captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshou the worst-- with wildfires still raging across california, a grim arch for the dead begins and concerns grow for those still missing. then, congress returns to washington following the midterms republicans elect their leadership as nancy pelosi meets with new democrats to k for their support. and, we take a look at the effects of hurricane maria onk the zika outbr puerto rico and whether the storm swept away the virus. >> there was no zika testing since september 2017, since the hurricane. so we have no way of knowing if we are still having transmission or not. a >> woodruf that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major fundingor the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> supporting social

entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skoloundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. mmitted to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this prram was made ssible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: in california, the death toll from wildfires climbed to 51.

in the north, bu officials released the names of ab0 people who remain missing. the u.s. secretary of the inrior ryan zinke toured t area around the so-called camp fire with fema adminstrator brock long and california governor jerry brown. ofanwhile, in the south, a new fire flared up easos 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. 50 miles east of los angeles, the new sierra firis spreading south from the edge of the angeles national forest and into the city. firefighters say they're makin gains against the flames, whipped up by what they ana winds. >> the vegetation is as dry as it's ever been recorded before the issue that we are running into is pretty 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 string of deadly fires to strike the state from north to south in the past week. in northern california, residents of the city of paradise are still reeling fromp the ire 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 region today, to search for some 90 people still missing, and to help identify victims. greg gibson house last week.is he's now searchiin a list of mipersons at a nearby shelter, looking for his neighbors. >> my next-door neighbors, ttvy were on ths missing people, so i thought i'd see if their family has remedied thatwa hoping. and also a friend of mine from the gym, i haven't been able to get in touch with him and his phone's out. that decisn, it happened so fast i think that they would have been in serious trouble.

>> brangham: denise gud erson evacuar home, as well. ever since, she's been volunteering at an area shelter for 10 to 12 hours a d >> we walked in and said, "we're nurses. how can we help?" and they just almost started crying.>> brangham: many of the people gunderson's been caring for are seniors. more and more retirees moved to paradise in recent years, to live among the sierrda's beautiful foothills. but their lives are now forever changed by the fire. >> everywhere we went there was fire. all around, top, all sides, in front and we kept stopping. st almost too much to take, it really is. it's a strain on you. so now i have to reient myself all over again, start all over again and create a new life, basically. >> brangham: in southern california, firefighters are making progress on two fires, the largest beg the woolsey fire which is burning 30 miles northwest of los angeles. the fires have taken their toll, physical and emotional, here as

well. in the hills of the beachside commity of malibu, charley pollard lost his home. >> it's been a rollercoaster. t if ynk 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 peoplee haven't seen in years reached out. it's like, "anything we can do, or help," that's bn unbelievable. >> brangham: the fire cut off all road accs to malibu, so now boat crews are delivering supplies to stranded residents who didn't evacuate. >> is lot of boats coming in bringing supplies, gas, baby wipes, horse pellets, everythi you could possibly need. >> brangm: people here too are searching the debris of the charred city for victims, with many people still missing or unaccounted for. for the pbnewshour, i'm william brangham.

in the day's other news, recount efforts in florida's senate and governor races hit another snag. voting machines in palm beach county overheated last night as election officials raced to meet a thursday deadline. they now have to recount 174,000 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 governoe etween republican brian kemp and democrat stacey abrams. and last night in california,mo ats picked up another house seat after josh harder ousted four-term republican congressman jeff denham. britain's prime minister teresa edy has secured her cabinet's backing for a proprexit deal to leave the european union. may told reporters today she "firmly" believes the agreement is "the best deal that could be negotiated."ai but its fate r uncertain, as it still requires appurval from theean union and the

british parliament. we'll take a closelook at the terms of the deal later in the program. israeli defense minier avigdor lieberman resigned suddenly today, to protest a cease-fire between israel and gaza militants. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will take over his defense portfolio in the interim. he also serves as the country's foreign minister. in jerusalem today, lieberman s said the cease-fire was st straw, after two days of deadly cross-border attacks. m ( translated ): f what happened yesterday, the cease- fire yesterday combined with the long term deal with hamas is a surrender to terrorism, there's no other definition, no other meing, but surrender to terrorism. >> woodruff: meanwhile in gaza, palestinians andamas officials lebrated the news of lieberman's resignation.

