captioning sponsored bro newshourctions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, withdrawal fallout-- president trump defends his decision to remove u.s. troops from syria, as t violencthere escalates and the ovs. house votes whelmingly to condemn the move. then, taking the stage. after a dozen democrats square the debate and how its reshaping the primary fight. plus, millions of americans struggle with the daily ravages of alzheimer's. but breakthrough medicine right at the edge of possibility is spreading hope in the battle against this cruel illness. >> we need to be doing more of these phase one trials, looking at dife rent targets. we need to take 99 shots on, 100 shots on goal to find one that's ne with that. >> nawaz: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. pd by contributions to yo station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: a president and his fronts. under assault on two the u.s. withdrawal in syria and the impeachment inquiry keptp president tr the defensive today. he spent much of the day ignoring impeachment, and insisting his shift in syria was the right move. trump, after meeting withident italy's president sergio matarella, dismissed criticism of his withdrawal from northeast syria and the ensuing turkish invasion. >> i'm not going to get involved in a war between turkey and syria. >> nawaz: the president then likened kurdish fighters belonging to the p.k.kmilitia

to the islamic state fighters they helpetathe u.s. fight in syria. i say with great respect, theynd a nawaz: mr. trump insisted he is making good ongstanding promise to get u.s. troops out of long-running wars.d and he plawn fears that russia will fill the vacuum. >> syria has a relationship with the kurd'll fight may bring partners. they may bring russia in and i say welcome to it went into if russia's going to help ooprotect kurds that's a gd thing not a bad thing. >> nawaz: those words drew sharp criticism from a trump ally--or republican senindsey graham: >> to rely on russia and iran to protect us against the rise of is is, quite fraly, insane. >> nawaz: the president fired back at graham. >> lindsey graham would like to stay in the middle easthe next thousand years, with thousands of soldiers and

fighting other people's wars. wi want to get out of thos. >> nawaz: still, the president dispatched vice president mikenc peand secretary of state mike pompeo to ankara this evening, to press turkish president recep tayyip erdogan for a cease-fire. a plan erdogan dismissed before turkish parliament today, unless the kurds withdrew from the turkish-syrian border >> ( translated ): operation peace spring will last until we go down to 30 to 35 kilometers,h alonline from manbij to the iraqi border, as we have previously declared. there is no doubt or hesitation about this, we have no open doors on this matter.aw >>: all of this, as president trump's other critical challenge ground on, with another key witness testifying the impeachment inquiry. michael mckinley, a seniorso advir to secretary of state mike pompe abrtly resigned from his post last week. he was reportedly telling s ngressional investigators that his departure waiven by a concern over the treatment of former ambassador to ukraine,

marie yavonovich.ed she was recarom her post in may, amid agitation inside the white house that she was disloyal to the president. alson the hill today: a rprise second appearance from former u.s. envoy to ukraine kurt volker. state department official george kent told lawmakers yey that volker was part of a group that took over the administration's ukraine policy. democratic congressman gerry connolly said the group also included gordon sondthe u.s. ambassador to the european union, and energy secretary rick perry. they allegedly dubbed themselves "the three amigos." with back-to back interviews and depositions this week, house democrats are pushing on with the probe, even as speaker nancy pelosi said yesterday the house would hold off on a vote to formally authorize the inquiry.r today, houublicans again accused democrats of running an unfair process. house minority leader kevin mccarthy said they areeing denied access to closed testimony and transcripts. >> and somehow we're supposed to trust what comes out of that

and they deny members of congress who are lent wer and the voice of the american public to even read what is going on. they deny members of congress from even the ability to sit inside that committee. n az: the investigationth continues tomorrow, with ambassador sondland testifyingse behind clod doors. >> house speaker nancy pelosi: >> i think the president was very shaken up by the fact that 300-- was it350. 354 eye had to make sure i had the number correct-- and that means a mority, a big majority of the republicans voted. >> go ahead. >> ...... on the part of t president was a meltdow >> nawaz: for more on the on the house impea and this week inquiry, i'm joined by our own yamiche alcindor, who's been tracking developments from the white house. and ck schifrin, who's following the diplomatic

storylines. yamiche, let me begin with you. now, we hean the president thone defending his deciin syria to pull back those u.s. troops. how is that defense complicating or impacting the very realca polichallenges he's facing right now? >> well, president trump's decision to withdraw troops from syria is really complicating the political landscape as he needs republicans toack him, and as democrats are forging ahead with their impeachment inquiry. today,a of as you noted, the white house held a meeng with republican leaders and democratic leaders, and that meeting really went into chaos and devolved into partisan attacks. pelosi, as you said, said hhe president had a meltdown. she said peopleld pray for the president's health because he's essentially not really mentally stable. chuck schumer also said the president was attacking nancy pelosi, callinger a "third-grade politician." the white house, though, is pushing back on that. the white house is saying

