amna: good evening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight. in the dark -- russia targets ukraine's power supply causing widespread blackouts, but ukrainian civilians remain defiant. then. facing off -- candidates in high-profile contests spar over key issues on the debate stage, while others outright refuse to confront their opponents. and. drying up -- utah's great salt lake shrinks to unsustainable levels amid a decades-long megadrought. >> this ishe foundation of the great salt lake ecosystem. and we're seeing it crash and die right before our eyes. amna: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. ♪

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♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west, we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. ukraine is sounding new alarms tonight about russian attacks on its water and power supplies. ukrainian president zelenskyy says missile and drone strikes have knocked out nearly one-third of the country's power plants in the last week. today, strikes on the city of zhytomyr blacked out all 250,000 residents for a time.

we'll take a closer look after the news summary. in france, tens of thousands walked off their jobs today, striking for pay hikes to keep up with decades-high inflation. the work stoppages built on recent walkouts at oil refineries that have led to long lines at gas stations. today, it snowballed tinclude teachers, rail workers and hospital employees. they said they need more compensation for soaring prices. >> the increase of the cost of living is major. there's a rise in the price of basic goods but also a very important increase in energy costs. all of this has an impact on salaries. stephanie: strikes have also swept other parts of europe as the continent teeters toward recession. the ongoing otests led by women and girls in iran spread today to a rock climber -- el-naz re-kabi -- who did not wear a mandatory hijab while competing for her country.

that was sunday in south korea. she left abruptly today. a statement on her instagram page said not wearing the hijab was unintentional. activists and independent reports said re-kabi was forced back to iran and could be jailed. the protests were sparked by the death of mahsa amini, after her arrest for dress code violations. a new report says afghanistan's ruling taliban tied up and executed 27 men last month -- in a hunt for resistance fighters. the open-source afghan witness project verified a video showing taliban fighters firing into one group of men for 20 seconds. the group calls the killings a -- quote -- orchestrated purge. the taliban has claimed the men were killed in battle. back in this country. the french cement company lafarge pleaded guilty in new york to paying millions of dollars to the islamic state terrorist group. the payments ensured that isis would let a lafarge plant in

syria remain open. the company now faces nearly $780 million in u.s. penalties. president biden vowed today that his top priority will be legalizing abortion nationwide if democrats keep control of congress. the president spoke in washington 3 weeks before the midterm elections. he said everything depends on sending more democrats to washington. >> if we do that, here's the promise i make to you and the american people. the first bill i send to the congress will be to codify roe v. wade. [applause] and when congress passes it, i'll sign it in january, 50 years after roe was first decided as the law of the land. stephanie: for that to happen, democrats would have to hold the house of representatives and the senate -- and abolish the filibuster -- the 60-vote requirement for most bills to advance in the senate. the biden adminstration will release 15 million barrels from

the u.s. strategic petroleum reserve. it's part of a plan the president will lay out tomorrow in an attempt to stabilize rising domestic gas prices. the plan aims to spur domestic oil production to offset cuts announced by opec earlier this month. additional releases from the reserve could happen over the winter. the reserves will be replenished once oil prices fall below $72 per barrel. it currently sells for about $84. a federal jury in virginia acquitted igor danchenko today of lying about his ties to a discredited dossier on then-candidate donald trump. he helped create much of the so-called steele dossier. it included allegations that the 2016 trump campaign colluded with russia. a special counsel investigated the fbi's probe of those allegations. this was the third case resulting from that investigation. amazon workers at a warehouse in upstate new york have

overwhelmingly voted against unionizing. today's announcement said 66% of the votes opposed joining a union composed of current and former amazon employees. it's the fourth such election at an amazon facility this year. unions have won one and lost two. the other remains too close to call. still to come on the newshour. a look at key issues voters will see on their ballots in the upcoming election. what's causing the great salt lake to dry up. a photographer documents immigration to the southern border and life inside a detention facility. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and from the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: returning to the war in ukraine. as we reported, ukraine's president said today that roughly 30% of ukraine's power generation has been attacked and knocked off-line by new russian attacks.

nick schifrin looks at a ukraine partially in the dark, as the cold descends almost eight months into the war. nick: in southern ukraine today this is all that's left of a residential building. a giant crater where a home stood for decades. destruction and death, arrived from a clear blue sky. the price of russian rockets that elude ukraine's air defenses, this civilians life as he slept. and the country's infrastructure. today russia struck this combined heat and power plant in dnipro. for the last month russia has targeted ukraine's electricity grid, especially substations that serve as junction points between cities. nearly all of ukraine's substations have been damaged, and president volodymyr zelenskyy admitted today 30% of the country's power plants have been destroyed. that means in eastern cities like kivsharivka, where the destruction is still fresh residents live without , electricity or heat.

