captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the range of response. efforts to combathe coronavirus vary widely across the united states. i talk with a leading republican senator and a democratic governor on the different approaches to reopening. then, the effect on children. nationwide stay-at-home orders raise coerns over child welfare, and a potentially amatic increase in child and, hostage of the taliban. the family of a contractor kidnapped in afghanistan speaks for the first time, as peace talks deteriorate. all that and more, on tonight's pbnewshour.

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skollfoundation.or vi the lemelson foundation. committed to imp lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by thjohn d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdt and peaceful world. gore information at macfound.org >> and with the g support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: tensions over when, and how st, to reopen, minate american life tonight. states and cities are setting a their own pathey weigh two overriding factors:

economic devastation, and nearly 84,000 deaths in the united states-- and counting. stepnie sy has our lead report. >> reporter: grabbing a drink a the bar ve never felt so risky. >> we have the staff doi their thing, with the cleaning. we're taking temperatures of the staff coming in. so, yeah, we've taken a lot of other steps that were predictable, and we got it done. >> reporter: in places like palm beach florida, mores restaurae reopening. other cities say they're not ready, including washington d.c. mayor riel bowser: >> we're not there yet, and not quite ready to begin that phased new opening. so today, we will extend the district's stay-at-home ordermo througay, june 8. >> reporter: decisions on when to lift lockdowns and let businesses reopen are playing out tionwide, after the whit house and the centers for disease control and prevention

disagreed on when and how that should happen.c. an unreleasec. document, obtained by the associated press, shows the agency called for a national guide to re opening, outlining "steps that all americans need to ta in every community." but the white house shelved the guidance, instead leaving the process up to state ans.local offici senator chuck schumer called for the release of tho guidelines on the senate floor today. >> the point is that america needs-- and must have-- theda candid ge of our best scientists, unfiltered, united, uncensored by president trump for his political minions. >> reporter: president trump spoke this afternoon with the governors of colorado and north dakota, a day after the nation's top health experts warned against reopening too quickly. >> wants to play all ses of the equation.

i was surprised by his answer, actually, because, you know, it's just -- to me,s it'not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools. >> reporter: meanwhile, the chair of the federal reserve, jerome powell, urged washingtont to take moreion to prevent a lasting recession today, but he said the u.s. is well-positioned >> it'll take some time to get back to where we were. i have every reason to think we can get back there. the economy should substantially recover, once the virus is under >> reporter: many health experts have warned the virus won't come under control until testing is mo widely available. a new house oversight subcommittee held its first t hearing today ting and tracing the virus. >> testing is critical. testintells us whoas th disease and who doesn't, and testing is the cornerstone of controlling every single disease outbreak.

it was inadequate testing that precipitated the national shutdown. >> reporter: the u.s. has vinducted more than nine million tests-- more than any other country-- but trails other nations in per capita testing. germany now tests at a similar rate to the u.s., but ma testing available much earlier in the country's outbreak, avoiding a higher death rate there. that relative success is partly checking into fligs inare frankfurt once again. the german government began a gradual easing of border controls this week, aiming to open travel across the e.u. by mid-june. and in turkey, playgrounds filled with masked patrons today. after a drop in covid cases there, the government allowed children under 14 to leave their house, for four hours. istanbul local mehmet kahramanl is grate be outside, albeit briefly. >> ( translated aven't been out in two months. they gave us permission today, but i don't know forany

hours. we're really h, aapllgoinnd thl end. >> reporter: masks over smiling faces, short ments of relief in the long-haul push to end a pandemic. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: worries abo the risks of reopening, and about a slow recovery, took a toll on wall street. the dow jones industrial average lost 516 points-- 2%--o close below 23,248. the nasdaq fell 9 points, and the s&p 500 gave up 50 points. senator lamar alexander is the chairman of the health, ucation, labor and pensions committee. his hearing on capitol hill yesterday focused on the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. he joins us now from tennessee,

where he is currently in self- quarantine. senator alexander, thank you very much for talking with us. first of all, how are you doing and how is your staff member doing who had tessted poitive? >> he's fine. i just a few tnutes ago. imahed lost hils sekeme hse wit that's it. you know, that's the symptomat lerted him. i'm fine, too. i was just exposed for a short the protocol, it says two weeks. >> woodruffwell, we're glad to hear both of you are doing well so far. lete ask you about yesterday's hearing. as you know, the senior heal officials in the trump administration, dr. anthony fauci and others, testified, needs to be careful as it opens up because, if it moves too quickly and doesn't have the adeqeste amount of ting in place, there could be more illnesses, deaths, lofs livelihood hood, but, senator,

