captioning sponsored by newshour productions, l >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on this super tuesday, joe biden is showing early momentum tonight with projected wins in north carolina and virginia, as bernie sanders takes his home state of vermont, with many more states still to com then, as the death toll from coronavirus in the u.s. continues to climb, the federal reserve reacts with the most significant emergency action since the finaial collapse. plus an epicenter of the outbreak. a report from iran, where cases of covid-19 are skyrocketing and distrust of leaders mounts as government officials come down with the virus. >> this is the result of the chronic weakness of the

management of our country. even when you tell the truth, people won't believe you. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> on a uise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american calm was., local cultures and american cruise proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contyoract plans give as much-- or as little-- talk, text and data as you want, and

our u.s.-based customer service team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by cosntributions to your station from viewers like you. thank you. super tuesday, it is just after 9 9:00 p.m. on the east coast and the polls in 12 of the 14 states voting today are now closed.

and with a td rof all democratic delegates up for voting day of the primary season. here are the results so far. joe biden the projecd winner in virginia, in north carolina, and in alabama. bernie sanders projected winner in his home sta ofrmont and just moments ago in the state of colorado.we do not yet have prod winners in these following states, maine, massachusetts, oklahoma, tennessee, arkansas, minnesota, and texas. and again, all the polls have closed in those states but we are waiting for results to come in. we have much more to lofook this evening but as of right now, joe biden has for the tifit taken the lead in the all important delegate count. >> we do have a host of newshour correspondents and public media reporters who are spread out in super tuesday across the

country, from california to minnesota, ro north na, massachusetts, and virginia. but we start with text as, ige second biggest delegate prize of the, 228 delegates at stake and that's where newshour political reporter dan suburb now, and he joins me from houston. so, dan, clearly the polls just closing there, we don't have aut call yet, this is a state where bernie sanders had been doing well, mikbloomberg put some money in and also the state where joe biden had some very big endorsements last night. >> that's right, judy. biden is surging here seemingly yet, it is a big state, some of the biggest cities in the country, it will take awhe, texans are used to that, it might be a long night here, but already democrats here in the state are saying that there is brthing a sty of relief these are moderate democrats who see a very good night cropping up for

joe biden. offiust told me thatbiden looking at these other states, two things are clear, the biden campaign is arguing, number one, mike bloomberg invested a lot of money in states like north win delegates there.a, might not and number 2, the biden campaign says bernie sanders electability argument is not inhoup, now, here in texas, we are goingave to wait and see you said, two of the biggest delegate prizes are still up for gbs, texas and california, biden is doing well here, sanderhas made a lot of inroads here, judy, in recent weeks, especially wiotth latinos, so we are waiting to see how those sort of key voting groups play out here in texas and one more thing, judy. the bloomberg campaign is saying wait a second. let's slow down a l bit. one senior advisor texted me and so far but they stressed a lot of money in texas, so they may not have won the other state they do need to do well here,

judy. >> woodruff: and you are right. they did invt a lot of money there as they have in a number of other states. to have an early projection in but we will see. dan bush, thanks very much of twiies pbs, mary this ismer amy klobuchas home state because state she knew she was you have been talking to voters in the last hours who are g supporters of bernie sanders, tell us about that. >> yes. i talked to three differe sanders voters and two of them are young men and they both said the issue that they are backing sanders on fis medicare all, and also they want to, a change in politics. they said they din't want to go back and perceive biden as going back to politics as usl, old washington. they want change and they said trump changed everything and bernie worto that change. now, that is also borne out in some of the early exit polls, the associated press is showing the number one issue in

minnesota is healthcare and the number 2 issue is the environment. so that definitely is in line with some of e younger bernie voters who are feeling the person. now inresting thing this third sanders voter i talked to is a repuican, a republican who ws going to vote for amy klobuchar, didn't think he was going to the last-minute decid to jump in the democratic presidential primary here in order to creatsce ef. he said he voted for sanders because he thinks that is the best for trump and the worst for democrats. he doesn't think that will help democrats down ballot here, so a telot of sting things happening with the sanders voters as we are waiting for our results to comerin hpretty soon. >> woodruff: just quickly, mary, you were telling us that healthca, big issue for the voters there in minnesota? >> absolutely. you know, we are hometmany, many large medical companies. we have the world famous mayo clinic, one of the largest medical institutions in the medtronic one of the largest medical device companies so issue that votersnot just care