9-year-old artem panchenko helps his grandmother iryna prepare dinner. he eats in the dark. a family powerless to stop what's coming. they have to cook outside on the fire. winter in eastern ukraine is already arriving. >> it's really cold. i'm sleeping in my clothes in my apartment. >> i think it can be safely assumed that what russia is trying to do is freeze ukraine into submission. nick: suriya jayanti is a senior fellow at the atlantic council and cofounder of a u.s.-ukrainian company focused on green energy transition. she says damaged infrastructure hurts ukraine's civilians and military. ukraine and russia are playing cat and mouse -- ukraine fixes damage, and russia strikes it again. >> so this seems to be a strike at the nervous system of ukraine's resistance. this is going to be a very, very long, very cold and very dark winter for ukraine. nick: and yet, ukrainians remain resilient.

in a new gallup poll released today, 70% say ukraine should continue fighting until it wins. and of those, 91% define victory as when all territory lost between 2014 and now is regained, including crimea. but that could be more difficult, now that russia is using iranian made kamikaze drones that are 8 feet wide and carry about 100 pounds of explosives. russia's already launched hundreds of drones. ukraine has managed to shoot many of them down. but even a handful that get through can cause major damage and give russia a new weapon of war. and to discuss further the impact of the infrastructure strikes and these iranian drones. now in ukraine, we turn to samuel bend it a russian , military analyst for the center for naval analysis. and i'm going to thank you very much. welcome to the newshour. over the course of this war, russia has at times restrained itself from attacking infrastructure targets.

but in the last few weeks, we have seen countless strikes across the country and now including using these kamikaze drones. is this a shift in russian tactics? >> in a way it is. it is a response to ukrainian very successful counterattacks, ukrainian successful advancements against the russian forces in the east and the south of the country. and the russian realization that it must do something to try and stem this advance and cause a certain level of attrition and essentially a certain level of pain on the ukrainian defense industry, on the population and the military. nick: and so why do you think russia has turned to iran, turned to these iranian drones in this moment? >> russia has a certain capability that it was unable to really put in the field at scale. iran was able to offer significant capability to the russians in the form of loitering munitions like the shahad 136 and shahad 131, as well as several combat drones, like the more hardcore six.

and these are relatively cheap and inexpensive drones by comparison to the damage that they can cost. so to russia, this represents a very significant capability, an increase in their ability to strike ukrainian targets. nick: and so the ability for russia to now loiter above a target, as you're saying, these drones give russia the ability to do. does that give russia some kind of edge in this war strategically that you don't think it had before? >> the drones that were used in recent strikes have a range of up to 200 kilometers. and so this represents a significant increase in russian capabilities because now a bulk of the ukrainian population, its military and industry, are within range of these launching -- loitering munitions when launched either from the south east of the country or even from belarus. >> does ukraine have the ability to defend itself against these kamikaze drones? >> absolutely, it does.

in fact, it has shut down most of these drones. more than three quarters of them are actually lost in these attacks. the whole point of launching these munitions in waves is that a lot of them will be lost, but a few of them are going to make it past the air defenses. these drones basically saturate the air defense capabilities and so one or two has to make it through to really cause the damage. and that's what we've seen in recent attacks. nick: and that brings us to those air defenses. ukraine has been asking for more from the u.s., from europe. the u.s. has provided some systems and is providing more advanced systems, as is germany, as possibly other western european countries are. talk about how difficult, though, it is to create a layered system of defense that can really protect ukraine not only from these drones from but from a larger russian missiles as well. >> it is a challenge, specifically these drones, the shahad 136 and 131, they fly low, they fly slow. they have a relatily small radar signature. so they can't always be seen and

identified by the early warning radars. they could be heard before they were seen because of their relatively cheap civilian style motor. and so once the population actually sees the drone in the immediate vicinity, it's probably too late to do anything about that as it begins to descend to target. however, robust electronic warfare defenses are in fact capable of interfering with these drones flight patterns. they use cheap gps systems, or rather civilian gps systems that could be scrambled and jammed and interfered with. and this is where some of the successes against these drones has been visible lately. nick: nearly all of ukraine's substations, as well as the distribution lines for electricity, as well as for heat, have been destroyed. those can be fixed in a matter of days, ukrainian officials say. but zelenskyy said today admitted 30% of the power plants have also been destroyed. that takes a longer time to fix. does that have not only civilian

