10 democratic candidates faced off in atlanta this because use democrats trto bolster their case to imes prident trump. another month and another round of blackouts. pg&e cuts off power to customers in 11 counes amid drying gusty weather conditions. the 50th anniversary of the occupation of alcatraz by amer indian activists. will will hear about how the fight for indigenous rights reverberates today. we begin tonight with the democratic presidential debate. >> on wednesday, 10 candidates faced off for a democratic presidential debate.

no one candidate broke out of the pack. reinecting the surge the polls, pete buttigieg came under fire for his inpolitical perience while kamala harris try to regain momentum. on capitol hill, hohee democratd from nine witnesses this week in the impeachment investigation of resident trauma. former white house advisor fiona hill and ambassador -- were among those that test testified. there was a quid o quo for the release of military aid to ukraine while fiona hill characterized the campaign as ae ic political errand. with us now is go chronicle and hundred president of sheeted people, amy allison. thank you for being with jous. nalists start with you, just been made of south bend, indiana mayor pete the judge and his recent rise in the polls. what ons his goal wednesday and you think he achieved it.

>> the goal is not to be beat down. he has bigger problems. he is ahead in a state that is 90% white. when it comes to california, the stats here say half of latinos don't even know who he is. he has real problems. when he goes to south carolina, black folks are not into the campaign at all. >> what is amazing, there is no path to victory in the primary without winning significant black support, partularly around women. he is as close to zero as they comest i thought night or this week's was the opportunity to appeal to black voters, to particularly black women. he was challenged on his racial

justice record in south bend. i feel like he fell flat. he didn't gain momentum. therefore as it relates to black voters, the judge -- pete buttigieg did not gain. >> is and i'd looking forw to making outreaches into communities but he didn't even show up to the african-american caucus to the election. >> kamala harris called him out >>amy you were at the debate in atlanta, what was the mood like? >> it is interesting. t is tyler perry studios transformed by the campaign of stacey abrams that did the preshow rally. it was very clear when we heard

from the mayor of atlanta, stacey abrams and congressman wis as well as tom perez that georgia is the middle of the battleground states. 1.4 points from being a blue state. they recognize that not only do they have to dealwith voter suppression and we didn't hear enough about that on stage. thneed to invest now in order to elevate turnout, even more than we saw in record numbers th for 2018. e was a sense of people in the audience, really looking for signals from the candidates. who was le to speak the language of a multiracial coalition. it can be man or women of any race. are they going to appeal people like in georgia. some did a very good job and others fell on their face. that was a good measure who

will be positioned to into 2020. the obama coalition >> one of the most striking things was this was the first debate where all four moderators were women. and me and joe, you can answer this if you would like. you think that affected the tenor of the debate and what was talked about? >> i thought it was good. in the sense that childcare was brought up. that is a universal concern of parents in terms of ing a burden and tht e is a national solution to this. we were real able to hear from the candidates more deeply around an issue at affects more of us. having women on the stage did make a difference in that way. the ofissue abortion and choice was addressed more than before. ther were many moissues around. i thought it . was positi

>> they talked about housing which hasn't gotten a lot of play. that is another issue. it is the first time we really had a discussion about housing. >> if you look at women, particularly women of color, they will be the swing vote. the battle of the white house and the vote that ultimately decides who is a standardbearert for the demo party. these issues matt. she the people just worked with center for american progress on a roof or that said if you talk issues d issues that speak to the base like the issues we were talking about, those are the things pethat excite le and get them to the polls. this is what needs to happen more and more. mala harris came out or swinging. she is trying to revitalize her campaign. there was one testy exchange between heand congressman --.

let's listen. >> it is unfortunate that we have someone on the stage attempting to be the mimocratic e for president of the united states who during the obama administration spent four years full-time on fox news criticizing president obama. >> that s.is ridicul >> what senator harris is doing continuing to affic and lies and smears and innuendos. she cannot challenge the nc subsof the argument that i'm making. the leadership and change that i am seeking to bring. >> why spd so muchtime attacking her? >> can we say how amazg it was to have two women of color talking about formpolicy? it is historic and i want to appreciate that. we have the diversity that allows for these exchanges. i think the senator had to punch down. last time she didn't. it is not worthy of my

response. this tvee it is rtimt for the senator in establishing her being in straight-line to continue the tradition of oba to say she doesn't represent any part of the obama coalition and to push her further out d say that she doesn't really represent those voters that she's trying to appeal to. >> it is a bit of fact check. she did appear on fox about 20 times during the obama presidency. she did have meeting wi trumpet trump tower after he was elected. talking about form policy. it w an accurate statement. another fact check, both candidates are polling 3-5%. neither of them are a major factor at ispoint. she has taken on the role of the official troll of the debate. >> hecandidate, is

understandin each one of these candidates is time to figure out eir lane. some of the challenges senator harris is trying to establish herself in . moderate la pete buttigieg and biden are in that space. he was establishing a new lane which was that. >> she would be pulled over for changing laso often. starting in the left for medicare for all pui know ic health insurance and then now she is veering off. >> let's move on to impeachment hearings. we had three days of hearings. i heard from nine witnesses. this is only week 2 of all the people we heard from, who stood u?out for >> fiona hill.

