♪ >> good evening. >> i'm jeff bennett. on the news hour, congress works to avoid possible government shutdown but will it cost to the house speaker in his gavel? >> kate middleton announces she

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the federal government is hours away from partially shutting down as capitol hill scrambles to finalize its $1.2 trillion spending deal. >> the bill would keep the lights on but could cost the speaker his job. congressional correspondent lisa de chardin is here with more on the deal and why house republicans face the threat of yet another chaotic leadership search. let's start with the shutdown deadline. we are six hours away. lisa: the house passed this bill that would fund 70% of government agencies need funding or they start shutting down this weekend. they passed that barely, five or six votes today. the senate needs to act by midnight. minute to minute decisions being made in the senate and right now it looks like we may in fact get to that midnight deadline without this getting through the center. susan collins has just said that other staffers confirming, the two sides are not agreeing on

amendments. everyone knows amendments are not packed -- not going to pass. these are all election-year symbolic votes. adding to senator susan collins, the top appropriate her, her mother's funeral is tomorrow in maine. she has never missed a vote. it is not a factor in what happens, but it is adding to the pressure around all of this. right now it looks like we could have a government shutdown. >> yesterday you were reporting on the infighting among house republicans. today, johnson is moving forward with this spending bill. and his republican member is moving to houston. >> this is connecting. as we were watching the floor vote to see if government would be funded, marjorie taylor greene, took a small piece of paper over to what is called a hopper where you file bills. i watched her put her then. it was a motion to vacate the chair. she says that she is now as they have the right under the new house rules, any member can raise this idea. this is how kevin mccarthy was ousted.

she says she is not yet invoking it. but she says she intends to. you can hear the difference between her and other republicans as they came outside after this action. >> i do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the house and chaos, but this is basically a warning, and it is time for us to go through the process, take our time, and find a new speaker of the house that will stand with republicans and our republican majority instead of standing with the democrats. >> not only idiotically, but it actually does not do anything to advance the conservative movement. and in fact, it undermines the country. and our majority. >> so, this, again, puts us in the position, the house has gone on recess but when they come back, the position will be to have to deal with the speaker five. marjorie taylor greene is not someone who backs down. does she have any others with her right now? >> it is hard to imagine another speaker fight. what does this mean going

forward? lisa: let's look at the votes because things are very tied and the house of representatives. first of all, when you're looking at the margins, can buck has left. we have 218 republicans after his departure, the majority in the house now is 216. johnson can lose just two republicans and keep his speakership or he will have to get support from democrats. i spoke with -- to replace george santos. he said i will support speaker johnson. there is one democratic foe. but other democrats say if we are going to support speaker johnson we want to get something out of it. this is going to lead to days of instability or maybe speaker johnson weathers it. marjorie taylor greene will make a lot of money and fundraising out of this. >> more news related to the numbers. that slim republican majority is about to get even slimmer. this was such a dramatic friday.

we also had an unexpected piece of news from mike gallagher of wisconsin. he was just on this program last week talking about the tiktok bill. he is a rising star in the party, 40 years old. four termer. we know he was going to leave congress but he announced he is leaving early, mid april. he says he talked to his family, he does not want to be in the house anymore. what this means is that narrow majority gets even slimmer. look at the same graphic, now it is down to 217 republicans, and johnson can lose just one republican vote and get something through the house. so, on the positive side, they are going to have to work together, democrats and republicans to pass legislation. the negative side, they do not have a good history of being able to do that and it is an election year. speaker johnson, he is someone who talks about the bible. opie has read the book of job, because he is having so much

political difficulty and challenges. we will see how he gets through it. covering a busy friday on capitol hill. thank you. >> in the days of the headlines, gunfire erupted in a concert hall. video showed it ablaze before the roof collapse. gunmen in combat fatigues fired automatic weapons and through explosives. russian officials called it a terror attack. ukraine denied it had anything to do with the shootings. a tense meeting in tel aviv spotlighted the strains in u.s. israeli relations over the war in gaza.

