captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. m judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> stop the pain. stop us from being tired.dr >> wf: the brother of george floyd tells congress there needs to be an end to police violence and racism. then, long lines and broken machines. a messy election in georgia. we break down what it means for the main event in november.ng plus, "reopeisks." alabama sees a surge in covid cases, and a health care system struggling to keep pace. it is impacting, disproportionately, black people in this city, in a region that has a high nber of people with underlying health sues and

>> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight'sbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity investments. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> johnson & johnson. >> supportinsocial entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. t lemelson foundation. coitted to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org.

>> supported by the john d. md catherine arthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peacef world. ndmore information at macfrg >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possib by the corporation for and by contributioyour pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the national outcry to end racial injustice has expanded tonight from proteststs in the strto appeals to congress. the setting was a u.s. house hearing, headlined by the younger brother of george floyd, who died in police custody last month. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage.

>> desjardins: one day after burying his brother george, philonise floyd walked into the u.s. capitol with a message, pleading for justice and action. >> i'm tired. i'm tired of pain. pain you feel when you watch when you watch your big brother, who you looked up to for your whole life, die. die begging for his mom. stop.ereo ask you to make it >> desjardins: he appeared committee, now working on a bill aimed at police brutality and racial profiling.yd george f death sparked nationwide protests and conversations around policing d race. philonise floyd was one of 12 panelists at the hearing. another, angela underwoo jacobs, also grieving. her brother, patrick underwood, washot and killed in oakland, california protests last month while he was wking aa federal officer and guarding a federal building. she too called out racism by some, but also pointed to blindu violence tha 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 hoed 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. we must acknowledge that law enforcement's past containsst utional racism, injustices and brutality. >> desjardins: but somean republitnesses, like darrell scott, regularly seen at evts with president trump, were cautious. i gree with the fact that police reform, or better yet, poce revision, should be enacd. but it has to be one that is sensitive to the stress, tension, pressure and paranoia that policing produces. ons.e will now proceed under ths >> desjardins: the question round, often the most heated, was largely sober and serious. asked why his brother died, floyd said officer derek chauvin, who pressed down on

george floyd's neck, km. d i think it was personal, because they wor the same place. so, for him to do something like that, it hado be premeditated. >> desjardins: authorities have not yet indicated that chauvin had a personal motive. also at the hearing, republicans pushed back at the idea of defunding the police. >> if you beeve we should defund the police, would you please raise your hand? i didn't see anyone here raise a hand to defund the police. i certainly didn't see any of the republican witnesses do that. st>> desjardins: some pane objected to how the question was asked, and said the idea of moving funding into mental health care and mmunity programs is good. the setting itself wastr rdinary, in an auditorium in the capitol visitors center, to allow for social distancing. this, days after congressional democrats introduced their police reform legislation. senate republicans are trying to outline their own plan thiswe , with south carolina senator tim scott leading the effort. the pressure on them is not just national.

today, it was personal, from heartbroken families. floyd pointed to how his brother died. >> you don'to that to a human being. you don't even do that to an animal.li hi mattered. all our lives matter. black lives matter. >> i truly hope you take your positions, your offices, so seriously you thnt to work to and collaborate, because if you can't get it right, tre is no hopf for the rest. >> 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. >> reporter: right now the republicans don't have a firm outline that hey've made public but we know, blind closed doors, they are talking about some

they seem to be hovering over a w common themes, at least the senate republicans. let's look at those in a graphic here, judy. first of all, one of those blocking choldz, we know that's something democrats want to do as well. also repub a registry of debts and mistreatment of police. that's a tricky b topcause some of them feel states should be governing that but th is on the tape table for them. also anti-whrirching legislation, legislation that has been blocked by a republican up until now, ra paul, buthe seems to be, perhaps, working with this group find a way to get on board. also a national commission on criminal justice, that idea from republicans would be similar to the 9/11 commission in scope. it could take severamonths o come up with recommendations. judy, i want to talk about whatf r, doesn't seem to be in their legislation but is a heated debatamong republicans, a couple of ideas particularly about what's called

