captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. udy woodruff on the newshour tonight: landfall. the gulf coast, causingnto widespread damage and leaving tens of thousands without power. then, the ongoing unrest. demands for racial justice grow as protests over th police shooting of jacob blake continue nationwide. plus, making it official. president trump is set to formally accept the republican nomination as the party conclus s 2020 convention. and, the impact of covid on refugees. migrant children in undai reout of school amid scarce inaccessible online education.

>> over 60% of the refugees in this stlement are children, and many of them are stuck at home, doing no schoolwork. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. pb>> major funding for th newshour has been provided by: ♪h ♪ >> the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated adsor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial servis firm raymond james. >> women's suffrage centennial commission.

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spent this day assessing the aftermath of hsoricane laura. ar, they've counted at least fod ur dd wreckage spread ir miles around tand. and, more than 700,000 people in louisiana and texas have no power. it was projected to be an" unsurvivable" event. the actual damage wreaked hurricane laura remains to be seen, but its strength was on full display last night. laura made landfall in louisiana's cameron parish-- some 30 miles east of the texas border. the storm blasted the state's southwest with category 4 winds of up to 150 miles per hour and unrelenting rains. as the sun came up, the damage began coming into view. in lake charles, about 45 miles north, laura ripped into buildings and inundated roads. just outside the city, a giant

lume of toxic smoke rose from a chemical plant that caught fires officiaid they were working to contain a chlorine leak. and, residents nearby were told to stay indoors, with air conditioners turned off. governor bel edwards acknowledged the damage but said it could have been much worse. >> whatever the rearyn is, we're hankful, because there is widespreadnd very significant d tamage because winds, and some because of the rain. we're thankful we didn't get >> woodruff: meanwhile, in texas, governor greg abbott egion to surver the damage. but while residents there woke up to some flooding... >> whoa. i shouy ld have wornots, huh? >> woodruff: ...texas was largely spared e worst. >> we were very lucky, yes. in fact, last night, as the storm was coming ashore, the wind bands tually tightened up a little bit, so the 35-to-40

miles-per-hour winic we were preding here in this location didt actually occur. >> woodruff: in port arthur, mike hastings and a dozen other rescue volunteers met up to send resources to louisiana. >> we got one of our humvees that went to go pick up a humvee trailer-- just an oversized trailer that we're going to be taking with us, to try to bring water and food to hackberry and cameron. we're going to try to make a rescue trip there so that they're not stranded as much as they have in past storms. >> woodruff: meanwhile, in washesington, ent trump visited the federal emergency management agency for an update on the conroditions on thed. >> we got a little bit lucky. it was very big, it was very powerful, but it passed quickly. woodruff: he plans to tour the damage this weekend. back in louisiana, the system's sustained winds dropped to tropical storm status as it lumbered farther inland. b, it will still unleash strong winds across northern louis aia arkansas ght, before turning east

forecasters warn the srm's impact will be felt across the mid-atlantic rough the weekend. >> woodruff: calcasieu parish, louisiana took a direct hit, as hurricane laura storm came ashore overnight. tom hoefer is the public information officer and direcr of communications for the parish, and joins us from lake seat.e that is the parish mr. hoefer, tell us, first of all, just how bad is it? >> well, in one sense, we really took a punch in the chin on this one with the wind damage. the wind damage is pretty asevere. lo lots of homes, businesses, other buildings have roof damage and so of that is, you know, thdie bu will have to be torn down and rebuilt. the good side, guess, of what happened to us overnight is that we did not get the storm surge that was predicted, and, so, we

were able to sort of escape having to do all of the search ahand rescue t they had trained for and anticipated having to do. so that was the good side of it. the wind damage is thide bade. >> woodruff: yes, and describe what that nd damage means to thepa sh. >> first of all, there's no power anywhere, noby has electricity. that's because the infrastructure of the electrical grid her been sy damaged and it's going to take them quite a bit of time to get that back up ad going. and in august, south louisiana, it's hot. also, transportiois difficult. one to have the first things we did with our organization this morning is get our publicworks crews out to clear the road waste. so many trees down on roadways, so many power lines and power poles down on the roadways that needed to be clear offso we can

