captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshr tonight, california burning: the death toll rises as multiple massive wildfires rage across the state. then, several key midterm election races remain undecided. we have the latest on recounts in florida, lawsuits in georgia and an expanding democratic lead in arizona. plus, a report on the challenges of providing mental health care in liberia following an ebola outbreak in the long aftermath of a brutal civil war. >> we'd go to meetingsnd people would acknowledge that psychosocial support is important. but mostly they were thinking about how to get mattresses and thckets and those kinds of gs to people and food, very

important, but not about how you address the problems of the mind? >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. ecsf, the engine that conn us. >> consumer cellular understands that not everyone needs an

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>> woodruff: the deadly wild fires in california continue to wreak destruction today. thousands of acres are burning in more than a dozen active fires across the state. a total of 31 people are known to have died and more than 200 people are still unaccounted for. mary maccarthy of feature story news is on the ground and starts with this report. >> reporter: the scene in paradise, california is apocalyptic. the camp fire has left a deadly trail of wreckage through the northe california town, just five days after it started burning. >> there were people literally burning in their cars, running down the street abandong their vehicles, dying on the road. it was just utter, ijust utter panic. >> reporter: and the state's dost destructive fire in history could stilore damage.

across the state, more than 8,000 firefighters are battling flames amid wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. in total, some 224,000 people have been displaced. the campire began thursday morning and decimated the town of paradise and it's burning near the 90,000 people of chico. social media video captured the frened scenes as residents fled paradise. the 27,000-person town hasin largely been iated. husks of cars line streets next to homes reduced to rubble. one survivor described the moments as the fire tore through. >> it was just a shower of h embers, part of my sleeve and east, the wind was blowing really heavily and ispot firing ahead of the fire. >> reporter: efforts to find missing loved ones are underway. ten search crews are scouring paradi and the surrounding towns. they have found more bodies in

the ashes, using d.n.a. experts to identify the dead. more than 200 people remain unaccounted for. part of that may be because those missing have not been able to get in touch with loved ones, but the death toll is still expected to rise. in southern california, the woolsey fire continues to grow and wreak havoc. it began thursday afternoon and oshas spread into parts of angeles and ventura counties. firefighters are battling gusty conditions as the powerful santa ana winds fan the flames. officials forced evacuations in thousand oaks, where last week a gunman killed 12 people and himself at a country-western inr. >> it's devast it's like welcome to hell. i don't even know what to say. it's like we're all walking around kind of in a trance. >> reporter: the fire has also ravaged the seaside town of malibu where multi-million dollar houses and mobile homes in the hills have been destroyed.

>> i'm surrounded by fire right now, i don't know whato do. >> reporter: one resident captured flames swallowing her malibu neighborhood as she fled. malibu and nearby calabasas are under mandatory evacuation orders and authoritiesdeave urged res to be prepared for new blazes. >> these are extreme conditions. if there's a fire in your neighborhood, do not wait for an evacuation order, leave. >> reporter: two new fires also broke out today near the woolsey fire, shutting down california highway 118. with the flames only partially contained across the, california governor jerry brown has declared a state of s ergency. he said these fipresent a new reality for the state, with longer and more devastating fire seasons to come. >> this is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal. and this new abnormal will continue, certainly in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years.

and unfortunately the best science is telling us that dryness, warmth, drought, all those things, they're going to intensify. >> reporter: he has requested federal funds to fight the fires and rebuild the damageareas. ov the weekend though, president trump appeared to blame the state government's response to the fires. in a tweet, he wrote: "there is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in calornia except that forest management is so poor. california recovered from a five-year drought two years ago, but conditions across the state remain dry and windy, ripe for wildfires. authorities say the combination of drought, rising temperatures from climate change and the construction of homes deeper into forest areas will only make things worse. gusty conditions and low humidity conditions are expected across the state through tuesday. >> woodruff: and mary maccarthy joins us now.