this comes a day after president trump said we have met ment and prevailed with regard to testing. so who's right here? >> well, i think we have a ways to go, and i think we'll do it state-by-state like most things in our country. for example, our governor bill lee is testing aggressivy every prisoner, every nursing home resident, drive-through testing on the weekends, anyone can get a test at the local public health department. i talked to a reporter this morning in mcminnville who said he showed up twice and gotten his free test. d tweternor's mottwheinn rin s, 7%l wil, of our population, which will help us monitor what's happening as we ack to work and, eventually, back to school. >> woodruff: let me ask you something else about comparing the united states to other countries like germany, like started much earlier ining south korea, they have been able to hold the total dea number

to something like 300, compared to 81,000 in the united states. what are l ussons that the.s. should learn from these other -- other countries? >> well, south korea certainly an example of one we should pay attention to becausee oflower death number. the united states had a glitch at the beginning with a botched test from th c.d.c. any president would have been very unhappy with that. since then, what the unitedes sthas done has been very impressive, twice as many tests conducted today more than any country which is very good news for incipals anchancellors who are thinking of students who ooll want to go back to sch in august because it eates the possible that you could test whole classes or whooole sch as part of a way of keeping them safe. >> woodruff: one other thing, in connection with this, senator, the president has beeni pr some states that have

not been prepared to open earlyp likeennsylvania, and said that they're making a mistake. said, yesterday, there just seems to be no effort in gettina certain blues to get back in gear. should he be pressing these states this way? >> well, he can do whatever he wants to, he's the president.d he also touthe state of of georgia they were going too fast and that's a red state. i think most states don't want to be told by the president wha to do, thnt to be able to have the tests, the schedules their way, the colleges their way, and i think the president understands that, he's got a right to express his own opinion. >> woodruff: senator, we ive -- we know that the house of representativ looking at legislation this week to provide aid to state and local governments, figure $3 trillion has been thrown out, a trillion of that, supposedly, for state and local go yrnments. hau decided where you stand on that? >> well, i haven't seen it.

i've decided that we ought to send the money that weve already appropriated out, that's $3 trillion, and sees.ow it wo most of it, much of it, has not yet gone out. for example, all the money forha hospitaln't gone out and the first thing we should do with states is give them more flexibility on the money we've m.ready given t but no amount of money will solve the hurt that this is causing people. th only thing is testing, tracking those expose isolating the sick, and then moving ahead on a very rapid pace with treatments andrit now. >> woodruff: senator lamar man of the senate healthirha coalmex cder,. >> thank you, juou very much. >> woodruff: few states ve been hit harder by the coronavirus than new jersey, which is secd only to new york for the total number of deaths caused by covid-19. d,es in the country are reopening, the garden state w has bsteehin t ue

near-lockdown for months. earlier today, its governor, democrathil murphy, announced plans to allow some non- essential businesses to reopen. he joins us now from trenton. governor murphy, thank you very much for talkin with us. it is the case that new jersey has had me of the worstmb s in the country, but you've also seen improvement, b all measurements in the last few weeks in terms of cses, in terms of hospitalizations, and even deaths. you did make this announcement today to begin to open upme businesses. how do you make a decision like that? >> good to be with you, judy. you're absolutely right. we've made progress and, yet, we are particularly, in terms of ses per 100,000 residents, fatalities per 100,000 100,000 residents, hospitalizations, so even more impacted than

new york on a perta basis we have to balance it. we opened up state dounty parks two weekends ago, imploring folks to kep up social distancing, wear face covers, limiting capacity and parking spaces that work quite well. so, you know, our progress has allowed us t wtake more ofhat i would call baby steps. there will be no day, at least that i can see, that will flip a big light switch ana whole lot of things are going to happen all at once. we're going to take, i think, a series of stepthat gives us a chance to evaluate them in real time, to see how things we announced, nonessential retail curbside pickup today, we expanded construction, we allowed drive-through, three steps we can monitor over the coming days. we wereuff: looking at other statistics, when it cometo new positive cases per 100,000 people, new jerseygls still strg, if you will, when you compare to

