♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on "the newshour" tonight... maine becomes the second state to ban former president trump from the primary ballot for insurrection, raising more questions about the 2024 campaign. then, we examine the surprising resilience of the u.s. economy in 2023 and how it upended expectations of a recession. and, recent viral videos of retail theft prompt widespread claims of rampant crime -- but data tells a different, more

complex story. neil: i think one of the reasons retailers mention theft so much is that it provides a narrative for things that are happening elsewhere in the financials. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including jim and nancy goldman >> it was like an a-ha moment, this is what i love doing. early-stage companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs it is the same thing. i'm helping people reach their

dreams and i am thriving by helping others every day. people who know know bdo. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ >> and with ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of "the newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to "the newshour."

israeli forces are widening their offensive on the central gaza strip after flattening much of the north. they targeted several refugee camps there today. the hamas-run gaza health ministry reports israeli airstrikes killed at least 187 palestinians since yesterday. meantime, tens of thousands of gazans fled to the overwhelmed southern town of rafah -- many packing into tents -- hoping to find safety. but, airstrikes there left some wondering why they left their homes in the first place. omar: we escaped from the shelling and came to rafah, deemed a safe area. the israeli army followed us with the rockets to the safe area. we should have stayed at home and died there. why did they ask us to leave? they are liars, they ask you to evacuate and send you to an area and after many families gather there, they hit you. geoff: in a rare move, israel admitted wrongdoing yesterday for sunday's airstrike on the maghazi refugee camp that killed at least 106 people. israeli officials say the wrong

type of munition was used. russia unleashed a massive, 18-hour aerial assault on ukraine, killing at least 30 people. more than 140 others were injured. the barrage comes as ukrainian officials are urgently pleading for more air defense systems from their western allies. stephanie sy has our report. stephanie: as the war in ukraine nears the two-year mark, last night russia delivered one of the biggest air attacks since the conflict began. erika: i have no window left, the glass has been shattered, it's everywhere. this is a huge shock for the children. stephanie: russia launched more than a hundred missiles and dozens of drones across the region, targeting these seven cities. in dnipro, a maternity hospital and shopping mall were hit. in kharkiv, rescuers uncovered an elderly man who was pinned under the rubble of a collapsed building.

firefighters in kyiv were still trying to contain the blazes at a warehouse this morning. earlier this week, the ukrainians blew up a russian warship in crimea, threatening -- in a crimea. ukraine says they have destroyed 20 percent of the russian black sea fleet since the invasion began. kateryna: i knew that it would not end well, that they would fire back very hard. i had a premonition. stephanie: the war has dragged on into a second winter with harsh conditions on the frontlines. the security of utilities and power plants is crucial for ukrainian survival as the temperatures drop. in poland, a flying object crossed into airspace from the direction of ukraine. officials said it seems to have been a russian rocket, raising concerns about the implications of targeting a nato member but the object left the airspace without incident. min. kosiniak-kamysz: polish and allied systems worked. we and our allies are in constant contact.

stephanie: western nations have provided financial support since the war began, but patience is wearing thin. a ukrainian air force spokesperson urged allies to stay involved. yuriy: this is yet another sign for our partners to strengthen ukraine with the required amount of air defense so that we could become the shield between the aggressor and europe, so that we could protect ourselves and protect them. stephanie: american lawmakers are dragging their feet on further funding, having left for their holiday break without securing any more money for ukraine. president biden released a statement saying, "unless congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems ukraine needs to protect its people." as the war rolls on, ukrainians brace for the long road ahead. for "the pbs newshour," i'm stephanie sy. geoff: in the days other headlines -- new landslides triggered by heavy rain in eastern congo have killed at least 20 more people.

