September 24, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Things can get better.

We should never forget that.

GEOFF BENNETT: In his final speech at the U.N. General Assembly as president, Joe Biden implores fellow world leaders to work together toward peace in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Federal lawmakers grill the company behind popular weight loss drugs, questioning why patients in the U.S. pay much more than other countries for the same products.

And more Americans are becoming caregivers for veterans.

The former secretary of Veterans Affairs cares on what's creating the need and the burden it puts on families.

ROBERT MCDONALD, Former U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary: The need for caregiving has exploded.

Unfortunately, a lot of the last war was injuries that dealt with brain injury.

Mental health is something we know the least about.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

It is a tense night in Lebanon and Northern Israel after the second day in a row of major Israeli airstrikes.

Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, while the militant group launched missiles at Israeli military and civilian sites.

The U.S. is trying to de-escalate, including in meetings at the United Nations General Assembly, where President Biden spoke today.

Nick Schifrin has more.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Beirut today, the sound of sirens after an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building, leaving debris in the street, damaged cars, and Lebanese authorities said six dead and 15 wounded.

Israel said the target was a senior Hezbollah commander.

Down the coast, Lebanese stood in what used to be their homes after bombings crushed the village of Aaqbiyeh.

To the east, in the Beqaa Valley, residential buildings turned to rubble.

And in Southern Lebanon, the strikes continue.

Israel says its targets are hidden Hezbollah weapons.

But this week's victims include children like Misaab Al-Malla, and his mother, Aziza Ali Obeid.

AZIZA ALI OBEID, Southern Lebanon Resident (through translator): My children and I were at home, working and relying on God for support, when the Israeli enemy hit us.

They are just children.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The strikes have caused tens of thousands to flee their homes to cities that can't cope.

MUSTAFA HIJAZI, Sidon Crisis Management Unit (through translator): No doubt that the circumstances we are facing today are extraordinary with the aggression we are witnessing.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Hezbollah continues its own aggression, including on this Israeli highway.

Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, today hitting this supermarket in the Arab-Israeli city of Tamra.

MOUSA ABU RUMI, Mayor of Tamra, Israel (through translator): Luckily, there were no physical injuries, but there have been victims of trauma in the city.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Hezbollah is part of Lebanon's government and offers social services, but, today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah and its leader must be removed.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): Nasrallah is leading you to the brink of the abyss.

He is endangering your country.

Rid yourselves from the grip of Hezbollah.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Seven thousand miles away, President Biden again called for de-escalation.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Full-scale war is not anyone's interest.

Even as the situation is escalating, a diplomatic solution is still possible.

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials are trying to use the U.N. General Assembly to prevent all-out war, but a senior State Department official argues airstrikes designed to push Hezbollah to negotiate will lead to escalation.

JOE BIDEN: Today is the fourth time I have had the great honor of speaking to this assembly as president of the United States.

It will be my last.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today was President Biden's un swan song, his final speech to the international community, after a half-century-career often focused on foreign affairs, with a world view defined by international collaboration and a hope that served as today's bookends.

JOE BIDEN: I entered public life not out of despair, but out of optimism.

Things can get better.

We should never forget that.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Biden acknowledged the wars that shadow this year's assembly, Gaza.

JOE BIDEN: Bring the hostages home, ensure security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas' grip, ease the suffering in Gaza and end the war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sudan.

JOE BIDEN: The world needs to stop arming the generals and speak with one voice and tell them, stop tearing your country apart, stop blocking aid to the Sudanese people, end this war now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy listened and Russia's U.N. ambassador texted, Ukraine.

JOE BIDEN: We will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and endurable peace on the U.N. Charter.

(APPLAUSE) NICK SCHIFRIN: But despite no near-term solutions to any of those wars, Biden's final message: Change can come.

JOE BIDEN: Some things are more important than staying in power.

's your people.

(APPLAUSE) JOE BIDEN: Every age faces its challenges.

I saw it as a young man.

I see it today.

But we are stronger than we think.

We are stronger together than alone.

What people call impossible is just an illusion.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the fact is, U.S. influence to end the war in Sudan appears to be limited, Ukraine is struggling to hold the line, and Israel has so far resisted U.S. efforts for a cease-fire on Gaza or to avoid escalation in Lebanon.

So, as President Biden finished his final address to the international community, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres here had a much more sober look at the world.

He said -- quote -- "Our world is heading off the rails."

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Nick, tell us more about how the U.S. is trying to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials, Geoff, are tight-lipped about exactly what they're doing.

But they say they have -- quote -- "concrete steps" they're discussing with allies and partners.

And the diplomatic deal that is on the table remains, a deal that would move Hezbollah back as demanded by Security Council Resolution 1701, back about six miles from the Israel-Lebanon border behind the Litani River.

That's the diplomatic deal that exists still on the table.

