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The Supreme Court considers Friday whether to take up the case of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner in Texas who is scheduled to be executed in less than a week for a murder he says he did not commit. On Thursday, Reed's family braved the cold to camp outside the Supreme Court for a vigil asking the justices to help halt the execution. Millions of people around the country have joined their cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's murder after his DNA was found inside her body. The two were having an affair at the time of her death. But new and previously ignored details in the case indicate that Stites's then-fiancé, a white police officer named Jimmy Fennell, may in fact be responsible for the killing. Last month, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit saying Fennell had admitted in prison to killing his fiancée because she was having an affair with a black man. Despite this, Reed's execution is scheduled for November 20. We speak with Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project.

The first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice, co-moderated by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and former EPA official Mustafa Santiago Ali, was held last Friday at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey was one of six Democratic candidates to share his plans to confront environmental injustices and the climate crisis. Booker spoke about racial disparities in the U.S., the creation of renewable energy jobs and the water contamination crises in cities across the country, including his hometown of Newark. "My community is not alone," Booker said. "Lead service lines should not be in the ground in a 21st century America, period."

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from three lawsuits demanding the Trump administration preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The Obama-era program has granted protection from deportation and a work permit to at least 700,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. The court's conservative majority appeared poised to side with President Trump in ending the program, while some of the court's liberal justices seemed skeptical of Trump's efforts. In September 2017, the Trump administration announced it planned to terminate DACA, arguing the program was "illegal" and "unconstitutional," but three lower courts disagreed and have kept the program alive, thanks to lawsuits filed by California, New York and D.C. Immigrant rights activists have been pushing the Supreme Court to save DACA, with dozens of immigrants with DACA recently taking part in a 16-day, 230-mile march from New York to the steps of the Supreme Court. We speak with Martín Batalla Vidal, the lead plaintiff in the New York federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's attempt to terminate DACA, and Trudy Rebert, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, which also filed suit to block the Trump administration's cancellation of DACA.

Two Killed as 16-Year-Old Student Opens Fire at L.A. County High School, El Paso Walmart Reopens, Three Months After Massacre by Racist Gunman, House Speaker Pelosi Accuses Trump of Bribery, an Impeachable Offense, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine to Testify She Felt Threatened by Trump, Chile to Hold Referendum on Rewriting Pinochet-Era Constitution, Chilean Protesters Mark Anniversary of Police Killing of Indigenous Activist, Mon Laferte Holds Topless Protest Against Chilean State Violence at Latin Grammys, Indigenous Bolivians Protest as Interim President Orders Evo Morales Silenced, Israel Resumes Bombing as Ceasefire with Gaza Militants Breaks Down, Iraqi Soldiers Kill Four Anti-Government Protesters, Bringing Death Toll to 320, Analysis Finds U.S.-Led Wars Since 9/11 Killed 801,000 at a Cost of $6.4 Trillion, Kentucky Republican Incumbent Matt Bevin Concedes Governor's Race, European Investment Bank to Divest from Most Fossil Fuel Projects, Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Sets Sail for Europe, Benie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Unveil Green New Deal for Public Housing

CodePink co-founder and longtime peace activist Medea Benjamin was threatened with arrest in Washington, D.C., Wednesday and accused of assaulting a sitting congressmember after being forcibly removed from a press conference for opposing the U.S.-backed coup and U.S. sanctions in Venezuela. Benjamin vehemently denies the accusations and says she was in fact the one assaulted when she and other activists demonstrated at a press conference hosted by Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Florida Republican Mario Díaz-Balart announcing the launch of a Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus. We speak with Medea Benjamin in Washington, D.C.

In Chile, protesters led a massive national strike Tuesday as they condemned the government's plans to rewrite the country's Constitution, which dates back to Augusto Pinochet's military regime. Chile's interior minister announced Sunday the government would draft a new constitution that Congress would then rewrite and put to a public referendum. But protesters say the people should be involved with the rewriting of the constitution from the beginning and that this is an attempt by Sebastián Piñera's government to delay political and social reforms in Chile. The Chilean authorities have killed at least 20 people and wounded thousands more since the protests erupted on October 19 in response to a subway fare hike and quickly grew into a revolt against austerity and economic inequality. Amnesty International has denounced the Chilean government for widespread human rights violations against protesters. From Santiago, we speak with Pablo Abufom, a member of the Solidaridad movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization in Chile.

The public phase of the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump began Wednesday, with testimonies from two witnesses: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and William Taylor, a former ambassador and the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. The hearing brought forth new details about a previously unknown phone call in July between President Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Both Kent and Taylor expressed concern over the role President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had in dictating U.S. policy on Ukraine. We speak with Elizabeth Holtzman, a former U.S. congressmember from New York who served on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Richard Nixon.

