captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, parts of the north carolina are cut off as other towns deal with the effects of floodwars after ing battered by hurricane florence. then, new investigation into sexual assault allegationse against suprurt nominee brett kavanaugh throw his confirmation vote into question. and a last minute deal to create a demilitarized zone in syria hopes to avoid a potentialas humanitarian dr in the last rebel stronghold. >> the implementation of this agreement, or the fact that thes agreement at all, does c ave off what could have been a kind of apocalypmanitarian disaster in northwest syria. >> woodruff: all that and more ." tonight's "pbs newshour

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ movi our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service preps can help you choosen based on how much you use your othing nothing more, less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

>> financial services firm raymond james.nd >> the williamlora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. in www.hewlett.org. >> and with the onsupport of these institutions: and individuals. >> thiprogram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionsur pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: two major stories tonight: members of the united

states senate wrestle with an accusation that supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh committed sexual assault in high school. and, hurricane florence leaves a growing disaster in north carolina. we begin with william brangham, on the situation after the storm. >> reporter: all across eastern north carolina, water has drowned out roads -- more than 1,500 of them. the flooding has steadily worsened since the storm made landfall near wilmington early friday. over the weekend, this riverfront city-- home to 120,000 people-- was completely cut off by land. today, north carolina governor roy cooper said crews managed to open a single supply route, but he warned evacuees against using it to return because the water keeps rising. >> we've got one limited route ngto wilmington and it's b used for supplies and necessary emergency material, and utility workers and law enfot, and

we don't need peopleoing back right now particularly when this route may disappear tonight. >> reporter: inside the city, people waited in lines today for ice, gas, food and other supplies. >> we were able to go get groceries so we have food, but we have no power. so we have to be ablto keep the food cold. and we've had to throw out a lo of food, so we're trying to keep what we have left. >> hoping we can get some gas, then we're running out of ice at home. been out of electric about four days now. >> reporter: over two thirds of the city's customers lost power, and utility companies are working to restore it. jeff brooks is with duke energy. he spoke to the "newshour" from wilmington. >> since the storms we've moved 0

>> report miles to the north jacksonville, north carolina is also hard-hi the new river burst its banks over the weekend. jason dilla paddled in a canoe, through what had en streets. >> this is-- it's been surreal, man. like i said earlier,eean, you only this in tv. i never thought i'd see this. >> reporter: and it's expewoed to get evee. forecasts show heavy flooding could reach 250 miles inland in north calina-- and with it, tragedy. today, 170 miles west of the coast in new sem, police found the body of a one-year-old boy. the child was swept away in floodwaters on sunday whenos his mother lher grip on him. >> they searched and searched and searched for the child and thchild was found this morning. >> rorter: in another inland city-- fayetteville-- 100 miles

from the coast, the downtown isl launder water. officials have ordered new evacuations, worried the cape fear river will go higher still. >> basically, i just stacked up the chairs because i thinking maybe if we did flood, it would probably just come up to here, just t save a little bit of what i have. >> reporter: waheeda reese andug er anissa rode out the storm initially, but by sunday, they were forced to pack up and arave. officials in southina are a coal ashlandville owned by duke eney ha also been officials in south carolina are also warning of flash flooding after a long weekend of heavy rain from florence.th fo"pbs newshour," i'm william brangham.ed

>> a person kin an apartment tornado spawned by florence. we'll take a closer look at a part of nth carolina sufring in the wake of the storm and that's later in the program. first, though, the questions about brett kavanaugh. after first being outed in the press, collegerofessor christine blasey ford came forward this weekend as the woman accusing judge brett kavanaugh of sexual assault more than 30 years ago. ford alleges that at a high school party, kavanaugh-- while ckebriated-- forced the teenager into a room and at her, before she was able to escape. as lisa desjardins reports, the allegation has drawn strong responses from the white house to capitol hill. >> judge kavanaugh is one of tho fineste that i've ever known. >> reporter: president trump defended his nominee tbut said brett kavanaugh's accuser should be heard out. nt>> at the same time, we o go through a process.e we want to maksure everything is perfect, everything is just right. they'll go through a process and hear everybody out.

