captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: covid continues. health leaders urge vigilance, as the virus surges in parts of the u.s. and hospitals face an overload of patients.th , trump agenda. we discuss the pandemic, protests, and more with supporters of the president at his last rally. plus, american legacies. questions remain about the purpose, pronence, and historical context of public statues and other merials across the country. >> a lot of these monumes represent times that members of my family and my culture and m race have suffered. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.>>

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>> and with the ongoing support of thesenstitutions: >> ts program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.by anontributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. -1 >> woodruff: covkeeps spreading across swaths of the united states, and nationalll experts are g congress they are worried. they are also calling for more testing. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage of the day's events. >> it's a mixed bag-- some good, and some we have a problem with. >> desjardins: from the nation's top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, the latest assessment of where things stand, more than three months into the pandemic.

he and three other top national health officials testified at a congressional hearing.at he top of the agenda: rising numbers of cases across much of the sunbt. >> we're now seeing a disturbing the next couple of weeksre going to be critical in our sbility to address those sur that we are seeing in florida, texas, and arizona, and in other states. they're not e only ones that e having a difficulty. >> desjardins: in fact, a dozen states across thsouth and southwest are hitting new infection records. w hot spots are emerging, even as some states move to reopen their economies. th includes places like myrtle beach, south carolina, a popular vacation spot that's helped bump the state's new infection rate-- wn adjusted for population-- to fourth place nationally. still, fauci said toy he is optimistic that a vaccine to counter the spread cld be ready by the end of this year, or early next. and he vowed that officials will not cut corners to get there. >> i would be very disappointed

if we jumped to a conclusion before we knew that a vaccine was truly safe and truly effective, because i wouldn't want a perpetual ambiguity of not knowing whether or not it is truly safe and truly effective. >> desjardins: also testifying today, admiral brett giroir, assistant secretary of health at the department of health and human services.he ocused on testing. >> the only way that we will bet abunderstand who has the disease, pass it, and do appropriate rtntact tracing, is to test appropriately, s, as many people as we can. >> desjardins: that's become a contentious point with administration, after president trump said he called for scalin- back testse said bluntly because testing was driving up case numbers aides said he was kidding, but today came this. >> i don't kid. let me just tell you, let me make it clear.

>> desjardins: leaving t white house for arizona this morning, mr. trump doubled dow >> testing is a double-edge sword. in one way, it tells you, you have cases. in another way, you find out where the cases are and you do a good job. >> desjardins: back at the house committee hearing, fauci said that, in fact, the preside has never asked them to cut back on testing. >> none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. that just is a fact. in fact, we will be doing more testing. >> desjardins: all of this as the virus continues to ps new milestones around the world. cases in south africa topped t 100,000 todaaling nearly a third of all infections across the african continent. the spread is also accelerating in india, where 15,000 new cases were recorded in the past day. the picture is starkly different elsewhere. >> today, we can say that ourio long nl hibernation ise

beginning to c an end, and life is returning to our streets and to our shopss: >> desjardinritish prime d nister boris johnson saie country will begin to ease social distancing restrictions, including at pubs and restaurants, by early july. for e pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> nawaz: lisa reported, texas is taking a particularly hard hit right n. the state recorded more than 5,000 new cases in aay, a new all-time high. for about a week now, texas has been reporting roughly 4,000 new cases a dayd e houston region is reflecting those broader trends with nearly 32,0 cases overall and almost 500 deaths in that regi. for a report from the front lines, we turn to dr. hillary fairbrother. she works in emergency medicine at the texas medical center. dr. fairbrother, welcome to the newshour and thanks for being with us. let's talk about those numbers, that surge in infections we're seeing across texas. what are you seeing on the ground in houston?

>> so on the ground in houston,f i am ditely seeing an increase in cases. we're seeing an increasin volume in our emergency department, both public and private, and we are seeing more and more people worried that they have the symptoms ofro virus. >> nawaz: we should point out stay-at-home order. governor abbott issued that for all of april.h ever since ten, texas has been on a steady march to reopening. now thatou're seeing this surge in infection, do you think that's due to the reopening? >> you know, texas was an anomaly, so when we first started dealing wth the coronavirus pandemic, like everyone else, we had these horrifying projectionshat was to come and all sorts ofy scientists reaying to prepare us for what to expect when it came to the pane mic and mber of people who are sick and all of those things, and in txas those numbers never came true, and so initially the governor, like many others

