♪ amna: good evening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on "the newshour" tonight... vote 2022 -- primary elections in florida and new york set up the fight for control of congress in the upcoming midterms. then... nuclear matters -- the head of the international atomic energy agency on a possible return to the iran deal and the risk of a russian-controlled power plant in ukraine. and... guns in america -- suicides account for more than half of all firearm deaths in the u.s., prompting doctors, family members and even gun sellers to call for more prevention measures. >> if i can play a small part in creating that time and space between somebody who's in mental crisis and a very lethal means, then i'm all about that. and if i lose a customer because of it here or there, that's

okay. amna: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can find the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including the andersons and smiths. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪

♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersike you. thank you. amna: this is primary night in some powerhouse state with some highly anticipated races. in florida, democrats are vying for the chance to challenge governor ron desantis. in new york, a face-off in a

redrawn district. we will get much more on those races after the news summary. a jury in grand rapids, michigan convicted 2 men today of conspiring to kidnap democratic governor gretchen whitmer in 2020. it was the second trial for barry croft junior and adam fox after an earlier jury had deadlocked. the fbi said the men are far-right extremists who were trying to foment civil war. defense attorneys said they were entrapped. >> my client is disappointed in the verdict. it's been a good fight. we made it twice in a row. and we were hoping for a different outcome today. amna: evidence showed the plot grew out of anger over governor whitmer's covid restrictions. in a statement today, whitmer said the verdict proves violence has no place in american politics. there's a guilty plea in the police killing of breonna taylor, shot in her louisville, kentucky home in 2020. kelly goodlett, a former detective, admitted today to falsifying the warrant used in the botched raid at taylor's

apartment. and in georgia, a special prosecutor found two atlanta officers used justifiable force in rayshard brooks' death, also in 2020. brooks was shot and killed after grabbing and firing a police taser as he ran from the officers. the governor of texas has declared emergencies in more than 20 counties after extreme rain triggered flash floods. monday's deluge was part of a wave of severe weather across the southwest. john yang reports. john: across dallas this week, residents awoke to knee-deep waters. >> ok, hi internet, i'm freaking out. i just woke up and i... should i call 911? what do i do? john: flash flooding sent waters gushing down corridors, and turned roads into rivers. a nearby cemetery looked more like a river delta, water streaming around headstones. fort worth reported up to 15 inches of rainfall monday, as drivers battled seas of floodwater on their daily commutes.

some were left stranded. villegas: i was getting off work and i had no other way to go. i was trying to go through the highway and there is water everywhere. john: the deluge came days after much of texas was under extreme drought conditions. it's a phenomenon scientists call "weather whiplash," when conditions fueled by climate change lurch from one extreme to another, and rain falls faster than parched soil can absorb it, triggering flash flooding. today, texas governor greg abbott visited dallas, where monday's rainfall was among the heaviest in decades. gov. abbott: we have more than 100 homes being damaged or impacted in some way. john: recent days have also seen flooding across arizona, new mexico and utah. in utah, the waters cascading down canyons, while flooding swept through streets in moab. >> ...unbelievable. there is the diner. john: for "the pbs newshour,"

i'm john yang. amna: in ukraine, officials warned that russia may launch major new attacks tomorrow. that's ukraine's independence day, and it marks 6 months since the war began. the u.s. embassy in kyiv issued its own security alert, and again urged americans to leave the country. meanwhile, it was widely reported that the biden administration will announce a new $3 billion arms package for ukraine tomorrow. ceremonies in moscow paid tribute today to darya dugina, a russian tv commentator killed in a car bombing. hundreds of people heard dugina's father speak at one service. he's a leading right-wing political theorist, and may have been the real target of the bomb that killed his daughter. alexander: if someone was touched by her tragic death, she would have only one wish -- "do not remember me, do not glorify me. fight for our great country." because she died for the people. she died for russia on the frontline. amna: russia has blamed ukrainian agents for the attack.

