captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff.to on the newshought: >> stop the pain. stop us from being tired. >> woodruff: the brother of george floyd tells congress ere needs to be an end t police violence and ngcism. then, ines and broken machines. a messy election in georgia. we break down what it means for the main event in november. plus, "reopening rks."se alabam a surge in covid cases, and a health care system struggling to keep pac >> it is impacting, disproportionately, black peoplt s city, in a region that has a high number of people with underlying health issues and

>> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity investments. >> consumer cellular. f ancial services firm raymond james.on >> joh johnson. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation.mm ted to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: og >> this m was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to ur pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the national outcry to end racial injustice has expanded tonight from protests in the streets, to appeals to congress. hearing, headlined by thege younr brother of george floyd, who died in police custody last month.co congressiorrespondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: one day after

burying his brother george,oy philonise walked into the u.s. capitol with a message, pleading for justice and action. >> i'm tired. i'm tired of pai pain you feel when you watch something like that. heen you watch your big br who you looked up to for your whole life, die. dibegging for his mom. i'm here to ask you to make it stop. >> desjardins: he appear before the house judiciary committee, now working on a bill aimed at policbrutality and racial profiling. george floyd's dth sparked nationwide protests and conversations around policing and race. philonise floyd was one of 12 panelists at the hearing. another, angela underwood jacobs, is also grieving. r brother, patrick underwood, was shot and killed in oakland, california protests last month while he was working as a federal officer and guarding a federal building. she too called out racism by some, but also pointed to blind violence that must stop. >> i'm wondering, where is the

outrage for a fallen officer that also happens to be african american? >> desjardins: houston police chief art acevedo echoed the thought that most police officers are good, and that there is an urgent need for reform. >> there is no denying that changes in policing must be made. must acknowledge that law enforcement's past contains institut and brutality.justices >> desjardins: but some republican witelsses, like dascott, regularly seen at events with president trump, were cautiou >> i agree with the fact that police reform, or better yet, police revision, sho enacted. ivt it has to be one that is sensto the stress, tension, pressure and paranoia that policing produces. >> we will now proceed under the five-minute le with questions. >> desjardins: the question round, often the most heated, was largely sober and serious. floyd said officer dereked, chauvin, who pressed down on

george floyd's neck, knew him. >> i think it was personal, because they worked at the same place. so, for him to do something like that, it had to be premeditated. >> desjardins: authorities have not yet indicated that chauvin had a personal motive.ar also at the g, republicans pushed back at the idea of defunding the police. >> if you believe we should defund the police, would you please raise your hand? i didn't see anyone here raise a i certainly didn't see any of the republicanitnesses do that. >> desjardins: some panelists objected to how the question was asked, and said the idea of moving funding into mental health care and community programs is good.th setting itself was extraordinary, in an auditorium in the capitol visitors center, to allow for social distancing. this, days after congressional democrats introduced theirce poeform legislation. senate republicans are trying to outline their own plan this week, with south carolina senator tim scott leading thert ef the pressure on them is not just national.

today, it was personal, from heartbroken families. floyd pointed to how his brother di. >> you don't do that to a human being. you don't even do that to an animal. his life mattered. all our lives matter. black lives matter. >> i truly hope you take your positions, youoffices, so seriously you want to wo together and collaborate, beuse if you can't get it right, there is no hope for the rest of us. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now. lisa, what a hearing so you reported there about thetimes having made public their legislation, the proposed legislation on police reform. tell us more abwhat the republicans are looking at. republicans don't have a firm outline that they've made public but we know, blind closed doors, they are talking abut some

ideas. they seem to be hovering over a few stmmon themes, at lea the senate republicans. let's look at those in a graphic here, judy. first of all, one of thosebl king choldz, we know that's something democrats want to do asell. also republicans are looking at a registry of debts andf mistreatmentlice. that's a tricky topic because some of them feel states should be governing that but thats on the tape table for them. also anti-whrirchingio legisl legislation that has been blocked by a republican he until now, rand paul, but seems to be, perhaps, working with this group to find a way to get on board. also a national commission o criminal justice, thaidea from republicans would be similar to the 9/11 commissioin scope. it could take several months to come up with recommendations. judy, i want to talk about what, so fa, doesn't seem to be in their legislation but is a heated debate ong republicans, a couple of ideas particularly about what's called

