judy: gd evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. a sign of hope.br ain gets the first covid vaccine, as president-elect biden names his top health care advisers who wilinherit an ever-worsening pandemic. retired army generydice -- austin is tapped to be the nextf secretarefense, potentially breaking barriers, but also raising questions about civilian control of th pentagon. and searching for justice -- covid-19 and social stigma complicate the already difficult process of integrating into society for the homeless and formerly incarcerated. >> you g out, but because you did this crime, we're going to ho y it against you to whereou can't get certain things that

are basic utter necessities. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." announcer: major funor the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> architect, beekeeper, mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed they like.ople do moref what r u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit coumercellular.tv. announr: johnson & johnson.

bnsf railway ♪ >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. aannounce with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. thisrogram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: pandemic deaths nationwide have reached 285,000 tonight.

that comes as hope is building for vaccines, and as president-elect biden is assembling a team to oversee the effort. epite house correspondent yamiche alcindorts. yamiche: today, another big step.r reviewers e food and drug administration found pfizer's vaccine safe and 95% effective. that's clearing the way for its expected approval -- possibly before the week is out. >>y we're just days aom authorization from the fda and we're pushing them hard. at which point, we wl immediately begin mass distribution. the gold standard vaccine has been done in less than 9 months. yamiche: pfizer and moderna stayed away from a white house it was there that president trump signed an executive order prioritizing covid vaccine doses for americans over other countries. it is unclear whhaher that order any legal force. and even t chief scientist leading the president's vaccine development and distribution details about the order. >> frankly i don't know and

frankly i'm staying out of this , so i can't comment. yamiche: at the sa time, trump administration officials denied a "new york times" report that they botched the chance to buy more of thvaccine months ago. the company warned it will most u.s. can get more the 100e the million doses it already boughtd meanwhile, britain -- the first country to approve the pfizer vaccine -- began its inoculation campaign with 800,000 initial doses. priority is going tonuhe elderly aning home workers. 90-year-old margaret keenan was the world's first recipient of the pfizer vaccine outside o clinical trials. she encouraged others to follow suit. >>, go for cause it's free and it's the best thing that's ever happened at the moment, so do please go for it. yamiche: a third candidate behind pfizer and moderna is showing promise. courtesy findings released today showed a vaccine developed by drugmaker astrazeneca and oxford university is safe and 70% effective. more analysis must be done to gauge howell it works for older recipients, sie only a small number of the trial's

participants were over the age of 70. in wilmington, delaware, president-elect biden, who will ultimately oversee distribution of most of the covid vaccines in the s., formally unveiled th team that will help him. be the next secretary of health and human services and dr. vivek murt as surgeon ge dr. rochelle walensky, anio infe disease expert, was tapped to head the centers for disease control and prevention. dr. anthony fauci will be the president's chief medical adviser on covid-19. he'll also continue as the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. >> this team will help get at least 100 million covid vaccine into the arms of the american people in the first 100 days. 100 million shots in the first 100 days. ananwe'll follow the gu of science to get the vaccines to those most at risk. yamiche: becerra currently serves as attorney general of california -- where most of residents are now under w

lockdowns. ha you have made it clear, mr. president-elect,to build back a prosperous america, we need a healthy america. fthat tn, will be job o your team at hhs. yamiche: dr. murthy helped fight ebola and the zika virus as surgeon general during the obama administration. >> while this is a daunting task, we absolutely have as a country wh we need to overcome this virus. e world class scientists we have courageous medical professionals who are risking their lives to care for the ill, we have companies that are onve the cusp of deng vaccines, . yamiche: mr. biden also appointed jeff zients to be the coordinator of his administration'sseovid-19 resp former white house and pentagon senior adviser natalie quillian was tapped to be his deputy. and, yale medical professor,r. marcella nunez-smith, will chair the president's covid-19 equity task force. this afternoon president-elect