the ukrainians deny any involvement. a court in pakistan today summoned ousted prime minister imran khan to appear next week. he faces contempt charges over verbal threats he made against a judge. if convicted, he'd be barred from politics for the rest of his life. police have also charged khan with defying a ban on rallies in islamabad. korean auto makers hyundai and kia are recalling more than 280,000 large suv's in the u.s. because they could catch fire. today's announcement says owners of hyundai palisades and kia tellurides should park them away from buildings. the affected model years are 2020 through 2022. the fire risk comes from a wiring issue. and, on wall street, stocks drifted lower. the dow jones industrial average lost 154 points to close at 32,909. the nasdaq fell a fraction of a point. the s&p 500 slipped 9. still to come on "the

newshour"... the national debate over parental rights and censorship enters local school board races in florida... a whistleblower claims twitter executives deceived regulators about their lax security procedures... a group on martha's vineyard promotes education about native wampanoag culture and traditions... plus much more. >> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: voters have been heading to the polls today in florida, new york, and oklahoma. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is here with more on the races that may have the biggest impact in washington. good to cup would -- good to see you. there could be some incumbents in trouble tonight. tell us about those races. lisa: you mentioned a couple of

days earlier, the big thing is redistricting, especially in new york state, where the maps governing congressional elections were drawn by a special master and not legislators. what has happened, that marquee race, to members of the house democratic, both are chairman, this is incredibly unusual. they are also both of them in the top 20 most senior members of the house. they are also facing a third opponent worth noting, a progressive. all of these dynamics in play. i understand low turnout in the newyork city race we will watch closely. they are not the only incumbents we are watchin also in new york state, a rising star in the party, he is on the left. he wasn't redistricted in a way that made him decide to move one hour away from where he currently lived to face a new opponent in a crowded race rather than face the man in the

middle, sean patrick maloney, who himself is the leader of the democrat efforts nationwide congressionally. he faces a progressive challenger that has been endorsed by alexandria ocasio-cortez. we see the congresswoman on the right, sheila mccormick, she faces a rematch with her special election opponent, she won by just five votes and that is a very fraud, difficult race. there also a couple of incumbent republicans. matt gaetz, a trump supporter, has faced legal troubles, and reportedly under investigation. in dan webster on the right, for different reasons, he has an opponent in the tampa area from the right side, the trump side of the party. amna: this one republican race, broadly speaking when you look at republicans, are there particular races or candidates that stand out for them tonight?

lisa: this theme of people who call themselves disruptors, who their opponents say they could be dangerous because they are election deniers, is something we are watching. i want to point out some candidates, anthony sabatini, on the left. he is calling for defunding of the fbi, in a florida race that could be close tonight. laura loam or on the right, and outspoken trump ally, has described herself as an islamophobia, she is running against daniel webster, more of a long shot. also in new york, a man named carl palladino, a candidate for governor before and he has since then said things, including that he believes hitler is the kind of leader we need today because of the ability to draw a crowd. his race versus the state republican party chair tonight. amna: in florida, another big race the are watching, not just

people in florida but nationwide, what do we need to know? lisa: this is a big race because of ron desantis, rising quickly in the conversation about the white house. he is up for reelection, republican governor of florida. someone who is really changing a little bit of how republicans handle cultural policy. trying to oppose him, the democrats have to choose between these two candidates, charlie crist, former governor of florida, and nikki freed, the state agriculture commissioner, the only democrat elected statewide. it is a generational question about what democrats want and who they think can win against ron desantis. amna: what about looking ahead to the fall? any races that could be bellwethers for the midterms? lisa: i want to talk about new york, we are going back and forth. new york's 19th race, hudson valley, there is a democrat

versus republican and i could say a lot about them tt i think their ads speak for themselves. listen to how their ads convey what they are trying to say. >> pat ryan graduated from west point and risked his life in combat. he fought for our families, for our freedom. >> and freedom includes a woman's right to choose. how can we be a free country if the government tries to control women's bodies? that's not the country i fought to defend. >> whos to blame for inflation? liberal washington democrats. their spending feeds higher prices at the grocery store while their energy prices drive up prices at the pump. more terrible ideas from democrats. >> mark molinero, a record of listening and problem-solving. he will keep spending under control. lisa: see what they did there? inflation on the one hand and abortion on the other.

