♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. tonight, high stakes and at the brink. a possible breakthrough as senate democrats and republicans may be moving toward an agreement on avoiding a firsts ever default on the federal debt. then, ethiopia in crisis. children in its northern region of tigre are suffering as there are widespread food shortages. and biting back, how scientist are using genetically modified mosquitoes to combat the spread of deadly diseases. >> if we can introduce another tool that is cost effective and works very well, then that's something that we're really

hoping that this trial will show. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provideed by -- >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> consumer cellular.

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by directions to your pbs station from viewers liking you. thank you. judy: there's a new offer on the table, a potential pathway out of theer impasse between congressional democrats and republicans over raising the federal debt limit the consequences of a default would be severe. but will this new offer getny traction? congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins there. >> at the capital, a dizzies day over increasessed concern of the debt ceiling. mitch mcconnell said he could agree to two tailored ways to raise the debt ceiling. options one, he wrote, republicans would help expedite a long-term increases if done through the budget reconciliation process which takes 51 votes. or two, republicans would allow a short-term extension into december if done by the normal

60-vote process. this after another similarly virtigenous day where goldman sachs told clients that congress could miss the deadline in the nexts few weeks. defends secretary lloyd austin said that a default would seriously harm servicemens and risks retiree benefits. >> it's a meteor headed to crash into our economy. we suld all want to stop it. >> president biden for his part stressed this is dire. meeting with banking and other business leaders, he laid out a worst-case scenario. >> social security benefits will stop. salaries to servicemen wills stop. benefits to veterans will stop and much more. >> but the focuses was on mcconnell and democratickic senate leader chuck schumer. they negotiated publicly in the

morn morning, there were complaints. >> he continues to waves time with partisan stunts that are dead on arivals. >> republican obstruction on the debt ceiling has been reckless. >> but by late afternoon, a seeming breakthrough. they will take mcconnell's offer of a short-term extension. good news for many holing their breath liken wall street and for those worried about a nuclear procedural fight in the senate after president biden offered this possible solution last night. >> are democrats use agnew clear option to raise the debt limit? >> i think that's a real possibility. >> in other words, that democrats change the filibuster rules for justs the debt ceiling to require 50 not 60 votes. but that would have meant more pressure on and around senators kirsten sinema and joe manchin.

attend of a whirlwind day, a whirlwind solution is in the air, but allow first another potential crisis in just weeks. judy: and lisa joins meow here in the studio. lisa, you said it right, a dizzying day. tell us, what does this stand? have they avert a cry says over the debt ceiling or not? >> here's the worded. we're in a strange moment right now, judy. neither senate leader chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell have publicly said anything about this deal. but behind the scenes we've gotten reports from both sides saying they'reearing this agreement. in fact, and here are the detail where is we think they are going right now. let's look at this. it would set a specific dollar amount for the debt ceiling to reach. and that dollar amount would coincide roughly with some time in december. so essentially it would give about a month or two, create a little over a month two months of grace period here and important to to this is that

under this deal it would require 60 votes in the senate. it would be in the process what a filibuster would be allowed which means that 10 republicans would be needed. speaking to republicans in all corners of the public they believe that will be possible. essentially senator mcconnell has given them the ability to do this by saying it's a temporary deal. what this means is this entire debt ceiling fight would be kicked down the curb justs down in december. we're going to get to that later. let's talk about that, sething else that would need happen as we're seei details being worked out tonight before the two leaders in the senate. the house would have to pass this as well. the house is out of session right now. i do not think they would come back this week. they've told members they would give them three days' notice, so the houseould legally come back next week. all of this happened as the markets reacted very the whole this today. i should mention, our debt right now is at $28 trillion. so in the air is also a larger

conversation about the debt its. but this was a crisis and there is hope tonight that the crisis will be averted in the nexts day or two. judy: but we don't know what that nexts number would be that they wld set for december. >> no, that's right it's going to to be a very important point of fact because part of this bat is the larger reconciliation bill. how much debt would that incur if any? republicans are trying to build up some ads programs for nexts year and say look at how much the democrats raise the debt. if they do a number short-term, democrat aren't going to want to necessarily do that again. judy: a lot of speck lakes why mitch mcconnell did this? why did he make this offer? we saw former president trump accusing him of caving what are you learning from people you talked to? >> this is my report. there were a few things in play here for senator mcconnell. i believe he calculateed that senator schumer and their firsts real face-offs were going to to back off first

