interacted with something, whether its a conspiracy about bill gates or whether a conspiracy about 5g wireless. Its just spreading and pulling a lot of people in. I worry about that gravitational pull of to that point of view as a result of what is going on in the pandemic. Reporter you talk about a digital accelerant. In this case you have World Leaders, the president of the United States, using the digital accelerant. Do you see any sort of change in policy here . So, twitters response to the letter from the widower was that they are looking at introducing some new policy changes to address this. They werent any more specific than that. It is possible that twitter is going to introduce and draw new line in the sand. But i think they know that its also kind of a dangerous thing for them to come back and say okay, weve changed our mind. I dont think theyre going to come back and delete trumps tweets. They may set new policy and draw that line in the sand. But to a certain extent they have let trump and to certain extent others on the platform get away with so much that theyre trying to fix things once they have already gone really awry. Its hard to imagine twitter suddenly being able to not only come up with new rules but to enforce them. Because we have to remember that these platforms are so big that they cant actually monitor everything thats going on thats breaking their existing policies. Thank you Craig Silverman of buzzfeed. Thank you. Woodruff as researchers race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, attention is increasingly turning to a potential stopgap measure called convalescent plasma. As john yang reports, this element of our blood is the focus of research in labs and hospitals, and shows early signs of promise. Yang donating plasma was the first thing professional photographer diana bernt wanted to do after she recovered from coronavirus in march. I think if you look at the pictures of me doing it, i had an eartoear grin throughout the entire thing. Yang now she does it every week. Donating plasma, you know. I mean, no disrespect to my family, but i would put the experience up along with, you know, getting married and having children. There are very few opportunities in a lifetime to literally save another persons life. Yang berrent is one of a growing number of covid19 survivors giving whats called convalescent plasma plasma with coronavirus antibodies, the immune systems natural response to the infection. Thats aiding researchers who are trying to find out whether those antibodies are effective in helping others fight the deadly disease. Antibodies are one of the things your your body produces naturally to fight bugs. They help kill the bugs a variety of ways and socalled neutralize the virus. And if people have a high viral load and theyre in the midst of infection, we can sort of jump start their immune response by giving them antibodies weve harvested from others. Yang dr. Michael joyner at minnesotas mayo clinic is helping to coordinate a program at 2,000 sites across the country to harvest and distribute plasma. It allows really almost any hospitalized patient to be eligible. So really, anybody whos at risk for developing severe disease. I think the consensus is, based on past experience, that earlier is better, and that youre going to struggle with individuals whove been in the i. C. U. For a long, long time. Yang trying convalescent plasma is not a new idea. It was used with success in the 1918 influenza epidemic. Asian influenza spreads rapidly. Yang . In more recent flu outbreaks, and against infections like polio before vaccines were available. But, it failed during the 2014 ebola crisis. Around the world, researchers believe its worthwhile to try. I think you have to be objective and, again, kind of balance between being a hopeful physician and a cautious scientist. Yang experts at Johns Hopkins hospital in baltimore recently launched a Clinical Trial design to introduce plasma to those at highrisk of exposure like Frontline Health care workers to see if it helps prevent infection. Dr. Evan bloch of the Johns Hopkins school of medicine. It would offer a you know, an intervention, which is readily available and set and scalable. I think, you know, in some ways, you know, the idea of prevention being better than the cure is what what really comes to the fore. Yang the process of giving plasma, called plasmapheresis, takes longer than Blood Donation and requires special equipment. A centrifuge separates the blood cells, which are returned to the donor, from the yellowishgold plasma. Some blood collection locations, like the new York Blood Center where Diana Berrent donates, test the plasma for covid19 antibodies. But, not every donation site is required to be as rigorous. Right now, plasma supply cannot meet demand. Enter the group berrent founde survivor corps. This is literally a call to arms. I mean, literally, arms that we could, as a Massive Movement of survivors, we could do everything in our power to support the medical and scientific Academic Community in every study that they are doing, every Clinical Trial, donate our convalescent plasma, that we could literally be part of the solution. In a month, we have over 40,000 members, and i am proud to say that we are flooding these programs with volunteers. Yang in suburban columbus, ohio, it was volunteer donors who gave hope to the family of High School Senior nick butler. He has an immune disorder, so his body could not fight the coronavirus whene got sick. Paul butler is nicks father. You know, his immune system is not like yours and mine. It does not have those antibodies. The difference is, his body doesnt produce them. So we actually inject them. Yang nick was in columbus nationwide childrens hospital, with his father by his side, for 15 days much of it in intensive care. He lost 35 pounds, and he really hadnt eaten in three weeks. His cough had gotten really violent. His heart had arrhythmias. It got enlarged. The kidneys numbers went sky high. His liver had issues. So each one of those brings in another team of doctors to kind of evaluate. Yang