other states. is this one o you are holding back? because we know you, lie other governors, are getting pressure from business owners, from p.hers to open >> it isne of the reasons, you're absolutely right. so if you look at per capita numbers of all the american states per 100,000 residents, unfortunately, we're in the po position on positive tests, hospitalizations and fatalities. having said that, your opening remarks are also true -- we've past couple three weeks onr the hospitalizations, flattening thu testrve, i.c.u. beds, ventilator use, the heat maps that we look at. so, essentially, we're in one of these moments, we're tryg to balance the progress with still, in a grave, serious situation and recognizing that while we'vg made a lot of ss, we're not out of the woods yet. >> woodruff: governor, i want

to specifically ask you about nursing homes because, as i was looking today, you've had something like 5,000 deaths among nursing e, long-term care facility residents. more than half your state's fatalities have been nursing home residents, well ovethe national rate. home from military veterans in a paramis, over 90% of the residents there have been -- have tested positive, 72 deaths. what do you say to the families of these people? >> it's awful. i mean, the tragedy withith tragedy is long-term care facilities. you know, we're the sest state in america, and our density is a huge asset most days. nd something like this, it's a huge cross th bear, frankly. it's a tragedy there's just no other way to put it, and it isn't just veterans a homethough it is certainly

our blessed vetera've lost. but we've got this running through our state as, by theos way,other state has as well, but we're no exception to that. the performance by eperators has been extremely uneven. this is a virus, clearly, that eats away at older folks,pa icularly folks with underlying health conditions. we have thrown everything at this, more staffing, national guard, the v.a., our attorney general launched an investigation, we've hired ati ally recognized firm to comen and plus-up our staffing and oversight. et is the tragedy within th tragedy. new jersey is no exception. but it is certainly the case herend, you're olutely right, it's over half theta ties in our state today. >> woodruff: will there be policy changes as a result of thisut >> absy. absolutely. this is an industry -- again, this is notqu urniy unevenly

regulated, and the performance is uneven, and that's beingit chle, including the basic stuff of communicate being loved ones on thtue staof a resident h loved ones on status of a redent. so the answer, is yes, there will be changes in our state and i would guess our country. >> woodruff: governor, part of the work you're saying you're gointo be doing now involves, as we have been discussing nationally, contcot tracing, of se more testing, you were talking about that. does new jersey have the financial wherewithal to cover what it is going to cost to the necessary testing and contact tracing? >> yeah, we will do what it takes in terms of testing and contact tracing, and we promise to at least double our testinsg month. new jersey does not have all t resources it needs, and new jersey is not uniqu and it's not unique just to blue

states either.a this ime for direct federal cash assistance to states. i applaud senator menendez, and our state is ing to bipartisan bill with senator cassidy of louisiana. i applaud speaker pelosi with whom i'm speaking regularly including this morning on the bill she came out with yesterday, that's exactly what the doctor ordered and, again, not just for my state but all states in the middle of this -- this is the most cca healthcare crisis, the biggest crisis any of us have ever faced and, at this moment in time, we need the fedal government there in a big way in terms of its financial support. >> woodruff: but i'm sureyou know republicans from the leadership on down are saying ahey don't see a rush to do this, t a lot of these states asking for money have mismanaged uneir finances and shouldn'te given more moneil they spend what they've got. >> yeah, i would say not all republicans. the good news is we're startingc to see repu governors and

republican members of congress also say the right things. i hed what senator mcconnell said a few weeks ago, and this has nothing whatsoever to with our legeacy iss, that's a complete myth. this isn't a blue state issisue. s about our ability to continue to employ versus laying them off. can you imagiying off firefighters, police, first responders, e.m.s., healthcare workers, educators, we need them this moment e than ever in the history of our country, we have no choice but to lay them off ife don't gt federal direct cash assistance and it's all states, not jut blue states. >> woodruff: governor phil murphy of new jersey, we wish you the bestyoith allre working on, thank you. >> thanks for having me, judy.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. supreme court heard arguments on whether electoral college members must back the presidential candidate who carries their states. the electoral college determines the winnerf the presidential election. president trump won the electoral vote in 2016, while losing the popular vote. we will take a closer look, after the news summary. a federal judge has nodelayed a decision on dismissing criminal charges against michael flynn, the former u.s. natiol security adviser. instead, he is inviting legal gridextsd s e fl tynn pled guilty to lying o i.f.thin db.e g uriaruth ss but, the justice department now says the investigation was flawed from the start. meanwhile, the president's one-time campaign chair, paul manafort, was releasedfr federal prison. his lawyer says it was due to fears about the coronavirus.

