AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Employers notch another month of strong hiring.

The deputy treasury secretary joins us to discuss what that means for the wider U.S. economy.

The death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon passes 2,000 people, while, in Gaza, displaced residents mark one year of war.

And a week after Hurricane Helene ripped through their city, residents in Asheville, North Carolina, contend with a lack of basic needs and an uncertain future.

EMILY BIGELOW, Asheville, North Carolina, Resident: Climate change is real.

This kind of devastation really sends things home how fast things are changing AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

The Labor Department today issued one of the last jobs reports before the presidential election and the numbers are strong; 254,000 jobs were added in September, beating expectations.

The unemployment rate fell from 4.2 to 4.1 percent and wages were up, averaging a gain of about 4 percent compared to a year ago.

Overall, the report paints a picture of a robust American economy, which, for most voters, remains their top issue this election year.

For more, let's turn now to Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.

Welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

WALLY ADEYEMO, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary: Thank you for having me.

It's great to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, overall, it is a very strong report.

If there's any weak spot, there's some lingering concern around manufacturing specifically.

It's the only sector where they lost jobs.

What explains that?

WALLY ADEYEMO: You're right to do it's a very strong jobs report.

And not only the report this time, but the backward revisions that showed that we have created more jobs over the summer than people had known then, demonstrates the progress we have made in the economy.

And when it comes to manufacturing, one of the things the president and the vice president have been very focused on is a strategy of making sure that we build a manufacturing sector here in the United States.

One of the key drivers of this job report and job reports over the course of this year has been construction jobs.

And those construction jobs are largely tied to building manufacturing facilities based on three laws the president and vice president have gotten passed, the infrastructure law that was passed on a bipartisan basis, the CHIPS and Science ACT, and also the Inflation Reduction Act, all of which are helping to build up manufacturing plants that will ultimately employ Americans to do something that we need to do in this country, which is build things for America.

AMNA NAWAZ: We also did see the average duration of unemployment tick up slightly.

That's now at 22.6 weeks.

It's a new high since 2022.

Is that a sign to you that people who need jobs are having a tougher time finding them?

WALLY ADEYEMO: The view of the economy, when you look at it now, is that people who want jobs have been able to find jobs in this economy.

But in addition to the 16 million jobs that have been created during the Biden/Harris administration, we have seen a number of Americans decide to start their own businesses at a record number.

Over the course of the last four years, we have seen 19 million Americans start businesses.

And the job growth that we have seen, 70 percent of that job growth has come from small businesses.

We have seen a record number of Americans make that choice to either work full-time, to work part-time, and to start a new business.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have also seen inflation continue to tick down.

It's been on a real journey over the Biden administration when you look at all of those years.

It is now down to 2.5 percent, way down from that high of 9.1 percent we saw back in 2022.

It's fair to say there is some uncertainty on the horizon, though, correct?

I mean, you saw crude oil prices spike yesterday around uncertainty in the Middle East, for example.

So, I'm curious, what are you tracking most closely that you think could cause price increases and maybe cause inflation to go up again?

WALLY ADEYEMO: The things I'm tracking right now are data that are showing that prices are coming down throughout the economy.

And you mentioned crude oil.

Today, the price of gas around the country averages $3.18.

At the beginning of the year, it was closer to $4.

We're also seeing prices at stores come down for select goods as well.

Ultimately, one of the things we have to do is continue to make that progress by working to help to make sure that supply chains stay robust and we're able to do that.

And the end of the strike yesterday by dockworkers will ensure that goods can not only get to consumers, but important goods can get to those Americans who are suffering because of the hurricane that happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: Is there any uncertainty that you're tracking that gives you concern about inflation turning around, though?

WALLY ADEYEMO: We want to be frank that, while we have made a great deal of progress since the pandemic, prices for Americans in certain areas remain too high.

That's why we're focused on trying to reduce the cost of health care through what we have done in terms of reducing the cost of insulin to $35 and also reducing the cost of medication for Americans.

Taking steps to do those things are going to be important to making sure that we continue to make the progress we have made in not just bringing down inflation, but bringing down the prices of things for Americans.

One of the things that gives me confidence that we can do these things is the fact that we're seeing wages grow faster than inflation today.

And as long as we continue that progress in terms of prices come down -- coming down, and wages going up, I feel very confident about the American economy.

AMNA NAWAZ: Can I just put to you what we found from our latest PBS News poll as well?

Because the economy is the top issue for Americans right now.

Some 68 percent of those polls said that they think the economic conditions in America right now are fair or poor.

Only about 32 percent said that the nation's economy is excellent or good.

What, in your view, is behind that pessimism right now, and what will it take for that to shift?

WALLY ADEYEMO: As I mentioned earlier, if you look back just four years ago, the American economy was in a far different place.

We were in a place where we had almost 15 percent unemployment just over four years ago, where we had 2.5 million construction and manufacturing workers out of work because of a global pandemic.

We're still in the midst of recovering from that pandemic, and we have made a great deal of progress, in terms of creating 16 million jobs and 19 million small businesses.