, biden also nounced he has chosen retired army general lloyd austin as his nominee for secrety of defense. austin would be the first black american thold that post. judy: this evening, the "newshour" can confirm that u.s. representative marcia fudge, democrat from ohio, will be president-elect biden's nominee to be secretary of housing and urban development. we turn agaito yamiche what more do we know at this hour about the white house's effort on the vaccine front, what they are pushing to do? yamich the president took today to really take a victory lap and brag about the fact that he was able, he says, to oversee this really speedy vaccine distribution and development. he wanted to make the case that even though he's in the waning days of his presidency that he is someone who was doubted and people suld give him credit. but we know also is he signed

this executive order that are supposed to be about putting americans first with the idea of americs being prioritized ove other countries. administration officials als told me there's part of this order that means the u.s. will help other countries with vulnerable populations. interestingat's re is the president was continuing to also talk about the fact that he doesn'inknow which atration is going to be next. . he was specifically questioned about the idea the trump administration did not invite and then he said, you don't know which administration will be next. of course, we do know president-elect biden will be coming into office january 20 even with the president talking about the vaccine he was still leering in the false claims that the election was still up in the air -- layering the false claims that the election is still up in the air. judy: what do we know about his

vacciner the distribution and managing the pandemic overall? yamiche: president-elect j biden wanted to use today to showcase the expertise and the ople who will be helping him carry out his covid-19 response and distributing the vaccine. he talked a lot aatut the fact e will tell americans the truth. that of course is in contrast th president trump who has downplayed the virus, even comparing it to the f. he also talked about equit saying he would center the idea that vulnerable populations, african-americans and latinos, that they will be put at the top ofte his list is of priorities. we saw a number of pix talk about their background as children of immigrants. we saw joe talk about three things. he said everyone will be wearin a mask. he wants everyone to wear a mask in the first 100ays. he also said there should be 100 million vaccines distributed.

he also wants to open the majority of schools in the first 100 days, alsoki t about equity and racial discrimination. judy: ambitious plans. separate development, we confirmed, it has now been announced, that joe biden has selected retired army general lloyd austin to be the secretary of defense. tell us what more you have learned about him and that choice. yamiche: first of all, this is a historic choice. general austin would be the first african-american in joat if he is confirmed. that is in line with joe biden's commitment to try and have his cabinet look like america. i want to background. he served with army and was also vice chief of staff or the u.s. armyrom 2012 to 2013 and the first black commander of u.s.

central command from 2013 to 2016. people say he is qualified for this job, and you add marcia fudge to the mix, there are mor african-americans filling out the pix and this comes after civil rights groups and the congressional black caucus wanted him to have a more diverse cabinet, especially when it comes to the top positions in his administration. this pic is o seen as part that. i should say people fans of general austin should not be seen as someone picks because he was african-american but rather he is an example of african-americ contributions to the military. judy: and we have more reporting to come later on the program from nick schifrin, but fve now, thank much. yamiche: thanks so much.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. we will return to judy woodruff and the full program after the latest headlines. joe biden is said to replace the secretary of agriculture. a former governor of iowa, he was an early supporter of president-elect biden.e he has been head of the u.s. dairy export council since 2017. the u.s. supreme court brushed aside republican attempts to block president-elect biden's win in pennsvania. that came as the attorney general of texas, ken paxton, asked the high court to invalidate biden's electoral votes in georgia, min igan, wiscond pennsylvania. and, during his vaccine summit, te president insisted again that officials sngs his way. >> we were rewarded with a victory. now, let's see whether somebody has the courag whether it's a legislator or legislatures or

whether it's a e of the supreme court or a number of justices of the supreme court, let's see if they have the courage to do what everybody in this country knows is right. stephanie: today was the so-called fe harbor deadline for st results and guarantee that congress acceptsheir electoral vote tallies. only wisconsin missed the deadline. cis is due to a pending lawsuit filed by the trupaign. the push for pandemic economic relief is hung up on disagreements over aid for state -- from congress and the white house. today, senate majority leader dropping stickier issues for now and passing jobless benefits and renter protections. late today, speaker pelosi tweeted, "while it is progress that mccnell has signed off on the 916 billion dollar offer, the president's proposal to cut unemployment insurance by $140 billion is. unacceptabl

