newshourroductionsns, llc judy woodruff. onoo the newour tonight, the pandemic persists-- despite a rising death toll, more states begin to reopen while protests erupt in states remaining in lockdown. then, on strike-- essential workers nationwide demand more protections as they face the risks of covid-19. >> we have to be on the front line and for a lot of us we feel like we have no choice but to be there. >> woodruff: and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks break down the latest federal response to the coronavirus pandemic and the sexual assault allegations against joe biden. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> the john s. and james l. knight foundatiorm fostering in and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: d friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for byblic broadcasting. anontributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: we've made it to the first day of may and more of the country has been opening for business to one degr or

wiother, but worries persist, thwideia pm tbranmghanamic begr coverage. >> brangham: on this may day, or internatnal workers day, more therican workers were back on job. customers like those at this houston, texas shop, serving masked patro stepping up on six-feet-spacing markers, all on their morning coffee run. edt it came just a day after texas recoore than 50 covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, the most yet, and that left some officials uncomfortable with the push to reopen. >> brangham: in all, more than half a dozen states across the u.s. are now moving to re-open have restrictions set to expire soon. democratic governor gretchen's whitmer re-issued her stay-at- home order, after a day when protesters, some of them armed,

rsvadethe state capitol, and republican law refused to extend the lockdown another 28 days. today, president trump, called the protesters "very good people" and urged whitmer to" make a deal" with them. >> yesterday's scene at the capitol was disturbing, to be quite honest. swastikas, confederate flags, noose and automatic rifles do not represent who we are as michiganders. >> reporter: more protests broke out in california. los angeles where scuffles broke out and in sack meno outside thl state caphere police made arrests. also today misssippi governor tate reeves said he's not reopening business as planned because of a spike in cases. >> i was ready to change the ordeketoday but needed to the latest health information

into account. this was a large enough change to make me take a step back and want throbbing at theoard, to examine things. >> reporter: all of this comes all of this, as state economies are under extraordinary strain, with more than 30 million unemployment benefits in just whx weeks. bhouse economic advisor >> brangha for some of the essential workers who've had to stay on the job, the balance between safety and work has reached a breaking point. employees at corporates like amazon, target and fedex aaged one-d walkouts today over what they s unsafe working conditions during this pandemic. at the white house thiid afternoon prt trump and top advisors announced the food and drug administration is allowing emergency use of resume utsr after studies show it c recuperation time in covid 19 patients. the drug manufacter gilead will donate 1.5 million vials.

>> i spokeitdr. khan and dr. fauci, i spoke with deborah about it, andeth really a very promising situation. >> reporter: wos eround the world workers around the world united, in greece, supporters of thetoo. communist party there rallied for workers' rights, carefully lined up six feet apart. in china, some used thei holiday to visit beijing's iconic forbidden city, which opened its gat for the first time in months. a needed pilgrimage in a veryas difficult year. anslated ): i've come here because i think that 2020 has been a really tough year so r, and the forbidden city holds a kind of sacred place in my eyes. sthope that by coming here to visit i can tart a beautiful day. >> brangham: hopes of renewal,ld as the wwaits a reopening. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: now, despite those hopes of renewal in g,

there is a renewed confrontation between the trump white house and china. here to drill down on that is nickchifrin. so, nick, given what we have been watching lately, is it white house's goal to punish china economically for covid 19? >> there's certainly talk of punishing china economically, judy, mostly from republican senators, some kind of reparations, even perhaps not paying u.s. debts senior administration officials i talked to dismissed the idea tof reparations tally dismissed out of any kind of talk of at th -- talkeb of instead officials tell me they're going to ctinue their pressure campaign on china, like blocking u.s.echnology from being transferred to china, blocking chinese investment in the united states. wargeting chinescompanies like

crack down on muslim uighurs. have the coronarus. because to president trump has praised xi jinping personally and hopes china ves up to the promises in the trade one phase -- phase one trade deal. od's afraud to criticize china from them and said yesterday china failed to prevent the pandemic. >> it came out of china and could have been stopped and i sh they had stopped it, so does the whole world. >> administratn officials want confront china and don't mind the bilateral tension. experts i talked to fe news one to have the worst moments for u.s.-china relations in morl thana century and they regret that the two biggest economs in the world are doing nor confrontation than collaboration duringthis globa crisis. >> woodruff: and, nick, what is the effect of this kind

