♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on "the newshour" toght... vote 2022 -- as election day approaches, pennsylvania's closely-watched senate race is neck and neck. we speak to voters about the issues influencing their vote. then... a troubling surge -- hospitals are under strain as they care for high numbers of children infected with respiratory illnesses. and... deadly violence -- gangs in haiti grow stronger, spurring the government to ask for international armed forces to keep peace. >> what you're watching is basically a slow motion coup d'état. haiti has reached the point of a failed state by now. it is not functioning. judy: 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 viewers like you. thank you. judy: russia's president vladimir putin is now appealing for action in the face of what he calls new, serious challenges in ukraine. he convened a new leadership committee today and pushed for faster production of weapons a supplies. earlier, britain's defense ministry reported that russia's forces are running low on artillery ammunition. progressive democrats in the

u.s. house of representatives have withdrawn a letter that urged direct talks with russia on ukraine. the letter to president biden warned that "the alternative to diplomacy is protracted war." other democrats complained that stance could undercut u.s. military support for ukraine. the white house said only ukraine's president can decide on diplomacy. sec. jean-pierre: we're doing this to strengthen their hand, not just on the battlefield, but if they choose, if ukraine chooses to negotiate, but again that that is up to president zelenskyy and he will make that decision for his country. judy: all of this comes after house republican leader kevin mccarthy warned ukraine won't get a blank check if republicans win back the house. a russian court today rejected an appeal by brittney griner, of her sentence for drug possession. the u.s. basketball star appeared via video link from a

penal colony outside moscow. she was sentenced in august to 9 years in prison. later, president biden said the u.s. is in constant contact with russian officials, trying to get griner out. in the middle east, israeli forces battle palestinian gunmen overnight in the occupied west bank, killing at least five palestinians. it happened where the israelis targeted an armed group blamed for killing a soldier. flames and smoke rose into the night sky in one of the fiercest crashes -- clashes this year. later, crowds of palestinian's turned out for a funeral of one of the dead. richey soon i is the uk's prime minister. he pledged to earn the public's trust following week of political chaos.

pm sunak: i will work day in and day out to deliver for you. this government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level. sunak is the uk's third prime minister this year, and its first leader of color. italy's first female premier -- giorgia meloni -- has addressed parliament for the first time, defending her far-right politics. she pledged today to tackle economic difficulties, and she rejected claims that she would undo abortion rights laws. pm meloni: the policy of a center-right government will never restrict existing freedoms. we will see, also on civil rights and abortion, who was lying and who was telling the truth during the electoral campaign about what our real intentions were. judy: meloni also vowed to continue supporting ukraine against russia.

a judge in hong kong convicted pro-democracy publisher jimmy lai of fraud today. he was already serving a 20-month sentence for promoting unauthorized protests. it's part of inland china's ongoing crackdown on democracy activists. back in this country, adidas became the latest company to cut ties with the rap star ye -- formerly kanye west -- over his anti-semitic remarks. the german firm said his statements were "unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous." adidas had faced pressure from customers, employees and stockholders to take action. on wall street, strong corporate earnings fueled another rally. general motors, for one, reported third quarter profits rose nearly 37 percent from a year earlier. major stock indexes gained 1 to 2 percent. the dow jones industrial average was up 337 points to close at 31,836. the nasdaq rose 246 points.

the s&p 500 added 61. and, former u.s. defense secretary ash carter has died after suffering a heart attack in boston. he served in the obama administration and opened military combat jobs to women while ending a ban on transgender people in the military. ash carter was8 years old. still to come on "the newshour"... the role mail-in voting could play in the upcoming midterms... a woman who escaped her captor's home highlights the often ignored plight of missing black women... a new movie tells the true story of a man who delivered beer to his friends in the middle of the vietnam war... 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.

