Announcer major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. That is fidelity wealth management. Announcer consumer cellular. Johnson johnson. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Bnsf railway. The william and flora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, advancing ids and supporting institutionso promote a better world at hewlett. Org. The Chan Zuckerberg initiative, working to build a more healthy, just, and inclusive future for everyone at czi. 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 the president ial race getting into crunch time tonight, and the candidates are all over the map. White house correspondent Yamiche Alcindor reports on how the trump and biden camps began their week. Yamiche its 15 days until the election. And for both campaigns, every day le is critical. Whats up, florida . Yamiche senator kamala harris, the democratic Vice President ial hopeful, went to orlando and jacksonville, florida to encourage turn out as early voti began. Harris just came out of quarantine after some of her Campaign Staffers tested positive for covid 19. Health care justice is on the ballot in 2020. Reproductive justice is on the ballot in 2020. Criminal Justice Reform is on the ballot in 2020. Climate reform is on the ballot in 2020. Everything is on the ballot in 2020. Joe biden is on the ballot in 2020. When we vote, we win. When we vote, we change things, we make it better, we know our power. Yamiche harris running mate, former Vice President joe biden, stayed off the campaign trail today. Hes prepping for his final debate with President Trump, on thursday night. Today, the president went from rally to rally in the west. He left las vegas and traveled to arizona, appearing in prescott and tucson. At the stop in prescott, video showed long largely unmasked lines forming with supporters waiting to see President Trump. Cases in arizona have surpassed 233,000. The president again gave his pitch on the administrations handling of the pandemic. The pandemic will soon end. Its rounding the corner. We saved 2 million lives or more. 2 million lives. We did a great job. We never got credit for it. We helped all of the states and the governors. Some did a great job, some did a horrible job. Yamiche but in a new ad from the Biden Campaign launched sunday, the former vp takes aim at President Trumps handling of the virus. The ad highlights bars and nightlife struggling to stay afloat. Meanwhile, President Trump attacked his own Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci, after he said this to 60 minutes. Were you surprised that President Trump got sick . Dr. Fauci absolutely not, i was worried that he was going to get sick when i saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. Yamiche today in a phone call with Campaign Staff and some reporters listening in, the president called fauci and other Health Experts idiots. He said americans are ready to move on and are tired of covid. In the meantim the biden team used the weekend f more socially distanced campaign appearances. The Vice President made a masked milkshake stop at a restaurant in durham, North Carolina where he also hosted a drive in rally. Youre gonna make all the difference here in North Carolina, the choice is clearer as its ever been and the stakes have never been higher. Yamiche further signs that a pandemic demanding a National Effort is dominating a polarized election. Meanwhile, the president s director of National Intelligence weighed in over unfounded claims about Vice President bidens son, hunter. Last week, a New York Post article alleged that joe biden was involved in his sons foreign business dealings while he was serving as Vice President. Those allegations stem from emails the post obtained, but employees there told the New York Times that the article was published despite staff reservations about its credibility. The democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee , adam schiff, suggested the claims are russian dinformation. But today, director ratcliffe told fox news that is not true. The Intelligence Community doesnt believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no intelligence with chairman schiff, or any member of congress, that Hunter Bidens laptop is part of some kind of russian disinformation campaign. Its simply not true. Yamiche more tension between campaigns, in the run up to thursday nights debate. Amna the battle over ballots also continues. A federal Appeals Court ruled today that texas officials may reject any mailin ballot if they question the signature thout notifying the voter. But in North Carolina, the opposite. The state elections board ordered local boards to contact voters on fixing some 10,000 absentee ballots with problems. Meanwhile, back in washington, negotiations for Coronavirus Relief continue. To help make sense of the back and forth, im joined by our White House CorrespondentYamiche Alcindor and Congressional CorrespondentLisa Desjardins. Good to see you both. Lets start with you, lisa. It has been a long time since americans have seen any kind of relief from a covid relief bill out of congress. What is the latest on the negotiations . Lisa just in the last couple hours, another glimmer