♪ john: tonight on "pbs news weekend"... john: why being in tune with our body's internal clock and getting enough sleep are crucial for our health. dr. martin: we're just learning night's sleep can help us stay healthy and well and live a good long life. john: then... a new rapid dna testing tool is helping police solve old crimes, but raising privacy concerns. and... a look at the growing industry that's making memoir-writing more accessible than ever. ♪ >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" 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 find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of "the newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening. i'm john yang. president biden is on his way back to washington tonight for

what's shaping up to be a make-or-break week for getting a deal with congress to raise the nation's debt limit and avoid default. the president spoke by phone with house speaker kevin mccarthy from air force one, and the two agreed to meet in-person tomorrow afternoon. before leaving the g-7 summit in japan, mr. biden said he could not guarantee that the nation wouldn't default if what he calls "maga republicans" insist on spending cuts alone. pres. biden: it's time for republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely -- solely on their partisan terms. they have to move as well. i'm willing to cut spending, and i proposed cuts in spending of over a trillion dollars. but, i believe we have to also look at the tax revenues. john: mccarthy said his conversation with the president was productive. but, later, speaking to reporters in the capitol, he said the two sides are still far apart on spending cuts.

rep. mccarthy: i think we can solve some of these problems, if he understands what we're looking at. but, i've been very clear to him from the very beginning: we have to spend less money than we spent last year. john: negotiators are to meet this evening at the capitol to clarify the two sides' positions. and on the g-7 summit's final day, president biden met with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. mr. biden pledged another 375 million dollars in weapons and aid to ukraine, while zelensky assured the president that ukraine would never use u.s.-made f-16 fighter jets to attack russian territory. in ukraine, competing claims about corol of the eastern city of bakhmut. the scene of the war's deadliest battle. russia says its forces have taken the city. ukraine says the battle for control was still going on. and, a shooting at a kansas city, missouri bar overnight left three people dead and two others wounded. in new orleans, a pair of

apparently related shootings last night left two dead, and two injured. the gun violence archive says there have been 232 incidents so far this year where four or more people have been shot. still to come on "pbs news weekend"... the business of making memoir writing accessible for all. and... the story of the first aan american elected to congress. >> this is pbs news weekend from w eta studios in washington, home of the pbs newshour. john: getting a good night's sleep is easier said than done. according to the american academy of sleep medicine. 50 to 70 million americans struggle with chronic sleep disorders. we all have a 24 hour internal clock in our brains, a circadian rhythm. it regulates when we feel alert and when w also fosters other p, mental and behave ioral chfeang.

for example, what time of day you'll have the quickest reaction time or the most muscle strength, or when the body releases melatonin to prepare for sleep. new research suggests that this near musical timing of the human body is crucial. dr. jennifer martin is a professor at the ucla medical school and president of the american academy of sleep medicine. dr. martin, what are we learning or what have we learned or what are we learning now about the relationship between sleep and overall health? dr. martin: well, it turns out that just about any aspect of health that we might consider is affected by how we sleep, how healthy our heart is. our mental health, our physical well-being. our ability to manage our weight and make healthy food choices. our immune system, our brain. as science evolves, we're just learning more and more about why those changes are occurring and the promise really, that a good night's sleep can help us stay healthy and well and live a good long life. john: and it sounds like it's not just short term that if you

get good night's sleep, you're going to feel better the next day and that in the short term, but also in the long term, their -- there are health benefits? dr. martin: chronically, if someone isn't getting enough sleep, we see permanent changes in things like their metabolism, their blood pressure. and again, most of these things are reversible if you take care of your sleep over time. but a lot of folks, because of their work or personal life commitments, you know, insufficient or poor sleep becomes a chronic problem. john: we talked about the circadian rhythm regulating sleep and alertness. how do you explain that there are people who do better in the morning than others? there are people who do better at night than others. is that genetic? is that environmental? dr. martin: really smart scientists started noticing that night owls tend to be born in the same family and morning people tend to be in the same family. so this is very much genetically determined. most people are somewhere in the middle, so their internal clock is a little bit flexible.

