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 jeff bennett. on the news hour tonight, is prime minister says the intense phase of the work in gaza will end soon as israel and the u.s. argue over weapons deliveries. a cyberattack on a software provider disrupt operations and

thousands of car dealerships in the u.s. and canada and from backseat mendez to the role of religion in schools, we explore former president trump's plans for education if he wins in november. >> he has a platform and he misuses that platform and he scares people unnecessarily. putting children in harm's way. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour including leonard and norma court find andy dooley and peter bloom kugler foundation.

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contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. jeff: welcome to the newshour. israel indicated today it is close to ending what he called the intense phase of its operations in gaza and would soon transition to a new stage of the war. that word came as israel's defense minister met with senior u.s. officials here in washington today and as the u.s. and israel continue to have a public spent over weapons deliveries. nick joins us now. what did israel say about the future of the work? >> for months, israel has described its operation and rough as targeting for the final four hamas battalions. they said israeli soldiers and rough you approaching the point where hamas' brigade is deated. netanyahu described that as a transition from the intense phase of combat allowing israel to shift its focus to the north

to lebanon. there has been and is coronary amount of u.s. concern about cross-border fire between israel and hezbollah in lebanon becoming a full-scale war. this weekend, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warned that iran could come to hezbollah's aid if there were a war between israel and hbollah and that the u.s. could not defend israel. not like it did against an attack in april if has been a actually opened fire against israel. a warning sign -- another warning sign by u.s. officials who are really concerned about escalation but u.s. officials insist they will help israel defend against them. what's on the point of escalation, the u.s. has had the best way to vent and expansion of the war is to get a cease-fire in gaza so we didn't stand on that front? >> regional officials tell me they are still trying to bridge the gap between israel and hamas but there's been no public

progress. there's also meant public doubts. whether israel -- prime minister netanyahu would endorse the deal that present buying laid out that he said was actually created by israel and in the last 24 hours, netanyahu has made no fewer than three contradictory statements about the hostage negotiation including on israeli tv last night. >> i am not willing to stop the war and leave hamas intact. i want to make a commercial deal. this is no secret but we are looking to complete the goal of eliminating hamas. >> that is the first time that netanyahu used a phrase as a partial deal or some hostages suggesting he was walking back his own plan which calls for the release of all 120 hostages currently held in gaza the negotiation toward a permanent cease-fire. last night, after his interview on tv he walked that statement

back, saying quote it is a must that oppose a deal, not israel. prime minister netanyahu said he will not leave gaza until we return all 120 other hostages living and deceased. that was last night and today, he further walked to sunday comments back. >> we are committed to the israeli proposal that president biden welcomed. her position has not changed. >> three statements all in all. that left her rather bemused state department spokesman to respond this way today. >> i think all of us that speak publicly at times make mistakes and missed and reducer we have two -- we have an obligation to come forward and we did. practices a hostage deal, negotiators continue to try to figure out the gaps since hamas per most -- proposed changes.

the hostage families said the sunday comments indicated netanyahu was abandoning the hostages. >> in the meantime he has accused the u.s. on multiple occasions of withholding weapons deliveries. >> they have insisted they froze only one weapons delivery. 3500 bombs that are unguided and that was back in may. u.s. official does describe this process. after october the seventh, israel and the united states worked together and they went back and found many israeli weapons purchases, some of them many years old that had not yet actually been delivered. they worked to actually deliver all those previous purchases and that did increase the pace of weapons deliveries to israel to an unprecedented level for an unprecedented level of munitions that israel was asking for in order to prosecute the war in gaza once those were fulfilled,

they had to create new orders through the u.s. government or through the defense contractors and that takes time. between the ministration, between those defense contractors and the notifications to congress. so the pace of delivery according to this u.s. official is slower than it was after october the seventh. the u.s. strongly denies it is withholding weapons and believes now who knows that. most analysts i talked to say netanyahu is plain domestic politics. this happens to be in washington now. this is a political rival to that now and the two could fight over taking credit for any weapons deliveries that do come out of the u.s. in the coming weeks and netanyahu as we talked about before has a right-wing coalition. he needs to stay in power and doing so relieves the clinical

