captioning sponsorho by news productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woouff is off on the newshour tonight, economic aid-- the senate debates creasing federal covid relief checks to $2,000. we talk to a leading rublican senator opposed to the idea. then, the numbers grow-- the u.s. loses anoth 3600 people a covid-19 as overall deaths pass 340,0 infections proach 20 million. plus, a slow rollout-- as the u.k. authorizes a new vaccine, the roll out here in the u.s. falls short of projections. and, small town surge-- after largely avoiding the first wave of covid cases, hospitals in less populed areas now struggle with an influx of patients. >> we're still seeing a lot of community spread. i honestly can't think of anybody i've had in this

hospital that was from this area that i either didn't know or know their family members. >> nawaz: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for tas pbs newshoureen provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 giars. bnsf, the ne that connects us.

>> supporting necial entrepres and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. committed to improivestion. through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: t s program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. :

>> nawe struggle to provide additional covid relief continues in the u.s. senate. de passage of $2,000 relief checks is stallepite president trump's repeated demands for larger direct payments. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blocked a vote on the checks tuesday, but then proposed a bill combining the measure with mr. trump's otherpe requests: ing protections for tech companies and creating a commission on election fraud. here to breakdown the latest of where things stand, anna palmer joins us now. she's senior washington correspondent for politico. >> nawaz: annatowelcome backthe "newshour." thanks for being here. what is the latest on this debate, and how likely is anyone to see those highe $2,000 checks? icallyorter: ba senate majority leader mitch mcconnell put the nail in the coffin for thehe largers when he

combined it with the other provisions that trump was after, including an election fraud commission,ov and also rg in protections for social media companies like there really is no pathway forward at this point. you have some senate democrats vowing to filibuster a separate bill. thl is going to fund the military. senator bern sanders and edward markey have said they made filibusters through the thw year becaus're very upset, and they've been trying to force some momentum for a bia but at this point, mcconnell seems very stuck at histi po. he is not going to put forward a vote on just the check. >> nawaz: even with this combined bill, wih the three items packaged together, even if itna s to pass, then what? >> i think that is a very far-fetched scenario in general because there are a lot of democrats that i don't think would go for it. even if we go down that route and it did pass in

the senate, it ll basia non starter because the house hasn't passed that bill, and the use is out of session through the end of the year. there is no plans to come f ba this. it is somewhat of a message bill, somewhat to pease the president as he looked towards that january 6th vote regaing electing him as president of the united states. >> nawaz: in this debate, there were growing number of senate republicans joining the president's call and democrats' call for higher payments. including both of the georgia senators, up in their runoff elections in a week or so. but most stood in opposition of the president. what do you make of that division in the party right now? >> it has been interesting to watch. you have seen some senators, like marco rubiori from fda, and josh hawley frommi souri, coming out in support of the $2,000 checks, but the st majority of republicans have said they don't feel like they need to do a bipaggerage at

this point. they want to have the $600 direct paientst. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell did say if there was going bea larger package, he wants them to be very targeted, opposed to the over all pricrtag. i think of what u're seeing is the end of the the trump presidency, whare republicanreally allowing them to write as bigbig as checks as he wanted, and are coming back to some of the e typical ways that the republican party has viewed spending in the past. >> nawaz: anna, in the minute or so we have left, in the final days of the 11115th congress, what do we see. >> i'm look for the spear vote for nancy pelosi, whether the numbers are looking like she has project the some members that have to travel back to vote and some members have covhe, and is the january 6th vote for who is going to to be the nextt,

presidt will be joe biden, no escing that. but they will put it on the record whether they support trump or not. >> nawaz: anna palmer withhe latest on this on the year-end int in congress. always good to talk to you. thank you. most republican senators >> nawaz: most republican senators remain skeptical about raising direct payments to $2,000, which majority leader reistic path to pass.s no one of the republicans opposed he ron johnson of wisconsin and oins me now. welcome back to the "newshour," and thanks for making the time. a numberf your republican colleagues, josh hawley, marco rubio, vid perdue, thehave all said people need help and they need it now. this money is a fraction of what went to big banks and businesses, so send out the $2,000 checks. why do you disagree with them? >> we all agree, first of