this is a swing district, a place where resident biden won by just a few points. it is a gauge of who is voting and how they are voting right now. amna: checking that and so much more, thank goodness y're staying on top of it for us. thank you so much. and online you can see all of today's election results as they come in. go to pbs.org/newshour. ♪ today the united nations reiterated its demand that russia withdraw its troops from the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which it has occupied since march. in recent weeks, fighting around europe's largest nuclear power plant has intensified, and the u.s. warns the international community is "living under the threat of a nuear catastrophe." meanwhile the u.s., europe, and iran are at a critical ment in their negotiations over iran's

nuclear program. nick schifrin talks ukraine and iran, with a man at the center of both issues. nick: the international atomic energy agency is responsible for monitoring nuclear plants and countries' nuclear programs, to ensure they stay peaceful, and are safely operated. to discuss both the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and the ongoing negotiations to over iran's nuclear program, i'm joined by rafael mariano grossi, the iaea's director general. welcome to "the newshour." in zaporizhia, what are you most worried about and how worried are you? dir. grossi: there are a number of things we are worried, we are worried about. we are confronted here with a completely unprecedented situation. you have this cohabitation, if you want, of of the operators, the ukrainian operators with the russian force. there have been allegations of confrontations, arguments or even violence.

the shelling which has en taking place intermittently. this culmination of factors is an absolute unthinkable situation for any normal nuclear power plants. nick: you said about a week ago that one reactor unit had been disconnected from the electrical grid, triggering generators and an emergency protection system. is that system holding? dir. grossi: well the system in , general is holding. there is one external line of power which is active and then one, one, local one. and then there are some, of course, emergency diesel generators. but you don't want to you don't -- you don't want to get to that stage. i would say for the moment, the situation is holding, but at i would say quite close to to an alert zone, which should be avoided at all costs. nick: when it comes to the

physical security of the plant, there have been explosions and as you mentioned, it hit a dry fuel storage facility, damaged the plant's external power system. how serious have the explosions inside the plant been? dir. grossi: they have not affected the reactors themselves and even the spent fuel ponds. there have been some impacts nearby, but i don't want to banal-ize this. any explosion externally caused, kinetically motivated on a nuclear power plant again, is like crossing the the reddest of the lines that you can imagine. nick: when it comes to access to the site, ukraine says that it has approved your visit, your personal visit. you said you want to go with your team. french president emmanuel macron said this week that russian president vladimir putin did agree to the iaea visiting. has there been any progress in that? is there any sign that russia is

in fact, going to let you in? dir. grossi: as we speak, i am working on this. i having very intensive am consultations with kyiv, of course, and with russia, in order to work on the practical details. nick: has the russian side in fact told you that, yes, they are willing to let you come? dir. grossi: we are very close to that. the reason i'm a bit reluctant, as you can see, to say yes, definitely yes, is because we are in the consultations. we are seeing the stars aligning for the first time. agreeing on the principle and the need for the visit to proceed. and we are working now on the logistics and the details. and this, i hope, is going to happen in a matter of days, not weeks, but days. nick: let's turn to negotiations over the iran nuclear deal. as a reminder, in 2015 iran and world pors signed a deal that restricted iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

in 20, -- in 2018, the trump administration withdrew and placed new sanctions on iran. since 2019, iran has broken through the nuclear deal's restrictions, including on manufacturing, enrichment levels, and nuclear fuel stockpiles. for the last year and a half, iran and world powers have been negotiating once again a return to the deal, where iran would restrict its program, and the u.s. would provide sanctions relief. and they could be on the cusp of a new agreement. the iaea is not a signatory to any of these deals, nor are you part of the negotiations. and yet your nearly 4-year-old investigation into nuclear material found at undeclared sites in iran remains a sticking point. so let's start with the basic question -- has iran given sufficient answers to explain the presence of that nuclear material? dir. grossi: not yet, but i'm hopeful they will. they know that they have to do it. we have agreed on a on a mechanism for this. when the iaea finds traces of

nuclear material at a place which had not been declared, as a place where nuclear activity was taking place, my legal obligation is to ask the question. we need to have the adequate explanation as to whether there was an activity there, what kind of an activity was it, what kind of material we had. nick: do you believe you need that adequate explanation of this nuclear material before the u.s., europe and iran sign any kind of political agreement today? dir. grossi: that is a political question that needs to be put to them, not to me. what we need is there is the the cooperation from iran. and we also need the maximum levels of access and inspection. the more limitations we have, the less credibility or the less assurances we can provide the international community about the status of the nuclear material in iran. nick: iran is demanding that the investigation be closed before

