captioning sponsored by newshour produ>>ions, llc oodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the toll from alabama in human lives and property. assessing the aftermath of the deadliest tornadoes to hit the u.s. in nearly six years. then, we are on the ground at the southern u.s. border, with a report on the harsh conditions that mrants continue to faceon ce they cross into the u.s. plus, the fight over vaccines. a measles outbreak in the pacific northwest renews scrutiny over exemptions granted to parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated. >> i really, really hope it doesn't get to a point where there is a death, and then people go "oh, may i don't want this happen to my kid after all." and it's a terrifying thought, because, you know, it could be

my kid, it could be my, my infant.f: >> woodruf all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi river, the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines fleet ofsh smals explore american landmarks, local cultures andwa calm wat.ru americane lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> ordering takeout. >> fding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for showers. >> you can do the things youdo

like tith a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railway. >> babbel. a langua program that teaches spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> and with the ongoing support of these institions: >> this program was madess le by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the search for tornado victims is winding down tonight in eastern alabama. now, survivors in beauregard and face a longnitie road to recovery, after sunday's twister blasted the region with winds of 170 miles an hour. john yang begins our coverage. >> yang: across lee county,a,

alabesidents are coming to grips with lives lost or forever changed in an instant. >> feeling like you have to start all over, like everything you worked hard for was gone. >> yang: angela locascio is grateful she and her family survived the nation's deadliest tornado in six years. >> wondering why, but pr know we can'ict the weather and we just got out of harm's way.y, lucke were one of the lucky ones that got out.ri i had someds and family and coworkers that didn't make it out. >> yang: today authorities released the names of the 23 known victims. seven came from a single family. the oldest victim was 89 years old. the youngest, armando "a.j." hernandez, was just six. >> there's bn loss of loved ones, god, there's been loss of homes, lord.

>> yang: at lee scott academy in auburn this morning, the community united in prayer for another young life lost: ten-year-old taylor thornton, a student at the school. carol dean sat in what's left of the home she shared with her husband, david wayne dean, which is where he died. >> i really can't describe. he's just, it was just bond.ial he completed me, and i completed him. he was done and gone before we lit to him. he was the reason d, the reason that i got up. >> yang: officials say the search for more victims is winding down and heavy equipinnt will be haaway the debris. >> this has been an ordeal forut all of us,'m going to tell you, i think the people here and the people who have come to help us have peormed admirably. >> yang: as survivors prepare to bury the dead, and rebld shattered lives. for the pbs newshour, i'm john ufyang. >> woo joining me on the

phone now is mayor bubba copeland of smith's station, alabama, a community just east of beauregard, that grappling with this tornado's vastating aftermath. mayor copeland, thank you very much for talking with us. tell us how your community was affected. >> we have a town of 5,000, but the township of 22,000 that represents the greater populace of smith's station. it's a 27-mile-long tornado. it was about two football fields wide, 170mph winds. everything in its path pretty much was destroyed. it's hard to put into words besides the fact that i have never been to a war zone, but i've seen a war zone,'nd its just very familiar, total aphilation. >> it's extraordinary that y did not have loss of life. >> the lorred ally blessed us. it's unbelievable. it's a miracle. we had two injuries. they were not life-threatening.

if you were here, you would be even more amazed just by saying it just to see te destruction of houses and homes aned mobil homes. we're just so lucky and so h blessed to nove any loss of life. >> woodruff: how are you helping the people who have lost their homes and lost everything they have or a lot of it? >> well, you know, down in the deep south we are great for people coming together. what has happened is 15 minutes after this storm come through, people just show up everywhere like angels. they just come and they volunteer. today we have peop from sout carolina, florida, georgia, north carolina. they just dove down with heavy equip and began just clearing people's houses, yards away, so people can actually get out of their houses and get to where they could go to the store or what have you. we also organized an effort for v. m.a.

also the red cross is here, as well as the alabama forestry commission is here, the alabama national guard is here. i was expecting fema to ce, hopefully if the president declares an emergency, and they'll come in and help us rebuildful right now we're organizing our efforts. thcommunity is pullin together. we're trying to help people get the clothes they need. we have fire stations that are open for showers. and clothes and we have churchec that aring in an feeding people that don't have food. a lot of people can't get out, we're taking food to where they're at. >> woodruff: how do you process, myor copand, that just 15 miles away in bureau ofr essional beauregard, 23 people at least died how do you process it had that impact there, but yourt community, eveough there was a lot of damage, was spared in terms of loss of life. >> our hearts go out to the beauregard community. they're part of lee county.