>> ( translated ): this constitutes a victory for the resiance and recognition of defeat and failure by lieberman thd the zionist occupation. it's a failure opolicy 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 palestinn fisherman they said had gotten too close to the border fence separating gaza and israel. in total, seven palestinians and one israeli have been killed in this week's fighting back in this country, defense secretary james mattis vised some of the more than 5,000 u.s. troops stationed along the mexican border. president trump deployed them as multiple caravans of centr american migrants journeyed north to seek legal asylum in the u.s. today, secretary mattis toured a military base incallen, 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 at the present, i do not anticipate military personnel coming into direct contact with grants. >> woodruff: right now the migrant caravan is making itswa way california. nearly 400 central americanshe arrived inexican border city of tijuana today, aboard a fleet of school buses.oc and ks fell on wall street again today, dragged d losses in the banking and tech sectors. thgedow jones industrial ave lost nearly 206 points to close at 25,080. the nasdaq fell 64 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 20. still to come on the newshour: inside the legal andthical questions surrounding the new acting u.s. attorney gener.

congress returns to washington after democrats took the house in the midterm elections. british prime minister theresa may finds a breakthrough on brexit, and much more. >> woodruff: president trump is backing a plan to overhaul the nation's criminal justice laws. if passed, it would be thege biggest chn a generation. mr. trump outlined the new bipartisan agreement this afternoon from the white house. the legiion i'm supporting today contains many significant reforms incngluding the follo first it will provide new inceives for low-risk inmat to learn the skills they need to find employment, avoid old habits and follow the law when they're released from prison nsm many respects we're gettingery much tougher on the truly bad

criminals whi, unfortunately, there are many. but we're treating people differently for different crimes. >> woodruff: criminal justice reform has been an issue that has forged many unlikelyli political ces. a driving force behind that bi- partisanship is also, perhaps, an unlikely source: ko industries. a company best known for the b kothers and their support for conservative causes and candidates. mark holden is general counsel for koch industries. he has been a key player behind today's proposed legislation and joins me now. mark holden, welcome back to the fushour. thanks for having me. >> we heard a little bit just now from president trump about wh this represents. what more can you tell us would be the main difference if this legislation were to pass. >> well, if the federal level wh really haven a lot of reforms that have been rehabilitative and redemp shif, is what i say. it's scaled back some of the d

moaconian parts of our criminal justice system. so the first sep act is wit is called. and its focused first on prison rehabilitation programs. so for people in federal prisons getting better in ison, not getting worse, so there would be jobs, skills training, rehabilita and those things. these are evidence-based practices that have been shown to work in the ates, to reduce crime rate and reduce incarceratofn rates. alhis has happened in the states and 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 bill that was announced today is the senate version and they have added four sentencing provisions to that, sentencing reforms thate think relly need to happen. >> woodruff: that make it lighter sentencing. >> exactly. >> woodruff: for tho have committed crimes that are not as serious.

>> right, it's for targeting low level, nonviolent offenders. and they are reforms tht 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 haveore discretion. there is also, it ends the three strikes and are you outlive in ri son penalty. there is still stiff mandatory minimums up to 2years 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 ink this is wrong because it's not tough enough. it is too loose on criminals. rather senator tomt coton of arkansas has been someone opposed to. this on the left you have people who argue we ned more reform what makes you think this is threading the needle just the right way? >> i think it has enough, it is

called the first step act for a reason. this is the first st, e first real comprehensive criminal justice reform measure that hopefullyill make it through the senate and then to the president'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, that s huge, ey were at the podium with the president today. this shows that this is, it is thehtrig approach. it is trying to help people who need a second ance get a second chance. it's helping people who are low level offenders not have eir lives ruined forever for something that happened on their worst day. and again going back to the exirience of the states, is all because of what the states have done in the last tes years like tefor example, where the criminal justice reform revolution began back 2007. since that time texas has qulossed down eht prisons it saved over $4 billion in taxpayer money and mos importantly, they have a crime rate they haven't seen in low since th