president trump was actually very measured and democrats walked out of the meeng and they didn't really get the work done that they were there to hahi. but all ofs is really because president trump is feeling very, versus anxious out the fact thehouse overwhelmingly voted in a bipartisan way to condemn his actions in syria. >> nawaz: yamiche, that meeting we talked about was late t the, this afternoon white house. also late today you got your trump sent to president erdogan of turkey. tell us what was in tat lter and the kind of response it's getting, especially from the president's own party. >> again, the president is really alienatinandangering republicans at a time when he critically needs republicans on the hill, in the house and the senate to be on his side because of this impeachment inquiry. i want to read what the president released today. it's a letter to thede pre of turkey, date october 9. it says in prt, "let's work out a good deal. it will look upon you forever as-- history will look upon u forever as e devil if good

things don't happen. don'ting a tough guy. don't be a fool." that's president trump really trying to give rep tublica say, look, i'm being tough on turkey here. now, reblicans who were also in that meeting at the white house, are back up the president. kevin president was actually trying to get things done and nancy pelosi was really ovelye oliticizing eting. but what is clear is that there is bipartisan condemnation of the president's actions and theg house ing to beooking into a sanctions package that is going to be above what the sprt dog in turkey. so republicans while they're backing up the president withrh hitoric, they are really pushing back on his ideas and his actions in syria. >> nawaz: bipartisan anger there. nick, step back with us for a second. let's fill in some context here. it's not just syria that members of congress are angry about here. right? what else is trump facigh ri now from them? >> yeah, i think in congress reflects a kind the national security consensus we have seen largely since 945, since the end of world war ii, that the u.s. should play a leading if not the leading role in the

world, that the u.s. military is a key too tin ordo pursue u.s. interests. and today that has lid the u.s.i ry to have bases in over 70 countries. president trump referred to that number today, and not in a goo way. and he criticizes and fundamentally questions the idea of how the military has been .sed, and he advocates for restraint of themilitary, how it's deployed, and where it's deployed. and he gave one of the most clear explanations of a kind of ump doctrine, a kind o grand strategy, as we saw a little bit of in your piece, when he was ciresponding to cri by senator graham. >> when i ran, i ran on a dicause we're going to bring our great solers back home where they belong. we don't have to fight these endless wars.ah lindsey am would like to stay in the middle east for the next 1,000 years with thousands of soldiers and effect other people's war. the people of south carolina don't want us to get into a war with turkey, a nato mor with

syria. let them fight their own wars. >> by the way, president trump is not the only one making that argument. lastight, senator elizabeth warren, democratic candidate fo president, also said, "heloy, , the u.s. should come out of the middle east." >> nawaz: so we're hearing the president say, "ian on this. this is what i promised i would do. this is my foreign policy." but the criticism he is facing isn't just coming from congress. it's coming from other government agencies, too.ro >> largelym his own government. because of the consensus, the military, the state department, intelligence officials i talked to all advocate a policy that they say syria is a perfect example of, right. it is a small milar footprint, all over the world, and that those small military special operations forces, largely, will be training local forces who can pursue u.s. policiese,nd, of cousyria is an example. and that is is instead of seing 100,000 troops, for example, to iraq and afghanistan. and these people believe that syriwas a goodrsion of it. and, also, that it was sustainable. they alsorgue it'gs necessary because if the u.s. i note in

places like syria or fghanistan afghanistan, then there could be vacuums, and in those vauums, terrorists could plot attacks against the united states. and there's one last critique they talked to-- they heard from ople, who even argued for restraint today, and they said if you're going to restrain the u.s. military, you need to reduce the budget for the u.s. military, you needreo ince the budget and kind of focus on the state department, the diplomats, the intelligence agencies, and they sayharesident trum increased the pentagon budget and decreased the state department budget. but president trump says he has a different world view. >> nawaz: tensions there. yamiche, back to you, meanwhile meanwhile, meanwhile, on capitol hill, the intoovment inquiry continues. there are still a 99 of officials appearing on and will testifying as part of that probe. do we know was on the hi today and whado we know about what happened there? >> there was some criticky important testimony going on, on the hill today, related to the

impeachment inquiry. michael mckinley, as you noted, was here on capitol hill in d.c. talking about what he thinks was the unjustified removal of the former ambassador to ukraine. sources tell me hea sid diplomats were being mistreated under president trump's administraaon. he alsod people's careeres we being upended because of political reasons, i'm told by sources. that today sade, we're going to see more of this. gordon sondland is supposed to be coming t coming to the hill w to testify. he is the current ambassador to the eu pean undon. s someone seen as an ally to president trump, but at the same time, these testimony have really been surprising in a lot of ways. seats going to be important to really wat that. also, bill taylor, he's a career official who is stillng wort the statement. but he's the person who sent thatss text mee who said he thought it would be crazy-- quote, unquote-- ito wholed from ukraine for political reasons. he will be coming to capitol ll next week to testify. these rawl things we need to walk as the president contins to be very, very angry about the