governors, iued stay-at-home orders and everyone stayed at home, and socially isated. the business and economies were shut down. k after, yow, a decent while of not seeing those numbers come pass, the governor and the state started to open, and without a question, coronavirus has never left the houston community. we have always had cases. we all had this kind of steady spate of cases that was in our community. t so i don't think thayone could say that reopening did not erversely affect the nuof cases. think can we handle this is increase in volume. >> nawaz: we mentioned the new all-time single-day high today. governor abott also said yesterday the virus is now spreading at an unacceptable rate. he's urging people to continue social distancing d wearing masks and wash their hands. do you think that message is getting out, and are those practices enough to slow the

spread that you're seeing now? >> so i applaud the governor for those important messages. we do. we beg you, please stay at home. please socially distance. please wash your hands. and when you absolutely have to go out, please wear masks. this helps everyone and this includes people like myself who have to eo to work so w can take care of everyone who gets sick in the city of houston. whether it will be enough to keep... in my mind we have this duty. pe reod the state, and that was so important to so many businesses, but we always haveal toce everything, whether it's the economy or any other resource, with our healthcare resource that we have available, with the nuber of ventilators and isue beds and hospital beds at we have available. and it is when one of those ings becomes comety imbalanced that i think we will see our state and the city of houston really suffer. so it's just about balance.

whether the increased urging to to people and changing their behavior, i think it haset to be seen. there has to be some more personal accountability so that hopefully we can keep ourp economy and also take care of and have the resources to take cwe of anyon gets sick in the state of texas. but it's a balance. >> nawaz: it is a balance indewe. e wishing you and the people in houston all the very best. dr. hilary fairbrother, houston emergency medici. physici thanks for being with us. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president trump vowed to sign an executive order against tearing down statues of confederate leaders and others. he cited a federal law that punishes vandalism of monunts

to military leaders by up to ten years in prison. >> we are looking at long-rm jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators, and-- call them whatever you want. i will have an executier very shortly, and all it's really going to do is reinforce more uniform way.e, but in a >> woodruff: we will take a closer look at this debate, later in the program.e esident spent much of the day in arizona, touring the b southeder wall before his visit marked manhoenix. 200 miles of wl built. that mr. trump hadsed toe total build by year's end. mourners gathered in atlanta today for yse funeral of rd brooks. police shot and killed brooks as he w running away after an attempted arrest for intoxication. today's neral was held at atlanta's historic ebenezer

baptist churchwhere reverend martin luther king jr. once preached. the f.b.i. now says a noose found at a nascar speedway i alabama had been there since october. it was in a garage space assigned last week to bubba wallace, nascar's only black driver, for weekend race. the f.b.i. says that means there was no federalrime. in mexico, a powerful earthquake rocked the southern and central parts of the country, killing at least two people. thousands of people in mexico city took refuge outdoors, as the tremor swayed buildings. initial damage reports were relatively minor. the quake also triggered small tsunamis along the pacific coast.

new york, kentucky and virginia held primary elections amid the pandemic today.y, in kentuemocrats chose a u.s. senate nominee to face republican majority leaderitch mcconnel the convention center in louisville served as ae, giant polling place for more than 500 precincts. through, with relaase.owed >> this process was very smooth, very simple, very easy process. people walked you through, everybody was there, i loved it. people need to understand the new norm and get with the program. there's nothing wrong with this process. mail-in or coming out to the one location. >> woodruff: other voters complained that the single site was too far fromhere they live. officials also faced an outpouring of mail-in ballots. and on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 131 points to close at 26,156. the nasdaq rose nearly

75 points, and the s&p 500 added 13 still to come on the newshour: protests, and more with, supporters of the president at his latest rally. questions remain about public statues and monuments across the country. cevid-19 compounds already-dire circumstin war-torn yemen. and, much more. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, president trumpst traveled to the of arizona today. our stephanie sys in phoenix, and joins me now. hello, stephanie. you are just outside of the president's event. tell us what else you've learned

about his visit to arizona today. >> that's right, judy.de i am outhe dream city megachurch here inenho. the president landed in this coronavirus hot spot to hold a rally at this urch behind me, which has the capacity of about 3,000 rcople. the chi am told is filled to capacity waiting for the president to speak. this was billed as an event for students, but we saw much more than students here, really a mix of ages that we saw, and it's 110 degrees ouhere, so it does feel like a slightly more low key trump raly, jus handful of atmosphere that i'ed tonival earlier today, thesident was near yuma, arizona. he had a roundtable with border officis, and the white hou had touted that visit as a way for trump to talk about the 200r miles of der wall that had been built.

