♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. on "the news hour" tonight, donald trump's longest-serving chief of staff speaks out about the former president's authoritarian tendencies and

praise of adolf hitler. and warnings russia and iran could spill violence after election day, all while local election officials try to combat this information spread by politicians here in the u.s. and despite advancements in safety for drivers, how the increasing size of cars poses a threat to pedestrians. >> 40,000 people a year dying on our streets and roads across the country, and still, we just collectively shrug. >> major funding for "the pbs news hour" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you. this is pocket tile. well, somebody's pocket, that i would let you know you got nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of our thing. have a nice day.

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and peaceful world. more information at macfound .org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to "the newshour." former president trump is courting voters tonight in the state of georgia, but he is also facing blistering new criticism from his longest-serving chief of staff. john kelly is sounding the alarm on trump's witness for office, something vice president harris pounced on today. lisa: in swing state georgia south of georgia -- >> president donald j. trump. lisa: former president trump

fielded questions in front of a crowd, a faith town hall of christians. >> when you have faith, when you believe in god, it is a big advantage over people that do not have that. it's a big advantage. lisa: overnight, far harsher words from john kelly, trump's longest-serving chief of staff, someone who was at his side for nearly a year and a half. in scathing comments and audio interviews with "the new york times," kelly said from behind the scenes displayed the tendencies of a fascist. >> admires people who are dictators. he has said that. he certainly falls under the general definition of fascist for sure. lisa: the retired marine general says he will not endorse the candidate in the election. >> that an enemy from within. that's really -- that is a threat to democracy. lisa: but that trump's recent comments about using the military against domestic political opponents motivated

him to speak out. >> i think this issue of using the military to go after american citizens is one of those things i think it a very, very bad thing, even to say it for political purposes to get elected. i think it is a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it. lisa: kelly, who said trump would likely try to govern as a dictator give another term, recalled trump repeatedly praising adolf hitler. " he commented more than once that hitler's did some good things, too. lisa: the trump campaign ardently denied the story, calling it fabricated and said he has "totally beclowned himself." >> he wants a military that would be loyal to him personally, one that will obey his orders, even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the constitution of the united states. we know what donald trump wants. he wants unchecked power.

the question in 13 days will be what do the american people want? lisa: republican vice presidential pig jd vance kept the focus on immigration as he rallied voters in the swing state of nevada inside the treasure island casino in vegas. >> right now, thanks to borders are kamala harris' open border, there are 425 1000 criminal illegal aliens in the united states of america. lisa: with a high five to his son gus, a first-time boater, democratic vp nominee tim walz cast his early voting ballot this morning. in wisconsin where early voting began yesterday, lines stretched out the door at polling places. >> i did not vote for him to be the pastor of my church. i voted for him to be the president of this country. this country needs to be run like a business and he is a businessman. >> he's got a good head on his shoulders. he's very intelligent, and he

knows the difference between right and wrong. lisa: while harris has largely been up the trail this week, her campaign amped up some star power. >> president barack obama. >> chance the wrapper introduced barack obama who performed a few of the wrapper -- the rapper's lines. geoff: the harris campaign says vice president plans to make a major speech next tuesday at the ellipse near the national mall in washington, d.c. it will be her closing argument of why voters should vote for her over former president trump, and the location is the site where trump gave a speech on january 6 in 2021 that preceded the violin attack on the u.s. capital.

as we just heard, retired four-star general john kelly who was one of donald trump's white house chief of staff, told "the new york times" donald trump would rule like a fascist if elected. a new piece quotes donald trump as once having said "i need a kind of generals that hitler's head." goldberg joins us now. thanks for being here. john kelly confirm to you that trump said he wished military leadership showed him the same kind of difference that hitler's nazi generals showed him during world war ii, people who were totally loyal to him that followed orders, trump was quoted as saying. walk us through that part of your report. >> we have known for several years from other reports -- background reports mainly -- that trump in particularly in