start the process of recovering. that's going well. i know the city crewsin lake charles have done a good job with that as well and the state of louisiana is doing well withhat. that is ongoing and starting to get us back on the road to recovery as well. >> woodruff: and people generally evacuat as they were urged to do? >> it was an interesting evacuation because monday when to come our way, they werelikely talking about a 1 or 2 hurricane, so it was an advisory recommended act, not a mdated evacuation. then tuesday, the forecastro d in on us and they had upped the strength, likelihood to be 3a category, so that's when the mandatory evacuation was cled. people really started to pay attention at that point and started to make a plan to evacuate. tuesday morning, wednesday

morning, when the forecast was calling for a category 4 ven 5 hurricane to make a direct hit on us, a lot more people wen out then, and we're glad they did. >> woodruf for sure, i'm re a lo of lives were saved. we know there was a chemica plant where there was a fire. where does that stand right now? >> i lieve, based on what my information is, is that at is now out. it's in an unfortunate location, right across the calcasieu river in west lake, an industrial ea, the company manufactured pool chemals, but it was clear that it would be a chlorine cloud, which could be quite dangerous, so there was a shelter in place der for some communities on the west side of the parish. now i believe all that is taken are of. right along the interstate, they have stop traffic along interstate ten as well for a good while. woodruff: finally,

mr. hoefer, what about the fact we're in the middle of a pandemic, how does that complica things? >> it complicates everything we do about sheltering. beforehand, normally in a hurricane, we usuld bundreds and hundreds of people to shelters in north louisiana in areas that aret outside of the hurricane impact zone. that isinvisable in a pandemic. you can't put people 50 in a bus and, you for a three-hour or four-hour ride and not exec to spread the diseases. then you put them in a basketball arena somewhere, hundreds or even thousands together inan indoor setting, you're going to spread the disease, and now thathe hurricane is passed, you know, we still have that. weave some people that it would be best if they'd leave to and maybe we could find a shelter for them under different circumstance but it's a risk that you don't want to take. ou have been hit very rd by covid 19 inwest louisiana,

so we don't feel comfortable, you know, p puttiople together at this point. >> woodruff: well, we are certainly glad that it wasn't any worse, but we wish you the very be because it's clear that you have a lot left to do before things g anywhereclose back to normal. tom hoefer in calcasieu parish, thank you very much. >thk you. >> woodruff: three days aer police in kenosha, wisconsin, shot a black man, jacob blake, in the back, the shockwaves are sti reverberating through that city, the nation and, as john yang reports, through the sirld of profesal athletics. >> black lives mr! >> black lives matter! >> yang: it was peaceful in kenosha last night, as demonstrators demanded justice for 29-year-old jacob blake, who lies in a milwaukee hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. bit by bit, details of his

shooting by are emerging. wisconsin attorney general josh kaul said police first unsuccessfully tasered blake. >> mr. blake walked arounophis vehicleed the driver's side door and leaned forward. while holding onto mr. blake's fired his service weapon seven times. officer sheskey fired the weapon into mr. blake's back. no other officer fired their weapon. >> yang: kaul said that after blake was shot, he told investigators he had a knife. officers found it on the floor of his car, theagh it's not r whether they knew about it before. using police dispatch tapes, the "milwaukee journal sentinel" determined that blake was shot less than three minutes after police arrived on the scene. thefficer who shot blake is a seven-year veteran of the kenosha police. he's on administrative leave and has not been charged. information is also emerging about the killings of two kenosha county men during protests tuesday night.

ities have not named the but friends and family say the dead are 26-year-old anthony h, uber, and joseph rosenba. on a now-deactivated facebook page that appears to belong to kyle r old being held on a first-degree intentional homicide charge, a young man profess his support for police, declaring "we back the blue." blake's shooting has fueled protests around the country, from oakland to minneapolis, where the minnesota vernor called out the national guard to put down looting following erroneous reports that police hadt sblack man. and, the anger and frustration has spread to professional sports. last night, nearly a dozen, n.b.a., w.n.b.a., major league baseball and major league soccer games were called off when athletes refused to play. inste of taking the court for a playoff game, pllwaukee bucks ers spoke by phone from their locker room with the wisconsin lieutenant governora attorney general. >> i commend the bucks, and now

all n.b.a. teams that suspended their games today, for stepping up and ptipating in the dialogue about these issues and making their voices known. >>ang: later, bucks' players spoke to reporters. for jacob blake, and demand the officers be held accountable. f this to occur, it is imperative for the wisconsin state legislature to recons ne after mon inaction and take up meaningful measuressuo address of police accountability, brutality and criicminal juste reform. >> yang: b.a. and w.n.b.a. players and coaches haveeen at the forefront protests over systemic racism and police brutality. doc rivers isead coach of the los angeles clippers. >> we're the ones getting we're the ones getting shot. we're e es that will deny to live in certain communities. we' been home. we've been shot.

