first up can anything stop to california's wildfires from devastating? we dig in with strategies of solutions. also the grand old party held its convention this morning and we will have political analysis anthe latest of on the rate race for the white house.an >>her police involved shooting of a black man sparks shprotests and a of solidarity in the world of sports. welcome to kqed newsroom. the scu and you lightning plot complex fires now rank as y at second and third

largest fires in state history. merely one .4 million acres have burned statewide in nearly 2000 structures have been destroyed. at least seven people have a ed as result of the fires and were injured. fires like this seem to be a new normal in california with significant delays is coming almost every fall. climate change has made weather more unpredictable and led to hotter and drier conditions and pushed to fire prone regions. should we plan to live with this devastation and air quality for many years to come? is there any way g out? joine is scott stevens a professor at uc berkeley. we have seen several instances in which the devastation from s wildfis become personal including the santa cruz firefighters who lost their own homes thisu year. e also facing concerns about a camp you run. what is the latest? >> inthis is a little town

called meadow valley. we have a camp there we have used for 130 years w for an undergraduate course and there is a fire called the bear fire to the south that has been moving in our direction. we have been watching it carefully. right now we are not completely sure what will happen. i am hopeful. >> gov. gavin newsom linked climate change to california's wildfires saying the hearts are getting hotter and the dry is getting drier and if you e in denial about climate change come to california. i am curious if you could define for us that connection an between climate and california's wildfires as you >> the climatchange is no doubt impacting fire in the state. what it does is the temperatures up means we will have lower fuel moisture which and easier to ignite. ead all of these things are happening in the state and more mething we anticipate, more droughts and more high precipitation.

all of this is happening anit really is impacting fire. i still say all climate change impact right now. >>you would int instead to issues with forestry management and the fact that we have for 100 years ofa policy total fire suppression is that right? >> that is right. mo vegetation types we have changed so much in the pa years or so. we have indigenous burning and fire suppression all has changed to a point where we hape far more treating acre and more fuel on the ground and this causes great to change in the ecosystems. >> california is working toward removing some of that and they are talking about rning about 1 million acres by that is not an easy process. the way of burning morland like this. >> you are very right. we really have a small program here now. weve never really done this

at gail. the first thing we need is a workforce that can deal with putting more fire on the ground and this is something the iesta has to facilitate. maybe more get a certification to burn on private lands because of the need to protect. we also need to have mo people thwill the more connected to fire, of course we see the big flames and destruction but there is also this part that is so intercooled, even societal. parts of that has to be is getting better as a society to deal with fire. >> our solution here then is to burn more? >> it is and to also do other th gs like restoration where we can work and of course that doesn't work with thingsr like otpects of some vegetation but burning more could make use of it allowing some fireto actually wildfires to do their work. we are on course to do more so

this is idea of getting together to try to get multiple aspects of information into the system and because asyou said 1 million acres is a giant area and i applaud back goal. if we don't thstart doing at scale we know exactly what will happen. if we don't do this at scale and make a concerted effort to make ecosystems more prepare there is no doubt this will continue to more problems. >> could you describe for us what prescribed burns are and how they are managed and how they will be used in the future? >> we have an object e for fi the ground. we make a plan, the plan is developed and that we execute the plan. ok we are g for things like whether, things like pography, fuel loads anwe are looking at how we will put fire on the ground in terms of ignition pattern. monitor the fireand then we learn from it as well. you will do this as a group

trying to facilitate the fire back in and you will make a plan that is very specific and then uni-personnel. that is whertowe need get more personnel in the state. >> can you tell us about se examples you have in other places that have fought fires successfully that we could be ambulating in california? >> a place in the country doing a good job is the south westif ou look at florida, georgia, alabama, south carolina, these places have been doing prescribed burning fodecades and decades. the state of florida last year burned 750,000 acres of forest and 75% of that was privately owned. that di ex-ry. they are doing that year after year after year. georgia says it dithmore. e are places where fire has te been incorpointo management routinely. they call it burning the rough. it is a different season of fire, it is late vespring us the fall but they do this routinely every year.