police-called immunity, which is basically courtroom decisns that have held that police have oskind of immunity from being uted in many cases. now, republicans are talking about whether to include this in their bill or not. they're divided. right now, it's not in their bill. one other thing, the concept of no-knock warrants for drug cases, that is something that could end up in tubs repcan proposal as well. >> woodruff: so, lisa, you'ved mentiofew names of republicans involved, what other working on this and how much urgency do they feel?ho quickly do you think we could see something? >> reporter: you know, i think it's really important to talk about exactly who is in the room making the decisionshis and, as we reported, it's led by tim scott. you look at the others on this so-called task force, it is tim scott's fellow graham, chairman of thersout judiciary committee, john cornyn oftexas, shelly of virginia,

james langford of oklahoma. these are all people who are thout to have had spent time on these issues including past and recent criminal justice reform. the urgency and timing is a bita of ascratcher. the house of representatives, the democrats are taking their bill to committee nxt week, they hope to have a floor vote the following week. so the house is on a two-week trajectory to pass major criminal justice reform. the senate, it isn't clear what their time frame is yet. they hope to have an outline, maybe even legislative language this week, but often things tak longer in the senate than the house, so we're going to have to see. >> woodruff: fli sure. ansa, this has been such a o wrenching coupweeks across the country for the american people. we know protests in, what, 700 american cities. i want to ask you, what's the feeling there on the hill? is that coming across when you talk to members? not there? sense of urgency or

>> i think it's really changed across this week, judy, talking to senators on mondai didn't feel that the majority of them, republicstly who i spoke, with had a sense of urgency. some did like lisa murkowski seemed to be taking it in and trying to figure out where to go. some didn't have the urnlings are. i think they do now. does that mean they can ce up with a deal? i don't know. > woodruff: finally, lisa, a bit of news comiom the capitol late today having to do with house speaker nancy pelosi and confederate staeptes. >> rter: right, this is a fascinating story, judy. the speaker of the house has written a letter to the group overseeing statutes in the capitol asking that eleven statutes of confederates -- these are men who served in the confederacy -- be removed from the capitol. sese particular statutes have been selected ates, they're part of the national sttuary

hall collection. each state selects two peo ople. mo these statutes were selected in the beginning of the 20th century, but these, again, areonfederates. they include jefferson davis, esident of the cfederacy, the vice president robert e. lee, these are men who statutes are in the u.s. capitol, have been for a long time. ehe house speaker says it's tim to remove these sttutes. that's a line no one has crossed before. until now they've only put the statutes in less prominent locations. one other thing, judy, this does not include some who were pro slavery before the confederacy like john c. calhoun depicted in the capitol four times, including twice outside the senate chmber. that discussion, i think, will continue. >> woodruff: a lot of people don't realize that. >> reporter: yeah. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins reporting on what's happening at the capitol. lisa, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the police chief in minneapolis, where george floyd died in custody, took what he said is a first step toward sweeping change. he called off negotiatio with the police union, pending a complete review of the current union contract. the chief said he needs the flexibility to get rid of problem police. >> there is nothing more debilitating to a chief, from an ndployment perspective, than when you have grto terminate an officer for misconct and you're dealing with a third party mechanism that allows for that employee to department, but to be patrolling in your communities. eo woodruff: the white officer who pinnede floyd by his neck had 17 complaints against him, but he had been discipline. just o

and in atlanta, two more officers were fired afte college students were pulled from a car and tased during a protest last month. two other officers had already en dismissed. there are calls to investigate attorney general willide barr for hision to have protesters forcibly cleared from near the white house on june 1. some 1,250 justice department employees made theequest today to the department's inspector general. meanwhile, crews removed some temporary fencing and barricades om near the white house. they'd been placed there at the height of the protests. also today, president trump rejected stripping the names of confederate generals from military bases in the southern u.s. he said he would "not even consider" it. but nascar banned the confederate flag from all of iti stock car events and properties. the federal reserve says that it

will not raise interest rates through 2022, as the economyba claw from the pandemic recession. today's announcement came as the fed projected unemployment will stay above 9% through. year's e chairman jerome powell said it is essential to keep rates near zero in a bid to boost growth. >> as you know, we lowered our policy rate very quickly, quicker than others, to the effect of lower-bound, and we said that we'll keep it there the effects of the virus and is on track to achieve our goals. >> woodruff: the centrk projected that the economy will contct by 6.5% this year, bu grow by 5% next year. the countrcoinues reopening from the pandemic, but infections areurging again. more than a dozen states are reporting their hight seven- day averages of new cases yet. and, hpitalizations in nine of those states he increased since memorial day. all told, there have been nearly