so, mary, tell us exactly where you are right now, and give us a sense of the scene there. >> reporter: so where i'm standing now, judy, is a residential subdivision in oak park outside ofos angeles, and what we're seeing here is what we're eing across th region is you have suburban homes built into these beautiful roll hills that the region is known for, and the fire has come in and sort of skipped and jumpedss ache neighborhood, and you end up with scenes like this, a few homes scattered thughout the neighborhood that are entirely decimated, burned to the ground. a very difficult situation. speaking to neighbors, in this particular neighborhood, we learned that this, in fact, is the home of a firefighter. he was at home, in the neighborhood, puttg out fires at homes around him when the fire broke out in his own home. fortunately, hwas able to grab his wife, their pets and get out on time to safety. at this point, he is out there with the thousands of other

california firefighters, fighting the blazes as we speak. >>oodruff: mary, you re talking earlier today with the red cross helping with iacuation. whthey told you? >> that's right. i would just add one to have the evacuation centers set up at a local recreation center in the immediate emergency respoe, the first night, they had about 250 evacuees. they said the numbers have been going down slowly asve peopl been able to goher family's homes or homes of loved ones. at this point, they're moving into phase two of the response, which is taking the evacueesth stile, many senior cotizens and putting them into longer-term odations. at this case add california lutheran university which offered a place wherehave showers and more basic comforts that people need when they have been pushed out of their homes. >> woodruff: mary, w know, in a terrible coincidence, this is where the awful shooting at a

bar and dance club was in alousand oaks last week. they're g with a double tragedy. >> where i'm standing is close to 2000 oaks. some of the peoplhave have been able to evac were were in thousand oaks,er and there reports of families directly affected by the shootings either sing their loved ones or people still in the hospital, they are, in fact, out of a home. a very difficult situatifu. some of thrals, at this point, have been postponed. so it's just anniaginable situation for the residents of thousand oaks. >> woodruff: we certainly wis them the very best. mary mccarthy, thank you so much. and for a closer look at the terrible fire toll in the northern parof the state, sheriff kory honea of butte county joins us by phone. sheriff honea, so many people displaced, all the death there. what is your main task now? >> well, from a law enforcement perspective and from a coroner's

persctive because i'm also the county coroner, we are first preparing ourselves in the evet i need to evacuate additional areas, this fi still going on, so we have law enforcement officers here that would help with that. once the area is evacuated, course, then we have law enforcement officers remaining there to provide security, to prevent, hopefully, anybody from getting in there and engaging in looing. then, on the other side of that many, many people have been displaced. we are recereiving a lot of rts from people who can not , nd friends or loved ones, and, 're investigating those as a missing persons. that's a pretty daunting task, given how big this particular situation is.dd inion to that, we are in the process of going into the burned-out areas and recovering human remains that perished in the fire. w druff: and the process of identifying those remains,

how are you dealing with that? >> so that is a difficult process, made more difficult by the fact that many of these people succumbed to the fire. in some cases, we have badly-burned bodies. in those cases, if there are fingerprints still available, we might use fingerprints to identify them. we can also usedental reds. if that's not possible, we would look to use dna. in other cases, the fire was so intense that all we have is skeletal remains or bones, and wells believe there is high likelihood that some of the remains may have been completely consumed by the fire. >> woodruff: it's just almost impossible to imagine how. horrib how are you going about trying to reunite people with their loved ones? >> we have got people dispersed

all over. we have a good number of them in shelters. beyond that, there were a lot of people that didn't go to shelters and they either went with friends and family, some got hotels in other locations. so it has been a difficult task. we are working to try d that. we are asking people if they'ree missing a or a family member to contact our office and we'll provide some numbers sou n perhaps put that up. we ask that they contact us and then we are checking our systeme tof we can locate them. we're checking our -- with the local shelters, trying to get information from the local shelters, and we're also asking those people of the program to utilize their own networks to try to locate them if they do let us know. >> woodruff: are there any good stories you're able ?to fi are you able to reunite people? >> we are. although i d't have that specific number in front of me, but we havbeen able to find

people and make sure that they were accounted for andte them, and that is a really positive thing. haveodruff: and do you enough help, do you have enough in your office and adjacent sheriff's offices to do the work that you need to get done? >>sell, certainly my office 'st big enough to take this own. nprecedented, given what we're dealing with at this point, we're on pace be the most deadliest fire in the history of california. so i've reached out through the california law enforcemeem synd as a result, i have law enforcement officers, search and rescue members, coroners teams, a whole host of specialties and displines that have come throughout california to assist me. >> woodruff: sheriff kory honea dealing with what sounds like an almost unsurmountable job, but you're certainly getting the help you need and we wish you the very best. thank you. >> thank you, i appreciate it.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, president trummed that "an honest vote count is no longer possible" in florida's nyvernor and senate races. he tweeted "allots are missing or forged," and said republicans rick scott and ron desantis, who both have slim d leads, should lared the winners. he provided no evidence for his claim. meanwhile, the race for governor in georgia remains too close to call. nsd in arizona, democrat kyrsten sinema maint narrow lead in the state's senate contest. we'll ta recounts after the news summary. stocks plummeted on wall seet today, after apple, amazon, and other tech companies suffered steep losses. the dow jones industrial average plunged 60points to close at 25,387. the nasd fell 206 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 54. israeli air raids in the gaza strip killed at least three palestinians today. they came less than 24 hours after an israeli undercover operation killed a hamas