it agrees to return to any kind of nuclear deal. has the u.s. or europe put pressure on you at all to close the investigation? dir. grossi: the united states has not put any pressure on me. there could be implicit pressure or explicit pressure from one side or the other. pressures in this nuclear matters will always exist. they are part of the landscape, unfortunately. but if we keep our course, if the iaea keeps doing and is allowed to do its inspection work we are going to get there. , i'm pretty confident. nick: separately, the original nuclear deal requires iran to allow more than two dozen cameras to film centrifuge production, uranium mine storage facilities and other items. in june, iran dismantled those cameras. back in june, you said that the window to restore, quote, a continuity of knowledge was only 3 to 4 weeks. that was back in june. so does that mean you've already lost the ability to know if iran

was building more centrifuges? dir. grossi: well, that was a serious move. i do not, i will not rewrite or re-say what i said. these 27 cameras that were disconnected were covering important areas of both centrifuge production facilities and other things, and we lost that continuity of knowledge. if and when the agreement is revived and we can reconnect the cameras, we have to sit down with our iranian colleagues and see how we can fill in the gaps, if you want, between that time and the present time. nick: i guess the bottom line, sir, do you believe that the iaea will be able to detect iranian nuclear activity in the amount of time the world has said, through these nuclear

deals, it needs in order to react? dir. grossi: i think if we have the correct and necessary access, the iaea, the inspectors of the iaea, will always be in a position to detect in a timely manner any diation of nuclear material in iran or elsewhere. nick: rafael mariano grossi, the executive director of the iaea, thank you very much. dir. grossi: it was my pleasure. thank you very much. ♪ amna: voters are taking their grievances over public schools to the ballot box this midterm cycle, as school board elections have become a proxy war for larger political culture wars on issues of race, gender and parental rights. florida and several other states have implemented laws that critics say effectively ban certain books in schools and libraries. to talk about this growing fight

in education, i'm joined by kelly jensen, an editor at the literary site, book riot. she's a former librarian and has been monitoring book censorship nationwide. welcome and thank you for joining us. broadly speaking, when you look at book challenges and removals from schools and school libraries, what are you seeing, how would you characterize what is going on right now? kelly: right now we are seeing sort of the culmination of 16-plus months of work. what we are looking at the sorts of books in school libraries and in classrooms, there has been a systematic plan to pull books about people of color and books about or by, related to clear identity. -- queer identity. we are seeing parents want to have say on what is available to students and doing so through book banning, seeking to have

input on curriculum and what sort of materials their kids have access to. amna: i should mention we spoke with one of the cofounders of one of the groups that have been saying parents should have more of a say in wh their kids have access to in schools, the cofounder of moms for liberty. she argues what they are pushing for is not actually a ban on books, here is how she characterizes what they are doing. >> we do not stand by or believe we are banning books. we want to make sure books are age-appropriate for our children. we are looking for solutions together, like i mentioned. there are options to put books in a place where you need parental permission or parental off to out or opt in, whatever the district decides. there is no hard ban. amna: what would you say to that? she says no hard ban. kelly: they can successful in getting a number of books pulled from school libraries, and they

have a lot of will in the legislation -- of pull in the legislation in florida in particular. in florida, to showcase how small a group is speaking on behalf of parents more broadly, in polk county, the seventh largest district in florida, reliably republican, about 110,000 students, and they just implement a system where parents could opt students out of a number of books that have come under fire. of all of those students, less than 160 kids have had parts opt them out of access to these books. it is a very small number. what they are trying to do is revoke access to this material for all students and not just their students. amna: at the core of this conservative argument is also

this idea, they say public education has long skewed toward liberal ideas and we feel like we have been left out of this conversation. we asked tina about this and this is what she said. tina: even educators are not necessarily checking what is in every one of these books. a lot of times i took to -- talk to school librarians about books they have depended on historically and they have not read every sigel book they allowing the library. it takes all hands on deck. especially with youngest children being exposed, it takes the parents to have that conversation. amna: what would you say to the parents think they have been left out and should have a say? lisa: parents -- kelly: parents have always had a say, to opt their kids out of lessons they did not feel were right for the students. it's always been a right they've had. the argument they are trying to make now is professionals who use professional tools to

determine materials that are appropriate for students are not useful tools for determining what should or should not be in a library or classroom. the argumenis that librarians and educators cannot rely on these tools that are created and sustained by professionals in education and librarianship, in child development, instead listening to parents that are trying to undermine the professionals and the professional institutions of education and librarianship. amna: we are seeing these issues showing up in elections, specifically school board elections, in florida and elsewhere. kelly: in florida, it's been going on about a year now, a real push to get conservative voices on school boards. in florida and most other states -- texas is a great example. outside dallas, a number of challenges in the last year, and during that year, a number of books were considered

