wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. >> good evening, i'm geoff bennett. >> and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight -- a deadly tornado devastates an iowa town, killing multiple residents and injuring many more. geoff: democratic lawmakers call for a criminal investigation of what they see is big oils'

deception about the impact of fossil fuels on climate change. amna: and, we look at the role social media plays in the rise in violent crime committed by young people in america. >> i was shaking and crying because i really didn't know what was going to happen to me. i didn't even know if i was going to live. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how can i help you? this is a pocket dial. with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is our thing. have a nice day. >> a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son.

a raymond james financial advisors get to know you, your passions and how to bring people together. ♪ >> the judy and peter blum kovler foundation upholding freedom while strengthening democracies at home and abroad. cunard. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits, a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences. the world of leisure and british style. all with cunard five-star service. >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive

together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, focused on creating a more just, verdant and peaceful world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and i contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the "newshour." search efforts are continuing tonight in iowa where a devastating tornado tore through one community and led to multiple deaths. more than 100 first responders were combing through the wreckage today. geoff: at least a dozen other people were injured. and the tornado -- part of a series of twisters hitting the state -- cut through the heart

of a small town about 50 miles southwest of des moines. [sirens] reporter: a funnel cloud on the horizon became a tornado that churned through greenfield, iowa, leaving behind a trail of destruction. >> it got really, really loud and we thought we lost our house. but we were lucky. everyone else is not so much. reporter: rogue paxton couldn't believe what happened to the town. >> everything's going to be fine because we have each other, but it's just going to be really, really rough. it is a mess. reporter: the losses were especially acute for the town of about 2,000 people. >> sadly, we can confirm there have been fatalities with this tornado. reporter: today iowa state police sergeant alex dinkla said he still couldn't confirm the number of deaths as the search and rescue operation was ongoing. >> we're looking to make sure all residents are accounted for when we have this many homes that have been destroyed and, just fully demolished.

we want to make sure that every resident, every person is accounted for. reporter: traffic cameras caught the tornado as it ripped through route 30 and overturned a semi-trailer. adams county officials said at least one person was killed when a car was blown off the road close to 30 miles southwest of greenfield. iowa governor kim reynolds compared it to the devastating tornadoes that ripped through iowa last month. >> it's just gut wrenching. i was just in minden three and a half weeks ago and that was horrific. and i think there's even more debris and just more impaction, more impacted here. so it is just horrific. it's hard to describe until you can actually see the devastation. reporter: the national weather service received 23 tornado reports on tuesday, mostly in iowa but a few in minnesota and wisconsin. large parts of the midwest experienced fierce thunderstorms, and tens of thousands were without power. the white house said fema administrator deanne criswell would head to iowa tomorrow to survey the damage. >> in the meantime, residents in affected areas should remain vigilant and heed the advice of

state and local officials. reporter: greenfield's hospital was among the buildings damaged. officials said patients were transported to surrounding hospitals and temporary facilities were in place. >> the school is also our makeshift hospital just for any triage, anybody that might get hurt during our search and rescue or cleanup efforts as well. reporter: this has been an especially severe year for tornadoes, with 81 so far in iowa. >> we are going to take it seriously. when they say take cover, it means take cover. it's important that we listen to the warnings available to us right now. reporter: and the warnings will continue as peak tornado season extends through the spring and into early summer. amna: in the day's other headlines: -- newshour west. an update to our stop -- top

story. officials in iowa reporting four people dead and injured roof -- yesterday's tornadoes. in the other headlines, norway, ireland, and spain will formally recognize a palestinian state leader this month, joining some 140 other countries around the world. palestinians have some nationhood. in east jerusalem, the west bank, and gaza strip since they were seized in the 1967 war. in dublin, the irish prime minister hopes today's decision will create momentum. >> each of us will undertake whatever national steps necessary to give effect to that decision. in the lead up to today's announcement, i have spoken with a number of leaders and counterparts. i'm confident further countries will join us in taking this important step. >> the recognition is largely symbolic but seen as a blow to israel amid its war with hamas.