we're all part of lee county, alabama. our hearts are so heavy for them with three children being lost and whole families being lost, words can't describe the sadness. it's a very, very sad day in lee county. >> woodruff: well, our hearts go out to all of you, certainly to them and to everyone who has experienced a loss in your community. mayor bubba copeland of smith's station, alabama. thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you. it's an honor. thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other ne, president trump went afterng ssional democrats over a series of new investigations. the house judiciary committee is seeking records and documents from 81 people linked to mr. trump, in a probe of possible obstruction and abuse of power. at a white house event today, mr. trump charged that democrats are engaging in what he called "presidential harassment." >> the witch hunt continues.

the fact is that, i guess we got 81 letters. ere was no collusion. it was a hoax. there was no anything, and theyn want to do thaead of getting any legislation passed. 81 organizations or people got letters. it's a disgrace. it's a disgrace to our country. >> woodruff: house democratic leaders have defended thete judiciary comms investigation, and several others. they drew support today from democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. >> congress has an independent responsibility, a very solemn one, to do oversight, openly, in public, unr oath. the house committees should be demanding answers, as they're doing, and demding documents. >> woodruff: meanwhile, house oversight committee chr elijah cummings said today that the white house is refusing to provide documents about security clearances. that comes amid questions about how jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, got his high-level clearance.de houscrats plan to vote tomorrow to condemn anti-sm

semiin a rebuke of muslim congresswoman ilhan omar. the minnesota democratic representative, elected just last november, suggested lastis week that prel groups want lawmakers to "pledge allegiance to a foreign country." top democrats criticized this and previous remarks of hers asi potentially emitic. fellow freshman alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted a defense of omar today. there is word that white supremacist efforts to spread messages of hate reached historic levels in 2018. the anti-defamation league reports that such propaganda incidents increased 182%, from 420 a year earlier, to nearly 1,200. the group also notes that the nuer of white supremacist rallies rose last year as well. the lifornia attorney genera announced today that he will not charge two sacramento police office who killed stephon

clark last year. the investigation found that clark advanced with something in his hand that flashed. it turned out to be a cell phone-- not a gun. rrtorney general xavier be said today the officers believed they were in danger, and the resu was tragic. >> our investigation has concluded that no criminal charges against the officers involved in the shooting can be sustained. nothing can bring back stephon clark, and nothing helps end the pain that his family carries. >> woodruff: last night, dozens of people protested in sacramento, after countys prosecutd declined to file charges. police made at least 80 arrests. overseas, anti-government protests flared in alban today, as thousands of demonstrators demanded new tions. crowds surrounded the parliament building in tirana. they carried signs pressing the government to resign over allegations of corcrption and e. political protests also raged

in sudan, with ane-day strike in the capital of khartoum.rt opposition sups called for the ouster of president omar al-bashir, who's been in power for two decades. medical researchers are hailing news of a london man who appears free of the aids virus, after a stem cell transplant. it is only the second such case on record, and it suggests that the first one, from 12 years ago, was not a fluke. stem cell transplants are expensive, and have failed to work in many aids patients. but, researchers say the findings may still lead to a new approach. back in this country, former new york city mayor michael bloomberg announced today that he will not run for president next year. he had been considering a bid for the democratic nomination. and, hillary clinton ruled out running again. she spoke in an interview with a w york television station. u.s. food and drug commissioner

scott gottlieb will leave hismo post nexh. the department of health and human services confirms that gottlieb submitted his resignation today. the former doctor and drug consultant has aggressively pursued initiatives to limit e-cigarette "vaping" bg americans, as well as opioid addiction. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average lost points to close at 25,806. the nasdaq fl one point, and0 the s&p ipped three. and, kylie jenner is now the world's ungest self-made llionaire, at the age of just 21. "forbes" magazine says she reached that milestone three years earlier than facebook founder mark zuckerberg. jenner me her fortune with the cosmetics company she started in 2015. still to come on the newshour: a port from the southern border on the treatment of migrants. the symbiotic relationship between fox news and the trump white house.

a legislative battle over vaccines, after a measles outbreak. the filmmakers behind the oscar- winnindocumentary "free solo." and, much more. >> woodruff: u.s. customs and border protection annound today that more than 76,000 migrants crossed into ited states on the southern border in february. that is more than double the numbers from just one year ago. in washington, the senate is preparing to block president trump's national eme declaration.ll mr. trump ikely veto, clearing the way for funding for d his long-promirder wall. to learn more about the situation on the ground, our amna nawaz has spent the pastti days rep from both sides of the u.s.-mexico border. and she joins me tonight from

san luis, arizona. amna, hello to you. so this part of the border where onu are is a place that the trump administraas toutedded as a success. they say that the number of crossings, illegal crossings is down. we see the border wall behind you. what are you finding on the ground about it? >> you did, you're absolutely right. 's not just the trump administration either. it's previous administrations. they have some form of significant walling here in the yuma sector, as it's called, for several years. there was a huge surge in 2005. they asked for fencing funding. they got it. they have this kind of wall now along a good portion close to the point of entry which is called triple-layer fencing. it is significant and ver aggressive. it gets less aggressive the further away you get from ports of entry, but that has not made this sector immune from those same trends you've noted across the countr they have bee seeing surges and upticks over the last few years. they're seeing larger groups and

