JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, what the outcome of the presidential election could mean for how we track weather, combat climate change and protect wildlife, then why some of the baby food on supermarket shelves may not meet recommended nutritional guidelines?
WOMAN: We're kind of in the wild, wild west with baby food right now.
We don't have guidance.
We don't have regulatory reinforcement of what needs to be in there and what needs to be limited, and that can be very confusing for families.
JOHN YANG: And a preview of Judy Woodruff's conversation with Wisconsin residents on the country's political divisions.
(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.
I'm John Yang.
Tensions in the Middle East are reaching new dangerous levels as Israel and Hezbollah intensify both their tit for tat assaults and their threats of more violence.
Overnight, Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets, missiles and drones in Israel targeting areas deeper into Israeli territory than before.
Some hit near the city of Haifa.
At least three people were injured, and Israeli hospitals went on wartime footing, moving patients deep underground.
Israel sent a barrage of rockets into Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it struck terrorist targets and thwarted Hezbollah's plans for an even larger attack.
On CBS's Face the Nation, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country is prepared to do what it takes to defend itself.
ISAAC HERZOG, Israeli President: This is jihadism at its best, and that's what we are fighting.
And I wish truly, and I say it as the President of Israel officially, and I say it outright, because I know we don't want war, but if it's waged against us, we go all the way.
JOHN YANG: Israel's ordered Qatar based Al Jazeera to shut down for 45 days.
The channel's cameras were rolling early this morning when Israeli forces raided their West Bank offices.
The broadcaster had already been barred from operating in Israel.
In Ukraine, Russia launched a new wave of attacks in Kharkiv, the nation's second largest city, bombs hit high rise apartment buildings, injuring 21 people, including an eight-year-old boy.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks and renewed his call for Western allies to provide more long range weapons.
A massive rescue operation is underway in Iran, following one of the worst mine disasters in the country's history, at least 50 people are dead and 20 others injured after the explosion in Tabas, about 335 miles southeast of Tehran.
Authorities blame a methane gas leak for the explosion.
In Birmingham, Alabama, federal law enforcement officials are helping local police investigate a deadly mass shooting.
Police say more than 100 shots were fired in an entertainment district known for its bar and restaurant scene.
Four people were killed and 18 others wounded.
Investigators believe multiple people opened fire and that many of the people hurt were bystanders caught in the crossfire.
There have been no arrests.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, so far this year, there have been 404 shootings in America involving four or more victims.
And former Miami Dolphins running back Eugene Mercury Morris has died.
Morris helped power the Miami offense to two Super Bowl championships, and in 1972 to the only undefeated season in NFL history.
Mercury Morris was 77 years old.
Still to come on PBS News Weekend, the potential political storm facing the nation's top weather and climate service and why a majority of supermarket baby food is unhealthy.
(BREAK) JOHN YANG: North Carolina's historic rainfall this past week is the sort of extreme weather event that's become more frequent and more severe, according to the union representing its employees.
By July, the National Weather Service had issued some 13,000 severe thunderstorm warnings, 2,000 tornado warnings and 1,800 flash flood warnings.
Weather Service and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, are targeted for drastic changes in Project 2025, that's the roadmap for the next conservative president.
Many of its authors are former Trump administration officials, although the former president has tried to distance himself from it.
Rachel Cleetus is policy director in the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Rachel the section on NOAA in this Project 2025 is written by Thomas Gilman.
He was in the Commerce Department in the Trump administration.
He was an executive at Chrysler before that.
The section says that NOAA has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry, and as such, is harmful to future us prosperity.
It should be broken up and downsized.
What do you say to that?
RACHEL CLEETUS, Policy Director, Union Of Concerned Scientists: Well, that is an extremely damaging attack on an agency that is providing science that helps keep people safe, helps keep critical infrastructure and our economy safe.
As you pointed out, NOAA's Weather Service is providing information that helps communities get prepared ahead of things like extreme heat waves, major storms and hurricanes, when we have these flooding events, when we have wildfires, this agency is crucial in providing the kind of information that helps first responders get out ahead, helps communities prepare and saves lives, frankly.
So attacking this agency, attacking the science that it's doing is really damaging to the public.
They would like the private sector to run rampant and not be fettered by any kind of guardrails.
And we all know that the climate crisis is accelerating, getting worse, having an impact on our economy as well as the environment.
We've seen homes get destroyed, infrastructure get destroyed.
Insurance rates skyrocket.
This is about our country's healthy future, our prosperity, our children's prosperity.
So this document is just an incredible assault on science based policy making, and it will have a disproportionate impact on low income communities and communities of color who have long borne the brunt of pollution in our nation.