The first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump was held Wednesday. Trump is just the fourth president in U.S. history to face impeachment. Two witnesses testified before the House Intelligence Committee: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and William Taylor, a former ambassador and the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. They both said President Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure the country to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company. We play highlights from the hearing.

U.S. Diplomats Testify Trump Pressured Ukraine to Dig Up Political Dirt on Bidens, Trump Claims He Was "Too Busy" to Watch Impeachment Inquiry, Trump Hosts President Erdogan at White House Amid Turkish Attacks in Syria, 34 Palestinians Killed in Two Days as Israel Bombs Gaza Strip, Exiled Bolivian President Evo Morales Calls for "National Dialogue", Protests Rage as Bolivia's Self-Proclaimed Interim President Swears In Cabinet, Lebanese Soldiers Shoot and Kill Man as Protests Enter Fifth Week, Zimbabwe: Millions at Risk of Starving Amid Climate Change-Fueled Drought, Hundreds of Elephants Die as Drought Grips Southern Africa, Wildfires Rage in Australia as Former Fire Chiefs Warn of Climate Crisis, Mayor of Venice, Italy, Blames Climate Crisis for "Apocalyptic" Flooding, Chad Wolf Becomes Fifth Person to Head Homeland Security Dept. Under Trump, House Resolution Would Clear Path for Adoption of Equal Rights Amendment, Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Formally Enters 2020 Presidential Race, Hillary Clinton Refuses to Rule Out 2020 Presidential Run, Teachers in Little Rock Go on One-Day Strike, Could Colin Kaepernick Return to NFL After Being Blacklisted? Workout Scheduled for Saturday, Police Threaten to Arrest Medea Benjamin After Venezuela Protest

In Bolivia, right-wing Senator Jeanine Áñez declared herself president Tuesday night despite a lack of quorum in Congress, amid a deepening political crisis in the country. Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, left the country Monday after being granted asylum in Mexico. Morales announced his resignation Sunday shortly after the Bolivian military took to the airwaves to call for his departure. His Movement Toward Socialism party is refusing to recognize Áñez as president, calling her claim illegal and decrying Evo Morales's resignation over the weekend as a military coup. Last month, Morales was re-elected for a fourth term in a race his opponents claimed was marred by fraud. He ran for a fourth term after contesting a referendum upholding term limits. On Tuesday, the Organization of American States held an emergency meeting in Washington, where U.S. Ambassador Carlos Trujillo read a statement from President Donald Trump applauding Evo Morales's resignation and warning it should "send a strong signal" to Venezuela and Nicaragua. Mexico, Uruguay, Nicaragua and the president-elect of Argentina have all denounced Morales's departure as a coup. Morales's departure has sparked demonstrations and clashes across Bolivia. We host a debate on the political crisis in Bolivia with Pablo Solón, former ambassador to the United Nations under President Evo Morales until 2011, and Kevin Young, assistant professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the author of "Blood of the Earth: Resource Nationalism, Revolution, and Empire in Bolivia."

We continue our conversation with legendary journalist Bill Moyers, who covered impeachment proceedings against Presidents Nixon and Clinton. The first televised impeachment hearings into President Trump begin today. Moyers says the current administration and the media have created a "culture of lying" that goes beyond what other presidents have done. "All presidents lie. It's a defense they use. But not all presidents lie systemically," Moyers says.

Televised impeachment hearings begin today in the inquiry into whether President Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rivals. Two witnesses are testifying today before the House Intelligence Committee: George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and William Taylor, a former ambassador and the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. Both officials have privately told congressional investigators that Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Donald Trump is just the fourth U.S. president to face an impeachment inquiry. Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 prior to an impeachment vote. We speak with the legendary journalist Bill Moyers, who covered the Nixon and Clinton impeachment hearings. In the 1960s, Moyers was a founding organizer of the Peace Corps and served as press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. In 1971, he began an award-winning career as a television broadcaster that would last for over four decades. During that time, Moyers received over 30 Emmys and countless other prizes. He was elected to the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. Last week Bill Moyers took out a full-page ad in The New York Times urging PBS to broadcast the impeachment hearings live and to rerun them in primetime.

Televised Impeachment Hearings Begin Today, Right-Wing Senator Declares Herself President of Bolivia, Turkish President Erdogan Visiting Trump at White House, Supreme Court Heard Oral Arguments over DACA Program, Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Case of Mexican Teen Killed by U.S. Border Agent, Supreme Court Clears Way for Sandy Hook Families to Sue Gun Manufacturer, Federal Court Rules Warrantless Searches of Phones at Airport Are Unconstitutional, HHS Probes Google's Program to Collect Healthcare Data of Americans, U.S. Government Detained Record Number of Migrant Children in 2019, SPLC: Stephen Miller Sought to Promote White Nationalism Ahead of 2016 Election, Afghanistan: 7 Killed in Car Bombing in Kabul, Major Protests & Disruptions Continue in Hong Kong, Chile: Protesters Demand More Participation in Rewriting New Constitution, Former McDonald's Worker Sues over Sexual Harassment, Salma Sikandar Wins Asylum, After Husband's Hunger Strike, Historian Noel Ignatiev, Who Aimed to Abolish Whiteness, Dies at 78

