Justice ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the battle for the white house. 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. Fidelity wealth management. For 25 years, consumer cellulars goal has been to provide Wireless Service that helps people communicate and connect. We offer a variety of nocontract plans, and our u. S. Based Customer Service team can help find one that fits you. To learn more, visit www. Consumercellular. Tv. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Johnson johnson. 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 and friends of the newshour. 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 the newshour has confirmed tonight that President Trump will nominate federal appeals judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United StatesSupreme Court. The announcement is set for tomorrow afternoon. Barrett joined the 7th Circuit Court of appeals in chicago in 2017. Her conservative religious views dominated her confirmation fight. Before that, she had clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia and she had taught at the university of notre dame law school. The death of justice rh Bader Ginsburg one week ago tonight created the Supreme Court vacancy. Today, she was paid final honors before the bruising fight begins over filling her seat and with just 40 days to go in the president ial campaign. John yang has our report. Yang justice ruth Bader Ginsburg broke two final barriers today the fst woman and the first Jewish American to lie in state in the u. S. Capitol. Rabbi lauren holtzblatt, the wife of a former ginsburg clerk, eulogized her. She changed the course of american law. And even when her views did not prevail, she still fought. Justice ginsburgs dissents were not cries of defeat. They were blueprints for the future. Yang House Speaker nancy pelosi had arranged the honor. Democratic president ial nominee joe biden and his wife jill attended, as did running mate senator kamala harris. Lawmakers, some accompanied by their families, paid their respects, Wearing Masks d appropriately distanced. Bryant johnson, her longtime personal trainer, gave a personal tribute of his own. As official washington mourned ginsburg, the presential campaign forged ahead. President trump, who paid tribute to ginsburg yesterday, courted black voters in atlanta, raising concerns about mailin ballots. Democrats are playing games, you see that . Did you see they found ballots in a wastepaper basket . They found ballots dumped in a stream. Yang addressing the n. A. A. C. P. s Virtual National convention, harris raised concerns about voter suppression. Why is it that so many powerful people are trying to ke us confused about how we can vote, where we can vote . If we can vote . Yang in washington, the capitol hill ceremony capped a week of Public Memorials for ginsburg, who will be buried in a private ceremony next week at Arlington National cemetery. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff in the days other ne, Breonna Taylors family demanded that officials release grand jury transcripts in her killing in louisville, kentucky. The panel opted this week not to charge any Police Officers with fatally shooting taylor in her apartment. The state attorney general said they acted in selfdefense, after taylors boyfriend fired first. Today, an aunt read a statement by taylors mother, declaring she has no faith in the authorities. The system as a whole has failed her. You didnt just rob me and my family, you robbed the world of a queen. I hope you never have to know the pain of knowing your child is in need of help and youre not able to give it. Woodruff there were new protests in louisville last night. Activists vowed today to continue demonstrating until officers are charged with taylors killing. Meanwhile, the father of jacob blake joined taylors family today. His son is paralyzed after being shot by police in kenosha, wisconsin last month. You dont understand. When its your child, you cant fathom the emotions you go through every night. You hear them talking to you. Theyre not there. You hear them talking to you. I knew this family needed some energy, and i said, im coming. Woodruff in a related development, an illinois teenager accused of killing two protesters in kenosha will fight extradition to wisconsin. Attorneys for Kyle Rittenhouse filed notice at a hearing today. The federal government has executed a black inmate for the first time in nearly 20 years. A texas man was put to death by lethal injection last night for killing an iowa couple in 1999. Blacks make up 13 of the u. S. Population, but nearly half of the inmates on federal death row. Confirmed u. S. Cases of covid19 hit seven million today. It came amid a new surge in midwestern and western states. But in florida, Governor Ron Desantis lifted all restrictions on businesses today. He said the costs and benefits must be balanced. The more businesses that can succeed, the more opportunities for parents to send their kids to school i think a lot of those other things become easier to deal with. But lets not make any mistake about it focusing on only one pathogen without all these other things is not an Effective Public Health strategy. Woodruff elsewhere, two former officials at a Veterans Home in massachusetts were charged with criminal neglect. 