October 10, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is on assignment.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Israeli airstrikes bombard Hamas strongholds in Gaza, as President Biden pledges unwavering support for Israel in the wake of the deadly terror attacks.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: We will make sure the Jewish and democratic State of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have.

It's as simple as that.

GEOFF BENNETT: With a leadership void and no clear path forward, candidates for speaker of the House make their case to fellow Republicans on why they should be entrusted with the gavel.

And one state's decision to decriminalize small amounts of drugs highlights the potential solutions and challenges to addressing addiction.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Fierce fighting between Israelis and Palestinians continues tonight, as airstrikes and artillery pound Gaza after Saturday's Hamas invasion of Southern Israel.

The death tolls continue to mount.

More than 1,000 Israelis and 900 Palestinians have been killed in four days of attacks and counterstrikes.

Among the dead are 14 Americans killed by Hamas.

Still other Americans are now confirmed held hostage by the terrorists in Gaza.

Again tonight from Israel, special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen starts our coverage.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Wails of loved ones mingle with the scream of sirens and the constant echoing boom of incoming and outgoing rockets.

Families along both sides of the Gaza border barely have time to bury and mourn their dead as they face the threat of yet more violence and death.

Here in the Israeli town of Sderot, 29-year-old policewoman More Shkouri was one of eight people from this community buried today, five of them police officers.

When Hamas militants stormed the police station here on Saturday, she was shot by a sniper as she tried to seek shelter.

WOMAN (through translator): I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to you.

The last words I heard from you were screaming in terror.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As families mourn, the Israel Defense Forces stepped up their campaign to eradicate the threat from Hamas.

To help stop the terror attacks by land and air, the U.S. promised Israel unconditional support and pledged more munitions and the movement of an aircraft carrier battle group closer to Israel, in addition to the $3 billion a year it already sends in military aid.

Today, President Biden confirmed that American citizens are among those held hostage by Hamas, and again emphasized U.S. support for Israel.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: For 75 years, Israel has stood as the ultimate guarantor of security of Jewish people around the world so that the atrocities of the past could never happen again.

And let there be no doubt: The United States has Israel's back.

We will make sure the Jewish and democratic State of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have.

It's as simple as that.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: On the ground, Israelis are focusing on more immediate battles.

At the border area's biggest hospital in Ashkelon, doctors haven't slept for days trying to save the wounded who lived long enough to make it there.

DR.

ROB LOBEL, Ashkelon Barzilai Hospital: Being the closest hospital to Gaza, we have been trained by the events.

We have been treating 500 -- more than 550 injured.

That's an incredible number.

I mean, we are used to mass-casualty events.

We are prepared for mass-casualty events.

A big mass casualty event is considered 30 injured.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Dr.

Rob Lobel is from a village less than a quarter-of-a-mile from the Gaza border.

After spending hours hiding from the Hamas fighters rampaging through his hometown on Saturday, he headed straight to work and has since been working 20-hour shifts along with his colleagues.

DR.

ROB LOBEL: Since Sunday, I think since Sunday morning, I'm here.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: So you have been treating some of your own friends and neighbors as well?

DR.

ROB LOBEL: Yes, absolutely, absolutely, many of them.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: He believes his community will rebuild, but some things will never be the same.

DR.

ROB LOBEL: The main thing that we have lost, especially people who live in the surrounding area of Gaza, is our sense of security, maybe our illusion of security.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Many here fear there is worse yet to come.

The Israel Defense Forces say they have now recaptured the entire border with Gaza, but we can still hear some gunfight in the background here in the town of Sderot.

There's been an evacuation order, which suggests to some people that a ground invasion is planned.

But as some residents start to clear out of town, others are refusing to budge.

VLADIMIR KLAIDERMAN, Sderot Resident (through translator): No, they can't tell me to go away.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Gina Halford says she trusted her government to protect them, and it didn't.

So why would she listen now?

GINA HALFORD, Sderot Resident (through translator): Ben-Gvir is Satan.

Netanyahu is even worse.

And we're paying the price here.

Terrorists in Sderot slaughtered soldiers.

Where is my prime minister?

Where is my country?

I'm not going anywhere.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Just moments after we left Sderot, another gun battle broke out between security forces and Hamas militants.

And even as residents of these embattled border towns make the choice whether to stay or go, facing even more violence to come, the rockets fall without end.

In these Israeli towns just a few miles from the border with Gaza, when the sirens sound, there's less than 15 seconds to take cover before the rockets begin to fall.

There are reinforced shelters spread all around, but, often, there just isn't time to get to one.

The rocket bombardments coming from Gaza are so frequent now that Israel's state-of-the-art defense and warning system can't handle them all.

Today, many fell with no warning at all.

Just across the border in Gaza, civilians have no shelters at all.

And, today, Israel's rage intensified.

The Israeli military said it all but destroyed the district of Rimal, an administrative hub for the Hamas government.

And in Khan Yunis, bombs reportedly targeted the house of a Hamas leader.

Waves of airstrikes continue to pound the Strip neighborhood by neighborhood and, in the process, razed entire districts to the ground.

PLESTIA ALAQAD, Palestinian Journalist: That's the view from the balcony.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad shared this video from her apartment in Gaza, the view completely shrouded in smoke.

Streets like this one are deserted, coated in gray ash and lined with small mountains of crushed concrete.