And Israel wants Hezbollah to delink its attacks on Israel from the war in Gaza.

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, has been clear that their attacks will continue so long as the war in Gaza continues.

U.S. officials I speak to say that Hezbollah has taken a military hit over the last week, but they don't quite understand how that translates into the strategic gain that Israel is hoping for, returning 60,000 residents to their homes in Northern Israel.

And last week's attacks on Hezbollah pagers really hit Hezbollah where they are most vulnerable.

Geoff, and that means that Hezbollah is much more likely to escalate than choose diplomacy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Another major focus, as we saw in your report, is Ukraine.

What more is being said at the U.N. about that war?

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Security Council called a last-minute session this afternoon on Ukraine, during which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to foreign ministers and said, look, with so much focus on the Middle East, don't forget about Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken focused on support given to Russia by North Korea and Iran.

But this is an incredibly important trip for Zelenskyy coming to the United States this week, because he will present what he calls his peace plan to President Biden, as well as former President Trump and Vice President Harris, this week in Washington.

But the fact is, Geoff, that peace plan, according to Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's top aide, last night, requires, one, membership in NATO, something that the U.S. and Europe do not support, two, permission to use long-range weapons, permission that the U.S. has not yet granted, and, three, authorization to use Russian frozen assets to pay for the war in Ukraine.

Geoff, the U.S. has not given that permission either.

GEOFF BENNETT: An important trip for Zelenskyy, as you say, also an important trip, Nick, for Iran's new president.

What did he have to say today?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, Masoud Pezeshkian has been presenting himself as someone who can do business with the West and someone who wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal known as the JCPOA, which promised Iran sanctions relief in return for freezing its nuclear program.

And he reiterated that statement today in the General Assembly, as heard through an interpreter.

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, Iranian President (through translator): We are ready to engage with JCPOA participants if JCPOA commitments are implemented fully and in good faith.

Dialogue on other issues can follow.

The appropriate response to this message from Iran is not to impose more sanctions, but to fulfill existing obligations to remove sanctions, benefiting the Iranian people, hence laying the foundations for more constructive agreements.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, this week, senior Biden administration officials have said that Iran has made too much progress in terms of its nuclear file since the Trump administration withdrew from JCPOA.

And they also expect to see behavior change by Iran.

That includes not supporting proxies around the region and not sending weapons to Russia for its war on Ukraine before any negotiations can happen.

And, Geoff, there's no sign that Iran is interested in making either of those changes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nick Schifrin in New York tonight reporting from the U.N. General Assembly.

Nick, thanks, as always.

We start the day's other headlines with the presidential campaign.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are touting their plans to boost the economy, as Harris also tries to keep the focus on abortion rights, an issue that Democrats see as a winning one with 41 days to go until Election Day.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Hello, Savannah, and hello, Georgia.

We love Georgia.

GEOFF BENNETT: Campaigning in Savannah, Georgia, former President Donald Trump today sought to outline his economic plan.

DONALD TRUMP: This new American industrialism will create millions and millions of jobs, massively raise wages for American workers and make the United States into a manufacturing powerhouse.

GEOFF BENNETT: Mr. Trump unveiling a proposal he says is aimed at offering new incentives to lure foreign companies to the U.S., promising lower taxes, energy costs, and fewer regulations.

DONALD TRUMP: With a vision I'm outlining today, not only will we stop our businesses from leaving for foreign lands, but under my leadership, we're going to take other countries' jobs.

Did you ever hear that expression before?

Have you ever heard that we're going to take other countries' jobs?

It's never been stated before.

GEOFF BENNETT: A new Quinnipiac poll out today shows Mr. Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris 52 to 45 percent with likely voters when it comes to handling the economy.

But several other recent national polls show Harris is narrowing that trust gap with her plan focused on lowering costs for middle-class families.

While campaigning in Wisconsin this week, she spoke to Wisconsin Public Radio about her affordable housing plan.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: I understand and have as part of my lived experience a lifetime practically of being a renter and also what it means for families to aspire to own a home.

GEOFF BENNETT: The vice president outlining her proposal that she says would incentivize developers to build three million new homes while providing $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers.

She also discussed reproductive rights, saying she supports ending the Senate filibuster to restore a Roe v. Wade to protect abortion rights nationally.

KAMALA HARRIS: We should eliminate the filibuster for Roe to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom.

GEOFF BENNETT: Later this week, Vice President Harris will head to the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since becoming the Democratic nominee.

It's part of her swing through the Sun Belt states, Arizona and Nevada, where immigration remains a top issue.

Also today, in the Middle East, Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed at least two dozen people across Gaza.

In Khan Yunis, a boy mourned his father, who was one of at least seven people killed there; 15 others were injured, including women and children.

Meantime, world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly blasted Israel for its military operation in Gaza.

The emir of Qatar, a leading party in cease-fire talks, called Israel's actions a crime of genocide.

