geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on "the newshour" tonight. the president and the speaker of the house meet to negotiate the debt limit, as the deadline to avoid default approaches. western states agree to slash the amount of water they use from the drought-stricken colorado river. amna: and oklahomans with , disabilities struggle to access services because of long waitlists and a lack of health care workers. >> with covid 19, we've seen a major exiting of the workforce across all long term care and health settings, and that does not appear to be coming back.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma klorfine and koo and patricia yuen. >> it was like an aha moment, this is what i love doing. early stage companies have an energy that energizes me and these are people that are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs it is the same thing. i'm helping people reach their dreams. i'm thriving by helping others every day. people who know, know bdo. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better

world at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. president joe biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy are meeting at this hour in a high-stakes effort to reach a bipartisan spending deal, and avoid an unprecedented default on the nation's debt.

geoff: the meeting comes at a critical moment, the treasury department says there could be just ten days left before the government runs out of money to pay its debts. we'll have the latest developments later in the program. amna: now to more of today's headlines. a united nations report offered stark new numbers on the human and economic toll of extreme weather. the world meteorological organization counted nearly 12,000 disasters globally between 1970 and 2021. they left more than 2 million people dead, with 90 percent of them in developing countries. economic losses ran an estimated $4.3 trillion. more than a third of that cost was in the u.s. in india today, a heat wave that began last week left large parts of the country facing scorching temperatures again. several states were under extreme heat alerts with some places topping 110 degrees. residents sought shelter from the sun and tried to stay hydrated, but water shortages and power blackouts from strain on the grid made that harder.

>> i'm sweating a lot. my productivity is being affected because of the temperature. i don't feel like doing anything, but we'll have to face this. amna: forecasters say the heat will last several more days until monsoon rains bring relief. they've been slightly delayed this year. rain and cooler temperatures are providing some much needed relief to firefighters in alberta, canada. more than 80 fires are burning in the province, including 23 that are still out of control. some 10,000 residents have been forced from their homes. meanwhile today, montana and colorado were under air quality alerts, as smoke from the fires drifted south. the u.s. border patrol now says an eight euro girl in their custody was seen by medics at least three times on the day that she died last week. her family says the child had heart problems and sickle-cell anemia for coming down with the flu. she was unconscious by the time she was ultimately taken to the

hospital. it was the second death of a migrant child in u.s. custody in two weeks. tragedy struck overnight in the south american country of guyana. at least 19 students were killed when fire swept through their dormitory. it started just before midnight at a boarding school about 200 miles south of georgetown, the capital. the building was already engulfed in flames as firefighters arrived. the school mostly taught indigenous children between the ages of 12-18. the cause of the buyer is still under investigation. european union has handed facebook's parent company a fine of $1.3 billion, the latest move in a long-running leading bout -- legal battle over privacy violations. saying it had illegally stored information that could easily be accessed by american spy agencies. in brussels, regulators said they are expecting a new court fight. >> we expect it will be challenged at some point, but the bottom line is we are

working on the basis of what the courts demanded, and we are in the process of implementing that. amna: the e.u. wants the social media giant to stop transferring user's personal data to the u.s., by october. meta says it will appeal. and, on wall street stocks mostly drifted, waiting for any news on the debt ceiling talks. the dow jones industrial average lost 140 points to close that 33,286. the nasdaq rose nearly 63 points. the s-and-p 500 added a fraction of a point. and, a passing of note. republican lawyer c. boyden gray, who was white house counsel to the first president bush, died sunday. gray appeared frequently on the newshour over the years, as he worked for or assisted every republican president from reagan to trump. c. boyden gray was 80 years old. still to come on the newshour. the longest battle in ukraine leaves the city of bakhmut in ruins.

