captioning sponsored by newshour productns, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, gruesome new details in the alleged murder of a journalist, as some of the suspected killers have direct links to saudi arabia's crown prince. then, following a dramatic senate debate in texas, we take a look at key dterm election races that could decide the balance of power in washington. plus, creating a health care connection-- how a program links volunteer doctors to clinics to help patients needing speciality care. >> depending on specialty there are often long wait-times or limited options often times resulting in patients having to travel pretty far from their home to get the care they need. >> woodruff: all that and more

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>> woodruff: saudi journalist jamal khashoggi we missing on october 2, and the diplomatic crisis over his disappearance has deepened each dae. president trump sent his secretary of state, mike pompeo, to the middle east to get some answers. foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin has our report. >> schifrin: for the last day and a half, america's top diplomat has held emergency meetings with the leaders of turkey and saudi arabia. and as he left riyadh this morning, secretaryf state mike pompeo expressed confidence in saudi's ability to conduct an tvestigation into itself. >> they want to ha opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way. i think that's a reasonable thing to do to give them that opportunity. and then we'll all get to judge. >> schifrin: jamal khashoggi, a "washington post" columnist and siitic of the kingdom. he hasn't been seee he entered saudi's istanbul consulate earlier this month.rk tuh officials arein ining their pressure on saudi arabia via media leaks.

for days they've referencedhe audio ofilling. and today a pro-government newspaper reported newauetails on the hit squad that turks say tortured, murdered and dismembered khashoggi shortly an anonymous turkish official identified the saudi government's head of forensic evidence as one of the mengiho "cut khash body up on a table in the study while he was still aliv" turkey has now released images of 15 suspects. and the new york times reports at least nine rked directly for saudi security services. and four have close ties to saudi arabia's de-facto ader, own prince mohammad bin salman. >> i'm not giving cover at all. >> schifrin: but in washington, i esident trump expressed confidence in saabia. in an interview with the associated press last night, the president said king salman and his son, the crown prince, both denied any involvement. and in response to criticism he's letting saudi off easy, he said, "here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent. i don't like that. we just went through that with justice kavanaugh. and he was innocent all the

way." mr. trump made his first erseas visit to saudi arabia. and he has put the kingdom at the center of his regional g-licy, to fight radicalism out of a new counterolent extremism center, push back against iran's use of proxies, such as hezbollah, and help israel gain arab support for an israeli-palestinian peace plan. >> saudi arabia's been a very important ally of ours in the middle east. >> schifrin: but while the president expresses faith in saudi arabia, on capital hill there are increasing calls for an independent investigation into the alleged murder of jama khassoghi, man two weeks after he was last seen. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: we'll take a closer .sok at the impact the khashoggi case could have onbusiness dealings with saudi arabia, later the program. in the day's other news, president trumasked every member of his cabit today to cut five percent from their budgets for next year. he urged them to trim the "fat" and "waste" during a meeting focused on the administration'

deregulatory efforts. the request comes after the treasury department reported a $779 billion federal deficit, its highest level in six years. a senior official at the u.s. treasuryepartment has been charged with leaking confidential documents about suspects charged in special counsel robert mueller's investigation. natalie mayflower sours edwards worked in the department's financial crimes enforcement network. she allegedly leaked banking information about paul manafort, rick gates and others to an unnamed buzzfeed reporter. a detained american graduate student has asked israel's supreme court to reverse an expulsion order, and let her i stthe country. prosecutors argue lara alqasema supported ycott against israel and is still a threat.ti the florida appeared in a jerusalem court today.

her lawyer said the 22 old's activist days are behind her. >> if she was an activist in the past, that past was 18 months ag everything in the recor indicates that she is not that same person, that she's come to isfel in violation actually the academic boycott, and of thb economic boycoause she's going to be living and breathing and living her day to day life in israel. >> woodruff: alqasem has been detained in israel for two aleks, after arriving on a student visa. at least 19 people died in a shooting rampage at a vocational school in crimea today.le the d perpetrator was an 18-year-old student, and later killed himself. most of the victims were students at the college inhe black sea city of kerch. more than 50 people were wounded. one witns described the terrifying scene. >> ( translated ): there were many bodies, children's bodies. it was a real act of terrorism. they burst inside.