two million coronavirus cases in the u.s., with 112,000 deaths. yretired federal judge to accused the justice department of abusing its power in the case of michael flynn. john gleeson blasted the government's motion to drop criminal charges against president trump's former national security adviser. the trial judge had asked the ousted state departmentn. inspector general says that his op his tried to review of a major arms sale to saudi arabia. transc interview by house democratsre eleased today. in them, linick also said that state mike pompeo's alleged use of staffers for personal errands. g.mpeo responded this morn >> steve linick was a bad actor in the inspector general office here. he-- he didn't take on the

mission of the state dent, to make us better. th's what i.g.s are suppos to do. they work for the agency head-- that's me-- my mistake was letting mr. linick stay here as long as he did. >> woodruff: linick had been the state department's ipector general since 2013. elections officials in georgia are under searing criticism after voters waited for hours, and voting machines failed, in tuesday's primary. amid the confusion, a democratic contest for a u.s. senate seat remains too close to call. we will get the details, right after the news summary. and on wall street, recessn fears overshadowed news that interest rates will stay low. the dow jones industrial average slid 282 points, back below 27,000. the nasdaq rose 66 points, but the s&p 500 lost 17 points. still to come on the newshour: what election mishaps in georgia mean for the november vote. "reopening risks." alabama sees a surge in covid

how gardening can offer fresh air, and some sanity, in turbulent times. plus, much more. >> woodruff: trouble with absntee ballots, new voting machines, and a global pandemic created a perfect storm for chaos in geoia's primary election yesterday. yamiche alcindor reporthe challenge voters faced. >> alcindor: judy, it was onof the biggest tests of the voting systems ahead of november's presidential election. and some voters in georgia waited more than five hours to cast the ballots. georgia's secretary of state called the problems "unacceptable," and put the

blame on local ection officials, during an interview with newshour this afternoon: >> all of a sudden, we opened up these polling locations, and one said, "well, this is the firstrs time that my poll workers have actually touched the system today." training-- and that's really a leadership issue-- if you don't provide the management and the oversight to train your poll workers-- i know that you had covid, i get that. >> alcindor: for aloser look at what went wrong in georgia, m joined by andra gillespie. she's a political scienceof sor at emory university. thanks so much for being here. obviously, a lot went wrong in georgia. whpened with the voting machines, and what do you make of the secretary of state kind of passing off the blame here? >> well, in short, everything that could go wrong did go wrong yesterday. a number of things could happen. one, there are systemic problems with voting in georgia so counties that often had bottlenecks like fulton county

continued to have them. there are reports there are places with large african-american populations that had long wait times and perhaps didn't have the staff or machines to be able to facilitate voting. on top of that, we had the problem of covid 19 creating additional procedures to lengthen the time to have voting, to require people to stand outdeor long periods of time. and you had this as a new voter syst people weren't used to the system and there were problems setting it up nd acclimating the poll workers to the system and that was compound bid the covid. it would have been hard to have places of training and in aces poll workers who refused to show up on election daybecause their own health and safety and canceled at the blast minute, aain, understaffingy precincts. >> reporter: sounds like a perfect storm of thingsing

wrong. more than one million mail' in ballots were cast. hat happened there. >> particularly lton county, a number of people requested absentee balho didn't request them in time to turn them in for theio ele so some these people had to stand in line as well. also some members of their staff came down with covid 19, one hao to down the office for a period, and they were overwhelmed with the absentee like they were able to get aseem handling on it in time for >> repr: looking ahead tots. the november election, how does hhat's happening in georgia relate to oter states and what lesson should the nation as a whole take away. >> this was a dress rehearsal for november. we expect covid will be with us people will want to vote byr more convenient, and judging by the lines some people

experienced in georgia yesterday, some people feel it's a more efficient way to run. o the stageorgia and other states not used to having most of their electorate vote by mail will have to figure outw to refine the processes so voters get their balots in time, so they are returned in time, so the instructions are clear.so in georgia, specifical, this is a moment of reckoning, a momef where the secretary state's office and local elected went right and wrng with theirt procedures yesterday, and they need to try to fix as much as possible, and the recriminations back and forth with local sand state officials pointing the fingerabt each other pr isn't helpful. there is plenty of blame to go around.e there seems tolack of communication on both sides, in many instances, and, so, it may actually be inappropriate for an tedependent third party to come in, interrohe system and quickly provide recommendations about what to do to go forward. >> reporter: we have about a minute left here. i want to ask you about black voters and voters of color.