in fact, since trump took office, only three miles of new barrier has been erected. judy? >> woodruff: so stephanie, you told us that you talked to some of the people who waited for hours in line to get in to see the president n this 110-degree heat. what precautions are being taken around health and around the covid virus?e >> thre people that were waiting for hours in this heat,t judy to, g in to the church. that also means they've been sitting inside that church with the circulating air for hours as they're waiting for the president to take thege. some people were wearing masks. i would say about 20% were wearing ma tks inhis heat. a lot of people said they would put masks on once they got inside the venue. some people said they would not put masks on unls they were forced to do so. and a few people really said they were making a polatical ent by not wearing a mask. >> i think

>> i think the whole covid thing is kind of like a slipperyop pgee what they can get away with. they see how many people arego g to be sheep and wear masks, and they say "c"okay, ife get away with that, what other rights can we infringe upon?" >> now the phenix city council, judy, did pass an ordinance just a few days ago requiring people to wear masks in public plhces, but thenix mayor said she's not planning to enforce that and hand out citations d $250 fines among the people at the rally. and, of course, not with the. president eith i will say that a local reporter inside that i've been talking to says there is absolutely no social distancing in there, and there is a minimal amount of mask wearing. obviously this mass gathering goes against c.d.c. guidelines the mayor's statement today also said there really is no safe way to hold a rally like this in this pandemic. >> woodruff: stephanie, one other thing, we know all this

takes ace at a moment, a time of widespread public protests over rial injustice, including protests there in phoenix. what are some of the prppesidens ters telling you about all that? >> you know, we did speak to at least one person who was sympathetic to the death of george floyd, but overall what we heard is a focus on those isolated incidents of rioting and loong, including at the scottsdale mall that happened here a few weeks ago as as oppod to thinking or talking about the legitimate grievances of the black lives matter.here is how r we tech to earlier framed the issue. >> it's divided. i don't think it's donald trump's fault, i think it's the left.ey re definitely pushing narratives that-- there's always been police brutality. it's nothing new and i think that black people kill black people more often than that, anyway.

i thk that's the least of ou concerns. >> that is a cmon refrain from people who oppose or don't support the black liv matter movement, judy, as a way to detract from real incidents of police brtality. i will say that earlier today i spoke to a white famy that had come out here as sort of a mini counterprotest. they were holding small signs that said "black lives matter." their children were holding enthose signs. asked them about their political persuasion, they said simph, we'reristian. and on that point of protestors, we're not seeing them right hee in the vicinity of dream city church, but we do know on th perimeter there are several protestors, anti-trump protestors that have shown up. >> woodruff: all right. stephanie sigh reporting from the site of esident trump's visit right now to phoenix, arizona. thank you, stephanie. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: as the country faces a moment of reckonings about eatment of black americans and other people of color, the display of memorialst monuments anues is being re-examined once again. president trump doubled down today, thr for vandalizing or destroying statues. part of our race matters coverage, we begin with thi report from jeffrey brown. s >> brown: s on a horse, tall in the saddle: theodore roosevelt, 26th t president of united states, in a pose symbolizing american strength and confidence. but below him, two men-- a native american and an afran, nameless figures in different poses, and for many, different symbols: of american racism and brutal expansionism. sunday, the american museum of natural history in new york announced it would remove the statue from its central park entrance, where it's stood since 1940. it's keeping roosevelt's name elsewhere in the museum to honor

his role in conservation. the removal brought different responses. >> if this makes some people upset-- we don't worshipwh statues, snot tear it down? >> it's terrible. i think that when you start eliminating history and you start eliminating statues... here, through the history. got >> brown: the killing of george floyd and its aftermath haveou brght demands for racial justice, and for a new reckoning with american history.ig last n, protesters in washington's lafayette square tried to pull down a statue ofen presidandrew jackson, before police moved them back. the protests first centered on confederate monuments. the giant statue of robert e. lee in richmond, vginia has en the site of massive demonstrations. ( eers )as in whington, d.c. on friday night, demonstrators pulled down a memorial of confederate general albert pike.

