rising temperatures and climate change, and we must protect the ctaptioning sponsored by newshour prons, llc >> woodruff: good evening. rm judy woodruff. tonight, covid ae: how disparities in alabama are the state sees record numbers of hospitalizations. then, forest under siege. illegal logging devastates the congo basin rainforest, an area of critical importance ithe fight against climatchange. >> ( translated ): we will die and lose everything. children will suffer, th will die from the effects of rising temperatures and climate change, and we must protect the forest from logging. >> woodruff: and it's friday. mark shields and david ooksam e the ongoing pandemic

response, the president's threats against cities, and the race for the white house. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: lu >> consumer cr understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.t >> the knight foundation.. fostering informed and engageds.

communit more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributio to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the nation ends this week with 145,000 deaths to date from covid-19 and infections spreading rapidly beyond 4 million. still, the white house renewed a this fl.ay to see schools reopen press secretary kayleigh mcenany cited revised guidance fror the centers sease control and prevention. >> we believe that students

should be going back to school because the effect on a child we know, sciently, they are not affected in the same way as t adult. again, i point yc.d.c. guidelines on this that says the best available evidence indicates that if children become infected theyikre far lessy to suffer severe symptoms. >> woodruff: president trump had acknowledged yesteay that reopenings at some schools may need to be delayed. in another development, mcdonald's aounced that customers at all of its u.s. locations will have to wear sks starting next month. officials in seattle warned today against federal intervention in protests this weekend. a team of custom and border patrol agents arrived last night, to prott federal buildis without notifying local officials. it followed nights of violence and vandalism in the downtown.an mayor jenny duaid today federal action could incite new trouble, and she urged calm. >> don't take the bait. don't buy into it.

cebe pl. if you come out into the streets nld raise your voices, not is it your right but in many ways it's your obligation. but for those who are bent on destruction, thoseant the fight to come, i say to you stop. >> woodruff: meanwhile, in port, oregon, demonstrators massed ain at a federal courthouse overnight. security fend federalwn a agents again fired tear gas to disperse twd. the top federal prosecutor in oregon said today at least 18 people have been arrested in portland this week on federal charges. president trump's former personal attorney michael cohen was isreleased from today for a second time. a federal judge had ordered him freed. he ruled the government revoked cohen's medical furlough earlier this month, as retaliation for a planned, tell-all book. and lying to congress. taxraud

china has ordered the closure of a u.s. consulate as a diplomatic rifttheeps growing. targeted office is in the western city of chengdu. it's a reprisal for the closing of china's consulate in houston. >> ( translated ): the current situation in chinese-u.sot relations ishat china desires to see. the u.s. is responsible for all this. we once again urge the u.s. to immediately retract its wrong decision and create necessary conditions for bringing the bilateral relationship back on track. >> woodruff: workers at the chinese consulate in houston loaded moving trucks today. they faced an afternoon deadline to clear out the complex. the state department says the consulate was aggressively spying and stealing covid-19 e search. and stice department says a chinesresearcher who allegedly concealed her military ties is now in custody in san francisco.

she faces charges of visa fraud. in turkey, muslims hiday prayers at the iconic hagia sophia, for the first time in 86 years. president recep tayyip erdogan was among thousands who prayed at the 6th centuryite. it was originally a christian centuries.hen a mosque for it had been a museum since 1934 back in this country, hurricane iidouglas is headed for ha leaving people to try to shelter and keep social distance at the same time. orm could bring 100-mile- an-hour winds and 14 inches of weekend.the islands this and, in the gu of mexico, tropical storm hanna is moving toward landfall in texas tomorrow, with four to eight inches of rain. and, on wall street, stocks slumped, in part over coerns about u.s.-chinese tensions. the dow jos industrial average lost 182 points to close at

26,469. the nasdaq fell 98 points, and, the s&p-500 slipped 20. still to come on the newshour: illegal logging devastates the congo basin rainforest, critical in the fight against climate change a new analysis shows control of the u.s. senate is up for grabs in november. and much more. >> woodruff: there's been a great deal of attention on the spike of covid cases in ates like florida, texas, arizona and california. with it profoundlysuch asggling louisia and alabama. alabama doctors and nurses are seeing record numbers of wispitalizations associate

