♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on "the newshour" tonight... affirmative action -- the supreme court hears arguments in two cases that could stop colleges from considering race in admissions. then... political violence -- prosecutors announce federal charges against the man who attacked house speaker nancy pelosi's husband, but the kind of lies and conspiracy theories that inspired the assault are still spreading online. and... a return to power -- brazil's incumbent far right president narrowly defeated by the country's former leftist leader. barbosa: if he succeeds in bringing to government this kind of alliance from left to right, then i think a brazilian way of doing politics can be regenerated.

judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of "the newshour," including leonard and norma clorevine, and koo and patricia yuen. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i'm legally blind, and yes, i'm responsible for the user interface -- data visualization. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it's exciting to be part of a team driving technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing.

people who know, know bdo. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.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.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour west." we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. the u.s. supreme court heard arguments today in two cases that could overturn affirmative action in college admissions. the programs are intended to foster diversity by boosting enrollment of black and hispanic students. but the court's conservative justices voiced doubt over allowing race to be considered in admission decisions. we'll take a deeper look after the news summary. federal prosecutors charged david depape with assault and attempted kidnapping for his violent attack on u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi's husband paul at their san francisco home. police said the attacker wanted to hold speaker pelosi hostage. this evening, nancy pelosi said her husband is making steady progress in his recovery. we'll have more on this later in the program. a massive investigation is underway in south korea after a crowd surge on a narrow city street led to the deaths of more than 150 people during weekend halloween celebrations.

nick schifrin reports on a country in mourning. nick: in the heart of seoul, today was for reverence and remorse. some mourners not old enough to understand. others all too aware the tragedy stole decades of life from so many. more than 100 victims were in their 20s. han jang seop lost two grandchildren. han jang seop: they both went, and i could reach them initially. but after seeing things today -- [cries] their bodies were laid at the hospital. i feel so helpless as a grandfather, not being able to do anything. [crowd commotion] nick: on saturday night, more than 100,000 people celebrated halloween in itaewon, one of seoul's most popular neighborhoods.

it became a stampede. at least 25 foreigners were killed from 14 different countries. today, police arrived at the scene to launch their investigation. the 475-person task force is three times the number of officers that had been assigned to crowd control. choi wan seop: this tragedy wouldn't have happened if the police had controlled foot traffic with a little effort. nick: this weekend, president yoon suk-yeol paid his respects, and today promised new crowd-control measures to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again. but tonight, seoul's streets are quiet. halloween events are canceled. and a country in shock is mourning. for "the pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. stephanie: police in western india have arrested nine people in connection with the collapse of a 143-year-old pedestrian bridge that left at least 134 people dead. those arrested include the

bridge operator's managers and staff. the newly-repaired suspension bridge collapsed into a river sunday after its cables snapped. rescue crews are still searching for survivors. raju: people were hanging from the bridge after the accident, but they slipped and fell into the river when it collapsed. i could not sleep the entire night as i had helped in the rescue operation. i brought a lot of children to the hospital. stephanie: the bridge had reopened four days earlier after undergoing six months of repairs. in somalia, the death toll from saturday's twin bombings ha climbed to at least 120 people -- the country's deadliest attack in 5 years. the explosions rang out within minutes of each other outside somalia's education ministry in mogadishu. the al-qaeda affiliate group al shabaab claimed responsibility for the blasts, which littered streets and wounded hundreds. at least 105 people in the philippines are dead tonight after a vicious storm fueled floods and landslides. nearly a million people were

forced to evacuate. rescue workers scoured villages today for dozens still missing. president ferdinand marcos junior said the storm overpowered all defenses. pres. marcos: what changed with this storm was it's not that the winds were strong, but the powerful water surge that our flood controls couldn't handle. the water went far beyond our flood control. stephanie: a barrage of russian strikes knocked out ukrainian power and water pplies today in kyiv, kharkiv and other cities. president putin said it was in retaliation for what moscow claimed was a ukrainian attack on its black sea fleet over the weekend. kyiv's mayor said 80 percent of consumers in the capital were without water, sending many to stock up at grocery stores. iran's judiciary says it will hold public trials for a thousand people linked to nationwide protests that have raged since september. it's the government's first major legal action aimed at silencing the growing protest movement there.

