geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, a wartime shakeup. ukraine replaces its defense minister amid a corruption investigation and a slow counteroffensive against russia. a national bus driver shortage

leaves families scrambling to find rides for their kids at the start of a new school year. >> access to transportation is really access to education. across the country we are also seeing an increase in chronic absenteeism. geoff: and with more children becoming social media influencers, one state works to ensure they are getting paid for their work. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma core fine. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years,

advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. 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. geoff: welcome to the newshour appeared on this labor day, president biden has touted unions in play down the threat of an auto worker.

president spoke today in philadelphia. he emphasized the number of jobs created since he took office and noted the new energy of organized labor. separately, the president said he does not think the united auto workers will walk out but with the strike deadline just 10 days away the union's leader said he must know something we do not. russian president vladimir putin says he is not ready to renew a deal on ukrainian grain shipments just yet. it has been two months since moscow pulled out of the agreement that guaranteed safe passage for ukrainian vessels hauling grain in the black sea. today putin met with turkish president erdogan who helped broker the original deal. afterward he insisted the west must make the first move. >> we will be ready to consider the possibility of reanimating the grain deal as i told the president today as soon agreement on the thing restrictions on the export of russian agricultural products are fully implemented.

geoff: for his part, president erdogan said he is ready to negotiate a new agreement and p believes one can be reached in a short time. in a report from the un's nuclear agency shows iran may be slowing its pace of uranian richmond. the associated press as a competent a document finds the iranian stock pile is growing at its lowest rate since 2021. the slowdown could indicate tehran is trying to ease tensions with the u.s. amid negotiations on prisoner swap's and frozen assets. the first african climate summit kicked off today in kenya. where than a dozen heads of state gathered in nairobi. can's president said africa needs help but can also help reduce global greenhouse you missions. >> for a very long time, we have looked at this as a problem. it is time he flipped and looked at it from the other side. in africa, we can be a green industrial hub that helps other regions achieve their net zero

strategies i-20 50. geoff: as the summit convened, hundreds of protesters marched in nairobi. they pressed the world's wealthiest countries to deliver on pledges of financial assistance. thousands of people at the annual burning man festival in nevada began living today. bad weather had blocked the main road out since friday but crews managed to reopen it. william brangham has the latest. >> they have spent three days stranded in the remote black rock desert of nevada after the normally hot dry landscape was transformed into slick sticky mud. the so-called burners who come to this vibrant arts and culture festival in the desert tried their best to keep their spirits up. >> we are thriving out here at birmingham men in spite of all the chaos. i had no doubt the burning man community was going to support each other. >> the rains began friday night

turning desert sand to thick puddles. by saturday the more than 70,000 visitors were told by organizers to shelter in place and conserve their food and water. earners usually spend about nine days in black rock city, the town they specifically construct for the event about 100 miles outside of reno. the festival is renowned for its towering art installations, eccentric costumes, since of community and self-expression with ample partying around-the-clock. because of the rain, the path in and out of the festival usually a two lane road was impassable. >> don't get stuck in the mini river. >> others attempted to leave on foot. among them dj and music producer diplo who posted he and comedian chris rock and a few other notable strict five miles through the muck until they could hitch a ride. both the partying and the communal spirit continued despite the weather.

> this has given us the opportunity to rise to radical self-reliance and to support each other in the community and i'm having the best time. >> organizers say the rain and mud will not stop the festival's final iconic ritual. the burning of a towering 60 foot manlike effigy. it will be set alight later tonight appeared for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. geoff: one death has been reported at the festival, a man in his 40's, but organizers say it was not related to the weather. a passing of note, steve harwell, the longtime lead singer of the rock band smash died today at his home in boise, idaho. he formed the band in 1994. they scored two platinum albums. here they are performing the grammy nominated all-star in a music video in 1999. >> ♪ a now, you're in all-star, get your game on, go play

all that glitters is gold only shooting stars break the mold ♪ ♪ geoff: steve harwell was 56 years old. still to come on the newshour, the ongoing him italian crisis in sudan becomes even more dire. tamra keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. hazardous wildfire smoke highlights the nation's shortage of doctors to treat respiratory issues. >> this is the pbs newshour. from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> in the middle of war, a shakeup at ukraine's highest level of government. the defense minister summit at his resignation after president zelenskyy yesterday announced plans to replace him. his successor is rustem umerov,