democrats called out republicans saying we believe you are to blame. then also, the business pressure that we saw today obviously real problems on wall street, real concern, quickly that is something that republicans we're hearing a lot from constituents and from donors as well as business groups and thirdly, the filibuster. i'm told by people who are in the room and were staed to people in the room, that senator mcconnell did not want to try to risking the filibuster over this issue. he was worried that could open up voting rights something that he's concerned about if senator manchin and sinema would breaking on this maybe they would breaking on other things as well. judy: lisa, you mentioned this reconciliation bill, this larger social spending bill that the president is negotiating right now, the build back better bill is another name for it. what do we know about where that stands? we keep hearing there have been some coming together? >> that's right. it is, in fact, the case that now democrats are circling

around that $2 trillion number. some a bit higher. some a bit lower than senator manchin $1.2 trillion. but speaking to debbie stab now, a committed chairperson, she told me that despite what joe manchin has been saying, she does think it is around that higher end from $2.3 trillion. those discussions go on. now, raising the debt ceiling if that discussion is pushed back, it could give democrats more motivation to working faster. they would want to pass that larger biden bill before the debt ceiling comes up again in december and by the way, with that december deadline is the government spending deadline. while democrats want to deal with reconciliation action lot of us have been skeptical. now, this new debt ceiling deadline gives us a heard reason to push for it and try to figure out reconciliation as much as possible. >> there's a senses that things are piling up as we head toward the end of the year.

>> they absolutely are. holed your breath for christmas time and thanksgiving. >> lisa, thank you very much. lisa: you're welcome. judy: for more on the state of play and what is at stake, we hear from jared bernstein. he's a member of the council of economic advise ors and i spoking with him a short time ago. jared, welcome backing to "the newshour." >> always a pleasure to be here. judy: a we sit here at the table a little before 5:00, where do things stand with regard to democrats and republicans and the debt ceiling? >> the debt cling has not been raised. and it should have been already -- this should be a joint effort where in democrats and republicans working to raise the debt ceiling in order to make payments that both of them have already greed. i think this is a source of confusion, jude you, that somehow, it's forward looking. it has to do with spending that is coming down the pike.

that's not what it's about. it's about paying for bills that both sides have already incurred. and that's why 80 times over the paths 60 years that the debt ceiling has been increasessed in many cases bipartisanly and, in fact, in the trump administration democrats worked with republicans to increases the debt ceiling three times. and this is the trump administration that added $8 trillion to the debt. it is time for democrats and republicans to working to get this behind us. judy: so what mitch mcconnell is offering is a temporary extension saying we'll go along with extending the debt ceiling but only for a limited period of time. does that allow you the president and democrats to do what you need to do right now? >> well, i think what w have in from the minority leader is a press release at this point. i don't know of a formal offer. so it's a little bit hard to talk about details. it's the kind of thing that you

want chuck schumer to take the lead on what we don't want to see a complicated two-step process. nothing that kicks the can down the road. saying we'll raise it now later. the reason for that really gets back to the economics. we have an economy with a robust recovery on going, but delta is children. upon the landed. the virus is children. out there. and this is absolutely no time to be fooling around with the faith and credit of the u.s. government's debt. and that's precisely what this effort unnecessarily does. so again, debts incurred by both partyies holed hands as we've done in the paths, working. we can get this behind us in the nexts five minutes. not in the nexts, two, three, four, six months. judy: what other republicans are saying is that this is democratic debt -- >> oh, no, no, no. judy: in order pay for the programs they want to pay. >> let me say that that is factually incorrect. it's important to get this straight. this is not democrat debt, it's