five or ten minu, s after i lemeone burst inside and blew everything up. >> woodruff: investigators areil trying to determine the shooter's motives. rohingya refugees in bangladesh are being sold into forced labor, to raise money for families in overcrowded camps. the united nation's migrationte agency repnearly 100 confirmed cases. almost two-thirds of those victims were girls and women. the u.n. estimates nearly a million members of the muslim minority are living in baladesh's refugee camps. back in this country, some voters in georgia are waiting in line for nearly three hours to cast their ballots in that state's ated race for governor. long lines have plagued the polls around the atlanta area fulton, cobb and gwinnett counties. election officials said turnou monday, the first day of in- person early voting, tripled

over the first day of voting in the 2014 midterm election. canada today became the second and largest country to legalize marijuana. uruguay was the first. over 100 canadian pot shops were slated to open today. some opened their doors at the stroke of midnight, as hundreds of customers lined the streets outside. canadian officials insisted legalizing pot will improve public health and safety. >> you cannot regulate a prohibited substance. so we are lifting theit prohn. that's what legalization is, to enable us, to implement a comprehensive and far moreef ctive system of strict regulatory control and order to evpect of the production, distribution and consumption of cannabis >> woodruff: the canadian ngovernment will also par people who've been convicted of possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana. president trump has stepped up his critism of the federal reserve, calling it the "biggest

threat" to his presidency. he faulted its chairman jerome powell, one of his own appointees, for raising interest rates while inflation remains low. the president spoke on the fox business network last night. >> my biggest threat is the fed, because the fed is raising rates too fast. and it's independent so i don't speak to him, but i'm not happy with what he's dng, because it's going too fast, because if you looked at the last inflation numbers they're very low. >> woodruff: the fed has raised rates three times thisear, and is expected to do so again before the new year. worries about the fed's future rate hikes caused stocks to tumble on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 91 points to close at 25,706. the nasdaq fell nearly three points, and the s&p 500 slipped a fraction of a point. still to come on the newshour: the puppeteer who driginated the role of big bir on "sesame street" announced he

is retiring after nearly 50 years on the show, caroll spinney also gave life to another beloved kark, oscar the grouch. spinney has performed on the show since its very first ep today-- episode in 1969d. the 84 year old ac letter record his final episode on thursdabu rest assured those characters will ntinue to live on "sesame street." and what a gift mr. spinney has been. still to still to ce on the newshour: inside the key midterm election races that could decide control of congress. th theies grapple political and moral questions of doing business in saudi arabia. two military veteran memrs of congress on overcoming the wounds of war, and much more. >> woodruff: it is one of the most expensive races in the country this election year:

the texas senate showdown between republican incumbent ted cruz, and democratic insurgent beto o'rourke. tomeka weatherspoon of houston public media reports. >> cruz. >> i think a lot of textansth watc behavior of senate democrats and were disst. >> versus o'rourke. >>as never been more divided, more polarized 6789 for people to be good and kind an generous to one another, that is what this country is looking for. >> texas voters are firmly divided between the repcuublican ent and the rising democrat from el paso. >> we got here really early because, well, i like, i want to be in the front and i want to see him up close. >> less than a month bore the mid-term election, congressman beto o'rourke is campaigning to take senator ted cruz'seat in the u.s. senate and he's received record-breaking campaign donations outraising the incumbent by more than two to one.

but the odds are still stacked against him. texas hasn't elected a democrat to statewide office in more than two decades. >> so help me god. >> donald trump won the state by fine points in the lastal presidenlection. >> there is a fundamental choice in this election. >> but this is a surprisingly competitive race. duz and o'rourke have squared off in twoebates so far and at last night's debate in san antonio witnesses saw how eat heated it has bec >> he cruz will not be honest with you, he will make up pos or decisions on votes i have never taken, he is dishonesty thasm is wrump called him blind ted and why the nickname stuck. >> o'rourke's pollsters told him to come out on ttack. if he wants to insult meand call me a liar that's fine. >> cruz is full pulling ahead but o'rourke hasn't been k578 paining like a traician diddalnd ate, there say viral video of him skateboarding and image as ofis days in aunk rock

band. all over social medianess with my next guest running against ted cruz please welcome beto o'rourke. is gaining national attention and appealing to diverse gowps in a state with a growing population of non-white voters. this is the race that could turn a rd state blue. jay ire is a political scienceat professoexas southern university. he believes national party politics are trickling down and causing a rift in the state >> the voters nem selves, the cruz loyalists and the beto o'rourkealoyts, you know, there is a lot of animosity going on back and f and a level we probably don't normally see, certainly the senate race. >> there are a lot of textans, national issues plus immigration-- immigration affect them, bulnot al first textans support daca which provided protections for pele brought to the u.s. illegally as children. nicole drove over an hour to

sez'tor crurally in rural tes with he husband andy. she discovered she was undocumented at 16 yearsld. >> i worked hard to be a u.s. citizen. i worked hd for the right to vote. and i don't think that people who just come in here and say give me, you know. it is t fair toose of us who worked a long time to get ere we are at. >> other national conversations also fell very real for techans. this is a state with one of the largest african-american populations in the country. jordan moore as been following o'rourke's campaign for awhile now. >> my interest kind of got peeked when i saw his interview when he was speak being police brutality and civil injustice and that just spoablg to me because that is a glaring issue not only in our community but in the world. >> and this is also a state where the administration's conservave values hit home. >> we've defended other nation'h borders ile leaving ours wide open, anybody can come in. c

