captioning sponsored by wnet on this edition for saturday, november 2: the latest on the impehment inquir fire warnings remain in parts of d california. our signature segment: sending people with addictions to jail for rehab. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and ene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil.

barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we' your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, megan thompson. >> thompson: good evening andth k you for joining us. from washington d.c. to iowa toi issippi, the topic on the presidential campaign trail for the past 24 hours washm impet. on his way to a campaign event st night, president trump called the impeachment inquiry" a hoax."tu at the rally ilo, mississippi, mr. trump drew cheers and chants when he accused the media ancrats

of a long campaign to remove him from offe. >> they've been plotting to overthw the election since the moment i won, but the people here that arhighly sophisticated know, long before i won. >> thompson: in iowa, democratic candidates were racing from event to event, talking more about health care, the economy, and climate change than why the owesident should be impeached. the february 3 ia caucuses-- the first presidential vote in 2020-- are now just three months away. dangerous fire conditionsin continuealifornia today even as the winds died down in many areas of the state. the maria fire in ventura county north of los angeles has burned more than 9,000 acres since it began thursday night a was still only 2 contained by this morning. officials pt red flag warnings in place across the region with relative humidity less than 10% and wind gusts still expected to

reach 35mph. many fires burning throughout the state fomore than a week e now coming under control. there have been evacuations, tihool closings, the destr of homes and other buildings and injuries to firefighters in the most recent fires, but to date, there have been no fatalities. the united auto workers union president is steppidecurrent amidst a federal corruption investigation of its leadershio gary jones, s held the top job at the union for less than two years, will start his leave of absence as on as tomorrow. on thursday, federal prosecutors accused jones and a close aide of conspiring to emb00zle close to00 dollars in member dues. it's the latest development in a corrupon probe that became public in 2017. in west africa, at least 50 soldiers and one civilian are n ad following an attack o military outpost in mali. the assault took place yesterday in the northeast region of naka.

today, a government spokespersod said aen carried out the attack and then fled to the border with niger. no group has claimed responsibility for the violence, but the region has active groups with links to al qaeda and the islamic state. this is the second attack on mali's military in less than two months and one of the deadliest in recent history. in afghanistan, nine children were killed after they stepped on a deliberately-planted roadside mine while walking to school today. the police chief of the northeastern takhar province, ad area taliban control, blamed taliban insurgents and said the bomb was most likely intended for afghan security forces.as civilianlties in afghanistan spiked in the monthe leading up to ember's presidential election and have so far no one has d responsibility for today's atck. in hong kong, anti-government ckotesters threw gasoline bombs at police and at the office of china's official news agency tay after china hinted

that it may begin a tougher crackdown. police hurled tear gas and used water cannons on the demonstrators who demanded autonomy for hong kong. protesters who broke into china's xinhua news agency office smashed windows, set a small fire, and spray-painted a wall with a message that read" deport the chinese communists." more than 3,000 protesters have been detained since the unrest in hong kong began almost five months a. >> thompson: few states have been hit harder by the opioid epidemic than massachusetts. last year alone, about 2,000 people there died of opioid- for friends and faooking to help their loved ones on the road to recovery, the state has w that sends men in particular to be treated while

living in jail. some call that old-fashioned incarceration; others say it's fight their addicten need to newshour weekend's hari sreenivasan has more.ct >> cor okay. >> sreenivasan: past the secure gates of the hampden county jail in western massachusetts, sheriff nick cocchi is taking us to meet inrcerated men who haven't necessarily committed a crime. >> these are all people thatre at a point in their life where forced treatment and necessary and immediate eatment was called for. >> sreenivasan: the sheriff runs a program for men who' been civilly committed for substance abuse treatment under a massachusetts law called section . >> here, for the first, say, four or five weeks, you can't go anywhere. you're here. >> sreenivasan: our first stop is a daily mindfulness meditation class. someone watching this, they're literally going to hear the new-age music, and they're going to see guys on floor mats deep breathing, and they're going to

say, "what's going on with the sheriff? he's supposed to be making sure..." >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> yeah. well, i've always said this: a fair county sheriff is giving them the resources and the tools go back into the community and be successful. t we're sayire's a better life, and we're saying we can >> sreenivasan: unction 35, a family member, police officer or doctor can petition a court to commit an individual-- that is, hold them involuntarily-- if that personlc has anol or substance abuse problem and is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others. similar to involuntary escommitment for mental il after an evaluation by a ioinician, a judge can "se a person, as the process is known, for up to 90 days. for men, that means receivin treatment in a civil facility. but for most men, it means getting treatment in a jail. >> it's a tool to be used as a last resort. we would love for peopleo put their hand up and say, "i have an addiction issue, and i need