not necessarily all republican debt. it's both. the reason for that is that this has nothing do with forthcoming spending it has nothing to do with building back better, the infrastructure plan, the rescue plan. it has nothing to do with new spending t it has everything to do with the stock of debt that both parties have accumated and the debt ceiling is simply a line in the sand that says when you hit that, the treasury can't gout and borrow what it needs to borrow in order to pay bills that both parties have already incurred. this is perfectly analogous to the two of us go to dinner which i would very much enjoy, the checking comes and we say, no thanks. we don't want to do that. but one party is downing that. the republicans are not corporating with the democrats knotworking together as democrats did under the trump administration to lift this ceiling quickly and efficiently. >> a few other questions, should the democrats have anticipated that this was going to happen given that you've got such small margins in the -- a small margin

in the house and virtually a one-vote margin in the senate? >> totally fair question. what i can france the perspective of someone on the inside, we have been working with republicans from the minute we got here because we foresaw this. this kind of thing we saw coming because the in-flows an outflows of revenues an recreates. and so we began trying to make these negottions occur in a seam less adjust as democrats worked with republicans to raise the debt ceiling three times in the trump administration, and ad ministration that added a trillion dollars to the debt. it's not democrat debt. it's not republican debt. it's debt that has been incurred by both parties over the years. and were planning to do this. initially, republicans wouldn't help us. and we said get out of the way. we'll do it ourselves. it's not that they're get get getting on the cart, they're

standing in front of the cart. judy: janet yellen said it's time to do away with the debt ceiling. >> look, the debt ceiling played a role at one point in time. but it's been weaponized in a way that's very destructive for the economy. we can start to see that now in the spreads and interest rates that are expressing some nervousness about this there is absolutely no reason for democrats and republicans not to working and get this behind us. judy: and do away with debt ceiling ins the future is that what you're saying? >> i think that is a perfectly fine as per ration. for now, let's focuses on getting this episode behind us. let's raise the debt ceiling and get back to the business of growing this recovery and legislating the building back better agenda that builds back an economy that's much more beneficial for the middle-class. judy: what's at stake if this doesn't get resolved? >> it's unthinkable.

janet yellen used the worded "catastrophic." any undermining of u.s. debt which place such a fundamental role in global financial markets would be a cataclysmic crisis. it's unthinkable. it's something that both parties can resolve right away. the idea of tricks and weaponnizing and let's do it in parts, not we should working tonight to get this done. >> jared bernstein who is part of president biden's council of economic advise ors, thank you very much. jared: my pleasure, judy. ♪ vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy. we'll return to the news. a u.s. judge in texas has barred the enforcement of the state's six-week ban on abortion.

judging robert pittman wrote that from the time the law went into effect "women have been unlawfully preventing from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the constitutions." also happening this evening, the white house announced plans to expand access to rapid covid-19 test first use at home. the federal government is also doubling the number of pharmacies providing free testing. the president's covid coordinator jeff says demand for test are growing even as new fectses are falling. >> today's billion dollar investment to furor expand testing production puts us on tracking to quadruple the amount of at-home rapid tests for american by december so that means we'll have available supply of 200 million rapid at-home test per month starting in december. vanessa: the los angeles city cocil approved one of the country's strictest vaccine

mandates. starting nexts month, it requires proof of full vaccination for anyone entering indoor public spaces including bars, gym, restaurants and sports arenas. businesses argued it would be unenforceable. >> an alaskan man is facing federal charges for threatening to kill lisa murkowski. jay allen johnson is schedulinged to make a court appearance for threatening a u.s. official not motive was offered. counter documents unsealed said a caller left a voice messaging on murkowski's office asking what a .50 caliber does to a human head. there is worded that some of the oil spill off of southern california is starting to breaking up naturally. a weaken pipeline spewed up to 126,000 gals of heavy crude. the coast guard says it is being dispursed and pushed down the

coastline. >> we're putting in place those protective strategies as a precaution ahead of the oil moving in a southerly directions from the original locations of the oil spill. >> officials suspect the ship's anchor may have damaginged the pipeline. and this year's noble prize for chemistry recognizes an environmentally friendly way to build molecules for commercial use with less hazardous waves. scottish-born david mcmillan based a princeton university was honored today along with benjamin list of germany. their discoveries are used from medicines to pesticides. the u.s. supreme court heard arguments today over letting a guantanamo prison detain yee question his former c.i.a. contract ors about torture. abu zubaida was held in poland after 9/11. a u.s. senate report that he was waterboarded more than 80 times. so far the trump and biden