appropriate for the classrooms and libraries so they stayed on the shelf. we just saw they pulled those titles again in the last couple of weeks because the new school board, which was put together by a very conservative pac ornization there decided they needed to review those titles. whatever decisions the previous school board made are considered not the right decision to make, and the new group of people put in there purposefully with very long, you know, conservative ties, conservative money, are able to than make new determinations about the books in schools. in that case, that's where they pull the bible, they pull the diary of anne frank, the graphic novel, which got a lot of attention. those titles everyone knows, and pulled from schools. amna: fair to see an issue that will come up in election after election going forward. that is kelly jensen.

thank you for joining us. kelly: thank you for having me. ♪ amna: let's return to our ongoing coverage of guns in america. a new poll finds most americans -- 71% -- believe gun laws should be stricter, and one in five say that either they, a family member, or a close friend has experienced gun violence or been threatened by it in the past five years. among black americans, that number jumps to more than 50 percent. at the same time, 60% say it's still important that people can own guns for personal protection. when it comes to gun deaths in america, suicide is still the leading cause. william brangham recently went to wyoming -- the state with the highest suicide rate -- to look at a movement trying to change the conversation around mental health and firearms. a warning -- this story contains

details about suicides that some viewers may find disturbing. andrea: i didn't know there was a oblem with cowboys and suicide. william: at grace for 2 brothers, a suicide prevention group in cheyenne, andrea and molly allen have stopped by for a check in. just nine months earlier, their son and brother, cole, took his own life with a gun, just after starting college. andrea: i know cole didn't know what he wanted to do. and he just didn't have hope that he was going to find his gift. molly: i had people tell me suicide is for cowards and all this stuff, and i'm like, did you know cole very well? because if you knew cole, then you knew that kid wasn't a coward. and i think that people should bite their tongue until they've actually been through this that situation. william: dan hedrick, who goes

by danno, is the grief support coordinator hereand he has -- coordinator here. dan: each survivor has their own they carry with them. william: he has been through his own situation -- eleven years ago, he lost his younger brother, david, to a firearm suicide. dan: so this was all filled with trailers. william: for many years, hedrick's family owned and ran a military surplus store on this large lot in cheyenne, but the family was winding the business down. the task of emptying trailers full of supplies and cleaning up the site fell to david, who had long been struggling with both his mental health and physical pain from his prior work on the railroads. dan: i think on the lot right now, there are seven trailers. back when they started, there were 73 trailers. william: wow. dan: each of them was an -- william: an enormous job ahead of him. dan: yeah. and i think, in my opinion, that

was something that really weighed on him because nobody was here to help him with that task. and it was something he had to do alone. and it was so insurmountable that he had problems actually, you know, facing it. william: after his brother's death, danno struggled with what he might have done differently and eventually channeled some of that pain into his work with other suicide survivors. now, in the aftermath of a suicide, he visits with families to help them better understand the narrowed lens that might've left their loved one feeling there was no other option. dan: if you walk into a restaurant and grabbed a straw from the waitress and you start looking down that straw, the suicidal mind only sees what's out the end of that straw. they don't see a pastor, they don't see the girlfriend, they don't see the buddies you go have a beer with. they don't see the nieces and nephews and grandkids that everybody's had. all they see is is the problem

that is eating their lunch. william: in taking his life with a gun, danno's younger brother joined a grizzly fraternity -- joined a grisly fraternity -- firearm suicides accounted for more than half of the roughly 45,000 gun deaths in this country in 2020, the most recent year data's available. older white men are particularly at risk. dan: he was the kind of person who would pull up his boots. and it's like, okay, i can cowboy through this. william: "cowboy through this," right. dan: yeah. but, you know, and out in wyoming, that's that's a some of the problem we have. out at my house it's a football field in any direction to a neighbor, and you have somebody that's out there that hasn't addressed their mental issues. it's a perfect storm if all of the elements come together for them. william: researchers say that on top of the isolation, and the lack of mental health services, what also helps explain the high rate of suicide in wyoming and the mountain west more broadly is the high rate of gun ownership.