help, and i'm willing to go get that help," but that's not the case all the time. so, 's important that the family members have an option that they can help bring their loved one and actually get them the help that they need whether they're ready for it, prepared for it, or want it or not. >> sreenivasan: the law has been on the books since 1970, but the number of people committed has gone up nearly 66% in the past ten years thanks to the opioid crisis. >> the noise level's down. there's not a lot of commotion. >> sreenivasan: in cocchi's program, the men are housed in a unit that's olated from those who are criminally incarcerated. the men are called clients rather than inmates or prisoners. there's 24/7 medical treatment available, including drugs liken meth buprenorphine and naltrexone, all of which are f.d.a.-approved to treat opioid addiction. and there's access to addiction counselors and daily group therapy. the rooms are jail cells, but sheriff cocchi says the doors are not locked and the men hereo aren't confinehem. >> so, the days are very

ructured, but they're no structured to where we force anyone to do anything. you have to voluntarily get up and go to class. >> sreenivasan: there are even therapy dogs. >> how >> nervous, but good. i'm ready. >> was it worthwhile to be here? >> yeah, absolutely. >> good. >> sreenivasan: after several oweks at the unit in the jail, many men "step d to a facility about 20 minutes away in springfield. located in a renovated nursing home, it has fewer resons and is more like a dorm. ♪ the emphasis remains on recovery. >> it's getting in touch with yournner peace. the way we were hitting the drums, we have to find that because it's not the drink and the drug; it's enjoying life without it. ♪ >> sreenivasan: 39-year-old antoine diaz hasadtruggled with ction for more than a decade. he lost his brother to a heroin overdose last ye. >> this time, when i relapsed, my twin brother was dead.th an's when it's... it's easier to die. it really is. pe,le are not really suicid but just the pain and the suffering becomes overbearing that they just want to shoot it away.

and next you know, it could be a bad batch, and you're gone. and i experienced that this time. i was dead for three and a half nutes. no heartbeat, no nothing. >> sreenivasan: after being revive his family.ectioned by >> then, they came and said, "you're getting sectioned." i flipped out. i hated my wd e. i haerybody. but she was right. i needed to be removed.t that's wsection is. you need to be removed from society. program began last may, more than 1,000 people have gone through the section 35 program in hampden county, and the sheriff's department says fewer than 5% have been sectioned agn. but it doesn't track relapses that don't result in another civil commitment. >> we're not telling you that we have a magic wand and we can wavet and we can cure people because there is no cure. we're engaged every day, trying to be part of the soluon in taking another chunk out of this ravaging, ugly disease of opioid addiction. >> sreenivasan: antoine diaz credits the approach of the hampden county sheriff with helping him get to this poin >> i'm going to be honest with you. i didn't like cocchi, right. the sheriff.

i had another guy i liked. but, i swear to god to you, i sweato you his messa and h way for recovery is passionate, real. the programming, everything, it's progressive. it's, like, it's different. >> over here, we have another classroom area. >> sreenivasan: to pay for the program's first year, cocchi reallocated nearly $3 million from the existing sheriff's department budget, and, in july, the massachusetts legislature earmarked an additional $1 million for the program. >> now, $1 million is a drop in the hat, but it was a major movr in tht direction, especially with all the people that are criticizing the program. >> why would you have a system where, instead of using health disease, you put that money into prisons? >> sreenivasan: bonnie tenneriello is one of those critics. she's a staff attorneys't prisoneregal services of massachusetts, a nonprofit group people.presents incarcerated >> it may be a nicer environment than an ordinary prison setting, but it's still a prison, and

you' still telling people "y belong in jail." there's already enough stigma around addiction tt for us to say it's okay to put people with addiction in jail just furthers that stigma, furthers a belief our communities that these people are bad. and that's going to stop people from getting treatment. >> sreenivasan: tenneriello is suing the state to end the use of jails for treatment on behalf of ten men who have been sectioned at a facility in plymouth called the massachusetts alcohol and substance abuse center, or masac. the suit alleges abusive behavior by corrections officers, minimal substance abuse treatment, and, overall, a traumatizing experience for people sectioned there. >> you put people in jail, they're going to act like they're in jl. and a lot of people did. >> sreenivasan: 37-year-old joel kergaravat is not one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, but he spent several weeks in masacc he wasoned by his family last june after struggling with opioid addiction.