a lot more crossings in remote areas. why are they seeing that? the same reasons the rest of the e untry is. they are seeing mofamily units crossing than ever before. yuma has the distinction of having the highest pactage of fami units crossing. 10 or 15 years ago, 90% of the people who crosse werngle adult males from mexico. today almost 90% of the people crossing are families with kids or unaccompanied minors.xi that's t resources in unprecedentedded way ?oos amna, ains on one of the str all of this is the lack of housing for these migrants. the border patrol people have said they built a new processing center in el paso. you were able to se one of the these new processing centers today. what did you find out? >> that's right, judy. those processing cents are basically the first place that migrants are taken after they're apprehended or they encounter border patrol after crossing

illegally. it's exactly they.th have their identities checked, they get fripghted. they don't usually allow access to these processing centers, that are also temporary detention centers. when you go inside, youta unde why. what we saw is one room in particular that was packed to the gills with unaccompanied young men. these were teenagers and young boys lying like sardines head to foot in so wme casth mylar blankets on top of them and nothing but a thin pad to sleep on. and this is where the majority of these folks will spend three days or longer before they're t ved on to ice custody. i'll tell you whso strikes you when you walk around this room, it's how many children there are. ed to these small spaces, who got absolute deight frm just being able to put their hand up a pne of glass to say hi to us and smile and make faces,nfants in their mother's arms. this is not the population that border patrois used to housing.

they're not resourced for it. they showed us what used to be an office supply closet that had the standard things they need. it's now stocked to theli cei with diapers and baby food and onesies for infants and thei kinds of ts you need to take care of children, which is now an increasingly large part of their job. they're not used to doing it. as one official said to me, they would rather not be doing it. it's taking resources away fromt thr responsibilities they have, securing the border and doing law enforcement there. so they told us before, they itionalked for add facilities. they wanted a temporary trailer added. they made hat request for two years, it's an $800,000 budgetareerequest. it'sdenied. they hoped that would be one place where the kids could o for some portion of the day to play.u they say therent resources are not built the handle this. >> woodruff: it's such act difficult e to imagine. quickly, amna, you have been talking e border patrol agnts. what do they tell you they think

is need to fix this immigration problem? >> brangham: well, look, theyd wantitional resources like i told you, both housing centers are not built to handle th population. they want more agents. yuma sector, they have a little over 800.th chief has gone to washington and made a request for 100 more agents every yer for next four years. what they also say they want is more wall. not just wall, but the technology that comes with it. they have about 18 camera towers right now. they say they can use more. they have sublstantial wling, as you can see, but even that can be penetrated. they walked us alng the wl and showed us places where there hasn't been a concrete foundation poured. people have been able to dig under and come through. there is older wall, what they call the old landing mat wall that's easily penetrated or climbed over. so i put to them, the conversation around the wall is if you build a 30-foot wall, which is what they want in someplace, people will build a 31-foot ladder. that do you say tat? they say, we can't deny that.

walls redirect traffic or cause people to take on more harm to y to cross, but it is something they can do right now. they also say what they hope they do sen curage people to justake a legal crossing, judy. >> woodruff: so important to rom onorting this story the ground from where it is happening. am nawaz reporting frm san luis in arizona. thank you, amna. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: the fox news channel is one of th nmost successfs media ventures today, winning consistently top ratings in t competive world cable news. but while the network has always relished being an outl conservative voices, the network is drawing criticism for its increasingly close relationship with the trump administration. william brangham looks at that criticism, and the multiple connections between fox and the

white house. >> brangham: fox news has long been accused by critics of being a "mouthpiece" for the trump ad,nistration, and oftentim its anchors and guests sound just like the president: >> mueller is not going to produce a neutral report. he's not going to be fair. >> now is the time to talk about the wall and to awaken citizens. >> brangham: and in return, president trump makes no secret of hisove for fox news: >> we got a lot of good people. do we like tucker? i like tucker. how about ainsley, brian?ot we lot of great friends. >> brangham: here from the rose garden last month... >> terrific, terrific supporter of what i do. not of me. if i changed my views, he wouldn't be with me. laura's been great, laura ingraham. tucker carlson's been great. they don't decide policy.

