Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240704 : vimarsana.com

KQED PBS July 4, 2024

Fathers from migrant families at the southern border. And, we go inside japans Fukushima Nuclear complex, 12 years after a catastrophic meltdown, to check on the complicated cleanup. This is a multibillion dollar a year effort being spent at fukushima right now. Its going to take some time to complete this work. Major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by moving our economy for 160 years, the nbnsf, the engine that connects us. The walden family foundation. Supported by the john d and Catherine T Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more 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. Vanessa welcome to the newshour. Im vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with newshour west. Disaster Recovery Efforts ramp up across maui, so too has the painstaking search operation. The confirmed death toll now stands at 110 people, but with most of the victims still unidentified, families and friends of the missing are left fearing the worst. Geoff bennett reports. Geoff its been one week since the fires first tore through maui, turning vibrant communities like lahaina into scorched ghost towns. Days after evacuating, residents are gradually returning to survey the damage, and rebuild their homes, and their lives, from the ground up. Its not just me, who lost everything. Everybody. Everythings gone. Geoff Officials Say two regions of the island are still ablaze. As of tuesday night, the lahaina fire on mauis western coast is 85 contained, and the upcountry kula fire, only 75 contained. In lahaina, search teams, aided by cadaver dogs, have been recovering human remains from destroyed buildings and burnt cars. So far, crews have scoured some 32 of the search area, and theyre racing against the clock. Forecasters say a highwind storm this weekend could hamper their efforts. Today, fema administrator Deanne Criswell spoke from the white house. Given the conditions and the need for additional resources, we will have at least 40 canine search teams on the island in addition to hundreds of search and rescue personnel with more on the way. Geoff as coroners begin the process of identifying the dead, officials have called on family members to help, urging relatives of the missing to submit dna samples. Authorities have started to notify the victims next of kin. Among the deceased, 79year old buddy jantoc, 68yearold franklin trejos, and 60yearold carole hartley, all longtime residents of lahaina. The wildfires were propelled by high winds from a distant hurricane. What caused them is still under investigation. Freakin power line just went down. Geoff as the fires tore through the island, maui resident shane treu recorded smoke billowing outside his house after a utility pole snapped. I look. There is a power line right there. Shortly after, it was just arching away on the ground, landed right in dry grass, so sparks, and then there was a fire. Geoff the states primary energy provider, hawaiian electric, now facing multiple lawsuits, alleging the Utility Company kept power on despite high wind warnings. Meantime, President Biden says he will travel to maui on monday, to survey the damage firsthand. Historic landmarks, art and artifacts have been destroyed. The cultural loss has been significant, especially for hawaiians who have generational ties to maui. No alaniya has been helping with Recovery Efforts in lahaina. Shes an activist and cofounder of mona medic healers who we thank for being with us. What has the last week been like for you, your friends and your family . You know, it is so difficult because we have this incredible devastation. Our beloved lahaina town is now a graveyard with over 100 dead that we know of, and and potentially hundreds more. Theyre still over 1000 people missing. There is this incredible grief and shock and trauma. But at the same time there has been this enormous uprising of Community Support and Community Care and grassroots organizing to get supplies and medical care and take care of basic needs of people who have been stuck in lahaina since the fires, so our team has deployed out there and has been taking care of people. But the entire community is wrapping its arms around each other and loving each other up and taking care of one another. So theres this incredible beauty at the same time as this incredibly deep pain, and its a lot to carry right now, to be honest geoff maui has for decades been a magnet for tourists. But for people who live there, especially native hawaiians, its been home. Its been a home with a rich history. Tell us about that. Its such a rich history and its you know, its unfortunate that it gets painted as a tourist town because thats sort of the, the bane of our existence in hawaii. In lahaina, such as mukula and bohemia, which was an ancient fishpond that had an island in the middle, our monarchs chose that place to go reside. In fact, our first constitution during the kingdom era in the mid was written there in that 1800s area, and its just a very sacred area. Adjacent to that is the Cultural Center in the Cultural Center, which burned to the ground, and that was a place of solidarity for our people. It was a place to learn. It was a place that had artifacts, old maps, research materials, genealogy. Many of us can trace our genealogy back generations. In fact, i go back 22 generations to one of the families that live in that area, mokuula. Geoff there are maui fire