geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz on the newshour tonight. mass killings in two texas towns -- a shooting in allen and a car plows into a crowd of migrants in brownsville. geoff: closing arguments are made in the sexual assault case against former president trump. amna: and. as haiti descends further into chaos, many try to flee the country to avoid being killed or kidnapped. >> every day, the gang territory is expanding. they take some more every day, we can't live like that. >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by --

the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. >> it was like an ah-a moment. this is what i love doing. early stage company seven this energy that energizes me. these are people who are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. i'm helping people reach their dreams. i'm thriving by helping people every day. people who know, know bdo. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions. and with the ongoing support of

these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by the contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. investigators in texas are still looking for motives in two mass killings this weekend. in one, a gunman north of dallas killed 8 people before police killed him. geoff: in the other, a man driving an suv plowed into people waiting for a bus in brownsville. the impact killed at least eight people and critically injured

several more. >> good morning, everyone. geoff: tonight, new details on the deadly collision in brownsville, texas. police identified the driver and revealed his long criminal record. >> george alvarez is a brownsville local with an extensive rap sheet. he has been formally charged and arraigned with eight counts of manslaughter, ten counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. geoff: it happened sunday morning when alvarez ran a red light and struck 18 people waiting at a bus stop outside a migrant center. he tried to flee, but was stopped by others at the scene. authorities say they are waiting on a toxicology report. the fbi is working to determine if the crash was intentional. an eyewitness claims alvarez yelled anti-immigrant slurs to the men at the bus stop, which police could not confirm. they say all of the victims were men, many from venezuela. >> we are working with the venezuelan government right now and have reached out to other embassies. geoff: the area has seen an influx of migrants cross the

border in recent weeks. >> we hope they will recover because they have families far away who count on them. we crossed mountains, marched, and passed migration. it was a long way to come here, and we fought hard. geoff: while the brownsville community dealt with the devastation, texas was already reeling from another tragedy that struck just hours before. a gunman opened fire at a crowded outlet mall in allen, texas saturday evening killing at least 8 people. a police officer already on the scene fatally shot the gunman. authorities have not released a motive as the investigation continues. >> in the coming days, the public will be much better informed about why and how this happened, and that will inform us as texas leaders about next steps to take to try and prevent crimes like this from taking place in the future. geoff: according to an army spokesperson, the gunman entered the army in 2008, but was terminated three months later without completing training.

officials report it was for an unspecified mental health condition. police say they are examining racist social media posts they say belonged to the gunman. he was also wearing an insignia on his clothing with an acronym popular with right-wing extremists. the community mourned the loss at a vigil last night. >> we are in shock and are all grieving together. as the healing begins, we will recover. we will not let the actions of one individual impact our resolve. geoff: and this morning, demonstrators gathered at the texas house of representatives to demand action on a proposed gun control measure. frequent shootings across the country have put mass killings on a record pace so far this year. for years, texas lawmakers have rejected tougher gun restrictions. but today a texas house panel voted to raise the minimum age

to purchase an ar-style semi automatic rifle from 18 to 21. it still faces long odds to pass the full legislature. ar-15's like the one used in , allen, texas, have only become more popular around the country. and more and more, they have been used in mass killing since the sandy hook massacre in 2012. in fact, ar-15 sub been involved in 10 of the country's 17 deadliest mass shooting. the washington post spent months examining the rise of the ar-15 in america and the politics and culture surrounding it. todd frankel is an enterprise reporter for the washington post and was part of that series. he joins me now to discuss. thanks for being with us and todd as investigators examine the ideology of this texas gunman and piece together other details. one thing we do know is that he used an ar 15 style. assault rifle. many of the worst massacres in this country's recent history have the ar-15 in common.

