September 30, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Americans from Florida to North Carolina desperately seek help in the wake of Hurricane Helene, while the storm's death toll rises.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel launches ground raids in Southern Lebanon and an airstrike in the heart of Beirut as the Hezbollah militant group remains defiant.

AMNA NAWAZ: And the cost of college -- why many students are forced to spend more for housing than they do for tuition.

KAYLA QUILANTANG, College Student: Developers know that students are a vulnerable population.

And because of that, there's a rise in rents every year.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

The devastating toll from Hurricane Helene keeps growing.

Authorities say at least 120 people have died across six states, and officials fear that number could grow even larger.

Many more people are still missing and unaccounted for.

GEOFF BENNETT: In North Carolina, communities are in crisis, with many roads closed, slowing the delivery of food, water and other desperately needed aid.

And some places in Florida are now trying to recover from their third big hit in less than two years.

Special correspondent Christopher Booker has our report.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: For residents on Florida's Big Bend, it's been a year like no other.

The small community of Keaton Beach took an almost direct hit from Hurricane Helene.

It was the third hurricane since last summer to strike this stretch of the Gulf Coast.

Where we're standing, all that's left is what?

SHANNON MILLINOR, Florida Resident: Just the pylons on the house.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Just the pylons.

SHANNON MILLINOR: Yes, that's it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Where is the rest of the house?

SHANNON MILLINOR: Over there in the canal, across the canal.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Shannon Millinor lost his entire home to the estimated 15 feet of storm surge.

He was born and raised in this area and says many in this close-knit community are reeling.

SHANNON MILLINOR: They're just devastated.

We pretty much know everybody down here.

Just everybody was -- that lived here full time just thought that they were going to come home.

And now they have nothing, just like we do.

Everything is closed and everything.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: While people in Florida have started to clean up, the aftermath of Hurricane Helene continues to wreak havoc across almost the entire Southeast.

In Western North Carolina, rescue teams are still searching for victims, as floodwaters have submerged entire neighborhoods.

The state's Governor Roy Cooper called the disaster an unprecedented tragedy.

GOV.

ROY COOPER (D-NC): Today, we did an aerial overview to see the damage here in Western North Carolina, and it is extensive and devastating.

We know that it's going to require significant resources both in the short term and the long term.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Among those rescued over the weekend was nurse Janetta Barfield.

JANETTA BARFIELD, North Carolina Resident: And even before the officer got to me, the water was all the way up to my chest inside my car.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Floodwaters and damaged roads left some of the hardest-hit areas of North Carolina completely cut off.

Many residents in the mountain city of Asheville remain without running water or cell service.

But a lucky few have managed to find power.

CARRIE OWENBY, North Carolina Resident: We did not have cell service for the first, like, three days here, but it's just coming back and everybody's wanting to get their devices started, so we can just let our family know that we're safe.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: In Georgia, playground equipment sat partially underwater.

In Atlanta, 11 inches of rain fell over 48 hours, the most the city has ever seen over two days.

And in Eastern Tennessee, a bridge collapsed into a river.

In all, more than a million people across the Southeast are without power.

President Biden addressed the devastation today.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: I'm here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that we will be there with you as long as it takes.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Helene roared a shore in the Big Bend last Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 miles per hour and record-breaking storm surge.

This storm underlines a complicated mix of questions for the people who live here.

First, should they rebuild?

And, if they do, what will that look like?

And then can they afford what were already the highest home insurance rates in the country?

From 2017 to 2022, Florida homeowners saw a 45 percent increase in premiums, leaving many unable to afford insurance altogether.

Cedar Key, a Big Bend island town of about 700 people, was also one of the hardest hit.

Officials estimated a quarter of the homes were destroyed.

Sue Colson is the mayor.

She says the storm will fundamentally change the place she's called home for 30 years.

SUE COLSON, Mayor of Cedar Key, Florida: We have to learn.

We cannot fight nature and we cannot build the Titanic that will never sink.

That's insane.

And we still think we can do it.

We can do better at building.

We can do better at the codes.

But then maybe we need to rethink where we place things.

Maybe we shouldn't build a food market at the bottom of the hill, where it's always getting damaged.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Does a storm like this force the question as to whether a community like Cedar Key can continue in the era of these big storms?

SUE COLSON: Oh, no.

That's so silly.

That's a silly question.

We have never not been inhabited.

It's a prime place to live.

It's a prime place to exist.

The problem is, we have to learn how to work with nature, not fight it, not think we can overbuild it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: About 40 miles up the coast in Steinhatchee, residents were salvaging what they could from Maddie's, the town's only grocery store.

During past big storms, the water never even reached its door, but Helene's surge nearly touched the ceiling, ruining practically everything and blanketing the store with mud.

CRYSTAL MROZ, Florida Resident: It's truly amazing how powerful water is.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Crystal Mroz is the store's manager.

This is your third hurricane in 13 months.

CRYSTAL MROZ: Yes, and I fear there's another one.

I hope not.

I mean, we can't take another one.

This is the worst I have ever seen this place.

And we have gotten beaten by hurricanes a lot, and I have never seen one like this.

I mean, I have had friends who have completely lost their house.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: While plenty of storms have hit the Big Bend throughout history, experts say the recent ones have been the most intense.