about but are really smart and are ucated and t pays their paychecks around here. >> woodruff: all right. mary la hammer reporting for us, toin cities pbs in minneapolis, minnesotight and we are able to share a projection now and that is in the state ofma oklajoe biden projected by the associated press to pick up that state. that would make, by my count four states where biden has been projected to win in rginia, in tartcarolina, in alabama and now in the of oklahoma. so we will continue to look as the numbers come in frome. th in the meantime let's skip over to virginia where our lsa desjardins has spent the day, this is the state that was called as we said for joe biden just as the polls closed at 7:00 o'clock. lisa, this is a g win for the senator. it was a state that bloomberg was contesting, d you have got some -- you are trying to get some sense of why it went so big for biden. >> we have a lot of sense of

that. one reas, judy, ithe area i am sending in, this is alexandria, there is northern virgthis is the most blue part of virginia and this areaw ge turnout, judy and looks like a lot of that turnout went r joe biden, also, judy, in the lastay we know those who have made decisions just in the last day overwhelmingly some 54 percent accordiey to voter suwent for joe biden. that's 40 points more than anyr otndidate in the last few days, that is the effect of south caroli tna and of cour endorsements we have seen, pete buttigieg, amy klobuchar over the last few days butt to drill down on another topic that is important to democrats, race. let's look at how voters ia virghen they identified their race, how they voted, if you look at first blaoters, some 54 percent of them voted for joe biden. we saw of course that strength in south carolina, but he so won with white vors, with 40 percent of them voting for joe biden. so this is a signhat the biden

camp is saying that he can reach across different parts of the core democratic base and judy i just was speaking to the biden campaign and similar to what dan bush is reporting, they say that the win in virginia is important, it shows biden ngn win in a s state and they are questioning whether bernie sanders can do that as well. clearlyhey see it aa match-up between those two men. >> woodruff: interesting, so much, and a so interesting in virginia. lisa, that late deciderswho made up a big chunk of the electorate in virginia went very heavily for joe biden. sorry about the wind, it looks eske we may -- do we have you? lisardins -- >> i am still here. >> woodruff: okay. we will come back to you, lisa, it looks like it is raining and windy and let her pull all of that together and come back. meantime let's skip one state south of where lisa is from virginia down to north carolina. where yamiche alcindor spent a number of dates she hase oron

vice president joe biden's victory, yamiche this is another early call as soon as the polls closed in north carolina the projection was made biden would win? >> that's rig, judy, and north carolinas seen as a crucial state when it comes to candidates of electability, but e third most delegates, 110 delegates, what yo see is, in this state, democrats really wanting to wrestle it back from rinepublicans s020 november that's when democrats are really going to try to put in work to y to wrestle itback from wipublicans who won it in 2016 president truming the state by a few participant. look at what voters cared about, joe biden p i up for years, joe biden won like 46 percent of themselvesdescrib as moderates here. but like bloomberg, 17 percent, bernie sanders 16 percent, strugghis this ways andis seen pete buttigieg dropgd out and got six percent, also important to note votershere as they did apparently in minnesota and other parts of the state and

other parts of the couny, rather, they said that healthcare was their number one issues and when you look at voters who thought healthcare was the mostmportant issue j biden was the one who won those voters. also if you look at voters inking about race relations their top issue he also won those voters and if you are a voter deciding late, guess what you also went with for joe biden, so joe biden kreament is saying look not only is north carolina a good win for him but also shows we are the most electable candidate and can beat president trump. >> woodruff: very quickly ory about the interrupti while you were talking but looking at the survey of voters as they wento the polls north carolina, healthcare, far and away their most important issue. >> that's right, judy. and it is an interesting issue because democrats and republicans really have been fighting over the issue of healthcare, person person had been pushing medicare for all saying i wote thblank bill and he h been saying i am the one who came up with that idea, but joe biden is saying, hold on, wait a minute, affordable care act was somethg i knew about something very intricately

