♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz.

geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, president biden signs an executive order limiting the number of migrants who can seek asylum at the southern border. amna: shocking election results in india, where prime minister modi wins a third term, but not in the landslide expected. geoff: and, why some universities are returning to standardized testing in their admissions process. >> when we go in and contextually evaluate that student, and we see that they're in the 99th percentile of their high school with that score, that's a very meaningful figure. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> a proud supporter of public

television on a voyage. the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure. an british style. all with white star service. >> the knight foundation, fostering engaged communities. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. president biden signed an executive order today that temporarily blocks migrants from seeking asylum when border encounters reach a certain number. geoff: the president used the announcement to set himself apart from his predecessor and political rival, former president donald trump. pres. biden: i will never demonize immigrants. i'll never refer to immigrants as poisoning the blood of a country. and further, i'll never separate children from their families at the border. i will not ban people from this country because of the religious beliefs. i will not use the u.s. military to go into the neighborhoods all

across the country to pull millions of people out of their homes and away from their families to put detention camps while they're waiting deportation as my predecessor says he will do if he occupies his office again. geoff: still, the move is one of the most restrictive president biden has taken to date to crack down on the u.s-mexico border. our white house correspondent laura barron lopez joins us now. so what does this executive order actually do? laura: president biden says he needed to take this action to secure the border. he says it uses authority to temporarily suspend injury and so, what that allows him to do is asylum requests will be shut down the daily averages hit 25 hundred encounters between ports. migrants will be sent across the border war to their home country and asylum requests will only reopen if the average drops below 1500 encounters across a 14 day period. and the aclu has already said

that it plans to file a legal challenge to this executive action so it is headed to the courts, potentially as far as the supreme court. geoff: this is notable because he promised to make the asylum process more humane for migrants. who does this affect the most? laura: there'll will be two exceptions to the ban. it will not impact victims of human trafficking. roughly, according to members from cbp, daily encounters are around 5900 and under u.s. law, migrants have the right to claim asylum not just at ports of entry but between ports of entry so it's going to impact potentially hundreds of thousands of migrant who have attempted to claim asylum between ports of entry and immigration lawyers told me they are fearful that this executive action is going to force some families to separate themselves. essentially parents ending their children across the border alone

since unaccompanied minors are not going to be prohibited to seek asylum wherever they claim asylum across the border. geoff: he was flanked by democratic governors and councilmembers. still, he's getting some from other democratic numbers of congress. give us a sense of the reaction so far. >> republicans accused president biden of playing politics with this executive action. >> it is a shell game. it is a shell game. they are not serious about it. this is a conversion, based on the proximity of the next election and sinking poll numbers, and we think it deserves to be called out for what it is. laura: it's important to note that the senator was one of the republicans that voted against that bipartisan senate border deal that president biden negotiated with republicans with one of the most conservative republicans in the senate,

senator james lankford, but president biden also received some harsh criticism from democrats. >> it's not a time for us to turn to trump era policies. it is not a time to go and use the tools that trump. that doesn't make this better were ok. on the contrary, we should not be looking to those policies. it did not work under the prior administration and it is not going to work today under this administration. >> that is the chairwoman of the hispanic caucus and she along with a number of other latino lawmakers were not happy about this executive action but there were some latino lawmakers that were present that were at the white house event today alongside the president. geoff: the president said he will have more to say on this in the coming days. based on your reporting, what might that entail? laura: multiple sources told me that when president biden met recently with leaders of the hispanic congressional, --

caucus, they asked biden to not implement this executive order that he did today. they asked him to not do it but they said that if he had to do it that they wanted him to accompany it with other actions that would potentially provide relief for undocumented migrants currently in the united states and so, i'm told that the white house is considering some actions that would impact undocumented migrants currently in the u.s. that are married to u.s. citizens and that could protect some 700,000 to one million undocumented migrants who are married to u.s. citizens. it would give those spouses, allowing them to actually get work permits and that would take away the fear of deportation as they go along the process to get green cards. geoff: you have been ahead of the pack with this from the very start. amna: senator mark kelly is a democrat from the border state. senator kelly, welcome back to

the newshour. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. amna: to take this step five months before the election when polls show that immigration is a top voting issue for many leaves many to think it is a political decision and policy one. republicans walked away from a border deal back in february but the president has always had this authority so why this move now? sen. kelly: well, first of all, arizonans and folks who live in other border states deserve to have real solutions for this problem and deserve to have a border that's under control. it's often been out of control. i've been in the united states senate for about three years, and it's really been unfair, especially to people who live close to the border. i've talked to mayors and sheriffs all the time about this issue, and we had an opportunity. and you talk about the politics behind this. we had an opportunity with bipartisan legislation negotiated by democrats and republicans, and the white house

