>> good evening. i am judy woodruff. deming report. yours attorney general finds the andrew cuomo sexually harassed multiple women. he denies the claims, defending his actions while president biden and others call on him to resign. then a new push by the biden administration to help those facing evictions, targeting those most at risk of losing their homes. wildfire inequality. how worsening wildfires in california is one country threaten low-wage farmworkers. >> in the past, certain wineries

might have granted access to their vineyard even if they fell in evacuation zones. workers might find themselves trying to save the grapes while potentially defending themlves. judy: all of that and more on tonight pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer. a raymondjames financial advisor, it taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> for 25 years, the goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. to learn more, visit consumer

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>> we have two big stories leading tonight. the biden administration moves to help renters and targeted areas facing eviction after a national ban on evictions expired. we will look at what that means in a moment. we turn our focus to new york where the state attorney general accuses governor andrew cuomo of sexual harassing multiple women. >> the independent investigation has concluded that governor andrew cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so he violated federal and state law. >> he was a new york state attorney general, democrat letitia james who aounced the deming findings. investigators published a 165

page report which concluded that governor cuomo did sexually harass a number of current and former you are -- former new york state employees. cuomo did so through unwelcome and nonconsensual touching and by making offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature. it also says that the conduct extended to members of the public. >> this investigation has revealed conduct that corrodes the very fabric and character of our state government and shines light on injustice that can be present at the highest levels of government. >> investigators wrote about cuomo's conduct toward 11 women and included some episodes that had not been reported previously. including the harassment of a state trooper has signed his security detail. instances of nonconsensual touching included unwanted hugs

and kisses. also, the groping of women's buttocks and breasts. can clark is one of the attorney general's lead best to. >> we found all of the women credible. >> another investigator spoke to their findings about the toxic work environment. >> the culture of fear of flirtation, intimidation and intimacy, abuse and affection created a work environment ripe for harassment. >> in a video message today, cuomo argued he has long had a habit of giving other people hugs and kisses but responded this way to the reports findings about groping and ippropriate comments. >> i never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.

i am 63 years old. i have lived my entire adult life in public view. that is just not who i am. quite still, reaction from other political leaders was swift. chuck schumer and kristen gillibrand reiterated their calls on cuomo to resign. before today, president biden said that he too would call for cuomo's resignation if the attorney general's investigation confirmed the allegations against,. mr. biden waited in late today. >> i understand that the state legislator may be assigned to pitch. quick this is over this and other scandals.

they pledged to provide this, with any relevant evidence from her investigation. judy: we turn to karen do it. she is new york state public radio's c in albany. welcome to the newshour. >> how compelling is the evidence? that the attorney general presents in this report? >> i found all of these allegations pretty compelling and most of them we know about when they first became public like in march, i cover them, i talked to some of the women but the way this report put them out, it was deeply shocking to see alof these allegations that were poorly -- pretty well corroborated. this new one was the incidence of the state trooper. she was pled out of the ranks by cuomo, chosen to be his bodyguard.

usually the superintendent of the state police does that. that is highly unusual. she was subject to an appropriate touching. asking her why she wasn't wearing a dress and i think all that combined was really very devastating. >> you said much of it is corroborated so there is evidence in terms of what other people said. they had corroborating witnesses. they definitely did a very solid job of backing up all of these allegations. >> governor cuomo came back with

a prerecorded statement. he denied all of this. he said he learned to hug and kiss people from his parents. that is the way he has been as a politician of his life. >> it does seem at odds but i think governor cuomo is hoping the public sees him as just over a little over a year agoe was on television every day as the defector leader of the nation duri the covid-19 pandemic. he>> tell us where this goes frm here. this report with all of this deming information, it happens next? >> ethic it without saying that

the governor is not resigning. he says he has a lot of work to do but there is an assembly impeachment inquiry happening. the assembly speaker previously did not call on, to resign and now says he has lost confidence in cuomo and there, is not fit to run for office. he confirmed there is an ongoing criminal investigation and he is asking victims to come forward. if that were to come to fruition, i think that would be more very serious trouble for him. >> do you have a sense oflook -? >> i think it will be sooner than later. things i think are going to go at pretty lightning speed.