e needhat peo help. as we did in the cares act, we sent out hundreds of billions of dollar trillions of dollars, in a shotgun approach and we didn't target relief to those who truly need it. many were left behind. people wh needed he didn't get it. here we're doing the same thing nine months later. we didn't really learn from what we did in the again, a shotgun approach. i'm listened to democrats debate this on the floor, and they keep talking about $2,000 checks. the way the house wrote their bills, this would be -- fa household of four people would gean $8,000 check, cares act of a $3600 the i'm happy to help people, but, you know, if the depth of the recession, the covid-19 ression, the 25 million jobs that were lost fm our record high number of high jobs, and we sent out checks to 166 million people.mi just a smatch. we need to target this relief. we are 5$2 trillion in

debt. and that is not sustainable. we need to -- if we're going to mortgage our ildren's future, we need to minimize the extent to which we're mog rtgag and rget the relief to >> nawaz: to cal fi for. this latest bill, your 2019 income had to be $75,000, and you'll get $600, plus $600 per child, which includes non-residents and adult children. how much more targeted do you want those to be, a what would that cost? >> again, let me use a government employee, people that are making combined, a couple, they didn't lose their job. they didn't lose any income. if they've got a family of four, they'll get an $8,000 check. i don't think a couplet like tould get an $8,000 check. so there are ways wecan target this. it is not going to be targeted in a day or two. we should have been

i've got proposals on p.p.p., for example, but we need tobedo a tter job ofargeting. it will cost more on top of the $900 billion we just past. it is a mdless approach, probably mistargetintargeting people and people who truly need it. >> nawaz: i spoke with the former chief economist nat the coessional budget office who said we can absolutely afford more fiscal support. interest rates are low, and financing debt is completely affordable, and without fiscalreupport, yoooking at a painful recovery?nd more what do you say to that? >> she is not worried about the $29 trillion'l be in debt, which compares to a $21trillion or $22 trillion debt. at some point in time, we'll hit a debt crisis,at

and on't be pretty, either. >> nawaz: let me ask you what you wsld ay to some americans, because many are strugglingo put food on the stable. i spoke to a uber driver, $600 -- he is making decisions about whether to pay rent or to putod on his table. a lot of people look at lawmakers and say you're objecting to this because you don't understand what that feels like right now? what would you say to american >> i do understand. i don't want to give an $8,000 check to a government employee who is making $15,000 last year, and lost no income. we can't afford thosetr few hundreds of billions of dollars. this is money we're going to have to borrow from china or another people and further mortgage our kids' future. i'm not cavalier about ding money we don't have. >> nawaz: let me ask you in the minute and a half we have left, you are accused of being

hypocritical by bernie sanders, and he said if you drove the deficit even higher, you shou be able to back this now. >> i disagree that it drove the deficit higher. i think short-term, it did. we werwell on our way of paying that because of number one of the component of a solution is economic growth. you grow the economy by lower reguitions, an think that tax cut, if it had not been for the covid recession, would have fully paid for itself and then some. was not an accurate statement by senator sanders. >> nawaz: mitch mcconnell says he'll package together these items. section 230 or social liabilities being stripped -- wu support something likethat? >> if we target the $2,000 payments. we're talking about $8,000 for a household of four. absotely, we need to

reduce or get rid of the liability protection on the moderation policies. not coepletely elimin the section 230 liability protection, but on the censorship part of the social media companies, weo neediminate that. i'm for fully investigating and our last election.ems in there are a lot of irregularities, and a lot of people don't understand what happened. we need to correct it before the next election. >> nawaz: senator ron johnson of wisconsin, thank you very much for your time. >> have a eat day. >> nawaz: in the day's other news, covid-19 deaths reached 1.8 million worldwide, with more than 340,000 in the united stes. among the latest victims: locongressman-elect luke l a louisiana republican, who passed away last night. was 41 years old. and, actress dawn wells, who played "mary ann" inhe 1960's tv comedy "gilligan's island."

