GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Cornell students hold an hourslong sit-in to protest the handling of an alleged rape case involving a campus fraternity.

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law: There are so many ways in which the legal system continues to fail accusers in these cases and to provide impunity for abusers.

GEOFF BENNETT: Riot police clash with student demonstrators across France, as unrest continues with the presidential election there looming.

AMNA NAWAZ: And emerging evidence shows popular weight loss medications known as GLP-1s might help with another public health crisis, addiction to drugs and alcohol.

JESSICA MASSARONE, GLP-1 Patient: It has been slower with the weight loss piece and instantaneously with the cravings and the addiction.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Instantaneous?

JESSICA MASSARONE: Instant.

Days.

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

Anger and backlash are building at Cornell University this week over the way the school handled an alleged gang rape in 2024.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, students staged a seven-hour sit-in and launched what they're calling an economic blackout, halting all spending on campus, including with any university operations.

That follows a rally earlier this week that drew thousands of students, faculty, and community members demanding justice for Jane Doe, who says she was sexually assaulted by multiple men at Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity two years ago.

SAYA TAYLOR, Cornell Protester: Jane Doe deserved an administration that delivered a fair and proper judicial process.

Jane Doe deserved a police department that would actually follow up on her case.

Instead, she was silenced, her rapists free to walk the grounds of Cornell under a system that chose the university over the student.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yesterday, Cornell announced former federal prosecutor Sally Yates will lead an independent review of the university's handling of the case.

And, late last week, Governor Kathy Hochul appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James a special prosecutor.

The local district attorney did not pursue charges back in 2024.

The case has renewed questions about how sexual assault allegations are investigated on college campuses and by law enforcement.

Northwestern Law Professor Deborah Tuerkheimer is a former prosecutor and author of "Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers."

She joins us now.

Thank you for being with us.

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law: Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: New York data shows that most campus sexual assault cases never reach law enforcement, never result in serious discipline.

And yet we know that Jane Doe pursued many of the avenues available to her.

There was a Title IX investigation.

There was a police report.

Of course, there's now a civil lawsuit.

When you look at how this case was handled, what should have happened differently?

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER: Well, from the beginning, the criminal investigation really never got off the ground.

From what we have been able to tell, there was no effort to build a relationship with Jane Doe.

There was no effort to take into account the impact of trauma and the way that traumatic memories are really stored and retrieved and encoded differently than other types of memories.

There was very little effort then to gather the kind of corroborative evidence that would give investigators a sense of whether charges were viable.

Instead, what we saw is that, from the very beginning, the investigation was dismissed, and Jane Doe was too.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Cornell handled this through Title IX, even though the allegations included serious crimes.

At what point should a university turn a case like this directly over to law enforcement?

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER: Well, the choice of whether to take a case to law enforcement really belongs to a victim.

In this case, as you said, Jane Doe did seek to pursue both a criminal prosecution and also her Title IX complaint, and that is absolutely within the right of someone who's been the victim of sexual assault.

So, often, the proceedings proceed parallel, and they can happen at the same time.

One can happen before the other.

But, again, here, we saw only the Title IX proceeding go forward, and the criminal case never got off the ground.

GEOFF BENNETT: And New York law has come under scrutiny too, as you well know, over how voluntary intoxication affects sexual assault prosecutions.

How does that complicate questions of consent and prosecution?

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER: Well, New York has a provision of its rape law that says that a person who is mentally incapacitated or temporarily unable to control or appraise their conduct due to alcohol or drugs is not able to consent, but only if those drugs or alcohol were administered without the consent of the victim.

So that's what's called the voluntary intoxication loophole.

About 19 states do treat voluntary intoxication and involuntary intoxication differently.

And what it means is that someone who's voluntarily ingested alcohol or drugs is deemed not to be a victim, unworthy of the law's protection.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have written extensively about consent, the skepticism directed at victims, the institutions that can protect the accused.

How does the Cornell case fit into that broader pattern that you have researched and written about?

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER: Well, sadly, these dynamics are familiar, all too familiar.

And I say sadly, but also maddeningly.

In cases across the country every day, victims are met with undue skepticism.

They're met with blame.

They're met with disregard.

I call this the credibility discount, and we see it all the time.

It's ubiquitous.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we should say, the names and images of the seven men who have been accused have been spread widely across social media.

Their names have, in some cases, been reported, even though none have been criminally charged.

And we have seen cases, including the Duke lacrosse case, where men accused of sexual assault were ultimately exonerated.

So, what protections are owed to the accused?

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER: Well, in criminal court, the a criminal defendant has the highest level of protection, and that's appropriate because of the consequences that can ensue.

And, on campus, there are also protections that are due to a respondent.

I think what we're seeing in this case is that the credibility discount means that investigators aren't even doing their job.

They're not even pursuing the possibility that a case is viable.

And in the Title IX context, all too often, even when a complainant is found to be credible, the sanctions are light and the process is flawed.

And so there are so many ways in which the legal system continues to fail accusers in these cases and to provide impunity for abusers.