worked on for months. we're right up to the finish line on this legislation and the politics of the presidential election, you know, superseded everything where the former president, donald trump decided that he did not want this legislation passed and was able to get my republican colleagues in the senate to run away from a comprehensive piece of legislation that was going to help the border patrol, help cbp, help communities in southern arizona and others. i have never seen -- amna: pardon the interruption. and as i know, back in february, president biden could have taken this action sooner. why now? sen. kelly: well, he's been calling on congress for the last three and a half years to do something on this issue. we were going to have more border patrol agents on the border, funding for that, more cbp agents, judges to adjudicate asylum claims, machines to detect fentanyl, changes in asylum policy. these were all very positive steps.

i spent a lot of time on the on the border in arizona, and it's it's very unfair, especially to the border patrol agents who have, who often, you know, lose control of the situation. the president was put in a situation where he had to do this unilaterally without congress. but ultimately, the the solution is for congress to come back together. i hope this can happen soon. it may have to wait till after the election, unfortunately, and have not only a border security bill, but comprehensive immigration reform that supports our economy. to help us, you know, grow our economy, to provide for companies, the workforce they need. amna: senator, let me ask you about what president biden has said previously, because he did slam then-president trump for using this exact same authority to restrict asylum years ago. here, president biden is actually debating mr. trump back in 2020. >> this is the first president

in history, united states of america, anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country. that's never happened before in america. that's never happened before in america. you come to the united states and you make your case. amna: senator, the question is, why should migrants today not have that right under international law and u.s. immigration law to make their case? sen. kelly: well, this is different than what president trump did. amna: it is under the same authority, though, to restrict asylum access. sen. kelly: it's under the same -- essentially the same federal. yeah, same federal authority to put restrictions. but this doesn't, you know, change the ability for individuals to come here and seek asylum. what it does is if the numbers go up to a point where it's unmanageable, we will temporarily close, the southern border for people to enter between ports of entry. they will still have the cbp one app to lawfully seek asylum that's available today.

it's been available for some time now. amna: so there will be a very restricted app with very restricted access. this would essentially restrict access across the southern border for people to arrive and make an asylum claim. sen. kelly: that it's true. -- that's true. well, i don't agree with you that the cbp one app is restrictive. it may be challenging at times to get an appointment, but the idea behind the app is you register ahead of time. you go to a port of entry. you get an appointment for an asylum claim. people will still be able to do that. what will happen, though, is if rtain average in a given week til they go back down, we will restrict people from coming ross the southern border. hey, we are a country of immigrants and it's very important to me that people can come here when when they meet the requirements to have an asylum claim that they can come to our country, especially children, people that, you know, have, you know, special needs and other issues that they're

facing in their home country. that's important. but what's also important is that this is safe for border patrol, for cbp officers, for people who live in these southern, southern border communities. and over time, it has not been a safe situation. it also needs to be safe for the migrants. when border patrol gets overwhelmed with the number of individuals and people are waiting in the desert, essentially with no water, no food, and border patrol can't manage this. this is not good for them. we have migrants who die that pass away in the desert. we're trying to get operational control over this situation. it's unfortunate that the legislation in february did not pass. that provided border patrol, cbp with the tools they need to nage this, but it became political because of the former president didn't want this issue solved. so republicans ran away from this ultimately.

no. we need comprehensive immigration reform. and we need border security. amna: senator, i have been on the mexican side of the border during previous times of border restrictions and seeing families who then have to decide whether or not they will decide to send their kids alone, because obviously unaccompanied minors still do get access. are you at all worried this is going to fuel another potential crisis of children arriving alone at the u.s. border? sen. kelly: of course i'm worried. i mean, we don't we don't want to see kids, winding up in a situation where in mexico, they are separated from their parents. that's that's not the goal here. i'm speaking to the ali mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security today about this. and as we roll out these changes in policy, what we expect to see is the number of individuals that are entering our country between ports of entry and who are not using things like the cbp, one app and other lawful means to come to the united

