- lift the clouds off of... - virtual weather, only on kpix and pix+. - [announcer] killed over a pair of sneakers. - you couldn't talk to me about forgiveness. you couldn't talk to me about healing. you couldn't talk to me about reconciliation. - [announcer] so what made this man befriend his brother's killer? - i began to understand what i'd done. - [announcer] the powerful partnership born out of a will to forgive. an animal crisis in florida. dogs being left to starve on the streets with no help in sight. - [rescuer] they deserve a chance to survive.

- [announcer] meet the retiree turned rescue advocate providing care and a forever home for forgotten animals. and are your allergies acting up again? - i just couldn't breathe. i'm, like, struggling for air. - [announcer] warming temperatures intensify pollen levels, tormenting the nation like never before. the new technology that could help find a solution to the suffering. around the country and in your community, cbs news puts the stories that matter in focus. - hello, everyone and welcome. i'm maurice dubois. over the next half hour, we will travel across the country to uncover stories that have a major impact on our lives, and we will talk with the storytellers who've dedicated their work to elevating these issues, putting them front and center. we begin with the change of season. if you think your allergies are worse this year, it is definitely not your imagination. it is the pollen. according to the cdc, for roughly one in four american adults, spring blooms mark the start of itchy, eye-watering, and congested misery.

and anyone suffering from allergies who's watched a forecast and seen the words, "high pollen count," know that it can really put a damper on spring. but how is pollen measured? our team discovered the typical pollen count you see is for a very large area and not necessarily what's happening in your own backyard. cbs 2's dave malkoff shows us how a more hyper-local approach would help us manage our symptoms. - [dave] atlanta is known as a city in a forest. - it's kind of crazy. - [dave] it was on one of atlanta's legendary high pollen days when emory professor dr. yang liu started feeling off. - i just couldn't breathe. i'm, like, struggling for air. - [dave] the professor who studies environmental health. - let's see what's happening, - [dave] was stumped, until he got the diagnosis. - adult onset asthma. i never heard of it. - [dave] because of pollen. something that's getting worse because of warming temperatures caused by climate change. - runny nose, itchy eyes.

yeah, it's torture. - those symptoms are exacerbated by the amount of pollen in the air, which is determined by a daily pollen count. here's how it's measured. single to double digits is low. in the 1,500 range is very high. anything beyond that is an off-the-charts day, like just recently in atlanta. in early april, the pollen count was extremely high, reaching 8,740. that is the third highest day since atlanta allergy & asthma started counting this stuff back in 1991. - so many people don't realize what we do. they think it's done by a machine. - [dave] it's not. trained technicians remove the grains from this device, then under a microscope, they count each one. - i think sometimes i forget the impact that the pollen count has on our patients, friends, family. - [dave] it's considered the most accurate way,

but it's also expensive and time consuming. that's part of the reason why there are fewer than 90 certified stations across the country, and some states don't even have one. - the pollen monitoring in the us is very, very sparse. - let's see what you got out there. i'm excited to see what's outside. new technology like this can automatically count pollen and provide live hyper-local data. dr. liu is testing its accuracy. - [yang] it's portable and it's ai driven. so it has the ability to provide real-time pollen monitoring near you. - [dave] it won't replace hand counting, but it will give you more information about what's floating around your neighborhood. - i think in five years, we will be able to make more reliable pollen forecast hour by hour. so that can really help a lot of people. - [dave] to know what's causing your symptoms and when to be ready for them.

- well, joining me now is cbs national correspondent dave malkoff. really interesting stuff there, dave. i'm sure a lot of people are surprised to see how tedious this process is to collect this data. i mean, it's by hand. that's the real deal, right? - yeah, and they have to go out there every single day, maurice, and pull this thing down from a tower that's in a facility, only 88 of them all across the country. so the entire country, including hawaii and puerto rico and alaska, they're all covered by these 88 stations. so people have to go in and you saw them looking at that microscope and counting each thing. this is one of those things that ai is gonna touch every single bit of our lives, maurice, because these tedious processes that we've always relied on people doing, especially looking at our microscopic environment around us, these things are going to be not replaced, but augmented by these devices. and you saw they're about the size of a shoe box.

they can fit anywhere, on a light post or just on your neighborhood mailbox. it doesn't even have to be very far off the ground. - we're looking forward to ai taking over that part of the process, dave. that's really incredible, the tediousness of it. what about the correlation here between climate change and the pollen count? - well, when you have a changing climate, you have all of this extra heat that's in the environment. you can see atlanta is a city, as we said in the piece, that's inside a forest. so that forest will, they'll actually respond to the excess heat and they'll respond to the extra carbon that's in the air. we had a chance to talk to one of the leading climate scientists in the world, dr. katherine hayhoe, and she had this to say. - we're seeing that the season is longer, it's coming earlier in the year, and the more carbon pollution we have in the atmosphere, the more pollen a lot of plants like ragweed produce.

