wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on "the newshour" tonight -- evacuations become frantic in southern gaza as israel expands its ground operations into the places civilians were told were safe zones just weeks ago. amna: the supreme court hears a

case that could shield the sackler family from future civil lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic. geoff: and cancer rates rise sharply among young women, highlighting the blind spots in medical care. dr. goldfarb: too often people are not taken seriously when they're young or doctors who don't see breast cancer in young women don't think it's breast cancer. it doesn't come to their mind. so people are given antibiotics and told to go home. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including -- leonard and norma klorfine, and koo and patricia yuen. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life.

yes, i am legally blind and yes, i am responsible for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward, i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to "the newshour." the focus of israel's invasion and air campaign in gaza is shifting south, where roughly two million gazans have fled, and there are few safe places left for them to go. amna: the death toll in gaza is nearing 16,000, mostly women and children. that's according to the hamas-run health ministry. since israel's ground operations began, 81 of its troops have died in gaza. aid deliveries are continuing but in lower numbers since last week's truce ended, providing little relief to the civilians trapped there. in southern gaza, palestinians

backing up and fleeing the same areas israel once said were safe. evacuations like this all too familiar for some. >> two to three journeys in the war, i headed to the hospital in the north, then the israeli army said we have to move to safe areas in the south. today again, we are evacuating. amna: they are trying to escape israel's bombardment from the air and its invasion on the ground. israel says it is shifting more focus south. >> we pursued them in northern gaza and we are now pursuing hamas in southern gaza. amna: the idf reports it hit some 200 targets by air overnight. by daybreak, gazans on the ground, including children, sifting through rubble. this woman lives with her daughter and two-year-old baby. she says they were asleep on the floor when a airstrike hit their home. >> we were sleeping at 5:00 a.m.

when we felt things collapsed. everything went upside down. even khan younis is not safe. where they want us to go? amna: israel is trying to tell gazans were to go now. this weekend, the idf released a live map accessible via smartphone that divides gaza into small sections, telling civilians which areas are current targets. but with limited internet, many can't access the map and israel has repeatedly hit areas it deemed safe before. this all comes after the week long pause in fighting ended abruptly last friday. israel says hamas violated it by firing rockets. the truce saw the exchange of 105 israelis and foreigners held hostage in gaza for 240 palestinians held in israeli prisons. israel pulled out. saying talks had hit a dead end. an estimated 130 five hostages

remain in gaza, mostly men. but israel and the u.s. believe many women are still being held by hamas, and state department spokesman matthew miller today gave one reason they may remain captive -- the possibility of sexual violence. mr. miller: the reason why is it they don't want these women to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody. amna: at a news conference in tel aviv, family members of israelis still held captive expressed frustration toward their government. shelley's son omer was kidnapped at music festival on october 7. >> look me in the eyes, your children could have been like ours. would you have waited 59 days to bring them home? look us in the eyes. where are you? amna: over the weekend, biden

administration officials deliver their sharpest criticism of israel's campaign in gaza yet. vice president harris at the u.n. climate summit in dubai. vp harris: frankly the images and videos coming from gaza are devastating. we believe israel must do more to protect innocent civilians. amna: and defense secretary lloyd austin at a defense form in california. >> in this kind of fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. if you drive them into the arms of the enemy you place a tactical victory with strategic defeat. amna: also concerns of the war sparking a broader regional conflict. the u.s. military said three commercial ships in the southern red sea were struck by ballistic missiles fired from yemen on sunday. iran backed rebels claimed responsibility. they say they were targeting israeli vessels, although none of the vessels nor crews were israeli. >> the yemeni armed forces

continue to prevent israeli ships from navigating in the red sea and arabian sea until the israeli aggression against our steadfast brethren in the gaza strip ceases. amna: the u.s. military also set its own vessel shut down several drones in self-defense during the attacks, but it was unclear if the ship was a target. before the war in gaza resumed, the main focus of negotiations had been the release of hostages held by hamas, and palestinians held by israel. but of the 240 hostages, dozens were migrant workers from thailand, the philippines, tanzania, and nepal. nick schifrin has some of their stories. nick: after the kidnapping, after seven weeks of captivity, after the release and after the flight back home, there is reunion. two mothers hug their daughters