>> when mes to the border wall, this is a common sense i represent texas, we have 1200 miles of border with mexico. and we have got to secure the border. >> jay ire says thoe cmparison between cruz and o'rourke comest down tditional texas versus a more urban texas. for democrats, thtse resould gage party strategy for 2020. >> the biggest pools of voters for them tend to be young people, people of color, low income voters andhose voters traditionally are the lowest participation rates. >> if they vote at hir amounts they would almost certainly flip. >> so for republicans, they already have their eye on early voting for the mid-terms, president trump made it a priority to hold a rally in houston this coming monday. f >> but now, both crudz an o'rourke will continue reaching out to voters for the next faw weeks, each with their own vision for the future of texas. >> for the pbssh newr, i'm

tomeka weatherspoon. >> woodruff: while eyes are on the senate race in tas, competitive house races are crucial to a blue wave on election day. we'll now ta a look at what's playing out in some of thesece close in key states with three public media reporters: scott shafer, of kqed in california, briana vannozzi of njtv in new jersey, and mary lahammer of twin cities pbs in minnesota. welcome to all three of you.to and i'm tbin start, in the est and work my way west briana vannozzi with you, let's talk about what is on the minds of the voters. what issues are you hearing them bring up? >> health care, health care, health care. ross-the-board, the pol new jersey no matter the

district show health care is the number one issue here. and beyond that, itx's taes. the gop tax bill that was passed you know really hit new jersey at a different level. because we have some of the highest real estate values and also some of the highest property taxes inthe nation. and a specific portion of that known as the statecnd loal tax deduction duction would really affect re so folks are concerned about whether the federal tax bills are going to go up or whether they will receive a cut, whether th tax bill would be repealed and replaced as some have talked about. beyond that, immigration, and guns, i think one of the biggest, mo interesting items that we have seen in new jersey is that the voter registration numbers are increasing more than we havmever seen for a id term. we've had 100,000 more voters register since january through the end of september. >> wdruff: right, i want tubing to you about be the enthusiasm and what you are seeing, so let's turn to

minnesota. mary lahammer t is interesting what is going on in your stte. you have had at least four competitive races, two in the minneapolis st. paul suburbs where republicans are worried, democrats seem to be in stronger shape. but out in the ruralarts of minnesota it is a different picture. tell us what is going on? what is on the mind of voters. >> health care for sure and pareisanship. wen independent state, we are a unique state, we lead the nation in voter turnout, in education levels, in civic already here absentee voting, early voting is up 235 percent. so we have an incrediblygaged electorate. and we do have fully half of our congressional races en as competitive. that is four out of eight. and as you men those seats are in rural minnesota, one in northern minnesota, thether in southern minnesota and then the other two are in suburban areas and it enreally dep how the president is playing, how issues are plagst. very integ exotion in a state with an independent streak

that awhile back, you know,d electhird party governor and former prowrestler, jesse ventura. >> ido want to ask you about issues there as well am but i want to get to scott shaffer in california where you also have some interesting congressis al rader way. what are voters talking about there, scott? >> well, first of all, jud there say real sense of disfunction in washington. they're tid of the bikering. they feel ta government isn't paying attention to their problems and they want that fixed. they want the parties trk together to get things done. thalth care is definitely a big issue. e are concerns about the republican tax bill in places like orange county where many of these competitive races are being held. the tax bill could well hur people in places like that, where home costs are very high, incomes are high, and certainly the democrats are talking a lot about that. ehere is also a repeal of the gation tax on statewide ballot here and of course orange county wyich is again where m of these races are playing out,

very antitax, historically and so republicans are hoping to use that issues along with immigration, security at the border to get voters to come out to the polls. >> buthai will say tt in terms of fundraising, democrats in this last quarter, the third quarter, have outraised in these competitive races republicans by five to one. and stese are all fir time candidates, judy, all these democrats have never run for office before aey are doing really well, both raising money and in the polls where polls t sht almost all these seats are very, very competitive right now and in some kisses the democrat, at least one case the democrat is way ahad. >> woodruff: briana vannozzi, you a minute ago were talking about issues on te minds of voters. you talked about health care. but president trump is coming up as well. we know that in a couple of these raeces whre you have a republican incumbent, in one case with leonard lance, it isso one who hasn't always voted with the president. but there is another race where u have a candidate who has been tom mcarthur who has been