states and seek asylum, that those numbers will trend down significantly. that's the expectation. amna: that is senator mark kelly, democrat from the border state of arizona. joining us tonight, senator kelly, thank you for your time. good to see you. sen. kelly: thank you, amna. ♪ geoff: wisconsin's attorney general filed felony charges today against three donald trump allies who allegedly delivered fake elector paperwork claiming the former president had won the state in 2020. those charged include attorneys kenneth chesebro and jim troupis, and former trump aide mike roman. all three are due in court in september. they face up to six years in prison and fines. wisconsin is now the fifth state to bring charges over attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, joining michigan,

arizona, nevada, and georgia. attorney general merrick garland pushed back against republican lawmakers today over what he called unprecedented attacks on the justice department. during an appearance before the house judiciary committee, garland condemned what he called the conspiracy theory that his department played a part in donald trump's hush money case in new york. and he denounced, quote "dangerous falsehoods," about law enforcement, as donald trump and his allies have attacked the criminal justice system. >> i will not be intimidated and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to do our jobs. free from political influence. and we will not back down from defending democracy. geoff: garland's appearance today comes as republicans have moved to hold him in contempt. that's over the biden administration's refusal to release audio of the president's interview with special counsel robert hur over his handling of classified documents.

garland has said that doing so could deter future witnesses from cooperating and the doj says the audio could spur deepfakes and disinformation. lawyers in hunter biden's criminal trial delivered their opening arguments today. federal prosecutors tried to portray the president's son as a drug addict who intentionally lied on a form about his addiction when purchasing a gun in 2018. biden's attorneys say their client did not believe he was an addict when he filed the paperwork. hunter biden arrived at the delaware court with his wife. first lady jill biden was also in court again today to show her support. hunter biden has pleaded not guilty. president biden said today he does not think israel's prime minister is playing poltics with -- politics with the war in gaza. instead, biden said benjamin netanyahu is, in his words, "trying to work out the serious problem he has." that follows comments the president made in a "time" magazine interview published today that there is reason to believe netanyahu is prolonging

the war for political gain. meantime, israel's army chief said today the idf is nearing a decision on launching an offensive at its northern border with lebanon, where it's been exchanging fire with hezbollah. the state department spokesperson said today that the potential for such action adds urgency to the ceasefire plan president biden announced last week. >> escalation of that conflict is something that we have been, uh, worried about and working to contain since october 7. it is our assessment that the acceptance of a ceasefire by hamas, in the beginning of a calm would help us reach calm in northern israel and southern lebanon. geoff: on the ground in central gaza, palestinians crowded around a police vehicle that was targeted in a series of overnight israeli strikes. gaza health officials reported that a family of three and eight police officers were killed. a large portion of the southern and western u.s. is bracing for a blistering heat wave. parts of california, arizona,

and nevada could see temperatures top 110 degrees this week. southern texas will also see dangerous heat levels. in all, the national weather service says some 19 million americans will be under excessive heat watches and warnings this week. officials are urging those in affected areas to stay inside, drink plenty of fluids, and check on neighbors and relatives. major league baseball has permanently banned san diego padres infielder tu-cupita marcano for placing hundreds of sports bets, totaling more than $150,000. that includes 25 bets on pittsburgh pirates games, while he was on the team, though not playing himself. four other players were also suspended for betting violations, each receiving a one-year ban. meantime, the former interpreter for los angeles dodgers star shohei ohtani pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud today in a california federal court. mizuhara admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from ohtani to pay off sports gambling debts. there's been no evidence ohtani was involved in any way.

on wall street today,stocks eked out a gain, after a report showed u.s. job openings fell more than expected in april. the dow jones industrial average rose 140 points to close at 38,711. the nasdaq added 28 points. the s&p 500 tacked on nearly 8 points. and nasa is trying to get the hubble telescope back online, after a malfunction. the famous telescope slipped into a hibernating state more than a week ago due to a problem with one of its three remaining gyroscopes. those spinning wheels help keep the telescope stable. nasa said today it will operate with just one gyroscope, which will keep hubble idle until mid-june. hubble has been capturing the cosmos since it launched into orbit in 1990. its larger and more powerful successor, the webb space telescope, went into space in 2021. still to come on the "newshour", a key fda advisory committee rejects the use of the party drug ecstasy for treatment of

ptsd. and an artist gives his brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: india has re-elected narendra modi as prime minister, making him only the second leader in the nation's history to secure a third term. but indian analysts call the results a shock because modi's party lost at least 20 percent of its parliamentary seats, forcing him to rely on a coalition. and as nick schifrin reports, that could affect how modi will govern, after 10 years in power. nick: at his party headquarters in new delhi tonight, narendra modi entered with triumph despite an election that left him humbled. >> for this blessing, i am indebted to all citizens. today is an auspicious day. nick: modi fought the election

