captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >>oodruff: good evening, i judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, less than a week from the critical midterm elections, we take a look at some of the close senate races that cou decide the balance of power in washington. then, new details in the murr of jamal khashoggi, as the brother of saudi arabia'src moreturns to the kingdom, raising questions about the country's leadership. plus, inside the fight surrounding the mining of phosphorus in florida, which is essential for agriculture but may be linked to devastating red tides and algae blooms. >> we would work roughly 200 people in this process. a tremendous economic impact on

these two counties. >> education is the most important thing we can do to help people understand what the threat is. this will destroy bradford county, it will destro attraction as a rural paradise. >> woodruff: all that and moreig on ton's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pr by: ♪ ♪ moving our economyor 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and thei t solutions tohe world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> upported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersyoike you. than

>> woodruff: a second round of funerals was held today in pittsburgh for victims of saturday's shooting at the stree of life"agogue. melvin wax, irving younger, and joyce fienberg were laid to rest in separate services. they were among 11 people shot to death in the attack. the accused shooter, robert bowers, was indicted today on 44 federal counts. he also faces state murder charges. president trump today kicked off his final week of campaigning for the mid-term elections. he plans to travel to eight battleground states over six days. the president left this afternoon for florida, where he's stumping tonight for republicans in the governor and senate races. >> it seems that the campaign is going very well it looks like we're doing very, very well in the senate, a lot of seats that were not really being thought of in terms of being victories a

year ago are now look like they very much could be victories and and i think we're going to do l ll in the house also but i know we're doing w the senate and it looks like we're doing okay in the house, we'll just have to see. >> woodruff: also today, the itesident called again for ending automaticenship for those born in the united states. retiring house speakl ryan had said an executive order cannot override the constitution on that point.ya mr. trump saidshould focus on holding the house majority, wsd not on "something he k nothing about." and on sending activduty troops to the border, the presidensaid the army could deploy as many as 15,000 to back up the border patrol. in pakistan, the supreme court today threw out the conviction and death sentence of a christian woman accused of blasphemy against islam. asia bibi denied insulting the prophet muhammad, but she had deen on death row since 2010.

after today'sion, thousands of hard-line islamists protested in lahore and other cities. they set tires on fire and demanded that bibi be put to death.sl >> ( tred ): we demand from the government and from prime minister imran khan to immediately punish the blasphemer, so that no one dares commit such a crime in the future. until this is done, our protests will continue. >> woodruff: two politicians wh ied to help bibi have been assassinated over the years. she is now expected to leave pakistan for her safety. searcheams in indonesia may have found the main body of the lion air jet that crashed just after takeoff monday. they say high-tech scanners picked up what appears to be the fuselage, about 100 feet deep in the java sea. the teams say they've also picked up sials from the flight data recorder. meanwhile, families of the 189 crash victims are waiting on shore, as debris is brought in.

in economic news, general motors offered buyouts to 18,000 white- collar workers in north america, in the face of slowing sales. all told, the auto maker has about 50,000 salaried workers in the u.s., mexico and canada. wall street rallied for a second day, on upbeat quarterly earnings reports. the dow jones industrial average gained 241 points to close at 25,115. the nasdaq rose 144 points, and the s&p 500 added 29. and, bostonians paid tribute today to their world series champion red sox. players rode on duck boats and showed off the world serieshu trophy treds of thousands of fans. it's the team's fourth title in 15 years. still to come on the newshour: the key senate races with less than a week to go until the midterm elections.

a look at thrace for attorney general in michigan. how the saudi royal family is i handling ternational fallout from the murder of jamal khashoggi, and much more. is>> woodruff: election da less than a week away and while democrats are hoping to flip the house of representativ, they face a tougher challenge in the senate. of the 35 senate seats up this year, tight races in key states could boost the current republican majority. to talk about so of these races i'm joined by brandon smith of indiana public broadcasting; christopher conover of arizona public media, and chas sisk of wpln public radio in nashville.

come all three of you to the "newshour". christopher conover, let's start with you. in arizona, what are voters talking about? what are they focused on in this senate race? >> the big focus here is immigration, in many ways, because arizona is a border state. i'm in tucson, which is one of the larger cities in the state. are less than 100 miles -- 60 to 70 miles from the border. so the border is always an issue, even in local races here, certainly in a federal race. the other issues are the samehe that w across the country with healthcare, and we hear a little bit about education here, but it's main healthcare and the border, with the border and immigration being numb bun. >> -- number one. >> woodruff: christopher, i should have nameesthe candid in your state. they a kyrsten sinema, the democrat, martha mcsally, the republican. let's turn to tennessee and chas