decision-making is been making since october the seventh. he works with the right wing and criticizes president biden publicly and that's been a winning formula he believes that could keep him in power. especially as he continues to face years old corruption cases. a panel accused him of undermining israeli national security in a case involving submarines. that is a charge he denied yet again. >> thank you for walking us through all of this. stephanie: i am stephanie tsai with newshour west. here are the latest headlines beer up and russia have been carrying out deadly strikes on each other's territory. two russian ballistic missiles destroyed homes and left a huge crater in eastern ukraine.

at least five people were killed and 41 others wounded. and in russian annexed crimea, memorials sprung up after the ukrainian drone killed six and wounded more than 150 others. russia says the ukrainians used american-made weapons in the attack. that claim has not been verified. the state department said russia summit the u.s. ambassador to discuss the incident. >> i will just tell you what the ambassador said when he met with the russian foreign ministry. we provide weapons to ukraine so we can defend its sovereign territory. that includes in crimea. russia could stop this work today. >> european union nations today agreed to send an initial $1.5 billion in profits for frozen russian assets to help ukraine.

the russian region of dagestan has started three days of warning after a gunman killed at least 20 people in christian and jewish houses of worship. investigators scoured an orthodox church and a synagogue there were among the sites where the core data shootings took place. there's been no claim of responsibility but local officials have blamed the attacks on islamic extremists. julian is orange is expected to plead guilty this week to violating u.s. espionage law. he will admit to a single count of conspiring to obtain and disclose international information in a deal with the u.s. government that will allow them to go free. the agreement would sentence a psalms to time already served in a british prison. today, wikileaks reported that the suns left prison and flew out of the united kingdom. flooding from torrential rain has hit parts of the midwest, killing at least two people. that was to evacuations and edit

misery to a region already dealing with an oppressive heat wave. violent floodwaters rushed through sue waters south dakota. water levels rose above record set in 1993. this caused a railroad bridge connecting iowa and south dakota to collapse. south dakota's governor warned of a long road ahead to recovery. >> we have damaged roads, damaged bridges. they move on throughout the stage and between us and that river collapsing. >> national weather officials say minnesota and iowa have received eight times the typical average rainfall and more rain is in the forecast. the supreme court said today that it will hear its first case

involving rights for transgender youth, taking up what has become a politically authorizing issue across the country. the case involves a by the administration appeal that bans gender affirming care for minors. lawyers for the tenant involves told them that without this course pump intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo. arguments will take place in the fall. today marks two years since the u.s. supreme court overturned roe v. wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion. >> abortion rights advocates gathered on the steps of the supreme court to mark the anniversary and criticized the ruling. they exchanged verbal clashes with antiabortion activists. as president, harris also weighed in today. -- vice predent kamala

harris also wed in tay. >> today, our daughters know if rights than their grandmothers. this is a health care crisis and we all know who is to blame. donald trump. >> the formerresident nominated three conservative justices to the supreme court prior to the overturning of roe v. w on theampaign trailtrump has the sion.y claimed crefo they blocked a louisiana law that ruires the 10 commandments to be displayed in every pu schooclassroom. the suit filed in federal court says that the state's main interest in passing the measure is to impose religious beliefs on public school children regardless of the harm to students and families. the language of the law insists the commandments are foundational documents of our state and national governments. they are due to be in classrooms by the start of next year. still on the news hour, and be and francesca chambers break down the latest political

headlines. the loss of one of the world's largest sources of groundwater threats farming on the way planes. and the approach to making art that comes together in her first retrospective. >>his is the pbs news hour from wbt's studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> thousands of car dealers across north america have been forced to revert to pen and paper after a software company they rely on was hit by several cyber attacks last week. the outage has not only caused delays and inconveniences for customers but has raised major questions about whether sensitive data was cap remised. william, tells more about this company. >> the company that was it was called cdk global and they

