♪ >> good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, former president donald trump appears in court to argue that he's immune from criminal charges stemming from his time in office. geoff: the pentagon reveals defense secretary austin is being treated for prostate cancer. the fallout from his undisclosed surgery and subsequent hospitalization. amna: and 2023 blows past the last record for the hottest year, and nears a critical global warming threshold that countries have been trying to avoid.

>> there's growing concern among scientists that we may have underestimated just how sensitive the climate, the earth's temperature, is to greenhouse gases as they increase. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by. ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> consumer cellular. this is sam. how may i help you? >> this is a pocket dial. well. somebody's pockets. thought i would let you know with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day.

>> the john s and james all-night foundation, fostering -- james l knight foundation, fostering engaged and informed communities. more at kf.org. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. donald trump was in court in washington, d.c. today while his attorneys argued the former president is immune from federal prosecution connected to the january 6th attack on the u.s.

capitol. geoff: the three-judge appeals panel seemed skeptical of the trump legal team's argument that trump was acting in his official capacity as president to, quote, ensure election integrity when he undermined the results of the 2020 presidential election. >> i think it's paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" allows him to violate criminal laws. geoff: npr justice correspondent carrie johnson was at the courthouse today, and is following all of the latest developments. thanks for being with us. this case is not just about donald trump, it is about the presidency and the powers of the presidency. hundred trump's legal team argue he should be immune from criminal charges relating to his efforts to overturn the election? what is the case they made in court?

>> trump's lawyer argued the role of judgment -- judges to review the issues should be in his view limited. another essential argument was presidents can only be prosecuted if they have already been impeached and convicted by the u.s. senate. even in the most extreme circumstances. he pointed out if these judges disagree and open an avenue for criminal liability for former presidents, it would open the floodgates for tit for tat from emergency -- administration to administration of different parties. geoff: the judges peppered trump's legal team with questions trying to test the immunity theory. one judge asked if a president could order the killing of a political rival as a political act. >> could a president who ordered seal team six to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution? >> if he were impeached and convicted first.

>> so your answer is no? >> my answer is qualified yes. there's a political process that would have to occur under the structure of our constitution, which require impeachment and conviction by the senate. geoff: there is no precedent here. donald trump is the first former president to face criminal charges. what will inform the judge's ruling? >> history is a guide. no former president has been charged but richard nixon did accept a pardon from his successor gerald ford, which acknowledges some sense of criminal liability on his behalf and concern about presidential criminal action. one of the judges in the case asked trump's lawyer why trump's lawyer in the impeachment over january 6 conceded that he should be impeached but there should be a role for the justice system to play criminally thereafter. the judge couldn't get the lawyer to understand the distinction or acknowledge it so there is a contradiction that

judges are grappling with over the sweeping nature of trump's arguments versus the reality on the ground. and some of these extensive hypotheticals. geoff: you mentioned trump's lawyers argued prosecuting mr. trump would open a pandora's box of indicting former presidents for actions they took in office. how did the central counsel -- special counsel respond? >> the special counsel lawyer basically said this has never happened before in a couple hundred years of american history and the reason it is happening now is because the unprecedented actions of former president trump, who faces two federal does -- indictments, this one in d.c. and another in florida over materials he allegedly refused to return to the fbi and stored at his resort in unsecured areas of mar-a-lago. james pierce said if the court accepts trump's view of his sweeping power post presidency,

it would present a really frightening, astonishingly frightening future for the country. presidents would have a license to commit crimes and get away with it basically. geoff: donald trump attended the hearing as an indication of how his campaign strategy is intertwined with his court appearances. you see a courtroom sketch of him there. what was it like inside the courtroom? >> trump entered a few more minutes for the hearing began. he was relatively quiet. he wrote notes to his attorneys. the only thing people could hear him say was, should i sit here or is this where i sit? to his legal team. he held his fire until after he left the courthouse. he went to a hotel and raised concerns about the political nature of his prosecution. there is no evidence the current president joe biden played any role in this case, none whatsoever. geoff: a ruling could come within days from the three-judge panel. what happens next? the losing side appeals to the supreme court? >> yes but in some ways a delay

is trump's friend even if he loses. it is about how quickly the court makes him act either with the appeals court or the supreme court. the trial was set to start march 4 and that seems unlikely but prosecutors want to get it going before the election. how quickly the appeals court rules and what they say trump can and can't do next could determine whether he faces any trials before november. geoff: carrie johnson, always a pleasure. thank you so much. ♪ amna: the pentagon and walter reed medical center today revealed that defense secretary lloyd austin is suffering from prostate cancer. austin's doctors say it was detected early, and his prognosis is, quote, "excellent." but there remains a chorus of criticism about why austin withheld his diagnosis, and much of his treatment, for so long