( cheers ) the same night, protesters in raleigh, north carolina ppled a confederate statue. ( cheers ) the next morning, crowds cheered as historians and analysts have noted, many of these statues were built well after the civil war, and with a purpose well beyond remembering and celebrating the past. >> the first real push to erect these monumentwere in the early 1900s, and this was also, at the time, right after emancipation, during the reconstruction era, and at the beginning of the establishment of jim crow laws. so, these monuments went up specifically to assert white supremacy and to intimidate african americans. >> brown: their impact is felt by many to this day, including john jones of california. >> monuments represent times that members of my family and my culture and my race have suffered. >> brown: but the passions and demands for pulling do

monuments have moved beyond those of civil war figuresis statues of cpher columbus have been deface bor brought doprotesters, who see not the great discoverer of the anamericas, but a colonize destroyer of the indigenous population. in albuqueue, new mexico, street battles broke out over a statue of juan donate, a 16th century colonial governor known for his cruel treatment of native americans. the statue was finally removed. and the legacy of the nation's founding fathers, such as george washington and thomas jefferson, who both owned slaves, continues to be fought over-- again, statues have been toppled. heritage sites have grappled with these issues in a variety of ways. two years ago, for example, jefferson's monticello home added an exhibition dedicated to the life of sally hemings, an enslaved woman who had a decades-long relationship with jeffern.

historian niya bates. >> we, as american don't address some of the more complex issues of slavery, of sex, of power, of owrship. and that is what is really interesting about sally hemings and her story.: broher countries have gone further than the u.s. in acknowledging and attempting toa reconcile lecies of racial oppression.01 in 2 protests at the university of cape town in p south afrimpted the removal of a statue of cecil rhodes, a diamond trer and colonial leader. but in the capital, etoria, t now calledwane, then-mayor solly msimanga told me in 2017, he wanted to keep fiatues of olderes, while adding heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle. >> i am against taki o down any kistatue. i'm all for having all statues, and usg them to tell a part of history. i am not here because a certain part of hiory didn't exist. i'm here because that history

happened. >> bwn: in recent days, we heard from some in this country about how they feel about the monuments. michelle sewell of maryland: >> we're going to take down these monuments. and the monuments that are too give them context or put them in museums so we kn where we were as the united states of america. beuse you keep saying that as if it means something. so let it mean something. >> brown: xander matik and dillon marks are supporters of president trump. they spoke outside of his rally in arizona today. >> i mean, we can't erase our history, even good or bad. the statues of different figures from history, i think that's totally wrong. country, and there is, ofthe course, a racial divide. tut i think having these s up leaves a reminder not to go back to these events. >> brown: monuments or the pas miof our embattled present.ho for the pbs ne, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: aseff reported,

the debate and activism in many communities right nondgoes well behe tributes to the confederacy. let's pick uthe discussion with three people who have given this a lot of thought. peniel joseph a professor at the university of texas at austin, examining issues of race, society and american politics. w. fzhugh brundage is a professor of history at the chapel hill.f north carolina- and arielle hudson was one of six studen who petitioned the university of mississippi to relocate a confederate statue on campus. we welcome all of you to the newshour. thank you so much for joining us. arielle hudson, to you first. why was it so important to you and the hers to get this statue, this monument down? it was imortant because of the rich racial history that is at theit univeof mississippi. i think because of its close

g es to the confederacy specifically durat time, most of the enrolled students saw in the war on the confederate side.ty so the univef mississippi's history is not new in terms of the white suprema and the oppression that it has played now, and so once it came that actually unfolded as fenway park as us decided we wanted to write a resolution to get the statue relocated. but i think the camissue came when students started to become sere vocal about these symbols that we wereng on our campus and what that meant to african american sdents and how that could potentially affect african american enrollment and the retenon of african american students. we knew that those symbols had to come down.f: >> woodritzhugh brundage, there does seem to beo public support for removing some of these monuments, these statues that are so offensive to

many americans. e we in the middle of some kind of shift as a result of the focus right now on racial justice, do you think? >> absolutely. i ink the shift began in 2015 after the massacre in charleston. it's been accelerating, but it's certainly acelerated with an intensity and speed i wouldn't icipated. i think the real sign of that is the efforts to transform monument avenue, which is arguably the most sacred confederate space in the nation, the fact that monuments are being removed or there ar plans to remove monuments on that avenue tells you hoanw fard how quickly we have proved in the last couple years >> woodruff: peniel joseph, how do you see that? there are public opinion polls showing an increase in sentiment foremoving these symbols of the confederacy.

