>> good evening. i am judy woodff. on the newshour tonight, energy crunch. a limited supply of global energy sources has led to rising prices worldwide. gasoline in the u.s. at a seven-year high with fuel costs expected to climb and then troubled water. residents of another predominantly black city in michigan are ordered to use bottled water amid health risks from high levels of lead contamination. and iraq's uncertain future. disaffection among voters following the killing of protest leaders prompt a poor election turnout. >> this used to be the main protest square. on an evening like this, there would be hundreds, even

thousands, of demonstrators. after months of targeted assassinations, the movement has lost momentum. judy: all tha and more on tonight's pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- >> fidelity advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan with tax sensitive investing strategies, planning focused on tomorrow while you focus on today. that is the planning affect from fidelity. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. financial services firm raymond james. bdo accountantsnd advisors. the kended fund, committed to

meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. carnegie foundation of new york. at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

vanessa: i am vanessa ruiz. we will return to the whole program after the latest headlines. americans who have had moderna's covid-19 vaccine are a big step closer to getting boosters. an advisory panel recommended the extra shot today for senior citizens. the same guidelines already applied to pfizer's booster shots. the recommendation now goes to the fda and the cdc. and while, president biden urged more businesses to mandate covid vaccinations for employees. at the white house, he said mandates are driving up the nation's ccination rates and, he argued, again, it's not about politics. pres. biden: vaccination requirements should not be another issue that divides us. that is why we continue to battle the misinformation that is out there. judy: -- vanessa: the biden

administration plans to enact vaccinations with a requirement for larger companies but some republican governors are opposing that moves. also in washington, jay inslee issued an order requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to attend large events like concerts or sports competitions in the state, starting in november. also happening late tonight, president biden signed short-term debt limit increase passed by congress. the measure averse federal default until december. there is yet more data that shows u.s. inflation is running hot. the labor department reports wholesale prices spiked 8.6% in september from a year earlier, the most since 2010, when the government began calculating year-to-year increases. now, a boeing test pilot has been indicted on fraud charges related to his work evaluating the 737 max jetliner. that model of plane was involved in two deadly crashes.

prosecutors allege he gave false and incomplete information to the federal aviation administration about the planes flight control system, which was implicated in the crashes that killed 346 people. he could face a sentence of up to 100 years in prison. in beirut, lebanon, least six people were killed and dozens wounded today in the worst muslim-christian fighting in years. don battles broke out as shiite militants of hezbollah protested against a judge investigating last year's explosion. many were shot by snipers on rooftops. >> there were protests, and then suddenly, gunfire began, shooting rpg's and everything. why is it our fault? isn't this a shame? vanessa: at least 46 people died in southern taiwan when fire engulfed a residential and commercial building. flames broke out in the early morning.

the building was home to many elderly and poor residents as well as those with disabilities. the cause of the fire is under investigation. back in this country, it now appears in oil spill off southern california's coast this month was actually far smaller than first feared. the coast guard's new estimate today is that 25,000 gallons of crude was involved. the initial estimate was five times that amount. more than 10,000 john deere workers went on strike today over pay and overtime rules. the walkout at 14 plants was the first major work stoppage in more than 30 years. it comes after workers overwhelmingly voted against a tentative agreement. still tied, on the newshour, another -- still to come on the newshour, health risks from lead contaminated water. thousands of workers in hollywood threatened to go on strike, and studios could face a

shut down. missouri becomes the latest state to expand access to medicaid, plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and from the west at arizona state university. >> gasoline prices are on the rise and it is the same for heating oil and natural gas but today, the head of the international energy agency warned of a global energy crunch that could slow the economic recovery from the pandemic. the root causes, demand and high prices. nick schifrin has more. nick: we are in the midst of an energy crunch on like we have ever seen. in the u.s., the price of natural gas has more than doubled. in europe, it has increased more than fourfold. the price of crude oil has gone from an all-time low of -$37.63

in april last year to over $80 a barrel today, the highest it has been since 2014 and the pain is universal. from the consumer in france to the factory owner in china, which for its own reasons launched unprecedented power cuts. >> if you go to the poorer areas where there is suffering, no one puts on the heating because everyone knows they will not be able to pay for it. >> the power curve lasted for four days. to be honest, we can afforit but if it goes on longer, than the costs are to much and we will not survive. nick: today in moscow, the energy ministers responsible for more than one third of the world energy spoke on one panel at russia's annual energy we conference. it was moderated by ryan choke off, who joins me now from moscow. good to see you. why has the market gone crazy? >> the reason the market has gone crazy is off the chart demand in asia, when it comes to natural gas. the lockdowns are over.