dr. betz: the connection between the lethality of firearms and the risk of suicide death is not something that's been been talked about enough. william: dr. emmy betz is an emergency physician at the university of colorado's anschutz medical cente and she also studies firearm violence. dr. betz: as an e.r. physician , every day i see someone at risk of suicide. but i don't see many cases where someone has or has shot themself in a suicide attempt, because people usually die at home. william: because guns are good at what they're designed to do. dr. betz: correct. william: she points out that the vast majority -- nine out of 10 people -- who survive a suicide attempt don't go on to kill themselves later. but because firearms are so lethal, nine in ten don't survive that particular method. dr. betz: we know that most people who attempt suicide are in a temporary crisis and they get better. and most people who survive an attempt are grateful to have survived. so i think we really need to stop looking at it as this both

inevitable, but also personal life choice and sort of hands off, and we need to see that it's actually just sometimes when people are in the midst of crisis, for whatever reason, they might not be thinking straight. and that's a time when you don't want to be around dangerous objects. steve: so we need, unfortunately, to take a minute and talk about suicide. william: dr. betz co-founded what's known as the colorado firearm safe coalition -- a group of public health researchers, gun shop owners, and firearm instructors working to overcome the stigma around suicide in the gun community. at the bristlecone gun shop and range west of denver, that work is being put into practice. >> you have got a person under big-time stress, you've got a gun the same room at the same time, that is a recipe for disaster. william: in training classes and literature around the store, with temporary gun storage for up to 90 days for people who

might be experiencing a crisis, and even by training staff to be alert for possible warning signs among customers, and creating a policy of refusing to rent guns to new customers who come in alone, or who seem to be in distress. cquelyn: we had a guy come in a while ago who just started talking to the staff about marital problems that he had just uncovered that morning and wanted to go out on the range. that's where i think the policy helps. william: jacquelyn clark co-founded the firearm safety coalition, and she owns the store with her husband, brian. jacquelyn: if i can play a small part in creating thatime and space between somebody who's in mental crisis and a very lethal means, then i'm all about that. and if i lose a customer because of it here or there, that's okay. william: do customers understand it? does that, as you describe it, the second amendment community understand that?

jacquelyn: i think they understand it a lot better than they did even five years ago. there's definitely a stigma that surrounds a suicide conversation. i think a lot of people feel that if they are talking with somebody who is in a state of mental crisis, if they bring up suicide, they might plant an idea in somebody's mind. and that's just not the case. william: in fact, there's no evidience that bringing up suicide makes a person more suicidal -- and in fact can provide a moment for someone struggling to ask for help. and clark says the trauma of missing a suicide on the range, something that's happened here, and in many ranges, continues to haunt her staff. jacquelyn: it's traumatic on so many levels. they feel responsible. and that person may have shown none of the warning signs that we train them to look out for. another level of trauma is just the violence of it. seeing like something like that, you can never unsee it, ever.

william: back in wyoming, danno hedrick carriethat trauma as well. he now advocates for things like temporary gun storage and gun locks -- anything that can remove the immediate danger, or even just slow someone down when they're experiencing a moment of crisis. but amid all that work, he's still grappling with the death of his own brother. dan: it has gotten to where it has eased a little bit, instead of being an open wound that you suddenly toss salt in, it's like this irritated scar or, you know, something, it doesn't. it's there, but it doesn't hurt as bad as it did initially. william: for "the pbs newshour," i'm william brangham in cheyenne, wyoming. amna: for more on this country's epidemic of gun violence, look for our upcoming documentary, hosted by william brangham and called "ricochet: an american trauma," premiering on pbs

october 5. ♪ twitter is under fire after a new whistleblower is alleging the social network has "extreme, egregious deficiencies" in its cyber security defense. the new complaint says twitter is an easy target for hackers and could put users' information at risk. stephanie sy tells us more. stephanie: amna, the whistleblower is a former head of security at twitter, and was previously a renowned hacker himself, known as "mudge." now lawmakers on capitol hill are looking into pieter zatko's claims. among many other serious allegations, zatko says the company misled regulators about its ability and efforts to get rid of fake or spam accounts, a claim that could help elon musk who is trying to back out of a