and... all you do is keep hearing fear. it's... it's amazing... why do you keep loving this country and this country does not love us back. and... it's just-- it's really so sad. >> yang: as some n.f.l. teams canceled practices today, n.b.a. players agreed to resume the league's championship playoffs, although tonight's three scheduled games have all been postponed. w.n.b.a. f playmes are also on hold, as is the oakland a's/texas rangers baseball game. the player boycotts are arguably the strongest stand they've ever taken on this or any oocial issue. llen played 18 seasons i

the n.b.a., including with the milwaukee bucks. he's a ten-ti all-star and a mber of the basketball hall of fame. ray allen, thanks so much for joining us on the "newshour". i know you talked to current plays. what was it about this moment that made it a breaking point, that brought them to the point where thaid we're just not going to , play? >> wedon't think this moment was any different than anything that has happened, nyou , over the last couple of years. we finally had enough, and we've seen events unfold in front of our eyes arecently as a couple of months ago and enough is enoughdo what more have to say or do? when you're sitting in an arena and thinking about playing basketball, you have to ask yourself wret's ly important here? the basketball is really theac

dison. at the same token, it's time for us to use this immodium, this mantle to use our voices. we're more than just basketball players.ki >> reporter: t about using your voice, this started with one player, by all accounts, george hill going into the bucs locker room and saying why are we playing this game? and it brought sort of the multi-million-dollar n.b.a. to a grinding halt. what's the next step? this has shown the leverage the players have over the owners and over this sport. what is the next step? wh would you like to see sort of the players use this leverage nh the owners? >> well, remind you aba couple o with donal sterling with the comments at the he made about the athletes in the n.b.a., and the voices that we had and the things that we said, we voiced our

displeasure. we tried to protest as much as didn't understand what our voice was. we turned our shirts backwds and voiced our displeasure as much as we could. now we've taken the step further because we understand the power we possess. i do believe it will take the ownership to hav of the teams tp up and join voic in this fight. it can't just be the players. >> reporter:z these oave a rot of power in the team cities. i mean, theyet cities where the streets are filled with potholes and the schools arnge falpart to give them tax breaks and build them arenas doo thet leave. what would you like to see the oarnz do to sort of help this cause, to move this cause forward? when we say black lives matter, it's not enough to be able

say black lives matter and post a black square on your social media. we need to start seeingknunds, yo, pushed into the inner cities, you know, black and brown, the underprivileged, the young people into schooli we need to see money put into programs where we see our young people being taken care of because, if you go across every sports league, you see so many players who have foundations when they try to do as much as they can to get back because tomhere arenities where they are forgotten, and it's time to start thinking t abouthese people that have been left behind, and we are the ones usng our voices now because the inner cities need a handup, you know, and it's up to us to use our voices to make sure we let our o ners know weeed to do more inside these communities andmake sure we give them greater opportunities than they've had before. >> reporter: your former miami heat teammate and close friend

and on and off the court lebron james has been a leading voice in thi he's leading a get out the vote effort this fall, arranged to have dodger stadi um asa voting place. have you talked with him about his growinpolitical activism this year? t yeah, wie exchanged messages, and i just wm to know every time i talked to him that just be tcause i'm not he court with you, i have your back. i support you, we stand wi you. you know, this is the issue not only for the n.b.a., it's an issue for all sports, is an issue for all people, so it's going to take eve leaguto join up, join together and say we need to speak out together as a group and not just look at one person, everybody has to cree a swarm of voices and mobilize. anfrom lebron, we have the power. it reminds me of ali back in