in his own name, promising a rising, stronger india. but many of the 640 million indians who voted over 7 weeks, voted their pocketbooks. >> this was the economic crisis which large number of indians, but particularly from rural india and, you know, lower socioeconomic strata that our facing and they are the ones who have really voted mr. modi, or have voted against mr. modi. nick: sushant singh is an indian journalist and lecturer at yale university. he says rural indians worried about the economy, were also worried modi would amend the constitution to revoke special rights for underprivileged communities, as opposition leader rahul gandhi said today. >> i'm extremely proud of the people of india. i'm extremely proud of the people who have resisted this onslaught on the constitution. >> this really put the fear in the ranks of these so-called unschooled, poor indians who thought that something which gives them political rights,

something which gives them some kind of part for economic progress, that is being that is likely to be taken away. and the two factors combined together to deliver what many believe is a stunning result . nick: among those who voted against modi, his own stronghold, the northern state of uttar pradesh. modi's party lost more than half of its seats, including the district where, in january, modi inaugurated a grand temple on the site where a 16th century mosque was demolished. >> it was the battleground state around which mr. modi's party gained majority in last two times. that was a stunning result by itself. and actually, it encapsulated what had happened in the indian election. nick: a decade of modi's rule has been in part defined by a violence on religious minorities and a crackdown on civil society, the opposition, and press freedom. a coalition government could force modi to reign it in, says singh. >> because mr. modi is now a much weaker leader, a much weaker prime minister, dependent on his coalition partners, we will definitely see some of these institutions rediscover their voice, rediscover their

conscience, and start saying things which we have not heard from them for the last decade. pres. biden: today, the partnership between our two countries is stronger than it's ever been. nick: but modi has also helped make india indispensable to us -- u.s. plans initial as the , indian military defends indian territory from chinese soldiers, and the u.s. hopes for india's help to confront china. >> irrespective of whoever is leading india, any u.s. administration, whether republican or democrat, would continue to work with india because of the china factor. nick: and so u.s.-modi cooperation will continue. but the man who described himself as heaven sent, now faces the ground reality of the voters. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪

geoff: a key fda advisory committee today approved the first limited use of a pyschedelic drug to help patients struggling with post traumatic stress disorder. the fda must now decide whether to follow suit and approve it by this august. some patients and researchers have long hoped the government would approve mdma. why did the committee rejects it? there's been so much interest around the drug. miles: it's a complicated one for the fda. we are talking about a treatment regime that involves the drug plus a very elaborate set of psychotherapy and the fda, interestingly, does not regulate secretary. in addition, the psychotherapy was not standardized. the study also had a very fundamental problem which is to

say it could not be properly blinded. those who receive mdma, ecstasy -- sugar pill. you know you did not. it was very difficult to get really objective results because the psychological factor of knowing that you have had it favors a favorable outcome or response, i should say and in addition to that, the company overlooked problems more so the committee determined, overlooked problems in his pursuit of approval of this drug. it really was a surprising decision particularly given what we have heard over the years from many of the center ice who have described this drug in this therapy as a life-changing experience. cj harden is a former army helicopter mechanic and machine gun and who faced imminent death in iraq and also after he got home. >> i did not trust myself having

a weapon around me because i was suicidal, very suicidal at that point. miles: years of pills and talk therapy failed to help his post traumatic stress disorder. so he turned to a surprising alternative at the center of a revolution in neuroscience and -- neuroscience. >> so this is the mdma that we use for the current study. miles: hardin took mdma, more commonly known as ecstasy, under the watchful eyes of therapists michael and annie mithoefer , a husband and wife team based in charleston, south carolina. >> this is where we do the mdma sessions. miles: in studies that the food and drug administration is now evaluating two-thirds of , patients reported significant improvement, after carefully guided sessions like this. >> which i knew was the ptsd, i was never feeling comfortable at home. >> i was still lucid, but it just felt like i had opened up a new avenue of thinking. miles: c.j. hardin says the difference for him was like