implications, but military implications as well? >> well, absolutely. right now, ukrainian civilian and military efforts are interlinked. a lot of the resources are part of the civilian and the military effort. at the same time, this doesn't necessarily appear to stamp the ukrainian resolve in the face of these attacks, and it's not likely that these drones will have an effect on the ukrainian population that russia probably intense. -- intends. we're also in a relatively uncharted territory. if russia continues to launch these strikes on a daily basis and if russia in fact, gains more of these loitering drones, as the ukrainian government itself has indicated, there's a plan, possible plan for russia to acquire over 2000 of these up. and if all of those are going to be used against ukrainian civilian and military infrastructure, then this becomes a different type of war. nick: ukraine's terrain gets very difficult to cross when it becomes muddy. that's in the next few weeks.

but over the winter, will both sides continue to keep fighting and try and push the front line forward? >> both sides are preparing for winter warfare. ukrainians are preparing for it. russians are preparing for it. russian volunteers are fundraising for thermal underwear and for warm clothes for their soldiers as well. so there's every bit of of a resolve on both sides to fight into the winter, to try and essentially for the ukraine to to push the russians further south and east and for the russians to try and reverse some of these ukrainian advances. nick: thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ amna: the great salt la in utah is the largest body of salt water in the western hemisphere without an outlet to the sea.

an ongoing megadrought, made worse by climate change, means less precipition, and a growing population is taking more water before the lake can refill. scientists say the resulting record-low water levels in recent years are worrying. stephanie sy explored the lake both on and off the water to learn more. stephanie: reaching the waters of the great salt lake from almost any direction these days is a hike and brian footen is carrying a heavy load. founder of the earthviews conservation society, he's equipped a kayak with cameras and sensors, mobile tools to map the receding shoreline. >> this is going to log water quality data every 10 seconds. things like temperature, dissolved oxygen. stephanie: satellite images capture the extent of the lake shrinkage since 1985, but footen says there is nothing like bringing the public right to its dwindling surface there is interactive website. >> it doesn't take, you know, charts and graphs and big

scientific reports to tell the story. right? all you have to do is go out there and look. stephanie: and so we did, paddling through shallow waters with an astonishing vacancy of life. this northern arm of the lake is already forever changed by human decisions. the red tent is a result of extremely high salinity. it was choked off from the rest of the lake years ago to build a railroad causeway. >> the great salt lake is drying up. climate change is responsible. you know, developers are responsible. and it just goes goes over top of people's heads. so what we're doing is using this imagery as a way to kind of go, wow, look at this.his is really happening. stephanie: footen also sends the data he collects to biologist bonnie baxter. >> the water is way out there now. stephanie: we meet her on the southern end of the great salt lake. it is eerily quiet and smells of brine. >> i feel like we're in the middle of just a dead zone here. it feels like another planet. >> it's like a dead coral reef.

it's like a cemetery. these are the tombstones. stephanie: it feels like that. >> if we see larva in the water -- stephanie: baxter brings researchers from westminster college to gather specimens weekly. >> these mounds should be covered with mats of microorganisms that do photosynthesis and bring the sun's energy into the lake system. but you can see that they're dry and they're not green and they're out of the water. even the ones in the water are not healthy because they're too salty and the ones out of the water are to drive. stephanie: the mounds are called microbialites. >> this is the foundation of the great salt lake ecosystem. and we're seeing it crash and die right before our eyes. stephanie: the lake is at its lowest level in history. as a result, it's becoming too salty even for species adapted to high salinity. >> were not finding any fly pupa

today. that's terrifying. stephanie: brine flies feed the millions of birds that flock here, as do brine shrimp, which are also harvested. it is just one part of the one point $3 billion economic output of the great salt lake. to understand why the lake is drying up, you have to zoom out to the surrounding areas of the lake's namesake salt lake city. >> the state of utah as a whole is the fastest growing state in the nation. yellow is the new green. stephanie: erin mendenhall is the mayor, a democrat. >> salt lake city as the capital is seeing more growth in terms of units each year than almost anywhere else in the state. stephanie: there are more city residents than ever, but they are actually using less water. >> we are absolutely committed to saving this lake with whatever we can. last year that was 2.6 billion gallons of water. that salt lake was conserved. this year, it's already up to 2.9 billion gallons.