covid-- more than 1,500 the more than 9,000 as of today the state has reported more than 1,300 deaths since the pandemic began and there are 70,000 plus cases. stephanie sy has a report tonight on how the virus has hit especially hard in a county in h e central part of the state and how huge heasparities among black residents are leading even worse outcomes. ♪ ♪ ♪ just walk around, walk around heaven all day ♪ >> reporter: a 90-degree july afternoon, deep in lowndes county, alabama, is nothing like a "walk around heaven." but the mourners came anyway, to pay their respects to a pillar of the community--dead at the age of 50 from covid-19. >> we're here for e homegoing service of pamela sue rush. >> we got no heating in the house. mdahter cry every morning saying its cold in the house >> reporter: prsela rush was featured on the pbs

newshour in 2018, in a report on extreme poverty--showing the squalsid conditions she wa living in-- no sewage system and making her and her childrens sick. >> i need to get out of this nduse, because there's mold and stuff in there a it's bad on your health. >>eporter: animals were getting in, she lamented, showing the trap cages. >> got diabetes, and i don need to get bit by no animal. >> reporter: she couldn't have known then that a much bigger risk lay ahead. the tragedy of pamela rush's life and death has deep roots-- her neighborhood was built on former quarters--and the abject poverty she experienced can be traced back to the lega of slavery in the southern black belt--so named for the fertile soil that lay the foundation for cotton plantations. >> i was devastated. >> reporter: catherine flowers is a cousin of rush's and an environmental justice activist advocacy work.ush in her >> hi, my name is pamela rush.

i'm fromes county alabama and i live in a mobile home with my two kids. >> reporter: in june of 2018, rushthers testified before a congressional committee as part of the revived poor people's campaign. >> they charged me over $114,000 on a mobile home that's falling apart. >> i was devastated because we did not get a chance to get her out of the trap that sheas in and to let her benefitrom the work that she had been doing all this time to move her mily from the home that she was staying in. >> reporter: pamela rush's is byly one of the lives claime the pandemic in lowndes county. terrell ans is the county coroner. >> my average calls a week would be one or two before the covid, but after covid came it started

picking up. 5-7 a week. >> reporter: so far, 533 cases and 26 deaths from covid 19 have been documented in this sparsely populated place of less than 10,000 residents. the virus has infected 1 in 18 17 people there--the highest infection rate in alabama and one of the highest in the country. like rush, many people here have diabetes, which experts say pu them at higher risk of death from covid-19. >> anyone in your family with a history of diabetes? >> yes sir. >> dr. george thomas, the only i doctthe county, suspects 60-year old elvis harrison has it. >> we can let you know before you leave if you do have diabete >> reporter: harrison takes the test and gets results on the spot.>> ou are a diabetic. and we some medicine.t you on >> i was kind of surprised that i did have it because i got rid

g most of the cookies and rid of the candies. i guess i'll just have to stick with the fruit. >> reporter: dr. scott harris is the state's top health officer. >> alabama is not the healthiest state to begin with, and our african american population disproportionately suffers from a number of chronic health problems. and when thehave a serious systemic infection, then it just makes it that much more difficult for them. >> reporter: throughout the nation, the pandemic has had an outsized impact on african americans, b in lowndes county, history may help explain why. this is a map that shows a pictorial representation of then 1860 alabama cs. >> reporter: african americans are represented in blue-- and whites in red. >> so, all of ese blue segments here represent enslaved people. >> reporter: dr. harris says if you look today at where lee most pe in alabama have chronic health conditions it matches ere the most slaves live during the 1860 census. >> so the legacy of these

enslaved people in alabama isod still felt in the health disparity that we have. the african american population in alabama make up more than a anthey make up approaching half of all deaths. eq reporter: founder of the l justice initiative bryan stevenson says lingering trauma also affects health. >> lowndes county saw lots of black people lynched, pulled out h their homes, beaten, tortured, drowneged, and that crtes trauma. that creates an emotional injury, a psychological injury. and then you combine that with a lack of employment and then most criticay a lack of health care, and you will make an alady vulnerable populatio more vulnerable when it comes to covid. >> reporter: there's no hospital in lowndes county today, and there wasn't one in 1965, when dr. martin luther king, jr, the late john lewis and more than

