amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the “news hour” tonight, kamala harris campaigns with liz cheney at the birthplace of the republican party, while donald trump rallies voters in the swing state of michigan. a lawmaker from the house january 6 committee weighs in on newly unsealed evidence in trump's 2020 election

interference case. and ongoing fighting between israel and hezbollah creates more uncertainty for people living near the israel-lebanon border, nearly a year after the october 7 terror attacks. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. >> on an american cruise lines journey, along the legendary mississippi river, travelers explore civil war battlefields and historic riverside towns.

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by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the “news hour.” both presidential candidates took their campaigns to the midwest today, fighting for crucial wins across the so-called blue wall. vice president kamala harris is in wisconsin tonight. but we begin in michigan, where former president donald trump gave a familiar, and false, rallying cry. laura barron-lopez starts our coverage. laura: in central michigan this afternoon, donald trump was on defense. >> you know last time, last election, we did great in 2016. a lot of people don't know, we did much better in 2020. we won, we won. we did win. it was a rigged election. it was a rigged election. you have to tell kamala harris, that's why i'm doing it again.

laura: the stop in a key battleground state comes one day after a federal judge unsealed a court filing from special counsel jack smith's case charging trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. in 165 pages, prosecutors outlined new details about trump's, quote, increasingly desperate efforts to target every stage of the electoral process. it also included new fbi evidence that trump was alone in the oval office dining room when he posted a tweet attacking his then-vice president mike pence, as rioters stormed the capitol on january 6, 2021. prosecutors are pointing to that as an example of trump defending his private political interests, not acting in an official capacity as president. trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges. on newsnation last night, trump deflected. accusing smith, without evidence, of interfering in the upcoming election. >> he works for kamala, and he

works for joe. this was a weaponization of government, and that's why it was released 30 days before the election. and it's nothing new in there by the way, nothing new. they rigged the election, i didn't rig the election, they rigged the election. laura: according to the latest pbs news-npr-marist poll, 64% of registered voters say preserving democracy is a deciding factor in choosing a candidate for president. >> did he lose the 2020 election? >> tim, i'm focused on the future. laura: the subject was a major moment of tuesday's vice presidential debate. and at a rally in pennsylvania yesterday, minnesota governor tim walz lambasted trump's running mate, ohio senator j.d. vance, for what he called a damning non-answer. >> i just asked the simplest of all questions that every single american should be able to answer. i asked him if donald trump lost the 2020 election.

he refused to answer. laura: meantime, the harris/walz ticket secured another endorsement from a prominent republican voice. cassidy hutchinson, a former trump white house aide, explained on msnbc this morning why she's throwing her support behind vice president kamala harris. >> this is a moment that is so much bigger than the republican party and our allegiance to a political party. i don't know why so many republicans, specifically the men, are still cloaking themselves in cowardice. especially in the face of donald trump and j.d. vance. laura: hutchinson made headlines in 2022, as a key witness during the house select committee hearings investigating january 6. >> i want to begin by thanking ms. hutchinson for her testimony. laura: the republican vice-chair of that committee, former representative liz cheney, crossed party lines with her endorsement last month. >> not only am i not voting for donald trump, but i'm voting for kamala harris. laura: tonight, cheney plans to

join harris on the campaign trail, in a historic location, ripon, wisconsin. this little white schoolhouse is where the republican party was formed, in 1854. tonight, it's a stage, for harris to make her case to swing voters and republicans like cheney, who no longer feel at home in their own party. for the pbs “news hour,” i'm laura barron lopez. amna: let's delve further into our pbs news, npr, marist poll that was released today. the topline? with just over a month to go until election day, the presidential race is still neck and neck. our political correspondent lisa desjardins is here to break down more of the findings. good to see you. just a month out, how is the race listing? lisa: i know all of us are hesitant about polls, but they are important to look at. when you look at the race overall it is essentially a dead heat. what is important is the trendlines. let's look at the trend. you look at harris's support in blue over trump's support in

red, you can see how close they have been. she has been ahead. both of them have gained a little bit. that is because a few voters have been deciding. if you look at the difference it is a slight and look at the margin of error. just 3.7%. if you look at across all the trendlines, that means this has been a time virtually this entire time. just a few moments here and there where harris has been above the margin of error. amna: let me ask you about something we covered earlier this week in the vice presidential debate. j.d. vance was asked and refused to say that former president trump had lost the 2020 election. both he and mr. trump continue to raise questions about election security, even though there is no evidence of concerns around that. what will americans say about those issues? lisa: this is one reason polling is important. the mood on this is critical. there is some good news in terms of confince.