>> does he have defenders? >> his family so far has defended him and one would hope that your family would but nobody immediately comes to mind right now has defending him. he is really all alone on this issue. in some ways i think he is trying to turn that on its head and is trying to say the elected officials are against me. he also said i am a victim of cancel culture. he may be around -- he may be able to turn on the fact that he is all alone in this. >> watching it very closely. karen, thank you very much. judy: karen hinton was question by the new york attorney general investigators as part of their probe. she came forward earlier this year, accusing governor cuomo of touching her inappropriately.

karen hinton joins me now. it is very good to have you with us. tell us a little bit more about what happened exactly. it was around the year 2000. remind us when it was and what happened. after the event, he asked me to come up to his hoteloom to talk about the day, what we would do the next day andthere . the lights had been dimmed. i was a little concerned about that but i took a seat and we talked about the media event. then the discussion became a bit more personal about marriages, mine and his and i decided i would like to leave. i stood up and he embraced me a little bit too tight, too long

and i felt that he was aroused and i left the room. we never talked about it. i never told anyone except one of my best friends who i called that night to tell her what had happened. but this was a long time ago and i am from an older generation of women and i did not really think that if i told someone i might lose my career. it would hurt my career so i didn't. >> you spoke with the investigators, you shared your story with them. they did not included as one of the complaints in this filing. but you said they did listen to you. >> oh yes. they were very interested in talking about his pattern of behavior over time. i have known andrew cuomo for a long time. 25 years.

this report describes him to a t. i was shocked but i was not shocked. i think the assembly is right to go ahead and fast-forward their impeachment inquiries because i think he probably won't resign even though the president has called for him to resign. i think the ag's office was very interested in that pattern over time. >> when you say what is in this report describes into a t, teaming by that? >> the flirting, the intimidation, the manipulation, the need to control, the need to scream and holler and get angry at people unnecessarily. that is the andrew cuomo i now. that is a pattern that he has

always performed. it has been concerning to me. i wish i spoke to him more about it but it was never in this kind of context. i am glad these other 11 women did that. i think they empower other women to do that. not just in politics but in a range of fields where women face sexual harassment. if youork in a doctor's office it happens, a restaurant, wherever. it happens because it is so pervasiv >> what role were you in you said you observed to them over several decades?

>> and maintained a professional relationship as well as a personal relationship over time. i did marry someone who worked for him at hud and then later worked for him in the governor's office. i had opportunities to be around him and see him overtime. >> why do you think more women -- you just alluded to how difficult it is but why d you think more women, more people who have worked for him have not spoken publicly in the intervening years? >> etiquette is very difficult. it is very hard to speak up. we have basically been programmed to shut up and be silent. women have over the years. i think it is hard to break that pattern. i think the #metoo movement did a lot to help empower women.

we need to keep that movement going. what i really want to see is not just for women to speak out but for men to act right. it is just not that hard to treat women with respect and as professionals. that is all these 11 women really want, to be treated with respect and professionalism. we don't need an attorney general to help a man do that. >> it is important. >> it is an important set of developments today. thank you for sharing your story with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> the biden administration is announcing a new, more limited moratorium on evictions tonight.

it will apply to counties experiencing substantial and high levels of covid transmission and it will expire on october 3. more than 6 million people are behind on their rent. there has been great concern that too many could face life-changing choices. the supreme court has struck down a ban on evictions. the centers for disease -- centers for disease control issued a new offer. they said they changed the political dynamics in just a few days. that included cori bush of missouri. who once faced homelessness herself and alexander or cassio cortez -- alexandria or cassio cortez -- alexandria or cassio cortez -- alexandria ocasio cortez.

