captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: covid outbreak. back home and infected with the coronavirus, preside trump says he's pulling out of negotiations for covid relief. then, doubting the virus. despite an outbreak in the white house, many americans continue to question the severity of the pandemic. and, raising the alarm. legendary naturalist david attenborough provides a grim, stunning assessment of the climate crisis facing our planet. >> if you see these things and realize what they mean, you simply can't sit back and say,

"well, i'm not going to bother." >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> life well-lived. >> financial services firm raymond james. 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 wwconsumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway.

>> fidelity wealth management. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadsting. anby contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump is making new headlines tonight on covid-19-- this time, on the economic front. he says he is halting

negotiations with democrats on a new pandemic economic recovery bill for now. that comes as he works on his own recovery fm covid. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: covid relief talks are on hold tonight until after the election. today, president trump tweeted that hhas instructed his representatives to stop negotiating, and instead focus on confirming his supreme court nominee. and, he accused house speaker nancy pelosi of not "negotiating in good faith." that comes as the virus is coursing through the white house, and the president is trying to project strength. the goal of showing confidence was on full display monday evening, when president trump returned to the executive mansion. critics called the made-for-tv moment "political theatre." the president's first act? removing his face mask while still contagious, with white house staff nearby. federal health guidelines say he should be in isolation. within an hour, the white house

released a campaign ad-style video hailing his return, and as the u.s. death toll topped 210,000, there was this upbeat message: >> don't let it dominate you. don't be afraid of it. you're going to beat it. we have the best medical equipment. we have the best medicines. >> alcindor: in fact, most americans don't have access to the same level of care and drug treatment the president has received. today, president trump also falsely claimed that covid is less deadly than the seasonal flu. that prompted twitter to add a warning that the post containe"" misleading and potentially harmful information." facebook blocked the post entirely. all of this comes with less than 30 days to go until election day, and with the president plainly eager to get back to campaigning. heweeted this morning that he was "feeling great," and was already looking forward to next thursday's presidential debate. but he remains on a powerful combination of drugs, as he continues to battle the coronavirus. yesterday, even his personal

ysician acknowledged he's not" out of the woods" just yet. today, dr. sean conley issued a statement that president trump was reporting "no symptoms," and that his vital signs and physical exam remain stable. vice president pence's doctor also said he remains healthy, and continues to test negave r the virus. a spokesman for his democratic challenger, senator kamala harris, said she has tested negative as well. they are slated to debate tomorrow night in salt lake city. meanwhile, the backlash over mr. trump's actions in recent days has intensified. last night, democratic rival joe biden weighed in at an nbc town hall in miami. >> the only thing i heard was one of the tweets saying that, you know, "don't be so concerned about all this," essentially. there's a lot toe concerned about. 210,000 people have died. >> alcindor: today, the biden campaign released a video of former first lady michelle obama delivering what was billed as her "closing argument" against re-electing the president. >> today, more americans

have died from this virus than died in the wars in iraq, afghanistan, vietnam, and korea combined. take all those lives bravely sacrificed-- and double it. that's roughly the scale of this tragedy. and our commander-in-chief, sadly, has been missing in action. and his willful mismanagement of the covid crisis is just one example of his negligence. >> alcindor: this afternoon, biden was back on the campaign trail again, this time in gettysburg, pennsylvania, where he appealed for unity in the face of crisis. >> the country is in a dangerous place. our trust in each other is ebbing, hope seems elusive. too many americans see our instead of treating each other's party as the opposition, we treat them as the enemy. this must end. >> alcindor: back in washington, questions remain about just when

the president became infected, and how many people have been exposed since. at least two more white house staffers tested positive today, adding to the growing number of covid infections among the president's inner circle. and, the pentagon announced that all but one of the service chiefs are self-quarantining after a top coast guard official tested positive. even so, the white house turned down an offer from the centers for disease control and prevention to help with contact tracing. instd, they are opting to use their own in-house epidemiologist. this afternoon, the trump administration also dropped its initl objections and approved new food and drug administration guidelines for covid-19 vaccine approval. the rules will most likely prevent a vaccine from being cleared for use before election day. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now, along with our lisa desjardins. so hello to both of you. lisa, i want to come to you -- yamiche, i want to come to you first with what we mentioned at the top of the show, and that is the president is saying that he

