captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. ju woodruff.our studio, i'm on the "newshour" tonight, an uneven response-- president trump signs executive orders extending unemploymeefits and suspending payroll taxes, as ress and the white house fail to reach a deal on economic reef. then, the crackdown continues-- hong kong police arrest the newspaper in the most high- profile use of the controversial national security law yet. plus the pandemic in alaska-- the influx of seasonal workers and the inaccessibily of remote villages present challenges for confronting the coronavirus. >> we knew that thera here and we just to hold did get

it off as long as we can. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. r th fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advin tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years,

advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broing. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: cfusion lingers tonight over the legality of president trump's executive actions to provide pandemic relief. that comes as congress remains at a stalemate on negotiations for a larger covid-19 rescue

package. the urgency is mounting now that the number of confirmed infections in the u.s. has topped the five-million mark. yamiche alcior begins our coverage. >> reporter: today at the whitef house, a frruestions about president trump's actions this weekend to bypass congress and ease the economic pain of covid-19. >> this president has taken burden, but make no mistake,at like to accomplish that includes having willing negotiating partners in congress, and so far wenone in the democrat >> reporter: the patchwork of relief measures, made up of ivree memorandums and one execorder, were signed by the president on saturday after talks between all parties broke down. >> democrats are obstructing all of it. therefore, i'm-- taking an executtion. we've had it. and we're going to save american jidobs and prrelief to the american workers. >> reporter: the president said he would resume additional jobless benefits, but at a reduced rate of $400 per week.

the federal government would pay $300 and ruest already cash- strapped states to foot the rest of the bill. it's still unclear how many states would be willing to do se, and, for now, when any benefits would b. his actions also included a pause on federal student loan payments until december 31 and a deferral of payroll taxes for most workers from september through the end of the year. the president said this would mean bigger paychecks for working families, but the taxes will eventually be due, and the anve does little for millions of amercurrently unemployed. finally, president trump also directed his administratn to consider curbing evictions but the executive order does not necessarily ban them, or provide y money to help renters. democrats over the weekend blasted the president's actions. they questioned their legality, and called for a legislative solution. house speaker nancy pelosi: >> it was unconstitutial slop. while it has the illusion of

saying, "we're going to have a moratorium on evtions," it says, "i'm going to ask the folkharge to study if that's feasible." oen he says he's going to the payroll tax, what he's doing is undermining social security and medicare. so these are illusions. right now, we need to come to agreement. orter: over twitter today, president trump claimed his weekend actions had given him leverage in negotiatioh democrats. he said they were now "ready to make a deal." and treasury secretary steve mnuchin said this morning the >> i think there is a compromise if the democrats are willing to be reasonable. there is still a lot of things that we need to do and that we've agreed on. >> reporter: but the prospects for any talks, at the moment, are still unclear. >> about the president's ekend executive actions

and what they might or might not accomplish. nishe joins me along with lisa drejardins. befo we talk about the president's actions over just some dramain thes white house briefing room. the social security asked the president to leave. tell us what we uderstand happened? >> well, the president was talking abt mail-ining, voting and the stock marks, and so after a secret service agent approached him and said he had to leave. he left, and came back tea few milater and said someone was shot outside the white house. the point is that the secret service says they have the situation under control, and the person hes been taken to hospital. president trump says he feels very safe and e briefing is now continuing. >> woodruff: let me turn to what the president said over the weekend and what nishe was just reporting we're glad no one appears to have been hurt by what

appears toe a shooting. lisa, on the unemployment, and the president talking about $400 a week, i think the question ishow exactly would this work? there are still questions wouldwhether it actually get to the people it is intended for. >> let me answer that last question first, judy. it is not clear any onof this will get to the unemployed. it will be state by state, and if it goes out, it will take many weeks. so let me break down a itlittlef why that is. first there is the issue that each state must opt in to this idea. and each state must itself contribute $100 per person per ek. many states may not have that money right now. so states have to choose it, and they may have to go through some process inside the state. let's say state does decide to participate in this. the next issue is that the president is usi money from his disaster assistance fund, which t mer things like hurricanes. but that fund is only so large. when you do the math,

judy, it looks like talking to experts and people in both parties, that this money would only last forive or six weeks worth of these payments. so the third problem, judy, is if a state signs up and wants these payments, it is going to take them a long amount of time, most steeates w to month, to change their unemployment system to get these checks rolling.ju , what could happen here is if the state does accept these paymen and allows it to go to their citizens, it could take them so long to actuall s get thtem going that in the end there may just be one check and it mauty comeust as the money is running out. so at best this is short-term, judy. and for many states, it may not hpen at all. >> woodruff: wow. so much to absorb about that. one other thing you talked about in your report had to do with evictions and what the presidenis saying doesn't go as far as banning evictions, an not financial assistance. what the president saidind