76 veterans at the home have died of covid since march. An australian report says that china is expanding its widelycondemned detention centers, Holding Hundreds of thousands of muslim uighurs. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says that it found more than 380 suspected sites in xinjiang province, using satellite images and construction documents. Beijing called the report disinformation. Back in this country, a federal judge in california has extended the end date for the 2020 census by one month. Last nights ruling says that the onceadecade head count will continue through october. The judge found that the original deadline would leave minority communities undercounted. The Trump Administration is expected to appeal. In economic news, the u. S. Conference of mayors urged congress and the Trump Administration to agree on a new pandemic relief package. The group said that cities are facing severe revenue losses. And on wall street, tech stocks turned higher again, helping the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 358 points to close near 27,174. The nasdaq rose 241 points, and the s p 500 added 51. Still to come on the newshour into the woods. How the Trump Administration is opening up the nations largest forest to logging. Talking peace. The lead u. S. Envoy seeking a end to americas longest war i afghanisn. What an unclear Election Night result could mean for the future of the u. S. And, much more. Woodruff since he was elected, President Trump has rolled back or weakened more than 100 environmental regulations. Today, he added yet another his administration moved to open up the nations Largest National forest for development. Amna nawaz has the latest. Nawaz judy, the tongass National Forest in alaska has been called americas amazon. Its one of the Worlds Largest temperate rain forests, absorbing Carbon Dioxidemitted by the u. S. , which is why the plan to roll back protections is worrying environmentalists and climate scientists. Coral davenport has been following this story for the New York Times, and she joins me now. Coral, welcome back to the newshou. Lets just start with what exactly it is that the Trump Administration is proposing change. What would the rollbacks entail . So the Trump Administration proposed has been working on this role change for a couple of years. In the next 30 days, its going to become final. What theyre doing is lifting a clinton era protection called the road list rule, it was a national law that banned logging and Road Construction in most of the nations forests. The Trump Administration is lifting the road list rule in 7 million acres of the 16 millionacre tongass National Forest, so that is a huge amount of pretty much priste wilderness including about 160,000 acres of virgin old growth forest that would now be open to logging, construction, road development. Nawaz and the Trump Administration, we should point out, is not alone in pushing for this. Officials on the ground in alaska including senator Lisa Murkowski have been pushing for this for years. What is the argument they make for these changes . So the big argument that alaskan officials including the governor and statelevel officis say is this part of alaskas economic development. They argue that lifting the rule would not lead to the entire pristine forest being devastated but that it would allow the alaskan Timber Industry to kind of carefully tailor the logging that it would do, the Road Construction that it would do in that area. But essentially theyre saying they need it for their state economy. Nawaz so what about the the environmentalists, the client scientists, why is it they are opposed to this rollback now for a range of issues . The tongass is a special place. Its not surprising environmentalists propose lift protections on this wild pristine wilderness, its an area rich in biodiversity, it has a lot of species, it has salmon, rivers, these are the kinds of things environmentalists say you dont want to harm that biodiversity, but the thing that is also special about the tongass is that it provides a service to the rest. It is one of the Worlds Largest carbon sinks. All the old growth forest, the 400, 500yearold trees have been absorbing Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Environmentalists say the impact of cutting down those particular trees could release the equivalent of putting as many as 10 million new cars on the road, the co2 pollution equivalent soft that is something that has an impact on the planet far beyond the reaches just of this one forest in alaska. Nawaz coral, as weve seen with previous proposed rollbacks on the Environmental Protection from this administration, they have been met quickly by litigation. Do we exct this to happen here . Where does this move fit for the broader agenda from the administration. Sure. This comes as one of early over 100 rollbacks or moves to weaken existing Environmental Protections that we have seen from the Trump Administration. This is really something that will absolutely stand, in many ways, as President Trumps legacy. He