is pulling out of negotiations with the democrats to try to find a covid economic relief bill. t what do we know about that? >> well, in a surprising move, the president decided to go to twitter to announce that he unilaterally was pulling out of the covid 19 relief negotiation. and the issue here is that the president essentially is saying that this is a waste of time and should not be going on. the president tweeted that he was lashing out at democrats and he also made a promise i want to share. he said nancy pelosi is asking for $2.4 trillion to bail out poorly run high-crime democratic states, money that is in no way related to covid 19. immediately after uh which, i will pass a maj stimulus bill. it's not surprising these talks broke down because they have been going on for weeks and democrats and republicans are very far apart, but it is surprising that the president is deciding he's going to go 'do this on his own. this comes hours after federal reserve chairman jerome powell

said he was urging congress to pass more relief funds because the stimus -- the economy, while doing well, needed more help from congress. he said it would be tragically, possibly, if the recovery did not get that help. it is that senate majority leader mitch much says he agrees with the president in backing out of these negotiations. the other thing to note is there are a lot of americans who are worried about whether or not they will be able to weather this economic storm during this pandemic and there are political strategists that says the president is on tricky ground because democrats says he's focused on himself and not the negotiations and here he's saying i want the supreme court nominee more than millions of relief for americans. >> woodruff: so to lisa, what are democrats saying, how do they see this, and what do we kn about how this will affect or not the american people? >> there is a lot of confusion at the u.s. capitol over what happened and not just from democrats. we also have seen republicans

just in the last hour or so come out and say they also have a problem with the president's actions here. but let's go to the top democrat in the country. house speaker nancy pelosi, here is her reaction today. she put out a statement, and part of that said, president trump showed his true colors, putting himself first above at the expense of the country. it is true these talks were still not complete. however, pelosi and treasury secretary mnuchin had been speaking for days and were still talking today when this broke down. who did this effect, judy? the truth is small businesses have been getting by but many are running out of cash. the season is changing and for restaurants who will not be able to offer outdoor seating in the next month, this could be particularly harmful. but two airlines have announced in the last week they expect furloughs ove,000 workers. if no relief, those could go in place as early as thursday. so much news today, i want to

report that out of the capitol we have a sense of what the covid kind of position is at the capitol. the house administration committee tells me that 123 presumed positive cases of covid have been accounted for at the the capitol since march, so that's over a seven-month time line. >> woodruff: 123 cases. so, yamiche, back to you. today we know the president, of course, still infected with the coronavirus. he is now back to saying that it's essentially nothing to worry about. he says he's immune. what to we know about the president's attitude? >> well, the president continues to falsely compare the coronavirus to the seasonal flu, and when you look at the two, the numbers just don't bear out. the coronavirus has killed more americans just this year than the flu has killed americans in the last five seasons. when you look at the numbers,

ey're staggering. so i want to put up a chart for people. the c.d.c. estimates the deliest flu season in the last five seasons was in 2017 and 2018 and 61,000 americans dead, compared to 210 americans who died of the coronavirus this year and the n the last five years e estimated deaths from flu hovered around 20,000 to 40,000 americans who died. so a lot of people are angry at the president for continuing to make this comparison. it's remarkable. another thick is to note the president is saying he's immune. a lot of people are saying the president doesn't understand what's going on and there's a lot of anger that there were people who were struggling through this virus and who don't see the president as being empathetic to that. >> woodruff: so very quickly in just a few seconds, yamiche, the president paint ago rosy picture. his campaign paint ago rosy picture, but not exactly what his doctor is saying. >> that's right, the president's

doctors saying he's stable and not reporting any sump toms, but we don't really know exactly when the president got the environments we don't know how many people have been exposed. we know there are a total of four white house press officials testing positive. so a lot of people worrying in the building behind me who are very anxious about this, and the president continues to want to put on the face of confidence when there are a lot of people who are scared. >> woodruff: all right, so much to report on, yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you both. >> woodruff: as we've been reporting, the president is telling americans not to be afraid of coronavirus, while the death toll in the u.s. tops 210,000. cases are climbing again in much of the country. but attitudes about the threat vary greatly. our amna nawaz explores why so

many americans think fears about the virus are overblown. >> nawaz: it's become the story of two pandemics. even as the virus surges in multiple states, hundreds of americans die every day, and the u.s. leads the world in infections and deaths-- miions of americans don't see the virus as a threat. why? to try to understand, we spoke today to bruce penuel... >> things are different. >> nawaz: ...a 68-year-old retired police officer from collegeville, pennsylvania, and in chattanooga, to 57-year-old pam o'neill... >> i am a former nurse and i'm from tennessee. >> nawaz: ...also, to 41-year- old addul ali, a small-business owner... >> i live in a little town called kannapolis, north carolina. >> nawaz: ...all republicans, planning to vote for president trump. none believe the virus is as bad as experts warn. we asked them all if they know anyone who's been sick or died from covid? >> by the grace of god, i haven't had any family members to get sick because of it. i do have some friends that have had family members that have been sick. >> no, i do not know anyone