a lawmaker whose family is from crimea. the move comes in the midst of president zelenskyy's efforts to fight corruption in his government and inside the military. >> i believe the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with the military and society at large. now rustem umerov should lead the ministry. >> for more we turn to the deputy executive director of the ukrainian branch at transparency international, a global network aiming to fight corruption. so his removal comes in the wake of a number of corruption scandals involving ukraine's ministry of defense. earlier this year the ministry faced blowback for allegedly purchasing food for soldiers at inflated prices. what more can you tell us about the ministry of defense, how it has been mismanaged and how it

has overpaid for basic supplies? >> the scandal you mentioned just now about food, this is one of the scandals. a more recent one is about the closing for the soul -- the clothing for the soldier, the winter jackets and i think this is one of the drops in order to push for the dismissal of the current defense minister. this is not a one-day event. it has been leading to this. the current minister has not mentioned any nice enough arguments to convince the president and other state officials and the citizens he actually managed the ministry well enough. his dismissal and his resignation is very much expected. even though he achieved a number of success stories during his time as ministry chair, obviously the scandals were a little too much.

>> how much of this change in leadership at the defense ministry has to do with president zelenskyy's desire to join the european union and as a part of that eliminate corruption within the ranks? >> that is a very good question because i think joining the european union has been the biggest topic and on the highest priority list for ukrainians. this type of scandal, especially corruption related, they do not help the agenda and efforts of ukraine to move toward the european values. president zelenskyy's reaction to the scandal, the dismissal and possibly appointing umerov i think is an attempt to address the concerns everyone around him has as to the corruption related scandals in the ministry of defense. >> tell us more about the defense minister who is set to take over. he is a crimean lawmaker.

he has been involved in prisoner of war exchanges. he was part of the team that negotiated the plexi grain deal. what background does he bring to the deal? >> he for the last year was the head of state property fund which is a pretty important and big institution in ukraine. before the property fund, he was a member of the parliament but not of the ruling party. he was quite successful in his position during the last year as the head of state property fund. he managed to revive the function. he started selling the russian related assets confiscated by the state. there is this cautious optimism as to his nomination on the ministry of defense position but obviously the role of the ministry of defense, ministry of defense is definitely more important and consists of more functions than he was fulfilling at any position before.

so only time will show us especially after the situation with all the corruption scandal and the resignation of resnick ikov. >> what does this all mean for the war? >> even though all the current scandals do not relate specifically to the arms, you need soldiers. you need the army to handle the arms. you need them to be well fed. you need them to be well-equipped. that is what the current scandal, the current unhappiness with the ministry is related to. if the ministry of defense will work properly as a clock and there will be proper procurement systems in place, this will help to spend the money international partners and the united states provide us to use in an

effective manner and to get the progress on the front lines as soon as possible. >> the deputy executive director of the ukrainian branch at transparency international. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for the opportunity. ♪ >> this labor day comes at a moment when unions and workers are flexing their power. the writers strike is entering its fourth month while actors are strikingoo. in two weeks autoworkers may very well take to the picket line. ups driver's ratified and historic contract this summer. employees still face significant battles and employers are still coping with shortages of workers. in school district across the country many are facing a shortage of bus drivers. allie rogan takes a closer look. >> alana and her husband were gearing up for the school year

in charlottesville, virginia they learned their middle sons bus route was canceled. >> we were aware they had been struggling and we received notice students were not guaranteed to have a bus that would take them to their schools but we did not actually know for sure there was a problem until we received an email about two weeks before school started saying one of my children would not be bused to his school. so you are like doing the mental calculations and the gymnastics being like -- how can i make of this work with our family now? > a recent usa today analysis found at least one instance of a major schoolbus shortage in in every state in the u.s. joanna is the ceo of hop skip drive, an organization that helps districts access supplemental transportation for students. >> we have had a school bus driver shortage for over a decade. that shortage was exacerbated by covid with a large number of drivers retiring early and we are just not finding enough

people in the pool that want to be school draw -- school bus drivers for districts to higher the number of drivers they need. >> she says more is at stake for students than many realize. >> access to transportation is really access to education. across the country we are also seeing an increase in chronic absenteeism to it is really impacting our ability to get kids to school which affects learning outcomes, affects education but also affects stress levels that families are feeling every day. >> laura has been a school bus driver for 18 years in washington state. >> i don't really have the time to get to know any of the students like i used to. it is more good morning kind of smile and nod when they get on the bus and then say goodbye at the school.