GEOFF BENNETT: Northwestern Law Professor Deborah Tuerkheimer, thank you again for being with us.

DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, protests are continuing in France a day after more than 250,000 people took to the streets across the country to demand education reforms.

Demonstrations began in mid-September, fueled by frustrations over classroom sizes and poor building conditions.

Nearly 500 people were arrested Tuesday, bringing the total to more than 6,000 since the start of the protests.

Special correspondent William Denselow reports from Paris.

WILLIAM DENSELOW: Anger on the streets of Paris, as demonstrators led by high school students continue to give French authorities a failing grade.

MARWAN, Student (through translator): National education is really catastrophic.

Personally, in my high school, the roofs are open, there's no heating, the desks are broken.

So we work in really precarious conditions.

RAYAN, Student: The building, the school and the system, we want to change.

WILLIAM DENSELOW: The government says demonstrations have been hijacked by outside groups, leading to urban violence.

Several hundred teenagers have been injured, prompting authorities to suspend the use of stun grenades.

AMAIMA, Student: A boy whose mouth is completely destroyed, et cetera, and many more things.

And it's just horrible to see, especially when it's kids who are just trying to fight for their rights.

WILLIAM DENSELOW: A right to a better education.

France tops the list for average class sizes in Europe, with roughly 25 to a class in public schools from ages 11 to 15.

Responding to the recent protests, the government promised to make visible changes to the nation's schools.

EDOUARD GEFFRAY, French Education Minister (through translator): We must do more and better, notably for high schools.

And so the prime minister has entrusted us with a number of initiatives.

WILLIAM DENSELOW: Initiatives like addressing class cancellations by replacing absent teachers.

But that requires substantial investment, no easy task as French public debt hit roughly $4 trillion in June, soaring to 119 percent of GDP.

That's the highest level since 1946, after the destruction of World War II.

GENEVIEVE PONS, President, Europe Jacques Delors: Times are difficult with oil prices rising.

So it's a really difficult moment for the government in France now, because they have to face these real problems with very rapidly shrinking means.

WILLIAM DENSELOW: For demonstrators, the message is clear.

Lawmakers must find a solution.

Trade unions joined Tuesday's demonstrations in solidarity with the student movement.

It adds further pressure on the French government ahead of next year's presidential elections.

Genevieve Pons, president of the Europe Jacques Delors, a Brussels-based think tank, says whoever is elected president next April will be tasked with answering a fundamental question.

GENEVIEVE PONS: France will need total, if I may say so, rethinking,because we have to answer this question.

Why is it the country where the taxes are the highest and a country where public services have real problems?

WILLIAM DENSELOW: Existential questions attracting attention from overseas.

On Tuesday, President Trump weighed in on social media, claiming the protests were being fueled by out-of-control mass migration and not schools, further stoking an already charged immigration picture here.

In response, the French foreign minister said France will write its own story during what's becoming an increasingly challenging chapter in the country's history.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Denselow in Paris.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines, Christa Pike's say she's -- quote -- "angry and confused' after regaining consciousness following her botched execution last week.

Speaking outside a court in Nashville today, they said the 50-year-old is very aware of what happened -- quote -- "up to a point" and that her prognosis remains unclear.

RANDY SPIVEY, Attorney For Christa Pike: She has a blood clot in one of her arms.

She has pneumonia.

She is not able to swallow, and we do not know what, if any, functions she will regain in her arms.

But we do know that there's a long road ahead.

AMNA NAWAZ: At a hearing earlier, a judge ordered that the state preserve evidence from the execution chamber and all communication records related to the failed procedure.

Pike survived two doses of a lethal injection more than 30 years after she was sentenced to death for torturing and killing her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

In Arizona, a congressional candidate says she was raped while trying to repair campaign signs this summer.

Democrat Bernadette Greene Placentia told The Phoenix New Times that she was hit in the head in a parking lot in August and later awoke to find a man on top of her.

The trucker and small business owner said she reported the incident to the police two weeks later.

In a statement provided to the "News Hour," her campaign says Greene Placentia -- quote -- "hopes that by speaking about her experience, others will know they're not alone."

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Isaias is expected to strengthen into a hurricane tomorrow morning, making it the first such storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Satellite video shows the newly formed storm churning off the eastern coast of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of about 65 miles an hour.

The potential hurricane is forecasted to make landfall late Friday, bringing heavy rain and high winds to portions of the Gulf Coast through the weekend.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is expected to arrive at its home port in San Diego tomorrow after a record-setting deployment as part of the U.S.

war with Iran.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S.

Defense Secretary: What the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group did, no other carrier strike group has ever done.

AMNA NAWAZ: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the ship today, praising what he called -- quote -- "the best team in the world" and saying they -- quote -- "changed the arc of history."

He then awarded the entire carrier group the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest such honor for a group of service members.

The Lincoln spent more than 250 uninterrupted days at sea, setting a modern record amid reports of poor conditions on board.

In Ukraine, local authorities say at least 25 civilians were killed in the latest Russian missile and drone attacks.