the unrest was initially triggered by the death of a young woman, mahsa amini, in morality police custody. the leaders of a group that produced the discredited documentary "2000 mules" about the 2020 election have been jailed for contempt of court. catherine enlbrecht and gregg phillips of true the vote are facing defamation charges brought by an election software company mentioned in the film. continuing a long-held tradition, president biden and the first lady welcomed trick-or-treaters at the white house today. the halloween fun brought 5,000 guests, including children of local firefighters, nurses, police officers and national guard members. they received treats from the first couple as they paraded by. still to come on "the newshour"... israel holds its fifth election in less than four years... the head of fema discusses relief efforts in florida a month after hurricane ian... tamara keith and amy walter analyze the latest political headlines...

and 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: two far-reaching cases before the u.s. supreme court today have the potential to overturn years of precedent. the question for the justices -- whether colleges should be allowed to take race into account when deciding which students to admit. john yang has the story. john: judy, past supreme court decisions have said colleges can use race as one of many factors in admissions decisions, as long as they don't use quotas or give applicants any rigid, categorical benefit based solely on race. the plaintiffs in the cases are asking the justices to rule that any consideration of race is unconstitutional. today's oral arguments were a marathon, lasting nearly five hours.

in the courtroom for all of it, marcia coyle, chief washington correspondent for the national law journal. congratulations on surviving that. marsha: it is a tough job. john: the conservative justices seems skeptical on a number of points. number one, what diversity means, how long affirmative action would have to be in place. let's listen to chief justice john roberts on that point. justice roberts: i don't see how you can say the program will ever end. your position is that race matters because it is necessary for diversity, which is necessary for the sort of education you want. it's not going to stop mattering at some point. you are always going to have to look at race because you say race matters to give us the necessary diversity. john: why is this significant? marcia: it certainly was on the minds of several conservative justices. it was a question that almost dominated the questioning today.

when will it end? in 2003, in the supreme court decision upholding the use of race in the admission policies in the university of michigan law school, justice o'connor who wrote the majority opinion, said she expected that in 25 years, affirmative action in higher education would no longer be needed. that would make 2028 the deadline. that was on the justice's minds. is that a fixed deadline, or as some of the advocates supporting and representing the university's claim, it was more aspirational. we heard, when will it end? and how will we measure it? if you say it has an end, how do you put it into words? the lawyer for the united states said you can't reduce it to a number. that it will depend on the benefits that have been achieved by racial diversity in the

student body. john: the conservative justices kept asking for numbers. marcia: yes, they did. they kept asking for a number. even justice clarence thomas , as you pointed out, was saying i keep hearing about diversity, i don't have a clue what diversity means. he pressed as well for, what are the educational benefits exactly, specifically, of diversity? they gave them a real run for their money, those who were defending the affirmative action admissions policies. john: the liberal justices on the other hand seemed to be making the point that race was not the only factor being considered, but one of many. this is justice ketanji brown jackson. justice jackson: you keep saying we object to the use of race standing alone. but, as i read the record and understand their process, it's never standing alone. that it's in the context of all of the other factors. there are 40 factors about all

sorts of things that the admissions office is looking at. and you haven't demonstrated or shown one situation in which all they look at is race. john: the liberal justices made the point that the effects of affirmative action go beyond the campus. marcia: this was very much on the minds of some of those justices like justice elena kagan. she pointed out there has been experience in other universities where when they stopped considering race, there was a precipitous drop in underrepresented minorities on campus. that had a domino effect because you have the military wanting to recruit from campus. they have written and said that they want to build a diverse officer corps as the rank and file tend to be diverse. she also pointed out it could affect every area, corporate

america, law, medical, scice. that all of these industries and institutions depend on diverse pipeline, so that they can be diverse as well. john: there was also a lot of discussion or debate over the meaning of brown versus board of education, the 1954 landmark ruling that ended desegregated public schools. marcia: it is hard to believe we are still talking about that in this day and age. the challengers to the university programs believe brown versus board of education said all racial classifications are unconstitutional. so this 2003 decision the court is looking to overrule possibly is inconsistent with brown, and should be overruled. on the other hand, that view of brown versus board of education is hotly contested by several -- by civil rights groups and