industry is running, and they need that natural gas like there is no tomorrow so when they can get their hands on it, they do, and when they cannot get their hands on it, they will buy other forms of energy mike cole, for example, which is also -- has also risen by some threefold, and oil, which is another reason why oil is up. nick: but is not just a man. there are other reasons for these price spikes? ryan: absolutely. the weather is one. had a very cold winter and people are expecting another poor winter -- cold winter. lack of investment. is a lot of uncertainty about the future so people did not put money into oil and gas. with responsible investment, esg, putting money into oil and gas is not particularly popular so money did not blow for that reason either. and then of course, you have the issue of renewables not always being reliable. the ceo of bp now runs an industry body called the oil and

gas climate initiative. they represent 12 of the biggest energy companies out there. they also work with renewables and they said, quite frankly, this last year, when it comes to renewable energy, has been a little bit of a letdown. >> these are not to blame on anyone. these circumstances came very quickly. the wind did not blow like it was supposed to or people thought in europe this year, in the u.k., which is a clue about why we need resilient fuels and backups in natural gas as well as i think you are seeing, because these high prices actually switches to coal around the world. not good for the environment. ryan: everything is kind of out of whack in energy markets. nick: the u.s. has called on opec plus to increase production as a way to reduce prices. one has been the response to those u.s. requests? ryan: the response has been we think we are doing enough right

now. within opec plus, which is a large group that, as you pointed out, crucially includes russia but also saudi arabia. the first amongst equals in opec plus. they think that they are providing enough oil to the market. the most powerful man in the oil industry in the world is saudi arabia's energy minister and i asked him about just that. >> we want to do it in a phased-in approach and we believe we will have a challenging year if we do not attend to the situation. >> why not make it, for example, the biden administration's day, and give them more oil? >> it's not about making anybody's day. it's about finding a solution, a remedy to the root cause of the issues. ryan: off-camera, a lot of opec countries and their minters tell me they do you think that opec plus should be providing more oil to the market.

they are concerned that prices are this high and they worry about things like demand destruction. when prices get really high, people stop buying fuel. and that has economic consequenc. it weighs on economic growth. so that is not good for them. they are also concerned that just a couple weeks away, it's not a good look to have oil as expensive as other forms of energy, as expensive as it is, because they are going -- oil and gas are going to be necessary transition fuels as the world goes to greener energy. >> as you say, the world's largest and most important climate conference coming up in glasgow in a few weeks. what have the oil ministers said about what today's energy crunch says about the future transition to green? ryan: they say this energy crunch we are seeing right now is really a lesson that as we go

forward in this transition, you are still going to need oil and gas. have a listen. >> if you think about it, the data is amazing. most people do not realize that, including many of the representatives. 1999, 80 1% of the world's energy was oil, gas, and coal. 2019, 81% of the world's oil and gas in coal produced the energy. by 2050, we will have 2 billion more people on the planet. we will meet all forms of energy and we have to take the emotion out of it. ryan: some of the biggest energy watchers out there say the same. they say that even if governments around the world are really strict on the use of hydrocarbons, oil and gas, there is still going to be a need for about 55 million barrels worth of oil and gas a day. the world right now consumes about 100 million so in 2050, nearly 30 years from now, we are

still going to need, according to a lot of the industry watchers out the, about half as much oil and gas as use today. nick: i think activists would hear about him talk about emotion and say that this is now the time to start a transition to green. wouldn't you expect for oil ministers to say that of course we need oil indefinitely? ryan: absolutely. they have their industry needs in mind as they are talking about this but thealso think that there is a certain naivety out there and that people just really do not understand what is going to be required by what is an extraordinary energy transformation that we are going to be involved in over the next 30 years. nick: ryan chew alto reporting -- ryan reporting from moscow. thank you very much. ryan: thank you. ♪ vanessa: residence in benton

