♪ ♪ night on kqed newsroom, the nation has a new class of state lawmakers ready to tackleho ing and health care. plus wildfires and your health. a look at e effect wildfires on your lungs, skin and heart long after the flames are out. and th rise of millennials in politics. berkeley voters just elected the youngest council member in city history, a 22-year-oldgrald. hello and welcome to stakqed. i'm thuy vu. jeff sessions will be remaced who resigned under pressure. barr served during the george w.h. bush administration. th nomination came during a week when the nation paid tribute to mr. bush at his

funeral? meanwhile in california, the slate legislature began the new session with the largest number of democrats in history. they are proposing a hostof legislation, including far-reaching measures to tackle crisis.ing joining me now to discuss all of this are sean walsh, a republican strategist with wilson w and kqed politics and government editor scott shafer and politics government producer and reporter, guy maserati. e od to have you hear. >> good tohere. >> sean you served during the first bush presidency and william barr was there then. whatyo can tell us about him. >> it is inspired about president trump and he did something right. he's a tough law enforcement guy and he has the confidence of the law enforcement in doj and not pushed around, that said he will not respond or rct and try to curry favor of the president if he fires a tweet storm him at

3:00 in the morning. >> there is controversy about him regarding a 1999 memo he wrote about the sweeping presidential power and the constitutional authority to act without congressional permission or in defiance of certain statutes. >> i think don't think it is controversial at all. peop believe the powers of presidency are very strong and the division between the three branches. you will see that memo and criticism that he president bush during iran-couldn't riran iran-contra but he will be confirmed. >> what about the fate kelly. the president might have another personal announcement tomorrow. >> there has bnl talk that the president hasn't spoken to his chief of stfor quite sometime and he's had a rough tenure in the last few months. he came in as the grown-up that eill keep order and have the trains run on t and it is really difficult to do that in this white house. and it does make you wonder why anybody, including mr. barr,

would want to come into this white hous i mean, you leave with a worse reputation than you enter, almost in every case withon may exception and you have to put with all of this midnight haeeting. look at whatened to jeff sessions and now john kelly. his lled rex tillers former secretary of state dumb and lazy today. >> dumb as a rock. >> dumb as arock. excuse me. which is good for an oil man, i guess. it is like you are drilling in the rock. okay. but the point is, why would you want to come into this. really it is maybe because barr is at the end of his career, not looking to move on to something bigg and better. >> sometimes they just want to sorve. that was questioned when john kelly took the job and some said he did it ou of sense of duty to country. >> that is exactly right. if you are a patriot and you feel the country th going over sid of the cliff, would you try to help out and i know a number of peopleed have been a whether they should join the trump administration and they say i don't want to put up with that stuff but the country needs

me. but the country does need a guy like barr now. >> if your concerns about the nor something like the department of justice, this is someon who headed the department of justice and he may have more respect from the rank and file and asemratic process we're better off going through the hearing process in front of senate judiciary that this will instead of sticking with an interim appointment. this week a senior aide to kamala harris resigned after it was revealed tt the state paid to settle a sexual harassment and kamala headed the department at that time. scott, given the me-too movement how damaging mighte this for harris now that she's considering a run for president in 2020. >> i think there is a question of credibility here. because mr. wallace worked for her backno to district attorney in san francisco and went with her to the department of juice when she was in a.j. and stayed

in sacramenen she won the senate. this woman claimed he demeaned her and made her crawl under the r in ao change pa printer that he had put there. in december of 2016, after the election, she filed this lawsuit and then after kamala harris goes to the senate, xavier ecerra signed off on this $400,000 settlement. sheow claims she didn't about the allegations or the lawsuit and the payout. i think she should have known. at some point in that process, she should have known. and so shedn't know, why didn't she know. whether or not it is a big deal for her, we'll see. she's about to announce whether she's going to run for president in 2020. could become an issue. >> and also this week, overnor-elect gavin newsom was in mexico to attend the exico new on of the president. he also indicated that he might pull calornia national guard troops from the border and he criticized president trump's

labelling of the migrant caravan as a national security emergency. can we expect newsom to stand uh to the whise more than governor brown did on ol immigrationy in. >> i think it might be too earlo ee how he'll deal with the trump administration. i think i'm more in rested withe state of california. one thing immigrant advocates long psh governor brown to do was expand medical and allow documented adults to get into medical and he resisted that as part of the budget process and m go as long new with that and that is the more concrete to look at, how he p deals withlicy in the state. >> and jerry brown, like most ouovernors, i understand need the federal government sometimes when there is a wildfire, earthquake and floods and all kind of disasters and jerry brown isn critical climate change and less so on immigration so maybe an adjustment in terms of maybe newsom will withdraw the national guard from the border. dep y them somewherese.