but there is a small percentage of people who are at the extremes. and no matter what they do, they really can't shift the timing of their sleep earlier or later, no matter how hard they try. john: we talked earlier about the people who have chronic sleep disorders. what are the most common? and also has it changed over time? dr. martin: yeah. so the two most common sleep disorders in the united states right now are obstructive sleep apnea, which is a disorder where people have a hard time breathing while they're asleep. and the rates of sleep apnea are very closely parallels. -- very closely parallels rates of people being overweight or obese in the united states, that's a major cause of obstructive sleep apnea. the second most common sleep disorder is insomnia disorder. so that's a condition where people have a hard time sleeping more nights than not, this goes on for months or years. and no matter what they do, in matter how hard they try, they just can't sleep well or sleep enough. john: do you see disparities

over these sleep disorders by gender, by race, by socioeconomic status? dr. martin: yeah, there are systematic differences. so obstructive sleep apnea is more common in men than women. and as women get older, it's more common in older women than younger women. insomnia disorder is more common in women than men. and both of these sleep disorders are more common in communities that experience socioeconomic disparities. low income communities. communities from a number of racial and ethnic minority groups also experience higher rates of both mnia and sleep apnea. john: if someone were to comeo you and say that they have trouble getting a good night's sleep, what's your advice? dr. martin: well, there are a few basic things for somebody who's struggling. the most important thing is to reach out to a health care provider, explain what's going on and ask for help. i think for most people, a few basic healthy sleep habits can be really important. number one, just making sleep a priority. we all think about diet and

exercise as important things we do to maintain our health. i think sleep should be right up there with those two. john: are there things that can be done on a on a government basis to help people get better sleep? dr. martin: one is, i live in the state of california, which has a law requiring high schools to start at 8:30 or later. florida just passed a very similar law. and this really honors what happens to that circadian rhythm for teenagers, which is that they biologically shift to become more night owls. so i recently read something that was making the comment that asking a teenager to be at school at 7:00 in the morning is like asking their teacher to show up at 4:30. there's another kind of interesting debate going on right now about daylight savings time. daylight sings time is a great name, but the truth is it doesn't change the sun going up and down on the horizon. it just changes the clock on the wall. and we know that in terms of health benefits, standard time is more aligned with our internal clocks.

john: you mentioned students and school starting times, what about adults, who have to work overnight? dr. martin: i see a fair number of patients who struggle because even when they come home at the end of their shift, they have a hard time sleeping during the day because again, we are naturally built, our circadian clock tells us to be awake when the sun is out. so when i work with folks who have to work overnight shifts, we try really hard to make sure we can protect their sleep time during the day and come up with a plan so that they don't feel like they have constant jetlag between the days that they're working and the days that they're not. jo: dr. jennifer martin from the ucla medical school, thank you very much. dr. martin: thank you very much for your interest. ♪ john: louisiana police have a new way of using dna to track down criminal suspects. as stephanie sy reports, police say it's a boon for solving cold cases while civil liberties

advocates have privacy concerns. ali: -- stephanie: once a person is arrested, police can swab their cheek and within 90 minutes the machine can determine if that person is connected to other crimes anywhere in the country. police say it's already quickly solving cold cases. but privacy advocates worry about its growth and potential for improper use. our communities correspondent roby chavez has been looking into how louisiana came to be the national leader in this rapid dna technology. roby, it's good to see you. so how does this new tool work? roby: well, look, the rapid dna machine does the work of crime labs in a fraction of the amount of time, in less than 2 hou. there's no human interaction with the dna sample once it is loaded into the machine and the sample doesn't have to be sent off to a lab for technicians to examine. it's all done right there in the police station by police officers.