you call this a moment of reckoning. what did we learn from what happened in georgia that particularly impacts blackd people people of color and how does that relate to the nation as a whole? communities face.ues do those >> there were procedural and systemic issues, so i don't wani to choup to voter suppression at large. the charges of voter suppression come out because some thof e precincts that historically had problems with high turnout and a few machines or machines that don't work seem to be places where there were problems again yesterday. so we do need task ourselves whether there is a particular bias that routinely undercounts and underestimates the amount of black voters that will be showing up in the minority-served districts and we need to figure out whether we need to reallocate resources and machines to these precincts so they don't have e longnes in voting when there are other

places that tinted have th e problems with voting. >> reporter: a moment of reckoning. thank you so much for joining me, andra gillespie, of emery university. >>hank you. >> woodruff: americans are trying to move closeto their pre-pandemic routines, but there are worrying signs that the virus is continuing to spread in some of the states that have eased restrictions. john yang has a look at one of those states: alabama. >> yang: in the vintage cafe in montgomery, alabama, the hustle and bustle is back. >> we've done everything from change flooring, from carpet t hardwoods. we've changed all of ours. practi we are promoting the use of masks. >> yang: cooks have added extra precautions to theirl

kitchen routines. eric rivera is the executive chef. >> wwanted to bring all of o staff back in again, give them the proper training, get all the new training and procedures in place before we decided to open back up to the public. e we wanted them to feel sd secure coming into our establishment, and we wanted to feel safe and secure as well.>> ang: business may be on its way back across alabama, but so are cases coronavirus, on upward trend after april 30, the day state officials beganic easing resons. it a state where college football is king news that university of alabama and auburn university players tes positive this month when they returned to campus for workouts. anmetropolitan areas, like montgomery, e state capitol, have been hard hit. mayor steven reed, a democrat. >> i think any time you have 337% increase month er month, that's a problem. and that's what we had from the month of april to the month of may. and we also saw almost 80% of r deaths that we reported so

far ocr in the month of may. >> yang: alabama was among the last states to issue a stay-at- home order, on april 3, and four weeks later, among the first to begin easing rerictions. beaches reopened. >> we've been stuck in the house so long, so it's like a breather, you know, we needed to get out, so i just thought i'd bring him out here to enjoy the sun ter. >> yang: in-person-- though socially distanced-- high school graduations were allowed. >> it's just nice to be able to get together with, really, family, and spend time togethers pping god. >> yang: governor kay ivey, a, republicnounced the plan. >> we cannot sustain a delayed w way of life search for a vaccine. there are many virust we live with, and have worked necessary precautions ur

daily lives. stanng by and letting our businesses collapse while we've got hundreds of thousa as of folks th hurting and suffering is not an option. having a life means having a livelihood too. >> we can't put the dollars over the data. and i think, unfortunaly, that's what we ended up doing at the state level. and that, i believe, contribut to some of the increasing numbers that we saw. but also, i think it just gaveop a sense that this pandemic was over and that we had won this battle. >> yang: at alabama's hospitals, though, the battle is far from over. dr. rachael lee is an epidemiologist at the university of alabama-birmingham. >> we are continng to care for about 50 to 60 patients with covid every single day. so what that means is that we have one i.c.u. that's completely full of patients thac haid-19, one acute care unit that's completely full of patients that are-- are being

cared for with covid-19, and d every sing, we're having two to three new cases a day being admitted. >> yang: lee says more study is needed to figure out what's behind the current surge, but says a contributing factor ise the st health care in rural alabama. if you were in a-- in a smaller area, you may have to to even get a testnce in order and that test may be delayed beuse it has to be shipped somewhere el in order to get a result. so you can see how that infection could potentially spread from one person to the next, ift-- if there's a delay in getting a diagnosis. >> yang: and the crent state guidelines, she says, are too lax. >> i think what's laing with some of our recommendations is, you know, we are open in tms of the amount of people that can be around one another. and then also, there's no real restrictions in terms of mask- wearing inside retail businesses. and i think thout those kind of guardrails up, it is

potentially the possibility thaa yosee this disease spread from person to person. >> yang: in alaba, masks are mandatory for workers at places like hair salons. at envy hair designs in montgomery, it's required for cuomers, too. tasha curry is the owner. >> you know, everybody has to ar a mask, and then we'r making everybody sanitize as soon as they walk in the door. i'm right up on them when i'm cutting their hair and i'm doing the hair. t make sure i keep my mask on, and make sure they keep-- they must make sure they keep their mask . >> yang: on the streets of montgomery, mayor reed wants to require masks in public, but ys a majority of the city council opposes it. >> we have to do it because ofe the suat we've seen in cases in montgomery. and more importantly, it is impacting, disproporely, black people in this city, in a r gion that has a high num people with undesuying health and other illnesses that make them mo susceptible to suffering more seriously from