" the house of representatives adva funding bill -- despite a veto threat. president trump has demanded unrelated language to strip the big social media companies of legal liability protection a veto could block a pay raise for u.s. troops. y the u.s. as fired or suspended 14 officers and soldiers at fort hood, texas -- over failures to stop extreme violence in the ranks. today's reportaid the killing of specialist vanessa guillen exposed a pattern of sexual harassment, assaults and even murder. >> the tragic death of vanessa guillen, and a rash of other challenges at fort hood, forced us to take a critical look at our systems, our policies and ourselves.wi buout leadership systems don't matter. the penalties are not strong enough, nor are the recommendations for reform spirit still to come, health

alex azar discusses the approaching rollout of the d-co vaccine. president-elect biden to tap army general lloyd austin to lead the department of defense. peaceful transfer of power in the u.s., plus much more. announcer: this is the "pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington and in the west from one walter cronkite school of journalism at arstate university. judy: as we saw in yiche's report moments ago, the first britain delivered new hope in around the world today federal officials say they hope to begin delivering doses in the u.s. within thwenext couple of s. but there are many concerns about getting the vaccine out to those who need it in the coming months. alr is the secretary of health and was at the president's summit today. he joins me now fromhe white

house. secretary a czar, thank you for joining us. i want to ask you about what pfizer is saying. it is saying it has told the trump administration thatro it cannotde substantial more doses of the covid vaccine by the middle of s tmer because the administrationasically declined to purchase a second batch of doses and now other countries have bought those up. what happened? sec. azar: what pfizer is telling you is simply inarturate and unately they want to do contract negotiations and the media and think this can pressure us. let me lay out what happened here. back in july, before they had even initiated phase three clinal trials, contracted with pfizer to buy 100 million doses ofaccine sight unseen if it got approved by the fda

regardless of efficacy, safety, whatever else, as long as the fda approved it, we agreed to buy it as long as eyould deliver by the end of march. . they refused to commit to any other production or delivery by a time certain. we did a 500 million dose option on top of thate that w could then negotiate and execute against. i'm certainly not going to sign deal with pfizer giving them $10 billion to buy a vaccine 10 years hence.ver to that doesn't make any sense. that's on top of the five other companies we secured 100 million doses from each. in early october, before we saw phase three data, we commence negotiations with pfizer to do one of those optionon vaccines. they still resisted giving us any date by which they would do it. we are making progress. we have made it clear though, we will use ery power of the fense production act to ensure the american people's needs are

satisfied and i'm confident we will get the vaccine we need and want from pfizer. judy: i'm asking you very ptquickly, thes of it, what it looks like is even with all the lives at stake, the administration decided the money was not worth it. sec. azar: no, that's actuly completely inaccurate. this was back in july, they did not have a vaccine. . they had a phase one vaccine that had not even entered into phase two and we had a guaranteed $100ilon -- 100 llion vaccine option. . we have been negotiating with pfizer to get them dailed down one by which they would commit delivery. i think we are making proess -- pfizer is negotiatingn the mea. that's not appropriate and they know better. judy: let me ask you this. by what date do you believe will all americans who need a vaccine have a vaccine? sec. azar: we believe betwn pfizer, moderna, and other

vaccines w have invested in, in the second quarter of next year, american who wants to beor vaccinated to get vaccinated. judy: by the end r: june? sec. a the second quarter, correct. this is not a single moment in time event. we will have 20 milliin people vaed by the end of this we had a vaccine summit today with a bipartisan group of governors and retail chain pharmacies, distributors, fedex and ups to demonstrate how well oiled the machine is. 100 thousand vaccines within 24 to 48 hours. judy: that's what i want to ask, what is the plan for dividing up the vaccine byta, and where does the federal responsibility end and that of state and local leaders begin to make sure everybody who needs a vaccine gets it? transparen it has been very we are allocating the vaccine as

theovnor has requested on a per capita basis, population 18 and over ithe states. we buy the vaccine, we pay for the distribution. through us and private payers, we pay for administration of the vaccine. we ask the governors, because they know the lay of the land,e to tell us whey want the vaccines shipped. we develop it -- ship it directl from pfizer or adthrough the world's g distributor, mckesson. then it goes tovs, walgreens, a hospital or community center, whatever the governo have. judy: i'm asking -- sec. azar: they are almost like air traffic controllers. judy: i'm asking in part because what we heard from president-elect biden is that his team has not seen a clear plan for distribing the vaccine from the place where it gets shipped into theoury, from where it is manufactured, into people's arms. sec. azar' i'm sorry, it'just not true.

we are incredibly transparent. i had an hour-long press br efingry single week with the doctors in minute detail, down to dry ice lels, how it is being distributed from the manufacturing plant to the distributor, to where the governors have told us, how we have 100 million kits at mckesson and ppe to have it happen. every item is micro plant. this is the united states army that is planning it with the distributors.ng we are using the tnd true we do. testing system to get hundreds of millions of flu vaccines every single year. don't invent a new system when you have one that wor judy: i'm also asking in parthe because are local leaders who say they need more resources, they need fundi in order to get the vaccine into every individual, whether its in urban areas, rural areas -- there is concern about that.