'66, when he was arrested for not going to war, he s t most hated man in america at the time and now he's the greatest of alltime and beloved, and a lot of people forget what he he lost four years of boxing, you know, unlike colin kaepernick. so now is the time to say i get it, we're professional athlete we want to play basketball but now we have more pressing issues and we need to press e issues and make sure changes happen. >> reporter: it feels lika big moment in sports, society. wray ray, n.b f. hall amer, thank you very much. >> yeah, thank you. >> woodruff: president trump and former vice president j biden traded barbs today on the racial unrest gripping the nation, hours before the prident's finaconvention address from

the white house tonight. amna nawaz begins our conventi coverage, starting with a recap of last night. >> nawaz: for the third night in a row, republicans, like democrats before them, used their convention stage to argue that theoul of the nation is at stake. >> it's not so much whether merica will be more conservative or more liberal, more republican or more democrat. the choice in this election is whether america remains america. >> nawaz: vice president pence delivered his keynote address before a mostly-unmasked crowd at fort mchenry in baltimore. as the u.s. covid-19 death toll topped 178,000, he hailed the fedel sponse, and presented an optistic view of the ongoing pandemic. >> after all the sacrifice in thisli yea no other, all the hardship, we are finding our way forward again. >> acnawaz: while rl justice protests roiled communities after the police shooting of another black man, jacob blake,

pence and the party doubled down on their message of law and rder. >> the hard truth is, you won't be safe in joe biden's america. u tnder presidemp, we will always stand withhose standing on the thin blue line, and we're note. going to defund the pol not now, not ever. >> nawaz: and as league after league of professional hletes boycotted games in response to blake's soting... >> you can kneel before god but tand for our flag. >> ,nawaz: ...madison cawtho a north carolina congressional candidate who is partially paralyzed, delivered this meage to those who kneel during the national anthem. >> be a radical for freedom, b ae a radical for libert be a radical for our republic, for which i stand. e nation under god, with liberty and justice for all. >> nawaz: republicans this week have featud number of black speakers... >> it was the republican party that passed the 13th amendment

abolishing slavery. >> nawaz: ...messaging their support for the president and his party. >> donald trumpruly cares abt black lives. his policies show his heart. hhadone more for black america in four years than joe biden has done in 50. >> nigawaz: last's programming lean heavily into the theme of patriotism and national security... take care of veterans. >> nawaz: ...honoring military s mervibers, and featuring severd veterans. anon the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, reps ublicapeals to them forged on. white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany shared a deeply personal account of her mastectomy, and why she's supporting mr. trump. >> i have a nine-month-old dauger. she's a beautiful, sweet little girl. and i choose to work for this president, for her. >> nawaz: senior advisor to the president, kellyanne conway, said the president has empowered the women around him.

>> for decades, he s elevated women to senior positions in business and in government. he confides in and consults us, respects our opinions, and insists that we are on equal footing with the men. >> nawaz: the republican national convention rolls into its final night with another norm-shattering event. president trump will deliver his remarks from the white house to some 1,500 attendees. meanwhile today, democratic vice pndresidential caidate senator kamala harris claimed a biden presidency would better tackle the pandemic. ru still doesn't have a plan. he still doesn't have a plan. joe biden released his first plan in march. he's got a national strategy, he's more than ready to lead. earvery month since, as this pandemic has unfolded, joe biden haheupdatedteps he would take to save american lives. >> nawanbz: and on biden himself charged that the trump administration is using the

its advantage.inties to >> he views this as a political benefit to him. you know, he's rooting for more violence, not less. and what's he doing? he's pouring gasoline on the fire. if you want to end where we are now, we have to end his tenure as president. >> nawaz: but speaking today, the president said authorities must squash the demonstrations. >> if they request that we send in the national ard, they will be there instantaneously. and we will put out the fire, we will put out the flame, we dawill put out the vsm, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous. >st> nawaz: on this, the la night of 2020's unconventional virtual convention, president trump will make his case for american voters to give him four more years. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: here to help us understand all of this ahead of the president's speech tonight are miche alcindor, joining us

from the white house, and lisa desjardins. hello to both of you. miche, let me start with you. we heard in amna's report anha ems last night on law and order, president trump speaking about it again today. what are you learning about the impact at may be having on his prospects for reelection? >> well, the president came out and the white house came out pretty strongly against both the protests that we're seng play out on the streets with everyday mericans as well as the protests carrit by athletes, tennis and baseball and the n.b.a. a e hearnumber of white house officials really come out a couple of people spoke out. there was jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, and mark short, the vice president's chief of staf he called the protest by the n.b.a. absurd and silly. kellyanne conway came out and said the chaos and anarchy and violence we rkid will be g to president trump's benefit saying we'll make te distinction between president trump and joe biden