the department of corrections is equipped to handle prisoners. ey're not equipped to handle mentally ill or sick people. that was evidenced by the fact that they would, you know, refer to us as "junkies" and, you know, "pieces of ( bleep )." and it's not... it's not their arena. h>> sreenivasan: kergarav been sober for about a year, but he says that's in spite of his experience at masac, nause of it. >> there's no treatment, nothing i would consider treatment there. it felt like having gone to jail for... for a period time for a crime i didn't commit. >> sreenivasan: citing t pending litigation, the massachusetts dertment of correction, which operates masac, declined interview with pbs newshour weekend. but in court filingsthe state denied the suit's allegations and "strongly rejects as both a factual matter and a legal matt the suggestion that the commitment of section 35pa ents to its facilities is

equivalent to 'incarceration' or 'imprisonment.'" the hampden county sheriff'ss department it specifically named as a defendant, but bonnie tenneriello says the lawsuitai to end the use of jails for all section 35 commitments acro the state. she says that would simply put men and women in the state on equal ground remember, women who are sectioned are treated only in civil settings. that's because, in 2016, the massachusetts legislatureed explicitly chahe law. and there's now pending legislation that would do the same for men.mb in septeer, a joint committee of state legislators held a hearing on this issue. >> we are the only state in thei that sends people with addictions for involuntary treatment to a prison facility. anis is what we need to chge and what we want to chan. >> sreenivasan: and in july, a state commission also recommended that massachusetts end the practice. >> wn people point at us and say it shouldn't happen there, well, where else is it going to happen? there was t one bed for these

type of men in western massachusetts till we opened this program a year ag and now they want to tell me, "but you shouldn't be doing it"? hey, how about a phone call, say "thank you i'll take those calls all day long. ♪ >> sreenivasan: antione diaz says the setting in a criminal justice facility is not what makes being sectioned hard. >> it's not jail. you're civil. it doesn't matter where they house you at. in reality, being here, people don't want to be left alone. being here is hard for me. you ow why? because, like, i have to be left with me, and i'm the problem. u and itomfortable. but it teaches me how to grow. you know, it d not feel like jail, and i did a jail bit. >> instead of taking shots at us, come on down and see it for yourself. >> sreenivasan: sheriff cocchi says he's open to having hisla program red by civil agencies in the state, including the department of public health. but in the meantime, he says, the stakes could not be higher. >> take my 120 beds away. then what? how many funerals we going to? how many family members have go to bloved one? i'm not going to be on that side

of the coin. >> but that's a false choice you have. you need a civilian setting for these people. we're not saying, "take the coeatment away." what we want is itment to fund and make available treatment in health care settings where it belongs. >> sreenivasan: tenneriello supports the pending state legiation to make that happe ldt sheriff cohi argues that his program shou be allowed to continue even if others in the state are not. >> i would ask, don't throw the baby out with the bath please. if we're doing it right, acknowledge that. carve us out. allow us to do what we're doing. >> sreenivasan: for now, the sheriff will continue doing exactly that, but opposition to providing treatment for civilly-committed men behind these gates remains. account of how thechusettsher's law impacted her son, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> thompson: in 2015, "washington post" data reporter

christopher ingraham wrote about an obscure u.s. department of agriculture list that ranked every county on natural climate.s like scenery and dead last was red lake county in ingraham called it "the absolute but then, less than a yearrica." later, he decided to move his family there. d ails that story in his new book, "if you lived here, you'd be home bynkow." chris, tou so much for being here. >> hey, thanks so much for having me.o, >> thompson:ou write this post, you call red lake county "the worst place to live." what happened next?ou >>now, what happened is, i started hearing a lot from people in this particular corner of the state, red lake county. they started sending me pictures on social media, being like, "look at this place.ki what are you t about? there's rivers and hills and bluffs." and it kind of snowballed, and i started to learn that minnesota is kind of like the of the north. you know, we all know that you don't mess with texas, but i learned very qckly that you don't mess with minnesota, either, because their media

outlets picked up on it and then the politicians started to get in on it. i heard from the senators. senator amy klobuchar, she spent half an afternoon just sending me pictures on facebook, being like, "look at thiplace. what is wrong with you? why would you say these horrible things about our place?" and this was really interesting to me because i'm a data reporter, and i write about stuff like this all the time. and, like, every kind of ranking you do, somebody is always at the absolute bottom,d ight? but i ver heard kind of feedback like this, right? like, you know, you... i'veit n a bunch of stories where you have, say, mississippi or alabama at the bottom of somera ing. never a peep from folks in those states, interestingly...ou interestingly . but minnesotans apparently were not used to showing upe bottom of the list, and they let me know about it. >> thompson: in the interest of full disclosure, i am from minnesota originally. >> okay. were you one of the ones i got a nasty email from?n: >> thomp did not email you, no. ( laughs )w but i do kat "minnesota nice," it's a thing, right? even though i don't nt to brag. we're not supposed to brag.