covid-19 virus. >> yang: as leaders d health care workers confront this current rise in cases, they worry about what could sti be ahead. >> if we saw another surge, we would really have to work on thinking through alternative methods to protect our health care workers. that keeps me up at night. >> yang: and business owners tasha curry and eric rivera worry, too-- for a dif..rent reas >> oh, my gosh. i don't even want to think about having to shut now for another two or three months. we're going toy and keep our fingers crossed and everything will be okay. and hopefully we'll make it through again. >> that's one of the things you they going to close us back down if the cases get too high? people in alabama, and across the nation, will likely have to face life without a coronavirus vaccine for some time to come. for the pbs newshour, i' john yang. >> woodruff: alabama is hardly the only state that has seen a

spike in cases recently. more t had a jump in the past couple oe weeks, many inouth and the west. hospitalizations are also up significantly in at eight states. let's look at this and questions about how ba get the right nce while dealing with huge economic problems. dr. assh jha is director of harvard university's global health instituteand joins us from cambridge. dr. jha, welcome back to the "newshour". as you look at this spike in country, what does this tellthe you? >> yeah, so thanks for having me back, judy. i am worokried. i cross the country, i see about 20 states, as you said, where cases are rising, and it r probabflects what happened about three or four weeks ago, our country startening up around memorial day, some states even beore then. what we're seeing now is cases rising, and the biggest question in front of me is what's going think there's no appetite for

shutting those states back downg n. the other tool that helps, testing, tracing and isolation, we don't have upthat built he way we need it, and, so, i'm really worried about what thee next fewks and months are going to look like. >> woodruff: so i heard you say it probably is connected to reopening. is it definitely connected? i mean, is there proof of a connection? >> well, you know, proof is hard, and we've seen so much variation ross states. mean, some states, for instance georgia, i was very worried when id opened up an thought it was opening up too there. we have not seen a spike so part of it is local circumstance, part of it is that opening up means differentgs thn different states, but i do think -- i mean, you know, l the evidence suggests that it is linked to opening up, i st don't know if we have definitive proof of that. >> woodruff: and you mentioned testing because you do hear the gument from some quarters that now there's more testing available. this may account forth higher

number of infections that are recorded. >> so i think testing is a smalh part oincrease. i don't think it's the whole story. i actually think that, while testing is bter than what it was, it's still far from where it needs to be, and, obviously, testing is not going to explain the increes in hospitalizations that we're seeing, those are really just fr the infections andople getting sick from the infections. >> woodruff: so warhear what yosaying about you're worried and you don't see what is going tslow this down ing forward. at the same time, you have this passionate argument othe part of people like governor ive of alabama who said livelihoods matter, too, we have to get people back to work, backin eaincome. how do you strike the right balance? >> yeah, so i am very sympathetic to that argument that livelihoods matter, of we know there's a huge health and psychological cost of the economic shutdown. the point here is, as cases o

up and rage across alabama and other states, i think that's going to have a drect negative economic impact on that state. i think it's going to be hard for the economy to fully open up. what i've always argued for is we needed to bring the virus lels down, we need to bring in a testing infrastructure and then open up more safely so we a could ha economy and save lives. we're sort of managing do neither. >> reporter: and, so, do you see a way to signal to the leaders in these states who seem wa have made up their minds that they're going fo to put the brakes on this, to some extent? >> yeah, so what i have been saying to states is if you' starting to see these kinds of increases, you have to put in some amount of lcia distancing. i understand you may not want to do a full lockdown, b you've got to think abwhat you can roll back, you've got to ramp upci testing and tr, you've got to go everything you can to slow down the spread of this virus because once it gets out of

control, you will have very few choices and forced to shut down d that would not be a great outcome for anybody. >> wootuff: dr. jha, i wan to also ask about asymptomatictr smission of covid. world health organization put out a statement a day or sago saying there was less evidence b transmission of infecti people without symptoms but then turned around and corrected that. tell us the accurate -- what is achrately understood to bee case for people who don't have symptoms but who do have covid. >> yeah, based on all the evidence we have right now, there is no doubt in my mind that people withoutym sptoms do transmit the disease, they can and they're actuatty a pre major source of infection. so i think that was a b misstateme w.h.o. it was very unfortunate. they have walked it back. asymptomatic spread is a al rt of what makes controlling this disease so hard. >> woodruff: and finally, dr. jha, i want to ask you about this because there are question