israel's prime minister fired back saying the three countries are rewarding terrorism. >> this evil cannot be given a state. it would be a terrorist state that would repeat october 7 again and again. rewarding terrorism and won't stop us from defeating hamas. >> israel recalled its ambassadors to the three countries following the announcement. >> the families of 19 victims of the school shooting in uvalde, texas are suing nearly 100 state police officers for the botched response to one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. the family's legal team announced they agreed to a $2 million settlement with the city . friday marks two years since the teenage gunman entered robb elementary school, killing 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. the biden administration canceling another round of student loans.

baguette -- education department said it will erase 7.7 billion dollars in federal debt. it would affect 160,000 borrowers. the biden white houseas canceled $167 billion in loans for more than 5 million americans. but those efforts have faced legal challenges by some republican lead states, which they the president needs congressional approval for such actions. hunter biden's trial on federal tax charges in california will now start in september. it had been due to begin next month. u.s. district judge mark c. scarsi agreed to delay the trial, so that the president's son can prepare for a separate case on gun charges he faces in delaware. that trial begins on june 3. biden's lawyers had argued they could not prepare for both trials adequately, citing the uniquely challenging and high-profile nature of the prosecution. he has pleaded not guilty in both cases. former republican presidential candidate nikki haley says she

will vote for donald trump in november's election. she may be announcement in washington today during her first public appearance since suspending her own campaign in march. the two had been sharply critical of each other during the primary campaign. the former south carolina governor was one of the last high-profile governors not to endorse trump's presidential bid. -- the university is investigating white police failed to intervene when students and other protesters were attacked by counter demonstrators last month. at least 15 protesters were injured in the clashes. in thailand, an investigation underway into the singapore airlines flight that dropped suddenly amid severe turbulence, leaving one person dead and 20 others in intensive care. the boeing 777 flight from london to singapore made an emergency landing in bangkok yesterday, shortly after falling 6000 feet in just three minutes. passengers described a scene of sheer terror, as loose items --

and even people -- lurched through the cabin. >> i saw people from across the aisle just going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling and landing back down in really awkward positions. people, like, getting massive gashes in the head, concussions. amna: others said the shuddering -- britain's prime minister called a general election for july 4, months earlier than many had expected. rishi sunak made the announcement during a televised address from outside 10 downing street. he's betting that recent signs of economic growth -- and lower inflation -- will give voters a reason to extend the conservative party's 14-year hold on power. but the opposition labour party is well ahead in most polls. their leader -- kier starmer -- is widely expected to become the next prime minister. regular use of marijuana has risen to the same levels as alcohol use.

that is according to new research published today in the journal "addiction." an estimated 17.7 million people reported using marijuana daily -- or almost daily -- in 2022. that's compared to 14.7 million regular drinkers. it's also a 15-fold increase since 1992. the study's author, jonathan caulkins added that “a good 40% of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use." still to come. a look at former president trump's plans to reform health care if he returns to the white house. the children of an american psychotherapist believed to have died in detention in syria speak out. the united states first black astronaut candidate becomes the oldest person ever to fly in space.

and best-selling writer amy tan turns her literary gaze on the world of birds. >> this is the pbs from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> in congress, the top democrats on two committees are asking the department of justice to launch a sweeping investigation of big oil corporations. they allege the companies deceived the public for decades about their complicity in climate change and willingness to address it. lisa desjardins has more. >> sheldon whitehouse and congressman jamie raskin, the top democrat on the house oversight committee, are asking for the kind of action the doj brought against tobacco companies about 20 years ago. this comes weeks after they released a joint staff report laying out their findings from a three-year investigation of major oil companies.

