captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'moo judyuff. on the newshour tonight, fearing the worst-- with wildfires still raging across california, a grim search for the dead begins and concerns grow for those still missing. then, congress returns to washington following the midterms. publicans elect their leadership as nancy pelosi meets with new democrats to ask for their support. and, we take a look at the effects of hurricane maria on the zika outbreak in puerto ric and whether orm swept away the virus. >> there was no zika testing since september 2017, since the hurricane. so we have no way of anowing if we still having transmission or not. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. un

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entrepreneurs their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelsrg. >> supported by the john d. and foundation.macarthur committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more infmation at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: in california, the death toll from wildfires climbed to 51.bu

in the northe county officials released the names of about 100 people who remain missing. the u.s. secretary of the interior ryan zinke toured the area around the so-called camp re with fema adminstrator brock long and california governor jerry brown. meanwhile, in the south, a new fire flared up east of los angeles. william brangham brings us up to date. >> brangham: it began as a brushfire overnight, and quickly grew into a wall of fast-moving flames bearing down on a city of 200,000 people. e miles east of los angeles, the new sierra f spreading south from the edge of the angeles national forest and into the city. flrefighters say they're making gains against thes, whipped up by what they ana wind >> the vegetation is as dry as re's ever been recorded be the issue that we are running into ipretty much every single

ember that flies away from the fire and hits the ground catches on fire. >> brangham: the sierra fire is the latest in a strif deadly fires to strike the state from north to south in the past week. in northern california, residents of the city of paradi are still reeling from the camp fire that tore through the city six days ago. it's now the deadliest fire in california's history. 100 additional national guard troops arrived in the regionda to search for some 90 people still missing, and to help identify victims.ba greg gibson rely evacuated his house last week.hi he's now sea a list of missing persons at a nearby shelter, looking for his neighbors. >> my next-door neighbors, they were on the tv as missing people, so i thought i'd s if their family has remedied that i was hoping. and also a friend of mine from the gym, i haven't been able to t in touch with him and phone's out. that decision, it happened so fast i think that they would have been in serious trouble.

>> brangham: denise gunderson evacuated her home, as well. ever since, she's beent volunteering area shelter for 10 to 12 hours a day. >> we walked in and said, "we're nurses.we how caelp?" and they just almost started crying >> brangham: many of the people gunderson's been carinfor are seniors. more and more retirees moved to paradise in recent years, to live among the sierra nevada's beautiful fohills. but their lives are now forever changed by the fe. >> everywhere we went there was fire. all around, top, all ses, in front and we kept stopping.s >> ist almost too much to take, it really is. it's a strain on you. so now i have to reinvent myself all over again, start all over again and create a new l basically. >> brangham: in southern california, firefighters are making progress on two fires,be the largest ing the woolsey fire which is burning 30 miles northwest of los angel. the fires have taken their toll, physical and emoonal, here as

well. in the hills of the beachsideun commy of malibu, charley pollard lost his home. >> it's been a rollercoaster. if you think about it too much, i think the thing that gets us the most is just the outpouring of support we've got from all of our friends and people we haven't seen in years have reached out. it's like, "anything we can do,h orp," that's been >> brangham: the fire cut off all road access to malibu, sows now boat cre delivering supplies to stranded residents who didn't evacuat >> it's lot of boats coming in, bringing supplies, gas wipes, horse pellets, everything yocould possibly need. >> brangham: people here too are searching the debris of the wicharred city for victims many people still missing or unaccounted pbr. for thnewshour, i'm william brangham.

in the day's other news, recount aforts in florida's senate and governor races hther snag. voting machines in palm beach county overhead last night as election officials raced to meet a thursday deadline. they now have to recou,000 early voting ballots. meanwhile in georgia, all but one county has certified their election results. they have until friday to declare a winner in the governor race between republican brian kemp and democrat stacey abrams. and last night in california, democrats picked up another house seat after josh harder ousted four-term republican congressman jeff denham. britain's prime minister teresa may has secured her cabinet's backing for a proposed brexit deal to leave the european union. may told reporters today she "firmly" believes the agreement is "the best deal that could be negotiated." but its fate remains uncertain, as it still requires approval from the european union and the

british parliament. we'll take a closer look at the terms of the deal later in the niogram. israeli defense er avigdor lieberman resigned suddenly reday, to protest a cease- between israel and gaza militas. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will take overfois defense poo in the interim. he also serves as e country's foreign minister. in jerusalem today, lieberman said the cease-fire was his last straw, after two days of deadly cross-border attacks. ( translated ): for me, what happened yesterday, the cease- fire yesrday combined with the long term deal with hamas is a surrender to terrorism, there's no other definition, no other meaning, but surrender to terrorism. >> woodruff: meanwhile in gaza,h palestinians aamas officials celebrated the news of lieberman's resignation.