provided about 15,000 different car dealerships in america and canada. for all their internal computer systems, we spoke with one dealer in the greater philadelphia area. >> we were writing everything by pen and paper. we can't go into our backend systems and see what the actual warning costs are on things. what things are actually going to cost. it is a manual process that takes a lot longer. especially in service and then we talk about the sales part of it, that gets even crazier. that has a lot of complaints problems. credit, red flags and all those things that integrate cdk. >> since very little has been publicly said about who hacked the system, whether the attackers are demanding a ransom and when the system might return to normal, we thought it was a good idea to check in with someone who could help us understand what is going on he began to lend governments lead cybersecurity agency and he is

now chief intelligence and public policy officer at sentinel one. welcome back to the news hour. can you give us your best understanding of what is going on here. >> thank you for having me on. this is part of a larger surge in ransomware attacks that we've seen recently. a couple months ago we had united health care hit by a ransom string. this is just another criminal gang hitting u.s. businesses. my understand is that -- my understanding is that cdk was hit and they were subsequently by a second attack. that is not unusual. in fact, we see that white often as organizations try to rush back and hurry back getting operations back up and running. so now they are in the process of containing which means trying to get ransomware operators out of their network and get safe

and secure operations back up to support their customers. >> so this is not an attack on what we will call critical infrastructure. in a car sales are slow, it is about the economy but they will eventually pick back up again. so this is your indicating suggestion, these are criminals who have done this because they're trying to squeeze money out of the company. is that right? >> absolutely. the unfortunate part about this is that the amount being demanded by the cyber criminals is only increasing. were seeing millions if not tens of millions of dollars of demands. we will have official numbers on what the spirit may have demanded from cdk just yet but it has been 20 to 30 million in the average lately. and this might not be critical infrastructure but it sure does affect us -- affect someone going out there and trying to get a new vehicle if their own

vehicle broke down. it is unfortunately part of a bigger mental attack on the united states. >> i know there was a lot of debate after whether or not paying these ransoms is a good idea. where'd you come down on that? >> paying only benefits the attacker. it rewards them and that is why the united states is getting disproportionately affected by ransomware. yes you have cybersecurity incidents in europe and the united kingdom and elsewhere but because we pay at a higher clip here in the u.s., the bad guys are coming here and there and making -- hitting our business pretty hard. i would suggest that we think about this at a higher level where this is not just some random cyber criminal, there is a geopolitical element to ransomware as well. where it fits into russia and

the bigger strategy to attack the west, attacked the united states so that we are talking about this on tv so that we are experiencing this, we are being inconvenienced, we are scared of more and more cyber attacks. hopefully this does play into potent overall strategy. >> given the amount of these ransomware attacks as do been describing, what is going on here. is it just that this is a very hard thing to defend against? what is the weak link here? >> it is a combination of factors. i talked about the three-legged stool of ransomware. businesses continue to manage their enterprise, their networks in a way that is unfortunately not entirely secure. that gives the bad guys an opportunity to come in and sometimes it is not their own fault, it is the product or services that companies are using that are vulnerable and are therefore subject to exportation. the second is the monetization

of this misconfigured network. the bad guys have figured out they can use the currency to hold and ransom american and other companies. they can hold value out and take it to places where the third leg of the stool where they can't be held accountable and that is many times in eastern europe and russia. so what are we going to do about this? we need more aggressive responses by law enforcement and by the national security apparatus which we have seen an uptick in. we have seen the u.s. government and the united kingdom government go off and we need more of that. >> always good to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> on the campaign trail this weekend, donald trump again now to shut down the education

department if he is reelected. he also endorsed a recent louisiana law mandating the display of the 10 commandments and public schools but those are just two of the multiple changes to public education that mr. trump is proposing including when it comes to vaccinations. laura has more. laura: former president trump has increasingly employed anti-rhetoric at his rallies and this weekend was no different. here he is at an event organized by the conservative christian faith and freedom coalition on saturday. >> on day one i will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory. and i will not give one penny to or a mask mandate. >> medical experts say the implications for schools and for public health across the country could be enormous. for more, we are joined by dr. paul. he is a pediatrician and a professor of that's analogy at the university of pennsylvania.