survivors who say theyre getting phone calls from Real Estate Developers and Real Estate Investors who are trying to swoop in and buy up land where peoples homes were destroyed. How real is the fear that outsiders will try to cash in on this tragedy and and change . Change maui and the heine as you and lahaina as you knew it . Well, its its a very real fear, and its a founded one because its already happened. The maui that people know today is not the power the maui of days of old. We already have been displaced by the plantations with land theft and resource extraction, taking our water away and then the whaling industry and then over tourism, hyper development for wealthy outsiders that come in and buy up large swaths of land and develop and bank water for that. So we are very well aware of the threat of outside money influences coming in and further removing us from our ancestral places and continuing a system of settler colonialism. Where the design is to destroy the indigenous and replace it in the settlers image, and its a very real fear thats happening right now, with people getting these phone calls. Geoff in the long term, how should officials focus the repair and rebuilding effort to meet the needs of native hawaiians . Not just trying to clear the way for tourists to return. Right, well, the administrations, both local, state and federal really need to listen to the people and center our voice. This is an opportunity for us to restore lahaina to what it once was. In fact, i have an elder, who said he woke up the day after he found out his carbon collection was last, and he told me that he dreamt of seeds. He dreamt that we were planting seeds of our indigenous plants that were genealogical connected to of our collar plan of our medicines and of the things that make us hawaiian. That have been stripped from us for so long. So i think that dream, that vision, that prophecy holds a future for us that we can gather around and believe in and work towards. Geoff our hearts go out to you and all those affected by the wildfires in maui. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much for having me. Aloha. Vanessa in the days other headlines, ukraine resumed operations at ports along the danube river today, after a night of russian drone strikes. The danube flows through the southern edge of the odesa region and borders romania, a nato member. Photos showed extensive damage to port infrastructure. The strikes mainly targeted grain silos and warehouses. The attacks come weeks after russia ended its participation in a deal that allowed the export of ukrainian grain. In libya, Officials Say 55 people were killed during intense militia clashes in tripoli. Fighting started monday, when a Senior Commander was allegedly detained by a rival faction, then released late yesterday. Battles between militia members and to the streets emptied the streets. It was the deadliest fighting in the capital in years after nearly a decade of civil war. A powerful explosion in the Dominican Republic has now claimed the lives of 25 people. Some 60 others were injured. The blast went off monday at a bakery in san cristobal. Firefighters are still working to extinguish the flames. The countrys president vowed to get to the bottom of what happened. [speaking spanish] translator an investigation will be carried out to determine the origin and causes of this terrible accident. In the meantime, it is up to us to save the lives of those who have been affected and we will do so without any limit of resources to save every human life we can. Vanessa local authorities are investigating claims from residents that the building housed a factory that was operating illegally. Theres word tonight that u. S. Secretary of state tony blinken spoke by phone today with paul whelan. The american citizen has been wrongfully detained in russia for more than four years. Cnn was first to report the story and said blinken assured whelan the u. S. Was working hard to bring him home as soon as possible. This is the second time the two have spoken. A u. S. Appeals court in new orleans ruled today that access to the Abortion Pill mifepristone should have some restrictions. The decision would outlaw telemedicine prescriptions and sending the drug by mail. Access to the pill wont change for now. The u. S. Supreme court issued an order in april to keep it available while litigation continues. The Justice Department said it strongly disagrees with todays decision and will seek the supreme courts review. North carolinas Republicancontrolled Legislature has approved a series of bills that restrict Transgender Athletes and gender affirming care. It also limits the teaching of lgbtq issues in schools. Democratic governor roy cooper had vetoed the legislation but the gopsuper majority overrode his decision. All three laws take effect immediately. A prosecutor in kansas says police should return items seized during a raid on a local newspaper last week. Law enforcement stormed the office of the Marion County record after claims one of its Staff Members obtained information illegally. The Marion County attorney said there isnt enough evidence to link the alleged crime with the seized items or the newsroom. A former fundraiser for republican congressman George Santos has been charged with wire fraud and identity theft. Sam meeluh is accused of scheming to defraud donors and raise money for Santos Campaign by impersonating a highranking aide to House Speaker kevin mccarthy. Meeluh pleaded not guilty to the