raised iumber of quarters. your institute, other places forecast a much hiher need for beds than has turned out to be the se in a number of states and a higher iection rate we've heard predicted. was there too grim a scenario that was foecast, do you think, by many in the public health community? >> you know, what we did was we looked at the best data we had at that time from china and italy, and we saw the spread in the u.s., and i think everybodya laid out were potential scenarios. it's one of those situations where then i think we acted very aggressively. certainly in march and april, much of the country was shut down, and we were able to curtail this. so i don't know -- i personally don't think we overreacted, i still feel like we did the right thing in shutting down the country. the newest evidence is if we hadn't done that, we would have had 60 million more infections,

probably half a million more, deat we prevented that. did the policy, was it perfectly tuned to every single region of the couobry? ly wasn't, but i think, overall, the response, so far, on that front has en right. we just haven't done the other stuff we need like the testingci and tr infrastructure that would allow us to open up safely again. we've talked about this bore, judy, that continues to be, i think, an achils heel of this response in the country. >> woodruff: dr. ashish jha joining us once very much. you we appreciate it. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> woodruff: now, to syria, and the brutal war in its 10th year. bombing by the air corps of bashar al-assad and his russian

backers, a new worry--co navirus. as nick schifr reports, people o have suffered so much, nowg are prarr an unseen foe. >> sch in northwest syria, engineers prepare for another wainst the coronavirus. for weeks, they have feared a ni atmare-- an outbreak with war zone-- so they're making homemade covid-19 tests. >> ( translated ): there is only one testinmachine in all of idlib province, for four million people. it's not enough. so we decided to start designing a machine that would allow for testing multiple samples for coronavirus in a short period of time. >> schifrin: to get to their workshop, ayoub halak walks through a homemade disinfecting machine. they're also making ventilators, ouicof wooden boards and pla tubing. they hope to make hundreds for local hospitals. >> ( translated ): we decided to create a ventilator with what was availabl

there is a big shortage of ventilators in hospitals here. >> schifrin: in a nearby textile factory, workers make masks that will cost about $4 a box-- a discount compared to the $12 set imported from china.at >> ( tred ): there's been a huge increase in the demand b for masks heause of the virus threat. we imported all of the raw material from turkey, and we're hand.hing everything here by >> schifrin: after ten years of war, syria is ill-prepared for another catastroph syria's health care system has been destroyed. the u.n. says russia and the regime have targeted more than 80 medical facilities, just since december. half of all hospitals are out of rvice. and that was before covid.

>> schifrin: last year, the syrian regime and russian military launched a major campaign to capture idlib. in january, they declared a cease-fire, and the bombing slowed. but this week, syrian and russian planes launched air strikes,esigned to retake the opposition's final stronghold. idlib has been the last point of refuge for millions of syrians internally displaced. and in cramped camps, social distancing is impossible. needs even more out of reach.c food prices are spiraling. nearly ten million people are now food-insecure. residents struggle to find enough water. h shortages maked-washing a luxury. as for power-- in some places, .nerators are the only so and these syrians, who have lost their homes and all their rights, connect to a cause, sparked 6,000 miles away. artist aziz alsmar says hiser canvases go lives have

been extinguished. he created a george floyd memorial on all that's left of a blown-out building. >> ( translated ): there used to be people here with memories, milies living here with children. the killing of george floyd makes us think of the killing of young people from the syrianca regime's chemigas. we are with black americans and feel their pain. >> schifrin: but as is the case urr so many in syria, a ge of humanity from those who've experienced inhumanity has now been defaced. 300 miles away in kurdish- controlled northeast syria, more an 100,000 people live in the al hol camp. healthcare workers do their best to sanitize this medical tent, and teach prop hand-washing. there's not enough testing to know whether covid cases are low. but, here in the northeast, at can create a medical facilityt without fear of attack. s for noian civilians are doing what they can to prevent

another nightmare. fatima is eight. >> ( translated ): wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, and when you sneeze or cough, you do this.if rin: fatima is younger than the war, but now has to prepare for another battle. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: nearly one in four americans live with a disability. and for some, that means having a compromised immune system, and nghigher likelihood of get the coronavirus. advocates are now sounding the alom that congress needs to more to help society's most vulnerable. i spoke abouthis with former holand security secretary former tom ridge, now the chairman ofti the al organization on disability; and danny woodburn, an actor and a disability rights