The king of Jordan said the scale of death and destruction is beyond justification.

KING ABDULLAH II, Jordan: So is it any wonder that many are questioning, how can this war not be perceived as deliberately targeting the Palestinians?

The level of civilian suffering cannot be written off as unavoidable collateral.

GEOFF BENNETT: For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the Assembly later this week.

At least two people have died after what was Hurricane John slammed into Mexico's Southern Pacific coast overnight.

It rapidly strengthened into a Category 3 storm, making landfall with the maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour.

It's since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

John is expected to hover over Mexico through the end of the week, bringing torrential downpours, flooding and landslides.

Meantime, Tropical Storm Helene is gaining strength in the Caribbean.

It's expected to make its way north, hitting Florida as a hurricane as soon as Thursday.

Residents there have been filling sandbags to brace against potential flooding.

Florida's governor has declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm's arrival.

Maryland is suing the owner and operator of the Dali cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse earlier this year.

It's the latest in a series of legal troubles for the companies, which have denied any wrongdoing.

Today's lawsuit is seeking damages related to cleanup costs and rebuilding the bridge, among other expenses.

Maryland's attorney general said that the state's residents should not have to foot the bill for the disaster.

ANTHONY BROWN, Maryland Attorney General: The Dali was not fit to sail that morning.

The day before the collision, its electrical system had failed twice, failures that the ship owners and operator could have and should have fixed to avoid the tragedy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Six construction workers were killed in the collapse and trade in the Port of Baltimore was held up for weeks.

The U.S. government is suing Visa, saying the financial services giant unfairly stifles competition in the debit card market.

In particular, the Justice Department alleges that visa penalizes merchants and banks who don't use the company's own payment processing systems.

According to the DOJ's complaint, 60 percent of debit transactions in the country run on Visa's debit network.

That leads to more than $7 billion in fees each year.

It's the latest Biden administration effort to crack down on corporate middlemen following similar efforts against Ticketmaster parent Live Nation and real estate company RealPage.

In a statement, Visa called the lawsuit meritless and said the company will defend itself vigorously.

On Wall Street today, stocks posted a second day this week of modest gains and new records.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 80 points on the day.

The Nasdaq added 100 points, or about half-a-percent.

The S&P 500 notched a new record closing high.

And retired NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre told a congressional committee today that he's recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's, a degenerative neurological disease.

Favre was on Capitol Hill for a separate reason, to testify about welfare abuses in his home state of Mississippi and to address allegations that he and others misused millions of dollars to build an athletic facility.

Favre revealed his diagnosis when talking about a biotech company with ties to the welfare case.

BRETT FAVRE, Former NFL Player: Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others.

And I'm sure you will understand why it's too late for me, because I have recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's.

This is also a cause dear to my heart.

GEOFF BENNETT: Favre played 20 years in the NFL, mostly for the Green Bay Packers.

He did not say whether his Parkinson's diagnosis is connected to his time playing football.

Also on Capitol Hill today, the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, became the first musician to ever be honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol.

(MUSIC) GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. Air Force band paid homage to Cash with a rendition of his legendary hit "I Walk the Line."

And with help from sister Joanne Cash and daughter Rosanne, Cash's bronze statue was unveiled in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall.

Created by sculptor Kevin Kresse from Cash's native Arkansas, the statue depicts Cash with his guitar slung behind his back and a Bible in his hand.

Johnny Cash is one of few artists inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the head of the USAID agency, Samantha Power, discusses foreign assistance in the time of global turmoil.

Author Wright Thompson takes a closer look at the people and forces behind the murder of Emmett Till;and rock legend Nick Lowe releases his first full-length album in over a decade.

Ozempic and Wegovy Wegovy are some of the most popular drugs in the country, driven by their remarkable success treating diabetes and obesity.

But the drugs are extremely expensive, and the drugmaker's CEO appeared on Capitol Hill today to face questions about why those prices are so high.

William Brangham reports.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): What we are dealing with today is not just an issue of economics.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At a Senate Health Committee hearing, Chairman Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, pressed the CEO of Novo Nordisk about why Americans pay so much more for the same drugs compared to other nations.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: The net price for Ozempic is still nearly $600, over nine times as much as it costs in Germany.

And the estimated net price of Wegovy is over $800, nearly 4.5 times as much as it costs in Denmark.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: CEO Lars Jorgensen defended his Danish firm, pointing the finger for high costs principally at the U.S. health care system.

LARS JORGENSEN, CEO, Novo Nordisk: We don't decide the price for patients.

And that's set by the insurance companies.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He specifically blamed what are known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.

They act as third-party middlemen between drug companies on one side and insurers, pharmacies and hospitals on the other, often determining which drugs get covered and at what prices.

