captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy noodruff. on tshour tonight, california burning... winds pick up in the gli state, fueng already dangerous fires, as a power company falls under greater scrutiny over its role in the crisis. then, as migrants continue to make the perilous trek to the southern border, new figures veal the staggering number of children tak into u.s. custody in the past year. and, clinical trials mayvo tionize treatment for a broad swath of illnesses, but who stands to benefi tackling the diversity problem in medical research. >> in this world of drug development where everything is s happening at a sprinter'pace, we're not taking the time to overcome that divide. >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> supportintrsocial reneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemels. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >

nd with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionsur pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: there is no rest for the wildfire-weary in southern california. evacuation orders are up for at least 26,000 people, threatened by a fire that exploded to life today. stephanie sy begins our coverage. >> repter: a new day, a new fire outside los angeles. this time, in simi valley, where winds of 70 miles an hour fanned the flames toward the ronald reagan presidential library. smoke surrounded the site, but the center escaped damage. whole nehborhoods spent anxious hours watching thear

fire's across dry hillsides, as helicopters an tanker planes dumped water and chemicals to slow the fire. firefighters had sounded the alarm overnight. >> worst win los angeles has en in the last two to three years. >> reporter: indeed, the ssnational weather serviced rarely used "extreme red flag warngs," signaling severe fi danger over wide stretches of the state. in northern california's wine country, the kincade fire continued to bn. trees across sonoma county were painted red with fire sttardant day. and, by this morning, power feblackouts remained in ef for hundreds of thousands of pg&e customers in the north. officials said some of the blackouts could last for days. some of those forced to evacuate or coping with no electricity to the havoc.oming habituated >> i hate to say it we're experienced. you shouldn't be experienced in something like this. >> reporter: but governor gavin newsom insisted today that

blackouts must be short-term. >> we will make sure brighter days ahead, i assure you wngare not allony of this to be the new normal. this will not take ten years to fix, i can promise you that. >> reporter: the dangerous winds are expected to calm by tomorrow, but the tinder-dry conditions will last for the foreseeable future. for the pbs newshour, stephanie sy. >> woodruff: stephanie will beth back more on what'sal happening inornia, right after the news summary. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the federal reserve cut short-term interest rates for the third time this year, in a bid to strengthen the economy. the quarter-point cut was expected. but fed chair jero powell signaled that further reductions are on hold. >> i've given you a sense for

what our outlook is. it's for moderate growth, a strong labor market, and inflation near our 2% objective. if something happens to cause us to materially reassess that outlook, that's what will cause us to change our views on the appropriate stance of policy. druff: the central bank had raised rates four times last on impeachment, there was new fallout from tuesday's testimony by army lieutena colonel alexander vindman. he was on the july phone call between president trump and the president of ukraine. in his closed-door deposition, vindman said the white house summary of the call omitted references to former vice president biden and corruption in ukraine. reaction today broke mostly down party lines. >> i've read the transcript and if you add his corrections it doesn't change anything for me. the call and thesere the only corrections i've seen, to me they don't change the substance

at all. >> what he's raised, though, is an important issue.th an is whether or not the summary of the transcript is complete. the fact that it went to a secr server very quickly tel me there are political forces at work here who didn't want the world to see what was in the amded transcript. >> woodruff: meanwhile, u.s. house impeachment investigators asked former national security adviser john bolton to testify next week.te comm conducting the inquiry heard today from two foreign service officers. >> a senior administration official tells the newshour late today that morrison has resigned ahead of his deposition, but that he "has been considering doing so for some time." the number two official at the state department says he does not know of any attempts by president trump to havukraine investigate the bidens. deputy secretary of state john

sullivan testified today at his senate confirmation hearing to be ambassador to russia. he said he was unaware of any pressure on ukraine. but new jersey democrart menendez pressed the point. >> do you think it's everpr riate for the president to use his office to solicitnt investigationsdomestic political opponents? >> soliciting in astigations inomestic political opponent? i don't think that would be in accord with our values. >> woodruff: sullivan said he had known that rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, worked to oust the u.s. ambassador to ukraine. marie yovanovitch was recalled last march. sullivan said he did not think she had done anything wrong. the pentagon today released killed islamic state leader abu bakr al-baghdadi. the images show special forces assaulting his compound in northwestern syria. later, bombs destroyed the site.

u.s. officials say al-baghdadi blew himself up, and two children died th him. they initially said 3 children were killed. in syria, state-run media report that government troops have clashed with turkish forces in northeastern syria. it happened near ras al-ayn, a town that turkey seized from syrian kurdish-led forces this month. meanwhile, turkish president recep tayyip erdogan said some kurdish fighters are still in a so-called "safe zone" along the border. he warned them to withdraw, or face a new turkish assault. facebook says it has removed dozens of pages and accounts that were part of a russian disinformation campaign inca af the company says they were linked to a ssian oligarch, cused of interfering the 2016 , s. presidential election. and, in washingtb.i. director chirstopher wray told a congressional hearing russia means to meddle again, in ne year's election.