But there's more that we need to do.

And we have got to continue to make that progress in order for the American people to see what the rest of the world sees, that the American economy is growing faster than any major economy in the world and that we're making progress towards making sure that people have the ability to build opportunity not only for themselves, but also for their children.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is the deputy secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, joining us tonight.

Mr. Deputy Secretary, thank you for your time.

Good to speak with you.

WALLY ADEYEMO: Thank you for having me.

Take care.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines at the Supreme Court.

The justices have agreed to leave in place two EPA rules aimed at reducing the oil and gas industry's emissions of methane gas and mercury.

Republican-led states and industry groups had asked the High Court to pause the rules, arguing the standards are -- quote -- "impossible to meet."

But the justices will consider a challenge to Mexico's $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun makers when they officially begin their term on Monday.

The case centers on allegations that the company's sales practices contribute to the trafficking of illegal weapons to drug cartels.

And the High Court will weigh in on who gets to say where nuclear waste is stored, in particular, the granting of a license to a private company in West Texas.

The U.N. Human Rights Office says the death toll of a gang raid and central Haiti yesterday has risen to at least 70 people, including women and children.

The attack took place in the town of Pont-Sonde, roughly 60 miles north of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Video captured near the scene showed hordes of people frantically running away from the attack.

Witnesses say they saw bodies with gunshot wounds strewn in the streets.

The attack was attributed to the Gran Grif gang, one of the nation's most brutal groups, but the motive remains unclear.

In Pakistan, police clashed with anti-government demonstrators in Islamabad today who were calling for the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from prison.

Authorities had tried to lock the city down by blocking roads with shipping containers and cutting cell phone service, but dozens of Khan supporters managed to get through.

They were met with tear gas, but remained defiant.

TARIQ BUKHARI, Imran Khan Supporter (through translator): We have finally reached here.

There were lots of obstacles on the way.

The authorities have been defeated.

You can place more containers in our way, but this love for Imran Khan will never end.

AMNA NAWAZ: Khan has been in prison for more than a year in connection with over 150 criminal cases.

His supporters say that the charges are politically motivated.

Severe rainstorms slammed Bosnia overnight, killing at least 16 people.

The rains caused flooding and landslides across several towns in the central and southern parts of the country.

Surging waters rushed into homes as people slept and entire neighborhoods were swamped.

Today, residents began to think about picking up the pieces.

DRAGAN MUSIC, Bosnia Resident (through translator): The situation is catastrophic.

The water entered people's homes.

It took away everything.

The water recedes, the mud remains.

I don't know.

We will see when the water recedes what's left behind all this.

AMNA NAWAZ: The heavy rains also affected neighboring Croatia, where several roads were closed and the capital, Zagreb, braced for potential flooding.

On Wall Street today, stocks closed higher after that strong September jobs report.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 300 points to close at a new all-time high.

The Nasdaq added more than 200 points, and the S&P 500 also ended the day higher.

Still to come on the "News Hour": Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue campaigning through critical swing states; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines; and pioneering musician Laurie Anderson discusses her new album inspired by Amelia Earhart.

President Biden answered questions from reporters at the White House today, including about Israel's response to the Iranian missile attack and whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to influence the U.S. election.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: The Israelis have not concluded how they're -- what they're going to do in terms of a strike.

That's under discussion.

If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.

No administration has helped Israel more than I have.

None.

None.

None.

And I think Bibi should remember that.

And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know, but I'm not counting on that.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon continues, with fully one-quarter of the country's population now displaced, most in just the last two weeks.

Leila Molana-Allen reports now from Sidon on Lebanon's southern coast, as exhausted and fearful residents continue to seek shelter.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Exhausted and traumatized, Lebanon's streets are filled with a sudden wave of homeless and hungry souls, schools out indefinitely.

They're all needed to house the more than 1.2 million already displaced from their homes by the violence on every available surface, mattresses to sleep on, trees repurposed for laundry.

Those unlucky enough to find the shelters full are ending up on the street in the baking heat and pouring rain.

KHALED ISSA IBRAHIM, Displaced Lebanon Resident (through translator): Everything is destroyed back home.

It's an all-out war.

We fled under constant airstrikes.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Khaled and his five young kids fled north a few days ago.

They have nowhere else to go.

KHALED ISSA IBRAHIM (through translator): Here, it's safer, but it's a disaster for the children and women.

It's so bad.

Look at where they change their clothes.

And there are no toilets.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Over the past few days, tens of thousands of people have flooded up this coastal highway, escaping the growing list of towns and villages in the south of Lebanon that Israel says it may strike.

As that evacuation zone grows, so too does uncertainty over when and if they will be able to go home.

This is what they're running from, air bombardment and shelling across Southern Lebanon, and increasingly in and around the capital, Beirut, too.

Lebanese fear soon nowhere will be safe.

Last night, residents cowered in terror as Israel's warplanes spread a line of explosive fire through Beirut's southern suburbs on the hunt for assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's presumed successor, Hashem Safieddine.