In Seattle, Socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant has been re-elected in a race that pitted her against Amazon — Seattle's largest private employer and one of the most powerful companies in the world. Overall, Amazon poured $1.5 million into Seattle's City Council election and backed Sawant's opponent, Egan Orion, with nearly half a million dollars. Kshama Sawant is Seattle's first Socialist politician elected in nearly a century. She has successfully pushed a number of progressive policies, including making Seattle the first major American city to adopt a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Kshama Sawant joins us from Seattle. The re-election victory "has been a major repudiation, not only of Amazon and of Jeff Bezos himself, as the richest man in the world, but also it has been a referendum on the vision for Seattle," Sawant says. "The voters in Seattle have spoken, that Seattle is not up for sale."

In a stunning victory, public defender Chesa Boudin has been declared the winner of a hotly contested district attorney's race in San Francisco. Boudin ran on a platform to end cash bail and dismantle the war on drugs, and was endorsed by Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. His win sends a pointed message to the Democratic establishment, which had mobilized in full force against his campaign. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris all endorsed Boudin's opponent, Suzy Loftus. Boudin is the child of Weather Underground activists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, who were both incarcerated when he was still a toddler. He learned the news that he'd won the race by a razor-thin margin while he was on a plane flying back from visiting his father, who remains in prison in upstate New York. After four days of ballot counting, Boudin was declared the winner. From San Francisco, we speak with Chesa Boudin.

In Brazil, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was freed from prison Friday after 580 days behind bars. Lula's surprise release came after the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled to end the mandatory imprisonment of people convicted of crimes who are appealing their cases. He was serving a 12-year sentence over a disputed corruption and money laundering conviction handed down by conservative Judge Sérgio Moro, an ally of current far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and has long maintained his innocence. Lula has vowed to challenge Bolsonaro in the 2022 elections. At the time of his imprisonment in April 2018, Lula was leading the presidential polls. A new documentary, "The Edge of Democracy," chronicles the imprisonment of Lula and impeachment of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. It also looks at the aftermath of the rise of President Jair Bolsonaro — a former military captain who glorifies Brazil's past military regime, denies the climate crisis and celebrates misogyny, homophobia and racism. We speak with Petra Costa, a Brazilian filmmaker and the director of "The Edge of Democracy."

Longtime Bolivian President Evo Morales Takes Asylum in Mexico, Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on DACA Cases, Televised Impeachment Hearings to Start Tomorrow, Former MA Gov. Deval Patrick May Jump Into 2020 Race, NY Republican Congressman Peter King Retires, Donald Trump Jr. Heckled Off Stage by His Own Supporters, EPA to Restrict Scientific Research Used to Write Public Health Regulations, Israeli Military Kills Palestinian Commander in Targeted Assassination in Gaza, Afghan Government & Taliban Agree on Prisoner Exchange, Chilean Government Bows to Protests & Agrees to Rewrite Constitution, 260 Arrested in Mass Protests in Hong Kong, No More Deaths Activist Heads to Retrial in Arizona, Jimmy Carter Undergoes Operation to Reduce Swelling in His Brain, Father of Atatiana Jefferson Dies of Heart Attack After Daughter Killed by Police

Six 2020 presidential candidates — Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, and Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, John Delaney and Joe Sestak — participated in the first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on November 8. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and former EPA official Mustafa Santiago Ali co-moderated the event, which took place at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. We air highlights of Warren speaking about the climate crisis, public health, shutting down pipelines, capitalism, the order of primary states and more.

Bolivia is in a state of political crisis after longtime President Evo Morales resigned Sunday following what he described as a military coup. Weeks of protests have taken place since a disputed election last month. Morales announced his resignation in a televised address Sunday, shortly after the Bolivian military took to the airwaves to call for his resignation. Bolivia's vice president also resigned Sunday, as did the head of the Bolivian Senate and the lower house. Opposition leader Jeanine Áñez, who is the second vice president of the Bolivian Senate, is claiming she will assume the presidency today. Evo Morales was the longest-serving president in Latin America, as well as Bolivia’s first indigenous leader. He was credited with lifting nearly a fifth of Bolivia's population out of poverty since he took office in 2006, but he faced mounting criticism from some of his former supporters for running for a third and then a fourth term. For more on the unfolding crisis in Bolivia, we speak with Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. His latest piece for The Nation is headlined "The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia." "This is a military coup — there's no doubt about it now," Weisbrot says.