>> the issue is in part due to low pay. the average bus driver in the u.s. makes $41,270 per year. >> we are in the middle of several other districts that are in the same situation of drivers shortages. it really hurt us that two of our neighboring districts pay significantly more and offered hiring bonuses so we lost 10 drivers to another district just for that reason. >> the dire situation is requiring districts and parents to outsource. in philadelphia a pandemic program paying parents a stipend to do the driving is still in effect. >> each family is paid $300 a month. that is per household if they are willing to take their children to school and pick them up. if they are not willing to pick up their students in the afternoon, they are paid $150 a month. >> back in charlottesville, alana took matters into her own hands in a vehicle which

the family already owned. >> i drive a 15 passenger van. i did start out talking to other moms to find out if we could carpool but the problem is they did not have enough room in their cars. >> and so the wall to middle school shuttle idea was hatched. smith no offers rides to and from her son's middle school for five dollars each way. >> my dream would be the higher end of the bus driver next week and say i'm glad i could help out for a couple weeks and i go back to doing all the other things i normally do. >> from on this issue i'm joined by amalia. she is the ceo and executive director of the national association for pupil transportation. thank you for joining us. there was a bus driver shortage last year and the situation this year is the same if not worse. why is that? >> i do think it is acute. it has been going on for at least 10 years before the pandemic. during the pandemic, there was a great number of retirements as well as bus drivers are hourly

employees. while during the pandemic, many school districts use their transportation people to deliver free and reduced lunch, curriculum, even mobile hotspots. an awful lot of drivers did not get hours during the pandemic so they would be looking at other areas. also the pay for drivers. in many instances it is not -- it does not support a lifestyle they might need. it is not necessarily competitive today. >> you previously noted some drivers got drums with major producers like amazon. as that led to what we are seeing today? >> if you look around the country it not matter where you go. everyone is hiring whether it is amazon or ups or any of them. our school districts or tsa. we have a work shortage in america. i think in our transportation industry, a lot of our folks found they were able to get jobs with guaranteed numbers of

hours, guaranteed benefits and the difference between driving a truck load of packages and driving an iconic school bus, not the safest vehicles on the road today for of children is a pretty big stretch and i have to tell you those packages don't really talk back to you at times and they are pretty easy to handle. >> to that point school bus drivers are such an important part of a child's day. they get to know the children. they can flag when something seems amiss with the children. plus as we have come to learn, there are rigorous certifications school bus drivers must meet. so the fact there are the shortages, are school district having to compromise for who they hire for these incredibly important and build positions? -- and skilled positions? >> i don't know of any districts compromising the requirements because the requirements are very spelled out in terms of licensure, experience, background checks. one of the ways to solve the

issue is not to change or lessen the requirements for school bus drivers. the way we need to address this issue is we need to look at all the elements of it, make sure drivers are getting guaranteed numbers of hours, make sure they have a fringe benefit package that is competitive. make sure they have trning in areas. today at a bus stop you don't know who is going to be there other than the children you are picking up so they need extra assistance in de-escalation and professional development. >> you have been monitoring the issue closely. what are some of the solutions you see individual school districts implementing that have worked? >> this is a year-round issue and right now because of issues that have popped up in the news, we are all focused on it. this is a year-round issue. the most successful districts do recruit, train and retain all year long looking at ways to make sure they are successful. they have done work to make sure they are competitive in their