kepeachment. >> nawaz: jam-pday here in washington. yamiche alcindor, and nick schifrin on top of it all. thanks to you both. >> nawaz: in the day's other news, general motors ated auto workers reached a tentative deal to end a month-long strike. terms of the four-year contract were not released, but theon u.a.w. said itajor gains for some 49,000 workers. the union had dended higher ges, better pay for new hires and a promise to build morecl ve inside the u.s. union leaders meet tomorrow to vote on the deal. the u.s. special envoy on iran says the withdrawal from northeast syria does not undermine efforts to pressure iran. at a hearing today, senators from both sides warned the pull- out will aid the syrian regime

and its iranian allies. but brian hook disagreed. >> nawaz: president trump >> the president's decision with respect to syria is not going to change our iran strategy or the effica of it. y iran doesn't have the mo used to support assad and support its oxies. so iran is going to face a dilemma, they can support guns in syria or prioritize the needs of tir own people at home. nawaz: president trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with iran, last year, and has imposed a wide range of economic sanctions. there were signs today of a possible new brexit deal in the making. britain and the european heldai talks through the night and into the day. the chief e.u. negotiator reported good progress. the leaders of france and germany said an agreement could be sealed at an e.u. summit

morrow. of street violence overrd night catalonia's push for independence. in barcelona, thousands turned out and battled riot police this evening. protesters set fires and threw rocks and bottles.an the violence bonday after nine separatist leaders were convicted of sedition and sent to prison. in hong kong, chief executive leader carrie lam criticized votes the u.s. congress, backing pro-democracy denstrators. she warned it could "hurt americannterests" in hong kong, and she noted there are more than 1,400 american businesses and 85,000 u.s. citizens in the city. >> ion't need foreign parliaments to tell us how important hong kong's human rights, freedoms and judiciary, are because these are the core values of hong kong, which every hong kong person best to safeguard. >> nawaz: earlier, pro-democracy lawmakers jeered and blocked lam as she tried to give an annual speech. she eventually spoke via video link and insisted hong kong is

still a "very free society". also today, a leading protest organizer was attacked by unknown assailants with hammers. supporters charged it was part of a campaign of politic terror. chinese tech giant huawei has reported a double-digit gain in sales, in the face ou.s. sanctions. the company said today that fo salethe year were up 24% through september. president trp saysuawei is a security risk, and last may, he limited its access to u.s. so far, though, he has delayed enforcing those sanctions.ba in this country, new york's democratic governor, andrew cuomo, signed a bill aimed at president trump's use of his pardon power. it will let the state prosecute people eveafter they receive pardons for federal crimes. the goal is to ensure that the president cannot use pardons to derail state investigations of his associates. jury selection began today in cleveland, in the first federal trial stming from the opioid epidemic. two ohio counties are suing six

drug makers and distributors. some 2,000 other suits are pending. today's proceedings come amid reports that thr of the companies are offering a settlement of $18 billion over 18 years. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 22 points to close below 27,002. the nasdaq fell 24 points, and, the s&p 500 slipped six. still to come on the newshou analysis of the critical momenti from last t's democratic debate. hope in the darkness-- opening a new frontier in the fight against alzheimer's, and much more. democratic presidential race. 12 candidates faced off in a sometimes heated debate last night in westerville, ohio. yamiche alcindor was there andk

is bth this report. >> i want to give a reality >> alcindor: the attacks targeting massachusetts senator elizabeth warren started early in the night, from all sides. >> your signature, senator, is to have a plan for eing. >> senator warren said we can't be running any vague campaigns. we've got to level witle. >> sometimes i think that annator warren is more focused on being punitivpitting some part ofhe country against the other instead of lifting pele up and making sure that this country comes together around those solutns. >> i'm really shocked at the notion that anyone thinks i'm punitive. >> alcindor: warren has been gradlly rising in the polls for months. so when she again declined to go into more detail about the cost of her medicare-forll plan... >> so let me be clear on this. costs will go up for the wealthy. they will go up for big corporations. and for middle-classamilies, they will go down. >> alcindor: ...some of the more moderate voices on the stage were ready. that incded minnesota senator amy klobuchar.

>> the difference between a plad and a piam is something that you can actually get done. >> alcindor: ...and south bend, indiana mayor pete buttigieg >> your signature, senator, is to have a plan for everything, except this. >> in past debates, beaut general mostly stayed away from confrontation.le >> what is an en war if it is not yet another >> well, respectfully, congresswoman, i think that is dead wrong. >> alcindor: that included exchanges with hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard over u.s. policy in syria, and former texas congressman beto o'rourke on gun policy. former texas congressman beto o'rourke on gun policy. >> let's do what's right. >> i don't need lessons from you on courage, political or personal. everyone on this stage is determined to get somethingte doin. >> ar: but the candidates did agree on one big issue. >> i support impeachment. >> alcindor: ...their support for the impeachment iniry facing president trump. >> he has committed crimes in plain sight. >> he should be removed. billionaire tom steyer in his