i think it's important >> reporter: he issued a strong denial-- his second in four days-- saying, "i have never done anything li what the accuser describes to her or to anyone," adding he is willing to cooperate with the senate judiciary committee. kavanaugh's accur-- christine blasey ford-- detailed the alleged attack in a letter to democratic senat dianne feinstein in late july. cnn reported the letter says o kavanaugh and a friend, "they both laughed as kavanaugh tried to disrobe me in their highly inebriated state. with kavanaugh's hand over my mouth i feared he may inadvertently kill me." judge kavanaugh to be heard in sworn testimony about these >> we're talking about a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land of a suoeme court justice whod be the deciding vote for a

generation or more. is it worth anra ext week or two? for goodness sakes, of course it is. >> reporter: a handful of republicans also voiced concern. senator jeff flake-- a key judiciary "politico" ford should testify before any committee decision on kavanaugh, saying, "i don't thin alaska senator lisa murkowski-- another key vote-- agreed. >> if there are more questionsth need to be asked and answered then i think it wouldro be apriate to allow for that time. >> reporter: senator susan collins of maine echoed calls for kavanaugh and ford to testify. >> having the opportunity to observe her bei pledged iso important. obviously, if joh judge kavanauh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualified. >> key senators who wil decide

kavanaugh's fate. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: and for more on how that story came to light, i'm joined now by emma brown. she's an investigative reporter at "the washington post" who has been in touch with ford for months before publishing her avcount last night. how did you firstcontacts with professor ford? >> she first reached ouhet to washington post" through a confidential tip line that we have, and she did that in early july. that was a point at which kavanaugh had risen to the short list of trump's potential supreme court nominees but was not yet the nominee.an she reached out and wanted to speak confidentially.al she wanted to tell somebody what had happened to her, she said, but she was not ready to go public, she understood that that would comee at a gat personal price, i think. so we spoke off the record, you

knowand i stayed touch with her througasut the summer she really struggled with what to do about the story she hd. she felt she had a civic duty to tell what had happened to heral but sho, again, was trying to balance that against the realities of what it would mea for her if she came forward. by late august, sh had decided she would not come forward, that it wasn't worth it. she said she would be annihilated and it wouldn't matter for the confirmation vote, and that was cua caltion that changed in recent days as information about this confidential letter she had sent to senator feinstein began to leak out. so she sent a letter to feinstein detailing th incident and asking it be kept private, and she says, you knw, feinstein honored that request and that's why it didn't come out sooner. >> woodruff:he timeline of what professor ford says happened has become more

familiar. how confident is she that hists definitely brett kavanaugh? did you question her about that? >> this is something she's never wavered on. she said that, you kno she knew him from social interactions before, at her friend group and his friend grp had intersecond for a time . she said most her high school career her friends were hanging out with other boys, but she never voiced any doubt it was brett kavanaugh. >> and the denial from e other boy, now man, who was in the room, ma judge, you reached out to him, and his reaction has been what is this. >>e declined to comment, when i reached him yesterdi. on fy before her name became public when this was still an anonymous allegation, he flatly denied it. he said jud kavanaugh had

never, as a young man or when he was ol'ergaged in any kind of behavior like that.>> oodruff: just to be clear, she took no notes or told no one at the time contemporaneously. is that right? >> that's correct. she didn't tell anybody for a very long time, in fact. she said she didn't tell anyone in any detail until 2012 when she was in couples therapy with her husband and she talked about then. tir husband recalled on the record that conver and said he even recalled her using kavanaugh's last name an voicing concern that he might be elevated some day to theupreme court. therapists notes from that session don't name that kavanaugh but do show that she talked about an assault by boys at an i heal,tist scht said, who went on to become high-ranking members washington society. so there are those notess there are noom the following year, an individual therapy

session where she repanorte attempted rape in her late teens, and, so, those ae the pieces of evidence that we were able to present outside of her own recollection and testimony. te woodruff: emma brown, investigative repfor "the washington post." thank you. >> thanks. >> woodruff: christine blasey ford's allegation has scrambled the picture-- for senators deciding whether he is fit to join the bench and for the white house aides who have been shepherding his nomina we cover both ends of pennsylvania avenue with lisa desjardins, who continues her reporting from capitol hill and yamiche alcindor, who has been tracking developments at the white house. lisa, we just heard your reporting and, in the last few minutes, we have heard senators are nowa confirmin public hearing next week. what do you know is this. >> that's right. wefican con the senate judiciary committee will hold a public hearing on this exact matter next week. we've confirmed it will be

within a week. others are reporting it will be on monday. the reason we're finding out now, judy, is republican members to have the judiciary committee are just walking out of senator mcconnell's office after meeting together to figure out their plan and after, we're told, having a phone call. others very won the argument and say let's put thtis ou in the public. >>uff: the president at the white house, the president standing by judge kavanaugh, but, at the same time, he wants this story out. how do you explain their thinking right nowsi >> the pnt is trying to be reserved but frustrated in the fact that th the appointment is hampered. he said everyone should be heart s instance and that's