>> brangham: and the president promotes fox news in oer ways, as well. since august 2018, trump s tweeted fox neries to his 58 million twitter followers more than 200 times. his favorite show seems to be the morning show, "fox and friends." he shares their stories often, in real or near time, like this "fox and friends" segment from last january. it aired at 8:17 a.m., and was followed by a tweet from trump at 8:44 a.m. matthew gertz, a senior fellow at media matters, a watchdog and frequent critic of fox news, has spent more than a year tracking how closely trump's tweets correspond to fox news' segments. >> the most valuable square foot of real estate in washington, d.c. is the president's head, and where he is learning about the world is important. if he's not getting his information from the national security apparatus or thepe s in government, and is instead listening to "fox and friends" and the guests that

they book, that givencthat show andible amount of power, and power withoutta accolity. fox news is only accountable to its viewers and to its advertisers. w >> brangham:n it comes to presidential interviews, fox is also a clear favorite. the president has appeared on mix news 46 times since be president, compared to just ten for every other network, combined. >> come on up, sean hannity! >> braham: fox news' marquee anchor, sean hannity, even showed up at a presidential rally. >> i had no idea you wergoing to invite me up here. and the one thing that has made and defined your presidency more than anything else is, "promises made, promises kept." >> brangham: after an outcry over hannity's appearance, the network put out a statement saying, "fox news does not condone any talent participating in campaign events." the trump administration doesn't deny there are connections, but top ficials tell our white

house correspondent yamiche alcindor that critics exaggerate how it works, and it's not simple feedback loop. >> white house officials say, yes, the president talks to fox. it's natural, because they are conservative and so is he. >> brangham: and it's true: not everything on fox is supportive of the administration and its policies. several fox anchors are well- known for giving administration offials and supporters a tou grilling. for example, fox's bret baier last weepressed congressman jim jordan about the president's allegedly illel hush moneyo paymentsfferent women: en but what about the substance? i mean, the preswriting a

check to him, while president, for these payments, these 11 paymen, that he says were to pathoff stormy daniels, and other woman-- is that not true? >> brangm: fox's chris wallace is another example, like here, when he challenged press secretary sarah sanders aboutth the clai terrorists are coming across the u.s.-mexico border. >> nearly 4,000 known or suspecteterrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border... >> wait, wait, do you know where those 4,000 people come, where they are captured? airports. airports. >> not always, but certainly a large number... >> the state department says there hasn't been any terrorists found coming across the southern border. brangham: like wallace and baier, fox's shepard smith often fact-checks the president: the president has called itlt an asst the border. it is absolutely not. fox news

news network in the country for the past 17 years because we are the only news organization to provide a thorough look at evers side of eveory. our award-winning anchors and pecteders are widely re throughout the industry for their fearless approach to news while our opinion hosts offer insightful commentary analysis on the leading issu a. proud of our team and the product we deliver. but there is another important connection between the white house and fox news. overall more than a dozen current and former administration appointees have previously worked at fx, including john bolton, trump's national security adviser. was a longtime foxews commentator. bill shine, a fox news executive who now works as deputy chief of staff for communications. hope hicks was the forr white house communications director, but she left the white house in march, and was soon hired by fox news' parent company, 21st century fox. r more on the revolving-door relationship between the white

house and fox news, i'm joined r of the "new yorker." her newest story, "the making of the fox news whiteouse," details the many ways the two intertwine. lcome back to the newshour. >> thank you. >> brangham: so you report that fox news proudly celebrates its conservative credentls, but if your story you feature critics inside and outside of hx news who say tey have never seen it quite like it is today what are you hearing from them? >> so that was the thing that was interesting. liberals have been bashing fox forever, but now you hear a number of conservatives bashing fox because they think it's become a mouth piece for trump, not conservative so much as almost kind of a platform for authoritarianism. and they're wried about it. so you don't hear dissentingx voices on fen within the right. you don't hear other kinds of conservati is. >> branghai were to turn on fox news on any given day on a big news day, how does it manifest itself? >> so in the past you might have heard billristol or jennifer

ruben or george will. these are all so-called "neverse trump" coatives who are critics of trump but they're from the right. you continueo see very many of those people. >> brangham: those people have been exiled? >> they have been exled. you see a celebration pretty much night and day of our president trump. >> brangham: there are a lot of people who look at this and say, well, that's their bess model. it's totally fine. there is nothing illegal about it, and the fact they have fou an audience with the singular occupant of the white house, what's the big deal? >> you sw, uppose what the big deal is that there's kind of the underste ding, if you the news business is that you're not supposed to -- there is a n line betwes and politics, and that we're independent, we're a separate bnch, we're not part of the government, we're the fourth est and it's important for democracy that people get independent information so they can make good choices about politics. >> brangham: the conservative critics, including some voices on fox news, would say, but the