first debate appearance. he's been pushing to impeach president trump yer the past two s. >> impeaching and removing this president is something that the american people are demanding. >> they're corrupt! >> alcindor: as for president trump's debunked claims that biden and his son engaged in illegal dealings in ukraine that helped spark the impeachment inquiry... >> look, my son did nothing wrong. i did nothing wrong. >> alcindor: ...biden defended, his famien went on the offensive. >> the president, and his thugs have already proven that they, in fact, are flat lying. what we have to do now is focus on donald trump. >> alcindor: biden also called out the president's decision to pull u.s. forces from northern syria. that allowed turkey to launch an attack against the kurdish fighters who helped the u.s. fight isis.e >>ve an erratic, crazy president who knowg not a damn thout foreign policy and operates out of fear for his own

re-election. j >> alcindor: nsey senator cory booker joined in. >> so, first of all, understand that this president is turning e moral leadership of th country into a dumpster fire. >> alcindor: it was also the first bate since vermont senator bernie sanders suffered a heart attack two weeks ago. >> we are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country. >> alcindor: sanders teased a rally in new york this coming weekend. >> we're going to have a special guest at that event. ia alcindor: that "sp guest" is reportedly new york congresswoman alexandrcasio- cortez, a member of the so- called "squad" of four liberal congresswomen.ra she anida tlaib of michigan are expected to join illhan omar of minnesota in endoing sanders. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor.ci >> nawaz: so will last night's debate change the presidential race? for some post-game analysis, i'm here with two newshour regulars:

amy walter of the "cook political report," and host of public radio's "politics with amwalter," and stu rothenberg,di seniorr for "inside elections." welcome to you both. three hours of debate last night. if there was one candidate, amy, who everyone else had their sights trained on, it was senatoelizabeth warren. >> it was. >> nawaz: how did that go for her? >> well, i think she was the target, i think, of every single person on that stage. we saw the clips about medicare for all, which was big component of the attacks, on how her plan would get paid for. which her plan is actually but she was also attacked for her "my way or the highway" approach, even her plan plan to break up big tech was crfed by crew dragon capsule. 's clear she is seen as the i front-runner. ink she hanruled it pretty well. there wasn't a moment where you thout, boy, that was a pretty

terrible answer, or she looks really rattled. there's no doubt her opponents and press covage is going to continue to focus on her answer on how to pay for thimedicare for all plan. that's not going away. how she's sponds to it over time i think mayhange. least-impressive m but overall, i thought it was pretty good. >> naz: what did you think of that. that medicare for all moment, she took a lot of heat on. d >> shcked the question and it was asked of her two or three times and she ke dking. i fell like she fell off the horse but she got back on it pretty quickly.un ke kamala harris, if you remember, in the second debate, where harris was attacked earlya in the d, she dined of disappeared in the rest of the debate. not in this case with elizabeth warren. she was as feisty as ever, as aggressive as ever defending herself. >> nawaz: that whole fight over medicare for all and some obvious inat conversationere last night, you talked about this before, some ofhe

choices that are within the democratic party right now. were any of those reconciled last night? coming to a head here. we a critical point uan inf point, where democrats are going to have to choose. do they want a populis progressive, like sanders or more likely warren, or do they want somebody who is progressive but isn't so-- is pragmatic. it's mott my way or the highway. and this is a decision i think we've been waiting for for months already. land it kind of fet like last night like we're getting to the point where democrats are goingm to staking those choices. other choices, too. they want an older candidate or a younger cdidate? do they want somebody with d.c. perience or more of an outsider. these are the critical choices we have beenaiting for them to make. i think they're on the cusp of starting to make those choices. >> now that we'reing closer and closer to the fall, right-- we're in the fall. closer and closer to thed of the-- i'm not admitting it yet. but now that we'reetting closer and closer to when people

actually start voting. i think stu is rig there have always been these two lanes right now, this sort ofc pragma the form of joe biden, which is the return to let's just kind of go back to where we were with obama, get rid of trump, that's our first priority, versushe big structural change of warre warrd sanders. but what peteuttigieg did yesterday-- and he's been building this case for a while-- actually a third way.re's you don't have to buy into just this or ju that. you ck n pic pim going to be more-- because i'm younger and more a visionary. i'm not a washington insider. i'm going to be different from joe bide i'm not all about returning to normalcy. i don't think there is such a g as a pre-trump normalcy. at the same time, i don't have an interest in getting into ese protracted, all-or-nothing fights on policy, whether it's guns or me dicor all, or other people on this stage want.

