captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: god evening. i'm dy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: again. a mass s oting in the united states. this time, 12 people murdered at a california bar and dance hall. then, president trump moves to limit who can seek asylum in the united states. us, justice in the balance. what pre tsidemp's pick for acting attorney general means for the future of the mueller investigation. and, prime real estate. amazon nears a decision on the locationco of its headquarters. we look at what that might mean for the chosen city. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newsur. un

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>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in educatio docratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributio to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: thousand oaks, california is the latest american city to mtirn a mass sh. the killing of a dozen people last night was tde deadliest in since the parkland high school massacre in february.

carthy of "feature story news" begins our coverage. >> we were at the bar, you know, having fun, dancing. and thenll af a sudden, you hear, like, the bang, bang of the gunshots. >> reporter: it was college country ne ight at thborderline bar and grill in thousand oaks. but a hooded gunman, dressed all in bla, turned it into carnage. >> so then our friends got the bar stools... (cryin) and starts slamming them against the windows so we could get out. just so we were able to get out. they broke the window! (cries)e they broke ndow, and we were able to climb out. >> reporter: the gunman killed a dozen peoefple, be apparently killing himself. the vitims includedty sheriff's de who answered 911 calls for help. sergeant ron helus had been set to retire from the ventura county sarheriff's dent. >> it's lost a hero. it's lost a great human being.

it's part of the loss of the 11 other victims that were in there, and it's all part of the suffering that we're all going to go through as family members d parents and brothers and sisters on this tragic, onseless lossf life. >> reporter: officials identified the shoot as 28-year-old ian david long, i corps veteran decorated in afghanistan. sheriff geoff dean said long used a glock 21-- a 45-caliber handgun that he obtained legally. it holds ten rounds, but longed us larger magazine that is illegal in california. investigators swarmed his home today, near the borderline bar. officers were called there in april, and reported long might have post-traumatic stss disordermi from litary service, but a mental health professionan decided he d need to be hospitalized. the shooting came less than

two weeks after the synagogue attack in pittsburgh that kill 11, and added yet more fuel to the long-running debate on gun violence. california's democratic lieutenant governor gavin newson was elected go just this week. >> this can't be normalized. this is just remarkable, just another day in america. tragically, now, in our state. >> reporter: but as that broader debate pitroceeds, families waed today for news of loved ones who'd been at the bar, and thousand oaks councilman rob mccoy vowed the attack will not dene his city. >> we just have to pick up thefr piecem this mess some idiot made, and we're going to do it. this is a community that stands together, and it's just a remarkable-- i want everyone to know what a remarkable city thousand oaks is. >> reporter: for now, the mourning begins. a procession cried the body of

orgearones office today, wheicers gathered in solidarity. and next of k notified. police say a complete list of their names will be released inu the coming. judy? >> woodruff: mary, you have been talking to people in the community today. what are you hearing abt the scene after this happened? >> well, i must say, judy, this is very much a community that is still on edge after the horro of the late-night shooting, many hours throughout the morning waiting to see who had sur hived, many sadly who were among the deceased and who was in t hospital with injuries. i spoke to one mother who said nde lives very close to the borderline bar grill, which is just in this shopping mall behind us. she said that, wednesday night, the community knows it's going to be noisy night there,

it's college night, so used to there being a lot of nse into the early hours of morning. it sdenly became eerily silent around 11:30 p.m. she knew something was wrong,ed tou base with her own college-aged children, found out, fortunately, they were safe, but said one of her shehters had a friend w was not able to get in touch with at the point i had spoken to her. in this small thousand oaks wn, seems everybody eitherso knows one who went to the bar or who menht have here that night, everyone deeply affected. >> woodruff: we know the sheriff's deputy was o the first to go in. he, of course, was shot. he hasd d. he was supposed to retire very soon. what are you hearing about him? >> that's right, the ventura county sheriff's deputy ron helus, a 29-year veteran of the force here. e was among the first to die.