she died today in los angeles, at age 82. meanwhile, california ported its first patient with a covid variant from britain. just yesterday, colorado recorded the first case of the variant anywhere in the u.s. questions are intensifying about the pace of vaccinations nationwide, just over two hollion people, so far. that's far of what the trump administration had forecast. but, in a brfing today, leaders of the president's "operation warp speed" defended their efforts to distribute vaccines. >> essential it's been just 12 days, there's two holidays, there's been thr major snow storms. there's numerous factorsnd here is what i have confidence in, everyday everybody gets better and i believe that uptake will increase significantly as we go forward. >> nawaz: overseas, britain becamehe first country today to approve a vaccine developed by astrazeneca and oxford university. e u.s. centers for disease

control and prevention said it could win approval in this couny, by april. we'll return to the pandemic, and vaccine issues, after the news summary. the u.s. senate moved to of the annual defelicymp's veto bill. it's worth $740 billion and includes a three percent military pay raise. mr. trump refuund to sign it, ss it removed liability shields for social media companies. today's override marks the first a republican senator, jo hawley, says he will object next week, when congress counts electoral votes in the presidential race. he wants an investigation of president trump's unproven allegations of fraud. several republicans in the u.s. house plan similar objections. both chambers are expected to dismiss the complaints, and certify president-elect biden's overseas in yemen,ge explosion killedlet least 22 pet an airport today, just after members of a new cabinet flew in. the ministers arved in adendi

from sau arabia, which backs allied with iran.ainst rebels they were exiting the plane when the blast erupted. no one in the delegation was hurt, but 50 others were wounded.e ime minister condemned the apparent bombing. >> (anslated ): this treacherous, cowardly and terrorist attack, underscores the government central responsibility, which is the task of ending the coup, restoring the state, spreading stability and the recovery of our country. >> nawaz: a second blast went off lar near a palace where the cabinet members were taken. there were no reports of an ambush in southria has killed at least 28 people. state media says it was a terror attack that targeted civilian passenger buses. a syrian han rights group says the victims were syrian troops, killed by islantc state mili lawmakers in britain voted overwhelmingly today to approve union, after months ofeuropean negotiations. ensures tariff-free tra will continue when britain's transition out of the e.u.

officially ends tomorrow. prime minier boris johnson gned the agreement after the house of commons vote, and touted its terms in an interview. >> what this deal gives us is, i would say, pretty much the best of both worlds, because you have a gigantic free trade agreement, but you also have the flexibility that people wanted, and that we all care about, to do things differently and better, if you choose. >> nawaz: theuropean parliament is expected to approve the deal in the coming weeks. a court in china today sentenced 10 pro-democracy activists and protesters who attempted to leave hong kong. they were caught on a speedboat in august, trying to reach taiwan. it's believed they feared beg prosecuted under a tough new security law. their sentences range from seven months to three years in prison.la jonathan p is in israel tonight, 35 years after he u admitted selli. military secrets to the israelis. he served 30 years in prison and

was paroled in 2015. last month, the justice department cleared the way for him to travel. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu greeted pollard and his wife at the tel av airport toda kneeled and ssed the ground.wife back in this country, there's word that the census bureau wils omorrow's deadline to report numbers for apportioning congressional seats. the associated press reports that internal census documents suggest the count won't be ready biden takes office.nt-elect that would give him time to d president trump's directive against counting migrants in the country illegally. and, wall street managed modest gains day. the dow jones industrial average was up 73 points to close at 30,409, another all-time high. the nasdaq rose 19 points, d, the s&p 500 added five points. still to come on the newshour: covid 19 claims another 36 americans as domestic deaths ne 340,000.