night and day. >> i would have said a 60% reduction in my symptoms immediately. i felt a mighty change had occurred. miles: stories like this have triggered a sea change in thinking about psychedelic drugs , but the doctor who started the mdma research program cautions it takes more than a pill. patients must go through dozens of hours of intense, often painful therapy. >> this seems to be a very powerful tool, but it is only a tool, and it's the person's own healing process and the relationships, the therapeutic relationships that support that, that are very important. i think there is the danger of people thinking of it as a magic bullet. miles: but there are skeptics opposing the treatment. they say the mdma studies are too small and not controlled enough to draw a firm conclusion. they say that lykos, the company running the trials and which would sell an approved drug, was

focused on pushing through the treatment no matter what, and that some of the therapists downplayed cases where vulnerable patients actually got worse. geoff: we heard the doctor in your piece say that there is danger in thinking about this drug as being a magic bullet. expand on that. help us understand some of the concerns that came to work today and why the committee ultimately rejected it. miles: the committee in the end could not trust the results of these studies. it was a relatively small group that was exposed to the mdma and the psychotherapy that went along with it and there were other flaws that were part of it , so called confounding factors. in the end, it was a 9-2, a very dramatic note, that the mdma along with the psychotherapy was not proven to be effective and they were also concerned that there were not adequate safety measures taken. they voted 10-1 that the safety

measures were not enough. there were detailed things. like they did not take proper vital signs or lab work. and then the real issue which kept coming up was the idea that patients in the scenarios, people undergoing therapy on mdma are extremely vulnerable and there was a lot of concern that they might be subject to risk in this setting. geoff: there was a public comment today that i'm told was pretty lively. did that have overruled in shifting things here? >> i think so. there were three dozen individuals who participated in this virtually and it was like a parallel universe. it was tailored to cities. on the one hand, we heard these emotional, harrowing tales of individuals like cj who were on the brink of suicide, facing other maladies as a result of ptsd which could not be solved by traditional talk therapy and

drugs, and then on the other hand, you have individuals who have really strong critique of the company, which is behind all of this. a company they said that was hell-bent on getting this approved, almost had a cultlike -- that term, colt kentucky -- cult came up many times. one woman was abused by one of her therapists and spoke to spokesman in order to maintain her anonymity as she felt that the company did not respond properly to the abuse she received during therapy. the company claims it did, however. there were a lot of factors in play. geoff: a question about the veteran you profiled in your piece there. can he and other veterans were using this treatment especially, can they continue to use it even if this committee has rejected

it? >> well, no. ultimately, this has to be approved if you want to use it in a therapeutic setting but the interesting thing about cj answer many of the individuals we have spoken to his he is fine. he went through the treatment and at this point, he doesn't need to go back and that is the remarkable thing about what we have been hearing about mdma. the committee has said the proof is not there. the anecdotal comments and stories of people like cj are quite profound. geoff: what are the next steps here? is the fda follow suit? miles: it doesn't have to. the fda still has to make a final decision and this will come on or about august 11. there was a recent analysis done of how this shakes out. 88% of the time, the fda does in fact follow its advisory committee. they tend, when they reject what the advisory committee says, to

buy us towards -- to bias towards approval. this affects veterans and it is a bipartisan issue. republicans and democrats have been setting -- pressuring and sending letters to the veterans administration, encouraging it to do what it can to further these studies. it is a frustrating thing. ptsd affects 13 million americans and there are a lot of laws in the toolbox. geoff: thanks so much for walking us through this important story. we appreciate it. amna: headlines around higher education this year have centered on protests, free speech, and student safety. but some important changes on the academic and admissions front have gotten less attention including some schools turning

back to standardized testing, after deciding they would no longer require it. paul solman has the story for our latest series on rethinking college. paul: -- kelly: i was terrible in math. paul: kelly damphousse, president of texas state university in san marcos. kelly: so i ended up going to community college, and i got a 2.54 gpa. paul: when he made it to a four-year school, he was the first in his family, just like 43% of the 34,000 undergrads here at texas state. so you're sympathetic to the idea that tests should be optional. kelly: if i had to take the test, i probably wouldn't have gotten into college. paul: that "test" -- the sat or act, which for years most colleges required for admission, research having shown test scores correlated with college gpa's. but during the pandemic, many dropped the requirement. post-pandemic, texas state remains "test-optional." and yet, retention rates are still rising.