JOHN YANG: And it's more than just the Weather Service in the -- in NOAA, when they talk about the National Hurricane Center and the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office, they call it the source of much of NOAA's climate alarmism, and say that their data should be presented neutrally.
What do those offices do?
What do those agencies do?
How does it relate to research on climate change?
And what do you take of their saying that the data should be presented neutrally?
RACHEL CLEETUS: Look, the reality is, climate change is a scientific fact, and we are seeing it in the impacts all around the country today, we've seen these extreme weather events.
We're seeing billion dollar disasters mount around the country.
We have seen incredible extreme heat waves.
Just this year in our country, major wildfires, Hurricane Beryl, Hurricane Francine, that stalled out with major rainfall.
This is the reality.
This is not about climate alarmism or whatever that might mean.
This is about climate reality.
This is an agency that is not policy prescriptive.
It's providing essential scientific facts that track both the day to day weather as well as the long term trends, including that caused by climate change, which is driven by fossil fuel emissions.
The most recent NOAA data shows that the January to August period is the hottest in 175 years of tracking these records.
So once again, we're seeing these record breaking years and then the trend, which is truly concerning this year, 100 percent of the U.S. population saw an extreme weather alert everywhere in the country.
Wherever you live, you've been under one of these alerts, you've maybe experienced some of these damaging impacts.
JOHN YANG: And on the Weather Service, the Project 2025 notes that a lot of the forecasts people get are from private forecasting companies, and that they say that they're actually more reliable than the weather service, so they say that the weather service should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.
What do you think about that?
RACHEL CLEETUS: People may not realize that a lot of private companies that are providing you information are getting the underlying data from NOAA.
So whether it's AccuWeather or your local TV forecaster, the data that they're relying on is coming from NOAA, and the fact that that data is freely and widely accessible is really important.
You don't have to be rich.
You don't have to be a wealthy community.
You can access that information.
The other piece of data that people may not be aware of is known as tide gage data, which is providing information all along our coastline of the impacts of accelerating sea level rise that's already causing sunny day flooding, even without extreme storms.
So this is the kind of data that we're all relying on, and may not realize it.
JOHN YANG: If you had your own project 2025 laying out a roadmap for the next administration, whoever it is, what sort of things would you be prescribing for NOAA?
RACHEL CLEETUS: Well, I think one thing we should all want is independent, scientific information that can help us get to better policy making so agencies like NOAA providing that information, that their scientific integrity is protected, that their scientists can provide the information and not be afraid of intimidation, and that that information can help guide policy makers, that can help us both in the near term as well as in the long term, prepare for the impacts of climate change.
So having NOAA be an independent, well-resourced agency that can do its work, essential work that we depend on, that's what we should be looking for as a nation.
JOHN YANG: Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists, thank you very much.
RACHEL CLEETUS: Thank you so much for having me.
JOHN YANG: For most parents, feeding their infant or toddler healthy foods is a priority, but new research shows that baby food aisles at grocery stores across America are stocked with products that might not be as nourishing as they seem.
Ali Rogin reports on what parents need to know to be sure they're giving their children a balanced diet.
ALI ROGIN: Proper nutrition in the first years of a child's life can have a significant impact on their development.
But according to a recent study, nearly two-thirds of supermarket baby foods don't meet nutrition guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
Researchers at the George Institute for Global Health found that 60 percent of the 651 products they reviewed either failed to meet protein and calorie recommendations or have too much sugar and sodium.
Jill Castle is a pediatric nutritionist and dietitian.
She's also the author of "Kids Thrive at Every Size."
Jill, thank you so much for being here.
We mentioned that this study looked at foods for children ages six months to three years.
Why is nutrition in that window of time so crucial?
JILL CASTLE, Pediatrician Nutritionist and Dietitian: So there are several reasons.
Number one, brain development is happening at quite a good pace, and that's a nutrient dependent process.
And so we want young children to have a nutrient rich diet.
The other thing that's happening is that children are developing their flavor preferences and their food preferences, and so we know if they're eating lots of sweet foods or salty foods, they're going to prefer those later on.
So we really want to have that nutrient rich diet and foods that are going to nurture their flavor and food preferences down the road.
ALI ROGIN: What do we know about some of the -- what this study would call deceptive and untruthful practices that the companies that make these products do when they put their products on the shelf?
JILL CASTLE: Well, I think part of it is just the labeling on the front of package may not represent what's actually in the product.
And so I encourage parents to turn the package over and look at the ingredient list.
The first item on the list will be what is most prominent in that baby food package.
So if apple is the first item, it's going to be mostly made with apples.