after 50 days without contact. this mother ties a buddhist bracelet on her daughter and her partner after they were held hostage by hamas. this woman embraces her daughter, grateful to be home surrounded by family. >> it's like dying and being reborn. nick: this doctor had lived in israel for four years, working in israeli agriculture. when on october 7, hamas and other militants rampaged through communities across southern israel, including in their communities. they were kidnapped together. >> we kept encouraging each other saying we had to survive, that agencies would help us. all we could do was sit and wait, lying, waiting and giving each other strength. nick: in total, 32 thai workers were kidnapped. so far 23 of them have been

released in a separate hostage deal mediated by qatar, iran and other nations. >> i want to know why hamas hurt thai people, because we did not do anything bad to them. nick: also grateful to be home, with his wife and children. and grateful to do the school run, knowing how close he was to not coming home. he worked just five miles from gaza. in hebrew, the name of the town means safe haven. >> i heard the sounds of the rocket launchers and bombs for that's our normal situation i hear. i wasn't shocked or scared. but after that, i heard the sounds of heavy weapons shooting in the camp. that had never happened for. not long after that, they walked into the camp. nick: hamas fighters spoke to the workers in thai to convince them to come out of hiding.

>> i hid until the evening and then i came back inside the camp and went to my room. i prepared to cook dinner because i felt the fighting was finished, but not long after that they came back to the camp again. they shot at us while i cooked dinner, and i ran and hid in the crops. nick: in total, he hit for 20 hours the dormitory where he lived was burned to the ground. >> i couldn't eat or sleep, i could not stay still, so i walked around the house, back-and-forth, because i worried he wouldn't be able to come home. i was afraid he would get killed. nick: on october 7, palestinian militants killed at least 39 thai workers, and the victims were not only thai. this student was buried this week. a 21-year-old remains missing. his family believes he is a hostage. he'd arrived in israel only

three weeks before the attack. it was his first time leaving tanzania. he dreamed of becoming an agriculture expert. this is his father. >> he is a quiet person, hard-working. he is a student. the message i want to pass, if you can hear this voice, be strong. we know that by hoping and praying, he will be with me soon. so let him be strong. nick: workers like him have long been israel's agricultural backbone, but long before the october 7 attack, were vulnerable and often invisible. >> this is a population of people doing dangerous and difficult work. nick: this is an anthropologist at the hebrew university of jerusalem who studied israel's thai migrant committee the last decade.

>> there of violations of housing practices, health and safety protections. these people are most vulnerable and among the hardest hit by violence. for the first time people are realizing what sacrifices these people have made. they have been abducted or injured. nick: the war has triggered an exodus of more than 15,000 migrant workers. >> it is a difficult time. nick: they are being replaced with 5000 new workers. israelis who refused this kind of work before are now showing up as volunteers. even american cowboys are temporarily pitching in. back in northeast thailand, this was one of thousands of migrant

evacuated by his government. he says there is no where else you would rather be. >> this situation has changed my idea of wanting to work in israel. right now i don't have any income but i feel more safe here. nick: but for others, it is worth the risk. >> if there is a chance of going back, we want to return. there were many good things that left a lasting impression in our hearts. nick: for the moment, their focus is on each other. the former hostages plan to get married and spend time recovering with the family they almost left behind. for the pbs newshour, i am nick schifrin. ? ♪ stephanie: here are the latest headlines. divers have recovered the remains of five crew members from the wreckage of a u.s. air force osprey crash. the aircraft went down last wednesday off southwestern japan

carrying eight americans on a training mission. one body had already been recovered. rescue teams are searching the crash site for two others still missing. a former american diplomat has been charged with spying for cuba. manuel rocha's two-decade career in the foreign service included serving as u.s. ambassador to bolivia. but newly unsealed court papers allege he also was a mole for cuban intelligence since at least 1981. u.s. attorney general merrick garland said an undercover fbi spoke with him before his arrest friday in miami. ag garland: rocha repeatedly referred to the united states as "the enemy." he told the undercover that his efforts to infiltrate the united states government were " meticulous and very disciplined." and he repeatedly bragged about the significance of his efforts, saying that "what has been done has strengthened the revolution