>> ( translated ): this constitutes a victory for thest rece and recognition of defeat and failure by lieberman and the zionist occupation. it's a failure of the policy of siege and devastating wars against the gaza strip. >> woodruff: so far, the truce reached yesterday has largely held. but this afternoon, israeli troops fatally shot a selestinian fisherman they said had gotten too co the border fence separating gaza and israel.n in total, selestinians and .ne israeli have been killed in this week's fighti back in this country, defense itsecretary james mattis v some of the more than 5,000 u.s. troops stationed along the mexicaborder. president trump deployed them as multiple caravans of central american mignts journeyed north to seek legal asylum in the u.s. today, secretary mattis ured a military base in mcallen, texas with homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. before arriving, he said the

troops are there to support border personnel and not confront the migrants. >> the department of defense missions do not involve military personnel, at this time, directly participating in any law enforcement. at the present, i do not anticipate military personnel coming into direct contact with migrants. >> woodruff: right now the migrant caravan is making its way toward california. nearly 400 central americans arrived in the mexican border city of tijuana today, aboard a fleet of school buses. and stocks fell on wall street again today, dragged down by losses in the banking and tech sectors.th dow jones industrial average lost nearly 206 points to close. at 25, the nasdaq fell 64 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 20. still to come on the newshour: inside the legal and ethical questions surroundinnew acting u.s. attorney general.

congress returns to washington after democrats took the house in the midterm elections. british prime minister theresa may finds a eakthrough on brexit, and much more. >> woodruff: president trump is backing a plan to overhaul the nation's criminal justice laws. if pasd, it would be the biggest change in a generation. mr. trump outlined the new bipartisan agreement this afternoon from the white house. the legislation i'm supporting today conins many significant reforms including the following. first it will prodeew incentives for low-risk inmates to learn the ills they ed to find employment, avoid old habits and follow the law when they're released frm prison nsm many respects we're getting very

much toughere truly bad criminals which, unfortunately, ther but we're treating people differently for different crimes. >> woodruff: criminal asstice reformeen an issue that has forged many unlikely political alliances. a driving force behit bi- partisanship is also, perhaps, an unlikely source: koch industries. a company best knownhe koch brothers and their support for conservative cause.and candidat mark holden is general counsel for koch industries. ehhe has been a key playerd today's proposed legislation and joins me now. mark holden, welcome back to the fushour. >> thanks for having me. >> we hed a little bit jus now from president trump about what this represents. what more can you tels would be the main difference if this legislation we to pass. >> well, if the federal level we really haven't had a lot of reforms that have been rehabilitative and redemp shif, is what i say. it's scaled back some of the

more draconian parts of our criminal justice system. so the first step act is what it is called. and its focused first on pri rehabilitation programs. so for people i federal prisons getting better in prison, not getting worse, so theere would jobs, skills training, rehabilitation, drug therapy, and those things. ese are evidence-based practices that have been shown to work in the states, to reduce crime rate and reduce incarceration rates. all of this has happened in thes stnd now it's working to the federal system as well. there is also, that passed in the house 360 to 359 back in the may. now this ll that was announced today is the senate version and they have addedur sentencing provisions to that, sentencing reforms that we think really ed to happen. >> woodruff: that make it lighter sentencing. >> woodruff: for those who have committed crimes that are not as serious.

>> right, it's for targeting low level, nonviolent offenders. and they area reforms tt will, for example, expand the drug safety so people who are low level drulg offenders won't have to go to prison necessarily, judges will have moreon discre there is also, it ends the three strikes and are you outlive in ri son penalty. there is still stiff mandatory5 minimums up toars but it does away with the life in imprisonment requirement. >> as we understand it mark holden, there has been real opposition to this. in fact folks are on both sides. folks who think this is wrong because it's not tough enough. it is too loose on criminals. rather senator tom cotton of arkansas has been someone opposed to. ples on the left you have peo who argue we need more reform what makes yothink this is threading the needle just the right way? >> ihink it has eugh, it is

called the first step act for a reason. this is the frst sep, the first real comprehensive criminal justice reform measure that hopefully will make it through the senate and then to p thesident's desk. the president's endorsement today was huge, it was very important. the police organizations like the fa trernl-- fraternal order of police now on board with these reforms,wahahuge, they were at the podium with the president today. this shows that this is, i t is theght approach. it is trying to help people who need a second chance get a second che.a it's helping people who are low level offenders not have their lives ruined foever for something that happened on their worst day. and again going back to the experience of the states, this is all because of what the states have done in the last ten years like texas, for example, where the criminal justice reform revolution began back in 2007. since that time texas has qulossed down eig prisons. it saved over $4 billion in taxpayer money and most importantly, they have a crimehe ratehaven't seen in low

