tv KQED Newsroom PBS October 25, 2019 7:00pm-7:31pm PDT
7:00 pm
tonight on kqed newsroom, pg&e warns of more shutoffs. also, facebook, mark zuckerberg faces scrutiny as they are being investigated for their behaviors. climate change is taking a toll on howe live. we will hear how it is taking a toll on our mental health. good eving, welcome to kqed newsroom , i am cynthia. we begin with pg&e'slatest round of power outages in northern california. >> by thursday, pg&e cut tof power 180,000 customers
7:01 pm
across 17 counties in henort even as the company works to restore power to the afthcted customers, are warning of a larger shut off starting on saturday night amid forecasts of strong wind. it they faced ism from the governorla, wmakers, and the california public utilities co ission over their handli of the first round of power outages two weeks ago. pg&e ceo accepted lane, saying the utility was not adequately prrsared for the round of outages, as the website crashed repeatedly and the call nters were overloaded. joining me now is the senior produc, and data journalist, lisa white commented disability rights advocate sharing the board for the centerfor independent living in berkeley. lisa, tell me, what about the ul shutoffs that start saturday evening and over the weekend? >> last night, pg&e warned peop throughout the baarea that they could be turning off the power again, and the shut
7:02 pm
off could be as large and last longer than the onwe saw earlier in october. >> in that sense, the regulators want pg&e to take a more surgical approach to the power shutoffs. the first round was perhaps too broad. could you tell me what type of improvements 'vthmade? how is the communication going? >> we have en hearing fr pg&e. the website has stayed up. we are going through power shut off right nope le can access the website hee to get notifications. during a marathon meeting, the public utilities commission heard about a lot of problems, especially around communicatione we d that during the larger power shut off, there were up to 1000 people from different governfonts throughout caia, on one line trying to have answers. pg&e's word that things woulr, be betand they were listening to the local governments to see how it was going. >> tell me about the baseline customs for pg&e.
7:03 pm
who are they? does pg&e have legal obligation at all? >> one of the big concerns of people have is fopeople in the disabilities community when the power is shut off, and those in need assistance. people that has to store breastmilk or take medications that need to be refrigerated. we have people that may have problems if it gets really hot. ghwe are having temperatures in some areas. all of these people need electricity. the problem with the l medi baseline, it ism a progto assess whether you should have a lower utility bill. it has nothing to do with whether you need electricity or not. earlier this summer, the director of fety at the california itcommittee, said should never be used for emergencies. it over counts and undercount who is disabled at the same time. for instance, if your landlord pays your medical bill, you cannot be part of medical
7:04 pm
baseline. you may need your cpap machine. >> let's bring you into the conversation, two weeks ago, he sparked a debate on the eve of the first power outages, we tweeted out to the city of berkeley, asking them, what was thplan to help people who had no the means or ability to evacuate? how did that happen? what was their response? >> i innocently posed the question to the city i did expect a really good response from the city of berkeley that has a histor great disability advocacy, and heightened awareness of disability issues. i really wanted to know what the city was prepared to do. they had a very disappointing response, that basically, nlks thded to be evacuated were on their own, and needed to figure a way out, to t to electricity, or things they might need in the event of a power shut off.
7:05 pm
if people really did not have the ability to do that, that they should call 91 want to taken to an emergency room. that was a really inappropriate response. i was really hoping that the city had planned a bit better, and would have a space, or shelter set up for folks that could access restrooms, and charge wheelchairs, and have caretakers come and go to emhel as they needed. it does not sound like that happened at all. >> i spoke to a 62-year-old living in the east bay. she is on inbreathing ma 24/7. she has many medical devices that she has to ke track of. se told me, she was scared due to this complicated nature of trying tofind somewhere that was accessible that she could afford. on top of that, she had an 85-yeaold caregiver, who was her mother. her during the situation. her situatiohighlights the need
7:06 pm
to put a spotlight on disabled folks, and these power outages. do you think pg&e isdoing enough? >> no, i don't think any of us feel that pg&e is doing ough in every aspect in terms of the shutoffs. certainly not taking enough responsibility for people inwho are to be the most severely impacted by the shutoffs that will continue for who knows how long. k, i thto push the responsibility onto the cities and expect them to deal with it, without having any culpability is not ceptable. >> i do know that she did not have experienving an outage. as a person with a disability, what are your fears during a power outage? >> using myself as an example, i am someone whrehas kers that assist me with my daily needs. i use a power wheelchair. i have to haveaccess to
7:07 pm
electricity. i don't easi have access transportation. that could take somewhere where i could be safe. i am one soexample of many people that have various mobility issues that require having access toelectricity and accessible space. with these power outages being so unpredictable, and ll they or will they not? it will create a lot of chaos in people's lives, who ordinarily have to plan out their lives to figure out their care for the day. >> this weekend with alameda county facing shutoffs, what you plan to do? >> fortunately, far, myarea of berkeley is not in the scheduled shut off zone. i am okay. i worry feabout my ow berkeley residents that are in the hills and other areas that will be impacted.