so these reforms make communities safer, make law enforcement safer, and give people second chanc that is what we should be looking for in our criminal justice system so en people go to prison if is a one-time occasion. hey get better in prison, rehabilitated and they come out and are a positive part ofet soand their communities. >> even with all of these positive arguments we notice today that the sete majority leader mitch mcconnell when he was asked about this, made a int of saying well, we've got other priorities. we have to think about fungd the government, we have to think rm bill.e he made it sound as if he's not sure this is a priority for him in the senate and that is going to be key. >> it is going to be. st a priority for the president and it is a priorityfor a lot of republican senators and democrat senators. lewe've had meetings witder mcconnell where he has told us that there is going to be a whip unt and he told s directly that he thinks that the votes are there and we are likely to ing to get the outcome that we

want which say vote on this bill on the floor.e' so hoping that happens. i any that congress can do a lot of things at once. and the criminal justice reform issues that we're talking about, theereality is we nd to do them as soon as possible. this really isn't thatough an issue any more because of what has happened in the states. we've got this blue print t makes communities safer t sav money, it saves lives there is really not a good argument ainst it. >> how convinced are you that president trump is prepared to, puis we know republican senators, most of them are going to listen to him, his son in law jared jushner has been a big advocate. >> jared has doe an aming job, yes. >> but is the president, i mean how far is he prepared to go. >> i don't know if you saw his speech today. he was very passionate about it and he brought up ali ace johns her situation. alice johnson, he commuted her life sentence as an example of some of the injustice in our system. very passionate about these issues. jared kushner is palingsate

about the iss we have a broad bipartisan coalition passionate aboisut the es. i think that this is going to happen and i think the will the will drive it and we're very supportive of what he is doing. he is doing a great job on this. >> mark holden, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it.>> o let's take a >> woodruff: let's take a closer look at what is in the plan and its prospects for becoming law with carrie johnson of npr. sose just heard mark holde explanation. anything you would add from your perspective of somebody who has beis watching thor a long time? >> i think i have been covering these issues for six yers. and today really felt like a breakthrough, the notion that president trump who caaigned on law and order has actually thrown his weight behind a plan that would reduce some prison sentences for convicted drug criminals. it say big deal.d if one avocate told me it is a nixon close to china moment we will see if majority leader mitch mcconnell in the senate actually makes the time to get this done this area. we know paul ryan who is leaving ite house at the end of this

congress has mad a priority. so all eyes are on the senate at this point. >> woodruff: oha thing that 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 meaningful, judy. acting attorney general matt whitaker is not opposed to thate jeffsions really dug his feet in and seemed toose any changes to sentencing laws which this plan does now cover in his after his forced resignation last week. >> and do you have a sense of aw timing, carrither this is something that is going to need-- they need to push it duringhe lame duck. can they let if slide into 2019? >> advocates i'm talking to both democrats and republicansay they think this needs to get done now. there is going to beo much going on next year with the house driven by democrats who nt to do a lot of investigating and a lot of focus

on health care and other issues. they believe the time for this to happen is now before thend of the year. >> carrie, i want to you stay with us. we want to talk thout a issue front and center at the justice department and that has to do with a man you jus mentioned, the acting attorney general matt whitaker named after jeff sessions was fired. the public first heard from mr. whitaker today. for the first time as we said since he took thnon this role he spoke to aroup of state and local law enforcement officers in des moines, iowa. >> one thing hasn't changed in all of this change at the department of justice. you may have heard there has been a change or two at the dertment of justice. one thing that has not changed is our unwavering supportor local law enforcement. the trump administystion will ale a law and order administration. we recognize public safety as the government'sirst and most important priority. >> so carrie, again, this is thi t time we have heard from mr. whitaker since he was named by president trp tobe acting,

today there was a legal upon issued at the justice department. essentially saying that his appointment by the prentsias legal, it was constitutional. because questions have been raised. can you fill us in on that? bl yeah, legal experts including democrats and reans who have worked in the justice department in the past have eised questions about t constitutionality of matthew whitaker becoming the acting attorney general. basically leapfrogging above rod rosenstein a man senate confirmed. today the trump justice department issued a 20 pagein legal n including that matt whitaker is legitimate, that his appointment as acting ag is lawful, this matters because the state of maryland has challenged his appointment as part of an obama care lawsuit it has brought and we expect other courthallenges. the trump d o.j. basically says that historical precedent and laws lean toward whitaker being e acting attorney general.