honthe pace of vaccinations the u.s. is falling short of projections. trspitals in rural parts of the costruggle with an influx of coronavirus patients. and much more. >> nawaz: with the number of covid cases and hospitalizations surging in many parts of the country, healthcare systems and therr staff are becoming fur strained. in los angeles, paramedics are declining to te less-than- critically-ill patients to hospitals.an in phoenix, six area hospitals are diverting incoming emergency patients to other facilities. dr. quinn sner is an emergency physician in mesa, arizona. he has been experiencing the surge now.hand, and joins me >> nawaz: drinn

schneider, welcome to the "newshour," and that's for making the time. i nt to start with that surge we're hearing so much about. what does it look like and feel likside the hospitals right now? >> doctor: it feels overwhelming, truthfully. we're literally watching the health care system overflow as we speak. the kinds of ings we' seeing is i.c.u. nurses are being stretched to the they're having three or even four patients per nurse. thindustry standard i usually two to one. to be at three to one or four to one represents how catastrophic things have come. myself are startans like work well outside their scope of practice. i've personally beenin woin i.c.u., intubating patients, and heing to do procedures, and to incode patients who are in the process of dying. i haven't worked in i.c.u. in 10 years, since i was a resident. there are many emergency departments and hospitals throughout the state

clearly running out of state. transfers are locking up everywhere. you can't transfer people to another. one hospital it is becoming morand more clear we're starting to run out of space. itas already been several days, if not weeks, even, sie we've run out of adequate, qualified staff to take population. patient >> nawaz: when you look at a place like los angeles, which has a t of attention because they're making decisions about rationing care, laying outecisions about who gets limited resources, are you worried it is going to get that bad where you are? >> doctor: i am worried we could be in a similar situation in arizona. we have these isis standards of care which seve been implemented for ral months, however, we have not taken that final step wherwe literally have to ratio care, where we have to decide who gets care and who doesn't that's a state-wide decision, a decision agreed upon by all of the hospitals in this state. we're not quite there y,

but there are many people worried can get there nion. >> nawaz: calif extended their stay-at-home orders to address that spike. what is being done in arizona? what do you see outside the hospital? doctor: w, unfortunately, we're not engaging in the kind of behaviors that we need to rt the pandemic unde control. and the truth is, in july our governor stepped in and created new restrictions, which included restrictions and indoor ding, and bars in particular, which helped bring our spike under hocontrol. ver, unfortunately, we haven't had any of these restrictions put back intopl e, even though our shopthospitals are n overflowing well where they were in that peak in july. we're at 130% of where we were in july with our in our inpatient i.c.u.% divisions. you head out for a night

shift on friday or saturday night, and being going by bars and restaurants and seeing people out and about. places are packed everywhere, and to reconcile that part of my life with what is going on in th emergency departments, and within the hoitals, largelyin our state, it is impossible for us as health care worker >> nawaz: dr. snyder, what about the vaccine rollout. i understand you have received the vaccine so far. is it getting where it needs to go right now? >> doctor: yes, i did get the vaccine. i had very minimal side effects. i'm extremely thankful to moderna and pfizer who helped put out these wonderful vaccines.but the rolls been pretty choppy in mer ropa county. there wee some issues when they started collecting information from people, as to who would be eligible for the vaccine and who wold not i know certain nurses and providers who are stilwa ing to get their

vaccine, even though they're working on the frontlines. rad there are other people whly, if ever, see covid patients, who have already gotten their vaccination. i think in the endha this shows is that in this phase, where it was supposed to be relatively easy to determine who need its the vaccinneeded the vaccino didn't, i think is only informative in such that in the monthd, he's are vaccine rollouts and tiers thatome after th are going to be very challenging, very unequal, and at time even corrupt. >> nawaz: dr. quinn snyder in arizona. thank you for youtime, and we wish you luck and good healthhead. >> thank you so much, amna. >> nawaz: a third vaccine, this >> nawaz: while the u.s. struggles to distribute vaccines as quickly as possible, a third vaccine, this one from drugmakec astraz was just approved for use in the united kingdom.

william brangham has the latest on the worldwide push to vaccinate against covid-19. >> brangham: in the first two weeks of america's vaccination canaign, just over two mill people have received the first of their two required shots. that's far short of the 20 million people the trump administration said would be vaccinated by thend of this year.au what'sng this backlog? and what's happening globally with the distribution of covid- 19 vaccines? for this, we're joined again by infectious disease specialist dr. carlos del rio. he's a professor of global health and epidemiology at emory university school of medicine. >> brangham: dr. del rio, very, very good to see you again. i can't help but be struck by this t,ntrhat these vaccines were developed at near recordsp d. and it is truly an incredible achievement. and yet we are w stumbling so badly, it seems, to get that last

mile, to get those vaccinations into people.n what is your of why this has taken so long and proven so difficult? there are several things. number one, you have sort of a glafss half l event. we have a very broken health care system. we don't have a centlized health care system. there are some health care systems doing a very great job and others are not having access to the vaccine. we have missed having a national strategy, and then the states break it up in piece meals. we're suffering the impact of not funding public health. many public health agents don't have the people because thve let go of a lot of personnel. the health depar oent in the ci atlanta used to have, i think, 20 or sot contacing nurses in the past. now they're down to four. you don't have enough people.