obviouslwey, h in, part of the emergency response to the tragedy walhen the 911first came out this morning after confirmation that he died in the hospital, there was a process here csrying body out of the hospital in the blocks here behind us. i spoke to a sheriff's deputy right after that, and she was too overwhelmed to say much. she said that, as of last night, she wa working alongside ron helus and she couldn't even express how much he will be missed on the force and how much they admire him and are just shaken by hi loss. >> woodruff: just so horrific, the whole thg. mary, you said in your report that the sheriffs officials said the gunman was a former marine, may have had ptsd issue anything more known about that? >> we know 28-year-old ian david long who did have some contact already with the sheriff's departmentere, at one point he

has been a victim of a battery situation, also police were called to his house back in april for a domestic disturbanc, at that poihe records say that he was i rate and irrational but uh not disturbed enough to hpitalize. to what degree any of this may be tied to the fact that he is a veteran of war, at ts point, that would be pure speculation. we don't know much. those are tails that will be coming out in the coming hours and days. >> woodruff: mary mccarthy reporting for us from thousand oaors, cala. mary, such a terrible story. thank you. and m anothor story tonight: the trump administration has announced a plan that would limit the number of non-citizens permitted to claim asylum when crossing the southern border. to explain what this means, i'm joined by our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor, and alan goz. he is an immigration reporter for "usa today."

llo to both of you. alan, i'm going to start with you. you cover this issue all the timexe. whatly does this new rule represent? what does it mean? >> yeah, currentlpeople are allowed to apply for asylum if they either present themselves at a port of entry or enter illegally into the country andil they can l apply for asylum. u.s. law is very clear on th our international conventions that we are a party to are very clear on that, but what the administration is proposing now is to t off the ability for people who enter the country illegally from being able apply for asylum. >> woodruff: and do we know -- does thnie adration have the legal authority to do that? >> that is something that is going to be litigated quite heavily al.st immediately we are expecting lawsuits possibly as early as tomorrow challenging this announcement because, again, the 1965 immigration nationality act cally states somebody is allowed to apply for asylum "whether or not t they enter

designated port of arrival." what the administrations using, the legal argument that they're making is another part of u.s. lawshat all the president to ban entry to people imental are deemed "de to the interests of the united states." that's the same rationale that they used to implement tir travel ban, which was shot down, the first two versions of that which wdo shot but ultimately upheld by the supreme court. so they're thinking that iosame rale can apply here and we're expecting a presidential proclamation as early as tomorrow, on friday, outlining thactly who he's targeting wi this, and then the lawsuits will start, and then we'll see -- this is thekind of case that will likely end up before the supt.reme cour >> woodruff: yamiche, this is something we have been hearing for the white hou first several days, the first hint was before the midtermct elns. what is driving this decision on their part? >> the president is invoking national emergency powers, national security powers because he sees immigration as a

national security crisis, really. over and over again, thesi prnt says he thinks america is being invaded by immigrants and as a result you see him taking this really remarkable move. i want to walk you through some to have numbers informing this administration. i was on a call with a senior adinistration initial today. something we know, the asylum denial rate in 2012 unwe are president obama -- under president obama was 44.5%, now under trump 70% in 2018. the incdible fear rereferrals, people referred to for interviews, 5,000 people in 2008, now up to 97,000 people in 2018. so the trump administration say thrrg too many people claiming asylum and the vast majority of these people don't have a credible fear claim. >> woodruff: but thrationale behind their doing this is that they think most of these people are going to do what in this country?

what is the fear? what is the concern? is it theknurls or is it that they think these people will eak laws, or are they making that clear?>> he president has made it pretty clear that he thinks immigrants are dangerous to this countrhe thinks that they're going to be terrorists and all sorts of people will do harm mixed inith the people coming to this country. i think a big thing motivating e president is a large group of immigrants from central enamerica, people have referring to it as the caravan. the president said just last week at the white house, they should dunn back now, they're wasting their time, seen lgely as a threat before. now the president is following up that statement with policy changes. >> woodruff: alan gomez, how does ts get implemented? do they simply look at people who come across the boredaround say, if you're requesting legal asylum, we're not even ing to take your paperwork is this. >> yeah, i mean, we're still a long ways away from getting

there because this will be challenged in court and judging from the administration's previous actions, there is a strong likelihood there will be at least some kid of primnary injunction which molds this off for a while. but if this goes into effect, it will be, yes, if you come into a port of entr and legally process the asylum, yes, you wille heard. if you come across the bored and try to request asylummum, you will not be able to. that's themaker. unere will be some mechanisms to stay in the y but asylum will no longer be one of them for them. >yamiche, the presidentbelievess under siege. does he feel reinforced by the midterm elections? >> this is all about the president feeling likee's keeping promise to the base that's staying with him. the president campaigned in016

and during the midterms traveling all across the country making the case that immigrants were one of the largest likely threats to america both economically and i would say culturally in some ways. so the president is saying is is a national security issue. i mean, i can't stress enough that he is invoablging national emergency powers to do this, so the president is looking at immigrants and saying we can't do this. also there's a 78-page rulean unced today or really released today u part of that says that there are negotiaions going on between mexico, honduras, el salvdor and the u.s. and those negotiations have not helped this situation, so president isedlso saying i t to do this diplomatically, i now have no choice but to do this this way. >> woodruff: alan gomez, bottom hein, t earliest this could be implemented, what's the best educated guess? >> again, that's a very good question. he's expected to possibly sign the presidential proclamation by tomorrow, which means this could go into effect very, quick