SHAMES OUDA: The situation is very scary.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: "NewsHour" producer Shames Ouda spoke to us from the ground there hours after a bombardment shredded the area.

SHAMES OUDA: We're standing near a public building that was -- been attacked this morning.

More than 15 people was killed in this building.

And two journalists was filming here, was killed during this attack.

As you see, all the building was destroyed.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: The U.N. reported that more than 187,000 Gazans have now been displaced, fleeing their homes near the border and moving towards the sea, where a naval blockade awaits.

Many have nowhere left to go.

SAMAH ABO LATIFA, Gaza Resident (through translator): We had fled to escape from death.

We came to find death.

If we stayed in our houses, we die.

If we go on the streets, we die.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: In the quiet between strikes, Palestinians carried the dead, honoring them with funeral processions through the streets of Gaza City.

The ripple effects of this war are being felt across the Middle East.

Israel has deployed tanks near the border with Lebanon, where residents in the Hezbollah-controlled south fear violence could escalate.

And there are concerns of possible escalation between Israel and Iran.

Iran's supreme leader today denied it helped plan Hamas' attack, but praised the operation.

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, Supreme Leader of Iran (through translator): Supporters of Israel have made false statements, including that the Islamic Iran is behind this movement.

They are wrong.

But, of course, we defend Palestine.

We are proud of them.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As politicians vie for power, the violence rages on, and people on both sides of the border feel they have nowhere left to go.

After a lifetime of war, all they can do is sit and wait as another ramps up on their doorstep.

And, Geoff, that's what's so strange and terrifying about this situation on the ground.

People on both sides of the border, they're already at war, under bombardment every day.

But what they're all afraid of, what they're all talking about is the next bigger war that they all think is coming.

We saw today that first shipment of promised U.S. munitions turning up.

And the Israeli Defense Forces, they're ramping up.

They're calling up reservists to 360,000 people today.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Leila, you and your team spent the day at the center of the strike zone, as I understand it.

Tell us what you saw.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: We did.

And the way things work here, of course, the Gaza Strip is a long strip along the south of Israel.

And as you get closer and closer to it, these very large towns and cities that have hundreds of thousands of people living in them, there are seconds within which, if rockets are launched from Gaza, you have time to take shelter.

And in the closest places, that's under 10 seconds.

Now, we were down there all day in various towns.

People were trying to bury their dead.

There were multiple funerals.

People are also out in the streets trying to help feed people who've lost their homes, who've been evacuated.

And all the while, every 10 to 15 minutes, the sirens go off.

And you have that time to take shelter.

There are lots of shelters on the Israeli side of the border.

The problem is that, it's such a rapid amount of time, you often can't get to them.

And when you got really close to the border today, sometimes, those systems weren't even working because they're so overwhelmed, so many rockets coming in.

You saw there in that piece several times today we had rockets coming straight over our heads, had to hit the ground with absolutely no warning, and they're hitting very close by.

GEOFF BENNETT: After four days of heavy airstrikes, what's the situation like for Gazans?

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: The situation for Gazans is absolutely dire.

And humanitarian organizations have been calling out, begging today for humanitarian corridors to be created.

Now, people aren't really doubting in those organizations that Israel does need to take action, because, of course, what -- the Hamas attacks this weekend were unprecedented and something must be done.

They can never allow this to happen again.

But how they do it is the problem.

Gaza is such a densely packed, less-than-30-mile strip, civilians everywhere.

Many of the buildings that Hamas use have civilians in them.

And they really have nowhere to go.

They have been fleeing from the border side, where rockets are coming in constantly.

Going towards the sea, there's a naval blockade on that side, where there's artillery fire coming in.

So, they do have nowhere to go.

And the crossing into Egypt, which was the one place, the Rafah Crossing, that they could actually go to try and get humanitarian assistance in an emergency if they were allowed through, was hit yesterday, and so that's closed too.

Currently, there is no way for more than two million people to get out of this place, and we are looking probably at a military incursion very soon on the ground.

People are absolutely terrified.

GEOFF BENNETT: Leila, the last time you were there to report in early July, it was young people and soldiers protesting against the government.

Now they're at war.

How is that dynamic playing out?

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Well, that's sort of so interesting.

All these young people who say that this right-wing government is doing things that Israelis, liberal Israelis don't want, and that they're all having to serve in the IDF, and they don't want their kids to have to die for a cause they don't believe in, everyone has rallied because they are now at war, but many people saying that right-wing government is the reason this has happened, that they have moved so many soldiers into the settlement areas in the West Bank, away from where they should have been protecting things on the Gaza Strip.

And that's why they're so angry that this wasn't foreseen, that the Israeli intelligence services missed this massive operation that has killed nearly 1,000 Israelis now.

GEOFF BENNETT: Leila Molana-Allen reporting tonight from Tel Aviv.

Leila, our thanks to you and your team there.

The war between Israelis and Palestinians has upended President Biden's foreign policy efforts.

To explain how the administration is responding to the attacks, we're joined now by our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez.

So, Laura, President Biden gave this impassioned condemnation of Hamas' terrorist attacks during his remarks today from the White House.

What was his message?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: As you said, Geoff, he forcefully condemned Hamas' attack and stated unequivocally that the United States and his administration stand behind Israel, the Israeli people, the Jewish people.

The president also made clear, distinguishing between Hamas' horrific actions, as well as the impact that this has had on Palestinian civilians.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: There is no justification for terrorism.