from the public, and the president. nick schifrin has been following the story. let's start with the secretary's health. how is he doing? why are we just learning about this now? nick: austin's doctors say they expect a full recovery but they also said it can be a slow process. there is no real answer to the second question, which is why you are getting the criticism you referenced. let's go through the timeline again as we did last night. in early december, one month ago, austin learned he had prostate cancer. december 22, he underwent a removal of part or all of the prostate under general anesthesia and transrred authorities to his deputy. january 1 he was admitted to the icu at walter reed with what his diet -- his doctors diagnosed as a uti and fluid in his abdomen.

he transferred authority to his deputy and didn't say why. january 4 he informed the national security council and his deputy about the hospitalization. january 5, he makes a public statement and at no point during that entire process did he say or admit he had prostate cancer. take a listen to the spokespeople on the defense department and the national security council. a major general, and john kirby admitting how in the dark they have been. >> as soon as we had this information to make available, we provided it. we got it this afternoon and provided it literally minutes before i stepped in here. >> nobody at the white house new that secretary austin had prostate cancer until this morning. the president was informed immediately after. nick: the pentagon cited the fact that austin's chief of staff had the flu as for a reason for some of the delay but they don't have an explanation as to why austin didn't admit he

had cancer at any point. amna: we are glad of the excellent prognosis. we wish him a full recovery but this seems to beg more questions. what is the response from lawmakers? nick: very critical, even after the fact that he had cancer was revealed today. the armed services chairman launched a formal inquiry accusing austin of concealing the fact that he was incapacitated. the top senate armed services republican accused austin of a quote, clear violation of the law. the democratic chairman called for transparency and accountability from the defense department. amna: bipartisan criticism. what is the administration saying? nick: they are releasing a couple steps they say will answer some of the concerns. the white house released a memo obtained by pbs newshour by the chief of staff laying out requirements for any cabinet secretary to inform the chief of

staff if he or she, the cabinet secretary's, are unable to perform their duties. the pentagon issued new requirements expanding the list of people who have to be informed when the secretary has to transfer his duties, and also requiring the disclosure of the reason. those were not required before. white house and pentagon are launching reviews that will last 30 days but congressional officials today said that was not enough and there is still no answer as we said, for why the second in the military chain of command withheld the fact that he had prostate cancer. amna: nick schifrin, thanks as always. ♪ vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz, in for stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. winter storms battered much of the country with everything from tornadoes to blizzards. one system killed at least 3 people in the south.

heavy rain and several reported twisters struck the florida panhandle. hurricane-force winds peeled roofs off homes, downed trees, and knocked out power to thousands. in the midwest, more than half a foot of fresh snow fell in some areas, disrupting travel. interstates and schools were closed in several states, and over half a million homes and businesses lost power. senate republicans signaled today that congress will need to pass another short-term funding bill to avoid a partial government shutdown. they've agreed on overall spending, but need more time to pass 12 individual appropriations bills. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said a short-term continuing resolution would get them past the looming january 19th deadline. >> they have a topline agreement. in the meantime, we need to prevent a government shutdown. and so the obvious question is, how long does the cr need to be?

and, that'll be up to the majority leader and the speaker to determine the length of the cr. vanessa: republican house speaker mike johnson has said he would oppose any further short-term funding bills. he did not immediately comment on today's developments. the president of ecuador says his nation is in a state of internal armed conflict tonight. that comes after masked men broke into a public television station with guns, and shouted they had bombs. police said later they arrested all of the intruders. the president said he's designating 20 drug gangs as terror groups, and ordering the military to neutralize them. meantime, peru said it is deploying a police force to the border with ecuador. in ukraine, the power grid operator reports more than a thousand towns have lost power amid russian attacks on the electrical grid. scenes of damage are widespread, and authorities say more than 500 drones and missiles struck ukraine just over new year's

weekend. a ukraine air force official says air defenses are stretched thin. france's youngest and first openly gay prime minister took office today. 34-year-old gabriel attal previously served as the country's education minister. he was appointed by president emmanuel macron after his predecessor resigned yesterday, as part of a reshuffling of macron's cabinet. a new south korean law will ban the centuries-old practice of raising and selling dogs for food. parliament voted for the ban today. animal rights groups pushed for the change, but reaction included a nod to tradition. >> i don't eat dog meat, but it's been consumed for a long time in our country, and it's a unique part of our culture. it's not like everyone is consuming, it's just a matter of preference. vanessa: the law is set to take effect after a three-year grace period. nasa has decided to delay