judy: covid is still infecting hundreds of thousands of americans every week. flu season is underway and there is a third virus surging, causing physicians to worry about a potential tri-demic this winter. john yang has the details. john: judy, in an effort to encourage more people to get the updated covid vaccine, president biden rolled up his sleeve today to get jabbed. but pediatric hospitals across the country are struggling to deal with cases of another virus -- rsv, or respiratory syncytial virus. dr. juan salazar is physician-in-chief at connecticut children's medical center in hartford and head of pediatrics at the university of connecticut medical school. thank you for joining us. i read where you describe the situation at connecticut children's medical center as an emergency. what is it like there right now? dr. salazar: thanks, john, for

having me with you. indeed, we are seeing a tremendous rise in the number of cases of rsv in children. i have been doing this here at connecticut children's for 25 years and i have never seen a surge like the one we're seeing right now. i can tell you that as of this time, we have 18 kids that are in the emergency department that have been receiving care obviously by us, waiting to come into one of our beds. our units are full, our intensive care unit is full. we are creating a new step down to provide the care for the kids. and this is just something that i haven't seen before, started about three weeks ago and it has persisted. so we are concerned obviously , providing the care. and i can tell you that this is very similar to what other children's hospitals are seeing thughout the nation. john: how much of a strain is this putting on the medical center? dr. salazar: it is dficult. obviously, you know, we have some health care heroes, our nurses, respiratory therapists, our pediatric residents,

emergency medicine personnel, our doctors. and everyone is working overtime. for the first time in my history as the chair of the department, the division chief, i've had to require people that are in other specialties to be able to provide care in the emergency department to be able to handle the surge. this is a difficult situation after 2.5 years of covid that were complicated for all of us. this has put additional strain on the health care team come on the patients on the parents. , and we're doing our best of course but it is very , complicated for all of us. john: what does rsv look like and how is it treated? dr. salazar: for the majority of children, it will manifest like a common cold, which is what it is. the runny nose, a little bit of a cough, maybe low grade fever for a couple of days and then they get better. but in some children, especially those that are under under the age of six months or kids that

have other underlying conditions such as congenital heart disease cystic fibrosis, lung disease or , extreme prematurity, it can have a really nasty component which develops into viral pneumonia, classically called bronchialitis. and what that means is that the very small airways that the children have, get plugged with mucus as a result of the response to the virus. and in those cases, children can get very sick and have difficulty breathing, difficulty feeding, very high fever, respiratory distress. when that happens, obviously a parent should talk to the pediatrician and if it's in greater distress, they should bring him immediately for care in one of our emergency rooms we can actually provide oxygen and supportive care for the kids. john: are you worried about a convergence -- covid, seasonal flu, rsv? are you worried about this winter? dr. salazar: i am, of course. rsv is going to continue probably in the u.s. for the next two to four weeks. we're not at the peak yet. i think we're probably one or two weeks away from that peak.

and unfortunately, what comes at the tail end of rsv is a beginning or the rise of influenza cases, which is a much more severe disease for children than adults. so i do worry thatnless we get vaccinated for influenza, which is something that can be done immediately, go to the pediatrician for any kid over the age of six months to get we will have a , convergence of influenza and rsv. and to cap it off, unfortunately, but what we predict is that variants of covid-19 will come in at the tail end of that exactly how that will affect the pediatric population is less well known. but we're in for a few weeks of some difficulties here. so i urge parents that are listening to this really take , this opportunity immediately right away to take your six month old and above and get them vaccinated against influenza, get yourself vaccinated. it is a very effective vaccine. this year it matches the virus pretty well. so it'going to be even more effective. so that's my message to all of you. be not afraid. do not panic.

be sensible. be careful. i think if you do those things we'll get through this. ,john: also the message to parents, with all of these bugs flying around, how can a parent know whether it is rsv? i also want to underscore your message, when should a parent take a child to the emergency room? dr. salazar: i wouldn't be too concerned whether they need to know if it is rsv or something else. what is important is to monitor your child. if your child is having difficulty breathing, grunting, flaring, not eating, not ringing, high fever, that's the time to call your pediatrician. and if it's more severe, especially they're immunocompromised or very young then that is the time you may need to call 911 or head to the emergency department. most of the time that will not be needed. but i want to caution that if your child is having difficulty breathing, that child probably needs emergency care and oxygen, something we can do in our

hospital and hopefully turn them around quickly and get them home. john: dr. salazar, thank you very much. dr. salazar: a pleasure to be with you. ♪ judy: the nation of haiti isn free fall. just 600 miles off florida's coast, the country that is no stranger to struggle is facing a confluence of humanitarian, security, and political crises. millions do not have enough food. cholera is spreading. gang violence has reached previously safe areas. and the government appears powerless to provide solutions. nick schifrin has our story, and a warning -- some of the images are disturbing. nick: in this port-au-prince hospital run by doctors without borders, the patients are survivors of a country that has