how do yosee change in the thinking on the part of many americans? >> well, judy, i think we have a generational opportunity to transform american democracy, and people are really acting and taking proactive steps.n these ents are part of that. nascar and the confederate flag is a part of it. what the n.f.l. has done and said that black lives matter, but these symbols of white supremacy, i think mre and more people realize that those symbols actually are connected to substance. so when you have a society that glorifies white supremacy and anti-black racism and these memorials dedicated to people who try to preserve that and try to portray the union, people are coming around to the fact they don't want to live in that society. so in a way gettingry of those monuments brings us closer to the beloved community that martin luther kiat talked of

as free of racial and economic injustice and free of violence against any of ourns citi >> woodruff: and tov%w you, arielle hudson. the focus is wdening nw beyond the confederacy. we saw the statue of teddy roosevelt, president rooseveltmi down in new york. there was a statue next to him of a black man, an african man symbolizing the continent of african, tat's coming down. last night in washington protestors tried to take down a statue of andrew jackson. how do you think about what should be standing and whatd should comwn? how do you think about drawing that line? >> i think that they should co down. i think it was only a matter of time before those monuments that are dedicated to our founding fathers also came into the conversation of what monents will stand, how their legacies will continue to be reognized, because the fact is that the very foundatn of america was founded on slavery and the

oppression of people who re not of european descent.s i think this conversation that's long overdue for our nation. i'm glad that we're finally addressi monuments and statues that are notnfederate monuments. that are the monuments and statues and legacy of pople who embraced even as president the idea of white supremacy and te oppression of black labor and black people and indigenousle pe >> woodruff: and fitzhugh brundage, pick up on, that because the conrsation does go back to the founders of this country, not just andrew jackson, but geosrge wahington, thomas jefferson. how are americans, should americans be thinking about it? how do you think about it? >> i think it's a very good queson, and i agree, it's a long overdue conversation for us to have. i think there are -- i think we're going to have to probably engage in conversation that i might calli trage.

we'll have to decide some basis upon which to decide what toe lentact and what to take down. i think, for example, a monument to teddy roosevelt that clearly represented a hierarchy of civilization with white people at the top and primitive people in air quotes beneath, that is a very problematic statue. there are other statues to teddy osevelt, for example, that we may choose to leave up. there are certain figures li andrew jackson that i think are going to be very vexing for us to decide how to commemorate drew jackson. there are others i think it will be probably a long time before we get in a cabonversatiout whether or not we want to rename the state of washiton after someone else. so i agree that we need these conversations, and i think the to come up with a way to dealve with the complexies of the want to honor and who it is who

we don't want to honor anymore. >> woodruff: i want you to pick up on that, peniel joseph,e because weaising some very hard questions here. how do we honor or do we continueoo hnor the very founders, the founders of this country,he people who came here originally from europe to settle this country, and yet pushed out naive amicans. a lot of questions being raised about them, aut christopher columbus. how far back should this go? >> ithink the positive here is the conversation and really forcing all of us tsquarely confront the history. so i thito the hi of american democracy is filled with both triumphs and tragedy, but when we think abut this ideal of american exceptionalism, we often evade the tragedies and we just foc on the triumphs. so i think that you can talk about american democracy and talk about george washington, thomas jefferson, and slavery and racial slavery and also say that, well, people like frederick douglass and sourner

truth and harriette tubman took those words and expanded them and turned them into deds and created the most expansive, thrilling, democratic exprierimt in an history. so even though we have flawed origin, we can say those origins provided a template to build that beved community and for this great opportunity that we have to trafo american democracy and make it a democracy as good as it's citizens. so i think having that conversation is very, very important. if we can embrace that history its totality and in its complexity, there are going to be some people who we now know more deeply about and intensel about when we say, look, those statues can remain because thpry ided a context for others to build upon these ideals and thea make them a lity. i think the low-hanging fruit is the confederacy. the confederacy should all be

relegated tobe museums, cause they tried ttray american democracy. the confederate generals are war criminals, and thehave nothing to do with the ideals that the founding fathers hadte articu >> woodruff: arielle hudson, who should be making these decisions? clearly what happened on the campus of ole miss was led byst ents. it was a locally made decion. t are these conversations that should be made in washington, d.c.,? should they be made in local communities? how should we think about it in because there may be some communities th would have a different view of say a christopher columbus or a tddy roosevelt than other communities. >> i think that the conversation to start at the ground level within our communities, our elected officials are elected to represent us to be our voice in waeington, and even at local and state level. so i think that having communities, having those conversations first within our community is, you know, the