much like what we saw with the travel ban right after he took over and moved into thwhite house. so that could go in very quickly. that means, in theory, icould affect these caravan members trying to make it to the u.s. right now, but it's important to note the last caravan tha got here, we actually have good tanumbers -- good n this, 401 of them legally presented toemselves at ports of entry request asylum. about 122 of them got fed up th that wait and tried to enter the country illegally. so that gives us the idea thatf the majority these people are trying to do exactly what they say they are trying to do, which is legally present themselves at these ports, so it remains to be seen how many people this wouldf actuallyt. >> woodruff: late-breaking story. we thank you both for scrambling. alan gomez, yamiche alcindor, thank you. >> thank you so much. . in the day's other news, a new wildfire exploded to life in northern california, and fials ordered an entire town of 27,000 people, including a hospital, to evacuate.

high winds drove the fast-moving flames toward paradise, 180 miles northeast of san francisco. witnesses described homes engulfed by the fire. with the fire growing rapidly, nothe state hadeclared an emergency in the region. u.s. supreme court justice ruth nsbader rg was in a washington hospital today, after she fractured three ribs. 85ginsburg i a spokeswoman said she fell in her office last night, and was hospitalized early this morning. the justice broke two ribs in 2012, and had other health prlems, but she has never missed upreme court arguments. in justice ginsburg's absence, the court went ahead with a ceremony welcoming new justice brett kavanaugh, who was sworn in last month. president trump attended today's event, along with the first lady. the seven other justicesnd new acting attorney general matthew whitaker also attended. several major races remained undecided today from tuesday's elections.

in geoia, republican brian kemp stepped down as secretary of state afterlaiming victory in the governor's race, but democrat stacey abrams has not conceded. legal challenges proceeded today, while the two sides jousted at separate events in atlanta. >> we're in court this morning, still dealing with these, quite honestly, ridiculous lawsuits, and we're going to continue fight that. the votes are not there for her. i certainly respect the hard- fought race that she ran. >> how can anyone claim a victory when there are enough votes that have not been counted that could cause a runoff here? vewe belhat everybody is titled to have their vote counted, and we will not stop. f:>> woodreanwhile, in florida, the top two races in the state appear headed for reunts. in the senate contest, republican rick scott has a

tiny lead over democratic incumbent bill nelson. in the gernor's race, republican rick desantis has a shrinking lead over democrat andrew gillum, who conceded tuesday night. argins are small enough trigger recounts under state law. cein arizona's senate republicans are suing over how mail-in ballots are being coun where republican martha mcsally holds a slim lead over democrat krysten sinema. there are new questions about umpresident s confrontation with cnn correspondent jim acos. his white house pass was revoked after yesterday's news conference. press secretary sarah sanders claimed that acosta put his hands on an intern who was trying to takehe microphone from him, and she tweeted out video to support her claim. slowed down, the original video urca acosta's hand brushing the woman's arm. to some viewers, the version

tweeted by sanders appeared to make the gesture look more aggressive. in pakistan, a christian woman accused of blasphemy agas st islam en released from a prison. asia bibi was set free a week t after a court threw r death sentence. the announcement touched off fresh protests today by radical islamists. the foreign office said she is still in pakistan, but it would t say where. >> ( translated ): she is a free woman now. her writ is ing heard. when a decision is made, she will go wherever she wants to go. is as a free country; sh free national. >> woodruff: bibi has been offered asylum by the european parliament. the captain of a toust boat that capsized in missouri and killed 17 people, was indicted today. kenneth scott mckee faces 17 federal counts of misconduct, or nligence. the so-called duck boat capsized during a storm in ly.