somewhat uncharacteristic for this president because there are dimes when he lashes out and gets angry tweets about democrats. he hasn't at alatacked the accuser. he said he's sticking by judge kavanaugh but wants tow more. judge kavanaugh said he's happy to speak before a hearing and wants to clear his name. all that happened, but the president says this no is on track. there are a lot of republicans who disagree. >> woodruff: back to you, lisa. you interviewed senators one by ye, especially the ones who haven't announct what they're going to do on kavanaugh. what are thy saying and what sense are you getting? >> by and large we're talking about susan collins and lisa murkowski especially on pue ican side who said they want to hear more under oath from both kavanaugh and his accuser ms. ford. it looks like they're going to get that opportunity. i think we have to pay attention to what the format of the hearing is, precisely, wh speaks. both sides are trying to gather corroborating evidence for both

of these inals who are concerned, but, also, mr. kavanaugh i saying ings private to senators in private which i think will be important. senator hatch said in a phoitne callbrett kavanaugh, kavanaugh insisted not only did this never happened, but he said he was never at this par now, this is something that's unclear, how would he know because the tails of the party were vague in and of themselves. inddition, there are questions about if he was ininebriated, how would he kno so the details, he is being very firm that this storys not remotely like anything that ever happened to him, however he's telling senators more details in private that will indicated his storieswill be tested a his accusers. >> woodruff: yamiche, the white house, no question they know the political stakes involved here? >> they absolutely understand the political stakes involved hereabut kvanaugh spent several hours at the white house

today. wouldn't say who he was meeting with trump says he hasn't spoken directly withrett kaanaugh, but we know there is $2 million on the lft with an anti-kavanaugh gup that sai it will spend more than $700,000 fighting his nomination, buthe judicial crisis network, a group of conservatives, say they will put $1.5 million behind defending brett kavanaugh. so a lot of money at stake. >> woodruff: we thank yo both. senator patrick leahy >> woodruff: senator patrick leahy of vermont is one of thede tecrats on the judiciary committee calling for chairman chuck grassley to postpone this week's committee vote on brett kavanaugh's nomination. i spoke with him a short time a ago and began ing him if he's more inclined to believe judge kavanaugh or dr. ford.hi >> i it's very courageous when somebody comes forward likh

, we know she talked to a herapist about this years ago, she is willing tme forward publicly. i was a prosecutor. i saw aot of people would have beenssaulted as younger women and held it inside for years before they come forward. that's not unusual. but let's fiend out, bth for judge kavanaugh's sake and dr. ford's sake, let's find out what happened. right now, they're trying to rush it behind closed doors is not there toheocess, not there to the senate, but stly not fair to the american people. >> woodruff: we heard senator orrin hatch that he believes profesr ford is mixed up, suggesting that maybe she has the wrong person. do you think at theossible? >> he said that without even talking with her, without even let's get the facts.

let's not speculate. i think there is another republican jeff flake said, what's the rush? let's get all the fact. that's all i want. when i was a prosecutor i, dealt with facts. here we have to deal with facts because we're saying, depending upon how we look at the facts, somebody could be on the supreme court for the rest of their life. think of the effect that has on 325 millioamericans. at least for them, we ought to be doing it, but also, i think it is an out on the u.s. senate if we're not willing to take the time to get it right. >> woodruff: do you believe, senator, thatnator feinstein could have handled this any differently, that she should have come forward to you, to other members of the committee sooner to share wh she had? >> i've known senator feinstein for a long time, she is a woman

of great integrity. i'm not sur wht happened, as the complaint was made first to a member of the house of representatives, then came to se i heard about it last week when i was managing an appropriationl n the floor. but no at democrats, oat's irrelevant. the facts are thly things that are relevant. let's get them. let's take the time to do i. another week, another two weeks, what difference does it make if, in the end, we have the truth? >> senator, you are one of the very few mebers to have the committee, judiciary como mittee ere serving at the time of clarence thomas' confirmation t preme court when anita hill made the allegations against him for sexual harassment. people were not inclined to lieve her then, 27 years ago

in 1991. how have times changed? is this a different time? >> as you may recall, i saidha publiclyi did believe her, but i spent a lot time listening to her, listening to what she had to say. listening to clarence thomas' reaction to it, looking at it, again, as i would have when i was arosecutor, and i sted publicly, and i think some other senators did, tha bt thieved anita hill, and we should. certainly, that should remind us to take the time to find out what the facts are. again, i would say, you know,. rd showed a lot of courage. she could have just said, t the heck with it, i'm not coming forward. instead, she did. les let her be heard. >> senator, finally, if all goes as indicated right now, though, the republicans plan to go ahead with this vote. what can democrats do to stop

