captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: this edition for saturday, august 15: the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. beirut on the brink. and talking head's drummer chris frantz on his memoir, "remain in love." next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar chenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum.

we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thank you for joining us. the average number of daily confirmed coronavirus infections in the united states continues to trend down from new highs seen in late july. covid-19-related hospitalizations are also declining, even as deaths, which lag behind, remain high. but despite the positive signs, public health officials are worried about continued issues with testing. across the u.s., the number of

covid-19 tests has fallen, on average, from highs in late july, to about 710,000 tests early this week. these totals remain far short of the several million daily tests that many experts say are necessary. one day after the u.s. postal service warned 40 states that it may not be able to meet deadlines for requesting and returning mail-in ballots this november, there are calls for action from senate democrats. senator catherine cortez masto, chair of the democratic senatorial campaign committee, said in a statement today that "it's unacceptable that in the united states of america, the postal service has to warn americans that their ballo may not be counted if they vote by mail." cortez masto asked senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to end the current recess and vote on pandemic aid that includes additional funding for the postal service. in washington d.c. this morning, protesters gathered outside the home of postmaster general louis dejoy, demanding support for the u.s.p.s. and mail-in ballots. at the beginning of august, dejoy announced a widespread

restructuring of the postal service that he later acknowledged have had what he called "unintended consequences" on postal service operations. northeast of atlanta, the massive confederate monument at stone mountain was closed today, as residents and officials braced for a small far-right- wing rally and anti-racism counter-protesters. outside of the park, there were minor skirmishes between the two sides. the three percenters militia applied for a permit to hold a rally to "defend and protect our history," but it was denied because of violence at a similar event in 2016. today's event was planned in response to a black militia group that protested the monument on july 4. the monument to confederate figures robert e. lee, stonewall jackson, and jefferson davis at stone mountain was completed in 1972 and is the largest confederate monument in the country. an intense heat wave in california triggered rolling blackouts for hundreds of thousands of customers last night. it was the first time since 2001 that the state's power grid operator ordered emergency rolling blackouts.

the main power utility serving northern california, pg&e, said it rotated outages for more than 220,000 homes over several hours to alleviate the high demand for electricity. in southern california, more than 130,000 customers were affected. meanwhile, multiple wildfires north of los angeles have forced evacuations and continue to burn. the largest, the lake fire, began wednesday and burned more than 14,000 acres and was only 12% contained by this morning. the ranch fire, which began thursday, destroyed 2,500 acres in one day, and was zero percent contained as of yesterday evening. japan's leaders marked the 75th anniversary of their country's surrender in world war ii today. emperor naruhito, whose grandfather hirohito was emperor during the war, expressed "deep remorse" and said he hopes that the ravages of war will never be repeated. prime minister shinzo abe pledged not to repeat the tragedy of war, but, as in past ceremonies marking the

anniversary, he did not apologize or acknowledge the japanese war-time atrocities in asia. due to covid-19, the ceremony was scaled back to only 600 attendees this year. former illinois governor james thompson, known as "big jim," has died. the republican governor was first elected in 1976, and re-elected three more times, making him the longest-serving governor in illinois history. before his election as governor, thompson washe u.s. attorney for northern illinois. he led an investigation in 1972 that uncovered massive voter fraud and resulted in 83 indictments and 66 convictions or guilty pleas. thompson had been suffering from heart problems. he was 84 years old. for the latest national and international news, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: the trump administration announced this week that it had finalized the rollback of an obama-era climate rule on methane emissions. for more on what that means, i spoke with tim puko, who reports on energy policy for the "wall street journal."