why is that? >> some of the shooters have manifestoes where they say they chose the ar-15 because it is especially deadly. the gun was designed as a military weapon and it is incredibly powerful, it shoots an incredibly fast bullet. it can carry up to 30 rounds without reloading. it is an effective killing machine. geoff: the american public has barely seen the carnage extending from ar-15's. oftentimes it is because the crime scene photos are considered too gruesome to publish. what does an ar due to its victims? >> it shoots a small, but very fast bullet so when it strikes the human body, there is they -- a blast defect that causes incredible damage to the organs and bones. compare that to a nine millimeter handgun round and that will more likely growth --

go through and through a body without the same internal injuries. you would much rather be shot by handgun then an heir 15 round. we hear this from trauma surgeons particularly. it is a different sort of weapon. it's not the same as being shot by a handgun. geoff: the family of its creator said he never intended the gun for civilian use and that he never owned one himself and that when the gun first at the market, the nra another gun rights groups were suspicious of it and didn't support it. what changed? >> it was designed for the military. eventually, a lot of guns move their way from the military to the commercial market. after the assault weapons ban expired in 2004, gun companies

were wary of the ar-15, they saw it as a weapon of war, but eventually they saw it was demand and they started to produce it. it was a thing where everyone was very wary about mass-producing this weapon for the public. geoff: now it seems it is caught in this cycle, the more it is used in high-profile mass shootings, the more calls there are two net and the more calls there are two net, the more popular it becomes. the more people buy it, the harder it becomes to regulate it. do you see it that way? >> there are so many of these guns out there now, it is the best-selling rifle in america, which is stunning. we are a country of ar-15's. that's the most popular rifle in america, so trying to change policy would be very difficult. there is a 10 year period where

assault weapons were banned and we made it through that period. there are different ways to look at this problem, but it has become much more difficult to deal with. geoff: how did the ar-15 become such an important part of the cultural identity of a certain group of gun owners? >> part of it was marketing and part of it was the imagery in the post 2004 period. soldiers coming back from afghanistan and iraq. there was this idea that if you were to own the lids, it is the assault weapons. to make a political point, one side saw that they could score some points by seizing on to this weapon. it's a gun that is a symbol is very powerful. just the outline sends a message. replace the musket as the icon of a certain movement. that has made it more difficult

to talk about how to deal with this. one side sees it as important to america as the musket. geoff: thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. updating one of our top stories tonight, the names of the people killed by a gunman in allen, texas over the weekend have been released. two elementary school age sisters, daniela and sofia mendoza. three members of a korean american family, parents kyu song and cindy cho and their three-year-old son james. aishwarya thatikonda, elio cumana-rivas and christian lacour were also among the deceased. a federal employees union is suing president biden and treasury secretary janet yellen over the debt limit. the national association of government employees has 75,000 members.

it argues that if the government reaches the debt limit and defaults it will have to choose which debts to pay. the lawsuit contends only congress has that authority. russia today launched its largest wave of iranian-made drones in months targeting ukrainian cities. ukraine says it shot down all of the drones aimed at the capital, kyiv. but debris hit some apartments and terrified residents. >> the sounds were terrible, i had never heard such a thing. then, five minutes later, there were flashing lights and i understood what happened. i was horrified when i realized my house was nearby, at the same window level, just fifty yards away. stephanie: israel's military announced late today it was targeting islamic jihad sites in the gaza strip. witnesses said explosions hit an apartment building in gaza city and a house in the south. israel said it killed a senior

jihad commander. in eastern congo, the death toll from a flood disaster has now passed 400 people. torrential rains lashed south kivu province last week, heavily damaging lakeside villages with water and landslides. workers have spent days recovering bodies. some of them in the lake or officials estimate hundredse. more are missing. and the pulitzer prizes for 2022 have been awarded. the new york times won for covering the russian killings in bucha, ukraine. the associated press won two prizes for its ukraine coverage. in the arts, the fiction prize went to demon copperhead by barbara kingsolver and trust by hernan diaz. beverly gage won for her biography of j. edgar hoover. still to come on the newshour. the el paso mayor discusses the surge of migrants as a controversial immigration order expires. tamara keith and amy walter examine the latest political headlines.