you know, if you're from but you were... they actually... you were actually invited to visit minnesota, right? i mean, is... is that what you found when you... when you got there? minnesota nice? >> yea so, eventually, this guy, this local guy in red lake county, he's like, "look, if you're going to sayll this stuff about us, you should really come out here and take a look." and, younow, i kind of told my wife about this. i'm like, "they want me to come out there. do you think i should do it?" and she was like, "no, they're doinottgo out there." but my editor was kind of like, let's go see what s." and so, i went and visited, and i was expecting kind of... you know, we have these... these ideas about rural america, this framework where everybody's struggling, and everybody is poor, and everybody is on drugsa and things arey bad. and that's kind of what i was expecting going in there. but i show up in this town, and it... it was more like norman rockwell. it was very, just, americana. you know, i... i pulled up to the county courthouse to meet with this guy, jason, who invited me. they had actually gathered the mayor, this... the county

commissioners. they had a marching band there playing on the courthouse steps. it was just ridiculous. t and it just kind of... tt the tone for the entire visit. i was just shocked by how much mpeople just wanted to sh their community and the people they knew. a just tunt of civic pride in this place was unlike anything i've encounteredin anywhere elsy life. >> thompson: so, you went home to your family in baltimore, and then you ended up making a huge life decision? >> yes. so, this was happening a kind of a... a sange point in our lives. we were living in baltimore county, so i was commuting dowto to the washi d.c. offices every day. so, hour and a half one-way commute adds up to about 15ur a week. i'm never seeing the kids. i'm never seeing my wife, brianna. she's working for the vernment. long hours. we're th burned out. the problem is, the cost of living out there is so high, we couldn't see a way out of it. and eventually, of all people, it was my mother who was visiting us one day, and she wak

like, "well, yw, you guys ought to go move to that nice little minnesota town you visited over the summer." and we were kind of like, "ha, ha, ha. that's funny, mom. that's... what a silly idea." but the thing is, like, once that seed got planted, like, it just started to grow. and we started crunching some numbers, and, basically, we got to a point where we convinced ourselves that it would have been financially irresponsible of us to not move to rural minnesota. so, after getting approval from my editors at the "post" to... to be able to work remotely-- which, of course, is a huge part of this-- that's what we ended >> thompson: so, you've been out there now for a little over three years. how's it b hn going? whe you been finding?be >> it' going great. you know, we moved out here, primarily we were thinking ofhe doing it forids. and on that level, it's just completely exceeded our wildest expectations. so, the town we live in, red la falls, it's 1,400 peopl and, you know, i can... we can play.our kids out in the yard to

and we know that people out there, they ve their backs. and this is one of the harder things to articulate, but, from a physical standpoin from going to... going from the d.c. metro area, one the densest populated places in the country, the population density isa where something like ten people per square mile, you feel the space out here. you feel the sky. you feel the air around you. at the end of the day, you know, i'm still plugged inm d.c. ill writing for the "post." but at the end of the day, i shut down my laptop, i step outside, and i can just feel the stss, like, just flow out my body. you know, one... i'm a data guy, and one of the data points that i... i look at is that since i've moved out here, my blood pressure has actually fallen by 30 points. so, it's honestly, in many ways, has been everything we've hoped for and more. thompson: christopher ingraham, author of "if you lived here, you'd be home by now," thank you so much for being with us. >> hey, thank you so much for

having me today. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> thompson: in case you didn't to see the annual sand sculpture festival this year, we have a glimpse. in may, dozens of artists tackled massivsablocks of damp brought in from a nearby quarry. the theme this year? robots. >> it's one of the biggest sand sculpture events in the world and i think that's unique. it's the only one where the artist getcomplete freedom in what we make and how we make it, how we tell the story t to tell. >> thompson: it can take five days to craft a 13 foot tall sculpture and it helps that there is clay in this particular sand. >>

hompson: more than 120,000 visitors took in the robot creations before the park closed this weekend. >> they are so amazing. i have never before seen thought that someoade ofver sand could be so perfect >> wow, i can't describe it with words. yeah. it's amazing, i can''sdescribe it, antastic i think. >> thompson: one frequently asked question is what happens when it rains? the answer according t organizers: nothing. the sand is already damp so the water gradually drains through it. but just like sandcastles the waves wash away at the beach, ndeventually wind and rainun take their toll and the months.res only last about four but the sand gets reused and next year tists will build again when the new theme will be "the middle age"

>> thompson: finally tonight, thousands of fans linedti constituon avenue in washington d.c. this afternoon to celebrate their hometown baseball heroes' world series victory. the nationals 4:3 victory was the first world series win for a d.c. team since 1924. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend i'm megan thompson. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at bh cess.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is madeb

po by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. baara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided b d the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be m

thisis program was made possible in part by katherine alden, roy matthew, richard wiesel, john bell, andrew forchelli, bryan o'rourke, james frazier, and the corporation for public broadcasting and others. a complete list is ailable from pbs. when wilma mankiller was ten she and her family were relocated from cherokee lands in oklahoma to san francisco. it was in san francisco during the civil rights era tha she found her voice and a belief in the power to make change. , ladies and gentlem pleaset the cherokee nation chief of chiefs. a lot of people told her not too it. [laughs]

-s had death threats.