LARS JORGENSEN: Insurance companies and PBMs, the big conglomerate, have more than doubled, actually close to tripled their profits.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jorgensen argued those prices are high because Novo Nordisk has to pay the PBMs' rebates to ensure his drugs are covered.

More expensive drugs lead to higher rebates.

But Sanders said he'd receive pledges from major PBMs that would change that equation.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: We have in writing, we will certainly share it with you, commitments from the three major PBMs that, if you substantially lower your list price, they would not limit coverage.

Will you work with this committee and the PBMs?

LARS JORGENSEN: If it works in a way where patients get access to a more affordable medicine.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Republican Roger Marshall of Kansas echoed the point that PBMs should be the focus.

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): Novo Nordisk is not the villain in this story.

They're a hero.

We should be here celebrating this miracle innovation.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Fellow Republican Bill Cassidy of Louisiana: SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): We still have to preserve the profit incentive for the creativity for drug companies to invest in order to develop the drugs that are going to affect, that are going to positively affect the burden of disease in our society.

That is the tension.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The hearing comes at the same time a new government study finds that, in the last 10 years, the U.S. obesity rate remained largely unchanged at about 40 percent and that severe obesity rose slightly in the last decade.

LARS JORGENSEN: And we talk about the cost of the medicine, but it's really the cost of the diseases that's breaking the system.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jorgensen told senators that the price of Ozempic and Wegovy pales in comparison to the hundreds of billions that diabetes and obesity cost the U.S. every year.

LARS JORGENSEN: These are very, very expensive diseases.

And we talk about the cost of the medicine, but typically, in these diseases, the cost of the medicine is less than 10 percent of the total disease burden.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Experts predict that one or both drugs may be involved in the next round of Medicare price negotiations.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham.

GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. Agency for International Development is engaged in humanitarian work across many of the conflict zones around the world.

From Gaza to Ukraine, Sudan, and beyond, nearly 300 million people in the world are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The agency's work is crucial in getting that help to the most vulnerable, despite challenges of access and violence.

Amna Nawaz sat down earlier this afternoon with the administrator of USAID, Samantha Power, in New York, where world leaders have gathered for the U.N. General Assembly.

AMNA NAWAZ: Administrator Power, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

SAMANTHA POWER, USAID Administrator: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to begin with some news today, and that is specifically out of a ProPublica report just today, that they're saying that, in the spring of this year, USAID submitted a report to the State Department that included an assessment that said Israel was blocking aid into Gaza, specifically medical and food aid.

You know that would trigger the U.S. stopping weapons supplies to Israel.

Can you confirm that you sent that report, and, if so, what happened to it?

SAMANTHA POWER: Well, I think we have made very plain our desire to see as much aid as possible flow into Gaza,our concerns about a lot of the roadblocks that have been put in the way.

I'm not going to comment on any report from today, from a long time ago, beyond to say that our focus is as laser-sharp on that set of issues around access, as the number of trucks flowing in today is not sufficient.

AMNA NAWAZ: If I may, because the report is not just alleging that there are roadblocks.

As you have lamented before, it's difficult to get aid in.

They're alleging that Israel was deliberately blocking aid.

In your assessment, have they been at any point in this war deliberately blocking aid?

SAMANTHA POWER: Again, there needs to be improvement, and particularly in advance of winter.

There also needs to be improvement, needless to say, in terms of civilian protection.

Almost every day, it feels like we wake up to a report of an internally displaced person camp, or a school, or a medical facility being subjected to fire.

It's extremely challenging to fight in an environment where Hamas is deliberately using civilians as, effectively, human shields.

But the responsibility, again, on every professional military is to fight in a manner that minimizes the harm to civilians.

AMNA NAWAZ: As we speak here today, of course, the conflict seems to be expanding as well.

There have been some leaders who are expressing concern about the way in which Israel is now waging war in Lebanon.

The UNICEF chief said yesterday that reports of 24 children in Lebanon among the hundreds dead, and she urged people to adhere to international humanitarian law.

Can you offer your assessment of the way in which Israel is waging this war?

Are they adhering to international law?

SAMANTHA POWER: Watching the risk of escalation and expansion of a conflict that has already displaced tens of thousands of people on the Israeli side, on the Lebanese side, on top of the crisis we were just talking about in Gaza, with all of the human consequences of that, it would be catastrophic.

And so all of our diplomacy, again, is invested in trying to contain this conflict.

That is what this week at the U.N. is about, is pressing the parties to make sure that cooler heads prevail, because, if you need a reminder of what conflict looks like, look at the human consequences in Gaza, the fate of the hostages still hanging in the balance, the fate of Palestinian civilians.

Look at the displacement that has already occurred in Lebanon, even with this lower-grade conflict.

So if this were to spiral further out of control, it will only be civilians who pay the price.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have faced criticism, I think it's fair to say, from even within your own agency, staffers on your team, who express a frustration with what they see as a hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy, that the U.S. continues to supply humanitarian aid on a large scale, to try to get that into the people of Gaza at the same time that it's supplying Israel with weapons to continue to wage that war.