So if you're buying baby food or a blend of grains and fruit and vegetables, you want to make sure that what you think you're getting is actually on that ingredient list, listed at the top of the list.
ALI ROGIN: And how are these nutritional guidelines determined?
And is it different here in the United States than it is in other parts of the Western world?
JILL CASTLE: Over the last decade, the baby food market has really exploded, and we don't have regulations necessarily that really tell manufacturers what those products need to include.
We do have the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and in 2020 when those came out, we had new guidance for children under age two, which went on to talk about when we introduced food allergens, it also talked about no added sugar in the diet in the first two years of life, and really limits on sodium.
So, we're kind of in the wild, wild west with baby.
Food right now, we don't have guidance.
We don't have regulatory reinforcement of what needs to be in there and what needs to be limited, and so it can be very confusing for parents who are trying to do the best by their children.
They're looking at the front of pack.
They're looking at what it might say, GMO or no added sugar, or all natural, and that can be very confusing for families, because they don't know exactly what's in there, and those claims can be misleading.
ALI ROGIN: And some parents might turn to these foods because they're convenient, they're affordable.
Are there alternatives that are likewise that parents can explore?
JILL CASTLE: Sure, I mean, single ingredient baby foods are just going to have that one ingredient.
So for example, carrots or peas, those are a great place to start.
They may not have the type of texture as your baby gets older that you're going to want to expose them to, but you can make your own mixes with single ingredient food.
For example, maybe you take oatmeal, carrots and green beans, and you mix it together.
The other thing that parents can do is fork mash easy foods like avocado, banana, boil -- a sweet potato and fork mash that you can thin that with a little infant formula or breast milk, and then the other thing parents can do is use a baby led weaning approach, where they can use finger foods for children, or a hybrid approach, where you're using both baby food and age appropriate sized Whole Foods for your baby.
ALI ROGIN: What about for parents who live in places where fresh food might not be as readily available.
Food deserts where supermarkets are sparse, what are their options?
JILL CASTLE: So if families are economically challenged, there's a great program called the Women Infants and Children Program, or WIC, and that program is designed for mothers and children under the age of five.
They provide education, food sources access to nutritious foods for children under the age of five.
ALI ROGIN: And what advice do you have for parents who might be looking to change course?
They might have read these studies and found that what they're feeding their baby isn't as nutritious as what they thought?
What would be your advice for those parents?
JILL CASTLE: I would say, don't panic.
You know, there are lots of foods out there.
There are brands out there that are doing a good job, although they these brands weren't highlighted in the article, but I would say, you know, you can always talk to a registered dietitian or your pediatrician and ask for guidance, but don't panic.
Variety is really the key, and looking for foods that are going to be rich in nutrients to help nurture your baby's relationship with food, their growth and development and their flavor preferences.
ALI ROGIN: Jill Castle, pediatric nutritionist and dietitian and the author of "Kids Thrive at Every Size."
Thank you so much for joining us.
JILL CASTLE: You're so welcome.
JOHN YANG: For the past year and a half, Judy Woodruff has been exploring the ways our country's political divisions have affected our personal lives, creating rifts between family, friends and communities, as part of that series called America at a Crossroads.
In Milwaukee, this past week, Judy met with more than 50 Wisconsin residents from across the political spectrum for a frank discussion about the challenges we face as a country.
Here's a bit of that discussion.
PENNY PIETRUSZYNSKI, Supports Trump: I have family members that want to, you know, throw the racist card at me, and I want to let people know, as a Trump supporter, I am not racist, and I don't believe that Trump is either.
ANTOINE CARTER, Supports Harris: As a black man, the only thing that he tries to identify with is my struggle, not me being a parent, not me being a person trying to work and pay bills and buy a home and things like that.
JOHN YANG: That's part of a PBS special that airs tomorrow night called Crossroads, a Conversation with America, and the leader of that conversation, Judy Woodruff is here now.
Judy, those sentiments, people feeling that political division, personally, how common was that?
JUDY WOODRUFF: We heard it from a number of people.
John, as you as you just said, it's more than 50 Wisconsin residents.
We heard several people who are Trump supporters saying that they have family members who won't have anything to do with them.
You just heard that woman say she's -- it's really hurt her in what's happened in her family.
We had another woman tell us that she'd lost customers once -- this is a woman who owned both a shooting range, interestingly, and a beauty salon.
And she said when her customers, some of them heard that she learned that she was supporting Donald Trump, it affected them, and they stopped doing business.
They stopped patronizing her business.
On the other hand, we heard people who are very much Democrat supporting Kamala Harris or Joe Biden before her saying that it had caused deep splits in their families as well.
