captioning sponsored by wnet >> stewart: on this edition for saturday, august 20: firefighters gain control of a huge wildfire in southern california, as evacuees return home. emergency responders in louisiana go door to door searching for survivors of this week's floods. and in our signature segment-- why sexually active gay men can't give blood. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg.

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, alison stewart. >> stewart: hello, and thanks for joining us. firefighters in california are making more progress containing the devastating wildfire east of los angeles, allowing tens of thousands of evacuees to return to their homes today, or what remains of those homes. officials say the so-called" blue cut fire" in san bernardino county has charred at least 58-square miles but is now 68% contained. all but 7,000 of the 80,000 residents ordered to evacuate their homes earlier this week are cleared to go back.

officials say the fire has destroyed more than 100 homes and more than 200 other buildings since it broke out on tuesday. the cause of the fire remains under investigation. a five-year drought has made large areas of california susceptible to wildfires. blazes are also burning in santa barbara county and in the mountains north of san francisco. floodwaters in southern louisiana are slowly receding, only to reveal a landscape of destruction in what relief workers are calling the nation's worst natural disaster since hurricane sandy nearly four years ago. the floods, triggered by days of torrential rain, have soaked 60,000 homes and forced 4,000 people into shelters. first responders have rescued more than 30,000 people and hundreds of their pets. at least 13 people have died. officials say more than 100,000 people so far have filed applications for aid from fema, the federal emergency management agency. in arizona, a federal judge is recommending criminal

in arizona, a federal judge is recommending criminal charges for the controversial sheriff for the phoenix metropolitan area, joe arpaio. in an opinion issued late yesterday, judge murray snow found arpaio and his top deputy intentionally violated court orders in a racial profiling case. the orders had barred arpaio's department from stopping and detaining latino drivers based on the suspicion they might be illegal immigrants. the judge said the sheriff continued the practice for 18 months following the order. the decision to charge arpaio with criminal contempt now rests with federal prosecutors. if charged and convicted, arpaio could face fines and jail time. the 84-year old arpaio is now running for his seventh four- year term. >> stewart: 12% of inmates serving sentences for federal crimes in the u.s. are incarcerated in a privately-run prisons, but according to a report by the justice department

inspector general, those prisons are less safe and more expensive than government-run prisons. the findings led the justice department to announce this week it will begin phasing out contracts with all private prisons. to explore how that decision was reached and its impact, i am joined from washington by npr justice correspondent carrie johnson. and, carrie, what did the justice department identify as the biggest problem for these prisons run by private companies. >> the deputy attorney general, sally yeats, told me that simply, government-run prisons operate better by contracting out with private companies, the government saves very little money, and in fact, runs into a lot more trouble. the inspector general at the justice department found assaults, uses of force, and contraband, especially contraband cell phones, were much higher at private prison facilities, rather than the ones operated by the federal bureau of prisons around the country. >> stewart: why is there more

trouble in private prisons? >> well, there are a couple of arguments about that. one is somewhat some of the operations at private prisons are understaffed, both in terms of correction officers-- what we would call guards -- and also medical personnel. and inmates there have expressed a lot of dissatisfaction about the quality of medical care they're getting in these private contract facilities, as well as the quality of food, sometimes not even enough food, they complain. and, of course, not enough supervision from guards, which allows some of these contraband cell phones and assaults on inmates by other inmates, assaults on inmates against guards, and the those are all on the rise, according to the i.g., in these private contract facilities. >> stewart: it sounds like it was a combination of aistition that was both financial and about safety and conditions. >> yeah, that's right. and in fact, it's important to note the justice department says that demand for outside prison space for private contract prison space, has declined a lot