collapsed. thsociety like their legs are fractured and they suffer the wounds of war ravaging the haitian capital. or than a quarter are gunshot victims, including this teenager. we are keeping him anonymous from the gangs that shot him. >> when i was looking amy stomach, i saw a big hole here and another here. i didn't die because they gave me care. nick: he is from port-au-prince's biggest slum, where residents try to survive not just joking poverty but a recent wave of intense violence. he was filming this video of a gang tearing down a when the bullet hit. [gunshots] >> we were in the middle of a war. you sleep, it is war, you wake up, shots are fired. what i'm trying to say is it was the day for me to take a bullet, but it is not only me. i am not the only victim. nick: violence escalated in july when battles raged between rival gangs for territory.

one led by a former police officer. they use excavators to raze each other's neighborhoods. in broad daylight, ganmembers kidnap patients for ransom. they toured government buildings and set court documents on fire. in mid-september, they are holding hostage 70% of haiti's fuel. they taunted authorities and rallied supporters. >> it is true or going to get through into the soil terminal when we are dead. to the haitian people, if it's true we need to live as real human beings and for other nations to respect us, man your barricades. >>hese are warlords, people who have military training and are a de facto force. nick: gary is the founder of the haitian times, and english-language newspaper.

gary: they dictate we have water, when we have fuel, when people can go out. we are basically watching a slow motion coup d'état. haiti is a failed state right now, not functioning. nick: haitian society is furious. for months, demonstrators have protested against insecurity and the lack of food and gas. as police looked on, demonstrators even looted humanitarian warehouses. now the violence and fuel restrictions have exacerbated a cholera outbreak. this woman gave her son liquids but it was too late for the rest of her family. >> i saw him getting worse so i broughhim here. i learned my little sister had died of cholera. nick: where is the haitian government? it has been 15 months since the president was assassinated. hades caretaker prime minister requested international troops to keep the peace, that the

government is unable to provide. last week in new york, the international community took a first step to try to provide stabilization. for the first time in five years, the un security council passed a resolution on haiti that sanctioned gang leaders and financial sponsors. but a u.s. and mexico resolution for a troop deployment is on hold. do you think it is a good idea for the un security council to authorize an international military mission to haiti? >> what choices do we have? it is not a good idea but it is a series of bad ideas. this mission, whatever form it comes in, needs to address the social inequalities. these young men have been marginalized and the society. nick: for every 10 -- >> for every 10 young boys, it had firearms and i was one of them. nick: this is a former gang member turned peace promoter.

in his 30's, he disarmed himself through a government program and cofounded a community organization that trains young haitians to resolve conflict through dialogue. he says the gangs are popular because they are both the power and the bank. >> when 18-year-old enters an armed gang, he is the one who puts food and drinks on the table. and even pays the rent. it is like having a job. nick: the teenager who was shot sent us this video. his neighborhood, no running water and no school, but he has nowhere else to go. >> i hope for all of the bandits to be killed or arrested and put in prison. only then will the country work properly. bandits are destroying the country. nick: for more on this, i am joined by brian nichols, the assistance secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs. thank you and welcome to the newshour.

you lead an intra-agency delegation to haiti this month. what did you see? brian: a haiti suffering from choler from intense security challenges posed by gangs. i saw a haiti whose economy is grinding to a standstill due to a lack of fuel and a haiti that needs our help more than ever and we are going to give that help. nick: what does the u.s. hope to accomplish by the actions we saw at the u.n. last week sanctioning gang members and their financial sponsors? brian: the intention is not only to go after gang members, but to go after those who support and fund them, who directs their nefarious activities, wherever they are. nick: a second resolution the u.s. is working on is to send an international military force to haiti.