commander and six other palestinians. the strikes are the latest in what's becoming a baorth between israel and gaza. an israeli military spokesman said at least 200 retaliatory palestinian rockets targeted israel today. a hamas spokesman blamed israel r the escalation. >> ( translated ):he israeli enemy struck a pivotal point for all the regional and international parties that were seeking to strengthen the cease- fire and to end the crisis in y e gaza strip. the israeli enn't n terested in a calm and it's not interested end to the gaza strip blockade. the israeli occupation is the one responsible acr these stupid ons. the palestinian resistance will never abandon its duty in making araeli occupiers pay the price for all these crim foolish acts. >> woodruff: israeli primen minister benjatanyahu cut short his visit to the world war i commemorations in to address the escalating conflict. there's word north korea is operating 16 secret ballistic

missile bases, in spite of ongoing nuclear negotiations. that's according to the center for strategic and international studies. the u.s. think tanpublished satellite images of the one showed a nuclear base about 50 miles nor of the demilitarized zone. the evidence contradicts president trump's claithat the north is eliminating its nuclear programs. back in this country, catholic bishops delayed a vote on new ways to combat sex abuse in the church. coey had gathered for a national erence in baltimore, and were expected to consider a number of proposals, including a new code of conduct. but the vatican requested they postpone any action until february, when it convenes a dwide meeting of church leaders. americans observ veterans day today, honoring the men and timen who've served in uniform. annual festi were held across the country, like at this parade in mansfield, texas.

sesterday, veterans affairs etary robert wilkie marked the occasion with a wreath- laying at arlington national cemetery. and the federal government has medated its exercise guidelines for the first n a decade. recognizing the childhood obesity problem, it now ngrecommends children as ys three be active. the guidelines used to bin at age si it also proposes that adults get at lst 2.5 hours of exercise weekly, and avoid sitting for a prolonged period of time. only 20% of americans are currently getting enough exercise. still to come on the newshour: dte results of several key m election races remain in question. an interview with a representative-elect on th democrats retaking the house. tackling mental illness in the wake of ebola ravaging liberia, and much more.

>> woodruff: nearly a we after election day 2018, there are still votes uncounted and races a ft to call. the drer who won and lost will stretch into a second week. lisa desjardins brings us up to speed. >> desjardins: these are the sights and sounds of a high- stakes recount: an election center buzzing with staffers, scning machines gobbling u piles of ballots, and in florida, no less, evoking memories of chads and undervotes and the state's weeks-long post- election drama in 2000. this year's machine recount of eight million ballots was ordered satuay, in three dead- heat statewide races, including the race for governor, between atpublican ron desantis and demondrew gillum, as well as the race for u.s. senate, between republican rick scott and democrat bl nelson.

desantis was leading in the unofficial tally forhe governor's race, and in this saturday video, he made clear he was already laying the grouwork for a desantis administration: >> since the election a few days ago we have begun our transition efforts to build an administration that can secure florida's future. with the election behind us, it's now time to come together as a state as we prepare to brve all floridians. >> desjardins: that same day, gillum, who had conceded on election night, said he's taking it bac >> let me say clearly. i am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unap count every single vote, that we count every vote. i say this recognizing that my fate in this may or may not change. >> desjardins: they're in a recount because of how narrow desantis's lead ended up being after the unofficial count,

about four-tent.s of one perc scott's lead in the senate race over nelson is even narrower, and now litigation is involved. results from the machine recount in florida are due by 3:00 p.m. thursday. if it is still close there could be a hand recount some ballot on the other side of the country, arizona officials have said there won't be a complete initial count in the senate race there until thursday. democrat kyrsten sinema has a slight lead over replican martha mcsally. and in georgia, republican brian kemp is still in position to avoid a runoff for governor against democrat stacey abrams. the deadline for counties to certify is 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. but abrams filed a lawsuit sunday asking to extat deadline, arguing not all potential votes have been vetted and counted. and there is one last unresolved senate election: mississippi republican cindy hyde-smith is defending her