he has been a d o.j. for over ae in a senior enough role that it is totally appropriate for him to be serving as acting ag. but what the justice department did not do today wa o 35eu7b about ethics or impartial yamity issues whitaker may have, issues that democrats in congress have already been raising.bs >> woodruff: ute lee. we still are hearing democrats question that legal opinion that came out or justice a num them put out statements today including nancy pelosi who is vying tobe elected speaker in the new house of representatives, leader of the democrats. but other democrats have come out with statents saying they question the legality of his a point. but are you riht, the bigger question many have raised is whether he, mr. whitaker's in a position to in anyway interveer-- interfere with the special counsel, with robert mueller's investigation. what is the understanding of that right now at justice? t the justice departmays that whitaker will consult with ethics officialsnside the

justice department. these are career folks who stay whether the president say democrat or a republican but he is not committed to telling all of us what heir adv might be. and he is not committed to hollowing their advice, whatever it is, that is wy democrats like jerry mather who may be the next-- he said he will be calling whited ker testify under oath. there are real concerns whether he can be impartial 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 president trump's idea that this russia probe was a witch-hunt. >> woodruff: and that. >> and that the president was okay to fire fbi ector jim comey and there was really no point in doing this deep die investigation which the special counsel team has been doing for r and a half now. >> woodruff: and what is mr. whitaker said on that? >> whitaker has basically said that he believes that he will, he has basically said that he is

not refused or declined to recuse himself. so it is unclear where he stands right now.er are people inside the justice department who say he would not have been appointed acting attorney general had he already agreed to recuse himself from this matter tht 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 big open questions. carrie johnson following it all at the justice department, thank u very much. >> thank you. s >> woodruff:ngress prepares for new members to join their ranks, they're decidingll who e the face of each party following the midterm elections. lisa desjardins has the latest from capitol hill. d desjardins: a chilly fa in washington brought a swarm of energec faces: freshmen

members of congress posing for a photo of what is one of the largest groups of new members in recent memory. but freshmen democrats already face a test, as inside the capitol, a fight over who will be their speaker of the house is heating up. nancy pelosi, the current top democrat, was upbeat tt she'll aiher rmit.en? >> high. >> desjardins: most members are standing by pelosi... >> i'm a yes vote all the way, through the end. >> i'monvinced she will have enough. >> desjardins: but others are openly calling for changes in the party leadership. representative marcia fudge... >> i would say this: is we tout diversity in this party. there is no diversity in our leadership. if we're going to talk about ito we're goinalk the talk, we need to walk the walk. >> desjardins: ohio congressman tim ryan is among those leading the pelosi rebellion, and saysif there are a siant number of votes against her. >> we have a very talented ucus, a lot of talent and we

just have to figure out who it' go be. but we're going to bring change. the people want change.s this ie establishment versus change. >> desjardins: for house republicans, on the othehand, saw little drama, and overwhelmingly selected republican congressman kevin mccarthy to be their next leader. >>he unity in our caucus h been our strength. >> desjardins: across the capitol inhe senate, more easy wins as republic leader mitch mcconnell and democrat chuck schumer uised 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 demoatic senator bill nelson, who was also on the hill, is under recount. >> woodruff: lisa joins me from capitol hill, alongside our white house correspoent yamiche alcindor. good to see both of ou at the capitol. we are used 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 atected speaker, where does t stand right now? ed well, if you ask mrs. pelosi's team, they say that she is going to be speaker. they point out she does hav support from a majority of house dem kratds and this is exactly n what she needs wmocrats vote internally two weeks from now. but that is just step one in th process. step two comes in january, judy, when whoever wants to be speaker needs to get a majority of the full house, so to do that nancy pelosi would need more like 95% of her caucus to support her. she does not have thatt ri now, in particular ten of the new freshman who arrived today campaigned saying that they would vote no, not to supportna y pelosi and other two dozen who haven't said which way they would go. there is aroup of dem kratds without are putting out 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 clearthheir chosen candidate would be to replace her, late today ohio residents marcia fudge, vaid she might consider running herself, a lot of questions about that. >> woodruff: we did hear fromf somee new and former members long time members jst now in your report but you have also been talking to other folks. i want to ask you what they areh saying and who would it be if it's not nancy pelosi, youne mentmarcia fudge but who else. >> they say they would like it to be either a woma an or rson of color and that is one reason marcia marsha fudge say top candidate because she represents both of those groups but it not clear who else would be in the mix. it would be reallimportant to see this new grope group of freshman campaigned on bringing fresh idea, new blood to the capitol an here they are faced with a democratic leadership team in officfor 10 to 1 years.