since the 1960s. so the reforms make communities safer, make law enforcement safer, and give people second chances. that is what we should be whoking for in our criminal justice system s people go to prison if is a one-time occasion. y get better in prison, rehabilitated and they come out and are a positivpart of society and their communities. >> even with all of these positive arguments we notice today that the senate majority leader witch mcconneen he was asked about this, made a point of saying well, we'veot other priorities. we have to think about fungd the government, we have to thinkfa about th bill. he made it sound as if he's not sure this is a pority for him in the senate and that is going to be key >> it is going to be key. st a priority for the president and it is a priority for a lot of rublican senators and democrat senators. we've had meetings with leader mcconnellolhere he hasus that there is going to be a whio t and he told us directly that he thinks that the votes are there and we are likely to

going to get the outcome that we want which say vote on this bill on the floor. so we're hoping that happens. i any that congress can do a lot ofhings at once. and the criminal justice reform issues that we're talking about, the reality is we need to d them as soon as possible. this really isn't that tough an issue any more because of what has happened in the states. we've got this blue print t makes communities safer t saves money, it ves lives there is really not a good argument against it. >> how convinced are you that presidt trump is prepared to push, this we know republican senators, most of them are going to listen toim, his son in law jared jushner has been a big advocatedo >> jared hae an amazing job, yes. >> but is the president, i mean how far is he prepad to go. >> i don't know if you saw his aeech today. he was very passionate about id he brought up alice johnson and her situation. johnson, he commuted her life sentence as an example of some of the injustice in our system. is he very passionate about these issues. jared kushner is palingsate

about the isues. we have a broad bipartisan coalition passionate about the issues. i think that this is going to happen and i think the will the will drive it and we're ver supportive of what he is doing. he is doing a great job on this. >> mark holden, thank yo much. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it. >> so let's take a >> woodruff: let's take a closer look at whats in the plan and its prospects for becoming law with carrie johnson of npr. so we just heard mark holden's explanation. anything y would add from yor perspective of somebody who has been watching this for a long time? >> i think i haven covering these issues for six years. and today really felt like a breakthrough, the notion that president trump who campaigned on law and order hasc atually thrown his weight behind a plan that would reduce some prison sentences for convicted dug criminals. it say big deal. if one advocate told me iis a nixon close to china moment we derl see if majority lea mitch mcconnell in the senate actually makes the time to get this done this area. we know pauryan who is leaving the house at the end of this

congress has made it a priority. so a eyes are on thesenate at this point. >> woodruff: one thing that has changed is the departure of attorney former foarn general jeff sessions. we know he was very opposed to this. is his absence now going to make a difference? >> i think it is aningful, judy. acting attorney general matt whitaker is not opposed to that. jeff sessions really dug h feet in and seemed to oppose any changes to senwtencing s which this plan does now cover in his, after his ford resignation last week. a> and do you have a sense of timing, carrie, whether this is something that is going to need-- they need t tpush it duri lame duck. can they let if slide into 2019? >> advocates i'm talking to both democrats an sd republicay they think this needs to get done now. there is going to be so much going on next year with the house driven by democrats who want to do a lot of investigatg and a lot of focus

on health care and other issues. they believe the time for this to happen is no ebefore thend of the year. >> carrie, i want to you stay abth us. we want to talut another issue front and center at the justice department and that has to do wi a man yojust mentioned, the acting attorney general matt whitaker named after jeff sessions was fired. the public first heard from mr. whitaker today. for the fist time as we said since he took thnon this role hg spoke tooup of state and local law enforcement officers des moines, iowa. >> one thing hasn't changed in all of th department of justice. you may have heard there has been a change or two at thepa dertment of justice. one thing that has not changed is our unwavering support for local law enforcement. the trump administration will always be a law and order administration. we recognize public safety as's the governmeirst and most important priority. >> so carrie, again, this is te first time we have heard from mr. whitaker since he was namedr by presidenp to be acting,

today there was a lgal upon issued at the justice department.ng essentially sathat his appointment by the president was legal, it was constitutional. because questions have been raised. can you fill us in on that? >> yeah, legal experts including democrats and republicans who have worked in the justice department in the past have ised questions about the constitutionality of matthew whitaker becoming the acting attorney general. basicallleapfrogging above rod rosenstein a man senate confirmed. today the trump jusce department issued a 20 page legal opinion including that s matt whitaker igitimate, that his appointment as acting ag is lawful, this matters because the state od maryl has challenged his appointment as part of an obama care lawsuit it has brought and we expect other couhallenges. the trump d o.j. basically says that hist lical precedent andaws lean toward whitaker being the acting attorney general.