thank you so much for joining the news hour. firs down so stamping client this was about covert mandates. on, they became a bit vague, they refused to specify to the press and they pointed to the former pden's mments. trump has made this proposal a regular part of his campaign stump speech saying any school with a vaccine mandate will not get federal funding. what is the public health impact of rhetoric that attacks childhood vaccinations in this way? >> we eliminated measles in this country by the year 2000. the reason was school vaccine mandates and the enforcement of school vaccine mandates. prior to that, measles would cause 40,000 hospitalizations and 500 deaths a year. we limited measles because of that. what has happened because of the covid vaccine mandates, there is an enormous pushback against school vaccine mandates.

>> if trump is elected, some of his allies and some of the formal officials that served in his administration are advising him to split the centers for disease control and prevention into two agencies but what good trump actually do that impacts whether or not children get vaccines and what tools he would have to implement an anti-vaccine agenda? what's there is a program launched in 1994 called the vaccine for children's program which pays for all vaccines for children who are either overjoyed or underinsured. it is something that would require a congressional act to overturn. i can't imagine that ever happening. i think what former president trump does is buy damming

vaccines and claiming vaccines are in any way unsafe or harmful, he has a platform and he misuses that platform and he's scared of people -- he has scared people. unnecessarily putting their children in harm's way. >> what about the potential people he appoints the public health office? >> of course. if you look at the cdc or the fda, you have an enormous amount of additional memory. these are long-term advisors, federal advisors. i worry those people could lose their jobs. anti-vaxxer is ultimately put in a position of power like that? >> it would be devastating. the fda and the cdc have served us well. look at how we virtually eliminated many of these diseases because of that.

>> vaccine mandates are left up to the states and historically, state public school mandates have become the biggest driver of early childhood vaccination. how important are vaccines for diseases like polio and measles and what are the implications if kids don't get the shots? >> before vaccines, whooping cough killed 8000 people, mostly children every year. polio before vaccines would cause 30,000 people to be paralyzed every year and kill as many as 1500. german measles cost 20,000 cases of birth defects every year. is that what we want? do we want to back to that time before vaccines saved our lives and prevented all the suffering and hospitalization and death? >> bottom line, you are concerned that even just the rhetoric could lead to an uptick in deaths amongst children when

it comes to measles, correction? >> i think what happened over the last two years is really an inch of this libertarian that took. and now they have been hundreds of pieces of legislation pushing back on mandates so we been pushing and pushing to the point that we are starting to see measles again. in 2022 there was a case of polio in rockland county, new york. in an area where immunization rights -- this was a man who never left this country. these are not diseases you want to see come back. >> what you think is driving this large breakdown of the public's trust in public health officials and health agencies like the cdc and the national institutes of health? >> i think there is a general backlash against all federal agencies. the department of justice, the fbi, there is just a general distrust. also, in terms of this being a

conservative phenomenon is this notion of individual freedoms, personal freedoms. in this case it is the transmission of potentially fatal infections. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> as boaters had to the polls in three states tomorrow, the israel hamas war has become a key issue in one new york congressional primary. it is a race that reflects the divide in the party over u.s. support for israel. jamaal bowman is in a fight for his political future. fi fight that is also testing the strength of progressive stances on the israel hamas war. " they can't afford food and utilities and transportation. they want that money coming back here in some form of reparations