it depends on how you ask the question. are you confident your state and local officials can have a fair and accurate election? 76% of national adults said yes, they are confident. that is actually six points higher than this time in 2021 after former president trump was declaring there was widespread fraud. this is more confidence in state and local officials. there is also high confidence in the postal service as well. if you ask a more broad question about overall are you concerned, will there be voter fraud, it flips. and there you see that number concerned, 58% of national adults say they are concerned not just about potential but that there will be voter fraud, defined as meeting someone has a false identification or votes twice. tammy patrick is the ceo of a program at the election center and formerly ran the maricopa county elections. she said this is still a widespread belief despite

evidence to the contrary. >> i think what we know about election fraud is that it can occur but is exceedingly rare. and we don't have any instances where we know that it affected the outcome of any election, particularly election for president. lisa: this is also important because we still hear this from republicans, even though there is no evidence of everything. amna: you and your team dig much more deeply into these polls. what stands out for you? lisa: it shows us which groups are having big reactions. there is no surprise, a split among voters who is concerned about voter fraud. 29% of harris harris voters are concerned. trump voters, 88% believe voter fraud will happen. looking deeper into the data, i found one other group that had an outsized concerned about voter fraud. white evangelical christians. that is the group right now the

trump campaign is trying the most to get out to vote. should former president trump lose, this group has already has baked in their mind there will be voter fraud. that is something to consider . amna: fascinating. lisa, thank you. and you can dig into even more results from our poll online at pbs.org/newshour. that poll was conducted before the unsealing of a court filing that offers new insight into the events of january 6. representative zoe lofgren was one of the lawmakers tasked with investigating that day and what led to it. she joins us now from san jose. congresswoman, welcome back. before we turn to that court filing, i want to ask you about what lisa desjardins was just reporting from our poll, that some 58% of adults say they are concerned there will be voter fraud in this election. what is your reaction to that and what kind of impact do you think that can have on the election? rep. lofgren: it is unfortunate

that so many people are believing the lies that the former president has been spouting now along with other republicans for quite some time. voter fraud is vanishingly small in this country. if you are investigated, you get maybe a handful, and they are usually in city council races. it has not ever been a fact error. but if people believe that it is, maybe they won't vote. maybe they think it won't make a difference. so that is disappointing. and i wish that trump would stop lying about this and i certainly wish my colleagues on the others out of the aisle would tell the truth as well. amna: let's turn to that latest news from the filing that was unsealed yesterday related to the election interference case against former president trump brought by special counsel jack smith. it is worth pointing out the january 6 committee you served on did pull together many of

those details, but of course the department of justice had subpoena power where you did not. i am curious in going through the filing, did anything stand out to you as a previously critical missing piece in the puzzle to putting together understanding what happened on that day? rep. lofgren: one thing did strike me which was the direct communication then-president trump and steve bannon. i have long believed that bannon knew everything, and was up to his eyeballs in the plot. he refused to respond to our subpoena, and of course is in prison right now for contempt of congress. but obviously the department of justice was able to get information we were not able to get. it does not surprise me because i think all the indications were there, but we didn't have the direct evidence they have. amna: what about some of what

was disclosed but not confirmed details about conversations between mike pence and trump? rep. lofgren: we had a pretty good idea what had gone on. we knew that he had refused to respond to trump's pressure to overturn the election. we didn't know about the comment that trump made, "so what" if pence gets evacuated. amna: can i ask about how the public is taking all of this information in? even though there was really damning evidence laid out, the polls are showing the further away we get from january 6, the fewer people see it as a threat. and fewer people see donald trump as bearing any responsibility. there was a poll from december of 2023 that found just 53% of