who's had covid or has passed away from covid. >> i don't know personally of anyone who has died from it. i do believe the pandemic has been overblown, that we are taking too many cautions and changing our lives too drastically. >> nawaz: we asked how much the pandemic impacts their day to day lives? >> i don't think my day-to-day life, being retired, has been affected greatly by it. often i'm outside, obviously, and i'm not wearing a mask outside, but i'm not afraid to talk to people. you know, i'm not hiding. >> from a business perspective, you know, at the beginning, it was really tough, but now, you know, as things just starting to open back up, we're recovering a little bit more. >> i do wear my mask when i go out, because it is mandated. i thk there's a lot of good information for those who are going to look for it, , you know, take a look at it, to let you know that this is survivable. >> nawaz: we asked how worried they are that they or someone in

their community will get sick? >> we don't know a lot about it. so, i don't know exactly how i'm going to get it. >> chances are, if you catch it, you know, and you're in reasonably good health, that you'll be okay. so, you know, i haven't been worried about getting it. >> so, i feel very confident that since i don't have any preexisting, underlying health issues, that i would not only survive covid, but i may be one of those lucky ones that might actually be asymptomatic. >> these are people who don't necessarily feel the immediacy of this. >> nawaz: lee miringoff is the director of the marist college institute for public opinion, home of the marist poll. when you're talking about americans who don't see the virus as a threat, who are you talking about? >> they are people who tend to be in more rural areas, where the, you know, the virus is often as much, as pronounced. but they tend to be people who are part of the president's

base. they tend to be male. they tend to be people who are not likely to have a college education. the folks who are supporting trump, that group, that core group, are the ones who are most likely to follow him on this issue. >> nawaz: the partisan divide is clear in the latest pbs newshour/marist/npr poll, showing while 76% of republicans trust the president's pandemic message, only 5% of democrats do. but miringoff says regardless of what they're experiencing now, americans are mostly on the same page about what's ahead. >> a majority of americans think that this is not going to end any time soon. that there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel in any immediate way. so what we're seeing is a lot of people who think this is we're for the long haul, despite what the president says. >> nawaz: for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: let's fill in the picture now about what we do know about the risks of covid, and provide some perspective on misinformation dr. tom frieden is president of

resolve to save lives, a global public health initiative. he was director of the c.d.c. from 2009 to 2017, during the h1n1, ebola and zika outbreaks. and, graham brookie is director and managing editor of the atlantic council's digital forensic research lab. and we welcome both of you to the "newshour". dr. tom tom, to you first, we have just -- dr. tom frieden, we heard one gentleman say he believes the pandemic had been overblown, another voter said he didn't think it was that serious, and yet another saying she believed if she got it she thought she would be asymptomatic. if you could speak to these voters, what would you say to them? >> i think we have to move bass these open-shut dichotomies. the fact is, for most people who get the virus, it's going to be mild or even asymptomatic, but, because so many people get it, because it's so infectious, it's very deadly for us as a society,

as a community, and that's something that rail emphasizes that we're all connected. the more we recognize that even you don't feel sick at all, you might give it to someone who gets it and someone who dies from it. that's why there have been well over 200,000 deaths in this country and a million deaths around the world from this novel veers that's never been around before. we have tools to confront it. we have to apply all of them together. not one of them, but all of them together, and the more we recognize that we're connected, even if we have to stay apart some, the more we can control it. >> woodruff: dr. frieden, am i correct the number of cases of the virus is still increasing in a number of states? >> in most of the u.s., is virus is currently increasing. the virus has the upper hand because we're not following science. the virus doesn't listen to spin. the virus doesn't pay attention to politics. in fact, what infectious

diseases including this virus generally do is they prey on the fissures, on the breakpoints in society, whether that's partisanship or racism or migrate workers who don't have health services, and the approach that's going to be most effective is a comprehensive approach that includes an all of the above, masks, social distancing, quarantining, hand tan sizing -- sanitizing and a vaccine. one of those reasonfor the attitude you reviewed is the failure to communicate. there are clear principles of how to communicate in a health emergency. be fir, be right, be credible, be emp they can, give people concrete things to do. what we have lacked throughout this entire federal response is the voice of science speaking from the administration, explaining what we're learning, when we're learning it and what