police-called immunity, which is basically couroom decisions that have held that police have a kind of immunity from being prosecuted in many cases. now, republicans ae 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 this republican proposal as well. >> woodruff: so, lis youe mentioned a few names of republicans involved, what othee blicans is it known are eorking on this and how much urgency do they how quickly do you think we could see something? >> reporter: you know, i think it's really impoant to talk about exactly who is in the room making the decisions on this and, as wep reted, it's led by tim scott. if you look at the others on this so-called task force, it is tim scott's fello south carolinaian lindersoh cary graham, chairman of the judiciary committee, john cornyn texas, shelly of virginia,

james langford of oklahoma. these are all people who are thought to have had spent time t se issues including past and recent criminal justice reform. the urgency and timing is a bit of a head scratcher. the house of representatives, the democrats are taking theirtt bill to com next week, they hope to have a floor vote the following week. so thhouse is on a two-week trajectory to pass major criminal justice reform. the senate, it isn't clear what thr time frame yet. they hope to have an outline, maybe even legiagative lan this week, but often things take longer in the senate than the house, so we're going to have to see. >> woo for sure. and lisa, this has been such a wrenching couple of weeks across the country for the american people. we know protests in, what, 700 american cities. i want to ask you, what's the feelinerthon the hill? talk to members?cross when you what's the sense of urgency or

not there? >> i think it's really changed across this week, judy, talking to senators on monday, i didn't feel that the majority of them, republicans mostly who i spoke, with had a sense of urgency. some didlike lisa murkowskiem to be taking it in and trying to figure out where to go. urnlingsn't have th are. i think they do now. does that mean they can come up with a deal? i don't know. >> woodruff: finly, lisa, a bit of news coming from the capitol late today having to do with house speaker nancy pelosi and confederateatutes. >> reporter: 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 confederaen-- these are who served in the confederacy -- be removed from the capitol. these rticular statutes have been selected by states, they're part of the nationalatuary

hall collection. each state selects two people. most of these statutes were selected in the begf inninge 20th century, but these, again, are confederates. they include jefferson davis, president of the confederacy, the vice president robert e. lee, tse are men whose statutes are in the u.s. capitol, have been for a long time. the house spear says it's time to remove these statutes. that's a line no one has crossed before. until now they've only put the statutesin s prominent locations. one other thing, judy, this doen nolude some who were pro slavery before the confederacy like john c. calhoun depicted in the capitol four times, including twice outside thete sechamber. 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 mideapolis, where george fl died in custody, took what he dsaid is a first step tow tieeping change. he called off neions 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 employment perspective, than when you have grounds to terminate an officer formi onduct and you're dealing with a third party mechanism that allows for th employee to not only be back in your department, but to be patrolling in your communities. woodruff: the white officer who pinned grge floyd by his neck had 17 complaints against him, but he had been disciplined just once.

and in atlanta, two more officers were fired after college students were pulled and tased during a protest last month. been dismissed.ers had already there are calls to investigate w attorney generliam barr for his decision to haveor protestersbly cleared from near the white house on june 1.s some 1,250ce department employees made the request today to the department's inspector genel. meanwhile, crews removed some temporary fencing and barricades from near the white house. they'd been placed there at the heht of the protests. also today, president trump refcted stripping the names 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 its stock car racing events and properties.

the federal reserve says that it will not raise interest rates through 2022, as the economy claws back from the pandemic recession. today's announcement came as the fed projected unemployment will stay above 9% through year's end. chairman jerome powell said it is essential to keep rates near zero in a bid to boost growth. >> as you know, we lowed our policy rate very quickly, quicker than others, to the effect of lower-bound, and we said that we'll keep it thereth untieconomy has weathered the effects of the virus and is on track to achieve our goals. >> woodruff: the central bank projected that the economy willo ract by 6.5% this year, but grow by 5% next year. the country continues reopening from the pandemic, but infections are surging again. more than a dozen states arer reporting thghest seven- day averages oannew cases yet. hospitalizations in nine of those states have increased since memorial day.