>> some of the things that the russians have tried in other countries, we expect them to try to do here as well. which puts a premium on the point i was making before about our working with, on the foreign influence side, working with the social media companies, particular, to get them to keep upping their game as part ofhe defense. >> woodruff: in its announcement, facebook said it took down nearly 200 accounts, with more than one million followers, across in eight african nations. twitter announced today it will ban all political advertising on its service, starting november 22nd. the company said such ads on social media make it too easy ta spread ms. by contrast, facebook said this month it will not fact-check political ads. chicago and its teachers unionma have a deal to end a school strike. will submit as i tentative agreement to its members tonight, if the city days.s tmake up st school

teachers have been on strike 10 smaller classes.better pay and and, on wall street, stocks got a bit of a bump from the fed's interest rate cut.ne the dow industrial average gained 115 points to close at 27,186. the nasdaq rose 27 points, and the s&p 500 added near0. oustill to come on the new california burning: the danger grows as the wind picks up. the alarming number of child migrants det over the past year. 2020 democratic hopeful juliy castro on whhe's seeking the presidency, and much more. >> woodruff: it is a very

difficult day yet again inniuch of calif fires are burning throughout several regions, power is out for hundreds of thousands of people, and some are becoming wored this kind of routine could be the new normal. stephanie sy is back to ok at those questions. and she joins us from our newshour west bureau in phoenix. >> judy, firefighters are working furiously to containfa -moving brush fires in simi valley and other parts of southern california. in the northern part of the state, progress is being maie t e state's largest fire, the kincade fire, but life has been severely disr because of forced power outages that have become frequent. michael wara has been followingl all of thiely. he's the director of the climate and energy policy program at the stanford woods institute for the environment. he joins me from oakland. michael, thank you for your time. so you'renin northern calif where i understand even though the threat was great in the last few days, they've gotten a better hold on that kinkaid

fire. the urgency right now is really in southern california with those infamous santa ana winds creating a lot of fire dangers. there tonig are dealing with these conditions basically an open-ended challengeor the state? >> i think it's fair to say that they are. the emerging science on the issue of these kind ofdangerous late-fall events is that, as the climate warms, we're likely to see more and more of these very dangerous moments in the la ll, where it's very difficult to control fires. >> michael, even with th fires burning in southern california, and one of them is actually burning close to the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, we don't see the same kin of blackouts there that you have up north. why is that? that's true. we've seen a smaller degree of safety blackouts being utilized by the southern california utilities.although, i think thay change. two of the fires that have

occurred in reent weeks in southern california appear to have been caused by utility lines thawere left on. tnd so, it may be the case tha moving forward, we see a more extensive utilization. to some degree, southern california utivlities he made investments over the last decade or so that make them moret resistano the high-wind events. high-wind events like santa ana have been a more common feature of the southern california landscape for longer than the northern california weather that led to the kinkaid fire. >> how is it that forced power outages for millions of people has become a go-to response during risky fire weather? >> well, i think the problem we face in northe california is we built a power system-- poles, wierdz, powert plants-- ts safe to operate during th 20th century. and we've-- wve, unfortunately, encountered a situation where the conditions really hangve cha. at the same time, as more and more people are living in the

dangerous areas. and what that means is that instepped of having safe and reliable power, now we have a choice between safe or reliable power. and california is really jut beginning to grapple with the consequences of that. >> what about the precision of the blackouts? a number of people pointed out to mng when i was reporrom northern california that despite the power outes, the kinkaid fire, which was likely started by a transmission tower byat was left o pg&e, still happened. >> yes. i think the pg&e is still learning howed to power shutoffs in a-- in the most-effective way, nay surgical way, raer than kind of with a-- with a scalpel rather than with a hammer. and they are still learning which lines they need to turn by cont, some utilities--isk. san diego really is a standout in this-- have been rking for over a decade to improve their

resilience to high wildfire risk periods of time. ad so they're able to turn off power only where the conditionss are t risky and leave it on with things are safer. >> that is really hitting people in their pocketbooks, michael. and not everyone canfford a generator or to install solar panels. who should be reonsible for backstop for people during a blackout? >> well, i think that's a really important question to request ask. the reality is we're likely to have these kinof power shut offs at least for the next few years, e so we all t think about keeping the lights on, even more low- to moderate-income people who can't go out and buy a generator that costaise cuple of thousands dollars. i think there's a state role here, perhaps a federal role, ensuring that the impacts of the climate change are not disproportionately borne by those who can least afford it. >> the c.e.o. of pg&e says california ridents should