it's very compact and comes about the size of a desktop computer, but it does come with a hefty price, about $250,000 for each machine. and each sample can cost about $150. but that price tag should help police identify a suspect a lot faster and lessen the likelihood that people wanted for other crimes will be released. it's also expected to cut down on the backlogs that are slowing down crime labs. stephanie: so roby, how effective has it been at solving crime since this technology has been put into use? and is the state expected to adopt this technology widely? roby: yeah, well, look, louisiana's been usinghat technology since august. it's already outperformed expectations. recently, it solved a crime some 500 miles away in georgia. it also helped solve a police shooting, which remained unsolved for the last two years. the state does hope to have four of these machines fully

operational across the state by the end of the year, including inig cities like here in new orleans and baton rouge. stephanie: what are the privacy implications and other concerns that have been brought up with this technology? and is this the kind of thing that can hold up in a court of law? roby: well, look, stephanie, in the past, the u.s. supreme court has said that dna collection is a legitimate police booking procedure. even so, there is some backlash largely over how technology could be misused. rapid dna came online fairly quickly after congress approved a rapid dna program in 2017, which led to the first two month pilot program in louisiana, florida, arizona and texas. louisiana is now the only state authorized to continue using the rapid dna program. critics also warned that the rollout comes without adequate oversight. the electronic frontier foundation, a nonprofit focused on digital privacy concerns, warns that there are few protections for americans right

now when it comes to dna collection and rapid dna encourages the growth of government databases. the aclu warns there are already racial disparities in dna collection, which could be made worse by the practice. for its part, the fbi says there are strict standards and protocols in place. in fact, they can impose fines on police agencies if they find that they're misusing this technology. in addition, there are two audits that are required by law each year that has to be conducted by the fbi as well as the louisiana state police. stephanie: is this something that you hear a lot of other states are interested in obtaining, other police departments interested in having this tool at their disposal? roby: well, look, the fbi says that they can scale up at any time. the big problem is the cost. it does cost a lot of money and a lot of states don't have the technology infrastructure in place. on top of that, the laws are a problem.

only about 20 states outlined here in blue currently allow dna to be collected at the time of booking. even still, many of these laws differ when a sample can be taken. most states seen in red here do not allow dna collection until there is probable cause or not at all, which makes them poor candidates for the fbi program. now, i should mention that there are other rapid dna machines that are marketed and used by police agencies across the country for various uses, including examining data collected from crime scenes, examining dna collected at crime scenes. the fbi warns that this technology at crime scenes is not fully developed, and there are several improvements that are necessary. in the meantime, privacy advocates say that if the government curtails some of the funding, it would slow the growth of these dna databases. stephanie: it's certainly something to keep our eyes on. our communities correspondent

out of new orleans, roby chavez, thank you for your reporting. roby: you're welcome. ♪ john: what is our legacy? what do we leave behind after we're gone? during the pandemic many of us pondered these sorts of questions. now more andore people are writing their stories, passing on legacies in the form of memoirs. as jeffrey brown tells u these books -- once reserved for the famous -- are now more accessible than ever. jeffrey: deborah felt sure she had a story to tell. her work on pandemics for the united nations and centers for the disease control had taken her around the world over four decades. >> i realized like others said and kierkegaard said, you have to live life moving forward but you can only understand it looking backwards.

my primary audience i have to say, the young women i was meeting in my career who identified with the struggles and trials i have been through. i think young women often struggle to balance family and i had two daughters and a career. and self-confidence. i wanted to share my lessons. jeffrey: the 69-year-old semi retiree also had her own family in mind, hoping to preserve that legacy as well. she often walked the paths outsidher home in san francisco for inspiration and when she had writers block. >> i've written reports for the u.n. and cdc and you also have to have evidence for every thing right. it was hard to do creative non-fiction. i'm second-guessing, am i

providing evidence? jeffrey: in the end she turned to storytellers to get it across the finish line. >> they could help me polish, cut it in half, make it more readable, and more important for me, i wanted to get it done and i wanted a hard copy book. >> we want to make it easy to collaborate with your writer and editor. jeffrey: the idea was come up with for near -- come up with nearly a decade ago. >> my grandpa used to tell me lots of stories about the second world war and the resistance group, and after he passed away, those stories faded. after since that happened i've been thinking about why do we lose the stories of people we care about? jeffrey: this is just one in a proliferation of men where -- memoir writing services. full ghostwriting can cost upwards of $30,000, or editorial