aggressive rite rick on the part of the president and others inside of china? >> reporter: that's interesting. china experts y this is emboldening the hard liners lins inside of beijing who will say i told you, so you n't trust thume administration, they're all china hawks, and, therefore, are arguing beijing should frcome more protectionist and more ctational and, of course, that means there will be more confrontation, not less during this crisis, and it's not ly beijing, by the way, all over the world. if invest, see that administration is possibly taking this debt talk seriously, that will reduce confidence in the united states. >> woodruff: nick, you had reported a few weeks ago there had been a rhetorical cease fire between the u.s. and china. is that now over with? >> reporter: yeah, that seems to be dead, and the chinese certainly are taking some of this incoming fire by firing back. they areriticizing especially

secretary of state mike pompeo. they are criticizing the u.s. for demonizing china and take a listen to the official word the spokesman for the ministry of foreign affas speaking today. >> for some time, certain u.s. politicians have disrearded facts and vilifiednd assaulted china in an attempt to srk their own responsibility for their incompetence in fighting this pand, vert people's attention, pass the buck and jame others for eir faults. >> reportey, that is the official line. the communist party controls much of the media and we've seen a very confrontational line in the media. this is the globalist times, the nationalist newspaper,ng the possibility the u.s. military was somehow connected to the outbreak of co 19. that claim was supposed to stop during the cease fire this is from shin wa, anothater media outlet uses animation to almost mock the

trump admistration for not king the virus seriously and blaming china instead of owning up tn'the trump administrat own mistakes. remember here, judy, that the chinese government is also under pressure from its own pele who response and, so, too, are trying to blame externally and instead insisting tha they did everything they could and that this was some kind of naturalas dithat could not have been prevented. >> so, nick, they are pushing back on this claim by the president that this virus could chve come from a lab inside of a. >> reporter: yeah, we did see the president suggest the possibility that he had intelligence that this virus was accidentally released from a lab. there's also another possibility intelligence communityells me that it was some kind of wet market accident and that you saw from an official statements from the office of the director of national itelligence, a very rare statement. yesterday we talked to

epidemologts who say it is possible this was some kind of lab spilover, but the preponderance of evidence now this was some kind oi adent in a wet market or something similar. f:>> woodruf nick schifrin catching us up on all of this. ck, thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other fows, wall street gave up its gains r the week, after profits sank at a seriesf big companies. the dow jones industrial average lost 622 points to close at 4 ,723. the nasdaq fell ints, and, the s&p 500 slipped 81. the white house confirmed this evening that it has blocked dr. anthony fauci fromestifying at a congressional hearing next week. a house subcommittee is holding a hearing on the response to covid-19.

in a statement, the white house officials are busyng with the pandemic. in the presidential race, the democrats' presumptive nominee, joe biden, denied today that he sexually assaulted a staffer 27 years ago, when he was a u.s. senator. tara reade has said biden assaulted her and that she filed a complaint in 1993. the former vice president flatly rejected the claim, in an interview. >> no, it is not true. i'm saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. and it didn't. it never happened. she has a right to say whatever she wants to say, but i have a ri,t toay look at the fac check it out. find out if whatever she says or asserted are true. >> woodruff: bid also said he does not believe an official record of any such complaint taists. we'l a closer look at this, later in the proam. yeesident trump's former personal l michael cohen

is not leaving federal prison eas y after all. torney had said he'd be released today to home confinement because of corona-virus pandemic. but, a number of reports say the pl was canceled. cohen pled guilty to tax fraud and lyinto congress, involving hush money payments for women who claimed sexur. affairs withrump. the trump administration has ain suspended hearings f asylum-seekers waiting in mexico, citing concerns about covid-19. the new order extends through june 1. by one justice department estimate, so in migrant shelters in mexico, waiting for u.s. asylum hearings. canada is banning the use and trade of assault-style weapons, effective immediately. prime minister justin trudeau said today his order covers more than 1,500 models and variants of firearms. they include weapons used by a gunman who killed 22 people in

nova scotia last month. >> these weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. there is no use and no place for ch weapons in canada. >> woodruff: the order grants a two-year amnesty fba owners of thed weapons. there's wordhat north korean ader kim jong un has re- surfaced for the first time in weeks. the north's state media, and the south koreanews agency yonhap, say he toured a fertilizer plant today. kim's absence from public view had fueled rumors that he was in ilhealth. back in this country, something happened at the trump white house that had not happened for me than a year: the press secretary held a briefing. kayleigh mcenany took the job last month. she pledged today never to lie to reporters.