stephanie: the city had achieved that not by mandating water restrictions, but by raising water rates about 15% a year, and implementing a tiered rate structure. >> the more you consume, those water rates go up even faster. and these water rates reflect the urgency that we feel as salt lakers. stephanie: but beyond the capital, developments are springing up along the wasatch front. single-family homes with lawns full of kentucky bluegrass that demands daily watering. >> it is something that is a native species. stephanie: in salt lake city, jennifer and john lair are part of a grassroots movement to swap bluegrass lawns for native plants that need less water. >> especially with the kind of exponential growth that the wasatch front has seen and expects to see for the next 25, 30 years, there just isn't going to be enough water. >> it makes us wonder if we need to be thinking about living somewhere else. i mean, it's an idea we toss around, you know, how seriously

and it kind of depends on the day. of course, the question then becomes, where do you go from there? where is not going to be impacted by climate change? stephanie: while conservation efforts by residents of salt lake city will definitely help, it may not be enough. of the water in the great salt two thirds lake watershed goes to agriculture, including the water from the bear river. it irrigates the farms and ranches whose yields utah families have relied on sie mormon pioneers settled the region in the 1800s, fulfilling, they believed, a biblil prophecy to make the desert blossom. >> i do't i don't know what normal looks like anymore. it's been a lontime since we've had good, good winters and good moisture. stephanie: joel ferry has a unique perspectives. a fifth generation utah cattle rancher, he's also a former republican state representative and other director of the state's department of natural resources. >> water in the state of utah, is a prior appropriation. so whoever used it first has the

first right to to use it today. and a lot of those rights belong to farmers. stephanie: is it time for that to change? >> well, no. i mean, we have we have laws and we have structure. so what is time for us to do is to implement more conservation measures. stephanie: bipartisan support for conserving water for the great salt lake led to a dozen laws enacted this year by the republican-dominated state government. the reforms, among many provisions, do away with "use or lose" water policies. >> we passed legislation that me as a farmer, i can say, you know what, i'm going to take my water, i'm going to put it in the river and i'll receive a beneficial use, which totally changes the mindset of that use it or lose it. i might say, you know, wheat is not worth very much. i don't want it. i'm going to get some compensation if i leave it in the river. stephanie: one of the biggest worries is that the great salt lake will go the way others have gone before it -- not just drying up and ceasing to be a source of water, but becoming a

source of poison. biologist bonnie baxter says more than 40% of the lake bed is no longer covered by water and could turn to dust. >> we are likely to see an increase in dust storms. stephanie: and that's toxic dust because there is arsenic and heavy metal on ts lakebed, right? >> exactly. so the breathing, these small particles, you know, has a huge impact on human health. but then you talk about the heavy metals and what that does to our system over time. and that's a little scary. stephanie: other dried out salt lakes provide a cautionary tale. in the early 20th century, water from the sierra nevada mountains was diverted from owens lake to growing los angeles. by the 1920's the lake was dry. , and for decades after, toxic dust plumes sickened area residents. it is only one reason why for hours a day brian footen paddles along the shoreline, documenting

the lakes disappearance. >> i think one of the big stories that's been missed in the talk about the climate and the drought and the agriculture and the development in salt lake is that this is a unique ecosystem on the planet. there's nothing else like it. stephanie: and that in itself, he says, is a reason for saving it. for the pbs, i'm stephanie sy at the great salt lake in utah. ♪ amna: we are in the thick of midterm season. with election night a few weeks away, candidates are taking to the debate stage. are the debates in this political climate mobilizing voters or changing minds?

i'm joined by two longtime political consultts. brett o'donnell has worked on debate reparatn for five presidential candidates including george w. bush, john mccain, and mitt romney. antidemocratic strategist stephanie cutter -- and democratic strategist stephanie cutter. thank you for being with us. and number of high-stakes debates last night. first in ohio, we have the senate candidates tim ryan and the republican candidate j.d. vance who debated on voters top issue, the economy. here is what they had to say. >> i really wish he had stood up to his party on the vote because and might have made the inflation crisis a lot better if he hadn't done what he always does which is vote with nancy pelosi and joe biden 100% of the time. >> you keep talking about ncy

pelosi. if you want to run against nancy pesi, move back to san francisco and run against nancy pelosi. you are running against me. i made sure we had all the investments in electric vehicles in the inflation reduction act. >> is there something you notice the way he's name checking pelosi and biden? is that part of the republican strategy? >> absolutely and while tim ryan tried to make the most, there isn't a lot he can make out of the economy, inflati is running against democrats. the inflation reduction act won't reduce inflation anytime soon if at all. so that becomes a problem for them. but back in 2014, barack obama said his policies were on the ballot and in that midterm republicans won nine senate seats away from democrats. while we may not win that many, i do think that because of the economy and the president's and

