wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the "newshour" 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 6th 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 "newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymond james financial is either -- advisor gets to know you and your passions. life well planned. >> on an american cruise lines journey along the legendry mississippi river, travelers explore civil war battlefields and historic riverside towns

aboard our fleet of american riverboats. you can experience local culture and cuisine and discover the music and history of the mighty mississippi. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting ended by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. 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. correspondent: 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. it was a rigged election. it was a rigged election. you have to tell kamala harris, that's why i'm doing it again. correspondent: 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 prosecutors allege can prove 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 6th, 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. correspondent: according to the latest “pbs news-npr-marist” poll, 64 percent 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. correspondent: 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 jd vance - for what he called a “damning non-answer.” >> i just asked the simplest of all questions that, that every single american should be able to answer. i asked him if donald trump lost the 2020 election. [cheering] he refused to answer.

correspondent: 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. correspondent: hutchinson made headlines in 2022, as a key witness during the house select committee hearings investigating january 6th. >> i want to begin by thanking ms. hutchinson for her testimony. correspondent: 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. correspondent: 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 newshour, i'm laura barron lopez. geoff: -- amna: let's delve further into our npr marist poll. the presidential race is still neck and neck. our political correspondent lisa desjardins is here to break down findings. just one month out how was the race looking? correspondent: all of us are hesitant about polls, but there are important trends a look at. when you look at this race overall it is essentially a dead heat. what is important is the trendlines. you look at harris's support

since she into the race over trump's support. she has been ahead, both of them have gained a little bit because if you voters have been deciding , some for him, some for her, but if you look at the difference it is like, and look at the margin of error, 3.7%. that means this has been a tie 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 donald trump loss the 2020 election, and we know that both he and mr. trump continue to raise elections about election security, security of this year's election even there there is no evidence. correspondent: this is one reason polling is important. the mood of the country is critical in terms of what happens after the election. there is some good news on

confidence. one question we asked was are you confident that your state and local officials can have a fair and accurate election? 76% of national adults said, yes, they are confident. that is six points higher than this time in 2021 when president trump was widespread fraud. this is more confidence in state and local officials. there is high confidence in the postal service as well. if you ask a different question, a more broad question about overall will there be voter fraud, it flips. concerned, 50% of national adults say they are concerned not just about potential but that there will be voter fraud, and that was defined as meaning someone has a false identification or votes twice. every project -- terry patrick is a project manager and form of the maricopa county elections. she said this is still a widespread belief despite

evidence to the contrary. >> what we know about election fraud is a can occur but is exceedingly rare, and we do not have any instances where we know that it affected the outcome of any election, particularly election for president. correspondent: we still hear this from republicans, even though there is no evidence. amna: what else stands out to you? correspondent: it shows is which group is having big reactions at one time, and there was no surprise a split among voters who is concerned about voter fraud. 29% of harris voters are concerned there will be voter fraud, look at the number for trump voters, 88% believe voter fraud will happen this year. i found one other group that had an outsized concern, white evangelical christians. that is the group right now trump is trying demos to get out to vote, so should former

president trump lose this is a group that has baked into their mind that there will be voter fraud, so it is something to consider carefully. amna: fascinating look. you can dig into even more results from our poll online at pbs.org/news hour. that pole was conducted before the unsealing of a court of that offers new insight into the events of january 6. a representative was tasked with investigating that day and what led to. she joins us now from san jose. welcome back to the news hour. before we turn to the court filing i went to ask you about what lisa was just reporting from our poll that some 50% 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 can that have on the election? >> it is unfortunate 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. if you investigated you get maybe a handful, and they are usually in city council races. it has not ever been a factor, but if people believe that it is, maybe they will not vote. it they will think it does not make a difference, so that is disappointing, and i wish that trump would stop lying about this, and i wish my colleagues on the other side of the break i'll would tell the truth as well. amna: let's turn to the latest news from the filing that was unsealed yesterday related to the election interference case against former president trump 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 the department of justice had subpoena power, where you did not. i am just curious, did anything stand out to you as a previously critical missing piece in the puzzle to putting together understanding what happened on that day? >> one thing did strike me, which was the direct communication between them president trump and steve bannon. i have long believed that steve bannon was up to his eyeballs in the blood. he refused to respond to our subpoena and is in prison right now for contempt of congress, but obviously at the department of justice was able to get information. we were not able to get. it does not surprise me, because all of the indications where there. we did not have the direct evidence that they have. amna: what about some of the previously -- they were

disclosed but not confirm details -- about details between president trump and vice president pence? >> we had a good idea of what went on. we know that he refused to respond to trump's pressure to overturn the election. we did not know about the comment that trump made, so what if pence gets evacuated. it is a detail but not a departure from the information that we were able to acquire. amna: can i ask you about how the public is taking this information? even though there was really damning evidence over all of the january 6 committee hearings, the polls are showing to further would be get from january 6 the fewer people see it as a threat and fewer people see donald trump is baring any responsibility. there was a poll from december