congressman raskin joins me from capitol hill. you are talking about evidence that more than 50 years ago, big oil companies knew about fossil fuels connection to climate change. you also talk about more modern evidence they have been deceiving the public. give us specific examples. >> 50 or 60 years ago, they clearly understood the burning of fossil fuels destabilized the climate and warmed the earth. they made a very deliberate decision that rather than tell government and blow the whistle, they would suppress that evidence. and they suppress that evidence. as other scientists and other places began to discover the relationship between fossil fuel combustion and increasing the earth's temperature and climate change, they denied it and tried

to throw a blanket of uncertainty and confusion over the whole subject. even after climate change became a well accepted and well acknowledged reality throughout the world of science, they have done whatever they can to try and undermine. plus making -- us making the policy decisions to break from the carbon economy and the carbon model and move to solar energy and wind energy and renewable systems. we have very specific evidence taking all of those steps. even to this day. a lot of evidence of it. we want to turn it over to the department of justice. congress has to work on solutions going forward as we did in the infrastructure act and the inflation reduction act. but we want to make sure this history is not swept under the rug. >> he also mentioned public

commitments -- you also mentioned public commitments by bp and evidence behind the scenes they felt there wasn't a commitment at all. i want to talk about what you want to happen next in your letter to the department of justice. you talk about past investigations. specifically the investigation into deceptive practices of the tobacco industry, would you say led to litigation. the doj tobacco case was historic, it was a civil case. are you saying you believe big oil is complicit in climate change and the harm from climate change in the way big tobacco was found to be harming americans with cigarettes? >> absolutely, very close analogy. the tobacco industry was profiting from their model, to sell people cigarettes, get them addicted to cigarettes, or suppressant cloud the evidence of the carcinogenic effects

smoking on the human body. here we have the entire gas and oil industry, exxonmobil, bp, several other companies which understood the way fossil fuel combustion produced dramatic changes in the climate and warmed the climate in ways that had been costing humanity hundreds of billions of dollars. the costs are only going up. all of this to the detriment of the public health and the public safety. a very close analogy. we are congress, we are lawmakers trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. the whole question of civil or criminal liability or culpability lies exclusively with the department of justice. we will let them figure that out. >> we asked major oil companies for comment. they did not respond. we asked the american petroleum

experiment to join us on the program. they did not respond. but they gave us a response to your letter, writing this is another unfounded political charade to distract from inflation and america's need for more energy, including oil and natural gas. u.s. energy workers are focused on delivering the reliable, affordable and natural gas americans demand. any suggestion to the contrary is false. moving to renewable fuels cannot happen immediately. how do you respond to the oil industry saying you are playing politics? >> we are at levels of gas and oil production higher than we have seen before. the economy remains deeply invested in and engaged in carbon production. big gas and big oil are culpable primarily for their suppression of these clear scientific

findings and facts that they knew of for decades. but all of us are implicated by virtue of our use of the fuels. it is not primarily a moral problem in how we disengage from the carbon model and moved to other forms of energy, but all of the scientists are agreed we can't keep on going as we have been going on. >> congressman jamie raskin, thank you for joining us. this week, donald trump suggested he was open to restricting birth control in the u.s., or allowing states to do so. and he walked it back on truth social saying he will never advocate imposing restrictions on birth control.

on the campaign trail, president biden and former president trump opposing vastly different visions for reproductive rights and health care in the u.s. our white house correspondent has been covering this and joins me now. on abortion and reproductive rights in particular, former president trump contradicted himself a lot. what do we know about where things stand? >> former president trump has tried to distance himself from republican proposals to implement a national federal abortion ban, some have proposed 15 weeks. he said he will leave it up to the states to decide how much they want to restrict this. he's continued to brag about being responsible for overturning roe v. wade. the bottom line is broad public support for abortion access is why the former president has tiptoed or flip-flopped around this issue. he's repeatedly said he would allow states to restrict abortion care as much as they

want. including even tracking pregnancy. >> more broadly, what has he outlined from a health care perspective if he were to win a second term? >> trump said repeatedly he wants to get rid of the affordable care act. he has not stopped that rhetoric on the campaign trail. in november of 2023, he wrote on truth social he was seriously looking at alternatives. last month, he tried to push back on attacks from the biden campaign he was going to seek to repeal the affordable care act and said he's not running to scrap obamacare completely, but he wants to make it better. >> i'm not running to terminate the aca as crooked joe biden all over the place. it is too expensive and not very good. we will make it better and stronger. >> if it sounds similar, it is. he ran on a similar platforming