still to come on the newshour: the c.e.o. of waffle house on re-opening f dine-in service amid the pandemic. essential workers nationwide demand more protection against the risks of covid-19. aide. and much more. >>druf tuestn when and how to re-open the economy is central at this moment. amna nawaz talks to the c.e.o. of one company trying to ortermine what works. >> nawaz: even bmore than a dozen states relaxed their stay-at-home measures today, some southeres began loosening restrictions even earlier, allowing tattoo parlors, beauty salons, and restaurants to re-open at their discretion.

thiconic waffle house chai has close to 2,000 restaurants in 25 states. this wee they resumed limited dine-in servic in 330 of their staurants in georgia, and 70 in tennessee. waffle house c.e.o. walt ehmer e ins me now. walt ehmer, welc the "newshour". >> thank you, amna, pleasure to be with you. ay reporter: you're taking steps, we shouldto fully reopen that limited dine-in service allowed in locations already open. you sayou're doingso in accordance with centers for disease control guidelines, briefly walk me through. what changes did you put into place? what's different if you walk into a wafflhouse now? >> well, as this whole crisis started,e realized we neded to do enhanced things we hadn't thought of before so we removed a lot of things from the table, condiments and stuff like that.e we really steup our sanitation and sanitizing practices to make sure that we hit common touch points likedo handles and things a little more frequently than the areas

that we have been traditionly wiping down andtable cps and t. but we also rasognize there going to be some social distancing requirements and, so, really, fri the very bnning, and in some places we had to do it at the beginninwe but et all our restaurants up for a social distance protocol. we closed down every other booth, most of the seats at e high counter, so when people would come into our restaurants and as they have been coming in the last sevel weeks, they've seen what we're trying to do, and we provide for them an environment where they can sit down and eat at a distance from others. >> reporter: what about the the employees? requiring masks? doing temperature checks? >> we've done some very specific screening of folk athe beginning of every shift, making sure we askuestions like d they have any of the symptoms, have they been around anyone diagnosed with covid 19. in the dine-in markets, we are wearing masks or face coverings

based on the governor's orders, and in some places they're recommended but we're requiring that for all the fks in dine-in restaurants. aut all the things too, all the washing of the hands and keeping at a distance as well. so we've set the restaurants up, 've trained the folks, and ih bhowhave everybody's beenadhero the guidelines. a time when the experts agree we're not testing enoughna reende, we have no idea how truadmp ewixpreed some concern saying governor kemp was maybe reopening the s economy ton. if you're a waffle house employee and you hear these concerns and are scared to come yck to work, what have to say to that employee today? >> well, i'll say to them here what we've said to them personally and, you know, in is if someone's uncomfortable coming to work, we don'tt w anyone to come if they're

uncomfortable. so we have a lot ofle that really want to work, and, so far, we have been able to meet the dends of what the customer has be looking for. you know, i understand our business is way, way off from normal levels, even in the markets where we've reintroduce some dine-in service. so it's -- we don't require anyone to come to wo. it'soluntary thing right now. ard we understand people have chilissues, they might have underlying health conditions, they might have people at home they're uncomfortable to come in, ande certainly rp that. >> reporter: for people init that pn, are jobs protected? are they guaranteed? >> we have told everyone we're hopeful everyone will come back that depends on the customer. a lot of our restauran are clos demand isn't there.er the restaurant industry in total has beenn decimated terms of the loss of revenue and the loss of jobs, but, yes, we want all of our associates to come back when they're ready, when it's safe for their personal

circumstances. but we're hopeful thate get to open up most of our restaurants over the course of time, but we know this is going to be a real gradual process. >> reporter: experts also say this could come in stops and starts, all this reopening. so if there's another local tbreak, are yourepared to have to shut down again? >> we are -- we ceraly are aware and prepared that there might be some outbreaks in ourtain markets, and we've told folks, look, this is not g backto be a linear recovery. we'r thaint might have to slow back dn use.t and do j serv so we're anticipating that in some markets, but we think it l bthanllwi the blanket thrown over the entire country at the beginning of. we're not -- sure exactly whatt to experct. >> repoyou say your