mckee allegedly fail to assess the weather or tell passengers to put on life jackets. google will now overhaul, it says, how it handles sexual misconduct allegations. y the compnounced today it will end forced arbitration for those making complaints, and will require training for all employees. last week, some 20,000 google employees around the world walked off the job to protest how the company deals with sexual misconduct. miin econews, the federal reserve today kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged. albut, it si that an increase is likely next month. the news had little effect on wall street. the dow jones industrial average gained less than 11 points to close at 26,191. the nasdaq fell almost 40 points, and the s&p 500 seven. ilstl to come on the newshour: the politics of guns in america,

teter an election and the mass shooting. how the acting attorney general could alter ste mueller ination. a closer ook at some of the newly-elected members of congress. and, much more. >> woodruff: we begin tonight with the midterm elections and a newly-elected memb of the house: jason crow. crow won his election on tuesday night, in part because of his stance on gun control. his republican opponent, cumbent congressman mike coffman, on the other hand, was a top recipient of n.r.a. donations. the district crow will now represent is the site of the aurora, colodo mass shooting 2012. congressman-elect jason crow

rsins me now. of all, congratulations on your win, jason crow. given what has happened just overnight in california and given the fact that gun violence was part of your campaign, you must have thought something about what happened last night. >> yes. the pace of these mass shootings are accelerating. it's happening more and more. we seeet to beng desensitized to it. pu're going to continue to back. i've made this a part of my campaign because i'm not willing to sit back and let this become a new normal. this isn't okay for anybody. i have young children and there wasn't a week at the we want by on the campaign when teachers and parents didn't come to me and express concern about this issue. why was it important for you to talk about? >> well, i'm a first-time candidate. i had never run before. i'm a. father i'm an army ranger. i grew up, you know, huntin deer and duck and rabbit when i rowas 12ng up, and i became

an army anger, used weapons of war at war, i've had them used against me, i foe what they're tapable of, but way before my political careered and way after it's going to be done, i'm going to be aatr, and when my 5-year-old daughter comesm home fchool and talks about the bad man drill and the fact ey have to hide in dark closets, i'm not okay with that and i'm willing to step up and lead from the front. what do you think is realistic to be coafnlt members of coress have tried time and time again to pass stricter gun , control legislatiey've had a very difficult time doing that. i mentioned the n.r.a. and other groups. both sides, spending a lot of moneolboth gun con and gun rights. what makes you think now is the time toass gun control legislation? >> i do think we reached a tipple point on that issue in america. you know, certainly, theot parkland sg, i think, was

a shift in moment. owyou see there's sustained conversation and momentum around the country. on common sense gun violence prevention. i think there's a lot of things wean do that respect th culture and heritage of responsible gun ownership in america and respect the second amendment, but also say, you know, there's a lot of things thon need to get you know, colorado is actually a very good example of a stay that led on. this after the war, the shooting that had a devastating impact on my community, we ledas andd yferls background checks in coloradond 400 people have been prevented from buying firearms that shouldn't have them. people are still able to own firearms for home defense and pecreation and hunting but those le who should haven't them don't have them because we do universal background checks and the vast majority of people are subehind those ms. >> woodruff: jason crow, congressman elect, yes, we know

gun control worked out to be a good issue for you go gun rights seem to hel republicans, particularly candidates for the senate this year. so this is not going to be a free raid in any regard in this issue. there is a strong body of opinion in this country that there shouldn't be gun control. >> well, i certainly understand there are some people that takoe thation, but i think we have to talk about this in the right way, eve to respect eac other's views, but try to find that common ground, that middlew ground whe can make progress, and that's what i did in my campaign.t my distr not a deep blue district. we have a lot of people that are unresponsiblewners and i engaged with them in a convnsation during the campai about what makes sense and what we can do. i think people recognize andpr iate when there are leaders willing to have the tough by honest versions, and if wealk about this in kind of personal terms, you know, i always talked about me being hunter and an army ranger and

using, you know, military-style assault weapons in iraq and afghanistan, butalso being a parent. so we have to really humanizeis ebate and understand what we're dealing with and what different people in differentie communare dealing with in their community. >> woodruff: so on the other dethe gun rights folks argue, well, they're trying to take away your right to have a gun and do away with the second your answer?hat' >> it's just not true. i have a long history of respecting the second amendment and culturend heritagof responsible gun ownership. i'm a gun owner myself. i hunt. i grew up hunting and i served in iraq and afghanistan, led over 100 combat missions, including special operations ssions. i understand these firearms well. you know, i engagen i recreational firearm use. but, you know, we've gone toor a country. we have over 33,000 people dying a year on our streets and in our schools and in our homes. enough is enough. there are common-accepts things

we can do that strike that right balance, that respect, again, thculture a heritage of this country but will save thousands of lives, and i think we hav an obligation to do those things. >> woodruff: very quickly, what's an example of that, universal background checks? what else? >> universal background checks,e magaimitations, another thing colorado led on. i would like to see mazine limitations. closing the gun show loophole. things like no.ly, no b if you're on a tempt watch list and can't bored ala you shouldn't be able to walk in and buy an ar-15. this won't impact law abiding citizens right to own firearms but i think make a lot of sense oalitionan build a around and can get things done. >> woodruff: congressman jason cr newly elected this week to congress, jous from denver, colorado. thank you, congressman. >> thank you for having me o