there? >> that's righ the idea bhind this executive order, he signed thrememorandas, but the executive order specifically on evictions. what the president directs federal agenci to do is to look into the idea of whether or not there can me some sort of relief given to thore than 110 million americans who are renting and people who have federal mortgages. in this regard, theha presidennot set aside any money. if you're renting and scared you might be evicted, this does not stop your landlord from doing that. this is essentially studying the problem i talked to a lot of problem, especially in southeast d.c., and nortrn virginia, where there a lot of people infected disproportionately by the they could be thrown out. and as of right now, they could still be thrown out unless the president puts more teeth into something else. >> woodruff:otso her

piece of this is important, and getting a lot of attention, lisa, has to do with payroll taxes. the president talking about cutting them, and break for the last part of the year. how would that wowhrk? does it really mean? would people actually see? a reducti >> that's exactly the right question again. again, judy, it isnot clear that people will see this money in their paychecks. and here is why: th payroll tax, as many people may know, is 6.2% out of most paychecks. that foes nd medicare and social security. ing that we pay asis not individuals to the i.r.s. companies collect that money, essentially, and for forwarding that moneye to the i.r.s. on behalf of employees. so the cut, first round, goes to those companies, and the companies have to decide whether they will pass it on to their employees or not. one reason they wouldn't do it, judyis ecause

under the president's order here, what the president is doing, this money must be paid back unless something changes, at the end of the year or soon after. so a company like amazon, which has billions of anllars, they don't want to hand it out then have a bill come due next year when we could still very well be in te pandemic. the thinking is many companies may not pass on hold on to it because they might just need to give it back again in a few months so it is a complicated maneuver. one other note: a lot of comparisons are being made to the obama paoll tacks tax cut. one difference is congress passed replacement funds for that payroll tax cut, so social security and medicare would not lo money. hn this situation, there has not beene replacement funds, instead it is dependent on companies and people paying the money back.

>> woodruff: and finally, very quickly, yamiche, the negotiations on the hill, people are looking to see if that is going to produce anything. there any thought what the president did is going to causehat move forward or what? what is the effect it is expected to have on the action on theill? >> well, the president was very eager to look like he was dointhsomething for american people because the talks stalled tn friday. the white house the deadline for themselves to then go it alone, so t president did it over the weekend. now it seems that the talks continue to bd.e stal and the senate isn't expected to be back. the other thing is there is this feeling that now that the president is saying this is the thing that will save everything d will fix the probem, there is some feeling from the white house he has already solved thi, but the white house is still looking, as well as deocrats, to make some .sort of de the president today said nancy pelosi and senatorha schumer called him and

were interested in making a de-th, of course, said they never called him. so we have a stalemate. >> woodruff: so much to follow. lisa and yamiche, thank ou so much for following this so closely. we appreciatit. >> with more than five million covid-19 cases, many public health voices are contending that the u.s. is essentially at another crossroads when it comes to dealing with the this country currently accounts for more than 22% of all cases and deaths worldwide. we want to explore some of these concerns wi dr. peter hote, who is an infectious disease specialist, at the baylor college of medicine in houston. doctor, thank you very much for joining us again. c when pare the u.s. with the rest of the world, is it as bad as it sounds? >> doctor: unfortunately, it is,

judy. you pointed out 22%, 25% of the cases, and a significant number of the deaths, so 160,000 deaths so far, out of the 750,000 deaths globally. so we are, sadly, at the epicenter of the epidemic, s d despite all of the suffering americave gone through in 2020, there is still no end in sight. the projections are we're going to get up to 230,000 deaths by october, 300,000 deaths by december 1st, that's from the institute for health merics, and it continues to rise from there. and not only just thhse debut the permanent, long-lasting injuries, neurologic injuries, vascular injuries and heart injuries. this is an awful, awful diseaseand it has taken a huge toll on life and

homeland securities. >> wdruff: it is so this country iscertainly one of the wealthiest in the world. ° yodtor, you told us you think it is time for a national reset. what did you mean by that? >> the strategy has been, on the u.s. side, if you callt a strategy, to always have the states out in front, let the states make their ownsi de and the federal government would provide some important support, fema support, manufacturing pport to provide ventilators and p.p.e. and so forth. and it is a failed strategy. it has failed because we are the epicenter, and we continue. we have now, in the last seven days, we stillead the world in number of new cases and deaths. my proposal anrsothe have made similar ones, is that we not only need a reset, but we ed the federal government in the lead. we need not only in the back, but actually providing the directive. to the stat and that reset has differt aspects, depending on the state. for instance, in new