sending astronauts to circle the moon until 2025. that's a year later than planned. an attempt at a human landing on the moon is also being pushed back to 2026. meanwhile, a pittsburgh company gave up today on trying a moon landing with a robotic craft. it launched monday, but a fuel leak ended its chances. and, michigan is polishing its first college football championship trophy since 1997. the wolverines cemented an undefeated season last night, beating the washington huskies, 34-13. afterward, white and gold confetti showered the field in houston as coach jim harbaugh and his players celebrated. back in ann arbor, bars filled with students erupted in cheers. still to come on the "newshour," the increasing risk of criminal charges for women who experience a miscarriage. a revelatory eyewitness account of the ukrainian resistance

against russia's invasion. and, how women's sports are breaking into mainstream media coverage. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: secretary of state antony blinken is back in israel for his fourth visit since the war with hamas started three months ago. it's part of a long regiona tour that has blinken walking an increasingly narrow diplomatic line, as he tries to keep the conflict from spreading. william brangham reports. william: when he arrived in israel, the secretary of state bore a smile, but a sharper message. leaders across the middle east are demanding an end to the fighting in gaza, and a clearer focus on what comes after. >> i've just come from, a number of countries in the region, turkey, greece, jordan, qatar,

united arab emirates, saudi arabia, and i want to be able to share some of what i heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister and the cabinet later today. william: but in tel aviv, israeli leaders aren't ready to listen to that advice. defense secretary yoav gallant told blinken that while military strategies in the north of gaza have shifted, operations in the south and center of the strip will intensify. displaced gazans in khan younis, desperate to escape the fighting, sent a plea to blinken for help. >> my message to the u.s. secretary of state blinken, get us back home to northern gaza, even if to a tent. it's better than here. >> nice to see you. william: blinken received promises from middle eastern leaders for help rebuilding gaza, but only if an eventual palestinian state can exist alongside israel, something prime minister netanyahu has said he will not allow.

>> israel must be, must stop taking steps that undercut palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively. extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolition, evictions all make it harder, not easier, for israel to achieve lasting peace and security. william: defending israel to the global community has become an increasingly lonely position for the u.s. today, the uk's foreign secretary david cameron said israel might've committed war crimes in gaza. >> if you're asking, am i worried that israel have taken action that might be in breach of international law because this particular premises has been bombed or whatever? yes, of course i'm worried about that. and that's why i consult the foreign office lawyers when giving this advice on arms exports. william: as the fighting continues and israel continues its assault on southern and central gaza, palestinians seeking shelter have nowhere left to go. >> this is the fourth time i have dismantled the tents and

moved them. i am not ready to sacrifice my children and my grandchildren. we are leaving. we do not know what awaits us. william: as fuel supplies dwindle, donkey carts have become one of the only ways gazans can transport their belongings, or their dead on a bench outside central gaza's al aqsa hospital, this aunt grieved the death of her 2 year old nephew, ahmad issa shahin. the little boy was brought, lifeless, to the hospital. the rest of her family's fate is unknown. >> i don't know if my sister, or her children, or my if my father is coming. i'm waiting for them, but he was the only one they brought to the hospital. >> we found only some skin from my daughter's head, and some of her hair. we didn't find anything else. may god rest her soul. she was a top doctor. william: dr. jamal na-eem carried the remains of his dead daughter here. he's lost three daughters, three

grandchildren, and his mother, all killed in their sleep when their home was bombed. >> we have no one except allah. on the day of judgment, we're going to hold the israelis to account, the arabs and all the muslims, in front of god, and all those who didn't stand for us. william: nearby, another burial for another child. dr. mohammad abu jayyab's sister's home was bombed, killing her 3 ye old son. >> they say leave midtown and go to deir, and then they bomb deir. go to rafah, and then they hit rafah. people don't know where to go and what to do. william: "hand him to me, i won't cry," his sister promised. but no amount of kisses are enough for a mother's final farewell. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. ♪

amna: 2023 was the hottest year on record, by a long shot. europe's top climate agency released data today showing global temperatures averaged 1.48 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. record high temperatures are expected to continue this year. for more on the implications of this record heat, i'm joined by radley horton, professor at columbia university's climate school. radley, welcome back. the planet didn't just set a new global annual heat record, it shattered previous records. did we expect to see that kind of increase this quickly? >> no, we did not. at this point, we've gotten used to seeing records as warm as any prior year. we've gotten used to hearing, this is the ninth straight, and in all of the nine last years have been the nine warmest on record. but what we had happened this