several towns across the country have turned into thick piles of mud and debris. officials say more than 60 people total have died from flooding and landslides this week alone. observers partially blame the deaths on construction of houses in unauthorized areas. here at home, forecasters are warning of more high tide and dangerous surf conditions tomorrow in california. the national weather service predicts strong winds and up to two inches of rain in some coastal areas. high tides yesterday caused extensive damage. this rogue wave in ventura, california sent eight people to the hospital and flooded streets. ohio's republican governor mike dewine has vetoed a measure that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors, and barred transgender athletes from taking part in girls' sports. dewine said decisions about transgender healthcare should be made by parents and doctors, not by the state. republican lawmakers hold a supermajority in the state's legislature and can override his veto. and on wall street, stocks gave up more ground on this final

trading day of the year. the dow jones industrial average lost 20 points to close at 37,689. the nasdaq fell 84 points. the s&p 500 shed 13. still to come on "the newshour" -- david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines. we look at the surprising resilience of the u.s. economy in 2023 and how it upended expectations of a recession. new research uncovers a link and between a certain hormone and severe morning sickness during pregnancy. plus, from wars to natural disasters to our political and cultural divisions, we look at 2023 through images. >> 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: maine's top election official ruled last night that donald trump is constitutionally

ineligible to appear on the state's primary ballot next year, citing his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. shenna bellows, maine's secretary of state and a democrat, said she made her decision after receiving three challenges from maine voters -- including former republican state senators -- seeking to bar tump from the ballot. sec. bellows: it's a very detailed decision. we lay out why under maine law why the secretary of state has the authority, indeed the obligation, i'm duty-bound to make this determination. we also, i rather, laid out that the record demonstrates that, in fact, the events on january 6, 2021, which were unprecedented and tragic, were an insurrection in the meaning of section three of the 14th amendment. geoff: rick hasen joins us now. he's an election law expert and director of the safeguarding democracy project at ucla's law school. thank you for being with us. so maine joins colorado now and barring donald trump from the ballot under the 14th amendment.

the process in maine where the secretary of state determines eligibility is very different from the process in colorado, where that was decided by that state supreme court. but through what reasoning and on what judgment, do both decisions rest? rick: well, you're right that the decision in maine started administratively, but it's clear it's going to go to the courts and will ultimately be resolved by state courts and may be the u.s. supreme court. the issue in both cases is the same. it's whether section three of the 14th amendment, which bars from future office, those officeholders who had pledged an oath to support the constitution, but then engaged in insurrection or supported the u.s.'s enemies, they would be disqualified from serving. and so there's a bunch of legal questions. this is applied to the president, the office of the president. there's also the question of

whether trump engaged in insurrection that's more of a , factual question. the secretary of state in maine pretty much followed the reasoning of the colorado supreme court in the earlier decision in finding that trump is disqualified from serving in office. it's something that involves complex, novel questions from a really was put in place after the civil war and hasn't been used in recent times. geoff: what about donald trump's right to due process? does it matter that he's not been charged with, tried for or convicted of insurrection? rick: it's a great point. i think there are, you know, you can kind of put the questions about this disqualification into three buckets. there are legal questions about for example, whether the presidency is covered by this provision. there are factual questions, did trump engage in insurrection. and your question goes to a third point, the procedural questions. this is what upset some of the dissenters in the colorado decision. whose decision is it to make on

what basis? in colorado, that made a a trial court determination without a jury? in maine, it was the administrator the chief election officer of the state that made the determination. is that enough process? i think that's one of the questions if the supreme court takes up this case that they're going to have to resolve. geoff: the main republican party is vowing to appeal this ruling and maine's gop chairman says he disputes the idea that a single "political elite," that's the phrase that he used, referring to the secretary of state can disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of maine voters with one decision. what do you make of that argument? it's less a legal argument and one that speaks to voters faith in the system. rick: right. i do think that there's a difference between the legal question and the political question. a part of the constitution that says that certain people are disqualified if they

participated in an insurrection. that's that was adopted through a democratic process. and that, you know, that's part of our set of rules, just like our rules that say that if you're under 35 years old, you cannot service president. so these are rules that were democratically adopted. the application of those rules to the facts could be complex, and having that decision maker be secretary of state rather than the jury or some other body is maybe problematic. but i think the broader point is that politically, the question is whether or not this country is going to tolerate having one of the leading candidates for president be taken off the ballot, whether that's by an administrator or by a court. we could see different decisions across the country. until we get some resolution from the u.s. supreme court, we're going to continue to have these fights in state after state. in some places trump might appear on the ballot and other places he might not. geoff: and assuming the court takes this up, i hear you say that that is the question that they will weigh. not necessarily did donald trump engage in insurrection but what , authority what entity has the right to make that determination and then bar him from the ballot?