sec. azar: as i've described, we have actually set up these partnerships with c, walgreens, kroger's, community health centers andto hospitals take the burden away. money will not be the barrier to ensuring that underserved get vaccinated, so we will make sure that is available, but it's also important they understand, t mre are a lot hs out there about what the role is. the state and local governmentasare not beind to set up vaccine clinics but rather to leverage the systems that already help get people judy: esther secretary, the world' population, but 23% of the cases in the worldvi of 19. how did that happen? how did this administration oversee a situation where it is so disproportionately affected -- affecting the american people? sec. azar: as we just talked

about, we are on the verge of having a vaccinaceon. we are ced about the surge and we are asking people to please act responsibly. we want everyone to get to the day where they are vaccinated. . that means washing your hands, watch your distance, wear your face covering. please be very careful. judy: but that message has been a mixed -- excuse me for interrupting, it has been a mixed message from the very top, c.has it not? zar: everyone of us who ppts and works for the president -- the vice president made clear at the summit, those three w's, be carefulhebout indoor gngs, overcrowded indoor restaurants and indoor bars, and multi-household gatherings. these are settings of disease transmission and i need your viewers toe focused on this as we approach the holiday season. i want to make sure hoxt year's day season, everybody is

able to be together for a normal holiday season because of the vaccines we are working together judy: dr. alex azar, the secretary of the dethrtment of hend human services, thank you very much. we turn now to a physician who has long been involved in the study of contagious diseases and the vaccines developed to fight them. dr. carlos del rio is professor of global health and epidemiology at emory university school of medicine. thank you for joining us. is your assessment of t trump administration plan at this point to distribute the vaccine to americans? dr. del rio: let me first start by saying that the achievement of getting a vaccine in record getting vaccines tha are incredibly effective is something we all need to be not only very happy, but veryroud. the research infrastructure, many yrs of research before

this virus study -, start basic research in this technology has led to have a vaccine that will be a key to ending this pandemic. easy.ibution will not be but i will tell you and i agree with the secretary, we are americans. we put a man on the moon. we can get the stone. it will require coordination and collaboration. it will require people to work together and funding. but i'm convinced, as president-elect biden has said, we can get 100 million doses in the next first 100 days of his administration. judy: do you believe the administration can meet the deadline? we heard from secretary azar, granted it will be the next administration, but do you think th cane delivered to everyone who needs it by the end of june? dr. del rio: i think so. i hope bothio administr -- this should not be democrat orre

blican. this should be both and i would hope secretary azar works closely with javier becerra for a smooth transition. at the end of the day, we need to get a vaccine into the arms of people because vaccines don'a save livesinations save lives. judy: what will be the hardest communities to reach? we are hearing about urban areas, inner-city areas, communities ofolor, rural parts of the country. where is the greatest efforts going to be required? dr. del rio: the greatt effort will have people trust the vaccinein and be wito be vaccinated. and unfortunately because of years of racism and years of abuse by the health care infrastructure of african-americans and hispanics, t e populations that neede most may be the ones mor reluctant. they are notnti-factors, --

anti-vaxxers, they are simply hedistrustful ofystem. we need to work with community leaders to ensure trust exists. the second thing is to make sure e vaccine gets to ever corner. it is not just going to the cities, it will be in the rural communities and everywhere . getting it to the most remote placin alaska. think about the postal system. about how the postal system gets letters everywhere that is i'm convinced distribution systems like the ones that exist for amazon, coca-cola and pharmacists in the military can get it done, but it's not going to be easy. at the end of the day, we have to get the vaccine to every person that needs it. judy: it sounds as if you are administrati, for whatever to a second major shipment of

the vaccine from pfizer. dr. del rio: i'm not sure, i don't know what the details are, but i will tell you the pfizer vaccine requires refrigeration and it has logistical complications that it might be udo -- you don't need the vaccine, you have to wait for my turnnd then use the other vaccine. you wait for astrazeneca that does not riguire that reation. each vaccine is a little different. the cold chain requirements of pfizer make it pretty u challenging. ll not be able to get it to rural communities or many places on the inner-city because you won't have the cold chain required to distribute the vaccine. judy: very quickly, is it clear in your mind who should get the vaccine first health-care workers, those

live in nursing home and long-term care settings, and after is it clear in your mind what the order should be? dr. del rio: yes, it is clear. the national academy of medicine put out a report called equitable distribution of vaccines. i would look at that report. the cdc looks at that report. that tells you how people should get the vaccine and it starts with health-care workers and those in long-term facilities and moves to teachers, first responders, students, different people in the general population until entually everyone is vaccinated. if we do it right, i agree that i the summer we could have pretty much everybody that needs it vaccinated. judy: dr. carlo still rio, ioepidgists, a physician at the emory university school of medicine. thank you very much. dr. del rio: delighted to be with you, judy.