hampshire and maine, they're doing que quite well, but here in texas and georgia, whe things are dire, we may need more ag dreaggressive measures and in some places even a lockdown. one per million, it means we can safely open schools throughout the country,ly sapen up colleges, maybe even have sporting events and have something that resembles normal american life. >> woodruff: when you say lockdown in some places, are you saying in some states? half the states? what does this mean in practical terms? >> in practical terms, certainly if you look at a state like florida, whee the epidemic is raging in north florida and miamer is clearly going to need to be more aggressive asures, possibly a mandatory stay at home. maybe not the entire state. the same inxas, where you have very aggressive

acceleration in some metro areas in south texas. you can be a little more surgical than simply saying we have to stop and lockdown the entire nation. there will be placesthat have to be locked down, however. we don't see a moinnow that direction. the federal government, we know that the presidngt feels st that this is something that is up to the state. how do you see the wheels being set in motion for this to happen? >> doctor: you ask the hardest question of all. i put out a plan, but how do you get movemenout of the white house to really take this on? i'm trying every lever i can through the white house and other colleagues are doi the same. unfortunately, you know, we have people who then say, well, peter, doctor, i hear your october plan, but don't need that. i have my november 3rd plan. and i say there is no november 3rd plan. there is a january 20th

'21 plan, anby then we americans perish.0,000 so it is not an option. we have to find a way to this no otherwise, we have already seen what happened in orgia when we tried o open up schools in areas of high transmission, it failed miserably, and it will fail in florida and in texas. >> woodruff: what do you say, doctor, to thoseeo pe who say we understand it is serious and it doesn't look good, but if we don't get businesses open and schools open, the country won't be able to function. some people won't be able to thrive if they can't get their livelihood going? >> doctor: i understand that, especially for the essential workers, who physically have to be in the workplace, and family-owned businesses and working at construction sites, but sin the arhere transmission is still aggressive, we already knowwe can't open schools. we already know we're not having anything that resembles a normal life anyway.

at least if we can do that reset now, by october 1stwe can have a -- i wt uld be entirely normal, but something that resembles that. like they're doing all over the world. like they're doing in canada and europe and so many other plac >> woodruff: and if we don't, if this isn't done, wh are the consequences? >> doctor: we've got the models, and the models are dire. the models say that the climb. will continue to we will have long-lasting injuries that will continue, and teachers will be trrified, and appropriately so, about going back to work. and it will not onlyau further erosion to the economy, but it will reach a poinwhere people feel scared about going outside. and that's when homeland so this has to bed. recognized as a direct threat to our homeland and right now, unfortunately, the way the white house is conducting its business, it is guaranteeing thatur homeland security will be threatened. we don't have live this

way. we can do something about this now and make life much better for all americans at this point. >> woodruff: an utterly sobering message, dr. peter hotez from the baylor college of medicine. thank you so much. >> doctor: thank you so much, judy. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, chicago poce are beefing up their presence downtown after widespread looting there overnit. the unrest broke out after police shot a 20-year-old man who fired at them onity's south side. findreds of people descended on the "magnint mile" shopping district. isey smashed windows and sle merchae. more than 100 people were arrested. mayor lori lightfoot called it an assault on the city. to what occurred in our do and surrounding communities was abject criminal behavior pure

and simple. and there cannot be any excuse for it, period. rsthis is not legitimate amendment protected speech. these were not pr people engaged in petty theft to feed themselves and their families. this was straight up felony criminal conduct. >> woodruff: the melee lasted for several hours and injured 13 police officers. 16 people have been arrested in portland, oregon, after protesters rioted at a police union last night. demonstrators lit a fire inside the building, before police pushed hundreds of people away. two officers were injured in the clashes. it was the 70th night of protests there since george floyd's killing in minneapolis. in lebanon, prime minister hassan diab resigned today, along with his entire cabinet. the move follows a week protests demanding a government overhaul since the devastating beirut port explosion.

diab sai ammonium nitrate thought to have caused last tuesday's blast ghted longstanding negligence. >> at( tran ): today we follow the will of the people to ho accountable those responsible for this disaster that has been in hiding for seven ars, and their desire for real change. we take a step back to stand with the people to undergo this batt of change with them, we want to open the door towards national salvation that thba se people are taking part in and thus, i am annncing today, the resignation of this government. >> woodruff: meanwhile, riot police clashed with anti- government demonstrators again in beirut tonight. denounce the government'so mishandling of the blast that killed at least 160 people and injured thousands more. a political crisis is also flaring in belarus, after sunday's election that was widely denounced as rigged in far of longtime president alexander lukashenko.