restaurants down 70% during the pandemic. have you applied for or received ing kind o federal relief for those funds.r staurants and our people have really been harmed and hurt by this.k we'rreally lng for anything we can do to help our people and, so, to the extente thatn receive any funds and give those to our folks to keep them employed ando keep them working, yes, we're looking for any way we capossibly do that. >> reporter: and you, of course, were at the white housem recentting with vice president trump and and other leaders talk about the economy. i'm curious, when you look at the bigger picture, are you worried we are headed for a larger, deeper depression ahead? >> i ctainly see a lot o terrible signs out there and a lot of concern amongst everybody in the commnity. it's amazing how the economy is connected to one another and hol the rie effect works it's way through and you're seeing more and more signs oof people

thought that they were in secure slaces are going to, you know, have their jn jeopardy,er and even as we talk about the restaurants, and you think about the othengs that are obvious to kind of project forward, wexp allct this to be a slow recovery with limits placed on group size and tipacity, and that will, across the economy, limit the amount of jobs that are able to come back. and, so, yes, we're greatly concerned for the country and the people, primarily, that they nll have work in this ctry, you know, in the near term. >> reporter: we appreciate youe taking the t to have talk to us today and we hope you stay safe. that is walt ehmer, the c.e.o. of waffle house. thank you very much. g woodruff: some grocery store employee workers and delivery people were striking on this may day.

they protested against working conditions at amazon, whole foods, instacart, and target's delivery service. they say they need more protective gr, hazard pay and time off. but the companies argue their policies have shifted to provide more protection as well as wages or bonuses. there's no doubt these are essential workers. we spoke this week with our own group of workers who feel they are on their frontlines. none were part of today's strike, but they raised their n serious concerns. >> i'm david schafer. i'm a retail manager at a grocery store chain in columbus, >>io. y name is annette brown. i live in baltimore city. my j is to ensure the cleanliness and the sanitation of the hospital. nadrs mendanenew b acomo rlive in las cruces, new i ired, but i am working part time at a lowe's home improvement. >> my name is eric colts and i

am a detro department of transportation equipment operator. so basically a bus driver. >> on an average day i was told it might be more than 17 covid patients coming in whether they we have to be on the front line and for a lot of us we feel hoke we have noe but to be there. if you don't want to work, you know, you can either, you kn t, quit or jue time off any, you know, any is know where going to come from. you're taking a chance. go>> the biggest thing tha through my mind, in all honesty, is i just want to. the same way that i left home. i want to come back home. personally, i honestly, i feel completely stressed out. and with this whole situation, once it started, i've been working from the beginning of it. so when it wasn't a pandemic to the point where it's full blown pandemic now. so i haven't had an opportunity to get a mental brea it. >> there are times when i have,

you know, two employees to take ovre of the entire half of the store that i, which is just impossible to do. >> when you have 300 people in three or four areas, that doesn't create any distance. lo there's times where i will down an aisle and there's eight or nine people in the aisle and i will n go in stand outside or i just walk away. stomer service, but i'm notest going to wade into the middle of that. >> customer service counr, people have to deal with these eaople yelling at them and ng at them and just, you know, angry that they can't return whatever it is that they bought. we're not making a whole lot of money. it would be nice to be treated a little bit nicer bece have no control over any of this d at's happening. >> they have bum pay like $2 an hour and they have given some bonuses. and they did a lot of those thgs, but did not limit th

traffic the way they needed to. i felt le it was almost like a band-aid. it was almost like, well, here's all the protective equipment, here's some exa money. but we're just going to keep allowing as many people to come in as we want or we're gonna allow this kind of thing to happen. >> if i get sick, this could be the last year i ever see. who's going take care of my eeds? weessential pay. essential pay will not only help us with our bills. house, it will help us with transportation. it will just give us that financial security if somethg was to happen to us or one of our loved ones and we have to work to take care of them. if we can't do our job, the doctors, the nurses or any other kinds of staff will not be able to do their job because no one >> knowing that i'm helping people get what they need in a time when, you kw, it's kind iffy, you know, is there toilet paper, is there not toilet paper.