why does the u.s. support another international force to go to haiti? brian: our focus is on providing the security the haitian cabinet and u.n. secretary general have asked for. that would be a multinational force with a substantial police component that will provide security to the haitian people and to give haitian actors and political figures the space to reach an agreement on a way forward, to organize elections. to restore democracy. nick: will there be u.s. personnel as part of that? brian: we are looking at how we would support the mission. our focus is providing those things where we have unique skills and advantages, but we need to do that in support of a partner nation that will lead. there are intensive talks going on right now. nick: journalists and historians and haiti have long said that the u.s. has never allowed haiti

to make its own political decisions. do you fear that sending this force would make the same mistakes as the past? brian: given the cholera outbreak, the lack of fuel, we need to act, but that action should open the space for haitians to come together around the organizing of elections, around the process toward democracy, and to get the country moving forward again. nick: why is the u.s. supporting the prime minister? brian: our stance is he is a transitional figure. i've met with him and every conversation, he said he would turn over to an electric government. nick: there was controversy, many have called him illegitimate. do you believe he has earned the

right to transition haiti to the next up? brian: he is taking difficult steps. he has ended fuel subsidies and haiti, a controversial move, but it means the government now has money to dedicate to education, health care, infra structure and haiti could those are actions we've wanted to see for quite some time. them and i respect him for that. nick: earlier this year, you said when we look at the history of haiti, it is replete with the international community reaching into haitian politics and picking winners and losers. our goal in terms of the u.s. government is to avoid that. with your support for henri, are you picking winners and losers even today? brian: we are not there to pick who haiti's leaders are. but the government that is there is led by henri at the moment,

but he is a transitional figure and it is up to haitians to find a way forward and we hope to give them the means to do that. nick: on the humanitarian situation, u.s. aid is sitting much needed supplies. g to the places that need the most given the gangs's block of the port. brian: we are working through local partners, we were able to deliver food for 6000 people, to the epicenter of the cholera outbreak in haiti. that does not change the fact that the president of the gang around the terminal is a serious impediment to economic activity in haiti and the movement of assistance. i would advise them to exit the

terminal and let the haitian people go about their lives. nick: brian nichols, thank you very much. brian: thank you for having me. ♪ judy: today is exactly two weeks away from a hugely consequential election that will determine the makeup of congress and the direction of much u.s. policymaking the next two years. so far, more than a billion dollars have been spent on races for two -- for 35 senate seats, and one of the most closely watched of those is in pennsylvania, where control of the now evenly-split senate could be determined. i visited the keystone state this past weekend. fr a chilly morning parade... to college football on a sunny

afternoon... to the phillies clinching the national league pennant. all while campaigns make their final pushes to get voters registered a keep them engaged. it's a busy time of year in this swing state. sophomore drake smith is president of the student government at lincoln, the country's first historically black college and university, in a rural part of chester county. drake: we tell students that, like, there's power in your vote, because they're trying to take it away. they want to make it harder for you to vote because they know how much power there is in collective voting. judy: in the suburbs of chester county, kennett area democratic chair whitney hoffman is trying to educate her neighbors on the issues and how much is on the line. whitney: our job is to try and help them understand them and understand how important this is long term, because it's the future of our country. judy: the saying coined years

ago by democratic strategist james carville that you could think of pennsylvania politics as philadelphia in the east, pittsburgh in the west and alabama in between, still largely holds true. but candidates in 2022 have to focus on the suburbs around philadelphia, like here in chester county. these counties used to vote reliably republican, but with a growing population now more than that of the cities of philadelphia and pittsburgh combined, they have become more blue. >> this area to me means everything. judy: the democrat vying for the open senate seat is lieutenant governor john fetterman, who spent 13 years as mayor of braddock, a former steel town outside of pittsburgh hit hard by outsourcing, offshoring, and the crack cocaine and opioid epidemics. >> we need more balance and less extremism in washington. judy: for the gop, it's newcomer

to pennsylvania and to politics, dr. mehmet oz -- >> one of the most important discoveries we have made to help you burn fat faster. judy: the cardiac and thoracic surgeon turned daytime tv star. while fetterman opened with a sizeable lead, in recent weeks oz has managed to make it competitive. carol: fetterman -- i lean more towards him this time. mr. eisenhauer: i'm still leaning towards oz, i just think he's a more intelligent person. stephen: from pretty early on in the primaries, fetterman got a lead because there were some questions about oz and his candidacy. judy: stephen medvic directs the center for politics and public affairs at franklin & marshall college in lancaster. he says with joe biden in the white house and high inflation and gas prices, republicans would naturally be favored in this off-year election. but it's taken time for them to consolidate around dr. oz. stephen: and it's now very, very close. judy: how has he been able to