antony blinken spoke with netanyahu but afterward the prime minister again insisted on invading rafah. >> i told him that i greatly appreciate we have been standing together in the war, but i said that we have no way to defeat hamas without going into rafah and a limiting the rest of the battalions there. and i hope that we will do it with the support of the usa, but if we have to do it alone. >> later, blinken said the u.s. and israel still share the goal of defeating hamas but they differ sharply on strategy. >> a major military ground operation in rafah is not the way to do it. it risks killing more civilians, it risks making -- we can havoc with the provision -- wreaking greater havoc with humanitarian assistance and risks israel. >> the meeting came as the

palestinian health ministry reported the death toll has passed 32,000 with more than 74,000 injured. russia and china vetoed a u .s. sponsored resolution supporting cease fire in gaza. the ambassadors from moscow and beijing said the resolution did not specifically demand a halt to the fighting, and would let israel act with impunity. >> [speaking russian] this would definitively close the door when it comes to discussions about the need for a cease-fire in gaza. this would free the hands of israel and result in all of gaza and its population having to face destruction, devastation, or expulsion. we are not guiding what is convenient for washington and its satellite. >> linda thomas greenfield said that russia and china oppose the resolution because it condemns the hamas attack on israel that killed 1200 people last october. more than one million people in ukraine lost power today after a

sweeping russian attack on the electric grid. 60 drones and 90 rockets rain down across the country killing five people. cellphone video captured missile striking a dam that feeds power to a nuclear plant. officials said the dam was not in danger of breaching. in this country, former president donald trump's social media company completed a merger that stands to increase his wealth. his shares can be worth $3 billion. the company rules bar trump from selling any stocks for six months. so he cannot use it to cover the fraud judgment of $454 million due on monday. on wall street, stocks gave ground after three straight days of record closes. the dow jones industrial average lost 305 points, to close below 39,000. the nasdaq rose 27 points, but the s&p 500 fell seven.

still to come, medical history is made after a pig kid he transplanted into human. -- pig kidney is transplanted into a human. and rockstar lenny kravitz on his new album. >> this is "pbs newshour." from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> the princess of wales, kate middleton, announced this afternoon that she is undergoing treatment for cancer. the news came amid rampant and often irresponsible speculation about her in the british press and beyond. it also came after missteps by throyal family about her whereabouts and condition. she revealed the news in a video message shot earlier this week by bbc. >> in january i underwent major abdominal surgery in london, and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous. the surgery was successful,

however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team, therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and i am now in the early stages of that treatment. this, of course, came as a huge shock. william and i have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. >> for more, i enjoined from london by a journalist with deep insights into the royal family. thank you for joining us. the princess had not been seen in public since december. in the weeks since then, has been filled with conspiracy theories and wild speculation about her absence. was this video today something that she or the palace wanted to release or something they felt they had to? >> i think the latter. i think we had -- we as a society have forced a young woman who is embattling cancer

at the moment and we have forced her into the situation. and i think it is very sad. i think we as a society should take a long look at ourselves because the trolls on the internet hit -- have put about the most ridiculous conspiracy theories. and we the mass media have given some of those theories airtime, which i think is entirely wrong. and finally i think, yes, catherine has been backed into a corner and felt that she had to stand up and make a statement. it could have been a written statement but she is a courageous and confident young woman. and she decided to make the video herself, and i think we have to salute her bravery, as indeed, her father-in-law has done already. >> do you think this puts to rest all of that wild speculations and those conspiracy theories? >> do you know what? if this doesn't silence the

conspiracy theories, then we as human beings, as a society, have to take a long hard look in the mirror, and say what are we playing it? i reported for years. i knew diana, and i watched her stand up and appeal for time and space because of her mental fragility at the time when she needed time out from the public role. did we listen to her? no. and i really do think if we do not listen now to this courageous young woman, woman asking for a time and privacy, there was something very, very wrong with the world. >> i do need to ask you, there was the matter during her absence of this photo, which was released by kensington palace on mother's day in the united kingdom that showed the princess of wales with her children but it was also quickly pulled by news agencies after it was revealed that it had been manipulated. and the next day, the princess herself then tweeted saying,