do they oppose them do they not. i will say ts, it is interesting, the new freshman today are one of te most self-possessed and strong group of new members i have ever met. it's remarkable, especially because so many are first time candidates. >> woodruff: fation naight. so yamiche, i will turn you with what we heard from the president today coming out in support of setencing reform, criminal justice reform. they're calling it the fist step act. we just talked to mark holdern, we kawked to carrie johnson. about but i want to ask you, you are s the capitol. this has to pae senate. we know a form of it did go through the house. ngat is the significants now of the president putis weight behind this? >> well, this could be the most important criminal justice overhaul of a generation. and that is a good thing for president trumaif it psses. it could show that not only is he someone who can be tough on crime while also reforming the system but it alsulo show he could find a bipartisan bill. the bill wou do seval things including working on recidivism,

also something on sen tension. president trump talks abo this law and order presidency, that our country needs morlie officers. his department of justice said federal oversight of local police departments shouldn't be haeening. so if dent trump can actually sign a bill that does something to help peobaple get into society after they have made-- paid their debt to society. at show it's is he going that extra step and allowing peoplell to rmove on after being in the yil justice system. and it's also important to note that a lot of these laws that the president trump wants to change date back to th 90s and a disproportionately affect african paryn people that what also be hlpful if he could overhaul the system in that way. >> quickly what are you lar being how likely it is the house rnd the senate are going to be able to agee on language on this and both houses work withpr thident. >> i think it's going to be very tricky but everyone knows, eryone involved knows they

have a very limited amount of time and they have to getis done quickly. i talked to several lawmakers all across the house and senate and they ally were cautiously optimistic. all the dem contracts were not elatedment i'm talking about senator corrie booker without has come out, opposing it, senator dik durbin opposed it. civil lights acivist john lewis opposes it, former ttorney general eric holder also opposes it, "the new york times" editorial board opposes it and just today a hundred civil rights group res leasessed a letter to oppose it.ol --me this is really coming dune to sentencing. she wants to look at familieshe and sa, which are doing something retroactively to help the people w 90s.e hurt in the so it is really going to be a hard sell, and part of thitrs coand in parts of congress. >> woodruff: we're going to be thank you both for your reporting yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you.

s,rlier i spoke with one of those new lawmak representative-elect michael waltz, a republican from florida. the former green beret is 5 e of at leastlitary veterans newly elected to serve in congress. he won the house seat vacated by ron desantis, florida's republican candidate for governor. i began by asking about how his military service will shape his work in congress. >> you know, i could tell you in the fox hole nobody car about race, religion, party, social economic background t isabout mission, it's about country, it's about getting things done. i coulmytell you fro perspective compromise is not a dirty word. the voters in mytr dist in north florida expect us to get things done that going to better their lives and not sit up here and throw a receipt or kal grenade. can tell you with veterans we put our lives on the line at a veryarly age forhis country and we are determined to see it progress for all amufrican. >> woo i hear you say compromise is not a dirteddee word. let's talk about some issues.