>> woodruf we turn now to yesterday's shake-up at the very top of the department of e.just the firing of attorney general jeff sessions continues to stir questions about the future o the special counsel's russia investigation. lowilliam brangham es this uncharted territory. >> brangham: just to review how we got here-- last year, jeff sessions recused himself from any investigations into the 2016 campaign. d , when special counsel robert mueller was later appointed to lead thrussia probe, oversight of that investigation fell to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. but with sessions' being pushed out yesterday, that oversight now reverts to his replacement, his former chief of staff, and ngnow the acttorney general, matthew whitaker. before joining the justice department, whitaker was openly critical of the mueller investigation he is now overseeing.

that has led some leading cdemocrats l for him to recuse himself. to help us understand what all this could mean for the russia investigation, i'm joined now by ine "washington post's" de barrett, who's been breaking so interesting news on this today. edevlin, welcome back to show. i'd like to get into two of the things you reported today. the first was we've heard leading democrats and now manyro peopled the country today saying whitaker has to recuse himself because he has clearly expressed he's already made up his mind about mueller's investigation. you reported today that that does not seem likely, that recusal. >> right. we're told that whitaker has no intention of recusing and, also, that he is very skeptical of any potential subpoena of the president, both of which could, you know, have real significanor

consequenceshe mueller investigation. >> so help me understanth -- there is no law that could compel whitaker to recuse himself, right? so what if he's made these reinions. is tny arbiter here tacked n y, well, you actually can't be overseeingvestigation you've already passed judgment on? ce>> so the recusal p is a little murky, but what we do know is that what happens is ethics officials at the justice erp'stment can look at a past works and statements and make a recommendation as to whether or not they should ,ecuse from specific matte but part of that involves essentially the voluntary cooperation of cithe of in question, and what we're hearing hiis thatker, as the attorney general, doesn't really believe there is an issue there and isn't particularly having aed i conversation with ethics officials about at the matter. now, we are tolthathitaker intends to follow the normal process on such questions, but

it's a real open question if the person themself doesn't believe that there is a conflict or a potential conflict, how much does a recommendation from the oethiice matter? and that's where we stand now. >> the other thing you touched on earlier was this other piece of your reporting today which is no one believes that whitaker willll robert mueller to subpoena the president. for people who haven't been following this that closely, explain where we are with regards to mueller and his would-be interview with donald trump. >> right, this haseen essentially an endless negotiation, it's been going on for monts whe mueller and his lawyers have been trying to get the president to agree to an interview and the president's lawyers have been resisting that, you know, offering written answers, debating sort of the subject matter that can be asked about, that sort of thing, and what's interesting from strategic point of view about the notion that whitaker may

just simply not agree to consider a subpoena of the president is the threat of that subpoena has hung over these negotiations the entire time. if, in fact, the justice partment takes away the threat of that subpoena, to a certain degr, the negotiations probably die because, at that point, the justice departmen lt has mus ability to pressure the president or the white house into submitting to an interview. >> help us understand a lite bit more what other leavers, control, et cetera, does whitaker have over mueller? could he go to mueller tomorrow and say, i want you to stop investigating this particular part of your investigation? >> well, the main arean which the senior justice department official oversees muellerhe is way the regulations are written, the senior -- the attorney orneral has final approval f what's called significant or major acts in the investigation. so, for example, a subpoena of a major figu, an indictment

-- in the investigation. so major steps require the approval of the attoy general. so, you know, it's up to whitaker, essentially, if mueller asks to joke a step l whitaker agree, or will whitaker say i don't think you have it, i think you need to do more work or i just don't think this case is strong enough, those are the questions that kee being now, but really, the next move is whitaker's. you know, we hav a't seen signal from him yet what he ly dolly plans to proactive as opposed to not do. >> just remihi us,ker himself as the acting agent would have the authority to fire robert mueller if he wanted? >> he does have that authority, that does rest with him, yes. t>> lastlre was an interesting article in the "new york times" today, several legal scholars argued that president trump doesn't have the constitutional right to appoint whitaker to this position

without senate approval. can you explain what thatal argument i about? >> yeah, it's an interesting argument, but i'll be honest, i know those are two excellent lawyers, but i will be honest, i know dozens of lawyers in town who are themselves pretty good lawyers who disagree emphically with their interpretation of the law. what they don't seem to address is at's called the vacancies reform act, and the vacancies reform act slls out ths process very clearly and, frankly, the large majority of e lawyers everpoken to say that there is legal authority to appoint whitaker tohis position under the vacancies reform act. i understand that people, including some pretty gd lawyers, have some questions about that, but, to be honest, there's not much of a view inside the government or even, frankly, inside washingtn that the president doesn't have the actual authority to do so. >> in the lent few m we have, i'm just curious if your reporting has showis there any evidence that president trump

