the chroniofe met thousand incidents in 2017, and a relative of handful of arrests, the policer chief said coverage have help the break- ins lower by 20%. tonight on kqed news democratic president hopefuls check in with president trump and front runnerjo e biden, was it enough to change the state of the race? a new state bill could radically change the labor status of 1 million workers including uber and lyft drivers. good evening, and welcome to kqed news room. we began the tonight with democratic residential debate, how lot -- held last night in houston this time only 10 candidates, vying for a knockout momentrsfor the time front letter front runner's

joe biden ared thstage with kamala harris did not go off on fellow former obama kelet -- cabinet member that made the attacks against biden. >> with as now is jager foley he se or political writfor the san francisco chronicle, as well as la times political reporter see my meter -- great coming - thank you for to >> think you for having us. >>okay holy on castro going after joe biden, healy and castro has one isjo to make a splash he's at the lowest of the stage was take a listen to that clip and get your reaction

on the other side. >>are you forgetting what you said two minuteago? are you forgetting already what you said just two minutes ago? i cannot believe, that you said two minutes ago, that they had to buy and now you're saying they don't have to you forgetting that. >> foffilling the legacy barack obama and you are not. >> that will be a surprise to him. >> a very heated mont. how did that play? he is essentially going after joe biden's age it sounded like. >> absolutely,that is e sort of discussion it was about the obama legacy, but all anyone heard was ata ck on joe biden. the democrat circle the wagon around biden afterward saying oh my gosh this is terrible, but hey this is you know if biden is a nominee he wi10 face times worse from president trump, that's what trump rails on him about, sleepy joe biden not mentally fit for the office. this is rt of a preliminary of what he will face.

it will make biden tougher, people want to see he's able to withstand these attackthey can't take them from holy on castro is barely .2% how will he take them from the president ofe united states as a master marketer, someone who tagged people with names, whether be quick, hillary clhaton or what you. how does joe biden take it? >>is a nickname machine known him about it. >> how did that moment played in houston, and did you see castro trying to distance at it left on viewers? on >> certainly the audience was not happy with the line of late castro said but a lot onattack. of people or democrats have been discussing privately he said it out loud i don't know he did himself any favors by going down the path, but is something ial all the time. rs the questions about joe biden is in his 70s, does he have the physical cavity capacity which mpaign. a long bral the fact of the matters out age,

president trump is 73, joe biden is 76, but it was inprett interefor a lot of us to have seen elizabeth warren, bernie sanders and joe biden on the stage t r the fitime together, it will not be a difficult line of attack given they are all in relatively the same bracket age wise. >>the field does whittldown to the three and they are the front runners now it will be less of an issue because, you are quibbling over a few years between them but if there's an intergenerational battle, as long as hayo people to judge who is half of biden's age or stro was inhis 40s and then it will become more of a issue. you can see it, on the debate stage. >>okay let's talk about kamala harris who is the sole lifornian last -- left with a serious chance she has lost a bit of traction, that was clear going in to this debate how do

you think she did last night? >> i think she basically is a status quo situation people to were going the bait to see if e would haa repeat performance of the first debate were she just crushed it. when she went after joe biden on segregation she had a moment i was a st turning onshe went up and pulled in fundraising and in the second debate she sort of was on the defensive, shut some wobbly answers about her policies i think ople really wanted to on see which will we see? and then a third version of her she wasn't overtly attacking any of her e rivals on age of that she held her ground, and made a point of really repeatedly going after donald democrats wanted to see. t of she certainly, emerged in this bait unscathed, but not the kind of rake out moment she did ú>> it's a great point that she went after trump we didn't a he ole lot about in this debate, do you think that that is a solid r strategy harris? >> pattern of the gets her iting the president to attack s her on twitter and tellingly

enough, by the time we recorded this he ha 't responded toher so maybe he feels, she is not worthy enough to marinate on úyou n have bump up 80% in the poll before i can attack you. but, i don't know if going after trump wins you anything everybody on that age, hates trump. are you going to gain by saying i hate trump more? you calfportray youras best to take on trump on a debate stage, but that's so far down the road, you still have to get democratic voters to like you and harris has not and not enough yet. that strategy didn't work out great, for senator chris joe and brent was no longer in the debate >> she did lead the league but she is a s. senator. she's out of the race she got no traction from ripping on trump.