more prodone all trump. >> it's been interesting to see which candidates and depending g ng nair district lean more toward advocatr the president's policies. their message from dem been we will be the checksnd balances on president trump'sgh hard rit agenda. the message from republicans who know that they have a base as is in the case of the third district, m mcahur is i will stand up for the president's policies for the reasons that you electedim. and n that kaition, it still seems to be working, up in the 11th district, we've been noticing that president trump's name is often left out, nsspecifically in discussnd in the seventh as you mentioned, gearingwe're actually up to host a debate tonight between leonard lancend his opponent where both can bats are saying i'm a moderate, im practicing-- pragmatic, a centrist, i will talk to the undecided votedders that we have

quit a few in this area, wherey you have rea highly educated voter bhos also tend to disapprovef the president's job. >> woodruff: so much of it depends on the profile of the district, of course, and who these voters are and what they think is in their interest. mary lahammer, quickly minnesota, how much of a fact certificate president trump there? these close races, the house race sms. >> trump is a big factor in the fact he has visited. he was just in uthern minnesota, in minnesota's open congressional district. he was visiting the chester area, and there shall it-- ji is running with him and in the 8th, the republican running with the president, apring with the president. the interesting part is approval numbers are differenthose two regions, northern minnesota is known as the iron range. steel tarif appear to be fairly popular there. the president's ratings are holding there. but in southern minnesota, soybeans territory, soybeans

farmer there appear to be pretty displeased with the soybeans tariffs. so the president appears to be helping republicans in northern minnesota but potentially hurting republicans in suthern minnesota. and then we have those two suburban seats. >> one of e republicans is running with the president, the other is not, congressman eric pason in the suurb not running with the president and congressman jason lewis said yeah, i like what he is doing. maybe don't always like his style but he says his policies are working so it really depends where you are in minnesota. >> woodruff: so interesting to get this picre of the whole country, finally to you scott shafr, we know the president plays a different roll in california. he is not as pop ar as is he inh some parts of the country but there are parts of your state where he is. >> absolutely. donald trump won 28 or so of california's 53 counties t is just that a lot of people don't live there. but in these competitive races, these districts we're talkingum about, donald is not particularly popular and the candidate, the republicans are t mentioning him, president trump is not coming out here to

campaign or raise money.oi he's to nevada, next door, arizona but not to california.i ink they decided it is not helpful to have him out here t will oly turn out the democratic vote more. we have seen obama and biden out here k578 paining r democrats but so far mike pence was here awhile ago but npresident trump. >> woodruff: fascinating. we still have almost three weeks too and we wilwatch all of these house races between now and then and certainly on election night. scott shaffer kqed in california, iana vnozzi with nj tv in new jersey and mary lahammer, twin cities in minnesota. thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, jamal khashoggi's disappearance is leading to l kinds of difficult questions for the presidenand about our

political relationship with the saudis. many u.s. companies hag had business ties with saudi arabia. and as william brangham explains, those corporations now have to answer their own questions about whether they will continue to do business as usual with the kingdom. >> brangham: there's a big investment conference in saudi arabia next week. it's been dubbed "davos in the desert," and initially, a number of prominent u.s. executives anned to attend. but then jamal khashoggi gesappeared, and the saudis claimed no knowlf what happened to him. now, a number of those executives have pulled out. they include j.p. morgan c.e.o. jamie dimon; ford motor's chairman, bill ford; and uber c.e.o. dara khosrowshahi.a bumber of business leaders will still attend the big event. so will u.s. treasury secretaryh steven m. t day, when president trump was eked again aboukhashoggi, he emphasized americanomic ties with saudi arabia. >> they're a tremendous

purchaser of not only military equipment but of other things. when i went there, they commted to purchase $450 billion worth of things and $110 billion woh of military. and those are the biggest orders in the histo of this country. probably the history of the world. i don't think there's er been any order for $450 billion, and we remember that day in saud arabia where that commitment was made. >> brangham: to help go a little deeper on those economic ties, and how corporations are responding to this crisis, i'm joined by andrew ross sorkin. he's an editor and columnist for the "new york times" and also the co-hosof cnbc's "squawk box." he's joins me now from the thank you very much for being mere, i know you have bb reporting a great deal abut these decisions made by c.e.o.s to pull out, can you justtell me, what was their calculu >> well, this has turned out to be a remarkable crucible forx businessecutives in the

united states and really around the world in terms of not onlygo g to riyadh next week but what going to riyadh would represent, an endorsement, if you will, of the kingdom. and so many of these executives whether st jpmorgan or blackstone or black rock or uber have real busins interests in saudi arabia. so there is something meaningful for all of them at risk. real money, real profits. and real questions about their ability inhe future to be able to continue to do business in some of these-- in saudi arabia. jpmorgan, for example, has don business in that country since 1930. and this is a country what has historically held grues >> was it your sense that this was a principled decision on their rt or was it just terrible optics and that they will be right back in business withaudi arabia the minute this storm passes? >> you know, it's a veryca