And I know some of your staffers, it's been publicly reported, have asked you about what they see as the Biden administration's being complicit in what they see as genocide being waged by Israel in Gaza.

And one of the things they point out is the fact that you wrote a book on genocide.

They have called on you to speak out or to resign.

How do you handle that kind of frustration within your own agency and what are you telling your staffers?

SAMANTHA POWER: Well, USAID is an incredibly mission-driven agency where people come to work every day to save lives, to improve lives.

It's honestly inspiring to work, including among those people who criticize me, the incredibly talented people that could be working in the private sector.

Instead, they come to work every day to help people like the people who are suffering in Gaza.

More than 40,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza, more than 13,000 children, more than 308 workers.

I would honestly be disappointed if my staff were not in churn and pressing for more.

And I just feel lucky that I'm in the government, in the room engaging the Israelis, working with a team that's pushing for a cease-fire, because fundamentally that's what's needed most of all, because, clearly, none of us can be satisfied with where things are now in Gaza.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you share any part of their concern that there's a hypocrisy to the U.S. policy there?

SAMANTHA POWER: I share their focus on the human consequences of everything we do, and that's why we have live debates inside the administration.

It's also why President Biden in the General Assembly today just talked about the importance of the cease-fire.

AMNA NAWAZ: We heard the president also today speak about Sudan and what is now the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet.

He recently said that now famine has taken hold in the Darfur region.

I know that aid trucks have not been able to reach one of the largest camps for displaced people there and access there has been blocked by some of the militia forces.

What more can the U.S. do?

I know you're already providing record levels of aid, but should we be considering airdrops, some other means of getting aid in?

SAMANTHA POWER: All of the above.

But it is really important to say that we cannot humanitarian aid our way out of the kind of widespread famine that is at risk of breaking out across Sudan.

You're right.

USAID is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in commodities, but many of those trucks are just sitting at checkpoints.

And that's just a matter of political will.

It's a matter of, do these self-interested generals who clearly care more about themselves than their country, are they willing to put their own interests above even letting trucks get through that could avert famine?

And so there are plenty of countries who are providing weapons to those actors who could be exercising their leverage, and that is what the diplomacy is about this week.

AMNA NAWAZ: We heard the president call for people to stop that supply of weapons into that conflict.

Is the U.S. doing enough, in your opinion, to leverage those relationships, to stop that flow of weapons in?

SAMANTHA POWER: Well, every channel that we have to those major players in this conflict, we are using, including this week, in very high-level engagements, including some that I have had myself, certainly those, the president the most important.

AMNA NAWAZ: And do you feel there's been progress in those talks this week?

SAMANTHA POWER: We will see.

I mean, there's certainly verbal progress.

And we have heard a lot of commitments to peace that are not then followed through with actual termination of weapons supply.

But we also have a responsibility, as you said, to think about airlift, airdrop, even if it's more expensive and less efficient, just as with Gaza.

We had to take measures like that.

AMNA NAWAZ: You know the duties and responsibilities of USAID are so vast and, I know just yesterday you made a major announcement when it comes to a particular initiative around eliminating lead in a number of low- and middle-income countries, a huge increase in funding to $150 million in partnership with other agencies as well.

It was stunning to read that in some places that level of lead exposure for children is more than 10 times the rate of what we were also alarmed to see here in Flint, Michigan.

Why is this particular initiative a priority for USAID right now?

SAMANTHA POWER: Well, first of all, thank you so much for raising it.

This is a silent killer globally, kills more than 1.5 million people a year.

That's more than HIV and malaria combined.

And yet, while we spend billions of dollars, and rightly, in combating those diseases, up to this point, we have only spent $15 million a year.

And there hasn't been a salience to this issue.

Many of the heads of state that I engage and bring what is quite rudimentary data about the one in two lead poisoning that exists in most developing countries, most of those heads of state are shocked.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's one out of every two children in these countries.

SAMANTHA POWER: One out of every two kids, when it was one in 20, as you said, in Flint, Michigan, when we were rightly scandalized by that.

So it won't take much to get lead out of paint, lead out of spices, lead out of cosmetics, these consumer products.

We did it in advanced economies.

But then the playbook stayed here and it didn't go to developing countries.

We can address something that is literally poisoning kids when they go to school, when they pick up their toys, when they eat the food that their that their mothers prepare because they might be lead residue in some pots.

What a tragedy that this is something we could have solved all these years, but what an opportunity actually to make a huge difference in a short time.

AMNA NAWAZ: USAID Administrator Samantha Power, thank you so much for your time.

SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Now some new insights into the caregiving crisis in America.

A new report from RAND has found one group is especially struggling, those caring for veterans.

Lisa Desjardins has more.