nancy pelosi's policies are on the ballot, whether not tim ryan wants to separate himself, he is the representative and he is unfortunately going to have to bear the brunt of the blame for the bad economy. amna: stephanie, what do you say to that? >> democrats knew going into this midterm that all of the historical winds were against them. add to that the economy. but what i do think that democrats have been trying to do and in some cases very successfully is make this a choice between two different directions. with the insertion of the dobbs supreme court decision, the ongoing insertion of donald trump putting himself into this race, the raid on his mar-a-lago resort, all of those things have

taken away the idea that this was a referendum on democrats and it has been much more of a choice. amna: you mentioned the dobbs decision. i want to ask you about abortion rights. it has become an increasing issue for voters. in georgia last night, in the gubernatorial debate, brian kemp was asked about a recording on which hwas asked if he would go further in terms of restrictions than a six-week band. here is what he said in response to that and what abrams had to say. >> can you tell us right now whether you would push for these measures or any other additional restrictions on abortion now that the 2019 law is in effect? >> no, i would not. >> he has weakened our privacy rights and women's rights. he has denied women access to reproductive care. the most dangerous thing facing georgia is four more years of brian kemp. >> it's fair to say republicans have been rolling back abortion rights.

women on both sides of the aisle are concerned. should republicans be messaging more proactively? >> not only should brian kemp be answering his question, but stacey abrams should be answering the question, what abortion restrictions does she believe in? most country does not believe in late-term abortions, yet that is the democrat position. publicans would do well to stay on offense, but make sure that they address this within the boundaries of being compassionate, understanding that these are tough situations, and that they are going to handle them compassionately. amna: stephanie, what would you say to that? >> i would say that republicans will have a hard time going on offense on this decision. i think women across the country, families across the country know this is not about late-term abortion, this is about whether women can make their own decisions with their doctors about what is right for them and their families.

if camp attacks stacey abrams on where her restrictions were, the simple answer is this, women should make that decision becaus having a false choice over late-term abortion -- we all know that very, very few, far less than 1% of abortions happen after the 20 week mark -- that is usually because the baby will not survive or the mother's health is at risk. and who better to make that decision about what to do in those circumstances than the woman and her doctor? amna: i need to ask you both about another big issue that came up again last night in the utah debate. there is a backdrop to this. senator michael he had early on encouraged president trump to challenge the 2020 election results after later reversing

course. all of this is unfolding against a very striking new poll that came out recently with registered voters from the new york times and siena college asking people if american democracy is under threat. 71% say yes. 21% say no. those numbers are virtually the same for republicans and democrats. is that a message democrat should be leaning into more? >> i think you do hear that on the campaign trail across the country. i think you hear it more in races like michael lee's, where he didn't encourage the president not to concede the election and participated in what ultimately became the january 6 insurrection. michael he did not anticipate and that insurrection, let's not end -- that's not what i'm suggesting, but let's be clear that alleging fraud where fraud does not exist and encouraging a president to not concede, to

continue to say that he won -- he still says that he won -- all of that contributes to a lack of trust in our democratic institutions, a lack of tst in our democratic system, and lots of opportunities to overthrow it. amna: brett, what would you say? >> sure, first of all, if you are number in the new york times poll shows that there is an equal number of democrats and republicans who view democracy under threat, and it is not just because of what happened in 2020. there are lots of other reasons why people are worried about their democracy. they see the democrats acting unilaterally. they see abuses of executive power. i agree that there are democracy threats all around us. one of them are hippocratic democrats who want to say that democrat -- democracies under threat, but at the same time won't persist debate in the cornerstone of any good

democracy -- that is debate. by the way, the threat to democracy is not the foremost issue in the minds of voters. right now, a t of folks are wondering how they put gas in their car or groceries on their table. they are worried about safety in their neighborhoods. they are worried about open borders. those are the things at the forefront of most voters this cycle. amna: i think both of you for setting the example of how to smart people can show up and debate and disagree on the issues, but still be civil about it. my thanks to you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. ♪ amna: for many voters this year, the focus has been on contests for governor, senator or local representatives, but there is a lomore at stake in the midterms. laura barron-lopez explains.