expect up to a decade more of these blackouts before they can t their equipment in order. and the governor of california, gavin newsom, said today th he would not allow pg&e to take 10 wars. at can be done? >> i think there are possibilities for accelerating the effort. they depend on returningg&e to a better state of financial health so that the company can actually make the investments that are required to fix the problem. but there are also important limitations on how fast the work can worry, mostly because we just don't have enough skilled linemen to send up the poles to make the changes that are necessary. it's a very large system, 125,000 miles of overhead line. so making it safe is going to take here's. hopefully not 10 years. i think there are things that can be done to accelerate the process, especially the kind of slow process ofg approvese kinds of investments tend to occur at the utility commiss sn. at te time, i think that we're going to need to think about solutions for customers,

for small business in the communities that are heavily impacted, for residentses that out that involve, you know,ed backup power of one sort or anothe >> there is no question that patience is wearing thin after three weeks of these pwer shutdowns. michael wara, the director of the climate and ergy policy program at the stanford woods institute for the environment. >> thank you very or having me on. >> woodruff: we have a clearer picture tonight about what's unfolded at the u.s. southern border or the last year. new numbers reveal aecord number of migrants apprehended there in fiscal year 2019.us u.s.ms and border protection says that total was more than 850,000 migrants, more than double the year before. that includes a record number of unaccompanied migrant children

detained by u.s. bder official for a closer look at those numbers, and the turmoil at the top of the agency responsiblet for securing trder, i'm joined by na nawaz. she has been following this so, amna, eye-popping numbers. what do we know about what's driving it? >> it's a stunning nuber. we have been reporting on this for a while. we know for most of t families they're coming from elfsalvador, honduras, and guatemalalargeic fleeing econnstability and violence. but attack a look at how these numbers break down, judy. when you look at thae big eye-popping number, about 300,000 of those migrants wee single adults. the largest group, however, was family units. that was almos500,000. that's adults traveling with children. and then this unaccomnied minor children-- number, rather, over 76,000. two things tt point ou. that family unit's number, that is what has been taxing the system. neour system is not desto handle families and children in

that way. and that unaccompanied minors number, that, of course, is children arriving largely unaccompanied.'s th higher number than the obama administration had to manage and they had their own surges they had to manage in 2014 and 2016. a lot of people are asking what happened to those children? ou's important to pint t they go into the care of another government agency andcyhat agaid they have a record number of sponsors coming forward, veted family and friends who come forward to claim the children. so most of those children are nowith those sponsors. >> woodruff: again, you reported on it, this was an agency, a system, that was never designed to handle families, to handle children.es numbers appear to be unsustainable. what's going to happen? >> look, it's absolutely unstandbiable. it's unfair for the customs and border patrol officers on the front lines. it's unsafe fair lot of the families coming through the system. it's important to point out those numbers have been coming down in recs.ent mon if you take a look at the

over the last fve months, mays of the last fiscal year was a highoint, er 130,000 migrants crossing. that came down month after month until september, last year, the last month of this fiscal year, down to about 40,000. that's a low for the entire year. why is it coming down? a combinatione couple of things. one, the trump administration has put into place a lot of newa policiesprevent people from coming into the u.s. and they've struck deals with those co otries ofigin to keep people from leaving. that's kind of set off a whole-- another whole set of concerns about, you know, whether people are allowed under human rights law to leave their country or even to pass through mexico on the way here. we know it's also unsafe in aof lo those mexican border towns where they're now being held. just over te weekend, there was a two-year-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run. he and his family were waiting to legally entertain united states. according to the nationalza orgaon for migration, he's the 20th child to die at the u.s.-mexico bord in the last year. seats not good can bees people

are being forced to wait in. >> woodruff: so concernin m ananwhile, while all this is going on, amnarc the agency that oversees all, this the department of homeland security, one of the largest agencies in the federal government, hundreds of thousands oy employees, t have had an acting secretary, kevin mcaleenan. he announced this month, earlier, he's aving the job. what do we know about what's next? >> his last day is supposed tobe omorrow. he will likely have to stay because the president has not yet named auccessor. he's run into one problem under the federal vacanciesabt, which is that someone can't hold two ting positions at the same time under d.h.s. the top twno cadidates for this role, ken cuchinelli, and mark morgan are acting heads o d.h.s. agencies at the moment. one of them may ene uptting the job. right now it'sy a difficulty because of the federal vacancies act. when you spoke about the turmoil