clear. we heard joe biden saying president trump is rooting for more violence instead of less violence. we want to look at the politica implicationsl this. i want to pull up a poll conducted by h marqugh school, found a drop in approval rating for "black lives matter" ang it wants, a poll after george floyd's death but before jaake's death. it found in june 66% of independents approved of theli "blacs matter." rating in democrats among republicans. what tells us that as these protests continue, we see people protesting, but also looting an violence, people's opinions of the protest are starting to change with most peopti stg to drop approval rating for these protests. >> wdruff: lisa, we hea from the democratic ticket today, as we just heard, joe biden, kamala harris. we know you were there in in

person for her remarks and we know she spoke about the corovirus. what can you tell us about what she said about this set of about kenosha?the racial unrest >> her remarks were sharp and very intentional on this subject. talking to the biden campaign, they say they always had plans for kamala harris to come out with a strong anrd cl prebuttal about the president. they say they expected the president to tell liesb aout their campaign and wanted kamala harris to come out finst. the last cole of days they have moved to more talking about this partic.ar iss she repeated twice jacob blake was shot in the back seven times, shot in the back seven times, she repeated. she stressed he's still fighting for his life. it shouldn't be that way. she broadened the theme, judy,in sag things like it's clear, the reality is, that the life of a black person in is america -- in america has never been treated as fully human. she also went on to say to

address republicans' challenge to thsa, she we do not confuse violence, looting with peaceful protest. she says that's what republicans are not democrats, and, to act now whe it comes torica racial injustice. she also said it's a reali that republicans areig sheering. in fact, she said republicans a ignoring the very name of jacob blakereated including >> woodruff: lisa, staying with you, we see the trump campaign bringing up policing and the biden ticket's position on that. what are you seeing about what the tmp camp is saying and how the biden people -- the biden campaign is responding? >> right. this is important, too, because, whilee knew that we were going to hear from kamala harris today, we did not know that the vice president joe biden was going to be speaking as well. he went on several cable television outlets for lengthy interviews talking a lot about this topic, and seemed he was

really defending his record on let's look at a particularly fact check about something vice president pence said last nig during his speech. pence said yesterday he asked whether he supported cutting funding to police. biden replied, yes, absolutely. those w pence's words last night. but when you look at what biden said, biden just this past sunday said, i don't want to defund police departments, i think they need more help. biden has said he thinks some things, for example, mentalther health programs, but he has never said that he wants to cut overall police funding. instead, today, he went on thaie air and he denounced violence and he does think there are community solutions, he's long been for community policing is what den said today. >> woodruff: quickly back to yamiche. tell us a little bit about what we should expect to hear from the president tonight. >> the white house has been

transformed into a campaign rally on the south lawn where i'm handing. the lines have never been more blurred between the trump white house and the campaign. he's expected to speak to between 50000 and i was not covid tested before came out here. e don't know whether the people have been tested. there's no mass mandate. i want to pull up the fact the president will be dealing words against joe biden. i want to pull out some of the parts of the speech. he's expected to say at no time have voters faced a clearer choice between two visions, philosophies on jeardz and he will say he has spent four years nraveling the damaged biden did over the last four years. he's supposed to have 150 oumillion test goe across the country and the president is hoping that announcement will give life to the that he is

trying to protect americans from this pandemic. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, talking to both of you throughout the night, thank you. thanks. >> woodruff: and with just couple hours to go before the start of tonight's republican convention, we're joined byit house chief of staff thank you very much for taking time to be with us. how do you think the convention is going so far and what do you thinkhe president is gaining from this? >> well, i think the convention is going outstandg because if we're telling the story of american people across the country, and in each and every night, it's not just about politicaligures and personalities, it's about people that are involved in whether it's a fisherman orlogger or

anyone else, small business pe srson, it's thery, and that's what the american people are really interested in and, t ultimately, t forgotten man or woman that this president campaigned on some four years ago and, ultimately, it is his ability to represent them that this convention is all about. >> woodruff: we araring a lot of the personaltimes. 're also hearing a lot abjoe biden, and i want to ask you about that because he's clearly a progressive, a liberal, his views are to the left of the president. he's for eexpanding the affordable care act, for social services, but he is not for a government-run medicare for all. e is not as heard in lisa desjardins' report, he's not for defunding the police, he's repeated it again, yet speaker after speaker at the conventione is sayin is for these things. they're saying he's a socialist, he's going to bring the country to in. why not just say this is what he believes and not exaggera?