harbor, michigan, a predominantly black city in the southwestern corner of the state, have been advised to use only bottled water for things like cooking and bathing do to lead contamination. the warning comes just a few years after the water crisis in flint, michigan, was discovered. as john yang reports, benton harbor has been detecting elevated levels of lead in its water supply for years. john: today, gretchen whitmer signed an executive directive pledging all available state resources to address this issue as quickly as possible. the lieutenant governor, garland gilchrist, made the announcement in benton harbor. >> every person in the state of michigan deserves access to clean and safe drinking water and every community deserves leadfree pipes. so we are committed to doing everything that we can to ensure that every parent in benton harbor can give their child a glass of water with confidence.

john: he said the state would replace all the city's lead pipes within 18 months and until that is done, the state will deliver 20 truckloads of bottled water every week. according to state health data, high levels of lead were first detected in the cities tour drinking water in 2018 or -- and every year since, the level of lead has gone up. reverend, thank you so much for joining us. you have been calling for this emergency directive for a a while now. for a while now, you have been on your own organizing water delivery, organizing filters delivered to homes. how satisfied are you with what the lieutenant governor said today? >> i'm happy to hear that they have started to move forward.

i'm happy to make sure that they are going to do what they said they are going to do. one of the things -- they sell a little short. one of the most important things is the language. the governor means to say that the water is unsafe to drink. unsafe to brush her teeth, unsafe to cook with, unsafe to bathe with, unsafe for baby formula. that is not the language we need. i appreciate what you are saying. i appreciate the bottled water and everything but the language is important. we have to let the people know that it is unsafe to use this water. john: what do you hear from people in the community when you move around? are they anxious, worried, concerned? what are you hearing? >> they are concerned about the mayor not mentioning that the

water was contaminated with lead. for three years, they concealed this information. they should have told the people that the water was contaminated but they failed to do so and that has led the community not to trust not only the mayor but also the governor. we want to see some action, some real action. john: the governor pledged to some money today. is the state spending enough money on this problem? >> absolutely not. we need at least $40 million to complete this mission. if she is going to finish it in 18 months, she needs to find more money to complete this mission. the transformation of the pipes needs to be done now and she needs to figure out how she's going to pay for it and don't allow the citizens to have to pay for it. that is the way it should be done. john: 18 months is a very ambitious target.

they are still trying to finish up the work in flint. >> absolutely. remember, in new jersey, they concluded 20,000 pipelines. they did that in 18 months. we only got 6000 and i think that with them being aggressive, they can complete it it may be two of the 18 months. >> flint has had this issue. both flint and benton harbor, the populations are majority black. you have a high proportion of people living in poverty. do you think that is a coincidence? >> what you just said is a fact. let me say this. if there was a white person with a baby talking about lead in the water, they would call the pentagon, they would call fema, they would call everybody in their army, everyone to make sure that they get rid of all

the lead in the water but being a black community, they have different thoughts about that. why would they take three years for the governor to even answer --you see? john: given the fact that this has been going on on the others of the state, benton harbor is on the western edge of the state on lake michigan, given that this has been going on in flint for a number of years, do you think that the state official should he been a little more aggressive about this, reacted a little faster? >> absolutely. there is no excuse for this. part of what she is doing now, she should have did this three years ago. you know, we don't know how many children are affected. lead is a slow killer. it destroys the body. kidney disease, liver disease, brain disease, heart failure. all these things, led contributes -- lead contributes

to that. we don't know how much damage has been done already. we might even lose a whole generation because of this lead and what it does to the brain so i am very, very concerned, and i will not say it is too late. better late than never. but she should have done it three years ago. john: reverend edward of the benton county water council. thank you so much. >> thank you. ♪ judy: tens of thousands of workers ranging from costume designers to electricians and video editors are preparing for a possible strike on monday that could stop the production of movi and tv shows nationwide. their union, the international alliance of theatrical stage employees, is trying to negotiate better working conditions and a larger cut of