help or services like story work, which for an hundred dollars, you can email questions for a year. >> people realize this is a gift you can give your family no one else can give. jeffrey: james knows about telling stories, he is an obituary writer for the wall street journal. >> i did a story about a woman who lived to 115, and she could tell me more about warren g. harding than donald trump. no one had ever heard about her but when i wrote her obituary it was one of the most popular things i had written. it underlined me that you don't have to be famous to have a story to tell. jeffrey: technology is opening the door to a much wider group of people. >> these apps make it easier for a lot of people to do what can be a daunting task. jeffrey: gail from another

writing service says the interviewers they hire are integral to the writing process, helping unlock stories. >> not everyone is a natural storyteller. not everyone telling their story recognizes the parts of the story that might be very interesting. not everyone is thinking in terms of how well this story makes sense 100 years from now, what part is missing. you need to be very tuned in with what will make that story. >> i believe listening to people's stories is a way to intertwine your life with others and get that connection. jeffrey: this is one of the companies many interviewers. >> i believe it doesn't matter where you come from or what kind of background you have, there is a story and someone can learn from it and be inspired by it. you have something to share. >> i hope in writing this book

you will gain insights for my successes and failures and see that one woman truly can make a difference in this world and so can you could -- so can you. in many of the places i worked i was the only woman or one of a few. my position as a relative outsider taught me to be creative and strategic. i gained the wisdom to realize when i had reached a dead end, which enabled me to back away and head in a more different, more fruitful direction. most of all i learned that a motivated individual could make a lasting impact in this world. jeffrey: it took her four years but deborah finally finished and published her memoir in 2022. she dedicated it to her daughters and grandsons. for pbs news weekend, i am jeffrey brown. ♪

john: now the next installment of our hidden histories series for asian american and pacific islander heritage month. we spot like a trail blazer. mr. saund: this is your congressman, d.s. saund, reporting from the nation's capital. john: he gave a voice to asian-americans who had no one to represent them. dalip singh saund was elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 1956 from california's imperial valley. he was the first indian american, and the first person of any asian descent in congress. he broke barriers at the height of the cold war, at a time of american racial and societal upheaval. >> they clash with the police. john: saund was born in 1899 in the north indian province of punjab, at the time under british rule. inspired by two pillars in the struggle for freedom and equality -- mahatma gandhi and abraham lincoln -- saund came to the united states to study at the university of california berkeley, where he earned both a

master's and ph.d. in mathematics. he wanted to be a teacher, but couldn't find a job because he wasn't a naturalized u.s. citizen -- a status federal law reserved only for white immigrants. instead, he became a farmer in southern california. his campaign for an end to the restrictions on citizenship led to president harry truman signing a 1946 law that allowed indian and filipino immigrants to become americans. mr. saund: we worked hard at it. sometimes people told me, they said, "doc, you're crazy. how can you expect a bill like that to be passed, for the benefit of 2,000 poor hindus?" i said, "i have faith in the american sense of justice and fair play and i'm going to do it." and it paid off. john: all the years saund farmed, he maintained his keen interest in u.s. politics.

after gaining u.s. citizenship in 1949, he realized his ambition of running for office, and was elected in 1950 to be a local justice of the peace. a democrat, he was elected to congress in 1956, defeating primary and general election opponents who both made an issue of his foreign-born status. he built a record of championing the farmers of southern california, and immigrants' rights. as a first-term member of the house foreign affairs committee, saund returned to india after nearly four decades away. he fostered stronger relations between india, the world's largest democracy, and the united states, the world's oldest. while running for a fourth term in 1962, saund suffered a massive stroke. he stayed in the race, even winning the craddick primary, but lost the general election. he died in 1973 after a second stroke. his legacy is summed up by the words beneath his portrait hanging in the capitol: there is no room in the united states of america for second-class citizenship.

♪ now online... in the wake of recent bank failures, experts explain the financial protections keeping your personal savings safe. all that and more on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that is pbs news weekend for this sunday. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. >> major funding for pbs news weekend 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 one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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