sisk. thisother republican-held seat. what are voters talking about there? >> yeah, this has definitely been a nationalized eleofion. a lot the conversation is around the national issues, especially here towards the end of thcampaign. immigration has been a big issue, and a lot of people are telling us at the polls that they are thinking a lot about it, in large part thanks t congressman blackburn, who is the republican nominee, bringing it up a lo on the campaign trail, and we hear about michael cohen, something the democrats are pushing.il bredesen is also healthcare executive, and he felmft table talking about h issues, so the national issues are ominent in this race. >> woodruff: national issues are particularly local in brandon smith, indiana, this is a seat held by the democrats that republicans would like to take away. last night, you had a debate in indiana between the incumbent democrat joe donnelly is republican challenger mike

braun, happened to be moderated by amna nawaz. >> it was called the affordable care act, which joe was allfor. it's the unaffordable care act. it was doomed to fail becae you had big government get in cahoots with big healthcare, specifically big health insurance. i took on the health insurance companies te years ago, and regardless of what hisde cratic talking points are, i would never be forany replacement that doesn't cover pre-existing conditions. >> what he said is not tru mike supports a lawsuit that would end the af cfordabe act, that would end pre-existing conditions. so all of you watching out there tonight, if you have someone in your family with abetes, with arthritis, witha, asttheir coverage goes away if mike's

lawsuit is successful. as i said, that's how important this is. those are the facts, and he can'deny that. >> woodruff: so that was mike braun first thee n nnelly. so, brandon smith, s healthcare been a big issue in this race? >> absolutely, like my two colleagues before me said, healthcare and immigration are two issues that a lot of votersh ancandidates themselves are talking a lot about in indiana. i'll add one they didn't talk about which is oan ecnomic issue, the tariffs president trump has imposed. the gwo gest industries in indiana are agriculture and manufacturing, so there are folks in this state that really don't like the tariffs and steelworkers up north that really do. >> woodruff: how is that playing? the agriculture sector doesn't like them, right? >> right, and mike braun has har a littleble with that. he's had to sort of change his position over time. he's all for donald trump andat says t lot, but recently he started to take a harder line on

the tariffs and sa yy tha know, if he gets into the senate, that he'll tell the president to get ri of them, which he wasn't saying earlier in the campaign. r woodruff: back to arizona, christopher conod the trump factor. martha mcsally, theic republ, was keeping her distance, i think it was fair to say, earlier on in this contest but now seems to be fully embracing the president. >> that's incredibly fair to say. when she was just a meme r of ts. house representing southern arizona, she definitele keptpresident at arm's length, but as soon as she r thered she was running u.s. senate, she really embraced president trump, and she had ait primary two strong trump supporters including former maricopa county sheriff who had campaigned with the president across the country and the president actually pardoned r.rlier this yea so she made a change in that way. of coustrse, k sinema, the democrat, is not embracing the

president. the president has sent e-onails ehalf of martha mcsally and has come to arizona to campaign heon r behalf. his sons are here campaigning on her behalf. the vice president has been her campaigning r behalf. >> woodruff: to tennessee, chas sisk, the president has -- i should say, marsha blackburn, the republan candidate for the senate has consistently been a fan of president trump. cw much of a fator is he there? >> definitely a very big factor. president trump still is very popular in tennessee. evy bit as popular he was on election day, and the idea that she's embraced president trumis really quite true literally. you see her campaign ads and there's an image of her embracing the president from one her his first ralli on her behalf. he's definitely thrown his support behind her.w has been heree in tennessee. will be here a third time between now and election day. definitely she's tying herself to president trump and

portraying herself as the ly to him. >> woodruff: indiana, brandon smith, a different situation and comic incumbent ejoe donlly, but he's tried not to be -- not to distanmself too much from the president. >> no, not at all. in fact, you will hear joe donnelly say more than almost anything else he votited wh president trump 62% of the time. he's a democrat but he knows he's in a relatively republican state here in indiana, so he portrays himself as a really consvative democrat or an independent sort of lawmaker who, as he puts it, votes with gothe president when it'd for indiana and against him when it's not. w >> woodruff:nt to finally come back to all three of you on voter engagement. we learned today early voting around country is surpassing the st midterm elections in 2014, something like 24 milliopeople have already voted early compared to i think about 20 million four years ago. back to you, christopher conover. how much voter interest do you see or people taking about this