just in the last few years. in the last few years alone, 25,000 inmates in federal prisonses have left those prisons because of changing in the way we punish low-level drug criminals and other policy decisions. so there's a lot more space in the government-run prisons to move about 22,000 inmates who are now in the contract prisons back into the regular government-operated prisons. demand is much lower than it was back, say, in the 90s, when violent crime was on the rise, and drug punishments, punishments for drug crimes, were very, very steep in those days. >> stewart: sentencing and prison reform advocates have hailed this as a win of some sorts. is it really? >> well, it is a big symbolic victory for people who have been pressing, including the a.c.l.u., prisoners' rights groupses and others for a long time against the use of private-contract prisons. that said, this decision by the justice department, affects only 22,000 inmates in some federal

facilities. it does not affect the vast majority of people incarcerated in the u.s. in state or local prisons. and just as importantly, this cision does not apply it to ipigration detainees, people who are in the country illegally, and who are detained await something kind of decision by an immigration judge. the deps of homeland security, and immigrations customs enforcement say they are going to continue to use private prisons and that is where the fight is going to move in the years ahead. >> stewart: carrie johnson from npr, thanks for sharing your reporting. >> my pleasure. >> stewart: the u.s. food and drug administration is reevaluating a controversial blood donation policy put in effect in the 1980s to stop the spread of h.i.v. and aids through the nation's blood supply. the policy, as amended last year, prohibits any man who reports having sex with another

man in the past 12 months from donating blood. the ban exists because of the relatively high rate of h.i.v. infections among gay men compared to other demographic groups. gay rights advocates say the ban is not based in good science and perpetuates a stigma regarding gay men and h.i.v. in tonight's signature segment, newshour weekend's ivette feliciano takes a closer look. a note about this report-- it contains discussions of a sexual nature, including clinically explicit language, that may not be appropriate for all viewers. >> it would be great if these were completely filled. ugh, that one is empty. >> reporter: on a recent friday morning, in sterling, virginia, the staff at inova blood donor services is gearing up for a blood drive at a washington nationals baseball game. inova supplies blood products to 25 hospitals in washington d.c., maryland, and virginia. manager a.j. hughes estimates the drive will net the center 400 donations, helping replenish

its low blood supply. >> summer is always kind of a tough time for us. we have a really tough time getting donors in. we have to do more. >> reporter: 28-year-old sam brinton would like to donate to the inova center, but can't, because of a 33-year-old government ban preventing men who have sex with men from donating blood. the policy, implemented by the food and drug administration at the start of the aids epidemic, requires gay and bisexual men like brinton to affirm they've abstained from sex with men for a whole year before giving blood. >> as a bisexual, if i were to sleep with women for the next year, f.d.a. says, "way to go, you're an awesome person, you're allowed to give blood." if i sleep with my boyfriend for the next year, "you're a horrible person, and you're not allowed to give to those who you might want to give." now they're not saying it in such explicit terms, but limitation provides stigma. >> reporter: a national spotlight fell on the f.d.a.'s

blood donation restriction after the mass shooting inside a gay nightclub in orlando, florida, in june. the morning after 102 people were shot-- 49 fatally-- there were long lines to give blood. hundreds of gay men were turned away. >> i went to go try to give blood and again was told, "no." you see on the television people, your brothers and sisters, bleeding in the streets. you saw that video. and there's nothing you can do. you're being told, "no, your blood is not worthy." >> reporter: for brinton, the rejection was especially painful. two good friends, drew leinonen and juan guerrero, had been killed inside the club. >> drew and juan had been dating. i had literally seen them the week before. >> reporter: until recently, the ban was even stricter. in fact, it was permanent. the policy dates back to 1982, when a baby was infected with aids, through a blood transfusion given at the university of california san francisco hospital.