Longtime Bolivian President Evo Morales Resigns, Brazilian Former President Lula Freed from Prison, Haley Said Kelly and Tillerson Told Her to Work Against Trump, Syria: 8 Killed in Bombing in Tel Abyad, Iraq: Death Toll in Anti-Government Protests Rise to 319, Hong Kong: Police Shoot Student Protester at Close Range, Cyclone Kills 20 in Bangladesh & India; Wildfires Rage in Australia, Germans Mark 30th Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall, Hundreds Protest Construction of Trump's Border Wall in Sonoran Desert, Kshama Sawant Declares Victory in Seattle City Council Race, Chesa Boudin Wins San Francisco District Attorney's Race

The 1968 Orangeburg massacre is one of the most violent and least remembered events of the civil rights movement. A crowd of students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest segregation at Orangeburg's only bowling alley. After days of escalating tensions, students started a bonfire and held a vigil on the campus to protest. Dozens of police arrived on the scene, and state troopers fired live ammunition into the crowd. When the shooting stopped, three students were dead and 28 wounded. Although the tragedy predated the Kent State shootings and Jackson State killings and it was the first of its kind on any American college campus, it received little national media coverage. The nine officers who opened fire that day were all acquitted. The only person convicted of wrongdoing was Cleveland Sellers, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC. Sellers was one of the organizers of the protest. He was convicted of a riot charge and spent seven months behind bars. He was pardoned in 1993. From Orangeburg, South Carolina, we speak with civil rights photographer Cecil Williams, who photographed the scene in the aftermath of the Orangeburg massacre. He is also the founder of the Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum here in Orangeburg.

The first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice takes place tonight in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where six presidential candidates will take to the stage at South Carolina State University. African-American communities and people of color on the frontlines in South Carolina have been fighting for justice in the face of extreme environmental racism for years. We host a roundtable with local leaders and environmental justice advocates to talk about the significance of the event, the issues their communities face and the 2020 candidates' platforms on environmental justice. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Mustafa Ali, former head of the EPA's Environmental Justice Program, join us in Orangeburg.

We broadcast live from South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, where tonight the first-ever Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice will be held. Six presidential candidates — Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson, John Delaney and Joe Sestak — are participating. The forum is hosted by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and leaders from frontline communities. South Carolina is a crucial state for the 2020 presidential race and one of the first that will have a Democratic primary, following New Hampshire and caucuses in Iowa and Nevada. The region has been repeatedly pummeled by climate-fueled hurricanes, including Hurricane Florence, which swept through the South in 2018, causing epic floods. Black residents and communities of color have faced disproportionate air and water pollution and exposure to environmental hazards, but South Carolina is also home to some of the most successful responses to environmental racism. Ahead of Friday's presidential forum, we speak with Mustafa Ali, the forum's co-moderator and the former head of the environmental justice program at the Environmental Protection Agency. "It's important that we have these conversations about climate change, but those are the symptoms of a disease," Ali says. "The disease has been the racism, the structural inequality, that continues to happen inside of communities of color."

George Kent: Giuliani Carried Out Smear Campaign Against U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, U.S. and China Aim to Roll Back Some Tariffs, "A Warning": Anonymous Senior Official Slams Trump in New Book, Michael Bloomberg Preparing to Jump Into 2020 Race, Sanders Immigration Plan: Abolish ICE & Create Path to Citizenship, Undocumented Students to Stage Walkout to Support DACA, Report: DHS to Have Biometric Data on 260 Million People, Iraq: Security Forces Continue Bloody Crackdown on Anti-Government Protesters, Tensions Rise in Bolivia over Disputed Presidential Election, Brazil Sides with U.S. at U.N. Vote Condemning U.S. Embargo on Cuba, Brazilian Supreme Court Ruling Could Free Former President Lula, Hong Kong Student Dies After Clash with Police Days Earlier, Judge to Rule on Marco Saavedra's Asylum Case Next Year

A documentary film "The Pollinators" tells the story of the world's yellow-black jacketed honey bees, whose existence may determine the future of human survival. The insects pollinate nearly all the fruits, vegetables and nuts we consume, and some experts estimate one out of every three bites of food we eat depends on the work of honey bees. However, the future of the insects is now in peril with widespread reports of bee colony collapses. In the last decade and a half, beekeepers have reported staggering declines in their bee populations due to pesticides, parasites and loss of habitat. Scientists warn climate change is also threatening the insects' survival, noting bees could die off at faster rates as the Earth warms. For more about the crisis of bee population decline, we're joined by Peter Nelson, director of "The Pollinators," cinematographer and beekeeper.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged two former Twitter employees with helping Saudi Arabia spy on thousands of the kingdom's critics. Ali Alzabarah and Ahmad Abouammo are accused of giving the Saudi government detailed information about users, including telephone numbers and email addresses linked to the accounts, as well as internet protocol addresses that could be used to identify a user's location. The charges are being filed just over a year after the brutal murder of Saudi journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey. A new report by Human Rights Watch finds that one year after Khashoggi's brutal murder Saudi Arabia continues to arbitrarily detain countless activists, regime critics and clerics. The report says there is a "darker reality" behind Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's widely touted initiatives for Saudi women and youth, including mass arrests of women activists, some of whom have allegedly been sexually assaulted and tortured with electric shocks. We speak with Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