, deal to buy the company for $44 billion. with more, i'm joined by elizabeth dwoskin, silicon valley correspondent for "the washington post," who helped break this story. we've long talked about twitter's security problems over the years, but what zatko is alleging is deception of government regulators, the media, and users. can you boil down for us just a couple of the most egregious allegations and tell us why people should be concerned? elizabeth: these are explosive claims that could be incredibly imaging to twitter. you are right that they have had security issues over the years, security disaster, some would say. now we have this alleging that they were lying. they are huge allegations. he says too many employees had access to internal systems,

security was so bad that twitter was on the brink of shutdown, that they did not delete data they claimed they deleted. that he tried to present contrary information to the board and was prevented. one thing you think, what is the average person care because not everyone is on twitter? twitter is incredibly influential because it has politicians and influential figures. what happens on twitter can cause a change in stock prices, national security issues. if twitter security is as weak as he alleges, you have this exposure to bad actors that can influence the public discourse, whether it is on politics, the future of companies or security, public safety. stephanie: there are also serious claims about foreign influence, including that

twitter knowingly hired an agent who worked for the government of india who had "direct unsupervised access to the company's systems and user data." if that is true, this is about more than the security of the average twitter users account info or even the reliability of the platform. elizabeth: yeah, that is the most salacious and troubling allegation in the complaint, and it was the hardest for us to substantiate because a lot of the complaint is redacted and we believe the india stuff is the redacted stuff. last year, twitter was required by the indian government to hire two executives that would report directly to the government of india, all tech companies were, and twitter's pushback ithis is what zatko is referring to. we have sourcing that potentially there was another government agent. it was the weakest part of the complaint because so much was

redacted. stephanie: for its part, twitter says they fired zatko for " ineffective leadership and poor performance," and called the timing of the allegations opportunistic. what other explanations are you getting from the company and hearing from employees? elizabeth: one of the things i've heard from a lot of employees is despite zatko being a famous hacker, when he came into twitter, there was an arrogant attitude that he basically acted like he knew things about subjects outside his area of expertise. one of the most interesting examples in the complaint that comes from my reporting as well is related to a claim he makes that twitter was aligned to elon musk about spam and, that they cannot get a straight answer. he said he asked and asked and cannot get a straight answer. my reporting, including a

document from twitter, shows twitter has an internal number called spam prevalence, and was presented at a board meeting that zatko attended. maybe he did not believe in the number or dismissed it, but i feel like the truth is somewhere in between. stephanie: you mentioned elon musk. the timing seems opportune for him, as some of the claims deal with the problem of spam and fake accounts, which he has cited as a reason to withdraw his attempt to buy the comedy. how could this help him in his trial, which against soon? elizabeth: as i said, i feel like this complaint was a big call to elon musk to subpoena me, depose me. elon musk will be deposing him. i think if the claims don't turn out to be accurate, it could open pandora's box.

the trial is set to happen if it doesn't settle soon, there is a hearing tomorrow, and what we think is that there has already been of right over discovery and data, who will get access to whether -- elon's team will get access to twitter's internal documents. this of them a reason to say we need to know more of what is going on. think it goes beyond spam and bo ts issue. stephanie: i can of worms for twitter users as well. elizabeth, thank you for joining "the newshour," as always. elizabeth: thanks for having me. ♪ amna: martha's vineyard, with its beautiful shorelines and farm land, has long been a summer destination. but most visitors know little about the history of its wampanoag people. a group on the isld is

reviving that history by educating children and adults about the native culture and traditions while also aiming to protect our increasingly- challenged planet. special correspondent charlayne hunter-gault reports for our race matters solutions and arts and culture series, canvas. >> i'm thankful for the smells ofassafras land. charlayne: gathering around and sharing expressions of gratitude -- a summer camp tradition in some places. >> i'm thankful for grandfather sun. good morning grandfather sun. charlayne: but this summer camp, run by the nonprofit group sassafras earth education in the town of aquinnah on the island of martha's vineyard, massachusetts is taking a different approach towards gratitude. these campers are also learning a people's history largely erased. >> this will be your land always

and forever. charlayne: david two arrows vanderhoop and wife, saskia vandershoop started the camp and the larger sassafras organization in 2003. david vanderhoop dates his wampanoag ancestors -- people of the first light -- back thousands of years. saskia vanderhoop, who grew up in the netherlands, and david have raised their five children in the tradition. their 22-year-old daughter nanauwe grew up on this land and, from the age of 3 to 8, lived in this teepee with four members of her family, while her father david worked on the crumbling home he inherited from his grandfather in 2001. [singing] charlayne: nanauwe integrates native values in her singing to campers that include wampanoags, and children of all races,