people thought he was responsible for the events that day, down from 60% two years earlier. do you think this case in any way is already or could change people's minds? rep. lofgren: i have no idea. but it is about prosecuting a crime, it is not about a political campaign. i do think the republican party overall, most of them in the house, are lying about that day. they were evacuated the same as me. they saw the damage done to the capital, the police officers who were injured. they knew what happened. but they are spinning it as if it was something else. we live in a country that is divided along partisan lines. and people who are registered republicans tend to trust the republican elected officials and when they are being lied to,

that can lead to very bad results. amna: as you have probably seen, trump has called it pure election interference. he called it weaponization of the government. i know some will look at this filing release and point out it happened just the day before your fellow committee member, republican liz cheney, hits the campaign trail with vice president kamala harris, and they will see politics at play, despite the fact there is no evidence of that. does the timing of all of this in any way, the optics of it, make you uncomfortable? rep. lofgren: the timing is because of trump. he has done everything he could to delay this through fruitless appeals and on and on. that is why this was not done a long time ago. for him now to complain, it is kind of like the guy who murdered his parents and is now complaining he is an orphan. it is really incredible. amna: but for people who will

see politics in this process, what is your message to them? rep. lofgren: it is not true. the court has nothing to do with politics. they just call balls and strikes. i wish this had happened a long time ago, honestly. i wish trump had not delayed this so long. but here we are. it is unfortunate the department of justice did not start this earlier. but even with that late start, it was delayed in an unseemly way by trump himself, and there is nothing to be done about that now. amna: that is congresswoman zoe lofgren joining us tonight from california. congresswoman, thank you for your time. rep. lofgren: you bet. good to see you. ♪ amna: we start the day's other headlines with the aftermath of

hurricane helene. the death toll from the storm has risen to 200, after officials in north carolina and georgia reported new fatalities in their states. president biden spent a second day touring the destruction. he started in florida, speaking to officials, survivors, and first responders, before heading to georgia. his visit comes as the region cleans up from its third hurricane since the summer of 2023. >> three in a row. three in a row. you've been through hell, three in a row. i want you to know, i see you, i hear you, i grieve with you, and i promise you we have your back. amna: in georgia, the state's national guard has been brought in to help clean up areas affected by the storm. they've been using chainsaws and equipment to clear blocked roads, among other relief efforts. over in the pacific, typhoon krathon made landfall in southwestern taiwan earlier today, hammering the island with torrential rains and winds up to

100 miles an hour. in the port city of kaohsiung, roads were flooded, and schools and businesses were closed. all domestic flights have been grounded. the storm is set to weaken to a tropical depression by friday as it moves slowly north towards the capital, taipei. meantime, authorities say at least nine people have died in a hospital fire in an area that was hit by the typhoon. the source of the blaze is under investigation. on his first official visit to ukraine today as nato's new leader, mark rutte said the country is closer to nato than ever before. in kyiv, he met with president volodymyr zelenskyy, who briefed him on ukraine's so-called victory plan. rutte expressed confidence that phe can work with whomever wins this year's u.s. presidential election, and offered an ironclad commitment to ukraine's defense. zelenskyy, meanwhile, continued his appeal to use western-supplied weapons to strike further into russia.

>> as the new nato secretary-general, it is my priority and it's my privilege to take this support forward. >> we definitely want ukraine not to be forgotten. but the best option to not forget about ukraine is to respond with weapons, to give the appropriate permission, it seems to me. amna: air raid sirens went off in the ukrainian capital twice during rutte's visit, a reminder of the war that rages on. he arrived just after a russian strike hit an apartment block in kharkiv, ukraine's second-largest city. local officials say at least 12 people were injured, including a three-year-old girl. a local governor in congo says at least 78 people have died after an overcrowded boat capsized. eyewitness video caught the moment the ship went down in lake kivu, in the east of the country. locals say the boat was overloaded with passengers, and sank while trying to dock just yards away from the port of kituku.