immensely." stephanie: garland said this is one of the "highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the united states government by a foreign agent to date." but he stopped short of describing what sensitive information rocha shared with cuba. in campaign news -- north dakota governor doug burgum ended his bid for the republican presidential nomination today. the wealthy software entrepreneur qualified for the first two republican debates but he failed to meet polling requirements for the third, and likely wouldn't qualify for the fourth. intense flooding and landsides in tanzania have killed more than 60 people and injured 116 more. hundreds of people are still trapped by the floodwaters in the northern part of the country. it's the worst flooding the east -- there in years. pres. hassan: i have instructed that all efforts are directed towards rescuing those who were

involved in this tragedy and to prevent more deaths. i have directed our security and health ministries to get to the scene to attend to the injured. i have also asked officials from the ministry of mining to investigate what is happening in this mountainous region. stephanie: other countries in east africa, like kenya and ethiopia, have suffered similar flood disasters. in indonesia, 11 people are confirmed dead a day after one of the most active volcanoes in the country erupted. rescue teams scoured the jungles near mount merapi and rushed survivors to nearby hospitals. but their search for a dozen missing climbers was temporarily halted after the volcano erupted again today, spewing hot ash thousands of feet into the air. back in this country, faculty members walked out of classes today at california state university. the action kicks off a series of one-day strikes across the nation's largest university system. the union, which represents

29,000 workers, is seeking well percent raises and increased parental leave. work stoppages are planned throughout the week on multiple campuses. the u.s. reached a grim milestone over the weekend. there have been 38 mass shooting so far in 2023 in which four or more victims were killed. the previous record, 36, was set last year. 197 people, not including the shooters, have died in this your shootings. that number is also a record. still tamara keith and amy , walter break down the latest political headlines. wind and solar energy on the rise in areas traditionally known as oil country. and a rare solar system with planets orbiting in-sync is discovered within our galaxy. >> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

geoff: the u.s. supreme court heard arguments today in one of the most important corporate bankruptcy cases in decades. it involves the players at the center of the opioid epidemic, purdue pharma and sackler family, who owned the company. the court is weighing whether to approve purdue pharma's controversial bankruptcy deal that would give billions of dollars to victims of the opioid epidemic while protecting members of the sackler family from current and future opioid-related civil lawsuits. our supreme court analyst marcia coyle is with us. you were at the supreme court today for the arguments. there were some fairly dense and technical arguments the justices heard. big picture, what are they considering? marcia: the real issue before the court is whether the bankruptcy court had the authority, somewhere in the code or elsewhere, to approve a settlement that gives immunity basically to the sackler family, as you said, from all civil

opioid-related claims, even though the sackler family was not part of this bankruptcy. they themselves did not apply for bankruptcy. the justices were probing both sides with some skeptical questions of both sides of whether there is authority for this. also what was interesting is it was very clear the justices had their eye on the practical implications of a decision. if they find there was no authority, is it possible there is a better deal to be negotiated as the united states trustees suggested? or will there be a race to the courthouse by individual claimants, where one claimant with a huge claim could zap all of the assets of the corporation should that claimant win, and nothing left for anyone else. geoff: some of the victims family support the settlements and others oppose it. we spoke with two mothers who

lost their sons to the epidemic. ellen lost her son ryan to an overdose five years ago. she is against the settlement. here's what she said. ellen: $48,000 is what the cost is for your child and you'll get a payout. and then there is certain stipulations on top of that. the rich should not be able to create their own system of justice. that is above the law. it's totally unfair to the more than 500,000 families and clocking that have lost a loved one and not being able to have accountability. geoff: the vast majority of families voted in favor of the settlement, including dede, a single mom whose only son chris died of an overdose in 2017. dede: there is no way any family even now could go after the sacklers. you know, you needed the -- the bankruptcy included all the states, the municipalities, all the attorney generals of all the states. you needed the power of all these people in order to get

this kind of settlement. it also says that my son's life was worth something, you know, rather than worth nothing. i mean, that the symbolism of it to me is also important. geoff: how did those arguments play out in court today? marcia: it's interesting, justice kavanaugh for example, noted to the government's lawyer that the releases the sackler family got have been approved by courts for about 30 years. corporations have been looking two bankruptcy since facing mass injury claims since the 1980's. he says why should we suddenly throw this one out? there were also concerns like what justice kagan raised, that the sackler's are getting a deal that is better than what the average person or corporation that goes into bankruptcy can get, especially with the immunity side of things.