as vice president with present n obama and i know how to tweak it and make it better for voterscr coo s the country and north carolina who thought healthcare should be tweaked rather than mpletely upended meant they wanted to go for joe biden and as a result voters who cared st about healthcare voted for joe biden in large numbers. >> woodruff: all right. yamiche yamiche joining us from raleigh, north carolina, a state that has been called projected for joe biden. now, let's move up to new england, to massachusetts, joined by wgbh's adam reilly in boston. adam, this is elizabeth warren's home ste and the senator representing massachusetts, of course, but bernie sanders was giving her a run for the money. she already has come out and talked with supporters, i think it was in detroit. we saw her over an houo.r ag what do you make of all of that? >> , you know, ii guess s reasonable when you think about it from her campaign's perspecte she would move on to michigan, the next big contest if she thinks he is won't have a terright this evenin

i think it raised some eyebrows when she chose not to stndk arou the home state. also raising eyebrows is the watch better that her campait gn gether for people to take in the results as they came in, they were actually closed to the press, which is unusual. hahaven't encountered something likebefore. so you get the impression that she is girding for a poorer than expected or anticipated night. i went back and looked at methe that her campaign manager circulated on the day of the new hampshire primary, making their case for a path to victory and it is interesting to note that in that memo, they said that warren was on pace for a top two finish in eight othe 14 super tuesday states. and at this point, i don't believe that she is ist as hitht in any of the races we have had called and she might noeven hit it in massachusetts which i ptink would be a real blow in terms of pern. >> woodruff: massachusetts still not called. the polls closed there at 8:00 o'clock eastern, out, adam, what is your thinking amount that? >> well, i think there is no

question that the access to candidates has changed the i landscape here looked like it was going to be warren and sanders, sanderighad a sl edge for a long time and came to the state over the course of the weekend and had the great big value any boston. there is a t of sanders enthusiasm here, he almost beat 6 llary clinton back in 2 the primary now have all of idate moderates consol consolidated around joe biden i think probably hurt warren's chances of a strong finish here, a one or two, or three we will see how she does for the injuries at home notiar with the state politics, it is known as a liberal bastions but they ranom people to the left ofelizabeth warren to moderate democrats in thesl leure which are basically ideologically like our republican governor charlie baker so t is a market for that kind of democratic politics and i think we are seeing biden tap into it tonig. >> woodruff: you are right. a lot of stereotypes going around, and often ty are not upon the money.

we need rethink a lot of those stereotypes. all right. adam reilly, thank you very mu, wgbh in boston. so all the way to the west coast thw and to california, the biggest prize fos evening, 415 delegates up for grabs. amna nawaz is in san francisco, the polls don't close there 00til 11:00 o'clock eastern, 'clock your time, but what is so interesting about the state is clearly it is the biggest treasure trove of delegates but the candidates have to be so strategic in how they think about what they want to pick up. >> that's absolutely right, judy, it is the big kahuna we call it, the gold rush delegates here and there is a long wray to go before we knowwh where we knoe the delegates are going. we are standing here in san francisco outside of which is both a polling location which means people can show up and fill in the ballots and t them like we have seen naah other parts of the country and also the tent over my shoulder

here a opoff ballot location because mail in voting is so huge in california and just over the last couple of hours, offices have closed as people are getting off of work we have seen aignificant increase in the number of people coming up to drop off their ballots there and walk away with the little i voted stickers and come in and out of this building to cast their a ballot so there is a lot of activity still lapping in san francisco, more lines here, also we are getting reports from other parts of can california, specifically around loles county, an hour or two-hour n its to vote, los angeles, we should mente mayor there, of course endorsed joe biden, so we don't k ww exactt that means w should also point out that joe biden picked up a late endorsement from california's central valley, you talked about congressional races here, california has those 53 distinct congressional districts, that's where all of the candidates ahre fting to pick up the delegates, and an endorsement from a congressman in the central valley for joe biden means that area where senator sanders had been putting in se

effort, or mayor buttigieg where he dropped out was putting effort will likely break for joe biden there as well. so we are looking at e individual districts and don't have results to share just yet but of course we know there were lot of late voters here, of the 16 million ballots that were sent out to californians weeks ago just a fraction so far have been returned, just over 4 million, just a quarter of those ballots. we don't know where those late deciders are going to go, maybe many of thke the voters we spoke in the central valley are waiting to see how joe biden a some other moderate candidates are doing, some of the voters were telling us exactly that so ybe they are waiting until the last minute to cast their ballots and it is still a long way to go here in california. >> woodruff: well, in effect, you telling us to brace ourselves because it is going to take some time. sit such -- you know, people salivate to think the candidates dothe campaigns do tohink about the number of delegates available in california, but it is going to be a while before we know how it all shakes out. >> it is going to be a while. >> the court: diff its.