profits from streaming productions. y press covers television for vanity fair, and she has been following the story. welcome to the newshour. thank you for being here. tell us a little bit more about who these employees are. what kind of work do they do? joy: the people involved in this action are basically the backbone of hollywood, the invisible workers behind-the-scenes, so editors, set decorators, gr capips, cimatographer -- grips, cinematographers. judy: what are they asking for? joy: there are two contracts that ran out months ago. and they are asking for some things that i think a lot of americans would understand, looking for more rest breaks,

looking for meal breaks. some of them work 12 to 18 hours a day. you know, seven days a week. they are looking for better fs for the lowest paid workers. they are also, as you said, looking for a better deal in terms of streaming platforms. judy: you were telling us that a lot of this has come about or ben, i should say, exacerbated by what they experienced during the pandemic. joy: yes, i mean, i think that before the pandemic, these workers ha traditionally been really tough. they have a really can-do attitude. nothing is too hard for us. and i think the pandemic, as a couple of workers said to me, is the first time they had had a break in their working lives and started to think a little bit about some of the stuff they put themselves through. and then when they went back to work in this new world of, you

know, working 15 hours in n95 and not being able to have lunch at all, because you cannot take your mask off on set, that kind of thing, so i think a real sense of grievance started to circulate and they started kind of discussing that this really needed to change. judy: you are also telling us that this has to do with how the nature of television video watching is changing. that streaming is playing a much bigger role than it used to. joy: streaming is very different. for working people behind-the-scenes, the work patterns are shorter. networ televisn, you would have many episodes streaming. you would often have a very short burst of work so you are a gig workers going from job to job.

often, trying to shoot things faster, particularly now because during the pandemic, we all ran out of tv. so, you know, all the production shut down. all these studios and streaming platforms were trying to shoot things very quickly so all of that has just exacerbated things and also in terms of the way that they are paid, they are not getting residuals for things like that. judy: the older contract did not reflect this new phenomenon. at this point, are the big production studios, the big media conglomerates, are they inclined to try to make this -- to give them what they want? joy: they are in negotiations. i think that this has been under discussion for a while. the negotiations have heated up since -- a huge majority of the union biopsy, the workers union

-- they voted that they were willing to go on strike. they set the deadline for this coming monday. certainly, no one wants to strike. the producers, the studios don't want to strike, and the workers do not want to strike, so you know, i imagine that they are pedaling as fast as they can to find something that they can live with. judy: if they do end up going on strike, what does it mean for consumers? joy: it is a huge disruption. no one i talked to christoph catlett. this is 60,000 workers from this union and they are behind the vast majority of tv shows and movies. they will shut down. and other unions are very much in sympathy with them. hollywood's other unions. they all have contract negotiations coming up. the directors guild, the writers guild. you know, i think we would be

missing some of our favorite shows for quite a while. judy: potentially big impact. joy press with vanity fair. thank you so much. joy: thanks for having me. ♪ judy: missouri is the 38th state in the nation to expand medicaid to low income residents. as part of the affordable care act. it has been over a year since voters approved it. after many delays, the first few thousand people enrolled this month. in a moment, lisa will talk about the rollout. but we begin by hearing from a few people who are now eligible for medicaid about the long waits and the urgent need for coverage. >> my name is nina, and i live

in kansas city, missouri, and i work nights as a janitor. >> my name is autumn stoltz. i live in springfield, missouri. i work to do stay-at-home care for my mother, who is disabled. >> my name is terrence and i am a mcdonald's worker from kansas city, missouri. >> my name is amanda reynolds. i live in st. louis, missouri. >> i just received health care coverage through medicaid expansion. it came in on friday. i kind of did a little happy dance. >> ryan how. i currently have no health care coverage or benefits. i recently applied for medicaid and i am waiting on a response on my eligibility. >> they said i made too much money. i made $18,000 a year. i'm not sure how that is too much money because i cannot even run my own apartment. >> once it hit the ballot and