there was no love for the sacklers in the courtroom today, that was very clear. justice gorsuch raised some constitutional issues. some of these claims that have been released as part of the settlement or nonconsensual claims and he pointed out, we don't usually terminate rights without some kind of due process. i think they are struggling with this. as i said earlier, they have their eye on practical implications i would also like to say that these families, they are not getting a windfall by any means. the average payout is $3500 to $48,000, and over a long period of time, minus lawyer fees, taxes, other stipulations. what they really want, if you read the briefs in the cases, they want the money in the settlement that will go toward treatment and abatement of the opioid crisis.

geoff: an important point. you mentioned the practical implications. what are they outside of this case? marcia: there are real implications for bankruptcy in general. there is a fear that corporations may see this, if the releases are upheld, as a roadmap for corporations and wealthy individuals who own those corporations, to basically get the kind of deal that the sacklers got. is this consistent with how we view bankruptcy, as a fresh start, a reorganization for companies? it could affect bankruptcy in general. also it could have an effect on future mass injury claims as well as current ones. the boy scouts of america filed an amicus brief saying if you throw out these releases, please don't amend those already final or seem to be a done deal. there is concern that those could be affected by what the court decides. geoff: marcia, thank you for

helping us understand this case. marcia: always a pleasure. ♪ amna: new research is confirming something that doctors have already been noticing -- an increase in cancer diagnoses among young women. ali rogin explores the reasons behind the increase and the blind spots medical systems have when treating young women. charisma: so for my 30th birthday, my mother actually surprised me with a photoshoot. i was very excited because it was my first time doing a photoshoot. ali: for charisma mcduffie, these photos represent more than a birthday. they mark the end of a years-long struggle with breast cancer. it began in 2019, when mcduffie, then 28 and working full time in retail, experienced recurring chest pains. charisma: i'm just like, what the heck is wrong with me? so i go to the doctor. basically told me to take tylenol. so it was just like, "okay, well..."

went about life, it's still hurting. ali: six months and four doctors later, she finally received the diagnosis that would change her life. charisma: the biopsy came back positive for breast cancer, and i'm just like, "what?" ali: mcduffie, now 32, has no family history of cancer and was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease more common in black women. charisma: i try to be positive even when i am not so positive. i try to project that. ali: she underwent chemotherapy, which caused her to lose her hair, and had a double mastectomy followed by breast reconstruction -- physical changes that still leave emotional scars. charisma: i didn't really have self-esteem issues before, so- after this experience, obviously, because now i have a double mastectomy, i have scars. i'm a different person completely than the normal 32 year old. ali: studies show that young people, especially young women among dutch young women, are experiencing the highest rates of increase in cancer diagnoses. some hospitals have created

programs tailored to young women. at memorial sloan kettering cancer center, young patients have access to specific support groups, mental health professionals, and fertility clinics. mcduffie is now a patient of dr. shari goldfarb, who co-directs the young women with breast cancer program. dr. goldfarb: too often people are not taken seriously when they're young or doctors who don't see breast cancer in young women don't think it's breast cancer. it doesn't come to their mind. so people are given antibiotics and told to go home. ali: dr. goldfarb says this attitude often means that, by the time her young patients begin treatment, their cancer is more advanced and less survivable. dr. goldfarb: what we see in these women is that they're often diagnosed later with more biologically aggressive tumors. ali: a 2021 study found that women over 40 with breast cancer saw a decrease in their mortality rates. but mortality rates in young women remained stagnant. to dr. goldfarb, this demonstrates a major blind spot in the development of cancer drugs -- younger women are often left out of the clinical trials that could save them.

dr. goldfarb: they are the group that needs it the most because the biology of their disease tends to be worse. they don't get to experience the new drugs that really make a difference and move the needle forward. ali: it is not just the recent uptick in breast cancer that has researchers worried. the fastest growing cancer cases among young people are related to the gastrointestinal system. dr. mendelson: we have been seeing this increase now, especially in colorectal cancer since the 1990s, it's been increasing steadily year by year. ali: dr. robin mendelsohn is a gastroenterologist, specializing in colon, stomach, and esophageal cancer. she says typical risk factors, like obesity don't fully explain what has been happening. dr. mendelson: in younger patients we usually think, oh, there has to be, you know, a family history or it has to be hereditary. right now, you know, we just don't have one answer. i think one of the foster homes i was in.