press is largely liberal, and they point to the way certain parts of the press dealt with the obama administration. you in your opn piece reort how j.f.k. had a very tight relationship with the press. ey didn't report certain stories that were unflattering to him. is this do youreally think fill sloughically that different? >> -- ilosophically that different? >> i think there's coordination now. you have the largest cable news network in the country coordinating it appears on ada y basis with the white house. so there is this revolving door where he former president of fox news is now the director of communications for donald trump. this is bill shine in the white house. and the highest-rated talking head for fox news, sean hannity, is the best friend bill shine, so his best friend is the white house comcamuons director, and he's on the phone almost every night after his show with the y president. have this very, very

iight-knit group of people who are messaging ung one of the big networks in the country. >> brangham: throughout your piece, this there is a debate that seems to course through it, ivwhich is is trump drg fox, or is fox driving trump. i wonder where you come down on that. >> that was one of the things i was hoping to find out as a reporter. i couldn't tell who is driving this train. and on any given day it is very hard to tell. what you'll often see is something that's on fox then echoed by a tweet from the president then fox is encouraged to do more of it. it's kind of seone said to me, you could call it it's ear vicious circle or cycle or a virtuous circle or cycle. it's a feedback loop, and somewhere in there, in some ways among the most importantna cs, is the audience. because fox is trying to capture the audience and make it

constantly watch fox,end th president is trying to capture the same audience and make them vote for hi this is a segment of the american population. and the way they do it is the same. they try to make that segment of the american population angry. so they're botah playing rlly toward the audience. >> brangham: one of the media analysts you quote i your story says fox's most important role since the election is to keep trump supporters in line. what does he mean by that?h >> soat he's saying is whenever there is a story that's negative for trump in the rest of the meddoia, what foes is it has a counter narrative that it spins out tere that keeps trump supporters happy. and it says, don't listen to those critics. they are the deep state or if it's law enforcement from the f.b.i. on down coming after trump, they're crooks. we've got the real story hee that the mainstream media won't tell you. stay tuned.

stay with trump. stay with us. >> brangham: but there are ny instances where fox news anchors will reallyll the president's supporters, members of the administration. i'm thinking about after michael cohen's testimony about those alleged hush money payment, brett bayer really went after congressman jim joroesn't this evidence trouble you? >> well, there are a handful f excellent reporterat fox, and brett bayer is considered a solid reporter. chris wallace i a sid reporter. shepherd smith. there are a number of them.fo and they worr the news side of fox. but most viewers have no ida ere is a separate division that's actually considered news reporter and the resof it in fox's view is entertainment. it's all labeled fox news, but you wouldn't relly know it as a viewer. it's the entertainment guys and women, but you would think of as fox. they are on all night long in ime time. >> brangham: in your story you also report how the trump administration when it recomes o latory matters has also taken a very favorable approach

to fox news, specifically with regards to the time warner acquisition. can you explain? >> well, what i found was trump actively tried to stop that deal, block that deal, and he ordered gary cohn, who was his top economic adviser in the white house, to get the justice department to block that deal. an he not only ordered him on he said, "i told him 50 time," there is this anecdote inhe story, which suggests that the president was trying to throw a wrench in one of the major sort of corpolste deahat took place during his time, and in a specific way. that was a deal that would have helped cnn,d nd he wan hurt cnn it appears. and it is a deal that if you block it, would have helped cnn's rival fox. >>anrangham:mayer of "the new yorker," your current story is in the currentish sue of "the new yorker."

thanks very much for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: once declared eradicated in the united statese measles ous are rattling regions of the country again this year. ere have been more than 200 confirmed cases in just the past few months, and many are in the pacific northwest, which prompted a state of emergency in washington state. it has also led to renewed concerns about pockets of unvaccinated children there and aross the country. today, officials spoke at a senate hearing about the need to vaccinate. it included testimony from an io teen, who decided to get his own vaccinations when he turned 18.n etndenberger told senators that he defiedtiis mom, her accination beliefs, and others spreading that message,ht because he thot was dangerous to himself and the public. >> for certain individuals and

organizations that sead this misinformation, they instilled fear into the public for their own gain, selfishly, and do so knowing that their information is incorrect. for my mother-- her love, affection and care as a parent was used to push an agenda tote cr false distress, and these sources which spread misinformation should be the ricanry concern of the a people. i quickly saw that the evidence and claims for myself were not accurate, and because of that, and because of my health ce professionals that i was able to speak with and the information that was provided to me, i was able to make a clear, coise and scientific decision. >> woodruff: as we said, the pacic northwest has been central in this battle, especially this year. special correspondent cat wise reports from there on what is being done in the aftermath of the outbreak. >> okay, eleanor, m putting leon in. are you coming?ac >> reporter: eweekday, amber gorrow, a real estate appraiser and mother of three, takes her young daughter to daycare. but since the measles outeak in her community-- vancouver, washington, just north of portland-- she's taking extra precaution.