RYAN TRUCHELUT, Meteorologist, WeatherTiger: There is some element of just very, very bad luck in this part of the country.

But on the other hand I do think that there's a climate change fingerprint to this.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Ryan Truchelut, a meteorologist based in Tallahassee, says warmer and rising waters in the Gulf of Mexico, driven by climate change, are providing extra fuel for these storms.

RYAN TRUCHELUT: I don't believe that we're going to be cooling off the sea surface temperatures any time soon.

So whenever the Big Bend faces a hurricane risk in the future, I do think we have shifted the risk profile towards a greater proportion of storms approaching being able to sustain major hurricane intensity.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Back in Keaton Beach, Shannon Millinor says, despite those risks, he and many of his neighbors plan on staying put.

SHANNON MILLINOR: It's our little paradise.

We -- it's where we live.

We enjoy -- we fish all the time.

That's what we do.

People got their own stuff they do if they don't live on the coast.

And we have got our stuff we do here.

We will rebuild and we will continue on.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Christopher Booker in Florida's Big Bend.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's take a closer look now at North Carolina, which has had the highest hurricane death toll of any state so far.

The western city of Asheville, in particular, has been devastated with flooded roads and loss of power, essentially cutting the city off from any outside aid.

I'm joined now by Gerard Albert III from Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville.

Gerard, thank you for joining us.

What can you tell us about what you're hearing from people in Asheville, about what you have seen yourself, about the conditions there and what folks on the ground need?

GERARD ALBERT III, Blue Ridge Public Radio: Yes.

So as the kind of water is receding and people are cleaning up roads, the biggest need in Asheville is water.

There is no running water in the city.

So, that is showers.

That is flushing toilets.

That is, of course, drinking water.

So the water is definitely the biggest need.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tell me a little bit more about what you're hearing from folks on the ground there.

I mean, how prepared were they for this storm and what are they going through right now?

GERARD ALBERT III: Yes, not very prepared.

I don't think anybody thought it was going to be like this.

Everybody that I have spoken to, whether they have lived here three years or 30 years, has been telling me that, I have never seen anything like this in the city or the region.

I mean, water was up to people's -- up to the ceiling in their first floor homes.

It was taking trailers downriver.

It was just such an inundation of water that people were shocked.

And, right now, since the cell service is so spotty, people are having trouble getting in touch with their friends, their family, their loved ones.

People are wandering around the streets, basically trying to find service or a Wi-Fi hot spot.

AMNA NAWAZ: You covered the visit of the governor and FEMA officials to Asheville today.

What are they telling you about when some of that aid, when water will be able to make its way in, and also why they weren't better prepared in terms of pre-positioning some of these materials?

GERARD ALBERT III: Right.

They're -- they -- in their visit, they stress that help is here.

They're doing what they can.

But I think it feels so slow because some of the roads are still not traversable even by these rescue vehicles.

I mean, I have seen bridges to neighborhoods completely destroyed.

Residents have made makeshift bridges to get supplies in and out.

But the federal government, the state government, the local governments, all of them are still working on rescue missions.

They are getting water out into places that they feel need it.

They are going to the hospitals and making sure they have power and they have water, because that was an issue too.

In one of the biggest hospitals here, Mission Hospital in Asheville, doctors would do procedures and couldn't wash their hands afterwards.

They had no sterile equipment.

So now they have some of that, according to the governor.

AMNA NAWAZ: What are you hearing from folks on the ground about the cleanup or rebuilding ahead?

Do folks want to stay and rebuild?

GERARD ALBERT III: I think people want to stay.

A lot of the homes that were destroyed and washed away, it's like this in many of these storms, where the trailers -- with the homes without that solid foundation.

But, honestly, it still feels like rescue mode here, even though it's days later.

Recovery is not something that a lot of people have been talking about at all.

It is still rescue mode.

It is still trying to get in contact with somebody, trying to find water, trying to find food.

It's not at the recovery stage just yet.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned the issues with connectivity.

What does that mean for people on the ground being able to even find and connect with their loved ones to make sure they're OK?

GERARD ALBERT III: It's extremely difficult.

I myself was stranded for four days with no cell service.

I had gone out about an hour south of Asheville to cover the storm hitting a more rural area of North Carolina.

And I could not get in touch with my bosses, with my family.

I didn't know too many people in the area.

It causes anxiety.

And I had a place to stay, luckily, but for people that maybe don't have a place to stay, it's just a very anxious time.

People are on edge.

People are worried.

And it's getting to the point where they're getting to their wit's end with the lack of food, the lack of water, the lack of being able to reach people.

And on the flip side of that, we have seen communities come together.

We have seen neighborhoods form bonds and clear out roadways with people who have chain saws or larger farm tools like some people in the rural areas do.

So there is a coming together in person, but, still, being able to reach people, even on Facebook, all we see in the neighborhood groups is people asking about their loved ones in the area that they just cannot reach.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, we are all watching with worry and holding everyone in Asheville in our hearts.

That is Gerard Albert III from Blue Ridge Public Radio joining us tonight.

Thank you so much for your time.

Please stay safe.

GERARD ALBERT III: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel appears to be starting its invasion of Southern Lebanon, but on what U.S. officials believe will be a more limited basis.