to help us survive. >> bowman is facing a primary challenge from a familiar face in the district. george latimer. >> am afraid that the more we focus on identity politics, the less we focus on the substance. what i've offered is a slogan that says results, not rhetoric. jeff: and while the two had battled over local issues, the race has largely centered on the war. bowman has faced scrutiny from pro-israel groups for his call for a cease-fire in the early days of the war and in what critics say is anti-israel rhetoric. >> collective punishment and targeting civilians, that is not self-defense. that goes beyond self-defense. and what we want is peace. >> interest groups such as aipac and democratic majority for israel has spent more than $14 million opposing bowman. >> he supported a resolution -- jamaal bowman repeated hamas

lies, denying that women raped. >> latimer entered the race after being recorded to run by local jewish leaders. qwest most people will want to see an end to the hostilities. they don't want the end of the hostilities to come with them remaining in control. >> bowman also faced witticism after he was charged for partially pulling a fire alarm in the u.s. capital. he disputed accusations. polls have shown latimer taking an early lead in the race with 40% support to bowman's 31%. bowman's progressive allies have continued to rally behind him, including at a saturday rally and alexandria el cortez. >> this election is about whether or not the billionaire class and the oligarchs will control the united states government.

they will not. >> bowman is not the only progressive member facing a primary challenger backed by pro-israel groups. corey bush also faces a similar primary challenge in august. for a closer look at tomorrow's primaries as well as a look ahead to this week's presidential debate in georgia, we turn to the politics moderate analysis of any water of the political report with any walter and francesca chambers of usa today. it is great to see you both. so let's start with his new york primary race. your democrats are no strangers to hard-nosed, sometimes superexpensive campaigns but this woman latimer race is really opening a rift in the party, the liberal wing of the party over the war in gaza. help us understand what is happening here. incumbents typically have it understanding in elections. >> this is also unique in that it is now officially the most expensive house primary in history.

this coming from outside groups. interestingly enough, while the rift is about israel, there is also a lot of talking advertising about other things. namely bowman who was pretty new to congress. this is not been supportive enough of joe biden on some of biden's key issues and i think fundamentally, what this race is really about is an opportunity for people who were supportive of israel to have an opportunity , to find a person within the democratic party who was not as supportive. and it works in this case. the reason that he is more vulnerable, one he is pretty new. he was just elected in 2020. number two, these lines were redrawn even after he was elected. member -- remember 22 redistricting.

they used to have a bigger version of the bronx. now it is a much smaller portion. george latimer represents the part of the district that is now like 93% of the district. >> that is a great point. without reading it to anyone based, and much will this tell us about the strength of the democrats left-wing faction? >> i think it is emblematic of a conversation taking place right now in the democratic party over what it means to be a progressive. especially in the post bernie sanders campaign era because latimer, on his website, he is a progressive champion in this race and so as progressives have gotten successful with their agenda and the fact -the effect they had on president joe biden and his agenda, there is no this debate on what it needs to be a progressive. in this election, the way it could have ramifications outside of this race, it's when you look a state like michigan and wisconsin and the percentage of the vote that got uncommitted or

undeclared in the democratic presidential primary. that's a problem for president joe biden headed into the november election. if those democrats do not feel compelled to come out and vote for him because of his policies on israel. >> let's shift our focus on the debate here. posted by cnn. this is a real opportunity for both men to highlight the competing visions for the country. president biden test focus on a couple of things. roe v. wade, the overturning of that, attacks on democracy and both candidates economic plans. what does that tell us the big picture about his strategy? >> these are the issues he's been wanted to talk about for a while now. these are some of the point is where he is the strongest. especially when it comes to the debate. it is one of the few places where he has the advantage of

trust over voters over donald trump. the other thing that i think will be key for biden in his debate -- it is early, we've never had a debate this early. i think a lot of people who are checked out of the election right now are not necessarily going to check in in june. they may do so as we get closer to the election. i think a group of people he's really trying to move right now are those voters who voted for biden in 2020 and are now sitting on the fence or say there probably voting for third party. we did some pulling in battleground states. about 18% of biden voters in those battleground states are not supported by this time around. those are people who should theoretically be easiest for him to get back into the scam. i think talking about the issues that would appeal to those voters, many of them are younger, voters of color who would agree with his positions on issues like democracy and on abortion rights and even on the economy, talking to them not so