of hope. Secretary mnuchin and speaker of the house nancy pelosi had another phone conversation lasting just under an hour. They said they have narrowed their differences and now pelosi is doing something she hasnt done before. Shes asking her Committee Chairman to speak to the republican counterparts on the senate side and for them to work out instances in different areas. Its a good sign, but pelosi has outlined, it has to come to bear and be outlined by tomorrow night to be effective. Its not clear if the differences including state and local money, childcare help, that they can get that done by tomorrow. There are a lot of dynamics for both sides that may discourage a deal. If you look at this graphic, you can see for house democrats, some of them believe they will have more leverage and power after the election. They think things in the house and senate might be moving their way. On the other hand percent of republicans, they are divided over a. The white house itself would like something done by november 3. Amna yamiche, what is the president thinking when it comes to a deal . Yamiche 15 days before election day, the president is really eager to get some sort of deal done. He wants to be able to point to the American People and say this is what i got done for you here, the people that are struggling, because you lost your job or you have a small biness, he wants to be able to get on the campaign trail and say your president is working for you, i got the stone pair the problem is President Trump has sometimes been a wrinkle in all of this. He is been on and off again during negotiations. Today he was saying he thinks nancy pelosi is the one that doesnt want this done, that she wants to play politics with the timing. Another thing is that democrats and republicans are so far apart. President trump though is saying he wants more money than what the democrats want, except the white house hasnt made that offer to republicans or democrats. Another thing to note is the president has not outlined how he will get Senate Republicans to work with him. He said today he would get Senate Republicans on board but we just dont know what the conversations are at that point. This is about the president wanting to be able to push and make promises. Another thing thats key is the numbers are off on key areas. As lisa said, it is about school and state funding and whether or not the unemployment and if its will be on the same page as republicans and democrats. The president lit plays a large role but it continues to change. Theres a lot of things that are not done. Amna the backandforth continues and a lot of americans out there desperately in need of help. Yamiche alcindor and Lisa Desjardins, thank you. Stephanie im stephanie sy with newshour west. We will return to amna and the full program after this update. As long as ballots are postmarked by election day and received within three days of the election, they should be counted. Republicans had hoped the high court would reverse the lower courts ruling, putting the deadline extension in place. And other political news, the commission on president ial debates has adopted a new rule for thursday nights debates between President Trump and former Vice President joe biden. The rule will allow microphones to be muted to allow each candidate to minutes of uninterrupted time. Confirmed cases of covid19 around the world topped 40 million. More than 8 million of those are in the united states, with more than 70,000 new infections a day, the most since late july. In chicago, mayor Lori Lightfoot made a Public Appeal to slow virus spread. Mayor lightfoot i understand that a lot of sacrifices have been made over these many months. I also understand the fatigue factor that people have. But folks, given what were seeing and the incredible escalation of the rates of cases every day, this is not a time when we can indulge in covid fatigue. Stephanie also today, the nations top military leaders were cleared to return to work. They had gone into quarantine when a senior coast guard official tested positive for the virus earlier this month. Well take a closer look at the wave of new covid cases, after the news summary. The Justice Department today charge six russians with hacking , everything from the 2017 french elections to the 2018 Winter Olympics to u. S. Hospitals. The indictment says all six were or still are officers in Russian Military intelligence known as the gr you the gru. The gru. The gru. That same agency targeted Democratic Party emails in the 2016 u. S. Election, but the men accused today are not imicated in that hacking. The u. S. Supreme court will hear challenges to two of President Trumps keimmigration policies. Today, the justices agreed to consider the socalled remain in mexico rule thats forced thousands to way there while the u. S. Considers their asylum claims. The court will also review the diversion of pentagon money for border wall construction. Lower courts ruled against both policies. And thailand protesters against , the monarchy and the government filled streets in bangkok tonight. Thousands held up cell phones in defying a ban on gatherings of in a massive light show, defying a ban on gatherings of more than four