Meantime, Israel continues to launch punishing airstrikes across Lebanon, with some that have targeted leaders of militant groups, in addition to Hezbollah.

Nick Schifrin is in Tel Aviv tonight.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Tonight, the drums of all-out war are beating.

Lebanese soldiers have left the border.

Just miles south, Israeli armored vehicles mass.

A U.S. official tells "PBS News Hour" an invasion could be -- quote -- "imminent."

And Israel tonight declared areas near the border closed military zones.

After this afternoon, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hinted to armored units they could soon invade.

YOAV GALLANT, Israeli Defense Minister (through translator): We will do what needs to be done.

Our aim is to return residents of Northern Israel to their homes.

We will employ all of our capabilities, including your forces and other forces, from the air, the sea and the ground.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For nearly a year, Israeli towns near the border have been empty, threatened by Hezbollah rockets and short-range weapons just over the border.

Israeli officials say they have reduced Hezbollah's ability to strike, shattered the rank-and-file's communication systems and command-and-control, and decapitated the group with the massive strike that a U.S. senator said used 2,000-pound American bombs to kill leader Hassan Nasrallah.

But, today, his surviving deputy, Naim Kassem, warned the group was still ready to fight.

SHEIKH NAIM KASSEM, Hezbollah Deputy Chief (through translator): We will face any possible attack, and we are ready.

If the Israelis decide to enter by land, the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement.

NICK SCHIFRIN: President Biden today demanded Israel prioritize diplomacy.

QUESTION: Israel may be now launching a limited operation into Lebanon.

Are you aware of that?

Are you comfortable with their plan?

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping.

We should have a cease-fire now.

Thank you.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the U.S. is preparing for escalation.

The Pentagon says it's sending additional fighter squadrons and extending an aircraft carrier strike group to bolster deterrence and help defend Israel.

But Israel is on the offense, over the last few days simultaneously attacking in Gaza at Hamas, in Yemen at the Houthis, and in Lebanon at Hezbollah, all backed by Iran, whose residents Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed today.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach.

There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country.

With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you, the noble Persian people, closer to the abyss.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, tonight, Lebanese already feel on the precipice.

A million have fled their homes, fearing invasion and all-out war.

Tonight, the Israeli cabinet has met amid all signs of an Israeli incursion into Lebanon, or perhaps multiple Israeli incursions into Lebanon, Geoff, just days ahead of the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Nick, what more can you tell us about Israel's goals and its thinking about this operation?

NICK SCHIFRIN: The bottom line, Israeli officials say, is that they need to return to 60,000-plus residents who have been displaced from their homes in Northern Israel since October the 8th.

That is the day that Hezbollah opened fire into Israel in support of Hamas.

And Hezbollah Radwan fighters are still so close to the border of Israel they can fire small-range weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles into Israeli towns and cities.

Israel says it has been open to a diplomatic solution to that problem, but appears to be running out of patience.

And we are faced with a limited incursion, or, again, perhaps multiple limited incursions, into Lebanon beginning imminently, if not already.

That is a hold operation that Israel will have to do to clear those Hezbollah fighters from the area, go after tunnels that go under the border, and also clear the missiles and rockets from Southern Lebanon.

What happens after that, Geoff, Israeli officials tell me, will be up to the United States to find some kind of diplomatic solution to guarantee that Hezbollah fighters can't remain on that border.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, on that point, what more are U.S. officials saying about Israel's plans tonight?

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials are unusually specific about their conversations with Israeli officials tonight.

They say that it appeared as though Israel was planning a larger incursion into Lebanon, and there is now a -- quote -- "new understanding" between Israel and the U.S. to launch this more targeted operation that will focus again on Hezbollah fighters right along the border, with the goal of returning those Israeli residents to their towns.

This would be much smaller than the war in 2006.

But a U.S. official specifically says the U.S. has expressed concern that an operation that is right now designed to be limited by both time and geography could turn into a longer-term operation with larger goals, as has happened to Israel in the past in Lebanon.

And that goes to the diplomacy I referred to, Geoff, that the U.S. will have to find a diplomatic solution to move those Hezbollah fighters back.

Otherwise, U.S. officials were worried that Israel will decide to remain in Southern Lebanon.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let's take a step back, Nick.

Give us a sense of how much has changed on the border and in the region in just the last week.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, so much has changed, especially since the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, who was really the Hezbollah commander in chief, as well as the communicator in chief.

He was the one who made the military decisions.

He was the one whose speeches were watched across the region.

And his death, combined with the death of so many of his military commanders, along with the severing of their communication systems, thanks to those attacks on the pagers and walkie-talkies, has really left the group in disarray, according to Israeli officials and independent analysts I speak to.

It's also scrambled the calculus of Iran.

Nasrallah was the single most important anchor to Iran's Axis of Resistance.

He was very close to the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah was the most important deterrence to Israel against an attack on Iran.

And, frankly, Geoff, it's not clear that Hezbollah can really function as that deterrence tonight.

A senior administration official tells me that while the official policy is diplomacy, this is also a -- quote -- "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to rid or at least reduce Hezbollah's influence in Lebanon.

But, Geoff, that is a huge task.