There is no excuse.

Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people's right to dignity and self-determination.

Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people.

They use Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed with no regard to who pays the price.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Another notable message from the president today, Geoff, was that he, as well as his administration officials, compared Hamas' attacks to the very worst of ISIS terrorism.

GEOFF BENNETT: What more is the White House doing to aid and support Israel and to find those missing Americans?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: They're working with Israel, as well as other partners, to try to find the missing Americans and recover the hostages.

That includes intelligence sharing.

And Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, told us in the White House briefing today that there are at least 20 missing.

Not all of those 20 missing Americans, though, are necessarily hostages, and that we do not know at this time the number of American hostages that Hamas has taken.

In addition to aiding Israel, the White House is also sending ammunition, air defense, and Sullivan said that they are trying to come up with as many contingency plans as possible for scenarios in case this conflict escalates.

GEOFF BENNETT: I was told by a U.S. official today that U.S. officials and Israeli officials are talking about this idea of creating safe passage for some Gaza civilians.

What more on that front did you pick up in your reporting today?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So the president stressed today, Geoff -- that he used the term abiding by -- quote -- "law of war."

And so that's a message that he was sending.

It's also something that he talked about in his conversation today with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

And Jake Sullivan said that they also talked about making sure that, when and as Israel takes action against Gaza and against Hamas, that civilians are not deliberately attacked.

And so that's something that the president has been talking to Netanyahu about.

I also asked Sullivan about the thing that you mentioned, Geoff, which was whether or not the administration is trying to help civilians find passages out of Gaza.

And he didn't give specifics about any types of border crossings that they might be opening up.

But he did say that it is a primary focus of the administration and something that they're working towards.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, there's a role for Congress here too.

What's the administration asking lawmakers on Capitol Hill to do about this?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: A big focus of the administration's, Geoff, is to see former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew confirmed to be the Israel ambassador, the ambassador to Israel for the U.S. And a White House official told me that they are in close touch with senators to try to make sure that confirmation happens as quickly as the Senate returns.

They also are going to be seeking additional funding for Israel.

But the White House today did not say whether or not they were going to try to tether that additional Israel aid security funds to, again, funding that they want to see go to Ukraine.

They are going to renew that Ukraine request, but they didn't say whether or not they were going to try to push it all as one package.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez, thanks so much for sharing that reporting with us.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: One of the most notorious incidents of this weekend's attack on Israel was one of its first, an assault on an all-night music festival in Southern Israel.

Police say Hamas gunmen killed more than 250 people and took an unknown number hostage.

Nick Schifrin speaks to two survivors of this terror in the desert.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The dashcam footage may be silent, but speaks loudly of horror, a Hamas gunman taking a hostage, another ensuring a victim was dead, the awful aftermath of what had been an all-night party that became a nightmare for thousands, including Raz Cohen.

RAZ COHEN, Survivor of Music Festival Attack: At 6:00 a.m., we start to hear all the rockets.

So, we started to hear the gunshots and a lot of people screaming.

We go to hide under the stage, the main stage of the festival.

One of the people that hide with me see a terrorist, and they told everyone to run away.

And that's what we did.

The terrorists shoot on us.

And I saw a lot of people died in my eyes, I -- murdered in my eyes.

People get shot in the head, in the shoulder.

A lot of dead bodies.

We go to hide in a bush, a big bush in the creek.

And we was in the bush something like six or seven hours.

A lot of terrorists go around us and search for people to kill.

The terrorists, people from Gaza, raped girls.

And after they raped them, they killed them, murdered them with knives, or the opposite, killed -- and after they raped, they -- they did that.

They laughed.

They always laughed.

It's -- I can't forget how they laughed on the -- in this situation.

NICK SCHIFRIN: His friend Maya (ph) is still missing.

His friend Karina (ph) was killed.

You're a soldier.

You have fought.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

How terrifying were these moments for you?

RAZ COHEN: I don't think that the words can even explain how it was terrifying.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Shelly Barel and her husband, Yoav (ph), also suffered that descent from euphoric rave to terror.

SHELLY BAREL, Survivor of Music Festival Attack: It was very unbelievable.

It's like nightmare.

We start, we run away from the missiles, but after this, we understand that we need to run away from terrorists too.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They could think of only one thing, surviving for their children.

SHELLY BAREL: Then I ask him if this is the time to say "I love you," because didn't know what is going to happen.

We have two children, 3 and 5.

And I just want to be home.

We didn't say -- we didn't say, "I love you."

We didn't want to do it, to say goodbye.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What have you told your children happened?

SHELLY BAREL: Nothing.

What can you say to 5-year-old?

What you're going to say?

When the sirens of the rocket is on, we just go to the safe room.

And we have candies there.

And we play and let them know that it's OK. And there was a thunder, very big.

And my daughter asked me if this is the time to go to the safe room.

She's 3 years old.

It's crazy.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But survivors don't only feel fear.

There's also anger.

You're being called up next week, possibly to fight.

How do you feel about that?

RAZ COHEN: I think that I need this.

I need the -- the revenge to live with myself.

They kill a lot of us, my brothers, my sisters.

We are a big family in Israel.

All of us, we are brothers and sisters, one big family.

And if they do something like this, I have to revenge.

NICK SCHIFRIN: How do you think this attack, these attacks will change Israel?