others, who say no. the u.s. solicitor general pointed out, there is a world of difference between what the court confronted in brown, which was the separation of children by race, and what colleges are doing here, which is not to exclude but to try to include. john: there was also some discussion, the court now, this conservative majority with their approach on originalism, how constitutional rights fit into the history and traditions in america, and how this fits in this case. marcia: this is an ongoing debate on the court. justice kagan asked, what would an originalist think about what the colleges are doing here? in terms of the 14th amendment. there is the view, and i think justice kagan and justice jackson and some of the others on the left side of the court believe what is being done here is consistent with the history, the post-ratification of the 14th amendment, which did have race conscious legislation and activities. john: marcia coyle, thank you very much. marcia: pleasure, john. judy: we thank you, john.

in california, colleges have been prohibited from considering race in admissions since 1996. but as john reported for us recently, the university of california has worked to create a diverse student body despite the ban. you may watch that story online at pbs.org/newshour. ♪ as we reported, the man who attacked house speaker nancy pelosi's husband paul in his home on friday is facing federal criminal charges. the suspect has been charged with one count of assault of the immediate family member of a u.s. official -- in this case, speaker pelosi -- in retaliation for that official's duties, and one attempted kidnapping of a u.s. official.

that's in addition to charges filed locally by the san francisco district attorney. including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and elder abuse. lisa desjardins has an update on what we know and on the flood of disinformation being spread on the right. lisa: out of san francisco, alarming details of the assault on speaker pelosi's family. in an affidavit, fbi agent's testify that suspect david depape brought zip ties, te and rope with him, and his plan was to tie up speaker pelosi and break her kneecaps if she did not answer questions the way he wanted. further, the filing says he broke a glass panel to enter her home and woke up paul pelosi in his bed. officers say depape compared himself to the founding fathers, and said he was fighting pelosi as the leader of the democrats. in the lead up to the attack, he trafficked in right wing conspiracies online, including posts related to qanon and attacking the legitimacy of the 2020 election. now, powerful figures like elon

musk, the new owner of twitter, are adding new layers of untethered conspiracy targeting policy. -- targeting pelosi. this weekend, elon musk tweeted, "there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye." he later deleted that post. in it, musk linked to a discredited right wing article theorizing with no evidee that the assault was a drunk dispute with a male sex worker. that baseless conspiracy was echoed by republican house member representative clay higgins of louisiana in a barely veiled tweet about drugs and nudity, which he later deleted. texas senator ted cruz proclaimed as truth a conspiracy raising post saying, no one will ever know what happened in the attack, but it was not right wing violence. and there was this -- [gunfire] before the attack, republican congressman tom emmer had

tweeted video of himself at a firing range, and he tweeted "let's fire policy.” he kept that video and tweet up even after the attack, and while he condemned the violence, he defended his original message yesterday. >> you are shooting a gun, our viewers just saw it. >> right. exercising our second amendment rights. having fun. lisa: the top house republican in the country, kevin mccarthy, did condemned the attack on fox news this weekend. mr. mccarthy: let me be perfectly clear, violence or threat of violence has no place in our society. what happened is wrong. lisa: but he has not sent out a tweet or issued a public written statement on the assault. president biden had this message for republicans. president biden: the talk has to stop. that's the problem. that's the problem. we can't just say i feel badly about the violence. we condemn it. condemn what produces the violence. this talk produces the violence.

lisa: over one week until the election, tension and alarm remain high. i'm lisa desjardins. judy: for more on all of this, i am joined by an expert in online misinformation. the research director at harvard , joan donovan. she is also author of "meme wars: the untold stories of the battles upending democracy.” welcome back. thank you so much. you have looked at what this man was posting online. what struck you about it, and how far from reality is it? joan: it is very far from reality, but it is not unlike much of the content we watch as researchers of the internet. he seems to be progressing along in a pattern with his blog posts that follows essentially most of the popular conspiracies that are proliferating across social media.