year is that over the last six months, we were half a degree fahrenheit warmer than any of those previous years. so you can think of it, like all the previous years were stacked pretty close together and along comes a year in 2023, where the last six months, we are a full half a degree warmer than any of those previous years, so this was not expected. >> so how do we account for that? what drove that increased this past year? >> yeah, well, we have to start. there's a few factors, but we have to start with human activities, the burning of fossil fuels. we're putting so much more heat in the system. and there's growing concern among scientists that we may have underestimated just how sensitive the climate and the earth's temperature is to greenhouse gasses as they increase. are the models missing some processes? but there are some other things going on besides those human activities. we had a very moderately strong el nino. that can be responsible for some warming of the planet. but not this much. and then, similarly, we had a

volcanic eruption under the ocean that actually put water vapor up into the atmosphere, which, unlike most volcanoes, is effective to some degree at warming the planet. but again, couldn't anywhere come close to explaining this degree of shattering of previous records. amna: so we know global warming doesn't just mean more heat and hotter records. we know it also means more extreme weather events. where have we been seeing those? where is it coming real for these communities? >> there's so many examples. i'll highlight some of the cases where the records got shattered just as the global average temperatures did. you look at the degree of some of these heavy rain events, these tragic floods and in 2023 like we saw in libya, for example, in greece, certainly heatwaves front and center, right? we saw exceptional heat across southern europe across china and the southern u.s.. so this is hugely impactful for our economies for our

ecosystems. how about the forest fires that we saw across canada? by some estimates, four times more burned area than ever before seen in canada. it's directly related to the planet warming more than we thought it could, causing the air to dry out and essentially suck moisture out of that vegetation priming the pump for these really extreme fires. amna: and we should underscore we're talking about deadly events here. you also mentioned the economic component. i want to point out the u.s. alone had 28 weather disasters last year. the combined damage killed 492 people and caused nearly $93 billion in damage. in short, can we afford to continue at this pace? >> well, you know, no, we can't. we have to urgently reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. that's clearer than ever. we can see it yet, by looking at the damage is this past year , economic and loss of life, and some of those things that don't get captured by metrics like gdp. but the additional concern as you note because this year

was so much warmer than prior years, and because of growing evidence that we may have underestimated how vulnerable we as a society are to a little bit of higher temperatures, it is becoming clear that if we want to avert these worst case scenarios and possible really catastrophic outcomes that are beyond what our climate models or financial models or crop models tell us are possible, we need to urgently reduce emissions, and we have to adapt to these climate changes that are underway. amna: that 1.48 degree increase is just barely below the 1.5 degrees limit that the world agreed upon as what they would like to avoid, to, as you mentioned, avoid those worst case scenarios and the most severe outcomes. we talk about the tipping point a lot. is this it? >> well, you know, i'd say we don't need to focus exactly on 1.5 degrees. really, the key takeaway, i think is that we are failing terribly at reducing our emissions. but you're right that it's becoming more and more clear than it was just say, five years or so ago that getting to

1.5 degrees is catastrophic for society. we have underestimated how vulnerable our systems are. we've underestimated how quickly these extreme events like heat waves and heavy rain are going to change. so in that sense, whether it's a tipping point or not, we're way more vulnerable than we realized, and it's even more urgent than we thought that we dramatically reduce our emissions. amna: radley horton, professor at columbia university's climate school, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. ♪ geoff: we're learning more about what went wrong when a door panel blew off an alaska airlines flight mid-air. officials are looking into whether four bolts that were supposed to hold the panel in place were missing. the investigation grounded at least 170 other planes from alaska and united airlines. and it's leading to many questions about boeing and the role of the faa.

jon ostrower covers this all closely as the editor in chief of "the air current", a site with reporting on the aerospace and aviation industries. thanks for being with us. yowere first to report that united airlines found loose bolts on plug doors during its early inspections of the 737 max alaska airlines also said its nine. found what it called "loose hardware." based on your reporting, what accounts for it? all the installations were poor design? >> you are heading what boeing, the faa, the ntsb wants to understand. how did these bolts become loose? did it happen during flight? did it happen during manufacturing or assembly? getting to the bottom of that is the key question. what actually caused the door on the flight to depart the aircraft at 16,000 feet? geoff: the ceo of boeing today