ioat about on health care. a lot of conversabout that during the election. >> oh yeah. >> woodruff: do you see the two parties coming dime up with a bill that covers preexisting conons, lower the price of prescription drugs, for example? >> look, i campaigned hard as a business owner as well, on the fact that premiumare out of control. i am determined to get after the cost of health care. that may be tort reform. that could be makebased 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 make it more universal because more people can afford it. it also helps businesses like mine. it is the fastest grow dg part of ofense budget. is actually health care, not planes and tanks and. shi and it also gets after our national debt. it is the biggest drer of our

national debt. >> let's talk about foreign policy. did you serve in a several hours. given how long the united states has been there, given the ongoing cash eultds inflicted by the thrb, should the u.s. stay there longer or is it time to come home? >> i don't think we have a choice but to remain engaged. because laugh of e world's terrorist organizations reside in the afghan-pakistani border region. what we cannot do is just pulle oops out. look, i would love to get the men and womenome. but if we just pull them outlining we did in iraq, you are going to see the sitonua teutly worsen. so the choice here is how do we do it btter, not whether we stay engaged. ti two other things. one is immig. now there was a bipartisan bill proposed this year, the heard aguilar legislation that would have provided a path to

permanent residency for young people, so called dreamers, also would have put money towarel tronic surveillance at the border. not so much with a wall. do you see a compromise immigration? >> frankly i 24eu what the president offered was an incredible deal on immigration. so it was a million more dre with a pathway to citizenship then president obama offered. t in exchange forwe have to secure the border. otherwise you're going to have the same problem again going forward. and also reforming the legal side of things.o you w, with the lottery system and then also with the other ways that you get a visa through chain migra i sponsored an afghan stoldzier to come over who is now a u.s. citizen and thriving. but he had fellow soldiers and family members executed for working with americans overseas. there is over 50,000 of them a waiting list for the special imgrent visa for iraqis and

afghans th fought with us. so when we talk about who deserves to be here, who has earned the right through a merit-based system, that is what we have to drive towards. not just these kind of more randomized systems that we rrently have. >> all right, are you representing the state of 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 saidud fras been committed. did you know if there is evidence of fraud? >> we are fo, i amrtainly for every legal vote being counted that is th heart of our democracy. that is democracy i have fought and all veterans have fought to defend for our entire's nation's history. but thisroblem in broward county and west palm has happened cycle aft ereblg of assigning el. there needs to be accountability whether it is nedges or mall feesance, something is very wrong because it continues to happen. so i think we ed to get to the bottom of what the issue is and stop it from moving forward so

we don't keep having this problem. the voters deserve tter. >> 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 am confident we are going to have a fair process goirw d. >> all right, congressman elect, michael waltz, agacoin ratulations, thank you, thank you, god bless. ew woodruff: stay with us, coming up on theour: a report on the state of the zika outbreafoin puerto rico owing hurricane maria. as we reported earlier, british prime minister theresar ay announced binet had approved a deal between the united kingdom and the european union on the terms for brexit. it comes nearly 2.5 years after britain narrowly voted to leave the e.u. foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin reports on the

terms of separation, and why there's still a long way to go >> schifrin: when it comes to divorce, the hardest negotiations can be over property, money, and children. and so it is with brexit, a divorce where there's not only two sides, but the b family is fighting within itself. prime minister theresa may is proposing a kind of divorce with a transition period of remaining friends, as the best 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 to 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 effec no border. the brexit agreement preventse turn of a hard border by temporarily keeping northern t

ireland inhe e.u. customs union, avoiding customs checks between northern ireland and ireland. on money, britain would continue to pay billion, for decades.0 and as for the children-- british citizens living in the e.u., and e.u. citizens living intaintain-- they would current residence and social security rights. this morning in parliamentthmay presentedeal as the kind of divorce mandated by the brexit referendum. >> we will take back contr of our money, laws and borders. we will deliver brexit and the uned kingdom is leaving th european union on the 29th of march 2019. >> schifrin: but may's critics from her own party say the break isn't hard enough. leading brexit proponent jacob rees-mogg wants divorce that's a cleaner split. >> well she hasn't so much struck a deal as surrendered to brussels and given into them on everything they want, and tried to frustrate brexit, that it is 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. ond the leader of a member of teresa may's coalinorthern ireland's democratic unionist party head arlene foster, fears the ireland border deal, doesn't guarantee northern ireland's integrity inside the united kingdom. i s a question of whether we're separating the union; whether we are dealing 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 binet deal, the u. must approve, and then the haitish commons has to agree. analysts predict ts the most difficult step, of a divorce 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., and the der european project? for that we turn to sebastian mallaby, longtime author and journalist, and the paul volcker senior fellow for international economics at theouncil on foreign relations; he joins me from london. thank you very much for come on the