ali: meilin keen was born in china and adopted by american parents at the age of two. when she was in high-school she says she struggled to pinpoint what was causing her heartburn and acid reflux. may: i, of course, mislabeled it as stress or due to my diet or just other external life circumstances and not really like, oh, there might be something internally wrong with me. ali: earlier this year, the now 27 year-old graduated from law school and was studying for the new york bar exam. but her plans changed when she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. may: this is me being clueless i was going to be diagnosed a month later. it didn't feel real. it took me a few more minutes to really absorb it, and i had to ask the doctor to repeat it clearly and say, you have stomach cancer. because my life flashed before my eyes in that moment. ali: keen tested positive for h.pylori, a bacteria common in asian countries, which her doctors say likely led to her

stomach cancer. she just finished chemotherapy and is adjusting to the changes to her physical appearance. may: that's why i wear hats, because of the hairline. ali: her treatment also meant the bar exam would have to wait. may: when i had to call to withdraw from the bar, that was actually the first time i verbally said to someone that i didn't know that i had cancer. that was the first time i broke down crying. dr. mendelson: these younger folks, you know, one night, you know, they're out with their friends and then the next day they're diagnosed with cancer. everything changes in that second. ali: dr. mendelson also runs a program for younger patients the g.i. cancer, each of whom fills out a questionnaire, in the pursuit of common denominators among them. dr. mendelsohn: so we're trying to explore all options and asking, you know, some of the usual questions about past history and past family history and then delving into, you know, diet habits, you know, from as far back as they can remember, and medication habits from as far back as they can remember.

the goal really is to find a high risk group so that we can, you know, screen that high risk group. if we do find cancer at a screening test, it's usually at the early stages. and in the early stages, it's really, really curable. ali: currently, routine screenings for most cancers are not recommended for people under 40, unless considered high risk. but dr. mendelsohn encourages doctors and young patients to be vigilant. dr. mendelson: the majority of times these symptoms are not cancer, but it's so important for both providers and patients to know that this is increasing so that if they do have symptoms to get evaluated. ali: mcduffie, who leaned heavily on her family for support during her treatment, wonders how things might have been different if doctors took the concerns of young women, like her, more seriously. how much of their failure to diagnose you earlier, do you think had to do with your age? charisma: a lot. i still had this pain that was

ignored. by the time they diagnosed me it's already stage three when i was already six, seven months after the first pain. so it was like maybe it could have been prevented earlier. maybe i wouldn't had to do chemo or other things if they would have recognized it earlier or took it more serious. ali: fortunately, mcduffie never stopped taking her own concerns seriously, even when she and her family were the only ones. for the pbs newshour, i'm ali rogin in new york city. ♪ amna: with just six weeks until the first-in-the-nation iowa caucuses, several republican hopefuls made stops in the hawkeye state this weekend. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. lisa: ron desantis all in on iowa. >> iowa will begin the revival of the united states of america. lisa: as the florida governor fights for his political

survival, he finished his tour of all of the states 99 counties on inside the thunderdome saturday. restaurant in newton, desantis' s political jabs at his opponent into gop frontrunner donald trump were muted. >> i have been very frank with my views on president trump's campaign where he is campaigning on things that he promised to do in 2016 and didn' t deliver. but i've also acknowledged the good things that were done. lisa: trump has been in iowa far less than his opponents but that hasn't mattered to voters. he has a seismic 40-point lead. he focused on the state this weekend with two rallies mocking desantis for those poll numbers. >> he's been falling out of the air like a very seriously wounded bird right to the ground. lisa: and the former president continued to spout the lie that he won the 2020 election. >> they rigged it and they stole it.