3,000 supporters passed through on their way to montgomery. but the gains of the civil rights movement have not reversed the downward trajectory in lowndes county. >> we have failed to acknowledge e role of injustice, inequality and bigotry in creating many of the conditions that continue to make us sick. >> reporr: but there are nally signs that times are changing. since 1940, a confederate monument had stothe hayneville town square in lowndes county.me it bore the of confederate soldiers whose families owned slaves, among them pamela rush's ancestors. in the wake of the protests against the killing of george floyd, the monument came down iu . >> to be quite honest, i never thought i'd see it in my lifetime. that history that nument represented was very, strong and representedhe terror that was inflicted upon

our family.>> reporter: terror d by systemic racit put catherine flowers' cousin pamela aeat risk when covid-19 came to lowndes county. >> it is hard. i couldn't buy my children the stuff,hat they need. >> reporter: that soft spoken voice in front of members of congress somehow echoes louder in her passing. i have to make sure that in pamela's memory and for her children's future to make sure that we dismantle these structures that kept her trapped. >> reporter: america's reckoning with racism will come too late for pamela rush, but perhaps it will arrive in time for bianca and jeremiah, left too soon without a mother. for the pbhour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: the democratic

republic of congo is a massive country, the size of alaska and texas combined. it's also home to a large part of the congo bin rainforest, the world's second-larst after the amazon. it is the habitafor countless species, and crucial to ictigating climate change as it soaks up atmospharbon dioxide. one of from illegal and uncontrolled logging. in partnehip with the pulitzer center, special correspondent monica vilmizar reports >> reporter: pygmies have lived in the forests of the democratic republic of congo for generations and after five years of campaigning the village of lokolama, became one of the first indigenous communities in the country to be given titles to their ancestral land. in march 2019 the whole village celebrated when more than 20,000 acres of forest was handed over to them to sustainably manage. but the joy and dancing was short lived. fast-forward to todaand village elder joseph bonkile

says that the threat of climate change and widespread logging is ruining that dream. >> ( translated ): we will die and lose everything. our chilill suffer, they will die from the effects of rising temperatures and climate change, we must protect the >> reporter: the government of congo d.r.c. has a forest code that determines which trees can fo cut and how many, but there is little ement. despite international and national laws designed to foprotect the rast, from 2001 to 2018 congo d.r.c. lost 6% of all the forest in the country, an area similar to the size of mississippi. congolese environmental activist irene wabiwa accus logging companies of abusing the system. >> many companies are using fraud to legalize what is not legal. ground is that these companieshe

are coming, using their own power and money, they get permits and they falsify or modify it to get more volume of timber that they will cu >> reporter: why do you think the government is not doing more, who is responsible for this and why are they not doin enough? >> governance in congo is poor, and corruption is very high, soh you have power, you have money, you can do what you want in the forest sector. >> reporter: greenpeace s campaigned against illegal logging for many years. itue argtimber consumed globally should be traced to its origin. normally, a system of marks enses that each log that is cut down is accoted for. the marks mirror those at the stump and also have information about the location where the tree was cut.np but grce says, much of the timber leaving congo is cut without permission and manages to reach the final destination with counterfeit marks or permits. we joined environmental activist etienne kasiraca on a fact- finding mission deep into the

forest. many of congo's forests are only accessible by river boat. >> the reason why so many african parks have been spared of logging is because th infrastructure is so poor it becomes very expensive, but this is not the case here in this part of the d.r.c., because congo river is such a good means of transportation. >> reporter: we arrived at a edncession operated by the congolese registakri bois corporation. kasiraca decided to visit the si now as he had heard that the timber workers were on strike, and we could enter the concession. these places are normally guarded, and off limits to visits from environmentalists and reporters. licenses and paperwork are the only way to prove the timber is legal, and that loggers are not chopping down trees that are too old, too young or endangered. but kasiraca says he has rarely seen a company operate with a vad license in this area. o you think a lot of this is going on in the congolese forest?

sl>> ( tred ): yes, it's a major problem, not an isolated case, in other areas it's even worse than here, the forest is being pillaged, no one respects r:e law. >> reporhat do you know about the paperwork that this corporation has for instance, do they have a license to be cutting this wood? >> ( translated ): they had a license to log20ere issued in 8, it was valid for that year, but has now expired, but they still continue logging >> reporter: the logs are tied together forming makeshift rafts and floated to the capital kinshasa. this is the port of kinkole, one pr the many hubs in and around kinshasa used foessing rainforest timber from the congo basin. many of these trees facing the chopping block are hundreds of years old. local authorities check the mark on the timber to see that it corresponds with the right permit. the log number, the owner's name or initials, the month and the log number, correct? n routi represen 300 small- scale loggers kn artisanal loggers. he says on average people like

