john: tonight on pbs news weekend, devastating midwestern floods are putting a spotlight on the condition of america's aging dams.

then the sports world is taking on a new opponent, climate change. >> guess what? children are not going to be able to play baseball outside. people are not going to be able to play tennis outside. something's got to give. john: and the hidden history of the lavender scare, when thousands of federal workers were forced out of their jobs just because they were gay. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. have a nice day. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. john good evening, i am john yang. a new post-debate poll out this morning shows a 10% jump in the proportion of registered voters surveyed who say president biden should not be running for reelection, from 63% in february to 72% on friday and saturday. most of the registered voters questioned in the cbs news poll say mr. biden doesn't have "the mental a cognitive health" to be president.

about 30% said neither he nor donald trump does. three days after the president's unsteady debate performance, his backers are still publicly trying to reassure alarmed democrats while former president trump's supporters are highlighting the night. >> yes, it was a bad performance. i have been around these things. i have been a part of debate preparation before, and i know when i see what i call preparation overload. and that's exactly what was going onhe other night. >> this idea that biden had a bad night, that's not the story. he's had a bad presidency, had a disastrous debate. and if you want to look at past performance to judge what's going to happen in the future, god help us all if joe biden gets reelected. john: today the atlanta journal-constitution editorial page called for mr. biden to drop out. the new york times took that same position on friday. there is extreme weather from the caribbean to the desert west. in the atlantic, beryl quickly

intensified to become the earliest category 4 hurricane on record. the national hurricane center expects the storm to pass just south of barbados early monday, with saint vincent and grenada at the highest risk of the life-threatening combination of winds, storm surge, and waves. and in scottsdale, arizona, northeast of phoenix, officials are warning residents to be ready to evacuate. a wildfire there has charred 4000 acres. the forecast calls for wind gusts and temperatures of up to 110 deees. the immigrant family of a 13-year-old boy is demanding accountability after the teen was killed by utica, new york, police. police say they stopped two teens on friday to ask them about a robbery. that led to a foot-chase with one of them. police released edited body camera video showing a chaotic scene as an officer and the teen wrestled on the ground. the video freezes and a gunshot is heard. police say they thought the teen pointed a weapon at them. it turned out to be a bb or pellet gun. the officer is on leave while the utica police and new york

attorney general's office investigate. and in france, early results of today's first-round election point to a big win for the country's far-right "national rally" party. voter turnout was very high in the snap election called by president emmanuel macron, whose centrist party suffered a harsh rebuke. if the "national ral" party continues to make gains, it would be a big shift in french politics, the first far-right government since nazi occupation during world war ii. the second round of voting is set for friday. still to come on pbs news weekend, how the sports world is dealing with climate change. and the hidden history of lgbtq people being forced out of the federal government. >> this is pbs news weekend from w eta studios in washington, home of the pbs news hour, weeknights on pbs. john: flood warnings are lily to remain in effect this week

from wisconsin and minnesota to missouri as more heavy rain is forecast. there's already been historic flooding, inundating parts of nebraska and bringing down a bridge in south dakota. the lasting image of the week is from minnesota, water surging around the west side of the 114-year-old rapidan dam on the blue earth river, carrying away a home on a bank just downstream. across the country, new weather extremes are testing aging dams. according to the federal government's most recent climate assessment, the number of extreme precipitation days in the midwest has gone up 45 percent since the 1950s. del shannon is the former president of the united states society on dams, an organization of professionals who design, build and operate dams and focus on dam safety. are the dams that exist now, were they built and designed to withstand the sort of extreme weather we are seeing now?

>> the average age of a dam in the u.s. -- there are 92,000 -- is 60 years old. the majority were designed to a standard 60 years or older. often that is insufficient to withstand many of the floods we are now starting to see. john: can dams be retrofitted to bring them up to standard? >> yes. it is a tall task because of the immense size, but absolutely, and they should be because water is an irreplaceable resource. there is no plan b for anything other than water. these structures must be upgraded if we want to retain them as assets. john: if the rapidan dam was damaged by flooding in 2019 and 2020, there has been a debate over whether to repair or remove it. it enough being done to monitor dams across the country? >> it's a complex problem. each state is responsible for the oversight, regulation, and