Today, in Tehran, a rare appearance by the supreme leader to praise Nasrallah amidst rumors of his burial in secret, all while Iran awaits retaliation for its massive missile strike on Israel this week.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows Iran will pay.

Lebanese fear they're already paying the price for this regional conflict.

As leaders grandstand, everyday lives here fall apart.

This restaurant is making daily free meals for thousands of displaced people in Sidon; 29-year-old Noor has thrown herself into the relief effort.

NOOR AL AYOUN, Volunteer: Sometimes, people are crying, sometimes are asking for food.

Sometimes, people are asking for clothes or shelter to - - where to sleep.

Sometimes, it's someone you know or your friend at school, at the old school or neighbors.

So when you hear that someone is dead or someone is injured, and you can't help them, this is so sad.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Just down the road in Ain El Delb, community answered the call to action too.

They thought they were safe here.

They never imagined they'd be victims themselves.

Julia Ramadan and her mother were among those buried in a mass funeral days later, coffin after coffin, a community in mourning.

Julia had been volunteering, making food for displaced families.

She'd come home from her student accommodation in Beirut after the suburbs were badly bombed, thinking it's safer.

ASHRAF RAMADAN, Brother (through translator): When she called, she said -- and I didn't think it was important at the time, but she said: "If I have to die, I want to die next to you."

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Last Sunday, after delivering sandwiches to those seeking shelter, the family came home to rest.

Then two missiles smashed into the building.

Julia's brother, Ashraf, was buried under the rubble for hours awaiting rescue.

He was still there when his friends, calling to him, told him his mother was dead.

ASHRAF RAMADAN (through translator): I thought maybe she died of fear, but I thought Julia would make it out because she's strong.

They found Julia at midnight.

She had suffocated.

When I saw my mother and sister's bodies at the hospital, they didn't have a single scar, but not being able to breathe under the rubble killed them.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Having lost the sister he calls his closest confidant, Ashraf is struggling to keep going and to forgive.

ASHRAF RAMADAN (through translator): All you Western governments who claim to support Lebanon should stop providing Israel with weapons.

How did she threaten Israel's security and peace?

I was texting to her a few minutes ago.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: You still send her text messages... ASHRAF RAMADAN: Yes.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: ... when you're thinking about her?

ASHRAF RAMADAN: I told her I will come in a little bit.

She see how much people are talking about you, how much are you hero.

She's my hero.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Just one of many shattered families here.

Civilians say they're caught up and dying in a war they didn't start and don't want to fight.

They fear no one is listening.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Sidon, Lebanon.

AMNA NAWAZ: Monday marks one year since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel.

Over this last year, the Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza has exacted a terrible price on Gaza's people, with an estimation that one out of every 20 people has been killed or wounded.

"News Hour" videographer Shams Odeh in Gaza worked with producer Zeba Warsi and Nick Schifrin to bring us this report on a year in hell.

NICK SCHIFRIN: To this day, Mohammed Mahdi Abu Al-Qumsan cannot fathom his incomprehensible loss.

He walks us into his threadbare home and life, a donated canvas shelter, with sorrowful reminders, the doll that will never be held, the clothes that will never be worn.

MOHAMMED MAHDI ABU AL-QUMSAN, Gazan Resident, Lost Wife and Twins (through translator): I don't even have one photo of me and my children.

I had only left the house to get their birth certificates.

I ended up getting their death certificates too.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In August, horror.

His wife of one year, her body under the shroud, her name in pen, Dr. Jumann Arfa, and 3-day-old Asser and Aysel, the family says all killed in an Israeli airstrike.

In Gaza today, death can arrive as life begins.

And photos of births, are the only photos he will ever have.

MOHAMMED MAHDI ABU AL-QUMSAN (through translator): I was excited to leave the hospital to go and show my wife the birth certificates because she chose their names.

Only five minutes later, I started the process to get their death certificates.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Arfa was a pharmacist at a private clinic.

The twins were their first-born.

And like everyone here, in the last year, the family fled from multiple homes, first from Gaza City, then to Rafah, and then back to Deir al Balah, in search of unobtainable safety.

On Facebook, Arfa used to write about the war's victims, until she became one.

MOHAMMED MAHDI ABU AL-QUMSAN (through translator): I need a court of law to find how a woman who was living in a safe home, who had recently given birth was killed in this way.

Children are not at fault.

We're merely civilians.

We're not involved in other activities.

Don't we deserve to live in peace, without fear?

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Gaza is stalked by fear and dominated by death.

The Abed kids, Hala, Ghazal, Mohammad, and Salma, are among tens of thousands of orphans, adopted by their uncle after his brother, their father, Majdy, was killed last October.

NABIL HASSAN ABED, Gaza Resident, Lost Brother (through translator): Majdy was my brother, my friend, my everything.

I was devastated.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The siblings survived by chance.

Their mother unknowingly saved them.

HALA MAJDY HASSAN ABED, Gaza Resident, Lost Both Parents (through translator): We were at home and then my mom asked us to go get her something from the store.