moments of high tension -- think the 2020 george floyd unrest -- has expressed frustration that in democracy, generals cannot just be ordered to do things that they consider to be illegal or immoral. he had a frustration with the generals he had hired into his cabinet, but he also had frustrations with the pentagon itself, so these expressions of desire to be more like kittler and have hitler's's relationship with his generals, came out in these moments of tension, and again, especially around that george floyd area where trump has been cited as saying, why can't you just go shoot them? shoot them in the legs is what he said to the former secretary of defense. this is what is so interesting about it. what john kelly explained to donald trump, among other things, that hitler's's generals repeatedly tried to assassinate

him, donald trump showed himself to be impervious to that knowledge and said no, no, no, that is not true, so kelly grew more and more frustrated with trump's inability to understand his role or what hitler's did. -- hitler did. >> the comments are the latest in end line of warnings about how donald trump is the presidency and how he would exercise power if reelected. did john kelly expressed concerns about how donald trump would govern in a second term, especially given that there would likely be fewer guardrails in a second trump term that existed in the first one? >> the assumption we have to make is that the kind of person donald trump put in in the first term, especially in the beginning -- sam mattis, rex tillerson, john kelly -- he has learned from his "mistake" and will get people more compliant.

he is looking for obedience. this is the thing that shocked him about american general's and continues to shock him, is that they swear an oath to the constitution, not to the president. that's what he is looking for, personal loyalty. we know that from many other discussions we have heard around him, in terms of what people are expecting in a second term, i think it is fair to say that not just john kelly, but a wide swath of people who work in the national security area from john bolton to h.r. mcmaster to many others have expressed varying degrees of concern that the guardrails will be off next time and that donald trump will try to do the things that he was not "allowed" to do in the first go around. yes, they are extremely worried about it, which is why i think you hear more and more of this discourse over the last couple

of weeks. >> you also report that then president trump in july promised to cover the funeral cost of 20-year-old u.s. army private vanessa guillen, who had been bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier at fort hood, but human big leader after inquiring about the cost during an oval office meeting. you write that trump became angry. "it doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury an effing mexican." he ordered his chief of staff, do not pay it. can you believe it? he said to a witness. effing people trying to rip me off. according to your reporting, how did people in the room respond? >> my sources were in the room, so there were some people who were upset about it, obviously, and i have contemporaneous notes taken in the room that reflect the kind of shock. remember, it's shocking but only

to a degree if you work for him for a while because there's a lot i would say emotion that coursed through that white house. obviously, other people in the room, including meadows and the chief to the acting secretary of defense at the time because he had just fired mark esper, or deny that has happened and issued statements that say donald trump was very supportive of the family. the fact remains that he did not pay, but there's a split. meadows has come out and said that this did not happen, but i have great confidence in my sources and in the notes that i have seen. what does this suggest about donald trump? he was triggered by this in a couple of ways. obviously, we know the subject of mexico and mexicans is a sensitive one. going all the way back to 2015 when he was warning the country about mexican rapists coming across the border. that has been a through-line. obviously -- and this is the larger claim of the story -- he has a difficulty expressing

admiration in private settings, and admiration for soldiers. when he reads from a teleprompter, he says the right things, and he has shown sympathy to certain groups of soldiers in the past, but his relationship with the military -- this goes back to my reporting that he calls world war i veterans that had lost their lives suckers and losers. he has a very complicated relationship with national service and with soldiers in a way that we have not seen in other presidents. geoff: thanks so much for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. geoff: we start the day's other headlines with ongoing troubles at boeing. the plane maker reported a $6 billion loss for the latest quarter, even as striking union workers vote on a new contract. the company ceo announced plans today to turn boeing around by

improving company culture and boosting airplane production, but that cannot be done until some 33,000 striking machinists return to work after nearly six weeks on the picket line. they are voting on a new contract today with results expected tonight. fortin berg said today he is hopeful about the outcome. >> it's more important in terms of our long, getting back to building our planes, delivering airplanes, so we worked really hard to find that overlap where we have a deal that employees can feel good about in the company can be successful going forward. geoff: the deal offers bonuses and a 35% wage increase over four years but stops short of storing a pension plan that was frozen a decade ago. the u.s. government and is finding american airlines $50 million for the carrier's mistreatment of disabled passengers and their wheelchairs. the transportation department