you can't hire them if you don't get the funding. d the third ting is we need transparency in the gata, how they're bn used and how they're being distributed. e would have loved to have had a website whcan zip code, and be assigned to a place to go. so a lot more is needed. >> brangham: this is not like the immediate im merge gens of the virus. and states have been saying we neethis hep, we need this aid. some of that is in the covid relief bill. is it your sense that things will start to get better, and this is reay just the sort of early halting, faltering steps of this process? >> doctor: i think so. i think things are going to get betr over the next several weeks. i would tell you, though, this is an incredibly conduct, especially when you have a vaccine that

some need refrigeration and some don't. some need the two doses, etc. even for an incribly competent government, this is not an easy thing to do. >> brangham: let's talk about that w vaccine that the u.k. government just approved, the astrazeneca vaccine. they are trying -- it is a two-dose vaccine, as the ones here in the u.s. are. they're trying an interesting approach: they're giving all of their doses out imdiately, as quickly as possible, rather than holding back that second dose reserve. i'm curious what you make is that something we would consider here? >> doctor: you know, i think that is not a good itrategy, and because is simply not a strategy that has been tested. if we're going to do thingswe out to do them the way it needs to be done. i think there will be plenty of vaccine, but we've got to do it thaye w it was intended to be done. when i see what theh brite doing, and clearly they're having a major surge and they'reon

very crned -- we need to do a better job with the vaccines we have right w. we're not getting the ones we have in the arms of people. the vaccinevdon't sae lives; you've got to peopleat there are close to 20 million, 18 million, that are ready to be administered. i want to see the inveories be essential what i would love to have places do, if you get aa vaccine inweek, i want to see that vaccine in the arms nofdividuals. >> brangham: with regards to this astrazenecvaccine, you mentioned this before, but it is much cheaper and easier to store, so it doesn't have the problems that the othersthat need a deep freeze to transport into storage. is hard to see that when you look at the global rolloutf vaccines, this disparity that occurs with rich, wealthier nations seeming to be first in line for the initial doses, andhe poorer nations stuck in the back.

help us wrestle with that. how should we wrestle with that disparity? >> doctor: well, we have to wrestle with the ensuring that everybody globally has access to the vaccine.s latin-america een very severely affected by this pandemic. if we don't work to get vaccines to latin-america, if we don't work to get vaccines to the low income countries of the world, 're gog to have a problem. we cannot say we'llva inate americans and forget about the rest of the world. we need to ensure vaccination access to everywhere, to everye ound the grob, and that is one of the things that the u.s. should actually be doing. >> brangham: do you think we're doing an adequate job of that? right now we have seen wealthier nations buying up large stores of the vaccine initially. and there is this effort to try to eualize that distribution. but do you think we're going to be successful that way? >> doctos. the up

to now, has not done a good job. we did not sign on tova which was a big mistake. i'm hoping with the new administration, with incoming president ben, we would assume the leadership we need globally, and we rejoin covax. we have the desire to do thisand if we do it right, we can be the vaccines globally. the most successful program that has been implemented is the hipa program, and that is something every american needs to be proud of. if we can do a similar thing to getting this vaccines to people. >> brangham: infar was the global aidsit iiative sponsored by the u.s. government and funded all overhe world lastly, we have seen this immergence in the u.k. and