all told, there have been nearly two million coronavirus cases in the u.s., th 112,000 deaths. a retired federal judge today accused the justicdepartment of abusing its power in the case of michael flynn. john gleeson blasted the government's motion to drop criminal charges against presidt trump's former national security adviser. the trial judge had asked gleesoto review the motion. thousted state department inspector general says that s t bosses tristop his review of a major arms sale to saudi arabia.an ripts of steve linick's interview by house democrats were released today. in them, linick also said that he was reviewing secretary of state mike pompeo's alleged use of staffers for personal errands. pompeo responded this morning. >> steve linick was a bad actor in the inspector general office here. he-- he didn't take on the

mission of the state department, to make us better. that's what i.g.s are supposed to do.ey ork for the agency head--e- that'smy mistake was letting mr. linick stay here as long as he did. >> woodruff: linick had been the state department's inspector general since 2013. elections officials in georgia are under searing criticism and voting machineed, inhours, tuesday's primary. amid the confusion, a democratic contest for a u.s. senate seat remains too close to call. we will get the tails, right after the news summary. and on wall stre, recession fears overshaded 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 cases. 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 forin chaoeorgia's primary yamiche alcindor reports on the challenge voters faced. >> alcindor: judy, ione of the biggest tests of the voting systems ahead of novemr's presidential election. and some voters in georgia waited more than five hours to cast their ballots. georgia's secretary of state called the problems

"unacceptae," and puocthe blame on election officials, during an interview with newshour this afternoon:dd >> all of a , we opened up these polling locations, and one of the county election directors said, "well, this is the firstha timemy poll workers have actually touched the system today." and so, if you don't provide training-- and that's really a leadership issue-- if yodon't provide the management and the oversight to train your poll works-- i know that you had covid, i get that. f >> alcindo a closer look at what went wrong in georgia, i'm joined by andra gillespie. she's a political science professor at emory university. s thanmuch for being here. obviously, a lot went wrong in georgia. what happened with the voting machines, and what do you make of the secretary of state kind of passing off the blame her >> well, in short, everything that could go wrong did go wrong yesterday. a number of things could happen. e, 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 warican-american populations that had long it times and perhaps didn't have the saff 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 outside for long periods of time. and you had this as a new voter system, so people weren't used to the system an there were problems setting it up and acclimating the poll workers the system and that was compound bid cothe vid. it would have been hard to have iaces of training andn places poll workers who refused to show up on election day because of their own health and safety and canceled at the blast mute, again, understaffing many >> reporter: sounds like a perfect storm of things going

wrong. more than one million mail' in ballots were cast. what happened there. >> particularly in fulton requested absentee ballots who didn't request them in time to turn them in for the election. so some these people had to stand line as well. also some members of their staff me down with covid 19, one had to close down the office for a period, and they wewi overwhelmeh the absentee ballot requests and doesn'seem like they were able to get a handling on it in time for people to get thir ballots. >> reporter: looking ahead to the november election, how does what's happening in georgia relate to other states and what lesson should the nation as a >> this was a dress rehearsal for november. we expect covid will be with us in november and more and more people will want to vote by absentee because it's fer and more convenient, and judging by the lines some plpeo

experienced in georgia yesterday, some people feel it's so the state of georgia and. other states not used to having most o their electorate vote by mail will have to figure out how to refine the prcesses so voters get their ballots in time, so they are returned in time, so the instructions are clear. so in georgia, specifically, this is a moment of reckoning, a ment where the secretary of state's office and local elected officials need to evalue what went right and wrong with their procedures yesterday, and they need to trto fix as much as possible, and the recriminations back and forth with local sand state officials pointing the finger at each other probably isn't hepful. there is plenty of blame to go around. there seems to be a lack of communication on both sides, in ma m instances, and, so, actually be inappropriate for an independent thirparty to come in, interrogate the system and quickly provide recommendations about what to do to go forward. >> reporter: we have about a minute left heryo i want to asabout 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 black people and people of color and how does that relate to the nation ao a whle? what systemic issues do those communities face. >> there were procedural and systemic issues, so i don't want to choke it up to voter suppression at large. the charges of voter suppression come out because some of thes precinhat 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 to ask ourselves whether there is a particular bias that routinely undercounts and underestimates the amount f 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 the long lines in voting when there are other