senate seat in a run-off race a video emerged this weekend, r owing hyde-smith praising a suppor saying, "if he invited me to a public hanging, i'd be on the front row." her democratic opponent, mike espy, who is black, called the remark "reprehensible." in a statement, hyde-smith said it was "an exaggerated expression of regard" and called the ideannf a negative ation "ridiculous." sippi runoff is inek just over two for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa acsjardins. >> woodruff: onethat was decided last tuesday: virginia's 7th congressional dist where former c.i.a. case officer abigail spanberger defeated two- ublican congressman dave brat. the district, in suburban richmond, has not been held by a democrat for nearly 50 years. spanberger will also be the first woman to represent the district. and she joins me now. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: i have to say, many of us saw the photograph

rrom the election night, you victory speech, it was a picture of you speaking with your 4-year-old daughter crawling on the floor between your feet, i guess that's the symbol of the juggling act you and others will be doing. >> yes, absolutel she was so excited. it was funny. i i could hear my husband calling for her, katherine, katherine, but she was beyond excited that we had won, so -- w veuff: so you beat conservaavid brat, he had knocked to off a prominent number of ina leadmember of the house of republicans. what's' changed? >> first and foremost is the way we campaigned. we got out in the community. for me it was sucha priority to be accessible. for so long, that had been the criticism of my predecessors is teey weren't accessible. we stawith meet and greets in people's living rooms and dining rooms to tlk to voters

about the important issues to them and that's how we conducte tire campaign. i was president across the counties, meeting voters, talking about the issues, from the beginning to the end of our campaign where the focus was. >> woodruff: sos accesibility, more than position on the issues. i mean, you're not nearly as conservative as he. >> that's true. i was talking about the issues. when you'se acceble and listening to people, you have a chance to hear what's important. in our district like so many across the country, the number on tissue people wanted k about was healthcare, cost of prescription drug prices and premiums, so that was the issuwe ere talking about. in our district, we have infrtructure issues like lac of broadband infrastructure in some of the rural counties, people were concerned about educational pornities that exist for their children and i made that my priority. we have been restricted recently, there are shifting demographics, but i think,

overall, there's been shift in penalty getting engaged in the political experience. we had over 500,000 people tgistered to volunteer with our campaign at's what drove us. ti woodruff: you mentioned prescr drug prices, getting the prices down, t ilding infrastructure, you also talked aboumpaign reform. >> that's right. >> woodruff: finance reform. are there things youk the other side, republicans, president trump are prepared to work with you on? >> i would hope so. voters, healthcare is the number one issue. i've heard that from solidly blue districts to districts who were tossup districts and i think really wrapping our hands around the issue of prescription drug prices and the rising cost of premiums and the instability thcarexists in the he market is something that there's a mandate from voters for us to ged together on this issue a

think voters are tired of seeing people in washington bicker across partisan lines because the bottom line is there are republicans who can't afford prescriptions the same as democrat it's something that if we're trying to meet the needs of the american people, it's something both parties should try to find mmon ground on. >> woodruff: one of the things to resolve is who is going to be ther of the democratic party in the house. you said you are not prepatreo support nancy pelosi for speaker. er whoid you want a lead can represent the full house, make progress for the american people. my question is wh fill that job if not nancy pelosi? who is it? name one or two people. >> i have tremendous respect for everything nancy pelosi has done ri a representative for the di, as a prior speaker of the house and leader of the democratic party, but i think what we nieded in waston and what we've had is we've had a shift in new voices riving in washington at the lowest levels and i think at the highest level we also need shi in the direction of the conversation and that starts with changing

tharpeople whdirecting that conversation. in terms of who would actually be next in line, no one stepped forward at this point in time saying they're going to run against her, so that makes that question a little bit hardr to answer i think in a vibrant house of repesentatives and a vibrant democratic party, there should be strong people whoep could forward and who could usher in a new era as we're pivoting with all of these new members coming in. >> woodruff: but youre just days away from having a vote on this, having to figure it out, are there no names o there you would be prepared to support in. >> i have not beenade aware of anyone spending to run apart from leader pelosi. >> woodruff: so another point you made in thi --ter the election, you said democrats shouldn't appear to be too partisan. i guess my question is you think you shouldn't stand -- this i president who is known for using very tough rhetoric, going right

for the jugular. in talking about democrats, are you saying turn e other chek? what should the approach be? >> i think it's the difference between offensive ande dnsive. i think when we're looking at trying to solve problems, we need to talk abousut the s impacting our districts as issues that impact the american heople, like prescription drug costs and related issues. when we're talking about upholding american values and who it is we are as a peopl that doesn't necessarily have to be partisan. i think one of the things in oul district pare very tired of is the lack of civility and decency in politics and i think it's incrediblimportant we stand up for our ideals, against the attacks on the free press, freedum of expression, freedum for people to bewho they are and certainly attacks on the intelligen the things we've seen in this shifting world that we're in, but it doesn't always have to be