>> they said maybe we can do something about this. low and behold, a couple of days later, thanks to people power, direct action and the stubbornness for a better world. >> stephanie has the latest on this eviction breaking news tonight. stephanie: the new moratorium will limit how many people could be evicted and it is said to be aimed at helping renters in areas that are harder hit by covid. congress already has authorized $46 billion that could be used for mental assistance to help those in trouble and facing debt. just a small fraction of that money has been allocated and is making its way down to renters and their landlords. the number of advocacy groups and a growing number of progressive voices in congress had pressured president biden to

act on this. the president said today he is not sure if it will survive legal challenges. zach newman is with the colorado covid addictioproject. >> tha you for having me on. it is good to be here to talk about the moratorium. this means the $46 billion allocated by the by the administration hashe opportunity to reach renters too late. >> there is word that not everyone would get relief from this stanchion from the moratorium.

what kind of pressures are your clients dealing with since the original temporary moratorium is expired on saturday? >> we have never seen anything like this. resume a moratorium would be extended to cover people in denver and colorado where we work or at least a good unk of the state. >> are you talking to clients who are really concerned about homelessness at this point? that really could see their children and families turned out on the streets? >> absolutely. it has happened throughout the year and throughout the moratorium that was in place last year. her husband was going through

hospice care, her 12-year-old was trying to go to school on zoom. we did not have enough money to pay the rental assistance balance. she was evicted and forced to move io a hotel. there are real people behind these numbers. this will move the money faster. >> they are not any safer here. >> scotus has moved to enact these temporary eviction moratoriums. are you suspecting that this buys time? >> what i think is so important here is two or three months, it

gives the state and the counties a chance to process it. , when you're dealing with the eviction timeline, it is incredibly fast-moving. even couple of days and weeks. while this may not be long-lasting, even a few more days here really makes a difference for clients. >> we are hearing a lot of stories. we are hearing this from renters and small landlords who have applied for assistance. it is taking a long te to get relief checks out. why has it been so hard to get these funds to people who need it? >> the manner in which congress allocated the money means the application process can be lengthy. it does take time. documents, landlords have to provide documents. on the back end of that, the check actually has to go out. the second part was that they have not had to do this at this

scale maybe ever. youon't have the staff, the system, the capacity to move that money quickly. a lot of what we are seeing in state and county partners is they are working overtime. it takes time to get these through the system. are they worried about getting evict? >> there are a few things that really make sense here. the laws vary by state. there are free legal services available in the community. reaching out to an attorney, talking to someone who knows the process and making a difference, that is your first stop. the second thing is talk to your landlord. let him know that you have applied for the money. that money is on the way. knowing the check is in the mail

may change your landlord's mind. >> thank you so much for your expertise and your time. >> thank you for having me tonight. i appreciate it. >> updating our top story, this evening, pressure is mounting on governor andrew cuomo. the delta variant searches. tyson foods ordered its 120,000 employees to get vaccinated. it is one of the first big employers to do so. microsoft said starting in september, anyone must be.

unionized workers must return tomorrow. san francisco residents who got the single shot johnson & johnson vaccine are able to get an additional shot of the pfizer or moderna vaccine at city run clinics. they are not currently recommending people get a booster shot. in florida, on desantis rejected any new restrictions today. he spoke in miami after news that covid hospitalizations in the state hit a record for the third straight day. >> we are not shutting down. we are protecting every floridian's job in the state. we are protecting people small businesses. these interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic. they have not stopped the spread and particularly with delta which is even more transmissible. >> president biden criticized the governor who blocked

vaccinations and masking requirements. he said if you're not going to help, get outf the way. a pentagonolice officer was stabbed to death and several people injured today in an attack at a transit station outside the pentagon. the building was put on lockdown. he was identified as austin lance of georgia. there is no word on a possible motive. mike parson granted a pardon to a couple who pointed guns at racial justice protesters last year. mark and patricia mccloskey pled guilty to miss demeanor charges. the taliban xl of a did its gains, moving to capture a provisional capital for the rst time in years. insurgents gained control and desperate civilians tried to flee. an explosion in kabul targeted

the acting defense minister. he was unhurt but at least six others were killed including four gunmen. a belarusian side was found hanged today in ukraine's capital. he led a group that helps people fling the authoritarian government in della reese. ukrainian police said they are investigating the death as a couple -- as a murder. a major wild fire is burning on the outskirts of athens, greece tonigh water dropping tanker planes and helicopters drowned the planes. huge clouds of smoke rose as the fire spread. the fire is feeding off the worst heat wave in decades. back in this country, in northern california, mandatory evacuations for thousands of residents near the raging dixie fire were ordered. the entire 2000 person town of chester was ordered to leave.