people can do to protect themselves, families and their communities. >> woodruff: excuse me. i do want to turn to graham brookie for a moment as someone who has looked at. this where would you say this misinformation comes from or the sense that people can eare lacks about this virus? >> well, that's a very good question and frankly comes from an overall lack of trust in fucial ways we would typically hear reliable information about this. this goes back to what the world health organization coined in february, which is an infodemic, which, in a crisis situation, it's an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, that leads to a situation in which it's very, very difficult for regular people to understand exactly what the facts are and what the risk is associated with the virus up to this day. >> and, graham brookie, quickly

following on that, how much of what the president has said, i mean even until today saying it's nothing to be afraid of, is contributing, do you think, to people's perceptions? >> there's no doubt that donald trump is the largest spreader of specific and important types of misinformation today, especially about coronavirus or covid 19. one study from cornell university released last week found that the president himself is the largest driver of disinformation about coronavirus, and there's an example that we had just early,erlily this morning where he compared it again, as dr. frieden mentioned, to the common flu. that is not the case. but the president's social media presence is just the tip of the iceberg with an entire amplification ecosystem of both right wing media, influencers,

conspiracy communities, they're engaged on this and that convergence takes these information narratives and makes them more mainstream. >> woodruff: dr. frieden, when we see, for example, this week reports that the white house turned down an offer from the c.d.c. to help with contact tracing after this big outbreak at the white house, what are we to make of that? >> this was such a teachable moment, one that testing alone doesn't prevent spread of covid, you need a comprehensive policy. the white house got too reliant on testing, that's why may have they have an outbreak there. two, that someone who's sick needs to isolate. three, that everyone who is exposed needs to be quarantin so thaw don't spread it to others. this could have been a great teachable moment to explain what we can do to get ahead of the virus. instead, we see delayed or incomplete or completely absent warning of people who have been exposed. contact tracing may not be a great term because it sounds like you're snooping on people,

but fundamentally what you're doing is you're warning people who have been exposed so that they can protect themselves and their families because you might not know you have been exposed, you might not know you're infectious because you could have no symptoms yet pass it to someone who could die from it. so a systematic response to stop the spread, we have not seen the end of this. it is quite likely additional cases will emanate from the cluster from the different exposure that occurred. we don't know the basics of when the president was negative, positive and all the exposures there. this is the kind of investigation that the c.d.c., local and state health departments do y in and day out. it's not easy to do, it's quite in depth, but if done well it helps you figure out why it happened and helps you stop it before it spreads. >> woodruff: finally, graham brookie, for people who are watching this, who may think the virus is overblown, frankly

don't know where to turn for information because of some of what's come out to have the white house and the president himself, not to mention other sources, where can people turn for accurate information? >> well, always look to sources that are both accountable and transparent. first and foremost, i'm not a doctor. i would point directly to dr. frieden. he is one of the most reliable sources that's out there. he is consistently updati the public with what we know and don't know. that's reliable information. for the normal social media user, while on your phone or tuned into the tv at night, always check the source which guards against disinformation, the spread of false information intentionally, also check the sources source which guards against misinformation. when you hear something like this people are saying, that's probably not very reliable and you can take an extra step in order to protect yourself and get the best information about coronavirus.

>> graham brookie and dr. tom frieden, we thank you both so much. >> thank you, judy. . >> woodruff: and one note before we leave this topic. dr. rick bright, former head of a major federal vaccine agency turned whistleblower resigned from the agency today. he filed a whistleblower complaint back in may. in a statement today, bright's attorney said he's since been sidelined and accused the agency of putting, quote, politics over science. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the state of florida extended voter registration until this evening, after its online system crashed on monday. it happened hours before the original deadline, and it may have stopped thousands of people from signing up.

republican governor ron desantis says the system was overwhelmed. >> if 500,000 people descend at the same time, it creates a bottleneck. and that's what we see. so there are people who would go and they would try again, but it obviously wasn't smooth because you had so much traffic. >> woodruff: meanwhile, top national security officials offered new assurances of the november election's integrity. in a video message, the heads of the f.b.i., the national security agency and others insisted all votes will be safeguarded. president trump has repeatedly claimed that mail-in votes, especially, cannot be trusted. hurricane delta has grown into a potentially disastrous category 4 storm tonight, with sustained winds at 140 miles an hour. it is bearing down on mexico's yucatapeninsula, before swinging north to strike the