7:08 pm
i still don't know what will happen with those folks that really need to help. >> lisa, seems with the california senate, with all of these issues with lockouts, they are investigating pg&e. they are investigating the process, and the serious issues that went along with it. can you give us an update on the investigation? >> yes, we learned yesterday that the california senate will meet and look into the power shutoffs aw they are conducted in mid november. they said they want to do it quickly, because we are still in fire season. we will be in fire season until ittarts raining again. what they will look at isey whether want to legislate who will make the call to shut off the power. some people say they don't think the utilities should be able to just shut off e power, which is how it works now. they should tere emergency onders, local and state that they will do this. they have to tell others as well. they go ahead and do that.
7:09 pm
after that, after it happens, they have to tell the regulator,and how they feel about it. that's one reason why they are looking into this. when you see at, the california public utilities commission is investigating pg&e. inw is the stigation different from the california state senate. >> what the cpuc look at is exactly what happened in the moments that arwe at the meeting from the president commissioners they were present while pg&e was making these decisions. for inance, the president said she was in a room about the website, where they were trying was nobody senior enough to do that at the time. her experience came up during questioning of the exy utives. eaxt week, they will receive an incident from pg&e about damage done to the lines during the power shutoffs. they will be able to levy a fine if they thinutility did something incorrectly. >> what sort of import
7:10 pm
enforcement issue d power do they have. can this change their behavior? >> they can fiissue a aunt they have done so in the past. pg&e is a nvicted felon, du to their role in the san bruno disaster that left eight people dead. also, they have a federal probation judge that is looking at all of this. pg&e has to deliver a report about all of this to the cpuc and probation judge next week, lewhere we will n more. pg&e says that outages could happen for more than a decade. they are in bankruptcy protection right now, due to the liability from the fires that were linked to their meant. are they opening themselves up to more liability in the future? how does th work? >> that depends on who you talk to. there is a question of, if somebody dies during a power shut off because they did not e ve power, who is responsi for thati'm not sure we really
7:11 pm
this is something that melissa brought up. this is a question that many californians have. who is responsible? is it pg&e? is it the local government? is it old? who make sure that we are safely shut off the power?:this is a lot to think about. thank you so much. on wednesday, facebook's ceo, mark zuckerberg faces get goal lawmakers on capitol hill before a hearing of the house finaial services committee. he did defend the plan to launch digital currency that will help people without bank accounts quickly and securely send money. meanwhile, 47 state attorneys general have signed onto investigating the techant for anti-competitive behavior. and, as 2020 presidenial race ramps up, facebook is under pressure to police its platform for election interference efforts. this week, the company says they were removing 4
7:12 pm
disinformatig campaigns targetters in the united dates and abroad. joining me now is marketwatch bureau chief and technology editor, jeremy owens, tech reporter at politico, nancy. she joins us via skype from washington, d.c. n you te me right now, the lawmakers summoned mark zuckerberg to ll capitol on wednesday. they wanted to talk to him about libra, facebook's new crypto currency. what were ?their concer >> there are a wide range of concerns. lawmakers mentioned things like the ability for the crypto currency to used for terrorist activities, that sort of things.ry they wabout having the crypto currency that does not have government oversight, that could be used for nefarious purposes. that was one of the main stated objections. the real issue is, they don't trust mackerberg or facebook. that feeds into the concerns about this brand-new scheme that mark zuckerberg is proposing. >> facebook and mark aizuckerbe
7:13 pm
he will not go ahead with libra without u.s. regulatory approval. what is he angling at? are lawmakers buying it? >> no, one ofinthe intere points in his testimony, as you said, he said we will not go ahead with their currency without regulatory approval? there a basket of them in washington that might have oversight over this. what does approval look like? they don't register the objections on paper to this new pr uct? is that goenough for them? there are signs that that might be the case. is seen on paper, pretty black- and-white. he did leave himself some wiggleoom to go ead with the project anyway. >> he was grilled on other issues including fafrbook's defense of speech and defense that they were not police political speech, including ads that were false. k obviously, the las have a lot of concerns. what can they ? >> that a good question.