says the company failed to provide assistance to passengers with disabilities and damaged thousands of wheelchairs between 2019 and 2023. transportation secretary pete buttigieg said the company's conduct was not just undignified but unsafe. authorities say american will only need to pay have to find because it is getting credit for money spent on improving its handling of wheelchairs and for compensating those affected. secretary of state antony blinken touched down in saudi arabia today, his second stop of his latest visit to the middle east. in regard, he met with the crown prince for two hours during which the two discussed their "common efforts to end the war in gaza." the israeli army today says it arrested some 150 suspected thomas militants in -- hamas militants in northern gaza and forced more than 20,000 palestinians to evacuate. blinken and the crown prince also talked about the fighting in lebanon where health

officials say 28 people were killed in the past 24 hours. israel ordered residents to flee hours before unleashing a new wave of strikes. >> we took the children, grabbed what we could, and fled. we came back and looked at our house, collapsed. are there weapons? there is only a small bed for my son. what could there possibly be here? >> agencies say the fighting in lebanon has forced more than 1.2 million people out of their homes, including more than 400,000 children. freshmen enrollment at college campuses in the u.s. declined for the first time since the start of the pandemic. a preliminary report shows the total number of first year students nationwide was down by 5%. the drop was even steeper which saw a 10% fall. experts say it's hard to

pinpoint a reason for the declines, but they acknowledge that it is the first such report since the troubled rollout of the new free application for federal student aid known as fafsa. the has reportedly worn billionaire businessman elon musk's political action committee that it's million dollars sweepstakes may be illegal. last weekend, must announced a lottery-style giveaway of $1 million each day until election day and has already given away at least three prizes, but to qualify, you have to sign a petition supporting the first and second amendments, and you have to be a registered voter in one of seven highly contested swing states. federal law prohibits paying people to register to vote. i doj official declined to comment. on wall street today, stocks ended sharply lower on the day. the dow jones industrial average dropped more than 400 points. its biggest loss since early september. the nasdaq fell nearly 300

point. the s&p 500 ended lower for a third straight day. baseball is mourning the loss of los angeles dodgers great fernando valenzuela who died last night in los angeles. we look back at how valenzuela's meteoric rise helped elevate america's national pastime. >> the youngest opening day starter since catfish hunter 18 years ago. >> in 1921, this 20-year-old mexican born lefty sent the city of los angeles and the broader baseball world into fernando mania. fernando valenzuela pitched a shutout that opening day, the first of his eight straight wins, five of them shutouts. known for the rare screwball pitch, valenzuela earned the cy young award that year, the only pitcher to ever be so awarded -- so honored.

they called him el toro, the bull, and he made the all-star team six years in a row, winning awards for both his fielding and hitting. born into a mexican farming family, the youngest of 12 kids, valenzuela was especially beloved by california's latino community who flocked to see him at dodger stadium. >> i love him. the dodgers are number one! all right! >> in 1990, his last year with the team, he left dodger fans a particularly sweet parting gift. >> fernando valenzuela has just pitched a no-hitter. >> after a 17-year big league career, valenzuela served as color commentator for the dodgers' spanish radio broadcasts. last night after his death, dodger stadium's scoreboard was alight with his memory. major league baseball said it will pay tribute to el toro friday night in los angeles before game one of the world

series between the dodgers and the new york yankees. fernando valenzuela was 63 years old. geoff: still to come, local officials in arizona combat efforts to undermine confidence in the election. recent food poisoning outbreaks raise questions about safety protocols, and u.s. intelligence confirms the presence of north korean troops in russia and what it could mean for the ukraine war. >> this is "the pbs news hour" from the david m. rubinstein studio and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the u.s. intelligence community is warning that russia and iran are planning to stoke violence in the u.s. from election day through inauguration and that between now and the election, those countries plus china will intensify efforts to divide americans and undermine confidence in the election.