tim, tell me, what are the regulations that either we're passing or rolling back? what's the change? >> there were rules that the obama administration had approved back in 2016 that required oil and gas producers to specifically monitor for leaks of methane, and fix those leaks. that requirement is going away. the rules still do include other requirements that are-- are likely to get oil and gas companies to still capture a lot of those emissions, but they don't have to look for methane anymore. >> sreenivasan: what was the rationale in rolling these regulations back? >> the trump administration wanted to help smaller and mid-sized oil companies. they were pretty open about that. that, you know, a lot of these drillers work on tht margins. a lot of them have pretty low-producing wells that don't bring in a ton of cash. and as you can imagine, to p

sophisticated monitoring systems or to send people around into far-flung aces to check for these leaks can be kind of expensive. and the administration wanted to cut those expenses for those companies. they also said that-- that changing the rules in this way gives companies more flexibility to manage this in whatever way suits them. >> sreenivasan: is there a ripple effect here? i mean, we're talking just about methane, but are there other kinds of greenhouse gas emissions for different types of polluters that could be impacted by either the regulations that were in place from the obama administration or what the trump administration is trying to do? >> yes, absolutely. the trump administration is playing a much bigger game here. the immediate implications are for oil and gas companies and these emissions of methane. they were the first climate rules that were ever applied to oil and gas. but, of course, you've seen major rules issued for power plants and for cars and trucks.

this rule, on oil and gas companies, was thought to be a further foray and that rules on manufacturers broadly, cement makers, a whole host of other heavy industries, might follow. there is some legal maneuvering that the trump administration is doing which they hope stops that, that prevents any of these other industries from having greenhouse gas mandates put on them. >> sreenivasan: say, in january, if there is a different president in power, what happens to this rule change? >> it could very well go away. there is a widespread sense, even among republicans and industry allies, that if the president doesn't win reelection, a lot of these rollbacks are in question. all of them, i believe, are being sued in court-- certainly the vast majority of them. so, yeah, there are-- there is a lot at stake in this election,

on whether this rule and many other rollbacks reted to climate from the administration actually stick. >> sreenivasan: help put the methane rollback in perspective on all of the different types of things that the trump administration has done in their attemp to roll back obama-era administrative rules. >> this is a culmination of sorts. to go back to the obama administration, there were three big climate rules that they passed. i alluded to the other two. the first was the clean power plan for power plants. the second were rules to limit emissions from cars and trucks. the-- and then, of course, the methane rule was the first-ever climate rule for oil and gas. so, when the trump administration came in, their top priorities at e.p.a. were to get rid of or at least substantially roll back all three of those. >> sreenivasan: tim puko of the "wall street journal," thanks so much for jning us. >> thank you.

>> sreenivasan: the massive rt explosion that killed scores and injured thousands in brut, lebanon this month has also created a healthcare and homelessness crisis in a city that was already experiencing strains due to covid-19. newshour weekend special correspondent leila molana-allen has the story. a warning to our viewers-- some of the images are disturbing. >> reporter: at 6:08 p.m., a sudden blast devastated east beirut. the explosion destroyed geitaoui hospital, decimating its emergency room and intensive care unit. but that didn't stop the wounded and dying flooding through its doors. the makeshift e.r. extended out into the parking lot. many doctors and nurses who had gone home for the day rushed back to the hospital to help. moustapha al moula was one of them. >> ( translated ): it was a

bloodbath. with some of the patients, i couldn't even put their faces together, couldn't tell where their airway was. >> reporter: working with what they could salvage from the destruction, staff also had to treat their injured colleagues. on the night of the blast, many doctors were injured, and so they immediately grabbed what they could to treat each other, to then be able to help patients. they sutured each other without anaesthetic to stitch up these wounds, and this is from an emergency staple gun, which is a fast way of sealing a wound to stop the bleeding. they did what they could, performing emergency surgery in the makeshift e.r. with the operating theatre in pieces. the specialist covid-19 unit was also shattered. its sterilized waiting area became a temporary morgue for the bodies of those they couldn't save. with theospital falling apart, patients were evacuated using cars, scooters, and whatever could carry them. many came here, to lau rizk hospital, damaged but still functional.