RAZ COHEN: How they change Israel?

If Gaza was on the map, after this, Gaza don't continue be on the map of Israel.

That's going to be the change.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel's government vows that revenge will -- quote -- "reverberate for generations."

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: Searchers in Western Afghanistan began scaling back the hunt for survivors of Saturday's devastating earthquake.

The Taliban government says at least 2,000 people were killed in the Herat region.

Some villagers were still combing through the rubble today to find remains, while others spent long hours digging mass graves for the victims.

ABDUL SATTAR, Afghan Earthquake Survivor (through translator): It was 5:00 in the morning when I arrived here.

So far, I have buried 30 dead bodies.

So many graves have been dug, more than 500.

We dig graves and people bury the dead bodies.

GEOFF BENNETT: The country's ruling Taliban reported more than 2,000 homes and 20 villages were flattened in the quake that left thousands injured in an area with just one government-run hospital.

In Russia, American journalist Evan Gershkovich will stay in jail at least through November.

The Wall Street Journal reporter lost an appeal to be released today while he awaits trial on espionage charges.

Gershkovich appeared in court in a glass cage used for defendants.

The Journal and the U.S. State Department have denied he was spying for the U.S. when he was arrested during a reporting trip last March.

Russia lost its bid today to regain a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Moscow's candidacy finished a distant third behind Bulgaria and Albania in voting in the U.N. General Assembly.

The Assembly suspended Russia from the human rights body last year after it invaded Ukraine.

Police in San Francisco are trying to figure out why a car crashed into the Chinese consulate building on Monday.

They shot and killed the driver, but gave no other details.

Cell phone video showed the aftermath with the car in the lobby of the consulate.

There were no reports of anyone else being hurt.

The Chinese called it a violent attack and demanded a swift investigation.

A new federal indictment today charged Congressman George Santos with 23 criminal counts.

In addition to previous counts, the New York Republican is now accused of stealing the I.D.s of campaign donors and making unauthorized charges to their credit cards.

Santos has acknowledged lying about his background during his election campaign last year.

On Wall Street, stocks rose as interest rates eased.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 134 points to close at 33739.

The Nasdaq rose 78 points.

The S&P 500 added 22.

There's word tonight that Olympic champion gymnast Mary Lou Retton is gravely ill with a rare form of pneumonia.

Her daughter posted today that Retton has been in intensive care for more than a week, but gave no other details.

Retton is 55 years old.

She won a gold medal and four other medals at the 1984 Summer Games.

And a passing of note.

Hughes Van Ellis died Monday in Denver.

He was one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, when a white mob stormed his neighborhood and killed as many as 300 Black people.

Ellis spent decades appealing for justice.

He spoke of his experience before the House Judiciary Committee when he was 100 years old.

HUGHES VAN ELLIS, Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor: We were made to feel that our struggle was unworthy of justice, that we were less valued than whites, that we weren't fully Americans.

We were shown that, in the United States, not all men were equal under law.

GEOFF BENNETT: So far, no financial reparations have been awarded to the survivors of the massacre or their descendants.

Hughes Van Ellis was 102 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": a rise in overdose deaths raises questions about Oregon's decision to decriminalize some drugs; Dred Scott, the enslaved man whose court case changed history, is honored with a new memorial.

And Jay-Z's lyrical prowess is put on display at a library in the rapper's hometown.

House Republicans are gathered behind closed doors tonight to try to pick their next speaker.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins spent the day polling Republican members and joins us now from Capitol Hill.

So, Lisa, are Republicans circling in on a consensus choice at this hour?

LISA DESJARDINS: It's not clear that they are yet, Geoff.

They have two candidates right now.

That is current House Majority Leader, the number two, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and then Jim Jordan, a congressman from Ohio and House Judiciary chairman.

So, what is going to happen now, what's happening as I speak to you, is those two men are giving speeches to their conference, taking questions in a forum that I'm told could get pretty fiery.

And we're not clear on how long it will go.

There will be closing remarks as well.

There won't be a vote until tomorrow.

That's when this same group of Republicans will meet again behind closed doors, hold a secret ballot vote.

Both of these men have dozens of endorsements, but they need to get 217 votes in order to become speaker of the House.

And there's only 221 Republicans.

It's not a lot of give room.

Essentially, they have to get a near-unanimous endorsement.

And there's two of them running.

Also in playing here, Geoff, there are some who want to change the rules, so that only a speaker -- they will only nominate a speaker if they get 217 Republican votes behind closed doors, essentially trying to avoid those 15 ballots that happened earlier this year for Kevin McCarthy on the House floor.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Lisa, both Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are well-known among members of the House Republican Conference.

I mean, what's the pitch that these men are making as they vie for House speaker?

LISA DESJARDINS: It's interesting.

They're essentially from the same generation.

They have been here about the same amount of time.

And they're both well-known leaders.

But let's look at their pitches, what I'm hearing from them and their allies today.

Steve Scalise, again, from Louisiana, he is pitching himself as someone who is a strong conservative with those credentials, touting himself as a good fund-raiser, also saying he's got deep relationships in the conference.

He's known as being affable.

He is the current number two.

Now, one question mark for some members, like Ralph Norman of South Carolina, is, Scalise is fighting a form of blood cancer.

He says it was found early and he has good chances of recovery.

But that's something that members are actually thinking about.

Now, Jim Jordan, he also is well-known.