like many, true photographers, i do experiment with editing and i wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday cost." -- caused." this is a serious private medical concerns but from a messaging standpoint, could the palace of handled all of this differently? >> yes, that photograph i suppose was a mistake but put in context, -- the famous famous professional photographer who took pictures of the world for decades, he admitted that he often retouched photos. at prince edward's wedding to sophie, the photographer admitted that william had been looking -- so he transposed a happier picture and put it on the wedding picture. get real. these things happen. do they harm anyone? it was a ridiculous storm in a teacup. and another way of assaulting this young princess, i think, who subsequent after that, subsequently heard the way she

was treated for her abdominal surgery. that there are allegations that members of the staff had tried to act -- change her medical records. she must feel assailed from all sides. >> we wish her a quick recovery and good health. thank you so much. ♪ >> president biden's nomination of the first muslim american to a federal appeals court has come under criticism and appears to be in peril. lower o lopez has more. >> president biden's nomination to the third circuit court of appeals adeel mangi is rated well qualified by the american bar association but he is faced a barrage of attacks from

republican senators, which the white house says amounts to in islam a phobic. >> do you believe that zionist settler colonialism was a provocation that justified hamas 's atrocity against jews? >> do you condemn the atrocity of the hamas terrorists? >> yes. >> is there any justification for those atrocities? >> i'll repeat myself. the events of october 7 were a horror. i have no patience, none, for any attempt to justify or defend those events. >> and conservative outside groups have labeled him as anti-semitic despite his nomination being endorsed by more than a dozen jewish organizations. to discuss this, i am joined by a former federal judge, timothy lewis appointed to the same circuit court of appeals by then republican george h w bush.

judge louis, thank you for joining. i want to start by asking you, you recently sent a letter to senate majority leader chuck schumer and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell in defense of a-- of adeel mangi. why did you feel compelled to send? >> first of all, thank you very much for having me. i felt compelled to send that because of what i consider to be outrageous, baseless and really sad attacks on mr. mangi's character. i thought they were -- initially rooted in his religion. they had nothing to do at all with his competence, with his experience, with his qualifications to serve on the court. i was honored to sit on for a number of years. and i just thought that it is so outrageous that something had to be done, and quite honestly, it was an honor to have the

opportunity to stand up on his behalf. when i have a sense that someone is being slandered and really torn down based on these kinds of untruths and bigotry and all of the horrible things that were said at the judiciary committee hearing and written about him afterward, there is just no way that i could stand by and allow that to happen, and frankly i think that most americans feel the same way. >> the text from republicans appears to have an impact on democrats. this week catherine cortez masto of nevada came out against mangi's nomination taking issue with his affiliation with a nonprofit organization called the alliance of families for justice. she states that this organization advocated for the release of individuals convicted of killing police officers. i cannot support this nominee. what is your response to her

statement? >> my response is that i would hope that she would reconsider that position. while there is still time to do so. her decision is respectfully rooted in the same kinds of baseless lies and smears that the religious claims against mr. mangi were based. associating him with terrorists and anti-semites and so forth, none of which is true and the record clearly demonstrates that. the same is true here. the organization that we are talking about is a group that reached out to mr. mangi to ask for pro bono services on behalf of an inmate who had been murdered in the new york prison system. and this was not even a criminal case, it was a civil lawsuit that he brought. he achieved a landmark settlement on behalf of the

family that not only helped the prisoners family but also helped the prison. in doing so, helped prison guards, because cameras were installed throughout the prison. this is honorable work. this is the kind of work that we value, we encourage. in our profession. >> and we should note that senator cortez masto has voted to at least one judicial nominee in the past who represented a man charged with murdering a police officer that was under the trump administration, and so has senator ted cruz as well as a number of other republicans voted for judicial nominees who were either represented people who were charged or convicted of murdering police officers. judge, i do want to ask you, isn't new for judicial nominees to face partisan attacks. so, is this just the price of politics now for judicial