salary and fringe benefit. i know in virginia one school district went and got extra funding to make sure they could offer their drivers better pay. in terms of the training, there is a school district in texas. talk about eggs interviews. they do what is called stay interviews where the interview drivers and find out what makes you want to be a bus driver and they're able to be there. the best people to recruit bus drivers are directors of transportation. trainers, routers, mechanics and bus drivers. the most successful district use a variety of tools, using those folks to do it. even though this is a national issue, there is not a national answer to this issue. it has to be done district by district and state by state. that means school boards and superintendents need to make school strength -- school transportation a priority and i know they have so many competing

priorities but getting kids to school safely and efficiently has to be at the top of our list. >> the national association for pupil transportation. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for inviting me to be a part of it. ♪ >> legislative efforts to protect children online typically center on their privacy but thanks to the efforts of an illinois teenager the finances of some of the youngest digital workers could also be better protected in the future. correspondent lisa desjardins has more. >> child and teen social media stars can captivate millions of fans with content ranging from goofy pretend play to the fashion and makeup tips. they also can rake in thousands, even millions of dollars. unlike for kids in hollywood, no law requires those earnings be

set aside for them to use later as adults. that changes partially next summer when a new first of its kind law takes effect in illinois. joining me now are the primary sponsors. state senator dave kaylor and sh reya nallamouthu, the now 16-year-old highschooler who brought the issue to his attention. want to talk with you. you are not a youtube influencer yourself. what drove you to push for this change? >> i saw a lot of child influence on my youtube or tiktok feed and i started to notice there was definitely some exploitation happening which is what led me to this idea. >> what tipped you off there could be exploitation? >> i saw clips of a family channel where they filmed a prank which ended with her daughter crying. >> cole and sav prank therefore-year-old into making her think they would have to give away their 11 dog.

-- their beloved dog. >> they still uploaded that to you too because that content rakes in more views and money even though the child probably did not want that on the internet. >> senator i don't think you are youtube influencer either. how did you get involved? what made you want to push for this? >> she sent a letter and it came to my office. some of my staff read this. i have younger staff that do pay attention to this and they came to me and said this is important. >> explain what the law does precisely. >> it sets up some parameters. it's as if a child is in a certain portion of videos and money is received they get to have a certain part of the money set aside in a trust fund so when they turn 18 they can realize some of the fruits of their labor. the enforcement of this and this is why i think this implicit the of it is is not with the state of illinois. we have too much we cannot handle already. this is a right of legal action.

when a child turns 18 they can look back and say my parents used me in videos all throughout my childhood and made lots of money but i have nothing. they have a right to take legal action and recover some of that. >> we are talking about really child labor law here. can you help us with the scope of how many kids and teens you think this could protect and how much money? >> this is pretty pervasive. some families use this as a business where they are generating a lot of money. when their child does unique things they are able to maximize the profit of this. we set this up as a child labor law. >> your gen z. i have a son who is the next veneration. he is in elementary school. if you talk to any of those kids they'll want to be youtubers. but what have you learned about the trade-off of becoming a youtuber? >> being a youtuber definitely

seems super glamorous. it makes a lot of money. it is very lucrative and you get fame if you are a child, child influencing is still working. you are training your childhood into content and uploading that onto the internet where it is permanent and you can't take that down anymore. there is definitely a sacrifice in terms of the quality of your childhood when you become a childhood influencer. >> originally we had in the law a child upon coming a adult could look back and remove any unwanted video they had on the internet. technologically that is difficult to do. we are going to be working with the attorney general and illinois to see how we can deal with this as a privacy and consumer protection part. technologically it is a little difficult. i don't quite comprehend how you do that. we are going to give it an attempt. >> a lot of the burden that comes with being a child influencer is the mental health aspect and the fact all of your videos are on the internet forever and you have no recourse to take them down.

they happened when you were too young to understand what social media was. >> have you had interest from anyone else in other states? do you think this has a future elsewhere in the country? >> i hope to see illinois become a trendsetter law and i am glad we have been able to show other states regulating this industry and technology is possible. so i definitely hope to see more states doing stuff like this in the future. >> senator, what did you learn about younger generations including your own staff? >> we had her testify and a purpose. we had a young woman from washington state has been following this issue in that state. she testified by video. these two young people did a tremendous job. they blew the committee away. we passed this in the senate unanimously. >> senate bill 1782 is declared passed. >> and so i learned we are in good hands. the next generation is fit to continue on and make progress. >> you are now a political influencer.