and so really setting up a way for voters who may not feel like one of those lanes, to have a place to go. >> nawaz: you mentioned you were going to watch pete buttigieg in that debate. and since the debate, hisgn campctually announced he has raised $1 million since that perf amance. you hao been following the money, which is an interesting place to look. the f.c.c. deadline for the fund-raising numbers wayes erday. >> i do think more than this debate performance, the money is going to be really the story going forward.d e fact that pe te buttigieg did have a breakout night. but he also raise aid lot of 99 that third quarter, and he's sitting on $23i mllion. joe biden, the front-runner, at least in the polling, hasnly $9 million in the bank. that is not a very good place to be as we'reeaded tohere we're getting to big spending time, getting into december, especially. s>> amy, isn't that, alo, though, a problem for elizabeth warren in that bernie sanders

has a boatload of cash he's sitting on. he's not the kind of person to go away. as long as he has the money, as long as he gets the endsements he thinks are useful-- a.o.c., i'm not quite so sure is as useful as he thinks. as long as he thinks they're useful, isken't he l to stay in the race and isn't that a problem for warre'r thcompeting for similar sorts of voters. >> nawaz: you saw from the ouide some of those low polling candidates. we say the debates are a great toportunity for them to tr punch out, to break through. stu, did you notice anyone else-- amy mntioned pete buttigieg standing out to her. did you notice anyone else? >> obviously, amy klobuchar did. i thought she did a good job. she was very aggressive, again, went after warren, and really positioned herself as someone who is realistic prg pragmatic d can work withn republicans, or t least put forward polic proposals at are reasonable, and she's willing to compromise. having said, that i don't even there's any way for her to go as

heng as joe biden is in race. and nobody else stood out to me i don't evwould say that's a missed opportunity. i keep waiting for kamala harris to bust out again. but she didn't.bo anker was fine, but it's just hard to stand out when you have a crowd, and when you have the focus on three or four people at the top of the list. >> that's right. they also seem to be positioning themselves, even buttigieg, for what happens one of those three front-runners is no longer in the contest. in otherords -- >> just one of the three front-runners, right? >> well, spellcifi joe biden, if you're pete buttigieg. and if you're elizabeth warren, you're hoping that it's bernie sanders is unurable to that money into actual votes and th that-- there we go. >> nawaz: over the course of the night, really quickly, too, trump's name was introduced again and again and again into the conversation. one of the many questions fr democratic primary voters out trump ondayo can beat donald did anyone, do you think, set themselves up as the man or the woman who cantawnd to

president trump?" >> listen, joe biden, on polls, still leads on that questn. it's been dropping, the percent of democrats who believe he can beat donald trump. elizabeth warren is the one who really has to break through th ceiling of electability, and i think the fact that she was the target last nigh should do her wellaking the case know what it's like to take in-coming and i know how to deflect that and punch back, and as stu sad, to stick can wmy message. i'm not going to get aistracted l the different attacks that i'm going to get in the campaign. awaz: stu? >> i don't think the electability argument will be decided until ear aly 202ter the iowa caucuses. let's see who does wel inss pect leee who improves or fails over the next couple of months. electability will be important but we don't know what it will look like in the late winter, early spring. andawaz: a long way to go another debate just a month away. >> yay! >> sreenivan: amy walter, and stu tethenberg. >> i can't take another one!

>> thanks to you both. >> thas. >> nawaz: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: the nationals clinch the pennant. washington, d.c. is finally headed to the world series. p and a clinicchologist gives his brief but spectacular take on treating opioid addiction. nearly six millionoueople in thisry have alzheimer's disease. tragically, no treatment can fully stop it yet. but researchers around the worlr arng to crack the complicated puzzle that is alzheimer's. tonight, miles o'brien reportsre on intriguinarch and a different approach to battling the disease. for the record, some of that work is funded by retired senator jay rockefeller. his wife sharon is the c.e.o. of weta, which owns the newshour.ar his story is pt of our regular look at "the leading edge" of science. >> hello everybody!

>> judi! >> reporter: to know judi polak is to love her. >> i love you guys. >> reporter: she brimskiith energy, ness and humor. >> did i tell you about that? can u believe that? >> reporter: at first you wouldp never know... >> i mean i cat remember what i did yesterday, but i can remember stacy from 30 years ago. >> reporter: ...but eventually, her disease reveals what it is stealing; her memory.>> ll rht, i am looking for my keys. of course this is the day i can't find them. >> reporter: at age 61, judi polak is nowive years into her new normal after a bleak diagnosis. she has alzheimer's disease. >> i would go to say something and it just didn't come out. probably, just like i'ing now. it's very difficult to have a fluent conversation. nurse practitionerith aeonata

doctoral degree. husband mark is a neonatologist. so they dove into this case, the one that came home, with a lot of professional insit, alongwi the personal anguish. >> we need to fight this. she's not going to sit here in chair and slowly deteriorate. one of our good friends said," t the first persbe cured with alzheimer's is alive today." and that became my morning and eving prayer. >> reporter: that conviction is what brought them to this moment on october 16, 2018. the place is j.w. ruby memorial hospital in morgantown, west virginiathe hub of their professional lives for decades. but on this day the gurney w made some medical history in a

clinical trial. a team of scientists, engineers actitioners deployed a novel device to take aim at a big barrier to progress in thens fight agalzheimer's-- the blood/brain barrier. it is a semi permeable sheathing around blood vessels in the brain that repels harmful germs while allowing essential nutrients in. the problem is the barrier also prevents most medications from getting througbecause of their larger molecular size.u >> if n open up the blood brain barrier you have entry into the brain for the targetedt livery of medications. >> reporter: neuroscientist ali rezai is executi chair of the rockefeller neuroscience institute at west virginia university dr. rezai is leading a team intent on breaking throughdi blood brain barrier, >> imagine now, nocan. deliver much less doses which improves the safety profile and