stepping stone to create that larger conversation within oural acolitical spector. >> woodruff: fitzhugh brundage, as we go foard, should there be some sort of structure to all this, or is this just soething that's going to evolve? >> i think we should expect this conversatin to go or a long time. the one thing that i think national political leaders should do is they should encourage this conversation instead of announcing this conversation or the cyontrove about monuments, they should recognize it for what it is. it's a conversation abut wh we want to honor in our past. it's entirely appropriate for us to have this conversation, especially at this moment in time. so if national leaders would simply support that proce, they don't need to be actively involved in it, just endorse the process and let the people get on with it. communities will decide what

should stand in their midst. >> woodruff: and peniel joseph, finally, maybe that's a reference to president trumpot amonrs. he's basically said that people should be punished, arrested if they try to bring down these statues, who should be doing the bringing down and who should be deciding wh comes down an what stays up. >> well, i think local peop b shou deciding, but i think with the mass demonstrations we've seen, we've sen the passions that these monuments have elicited. more than just who we honor. i think these monuments are deeply connected to racial avery and the wealth that has historically and how that wealth continues to remain unpaid and unaccounted for. so these monument rest minus of this deep investigation into the american past that we have to do that'sll around us that a lot of times ignore. these monuments were built at ar timed where mesh was at a different crossroads still

trying to wrestle with these ideas of plaque -- black tizenship and black dignity. now we're at another crossroads in 2020, still wrestling with the same issues, but it seems like we havmomentum to finally achieve our country in a way that's free of racial injustice, that's free of that past history of brutality and that embraces the compressionty of who we are. >> woodruff: well, it is a consider sayings that's eing had across this country right now. we want the thank all three of you. peniel jositzhugh brundage, arielle hudson. thank you so much for joining us. woouff: it was near dawn today that two large explosions rocked ritadh, saudi arabia,

smoke billowg in the morning sky. the missiles came from yemen's iran-aligned houthmovement. violence in yemen is surging, after a six-week ceasefire prompted by the pandemicnded last month. the war-ravaged nation has been facing disease and hunger for six years now. special correspondent jane >> reporter: every day in yemen's southern city of aden, they're digging more fresh graves, struggling to keep upwi the rising body count. rows of deep mud hol ready to accept the dead, as families bury their loved ones quickly,th ittle ceremony. graves have alreadbeen filled.bu these ar days for grave diggers like mohammed o'baid. >> ( translated ): thankfully yesterdaand today have been better, with less funerals. before, had about 50 to 60 dead a day. we hope to god that people live longer. b reporter: officially, there han fewer than 300 deaths in yemen from the virus.

but the bodies keep coming, and with limited testing, there is no real way of knowing how many people across the country are sick and dying. war, hunger, and disease have already ravaged people here for six years. now, death stalks this country again, in a new cloak. >> ( translated ): we hear of so many casesf people dying, and sometimes from our friends in other places too. recently, our next door neighbor died and no one knows why.>> eporter: in yemen, the virus is only the latest in a long list of calamities. e war here broke out in 2014 when houthi rebels seized 'antrol of the capital, sa their support comes from neighboring saudi arabia's arch enemy, iran, so the saudis anrmed a coalition of locad foreign forces to fight the houthis their aerial bombing campaign, supported by the united states,c and a de of rebel-held areas has destroyed much of the country's infrastructure, and collapsed the economy. the houthis constantly interfere

with international aid sent to help, trying to tax the goods and force aid organizations to give them control over distribution, leaving millions of innocents to suffer. severe flooding struck aden last month, damaging whatever was left of sewage and water systems, only helping to spread the disease. now, some ightened medical staff are refusing to come to work, according to dr. ishraq al subaee, a vernment officialo tryingntain the spread. >> ( translated ): medical personnel are terried, as all medical staff in the world. around five of them have died. >> reporter: theat intenally-recognized government isn't able to offer much help, since they are all in self-imposed exile in saudi. arab >> i am very worried because i can be infected. risks, dr. hisham farook still comes to help his patients every in this hospital in taiz, on the front lines of yemen's war, the need has never been more desperate.