acknowledged the company's mistake during a companywide town hall meeting. what more can you tell us about that and what this means for boeing, which has come under fire for a series of safety issues connected to this plane? >> today's town hall at the factory in washington, where boeing builds the 737, was a moment for boeing to pause and talk to employees about what they know, what they don't know, what they can say and what they are doing to ensure any issues in the factory don't become safety issues in the field. that is something they will continue to reiterate publicly. one of the really important things i think as we look at this, looking at the span of the history that has before lund boeing over not just the last five years but the grounding of the 737 max, accidents in ethiopia and indonesia, rolling through the pandemic, it was a major shift in how boeing was

making the airplane. production halted during the grounding and the pandemic caused a huge turnover of staff. those are discrete events. what is important to put into context is that boeing has tried to move beyond that, the tragedies that befell ethiopian airlines and lion air back in 2019 and 2020. what keeps recurring is a series of quality missteps that are nearly as severe as what we saw in the crashes in 2019 and 2020, but haven't mitigated these qualit escapes that cause tremendous disruptions for boeing, the airlines and in this case, a very acute safety crisis for the max, for al-aqsa -- alaska airlines and the people on board the plane. when boeing looks at how to move

forward, it is important to put into context that their strategy as a company hasn't changed. they have adopted new safety procedures and implemented and emphasized tactical moves in terms of how they approach safety. but i think fundamentally, the company's strategy when it comes to its goals for shareholders and customers hasn't changed in the last 20 years. that strategy currently is not by all accounts in the conversations we are having with senior leaders across the aviation industry, at boeing's best customers or suppliers or other stakeholders who are interested in their success come are looking at a strategy that is producing the opposite result they want. that will be the legacy of this immediate issue once the aircraft is expected to reenter service, when more is known and the initial investigation is concluded.

geoff: there are questions about what this means for the faa, that united and alaska, the airlines that fly this aircraft, that they both found loose parts in early inspections of the grounded aircraft. questions about the faa's inspection processes and its overall oversight. what does accountability look like for the faa in all of this? >> numbers will ask questions about that in the weeks to come. -- congress will ask questions about that in the weeks to come. the conversation is focused on suppliers and boeing itself but when the max returned to service at the end of 2020 following the grounding, the faa took responsibility for key delegated tasks including the final inspection and airworthiness ticketing of every delivery. the faa has played a role and has been involved in boeing's factories and their deliveries. how they have approached this

will be important going forward. geoff: thanks for being with us. >> appreciate it. ♪ amna: the case of an ohio woman has garnered national attention after she had a miscarriage, and now faces criminal charges. 34-year-old brittany watts was 22 weeks pregnant, and her pregnancy had been deemed non viable just days earlier, when she miscarried in the bathroom of her home in september of 2023. 2 weeks later, she was arrested on charges of felony abuse of a corpse for how she handled the remains. if found guilty, she faces up to a year in prison. joining me now is mary zeigler, law professor at the university of california davis. her most recent book is called "roe: the history of a national obsession." mary, welcome back, and thanks for joining us. help us understand this charge, abuse of a corpse.

what are prosecutors accusing brittan watts of exactly? >> abuse of corpse charges are from very old laws that almost never apply in this circumstance. so if you think about abuse of a corpse, you're thinking of people mistreating remains for medical experimentation. or you're thinking of people after homicide, you know, dismembering bodies to hide the crime. this almost never would be a charge you'd see applied in a miscarriage case. so essentially, i think what prosecutors are faulting britney watts for is not grieving in the way they thought was appropriate following her miscarriage. essentially, they're faulting her for the way she disposed of the fetal remains, and the way she behaved after she did. amna: we should note, miscarriages this late in a pregnancy are rare. most occur in the first trimester. but up to 30% of all pregnancies do end in a miscarriage. in ohio or anywhere else, are there laws around this in terms of how you should be handling that miscarriage, or reporting that miscarriage? >> no.