him only cut down ar 150 trees per year, while large- scale industrial loggers cut down tens of thousands. under congolese law, small scale loggers are givea special permit to work in their local forests. bugforeign companies are us these licenses to log on an industrial-scale. next to this port and visible from the air, there is a large timber mill operated by a chinese company, where hundreds of logs piled up. we were not allowed to film inside. >> ( translated ): the chinese logging company has pushed down prices so mul that artisan gers like us can't compete. weanach only afford to float our logs down river once a year, while the chese company brings we two full ferries of wood each . >> reporter: widespread logging ofhe cgo basin continues to go unchecked and this trend of deforestaon is set to go on with irreversible consequences. for the pbs newshour, i'm monica tivillamizar in the democ

republic of congo. >> woodruff: the story was filmed before the pandemic with president trump trailing former vice president joe biden in nearly every major national poll, democrats see more opportunities for gains not just in the white house, but also in the senate. lisa desjardins breaks down the races to watch. eg desjardins: republicans the new year as the favorites to hold the senate in november. just take a look at the cook political report's senate predicons from january, showing an uphill battle for democrats. a number of lind safe seats for republicans in red. just three toss-up seats in yellow,

but now, a very different picture. the updated map, published llsterday, shows an increasing number of those toss-up seats. every ratings change-- with the exception of alabama-- favors democrats. here to explain what happened is jessica taylor. she's the sena editor at the cook political report. jessica, so excited to talk about this wild year in the senate. tell us what's happing. >> what we have seen is the past w months everything has changed because f the pandemic, we have seen the political ground shift under republicans and move towards democrats because of thatas well. so, even we were beginning to sort of see some politica shifts happening in march, but seen is a map that is now drastically favoring democrats. we now see democrats as a slight favorite in order to flip the senate that is because democrats have expanded the map. you have republican incumbents, this is a map where republicans

are almost ent irely onfense except for that alabama seat that you mentioned largely. and possibly in michigan. but we noisy states in ss up like georgia, iowa, montana, none of these we expected to be at competitive at the outset of this year. >> desjardins: you mentioned this is because of the pandemics but itto do with the president 'response to the pandemic, that right? >> it does. as president trump's approving ratings have dropped as we see his standing inhe presidential race as it msoves towaravor joe biden as we have the favorite to win the presidential ce. that is very much hurting republics. and republicans at i hav talkedto recently they senate as their last firewalls. >> desjardins: let's together us on some of these fascinating races, start in maine senator sun collins used to be the

most popular u.s. senator, at least one of them. now she is in the race ofher life against sarah gidneo, tell us about this. >> susan collins emdies how difficult it is to a centrist over the past four years has drastically remade itself into trump's image. she finds herself in real trouble and it is because, again, there is no sort of centrickism that you are able to cae out with trump. you're either with him or without him that is hard lesson when she rode to confirm brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. she voted pto acquitsident trump in the trial. all that have is really her in the state.sives agnst that sort of coalition ofaway republicans, democrats independents that she had been tle to build for re-election. she faces a veough challenge

from state house speaker who has been drastically outraising her as wjal. >> dins: let's get in couple more races. in arizona we ha another republican woman with a big halling that is march martha mcsally, what is going on there. >> she's interesting because she is incumbent but she was not elected. that is the late senator hn mccain's seat. so this is actual low a special election that is being held. mcsally was appointed to the seat after losing what was a very contentious race in 2018 against kiersten sinem remarks, and even republicans is democr democrat's best recruelty across the ard in marklly, former tronauts. hu gabrielle giffords is very loved in the state, too. so she has very tough task, she has very high negatives still from that race. she had to move right to win a primary challenge. and sh ois not sof been able to tap back toward the center very effectively at all.

>> desjardins: another race, north carolina, tom tillih ise incumbent. he's running against an army reserver, relatively unknown, why is this race even in play. >> it is the plate of the state again ariztea that is a se battleground so is north carolina. a very close margin thre in 2016. and is goingnto bee of the closest races this time around. no senate i seats attracting more money, more outside money than this seat froboth democrats and republicans. going to be a battleground atth presidential level. freshman republicans that won in 2014 which was a big year for republicans, they took back the senate.x now ars later they're political climate.different a former state senator, a veteran, he sort of has that centrist democratic blue doggish