for the people of yemen, the fighting brought with it pestilence. diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, dengue fever, malaria, have all run wild, and now, covid-19. add to that, devastating hunger. 80% of the people here rely on aid for their survival, and famine continues to strike the most vulnerable here, unable to afford to buy food with the country's economy in tatters. half of yemen's medical facilities are shut down because of the war's chaos and destruction. >> if 100 confirmed cases emerged that required health care, i'm sure that the rest of the health care system will collapse even more than it is now. stopping the violence. is not it's only getting worse. peace deals and cease-fire agements are failing once more, and even the united states has stood in the way of callsyi for down arms.he last month.s. blocked a u.n. security council vote that onlled for a global cease-fire

to help combat cirus. in an email to the newshour, the state department wrote that their "goal was always to suppt the secretary general' call for a global cease-fire. unfortunately, the people's republic of china wadetermined to use this resolution to advance false narratives about its response to the covid-19 outbreak in wuhan." the u.s. provides intelligence and logistics to saudi arabia and its coalition partners fighting in yemen, while american firms have profited through billions of dollars' worth of weapons sales. involved in yemen to a certain degree, needs to actually back these efforts for a ceasfire and not block them. >> reporter: samah hadid is the spokesperson for british charity oxfam, a major provider of aid on the ground in yemen. >> the country cannot deal with ongoing fighting and a health crisis of this magnitude. so instead of hindering peace ocesses and peace talks,

government like the u.s. needs to actually back the calls for a cease-fire and back efforts for warring sides to actually come together and containhis virus. >> reporter: right now, the oppote is happening. fighting between coalitionhe forces andouthis rages on, and now a second war within this war is emerging. while saudi-led coalition air strikes rain from above, yemeni groups on the ground do the fighting. those factions are a mixture of militias and government ldiers. supposed to be fighting the houthis, now, they are also fighting one another. saudi-back government troops are clashing with separatist groups. yemen's north ansouth were once two separate countries, and they hope to gain independence once again. >> from our point of view, the peace will never happen unless the south becomes an independent

state and also the north is an independent ate. >> reporter: the government of yemen did not respond to our request for comment on the coronavirus or renewed fighting. >> ( translated ): no one cares about us-- not the separatists, not the official government, and not n.g.o.s. everyone just cares about their own interests. >> reporter: in the rebel-heldl, capitaana'a, the houthi government has banned all filming by foreign media. the grouinsists there have coronavirus cases in the capital, and has not released the aid agencies.st results to yemen has dealt with disease, famine and conflict for so long, it's hard to imagine a place less prepared to handle a pandemic like this. for 30 million people who have alreadysuffered so mucei the odds on daily struggle to survive grow ever longer for the pbs newshouri'm jane ferguson.

>> woodruff: distance learning, or learning from home, has been a difficult experiment for many and underscores gaps in access, income and race. school districts are now trying to figure out the fall. william brangham looks at that, right after we hear from some viewers about their own experiences. my name is jose kincaid. i'm a second grade teacher in baltimore, maryland. most of my students are primarily spanish-speaking, as their first language. online learning in one sentence or one, one-half a sentence, it would just be organized chaos, ansometimes not even organized. just chaos. >> my name is maria sa i live in the state of california. i have two children. because we didn't have internet

at home-- or wi-lo-- we had to for a provider, and we only have-- there's only one provider that services our area., and ween there was add to that one provider. so whatever they're charging is we're going to have to pay. >> my name is julia garcia. i am the mother of 12-year-old girl. i live in california and she just finished sixth grade of distance learning. it is exclusively self-guided. and i do belve that built into that system is an assumption that there is a parent at home that isufficiently familiar with technology, that is sufficiently comfortable with some teaching methods in general, and that has me and avaibility to engage with the studenon some level. >> so, the teachers have done a terrific job. my kids have a lot of a.p. classes and-- orrchestra classes, you know, things that you would think would be difficult with distance learning.

but the teachers did a great job with the a.p. classes, the orchestra classes, maintaining e workload for the students, communicating with the students. >> my name is judi hayes. i live in florida. i have my husband. and then we have two sons who n are 12 ae. our nine-year-old has down syndrome.fo we'vd that in terms of distance learning, even though paraprofessional and the teachers have undertaken what i would consider to beerculean efforts to try to get him the help that he needs, it really just isn't working because he doesn't have as much assistance as he needs to get him to attend to his task and to just to be as successful as he needs to be. >> my name is megan reid and i am a sixth grade math teacher. i have two daughters. my youngest is in second grade and my oldest is in fifth grade. i honestly, i can use the word "terrified" about distance

