September 1, 2024 - PBS News Weekend full episode

JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, how Americans are coping with rising electricity bills during this summer's extreme heat.

WOMAN: It's a really horrible feeling because, you know, nobody likes to not have enough money to pay their bills.

People just think that because we chose at some point to live in a hot state, that we should just suck it up.

JOHN YANG: Then a new documentary examines the complex relationship between dads behind bars and their young daughters and the story of the Filipino American union official who helped lead striking farm workers to a landmark victory.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

In Israel, an outpouring of grief and anger after Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six more hostages overnight in Gaza, among them was 23-year old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

The bodies were found in a tunnel beneath Rafah on the Egyptian border.

The health ministry says they had been shot at close range two or three days ago.

There have been massive protests tonight as relatives of the remaining hostages accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning them because he hasn't negotiated their release in months of talks.

SHAY DICKMANN, Cousin of Israeli Hostage Carmel Gat: It's too late for us.

It's too late for Carmel.

I will never hug her again, but 101 people can still hug their families for them, make the deal, save lives.

JOHN YANG: Organized laborers called for a general nationwide strike beginning in just a matter of hours.

The work stoppage is expected to shut down Israel's International Airport and disrupt health care, transportation and banking.

And in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian militants have claimed responsibility for the deaths of three Israeli police officers today near Hebron.

Later, security forces killed a Palestinian suspected of carrying out the shooting across the West Bank last week, Israeli forces carried out raids searching for Hamas fighters.

From Boston to San Francisco, about 10,000 hotel workers walked out their jobs today in the middle of a busy Labor Day weekend.

Contract negotiations between the union representing hotel workers and three major hotel chains have stalled.

The Union wants changes in working conditions and higher wages.

The strike is hitting 25 hotels in eight cities, and it's expected to spread in the coming week.

And at the Paralympics in Paris today, Team USA picked up eight medals in rowing, archery and track, that lifts the Americans up to third in the medal count.

In archery, Army Veteran Jason Tabansky and two-time Paralympian Matt Stutzman, each won gold and in track, Roderick Townsend took first in the men's high jump.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, a new film looks at the father daughter bond when the dads are behind bars and the story of Filipino American labor organizer Larry Eatong.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: As summer temperatures have soared across the nation, so have electric bills as air conditioners work overtime.

A USA Today analysis of government forecasts projected an average monthly bill this summer of $173.

Every year, nearly 3 million American households have their electricity shut off because of unpaid bills.

We hear from a handful of people trying to navigate all this.

LISA HARJO, Bullhead City, Arizona: My name is Lisa Harjo.

I'm from Bullhead City, Arizona, and my energy bills have doubled from the previous year.

MORGAN TATE, Silver Spring, Maryland: My name is Morgan Tate and I live in Silver Spring, Maryland.

I've lived in this area for seven years, and I've never had a summer this hot.

DAVID HAMBRICK, Dallas: I'm David Hambrick.

I am a registered nurse from Dallas.

Today the heat factor is going to be like 112 or 114 some ridiculous amount.

It really affects the medical condition that I have.

And so we've got our run our air conditioner more than normal.

LISA HARJO: In previous years, I would run it at about 76.

Now I usually will run it at about 80.

If it's a really hot day, I will run it at about 82.

I tell my daughter, just walk outside and come back in.

It'll feel good in here.

DAVID HAMBRICK: I'm fighting through the disability program, so my wages have been cut in half, and so trying to manage increases in utilities on less of a salary is extraordinarily difficult.

MORGAN TATE: I have taken money out of my grocery bill.

I've taken money out of my restaurant bill.

LISA HARJO: I am planning on renting out a room, because that is all the only way I foresee having enough money to offset these huge bills.

I only pay my water bill every other month, because if I try to pay that and my electric bill, then I'm in trouble.

DAVID HAMBRICK: We've moved, you know, to generics, except for my strawberries, Smuckers strawberry preserves.

That's my one luxury.

LISA HARJO: I literally have to decide whether I want to have air conditioning or have something to eat.

MORGAN TATE: One of the things that I like to do in order to stay cool and save money is, you know, go to the mall, go to the library, go to some place that I know is going to be air conditioned already.