them? >> no more than we could stop them from the most outgeous, unprecedented thing of blocking a supreme court nominee for a year, merrick garland, a man most republicans said they'd vote for. it was pure partisanship, it damaged the united states senate, it will always be seen meful markans as a sh on the u.s. senate, and this would be, too, if they rush itro h. >> senator patrick leahy of the senate judiciary committee, thank you very much. >> thank you. whitedruff: to get the house perspective i'm joined by kellyanne conway who served as a counselor to president trump. kellyanne cony, welcome to the "newshour". this nomination of judge kavanaugh was on track for a envote these thursday, tome these allegations. now they will be holding yet another public hearing next week. how much has it been thrown off-track? >> to judge kavanaugh, not much because he has said that he

would -- he's ready to testify tomorrow. if the senate changes its mind and wants to call immeiately, he's in washington and is ready. he wants to, as he puts it, seear his name of fal allegations. he said today he wasn't at the party and, as i said also, it's good to hear from both the accuser and thcused here and allow the senate to weigh what they learn ino thse exchanges along with the mountains of other testimonial evidence and other statements of support and endorsement of brett kavanaugh by the women he's known all throughout his life, judy, it's high school, college, law school, h female law clerks, the moms of the young g hlse's coached in basketball, the people who have stood shoulder to shoulinr with him fethe hungry in washington as part of his charitable work. so all of th needs to be

judged together -- the academic, credentials, the judicial temperament, the character and integrity of someone who's been through six f.b.i. vetting processes over the years and served for2 years in e second highest court in this country. >> woodruff: so what is the standard going to professor ford? how will you and others at the white house judge whether she'sh tellintruth? >> well, that's for the senate judiciary committee to jud they've called her to come and testify. they choose the process, they choose the timing, and they choose the forum for whi that testimony will be heard. that is up to them. we respect that process here at the white house. the president said as much today and also said that it's unfortunate that senator feinstein t on this for so long. i respectfully disagree with senator leahy just interviewed before me that it doesn't matter, it does matter beause senator feinstein had ample opportunity to raise this privately with jaudge kav or publicly, ho hoever she chse

to do. there were private phone calls where sensitive maters are normally raised in the courses of these pre-hearing convertions and the were 1300 written questions. so if president says today there will be a lttle delay, but that is a ridiculous question that judge kavanaugh would withdraw his nomination at ths point. >> woodruff: quickly are you saying senator feinstein have award professor's request for anonymity? >> no, i didn't say that and whoever breeched that guarantee to her ought to, i believe, either come forward ort ohers should recognize that they did her a disservice and they're doing judge kavanaugh a disservice as well, i think they're both being treatedy unfairlyat individual who sent that information to the press and her wo and other places. so the president said let the process take hold which includes testifying through whatever form the senate judiciary

committee decides. i also want to say allthe evidence will be weighed ander? leahy and others weren'teing honest because saying they weren't going to vote for judge kavanaugh in the first place. >> woodruff: a couple of other mpestions in the time we have, is president tpen to believing professor ford if she comes across as credibl if the committee believes her? >> president trump has said let them both be heard. we've said that all day, and i just want to reiterate that judge kavanaugh said he's ready. he just learned thec acuser's name yesterday, and, yet, he's ready right here and right now to testify under oath the way h already r about 24 or 30 hours as part of this hearing to the next justice of the united states supreme court. >> woodruff: so the president and the white house is prepared to accept her testimony f it

comes across as true, full and credible? >> the white house is watching the process play out. i'm not going to -- you're asking me a hypothetical testimony about futureon test we believe that she should be heard. weelieve he should be heard and they both can be heard quickly wilithout der the very important process that's in front of us. >> woodruff: final question, if hr ttimony does come across as credible, as believable, is this something that should derail his nomination? should it set aside a nomination >> i can't pre-judge a testimony i haven't heard. i simply learned this woman's name yesterday, i read the accounts in the newspaper, i know that they are 36 years old ys she doesn't remember large pieces of it, and i suppose those questions will be asked of her as well. do you remember? he says he wasn't there. coulit be someone else? if he was there, we'll ask him

why are you sayinu weren't there, can you tell us where you were if you weren'there? judy, i must remind everybody, this is a senate hearing, not a court of law, so i'm not sure ao a ey for many decades what the different standards for those will be. they will be und oath. judge kavanaugh testified more than 24 hours under oath already. we now want to hear from the accuser under oath. she'll have anpportunity to say what she wants to say, but we respect the process of the senate. this is the senat and the senate judiciary committee's process and we'll be watching that from the white house and the president will stand ready to act accordingly. >> quickly, you're not prepared to say, if it were true, if it were believable, you're not prepared to say what effect that would have? >> i'm sorry, you're asking me if that were true. in other words, i haven't heard