- so this is another one of those responses that we'll have to deal with with our changing climate, maurice. this is not just something that will be happening in the near future or far-away future. this is happening right now and it's a medical problem for your neighbors and yourself and your family. - you know, every year, i see allergy season. i feel so fortunate that i don't have allergies. my sinuses are killing me right now. that's a whole other story. but what about you? how about your allergies? how'd you come at this whole thing? - well, i'm okay. my son is not. he is 10 years old and he comes out here and he's covered in pollen, then his eyes are exploding and he's all red and everything and sniffling and everything. i say, "you gotta get in the shower. you gotta wash that stuff off." don't be so resting on your laurels when you think, "i'm not affected by pollen." the thing is, and we've talked to several doctors and immunologists about this, that once the pollen gets above a certain level,

and you saw in the piece that we had an 8,000 day here in atlanta not too long ago, once it gets above a certain level, then people who've never had pollen allergies their entire life, they're waking up thinking, "what is this? what's going on? is it covid?" they go to the doctor and they say, "no, it's not a cold. it's not the flu. it's not covid. this is allergies that you're suffering from," even if you've never had allergies before in your life. - so it definitely affects us all. great reporting, real great insight there. dave malkoff, thanks so much for joining us. and if you have a comment or a story idea for dave, you can email him at dave.malkoff@cbs.com. "in focus" continues right after the break. - [announcer] still ahead, alone and afraid. - [rescuer] you're going to be just fine. i know, baby. i know, baby. - dogs being left on the street to fend for themselves. meet the man on a mission to provide love, shelter, and hope to these animals

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it's at the redland dog sanctuary where the owner says every day people come to his front gate to drop off their pets. cbs news miami's morgan rynor has this emotional story. - [morgan] welcome to redland where you can drive for 20 miles alongside fields and farms right before you hit everglades national park. it's a historic agricultural area in southwest miami-dade county. - everybody has their own personality. michael. - [morgan] that's where you'll find newton siqueira junior. - i love this guy. they deserve a chance to survive, everyone. - [morgan] taking care of up to 170 dogs at a time. - grooming dogs was a good career for 25 years. so when i retired, i was trying to help the community that helped me raising my family. - [morgan] he started off with an idea and 20 kennels just three years ago when he retired.

- [newton] it's okay, baby. - [morgan] but it quickly turned into another job as it became clear the problem in redland is huge. - [newton] you gonna be just fine. i know, my name is junior. fine, i know, baby. - [morgan] junior used to spend time driving around to trap the strays, still does. (junior speaking in foreign language) but now people go right to him. - this was left outside of our property. it says, "pick me up," and it's a whole litter. - [morgan] many don't, but some dogs do survive in the everglades. and junior said he's encountering a whole new problem. - why dogs are feral dogs, they are breaking in properties looking for food and they're killing chickens, they're killing pigs for food. - [morgan] puppies born and raised in the wild. dogs like this husky are so feral, junior knows he will never be able to adopt them out.

but he doesn't care, he'll keep them forever. - we should be doing better than that, we can do better than that. and i'm sorry, i'm getting a little emotional, that's what i blame, it's us. okay, we need to respect, we need more kindness, we need to understand that we are responsible for dog being domesticated. so now it's our responsibility to take care of them. - [morgan] running on donations and volunteers alone, junior has managed to build an animal hospital where he helps with spaying and neutering. - that's usually where we assess the dog. it was a dream just to helping, i never thought to be that big, it's just like a small project that we are trying to accomplish and we are making a difference now in this area. - [morgan] it's moments like these that make it all worth it. remember this video?