it's the latest deadly boat disaster to hit the central african country. in june, an overloaded boat sank near the capital of kinshasa, killing 80 passengers. back in the u.s., president biden said today there's been progress on the port workers strike that has shut down dockyards from texas to maine. but when pressed for details, mr. biden said simply that quote, we'll find out soon. some 45,000 workers from the international longshoremen's association walked off the job earlier this week. they're seeking a pay raise and a ban on the automation of cranes, gates, and loading trucks. there are currently no talks scheduled between the union and port operators. some of the nation's biggest retailers are ramping up their hiring for the holiday season. amazon said today it will bring on 250,000 employees for the year-end shopping period. that includes full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers, and it's the same amount amazon hired last year.

bath & body works and target also plan to hire similar numbers to last year, with target adding 100,000 holiday staff. but macy's, for one, is scaling back. it plans to bring on about 6000 fewer employees compared to last year. on wall street today, the major markets struggled ahead of friday's monthly jobs report. the dow jones industrial average dropped nearly 200 points by the close. the nasdaq slipped about six points, so basically flat. and the s&p 500 ended slightly lower on the day. and caitlin clark has been named the wnba's rookie of the year. the indiana fever guard received 66 votes out of the 67 cast by a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. angel reese of the chicago sky received the single remaining vote. clark averaged over 19 points and more than eight assists per game this season. she also set rookie records for points and three-pointers, while leading her team to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

still to come on the “news hour,” a jury convicts police officers for their role in the fatal beating of tyre nichols. the alarming rise in autism diagnoses among somali-american children. and a documentary film spotlights the highly-competitive world of high school mariachi. >> this is the pbs “news hour” from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite schl of journalism at arizona state university. amna: now to the widening conflict in the middle east. israel tonight says it targeted a hamas commander in the west bank killing at least 14 people. airstrikes are rarely used by israel and the west bank. israeli forces also kept up their punishing attacks across southern lebanon and in the capital city of beirut, where

tonight they targeted the hezbollah leader. more broadly, hundreds of civilians including dozens of children have been killed in lebanon. as special correspondent leila molana-allen reports, residents now feel nowhere is safe. leila: porsche them to stop the noxious black fumes getting in. last night, beirut's residents did not have to wait long. just shy of midnight a low swoon and three hollow bangs. then, fire. one strike hit further than any so far. israel says it is attacking

military targets but this behind me is a medical center, a depot for first responders. and we are not in a hezbollah -run area. we are less than half a mile from the very heart of beirut. a civil defense volunteer for the islamic health authority is working inside the medical unit here when the missile hit. >> it was terrifying. i ran to check on my friends. i found one injured but the rest were dead under the rubble. everything around them were on fire. leila: several paramedics and volunteers were killed and one remains in critical condition. >> if israel is targeting paramedics and they will also target shelters, hospitals and innocent civilians. leila: israel's government insists its fights is with hezbollah militants, not the lebanese people. today, it said it struck

hezbollah's headquarters and the group's media office. on the border, the idf said soldiers conducted armed raids on hezbollah infrastructure. but hezbollah is not only a military order a shade -- military organization. it runs hospitals, social services, and schools. the group's civil defense volunteers serve all lebanese. in this emergency situation, rescue and medical workers are more vital than ever. it is not the first time medical personnel have been targeted in this conflict. and today the lebanese red cross said four of their staff were wounded. medical facilities and personnel are protected under international law. intentionally attacking them is a war crimes. the idf has not yet said why they struck the facility. but as more and more residential and civilian buildings are targeted here, locals fear the rules of war are being left in the dust. lebanon's health minister said

today nearly 100 medics have been killed in two weeks. a quarter of them in just the past 24 hours. >> gave israel the right to be both judge and executor at the same time? leila: as foreigners board evacuation flights and politicians bicker. everyday volunteers are trying to keep the country afloat. the lebanese red cross runs the country's volunteer ambulance service as well as its national blood bank. since the attacks began they have been overwhelmed with demand from hospitals and stocks have run dry. sally, a 28-year-old university lecturer, responded to a desperate call out for donations. >> i just said to come because this is the minimum we can do. leila: she says the stress and fear of the last few weeks have become unbearable.