narrow that gap, do you think? stephen: i think a very consistent message about crime. lieutenant governor fetterman serves as the chair of the parole board and has been in favor of criminal justice reform. and i think they've used some of his comments and some of his decisions in the past to say that he's soft on crime. >> john fetterman wants to release a murderers from prison. judy: those ads have been airing around the clock, with money pouring in not only from oz's campaign, where he has spent more than $20 million of his own money, but also from outsiders like the senate leadership fund. >> emptying our prisons means more hardened criminals on the streets, hurting our communities. david: you know, i watch the news like everyone else does, and it seems like that's all you see, crime every night. judy: on the outskirts of chester county, david lantz is a farmer who took a short break from harvesting soybeans to talk with us. a strong trump supporter, lantz didn't vote for oz in the primary -- even with trump's

endorsement -- but says he will on november 8 because of the economy and the need to expand oil and gas drilling. david: i'm a farmer, obviously, and diesel prices are sky high. i'd like to see that come down. i think the economy and inflation go hand in hand with energy prices. judy: is that the main issue that's driving your vote? david: well, that and abortion. abortion is very important to me. i'm very pro-life. judy: david's lantz's neighbor is another david -- dave vollmer, a retired army colonel and part time farmer. when did you make your change of party? until 2018, vollmer was a registered republican, but thinks the party lost its way under donald trump. that year he began registering as a democrat to vote in the state's closed primary. david: dr. oz is supported by trump. so there's a strike against him in my book right off the bat.

the other strike against him is he's a carpetbagger. he basically moved into his mother in law's house so he could set up a residency and say, ok, now i'm running for senate of pennsylvania. judy: vollmer says he wants to see abortion rights protected, more done on gun control, and that he fears republican control of congress. david: they're going to dismantle the january 6 committee. and we might not find out any more about that insurrection, which i feel was truly an insurrection. i was horrified. i was listening to it on the radio thinking, how can this be happening in my country? >> pennsylvania's next senator, john fetterman! judy: as for fetterman, ever since he suffered a stroke in may, and stayed off the trail to recover, there've been questions about his health. >> stevie vz here! what are you doing in pennsylvania? judy: he used that time recovering to target oz with social media ads charging him

with being a wealthy celebrity out of touch with pennsylvanians. >> 29 days of unimaginable pain-and-suffering until oz took her for the last experiment. judy: fetterman's campaign has also benefited from ad buys by outside democratic groups attacking oz. >> there is no greater risk to pennsylvania women than dr. oz. lt. gov. fetterman: the elephant in the room. you know, we had a stroke back in may. judy: in recent interviews and campaign stops, fetterman has talked about his rovery head-on, as he did on sunday morning in south philadelphia. >> and despite all that, i survived to be back and that means i'm going to fight for you all because i'm back o on the trail. judy: his doctor last week released a note clearing him f public service. but fetterman continues to struggle with speaking and relies on audio transcription. his campaign declined our request for an interview. for the record, we also reached out multiple times to the oz

campaign asking for a schedule and an interview. no one responded. >> halfway between baltimore and philadelphia, there is a lot of crime here. judy: oz has appeared on friendly outlets, like last week's interview in york with fox news' sean hannity, again painting fetterman as soft on crime. dr. oz: for example philadelphia, which has the highest murder rate in our lifetime. you touched on it, but you try to walk through philadelphia families don't let their kids go , outside. stores, chains are leaving. judy: that was not the scene we saw in south philly at the fetterman rally sunday morning, where we also met two targets of that crime narrative -- lee and dennis horton, who work for fetterman's campaign the brothers spent 27 years in prison for second-degree murder, yet always maintained their innocence. on the state board of pardons, fetterman championedheir cases, and early last year,

their life sentences were commuted by governor tom wolf. lee: as far as we're concerned, john stood with us when nobody would, he did the right thing. it was the right thing to help two innocent men come home, you know, and if somebody is going to attack somebody on that, you just see what kind of character they have. dennis: if you go back and you look at his record on braddock, pa. i mean, you know, it's clear he's drove down the homicide rate when he was the mayor for five and a half years. and he did that by working with the police officers and working with the community together. judy: all of these issues take center state at tonight's one and on debate between the candidates. >> remember to vote. judy: but with the voter registration deadline now passed, and mail-in voting already underway, stephen medvic at franklin and marshall says the cake may already be baked. stephen: you know, a debate that late might not change many minds, but if something happens, it's close enough to the election that that the effect that it might have will carry