>> well, i don't think there's any exaggeration. fen in your leadup a minutes ago with the reporter and the reporter that was going on, they said he wasto reallocate. but definition that means you cut from one yplace aou augment in another place. so if he's so clear on it, why doesn'tl he condemn e people out there saying we need to defund the poce, why doesn't he condemn them? lit just state a po position, but condemn their very activity. it's never been re clear, this president will back law enforcement, consistently has and consistently ll, and, yet, nuanced in his words, when we all know what he really means by that. i served on capitol hill. when you talkbout reallocation, you take from one bucket and you ut in a different bucket. so i'm not sure exactly what he mes by that. >> woodruff: reallocating is diffent than defunding altogether.

>> let's say we're not defunding btogeth you're cutting the funding. let's be honest about it. if you're taking money from police law enforcement, you're not increasing their budget, you're decreasing it. >> woodruff: let me ask you something quickly that vice president pence and others have said, that the president has saved lives with a total ban on travel from china starting back in january, claiming -- he biden the democrats attacked joe this. hev, we looked back at all this. it was not a total ban. the "new york times" estimated something0 ike 40,avelers from china arrived in the u.s. after the president imposed that action over the course of two months and that joe biden and the democrats did not attack this. we've gone back and looked. so where is all that cong from? >> well, if you went back and looked, they did condemn it and, so, let's go ahead and do that. he did call him xenophobic. >> woodruff: but he was not

said that. the ban when he >> well, so, it was in the contelixt of the covid and what the president did, so i don't know how you cali context it any other way. and so what they're saying is joe biden today is applauding the president or cutting down travel from china, that would be newsworthy that'st what he's saying. i don't see any ads with joe biden saying we applaud president trump for cutting down travel from chin listen, this is all about two different narratives, it's one where the president, indeed, did save thousa as and thousan perhaps tens of thousands of lives maybe even by some estimate hundredsf thousands of lives by his quick action in terms of trying to make sure that there was a travel ban imposed. but more importantly than that, we have to make sure that the facts speak for themselves and, as you're trying to share with your vie rsnight, we can't have a revisionist history that would sugge anything other

than where joe biden has consistently, even through their convention, complained that the presidentidn't do things the way that he would have donet it. and i find that just interesting because he's a an abasement not really gaging on this particular issue. >> woodruff: many things to ask you abou marmeadows, one the racial unrest in the country now. the vice president painted a picture of many cities overrun with violence. we know there have been a lot of violence but also peaceful protests as well. my question to you is do you understand the anger and anguish of black families over the repeated instances of black men shot just like this, you know, mr. jacobs this week, in kenosha? >> well, as caa non-afamerican, i don't know that i can fully understand it the way that some in thome nity might, but, in my conversations with a number of

my friends, senator tim scott, as we tried to work on making sure that e moved legislation he was able to articulate this probably better than anyone else nd, yet, what we found was it was centered bourbon and oths like him that seemed to take tim scott's earnest desire to fix this problem and suggestion that it was only political, and, yet, what i do know is that there was a deal there to be made becausee esent wanted to make a deal and, yet, here we are with congress actng. the only person in washington, d.c. who has aced to try to ad this in a meaningful way is the president of the united stas with an executive order, and it's not the first time that he's acted n that. >> reporter: well, you had several white house officials today criticizing, fe,or exam professional athletes who have been sitting out some games over the last day. some are continuing tonight, some are no.

ust a few minutes ago, mark the clippers, doc rivers say, and i'm quoting kehim, wp loving this country and this are you pred also toe us back. criticize these athletes for what theye doing? >> listen, here's what i do know is peaceful protests, where they want to boycott, not boycot with the n.b.a., i haven't been watching their games. you moknow, i'm concerned with what they do in terms of a winning team than the boycott. what we have done is take the whole political side of that and which a lot of people, it'sa, making them tune out because it's one of the few timewhere ou can kind of disengage and not get involved in politics. that being said, it is their right to protest, and if they want to boycott it and protest, that's why we have a constitution and that's why we have those freedoms here that w enjoy. we enjoy them in america, and we

are not ecperfcountry, but we are always striving to be a more perfect uniod with that it's all about making sure way. we address it in a real this president has been for law enforcement, but he's also been for law and order, and i can tell you that he had the attorney general in the ovalwh office, the events happened in kenosha, and he asked them to make sure they investigate it fully. so what do wew? kno d.o.j. is looking at it from a civil rights standpoint as well. hopefully the truth willcome out in the cong wes. >> woodruff: we did see that. the reason i'm asking you about your view of these athletes because the president in the past called the nasty and dumb for sitting out these games. i want to ask you about mask wearing, mark meadows. you were in your forming congressional district in north carolina this week, we have video of that, you were not wearing a mask. we see 1,500 seats on the white