tamara keith and amy walter break down the 2024 presidential prospects as senator tim scott enters the race. how the new little mermaid film is broadening black representation and sparking delightful reactions. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from w eta studios in the west on the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the biden administration has reached a landmark water deal with several western states to stave off an immediate crisis with the colorado river, and the communities that depend on it. william brangham has a look at what's at stake. william: geoff, the colorado river has been profoundly affected by a historic mega-drought. that's meant that lake mead and lake powell, the huge reservoirs fed by the river, could drop so low, it could endanger water supplies for agriculture as well as for cities like los angeles

and phoenix. the new deal puts those risks on hold for now. california, arizona and nevada will agree to take less water from the river. in exchange, the federal government will pay a billion dollars to key players in those states. to help us understand what this will mean, we're joined by luke runyon of kunc public radio in colorado. he also hosts the podcast, thirst gap. luke, thank you so much for being here. what are the contours of this deal? what did these states agree to? >> the states agreed to take less water from the colorado river. were looking at california, arizona, and nevada. they have agreed to significant cutbacks to their use over the next three years. really this is an attempt to kind of live within a shrinking river. climate change has been ravaging the colorado river for more than

20 years now. it is a significantly smaller river, and what we found is that we need to use a lot less water in order to match the declining supply we have in the southwest. william: do we know who those cuts are going to fall on? like, who is this going to sting? luke: agriculture is the singha's -- single largest used -- of the water in the southwest. around yuma arizona, those farmers have been insulated from some of these cuts over the last several years. that is maybe not going to be the case anymore because they will be getting payments from the federal government in order to use less. william: the federal government has asked the states and others to come up with a broader agreement over how to apportion

the river. this is not that deal, correct? luke: this is really a short-term solution to get the rivers negotiators to 2026, which is when its current managing guidelines expire. so this is not a solution to the river's fundamental gap between water supply and demand. this just builds slightly more stability and certainty into water supplies for those states, california, arizona, and nevada. but there are still many more hard conversations to be had about how you go about living with the smaller colorado river, and the states have not had that extremely difficult conversation yet. they've just had a slightly hard-won, not the harder one coming up. william: they bought themselves a couple more years. we know also that the west got this godsend of a tremendous

historic snowpack. how much of that helps understand how they got to this interim agreement? luke: it is hugely important. we would be having a very different conversation right now if the west had had even moderately dry winter this past winter. the colorado river is mostly snow fed. we had a tremendous amount of snowpack in the rocky mountains this year. and that decreased the sense of urgency among the people negotiate on the river. william: lastly, just picking up on this point you been making. the subtitle of your excellent podcast is "learning to live with less on the colorado river." do you think that policymakers understand that these stresses are not going away? luke: i think to the people that are negotiating the river's future, they have come to terms with the river is smaller and is going to get smaller. and really the way forward is using less. there are some technological

fixes that can make up supply gaps in some areas, like desalination, or other sorts of technologies. but really, the future of this basin is about learning to live with the last. it's about reducing our demand. that's what we have control over , is deciding how much water we actually use from the colorado river, and that's where a lot of the focus of the conversation is right now, including this deal that we saw today. william: luke runyon, thank you so much for being here. luke: thanks so much for having me. ♪ amna: russian forces claim to have conquered the city of bakhmut, in ukraine's east. kyiv denied that, and said the nine-month battle for the city continues. meantime a force of pro-ukrianian troops who say they are russians made an incursion into a russian border region. stephanie sy reports.

deafening: russian soldiers walked through a city they destroyed and now claim they have conquered. brutal nine-month battle has devastated the 400 year old city which had a prewar population of more than 70,000 people. russian state media showed these soldiers raising the russian flag in the ruins of the city. next to it, the flag of the wagner mercenary group which led the assault. >> without exaggeration, this is a historic moment. this is it. there are no more houses. the city has been taken. stephanie: the wagner group was founded by a criminally connected businessman who over the weekend claimed victory. quick thanks to vladimir putin for giving us the high honor to defend our motherland. we thought not only with the

ukrainian armed forces but also the russian bureaucracy. stephanie: earlier this month, he threatened to withdraw his troops from the city, accusing russian military officials of withholding ammunition, and blaming them for the death of wagner fighters. >> we have a 70% shortage of ammunition. where is the ammunition? stephanie: but president vladimir putin yesterday praised the private military group. ukrainian officials say the battle for bock mood is not over and that it soldiers to continue to advance from north and south to encircle russian troops inside the city. at the g7 meeting over the weekend, president zelenskyy compared the city to hiroshima after the u.s. dropped an atomic bomb on it in world war ii. >> there is nothing, they destroyed everything.