the intelligence community said russia was behind this fake video pushing a salacious lie against democratic vice presidential nominee tim walz. that's just one of me efforts underway to undermine the already fraught election. we turned out to the atlantic council's vice president for technology programs and strategy, also the founding director of the digital forensic research lab. thanks for being with a spirit of russia, iran, and china have conducted influence operations in this country for years. how significant is it that the intel community is now warning that russia and iran are set to stoke violence between the election day and inauguration? >> as you have said, all the state adversaries you just mentioned have been conducting influence operations and in -- an interference operations for years, including past election cycles. the intelligence community has done a particularly good job.

really -- a good job preemptively putting up these assessments at the 90-day, 60-day, and 30 day periods before the elections. what's interesting about this assessment is that it is particularly focused on the information environment in the immediately election day and in postelection period as well as the period between election day and when we know the results of the election. what we expect from those state actors is potential october surprises, things like crossing that threshold from broad influence operations to trying to change the behavior or perception of the american public interference, which includes that type of mobilization toward that potential for mobilization or encouragement to mobilization towards things like political violence or disrupting electoral processes. geoff: the video targeting tim

walz, is that the kind of thing russia routinely comes out and tries to promote? >> yeah, we expect that type of content. i would rate that have a video is not necessarily the sophisticated deepfake. i would rate it a cheapfake, just because it has just enough hints of truth that the person the person in the video is purporting to be is a real person, but the narratives are false. it has just enough truth to be believable, just enough truth to be a viable narrative, but it is patently false. that is something that takes a little research, takes a little sophistication, and is something we expect from sophisticated state actors like russia. geoff: walk us through what russia, iran, and china are trying to gain with these operations and which candidate each country prefers. >> the u.s. government rates each of those countries that you

just listed as adversarial states, meaning they are against the united states and what the united states is engaging in around the world. they are geopolitical adversaries. their tactics in information and influence operations are a little bit different. what we are seeing from russia is persistent activity -- well, i guess one thing that is common is each of those influence operations is designed to drive americans further away as opposed to closer together. they are intended to pray on divisive issues in the united states, and drive up ideological differences. that is the primary through-line across all their state actors, but the tactics they take are somewhat different. russia is very, very engaged in more granular social understanding points for what is going on in the united states.

china typically is trying to paint america as a force for ill in the world as well as even more specifically china as a force for good in the world, and iran, given the geopolitical events in the middle east in particular would be seen as more of a spoiler in their influence activities. they typically as a state actor are more willing to cross that threshold from influence to interference just in terms of their general approach. geoff: in the minute we have left, there is 1.i want to underscore because u.s. officials say there is no indication russia, china, or iran are plotting any significant attacks on election infrastructure as a means of changing the potential outcome of the vote. is that right? >> that is exactly correct, and that is an extraordinarily important point. the voting infrastructure in the united states is safe and secure. it's very diffuse across many

different counties at the state and national level, so the electoral infrastructure is safe and secure, very trustworthy. the influence operations are more designed to influence public opinion or interference operations would be more designed to influence people to do an actual thing, so there are any number of cases where state actors have tried to get american people to do something. they have not always been successful, which is another really important point about foreign influence. the specter of foreign influence is sometimes a lot greater than the impact of foreign influence. geoff: we appreciate your insights. thank you. meantime today, the justice department announced developments in 4 cases involving domestic threats to election workers. arizona became a hotbed of conspiracies after former president trump spread lies about the 2020 election results

there. in 2020 four, election officials in maricopa county, arizona, are preparing for round two. our white house correspondent has this report from phoenix, arizona. laura: stephen is ready for the selection. >> the average ballot will have about 80 contests on it. >> he runs mail-in voting and maintains voter registration and says he is ready for processing 2 million absentee ballots and for signature verification, but he is also ready for the backlash. >> we are very aware of the fact that arizona could be one of if not the last state waiting to be called, and if you say it's all coming down to arizona, then you can bet that whatever emotion was already baked into the equation is going to be increased magnitudes. >> this is our main lobby.