i'm wondering what are your thoughts about what could be ahead for you? >> am not sure. the field of politics is intriguing. i was lucky to be able to see the process of a bill becoming a law up close. learn about it in social studies and civics class but to be there and testify for the bill was on another level. it was such an amazing experience. maybe it is something i want to pursue but we will see. >> senator kaylor of illinois and shreya nallamouthu, thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ >> a new report funded by the state department paints a dire picture of the humanitarian situation in darfur were in western sudan. nearly five months ago, the sudanese military and insurgent rapid support forces started fighting each other for power.

the u.n. says at least 4000 people have died. violence quickly spilled into dara for where elements of the our sf were accused of genocide 20 years ago. as nick schifrin reports, history appears to be repeating itself. >> the aftermath of airstrikes, the echo of gunfire and the frightening flames of civil war have engulfed sedans cities. -- sudan cities. in the capital a massive fire burned in their report. there is no safety for the living and no dignity for the dead. civilians are dying so quickly graves are left unmarked. now the power struggle between sudan's armed forces and the rapid support forces has reignited ethnic conflict in dara four, a western region the size of spain. >> it is ethnic cleansing. it is ethnic cleansing that right now is occurring. >> nathaniel raymond is the

executive director of the humanitarian research lab at the yale school of public health. his team works on the state department funded sudan conflict observatory to expose the atrocities of war that might otherwise go unreported. >> cell phone connectivity and internet connectivity has been knocked out. in some cases intentionally as we documented by the our sf. so our work is unfortunately the only game in town in many cases to be able to corroborate what is happening. that is done through a combination of satellite imagery, open-source reporting and thermal sensors from nasa. >> their new report from door fours largest city shows damage to a market, a mosque, a military hospital and a prison. last week, a local journalist post these -- these photos of what appears to basically incident where dozens died. we spoke to one of the victims who survived. she has now fled to east darfur.

>> a little girl. her face was split down the middle. and neighbor's head was severed. i started screaming when i saw my aunt's head head exploded. i kept screaming for help. my aunt's family has been torn apart. i passed out. that is the only thing i remember. no one came to help. no government. the military. no rapid support forces. absolutely no one came. >> we have seen an alleged massacre of almost 30 people including from five families at the table bridge where they were killed by a stray missile. so the situation is both forces are now moving into civilian areas occupying civilian homes and firing at each other at close proximity. in the middle of this battle are civilians. >> you believe exposing what is happening can protect the people on the ground? >> at this point, we are

conducting early warning that turns into autopsies. we are trying to warn and when the warning goes unheeded we are trying to document the destruction of entire communities. >> in the 2000's government backed militias in darfur really crushed an uprising and killed hundreds of thousands of non-arabs. it gave birth to the our sf. -- the rsf which is behind the new violence in darfur. >> we are concerned it is a preview of what happens next. we are talking hundreds of thousands of people. the most vulnerable people on the planet who have really at this point no protection force between them and rsf which has clearly shown that their intent is to liquidate prioritizing men

that also with sexual gender-based violence against women to liquidate non-arab people in darfur. >> the violence has targeted sudan's healers. as many as three quarters of health care facilities have been destroyed. this doctor is president of the sudanese american physicians association. >> the situation in terms of health care is in near complete collapse. the majority of hospitals and health care centers out of service. in the capital were most of the health care services are concentrated to begin with, and that is also the case in the west of the country. what that means is people who get injured as a result of the war, they don't get the care they need. those who get other medical conditions, heart attacks or need diabetes to be managed, a woman wants to deliver, a kid who needs vaccination, will these services are mostly nonfunctional now. in sudanese social media groups

people are changing tips on how you can deliver a woman at home. it is in very bad situation. >> the international community has said it is getting supplies into the country. more today than they were a few months ago but are the supplies reaching hospitals? are they reaching the people who need them? >> the situation has improved but it continues to be terrible in the sense there is a mismatch between what is delivered to port sudan which is the keyport of the country and what is actually delivered to the end user and this is due to safety reasons. it is not safe to move stuff around most of the country and also due to a nonfunctional government that is incapable of delivering aid to those who need it most. i also think the international aid agency has been reluctant for so many reasons to work with the local community. >> let's assume into dara four. you are opening up a new clinic on the border between west darfur and chad.