and singer songwriter aoife o'donovan embarks on the latest leg of her musical journey. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism is arizona state university. geoff: the civil case e. jean carroll has brought against former president donald trump is in the hands of the jury. lisa desjardins has the details on what comes next. >> after two weeks in court, with testimony from carroll and a handful of witnesses, lawyers for both sides presented closing arguments today as jurors weigh whether or not to hold former president trump liable for sexual assault and defamation. carroll, a former columnist, has accused the president of raping her over two decades ago. in the courtroom today was andrea bernstein, a reporter with propublica who also covers trump legal matters for npr. can you sum up the closing

arguments we heard today? >> the plaintiff's lawyers stressed that 11 witnesses testified that donald trump sometime in the 1990 forcibly raped the columnist e. jean carroll in the lingerie dressing room at a bergdorf goodman. immediately after, she was able to struggle and get away, called a friend, who the friend recalled in testimony she had called while she was giving her kids dinner and then there were a number of other witnesses who corroborated parts of her account. her lawyers argued in order to not find trump liable the jury would have to disbelieve all 11 witnesses and also disbelieve donald trump, one from the infamous access hollywood tape, he talked about grabbing women by the genitals and when you are a star, they let you do it.

trump did not testify and the jury -- his lawyer said the jury should not conclude anything from that. they said they saw inconsistencies in the story and suggested the incident never happened and that in fact e. jean carroll and the women who corroborated her account concocted it to her donald trump. >> has evidence, e. jean carroll has presented these witnesses and witnesses they say fall into the pattern of sexual assault from the former president, but his attorneys deny this and say this is all concocted, that it is political. the former president did not appear in court, but we did see some of his deposition. including he was asked at one point to look at an archival photo of a time when he and e. jean carroll were at the same party and i want to play what happened when he by mistake didn't recognize his ex-wife. >> i don't even know who the

woman, i don't know, that's marla. >> you say marla is in this photo? >> that's marla, that's my wife. >> which woman are you pointing to? >> here. >> the person you just pointed to was e. jean carroll. >> later, he defended himself. >> she's accusing me and so are you of rape and it never took place and i will tell you, i made that statement and i said she's not my type and that's 100% true. she's not my type. >> we are in unprecedented waters, but i'm curious about how you think that deposition affected the final arguments today. >> came up several times. e. jean carroll's lawyers argued that e. jean carroll was exactly his type, so much that he confused her from a photo at that time for his second wife marla maples.

the fact that trump did not testify, carol's lawyers circled back to it and they said he never came here to tell you, the jury, that he did not do this. they also argued, referring again to this access hollywood tape, that trump had boasted in the tape that he did have a type and that when you are a star, you let them do it. trump's lawyers have called that locker room talk, but carol's lawyers call it a confession. >> you mentioned the jury, six men and three women. they have to consider whether there is a preponderance of evidence to support e. jean carroll's case. what does that mean and have you noticed anything about the jury? >> the jury was fairly expressionless, as you might expect, but they didn't seem to be attending carefully and both

trump's lawyer made a very impassioned closing statement pointing out what he saw as inconsistencies in the story. at the very end of the day, the jury watched closely e. jean carroll's lawyers on their rebuttal where he was explaining various pieces of testimony that he said trump's lawyers had taken out of context. they did seem to be attentively listening. they don't have to find beyond a reasonable doubt. this is not a criminal trial. there will be no finding of guilt or innocence. but if they do find that the pahrump ron durance of the evidence -- preponderance of the evidence is that trump did this, this will be the first time a jury of trump spears -- trump's peers have ruled on what these accusers have been saying since his first campaign for president in 2016. this will be the first time it has gone to a court of law, been tested, and a jury will find something.

they could also find that he is not liable on any of these counts and that could come anytime tomorrow after the judge instructs them, which will be first thing in the morning and then they will have the case and be able to deliberate. >> the potential impact here? dollar figures? >> we are talking dollar figures that could run well into the million, but here's the question. how do you describe the front runner for the gop if the jury finds him liable? that will be something the whole country will be grappling with depending on the verdict. >> and we all appreciate you helping us understand it all. thank you so much. >> thank you. geoff: the un security council expressed deep concern over the security and humanitarian crises in haiti.