nominees? >> when i see this sort of thing happen, it is beyond politics. obviously, politics plays a role in judicial nominations and in just about everything else that happens in the senate and the house and in washington. but this is way beyond that. you know, it is interesting that you just noted those other votes that were taken in connection with people who had committed heinous crimes against police officers. and they were voted affirmatively by senator cruz and others. they were not muslims. we cannot allow ourselves to really debase ourselves by sinking to such a level. this is the first muslim nominee from -- for an appeals court in the history of the united states. and under the thin pretax of -- pretext of these issues that have been thoroughly debunked, we are seeing people change their votes or decide not to vote in favor, and it is just a

very sad moment. >> in your letter to senators schumer and senators mcconnell, you said that rejecting mr. mangi's nomination would have a toxic long-term impact on the entire federal judiciary. we need more diversity on the bench." what long-term impact are you talking about their? -- there? >> i know because i have been told by other members of the muslim faith in the wake of what has happened to mr. mangi, and these are very prominent muslim lawyers, that they do not feel that it would be worth pursuing a federal judgeship in this climate and in this atmosphere. that is awful. that is terrible. and that should not be condoned. we need diversity on the federal bench and on courts throughout the country because of the lived experience that each judge, each person who serves brings.

and we see how that manifests at the united states supreme court level, and below. and it is very important that we have that. >> that his former federal judge timothy k lewis. thank you for your time. >> my pleasure and my honor. thank you for having me. >> in an historic first, a kidney from a genetically modified pig has been successfully translated into a human. the technique used in the surgery last weekend is a big step forward and could have wide implications. >> the patient is a 62-year-old black man whose kidneys were failing, and he was on dialysis for years. this kind of human to animal transplant, known as zeno transplantation, is one that researchers hope to do more of because there are not nearly

enough human organs for the thousands of people in need. but putting animal tissue into a human body is complicated. the body often rejects foreign tissue. in this case, scientists removed several genes from the pig that can trigger rejection. to help us understand this brave new world, we are joined by dr. leonardo realla, the medical director at massachusetts general hospital where this historic event took place. so good to have you on the program. congratulations on this historic successful first. i take it is still successful. the patient is doing well? >> the patient is doing extremely well, thank you. >> so, his prognosis, normally if you had a kidney transplant, how soon would he be getting out of the hospital, and do you know what he is, when he will be getting out? >> yeah, so most patients remain at the hospital for about five

to six days. in his case, we will probably keep about a week or nine days, just to make sure everything is ok, but all of the signs that we have so far, in particular the blood tests and things that we follow, are extremely positive. and he has been off dialysis since last saturday. >> that is amazing. before we get into the complexities here, we were all very struck by seeing how moved you were at the press conference when you announced this breakthrough. and i just wonder, if i had talked to you back when you were a younger man in medical school and i told you that you could have cured some end-stage renal disease with a pig kidney, what would younger you have thought? >> that was just a big dream. and maybe would never happen. >> and what is it again for people who might have thought, well, i've heard we can put parts of pig hearts into people or other animal transplantations, what is it that has been the challenge thus

far that you were able to surmount here? >> so, you know if we go back 20/30 years when zeno transplant started, there had been so many challenges, in particular what was mentioned before about incompatibilities, and changing the dna to make animals more compatible was extremely difficult. i think what really changed was a game changer was the development of the crispr technology and the discovery in the application of that in zeno transportation because then scientists were able to modify multiple genes in a short period of time, which before was impossible. and that permitted us to overcome all of these barriers and make organs that were really more compatibly with humans. >> and that is why you think this case was a successful one other previous attempts have not been? >> that's one point that is very important. the type of donor organ that we are going to get. what type of gene modified pigs are donating these kidneys so we

can do a successful transplant? the second aspect is, what are the medications we will give this patient to prevent it from rejecting? what we have learned from all preclinical models, animal studies, is that the usual immune suppressive drugs that we use in the clinic did not seem to be effective in the case of zeno transplantation. and what we had to do is then adapt some new drugs that were being developed, and for the first time, we used one of these medications on the current patient, and i think that that was so far a success. of course, rejection takes time. so we have to follow these - -this patient carefully, but the initial impression is only positive from our team. >> can you help me understand a little bit the potential that you and your colleagues see from this type of thing, given the enormous need, tens of thousands of people, and we know the big disparities in the racial minorities in the country. >> yeah.