When we came back, we found the entire area destroyed.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They're grateful to have a place to live.

But what she really wants to have is her parents back.

We ask, "Do you miss them?"

This war started one year ago, when Hamas gunmen took over swathes of Southern Israel and killed 812 civilians and more than 400 security personnel.

Israel has pursued what it calls absolute victory over Hamas with a punishing air and ground campaign to eradicate Hamas and return the hostages.

It blames civilian deaths on Hamas.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister: Hamas places its weapons, it's terrorists in hospitals, schools, mosques and throughout civilian areas.

They do this in order to win immunity and to maximize civilian casualties.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Gaza's Health Ministry, which answers to Hamas, says 140,000, or more than 5 percent of the Gaza Strip, have been killed or wounded, 900 families wiped off entirely from the civil registry, and in more than 1,300 cases, only one family member survived, creating the macabre label wounded child, no surviving family.

But all the numbers may yet prove an undercount.

DR. KHALIL AL-DAQRAN, Gazan Health Ministry Official (through translator): There are 8,000 to 10,000 martyrs missing since the beginning of these attacks.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Dr Khalil Al-Daqran works at Central Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital, one of the few hospitals still functioning.

He helps the Health Ministry publish its daily death toll, 90 percent of whose names have been confirmed.

It's a painstaking effort because many of Gaza's more than two million displaced don't have I.D.s.

DR. KHALIL AL-DAQRAN (through translator): In the case of those martyred who are not identified in hospitals, we take several steps like asking questions of the families.

Many times people who come to the hospital have no identification since occupation forces destroyed their homes and whatever was in it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And destruction breeds despair.

Four-year-old Raghad Ismail Al Khouly holds her father tight, hoping he can heal her.

But Ismail Al Khouly feels helpless because he can only provide comfort, no cure.

Raghad Al Khouly has cancer, tumors under both eyes that cause severe pain.

ISMAIL AL KHOULY, Father of Child in Need of Medical Care (through translator): I feel like my heart is being ripped apart.

I wish I could do something for her.

I swear I cannot.

I swear I can't do a thing.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Like any sick child, cartoons distract until her eyes feel strained.

So, her best chance for treatment is outside.

But the outside world is almost completely inaccessible.

ISMAIL AL KHOULY (through translator): Consider her like one of your daughters.

If we delay her treatment anymore, it could lead to her blindness.

She was a smart girl.

She'd run and play but ever since getting the tumor, she's completely, completely changed.

NICK SCHIFRIN: One year later, Gazans' infrastructure and lives are unrecognizable.

They have lived through multiple wars.

But after this one, nobody will be the same.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

AMNA NAWAZ: On Monday, Nick will speak with families of Israeli hostages and with a released hostage looking back on this traumatic year in her own words.

Turning now to the presidential race.

Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning across Michigan, while former President Donald Trump touched down in Georgia, a state still reeling from Hurricane Helene, all this as President Biden weighed in on election security in his first ever appearance in the White House Briefing Room.

Lisa Desjardins reports.

LISA DESJARDINS: At the White House, among the questions for the departing president, Politics Monday's Tamara Keith asked Mr. Biden about the upcoming election and whether it will be free, fair, and peaceful.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Two separate questions.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Very much.

JOE BIDEN: I'm confident it'll be free and fair.

I don't know whether it will be peaceful.

The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous.

LISA DESJARDINS: In Georgia, the former president responded.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I don't know anything about what he said.

I only can hope that it's going to be free and fair, and I think in this state it will be, and I hope in every state it will be.

And I think we're going to do very well, but right now we're focused on this.

We're not focused on the election.

LISA DESJARDINS: Trump was on the ground in Evans, Georgia, meeting members of the National Guard, shaking hands alongside an old foe, Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

While Trump has raised millions for recovery through a GoFundMe, the dual appearance raised the specter of 2020.

Kemp took months to endorse Trump and Trump attacked him for years when he refused to question Georgia's 2020 results.

And just this week... DONALD TRUMP: The federal government is not being responsive.

LISA DESJARDINS: ... Trump falsely claimed that Kemp couldn't get a hold of President Biden in the hurricane's aftermath.

Kemp said explicitly that he did connect and was grateful to Biden.

In his remarks today, Kemp focused on his recovery in state.

GOV.

BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): What they're going through, what we're all going through is a living nightmare, and we're going to continue to pull together as we go through this together.

LISA DESJARDINS: By the end, at this first meeting of the two in years, he and Trump appeared congenial.

Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance, was also in the Peach State today, looking ahead in Lindale.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: We're focused on the future in this election and in this campaign.

If you look at what President Trump says, what I say, we are focused on the future every single day.

LISA DESJARDINS: But the ripple effects of 2020 and Trump's lies about it continue.

Yesterday, a Colorado judge sentenced Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, to nine years in prison.

Once a hero to election deniers, she was found guilty of a security breach involving the county's voting machines in 2020.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: If he wins again, it will be more of the same.