at the top itorth a look back. under this president there have been four heads of d.h.s., john kelly,laine duke, kirstn neilsen, kevin mcaleenan. we do not know for the broad mandate d.h.s. has, we have no idea who will be next. >> woodruff: to go from actingc toing to acting. amna nawaz, thank you very much. >> thanks, >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: beirut and baghdad on the brink: the latest from the protest movements in lebanon and ira how a lack of diversity in clinical trials threatens the research.ness of medic and the latest pick for the now read this book club, adam winkler's "we the corporations." julian castro made his debut on the national stage in 2012 when

he delivered the keynote address convention as the mayor of san antonio texas. he later joined the obama administration as the secretary of housing and urban development, and today he's one of 17 democrats vying to win his party's presidential nominatiom joining us fs home town of san antonio, julian castro, welcome. >> great to be with you, judnd >> woodruff: want to start with a question i've been asking every one of the candidates and that is hyyou? why are you in a better position? of, why e u more qualified than everyone else to be the democratic nominee? >> that's a great question.ab and pr the question that those of us on the campaign trail get asked the most. look, i think that people areh looking ree things this year: number one, they want somebody with the ght experience to be president. they want somebody with a strong compelling vision about the future of our country. and,sh, they somebody that can i'm one of the very few candidates with strong ex

experience. i've actually been in charge of something and gotten things done. evidence mayor of the seventh largest city, my home town of san antonio. and i served as secretary of housing and urban development under president obama, managing partment that had a $48 billion budget, offices across the country. so i ve a strong track record of executive experience. i also have a strinong compe vision future. i want to make sure that everyone counts in thints cou, not just 37% of the country that this president considers his base. and i've outline blueprint for everybody to be able tohe prosper inears ahead. and i can beat donald trump. things i want to ask you about. one of the issues you've stressed is immigration. you favor decriminalizing border crossis. what does at mean? does it mean open borders? >> it does not. it means that ssing the border without permission would still be against the law, but we would treat it like we used to

treat it for more than 50 years under democratic and republican presidents when it was considered a civil offense. the reas w they belieneed to go back to how we used to treat it and do it effectively is that when trump came in, hewe onized one particular section of the law that was passed in 1929, but wasn't enforced for more than five decades. and he's usins using that demear crime to incarcerate migrant pares and to take tem away from their kids. what i've said is that i believe we can havy.e accountabil we can have a secure border. but butt we can do it witns common and compassion instead of cruelty. and i don't want that tool to be in the toolbox for ature administration, like a trump administration, to separate of separate families. so i'm trying to end faly paration, but still keep an orderly immigration sys: m. >> woodrume of your opponents disagree with you. joe biden says people should have to wait in line. governor steve bullock of

montana said the other day thi would lead to an explosion of people at the border. my question is would you offer them free health care once they came across? >> well, i mean, let's just get something straight. under donald trump, our immigration challenge has actuallyotten wor, not better pain couple of months ago we had 144,000 people that shed up at the sothern border. we've had more people that are i have said that he should do,t which is, for insnce, a 21st century marshal plan for hon durks elfsalvador, guatemala, so people can find safety and opportunity at home instead of making the dangerous journey to the united states. we need to engage in some preventive action, so we won't see so many people show up at the southe end of our border. with regard to health care fordo mented immigrants who are already here, i believe thati everybody in ts country should be able to access health care. now, whyo i say tha

number one, if you're a taxpayer out there, you may hear that and wonder like, you know, what are u talking about? you are already paying for people's health care in thistr co it's called the emergency room. >> woodruff: right. >> people show nup up in the emergency room, and thas mt costly waye can do health care. if i were president right now, i would allow folks, if they were undocumented to buy into the exchanges so that they're contributing something into the system and they're able to get preventive care. i think that's smarter and a cheaper way to do it. >> woof: let me just ask you several other things. l health care, your propo to automatically enroll everybody into a medicare plan but give them the chance to opt out if they want to keep their private insurance. joe biden has kind of the mirror image of tht. he would have people have to opt for all.ey want to join medicare y is your proposal better than his? >> the difference is that myul plan wcover everybody.