judy: now, returning to president-elect biden's choice to run the defense department retired army gsteral lloyd , . several candidates were much talked-about for the post, and biden's pick has sparked a variety of reactions. here's nick schifrin. nick: l for 40 yearyd austin was a barrier-breaking soldier. the first black officer to eammand a division in combat, and command a thr of war. had some of the most difficult commands including iraq before the 2011 u.s. withdrawal. >> it is going to take the iraqi nt, the iraqi people to continue to make the right decisions, work together. nick: president elect biden worked with austin in iraq, attending the ceremony where and the vice president's late son, beau biden, who died in 2015, served on austin's staff. in an article today, biden cal austin calm under pressure and praised austin's logistical

success in withdrawing from iraq. biden says austin will use those skills to quarterback covid vaccine logistics. biden wrote they align strategically, and austin's nomination was a "milestone." >> this ally is historic. african-americans have served in higher numbers than theirf percentagee population in the united states. nick: dana pittard is a retired two-star general who served with austin in iraq when they fought isis. he's the author of the book, "hunting the caliphate." >> he had our forces with all of our coalion allies, fight isis on numerous fronts. it took strategic vision and an operational approach to be able to pull that off. and that was general austin. nick:al austi servein the pentagon, as the former army vice chief of staff. >> he ran the day in and day out staff business in the pentagon.

so he has intimate knowledge of things, at least on how the pentagon should work as a senior lead. nick: but austin's nomination has critics. he retired only four years ago and wod therefore need a congressional waiver to serve as the civilian secretary of defense. coress has only appred that waiver twice for former world , war ii, 5-star general george marshall, and for president trump's first defense secretary james mattis, prstin's ecessor at central command. in 2017, top senate ar services democrat jack reed supported mattis' wabut warned it was the last. >> waiving laws should happen no more than on in a generation. therefore i will not support a waiver for future nominees. nick: today, reed kept his options open, during a windy interview. >> in all fairness, you have top give thetunity to the nominee to explain himself or herself. that's what i think the principle is. >> the congress has, since the 1940's, required that for

someone to become secretary of defense, that they have been separated from that ch command for a long enough time back into the private sector that they aren't still part of that sense of following orders. nick: danielle bryan is the executive director of the project which opposed austin and other prospective minees. > she's also concerned austin joined the board of raytheon, one of the country's largest defense contractors, a months after he retired. >> we want someone who has a broader perspective than the same old cycle of the military-indtrial complex that has been spiraling now for decades. nick: some regret the opportunity lost to have picked the first female defense secretary michelle flournoy, who isst- was on the short >> i do get a sense of being lef dom some folks, that they were really hoping to break this barrier. nick: mieke eoyang is the senior

vice president of third way sot . >> having lloyd austin as secretarof defense is a big, historic moment. he has broken barriers everywhere he's gone. race is still an issue in the military. but at the same time, so is gender. both of those issues -- racism, and gender discrimination, are going to be on the plate for the next secretary of defense. nick: austin's defenders say he is a warrior-diplomat n deal with those issues, and align with president elect biden's restraint. >> someone who is more tied to e defense department and who has been in combat themselves will be a little bitore reluctant to want to send our sons and daughters to combat unless it's absolutely necessary. and lloyd austin is that type ol individual ader. nick: for the "pbs newshour,"ch i'm ifrin.

judy: it's been fe weeks since election day, but president trump and many of his allies continue to question state election results, despite there being zero evidencof widespread voter fraud or irregularities. william brangham reports on another milestone day in the 2020 election. william: judy, next monday, members of the electoral college will meet in state citals across the counrty to officially cast their votes for president.h most oe electors - and how they will vote -- are already known because today is what's called the "safe harbor" deadline for those appointments. to look at where we are in the transition, and at the president's ongoing resistance to it, i'm joined by trevor potter. he is the president of the campaign legal center. counsel for john mccain's presidenal campaign and as chair of the federal election commission.