people put it through, it should have been implemented. we should not have had to fight our government to get what was owed to us all along as a safety net. >> i am a longtime cancer patient. i had cancer off and on since five years old so i had six forms of cancer and as of last week, i just had surgery number 29 and when you do not have insurance and you lived a life of cancer, even if you have not lived a life of cancer, you are thinking, have i waited too long? is it something --will i be able to catch it in time? >> i am 42 years old now and the last time i visited a doctor, i was 18 years old so it has been over two decades and it's almost unimaginable to think that any human would go 365 days out of a year without being sick or having some health care problems. >> i have multiple sclerosis. t cells attack your spinal cord

and brain and it leaves me. there's a lot of people who cannot walk and you have to have mri's every year. it is not cheap. >> now, i am a medicaid client and the first thing the doctor says to me is that opens a whole new world for you in getting care so it was like major relief. >> i lost somebody very dear to me back in february, my sister. and if she had the medical coverage all along when she first started being sick, she would not have passed on this year. it took forever for her to be on medicaid. the cancer and the bacteria infection that took her, it was absolutely horrific. and there is a reason why i thought it so hard. >> those are four of the 275,000

people now eligible for medicaid in missouri. under the new rules, anyone making up to 138% of the poverty level, $30,000 for a family of three, can qualify. previously, that was just $4600 at the qualifying level. an individual's largely could not qualify at all, only people in families or pregnant women by and large. to tell us more, i'm joined by the politics correspondent for st. louis public radio. jason, we just heard from those four people. i know you have spoken with some of them as well. even with this expansion, this is still an income level below full-time minimum wage work. how do you see and what are you hearing about who this expansion helps and how? jason: primarily, this is going to help what is colloquially known as the working poor in missouri. you are right. these are people who make sometimes below $15 an hour,

well below $15 an hour. but people that previously made too much money to qualify for this health care program. missouri had one of the lowest eligibility rates in the entire country. there were some situations where a single mother or single father of one kid, if they made more than $4000 a year, they could not qualify even though their childhood. so this is going to be a real lifeline for people like the folks you talk to, some of whom i have also talked to, who had really serious health proems and they are now going to be incentivized to go to the doctor and get them at least dealt with before they have to go to the emergency room. lisa: it really strikes me that missouri voters firmly back this when they went to the polls. why is it that republicans have been fighting so hard to try and block it? jason: this has been a philosophical hill to die on for missouri republicans since at

least 2005, the year that the governor and the legislature made deep cuts to eligibility and even after missourians elected a democratic governor in 2008, he was unsuccessful at raising eligibility even after the affordable and the federal government was going to pay for all or the vast majority of medicaid expansion, but what really tipped the balance in 2020 was that hospitals in missouri were fed up with the situation and while medicaid expansion is not going to completely get rid of the problem of uncompensated care, hospitals have been struggling to treat people who don't have health care coverage, especially in rural missouri. they primarily funded the 2020 ballot initiative and the pro side ran a very robust -- a very well-funded campaign that had slick television ads up against an opposition of mainly republicans that did not have basically anything.

lisa: i know those supporting this expansion have gotten help from the $1 billion from the american rescue plan that will be coming into the state but i'm curious. so far, it looks like just a few thousand folks have signed up for this expanded medicaid. do we know why so few? >> it's probably because a lot of people who would qualify for medicaid do not have easy access to computers like we do. if you are making $10,000 a year, you may not be able to access the information that you even know that medicaid expansion is here. so it's really going to fall on social service organizations that primarily deal with medicaid patients to reach out to some of these hard-to-reach communities, especially in rural missouri, which does not have good internet access at all, where you could find potentially thousands of people that could benefit from medicaid expansion and get the word out that this is available to them. we still -- this is still a

republican state with a republican governorship and republican legislature. the chances that the state is going to widely promote the fact that medicaid expansion is here is frankly not very high. judy: health care is such an important topic. thank you for joining us. jason: thank you. ♪ judy: iraq's recent elections were in large part driven by a protest movement that erupted two years ago, denouncing government corruption and lack of services. prime minister mustafa al khadimi is vying for a second term while trying to balance relations with the u.s., which still has 2500 troops in iraq, and with iran, which supports powerful militia in iraq. but many iraqis are disappointed that kadhimi hasn't delivered on promises to rein in armed groups linked to iran, or to prosecute