- [newton] i know baby. - [morgan] this is the dog in their new home. - [fur parent] look, this yours, and that's yours, oh, that is yours. - [morgan] some of these dogs have never known love, never known companionship, but junior, he has found a way to gain their trust. sometimes though feels like he is the only one who's able to handle some of them. so he doesn't take vacation, he's here every single day and says he plans to continue running this shelter for as long as he can. - and morgan rynor joins me now from south florida. morgan, i see you have a furry friend there, as you introduce me to her, can you tell us why on earth this is happening? i mean, is it unique to south florida? is it a national situation? what are you learning? - yeah, well, i do have a little friend with me, doesn't have a name quite yet, but i'm calling her panther and that's because she was just dropped off yesterday. she's actually just one of eight different litters that have been dropped off here in the last two weeks.

so obviously, a big issue in this area. but what's unique about south florida is that it is a beautiful melting pot of culture, it is beautiful but there are some downsides to that and that is that some cultures view dogs differently than we do here. and so part of what's going to have to change is education in that sense. miami is also this bubble of just pricing where people are getting pushed out of their living environment, things are getting really expensive and so when people don't know that there are other options out there, they do resort to sometimes dumping their dogs. and the other issue is that this is a very agricultural area. and so, it's not like you're dumping a dog in the city where they might get picked up right away. people can dump their dogs out here, there are not many cameras. and so, oftentimes, they can get away with doing just that. - oh, so heartbreaking to watch, morgan. the story got a whole lot of attention including from the miami-dade animal services. you went on a ride along with their team

to see what they're doing to address the whole situation. let's take a look at that. - unfortunately, right now with the current population that we've got, we've really gotta be just really reserved with the spaces that we have. and we have to take in the pets that are, she's looking at me right now, that are injured or that really need our help, and right now she's doing pretty well. so i think, i suspect, that she's actually coming in and out of this property from that hole. - and because that particular dog wasn't hurt or injured or needing medical attention, they let it go. let it just walk away. i mean, that happens all the time. how did people react to this? - it's sad. i mean, it was hard for me as a reporter, you know, you're not supposed to interfere with their job and the storytelling, you're supposed to stand along the sides sometimes and just show the work that they are doing. and you can't necessarily blame the county, right? because they see so many dogs a year.

within the last year they saw, i believe it's 37,000 animals, i mean, they truly are at capacity. but the issue with that is the dogs are already being doubled up in the kennels. and so, there's really no more room to bring in more. and as hard as it was to see them leave those dogs there on the street and it was really hard, there isn't necessarily a place to put them and they're already doubling up the dogs. and that is exactly what i saw. i saw the shelter, i went and i toured the shelter, not just that shelter, but miami-dade county, that's a newer shelter. within the last 10 years, they built that new facility in the city of doral, but they still use the old shelter which is in medley that can still house over 100, 200 dogs. and they're keeping dogs in that shelter as well, kind of out of the public view because the new one is so full. so as hard as it was to leave those dogs behind, you can kind of understand why

the county has to do that sometimes. - true, there are only so many people and places to handle it. newton siqueira, i mean, he is a hero. morgan, i just have one more thought here, what can people watching, what can they do? as your puppy makes noise, it's so precious. - yeah, the puppy is crying, so i will hand her right back to newton, who is standing right beside me. he really is a hero. thank you, junior. what can people do? you heard me talk about education. education is such a big factor in all of this. not just with teaching people that pets are more than just security like they often can be in some of the latin countries. again, talking about that melting pot of culture here but also spaying and neutering is a huge thing. you know, newton siqueira jr. handles a lot of the spaying and neutering here in this agricultural area. what else can be done? newton talks about the need for a change in the law.

in florida, for example, pets are considered property and nothing more than property. and so he said something as simple as changing a law like that could go a long way. - all right, well, we know you'll stay on top of it. morgan rynor, thank you so much. great work there in south florida. and if you have a comment or a story idea you'd like to share, you can email morgan.rynor@cbs.com. "in focus", will be right back. (bright upbeat music) - [announcer] coming up, from vengeance to forgiveness. - i asked god to take the anger off of me and give me something else. i didn't know what he was gonna give me but he gave me forgiveness. - [announcer] how a loved one forged an unlikely friendship with the man who murdered his brother. - my emotions moved me to a place of rage. - [announcer] their mission to spread a message of healing and hope.