much about what the economy is like now but what it will look like in four years from now. and who is fighting for those voters. >> the trump campaign is trying to recalibrate and raise expectations for joe biden on this debate. how tall of an order is that given that president trump has been the better part of your saying that joe biden is cognitively impaired and up to the job. >> now they are trying to raise expectations and say he is going to show up and be very highly other. what you should expect is something like a state of the unit performance or his 2012 debate performance against paul ryan. at the same time, the biden campaign is also in a way lower expectations for front by suggesting he would come out there and perhaps have the debate performance he had in 2020 in the first debate performance rather than the one he had in the second debate. so a tall order for both candidates to clear the expectations of their own campaigns.

>> as we wrap up this conversation we should note this is the second anniversary of overturning roe. how resident of an issue is this heading into november? because the biden campaign makes -- wants to make as a focal point and thus far we've seen it is important for many voters but this is going back to our own polling when we ask voters in these battleground states, you have the choice, if you had to choose between joe biden setting economic policy for the next two years or donald trump setting abortion policy for the next four years, which what would make you more comfortable? 45% said they were more worried about biden and the economy than trump and abortion. there's also been a great deal of pulling out there. another one by kf f looking at women specifically and how they see this issue. in states where there is an

abortion initiative on the ballot, those voters say not only are they more interested in voting but they are more supportive of biden. but if you are the biden campaign, this suggests that for states like arizona where there is an abortion initiative on the ballot, that could help get you some more votes. >> how are both leaning in on this issue? >> president biden's campaign is actually sending surrogates like elizabeth warren to talk about this issue which they hope will help them with suburban voters, suburban women as well. we would expect president biden to focus on this heavily. also, really tying it to their argument that donald trump is a threat to democracy. in their latest ad they showed footage from january 6 in their latest abortion rights act. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it.

tune into pbs on thursday at 9:00 p.m. eastern for our simulcast of the presidential debate with analysis to follow. in the heart of the country, replace farmers and crabs. they rely on a resource that has been slowly drying up. water. stephanie's high reports from kansas for our ongoing series on climate change water, tipping point. >> this is a small glimpse of what the dustbowl type of situation was. >> erratic winds can kick dust into the sky at a moments notice. it is difficult land to farm but peterson is committed.

>> my wife and i are both fifth-generation farmers and raising the s generation. i know that what i've had to do has been tough. >> farms like peterson's are a vital part of the local food system. much of the grain he grows heads to the massive cattle feed lots that surround him in western kansas, powering the beef industry. >> we are completely dependent on agriculture. it is the lifeblood of our communities. >> katie durham runs the groundwater management district in west central kansas. >> you just drive around town and everything from our banks to the implement dealer's, anything you see in town is all tightly related to agriculture. >> in the agricultural industry they rely on one increasingly scarce resource. >> without groundwater we would cease to exist. >> nearly all the groundwater is

from the massive reservoir that runs under parts of eight states from south dakota to texas. but as the darker color on this map shows, parts of the aquifer, especially in texas, oklahoma and western kansas are in deep decline. that is a problem because the economy here relies on water intensive crops, mainly corn. >> we don't have the streams. it is raining right now a little bit and that is a little unusual but what we do have is the aquifer under our feet. >> probably wasn't of the kansas geological survey regularly -- he has seen some wells drop more than 100 feet since 2001. >> what we're doing now is not sustainable. we track every year the water levels are dropping. the aquifer physically cannot support pumping demands anymore.