>> i've just been leaving the baby in the car and locking mae door, whics me uncomfortable, but it's-- i feea like he'r there than potentially, you know, contracting anything that'sg goinound right now. >> reporter: at just ten weeks, her son leon is too young to receive the measles, mumps andbe rua vaccine. it's usually administere between a child's first birthday and 15 months, then again between ages four six. so, gorrow has been avoiding public places altogether: the library, the groceryre, birthday parties-- any place where potentially infected children could spread this highly contagious disease. >> it's definitely an added stress that we don't need. and it's an unnecessary added stress. that's the frustratingart, is, it's not like-- it's not like a weather incident that's really frustrating because we have to stay inside. it's like, a preventable issue that we shouldn't be dealing with.>> heard there's a child that has a rash? >> reporter: dr. lisa bisgard is the head of pediatrics for kaiser permanente in vancouver.

this clinic has had at least one case of confirmed measles. and, because that disease can linger in the air for up to two, hoaiser and other clinics in the area have been admitting potential cases through side entrances to avoid infecting s her patients. >> reporter: sympt measles include a high fever, runny nose, cough and re during winter, those can be hard to distinguish from the flu or o on cold. but after three to five days, a large rashppears-- usually rst on the face, before spreading to other parts of the body. t how serious s disease? >> it's very serious. a lot of people think it might be a smallever for a day or two and a little rash, and it's really not the case. some of the children need to go to the emergency room; in some cases, need to be hospitalized for a few days. and then of course, our patients

who have cancer, or who cannot get the vaccine, or the little babies, are even more at risk. and measles can also cause brain infections as well, which a lot of people don't realize. >> reporter: with two dos, the m.m.r. vaccine is 97% effective, according to the centers for disease control and prevention, and 91% of the population is vaccinated nationally. but to slow the spread of measles and protect thoswho can't get vaccinated for medical reasons-- a concept known as "herd immunity"-- around 95% of people in a community need to be vaccinated against measles. but 17 states, including washington and oregon, allow for personal or philosophical exemptions to vaccines, andse within thotates, vaccine rates can be far lower. clark county is the epicenter of the measles outbreak in washington and oregon. the vaccination rate here islo among the st in the country, just 78%. >> because is exquisitely ntagious and we have a large

unvaccinated population, this can spre like wildfire. >> reporter: dr. alan melnick is the public healcl director for k county. he says the effort to track where infected people haveone, then alert all those who potentially came in contact with them, is extremely time- consuming.ia state health o from washington and idaho, and the c.d.c., have been helping out. the outbreak has already cost the state more than a million dollars, and strained the county's resources. if wewould be one thi just had to do this for a week or two. gi've already been at this for over a month, ann the incubation period-- the time from exposure to the time you develop symptoms-- you got one group of people who get exposed, then they expose another group of people, seven to 21 days later. and this thing propagates over time, so it's not like it all ends quickly. >> reporr: measles was officially declared eliminated

from the u.s. in the year 2000, but domestic cases continue to pop up. last year, there were 349 measles cases in the u.s. most were in new york and new jersey in unvaccinated orthodox jewish communities. internationally, the world health organization says that in madagascar, there have been morh 900 deaths from an outbreak that started last september.01 and in measles infections tripled in europe to 83,000, the bulk iukraine. dr. melnick says the washingtonh strain isame as the one in eastern europe. >> so, as long as measles exists, as long as people travel in and out of commities, and as long as we have unvaccinated populations, it's inevitable that we're going to have measles outbreaks. >> reporter: while officials work to contain thmeasles outbreak in clark county, here in olympia at the state capitol, the debate over vaccines is ramping up. ( protests ) for decades, some parents have

argued that their children became autistic because of vaccines. that link has been investigated and debunked. ( protests ) yet at this protest in olympia against mandatory vaccines, parents were convinced that their children and others contin to be harmed by vaccines. >> my beautiful nephew started having seizures aftehis m.m.r. i feel that it should be a choice, and if i'm going to live in a state that is forcing that upon me, i will move.oe >> reporter:the recent outbreak concern you at all given your children aren't vaccinated? >> no, it doesn't concern me one bit. i believe that we have these illnesses and these sicknesses for a reason.to we have-- our bodies need to be immune to them. ( protests ) >> reporter:hat was something we heard a lot-- that measles isn't a big deal.