while, more than ever -- kelly: we look like the state of texas. the most diverse university in the state. paul: one that welcomes students like the president once was. kelly: we are creating greater opportunities for people to access the opportunity to get a four-year college degree, something we know is a life changing experience for these people. paul: just 40 minutes away, the university of texas at austin, 42,000 undergrads, average sat, 1355 out of 1600. ut also went test-optional during covid. but it's now reinstated test scores, joining a host of other schools. why? yes, it's already selective, says ut president jay hartzell. jay: anybody who applies from a texas high school and is in the top 6% of their class is admitted. paul: but, he emphasizes, that -- kelly: that doesn't mean they're admitted to business or finance, for example, or computer science or or liberal arts necessarily. so we use the test scores historically to put them in the right schools and colleges, when

they get here, put them in the right spots to ultimately succeed. paul: and reroute some of the automatic admits, though they might have had low test scores, and perhaps others, from difficult majors that might frustrate them, he says, even to the point of giving up. so hartzell thinks testing can be used compassionately, and should even improve a crucial objective, graduation rates, now at about 75%. >> i am excited for you both. paul: but kendra strange, who helps low-income students prepare for college, begs to differ. kendra: there's so much that goes into deciding what you want to study in college the test score alone doesn't necessarily indicate whether or not a student's going to be successful in one particular career or major. for many students, what you find is they're picking majors around their passion. paul: and to strange, passion inspires grit, which she says is the real key to success. kendra: maybe the student didn't test well. maybe the student is not good at timed tests. does that mean that i'm no longer able to pursue an engineering degree? it shouldn't equate to whether

or not i'm going to be a successful engineer. paul: moreover, says admissions coach yvonne espinosa. yvonne: requiring testing can close doors for those students who don't have access to resources. when test scores are required, my students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were ch less likely to apply because they would see what colleges were publishing on their websites as their average sat score, and they were scoring well below that and didn't understand that that was okay for them because of the schools they went to, because they didn't have access to resources. miguel: i'm a first generation student. my mom didn't graduate high school. paul: head of admissions, and ut alum, miguel wasielewski. miguel: my dad didn't go to college. and so we came from a very low income background. paul: and so kids like he was are those he cares most about. and not only can the tests can -- and not only can the tests help them from being overmatched in tough courses, he says, but worse, for a school as rich in resources as ut-austin, with test optional. miguel: we were not putting somebody into a program that

could have benefitted from those resources. so with the reinstitute of those scores, we will be able to begin providing that additional support to them. paul: who is not getting in now because of test scores being required? miguel: i would say that there's not a higher likelihood or unlikelihood of that student getting in. it's just another variable that we have within the application. paul: in fact, and this is an argument you hear at other universities like mit that have restored test scores. more students from poor schools may now get in, if their test scores are high when compared to similar students from similar backgrounds in their region. miguel: people have in their head things like 1500-1600 s.a.t. scores. and so a student that doesn't have that level, you know, and maybe has like a 1200 s.a.t. may say, you know what? i'm not going to submit that information to the university. but then when we go in and contextually evaluate that student, and we see that they're in the 99th percentile of their high school with that score, that's a very meaningful figure.

paul: moreover, the average high school grade has risen over time, shrinking the grade range, so-called grade inflation. as a result, grades mean less than they used to. miguel: so while they may have had that 4.0 gpa, they're on the lower end of the standardized scores. and that helps us to be able to udents can benefit from some resources that we have available. paul: like what? miguel: so things like being able to get placed into programs that puts you with mentors, being able to sit down with other students and get assistance, assistance with writing, assistance with, you know, tutoring for classes that they're attending. paul: at the outreach nonprofit "breakthrough central texas," they provide such help to low-income students with college dreams early. kendra: in fifth grade, we go into schools across central texas and we say, hey, are you the first in your family to go to college? are you from a traditionally underserved background? then we want to help you on your journey. again, breakthrough's kendra

strange. kendra: we recognize that food insecurity, housing insecurity, mental health support students can't think about performing well in school if they're not eating. and so we support our students with wraparound services. paul: students like high school senior samuel bautista-zamora. samuel: my parents migrated from mexico. i think they barely graduated middle school, and they were just like, we really can't help you with this. paul: he worried about taking the sat because -- samuel: s.a.t. puts everybody in the same field technically, but it's like some might have more resources, some might pay for private tutors, which, unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. i had to look for my own resources, spend time while balancing a job, taking care of my siblings, and still trying to do extracurriculars to boost my resume, to be able to get to the schools without these sat scores. paul: but bautista-zamora took the test, got a 1060 the first time, then 1160, then 1310, but that last one was too late, so he submitted no scores, figuring.