DAVID HAMBRICK: The first thing we do is just completely almost black out the house.

LISA HARJO: I have insulation in every window in my house so that I can keep it dark and try to keep any air from escaping as much as possible.

MORGAN TATE: I have found that when I'm able to mitigate some of this using ice packs, using fans instead of my central AC, that I save about $30 per month on my utility bill, and that can make a big difference.

DAVID HAMBRICK: This is hitting us pretty hard people, if they don't see it or until it affects them, you know, they don't really understand.

LISA HARJO: It's a really horrible feeling because, you know, nobody likes to not have enough money to pay their bills.

You know.

People just think that because we chose at some point to live in a hot state that we should just suck it up.

And that's just, you know, that's just not right.

JOHN YANG: People struggling with both the heat and their electric bills.

Sanya Carley is professor of energy policy and city planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sanya, I know you research coping techniques.

How typical are what we just heard?

SANYA CARLEY, University of Pennsylvania Kleinman Center for Energy Policy: Unfortunately, John, it's very typical.

At the energy justice lab, we find that over half of all low income households engage in some of these so called coping strategies, many of which we just heard about.

These strategies are both financial in nature and behavioral in nature.

We also know that over half of all low income households engage in many of these at once, and it's the households that have particularly vulnerable members that reside within it, such as young children under the age of five, or those who are medically compromised or elderly that are more likely to engage in these kinds of strategies.

We found that one in four households use some kind of risky temperature strategy in order to cope.

Now here, these are things such as burning trash in your home or running a space heater, which we know to be one of the leading causes of fire in the United States, or opening your oven or flaring your gas stove for space heating, or running your dryer, but disconnecting the dryer vent and putting somebody behind it in order to warm your body temperature.

We also know that one in four households carry debt across their energy bills, and approximately one in five households engage in this kind of bill balancing that you heard about just a minute ago, where one might pay down one energy bill or one mortgage bill, for example, one month, and then pay down a different bill the next month, and approximately one in five households have to forego paying for food in order to pay their utility bills.

JOHN YANG: What are the consequences of either not having air conditioning or cutting back on the air conditioning to save money?

SANYA CARLEY: It can lead to a variety of mental and physical health consequences, and some of the consequences can be quite dire, in the severe but not at all rare case, it can lead to death.

Now, just generally, if you don't have access to energy, you don't have access to electricity, for example, there are a variety of other impacts.

You wouldn't be able to use your electronic devices, such as your phone to seek help or to find information.

You can't run a refrigerator, which limits the amount of healthy and perishable food that you can keep in your house.

And you can't run an electronic medical device, such as an oxygen concentrator, which you might rely on for your life.

But there are also developmental outcomes, particularly for young children who reside in these homes.

In some places, if a house is deemed not habitable, if you can't actually live within those conditions, then that's grounds for a child to be removed from the home and put in alternative care until the house has is can resume their electricity use.

JOHN YANG: Are some people more affected by this than other people?

SANYA CARLEY: Yes, there are differences.

We know that increasingly it's common for more hot states to suffer from energy and security more than others.

We also know that there are disparities by housing conditions.

So those who have older homes, draftier homes, less efficient homes tend to suffer from energy and security much more.

And then there are social, demographic and specific populations.

So those households that have vulnerable members that reside within, again, young children under the age of five or somebody who relies on an electronic medical device, they're much more likely to be energy insecure.

We also find racial disparities, racial and ethnic disparities, where we find that households of color are significantly more likely to both suffer from Energy and Security and be disconnected.

JOHN YANG: What programs are there to either help pay the electric bills or to protect them from being disconnected?

SANYA CARLEY: Sure, I like to think of this in three bins, if you will.

The first is kind of preventative measures.

The second is more emergency relief, and the third is more of kind of long term maintenance.

In the preventative measures, I would put things that lower the energy bill.

So weatherization assistance is one classic example where essentially you're helping a home weatherize to seal holes in the wall or gaps, or to repair or to swap out their appliances.

Residential solar is another preventative solution that essentially can lower one's energy bill over time.

The emergency assistance one could seek out local bill assistance through their local government, but also the federal government offers the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

And then finally, there's disconnection protections.

