♪ john: tonight on pbs "news weekd," the pollutants a sceintist's group says one of the world's biggest meat and poultry oducers is pouring into u.s. waterways. then, how the government's food assistance program isn't keeping up with rising prices at the grocery store. and grammy award winning teacher annie ray on her inclusive approach to music education. annie ray: i've gotten so many kind emails from these parents or spoken with them where they're like, my child seems so

unhappy all the time. but here he's not. or there might be a student who struggles in different aspects of the day, but here she's incredibly successful and flourishing. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news weekend," -- has been provided by -- -- >> consumer cellular. hello? this is a pocket dial. you get nationwide coverage is no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour.

♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening. i'm john yang. powerful storms have killed at least 14 people, including two children, and left a trail of destruction across texas, oklahoma and arkansas. the storms crossed texas highways, tossing trucks and demolishing roadside structures and small towns. a local sheriff assessed the damage in his community. >> we can rebuild property and you know, as horrible as this looks, probably in two or three months, it, it won't look like this. it'll be better.

but, the loss of life is just tragic -- it's always tragic, and that's what hurts the most. john: at least seven of the dead were in cooke county, texas, near the oklahoma border. in arkansas, massive trees were uprooted. across the regn, hundreds of thousands of people remain without power. severe storms delayed the start of today's indianapolis 500. race officials evacuated about 125,500 people who had gathered for the annual memorial day weekend event. the national weather service says there's a high risk of severe thunderstorms tonight from the ozarks into the ohio valley region. in the mideast tonight, an exchange of fire between israel and hamas. palestinian medics say 22 people were killed in an israeli airstrike in rafah that hit tents full of displaced people. that followed a barrage of rockets that hamas militants launched from gaza at central israel. in tel aviv, air raid sins sounded for the first time in months. frightened residents rushed to underground shelters. the israeli military said it

shot down a nuer of the rockets. there were no reports of casualties. in public, new guinea -- in papua new guinea, it is estimated that more than 670 people are buried beneath the massive landslide that devastated the island nation on friday by the u.n. crews have recovered only 5 bodies and the leg of a sixth. they've been slowed by the shifting ground. more than 12000 people are homeless. and, the man who co-wrote the soundtrack for genrations of childhood memories is dead. richard sherman and his late brother robert, composed the music for films like "the jungle book" and "chitty chitty bang bang." they won two academy awards for "mary poppins" -- best score and best song for "chim-chim cher-ee." ♪ ♪

♪ john: in all, the sherman brothers wrote more than 200 songs and won three grammys. in 2008, president george w. bush awarded them the national medal of the arts. the commendation said their musichelped bring joy to millions." richard sherman was 95 years old. still to come on "pbs news weekend," why food assistance benefits aren't keeping up with inflation and a grammy award winning teacher on the importance of music for all. ♪ >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington, home of the pbs. john: tyson foods is one of the world's biggest meat and poultry producers. according to the union of concerned scientists,

it's also a major polluter in the united states. a report entitled “waste deep” says tyson plants in the united states dump more than 371 million pounds of pollutants into waterways, more than half of it in three states: nebraska, illinois, and missouri. in response, tyson defends its wastewater treatment program, which it says complies with regulations. stacy woods is the union of concerned scntists' research director and one of the authors of the report. what pollutants are we talking about and what effect do they have on the environment, wildlife, and humans? stacy: i report found tyson foods dumped over 25 different pollutants into waterways, in 17 states. this plution included nitrogen, including ammonia and phosphorus, and we're particularly concerned about those because when there's too much nitrogen and phosphorus in our waterways, it can cause harmful algal blooms that can

kill fish and other aquatic wildlife. and, also, when people live close to these harmful algal blooms, they can experience things like asthma attacks and bronchitis. john: and these are all byproducts of meat processing? stacy: it comes from the wastewater in the meat processing. wastewater is produced in these meat processing plants. when folks working in these plants, rinse off dead animal carcasses, when they clean meat products and when they rinse down these industrial equipment. and so that wastewater contains things like blood and feces and, in bacteria like e. coli, so there's a lot of wastewater that is produced when meat processing plants create meat and poultry products. the tyson foods plants that we looked at produced over 87 billion gallons of wastewater in those five years. john: i want to read you something or part of a statement that a ton spokesperson gave