through to election day for maybe just enough voters to to to make the difference. judy: high stakes, narrow margins, and time running short. top election officials and several key states including pennsylvania have warned we may not see final results on election night. jessica huseman is the editorial director of votebeat, a news organization dedicated to elections and the voting process. she joins us now. welcome back. i just want to say, the newshour wants as much transparency as possible about vote counting, reporting on these results on election night, given the questions and suspicion that turned out to be unfounded in 2020. why might election results in pennsylvania be delayed on

election night? jessica: pennsylvania is one of a few number of states that does not allow any preprocessing of mailed ballots. prior to election day. local election workers can't even open the envelope the ballots came in until the day of the election. if you have ever rted through a lot of mail, you know that is a time-consuming process. given the popularity of mail-in ballots, it will take a little while logistically to get through all of those and do it safely and securely and accurately. judy: overall, we know pennsylvania has this rule, this law, not every state does, but there have been questions raised abt mail-in ballots. remind us what those questions are and how much -- how worried people should be about counting those ballots. jessica: i will stay from the outset that people shouldn't worry. this is a very secure way to cast your ballot. studies have shown that for

years. vote by mail was largely a republican innovation popularized in the last few decades, so to see the republican party turned so far against it has been striking to watch good there underlining -- the underlying claims, which are all false, is that there are inherent risks of fraud in the mail in system, which is wrong, there are checks good they say it is possible to cast fake ballots, and there are backstops for that as well. it is frustrating and a bit of a puzzling talking point given the history of the issue. judy: jessica, one of the other questions as you know very well has been raised is around hand counting of ballots versus automatic accounting. remind us what the questions are and how we should look upon that. jessica: sure. there has been a movement for some time to move toward hand cast paper ballots, which is you

marking in a little bubble and some to get paper ballot. recently there has been a lot of fervor around actually counting those votes by hand as well. the argument goes we have done it a long time, that's how we used to count ballots, what is wrong with it, why involve technology? we got rid of it because it didn't work. there are so many more races on the ballots now, so many more votes to count and study after study has shown ballot scanning and automated counting processes are a lot more accurate than counting by hand. but still, counties across the country are considering this. a county in arizona is considering it as we speak. judy: one county in arizona. but in general, what people can count on, the machinery, the electronics that count ballots, to be safe and accurate.

let me back up a little bit -- what should people expect on election night in terms of what may come in on time right away and what might not? jessica: you know, i think we will see that most states have results when you expect they will have results. the midterm elections are lower turnout affairs, more people are counting ballots by mail, and in most states they can go ahead and process those ballots. in states like texas and arizona, the counting is already underway as ballots start to come in. in states like pennsyania, we will see a lag in time for it to take until we know the results. please pay attention to your state's website. when your state releases results, the secretary of state or chief elections officer in your state will make that confirmation. but there is a lot of misinformation going around and i would encourage people to look at their county and state elections websites for the most

updated information. judy: quickly, that's what i wanted to ask you, you hear people raising that question from time to time -- if i don' know the results right away, something must be going on. jessica: definitely not true. the election is going to take several days to be counted in a few places and it will take even longer than that to be certified. official results will not be available for several days after the election and that is as it always has been. judy: jessica, we thank you very much. ♪ the harrowing account of a woman in kansas city, missouri who was taken captive and eventually escaped is once again raising questions of how cases of missing black women are handled by authorities and the media. amna nawaz has our conversation.

amna: on october 7, a 22 year old black woman escaped from a home outside kansas city. she had a collar and a lock around her neck and she told police she'd been kidnapped a month earlier, held captive, raped and tortured by a man. the woman, identified as t.j. in court documents, also said the man killed two other women. the suspect has been identified as timothy haslett jr, a 39 year old white man. he now faces charges of kidnaping, rape and assault. all of this follows concerns raised in september by black residents in kansas city that a serial killer was targeting black women. police back then dismissed those claims, saying in a statement "this claim is completely unfounded. there is no basis to support this rumor." joining me for more on all of this is natalie wilson, cofounder and coo of black and missing foundation.