race, is it getting a lot of attention? >> oh, sure. everywhere you go, people are talking about this racyoe. can't escape it. it's on your tv if you're tching commercial tv, every ad break, and that's almost all you see during the ad breaks. in coffee evops anerything else, that's what people are talking about. arizona is big early voting state. early ballots went out a month ago and at this point i looked at the numbers before we all sat down, about 50% of early ballots ck at this point. >> woodruff: chas sisk, in tennessee, what kind of voter interest engement are you seeing? >> it's definitely very high. just as in h-h-, definitely every ad break is full of commercials by the two candidates as well as a competitive goveor's race in tennessee. that's pushed voting up over a million people. this is a sta of 60 million people, 4 million voters, total, so a million have already goneou and cast ballots. you see lines at the voting

locations. we have in-person voting, can't do it by mail, so you can see people at the lling locations getting engaged in the election. >> woodruff: ow about in >>diana, brandon? n 2014, indiana had the lowest voter turnout in the pcountry. d but dn't have a senate race on the ballot. this time we do, and thaet's ben drawing the most interest of any other race, particularly as it is a bit ofeferendum on trump and his agenda. >> woodruff: brandon, in terms anized campaigns being org all over the state, do you see evidence of that? >> oh, absolutely, particularly for the democrats. the republicans have a greatte get-out-the-achine in indiana because it is such a republican-controlled state, but democrats, in particular joe donnelly the candidate is everywhere, and he'sbeen everywhere all six years he's been in the senate. >> wodruff: christopher conover, what about organization? >> everybody here is very organized. i get e-mails conmstantly fro

both parties about get out the vote events from all the over f the statom door knocking and all kinds of things all over thv state,y major metro area. so very, very organized on both sides. arizona tends to lean republican, but democrats see an openin>>in this race. oodruff: and quickly, in tennessee. >> absutely, all over the state, you're seeing signs of organization, even if east, tennessee, which has been the republican strong hold, where elexander and bob corker from. you're seeing a high level of democratic organization there. >> we'll leave it there. six days to go. chas si with wpln, national public rdio. brandon smith, indiana public broadcasting and christopher conover, arizona public media thank you. >> pleasure. thank you. >> woodruff: in addition to

senate races across the country, voters will also be ch attorneys general in many states. from time to time, these officials have acted as checks on federal policies. christy mcdonald of detroit public television has a look at one of these attorney general races in michigan. >> reporter: it's a last minute push to sway voters in a competitive and pivotal race for attorney general in michigan... tom leonard, republican speaker of the state house, a conservative and a trump supporter. i will be a "rule of law"' attorney general that will enforce the laws. and even if there is a law that may contradict where i amy politicall philosophically, that law will still be defended. >> reporter: his opponent, ndemocrat dana nessel, is activist attorney who gained notoriety fighting michigan's gay rriage ban, and winning. nessel has also been quoted as saying, she' sue the trump administration all day, every day.

>> i certainly am somebody who's willing hold the federal government accountable if they are engaging in acts that hurt the residents of this state. >> reporter: and it's that emerging power of attorneys general nationwide to challenge the current administration's es.i that has put more focus on attorney general races this november. michigan is one of 3attorney general races on the ballot across the country, and one of eight competitive races thatre being closely watched. right now, there are 27 republicans, 22 democrats, with one appointed by an independent governor. inand if that number shift favor of democrats, we could see some increased legal challengesi paul noleta professor at marquette university in milwaukee. >> so they have a lot of discretion to bring the sort of lawsuits they want to bring. they're getting involved in highly controversial issues of obamacare and environmental politics and climate change and transgender rights. i think it's inevitable that every a.g. of both parties are going to come into their jobs with certain views of how their

office should approach these issues. >> reporter: now he rees coalitionsing down along 0 rty lines. earlier this year,publican attorneys general banded ogether in the latest rou lawsuits against the affordable care act. in je, 18 democratic attorne general sued over family separations at the border. leonard isautious about the state attorney general role in immigration. >> so much of immigration is based on federale aw. the suprurt has made very very clear that that is the case. >> reporter: nessel takes a different view. >> i intend to utilize this office in a way where itevelps yone around this state and really have an office of attorney general that just gives a damn about the people who live here again. m >> reportehigan's had a republican attorney general for the last eight years. the issues the next attorney general will have to face statewide: litigation from the int water crisis; the opioid epidemic; l.g.b.t.q. and women's reproductive rights.