those are huge. the disparity in kidney transplantation keeps increasing. as well as the organ shortage. so, patients don't get referred for transplant and when they do they have to wait on a waiting list years before getting a transplant. unfortunately while they stay on dialysis -- while they are initial candidates for a transplant when they first enter the list, if they wait four to five years, many of them will not be candidates anymore. i think what we hope to be able to do is that one first step in getting more organs for these patients so they can be transplanted in a timely manner. >> there have been a series of concerns that have been raised about using gene edited organs in humans, about the potential for spreading animal viruses from animals to humans. how do you weigh those risks versus the potential that you are talking about here? >> that is always a major debate in the entire field of zeno

transportation. how high are the risks? and what we have learned over the past 20 years with many animal studies is that if thes e pigs are grown in a very isolated manner with frequent testing, we are able to have a very low risk of infections. and i think what was unique about the pig that donated the kidney for our patient was that in addition to the improvements incompatibility that we just mentioned, they also did 59 modifications in the gene, in some retroviruses that are present on the pig. so that creates an extra level of safety, in terms of minimizing infections coming from the pig. and then we tested for all of the other pathogens -- bacteria and viruses -- that can be present to make sure they were negative prior to transplantation, and that reassures. the risk overall is considered very low, but of course, this is the first time we are doing this

and humans, so we will be monitoring this very carefully. >> thank you so much, and again, congratulations on this historic breakthrough. >> thanks so much. appreciate it. >> with house republicans facing yet another fight over who will lead their conference and a host -- and a host of other applicable stories driving the news, we turn to the analysis of the new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, the associate editor for the washington post. great to see you all as always. mike johnson is facing the first direct threat to his speakership after marjorie taylor greene filed what is known as a motion to vacate against him today for working with democrats to fund the government. jonathan, this resolution is not privileged which means the house does not have to vote on until marjorie taylor greene says so

which effectively means that speaker johnson has this axe hanging over his head. >> the speaker has had this axe hanging over his head since her mom he got the job and when he got the job, the conventional wisdom was, because he is from that fraction -- that faction, he will have a honeymoon period, that he will be able to do things that speaker mccarthy was not able to do or the things that made him lose his job. and what we are seeing now is, in one of the last few weekends, few fridays i was here where i was asked this question, i said, he is living in fear of this motion to vacate, and marjorie taylor greene decided today's the day i will file this motion. but u raise a key point. she did not file it as a privileged motion. if she really wanted him out, she would've done that and that would've forced them to get, to vote on it in legislative days. -- in two legislative days. they could punted to committee.

and that is where that would go to die. he has always been facing this threat. and now that it is out there, the key question for me is -- what do democrats do? >> on that point, a congressman said that if the house had voted today in the motion to vacate, it's entirely possible that hakeem jeffries could have ended up his speaker the given the way the votes might have fallen and how narrow the majority is. >> yeah, first thing, the antics that she is doing are driving good people out of the house. and so mike gallagher announced he is going to leave next month. i've seen him present on china -- it is like watching us all are present. one of the finest minds in the house. -- it is like watching a scholar present. he is leaving. . why stick around? i look at the upside as always,

and i think if johnson gets in trouble, democrats are always saying, we will vote for johnson if he brings the ukraine aid bill up. if we can force the house to vote on that bill and pass the ukraine aid bill, he can do that with democratic votes and he would keep his job in the country would be a winner. >> what are the incentives for democrats to help johnson out if that is what is needed? >> it depends on who you ask. i did a reach out to some members, and what is interesting is the common refrain has been, or i should say the thing i have gotten back mostly is a standalone ukraine bill. a few others said, uh, to not a damn thing. i was wondering whether i could say the word on pbs, but there are democrats who won't, no, we're not going to do anything to help the speaker. but the key thing is, does not matter what those individual

members say to me. what really matters is what leader jeffrey says because i think that is where the majority of come -- of the conference is going to take his lead. >> donald trump has to find half $1 billion fairly quickly. he has until monday to post a bond covering the full amount of the $454 million civil fraud judgment against him, as he appeals this ruling. if he cannot somehow find the money, the new york a.g. letitia james might start seizing some of his assets to help cover the obligation. david, for any candidate running for public office, especially the presidency, who is short on cash and who has to find $454 million, that is a serious liability and also it raises in this case of national security questions. >> yeah, i mean, i have a few problems with the seizure, the associated press did a good survey, they looked at 70 years of cases like this and in cases where there was no clear victim, they've never cease assets before.