>> the depletion is not uniform. europe describes the aquifers topography. >> you have these pits and valleys and that is why we call it saturated thickness. >> peterson is an one of those areas in southwest kansas, seeing the states deepest declines. >> they are not feasible to pump anymore. if i wanted to be a water baron, i could probably pump all year long and make something happen out of it but i can't sleep at night. >> you know how that ends. but know where it ends. >> does not end with the end of livelihoods? >> yes but what worries me more is the communities. that is what you see suffering.

you see the communities where the water. >> the overdraft is a result of a whole series of factors. >> peter glick cofounded the pacific institute, a local water think tank based in california. >> in part because farmers have brought a tremendous amount of land into production and that requires a lot of water. in part because climate change is reducing the amount of water going to recharge those aquifers. even while more intense heat causes rainfall to evaporate before it can reach the ground. there was also a long-established link between climate change and drought. causing record low precipitation in seven western communities. >> a lot of what we are seeing is a depletion of groundwater. we also see the central valley of california where every year we see massive overdraft of groundwater.

in the southern part of the san joaquin valley in california, we are going to see a l of land come out of production. we have to bring groundwater back into balance or there's going to be serious disruption of our food system. attitudes are changing. >> the green zone is the optimal range. >> steve compton grows wheat and other grains on thousands of acres incott county, kansas, using the tablet you carefully manage his sprinklers. >> in years past when it would mean, everyone would just leave their systems on and let them run. now everybody is self-conscious about that. >> he became a quadriplegic after a car accident and has always relied on technology to run the farm with his father, ted.

>> we can look at the thing on the internet. we know instantly what the level of moisture in the ground is out there. we know whether we can turn it off and search and water. >> even though none of the bus on his farm have run dry, compton along with all the other farmers in his county and three neighboring counties have committed to cutting -- cutting their water use to 25%. it has local aeents to manage and implement water use agreements following success with them in northwestern kansas. >> people really saw this as an opportunity to take local control. i probably sat with a few hundred people just having conversations about what this meant, how it would affect them and i think the big question is what will happen if we don't do something? >> for compton it's about being a good steward of the land and resources.

>> he loves what he does. we are going to do whatever we can to maintain that type of line and be able to pass that on. >> in southwest kansas, they have seen the steepest declines, no restrictions are in place to control overpumping. >> everybody has a right to drive themselves to bank -- bankruptcy but somebody has to stop and someone has to back off. that's what i did. i saw it. other technologies to help me be more efficient. the challenge is the fun part. the sadness of we others in the water, that is what stinks. >> he's invested in a new irrigation system that uses water more efficiently and he's begun to replace theirs corn crops with a resilient ring that can be used to feed cattle and people. overall, peterson has reduced his water used by 15% and for him, that means his sons may have a shot at carrying on the family business. >> conserving water is a big

part of them having the opportunity to be successful here, to have a sound economy around them to support the operation. that would be fantastic. >> whether or not the voluntary conservation efforts of farmers will be enough to preserve the way of life here remains as uncertain as any given day's weather in western kansas. for the pbs news hour, i'm stephanie side. >> artists, activists, community builder, teacher. frazier's ideas of art making come together in a first retrospective exhibition. jeffrey brown has the story for art in action, our ongoing look at the intersection of arts and democracy and part of our series canvas. >> they are monuments of the kind we are not used to seeing.

artworks intended to honor workers, documents that address economic and social ills and brag about small d democratic action. she calls her exhibition at new york's museum of modern art monuments of solidarity, tapping the power of photography. >> we live in a world where we are pretty desensitized. we just want to keep swiping through images and we are not really pausing and slowing down and thinking about what the power of images actually are. i believe in the power of photography, the power of photography to reshape how we see ourselves and our families and our communities in the world, how we relate to other people. >> frazier first gained notice in a 2015 mcarthur genius award for the series she titled the notion of family. portraying herself, her mother and grandmother within the larger context of america's industrial decline.

she grew up in braddock pennsylvania. the once thriving town where andrew carnegie built his first steel mill and now in economic distress. her museum retrospective begins there, enhanced with silent videos. at a wall installation, a kind of poem listing various toxins found in braddock's air. she shows the closing of a major medical center. her response to art to a levi strauss ad campaign that used her town is a setting for urban pioneers. it featured a tagline that led goforth. -- that led goforth. frazier asked goforth where? what is interested in that as a citizen. ways we are able to show for other people. especially people who may not be able to give us anything in return. >> if one wants to explore those issues in our culture and society and politics, there are different ways to do it. why is the camera your way in?