samuel: my extracurriculars and my grades reflected better. paul: and he got into ut austin. high school junior terrance taylor johnson is looking at ut too. terrance: i think my chances are pretty good. i just need to focus on my test scores more. i averaged 1060 on the first run, and so i need to do better on the next one. paul: how did you feel during the test? were you nervous? terrance: i was nervous because on the psat i had got to 830. but then as soon as i saw my test score, i was actually pretty happy how high it jumped. paul: jumped just above the national average of 1050. nats back on campus at ut, freshman aniya matthews, who arrived here with a relatively low score, for austin, 1090. aniya: some of my peers, you know, have thousand dollar tutors they get for their sats. now me, i come from a low income background, so there wasn't no help on that sat. paul: what were you applying for your major?

aniya: i wanted to be a medical laboratory scientist. but thank god i didn't get into that because i realize that i do not like stem. paul: so the fact that they discouraged you from what you were originally going to go into it, maybe on the basis of your sat, it was a good thing? aniya: but i feel like, though, i feel like when it comes to some students who have maybe a lower score, who genuinely have a passion and want to go into engineering. i do feel as though they definitely don't have that shot sometimes. paul: and thus the question colleges face with requiring tests are they more or less likely to discourage the disadvantaged from pursuing their passion, or even applying, weighed against signals that could help with admission, lead to savvier placement, and more resources to succeed. for the pbs newshour, paul solman in central texas.

amna: and we'll be back shortly for a brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. geoff: but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep to programs like the newshour on the air. ♪ amna: for those stations staying with us, my conversation with wnba star brittney griner. two years after she was first detained in russia, brittney griner shared new details about her time in prison, and the fight to free her in her new book, "coming home." in this encore report, i met up with griner at the ymca of greater new york. brittney: i'm off now. it's always amna: -- kids all

due. amna: for basketball superstar brittney griner, better known as bg, the court has always been a safe space. born and raised in houston, texas, griner was a breakout star at baylor university, dunking her way to fame and a pro career with the phoenix mercury, six wnba all-star appearances, and two olympic gold medals. but for griner, standing tall, at six foot eight, meant standing out. you talk so openly, so honestly in your book about what it took to get you comfortable in your own skin. you wrote, "when you're born in a body like mine, a part of you dies every day. with every mean comment and lingering stare. you're the biggest person in the room. but you're also the loneliest." brittney: basketball definitely helped. it gave me a purpose. it gave me an outlet to, when i'm frustrated, it gave me somewhere to go and channel that energy in a positive way. and it gave me camaraderie as well. like my teammates, my coaches.

that sense of feeling want it from the fans. like all that helped me once i started playing basketball. it just it really changed my life. brittney: basketball took her overseas like many women players for a second job during the wnba off-season. since 2014, griner played for european powerhouse team ummc ekaterinburg in russia. you really loved playing in russia. brittney: i did. i mean, one, the pay gap is, it's pretty big, you know, from here to overseas and you know, just feeling value like that meant a lot to me. and then, just how they treated us, our safety, the way we flew, the way where we stayed at, i mean, we stayed at the best, best hotels. we flew on private jets and we really felt like professional athletes. >> the state department is aware of an arrest of an american citizen in moscow. >> russian customs officials

claimed they detected cannabis oil in her luggage. amna: she returned to russia to rejoin her team and she was detained outside of moscow when vaped cartridges with less than a gram of hashish oil, illegal in russia, were found in her luggage. griner has a prescription for medical marijuana in the u.s., but forgot to remove the cartridges while packing in a rush. you almost didn't make that flight. you're running late. you lost your phone. u got held up. missed your connection. does any part of you look back on that day now and think gosh, if i'd only done x? brittney: every single part. every single part of it. amna: there is this idea of guilt through your book. you worry about what your mom and dad went through when you were away, what your teammates were going through. has that guilt gone away? brittney: it's on me. as much as everything was an

accident and not intended, it's on me. it was my fault. there were so many signs and i , really wanted to stay back, honestly. but my dad -- you if you finish what you start and, we were right in the basically about the -- about to win. i wanted to finish that chapter completely. amna: instead, a new surreal chapter in her life began. detention in russian prison. her face and story splashed across international headlines. and robbed of the one safe space she had always had. when you weren't able to play, what did that feel like? brittney: that was hard. it was really hard not being able to play, not knowing what what was to come if i would ever pick up a basketball professionally again. it was devastating to me to think about. >> bg took the time to write president biden. amna: back home, her devastated