expansion of dams, with the exception of the federal government dams. we have 50 individual entities charged with overseeing and maintaining them. with 92,000 dams, it can be overwhelming and often is. john: there are maintenance and replacement schedules for highway and bridges. do we know enough about the lifecycle of dams? >> excellent question. we are just starting to delve into that. we are starting research later this year, federally funded research. but the answer is no, we have never gone through a federally funded cycle to replace dams and we have never gone through the night -- the lifecycle. john: when politicians talk about the need to replace infrastructure, they talk about bridges, sewer systems. is enough attention being paid to dams? >> in my opinion, no, i am quite

passionate about the topic. there are structures that silently go about their business day in and day out without a lot and a lot of people thinking about them. but then again, as i said earlier, there is no plan b for water. and we're actually, from a per capita standpoint, we're declining. we haven't built new reservoirs. the age of our population is growing. the age of these structures is increasing. and the reservoirs are infilling the sediment, all that adds up to a declining per capita, storage volume of our reservoirs, both in the us and throughout the world. john: is there money in the infrastructure bill for dams? and is it enough? >> there is, several billion. that's a fantastic first step. i don't want to speak ill of that. it's wonderful. it is a down paynt on additional funding that is needed. and we need to continue to maintain these structures. the current estimates of upgrading our existing dams is in the $150 to $160 billion range it is a significant lift

, so it is a significant lift that we'll need. john: overall what needs to be done to make dams safe and what ought to be done? >> we need more resources both funding and people. we need to establish a greater workforce, focused specifically on these structures. that includes increasing funding at the state level and at the federal level as well. all of these things need to be understood and invested in both peoplend funding to upgrade these structures. john: it seems like we hear more frequently these days about dam failures or overtopping. is that the fact or is it just that once one happens, we pay attention to the others? >> it's a complex problem. so when dams were built, in the heyday after world war ii, our understanding and our, our, our understanding of hydrology and

design was 60 years old. as we have advanced, we have a better understanding of these ructures, the loading bay need to take, the flood designs that they are designed to withstand, esigso that has improved. the other thing is we have had an increase in population. dams that were designed for smaller floods. now we have large populations downstream and larger floods and they are overwhelming these dams. lastly, we have a shifting climate and a warmer atmosphere can hold more water. we are just starting to understand it, but we believe the size of the floods will increase as our atmosphere temperature also increases. john: del shannon, thank you very much. >> thank you, john. john: the paris olympics opening ceremony is a little less then four weeks away. organizers have set a lofty goal

-- generate less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of the last two summer games. and it's not just the olympics. across the sports world, there's a new opponent -- climate change. jeffrey brown reports on how the changing climate is changing the game. jeffrey: the crack of the bat, a throw from the outfield. on hallowed ground in american sports, yankee stadium in bronx, new york, it's time for that great baseball tradition, the pre-game warm-up. but these days, here as everywhere, warm-up means something much more. >> every professional sports community in the united states is being affected by climate change. jeffrey: allen hershkowitz is the environmental science and sustainability advisor for the new york yankees, the first environmental scientist hired by a pro team, across all sports. at his urging, the yankees became the first north american pro team to sign a united nations pledge to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. because, he says, the stakes are too high.

>> there is an urgency because, guess what? children are not going to be able to play baseball outside. people are not going to be able to play tennis outside. something's got to give. jeffrey: the last 10 years have been the warmest ever recorded. it's pushed the globe into new and uncharted territory and its pushing sports to its limits. >> the big issue with climate change, the one that's at the top of every sport scientist's mind right now, is heat. john: madeleine orr is a sports ecologis and author of a new book, "warming up: how climate change is changing sport." she used baseball to highlight how rising temperatures have fueled the weather disasters that affect sports' bottom line: -- line. the powerful thunderstorms that cause rain delays. the churning hurricanes that have completely swamped ballparks. the massive wildfires that bring dystopian scenes, and sometimes, game postponements. >> you'd be hard pressed to find a facility manag who's not worried about storms and