us about your report. it says, "tyson foods uses a robust management system to mitigate environmental risks and impact. this report does not acknowledge our ongoing compliance with epa regulations and certification by the water alliance for our strong water management practices." what do you say to that? stacy: the most shocking thing that we found in our investigation was that when tyson foods dumped these millions and millions of pounds of pollutants directly into our waterways, they were pretty much following the rules. now, there were a few instances where a couple of plants exceeded the rules for a few pollutants some of the time, but by and large, they were in fact following the rules. and we think that is a problem. those rules need to change. luckily, the epa is actually right now working on updating them. the union of concerned scientists and other groups, along with other citizens, submitted comments in support of strengthening those rules so

that these industrial polluters, like tyson foods, will be forced to clean up their act and stop dumping so much pollution directly into our waterways. john: why is it that the these levels, which sound high when you describe them, are within the epa's regulations? stacy: that is a great question, and i can't speak to the reasons why epa has the regulations set right now. what i can tell you is that the regulations that are in effect right now and during our study period were enacted over 20 years ago. inhat time, there's been tremendous gains in technologies that can allow these polluters to clean up their wastewater before releasing it out into our environment, which is why it's definitely time for updated regulations that will reduce the amount of water pollution that's allowed to come from these kind of plants. john: the report said that tyson operates 123 plants in the united states, but that the data you analyzed only came from 41.

so could this actually be low? stacy: yes. our estimate is indeed an underestimate. and the reason is that the current regulations only apply to a small sliver of the meat and poultry plants in the united states. the epa estimates that under the current regulations, only about 500 of the roughly 5000 meat and poultry plants are required to report their water pollution. so for tyson foods, we had reportable water pollution for only 41 of their 123 plants, and we would assume that the remaining plants are also creating wastewater. john: is this a problem specifically to tyson, or is this a problem industry wide for meat and chicken processing? stacy: the meat and chicken processing industry, is a known water polluter across the united

states. this is not specific to tyson foods, but we decided to investigate tyson foods because they are one of the largest meat and poultry processors in the u.s., so we anticipate that their influence in the overall industry pollution would be pretty high. john: stacy woods of the union concerned scientists, thank you. stacy: thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about our report. ♪ john: the five-year farm bill is working its way through congress. the $1.5 trillion measure covers a sweeping set of agricultural and food policies covering everything from crop insurance to conservation programs. as ali rogin reports, one major sticking point this year is funding for the federal program that helps low-income people buy food. ali: the legislative package

known as the farm bill is moving slowly through the house, in part because of party-line disagreement over the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or snap, formerly known as food stamps. it's a federal program that addresses hunger by helping people with low-incomes buy food. but an analysis by the urban institute, a left-leaning research organization, found th snap benefits in 2023 did not cover the rising cost of groceries in 98% of u.s. counties. elaine waxman is a senior fellow at the urban institute and is one of the report's authors. thank you for being here. tell us about snap and how levels. are set. elaine: absolutely. snap is the first line of defense we have in federal and nutrition programs to address food insecurity, and we have a solid evidence base that suggests that not only improves food outcomes but reduces poverty, provides economic benefits to the economy and may

reduce health care expenditures. so it is really vital. it provides monthly benefits and they are set according to a market basket of goods that the government refers to as the thrifty food plan. that food plan, the assumptions underneath it, haven't been updated for decades until 2021. there was some improvement in snap adequacy then, but we have lost background. as he said, it does not cover the cost of a moderately priced meal, and most u.s. cabinets. ali: how great was the disparity? you mentioned the gap had gotten smaller for a little while, but now it is way back up to a very disproportionate level. how to get there? elaine: sure. so after the adjustment in 2021, we actually saw that the benefits were adequate to the