2023 that found it just 53% of people thought he was responsible for the events that day, and that is down from 60% two years earlier. do you think this case could change people's minds? >> i have no idea, but it is about prosecuting a crime. it is not about a political campaign. i do think that the republican party overall, not 100%, but most of them in the house are lying about that day. that they were evacuated the same as me. they saw the damage done to the capitol, the police officers injured, they knew what happened, but they are spending it as if it was something else. people, we live in a country that is divided along partisan lines, and people who are registered republicans tend to trust of republican elected officials, and when they are being i do that can lead to very

bad results. amna: as you are probably seen former president trump has called the filing. election interference and called the unsealing of the documents weaponization of the government. i know some will look at this filing release and point out that it happened just of the day before your fellow committee remember republican liz cheney hits the campaign trail with vice president kamala harris, and they will see politics at play despite the fact that there is no evidence of that. did the timing of all of this in any way, the optics make you uncomfortable? >> the timing is because of trump. he has done everything he can to delay this through frivolous appeals and on and on. for him now to complain, it is kind of like the guy who murdered his parents and now is complaining he is an orphan. it is incredible. amna: for people who will see politics in this process, it is

her message to them? >> well, it is not true. the court has nothing to do with politics. they just call balls and strikes. i wish that she has happened -- i wish this had happened a long time ago. i wish that trump and not to make this a long, but here we are. it is unfortunate the department of justice did not start that 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 congressman zoe lofgren joining us. thank you for joining us. >> good to see you. ♪ correspoent: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with news hour west. here are the latest headlines.

the death toll from hurricane helene has risen to at least 215, 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. pres. biden: three in a row, three in a row, you've been through hell, three in a row. and i want you to know, i see you, i hear you, i grieve with you, and i promise you we have your back. correspondent: 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. and breaking this evening, the union representing striking u.s. dockworkers has agreed to

immediately suspend its strike to allow time to renegotiate a contract with port owners. some 45,000 workers walked off the job tuesday at ports on the east and gulf coasts, demanding better pay and restrictions on automated tasks. the two sides announced tonight they have reached a tentative agreement on wage increases, but negotiations will continue on other outstanding issues. 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 weakened to a tropical depression 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 ruttah 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.” ruttah expressed confidence that he can work with whomever wins this year's us 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.

correspondent: air raid sirens went off in the ukrainian capital twice during ruttah'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. and 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.

bath-and-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. 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. 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 "newshour" -- a jury convicts police officers of witness tampering 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 and rubinstein studio at weta in washington, d.c. and from the west at the walter cronkite school 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, air strikes are rarely used by israel in the west bank. israeli forces today also kept up their punishing attacks across southern lebanon, and in the capital beirut -- where tonight israel reportedly targeted the successor to hassan nasrallah. the hezbollah leader killed last friday. more broadly, hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, have now been killed in lebanon. as special correspondent leila molana-allen reports from beirut, residents now feel

nowhere is safe. correspondent: among the things this war is taken from lebanon's people, the ability to sleep. each night across the country an anxious wait, weighing whether to open a window so they will not smash when the pressure of a nearby explosion or shut them to stop the noxious fumes from getting in. last night beirut residents did not have to wait long. just after midnight i solution and three hollow banks. one strike in further inside the capital then any so far. this one bind me as a medical center, a depot for first responders. we are less than half a mile from the lebanese parliament and multiple western embassies in the heart of beirut.

a civil defense volunteer for the islamic health authority was working inside the medical unit when the missile had. >> it was terrifying. i ran to check on my friends. i found when injured but the rest of them were dead. everything was on fire. correspondent: several paramedics and volunteers were killed, and one remains in critical condition. >> if israel is targeting paramedics, then they will also target shelters, hospitals, and get civilians. correspondent: israel's government insists its fight is with hezbollah militants, not the lebanese people. today it said it struck hezbollah's intelligence quarters and the media office was hit too. soldiers conducted armed raids on as well infrastructure, but hezbollah is not only a military porganization.