type profile and that's one that they thinkng appeal not just to suburban voters but possibly to rural voters as well. >> desjardins: jessica tay taylor. "cook political report." i think we'll be talking to you some more. thank you very much. >> thanks, lisa, great talking with you. to the anals of shields ands brooks. h that's sent dated couple nest. so gd to see both of you. let's pick up, david, with what we were just hearing. about these senate races moving in t direction of the democrats. what is going on here? i would say among republicans what had been concerned now turned into full door upon i ca esident is behind 12-123 points in the polls. way behind in these states. that was survivable if you were a senate candidate in 1980 whn you could run we ahead of the

party. that doesn't happen any more. in 2016 ere was basically no tickets, if the president waed the senate run. super hard to win when your president is lose can. i don't think there are any republican candidates who have successfully found a posture, how to be royal republicans. you are not onoking at arizona and colorado which seemed good but we're talkinga, like iand georgia. those should be solid republican seats. it's just a complete collapse it looks like right now in the polls. >> woodruff: and mark, as lisa pointed out the year started out with democrats worried and thinking they might not be able to s take tate. are you surprised at this turn of events? >> i am judy.d i'm surpriat a couple of things. david is right tab democrats being on the offensive and republicans being on the

defensive. iat surprises me, it should not surprise mthat this has been the pattern when a president gets in trouble, his senate colleagues face e same thing very often. in 2016, for example, ever senator who won in the state that the presidential candidate of that party carried. and in 2008 when barack obama swept only one republican survived in a state that obama had carried, that was susan collins in maine some three term ago. and we saw in 1980 david mentioned 1980, 12 senate seats which in 1980, giants of the senate, george mcgovern, john culver all wentrdown that y. and republicans won the senate for the firstype in 26 years. why, because the president

the top of the ticket was just incredibly weak, jimmy carter was at 31% job approval in 1980. george w. bush was at 0% job approval in 2008 even though wasn't on the ballot. he had the financial collapse, iraq going absolutely south on him. this is what republicans face ri t now is thatme kind of climate and that's why they are worried. >> woodruff: and david, it's interestin because as we just heard in lisa's conversation that thesera democc candidates candidates, they turn out to be candidates who ar talented in an election year when people are payingattention to the challenger. so often it's the in couple want who is favored. >> so off incumbe has the money advantage that is not the case right now. marklely in arizona has twice as much money as the incumbent.

big fundraisers, lindsey graham is raising huy amounts of mon money. they're getting the money. but i think it's not ev e campaign. it was once said that this year is like the flu, is the 32 with the egs, 1968 with the war. so we have all of that all a once. and i think it's just not an election like any other. much more intense politial era much more revolutionary climate and in this kind climate if ever it's unprecedented, we don't know. i just think you're going to see something much vaster than we think in a normal political year. woodruff: and, mark at the same time the democrats who are running who are challenging these republicans have to be in a position to take advantage of what comes their way. >> exacty, judy. i thought the point in lisa' piece that jessica made ws so

important is that nobody has been able to figure out how todi ance themselves from trump effectively. leading republicans who did distance themselves from ump, jeff flake and bob corker both found themselves on the outs. jeff fake of arizona, outside the senate. how do you do that. how do you walk that li. richard nixon used to say, say anything they wanted to other stpublicans, say anything for me or against me jin. there was a practicality about it. donald trump doest have that same approach. it's total loyalty to him which is coming with increasing litical price, as david mentioned the numbers currently in polls. >> woodruff: anding of the president, david, what we're seeing from the president w was just yesterday announcing republican convention isn't least in jacksonvny more, at

the big event that they had planned. but you also have him being judged on moan hourly basis by the way he's handling that pandemic. sending federal agents in to american cities and threatening sendem into more. i mean, that the at -- that's the political reality that this presidential ra is taking place in. >> well, the loss of the convention bad news r donald trump because 's behind he needs some event that maybe shift the race. and he's down another on all that's left is the debates. so -- he'll give speech i assume some sort of convention speech. but it will just be another day at the news cycle. the violence in portland is something i am curious about.i ink most people, certainly i'm appalled,es namelrandom officers acting like this is not a democracy. acting like this is some sot of

fascist state. on the other hand, there is a lot of violce in portland. and if you go on republican news the violence of the protesters. o donald trump is tried to recreate a 1968 law and order llmpaign and maybe th wi turn some minds about that. maybe there will be a sen of panic, i tend not to think that. the violence is not widespread, it's in one place. i think the general trend most peoplelook at th and say, are we turning into a political state.but that sense of -- we nw wed order i think that wa see trump appealing to some people who are genuinely scared, if they are genuinescly ed, which i'm not sure about. >> woodruff: mar is that a tack that could be effective at this time when the president is facing so muchcriticism for the way he's hammed the ndemic. >> judy, he's dealing with a pair of deuces right now. if this were poker game. he's playing where you can play,