it's actually kind of nice to be a job with that i enjoy it's actually helping people during reis time. >> once riving a certain route on a continuous basis. you'll see those same people ti... you become a family. so that's what motivates me to actually come to work because i still want to be a part of that solutio and when we come out of this vendemic, i don't want to that thought of well i gave up g d ran and hid while this whole thinwas go. i still... i want to be able t go through the fight. >> woodruff: former vice president and likely democratic presidential nominee, joe biden, made his first public statements this morning since a former senate staffer alleged she was

sexually assaulted by biden in the 1990s. tolisa dejsardins has the. >>'m sing equicall it ver ver happened. ons atjardins: in his interview l sexually assaulted a congressiode in 1993, while he was a delaware senator and judiciary committee chairman. he also said he would not malign his accuser. d women have a right to be hed the press shld rigorously investigate claims they make. i'll alws uphoe. that princi t t in the end, in every case, the truth is whatters. and in this case, e truth is that the claims are false. >> desjardins: the former senate staffer, tara reade, says biden pushed her against the wall in a capitol hill office building, reached under her skirt and penetrated her with hiers. here she is in a podcast interview with "the new york times": >> it happened at once. and that's what's so hard about telling this story.

like, he's talking to me and his hands are everywhere. and everything's happening at once very quickly. this happened, like, in un two minutes. >> desjardins: this is different than her account last year, when she told the "union" newspaper in nevada that biden sometimes put his hand on her shoulders and stroked her neck. she was one of eight women to report uncomfortable touching. from bid with herore recent charge of assault, two friends and her brother have since said on the record that they remember reade sharing details of it with them at different points. >> san luis obispo, >> desjardins: reade also identified her mother as an e"onymous caller on the "larry king lhow in 1993, who spoke of her daughter having "problems" with a "prominent senator." >> i fought my entire life to change the whole notion of the law around the culture on sexual assault. >> desjardins: in his denial, itden cited his past work g the landmark law on domestic violence, "the violence against women act." .> proudest accomplishment of my care

>> desjardins: ...and the "it's leon us" campaign he led w vice president, which encouraged men to be allies against sexual assault on college camses. >> it should be investigated. >> desjardins: bidend on the senate secretary and the national archives to try to locate any complaint against him by reade, as she claims she did. biden says he does not know of any such complaint. >> there have been no complaints made againste in terms of my senate career, in terms of my office, in terms of the way things have been run. look, it's just an open book, nothing at all. for me to hide, >> desjardins: but biden maintained that other rerds from his time in the senate, now li the university of delaware brary, do not contain personnel files and would remain sealed. dirthe pbs newshour, i'm lisa >>sj. oodruff: this evening, former vice president biden asks the secretary of the senate to look for any records of complaints fm ms. reade during that time. in the letter, he asks the conclusion of that search be made public.

and that brings us to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to both of you.ar david, let's s with these allegations against the former vice president and hisesponse to them today. wat do you make of all this? >> well, i thinshould keep an open mind. on the one hand, shee m them contemporaneously. she told people at the thae this ened, so that has some persuasive evidence to it. on the other hand, she said she told three members of biden's staff including his eff staff, and they do not remember any such conversation, and they are convinced if they had such a conversation it would be seared coto their memory. the point on the biden side is that biden has many flaws for many years. cruelty is not one of them, dehumanization is not one of

them. ll i think for a lot of his gues and people who have known him, it seems uncharacteristic. e should's not to say close the book on him. complaints and other victims.her wess reed is going to speak over thend. we should hear out the allegations but not take them a prima facie truth. >> woodruff: mark, what do you knke of this? biden ledges he said in the past that women are to be believed. >> he has, judy, andhat is very much the position to have the democratic party, and certainly was in the kavanaugh hearings in the supreme court tast fall. i would sas, first of all, it was categorical. t it wasn't best of my recollection answer by joe biden, it s a categorical, unequivocal denial that this ever happened, and there was no attempt to trash the accusing or anything of this sort. i ought he confronted it well.

he had to. he didn't have any option in it. i would add this, judy, washington is a pretty small town and, on capitol hill, where we spent at lot of time over the uast 45 years, you get the word that cilates pretty quickly about wh wo's senator grabby and who's congressman leery or lustful, that women reporters or women staff members ought not to be in the same elevator wi or stay away from. i have never, and i don't know anyone else, who's heard abobit jon in those terms. that is not -- that is characteristically not joe biden. and he was somebody who went home every night on the train to wilmington. he wasn't a night life guy, he wasn't an on the town fella, so it does sound, on its face, it's a hard sell. but i agree with david, that we listen to miss reed and what she hs to say inerviews.