Explosions thundered over the capital of Kyiv overnight, as Moscow kept up its constant barrage on the city.

In the northern city of Pryluky, a Russian missile flattened a five-story apartment building.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned of a massive strike ahead of time, but the country's worn-down air defenses struggle to repel the attacks.

He also posted this video, saying Ukraine's forces responded by hitting a number of Russian targets, including two oil facilities.

The Trump administration and international health authorities are asking Russia to provide more information about an unconfirmed case of the plague.

Speaking to reporters today, the head of the World Health Organization called for, as he put it, timely, complete and transparent information sharing regarding the death of a lab worker in Siberia last week.

Russian authorities have been relatively tight-lipped on the matter, though they did say today that there's no risk of an epidemic and that they've shared the latest information on the case with the WHO.

Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry today for their work on so-called mirror image molecules, those that look and behave alike, but cannot be superimposed on one another.

Henri Kagan from France and Kenso Soai from Japan solved a century-old mystery on how chemical reactions can be used to favor a single molecule over the other.

Their work is hugely important for developing pharmaceuticals.

After his win, Soai explains how the science works.

KENSO SOAI, Nobel Prize in Chemistry Winner (through translator): It's often compared to right and left hands.

When two people shake hands right hand to right hand, that's a normal handshake.

But if one person offers the opposite hand, it means something completely different.

It's the same with amino acids when they bond together.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Nobel Committee called the pair's findings a feat, saying that no one else has been able to achieve what they have other than -- quote -- "life itself."

On Wall Street today, stocks pulled back from recent records.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 350 points.

The Nasdaq slipped by about a quarter of 1 percent.

The S&P 500 also closed in negative territory.

Still to come on the "News Hour": we report from Georgia on two critical elections for Senate and governor; political strategists break down the state of play ahead of the midterms; and Israel marks three years since the deadly Hamas terror attacks.

While much of the focus this midterm season is on congressional races, there are also 36 states across the country holding elections for governor.

GEOFF BENNETT: One of those is Georgia, a purple state where former Democratic Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican businessman Rick Jackson held their first and only televised debate last night.

Our Liz Landers is in Atlanta, where she attended a watch party for that debate.

And she joins us now.

So, Liz, tell us more about these candidates and the issues they discussed in last night's debate.

LIZ LANDERS: Well, this governor's race is between this billionaire businessman, Rick Jackson, and the one-term mayor here former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta.

And Jackson is up a little bit in the polls right now.

But this debate last night was an opportunity for Georgia voters to present questions directly to these candidates.

And we heard a lot of the same issues that we have been talking about at the national level, affordability issues, Flock cameras, which are omnipresent here in Atlanta, also data centers, wage growth, and Medicaid expansion.

Throughout the debate, Bottoms tried to tie Jackson to President Trump.

Here is one of those instances.

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate: My opponent has said he wants to beat Trump's favorite governor.

He wants to be Trump with a Southern tone.

He said there's not a single policy that he disagrees with Trump on.

RICK JACKSON (R), Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate: I don't owe anybody anything.

Nobody's ever told me what to do.

My number one priority is Georgians.

It's you.

And I will stand up to anybody.

LIZ LANDERS: Jackson, for his part, did not mention President Trump by name, instead likening himself to the current Republican governor, Brian Kemp.

He has, though, been endorsed by President Trump, but you are not hearing him talk about that much on the campaign trail now.

GEOFF BENNETT: And how were people reacting at the watch party you attended?

LIZ LANDERS: This was a Republican watch party for the Fulton County GOP.

Of course, everybody there was a big Rick Jackson fan and supporter.

And I asked people what they liked about him.

They said that they love his background as a businessman, think that he can bring more business opportunities, lower taxes here to Georgia, and also that he's not a politician, a seasoned politician.

I asked them if they wanted to see President Trump come down here and try to help the Republican ticket.

And most of the people that I talked to this watch party thought that President Trump would bring out the base here in Georgia right now.

Rick Jackson is blanketing the airwaves.

And if you have been watching TV in the Atlanta area, like we have in the last day or so, Geoff, you're seeing how much money he is spending.

He has a huge money advantage also going into this general.

GEOFF BENNETT: So let's zoom out a bit.

What's the state of play nationally in the other governor's races?

LIZ LANDERS: Right now, there are currently 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors, but both sides see opportunities to pick up and flip certain races.

Democrats think that they can pick up and flip Iowa, whereas Republicans are favored to win Kansas right now.

And beyond that, though, Democrats are seriously playing in states that have not really been on their radar for a number of years, including Ohio and Alaska.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, of course, there's Texas, a red state that Democrats are feeling more optimistic about today than they were just a few weeks ago.

Tell us more about that.

LIZ LANDERS: Yes, we just got news today that the Democratic Governors Association and also the Democratic governor of Illinois, the billionaire, J.B.

Pritzker, are giving a million dollars each to Gina Hinojosa, who is the Democratic candidate there running against Governor Greg Abbott.

And in a recent Siena poll, this had Hinojosa with a slight lead.