it is part of the governing framework. it runs hospitals, social services, and schools. civil defense services serve all lebanese, and 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 crime. the idf has not yet said where they struck the facility, but has more residential and civilian billings -- buildings are targeted locals fear the rules of war are being left in the dust. the lebanese health minister said nearly 100 medics have been killed in two weeks, 25% o them in just the last 24 hours. >> who gave israel the right to be judge and executioner at the same time? correspondent: civilians board

evacuation flights. the lebanese red cross and grassroots charities are trying to keep the country afloat. the lebanese red cross runs a volunteer ambulance service as well as its national blood bank. since the attacks began, they have been overwhelmed by demand from hospitals, and their stocks have run dry. sadly, a university lecturer, responded to a desperate call out for donations. >> already decided -- i decided to come because this is the minimum we can do. correspondent: sally says the stress and fear have become unbearable, dealing powerless as she watches her countrymen displaced, injured, and killed. >> we sometimes feel just because we survived no words can express what is making us feel.

we go to work and go back home. at work we check to see if they are bombing our parent's house or check of our loved ones are safe. [crying] correspondent: beset by tragedy after tragedy, lebanon's people are famous for their survival instinct, but an increasingly brutal conflict in this country already on its knees good to be its own doing. amna: despite israel's airstrikes and ground incursion, 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. correspondent: the road to what used to be the largest city in israel's north is quite a. the homes bear the scars of war. what used to be a roof over this family's head now a window into the living room. for 11 months the town has been hezbollah's biggest short-range target, and on several locations including last weekend a direct strike through the city mall's main roof. arielle is the deputy security chief. he shows me a site had by three rockets, two artillery shells, and one missile earlier this year. >> if we hear an alarm, it is 10

seconds. we heard the whistle and the boom in the alarm. correspondent: before october 7 he was a rabbi and did school security. the residential neighborhood is empty. it's playground stands unused. it nearly all of the 24,000 residents have been evacuated. the basketball courts are shot through with shrapnel. the city is frozen in time, it soundtrack mostly science -- s ilence punctuated by projectiles. hezbollah rockets intercepted by israeli air defense. >> hezbollah does not care if it is losing troops or commanders. it is a terror organization. as long as we keep the evacuation going hezbollah is winning. correspondent: the city staff

have remained under threat often underground. there they hold their meetings in a bomb shelter. israel always expected a october 7 cell attack. it just expected it from the north. >> in 2015 hezbollah published a video on how to conquer galilee. i do not underestimate them. they can cause much larger damage than hamas. correspondent: and so he supports what israel calls a limited invasion of lebanon targeting as well infrastructure, even if today stern told us 30% of the city will never return. >> in order for us to bring the residence back safely it is not enough to 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. correspondent: that threat is

from hezbollah whose videos show fighters in israel towns. this is the core of israel's challenge. behind me is a bedouin village so close to the lebanese border you can actually see the fence that israel has built, close enough for hezbollah fighters to use short-range weapons like rocket propelled grenades and antarctic missiles to fire into the city and close enough for hezbollah to build tunnels underneath the border. just after october 7 hezbollah fighters try to infiltrate the village. that attack they killed the deputy brigade commander. in april hezbollah videotaped as it launched a missile strike that hit a community center turned to military barracks, killing two israeli soldiers. >> the feeling is difficult for the residents.

there is fear, anxiety. i evacuated to a hotel. correspondent: thousands of those displaced have landed in tel aviv hotels, and for these sister's home is 150 square-foot hotel room. they fled here last october after their little brother was born on october 2 and five days later the husband was called up to the military. >> it was very difficult especially in the beginning. it was after my cesarean section, and when my baby was when we cold we had to flee our home, and we arrived with a real sense of grief. it was hard, and life in tel aviv went on his normal, and it was strange to see that. correspondent: did you feel like you did not belong here? >> yes, at the very beginning we walked around the street and --

[crying] correspondent: she longs for her life back in the city, but the sanctuary has become a war zone. >> we felt like we were being kicked out of our own home, and you come to a place where there was nothing. i cannot be in my phone. i cannot be with my husband, and my sister was drafted as well. correspondent: a separated family provides mutual support. they do not know when they will return home, but they have a roof and each other. ♪ 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. correspondent: amna, 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 causing 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 everyday of the three-week trial. after the verdict was read tyre nichols' father said the family was elated. she 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 of this split decision? >> it makes sense, and this is what we want in our current system, decatur punishments for the charges for the actual crimes, and so based on the evidence of what the jury who were more than capable to judge against, they came up with a verdict that everyone did not violate civil rights, but they did do something that was really illegal, it was a breach of trust of the position that they held, and those charges [indiscernible] correspondent: the defense actually played the tape to show -- to try to minimize their client's actions. where does this fit in the ongoing conversation about policing and police violence? >> that is a good point, and a

couple of things jumped out to me in this process. first of all, the officers bear the responsibility and blame, but their actions did not occur in a vacuum. think about officer wellness, promotional processes, how we reward officers on the pathway to leadership and even the quality of our officers in the span of their control. someone noted he was upset by a lack of a resident of a have also struggled with ptsd. these things tell me that our officers need help. they need to be put in positions where they can win. they need to have the capability to cope with all of the things that they see. lastly, we cannot have police reform if we make our rest of the number one metric. it is a small part of the job, and often times it is a little public safety value, and we often turn our citizens into