stephane: today come in another development, a group of anti-putin russian defectors claimed on social media videos to have crossed into russian territory and liberated parts of the border region. >> we are russians just like you. we are people just like you. we want our children to grow up in peace and be free people. but this has no place in putin's russia. stephanie: they say they're in goal is to end putin's dictatorship. joining us now to discuss what is going on and other developments is a senior policy researcher at the rand corporation. thank you for joining the newshour. so what is going on in bakhmud? >> they occupy large percentage

of what remains in the city. ukraine still occupies areas on the heights not far away from the city and they are claiming their putting pressure on russia. i think it is safe to say that russia has most of the city at this point. there are perhaps one or two roads that lead out. russia is desperate for a win, and this is just about the only win that they can come up with after a failed offensive. stephanie: i keep hearing that bakhmud is not specifically strategic in this war, so wh have such a hard-fought battle continue? dara: ukrainian forces have prioritized this area and their desire to keep it has been very strong. russia has fought very hard for it, using conscripts and they have suffered a lot of casualties. if russia is able to capitalize on taking bakhmut and pressing

forward, it opens up a significant network. stephanie: ukraine's are still claiming they have encircled at least part of the city, so if the russians really have taken it over, is it your sense that they could hold it, or would that continue to be a challenge with ukrainian forces on the outside flanks? dara: ukraine is saying they're pressuring the north and south and causing some localized retreats from russian forces that are there. i can't independently corroborate that they have encircled the actual city but they are putting pressure on those units, and those are not high-speed units. it might be easier to disrupt them that other units that are further back. >> how big about costs has this battle been to russian forces as we talk about the potential for ukrainian counteroffensive this spring? dara: it comes from the way

they're fighting the war and in some places there using storm troops, more human waves tall assaults on ukrainian positions, and it is coming at a high price. it is probably inevitable that russia will have to do another round of mobilization this year to replace the casualties. stephanie: i want to ask about another development that has been rorded. that is russian defectors that are now anti-putin, the call themselves the freedom of russia legion, claim to have cross the border from ukraine into russia and claim to have "liberated parts of the region which is on the border of ukraine and russia." how significant is that, and what does it mean for them to have liberated those parts? dara: it is a really interesting story and it is still developing, but it is essentially a group that is affiliated loosely with the ukrainian military but not

aligned with them by any stretch. they were able to move well inside russia and the russian authorities have confirmed that this is happening. it looks like from twitter that they managed to steal a vehicle from russian border guards. this is a very embarrassing situation for russia. they are claiming this is ukrainian diversionary tactics, but it is really a black eye and embarrassment to the russians. stephanie: they are treating bakhmut like it's going to change the tide of the war. is that your sense that if indeed the russian forces have captured the city, it would somehow turn the direction of the war? dara: no, i think he is trying to spend whatever victory that he can come up with to show for the russian people, for the amount of cashel t's have lost. they have had basically no successes over the past four or five months, if not longer than

that, frankly. this is the best they can come up with to spend it. i don't think it will give them the strategic advantage this year. the force is simply too exhausted to try to move forward again in a meaningful way. i don't think they have the capability for another large offensive this year. stephanie: thanks so much for joining the newshour. >> thank you for having me. ♪ geoff: president joe biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy are back at the negotiating table in an effort to make a deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling. today's meeting comes after the president cut short his trip to asia, to focus on the debt limit talks at home. they both expressed optimism. pres. biden: i think we should look into tax loopholes and make sure they both pay their fair