>> voters and 36 states will decide on ballot measures this election. the future of abortion access, health care, and voting itself is on the ballot. reid wilson is the founder and editor of a digital news outlet that launched this month to cover public policy in the states. when abortion was on the ballot in kansas, voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed for a ban. therere five more states that have a ballot measure on abortion in november, california, kentucky, michigan, montana, and vermont. >> i'm watching two of those five states that are very likely to pass in california and vermont. but michigan is a swing state. michigan will be instructive about what is coming down the line next year and five years down the road. if putting an abortion measure of the ballot in michigan drives

turnout for democrats, you will see that, on the balt in every state where the initiative process is a part of the political process. kentucky, like kansas, a very conservative state, if an abortion ban were to fail, that would be a serious red flag for republicans and those who oppose abortion rights as they go forward. this will be a fht that takes place in the state legislatures and i think we will see had no more and more ballots because both sides think they have the upper hand. >> the president today was saying this could very well reach congress by next year. over in south dakota, there is medicaid expansion on the ballot. voters have previously proved medicaid expansion and six other state, but south dakota and's will decide whether 45,000 people get this access. >> this is one of the last fights over the legacy of the affordable care act that president obama signed.

all of the democratic-controlled states and purple states and even red states have expanded medicaid to cover those who make up to 138% of the federal poverty line. this is one othe last options that proponents of medicaid expansion have to expand medicaid through a ballot initiative. the vast majority of other states have either on this or are so conservative that they probably won't. >> if that measure passes, it will also cover in number of native americans in the state who don't have health care access right now. i want to talk about rank choice voting. it became popular after the alaska special election. the big swing state considering it is nevada with several cities and counties across the country also. if it is adopted, what will it look like in nevada versus other states? >> every state has a different version of rank choice voting. in nevada, it would be a top

number of candidates who advance. the top candidates who get votes in a primary, the top four, would advance to a general election, done by a ranked choice system. you vote for the candidate you like the most. if that candidate comes in last, your second choice vote gets reallocated as a first choice vote. they keep doing that until someone gets 50% plus one. they say it is a way for people to express their opinions beyond just the two major parties. interestingly enough, there is a lot of opposition in nevada from minority groups, who think it will hinder their ability to elect a candidate of their choice in minority heavy districts. supporters of rank choice voting say that is not the case. we will see. the experiments have taken place in maine and alaska, which are two pretty homogenous states. >> i'm originally from california and the top two vote getters can sometimes become chaotic.

also marijuana. five states have it on the ballot. arkansas, maryland, missouri, north dakota, and south dakota. president biden has talked about decriminalizing the drug. that is not the same as legalizing it, which allows industries to build it up. where do voters fall on the issue of legalizing? >> this is a fascinating test because the five states he mentioned, four are very conservative. we see this phenomenon of red states voting on marijuana legalization because supporters of marijuana have been so successful in all the other states where access to the ballot is available. there are fewer and fewer states where the public has the option to legalize marijuana. it means the next round of fights will take place in state legislatures and it is not unheard of for a state legislature to approve legal marijuana. vermont, new york, new jersey.

it could be going to red states next. it is not the third rail that legalized marijuana once was a few years ago. >> what is your big take away across the ballot measures and how could they impact voter turnout? >> in a number of cases including the michigan abortion case, these ballot measures may drive turnout to the polls. who is likely to show up to vote in november? one thing we saw after the dobbs decision is the number of younger voters, younger women signing up to vote ballooned. it jumped through the roof. and a lot of the states if we see those younger women turn out to vote, it will be assigned they are activated by some of these initiatives. >> thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having me. ♪ amna: several recent

anti-semitic comments from public figures, from former president donald trump to recording artist ye formerly known as kanye west, have sparked concern about the rise of anti-semitic rhetoric and the real world consequences. john yang has a conversation about the latest. >> over the weekend, former president trump posted some disturbing comments to his social media app, truth social, that included this -- no president has done more for israel than i have. u.s. jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in israel before it is too late. >> white house press secretary karine jean-pierre denounced the post as anti-somatic playing on , the old trope that implies that american jews should have should support israel simply based on their religion. many also saw that phrase before it is too late as a threat. this comes as the musical artist