shortly after, the f.d.a., which regulates the nation's blood supply, instituted a lifetime ban on blood donations from all men who admitted having sex with other men. today, blood banks screen for h.i.v., the virus that causes aids, with an accuracy rate of 99.99%, according to the f.d.a. typically all blood donations are screened for h.i.v., twice. one test checks for the direct presence of hiv genetic material, and the other looks for antibodies produced by the immune system to fight h.i.v. today, the odds of getting an h.i.v. infection through a blood transfusion are one in 1.5 million, less likely than being struck by lightning. the centers for disease control and prevention estimates there were more than 9,000 transfusion-related h.i.v.- transmissions between 1981 and 1985. then, as testing methods improved, the numbers dropped to the single digits per year. since 2000, there have been only four confirmed cases in the u.s.

still, as of 2014, 636,000 americans had died from aids. 1.2 million people in the u.s. have the disease, according to the c.d.c. dr. peter marks is the director of the f.d.a.'s center for biologics evaluation and research. do you believe that the f.d.a.'s policy is discriminatory? >> i don't believe it's discriminatory, because i believe it's not a policy that's based on a sexual orientation; it's based on keeping the blood supply safe. >> reporter: while gay and bisexual men have the highest rates of new h.i.v. infections, accounting for 67% of all diagnoses in 2014, marks says the term "gay" isn't used in the policy, because many men who sleep with men don't always identify as gay or bi-sexual. >> it's not a gay blood ban. it's not about what you call yourself. it's about a behavior. and that behavior is associated with certain risk. at the risk of blushing before camera, the clear thing that's most highly associated with the

transmission of h.i.v. is anal receptive intercourse. and there's no way around that. >> reporter: but clearly, men who have sex with men aren't the only people engaging in that sort of sex. >> that's correct, except that they're the ones that are involved with the highest risks of transmitting it through that mode. and unfortunately, we know that anal receptive intercourse is associated with a relatively high condom failure rate each episode. i understand, people want to be able to donate blood, and feel that they're doing good. and i've heard, "well we use protection," or, "i'm monogamous." the problem is that if you use protection each time, you may not know that it failed. and unfortunately, you could have become infected then. >> reporter: another important player in this debate is brian custer, a senior investigator at san francisco's blood systems research institute, one of the nation's largest blood collectors. custer spearheaded several

studies, which led the f.d.a. just last december to amend its lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men, to a 12-month deferral, meaning donors must have abstained from sex with men during that time. >> there are many acts, many reasons why we don't allow individuals to donate. not because they belong to a specific group, but because that group or that issue or that behavior could truly pose a risk to a blood recipient. and if it could, that's where we err. we err on that side. >> reporter: in fact, custer says only four in ten americans are eligible to donate blood at any given time because of a host of ever-changing f.d.a. bans and deferrals, like the restrictions for people who have traveled to countries with zika outbreaks, people with hepatitis c, sex workers, intravenous drug users, and anyone who recently got a tattoo or piercing. the "gay men's health crisis," a new york-based advocacy group that formed in the early years of the aids epidemic, considers the f.d.a. rules for men who

have sex with men-- discriminatory. kelsey louie is the organization's c.f.o.: >> by banning a group of people from partaking in an activity based on who they are and how they identify, that is discrimination. how would you feel if you were told that you would still have to wait a year before you could donate blood? a year where you had to be celibate before you could donate blood? it's still unfair. it's not based in science. >> reporter: louie believes all potential donors should have their risks factors evaluated individually, such as whether a man-- or a woman-- has multiple sexual partners, has unprotected sex of any kind, and lacks awareness of his or her h.i.v. status. >> if you think about it, what this policy is saying is that a gay man who is in a monogamous relationship is at higher risk than a heterosexual person who is having unprotected sex with

several partners. and that just isn't accurate. that's not true. so we're looking for a fair and science-based approach. >> reporter: brian custer, who advocated for the new 12-month deferral, stopped short of recommending completely lifting the ban, in part, because research shows that h.i.v.- positive blood donors were more likely to report a history of male to male sexual contact than donors without h.i.v. and even though tests are now highly accurate, there is a so- called "window period" of up to ten days when a person could test negative for h.i.v., even when they are actually positive. >> it's not trying to say that all men who have sex with men, even if they're sexually active, are at high risk for h.i.v. acquisition or anything like this. but it is trying to say that in total, there is a higher risk there, and for that reason, this was sort of the place to start a change in this deferral. >> reporter: while it is felony in many states to knowingly donate h.i.v.-infected blood,