This would be a huge coup for Democrats if they were able to flip that governor's mansion there in Texas.

Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas, Geoff, since 1994.

GEOFF BENNETT: Liz Landers in Atlanta for us tonight.

Liz, our thanks to you, as always.

LIZ LANDERS: Of course.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, back in Washington, the midterms will decide whether Republicans retain complete control over Congress.

Here to discuss each party's closing strategy are Democratic strategist and senior adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders Faiz Shakir and Republican strategist and media consultant Melik Abdul.

Welcome to you both.

MELIK ABDUL, Republican Strategist: Thanks for having us.

AMNA NAWAZ: As we all know, polls are not predictive.

They capture a moment in time.

But the latest generic ballot polling average from Nate Silver shows a nearly 10-point lead for Democrats right now.

Melik, based on that, what is your assessment of where control of the house and Senate might end up?

MELIK ABDUL: Republicans are doing great.

(LAUGHTER) MELIK ABDUL: No, we're not.

So we're supposed to lose at least - - if you just gauge history, we're supposed to lose at least one or both of the houses.

It seems like the Democrats have a much better chance at winning the House than they do Senate.

I know there are some outlier races.

But I do think that if you talk to Republicans, our -- we're much more concerned about holding on to the Senate and kind of conceding that we very well may lose the House.

AMNA NAWAZ: You agree with that, Faiz?

FAIZ SHAKIR, Democratic Strategist: Yes, a few major things going here.

One is Democratic enthusiasm.

We saw in the primaries more Democrats voted than Republicans.

You can sense the Democrats want to run through a wall and ready to vote.

The question is whether Republicans are ready to run through a wall and a vote.

And generally you see a lack of enthusiasm on their side.

And that's helping us.

The biggest issue in this election cycle, which is also helping Democrats, is, do you want to check on Donald Trump?

That is the one uniting question and issue that all the Democrats could run on and say, put us in charge.

They have had the House and the Senate.

You want to change policies on tariffs, on Iran war, come with us.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you see them winning control of the Senate, though?

FAIZ SHAKIR: Yes, I do.

AMNA NAWAZ: You do.

OK.

Melik, let me ask you about -- we're seeing Republican candidates right now on the campaign trail, because we have already seen some, like Florida Representative Maria Salazar, criticize the president's immigration policy.

We saw the Michigan Senate candidate there, Mike Rogers, call for an end to his tariff war.

We saw the Iowa Senate candidate break with him when it comes to the war in Iran.

They're criticizing him now on the campaign trail.

But if they win, would they continue to do so once in office?

MELIK ABDUL: It depends on where that is.

If it's someplace maybe like a Texas, maybe not.

But if you're looking somewhere -- let's say we do end up keeping -- winning Kansas or someplace like, that's why you're seeing Donald Trump go to certain places, where he at least has a base of support.

So he probably won't go to a place like Maine, but he will, even surprisingly, go into some place like New York, because he's a New Yorker in the Syracuse race, going to Syracuse for Blakeman.

So you will see those type of things happening, but Republicans are just really trying to hold on to the Senate and not knowing how to predict what the news cycle will be, because Donald Trump changes that by the hour.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is very true.

Faiz, Melik brings me right to you with some of the states he name-checked there, because there's some key Senate races there.

We're seeing in Kansas and Texas, it's definitely in play for the Democrats, Georgia, North Carolina, polls show Democrat candidates are now leading.

In Maine and Michigan, though, where you have more progressive candidates running, those races are still toss-ups.

Is all of that saying to you that moderate candidates are more electable in this sphere?

FAIZ SHAKIR: No, not necessarily.

I think what you're finding is a lot of these candidates speak to their geographies.

You look at a Troy Jackson, he's a Mainer.

You look at Mary Peltola, she's an Alaskan.

More than ever before, I feel good about the slate of candidates that Democrats are running.

And because you have Republicans disaffected, the possibilities of a Talarico, a Josh Turek, a Sherrod Brown, a Roy Cooper to win Republican votes is greater than it's ever been.

And it has less to do with ideology, the question that you asked me.

It has far more to do with, am I connected to your economic life and struggle?

Do you see in me someone who understands your life?

The candidates that I'm putting up, we're putting up together, whether you're Abdul, whether you're Troy, whether you're Roy Cooper, I think generally are winning on the basis of, I know your life.

And this guy, Trump, does not.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, we have seen President Trump heading the campaign trail in Texas today.

But, Melik, as you referenced earlier, he's in a district that was gerrymandered around Latinos who already supported him in 2024.

And polls are showing that his Latino support in some of those places he did win in the previous cycle, that that support is softening.

Is there concern that coalition that he built is now crumbling?

MELIK ABDUL: I have written about it in "Newsweek" and The Washington Examiner talking about Trump's coalition, and it is an unknown thing.

The big thing for me to watch overall when you're talking about Texas is the Hispanic vote.

Donald Trump won the Hispanic vote maybe about 53 or 54 percent.

But I think that, if Paxton, for one, is under that 50 percent threshold, we lose the Senate.