price of moderate meal in all about one and five in the u.s., so for a short-term, we had a significant number effects. we had a number of shifts in terms that even though snap is updated for inflation, it hasn't been sufficient because the underlying benefit is an adequate to purchase a meal that would be meaningful in terms of health and nutrition. so where we are at now after a couple of cost-of-living increases is really just about back where we started before that original update happened in 2021. ali: where are the parts of the country where the disparities are the greatest? elaine: some of the counties with the greatest disparities are not surprising to us, like in new york or on the coasts. but in the top five counties with the largest, some are actually rural counties, like in

michigan, idaho, massachusetts. these are all places that are more rural and have higher transportation costs and tend to be near first locations and that drives up food prices. ali: we mentioned the congressional debate underway. walk us through that. elaine: sure. the biggest point debate around snap has been on a requirement that was put in place in 2018 by congss in the last bill, and that requires the snap benefit to be updated or reviewed at least every five years. but people were not expecting the size of the update in 2021, and that has caused some conflicts. so the current house bill that was passed out of committee this week calls for a freeze on snap

benefits going forward. so they will be updated for inflation, but we will not have the ability to act on any infringements and nutritional guidance in the ways that people are purchasing and preparing food. we started with it inadequately, so as a result, the estimate is that it reduces snap costs over time and the inadequacy problem will get worse, and what does that mean? it is already insufficient in the majority of counties, but that gap will grow. ali: in terms of the snap program more generally, studies show that participation in the snap program is associated with lower nutritional quality with the food and household, poor health in children, is that an issue with snap or some of the other underlying factors that might indicate why a family or

household needs snap benefits? elaine: great question. the fact of the matter is we look at the patterns of purchases between people who are on snap and people who have low incomes that are not on snap, but they don't have signifint differences. the truth of the matter is that as a country, we don't eat very well. if you are stretching a budget on low income, we tend to go for things that are cheap and calorie dense as opposed to things that are perishable and better for us, but are a bigger risk in terms of purchases. so what we are seeing is choices that people have to make because they do not have sufficient funds for food. the other thing is that we are noting is we have an epidemic of diabetes and diet sensitive conditions in this country. those are not confined to people with low income who are participating in snap. that covers across the income

continuum, so that is a larger issue that we need to deal with. ali: elaine waxman is a senior fellow at the urban institute . thank you for joining us. elaine: thank you for inviting me. ♪ john: the end of the school year often means year-end concerts for student orchestras and choirs. for high school music educator annie ray, it's time to look back on a busy year that included a grammy award, and ahead at her vision of what education should be. ali rogin is back with the latest installment of our series weekend spotlight. ♪ ali: the orchestra program at annandale high school in virginia is expansive -- ♪ annie ray: put your bow on the purple string.

ali: and inclusive. it's been around for more than 50 years and has grown to more than 130 participants, many of whom speak a different language at home. annie ray: i will give you three and then we are in. ♪ ali: it's all conducted under the encouraging baton of director annie ray. annie ray: i've literally been brought into their communities, or like fed by these families traditions, traditional korean meals when i'm pregnant, where the're like, you need to be eating or like taking care of me. and it's been the most humbling thing to be educated by these communities of diversity, not just in countries, but backgrounds, and, and perspectives. ali: i have found that language and music kind of go hand in hand. and so i just wonder if that's something that you've experienced, because i know many of your students don't speak english at home. annie ray: yes. it's so interesting because there are a bunch of students who i will see try to play by ear, and a lot of maybe the music in their country is like

played by ear or like that's just something that they have more of an ear to when picking up languages. it is interesting. i've actually seen a correlation with with some of my ell learners or english language learners who are, try to learn like through that oral tradition, by the ear a lot of ways. yeah, cello! ali: we sat in on the symphony orchestra's final practice before their end of year concert -- designed to embrace the multi-cultural backgrounds of its participants. annie ray: i have a student named sosan who is incredible. and she had so much joy with teaching our class about music from, like, her country and arabic music. i heard sosan over and over again encouraging other students. i was like, well, i need more student speakers tonight. and they're like, no, no. and she was like, why aren't you proud of your culture? aren't you proud? don't you want to show