whereas joe biden's plan would leave 10 milion people uninsured. if we're going to go through all of the battle that's involved in reworking r health care system, it makes no sense to leave 10 million people uninsured at the end of the day. so if we're going to do twe need to do it right. n theodruff: staying race: you made a pretty-- i think it's fair to say, despate appeal for mon about nine days ago. you tweeted out a message saying if you coualdn't ise $800,000 by october 31-- thamos ow-- that your campaign would be silenced for good. are you g?ing to make it >> i believe that we will. we're not quite there yet. but we' gotten grassroots contributions from all over the country, people putting in $5, $15, $25. i'm very proud that i have one of the highest rates of small-dollar contributions. i think our average contribution last quarter $1s. so it's americans from all walks of life. you know, i'm notaaking any pc

money, any federal lobbyist money, any money from big oil and gas energy executives. it's powered by the people ofo thistry. i believe that we're going to make tand then we're going to fight like crazy over the next two weeks to try to get on thdet te stage in november. and so i'm going to be in iowa on friday at the liberty ask justice different. i'm going to b in iowa a few days and some of the early states continuing to work hard >> woodruff: "the new york times" ran a story today, noticing even though the democrats are fielding most-diverse group of candidates than ever this year, the candidates who seem to be at the top, are all either white men-- three of them, biden, sanders, and buttigieg-- or a who woman, elizabeth warren-- and that candidates of color, you and others aren't there. do you have a theout why that is? >> people tend to gravitate, right now, least, tod this idea that you have to go with a safe choice or a certain pofile of candidate that they think can

or in michigan.ania or in ohi but i think we should actually turntshat over on head. the last time we actually won big waras with obama because he assembled anen unprecd, diverse, young, working class coalition of people that rose up, that got f the sideline and into the voting booths. i'm confident i caat do t if i'm the nominee. >> woodruff: julian castro seeking the democraticno nation for president. thank you very much. >> thanks, judy.uf >> woo our interview with democratic candidates continue on friday, when i travel to iowa to sit down th former vice president joe biden. >> woodruff: tonight in baghdad, security services killed at least two and wounded hundred of protesrs who are challenging the very foundation of the government.

meanwhile in lebanon, there is a caretaker government today, after the prime minister resigned yesterday. nick schifrin is here with a look at the protest movements, and what's next. >> schifrin: iraqi and lebanese protestors each took to the streets for local reasons. but they are united in arguing that their governments are broken. in iraq, the spark was the firing of a popular general. but listen to this iraqi demonstrator demand fundamentale ch >> ( translated ): the iraqi people are not looking forward resignation of this government. >> schifrin: in lebanon, the spark was a lack of services and tax on a popular app. but the protestors' caphrase is now "all of them"-- as in, th g want all politicians to >> ( translated ): from the beginning, we said, all of them means all of them. we are staying in the squares til they all go down. >> schifrin: meanwhile, the presence of iran looms large in both countries for more, we're joined by baghdad and specialgid in correspondent jane ferguson in

beirut. thank you very much to botof yo s we have noen a month of protests and extraordinary violence on the streets, 240-plus killed. what's keeping people in the streets, despite all that violence? >> i think that people have just gottt to a breaking pon terms of the corruption of the government and the poverty that is present thouughiraq. 25% of iraq's youth are unemployed, and for thm, you know, it's either they protest or there's nothing for them in their future, they think. >> jane ferguson, we hav fundamental calls about economic fears in baghdad. we certain have seery similar aspects in beirut. we saw the prime minister hariry resign yeste does that answer protesters' demands? >> it answers the protesters to a certain extent ie sense that they are jubilant that they've been able to bringdownst the prime mi himself. but politics in lebanon is very

complicated, becse it's not st one person. and that's why, as you say, the protesters have been saying, you."f you, all of what they mean is they want all of the political elites to step down in this country because it is a complex web of sectarian andvided-up power here in the country. and getting rid of one leader will not bring down the system that pople here really want dismantled, a system that has caused widespread corruption, a financial crise crise and for basically the quality of le in leb ton to be extremely low for people.it's a start. the protesters say they will come back out on the streets if they don't secabinet ministers replaced with technocrats. they want to see the old faces their past removed so they can be replaced with people they believe less corrupt and more representative of the population. >> some ofhat uunited states

these protesters across these two countries are the ecomi fundamentals that both of you have been talking about, but also that they go beyond traditional sectarian divisions, including some jane was just taing about. why have economic fears in iraq become more important than sectarian hyyalty? andoes that mean so many are calling for iran's influence to de in iraq? >> well, i think we have to look at who the main people who are protesting. they're very young. th're from a generation that don't see themselves riewmed by sectarian differences. the main thing that concerns them that they don't really have any opportunities. they don't have a good education. they don't hve any work. so for them, they say, "we don't care if you're shi'a. we don't care if you're sunni. we just someone who suddeniraqi to govern iraq" when it comes to iran, iranes influe the current government very much, and many people believe iran's influence on the government has led to the