an outsource of them, this is who we are and we should stand up for it versus democrats versus democrats. it should be american values we anding up for us. at this point, a lot of the voices are democrats, but turning everything into art an battle is i think where certain groups start to shut off and it becomes less effective. >> woodruff: what about investigating the president and ethical alleged misdeeds on the eart of the president, his family memrs, the administration, where do you stand on that? the democrats say that's part of this new congress. eg congress has a variety of responsibilities,slating those in their district and being checks and balances on the ecutive branch. it's a role every member of congress should be red reddy tol . in terms of particular discussions related to investigations that may move forward or be suggested, the question is what's the goal and

i think is the goal understanding something that happens so we can avoid it from happening again? is it upholding the ?rule of law all of those are associates of testions i think we need to be, as democrats a majority, ready to answer, because i think the most detrimental thingould be if i looks as though we're being hyperpartisan in our efforts t to potentially pursue any investigations as opposed to being driven by aesire to uphold the rule of law, being driven by a desire to ensure particular things don't occur again such as potential russi meddling in our elections, things like that. >> woodruff: doesn't sound like you're ready to impeach the president. >> i have not yet p beenresented with descriptions of impeachable offenses, so t yet, no. >> woodruff: congrswan elect abigail spanberger from virginia, thank you very much for talkinwith us. >> thank you very much for having me.

>> woodruff: as 've reported, votes are still being tallied atom last week's midterm election, but demopicked up more than 30 seats to regain control of the house of representatives. john yang hamore on the lessons of the 2018 midterms. >> yang: judy, were they the blue wave democrats hoped for? and will the new majoritlook like the voters that helped elect them? it's time for politics monday with tamara keith of npr, and stuart rothenberg of inside elections. welcome to you both. tuesday night, the story line quickly developed that this was not the night that democrats had hoped for, that the blue wave, some refer to as alue ripple. tammics a week out from election day, we've seen more races called, some margins narrow. tha-- what does it look like? >> the initial hot takes are not so hotfter a few days and what

it looks like is -- and president trump came out andcl ed victory and it's now, ll, it's even clearer the democrats picked up a lot of seats. several racell that are not called yet still outstanding. at t moment a.p. has it at 32 seats flipped, but there are many more outsanding, especially in california, and the important thing to keep in mind is that, yes, election night is a big night, it's a big night on television, but the vote counting is slow and niduous, especially in states like califwhere they have a lot of vote by mail. even if it says 100% o precincts reporting, that's not 100% of votes counted. >> reporter: tuesday night, stu, i remember fairly early the night you tweeted out, so what's with all this hammering? >> that's right, i think the narrative didn't change two or three days after the electition. i thinhanged two or three

hours after the votes started being counted, actually. you know, i understand why democratsedemocrats were fully n the texas senate race anthe florida's governor's race and the georgia's governor'race, and amy mcgrath didn't do so ll in kentucky, but once we got into a large number of districts what were competitive, ee was very clear we had a wave. be35 and 40 seats flipping is wave. a national election is a wave. ec's not a cherry-picked on where a district here and there flipped. there were sipsificantts in oklahoma, south carolina's firs congressional district. so we had a wave. people attempt to j the gun, they're emotional and invrasted in thes but we had a good democratic wave. a reporter: the georgia gave, florve still up in the air, the president saying votes being discovered in florida, being turned up, he really seems

to be challenging t legitimacy of this. what do you make of that? >> i think it's very consistent for the president. he really doesn't care about procss. he's all into outcomes and how the outcomes affect him and how he plays in the outc ome. maus think that process is actually more important than the outcome. if you don't get the process right, you can't get the ocome right, so i think it's what you see with donald trump is what you get. is is very consistent along the way with the kavanaugh testimony, the rigged elections. he's always undermining the system when it benefits him and i expect him to continue that. >> yeah, and the thing about the president is the first election that he was probably really truly invested in the result of is 2016, and that election ended at the end of the night or very early the next morning, and this election is -- it did n end. there are 435 house races and s5 te races and all of these