i mean, so, if you if you were pregnant and you're looking for guidance about what to do when you experience a miscarriage, the only information you're likely to find is what you should do to protect your own health. essentially, when you should seek medical attention, when you may be experiencing a complication versus when you can handle whatever is happening at home. there's no kind of how-to guide about what you should do if you experience a miscarriage at home. so it's also, i think, unusual for prosecutors to be holding brittany watts to a standard that wasn't written down anywhere when she made the choices she did. amna: critics have looked at this case and said, this represents the criminalization of pregnancy. we have seen an increase in over the years. do you agree with that? have we been seeing that trend? >> we have, and i think brittany watts' case is remarkable in a couple of ways. there's a history, as the group pregnancy justice has documented, of laws criminalizing the actions of pregnant patients, particularly, usually actions that were taken by low income people, people of color, that led to the end of a

pregnancy, particularly substance abuse, sometimes of illegal drugs, sometimes of legal drugs like alcohol. you almost never, or to my knowledge, never see a prosecution for someone like brittany watts, who didn't do -- everyone has conceded that this pregnancy was already nonviable when the actions she took that have led to charges began. so this is, i think, both a continuation of a trend, but also an acceleration of a trend. this is something we haven't seen much before. amna: that group you mentioned is an advocacy group, pregnancy justice. in their last year's report, they found there were more than 1300 cases where pregnancy, including pregnancy loss, was used in a criminal investigation or prosecution. that was from 2006 to june of 2022, the month that roe v. wade was overturned. tell me about what we've seen since then. where do these kinds of prosecutions fit into the larger effort to further roll back abortion access? >> well, the u.s. anti abortion movement school, from, really since the 1960's onward, has been not just the undoing of the right to choose abortion, but the recognition of a fetus or

unborn child as a rights-holding person. and in pursuit of that goal, they've sought to write this idea of a fetus as a right-holding person into as many areas of law as possible. the ultimate goal here is essentially to make the law of abortion, which doesn't treat a fetus as a rights-holding person, or the law of the constitution, the interpretation of the constitution that doesn't treat a fetus as a rights-holding person, an outlier, right? to make it weirder and weirder to say, well, this fetus doesn't have constitutional rights, but we treat it as a person for the purposes of abusing a corpse we treat it as a person for the purposes of fetal homicide law or wrongful death law to sort of put incremental pressure on a conservative supreme court to move towards the recognition of personhood. so this is very much playing the long game. this is not a movement that thinks it's going to get the recognition of fetal personhood through congress or through the supreme court in the near term. but it's worth remembering, of course, that it took 50 years to undo roe v. wade. so i think this, in some ways, for the anti abortion movement,

is the new roe v. wade. it's the next 50 years. amna: while we have you, i would like to ask you about the latest news we have on the battle over abortion bans. the supreme court late last week allowed idaho to continue to enforce its near total abortion ban. the court's going to hear the case in their april session, but from what you've seen in other states, in terms of women traveling out of state or having to file legal cases to challenge for the right to terminate pregnancies, what do you expect to see? what's the impact on the ground in idaho? >> well, what we're seeing, i think, in idaho is likely to be of the most serious importance for people experiencing complications in wanted pregnancies, people who may have been able to fit in under the kind of understanding of a medical emergency that the biden administration has championed under this federal law, the emergency medical treatment and labor act, but who may not under idaho's law. i think it's also likely to have an effect on physicians, who are not going to want to risk the kind of criminal consequences that idaho authorizes for making the wrong decision.

it is not unlikely that we will see the supreme court maybe uphold this law, or at least reject the biden's administration's interpretation of federal law, and permit idaho's interpretation to take effect come june, when the court renders a decision. amna: that is mary ziegler, a law professor at the university of california davis, joining us tonight. mary, thank you. always good to see you. >> thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: the all-out war in ukraine will enter its third year next month, the battle lines nearly as frozen as the nation itself during this frigid winter. but two years ago, there was concern kyiv wouldn't even last a week. nick schifrin brings us a book that explores how kyiv svived, written by a foreign correspondent covering the war, in the country of his birth. >> ukraine's national anthem

begins with the line, ukraine has not yet perished. it continues, fate shall smile on ukraine and our enemies will vanish. our enemies will vanish is the new title of a book about the war by wall street journals chief foreign affairs correspondent who has reported from ukraine before and since the russian invasion. he joins me in the studio. >> great to be here. nick: the most extraordinary thing, the breadth of the reporting. it is extraordinary because it is personal. you were born in ukraine. this is you in the glasses right down there in art class as a kid. you write in the book, it felt wrong to wear on the streets of my hometown of vest and helmet by the boat tentacle garden where i used to go on dates, the museum where i used to spend

afternoons. the russians thought it was theirs. in the country they believe didn't exist, part of a nation they told themselves had been invented. how dare they? how personal is the story for you? >> very much so. i have spent much of my career covering wars and insurrections. in other countries. aunt -- and i prided myself of thinking this could never happen in ukraine. one day it did. i was prepared for that, but still, there was a sense of personal insult. why? this is a city that is being bombarded and destroyed. >> beginning before the war, something you reveal is that there was a difference between ukrainian and u.s. intelligence before the war. the americans had intelligence of what senior officials around putin were telling putin. the ukrainian had lower level intelligence and they knew those senior officials were lying to putin.