LISA DESJARDINS: The national survey was commissioned by the nonpartisan Elizabeth Dole Foundation and conducted by the RAND Corporation.

They found those caring for military members or veterans are an increasingly large group and stretched increasingly thin.

The study estimates more than 14 million Americans are caring for a current or former service member.

Even with the Veterans Administration in place, those families spend an average of nearly $9,000 a year out of pocket for care, that as 39 percent of these caregivers are also raising a child, and those children are helping with at least one caregiving task.

Joining me to discuss this is former secretary of Veterans Affairs and the chairman of the Elizabeth dole foundation, Bob McDonald.

Now that figure, 14 million caregivers who have served, that's nearly triple what it was in 2014.

ROBERT MCDONALD, Former U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary: It was a shock to us, Lisa.

In 2011, actually, the research began.

That original study found 5.5 million caregivers.

But the way we asked the question was, it was a very simple, single question, are you a caregiver?

This study, the methodology was a little bit different, and we asked the questions of the behaviors of a caregiver.

Are you bathing the person you care for?

Are you supplying their medications?

Are you taking them to doctors?

And what we discovered was the real number is, as you said, 14.3 million, and it was shocking to us how big it was.

In a way, it wasn't surprising, because the population is aging.

LISA DESJARDINS: There has been some positive news in a sense, because more service members are surviving battlefield trauma.

But what does that mean on the other end in terms of the mental and physiological care that they need?

ROBERT MCDONALD: Well, that's exactly a great point.

You're 10 times more likely to survive the battlefield today than in previous wars.

That means that we have more veterans with more grievous injuries, and that's what's requiring the caregiving.

The need for caregiving has exploded.

And, unfortunately, a lot of the last war was injuries that dealt with brain injury, which is -- mental health is something we know the least about.

And as a result of that, many of these caregivers are dealing with what we call the unseen injuries of war.

LISA DESJARDINS: Your survey found that many of these families are hitting points of physical and financial exhaustion.

I want to hear from one of these caregivers.

This is Tracy Brown, whose father was in the Air Force and now has dementia.

TRACY BROWN, Caregiver For Veteran: Fatigue, I'm going to put that at the top of the list, also just being able to continue to live my life and feeling like I totally lost my identity just to be able to care for my dad.

And it's really, really difficult not being able to necessarily find reliable care or care that's going to be high-quality.

LISA DESJARDINS: So many of us are thinking about and giving care right now.

But what's different for military families, veteran caregivers than the rest of us who are thinking about aging parents?

ROBERT MCDONALD: Well, many of the people coming through the military who are now needing caregiving have relatively low incomes, roughly, the RAND study found 130 percent of the poverty line qualifying for food stamps or SNAP, as we call it, needing financial help.

LISA DESJARDINS: What about government resources?

And I know that the study found it was about 35 percent, I think, of these caregivers, military, and veterans, that are at 130 percent or below poverty level.

ROBERT MCDONALD: Right.

LISA DESJARDINS: Government resources, are there enough, or is it just people aren't connected enough?

ROBERT MCDONALD: It's a trend.

When I became secretary in 2014, it was just at the point where Senator Dole and I worked together.

We got some legislation passed that provided a stipend to the caregivers.

Over time, more and more benefits have been added, such as mental health care for the caregiver.

But there's a bill right now that's gone through committee.

It's in Congress.

It's ready to be passed.

LISA DESJARDINS: The other part of that question, the tough angle, is that we do have a national debt problem.

We have a deficit problem.

Veteran care is expensive.

We don't care on the front end.

We don't prevent.

We sort of care on the other end.

What would you say to those who say they're concerned about the rise in veterans costs, even as we're clearly not addressing all of it?

ROBERT MCDONALD: I would argue that on the backs of veterans and veterans families is probably not the place I would start.

We need to take care of our veterans.

We're doing everything we can to try to figure out how to make this financially viable.

I think, at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, we use corporate-private-public partnerships.

We work with the VA. We work with companies that want to help.

And as a result, I think the monetary part of it should not be as big of an issue.

LISA DESJARDINS: Bob McDonald, thank you for an illuminating report.

ROBERT MCDONALD: Thank you, Lisa.

It's been a pleasure to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: The murder of Emmett Till is one of the most harrowing events in American history, serving as a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy from Chicago who in August 1955 traveled to Mississippi to visit relatives.

His brutal killing would expose the deep-seated racism and violence faced by Black Americans, especially in the Jim Crow South.

The events leading to Till's murder began when a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, accused him of making an inappropriate advance toward her, an alleged brief interaction considered a grievous offense in the racially segregated South of the 1950s.

Days later, Bryant's husband Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W.

Milam, abducted Till, brutally tortured and murdered him.

They were later tried and acquitted by an all-white jury.