newshour, there 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 whichgotiating a deal with the 27 countries of the european unionaselivered a cold reality shock to those who supported brexit. because the promises made in the referendum have proven very hard to realize and practice. al have a deal, at least a draft of a de which eye cron-- ironically is not plea wanted to leave the european union. so they arehe now saying that brexit implementation is not good enough. and that's why thresa may had faced enormous resistance from the right flank of her partyd that wanteharder break with the rest 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 it be to get

through parliament? >> parliament is going to be a very tough challenge. theresa may's conservative government only has a jority by virtue of support of the small northern irish party, the dup the the. that party is threatening for now that it would vote against the deal andn sice the way the party would mostly oppose the deal too, it only takes a few levels from the consultive ranks, let's say 20 or 30 to tip this into the tore tore where you can'imagine it going through it does look at the moment that that is how it will turn out. >> and i wanted to did about some of the specific criticism from the democratic unionist party from the rthern ireland part of the coalition. they worry that this deal basically puts them closer to the european union than it does to te united kingdom. do they have a point?>> ell, their position is that they don't want anything, even a hint of anything that cou drive a wedge between northern

ireland and mainland britain. for now that isn't happening. because the interim deal is that the whole of britain stays inside the eu customs unon and therefore there is a sort of hypothetical, thoretical objection which the northern irish has, it isn't something at 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 out a little bit. eu officials who i have talked to without talk publicly say we had to exact some revenge, we had to make this process difficult on the united kingdom in order to prove that to other countries who 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 therefore there is a di sire to teach tose populise consequences of their anti-eu rhetoric but there is also a desire particularly in germany to try to have as decent aon relaip with britain as they can. in fact, the vindictiveness has been a mixed picture. and i do't really viw the outcome of this deal as the product muh european 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. >>nd the pressure on th eu isn't only of course brexit. you mentioned populism, migration through europe has helped push german chancellor 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 a highly-indebted economy like italy whiche nl greece is l,o big to bail, to big to ba right now it has a populist

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 in europe. and the second as you mentioned is migration, which is with the big purge in 2015, and 2016, it has gone down. it will come back again and so i fore see that these argumts about migration, tensions over the single currency are going to come back and it is ging to be tough for europe, the ambition from a few years ago we carry on deepening, less let's carry on enlarging tt has gone away. sebastian mallaby, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the zika outbreak in 2016 hit puerto rico hard,

infecting 40,000 people.in but follthe devastation wrought by hurricane maria one year ago, the island'sh officials claim there have been no new cases of the mosquito- borne virus. in this story by the groundtruth hoject in collaboration w reveal from the center for investigive reporting, beth murphy explores whether the hurricane really swept away zika. and if not, what's being done for moms and babieat risk? it's part of this week's leading edge series, which focuses on science and medicine every wednesday. >> reporter: stefan rodrigue 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 pregnant women in puerto rico were tested, for free.

>> the zika epidemic really increased the number of birth defects in places where we had zika.'s rrefutable. >> reporter: dr. carmen zorrilla is a long-time ob-gyn at university hospital in san juana sh few of the island's 4,000 zika babies have problems devastating as stefan's, but zika can cause many other pmental issues, too, lik eyesight and hearing problems. >> and this is why i believe that testing during pregnancy is so important. >> reporter: in the first ninef months o17, testing identified anothwo 1500 pregnant n with zika. the, in september, hurrican marislammed into puerto rico maria destroyed the island and crippled t healthcare system, including many of the systems set up to respond to zika. >> we had a tastrophe, we stopped testing. the health care system collapsed. >> reporter: while the island's health care system came back to life, the zika testing program