LISA DESJARDINS: Focused on 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris took her campaign to a firehouse in Detroit, Michigan, today.

KAMALA HARRIS: Donald Trump is a man who tried to cut funding for our first responders, including SAFER grants for firefighters.

As we stand here in a house of labor, we will not be fooled.

We will not be gaslighted.

Donald Trump's track record is a disaster for working people.

LISA DESJARDINS: Both Harris and Trump have upcoming stops in North Carolina, another state reshaped by Helene.

Roughly half of the more than 215 known deaths from that storm occurred there, and rescuers are still searching for victims one week on.

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

AMNA NAWAZ: A week after Hurricane Helene devastated part of the state, residents in some states are still trying to get the very basics they need, water, food and power.

Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, and so far more than 200 have died.

That makes it the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina back in 2005.

We spoke with residents in some of the hardest-hit areas around Asheville and the surrounding towns in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee about what life looks like now.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the past week, tens of thousands of people like Emily Bigelow have had to learn how to live without modern plumbing.

Now forced to rely on creek water, she carries it by hand back to her house to make her toilet run.

EMILY BIGELOW, Asheville, North Carolina, Resident: A full bucket is about two flushes.

They are saying probably weeks before we can get water again, which you take for granted being able to flush a toilet.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For three years, Bigelow and her partner, Matt Capello (ph), have shared this home in Asheville, North Carolina, in the quiet foothills of the blue ridge mountains.

But last Friday morning, they woke to a community transformed overnight.

In just three days, Hurricane Helene dumped over 17 inches of rain onto this surrounding area, part of the trillions of gallons of water that Helene released.

In North Carolina, it triggered catastrophic floods.

More than 500 miles away from Florida, where Helene came ashore.

EMILY BIGELOW: I don't know of anyone in the community in Asheville or the surrounding areas that were ready for this.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Over 70 people have been confirmed dead in this county alone.

It's a death toll that's expected to rise because search-and-rescue teams from around the nation are still looking for hundreds of missing people here and in neighboring communities.

EMILY BIGELOW: For the first couple of days, I just kind of felt paralyzed.

I haven't walked over to look at the bad areas of the city because I just don't think I can handle it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Bigelow is coping by doing what so many residents here are doing, helping others, like 82-year-old Maude Adams (ph).

EMILY BIGELOW: It's helped me to just be able to help people, you know.

Trauma really brings people together.

MAUDE ADAMS, Asheville, North Carolina, Resident: It pulled it loose and tore off the end, the roof.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Adams has lived here for more than 40 years.

MAUDE ADAMS: That's the bathroom window.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But she hasn't left in a week since the storm knocked this massive tree onto her front porch.

Adams says she's been through floods before, but nothing like this.

MAUDE ADAMS: This time, I have never heard as bad as it is now, nope, in your -- in this one place since '81.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Like so many across this region, she has no power, no water, no access to the outside world, except a transistor radio.

Her sister died this year and she says the isolation coupled with the devastation has been tough.

But, like so many, she's thinking of others.

MAUDE ADAMS: You just think about other people.

I mean, they got it a lot worse than I have.

At least I have got my home yet.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Just across the border, in Eastern Tennessee, Reverend Brooks Ramsey has been collecting donations to send out to the hard-hit towns nearby, like Newport and Del Rio.

WOMAN: This is the first truck of the day and there are many more packages.

REV.

BROOKS RAMSEY, Sevierville, Tennessee, Resident: Right before I came on with you, the Newport rescue squad backed up a 16 foot trailer to our driveway and we loaded them up with everything from soup to feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, baby formula.

If you name it, we had it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He's determined to not let the nation forget what's unfolding here.

REV.

BROOKS RAMSEY: These people are easily forgotten.

It's very easily -- to forget us.

And then there's everything going on in the world too.

So there's all these distractions and people just get lost in the shuffle.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Among those lost in the shuffle, says Ramsey, is his family friend, Sibrina Barnett, who was working in Erwin, Tennessee, when floodwaters swept through the town.

REV.

BROOKS RAMSEY: She was loaded up on a flatbed and with an indeterminate number of people, it got swept away by the water.

He was loaded up on a flat bed and with an indeterminate number of people, it got swept away by the water.

And Sibrina is still missing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Earlier this week, President Biden toured the devastation by air, ordering 1,000 active-duty troops from nearby Fort Liberty to assist in the recovery effort.

He called the storm, which intensified rapidly the moment it hit the unseasonably warm Gulf waters, a clear warning about climate change.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Nobody can deny the impact of climate crisis anymore.

At least I hope they don't.

They must be brain-dead if they do.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Back in Asheville, residents like Emily Bigelow agree.

EMILY BIGELOW: This is definitely a huge wakeup call.

Climate change is real.

This kind of devastation really sends things home on where we're at now, how fast things are changing and how different life is going to look.

MAUDE ADAMS: Look how big that thing is out yonder at that roof, where it come across the fence.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But for now, there are no easy answers, just communities relying on each other as they start on the very long path to rebuilding.