It is not clear there's a partner in Beirut to do that with or there's an easy diplomatic solution to what we have been talking about, pushing Hezbollah back off that board.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nick Schifrin reporting tonight from Tel Aviv.

Nick, thank you.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: We begin the day's other headlines with a multimillion-dollar sexual discrimination settlement at the FBI.

The bureau has agreed to pay $22 million to 34 women who claimed they were targeted for dismissal from the agency's training center in Quantico, Virginia.

According to the 2019 lawsuit, they were subjected to sexually charged comments and advances from their instructors.

Many of the allegations were confirmed in a 2022 internal watchdog report.

If approved by a federal judge, this would rank among the biggest settlements in the bureau's history.

More than 90,000 people in Georgia are sheltering in place after a fire broke out at a chemical plant yesterday.

The blaze began after a sprinkler malfunctioned at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, about 25 miles southeast of Atlanta.

That sparked a chemical reaction, sending a cloud into the sky visible for miles.

No injuries were reported, but officials say chlorine was detected in the air and advised residents to stay inside with the air conditioning off and windows and doors shut.

The haze and chemical smell spread to Atlanta today, where officials are monitoring the air quality.

The U.K. is on the verge of becoming the first G7 nation to stop burning coal for electricity.

Its last coal plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar Station in Central England, shuts down tonight.

It's a notable end to a decades-long shift in energy production.

More than half of the U.K.'s electricity now comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

The rest is from natural gas and nuclear energy.

NARRATOR: The miners hold the key to national recovery.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's also the end of a 142-year run of coal and coal miners playing a vital role in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution.

In fact, the world's first ever coal-fired electricity plant was Thomas Edison's Edison Electric Light Station, which opened in London in 1882.

The death toll from flooding and landslides in Nepal has risen to 193 after a weekend of intense rainfall.

Many of the fatalities were in the capital city of Kathmandu, where residents began to clean up today as water levels received.

Flooding drenched much of the city's south.

And landslides cut off its three main highways.

Schools across Nepal will be shut for the next three days.

Back here in the U.S., a judge in Georgia has struck down the state's ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The measure was passed and signed in 2019, but didn't take effect until Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

In his decision, Judge Robert McBurney wrote that a woman in Georgia has the right to -- quote -- "reject state interference with her health care choices."

Georgia had been one of four states where bans on abortions kick in after six weeks, before many women even realized that they're pregnant.

The nation's major dockworkers union has signaled that its 45,000 members will walk off the job at midnight tonight.

The strike by the International Longshoremen's Association would cause some 36 ports across the East and Gulf Coast to shut down.

They handle about half of all goods shipped in and out of the U.S., meaning a direct impact on the nation's supply chains and the risk of higher prices for consumers.

Union members are seeking higher wages and a ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container moving trucks.

President Biden has so far said he will not intervene to prevent the strike from going forward.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended moderately higher after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economy is in solid shape, signaling more rate cuts to come.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 17 points, so virtually flat.

The Nasdaq feared a little better, adding nearly 70 points.

The S&P 500 also ended slightly higher on the day.

And we have two passings of note.

Beginning with basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who has died of brain cancer.

The 7'2'' center was one of the greatest defensive players in history, blocking more than 3,200 shots, the second most ever.

Those often came with his signature finger wag towards opponents.

Off the court, Mutombo was a scholar, speaking nine different languages.

And he was the NBA's first global ambassador, helping those in his native Democratic Republic of Congo and across Africa.

Mutombo said that this work was always more important to him than basketball.

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO, Former NBA Player: To turn back to see my people suffering the way they're suffering, it kind of break my heart, and because those are my soul, man.

And what is happening to them?

Why nobody's not doing enough?

The world is doing something, but I think they're not doing enough.

It can be much better.

AMNA NAWAZ: Dikembe Mutombo was 58 years old.

And musician and actor Kris Kristofferson has died.

As a singer-songwriter, he helped change the perception of country music in the late 1960s, winning a lifetime Grammy achievement honor in 2014.

And as an actor, he appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows.

Kristofferson was also a Rhodes Scholar, a soldier, an activist, and much more.

Jeffrey Brown has this remembrance.

JEFFREY BROWN: "Sunday Morning Coming Down," written by Kris Kristofferson made famous by his mentor and friend Johnny Cash, part of the legacy of Kristofferson, who first made his mark for the poetry and lyricism he brought to country and rock music with hits that included Janis Joplin's classic recording of "Me and Bobby McGee" in 1971.

Born into a military family, Kristofferson himself served in the Army, becoming a captain and helicopter pilot, before leaving that life behind to make it in Nashville as a songwriter.

It took a while, but make it he did.

He also began performing and recording his songs himself.

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, Musician and Actor: What about Friday?

JEFFREY BROWN: Movie star handsome and charismatic, in the 1970s, he began a new career as an actor in such films as Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and with Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of "A Star Is Born," while continuing with music, notably as part of the country super group The Highwaymen, alongside Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.

In his 60s, Kristofferson developed health problems, including memory loss and Lyme disease, but he remained active.

In a moving moment at last year's concert for Willie Nelson's 90th birthday, he joined Rosanne Cash to sing his song "Loving Her Was Easier."