compd question. it's similarly complicated question for those in shington right now. clearly the optics in the very nimmediate term weighed them. the phone calls from journalists look myself and others asing are you going, the reporting around that, but notust from this side of the aisle but their ployees, their customers were calling them saying are you really going to go to nt eve sponsored by the crown prince in the midst of these headl that they have murdered a journalist? so i think that has weighed on all of them by defauo. i like think that some of them do have a principd stand on this. but i think they're also wrestling with the long-rm economics and economic ties to this country and what that means for their businesses. >> and as you report in a recent colume you did in the "new yorki s," it's not like saudi arabia slt only country that american businesses do business with that have a troubled human

rights history. and that's why this is so complicated. u.s. businesses havng done business, our biggest trading partner is china-- human rights in china, there is no greath recordre. there are u.s. businesses that have long done business in russia, as we know there hav been atrocities. i mean i think that if you really look, i hate to say the ,orality here is gray but it is across the world. both in terms of the businesses that have done business with these types of country, and that our country itself has done business effectively with these countries. and so it's a very com place for all of these people to be right nowe . >>ard the president earlier say, in a way emphasize how imrtant these arm sales are with saudi arabia. but a lot of critics have also pointed out the president himself and his own company has had a long history of financial

dealings with saudi arabia. and those critics ararguing that in essence the president's financial ties to the kingdom have tainted our foreiy. pol and i wonder what you make of that criticism. >> you know, there are those inh gton and there are a number of senators and others that are calling now on making public those relationships, those financial ties, similarly to the speculation around whether president trump ha financial ties to russia. i think in this instance, there probably s of a financial tie and more of just a ver complicated situation, which is to say thenited states has consideredaudi arabia that ally and levheragest ally in many ways financial being one of them, whether it is weapon sales or more importantly oil or oil

price, and lots ofther thing incomer some cases even related to our antiterrosm efforts. and so the question is do you push that away or how do you t put away while dealing with what is clearly and painly a moral decision here, which is to say that if, in fact, saudi was responsible for this murder, which at least in my mind as ajo nalist it very much looks that way. do you cut the country often tirely? effectively, is there a way o n sure the country and show maintain a relationship with them at the same time. that's a very tricky balance to pull off. >> all right, andrew ross sorkin, thank you very much. >>hank you. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: more migrant children are

released from federal custody as the president considother immigration crackdown. and inside the effort to bring medical specialists to the most underserved counities. today president trump awarded the congressional medal of honor, the nation's highest military decoration, to 80-year- old sergeant major john cannely. 50 years ago in vietnam, cannely helped lead a marine unit that recaptured a city seized by the north vietnamese during the tet offensive. president trump said today that cannely exhibited "unmatched bravery" in charging through enemy fire, and risking his own life to save the lives under his command. >> one his fellow warriors who joins us tod followed him because he was a true leader.he as totally fearless. ed loved his marines. and he ls back. >> woodruff: that brotherhood has long held service members

recover fr both physical, and mental. thunds are now being felt by a new generation that has fought in afghanistan and iraq. here again is nick schifrin. since 9/11 almost three million americans have deployed to iraq and the effects of war are pronownd-- profound and last long after the combaends. an stimed one in five iraq an afghanistan veterans sufer from some form of post traumatic stress disorder. one is jason-- when he left the military he became the first millenial elected to statewide office, and overnight star if the democratic party thanks to dn ad promoting backgro checks. >> in afghanistan, i volunteered to be an extra gun in a convoy of unarmoured suv's, and in the state legislature i sup second amendment rights. >> i also believe in background checks so the terrorists can'tth ger hands on one of these. a prove this message. because i would like to see the senator do this. >> he lost that senate race but

he is considered the favorite to withe 2019 kansas city mayor's race until he unexpectedly ende mpaign writing in an open letter after 11 years of trying to outrun depression anptsd symptoms, i have finally concluded that it is faster than me. that i have to stop run, turnnd arnd confront it. we wanted to talk about post traumatic stress diorder and young veterans who go into public service, with 38 year old representative rub ann gallego, a democrat from arizona who joins us from phoenix, he serves in eye rook and brian mass, the 38 year old-- 38 areald republican from california who served in afghanistan. thank you very much. you weriee a of jason canneddor, do you believe what he did was brave and howwa importans that he came out? >> well look, it's brave for any veteran to adm that they have ptsd and when you are in a public eye and you taout your ptsd, you are basicallyeo

exposinge to make judgements on you, he is brave to do it but it is part of the process. what he did he diit for himself and his family so he can become the man he wants to be and not let ptsd hold him back. >> brian on an explosive ordnance disposal unit inin afghanista010 you lost both your legs and a finger. how important is it to talk not only about the physical wounds of war but also the mental wounds. >> the mental wounds are very ofn can be the tougher thing to deal with. i tell people about my own story often. and it's not to at the physical part of it wasn't difficult at all. of course the phy wcal part of difficult but the more difficult part to me was that i wasn't going to get to return to the battle field and do my job in the same way that i had done it efore. i fes though initially i had lost my purpose in life.o what was i ging to do after that. what was my work going to be, what was pie family going to think of me. most difficult part of it everything. yeah, sure, there was pain and deficit in the recovery. butt t was thantal side of

it to say you know, what do i do from here going forward, have i lost my purpose in life and that was a very tough thi deal with. >> you are both part of a new, e youngeration of veterans, ruben, is our generation more open to talking about these issues than veterans from previous wars? >> i think so. i mean i think, you know, some reason our generation is a nderstanding i think because the millenial generation and those above that are thele majority of pehat went to war, a lot of men and women know fri. unfortunately the dun side of this, all is that the military right now is basically being fought, you know, in iraq and afghanistan, other parts of the world, by a very small portion of the population. so while there is mored understanding neral in the public the amount of people that are sharing i guess in the sacrifice of war and families is even more and more narrow. and i think ito showsmetimes. >> how do we overcome that challenge?

how do we get all americans to understand what veterans have tale through and these men wounds of war that they continue to go through? >> i don't think that's a realistic expectation that all americans understand what it is like to be a veteran, what if go like to war. there are aspects on the positive and negative side thaut n only really understand if that has been a part of your life, these very intense moment of life. what i think it is important for anybody whether they srved in combat or not, to realize that there is teunlt for what many people call pot trawm i believe growth. >> ruben, jayson would admit that he is certainly looking for post traumatic gowth and hae some but also dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. and when he wrote his letter, he said that he was worried abouthi admittin ptsd because it might hurt his polalituture. does that signify that we are still notequiomfortable enough as a society talking about ptsd. >> oh erck certainly. and i think people have to

understa, you can be successful all aspect ofour life and still have p tsd. ma people do t feel i am one of those people. i feel this from police officers, from firemen, the guys i served with in iraq that wanted to join the cia, fbi, you know, wabbed to be air pilots, there is tht rumor t very pervasive among marines that if you are diagnosed with ptsd you will not be allowed have these sensitive jobs. for us politicians, yeah, it is a worry but for everyy working working men and women it is a real worry, abo career, that affects their career advancement. and i think that is why it is important, why-- jason, myself and brian are role models to als men and women. because if we can admit we have ptsd ad are talking about it, it will make it more difficult for them to did that when they have a lot more to uose th. have i an election to lose but these men and women, can lose their whole livelihood and future, and especially if they

don't actually get treated for their ptsd. >> and quickly in the time we have left s it not only the ople who are already in the spotlighted but the record number of veteran candidates this year, do you think that could help? >> absolutely. you know, any time are you bringing awareness to this issue, which is what you are doing rit now which is what hasn been going ocongress and other places, whether it is the look at the suicide rates out there or the way thanwe help our veterans coming home to find work, to reintegrate into society, sto make sure they have healthy relationship with theirs families, ther very active effort, not just at the governmental front, at the nprofit front, at the community level front, to make sure that this occurs. people care about our veterans today in a way that is so very, very obvious and it makes a difference in the life of evetey n it made a difference in my life. i think di speak for ruben and say itade a difference for his life as well. this is something that is important and we should all be proud about today. >> thank you very much to you

both. >> thank y >> woodruff: now let'siourn to immigrand the president's approach, which is once again stirring up concern as the midterms approach. u.s. border patrol agents arrested more than 16,000 family members in september, according to a new report from the "washington post." that's a record high since presidt trump officially ended a policy of separating families at the border. the relative spike in border crossings comes as the administration weighs new steps to discourage and deter cross- border flow, including what some are calling family separation 2.0 for the latest on what we know, i'm joined by amna nawaz. you have beeth following al, so since the president did announce officially in july that this policy was ending, we know the

administration has been working what, with the aclu, other groups to try to take care of these children. but do we know, having doneat do we know how many are still in custody. >> there are still aew t go for sure. and the number even before the president ordered the end of it, it tk a federal judge to say you have to stop this and reunite these families. that was june 26th. it's been 16 weeks and there are still children in u.s. rvernment care and custody. they are trying teunit. you had many, the government's own numbers say there are 66 kids in theirare today that they are currently working to reunit. one under the age of five, as well we should point out yvment are they still in custody. well, for the vast majority of them, 50 of those children, their parentsere already deported and that weren'ts a huge statistical challengei you have tod the parents, then you have to contact them and then you have to ask if they want their children sent back to the same country they were fleeing. the government, the aclu are working to do that right now bt the aclu say there are still

five children whose parents thay been unable to contact. we're talking about five kid was could be perrmanentlyhaned as a result of u.s. policies. >> woodruff: so 2500 or so originally, they are down to 66. clearly there has been a lot of progress. but they still have work to do. >> they do. and it's important to point out, look, 66 kids they say they are still working to reunite. our review of the numbers say there is another 250 children still in government care who they are not working to reunit. for a number of reasons. and those reasons raise more questions. these are cases in which they were separated from someone sw other than a paren say a grandparent or older sibling. cases in which the governmen says the parent is unfit to be reunited or cases in which the parent was deported and the gornment said look, the parent, we contacted them and they said they don't want the child brought back to e same country in which they were fleeing the conditions in thefi t place. we should also say immigration advocateses on the front lineshe are worriedovernment is

underreporting some of the separatedded familonmembers basehat they have heard and seen. and the government's own watcmog agency hoeland security watchdog agency last month issued a pretty damning rport slamming the government for the inconstency in numrs and the lack of transparency. that is what they were givg eir own investigators. >> woodruff: and there is confusion because you said the 66, but then as you said, there are still others still in government care socker the president was asked about all of this yesterday. he did an interview with e associated press. he seemed to say that most of these children who had come across-the-board her either come alone or they were sw smugglers. and he want on to say that this family operation policy was meant to be a deterrent. what is the evidenceshow? has it been a deterrent? >> so the president isso tely right that the government right now has thousands of my grant children in their care and custody an the vast majority of them arrived alone. those kids tend to be olerd they tend to have been sent away for economic uncertainty orol

ce. they tend to arrive knowing what to exement. they have contact information to family members. they know they are going to a shell ter and then be reunited. the president is wrong to say t th majority of the children they separated under zero tolerance that the majority came with smuggler or traffickers. that not true and the government's own nu bear that out. the president is also wrong in his apparent belief that family separation worked as a deterrent. the numbers don't show that as you talked about earlier, the latest border crossings actually show a short-term spike. and i say short term because important to remember in all of this is that historically border kroosings are the at a low f you look at a graph like this that goes back to 2 thound, over the last 20er yoos, 20 years ago border crossings month by month, around 70,00, sometime 2-s00,000 a month, so today 15, 16,000 sounds like a lot iut still a historic low. >> finally just yikly-- quickly, we are starting to hear about other policy the administration is considering, we called it maybe a 2..

what do we know about it. >> so last week there was a report the gvernment's considering putting a clois before parents when they cross its border. and basically sayin look, you can either keep your child with you in federal detention which is not designed to house children, waive their proteio under a child welfare law or willingly be separated. let's your child be taken from mentand go into a govern shelter that is desained for children. now i asked a d exabout this and was told look, we're going to dowhatever we need do to humanly enforce the law to secure or borders. they are looking at a range of options, to point out this i a polszee they floated back in july. they put it before the judge overseeing reunification h they feel thve a judge to sign off, if they need to use this we will.sa we should als immigration advocates say if they decide to put it in place there will be a flurry of litigation similar to what we saw after the original family separation policy.

>> woodruff: so much to keep track of and really important to continue to follow. this am that nawaz,-- amna nawaz, thanks. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: doctor shortages around the country impact accell to care for ns of americans. it's estimated by 2025 there will be a shortage of as many as 35,000 primary care doctors and 60,000 specialists. special correspondent cat wisepr reports on a nit aiming to help the patients most impacted by those shortages by enlisting we help of volunteer doctors. it's part of oureekly look at the "leading edge" of science,nd technology a health. >> reporter: every day, 44-year- old donna akers, known to friends as "dall," makes multiple trips up d down the stairs in her seattle apartment building, and each step is hard. akers has a painful arthritic condition in her legs, feet and

nds. after spding 14 years innt prison, she re turned her life around, earning a full-ride scholarship to the university of washington. l while her futuks brighter, akers' health issues remain a daily challenge. a i have lupus, and i have psoriatic arthritiwell as some severe rheumatoid arthritis issues. , with my medical conditio's not something that the majority of doctors in a community clseic are well von. >> reporter: she knows that because since being released, akerhas been getting care at community clinic, one she really likes. for nearly 50 years, the federally funded country doctor community clinic in the heart of seattle has served mostly low- income patients who often have complex care needs. >> how have things been going this week? >> started school, so i'm way more active and it's put more pressure on my joints and i'm having a little bit more pain. >> reporter: dr. laura morgan is akers' new primary care doctor.

>> remind me what areas are most painful for you. reporter: like many family physicians caring for underserved patient populationsn dr. morg has treated a wide- range of ailments.he but she and r colleagues, who include nurse practitioners, can only do so much. and getting their patients into specialists is a often a big challenge. >> most of my patients insurance now or access to insurance and still have difficulties. espeally those on medicaid. depending on specialty there are often long wait-times or limited options often times resulting in patients having to travel pretty far from care they need.t the >> reporter: for akers, who has medicaid, the wait is four months to see a rheumatologist. but now dr. morgan has a new tool in her medical bag that's maki it easier to help patients who need specialty care. >> hi dr. morgan, may i call you laura? >> yes absolutely. >> reporter: dr. katherine upchurch is a rhmatologist who

happens to live 3,000 mileaway in concord massachusetts. the two were brought together by a nonprofit lled the "maven project" which connects volunteer doctors with health providers in uerserved communities around the country, via "telehealth"-- video conferencing and phone calls. >> tell me how her feet looked. >> reporter: their 30 minute scheduled consult gave dr. morgan plenty of time to get advice from dr. upchurch. >> i'd check rheumatoid factor and i'd also check a test callep anti-c.p. >> okay.t' >> tkind of hard to order in the electronic system but look hard enough and you'll find it. >> reporter: dr. upchurch is one of about a hundred dtors giving their time and expertise for free to 40 clinics thru the maven project." maved" stands for "mel alumni volunteer expert network." started four years ago, the philanthropic and grant funded organization is small, but uses

its ties to many of the big medical school alumni associations to recrt doctors, most of whom are retired and semi-retired. in addition to consults, maven project doctors, who aed carefully veprovide educational sessions and one-on- one mentoring. telehealth is widely used by for-profit and nonprofit health providers these days. but the maven project is unique in its focus on the country's most vulnerable patients and its use of volunteers like dr. upchurch, who has been practicing medicine for more than 40 years. she's a professor at the university of massachusetts medical school. >> how many repetitis? c? >> reporter: sherently on medical leave, and spends about four hours a month on maven consults. >> you have a growing cohort of

well-trained aging rheumatologists, and other specialists, and primary care physicians, who have been in the trenches with all the toil, and sweat, and blood, that goes along with that, enjoying their careers, but not wanting to do th forever. and wanting to continue to use stheir skills, but at theame time, wanting to smell some roses. >> reporter: dr. upchurch is one of many doctors around the country at the endf a long career in medicine. in fact about 40% of doctors in the u.s. are 55 or older. >> we think of ourses match.com meets the peace corps. >> reporter: dr laurie green ise the foof the maven project. by day, she's a busy ob-gyn in san francisco, but every minute she can spare, she's involved in all things maven. green came up with the idea in 2012 when e was president of the harvard medical school alumni association.

>> a group of medical school alumni presidents started recognizing that when the affordable care act was implemented, millions of people would suddenly have insurance coverage and very little access to the type of specialty care they would need to treat their illnesses. and at the same time, we recognized that so many of our colleagues were retiring. i heard repeatedly how doctors felt so wistful when they were leaving practice. then we had one other element that would never have existed 10 years ago; we had technology. pa reporter: after 30 years of treating cardiologtients in the bay area, dr. bob cooper recently trading his medical instruments for gardening toolsu he now cs with a free clinic in miami florida. >> can you rotate the e.k.g? so there's atrial fib as well. >> and vertical hypertrophy. >> absolutely. >> reporter: the clinic is staffed by volunteer physicians, including dr. zafar qurei who recently reached out about a

patient who has severe heart radisease but no health ine. >>he underserved populatio have higher incidences of many, many cardiac problems because of lack of care. cholesterol medicines tend to be expeive. and so, they want answers that, within what the patient can afford, what would you suggest next because maybe they can't use the most expensive drug. >> reporter: back in seattle, dr. morgan says the advice she's getting from maven project doctors is one of many waysyi she's to provide care for her patients. >> we're always using this information as a piece of our own clinical judgement. >> reporter: the maven project is currently partnering with clinics in six states but they hope to be in all 50 by 2023. >> i r lly appreciate your help. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm cat se in seattle.

>> woodruff: on the ur online right now, we get apo 's take on the devastating toll, both physical and emotional, that a major hurricane like michael or florence can leave behind. that and more is on our webg/ site, pbs.wshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow eveng. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. m >>or funding for the pbs newshour haseen provided by: >> consumer cellular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless pl our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your learn more, go toe, nothing consumercellular.tv

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. the disappearance of saudi journalist jal khashoggi puts the spotlight on reporters who put their lives on the line. ed correspondent marie calvin gave hers in syria. and now the hollywood actress romund pike plays her in a new film and jo along with marie's friend and fellow journalist lindsey hilsum who has written a new biography about marie colvin's remarkable life. then, is u.s. democracy under assault ahead of the mid-term elections? i speak to carol andersoabout her work exposing voter suppression. plus, imagine being able to edit our dna.

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