A stir in affected neighborhoods. Its scary, and when youre scared, especially when youre scared for your unborn child, and especially when its your first child, you try and focus on what you can control. And theres only a few things that you can. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by xq institute. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. Bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at www. Rockefellerfoundation. Org. Support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york. A foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. At carnegie. Org. And with the 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. Woodruff rescue workers in haiti are struggling to reach victims of Hurricane Matthew tonight, while officials in the southeastern u. S. Are urging residents to get ready. The big storm is churning north, with sustained winds of 120 miles an hour. For haiti, it shapes up as the worst disaster since the devastating earthquake of 2010. In the port city of les cayes, alreadyflimsy homes are now piles of debris, and people are wading through kneedeep water. translated our homes are completely destroyed. Weve lost everything. We need help as fast as possible. We cannot be left behind. Woodruff other towns are cut off, while the u. N. Reports at least 10,000 people are in shelters, and hospitals are full. In the capital, portauprince, the river grise was closto topping its banks today. Charlespatrick almazor spoke to us from portauprince. Hes with partners in health, an International Aid organization. Woodruff the disaster prompted haitian officials to postpone the president ial election, set for next week. From haiti, the storm rolled across the sparsely populated eastern tip of cuba, and destroyed dozens of homes in barracoa. It was a disaster, everything was a disaster. There is nothing left here, this was like never seen before, woodruff next on matthews path the bahamas. It pounded the Southern Islands with heavy rain all day, and the eye could reach nassau tomorrow morning. By thursday night, the storm is expected to be off south florida. Then, over the weekend, its on course to whirl up the east coast toward the carolinas, before veering back out into the atlantic. Florida governor rick scott says the state may see its largest evacuation ever. Regardless if theres a direct hit or not, the impacts will be devastating. I cannot emphasize it enough, that everyone in our state must prepare now for a direct hit. Woodruff in south carolina, people flocked for water and supplies today, and governor nikki haley announced a scaled back plan to evacuate a quarter Million People. President obama added his own warning, at the federal Emergency Management agency. I want to emphasize to the public this is a serious storm. If there is an Evacuation Order in your community, you need to take it seriously. Woodruff if it does make landfall, matthew would be the first major hurricane to strike the u. S. Mainland since 2005. In the days other news, the United Nations announced the Paris Agreement on Climate Change will take effect on november 4. It reached the threshold when more than 55 nations generating at least 55 of the planets Greenhouse Gas emissions signed on. President obama walked out to the white house garden to hail the development, and its implications. Today, the world meets the moment. And if we follow through on the commitments this Paris Agreement embodies, history may well judge it as turning point for our planet. So this gives us the best possible shot to save the one planet that weve got. Woodruff the agreement calls for countries to report progress on reducing emissions, but does not set binding limits. The u. N. Security Council Agreed unanimously today that Antonio Guterres of portugal should be the United Nations next leader, its secretary general. The former Prime Minister also served as u. N. High commissioner for refugees for ten years. He would succeed ban kimoon, as secretary general. The Council Votes tomorrow on recommending guterres to the general assembly. In afghanistan kunduz endured a third day of fierce fighting. Government forces in the provincial capital repelled fresh taliban assaults, with the aid of u. S. Helicopters. Smoke billowed over the city center, as hundreds of civilians began leaving. Local officials said they forced out by the taliban. Tensions are building tonight between iraq and turkey nations that have been allies in the fight against the Islamic State group. The Iraqi Parliament today denounced turkeys plans to keep troops at a camp inside iraq for another year. The Turkish Foreign minister responded in istanbul, that its much ado about nothing. translated the camp was set up within the knowledge of iraqi administration. Baghdad officials have visited this camp and have even provided Financial Support to it in the past. This problem occurred because of internal conflict of iraqi policy. Woodruff the two nations are also at odds over iraqi plans for retaking the city of mosul from isis. The turks are warning against using shiite militias in the mainly sunni region. Well take a closer look at those militias, later in the program. The u. S. Justice department has charged