feeling powerless as she watches her countrymen displaced, injured, and killed. >> we are sometimes feeling guilty just because we survived. that is how it is making us feel. we go to work, we don't know if we will go back home. we have to see if they are bombing our parents house or not. our only goal now is to survive. leila: beset by tragedy after tragedy, lebanon's people are sir -- famous for their survival instinct. but an increasingly brutal conflict in this country already on its knees could be its undoing. for the pbs "news hour," i'm leila molana-allen. amna: the israeli military said today that hezbollah fired more

than 230 rockets and drones from lebanon into northern israel. cross-border rocket attacks have become common over the last year. the day after the october 7 terrorist attacks on israel, hezbollah opened fire in an act of solidarity with hamas. soon after, the israeli government evacuated more than 60,000 residents living near the border. nick schifrin has been traveling across northern israel, and begins his report tonight from kiryat shmona, just a mile and a half from the lebanese border. nick: the road to what used to be the largest city in israel's north is quiet. inside here, the homes bear the scars of war. what used to be a roof over this family's head, now a gaping window into their living room. for 11 months the town has been hezbollah's biggest short range target, hit on more than 200 separate occasions including last weekend a direct strike through the roof of the city's main mall. the school is right behind the

street behind us and the hezbollah attack struck right here. the city's deputy security chief shows me a site it by three rockets, two artillery shells, and one missile. >> if we hear an alarm, the best case it is 10 seconds. most of the time we can hear the whistle and the boom and then the alarm. nick: before october 7 he had never done security. he was a rabbi and school principal. but today, the neighborhood is empty. its playground stands unused. nearly all of the 24,000 residents have been evacuated. today the basketball courts are shot through with shrapnel. the city is frozen in time. its soundtrack, mostly silence punctuated by projectiles. above the city's gas station late last week, hezbollah rockets intercepted by israeli air defense. >> they don't care if they are losing troops or commanders.

he is a terror organization and they are only about striking fear. as long as we keep evacuation going, hezbollah is telling the story. nick: the city staff have all remained under threat, often underground. the mayor holds his meetings in a bomb shelter. israel always expected in october 7-style attack. they just expected it from the north. >> in 2013, hezbollah published a video on how it will conquer. the same scenario we saw in october in the south. do not underestimate them. they can car -- because much larger damage than hamas. nick: and so he supports what israel calls a quote, limited invasion of lebanon targeting hezbollah infrastructure. even if today he told us more than 40% of kiryat shmona will never return. >> in order for us to bring the residents back here safely it is

not enough to just eliminate the top of the organization. we need to destroy the infrastructure that threatens the citizens every day and also push them back so they cannot threaten us with direct fire. nick: that threat is from hezbollah's units, whose videos portray fighters operating insight of israeli towns including those built on the hills of the western gallery. this is the core of israel's challenge. behind me is a village so close to the lebanese border, you can actually see the fence israel has built. close enough for hezbollah fighters to use short range weapons like grenades, antitank missiles, and close enough for hezbollah to build tunnels underneath that border just after october 7, hezbollah fighters tried to infiltrate the village. in that attack, forces killed an israeli deputy brigade commander before being repelled. in april, hezbollah videotaped

as it launched a combined drone and missile strike that hit a community center-turned military barracks, killing two israeli soldiers. >> the feeling is very difficult for the residents. there is fear and anxiety. i evacuated the first day of the war to the hotel. i was evacuated to several hotels. nick: thousands of those displaced have landed in tel aviv hotels. home is a 150 square-foot hotel room. they fled here last october after their little brother was born october 5 and five days later is husband is called up to the military. >> it was very difficult, especially in the beginning. it was after my cesarean section and when my baby was one week old we had to flee our home. we arrived with a real sense of grief. it was hard life in tel aviv

went on as normal and it was very strong to see that. nick: did you feel you did not belong here? >> yes. at the very beginning we walked around the street. nick: she longs for her life back in kiryat shmona. but this sanctuary has become a war zone. >> we felt like we were being kicked out of our own home and you come back to a place where there is nothing. i cannot be in my home or with my husband and my sister was drafted as well. nick: a separated family provides mutual support. they don't know when they will return home but they have a roof and each other. i'm nick schifrin in tel aviv. ♪