-- seized assets. for people think this is a political witch hunt, i find it alarming. it is what it is. so he has to raise a lot of money really fast. and can he do it through truth social come his very weird online social media outlet. it is on the market, suddenly it would boost his net worth from 3 billion -- two $3 billion which is also troubling because it made the first nine months of last year made $3.3 million and is valued at $3 billion. it looks like another form of fundraising to disguise investment. and that is already crooked. and then you take what the desperate donald trump is likely to do, do what his son-in-law did, go to the saudis for money. it opens up for desperate donald trump, all sorts of corrupt possibilities. >> one of trump's attorneys was on fox and the anchor asked if he would accept money from saudi arabia or russia to cover this

bond. here is how that played out. >> is there any effort on the part of your team to secur this money through another country, saudi arabia or russia, as joy behar seems to think? >> there is rules and regulations that are public. i cannot speak about strategy that requires certain things and we have to follow those rules. >> i'm curious whether the use of the word strategy. i don't know. i think someone who is running for president of the united states should automatically say, yeah, i owe a half billion dollars, i am not going to go to foreign governments because that would open up the president of the united states to foreign interference and foreign influence. but we are not talking about any old regular person. , and of course, he is going to take the money from wherever he can get it. that has been his entire career. i have to disagree with david. no, take the properties. if any of us at the table were in that situation, we would be

in serious trouble. and, it would be within the right of the attorney general to say, you know what? we're going to take your golf club or were going to take your tower. quite honestly, i would love to see the a.g. do that, because then it would be like the most tangible sign for the nation, for the world, and for donald trump that you been held accountable. >> as we reported earlier, there was this u.s. sponsored resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire between israel and hamas in gaza. it failed to pass the un security council but it marked a toughening of the u.s. stance towards israel by the bite administration which had vetoed two previous resolutions. how do you see this playing out? >> it is unprecedented that there is this much tension between israel and the united states. and i think the biden administration is right and wrong on the big thing. they are right to demand a cease-fire, to get a cease-fire so they can give humanitarian

aid. they are right to pressure israel to take more responsibility and strategic responsibility for the gazans. they are also right that israel has to have a day after plan. and so, all of that -- it is absolutely correct to put pressure on israel. where i differ is on their new policy this week that israel should not go into gaza in the way they think they have to. now, according to the is really defense forces, there is 6000-8000 hamas fighters in there. you cannot leave hamas in power. there is no possibility for two state solution, there is no possibility of foreign ngo's surviving -- if hamas survives this, surviving company. israel cannot go in the way they went into gaza city with massive destruction. in my view, it is terrible that they have to go into rafah because they have to eliminate hamas. >> jonathan what about the relationship between netanyahu and biden?

president biden is an old-school politician, he believes that personal relationships is how you get stuff done. the two met 40 years ago. did president biden put too much stock in personal relationships early on? >> perhaps he did, leader to leader. hey, we have known each other a long time. we are the united states, we are allies, please listen to me, listen to us. and what the prime minister has done time and time again in private but increasingly in public is defy the president, defy biden, defy the united states which i think explains why we have seen a ratcheting up of this pressure that you are talking about on the part of the united states towards israel. but i try to make a distinction here when talking about this. there is, i don't think much daylight between the united states support for the nation of israel. what we are seen, however, is a

lot of daylight between joe biden and netanyahu. >> great conversation. thank you both. >> lenny kravitz has been busy. a new single out today from his album set to release in may and an international tour this summer. an earlier this month he earned a star of the hollywood walk of fame. i spoke with him in los angeles and we visited some of his old haunts for our arts and culture series canvas. ♪ >> ♪ wish i could fly ♪ >> lenny kravitz seamlessly blends rock ♪ ♪ >> ♪ i want to fly away ♪ >> funk.