share. >> we both agree we need to change direct -- trajectory. we can find common ground, make the economy stronger, take care of this debt, but more important, get this government moving again to curb inflation. geoff: following it all are white house correspondent laura barron-lopez and congressional correspondent lisa desjardins. welcome to you both. laura, what is the word from the administration, as president biden sits down with the house speaker this evening? >> from the administration today is that treasury secretary janet yellen sent a letter to house speaker kevin mccarthy just ahead of this meeting, again warning that as early as june 1, the government is going to reach its borrowing limit and be unable to pay its bills. despite that big warning, the white house did introduce meeting optimistic, hopeful, with two key caveats. that in recent days, white house

official told me they were frustrated by gop demands for increased cuts to the food assistance program snap, as well as, they said, demand from the gop to have spending cuts go beyond the two years that the white house is proposing. geoff: where are house republicans right now? the house speaker has to satisfy some competing demands among his caucus as it relates to raising the debt ceiling. >> of the week and we saw increased influence from the republican base, specifically conservatives. we've seen republicans and the speaker digging in on what he is saying, specifically on work requirements and for spending cuts that they want. at the same time of seen progressive democrats go the other way and say those spending cuts the republican wants would harm the core and be bad for the country. so you are sg eentesinyiase ll middle , at least over the weekend. there's also an issue with

strategy. democratic members of congress say time is on their side, that as the clock ticks down, republican moderates will blink. but republican see it the other way. i think they are winning the public argument here. we will see what happens when the pressure mounts. this meeting tonight matters. geoff: and we don't have much time left. as we've been reporting, a default would have catastrophic economic consequences. what do americans make of the threat? >> a new pbs newshour npr pr paul that will be reduced -- released tomorrow, we ask how should the debt ceiling negotiations advance, and 52% of those polled said there should be an increase in the debt ceiling first, followed by separate spending cut discussions. 42% said only increased the debt ceiling with spending cuts. we also asked if the government

defaults, who is to blame? 43% said they would blame president biden, and 45% said they would blame the gop and congress. president biden recently addressed this, saying on the politics of it, that everyone would be blamed. geoff: lisa, help us with the timing here. we have 10 days before the country would default. what are the potential cut plans? lisa: this is the simple math. 10 days, let's talk about what is needed. speaker mccarthy estimates he needs two days to write a deal, three days for the house to read it and pass it. that leads -- that leaves five days, and that is usually what the senate needs to get anything done. the senate could move a lot faster if it wants to, but basically this will be very close. i do want to remind our viewers,

all these negotiations usually fail twice. this is the first sign of failure over the weekend. however, it is unusual to be this close to the deadline. geoff: lisa and laura, thank you both. ♪ amna: another hat in the ring as the presidential race starts to take shape. south carolina senator tim scott announced today that he will be vying for the republican nomination. he joins several other candidates seeking to be the name at the top of the ticket come 2024. lisa desjardins is back with this report. >> i'm running for president of the united states. lisa: rallying a crowd in his home state of south carolina,

senator tim scott announced his run with an optimistic message. >> for those of you who wonder if it's possible for a broken kid in a broken home to rise beyond their circumstances, the answer is yes. lisa: his rise to this moment is something scott calls quintessentially american. the family struggled for money, by high school, scott says he was failing in several classes when a business mentor changed his life. >> he taught me how to think my way out of poverty. >> he became a leader. by aged 30, scott was us small businessman with a seat on the small business council. >> i am living proof that america is the land of opportunity, and not a land of oppression. >> he is a stern critic of

government programs for the poor. scott's approach, instead, his tax incentives called opportunity zones or businesses to invest in low income areas. the video from his office touted some of the results in south los angeles. others, including one study this year, say the zones have been ineffective or extraordinarily expensive. for scott, opportunity is the central theme, and indeed, in the title of his 2020 book. but when it comes to race an opportunity, scott occupies a unique place, is one of the few black americans ever elected to the u.s. senate, and the only black republican this century. he has mixed his personal experience -- >> in the course of one year, i've been stopped seven times by law enforcement officers. >> he opposed many ideas aimed at law enforcement. as 2021, as president biden gave his first -- his first speech to