the area that it no go to.ted to >> reporter: to temporarily open the barrier, they are using a combination of m.r.i. and pet scans, an injectn of tiny microbubbles and a million dollar helmet that sends o precisely focused beams of acoustic waves-- ultrasound. using the imagery, thousands of ultrasound waves are aimed at the hippocampus, the brain's memory center. the ultrasound vibrates the bubbles in the bloodstream, and they breach the barrier. it is a first. and it worked. by injecting a contrast agent, they can see the proof in m.r.i. imaging. >> contrast agent does not normally cross the blood-brain barrier, but here, this light area shows the opening of the blood-brain barrier in the hippocampus. >> reporter: and crucian m.r.i. taken 24 hours later shows judi's protective blood barrier is once again closed. >> you don't want it opened all the time. t that will lea lot of problems. >> reporter: temporarily opening

the blood/brain barrier is a more effective means to get drugs where they are needed in the brain. but for alzheimer's, there areti no eff drugs, despite more than 700 clinical trials. >> these drugs made people, at least some of them so far, have actually madpeople worse. >> reporter: neurologist david toopman is associate direcr of the alzheimer's disease research center at the mayo clinic in rochester, minnesota. >> it's extremely disheartening to have sit in front of people like i did earlier today to say, "i'm sorry, we haven't had any succes" >> reporter: researchers believe two proteins, beta aloid and tau, are they likely causes of alzheimer's. in the brains of those afflicted, abnormal tau accumes, creating so called tangles inside neurons. in between the neurons, beta amyloid forms in clumps, so called plaques. for many years alzheimer's researchers were focuse on thyloid plaques.

>> we definitely need to look beyond amyloid. we need to be doing more of thia phase one , looking at different targets. we need to take 99 shots, 100on shotoal to find one that's good, i'm fine with that. >> repter: but what if drugs weren't required to begin the r's?t against alzhei researchers have found focused ultrasound alone can clear away plaques in mice. early data suggests the techque may be doing the sam for judi and two others.ar >> thi had a decrease in plaques as compared to this area, which we did not tat. >> reporter: it's unclear why this happens. the ultrasound might trigger an immune response, or the brain's glymphatic system, which clears out wae. regardless, in the case of theth micer behavior and memory function improved. >> hopefully we can get replication of the animal studies that shows that the plaques were cleared and the

symptoms improved over time. >> reporter: it's possible mice may not be a good model for humans in this case. after all, nearly all of those failed tris began withre promisinlts in the animals. but after three ultrasoundaf treatments, judi and mark are convinced she is doing better. >> i feel that i have more cognitive awareness.t i call right now what i'm doing, but i'm better than i was before.or >> rr: to try and separate the data from the hope, the team at the rockefeller neunce institute is subjecting judi to >> car, brown, tree, bed, shirt. go ahead, tell me what you remember. >> car, bed, i was thinking

about listening to it, then i lost. car, i lost it. i don't know. >> reporter: neuropsychologist marc haut says it is too early to say if judi's symptoms have improved.te >> it's hard t what's true change and what's just fluctuation. so, even your memory is better some days an others. mine, clearly, is and judy's is going to be even more affected by just daily variations. >> reporter: none of this seems to slow judi down. she is determined to power through, to stay in the game as much as the disease allows. she still drives herself to a few destinations; to the gym for regular workouts. >> right on my finger again. i am not very good at this. >> reporter: and to her mother's house for a game of yahtzee. >> uh-oh. >> she is doing better. i can tell the difference. i used to have to show her everything.

>> reporter: she still goes to the neonatal intensive care unit, to share lunch and love with her old colleagues and lifelong friends. and while she is there, she dllunteers her time as a c for premature babies. >> this is what keeps me going, hi lit you're all dressed up, you have the hiccups. >> reporter: this is what helps her fight the sadness and the boredom that comes with cris but the stark realgs hard. >> i'm fine when i'm at home, ilfine doing when i do my routine, but this is going to get wors i mean, it's gonna happen. >> i think there are still a lot of tangles, but i have to believe that there's a slight improvement. which for me is a victory. if we get an hour more of her, that's been ll worth it.

>> repter: judi polak is courageously fighting to make and keep her memies. and maybe, just maybe, it mighte lead to rable impact on a dreadful disease. for the pbs newshouriles o'brien in morgantown, west virginia. >> nawaz: now, a chef who is working to re-introduce native american culinary traditions that existed long before europeans arrived. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from minnota. it's part of his series, "agents for change." >> reporter: the celebration begins with well-known native rituals.

but the but organizers at this american indian community center want to draw attention to the rich but long-forgotten native culina heritage. taking centestage is sean sherman, a chef better known by his brand, sioux chef, as in -s- i-o-u- >> there's some dandelion, there's three kinds of mushrooms, we have pattypan squash that we actually grew in our garden. >> reporter: he uses native ingredients common to thegr americas for hundreds of years before whiteettlers arrived. >> part of our challenge toel ves was to cut out colonial ingredients, so we stopped using dairy, wheat flour, cane sugar. >> reporter: for chef sherman it is also a way to push back against processed foods that he hers blame for grave health consequences in the u.s. today. >> the foods tt all of us are ting today, that most of us are eating today are kling us, you knowthey are the sources of our diabetes, or chronic disease or cardiovascular disease.