commodities where we have these reward structures awarding arrests and stops. those are two things that jumped out that showed me how to address these things if we want to have the policing that we deserve as american citizens. correspondent: how has the things change? does it go back to training? >> it goes back to training, but these officers went beyond the scope of their training. i trained at the memphis police academy. we were not trained to use four strikes above the head if it was not a deadly force situation. we were not trained to not provide and render aid to our citizens no matter what the circumstances are, so this is a selection process and a culture process within the broader lease apartment or subcultures within those specialized units. again, it is those metrics that make up a small portion of policing where community

engagement is not rewarded. 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. correspondent: is there a lesson for other departments in this? >> absolutely, reform is a very local matter, but we will hold our officers accountable. murdering someone or abusing someone is one thing, but of violating their inalienable civil rights is another, and we have to make sure they are held accountable across the full spectrum. correspondent: thaddeus johnson, thank you very much >>. >>thank you -- thank you very much. >> 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. >> where are we going to go? >> i have three children, two girls and a boy, and they have all been diagnosed, autistic. >> like this? >> yeah, like this. >> two of my children are verbal. when is partially verbal. and we speak, eat, sleep, autism. 24/7. correspondent: 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, whose faces -- 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, a very strong 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. correspondent: 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 percent 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. correspondent: 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. and that cultural background really matters, she says >> what i offer to them is familiarity in the sense of, you know, how their child is viewed and understanding the diagnosis itself and allowing them to grieve that in a way that doesn't stigmatize that or makes them feel bad. correspondent: autism is not widely understood in the somali community even though it's become alarmingly prevalent.

>> overall rates in our four-year olds of 1 in 53. and what we were seeing in our somali four-year olds were rates of 1 in 16. correspondent: that's astounding, isn't it? >> mhmm. correspondent: 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 ten years now. and hopefully this helps influence policy. correspondent: 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. correspondent: it's not only the science that's lacking, but these parents said it is also support from a system that's under-resourced, foreign to them, often 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. correspondent: 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, -- house. correspondent: 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. correspondent: the social worker found no issue, the parnts were not to blame for the child's malnutrition, apologized and left. >> i'm just i'm still baffled to hear the, the the lack of human decency from the system. correspondent: 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 applications are processed for services and 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 till he was three and a half. correspondent: the delay in early intervention compounds problems later in life and may in part explain the higher incidence of intellectual disability among somali children. >> that earlier we intervene with children with autism the better their life outcomes, the better their functioning is in terms of communication, intellectual ability, motor. correspondent: 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 myths and misconceptions about autism itself within the community. correspondent: 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. so the child is going to miss a lot of developmental milestones and opportunities. correspondent: 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. thank god he is an amazing kid. he talks, he walks. he is in college. ♪ >> she came in banging her head. correspondent: for many parents, like anisa hagi mohamed, progress is measured in small victories, getting from intense headbanging to calm therapy sessions. she also senses going openness in the community, beginning with

giving it a name. >> we are giving a positive name to autism. like it's not this big scary thing. correspondent: but one that will remain a daunting challenge at many levels for years to come. amna: this is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesot now to the story of a high school team in southern texas fighting for a state tle. but this battle unfolds on a stage. a 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. alejandra, welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. correspondent: oftentimes 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? >> 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 that it's, 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. >> 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. >> i like your tone. >> 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 lped 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, and is -- level?

>> because it is a low-income district and because it's a low income district and because it's an underfunded program they really rely on so many different fundraisers, like 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, you know, 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 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? >> 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 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 cause. mariachis. makes me feel accepted. for who i am. like, i don't mean to cry, sorry , it's just like when i'm here, i feel, i feel the love. amna: alejandra, how often did you hear that sentiment from the students? >> i mean, most days, you know, mariachi, 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 wth this music. some students were like me, um, 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. -- really special. and so, yeah, i mean, that, 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. >> i wanted people to see a different side of texas, a different side of the us 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. >> thank you. ♪ amna: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by -- ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years, bsnf, the engine that connects us. >> it really matters when you have an opportunity to give back. >> being part of something bigger than myself brings me happiness. being able to integrate your professional career with some of these other things that are important to you is critical to being happy at the end of the day. >> this is our community too and we want to participate. >> people make an impact and the difference. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these

individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma clarifying and to judy and peter blinkova foundation. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change. and from the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public data by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs news hour west from the david m rubinstein studio at

weta in washington, d.c. and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪♪ -"cook's country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table. we're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes. we go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today. we bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.