people are accustomed to it and anticipate it. i have see places where parking lots will have a fire next to a giant parking lot. people on golf courses pointing their car at the fire because they want to get a sense of what is going on. it is a routine beit has me commonplace. >> why wasn't that done here in california? >> we have a lot more federal land out here versus state land. i think the state land being higher proportionate groups are really focused on things like hunting and maybe conservation. here we have more federal landth tronger connection to forest service and other outcome wanting to move fire exclusion ansuppression early. we have stkind of that. we did have early discussions in the state in the early 1900s to use fire at scale but eventually those ouscussions. >>ng also plays into this. we have a housing crunch and moe people are moving into the

wildland, what can communities do in those regions to better protect themselves? >> i think we could do better at preparing our homes and un coies. in australia they do things like timidity fire brigade. this is a volunteer group that gets together twice a year and they talk about ybe we arin a drought or re-aren't. maybe a neighbor that is immobile and they talk about access and thalso talk about coming together to make a difference in getting our community prepared. i think we could do lothat a better in this state to get people more in tune with what is going on and prepare. re >> youly are hopeful as you look toward the future for a better tomorrow here in california. >> i really am. even though climate change is changing syste we have the potential to do better and get people better prepared and mes better prepared. we can get our ecosystem better prepared into all of that so i

am very help full. so many nopeople right are hurting and have lost so much but still if we don't start to do more preparatio and get people better prepared imagine how this will ever change. >> professor scott stevens thank you for your time and insight we appreciate it. >> happy to be here. >> the republican national convention took place this week. president donald trump broke with tradition by making an appearance every night rather the presidents children's but prominently throughout the event along with other national leaders. it another break with tradition the current secretary of state e mike pompeme the first person in his position to address such a convention in 75 years. he praised the america first embassy in jerusalem. the in his convention speech last night the president strongly denounced his presidential rival joe biden calling m a trojan horse for socialism. joining me now from mountain

view is a hoover institution fellow and former advisor toen the presal campaign of mitt romney and joining us by skype is our politics and government correspondent and cohost of tremont political breakdown poast marie. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> what were the primary als and whwas the primary audience for the gl p in this week of convention and did they reach th >> i think two audiences we saw, first it was the republican base and that firm base of suppt for donald trump. there was an effort to reach out to them with your typical fair you would see in a republican national convention. many speakers were orientedng toward targethat population to get them energized and excited to vote but you also have this interesting duality because you had an effort to screech outo swing voters in suburban x suburb areas.

this is key because the republican party did not do ere was effort to reach out 18. to this y group to to get them interested. you saw efforts to soften the presidents image. his daughter did this and many others tried to do this to say look you may nolike histyle or his tweeting but judge him by his recordhis results, and his plan and i think that was squarely to targetrsthose vo >> there cowas also ent frequently that the president was not racist and of course this convention d the convention last week as well has been playing out against the backdrop of racial unrest and racial injustice in america. there have been protests this past week in wionsin which is were not mentioned during the convention this week except to talk bout the violenand looting not a racial injustice underneath. i am curious if you think the message of the gop, that

america does not have a problem with racism and that donald trump is not racist isre nating with those swing voters who are seeing things play out on tv in front of them night by night which are different. >> watching this convention it does feel like we are living in ericanus. the americas are taking to the streets largely peacefully and protesting what they see as systemic racism, not to say have problems we need to fix versus what we heard with the republican national conventionar is policgood, protesters are largely associated with looting and rioting, no co mention of blake who is now paralyzed after being shot seven times by police. no mention of the white teenager who came to some of those protests and is accused of killing two people and shootirt a third as of a militia. i think this is a calculated move that they want to paint this sort of entire racial justice movement as sort of you know connected to unrest in

democratic cities and saying joe bidewill be responsible for more of that when he is elected. >> the gop made sure there were several black speakers during the convention. th do you think r presence helped ensure swing voters at the gois an inclusive party, or at least not racist? >> i thk that was the goal. i think there was a recognition after the first round of protesting happening in the ke of all the racial unrest that we saw over the last several months. i think after that the reblican party felt that it was at a disadvantage and so it was important to showcase some e of the ity and some of the different voices and faces in the republican party. i thought for the most part those individuals did a good job, i ought tim scott give a good speech with a memorable line of going from cotton to