administrations have blocked his requests. and in the philippines, the son and name sake of ferdinand marcos filed to run for president nexts may triggering protests. demonstrators burned effigies of marcus and rodrigo duterte. they accused him of human right abuses and outright theft. >> they haven't returned all the nun they got from the nation's coffers and now they are making a comeback. in the highest position in the landed. >> president duterte is not running again but his daughter is and back in this country, the u.s. housing and urban development department moved today to prevent evictions from public house. it follows a nationwide moratorium on all evictions

during the pandemic the new rule gives housing tenants 30 days' notice. the u.s. educationle department eased rules on forgiving student loan debt. it could benefit teachers, military members and other public employee who is made 10 years of payments. under existing rules, the program held just 55 orders since 2007 the federal tradecommission announced it will target falls claims made by for profit colleges amid al surging of complaints the agency notified 70 of the largest for profit colleges they could incur significant sanctions if they are founded to engage in unlawful practice. some of th largest pharmacies engage lawsuit over their role in the opioid crisis the ongoing in tiger. widespread food shortages. how sign tryst genetically

modifying mosquitoes to combat the spread of deadly diseases, plus, much more. announcer: this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at the arizona state university. judy: a closely watched opioids trial began this week in ohio the fsts to go to federal counter. the trial focuses on questions of accountability and responsibility for the opioids' crisis which has been connected directly with the death of half a million americans. william brang ha m is here with the latests. >> this focuseses on c.v.s., wal-mart and walgreens and the millions of pain medications that were prescribed through their facilities. two ohio counties lake antrummable which are both near

cleveland alleged that between 2006 and 2014, these companies recklessly dispensed opioid descriptions and ignored clear warning signs. brian mann covers addiction and he's been in clive land covering this trial. brian, thank you so much for being here. could you tell us more. what is the main argument that these counties are makeing? >> basically the idea is that under the controlled substance act, federal law requires pharmacies liking other businesses that handle these really riskingy opioids to do so super cautiously to make sure that the pills go to the right people to look at prescriptions that come in from doctors and think about whether these are proper prescriptions. and what the counties say is that rather than downg that, the companies are funneling pills out the door and that a lot of people got hurt as a consequences. what they're supposed to do is call the drug enforcement administration, call local law

enforcement if they feel like there's a serious sort of drug dealing situation that goes on. the pharmacy chains can point to case where is they did do that. but they're also many instances that are already coming forward in this trial where doctors who had really suspicious tracking records kept sending patience to these pharmacies and the pills kept going out the door. >> so that's -- i guess parts of the pharmacies argument that we we do do some of this. but i know they're pointing the finger elsewhere as well. what's the rest of the argument that they make? >> what the pharmacy chains basically say is that the deciders, the decisions-mackers were elsewhere. one of the attorneys has come forward for the pharmacy chains and said look, it's up to the doctors how many pills got distributed here not in ohio antrummable but that doctors started prescribing more and more of these pills. they said that's not our fault. that's what these juror s are

going toave to faster out. whether they it's pharmacy chains played some significant role in creating this epidemic which has killed hundreds of thousands of americans. >> and as you have well reported continues to this day. i understand that -- that some internal documents from these pharmacy chains have come to light as well as in your own reporting you got some internal document where is it seemed that the employees wither raising red flags internally. can you tell us what those documents showed? >> this is really troubling. documents from c.v.s. and walgreens that suggest that the employees were saying, look, we're worried by what we're seeing. we're not not downing enough. they could be abused. i should say that p.r.'s own investigative reporting has founded pharmacists at wal-mart