the nation is in freefall, without effective governance or protection from gangs that routinely terrorize innocent civilians. that has left people reeling from the violence and others hopeless and determined to leave. marsha bigs reports from the capital, port-au-prince. >> it is a scene of utter chaos. this passport office overrun with haitians desperate to make it to the united states. demands for new passports have reportedly gone from 1500 a day to more than 5000. since the lawn survey u.s. visa program. 120-year-old has been camped out awaiting her turn for three weeks. she says she doesn't want to betray her country, but she cannot stay. >> every day, the gang territory

is expanding. they take more every day, we can't live like that. >> is it scary to be here sleeping here at night? >> i'm afraid to sleep your because there's gunfire and you don't know where it's from. >> victim to a wave of gang violence that has haiti group with terror. two weeks ago, an angry mob beat and burned alive more than a dozen suspected gang members. it is fear and frustration born of a long-running and economic humanitarian crisis that worsened in july when the president was assassinated. the interim prime minister did not keep his promise to hold electis ols cen t.

now official authorities no longer govern. port-au-prince is held hostage by gangs. people said, if i speak today, i will be dead tomorrow. almost one third of women and girls and haiti have been victims of sexual abuse or violence. this 20-year-old has been in her own since her mother died last august. her only family is her son. his father is a man she had been involved with since she was 12 years old, but she said he never knew he was in again. we have hidden her face for her own safety. >> the owner of the house where i rented a room said he didn't like when those type of people come to her house. it's later when i went to sell downtown and i saw him with a

bunch of guys with sheen guns. that's when i finally believed that he was in a gang. >> he came back with six of his friends. >> the minute they came in the house, they started beating me up. they asked me how come i wouldn't get together with him? then they raped me. when they finish doing what they were doing, they threw the baby at me and pushed me outside. >> through your baby at you? was that they be hurt? was the baby crying? >> yes, he was crying in his leg was injured. >> what's going through your mind right now? >> every time i tell your story it's like if i felt that again, it's like i relived it again. that's it's in my head right now. >> i'm so sorry. >> i was ashamed, i didn't feel

like a human being anymore. even people who didn't know what i had endured, i couldn't look them in their eyes. >> for three months, she was homeless. she says if it weren't for her son, she would have killed herself. but then recently, a beacon of hope. a local women's shelter unites her with other victims and a psychologist, which she says has helped with the shame, but she still worries that the father and his friends will start looking for her again. can you go to the police or is there anything you can do to feel safer? >> i didn't go to the police because the policeman cannot protect themselves, so they cannot protect me. >> the police are no match for the gangs. >> the founder of the haitian times, an english-language publication that covers the

nation. >> about 30% of the police force are sympathizers or downright members of the gangs. the gangs are laying in wait for them. the u.n. has called for a deployment of an international force, but the problem runs much deeper. >> what happens next? how do you integrate gang members into civil society and dismantle the gangs? at the end of the day, it's a socioeconomic problem that we have that's creating this. >> in the meantime, residents living in areas of intense fighting are all but abandoned. it's too risky to go in and out, including for us. we were able to make the trip. we are on our way to the fontaine hospital, the last standing hospital in one of the most violent areas in

port-au-prince. we are here in a fully armored vehicle because we have to cross several frontlines to get there. we held our breath as just on that road lies what is called the death crossroads. but once we reached the hospital, an oasis from the fear. mothers bring their babies from -- for vaccination and hospital staff do everything. they have been able to stay open because the majority of the staff are from the community and because they keep no records or alert police when they treat injuries of gang violence. >> no questions asked. you have a bullet in your leg, we remove it, we give you medicine. >> today, there are no gunshot victims, but the daily medical procedures vital in any community.

this woman is having a c-section. anxious relatives waited in the hallway for their loved ones. where would you go if this hospital didn't exist? >> we would die because it's the only hospital that is left. you walk in the street, you're afraid. everywhere, were afraid. >> but the hospital is a safe haven for even the tiniest nations. katie has the highest infant mortality rate of any country in the western hemisphere. babies are often born at home or in the street because a trip to the hospital is in safe. this baby was born last night, delivered at home with an infected umbilical cord, which could lead to sepsis and death. >> i'm really afraid because of