Let's go through what he is pitching himself as.

His group is saying that he is a unifier.

He is going to -- he is more trustworthy.

That is something sort of related to Kevin McCarthy and the lack of trust that some members have from him.

He is also saying he's hawkish on Israel and crime.

He is saying that he tonight will lay out his own vision for how to deal with the next spending and funding deadline in November.

And he is also known as confrontational.

I don't have to tell you that or our viewers.

That is something that goes both ways.

Some in the base love that about him.

He also is known -- in the past, he was accused of knowing about sexual assaults and he was a wrestling assistant coach at Ohio State University.

He has denied knowing anything about that, but some of those wrestlers involved have stuck to their story as well, saying that, in fact, he did.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, you have got the ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

He seems to be cracking the door open to returning.

Where is he in this race?

LISA DESJARDINS: So interesting.

He cracked that door open yesterday, Geoff.

And now he has closed the door, at least for now.

The former speaker said he was open to potentially coming back.

But then, tonight, just in the past little bit, he came out and told reporters that he has now asked members not to nominate him.

He said he has not chosen who to support himself.

Now, that does make the math a little bit easier for the House Republicans.

Having Kevin McCarthy at play could have made things more complicated.

There are some members who told me, frankly, they would like Kevin McCarthy to come back.

So I'm not entirely sure that he's completely out of the realm of consideration, but he has said tonight that he wants them to take him out of nomination, at least for now.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Lisa, in the 30 seconds we have left, how is the violence in the Middle East affecting the search for a speaker?

Is that focusing the minds of lawmakers at all?

LISA DESJARDINS: The stakes have been raised incredibly.

Let's look over exactly something that Laura was talking about.

There could be more funding requests coming very soon, but the problem is, having this speaker, the temporary speaker, in place means that essentially no bills can pass through the House.

Now, the speaker pro tem, the temporary speaker, can perhaps ask to be given temporary powers, but there is no talk about that.

This is uncharted territory, Geoff.

It's not clear what the temporary speaker can and cannot do.

So, for now, he's doing nothing, and that means no legislation, including money for Israel or Ukraine, can move in Congress at all.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins, thanks, as always.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's been more than two-and-a-half years since a first-of-its-kind law went into effect in Oregon that decriminalized small possession of most drugs, including opioids and methamphetamines.

Stephanie Sy reports from Portland on what's working and, notably, what's not working with the law that advocates hoped could change drug enforcement.

STEPHANIE SY: In downtown Portland, under a light rain, a small crowd gathers for what's become an annual event, remembering those who have died from drug overdoses and those who have survived them.

HAVEN WHEELOCK, Outside In: I hate with all my heart that it gets bigger every year.

STEPHANIE SY: In the last year alone, over 1,400 Oregonians have succumbed to overdoses, fueled largely by the explosion of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

HAVEN WHEELOCK: Fentanyl has really changed the game.

STEPHANIE SY: Haven Wheelock is the drug users health services supervisor for Outside In, a nonprofit in Portland.

HAVEN WHEELOCK: They will dispose of any used injection equipment they have.

STEPHANIE SY: The services include distributing safer injection supplies like clean needles, but also glass pipes and tests that detect fentanyl in other drugs.

Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug, is also available.

HAVEN WHEELOCK: Smoking supplies are definitely our biggest draw currently.

STEPHANIE SY: Harm reduction services like these are a cornerstone of Measure or M 110.

The law also allocated funding from legal marijuana sales taxes to organizations like Outside In.

HAVEN WHEELOCK: Measure 110 has done a lot for our community, and it's only going to do more as we move forward.

We're moving to this new system that is centering health and hope.

STEPHANIE SY: But since the law went into effect, overdose deaths in Oregon have risen by 66 percent.

Advocates say the problem is fentanyl, not decriminalization, and point out nearby cities like Seattle have also seen large increases in drug overdoses.

MONTA KNUDSON, Executive Director, Bridges to Change: We passed M110 at the worst possible time, because we can't pull apart, what is COVID impact that comes from 50 years of disinvestment because of the war on drugs, and then we have decrim that happened at the same time.

STEPHANIE SY: Monta Knudson runs Bridges to Change, one of the state's largest recipients of funding from the law.

Money, he says, has been slow in coming.

MONTA KNUDSON: We were able, in the last 12 months to procure and stand up about 238 beds.

Some of those are still in the process.

Some are being built.

STEPHANIE SY: Services at Bridges to Change include housing and peer counseling for those with substance use disorder.

But, notably, Measure 110 does not pay for traditional inpatient treatment facilities, which are funded by Medicaid or insurance.

Even before Measure 110, Oregon had one of the largest gaps in care for people with substance use disorder.

MONTA KNUDSON: Everybody was expecting results from the passage of the law, right?

But they don't understand how long it takes to stand these things up.

I'm constantly trying to fight and secure M110 to continue, because it's been under attack so much.

And so... STEPHANIE SY: Is M110 in jeopardy?

Is that your sense?

MONTA KNUDSON: Yes, M110's been in jeopardy since it started.

STEPHANIE SY: Less than three years ago, 58 percent of Oregon voters supported decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of hard drugs.

The tide has quickly turned.

A poll from August found that 56 percent of voters now support a total repeal of the law.

MINGUS MAPPS, Portland, Oregon, City commissioner: I think decriminalizing highly addictive, highly dangerous drugs is a terrible idea.