people. Officials tried to censor news of the protests, and the embattled Prime Minister made a Public Appeal. There is no plan to expand the state of emergency. The government is trying to compromise as much as possible. I ask this dont destroy government and private property, dont do anything wrong and most importantly, dont let there be fighting. Stephanie the Thai Government also threatened legal action against anyone who promotes the protests on social media. The u. S. Special envoy to afghanistan is warning about a new spate of violence. Zalmay khalilzad says peace talks between the Afghan Government and the taliban could be derailed. Last week taliban offensive hit , a helmand province, and triggered u. S. Air strikes. And on sunday, a suicide car bombing in Ghor Province killed 13 people and wounded 120. Back in th country, firefighters in colorado are battling a fast moving blaze that has burned more than two dozen homes near boulder. The blaze ignited and was fanned saturday by strong winds. About 3,000 people are under evacuation orders, including an entire small town. The largest fire in the States History is also still burning west of fort collins, but it is 62 contained. Still to come on newshour, another spike in covid cases and its impact. How caregivers are strgling across the country. Why fear is a motivating factor in the final weeks of the election, and much more. Announcer 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 current surge in u. S. Covid cases means both infections and hospitalizations are now soaring in places that were previously less affected by the pandemic. Many of them are rural, less Populated Areas in the midwest, plains states,nd out west. We start with voices from a pair of states that are now on the front lines of battling the virus. One is the chief medical officer and an Emergency Room Physician of a Health Care System in great fall montana. The other, a Nurse Practitioner in bismarck, north dakota. Both states right now have some of the highest infection rates per capita in the country. I am dr. Bridget brennan, the chief medical officer of the benefits medical group here in great falls, montana. I am an emergency physician as well as chief medical officer. The things that make things different a little here in montana is the distance. It is such a huge state that most residents live in very rural areas. There are several large hospitals throughout the state, but we dont have the luxury of having multiple large hospitals in every city. The limiting capacity throughout states will be icu beds. Once somebody becomes ill enough with covid to require i see you level care, tha i seecu level care, it is not a short stay in the icu. The volume gradually increases to the point where it becomes an issue. It is certainly concerning to see numbers of 5, 600, 700 new cases a day in the state. I know it doesnt sound like a lot to many parts of the country, but when your resources are limited like they are, it doesnt take more than just a few hundred patients a day to have a number of really, really ill people all at once. So im hoping people will come around to believe that this is real, because it certainly is. I have staff working just endlessly trying to take care of patients. When we hear people not taking it seriously, it is a little disheartening. We dont see the numbers slowing down, at least not yet. Im hoping it will start to taper off here. My concern is going forward, into respiratory season. Flu, colds, rsv. It is that time of year. When we combine it with Something Like this, it makes me a little nervous about going through the next three or four months. My name is renee well house. Im a nurse part picture in her Nurse Practitioner here in bismarck, north dakota. Currently we are seeing a surge in covid patients, which is impactg the health system. I am from here. I am born and raised in north dakota. Usually we are able to escape under the radar. Seeing this is definitely new. It is surprising, but we wake up every day and face the new challenges, and somehow overcome it to face another day. When we have a patient on the covid unit, we require isolation. They are isolated from their family at their greatest time of need. That becomes very difficult. As health care providers, we provide and try to bridge that communication and provide that emotional support not only for the patients, but also for the patients family members because th are not able to come and sit at the side of their bed and hold her hand. The biggest thing is the unpredictability of covid. We dont know a lot about it. We learn something every single day. We dont know how the patient will present. The unpredictability of symptoms, who will present with fever and chills, who will have loss of taste, who will have decreased respiratory status. Then learning how to manage those symptoms, and then how are the symptoms going to progress . How fast are they going to if they do progress, to needing the ventilator . We opened up another unit to try to accommodate. We are taking those steps not only from what we are dealing with right now, but for what we think the future will bring us. Amna lets talk more about that surge we just heard about in north dakota, mon