But also what that Hispanic vote also has to look at what's happening in Florida.

I think that the Hispanic vote is going to be the gauge, not just for 2026, for 2028 as well.

If there is a loss of support among Hispanics for Donald Trump, we're going to have a rough night.

AMNA NAWAZ: What should be the strongest economic message for Republican candidates right now, though, knowing what they're up against, which is high inflation, prices still rising?

I think that it could kind of piggyback off of what you said.

They have to localize the race, because the opponent -- the opposition will actually nationalize it.

So the things about gas prices and all of those things that these state and local candidates can't do anything about, they have to talk about what we saw in the debate in Georgia.

They have to talk about the data centers.

They have to talk about trying to do things locally, lowering the tax rates.

In Florida, insurance is a big issue.

They have to talk about local issues, because Donald Trump and those national issues will definitely suck all of the oxygen out of the room.

AMNA NAWAZ: Faiz, some of those voters aren't necessarily going for Dems.

They're going against Trump.

So what do Dems need to do or say to keep them beyond '26?

FAIZ SHAKIR: Well, it is helping that Donald Trump is saying that we're in a golden age, that we're living in some kind of sense that everything is gangbusters, this thing is amazing.

And yet he owns this economy.

When you think of DOGE and you think of tariffs and you think of the Iran war, these are choices made politically that have affected the economic lives of many people.

Now, when you're saying I see, Amna, and you're questioning the opportunity for massive political coalition building for Democrats out of this.

When I look at on election night and we're watching the results, I'm wondering how rural voters will vote, because they have been suffering many of the things I just mentioned, diesel.

And the economic plights against farmers have really affected them.

Now, if rural voters come off of Donald Trump, the places that we're talking about, Nebraska, Ohio, you go down the whole -- Texas, all these has -- puts them into play, but not only puts them into play for this cycle, puts them in play for the possibility of future Democrats who want to build a broader, more expansive working-class party.

AMNA NAWAZ: I have 30 seconds left.

I got to ask each of you, on election night, is there a single race you're watching that could be an early indication of how the rest of the night will go?

Melik, do you have one?

MELIK ABDUL: I will say Maine.

AMNA NAWAZ: Maine.

MELIK ABDUL: Maine.

FAIZ SHAKIR: I'm interested in Florida, I mean, for a lot of the reasons, just Mar-a-Lago.

And we will see if the Trump effect works there.

But I'm interested in -- Angie Nixon is running for Senate, and I think there's a chance of David Jolly being the governor.

It comes in early.

I believe that you will see the disaffection of Republicans happen or not in Florida.

AMNA NAWAZ: Faiz Shakir, Melik Abdul, great to have you both here.

Thank you so much.

MELIK ABDUL: Thank you.

FAIZ SHAKIR: Thank you.

Good to see you.

GEOFF BENNETT: A growing body of evidence suggests that GLP-1 drugs are not only helping millions of Americans with their diabetes and weight loss, but they're also proving effective at curbing some people's desire for drugs and alcohol.

William Brangham reports on the researchers who are testing whether these medications can help tackle the country's addiction crisis.

It's part of the ongoing series GLP-1s: Reshaping America.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN, Caron Treatment Centers: Good morning, Jessica.

WOMAN: Good morning.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: How are you?

WOMAN: Very good.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: You look amazing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At the Caron Treatment Centers in Eastern Pennsylvania, Dr.

Steven Klein knows firsthand what his patients are battling.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: Do you try to stop drinking and you cannot stop?

WOMAN: Before, yes.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: But now?

WOMAN: No.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: No?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Klein is now nine years sober from a cocaine and alcohol addiction.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: Are you having any side effects from the medication?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And, today, he's at the forefront of using GLP-1s with people who want to overcome their own addictions.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: OK, so we can talk about maybe going up on the dose a little bit.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He's also on a GLP-1 medication himself.

During the pandemic, Klein was staying sober, but while working as a pediatric resident in a Philadelphia E.R., he says he ate to cope with the pressure.

He put on about 30 pounds and was prescribed a GLP-1.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: And really remarkably, after my first or second shot of taking that, I had a transformative experience.

I identified at that point I was likely addicted to food before I was addicted to drugs or alcohol.

And the voice that talked to me about food and ordering Grubhub and DoorDash after a long day of work were the same that used to justify having that drink or that drug after a long day of being in medical school.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: While the FDA hasn't approved GLP-1s for any substance use disorders, the medications can be prescribed what's called off-label.

And the Caron Treatment Centers says it's done just that with more than 600 of their patients in the last two years.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: I have talked to now countless people on GLP-1s for diabetes or for weight loss who realize that they drink less, they smoke less, or they're doing something less that was unintended.

And that's a really remarkable, side effect and now maybe just effect of these drugs.

JESSICA MASSARONE, GLP-1 Patient: I thought, when I was in active addiction, that that was going to be the rest of my life.

Like, I didn't think I could ever come out of it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jessica Massarone is one of Dr.

Klein's patients, even though she lives in Rhode Island, more than 300 miles from his office.