what is unique about a situation like this is someone like him does believe that he is spreading true and correct information. he believes he is getting the real news and doing his own research, but it is unfortunate he was very far down rabbit holes on the internet, including stuff about qanon, in particular, a conspiracy theory that names nancy pelosi and other democrats as people that need to be brought to justice. judy: what is an example of something that is central to that set of beliefs? joan: essentially, without making it seem too absurd, they draw on a theory of the deep state. essentially thinking trump was out there trying to govern as best he could but the government

is run by this shadowy group of cabal type globalists. these are all dog whistles for antisemitism. in that, they believe even far back with drain the swamp, they believe that trump was almost a christlike figure. that was going to read the u.s. -- was going to rid the u.s. government of these deep state figures -- nancy pelosi, hillary clinton, and bill clinton playing central roles in this conspiracy theory. judy: we know this kind of material is now more widely spread than ever. what is the evidence that you have, the number of people who are willing to turn this into some kind of action against the people here? joan: we have been researching this concept that we are trying to get our heads around, which we are calling network incitement.

we are looking at, to what degree are people being molized to do something different with their time and energy and politic? we have looked at a lot of the affidavits and the statements made by those arrested during the january 6 riots, and it is very clear that people feel as if the democracy is being lost, that there is no legal recourse, and that only they can stop what is coming. unfortunately, the internet is paradoxical in the sense that it does mobilize people. we know that from back during occupy, and the movement in spain and whatnot. we don't have to prove that the internet convinces people to join mass movements. what is hard about this is people are being mobilized by lies and disinformation. and they believe it, and it is coming straight from some of our

political leaders, and even from some of the world's richest or most well-connected celebrities. judy: as in whom? joan: elon musk has really stepped in it here. we are a few ds out from major midterm elections. brazil just had their elections. we have the richest man in the world in control of the most important, influential network platform that the internet has really ever seen. and he is setting media narratives in ways that are, at best, unhelpful. and at worst, really damaging. judy: do you see anything in history that tells you there is a way out of this? that this kind of spreading of lies can be handled, can be done away with? joan: there is a few things that can be done.

i do consider journalists at the frontline of this information war. i would suggest journalists keep pumping out timely, accurate, local knowledge. keep making sure people know how to get to the polls, they know who is running in local elections, they know what platforms the politicians are standing on. if they are witness to political disinformation online, write a story about it. but make sure you show the reader and audience how you gathered the news. make them believe it. so that you can counter or pre-bunk some of these narratives. lastly, i think for individuals, you really have to stop and say, wait, which should stand for "why am i tweeting? if you answer that and think if it is playing on your emotions or confirmation bias, you want to make sure you're dealing with reputable sources at this stage.

judy: joan donovan, i know you will continue to follow this, we are certainly going to continue to report on it. thank you very much, joan donovan. joan: thank you. ♪ judy: brazil will have a new present come january, and he knows the job well. former two-term president luiz inacio lula da silva beat the incumbent jair bolsonaro by two million votes in yesterday's closely watched runoff election. with producer charles lyons in rio, and in partnership with the pulitzer center, special correspondent jane ferguson reports. jane: from the beaches of rio de janeiro, to sao paulo's bustling streets and all across brazil, the people have spoken. [chanting "lula!"]

sitting president jerry bolsonaro is out. he lost narrowly to louise in -- narrowly to lula da silva, known as lula. >> on this historic october 30, the majority of brazilians made it very clear th they want more and not less democracy. that they want more and not less social inclusion, and opportunities for all. jane: the results mark an astonishing comeback for lula, who was jailed in 2018 on corruption charges that were later overturned. with just 2 million votes separating the candidates, this was the narrowest victory in brazil's 37-year-old democracy. flavia barbosa is the executive editor of leading brazilian newspaper o globo. flavia: when we listen to president elect lula last night, what he said was, i get the message from the polls. i hear what voters said, what half of the voters have said.