how did that play out? >> the u.s. had high-grade intelligence so they knew what the generals were telling putin and the generals were telling putin the russian army has the capacity to route ukraine quickly. they were telling him the ukrainians would not resist much. what the ukrainians knew from contacts at the lower levels is that a lot of the money had been stolen, the russian forces would not be as strong as advertised and a lot of the russian spy network in ukraine that was meant to facilitate the rapid takeover was not going to work for the russians. nick: you were there before the invasion, the day of and months after. you write about how close some of the russians came to downtown kyiv. the russians had a 12-1 troop advantage right outside of kyiv. how close to the russians come

to their initial goals? >> they came pretty close. the main russian plan was to take over some airfields with a small national guard detachment. they managed to prevent the russians from landing planes. that was a pivotal moment. the first morning of the war, then the russians were there for almost a month. they crossed the river to the west of kyiv and established a foothold. it was a tremendous effort by anybody, firefighters, police, volunteers, to repel them at a high cost. nick: one success story ukrainians had by october 2022, outside of kharkiv. you were one of the first reporters into some of those areas liberated by the ukrainians. >> me and the spanish photographer who was with me throughout this war drove early in the morning into the area.

we were among the first to enter . there were ukrainian special forces clearing the center of the city, burning russian vehicles. driving on the road, we saw blown up russian armored vehicles. one after another. we thought, is it safe? then from behind, we saw vehicles. we saw a man without a leg leaning. he was part of the russian forces. nick: you reported from buck moved as well. even a year ago you spoke to soldiers who were criticizing the ukrainian focus on eastern ukraine as taking away the focus from more strategic goals in the south. why do you think president zelenskyy had a sense that he could ignore some of the military advice he was given?

>> president zelenskyy had a political decision. the whole idea was, ukraine is not retreating. it was the ukrainian military and it was also a big cost to russia. the main russian force was the only russian force on the ground in bakhmut, it was wagoner, the only force capable of operations there since spring 2022. wagner was destroyed. nick: the book's subtitle is ukraine's invasion, the war for independence. looking back on the one year anniversary, it was clear ukraine wouldn't disappear from the map once again. that is true today two years almost after the full-scale invasion but i wonder if you think it is good enough or whether ukraine and ukrainians

you talk to think that is good enough. >> it is never good enough obviously. ukrainians want to regain the other 18% of the country under russian rule. many ukrainians are living there in terrible conditions under occupation. but the country has survived. it has survived at tremendous cost. the frontline hasn't moved much in the last year but there are battles every day and people still die every day. so the war goes on. nick: the book is "our enemies will vanish or come thank you very much. ♪ >> the ncaa announced a new eight-year broadcast deal with espn last week for over nine hundred million dollars a“ with -- with women's college sports

making up the bulk of the deal. while women's athletics have traditionally been on the sidelines of sports media, in recent years, they've scored some big wins with mainstream audiences, effectively tripling their coverage in the process. stephanie sy dives into the rise of women's sports, and the fandom propelling them forward. >> i was at this championship game. 2017. stephanie: minnesota resident jillian hiscock is a diehard fan of women's sports. >> i'm a huge wnba fan and women's basketball fan in general, but i follow everything. stephanie: but catching a women's basketball game at her local sports bar proved complicated. >> so many women's sports fans' experience has been walking into a bar looking around at the 20 plus tvs, and knowing that it is very likely the game you want to watch is not on tv. stephanie: that is, until she took a trip to portland, oregon, and walked into the sports bra, the world's first women's sports bar. >> it was literally transformative, walking in and just knowing that this is a place where i'm celebrated and

my fandom is celebrated >> it's not a sports bar for women. it's a bar for women's sports. stephanie: owner jenny nguyen opened "the bra" in 2022. there, she maintains the sports bar aesthetics but keeps the tvs tuned only to women's sports coverage. but keeping those screens filled with women's sports took a gameplan. >> if it was just what was on tv and what was on cable, there would not be enough to open the sports bra. so i reached out to some of the bigger women's sports media brands out there that have their own youtube channels, that kind of thing. >> welcome. stephanie: while traditional broadcast media has often treated womens' sports as a benchwarmer, new media has given it more play. >> streaming platforms have completely changed the game with respect to women's media coverage. stephanie: by including all the ways fans now consume sports, media and marketing researcher shelly pisarra says women's