So we know now this is and we hear this.
We've heard this across the country over the last year and a half.
JOHN YANG: You touch on a lot of difficult subjects here.
We heard some of it.
Did anything in the discussion surprise you?
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, a lot of things surprised me.
I mean, for example, we asked people you know about specific issues that were the reason they mainly support either Trump or Harris.
We had a Trump supporter talk about her family.
She said, we're a family of immigrants, but we believe in coming across the border and doing it by the books being legal, and we don't believe in allowing people to come into the country, and take jobs and, frankly, take the place of people who have who've paid their dues.
I think if you ask -- if you're asking me, what surprised me after the conversations, and we talked and we talked to another gentleman who, by the way, is a DACA recipient.
He was desert.
He came with his parents undocumented, so he's now a successful business person.
Still is not able to vote, still doesn't have citizenship status.
So after the session, we saw him talking with the woman who had said, I don't like people coming across the border and taking up space in our country, we saw the same thing around reproductive rights, two people who had different points of view talking to one another.
So there is the possibility of common ground.
It's just that you don't hear much space for it.
John in the public space out there.
JOHN YANG: That's interesting.
Did you come away from this more hopeful, less hopeful about the political discourse in America?
JUDY WOODRUFF: You're not going to like this answer, but if both.
I mean, I clearly am you, you can't help but be discouraged when some people express very strong feelings on one side or another, and they all -- most people in that room told us -- that they wanted that they believe compromise is a good idea, that we should be seeking common ground.
But they also said there are things that I don't want, I don't want to compromise on.
I also think, John, frankly, many of these people were on good behavior.
They knew that we were filming this, and we probably got the best answers that they were going to give.
We had a political science professor from the University of Wisconsin joining us who said, I think maybe when some people go home, they're going to they may be more candid.
But I have to say on the other hand, you know, in traveling around the country and in Milwaukee Monday night, you did get this sense that people are tired of this division.
Yes, they're -- yes, they have strong feelings, yes, they have strong principles, but they want to be able to function as a society, as a people and there was just a, I mean, to me, there was a sense that that they'd like to see us figure out a way through this.
JOHN YANG: Sounds like a fascinating conversation.
Judy Woodruff, thank you very much.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you.
Thank you, John.
JOHN YANG: And Crossroads: A Conversation with America airs tomorrow night on PBS at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 8:00 Central.
For many years, nature and wildlife photographers have been disproportionately male, but tonight, the story of a young girl in India who's helping change that stereotype.
Ali Rogin is back with her story.
SHREYORVI MEHTA: I am Shreyorvi Mehta and I live in India, Faridabad and I'm 10 years old.
ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Shreyorvi Mehta is the eyes behind this photo, a highly commended image that's part of the prestigious Natural History Museum of London's Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards.
SHREYORIV MEHTA: So I took it in November, 2023 Me and my dad went to Keoladeo National Park, which is in Bharatpur.
And then in the morning, it was around six or seven, we were walking through the forest and my dad showed a path, with the mist and the golden light mixed together.
It was creating shades of gold and yellow light with the two peahens in the fenter of the road, and a was telling me how to frame that shot.
ALI ROGIN (voice-over): She's been capturing wildlife from a very young age.
SHREYORVI MEHTA: I touched a camera and was really fascinated by them.
I must be two around then.
And since then, I got to know about camera.
I learned more about cameras.
And when I was six, I began to use my dad's camera to capture.
But I grew up with cameras surrounding me.
ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Photography runs through her veins, from her mom, kahini, small camera, to her dad, Shivang, professional long lenses.
They run a wildlife photography tour company together, and Shreyorvi has traveled with them to encounter all kinds of animals in the wild.
SHREYOVI MEHTA: Hi, friends.
We are at Ranthambore National Park.
We are searching tigers.
This is not just Safari.
I've clicked lungs, deals, tigers.
ALI ROGIN (voice-over): She's a dedicated student.
Her days start early/ SHREYOVI MEHTA: So I wake up at 4:45 for my photography lessons.
And then five to six, is my photography lessons, and then six to seven, I get ready for school.
ALI ROGIN (voice-over): She set her sights on a career in photography in the long term and in the shorter term, she wants to go to the Himalayas with her dad and photograph a snow leopard.
For PBS News Weekend, I'm Ali Rogin.
JOHN YANG: Little news while we've been on the air, congressional leaders have announced a spending bill intended to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.
It would fund the government for about three months, pushing longer term spending decisions until after the election, both chambers would have to pass the bill this week to make the deadline.
And that is PBS News Weekend for this Sunday.
I'm John Yang, for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.
Have a good week.