stl to come on the newshour, how the infrastructure deal aims to boost broadband across the u.s.. while wildfires hit western families equally. his culture changes perspective, marveling viewers for decades and -- a sculptor changes perspective, are really viewers for decades. >> this is the pbs newshour. >> the senate is debating a trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill this week that would invest in vital public works projects throughout the country. one key portion expands broadband internet access for millions of americans. among the larger pieces in this bill is $65 billion set aside for high-speed broadband internet.

right now, in america, some 30 million people either have no internet or they get it at speeds too slow to access the modern web. another 100 million have some access but they don't subscribe to broadband. this deal addresses both with a large met to expand to new communities and $14 billion to help with affordability. to help us understand what all this means, i am joined by nicole turner lee. nicole, tell us who we are talking about in terms of americans who don't have high-speed internet and what does that mean in their lives? >> the pandemic has demonstrated that the connecting mattered. whether you are remotely working, whether you are somebody who could not go into a hospital, it was important to ask to see your doctor. having a connection mattered.

i think the infrastructure bill is telling us that we have to find ways we can break through the equitable aspect of this, the affordability of broadband, where it is deployed and make sure that no one is left off line. >> i hea general elation -- this generational shift. is this a generational shift in terms of technology in this country? >> it is a generational shift of including broadband as one of the critical infrastructures in this country. we normally think of it as electricity, the water system, transit and now we are seeing it as data infrastructure. i think going forward, that is a huge generational ift from what we actually saw. with that being the case, i think we are also realizing this technology is not just about the haves and have-nots. it is about people leveraging

the technology to be able to apply for four jobs. -- for jobs. are we going to be able to solve this? universal access, who has access to broadband, are they included in areas where it is easy to deploy it like rural communities? how do we make sure that people have equal access to adopted technology and affordability. people are making really hard decisions. i think what the bill will do is allow some leeway and subsidy toward the broadband bills that people are carrying so they don't have to make those hard choices. >> you mentioned rural community's.

we no one of the groups that has trouble with internet connectivity is farmers. this is what she told us about the problem for her farmers. >> it has caused great concern last year. getting the kids on the internet so they can attend school virtually. it also has a financial impact on the bottom line. farmers need to be up online in order to sell directly if they are doing direct market sales. we have members whose businesses have been hampered by their lack of broadband access. >> what are the real economic effects when it comes to having such a spotty internet map right now? >> i think part of what we are seeing is we need to make these investments but we need the daters know where we have the target.

they are competing against larger farmers and the footprints they are in. in some cases, they don't want to go to precision agriculture. that is the next wave of technological use. i think it is a real cause where we have farmers and other local businesses that cannot get online. this bill allows some leeway to get some recovery to those entities. >> farmers have problems with access over all but there is a huge problem with affordability. what do you think this bill uld do about that? >> i think it is actually resenting a solution as an erican problem. we know that we are going to have topographical challenges when it comes to connecting places where there are more cows than people. we need to work on competition. people should have a variety of

choices. the only way you can reduce prices is to make sure that people can actually have plenty of choices when it comes to getting access to digital services. given the fact that we have so many uses of technology right now to be able to move things remotely versus in person, it is so important that we address both the urban challenges and that we address them together. >> if this passes and becomes law, what do you think this becomes? >> if we are not, i think we are going to be one step closer to understanding how important it is for people to have access to 21st century resources. no longer can we rest upon the laurels of being in-line. we need to make being online a human reality.