>> that's how i got my start. i view myself at this point as someone who is living a life of purpose that has chosen to live my life, taking my creative gifts in service to the industrial heartland of america. that is where i am born and raised from. i actually witnessed how people were forgotten and became invisible and people weren't telling the stories anymore. >> another series, flint is family reacts centered on the water crisis in flint michigan that began in 2014 and its impact on specific individuals. notably shay cobb and her daughter, zion. it is told through photographs, text written by resident and a video in which she tells her own story. >> i said do you drink that water? she said no but my friends do. i said you will get a bottle of

water. she is aware. i hate that she is aware. >> frazier is the artist but her work is always a collaboration, a collective approach that empowers people normally seen only as subjects. >> really embedding myself into their lives, into the social fabric of the community and then that's when we really start to make the portraits together. the people and collaborating with are the ones choosing to present themselves how they would like to be seen. they are choosing the time when they want to be photographed, they choose the location and then they also choose to say but it is they wan say and so i work directly with them. in a lot of ways i wear many hats in order to create this robust series of images and voices and storytelling. >> is also not bringing us it's a work in an unusual way.

baltimore health workers mounted on hospital iv stand set six feet apart. >> it becomes very sculptural. >> these are like iv. >> yes. the intravenous pole stand. when you start to realize is i recognize this is universal medical equipment set up again. >> which you've transformed. >> i've modified it so it holds the artwork. >> loses artwork as monument. to work as she sees as undervalued and under known heroes who choose how they want to be photographed and were given their own voices through the text. >> this exhibition monument of solidarity literally democratized as the arts. and it also -- you can also see the way we are collectively making photographs together. it puts forth new ideas about different ways we can dream about our economy, different ways we can dream about labor. >> the largest installation here

is the last cruise is in the chevrolet cruze. photographs that replicate an actual assembly line at an auto plant in ohio. the story told of workers fighting a losing battle to prevent its closure in 2018. >> in this case, instead of seeing the way cruise car, you see the men and the women who actually were the laborers who were building that car. and that is where that connection is made. between the products and the workers themselves. >> the most recent work is entitled a pilgrimage. cofounded with cesar chavez of the national farmworkers association in 1962. throughout the exhibition, frazier says she is showing how everyday citizens have power to make their lives better. and how artists and museums can expand their purview to capture

and show that. >> i truly believe as an artist it's important to be a witness in your time. it's important to mirror what is actually happening in society it is also equally important to inspire people and to let them know they already have the power and can bring about that change and what better way to do it then through photography and storytelling considering that will have apparatuses in our hands and our pockets that can do it? >> ruby frazier's monument to solidarity is on view since -- until september 7. i am jeffrey brown at the museum of modern art in new york. >> twin is again here tomorrow night for a look at why a growing number of young men are choosing not to go to college and that is the news hour for tonight. i'm jeff bennett.

for all of us here at the pbs news hour, a key for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been divided by -- >> this is a proud supporter of public television on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences. a world of leisure. and british style, all with white star service. >> supported by the john dee and catherine t macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just and peaceful world. 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. >> president joe biden. >> what is at risk in 2024 is our freedom, our democracy. >> former president donald trump. >> the candidates face off on the economy, the wars in ukraine and the middle east and the future of the country. a pbs new simulcast with analysis of the cnn presidential debate thursday, june 27 at 9:00 p.m. eastern, 8:00 central. >> this is pbs news hour west from w eta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of

journalism at arizona state university.

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