he has been a d o.j. for over a year in a senior enough role that it totally appropriate for him to be serving as acting ag. but what the justice department did not do toda o 350eu7b about ethics or impartiayamity issues whitaker may have, issues g.at democrats in congress have already been rais >> woodruff: absolute lee. we still are hearing democrats question that lel opion that came out of justice a number of them put out statements today including nancy pelosi who is vying to be elected speaker in the new house of representatives, leader of the democrats. but other democrats have come out with statements saying they question the legality of his a point.ri but are yoht, the bigger question many have raised is whether he, mr. whi aker's in position to in anywayrv inr-- interfere with the special counsel, with robert steller's investigation. what is the undding of that right now at justice? >> the justice department says that whitaker will consult withs ethics officnside the

justice department. these are career folks who stay whether the preside say democrat or a republican but he is not committed to telling all of us whheir advice might be.t and he is no committed to following their advice, whatever it is, that is whocy demts like jerry mather who may be the next-- he said he will be calling whited ker to testify under oath. there are real concerns whether he can be imartial in the mueller probe because as an op ed krishtd to cnn and on social media before he joined the justice department he seemed to endorse pr that this russia probe was a witch-hunt. >> woodruff: and thandt. >>hat the president was okay to fire fbi director jim comey and there was really no point in doing this deep dive investigation which the special counsel team has been doing fory overr and a half now. >> woodruff: and what is mr. whitaker said on that? >> whitaker has basically said that he believethat he will,

he has basically said that he is not refused or declined to recuse himself. unso it iclear where he stands right now. there are people inside thee justpartment who say he would not have been appointed acting attorney general had he already agreed to recuse himself fromhis matter that would have angered president trump and he never would have gotten this job in the first place. so there are big open questions about fla right now. >> certainly are bigpen questions. carrie johnson following it all at the justice department, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as congress n prepares f members to join their ranks, they're deciding who will be the face of each party following the midterm elections. lisa desjardins has the latest from capitol hill. >> desjardins: a chilly fall day in washington brought a swarm of energetic faces: freshmenon

members ofess posing for a photo of what is one of the largest groups of new members in recent memory. d but freshmenemocrats already face a test, as insidehe capitol, a fight over who will be their speaker of the house is heating up. nancy pelosi, the current top democrat, was upbeat that she'll claim her former title. >> what's your level of confidence? >> high. >> desjardins: most members are standing by pelosi... >>'m a yes vote all the wa through the end. >> i'm convinced she will have enough. >> desjardin but others are openly calling for changes in the party leadership. representative marcia fudge... >> i would say this: is we touti diversity inparty. there is no diversity in our leadership. if we're going to talk about it, we're going to talk the talk, we need to walk the walk. >> desjardins: ohio congressman tim ryan is among those leading the pelosi rebellion, and says there are a significant number of votes against her. >> we have a very talented caucus, a lot of talent and we

just have to figure out who it's going to be. but we're going to bring change. the people want change. this is the establishment versus change. >> desjardins: for house republicans, on the other hand, saw little drama, and overwhelmingly selected publican congressman kevin mccarthy to be their next leader. t unity in our caucus has been our strength. >> desjardins: across the t capitol senate, more easyan wins as republeader mitch mcconnell and democrat chuck schumer cruised to re-election. >> thanks a lot. >> desjardins: one bit of unfinished business added some tension-- florida republican rick scott stood with newly- elected senators, even though his race with current democratic senator ll nelson, who was also on the hill, is under recount. >> woodruff: lisa joins hi from capito, alongside our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. good to see both of you at the capitol. wesed to seeing you apart.

but there is so much to talk about. so lisa, let's pick up with the democrats in the house. nancy pelosi's efforts to be elected speaker, where does that stand right now? >> well, if you asked mrs. pelosi's team, they sayg that she is go be speaker. they point out she does have support from a majority of hou dem kratds and this is exactly what she needs when democrats votenternally two weeks frm now. but that is just step one in the process. step two comes in nuary, judy, when whoever wants to be speaker needs to get a majority of the full house, so to do tanancy pelosi would need more like 95%t of her caucusupport her. she does not have that right the, in particular ten of new freshman who arrived today campaigned saying that they would vote no, not to support nancy pelosi and other two doz who haven't said which way they would go. there is a group of dem kratds without are puttingut a letter trying to get enough signatures to show that nancy pelosi can't