that seems to be maybe a soul to soul meeting with roger stone after his pardon. and was reminded of the best scenes from 1968. the reality, judy, is 39 states saw increases in coronavirus and the covid-19 this past week. we had four million cases for the first time. the one point i've seen any republican encouragement is that the first time donald trump seems to be taking itslseriou he doesn't do it well. he reads it. he cannot read from teprompter teleprompter, no one ever taught him how to do it, it's not very convincing. but he had a week wherhe was at least addressithng gravity of the situaon and acknowledging it d acknowledging that in spite of

the record heat wave in hishington and elsewhere in the country year that it's not going to miraculously disappear in hot weather. >> woodruff: meantime, just quickly, because i do think there's somethg else i want to ask you about. you have t republicans in the senate unable to come to any kind of agreement, david,ov what sorof relief to give the american people with these additional unemployment benefits about to run out could. this be a potical serious blunder for the republicans if they don't ke theght move? >> i think so. the economic crieis still ongoing. and the i would we solved it temporarily give pele $60 checks. now that republicans either want to cut it to $200 which is insult in time of crisis or steve mnucin reform in the middle of a cries for bureaucracy that are bare y k keeping it together right now. and so, it seems -- it seems

just luke when republicans have to have a complicated thought they revert back to fiscal discipline. but this is not the time for that. they should be shoveling out the and their own political intere interest. >> woodruff: mark, i do want to turn both of you in our final secos here to john lewis, of course, the civil rights icon, someone who laidhis bodon the line for what he believed in, who fought in his quiet way for civil rights his entire life. you had many occasions to be what would you say about john lewis? >> one of the absolutely disar sarming qualities of congressman lewis, whenever you ran into him, he held out his hand, hello, my brother, how are you? i don't know -- no matter how

many timesit happened. judy, you put it best. a poor sharecropper of alabama born in the segregated south. and he put his life -- he put his body on the line. lincoln memorial.he was at he was the fire brand that they were worried about speaking before martin luther king. 25,crses the pettis bridge, the right to vote that denied clstematically by state after state ing his own. and he had his skull fractured, his bot dy broken never his spirit. he was incredible gentleman. he w l incredibader. incredible example, he left america so much better than he found it. people talk about changing the isme of the bridge to john le bridge, which is fine. what they ought to do pass a voting rights act after court

decision of 2013 which easily thought this problem was over, we have seen systematic denial of the rht to vote whether it's cutting polling places, cutting hours, purging of list, i.d.s, voter i.d.s, and that would be the testimony and memorial that john lewis would be appropriate, a real voting rights act. >> woodruff: he will lay -- people will pay his respects to him next week his funeral is one week from today. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> woodruff: as we come to the end ofnother diffilt week, we want to take a moment to honor just some of the many lives lost to covid-19.

rene chavez had big dreams and an active imagination, said his wife, annette. paionate about the animated" he-man" series from the 80s, rene launched a successful podcast called "nerds on a couch," where he and his friends discussed, debated and reviewed comics. rene even drafted his own sci-fi stories. >> hello, rene from "nerds on a couch" here. >> woodruff: as a high school english teachein el paso, rene would often loa students to encourage them to read more. rene was 45 years old. dr. alyce gullattee was a spiritual person. her pastor said she had a particular affinity toward people who felt left out. activist in the district of addicts and h.i.v.nts; shedrug educations and feed families in

ed. for more than 50 years, the mother of two served as an esteemed faculty memr at hord university's college of until her passing age of 91, she gave up hepassion for dancing. ken kirkman was a friend to all, but especially to the underdog, his family said. ken-- who was 74-- and his wife karen, grew up on the same street in salt lake city and were high school sweethearts. during their fifty years together, ken served in the army and as a mortician during the vietnam war. church.also a bishop in their the couple hosted countless family barbecues with their children and grandchildren, who when their "pop" starred in their dance videos on social media. renada mcguire was a devoted mother to the sien she leaves behind. her oldest is 19.ge