congress in geone a ration which is quite a remarkable story. you had daniel cameron the rn young at general from kentucky that presented an alternate vision. at the end of the day voters will judge on this. political parties can do what they want to showcase whoever they want to showcase, but voters are the ones that will have to make that determination and ultimaly again it comes back to voters who in those swing districts in this parts of the country will ha t an impat will make that determination. >> several republican speakers made the case that n joe bi and kamala harris would make america less safe and that joe biden would support defunding police departments which isa false claim. how do you think joe biden will do fighting back against these accusations and what does heed o do? >> i think the democratic party needs to talk about what they do stand for, which as ouyou poinis not as sort of a radical vision is what donald trump put forward. i think there eds to a lot of balance between attacking president donald trump, which they will do . the fact is

president donald trump is saying the images we are seeing across the country when protesting develops into violen is indicative of what democrats will a,ing to amerhe is in charge of the country and i think that is something they will have to hit. i also think americans don't want to hear negativity onout the nathey want to hear hope. they want to hear exceptionalism. i think a lot of people buy into that so i think that is something we are seeing with him coming up this week hitting that middle ground. i think some of this is going to be him doing what he tried to do last week which was present mself as presidential. he didn't mention the president by name in his eech and think that was intentional. i think we will semore attacking on kamala harris directly and maybe more positivity from pride in. >> the economy is also an important part of the president's agenda. the economy was growing until the coronavirus struck.

how effective was the reesidents message on fu economic growth under his leadership? >> i think it was the best message he could have articulated precisely for the reason you indicated. or the economy was peng quite well that we had covid-19 then the economy cratered. i think it will take some time for this economy to rebuild. the president is trying to strike opal notes and saying ok i did it before and i can do it again. the reality us this is the stfongest issue i think republicans going into the election. if president donald trump is going to continue to drivthis issue i think eventually it is going to behis strongest hope, even given the state of the economy now, people have a tendency to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the economy and his handling othe economy. i thin that should bea

principal theme for republicans and the president as they campaign in the fall. >> what you thk are the strategic objectives they need to accomplish in the next few weeks? >> first of all they've got to shore up the states where they are marginal but need to win. states lgee texas and gia which have become more competitive. florida which previously president donald trump did well in they have to pay special attention to those. arizona maybe another e of those states. then they need to be on message which could be difficult for the president sometimes stay on message. they really need to be on message. i think the law and order appeal will peal in some areas but they have to be careful because that could be a double-edged sword. targeting effectively and staying on message would be the two big al >> marissa what is both campaigns focusing on in the next couple ofweeks? >> i think we expect them to

hammer in on the economy and that is an area where president donald trump still has a lot of strength especially with independent voters and the voters he needs. the biden campaign need t to point that we are in this mess because of a mishandled pandemic. there are some missteps the trump administration made and if you listened to the republican national convention they talked about it like it was over. that is not a reality and i think that is something he really needs to hit hard. >> thank you both. on wednesday the milwaukee basketball team boycotted their playoff game against the orlando magic to protest the shooting of jacoblake, a black man shot in the back by a white police officer in kenosha wisconsin. the shting has sparked protesting which some have turned violent. the national guard has been pl

ed. the walkout led to the cancellation of nba games wednesday and thursday and it also inspired athletes in other sports to join in solidarity. three wnba basketball games were canceled wednesday as were major league soccer and baseball games, including one with the san francisco gijots. ing me now by skype is sean anderson an assiant professor co of organizational mmunication at loyola who has studied the issue of racism in sports. and the host of the mark willard to show mark willard. gentlemen thank you for joining. sean let's start with you. president donald trump said yesterday the nba had become like a quotnipolitical ortion which he did not think was a good thing for sports or the country. athletes should stick to sports. you disagree with that concept, why is at >> if we think about the history of sports it would ke you bato the civil rights era where athletes such as

mohammed ali lo his gold medals to protesting and injustice or bill russellto the 68 protesting at the olympic games. politics he always been a part sport anthese athletes back then recognized they have the platform to fight injustice just as these athletes feel like they have a platform now. to say that the marriage of politics and sports should it be there is totally nacve and as long as there is racial injustice sport will be at the fofront. >> mathis was a very powerful statement by several teams and players across several different sports, is this an unprecedented atement in tworld of sports? >> know and i think as sean said it is t unprecedented at