In Algeria, protests against corruption, the jailing of opposition leaders and the army's powerful role in national politics have entered their ninth month. Tens of thousands filled the streets of the capital Algiers last Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of the war of independence from France and to demand a "new revolution" rather than an upcoming election they say will be rigged. Over 100 student protesters were arrested last night as the Algerian government intensified its crackdown on demonstrators ahead of the upcoming polls. Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced the country will hold a presidential election on December 12. This comes after longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April following weeks of protests. We speak with Mehdi Kaci, an Algerian-American activist who organized a protest last weekend in San Francisco in support of Algerians, and Daikha Dridi, a journalist based in Algiers. "There is a political uprising, but there is also a huge sense of pride, of self-love, that the Algerian people are experiencing," Dridi says. "The Algerians are wanting a much, much deeper change, and they're not going back home."

Televised Impeachment Hearings Begin Next Week, Sessions to Run for Old Senate Seat; Pressley Endorses Warren, Trump Expands Military Mission in Syria Aimed at Controlling Oil Fields, Esper to Urge Trump Not to Intervene in Cases of Soldiers Accused of Murder, Judge Voids Trump Rule Allowing Medical Workers to Deny Care on Religious Grounds, ProPublica: Pence's Office Meddled in Foreign Aid Money to Favor Christians, DOJ Charges Ex-Twitter Employees; California Investigates Facebook, New Zealand Approves Landmark Climate Legislation Aimed at Zero Carbon Emissions, U.S.-Manufactured Ammunition Used in Massacre of Mormon Family in Mexico, Immigration Activist Marco Saavedra Heads to Final Asylum Hearing, New York's WBAI Back on Air with Local Programming

Results are coming in after Tuesday's elections, with major wins for Democrats in several crucial states. In Virginia, the party gained control of both legislative houses for the first time in 25 years. In Kentucky, Democratic challenger state Attorney General Andy Beshear has ousted Trump-backed Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in a tightly contested run for governor. In Mississippi, Republican Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves defeated Democratic state Attorney General Jim Hood in the governor's race.Several local candidates across the country made history. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Paige Cognetti was elected as the first woman mayor after running as an independent despite being a registered Democrat. She'll also be the first mayor-elect to give birth. Her child is due in December. Ghazala Hashmi became the first Muslim woman elected to the Virginia Senate after winning a suburban Richmond district. And Danica Roem made history for a second time, becoming the first out transgender person to win reelection to a state legislature, after defeating an anti-LGBT Republican candidate to represent the 13th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.Tuesday's election also decided several important state ballot initiatives. Voters in New York City approved ranked-choice voting, a measure supporters say will help underrepresented voters and candidates of color. In Jersey City, voters approved strict regulations on short-term rentals, in a major blow to Airbnb. A measure to make Tucson, Arizona, a sanctuary city was overwhelmingly defeated by voters there.We speak with John Nichols, a political writer for The Nation.

The state of Texas is facing growing calls to halt the upcoming execution of Rodney Reed, an African-American man who has spent over 20 years on death row for a rape and murder he says he did not commit. A group of 26 Texas lawmakers — including both Democrats and Republicans — have written a letter this week to Governor Greg Abbott to stop the execution planned for November 20. More than 1.4 million people have signed an online petition to save Reed's life. Supporters include celebrities Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and Meek Mill. Reed was sentenced to die after being convicted of the 1996 murder of a 19-year-old white woman, Stacey Stites, with whom he was having an affair. But since Reed's trial, substantial evidence has emerged implicating Stites's then-fiancé, a white police officer named Jimmy Fennell, who was later jailed on kidnapping and rape charges in another case. In a major development, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit last month asserting that Fennell had admitted in prison that he had killed his fiancée because she was having an affair with a black man. We speak with Rodney Reed's brother Rodrick Reed, his sister-in-law Uwana Akpan and lawyer Bryce Benjet of the Innocence Project.

Democrats Take Virginia Legislature & Beat Trump-Backed Governor in Kentucky, NYC Approves Ranked-Choice Voting; Tucson Voters Reject Sanctuary City Measure, JPMorgan CEO Accuses Warren of "Vilifying" Richest Americans, Sondland Now Says There Was Quid Pro Quo on Ukraine, Scientists: Humanity Risks "Untold Suffering" from Climate Change, Brazilians Protest the Largest Oil Auction in Brazilian History, Activists Arrested After Blockading Port of Vancouver in Pipeline Protest, 9 Members of Mormon Family Murdered in Mexico, Pro-Beijing Lawmaker Stabbed in Hong Kong, Israeli Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Expelling Human Rights Watch Official, Zuckerberg Meets with Civil Rights Leaders Amid Facebook Controversies

As local elections take place nationwide, voters in Colorado are enjoying greater access to the ballot than ever as the state's vote-by-mail system allows residents to bypass long lines at polling places. The state also has voting measures which include automatic voter registration with driver's license services, an extension of the vote to parolees, and allowance for some 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections. Colorado is considered an example for states needing to expand voter access at a time when Republican legislatures and statehouses across the country are attempting to suppress the vote. We speak with Jena Griswold, Colorado's secretary of state, who says that Colorado has "the highest percentage of eligible citizens registered to vote, and our participation rates are often the first or second for the entire nation."