Kris Kristofferson died Saturday at his home in Maui.

No cause of death was given.

He was 88 years old.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

AMNA NAWAZ: Still to come on the "News Hour": vice presidential candidate J.D.

Vance appears at an event hosted by a far right Christian nationalist; Tamara Keith and Amy Walter break down the latest political headlines; and how rising housing costs are making college even more expensive.

GEOFF BENNETT: The recovery from Hurricane Helene is now a focus on the campaign trail, with former President Donald Trump criticizing the Biden administration and spreading falsehoods about the federal response.

AMNA NAWAZ: Our Lisa Desjardins has more on that and other controversies the Trump campaign is facing.

LISA DESJARDINS: Against the backdrop of a shattered furniture store, former President Trump stopped and hard-hit Valdosta, Georgia today, saying it was no time to campaign.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard fought national election.

But in a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters.

We're not talking about politics now.

LISA DESJARDINS: But just an hour earlier, as he arrived in the area, Trump accused the Biden/Harris administration of mishandling Hurricane Helene.

DONALD TRUMP: They're not being responsive.

The federal government is not being responsive.

But they're having a very hard time getting the president on the phone.

He won't get on it.

Of course, the vice president, she's out someplace campaigning, looking for money.

LISA DESJARDINS: That was not true.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp this morning thanked President Biden for calling him yesterday about the storm.

GOV.

BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): He just said: "Hey, what do you need?"

He offered that, if there's other things we need, just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.

LISA DESJARDINS: And as for the vice president, she actually cut short a campaign and fund-raising trip, canceling events in Nevada to attend a hurricane briefing at FEMA headquarters in D.C. KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: We will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild, no matter how long it takes.

LISA DESJARDINS: As the hurricane reshapes the campaign trail this week, former President Trump is under fire for controversial comments made Sunday.

At an event in battleground Pennsylvania, Trump used these words to propose a solution to crime: DONALD TRUMP: Now, if you had one really violent day, like... LISA DESJARDINS: Meaning police violence.

Trump said police should be able to get rough.

DONALD TRUMP: One rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately, end immediately.

LISA DESJARDINS: A spokesman for Trump said the comment was made in jest, this one day after he launched a direct attack on Harris' mental competence in a rally in Wisconsin.

DONALD TRUMP: Joe Biden became mentally impaired.

Kamala was born that way.

LISA DESJARDINS: Some of Trump's allies sought to distance themselves from those remarks.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country.

REP. TOM EMMER (R-MN): I think we should stick to the issues.

LISA DESJARDINS: As for Trump's running mate, Senator J.D.

Vance, he spent Saturday in Pennsylvania for a town hall.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: Let's hope that we can take this country back and make our country better.

LISA DESJARDINS: The event made headlines for being organized by a right-wing evangelist who has said Harris was being guided by demonic forces and uses witchcraft.

Those ideas didn't come up at the town hall, but it was a chance for Vance to appeal to evangelical voters, a key part of the Trump base.

Tomorrow, Vance will be in the spotlight once again, as he and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will face off for their only debate.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.

GEOFF BENNETT: We're going to take a closer look now at the significance of Republican vice presidential candidate J.D.

Vance's weekend appearance at a town hall event organized by top Christian nationalist leaders.

The event's host, Lance Wallnau, is a leading figure in what's called the New Apostolic Reformation.

That's a far right Christian nationalist movement that wants to erase the separation between church and state and increasingly intersects with the Trump campaign.

We're joined now by Matthew Taylor, senior scholar at the educational nonprofit Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies.

His book out tomorrow is "The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy."

Thanks for being here.

MATTHEW TAYLOR, Author, "The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy": Thank you for having me, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: So who is Lance Wallnau, and how does his brand of Christian nationalism differ from the white evangelical Christianity that's been the power base of the GOP for decades?

MATTHEW TAYLOR: Lance Wallnau is a Christian nationalist leader.

I would even go so far as to call him a Christian supremacist leader, kind of a hard-line form of Christian nationalism.

He's a Pentecostal charismatic minister.

He has various titles that attach to him.

He sometimes will call himself an apostle, sometimes a prophet, sometimes an evangelist.

He's a business consultant.

He came up in this movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, which is really the focus of my book.

And the New Apostolic Reformation was a set of leadership networks that were established by Wallnau's mentor, C. Peter Wagner, in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

And they became really the backbone of the movement of Christian Trumpism, some of the first leaders to endorse Donald Trump, including Wallnau, in 2015, before any of the primaries really got started.

And they have been some of the most effective Christian propagandists for Donald Trump, offering prophecies, modern prophecies, to backstop and to bolster Donald Trump's case to Christians.

GEOFF BENNETT: So help us understand this symbiotic relationship between MAGA ideology and white Christian nationalism and what the appeal is.

MATTHEW TAYLOR: Well, Donald Trump, came up studying televangelists, actually.

His spiritual adviser, Paula White, describes in her book how he has studied televangelists for years, has studied their skills, studied how they preach, how they teach, and I think in many ways he tries to mimic them in his speech.

So there's a kinship in the way that he speaks.

This is the realm of televangelists.

We're talking about this nondenominational charismatic space that's pretty amorphous, very open to new experiences, new forms of Christianity.