blood banking questionnaires used to screen potential donors depend on the honor system. >> they answer a series of about 50 questions that cover anything from their health history, travel history, sexual history. no stone unturned. >> reporter: yet researchers at the university of wisconsin and the f.d.a. have found many men who have sex "knowingly donate despite the deferral." the f.d.a.'s data shows h.i.v. rates for those donors are much lower than expected. >> it is clear that men who have sex with men who come to donate blood seem to have self-selected in some way. that being said, even with that self-selection, their risk is many-fold higher than a person who has sex with an individual of the opposite sex, even with multiple individuals of the opposite sex, who comes to donate. >> reporter: last month the f.d.a. announced it is reevaluating its blood donation policy yet again. sam brinton is hopeful that ultimately the ban will be

lifted. why is your blood safe? >> in the end, it's safe because i'm safe. i make decisions about my sexual desires and my sexual activities from a place of intelligence. we recognize that risks exist. no person that is giving blood doesn't think that risk exists. we just want it to be managed in a way that is respectful. >> stewart: read about one man who's remaining celibate for a year so he can donate blood and to draw attention to the ban. go to our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. >> stewart: since the affordable healthcare act, often called obamacare, took effect three years ago, more than 20 million more americans have obtained health coverage-- a majority of them through federal and state exchanges with insurance companies. but this week one of the nation's largest private insurers, aetna, decided to drop out next year in 11 of the 15

states where it offers plans. united health group and humana have made similar market exits. in this map published today, th" new york times" shows in 2017, 17% of americans eligible for obamacare will have only one plan from which to chose-- the purple areas offer one plan, and the pink ones, two." bloomberg news" healthcare reporter zach tracer joins me here in the studio to discuss the pullout and its impact. okay, aetna said this was a business decision, straight forward. was it? >> you know, aetna has said, "look, we're losing a lot of money on the affordable care act, and this is not a market we can foor to be in." now, the big question everybody wants to know is was this related to the justice department's move to block aetna's takeoaf of humana. about a month ago, the justice department sued to stop aetna from buying another health insurer, humana. and there is some indication this may not have been about financial losses.

>> stewart: the c.e.o. wrote a pretty direct letter saying we need to do this or we might not show up for 2017. >> in early july, before the lawsuit, aetna's c.e.o. wrote a letter to the justice department in response to some questionses from d.o.j., about how them potentially blocking the deal would affect his plans. and he said, "look, if you sue to block this deal, we are going to pull out." aetna says, "that's true, but the reason we'll pulling out is our financial results are worsening. this isn't retaliation." but, clearly, this is a big pullback that came after that lawsuit. >> stewart: let me ask you a question about language. aetna's c.e.o. said they're losing money. are they losing money or just not making the same amount of money? >> aetna is losing something like $300 million this year on the affordable care act extinction. now, they're making lots of money in other businesses, and until now they've been willing to say the wait-and-see how this particular business worked out. you know, there are not that many places in the u.s. where as a health insurer you can pick up

business. most folks already have health insurance. so the affordable care act was a new market opportunity for these guys. >> stewart: that was one of the talking points about tyou get new insurers, new people to insure. that didn't happen? 0,000 new customers.ng like so some nice growth. the problem is right now they're not making money on it. >> stewart: can you explain to me why aetna said it's losing so much money on obamacare. >> aetna said they ended up with sicker, older customers than they expected. there are other things going on, maybe around the edges, people gaming the exchanges, people signing up for coverage, getting a costly surgery or procedure and then dropping out. the main thing appears t people were sicker than aetna expected. young, healthy peep have stayed away from the exchanges, maybe more than anyone thought that they would. these are not inexpensive policies, though, of course, there are subsidies to help people afford them. but, you know, if you're a young, htiony person, it's a lot of money and you may just say, you know, i'm going to take my