the killers of protesters who rose up against the government in 2019. special correspondent simona foltyn investigated the case of one prominent protester assassinated in may and what it tells us about iraq's deadly politics. simona: as dusk falls, a handful of people gather at a monument set up to commemorate slain antigovernment protesters and activists. -- as dusk falls over karbala, home to some of the holiest sites of shia islam, a handful of people gather at a monument set up tcommemorate slain anti-government protesters and activists. marwan al wazni's brother ehab was killed in may. >> that flag belonged to the martyr ehab al wazni and that flag over there as well. these are collectibles of some of the other martyrs from karbala. simona: pictures of wazni are plastered across the square, a testament to his prominent role in the protest movement and a painful reminder that his killers are still at large. wazni, in the center, was the

head of karbala's protest coordination committee and one of 35 prominent activists and protest leaders murdered across southern iraq in targeted assassinations. he was threatened many times. >> we are threatened every day. letters are being sent to us from entities and people, threatening us to not remain in these squares. but we will stay by our blood and we will not let go. we will not sell iraq. simona: the so-called october revolution began in 2019. across iraq's south, thousands of young iraqis demanded the toppling of the system installed by the united states following its 2003 invasion and the removal of an inept and corrupt ruling class that has failed to deliver basic services. they rallied against iranian-backed political and armed groups who filled the power vacuum following saddam hussein's downfall, and who now control many state institutions. the protesters' vocal opposition

to iran hit a particularly sensitive nerve in karbala, one of the most important centers of the shiite faith, which draws millions of iranian pilgrims each year. security forces and armed groups responded with deadly force, killing more than 600 across iraq. when mustafa al kadhimi came to power in may 2020,e promised justice. >> the government vows to protect freedom of expression, to protect peaceful protesters and their protest spaces, and to pursue all those involved in spilling iraqi blood. simona: but more than a year on, there has been no justice for any of the activist killings, which have been widely blamed on iranian-backed armed groups. the lack of accountability instilled an atmosphere of fear ahead of sunday's election. >> this used to be the main protest square in karbala and on an evening like this, there would be hundreds even thousands of demonstrators, but after months of violent crackdown and

targeted assassinations, the movement has lost momentum. simona: many of the killings have been caught on grainy surveillance footage, including wazni's. this video shows him pulling into the narrow alley leading to his family home. a motorcycle carrying two men pulled up behind him. wazni's brother marwan explains what happened. >> one person disembarked from the motorcycle and executed the operation from here. simona: wazni's relatives and friends believe there's sufficient evidence to bring those responsible for his murder to account. >> we provided the judiciary with all the information and evidence we have, but unfortunately the judges are afraid because of political pressure. simona: in may, shortly after wazni was killed, the government arrested qassem musleh, a commander of a powerful iranian-backed armed group. in response, militiamen laid siege to government offices and the judiciary released him days later, claiming there was insufficient evidence to link him to wazni's murder. the case has now been placed on

hold. the environment of impunity has forced many activists into hiding. we head north to iraqi kurdistan, where many protesters from southern iraq have sought refuge. kamal jabbar is a veteran activist who used to fight saddam hussein's government in the kurdish mountains. decades on, he helps the young protest movement in its own struggle against the current system. >> we are going to a farm in the mountains where we keep some of the protesters and activists because they cannot live in their home town anymore due to threat from militias or the corrupt people within the government. simona: jabbar takes us to meet a close friend of wazni. ridha hajwal is also from karbala and has stayed in this

safe house for five months. he has been thatened by the same men accused in wazni's killing. >> even when ehab was alive, i used to receive a lot of threats. we couldn't tell which threat was serious. but after ehab was killed, the targeting became real. simona: that's because hajwal possesses evidence against qassem musleh, the previously detained militia commander, and his brother ali. he secretly recorded a conversation documenting some of their threats to kill wazni. but again, the judiciary didn't act. hajwal sees this as proof that the armed groups backing the two brothers are more powerful than the state. >> the iraqi state, in fact, is not even a state, because the basiof a state is that there are independent institutions. we don't have independent security or judicial institutns. simona: the newshour has found

that there are several arrest warrants that have not been executed in wazni's case. that includes a warrant for qassem musleh's brother ali musleh. we tried to reach both musleh brothers. but they declined repeated requests for comment. the judiciary declined an on camera interview, but the investigative judge in charge of wazni's case told the newshour that an audio recording of a threat isn't considered strong evidence. we also asked the government why it has not arrested the remaining suspects. saad maan is a spokesman for the ministry of interior. saad maan: well, if there are arrest warrants, they will be executed and implemented. simona: it has been three months since these arrest warrants were issued. >> the investigation is still ongoing. simona: officials say that prime minister kadhimi, who is hoping to secure a second term, may act more decisively against powerful entities after the elections. but as the investigations draw out, the hope that justice will be served is growing thin.

instead, family and friends hold to the legacy of their loved ones. >> ehab was hurting a lot, but he very much believed in the protests, and he believed that this regime would be removed at one point. simona: wazni had refused to run in the election because he thought that existing power structures were too entrenched to permit meangful change, the same reason why many iraqis called to boycott the vote. only 80 out of the 3200 candidates who ran in the election reprented the protest movement. turnout hit a record low at 41%, allowing established political parties to secure a comfortable victory. for the pbs newshour, i'm simona foltyn in iraq.

♪ judy: smoke and dust are blanketing central california. air pollution is a chronic problem in the san joaquin valley, but it is now reaching levels unlike any previously seen. with no measurable rainfall in weeks, and little chance of rain in the forecast, there is no end in sight. i am joined now by pbs newshour community reporter cresencio rodriguez-delgado in fresno. thank you so much for talking with us about this. tell us what i was like in the san joaquin valley when this is dell storm happened. -- just storm happened. -- dust storm happened. cresencio: the national weather service put out an advisory saying there would be high winds and they raised the fire threats are critical in the entire central valley so what we saw on

monday was winds of up to 40 miles per hour in some spots. the trees were toppled. electricity was cut off in many communities and there was grass fires that were started in some spaces that firefighters quickly extinguished but the situation also led to this -- visibility of up to one mile in some spaces. some places even had zero visibility because of the heavy gust that was blown because of a storm system that was dry and that came from the pacific northwest. judy: how did this affect the lives of people who lived there? cresencio: the air quality has been a challenge for quite some time now because there have been some wildfires that have also been sending smoke into the valley. so we had had a few days of clean air, blue skies, but this just storm created just -- dust

created dust to sacramento and it was visible from space satellite. this was a concerning situation for a lot of people because there is the possibility of -- valley fever. and doctors and air officials here issued an alert and told everyone to stay indoors. if you have to go out, wear a mask. that was the same situation residents had faced previously be or a storm system cleared the previous smoke. judy: we know this all is taking place at a time when there is worry already existing about climate change and what that will mean for the area. how does this fit into that picture? cresencio: what observers tell me here is they are noticing that these wildfires, such as the kmt complex fire and the windy fire burning in the sequoia national forest are

arriving earlier and sending much more sme into the region and doctors an residents say they have never seen these levels of smoke or polluton arrive in their communities so there is this overlap that advocates say they are seeing with pollution arriving much earlier in the hot summer months at a time when the ozone pollution is typically forming. this overlap of pollution is concerning to people and advocates point to climate change as a factor, also considering that this drought that california is in is allowing these fires to continue to spark in many parts of the state. judy: it sounds like people are dealing with a lot. thank you very much for your reporting. cresencio: thank you, judy. judy: you can read cresencio's full report on our website, pbs.org/newshour. ♪

judy: and now a woman who has , made a career of turning toxic and industrial sites into usable, community spaces, has won the first prize of its kind in landscape architecture. jeffrey brown has more for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: orange, polluted streams, bare trees and riverbanks, an abandoned coal mine in vintondale, pennsylvania. an ugly wasteland, right? landscape architect julie bargmann saw more. julie: it's not just a lump, you know, of toxic stuff. it's a story. i find that's where i go. i want to tell the past in order to pject something for the future. jeffrey: and so, over three years, beginning in 1995, bargmann and her team set about to regenerate the site, creating a safe and welcoming wetlands and park.