ye doubled down on anti semitic comments. he was suspended from twitter and instagram after saying jewish people are trying to blackball him and tweeting that he would goad death, three on jewish people. dov waxman is director of the y&s nazarian center for israeli studies and a professor of political science at university of california, los angeles. his most recent book is the israeli-palestinian conflict: whatever one needs to know. mr. waxman, thanks so much for joining us. are you concerned that comments like these from people like these from a former president from a megastar recording star can spread anti semitic sentiments more widely? >> absolutely. i think the real danger here is that both president trump's remarks and kanye west had the dangers of normalizing anti semitism, of legitimizing it. i mean, these are people who have a huge number of followers, particularly on social media. and when they're coming out and saying this, it kind of gives license to many other people to

also express anti semitic statements. and it really signals a wider i think, mainstreaming of anti semitism in our political discourse today, and that's really a worrying development. >> you know, in the past when former president trump has been accused of using anti semiti rhetoric he's defended himself , by pointing to his daughter's family who's jewish, and for his support for israel. well, what's your response to that? >> well, i think both of those things are really irrelevant to the question of whether he is or isn't an anti semite. i mean, as a side point, i didn't think he is actually anti semitic. but he certainly traffics in anti semitic stereotypes, repeats anti semitic ideas, he made himself not personally hate jews. but i think we should also bear in mind that supporting israel or having jewish family members, doesn't mean that one can't be anti-semitic. there are anti semites who have support and who still support israel and are anti-semitic people who may have jews in their family. so neither of those things, i think, disprove the claim that

trump is himself an anti semite, but i think the more important issue is not what he feels or the feelings he has towards jews, but rather, the way in which he repeats anti semitic stereotypes and encourages anti - semitism in among his followers and signaling to many of his supporters that those kinds of ideas are acceptable. >> so much of this current discussion is about former president trump and conservative voices but of course, democratic representative ilhan omar has been criticized in the past for her comments, saying that congressional support for israel is based on money, not principle. is this a problem or do you see a problem on the democratic side as well? >> i think anti semitism is a concern on all sides of the political spectrum, anti semitic ideas, stereotypes, ways of thinking can come up across the political spectrum or left right or center. but i think we have to be clear that the real the great danger of anti semitism in the united states today and the most deadly forms of anti semitism are coming quite clearly from the

right. so while statements about the power of the pro israel and allusions to its control over congress can certainly draw upon old anti semitic ideas. i don't think we should equate that with the kind of mainstreaming of anti semitic conspiracy theories. that is happening today within the republican party in the form of the kind of replacement theory or the demonization of george soros, which happens on an almost daily basis. >> there are times when when criticisms and debate over israeli policies, particularly israeli treatment of the palestinian people, can trigger accusations or denunciations of anti semitism. what's the line there? where's the line? >> well, that's the million dollar question. and everybody i think draws the line in different place. i mean, people recognize that not all criticism of israel. is anti-semitic. i think that principle is widely recognized.

but where exactly criticism of israel crosses the line into anti semitism is much debated. in my view, criticism of islam becomes anti semitic when it draws upon anti-semitic stereotypes, anti-semitic ideas or tropes or representations of jews. in other words, when israel is kind of depicted in the same ways that jews once depicted in anti-semitic literature and anti semitic discourse, or when israel is accused of kind of secretly engaging in conspiracies, where is when is blamed for all sorts of world events, be at the 9/11 terrorist attack or the invasion of iraq or even the covid-19 pandemic. when you have that kind of conspiracy theory about zionism and about israel that is also classically anti-semitic. >> i want to ask you about a tweet that my colleague morgan till spotted them this morning. it's from elon musk had since been taken down. it shows donald trump, elon musk , and kanye west is the three

musketeers. the kanye west with parlor, trump with true social and of course elon musk is says he's intent on buying twitter. and must caption is in retrospect, it was inevitable. does this convergence on social media give you concern? >> yeah, i think really what we're seeing is the way as anti semitism really being trafficked on social media. it's not altogether clear that anti-semitism is growing in terms of attitudes among the american public. what is happening, though, is that anti-semitism is being expressed continually on constant basis on social media. and it's very often being amplified through the algorithms that social media uses. and so i think the real danger is in the ways in which social media now is spreading anti-semitic ideas. >> are those ideas becoming more socially acceptable to say out loud to express? >> yeah, i think that's the change. it's not necessarily that more people are subscribing to anti semitic ideas, but that the kind of taboo that may have existed

to some extent in the past against expressing anti-semitic ideas that taboo is really , ending and, and i think, you know, kanye west's comments and trump's comments, and many other celebrities' comments about jews have that effect of eroding this taboo against the expression of anti semitism and making anti semitism increasingly acceptable in mainstream public discourse. and that is a very alarming development because accepting anti semitism in speech and language that can also ultimately lead to anti semitic acts and anti semitic violence. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ amna: there have been more than two million apprehensions at the u.s.-mexico border in the last year -- a record high. and since 2018, photographer