learning in the fall. i just i feel like no one knowsr it's newtory. we don't know what we're going through. and everyone is so up in the air and-- about it and how it should work and what it should look like.el >> my name iabeth wayland seal. i live in rhode island. i have four kids. the youngest is seven. the oldest is 14. two of them have autism spectrum. fall-- if my seven year old has distance learning in the fall... i can't. he can't, i can't. no. no, no, no. h >>e two boys-- alex, who's 11, and mattel, who's 14. the idea that kidsill wear a mask in the classroom, that they'll stay six feet apart? i feel that was all p by people who've never actually been in the classroom. >> do i want it to continue? how do you keep fi-year-olds, when you have 20 of them in one classroom, socially distanced? that's a concern that i have. w

especialn five- and six- year-olds put everything in their mouth, and they touch everything. and it creates almost a petri dish environment, even outside of covid. >> brangham: as you just heard, there are a lot of different opinionsbout how best to educate kids in the middle of this pandemic, and we turn now to someone whose sole job is doing just that. dr. mark bedell is the superintendent of kansasity's public schools in missouri. he oversees the education of more than 15,000 students, my of them black and brown students, and 100% of them qualiffor free school lunches. superintendent bedell, very good to see you. i see from your outfit today, you've been presiding over some of the many graduations you're having.ng tulations today. before we talk about what happens come fall-- could you just tell us a little bit about nghow this year was, educat >> i will tell youearned a

lot about some of the disparities that exist inside of thurban corridor of kansas city. and when this pandemic hit us towards the end of march, we realized that while weavede ces, a lot of our families did not have wi-fi access orev more-- broadband access. and we felt that had put u already behind the eight ballrs once that week in april started. >> brangham: so literally, you eruldn't even go on the assumption that kid could access a digital classroom. >> that's correct. >> brangham: so that's a huge challenge just to-- just to get kids over that technical hurdle. how did the instruction go over the course of the year? >> so i will tell you that ourri di worked hard to create a digital platform that included professional development for our teachers. now, i think that's something that we ran into where a number

of our teachers had opportunities to do the digital professional delopment, and we found that we had teachers in different tiers. some were exemplary. there are a number of them that would fall in that average category. and then we had some that was i the lacktegory where they needed more intensive support. >> brangham: so, do you have plans? what's going to happen come fall for you guys? >> well, i can tell you right now, we have ordered enough laptops that everybody in our system, even including our pre-k kids, will be able to have a devi, so if we're in a situation where we have to go10 virtual, our school district is prepared. right now in stock available for our families. w and t i'm doing now is working with a federal task force here, to be able to provide broadband internet connectivity, not just for the urban communities, but we're also looking at it for the ruraa

communities e we have a number of rural communities that are impacted just like we are without having the connectivity. >> brangham: i mean, obviously,n there's socosts associated with teaching in a pandemic. do you have the budget you need to educate the kids the way you think they shod be educated? >> what i will tell you is, because we have been eellent stewards of our budget, we do have a very healthy fund balance here in the kansas city public our board is in the process of getting ready to approve the budget for tomorrow. but when i don't have all of the information that i need right now, we're still waiting on some guidance from our state department of education, we're still waiting for guidance from our health department, we are still waiting on and guidance. from the c.d and what we told our board is, we would love to be able to come back probablsometime in mid- july, now that we're starting to llect survey data from o families to say, "here's the things that we've learned. here'shat we believe we will

need in order to get through the hool year if a scenario happened, scenario b, your scenario c." >> brangham: all right, superintendent mark bedell of the kansas city public schools. congratulations on graduation. i hope you have a good summeruc and goodin the fall. >> thank you. and i appreciate you having us participate in this hearing. >> woodruff: on the newshour expressed agony over police killings of black americans in recent weeks, black bookstore owners say they have seen titles on race and racism flying off their shelves-- the same books they have been carrying for years. we explore how they see this surge in interest on our website, www.pbs.o/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.

thank you, please stay safe, ane we'lyou soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes throughn your with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> consumecellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> johnson & johnson. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations inuc ion, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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(soft music) - [host] as asian americans, we celebrate our history at the same time that we constantly recreate our entity. in this episode, we're going to meet people who take that process of creation in new and exciting directions. we'll sit down with the editors of banana, a magazine creating a voice for contemporary aan culture, invisit an urban rice padd the, and talk to the creator ngof the hot chinese cookiblog,. we'll also spend time looking at the future of asian cocktail culture, and how traditional asian brewsn like saksoju are growing in popularity. join us as we celebrate innovation in this episode of lucky chow.