2016. he with republicans controlled all of republicans -- government, both chambers, they tried to repeal the american act. >> is there a potential trump second term laid out by project 2025? what kind of changes are the authors of that proposing to the health care system? >> it is a coalition of right-wing think tanks and the health care chapter specifically in the document was written by roger severino. he served in trump's health and human services department when trump was president. the authors including severino saying they don't represent the campaign. but this is a manifesto for any neck conservative administration. the authors are trump allies or served in trump's ministration. my producer and i spoke with roger severino, who said 2025 health care policies are response to what he claims are

biden administration efforts to undermine the nuclear family. >> the idea men and women are absolutely interchangeable, that a child does not need a mother or a father, is also very harmful to our society. so the notion the biden administration is pushing that not only are mothers and fathers totally interchangeable, that there is no difference that matters between men and women at all. and when i say biological realities matter in health and well-being, they do. >> as you can hear, health and human services department under the proposals of severino, which strictly establish a family structure is between a male, female, and specifically. that is the bedrock of project 2025's health care policies. when you look at those proposals, here's what some include. project 2020 five proposing repealing the price negotiations

president biden past. allow federal health care providers to provide gender affirming care for transgender people. restrict medicaid access i adding work requirements, and eliminate the affordable care act coverage of the morning-after pill. we spoke with caroline, at accountable u.s., a nonprofit tracking these proposals. she essentially said lgbtq people, seniors, anyone looking for more access to reproductive care, should be concerned by these proposals. >> those are broader health care proposals from project 2025. what specifically about abortion access does the proposal lineup with what we've heard from former president trump? >> severino essentially said what former president trump line has become. the votes are not there for a national 15 week abortion ban, that there are not 60 votes in the senate for it. that language across the project 25 document makes clear the

authors believe life begins at conception. they specifically state the health and human services department should return to be known as the department of life and explicitly reject the notion abortion is health care. some of their abortion policy proposals include scrapping federal funding to planned parenthood, undoing the biden administration rule that shields medical records related to abortion from criminal investigations, that is of a patient crosses state lines, reversing the fda approval with method prestone, one of the pills used for medical abortion. and mailing of roshan -- making mailing abortion pills to patients illegal. it would be under the comstock act, and 19th-century law that bans mailing anything that could facilitate an abortion. >> make the comparison, how does it compare to what president biden is proposing on the issues? racks he focused on the campaign trail, essentially making the

argument he wants to build on his first term. he wants to build upon the inflation reduction act piece of legislation. his proposals include capping insulin costs for all americans. currently it is capped at $35 for medicare recipients. expanding medicare drug price negotiations. medicare is currently only allowed to negotiate on 10 drugs. protecting access to abortion through codifying roe v. wade or expanding the affordable care act. keeping subsidies going under the affordable care act that are set to expire in 2025. and this week, president biden's campaign came out with new ads targeting the former president trend's rhetoric over the years, saying he would scrap the affordable care act. >> lorber on lopez, thank you as always.

>> violent crime is on a downward trend across the country since the pandemic era spike. a number of cities are reporting a new rise in violent crime among youth. in many cases, law enforcement say playing -- social media played a central role. stephanie sy reports from maricopa county, arizona about the challenges addressing teen violence. >> a little over a year ago, connor typical suburban teen life took a dark turn. >> until that moment, i did not think people had such an evil in their heart to do something like that to somebody. >> all waiting in the parking lot of and in and out, he was confronted by about a dozen teen boys. the leader demanded $20 and connor resisted. >> i worked for this money, you are not going to take it from you right here. so i said no until he punched me