thank you for being here. your organization looks to support missing black people. when you looked to the initial police response, what did you think? natalie: when we first heard about the story, we were angry but not surprised. we had already seen something like this before, that cases of color for missing people are not taken seriously. and sadly, we believe that race and income level and zip code are often barriers to law enforcement resources. our women and girls, they are not seen as victims and we were not surprised by this story at all. amna: what do you mean when you say they are not seen as victims? what about the police response you seen in these cases? natalie: often times when a child or young woman is reported

missing, she is classified as a runaway, and if you are classified as a runaway, you do not receive the amber alert or any type of media coverage at all. the perception is that these young ladies are promiscuous, they are deviant, they have some type of deviant behavior, and their lives don't matter. most recently we had a case out of fort worth, texas, the mother went to law enforcement and the officer said how do you know your daughter is not laid up with some man? how disheartening and disrespectful is that? what we believe these law enforcement officers need better training and sensitivity training because these are missing, valuable members of our community. amna: we should point out the kansas city police said they didn't have official missing

person report and many of these cases, but that they investigate them when they are given those cases. we should point out they try to share information on their twitter page when they have missing person reports filed. what should we understand about the process of even going to law enforcement and filing a missing person report? is the bar too high? natalie: we need to peel back the layers. are officers conducting a thorough investigation or allowing biases to cloud the case? in some instances, officers are not even taking a police report. many jurisdictions have a waiting period, but officers are saying to these families, go back home, you have to wait 24, 48, sometimes a two hours. in some jurisdictions, that is not the truth. it is a myth you have to wait a certain period of time. amna: what about how we in the news media cover these stories?

we should point out in this instance, it was a black news outlet the first raised these can -- these concerns from the community. natalie: media coverage, media exposure is so vital in many of these cases, and again, if the community isn't aware someone is missing, they are not vigilantly looking for them. there is power media coverage because it puts pressure on law enforcement to add resources to the case. for media outlets, they can't wait until the story goes viral. help those cases to get exposure, whether it is national or local exposure, because it is vital and needed. amna: what needs to change? i am compelled to remind people back into thousand four, the late when eiffel coined the

phrase missing white woman syndrome. what needs to change? natalie: we need to look at policies, how law-enforcement is classifying these cases. runaways. if you see a flyer that says runaway or missing, which would propel you to act? when i was growing up, there was the milk carton. now social media is our digital milk carton. we need the community to get involved and don't dismiss the fire because you don't know the individual. share it in your network in the hopes it will go viral. amna: that is natalie wilson of the black and missing foundation. thank you for joining us. natalie: thank you for having me. ♪ judy: just how far will a man go for his friends?

a new movie based on an astonishing true story answers that question while paying homage to those who served in the unpopular vietnam war. as special correspondent mike cerre shows us, the loyalty of those brothers in arms are critical to how younger generations remember their service and sacrifice. it's part of our arts and culture series, "canvas." bill murray: do these protesters not know that our soldiers see that on tv? i'd like to go over to vietnam and track down all the boys from the neighborhood and bring them a beer. zac efron: i'm going to vietnam and i'm bringing them beer. mike: zac efron's character taking up bartender bill murray's challenge to make the greatest beer run ever to support the troops from their working class neighborhood at the height of the vietnam war, and a very divided america. zac efron: hey chief, no chance you have a ship going to vietnam? chief: 1700 hrs. zach efrin: it's not going to be

easy but i'm going to show them this countries behind them. mike: what makes the greatest beer run ever film even more remarkable is that it really happened. tom "chickie" donohue, a former marine from manhattan's inwood neighborhood, really did hitchhike and connive his way the length of war torn vietnam in 1968 to deliver beers to his hometown buddies serving there as his ultimate support our troops gesture which they will never forget. [laughter] >> what are you doing here? this is my buddy froback home. [laughter] mike: chickie donohue reuniting with the four veterans he delivered beer to in vietnam who , rarely get together since they all moved out of their old neighborhood over the years. >> 47 years.