Voters across the U.S. head to the polls today for statewide elections that will be seen as a measure of Donald Trump's influence in the Republican Party as he faces an impeachment inquiry. In New York City, a major ballot measure could change the way voters select their candidates in future elections. New Yorkers will decide whether to move from electing candidates by a plurality of votes to ranked-choice voting, a system in which voters rank their favorite candidates in order and the person with the most top-ranked votes wins. Proponents of the initiative say it will help underrepresented voters and candidates of color. Maya Wiley, senior vice president for social justice and professor of public and urban policy at The New School, joins us for a discussion of the ranked-choice voting system, which she says is about "voters having more choice on who gets elected into public office."

Tania Romero, an undocumented mother from Honduras and survivor of stage IV cancer, is fighting to remain in the United States with her four children. Two months ago, Romero was imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the privately owned Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, interrupting her life-saving medical treatments. In mid-August, Romero was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and arrested for not having a driver's license. Tania Romero's attorney requested a stay of deportation on humanitarian grounds because of her fragile health, but it was denied in September. Her son, Cristian Padilla Romero, is organizing against her deportation, with a petition demanding his mother's release with over 30,000 signatures. We speak with Cristian Padilla Romero, a Ph.D. student in Latin American history at Yale University and a Honduran immigrant with DACA status.

The Trump administration notified the United Nations Monday that it would withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris climate agreement, starting a year-long process to leave the international pact to fight the climate crisis. The United States — the world's largest historic greenhouse gas emitter — will become the only country outside the accord. Trump's announcement of the withdrawal came on the first day possible under the agreement's rules. From Middlebury, Vermont, we speak with Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org. "The decision of the United States to be the only country on Earth … unwilling to take part in a global attempt at a solution to the greatest crisis we've ever faced — there's a lot to be ashamed of in the Trump years and a lot of terrible things that have happened — it's pretty hard to top that," says McKibben.

U.S. Formalizes Withdrawal from Historic Paris Climate Agreement, Democrats Begin to Release Impeachment Inquiry Transcripts, Voters Head to the Polls for Statewide Elections Today, E. Jean Carroll, Who Accuses Trump of Raping Her, Sues President for Defamation, Court Rejects Trump's Efforts to Fight NY Subpoena for Tax Returns, Trump Threatens to Cut Off Federal Funding for California's Wildfires, Thousands of Academics Demand Chile End Violent Crackdown Against Protests, Iraqi Authorities Cut Internet Access Amid Ongoing Anti-Government Protests, Two Indonesian Journalists Found Dead at Illegal Palm Oil Plantation, Thousands Protest in Spain over Verdict in Gang Rape of Teenage Girl, U.N. Warns Migration Land Route Across Africa Twice as Deadly as Mediterranean, Turkish Officials Say They've Captured Sister of Slain Former ISIS Leader, Judge Dismisses Uber's Challenge of NYC's Effort to Limit Ride-Hailing Apps, UnitedHealth Faces Probe over Racial Discrimination in Its Algorithm, FBI Arrests Man Allegedly Planning to Bomb Colorado Synagogue, Oklahoma: 462 Prisoners Freed in Largest Single-Day Commutation in U.S. History

Hundreds gathered this weekend to mark the 40th anniversary of the Greensboro massacre, when 40 Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis opened fire on an anti-Klan demonstration in Greensboro, North Carolina, killing five anti-racist activists in a span of 88 seconds. Those killed were members of the Communist Workers' Party. Ten other activists were injured. No one was convicted in the massacre, but a jury did find the Greensboro police liable for cooperating with the Ku Klux Klan in a wrongful death. Local pastors in Greensboro are now calling on the City Council to issue an apology for the events that led to the 1979 killing. We speak with Dr. Marty Nathan, the widow of Dr. Mike Nathan, who was killed in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre.

Amid skyrocketing housing prices and rising inequality, the number of unhoused people across California is booming. Homelessness in San Francisco has spiked at least 30% since 2017. In Oakland, it's grown by nearly 50%. As more people have been forced onto the streets, encampments have popped up from Los Angeles to the Bay Area and in other city centers. But while advocates push for more affordable housing solutions, instead city governments have been cracking down on unhoused people with increasingly punitive measures that criminalize homelessness. In a special report, Democracy Now! traveled to San Francisco to speak with unhoused people and their advocates about conditions there.