places that tinted have the same problems with voting. >> reporter: a moment of recksoing. thank youch for joining meerandra gillespie, of emy university. >> thank you. woodruff: americans are trying to move closer to theirti pre-pandemic rs, but there are worrying signs that the eavirus is continuing to sin some of the states that have eased restrictions. john yang has a look aone of those ates: alabama. >> yang: in the vintage cafe in montgomery, alabama, the hustle and bustle is back. >> we've doneverything from change flooring, from carpet to hardwoods. we've changed all of our practices. we are promoting the use of masks. >> yang: cooks have added extra precautions to their normal

kitchen routines. eric rivera is the executive chef. we wanted to bring all of our staff back in again, give them the proper training, get all the new training and procedures inpl ace before we decided to open we wanted them to feel safe and secure coming into our establishment, and we wanted to feel safe and secure as well. >> yang: business may be on its way back across alabama, but soe are of coronavirus, on an upward trend after april 30, the day state officials began easing restrictions. in a state where college football is king, it's news that university of alabama and auburn university players tested positive this month when they return to campus for workouts. d metropolitan areas, like .ontgomery, the state capitol, have been hard h mayor steven reed, a democrat. >> i think any time you have 337% increase month over month, that'sth problem. an's what we had from the month of april to the month of may. and we also saw almost 80% of oudeaths that we reported

far occur in the month of may. >> yang:labama was among the st states to issue a stay-at- home order, on april 3, and four weeks later, among the first to begin easing strictions. 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 and water. >> yang: in-person-- though socially distanced-- high school graduations were allowed. church services resumed. >> it's just nice to be able to family, and spend time together worshipping god. >> yang: governor kay ivey, a republican, announced the plan. >> we cannot sustain a delayed way of life as we search for a vaccine. there are many viruses that we live with, and have worked necessary precautions into our

daily lives. standing by and letting our businesses collapse while we've got hundreds of thousands of folks that are hurting and suffering is not an option. livelihood too. having a >> we can't put the dollars over the data.or and i think, unately, that's what we ended up doing at the state level. and that, i believe, cuted toome of the increasing numbers that we saw. but alsoi think it just gave people a sense that this pandemic was over and that we had won this battle. >> yang: at alabama's hospitals, though, e battle is far from over. dr. rachael lee is an epidemiolost at the university of alabama-birmingham. >> we are continuing to care for about 50 to 60 patients with covid every single day. so what that meanss that we have one i.c.u. that's completely full of patients that have covid-19, one acute care unit that's completely full of patients that are-- are being

cared for with covid-19, and every single day, we're having two to three new cases a dayg bemitted. >> yang: lee says more study is needed to figure out what's behind the current surge, but says a contributing factor is the state of health care in rural alabama. >> if you were in a-- in a smaller area, you may have to drive a long distance in order to even get a test. and that test because it has to be shipped sowhere else in order to get a result. you can see how that infection could potentially spread from one person, o the ne it-- there's a delay he getting a diagnosis. >> yang: andurrent state guidelines, she says, are too lax.s >> i think whacking with some of our recommendations is, you know, we are opeerms of the amount of people that can be around one another. rmd then also, there's no real restrictions in of mask- wearing inside retail businesses.in and i without those kind of guardrails up, it is

potentially the poibility that you can see this disease spread from person to person.al >> yang: iama, masks are mandatory for workers at places like hair salons. at envy hair designs in montgomery, it's required for customers, too. tasha curry is the owner. >> you know, everybody has to wear a mask, and then we're making everybody sanitize asso as they walk in the door. i'm right up on them when i'm cutting their hair and i'm doing the hair. i ust make sure i keep my mask on, and make sure they keep-- they must make sure theys keep theiron. >> yang: on the streets of montgomery, mayor reed wants to require masks in public, but says a majority of the city council opposes it. >> we have to dot because of the surge that we've seen in cases in montgomery. impacting, disproportionately, black people in this city, in a region that has a gh number ofun people witrlying health issues and other illnesses that make there susceptible to