manafort will do the rest of his seven-year sentence for tax in home confinement.d conspiracy in afghanistan, the death toll rose to 24, af a there was no claimteital ir n kt responsibility in tuesday's assault, but the taliban denied that it played any role. we will take a closer look later in the program. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo says that israel needs to consider a number of issues before annexing west bank settlements. pompeo spoke after landing in tel aviv today. he met separately with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and coalition partner benny gantz. their political agreement calls for moving ahead with annexatis. back in this cntry, two u.s. house races in specia

elections on tuesday. california republican mike garcia is leading for what had been a democratic seat near los angeles, with more ballots to count. and in wisconsin, republican tom tiffany sily won a seat in a pro-trump district. still to come on the newshour: the supremcourt hears a critical argument that could affect future presidential elections. nationwide stay-at-home orders potentially dramatic increase in child abuse.f the family american contractor held hostage by the talin speaks for the first time. and, despi social distancing, musicians band together to create songs of comfort. oo >>uff: since the coronavirus closed schools nationwide, children are staying

at home.po s of child abuse and neglect have declined dramatally. as william brangm tells us, advocates for child welfare are especially concerned about what this says about their safety. before we continue, a warning: this segment is focused on a sensitive suect. and, if there are younger viewers with you, you may want to take a moment to pause or opt out. >> brangham: that's right, judy, in normal times, child welfare and allegations of child abusear a very difficult story to cover. that's even tougnohew. we want to begin by sharing some of theoncerns and experiences of people who are working to prevent that abuse. here's some of what we heard. >> my name is kelly white. i'm the co-c.e.o. at the safe

alliance in austin, texas. we work across the issues ofd chuse, child sex trafficking, sexual assault, domestic violence. we are particularly concerned because if children arisk in a home, nobody is seeing them now. i >> h'm georgia boothe with in new york city.ge one of our b concerns the child welfare systy relies physicians and other adults that are coming in contact with children on a regular basis to report incidences of child abuse >>d neglect. i, this is jim dudley. i am in redwood city, i'california, and currentla lecturer on faculty at san francisco state university. wh i was with the police department, i was the captain of our child abuse prevention andou investigation in covid-19 days, we don't get those reports. so, it's up to the officers to

aware without those other sort of subtle hints that a ild y eingbu >>'m leah fraley, i'm the executive director of stop child abuse now of northern virginia. reports are going down. there's less reports because the front line of child protection really isn't in that child's life anymore. reports are going down. that doesn't mean abuse is going down, right? ee, just the reports. we areg minors making those reports, which is not ppical. >> hi, i'm dr. dmley, i am in orlando, florida, and i'm the heal arnold palmer cspldren's al. what we've seen during the pandemic, unfortunately, is than we've major increase of children presenting with major injuries.en there's chiloming with burns, and we've py seenies, an increase of at least 50% to 100% of these cases in the last o months. >> i'm xanthe scharff. i live in washington, d.c.

i'm the c.e.o. and co-founder of the fuller project, which is agl al nonprofit newsroom that's dedicated to doingea groundng reporting on issues that impact women. what we're seeing is tharuduring corona there has been a spike of 230% in the material online, which is child sexual abuse, which is being shared. the publicly accesweb.at is on il we had a call from a chervisk dcaveus ot woman thatit echad been in our teen parent program-- that's a par ot children's shelter-- and had left to go back to with her child, to go back to her family. and now, someone from her family aggressive toward her was now sexually abusing her child. we got them into our family >> there has been a breakdown,

as far as the actors thamoare toring and taking down this child sexually abusive material online. we have found through our reporting that the instances ofg material bei taken down has ien reduced by 89%. co, ide'eehtour o county areas, or nine patients a month. marcanril,e'veeenths of 19 and 15 children that reatired hospitaln. >> for a family who, prior to the pandemicwas in that situation and stressed out, overwhelmed, worri c about, era, all of the things that really do lend to difficult orenvironments, that's now, significantly worse. >> brangham: so now to understand a bit more about these concerns right now, i'm. joined by bert sege. he's a pediatrician at the tufts medical center who works to mbat these problems. he's also a senior fellow at tuft's center for the study of social policy.