with brass knuckles. the whole time there was blood gushing down my head. i was shaking and crying because i did not know what was going to happen to me. i did not even know if i was going to live. it was scary for me. >> the suburb where it happened outside phoenix is what his mom described as a bubble, billing itself in recent years as one of the safest cities in america. >> we lived in gilbert, arizona. it is a bedroom community. i never thought that would happen to my son, letting him go have a burger with friends at dinner time. i did not think that would be unsafe. >> it turns out the teen who assaulted him was part of a group who called itself the gilbert goons. >> there is videos of him fighting people all over the internet. >> the group members were known for posting videos of each other flashing guns, gaining up on teens, and street racing.

examples of teen violence spans social media and the country. from missouri, where a 15-year-old girl attacked another team, lending her in the icu. to stockton, california. where a group of teens filmed the beating and robbing of an eight-year-old. the violence by the gilbert goons, which also recorded, went unchecked by law enforcement for the better part of your, culminating in the death of 16-year-old preston lord last october. while a group of attackers pummeled him, some teens called 911 while others stood by recording on their phones. >> why do you have 40 kids with a camera recording violence? i saw five second video of preston right before they did cpr. i don't ever want to see a video like that again in gilbert. >> as community grief turned to outrage, councilmember chuck bongiovanni helped set up a

ceremony to address teen violence. at a recent meeting, half of the attendance were area high school students. >> one thing i would say is a big deal is it is also teaching children accountability. be accountable not only like the police and every thing, but general morals. >> while moral accountability is called for by some, many hers are calling for stronger law enforcement and curfews. >> now with social media it is crating personas these kids wouldn't be if they did not have social media. stephanie: a 30 minute drive from gilbert, commander gabe lopez says the number of teens murdered in his city last year rose significantly from the year before, as did the number of teens charged with homicides. lopez is head of the phoenix police department's violent crimes bureau. he points out the scene of a shooting late last year during a particularly violent stretch. >> i think a total of nine

victims or what these two individuals were charged with. of the four people in the car, two were charged with the homicide and they were juveniles. the victim was 15, the suspects were 17 and then you had a 10-year-old shot. stephanie: federal statistics show in 2020, homicides committed by juveniles were the highest in two decades. >> the fear i have that is shared with others in law enforcement is, people are doing or committing crimes so that they can capture it, so they can post it on their social media feed so they can get street cred, or so that they can get likes. >> youth culture has moved in the direction of celebrity is, you know, the number one value. stephanie: psychologist james garbarino has spent decades researching adolescent violent behavior. >> the cultural immersion in violent imagery is so powerful in the united states. and, of course, social media, the rise of social media as a context in which those expressions can be offered. it is not just limited to 2020 and onward, it's escalated as well.

stephanie: commander lopez says social media has also changed the landscape of gang violence. >> traditionally it has always been really focused on the neighborhood that you were from, a group of friends that you typically grew up with. nowadays they meet online, communicate via social media. it is a hybrid mix of different races, different areas of the city. it's complicated as far as, trying to police that. stephanie: before olga lopez moved to the phoenix suburbs from california two years ago, she made sure it was a safe town where her son jeremiah aviles could play on a competitive high school football team. but last may, jeremiah was shot and killed at a fellow student's home in mesa. he was 18, weeks away from graduating high school. >> the teammate who lives in the house, along with the young man that lives across the street, were pointing guns at jeremiah multiple times and recording it

and posting it to snapchat. stephanie: in the video described to her, lopez says the laser from the guns pointed at jeremiah shone red dots on his face. >> one time jeremiah says, hey, chill. another time, jeremiah's trying to make light of the situation. a little under 30 minutes later, my son is fatally shot in the back of the head. i vowed i would show up with the same grit and determination he did. stephanie: olga got the devastating news on may 7. >> it is not something you get over. it is not something time heals. every day is like the first week. stephanie: she pours herself into running a non-profit foundation she set up with her oldest son in jeremiah's name. while social media may have played a role in both jeremiah's death and the attack on connor