STEPHANIE SY: Mingus Mapps is a Portland city commissioner and one of those Oregonians who has had a change of heart about Measure 110.

While he says he's not ready to support a full repeal, he concedes that some drugs need to be recriminalized.

MINGUS MAPPS: I tell you, Portland managed to do this entirely wrong.

We both decriminalized drugs, but we didn't increase access to treatment.

STEPHANIE SY: Commissioner Mapps points out that Portland has many acute issues, rising homicides, homelessness, and an economically struggling downtown core.

But he says fentanyl runs through them all.

Do you view the fentanyl problem as being related to Measure 110?

MINGUS MAPPS: It clearly is.

One of the things -- I hate to say it, but I'm afraid it's true -- in the last several years, Portland has clearly become known to the drug cartels as a great place to set up a business dealing fentanyl.

STEPHANIE SY: Mapps acknowledges fentanyl is a growing problem up and down the West Coast, but says Portland's small police force, down some 120 officers since the 2020 racial justice protests, compounds the challenge.

We saw firsthand how officers are stretched thin riding along with Portland's Central Bike Squad, which patrols a 124-square block area in downtown.

Led by Sergeant Jerry Cioeta, the Bike Squad gets a tip about a possible drug drop and approaches a parked SUV.

Ultimately, they don't find probable cause to conduct a search and let the vehicle and its occupants go.

Measure 110 may have legalized possession of small amounts of drugs, but dealing drugs is still illegal.

And Cioeta's squad captures a lot of busts on its popular Instagram account, including weapons and the ubiquitous blue pills that contain fentanyl.

Do you think that 110 increased demand?

SGT.

JERRY CIOETA, Portland Police Bureau: I think it's too hard to tell.

Because fentanyl hit when 110 hit, when COVID was here, I mean, it was the perfect storm for a drug epidemic like we'd never seen before.

STEPHANIE SY: As part of Measure 110, police are directed to write tickets when they see someone using or possessing drugs.

The ticket includes a phone number to get a substance use health assessment, but, in practice, most tickets are ignored and only a few dozen people have completed the assessment.

SGT.

JERRY CIOETA: Everybody has a breaking point, but they're not going to go until they're ready.

STEPHANIE SY: Right.

SGT.

JERRY CIOETA: If I gave the same person 100 tickets and, on a 100th, it was, OK, maybe now it's my time, I mean, is that enough?

I don't know.

Who knows?

STEPHANIE SY: Riding closer to downtown, the crew spots a man in a mask, jaywalking.

After checking his I.D., it turns out that he has an outstanding warrant for a weapons offense.

And in the suspect's backpack, they find tools, which could be used for robbery.

When was the last time you used?

MAN: It's been a while.

SGT.

JERRY CIOETA: Been a while?

A couple days?

Are you dope-sick?

MAN: Not yet.

I'm holding on.

STEPHANIE SY: He described himself as an occasional fentanyl user and said he was on a wait-list for inpatient treatment.

MAN: It's been like eight weeks now.

I'm still on the wait-list.

SGT.

JERRY CIOETA: OK. STEPHANIE SY: Eventually, the 25-year-old is taken to a county jail, only to be denied booking and released because of an abscess in his mouth.

Just three days later, the same man was charged with stabbing two Black teenagers in a racially motivated attack.

SGT.

JERRY CIOETA: We have a city that is just in disarray, and we have businesses that are trying to come back from all of this.

STEPHANIE SY: It's a struggle that Lisa Schroeder is dealing with every day.

She's the executive chef and owner of Mother's Bistro, a restaurant in downtown Portland.

LISA SCHROEDER, Owner, Mother's Bistro and Bar: I will tell you something.

Measure 110 is destroying our city.

The drug problem is killing our city.

I see it firsthand.

It is leading to the crime.

It's leading to the vandalism.

It's leading to people feeling unsafe in our city.

STEPHANIE SY: Schroeder is serving on a state task force to revitalize downtown Portland, where foot traffic this spring was about 37 percent of what it was in 2019.

LISA SCHROEDER: At Mother's, I used to be able to say I can count on death, taxes and weekend brunch.

Now we don't even have a wait on weekend brunch.

It's unheard of.

STEPHANIE SY: Schroeder also argues that some of the efforts funded by Measure 110 are misguided.

LISA SCHROEDER: Giving foil and pipes, how is that harm reduction?

What are we doing for them?

I think we need to get a handle on this and come up with solutions that will help people, instead of aiding and abetting their problems.

STEPHANIE SY: It's a sentiment that Commissioner Mingus Mapps has heard from his constituents.

He's thrown his hat into the race for mayor next year.

MINGUS MAPPS: Turning around our fentanyl problem has to be, frankly, job number one.

Measure 110 is something that we imposed on ourselves, and we can fix it too.

STEPHANIE SY: Bridges to Change's Monta Knudson acknowledges the rocky roll out of the law, but says Measure 110 is not the problem.

MONTA KNUDSON: M110 is this political football right now just going back and forth.

And so part of me is like, if recrim happens, nothing's going to change.

Even if every dollar we needed to create capacity dumped into the system, it's going to take five, 10 years to make a dent.

STEPHANIE SY: But frustrated Oregonians are not waiting.

Last month, the coalition put forward a proposal to unwind the central tenets of the law, recriminalizing possession and requiring treatment.