wife, cherelle, led the charge to free bg. working with her teammates, her agent, lindsay kagawa coles, and an army rallying behind the "we are bg" hashtag. >> in a world where you are judged by just appearance or maybe what, you know, a certain group has done or someone has wronged them so they condemn everyone that looks like them, i was definitely wary. i was definitely worried about public opinion and how people would react. amna: griner, meanwhile, could do nothing but wait and survive. brittney: it makes you not want to fight. it makes you kind of give up hope. i mean, you're already like, i'm sitting in court and i'm trying to plea, but i'm already locked up. i'm already in a cage. i feel like i talked about being feeling like a zoo animal, you know, especially how the guards would come and just open the little peep hole to see me. and i hear the snickering going down the hallway. i was a spectacle. amna: the feeling of feeling

like they're all watching you, like you are a spectacle was , that something you'd ever felt before? brittney: definitely. growing up, i definitely felt like a spectacle. i remember in junior high, you know, the girls coming up to me and literally talking to somebody else, touch my chest and say, oh, see, she's not really a real girl. she has no chest. like, listen to her voice, like so i've always been that spectacle of pointing and looking at. it was already a depressing and challenging time and it just made it even worse. amna: where do you go in your head in those moments? what do you tell yourself? what do you see? brittney: i did a lot of gazing out of the windows to the point where i could make the bars disappear and i would just see land because that is my sanctuary. i love being in nature. once i got to the penal colony to go outside, right outside the cell, walking to the workstation, just admiring the distance behind the walls, behind everything.

did a lot of looking up at the birds. amna: what did you think when you saw those birds outside? brittney: it must be nice to be able to fly away. geoff: narsiso martinez is an artist whose work celebrates the vital and often invisible labor of farmworkers. martinez's work is informed by his own experiences as a farmworker, spending summers picking produce in washington state to support himself while studying at cal state long beach. tonight, in this encore broadcast, he gives his brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. narsiso: anywhere in the world, farmworkers are always at the bottom of the social strata. in my art, i just hope to shine a light to these people. they are not machines, they are human beings with goals and dreams. ♪

i grew up in a small town on the outskirts of a oaxaca city called santa cruz papalutla. it was a poor community. going to school was difficult, the roads weren't paved. i came to the united states when i was 20 years old. my first memories in the united states had to do with education. i wanted to understand the culture. i wanted to know what the movies were about and so my brother took me to hollywood high within the first week of arrival, and that's where i enrolled to learn english. and i got my high school degree in 2006. by that time, i was already 29. and i took an art history class, and that's when i fell in love with art. that's how i ended up in art school. i started working in the fields every summer to help pay for tuition. i was in academia and i was learning all these fancy words , and at the same time, i was in the fields and listening to corridos and speaking slang to my coworkers. i started meeting other farm workers and we started sharing our stories. and i realized that it was

unfair the way they were being treated. most of these people, including myself, had a very difficult time growing up. i feel like when we come to a country where there is a bed for us to sleep on wood, there's a kitchen where there's even a fridge that so many of these people lack in their countries. we are so grateful. right? but then we're so grateful that sometimes we don't say anything and the companies take advantage of that. i thought maybe i could just by drawing a simple portrait on one of these produce boxes, i can create that connection, right? or maybe think about these disconnections that exist within our societies and the people who work in the fields. the conversations during my critiques were more about technicality. nobody was really talking about the farmworkers. at one point i was frustrated and stopped painting and i went back to what i used to do when i was working in the fields, which was painting and sketching on cardboard. i drew a banana man on this banana box and that's when i would introduce my experiences of me working in the fields, which were maybe not the same, but similar to this person who

was in this box. i've had a few exhibitions where the audience is the farmworkers themselves, and i'm just happy to see the response, the positive response, like the smiles on their faces. being included, no? that's something that makes me happy and that makes me want to continue the art. i don't feel the art if i don't speak for the community, it's not only about me now, it's about the community. my name is narciso martinez and this is my brief but spectacular take on painting the people who feed america. geoff: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. amna: and join us again here tomorrow night, when we travel to france to meet veterans of d-day as they prepare to mark the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of normandy. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs

newshour has been provided by -- >> this is sam. how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, i thought it would let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. carnegie corporation of new

york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org , and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> i'm terribly excited to be the anchor of pbs news weekend. we have become known for independent, fact-based reporting. we are challenging the viewers to understand the world a little better. we present all sides of a story. we take the time to put them in context. when viewers watch pbs news weekend, i hope they come away in armed and perhaps with a different perspective than they have thought of before. good evening. i am john yang. tonight on pbs news weekend.

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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. ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. >> amigas,