now we've spotted it in the u.s -- should we just assume it is widespread in the u.s.? and if so, what does it does as far as our prevention measures? >> doctor: think it is widespread in the u.s. the fact this person has it in colorado and has no history of travel, basically tells you th is community transmission. look at the sequence, and you'll find. we need to increase the amount of sequencing we're doing. the other thing is this virus, to be verylear, is more transmissible than the other virus. it has a better attachment to the ac2receptor, and increases trsosmissibility. hat thiis telling us is that we need to really hunker down on our prevention messages. i wld emphasize to people, with tomorrow being new year's, we have to stop transmission. we can do that by wearing distance, and more

importantly, not going toos crowded environments with poor ventilation. i'm seaking abo bars, nightclubs, and restaurants, because that is wherefost o the transmission is happening. a virus of high traninissibility is gog to transmit even more in those kinds of environments.>> brangham: dr. cs del rio, thank you so much for being here. >> doctor: delighted to be with you. >> nawaz: as the pandemic continues to spiral out of control, we look at one place where the number of infections have declined in recent weeks: scotland county, missouri. but with that good news, comes the bad. health officials there are learning that they may notdo receive ans of the vaccine until the end of january. and they fear their community might havenother surge before then. newshour special correspondent james fox has our story. >> reporter: throughout much of

the pancodemic,and county, missouri was the type of place that thought it was immune from the coronavirus. with miles and miles of road separating most households, there seemed little point in trip into town.ace or sparing a or, at least, that is what farmers like gedn cowell beli >> i didn't pay much attention to it. skreally didn't. i didn't wear a at 68 i'm still reasonably healthy. i don't take daily pills or anything like thatt i dove diabetes or anything like that. so i never thought too much about it, and i thought if i get then i'll be sick for a couple days. well i made two trips to the hospital in an ambulance, was there for over a week, and i was as sick as i've ever been in my life. >> reporter: glen cowell was hospitalized with covid-19our weeks ago. at 68, he is back to tending his 500 acre cattle farm with an oxygen tank to aid his battered this is a part of the country where it takes an hour to reach rest about anything. most people ave to drive across multiple counties simply

en pick up a prescription. but s one of the lucky few. he lives 15 minutes from the only hospital in the area. >> we're 50 miles from everything the nearest stoplight is 50 miles away. away.earest walmart is 50 miles the hospitals are further away. i mean there's one in keokuk, one in quincy, one in hannibal. but as sick as i w and to be able to get me 15 minutes to a hospital made a difference. and people need to know that it's for real. they really do. >> there's nobody more than me who wants this to be back to normal, but the reity of it he is we're not. we're still seeing a lot of community spread. i honely can't think of anybody i've had in this hospital thawas from this area that i either didn't know or know their family members. >> reporter: scoand county hospital in memphis, missouri has been over-run with covid-19 since october.

but unlike many other parts of the country, where cases, deat, and hospitalizations a soaring, the hospital in this county is beginning to open up beds, rather than fill them. with only six beds reserved for coronavirus patients, dr. shane wilson knows the tide could reverse at any moment. the hospital is still tending to patients struggling with the at 99, barbara roberts is one of many patients who have beaten thodds thus far. others have been less lucky, according to nurse olivia steele. >> it's here, it's real. it affects everyone differently, viously we've seen that. some are asymptomatic, some havi g.ues, and some are respiratory patients and they h have nev any respiratory issues in the past, and they die from it.s that's-- that e big eye

opener for us here, when we started seeing death patients that have had no spiratory issues. >> reporter: like otherural hospitals, scotland county offers therapeutic drugs to event mild cases of the coronavirus from breaking down into bad ones. masks and social distancing are rarely enforced in ts county, so the staff here is hoping these eatments will keep any future surges at bay. >> i do think we've gotten bettert getting the word out about social distancing and wearing the masks when you're in public. there's still a fair number of people who don't believe the masks have any benefit. >> reporter: it is true that many rural communities have resisted health guidelines, which have become the normn most major cities. those ma pummeled in the spring, rural communities, including scotland county, were barely seeing any viral spread. that was until october, when this counts numbers skyrocketed to emergency levels, and then abruptly fell, nearly as quickly. >> we were very lucky in this