u.s. gulf coast by friday. on yucatan today, heavy winds and rain battered cancun and other resort areas. another storm struck the region last weekend, killing six people. in texas, a white police officer has been charged with murder, in the killing of a black man in wolfe city. the texas rangers say jonathan price was shot as he walked away, after a reported fight at a convenience store. the statement says officer shaun lucas first used a stun gun on price, then opened fire. russian diident alexei navalny charged today that the kremlin had him poisoned to head off losses in next year's parliamentary elections. doctors have said he tested positive for the soviet-era nerve agent novichok. today, navalny made his first video appearance since leaving a hospital in germany. he pointed at russian intelligence. >> ( translated ): the assassins that use chemical weapons are

specially trained people. it couldn't just be a rogue oligarch or corrupt official, because the combination of novichok, people with access to it, and knowing how to use it, is about five people in the intelligence service. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, a global watchdog group, confirmed thatt was a nerve agent attack. russia has denied any involvement. kyrgyzstan, elections officials today voided sunday's parliamentary election results that favored pro- government parties. mass protests had erupted in the capital, bishkek, and other cities in the central asian state. smoke bellowed from bishkek's central government building this morning after protesters stormed in. hundreds were injured in clashes with police. three scientists have won this year's nobel prize in physics for their work on black holes. briton roger penrose, german

reinhard genzel and american andrea ghez were honored today. it is believed that black holes are tied to the creation of galaxies, and that they swallow light and even time. but, ghez says much about them remains a mystery. >> because they're so hard to understand, is what makes them so appealing. this idea that there are objects that represent the breakdown of our understanding of the physical world and where you get this mixing of space and time. >> woodruff: ghez is just the fourth woman to be awarded the nobel prize for physics. democrats on the u.s. house judiciary committee called today for curbing big tech companies. a 450-page report found amazon, google, facebook and apple have abused their market dominance by charging excessive fees and extracting valuable data from users. recommendations include forcing the firms to divest related businesses.

also today, facebook announced a ban on groups that promote q- anon. that's the conspiracy theory claiming there's a child- trafficking ring run by celebrities and so-called "deep state" officials. "q-anon" portrays president trump as doing battle with the conspiracy. on wall street, a rally turned into a rout after president trump halted stimulus talks with democrats. the dow jones industrial average had been up 200 points, but ended by losing 375 points to close at 27,772. the nasdaq fell 177 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 47. and, rock and roll hall of famer eddie van halen has died, after battling throat cancer. he was acclaimed as a genius on guitar, and starting in 1978, his band, van halen, scored a long list of hits, including the classic "jump," with david lee roth singing.

♪ ah, might as well jump go ahead and jump ♪ might as well jump go ahead and jump ♪ jump! ( guitar solo ) ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: eddie van halen was 65 years old. still to come on the newshour: dreams on hold. those looking to become new u.s. citizens are stalled by covid-19 covid-19 continues to cause a surge in the need for food assistance. and, legendary naturalist david attenborough provides a grim assessmt of the climate crisis. >> woodruff: the coronavirus >> woodruff: the coronavirus pandemic has upended life for

almost everyone in the united states. but, it has also significant disrupd the efforts of those looking to become american citizens, and who are eager to vote in the november election. as john yang reports, covid-19 has made the already-strenuous path to citizenship in the u.s. even harder. >> yang: in texas, registered nurse vanessa solomon is on the frontlines of the battle against the coronavirus. she was born in st. martin in the caribbean, and came to the united states with her family when she was 11 years old. they entered on visitor's visas, and stayed illegally when they expired. she says that wasn't a problem until she was in high school. >> i wanted to attend college, and that's when i realized that i was pretty much stuck in a situation that i had absolutely no control over. >> yang: solomon married a u.s. citizen and became a permanent resident-- a foreign citizen

authorized to permanently live and work in the united states. last june, she applied to become a u.s. citizen through a process called "naturalization." >> once trump came into office and all these immigration issues came around, policy started changing, i realized that i was not as stable as i thought i was. >> yang: her in-person interview and required civics test with the u.s. citizenship and immigration services, or u.s.c.i.s., was scheduled for march. that gave her hope that she would become a citizen in time to register to vote in this fall's election. but then the pandemic hit. u.s.c.i.s. closed its offices, and solomon's application got stuck in a processing backlog of about 700,000 people waiting for their applications to be approved. in a statement to the newshour, a u.s.c.i.s. spokesperson wrote: "while it is true that our production may likely be down,

due to the previous temporary suspension of in-person services as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, it is also true we will end the fiscal year with approximately 600,000 new citizens." that's compared with 834,000 new citizens naturalized last year. analysts say some 300,000 applicants now in the pipeline won't become citizens in time to vote in november. officials say citizenship applications surge every four years, timed to beat voter registration deadlines. that's what led fernando valle to apply last november, after taking a free citizenship class at the museum of the american revolution in philadelphia. he had come to the united states from his native mexico in 2005 on a work visa, and became a permanent resident in 2015, after marrying his husband. >> once i knew, you know, there was going to come a big election for this year, that was something that made me put the time. i prepared the paperwork to complete the application.