jaranagan in gilbert, it was lso what helped pin down the suspects in their cases. it helped lead police to the attacker. >> got into his phone and looked at his chats and there it was, "i hit this guy and he gave me $20." stephanie: connor says a lot of teens have been afraid to report on their peers for fear of retaliation. >> teens need to come forward, stop being in the shadows, stop recording these fights. instead, do something about it and make our communities a safer place. stephanie: he is doing his part by calling for arizona state lawmakers to ban brass knuckles for minors but that action is tabled for now. >> i am hoping both sides of the aisle, republicans and democrats alike, can come together on this issue. stephanie: connor continues to heal and part of that, he says, has meant forgiving the teen who attacked him. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in maricopa county, arizona.

♪ amna: the family of an american psychotherapist detained in syria says the u.s. government has informed them he died in custody. majd kamalmaz was one of a half dozen americans believed held by bashar al assad's regime, and as nick schifrin reports, some were allegedly tortured, some even murdered. nick: when majd kamalmaz was not hiking or fishing in the ocean, he was with his brood of grandchildren. when not with them he was helping people's children who had suffered trauma and conflict or natural disasters. he led an ngo that treated young victims of the war in bosnia, the tsunami in indonesia, and hurricane katrina. in 2017 he traveled to damascus to pay respects after his father-in-law's death. he never came home. last week the u.s. government told the kamalmaz family that he was likely killed a prisoner of syria.

i'm now joined by two of majd kamalmaz's daughters, ulaa, and maryam. nick: can you tell me about your father? ulaa: he was a kindhearted, loving, empathetic individual who brought his attributes to various roles and was a family man and psychotherapist, devoted to his work and family. nick: what did the u.s. government tell you about what happened? maryam: there were around eight u.s. government officials that gathered for our meeting to discuss my father's fate. they very clearly stated they believe they have highly classified information that indicates he has passed. this piece of information was highly credible and they truly believed he was deceased within the syrian government's hands.

there was no way for us to continue having any form of hope he would be alive. it was very clear he was gone and very tragic for us as well. we had been praying and hoping for three years and working as much as we could to do the best we can to bring him home alive and to know he was gone was devastating. nick: how has your family endured this? in any way does this provide closure? ulaa: i appreciate having the opportunity to tell his story. as a family, it has been an experience with lots of emotions. we have not heard from him in seven years. nothing, not a phone call, no

communication. it has been hard on the family. my mom, his wife, and my grandmother. sister, kids, grandkids, it has been difficult. unfortunately, the worst has come true. we will never be able to see him. this helps us a lot to know his legacy can live on. just very appreciative for that. nick: state department spokesman matthew miller was asked about your father earlier this week and this is what he said -- >> we saw the statement the kamalmaz family put out over the weekend and our thoughts go out to them in this difficult time. we have engaged extensively to try to bring majd kamalmaz home and remain committed to seeking a full accounting of his fate.

nick: what is your response? maryam: he has told us what his fate is. i appreciate the work they have put into finding us and informing us about our father, but i am confused by his statement because they did very clearly indicate he had passed. i do not hear him saying that in his statement. nick: what do you want the u.s. government to do? what will you and the family do? maryam: usually in this situation an american citizen, not charged with a crime, no case, no trial, murdered within the prison, you would expect possibly the president to call our family, as well as have a statement put out. some form of accountability to be put on the syrian government as well as looking into executing them in a criminal lawsuit. how can they be silent about an

innocent person's death? within the hands of another government. this is an americans life. is it not valuable to the u.s. government? they are completely mute. nick: the official u.s. policy on syria is against normalization with the assad regime until there is political solution and u.s. sanctions will remain until then. is that what you see this administration doing or are they doing enough? maryam: i believe they are not doing enough. they need to push harder for accountability. seven years, my father was gone more than seven years and not once did the syrian government acknowledge his detainment even though we know 100% that they had him. i believe the administration is not doing enough to learn our family members fates and bring them home, whether alive or not.