What some had hoped would be a new chapter in the war on drugs may only be a footnote in the increasingly deadly opioid epidemic.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Portland, Oregon.

GEOFF BENNETT: The name Dred Scott is synonymous with the struggle for freedom; 165 years after the Supreme Court case that bears his name, Scott's grave site is now a memorial befitting that legacy,.

"NewsHour" communities correspondent Gabrielle Hays has the story.

GABRIELLE HAYS: In a St. Louis cemetery, a dedication to writing historic wrongs.

LYNNE JACKSON, Founder, Dred Scott Heritage Foundation: His original headstone, it just didn't do justice to his history.

GABRIELLE HAYS: A new headstone now sits at the grave of Dred Scott, once an enslaved man who went down in history as a plaintiff in an infamous 1857 Supreme Court case.

CICELY HUNTER, Historian: Many people sought to emancipate themselves by fleeing across the river or the Underground Railroad in whatever facet that might have looked like emancipating themselves, but Dred Scott and many others pursued that through legal pursuits.

GABRIELLE HAYS: Cicely Hunter is a historian in St. Louis.

CICELY HUNTER: He went through several court cases, which ended up coming all the way up until the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the land, which ultimately determined that his fate, along with his wives and children, essentially, they were not considered to be citizens, and, therefore, they could not be emancipated.

GABRIELLE HAYS: The Scott v. Sandford decision sparked outrage and drove the nation closer to civil war four years later.

Lynne Jackson is the great-great-granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott and founder of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.

She began fund-raising for the new headstone after seeing just how many people wanted to visit her ancestor's grave.

LYNNE JACKSON, Founder, Dred Scott Heritage Foundation: The other one was so low, it was difficult to find, and yet I also wanted to be sure that we had space to inscribe on it, so that, when people come really from all over the world to see his resting place, which is one of the top three, if not the top, most requested grave sites at Calvary, there would be something to really see.

GABRIELLE HAYS: Scott's grave went unmarked for 100 years after the Supreme Court case was decided.

Pictured here is Lynne Jackson with her family in 1957 at Scott's grave.

LYNNE JACKSON: Dred Scott's story started here and ended here, but a lot of what he did affected the whole nation.

And this is just one story in thousands that we need to acknowledge and understand.

GABRIELLE HAYS: In Maryland, a monument to the Supreme Court justice who authored the decision to deny Scott's freedom was removed completely in 2017.

JOLENE IVEY, Former Maryland State Delegate: When Roger Taney wrote the Dred Scott decision, he was saying that African-Americans aren't worthy of citizenship or even whole personhood in this country.

It's way past time for it to come to an end.

It should never have been here.

GABRIELLE HAYS: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke about the Scott case last year.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: Dred Scott lost his 11-year battle for freedom in the courts, yet he won the war.

And so that's why I think we have to have continuing faith in the court system, in our system of government.

GABRIELLE HAYS: Dred Scott died a year after his case was decided.

LYNNE JACKSON: Thanks for being here today.

God bless you.

(APPLAUSE) GABRIELLE HAYS: But his descendants are making sure his legacy stays visible.

LYNNE JACKSON: Even though I knew what it was going to look like and I had put it all together, I still had tears when I saw it, because it became this reality that the world can now see.

GABRIELLE HAYS: For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Gabrielle Hays.

GEOFF BENNETT: Right now in New York City, you can find the unlikely pairing of two Brooklyn icons, the Brooklyn Public Library, one of the largest library systems in the country, and hip-hop's elder statesman, Jay-Z.

Special correspondent Christopher Booker reports on a timely exhibition as part of this year's 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Wrapped around the outside of the Brooklyn Public Library's central branch, rap lyrics from the last 25 years, inside its grand lobby, the hands of the man who wrote them, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter.

This hand gesture, in the shape of a diamond or rock, originally represented his Roc-A-Fella record label.

It's now synonymous with the rapper himself, says Desiree Perez, a longtime friend of Jay-Z's and CEO of his entertainment empire, Rock Nation.

DESIREE PEREZ, CEO, Roc Nation: Anywhere you go in the world, any concert ever Jay's been at or places that he goes in this crowd, people know what that means.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Famed for his lyricism, Jay-Z is one of the world's bestselling artists, with over 140 million records sold.

The first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame, he's ranked by both "Rolling Stone" and Billboard magazine as one of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

Now he's commemorated in a sprawling 40,000-square foot exhibition in this library, which continues to serve patrons.

This isn't exactly a normal experience inside a library.

LINDA E. JOHNSON, President, Brooklyn Public Library: No, it's not.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: But the free exhibition, curated by Roc Nation, is entirely consistent with the Brooklyn Public Library's mission, says its president, Linda Johnson.

LINDA E. JOHNSON: This is a career that was built on the written word.

Literacy is everything to us.

Jay-Z is a very important Brooklynite, and we like to honor our own, and we're proud to be affiliated with him.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: The project is called The Book of Hov.

Hov is short for J-Hova, a nickname Jay-Z explained to NPR's Terry Gross back in 2010.

JAY-Z, Rapper: One time, I was recording in the studio, and I wasn't writing.

And one of my friends was like: "Man, this is like -- how are you doing that, man?

God must really love you.

It's like a religious experience, man."

And then he was like, "J-Hova."

And then it started out as a joke, and then it just stuck.