lisa: even as trump faces state and federal indictments for his efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the election that president biden won. his sharpest attacks hit at the democratic front runner with trump trying to flip his own vulnerability. >> joe biden is not the defender of american democracy. joe biden is the destroyer of american democracy. lisa: he again alleged without evidence that president biden has weaponized the department of justice to bring the criminal cases against him. while trump continues to hold a commanding lead in gop polls, nikki haley has been on the rise in recent weeks jumping into , second place in new hampshire and south carolina and tying for second in iowa. and just days ago the former south carolina governor began running her first tv ad in the early states. >> it's time for a new generation of conservative leadership. we have to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past and strengthen our country, our pride, and our purpose. >> i think our country would be very blessed to have vivek. lisa: vivek ramaswamy' s

campaign launched an ad featuring his childhood piano teacher. >> we are going to deliver a major surprise. lisa: as the entrepreneur criss-crossed iowa over the past few days. ramaswamy, desantis, and haley will all be back in the hawkeye state next weekend. but first they will meet up for their fourth debate wednesday night in alabama. i am lisa desjardins. amamna: and our politics monday team is here for a check-in on the 2024 campaign. amy walter of the cook political that is report with amy walter. and tamara keith of npr. good to see you both. the candidates will be debating wednesday night, this one hosted by news nation at the university of alabama at tuscaloosa. it has the most strict requirements so far. doug burgum failed to qualify and this is what he said in part, he said "these arbitrary criteria ensure advantages for candidates from major media

markets on the coasts versus america's heartland. none of their debate criteria relate to the qualifications related to actually doing the job of the president." how are you looking at this next debate? amy: i think the most important thing about his debates is the fact that donald trump has not been there. forget about what the rnc rules are, that has probably been the reason why the field has winnowed as quickly as it has. there has been no opportunity for these candidates to challenge the front runner. that said, it looks like we will have those three in that piece and maybe chris christie as well. this will be the big challenge for nikki haley. she is, with all the momentum right now, if you are ron desantis desperate holding onto second place, granted a distant second place from donald trump, you need to get back in that position.

we know that vivek ramaswamy and nikki haley have had something versus a dislike versus dislike relationship, going after each other. she is deftly the woman in the middle at this debate and will be tested in a way i think we haven't seen before. amna: what do you expect to see? tamara: this is really the undercard debate. this is a debate after several other debates about who can be the leader in distant second. at npr we've been working on stories where we compare the policy decisions of the candidates and the candidates who have been in the debate, we have a pretty good idea of where they stand, how they would govern, what they want to do. with trump, he has not been pressed because he's not been in the debates. there is a lack of specificity on his position that you don't

see with these other candidates because they truly have been pressed. that also explains why he wouldn't want to be at these debates, why would he want to be at a debate with people who are not even close to nipping at his heels and he forced to say what his position is on abortion, or how he would replace obamacare or answer to some of ron desantis's charges that he's basically campaigning on things he campaigned on in 2016 and never did? amna: we are seeing president trump with a relatively of attack, flipping the script, he is saying the biden administration is a threat to democracy. what is the biden administration saying about this? tamara: the biden -- it's not an academic charge.

in the president's campaign launch reelection video, there is footage of the january 6 insurrection where the former president's inability to agree to a free and fair election lead to people storming the u.s. capitol, waving trump flags and bludgeoning police with flagpoles. what the biden campaign says is yes, of course, there is a receptive audience among trump loyalists, among people who support trump and will vote for trump. there is a strong strain of the do nihilism among those voters. this message works well with those voters. the biden campaign feels that biden's message that trump is a threat to democracy, that stands up, and all you have to do is look at video of january 6.

as they see it, this isn't actually new from trump. he has claimed the prosecutions of him are antidemocratic. amy: clearly he's trying to neutralize liability and we see it going on in congress, congress directly going after hunter biden, suggesting they will use hunter biden's business relationship with his family as a cause for potentially impeaching the president. and basically taking the message of everybody is corrupt, he doesn't some bad things, this candidate does some bad things, they are all the same. if you are the donald trump campaign, the one message that works best is on the economy. he has a double-digit lead right

now over biden on the economy. i think that yes, i understand why he is doing this, what he wants to put biden on the defensive, but the most effective campaign he can run is one that focuses almost entirely on the economy and that requires a level of discipline donald trump has never showed. tamara: there is a long-standing pattern of "i know you are, but what am i?" he does it all the time. we have seen this before. it can muddy the water. amna: i want to talk about capitol hill this week, the bill that could have advanced some of the funding for ukraine and taiwan, the talks have broken down we saw a strong letter to congressional leaders. this is what she said -- it will