actist. discussing how those with by disabilities are affected in this pandemic. >> first of all, i think there's a fear around going aroun obviously this community is more at risk but also there's the notion tha decisions might be being made with regard to equality of life -- quality of life and whether or not a person's quality of life is worth savin so and we talk about advocacy, for example, having an advocate in the room for people with disabilities, especially with someone like down syndrome who has to go in and cndve a family member or a person who the years to helpm makehem over decisions about their medical risk, and there's policy beingt

looked at now that is a bit w scary to peoph disabilities that that determinations are being made, like who gets a ventilator based on, you kow, physical and cognitive ability. how the virus might be affecting them and whether or not they get to keep a ventilator. >> woodruff: governor tom ridge, as somebody who's beenth involved witdisability community for a long time, are these issues that have been discussed in t past, or is this something that is just now for the first time being thought about seriously? >> one to have the challenges a that dannd i and the broader disability community e dealing with is that we've made modest changes and very important and positive changes since t passage of the americans with disabilities 30 years ago. this is the 30th anniversary year of a.d.a. buwhat has happened during the

covid cries, during this pandemic, is that we're seeing that, for the first time n 30 years, we don't have a seat at the table. there have been several rescue packages coming from washington, d.c. and appropriately are trying to by it and trying to reach out in economic terms and trying to help people through this very difficult period. we've had 15 or 16 disabily organizations write to congress, write to the leadership and saying, you know, wereed moe support for home and community-based health care. we do no want to be discriminated against as a population and people with disabilities have lost a much higher percentage of their jobs. we haven't had any advantage or focus put on us by the public policy-mers. when y talk abo vulnerability, you talk about poverty, you talk about minorities, but the disabily mmunity is never mentioned, and we think it's time to focus on that because we don't want t rock the gains we've made

over the past 30 years as a result of the covid crisis. >> woodruff: danny woodburn, as we listen to the two of you, is it truly the case of the disability community is just not heard at a time like this? >> well, i think, within our community, one of the issues that we try to -- we struggle unified message.ogether with a you know, there are so many vast types of disabilities, so m advocacy groups that police are releasing their own agenda with regard to what needs to be looked at. so it would be great if our community could get togetherin a unified message and have branches of our community speak to each other, but, you know, a you know,that sort of thing takes a lot of organization. >> woodruff: governor ridge, rest pick up on that that the community has not been unified in making some of these arguments and coming forward in the past. is that truly an obstacle here?

>> you raise a very important aspect and condition of the community of the dsabled. about two years ago, theti al organization on disability, which is basically gnostic with regard to the disability -- could be autism, could be blindness, could be down syndrome, i mean there's a range ofli disaes -- we basically say as part of our advocacy platform, we're for all of you, and we want the broader employment community to understand that people with disabilities are often the last hired and the first to let go. we're trying to speak with one voice, and the first thing we would like too is have the policy-makers reach out to the organizations and say what are the bascoicmponents of agreement, in spite of the disability advocacy groups,n there are certhings across the board we all agree upon, and that is the need for care, home and more employment options.

but i think, if nothing else,e ndemic has demonstrated that people with disabilities can add value to your organization if you give them the opportunity to work at home. they have a quality of life. ey want to work, they want to live like everybody else, and their notion of self-worth is based on what they can do for themselves, so, hopefully, when we get te ough this, peoll understand and organizations shll understand hiring people with disabilitield be a priority. >> woodruff: and just finally to both of you, a message to those in the disability community who are watching this, listening to this in terms of why they should have hope for the future. danny woodburn. w l, there are a lot of people, a lot of friends in thi advocacy world when it comes to disability. i know a number ofournalists that write and expound on thetm trt of people with disabilities, and just in myry indulone watching the change over the last four years, the change in employment with

regard to people with disabilities that i have been very much a part of in terms of helping to make those changes, seeing that is important a remembering that that path upward existed for the last several years, we want to make sure thatwe eaccontinue to c ve a voice to that path even after this pande oaf and done with -- is over and done with, that we continue on that upswing, and theto keep talking as much as possible about these issues. >> woodruff: governor ridge, ap message of he? >> there certainly should be a message of hope. ironically, americans without disabilities have been living, in many cases, in isoonla without a great deal of contact with theest of the world. for the large number of men, women and children with disabilities, that's how they live. their life.ed the quality of