u.s. secretary of stke pompeo said the election was not "free and fair protesters also insisted it was a fraud, after government- sponsored polls showed lukashenko took 80% of the votes. ex thomson of independent ewtelevisionfiled this report. >> reporter: this is belarus. the policerdered to teargas, eat peaceful and b protesters off the streets across the country. l thousand arrests, oned- reported kille- run over by a police vehicle-- which the authorities deny. after 26 years in power this so-called election duly delivered president alexander defying victory.ther reality- 80% of the vote. the man who says you have to be born to be president, not elected, who praised hitler, who denied the covid pandemic existed, says opposition >> (etranslatede): if you fight

against the country, if you try to plunge the country into chaos and destabilize it, even with minor incidents, you will receive an instant response from me. this is my constitutional authority. so why blame me? >> reporter: "the protesters are sheep," says the president. "manipulated by foreigners." but he offered no evidence. quick to congratulate him, two more pdents whose commitment to democracy is at best questi china's xi.a's putin and quick to condemn him european democracies, though the u.'s meage of general concern still belarus's opposition candidate, has read the message from the streets. >> ( translated ): ihink we've already won, because we overcame our fear, we overcame our indifference to politics. we overcame our apathy and indifference. >> reporter: wesy rn observers e last free eltion here

was way back in 1995thbut this timnumbers on the streets, and not just the capital, the numbers at opposition rallies, the numbers noarrested, it all nuadds up, some say, to a e turning point. >> woodruff: that was alex thomson of independent television news. ence filing that report, protestor in minsk died after an explosive device detonated in his hands as he was trying to throw it at police. signed a decree today to release the final batch of 400 taliban prisoners. the taliban demanded they be freed as a condition for long- awaited peace negotiations with the afghan government. the militant group said it's ready to re-start those talks in qatar within a week from the prisoners' release. and, stocks were mixed on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average soared 358 points to close at 27,791.

the nasdaq fell 42 points and the s&p 500 added nine. still to come on the "newshour," the crackdown continues as hong kliong arrest the leader of a pro-democracy newspaper; alaska faces challon multiple fronts in its fight roagainst the virus; our politics monday team breaks down the federal response to covid-19 and the upcoming conventions plus much more. >> woodruff: china extended its cracown in hong kong today, arresting a prominent pro- democracy activist and media owner. as nick schifrin tells us, it comes as the highest-level american official in decades visited taiwan to reinforce u.s.

tiese to thland in defiance of beijing. >> reporter: for beijing, this is what protecting national security looks like: frog- marching a media tycoon through his own newsroom. pinclothes officers' rifling through reporters' papers. and hundreds opolice corralling journalists, and arresting editors who produce journalism critical of the chinese communist party, or c.c.p. ape daily is hong kong's largest media outlet, and its owner, jimmy lai, an outspoken advocate for democracy, whose arrest was designed to silence a hong kong media that until now enjoyed freedoms that says seniormark simon.d china, >> we take a strong stand formo pro-deacy. we don't make any bones about it. oumedia is starting to look more like the mainland than, than, than hong kong in the past. >> reporter: many of hong kong's freedoms are stifledy beijing's new national security law. lai and activist 23--old agnes chow were both arrested

for ding with foreign powe," punishable with life in prison. and the law is written so vaately, pro-democracy advoc fear it can be used against any critics, anywhere. i that law will mean exactly what they wato mean, when they want to mean in it, and when they need to use it. it will also be used if a young college student from hong kong stands up at u.c.l.a. and arts talking about how much they love democracy and freedom. this is a widespread and overreaching law that has incredibly draconian implications. >> reporter: beijing says it needs to protect hong kong fm protesters who last year turned violent. and last week chief admini because of covid, upcoming elections that pro-democracy candidates were expected to win, had to be postponed until next year. sanctions on lam and ten other ting kong officials and called the al security law, "a tool of c.c.p. repression." today the nistry of reign affairs called that proof the u.s. was biased against (ina.