but i don't see a huge change. innot call for the abolition of i.c.e. i don't think. >> go ahead. >> i think that gavin newsom has one eye on the white house andhe one eye on state house and the problem with that is if your eyes are in two diffent directions you hit in the head. you had $40 billion on the rst day of the legislative session put forward by the democrats in spending. numr one, number two, i think he wants to bring a foilumagaint the administration and if you are a california governor, i don't care who you are, you are automatically considered to be a presidential contender. >> in the meantime he needs to run the state and now he's working with the state legislature, that is, that the democrats have a megaimagine ortd. thre qrters of both houses are hold by democrats. how do you thin that will work between the governor and that megamajority >> it is fascinating to watch. this week i was making calls around housing legislation introduced and you heard from everybody how excited they are to work with governor newsom and follow pledges to spend on housing.

and if housing advocates are hearing that, you know childcare advocates are hearing that and higher education advocatesarre g that. everyone sees the new governor as their meal ticket to the spending tt they didn't get under governor brown. that being said when he talked aboutio ties on the campaign trail, he was talking about them on a four-year basis. i don't think he expected to get to all of the priori spring training and so it is going to be interesting to see how he works tat push and pull and also he doesn't want to be seen as coming in after jer s brown anding a lot of money money, he wanted carry that fiscal stewardship forward and i'm ski - c >> and we mentioned health care. he's promoted single payeris whh a $400 billion price tag. but the guy is right. he already this week was beginning to temper expectations with the legislature. the last thing he wants to do -- and jerry brown it up.n't screw he's worked hard to bring some fiscal stability and i th newsom will be loathe to mess that up.

>>tobefore we go, i do want take a moment to touch on president george h.w.. bu we saw many moving eulogies this week and forwou i personal, sean, you just returned this morning from texas where you attended the burial. and as we mentioned, during pl bush's enure, you were a white house assistant press secretary and had so photos of you from that era with the president. you were also a special assistant to the president. how would you describe hisle cy? >> i think his legacy is a democratic europe. i think the european union is a difction resultim and not taking a victory lap after the war and not embarrassing gorbachev and doing the right thing when theyrrested gorbachev and they had to fight back to take back russia and making sure he didn't mess up the berlin wall. and he did raise taxes. read my lips, no new taxes and peopleut criticized him when he did that the economy at that time, believe it or not, needed

that. it needed it because with the tax increases came entitlement spending reform and you got right after he left office, bill inton with a surplus in money y and the counas stabilized. so here is a man who did what as right, even though all of his political aides and advisers said it is politically wrong. so it is que a contrast from what we have in our politics today. >> s baking ofll clinton, he did leave that gracious note for bill clinton when he left office. buthere were also elements of his record that some people don't remember so >> sure.scott. and that is true with any president. but i think this week during the tributes that for president bush, there were aides, activists ander le in the lgbt community remembering he was not a leading on hiv/aids and a difference compared to the reagan administration and did he say things with re compassion than president reagan but that is one area that a hole in

his record. but i don't think anybody can doubt thatis -- he was a kind person, honest, integrity and all of the things that some people feel are lacking today. >> certainly very moving video this week as we're watching the burial and the funeral. thanks to all oftt you. scshafer, guy maserati and sean walsh. it was only two weeks ago that the bay area was cloaked in hick smoke from the camp fire. doctors and air quality officials urged people to stay inside. al experts say wildfire smoke is bad for your lungs and heart, especially for children, the elderly and people with cardiac and respiratory ailments. like secondhand tobacco smoke, the effects of wildfire smoke linger evenfter the flames die down. medical researchers are trying determine just h serious the risks are and what can be done about it. joining me nowo discuss this are erin roglance, andthe center of investigative

reporting and katherine hammond from u.c. berkeley school of public health. welcome to you both. erin you've been talking to people in the bay area as far as 200 miles away from the camp f e and still exposed to the smoke. what have they been telling you about the smoke and the heal effects. >> people are explaining. they can't breathe. their schools were closed because it was unsafe to breathe inside or outside. we wanted to know what ishe health effect of all of this. so we start calling hospitals d found out early for hospitals to give you good data. and so what we decded to do was look back at last year's fire, the. tubbs fi >> in the north bay. >> northay. napa and sonoma hospitals and we ls three toll hospi five months after the fire to see what was happening to people. and what we found was 2 increase of people going to the emergency room for cardi and respiratory issues, in other

words having trouble beating or with a heartbeat. three to fis monfter the flames were gone. so the air is clear and you look outside and it is a beautiful day.is and yet there still more people going to the emergency room. >> and so professor hammond, what does that say to you. because you have lingering effects, three to five months afteard and we know about the damaging effects of tobacco and secondhan smoke and vehicle exhaust, how does smoke from wildfires compare to that? well, it -- we -- this -- the research is not complete. but, in fact, one could get much exposure from the wildfires as if you smoked a few cigarettes on some of the days bay area had in t lately. >> really? >> yeah. and we know that even smoking a fewld cigarettes c cause a serious health effect. i was just reading that linda johnson died two days after he smoked a cigarette and hadn't smoked for 14 years and had given up smoking so sometimes there is that delay that erin