but that's not what doctors and medical professionals say. in fact, before the measles vaccination program began in the u.s. in 1963, 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized and 4,000 developed brain swelling from the disease every year. >> measles is not a benign disease. we've already had a child hospitalized for this. the other misinformation that's going out theris about the vaccine itself. some of this misinformation looks incredibly sophisticated, but it's nonsense. reporter: with this recent outbreak, there's been increased pressure on facebook, twitter and other social media companies to crack down on misleading information about vaccinations, and some-- like youtube and pinterest-- have already done so. susie olson-corgan was one of the organizers of the vaccine protest. she's with "informed choice washington," and she says people are o fight for their children. >> my main message is that we're

all parents doing the best we can for our children. t we want thbe healthy. we want them to have successful futures.ut >> reporter:oth health experts and legislators say those few who oppose vaccines are impacting the safety and well-being of many others. >> i think this is a very vocal minority thacohas very real erns, and i want to hear them. s but on te token, i need to have that immunity for my community. >> reporter: sta representative paul harris, a republican who represents clark county, is sponsoring new legislation in the aftermath of e outbreak. if passed, parents who wish to send their children to public ol private scwould have to inoculate their children with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine-- unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption. there's also a senate bill to remove personal and philosophical exemptions for all vaccines-- but similar legislation failed in 2015. back in clark county, in the aftermath ofhe outbreak,

vaccination rates have more than doubled. amber gorrow is glad more people are now getting vaccinated, but she worries that it may take another outbreak-- or worse-- to convince more people to vaccinate their children. >> i really, really hope it doesn't get to a point where there is a death, and then people go "oh, okay, you know, maybe i don't want this happen to my kid after all."er and it's afying thought, because, you know, it could be my kid, it could be my, my infant. wi reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm ca in vancouver, washington. >> woodruff: and we will be bacw shortlh the filmmakers of the oscar-winning documentary "free solo." but first, take a moo hear from your local pbs station. it is a chance to offer your support, which helps keep e programs like ours on thr.

>> woodruff: f those stations staying with us-- we take a look at how art and culture habrought new wealth, and new challenges, to a tiny town in west texas. jeffrey brown has this encore report from our "american creators" series. >> brown: welcome to marfa, texas, dusty ranchlands surrounding a tiny rural town near the mexican border, and an internationally renowned art mecca. it's sometimes weird, often wonderful, definitely far offth beaten path, some three hours from the nearest majorai ort. >> you can get from new york to paris, seated and eating dinner faster tu can get from new york to marfa. so, you got to make the commitment to come her >> brown: jenny moore is director of the chinati

undation, a sprawling museum created from an old army fort on 340 acres.ou >> have time here. you're are of the passage of time by the sun arcing across the sky. you don't get that in a lot of places. >> brown: chinati, and the whole marfa phenomenon, grew with the arrival here in the 1970s of artist donald judd, a g figure in what became known as minimalism, art stripped down to basic forms. judd wanted out of what he saw as the stifling new york art scene, as he explained in an 1983 newshour interview. >> for many years, i have been looking for empty land that had not been damaged odestroyed, and didn't have too many people. and i finally realized that there was a large space in west texas. >> brown: that space, and the landscape itself, would become the inspiration and home to large works by judd and other noted artists, including robert irwin and dan flavin.

judd also bought up once-grand buildings in downtown marfa, vestiges of an earlier boom era r the town, when ranching and agriculture thrived. these, too, became work, exhibition and living spaces, all part of a vision thatcr artists coulte their own world. judd's daughter, rainer: >> he felt very strongly that the idea of seeing one artist's single work makes it hard to comprehend what ang rtist is work or thinking about, at you actually need to see att in multiples, in-- a g number of works in one space. >> brown: rainer and her brother flavin now head the judd leundation, which oversees their father's work ancy, and is >> his idea was that, when you want to know about art of that time, of his time, that you can actually come to marfa, and see his work in a situation that he wanted it seen. >> brown: donald judd died in 1994. his vision grew into something

he might not recognize, a new marfa. as artists and non-profits moved in, tourists came from all over the globe, hip restaurants, galleries, and hotels opened. fashion and travelagazines featured it. celebrities posted instagrams. and marfa became the very model of the arts as economic engine in rural america. in new marfa, even the mayor, n marie nafziger, is an artist. >> the economic impact of tourism on marfa is enormous. and the outgrowth of that, having a large creative culture here, has also changed theit command some of the ways that some of the, say, activities that are available. >> brown: and the movies came back. marfa had once been best known as the setting for the 1956 film "giant." in 2007, the oscar-winning "no couny for old men" was filme here.

and chip love, a local rancher and head of marfa's one bank,. had a bit pa >> what i learned about the feole experience is, acting is best left to the pionals. >> brown: love, whose family has had a ranch here for n generations, remembers wdd first came to town. despite some initialskepticism from so-called old marfa, he says, for the most part, then changes have bod. >> i shudder to think what it might be like if judd dn't come along. it certainly enhanced the cultural lifestyle here. i mean, it's made living here richer than it has been in the past. >> brown: but while life may be richer, it's also far more expensive, and marfa's art-led growth has brought unintended consequences. housing prices have skyrocketed, as demand from wealthy newcomers has soared. in a town where the median income sits around $40,000, it's caused major problems. >> when people talk about gentrification, you're thinking usually of an urban setting.