pablo allison has documented the human stories behind these statistics. laura is back with this conversation as part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> from the crowded tops of freight trains in mexico to quiet moments of rest. mexican-british photojournalist pablo alison has documented the journeys of migrants from central america to the u.s. southern border for the last five years. his latest project, the detainee handbookexplores what it's like for migrants detained by u.s. immigration and customs enforcement from inside the detention center where he found himself in 2019. how did you start photographing migrants making their wato the u.s.? >> i was driven to wanting to investigate the landscape of mexico traveling on trains from the southern border of mexico up to new york. that was the intended journey. i couldn't avoid, but to photograph the situation that i was surrounded by and facing. that one journey ended up in about four years of on and off documentation of migrant

caravans, individual journeys , following small groups of people migrating to the united states. >> what are some of the forces that drive people to flee and make this difficult journey? >> the first journey i did, i was in el salvador. i heard about the story of a of -- the story of a kid that was being recruited by the gang. and he didn't want to be a part of the ms 13 gang. and therefore, he escaped his neighborhood. that was a vivid and direct account of what had been reading in news and books, specifically while i was working at amnesty international, which is where i got to know more about the situatioin central america. my task was to find stories of human rights abuses. and atrocities like the one of this kid. i've heard hundreds of stories

of peoplthat i've met along the route. the pattern is violence over poverty, although they go hand in hand. >> what are some of the themes about humanity that you explore in your work? >> i've found elements of love through meeting people that have a lot of love for themselves and the lives they live. migrants is a concept that's used like many other concepts as categories to dehumanize. and so for me, i try not to use the concept of the migrant as a concept, but rather use names sometimes, carlos, pepe, javier, maria, carmen, who are people that i've met along the way and its people that i've befriended. those are key elements in the work that i do. >> there's this photograph that struck me that i think gets at what you're talking about with love. it was in 2019 that you ok it, and it shows this young honduran couple and it really evokes

hope. do you remember what that couple's aspirations were, what they and others with them were hoping to achieve as they travel to another country? >> it was early in the morning and the sun was rising. no one was awake. [00:17:52] i took a picture and she spotted me, and she looked at me. when they woke up, i remember telling them that they were a beautiful couple and that they were very lucky to be together, traveling and and protecting one another. i don't remember asking them, but i just assumed their aspiration was to seek for a better life like everyone is trying to do, from places where conflict and poverty exist. >> as you started this journey of photographing people who make this trek for a better life, you also said that you never considered visiting a u.s. immigration detention center as

part of your photography work. but in 2019, you yourself were detained for several weeks after your u.s. visa expired. what was that experience like? >> when i was going through immigration on the border between mexico and the united states, i went through it and no questions asked, no stamp on my passport, because i had gone in with my previous entry and not with a new one which i thought had been the case. it was an administrative error i didn't know very well, they didn't explain and then i ended up being there for almost a month. it's a detention center, yes, but it smells, looks, and tastes like a prison. luckily, sadly, but luckily i was able to document this. facing the terrible situation of being inside a detention center in the united states allowed me at least to be able to focus on that side of the story, which i never in my life would have thought i would i would have ended up doing.

>> and that side of the story is now the new book, the detainee handbook. it contains sketches, diary entries and much more from your time there. so what was it like to document that experience without your camera? >> it allowed me to stay calm for the time that i was there, which was almost a month. i focused on portraits of detainees. and i also asked many people in there to write their stories and and stories or ideas related to incarceration, migration, family, freedom, etc. so what you have in the book is a participation or collaboration between people and my sketches of people. >> pablo allison, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks very much. amna: powerful conversation and some powerful pictures. that's the newshour foronight. i'm amna nawaz.

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♪ pati, voice-over: one bite of piloncillo, and i'm carried away to my childhood in mexico. pati: this is like the piloncillo i had tried before, like, times a million! pati, voice-over: piloncillo is made with only one ingredient-- the juice of sugarcane. it's wonderful in a hot day. mm. it's delicious. pati, voice-over: i have used it in my kitchen for so many years, and i'm so excited to finally taste it directly from the source as the garza family in allende fires up their century-old sugar mill. pati: it's smoky, it's barnyardy. it's, like, yum! pati, voice-over: then just a few hours north i meet the casso de luna sisters, who have been using the sweet, raw flavor of piloncillo in their pan dulce recipes