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

AMNA NAWAZ: A major endorsement is at the center for the race for the White House this week.

On that and the latest in the Trump election interference case, we turn to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That is New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post.

It's great to see you both here.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have missed having you here together.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I know.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's a nice reunion.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Let's start with the state of the race, shall we?

Let's take a look at our latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll that shows in the national head-to-head there Harris is up by two points, within the margin of error, though, of course.

And this week there was another rollout of Republicans backing her, most notably Liz Cheney, but also a number of other women who had previously worked in the Trump White House, including Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews.

Jonathan, in these crucial final weeks, her focus now, it seems to be on pulling in conservatives, independents, former Nikki Haley voters.

There's some consternation among progressive Democratic circles that she's not doing enough to shore up her base.

What do you make of that?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: You're just trying to trigger me, aren't you, aren't you, Amna?

(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: Look, and I say this to my progressive friends with love.

Calm down.

The vice president has been talking to them, presenting some things that they like for months now -- well, for weeks now, in a race that's going to be decided on the margins, where it's going to come down to a few thousand votes in a few states.

She is doing what she needs to do.

There are people who don't want to vote for Donald Trump who feel like they don't have anywhere else to go.

And when you have a Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, Alyssa Farah, all these -- Cassidy Hutchinson, hundreds of Republicans saying he should -- Donald Trump should not be president again, the vice president is out there saying to those people, there is a place for you.

And when Liz Cheney -- I mean, she is a conservative, hard-C conservative.

So that signals to those squishy, can't vote for Trump, and I'm not keen on her, signals to them -- like, they don't agree on much of anything, but they do agree on their reverence for the Constitution and the rule of law.

And that, if it's -- if that is good enough for Liz Cheney to say she's going to vote for Kamala Harris, then that should be good enough for them.

That's the signal that's being sent.

And I think the vice president is right to go for those votes, to ask for those votes.

AMNA NAWAZ: What do you think, David?

Is this convincing for those squishy voters?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes.

If progressives were happy, she'd be 20 points down.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: Her main problem is people think she's too liberal.

And so anything she can do to show something to the center, win over Republicans, that makes her seem more mainstream and more acceptable to the people who are actually going to decide the election.

I have to say, this is the most mind-boggling campaign I have covered.

AMNA NAWAZ: Why is that?

DAVID BROOKS: Because it started out tight and it got closer.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: And so I don't know who's winning.

Like, usually, you have a sense of who has some momentum and who doesn't.

Now, I could tell a bunch of stories.

I could tell a story where Trump wins.

Like, among independents, Trump is more popular, at least has higher approvals, than Kamala Harris does.

And if you have got a 60 percent negative approval among independents, that's not a great sign if you're trying to win over independents.

So that's a story where I could tell where Trump wins.

Then there's the hidden Trump voter.

The polls are not picking up.

She's not doing as well among Hispanic voters.

So all those, you could tell that story, Trump is actually looking good.

On the other hand, his voters are low-commitment voters.

And so they could easily not show up.

On the other hand, and following, furthermore, his ground game, from everything I'm hearing, is pretty pathetic.

And so, in a swing state, if one side -- and I think the Democrats have a really good ground game in the swing states, getting people out to vote.

And he has some random consultants who his campaign has hired, or his -- the PAC has hired, that just doesn't work.

People come out to vote if a friend or neighbor tells them to come out to vote.

And so that could give the Democrats three-quarters-of-a-point, a point.

And, in Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Michigan, that can make a big difference.

(CROSSTALK) DAVID BROOKS: So I could tell plausible stories on both sides.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: And I would add another potential hidden vote, and that is the hidden pro-Harris vote, people who don't want to tell pollsters, don't want to tell their neighbors that, you know what, I'm actually going to vote for her, and they will do it in the ballot box.

That is -- personally, that is where I'm putting a lot of my hope, that there is a hidden Harris vote in that regard.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, in the world of things that could make a difference at this point in the race, we have now seen the combination of Liz Cheney both stumping for Harris and the unsealing of this court filing that was brought by special counsel Jack Smith, put January 6 back front and center in the headlines, right?

And, actually, Cheney had this to say when she was stumping in Harris in Wisconsin -- with Harris yesterday.

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our Capitol, to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name, and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, David, when you look at that, is this going to be a persuasive argument for people who haven't yet made up their minds?

DAVID BROOKS: I don't think so.

All honor to Liz Cheney, who is a conviction politician, a woman of great integrity, but I just think the economy is what they should be talking about 100 percent of the time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Even though people tell us preserving democracy is important to them this election.

DAVID BROOKS: It is for some people, Democrats.

But, remember, a lot of Republicans think democracy is under assault.

I would just say, I have been on the road.

I have been missing you, but I have been on the road for the last three or four weeks.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: And the first thing I notice is, people don't want to talk about the election.

They're just like, let's not go there.

AMNA NAWAZ: Really?

DAVID BROOKS: But when they do, it's more about their own personal lives, like, how am I doing?

And so I do think getting down to - - and then they always say -- they say this every four years.