governor's races, and the minutia of the election process is not pretty all the time. close elections get a little bit messy. nie process has a lot of telities and things that, if you haven't been paying close tention, come off as weird or suspicious that aren' >> i would just add one thing, the more we have mail elections, mail balloting, absentee ballots and the like, the more ss wilcated this proce be. i remember we tweeted the other day, maybe the president needs to understand how the mail works. it's a slow procss. let the votes come in and you've got to count them. that's theay it is. >> and to match the signares on the absentee ballots. >> reporter:nealk about the voices coming into the house, the leadership, at the top levels, the leadership team that appears to be headed to remain has been there about a

decade, the three top leaders in the late 70s, is there going to be a challenge for the democrats, the public face of the party as we approach 2020? >> certainly if the leadership stays exactlithe way it is, can picture the rnc e-mails that are probably headed to my inbox already talking about the leadership not reflecting the broader american public and, also, the rnc e-mails sayi what about all those democrats who said they weren't going to vote for pelosi and now they do? one argument you have been hearing a lot in the last 48 hours or so is you can't replace something with nothingand until someone steps forward for the democrats to challenge pelosi, this sort asofent effort that's out there with members trying to put togther a movement, it's pretty hard if the movement doesnav'ta leader. >> stu? well, i think the younger democrats and mo recent

democrats need a voice. the speaker cliburn is an african-american, and this is a e rty that has tried to be dived there's no question, so 18 to 35-year-olds, they would be more comfortable in seeing younger members, doesn't even have to be in the form of leadership, joop. these are who speak for party and are involved in t interviews and things like that. i think that would be helpful fohedemocrats because leadership should, in many ways, reflect e party but, also, they should reflect the country, actually. >> and beyond the top, three democrats have a lot of leadership positions in the house, so na sncy pelosid she itionalrself as a trans speaker. they have had farm team issues where the people in the lower ranks of the leadership ended up toaving, hike ey general of california. so there is something for

democrats to figure out. >> tamera keithstu rothenberg, thank you very much. >> thanks, john. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: a behind the scenes lo at the new movie about gay conversion, "boy erad." and remembering one of the creators of "sder man." n t now, an ebola outbreak is aglling people, this time in the democratic republic of congo; more than 200 are confirmed dead, and officials hell it the worst-ever outbreak ination's history. it comes more than two years since the world health organization declared an end to the ebola virus that killed 11,000 people in three west african countries: sierra leone, guinea, and liberia. but the end of that outbreak brought a new struggle for survivors: mental illness.

and unlike the response to ttola, this crisis attracts far lesstion. in partnership with the pulitzer center, newshour special correspondent molly knight raskin reports from liberia. >> reporter: here in rural liberia, mentaillnesses are considered a curse. and caring for people who suffer from the most serious hesese illn from depression to schizophrenia, is often left to traditional healers who resort to the oy treatments they know. >> this is an african handcuff. whenever he tries dewith mentally ill patients who is so ag and could hm anybody, as you can seeyou put your foot here,nd he nails it. >> reporter: mental illness is widespread in liberia, a country deeply traumatized by a long, brutal civil war that ended in 2003. it's estimated the conflt left

more than 40% of liberia's four million people with post traumatic stressisorder. health experts say the 2014 ebola outbreak compounded that trauma. >> separation, grief, loss, trauma. you might not see them, but rey're there. eporter: janice cooper is a psychologist with the atlanta- based carter center who led the mental health response to ebola in liberia. she says ebola proved the global health community is unprepared to deal with psychiatric emergencies. >> we'd go to meetings and people would acknowledge that psychosocial support is important. t mostly they were thinking about how to get mattresses and buckets and those kinds of things to people and food, very important, but not about how you address the problems of the mind? >> reporter: dr. vikram patel is a professor at harva university and an expert on global mental health. d in many parts of the wo mental health problems are already amongst the leading causes.

not just of dibility and poor quality of life but actually of death as well. >> reporter: that's because until recently, treating mental health conditions in resource- ountries was considered luxury, one that required access to medication and mental health professional >> there are solutions. but one has to put on a certain set of glass that allows you to see the world as more complex than one has been accustomed to seeing. >> reporter: a growing body research is proving a low-cost, community-based model of mental health care toe remarkably effective. this model crosses cultures by training local health care workers like nurses to deliver basic mental health services such as coubenseling anvior modification. in liberia this kind of program was first launched in 2011 by the atlanta-based carter center. the carter center trained 144 mental health clinicians in liberia. no small feat in a country with