An indigenous forest protector named Paulo Paulino Guajajara was shot dead in the Amazon by illegal loggers on Saturday. It is the latest incident in a wave of violence targeting indigenous land protectors since the election of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro last year. Guajajara was killed when he and another forest protector were ambushed by a group of illegal loggers inside the Araribóia reservation in the northeastern state of Maranhão. We speak with João Coimbra Sousa, a field coordinator and legal adviser for Amazon Watch, in São Luís in the northeastern state of Maranhão. And in San Francisco, we speak with Christian Poirier, program director at Amazon Watch.

Four White House Officials Refused to Testify in Impeachment Hearings, Turkish-Backed Forces Accused of War Crimes in Northern Syria, Sen. Warren Releases Details on Her Medicare for All Plan, Trump to Nominate Dr. Stephen Hahn to Lead FDA, EPA Slated to Roll Back Rules to Protect Waterways from Toxic Coal Ash, Group of Automakers Sides with Trump Admin in Fight over Fuel-Efficiency Standards, NYT: Major U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Treaty Could Expire Without Being Replaced, Mali: Over 50 Soldiers Killed in Attack on Military Post, Anti-Government Protests Continue to Sweep Iraq, Lebanon & Algeria, Brazilian Indigenous Leader Killed in Amazon, U.S. "Gag Rule" on Abortion Silences Popular Radio Host in Nepal, India: Toxic Smog Sparks Public Health Emergency in Delhi, German Officials Declare "Nazi Emergency" in Dresden, Milwaukee: Man Arrested in Alleged Anti-Immigrant Acid Attack, Saudi Aramco Plans to Go Public, Philadelphia Passes Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, NYC: Protesters March Against Police Brutality in Subways, Nationals Pitcher Sean Doolittle Boycotts White House Visit in Protest Against Trump

The massacre of five Indigenous leaders in Colombia has shocked the country. The killings took place in the southwestern region of Cauca. Among the victims was Cristina Bautista, the leader of the semi-autonomous Indigenous reservation of Nasa Tacueyó. Four of the community's unarmed guards were also killed, while six others were wounded. A group of U.N. experts have denounced the massacre and demanded the Colombian government to take urgent measures in cooperation with Indigenous authorities to investigate the murders. Police have made no arrests and no suspects have been named in the massacre. Since the signing of the Peace Accords in 2016, at least 700 social leaders, mostly Afro-Colombian and Indigenous activists, have been murdered in Colombia, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies. We speak with Mario Murillo, Vice-Dean of the School of Communications at Hofstra University and award-winning journalist who has extensively reported on Colombia and the region of Cauca.

In Gambia, a former beauty queen who says the president raped her when she was 18 years old has testified before a public truth and reconciliation commission that is investigating the atrocities of former president Yahya Jammeh. Fatou "Toufah" Jallow has become a leading voice against the former president, who ruled the West African country of 2 million people for 22 years before his regime ended in 2017. Two other women have also come forward to accuse the former president of rape and sexual assault. Survivors of the regime have also testified during the hearings, which have been live streamed across the country. The investigation is part of an ongoing process to reckon with the horrors committed during Jammeh’s rule, including killing and disappearing hundreds of people, torture, unjustified jailings and sexual violence against women and girls. From Gambia, we speak with Fatou "Toufah" Jallow, along with attorney Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch, who is currently leading the prosecution of former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh.

The end of the Chicago teachers’ strike comes amid a wave of labor movements, including the longest United Auto Workers strike in almost 50 years. We speak with labor journalist Sarah Jaffe about the historical importance of unions, the rise of worker participation in strike actions and the significance of the Labour Party’s organizing in the United Kingdom. Jaffe says workers “are fighting back in the face of decades and decades of concessions, decades and decades of give-backs,” and “understanding that unionizing is a way that they have power on the job.” She is the author of _Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt_.

Teachers in Chicago are heading back to school Friday, marking the end of a historic 11-day strike that had shut down the country's third-largest school district. After weeks of tense negotiations, the city agreed to reduce class sizes, increase salaries by 16% over the next five years and bring on hundreds more social workers, nurses and librarians. The union demanded that teachers be able to make up the full eleven days of school before agreeing to return to work and eventually settled with the city on five days. Earlier this week, 7,500 public school workers with the Service Employees International Union, who had been striking also settled with the city earlier. We speak with Stacy Davis Gates, the Executive Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union, and labor journalist Sarah Jaffe.