charges today in a Brooklyn Federal court. News reports out tonight say vlatko andonovski, the embattled coach of the u. S. Womens National Soccer team, is stepping down. The move follows the u. S teams elimination by sweden in the second round of the womens world cup. It was the americans earliest exit ever from the tournament. An official announcement is expected thursday. Still to come on the newshour, a new study estimates nearly half of u. S. Tap water is contaminated with socalled forever chemicals. A longtime reporter on ukraine gives his perspective on the countrys fight against russia. And members of a womens professional Football Team speak about the opportunities and challenges facing the sport. This is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington, and from our bureau at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Off reports of Inhumane Treatment treatment at the u. S. Mexico border has been spotlighted. Laura joins us to explain. Eagle pass is a key Border Community where greg abbott is carrying out a program known as operational start. What are the conditions like there now . I spoke to congressman castro, a texas democrat, who recently went to eagle pass to see what the conditions were like there, the new tactics the governor has deployed, and this is what he said he saw. They have placed what i consider death traps along the rio grande river. This razor wire that is placed in such a way that hydrants can come up against it and not see it that migrants can come up against it and not see it. Two weeks ago, there was a dead body found attached to one of those barrels. They have got this sawlike device in the middle, which is obviously very dangerous. The barrels that congressman castro was talking about our floating barriers Governor Abbott has placed on the rio grande, which a lot of humanitarian and immigration advocates have had concern about because of the fact that migrants have to come across these when they are trying to cross the border. There is also razor wire sharp fencing that has been placed around these areas where migrants are trying to cross. I also spoke to a Texas Tribune reporter, and he said that he went down recently and saw people getting injured as they tried to bypass specifically the fencing, the razor wire fencing. A former border chief that i spoke to said that that type of fencing has been used by the department of Homeland Security in the past, but the tactics by added are getting a lot of attention because they have been deployed in recent months. Geoff yesterday, you were first to report about this letter from hispanic democrats to the Biden Administration demanding action on operational start. What are they calling for operation lone star. What are they calling for . Congressman castro signed on to the letter, direct to attorney general merrick garland, as well as the Homeland Security secretary. Castro said they want to see serious action from the Biden Administration. Many of us were shocked and outraged when donald trump started separating families. Well, greg abbott has started to replicate a version of that in texas, and there were reports that at least 26 families had been separated. We are asking the department of Homeland Security and justice to make sure there are no federal make sure no federal funding is going toward family separation or any other activities that may violate human, civil or legal rights of people. We received no response from the Justice Department or department of Homeland Security, and they said they think there should be an investigation, but they did not specify if they would be investigating the separation of fathers from their wives and children. Geoff on this issue of democrats calling on the Biden Administration to take action, the doj has done that, having day . Didnt they sue texas over the floating barrier . British that stand . The Justice Department where does that stand . The Justice Department has taken legal action against the barriers that float on the rio grande. The Justice Department is saying they do not have the Legal Authority to place those barriers on the rio grande. And the binational agency that oversees that territory, this International Rio grande territory called the International Boundary and Water Commission just put out a survey today that says 80 of those buoys, which strong altogether reach strung altogether reach 900 feet, 80 are located on the mexican side of the rio grande, which would be a violation of mexicos sovereignty of their territory. I spoke to an immigration reporter for the Texas Tribune, and he said that Governor Abbott is defending the decision this way. What Governor Abbott has said is that texas has the right to defend its borders. And that is the reasoning for setting up of the wiring, sending troopers, setting of the water barrier. They have not set a specific statute to why they are doing this. But they have said they are equating migrants with drug cartels and see the mass migration is bringing drugs and also is an active invasion. Invasion is the language Governor Abbott is using, as though there is an invasion that is attacking texas and that means he has the right to declare these declarations to place the floating barriers there to block migrants. And what comes next now is there was a Court Hearing next week, where the court will consider the Justice Departments lawsuit against texas. Geoff this program has been in effect for two years now. What h

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