>> since 2020, richard, a republican himself, has faced an onslaught from his own party, undermining his office and trust in each election. >> it is clear in arizona that they must decertify the election. you heard the numbers. and those sponsor before wrongdoing must be held accountable. puts me seem to be caught in a doom loop -- >> we seem to be caught in a doom loop where politicians feed these lies to voters, and it creates a feedback loop to politicians, incentivizing them to keep doing it. laura: arizona became ground zero for election to nihilism in 2020. >> we saw a crew being attempted in america. laura: republicans spread baseless conspiracies around the accuracy of voting machines and vote count.

election officials faced death threats and intimidation. trump allies falsely claimed to be arizona's electors in an attempt to overturn the presidential election results. then, the state's republican-controlled senate sees voting equipment in 2021 and ordered a forensic audit of the 2020 election, but it found no significant discrepancies, reaffirming joe biden's victory. now, donald trump's primary conspiracy theory is that democrats are signing up non-citizens to vote. >> that a lot of these illegal immigrants, they are trying to get them to vote. >> in arizona, we have a lot of safeguards to ensure that does not happen on any sort of significant scale. we not only require someone to be a united states citizen, but to vote in arizona, you have to provide documented proof of citizenship. laura: in your time is reporter, have you ever found a noncitizen that actually cast a ballot?

>> actually cast a ballot? no. i have known noncitizens who have registered to vote. i don't know that i have found a single noncitizen who actually voted. laura: even the wealth of disinformation around the 2020 election, arizona's democratic secretary of state has spent much of this cycle trying to prepare for the worst. >> i'm concerned about any conspiracy theories peddled by candidates and elected officials. it is sort of like whack a mole for conspiracy theories, so if it is right now that the mythology of noncitizen voting is going to be the conspiracy theory du jour, then so be it. we will deal with that. laura: he sees his office's slow rolling civics lesson as a dent in the election narrative. >> i think folks are starting to realize the checks and balances of security and accountability and transparency of our systems can be depended on, and i think that's why a lot of this election denialism is waning.

laura: but election deniers are back on the ballot this november. >> oh, my goodness, do we let this man? >> kari lake, a trump ally, who lost the 2022 gubernatorial base, is money -- running for senate. lake repeatedly spread lies that 2020 election and her last race were stolen. >> people cannot take this level of fraud much longer. >> lake is one of eight election deniers running for congress. throughout the state, and number of influential republicans are still convinced that the 2020 election was rigged. the chair of the maricopa county republican committee believes male-in ballots are a problem. >> we have to decide if we want to trade our freedom for convenience or not. the male-in ballots because a detriment to our freedom, but we

also have the issue now because we are a border state, of the illegals crossing the border and being registered to vote, and the male-in ballots, and it all combines in to an issue that just keeps us up at night. laura: the basis for his distrust comes from the widely debunked conspiracy that maricopa county counted 200,000 male-in ballots with mismatching signatures in the 2020 election. do you think that the election that has happened, all of the elections that have happened since putting 20, at the state level, that they are not fair and accurate? >> since 2020? i would have to agree with that. i don't have evidence that would support them not being the case. being involved at the level i am, i don't see that anything has changed. laura: do you think putting 24 is being rigged as well?

donald trump is saying that it is. >> i don't have any reason to believe it's not. laura: but you don't have any evidence that it is? >> well, nothing has changed. we are still doing massive neo-in ballots. laura: his claims, including of noncitizens voted, have been refuted and reviewed by the republican-led maricopa board of supervisors, who run the county's election. >> for members of our own party to turn around, to question our integrity, to question our commitment not only to the republican party but to this country has been incredibly hurtful, and, frankly, it has been traumatic. >> the board chairman had to seek help for ptsd after threats and harassment in 2020, and he spent the last four years trying to systematically disprove many of the allegations of fraud in the county. >> to still be here is incredibly frustrating, but we feel like the more information we can provide to people, the more access we can give them to

our elections facility, the more likely we are that we can change people's hearts and minds. we know that it is not easy because we know that unfortunately, people have been fed lies about our election system now for literally four years. >> this november will be his last as the maricopa county recorder. earlier this year, he lost his primary to a state representative who has refused to answer if he believes that the 2020 election was stolen, instead calling maricopa county's elections and laughingstock on social media. what do you think that says about the state of the republican party in arizona? >> one of the cornerstones of being a member of -- in good standing in donald trump's republican party as you give credence to the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. i have always pushed back against that. that might have been to my disadvantage politically, but it was the right thing to do, so i hope that whoever comes next can