her yo, just 6 years old. the disabilities of two of her children inspired her to work with other childr t and adults disability community. born and raised in st. augustine, flid renada's brother described her as fun-loving and generous. he said she loved to make people laugh and smile. rena was 39 years old. edna raper-- or dolly, to friends-- waan "outstanding" cherokee citizen, said the nation'srincipalhief. the 67-year-old was one of few fluent cherokee speakersher neighborhood, and known for making the best biscuits and f bread. otnd and generous, dolly never complained--ven while fightingreast cancer in her early sixties. the matriarch of her family, dolly raised four children with her husband, frank in oklahoma. they had thirteen grandchildren

and one great-grandchild. ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: as protests and rallies against racism escalate throughout the country, boston artist robert "problak" gibbs says rather than put his voice front and center, he'll paint the backdrop. in teaming with that city's museum of fine arts, that's exactly what he's doing right now.en wgbh's jar recently ibbs at the site of his latest mural to discuss the power of positivity in painting. the story is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> repter: for artist robert gibbs, the routine is straight- forward. rise up and get rolling with muc. ♪ ♪ >> there's songs that either i'm familiar with from listening to my moms and potu jammin on a ay or things that i've

grown up with just throughout all my life. insic is definitely a vital component to pai >> reporter: the lifelong bostonian is wking on the third mural in his "breathe life" series-- epic sized works bnging fresh air to the city's dorchester and roxbury. neighborhoods narrative.017, they offer a first, a little boy with massive might. two years later gibbs painted him as deliriously happy- h supporti equally joyous sister on his shoulders. in his latest piece commissioned by the museum of fine arts, she's floating into the world on her own. >> she'slowing a series of bubbles and out of the series of bubbles, there's going to be one s them that's big enough that covers and proter whole entire body. >> reporter: what do we see in her hair? you see the universe, t galaxy, the universe is always on her mind. >> reporter: on his mind, has been gibbs's two-year-old daughter-- making sure that as she grows up in boston, in these times, she has something to look up to. >> it's an uplifting message.so

annstead of trying to, as i woulsay, feed steak to a baby, i would sneak the pill in the applesauce. and so hopefully it's so gthing that sws up with and other little kids to see themselves in tee murals." >> rep gibbs also grew up here, venturing into graffitias ar teenager in the early 1990s. >> it's just the ability to hack or manipulate the ideas from, you know, theslittle cans. >> reporter: he stuck mostly to his neighborhood, mostlyo buildings where he and fellow artists had permission to paint. >> these are are and buildings that people or the city wasn't even carin putting the beauty in. >> reporter: part of his iniration came from movies that cracked open his view of the possible. >> one of the films, "beat street," and then there's "star wars," and it was brothers and sisters in there that looked like us. i was like, yo, what they're doing is speaking for the

culture in such a large platform. >> reporter: today gibbs's own platforms are expansive too. of course, the are the towering walls.e' but theralso artists for humanity, the institution he cofounded almost 30 years ago that puts under-resourced teenagers to work as artists. and now the museum commission which also makes him an artist- in-residence. it's timed to coincide with an upcoming exhibition of legendary street artist jean-michel basquiat. but more importantly, says the mfa's makeeba mc, the museum is moving past a long history where local artists of color have often been left to e margins. >> he's saying i'm willing to be your partner in ts and to be equals in this relationship. really, the ft is to us. >> reporter: why is that important toou that in that it comes in that order with that emphasis? >> you know black artists, black rartists frbury, from dorchester, from mattapan have not traditionally been

acknowledged in our clection and in our programming. >> reporter: the "raeathe life" s timing is also horribly coincidental as the killg of george floyd has once again remthinded the nation o sanctity of breath. >> in a state where we cannot breathe i'm asking people to take the time to breathe and look at what's going on. aople are walking around with their head dowry, mad. and when you look at these murals, they're so large in size it's a minute to take a breath and look up and see what's promising, you know? >> already drawing visitors, the mural is painted on gibbs's alma mater, madison park high school, a sentimental spot, but one that is also easily visible a mile away. and it's no accident that this headquarters.inston police >> s's oher place, her rightful place in the city. you want everybody to see that. but mostly you want little brow and blls and boys to see that. t >> reporter:y will also see,

when "breathe life" is finished, gibbs's signature-his artist name: problak. >> it's our name. plo is for, black is our p and so that signature, or the stee, or what people e al and connect with me as an artist. man.eaks volume and it feels great because now, you know, i've gotiny daughter teme i'm a superhero, so i'ma just continue to grow on and flow on. >> reporter: fur the pbs newsi'm jared bowen in boston, massachusetts. >> woodruff: regular viewers of newshour know how committed we are to reporting on arts and culture through our ongoing series, "canvas." this weekend that reporting expands to primetime with a new series on pbs, "beyond the canvas." my colleagues amna nawaz and jeffrey brown are here with a preview. but first an excerpt from the conversation with legend bruce springsteen.