rick: i think there are all kinds of questions that have to be raised. you know, there are purely legal questions about the application to the presidency. there are these factual questions, and then there are these procedural questions. donald trump really only has to prevail on any one of them in order for the court, the u.s. supreme court to conclude that he remains on the ballot. the challenges have to prevail in all things. and that could be tough. especially because we don't have a modern track record of how to apply this part of the constitution. and so it's really anybody's guess, what the courts going to do when it addresses these myriad problems. i think one thing that the chief justice of the united states , john roberts, is going to want to do is not have a decision if the court takes the case that divides on party lines, which would further inflame partisan hessians in the united states. geoff: always appreciate your insights. thank you. rick: thank you. ♪ geoff: for more on the question

of whether donald trump should be barred from the 2024 ballot, as well as some reflections on the past year in politics, we turn to brooks and capehart. that's "new york times" columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for "the washington post." good to see you both. maine has joined colorado as the second state to ban donald trump from its presidential primary ballot under a constitutional provision that prevents insurrectionists from holding office. david, what is your assessment of this? david: i thought colorado was pretty terrible and i think this is a worse threat to democracy, some random politician throwing the republican front runner off the ballot for crimes he is not even convicted of or charged with. the process should always be voters decide. doubly when we have the entire democratic system under crisis and people think the game is rigged.

throwing people off the ballot, they will think the game really is rigged. then if you have one democrat throwing a candidate off the ballot in maine, you think republicans won't throw people off the ballot somewhere else? i thought it was a terrible decision. one that confirms every story donald trump tells, which is those liberal elites are out to get you. somebody as -- somebody is out to silence your voice. geoff: jonathan, is this election interference of a different sort? jonathan: [laughs] i don't buy it, the idea that this is a cabal of liberal elites attacking marcus lee going off donald trump is ridiculous. these challenges are being brought by republicans, there are republicans trying to keep donald trump off the primary ballot. that's the case in colorado and

those same people are involved in other cases. the main secretary of state is not a random official, this is someone who did not just make up this decision out of whole cloth. she had a hearing a week ago, hour-long hearing -- eight hour-long hearing. the key thing is this case is going to go before the supreme court. the one thing the supreme court does not like is dissidents within the country. colorado and maine saying he has to be off the ballot, you have michigan and i believe california saying trump is on the ballot. you cannot have a hodgepodge of decisions around the country involving something this major. the supreme court is going to have to decide this case. as the minnesota secretary of state said to me last weekend,

the supreme court deciding unanimously either all states have to to have him on the ballot or all states have to have him off the ballot but there will not be a split decision. geoff: how do you think the court might weigh this? david: i would be shocked if the supreme court took donald trump's name of the ballot anywhere. it already has its own credibility problems, it doesn't want to be seen to be telling citizens you can't vote for that guy. geoff: how much weight do you give that question, why can one person in this case, in maine, make a decision for voters? jonathan: it's a matter of state law. the rules and all of these states, these hodgepodge decisions are because elections

are run by the states and they have their own laws. in maine, the secretary of state makes a determination and then it goes to the courts. this is not the end in maine, it's the beginning. geoff: as this decision came down yesterday from maine, nikki haley was in new hampshire, donald trump's rival, trying to clean up a response you gave when she was asked at a town hall in new hampshire about what was the cause of the civil war. she did not name slavery in her response. after much backlash, she later said of course it had to do with slavery. what did you make of her initial comment and attempt to clean it up? david: republican presidential candidates should not be disagreeing with lincoln's second inaugural. lincoln knew this was a war about slavery. america was split over slavery in the war happened, and i think

ron desantis is lying that ending slavery was one of the republican party's greatest commish and sever. what was disturbing is that the response had the aroma of somebody playing political games from south carolina. you're coming from a place where people want to say was about random civil-rights or whatever, and she had that voice in her head and she thought the politically calculated thing to do was to give the answer she gave rather than the honest truth. it was a bad moment for her. geoff: did her remarks suggest that the audience would agree with her? jonathan: i agree with david and the only thing i would say is it's not an aroma, it is a stench. she is the former governor of the first state to secede from the union, led to the civil war over slavery, a state that had a