she was credible, expert and spoke with authenticity and clarity. she called out the republicans was the story about ukraine ve that they been telling. i will tell you, as expert, it is not istrue, it a falsehood. here is the truth about russia and the meddling in the election. her audience i feel was the erican people. >>think we have to appreciate the impeachment hearings are a way to publicly discuss these thissues. k she had a big impact on public perception of what was going on. >> one of the her moments was when -- said there was a qu pro quo. how did republicans >>treated? he said there is a quid pro quo, on what. úthe exchange of the meeting? r

they narrative down to the meeting. he came owoff sh. he is not a professional diplomat. he is a rich guy who gave $1 million to the aural address. he did for both sides. what comes out of the week of impeached. rump will he will not be removed from office. you didnt a lot of sense that they were moving away, despite the stuff, the connection that was made. we are kind of where we predicted atthe beginning of the hearings. >> what do you think are the key risks for democrats in the coming weeks or months? >> don't let a drag too

long. i don't know how much control they will have once it gets into thsenate. that starts going into a couple of weeks before the iowa caucus, that will be the big show and it will not be the or showcasethe candidates. bs you have what five senators that will have to spend time voting and acting as wijurors. that be tough. >> if the democrats had not moved forward, it would have been demotivating. i think it is important that it is happening, about being motivated to wrap thingsup quickly. >> jamie allison cofounder of the the people, thank you for joining me. on wednesday, pg&e began shutting off power in parts of 11 counties in northern california, including napa and sonoma. it is the second month that

pg&e has cut off power to customers to avoid sparkin a wildfire with equipment during dry and windy weather. on monday, lawmakers in sacramento called executes investor-owned utilities, st including pg&e t testify ab last month's outages. at the hearing, the pg&e ceo bill johnson said the shutoffs are not a sustainable solution to the threat of wildfire. joining me now is kqed reporter and editor dan brekke. let's start with this we's shutoffs. we heard from pg&e at the beginning of the week that more than 300,000 customers uld lose power. then a few days later, they pare that down to 150,000 customers. what was going on? >> the weather conditions were changing. that 300,000 was when they ought the wind would cover a wide area. they were also expecting humidity to drop to a certain level and to exacerbate the

fire danger. as weather change, they narrowed the foot when they did the shutoffs, the only shutoffs i say 50,000 customers. that could be abou125,000 people. >> what areas ended up losing power? >> the wherefro sonoma county, northern and eastern, across to the northern sierra nevada. it was confined to a alr area than we have seen in all of these earlier shutoffs. >>r he all clwas called yesterday. either still folks without power? >> just about everybody is neba on are probably through with the season. there is potential for high wind on monday. even so, it doesn't look ke a fire danger. >> there is rain forecast as

ll. >> it hasn't rained in most of the bay area or northern california in many months. next week is supposed to break e dry spell. we could get an inch or two of rain and a lot of snow in the sierra nevada. maybe we will be done with this crazy period of losing power. >> pg&e has been under pressure to do a bett job of communicating when and where the safety shutoffs will occur. around. they do this >> it is hard to tell unless you are in one of these areas that is being shut off. the communication is a bit more direct if you are in those areas. the only way ow really for sure if you will be turned off or not, is if you actually went online and looked up yourdr s. as we were saying, this is a moving target. it was hard to tell from the

outside looking in, where they f would turn power and when. that said, the website stayed up which it didn't do in early october. i think people would agree that they didn't better job this time. >> communication was a major he focus of monday's ing in front of the senate energy utilities and communications committee in sacramento. what did the pg&e executives have to say when questioned? >> >> we talked about how it is not a sustainable solution. one of the things he was tryin do is correct or walk back a statement hemade last month. it may take 10 years before we get out of this regime. there's a message that pg&e is committed to improving tue infrastr of these power

shutoffs could be much more closely targeted. that was the main message. also trying to deal with the widespread outrage that they are hanging from the governor and legislators and customers and local officials of the turned off ona regular basis. >> there were two other atinvestor-owned utilitiethe hearing. san dio gas and electric and socal edison. did they have the same kind of e ing drilling from lawmakers. >> southern california edison does not have spotless record and terms of starting fires ewictrical infrastructure. they started fires this year. sadiego gas and electric is in a different position. a smalleservice territory, just san diego county.