Now bestselling author Wright Thompson travels back to his native Mississippi for a fresh and unflinching account of the conspiring forces behind Till's murder, focusing on the place where it happened.

It's called "The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi."

I spoke with him yesterday.

Wright Thompson, thanks so much for being with us.

WRIGHT THOMPSON, Author, "The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi": Man, thank you so much.

GEOFF BENNETT: Your family farm is about 20 miles from the site of the barn where Emmett Till was beaten and killed, yet you had to leave the state to go to college before you learned anything about it.

How did this history reveal itself to you?

WRIGHT THOMPSON: You know, it was shocking to me all the things that personally I didn't know.

And then as I started researching the barn where Emmett Till was killed, I realized that most of America actually doesn't know a lot about this.

This is a very famous murder, and yet there's been so much erasure and there's been so many intentional things stripped from the historical record that the book "The Barn" ends up being the story of this murder, yes, but also of the, like, long-going process of trying to erase this from memory and the activists who were fighting to keep that memory alive.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, well, tell me more about that.

The notion that this barn's obscurity reflects this whitewashing, this effort to cover up the horrendous nature of Emmett Till's abduction and murder and the complicity and the depravity of all of the people who were involved.

WRIGHT THOMPSON: Well, one thing I certainly didn't know is that one of the key drivers of this very famous murder was political rhetoric, for instance.

Mississippi in 1955 had an unbelievable governor's race.

It was a race to the bottom, frankly.

I mean, you go read the things people were saying and it was just supercharged, violent, metaphorically violent rhetoric.

And that election happened on a Tuesday, and Emmett and his cousins and friends went to the Bryant's grocery on Wednesday.

And so he was down there in the middle of an incredibly heated political campaign, where the only issue that mattered was school segregation and integration.

And so I didn't realize until I started researching it what a role that really violent political rhetoric played in this famous murder.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, over the years, historians and journalists have pieced together a deeper, more accurate account of what happened to him.

What did you discover over the course of writing this book?

WRIGHT THOMPSON: I mean, some really harrowing things.

I mean, I found out that the murder weapon was in a safety deposit box in a bank in Greenwood, Mississippi.

I had Carolyn Bryant's memoir sent to me on a thumb drive, where she essentially doubles down and takes her lies to the grave.

The sheer tonnage of what we don't know is, to me, as much about the -- as much a part of the story as the things we do now.

GEOFF BENNETT: On September 23, 1955, an all-white jury in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, acquitted the two white men who were charged with murdering Emmett Till.

And at the trial, eight of the jurors, a defense attorney, and the sheriff, it turns out, were all from the same extended family as the two men on trial, Roy Bryant and J.W.

Milam.

Help us understand that aspect of the story.

WRIGHT THOMPSON: It wasn't two random people who killed another random person.

I mean, it was a tribe of people killing the child of another tribe of people, which every West Point professor will tell you is an act of war.

These were folks who were all from the same very tight-knit community and the hills up above the Mississippi Delta.

I mean, one of the jurors' fathers was J.W.

Milam's contact when he joined the Army.

Like, who's the person who'll always know where you are?

So, I mean, this wasn't just a jury of his peers, as they say.

This was a jury of people who were part of the same tribe.

GEOFF BENNETT: You're from the region that you write about in this book.

This book is part a meditation Emmett Till's murder.

It's also part memoir.

How did unearthing and investigating this story help you reckon with your family's history?

WRIGHT THOMPSON: You know, I love that.

I think it's the Malcolm X quote that everywhere south of Canada is the South.

And so it was very important to me to learn my own family history.

But I also think it's very important for all Americans to read about this square of land around the barn where Emmett Till was killed and think about their own square of land.

And I think that the project of continuing the American experiment feels to me rooted in the idea that we first have to agree on a common history.

And I hope that this book is a tiny pebble in the lake of that and sends out some ripples.

But that was -- that investigation, reckoning, interrogation, whatever the verb you want to use, is absolutely essential to this project.

GEOFF BENNETT: Wright Thompson.

The book is "The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi."

Thanks for being with us.

WRIGHT THOMPSON: Thank you so much, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: One of rock 'n' roll's greatest songwriters is out with a brand-new album.

It's Nick Lowe's first full-length effort in nearly a dozen years and it debuted as number one on the Billboard charts in the Americana folk category.

Special correspondent Tom Casciato has the story for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

(MUSIC) TOM CASCIATO: It's hard to find rock 'n' roll's credentials more solid than Nick Lowe's.

And it's not just because he tours with a surf rock band, Los Straitjackets in their trademark Mexican wrestling masks.

From pub rock to new wave, he built his rep in the '70s, solo and in the bands Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile.

He was also a producer for Graham Parker, The Damned, and Elvis Costello.

He even penned one of rock's most memorable anthems, made famous by Costello.

But if rock 'n' roll is all you know about Nick Lowe and his 75 years on the planet, and well over 50 in the music business, well, let's start at the start.