amna: three former memphis police officers were found guilty of witness tampering following the fatal beating of tyre nichols, after a january 2023 traffic stop. john yang is here with more. john: those three officers, tadarrius bean, demetrius haley, and justin smith, all convicted of trying to cover up their actions. haley was also convicted of violating nichols' civil rights by caung bodily injury, and bean and smith were acquitted of civil rights charges. they were among the five former officers who fatally punched, kicked, and hit nichols in 2023 after he ran from a traffic stop. police body-cam and surveillance video of the fatal encounter was shown almost every day of the three-week trial. after the verdict was read, tyre nichols's father said the family

was elated. he said this was justice and a long time coming. the three also face state murder charges. thaddeus johnson teaches criminal justice and criminology at georgia state university, and is a former ranking memphis police officer. what do you make of this verdict, this split decision? thaddeus: it makes sense. this is actually what we want in our current system, to cater the punishments or the charges for the actual crimes. based on the evidence and what the jury, who are male -- more than capable were able to judge against, they came up with a murderer -- with a verdict that everyone didn't violate civil rights but they did something that was very illegal and a distrust of the position they held. and those charges -- john: the defense actually played the tape to try to

minimize the actions of their clients. where does this fit in the ongoing conversation about policing and police violence thaddeus: that is a very good point. a couple things jumped out to me in this whole process. yes the officers bared responsibility and blame but the actions did not occur in a vacuum. how we reward officers on the pathway to leadership and specialized units and even the quality of officers in patrol. two things stood out. he was upset by a lack of arrest and he may have struggled with ptsd. these things tell me our officers need help and be put in positions where they can win. they need to make sure they have the capabilities to cope with all the things they see. and we cannot really have police

reform if we still make arrest number one metric. it is a very small part of the job. we often turn our citizens into commodities when we have these reward structures for sizing stops and arrests instead of partners in public safety. those are two things that jumped out that show we have to address these things if we want to have the policing we'd reserve as american citizens. john: how has those things changed? does this go back to training? thaddeus: oftentimes it goes ack to training. but let me say because these officers went beyond the scope of their training. i trained at a police economy -- academy. this is not what we are trained to do. we are not trained to use deadly strikes above the head. we are trained to render and provide a nomadic the circumstances. this is a selection process and

a culture process, whether the broader police or subcultures within those specialized units. it is that running and gunning, those metrics that make up a small portion of policing where community engagement is not awarded. if we want our police to engage our citizens in that way, we have to reward them in that way and provide them pathways to promotions and pathways to other specialized units as well. john: is there a lesson for other departments in this? thaddeus: absolutely. reform is a very local matter. the federal government will step in and show that we will hold the office accountable. murdering someone is one thing but violating civil rights is another and we have to make sure they are held accountable across the full spectrum. john: thaddeus johnson of

georgia state university, thank you so much. thaddeus: thank you. ♪ amna: in recent years, the prevalence of autism has risen significantly across all populations in the u.s. diagnoses are more common among children of color, but one group, somali americans, is seeing an alarming increase. fred de sam lazaro has this report from minnesota, home to the largest somali community in america. >> i have three children, two girls and a boy, and they have all been diagnosed autistic. two of my children are verbal. one is partially verbal. and we speak, eat, sleep autism. fred: for anisa hagi mohamed and

husband, duraan ali, this is one of few outings the family does together in a routine otherwise individually tailored for their 8-, 6- and 3-year-old children. on sundays, the kids get to play in a safe space set aside just for autistic children. hagi mohamed was a teacher. she has a degree in linguistics but has devoted her life to advocating for autistic children in the somali american community. >> i always tell parents you are going to face a period of denial. i experienced it myself, even though my daughter was showing very visible signs of autism. she was refusing affection. she had, you know, different behaviors. fred: autism is a brain development disability whose symptoms can range across a wide spectrum of severity, with repetitive speech and behaviors and verbal and social skills. many public figures have confirmed themselves or been

described as autistic, scientists and tech leaders like albert einstein and elon musk and the climate activist greta thunberg. but up to 40% of people on the spectrum have intellectual disabilities, lack basic life skills, and require lifelong care. >> all parents are going to have a challenge when they have a child with disability, because what it involves is mourning the futures, the thoughts, the dreams related to what that child's life trajectory is. fred: but for immigrant patients and their families, doctor abyan bashir says, there are other hurdles. the first challenge is finding care providers. although their number has increased in recent years, bashir is one of very few somali americans in the field where cultural background really