in particular who say over and over, we tried to reach out to corporate executives. we tried to warn them that this was going to work and we were silenced and we were ignored. >> i know this is children. somewhat early days, but you've been watching a lot of this litigation in different jurisdictions around the country for a couple of years now. do you have a senses -- does this seamlike a strong that's the counties have that they're making? >> on one level they're sort of a common senses question. why at a time when addiction rates were surging, why did this justs keep happening? at the same time, some of the gal arguments being made here are new. that's whys that test case that's going resonate all over the united states. more than 3,000 governments like antrummable county have filed similar lawsuit saying these corporations contributed to what's technically call a public nuisance that's how they're defining this opioid epidemic. if they these corporations are

founded liable they're going to have to pay billions of dollars to help clean up that public nuisance. under civil law, this is untested territory. we're going to have to see what happens here is going to be precedent setting. >> and lastly if these counties prevail, what do they say they want this money for? >> it's interesting and reporting on this, this is something i tried very clear that this isn't legal mumbo jumbo. this aren't corporations fighting in civil counters. this is life and death stuff. the question of how much money companies may have to pay if they're founded liable relates directly to how much drug treatment, addiction treatment, healthcare programs can go on in communities all over the united states. and this is happening in a year when over dose deaths are expected to top 100,000 fatalities for the firsts time in american history. this is a devastating ongoing crisis. there is not enough addiction treatment out there. and so that's what these

counties say. we will put this -- this is them speaking here. they say we will put this money directly into keeping people alive. and so, that's what's on the line here. that's one of the questions being asked is how much resource and -- and dollars are go out to communities that are seeing this spike in deaths right now. >> brian mann of national public radio. thank you very much for sharing your reporting with us. >> thanks for having me on. ♪ >> today, before the united nations security council, the secretary general criticized the ethiopian government for recently kicking out u. inner aid works. he underringed the government to allow aid to flow into the northern region of tigre when for almost the paths year, ethiopia and its allies have been fighting an ethnic regional fors. and now, a warning from the very

beginning of this story, the mannings are disturbing. hundreds of thousands in tigre are starving. and as nick schiff rinne reports as fighting continues the very real spector of famine looms. >> in tigre, chiren are dying. >> when you see mall nourished children you see a dis tended abdomen and swellings in the extreme extremity. >> he was the doctor in mekele. he shared photos that were taken last month r. the one in the ventilator is unable to breathe properly because he is getting weak. you see a very pronounced head. and other have continued supplements. >> kids are already dying. tigre broadcast these videos

from outside mekele the children are in rural tigre where conditions worst. 400,000 are facing famine the crisis began late last year when tre enforcements attacd a federal outpost. federal forces and their allies from ara trea waged a scorch earth campaign and occupied parts of tigre. but they pushed soldiers out of the area. that's when senior officials say the ethiopian government effectively blockaded tig789 -- tigre. >> medicine isn't out of stock. and we should give food and -- and also some supplements. you know, we have around 50

children in our hospital. and around six has died the last time because there's nothing we can give them. >> will those other 54 children die? >> yes, definitely they will die. >> so the combination of lack of medical care, most of the health institutions are inopeble. and lack of foodould mean that people will start to die. >> last week, the u. in factor's top humanitarian official sat down with the "associated press." after it aired ethiopia kicked seven u. inner aid worrs out of the country. whenever aid worker workers arrive they take away their phones and cameras, anything that can record. kebede was able to speaking to us because he's now in baltimore. >> is the federal government blocking tigriansle from sharing these all over the world? >> yes.

the reason is not to reveal what's happening in tigre. >> over a sketchy zoom line, i spoke to him >> we're going to have to be painter because we loves you for a few minute there is. >> he's a former tigrian fighter turned academic and mediator. >> we've seen them use something they've never used before because there's literally nothing to eat. if they wanted to act properly, it could be witnessing another disaster similar to that of 1985 in a short period of time >> in the 1980's, famine killed a million ethiopians, it too was man-made. and they washed this one could be words. -- warned this could one could be worse. >> this time, the cities are complicit. >> the ethiopian government accuses military forces of

fueling the conflict by sending soldiers into tigre in ahara and block the aid. they called them that the liberation front that used to run the country terrorists and human rights watch accuse cuseed them of killing civilians indiscriminately the prime minister spoking at last month's u. inner general assembly. >> in ethiopia, groups that consider equality as subjugation are making the way there and promoting anarchy. at this staging we're convinced humanitarian assistant answer the is a pretechs for advancing political considerations. >> the fors admit they've crossed borders but berhay who says he's a member of what he calls the resistance is una apologetic. >> there is massive mobile zation of the people saying nobody's going to save us.