suffering moreeriously from covid-19 virus. >> yang: as leaders and health care workers cfront this current rise in cases, they worry about what could still be ahead. >> if we saw another surly, we would reave to work on thinking through alternative methods to protect our hea.h care worke that keeps me up at night. >> yang: and business owners dsha curry and eric rivera worry, too-- forferent reason... >> oh, my gosh. i don't even want to think about having to shut now forer two or three months. we're going to pray 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 think about every day, is, are they going to close us back down if the cases get too high? >> yang: ...as experts say 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'm john yang.f: >> woodrlabama is hardly the only state that has seen a

spike in cases recently.re han 20 states also have had a jump in the past couple of weeks, many in the south and the west. significantly in at least eight states. let's look at this and questiono abouto get the right balance while dealing with huge economic problems. dr. ashish jha is director of harvard university's global health institute, and joins usam fromidge. dr. jha, welcome back to the "newshour". as you look at this ike in cases in some places around the country, what does this tell you? >> yeah, so thanks for having me back, judy. i am worried. i look across the country, i see about 20 states, as you sa where cases are rising, and it probably reflects what happened out three or four weeks ago, as our country started opening upun aromemorial day, some states even before then. what we're seeing now is cases rising, and the biggest question in front of me is what's going to slow that down, because i

think there's no appetite for shutting those states back down again. the other tool that helps, testing, tracing and isolation, we don't have that built up the way we neit, and, so, i'm really worried about what the next few weeks and months are oking to loike. >> woodruff: so i heard you say it probably is connected to reopeninel is it definconnected? i mean, is there proof of a connection? l, you know, proof is hard, and we've seen so much variation across states. i mean, some states, fo instance georgia, i was very worried when it opened up and thought it was openg up too early, we have not seen a spike there. so part of it alis loc circumstancepart of it is that opening up means different things in different states, but all the evidence suggests that, just don't know if we have, i definitive proof of that. y >> woodruff: a mentioned testing because you do hear the argument from some quarters that now there's more testing available. this may account for the higher

number of infections thaare recorded. >> so i think testing is a small part of the increase. i don't think it's the whole story. i actually think that, whileg test better than what it was, it's still far from where it needs to be, and, obviously testing is not going to explain the increases in espitalizations that we seeing, those are really just from the infections and people getting sick from the infectio s. >> woodrufwe hear what you are saying about you're woied and you don't seeoi what is to slow this down going forward. at the same time, you have thise passionate ar on the part of people like governor ivey of alabama who said livelihoods matter, too, we have tget people back to work, back earning income. how do you strike the right balance? >> yeah, so i am very sympathetic to that argument that livelihoods matt course they do. we know there's a huge health and psychological cost of the economic shutdown. the point here is, as cases go

up and rage across alabama and other states, i think going to have a direct negative economic impact on that stateit i thin going to be hard for the economy to fully open up. what i've always argued for is we needed to bring the virus levels down, we needed to bring in a testing infrastructure and then open up more safy so we could have an economy and save gives. we're sort of ma to do neither. >> reporter: and, so, do you e a way to signal to the leaders in these states who seem to have made up their minds that they're going forward to put the brakes on this, to some extent? >> yeah, so what i have been saying to states is if yu're starting to see these kinds of increases, you have to put in some amount osocial distancing. i understand you may not want to do a fulowl loc but you've got to think abwhat you can roll back, you've got to ramp up testing and tracing, you've got to go everything you can to slos down thead of this virus because once it gets out of