that testtimony under oh. i know judge kavanaugh today said the allegations were false, he wasn't at the par i'm looking at the character and intelty testimony he's had in his divor inc about hundreds of women who have knowl hiut his career and personal life and this accuser has also ce out late in the game to say she would like to be heard. we respect they will both be heard under oath. that's what the democratic process allows and we're all for it.ly >> woodruff: kne conway, counsel to president trump.mu thank you very. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we return to the other major story: the flooding in north carolina.to deat has reached 21. the rain kept coming today as the water keeps rising, claring majories and threatening to swamp towns, cities and counties for days, maybe even

weeks.an william am continues his reporting, focusing on the city that has been the hardest hit. >> reporter: as we reported earlier, wilmington is largely cut off from the outde world. waters have flooded nearly every entrance to the city, straing most of the city's 120,000 people. earlier this afternoon, i spoke with wilmington's mayor, bill saffo to get a sense of how things were going in the city. >> we're getting some supplies in here. we're airlifting some medical supplies and was airlifting some food supplies in here for the shelters. we've got a truckload that w brought in here using trucks that could get through high water. they've got 20 trucks in here and brought in some food and deme water and some fuel into the area which ierately needed at this time. the roads coming into the city into the county are still impassable. now we expect the river to crest tomorrow at about midday and

then after the river crests we feel that we'll be able to access some routes into the cith but we stie to expect inspect those roadways tatinsure there hey're stable and they're good to drive over. power is being estealished as we but is spotty in different areas of the city. >> reporter: do you have a sense ofow many people are in th dark? >> i would probay say 80% to say 90% of the city is still without power. but we are slowly getting there. but, iean, power to me, of course, was to establish power to the hospital make sure that the cost would have power police stations and power stations had power our ergency operations center had power so those were our first priorities. and then from there is getting power to some of the grocery stores making certain some of our commercial corridors have some power so we can get som grocery stores reopened. obviously we've got people that haven't been able to go to the grocery store for over a week.

and of course trying to get some fuel seems to be one of the main things that we currently need right now because of the people. they are have been running generators, have been runni generators quite some time and they're running out of fuel.te >> rep are there still rescues going on or are people that need to be rescued or is >> o think the vast majority people that needed to be rescued have been rescued. we're getting a lot of calls from medical calls, ently cat we will still get the occasional rescu to come out here and get me from my house. i think what you're going to see in the coming days is a significant amount of flooding in the surrounding areas k w that each of our rivers that are coming into the cape fear all of those rivers are going to experience record flood stages. >> reporter: there's a curfew going right now. what else are yotelling

residents that far as sticking it out. >> the first thing we were telling is we haa lot of people thaevacuated the area, heeded the warnings of the emergency management officials and left the area. obviously we have a lot of those folks that wt to come back to their homes get back to the city, check on their property. and we're telling them don't come until you've ard from us whether the roads are passable and there's no need to even trys beyou're going to be turned away by the highway patrol. that's number one. number two, we're telling your citizens you know for the most part stay on your property stay at home with possible i know a ttlot of people getting a stir crazy at this point time because they haven't been out and about for days just to please stay put until we can get these roadways cleared of debris and it's safe for you to go out and walk around because we've t a lot of power lines that are entangled with a lot of thes den our case in our neighborhoods and what hass happened're coming across some wires that are hot. we don't want anybody to getut hurt or electr.

you know what we have found historically is that we lose a lot of life to hurricanes afterh event passes. and so i caution folks that when you're getting out in the community of getting out in your neighborhood. be very cautus of downed power lines. be very cautious of ewned trees because it may be a power line that angled within it that you may not be able to see. so you know we, we want to list a curfew as soon as possible, but we also don't want to do it and jeopardize somebody's safety so we're we've got it in place again this evening. and then it's just, you know, slow glowing getting this being cleaned up and getting electricity turned back on and getting you know the staples of life back here. and of course what has made this is really hit hard here is that the storm sat over for two straight days and just dumped a tremendous amount of water on ice and rain. >> reporter: all right, mayor saffo thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> woodruff: florence's powerful winds and storm surge also devaated the small city of n bern in north carolina.