♪ >> soul and r&b. ♪ can you feel it? ♪ >> resulting in a sound uniquely his own. with a career -- spanning nearly four decades, he has not only captivated audiences with chart topping hits but has become the symbol of artistic authenticity. and individualism. ♪ always effortlessly cool. >> ♪ you big me feel so sweet ♪ >> we spoke with lenny kravitz about his life, career and new album at the elray theater. your music defies categorization. how are you able to, resist the commercial demands especially earlier in your career to fit a specific genre or appeal to a specific audience? >> i never had the desire to do that. thus, me turning down those

record deals when i was a teenager. >> there would've been easy to accept one of them. >> absolute. and not only that, i needed it. and i wanted it so badly. i wanted to be making music. when you have people offering you at a young age, i am going to give you money and we are going to give you the opportunity. we will go to europe, and we will put you in the studio with big producers, on tour. these are the things you have been dreaming of as a child. but every time they offered me that situation, it came with, you know you cannot make that music that we just listened to you making. you have to do this because this is what works. this is the formula, this is what a black artist should be doing. this is what making hit records is. ♪ but there was always this feeling inside of me that, when

i was about to say yes, felt very uncomfortable. and i shut down. my body would not let me do it. and i said no each time. i'd walk off the lot of the record label, and get back on that 212 bus going down la brea to wherever i was going at the time. >> we spent the day with him and he took us to the bus stop, the starting point for a transformative career that would solidify his status as one of the preeminent musicians of our time. starting with his debut 1989 album "let love rule." >> every time i pass this place, i think about this. >> your face lights up. it is incredible you never lost sight of this. >> no, i never will. it is all part of the adventure. i spent a lot of time sitting here and thinking about life and

making music and so it's very close to my heart. >> performance is ingrained in his dna. his father was a tv news producer. his mother was an actress who found tv fame on "the jefferson." >> are the howard's an interracial couple? >> his was a multiracial, multiethnic household, ukrainian- jewish and afro caribbean. his family moved to baldwin hills when he was in high school. what memories does this household for you? >> this was the first house my family owned, my mom and my dad. we moved here in 1975 when "the jeffersons" started. and this became the center of our family functions and all of the parties that my mom had with all of these black pioneers that

were doing everything at the time and -- in every field. everybody stuck together. everybody was extended family. and so, everything happened in this house, man. [laughter] >> as we were talking, neighbors and old family friends came out to say hello. >> oh my god. >> he says he finds a comfort and his steadiness in these relationships and values that shaped him from the start. in your book you wrote that your life is one of opposites, black-and-white, jewish and christian, jackson five and led zeppelin. how is that manifested in your work? >> beautiful contrasts. having this wide range and not paying attention to so-called boundaries. just gave me more colors to play with, more depth. so i'd make mys stew and use all of these things that people

thought should not be put together and that -- but that was what i was making. >> lenny kravitz has made an imprint and the realms of fashion, design and acting appearing in "the hunger games." >> save it for the end. >> he also had roles in the lead channels films "" precious and "the butler." and it has not been easy making away in an industry that does not always value individuality. do you feel like the cultural, the music gatekeepers, head to catch up to you? >> i don't really pay attention to that, but like the people that influenced me, sometimes you just got to be ahead of the game. and you may not get whatever attention or accolades, you know, whatever it might be but that doesn't matter. it is about the journey, you know. >> do you ever feel

underappreciated for your barrier breaking and all of your contributions to music on the culture? >> no. no. because i appreciate it. i appreciate the life that god's given me and what i'm doing and not that i need validation, but when you have people that did give you that, whether it was miles davis after he heard my first album, or it was mick jagger or it was robert plant or prince or curtis mayfield, the people that taught you, the people that you look up to, they were befriending me. they were supporting me. they understood what i was doing. that gave me a lot of fuel. the whole reason i create and perform music is to amplify love. >> he says his love affair with music still hasn't. lost its spark. how do you maintain that, you have been in this business for