>> and to talk about tigre. i'm joined by mark lochoc who was outspoken. he's now a fellow at the center for global development. welcome to "the newshour" is the ethiopian government trying to starve tigre? >> yes, that's what what's happening. thank you for downing your pees because it's not jts an attempt to starve six million people but an attempt to cover up what's going on. what we're seeing play out i think is potentially the worst famine the world has seen in the 21st century and everything that you've said in that's is corroborated by what i'm seeing privately and what i'm hearing from most of other people who have insight and are able to extrapolate from the limited information there is about what's going on in the places we can see. >> you use the worded coverup. the ethiopian ian government acushion tigrain forces of blocking aid and committing abuses in neighboring regions.

are either of those claims true? >> one of the things that need to happen is they need to pull back from some of the advanced positions they've taken up. but it is not true that the tigrians are trying to blockade. what's happening is the ethiopian noters are running a sophisticated campaign to stop aid getting in by for example making impossible for truck drivers to operate by setting up checkpoints with official and with militia people by preventing fuel getting in. and what they are trying to do is starve the population in tigre into subjugation or into existence but to avoid the approbrium that would be associateed with the deliberate and successful attempt to create a famine taking the lives of millions of people. and tigrians desperately want assistance. and it is not getting to them. >> thank yous is threatening

further sanctions on the ethiopian government is europe downing enough to pressure the prime minister? >> i think it would be a good idea for european countries and others, in fact, to stand more clearly behind what the u.s. is downing handwork with them in the african union on the mediation effort led by their president what is in danger of happening is not justs a total catastrophe in tiger but the disintegration of the whole of the ethiopian state the loss of 30 years and throwing the whole region into turmoil. >> in 10 years of war, in syria, they have evicted three u.s. aid works. last week prime minister avi evicted seven aid workers. how concerned are you? >> well, the reason those people were thrown out was back the ethiopian noters did not want them to be able to see what was going on. and is a very unusual thing as you said to get people outlining

that. and the secretary of the anything toes has made clear speaking to the security council that what happened is not acceptle. >> but we justified to understand why this has happened. it is part of the coverup. and what that tells us is the ethiopian noters do not want the world to see what's going on. and that's why it's so important to keep describing the events that are playing out. >> as you said, secretary general, antonio gutierrezings criticized the ethiopian government but he has been criticized for not downing enough. do you believe the u. inner should be downing enoug >> i know how hard he's worked. i'm trying to persuade them by gettingnto a mediation and dialogue process the u.s. has to do two things always in these circumstances fiercely, persuade people in power and noter to give them access to people who need help. and secondly to ise money. now, in this case, the money is not a problem.

there is money available. and so the u.n. has to keep to persuade the ethiopians in the their bests wato serve as well as their legal obligations has to be dis charginged by letting aid into northern ethiopia. i know they will keep working on that >> do you believe it is possible to pressure the prime minister when the war is popular and and he and other each ethiopian lead verse been concerned about domestic politics than international opinion? >> every country has to pay attention to what the wider worlded thinks. what i think is particularly interesting is how sentiment has swung against the ethiopian noters over the last three months offer so in africa in a statement we heard from the kenyan ambassador to the u.n. basically said to the ethiopian noter you're making a big mistaking. you need to step back. you need to get into a dialogue

process. and you need to stop listening to those people people who are telling you that war is the chance because war will destroy your country. that's the messaging. and ultimately, think i they're going to have to pay attention to those kind of voices. >> mark lochoc, thank you very much ♪ judy: a milestone development today in the fight against malaria the worlded health organization endorsed the widespread use of a vaccine aimed at stemming the effects of malaria particularly in sub saharan africa. an estimated 400,000 people, the majority of them children died from the parasitic disease each year. the new vaccine which requires four shots reduced the number of cases by 30 fors.