JESSICA MASSARONE: And then the medication is... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I see.

JESSICA MASSARONE: ... is right here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: She's part of a grant-funded pilot program that's now using telemedicine and GLP-1s to try to help people overcome their addiction.

JESSICA MASSARONE: My boyfriend at the time introduced me to crack cocaine, and I instantly fell in love.

I was like, this is -- this is it.

And, like, I can be -- I can be anything.

I thought I was untouchable, unstoppable.

I thought I could do anything.

And it really quickly took over my whole life, lost my job, lost my apartment.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: She eventually lost custody of her three kids as well.

She struggled for 17 years, cycling in and out of prison.

JESSICA MASSARONE: The judge would release me, and I would go out and do the same thing every time, every single time.

And every time I did, it got worse.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: Anything?

That's a good answer.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In May of 2025, Klein prescribed her and about 20 other people with substance use disorders a GLP-1 free of charge.

At the time, she was living at this Rhode Island nonprofit called OpenDoors.

It provides transitional housing to homeless people and to those coming out of prison.

NICK HORTON, Co-Executive Director, OpenDoors: Everyone who does this work is desperate.

We're trying to fight off an epidemic with very few tools.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Nick Horton helps lead OpenDoors.

He says, so far, results have been promising.

NICK HORTON: We found very significant increases in self-reported well-being, very significant decreases in reported cravings, and most of the people stayed on the medication.

We certainly have seen people relapse.

We have seen people relapse, get off the medication, then get back on the medication.

JESSICA MASSARONE: I was like, the weight loss, absolutely, I'm a -- I raised my hand.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For Jessica Massarone, even though this is a substance abuse program, she initially signed up because she'd put on extra weight trying to stay sober.

JESSICA MASSARONE: It has been slower with the weight loss piece and instantaneously with the cravings and the addiction.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Instantaneous?

JESSICA MASSARONE: Instant.

Days.

Days.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Now sober for more than two years, Massarone is rebuilding her life.

She shares custody of her kids with an adoptive family and has worked her way up to managing a Subway restaurant.

JESSICA MASSARONE: It's been two years.

I get up and I go to work every day, every day.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

It's a whole new life.

JESSICA MASSARONE: It's a whole new life.

REGINA ROBERTS, GLP-1 Patient: Life has not turned out at all the way I had hoped it would.

But I guess I'm grateful I'm still standing.

A lot of addicts don't get that.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Regina Roberts also raised her hand for this program.

She says, over 17 years, she repeatedly tried to quit drinking.

REGINA ROBERTS: Lots of different therapy, taking antidepressants, weekly, biweekly therapy sessions, going to AA meetings every day or every other day.

And I still couldn't quiet down those voices.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: By 2023, Roberts says she and her husband, James, were each drinking a bottle of vodka a day when her son, Griffin, found them both unresponsive.

REGINA ROBERTS: My son tried to wake me up, couldn't.

Sure enough, James was dead, and I was too sick.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So Roberts tried to get sober again.

And, last year, Dr.

Klein prescribed her a once-weekly injectable GLP-1, plus regular counseling.

Today, she proudly admits she hasn't had a drink in more than 12 months and continues to stay the course for her son.

REGINA ROBERTS: He's my star.

He's the reason I get up every morning.

He's the reason I do everything.

MAN: Participants were shown drug-related cues.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: These anecdotal stories are promising.

But scientists at the National Institutes of Health in Baltimore have been trying to determine exactly how and why GLP-1s seem to work with regards to addiction.

DR.

LORENZO LEGGIO, National Institute on Drug Abuse: We don't fully understand how they work, yes, actually, not just for addiction.

We don't fully understand how they work for obesity either.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Dr.

Lorenzo Leggio is the clinical director of the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse.

MAN: Pitcher of red wine here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He and a team of researchers are running clinical trials where people with substance use disorders are given either a GLP-1 or a placebo and then studied.

Oh, wow.

OK.

WOMAN: Yes, a lot more options here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For privacy reasons, we couldn't film the actual participants, but we were able to see some of the ways they measure how these medications affect participants' cravings.

OK.

I will take some rice.

WOMAN: Sounds great.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Scientists watch first as participants pick foods in a virtual reality cafeteria.

Apparently, a person's behavior in this simulated world tells you something about their behavior in the real one.

And then they come here.

This is not your typical NIH lab, a room designed to look and feel like an actual bar, one meant to trigger a craving to drink.

DR.

LORENZO LEGGIO: No treatments, including GLP-1 therapies, are going to work for everybody.

So we have to understand not only if a medication works, but we also have to understand, which are the patients who are more likely to respond?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: While the initial findings from these trials will be reported next year, a recent study of 600,000 veterans showed GLP-1s helped reduce substance use disorders to alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, cocaine, and opioids from developing.

DR.

LORENZO LEGGIO: This is the most exciting time to really have a game changer in the natural history of addiction medicine.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But concerns remain about whether people will relapse if they stop taking GLP-1s, like what happens with weight loss.

Studies have shown that, when people stop these medications, on average, 60 percent of the weight they shed is back within a year.