translated ): current u.s. policy towards china is a strategic mistake based on atr lack of uth and evidence, venting emotions, and mccarthyist bias. >>reporter: and beijing announced its own sanctions on six republican lawmakers, and five leaders of n.g.o.s critical of beijing, including national decratic institute preside derek mitchell. >> it's part and parceof todas china, where it's not just about what happens in china, but around the world, that they want pto be quiet about what's really happening. they don't care out law, they don't care about truth, and don't care about abiding by the basic law of hong kong. >> reporter: last year mitchell spoke in hong kong and has ooco-written three about china. he says under xi jinping, the chinese communist party is willing to silence domestic an international critics, no matter the consequence. >> they're going to use their power and that they will not accept anything that is remotely right-space or democracy based in hong kong and keep going until they feel it isquashed entirely.

it's very, very sad. we're seeing in our headlines on a daily basis in broad doelight, and it't stop in hong kong. we have to recognize that it can certnly move to the free people of taiwan. >> reporter: that fear taiwan is next is the backdrop for the highest-ranking u.s. visit in four decades. secretary of health and human services alex azar gave a show of support to president tsai itg-wen, considered a beijing . >> it's a true honor to be here to convey a messagppof strong t and friendship from president trump to taiwan. >> reporter: officially, azar's visiting because taiwa covid success story. in stark contrast to the u.s., 50taiwan's had fewer than 0 cases thanks to quick actions in january like wespread testing d tracing, and mandatory masks. but beijing sees taiwan as a breakaway province, and u.s. support-- especially military support-- as meddling in internal affairs. during azar's visit, the nationalist tabloid "g times," reported chinese planes entered taiwanese airspace as "" clear message."cl

and the r message received in hong kong by the national security law activists, residents, even businesspeople, are considering leaving. >> information is everything and this law is telling, especially the financial community, there are certain pieces of information that we're not going to let you have. that ripple effect is going to be significant. it is not just one more cut in the grain here. this ilike an axe chop. >> reporr: today after the raid, apple daily vowed to continue its work, but it acknowledged that in hong ng today, press freedom, is"ha nging by a thread." for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: a coming "covid storm." that's how the mayor ofch age, alaska, recently described the pandemic in his city, as he announced new

emergency orders restricting businesses and gatherings. as stephanie sy reports the unique geography in "the last frontier" state has not spared f m the pain. >> reporter: removed from other states, mostly wderness, the pandemic took longer to gain a grip on alaska. but now it has-- ihawhat official described as a rapid acceleration and exponential growat in cases. injuly, the mayor of ammer is usualla boom time in alaska for touri fishing-- pillars of the economy, that some locals worry will now expose them to an unwanted guest-- the virus. >> as a mother, you're always concerned for the safety of your children. >> reporter: desi bond, who is yup'ik, lives in dillingham, a small town in the bristol bay region known for its sockeye salmon. during the summer fishing season, the population of some 7,00s 0 residents doubth seasonal workers. >> my oldest and my youngest have asthma. you're always on the alert.

are they okay? are they healthy? but then to have something come in that's so invisible and such a big threat to our lives and odour liveliho. it's been very stressful. >>e're going to be very careful all the way until end of august, part of september. >> reporter: thomas tilden is a eribal leader and commercial fin in bristol bay. >> t mayor of dillingham and i had sent the joint letter to the governor asking him to postpone the fishery, cancel the fishery. >> reporter: but other local officials, including'hara, pushed to keep the fishery open, concerned about the economic hit. >>end then you're sitting h and the community is broke. and we create anoth t disaster upt. >> reporter: a compromise was nirked out and seafood com took steps, like testing seasonal workers before they could work, that so far have prevented outbreaks in bristol bay-- not easy in canneries and fisheries where workers li together. >> they put gates around their

living quarts. gates 'round their facilities. got to give them credit for, for what they did to keep us all safe. >> reporter: but other coastal fishing villages have not dodged the virus. hundreds of seafood industry workers have tested positive. peninsula, more than a third of workers at an o.b.i. seafoods processing plant tested positive for covid-19, forcing the plant to temporarily shut down. o.b.i. seafoods operates ten processing plants across alaska, staffed with both seasonalnd local workers. >> when you look at the remote cilities, like out in bristol bay and in kodiak on the far reaches, those are closed campuses. they don't leave. they don't interact heth anyone inommunities. >> reporter: mark palmer is c.o. of the company. he says they work with local officials to keep tabs on any employees who test positive. >> where you have some local workforce, those employees come and k and forth to home