malaria is transmitted by the anaphalis mosquito, making it the deadliest mosquito. in most cases there are no vaccines and precious few ways to control the mosquito population. his story begins in the florida key where is scientists are testing way to kill mosquitoes with mosquitoes. >> butted comlin won't set foot without spraying on mosquito repellant in june of 2020, he got sick with flu-liking symptoms. you can't move. everything aches including your bones. >> of course, he feared it was covid, but it turns out he had dengue fever. it is commonly called the bone

crusher. >> unfortunately, there's a whole lot you can do about it it is time limited and you can weather it out. certainly, made me confront my mortality. [laughter] >> he was among about 70 neighbors infected with dengue. the virus has been steadily spreading in the florida key first the paths 10 years. and now, it's starting to spike. the culprit is one of the most lethal animals on the planet. a mosquito called adis egytae. >> as long as the we have these mosquitos in enough numbers for these transmissions to occur, that's when we're going to seeing these outbreaks. >> andrea leal is executive director of the florida keys mosquito control district. >> we're talk about a mosquito that represents 4 fors. so a very small fors of our

population. and responsible for 100 fors of our mosquito-borne diseases. >> and she and her team are fighting a multi-front war on these efficient disease-spreaders. helicopters spreads a bacteria call b.t.i. which calls mosquito laarvae. on the ground, 35 foot soldiers march door to door o patrol for standing water. this is a frequent stop for mosquito control fld inspect or ryan rodriguez. >> this is prime area for them. you've got water. you've got shade. and it's so damp and humid right now, that this is liking their good stuff. this is where they liking to be. >> he adds b.t.i. lavacide to standing water that is home to the larvae.

>> standing water is a breeding ground for them. it can be a bottle cap. look in there. >> they estimate, they have reduced the population by 50%. but that is not nearly enough. >> if we can introduce another tool that is cost effect effective and works very well, then that's something that we're really hoping that this trial will show. >> the trial, after a decade of tribulation it is finally underway here. >> this is our release bocks. >> this is where we have our eggs. and some of the food. entemologist is director for oxitech action company that produces genetically modified mosquitoes with a gene. they mate with the female mosquitoes and when they lay eggs, all of their males will

live and their female progeny will die. >> they flew them in brazil and in cayman islands in 2010. the company claims dramatic reduction in the local mosquito population in brazil, public health officials are seeing reduced outbreaks of disease. bio chemist nathan rose at oxitech. we've seen a 90 fors reduction in disease in the area where is we released our mosquitoes against a 50 fors reduction where other controlled measures were being used. >> researchinger it is worlded over are watching the oxitech field trials very closely. >> what are we looking at the bucket today? >> kate shill a profess or of entemology at purdue university. climate change,opulation growth and travel patterns have put about half of the world's population in harm's way of

mosquito-born populations. >> human victor contact is increasing the chance of risking of getting a bite is increasing. and we are -- unfortunately, we have a very limited set of tools to control those and the disease they transmit. >> the trial is modest. they are releasing their modified mosquitoes at six locations. mostly to tracking their flight patterns. a seconded gene is added to them that makes them fluorescent so they can be spotted under a microscope. the team uses boxes that emit the odor of stinky feet, a mosquito favorite. michael bimler is a researching biologist for the mosquito controlled district we were try to get a number of how much they're reproducing some of those are fresh-born. maybe a day old.

>> and a mama can produce how many in one set of eggs? >> 100 to 300 for every female that we kill, we potentially can knockout 42,000. >> one female equates to 42,000 mosquitos? is that how you do the math? >> yeah. >> wow >> that's the appeal of the oxitech approach. and why the majority of people support deploying g.m.o.'s for this purpose, the idea has its skeptics, even butted conli -- even bud conlin. >> there could be unintended consequenceses. but i guess i would say i lean in favor of of that other than -- rather than spraying a lot of chemicals and having people getting dengue. >> they will seek approval hoping they can them growing threat to human health.