cross that threshhold in january. but we haven't seen the letter yet it is not clear who their chosen candite would be to replace her, late today ohio residentrcia fudge, vaid she might consider running herself,s a lot of ions about that. >> woodruff: we did hear from some of the new and former members long time members just now in your report but you have also been talking to other folks. i want to ask you what they are saying and who, who would it be it's not nancy pelosi, you mentioned marcia fudge but who else. >> they say they would like it to be either a woman or a person of color and nat is oe reason marcia marsha fudge say top candidate because she represents both of those groups but it not clear who else would be the mix. it would be really important to see this new grope group of freshman camigned on bringing fresh idea, new blood to the capitol an here they are faced with a democratic leadership tam in office for 10 to 15

years. y oppose them do they not. i will say this, it is interesting, the new freshman today are one of the mos self-possessed and strong group of new members i have ever met. it's remarkable, espusially beso many are first time candidates. >> woodruff: fation naight. so yamiche, i will turn to you with what we heard from the esident today coming out in support of sentencing ref criminal justice reform. they're calling it the first step act. we just talked to mark hodern, we kawked to carrie johnson about it. ant i wto ask you, you are at the capitol. this has to pass the senate. wea knorm of it did go through the house. what is the significants now of the president putting his weight behind this? >> well, this could be the most important criminal justice overhaul oata genn. and that is a good thing for president trump if it passes. it cou show that not only is he someone who can be tough on crime while also reforming the systembut it also could show he could find a bipartisan bill. ldthe bill wouo several things including working on recidivism,

also something on sen tension. president trump talks about this w and order presidency, that our country needs more police officers. his departnt of justice said federal oversight of local police departments shouldn't bep ing. so if president trump can actually sign a bill that does something to help people get back into society after they tove made-- paid their debt society. that show it's is he going that extra step and allowing people to really move on after being in the yil justice system. and it's also important to note that a lot othese laws that the president trump wants to change date back to the 90s and a disproportionately affect african paryn people thaewhat also belpful if he could overhaul the system in that way. e>> quickly what are youar being how likely it is the house and the senate are going to be able to agree on language on this and both houses work with the president. >> i think it's going to be very tricky but everyone knows,

everyone involved knows they have a vey limited amount of time and they have to get this. done quick i talked to several lawmakers all across the house and senate and they really were cautiously optimistic. all the dem contractsere not elatedment i'm talking about senator corrie booker without has come outopping it, senator dik durbin opposed it. civil lights activist john lew opposes it, former attorney general eric holr also opposes it, "the new york times" editorial board opposes it and st today a hundred civil rights group res leasessed a letter to oppose it. -- told me this is really coming dune to sentencing. she wants to look at famils and say hey, which are doing something retroactively to helpo the peopleere hurt in the 90s. so it is really going to be a hard sell, and part of this country and in parts of congress. >> woodruff: we're going to be watching it clsly. rhank you both for you reporting yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you.

ier i spoke with one of those new lawmakers, representative-elect michael waltz, a republican from florida. onthe former green beret iof at least 15 military veterans newly elected to serve in congress. he won the house seat vacated by ron desantis, florida's republican candidate for governor. a i began bying about how his military service will shape his work in congress. >> you know, i could tell you in the fox hole nobesody carbout race, religion, party, social onomic background t about mission, it's about country, it's about getting things done. i coll you from my perspective compromise is not a dirty word. e voters in my district in north florida expect us to get things done that is going to better their lives andt not si up here and throw a receipt or kal grei nade. n tell you with veterans we put our lives on the line at a e verly age for this country end we are determined to see it progress for all can. >> woodruff: i hear you say compromise is not a dirteddee word. let's ta i about sosues.

what about on health care. a lot of conversation about that during the election. >> oh yeah. >> woodruff: do you see the two parties coming together to come up with a bill that covers preexisting conditions, lower the price of pscription drugs, for example? >> look, i campaigned hard as a business owner as well, on the fact that premiums are out of control. i ermined to get after the cost of health care. that may be tot reform. that could be market-based systems, selling across state lines, increasing health savings accounts. lowering the cost of prescription drugs which the president put toortd a plan to do. i think we need to flesh that out, absolutely. but if we drive down the cost of care and you put that as a priority, you actually will ma it more universal because more people can afford it. it also helps businesses lik mine. it is the fastest growing part of our defense budget. is actually health care, not planes and tanks and ships. and it also gets after our drtional debt. it is the biggeser of our

national debt. >> let's talk about foreign policy. did you serve inghanistan several hours. given how long the united states has been there, given the ongoing cash eultds inflicted br the should the u.s. stay there longer or is it time to come home? >> i don't think we really have a choice but to remain engaged. beuse laugh of the world's terrorist organizations reside in the afghan-pakistani border region. what we cannot do is just pull the troops out. look, i would love to get the men anend womome. but if we just pull them outlining we did q,in iraou are going to see the situation teutly worsen. so the choice here is how do we do it better, not whether we stay engaged. >> two other things. one is immigration. now there was a bipartisan bill proposed this year, the heard aguilar legislati that would have provided a path to