community that things did not hit until late in the season. well then when people did startt g sick i think people were so tired of all the restrictions for so long that i think there waea certain amount of-- we done with this, you know-- if wt gewe get it. >> you travel around within ar two or three hdius of this and they say "oh that's where keith's cafe is, that's where all the coffee cups are, and i say p that's right." >> reporter: once famous for the hundreds of coffee mugs which hung from its ceiling, keith's cafe is just one example of a local business that has muscled y through the pandemic. after closing their kitchen earlier in the year, troy alexander and his family decided it would be best for both themselves and the local economy if they were open. their approach stands in stark contrast to what manyau rents have done in larger cities. >> your number one staple is you've got to take care of the people right here among you. that's just the compromise we've decided to make and i think in and once this is over, business

will get back to normal, if not better. >> reporter: and it is not just the restaurants in thipart of the country that are pushing on through the pandemic. school is still in session four days a week, as are sports. >> we wanted to maximize as many educational, and extracurricular opportunities as we possibly could while meeting the idelines. and so it's early in the season. we're almost at winter break. so far it's gone pretty well, but i'm sure there will be hiccups and we've already had several scheduling changes. so just like anything this school year we're going to have to be flexible, and hopefully everyone will contribute the way they see fit and we'able to continue on through the epmainder of this season. >>ter: flexibility is key, as it will be weeks, and more vaccines can be distributed to slow the spread of the virus. according to missouri'sf departmentalth and senior xprvices, rural hospitals in the state should nott to receive any doses until the end of january. for the pbs newshour, i'm james fox.

>> nawaz: nashville police said today that they did nohave enough evidence to search the property of the man assud to be behind last week's christmas day bombing, when they went to his house last year. anthony warner's girriend reportedly told police in august, 2019 that he'd talked about building bombs in an r.v. but when no one answered the door, the officers left, though r.v. was parked on the site. all that has raised question in the community.ra zulfat ss a city councilwoman-at-large, and joins me now. >> nawaz: councilwoman suara, welcome to td "newshour," anks for making the time. the latest news from nashville police, they say that repeatedly tried to make contact, but thecoy dn't with mr. warner, and they didn't have probable cause to search his properties. toat is your reaction that? >> is not good enough. because for myself and a

lot of people in my community, if it had been a black person or a musl person, that door -- they would have done something. they would have found a warrant. to know itis not just an and nothing was done, somebody dropped the ball. >> nawaz: let me askou about the way this is being talked about. on sunday, the f.b.i. said they don'tave enough evidence to call him a domestic terrorism. slice say he has no specific criminal record. what do you make of way authorities are presenting this right now? or i think it is not just the auies. the media, and the citizens -- there is a double standard when it comes to our reaction to things like this. we had an unfortunate event in chttanooga not too long ago, where a black man shot some people, and the f.b.i. called it an act of terrorism immediately i but whas upsetting is

that we're not consient. there is a double standard in how we treat crimes. and we shouldnot, regardless of the faith or the color of the perpetrator. it is the crime we should focus on and we should treat it all the same. >> nawaz: when it comes to the investigation, which they say isngoing, and they're searching for any possible motive they can find, what is it that you and other nashville leaders and residents wantwantto see happen next? >> we want to see the investigation leado where we actually know anwhat happened. how do we stop something like this from happening again. and have a conversation deal with things likee this. i'm hoping that this tragedy allows us to have a conversation about what people in thblack and brown community has been talking about, which ist the doubledard. i'm hoping that all of this -- it is a tragedy, but i hope we have the opportunity to start having a conversation on how do we deal with this? how do we stay consistt?

and how do the police, the government, and l of us react to something like this. if iwas a muslim, the backlash would have been on his family. somebody like myself would have receiv an e-mail. and i'm not seeing that. and it is baffling, but hope it is a learning opportunity for all of us as a community. >> nawaz: when you look at the images from that day, the shear enoity of the blast is really breathtaking. we're fortunate that no one else wailled, and laely due to the action are oof the police that day. what has been the impact ofthat blast? have people been reacting? >> it took about 41 nobody was killed.nk god the businesses will have to rebuild. and nashvil has been through a lot, we had a tornado and we're dealing ovid. but as we talk about the tragedy, as we talk about what police did a yea ago, it is imptant for us to also make sure that