every day. n they're cerinly not required to staympus, but we try and keep them as separate as possible inside the facilities >> reporter: in addition to fishing, the tourism itoustry is vitalaska's economy. cruise ships bring in $1 billion a year. >> we went from that to, of cose, almost nothing >> reporter: vivian mork owns planet alaska, a gallery that sells native-made goods in downtown juneau. 1.4 million cruise tourists were projected toome through the port this summer-- befor coronavirus cancelled cruises. >> we went from, maybe doing well, to all of a sudd trying to figure out how to keep the roof over our head and the food in their belly and the store open and bills being paid. >> reporter: that loss in business has meant a huge drop in income for many alaskans. >> at the same time as it hits us ecomically, it also helped to protect us from having been inundated with positive cases. >> reporter: they arfrom being inundated, but cases have

remote communities, where there is extremely limited access to hlthcare. patients have been medivac'd from places like bethel, in far cst alaska, and fort yukon near the arctcle, home of the >> we've, we have lost our first tribal member, a community member, to covid a few days ago. >> reporter: tribal councilmember dacho alexander says they did their best to keee their town iso but village , d family life are remarkably interdependepecially during the crucial peak fishing >> the reality of e life is it requires multiple famies in order to basically survive, because you're having to put away food for the winter. we knew that there was a matrfo of time it did get here and we just tried to hold it off as long as we can. >> reporter: it's not clear how the virus got to fort yukon. the village was under a strict ten-day period in june when

rules were relaxed. >> the rural areas are intertwined economically with the larger communities. >> reporter: nathan mccowan is head of the st. george tanaq vilralage coron. st george is an island in the middle of the bering sea. >> everybody understands the capacity and the medical rtiea about how dangerous it can be. >> we're seeing some larger nevents occur. >> reporter: doctor robert onders is the medical director at the alaska native tribal health consortium. he says many alaska natives are at greater risk for severe impacts fromovid-19. >> there is an increased burden of chronicse, increased enrden of smoking, increased buf crowded housing, increased challenges with water and ser access. t rud alse prevent incredible risk to thl community. >> reporter: native alaskans have survived in the face of many hardships, but not without taking devastating losses. the 1918 spanish flu decimated

many families, including thomas tilden's. >> someone bought that influenza into the village. and so, when they woke up one morning and went over to next door to see the relatives, there was no relatives, they had all died that day. and so, ey lost the vast umber of their village people. killed more than half of adults and elders across alaskan villages. more recently, the 2009 h1n1 flu hit the region hard. oppoy and a vulnerabilityh an when it comes to covid. >> we want to rapidly identify and ericate covid in these rural communities. not a mitigation strategy we really need to prevent it , entering those communitit an eradication strategy may be too late. and when the summer fish harvest is over, nathan mccowan worries the cold sean brings new peril. >> we can haveeasonal storms that will ground all air travel for weeks. >> reporter: by the numbers, alaska has far fewer cases than other states, but desi bond says

the burd is no different. >> i know alaska is a forgotten i know our people ar overlooked, but we are here. o, are fighting to keep ourselves safe, to keep ourfa lies healthy. >> reporter: fighting any invisible en memories of devastating pandemics loom large in the minds of many alaskan natives. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: we are just one week away from t democratic national convention, and for the first time in monthseyes are on former vice president joe biden. our politics monday team is here to mark the moment. that's amy walter of "the cook litical report" and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr

politics podcast." hello to both of you. it is grt to see yo on this monday. so, amy, if all eyes are able to let donald trumpn have most of the spotlight for almost all of the time. what kind of pressure is on joe biden at this ment? >> amy: yeah, you know, judy, up until this point the race has not been donald trump verses joe biden, it is has been nonald trump versus donald trump. part of the reason that joe biden hasn't gotten a t of the spotlight is donald trump doesn't seed enough of it. he looks being in front of cameras, constantly having that level of attention. so in order to ke the race a referendum on joe biden, he has to give joe biden time to get in front of that camera. going to see a lot more of joe biden, and i think the most important thing,

judy, is that he answers the questions that a lot of voters have about him. one, you know, what are his priories? he has been giving speeches, doing stuff from wilmington, but there has never been a real intense focus on who he is and what he stands for. and, of course, who he picks at vice president and how that rollout goes. does it go over among democrats very well? w does the media portray it? how does hlook and soundnt iducing this person in what will be his very rst big decision that he has made as a candidate. >> woodruff: tam, how do you see the expectations on vice president biden? you hear the republicans trying to make light him, saying he has been hiding in the basement. now is he chance to come out? >> yeah, and that hiding is by design. there have bn numerous opportunities where joe biden could have tried to get in on a trump news cycle, and the biden