knew about mr. whitaker's opinions about the mueller investigation when he gave h this job? >> a little bit in the sense that, yesterday, we were told that t president doesn't believe whitaker would recuse from the russia investigation. now, we don't really know the basis for that belief. is that belief based on something that whitaker told the president or told someone in the white house, or isyhat sim a belief that the president came to based on, you know, foing something about whitaker's background and past public statements. but do i think it's veryg interestd potentially important that the president believed, at least as owef esday, that whitaker was not planning tof ecuse himselom the russia investigation. >> devlin barrettf "the washington post," thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: this january, there will be a number of new faces in

washington. a number of incumbent members of congress lost their seats in this week's election, after a m d ararkeevamna nawaz takes a lot the next congress will look like. >> nawaz: judy, from women to veterans and people of color... how will the new members of the 116th congress diffeecfrom their prsors? lisa desjardins has been getting to know the new lawmakers she has been covering. you have been crunching t numbers all day. how different is the new congress going to be from the last one? >> this is an historic shift in who will be servin of america. let's look at incumbents, for example, who actually will be in office and, you know, this year was a record year for retirements and also saw defeats. amna, there wilel be 101mbers of congress who serve right now oho are leaving and will longer be there in january, the most since 1993. if you go back to the '50s to find another year like this, so

it's a generational change. so they are younger, the people comi in now. the average age of the 25 members of the new class are 40 ars old or under, a includes the very first two women ever to be elected to congress under the age of 30. overall, this new group of s memb congress, their average age is ten years younger because to have the members offcongress sitting now. thati>> the p are changing to different degrees. the democrats, you look at the house democrats coming into this new congress what changere we seeing? >> right at the top, women. that's one of the reasons the democrats were able to take over the house and you seeethey add ago net total of 28 women ti ranks. this is net, there were more women who weren't new members but they had some retire. a net gain of 12 member of color, equally divided almost between black and hispanics, but two native american members of the democratic caucus.

two other native american members are republicans. lgbtq, a net gain of one. however, there are some outstanding races that could affect that number. veterans, there wille six new democratic members who are veterans and that's something democrats wanted to put on the ballot and the democratic veterans won. >> that's on the democratic side when it comes to t house. a lot of change there. what about the republicans? the republicans lost seats and lost seats in some of these alareas. ov seven fewer women in the house republicaenn confe, three fewer people in clough, andse l in. florida. a lgbtq, the no republican members who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. veterans, republicans, a big gain in that, ten new members who are veterans of the u.s. military. >> what about the senate? the senate is actually going to look a lot like now with onet

exn, their overall will be three new women. we know that because some of them were appointed in elections. even though we saw heidi heitkampnd mccaskill, in diversity the senate will look just as it d now. >> we are still weight on the result of the races. we should know thesers num are based on the results.w what do we k about the races outstanding? >> it's not over. the yellow states are states rawith senats going down to the wire or a runoff like in mississippi. it's tnteresting, in theseee states, republicans at this moment have the advantage. t it's hard to say there could be recounts. we'll see what happens. these dotsn the map, these are house races. now, these races as the counts are coming in seem to be evenlyy split in the they're leaning between republicans and democrats but all of this will have a big effect on the makeup

of the house and the senate. >> it's been a long-standing criticism that congress as a representativeody doesn't exactly mirror the generalap democs of the country it's supposed to be serving, right? has that become more or less true with this congress? how representative are they? >> like everything, there are thatays to look at the first is this will be the most diverse congress this country's ever seen, no questiot abou i will have the most gender balance, more ethnid anacial minorities and more lesbians, gays and bisuals. however, it's not remotely approached what this country itself looks like. about 40% of this country is non-white and, of course, half i of the count made up of women. neither the senate nor the house looks remotely like that, and you can take out subcategories like african-americans. there are three african-americans in the senate. there have been only been five in the entire u.s history in the senate since reconstruction who have been elected to the senate. s so, you knowe gains. when it comes to congress, a long way to go and especially a

challenge as we saw in the numbers for republicans who say they want to have diversity in their conferences but they loste his year. >> so here is the million-dollas on -- what does all of this mean for how they're able to do the tjob they're senthere to do, how they're able to angislate? whate say about that? >> we'll watch the house where demod ats have taken over see the change in their demographics. younger members are more interested in more controversial issues, we see them talking about guns more like jason crow which of the new democratic members, and i think they're going to come in. as much as we saw the republicans who went in the freedom caulks a few yearsag they will try to demand more aggressive change. how the leaders who have beener much longer of the d.ic party react is something we'll foll closely. >> you will follow closely ind lisa desjardins with really important numbers and context. thank you. >> my pleasure.