i really think, at someo pt, joe biden will have to deputize some group to look at the pages in the delaware -- the university of delaware zone to see if there are references to it, whether it's historic. karen tumulty suggested "the washington post" column and i think it made a lot of sense. >> woodruff: you do think those records will have to be oped up. david, in termsf what voters weigh, and given the multiple allegations against president trump,ow are voters to make sense of this? >> well, the fact that trump made a statement about this at all and attacked joe biden i wins the chutzpah of the year award. but i dot think this is up to voters, i think this is up to democrats and democratic delegates. re going to have to decide if this is true and if they can nominate this person. so far, as nancy pelosi says,

they're feeling very comfortable with it. anothers are sticking by joe so far, kamala harris, so i think it's up to the delegates more than the voters. >> woodruff:mark, you agree? i do, judy. i think it will be, if there's a confrontation, it will be in the democratic party. i think that joe biden comes into it withde consible credibility, and that's it. but i do think he has to totally forth coming on this. i real do. >> woodruff: let's turn to the pandemic. the "newshr" spent a lot of time tonight and last night and before that lookingdavid, at the effect this has had on people's livelihoods. wenow some states are opening up, but other states it's not fast enough for people.

california, in michigants in yesterday where people carried a gun into the state senatce mber. e president has somehow encouraged them. he called today in a tweet, lled some of them good people. how are governors to hane this under the circumstances? >> well, this is, from what i can tellri radicalge elements. they completely do not represent the untry. the country is relatively united. we are used to a divided america is still divided about trump. e.erica is not divided about much e 89% ofns republind democrats 85% of americans are supporting the social distancing, so america is united here, and the governors just need to do what they need to do foro the ec, but listening to fringe elements who storm them th guns and

confederate flags doesn't seem to be a ssible thing to do. >> woodruff: mark, how are governors to walk this line at thisime when people really are hurting and many of them sincerely think their states are wrong to extnd the shutdown orderers? >> no, you're right, judy. but just point to a recent national survey of 22,000 people in all 5at0 es, and by overwhelmingly and back the handling of the coronavirus by their governor. 66% of americans say that their vernor is doing -- is they rnprove of the work their go is doing. only 44% of the americans approve of the job the president is doing inandling the coronavirus. so i thin hk that the goffse enormous credibility in the --

in the state of michigan mi the governor was at 66% and donald tump at 36 approval. so ihink the president makes as seristake that he should have learned from charlottesville, when he stts endorsing as good people folks who are carrying hy heil whitmer signed and assault weapons and erandishing weapons in the sta capitol with a mask over their face, to me, that is a fringe group and i think you're eliciting, if you're donald trump, not ohuy persona and pain but also responsibility for same. >> woodruff: david, as we think about helping the folks who are on the front lines who are putting their -- frankly, their lives, their health at risk, it's becoming the next big

debate in the congress, and that's over help for state and local governments. that includes first responders. it includes some e.m.s. workers and others. democrats say this is crucial. republicans like leade mitch mcconnell and the senator irying some of these states have not spent thmoney wisely, why should we bail them out? where are you on this debate at this stage? >> we're going to need to do more. i think 77% of the americans think so, i certainly think so. something the order of $400 billion just even in the small business loans t. sonk it's not stupid to take a pause for a week or two. i don't think we know -- i want to make sure we spend it well. we've got n lot of money out the door. but pausing to see what's rking and not seems to be the i'm focusing espeially on young people. a lot of people next fall, a lot of young adults will be without

school and without jobs and this strikes me mas the perfeent to do an emergency national service program, to employ a lot of young people, maybe to help with the effects of the ndemic, the track and trace. but these are the kind of screaming needs that are out there in the country right now, and i think it's time right now to do something, but figuring out exactly what can wait a week or two, but i do think wfinitely more will be needed. druff: and more federal national service as david isr describing or mo aid for these state governments, local governments that are really pinched. >> mitch my opinion talks about the blue state bailout. if we want to be blunt about ve, the and the getter states, the states that get money from washington, mitch mcconnell's kentucky is right at the $1top, billion over the past four years by the rockefeller

institute. at the same time that those blue states, those terrible blue states like new york sent they've never gotten back. massachusetts sent 47 bilon more. connecticut, all the blue states send more money. if much mitch wants us to b every person for himself, then let's let those states keep their money. they would be in perfect shape if new york had an extra $116 billion. when we have an earthquake in this country, when we have a dal wave or a hurricane, we aid the states, we come together, and that's what's happened. enormous burden in our public services of this state -- in our stcountry and our m, and they've got -- the congress has money.p up and provide the s a republican senate, let it be noted, that put a