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(bright music) - now to a story about the power of forgiveness and a man who says the anger over his brother's death was taking a deep emotional toll on his mental and physical health. that's why he chose to forgive the man convicted of taking his brother's life. "cbs news baltimore"'s mike hellgren spoke to both of them about the lessons they've learned and how they are helping others. (melancholy music) - imagine being angry every day. - [mike] for morgan state university professor, darryl green, the journey to healing was rocky and winding. - you couldn't talk to me about forgiveness. you couldn't talk to me about healing. you couldn't talk to me about reconciliation. again, what i knew then was revenge and retaliation. - 35 years ago, his little brother, ruben cotton,

was stabbed to death over a pair of tennis shoes at a bowling alley in harford county, six days after cotton's 17th birthday. tell people about who he was. - a gentle giant, 6'5", 255, great young man, on track to do some amazing things. a beautiful heart. - [mike] for years, he was consumed by anger until he realized the only way to take away that pain was to forgive his brother's killer. - i was dying inside of unforgiveness, right? i asked god to take the anger off of me and give me something else. i didn't know what he was gonna give me, but he gave me forgiveness. and once i forgave, i was free. - [mike] today, he has not only forgiven, but is friends with kimyon marshall, who served 25 years in prison for the murder. marshall was 14 years old when he killed green's brother. - at the time, when the incident happened, i didn't think. my emotions moved me to a place of rage. i sat in that cell for so long,

(keys jangling) asking for god to take this burden off me. - mm-hmm. - i wanna do something, man, that god can say, "man, you started off rough, but you finished well." (rain pattering) (vehicle whooshing) - [mike] that happened when the two met face-to-face at the historic courthouse in bel air, where green decided to testify in favor of a reduction in marshall's life sentence, even though the green family never received a letter marshall wrote pleading for forgiveness. it was hidden away in a prosecutor's file for decades. - all i could do was move my hand. - [darryl] yeah. - i couldn't even move my wrist 'cause they lock right here- - [darryl] yeah. - to my waist. - he had shackles here, shackles around his waist, and shackles around his ankles. and when he shook my hand, he shook my hand like this. and he was crying and i was crying. and i said to him that, when i shook his hand, i said that, "you've been known for taking life." - "life. - "now, let's you and i go save some lives together." - "save some lives together." - that's what you're doing. - that's what we're doing, man. we still- - yeah. - we don't get it right every time, but we just- - time, but we pushing.

keep pushing. - we just keep pushing. - [mike] the two have formed a powerful partnership, a non-profit, deep forgiveness, speaking to people around the world about what it takes to heal. - i began to understand, you know what i mean, what i done and how every human being is unique, can't be replaced, can't be replaced, one of a kind. - and you want other people to know the power of forgiveness. - hurt people hurt people, right? right now, under the sound of my voice and your listening audience, we have brothers and sisters not speaking to each other, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. i would say to you that you're one decision away from changing your life for the rest of your life, and it feels good on the other side. i'm telling you, once i forgave him, i was free. - did you face any backlash for your decision? - i will tell you that some folks think that i have dishonored my brother's death. i mean, dishonored my brother's life because i chose forgiveness. - [mike] he thinks his brother would be proud.

- he's smiling down and saying, "job well done." - he wouldn't want you to be in pain. - no, surely not. and i'm not. i'm free, right? and because i chose forgiveness. i ask god to put somebody in front of me every day that i can help, that we can help, and every day put somebody in front of us that can help us. and that's how we try to do. love and light, that's all we have for you. - mm-hmm. - we don't have anything else but love and light. - yeah, we're in the healing business. - that's it, (chuckles) that's it. forgiveness is, it's so powerful. it is so powerful. - [mike] and can be the hardest thing to do. - number one. (kimyon laughs) - [mike] mike hellgren, "cbs news baltimore." - one of the most powerful stories you will ever see. green says he's gotten an overwhelming response since the story first aired in baltimore. he and marshall are continuing their appearances to teach others about the power of forgiveness. (pensive music) thank you so much for watching this episode of "in focus," featuring the work of our colleagues from across the country at local "cbs news" stations.

we have more than 5,000 people, many of them behind the scenes living and working in the cities you care about. around the country and in your community, "cbs news" puts the stories that matter in focus. until next time, i'm maurice dubois. (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) - celebrating the best of broadway in the heart of new york city, i'm kristine johnson. - and i'm vladimir duthiers. behind us and all around us are just some of the 41 theaters that make up the theater district. and this season there is something for everyone, on broadway. - and we are here to highlight it all, and i know just the place. so come along with us as we explore the best of broadway - taxi!