doctors gave nick a litany of drugs, including remdesivir, the antiviral medication that has since been given emergency f. D. A. Approval to treat covid19. But his condition worsened, and he was put on a ventilator. They brought in, like, i dont know, 10 or 12 doctors, nurses. Theyre bringing equipment in and theyre wheeling stuff out. I mean, it was just crazy how fast all this happened. And so they ask, you know, like, if his heart stops beating while hes on this ventilator, whats your plan . And im like, we want to resuscitate. We want to bring him back. And im like, can i call my wife . So anyways, we got face time and we talked to him and, you know, basically we told him we loved him. Im sorry. And that was it. Yang while nick clung to life, a family friend, erin galloway, launched a social media search for convalescent plasma donors. You are here. You are fighting for nick, just like we are. Yang galloway laid out the qualifications donors had to meet to be a match. You have tested positive for covid19, and you are 14 days symptomfree. Yang around the same time, College Junior paige fallon was coming out of quarantine. I have no idea what plasma is. I have ive never given blood in my life. Like, ive no idea whats going on. But im like, okay. I mean, im in quarantine, im bored. If i can help save someones life . Bonus. Yang fallon had been on her studyabroad in italy, making stops all over europe before it was clear just how bad the ndemic was. Prague is where things kind of got a little iffy. I started having breathing problems and i just felt like i was in a room full of dust. Yang when she got home to columbus, ohio, her coronavirus test was positive. But there was a Silver Lining she could try to be a donor for nick butler, a total stranger. An email confirmed she was a perfect match. Just receiving that email and its like, something positive coming out of something so negative, and so many peoples lives . Its like. Its a very cool thing to get to experience. And im lucky i even got to experience that. How much more positive news can you get than the fact that youre going to help save somebodys life . Yang her plasma donation at an American Red Cross center became nicks fourth transfusion. His doctors arent sure whether it was the medications, the convalescent plasma, or both, that ultimately pulled nick through. Hes now home, literally running on the road to recovery toward his next goal starting college in the fall. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff as cities and states struggle to find the right balance between reopening and keeping people safe, the weight of those decisions fall squarely on Small Business owners. According to a new survey that the Census Bureau is taking weekly, almost half of Small Business owners say that the coronavirus is having a lae negative impact on their business. Shops that are not considered essential have had to close. Anna kahoe owns a furniture d Clothing Store in washington, d. C. And tonight, she shares her humble opinion on determining when is the right time to open back up. On march 15, i began tumbling down the staircase of grief. We closed our shop for what we thought would be two weeks, to flatten the curve. I was in denial. I didnt know wed lose our employees, that we would ask our landlord for help, that i would yell like a banshee at the bank because they ran out of funds before they reached our loan application. I bargained, if we paint, move fixtures and dp clean the shop, wed come back better than ever. Now, while states lift stayat home orders, i am scared. We want to open, but at what cost . Im now on the bottom step, known as acceptance, asking, why, in the throes of a global pandemic, does my business matter . There is no model that illustrates the intimate ways Small Businesses form the backbone of our communities. See, it happens when someone comes out of the dressing room, twirling like a child at their first recital. Finally they have a dress that allows them to see themselves as they truly are. I cant believe how good this looks on me, they say. Or the gentleman of a certain age who comes by daily. He always reports which art exhibits are a mustsee. He recently had open heart surgery. He says our shop is a part of a ritual that keeps him healthy. These days i wake up traumatized. I know its not going back to normal. Its unlikely i will be able to rehire our staff. Best case scenario, it will be me and my husband, abbreviated hours and a handful of customers. I am not sure what happens when you go from full speed to full stop, then to puttering along . I dont have a job i can work from home. I want to look my customer in the eye, shake their hand, and even hug them. Walking to my shop, i pass shops whose owners i know. I say a prayer, see you on the other side. Have to figure out how to climb back up the steps to my shuttered sh, because there is nothing small about Small Business. Woodruff anna kahoe, thank you. And that is the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and well see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by life isnt a straight line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. Fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with Financial Planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. Bnsf railway. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Consumer cellular. Carnegie corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And witthe ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captiong sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org youre watching pbs. Classical Music [narrator] culinary creativity doesnt always come from the kitchen. These days, innovations in how and what we eat and drink cahappen in unexpected places, like Silicon Valley think tanks, suburban garages, and next gen fast casual canteens. In this episode of lucky chow, we take a look into the future. Well visit three pioneering women chefs in the pacific northwest, the founder of a Game Changing app that has revolutionized how restaurants hire staff, a hot shot new york chef bringing greater awareness