wildfire and heat, and all these things. they know about it. for a very long time, though, the assumption has been, "oh, it's a one-off." and that's really a dangerous assumption, because you'll clean up that mess and not necessarily put in place the adaptations that are going to help reduce the risks time. >> one player is gonna die. and they're gonna see. jeffrey: indeed, sports are trying to adapt. from implementing rest periods at the u.s. open to help players cope with extreme heat, to holding the 2019 world championship marathon in qatar at midnight, to avoid unsafe temperatures. for baseball, one adaptation -- roofs, taking fans not out to the ballgame, but in. but experts, including madeleine orr, note that adaptations only

go so far. >> on the winter side, it's essentially: are we going to have a season at all? that's the question. it's because we're not getting as much snow. and where we are getting snow, it's just melting too fast. so, the solution for 50 years has been we will make snow artificially and blow it out of these guns. but you can make snow all you want, and if it's not cold enough outside for the snow to stick on the ground, it's going to melt. jeffrey: on the trails of mount bachelor in bend, oregon, olympian cross-country skier gus schumacher is living that reality. he's not able to rely on snow that's been there in the past. >> we have shifted our camp a little bit earlier just so we make sure we get on good snow. jeffrey: we reached schumacher as he trained for the alpine skiing world cup, and the next winter olympics. conditions on this day, not bad, but that wasn't the case back in

february, when he raced in the "american birkebeiner" in northern wisconsin. >> this year was my first year, and there was not a drop of snow on the entire length of trail, from cable to hayward. like, the actual trail was totally dry. jeffrey: the warmest winter in 130 years reduced the 50 50 kilometer race to a manmade loop of entirely artificial snow. >> climate change has dramatically altered the conditions for winter sports, including nordic skiing. jeffrey: schumacher has grown so concerned that earlier this year he traded his ski gear for a suit and tie, and appeared on capitol hill with the advocacy group, "protect our winters", to share his experience. >> rising temperatures have led to shorter and more erratic winter seasons, with snow cover becoming increasingly unreliable. we took the opportunity to say, these are the things that we can do to try to stay ahead of reducing our carbon footprint. big or small, we are turning over every stone. jeffrey: back at the ballpark, we met doug behar, yankees

senior vice president of stadium operations. >> very intentional design in this space. more than 30,000 square feet. natural cooling. you feel the breeze come through. jeffrey: he showed us some of the ways the yankees are trying to mitigate climate change, not just adapt to it, starting at the cabin is great hall where fans enter the stadium. constructed in an eco-friendly manner, it doesn't require air conditioning. where cooling is required -- >> it's a bit like being in the bottom of a ship. john: a new, water-based cooling system is more energy-efficient. recyclingnd compost bins in every concourse. packaged food given away to shelters after every game. all of it leads to less electricity use and less food waste, which means fewer greenhouse gases that warm the planet. >> 90% of our environmental work the fans don't see because they relate to our equipment. they don't know that we are using led lights that reduce lighting emissions by 60%.

jeffrey: what's more visible, alan hershkowitz says, is the influence sports and athletes have on millions. >> guess what? they learn from their sports organization. sports loyalty is handed down generation to generation. less than 20% of americans regularly follow science. over 80% regularly follow sports. the most influential role models are athletes. if athletes are selling cars, if they're endorsing banks, if they're selling pizza, why can't they sell environmental literacy? jeffrey: the yankees haven't won a championship since 2009, but they're off to a great start this year. doug behar sees plenty more to do, on and off the field. >> the yankees are doing our best to try to stay ahead of the curve, lead where we can and certainly do all the things that are necessary to be productive and responsible. jeffrey: while winning championships. >> absolutely. jeffrey: for pbs news weekend, i am jeffrey brown at yankee stadium in the bronx. jeffrey: on this final day of

lgbtq pride month, tonight's installment of our hidden histories series isn't about an individual. it's about an episode. how the anti-communist paranoia that gripped washington at the dawn of the cold war led to an often overlooked chapter in lgbtq history. fanned by senator joseph mccarthy's headline-grabbing claims, fears of communist subversion led to the hunt for communists in the government. >> department of justice officials have promised further arrests as the cckdown on suspected subversives gathers momentum. jeffrey: mccarthy explicitly linked communism with lgbtq people, and some even said they were the bigger threat. the red scare had spawned the lavender scare, the name taken from senator everett dirksen's reference to gay men as "lavender lads." a 1950 congressional investigation concluded that lgbtq people were "unsuitable" for federal employment and posed a security risk because fear of exposure made them susceptible