NICK LOWE, Musician: My father was a career RAF officer.

He was a pilot.

He met my mom during the war.

She was in the women's Royal Air Force.

She came from a show business family, sort of vaudeville really.

She was a very good singer and taught me how to sing "Inchworm" from Hans Christian Andersen, Danny Kaye thing.

And that's got this lovely descant, where the kids sing one tune and there's a countermelody.

I figured out how to be able to sing another tune while somebody was singing a different tune.

And a third element is created.

And I kept on bugging her to do it again: "Come on, mom.

Let's do the 'Inchworm' song."

(LAUGHTER) TOM CASCIATO: He recalls more seeds his mother planted, the country of Tennessee Ernie Ford, the jazzy pop of Nat King Cole.

NICK LOWE: You know, Sinatra, Peggy Lee, pre-Beatles era music, which I love.

TOM CASCIATO: But then came the Beatles, and scenes like this led young Nick straight to rock 'n' roll.

NICK LOWE: You know, I wanted to be famous, on the TV, meet more girls that way.

That was my main ambition at the time.

Well, it didn't take me too long to realize that if I wanted to have any kind of long career, I had to learn how to write songs.

TOM CASCIATO: So a composer he became, writing songs he still performs today.

But as he gained confidence, he also learned humility, as when he produced Costello's classic debut album.

NICK LOWE: I started the record with Elvis saying: "Right, Elvis, so I think what you should do here is this, that, and don't sing there."

And then after, about two days, I was turning up in the studio and saying: "Good morning, Mr. Costello.

What would you like to do today?"

TOM CASCIATO: In 1979, Nick achieved hitmaker status on his own.

A British documentary from the era shows him looking very much a rock star, but he says that involved a certain amount of role play.

NICK LOWE: I realized really soon that I wasn't the sort of person who could sustain that.

TOM CASCIATO: So you didn't think rock superstardom sure to follow?

NICK LOWE: No, no, no, no.

You know, I'm not an Elton John or a Cher.

And I have always thought that the most fun you can have is just before you make it.

TOM CASCIATO: In the '80s, just after he'd made it, it sure looked like Nick was having fun, maybe the time of his life.

You watch the videos and you look like you're on top of the world.

NICK LOWE: Yes, I suppose -- I suppose it did.

But I thought that was me in decline.

I could feel my pop star status waning.

I was drinking and taking too many drugs in a bid to try and cheer myself up and write better songs.

And it doesn't work, boys and girls.

But also my pop star shtick was boring me as well.

TOM CASCIATO: It sounds like it was hard for a time for Nick Lowe to be Nick Lowe.

But in the ensuing decades, he abandoned the rock star stance and took on the role he has to this day, that of what "Rolling Stone" has called a master songwriter who never takes himself too seriously.

QUESTION: You are Britain's songwriter, right?

NICK LOWE: I think that Paul McCartney might have something to say about that.

But... (LAUGHTER) TOM CASCIATO: He gained that status partly by reaching back to the music he learned from his mom.

A lot of the music you have recorded from the '90s on, I think, has as much of a relationship to that pre-Beatles era as to the rock era.

NICK LOWE: Yes, well, that's nice of you to observe that.

TOM CASCIATO: Nick and the band have a new album, "Indoor Safari," in which they have rerecorded some of his favorite compositions of recent vintage.

And he still strikes a good pose, but he's got a few things to say to the kid who wanted to be a star.

If Nick in 2024 could talk to Nick in 1974, there's something to know now that you wish you knew then?

NICK LOWE: Well, Johnny Cash once said to me, incredibly disappointingly, I thought at the time: "Nick, what you have got to do is figure out how to be yourself."

I didn't really know what he meant.

I thought, is that the best you could do, John?

But, actually, now I do.

Because, when you're young, you're trying to sort of cop an act.

You are trying to be -- always trying to be somebody that you're not.

And you have got to sort of welcome in the things that you don't really like about yourself, you know, but welcome it in.

Because if you can figure out how to be yourself, it makes things so much easier.

TOM CASCIATO: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Tom Casciato in Tarrytown, New York.

GEOFF BENNETT: A news update before he go.

The man suspected of trying to kill former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course has been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate.

Ryan Routh allegedly aimed a rifle through shrubbery at the West Palm Beach golf course while Mr. Trump was playing on it.

He was initially charged with two federal gun offenses.

The upgraded charges come after prosecutors said earlier this week that the suspect left a note describing his intentions.

Well, later this evening on PBS, "Frontline" presents the latest installment of "The Choice."

The film takes a closer look at the lives of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they seek the presidency, drawing on insights from those who know both candidates and revealing key moments that could shape how each would lead the country if elected.

"The Choice" premieres on PBS and streams on YouTube at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Check your local listings.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

For all of us here at the "PBS News Hour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us.