house lawn for the president's address, no mask mandates. the c.d.c. strongly suggested people wear a mask. >> yeah. >> woodruff: how do you square the >> i can tell you i'm probably the most tested individual in america every sing daily because of my interactions with the president. >> woodruff: right. i gemtested to make sure safe, so that mask-wearing is really a precaution to being able to transmit it to other people. so each and every day know i am coronavirus free, because i have to be to be able to work with tesident. but the other thing is perhaps you didn't see is i carry this ith sanitizer w everywhere, so if i shake a hand religious on sure that we protect those that we covome lved with. at the end of the day, what we have to do is get a thepy and vaccine to treat this because the contagiousness this particular virus is not going to be stopped just by a masrk o social distancing, we know that,

already, we've seen theacts on that. will it help hopully to i mitiga? we hope, so we encourage it, yes, it is, at the same time, wn have to under that we have to find a real solution. that's what the president has been focused oh n wiwarp speed is to try to do that. >> woodruff: but you're not concerned about the message it sends when people see not just you50 but seats close together on the white house lawn? >> i think the president has talked about masks, i have my mask with me, i wear it occasionally, so for all the viewers watching, listen, if there's a place where i'm not tested or i'm extremely close, i'll wear the ma yet when we try to make that a lit mutt test on whether it'sgo actuallg to be communicated or in a contains way shared with someone else, that's really not a message that this white house believes is being missed. >> woodruff: mark meadows, chief of staff to preandent trump. you very much.

>> great to be with you. >> woodruff: and now to stephanie sy with the rest of the day's adlines. >> sy: thanks, judy. u.s. deaths from covid-19 exceeded 180,000 today, as confirmed infections neared six million. meanwhile, the head of the c.d.c., dr. robert redfield, attempted to clarify the guid anyone exposed to the virus may indeed be considered for testing. thewat's after the agency criticism earlier for abruptly changing its gtdelines to say se people don't need to be tested. new numbers are out on the pandemic's ecomic toll. overall, u.s. output fell at an annual rate of nearly 32% in the second quarter. and, ather one million americans applied for unemployment benefits lasweek. meanwhile, the federal reserve announced a policy shift that will keep interest rates near zero, even if inflation exceeds target levels.

in new sualand, a white premacist gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques was sentenced today to life prison without parole. tnehe mass shooting hapin march of last year. brenton tarrant had pled guilty, but tourday, in he did not speak. the judge called his crimes "wked" and "inhuman." >> the beliefs upon which you rely to justify your crimes, are rooted in religious and ethnic antipathy and intolerance. the hatred that lies at the heart of ur hostility to particular members of the community that you came to this couplntry to murder has ne here. it has no place anywhere. >> sy: this is the first time that the maximum of life without parole has been imposed in new zealand. the nationbolished the death purenalty forr in 1961. the death toll from two days of flahash flooding in astan has now topped 150. mudslides in the northern and

eastern part of the country. for signs of life underg thick mud, while excavators dig for those whoight have been buried in collapsed homes. more than 200 pele have been injured. back ithis country, firefighters in northern california have m e more progreainst major wildfires in the san francisco bay area. that, in turn, allowed more evacuees to go home. tdnhousands returned day to neighborhoods in wine country's napa and sonoma unties, to find homes and cars incinerated by the flames. and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 160 ints to close at 28,492. the nasdaq fell 39 points, and the s&p 500 added five.

>> sy: a new report out today from unicef, the u.n. children's agency, says that at the global eight of the pandemic, nearly a half billion children could not access remote learning during lockdowns. and distance learning is even harder for hundreds of thousands of refugee children living in dire circumstances, like in uganda. special correspondent isabel nakirya reports. >> porter: at the end of th day, the sebe children gather togetr on the floor of their mud hut to start their the three sisters and two brothers are south sudanese rugees, living in the bidi bidi refugee settlement in northern uganda. ranging in e from six to 17 years, the ole family is here, except their 16-year-old brother, who has gone out to

look for firewood. as the eldest, scovia takes care of her siblings. their father was killed in t onflict in south sudan, and their mother abandoned them. the children arrived in uganda unaompanied in 2016, after escaping terrible violence at home. >> ( translated ): when the shooting started, we all r and followed people until we reached the ugandan border. we were all put on bus for bidi bidi, and my brother put up the tent that we were given. >> rtrepo: they have lived here ever since, and been in government schools run with support of international gencies. but since school shut down in march, 3.5 months later, the family of five received a single set of worksheets and instructions. this is the only material the government has provided to support them as they study at