proclamation in 1860 that said flat out, non-enslaving states are trying to make us give up slavery. for her to do what she did, especially after what she did, after the massacre in charleston at mother emanuel, probably her biggest moment on the national stage and certainly as governor of south carolina, stepping up and being a leader and taking down the confederate flag for her to backtrack like this -- i shouldn't be surprised, because she has backtracked on a lot of statements of principle, especially when she got in league with donald trump. geoff: chris christie agrees. here's what he told new hampshire voters earlier this week. mr. christie: she didn't say what she said last night and today about this because she's dumb. she's not, she's smart and she knows better and she didn't say it because she's a racist because she's not, i know her well.

and i don't believe nikki has a racist bone in her body. but for purpose of this race, the reason she did it is just as bad if not worse. and she got everybody concerned about her candidacy. she did it because she's unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth. geoff: what about that? he is saying she equivocated and pulls her punches for political gain. how damaging will some thing like that the to her standing in new hampshire? david: first, a lesson to our viewers to major in history. [laughter] we are still living with the civil war's legacy. i don't think it will end up hurting her, i think the people who are voting for her new hampshire are anti-trump in they might have a moment of pause. she got a lot of big bucks from

rich people. compared to donald trump, stupid, insensitive, terrible comments will not be a deterrent because he produces those by the minute. geoff: i want to get your reflections on the edge political threads and themes of the year. jonathan. jonathan: we first. [laughter] we have been through it in 2023 and they will only get more bumpy in 2024. we have two huge constitutional questions before the supreme court, ballot access and presidential immunity. we've never been in a situation where the supreme court has had to even entertain these questions. the ramifications of that for the 2024 election means, we say this every four years, it's the most important election of our lifetime. but 2024 could be the most important election because it

could be the last small d democratic election the country has. that's the one thing that gives me pause. david: we emphasized all your how terrible the political system is right now, and as jonathan said, it will probably be worse. to me, our national situation has been solved by the economy, a lot of good things happening underneath politics. economic growth is phenomenal, inflation is down, and coming -- income inequality is down. real wages are up. it was not predicted we would reduce inflation without sliding into recession and we seem to be doing it. if we had fallen into 7% or 10% unemployment, can you imagine where the country would be? pay attention maybe, fed. [laughter]

america is non-decline, our economy is outpacing europe, japan, china. there are underlying would in america, we are all wounded by how donald trump wants us to feel everyday but there is a lot of good, including crime rates. geoff: we will end on that hopeful note. thanks for an incredible year and we will see you next year. [laughter] take care. ♪ most americans think there's more crime in the u.s. than there was a year ago, according to a recent gallup poll. that's despite clear data showing violent crime has actually dropped sharply in 2023. so why the misperception? economics correspondent paul solman takes a deep dive into one type of crime that may be getting outsized attention.

paul: ok, a question for you -- is retail theft running rampant in america these days? >> flash mob robberies -- >> just the latest in retail theft crime ring -- sheriff cooper: it is up massive. paul: sheriff jim cooper, of sacramento county, california, has his answer. sheriff cooper: it's not even the drip, drip, drip. it is the faucet's full on where these folks go in daily and steal merchandise from stores. paul: last month, cooper took to social media to blast big box retailers for ignoring shoplifting, and california's laws for being too soft on retail crime. to prove his point, cooper sent dozens of detectives on a week-long crackdown, netting 285 arrests, recovering tens of thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise. sheriff cooper: we have people going just from store to store to store. on law enforcement's part. it's frustrating and really the

public, the public's tired of it. paul: but is it really? well, we reached out to our public, online. victoria: i have a part time job at the local quilt and sewing shop, and we are seeing an increase in theft, yes. paul: victoria keen in athens , west virginia says yes. carlton in kent, ohio, no. carlton: i think all the coverage reinforces an idea in people's head that it's a bigger problem than maybe it really is. paul: so which is it? jeff: all of the available evidence suggests that -- not inherently that retail theft is going down -- but that we don't have evidence to support that there's a rise, especially a surge, in retail theft. paul: one problem, says crime researcher jeff asher, is that news and social media overdramatize the issue. jeff: these problems are getting more press, more discussion. i think some of that might be just a focus on a crime with poor data. if you have a viral video, you