sometimes from off the island. nanuwe: the way that i grew up, it gave me my purpose and it gave me a connection to my ancestors and it gave me a connection to my roots. and those are the things that i ld most close to my heart and most close to my spirit. charlayne: the children learn the proper way to make a fire. the artwork done at sassafras demonstrates the reverence for natural life and beauty of the land. 12 acres which is part of a , restoration project that returns the land to pre-colonial values and practices, by planting food forests and traditional gardens and clearing invasive growth. >> we are going to take the silent trail this morning. charlayne: the campers start their day following the path of the wampanoag ancestors, walking in silence on the sacred land. i made that same walk with

saskia and david "two arrows" vanderhoop to talk to them about their mission which has now , served thousands of people over almost two decades and is growing to include more education and outreach programs. and supporting the people on noepe, the wampanoag name for martha's vineyard, that land remained in their control even after the arrival of the pilgrims there in 1620 but was bought in 1642 by a colonizer for "40 shillings and two raccoon caps." david and saskia vanderhoop, thank you so much for joining us. i want to talk about everything we've seen today, but i want to start first with you, david, who -- tell me about that name, where it comes from. david: back in the late 1700s, a mehant mariner came to what

was then called martha's vineyard. his son was also a merchant marine. sailed all over, but came up the east coast, landed on martha's vineyard and met my great-great -great-grandmother. charlayne: so you go way back? david: yes. the wampangs are matriarchal society. so they go back as much as, you know, as much as 15,000 years right here. the wampanoag tribe used to inhabit this whole island. charlayne: the entire island? david: the entire island was their territory. charlayne: i remember coming here in the early 1970's. what was that time like for your tribe? how were native americans,

wampanoags, dealt with on the island? david: i was made fun of. i was called a dumb indian. i was sent to the back of the room many times. charlayne: by your teacher? david: yeah. charlayne: were you the only native american in there? david: in my class, yes. charlayne: if everybody else was treating him and the other wampanoags like they were second class or worse, how did you end up marrying one? saskia: i came here from the netherlands. and so i think i had a completely different perspective. i think i was open-minded. we had conversations about how important it is to teach children from a young age and especially indigenous children what they deserve to know, which is their birthright, which is a deep connection and a profound connection with the natural world. and from there, give them

self-confidence. there is a solution in the natural world. for every ailment, the plants have an answer because that is how the world was created. and i firmly believe this to be true. we really began in 2003, making them understand of how you can build a relationship with everything around you and how you can become a part of the ecosystem and not stand apart from it. people did not understand the need for nature connection. i think climate change was still too far away, looming in the distance, and people just didn't understand it. charlayne:inally, let me ask you this -- we hear so much debate these days about teaching history. and there are moves afoot to limit or even erase some of the education that's going on in the classrooms about black people and people of color. what are your thoughts about

what to do about this? and do you see any way of narrowing the divide? because it in fact seems to be gettg wider. what is the solution to this? david: we need to start telling the truth. we need to bring the truth in history into the classrooms. we give it here at sassafras earth education. we talk about contemporary issues. we tell them the truth, and we foundut that the kids can handle it. charlayne: i think i saw somewhere, you said "making the unseen seen again." thank you very much for what you were doing, and for sharing it with us. amna: and online, charlayne hunter-gault also recently hosted an in-depth conversation about race with experts and journalists, including

washington week" moderator yamiche alcindor, and newshour regulars david brooks and jonathan capehart. you can find the full discussion from this year's hutchins forum on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and

security. at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed to advancing racial equity and creating the change required to shift systems and accelerate equitable economic opportunity. 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 performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

[lively music] - hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. [stately music] putin marks world war ii victory day with no major declarations, and i get reaction from russia's first post-soviet foreign minister, andrei kozyrev, and- [zelenskyy speaking ukrainian] - [interpreter] on the day of victory over nazism, we are fighting for a new victory. - [christiane] president zelenskyy vows to fight till the end. us general ben hodges joins me with his latest battlefield assessment, plus- - what we see is a ratcheting up of discourse of demonizing liberal, secular, and progressive jews around the world, both by jews themselves and by anti-semites. - yale professor eliyahu stern