House Votes to Formalize Impeachment Inquiry Into President Trump , Trump Will Avoid State Income Taxes After Declaring Florida Residency, CIA-Backed Afghan Forces Commit Atrocities, Says Human Rights Watch, Iraqi Prime Minister Offers to Resign Amid Anti-Government Protests, Thousands March in Argentina Against IMF-Imposed Austerity, Spain to Replace Chile as Host of COP25 U.N. Climate Conference, Rex Tillerson Denies Exxon Misled Investors Over Climate Risks, Greta Thunberg Turns Down Environment Prize for Her Climate Activism, New California Wildfire Burns Homes in San Bernardino, Keystone Pipeline Spill in North Dakota Leaked 383,000 Gallons of Oil, Rep. Katie Hill Blasts "Misogynistic Culture" in Final House Speech, Missouri Health Director Kept Spreadsheet of Women's Menstrual Cycles, Gambian Beauty Queen Testifies About Rape by Former President , Hong Kong Protesters Use Halloween to Defy Mask Ban, Jordan Recalls Ambassador to Israel After Jordanians Jailed Without Charge

The House of Representatives is holding a historic vote today to formalize the impeachment process against President Trump. The probe centers on whether Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Trump’s political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company. As the House votes today, lawmakers are continuing to question key Trump administration behind closed doors, including the top Russia official on the National Security Council, Tim Morrison. On Wednesday, House Democrats also requested that Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton testify. We speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna.

As climate-fueled fires rage across California, we look at how the blazes are disproportionately affecting some of the state's most vulnerable communities. As a growing number of wealthy homeowners hire private firefighters to protect their properties for up to $3,000 per day, domestic workers and gardeners who tend to some of the most opulent homes in Los Angeles attended work despite the Getty Fire evacuation order earlier this week. Many of their employers failed to even tell them not to come in. Meanwhile, of the more than 4,000 firefighters currently working across the state, at least 700 are California prisoners. They earn as little as $1 per hour. We speak with Amika Mota, a former prisoner firefighter and the policy director at the Young Women’s Freedom Center in San Francisco, and _Los Angeles Times_ journalist Brittny Mejia. Her piece is titled "Housekeepers and gardeners go to work despite the flames."

Extreme winds of up to 60 miles per hour caused new fires to erupt across southern California Wednesday, prompting tens of thousands to evacuate. The blazes are just the latest in a spate of climate change-fueled fires threatening the state. In Northern California, firefighters have finally beat back the Sonoma County Kincade Fire that had forced nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes over the weekend. Nearly all evacuees in the region have now been allowed to return to their homes and the utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric said Wednesday it would begin restoring power to the 365,000 customers who were plunged into darkness over the weekend as fires first erupted across the state. PG&E — the corporation that controls most of Northern and Central California's electricity and the biggest utility in America — has been implicated in many of the fires that have ravaged California in recent years, including the Camp Fire that killed 85 people and completely destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018. In January, PG&E declared bankruptcy amid a number of lawsuits related to the wildfires. We speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who is calling for the California state government to take over control of PG&E. Khanna says, "PG&E is basically a private monopoly that gets a return on investment for their private investors, but has no competition. It is the worst of both worlds."

As a shocking new report finds that many coastal cities will be flooded by rising sea levels by 2050, Chile's President Sebastián Piñera announced Wednesday that the U.N. Climate Summit in Santiago has been canceled. Anti-inequality protests have entered their third week in the country with protesters calling for the Piñera government to resign. The U.N. said it is now looking for an alternative venue for the annual climate meetings. Meanwhile, a dire new report has warned 300 million people are at risk from rising sea levels, with the most vulnerable populations concentrated in the Global South. According to the study published in _Nature Communications_, global sea levels are expected to rise between two and seven feet or possibly more, with some coastal cities being wiped off the map. We speak with Harjeet Singh, the global lead on climate change for Action Aid who is based in New Delhi, India; and Benjamin Strauss, co-author of the study in Nature Communications and CEO and chief scientist at Climate Central.

Tens of Thousands Evacuate as New Blazes Erupt in Fire-Ravaged California, Chile Calls Off U.N. Climate Talks Amid Massive Protests Against Inequality, Protesters Confront JPMorgan Chase CEO Over Fossil Fuel Investments, Youth Climate Activists Stage Sit-In at House Speaker Pelosi's Office, Keystone Pipeline Breach Spills Oil in North Dakota, House Readies Vote to Formalize Impeachment Process, Top Immigration Official Grilled Over Move to Deport Critically Ill Immigrants, "Not Qualified" Rating from Bar Association Draws Tears from Judicial Nominee, India to Split Jammu and Kashmir Into Two Territories Controlled by New Delhi, Pentagon Releases Video Showing Raid on al-Baghdadi Compound, Philippines Island Rocked by Second Powerful Earthquake, Brazilian President Attacks Globo Over Report Linking Him to Marielle Franco's Murder, Colombia Deploys Troops After Five Indigenous Leaders Killed in Cauca, Twitter to Reject All Political Ads as Pressure Mounts Against Facebook, Pathologist Says Jeffrey Epstein Was Strangled to Death, U.K. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn to Challenge PM Boris Johnson in Dec. 12 Election, Chicago Teachers Reach Tentative Contract but Continue Strike Over Lost Days