corruption which has createdlyt the economic ation in iraq. throughout the protest you see people saying, "getut, get out, iran. we want someone iraqi to come and rule iraq." >> jane you talked about the complicated division of government in lebon. sectarianism is written into the government itself. how do the protests and hariri's resignation going to have an effect? >> oicially what the group has been saying and what we've bn hearing from the leader o hezbollah is they support the protesters in principle. they support their calls for less forruption, their calr reform in the country. but they've also been saying that they shouldn't be block roads, that they shouldn't,di cautioruptions. and what we saw yesterday were extraordinary scenes in beirut, where hundreds of hezbollah and their allies, supporters pouring into the streets, defying the

police, racing towards these protesters here and attacking them with sticks, botts, even rocks, beating people up, and essentially tearing apart the protest camp that had been set up. hezbollah has a lot to lose if this government othethan to collapse completely becse those protesters keep saying, "all of you," that include nasan nasrala, its head of hezbollah. he's not technically in the government, but peopnt all of those political leaders to step down. for hezbollahpoupers that's a step too far. hezbollah are experiencing to a certain extent-- you can even mll it soething of an identity crisis because of these protests.they've always viewed s as a party of the people, of the working man, of the dntrodden. but now, they are, whether they like it or not, they're seen by the people a political elite. political elite.seen as a

>> some of the reforms the experts say are necessary in iraq-- cutting public sector payrolls, nurturing the private sector-- is the goblernment ca and willing to actually institute some of those reforms? that's a hard estion to answer. i would say that what a lot of protesters here have been saying is the government has had about 16 years to institute the type of reforms and have utterly failedilp unthis point. people of the people in government have been the same politicians around the last cade or so and have not been able to institute reforms. and despite irve being ry, very oil-rich country, the basic services are still lacking. and it does not seem likelys you said the very bloated public sector could go away any time soon. >> jane, quickly, in the time we have left, expand a little bit out for us. er the region, what's t impact of these protest

movements and that these two governments are being fundamentally challenged right now? >> it's a emg stt for the region, nick, in terms of what w peopnt. and the fact that they are defying sectarianism, they're defying traditional politics. and what we're hearing is a louder and louder voice that is, to a certain extent, reminiscent e arab spring of 2011 and 2012. but different in the sense it's more focused on economic reform. what we're seeing now is a younger generatiothat have lost patience with the results of corruption and sectarianism, and ey're a lot moe focused on what they want, which is a mo nrnd and acceptable standard of living for young people. >> jane ferguson in beirut, pesha magid i baghdad, thank you very much.

>> woodruff: the country's diversity is becoming ever greater, but medical rh that could benefit the populace is not keeping pace. a recent review of government- funded cancer research studies found that all racial and ethnic minorities were considerably underrepresented. it also found that fewer than 2% of these clinical trials focused specifically on the needs of minorities. there's growing awareness of the problem and there are some new and promising efforts to correct it. speical corrpondent cat wise s the story, part of our regular coverage about "the leading edge" of science and medicine. >> yep. 70 questions. >> reporter: brittani powell wasn't supposed to be here in 2019, on the campus of sacramento state, stng to become a doctor. in middle school she was paralyzed. her doctors told her that treatment for the large-scale, cancerous tumor pressing into

her spine had failed. that she would likely be dead within months. g her only hope:e-changing clinical trial that her mom found in santa monicrly 400 miles from home. >> and the issue became w are we going to get there every week, just for the loading dose? because for the first month we had to go once a week, and then after that we'd have to continue to go once a month. and at this time she's out of workand we don't have any extra funds to continue to drive down there, and to support the household. >> reporter: brittani and her mom needed some help, and they got it, from this woman: dana dornsife. she runs a nonprofit in the bayl aread the lazarex cancer foundation. hole in the cancer treatmenting world by paying for the travel expenses a low-income patient needs to get to a clinical trian >> so i was lohere, and it says you are looking for

assistance with parking, tolls >> reporter: and that simple fix may help solve another gaping hole in medical research says dornsife. >> unfortunately many minority communities are grossly underrepresented in clinical trials, because they can't afford to get there. in this wod of drug development where everything is happening, you know, at a sprinter's pace,e're not taking the time to overcomthat divide. brittani powell is now-cancer free, thanks to the cl trial. but she was lucky-- according td the food ag administration, only about 30% of clinical trial participants for cancer drugs come from minority gups. the rest are white. in an era of precision medicine, when drugsre being developed for and tailored to specific segmen of the population, diversity is essential because some diseases and drugs imct