not only put at risk of the gains ukraine has made but increasing the likelihood of russian military victories. any realistic path forward on this right now? amy: i talked to some folks that think there might be a way that some of this aid gets through, maybe through a different vehicle. so many republicans, especially in the house, it's not much different from where a lot of americans sit right now on their views of the importance of sending money overseas, or the role of america in the world. the marist poles sponsored in part by the newshour bears this out. 50% of americans saying it is crucial for the united states to be a global leader in the world, versus 47% saying we should focus on domestic problems. it's not just republicans. independence -- independents also. the challenge the white house has is not just members of congress on this funding, it's also the public that has become increasingly skeptical that the

money we are spending is worth it and we should be looking more at home. amna: the white house says they won't leave ukraine in the lurch. will they be forced to? tamara: they don't want to. they can't say we will throw the ukraine money overboard and just go with israel because then the ukraine money will be thrown overboard. they continue to ask these funds be linked together. they are linked until they are not. the biden white house is in a tough spot. president biden has. the message becomes more difficult when he can't get

congress to pass the funding that ukraine needs that of the white house says ukraine needs and other allies are counting on the u.s. to deliver. so that is a challenge for the white house. amna: we will be following it all. always good to see you both, thank you so much. tamara: you're welcome. ♪ geoff: one of the big announcements at the u.n. climate conference this weekend in dubai was a pledge by more than 110 countries to triple the amount of renewable energy they're generating by 2030. as william brangham reports that work is already under way, in a state that may surprise you. this story is a collaboration with the global health reporting center, with support from the pulitzer center.

william: if you had to guess which state in america was, hands-down, producing the most green renewable energy, what would you guess? california? massachusetts? it's texas. the state that epitomizes oil and gas and got rich powering the nation for decades is now the biggest producer of wind and solar. so how did deep-red texas turn so green? michael: it's not unusual for texas to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, and the rise of renewables is one of those examples. william: michael webber studies the energy transition at the university of texas and is author of "power trip: the story of energy." michael: we didn't do it for the cleanliness, we didn't do it for climate change. we did it because it makes us a lot of money for the landowners, and saves us a lot of money for the consumers. william: one study found that all this cheap renewable energy is saving the average texas household almost 200 dollars a year. though skeptics say that figure may be inflated. there are a slew of factors that

contributed to this boom. texas's geography is one. rob minter works for the energy company engie, which has major renewable projects across the state. rob: it's a big state. there are a lot of areas where it's sunny and it's windy and in the wide open spaces of west texas and south texas, there are some wonderful areas for development of renewable resources. william: texas has also had its share of influential oil-men who saw the light on renewables. people like billionaire t. boone pickens. >> lower electric rates for people across the spectrum. william: there's even one who became governor. in 1999, then governor george w. bush, credit legislature, signed a law deregulating texas's power market to make it more competitive, and enshrined a state mandate for wind power. emily: he wanted to support wind power. william: emily foxhall covers the energy industry for the

texas tribune. emily: there were landowners who were willing to lease their land for these new industries. william: these newfangled industries. emily: yeah, it was a new way for them to make money when perhaps they were struggling to do so with agriculture. michael: texas had a mandate before england, before california, before new york -- list all these liberal economies and texas had a renewables mandate before them. william: today, the lone star state generates more megawatts of wind power than any other in the nation. when it comes to solar, texas trails only california and actually ranks first in utiilty-scale solar projects. combined with nuclear, texas now generates almost 40% of its total energy needs from carbon free sources, a huge surge in just a few years time. texas, like so many other parts of the country, has suffered through a string of climate driven disasters.

they had record-breaking heat waves over the summer, and this area is always under threat of hurricanes. six years ago when i was here for hurricane harvey, this entire area was underwater. emily: the interesting piece here is climate change is the context through which we should be talking about all of this. like the reason we have this renewable power coming onto the grid is because, in order to slow climate change, we have to slow carbon emissions. but in the texas legislature, you really don't hear climate change coming up. william: in fact, texas's renewable boom isn't always being celebrated. during 2021's paralyzing winter storm in texas, which caused widespread blackouts and left 246 people dead, renewables were falsely blamed for making things worse. governor greg abbot had this to say. governor abbott: our wind and our solar got shut down and that thrust texas into this situation where it was