dr. sege, thank you very much for being here. we heard some, obviously, very alarming reports of injuries going up, of sexual abuse online going up, what concerns you the most? >> what concerns me r welly don't know what going on that our states and most states around the country have seen a dramatic dec i lifofne thih ce s factors are increas fami financl stress, the children are at home when they should be in school,ndarents could be employed in essential businesses, could be unemployed, or they could be tryinork from home -- all of those things tend to increase family stress. one thing bewie know about child abuse ise ost peoho abuse their children are kind of at the end of their rope.e

thren't people who are really that did bad who wake up in the morng and say i want to abuse and neglect my child. it's mostly good parents that just lose it. >> what we would expect in a pandemic thad have been cooped up for this amount of time, this is in some ways maybe inevitable is not the right word, but this is not an unexpected event. >> you know, in natur disasters, there was an increase in child abuse in the great recession, an increase in the most serious child abuse, of head trauma in infants. this has never happened before. we are really concerned about what we don't see, but it terrible for every child, anadte slowly begin to reemerge, when it's safe to do so, these children have a place to go, people to talk to, and ways to talk about thxpr eerience,

particularly if they have been abused or neglected in some way. >> reporter: i'm so struck by this idea that when there's a decline in reports of abuse that th sets off am bells for >> yeah, and think about child -- the thing about child abuse is most child abuse is not reported, and we know that in all times, and that's done because, if you ask adults in many different ways, were you abused as a child, the numbers are much higher than the number of reports. so, in all timesd now the eir te apecher e theirarly childhood educators, sometimes their neighbors, the children may confide in someone like a grandparent or a beled aunt or uh uncle, and those things end up becoming reports in thehild welfare system and, of course, physicians, when we see children, if they have bruises they can't explain injuries or they appe tbe neglected, we're also required by law to

report. so all of those safy net built around children just aren't there right no. do you have any advice for parents? this isn't a chronic conditiont for the most part, people aren'y inherebusive to their children, it's often a situational stress that sets it off. let's say there are parents who are watching this who are feeling those feelings or who are feeling stressed and anxiouo and and frightened and angry. is there any generalized advice you can offer for them? >> yeah, there are a cole of ings we know. the first one is reach out for help. even though you can't phically join someone on telephone, video, any other way you can get a chance to vent tose feelings and know that it's not -- you're not unusual. we're all feeling momts of frustration and despair under the circumstances, it's the way it is. secondly, understand that your children's lives are disrupted, also. so, if they arein misbehor

having problems, take a moment to ask them what's going on andi what thes. children don't know very much h yet, theyaven't been around long, and sometimes parents can help with some of the things that they are concerned about. and i think the other piece that i just sort ofanted to make sure to say is no one's very efficient or productive these days. take some time, ejoy your children, build a fort, go for a walk, whater it takesust have some fun because this is really bad, it's really hard, but maybe, at the end of the y, we could look back and say it was a really difficult time,i but bowe laugh. >> reporter: all very, very important advice to take to dr. robert sege oe tufts medical center, thank you very much for your time. >> thank you very much forti in me. an woodruff: very important, as we heardthere are a number of groups and hotlines you can

knom iedhend on the web if you ilclthn ousite tonight. you can start withhe childhelp national child abuse hotline. it can be reached by phone or text at 1-800-4-a-child, or you can go to childhelp.org/childhelp-hotline. : >> woodrresident trump today reiterated that u.s. must leave afghanistan, sayingar american troopnot a police force. but the horrors of that war were again brought into sharp focus with yesterday's cruel strike on a maternity hospital. and now, as the u.s. is withdrawg, the fate of one americ held hostage lies in the balance.'s hemna nawaz. >> nawaz: a solemn prayer, for

the lives brutally taken in yesterday's attack on a maternity ward in kabul. crews today hastily worked to te victims, including expectant mothers and newborns. >> ( translated ): i saw eight dead bodies of women in this ward and seven other dead bodies were in the other ward on the w beds, and theye hit in their heads or faces. >> nawaz: as authorities were responding to yesterday's assault in kabul, scores more were killed in the eastern province of nangarhar. there, a suicide bomber attacked funeral for a local poce commander. the taliban denied involvement in either of yterday's attacks, but afghan president p.hraf ghani ordered his military to ramp >> ( translated ): for defending r deal and defense forces to come out of defensive mode, back to offense, and start their operatns against the enemy. >> nawaz: yesterday's violence is just the latest crack in the already fracturing u.s. deal with the taliban. in late february, the two