LINDA E. JOHNSON: This is all instruments, the whole thing, the accordion, the old victrola.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Featuring thousands of pieces of memorabilia, as well as music and art, spread across eight spaces, visitors can trace Jay-Z's journey, from his early days in a Brooklyn public housing complex, where he survived dealing drugs during the crack cocaine epidemic, to the world stage.

LINDA E. JOHNSON: We're telling a story about people who don't necessarily think their stories will be found.

And we're saying, come into the library and find your own story, whether it's in the exhibition that you're walking through, or whether it's in the books on our shelves.

DESIREE PEREZ: '01, '02, '03.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: In the library's main atrium, covers of Jay-Z's 13 solo albums, from his self-released debut, "Reasonable Doubt," to his most recent, "4:44."

Collectively, the work is an anthology of Jay-Z's life before and after superstardom.

DESIREE PEREZ: He says that he's speaking for the people.

He speaks for the ghetto, for the voiceless.

LINDA E. JOHNSON: Yes.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Through a side door... DESIREE PEREZ: This is the real equipment, by the way, that was used at the time.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: ... there's a full-scale replica of Manhattan's Baseline Studios, where Jay-Z wrote and recorded some of his seminal albums.

The space was made famous in his 2004 documentary, "Fade to Black."

MAN: Sometimes, you work with people because they legends.

Other times, they just hot.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: But as hip-hop's first billionaire, the exhibition shows how Jay-Z's story is about more than music.

After being rejected by all the major music labels, Jay-Z founded Roc-A-Fella Records.

And as his music footprint expanded, so too did his business empire.

Jay-Z is both an artist and an entrepreneur, a businessperson and a writer.

But he seems to basically walk this unbelievable line.

LINDA E. JOHNSON: I think that his career defies those kinds of definitions, as does the experience that you have here.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: The elaborate exhibition started with a phone call.

Johnson wanted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop by honoring Jay-Z at a Brooklyn Public Library gala and called Perez.

LINDA E. JOHNSON: I started yammering away about all the reasons that the library was deserving.

We're the most democratic institution in our society.

We're free and open and accessible to everybody, blah, blah, blah.

And all of a sudden, Desiree says: "How many square feet is that building?"

(LAUGHTER) LINDA E. JOHNSON: And I said 350,000 square feet.

And all of a sudden, the whole nature of the conversation changed.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Perez had spent years looking at different venues to showcase Jay-Z's vast collection of ephemera.

DESIREE PEREZ: Nothing ever felt right.

It just didn't feel right.

It didn't feel like it belonged.

And when I heard Linda speak, it just seemed like the perfect place that she was describing.

And it's a public space and it lends itself to everyone.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: On the day we visited, visitors praised the space.

Ronald Fields was in town from Atlanta and came straight from the airport.

RONALD FIELDS, Visitor: When I Googled it, I had to double-check.

And I'm like, whoa, it's a library?

So, I didn't know that.

But it's really cool that it's here, actually.

I wish we had something like this back at home.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Thomas Sorger has listened to the rapper for 20 years.

THOMAS SORGER, Visitor: I think the library is the premier institution for making accessible the finest examples of our country's culture.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Has the library ever done anything of this scale?

LINDA E. JOHNSON: No, not even close.

(LAUGHTER) LINDA E. JOHNSON: Our door count has tripled.

Our new library card registrations have doubled.

So, everything has just been magnified.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: A limited edition line of Jay-Z library cards released at branches across the borough has become, in the words of The New York Times -- quote -- "the merch of the moment."

While Jay-Z is bringing more people into the library, he also continues to bring younger generations into the arts.

KOTA THE FRIEND, Rapper: The first beat that I ever rapped over was a Jay-Z beat.

He gave me the template, and I just put in my words.

And that's -- that was the beginning of it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Thirty-year-old rapper Kota the Friend grew up in Brooklyn listening to his brother's Jay-Z C.D.s.

KOTA THE FRIEND: It was like a real education.

Like, I'm listening to the lyrics.

I'm learning how to use my words.

I'm learning how to say things without saying them, you know?

Like, it taught me poetry.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Kota the Friend turned down record labels to stay independent.

He keeps all the profit from the millions who stream his music each month.

He also owns a fashion and entertainment brand.

Do you think that was possible or was that even a path that you saw without Jay-Z?

KOTA THE FRIEND: I think Jay-Z really gave us the confidence, you know?

Like, it wasn't a big thing when he was coming up for people, for artists, especially hip-hop artists, to be independent and be doing their own thing.

Because he exists, we all exist.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Back at the library, Tanya Joyner (ph), a Brooklyn native, echoed that sentiment and quoted another legendary local rapper, the late Biggie Smalls.

TANYA JOYNER, Visitor: I think the words are Biggie always, who would think hip-hop would make it this far?

That's definitely real, definitely real.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: The exhibition has been extended until December 4.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Christopher Booker in Brooklyn, New York.

GEOFF BENNETT: Later tonight on PBS, "Frontline" presents a film about Elon Musk and Twitter.

"Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover" examines Musk's long and often troubled relationship with Twitter, his use of the platform to target his perceived enemies, and the impact of his Twitter ownership on his empire of companies and influence around the globe.

"Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

If you're watching online, be sure to stay with us.

I will be hosting a panel discussion on the impact that incarceration has on families, even after people leave prison.

You can watch that live at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thanks for joining us, and have a good evening.