permanent residency for young people, so called dreamers, also would have money towards electronic surveillance at the bord w. not so muth a wall. do you see a compromise on immigration? >> frankly i 24eu what the president offered wa an incredible deal on immigration. so it was a million more dreerms with a pathway to citizenship then president obama offered. t in exchange for we have to secure the border. otherwise you're goinsato have th problem again going forward. and also refeorming the lgal side of things. you know, with the lottery system and then also with the other ways that you get a visa through chain migraon. i sponsored an afghan stoldzier to come over who is now a u.s. citizen and thriving. but he had felw soldiers and family members executed for working with americans ove there is over 50,000 of them on a waiting list for thepeal imgrent visa for iraqis and

afghans that fought with us. so when we talk about who deserves to be here, whhas earned the right through a merit-based system, that is what we have to drive towards. not st these kind ofore randomized systems that we currently have. >> all right, are you representing the state florida. i have to ask you about the recounts under way there. three state-wide races do you believe that ultimately those votes will be can counted fairly? i ask because president trump has said fraud has been u mmitted. did ow if there is evidence of fraud? >> we are for, i am certainly for eve legal vote being counted that is the heart of our thdemocracy. is democracy i have fought and all veterans have fought to defend for our entire's nation's history. but this problem in broward county andest palm has happened cycle after sieblg of assigning el. t there neebe accountability whether it is nedges or mall feesance, something wr very g because it continues to happen. so i think we need to get to the bottom of what the issue is ant stopom moving forward so

we don't keep having this problem. the votbeers deservter. >> but ultimately do you think voters can count on there being a fair process. >> i think we certainly need an investigation to get to the bottom of what happened. and i amonfident we are going to have a fair process going forward. >> all right, congressman elect, michael waltz, again congratulations, thank you, thank you, god bless. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: a report on the state of the zika outbreak in puerto rico following hurricane maria. as we reported earlier, british prime minister theresa may announced her cabinet hadov ap a deal between the united kingdom and the europeane union onerms for brexit. it comes nearly br5 years after ain narrowly voted to leave the e.u. foreign nick schifrin reports on the

terms of separation, and why th.e's still a long way to >> schifrin: when it comes to vorce, the hardest negotiations can be over property, money, and the ildren. and so it is with brexit, a divorce where there's not only two sides, but the british family is fighting within itself. prime minister thesa may is proposing a kind of divorce wi a transi friends, as the best deal possible. >> the choice was, this deal, which enables us to take back control and to build a brighter future for our country, or going back to square one, with more division, more uncertainty, and a failure deliver on the referendum. >> schifrin: on property, the sticking point has been the border between northern ireland, part of the u.k., and the republic of ireland, a separate country that's part of the e.u. today, cars can pass easily because there is effectively no border. the brexit agreement prevents the return of a hard border by temporarily keeping northern

ireland inside the e.u. customs union, avoiding customs checks between northern ireland and ireland.on money, britain would continue to pay the e.u. as much as $80 billion, for decades. and as for the children-- british citizens living in the e.u., and e.u. citizens living in britain-- they wointain current residence and social security rights. this morning in parliamay presented the deal as the kind of divorce mandated by the brexit referendum. >> we will take back control of our money, ld borders. we will deliver brexit and the united kingdom is leaving the european union on the 29th of march 20. >> schifrin: but may's critics from her own pty say the break isn't hard enough. leading brexit proponent jacs rees-mogg wadivorce that's a cleaner split. >> well she hasn't so much struck aeal as surrendered to brussels and given into them on everything they want, and tried tosrustrate brexit, that it not so much of the vassal state any more as the slave state. >> schifrin: critics on the right argue staying in the e.u. customs union prevents the u.k.

from making bilateral trade deals, and binds the u.k. to draconian e.u. trade rules. and the leader of a member of teresa may's coalition, northern ireland's democratic unionist party head arlene foster, fears the ireland border deal, doe't guarantee northern ireland's integrity inside the united kingdom. >> it's a question of whether li're separating the union; whether we are dea with the united kingdom in a way that leaves us adrift in the future. and as the leader of unionism in northern ireland i'm not about to agree to that. >> schifrin: now that may announced the cabinet deal, the e.u. must approve, and then the british commons has to agree. analysts predict that's the most difficult step, of a d that's already been hard on everyone. so where does the brexit process go from here, and what about the future of the u.k., the e.u.,e and der european project? for that we turn to sebastian llaby, longtime author a journalist, and the paul volcker senior fellow for internationale economics atouncil on foreign relations; he joins me from london. thank you very much for come on the

newshour, the is a lot of reporting tonight about how difficult it was for theresa may to get this through her cabinet, why so challenge smg. >> this has been a drawnout process during which negotiating a deal with the 27 countries of the euonropean unias delivered a cold reality shock to those who supported brexit. because the promises made in the referendum have proven very hard to realize and practice.a wee a deal, at least a draft of a deal which eye cron-- iroeacally is not ng to the people who wanted to leave the european union. they are now saying that the brexit implementation is not good en and that's why theresa may had faced enormous reistance from the right flank of her party that wanted a harder break with the st of europe. so we heard from some of those brexiters in the store we just played and from some of the challenges from within her coalition.