>> woodruff: so where ll amazon build its second headquarters? it is a question that has gotten renewed attention in recent days amid reports that the company maooking at more than one new location. big companies often make news when they ask cies to compete itfor their jobs and facs, but amazon is a much bigger fish s in whatever pond it la, so to speak. billions of dollars, and e potentially 50,000 jobs stake. g john yanhas our conversation in a moment. but fit, our economics correspondent paul solman starts us off, as part of our series "making sense," which airs every thursday. h, alexa, where should amazon locate h.q.-2? >> in frisco, texas. >> reporter: the competitionor amazon h.q.-2 began over a year ago. 238 cities and regions were in the running. many made quirky-- some might

say desperate-- pitch videos. others offered amazon billions of dollars in tax breaks. case in point: former new jersey governor chris christie's newark bid: >> all of the economic incentives put together from the city and the state would realize $7 billion in potential credits against amazon state and city taxes. >> reporter: southern arizona promoters sent the company a cactus, while other places touted traits they're not usually known for. >> las vegas is well positioned to be a ca lyst for the most advanced smart city technology in america. >> reporter: in january, amazon narr from 238 to 20.contender now, comes a new twist. the company re srtedly plans it h.q.-2 between two sites, which, according to the "new york times," are excted to be crystal city, virginia, outside washington, d., and long island city, queens, new york. 5instead 000 workers in one

place, each locale would get 25,000. both locatns would give amazon what it wants: access to major metro areas with public transportation and tech talent from which to draw. and they each have unofficial appeal: amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos has ties to both areas. last fall, matt cabrey of select greater philadelphia hoped that would lure h.q.-2 to his neck of the woods. >> one of the things that's often under-recognized is, it's not just the city, where it's located, or it's not just the town or the office park. it's where the c.e.o. and where e the c-sunt to live. >> reporter: well, jeff bezos has a connection to washington, owc., owns the "washington post," has a housethere, right? >> he does. and he's a princeton grad, and other family connection in the greater philadelphia region. so those kinds of factors may rtactually be f this decision-making. eporter: but nothing is final. so even in new york, governor andew cuomo continued his h sell this week.

>> i think it would be an economic asset for the entire at i've said to them personally, "i will do whater i need to do to make it a reality." hai offered toe the name of cara is a nice name, but i would azange it to "amazon-cara." or maybe, "cara-." we have to talk about it. no, i didn't offer up cara. i did offer up that i would ange my name. i've gotten tired of andrew, anyway. "amazon-cuomo," i would change it to. >> reporter: an of announcement is expected any day. this is economics correspo paul solman. >> yang: for a closer look at the way both amazon and the various cities involved approached the site-selection process, and what's at stake, we turn to richard florida, an urban studies theorist and professor at the university of toronto's school of cities. he's co-founder and editor-at-

large of the atlantic's "citylab," a publication focused on urban life and development. and we should noteadt the he has sed two of the cities who bid for the amazon headquaters. mr. florida, thanks for joining us. you said you've written that this w never really about a second headquarters for amazon. what do you mean by that? >> no, i think this was amazon's way of going out to ultimately 236 cities and crowd sourcing information on thoands of sites across the u.s. and canada and north america because amazon is siting all sorts of facilities. i think h2q is a ruse and obviously it's becoming clehe when decided to split it, they were going to cite a headquarters, other regional headquarters, logistics and production facilities, r&d hubs. i think this was about crowd sourcing information on sites, on labor markets, gathering

information that allows amazon to site a whole l of things in the near term. >> in fact, amazon announced it's putting about 6,000 jobs in the 218 cities that didn't make the final 20. but when you say "ruse," it sounds like it's dective, it's somehow false, it's hurtful. how is putting jobs in these heties that didn't make final cut hurtful to them? >> look, it's pretty clear to enot just m but most experts, amazon if you where it was going to go from the beginning. maybe it didn't know it was going to crystal city,a virgi and long island city, new york, ubut if thought about it for a minute, i'm not the only one, other ban experts, maybe ten or 15 urban areas it could go for, but back in january of this year when the short list came out, i was able to predict this. i i said t amazon is goin go either -- now my prediction was