have a large-scale theft or a theft that turns into a violent incident, it gets, you know, hundreds of thousands or millions of clicks, millions of views. paul: but it's also retailers themselves blaring the alarm, and locking aisles upon aisles of items behind plexiglass. and there's the phrase we're now hearing quite often -- organized retail crime, troupes of thieves swiping merchandise, and reselling it. earlier this year, target cited theft to explain closing 9 stores nationwide. but multiple analyses showed less crime at target locations that closed, compared to ones nearby that stayed open. target didn't respond to a request for comment. and jeff asher points to a report from the council on criminal justice, which showed, in most cities that kept good track of the data, retail theft is actually lower this year than before the pandemic. so why the disconnect? under-reporting, perhaps. but also, stores or cities with outsized increases may be getting outsized attention.

are you suspicious of the narrative that retail theft has increased significantly? neil: i'm not suspicious of it. i just wish that there were some very solid numbers to back it up. paul: neil saunders is a retail analyst with global-data. neil: i think one of the reasons retailers mention theft so much is that it provides a narrative for things that are happening elsewhere in the financials. so we've had a lot of retailers this year, for example, saying, well, our profitability is slightly down, our margins are slightly down. one of the reasons for that is because rates of theft have increased. paul: saunders says companies rarely give very detailed data on how much inventory they've lost -- what's known as shrink. while shrink includes theft -- by customers and employees -- it also includes supply that may have been lost in transit, or left in a warehouse somewhere. and yes, data from the national retail federation -- the industry's main lobbying group

-- shows shrink up in 2022, but barely, and still in line with 2019 and 2020. earlier this month, the federation actually had to retract an estimate that organized retail crime accounted for nearly half of all shrink in 2021. according to one analysis, it was actually more like 5 percent. in a statement to "the newshour," the federation acknowledged the "lack of conclusive data on the scale of retail theft," but countered that the industry is spending billions to increase security, however inconvenient to shoppers and damaging to sales. quote, "it defies logic to suggest that all this money and energy is being invested to attack an imaginary problem or to serve a convenient narrative." and indeed, workers at three macy's stores outside seattle, at least, agree. hundreds went on strike over black friday weekend, saying the company wasn't doing enough to protect them from thieves. union worker azia domingo.

azia: they're coming in, stealing. we don't know if there's a weapon. we don't know what's going to happen. and it's that fear right there that we don't feel like we have the tools to be able to safely take care of ourselves, to safely take care of our customers. paul: macy's response -- it, quote, "prioritizes the safety of our colleagues," and says it is negotiating the issue with the union. and in sacramento, sheriff jim cooper insists the problem is getting worse, even though data from california's department of justice shows shoplifting in the county last year was below pre-covid levels, and way below a decade ago. sheriff cooper: having been this job for 31 years, doj's data is inaccurate. number one, a lot of these crimes don't get reported. the public's not reporting crimes. these big box retailers aren't reporting crimes. so if no one's filing on it, you have no idea what the issues are. and that's really what it comes down to. it's not down. it hasn't been down. paul: for what it's worth, our

public's response to, "do you feel retail theft is a significant issue in your area?" more than 60 percent said no. but that still left a lot of yes-es. sure, our responses are just so-called anec-data, but their ambiguity does jibe with retail analyst neil saunders' overall assessment. neil: i think it's probably fair to say there is more theft than there used to be. the big question which we can't answer is exactly how much more is there and how much of a problem is it? i think those are the very big questions that remain open and we don't have a clear view on those things. paul: but one thing does seem clear -- viral video views are not a reliable answer to the question. for "the pbs newshour," paul solman. ♪

geoff: 2023 was a year in which many experts got a lot of things wrong about the economy. many economists believed the fed's battle to tame inflation with a succession of interest rate hikes would trigger high unemployment and a recession. instead, inflation was cut in half, the economy added more than 2.5 million jobs, and the s&p 500 index rose to near record highs. roben farzad, host of national public radio's full disclosure joins us now with a look back at the year's top economic trends and what's in store for 2024. it is good to see you. there was a virtual certainty among economist last year that 2023 would see recession, and the debate was over how long and how serious it would be. that recession failed to materialize. what did economist misread? roben: it shows you what a dismal science it is, we are coming off a hopefully once in a generation hit, the supply chain