for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in marathon, florida. ♪ judy: when most people think of the artist robert indiana, think think of the tilted o. while his art endures a new book sketches a new portrait of him as a troubled isolated artist. main public's jennifer rooks has a look for our arts and culture series, canvas >> final haven island, maine is 1:15 by ferry from the mainland. it is a tight it in community home to generationses of lobster fishermen and their families. for 40 years, it was also home to one of america's most significant contemporary artist. robert indiana. indiana moved to vinyl haven in

materially 1970's, fleeing the art scene in new york city where he felt underappreciated. he bought and moved into a historic building right on main street. the toed fellows hall. renaming it the star of hope. indiana transformed the building into a studio, living space and museum of sorts. >> i don't think it's possible to understand who he was and what his working was about without experiencing it with him in that building. he created what i view as one of the most remarkable artists environments in the united states. >> to the public, robert indiana was a famous pop artist, the create or of the iconic love ask rupture one of the bests known peeses of public art in the world. but only vinyl haven, to many, indiana was an out stander who boarded up doors and windows on the star of hope. >> and it justs feltlike he was

creating a fortress. so this building that was always open to the public, the door was closed literally. so he was controversial. he was very controversial man. >> children., no one on vinyl haven or elsewhere could have foreseen the controversy and tragedy that surrounded the final years of robert indiana's life. >> it's justs a very is ad story. >> portland press harold robert keys has wrote a book "the isolation artist: the last days of robert indiana." keys first interview viewed in 2002. he founded indiana to be kinky and challenging. bubu also cars charismatic. >> in his prime, he was very robust and full of energy and he had a commanding presence. keys keys says robert indiana always took his calls, until one day in

2016 when indiana's art dealer rebuffed him. keys thought, that was toed. >> as time went on, people they know who dwelt indiana expressed concern that he was being isolateed and that maybe some backed things were happening to him in vinyl haven r. two years later, on may 21st, 2018, ks learned that robert indiana had died probably justs a few days before. then he learned that a lawsuit had been filed the day before that. >> during the courts of the evening, while reporting and writing about indan's death, -- indiana's death i was reading this lawsuit about how he had been isolated and how working had been made fraudulently under his name of it was a bombshell in the sense that it was alarming that someone so prominent can be taken advantage of and that his life had unraveled so quickly.

but it was equally news worthy that this man was dead. >> keys spoke reads liking a mystery with caregivers and assistance many of whom were treated bradley by indiana. many of whom made a lot of money from their association with him. and his cause of death ruled inconclusive by the medical examiner. >> i don't believe we'll ever know exactly what happened to him. and the precise circumstances of his death. i'm not sure we'll ever no. >> so this is mr. indiana's living quarters. he slept up here >> meantime back in vinyl haven, indiana's home is undergoing a rebirth the star of hope is being preserved and renovated. crews have saved the building structurally, replaced windows and stores and paint. eventually, this will be an island center for arts education. >> so here's the way we look at it one of our missions is to

celebrate the legacy of the art of robert indiana. but the other part that's important to remember is this was not justs a place where his art was. so this is not justs a place where things are stored. he lived here. he lived on this island for over 40 years. and that meant something to him. >> three years after his death, indiana's public sculptures are as popular as ever. and galleries and museums continue to exhibit his working this exhibit of indiana's heartily elogies will be dis played in rocklin, maine until january of 2022. >> there's a great richness in his working that i think will continue to appeal to both visit ors and artists for lots of reasons. and that to me is a sign of an artist who has really has something to say. >> i want female know that he was very complicated person that the problems that he had in his life were of his own making, many of them. but that -- but that he didn't deserve what happened to him at the end that he iser he was bradley treated at the end that

we children. haven't necessarily paid him the respects that our are due in terms of his art working >> in fact, despite indiana's enduring appeal, there has never been a public memorial to him. for the pbs newshour, i'm jennifer rooks in portland, maine. judy: children. such a mystery. and on the newshour online, we explore the arab-american national museum in deer born, michigan, the only museum in the united states dedicated to arab history. and look at how it is children. serving as a critical community space during the pandemic. that's on our website p.org/ news hour that's the newshour tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us here at the newshour, thank you. please stay safe and we'll see you soon. announcer: major funning has been provided by -- >> the rules o business are being reinvented with a more

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♪ ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers liking you. thank you. >> this is p newshour west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

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