lacking power at a statewide basis. this shows how the green new deal would be a deadly deal for the united states. william: but a subsequent analysis showed it was un-winterized fossil fuel plants principally natural gas that were responsible for most of the blackouts. michael: the biggest failure was by far the gas system. so about 85% of the gas production in west texas froze up about 50% statewide. william: in this year's legislative session, republican legislators -- many with the support of the fossil fuel industry -- introduced a slew of anti-renewable bills. including a new tax on owners of electric cars. michael: i have to pay a $200 annual fee in texas to register this car. i'm subsidizing gasoline and diesel drivers around the state. the focus was on how to punish renewables, how to punish wind and solar. the grid needs to be reliable, wind and solar are not reliable, so goes the story, therefore we need to punish wind and solar. william: but in a surprising turn, almost none of the anti-renewable bills passed and made it to governor abbot' s desk. proof, michael webber says, that green energy in texas has become

more or less politically bulletproof. michael: urban democrats like it because it's clean and renewable and the rural republicans like it because it's good for economic development. william: the texas clean energy boom is also being driven by its ready-made army of workers and entrepreneurs coming directly out of the oil and gas industry. tim latimer is the ceo of the geothermal company fervo energy geothermal energy comes from drilling underground to tap the heat below the earth's surface to spin electrical turbines. tim: and because we're not burning anything or combusting anything, we're just using the natural heat of the earth, what we can do is produce electricity around the clock, 24/7, and do so without carbon emissions. william: it is an ironic twist. today's advanced geothermal would not be possible without the drilling and fracking technology developed for natural gas.

tim: when i started over a decade ago -- william: latimer, like so many within the texas larger renewable industry, started his career in fossil fuels. tim: what we see as time goes on is people have realized that climate change isn't a far off problem. they're still passionate about providing affordable energy to the world, but the priorities shift a little bit because of how urgent the climate crisis is. and i think there's a lot of people who have made that realization just like i have. william: none of this means that texas has turned its back on fossil fuels. it is still, by far, the national leader in oil production and natural gas production. this is the essential challenge for the negotiators gathered in dubai -- how quickly can the world's powers shift this balance and transition as fast as texas if not faster? for the pbs newshour, i am william brangham. ♪

geoff: astronomers have discovered a rare solar system with six planets moving completely in sync with one another, a perfect cosmic dance. estimated to be billions of years old, the formation 100 light-years away may help unravel some mysteries of our solar system. science correspondent miles o' brien joins us now. astronomers have found thousands of these so-called exoplanets since the first one was discovered in 1995. what sets this discovery apart? miles: this one is pretty special. the idea that they found a star, a solar system with six planets orbiting as if in harmony has struck them as extremely unusual and almost to the edge of truly unique. they think what they found is essentially like going to a barn and finding a classic antique vehicle.

it is just pristine, nothing has touched over these years. helps them understand the origins of our own solar system. geoff: what doing know about the size of these planets? miles: they are all about the size of neptune. the orbits are a matter of days around the star. the ratio of the orbits is the same as you go out. they found a couple of inner planets and then the outer planet and they did the math and said we will probably find some planets here, and there they were. geoff: this formation is 100 light-years away. what instruments did scientists use to find it? miles: there is a nasa instrument called tess, which has been in orbit about five

years and it has been very busy. it has found no less than 7000 planet candidates, and 500-plus are confirmed. it is just getting started. as it looks throughout the heavens. the planet business is betty. there's also a european satellite involved. the follow-up will be with the james webb telescope and they will look at these six planets and try to characterize their atmosphere. is it a bunch of gas, hydrogen, or could there be water? geoff: what's the significance of finding these planets so in sync? miles: it gives us an idea of what a solar system looks like maybe at the beginning. our solar system is in a tough neighborhood. we have been bounced around, asteroids have hit planets, and the planets have gotten out of sync over many billions of years. this one apparently is in a

quiet corner of the cosmos and is just the way it was, evidently, when it was first created. that has astronomers completely -- not mystified but quite curious and want to continue looking at it and seeing what other instruments tell us. geoff: fascinating stuff. miles, thank you. miles: you are welcome. ♪ amna: and that's "the newshour" for tonight. join us tomorrow night when we will have the story of one of the youngest palestinians released from is really detention during the temporary cease-fire. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> architect.

beekeeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. ♪ supported byhe john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs news station from viewers like you. thank you.

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] announcer: this is "the pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington, and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