dr. michel mawad rushed in to find a scene of horror. there aren't even records for most of the wounded. in the chaos, doctors resorted to writing names and vital statistics on patients' bare skin. lebanon's health care system was already under strain, thanks to a crippling economic downturn, unable to get hold of essential equipment and supplies. across the city, charities have set up mobile clinics like this one to try to bridge the gap in care. >> after the explosion, the health care syem was heavily affected. the five major hospitals in the area were heavily damaged, as well as 12 healthcare centers. >> reporter: they offer full- service health care and provide essential medicines. lebanon's main drugs depot was blown up in the explosion, leavg the country with a severe shortage. >> what we would usually use in two weeks, we're giving out in one day. >> reporter: the clinic has also been treating blast injuries to lessen the load on the semi-functioning hospitals, but many of those injured will

need far more serious ongoing care. almost 7,000 people were wounded. around 1,500 are still in intensive care. dr. mawad estimates a quarter of tse at the hospital that night have been left with life- changing injuries, including loss of eyes, amputated limbs, and brain damage. >> the vast majority of injuries went to the head and skull. because of sudden increase of pressure in the head, the skull blew up. and with flying glass, some shards penetrated and entered the brain itself. >> reporter: naji makhlouf sustained severe head injuries. the doctors say he should regain full bodily control, but they won't know the full extent of his brain injury until the swelling goes down. then he could face reduced processing ability, communicatiochallenges and memory loss. and his is one of the more moderate cases.

but the devastation wrought on naji and his wife nicole's lives has been anything but moderate. they also lost their house in the blast. once naji is well enough to leave the hospital, they face the overwhelming task of finding somewhere to live while they find the money to rebuild their ho. theirs is one of the worst damaged areas of beirut, less than a kilometer from the port. the explosion shattered this close-knit community, leaving thousands of families who called these destroyed buildings home unsure if they can ever return. the mitris live a few blocks down, not far from the blast's epicenter. none of the family were in the house when the explosion happened. their roof caved in completely. they've been living here since the blast, desperate to try and hold on to what remains of the home they have livedn all their lives. >> the rain came on us while we were sleeping. but it's our home. we can't leave it. >> reporter: what about your belongings? were you able to save much?

>> not a lot. >> reporter: do you have insurance? >> yes, but they don't do anything. this is it, it's lebanon. >> reporter: it's a familiar story. residents across beirut say that the authorities have done nothing for them. in their absence, groups of volunteers are taking on the task of trying to get this ravaged city back on its feet. just meters from camil's house, these young engineers and architects are hatching a plan to rebuild beirut. those made homeless can come and register their house's location on a map. each day, the volunteers walk the streets for hours, visiting and assessing the registered properties. the grassroots coective is collecting donations of building materials and buying what it can atost, hoping to get construction under way as soon as possible. their organization and ambition is impressive. but the reality is, with more than 8,000 damaged buildings in the area, assessing and rebuilding each will take months, maybe years. and in the immediate aftermath, sympathy is high. as the world moves on, the money may soon run out.

and then there are those, like victoria and her mother, who will never be able to return home, their buildings fractured beyond repair. these cracks extend through every wall of the building, all the way down to the foundations. multiple structural engineers have told victoria and her mother that they have just a month to collect their belongings and find another home before the rains come and the building will probably collapse. this has always been their home. they don't know wherto go. and facing homelessness and unemployment, victoria is also coping with the lasting trauma of the blast. >> since that day, i have-- look-- i have this. shaking hands. the n.g.o.s are coming, and they are offering us houses, but the houses are for one month or two months maximum. after that you have to pay rent. but we are not working. how we are going to pay the rent?

>> reporter: like many in this beleaguered city, already coping with job losses, a crippled economy and few basic services even before the explosion, victoria feels this tragedy has finally broken her. >> ( translated ): they made us lose our jobs and we stayed quiet. the dollar rate increased and we stayed quiet. now, our homes are destroyed, our friends are dead. >> reporter: it is hard to over-estimate the devastation this man-made catastrophe has wrought. as the dust clears and the dead are buried, now the living must begin to rebuild what they can of their shattered lives. >> sreenivasan: drummer chris frantz is well-known as a co-founder of the legendary band talking heads. his new memoir, "remain in love," is as much a look back at the origins of one of america's most culturally and commercially successful bands as it is a love letter to his long-time bandmate and wife, tina weymouth.