These are at the state level.

States declare whether there are certain times that utilities cannot disconnect certain customers if, for example, the weather is above or below a certain temperature or it's a certain time of year.

Now, I'll just point out that these policies are wildly inconsistent across the states.

It's a patchwork, if you will.

We know that less than half of all states actually have heat based protection, so it's far more common for them to have cold based protections.

So there's not only this patchwork, but it's also the case that these policies tend to favor, or at least not be sensitive to the increasing incidence of extreme heat.

JOHN YANG: Sanya Carley of the University of Pennsylvania, thank you very much.

SANYA CARLEY: Thank you so much.

JOHN YANG: The relationship between fathers and daughters can play a crucial role in a young girl's life.

To strengthen that bond for black girls, an organization called Girls for a Change, stages date with dad, weekends, they include a daddy-daughter dance, but what if the father's behind bars?

Well, they just take the dance to them.

A new documentary follows four girls and their fathers preparing for a daddy-daughter dance in the Washington, DC jail.

It also looks at how the event affects them in the years afterward.

It's called "Daughters."

It's now on Netflix.

The directors are Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, who is also CEO of Girls for a Change.

Natalie, I read somewhere this was a project eight years in the making.

What drew you to this?

NATALIE RAE, Co-Director, "Daughters": So many things.

I mean, the power of this story is so moving and incredible, the wisdom of the girls, the way that girls can change the world if we just listen to them and create space for them.

This is a profound example of that our importance to our fathers as we grow up as young women, that relationship does impact what we pull into our lives, what we think about ourselves, what we know love to be.

So this film and this story really touched on everything that has been important to me as a filmmaker up until now.

JOHN YANG: And Angela, as the title suggests, this really is told through the girls' eyes and from their perspective.

Why was it important to do that?

ANGELA PATTON, Co-Director, "Daughters": Well, I was just champion to actually be the advocate for these girls wildest dreams.

They did not believe that because the father was locked behind bars, that he should be locked out of the lives and the upbringing of their daughters and they, you know, were their greatest ambassadors.

And wrote this letter to the sheriff and asked for what they felt like they needed in their community, in their homes, in their heart, and so that's why it's named or type daughters, is because we are actually just allowing the girls to lead the process.

JOHN YANG: One of the things in the film is that the fathers to qualify for going to this daddy-daughter dance go through with 10 weeks talking to each other, talking with a with a leader, about fatherhood, about their lives, their relationship with their daughters.

Let's take a look at this clip.

MAN: Part of the reasoning behind us doing this work is because you guys the golden opportunity to see your children to interface with them, to see your daughters and spend time with them.

But I'm going to be very honest with you guys, it's going to be an emotional roller coaster, because you're going to be on a high when that dance happens, and as that clock ticks closer to the ending, time, you can go through your own range of emotions.

JOHN YANG: Natalie, talk about what it was like in that room.

NATALIE RAE: I would always -- I would stay out of the room.

I really we Angela and I both gave the fathers the space to work with Chad, anyone that was in the room, like our cinematographer also was a father, also experienced incarceration in his family, so was able to also join the circle and talk about what he'd been through.

So I think protecting that space was really important to allowing everyone to open up and to go through the work with Chad, but it was beautiful to see how quickly these fathers wanted to talk and that this was a very rare opportunity to bond about their children and talk about their own childhood and potentially their own you know, fatherhood wounds.

JOHN YANG: Natalie, you never say in the film why these men are behind bars.

I assume that was intentional.

NATALIE RAE: Yeah, this film is from the daughter's perspective.

And if you are a child of an incarcerated parent, you're innocent, and that opportunity for love and a parent shouldn't be taken away from you.

And we wanted to honor and be true to that, and really just experience these relationships, this, you know, love story with the fathers and daughters.

JOHN YANG: We also see a lot of the mothers of these young girls, although once the dance begins, they can't go in and Angela, we have a clip of you talking to the mothers.

WOMAN: We're here for you and your daughters.

We love you and we celebrate you.

Forgiving is one of the hardest things for us to do as humans, and so I am clear that this is probably one of the hardest decisions that you moms had to make today.