that is a lot of customers. they started working on this thing about how do you mitigate wildfire danger when you have this dangerous electricity and the wind is blowing ats 80 mi per hour. they started on that more than 10 years ago. they are now the darling of the regulators and legislators. they worked out more sophisticated methods of dealing with it. that is pretty much reflected in the reception they are getting in sacramento and from the public utilities commission in san francisco. >> is there something they could learn from? >> pg&e said many times there same practices that -- has e adopted. partly because they keep hearing and we keep hearin that sdg&e does a jogood the record does show that since the really started into the program of targeted power shut

off, teey have stno large fires. >> what about compensation? can you give an update? >> it is a bit a mess. we don't know, there are thmpeting plans before bankruptcy court. the state and governor newsom ab are talkint a backup plan. unds like you might be edging toward public ownership solutions. it is a bit unclear. in the meantime, the deadline for people that suff ed wildfiss or who have been victims were just granted an extension until december 31 to fi their claim. a lot is unresolved as far as victim stcompensation. ack wednday marked the 50th

anniversary of the occupation of alcatraz island by native erican students and community leaders, calling themselves the indians of all tribes, the groutook over e former prison to push for federal recognition of native american rights and land claims. the occupation ended when armed marshals rated the island 19 months later in june 1971. today, a new generaon of activists are commemorating the historic takeover and showing why, in the words of one of adi s, alcatraz is an idea and not an island. 20 know is eloi martinez, a native american activist and one of the original community leaders of the w occupation. >> are you. >> i'm good thank you. alcatraz island is known as the home of the feral prison with infamous prisoners like al capone. why did you and other indigenous leaders decide to take it over?? alcatraz? >> it was very dissimilar to

reservations, not sustainable, it was a rock, you couldn't grow anything. nothing there. it was one of those things we wanted to show everybody and ns the conditand how they exist on reservations and because in the east they have the statue of liberty that says welcome. we wanted something similar that said the ships could see you coming in. n >> you describe what life was like there in the early months? >> it was cold. it wasn't supposed to happen until spring of 1970 the indian center burned down. francisco? an center in >> they were in the process of turning it into the monte carlo of the last. ick. cided we had to move also, some of the leaders,

wanted to take over. they had gone to an indian conference in minnesota wants to take over the islands they can claim they were part of that there was lot that went on. it was exciting. the adrenaline was high. peoplewere glad tobe free. there was no oversight in kids running all over discovering things. was also scary. that time you have to remember, everything going on. the black alpanthers and of those things, people getting killed. some of our leaders got killed. was all part of that system to target individual leaders that were strong. he was a strong leader at that

time. >> you have a fond memory of being on alcatraz? >>i have a lot of fond memories. it was awesome. just watching the it was probably one of the biggest gatherings we have had. there was an original 14. the 93 that came back on the 20th. than on thanksgiving, close to 400 people. it kept increasing. over the course of the time, probably 30,000 people went through the island. that was not really, it was hard. after they took --, they didn't have any water. with people one ison the nd they had to bring food and water. some people didn't have money

to pay the three dollars fair. they gave jewelry and stuff that they had. one of the guys has a lot of that stuff and brought it to >> how would you say the takeover reverberates today, whether his protests over pipelines on native land or otr protest? >> itis necessary. atanding rock, a lot of people don't talk about it. it was a really bad place to beth i went e three times. before we got there, they had sprayed racing poison. they spread that we we all camped out. a lot of people came back sick. if you saw any of the footage, the way they treated the

people, the dogs and fire hoses and that stuff, times haven't changed that much. it was really good to see the reyoung people that there. they were fearless. that is like alcatraz ck in the day. >> these young people are all over the place, they are in the forefront doing their thing. >> one of the original organizers of the rioccupation ded alcatraz as and i dia rapher than a ical space. is that something you agree with and what does that mean? >> it means the idea is spreading. a lot of people left and went on to do other things. -- went back to her ibe and told wethe city, will bring our own water and.

the tribe doing really well. almost everybody that was there the idea was to make the nativen americansible. we are accomplishing that now. right now there is probably 300 people in the bay area rethat n the island. there are a bunch of originals. there will be a big thing. some of us haven't seen each other in 50 years. years ago, when we last, everybody would say you didn't accomplish much. >> we accomplished a lot. termination was ended and tribes that their property back. now you have people that have a

way to get an educatiothat you did not have before. wh that is at the ideas about. >> thank you for joining me. that will do it for us, as always you n find mo coverage at www.kqed.org. thank you for joining us.

robert: explosive testimony caps hearings. ek of impeachme >> i followed the directions of the president. we wked with mr. giuliani because the president directed us to do so. robert: top officials speak out. >> aassador bolton said that rudy giuliani h was aand grenade that was going to blow everyone up. robert: republicans hold firm. >> for the last three years, it's not president trump who got caught. it w the democra is got caught. robert: and democrats press on. >> we are better than that. robert: next. ♪ announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> there's a moment, aoment where everything is clear