still married after 43 years, weymouth and frantz are the rarest of rock and roll couples. newshour weekend's christopher booker has more. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: when a drummer is said to be "in the pocket," they're not only keeping solid time, they're said to be deep inside the groove of the song. >> you're just there and you're very comfortable. and you're-- you're listening to everybody else all around you, and you're playing-- you're really playing together with these people. you're just in the pocket. >> reporter: but for drummer chris frantz, co-founder of talking heads and tom tom club, to be "in the pocket" is just a bit different than for other drummers, because if he is indeed there, he is most likely in the pocket with his wife, bass player tina weymouth. >> we played together enough that we don't have any problem getting into the pocket. i mean, it's like, we just do. >> reporter: and they've been this way for nearly 50 years,

from when they first met in college, through the formation of talking heads with david byrne, and then on to global stardom-- a jouey retold in frantz's just-released memoir, "remain in love." >> most of the time, yes, we agreed on memories. she has an excellent memory, but i think she remembers more serious things than i remember. i remember, like, what we had for dinner. >> reporter: as frantz writes, he picked up the drums early. his father, a graduate of west point, served in the korean war, and studied law at harvard, and later became a general, while his mother encouraged his musical pursuit. frantz describes h as a southern belle who fell in love with the beatles alongside the rest of america. >> i was really getting into painting and drawing, and i just, i decided one day, this is what i want to do. i want to be an artist. and i told my parents and they were like, what? how will you ever support yourself? my pents were conservative and old-fashioned. they believed in self-discipline

and being able to take care of yourself. >> reporter: frantz would end up at the rhode island school of design, where he would not only meet tina weymouth, but also david bryne. after college, the trio moved into a lt in new york city, forming talking heads, getting their very first gig as an opening act for the ramones at c.b.g.b. >> without c.b.g.b., it's-- it's very doubtful we'd be having this conversation right now, because c.b.g.b. was like the incubator for so many bands, and then the springboard out into the rest of the world. >> the name of this band is talking heads, and the name of this song is "psycho killer." >> reporter: during this period, talking heads were rubbing shoulders with artists that would become the giants of american music-- patti smith, television, blondie, and the ramones-- the groups trading slots at america's epicenter of punk rock. talking heads, now a foursome after adding guitar player jerry harrison, considered the

vanguards of a music being dubbed new wave. >> we weren't-- weren't alwa sure what weanted to do, but we were very clear on what we did not want to do. some people describe the sound as coming from "the twilight zone." we were very interted in moving the hips, but also moving the brain a little bit. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: and with this approach came critical and commercial success, on a level few bands achieve. while they stopped touring in 1984, they continued to record through the decade. but in 1991, with little warning, says frantz, david byrne left the group. the bands last performance was in 2002, during their induction into the rock n' roll hall of fame. >> i'd like to thank the rock n' roll hall of fame for giving this band a happy ending. >> reporter: how was that a happy ending, and why? >> well, we hadn't performed together for something like

18 years when we did that. and... and so, there was that whole period of, like, sort of wondering "why?" you know? was it something i said? ♪ ♪ you know, being in a rock band is hard work. i mean, you've got to work real hard and sometimes you have to roll with certain unfair aspects of the business, you know. >> reporter: but frantz's and weymouth's musical story is not just talking heads. there is also the story of an unlikely side project, born during a talking heads break in the early '80s. the result was tom tom club, and a number of hit songs, "wordy rappinghood" and "genius of love," a so that certainly did well on its own, but quickly grew into something else entirely-- its groove making its way into songs by grandmaster

flash and the furious five... ♪ ♪ ...and later, mariah carey. ♪ ♪ does having that experience and the success of tom tom club help when you consider what happene with talking heads? >> well, i think it did a little bit, in that i think some people, people who were perceptive, realize that, oh, maybe the whole talking heads band is more of a shared experience than we realized. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: but as frantz's writes in his memoir, there has been one constant throughout this shared experience: tina. >> tina has been wonderful to me and i hope i've been wonderful to her. >> reporter: what-- what advice

would you give to couples to last 43 years? and then the follow-up, what advice would you give to music couples to last that long? >> ( laughs ) well, i believe that it's important to keep up the romance, so i think you should send flowers. i think you should send candy. and i think you should do the dishes. and i think it's also very important to keep your sense of humor and to get enough sleep. ♪ ♪ >> sreenivasan: that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet

captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the derson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment,

to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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