will be a while and just mention senator sanders has been leading in the poll, his campaign remains optimistic as the contest moves quest he will continue to perform strongly but we wait and we wtch. >> woodruff: amna nawaz, reporting from san francisco,th k you, thank you, amna. and we want to share with you right now one of the candidates has come out and spoken to his ppport in other words wem beach florida, mike bloomberg. here is what he had to say just a ttle over lf an hour ago. >> my fellow candidates spent a whole year focusing on the first four states. i was out campaigning against donald trump in the states where the election wl actually be decided. hike wiscsin and michigan and pittsburgh and and north carolina. [ cheerand applause ]. >> president obama proved that a democrat can win alof those states, but in 2016, we lost them all. well, i am running to win them back. [ cheers and applause ] >> woodruff: that's that was mie

pobloomberg speaking to sters in palm beach, florida, just a short time ago, at this poi, bloomberg is projected the winner in only one of e places voting on this super tuesday, that is american samoa, the u.s. territory out in the -- out in the pacific. and we do have a race to call,th and at is in the state of tennessee, the projected winner based on early results wnd intervieth voters as they were heading out -- io th polling places today joe bin inehe state of -- in the st of tennessee. n, that is racking up another think by my count that is five states where joe biden has been projected the winner on this super tuesday. joining me now in our newshour studio for some more analysis, stu rothenberg, senior editor of inside elections.o goodve you with us again, stu. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: so the projec come in and looking like a really good night for joe biden. we have a way to a but beginning to see the outlines. >> i am tempted tou introduce do my friend mr. mo, momentum,

if you think back, it was just a few weeks of joe biden ad no field operation, he had no money and no organization, heasn't in a good place in many of these states a, and suddenly things ve changed. obviously. and candidates have dropped out, he won south carolina, he won it big. but much of this seems to be momentum, i mean he is competitive in massachusetts now. >> whiwe were expecting that to be a warren fight th bernie. >> so he seems to be viable in a handful of state >> dust numbers i saw he was in the low twenties, so he might be viable, d that could keep him going. he seems want to keep going. >> woodruff: what was the other state? texas. >> texas, tennessee and oklahoma -- >> woodruff: projected the winner tennessee. >> right. >> woodruff: you are saying -- >>nt 15 per- >> woodruff: picked up delegates and haven't been talking a lot about delegates tonight but that is going to be part of the equation. >> right. california to see california and

could change the entire narrative, if senator sandea rs hag night in california that will change things. but at the moment, i think you have to say that former vice president biden is holding the south, he is swing muscle in places we weren't sure he was going to hold. he is holding scieniozens very well, voters 65 and up he doing great among african and americans. >> woodruff: and among young voters bernie sanders -- >> bernie sanders is sweeping the fieg with yor voters but not as many voters 65 and over in most states, all states. >> woodruff: i believe, stu rothenberg we have a graphic to share with our audience. this is what the delegate count looks like at thisoint, it is still early, but here you see, i mean, joe biden started out before super tuesday, stu, not way out in the lead, but look at that, 174, again, it is early. iere is still -- >> and winning states that hillary clinton won against bernie sanders. so some ofthese states he should win and he needs to win,

but there is kind of the subtext. there is an undercurrent of over performance for joe biden. and again it wasn't long ago that we were sayingon pecan person be stopped, maybe not. >> woodruff: exactly the conversation coming into super tuesday is person could come out of this big delegate rich day with such a lead -- t hundreds of delegates. >> woodruff:uld be very difficult, 300, even 500 delegate lead but it looks like joe bis en i don't want to say risen from the dead -- >> there is more pressure on the sanders campaign now perform late in the evening andor tw when california -- whenever that is, more pressure on him to show that we didn't overestimate h >> woodruff: but i want to drill down, stu, in just the minute or so we have left on how this happened. because hiso campaign did expect that he would do so poorly in iowa, iowa and new hampshire a and in nevada, but