And they have gathered around Trump.

They have seen him as a vehicle for their own power, as someone who is backstopping their movement, someone who will defend Christianity.

Even though they recognize he's not a good Christian, they think that he can be a champion for them.

And because they have all these prophecies about him coming out of the prophets in their movement, they believe that he is -- has a special anointing to lead America, to redeem America.

And the assassination attempts that have happened in the last few months on him have only cemented those narratives that he is divinely appointed.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, I have heard evangelical leaders compare Donald Trump to Cyrus of the Bible, to King David, to say that he is a flawed leader, but that he has a role in God's divine plan, the biblical mandate.

How does all of this, in your view, pose a threat to democracy, picking up with the subtitle of your book?

MATTHEW TAYLOR: I can't think of a single national political figure in American history who has as many religious narratives and religious attachments foisted onto him as Donald Trump.

He is someone that is seen as a figure of destiny.

He is seen as someone who is anointed by God for this role.

And that's a very dangerous sentiment to have in a democracy, where elections are about the will of the people, not the will of God.

Elections are about how we negotiate our differences.

And as you have all these attachments of religious ideas to Donald Trump, the language of these movements has become more and more Manichaean.

It's good versus evil.

It's angels versus demons.

It's Trump versus evil.

And as that becomes the ethos of the Trump campaign and of the Christian nationalist sentiments around him, people are becoming much more apocalyptic in their expectations around these elections.

And we saw this ramp-up of religious fervor in the 2020 election that very much culminated on January 6.

And we saw many manifestations of Christian nationalism that day.

Lance Wallnau himself was there that day.

He was one of the most effective organizers for Christians that day.

I'm worried that we're going to see something similar right now, because that rhetoric is ramping up once again in this election.

GEOFF BENNETT: When Donald Trump himself uses violent rhetoric, when he engages in demagoguery, saying, for instance, as he did at a rally over this past weekend, that allowing police to have one really violent day, that that would help end crime, despite violent crime being at a near 50-year low, how do his supporters, how do his white Christian nationalist followers hear that?

How do they interpret it?

MATTHEW TAYLOR: Well, this is a movement that is already steeped in a rhetoric of violence.

Now, they will often frame it and say, this is about spiritual violence.

We're talking about battling back demons, battling back Satan.

But they're also pointing at real people.

Lance Wallnau has said that Kamala Harris is a manifestation of demons, that you can't even listen to her because it's just demons speaking through her.

He accused her of using witchcraft to present herself in an appealing way in the most recent debate.

So they're pointing at their political opponents, their enemies, and saying, they are filled with demons.

The demons are in them.

We need to fight the demons.

And this was a lot of the rhetoric that fueled January 6, this belief that we were coming to this culmination of American history, this belief that it was God versus Satan, and that the election itself was a realm of cosmic combat.

GEOFF BENNETT: Matthew Taylor.

The new book, is "The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy."

Thank you for your insights.

MATTHEW TAYLOR: Thank you, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: Deadly disasters collide with the closing month of campaign season, as the vice presidential nominees prepare for their first debate.

To discuss all that, we're joined by our Politics Monday duo.

That is Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report, with Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Great to see you both.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Good to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as you have seen now, the devastation from Hurricane Helene has found its way into not only the presidential race, but also just politics writ large.

Tam, I know you were following this.

Earlier,former President Trump alleged without any evidence that Governor Kemp of Georgia had trouble reaching President Biden as he was trying to reach him on the phone to talk about aid.

And President Biden was asked about this in the Oval, responded very, very angrily.

Tell me about that response and what it says about this moment.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Yes, I think it's safe to say that what former President Trump said was contrary to evidence.

Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia said that he spoke to President Biden yesterday on the phone, was able to reach him on the phone.

President Biden reassured him, said, anything you need, just give me a call any time.

President Biden, asked about this in the Oval Office during his second event of the day related to this disaster recovery, he said Trump is lying.

And he said it made him angry.

And the reason it upsets him is because he's not just lying about politics.

He's also lying to people who need support and help.

And so President Biden said that he was upset that Trump was implying that they weren't doing everything that they possibly could.

So this went from a politician going to deliver supplies and aid along with a religious organization to a politician making this blatantly political in a swing state that is being affected by a disaster.

And then the president and the vice president responding by doing everything they can to project and show that they are being as responsive as they possibly can.

And this is disaster politics in the year 2024.

AMNA NAWAZ: And now we know President Biden has also said he will be visiting Georgia on Wednesday and to Florida and North Carolina to follow.

TAMARA KEITH: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: But, Amy, as you watch this now as well, both presidential candidates changed their plans in response to the devastation from Hurricane Helene.

You have two battleground states really badly affected, Georgia and North Carolina here.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: How could this impact the race?

AMY WALTER: Well, what I think is interesting, we're obviously putting a federal microscope or focus on this, which is important.

And, obviously, the federal government does have a significant role to play.

But I think, for people who live in those states, people who are affected by this, they are looking more to their local elected officials, to their governors especially.

So we're going to hear -- be hearing a lot more about Governor Kemp, who, by the way, doesn't have the best relationship with Donald Trump already after the 2020 election situation, and to Governor Cooper, Democratic governor in North Carolina.