just doesn't get you anywhere. >> okay, let's talk about andrew yang, here we are, he's gained quite a bit of traction, he was third from the stage and he announced last nth to 10 more recipients as part of his universal basic income experiment. is that idea, starting to appeal to voters essentially it sounds like he is giving money away, i am not sure if that is legal? >> i spent a couple of days on the trail with him, and is a very interesting candidate. clearly i don't think anyone will think you will be the next president. buthe policies he'stalking about while they do sound really quirky, they have long roots. thomas paine taed about it back in the day and so did richard nixon and mlk. is not quite as kooky as it sounds, but with that said it's not a very unusual strategy for campaign. there are a question of the legality he was giving money to one family from new hampshire

thousand dollars a month as a demonstration of his ubi pl but that was towards his personal funds i don't thin ere's a question about the legality but this new e thing wh would give $1000 a month to 10 families on his campaign funds, that does raise a quesr on about whetthat violates campaign finance law but the one thing is, he's there's no one there to find hi really? >> andrew yang what is your take on him joe? is he at least hesoing redefine of the discussion in this ebay? >> at the surface level it looks like opera, everyone gets a car. >> is ed mcmahon. >> yes a big check at your house. but, he has done a great service of talking about universal income to the point where we are discussing it. on shows like this and in the media. something that wedo not talk about a lot and that is the future of work. and how so many workers will be

displaced by ai,and such. what we do with them? and universal basic income giving them $1000 a month to r flip them a wild to help them cushion the blow that is a important topic when he was inmate the skull, hesaid, biden came up to him and said hey i want to talk to you about some ofthis work this future of work stuff. so, it is resonating within the party. >> okay last word goes to you and he stated last night change anything? >> bigoted. i think, the candid es basically needto do, they came out of neit having what they needed to do, biden is still the front runner it's getting close. if anybody damaged themselves was castro but he was already doing so poorly i don't know if that really changes the much. tory of the race that we will be meeting up again we another four s in ohio

somewhere so we will see. ck >> well good luon the road out ther. thank you r joining us. >> thayou. >>this week, lawmakers in sacramento past85, bill that sending shock waves through the tech industry, especially services like uber and lyft that dominate ecthe gig omy it could be classified uber and lift drivers and other gig workers as employees not contractors. eligible for benefilike health insurance, newburgh -- pbs and lyft vowed to spend tens of millions of dollars of a ballot measure to fight this as well as the first time lawmakers passed a statewe rent control bill to help tenants as california grapples with the housing a crisis and spike in homelessness. joining me now to talk about these key bills that lawmakers tackled the session our correspondent marie saw. so much news to cover, let's t talk ablatebreaking údevelopments on pg&e this

morning we had the settlement announced between the utility and insurers can you start by walking us through the nuts andi bolts? >>came as a surprise to a lot of people including us. it got us all of the bed this morning. this is essentially be the insurance companies that have paid out billions of dollars in claims, to folks who are ey and mendocino fires in the 2018 campfire up in paradise, two yeats of devag wildfires that could cause billions of dollars in damages, this is the second settlement pg&e, has come to with these folks that are impacted, the first one was with the government for $1 billion, 1 th is billion not as high as the insurance had wanted which was 20 billion. so it's as low as it would be which is a in half-billion. most importantly what this does not address is the victims.

individual victims. ab>> let's talk more t that, that is the third big group, we are looking at the settlement in many ways after the lens of what that means for the welfare subrivors that are ging their own individual claims against pg&e. >>yes before the utility file for bankruptcy, th people had already filed suit, because this is not bankruptcy there was a extension to refile those claims through october 21, i talked with one wildfire attorney this morning she says, shexpects maybe 40,000 50,000 claims to be filed, so this could not this is probably not to be as big as those claims. shulexpects, they get between 30-$33 billion for vick comes based onat segrn insurance claims, and how that relates to how much victims gets. this is a big fight and had vew t determined whether pg&e will be held at fault for the tubs fire. that the jury trial and i ink there's a lot of moving parts. >> let's move thank you for reporting on the. let's move onto the legislative session, 85 is a big one, this is a bill that uber and lyft fought tooth and nail, here is

what uber to lawyer sato reporters as the bill was making it way to the governor's desk. >>drivers rk in and outside ofat uber's business th serving as a technology platform for several different types of digital marketplaces. >> so, what he's really saying there is i ivers are nocore to ssuber's busishould be by that? >> it's a hard argument to make i think if tomorrow the drivers upand left, uber would be making money. the drivers at might take delivering food, they expanded in all to all kinds of things this is the crux of the argument i think it will be a tough one to make in court which is really where this might be headed at thisoint.