they came -- they spent, what, l week, thed -- he lived in south carolina for about a week and came out of tat state with an enormous 30 some point advantage, and that has made all of the difference. >> you know, judy, all along, joe biden and his campaign said i will do well among a diverse electorate. - and we have kind of -, yeah, okay, we poopood he didn't do anythind in iowaew hampshire and finishing fourth or fifth is terrible. and although he finished second in ineffective i think with 19 percent a of the vote, 19 percent a of the caucus participants so it was a poor showing. but he turned out to be right the firewall held, more diverse states, he ing up wins, and now he appears to be kind of the pragmatic alternative, in the race and mado wells still enough tonight to continue. >> woodruff: it will be very inresting to see in the surveys done with voters today what they say about whether they ink biden is best position to

has been the electability question has been hanging over this entire election. >> i think you my see a change a in those numbers because in most national polls, equal numbers of people said tat biden and sanders, they w vote for biden and sanders over donald trump. with these victories goes a sense of inevitability and so-called band wagon effectnd that's a problem for bernie sanders if joe biden looks as though she taking a commanding lead. >> woodruff: but right now we do have a projected win for bernie sanderats in the of -- of his own state of vermont, but beyond that, it is a good night for joe biden. >> well, i think we also have him in c >> woodruff: that's right, we have him in colorado as well. >> which is important for him. all right. very important. stu rothenberg, thank you. >> sure. >> woodruff: and please igjoin us back here tonight at >> woodruff: and please join us right back here toat 11:00 p.m. easte, 10:00 central for our vote 2020 pbs newshour super

tuesday election special. >> woodruff: the coronavirus outbreak has claimed more american lives, and more american wealth. the death toll reached nine today, with more than 100 cases and, as economic damage spread, federal reserve chair jerome powell announced the central bank is cutting a key interest rate by half a point. >> the virus and measures being taken to contain it will surely weigh on economic activity both here and abroad for quite some time. of course thmate solutions to this challenge will come from others, particularly health professionals. we can and will do o part however to keep our economy strong as we meet this challenge. >> woodruff: the fed's emergency move failed to reassure wall street.

instead, the market mired itself in doubts about r the rate cut will help, and stocks gave up much of monday's record rally. the dow jones industrial average 7.st nearly 786 points to close at 25, the nasdaq fell 268 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 86. all of this came amid mounting questions about whether federal agencies are ready and nime enough to confront the outbreak. williabrangham has that part of the story. >> brangham: concern is mounting novel coronavirus known asthe covid-19 has now emerged in at least a dozen states. top u.s. health officials took panel in washington today, to face a b defend their response. democratic senator patty murray represents washington state, where the first american deaths were reported.

>> the administration has had months to prepare for is and it is unacceptable that people in my state and nationwide can't n even getswer as to whether or not they are infected. >> brangham: the head of the food and drug administration, dr. stephen hahn, said more testing kits will be made availablr this week. >> our expectation in talking to the company that's scaling this up is that we should have the capacity by the end of the week to have kits available to the laboratories to perfort a million tests. >> brangham: but other officials later walked back that number, saying the number of tests might be much lower. republican senator mmney voiced concern about the lack of protecte equipment for health workers. >> what percentage of what we would need for our medical professionals is in the strategic tional stockpile? >> 10% of what we need right now if it were to a severe event, would need 3.5 billion n-95 respirators. we >> it strikes me that we should have substantially more than 10%, what would be needed foa

substantial pandemic that we should have that in stock. i can't believe that we, congress, i'm not blaming the administration, this is congress and appropriating and it's prior administrations as well. >> brangham: congress is working to pass an emergency snding measure of potentially up to $8.5 billion to help bolster the u.s. response overseas, the virucontinues to spread through more communities. italy, t outbreak, now has the highest number of rus-related deaths outside china, 79. iran's death toll also rose meanwhile in south korea, drive- through testing centers were set up across seoul, thus minimizing as much human contact as possible. lthe country reported igest daily increase in official infections. than 850 new elsewhere in the capital, troops fanned out to spray streets and prevent the spread of the virus.