all. it is unprecedented from the level of an entire team or an entirely wu king out but have seen incidents like this throughout the years many many times. the syracuse eight in 1970 who would noplay, again those entire team. hletes not the same thing with missouri football players just a handful of years ago where maybe a little bit less felt like therei was inside the athletic department and called for the head of the university to step ey were successful. ot ay and it is anextension of things happening through the years. it is rare that an entire team and definitely an entire league would suddenjust stop to allow people to reflect but we have seen early versions of this for years. ct >> how efe has have these protests been over the years? stands out recently that that

absolutely had . an effe john mentioned mohammed ali and i think the effectiveness of them cannot always be seen right away. i think a t of people are confused at the entire point. on my show i get questio lot, they set out one game, what is that going to do? >> it is noabout sitting at one game, it is about taking a moment to not provide america a distractn of sitting downand watching a game and not paying attention to what is going on in the world. that reflecon is what necessary and overtime that house and effect. >> sean what is the likelihood these athletes will be able to bring about change when officials and other leaders have not yet been able to do so? o thing is the fact that you are seeing prominent athletes who may be on their

last leg of their careeror not as popular as others taking a stand on social issues but you see multiple athletes who have a lot of clout and a very big platform coming out speaking about these particular issues and the sacrifices they are making monetarily, which could be an issue before it was an su in times past with athletes. now they arsaying we have had enough. this is enough to cause us to be able to make a change no we need the government, we need the orgazations to listen to us and our plight. this now is the catalyst to actual change and the movement for systemic racism and its chge as well. t' >> mark talk about the

wnba which also canceled the games but has really been doing a lot of work in terms of social justice on and off the court. can you tell us about their messaging and platform and how they are>>using that? of all sports the wnba might be the most unified of all. they don't have necessarily be platform nbthe or major- league baseball or nfl has but they have been very very forward and ievery unin their beliefs and messaging and what they are trying to get across. i think the number one thing they did it is kind of an intricate issue not just necessarily fighng racism but one of the owners of the la a dream is senator kelly loeffler who s been very outspoken about everybody standing at atteion during the anthem and not using sports the platform weare discussing. the wnba got together and wore shirts that said kelly

loeffler's opponent and that is an owner of some of their bosses they are rallying against. you can see how unified they th their messaging. they are >> as a professor of communications what has stood out for you agout the me the nba has sent since the season resumed late july? >> it is clear the nba has recognized the humanity in their players. these are not just playerout there to entertain, they are humans who have lives, who haver families, who havends, who are suffering right now when it comes to racial injustice. the nba has made it clear their strategy is to support their players as people first and as employees second. that is the greatest message they are pushing forward. >> mar the buccs walked out

wednesday and that was the same day foars ago that the former san francisco quarterback colin kaepernick and not standing for the game anthem. i am curious about the evolution of the nfl during this time and what you expect to see when ths season resu this fall. >> i think you will see a different thing. we talked earlier about how sometimes demonstrations affect the season right away and four years later you see roger caddell apologize y and he wished we had listen to colin kaepernick and we wished we had done something differently and maybe he would still have a job. i think you will see this year a lot more unification, a lot abmore involvement in pr see more coaches and owners who are at least ing to bite their upper lip if they are having a problem with what they are seeing. this league is feeling very empowered right now based what has happened in our country this year. >> thank you both for your

me. you cafind more of our coverage at kqed.org . you can reach me on twitter, facebook, and instagram. for all of us here at kqed, good night.watching.

>> the president makes his case for fou more years. president trump: this eltion will decid whether we will dend the american way of life or whether we will allow a radical movement to completely dismantland destroy it. >> as americans wrestle with another police shooting of a black man -- >> they st my son. seven times.. seven tim like he didn't matter. the republican national nvention rallies around message of law and order. but as thousands arrive in washington calling for racial justice, and the number of americans killed by the coronavirus tops 180,000, the democratic ticket pushes back.

>> donald trump has failed at the most basic