$135 billion tax cut in, bailout billo help small businesses and famiies for the top 1%. in order to qualify for it, you had to at leas make $10,000 a week. now, if that's somehow okay, but not helping schools and he'll systems and first responders, i don't see the value. >> woodruff: well, we'll find out more nexek. the senate is coming back into session. the house is not on the advice of the house congressional physician. lut the senate is coming back, and maybe we'l learn a little more. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. please stay safe. >> thank you, judy. le be onuff: what was the ar in new orleans this week: "jazz fest," one of the liveliest annual mn and nslebrations. instead, new orlemains in lockdown, a hotspot in the covid-19 pandemic, wite to

6500 cases and over 400 deaths jeffrey brown spoke with one of the city's musical ambassadors about the toll the pandemic is taking for our ooing arts and culture series, canvas. >> brown: in tipitina's, one of new orleans most celebrated jazz clubs, performance by troy andrews, known to the world as trombone shorty. but it's a performance whout an audience. the song, "big chief," played just for us. troy, you were supposed to be playing at tipitina's this week. how does it feel now? >> it's different. i'm excited to be here because lere's something of a nor beeling, and it's really sad at the same time use i can't actually really play a show.

>> brown: the years ago he'd shown us the musical street life his city... even creating an impromtu" second line" parade outside th"" arndlelight lounge", a legey club in the treme neighborhood where he'd grown up. these days there's no ncing in the street outside the club. in early april its beloved owner, leona grandison, died fromhe coronavirus. mourners had to resort to what they call"a "driveby funeral. >> it feels like we're preparing for a storm. the thing that's really weird and eerie to me is that this is a city that thrives on music all day. if it's some saxophone player on st. charles avenue playing or someone tap dancing in the french quarter, our brass band marching up the street-- you can

hear none of that. and that's the most strangest thing for me in a city that that heartbeat is music. perforf that culture, ahomegrown since he was a little boy, thus the rty" nickname.'s and helayed around the world ever since, for the pa 11 ars with his band, "orleans avenue." we'd been with him in his rehearsal and recording studio, and he spoke with us from there now. stwhat is it you miss the right now? >> i really miss my band and being ab to put smiles on people's faces all over the world every day. and so that's been a bit difficult fome mentally to deal with. but once i get into the studio and start to play, my emotions, as if i'm playing for those people, come out and'm just by myself. it's amazing what the music can do for you. don't realize that i'm here playing by myself for five and six hours. and then i walk outside and then reality hits athin. >> brownlarge city park

and fairgrounds are empty. usually rowdy bourbon street now features signs declaring "we will survive". the only singing: from birds. it's mostlquiet in the french hearter, though this couple seemed to heir own music. a particularly painful hit right now: cancellation of the "new orleans jazz and heritage festival", known as "jazz fest", which turned 50 last year. among this year's anticipated headliners had been the great singer-songwriter john prine. in early april he died of covid- 19 at age 73. adombone shorty would have been another ner. in recent years he's held the placgof highest honor: closin the festival. >> i felt sad d everything, but i also understand how serious the situation is and, somewhat to myself, i felt that it would be canceledecause the tuation hasn't gotten any

better. and we d't have any answers. >> brown: this is going to be a u ry hard time for a lot of musicians ow. >> i've been fortunate enough to play all year round for many, many years now. and some of my friends here in new orleans, i actually kn a few of them that the last gig tho played before we went i quarantine and lockdown, that's all they had. and that could have been anywhere between 75 to $200. and it's just very difficult. >> brown: andrews wants to help through his trombone shorty foundation, which in normal times runs an after-school music program for giftedoung musicians around the city. for now the foundation that runs jazz fest has set up a relief fund. new orleans has experience dealing with disasters, of course. no one will forget the destruction of katrina, but also >> what katrina did for us is let me know that if anything was