almost no access to medicine and ost one psychiatrist for a populatifour million. >> at times people say maybe someone bewitcheanother person. rk reporter: these clinicians ith traditional healers, churches and hospitals to deliver front-line mental health care that respects the culture n a country where the mentally ill are oftcast and dnmetimes brutally punished. psychotherapist presley is the former head of e.ri grant psychihospital in monrovia. >> there are people you chained eske dogs to a tree becae the family just doot know what to do, they don't know that there is treatment available. they are under the iression that the individual has been witched or is possessed. >> reporter: aaron debah is a d aduate of the carter center program the only mental health clinician in nimba

county, a rural part of liberia that's home to half ion people. debah works bola survivor e pport groups in ganta, a city devastated by rus. survivors not only suffer lingering physical ailments like joint pain and vision problems - they often suffer depression and anxiety. >> the group today is for the continuing needs of people affected by ebola and also helping to support children or orphans effected affected by ebola. >> my name is jacqueline dessi. survivor from this epidemic. i got sick i lost my husband, his mother, his father and other people. i lost every person in my house. >> coming together once a week l once a month is so important, these things wrengthen us. >> reporter: t years after ebola, the liberian government ssed legislation to make

mental health a nationwide priority, but it has yet to dedica the required funding. this raises serious questions about the long-term effectiveness of mental health programs like the carter center's says director janice cooper. >> we're really hopeful, sanguine, about the afteath of ebola in terms of having more resources for psychological, psychosocial and mental health services. >> reporter: for now, this leaves mental health care in alst developing countries to a smbut dedicated number of local health workers who lack the support and resources needed th do their job. fopbs newshour, this is molly knight raskin in ganta, liberia. f: >> woodrur fall film series continues tonight, with a movie tack topic of gay conversion therapy.

jeffrey brown has our look. >> brown: "boy erased" is the story of just that: efs by >> i think it's true about me. hr brown: efforts by fundamentalisttian parents to have their son's sexual orientation erased through so- called "gaconversion therapy." actor nicole kidman stars as the mother, nancy eamons. owelow australian russell is her preacher husband, marshall.m >> it's y beliefs. >> brown: on learning that their son, played by actor lucas hedges, is gay, they force him into a kind of re-programming treatment facility aimgi at ch his sexuality and behavior. an attempt, in their eyes, to move him out of sin. now this may be the toughest, most rewarding 12 days you will ever face. but we have just one task, to bring ourselves back to god.

be brown: gay conversion therapy ha widely discredited by mainstream psychologists, but is still practiced. this account is based on a memoir by 33-yeaold garrard conley. ur i wanted to show how this was a cu moment that was part of a larger you know, kind of bigotry that's in the country. >> brown: it took ten years and tstance from his family for conlbegin writing. i never wanted to approach any of the characters in it, you know, my mom or dad or even cote selors or the other people there at the camp with me, i did not want to paint them with a heavy brush. >> we cannot see a way that you can live unde this roof if you're going to fundamentally go against d. >> almost every aspect of growing up in that town felt controlled in some way. >> almost every aspect of growing up in that town felt controlled in some way.

my fther used to walk out of movie theaters if owmeone, you cursed. at first, it's about looking into a window of somebody else's life that was kind of diabolical and it was all about institutionalized, a religious prison. >> brown: joel edgerton wn: joel edgerton, known for many recent roles, including his portrayal of richard loving in the film "loving" here plays the head of the conversion clinic. he also directed the film and wrote the screenplay. >> what i found out in the book was this incredibly hopeful story about one person struggling. garrard's story was so full of empathy considering what he had gone through. >> brown: a high school athlete d"th a girlfriend, in the film garrard, "jas he's called here, abruptly leaves college to comply with his family's wish: you thought it was right to go m conversion therapy. >> yeah,n, it's hard to like, tack it down to one reason why i went to conversion therapy. i mean a really terrible outing experience happened. you know, my father put a lot of pressure on me and i was really

afid of losing god. and you know, that was the closest relationship i ever had. you know, every day alst to the hour i would pray to god. so that was a terrifying idea that you know, somow i was going to lose god just by being who i am. it felt like you know there was no other choice. >> duress i would call it. >> brown: duss that continues through the weeks garrard attempts to convert. >> conversion therapy operated as a sort of intse come to jesus moment where you suddenly realize like, there's something really wrong here because every day the same hatred and self- hatred is being peddled to me. and you know, how is that connected to god or to jesus? i don't get that.