control, you will have very few choices and forced to shut down and that would not be a great outcome for anybody. >> woodruff: dr. jha, i want to also ask about asymptomatic transmission of cvid. world health organization put out a statement a day or so ago saying there was less evidence of transmission of infection by people without symptoms but then turned around and corrected that. tell us the accurate -- what is accurately understood to be the case for people who don't hae symptoms but who do have covid. >> yeah, based on all the evidence we hae right now, there is no dubt in my mind that people without symptoms dos transmit these, they can and they're actually a pretty major source of infection. so i think that was a misstatement by w.h.o. it was very unfortunate. they have walked it back. asymptomatic spread is a real part of what makes controllingi thisase so hard. >> woodruff: and finally, dr. jha, i want to ask you about this because there are questions

raised in a number of quarters. your institute, other places forecast a much higher nefoer beds than has turned out to be the case in a number of states and a higher infection rate we've heard predicted.gr was there toim a scenario that was forecast, do you ink, 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 aw theread in the u.s., and i think everybody laid out what were potential scenarios. it's one of those stuations where then i think we acted very ceaggressively. ainly in march and april, much of the country was shut down, and we were able to rtail this. so i don't know -- i personally don't think we overrcted, i still feel like we did the right thing in shutting down the country. e newest evidence is if we hadn't done that, we woumi have

had 60ion more infections, probably half a million more deaths, so we prevented that. did the policy, was it perfectly tuned to every single region of the country? probably wasn't, but i think, overall, theresponse, so far, on that front has been right. we just haven't done th other stuff we need like the testing and tracing infrastructure that would allow uso opup safely again. we've talked about this before, judy, that continues to be, i think, an achilles heel of this response in the country. >> woodruff: dr. ashish jha joining us once again, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> woodruff: now, to syria, and the brutal war in its 10th year. amid depravity and rened bombing by the air corps of

bashar al-assad and his russian backers, a new worry-- coronavirus.sc as nicfrin reports, people who have suffered so much, now are preparing for an unseen foe> chifrin: in a small office prepare for another war, against the coronavirus. for weeks, they have feared a ghtmare-- an outbreak within a war zone-- so they're making homemade covid-19 tests. >> ( translated ): there is only one testing machine in all of idlib province, for fo million people. it's not enough. so we decided to startinesigning a mathat would allow for testing multiple samples for coronaviruin a short period of time. >> schifrin: to get to theirha workshop, ayouk walks through a homemade disinfecting mache. they're also making ventilators, out of wooden boards and plastic tubing. they hope to make hundreds for local hospits. >> ( translated ): we decided to create a ventilator aith what was ble.

there is a big shortage of ventilators in hospitals he. >> schifrin: in a nearby textile factory, workers make masks thau will cost $4 a box-- a discount compared to the $12 set imported from china. >> ( translated ): there's been a huge irease in the demand for masks here because of the virus threat. we imported all of the rawro materialturkey, and we're stitching everything here by hand. >> schifrin: after ten years of war, syria is ill-prepared for another catastrophe. syria's health care system has been destroyed. the u.n. says russia and thegi have targeted more than 80 medical facilities, just since december. half of all hospitalare out of and that was before covid.

>> schifrin: last year, the syan regime and russian military launched tmajor campaio recapture idlib. in janua, they declared a cease-fire, and the bombing slowed. but this wee syrian and russian planes launched air strikes, designed to retake the opposition's final stronghend. idlib has he last point of refuge for millions of syrians internally displaced. and in cramped campssocial distancing is impossible. and the pandemic has put basic needs even more out of reach. food prices are spiraling. nearly ten million people are now food-insecure. residents struggle to find enough water. shortages make hand-washing a luxury. as for power-- in some places, generators are the only source. 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 his

canvases go where lives have been extinguished. he created a george floyd memorial on all that's left of a blown-out building. >> ( translated ): there used to families living here withies, children. the killing of george floyd kes us think of the killing of young people from thrian regime's chemical gas. we are with black americans and feel their pain. for so many in syria, a gesture of humanity from those who've experiend inhumanity has now been defaced. 300 miles away in kurdish- controed northeast syria, more than 100,000 people live in the al hol camp. healthcare workers do their best toanitize this medical ten and teach proper hand-washing. there's not enough tesng to know whether covid cases are low. but, here in the northeast, at least the rdish red crescent can create a medical facility without fear of attack. for now, syrian civilians are doing what they can to preve