what is the humanitarian situation? >> hundreds of thousands have left darfur and went to chad. the situation is particularly tough because it has taken this ethnic flavor to it. it is kind of tragic in the sense it was formed originally to have suppressed -- in darfur and now it turns against the army. the rsf was trained not to respect human rights and to use sexual violence as well. that has been really seen mostly in darfur where there are credible reports that there has been killing based on ethnicity. there has been indiscriminate killing of civilians. the capital of west darfur, you basically have no health care services. > you mention sexual violence. is that one of the boot -- one of the most brutal aspects of the conflict? >> there were reports of women

being sold. >> we have been interviewing people in darfur and they describe these harrowing scenes. the wounded not being able to reach the hospitals and dying on the way. exactly what you said before. people who need routine medical care simply unable to get it and dying for that reason. overall the level of crisis seems it is getting worse. >> absolutely it is getting worse. you have the west of darfur, no health care services. now the violence has spread to south darfur. it is i think in darfur particularly the worst is yet to come because the social fabric -- in khartoum, you have the army fighting. in darfur we are seeing evidence that is spreading to the larger society.

ethnic tensions in darfur that can open the door to widespread violence. >> there are about to be as many as 5 million people displaced. how much of a threat is that massive number to the country and to the region? >> first of all this is creating a difficult security situation within sudan itself. it is putting pressure on all the services and cities not equipped to deal with these large numbers. overall i think if the war escalates and we see people leaving sudan, the country disintegrates. it is going to have a huge impact across the continent which is already suffering a lot from multiple oars. -- from multiple wars. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. ♪ >> the political power of

organized labor. motivating force of abortion in election and the limits of age on elected leaders. questions swirling for our politics monday team to discuss. amy walter of the cook political report and tamera keith of npr. wait to see you both laboring on this labor day. president biden as we reported spent the day in philadelphia. he delivered the speech where he touted his economic record, his jobs record and he took more than a few jabs at donald trump's record. > when the last guy was here, you were shipping jobs to china. now we are bringing jobs home from china. >> so tell us more about what the president said and the strategy behind the speech. >> so this is part of what the white house has taken to calling bidenomics. their pitch is biden's policies are good for working people. that yes it is climate change,

trying to prevent climate change and spending money on clean energy is important but also it is creating jobs. the chips bill exists but it is also about bringing jobs into the united states. that is the pitch he is making. it is a pitch he has made frequently. it is not a pitch that is really sinking in yet with the american public. >> what about that because as you both know big labor helps the back bone of the biden base. does scranton joe need to find a new approach to shore up that part of the electorate or what? >> it is a good point you are making. being scranton joe and his relationship to labor which goes very deep in his tenure in political office but the reality joe biden is facing is similar to what other democrats have been facing for these last 10 or 15 years as white working-class voters that used to be the core base of the democratic party have moved over and or voting republican. it did not start under donald

trump but it certainly was on lake superspeed -- unlike superspeed. biden understands as democrats understand they cannot win national elections and lose working-class voters. what can a 20 showed was not just the worry about white working-class voters moving from d to r but working-class voters who were the tino, asian, black. that is what the page is really about which is the democratic party is the party of the working class. not the republican party. it is also fascinating for me to watch a democratic president, the first democratic resident since bill clinton who has been basically anti-trade and has been tough on china. it was bill clinton who pushed nafta. it was barack obama who pushed tpp. that you have a democratic president whose positions on some of these issues, especially

on china look a lot more like donald trump than previous democratic presidents. >> in this white house is also very aware organized labor is more popular among the american people now than it has been in years. >> this the summer of strikes. >> it is the summer of strikes. president biden says he is not worried about the autoworker striking. it is not clear that lack of worry is based in reality. i was talking to jim mussina who ran the 2012 campaign for obama. and the fact that biden is with the labor union today, yes it is labor day, but it could be any day of the week because he loves organized labor so much. jim mussina said during 2012 joe biden would call him up and be like can you get me out with my guys? i want to go on the trail. what that meant was he wanted to go to a union hall. he wanted to be around laborers,