think about the future rather than thinking about past presidential elections. laura: four "the pbs news hour," i laura marone-lopez -- laura barron-lopez. geoff: today for the first time, the u.s. government confirmed that north korean forces are in russia to help fight ukraine. the u.s. said 3000 troops have traveled so far, what it called a serious escalation. it also revealed north korea is expanding its alliance with russia to take on the u.s. and its allies. nick: in eastern russia, marching to fight someone else's war. russian cellphone video apparently shows north korean troops deploying to russia, receiving russian equipment. the first wave of what ukraine

and south korea say will be 12,000 north korean troops. the u.s. says it's not clear how they will be used. but they are believed to be special forces, and if they join the battle, they may suffer consequences, says national security council spokesperson john kirby. >> if they do deploy to fight against ukraine, they are fair game. they are fair targets. nick: already, north korea has a shipped pressure more than one million artillery shells and ballistic missiles, but north korea's willingness to sing soldiers who could die under pressure's we have helped cement their alliance, says the center for strategic and international studies. >> sending troops is about the biggest symbol of an alliance one country can make to another, so it really shows that north korea is all in with the

russians in terms of this war in ukraine, this war in europe. nick: in june, russian president vladimir putin visited pyongyang to sign a treaty with kim jong-un, that included a mutual defense pact. today, the u.s.'s largest concern is that russia will help accelerate north korea's intercontinental ballistic missile or nuclear programs or improve north korea's submarines. >> historically, russia has been reluctant to provide really high-end military technology to north korea, but with this deployment of troops, kim can exact a higher price for what he is doing for pressure, and this could take the form of i cbf technology, nuclear submarine technology, things that kim has said he really needs to round out his modern nuclear weapons force that would pose a direct threat to the u.s. homeland.

nick: it has been 70 years since north korean u.s. soldiers fought in a war. there are deployment to russia will give them in valuable experience, says the mansfield foundation. >> the north korean army lacks realistic combat experience, so deploy special forces to worship -- to russia will give them invaluable experience in modern warfare -- drones, interoperability, defined operations. this is going to be a real game changer for the north korean military as they try to build a more capable force. nick: today's announcement -- today, kim jong-un is trying to create a new strategic axis willing to use force as a fellow travelers with america's other "adversaries. >> the june 2024 strategic

partnership between north korea and russia, we are now seeing kim jong-un find that as part of the global struggle against u.s. and u.s. interests, by sending combat forces to russia, they seem to be saying to the world, a two russia is a threat to us. >> until then, ukraine fears north korean troops will join russian forces to evict ukraine from seized russian territory within days. geoff: hey deadly e. coli outbreak linked to a popular mcdonald's menu item is the latest in a number of cases involving foodborne illnesses. it's prompting concerns and questions over the safety of our food supply. stephanie: federal officials are

investigating a deadly e. coli outbreak linked to mcdonald's quarter pounder hamburgers. mcdonald's says it serves about one million quarter pounder's in those combined states every two weeks. the company believes the food poisoning is tied to sliced onions on the burgers supplied by a single vendor. mcdonald's usa president spelled out in a video for customers what the company is now doing. >> we have taken steps to proactively remove slivered onions, which are used in quarter pounder is from restaurants in select states. we also made the decision to temporarily remove the quarter pounder from restaurants in select states. the decision to do this is not one we take lightly, and it was made in close consultation with the cdc. stephanie: he also said mcdonald's' other meat products are safe and will continue to be

sold in those states. for more on this case and ongoing concerns about food safety, i'm joined by donald schaffner, who is focused on the issue at rutgers university. with this case, many of us will remember that jack-in-the-box hamburger outbreak of e. coli that occurred in the early 1990's. this case with mcdonald's does not seem to rise to that magnitude. still, as somebody who studies these incidents, how surprised argued that this outbreak is occurring at mcdonald's, essentially an american institution? >> i'm really surprised that it was mcdonald's that got hit by this particular problem. they take food safety very seriously. they put a lot of pressure on employees and suppliers to make sure stuff like this does not happen. stephanie: we should say that the outbreak appears to be in the past tense, from what we know, occurring between september 27 and october 11. is it normal to have that lag