great to have you back on the "newshour." wbefo get to these calendar issues i was describing before, we still are seeing continued legal efforts by the trump caaign to stop different statesng from certifheir votes. ourtaw one, the supreme knocked one down just today from .pennsylvania. there was a new one filed by the attorney general in texas. what do you make of thesets remaining laws >> truthfully, they are increasingly bizarre in the sense thathe have no chance of stopping the electoral college from voting, and i think from congress accepting those results. dthey are best descri as pr messages, y be heartfelt by the people filing them, but i ven't expect them to ny

legal effect. william: so as mentioned, today is the safe harbor deadline. just remind us wh in the process of moving from the election to a new president sworn i that says if states get theirss electors in by that date, if they certify them by that date, presumptively, congress will acpt them. it is not a guarantee but it is part of the timeline leading up to the voting by e thectors on the 14th, next monday. william: is it your sense that there is anything that could legitimately interruptoc this s from this week to next week to january? >> in terms of the outcome, no, there is nothing that wouldgi mately interrupt that process. the states have already certified the electors and the

electo will meet next monday the 14th and vote, and congress will receive those votes on january 6. having said that, it doesn't mean there will not be noise in thece p. i just mean the end result is now very clear. some of the noise isin the f of these lawsuits, trying to get the supreme court to intervene and tell states not to designe electors, or telling congressno someho to count them, which is something the court can't dos , but what s trying to do. william: pulling back a bit and looking more broadly, what do youake of the effort the president is undertaken, to declare the election was a fraud and votes were stolen and he in fact won, not joe biden. is it your sense that this is just a man who doesn't want to concede and we are seeing the sort of tail end of that spasm,

or is this something more substantive going on? >> i think what's going on has changed over the course of the last month sincehe election. originally, i was a question of, are the votes being counted correctly? are the votes that are being counte legitimate? have they been examined, are the machine reporting the right tally? that w a followed eries of lawsuits that were i think hocreasingly far-fetched, alleging that so the system the states had used was wrong and that a court ought to step i and say for instance that absentee ballots should not be counted inennsylvania. but all of that is now resolved. those court cases are almost all over, the trump campaign lost in every case. the question becomes, what is president trump doing still saying that the election was somehow being stolen andast

fraudulent? i think at that stage, you have to say either he's being rincredibkless in terms of refusing to accept that this is howeople voted, this is what the electoral college vote is, or something more dangous, which is he's refusing to accept the result of the election personally and politically because it helps him to be seen mfighting, to raiey for his new political commagtee. at some it becomes a attempt to undermine the president-elect anmake american think the result of this electn is somehow not legitimate. that is really dangerous for our democracy. th year, it is not particularly close. there was a big bite andpo leadn thlar vote -- biden lead in the popular vote and electoral vote. next time, it might be just onto

one estate. in the idea that state legislatures should step in ando ignore with thrs did and decide they will produce a different result because they don't like what the voters did is incredibly antidemocratic. it is not how a democracy elects its leaders. william: trevor potter of the campaign legal center, thank you very much for being here. judy: we continue our look t now challenges for those coming out of incarceration. after being released, many struggle to find housing, wprch in turn caent them from getting treatment for an addiction or mental illness, securing a steady job, and ultimately, staying out of jail. it's a situatioermade even tonight, amna nawaz profiles one

woman's quest for housing in austin, texas. it's the second in our series this week, searching for justice. amna: for four months, a makeshift loft under this north austin bridge was home for rachel schuyler and her husband, ian. >> it was hard to sleep in the bridge wh the noise at first, butou kind of get used to it. it becomes like a white ise. amna: the 30-year-old says she'd been homeless for five or six years when she was arrested in sent to jail.hecks, and her one-year-old daughter was taken into state custody. >>t this was ri before i was arrested. >> she's so cute. what's her name? >> olivia. amna: released in april,bb rachel's been ng together money from odd jobs for this hotel room. virtual visits are her only connection to olivia. >> i play my ukulele. my husband plays the harmonica and we read books.