if they are going to refuse to comply. the labor department and maybe the state could even sue. not, 85 is not the final say this very complicated issue. >> at the same time, uber says anthis is in ng anything for us but we are partnering with lyft, pouring tens millions of dollars into this ballot measure for next year, does this tell you something about how thy atened they tr are by 85? >> absolutely this cuts at the core of their surface if they wanted to come out becotaxi companies they would've done that. they do not do that, because that's not the business model. to them they feel like being forced to bring on these employees these folks as eir model, and i think what ut we will see come january when the legislature co s back, is a attacked -- an attempt for third classification. nontraditional employees, but something special for these companies, i withink that be a hard sell if they won't pony up a lot more money to make you know what lot of people say

is an expletive business model work they have until june, to see if they will go forward with about measure so i would look 6- 9 nths baby we will have to weigh in on this as voters but we will see. >>and how do you think governor newsom will react? >>he said unequivocally he will sign it. i do e think, there other avenues with these companies that they will pursue it does sound like in the meantime, uber will not llmply. this not take effect until january 1 so they do have some time before it takes effect, i would expeeven if uber doesn't comply it will take time for regulations in the courts to catch up and really hold their feet to the fire. >> thank you let's move on to rent control, governor newsom has another bill on his desk that would rent increases how that work exactly? get something the governor promised he would do at the

beginning of the year we thought it was deadbut it came back a big win for newsom. surprisingly it got through the legislature fairly easily. around a question mark thatessentially this is if you in a jurisdiction that does not have a rent control and you live in apartment building or a older building, your rent can be capped at 5% plus cpi so around 8% increase a year which is pretty big increase more le than most pewould see but it will preventrssuppordo save rent gouging. >> this is huge in the bay area what is your sense whether this ll have an tionable impact on people here? >>there's two things to note one is we do have some of the la strongest rental in cities like berkeley and san francisco those rent laws will stay the on same, the y is softening, when some of those rent gouging huge spikes resolve 50% rent ve increases overnight already started to tell off. this will protect against it's only a 10 year sunset clause but if we do e the economy

rolling back and really the real estate market tightening again, this could help people staymein their it's a key issue for the governor and local leaders because part of the problem we are seeing in california isa loof people that are homeless or have housing and security had housing and then lost it. so the ability to keep people on the home severity have, is a really important quiver in their ability to fight these things becausherwise, your kind of dealing with it on both sides who are already on the streets and people coming on the streets. >> what are republican thing ab t this? >> there was pushback from the real estate community, we saw that reflected in the sort of partyline vote asyou know, democrats have a super majority in sacramento so it doesn't always matte these days with republican lawmakers day. >> i'm glad you brought that up, how did that go they really had the run of the place this year. had a democrat do? did it become more complicated than they thought? >> i hsink nine mointo this it went better than we might've expected in january. i think we have seen this rent

control thing was a big win for newsom and he started to get a huge deal aroundcharter schools, 85 got out, i don't take the democrat did as much úrepublicans would like to see but the big nequestion is om and his staff there's a lot of complaints, that they didn't engagesuin some or engaged lately change their mind about ound 85 invery controversial vaccination bill, i think that relationship between lawmakers and the governor of the same party, is still kind of shaping up. this is the first year of his term, he is a very fferent leader than jerry brown and he wants to have the iron and a lot of fires and bei can challenging. >>okay never a dull moment for you. ti >> our polical correspondent is so good to have .you here t >> berkeley theater was unded in 1968 and is the east bay's ever professional theater

and since opening over 500 million people have enjoyed nearly 500 shows including 80 world premieres, thiseaweek, the r kicked off its 51st season with a new artistic director -- director joanna felt sure she joins me menow. >> wel >> thank you. >> you are hired a full year ago it is so hard to believe it's been that long but your first show the great wave is taking this page and it previewed yesterday. tell us about that. >> i was hired a year ago but i only arrived here, a week or two ago. just time toget rehearsals for the great wave underway so yes we had our first performance for an audience last night the great wave is a really beautiful, ambitious, sweeping, opted epic ay it take place between japan and north korea, is a story of a family, caught in the sort of great title wave of political turmoil. >> yes, another show you are

presenting is white noise, i'm wondering what is the through line you are trying to eate with thshows you selected for this year? >> i'm always looking for things that are really ambitious. and theater thatcan mean a lot of things that can be stylistically ambitious, they can be contained really elevated language, i think with theat wave and white noise are complicated plays they ask us to think deeply as who we arwhas individual our political beliefs ared , an amazing opportunity for people to come together in a theater bring people inand wrestle e to with some of those questions. >> is our particular artistic statement you are trying to makh this slew of selections? >> i think peter's a great place to consider who you are, who you are ipin relationto community but also to be wildly entertained and i hope the season will do that as well. wh >> for people do not know, you are a very radical part two ringing hamilton, everyone knows about that to the stage. what did working on hamilton