>> thank you so much. >> as we have been reporting for the past few weeks, wildfire season is here. in california alone, fires have already burned more acres than at this time last year. sonoma county north of san francisco where wine vineyards. the landscape and tourism is a billion-dollar industry, wildfires are part of daily life. stephanie sy is back with how it affects certain groups worse than others, part of our race matters series. >> the tubbs fire in 2017. the kincade in 2019 and last year's glass fire, which forced tens of thousands of evacuations in the midst of the pandemic. worsening wildfires in california's wine country seem to burn houses and hovels indiscriminately. but advocates

say the workers who toil in fields to produce some of the country's most expensive wines in the shadow of multimillion dollar homes risk losing much more. >> as humans, we deserve to be treated as equals. >> maria salinas was a farmworker in sonoma county for years. now, she advocates for the thousands of indigenous mexican and central american people living in the region -- populations who may find themselves especially vulnerable during wildfire season. for example, they may not understand emergency alerts and evacuation orders. >> when there are natural disasters, the announcements don't get to thicommunity because they're only in english or spanish. >> spanish is not understood by many of the indigenous mexican and central american workers in the region. start gfx and even if they did speak it, a

statewide audit after the 2017 fires revealed the county only sent emergency warnings in english. that has since changed. in recent years, salinas and other organizers have had to make direct contact with indingenous mmunity members to make sure people know fires are approaching. >> on the radio or facebook, they're saying that people need to evacuate or go to a shelter. but these messages are never translated into indigenous languages. >> also, many indigenous people feel comfortable -- uncomfortable going to shelters because no one speaks their language. >> even when they do get the message, there are additional concerns -- especially for the undocumented immigrants in the 40,000 county. >> they fear that immigration authorities will ask for their documents or question them about their status. to live here as an immigrant without papers is very scary. >> another vulnerability here is economic. the loss of work during wildfires can be devastating. and the fire season often coincides with the wine harvest. >> harvest season for farm

workers is one of the most critical times for income generation during the entire season. >> alegria de la cruz is the director of the office of equity for sonoma county, which was created after it became apparent that last year's dual pandemic and wildfire crises had an outsized impact on latino, undocumented and indigenous people. she says farmworkers are protected by california's relatively sict labor laws, even if undocumented, but enforcement often lags. >> we have the strongest labor laws in the country and they're still not enough. we don't have the suicient amount of enforcement resources to make those rights true. right to make them real. >>- advocates say, with another wildfire season upon them, not enough has been done to protect the workers who are the backbone of the wine country economy. >> grapes don't like smoke. in the past, certain wineries might be graed access to their vineyards even if they fell in evacuation zones. workers might find themselves trying to save the grapes near wildfires while potentially endangering themselves.

>> when the fire started coming, we were called into work. (cando -- work. >> anabel garcia has been a farmwork in sonoma for 20 years. she came face to face with wildfire in 2017. >> they sent messages to the whole group who were responsible for harvesting grapes, so we had to go. (era llama as que no's -- we had red eyes and itchy throats from the smoke. >> it sounds like you were working in an evacuation zone, did you know you were working in an evacuation zone question mark -- zone? >> all we knew was that we were being called into work. we didn't have another option because during the harvest, this is our only income that we use to pay rent and our bills. >> were you getting paid extra customer >> no. >> you only receive a check for the hours that you've worked during emergencies like this. >> in recent months, garcia worked with the local nonprofit 'north bay jobs with justice' to survey dozens of farmworkers

about their experiences during wildfires. they came up with five demands to mitigate the impacts of the disasters on low-wage workers in sonoma county: now. multilingual messaging, disaster insurance, community safety observers, premium hazard pay, and clean bathrooms and water. but karissa kruse, president of the sonoma county winegrowers, says there are adequate protections for workers -- and the fires also put growers in a difficult spot. >> when you talk about actual harvest, if our growers don't harvest a grape it's not that they are missing a couple of weeks or they didn't get to work as a farmer. it's that they get zero income. zero. >> one estimate shows wine companies suffered losses as high as 3-point-7 billion dollars during last year's wildfire season. >> the farmers can get through a few years of dealing with the financial impact. and then they lose the ranch. and at some point, there is that breaking point that, you know, really impacts agriculture and potentially makes our family

farming community, not be a family farming community. >> but whether it's the growers or government, anabel garcia wants to see more resources put toward workers safety and economic security. >> those who drink wine have no idea what it takes to make the wine from planting to harvest. we don't have any kind of support. >> she believes the country's farmworkers have earned it. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in sonoma county, calornia. >> judy: this week, the biden administration is sending its most senior official yet to addis ababa, the capital of ethiopia. u-s-a-i-d director samantha power is putting pressure on the ethiopian government and its nobel peace prize winning prime minister to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the country's tee-gry' region.