how difficult will itto be get through parliament? >> parliament is going to be a very tough challenge. theresa may's conservative government only has ajority by virtue of support of the all northern irish party, the dup the the. that p now that it would vote against the deal and since the way the party would mostly oppose the dealeoo, it only takes aw levels from the consultive ranks, let's say 20 or 30 to tip this into the tore tore wheren' you imagine it going through it does look at the moment that that is how it wil turn out. >> and i wanted to did about some of the specific criticism from the democratic unionist party from the northern ireland part of the coati. they worry that this deal basically puts them closer to the european union than it doest e united kingdom. do they have a point? >> well, their position is that they don't want anything, even a hint of anything that could drive a wedge between northern

ireland and mainland britain. for now that isn't happening. because the interim deal is that the whole of briin stays inside the eu customs union. and therefore there is a sorof hypothetical, theoretical objection whin the north irish has, it isn't something that will bite any time soon so it's possible in terms of the politics that the northern irish-- will be persuaded in the end to back theresa may's deal and that could make all the difference in terms of parlgmentary passage. >> let's zoom ou a little bit. eu officials who i have talked y say wout talk publi revenge, we some had to make this process difficult on the united kingdom in order to prove that to oths r countrho might think about exiting that they shouldn't try this. do you think the eu officials who have said that, have they succeeded? >> it's try that the populist government in italy, populists

on the right in germany and so forth. and ta refore there is sire to teach those populists theth consequences oir anti-eu rhetoric but there is also a manyre particularly in ger to try to have as decent a relationship with britain as they can. in thct, e vindictiveness has been a mixed picture. and i don't really view the outcome of this dl as the product much europn vin diction, they had less to fear from a zero deal from ireland than britain did. so the europeans did get more of what they wanted. a the pressure on the eu isn't only of course brexit. you menoned populism, migration through europe has helped push german chalonc merkel out of her job. what is the state right now of the european integration project? >> i mean it's pretty fragile. and so when you look at ad highly-indebonomy like italy which unlike greece is too big to bail, to big to bail, right now it has a pop

government, the economic part is looking pretty dicey. so you could easily imagine a resumption of the your ozone crisis of a few years ago. that is tension number one ineu pe. and the second as you mentioned is migration, whichs i with the big purge in 2015, and 2016, it has gone down. it will come back again and so i fore see that these arguments about miovgration, tension the single currency are going to come back and it is going to be toor europe, the ambition from a few years ago were let's carry on deepening, less let's carry on enlarging that has gone away. sebastian mallaby, thank you very mh. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the zika outbreak in 2016 hit puerto rico hard,

infecting 40,000 people. but following the devastation wrought by hurricane maria one year ago, the island's health officials claim there have been no new cases of the mosquito- borne virus. in this story by the groundtruth oject in collaboration with reveal from the center forig inveive reporting, beth murphy explores whether the hurricane really swept away zika. s d if not, what's being done for moms and bab risk? it's part of this week's leading edge series, which focuses on science and medicine every wednesday. z reporter: stefan rodrig was born with severe birth defects caused by the zika virus. now 18 months, he will never be able to walk or talk. >> he's having seizures now. oh, that's it. >> reporter: his mom, valerie, tested positive at the height of the zika epidemic in 2016, when all pregnt women in puerto rico were tested, for free.

>> the zika epidemic really increased the number of birth defects in places ere we had zika. it's irrefutable. >> reporter: dr. carmen zorrilla is a long-time ob-gyn at university hospital in san juan. she says few of the island's 4,000 zika babies have problem as devastating as stefan's, but zika can cause many other developmental issues, too, like eyesight and hearing problems. >> and this is why i believe that testing during pregnancy i. so important >> reporter: in the first nine months of 2017, testing identified another 1500 pregnant women with zika. then, in september, hurricaneri slammed into puerto rico. maria destroyed the island and t crippl healthcare system, including many of the systems set up to respond toa ika. >> we hatastrophe, we stopped testing. the health care system collapsed.hi >> reporter: the island's health care system came back to life, the zika testing program