parties entered into an l agreemen by president trump's appointed negotiator, ambassador zalmay khalilzad. the u.s. would begin a troop withdrawal to end america's longest war, and in exchange, the taliban would stop attacks on u.s. forces, and deny other .litant groups safe haven the afghan government was not part of that initial agreement. but, the deal t the ground for further direct negotiations between afghanistan and the taliban. those negotiations have been stalled in part by disements over prisoner exchanges, and continued taliban attacks on afghan security forces. and, the chaos and calamity raise questions about the fate of american mark frerichs. the 57-year-old u.s. navywa veteraworking as a commercial contractor in afghanistan when he was kidnapped at the end of january. hey hai ors.iclsiaff beliee ve s ction of the taliban. earlier, i spoke with frerichs' family, from their home in lombard, illinois. his sister charlene is a retired gas company supervisor. her huand chris is a

truck driver, working overnight shifts. ie the family's first inte exclusive to the newshour. so a lot of people will hear this story a will wonder, what wahe doing in afghanistan? >> he's been there over ten years, and he was doing construction work. he just enjed it and stayed out there and -- >> he could make very good money, tax-fe money, and they let him do the kind of work that he liked to do that he really couldn't find here. so he joined the environment anb kept goik in and eventually stayed. so we're kind of amazed at it, but it's something that he wanted to d so we upported him. >> reporter: tell us how yout came to know t he had been kidnapped. >> we found out sunday morning, groundhog day. we had a knock on our dor, 9:00s

lombard police and the f.b.i. came to oudoor, an basically told us that they wanted to talk to us, and they explained to us that my brother, mark, had been kidnapped by the taliban, the haqqani group. >> reporter: what did you think at that momen >> i was shocked. i thought it was -- i couldn't lieve it. i basically kept saying over again, are you sure? they were very sure. really didn't come into reality of it until they came to my house the following tuesday, and i talked to washington, d.c., and the whole big group, a then reality set. and just -- iust still can't and then at night, and i just think about what he's going through right now. is he being basted? is he being fed?

he cold? is he warm? does he have a pillow? i mean, i just can't imagine what he's going through right now. >> reporter: have you been able to get any kind of update on his well being? they're letting us know, the f.b.i. and when we talked to zel, they basically are saying he is alive. they're not saying he's welldo because thet know, but they are saying that they don't have any reason to think that he's -- he's dead. so they feel that he is still out tere. >> reporter: and whe you mean te chief negotiate dealing directlh with taliban. last week the f.b.i. released a poster seeking information about the the release of your brother, even reported u.s. forces raid looking for information on him and his whereabouts. do you believe, charlene, that the u. is doing everything ey can to get k released? >> sometimes i think yes and sometimes i think no. i think i knw this covid thing

has taken over, andat i feel the f.b.i. and the u.s. government is doing all they can do, but i realln't feel comfortable that zal is doing anythi and he's the one with the power to get mark home safely. >> sounds like zal is more worried about doing a prisoner exchange of grat numbers rather than looking at the importance of one person, anthat's mark and getting mark home. >> reporter: let me ask you about wht it is you'd like to see because you have the u.s. thchief negotiate dealing the taliban saying i have asked them to do everything they can, clearly he's working under the direction of presint trump. so what else specifically do you want to see the u.s. government do to make sure tark is released? >> that no negotiato on about trading prisoners or anything in that regards untilma is brought home. then, you know, whatever they need to do, they ned to do, but they need to put mark first. >> reporter: you'd like to see

the enti negotiaon process stop until there's a pre-condition that mark is released. is that right? >> i believe that would be right, yeah. >> reporter: and if thepr ess moves forward without that pre-condition, what are you woied would happen? >> that he would beorgotten, that -- that's what he's going to do with or without certain accomplishments but our concern some for mark. >> reporter: we are talking about america's longest war. three presidents have tried to end this and president trump believed we could beoser than ever to having some kind of a deal and getting u.s. troops home. are you worried that the commitment to that goal could mean mark gets left behind? >> very much so. yeah. very much so. i have a very fear, i think of ery day, that i am going to wake up some morning and all this will be fine and clear d mark ist not home safely, and