but there are no two countries, there are no two brazils, we have just one and we have to reconcile them. jane: this is the first time ever an incumbent has failed to win a second term. bolsonaro's supporters on the streets of rio sunday night were devastated. >> a disaster. because we did not hope for renovation. we had a hope for the homeland, family and renovation of values at were long lost and were rescued through bolsonaro. i want justice to be served, the war is not over. we will be able to revert this result. jane: throughout his re-election campaign, boslonaro accused the voting system of corruption, and undermined the result long before anyone went to the polls. now many of his supporters do not believe he lost. >> if he sayhe lost, we will accept it. it depends on him though. which i do not -- i do not think he is going to do because he

never lost. he is the great winner. jane: lula supporters, gathered in sao paulo salvador square in rio last night, as the enormity of lula's remarkable comeback sunk in, many people were overwhelmed with emotion. >> i believe the victory shows the world that we are not dead. we are alive. jane: expectations amongst his followers are very high. >> i can buy more food in the supermarket. i believe the energy will be easier to buy also. i believe the gas will be fine to buy also. i believe the gay people will be free again. i believe the black people will be free again. jane: given that lula faces a staunchly pro-bolsonaro congress and declining global economic conditions, these things will be hard to deliver. how realistic are the expectations placed on lula's shoulders right now?

are lula supporters in the long run going to be disappointed by what they see in the coming years? flavia: it's possible. as you mentioned, expectations are too high. and he will face many constraints, both on political and economic realms. we do not have money enough to cover everything that we need by now. jane: to do that, lula will have to compromise, to work closely with all parties, says barbosa. flavia: if he succeeds in bringing to government this kind of alliance from left to right, if he succeeds in making a government that reflects that, then i think a brazilian way of doing politics can be regenerated and be rescued. jane: yet brazil remains dangerously divided.

the country's political discourse blighted by vicious, insult-riddled attacks, supported with misinformation on social media all of which areikely to be used in the coming months before lula enters the palace on january 1st. the vote for a new president is over. the next challenge is a peaceful, democratic transfer of power. for "the pbs newshour," i am jane ferguson. ♪ judy: now to another major overseas election, tomorrow in israel, as that country's fifth election in four years will get underway. israelis will have to make a choice between very different world views. many voters are understandably weary of going to the polls yet again, but as special correspondent nurit ben reports, this election is likely to have

far-reaching consequences. nurit: it's a decades long tradition, groups of usually older israelis getting together for coffee, maybe some pastries, and a heated political argument. israelis call them parliaments, and for well over a decade, one name, love him or hate him, has been front and center -- benjamin netanyahu. now with the country hours away from its fifth election in less than four years, one question still seems to be on everyone's lips -- are you with bibi or against him? >> we have bibi netanyahu who is one-of-a-kind. >> he is dangerous to israel. he is destroying democracy. nurit: this time, the stakes are higher. israel's government could be centerleft or the most right wing the country has ever seen. the editor in chief of the jerusalem post -- >> if you ask people from the centerleft, they will tell you democracy is at stake. that there are forces within the

right wing camp that are extreme, that would like to change the rule of law and the criminal justice system. on the other hand, if you talk to people on the right side, they fear a government with arab parties who are believed to be extreme and anti-zionist and anti-jewish and anti-israel. therefore, the jewish character of israel is at stake. nurit: last summer, things looked different. a motley crew of right wing and left, centrists, and an arab party put their differences aside and struck a deal. together they unseated the longt-serving prime minister in israel's history. but like others before it, that fragile coalition fell apart, and israelis are heading to the polls yet again. after a brief stint in the opposition and with a corruption trial underway, netanyahu has been full speed on the campaign trail, trying to reclaim the coveted seat. >> voters, wake up. nurit: and he is still the one to beat. for well over a decade, the

right wing likud has been a party of only one man. netanyahu's supporters back in -- back him with ironclad loyalty. >> i believe we have done huge things for israel, but i think there are more things to do, to block iran for good. i think we will have peace with saudi arabia, and i will bring it about. with that, bring an end to the arab-israeli conflict. nurit: his biggest challenger, the interim prime minister, a former journalist who dove into politics with a splash in 2013, and in a country where left-wing parties have all but disappeared, he has become the face of the israeli center. >> it's possible to fight and win in the fight over israeli democracy, because it is under threat. nurit: in israel's coalition system, no one crosses the finish line without support from several other parties. this time around, the ones to watch range from far right nationalists surging in popularity, to arab factions struggling to get their own