congress, to give their respons, and one line hit a flashpoint. >> hear me clearly, america's not a racist country. >> in his opening ad this year, scott leaned in, speaking from fort sumter, where the civil war started, blasting democrats. >> all too often, when they get called out for their failures, they weaponize race to divide us. >> is campaigning focuses on personal retail politics. but he is not faced a tough raised in over a decade. >> i'm not going to talk about six or five or seven or 10. i'm just saying that whatever the most conservative legislation is that can come through congress. >> he later said he would sign a 20 week ban. he orders his experience sets

him apart. the man who focuses on opportunity, is looking for a big one of his own. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. amna: for analysis on how tim scott's announcement shakes up the republican presidential race, and the other political news of the week, we turn to amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. good to see you both. thanks for being here. scott stands apart in the party for number of reasons, but when you look at the list of declared republican presidential candidates, even so far, take a look at these folks. tim scott now and former president donald trump. how does tim scott distinguish himself from all the other candidates who are challenging front runner right now, mr. trump? >> i think he is hoping that his hot -- his message of hope and optimism is what is going to break through, especially against donald trump talks about being the candidate of

retribution. tim scott says i am a messenger of hope. is that what republican voters want? at this point it doesn't seem like that is a message that is particularly appealing. i think in the long game, tim scott would look to a primary where donald trump and someone who is supposedly announcing very soon, ron desantis, have a big, messy primary, both of them get sort of beaten up and bruised, and tim scott's message of optimism becomes more appealing. also in the long-term strategy is iowa, a state that has considerable evangelical community, and he is also someone who runs with his faith very proudly. i think that is something he is going to use, try to use to his advantage in winning the very first state on the primary

calendar. amna: the majority of the candidates are now -- are now people of color. meanwhile the two front runners are donald trump and someone who has not declared yet, ron desantis. two white man who are leveraging the issues. >> his message fits with the republican message. he is running as anti-woke, but in a different way than ron desantis. he is running as an embodiment of the republican idea that you can come from any background and lift yourself up by your bootstraps and therefore you do not need the government to help people out. that is really where he is coming from and the message he is selling. as amy said, or dovetailing off what amy said, former president trump is perfectly happy to have

senator scott in the race. the reason he is perfectly happy to have senator scott in the race is this idea of a great brawl, of all these candidates beating each other up, all the undercard's going after ron desantis and leaving room for former president trump, like he did in 2015, to just sort of skate through as trump and the others. it's not clear that this will work in 2015 and 2016, we were looking at the model of 2012. now we are looking at the model of 2015-16. every single election cycle is different. there's the very open question about iowa, will former president trump be able to get those evangelical voters who were uncomfortable with him, but ultimately supported him strongly, or will he not? is there a lane for desantis or tim scott? amna: one of the patriarchs of

delaware politics, u.s. senator tom carper has announced his retirement. >> the senate map is really interesting for democrats. they have more seats up than republicans. anytime you hear about a retirement, if your democrat, you cringe. there's a difference between seats that are open and provide an opportunity for democrats, democratic candidates who have been underrepresented in the senate, and then there are the open seats that cause panic and cause problems for the democratic party. this is an opportunity seat. the seat held by tom carper, a white democrat. his protege, actually she was his intern who worked in his office, a congresswoman there. he basically endorsed her today. she has not announced she is running but everybody is sort of waiting for this.