union workers. he felt at home with them. i think we can expect to see scenes likely sell today as part of this campaign a lot. >> you were traveling with the president when he went to florida this past weekend to survey the damage left from the hurricane and meet with victims. even though ron desantis chose not to meet with president biden there was another republican who did, florida senator rick scott. how did that come to be? he put praise upon the president for the response. >> in some ways rick scott took on the role of the more traditional role of the governor and he is a former governor who dealt with hurricanes before. he took on a roll that ron desantis did not take on because he pointedly snubbed president biden's visit despite the fact with two previous disasters dissent is was willing to appear with biden. here's the thing. a bipartisan -- coming together to help the people image is great for joe biden.

not so great for ron desantis who is running for president in the republican -- on the republican side and does not want a repeat of the embrace that chris christie had within president obama. >> let's talk about the republicans running for president. republican governor glenn youngkin who is not running for president but there are republicans who want him to come he faces a test of his political brand come november because there are state legislature elections and abortion will be on the ballot in many ways in virginia. >> there are two pieces of this. one is glenn youngkin is being chatted up by folks in this town who are frustrated with ron desantis collapse and want to see an alternative to donald trump in the election. however starting a campaign after the november elections is really hard to do. logistically you cannot get on the ballot in number of states because the bout access has

closed and putting a campaign together six weeks before iowa, that is incredibly difficult. there is that piece we are going to watch. the other piece is this issue of abortion. glenn youngkin is talking about the fact if he gets a republican-controlled legislature that is on the line in virginia this year, he will pass a 15 week ban in that state. virginia is one of the last seven states to not have any restrictive abortion laws on the books since roe v. wade failed. that is a pretty risky decision to make in a state as virginia is. if he succeeds, he is able to do a couple things. one to say something about the way i pitch this and how i presented it that connected even in blue state and this is a path forward for republicans. if it fails democrats say once again whenever abortion is on

the ballot in whatever form it is it is problematic for republicans. >> especially in a state like virginia. >> absolutely. virginia is a state that has two democratic u.s. senators. it is a state that is more moderate, more purple. it is not a redmeat republican red state. glenn youngkin was elected as wearing the red vest and red fleece vest looking like a suburban dad and he was elected on this wave of parents and others being upset about covid and schools and all of this stuff. but as he has served as governor most recently he came out with guidelines for how schools should deal with transgender students. a large number of very large school districts rejected those that -- those guidelines out of

hand including some that were not in more liberal counties. some in more moderate counties. i think he has seen as governor some challenges to being a maga type republican. there is a challenge of his brand because he wants to be suburban dad but also went out campaigning with kari lake in arizona. >> to this day the rest of democrats who say it is not that glenn youngkin won in virginia, it is that terry mccullough lost in virginia. thank you very much. >> you are welcome. >> the number of wildfires burning in canada is still well above average for this time of year. that is after record-setting blazes pushed hazardous air incident much of the u.s. this summer. any in the western part of the country already deal with

wildfire smoke on a regular basis. it is a problem made worse by the fact more than 5 million americans don't have easy access to a respiratory specialist. john yang reports in the story that first aired on pbs we can. >> for walt and penny, the small town of hayden, colorado has been home for five decades. set high in the rocky mountains, there that much closer to the deep blue skies and puffy white clouds. >> take a bunch of deep breaths. >> don't cheat on your oxygen test. >> i didn't. >> three years ago they were comfortably settled into retired life when walt began having breathing problems. >> i was having a check up after my heart valve. once a year i would go for a checkup and they found a spot on my left lung that was kind of cloudy. >> he was diagnosed with pneumonitis, inflammation of the lung tissue. also called farmers lung. >> there are hundreds of

different types of farmers lung. mold, sawdust. i grew up with parents that smoked. i worked at the coal mine. i hauled fuel and stuff like that. nothing showed up. >> retired from long-haul trucking, walt thought he was done with long regularly scheduled drives but from his home in hayden going to a pulmonologist every three months for checkups meant a round-trip drive of eight to 10 hours. >> 10 hours for a 15 minute visit. that is why we always waited for him to come up here. let him do the driving. >> you have done enough driving over the years. >> i have. >> instead, the pulmonologist comes to him. >> no sign of a flareup. >> not that i have seen. >> once a month, dr. james hoyt makes the trek to a medical center from his office in fort collins. he has nine hours of patient