a maryland man with stealing secrets from the National Security agency. A criminal complaint unsealed today names Harold Thomas martin. He was a contractor for booz allen hamilton. The same firm employed edward snowden, who in 2013, revealed the n. S. A. s bulk collection of phone records. On wall street, rising bond yields and oil prices boosted bank and energy stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 112 points to close at 18,281. The nasdaq rose 26, and the s p 500 added nine. And, the worlds oldest man has finally celebrated his bar mitzvah. Israel kristal is now 113 years old. He grew up in poland, but missed his comingofage ceremony because of world war i. He ultimately survived both world wars, and the auschwitz death camp, and now lives in israel. His family, including almost 30 greatgrandchildren, joined him for the bar mitzvah last weekend. Mazel tov. Still to come on the newshour racial bias and the Death Penalty before the Supreme Court; controversial iraqi militias in the fight against isis; the breakdown in u. S. Russian cooperation thats left wartorn syria with a harrowing future, and much more. Woodruff turning to politics the numbers are in, and half the number of households who tuned to watch 35 million households viewed tim kaine and mike pence. And half the number of households who tuned to watch the top of the ticket debate with Hillary Clinton and donald trump, tuned in to watch last nights Vice President ial debate. For more on the campaign trail, lisa desjradins reports. Reporter the candidates at the top of the ticket returned to the campaign trail, one day after a contentious Vice President ial debate. In swingstate nevada, Republican Donald Trump praised running mate mike pences debate performance. He was cool. He was smart. He was i mean, you just take a look at him. He was meant to be doing what hes doing, and we are very, very proud of governor mike pence. Reporter democrat Hillary Clinton had no Public Events today, but traveled to washington d. C. For a fundraiser. The two nominees debate again on sunday. And it could every bit as combative as the kainepence faceoff. The statisticsdriven 538 blog counted more than 538 blog counted more than 40 interruptions from pence, more than 70 by kaine. She had a Clinton Foundation accepting contributions from foreign governments. You are Donald Trumps apprentice. Let me talk about this crosstalk senator, i think im still on my time. Well, i think isnt this a discussion . This is our open discussion. Yeah, lets talk about the state of. crosstalk well, let me interrupt let me interrupt you and finish my sentence, if i can. Reporter but while kaine may have lost style points for that approach, democrats stressed that pence did not always directly defend trumps record, including his refusal to release his tax records. Every president since Richard Nixon has done it, and donald trump has said, im doing business with russia. The only way the American Public will see whether he has a conflict of interest no, he hasnt said that. He has, actually. Senator, your time is up. Governor . Well, thanks. Im just trying to keep up with the insultdriven campaign on the other side of the table. You know, im just saying facts about your running mate. Yeah. And i know you cant defend. Reporter the Clinton Campaign also quickly put out a video ad, contrasting pences words with trumps. Donald trump said, keep them out if theyre muslim. Absolutely false. A total and complete shutdown of muslims. Reporter but kaine raised questions with his statement on the Iranian Nuclear agreement she worked to deal with the she worked a tough negotiation with nations around the world to eliminate the Iranian NuclearWeapons Program without firing a shot. Eliminate the Iranian NuclearWeapons Program . Absolutely, without firing a shot. And instead of 175,000 american troops deployed overseas, we now have 15,000. Right, and reporter in fact, iran did agree never to acquire nuclear weapons, but opponents of the deal critics point out tehran will keep some nuclear ability and could renege. So with 34 days left, the campaigns are fighting over facts and fighting for every vote. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff we go from the race for the white house, to the start of a new term at the Supreme Court. And, to Jeffrey Brown brown and a most unusual term it is with an empty seat since the death of Antonin Scalia last february, its been at least 25 years since the court began a term with just eight members. We look at that, and at a case argued today about racial bias and the Death Penalty. And we welcome back our favorite Court Watcher marcia coyle of the national law journal. Thanks, jeff. Brown welcome back, time to get to work. Absolutely. Brown a term in which the court begins shorthanded, what impact are we seeing white we see . What jumps out at you . I think right now what we see has to do with the kinds of cases that the court has already accepted for decision. There are no potential blockbuster issues on the docket of the kind that seem to mark just about every term of the Roberts Court since it began in 2005. Brown there have always been a couple at least. Thats right. And instead the cases