though i am grateful they were able to bring us this information, it is still disappointing they are not publicly acknowledging what they told us. nick: we are so sorry for your loss. thank you for taking the time to speak to us. ♪ geoff: more than 60 years after he was selected but ultimately passed over to become this country's first black astronaut, ed dwight made it to space. he flew aboard blue origins new shepard 25 rocket as it skimmed space on a 10 minute flight. ed dwight was an air force play it when then president kennedy championed him as a candidate for nasa's early astronaut corps, but his plans for space travel were sidelined and he was

never granted the opportunity due to racism within the program. dwight left the air force and made a name for himself as a celebrated artist and sculptor. with sunday's flight he makes history as the oldest person to ever go to space at age 90. i spoke with ed dwight earlier about his history making flight. ed: i was more interested in the power and the noise and the lift, going straight up in the air, instead of flying an airplane from a runway. it was quite fast. we got up to the speed fairly quickly. the getting into space part was more interesting to me than anything else. i never got out of my seat.

we were laying down in the capsule. there was a big 10 foot tall window next to me. i was more fascinated with what was going on outside than inside. when we did get to zero g, the other members of the crew had designed -- these are all grown men now, designing a ballerina dance to do. i watched them a little. but i spent all my time looking outside. the thing that shocked me a little bit was separation. they have explosive bolts to hold the capsule to the booster. it was extremely loud. it felt like we ran into

something. i was sure we would fall to earth. geoff: did you feel a sense of vindication? a semblance of justice? especially given the way you were denied the opportunity to go to space 60 years ago despite being eminently qualified and tapped by then president john f. kennedy? ed: that is a big question people ask. for 60 years i told myself, i did not need that. i am always doing things positive, big projects, having a good time. i did not have a lot of time to think about being angry or sorrowful because i had to take a look at the job, my job.

if you look at it philosophically, my job was to start a conversation about blacks in space. then again, as i got closer to it, especially the last few days, this is really going to happen. it took 20 years for them to come around, but i was making art for nasa, they were flying my sculptures into space, naming asteroids after me. i knew all the black astronauts well because we were buddies. we had a club. we called ourselves the afronauts. [laughter]

geoff: let me ask you about that. when you returned to earth sunday you were joined by nasa veterans. from where i sit, their success is directly linked to your experience, your sacrifice. do you see it that way? ed: of course i do, because they tell me that every time we talk. if you did not do this, ed, we would not be doing this. it was an accepted relationship we had. they considered me one of them, that just had not gone up. i have been close to the program and i have a big display in the pentagon. i have been recognized all these years. i was not isolated or on another planet or anything. every single one of these guys

considered me part of it. that part was good. it all came together last sunday. geoff: congratulations on your history-making flight and thanks for being with us today. ed: thank you for having me. i enjoyed it. ♪ amna: she is a novelist turned naturalist. new york times best-selling author amy tan has turned her intense gaze to the world of birds, and shared her private drawings and musings in a new book. jeffrey brown recently joined her at her northern california home for our arts and culture series, canvas. amy: he is asking the question. yes, yes, you can come. jeffrey: it is a backyard bird call, part of the daily routine of observing and interacting

with the many species of birds, more than 60 and counting, that regularly visit the sausalito, california home of a flightless creature named amy tan. amy: i'm the flightless creature with the food area i am here. [whistles] jeffrey: it is captured in her new book, "the backyard bird chronicles," gathered from six years of looking and learning. amy: it is a chronicle of me learning to be a curious child again, a chronicle of hope, a chronicle of learning to observe more closely and match it with emotions and questions about morality and mortality. it is so many things to me. it was a diary of my life during this period. jeffrey: tan is best known for her fiction, beginning with “the joy luck club” in 1989, books often grounded in her own chinese-american experience. her turn to birds was partly stirred