appointments over two consecutive days. 180 miles each way with a 1300 foot elevation change. dr. hoyt has been making the monthly trip for the last decade. >> it is about 4000 miles a year. 40,000 miles, 50,000 miles. i have gotten one new windshield, one new bumper, a whole new front end when i hit a deer. i have only for the weather not made at once. for >> hundreds of his patients across northwestern colorado and southern wyoming it is a life changer. walt copeland gets to his appointments in just a 30 minute drive. usually combining the trip with other errands. many parts of the country especially the real west have limited access to pulmonologist. according to telehealth and prescription discount provider good rx, more than 5 million americans are more than a one hour drive from a respiratory specialist living in

pulmonologist deserts. an aging population has a higher risk of copd. then came covid-19 and the damage it can do to the lungs of those infected with the virus. burnout from the pandemic has led to pulmonologist retiring early or changing specialties. > there were two really hard times. the first time was when it first came and 14 or so of us got in a room and looked at each other and wondered who is going in first because there were no vaccines. there was ppe we did not for sure if it worked or not. the second really hard time in covid was when our health care teams were exhausted from 18 months or so of grinding. there were more than enough vaccines for everyone and patient after patient after patient we took care of was unvaccinated by choice.

>> climate change plays a role too helping make wildfires bigger and more intense in the air more hazardous to breathe. last summer this beautiful vista was obscured by smoke from wildfires in california, oregon and washington state. wildfires could lead to air-quality alerts hundreds of miles down went. as the fine particulate matter in the smoke drifts across the country, it could leave a trail of people headed to doctors offices, urgent care clinics and emergency rooms with respiratory problems. walt copeland's wife penny has asthma. >> smoke is one of the things i am allergic to so when the valley would fill with smoke, i basically had to stay indoors with the windows closed. it would make it difficult to breathe at night. you don't get enough air, you don't function. you basically have to sit on the couch and that is it.

>> over the last few decades the west has been seeing this gradual uptick in the number of fires, how large they are and how severe they are. >> jennifer is a researcher at boston university school of public health. she says wildfire smoke from canada and the western united states will continue to affect parts of the country unaccustomed to it. what is the effect on public health? >>. . a lot of that depends on what is burned and how far it gets. it affects people who already have sensitivities generally the big one is respiratory that we would expect. say i had asthma and i have a significant exposure to wildfire smoke, the likelihood i would show up at an er because of my asthma is probably about 8% more likely on a day i am exposed to smoke within a day i am not exposed. >> that means more hospital visits. >> the important thing for people to know is to remain indoors if you can especially if you look at the air-quality

colors. if it is worse than yellow you want to stay indoors. if you have underlying conditions like asthma or copd, you want to stay indoors as soon gets out of the green area. if you have to go outside, definitely wear a mask. >> penny copeland does not need a researcher to tell her what a shortage of respiratory specialist means. every time her asthma gets bad, she feels it. >> usually when you have a flair it is good to be seen by a pulmonologist so they can help you through that and give you more treatment. when we have a pulmonologist only here once a month your asthma flare usually don't come along when he is here. >> andy asthma does not pay attention to dr. hoyt schedule. >> no it does not. >> at uc health medical center at steamboat springs, the -- has begun the challenging task of hiring a full-time staff pulmonologist. >> we started recruiting in

january 2023. we are looking to have a full-time provider starting next summer july 2024. >> how hard is that? >> so far it has been pretty hard. we have had quite a few candidates come through but no one has been a right fit for the community. >> i have walked out of the office, sat in my car and called for an appointment. when i do they say it is filled up. >> as dr. hoyt's appointments become harder to get, walt and penny hold their breath waiting for the right candidate to come along to fill the gap. i'm john yang in steamboat springs, colorado. ♪ >> and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. thank you for joining us and enjoy the rest of this labor day holiday. >> major funding for the pbs

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