the peace deahal been signed and done -- a done deal, and mark's still out there. and what are we going to then? >> reporter: we've seen directly involvedry tory negotiate prisoners' release in the past with differenttr cos. do you think it would help mark's case if he were to do the same in this siation? >> i think it would do more help than harm at this point. he's shown hes pretty powerful guy, he's gone toe to toe against the strongest leaders in the world and come out okay. >> yeah, i really support donalt he will bring my brother home safely. he's done it in the past with other prisoners, other -- so i believe that he'll get my brother home. li reporter: if you could r a message right now to president trump, what would you say to him? >> would say please bring my brother mark home safely, and please don't do any more signing

any more deals until my brother sin clued in that deal andtt g my brother home safe. >> reporter: charlene, let me ask you, because this is their very interview anyone in your family has given, why are you talking to us today? >> it's been long enough that i feel that we have to be a littlo er and move more forward and more aggressive. i have to get more out there, more -- to get the word out, and little bit more mentioning myot r mark's name and more motivated, and i think the more my brother mark's name is put out there, i think the more, you know, the power up there will do what they've got to do, because we are very concerned. >> reporter: if yohad a way of getting a message straight to hrk, what would you want to say now? >> i just want to tell him we're

doing erything we can to get you home, i miss you and i just want you ho safely. and i've worried about you over a decade with this, ande've felt so comfortable that you were doing okay and you were safe out there.es i we just let our guard down. but i want you home safe, and i'm doing everything i can to get you hofeme sa. so just hang in there. he's my brother and i love him, my only brother. and wone are two years apart and hung out.ways goes as kids he was always my body guard in high school when i got picked on. he's always been there for me. so i've got to be here for him. >> reporter: charlene andt from lombard, illinois.y which wish your family all the best. thank you for your time. >>hank you for your time.

presid electors forg es punish atckpledge to vote for winner in their that was the question at the heart of today's supreme court arguments. john yang has the stor >> i'm just a guy. i was just a regular person. i wasn't a politician. >> yang: he may be a regular guy, but micheal baca was one of for president in 2016. to vote that's right-- while more than 150 million americans headed to the polls on november 8, 2016, to choose between donald trump and hillary clinton, the presidency was ttually decided weeks later by the 538 members electoral college. >> when people cast their vote,u they're ly voting for... the president is establishedon in the constitution.

each state has the same number of electoral votes as their representation in the house and senate. candidates need 270 votes to win, and most states are winner- take-all. in 2016, clinton won the popular vote in colorado, so alline of the state's electoral votes were supposed to go to her. but baca-- one ocolorado's electors-- voted for republican john kasich. it was part of plan he hatched prth other electors to try to ent mr. trump from becoming president. >> it was to find a more mora a mer republicanpu the r vote winner of colorado was hillary clinton. but the majority of people in colorado did not want donald trump. >> yang: jason harrow is baca's ngtorney. >> they were putountry over party. and there is a place for that. it's not to blow up the system. it's actually to further our cotitutional democracy. >> yang: colorado invalidated baca's vote and replaced him with an alternate who did vote for clinton. >> electors are supposed to go and vote. and when i attempted to go and

exercise my-- my right to vote in the electoral college in 2016, i was-- i wadenied that vote. >> colin powell, of the commonwealth of virgia, has received three votes... >> yang: as then-vice presidt e biden announced the results, seven so-called "faithless electors" were successful, casting their ballots for other candidates. washington state, four of them were fined $1,000 each. they-- and baca-- sued. and today, meeting once again by phone, t supreme court heard a pair of arguments on t constitutionality of state laws punishing faithless electors. marcia coyle is chief washington correspondent for the "nationa law journal." >> the court has ruled way back in 1952 that states caire electors to pledge to support certain candidates or political party's candidates, but the court has never said whether the states can enforce pledges. it is an unprecedented question for them.