god and jesus -- god and the devil are having a bet >> brown: boy erased exposes some of th of conversion therapy, for example, forcing young people to confess publicly to their >> some of the most exposing scenes for instance is hearing sarah, the character sarah, ofving to stand up and rea a piece of paper, a sexual act. and what straight person has to er go through that unles they're being cruel to another human being. >> brown: confessing their feing and behavior-- di i never go to a job interview or an on and what happens my sex life becomes an issue inside the roo >> brown: garrard's experience happened 14 years ago. es left his home and now l in new york as a gay man. >> a lot of people you know,'v thatencountered on my book tour for example, they say how is this still happening in 2018. and they believe that progress is a straight line and that we're already there an just not true. i mean it is just so obvious

that people are still struggling all over and not just u.s. all over the world. and the effects of conversion therapy have traveled all over the world. >> brown: "boy erased" opens nationwide on november 16. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the toronto international film festival. o woodruff: now remembering a man d a big impact on the movies by e legendary comic book characters he helped heate. william brangham the story.ra >> bngham: he's credited with adging to life some of t biggest,dest, most iconic superhoes of the 20th century. utan lee, as the head of marvel comics, helped revnize

comic books 40 years ago, and more recently, helped turned those characters into a world- wide movie juggernaut at's grossed over $20 billion globally. bob batclor wrote the biography: "stan lee: the man behind marvel." >> stan lee had part in creating or co-creating some of america's and the wo popular cultural figures. >> brangham: back in the 1960s, stan lee was a writer and editor li marvel comics, a company being ed by the much bigger d.c. comics, which had the sturdy fnchises of superman and batman. lee was asked to come up with something, anything, to compete. his next project, done with his partner, artist jack kirby, was the fantastic four, and it was surprise hit, particularly because its oddball characters had weird powers, could never seem to get along, and defied the supeero type. this more complex hero was something lee repeated, with great success, with his subsequent characters like the

amazing spiderman, the incredible hulk, the avengers. fi a 2002 interview at the premiere of the rst spiderman rdvie, lee described just how it was to convince his oritor, decades ago, to approve the line: >> i said i wanted to do this gu he's a teenager, he's got a million problems, everything goes wrong. my publisher said stan, you've lost it. he said, fir of all, nobody likes spiders, you can't call a hero spider-man. secondly, a teenager can't be a hero, he can only be a sidekick and lastly, he said, you say he's got all kinds of problems? don't you understand, stan? he's a hero! hero's don't have problems. that's why they're heroes. shows you what i knew! >> stan's real power was capturing this kind of everyday superhero mentality that people were really attractive to. it wasn't the god-like speaking of a superman or the stilted language of a batman. it was a language people cld

really relate to and understand at a deeply personal level. >> brangham: while there were leways questions about whether shared the proper credit with his collaborators over the years, his influence on the comic book industry was indisputable. lee tried to turn his characters into live action, like in the 1980's tv series "the incredible hulk." tht it wasn't until the x-men, heen spiderman, in the early 2000s, d marvel movie itterprise really take off. since then, over a dozen orlms have resurrected, and interwoven, the sties of over 20 individual characters, many ea whom were first drawn almost 50 ago. last year's blockbuster, "black paher" struck many firsts: black superhero, a largely all- black cast, numerous strong black female characters, all done by a black director, ryan coler. >> one of the most important things that stan did was he always pushed the boundaries of wh. comic books would publi

stan saw that comic books and superheroeshould represent what we see in everyday life and so he was ahead of the curve on many of the issues we take for granted today or we stilare grasping with today. >> brangham: despite his success, the last years of lee's life were riven with stories of financial mismanagement, and painful, drawn-out legal fights with members of his family. but diehard fans will still look for him in the movies, where he regularly made cam appearances, like here where he >> i guess one man can make a m:fference. >> brangppeared in spider man iii, talking to young peter parker: stan l was 95 years old. for the pbs newshour, im william brangham. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, we examine the science that explains why california's mega fires are sparking in november, typically a cooling off period for wildfire season.

find that and more on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. 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 see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been ovided by: al >> and by thed p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. mac.thur foundati committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at ma.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 viewers like u. thank you. uraptioning sponsored by newsroductions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org [ theme music plays ]]

-♪ i think i'm home e ♪ i think i'm hom ♪ how nice to look at you again ♪ ♪ along the road ♪ along the road ♪ ♪ anytime you want me ♪ you can find me living right between your eyes, yeah ♪ ♪ oh, i think i'm home ♪ oh, i think i'm home ♪ -today on "cook's country," bridget and julia streamline a classic recipe for boneless rib roast with yorkshire pudding and jus... jack challenges julia to a tasting of black tea... and ashley makes bridget a family-favorite recipe for lighthouse innotatoes.