time between when people start to get sick from a food product and when the public hears about it? >> the cdc is working all the time to take stool isolate and do genome sequencing, but it takes a while to put together a picture to say these people are getting sick around the same time and all sick from the same organism, and then they have to go and talk to these people and say, what did you eat however many weeks ago, and what do you remember about that? bit by bit, they put the pieces together, and when they are sure, and they are confident all or mostly confident, that's when they go public, and that is what happened recently. stephanie: as you know, the mcdonald's case is just the most recent outbreak of foodborne illness. over the summer, we had boar's head deli meats contaminated with listeria. that has been linked to 10 deaths. go back and tell us what we know

about what happened at boar's head and how that contamination occurred and spread. quickly boar's head situation is very different. first of all, it is a different regulatory agency. they have inspectors continuously on site. it sounds like there were, based on freedom of information act request, reading the notices issued to the plant, it sounds like that particular plant had a systemic and ongoing problem, where is this just appears to be a temporary blip. stephanie: let's talk a little more about that because there were repeat violations at one of boar's head production plans with reports revealing -- and this is going to grow some folks out, but the reports revealed mold, insects, dripping water, and meat and fat residue found on the walls of the facility, dating back two years.

why wasn't that facility shut down? did somebody drop the ball? >> that's a good question to ask the usta. making meat is a messy business and you will have occasional problems, but having said that, having read those reports, this does seem like it was an ongoing problem, so, yes, definitely some questions that usta needs to answer. -- usada -- usda needs to answer. stephanie: we can look at the stock price, mcdonald's down 5% today. are there enough actions being done, though, to prevent foodborne illnesses from occurring and for there to be more accountability? >> i think regulatory agencies and fda in particular, can always use more resources. mostly, especially with fda-related products, they really rely on the company knowing what they are doing and doing a good job. we still do not know exactly what happened in this particular

case, but there may be some implications, certainly if i was somebody who bought sliced onions, i would look carefully at my supplier. if i was an onion supplier, i would look carefully at where i got my onions from. we need to figure out where this particular problem came from, and once we know, we can begin to put steps in place to prevent it from happening again. stephanie: i'm thinking through that. i think for the average consumer, it might be difficult to know how -- if a vendor of onions or any particular food is safe, so i go back to the question of if these incidents should concern us broadly about food safety and enforcement in this country. >> i think people are about to be concerned, but at the same time, i will say most everybody eats food every single day and most people do not get sick most of the time, right? but obviously, we are concerned about the situations where we are wrong. we have good rules in place, but

we need to make sure those rules are followed and we have adequate inspection resources, and accompanies know what their responsibilities are to keep the food supply safe. stephanie: thanks so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. thanks. geoff: by many measures, advancements like seatbelts and airbags have made vehicles dramatically safer for drivers and passengers, but as our cars get bigger and bigger, what about the safety of those outside our vehicles? we have a report on how federal regulators are looking at pedestrian safety now and if new rules can help curb the rising number of people killed on our streets each year in the u.s. >> these are all from last summer. >> jessica is showing photos of her daughter.

>> this is totally her, running through the water, just joyful in her own skin. >> i love have so many of these pictures, she is in motion. she is jumping. >> she did need -- and did not need all the things to have fun, just -- she did not need all the things to have fun, just run around. >> they were going down the sidewalk, and she went into the intersection of a four-way stop. she was in the crosswalk in a school zone, and the driver of a van did not make a. and see her and hit her. we think she died on impact. >> city law enforcement did not file any charges against the van