founded inhe early 1700's, it's one of the oldest cities in the state-- and was briefly the state capital. as p.j. tobia discovered, some rtof the most flood-prone of new bern also house its most vulnerable residents. >> reporter: the rivers began to swell and the rain didn't stop. byewriday afternoon, much of bern, a city of almost 30,000, was under water. crews rescued about 500 people. thousands of homes and buildings are damage it is among the most devastated areas in florence's path. in the days since, boats sat on the shore, trees blocked streets, debris everywhere. but over the weekend, the historic downtown-- ts old mansions, yacht club and attorneys offices-- already showed signs of recovery. just minutes away, however, in" trent court, residents expect the cleanup process to take longer. this public housing development was built in 1939 and regularly floods with the waters from the river behind me. during hurricane florence, those

waters came to where i'm standing now. residents here are frustrated by the terrible living conditions and say that hurricane florence's storm surge have onln made thosetions worse. >> these are the conditions we have to live with because we have no choice. where else are we gonna go?ep >>ter: over the weekend, we met these women as they were grilling their perishable food. like many across north carolina, their power was still out. but the water rising around their furniture on friday just compounded existing structural problems: peeling ceilings, crumbling walls, issues with lead paint. and as florence neared, these residents say the only information they got came from the media-- and in this flyer on hurricane readiness. but even then, because they didn't have cars, cash or public transportation, they felt stuck. >> if you just walk around, you can see, you know a lot of people jussitting around ying to figure out what the hell they was gonna do because i was, too. or>> reporter: during the more than a dozen families would have to be rescued from trent court.

sabrina bengal represents thwn ward on the board of alderman. after the storm, she came to check on her constituents. was there an evacuation plan? >> no. i'm just gonna be blunt. no. i called on monday and talked to the executive director and my firsquestion was, "can you please tell me what your evacuation plan is for trenthe court," anaid, "well, we don't have an evacuation plan, we have a hurricane readiness plan." and i said, well, that was not acceptable to me i felt that was not stng enough. we knew it was gonna flood, we knew the waters were coming in and i felt very strongly-- at the least the front rows, the rows closest to the water-- should be evacuated, period. >> reporter: new bern mayor dana outlaw defended his city'srt efto get the word out to it's poorest residents. >> city of new bern with our paid channel, along with firek tring out into the communities, broadcasting on

ba. system and having the national guard truind it to kind of get people's' attention. first responders going out and knocking on doors, putrsng fln doors, the mayor and alderman physically going out and putting people in shelters. i think we did a pretty good job. r orter: we caught up with outlaw at another public housing development, just down the street. the craven terrace homes were recently renovated, to the tune an $27-million. >> they're better hey were though, right? >> not really. >> reporter: mayor outlaw says his governmentca doing what it for these residents. >> we are certainly working with themo make positive changes affordable housing that meets minimum property standardand is safe, sound, without lead paint and asbestos >> reporter: allhis comes as new bern considers a contentious plan to demolish trent court-- which sits right near the trent ver-- and relocate its residents. >> for people to feel like thist is gonnaorn down and they're gonna put up condos and stuff and sell it to the highest bidder that doesn't look like them, yeah, i'm definitely against that. >> reporter: alderwoman jamisha harris represents a neighboring ward >> now, i can't speak for the rest of the city officials and

do know that they support the plan of the redevelopment, which is getting these individuals into an area that doesn't flood, but honestly what is that plan? because what you're doing is taking them from here and putting them in another community that i feel you're just compacting poverty. >> reporter: late in the day saturday, the lights returned in trent court, but residents say the local governme have any city officials come down here, have you spoken to any of them or seen them in this area >> no, no. you're the first person we've seen or talked to. no. r orter: i am the first person from out of this neighborhood to talk to you? >> right, right. >> reporter: hasennyone else be here? >> we haven't seen nobody. >> reporter: so residents kept each other company... anwell fed. for the pbs newshour i'm p.j. tobia. >>oodruff: now, to the day other news: a powerful typhoon weakenedver china-- with a growing death toll in its wake. herlier, the storm killed at

least 66 people inorthern philippines. today, crews searched for up to 50 people missing there. in afghanistan: multiple taliban attas overnight killed at least 27 members of the security forces.th assaults targeted police and military bases and afghan checkpoints across three province officials said at least 42 taliban fighters also died in the attacks. there are new allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up by roman catholic clergy in the netherlands. the dutch newspaper "nrc" reports half of the country's cardinals and bishops were linked to the scandal between 1945 and 2010. the newspaper did its own research and drew on a church report from 2011. it found up to 20,000 dutch children were abused at church institutions over 65 years. the government of australiaha ordered an investigation into sewing needles found insied packtrawberries.