I want to see more meat from her.

I want to see more substantive policy.

And maybe they don't really believe that, but they do want to have a sense that there's something deliverable here that they can latch on to.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, what do you make of that?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Which part?

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: In terms of January 6 now being a central part of this campaign.

We're talking about it again, especially after that court filing.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right.

AMNA NAWAZ: And there were some new details in there about especially Donald Trump's actions leading up to and on the day itself.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: OK, so let's put the new Jack Smith filing into context.

It came out either a day or two after the vice presidential debate, where Governor Walz asked Senator Vance, flat out, did President Biden win the 2020 election?

And he would not answer the question, which then led to lots of conversation about the 2020 election, January 6.

The Jack Smith filing comes out, and then we get to read a lot of things that we already knew, but then we got to read things that we didn't know.

And that is because of direct testimony from someone like former vice president, Mike Pence, who went under subpoena and talked to the special counsel.

And so I think, by having this back out as part of the national conversation, political discussion, I think it might have the same impact that the January 6 hearings had, which was, in the immediate aftermath, might not look like it had any kind of impact, but you look and saw what happened in the 2022 midterm elections, where the red wave was blunted, and people said that I think it was preserving democracy or threats to democracy was a big issue, number one or number two issue for what motivated them to go to the polls.

And so I think what we have learned from the Jack Smith filing might end up having that kind of impact again.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let's pull all this together now, because you have that Jack Smith filing.

You have got, as you mentioned, Senator Vance not saying that Trump lost the last election, refusing to do that.

And then you had President Biden in the Briefing Room today, when he was asked about the upcoming election and asked whether it would be fair and whether it would be peaceful, said he was confident it would be fair, but he wasn't sure it would be peaceful.

And, David, that is quite a statement coming at this point.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, and he's right, of course, where none of us know if it's going to be peaceful.

I would say I can draw some comfort from the Jack Smith report in that, one, we learned that there really was a much bigger effort.

Every time we learn more about this case, we learn it's a bigger effort than we thought.

But, two, and Jack Smith said this, it was more a personal effort on Trump's part than official effort on the part of the presidency, as president.

And he's trying to get -- he doesn't want there to be immunity here.

But he's out there calling Steve Bannon.

He's calling some other mope.

He's just like -- it's just a random collection of maybe we should do something.

And so the ineffective -- it's a genuine conspiracy to steal an election.

Don't get me wrong.

But the ineffectiveness of the conspiracy is one of the arguments is my colleague Ross Douthat has always made.

He's a proto-authoritarian, but he's not effective enough to be an actual authoritarian.

And I got a little bit of that vibe from the Jack Smith report.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Hey, kids, let's put on a show.

The only reason why it wasn't effective is because it didn't work.

But the fact that we keep seeing that this conspiracy was much bigger than we thought before tells me that it -- that effort was a whole lot more sophisticated than I think we're willing or comfortable to give credit to.

AMNA NAWAZ: David, do you think that in some of the arguments we're hearing from Senator Vance and Trump, they're laying groundwork to challenge the election results if they lose?

DAVID BROOKS: Oh, for sure.

They're filing a zillion lawsuits in state after state to try to undermine that.

So they're laying the predicate for that kind of challenge, for sure.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right.

Well, we will be talking about this much more, I'm sure.

David Brooks, Jonathan Capehart always good to see you here and end our week with you.

Thank you so much.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Amna.

DAVID BROOKS: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, online, you can see our own Deema Zein and Lisa Desjardins' countdown to Election Day.

Each day, they will highlight a new fact about this year's election.

You can see that on our TikTok channel.

For some five decades, artist and musician Laurie Anderson has been redefining cultural boundaries.

In a new album, she's now exploring the story of an earlier woman who reached for the heights.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown reports for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: So this is where a lot of stuff happens.

LAURIE ANDERSON, Artist and Musician: It happens.

Some of the stuff happens here.

And this is most of the audio world.

So this is... JEFFREY BROWN: Laurie Anderson in her downtown New York studio altering the sound of her voice.

LAURIE ANDERSON: This is a standard vocoder.

If you sound different, you're a different person.

So this, you can make more symphonic.

JEFFREY BROWN: Creating musical layers with her electronic viola.

For some 50 years, she's been a pioneer of storytelling, mixing music, art, theater and film, a happily uncategorizable artist of our time.

LAURIE ANDERSON: There are ways of making things that it doesn't matter what the material is in a way.

If I'm playing a violin, or if I'm painting, I'm using the same arm.

I'm asking myself the exact same questions.

Is it bright enough?

Is it crazy enough?

Is it sweet enough, beautiful enough?

Is it complicated enough?

Is it communicating enough?

JEFFREY BROWN: Now she's turned her attention to a fascinating pioneer of another time and talent.

WOMAN: Taking off, May 20.

JEFFREY BROWN: Amelia Earhart and her 1937 attempt to circle the globe, a flight that ended in mystery and tragedy.

AMELIA EARHART, Pilot: This modern world of science and invention is of particular interest to women.