voters to turn out. take the far right head of the jewish power party. an ultranationalist with a decades-old taste for provocation, calling for the a session of the premier in the 90's, or just this month pulling a gun amid clashes in the contested east jerusalem neighborhood. just a few elections ago, he was shunned by israel's right wing including netanyahu for being too extreme. fast-forward to election number five, that fringe politician could the kingmaker and a major part of a netanyahu government. his rise was helped by the king of the right wing himself who brokered a deal for a joint list of far right parties. together, they are on track to be the third-biggest party in parliament, paving netanyahu's path to victory and backing highly controversial changes to the legal system that would put a quick end to his trial. in a campaign speech last week, he warned those changes are the tip of the iceberg >> what is truly important to them is to annex 3 million

palestinians, to limit women's rights, to limit lgbt rights. a dark, extremist, racist nation with no legal limits. nurit: on the other side of the political spectrum are israel's arab parties who also play a crucial role in how it pans out. arab citizens of israel makeup 20% of the population. how they vote and if they vote could stop netanyahu or help hand him the top job. israel's short-lived government included in arab party for the very first time, but there is a lot of frustration that they did not change much and less than half of all arab voters are expected to cast a ballot. still, others feel too much is on the line to stay home. >> we in the arab sector have to vote so we can affect change. if we don't vote, we will have racists, and we cannot live together with them. nurit: a member of one leading arab party told us what it would take for them to join the next coalition. >> for the first time, we are needed in order to solve this

problem. it is our time. to ask for the real, very basic demands. not budgets. but equal. citizenship. nurit: how those parties fare will decide if it is netanyahu or lippi who grabs a majority in the 120 seat parliament. another stalemate could be in the cards. >> israel has been in an endless cycle of elections for the last three years. they primarily have to do with one issue. that issue is what will happen with benjamin netanyahu? there are a lot of parties in the israeli parliament that refused to sit with him. nurit: those include longtime opponents and longtime allies. for them, netanyahu has overstayed his welcome, refusing to step down while facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. when polls open tomorrow just one question will matter, how much do israelis care?

for a public drive to the voting booth again and again, the answer might be not much. but a lot is at stake. israeli voters have power to help determine the course of their nation. the question is, will they use it? for the pbs newshour, i am nurit benn in tel aviv. ♪ judy: it's been a month since hurricane ian made landfall in florida, the deadliest hurricane to strike the u.s. since hurricane katrina in 2005. as clean-up efforts in the state continue, the hardest hit communities are still reeling. william brangham is just back from florida, and has more on the recovery and rebuilding efforts, and what is still most needed. william: judy, hurricane ian killed at least 119 people in florida, and it is poised to be

one of the costliest storms the u.s. has ever seen. by some estimates, the damage in florida as well as in north carolina could cost between $40 and $70 billion dollars. florida has received more than $1.6 billion dollars in disaster relief since ian hit. the federal emergency management agency has given out $680 million to homeowners, and $322 million to the state's emergency response operation. but there is still much, much more to do. for the latest on this recovery, we're joined by fema's administrator, deanne criswell. thank you so much for being here. could you give us a status report on your current efforts in florida? what do floridians need mo now? deanne: i would say where our focus is right now is one, helping to remove the debris so these communities can start the rebuilding process. once they can get that debris

out of the way, and people can start to think about how they want to rebuild their homes, or what their next steps might be. the other part is we know there are so many people who are not in their homes. i want to make sure people understand that there are options, as we look at what the long-term temporary housing needs might be, that we still have some temporary, short-term or intermediate needs like through our hotel program. our records show there is about 71,000 people that are eligible for this hotel program, our transitional sheltering assistance. but we have just over 2000 families that are in hotels. there are resources out there and i want to make sure that floridians know if you need assistance or if your situation has changed from the first time you talked to us, come talk to us again and let's see where you are at and what we can do to assist. william: on that issue of housing, that is something they -- that is something we heard frustration about. people feeling there was not enough temporary housing, there is not enough trailers. according to your office, 750,000 people have applied for aid, and only i believe under

half have gotten it. are you confident the amount of aid is getting out to the right people at the right pace? deanne: we understand everybody's situation is very unique and again, several hured thousand people have applied for assistance. many people have gotten some of the funding to help jumpstart their recovery efforts. i think it is important to remember that fema's programs help jumpstart that recovery effort. when they apply for assistance, that is part of that. insurance being one of the number one things that families would rely on to help support their full term and long-term recovery. when it comes to the longer-term temporary housing, that is one of the tools in our toolbox. it does take time. it takes time to set up and establish that program, which is why we have these interim programs in place, one of them being our transitional sheltering assistance program,