to blackmail. thousands of workers across the government were investigated, interrogated, and forced from their jobs. over time, society's attitudes toward lgbtq people changed, but until 1975 they were still barred from the civil service. and it wasn't until the 1990's that president bill clinton ended official discrimination based on sexual orientation for all non-military government workers. marc stein is a history professor at san francisco state university. first someone who is younger than a baby boomer and certainly the age of your students, may see all the celebrations we have had during this pride month and wonder about the attitudes that led to this in the 1950s, early 1960s. how do you explain it? >> it's complicated. but i think most historians believe there were really three pillars of anti lgbt animus, throughout the 20th century.

one was religion that regarded mosexuality and gender transgression as a sin. one was law and the state that regarded those expressions as criminal behavior. and then there was science and medicine and psychiatry, which regarded homosexuality and transgenderism as signs of illness and sickness. and so you put those three together, you have immense cultural authority, a political authority coming down hard on lgbtq people. jeffrey: what was it like to be an lgbtq person who was working in the government at this time? >> well, for those who were in washington, d.c., there was a developing, vibrant, community based culture in bars, in parks , in parties. and so one could have a relatively full and interesting and dynamic private life. but the workplace was a different story. and if you worked for the federal government in washington, d.c. or elsewhere,

there was the ever present threat that you could be outed and that you could be threatened. and this affected more than just people who identified as lgbtq because even rumor or innuendo , say if a person wasn't married or didn't go out after work and behave in conventionally straight ways, that could cast a pall of suspicion, even on workers for the federal government who did not identify as lgbtq. jeffrey: as we said, one of the rationales the government officials offered for this was security risk, the susceptibility of blackmail. but in an ironic way, didn't it -- didn't some government officials actually sort of prove that case about about being able to coerce federal workers? >> yes. so, you know, while there is limited evidence that there were instances of blackmail from external actors, what you say is absolutely true, that oftentimes the worsforms of blackmail came from within the federal government. and so the threat of being

outed in the workplace could itself lead to a form of blackmail, within the workplace. jeffrey: why do you think this episode may have been forgotten? largely by now. >> well, for decades there was really intense censorship on the teaching of lgbtq history, in public and private schools in the united states. certainly when i was growing up in the 1960's, 1970's, and into the 1980's, there was little or nothing ever said about lgbtq history. and so, in part, i think this has been forgotten for that reason. also during the era itself, there were euphemisms. there were not explicit ways of talking about this phenomenon. there might be dcussions of perverts, of deviants, of misfits. and so that wouldn't necessarily be understood or interpreted by the broad population as referencing lgbtq people.

jeffrey: a lot of these policies were on the books, maybe not observed, but still official policies until the 1990's and early 2000's. why did it take so long to change? >> i think actually we're still living with the legacies of those policies today. and maybe that's something we could also talk about. but as for the earlier decades, those three pillars of anti lgbtq oppression, religion, the state, and science, continued to exhibit many of those same attitudes for decades. and so the it wasn't until 1973 that the american psychiatric association declassified homosexuality as a mental illness. and even after that, the apa continued to regard as illnesses gender identity dysphoria or sexual orientation disturbance. and the other two pillars continued to express intense anti lgbtq animus even after the

official policies changed on civil service employment. jeffrey: talk about some of the legacies that you feel were -- we are still living with from this. >> well, while it's no longer officially acceptable to refuse to hire someone for a government work, federal government work, or to fire someone for federal government work based on sexual orientation and gender identity. -- identity, there is still a lot of unofficial discrimination that goes on. we still see the traces of i think the legacies of those earlier policies in things like banning the teaching of gender and sexuality in public schools, which a number of states have done in recent years. and we still see it, i would say, in the refusal of many public schools and private schools to teach lgbtq history. it's as if this is just an unacceptable topic, inappropriate for children, and

in that way, that form of censorshipnd oppression really is working against fuller democratization, fuller openness , and fuller educational excellence. jeffrey: mark stein of san francisco state university, thank you very much. >> thank you. jeffrey: that is pbs news weekend for this sunday. i am john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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