that were seeing there is a healthy dose of patent, arbitration, bankruptcy, and there are more narrow technical statutory interpretation cases. But i would say, jeff, there have been other terms that began rather low key, low profile, and it only takes one to rails the profile. The justices will continue to add cases through the middle of january. But without knowing whats in every justices mind, i have a feeg this court right now is happy to have a low profile during this election campaign. Brown we should just say, we talk about this often, but the court gets to decide what cases it will will take. It does. Brown youre suggesting the thinking might be let things simmer a little bit or some cases that are too hot for an eightmember panel might be worth not taking. I think so. Certainly in the calculus of accepting a case, they have to think will we be able to get five moits, a majority, to decide it . If thats questionable, they may veer away from that particular case. Brown no bloc busters right now, but a lot of cases i see with a theme around race or racial bias. One was argued today, a Death Penalty case. Thats right. In fact, race plays a central role or even a smaller role in three types of cases this term criminal justice cases, the drawing of electoral maps, and even mortgage lending. But today, the court focused on criminal justice and duane bucks case. Buck is a texas death row inmate. His trial back in the mid1990s, his own defense counsel at that trial introduced an Expert Witness who testified to a stereotype, a terrible stereotype thats been debunked for years now. He testified that because buck was black, he was more likely to be dangerous in the future. Future dangerness is a special issue texas jurors have to agree unanimously to in order to impose the death sentence, and they did so here. Brown in this case, just to be clear. Hes not challenging the conviction. No. Brown hes challenging the sentences with the claim that it was based on a racial bias. Thats exactly right. Brown so what happened in court today . What was the argument . The court seemed sympathetic to mr. Buck, even Justice Alito said that what happened in that trial was indefensible. But the problem for the court is how are they going to deal with this . This is a very procedurally complicated case, and the chief justice asked bucks attorney, what document us to do here . Do you want to us say on one hand, this was a clear violation of the constitution, mr. Buck, he get a new sentencing hearing . Or do we address the issue that the attorney actually raised, and that is, did the lower federal Appellate Court use the right standard in denying buck what we call a certificate of appealability, which would have enabled him to go back to a Federal District court, reopen his habeas petition to argue that he deserves a new sentencing hearing. Brown so in this case, the possible uts are unclear. Thats right. Brown but the centents seemed clear. It seemed clear across the bench they definitely had a problem with what happened at his trial. Brown let me come back to the larger picture. You said no blockbusters but there are a few out there they might take. Absolutely. Just because they may be small or narrow or low profile doesnt mean theyre uninteresting. The court for example has an interesting case, the Trinity Lutheran church in missouri is challenging mizors denial state grant to resurface a plae ground, claiming it striments against religious institutions. That violates the constitution. The oregon rock group, the slams, are involved in a trademark case. Their mark was turned down by a federal agency because it disparaged asian americans. A federal Appellate Court struck that law down as violating the constitution. The Obama Administration is asking the Supreme Court to take a look at it. Brown and some very high profile theres a transgender case this is in the wings, right. Brown in the wings. Theres a. From a virginia County School board thats challenging a lower courts order that a transgender boy should be able to use the boys bathroom. And theres also an interesting case, continued fallout from samesex marriage, where a colorado baker said his religious beliefs prevented him from baking a wedding cake for a samesex couple. Colorados Civil Rights Commission found that the baker violated the public accommodations law. The baker has brought a petition to the Supreme Court. They could definitely raise the temperature of the court if it takes it. Brown absolutely, okay, marcia coyle, national law journal, welcome back. Thank you, my pleasure, jeff. Brown and online, theres more on the case of duane edward buck on our website, www. Pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff now, to the second of our three reports this week on the fight for iraq. Militia groups, made up mostly of shia fighters, and many backed by iran, have become instrumental in the battle to drive isis from iraq. But their presence on the battlefield makes them a controversial force, one the United States is deadly familiar with. Tonight, again in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on crisis reporting, special correspondent Jane Ferguson and producer jon gerberg report. Reporter these