sports grew from just 4% to 15% of all sports coverage in the past 4 years. exit is -- >> it is amazing. and yes, it's triple where we've been before, but it is only 15%. >> when we look back, we will look at 2023 as a watershed moment for women's sports and the coverage of women's sports. stephanie: this rise in coverage comes as no surprise to veteran sports journalist christine brennan. it's the fruition of a landmark piece of legislation known as title nine, signed by richard nixon in 1972, giving women and girls the right to equal opportunity in sports in publicly-funded schools. >> we are now beginning the next 50 years of title nine and it is totally appropriate and makes complete sense that we would be seeing this explosion in women's sports. stephanie: brennan herself was a high school athlete just after title ix was passed, but she didn't get to enjoy the benefits as the new rules took years to be enforced. >> i am honored to have been kind of at the very beginning just getting that first glimpse,

knowing of what could come and what would come in the decades that followed. stephanie: and what followed are big, headline-stealing moments, like the showdown between iowa's caitlin clark and louisiana's angel reese in the ncaa basketball final. katie ledecky beating michael phelps for most individual world swimming titles, and simone biles' come back to become the most decorated gymnast in history. >> today is the greatest day to be a woman in sports until tomorrow. but the mainstream sports media has not caught up. [00:12:23] stephanie: while few women's sports receive primetime slots their ratings have continuously exceeded expectations. the 2020 three wnba finals were the most watched in 20 years. the national women's soccer league saw a 20% increase in tv ratings this season. women's college volleyball is continuously shattering its own viewership ratings. and that ncaa women's basketball final? it averaged 9.9 million viewers,

more than the 5-game average for last year's world series. >> the rise of social media has been a fabulous turn of events, and sports and women's sports fans. because in the old days it just wouldn't be covered. >> things that live rent free in my head include when angel city beat them. stephanie: 18 year-old ellie carson is active on tiktok, where she posts exclusively about her favorite sport, women's soccer. >> i posted the video and then like a lot of people saw it and like were commenting. and i was like blown away because i really didn't have other people in my life who liked women's soccer. and i was like, my god, there are other people? stephanie: carson was drawn to the sport during the 2019 world cup, when the u.s. women's team was campaigning to earn as much as their male counterparts. x -- >> it definitely draws you to a team when they stand for

more than just the sport that they play. >> i love all things women's basketball. we can be competitors. stephanie: watching female players are empowering and for her sons, and lightning. >> showing two little boys that women can and will compete, it diminishes that whole stereotype of women are like, just one way. >> they're playing at such a high level that i think it makes it really easy and really entertaining to watch. stephanie: brent rowe has been a sports fan his whole life, but, more recently, he became one of the men who make up roughly half the audience for women's sports. he's now a season ticket holder for his local wnba team, the las vegas aces, and a fan of their championship winning a'ja wilson. >> the aces were the first professional sports team to bring a championship to the city and the first ones to have a parade on the las vegas strip. how cool is that? i'm rockin an a'ja wilson jersey when i walked down the street. stephanie: men like him

represent a change for women sports and are key to its growth, says brennan. >> those are title nine males who were raised very differently than their fathers or grandfathers. they will be fighting to make sure there is advertising for women's sports. stephanie: while college sporting events are thanks to title ix, split evenly between men and women, professional sports are dominated by men's leagues. but jillian hiscock is banking on that changing. >> we will have all kinds of memorabilia and art stephanie: on the walls. stephanie:inspired by her visit to portland, she is getting ready to open a bar of their own, in the midwest, the first female sports bar in minneapolis. >> i was the young girl athlete that never really had representation in any kind of professional sports, in sports bars. and so for me, the ability to really expose our younger generation to these women athletes is really important to me. stephanie: "a bar of their own"

will open their doors this march in what is expected to be another banner year for women's sports. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. ♪ geoff: later this evening, independent lens presents a film about the lengths people will go to flea north korea. beyond utopia focuses on families embarking on a dangerous journey across southeast asia, leaving their homeland behind. >> there is no freedom of religion. there is no freedom of thought. there is no freedom of the press. there is only one paper, one radio station. there is one tv station. >> north korea may be the only country in the world that bans outside broadcasts. >> spying on one another is very much part of life in north

korea. geoff: beyond utopia air is tonight at 9:00 a.m. eastern. check your station listings. that is the newshour for tonight. amna: on behalf of our team, thanks for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. ♪ >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. ♪ >> a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. diverse destinations. immersive experiences. the world of leisure. and british style.

all with cunard's white star service. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and security, at carnegie.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 station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west from w eta studios in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

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