how things are right now. bullets flying in the air and you can't know exactly where it came from. i have to take the street with lots of caution nowadays. >> are you scared for the baby? i'm >> scared for her a lot >>. >> at our final stop in the hospital, we walked into a room full of little ones. sick and malnourished, most were abandoned when their parents were killed or could no longer abandon -- care for them. we asked how long they can stay? they can stay forever, we were told, they are home. as we were about to leave, we noticed rose bianca cradling her baby girl less than 24 hours old. she had been discharged and was negotiating for a ride home on a motorbike. carefully they climbed on the back and rode off with her newborn baby into an unknown future. the pbs newshour, i'm marsha

bigs. ♪ amna: cities on the u.s.-mexico border are preparing for thursday's lifting of title 42, the pandemic era policy that allowed officials to turn away more than 2.7 million migrants over the last three years. ahead of that rule change, el paso has declared a state of emergency. nearly 2500 people are already in the city waiting to travel to other parts of the country. shelters are full, leading many to sleep in makeshift encampments on the street. joining me now is the mayor of the -- of el paso. you are three days away from title 42 ending, what are you expecting to see in el paso in terms of an increase in the number of people arriving and are you prepared to manage that?

>> i keep telling everyone we need to prepare for the unknown. i did travel to warez last week and went to the shelters. the second largest shelter, there was only 20 people. then we went out and looked at the streets. there are a lot of them. they don't want to go in the shelters because they don't want to miss the opportunity to come into the united states. we were told there is a caravan of another 3500 coming that will arrive. they are all coming with the understanding that if they do get in, they will have political asylum and that is the people

that have helped them are giving them the information that is not really accurate information. amna: you declared a state of emergency. what does that allow you to do differently. what else do you need that you don't have now in the way of support? >> a state of emergency gives us an opportunity to do a temporary shelter. we were able to get the two schools and turn them into temporary shelters. giving them temporary shelter. they will be in the shelter between 24-72 hours and that will also help us to activate our civic center and use hotels to help the families and the young kid. it's something that is really important. we treat people the way we would want to be treated and we help our asylum-seekers that have gone through the immigration

processing with our family and friends and go to the destination of their choice. the reason why we are able to do that is once they go through the immigration process, they are free to go where they want to go. amna: are you coordinating with other mayors in other cities? have other cities reached out, stepped up? >> we do have an office of emergency management and they are working with ngo's across the united states. we are working with additional cities to make sure that they can help us and we can help our asylum-seekers.

amna: president biden made the decision to send troops to the border to support operations. we hear from others that the u.s. has open borders, that the administration has not done enough to deter migration and to enforce border security. ? >> the borders are closed today. it is important to know that we are ready have 2500 military troops. they are not here to implement the immigration law, but to support the current border patrol because there is not enough to be able to do what they need to do. amna: we reported earlier on the

car crash in brownsville. officials are still looking for emotive and reports that the man who drove the suv into the crowd had shouted anti-immigrant remarks/ these are the same increase in migration as you have been seeing. are you at all concerned about something similar happening or about this vulnerable population sleeping in the streets of your city? >> number one, our hearts go out to the people who lost their lives. we had already closed some of the streets to make sure asylum-seekers were protected. we will continue to close streets as needed. one of the things that is really important t us is we do protect asylum-seekers and make sure our community stays protected. amna: you were born in mexico, i don't know of most people know

that. you moved to u.s. as a child. the first mayor in a passer history who born outside of the u.s. you know the unique nature of border communities. when you step back and look at how we are talking about this moment, how we are facing migration increases, how you view this conversation? >> well, i view it the same way a lot of people view it. we have a job to do as a border community. funding to provide the service, that is very important. i want to make sure we do the right thing for our

asylum-seekers. public safety has been our number one priority. amna: that is the mayor of el paso, thank you for your time, please come back to. >> thank you, have a wonderful day. ♪ geoff: the end of title 42 is one of the high-stakes issues on the agenda, the other is the ongoing showdown over raising the debt ceiling. we turn to our politics monday team, amy walter and tamera keith. this is expected to be a consequential week. title 42 will expire thursday. this is the trump era policy that says you can turn migrants away even if they are seeking asylum.