matters, she says. >> allowing them to grieve that in a way that doesn't stigmatize that or makes them feel bad. fred: autism is not widely understood in the somali community even though it's become alarmingly prevalent. >> overall rates were one in 53. rates in some mollies were one in 16. fred: that is astounding. university of minnesota research scholars amy esler and jennifer hall-lande are part of a centers for disease control autism survey, tracking the national rise in diagnoses in recent years. they were approached by alarmed parents to tease out specific prevalence in minnesota's somali community. >> i'm glad that we were able to provide some confirmation on what parents have been talking about for over 10 years now. and hopefully this helps influence policy. fred: what they cannot answer is

why autism so prevalent in the local somali community, where they also found higher rates of intellectual disability than in the general population. >> literally hundreds of genes have been identified that are linked with autism. so, knowing how to predict autism ahead of time, we're not there yet. having a biomarker for autism, we're not there yet either. there may be an environmental component, but we're very much in the early stages of learning what those environmental components might be. fred: it's not only the science that's lacking, but these parents said it's also support from a system that's under-resourced, foreign to them, even hostile. faduma ismail recalled taking her then-two-year-old daughter in because she's begun to withdraw emotionally and stopped eating, hallmark autism symptoms. but, she said, the doctor brushed her off. >> she said, oh, somali people. you guys like fat kids, chubby kids. your daughter, she's fine.

i say, no. because 100% i'm sure something is wrong. so they took some blood and blood test and they call me before even i go home. fred: she was summoned back because the tests revealed severe malnutrition. she received packets of high calorie nutrition supplements, and a home visit. >> after two days there is a lady come visiting in my house. fred: it was a social worker, as activist idil abdul noted. >> the doctor who was supposed to help you, not only did she not help you, but she reported you to child protective services so that you can lose the child. fred: the social worker found no issue, apologized, and left. >> i am baffled to hear the lack of human decency from the system.

fred: until the affordable care act mandated it, few insurers covered autism care. minnesota's medicaid program began to in 2018 and while that has brought in more providers, there's still a long wait to see one for an official diagnosis and then more waiting as applicants are processed and awaiting state assistance. >> i have a four-year-old son on the spectrum. officially, he got diagnosed when he was two, and he didn't receive any early intervention until he was 3.5. fred: the delay in early intervention compounds problems later in life and may in part explain the higher incidence of intellectual disability among somali children. >> the earlier we intervene with children with autism the better their life outcomes, the better their their functioning is in terms of communication, intellectual ability, motor. fred: in a statement, minnesota's state human services officials blamed workforce shortages and heavy demand for the long wait times. and there's another reason for delayed intervention, and it starts at home. >> there are a lot of

misconceptions about autism itself within the community. fred: mahdi warsama heads the somali parents autism network, which works in trusted spaces like mosques to encourage acceptance of mental disabilities. >> some parents, unfortunately, don't want anybody to know that they have a child with autism. they hide the child from the public. the child is going to miss a lot of developmental milestones and opportunities. fred: there are stories of progress in the parents group. >> the apple of my eye was born as an autistic. we did find out very early age. i'm extremely lucky. he is an amazing kid. he talks, he walks. he is in college. >> when she first came, she came in banging her head.

fred: for many parents, like anisa hagi mohamed, progress is measured in small victories, like getting from intense headbanging to calm therapy sessions. she also senses growing openness in the community to talk about autism, beginning recently with giving the condition a name in somali. >> mangaar, which is unique mind. we're giving a positive word to autism. like, it's not this big scary thing. fred: but one that will remain a daunting challenge at many levels for years to come. for the pbs “news hour,” i'm fred de sam lazaro in minneapolis. amna: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. now to the story of a high school team in southern texas fighting for a state title. but this battle unfolds on a stage. a new netflix documentary, "going varsity in mariachi," follows the journey of teenage musicians in the rio grande valley, as they compete in performances of the traditional mexican folk music.