>> a great singer has to learn how to inhab a song. you may not be able to hit all the notes. that's ok. you may not ve the clearest tone. you ma range.ve the greatest but if you can inhabit your song, you can communicate. join me now.ff and amna hello to both of you. jeff you sat down with the one and only nbruce spgsteen. but it's just a sampling of mano ersations remarkable conversations you've had with these artists that have made this the special portalt it is. >> yeah, that's right, judy. that was o course a very memorable one. just to sit with him and here him talk about both the power of the music but also the vulnerability he feels as an individual human being. he talked later in thatab intervieout bouts of depression, i remember being so moved by it. it'snot just the stars and weebrities like spring teen, traveled around the country. all over the world and i'm just

ved by the artists and the writers and the store radio tellers. if you think about what we do every night in the news. it's in a way it's the story of the day, that's what we're trying to do. well that' how i readvels. that's how i listen to music. that's how i watchmovies. these are the artists, creators that are moving us, yes. entertaining us, yes. also teaching us about the day d our world i love bringing that to the "newshour." >> woodruff: speaking of the world you've done all this a great tumult in the world you brought that into your reor reporting. >> that's the world we're living that's the news of our time. that is the story, world of pandemic. the social justice movement that we're seeing and we have moved and shped all of our "canvas" coverage to look at that. i can think of several stories just recently that meant a lot to me. camera. about the power of the

the power of the image in the history of social justice movements, civil rights up to this time. and than one that aired even just this week where we were looking at the impact of the pandemic on live music. and it's partly business sto story, it's partly about the economics. but it's also really just about our culture and whatrings us together and what we all do and how we create together and who tells our stories. ou yes, that's the story of time. that's how we focused "canvas" right now. >> woodruff: and amna, what you're going to be doing with "beyond the canvas" bring this to a bigger audience the prime time audience that may not have had a chance to see these stories. >> woodruff: that's, surprise to you or any of our viewers the storytelling on canvas is unpard.le what jeff has been able to build ong with our collies and so

many others really does stand alone it sets the bar for that kind of reporting that is why we are so excited to bring to even more people and in a curated way. every episode is a collection of stories, people can process them i mean jeff wrennessed this too, we can't ignore we're rolling thisut during a pandemic. i can't remember the last time i went to a live convert and sang with other people anded with other people or went to a show and laughed and collide with other people. there is a void.so there is a al and cultural void right now. we hope that this show will help fill some of that. i should mention we don't shy away from the if you have stuff. a lot what brings us together together, the milwaukee i can and the art and connection. there are real converstion about race and representation and identity. a country as well.ere we are as we hope these stories meet the momt but also help move us forward. >> woodruff: and they come, amna at aeo time pe i think are hungry for content. for content with meani.

and so when you say it meets the moment that is what thiis all about. >> i think that's right, judy. both a reminder the way things used to be, everyone tmembers what they felt like why heard that springsteen song and watched lily sing or steve martin. these are all storytellers who are documenting our time. i think when you pull them together in a collection like g this, realives people the space to process it. we hope that it gives peothple sog that they need and we hope that they will join us and we hope we can make this "canv "canvas" community even bigger. >> woodruff: well we ar certainly excited about it. very much lookg forward to it, amna nawaz, jeffrey brown, thank you for all the work you've done on this. >> woodruff: really looking forward. you can watch you can watch the debut of "beyond the canvas" this sunday july 26 at 130 eastern/9:30 ntral on most pbs stations.

and there is more "beyond the canvas" online. right now, you can read our full interview with musical duo louis york-- who talk about why songwriting is so important i this time of crisis. that's on our website, www.s.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, please stay safe and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. management.ty wealth >> consumer cellular.

>> financial services firm raymond james. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. r more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. www.hewlett.org. >> supporting social trepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this ogram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs

llo, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." here is what's coming up.a americwas the keeper of democracs, says former top as the president bungles a global fight and sends federal forces into u.s. cities, i ask whether american democracy is under threat. then was sweden's decision not to lockdown brilliant or a fatal mistake? the public health chief defends his strategy. what if the world's population rejects a coronavirus treatment? how to combat feare,f a new vaccith heidi larsen. later -- >> we have something that might look likmi