notpaign purposely di jump in on that news the bait. a way not taking and that's a contrast with past people who have run against president trump. tne question is, is there is so much oher news happening right now, will joe biden and his running mate be le to dominate the news? will they even be able to dominatethe political news? part of that may depend on these coronavirus relief packages, and, you know, the potential exists that biden annd his ning mate don't get as long a news cycle as one normally would. and what does that mean? it is not c wlear. druff: we know it is going to be a woman, amy. so talk about --hat's riding on it. how much is riding on it? >> amy: think tam makes a really good point they may not get the whole in some ways, to me, that would suggest it was actually a good pick because it is no raising

the level of controversy news for more than an the couple of days. what seems to be riding on it is this: hid has pis, judy, he is going to a woman. but over the last couple of weeks, the impression is that he is going to pick a of color. and you've seen so many women who have been brought up on the national sunday shows, who have been getting full profiles in nati newspapers. i think that the expectation has been ised so high that this woman that he picks will be a woman of color, and that if he doesn't, that becomes much more of orthe and the president -- that vic, president biden spends most of his time rolling this out, explaining why he chose someone o is not a woman of color. >> woodruff: so given that, tam, the pressure is on him to do exactly that, which may be his inclination anyway?

>> to add to what ahamy been saying, there have been numerous open letters long lists of them, urging biden to pick an afrierican woman. as amy says, there is a decent chance if he doesn't, that is what the conversation will be all about. you know, one thinth that -- k that we don't fully know the answer to at this point is, there haveen wo other women on the democratic -- on the ticket before as vic president. and in both of those cases, they ended ed getting piapart in the press. and, you know, se of it was based on real holes in their resume and real problems, and some of it wasn't. and what i have to wonder is, what happens when another woman is on e ticket? what happens? do the samso of texas tropes so of wield their head again? the biden campaign is fully expecting that ande seems to ha plan to

try to combat it. >> woodruff: well, we're going to know inming days. we're told we're going to time this ek.ncement some very quickly in the time we have left, amy,eh covid relief negotiations have gone nowhere on the hilles the ent came up with his executive orders and actions over the weekend. where do you see the political play here? who is benefiting and who isn't? >> right, the big danger r both parties is that this completely falls apart and everybody looks uendsup looking bad. in april and may, gallup recorded the highest job approv rating for congress in the last0 year it is down to 18% certainly congress isn't going in with a whole lot of deep well of goodwil. look, i think the republicans are much more on the defeive, especially in the senate, because so many of them live in states, especially blue stateor pple

states, where the arguments that trump and republicans are making in th'tsenate just ar going to fly there. they do want to be able to campaign on bringme money, especially to the state and local governments who are struggling rmaht now, and y of them are struggling with financing things that voters so much about, education. >> woodruff: and, tam, how do you see t politics shaking out here? >> yeah, i mean, the other big riskhere is if they can't come up with something, people have already lost unemployment benefits. now the president isry talking aboutng to create a way, but already states are pushing back, ing it is problematic, they don't have the money, it is going to be logistically challenging, d e treasury secretary is saying it coke a couple of weeks, and that may be optimistic. all of the while, there is economic suffering. and the real risk is that the economy ends up suffering further, while this political fight goes on. and that the ground deshifts eath both democrats and republicans. >> woodruff: none of this is happening in a vac

ciewrnlingvacuum as both of youe pointing out. tamara keith and amy walter, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >>you're welcome. >> woodruff: finally tonight, as more institutions across the country start to reopen-- and some close again due to spikes in the coronavirus-- we look at how the 173-year-old sprawling smithsonian initution is gradually welcoming back the publ john yang visited two of the key attractions of the world's largest museum, education and research complex. aris report is part of our ongoing ts and culture series, "canvas." r:>> reports re-opening day at the national air and space "museum's "udvar hazy center in chantilly, virginia, outside washington, home to some of the greatest exhibits and space travel. there's no crush of hethousands of visitors as normally would be this time of

year. stead, an orderly, timed entrance of no more than 1,500 people-- the daily lf advance tickets available online. the same day, under a morning rain, animal lovertrickled into the smithsonian's national zoo. these two sites are the "tip of the spear" for an institution that has more than 150 million artifacts and works of art and each year uslly attracts more than 30 million visitors. >> our secretary, lonnie bunch, has described in our opening and closing more like a thermostat or a switch that we can turn up and we can turn back >> reporter: the smithsonian's public.ums are free to the officials say these two facilities are uniquely positioned to open first. steve monfort is director of the national zoo. >> we have a large campus, 163 acres. mostly, it's an outdoor experience. we do have indoor houses, but we

can restrict access to those. so the idea was to be able to opt if we can provide enough social distancing. we can mandate the use of masks. or>> rr: following guidelines and regulations from the centers for disease control and prevention and the district of columbia,tthe zoo is adg no more than 5,000 trpeople a day with timed passes from 8:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon. ton an ordinary summer da zoo could have agumany as 25,000 ts. every visitor six and older is requir to wear a face covering. the pandemic has also meant changes for zos permanent residents. oversees animal ca.brandie smith talk about what it was like here for the months that you were closed. did the animal's behavior change at all with, with people? >> well, you know, the animals definitely notice that people aren't here. you know, i can te when i'm out in the park. when i walk by, say, the lions and tigers, they definitely pa attention.