But Dr.

Steven Klein says there's a solution for that.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: We prescribe lots of medications for people's lifetimes.

If I put you on a statin, the likelihood is you will be on that statin for the rest of your life.

So the idea that somehow addiction is not a chronic disease and therefore does not merit chronic treatment, I think is just another tip of the stigma iceberg.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: However, Klein cautions, GLP-1s alone won't solve the country's drug crisis.

DR.

STEVEN KLEIN: Recovery involves community, infrastructure, therapy, a lot of things that are not equally accessible to everybody.

I think these medications even the playing field by giving people more time to get into those services and establish themselves and be on their recovery path.

I don't think GLP-1s are a silver bullet for addiction.

The GLP-1, and how do you feel like your dose is going now?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Rhode Island pilot program will likely end in a few months.

And Klein says, short of FDA approval for substance abuse, these medications will remain too expensive because insurance won't cover them.

But, until then, Jessica Massarone says she is saving up.

These medications have helped her turn a corner, and she's willing to pay hundreds of dollars every month to preserve the precious gains she's made.

JESSICA MASSARONE: Who's to say, if I stop taking the medication, am I going to get high right away?

Or -- I don't know.

I can't answer that, right?

But why do I want to find out?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

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

GEOFF BENNETT: Tomorrow, the final story in our series on GLP-1s examines how the drugs are changing perspectives on body image.

AMNA NAWAZ: Today, Israel marked one of its darkest days in history.

October 7, the third anniversary of Hamas terrorists storming Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people, kidnapping 251 more, and sparking multiple wars that still shake the region.

Our coverage begins with one survivor and his determination to create out of the horrors a new generation of Israeli leadership.

And a warning that the story includes disturbing images.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Tonight in Tel Aviv, a moment of silence for the moment that changed a nation, tens of thousands of Israelis remembering those killed, grieving a day that divides history.

Omri Shifroni has done this before.

This is the third national rally he's helped organize, but the first since all Israeli hostages were released or their bodies returned from Gaza.

That gives him hope that, out of a dark past, there's a brighter future.

OMRI SHIFRONI, Kumu Movement: For the people of Israel and bereaved families to rise up from the dust, from the ashes, and to build a new leadership and new Israel society from the memory, from the memory of October 7.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Three years ago, Shifroni and Kibbutz Be'eri, less than two miles from the Gaza border, woke up to horror.

More than 340 gunmen, some wearing Israeli military uniforms, invaded Be'eri's three square miles.

OMRI SHIFRONI: It was 6:30 a.m.

It starts to -- the shooting, the bombs.

My brother, a Hamas terrorist just burn his house.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They shot and killed civilians point blank, dead bodies discarded or denied dignity and taken back to Gaza.

A couple embracing each other were burned alive.

In total, 30 residents were kidnapped and 101 killed, including Shifroni's niece and nephew, 12-year-old twins Liel and Yannai, seen here celebrating their birthday six months before they were murdered.

Also killed at Be'eri that day, Aviya and Ayala Hetzroni, his uncle and aunt.

OMRI SHIFRONI: I lost part of my family in Be'eri, four members of my family, my uncle, my aunt.

I have four friends was in captivity, one of them murdered in captivity.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Be'eri and other devastated communities today, it is hard to heal, perhaps even harder to rebuild trust, because the terror also broke Israelis' faith in their government.

Be'eri felt abandoned, as I learned on the first anniversary of October the 7th.

The IDF's own investigation into actions here in Be'eri admitted that it failed the residents here, that the early response was characterized by a lack of coordination and command and control, and that the residents of Be'eri were largely left on their own for the first seven hours.

OMRI SHIFRONI: It was seven hours when we were in Be'eri without an army inside the kibbutz.

And, afterwards, it was another seven hours of being alone until the army came to our place to rescue us and to evacuate us from Be'eri.

NICK SCHIFRIN: This week, during a memorial service, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interrupted by a father whose son was killed on October the 7th.

He yelled: "You didn't protect my son.

Shame," he yelled, "disgrace."

Netanyahu has blamed security services for failing to prevent the attacks.

Netanyahu's critics blame him and argue he has never been held accountable and that he was reportedly repeatedly warned of an imminent attack.

And so, as Be'eri and many other communities today grasp their grief, they also envision a different future in a new generation of leaders.

Shifroni helped start the Kumu Movement, which demands accountability, works to restore public trust in the government, and tries to build a more just society.

OMRI SHIFRONI (through translator): We too will never be who we once were.

But we can choose to be better and more worthy.

From here, we rise.

From here, we mend.

From here, we rebuild.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Rebuilding with the faith that from tragedy can come renewal.

Much of the conversation in Israel today has focused on commemoration and visions for a better future for the nation, but October 7 also triggered multiple wars that shook the region, no more so than Gaza.

And, three years later, two fathers have chosen to reach across the Gulf that currently divides Israelis and Palestinians.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen is the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was shot and kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October the 7th and was held hostage by Hamas for nearly 500 days before his release.