driver, who remained at the scene. allie was one of more than 8000 pedestrians and cyclists killed that year. >> it breaks my heart every day. her last moments were moments of terror, and i was not there with her, and her dad was there, and it breaks his heart every second that he could not save her. it's awful. >> over the past 15 years, pedestrian and cyclist deaths on our roads have increased dramatically. as of 2022, fatalities and crashes with motor vehicles were up more than 80%. but in september, the national highway traffic safety administration proposed a new safety standard to better protect pedestrians, mandating that a vehicles be designed to reduce the risk of serious to fatal pedestrian crashes and

test what happens when hoods make contact with heads. >> i was so excited to hear about it. i feel like they have been really involved on the issue. >> angie schmidt is an urban planning consultant and the author of "right of way: race and class and the silent epidemic of pedestrian deaths in america." >> should regulators have acted sooner? >> i think so. in europe and parts of asia, they require certain features that are designed to protect pedestrians, particularly to the front end of cars, since about 2009, so we are way behind them. new regulations do not go as far as what they are already doing in europe. >> the alliance for automotive innovation, and automotive industry trade group, is still reviewing the proposed rule and said in a statement, safety is a top priority. automakers have voluntarily developed and introduced crash avoiding technologies to help make roads safer for pedestrians

and road users. part of what makes the u.s. unique is that our cars keep getting bigger. the average u.s. passenger vehicle has grown four inches wider, 10 inches longer, and eight inches taller over the last 30 years according to the insurance institute for highway safety. >> we do know that larger vehicles like sub's and pickups are deadlier for pedestrians when they are in crashes with them -- like suv's and pickups. >> taller and blunter front ends were found to be associated with significant increases in pedestrian fatality risks compared to shorter front ends. >> when we see those tall, blunt front ends, that is when pedestrians are especially likely to be thrown forward. that is a feature we have seen has made the most difference in pedestrian injury severity. >> she thinks the proposed rule is a step in the right direction but also points to another

safety feature that can prevent some crashes altogether. we got a firsthand demonstration of pedestrian automatic emergency braking will be required on new vehicles by 2029. as the vehicle cruises at 29 miles per hour, and morning, and an automated breaking to prevent contact with a pedestrian who has entered the roadway. >> early on for pedestrians, the systems did not perform as well. >> the vice president for active safety testing at iihs says systems have improved significantly in tests. >> back then, not all cars were able to avoid. it was off and optional equipment on a lot of luxury vehicles. now the technology is pretty much standard, recognizing vehicles as well as pedestrians, motorcycles, and other targets,

so even in 10 years, we have come long way. >> automakers have raised concerns about the feasibility of meeting the 2029 deadline, but either way, there will still be a significant lag before researchers expect to see an impact. >> it could be up to 30 years before in nearly all vehicles in the fleet habit, and regulation takes a long time. >> i ihs says we need and all of the above approach to pedestrian safety and cannot just rely on technology. >> looking at designing roadways that are safer for pedestrians to cross, lowering speeds -- those are all things we can get to pastor -- faster, where we can start to chip away at these increases in deaths right now. >> in washington, d.c., a study from the city department of transportation identified the intersection where five-year-old allie was killed as needing a

crosswalk update since 2015, but the updated visibility and signs only came after allie was killed in 2021. >> nothing will bring allie that -- back, but when you still see drivers day after day slow and roll into the crosswalk and clearly not look for pedestrians , you just know that that is not enough. >> jessica hart, i got you at first. let me turn to you for your testimony. good afternoon. >> jessica and her husband have been active for families for safe streets, and advocacy group with chapters around the country, made up of people whose loved ones work killed or injured in crashes. >> i hope that by sharing what happened to allie and our family, it makes people realize, first of all, that it could happen to anybody. when you think about 40,000 people a year every year diane on our streets and roads across the country, and still, we collectively shrug -- i cannot understand it, and it makes me

just furious -- 40,000 people a year every year dying on our streets. geoff: and that is "the newshour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for "the pbs news hour" has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line's journey along the colombian and snake rivers, travelers retrace the route formed by -- forged by lewis and clark. american cruise lines travel through american river landscapes to historic landmarks where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

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>> hello everyone and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. america's last ditch of diplomacy in the middle east. with no clear plans for the day after in gaza, settlers are filling the vacuum. correspondje