quite wrong becae i never envisioned a split -- either toa ington, d.c. where jeff bezos owns a $20 million mansion or new york city, the greatest global city in the world with more headquarters than any other city, or jeff bezos and condominium in the me warner center, if i could see it in january and i'm not the only one, i think it was clear theykn who they wanted to go, why put 236 cities through? the cities had to have board time, staff time, consulting time all putting this together because i think amazon had something bigger in mind, theo y wantedt to know all of the cities, they wanted the best database on economic development and site selection a ultimately will site a lot of things and maybextct incentives from the cities in the process. >> are the incentives that the cities and the states are offering, we heard governor cuomo in that say say it would be a great economic asset, isit worth getting the headquarters

to give up those tax incentives, those other incentives? >> no, absolutely not. the level of incentives that governor christie was talking about, 5 bcialtion i think, the state of maryld, i believe, wullion on the table there's no way 25,000 or 55,000 jobs are worth that.re the thing. i actually think amazon played this just right. t amazon did whateded to do as a company. the real fault -- and when i began to speak out on this was the u.s. mayors and governors, people i knoe,w and l progressive mayors bill de blasio and many others talking about upgrading jobs, having higher minimum wage, oese mayors know another and go to conferences like theon u.s.rences and mayors, why not have an agreement and s we're not giving amazon incentives, we're competing on the merits. we'll make investments onio

educ public space, in transit, but why are we going to hand out hundredss hundr millior billions to a trillion-dollar company and the world's richest men? that was really the thing that galled me on this and p other people are the war progressive cities and mayors, our blu cities and mayors really caved into this competition. >> richard florida from the university of toronto, thank you so much. >> thank you very much, a pleasure being with you. >> woodruff: songwriter gabriel kahane wrote his latest album "book of travelers" while riding a train across the united states on amtrak following the divisive 2016 presidential election. in tonight's "brief but spectacular" episode, in whe wake of thk's midterm elections, he offers a solution to better understanding those

whose politifrl views differ our own. >> so, i had written maybe a dozen and a half songs leading to the 2016 election. i began to feel that i needed to leave behi the digital world. i bought a series of train tickets for is kind of circuitous, looping trip around the continental u.s., which amounted to 8,980 mis. and i decided that regardless of the outcome of the election, i ing to leave the morning after, just to talk to strangers, leave my phone at home, leave the internet behind, and try to have kind of unmediated encounter with a side of america that i didn't really know. >> i set some ground rules for ofself when i was on the train. onhe things i was really interested in doing was not arguing with people. i think it's one of the fundamental problems that we rfaht now, is this idea we all sort of have contempt for the other side we say, "i just can't engage with that person." and there were some cases where i failed, and then i would go

back to my sleeper car and write in my journal, "y"you argued. said you weren't going to do that!" the amtrak dining car is an incredibly unusual space. wahaving meals with somewhere between six and nine strangernga day. the diar creates this atmosphere of social adjacencies, ways inhich people encounter one another they would not in their regular lives, particularly not in their digital lives. met an incredible array people. i met truck drivers, software engineers. i met three siblings in their 60s who are a family band. trains in america are inefficient in a way that few other train systems are. in that inefficiency, there's a spaecce at which recowith a slower pace of life, a slower pace of thought, and one of the things that i thought quite a bit on this trip while i was looking out at a mountain in montana, looking at the plains in north dakota, was the way

that we've grown to believe that something that is more efficient is necessarily better. as we become more blindly enamored of things that are efficient without kind of interrogating what is being lost, i think that we send otourselves intoa more divided space, but also a space that's less able to grapple with complex truth. there are no simple solutions to the kinds of intractable problems that we face as a country, about systemic racism, totion, the hollowing of manufacturing jobs. all of these are incredibly tecompliproblems. in an era where our attention spans are shorter, w constantly looking at a screen, tobut not taking timhink about someone else's experience. and i think there's a real eqconce to, to not having that space to just sit silently and think, "what is it to be

in this other person's body?" and you know, that's something which i think that calls for grave concern. my name is gabriel kahane, and this is my "brief, but spectacular" take on why trains in america are the road to radical empathy. >> woodruff: now we know. you can find additional "brief cubut specr" episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening wn mark shields and david brooks analyze a dramatic week of news. for all of us at the s newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been prided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? life well-planned..

learn more at raymondjames.com. >>nsf railway. su>> conmer cellular. >> 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 viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour & co." here is what is coming up. >> god bless texas. >> a midterm split. a blue wave of democratic votes meets a red wall of trump supporter. power shifts in america. i will talk to two winners.pe jackier and jack avlon. plus, contributorari weiss breaks down the identity crisis within the republican