another nightmare. fatima is eight. >> ( translated ): wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, and when you sneeze or cough, you do this. >> schifrin: fatima is younger than the war, but now s to prepare for another battle. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: nearly one in four disability.ive with a and for some, that means having a higher likelihood of getting the coronavirus.vo tes are now sounding the alarm that congress needs to do re to help society's mos vulnerable. i spoke about this with former pennsylvania governor and former homeland security secretary tom ridge, now the chairman of the national organization on disability; and danny woodburn,

an actor and aisability rights tivist. we began our conversation by discussing how those with disabilities are affected in this pandemic. >> first of all, i think there's a fear around going aund. obviously this community is more at risk but also there's the notion that decisions might be being made with regard to life and whether or not aty of person's quality of life is worth saving. so and we talk about advocacy, for example, having an advocate in the room for people with disabilitiesespecially with someone like down syndrome who hato go ind cnd have a family member or a person who has been working with them over the years to help them make care, so this puts them more at

risk, and there's policy being looked at now that is a bit scary to people with disabilities that that determinations are being made,ge like whos a ventilator basedyo onknow, physical and cognitive ability. how the virus might be afecting them and whether or not they get to keep a ventilator. >> woodruff: goernor tom ridge, as somebody who's been involved with the disability community for a lo time, are these issues that have been discussed in the past, or is this something that is just now for the first time being thought about seriously? >> one to have thehallenge that danny and i and the broader disability communityti organis are dealing with is that we've made modest changes and very important an positive changes since the passage of the americans with disabilities 30 years ago. this is the 30th anniversary ye of a.d.a. but what has happened during the

cod cries, durinis pandemic, is that we're seeing that, for the first timin 30 years, we don't have a seat at the tae. there have beeseveral rescue packages coming from washington, d.c. and appropriately are trying to reach out to those most affected 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 disility organizations write to congress, write to the leadership andw, saying, you kne neemore support for home and community-based health car d not want to be discriminated against as a population and people with disabilities have lost a ch higher percentage of their jobs. we haven't had an advantage or focus put on us by the public whpolicy-makers. you talk about vulnerability, you talk about poverty, you talk about minoties, but the disility community is never mentioned, and we think it's time to focus on that because we don'ttoant roll back the gains we've made

over the past 30 yea as a result of the covid crisis. >> woodruff: danny woodburn, as we listoen to the two f 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 with is coming together with a unified message. you know, there are so many vast types of disabilities, so many advocacy groups that police are releasing eir own agenda with regard to what needs to be looked at. so it would great if our community could get together into a unified message and have these different, you o branches of our community speak to each other, but, you know, as you know, that sort of thing tas 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 t community disabled. about two years ago, the national 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 of disabilities -- we sically say apart of our advocacy platform, we're for all of you, and we want - the broad employment community to understand that people with tisabilities are often the las hired and the first to let go. so we're trying to speak with one voice, and the first thing we would like to do is have thek policys reach out to the organizations and say what are the basic components of agreement, in spite he disability advocacy groups, there are certain things across the board e all agre upon, and that is the need for care, e and community-based services,

and more employment options. but i th, if nothing else, the pandemic has demonstrated that people with disabilities can add value to your organization if you give them the opportunity to wt home. they have a quality of life. they want to work, they want toe live like rybody else, and their notion of self-worth is based on what they can door themselves, so, hopefully, when we get through this, people wila unde and organizations will understand hiring people with disabilities should be a >> woodruff: and just finally to both of you, a message toe th the disability community who are watching this, listening to this in terms of why they should have hope for the future. danny woodburn. >> well, there are a lot of people, a lot of friends in this disability.rld when it comes i know a number of journalists that write and expound on the treatment of people with disabilities, and just in my industry alone watching the changever the last four years,

the chnge in employmtot with regard people with disabilities that i ve been very much a part of in terms of helping to make thcosnges, seeing that is important and remembering that thatt pah upward existed for the last several years, we want to make sure that we each continue to have a voice to that path even done with -- is over and doned with, that we continue on that t upswing, an to keep talking as much as possible about these issues. >> woodruff: governor ridge, a message of hope? >> there certainly should be a message of hope. ironically, americans without disabilies have been living, in many cases, in isolation without a great deal of contactt wi rest of the world. for the large number of men, men and children with disabilities, that's how they live.