we sing her. she's too young to know anything about what's going on. what do eru say to a 14 month old zoom? like seven months old, you know? what do you say to a seven month old? they're audio visual. they want to touch stuff and put it all in their mouth. what is she going to do over a video visit but get angry because i'm not really there? amna:li to get her on track, and to get her daughter back, racheleeds a jobx and a e job and a hd soon, but she says her past is holding her back. >> it's just once you're in the systen though i got time served, i'mon done, i'm no probation, my cases are finished -- i'm still going to be punished for up to the next can't get a place live, or it's gonna be difficult tfor meget a job and start a career.

i'm done, i've done my time and i'm i've done my rehabilitation. t now i'm screwed. amna: rachel's story isn't unique. a 2018 study by the prison policy initiative found that formerly incarcerated peoplen were nearly mes more likely to be homeless than the general population, especially up release. and a 2019 study fm the texas criminal justice coalition found that those who are homeless, in rn, are far more likely to be ikarrested -- for crimes l shoplifting and assault. >> you know, it's not a matter of if you get arrested, it's a matter of when. and that how long you are going to be gone. amna: the vicious cycle of incarceration and hohalessness isn' to find here. >> myd rec, because of what it is, the department locators -- apartment locators said, we can do anything. . for> youu get out, but because you did this crime, we will hold her to get -- hold it against you to get to where you can't get certain things that are utter necessities. amna: a few of those basic

hicessities can be found at encampments likeone, on the outskirts of austin. this 7-acre plot is known as esperanza, or hope. h at's just what joseph westphal, througs group called the other ones is trying to provide. there's a different story for everybody that you talk to about why they're here. but i would say that the underlying rhythm and the underlying factor is that that loss of family and connection and community and friend amna: as shelte shuttered to avoid coronavirus outbreaks, so did many of their support programs. westphal's group has tried to fill that shortfall with this hygiene truck for showers, work crews to keep the camp clean, and the kinds of basic job and housing search support people need to get off the street but he says too often they run into the same barrier. >> i'd say somewhere between 60% to 80% of people have some kind of criminal background that will probably affect wherthey live and how likely they are to find stable housing. amna: but the pandemic has also forced jails and prisons toha

slash programshelp keep former inmates off the streets in the first place. >> the first thinge said is we need all unessential people out of the jail. and that includes some of the program staff, our volunteers and our partners, so that imcted our services quite bit. amna: part ofaniel smith's job at the travis county sheriff's department is to connect inmates with addiction and mental health support and with a place to go once released. >> one of the problems we run into is that there just isn't enough housing for everybody getting released. ify there were, tuld not be coming to us homeless or they wouldn't be coming to us needing treatment. amna: one bright spot during covid? some additional housin congressional aid allowed local governments to rent hotel rooms to house the homeless, and help prevent virus spread. this is where i have been living at for the past six or seven months. amna: one of those rooms gave andrew jones a chance to getba

ck on track. on top of a divorce, job loss, and losing both his parents, jones suffered from an untreated mental illness. >> i was in bad shape. it was bad. this is it right here. amna: ataph infection led to a doctor's visit, which led to a social worker and thene of the city's hotel rooms. >> when i went to get my id, you need proof of address.in see those ? so small things that people we take for granted. it means so much, just having an what if i went there and i didn't ha a place to say -- stay? that would've been an issue. now you need an ido get a job. now you need a job to get so having a place to stay has been the game changer. the barbed wire fence, almost amakes you feel like you in prison but that's it. amna:ba jones said he's on

medication and reconnected with family, but his hotel stay is temporary. and vocates say the waiting list is hundreds long. for her part, rachelyiays she's trng not to lose hope. but with her savings dwindling, and her prospectdimming, it's getting harder to hold oo. >> i wanto save my daughter because i want a family. my husnd and i want to, you know, have that white picket fence and get married and have our little family. and we want to treatur kids better than our parents treated us. you know? we want to be better. amna:or the "pbs newshour," i'm amna nawaz. judy: now to honoring a civil rights legend in a new way. producer james brown of pbs station wxxi reportsow

artists in rochester, new york lewis.ibute to the late john it is pa of our arts and lture series, canvas. >> this wall will be a landmark. the colors are not going to fadeg it's go be here long after we're gone. i grew up right across from the snesee brewery, st. simon terrace. it is very exciting for me to come back and just show love to the city has giv me so much. this is a painting of john lewis, a young john lewis, giving a speech. original photos from danny lyon. the premier, like civil rights photographer back in the day. we just wanted to honor his legacy and what he's done for the fair treatment of all of our people, ofpelack and brown le.en with his rpassing, i just wanted to kind of pay homage to him and his name and his legacy , d also bring danny lyons'