did not. >> the health department concluded that there is no ziked the epidemic the day of the hurricane. >> reporter: assistant secretary of health concepcion 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 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 thatg: "the puerto rico health department did not send zika tests to the c.d.c. after hurricane maria." >> there was no zika testing done since september 2017, since the hurricane. so we have no way of knowing if we are still having tr.smission or n >> reporter: doctors began

questioning y the health department was misrepresenting the zika response and risk. dr. alberto de la vega is chief ofthe high risk pregnancy u at university hospital. >> this isn island with a lot of economic problems and first of all zika is bad business for business. so the economic burden is huge. >> reporter: physicians say they fear the pueo rican government c more interested in protecting tourism than publialth. there's even evidence that the hurricane created 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 zika-carrying species per trap, the zika risk is considered "significant." 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 thew so we saplaces where we never saw larvae before, we were.

finding larv because of the rain, there were many more breeding sites now available. >> reporter: with public healthi offis claiming no new cases on the island, dr. zorrilla took matters into her own hands. e teamed up with the c.d.c. to start a new testing program for pregnant women. >> we're going to testing for all pregnant women in our clinic during every trimester. i would love not to work with it. but, again, i want to be r edy, i want tdence. 's there's no zika, fantastic. if there's zika, lork on this. >> reporter: with a team of doctor she continued testing through spring, summer and now into the fall, with alarming results. the percentage of pregnant women testing positi for zika today is almost as high as it was at the height of the epidic in 2016. in this new study of 280 women 9% tested positive.

when stefan's family celebrated his first birthday, they decided on a superhero theme and dressed him like clark kent. for stef, 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 divide between urban and rural america. author gary shteyngart spent a good deal of time in both camps and was rprised by what he learned. that's tonight's in my humble opinion.

>> to research my novel lake success, t story of a hedge fund manager who flees his sec investigation on a cross- country trip on a greyund bus bound for el paso, i did two things: i spent four months touring th hound" as we called it, yes, and i spent four years h hging out wige 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. being a leningrad-born sap, or p soviet ashkenasimist, let's start with the unhappy people. some of the least happy people i discovered were hedge fund managers first, there was the competitive nature of their job, the sense that nothing was ever enough, and the fact that the money they earned represented not a means of sustenance - for they surely bebut a form of winning, og 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 krus fiezing muslims and jews, as we drove past a historically african-american college one of the white supremacists pointed to a group ofsummer students and said well, they have their colle es. and ony we'll have ours. which part of dartmouth don't you underand, i wanted to sa to him. so who were the happiest peopl first generation college students were a permanent fixture of my months on the bus. often they would cross statee lines to sheir folks or their girlfriends or boyfriends. hthey would talk aboutir prospects the way we imagine aung americans always have, with ambitionnd resilience and humor. i discovered perhaps the o happiest peop all professors at the university of texas at el paso. they lead lives of relative wealth and contentment along with a feeling that they from a part of something bigger.

indeed, what can bring more fulfillment than the knowledge that you ha changed someone's life. and not just by giving to a charity but by helping to educate someone for whom higher educatiois not a birth right but a shining goal. communities with the sures indication of happiness on my long journey. those who worked with juople and nost basis pointings on a bloomberg monitor were optimistic. they had hoped for the people they mentored and hoped for a fractious country as a whole. along the board we are mexico at one of the southwest extremities of our country i found the kind of people i wanted to become, the fure i believe is theirs for the >> woodruff: and that' newshour for tonight. before we go-- today marks two years since the death of gwen ifill. even with the pass age of time we miss her, we celebrate her and her vaues as a nalist in all we do.

i i'm judy woodruff. join u tomorrow evening.here for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> 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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>> pati narrates: los cabos, m mexico. down at the southern tip of the baja peninsula, one of mexico's most popular tourist destinations is also one of its west cities. but there's a unique history here that dates back centuries. >> the pirates used to come and hide right there in the bay of cabo san las. >> i'm following this chef and food historian off the beaten path to find traces of that european pirate influenda still alive it's the same tenique as pizza! i'm taking that european influence into my kitchen too with a mouthwatering, cheesy, veggie-loaded mexican lasagne. look at all those layers! and a crispy and plump shrimp salad topped with the taiest roasted vegetable vinaigrette. you have to make this lasagne in your home.