And Jaser Abu Mousa is from Khan Yunis, Gaza.

On October the 15th, 2023, an Israeli airstrike hit his home, killing his wife and two of his children, Hmaid and Abdulrahman.

His two surviving children evacuated to the United Arab Emirates, where they underwent several surgeries to recover.

Later, another Israeli airstrike killed his mother.

And Jonathan Dekel-Chen and Jaser Abu Mousa now join me together from New York, where they are appearing together tonight at the 92nd Street Y for an event titled "Across the Divide."

Thank you very much to you both.

Jaser, let me start with you.

Why have you had decided to have this public conversation together?

And what do you hope to achieve?

JASER ABU MOUSA, Former Gaza Resident: Thank you, Nick, for having us.

I think the basic question is, what is the cost of not having this conversation?

And, apparently, we already knew the cost, because, as you said, and on the 7th of October, Nir Oz and other kibbutzes were attacked and Jonathan's community was attacked, and then there were murdered people, I mean, and Sagui was taken into Gaza.

And after a week of this, my wife and my two children were killed because of -- because of lack of conversation, because of lack of dialogue.

And I need to explain that we are not hoping very much of this, but I hope that we are -- if Jonathan and I could have this conversation, I think, with all of the background of the stories, I think we are provoking hope in this sphere.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, Jonathan, do you agree?

If the two of you can have this dialogue, could that lead to a certain kind of hope?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, Father of Former Hamas Hostage: We -- I think both of us have come to the conclusion that, given the tragedies that befell our communities and the devastation on both sides of the border, we don't have the luxury of leaving a better tomorrow to our political leadership, to ideologues on both sides.

And I completely join Jaser in this hope that those viewers who see us, whether it's here with you or later on this evening or in other venues, will absorb the fact that two men who whose lives were irrevocably changed by October 7 and the months thereafter, and if we can find a way to have reasonable conversations about how we can make life better for our communities by defusing hatred that has plagued us all for so long, then we hope that that message can be spread not just in the neighborhood that we come from, but as far as the streets of New York.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jaser, your loss is unimaginable for all of us.

Talk about how you found it within yourself to seek what seems to be one of your top priorities, a kind of humanity across this divide that you're trying to seek.

JASER ABU MOUSA: Nick, I will be very honest with this.

I had every reason to take another path, and yet I sat down and I had a calculation sheet and calculated my decision like the calculus, like arithmetic.

And I reached a conclusion that my pain and my grief is very real, are very real.

But I learned how to point them at the right direction, not at people, but at policies, as structures, at leaders who actually took the people as collateral damage or as expendable assets.

The other thing that is -- that motivated me actually to make this decision is my children.

And I do not want to inherit them or to leave to them the anger and the pain that I'm leaving for -- I mean, I'm feeling, but to give them a chance, actually.

We have moved to a new place, a new language, a new country, and either to give them a chance or to give them anger or pain.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jonathan, how much for you is this about Sagui, not only Sagui, but also his children, so your grandchildren, finding that resilience that Jaser was talking about?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN: Our community, our kibbutz was completely devastated on October 7.

And it's really easy to and understandable and natural to slide into this perpetual cycle of hate.

And I think both of us have seen from the very bottom where this inevitably leads.

And if we continue to wait for this or that political leader to lead us out and to put aside the mobilization of hate for political reasons, then Jaser's children, my children and now grandchildren will be in a very similar -- horrifically may find themselves in a very similar situation not too long from now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: I'm going to ask you both to respond to a similar question.

Jaser, how do you judge today, sitting next to Jonathan, Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack?

JASER ABU MOUSA: The history did not start on the 7th of October, but on the 7th of October, and I acknowledge this, Nir Ozempic, where Jonathan's community was living, was attacked viciously by Hamas.

Hamas militants attacked these kibbutzim.

They did not see human beings.

And when Israel is bombarding Gaza, they did not see human beings.

They saw collateral damage or expendable assets or enemies or -- but they did not see the human being behind this.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, Jonathan, I suppose a similar question to you.

How do you judge today, sitting next to Jaser, how the Israeli Defense Forces fought in Gaza?

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN: It's difficult question to answer, Nick.

I think history will judge what the IDF did and did not do in Gaza starting on October 8.

What I do know is that the vast majority of Israelis wanted the violence to stop very early on, and in order to get hostages back, but to create a cease-fire.

Israelis are not represented really by our current government, by any means.

I deeply wish and -- that the horrors, the civilian horrors that occurred in Gaza never happened.

But here we are.

And so we can choose to try and re-adjudicate what has happened.

I fear and we see all around us those who choose to go that route never move forward.

They simply institutionalize the hate that we all know is around us.

So, as I said before, we are seeking a different path, and that keeps us looking forward.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Jaser Abu Mousa, the dialogue that you're having tonight is called "Across the Divide."

Thank you very much to you both.

JASER ABU MOUSA: Thank you, Nick.

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Remember, there's always a lot more online, including a look at some tips on how to navigate artificial intelligence with young kids.

That is at PBS.org/NewsHour.

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

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

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