>> yang: when he applied, he was told that the processing time was nine months. that would have given him plenty of time to register to vote. but it wasn't until early september that his interview was scheduled. the date? october 23, four days after pennsylvania's voter registration deadline. is this delay frustrating for you? because you've done everything you should do? >> it's very frustrating because i've been following all the instructions, all the paperwork, all the timelines that in this case, the u.s.c.i.s. office, you know, indicates. it's heartbreaking to see, you know, these delays. >> yang: the republican national convention featured president trump presiding over a white house naturalization ceremony for five new citizens. >> it was definitely a gimmick, right? >> yang: shev dalal-dheini is

director of government relations for the american immigration lawyers association. >> it's a way to say, "oh, we care about immigrants, and we do it." but while they showed those five individuals getting their naturalization ceremony, it doesn't tell you the story of the hundreds of thousands of people who are still waiting in line. these are all legal immigrants. these are all people who are trying to do it right, trying to do it by the laws that were set forth by congress, taking every step that they need to take. >> yang: dalal-dheini says challenges on the path to citizenship will increase on october 2, when the government plans to raise the fees an applicant must pay to almost $1,200, an increase of more than 80%. >> and so, by making the choice to increase these naturalization applications so significantly, it truly just says "we don't want you as american citizens." >> yang: u.s.c.i.s. says the increase is necessary.

in july, the agency, which is funded almost entirely by fees, said current levels would leave it "under-funded by about $1 billion per year." late last month, the agency announced "unprecedented spending cuts" in order to avert big furlous threatened earlier this year, but acknowledged the step "will increase backlogs and wait times across the board, with no guarantee we can avoid future furloughs." >> morale is extremely low. it's never been any lower than it is now. >> yang: longtime naturalization officer kenneth palinkas is executive vice president of the union that represents u.s.c.i.s. employees. >> you have no idea how this impending furlough weighed heavily on the workers, their families, their associates, their lives. it was very difficult. we still have the furlough hanging over our heads, too. >> yang: palins says he sympathizes with applicants. >> they're coming in for the

righteous reasons. they want to become u.s. citizens. >> yang: like vanessa solomon, the texas nurse. >> i have paid my taxes. i've built a life here. and i feel as though i have contributed towards society. >> yang: earlier this month, she got good news: she became a citizen on september 18, in plenty of time to register to vote. >> that oath of citizenship means that after all of these years of working hard to prove myself to this city and to the system, that i am eligible for rights. >> yan but for valle and hundreds of thousands of other applicants like him, the wait continues. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: president trump today said he was breaking off

talks and would no longer try to negotiate a deal on a covid relief bill until after the election. but, for millions of americans, the onomic pressure is not letting up. nearly half of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic have not yet been recovered. hunger, food insecurity and need remain a constant. stephanie sy has the latest. >> sy: judy, the most rent survey by the census bureau found that more than 18 million american adults said they sometimes or often didn't have enough to eat in the past week. a survey in august found up to 14% of adults with kids said their children were in that same boat. food banks are stretched to the brink. communities in the gulf coast have been seeing their share of all of this, a problem that is magnified during hurricane season. the latest storm, hurricane delta, is expected to make landfall by the weekend. michael ledger is the c.e.o. of feeding the gulf coast, and joins me now.

michael, thank you so much for your time. give us a sense of how long the lines have been at the food banks, how desperate the need you're seeing there on the gulf coast. >> yes, the need is exploded. we've seen over 50% increase in need with covid. it put people in a very vulnerable position. we had one in six individuals and one in four children struggling with hunger, and we've seen that number now increase to one and five adults and one in three children. we had a mega food pantry where we distributed approximately 90,000 pounds of food at a large football stadium. the distribution started at 9:00. they filled every spot waiting in line for food and we still turned cars away attend of it. >> reporter: incredible.