I think, in terms of the politics, where it impacts voting behavior more, is probably at the state and local level.

And remember, when the national politicians go home, those local elected officials, they're the ones that are still there.

So I don't think it's going to necessarily impact the way people are going to be voting at the top of the ticket.

But it certainly is going to impact the way they see their local elected officials dealing with what is clearly going to be, not just a dayslong, but monthslong, maybe even yearslong cleanup effort.

AMNA NAWAZ: Just want to clarify.

I misspoke.

President Biden is going to North Carolina on Wednesday, not to Georgia.

But, meanwhile, we're also looking ahead to tomorrow, Tam.

We know the vice presidential candidates will be facing off in their first debate, Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D.

Vance.

What do we know about how they're preparing and their strategies going into this evening?

TAMARA KEITH: So what we know is that Tim Walz is in Michigan, in Northern Michigan, doing debate prep with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in his personal capacity playing J.D.

Vance in those mock debates.

I think that what I have been told is that he is looking forward to it being over.

I know that J.D.

Vance has been preparing with Tom Emmer, a congressman from Minnesota, who says that he has been working hard to replicate Tim Walz's mannerisms.

So they're doing the prep.

They are preparing.

And as we have come to expect, both of their campaigns are out there saying, well, my candidate may not be the best debater or don't undersell the other candidate.

He's a great debater.

What I would just say is I have gone back and through time there have been some spicy moments at vice presidential debates, "You are no Jack Kennedy," memorable lines that we may not even remember were part of a vice presidential debate, but really memorable lines.

And you know how much they mattered?

Not at all.

This is -- certainly, this debate will be part of the discourse.

It is perhaps more important, will get more attention because right now there isn't another presidential debate scheduled after this one.

AMNA NAWAZ: Right.

TAMARA KEITH: But it's a vice presidential debate.

AMNA NAWAZ: So what about this issue impacting - - and I just want to put up a poll before we turn to you on this, because, when you go back to the September debate between Harris and Trump.

We saw some polling from The New York Times, CNN and The Philadelphia Inquirer that voters saw Harris as the clear winner of that debate, but then polling averages in the weeks afterwards show really kind of little movement post-debate.

(CROSSTALK) AMY WALTER: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: So what do you expect come out of this?

AMY WALTER: We are living in an era where literally the polls, the head-to-head polls, do not move and they are not going to move.

We have a 50/ 50 race and it's moving on the edges.

What does matter, I think some of these moments, these viral moments do become part of the conversation, some -- for some candidates in a good way, for others not a great way.

We are still talking about pets being eaten.

How many weeks has it been since that debate?

So where is the focus?

Is it on the mistake that one candidate made?

Is it on a viral moment that does get attention?

I think that's important.

It's also pretty clear to me from listening in on the Trump campaign today and their press call that they kind of see this as a redo, basically getting Vance to do what Trump did not, which is, as they said, we need to make sure that Walz takes -- he and Harris have to take responsibility for the fact that Harris has been the sitting vice president.

What has she been doing for the last 3.5 years?

She says she has all these plans.

Why didn't she make that priority while she was sitting in, in that job as vice president?

So, being as a more disciplined campaigner, as we know Vance is, I think that's where the whole focus is going to be.

In fact, I think the issues around the two vice presidents themselves, who they are, is less important than their ability to make this race, for Vance, about Harris, and, of course, for Walz to make it once again about Donald Trump.

AMNA NAWAZ: Amy Walter and Tamara Keith, always good to kick off the week with both of you.

Thank you so much.

Good to see you.

AMY WALTER: Great.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: And please remember to join us tomorrow night for our simulcast of that CBS News vice presidential debate.

We will have live coverage of the debate, plus additional analysis.

That all begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

GEOFF BENNETT: The cost of housing has risen sharply in recent years, including for college students.

Living in a dorm or renting an off-campus apartment can be the single largest expense a student faces, even more than tuition.

Laura Barron-Lopez reports on how students are coping with the high cost of living and how some universities are responding.

It's the first part of our fall series Rethinking College.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Senior Adrian Aguilar is studying civil engineering.

But one of the biggest stressors during his time at the University of Texas at Austin has not been academics.

It's how much he has to pay in rent.

When you left home to go to college, did you ever expect to have to worry this much about housing?

ADRIAN AGUILAR, College Student: Not at all.

I didn't think that it was customary for each person to be paying over a grand for decent apartments.

I just didn't know.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Aguilar was raised in a rural city south of Houston by parents who immigrated from Guatemala.

He has scholarships and financial aid to cover tuition, and gets some help from his parents.

But it's never been enough to cover his rent.

ADRIAN AGUILAR: I definitely need a job to afford housing here, which it does eat it into my time, but that's just the reality of the situation.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Last year, Aguilar paid about $1,000 a month for a room in an off-campus apartment that had no natural light in the common areas, but it was walking distance to campus.

This year, he's on the southeast side of Austin, paying about $200 less each month.

He says it's far less depressing, but now getting to class is a 20-minute drive, followed by a more than 30-minute walk.

ADRIAN AGUILAR: And I'm lucky because my because the engineering center is the closest to the parking lots, so I can't imagine somebody who has classes more south of campus.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: For more than a decade, Austin has been one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country.