>> reporter: mary owen is a soofessor of medicine who practices at a nearby reservation.sh said poor diets are linked to two leading causes of death among native americans: cancer and heart diseas >> native people in this state die 10 years sooner than non- natives or white folks, actually. >> reporter: 45-year-old sean sherman grew up poor ie black hills, on the remoteine ridge reservation in south dakota and began his career in minneapolis, working for years in restaurants where he learned various cuisines. >> i just realized the utter absence of indigenous perspective anywhere in the culinary world. nothing that represented the y nd we were actually standing on. >> reporter: he set out toea change that; rhing ancestral food systems andco iling it all into a book. the sioux chef's indigenous kitchen won the 2018 james beard

award for best american cookbook. >> what were my lakota ancestors eating and storing away? what were they getting oils and salts, and fats, and sugars and things like that, so it took me quite a few years of just researching, but it really became a passion. we have all these beautiful around.ents around us, just walk >> reporter: with his business and life partner dana thompson, he travels around the world to promote healthier and traditional diets, appearing at events like the duluth food expo. here, traditionally harvestedis wild ricdded to the medley dished out in samples. >> it's things that i normally eat. it was really fresh, and kind of tasted like earth. >> it was an absolutely phenomenal to think that you could put dandelion in a food and have it taste aming. >> reporter: there's no argument that fresh, orgac ingredients like these on display are good for you. there were demonstrations at the foe expo about how they can turned into delicious dishes.

ive problem for many people, especially thoseg in native communities, is affordability and access near ere they live. >> between the cost of puttingd them together e time that it takes to prepare them, that is more costly for so many, u know, there is a huge problem os poverty in our community, people are working more thaone job, oftentimes they comeome and they're tired. >> reporter: fresh foods and produce are scarce, particularly on rural reservations, where many people rely on convenience sherman and thompson want to tackle the challenge of these so-called food deserts. >> even if we could just get some of those gas stations out there to just have one shelf of healthy indigenous options to choose from, you kno t take away t.e big shelf of chips, ri >> reporter: isn't it true that those chips would be a lot eaper than the healthier options that might replace them? end, and if you lothe costnt borne illnesses, is that food- price of the chips right out.

>> reporter: there is even a cheaper option they say--. foragi >> people can just go into tanir backyards d get quite a few of them. lk reporter: we have to waut of the fence to get the sumac. we tag along at an organic farm and garden run by the shakopee mdwanketon sioux tribe near ienneapolis as sherman and thompson pick be plums, sunchokes, wild herbs and greens. >> so we have some cedar, some hyss, some bergamot. >> reporter: back in a kitchen in st. paul, they whip up a delicious dish with the ingredients they gathered, plus a few staples like wild rice >> it's like autumn a plate. >> reporter: mmm. it is unlike anything i have ever tasted. >> around here, you can't get re minnesotan than those foods because they've been here longer than minnesota was a concept. >> reporter: most of the sioux chef's income today comes from a catering business. they plan to open a nonprofit kitchen to train native chefs eixt year, and later open first restaurant.

for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro repting on, and eating off, the land in st. paul, minnesota. >> nawaz: fred's reporting is a partnership withhe under-told ories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> nawaz: it's been a long, long >> nawaz: it's been a long, long time ithe making. washington, d.c. finally has am baseball ting to the world series, for the first time since 1933, to be precise. now we are based here in washington, so we're not goinghe to pretend isn't a little hometown pride in this story. there definitely is. william brangham looks athe classic and the good vibes around this region.qu >> robles willze it and there it is! the washington nationals are national league champions! >> brangham: it was the most

thrilling night for ba iball fathe nation's capit in 86 years. >> there will be a world series in d.c! >> brangham: the washington nationals squeaked into the 2019 playoffs as a wild card team. after a come-from-behind win over the milwaee brewers, they took down the heavily favored los angeles dodgers before sweeping the st. louis cardinals on their way to the world series. the result was almost unthinkable just five months ago, when the nats were slumped- in sto-last place at the bottom of the national league. manager dave martinez. >> iyou look at where we came accomplish to get here. i mean it wasn't easy. i'll be the first to say, i i really didn't.guguys. >> bra in washington, d.c. have had their hearts broken many a time, tting back to baseball's

earliest days inhe capitol. the last time a d.c. team woes the world se 1924. calvin coolidge was president. >> there used to be an expression which was first in war, first in peace, at last in waington.league to describe >> brangha fred frommer is the author of "you gotta have heart: a history of washington baseball." long before they were the nationals, d.c.'s team was the senators. but after yes of mediocrity, they left for minnesota in 1961. >> the really sad thing for washingtonians was that team, as bad as it wa was about to turn the corner. when we got to minnesota or became a really good team. they won aennant within a few years. washington got saddled with an expansion team also called the senators. they were terrible. >> brangham: 11 years later, that team also left d.c., and for 33 long years, there was no district.nal baseball in the but in 2005, the montreal exposg moved to wasn and became the nationals.