teach you about reaching newer audiences? >> i wish i could say i was a critical part of that. i played a very small role i had the great privilege, watching that extraordinary group of artists, began their work together in a really deep way. i think with hamilton, they've ne generations of people who ea might've thought, r in general and specifically maybe large-scale broadway theater was not a place they will see their own stors be told, i think something it is told now, we feel a greater responsibility for. think hamilton really lped focus our attentions on that. >> i know you just made the bay from new york, to the areai want to ask you first, wh is your read on what it will be like to . theater he because you're no longer in the epicenter of the theater world as we think of it. what you think it will be like? working here? is fairly nefor you. >>you know what i know about the bay area and its audience, it's a community of people who arreally intelligent, who

are really literate and have great expectations of e storytelling and all different ways they can even that and engage in dallas. i think it will be very compelling conversation i can have wice this audiover a period of time. >> what about the wealth and equality issue that spurs pervasive. i have to ask you, some impact it can have on emerging artists who are working with an outlet. >> yes i ngfeel acutely co from new york to the bay area were talking about how you make a living as an arst and --in two of the most expensive cities in the world and i really felt that when i worked at mct if you're gonna trainees artists you want them to maintain a relationship to the theater, and the community that they been a part of. it is hard here i think it's a real opportunity for those of us who are running different cultural organizations to come together and think about, w we cacollaborate, to create a sustainable environment for

people to continue to make a >>let's talk aboutheater, in today's entertainment ecosystem. what's your sales pitch? if i can put it bluntly. you have a to make pitch to people to get up, put on their close go to the theater leave en their homes, they have netflix, amazon prime, and all these other options a home they age of television how do you approach it? >>we are in the golden age of writing, what's interesting to me so many of those stories that are being told on amazon antflix and julio, are being created by playwright so i think we have to remember that the theater is a great generator not just to specific stories but artists, it's given so many people, ofa sense craft, and tradition but i think, it spks to a moment that people are increasingly isolated. we canall stay home and sit on our couch, and have it told to us in e individualistic way

but peter, what i think it can do that nothing can in theater you are going to sit the dark with a group of people, some of whom you may know, some are strangers in your to be told the story by a group of artists whare flesh and blood, in front of you in real time, i think that has the capacity totibe transfor for people in a way that nothing else can. >> talked to me about the challenge, of filling the shoes of someone who proceeded you years. there, for more than this is a place th a ve prestigious reputation as you know. had you plan to build on that reputation or change the reputati that berkeley rep has ? >> i hope i don't do anything to destroy tony's legacy. because, he built a theater that was already, such a strong institution. he had 30 s great ye really making work

very specifically in bringing really amazing artists he . sohope to continue that. i know there are people here that have already found a home at berkeley rep that i look forward to you create a home for them, but i know there are a people that i been working with over the next couple decades that i'm really excited to introduce to these audience. >> what attracted you to this job? >> i think it's one of the crown jewels the american there aren't thatmany places, that would persuade me to leave new york and i would say, this is the the one, and it's also mymily's home. so it's an opportunity not just to run one great theater but also to come back to place that's really meaningful to me. >> and it happens to be your hometown how is a homecoming been you? >> it's amazing, you know i was welcomed by the staff at my staff that usedto be you know the day camp or after they ran into friends who you know is

iving my son up to indian rock to go rock climbing the other day and i was pointing out where my old babysitter lidod and it feel like a really amazing opportunity to rediscover community, but one that is really meangful to me. >> very cool, before we let you go, i want to ask you how do you think this seasonfor those avid theatergoers, which there are many, how will the season be different than previous ones? previous seasons. i am proud that the season is full of stories, there are two world premieres, brand-new plays from sarah rule, a w musical as well. it features the music of the avett brothers. there are two plays that have only been seen in london, i think it's an opportunity to really celebrate an incredibly wide range of storytelling. >>joanna, artistic director at weekly rep, thank you cofor ng in. >> thank you for having me. >> you can buy tickets for the

great wave up now playing and other upcoming shows that berkeley rep by visiting berkeley rep.org. as always you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. thank you for joining us. for snuk --

bert: democrats face off, but are they ready to face president trump? i'm robert costa. welcome to ashington week." democrats debate, with joe biden still at centerstage. and in a standoff over mhealthcare. icare for all will save the average american substantial sums of money. >> what this is about is makinge hat we have the most efficient way possible tosi pay for healthcare for i everyonven this country. >> i know that the senator says she's for bernie. well i'm for barack. worked.the obamacare robert: other contenders tried to break out. b >> hell yes, we're going to take your ar-15, your ak-47. robert: and challenge president

um