we also have another state where you have an opportunity for an african-american woman, in maryland. head of one of the largest counties in the state announcing her run to replace another democrat, and california as well, dianne feinstein, the congresswoman there. the possibility to go from zero black women in the senate to three is there, certain should go from zero to one or two is very likely. amna: one of the big stories we are watching is the face-to-face meeting between president biden and house speaker mccarthy. they have been meeting as we sit here right now. what do we expect to happen? >> i think you asked big similar question two weeks ago, and the answer then was, it's not really clear how they land this plane. it's not clear what the face-saving solution is that allows all of them to move

forward and get the debt ceiling raised and avoid catastrophe. nothing has willie changed since then, in terms of clarity. these meetings are continuing over the weekend. they were expressing dread and saying that everyone knows negotiating in bad faith and everyone was accusing everyone of things going wrong. now they are expressing optimism. it's not clear that anything has truly changed to cause them to express optimism. in fact, the statements they made in the oval office were really a restatement of positions they have been stating for weeks now. amna: treasury secretary janet yellen said june 1 is the hard deadline to raise that debt ceiling. weeard lisa reporting earlier, it's unusual to get this close. >> it looks like at the end it finally comes together. this does feel different. at the same time, it does feel

as if both sides are telling us we have the elements in place for a deal and it's going to be a deal, and both sides are going to try to figure out how they massage it to their base. on the left you have progressives saying we're giving too much away, and on the right saying we are not doing enough to control spending. if you are in the white house, landing this plane is critical. running in every session is bad. running in a recession that was only made worse by debt crisis and people looking at their 401(k) statements, saying how did that happen? that is one of those things that biden cannot afford. amna: we will be following this very closely. think you so much, good to see you both.

geoff: more than half a million americans are on waiting lists to receive long-term care in their homes, instead of at institutions. most people on these lists have intellectual and developmental disabilities, and sometimes need help with daily activities like cooking, maintaining a job or getting around town. last year, oklahoma passed a law to end its 13-year long disability services waitlist that had grown to more than five thousand people. but as judy woodruff reports, in the first of several stories on the challenges facing those with disabilities, many families are still waiting for the help they need. it's part of our new series disability reframed. judy: 14-year-old milena castillo loves hanging out in the kitchen with her mother maria. this week is special because grandma is in town from mexico. milena: i made these with my grandma!

judy: most of the time, however, it's just the two of them. milena has several diagnoses, including autism and adhd, and maria worries about her future. >> she depends 100% on me. so i don't know if she's going to be able to be on her own. judy: so you have a full time job and you aremaking sure that when she's not in school that everything is all right. and how is that working? what are you, what do you need that you're not getting right now? >> i think sometimes just a little break to have one or two hours a week for myself. that's also really, really hard. judy: hundreds of thousands of americans, like maria's daughter are waiting for services that could help them live more independently. oklaho is just one of 37 states that have waitlists

for waivers entitling them to medicaid home and community based services. benefits that help people with disabilities live and work outside of institutions. these waivers cover the costs of things like behavioral therapy, job training, and caregivers who teach life skills. medicaid is funded jointly by states and the federal government, which doesn't guarantee that home and community-based care will be paid for, so states like oklahoma can limit the number of people receiving those services. and once states meet their own limit, the waitlist begins. most days maria can't let milena out of her sight. she says that getting off the waitlist would make it possible for her to get an in-home caregiver. >> it's going to be like that period of time where i can focus on many other things that i can't focus when i am taking care of her. because sometimes i just feel like i can't do it no more.

judy: maria saw that glimmer of light in 2022, when state lawmakers committed funds to start chipping away at the disability services waitlist. but even with the oklahoma legislature approving $32.5 million last year to help meet the needs of individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, there are still questions about whether every family in this state will find trained providers to help care for their loved ones. as part of the new funding, caregivers and oklahoma received a 25% pay raise, up to an average of $12.50 an hour. >> you may have seen reports of salaries going up in places like mcdonald's and walmart and target. the problem is that the medicaid payments have not kept pace with that. and so it's adding even more of a challenge to find these