lockdowns and unemployment spiking to 15% in a week and then moderating and uncle sam throwing trillions of dollars of stimulus at the problem. what will come out of the other end? there is no history book to look at for this. jerome powell's job, i think the conventional wisdom is if we had to suffer inflation, the only way to truly kill it was to send the economy into a recession, potentially deep recession like we saw in the early 80's. the fact we didn't see that and we are still growing -- and yes indices show continued misery -- it indicates probably a soft landing. geoff: big tech stops reclaimed the top spot as market leaders in 2023. what fueled it? roben: ai, romancing the idea that there is something as big of the internet down the pipe, putting some people out of work but creating other jobs. the magnificence ever -- amazon, apple, microsoft and the likes

there, they are the new leaders. the problem is they so bloat the value of the broader market, i think they represent some thing like 30% of the s&p 500 index, so now you live and die by them. they had a horrible year the year before. geoff: there is a disconnect between the strength of the economy and perceptions of it. some we americans tell pollsters they have a grim view of the economy and where it is headed. what accounts for that? roben: i think a lot of people are anchored in pre-pandemic prices. you knew what $20 and $40 about you at the grocery store and now you are still indignant that the carton of orange juice is smaller and the price is higher, or what red or eggs cost, or taking your kids for pancakes on a sunday. your anchor for that is until we revisit the prices from yesteryear we are not out of the woods, but that is not how

inflation works. people are running victory laps right now but the pace of inflation is moderating and maybe we have killed inflation but the prices are sticky upwards and will stay with us. geoff: what should we look for in the weeks and months ahead to get a better picture of 2024? roben: if we were a year ago and doing this, would anybody have said i have a crystal ball, three of the four largest bank failures in history would happen in 2023. geoff: i am most forgot about that. roben: it was a footnote. there was too much money in the account and people that freaked out. they started moving around on their smartphones. it might have suggested a mortgage meltdown, economic crisis. there are idiosyncratic things on the economy in a think all eyes are on the fed -- will it get the leeway to bring down interest rates. investors seem to be unanimous in thinking that. or will inflation stick around

longer than expected? geoff: how will we know, how will the fed know if they can ring down the rates as quickly as i hiked them? roben: i don't know if you go to a man on the street and go core cpi is falling! they will know they are locked out of the housing market, they will know a good rate at 7.5% is nowhere near the 2% or% they were able to get during the pandemic, but the fed has its eyes on other indicators. i know jerome powell, if he could pull a lever and take billions out of the housing market, he would do that and not hurt credit conditions and small businesses. in reality, the fed controls these blunt instruments and maybe you don't want to inject more stimulus into an economy that in many respects -- go to any airport, restaurant or resort -- is kind of overstimulated. geoff: what economic trend resonated with you the most this past year? roben: i thought there were finally wage gains for people.

there was an indication that if you were a service worker or sous chef or someone who for years was biting your time and never asked for a raise, it was not that a national fiat about minimum wage had to prevail. you had clout. at restaurant levels and retail workers, there was an inter-standing you can automate out of these problems. a lot of people cannot beg for workers to show up. unemployment is below 4%, can you hire people without adding to inflation? it's tricky, but there is vindication for people who a few years ago were worth eight dollars or nine dollars an hour and maybe now twice that. geoff: thank you. roben: happy new year. geoff: you too. ♪

the extent to which women experience morning sickness can vary, and those with extreme nausea and vomiting during pregnancy often face stigma when trying to receive care. while the condition is understudied, new research is giving hope for better treatment. amna recently spoke with several women affected by the condition, and one researcher working to understand the cause. amna: anywhere from 50% to 90% of all pregnant women struggle with morning sickness. for a smaller group, about 2%, it can be debilitating or dangerous. extreme nausea can lead to malnutrition or hospitalization. a condition known as hg. new research has identified a single hormone behind the condition, eating to hope there could be new treatment. more on that in a moment. first, let's hear from some women who lived through this firsthand, two of whom are pregnant right now. >> i am a freelance writer and i live in baltimore, maryland.