everybody? and then they're like, we can't. i'm proud of us. she was like, then tell everyone about it. and so much of like, her and a bunch of other students who are like that have set the tone for what our program is of like, be proud of who you are and what you bring to the table. don't be afraid of it. rocket out. ali: that theme of pride is evident in the “crescendo orchestra" as well. formed somewhat fortuitously during the pandemic, it's for students with significant and severe disabilities. annie ray: i was lucky enough to be able to start it in this kind of like weird abyss time during the pandemic, during covid, nobody was here. and except for our students in our category b special education department. so i invited them down to make some music with me because i was just wanting to make music with anybody who's around me instead of just online. we started making music together and playing together, and the students inspired me. and i then walked down to my principal and say, hey, i want to make this an actual class. like, these students have the right to a quality music education, and the only reason it's to the point it is now is, because of my special education team, my instructional assistants, the occupational therapist, who really taught me

everything that they know. and, we just applied it to music. ali: it really takes a village. you can see that when you all are working together like we did this morning. annie ray: we as music educators can't do things alone. ali: one student in particular - -kevin jaramillo -- was the spark that lit the crescendo orchestra's fire. annie ray: kevin was one of those kids who came down the, that first day. i ought them all down, and he so unhappy to be there. he was mad that you split out of his routine. but we we sat down, and i started playing the cello for him, and he repeatedly started saying, me, me. and he doesn't, verbalize much. and so i was like, okay, well, here, here we go. kevin, you can try playing. and he pulled the bow out of my hand and he started going back and forth and tears started welling up in his eyes. and it was this moment where i was like, wow, he is -- we are connecting so much here right now. i've gotten so many kind emails from these parents or spoken with them where they' like, my child seems so unhappy all the

time, but here he isn't. or there might be a student who struggles in different aspects of the day, but here she's so incredibly successful and flourishing. but that looks different for every kid and every kid's learning, and their process looks different. and so we need to meet everyone where they are at, but then besides that, pull them along further than they ever thought possible, have high expectations for them. know that they can get to these high places of learning. ali: ray holds all of her students to those high standards. it is part of why her colleagues nominated her for the music educator of the year grammy award. she won i got to attend the award show in february, snapping selfies with stars who were excited to meet her, but the in thing her win delivered is a new audience and platform for ray's message that music and performing arts should be a core subject in schools, not just an option. annie ray: when we're talking about social emotional learning right now, this is this huge buzzword. social emotional learning is happening so authentically through the performing arts, through the arts, through creativity and tapping into

these kids. i watch kids who might come from very challenging backgrounds or very challenging situations who step through that my door and they might be a little bit opposed to it, but then they come in a littleit more and a little bit more. next, i know they're running the whole program, the orchestra leadership and making it what it is. it's not just a music education issue, it's an education issue of not funding enough for all teachers. and so i do call for like music education to become more of a fundamental right to a student's education, a fundamental part of who they are. ♪ ali: for the annandale class of 2024 orchestra members, it was time for one final performance. one final bow. and one final exam. annie ray: i'm saying goodbye to close to 40 seniors who are the reason that annandale orchestra is the way that it is. they set the tone for what orchestra is or for what we do

here, the purpose of us here. and so the i sent out their final exam, and one of the questions was like, can you describe orchestra in one word? and, so many of them said community and home. and the fact that they didn't say scales or anything like that, i was like, yes, they got it. but to read their messages. has been again, one of the most humbling things of my life. [applause] ali: and as those seniors embark on new journeys, they know they can always come home, to their orchestra family and to annie ray. for pbs news weekend in annandale, virginia, i'm ali rogin. [applause] ♪ john: finally, on this memorial day weekend, amid the cookouts and trips to the beach, i hope you find time to remember america's more than one million

war debt and reflect on the values and principles. they fought to protect. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- ♪ and by 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. ♪

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♪ anuncer: my music is made possible by public television viewers like you, thank you. ♪ announcer: tonight, a public television world premiere event. go back to the tim when you were too cool for school, put on your poodle skirt and let's return to the 1950s and '60s. it's tj lubinsky's my music series. kicking off, it's 25th year with rock, pop & doo wop,