workers. judy: david goldfarb is with the arc of the united states, a disability rights organization. he says the problems with long-term care are systemic. david: these services are provided through medicaid, and so medicaid as a whole has often been underfunded. with covid 19, we've seen a major exiting of the workforce across all long term care and health settings, and that does not appear to be coming back. >> this is the front door to our service system. judy: faced with a shortage of providers, the state of oklahoma is giving parents the option to use waivers to hire family and community members, with less formal training, as caregivers. >> we found that actually friends and neighbors as staff worked well in some situations. judy: beth scrutchins heads oklahoma's developmental disabilities services, a

division under oklahoma's human services agency. >> we're continuing forward with some of those flexibilities. but we know that the answer to the workforce crisis has to be a multi-pronged approach. judy: still, advocates say some parents feel pressure to quit their jobs while waiting to get the help they need. >> when i started the emergency -- when i started that process the person on the other line , asked me if i would quit my job to take care of william. if that is their answer to the caregiving hole, that we have to have me quit my job, that was not our option. judy: oklahoma democratic state representative ellyn hefner has an 18 year old son william with a developmental disability. william works part time at a coffee shop that employs people with disabilities. after waiting for more than a decade, he was approved for an emergency waiver in january but

after he started to have life-threatening seizures. as a single mom, ellyn says she was grateful and relieved when william's co-worker jared cooling stepped in to care for him. >> if we wouldn't have known jared, i don't know what i would have done. i know of a couple of families that are still calling agencies. do you have someone available? and so they still do not have relief. instead of feeling that caregiving hole, we're putting the weight again on the families to solve it. judy: jared's presence has already proved to be literally life-saving. william, tell me about jared. william: jared, uh, is a good man. we were at planet fitness. i was on a treadmill and i fell

and had a seizure. and he saved my life. judy after william's seizure, : ellyn checked in with jared. ellyn: i told him, i said, i'm giving you an out. i know that's hard. so if you don't think that you can do this job, i'll understand. and he said, i think i want to do this job more. he said, i can do it. and he said, i really enjoy spending time with william. i want to pay him more. i want to give him benefits and i don't want him to leave now. there's such a great feeling

when you know that you can trust someone else to take care of your son. judy: jared helps william take his medicine, drives him to work and the gym, and helps him find missing puzzle pieces. jared: is it this one right here? judy he also teaches him life : skills, like cooking and lends an ear when he practices for his school musicals. judy: back at the state capitol building, william's mother is working to pass a bill that would require oklahoma human services to track the help families receive after they get off the waitlist. >> the agency should tell us how's it going? , who's being helped? but why are people remaining on the list? that's a really big question. so i'm still waiting for those answers. judy: scrutchins says it does

take time to connect families to exactly what they need. it takes, i understand, 6 to 9 months to process an individual or an application. why does it take so long? beth: it depends on where they are in the process. it depends on what kinds of services and supports the families need. but they do have a waitlist specialist who is helping them through every step of the process. judy: in 2021, americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities waited longer for these medicaid services than any other group, including senior citizens, an average of five and a half years. in the meantime, families have to step in. what would it mean if you could have some help for a few hours a day? >> it will be very good for my mental health because i know that's something that i need to take care of it too. and if i am okay, she's going to

be okay. judy: what is your wish for your daughter? what do you want for her? maria: i want her to be a good human being. i want her to be a good person. i want her to have a good quality of life. judy: for now, maria and milena hold on another day, waiting for the care they've been promised. for the pbs newshour, i'm judy woodruff in oklahoma city. ♪ amna: this week a live-action version of disney's 'the little mermaid' opens in theaters, more than thirty years after the original animated movie hit the big screen. it's one of just a few times that a disney princess will be played by a black actress in a casting decision that sparked both joy and backlash. i explored what this moment

means as part of our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ a new little mermaid is now part of our world, with a fresh take on the old-school disney classic, a live-action remake starring 23 year old hallie bailey, a black actress in the lead role of aerial. the summer movie trailer release led to viral, delightful reactions among young fans. >> i think she's brown. >> that's the real her? amna: including sisters rylie and mckenzie fleming.