>> reporter: they perk up. >> well, i think it's two things, right. so they're not used to seeing people. so when a person comes by, i mean, what arehey doing here? what do they have to offer me? and then also, i think sometimes, you know, the aniusls like seeins much as we like seeing them. so we offer them entertainment and distraction. >> reporter: another concern: the possibility that tmals could catch covid-19 from people. even in normal times someoo workers wear protective gear to prevent what are called" zoonotic" diseases, which are shared between animals and >> zoonotic diseases are not a new thing. there's something we deal with all the time.ou think avian influenza. think about rabies. think about e. coli. ysso we are alrepared to deal with and prevent zoonotic viruses. >> reporter: f-day visitors said they came to get out of the housand e both animals and other people. father nick chauvenet took daughters maya and sonya. g we've been doing some nature trails ang to playgrounds, things like that, but they usually like coming to the zoo.

so getting a chance to come back after a while. and the nice, give you a sense of normalcy. a smalamount. yes, it certainly feels like little tiny progress. >po> er: three generations of the vander time family wanted an interesting environment for baby hendricks. >> he was fascinated by the elephant over here. >> and you feel like that's important to get down here. >> he just frozehen he saw, you know, the elephant. and, you know, he knows what an elephant is. and now he's connecting. that book is a real thing. that's pretty gobsmacking for a one-year-old. >> reporter: air and space museum director ellen stofan says the udvar hazy center can offer a hopeful ssage. >> this museum is about these stories of ingenuity, sties of creativity, ercoming huge problems. and, to me, that's aessage at maybe the public could use right now is, "look what we're capable of." >> reporter: last year was the 50th anniversary of the moon

landing and that sort of resurgence of that spirit of that summer of 1969, which i reerme and now this summer, which is quite different. >> you know, we've been thinking about that a lot. belast summer we went all out and projected the saturn v rocket on the washington monument and even launchedt up the monument. how do you give that spirit to a new generation that as americans we can conqu any challenge we put our minds to? and so, obviousl even though we're not celebrating as much this summer as we were last summer, th message of the american spirit, american ingenuity, you know,e have our apollo 13 face mask that has" failure is not an option"n it. >> reporter: for this extended fag mily, includin-year-old wallace coates from newcastle, pennsylvania, seeing was believing. >> i do apprecsete a chance to e, sort of, this technology and i also like seng that the

museums are surviving and adapting >> reporter: though funded mostly by congress, both museums have lost millions of dollars in parking fees, and sales of food and souvens-- that's as much as 40% of their yearly revenue. but just as important to officials is returning to smithsonian founder james ss mithsossion: "the increase and diffusion of knowledge." for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in washington, d.c. >> woodruff: and tonight on the president trump was asked abruptly to step out of the white house briefing room by secret service agent after a shooting occurred just outside white house grounds. the president returned to his briefing minutes laer. he said he believed a suspect was armed and that shots were fired by law enforcement. a man has since been taken to a d.c. hospital to be

treated for undisclosed injuries. >> and and tonight on the pbs newshour online, how is the pandemic affecting the 2020 elections? io're looking for your que ahead of the democratic and republican national conventions. ask us by g out the form on our website, that's pbs.org/newshour. >> it is nice to be back in our washingtonios tonight for the first time in some months. we're here preparing for special coverage of the convention starting next week during important election year. we are continuing to practice social distancing, we're being careful, and we hope you are as well. and that is the "newhou for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> since our beginning, our

business has been people, and their financial ing. that mission gives us purpose, and a way forward. today, and always. >> consumer llular. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and eas. more at kendedafund.org. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peacef world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co."ha here's ws coming up. new allegations against saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman filed in a u.s. court. imformer saudi spy chief c he could be the next victim after journalist jamal khashoggi.t, and in beihe latest for the people there. >> i think people liked this story so question it.>>'t even the whistleblower who brought down theranos and what that says about the coronavirus vaccine.