they have the same aspirations as those wthout disabilities. so one of the ironies of this isolation, is i'd like to think there is greater empathy and opunderstanding of how pe with disabilities live and work and deal with their personal and family situations and, hopul during this crisis, there's a greater appreciation in the broader community of how valuable they are and how important they are be integrated and to come much more a part of our broader community. >> woodruff: such an important set of issues. i want to thank you both, governor tom ridge, danny woodburn, we appreciate t. >> we appreciate you. thank you. >> woodruff: and finally tonight, in the midst of these turbulent times, and as more

people start to venture out, gardening is providing a bit of sanity and fresh air. jeffrey brn talked recently with a man known for the gardens he's created around the world, inuding at new york's hugely popular and influential high line park. the story is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> iris iberica. see, if we go into the garden... >> brown: for everyone who tbeen locked down, spendi much time inors: a visit to the garden. >> absonia tabernay montana, euphorium, natorum. hello, duffy. >> brown: and not just any garden, but the personal creation of piet oudolf, one of the world's most renowned landscape signers. >> they are not afraid. >> brown: also, this being springtime, the birds and bees are busy. i'm outside, you're outside, but mewe're not together this too bad. >> yeah, it is-- there's so much happening at the moment, so many

things coming to flower.re >> brown: okaycognize this. y eat. this was actuallvirtual revisit: >> you recognize the tunnel where we were in? >> brown: last year, we had an old-fashioned personal tour of the farm, in the rural town of ommelo, in the eastern pa the netherlands near the german border. it was winter thenfor oudolf, the garden is ever alive, a place of emotion-- just changing shape, texture, color-- different but wondrous in every season, as he told me now from the studio where he draws his designs. >> talking about seasons, the moment you understand gardening and u are a gardener, then every day ispecial. every day is an experience, because there's alys something you will like and will find-- because it's not only abt the plants, it's also about the light and the movement. >> brown: the worlhas looked strange these past months. familiar places no longer familiar at all.

last year, we'd visited amsterdam's world-famous rijksmuseum, normally a busy crossroads. now? a few bikes, forced to keep their distance. one of the park-like spaces piet oudolf designed, chica's lurie garden, remains closed. the plants still need tending,e ring bulbs prepared for next year's bloom. many people have turned to their own or community gardens during this period, growing vegetables soul.lowers, nourishing body and gardening centers have beent among the fisential businesses to re-open. sales of seeds have soared.et udolf isn't surprised. >> once you touch the plants ant just so work with them, there's a big chance that you get lost in the world of plants and you wantperience more e gardening. you can think whu're gardening. you can think about life and how

to follow up after thiis. >> brown: since we spoke to oudolf, the world has changed yet again, with mass demonstrations in the wake of the killing of george floyd bringing thousands of people into the streets. but it's still not car what kind of impact the pandemic will have on the design and use of urban spaces, and on the public's willingness to be in close proximy. >> you see so many people, and if you look at how much distance they should have. so we still don't know what to do. but at least people want to go to places where i normally would go to, to gardens and to parks. i think that people will realize that we, as human beings, need that, to feel good. >> brown: oudolf can't travel now, but he's still working on designs for gardens around the world. amateur gardeners.e he has for >> it's pleasure and

entertainment at the same time. the garden is a sort of performance. beautiful to do it in your own way. >> brown: "per'srmance." thatn interesting way of thinking about it, huh? >> i think it is a performance. they show or they go away. they leave the stage after a few months. thespecially if you look ae plants-- the flowers, absonia, in three weeks time there's no eeflower anymore, then the come. so it's also that the changes of characr of a plant is important for how you make a garden. but what i say for people who just start gardening, anything you see at the garden centco that you likd be a good start to become a serious gardener. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, and with the hope of bei onc again in the garden with piet oudolf, i'm jeffrey brown. so nice to see that.utiful.

and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening.r l of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular offersss no-contract plans that are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u.s.-based erstomer service team is he to find a plan that fits you. to lea more, go to consumercellular.tv >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find urself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial serd ces firm raymmes. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

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hello, everyone, and welcome toamanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> this will be a home-gog celebration of brother george floyd's life. >> george floyd is laid to rest in houston. his hometown. what next for black lives in america? i ask veteran of the civil rights era, the legendary bill moyers. then as solidarity protests roll across the world,ritain is reckoning with its slavery-stained legacy. and in south africa which confronted white supremacy rule with truth, 25 years on, racism still has tough roots. i talk to author and south africa