voters will have to decide which candidate will use their best discretion on what fights to join, or sit out. for the pbs newshour, i'm christy mcdonald, in detroit, michigan. wi >> woodruff: sta us, coming up on the newshour: ireconomics versus the envment in the debate over phosphorus mining in florida. the story of a woman fto do heavy labor that resulted iti and a conver with author nate blakeslee on his book, "american wolf." but first, we turn to the pressure on, and tensions inside, saudi arabia. today istanbul's chief public prosecutor said the saudi jourlist jamal khassogi was strangled as soon as he enteredl the saudi coe in istanbul. turkey has been pressuring saudi

arabia. and as nick schifrin reports, the u.s. is increasi its own, by focusing on the saudi-led war in yemen. >> schifrin: the u.s. provides mid-air refueling, limited alrgeting assistance, and sells weapons to that ion. but yesterday, for the first time, secretary of defense james mattis set a deadline for the fighting to stop. >> i mean 30 days from now, we want to see everybody around a peace table based on a cease fire, based on a pull back from the border, and then based on ceasing, dropping of bombs. >> schifrin: secretary of state mike pompeo also said it is time to end the war. saudi officials have admitted they are facing a crisis. the country and its leadership are opaque, so we wanted to take a look inside the kingdom, which for decades has been ruled by one family. au all started in 1932 when abdul aziz ibn sfounded the modern state. after he died, power transferred through six sons, from brother to brother, to the current king salman. but instead of choosing another

brother as heir apparent, in 2015 for the first time salman chose the next generation.ne first hiew mohammad bin nayaf, and then switched to his favored son 33-year-old mohammad bin salman, knn as m.b.s. salman's younger brother ahmed bin abdulaziz didn't swear allegience to m.b.s. aed to london. but this week he dramatically returned to riyadh. as crown prince, m.b.s. has launched a massive modernization campaign, allowi women to drive alone, reducing power of ultra-conservative clerics, an trying to wean the kingdom away from oil. those changes are popular, and they've helped cement m.b.s.' control. but he's also neutralized his rivals, imprisoning other princes in the riyadh ritz carlton, and he's accused of involvement in the murder of journalist jamal khasoggi. he has also led the war in yemen, that's caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis. but m.b.s. has his father the

king's support, and controls the defense ministry and economic, foreign, and domestic policies. that means finding an alternative is purposely difficult. and what the saudi founder hopel wobe rule by consensus, has lately, been the impulse of one man. and to discuss this moment for saudi arabia, and the u.s., i'mn joined by maandy, the a rector of the london global strategy instituteink tank and consulting organization. he's the author of "saudi arabcs and the polif dissent." and robin wright is a distinguished scholar at the woodrow wilson international f cent scholars, and a contributing writer to the "new yorker" magazine. thanks so much to you both for being here. mamoun ndy, if i could start with you there's been a lot of talk about nbs and south had something to do with jamal khashoggi's murder. ll there pressure for mbs to step down or wie survive? >> i think the situation in saudi arabia is very fluid, but

i think the main authority of the whole political order rests with the king of saudi arabia, aneverybody follows the king, the legitimacy of the crown prince comes from being the son of the king. i think if the king decides tom, remove hhe has the short -- authority to do so and nobody will object. he removed two other crown princes before him. so is there pressure for that? i don't think internally there is pressure for tha certainly externally there is a lot of pressure forh tat. >> reporter: robin wright, mounting external but also internal pressure, or not? >> i think there is, but mohamed bin salman has also consolidated power like no one before him has managed to do except the under. took over intelligence and military apparatus, head of the economic council, head of theco royat, so the idea there could be divisions within that could challenge him i think is more difficult than in the past,

but it really depen on ho much pressure the royal family, particularly the king himself, feels to ether it weakens the powers of the crown prince, replace him. there are a number of differentl options ing bringing in others who might share power, take over so of his portfolio, put him in check, in effect, so that he isn't the only power in the kingdom. >> reporter: we just saw the king's brother return. is that an attempt to consolidate power around m.b.s.? >> i think prince ahmed is a very important figure, he's a natural number to after king salman had the process go lateral instead of vertical, the way it happened this time for owpassing the thrn ofar saudia. prince ahmed has a lot of support in terms of the tribes,h

leader's establishment and the commercial classes. i think the return of princeim ahmed is verrtant for the consolidation of power and making basally a building for the base which is the ruling emily and the rligious establishment and the merchant class. >> reporte so he will support m.b.s.? >> it is aa little ch more complicated than that. i think he would support the king but i'm not suwould support the crown prince. ed helprter: king ahm circle the wagups? >> i think he's begun to do that he's gaining his future already. what's interesting, he showed up to the airportto greet prince bin salman. >> reporter: salman showed up to greet ahmed. >> yes, and he was popular with the young before this happened. in thenited states, i think

the khashoggi murder has backfired in many ways more than anyone linked to it ever envisioned. so i think the crown prince is feeling vulnerable and trying to do the things lthat will t his profile and show he's in control and t associated with the murder. >> reporter: moon jae-in, thecr n prince is -- >> reporter: mamoun fandy, is this why we're seeing pressure in the united states over the war in yemen or yemen saying the cease fire needs to begin in november? >> it's th. i think basically the crown prince at his weakest point now inteationally. finally, in saudi arabia, the whole del jet massey question rests wih the king himself, and the king has the whole authority is -- the legitimacy of thein crown comes from being the son of the king, and

whatever the king decides, i think the whole family will go with him and the whole country will go with him. >> reporter: is there unprecedented pressure over yemen because of these two statements by the u.s.? >> i think this is the potension fortunately a deal that this is where the kingdom or particularly the crown prince s to back off his most aggressive foreign policy campaign and come up with a compromise, whether it's spending error strikes that have been so deadly on civilian whether it's agreeing to go to peace talks under u.n. auspices, that there will be something to try to move toward the e. and remember, the administration is also under pressure because republican congressmen now said let's not have a dialogue with saudi arabia anymore. there's a lot of pressure within nistration, within the republican party over arms toar saudia and issues tangential to saudi arabia's foreign policy.

>> reporter: arms sales, pressure from congress, mamounh fandy, how mufluence does the u.s. have, if the u.s. wanted change in saudi arabia, could that happen? >> the u.s. has a great deal of influence. this is the moment of great bargain, given the weakness and the vulnerability that the crown prince has shown after the khashoggi murder. tythink th u.s. has the abi to shepherd this process and take it to aaf se harbor, and the role of the united states should not be derestimated in shaping saudi arabia in the future. >> reporter: robin wright, quickly, if the u.s that power, what should they do with it right now?l, >> w think the u.s. -- this administration feels that it needs saudi arabia more than saudi arabia needs it when, in fact, the reverse is true. sai arabia can't wage its war, can't be viewed as a legitimate or important power in the middle

east without the united states' approval, so the u.s. has enormous influence. but there is much more at sta now in jamal khashoggi's murder than simply what happens to the crown prince. it's about big power politics and war and peace. >> reporter: robin wright, mamoun fandy, th.k you very mu >> woodruff: in the coming midterm election, environmental issues have played aually large role in the state of orida, in part due to th explosion of two blooms of algae that have crippled part of theec state's tourisomy and killed hundreds of thousands of fish and wildlife. there are many factors driving these blooms, but scientists believe that the mininof phosphorous is one of them.

l correspondent laura newberry and producer alan toth tell us, many of his neighborsce fi oppose it. it's the focus of this week's on the leading edge of science .d technology >> reporter: when most people think of florida they probably imagine wetlands and beaches, but there's a lot more goingn there than most people realize. buried in florida's earth is an element so essential to our everyday lives that we'd go hungry without it. phosphate is an essential nutrient for plant growth. it's ubiquitous in fertilizer, and we get phosphate by strip mining. ed golly and andy mele took me on a flight over the mines so i could get a sense of the scale of phosphate production. , all those water forms off to the right, those are all related to the mines.s >> reporter: iir to say that the human race is dependent

on phosphate to grow enough food. the united states produces 27 million metric tons of phosphate per year, and the majority of that phosphate comes out o florida. >> and here's the rtilizer hoant, a.k.a. the acid plant. >> reporter: phopsum stacks also known as gypstacks are mountains of waste lefover from fertilizer production. some of that waste is radon and uranium. the e.p.a. says that it's too radioactive to be buried so it piled in these stacks. there are 25 of these things in florida and they're some of the highest points in the state. >> here we are at the sinkhole laura. there's your sinkhole. >> reporter: in august o2016 this huge sinkhole opened up on a gypstack in polk county and hundreds of millions gallons of wastewater drained right into the aquifer. the company responsible for this spill is mosaic, the largest phosphate company in the nation.

>> a large sinkhole is now open beneath a gypsum stack at the mosaic new wales plant in mulberry. >> reporter: mosaic kept the full extent of the spill a secret for 19 days, only admitting it to the public after local news reported it. in a statement the company apologized for "not providingfo ation sooner." but for some, the potential benefits of phosphate mining outweigh the environmental concerns. jack hazen owns circle h ranch in north florida, on the border of.radford and union counti >> well, i was born here on this property in 1933. my father owned it, and my grandfather owned it before him. >> reporter: hazen raises cattl and corn, 's known for a long time that his land is rich in phosphate. he recently formed a company in order to mine land on his farm and four neighboring pperties. >> this county, and the adjoining county that this phosphate's in is poor counties, and i came to the conclusion

that we uld work roughly 200 people in this process. a tremendous economic impact oti these two co. that is the only reason, i decided to phosphate this land. >> reporter: phosphate mining might benefit some workers in this economically depressed area of florida, but some l activist jim tatum says that the environmental cost of a phosphate mine is not worth a few jobs. >> i live on the river and what happens in bradford and union county will affect my river, or could affect my river. >> reporter: jim tatum lives .next to the santa fe riv a small tributary to the santa fe divides bradford and union counties, and it flows right through the proposedining area. >> i think it was 1997they had a spill in the north shore of the alafia river. ons ofill killed mil fish wildlife crabs. >> reporter: 50 million gallons of wastewa

fertilizer plant spilled into the alafia river, and it killed almost everything. ormore than a million fish0 liles downstream. courtney snyder whs right next to the proposed mining area is also concerned. >> nobody wants a phphate mine here. >> why? >> well, you've got the dust. i guess you could call it radioactive dust because of the radon and whatever else is found in the ore, where the phosphate is found in the ore.ar my four-ld has asthma, and i'm 100 yards away from the borderline of the proposed property. now we're getting into this dirt road here that cuts through the center of the mining property. that's part of the mining property owned by the pritchett family. back there, and on that side there. it's very close to ps homes. >> reporter: snyder and several other concerned neighbors aremb

s of a group called citizens against phosphate mining in bradford and union. counti they hope to convince their county commissioners to deny hazen's mining permit. jack hazen knows about his nehehbors who are protesting mine, but he says that their concerns are unfounded. he says he plans to shipt is phosphate the county to be processed into fertilizer, so there will be no gypstacks. rs we're not going to contaminate the riwe're not going to contaminate anything. i'm telling you, this is a clean operation. and of course these environmentalists, thefight this stuff, but they lose. >> reporter: union county commissioners recently passed a one-year moratorium on mining permits, but bradford county commissioners are stillth considerinmine. >> i heard mr. hazen told you not to listen to us because we are activists and outsiders. we live here too. building a mine next to our homes would make our properties worthless.

>> nobody wants it, the people don't want it, the people that elected you, don't want it. >> reporter: despite the public outcry, the bradford county commissioners ted to hire a consultant to advise them on hazen's mining application. s five to zero. >> reporter: jim tatam is still concerned that the bradford county commission will approve the mine. >> education is the most impoant thing we can do to help people understand what the threat is. this will destroy bradford county, it will destroy itss attractionrural paradise, so to speak. >> if they get the permits and they start mining across the street from me, i'd probably move. >> reporter: jack hazen is determined to do what he wants with his land. >> they can't stop us from mining, because we got property rights you don't govern what i can do with my land when people start governing what i can do with my ld, we're in bad shape, in this country

>> reporter: one thing's for sure, phosphate mining in central florida continues, so those gypstacks are ing to get even taller. for the pbs newshour, i'm laura newberry in starke, florida. >> woodruff: now, the problem of discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace. today marks the 40th anniversara aw known as the pregnancy discrimination act. the law has been crucial, making it illegal for employers to deny a woman a job, promotion, higher pay because she is pregnant. but a new investigation has found there are important gaps in the workplace where this is simplyot the case. d it can be even more difficult with physically demanding jobs's thhe focus of what william brangham explores tonight. a note for viewers: this conversation discusses sensitive subjects.

>> brangham: warehouses are some of the fastest growing workplaces in america ing more than a million people. as part of an ongoing series about pregncy discrimination in the workplace, the "new york times" discovered some houses where pregnant women alleged that their requests for duties were rejected and they then had miscarriages. the times report focused on alleged troubles with one edrehouse in memphis, tennessee. it's currently oy a company known as xpo logistics, which owns supply chai u warehousd by many name brand corporations. several women say they had miscarriages after what they alleged was harsh treatment at that facility. xpo denies all of these allegations. but we're going to talk about one of these cases and the larger picture here beyond just one company. tasha relle had a miscarriage while employed at that warehousn emphis shortly before xpo bought it in 2014. she's now with the teamsters which is trying to organize a union at the same warehouse and

fatima goss graves is the c.0.0.eo of the national women's law center. welcome to you both. >> thanks for having me. >> brangham: tasha i wonder if u could just start off b telling us a little bit about what happened with you. i know you were working in this warehoile you were pregnant back in 2014. what kind of work were you doing back then? >> well we process boxes process items that come down a conveyor belt rather as phones tablets gadgets whatnots. it's very challenging is very hot in that building and we do not have air, we lift boxes 45 pounds or more. and that's picking them up lifting them do whatever it >> brangham: and i understand at the time that this was causing someiscomfort for you. did you did you express that to your supervisor? >> absolutely. february of 2014 i found outgn

that i was pt. i immediately went to the doctor so she put on my doctor's note" no heavy lifting." so my supervisor saw that note but she disregarded the note because she still sent me to areas where i had to picxeup 45 pound and heavier boxes. >> brangham: so you're sing that you went to the supervisor and said "look i've got a doctor's note saying i'm not supposed to lift heavy things. can i do something different." what was what was the supervisor's reaction? >> yes i did request lighter duty because there is lighter duty. the company accommodates who they want to accommodate. so i did ask for light duty and vytold my supervisor there i could not lift hea boxes. she stated to me that i should have an abortion. ani just looked at her

because, i was so shocked that she told me have a freaking ortion. so she eventually walked away from me. i stayed at work maybe 1r minutes lawas hurting so bad. but i went home and went to sleep. but when i get up the next morning my mattress was like drenched in blood. my husband washere. my two kids was there and they e re like mom what's wrong? my husband was l shocked. he didn't know what to do.ng you know me crn pain. so he rushed me to the e.r. i got to the e.r. and the doctor examined me checked me and everything. he was like sorry mrs. murrell but there's nothing we can do. you're miscarrying n you just have to let it take its course. >> brangham: i'm terribly sorry about you having to experience that.e i know youard this

already, but the supervisor at the time says that's never what she said to you. the company has denied all of these allegations. they sent us a statement that " s"we were saddened to learn about miss murrell's loss in 2014.an while we speak to what happened at this site before we bought it we've crea culture that is strongly grounded in dignity and respect. our workplace and pregnancy dcommodation policies exc what is legally required." they also alleged that the teamsters union, for whom you now work, is stirring up these stories to make the company look bad and i'm just curious what your reaction is to that when you hear that statement. >> there are lying because again their supervisor not only told me tt, but it was several fo or five women that was pregnant at the same time that i was pregnant. it was like a trickle down effect. i mean and to try to put it on the teamsters? no one was affiliated with the teamsters. i now work for the teamsters so to speak out. but i wouldn't i wouldn't dare

allow anyone to downgrade the teamsters because they are the oneshat gave us a platform that gave the voiceless a voice. so i feel like this is very disrespectful to try to blame someone for their mistakes. >> brangham: i want to turn to fatima goss graves. heen you hear a story like this. when i read aboustory in the "new york times" and about allegations of this kind of havior going on in other warehouses, the thing that really struck me is that i t thought sures kind of treatment of a pregnant woman asking for lighter duty when she has a doctor's recommendation-- at that should be a lega requirement, but it's not. pr you know i'm so grateful for tasha and the othenant workers for speaking out because 40 years after cssgress first the pregnancy discrimination act you would think that this wouldn be a problem. what happened was a few years ago. there was supreme court decision that limited the interpretation tt basically

made it harder for pregnant workers when they need accommodations to ge. and there have been a huge backlash to that decision. we have had over 18 states pass new laws to be more directive ta sort oactually pregnant workers shouldn't have to choose between having a healthy pregnancy and being able to stay on the job and get the income that they need which is the really terrible choice people are having to make right now. >> brangham: so what does the law currently say. what is protected under law and what is not? >> well pregnant workers should know tt they cannot experience discrimination on the job. so i don't want to put out misinformation on that. but the real challenge is around when you need an accommodation not all pregnant workers are going to need them many people. when i was pregnant at my job which is really cushy at a desk i didn't actually need any accommodations. >> brangham: same with my wife>> ut sometimes you do. and we hear from workers whoea needy basic things

sometimes they just need the o,ility to go to the bathroom when they needr be able to have water or working as a ndshier be able to have a stool so they're not sg all day. unfortunately what theme court said is that an employer caitmake a determination tha isn't going to provide that accommodation if it's if it's an unnecessary burden for them. >> brangham: i was struck that - seems to bet o a perverse incentive in the law which says that if you provide an accommodation for someone, 're required to provide it for pregnant women or other women who ask for it. it seems to be incentivizing people to ovide no accommodation whatsoever. >> and unfortunately a lot of employers have gotten more rigid and have mading conditions abusive for everyone. and so they say we treat everyone equally bad and that is our rule. well that isn't a good rule for anyone. and you know the conditions that she described-- the heat conditions the hours without breaks.

all those are things that they should be really fixing for all rkers but certainly for workers who need them. >> brangham: all right, fatima goss graves and tasha murrell,u thank th very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally tonight, jeffrey brown has the latest author conversation from ourb, book cow read this. >> brown: wolves, wolf watchers, western lands and washington policy, "american wolf," a true story of survival and obsession in the west, contains all that and more. set around the story of one particular yelw yellowstone national park lf named 06. our book club pick for october and author nate blakeslee is here to anwer some of the questions the readers sent in. thanks so much for joining . >> thanks so much for having me.

>> brown: a great read. thank you so much for that. >> i appreciate it. >> brown: let's go to some of our questions. >> okay. what inspired you to research and write this book and were the llowstone park rangers eager to share their notes and stories? >> i had read a lot of wolf books in preparation of this. i never read one told from the perspective of a wolf, so the e idea was to write a sort of non-fiction book that reads like a novel in which many of the main characters are wolves. the only way that was possible is because of this one wolf 06 was so famous during her lifetime that she erally became one of the most famous wild animals in the world. she was a wild animal, but she was carefully watched, carefully observed. what made it possible, they met a woman, really dedicated wolf watcher who watch 06 and her pack in yellowstone almost every day fothree years and took notes. she gave me a treasure trove o a materi it was like reading die require of a wolf back. they were trying to fixhe

broken system -- ecosystem in yellowstone, there were far too many elk. i don't think ran geuld realize it would be the tourist attraction it became. the wolves stayed in the oneul partly wide openiary known as the lamar valley where you could reliably spot shell with a teloscope used for waching wildlife and today yellowstone is one place where you canab re spot wolves from the roadside. >> brown: about the wolves themselves -- >> wolves are highly inlligent creatures but always putting themselves in danger by confronting other wolves. have you ever seen evidence of packs that avoid confrontations. >> brown: so behavior and inteigence of the wolves, which is much of what you're writing about. wolves are extremely dangerous to one another. the territorlity that you see in your dog comes from wolfs,

dogs are descended from wolfs. they are extrriemely terrial. inside yellowstone where wolves are never unted or trapped, the leading cause of death for wolves is conhict with te other wolves. every part of the park isll cont by a pack or another, and the woso-called lonlf has to leave her native pack to look for a mate or territory of her own and runs this gauntlet of opposing packs. somebody called it a game of thrones, you know, to have the cane world. and 06's story is very much part and parcel of the adventure story of her life. the book begins with herself out on her own waering the park looking for a mate and territory of her own. the adventure story of 06's life is told but it is also the case she came of age at a time when this fight in thrwest ove how the world should be managed was coming to the head, culminating in the first legal wolf hunting

years. in wyoming in 50 >> brown: and explain. so this is rampers and farmers did not want the wolves, mostly. >> right. >> brown: did not want the wolves to come bigack. >>. >> brown: environmentalists and others did. >> yeah, yeah. the idea that the wolves were brought back to fix that ecosystem. >> brown: mm-hmm. the descendents o the same ranchers that hunted wolves out of the mountains long, long ago in defense of livestock, thy're all still there and running cattle, so it was controversial. >> brown: so the next question es right to the controversy. >> after you finished writing the bk and interviewed many pro-hunting people, how did you come away from that?u did ve sympathy for both sides or was it more one-sided?i anyour opinion differ from how you felt when you started the snrojt. those are all very good questions. i'm from texas. i grew up around rampers --

ranches and ranching families. i'm a werner. it was important to have the pro-wolf and anti-wolf side. even drawing the divisions that way, it's not tha clear cut. and i wanted to interview someone who had actually shot a wolf because the fact you were allowed to hunt wolves in the northern rockies after so ong of them being gone and on the endangered species list, it was immensely controversial, and i knew a lot of readers would ask how could someone shoot a wolf?h why woulstate of wyoming allow someone to shoot a wolf after spending all this time an resources to bring them back. the only answer was to talk to someone who had shot a wolf. >> brown: another question. what is the current status of the wolves in yellowstone park and in the rocky mountains, and how can we anet updatesd news about them and follow them along? >> wolves are off of the endangered species list nowth ughout the northern rockies. that means idaho, montana andin wymanage those animals just like any other game animal. there is a hunting and trapping

season, and there is alsthis question of what happens when wolves spread beyond the northern rckies into, for example, wrote -- colorado, will they be protected there,nd that's the fight that's going on in congress now. thebrown: we'll continu conversation. we'll posted online now. nate blakeslee, thanks for oining us. >> it's been great pleasure. am brown: for november, we are switching gears ically to a novel named to many of the best to have the year list, 's called "a separation," a psychological thriller about an estranged couple and mysterious disappearance. as always, you will find more on our facebook page and hope you'll read along at now read this, our facebook collaborations, with the "new york tes." >> woodruff: and a reminder we will have special coverage next week on election nig that's next tuesday night

beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 pacific. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and happy halloween! >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amnt of talk, text d data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. ll learn more, go to consumerar.tv >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planned.ym learn more at djames.com. h >> and we ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. s

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hello, everyone. and welcome to "ama our and company." here's what's coming up. two comic geniuses who share a rare ability to mine hope in these troubled times. a prthoughtful, sing and, yes, funny conversation with dave chapelle and jon stewart. and with basic rights being challenged like never before, we talk to two florida activists, former felons, who are fighting to restore voting rights to more than a million ex-convicts in florida.