one in three children in the united states food insecure. when you look at who's lining up in the events, what strikes you as most worrying? are you see ago lot of families with young children who are hungry? >> absolutely. our child nutrition program has been working around the clock. all four our programs are running simultaneously right now and three of the four in alabama are running. we have kids in need impacted amazingly. folks have to pay the electric bill, it's either on or off, but when it comes to food, you might try to stretch your budget, then you leave yourself food insecure. with schools closed or kids unable to go to school, the need for supplemental nutrition is increased drayt matcally. >> woodruff: i. >> reporter: it appears the white house is not going to make a deal with the democrats for coronavirus relief funding before the election, which could tie up food assistance benefits. myel, if washington could see

what you are seeing on the ground, what would they be doing? >> i think if they were on the ground, they would see people impacted every day. those who weren't vulnerable because they jobs had been eliminated or they had been reduced, the hours, the restaurant's only working 50% capacity on limited hours, of course the parents aren't bringing the paycheck home they would have. we have people in our lines, a gentleman named terry just the other day, he had four girls under the age of seven, had lost a job due to ovid, and did not know how he was going to feed them. when he left, he was teary-eyed and thanking us for making sure he knew how he was going to put food on his table for his kids that week. when you tell stories like that to someone, they can feel the impact and we certainly hope the legislators are aware of those situations and we believe they are. >> reporter: michael, you're in the midst of an historically

active hurricane season with yet another hurricane heading your way this weekend. how is that affecting operations? >> yes, as we respond to covid and now sally, just three weeks out, having put out 18 million meals since covid with 1.5 million meals for sally, our folks are stretched thin, working really hard. i'm so proud of the team. obviously we're in a more vulnerable spot and all those impacted by sally find thvls more vulnerable now. we're going to be working around the clock to address the needs that arise at it pertains to hunger with the delta bearing down on us. we hope to be ready and up to the challenge. >> and i hope your team stays safe as you do this important work. michael ledger, c.e.o. and president of feeding the gulf of mexico, thank you. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: there is perhaps no one whose name is more synonymous with documenting the natural world than film-maker sir david attenborough. he has been at it since the 1950s, and in his latest book and film, both out this week, he offers a grave and alarming" witness statement" about the crisis facing our planet. william brangham talked with the 94-year-old recently. it is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> the living world is a unique and spectacular marvel. >> brangham: no one has given us a more intimate or stunning look at our planet than sir david attenborough. >> dazzling in their variety and richness. >> brangham: but now, after a near-70 year career, he says we're running the planet headlong into disaster. >> the way we humans live on earth is sending it into a

decline. human beings have overrun the world. >> brangham: in his new netflix documentary and companion book, both titled "a life on our anet," the famed filmmaker wants us to recognize what's happening, and to act before it's too late. i spoke with him recently from his home in london. sir david attenborough, it's a great honor to have you on the newshour. thank you very much for being here. anyone who knows your work knows that you've increasingly talked about man's impact on the natural world. but this film really hits this point very directly. was it your sense that things had just gotten so bad that that needed to be the focus of this project? >> yes, i think i've been speaking about this the last 20, 30 years, really it's just what anybody who knows the natural world, and spends time looking at the natural world, stares it in the face. and anody with whom that

happens feels a huge responsibility to talk about it. >> brangham: as you say in the film, and in the bk, that when you were a young man and going to all these exotic places, you had the sense at the time that that man's imprint was not being felt. was there a moment where you first recognized and said, "i see it now? i see very directly the imprint that humanity is having on the planet?" >> yes. the problem is making global assessments like that. i mean, you can go to a glacier that you were there maybe five, ten years ago, and it has retreated, but you think, "oh, well, that's just th glacier. maybe there's another one that's increasing." but there are some things that are irrevocable, and so dramatic and distressing that you can't brush them away. the one which i suppose was the tipping point, was when i dived on a coral reef, which i'd known well, on the great barrier reef in australia, and suddenly saw a

cemetery. suddenly it was dead. and these-- these corals, this extraordinary, wonderful construction of corals, was dead, white. and that was a shock. >> brangham: there is, if i may say, a genuine sense of sadness and melancholy that is throughout this project. i mean, in the past, you would often talk about man's impact on the world, but would move on, in a sense, then move to the next story, to the next scene. this film, you really clearly seem to say "we are not moving on. i cannot stress this point strong enough." >> well, you put it very well. that is exactly what i think. and we-- you know, you-- you feel that sitting in london or new york or wherever, you may feel the-- what the wilderness is, out there. and of course, it's interesting, and of course, we know theoretically we depend upon it. but when-- but now, it's more serious than that. it affects every man and woman