met the promise to lift a lot of these Environmental Protections and open up so much public land to development. But, as you mentioned, nearly all of these moves are being met with litigation, fully expect environmental groups and probably state groups and probably alaska native groups as well are expected to stew this move. As with so many of these other rollbacks, you know, ultimately theyll slog through the karsts. Also a lot of these could be undone pretty quickly if joe biden were to become president. This is a move that will become effective before the end of this year, but if there was someone in the white house who thought that was not a good idea, the rule could be put right back in place. Nawaz a very important environmental story tracked by coral davenport of the New York Times joining us tonight. Thank u so much for your time. Thank you. Woodruff and this story is part of covering climate now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Woodruff now to the attempts to end the u. S. longest war the Afghan Government and the taliban are in the early stages of negotiations that are the most significant attempt yet to find peace. Nick schifrin speaks to the u. S. Official whos leading the effort. Schifrin judy, as the government and taliban have negotiated in doha, the violence between them in afghanistan is getting worse. In just the last few days, Government Forces killed dozens of taliban militants in the east, while the taliban killed dozens of Police Officers in the south. And last weekend, Afghan Forces conducted r strikes in a province in the north that is partially talibancontrolled, killing taliban militants, but al causing reports of civilian deaths. It was seven months ago that speciaenvoy for afghan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad signed an agreement with the taliban. After a bit of a delay, that led to the negotiations in doha today, designed to end all this violence. And ambassador khalilzad joins me now. Its good to have you back on the newshour. Youve said that you expect violence in afghanistan to decrease, but just to be clear, the february 29th agreement that you signed was not commitment the taliban to stop attacking the Afghan Government. So what leverage do you really have to reduce the violence . Compared the First Six Months of last year to this year, despite a recent increase in violence, the number of casualties both military and civilians are down this year. So, yes, the vionce is high at this point. Both sides need to bring down the level of violence, and were committed, when i return to work with both sides, to get an agreement on reduction of violence. Reporter the Afghan Government says theres too much violence, you and the u. S. Military says theres too much violence. The taliban have indicated they will not accept some kind of cease fire in doha until both sides decide the future to have e government which, of course, will take a long time. So how sustainable is the Peace Process as the violence continues . I think youre right, the taliban will not accept a cease fire comprehensive and permanent until theres a political settlement and thats not unprecedented in similar conflicts elsewhere. I think they can do a reduction of violence, they said they will consider it, depending on what the proposal is. The government is supportive of it, too. Reporter you have been discuss ago road map, a Framework Agreement that would leave some of the longerterm issues of what the Afghan Government looks like to the future. Does that require the Afghan Government to step aside in the installation of an interim government . Well, there are various options that they have in front of them, but it is for the afghans to agree to a political road map. The fact that they are sitting across the table from each other is unprecedented, that afgh warring parties have sat together. When the soviets withdrew, before the withdrawal, there was no afghan meetings, it was an agreement pakistan and the Afghan Government signed with the guarantors, and ever since then the warring afghan parties have not sating to. This is an Extraordinary Development in con temp air afghan history. Reporter are you under pressure from the white house or anyone in the state department to announce specific progress before the election . No, im not. We would like the war to end as soon as possible. This is the expectation of the afghan people. We have not set any artificial deadline for when these negotiations have to succeed. We are not directly involved in the negotiations. Its afghanafghan. They did not want a forner to be a mediator, a facilitator to be in the room. Reporter returning to human rights, in doha the taliban refused to accept shia islam as the reigion even if thats enshrined in the afghan constitution. They have said on personal matters the rights of minorities will be respected and there will be no discrimination against others. But thats still an unresolved issue in terms of an exact formulation and an agreement. We, obviously, support an agreement that respects the right of all afghans, whether they belong to one sect or another, whether theyre men or women. 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