So moms, thank you for getting out of the way.

When you go to this dance, what are you looking forward to?

WOMAN: Honesty.

WOMAN: Honestly.

WOMAN: And bonding.

WOMAN: And that's hard for someone to tell you, you're in the way when you're the one showing up every day, doing all the work.

JOHN YANG: Angela showing up every day, doing all the work.

How difficult is it for mothers to build up to this and then just sort of send their daughters in and go off somewhere else?

ANGELA PATTON: So the goal here is to make sure that they're not left out.

What we understand in doing this work is this family bonding, family unification, strengthening everyone.

We understand that there is disappointment, heartache, anger, and how we need to address that is by creating a safe embrace space for the mothers as well.

What they are doing that is the greatest part of this is letting go and allowing that girl to now form this relationship that is necessary between the daughter and her father and the mother tends to understand that and support that, and that's the end goal.

JOHN YANG: Natalie, there's a lot of raw emotion in this film, a very intimate look at both the young girls and their fathers.

Were you surprised by the openness?

NATALIE RAE: I was really moved by how much the girls wanted to share, and really the film took on their spirit very quickly in some of the earliest interviews, you know, you have Santana being like, I want to keep talking.

I've got more to say.

She talks for three hours and then wants to turn the interview around and ask me some questions.

So, these girls really wanted to open up.

They had a lot to say, a lot to share, and that was really eye opening and beautiful to be a part of.

JOHN YANG: Another feature of this film is that you followed these girls and their fathers for three years after the dance you show the conversations, and Angela, what struck me is how these young women were sort of laying down the law to their fathers.

There's one who says, you have a job.

Are you changing?

Talk about this power of wanting to be with their daughters.

What does that do to these men?

ANGELA PATTON: Oh, it changes them.

They family, have this moment of vulnerability, of honesty and trust that most of them have not had.

It's not, you know, typical for them to kind of get together and do this, this work of self-awareness first.

You know, accountability, being responsible, and then also becoming an active listener.

So when they ask me, why is the dance, not only just the dance, but it's dinner too, is because we know some of the richest conversations can happen at the table when you're breaking bread with your family.

So we're just bringing back what is not what I would say old school, it's the right school, and that's family first.

JOHN YANG: Angela Patton and Natalie Rae.

Thank you both very, very much.

NATALIE RAE: Thank you very much for having us.

ANGELA PATTON: Thank you for having today.

JOHN YANG: Finally, tonight for Labor Day, an animated story from our partners at StoryCorps.

In 1965 Filipino American labor organizer Larry Itliong helped lead the Delano grape strike and boycott for better wages and working conditions.

It was the birth of the farm workers labor movement and led to a landmark contract.

His son Johnny Itliong talked to his son Alex about Larry's legacy.

JOHNNY ITLIONG, Larry Itliong' son: One of his nicknames was Seven Fingers, because when he was up working in Alaska, he lost three of his fingers.

He was small in stature, but he was very, very strong man.

He always wore pocketed shirts, thick Ray Ban glasses, and he would always have his cigar, his gubanos.

And I remember I would have to get up at three o'clock in the morning, and we would jump in the back of the truck, load it up full of boxes, and you stack them maybe 10, 12, feet high.

I could carry about eight of them stacked up.

There were so many good men living in box carts, sheds, whatever they can make out of the elements.

And I remember maybe one guy had one suit, and whoever would get a date would wear that suit, so they would share the suit.

20, 30, guys, you know that's the Brotherhood.

And when they would pass, they didn't have family in the United States.

They had no one to say goodbye to them, and it was just us, me, my father, my brother, men who worked the fields they fed the United States.

You know, my father stood up for the people who need help.

At five years old, I remember running around getting the sticks, you know, I would bring sticks to the ones who were nailing the picket signs.

I think that was probably like my earliest memory.

He sacrificed a lot of his family time to make a better world for us.

We have big shoes to walk in, man.

MAN: Yeah.

JOHNNY ITLIONG: I don't feel like I'm even close, but your demeanor reminds me of him, because he was very calm.

He always listened when it was time for him to speak what he said was important, and already you follow those footsteps.

JOHN YANG: 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.