but as nick schifrin reports, the ethiopian government seems determined to target tigray. >> in addis ababa, the army's newest recruits wrap themselves in the ethiopian flag. they plee to give their blood -- literally -- in a war the government calls existential. >> our recruits shall bury the enemy and make sure ethiopia's sovereignty is respected. >> that enemy is in tigray in northern ethiopia, led by the local government tigrayan people's liberation front, or tplf. today ethiopia's federal government is waging war against tigray not with arms, but food. five million tigrayans don't have the means to eat and rely on aid. bumany world food program trucks are blocked by the ethiopian government. the last convoy allowed into tigray was 3 weeks ago a fraction of at's needed, to stop starvation. -- needed to stop starvation. >> this is a really large

humanitarian disaster. >> marilia mercado of unicef just returned from tigray. she saw an acute crisis. last month hundreds of tigrayan women lined up with the most vulnerable victims. unicef says over the next year 100 thousand tigrayan children face life-threatening malnutrition, 10 times the normal number. nearly are facing famine. half a million>> aid workers handed out high calorie, vitamin fortified biscuits, to try and save children's lives. >> there is very little or none of the therapeutic food that these severely, acutely malnourished children need in order to survive. there's almost no electricity, there are no antibiotics. >> unless we act now, then we will witness and of course we will shoulder the responsibility of losing the lives of millions tigray. >> johannes abraha represents

the tplf overseas. until last year, he worked for ethiopian government. he now accuses them of withholding food as a weapon of war, and risking a repeat of the famine 40 years ago that killed a million ethiopians. >> if they don't get the necessary and emergency food aid, then we will witness the catastrophic famine that we have witnessed in ethiopia in the 1970's, 1980's. >> the ethiopian governmt says the crisis started late last year when tigrayan forces attacked a federal outpost. federal forces and their allies from neighboring eritrea, and the amhara region, waged a scorched earth campaign and occupied parts of tigray. humanitarian groups accused them of crimes against humanity including indiscriminate killings, and widespread rape. nets - prisoners but in late june, tigrayan forces pushed federal ethiopian soldiers out of tigray. they paraded ethiopian and allied eritrean prisoners through the streets. in addis ababa, prime minister abiy ahmed claimed he had withdrawn from tigray, for a humanitarianeasefire.

>> his decision to pull out for humanitarian reasons may, in fact, have been a cover for military defeat ambassador johnny carson served as the top u.s. diplomat in numerous african countries and is now senior advisor at us institute of peace. >> the ethiopian military has, in fact, been seriously damaged, even decimated by the conflict in the north. [00:04:03] [12.1] -- the north. >> and so humanitarian groups say the federal government is now regrouping and turning to other ethnic militias to target tigray. tigray is fighting neighboring amhara; over territories both claim as their own. this video purportedly shows a priest blessing amhara fighter. tigray also created a new front in the eastern region of afar. where local fighters are being backed up by militias from oromia. >> the defense forces of tigray

are duty bound to neutralize such forces so, yes, they were crossing borders from tigray, and attack these forces. >> but claiming to defend territory by expanding past its own borders, is exactly what senior us officials urged tigray not to do. and now, the ethnic violence is spreading further. militias in afar are fighting in the far-eastern somali region. >> “somali! somali!” >> hundreds of somali residents - mainly women and children - recently gathered to protest. the increasing ethnic violence now means the conflict could be existential for the entire country. >> the current ethiopian crisis puts ethpia at risk of collapse as a unified state. there is a great deal of concern about balkanization and about potential fragmentation. >> a military dictatorship known as the dreg ruled for 17 years, before tplf rebels helped topple it in 1991. they divided the country into 10 states on sometimes-fragile ethnic lines,