the scare started last week in queenslandentate. since there've been cases h all six australian states. the nation's heanister today called in australia's food safety agency. >> we have also tasked the federal agency to investigate whether there are supply chain weaknesses, whether are actions that we can take to assist the police, whether there are systemic changes which are required. but at the end of the day, the rojob is very, very clear:ct the public and keep them safe. >> woodruff: so far, one man has been hospitalized after eating a berry with a needle in it. back in this country: the trump administration is cutting in this couny the president directed the justice department and the f.b.i. to declass fy'more infon from the russia investigation including text messages from former f.b.i. director james comey and from former agent teter strzok who sen

disparaging messages about mr. trump. house republicans have pushed for the release. e trump administration i cutting refugee admissionto 30,000 next year. that's down from 45,000 this year and frm 85,000 in 2016. secretary of state mike pompeo announced the change he said the focus will be on providing aid in frontline es to keep refugees from leaving. a chicago jury heard opening statements in the killing ofqu mcdonald in 2014-- a case that has roiled the city. white police officer jason van dyke is accused of first-degree murder.ec prors played a video showing van dyke firing 16 times.-y the r-old mcdonald was seen holding a small knife, and lking away. the defense argued van dyke feared for his life. and, on wall street, stocks gave in economic news president trump just announced major new tariffs on $200 billion in chinese goods

starting next week. they wilstart at 10% and reach 25% by the end of the on wall street, stocks gave ground on expectations of new tariffs on china. the down jones industrial average lost 92 points to close at 26,062. the nasdaq fell 114 points and the s&p 500 slipped 16. still to come on the "newshour," russia and turkey create azo demilitarize in syria around the last area of rebel- held syria. and our politics monday team joins us to discuss the accusations against the supreme court nominee. w druff: russia and turkey today made an agreement that seems to savinthe syrian pr of idlib from an assault. the two countries agre create a demilitarized zone, averting, for now, what was expected to be a humian

disaster. nick schifrin reports on the importance of idlib, and the significance of today't. agre >> reporter: for years idlib has been the syrian rebels' beating heart. and this past fridayreds of thousands of demonstrators demanded defense fm what seemed like imminent assault. the syrian government and its ally russia call these people terrorists. they demonstrated to prove the regime wrong, says local community leader raed faras, who spoke via skype. >> four-million people are civilians here, they want to live, and they are demonstrating to show that, we are not terrorism, we are not terrorists at all. >> reporter: idlib had become the opposition's melting pot. rebels, but also islamist fighters fled here from all over the country as bashar al-assad and his military recaptured territory. that made idlib the final rebel holdout.t rkey closed the border-- the only escape route.

and so the opposition was trapped,nd felt like they were waiting to get bombed, like in chis air strike last month. waiting for their ildren to be brought out of the rubble,wa ing for the horror of seven years to end in defeat.kn >> w exactly the warplanes and the barrel bombs, what doesg ce do in tund. and we saw the pof bodies. you will feel again the same feel warplanes again, you will see the deaths again, the death and thddeath, again and again, then you can imagine the feelings of the people now. >> reporter: but then-turkish president recep tayyip erdogan liposed the offensive, and deployed tanks to to give himself diplomatic leverage. and today, erdog announced he and russian president vladimir putin had made a deal. >> ( translated ): we have decided to form a demilitarized zone between the opposition and areas under regime control. >> reporter: putin predicted that demilitarized zone would

lead to a political solution. >> ( translated ): we both agree that implementation ofhe planned steps will contribute to peace returning to the syrian soil. >> the implementation of this agreement, or the fact that the agement exists at all, doe stave off what could have been a kind of apocalyptic humanitarian disaster in northwest syria. >> reporter: charles lister is a syria expe at the middle east institute. he says russia supported the agreement because it didn't want the burden of a fficult military campaign.re the agent's hinges on whether turkey can keep not only rebel groups, but also extremisf groups, awaym regime-held territory. >> all groups except for the most extremist ones do remain solidly under turkish influence. that can be called upon to make this agreement work. sthe big question as i sall remains, the most extremist groups in that area, will they abide by what is in a sensora compromise the sake ofsu iving into the long term. r: the path to turkey wsd russia controlling northwest

syria's fate follohe path of english teacher sala hawa. ar 2012, he helped lead an anti- assad protest in hatan, just southwest of idlib rebels had fought thsyrian army and pushed them out, and hawa was a hopeful local council leader. to>> we are looking forwar better future. >> reporter: but then th russians intervened and haratan was bombarded by russiannd syrian jets. and when we spoke to him against in 2016, saleh hawa's hope, and hometown, were gone.>> ost of the population of of hraytan left the town, you know, because there is no singleouse which is safe right now. we were let down. america let us down.ep >>orter: and as everyone else let them wn, turkey became the redeemer, as he told us today: >> the syrian people see that the only savior for th is turkey. you know maybe a few years ago they hoped that america would do that.nd