mike: it took more than a half-century chickie's , bestseller, co-authored with reporter jt malloy, and this documentary sponsored by pabst blue ribbon beer before most people outside of his neighborhood ever heard, let alone believed his story. it began with a little lie he often told the military while navigating the vietnam war as a civilian. chickie: the basic story was i had a stepbrother over there, and that could explain our different names. and our mother died. and i promised before she died i would get over to see timmy or frankie whoever. mike: did you have an irish tear in your eye when you said that? chickie: i tried, i tried. i was always looking for the red-faced people. [laughter] andrew: i think my generation, most of what we know about vietnam comes through what we've seen in films: apocalypse now,

platoon and forrest gump. mike: andrew muscato, the producer of both the documentary and now the film, he leaves chickie donohue's story of friendship and loyalty might change the conversation about the war between different generations. andrew: our intent going into making this film was to show these soldiers as they were, as just young men from their neighborhoods that were plucked from their homes and sent to the other side of the world. this the vietnam generation never really got the band of brothers treatment. mike: the film's parallel story is about how chickie's original support for the war changes along the way by what he sees and learns firsthand in vietnam, especially during the 1968 tet offensive. was that your wake-up call that things were not going right? and this may be not a winnable war militarily? chickie: i was not making any judgments on a winnable war. i was making a judgment that this war was stupid, screwy and it looked more like a civil war to me.

mike: lien-hang nguyen, a columbia university asian studies professor in the vietnam war refugee was one of the , films technical advisor for its historical and cultural accuracy. lien-huang nguyen: i thought that the film did a great job in terms of having this sort of coming of age narrative for chickie, for him to realize that this war wasn't this black and white war in the way that, you know, the folks in inwood, the older generation were trying to compare it to world war ii. mike: as a historian, how do you rate chickie donohue? was he an accurate observer for what was going on over there? >> i would give him an a plus. >> trying to carve out a future not defined by war. mike: so has former secretary of state john kerry both as a , vietnam veteran and eventual critic of the war. his recent op-ed about the film says it is long overdue and a rare chance for vietnam veterans to honor the camaraderie and friendships are experienced --

friendships they experienced but are often reluctant to share publicly. tom: i was in india company, third battalion 5th marines in , quangnam province in vietnam. mike: what would have been your reaction if a guy showed up out in the bush where you were in an hoa in 1969 with some beers for you? tom: we might have shot him. [laughter] that certainly wasn't something we could expect. mike: tom, noah director of the harvard kennedy school's southeast asia program was a , consultant for ken burns' vietnam documentary series. tom: what i like about the ken burns series is that they're very, very good at telling a sad story. so you didn't just go to vietnam and nolaugh, right? there's laughter in vietnam. even in the war. friendship that lasts forever and good times and things you remember fondly. mike: the original bar at the tip of manhattan where this incredible story of loyalty

began is long gone but not the , memories of the local boys from this neighborhood who were killed in vietnam. their names are memorialized in this church garden. it includes the name of marine lieutenant richard reynolds jr who was killed before chickie could get him his beer. rick: first of all, this was uncharted territory for the most part. there weren't a lot of military installations that far north, and we were setting up and digging up foxholes and so on and so forth. and then i get a message on the radio that i have to come back into the main perimeter. i walk in and there is a sergeant and i said you call me back in? he said i didn't call you back in, this guided beauty -- this guy did. ricky, how are you? what the hell are you doing here? chickie donahue in a madras shirt, light dienim genes. >> they weren't exactly camouflage.

x i had to put a poncho on him immediately because it's saying, "shoot me, i'm from new york." mike: chickie's and the veterans' families from their old new york neighborhood were treated to a sneak preview by the film's producers. there three minutes of fame, as they sayer years of 55 p,rivate aly shariftng the greatest beer run ever -- a story of friendship, loyalty and war. for "the pbs newshour," i'm mike cerre in new york. judy: what a wonderful sounding film. thank you, mike. tonight on pbs, a special program highlights the reporting journalists, including some of our own, have done on the climate crisis here in the u.s. and around the world. watch "burning questions: covering climate now" tonight on pbs world at 8:00 p.m. eastern or on the world channel on youtube. and that's "the newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at "the pbs newshour," thank you, please stay safe and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by

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. hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. >> i'll pledge i'll serve you with integrity and humility. >> the third prime minister in seven weeks. will he be the one to restore sanity in brain? we explore as the main opposition parties call for a brand-new general election. >> paul newman a side of the h hollywood legend you never knew. the acts or's memoir, plus. >> this is a group our country learned to ignore, has learned to overlook, has learned to be afraid