Though down from pandemic-level highs, average rents are still 20 percent higher than they were five years ago.

JAY HARTZELL, President, The University of Texas at Austin: Back when I was in school, that one building, the Castilian, was the only one still here.

And you could actually see all the hills.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Jay Hartzell is the president of the University of Texas at Austin, and he acknowledges that housing is a major concern for students.

JAY HARTZELL: We are in some ways a huge beneficiary of the boom of Austin.

We're a part of that.

But that growth has a cost.

And we have seen prices go up.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: At the University of Texas, the cost of tuition has actually fallen 16 percent over the last five years.

But like many four-year public universities across the country, the cost of room and board is now higher than tuition for in-state students.

JAY HARTZELL: Tuition is so observable.

People see it on a Web site.

They are comparison shopping, different universities to think about how much tuition is going to cost, but housing might be something they don't discover until later.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: What do you think could alleviate some of the cost of housing?

JAY HARTZELL: I think, in some sense, as an economist, there's no substitute for more supply.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The university is building more housing.

New graduate apartments are going up and a 1,000-bed dorm for undergraduates is replacing an older, smaller one.

But with less than 10,000 beds available for students on campus, the vast majority of U.T.

's 42,000 undergraduates are in Austin's private housing market.

NAMRATHA THRIKUTAM, College Student: Generally, the thing that people are worried about is affordability.

KAYLA QUILANTANG, College Student: Developers know that students are a vulnerable population.

And because of that, there's a rise in rents every year.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Namratha Thrikutam and Kayla Quilantang are both undergraduates in U.T.

's architecture program and two of the leaders of the university tenants union, which formed this past spring.

The group successfully lobbied Austin to ban windowless bedrooms and is now hoping to be a long-term resource for students navigating housing at U.T.

Do you think that the university has done enough?

KAYLA QUILANTANG: When there are students living in windowless bedrooms, when there are students that are living in conditions with mold or being forced to move out early and find an attorney or find the housing solutions themselves, it seems like there needs to be more of a responsibility taken on the university's side.

NAMRATHA THRIKUTAM: There are affordable options.

And I think that students get overwhelmed and they don't know what to do.

And they want to rely on their university, but we're not being given enough resources.

JAY HARTZELL: We worry about our students' outcomes and work fiercely on their behalf.

But we also realize that we are in this big city with a lot of different kinds of providers of housing, and it's going to be up to, in many ways, the city to figure out how to regulate all of that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The cost of housing in growing Austin is not unique.

Nationally, nearly one in two students experience some form of housing insecurity, according to surveys from the Hope Center at Temple University.

MARK HUELSMAN, Temple University: We see this housing crisis that exists across our country, but that's rendered one in 12 students experiencing homelessness.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Mark Huelsman's is the center's director of policy and advocacy.

MARK HUELSMAN: Most students are not the 18-year-old coming straight from high school on to campus living on campus.

Most students are commuter students.

They're working, sometimes full-time, while enrolled in college.

And these students are often on their own, and they're often on their own without the support of the federal government and without the support of sufficient financial aid.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Pell Grants, which are the largest federal support for low-income college students, can be used for non-tuition expenses like housing, but Huelsman says those grants only cover so much.

MARK HUELSMAN: The Pell Grants' purchasing power covers less of the percentage of college costs than it ever has since its inception.

So what that means is students are taking on greater debt.

They're working longer hours.

They're either putting themselves currently behind the eight ball financially or in the future through higher debt.

JAY HARTZELL: Twenty-five percent of our student body are Pell Grant-eligible.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: At U.T., President Jay Hartzell says the university has provided more financial support for student housing.

In 2023, U.T.

launched a new housing scholarship.

This year, it's providing up to $2,300 a year for more than 3,000 middle- and low-income students living on campus.

JAY HARTZELL: The goal is to use the aid as a tool to help students find it more affordable to live close to campus, because, in our experience, students that live closer do better.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Junior Ashanty Meredith is one of those scholarship recipients.

Originally from Dallas, the cost of housing at U.T.

caught her by surprise.

ASHANTY MEREDITH, College Student: Nothing could have prepared me for how much I would have had to pay just for housing alone.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Meredith is a chemistry major and an aspiring doctor who has lived on campus all three years.

Even though financial aid covers her tuition and some of her housing, coming up with the balance meant taking out loans and getting a job.

But for the last two years, she's gotten a financial boost from the university scholarship.

ASHANTY MEREDITH: I was ecstatic, because it really helped reduce the amount of loans I would have to take out to pay for my housing and it allowed me to just focus 100 percent of my time on just my academics and not having to worry what the next bill is due.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Despite high rent, Meredith has no regrets about attending U.T., a sentiment echoed by senior Adrian Aguilar.

But he says the cost of housing is weighing heavily on what he might do after graduation.

ADRIAN AGUILAR: Austin, it is a nice city, but I don't really want to worry about losing another $1,000 a month every month minimum.

Going back home and living with my parents is a very tempting idea.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: A decision driven by housing costs that could affect the vibrancy of Austin.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez on the campus of U.T.

Austin.

AMNA NAWAZ: Remember, there's a lot more online, including a look at how parents in St. Louis are dealing with the shortage of school bus drivers.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.