talked out. >> how much -- how long would you have to be outside breathing in this kind of smoke to have it comparable tooking two or three cigarettes? >> t really depends on what you are doing. if you are walking for an hour, that might be comparable to taking in as many particle as if you had smoked two cigarettesou ifere running, that could be like half a pack. it depends on what you are aing. >> so if childr outside playing, they're going to be getting quite a bit more. >> and that is a scary thought. and i know that, erin, you're also still reporting on this. and you're a aking the publi medical providers to share their stories about recent wildfires and how it is affected the and their health. how can they reach you. >> we're askg people to text us, text the word "fire" to 63735. that is "fire" to35 6 and the reason we set up this eext line is because research is raelly incomplete. not only about this fire but

general.se fires in and the reason is because we have never had fires like this before. care is the worst fire in california history. the tubbs fire w only last year was at that time the worst fire intalifornia hy. five of the ten worst fires in california history are in the last two years. >> and withal warming, there are certainly concerns that we will face more of these fires and they'll be even more fears. >> so when you talkabt the kind of peer review and scientific research coming out of the universities, we might a ve to waitew years to get that kind of quality data. in the meantime we need in the mediaeed to get ahe of this and start asking questions and informing the debate and so e areaning on the public to help us out. at athy, is there any data all on the long-term effects of breathing smoke from fires? what happens 18 months or longer afterward? >> there is none that i'm aware of. but what we can do isin look ag at particle exposure and i think

rin is excellent that he is doing this work and i think we need to go forward planning to do careful studies. but we can look at things like the fact that in the central valley, the particle exposures there have somimes been comparable to what we've been experiencing in the bay. they get that every year for several days a year,. now, why is that. >> that is air pollution. and so that is an a pollution problem and i have a major study in fresno d the surrounding area and we're seeing increase rates not o of asthma and attacks but also more children have asthma there. we'reeeing preterm births increase. >> because of smog and smoke. >> because of smog and smoke. and y certainow these are also the health effects one gets from secondhand smoke. and the levels that we see are over -- what we were seeing during the peak were over ten

times the highest level you are supposed to hve in any day. >> how did you test about effects from wildfire smoke. i re that researchers could perhaps collect hair samples because hair grows at a certain ulrate and you go look at that strand of hair and kind of look at theeriod of time where the fire happened and when the fire happened and kind of determine things from there. >> well that -- doing the ha is an attempt to look at exposure and to get the history of the exposure a to see if particular toxic materials are in the hair -- more in the hair during the time of the fire. so that is what -- butldhat woot tell you about the health effects. but the health effects could be studied, for instance, as erin is talking about, but lookingget the emy room data as they collect it. but looking at that very carefully and that -- as they coect it, it is not as clean as it will be once it has beene cly vetted through the medical system. but that can be looked at -- we also look atpreterm birth and will there be a spike of that.

ng'll have to see. we're seome effects from birth defects even. nowthose birthdefects are very hard because they r areare enough it is hard to see that. but those studies could be done. >> i want to say, there is wo much th don't know about these fires because these fires are new. it is a new type of pollution. we had 150,000 acres of forest burn andb 20,00ldings, which are full of household cleaning products, so we're breathing draino that went up in smoke or -- >> paint thinner. >> or gas stations exploded. >> flame retardant. >> all of that went up into the air with 150,000 acres of leaves and trees and it all went up and we're breathing it in and that isa new -- apecial new mix for us. so scientists who have been studying it, they try to build m rison to pollution in fresno, for example. but this is a oew kind pollution and so because as you

said, climate change is here, these fires could becomemo common, we have to get out ahead of this newll mix of pion which is now upon us. >> is there any data at all, kath whether smoke from residential areas with the kind of material erin just mentioned is more tohan from a pure forest fire. >> it is certainly true as erin said, all of the materials that up.e gone we know in the mix we have all of the things that you would have in a fortht fire w-- from the trees burning, but in addition we have all of the toxic marials that have been in the home that now are volatile and people are no breathing them. so that is definitely true. but in terms of really knowing much, that t and how is not known. that is to be determined. but because, as erin said, this is new. this is a new world. when i want to study sometitng, i w a grant proposal and get it three years later.