i recently spoke with one of its co-directors, alejandra vasquez, for our arts and culture series, canvas. welcome. thank you for joining us. often times when people think about texas and high school competitions, they think about football, but your film reveals this entirely new world of equally competitive mariachi. tell me a little bit about what's going on here. how many schools are we talking about, and how intense are these competitions? alejandra: yeah, in south texas, like the southernmost tip of texas, mariachi is as competitive as football, believe it or not, it really is. there are hundreds of teams all over the state that compete for the state championship. i mean, in some of these teams started as early as 5th grade. so it's a really competitive, really intense, rich sport essentially in south texas. amna: and in your documentary, you focus really most of your storytelling on one specific

school, that is edinburgh north high school. tell us about the mariachi band there and why you chose to follow this one program. alejandra: we chose edinburgh north because we wanted to choose a big team, a team from a big school, who has won championships before, but we knew it was a little bit of an underdog story. they were under resourced, they weren't the best of the best, but they were really, really good, and we knew that there would be drama there. and also we fell in love with the mariachi director, mr. acuna. he has like, this incredible philosophy where he's not about just winning trophies. he's about how mariachi can really help these students, just the way that it helped him and provided for him. so, it was really mr. acuna that kind of brought us to edinburgh north. amna: one of the things you reveal in the film too is that this is an expensive competition

to take part in, right? there's instruments and costumes and competition fees. this school in particular, you point out, is in a low income district. what does it take for these kids to compete at this level? alejandra: because it's a low income district and because it's an underfunded program, they really rely on so many different fundraisers. these students are selling mexican candy throughout the year, they're selling t-shirts, they're selling all kinds of stuff to get to the competitions, and yeah, the trajes that they wear, the costumes, they're super expensive. they're all made by hand. and so all of this stuff really is expensive just aside from the instruments and kind of what you expect. and so it takes a lot for the students to get there, but they are so dedicated and they try really hard and every year there's a new mountain to climb, but you know, they climb it. amna: for most of them beyond high school, is there a future in mariachi for them? alejandra: yes, there is a future in mariachi. you can get scholarships in

mariachi, you can major in mariachi at a university and actually study and get a mariachi degree. there is a real pathway to to studying this music. and to continue this music, you know, it's becoming really institutionalized in a way that i think is surprising to a lot of people, especially people in mexico, where this kind of pipeline does not exist. amna: you are able in your film to capture these really poignant moments between some of the team members and mr. arcuna, who you mentioned. this band, as you mentioned, is a real underdog going into the state competition, and there's one moment in which their bandleader mr. acuna is talking to them before one practice. take a listen. >> i wanted to talk to you guys about what mariachi means to you guys. i might get emotional right now, because mariachis makes me feel accepted for who i am. like, i don't mean to cry, sorry.

like, when i'm here, i feel, i feel the love. amna: alejandra, how often did you hear that sentiment from the students? alejandra: i mean, most days, you know? the mariachi classroom was a safe space for these students. it was where they really felt accepted and they felt like they could be who they are. you know, all of these students had totally different associations with this music. some students were like me, i grew up with this music, i love this music, it reminds me of home. and some students, they were playing mariachi for the first time. they don't speak spanish, but they're feeling connected to it. and i thought that was really special, and so, yeah, i mean, that to me is the heart of the movie. it's like exactly what we hope to capture within this film. amna: you mentioned this takes place in southern texas in the rio grande valley. oftentimes when we're having conversations about this part of the country we're talking about things like immigration and border security. you grew up in texas, so what

did you want people to know about these stories and this particular slice of life in the state that you call home? alejandra: i wanted people to see a different side of texas, a different side of the u.s./mexico border. just like you said, we typically see one very specific side of the border, but it's a place where culture thrives, where culture is preserved, and where it's being passed on to a new generation. and so i really wanted to show how rich and vibrant this world is, that it's more than what you typically see in movies or tv or on the news. amna: that is alejandra vasquez, co-director of the documentary "going varsity in mariachi" streaming now on netflix. alejandra, thank you so much. it's great to speak with you. alejandra: thank you. ♪ amna: and that's the “news hou”"

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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. the wider middle east war is officially under way, and we get every angle. first, how will the netanyahu government respond to israel's salvo? former israeli prime minister ehud barak joins us. then -- >> military pressure at times can enable diplomacy. military pressure can lead