7:14 pm
they have yelled and previously, right. this is not the first time that he hasgone in ont of a bunch of politicians on capitol hill and got yelled at for everything that facebook has wh done. he is trying to do, and his old strategy it seems, with the speech last week on speech and free expression at georgetown university, and this timehe is tried angle himself differently. when this all broke, inc. cambridge analytical broke, and all these problems started happing on facebook. he apologized, profusely. he spoke about how difficult of an issue it was. he's talked about the nuance of it. now suddenly, you see a definite change. opis year he d apologizing. he stopped discussing those things. now, he's out there taking a politicians a stance. he is telling people, look, you lieve in free speech and expression, or you are against it. we are for free speech. you have to be on our side. with libra, the big thing was, if you don'allow us do this coming you are allowing china to do this. he sets it up as a black-an white issue, putting facebook on the good side to try to get
7:15 pm
people on his side again. thiss a political ance of, there is a very nuanced tub to handle issue, but i will make it black-and-white and put th myself oside of good. it seems like he has a larger strategy here. you think he will continue doing that? >> yes. he will have earnings next week. he will do the same thing. he will hit the issues again, talking only about the good. he is not talking about the bad anymore. thhe is talking about good. that will be his approach from here on out. >> nancy, you are on a press call with mark zuckerberg th monday. hesaid they were gr making proess when it came to idendifying and resp to disinformation campaigns. can you give us an update on that? >> yes, he laid out a range of ings that facebook is ne to address these concerns about disinformation and election manipulation. introduced a lot of tools, mostly at power tools to detect fake accounts. come from accounts that are
7:16 pm
not valid to begin with. they have come a long way to entify these accounts. he did go through a whole list of things. there is a esidential spending tracker that they're rolling out so people can keep tabs on how much campaigns are s,ending on facebook just to get a better sense of the full range of that universe. the most interesting thing on the call was that it was him persone ly doing it. in past, this would have been an election official at facebook doing it. he is taking a proactive approach. the fact that he is a public face of some of these in the weeds issues, it is showing ac thatook is making an attempt to present themselves as taking these issue seriously. he said that once or twice on the call. we are caught on e back fo in 2016. we will not let that happen again. >> 47 attorneys general have joined the antitrust n investigatto facebook. can you tell me what they are looking for? >> it is not clear.
7:17 pm
the attorneys general have been tightlipped. they talk about the fact that they are launching the investigatinn. they don't go details of what it is they are looking for. that is one of the things as reporters, we are trying to report that out, as far as ofe natureit. we know this is part of the probes, rad the feprobes into facebook. one big thing they look for is companies that have engaged with facebook as beinrequired by them to have a business relationship, and what those complaints are about facebook. >> jeremy, our own attorney general has not signed up into >>this investigation. yes. he has his own weapon coming online in january 2020. the california consumer privacy act is becoming law onjanuary 10 , he will have an arrow in his quiver that none of the other attoeys general have. he is not publicly said why or why not he doing this. i think he knows, in a few
7:18 pm
mnths, he will have the ability after facebook in a way that none of the other states do. this is united states ofversio the gdp are. this is a coumer privacy act. california has their own. we did pass this as californians by valid. that cwies online. he be able to go after facebook with that, if he wants to. i think he is probablyatwaiting for to come online. >> also, elizabeth warren one ofthe most prominent voices, asking for facebook to be broken up. ca that happen? >> i think that would be a difficult thing for them to do. they have some evidence that they have used their position in an anti-i competitive matter ow snape has given over úinformation it has about what they facebook has done to try at to copy it has done, trying to drive it out of business. doesn't solve any of the problems that we actually have?