>> reporter: aith that turkish backing came thean de that idlib showed during those protests last friday. ar right now even if the russians use nuceapons we are not going to leave our houses.is thero other place to go to. >> reporter: and that is sll ue despite the agreement. those who oppose assad willan remain isolatekept away from the regime by turkish and russian troops. but that mns, at least for now, the people of idlib, have uren spared. for the pbs newshoi'm nick schifrin. >> wdruff: back in this country, today marks the 50-day mark until t november mid-term elections. amna nawaz has our politics monday segment. >> nawaz: for a look ahead at the midterms and more fallout from the kavanaugh accns, i'm here with tamara keith of npr, and amy walter of "the cook political report."

welcome to you both. >> thank you. sorry such a slow day,a nothing to about. (laughter) i want to get out ahead of what we know to be true over the t'srse of the week but le talk about where we are now. tam, remind us about the significance ofhis confirmation for judge kavanaugh, kind of a foregone conclion a couple of ys ago, the fact it's delayed and could be derailed, what does that say to you?ha >>is really sigicficant. repus want the seat and want it done quickly. republicans want to beble to go to the midterms, go to the base voters and say look what we did, we gotou two supreme court justices, and if this gete de stalled, if he drops out or is pushed out, that is going to be a significant problem for republicans. >> what's your take on this, amy? yes, we also don't know whether he gets confirmed in

this, where the votes are, but also what are the peeptions of judge kavanaugh, dr. ford and the senators questioning her. with the anita hill hearings, there was just as much criticism on the senators and the way thep oached anita hill as there was about the actual, you know, judge clarence thomas an anita hill herself and perceptions of all those folks e changed by these hearings. so there is a lot of unpredictability in this, and if you are trying to gainca poliy, it's very hard to do at this point. >> there is going to be a public hearing. how mu does that matter? >> it matters a lot, and how the public receives the hearing and how e senators are perceived, as amy was saying, in 1991,y there were oo female senators, none on the judiciary committee, and today there are many more and many elected thate followin in 1992 as a

result of the way people reacted to that 1991 hring, there are four women on the judiciary committee this time, all democrats. >> let's talk about the the mid transportation you mentioned. there are new numbers from an npr marist poll i want to look at that kind of opinion form how people are approaching tha tt, tos is a question about how much trust people have and the fact that elections are fain t. 38%, tam, say not very much or not at al. what does that say to you? >> and there are som some partin breakdown under that that democrats don't feel the election was fair, that trump is president and hillary isn't. the results are colored by how partisans see the last election. >> and sees how the trust will be protected, that their votes

will be accurately counted and reflected. one thing democrats and republicans agree on is theyan trust statlocal elected officials when it comes to protecting their votes more tha deral government, tan the other thing is they really do see that facebook, twitter, they don't feel like those groups, those social media platforms have done enough since 2016 t protect against interference by outside specifically foreign influence.a >> and, to your earlier point, it's not surprising people have more faith in a system tt benefits them. 91% of self-identified republicans say they thinkfa elections ar, but the groups with thest doubts, woen, non-white voters and democrats, what does that mean for them moving forward? >> one fascinating thing is president trump is the one leading into 2016 who kept saying it's going to be rigged, the system isn't fair, but, in reality, a lot of non-white voters have experienced difficulties getting the

polls. this poll tell us non-white voters have a more difficult time voting and thaffects their view of the fairness of the process. >> stunning numbers. latinos had to wait twice as long as white voters, traveling twice as long as well. thiss the current makeup of the senate, of course, 49 democrats and independents, 51 republicans, it's a tight margin. we have about a minute left. >> here is the math for democrats, it's always been challenging because they're defending many more seats than republicans are.st - not most -- half to have the seats that they're defending are in red states, thats democre defending, so this is a very, very difficult place to start. if democrats are to pick up the two seats to foot control intmoo atic hands, here's what they need to do. they need to either hold on to

their most vulnerable seats, there are five of thonse, wi 100% of those and then two out of three of the most vulnerable republican seatspo is thasible to do? >> sure. is that difficult? yes. and that's holding on to seats. by the way, missouri, north dakota, west virginia, indiana, florida. >> states where president trump -- >> is popular. -- carried by a lot in 2016. interesting things to watch. possible, very possible. amy walter, tamera keith. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: lots of political wisdom this monday. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight.oo i'm judyuff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm

raymond jamee alfr p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. ndmore information at macfrg >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was ma possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs. [ theme music plays ]]

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