image to life and circus larger -- it is larger-than-life. >> we don't lose sight of where evyone is going to be going. >> "i am speaking" is the title and the pr wect is i am. have one in chicago. the first one is "i am a man," the photo from the memphis sanitation strike. second one is in louisville, kentucky. and that was titled "i am singing." it's a protest l people singing and clapping their hands in the air. and then this one, is "i am speaking." across the street is the site where frederick douglass gave his what was his fourth of july to a slave addre or speech. so i thought it would be a good idea to name it "i am speaking." it's a good fit. wanted to stop people in their tracks. i can't control how this piece is going to be perceived. i know all of the coective emotions and feelings like bringing this to the community, and it's positive and uplifting. i hope that the community feels as it's evoking some kind of emotion, it's doing its job.

judy: finally tonight, the first man to break the sound barrier, chuck yeager, died mon.y in californ john yang has our remembrance. >> a man has flown an airplane faster than the speed of sound! reporter: chuck yeager soared into aviation history in 1947. the first person to break the sound barrier.th achievement in the "glamorous glennis" -- named for his wife -- was a long-shrght breagh. he recalled it in a 2012 interview. >> up until that time, we'd never been able to get above the speed of sound, had problems with controls and stuflike that. finally, on october the 14th of '47, we succeeded in pushing through the mach one, and oped

up space to us. reporter: born and raised in west virginia, chued yeager enlin the army air corps in september 1941, when he was 18. just before the pearl harbor attack plunged the united states into world war ii. hthe became a p-51 f pilot and distinguished himself in aerial combat over france and germany. at one point, he was shot down, but escaped capture and returned ge the skies. after the war, ybecame a military test pilot, trying out new prototypes. in 2006, he described for west virginia public broadcasting how he ended up in experimental rocket-powered aircraft.n >> they put mee fighter test section and i flew everything wt flew. then given the opportunity to go to the test pilot school january of '46, which i did , beme a test pilot and then started working on test programs, was selected for the x1 and other test programs.

several prep flights, yeager and his bell x-1 dropped from the belly of a b-29 bomber and rocketed past the sound barrier -- at nearly 700 miles an hour. >> everything i did, it was my duty. it was all important. the sound barrier was just i was working on 10 test programs when i was flying the x1. reporter: the secret flight was finally announced to the world kyght months later june 1948. , he instantlycketed to fame. ironically, though, he was passed over fothe space program a decade later, when nasa required the first astronautsave college degrees. yeager had never gone to college. even so, he went on to command fighter squadrons in germany ans soutasia during the vietnam war, and was later promoted to brigadier general. yeager was inducted into the national aviation hall of fame in 1973, and retired from the air force in 1975. in 1979, he gained new

international celebrity with the publication of tom wolfe's best-selling book "t" right stuff. r made into a movie, wit the actor sam shepard portraying him. after the "chaenger" explosion in 1986, he served on the commission that investigated the disaster. he also worked as stconsulting ilot at edwards air force base in california. and traveled abroad, visiting u.s. troops in afghanistan. 2012 marked the 65th anniversary of yeager's super-sonic flight and at age 89, he re-enacted the achievement, flying with a piloo from nellis aie base in nevada. afterward, he reflected on the indeliblmark the military left on his life. >> what i am, i owe to the air force because it took an 1year old kid out of west virginia and taught me, made me what i was. reporter: chuck yeager lived out the final years of his life in penn valy, california.

judy: a real american hero. chuck yeager was 97 years old. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs "newshour"ha, you, please stay safe and we will see you soon. announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour," has beid proved by -- ♪ announcer: consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovatio in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of internaonal peace andty secut carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

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- [allyson] what it means to be american, t

is to takethe road. - mobility is essential freedom. - [man] discery, freedom. - that notion of driving while black reminds us that that's not available to all americans. - [carolyn] to be able to ve freely, we live in a country n - [cawhere iter beenle to ve everybody's right. - there are still so many dangers. - [man] officer, i'mocking my car. - we have to engage history with a kind of brutal honesty. - [announcer] "driving wle black: ty race, space and mobin america" was made possible in part by the national endowment for the humanities: exploring the human endeavor; the arthur vining davis foundations, the andrew w. mellon foundation, the ford foundation, the 1772 foundation. and by contributions to your pbs station