racial groups in different ways. george ocampo has been part of the lazarex push to reversenu thosers. he couldn't work during five grueling rounds of chemo for pancreatic cancer. a clinical trial for a new treatment, two hours from home, didn't seem like an option. lazarex has footed the bill for his trips to university of california, san franciscol- the gas,, parking, and hotel stays-- while he participated ir the l. those traveling loairfare for distances. those seemingly small interventions have helped ocampo and other patients access cutting-edge care they otherwise wouldn't havived. >> and hopefully it gets f.d.a. approved, and then it will be a drug that will be he a long time. >> reporter: a randomized interventions found theex's financial assistance can have a big impact: minority participatioin lazarex-backed studies at u.c.s.f. and the

university of southern california was 78%, compared to natyonal statistics for mino groups in cancer oncology trials. the f.d.a.'s recent report fe nd just 15% wian, 4% were black or african american, and 4% were hispanic. lack of diversity is a problem that extends well bend clinical trials. basic research has also been long dominated by people of european ancestry. >> this train is speeding out of the station, and the african american community doesn't seemo e on it nearly with the >> reporter: daniel weinbergers. is the head of the lieber institute for brain delopment in baltimore. the train he's referring to is, once again, the revoluti of precision medicine. >> so, this is how we store over n3000 samples of human br tissue. and this keeps expanding, this is a major enterprise. >> reporter: this institute, which has an affiliation with

johns hopkins, hth built one of world's largest collections of post-mortem human brains devoted to understanding mental s and brain development. so far, most of the brain research here and elsewhere has been centered on people with european ancestry. t that's becauheir genomic code is newer and simpr than other groups, including people with african ancestry. earlthis year, a study found that a full 10% of the african genome is missinfrom the faeus reference human genom mapped by scientists at the turn of theentury and is widely used as a baseline for researchers. >> it was like a wakeup call. 10% miing? how is that possib, that this has been overlooked to this degree? >> reporter: the lieber institute has collected some 500 brains of african americans in recent years, but there hasn't been the funding to study them specifically. weinberger says that lack of research is a big problem.

>> we've known for a long time, for example, that many medicines used to treat psychiatric disorders are metabolized differently in african americans. and many of the studies have shown that they don't respond as well to some medicines in part beca differently.tabolized and unless we understand that we're not going to be able to make the personalized insights tthat we can make so far caucasian genome. >> reporter: but going about this kind of researche johns hopkins campus is sensitive business. this is, after all, the initution that famously harvested cells from henrietta lacks without her consent in the mid-1900s, creating an immortal cell line that is still used by researchers today. evenrs like that, and the rumo that followed, led to mistrust of the medical establishment which remains high today. >> johns hopkins has this kind of a spirit hovering over it, that you didn't want to walk by at night, because they were using people for spare body parts. >> reporter: that's reverend al

hathaway, senior pastor of union baptist church and one of the most influential voices in the city of baltimor he was skeptical, too, of a group trying to collect brains. >> as i began to work with them, what i realized was that the funding is kind of slanted towards a european dataset. so i said, "well, wait a minute, that's not really biased, that's just accessibility."di and so, 't see it as something that was structurally wrong, i saw it as something that we could correct. >> reporter: in collaboration with the lieber institute, hathaway and a group of fellow baltimore clergy members have created the first african- american neuroscience research initiative. their goal is to help the institute use the specimens already on-hand to fill in genomic gaps and create a publicly accessible dataset that medical innovation. and but even as they push forward, all those involved in the project are proceeding carefully, knowing that science has been used in the past to

emphasize racial differences in harmful ways and exploit minority communities. as more becomes known about genomic differences between racial groups, somare concerned that could happen again.no >> no is without its advantages and its this is true of every genome. this is just a matter of identifying them, and coming up with ways to make them less delitating >> reporter: back in california, george ocampo is back on hish feet we support of his wife trisha. >> we held each other for a fewo nts, he stopped. and said, "trisha, look at me. it's okay. we're going to get through this. it's just another bump in the road." >> reporter: more than three dozen friends and family members came out for a recent cancer fundraising event.hr >> one, two,ee... team george! >> reporter: with a hashtag on all of their backs, no one fights alone, and the hope that research of the future will move closer to that goal, as well. for the pbs newshour in hollister, california, i'm catse

>> woodruff: as the month comes to a close, it is time for thela st conversation of our book club, "now read this" in partnership with the "new york times." william brangham has that and stick around for what to read in november. >> brangham: the 2010 supreme court ruling "citizens united" shocked the country, effectively granting corporations the same free speech rightss individuals and further opening the floodgates of money into our elections. many saw citizens uned as a dangerous new development-- one that blurred the lineen citizens and corporations. winkler demonstrates in his book that it was just the latest in a ry long line of victorie largely overlooked by history, where corporions fought for, and won, sweeping civil rights protections.