president trump today said he'd consider cutting off travel from other natis with large outbreaks: >> we're watching italy very closely, south korea very closely, even japan very closely determination at the right time. we've cut it off as you know >> brangham: in china, where the nerus originated, the number of cases today fell to 125 people. celebrated that news in new york. >> china's fight against the coronavirus is indeed maki huge progress. >> brangham: thousands of patients in china have recovered and be released from the hospital. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: at least people were killed early today when tornadoes tore through central the storms blasted downtown

nashville a damaged or destroyed at lea 140 buildings, and some super tuesday polling stations. national correspondent stephanie th has our report. >> we've beeugh lots of tornado warnings, and never thought that this would happen. >> reporter: nashville is in shock today. residents emerged from a night of deadly tornadoes that ravaged adighborhoods. the tos were part of a band of storms that stretched across four states late monday n ht into tuesday morning more t buildings were damaged in nashville alone, some beyond repair, as a tornado cut the city.he through the heart of four tennessee counties reported storm-related deaths, and nashville hospits trted dozens of people for injuries. bill lee is the governor. >> let me just acknowledge tragedy. we have had loss of life all across the state. there are a number of people that are missing in different areas, many that are injured and being transported.

>> reporter: in the hardest hit areas, which included some of the most expensive neioods in nashville, the tornado reduced homes and other structures to a debris field. search and rescue teams went dodoor overnight in some neighborhoods, looking for ngapped or injured people in damaged buil as road and power crews worked to clear downed lines. still, the closure of more than a dozen polling stations didn't stop many voters frong up at alternate sites to cast their ballots. >> woodruff: president trump talked by phone today with a top taliban leader, in a first f a sitting american preside. it followed saturday's signing of an agreement for a u.s. troop anwithdrawal from aftan. mr. trump said today's conversation was "very good ta." in israel, prime minister benjamin net waited for final election results, to see

edrliament.ked out a majority in netanyahu celebrast night, but exit polls indicated his bloc fell two seats short. that could prevent him forming a government. the prime minister also faces trial on corruption charges. u.n. inspectors rert iran has almost tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since november. they ao said today that tehran will not answer questions about three poible nuclear sites. iran has slowly violated the 2015 nuclear accord since the u.s. pulled out and reimposed sanctions. the military confrontation between turkey and syria intensified again today in syria's idlib province. odturkish soldier was killed overnight, and t, the turks shot down a syrian fighter yet, ththird since thursday. u.s. special envoy james jeffrey visited the turkish-syrian border today, and offered

turkish military.t for the >> turkey has asked for help from nato, they have asked for help from us. as the president said recently, we will provide supplies and other things to turkey. we are also look other requests that turkey has made either to us or to nato as this conflict goes on. >> woodruff: turkey intervened in idlib to stop a syrian offensive th has driven almost a million people to the turkish border. crfugees already in turkey are now trying ts into greece, with turkey's support. haso far, greek authoritie blocked most of the attempts. back in this country, the s. supreme court agreed tod to let states prosecute immigrants who use fake social security numbers to get a job. in a 5-to-4 decision, the court's conservatives said nothing in the law prevents such action. the kansas supreme court had barred state action. president trump's re-election campaign has filed another libel suit, this time against "washington post."

it accuses the paper of falsely reporting, as fact, that the 2016 trump campaign conspired with russia. the organization already filed a similar suit against "the new york times." and, a passing to note, former cnn anchor bobbie battista has died after a long battle with cervical cancer. she joined cnn headline news as one of its original anchors in 1981 and remained with the company for 20 years. bobbie battista was 67 years old. >> woodruff: as the coronavirly spreads globfew places pave been as hard hit as iran. 23 members of thiament are sick; the director of emergency

aservices is infected; a third iranian government official died from t virus today. special correspondent reza sayah tells us fm tehran how the country is handling it, and whom they blame for their travails. >> reporter: at a popular gym in mue heart of tehran, workout c blares, but the weight room is nearly empty. >> ( translated ): people are a attendance has defy dropped. we've seen at least a 50% drop. >> reporter: on tehran's usually bustling streets, e bumper to bumper traffic has suddenly vanished. everywhere you look, surgical masks, and reminders of personal hygiene. and at offices throughout the capital, desk after desk: empty. s ( translated ): tehran is frozen, ms. it's like we're stunned. >> reporter: what's stunned this megacity, and much of iran, is the coronavirus. the outbreak hit here two weeks