now we're seeing it in the middle of rural texas. >> brown: sandro canovas has worked in west texas for more than a decad building and repairing homes made of adobe, historically owned by marfa's majority-hispanic popuon. as adobes gained popularity with outsiders, the county raised property taxes on thmes, a move canovas says hits the wrong people. >>t's displacing mexican a mexican-american families. the loss is not only that these people leave. it's ao the cultural loss of the place. >> brown: the effects are feltel elsewhere as wl. oscar aguero is supentendent of the marfa independent school district. >> i have several teachers that live, you know, 30 miles iown the roadalpine, where it's a little more affordable. i did have one teacher living in presid driving the hour drive. >> brown: moreover, with marfa real estate prices so high, the school district is now classified by the state as being wealthy. >> we're paying nearly about a half-a-million dollars back to the state, that's coming out of our local funds, that i could bd

using for our ts. >> brown: yes, i mean, because you don't have a rich population. >> no, we don't. you know, 76% of our students are economically disadvantaged, so, which means that they fall under the free and reduced lunches. >> brown: still, aguero says, his schools also benefit from the art boom here. a partnership with the chinatiti foun brings artists into the classrooms. his own daughter, in fact, now wants to be an artist. >> for the younger generation, you know, they're getting to grow up with this culture that is world-known and is amazing, and they're able to see things and hear things that you wouldn't see in a small rural town. >> brown: for the residents here, an unusual mix and a delicate balance of what art can for and to a small town for the "pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown in marfa, texas.

>> woodruff: the film "free r solo," about a rock climo climbs without ropes in yosemite national park, won best documeary at the academy awards this year. the makers of that film are the focus of this week's "that moment when," newshour's show on facebook wch. >> in journalism and photography, as well, you try to, you hope to kind of disappear, you're really trying to capture the moments as they happen andry not to influence the moment. >> it gets to, like the existential ethical question at the heart the film, which is, in the act of filming, by filming him, are we in-- somehow, in some way going to f cause him l? is he more likely to fall if we're filming? >> i got the sen that alex wanted to be filmed, but he didn't want to feel filmed. >> i think he thought the concept of actually free-soloing el cap was film-worthy. and that idea of, like, someone doing justice to this incredible athletic feat, actuallypt

ing it in a way that could live on for posterity... >> right. >> ...was something that was very appealing to him. t,the actual experience, wnd what that was going to entail, i think, was more of discovery process for him.>> ou know, being a professional climber and, and having worked on both sides of the lens, i'm quite sensitive to what it feels like when a i cameraroduced to a situation, and that sensitivity, to it, you k-- we hoped to apply in how we filmed witithim. to make s easy, and non- intrusive as possible. >> they're remote cameras because we want to stay oue of alex's linof sight. >> what risk does the crew take on? >> we really tried to mitigate the risk on the very front end by the team that we built. right? so, you know, the first criteria to be on the high angle team was that you had to be an elite professional climber. the second criteria is they had to be, you know, amazing cinematographers, as well. so, there's not a very big pool to pull from,

i needed people who could climb el cap casually in a day, and there aren't that many people who can do that. as alex was practicing his climb, we were practicing how we were going to shoot it. >> you've said, there wasn't a day in the two years of filming that you didn't think about him lling. can you describe what it feels like to walk around with that? >> i would wake up, and i would think, i could feel the, the i burden, and thould remember, i'd be like, "what, what am i feeling?" and then i would think what it was that i, weighing on me. and, my mind would go to the worse case scenario. >> i think everybody on the team carried a certain weight. but that was kind of the point. like, there was also a commitment that came with that weight. we trusted alex and believed ino what he wag. >> woodruff: you can find all episodes of "that moment when" on facebook watch. and, join us there on wednesday at 4:30 eastern for a special

watch party, live with host steve goldbloom as he looks back and takeyour questions about some of his favorite moments from the show thus far. also online, we take a closer look at how house democrats ar flexing their new investigative power by launching a range of inquiries and investigations surrounding the president, andwe xamine ten of those major issues. find that on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.jo us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that tes nial-life conversations in a new language, like s, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> american cruise lines. >> bnsf railway. >> the ford foundaon. working with visionaries on the frontlin of social change worldwide.ar

>>gie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions d individuals. >> this program wamade possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc ptioned by

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour and company." a prime minister to be indicted. a despate shift to the extreme right and a high stakes election. all this -- and the former prime minist and israeli journalist levi. then best-selling author stephen johnson reveals howe make the decision that's matter the most. plus, behind the ransom note. execute director of the committee to project journalists joel simon on what happens wn we're held hostage.