30 five years. rock and roll hall of fame nominee. how does that strike you, and how do you maintain that same creative spark? >> think it is my love>> for music. period. i love music. i always have loved music. i was born to make music. music has created my life. and it saved my life. it has brought me meaning and joy and purpose. and i think by nature, i am an extremely grateful person. i wake up every day grateful for life, everyday. ♪ >>lenny kravitz''s 12th album, "blue electric light," is scheduled for release in may, head of a world tour this summer. and online you can hear more from lenny kravitz on the inspiration behind one of my favorite songs "i belong to." -- to you." >> finally tonight, charles

duhage is a pulitzer prize winning journalist, whose latest book seeks to unlock the secret language of communication. he shares his brief but spectacular take on connecting with others. >> the goal of a conversation is not to convince someone else that you are right, it is not even to come to agreement or find common ground. the only goal of a conversation is to understand each other. ♪ so, my relationship with small talk as i used to be terrified of it until i started doing this research about how to have conversations in which i learned the key for small talk is to get deep as fast as possible. the best way to get deep with someone is to ask a deep question. a deep question asked someone about their values or the beliefs or experiences and can seem intimidating but it is as easy as meeting someone who says their lawyer and saying, what made you decide to go to -- to law school? they invite the other person to tell you who they are in a

meaningful way. when someone tells me something, say that is really interesting. what does that mean to you? and the other person feels like i'm so curious, which i actually am. i have nine siblings. as you -- dinnertime conversation was challenging. what i discovered is if i can make everyone laugh, it was like magic. and that is one of the things that got me so interested in understanding communication, why sometimes am i able to do that and at other times i want to connect with someone and i cannot? my book is called super communicators, unlocking the secret leg was a connection. a book about why some people manage to connect with others so much more in what we know about the science behind conversations and how we can learn the skills that help us connect and have real meaningful conversations with almost anyone. the biggest roadblocks to having a conversation with someone is two fold. often times we are anxious, one thing you can do is write down a couple of topics you want to discuss before you start the conversation. the second thing we can do is

prove that we are listening. show the other person by repeating back what they say but, by asking questions, that we are listening closely and want to understand them. laughter is a great example. 80% of the time that we laugh it is not in response to something funding, it is to show something we want to connect and when they left back they are showing that they want to connect with us. almost all of those questions fall into one of three kinds of conversations. there is practical conversations, about decision making and solving problems and making plans, and then there is emotional conversations where i might tell you how i feel and i do not want you to solve this, i want you to empathize and listen. and then there is social conversations, which is about how we relate to each other and how we relate to society. and the key is what is known as the matching principle which says that in order to communicate with each other, we need to be able to have the same kind of conversations at the same moment. communication is human's superpower. it is what has allowed the homo sapiens to be so successful. the more we learn how communication works, the more we understand how to take a conversation apart and fiddle with this gears, the more we

allow our instinct to come out and we were born to connect. we just have to learn to listen. this is my brief bu spectacular take on super communicationt. >> as always, you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/news hour/brief. >> a late news update at the shooting at a rock concert that killed 40 people in moscow. u.s. officials tell the news hour that the u.s. warned russian authorities earlier this months that a terror attack was imminent in russia. on tuesday, vladimir putin labeled that american caution "a blatant attempt to destabilize russian society." we invite you to tune into washington week with the atlantic tonight for a look at the growing tensions between the u.s. and israel over the war in gaza. >> on pbs news week and tomorrow, we take a closer look

at the working conditions of migrant farm laborers and their role in the u.s. economy. and that is "newshour" for tonight. >> thanks for spending part of your evening with us and have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> it was like an ah-a moment. this is what i love doing. early next stage companies have this energy, that energizes m these are people that are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. i am helping people reach their dreams. i'm thriving by helping others every day. people who know know bdo. >> 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 so people and nature can thrive together. the william and flora hewlett foundation, for 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 for 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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