7:19 pm
my biggest issue with facebook is the misinfortion and sinformation campaigns. they are used as psychological warfare against americans on the platform. does breaking instagram apart ac fromook do anything about that? no. we will face that. you're talking about setting a s standard. s a punitive breakup. if you cannot prove that facebook is a monopoly, and using that monopoly power, thl we wbe breaking up a company in a way that we have re not done beas a nation. we are setting a new standard that i don't know if we want se >> nancy, will you weigh in on this as well? >> you mentioned elizabeth warren, being explicit about the idea that in miher stration, she would pull the trigger breakup these companies, google, amazon, facebook. the interesting thing she is doing, she isopening a window of the past latisse of the penalties and government tribution against these compani one far end, but it becomes a mainstream, middle-of-the-road position to y, okay, we will
7:20 pm
limit the business practices of face ok. maybe facebonnot share data between facebook and instagram. just having thgovernment dictate how the companies work in a way that they have not in the past, i don't en know, i have been reporting on this, whether the campaign things that breakup isthe real way to goth. things she has said is defined the field in a way, much more broadly to make this more of mainstream conversation an other candidates have in the past. and >> will st tuned on this one. thank you so much to nancy and jeremy. last month, on the eve of the united nations global climate summit, millionsof young people around the world skip school to demand action on climate change. leading the charge waset gr thunberg, 16-year-old activist from sweden, dressing world leaders at the climate summit with anger, defiance, and frustration. it is not just young people who
7:21 pm
are fearful and worried about tidroughts, and mass extis. psychologists and therapists are increasingly seeing the toll that climate change has on mental health. helping the patient turned despair into resilience, joining me now is our health reporter, lauric livens. for an increasingnumber of people, climate change has become the scary part of their lives. we have seen pg&e having mandatorpower outages and the kincaid fire thatis burning in sonoma county. one of the reactions to these reports, and people tend to turn o the news. they turn away from consuming any information. why is that? itis because it is such an overwhelming and scary issue. when the smoke wacloaking th bay area this time last year, it was a very fearful time for many people. the ways of people are managing the fear are largely a way to defend themselves. that can show up in many ways. one could be just totally
7:22 pm
ignoring it and denial, going about business as usual. another is to distract yourself. last night, watched the great british baking show. e think people doing many times, people tathe role of a child in these types of situations. this is a description that one of the therapists i oke to gaveto me. we are putting the responsibility on somebody else. we s, a politician will take care of it. a company will take care of it. also, many peoplare putting steak in a silver bullet solution. we will develop some technology to get us t of thmess. i think wrapped up in all of this is some guilt we feel. we are participating in the systems. we know they are creating the problem. that is a hard team to hold in your min >> absolutely. in your reporting, you refer to the feelings of being overwhelmed, being anxious, feeling desponnt over climate change, calling it, eco- anxiety. this is a climate grave. can you tell me with a viewof
7:23 pm
therapists and psychologists are about climate change, and how it impacts mental health? is this a growing concern as well? >> yes, itis. i have heard that from all therapists i have spoken to. they are seeing this re and more in practices in different ways. grief, sadness, and particularly when the reports come out about how dire the situation is with climate change and globalg.warm they are seeing is around the large events. they are also working with folks that have something that is not even eco-anxiety, but a ptsd from an event. maybe you've let a fire, now you have trauma that you need to work through. at therapist office is a good place to do that. >> we have known about climate y is eco-anxiety ju now being recognized? what do you think the events have been that has triggered this awareness? >> because the issue is so huge
7:24 pm
, and it was so hard to understand and wrap our human minds ound. it was t clear how this would hotaffect us in the future. it is tough for people to look to the future and except that this would happen. now, we are seeing this more because we are feeling a more. we feel it wiok the we feel it with the flooding. we feel it, when we have neighbors coming down to stay with us because they might be evacuating their mes. in thihappening in our lives now. that is why, right now, we are seeing this more. people are in a place where they are needing face this. how is eco-anxiety different or similar treating someone who might have anxiety or depression? >> it is different, because this anxiety, a clinical anxiety is one that might be around mething that is an irrational fear. this is based on something that is actually happening. it is goscary to outside and worry about the air you are breathing, or the air your
7:25 pm
chdren are breathing. this is different on w he treated. normally we would manage it, because the problem will not go away. it is, how do we create people who are more resilient and lemo to manage the feelings they have around this issue? >> how should parents talk to ds about climate change? >> that dovetails well with how we should all be addressing and managing these issues. for kids, talking to them about climate chan, this isa good thing to bring up. this is actually happening. it is also helpful to keep it fairly simple, so it is derstandable for kids. it is ve would recommend, based on what i have heard from all of these different mental health folks adfor adults to ess this as well. we can learn about the problem, know it is happening, and talk about it so theris not a social stigma around it. this is truly going on.
7:26 pm
we need to address our feelings. there will be sad feelings. there will be anxious feelomgs thatup. it is okay to have these feelings. we need to acknowledge them in through them. we need to gear that energy to action. this is what we are seeing when kids go out on the eystreets. are afraid, but they say, i don't want to put this fear into my tears only. i want to take action. that is something that adults can do as well. one thing i want to say that is really important about all of this, because the issue is , so hu has to be addressed as a group. ll one persn feel very isolated trying to take on such an enormous issue. the power of a group is really important. >> it sounds like empowerment is super important. also, taking action. >> because the issu is very urgent, and we cannot turn away from it, if we are expecting to go forward, and not the nsfire salike this, we have to take action. >> thank you so much, that is
7:27 pm
7:30 pm
robert:xplosive testimony upends the impeachment debate. president trump: this was the worst hoax in the histo of our country. robert: president trump launches out at democrats. as they lauh an investigate and republicans stormimn achment hearing. >> the attempted impeament of president trump isnconsistent with due process as we know it. robert: after bombshell testimony from a top diplomat. >> he gave a devastating openg statement. >> they're freaked out. they're trying to stop this investigation. robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> there's a moment
67 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
KQED (PBS) Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on