>> yang:t eothusnextnt porresident bial e, the stakes for the justices were clr. justice samuel alito pressed lawrence lessig, the attorneye for shington state electors. >> those who disagree with your argument say that it would lead to chaos. do you deny that that is a go possibility, if your argumentrevails? >> we deny it's a good possibility. we don't deny it's a possibility. we believe there are risks on either side. in the history of electors, there has been one elector, out of the 23,507 votes cast, o s switched parties against the majority party in a way that could have mtered. >> yang: rick hasen, an election law expert at u.c. irvine law school and author of "electi meltdown," explained the potential risk. >> these electors could be subject to pressure. they could be subjecribes. they could vote in an d dependent way. at would throw off the imagine the electivery

close and it just takes one or two electors changing their views. >> yang: during the arguments, washington solicitor general noah purcell defendehis state's decision to fine faithless electors as a way to protect three million other voters. >> once the legislature has given power to vote to the public, the public now has a fundamental right to vote and have their votes counted equally, as this court has said in a number of cases. and so, the legislature can't then override that vote after the fact. it would radically change how american presidential elections have always worked i country. >> yang: but chief justice john roberts pressed baca's betorney on what limits ma placed on an elector. >> so, t elector can decide, "i'm going to vote-- i'm going to flip a coin and however it comes out,hat's how i'm going to vote?" >> yes, your honor. that's the same discretion that u.s. senators have, representatives have, congressional electors have. these too are elected officials

and they have that sameti disc. >> well, that sounds pretty limitless to me.an >> depending on how the justices rule, the republicans and democrats mado things differently this fall. >> this is not an exaggeration, i expect there are going to be investigators investigatinhethe lives of electors to make sure that these are people who are those who would reliably vote for joe biden or donald trump. >> yang: presidential candidates and electors should have a better idea of their options before the party nominating conventions later this summer. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. dr >> wf: fally tonight, our occasional look at the noongs of comfort" project world-ed cellist yo-yo ma launched on social media. jeffrey brown looks at the growing collaboration in these mini-performances, as tough times bring people together

through music and technology. it's part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ (♪ irish national orchestra ♪) >> brown: in a time of isolation, a desire to connect, through music. ♪ ♪ as the psychology of pandemic chges through the weeks, y can see that play out in the "#songs of comfort" project, rough more and more collaborations. ♪ ♪ started it all: yo, whoho recorded a distanced duet with celebrated west african singer angelique kidjo. ♪ ♪ and another with syrian-born clarinetist, kinan azmeh. ♪ ♪

the urge to merge is often a family affair, as with thi young mother and father in their berlin, germany living room-- thr new baby adding a little percussion. ♪ ♪ in arizona, six women family members put the '70s song "i'd like to teach the world to sing" to multi-stringed accompaniment, ed by the whistling of t person capturing it all on camera. ♪ ♪ philharmon sat down with her guitar-playing son for a piece by astor piazoa. there are also more geaborate crose collaborations: a delightful "bach to the bae" breakfast scene created by musicians from the toronto symphony and dancers with the

canadian national ballet, plus two children, who performed their roles ♪ perfection. h, happy day ♪ ♪ oh, happy day much older childn at potomac, maryland's st. andrews episcopal school sang "oh happy day," joined by alumni and faculty. ♪ ♪ and student cellists from around the world managed to get together for a performance of saint-saen's "the swan." ♪ ♪ in houston, members of the symphony, used to playing together on stage, created a viual quartet. ♪ ♪ and while it can be a lonely time for many, technology allows another kind of "quartet," all the parts performed by one individual. ♪ ♪

songs played alone... ♪ ♪ ...songs played together... ♪ ♪ and, as we saw in that berlin living roo some things don't change-- the desire to share, and maybe inspire the next generation. for the pbs newshour, i'm >> woodruff: songs of comfort. and tune in later tonight on pbs tosatch the premiere of nov "decoding covid-19." the one-hour film follows scientis in the global race to develop a vaccine, and takes viewers to the frontlines in wuhan, china and new york during the hght of the outbreak. that's "decoding covid-19," tonight on pbs at 9:00 eastern, 8:00 central. you can stream it as well, across pbs's digital platforms.

and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join uonline, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular offers no-contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do s re of the thiu enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u.serbased customervice team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a direction. fidelitys here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change

gorldwide. >> and with the g support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.d contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ happy birthda, dear hubert... ♪ ♪♪ friends and family call me hubert or just "cf." i grew up in france, to be exact, in ribeauville, a beautiful medieval town with less than 5,000 people. we lived on the top floor of my parents' patisserie. can you imine what i ate as a child? ve cars, bikes of any kind, and music, but my first love, will always beng. ♪♪ is love i have followedto many: