captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, democratic divide-- president biden's agenda enters a critical week as he pushes his party to reach a spending bill agreement ahead of his upcoming overseas trip. then, democracy in crisis-- organizers of the january 6th capitol insurrection claim they coordinated their efforts with g.o.p. lawmakers and top trump white house and campaign officials. and, toxic water-- residents of another predominantly black city in michigan are exposed to dangerous levels of lead. >> environmental racism right here. we're looking at it. i'll always talk about how different things would be if it was a white community. >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> the chan-zuckerberg initiative. working to build a more healthy, just and inclusive future for everyone. at czi.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a divided democratic party continued to strive to reach agreement today, in what's shaping up to be a make-or-break week for biden's presidency. moderates and progressives remain at odds as they try to work out the price tag for a plan to overhaul a massive spending bill. our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is here to lay out what's at stake. so hello, again, lisa, here we go. noar week with this, there are still democrats out there saying they want a vote this week. where does everything stand right now? >> it was a good weekend for democrats trying to reach a deal, there was a meeting if delaware with president biden between him and joe manchin, and senator schumer, the democratic

leaderment and everyone says that actually they did make real progress but let's go through where we are at this moment. i want to talk to people that there is some agreement on new tax ideas, that is absolutely key in terms of how you pay for the bill. there is also a question still about the total size of the bill. today senator manchin says he still wants 1.5 trillion, others 1.9 trillion that is a lot of money. and then we now know we are about down to 3 or 4 issues, according to leader schumer. now despite all of that, here is how senator manchin says he feels today in amongs with-- talks with among others house speaker-- speaker nancy pelosi. >> i trust speaker pelosi, she will make the right decision i'm sure. we are all working in good faith, i've been talking with everyone, as you know. and i think we've got a good understanding now better than we ever had. >> that is positive for democrats, what is likely, so what is known about these last

unresolved issues. >> let's talk about them, there are a few, it is alleged over the weekend, family week is sill on the board unclear how large it will be beer how small that will be, how many weeks it could be on the table. medicaid, expansion in the states, a dozen states now that don't have the medicaid expansion, that say program for largely the poor. medicare, the health-care program for older manies largely, that expansion also is a big remaining issue, especially important as you have spoken to vermont senator bernie sanders who would like dental and vision care. right now it looks like that might not make it but that is still under discussion, as is prescription drug negotiations, there is a lot of issues that have been resolved these are four big ones that are not there yet. >> woodruff: they are big ones. let's go back to what you were saying about taxes. what do we know about what they are looking at in terms of raising taxes. >> a big issue has been senator sinema of arizona who says she opposes raising tax rates on

individuals or corporations, so here are some ideas floating around right now. not all the way agreed to but we're talking about these three things. a minimum tax for large corporations that would be on their books, the income that they report on their financial books. billionaires, they're talking about attacks on the gains in their stock portfolio, that is not something they put on their income tax form right now. but it is an asset gain that they get and they're talking about taxing billionaires based on whether their stocks or assets go up, that would be limited to those who have a billion in assets or $100 million income in multiple pell years so really a small grup of plaryns that that would be targeted on. >> woodruff: but a lot of money potentially. >> potentially. >> woodruff: so lisa, what do the next few days look like. >> okay, so here we are today, monday looking at this long week e what comes next, as we look quickly, after today the next thing to watch is on thursday when president biden leaves for g-20 and climate conference oversees, then on monday sunday

and monday that conference begins, that is when democrats want to have this kind of climate portion locked in. and another big date will be next tuesday, that is the virginia gubernatorial election. many democrats believed whether this package progresses or not will affect that election. we'll see. >> so many people watching that election for so many reasons, this is one of the important ones. >> okay. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins watching all of it, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, moderna says its half-dose covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children ages six to 11. that comes as f.d.a. advisers prepare to meet tomorrow to discuss pfizer's covid vaccine for kids. meanwhile, the biden administration revealed details of its new covid travel policy. beginning november 8th, most foreign adult travelers flying to the u.s. will need to be fully vaccinated.

those who are unvaccinated must show proof of a negative test within a day of travel. drought-stricken california is enduring a new bout of severe weather, as so-called "bomb cyclone" and "atmospheric river" storms converge. they're moving into the southern part of the state a day after the north was pummeled with torrential rain that shattered several single-day records. flash flooding inundated the san francisco bay area. and north of sacramento, heavy rainfall triggered rockslides on land recently charred by wildfires. in the north african nation of sudan, the military seized power today in an apparent coup, detaining the country's prime minister and deposing a governing council that included civilian leaders. as news of the takeover spread, thousands of protesters filled the streets to demonstrate against a return to authoritarian rule. the sudanese doctors' association reported security forces fired on the crowds,

killing at least seven protesters and wounding 140 others. >> reporter: on the streets of khartoum today, protestors shouted the country belongs to them, rejecting a return to autocratic rule. >> ( translated ): they arrested the ministers, they detained members of the sovereign council. this is a full-fledged coup and we reject it completely. >> reporter: demonstrators burned tires and blocked main roads after the military seized power from a transitional government. in a televised address today, the military's top general, abdel fattah al-burhan, declared a state of emergency. he said a new government would lead the country until elections in 2023. >> ( translated ): let's all work to improve people's lives and ensure their safety and security, and to create the suitable environment for political parties in order to reach a specified date for elections. >> reporter: in a facebook post

earlier today, sudan's information ministry said military forces pressured prime minister abdalla hamdok to release a “pro-coup statement”. when he refused, the ministry said hamdok was moved to an unknown location. soon after, the ministry announced internet connections had been cut from the country's mobile phone networks. in a statement today, u.n. secretary general antónio guterres condemned the “ongoing military coup d'état... and all actions that could jeopardize sudan's political transition and stability.” in 2019, after months of protests, thousands celebrated the overthrow of sudan's longtime autocratic leader and accused war criminal omar al- bashir. military and civilian leaders created a transitional government to lead the country to democracy for the first time in three decades. for months sudan's transitional

government was under threat of military coup. a failed coup plot last month set off infighting between military and civilian groups. >> woodruff: the u.s. state department reacted by announcing it's suspending $700 million in emergency economic aid to sudan. the funds were supposed to be used to help sudan transition to a fully civilian government. the world's greenhouse gas levels hit a record high last year. a new u.n. report revealed that emissions increased at a faster rate in 2020 than the annual average for the last decade. that's despite a temporary reduction during covid lockdowns. this comes days before the start of a u.n. climate change conference in scotland. microsoft sounded a new warning today that the russia-backed hackers who perpetrated the 2020 "solarwinds" breach are still waging cyber-assaults. they've been attacking the global technology supply chain by targeting cloud service

re-sellers and other companies, breaching as many as 14 companies since the summer. their new strategy is to impersonate cloud service re-sellers to gain access to their customers. a federal civil trial got underway today in charlottesville, virginia, to determine whether organizers of a 2017 white nationalist rally will be held responsible for the violence. clashes erupted after hundreds of white nationalists massed in the city to protest plans to remove a confederate statue. an ohio man is already serving life in prison for killing a woman and injuring dozens more when he drove his car into a crowd. and, stocks surged on wall street today amid a string of strong company profit reports. the dow jones industrial average gained 64 points to close at 35, 741, a record high. the nasdaq rose 136 points, and the s&p 500 added 21 to notch its own new record.

still to come on the newshour: leaving afghanistan-- amica's former point man on negotiations with the taliban explains why he left the biden administration. the facebook papers-- a newly leaked trove of documents reveal the social media giant prioritized profs while ignoring red flags. devious licks-- how an online social trend influenced school students across the country to commit acts of vandalism. and much more. >> woodruff: an alarming new "rolling stone" report alleges direct coordination among january 6th insurrection riot planners, republican house members and top trump white house and campaign officials, in

an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. yamiche alcindor explains. >> alcindor: the "rolling stone" article cites anonymous organizers who claim they coordinated with white house officials and republican lawmakers multiple times in the weeks leading up to january 6th. i'm joined now by the author, hunter walker. thanks so much, hunter for being here, now you were at the capitol on january 6th. you also talked to two of these individuals who were involved in planning the event that happened on january 6th. what was the most important thing you learned about the former president, former president trump, his effort to try to overturn the election that he lost as well as his possible involvement in january 6th after tubing-- talking to these individuals? >> i think the mere ct that these individuals who i confirmed were involved in planning and organizing the main rally on the ellipse as well as multiple protests against the election that happened in the weeks leading up to that day, i think the fact that they spoke

to the press and the fact that they are communicating with the committee is pretty notable in and of itself. because it means that you know, with this aggressive investigation heating up, people are starting to turn and cooperate with the government here. >> and you are of course talking about the house select committee investigating the january 6th attack. i want to ask you about the multiple lawmakers that you write about in your article whosm were the lawmakers talking to arguers-- organizers and what were they saying. >> both organizers said they participated in dozens of briefings with republican members of congress and their staff. that included marjorie taylor greene, lauren bober. paul goesar, mo brook, madison-- and lou gohmert. and we have indications-- indications that they were involved, they spoke at the event, they were billed as speakers at the prodes. goesar headlined a stop the stealed rally in arizona, but what they described with these members strategizing to help them pick state locations for

protests that would target persuadable senators to join the objection and also going back and forth trading quote unquote evidence of suppod election fraud. obviously any of that would have been baseless but they described them as intimately involved in kind of plotting a grand show that day both at the ellipse and on the house floor. >> and representative gosar dangled this idea of a blanket-- explain that, part of an unrelated ongoing investigation but was also connected show to the events on january 6th. >> give ep that these are cooperating witnesses in an ongoing investigation about a violent crime i have granted anonymity. so i am not describing the other legal matter in great detail as it would point in the direction, but it was an unrelated ongoing investigation and you know, frankly both of these sources told me they still believe in trump's agenda. they still have questions about

the election, they framed it as something they would have done anyway, but they left with the strong impression that gosar was saying if you plan these events, if you help us out with this, you will be legally taken care of. >> and based on your reporting how much did the trump white house know, in particular how much did the white house cheef of staff at the time mark meadows know, and why is it problematic to have the chief of staff involved in a rally that whats about supporting the president. >> there is supposed to be a bright line between the white house staff and the political operation, and this would certainly be a violation of that. but of course that was a pretty regular occurrence during the trump years. but i think the key thing here is that a you know, the highest level people in the white house were allegedly in contact with these organizers but also they framed mark meadows as someone who had an opportunity to tone this down and stop the violence. but i think the key thing here is that trump himself was the major player. they framed the moment that the president said let's march to

the capitol, sort of encouraged the crowd to march as the key turning point where this went from the planned airing of objection to a charge toward the capitol dome. >> there is a lot of reaction to your article. on one side you have democrats who are saying that this really proves that lawmakers were involved in sort of really creating danger for our democracy. on the other side you have republican lawmakers some of them named in this article saying this is all a ridiculous reporting. what is your response to that? >> well, first off there is a pile of indications prior to this that these lawmakers were involved to some degree. also in addition to these two sources, in addition to the documentary evidence i obtained on my own, you have nick dier, marjorie taylor greene spokesperson while sort of trying to refute this admitting that she was working on the objection. i also had an unnamed house staffer who i also granted anonymity to discuss these sensitive matters who also seems to confirm that there was some degree of planning meeting. so this isn't just two people, this isn't without evidence. and i think it's pretty clear,

you know, we may not know the exact specifics. this sort of presents one alleged theory but members of congress were involved in january 6th. >> thank you so much, hunter walker, i appreciate you coming on. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: 20 years of american war in afghanistan ended in chaos late this summer. and the future of the country remains in grave doubt under taliban rule. now, nick schifrin speaks with a former top american diplomat who spent much of those 20 years helping to manage america's role, and ultimately, its withdrawal from aghanistan. >> schifrin: from the beginning to the end of america's war in afghanistan, no american played a larger role than zalmay khalilzad. back in 2001, zalmay khalilzad helped write the afghanistan constitution. he was president george w. bush's special representative and then ambassador to afghanistan until 2005. for the last three years, he negotiated the agreement with

the taliban that led to the u.s. withdrawal. and in the last few months, has been intimately involved with the scramble to evacuate americans and allies from afghanistan, the country where he was born. zalmay khalilzad, welcome back to the newshour. >> great to be with you, nick. >> schifrin: you resigned just a few days ago, why? >> well, i thought that we were in a new phase in afghanistan with the taliban takeover and my job was reconciliation between the republic and the taliban and to bring american troops home and make sure we get-- on terrorism, succeeded with bringing americans home and terrorism commitments. but not with regard to reconciliation between the two sides, with one side collapsing,

so it is a newhapter in our relationship. and second, i am concerned that politics in our country could have a a negative effect on the choices we make going forward. >> schifrin: well, let's look forward then. the most recent taliban u.s. meeting occurred in doha. you were not the leader on the u.s. side that was lead by the deputy cia director, your replacement has not been given your sen yority. do you believe the biden administration is emphasizing counterterrorism too much and downgrading diplomacy. >> i think counterterrorism is important, that is vital. of course we have to be attentive to that. but i also believe that we have other interests and values are involved. there is a question of do we want the afghan state, the taliban state to collapse. that will affect terrorism. and there are regional implications, and even alliance implications if afghanistan was to collapse. millions of refugees might head

to yowrp. >> the u.s. is withholding billions of afghan reserves. you have said that the u.s. should continue to withhold it until the taliban meets certain conditions. but the u.n. says 97 percent, 97 percent of afghanistan could fall below the poverty line by next year. does the u.s. not need to do more right now to prevent afghans were dying? >> with what i advocated that we said see if we can reach a detailed agreement on what it is that they need to do in exchange for what it is that we will do. i a kind of step-by-step road map. >> but perhaps more than anyone you know that road map would take a long time, there are afghans who will die from hunger in the feks weeks and months. does not the administration need to do more than that? >> we should do what we can for the humanitarian needs of the afghans, there are moneys that

the bank has, national monday-- monday father fund and the world bank that we could encoure, that they release those funds to pay future salaries, health care workers, to the civil servants, 500,000 afghans that work for the state. and at the same time our allies are moving in that direction it to provide more humanitarian assistance. the european union just announced that they will be open their mission in afghanistan within a month. >> schifrin: let's look back a little bit over the last couple of years, in the end you worked for two presidents who wanted out of afghanistan. the deal you negotiated under president trump had conditions. but by the end of 2020 he drew down the number of troops beyond what he had to, and wanted to with draw all of them, in fact. and then this area president biden decided to withdraw despite the fact that the taliban had not met those conditions.

did you agree with both presidents' decision? >> well, i worked for them, so i would have preferred the condition-based approach and the agreement had that feature, it was condition-based, four elements, interrelated-- related a package, president biden decided to go for a calender-based approach. >> did president biden have the option to say the taliban are not living up to their agreement. we don't have to. >> there was-- there are things in the agreement such as we could hold them to no hosting if there are people there, and could have argued that not bee made but the concern was that if we do that, especially on the political negotiations that we would perhaps remain stuck here for a long time. >> we have been talking about 2021, president biden's decision, let's go back to president 2020 an president

trump, you were under enormous pressure to sign a deal that included u.s. withdrawal. do you believe you could have received a stronger deal under a president who was left publicly pushing? >> well, i did say to the president that you know, leverage is the presence, if we withdraw the presence, the taliban incentive to give us what we want on other things would be more limited. >> do you think president trump gave away that leverage by withdrawing? >> but the president made it clear that we had been there for a very long time. we were not succeeding militarily. in fact, we were losing ground. so we were anxious to withdraw. >> schifrin: i will give you a chance to answer some of your critics, you negotiateed directly with the taliban, not with the taliban and the afghan government. and into the 2020 agreement when the deal it to release 5,000 prisoners by the afghan government, taliban prisoners. you did so over the government's objection.

was it a fattal mistake in retrospect not to be negotiating both with the taliban and the afghan government? >> we were negotiating with both but not together. because i was shuttling between doha and kabul. i was showing graphs to the afghan government. we would have preferred, obviously, to do it together with them. but the taliban regarded the government as a puppet. a government that had been imposed by the u.s. forces. forces that they regard as occupation forces. >> but by inserting 5,000 prisoners, by forcing the afghan government to accept something that the u.s. was demanding, does that not play into the taliban's claim that as a puppet government. doesn't that delegitimie the afghan government? >> well, the afghan government had problems of legitimatey given the problems of its election fraud, the problem of two presidents announced having inauguration, the same day, they were going to destroy the army

from inside by dividing them between the two. but on the prisoners, this was a competent of their own measure and to stick with the government as the government. >> senior military leaders, i talked to say with all due respect history will not judge you well. and they say that you fatally weakened the will of the afghan army to fight by signing that deal in 2020. >> i believe that the circumstances that we confronted in 2018, 19, with the result of the previous 17 years of problematic policies, failed efforts building institutions, not dealing with problems-- problems such as sanctuary and the choice that was made to bring the war home, deal with the remaining issues of afghan, av iman issues by

diplomacy, by our other instruments, the american military was not the right instrument to enforce an agreement among afghans. >> schifrin: alza -- ambassador zalmay khalilzad, thank you very much. >> thank you. 67 >> woodruff: facebook once again is under fire, over alleged harm caused by the platform and the tech giant's willingness, or lack thereof, to stop it. the new details come in a series of news reports based on leaked internal papers given to congress and federal regulators by a former employee. amna nawaz has our conversation. >> nawaz: judy, the trove of documents shows company leaders ignored employee warnings that facebook's decisions could harm vulnerable populations that the company was privately tracking real world harm made worse by its platform and how c.e.o. mark zuckeberg's public statements conflicted with private company

data. yael eisenstat is a future of democracy fellow at the berggruen institute. in 2018, she was the global head of election integrity operations for political ads at facebook. yael welcome to it the news hour, thank you fo-- newshowe, hour thank you for joining us, saying they were ignored you say in 2018 you raised concerns about fact-checking political speech, what was the response you got then? >> yeah, so in 2018 when i started asking questions in the company about whether we should fact check political ads, and that is a really key distinction because political ads are things they were take money for, it was paid speech and it was clear to me the harm that could happen when you allow people with the biggest platform to lie about voting, about elections, by any sort of issue use facebook

targeting tools to target these messages. lots of engineers were excited about my questions but there was just no appetite from the senior leadership to even engage in that conversation. >> nawaz: when you say no appetite they said this is not a priert for us? >> what i didn't realize at the time there were decisions at the time that they would in fact check the president of the united states at the time. and we all saw later when they made those announcements but because at the end of the day they needed to preserve their power with the incumbent and so they put that priority over what many people in the company believed would actually protect our democracy. >> nawaz: i want to ask you about january 6th. we know that lie about election fraud in 2020, that spread like wildfire across facebook and fueled the violence on january 6th on the capitol attack. internal documents show that facebook had what they call a piecemeal approach to containing some of it. here is what facebook said in a statement about that.

they said as with any significant public debate about the vote would show up on facebook but responsibility for insurrection lies with those who broke the law during the attack and those who incited them, not on how we implemented just one-- step we took to protect the u.s. election. what do you make of that. does facebook bear some responsibility for that violence. >> they absolutely do. and even all these documents prove that many internal employees agree. facebook doesn't bear responsibility for the fact that we have political-- willing to lie and sew division and hatred but they bear responsibility for how they let those lies not just spread on their platform but how they connect people to hate groups, how they allow things like stop the steal to spread so quickly because they viewed each post individually as opposed to this whole coordinated authentic activity to tip the scales and to eventually lead to this. and to be frank, i even learned about this a full year ahead of

the election, that election violence was coming because because of how the platform was allowing lives about the election to spread. so it was long before stop the steal started. that they were being nej in how they were handling voter misinformation, hate groups and some of the groups starting to rally and coordinate on their very own platform. >> nawaz: what about violence overseas, we know the company's singel largest market is india, document show in 2019 they fueled hate speech on their platform, that was violence they were targeting muslim communities they said they were investing in technology, they are updating their policies and their enforcement. does that line up with what you saw? >> that is another interesting case. i actually traveled with the research team to india in 2018. and a lot of the documents are talking about 2019 and on and a lot of the facebook pr statements are talking about 2019 on. when we were there in 2018 we met with lots of people who showed us without question about

troll farms and fake engagemen3 and hatred spreading. and they were imploring us to do something about it and our research team came back and put forward the recommendations and so to say they didn't know these things were happening is blatantly untrue. but as a documents now prove to us, again, they were making political decisions to protect their relationship with the party in power in india. and those political decisions were part of the reasons they didn't enforce some of their very own policies that could have possibly helped tamp down some of the misinformation and hatred that spread in india and one more quick point. another thing we learned in the documents is that they only spend 80 percent of their budget for classifying this information, 87 percent of that is spent in the u.. as opposed to anywhere else in the world. and the u.s. only represents 10% of their user base. >> nawaz: fascinating look from someone who knows how it looking inside, yael eisenstat, former global head of election

integrity operations for political ads at face book. thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as congress debates a massive bill to overhaul the nation's physical infrastructure, one michigan city is an example of how badly help is needed, and how communities of color are often the last to receive it. john yang traveled to benton harbor, where the water is undrinkable and residents' anger is at a boiling point. >> yang: for the residents of benton harbor, michigan, a new morning routine. to make a pot of coffee or brush their teeth, they need to get their hands on bottled water. earlier this month, state officials told them not to drink or cook with tap water because of high levels of lead. so the state health department is delivering truckloads of bottled water to this small city on the shores of lake michigan.

cherita bynum and her two-year- old granddaughter kinslie got into line an hour and a half before distribution started. >> i never imagined it. i didn't think it was this serious, but it is. >> it smelled real funny. sometimes it would just come out brown. >> yang: benton harbor native carmela patton grew up drinking the tap water. but a few years ago, she began to sense that something wasn't right. >> a couple times i done got out of the tub, out of the shower, i itched real bad, like constant itches, just itchy. >> yang: last year, patton had her water tested and found it contained over 100 parts per billion of lead. federal regulations say action must be taken after readings of just 15 parts per billion. patton uses a filter on her faucet, provided by the state. but now, state health officials warn that current lead levels may be too high for filters to be effective. for patton, it's all prompted questions, like about one of her daughter's developmental

difficulties. >> i grew up off the water, i raised her, my 19 year old, off the water, and i'm wondering now, because i've been looking and reading, is that why she's got delays, and she's got her issues going on? >> yang: the centers for disease control and prevention says lead harmful at any level, especially in children because it can slow growth and result in learning and behavior problems. how does that make you feel? >> i feel stupid, i feel stupid, i feel like-- but then again i don't. i don't trust the state, i don't trust the mayor. because, you said three years, you knew this, but you never introduced us to it. >> yang: benton harbor residents like patton might never have known the water isn't safe if not for the reverend edward pinkney. in 2018, he sent the water sample for testing that first revealed high lead levels. since then, six consecutive sets of tests conducted by the state

have shown excessively high levels in some benton harbor homes. >> it went on for three years of silence. >> yang: pinkney contends local officials ignored the problem. >> and that's what hurts me more than anything else. after one year, you should have done something. you should have told this community that the water was bad. >> yang: pinkney and his grassroots group, the benton harbor community water council, have been distributing bottled water since 2019. in september, they asked the federal environmental protection agency to take emergency action. about a month later, the state issued its warning. >> the lack of concern that they had no concern about the community. you know, if we had not done it, then they would not have done it themselves. >> we were doing what we could with what we had as resources. >> yang: benton harbor mayor marcus muhammad says the city doesn't have the resources to deal with the problem all by itself. it needs the state help that governor gretchen whitmer has pledged.

>> you know, a small city like benton harbor, you know, kind of got lost in translation from my perspective. we're at the behest and the mercy of the state. >> yang: elizabeth hertel, michigan's director of health and human services, acknowledges residents' complaints that they were left in the dark for too long. >> we need to continue to work at how and when we're communicating. i think the only way to repair that lack of trust is to continue to show up. >> yang: at times, mary alice adams couldn't use the water to wash hair in the salon she ran in her home before the pandemic. >> i don't know what this is. >> yang: she's been a city commissioner for 10 years and blames city and state officials for failing to spot the problem on their own and to alert residents once it was detected. >> i was getting very angry about it because our residents should know. but i didn't know the magnitude of it because i kept again asking. we need somebody to educate us

on what these things mean, that we have elderly people in the community don't understand what a poor part per billion is. >> yang: the crisis in benton harbor has echoes of another case of lead-tainted water running out of the faucets of a poor, majority-black michigan city. last year, the state reached a $600 million settlement with the residents of flint for its role in that city's lead crisis, which emerged in 2014. adams' daughter grew up both in flint and benton harbor. >> my baby being epileptic, i didn't know that it could actually do greater harm with a condition like that. and her between flint and here, that she was like getting a double portion of lead. >> yang: adams still wonders whether lead might have played a role in her daughter's death in 2018. >> it's sad when you watch a child, take all of these different types of medications for years and years and praying that they would get better and then drinking water, bathing in

water, brushing your teeth in water that you know, and to think that lead on top of the medications caused her even graver suffering. it's sad to watch a child's and can do nothing about it. >> yang: for many in benton harbor, the current water problems are just the latest case of their city being left high and dry. after years of disinvestment and government neglect, the schools are struggling, crime is high, and nearly half the population ves in poverty. but take the short drive across a river to the neighboring city of st. joseph and it's a stark contrast: a majority white city with a thriving downtown, and safe drinking water. >> when you talk about st. joseph, michigan and benton harbor, michigan, you're talking about two different worlds. >> yang: pinkney points to a long history of manufacturing decline and so-called “white flight” that's left benton harbor struggling with few resources and a crumbling

infrastructure. that history may be why outrage seems common among benton harbor residents, but surprise does not. >> environmental racism right here. we're looking at it. look around you, you know, and i'll always talk about how differenthings would be if it was a white community. you know, they're calling the army, fema, the pentagon, joe biden to be here. you know, all of this would happen. but by being a black neighborhood, they really don't care. >> yang: meanwhile, residents like carmela patton are still paying for water they're being told not to drink. >> and i've called down there, starting with the city manager, why are we paying for bad water? nobody returned the phone call. and the bills is pretty high. >> yang: meanwhile, benton harbor is racing to replace all 6,000 of benton harbor's lead service pipes in the next 18 months.

it's a project that will cost some $30 million. the state and the e.p.a. have both stepped in to help pay for it. state health director elizabeth hertel says it's about time. >> our water infrastructure in michigan and across the country has been woefully neglected for decades. so while these are the few communities that we've seen it thus far, i do not believe that these will be the only communities in the state of michigan or across the country where we're going to see this. >> yang: but for those stuck with water they can't drink, it's not fast enough. >> i mean, if you want to take a bath, then you pray over it. you do what you gotta do. but at the same time, are y'all bathing in it? what is your water like? >> yang: in the meantime, the people of benton harbor will pay the price. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in benton harbor, michigan.

>> woodruff: democrats are nearing yet another self-imposed deadline for a deal on president biden's "build back better" agenda, this one at the end of the week. to analyze this make or break week, i'm joined by amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter. and tamara keith of npr. hello to both of you, it is politics monday. so amy, let's talk about this build back better, i remember asking the two of you about this, i remember tam, saying as i asked her about this, i will not forget thalook. >> but there does seem to be as lisa desjardins was reporting earlier in the program some movement of forces at play. >> you have so many forces at play. you have congressional democrats who are wore he-- worried about a real deadline at the end of the month with transportation fundinrunning out.

you have the president who is looking at wanting to go overseas with a victory especially on something like climate change. and you have the governor race in virginia with the democrat saying i need to have some momentum so that democrats in my state feel good about what is going on across river in washington. feel like biden is actually getting some stuff dun. president biden is actually coming not far from where we are sitting right now on tuesday, tomorrow to try to rally support. but it will be more helpful for-- if joe biden gets a lot more done. >> and one of the thing amy is mentioning, tam, are these climate international climate talks taking place in scotland. the president is heading over there. he is using that among other things as a reason to say let's sesomething. >> certainly he is saying that that is one of-- part of the artificial deadline there are so

many artificial deadlines, and this white house hassed made clear that they think that these artificial deadlines are helpful. that they are clarifying, that they can push to get democrats to move. and president biden has certainly been more personally engaged in the conversations, getting down to nitty gritty details of what might be in and what might be out. or at least they're talking about it more publicly. whether they can actually, whether he can throw some climate action in his carry on bag seems pretty unlikely at the moment. who knows but you know, this would not be the first time that an american president has gone it to an international summit on climate and said america is going to do stuff. >> going to lead the way. >> on climate and then you know, congress has different ideas or you know, more ambitious plans do not materialize. >> for sure. amy you were telling us at the

same time there is a disconnect to a degree between what is being talked about in this big build back better package and what voters are thinking. >> especially independent voters, those vots many times are the swing, they are the reason why one party or another win especially in close elections, we have seen support for biden among drop double digits at least 15 points since february, a lot of it it has to do with covid and frustrations that they're saying about other things that are happening but the economy is another big piece of this. talking to votersk swing voters especially, inflation, things costing more, so while washington is talking about these issues that many people care about, not that they don't care about climate or child tax credit, their day to day lives right now are consumed with still worrying about the pandemic's impact on their lives, you all have been talking about the fact there aren't enough child care workers, it is

so challenging to get your child into child care, people still not going back it to work, on top of the fact that things just cost more. and that is where voters are sitting right now. so it makes it a challenge than if it looks like washington isn't paying attention to the things that matter right now in their lives within which has to be making democrats pull their hair out, these are things that are important. >> and things that generally poll well especially among democrats. >> that's right. >> so tam, amy brought up the governor races that are happening right now. president biden today in new jersey, campaigning for phil murphy. as she mentioned tomorrow back in virginia, closer race, former governor terry mckol you have again the republican. what do we know at this point, this is a vote that people are voting now in virginia but what do we know at this point about how these races are shaping up. >> an indication i think that

terry is nervous is that every democratic superstar that you can imagine whose name is on the fundraising emails are coming to virginia, all hanging out in virginia, they are all coming ing back to virginia, this is a close race t is not t it wasn't clear at the beginning sna it would be a close race but it is certainly close now. and part of that is that republicans are getting fired up. this is the way it it works every virginia governor race, it st the year after the presidential election. republicans are out of power. democrats are in power, wanting to forget about trump. terry is making the race sort of about trump, sort of about things people care about. and glen-- is walking the tight rope and seemingly relatively effectively of wanting trump's support, wanting trump's base, not wanting to upset those people, mentioning things like critical race theory or some of

the hot buttons while at the same time trying to be extremely palatable to a probusiness republican in the mitt romney mode. >> i saw this morning that he is running this -- moderate republican suburban but talking about clit kal race theory and speaking about other topics if you will that former president trump would like to hear about. >> what is fascinating about these last four years, especially in a state like virginia where donald trump has bb front and center, he has blotted out the sun, everything has been about donald trump in the 2017 governor's race and the 2018 mid term elections and 2020 presidential election and the support fore democrats has gone up, each one of those year ins 2017, 18 and 20, and is he not there any more but ter mc-- is trying to ta tach him as much as possible to glen, and it is also happening in new jersey, phil murphy is talking about donald

trump, connecting trump to his republican opponent, can trump still work as a motivator for democrats especially in these blue leaning states and that is to me what is one of the most portant things we'll see after the elections are over is it doesn't work. democrats are going to look at themselves and say what are we going to talk about next year. this is going to be one of our plans, to motivate voters and. >> mr. trump isn't going to around. >> he will be around but he is not in the white house. >> before i let you go congressional wiment's softball game, women reporters playing women members of congress. we know the women journalists are going to win, right. >> for the win. >> excellent catcher and excellent pitcher right over here. >> so we have shall can-- literally politics monday right here pitching and catching. >> to benefit breast cancer. >> yeah. >> amy walter, tamara keith, go girls, thank you. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: it was just last month that a theme went viral on the social media platform, tik tok, leading to widespread damage in schools across the country. known as the "devious licks" challenge, it encouraged students to record a video of themselves stealing or vandalizing school property, everything from bathroom soap dispensers and exit signs to fire extinguishers, and amounting to untold thousands of dollars worth of damage, then posting the video on tik tok. our student reporting labs network asked young people and school staff about this trend and the effects on school communities. >> the first time i saw the devious lick challenge was on my for you page. this kid was running through the halls with this principal's car door. i was like, what's happening? what's going on? what are people trying to prove with doing this? >> my classroom had pretty much been destroyed. there was like posters tore off

the wall, the kids had taken books that i'd personally bought. and they took the books and they like took them took a paper cutter and like cut the covers and pages of the books. >> a couple kids decided it would be funny to steal a fire hydrant. >> at my school, people are stealing the most obscure things like exit signs, stall doors. >> at my school, i know that some people have taken soap dispensers, and paper towel dispensers. and really recently i heard that someone tried to take a water fountain. >> i have to bring hand sanitizer because the second- floor soap for the girls' restroom is gone. >> our school has decided to close the bathrooms down and only open one bathroom for each gender so they can monitor bathrooms. >> i like a fun time but this is pretty insane. >> to be completely honest, from the teacher perspective, like that just like kills a person's spirit, like to see that level of like disrespect. >> i kind of wanted to participate in it, but at the

same time i know the consequences that come with it and taking things from my school would probably not be the best idea because there's a lot of punishments that come with it. >> students that are participating in devious licks they suspensions all the way up to expulsions. >> no matter the trend, no matter if it's vandalism or theft, or doing a dance, i think kids will do what they can to get their five seconds of fame. >> one person's going to do something and they get viral from it or something so then somebody else is going to want to follow along. >> it'll die off within a couple weeks but the impact and the destruction it's gonna last. >> once you start liking stuff, you guys hear the term algorithm thrown out a lot, but basically, it just feeds you more of what you're already interested in and what you like, so essentially it's just going to keep going and keep happening because kids are going to see more of it and think “oh this is going to make it good” like this is all i'm seeing now. >> schools already have a small budget to begin with to be spending money on fixing damages. if this is the way we want to

protest the school system, it's making it really hard for people to take us seriously. >> woodruff: a u.s. senate committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on tik tok and other social media apps such as instagram and snapchat, where lawmakers will examine the pressures and risks for children, teens and young adults who are increasingly using these apps. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the landscape has changed, and not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented, with a more flexible workforce, by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to

pivot again and again, for whatever happens next. >> people who know, know b.d.o. >> a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> we will, in fact, get to net-zero emissions on electric power by 2035. >> but can he get it done? america's climate credibility on the line as president biden wrestles with his own --. then -- >> we are here to put an end to drift, confusion, retreat, and weakness. >> master of the game, author, diplomat, martin indyk joins us on henry kissinger's diplomacy in the middle east, and lessons for today. plus -- >> we can't count on republicans to uphold our democracy. >> longtime conservative, columnist, and