did not. >> t health department concluded that there is no zika, the epidemic ended the day of the hurrice. >> reporter: assistant secretary of health concepon quinones de longo claims the zika testing program has been back up and running. and says there is no current evidence of the virus. >> so far, we are not detecting new cases of zika. >> reporter: she also says within three weeks of the hurricane, her department sent zika samples to the c.d.c. lab in atlanta for analysis. but in an email, c.d.c. officials refuted that saying: "the puerto rico health department did not send zika tests to the c.d.c. afte hurricane maria." >> there was no zika testing done since september017, since the hurricane. so we have no way of knowing if we are still having transmission or not. >> reporter: doctors began

questioning why the health tidepartment was misrepres the zika response and risk. dr. alberto de la vega is chief of the high risk pregnancy unit at university hospital. >> this is an island with a lot of econooblems and first of all zika is bad business for business. ci the economic burden is huge. >> reporter: phys say they fear the puerto rican government is more interested in protecting tourism than public health. thers even evidence that the hurricane eated more breeding grounds for mosquitos. scientists from a private research group placed mosquito traps around san juan neighborhoods. if they catch more than three of the za-carrying species per trap, the zika risk is considered "gnificant." scientist marian ortiz says these days when they study what's in the traps, the numbers are three times that. >> here were more breeding sites because of the debris from the so we saw places where we never saw larvae before, we were

finding larvae. because of the rain, there were owmany more breeding sites available. >> reporter: with public health officials claiming no new cases on the island, dr. zorrilla ok matters into her own hands. she teamed up with the c.d.c. to start a new testing program for pregnant women. >> we're going to teing for all pregnant women in our clinic during every trimester. i hope it's gone. i would love not to work with it. eabut, again, i want to be, i want the evidence. if the if there's zika, let's work on this. >> reporter: with a team ofs, docthe continued testing through spring, summer and now into the fall, with alarming results. the percentage of pregnant womve testing posior zika today is almost as high as it was at the height of the epidemic in 2016. en this new study of 280 w 9% tesd positive.

when stefan's family celebrated his first birthday, they decided on a superhero theme and dressed him like clark kent.ef for , there is no cure. for the rest of the population, there is no vaccine. 26,000 births are expected this year with no formal zika testing program in place. for the pbs newshour, i'm beth murphy, in san juan, puerto rico. >> woodruff: last week's elections highlighted the divida between urban l america. author gary shteyngart spent a good deal of time in bs h camps and rprised by what he learned.th at's tonight's in my humble opinion.

>> to research my novel lake success, the story of a hedge fund manager who flees his eyc investigation on a cross- country trip on a und bus bound for el paso, i did two things: i spent fourthonths tourincountry on "the hound" as we called it, yes, and i spent four years hanging out with hedge fund managers in manhattan. along the way, i got to ask the question: who is happy in america? and, conversely, who is not? the answers surprised me and changed the tone of the book i was writing. oring a leningrad-born sap soviet ashkenazi pessimist, let's start with the unhappy people. some of the least happy people i discovered were rsdge fund mana first, there was the competitive nature of their job, the sense that nothing was ever enough, and the fact that the money seey earned reped not a means of sustenance - for they surely but a form of winning, of being right, of proving to their fellow competitors that they had the answers to the universe.

a around louisiana a group of white supremacists boarded the bus and spoke loudly of krus fiezing muslims and jews, as we drove past a historicallyer african-an college one of the white supremacists pointed to a group of summer students and said well, they have theirco eges. and one day we'll have ours. which part of dartmouth don'ter you unand, i wanted to say to him. so who were the happiest people? first generation college students were aermanent fixture of my months on the bus. often they would cross state lines to see their folks or their girlfrien boyfriends. they would talk about theirpe prs the way we imagine young americans always have, with ambition and resilience and humor. i discovered perhaps the happiest people of all professors at the university of texas at el paso. they lead lives of relative alth and contentment along with a feeling that they from a part of someg thgger.

indeed, what can bring more fulfillment than the knowledge that you have changed someone's life. and not just by giving to a charity but by helping to educate someone for whoiohigher educis not a birth right but a shining goal. communits with the surest indication of happiness on my h ng journey. those who worked wople and not just basis pointings on a reoomberg monitor we optimistic. they had hoped for the people they mentored and hoped for a fractious country as a whole. along the board we are mexico an of the southwest extremities of our country i found the kind of people i wanted to become,f thure i believe is theirs for the >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. before we go-- today marks two years since the death of gwen ifil even with the pass ageme we miss her, we celebrate her and her values as a journalist in all we do.

i i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for alof us at the pbs wshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. s offer a variety of no- contract wirelesans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> kevin. >> kevin! >>evin. >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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