chances," even though there are these financial penalties for not buying insurance. >> stewart: at least one critic i read of this move said these companies like aetna and united health just are doing business a different way. there are companies that have done business with exchanges which are doing just fine, that they have not adjusted to the marketplace. >> that's right. there are companies that are doing well that say they're making money on the exchanges. so there's clearly some strategies, some things insurers are doing that are working. but so far, like you mentioned, united, humana, aetna, the real big national insurers, just don't appear to have hit on these winning strategieses. >> stewart: so i'm someone who was in this exchange with aetna. what i do do in 20 again sphaen? >>, you know, it's going to be a problem for folks. they're going to lose their aetna coverage as of january 1, 2017. so that means that people have that aetna policies through the exchange in one of the 11 states that they're pulling out of, those people are going to need to go and shop and found a new health plan. >> stewart: zach tracer from "bloomberg news." thanks a lot.

>> thank you. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> stewart: in europe today, hundreds of migrants were rescued on the mediterranean sea. spanish rescuers saved 200 migrants, mainly from africa, who were packed into rubber rafts floating fewer than 20 miles from the libyan coast. separately, 300 migrants rescued by italian ships were brought to sicily today, along with the bodies of five who drowned. the international organization for migration says while 100,000 migrants and refugees have reached italy this year-- many after leaving from libya-- almost 3,000 have drowned trying. turkey is promising to take a more active role to stop the five-year-old war in neighboring syria. prime minister binali yildirim said that while syrian president bashar al-assad could play a role during a transition, he should have no role in the country's future. the prime minister also urged the united states to speed up the extradition it has requested

of cleric fethullah gulen, who lives in pennsylvania. turkey accuses of gulen of instigating last month's failed military coup, which he denies. reuters reports u.s. state and justice department officials are planning to visit turkey to discuss the case. in yemen today, there was a massive show of support for a newly-formed governing council. hundreds of thousands demonstrated in the rebel-held capital of sanaa. they were showing support for the council led by former president ali abdullah saleh, though it's been rejected by yemen's internationally recognized government. 6,500 people have died in the 16-month civil war between shiite rebels and a saudi-led, u.s.-backed coalition supporting the government. united nations-sponsored peace talks collapsed earlier this month. on tomorrow's program, the lionfish "invasion" threatening marine life off the coast of florida and beyond, and what's being done to stop it. >> we don't know how bad this is going to get. we could see extinction of some species of fish due to lionfish

predation. >> stewart: that's tomorrow, on pbs newshour weekend. finally, cross it if you dare. today, china opened the world's highest and longest glass-bottom bridge. the 1400-foot-long pedestrian bridge is paved with 99 panels of three-layered transparent glass and spans a mountain ravine in hunan province. officials insist the bridge is totally safe. it better be. it's almost 1,000 feet down to the ground. in the summer olympics in dean rink, the u.s. women's basketball team crushed spain for the sixth gold medal in a row. the u.s. men go for a third gold medal in a row in basketball tomorrow against serbia. that's all for this edition of "pbs newshour weekend." i'm alison stewart. good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

narrator: a mysterious disease strikes brazil, putting health officials on edge. [baby crying] celina maria turchi martelli: when i saw the first baby, the second baby and the third baby, i said i never saw anything like this in my life. [baby crying] narrator: the culprit-- a virus called zika. tom frieden: zika virus is a horrific phenomenon because it actually invades the developing fetal brain and destroys brain tissue in the fetus. narrator: zika. nipah. mers. these are viruses that spill over from animals to humans, part of a growing list of global threats. over the last half century, the number of spillover diseases may have quadrupled. [monitor beeping] [siren] just a year before zika struck,