"we the corporions" is that book, and the now read this choice for october. adam winkler, welcome. i have to admit this book was a revelation to find out so many of these things that i really had no idea about. many viewers reading this history of corporate rights being enshrined in law made many of them angry-- one of them said their blood was boiling. could you briefly sketch out rights they have won forlv them? >> corporations have been fighting and winning constitutional rights in the years.e court for over 200 even though scotus didn't really protect rights of women or racial minorities, until the 1950s, throughout all that time, court was often siding with corporations and corporations were granted right to sue inur in early 1800s, were granted equal protection androcess in late 1800s.

corporations have won mostct criminal pron rights that were in constitution as well as in more recent years like rightf edom of speech and religion. brangham: we all remember when mitt romney made that comment about corporations are and people on the left ridiculed him. but as you document, there really is legal history where courts have viewed corporations as people. can you explain how at happened and why that happened? >> no issue is more controversial in wake of citizens united than this idea of corporations as people. but the idea of personhood is actually deeply embedded in law. it's jt the idea that a corporation is its own independent entity in eyes ofan the lais separate and distinct from shareholders andpl ees or investors. that's why if you slip and fall e starbucks, you have to the starbucks company, can't sue individual investors. corporate personhood enables us to hold corporations accountable

for crimes. when we sue b.p. oil for the spill in the gulf, we are relying on corporate pnhood to give us an identifiable body to sue and hold responsible. i think what's gone awry in scotus in recent years is that the court has extended rights that don't seeto fit business corporation of today-- things like influence elections, or freedom of religion d giving corporation ability to opt out of certain kinds of t ws. things tst don't seem like they're part of that long history and tradition of corporate personhood. for instance, in the hobby lobby case, the supreme court said a corporation has regious liberty and then says, well, we need to protect the religious liberty of hobbythobby's owners. e green-- >> brangham: this was the green family who saithat the a.c.a. requirement that they provide contraception to employees violated their personal religious beliefs, and you'reco saying court mtrued that idea in that case.

>> what the court did was pierced the corporate veil,e didn't base se on the rights of corporate entity but on family behind entity. and when we understand that in terms of having strict separation between business and the people behind the business, we can see hob lobby rejected principle of personhood instead of embracing it. >> brangham: you write at the beginning of the book that you don't mean this to be a condemnation or even really a critique of this growing corporate rights. but the cover is of a wadded up copy of the constitution, which implies it has been damaged here. well it is an arresting image on the cover, but in some waysmi yot think of the metaphor as being opposite. involvement of corrations has had some bad effects, andma citizens unitebe a perfect example of that, but at the same

time, rights have also had positive effect. in the 193, when newspaper corporations were trying to fight back against censorship imposed upon them by huey long, the demagogue governor of louisiana, they were able to fight back because of firstdm amt right of freedom of the press. >> brangham: a lot of readers asked questions that seemed to strugg with idea of is this trend, is it reversible? what's your sense of studying the long history of this? >> well there is a movement afoot to amend the constitution to eliminate rights for corporations and more than 19 states have endorsed amendment o rturn citizens united. and if the amendment really does gather steam, corporations migho some of these rights that they've gained. but i think have to approach issue with nuance and some hesitation in the sense that we

don't want to deprive for s"stance, the "new york ti of right of freedom of press. and we don't want to deny any other coany its property right over its inventories. so people can't seize coca cola's recipes without paying just compensation. so we want to think about le of constitutional rights and sometimes that means protecting corporations. >> brangham: for now, adam winkler, author of "we the coorations," thank you. we will ntinue this conversation online, where you can find it later on. before we go, i want to introduce our now read this pick for november. the winner of the 2019 pulitzer prize in fiction, a novel out trees, our relationship to the ntural world, and about activism and resistance. "the overstory." it is the 12th book from national book award winner richard powers. as always, we hope you'll join

us and read along with others on our website and facebook page, "now read this," the pbs newshour's book club partnership with the "new york times." >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, the trump administration has touted s efforts to build hundreds of miles of new border wall by the end of next year. we take a closer look at what f has been done and whether the new designs adequately addresthe changing nature of immigration. that's on our web site, pbanorg/newshour. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here e tomorrning. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a varraty of no- co wireless plans for nsumercellular.tvoything ina

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hello, everyoer, welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. >> what happens when political appointee over from the expert? fromkraine to the veterans administration. i speak with president trump's former v.a. secretary shall ken. > from the far ea to the middle east to latin america, citizens take to thee streets t voice discontent. former clommen pre pdent santos joins us witholutions. ♪ trumpty dumptyy wanted a wall john lithgowhg goes unapologetically and poeticall political.