>> and so many people are still to this daye talking about smoke and things that -- and the ways they think it is still affect so a lot of people are focusing on this. erin glass with reveal, you very much and also professor katherine hammond with uc berkeley school of public health. moving on to millennials in politics. seven months after vigil robinson graduated, he decided to put his political economse degree to he joined a surge of young people running for office in thr mielections and won a seat on the berkeley city council. this saturday he'll be sworn in making him the youngest council member in city history. he joins me now. along with his campaign manager marsha good to see both of you. >> thank you. >> from one cal graduate to another, congratulations. go bears. not only are you the youngest city council member in city history, you have the unanimous backing of all of thencity c members and the city mayor and unprecedented task.

how did youha accomplish and how are you feeling? >> it is a really unique --so a thing the city has been waiting for for a long time. berkeley is an incredible realll beautnd magical place and close to my family for generations. but it is also a pivotal cross roads right now. it is a city that is simultaneously it seems on the cutting-edge of progress and new ideas but al deeply stuck in the 60s at the same time and also a city that is the hosthe public university system in california. >> why did you decide to run? was it primarily because of that juxtaposition or were there other factors. >> athird of the population of the city of berkeley is students and it only takes o visit to a city council meeting to get a nse of just how many neighbors don't believe we need more student housing and don't believe that young people should have a voice in the city. dwe hear it time time again that a given student is only in town for a few years and so thev shouldn't a voice in city government. >> and you feel

underrepresented. >> exactly. the student population is permanent and it is growing a it has unique needs that need to be heard and represented in the city hall. and marsha, you are 20 years old, a juniort cal and majoring in political science and prior doto this did you have any experience working on political campaigns. >> i had experience here and ere. rhad the good fortune of working for senat -- and turned on campaigns here and there but this is the first time i sort of ran a campaign and had some real professional experience. so it was absolutely a learning curve. >> so going around during the campaign, what was the reaction you were getting from long-term residents, your new and fresh faces but you look very young. did youave a lot of skepticism. >> we get a fair deal of that but we would general find one knock on someone's door and get half of that first -- you're ouonly 22 and want to represent me. we could talk to our neighbors about the issues affecting our neighborhoods, they were deeply

receptive. >> what were you tellingthem. what were the issues part of your platform. >> the defining issues of our time here in berkeley, especially our housingand homelessness. you could ask any candidate running for city council in any district and thatould be their answer. but we ran on a very specific twist on it too. because with a third of the population being students, there is differentngle there that needs to be represents and needs to be accounted for. based on the latest survey data from uberkeley we find 10% of students will experience homelessness and housing insecurity at someoint during their time at uc berkeley which is unacceptable. we need to build more student housing now which is to the benefit of the studentslond the g-term residents and the neighbors. the more we could build densely and creatily next to christmas, tchristma -- next to campus and limit the source of students living further further from campus and pricing out others.

>> and you were active toight tuition fee hikes on campus and also another issue that has really created a lot of tension at berkeley is thesu iof conservative speakers and should they be allowed to speak and if so in what format. and this week uc berkeleyac d a settlement on that issue. what are your thoughts, both of you, on how the university has been h-- been handling this and should far right speakers be am allowed on s. >> it is a challenging issue facing the campus and the community over the past few years. i've been a student since fall 2016 so i've seen this arc pay ut. i think in terms of the legal precedent, i think it is car ere the law is on whether or not they can come to campus and speak. but the reality ishat these instances have been deeply traumatic for our campus and our community. i've had to hop police barricades to come to class and class with helicopters over campus. these are experiences that are deeply disruptive for a ofus who call berkeley home, not just

students and staff and faculty but people living in berkeley for decades and wepe that -- you can speak to this, but these are not the issues that students are worried by about -- we're wd about housing andecurity and find a place to live in. and it is somewhat upsetting that this has taken over the oxygen in our city. >> and so, for y vigil, you want to get past this issue, too and now that you're ging to be sworn in tomorrow, what are the top things that you willre a right away after taking office? >> housing will always be number one. and also the virtue of theis ci measured by how we take care of our most vulnerable and in the southor side neighod and in berkeley homelessness is an enormous issue in a cityat isn't that big. we have about a thousand people sestimated living on theets and we need to address this from both directions. simultaneously working to service our most vulnerable on the streets but also building the infrastructure that weto ne

address the roots, not just the symptoms of the problem and help get people off the streets and back into homes and jobs o their own. it is an elegant proposal that the campus is working on now to propose an installation of a homele resource center to provide over a hundred beds of housing for currently homeless people on the land that is people's parknd we're happy to work with the city and the campus to bring together town and gown in a produ >> and we have about 20 seconds remaining. you're both part of aer la trend of young people getting involved in elections, we had the highest turnout in 25 years, and we have a great class of new house members who are millennials. do you think the trend is here to stay or reflective of the times weive in. >> we're not going anywhere. >> we're not going anywhere. we're here to stay. >> young people all over the country areiz reg that they are -- they are their own best advocates andco izing the

power they have and i hope people are listening. >> and you are a role model that for sure right now. roger robinson and also marsha.k thou both for being with us. >> thank you for>aving us. nd that will do it for us. find our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu, thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ ♪

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