ted the quality of their life. they have the same aspiratio as those without disabilities. so one of the ironies of this isolation, is i'd like to think there is greater empathy and understanding of how people with disabilities live andk and deal with their personal and family situations and, hopefully during this crisis, there's a greater appreciation in the broader community of how valuable they are and how importanthey are to be integrated and to become much more a part of our broer community. >> woodruff: such an important set of issues. i want to thank you both, governor tom ridge, danny woodburn, we appreciate it. >> we appreciate you. thank you. >> woodruff: and finally toght, 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.y jeffown talked recently with a man known for the gardens he's created around the worl cluding at new york's hugely popular and influential high line park.e thory is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> iris iberica. >> brown: for ever who'sarden... been locked down, spending too much time indoors: a visit.o the garden >> absonia tabernay montana, phorium, natorum. hello,uffy. >> brown: d not just any garden, but the personal creation of pi oudolf, one of the world's most renowned landscape designers. >> they are not afraid. >> brown: also, thiseing springtime, the birds d bees are busy. i'm outside, you're outside, but we're not together this time. too bad. >> yeah, it is-- there's so much happing at the moment, so ma

things coming to flower. >> brown: okay, i recognize this. great. this was actually a virtual revisit: >> you recognize the tl wherwe were in? >> brown: last year, we had an old-fashioned personal tour of the farm, in the rural town of hummelo, in the eastern part of the netherlands near the german border. it was winter then, but for 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.ng >> talbout seaso, the moment you understand gardening and you are a gardener, thenda everis special. every day is an experience,e' because thalways something nlu will like and will find-- because it's notabout the plants, it's also about the light and the movemee . >> brown: rld has looked strange these past months. familiar places no longel. familiar at

last year, we'd visited amsterdas world-famous rijksmuseum, normally a busy crossroads. now? a few bikes, forced to keep their distance. one of the park-like sces piet oudolf designed, chicago's lurie garden, remains closed. the plants still need tending, the spring bulbs prepared for next year's bloom. many people have turned to their own or community gardens during this period, growing vegetables and flowers, nourishing body and soul. gardening centers have been among the first essential businesses to re-open. les of seeds have soared piet oudolf isn't surprised. >> once you touch the plts and just start to work with them, there's a big chance that you get lost in the world of plants, and you want to experience moreg of garde you can think while you're you can think about life and how

to follow up after this crisis.> rown: 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. n but it's sti clear what have on the designse ofemic will urban spaces, and on the public's willingness toxbe in close ity. >> you see so many people, and if y look at how much distan they should have. so we still don't know wt to do. but at least people want to go to places ere 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. i asked what advice he has for amateur gardeners. >> it's pleasure and

entertainment at the same time. the garden is a sort of performance. it's beautiful, but also beautiful to do it in your own way. >> brown: "performance." that's an interesting way ofki th about it, huh? >> i think it is a performance. they show up or they go away. they leave the stage after a few months. especially if you look at these plants-- the flowers, absonia, in three weeks time there's no flower anymore, then the seeds come. so it's also that the changes or chacter of a plant is important for how you make a garden. but what i say for people whoju start gardening, anything you see at the garden center that you like could be a good b start ome a serious gardener. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, and with the hope of being once again in the garden withm iet oudolf, ffrey brown. >> woodruff: h beautiful. so nice to see that.

and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us athe pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been ovided by: >> consumer cellular offers no-contract wireless plans that are designed to help you dmore of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> life isn't a straight line, and sotimes you can find yourself 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. s >> financivices firm raymond james. >> the ford undation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

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