while keeping reminders of its past, including a giant mound of refuse from the mine, turned into an overlook. it was, she says -- julie: the project that opened it all up. i had the suspicion that this was the work i wanted to do. jeffrey: bargmann has strong views and a sense of humor. she named her professional studio “d.i.r.t.”, for “dump it right there”. and she happily embraces one nickname, the “queen of slag,” the leftover by-product from the mining of metals. julie: if i could make a crown out of slag, i'd be very happy. i mean, i think it's a recognition of the industrial territory that i adventured into. jeffrey: now, she's the first-ever recipient of an international landscape architecture prize given to honor her work as a designer, educator, and activist in addressing abandoned toxic, industrial and urban sites. the award, creat by the washington, d.c.-based “cultural

landscape foundation,” is named for renowned landscape architect cornelia hahn oberlander, who died this year of covid at age 99. bargmann lives and works in charlottesville, virginia, and has taught at the university of virginia for 25 years. she often takes her architecture students to scummy, toxic sites most have never experienced before. but it all began for her in a very different landscape, as a child in new jersey. she remembers looking out the window of her parents' car in wonder at a vast, smoke-filled, industrial scene. >> it was a landscape that i was surrounded by, the refineries. in essence, they felt like home . and they felt like a landscape that, unbeknownst to me at that early age, i would eventually work with. i also guess i'm a fan of the underdog or in this case, maybe the under duck, because i have always been defeing the ugly duckling for its potential to turn into the swan. jeffrey: but not a showy swan.

a by-word for bargmann, modesty. she eschews architecture she calls fancy-pants. even the celebrated “high line” in new york, an elevated park built on an old railroad track, feels overdone to her. the cultural landscape foundation cites vintondale, as well as three more recent projects. turtle creek water works in dallas, a sustainable garden space in the remains of an industrial pump station active in the 1920's. the philadelphia headquarters of clothing retailer urban outfitters at a decommissioned navy yard, for which bargmann created a 15-acre campus, including re-using on-site demolition debris. and core city park in detroit, where bargmann worked with a local developer to turn an unused parking lot into a community space and urban woodland. as always, she incorporated components of its past, a fire station dating to the 1800's. jeffrey: -- julie: there were

such simple means of of, you know, revealing the earth, which was a former engine house as paving, and then these trees coming up out of it. i mean, there's a big cornerstone, right, of the engine house, the very engine house that said 1893. now, a lot of people might have put that on a plaque, you know, really made it fancy pants, you know, but instead i said, dump it right there. i said, just put it on the ground. just make it go back to work. jeffrey: that is the continuity of work a site has seen and the continuity of the life of people in and around it. julie: there are so many people that still live there. and they remember that site. i just think it places that site, you know, in the realm, both physically, geologically, culturally, that can give it meaning. i'm very against erasure, you know, because it erases the meaning, you know, and any memory.

and that's not great for the people, nor is it fair to the site. jeffrey:hese sites, she says, were once productive. now, let's keep them productive, in a new way. and she hopes the prize can allow her to be a spokesperson for her philosophy of landscape architecture. when you think back to that young girl looking out the window at the industrial landscapes in new jersey to now, has it been rewarding work for you? julie: love . love it, love it. love it. i am just so happy that for whatever reason, i followed my instincts. it's pretty fun, you know, to be a bit of a pioneer and just and experiencing these amazing sublime landscapes, so fulfilling, so fulfilling. jeffrey: julie bargmann is now embarked on what she calls, “d.i.r.t. 2.0”, focused on

regenerating currently under-used spaces in depopulated cities. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. judy: such a treat to see her work. online right now a solar , phenomenon has put a pause on communication between earth and nasa spacecraft stationed on mars, like the perseverance rover. watch our video and learn more on instagram, that's @newshour. we a learning late tonight that forr president bill clinton has been admitted to a hoital. his spokesman said clinton entered the medical center to safer treatment of a non-covid infection and is recovering. that is the newshour for tonight. i am vanessa ruiz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> the rules of business are

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs 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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