the biden white house says they are prepared, but they also need more resources, more help from congress. how is the white house preparing for this and setting expectations with the american people about what is to come? >> the biden administration is pushing out a message that the border is not open, but as the mayor said, they are competing against human smugglers who have been delivering a message that it is open season as title 42 goes away. they are expecting that it will be challenging, that it will be difficult. that is why they are sending more national guard to the border. politically, it's a real challenge. the political views are so baked in that it's not clear exactly how this will turn out. republicans are expecting this to be bad. they have been saying it is going to be bad, they will

continue to push a narrative that this is out of control. and democrats, pulling would indicate, immigration is not a top issue or topic and see for them. certainly this sort of immigration issue. but the challenge is chaos is not great. chaos is not great for the person in the white house. whether they can make this orderly or not is a very big open question and certainly some of my kyrsten sinema is raising concerns that they are not ready. geoff: we have that sound if we could play it now. >> they did not do so and our state is going to bear the brunt. migrants will be in crisis as soon as next week. it will be a humanitarian crisis because we are not prepared. geoff: immigration, they used to be a partisan split.

not so much anymore. >> this is a very polarizing issue among voters in terms of the priority at immigration plays in their view. republicans saying this is a top priority, democrats not as big of a priority unless you are in a border state. we know there are democratic mayors around the country saying we need more federal help. that's what most of these folks are saying, the federal government needs to give us more money to be able to prepare for this. i do agree we don't know if this issue will transcend this very deep divide. is this going to turn into what senator cinema says is an absolute humanitarian disaster?

is it a few days where looks chaotic, but somehow becomes less chaotic? are we going to see violence or other events happening? those of the questions about whether it will politically transcend the hard and fast opinions. >> arizona is not just a border state, it is a swing state. geoff: that's true. how does the biden campaign keep this from becoming a competency issue? >> it's an open question. one other question that i have that i don't have an answer to his will the president of the united states step forward and deliver this message that the border is not open or will he leave it to the homeland security secretary, focus on the debt ceiling, anything else and not put the white house stamp on this? i think the fact that we haven't seen the president out there is probably an indication that they

don't know how this is going to turn out and they don't know whether they want the president's fingerprints on it. geoff: let's talk about this new washington post/abc news poll with president biden slipping, his mental acuity, is this poll an outlier or does the white house have reason to be concerned or are both things true? >> they have reason to be concerned regardless of what this paul says, but what i think we are seeing in all of the polling including the pbs newshour paul is that the president's newshour -- president's approval rating is in a pretty bad way. this is not where you want to be as an incumbent going into reelection. traditionally, a job approval rating going into an election is about within one to four points of the final vote of that incumbent gets except what we

are also seeing, we have seen in polls in 2022 and more recently in 2023, people who somewhat disapprove of biden are actually voting for biden are voting for democrats. there are people out there who are not particularly thrilled with the job the president is doing. republicans are counting on the options of donald trump being so problematic for these voters that they are willing to support somebody who they don't think is doing a particularly good job. however in this is were democrats do get worried, does it still work? is it going to work in 2024? what if trump is not the nominee? number three, are voters going

to still turn out? this has been the message from democrats for the last four years. this is been the message. it has been very mobilizing, but it has been a pretty constant drumbeat. geoff: in the time that remains, let's talk about the debt ceiling. president biden set to meet with the top congressional leaders. the five of them have not met in their current capacities in person yet. how is this expected to go? >> don't call this a debt ceiling negotiation, this is not a negotiation over the debt ceiling, that is the crisis at hand. geoff: we are three weeks away from going off the cliff. >> es, the soonest it might happen. there is no vibe from anyone

that it is currently in a crisis phase. based on what people's positions are, this has been well known for months. the chance of a breakthrough seems pretty low. the real challenge is with one of the sorts of crises, you can see a face-saving option. there is a face-saving option, they will come to it eventually, they have to do the p caulking and all of that, it's not clear what the face-saving option is considering that kevin mccarthy has such narrow control over the house and the senate is so narrow. it's not clear how they get out of it just yet. geoff: both sides want to find a way to declare victory.