ruhome during the conavi pandemic. but the sebe children say they hardly gnything. >> ( translated ): we struggle on our o. no one is here to help us understand the work. >> reporter: uganda is home to 1.4 million refugees, mainly from sth sudan and the democratic republic of congo, and bidi bidi is the largest refugee settlement in africa. over 60% of the refugees in this settlement are children. and many of th are stuck at home, doing no schoolwork. refugee agencies working here say it's difficult to get every ce hild on board becaere are not enough learning materials for everyone. and it's not just learning materials in short supply. the government is broadcasting lessons, but with no electricity, children who live in these huts in refugee settlements have no access t the internet or tv.

e g.o. world vision is distributing battery-operated radios and solar lights, but they don he enough for everyone. that they are at home, even reading has become very hard for them, coupled with the issues of light. it's rare that settlements have lights. they do not even have access to radios. however much we are supporting this one family, but other families elsewhere lack these items. >> reporter: with school closed, many children are now spending their days working in the fields, and supporting their families. is13-year-old noella mzung congolese refugee living in uganda's capital, kampala. she was on track to take exams this year that would allow her to enter high schl next year. but with school closed, she's pitching in to help with her

parents' tailoring business. and noella is worried she's falling behind in her schoolwork. >> ( translated ): because studying from a television is very hard, you don't understand what the teacher is teaching and you have nobody to help you. so i decided to be helping my mom because studying from my television, it's very difficult. >> reporter: helping the family to survive is a common theme. 14-year-old farigi delfe is also a refugee from the democratic republic of congo. he'lls g fish to help support his family of ten, making no pretense of keeping up with classwork. education specialists warn, refugee children may not be able to catch up when schools eventually reopen. and for these children, like millions of others worldwide escaping violence anor, school is a lifeline for more than just edation. >> a lot is learnt at school. a lot. some of them are traumatized,et

theyounseling through play. they get healing over their trauma through shariir stories, through talking to a friend, through hearing what others have gone through. all this is cut off, and we have a very high likelihood of children resorting back to those survival mechanms which are as result of trauma. so fo or this to be rul, we need our schools open. >> reporter: for hundreds of thousands of refugee children in uganda, home schooling is the only way to continue their education during the pandemic. >> ( translated ): imagine, for over three months, we have not been doing any form of reading because we didn't have light. now that we haveus small lamp to e, we are happy that we can now do some readin but we miss school. te>> repor for now, the sebe siblings have a pack of learning materials, and a light to read by, ey're determined to take on the chalnge to

graduate to the next class. this is isabel nakirya, for the pbs newshour, in northern uganda. >> sy: th's all from here, judy. >> woodruff: thank you, stephanie. anre we go, amna nawaz is back with what we can expect from tonight's republican convention. >> naw: on the republicans' last night to make their official conventiopitcweto the publicl hear from people closest to the president. that includes party leadership like house minority lder kevin mccarthy and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. some of mr. trump's closest advisors will speak tonight, including his personal attorney rudyani and his daughter, ivanka trump. and finally tonight, we'll hear from the president directly from the white house south lawn-- ase unprecedenteing for a political acceptance speech, fierce defense of his first four years in office. global pandemic, president trump will address a live crowd at the white house, and a virtual crowd

of millions more, on this final night of the 2020 conventions. >> woodruff: and you can follow all ofpecial coverage of this week's republican national convention online. you'll find news updates and dispatches from our team hecoveringonvention. and stay tuned for newshour's pre-show, which begins online in just a moment. that's on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newour for tonight. please join us starting at 8:00 eastern tonight for our special coverage of the republican national convention. i'm judy woodruff. pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll seyou shortly. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the women's suffrage centennial commission. honoring 1rs of the 19th amendment, landmarks will light up in purple and gold on 26, for the "forward in light" campaign. learn more at womensvote100.org

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. [ gunshots ] >> two dead as racial unrest in wisconsin grows after police shoot yet anotr black man, jacoblake. i talked to jeh johnson, president obama's secretary of homelandecurity. then amid record breing wildfires and hurricanes approaching, young conservative environmentalist benji backer talked about how climate change is awol again at the republican convention. i talked to josina machel about the movement for women.