by the ugliness she saw in the human world, including a rising bigotry, even violence, directed toward asian-americans. amy: i noticed there was a lot of overt racism going on. it was as though people thought it was their freedom of expression, that it was now a need to express this, a very small segment of society, but it was frightening to me. it made me feel it had always been there. some of it was directed toward me and i had never had that experience. i needed to take myself out of that, this hatred of being different, and take myself into a place where the things, the very things that were different, were the most beautiful. jeffrey: she'd loved to draw as a child growing up in oakland, california. but a pursuit of any kind of art wasn't encouraged at home or school. she's kept a high school report card declaring this future

beloved a writer "lacks imagination or drive necessary to a deeper creative level." long ago, she made a promise to herself. amy: i told myself as an adult that when i reached the age of 65, i would allow myself the indulgence of learning to draw. jeffrey: you told yourself this, at what point? amy: in my 30's or 40's i said, when i am 65, i will retire from my job and i will learn to draw. well, i became a writer. i'm never going to retire, so what am i going to do? at age 65, i remembered the dream and i said, i'm going to start to draw. jeffrey: and she did start to draw, birds. drawing as a way of close observation, of coming to know the names and habits of specific species. little birds like the dark eyed junco, orange crowned warbler, big creatures like the great horned owl. always focusing on birds she can see that can see her in and around her own home, a gorgeous setting overlooking the san

francisco bay, which she made into more of a bird a bird haven by putting up numerous feeders, creating a garden habitat. do you have favorites? amy: i have different favorites. sometimes it would be the oak titmouse because he's so funny and he's little and he scolds me or the other birds. jeffrey: the drawings became part of a daily journal, filled with notes and questions, personal, curious, learning as she went. she's not an expert, she wants us to know, but she's getting there. and she is definitely, her word, "obsessed." on june 30, 2019 she writes, “i've been spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. how can i not?" jeffrey: i see you have your binoculars. always? amy: always. i get up, put on my clothes, i put on my binoculars. i have all these windows and you

never know what will land on a tree in front of me. jeffrey: at any moment you are going about your day, but looking around. amy: and then i look. jeffrey: tan has fun in these pages imagining “the windowsill wars: interspecies aggression”. though, as a hermit thrush says: “we don't use terms like that. we are birds." but she also observes the crucial daily tasks, the life and death struggles. amy: i think, what miraculous creatures these are. so many of them don't survive. they die through lack of food, or they get taken by another bird. jeffrey: which you have seen. amy: i have seen it in action. i see out there is not birds, icy drama, stories that unfold. each day i would write down what the story was, the drama, and how i was moved by it, how my curiosity was piqued. jeffrey: here in a fascinating

way is where amy tan the fiction writer is also at work. amy: i imagine myself being the bird -- jeffrey: you are the bird? amy: yes, i am the bird looking at the person that is really me and what does a bird see? what am i thinking when a bigger bird comes up to me, of a smaller bird? how do i tell that bird, this is mine? i am watching this and imagining i am that bird as i am drawing. it brings me so much closer into what's happening, this drama, the conflict that's happening or the courtship. all of that. in that way it is very similar to writing a novel because i become the characters. jeffrey: these days many people tell tan of how their own bird obsession began or grew during

the pandemic, a kind of refuge that grew, as for her, into a sense of wonderment and appreciation. amy: i started asking all of the obvious questions and it became so much more interesting to me. it grew. it just took off. i couldn't stop. i wanted to find the answers but, of course, the answers would always elude me. and the reason why? it is because i am not a bird. i can't possibly know -- jeffrey: you are not a burden? amy: i am not a bird. i can try to pretend or imagine, but i don't know the intentions of a bird and always remind myself i don't know. that is what makes it wonderful. they will always be a mystery. jeffrey: from the backyard and all its mystery, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour in sausalito, california.

amna: join us again tomorrow night for a look at how invasive goldfish are threatening the great lakes fragile ecosystem. and that is the newshour tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: i am geoff bennett. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> funding for the pbs newshour provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour

including jim and nancy bildner and the robert and virginia shiller foundation. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its

caption content and accuracy.] ♪

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