and child on this planet i mean, i'm an elderly chap. and i look at my grandchildren and wonder what's going to happen. and all i know is that if you see these things and realize what they mean, you simply can't sit back and say, "well, i'm not going to bother." >> brangham: i should say, i don't want to leave people with the sense that you don't address what we might do to remedy this, and a good portion of the book and of the film is looking at solutions. >> this film is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. >> brangham: attenborough argues for a rapid shift to renewable energy, to sustainable agriculture, for a slowing of population growth, and for what he calls a "re-wilding" of the land and the oceans, to give them time to rebound. how confident are you that we will, in fact, move from these isolated examples to a true moment for change? >> i'm not. i'm not in the least confident we will do so in time.

and i certainly feel, although the situation is worse, i believe that the world is becoming more aware of what needs to be done to a much greater extent than only, say, five, ten years ago. it does seem to me a worldwide realization of the crisis which we are facing, and it's been spearheaded,f course, by young people, and quite rightly, too, it's their future. but the kids of today, that's their life, you know. and-- and we owe it to them to do everything we can to make sure that disaster's averted. >> brangham: what about the role that our own human complacency plays in all of this? we all love the benefits of our gas-powered cars and our air-conditioned homes, and when we talk of a sixth extinction or global climate change, it's-- it's still very easy for so many people to put this view out of

their minds and just keep on. >> but actually, even your country is more unlikely for that to happen than in mine. i mean, you have faced dister after disaster. you've got rising sea levels. you had the cyclones, hurricanes moving through with greater ferocity and frequency than ever before. we see on our television newsreel coverage of appalling things that happened in your country. devastation, because of climate change. seemed to me, overwhelming. and it's nice to say, "oh, it's nothing, it's just a passing phase." it isn't. and the statistics show it isn't. it is a major movement that's happening. and your country and my country and the rest of the world have got to do something about it. i mean, can-- we know what to do! >> brangham: do you have to dig deep down to come up with this optimism, or is the-- is the long arc of your career that

gives you this optimism? what is it? >> i don't regard myself an optimist, to be truthful. but having said that, if i am to and if that's to happen, it' got to be supported the electorate, who says "we want it to happen. we want to solve it. and tell us what the price is. but we want to pay it." >> brangham: the book and the film is called "a life on our planet: my witness statement and vision for the future." sir david attenborough, thank you so much for talking with us, and thank you for your remarkable career. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: before we go, i want to invite you to a very special youth election town hall

tonight hosted by amna nawaz, created specifically for, with and by teenagers from our student reporting labs network, and in partnership with the poynter institute's mediawise program. before hearing from amna, here's a short preview. >> now the 2020 election is here and political messages are everywhere. >> in fact, sometimes it feels like everything is political. it's a lot. >> let's be real -- some of the information we get is important and useful. >> and some of it is false. how can we know who and what to trust. >> are we prepared for this election and what comes afterwards?

jernz. >> that's us. makes up 10% of all american voters. >> gen z is predicted to make up the largest electoral group by 2024. >> that's just four years from now. america hasn't seen a wave of young voters this big since the '70s. >> that's a lot of responsibility so let's face facts. >> let's find out how our actions as citizens matter. >> let's make sure what we read and share is the truth. >> this is our future on the line. this is our time. >> it's our time. >> woodruff: this looks like it will be a really unique event, amna, what can we expect? >> nawaz: that's right, judy, we hear a lot about first-time voters and gen z activists, but this is an entire hour devoted to talking with teens and young adults about this historic election, the pandemic and what is going on in their lives. but this is also about media literacy. so we've partnered with the poynter institute's media wise

program, and their fact-checkers will show how young people can sort through misinformation online and help their communities become better informed, as well. the town hall is tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. you can visit the newshour's website or watch on the pbs newshour's youtube channel, facebook and twitter. so needed. thank you, am na. we're looking forward to that. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson.

>> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

-hola, tucson, i am back. as if i could possibly stay away from the best 23 miles of mexican food. my last trip here was a whirlwind culinary tour of tacos, hot dogs, chimichangas, and giant burritos. but i've come back to break bread with a new friend known to bread enthusiasts as one of the best bakers in america, known to friends as don. -oh, i love this. -isn't it n? -these fresh-baked experiences, well... -and it's like...mmm. -[ chuckles ] -heaven. -and i need to know everything about the secrets to don's success. so, using tucson as my gateway, i'm heading south across la frontera to sonora, mexico, where miles and miles of wheat fields blanket lush valleys,