ago. the numbers of people infected and the death toll have climbed ever since.y, toran is one of the global micenters of the virus. iranistry of health confirms more than 2300 cases in all but four of iran's 3 provinces. the death toll remains the highest outside of china. everywhere you look, people are trying to figure out how to contain the virus. maybe the most posh shopping center here in tehran. and as you can see you have volunteers taking everne's temperature here in their indoo parkingwecomplex, so e going to take my temperature taken. my temperature reading 35.5 centigrade which is normal, up until a few weeks ago, mohammad reza vakiyan was a parking toll collector here at the palladium shopping center. never did he think he'd be wearing a lab coat and taking

temperatures. >> ( translated ): hopefully this will soon pass and we can get rid of this robe and no one else faces any problems. >> sometimes i have nightmares about corona. >> reporaezeh khorasani is an english teacher. aches her students onlin from home these days because, like the rest of tehran's schools, hers is shutdown. >> i feel a bit worrd. i can say scared. you came here you put the keychains on the counter, i was thinking oh my god i should remember to disinfect that. >> reporter: amir parvandar doesn't have much trust either. he's loo for protective masks for his family, but he can't find a pharmacy th has them in stock. >> ( translated ): these are the results of the chronic weakness of the management of our country. mefortunately, when officials nd speak on television, it seems as if everything is great. but that's not the case. when you lose people's trust, even wheyou tell the truth, people won't believe you.

believe iran's deputy healthto minister when he appeared on in a heavy eat, he said the outbreak was under control. one day later, he was diagnosed with coronavirus, one of severaf governmentials who've tested positive. the growing number of cases have led some to question if the government is hiding the spread of the virus. it didn't help that just two nths ago it took the government three days before acknowledging it shot down a ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 167 on board. but many iranians y, in the ruggle to contain the coronavirus, the government is not solely to blame. saey say crippling u.s. tions against iran have put severe pressure on the public health sector. the trump administration insists sanctions don't target humanitarian trade. but human rights groups say banking restrictions limit iran's ability to buy

humanitarian goods. tehran pharmacist ali mazlomi says sanctions have made it impossible to purchase vital medical products. >> ( translated ): the sanctions that are in place by america, without a doubt it's the people who paying the price. they are the most vulnerable. >>s.eporter: last week, the treasury eased some humanitarian trade restrictions against iran. secrety of state mike pompeo said washington was ready to t the outbreak. in his weekly press conference, streamed onlindue to the coronavirus, the iranian foreign ministry spokesman's pture was fuzzy, but his message to washington was clear. >> ( translated ): we have doubts about the united states' ion and we do not count its help. >> reporter: many iranians feel the same. a few days ago, u. secretary of state mike pompeo said we care about the iranian people. we want help them. what was your reaction? >> b.s. >> reporter: b.s?

>> yes. >> ( translated ): america is one of theoot causes othis problem. that america will olve at all problems that america itself no i don't have anin creating. expectations. >> reporter: tehran-based economic analyst saeed laylaz says u.s. sanctions are proof that the trump administration doesn't care about the iranian people. secretary of state mike pompeo said we care about thean people, we're worried about the iranian ople. why are you laughing? >> because he makes a joke. don't. i know that he's lying. he's a big liar. e mr. pompeo doesn't lanian nation. >> rorter: laylaz says the trump administration's maximum pressure camign has escalated tensions between washingn and iran, crippled iran's economy, d led to a sweeping victory by anti-u.s. hardlinersn iran's recent parliamentary elections.

>> this current radicalism which you are seeing in iran in recent elections, radicals who are governing the country, who are occupying parliament, next coming parliament and so on, directly is a fruit or coesnsequence of united st sanctions against iran. >> reporter: but somehow many riranians remain hopeful better days. >> ( translated ): i hope one day these two countries can be friends. this is our wish. i am serious. life, after all is for happiness and peace. >> reporter: with challenges mounting amid what could be a r adly pandemic, happiness and peace ny iranians will have to wait. for the pbs newshour, i'm reza sayah in tehran.

>> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with a brir but spectacuke on how forests reveal the beauty of the natural world. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs st it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. ores old-growth

trees and the natural history of wisconsin's noh woods. author and naturalist john bates takes us there. he's worked in the area for more than 30 years, helping people understand the diversity a beauty of nature, and our place within it. bates's most recent book is called "our living ancestors." >> my took off about 2003. i'd been walking in older forest and found that they were quite rare and wondered why. why did we cut so many down? they're a filter for air. they're a storage of carbon. they provide shade to our

streams. i feltumility walkininto these sites in a place where trees are four or 500 years old. thfound myself feeling a deep gratitude at these trees were resilient enough to still be here. my job as a naturalist is to nthelp people gain environ literacy, so that they have a deeper understanding of place based on this enrich understanding of where they are. if you're standier an old white pine here in wisconsin you are standing uath as old, tree that native american cultures had sod under. the trees are living tissue. they're not hardened amber. they're not footprintsor they're not s people have told with all the biases that we have as human beings. they're travelers thtime and standing next to them you can get this feeling of time havien place and you can't find that in any other setting

literally in the world. when you think about the hisry of wisconsin, in 1830 we had our first census. there were 3,000 people. anwe became a state in 184by 1870 there were 1 million people here. every one of those pple needed wood. and so we ended up cutting and then burning all of northern wisconsin. so 99.8% has been cut. rare to find big white pine like this. this is a crown jel of the north woods. most of this land that was sold, on the dream of land that couldn't support farms. we have very poor soils compared to southern wisconsin. welso have this thing called winter, which lasts for five months. and we had almost no market. even if you could miraculously grow something, who oiwere you to sell it to, so farmers went belly up. the land became tax tlinquent and early '20s, 1930s, six million acres of northern wisconsin was made into publicse land bece couldn't figure out what else to do with it.

s my old age now, mjob, understand it now, is to help people fall more deeply iorlove with the. i can't think what else i'm hee for. my name is john bates, and this is my brief but spectacular take on connecting time through old growth forests. >> woodruff: you can find all our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs.org/newshour slash bri. to recap tonight's results as we know them at this hour in today's super tuesday primariese of the 14 stavoting today, polls have now closed in 12 of them former vice president joe biden is projected the winner virginia. in north carolina, alabama, in oklahoma, in tennessee, in minnesota and just moments ago in arkansas. senator bernie sanders projected vermont and in colorado and former mayor michael bloomberg projeed to capture most

delegates in the u.s. territory of american samoa. now, iis too early a for projected results in the following states, but here is where the count stands just before 10:00 o'clock eastern in maine, with over, more than a third of the results in, you saw -- moved too quickly for me. bernie sanders just arely ahead of joe biden, they are neck and neck, that's in maine. in massachuseoe biden ahead with over 33 percent, most 34 percent of the vote. joe biden back by about six points. in the state of texas, here we are with just a little over eight percent of the vote reporting and bernie sanders is out front. thisha state e invested a lot of effort in, 28 percent as you can see to joe biden's 23 might's, mike bloomberg's 18 percent, they are all viable and could all end with delegates but it is early and the polls have yet to close in utah and in california. joining me now from houston, texas is our politics rorter

dan bush. dan, we are hearing about long lines still at the pollin texas. >> that's right, judy, a lot of long lines near houston. i was at one very large precinct where voters told me they waited for up to two hours. that was because the precinct had a set number of voting machines. plit them in half so the democrats got half and the republicans got half, but of course not a lot of republicans in this democratic leaning voting precinct, soe republicans could just walk right in, judy, democrats had to wait for upo twors. i heard similar things happening out in austin, that the capitol of the state, so, yes, the lines here are pretty long, but as you said, the results are starting to roll in and we are watching them very ufosely. >> woo sad story of democracy when people can't get dan bush joining us from houston. thanks very much. please join us onnethroughout the night for the latest results on our website, please join us online throughout

the night for the latest results. and on our newshour youtube page. and tune in here on pbs at 11:00 p.m. eastern, eight pacific for our newshour super tuesday special. i i'm judy woodruff. for all ofwss at the pbs ur, thank you and stay with us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic , engagemed the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions captioning sponsored by

♪ ♪ get on board ♪ we're ready to go ♪ see the world from the scenic railroad ♪ ♪ from the snowcapped mountains to the sunny coast ♪ ♪ on the great scenic railway journey ♪ ♪ [ banjo plays ] ♪ >> welcome to "great scenic railway journeys." i'm david holt.ua for over aer of a century, we've been profiling some of the best railway adventures north america has to offer.

in this program,