>> nobody wins in this fight. politically, if we don't go off a cliff, both sides could come out and say, we got what we want. that's fine. but i don't know that voters are particularly interested in giving someone the winner tag and someone the loser tag. right now, it looks bad for everyone involved in this. you can see the exhaustion that this gamesmanship, the stood of kabuki of it. voters say, this is why we check out from politics. it's the only way the minority has leveraged to do a lot of the stuff they want to do, but it comes with a very big price. geoff: we have some sound from the sunday shows that characterize what you are talking about. >> we are not going to give any politician a blank check to continue to bankrupt the country. >> we have been waiting for

months for the republicans to articulate their position. they didn't produce a budget. they produced a ransom note. >> it can only go up from here, right? [laughter] >> a lot of people may think this is just a regular old budget crisis, a fight where the government might shut down, this is different, the stakes are much higher with a potential debt default. the global economic stakes are much higher, but at the moment the rhetoric is very much similar to what you would see ahead of a regular old budget play. geoff: five seconds left. >> concur. [laughter] geoff: amy walter and tamera key, great to see you. ♪ amna: it's not unusual for a singer-songwriter to perform

songs written by others, but it is unusual for one to perform an album of someone else's material especially if that is a giant of the world. tom has the story for our arts and culture series canvas. ♪ >> a performance by the cincinnati symphony orchestra. that may seem like an unlikely place to come upon a singer-songwriter. but 41-year-old's original compositions embrace many contexts. her most recent album was described by pop matters as lushly layered and sophisticated with connections to contemporary jazz and even classical music. ♪

>> yet for all that, it received a grammy nod in the folk category. when it was nominated for best folk album for a grammy, my first thought was is that a very reductive way to think about what you do? >> i think actually it's the opposite. i think to call somebody a folksinger encompasses so much more than folk as a genre. to me and mean somebody who sings for the people, a bard, a storyteller. >> she is expert at singing not only her own songs, but others as well, which could bring us to her most recent project. >> you guys all know what is happening, right? >> but let's not go there quite yet. >> my first instrument was piano.

i studied piano with susan holmes. and i love playing piano. i wish i had taken it more seriously at the time. i wish i had practiced piano more. but it was a great instrument to start on. >> here she is at 13, at little hard to see, but easy to hear. singing joni mitchell. i know that record very well and i noticed when you are singing as a teenager at the age when a lot of young players are just trying to imitate, you've got your own phrasing. you are already doing your cover of joni mitchell's purge foregoing. >> i think style has always been important to me. artistic style and trying to

find a way to emulate without imitating. i'm sure i've imitated a ton in my life and i still do, but trying to find those things that inspire you and make them your own is deeply important. >> which does bring us to her latest project, a tour performing live the entirety of bruce springsteen's classic acoustic album nebraska. the songs are famously stark, peopled with characters that were with their own selves. >> performing this album in its entirety you really do have to get into character. >> there is the moral compromise in highway patrol. >> there is the sad

determination of the young man humiliated by his father's position. >> even the upbeat open all night hides a desperation and its exuberance. >> how does she make these songs are own? >> one of the things i like the most about being a musician is that you can communicate in this way and you can set aside whatever fears you may have and insecurities and say, i'm going to go into this other part of myself and create these new, huge emotions and have these experiences send other people are going to hear that and respond to it. i love this record so much because the songs feel so timeless. those people still exist.

people are still living hard lives and coming upon hard times and finding reasons to keep on living and i think that is what speaks to me so deeply. >> speaking perhaps most deeply on this night at the bowery ballroom is my father's house, a song in which a man dreams of the comfort his father can provide. >> last night, there was a guy in the front row who took off his glasses and proceeded to weep the entire song. and it was just so heavy to me. and that sort of makes me almost cry.

>> soon the man awakens to a world where neither comfort nor his father can be found. ♪ telling his story is the work of a folksinger, creating a motion, making someone else's song cyrillic. for the pbs newshour, i'm in new york city. geoff: she's got a beautiful voice. that's the newshour for tonight. amna: thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> a proud supporter of public television.

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just, verdant, and peaceful world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >> you a

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," bridget and julia make kanelbullar. lisa reviews robot vacuums. and julia makes bridget gravlax. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." "america's test kitchen" is brought to you by the following.