and often persecuted their opponents. adoptee aweil leads amnesty international's africa team. >> the country is really crumbling or it's cracking on fault lines because the system that kept it together was autocratic and repressive and very violent. and that system has broken down. >> abiy took power from the tplf in 2018 and promoted himself as creating a new democratic era. he won the nobel peace prize for brokering peace with eritrea, after two decades of hostilities. but their mutual enemy is tigray, and abiy refers to the tplf as “weeds” and “ethiopia's cancer.” the biden administration has tried to pressure abiy's government to stand down, including during this week's visit to the region by usaid director samantha power. but humanitarian groups say the pressure needs to increase. >> we really need to turn up the pressure to say this is not only very dangerous and but it's also

putting millions of lives at risk. >> and without a political solution, that risk to lives and the country, will become more dire. for the pbs newshour i'm nick schifrin. judy: an 'alternative perspective' is what artist mel kendrick has offered for 40 years. special correspondent jared bowen of gbh boston takes us to the addison gallery of american art in andover, massachusetts, to see why kendrick's art has such staying power. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> the name of this show is seeing things in things. which is essentially what artist mel kendrick has been doing since the 1970s. where we might see a plain, old birch tree, he sees it from the inside out.

>> “the only way i could do this uh was cutting it into many small pieces and then removing the core. i reassembled it exactly the way it grew in the tree. woodgrain is mashed up all the way through. >> for most of his career, kendrick has always gone out on a limb. dismantling them actually, along with trees and logs so that they can be reassembled. >> “on all these pieces, you can match up the holes and see what's going on. but it always brings up the whole question it's like one of my making? what am i making? why is this interesting to me?” >> they're questions that have sustained kendrick through a 40-some-odd-year-careercharted out here in his first-ever retrospective at the addison gallery of american art. kendrick came of age as a new york artist when minimalism reigned. where artists like frank stella stripped art down to its barest forms, kendrick was building it back up. in

in other words -- in other words, going against the grain. >> “i was heavily influenced by the artists. i was meeting the older artists and i kept trying to break through to find something uh, you know, that was my own.” >> so he stayed with sculpture. something the art world had written off by the time he had a significant early career show of his small works in 1983. >> “i literally went into that show and i thought, ok, i can get emotional i've done all that , i can do and if they don't sell, if no one likes them, i'll give them all to my friends. it did not turn out that way. >> “i really can't think of anyone i would compare him to, which is what makes for me this show so exciting.” >> allison kemmerer is the curator of the show--really a show oshows, where each gallery offers a different body of work. >>

>> “you will participate in this show, these works demand physical engagement. they suck you in. you need to walk around them to fully understand them and process them. >> often the answer, despite kendrick's best efforts, is that these are beings of me sort. with their craggy legs and humanistic forms. >> “mel is adamant about avoiding any link to the representational world. but of course, we all see that. i imagine nemo the insect like full-room sized sculpture as when we turn off the lights at night, is making his rounds around the museum, i mean it's all about motion.” >> and made in motion. kendrick never sketches, draws or designs his sculptures beforehand. >> “he sees wielding the chainsaw much like wielding a pencil, um, in that the shapes that he um sort of enforces on to wood curves and arabesques

and holes are not things naturally um akin to the material. it's more a painterly drawing process.” >> “if i make a mistake, whatever a mistake is, something i don't like, uh, i stick it back together with glue and then i keep on. so i'm incorporating all those elements. and that, to me, is drawing.” >> the clues to kendrick's how-did-he-do-that process are everywherethe traces of paint, the ties, the armatureall locked into these single blocks of wood. >> what about your relationship with wood? is in a relationship? have you mastered it? >> i like to say i'm a very bad carpenter. i started in construction when i arrived in new york, i knew nothing about wood, so it's really the whole thing build up from literally building, building walls, building kitchens.” >> wood does have the starring and frequently towering role here and with appearances in his

woodblock prints and photography. but occasionally we find cameos by concrete and rubber. >> yeah, this is a phase// i loved the color, the amber uh and it satisfies something in me to see the inside. >> beaut as a concept is not something i go through with my work. it is one of those intangible things. the amber is beautiful. the light coming through it. these pieces, it is fantastic. in no way did i think this could be deemed a beautiful object. >> there in lies the beauty of mel kendrick, seeing the other side of things. for the pbs newshour, i am jared bowen in andover, massachusetts. >> thank you for that.

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