like hotels, where we can make sure people have a safe place to stay with their families while these programs are put in place. we also support in reimbursement for rental payments. there is a lot of interim measures we have. we are looking at those longer-term temporary solutions. william: hurricane ian was an unprecedented storm. as the world continues to warm and sea levels continue to go up, it certainly will not be an anomaly. do you think we need to have a bigger conversation about how we rebuild and where we rebuild along america's coastlines? deanne: i think it is an incredibly important conversation. i would say specifically, the how we rebuild, think where we rebuild is definitely an important part of the conversation. but as the risks are changing and we are seeing a catastrophic

event all over the country from either wildfires or flash flooding in the middle of the u.s., or impacts like we are seeing on the coast of florida, i think the focus needs to be on how we rebuild. i can say as i was traveling through southwest florida, you can see whe there are communities that tilt to higher building codes. even in fort myers beach, there were homes that were ae to withstand the impacts of hurricane ian, and that was a matter of how they rebuilt. we as a nation need to have more conversations about the importance of building codes, the importance of how we rebuild, especially as we look at what the future risks are that these communities might be facing as a result of climate change. william: we are approaching the 10th anniversary of superstorm sandy. a coalition of advocacy groups have gotten together and made suggestions of things they would love to see differently done by fema. one of them is a simplification of the aid process, a single

form that people can fill out for aid, and some greater transparency, if and when those people get denied aid. would you consider making changes like that to the process? deanne: i have not seen the recommendations you are talking about yet, but i fully agree. we do need to have a simpler way where individuals can apply for aid, and we have been working here on what would a single application look like for aid that would cover across multiple federal agencies? if they fill in their information once, they only have to do it once, and if another federal agency needs additional information, at least we can share that. that has been an ongoing process we have had going here since i started, and how we can do that. we have taken some time to work on the letters we send out that tell people that they are either denied for assistance or we need more assistance. i don't think they were transparent enough. they were hard to understand and read.

we have been working on making changes to those that don't say you are denied, but say that we need more information. right now, they have to read all the way to the bottom of a letter to understand that. we are trying to make that simpler and easier to understand. william: deanne criswell, thank you so much for being here. deanne: thanks, william. ♪ judy: we are entering the final week before election day in the united states and more than 22 million voters have already cast their ballots nationwide. here now to discuss what's shaping these final days is our politics monday team, amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. i know neither of you is keeping track of how many days. i thought we would remind you that it is a week from tomorrow.

in these final days, what are you watching for, amy walter? amy: i'm watching for a number of things. the first is where are our top candidates, our surrogates, going? the president, donald trump, and others who are going out on the campaign trail, may be for certain candidates, but also where they are staying away from certain candidates. at the end of 2018, republicans were hoping donald trump would stay quiet for the end of 2018. many of them were in districts he lost. they were trying to distance themselves from an unpopular president. then president tru was not interested in being quite. -- being quiet, at all. this year, it is democrats saying, maybe president biden can go somewhere else. i would like to, in some of these battleground states, we know democratic candidates are doing all they can to separate themselves from the president. this is nothing new. this usually does happen in a midterm year.

but just seeing where they are picking and choosing, the fact that the president is going to spend the last two days of the campaign, he will be in pennsylvania which is a battleground state, but also in maryland, a state that is pretty dark blue. new mexico, another blue state. and california. it tracks with what we have been hearing. my colleague has been tracking this for a couple weeks. where democrats are the most concerned are actually in some of the blue states where those house incumbents are getting squeezed from both sides. unpopular president, but also one-party government in their state that people are disappointed in. judy: shoring up the democratic votes, trying to get them out. what are you watching? tamara: republican outside groups have a lot of money that they are able to pour in. as you are looking at where the money is going, it is not clear whether republicans believe they can win all of these house races where they are sending money or

whether republicans believe they can win the senate races. but the map had been broad, then it contracted. now it has expanded again where republicans seem to think they can go on the offense and a number of states. i will note you have a state like new hampshire for the senate race where there was a thought that it would not be competitive because the candidate -- the republican candidate is an election denier. now you have surrogates like first lady jill biden campaigning over the weekend in new hampshire indicating that they need to excite the democratic base. judy: we are trying to understand what -- why have these races tightened? we have talked about the economy and crime being a big issue. are you seeing anything else out there that is not good news for democrats? amy: i think what is happening is these are battleground states we are talking about.