going to take us down, it would have definitely be katrina. it took time and it took energy and it took telling people that ng were going to come back and just leay example. and that's just in us. i think it just passed down rtneration to generation, just one of those, f the fabric of the city that the people are so strong here. es>> brown: part of the sais not being able to give a proper new orleans send-off to loved ost to the pandemic, including other of the city's musical legends, ellis mnisalis: jazz p, educator and patriarch ofhe renowned family that includes sons wynton and branford. what's left: a hoped-for return of jazz fest tme next year. >> we might even breakown and cry tears of joy because it's actually happening. but to me, i think it's gonna be bigger. i think it's going to be better. and i'm lookg forward to that. i wish that they can give me, more, more slots to play. if i could play the whole

festival, every day, i would. that's howxcited i am to be able to get back to it. >> brown: all right, let uhope and pray. >> let us hope and pray. >> brown: until then, let trombone shorty play for us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: we again want to take a moment tonight to mecognize a few of the thousands ofcans from all corners of the country and walks of life new york city's wynn handman. leaves behind two legacies on american theatre. he was an influential acting teacher, described by his students as gentle and encouraging. as an artistic director, he

welcomed new diverse playwrights in his "american place theatre." wynn discovered his love fer acting whilerming for his coast guard shipmates during the seco world war. he and his wife bobbie were a creative and political powerhoe. they leave two daughters laura and liza. wynn was 97. 84-year-old mary romanvercame daildhood polio to win some 350 track and field , including at the senior olympics. when she wasn't on the track, she was on the sidelines, cheering on her five boys in the same sport. man was a local celebrity in norwalk, connecticut, not just for her athleticism but for her decades-long career as a city clerk. aldo bazzarelli perfected each item on his namesake restaurant's menu-- from butchering his own meats to preparing his homemade marinara sauce.

raised in southern italy, he was a born entrepreneur. he ran a barber shop as a child 68fore immigrating to the united states in in his nearly 50 years running "bazzarelli's," he never fired an employee. the 73-year-old is remembered for his big heart, especially when it came to hireve grandchi april dunn of baton rouge, louisia was a driven advocate for those with disabil denied a high school diploma of n, april helped state lawmakers pass a bill that allowed students with disabilities to receive their degrees and went on to work closely withhe governor. kind, outgoing, so was a great source of pride for her family. she was 33. sean boynes, once a captain in the u.s. air force, wa pharmacist dedicated to serving his maryland clients.

sean received three degrees from howard university, where he played football, mentored pharmacy students, and married his bride nicole on campus. funny and joyful, it was sean's smile that caught nicole's heart. for sierra and gabrielle, their father was their comforter and cheerleader. he was 46. before we go, a note about our "now read this" book club. r ffrey brown recently spoke with autlia phillips about our april selection, the novel n isappearing earth." you nd the whole conversation online. here now is a brief excerpt, in which she speaks of vel's setting in the remote kamchatka province of russia. >> i have been thinking a lot about kamchatka during this coronavirus era.ring this folks there are under a shelter- in-place order rightatow and stayinome and i've been

thking about how connected every part of thworld is that there's no part of the globe that is untohed by the disease or by fear or by the desire to take care of each her by doing what we can and to help our communities. and i've been thinking a lot about a lot of the characters in ob book are in quite claustro settings dealing with the challenges of loving the people there with up close because they're kept very, very close. but i've been thinking jealousl of aw much open space they have around them. i'm talking to you from a apartment building that is quite densely packed around other apartment buildings and fantasizing about some of the peninsula right now.kamchatka that would be very nice to go out and be six feet away from ufher people at least. >> woo you can watch julia phillips' full conversation on

our website and on our facebook yooup, now read this book club. can also hear about our may book club selection, "the blreet" by ann petry, which was hed in 1946. contemporary novelist tayari jones ll joius to discuss its enduring rel'sance. and thhe newshour for tonight. i'mjudy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, please stay safe, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour haseen provided by: >> the william and flora hewlett

foun ttion. for mon 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing pblems-- skollfoundation.org. of these institutionsng support captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by .worga access group at wgbh

tonight on kqed newsroom, a major effort to track and trace coronavirus cases as testing sites expand. plus, federal relief close again to small business owners and nonprofits struggling through the crisis, but will those who most need the help get it? and we connect with a stanford scientist testing novel ideas for masks and other protective equipment in the fight against the coronaviwes. hello, and ome to kqed newsroom. it is week teof shring in place in northern we are continuing our coronavirus coverage. this