what i was first pregnant with my daughter, i was a young mom, 24 years old -- i had no idea what was going on. the best way i can describe it is essentially you feel like you've been poisoned. >> i am from fort worth, texas and stay at home mom. for me on my first and second pregnancy, currently in, i threw up 24/7 regardless of whether i had food or fluid in my body. i was so violently ill that blood vessels broken my face and eyes. >> i am a department manager at a university and i am from bakersfield, california. this is my first pregnancy and i really came into this not knowing anything about what to expect. i ended up having to go to the emergency room because i just -- yeah, i scared myself in the sense that i felt like i couldn't get out of bed, i had

zero energy. i couldn't keep water or food down. >> i live in michigan and i have two children. i was on total nutrition bags, so you don't have to eat. >> no one ever said there is this thing you may have. no one brought it up in my first pregnancy until i was halfway through and i stepped on the scale and the nurse looked at the number and looked at my chart and said that can't be right. i said it is is, i'm not really keeping anything down. i had lost like 22 pounds. >> it wasn't until i adamantly advocated for myself and ended up switching practices because i didn't feel like i was being taken seriously, that i was recommended a home service. the service here is called option care here in texas.

they not only administer iv, they would come to my house and teach me about a medical pump that administered a medication 24/7, it is given to chemotherapy patients. >> i was throwing up 20 to 30 times a day. i would throw up so much it would ruin the inside of my throat. i would throw up blood. the only person i could compare my struggles to was my dad, who had cancer. >> i had moments of enjoying being pregnant but for the most part, pregnancy is miserable for people going through this. there is not a lot of enjoyment, it's about making it through. >> i knew i wanted to provide my daughter a sibling but i cannot say i was filled with anything but fear when i found out i was pregnant. i'm still very much detached

from my pregnancy or the idea that another baby is coming into the world. >> i wish my doctor had told me i could take medicine sooner and i wish he had understood the severity of the situation. i knew nothing about the medication or how important it was to not get to a really low point. >> i don't think i will have any more children because of it. i think it affected all of us, not just me but even my partner. i don't think we could go through that again. amna: this doctor is from a school of medicine at the university of southern california. she has worked on breakthrough research into joins us now. welcome. put this into context for us. how big of a breakthrough is this, identifying this hormone? >> it is a huge breakthrough because it tells us there is something biological causing this and a lot of people are mistreated who have this

condition and told it is in their head or made to feel it is their fault. it's also a huge breakthrough because it gives us new ways to potentially prevent it and treat it. amna: what could those new ways look like? a pill that may be possible for women to take? >> for the prevention strategy, what is going on is people who have this condition of severe vomiting, they have a predisposition for having lower levels of this hormone prior to pregnancy. to prevent it, we would give them something to increase their levels, to desensitize them to the high levels of this hormone that people have during pregnancy. that's one strategy. the second strategy is to lower the levels of this hormone by blocking it or its action during

pregnancy. amna: with that kind of treatment, would it just be for those who suffer from this severe form of hg, or would it be applicable to the many women who suffer from morning sickness during pregnancy? >> first i think we have to try it on the most severe cases because those are the people who are going to benefit the most and have the least risk. they already have a high risk of adverse outcomes because of it, maternal and child outcomes. for them it is worth it to test these methods and then we would move to people who have less severe symptoms once we know everything is safe and how to do it correctly. but it will take some time. yes, i think so, eventually, to answer your question. first we need to get things right and that starts with the

sickest patients. amna: i know this is professional work for you, you do have a personal connection to this specific work. i wonder if you would not mind sharing your own experience, your second pregnancy. >> similar to all of those stories, i was extremely ill during my second pregnancy. i could not eat, drink or move without violently vomiting. it was like a form of torture, i had to lie completely still week after week. i lost so much weight. my doctor tried seven different drugs at one point at once and nothing worked to get me to be able to eat, so finally i was put on a feeding tube but it was too late and i lost the baby in the second trimester. amna: i am so sorry for what you lived through. how does all of that inform your work now? >> during that time, even though i was completely bedridden and