they are the ones that are going to decide where senate control is. they are states where joe biden carried, but in many cases, very narrowly. arizona, georgia, pennsylvania, wisconsin. these were always going to be competitive races. what happened over the summer is because republicans had these competitive primaries, very contentious primaries, democrats did not. democrats spent a lot of money over the summer building a narrative, and now polls are coming out today from the new new york times show that it has paid off. they have distanced themselves from the president. his approval rating is lower than theirs in these states. and they still, if you look at the new york times polls, these democrats have higher favorable ratings then the republican opponents. democrats are hoping at the end of the day, voters are going to say we are not happy with the president, but we don't like this republican, we are more worried about the republican.

republicans are hoping that they will say, we are upset with the status quo, we are going to vote for change. judy: it has happened late, but the political violence we are seeing, the attack on how speaker pelosi's husband, is it something that could affect voters, given we are a week out? tamara: it is not clear that it will affect voters necessarily. what stands out from this incident is just how rapidly, particularly politicians on the right, have moved to downplay it or even worse, to promote consracy theories about this attack. that is not the response that happened when there was that terrible shooting by someone who was more left-leaning at a republican baseball practice, republican congressional baseball practice. everyone condemned it all around. this time, there is just this disinformation and conspiracy theories that bubbled up that

people on the republican side seem willing to get behind. judy: back then, i remember condemnation from both parties. tamara: or when gabby giffords was shot. the same thing. this is why we live in this time where -- big events, 5, 10, 15 years ago would have had an incredible impact how people are perceiving either the election or elected officials or whatever it may be about politics. they just don't make much of a difference anymore, because as soon as the event happens, may be people process it for a second, then they go back into their camps. their camp, in this case as tam pointed out, on the conservative side, the campus getting fed -- the camp is getting fed constantly well. maybe this is not really what happened. maybe you can't trust what the media is telling you. and itesters. judy: in terms of what these campaigns are saying in the final days, former president obama, out on the trail. here is a portion of what he had to say over the weekend.

president obama: you know why they have social security? because they worked for it. they worked hard jobs for it. they have chapped hands for it. they have long hours and sore backs and bad knees to get that social security. and if ron johnson does not understand that, if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than he understands making sure seniors who have worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect, he is not the person who is thinking about you and knows you and sees you, and he should not be your senator from wisconsin. [applause] judy: belting it out on the campaign trail, the former president. it gives you a sense of what democrats are pushing. tamara: the former president is the top. he is the turnout machine for

democrats. he is the person who still, all these years out of office, not that many years, but can energize democrats. that argument about social security is one that the current president has been making on the trail as well. that republicans have proposed , at least some of them, revisiting social security from time to time as a policy. i don't know that it is sticking, necessarily. but it is something that the president and other surrogates keep coming back to, rather than more broadly touting some of the economic things. amy: it is hard to make the case that the economy is doing well to voters who think it is not, and they are feeling the pinch of inflation. that is the reality. when i hear folks say democrats have to have a better message on the economy or sell the economy, you can't sell something to people who are not feeling that things are going well. judy: you can say, i understand you are going through this. amy: yes.

what democrats are doing now is saying we are doing everything we can to make things better, and these guys, the publicans, are going to make it worse. it is the risk of change is more problematic or is scarier than sticking with the status quo that you are not happy with. judy: one of the most effective ices to make that argument is the former president. tamara: and we can expect to see more of him in the days ahead as weet toward the midterms. judy: in these final seven days. we will be watching very closely, as you will. we will see you next monday. amy waltertamara keith, thank yo very much. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening for an interview with rock star and activist bono about his new book and more. excuse me -- i got emotional. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, have a very happy halloween, be safe and we'll see you soon. trick-or-treat.

amy: thank you. [laughter] [spooky music] judy: i love the music. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments and transformative leaders and ideas. more at keedafund.org. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more

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