LAURIE ANDERSON: Anderson uses Earhart's own voice, logs and letters layered into narration and music to produce a 22-track evocative mix of classical and electronic strings, effects, sounds and percussion, all of it composed and performed by Anderson, joined by other singers and an orchestra, to imagine her way into Earhart's cockpit.

WOMAN: The instruments quiver.

LAURIE ANDERSON: So I tried to imagine what it would be like for a pilot to be in a little plane like that with the motor going like aah days and days.

This is really hot.

There's no A.C. in these little cockpits.

She's like this.

What did that feel like?

MAN: Amelia Earhart.

JEFFREY BROWN: She also loved and connected with Earhart's deep interest in the latest technology of her time.

LAURIE ANDERSON: She was not white gloves at all.

She was down in the engine and seeing what's going on and working with her mechanics and her designers.

And I really admire that.

JEFFREY BROWN: That does sound a little like you.

LAURIE ANDERSON: I identified with her, of course.

JEFFREY BROWN: You did, from the beginning?

LAURIE ANDERSON: Yes, I just -- there aren't many models for women in this country who do stuff.

I just gravitated over to her.

She's a Midwesterner also, so -- like me.

And so I kind of thought, why would she want to do that?

JEFFREY BROWN: Anderson has been known for asking herself and us pointed, sometimes unexpected questions, since her 1981 song "O Superman."

(MUSIC) JEFFREY BROWN: A mix of electronic music, words and movement that became an unlikely pop hit.

It was a breakthrough into the larger culture after years as an avant-garde artist.

One of her early signature pieces, "Duets on Ice" for violin and tape recorder performed on streets wearing skates frozen into a block of ice.

When the ice melted, the music stopped, the ethos of the 1970s New York art and music world she was a big part of, experiment.

LAURIE ANDERSON: We didn't know what we were doing.

We didn't.

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

LAURIE ANDERSON: But we wanted to make things.

So we all had pickup trucks.

We were all like DIY people.

I mean, we helped each other.

This is so key.

We never thought we'd make a living doing this stuff, music and dance and theater.

We just wanted to experiment, make something that wasn't there.

JEFFREY BROWN: But somehow you did.

LAURIE ANDERSON: And it was exhilarating.

JEFFREY BROWN: Over the years, in addition to her 13 albums and performances all over the world... WOMAN: I want to tell you a story.

JEFFREY BROWN: ... Anderson has made films, like "Heart of a Dog," written a multimedia performance based on Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," helped create the Opening Ceremony for the 2004 Athens Olympics, and created solo exhibits of her paintings and drawings, including The Weather, shown at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2021.

In 1992, she met another downtown star, rock 'n' roll legend Lou Reed.

They worked together for the next 21 years, marrying in 2008 before his death in 2013.

It was a loving partnership that encompassed Buddhism and tai chi, as well as music and, she says, constant artistic seeking and questioning.

LAURIE ANDERSON: I talked to Lou a lot about why would -- why do anything and... JEFFREY BROWN: Why do anything?

LAURIE ANDERSON: Why do anything?

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

LAURIE ANDERSON: Why write this song?

Why do this show?

Why -- what do you here doing this for?

And the answer really is that you just look for the brightest light possible and go that way.

We had many conversations about what we were doing as artists and why we were doing it.

And it was really about trying to go there, to that.

JEFFREY BROWN: Now 77, Anderson is still going to new places with technology, including the world of A.I.

She's working with a machine learning institute in Australia, which has inputted everything she and Reed wrote or recorded into a supercomputer.

And how does that sound?

How does that feel?

LAURIE ANDERSON: This is not like a Ouija board and I'm talking to my dead husband.

Really, I'm not actually crazy.

But people have styles, and they are real things.

I mean, I'm not afraid of machines taking over at all.

I'm afraid of people becoming machines, not even seeing things for themselves or thinking for themselves.

That's what I'm afraid of.

JEFFREY BROWN: She's also become something of a TikTok sensation, as "O Superman" has been taken up and restyled by a new generation, especially her lines, "You don't know me, but I know you."

LAURIE ANDERSON: I was thrilled because I want to be useful.

I want to have people use this for something.

As I learn more and more about what stories are, I realize, this is a constant.

The stories you tell yourself about who you are and what you want, those are stories to help you live.

If you don't have those suddenly, it's terrifying.

I mean, you will keep living, you will keep eating, but it's the story that keeps you going.

JEFFREY BROWN: After finishing work on Amelia, Laurie Anderson has turned to an even more ambitious work about nothing less than climate change and the possible end or saving of the world.

She calls it "ARK."

For the "PBS News Hour"... LAURIE ANDERSON: I'm Jeffrey Brown with... JEFFREY BROWN: Laurie Anderson.

AMNA NAWAZ: And be sure to tune in to "Washington Week With The Atlantic" tonight.

Moderator Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel discuss the rising tensions in the Middle East and how it could affect the U.S. presidential election.

And tomorrow on "PBS News Weekend": how hundreds of California police officers were able to keep past misconduct off their records.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

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