their mother dari filmed the moment they saw the new princess. amna: were you surprised by the way they reacted? dari: i was, i was super surprised, especially with my little one, because she never really gets surprised or reacts to anything. so for her to react that way to the little mermaid trailer, i was like, wow. this is going to be an amazing movie. amna: even bailey herself said she was in awe of the response to the trailer alone. there's only ever been one black disney princess in disney's 100-year history 2009's tiana in the princess and the frog. a previous, 1997 cinderella remake cast singer and actress brandy norwood in the lead. for dari, that moment resonated. she wants more moments like that for her girls. amna: when you think about the kind of characters that you watched growing up, right, the tv shows, the movies that you had. how are they different from the things that your girls get to see today? >> when i was growing up, i had,

you know, cinderella, brandy. i absolutely loved that movie. and for them to, you know, remake another black disney princess/mermaid is just amazing. and i feel like that's so important for, you know, for little girls, not just, you know not just for brown and black girls, but just little girls in general. amna: after their reaction video went viral, the flemings were invited to attend the movie's world premiere in los angeles, earlier this month. and rylie and mckenzie came face to face with the real-life ariel. what's your favorite thing about ariel? what do you like so much about >>what do you like so much about the mermaid? everything!!! >>everything!!!

their father, will, says it's less about the movie, and more about the myth >> it's one thing for us to be able to say, hey, you can be whatever you want to be if you're not seeing folks that look like you, that maybe come from the same backgrounds as you, you know, it's not as believable for someone who's never seen it before. amna: but not everyone welcomed the new ariel. the 2019 casting announcement of sparked hashtags and some arguing the little mermaid is a quote european fairytale and that bailey looks nothing like the ariel we know and love. to leah sava jeffries, also a black actress, being cast in a percy jackson tv series in 2022 and, that same year, to puerto rican actor ismael cruz cordova being cast in a lord of the rings prequel. >> i believe that each generation of children has been carefully taught who to expect in the stories that they read. amna: professor ebony elizabeth

thomas of the university of michigan is the author of the dark fantastic: race and the imagination from harry potter to the hunger games. she says the negative response isn't surprising, given the history of stories being told, and characters being represented. >> if all of a sudden your favorite dish has a new ingredient or a new preparation, then you are going to be absolutely startled. so this is not giving excuses for racism and responses to diverse and multicultural stories. quite the contrary. i just want to explain within the context of a society where we all grow up to expect most of our heroes and most of our heroines to be white, cisgender and from the majority culture. amna: multicultural stories, thomas argues, have the power to

open doors, build bridges, and ultimately connect people to each other. >> it helps us learn how to get along with each other when we have a glimpse into what it means to be another person living in a different kind of culture, living in another country, living another life. amna: the new film takes viewers into another world featuring , notable names like melissa mccarthy as the sea witch urszula. >> oh hey! didn't expect to find yu here. amna: actress awkwafina as the seagull, scuttle. and daveed diggs, as the anxious but ever-loyal crab, sebastian. early fan reviews are enthusiastic. do you remember your favorite song from the movie? under the sea. >>under the sea. amna: under the sea.

i love that one, too. rylie, what about you? what's your favorite song? the little mermaid opens in theaters nationwide this friday. >> it's one of my favorite songs, too. remember there's a lot more on at pbs.org/newshour including , a look at how organizations in st. louis are working to combat antisemitism and address misconceptions after a dramatic spike in hate crimes in missouri. geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night, when we'll return to uvalde texas, for the one-year anniversary of the school shooting that killed 19 children there. and that's the newshour for tonight i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by --

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♪ christiane: hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company" here's what's coming up. >> legal barreling towards a hot war, not just a cold war. christiane: biden and g-7 allies me in japan. california's former governor tells me w u.s.-china policy needs to cool down and avoid catastrophe. also ahead. >> the weapons that the suspect utilized was an ar 15. christiane: guns, not drugs are america's top concerns. we drill down about the weapons terrifying the united states. plus -- >> truman didn't want to believe what he was about to do. >>