ter 15 up-and-down seasons, this team's success came as a surppese to many, ally after they lost superstar bryce harper to philadelphia in the offseason. but now they've managed to rally longtime residents and new fans alike. >> i was actually at the first and so i just feel like i've seen over time, like the city kind of come around to baseball because it wasn't that way from day one whenhey were here like 11, 12 years ago. >> people greet each other when they see you ithe jerseys, when they know you're going into the game and you're talking all the way and sit at a bar. i have a couple of drinks and still talk. go in the game, stiling. it's just a whole different atmosphere. es brangham: and in a town known for the sport of politics, the nats have managed to climb abe the fray. >> baseball has brought unity, not separation. when we re in that stadium. u're a republican. i'm a democrat. whatever it is that doesn't count. what counts is that we're rooting for the nats. >> brangham: longtime political columnist al hunt, the husband of a certain newshour anchor,

has followed d.c. baseball for decades. >> you know, it's a dark time in washington now. when i first came to this town, as dark and one of the few just escapes. one of the few things that kind of united parts of the community was the washington redskins. the redskins now are dysfunctional and really disgraced. n the washingtationals now are serving that same purpose. >> brangham: the nationals will take on either the houstonos astr or new york yankees in the world series, starting next week.pb for the newshour, i'm william brangham in washington. n >> nawazverage, 130 americans die every day from opioid oveoses. treating addiction is proving to be a major challenge in the states hardest hit by the crisis. tonight's brief t spectacular

dr. nahv deep kahng.ychologist he is working to make sure thato those struggling with addiction in his he state of ohio have access to the help they need. >> the opioid epidemic is the greatest public health crisis of our generation. we're talking about numbers on par with almost a plane full of people falling out of the sky every da and if we don't do anything, we're looking at deaths over the next several years that are on par with the civil war. we have a lot of folks who struggle to get access to care. people would have pretty frustrating experiences of calling a place for addiction treatment and getting wait times in the range of 30 to 60 days on average. there is a time when it took 53 days to get into addiction dicine services in cincinnati. and that's completely unacceptable. healthre in general has understood how to treat addiction for a long time. but have

operationalized it? d ve we really carried forward those methods anplied them at great scale.d what we s take that literature, translate it into clinical practice and make sure that there is a full continuum of service. anytime someone is looking for care across southwest ohio, they have the abilityo access it because we put 15 organizations together who said that 24/7 we're going find a way to get people access when we encounter them. i think ofntimes we have this false rrative that people choose these behaviors, and so why should we put allhis energy into helping them. really, no one chooses to live a life of addiction. they're disorders of the brain that ultimately impact all parts of a person's functioning and their family and theirl network. and if we apply the appropriate healthcare resnse, which is well-supported by science and literature, then we can actually make an impact just like we do with any other chronic health- care condition. the future of addiction treatment is pretty simple. what we're talking about in cincinnati is mainstreaming addiction treatment in the general health care.

just like you go to the doctor for any other chronic health care condition, yoshould be able to go to see your doctor for opioid use disorder, alcohol use disorder, any addiction. and they should know how to treat it. what our vision is to have a community level understanding of diction as a chronic medical condition warranting a healthcare response. and what that will allow us to do is make sure that prevention ilforts are funded, and it allow us to make sure that folks who are in recovery have everyat opportunity th everyone else does to work, to be with their family and to pursue their dreams. betuse ultimately, that's w we're seeking to do is not just track the number of people who tre dying of overdoses, start tracking the number of pele who are living with substance use disorders as productive, contributing members of society. my name is nav kang and this is my brief but spectacular take on rethinking addiction tnt. >>aw: you can find more episodes of our brief but spectacular series at pbs.org/wshour/brief.

ot the newshour online right now, the fatal sg of atatiana jefferson by a police officer is another j the debate about the use of deadly force. we look at how a lack of data about such killings from police departments can make it more difficult to determines and solutions. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna naz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major fundi for the pbs newshour has been provided by: y>> you can do the things like to dothith a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> and with the ongoing support

of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank u. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. >> we've endowed a president, especially in the foreign affairs area, hs most h unchecked there. that's where he has most free rein. >> he led the office ofco legal sel under president george w. bush. ck goldsmith talks to me about executive overreach, then and now. and about living in the shadow of jimmy hoffa. my motive was to stop a war and save lives. >> in the uk, whistle-blower katherine gunn's story. she joins me. the price she paid for raising the alarm about the iraqar. ♪ take a load off annie take a load or free