happened to have my parents taking turns changing my bedpan during the day, my doctor told me i just wanted attention from my parents and that's why they were at my house. i knew that wasn't the case but i was too weak to argue with him. i couldn't even talk at one point, i had to use a buzzer because i was so weak. after i lost the baby and recovered, i looked into what was known about it and i saw there was so little known. i knew there were something biological. i heard someone say it felt like being poisoned -- yes, i could feel something was poisoning napier i wanted to find out -- was poisoning me. i wanted to find out what that was and now we are finally here and it is very rewarding. amna: this has long been understudied and it comes to this issue or others around

women's health. why does it take so long to get to these answers? >> i think there are a few reasons. one reason is the the little mind -- thalidemide disaster in the 1970's. that put a halt on pharmaceutical companies investing research on this as well as doctors and using medicines to treat it. also the fear of patients in taking medication during pregnancy. that stopped a lot of research. apart from that, it is a women's health issue and health issue during pregnancy and i feel like there is a lot of lack of research into conditions that affect only women. hopefully that is changing now. amna: doctor, thank you so much

for joining us. >> thank you for having me. ♪ geoff: finally tonight, a look back at some of the images that have defined this historic and often tumultuous year and hear from the photojournalists who captured them. >> my name is angela, a staff photographer with afp. two of the biggest events i covered this year were the trump arraignment and the civil trial. i also covered the manhunt from the deadliest mass shooting of the year in lewiston, maine, where a shooter killed 18 people at a bowling alley as well as a bar and grill. >> my name is matthew, i work for the maui news on the island of maui on hawaii.

august 8, there were three fires around the island. we try to do our best, we had a small staff, but it was the biggest story we have covered maybe since pearl harbor. >> my name is paula, i've been covering the war in ukraine since the beginning, mostly for getty images but i am freelance and i do a lot of feature stories. the tale about humanity and against the backdrop of war. >> i am a spanish photojournalist for the associated press the last 20 years. 2023, i've seen quite an intense year in terms of breaking news. we start with the earthquake in turkey and syria, which i covered the turkish side. the end of the year, we were covering the ongoing war between israel and hamas. >> when i was assigned to cover the trump arraignment, there

were a lot of protesters, pro-trump protesters as well as people opposing and it was really chaotic. every day, a few photographers were allowed to go inside the court. you basically rush in and are facing him and you have about 15, 20 seconds to make some photos. in that moment he was looking straight at me and that's what we were looking for that day. >> as a photographer you're trying to get the shot, to get close and put the elements together. there was a hawaiian man watching the fire and he was in shock. it was his church that was burning. his family has been members of that church for 200 years. the breadth of the destruction and the human cost was a tragedy. lahaina is the beating heart of the island and to know it was gone and its people were hurting, it was really hard.

it was so hard to cover. >> when we talk about the war in ukraine, people, viewers cannot see the death and destruction every day. they want to know other stories. how are people getting on, how are the more wounded, how are they rebuilding their lives? i was really lucky to meet surrogate -- sergei in a hospital in southern maine, his wife was about to give birth, he was a double amputee and lucky to be alive. to be able to photograph a birth was special. >> i went to israel to cover the funerals of the people that were killed during the hamas attack in the kibbutz and the festival.

some of the escalations in the west bank. it felt like a story that would be a landmark in the history of the conflict. >> i was in ukraine when the israel-hamas war started. many ukrainians were saying to me, now ukraine is not even in the news. we are going to be left behind. >> these kind of stories are historic, they are important and monumental and also very challenging just because you don't know how every day will pan out. >> i get emotional when i start thinking about the people and the history that was lost. it was my career changing -- the rest of my career will be influenced by this fire. every issue of the papers, the

story about the fires. it was so big and important. geoff: we invite you to tune into a special "washington week with the atlantic" tonight on pbs. jeffrey goldberg and a panel of "atlantic" staff writers discuss the articles they wrote for the magazine's latest issue examining what a second trump term could look like. on tomorrow's pbs news weekend, from sold-out stadium shows to the meteoric rise of new singers, a look back at the year in music. and that's "the newshour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. we will see you in 2024. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. 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 -- ♪ and friends of the newshour. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ ♪ ♪

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