we acknowledge the officers on the ground. because of them,abe were to save a lot of lives, and we should be able to acknowledge that. and i'm grateful that they did that, and we were able to save a lot of lives. nawaz: councilwoman at large in nashville, zulfat suara, thank you for making the time to be wi us. >> thank you for having me, and a happy new year to everyone. >> nawaz: early this morning, ina become the first maj latin american country to it was a dramatic y for grassroots groups that have been organizing for years. but it was a major loss for theu catholich, and a personal one for the pope. as nick schifrin reports, this vote could ripplacross the region. >> schifrin: overnight there wa no sociadistancing, only, jubilation. grmbers of argentina's pro- abortion rights n wave

movement celebrated in a sea of green-- the color that symbolizes the pro-choice campaign a women's rights across the region. >> ( translated ): this decision changes everything forlions of women. it is noa question of ethics. it is a question of public health. and now thousands of will be saved.e >> and as you e green scarf, this one that i have l of, which is the sym abortion in our country. >> schifrin: mariela bntski is the ara executive director of amnesty international, which campaigned for the law. >> it means that we have a me democratic country. my daughter is going to have diffcountry, a country that allow her to decide what to do with her body. the right to autonomy for us is so important. and in this country, until now, it has not been respected. >> schifrin: the bill decriminalizes abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. after 14 weeks, abortion will continue to be legal only in

cases of rape or danger to the mother's life. argentina's the largest country in latin america to take this step. only uruguay, cuba, and guyana low woman to have an early- term abortion. belski says e fight for abortion rights is borderless and will expand. >> you have you will see this in ntru, in mexico, in chile, all the women's moven this region are using this scarf asth icon for the fighting of abortion. >> schifrin: but last night buenos air was a tale of two cities many here opposed the bill. ter the vote, ey were silent, and teary. >> ( translated ): this ha ended here. we continue every day fighting for the women who need it most. i am such a feminist that i defend women from the womb. >> schifrin: the opposition was supported by the catholic church--and the pope himself. francis was born jorge bergoglio in buenos aires. last month, the first southern hemisphere pope sent a letter to "is it fair to eli a humanasking

life to solve a problem? is it fair to hire a hit man to solve a problem?" yesterday just before the vote he tweeted: "the son of god was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of god." the campaign against the b al has includentina's evangelical and catholic churches, which are usually oppod. >> ( translated ): this law goes against common sense, against natural w, against reason, it would be a subjugation of the national constitution that defends and understands that the rights of the children begin from the first moment of conception. >> schifrin: activists say the bill's passageprotect women. since 1983, several thousand women have died from unsafe,ab clandestintions. and every year 38,000 women are hospitalized, because of dangerous procedures. vocates fear ongoing opposition to the law means challenge.t, will be a >> today we win a battle, but we have to start another very diffult battle, which is the

implementation of this law, and the fight is going to be harder. >> schifrin: to discuss what this vote means for argentina and the region, i'm joined by professor maria victoria murillo, the director of the cstitute for latin american studies umbia university. >> pfessor, welcome to the "newshour." why does argentina's vote have a outside influence of the region. >> argentina has already led the region in otherxp instances ofansion of civil liberties and legal rights, and those have been movg through the region. in 1991, argentina was the first country in the region to pass a law to have women in parliament, to have a third of the positions incongress filled by women. and pretty much all of the countries of the region followed suit. argentina also was the region, in 2010, toe approve same-sex marrid e, any other countries

have followed through. in 2012, again, it was the first country gi the to approve a gender reentity law that doesn't ire any medical intervention for people to change their gender haentity. thatnot moved so fast, but, again, argentina has always been an example fe region in the expansion of these types of rights. >> and so as argentina has ieen a bellwether for the region for mae and gender, could we see similar votes on abortion 'sllowing argenti vote? >> i think that might be the case. we already see some legalization. chile legalized the resources for legal abortion. the city of mexico, the state of oaxaca in mexico. i think we seehis movement happening. i think the example of argentina is going to embolden the movement around the region to try to gain more rights. >> the catholic chufrch, course, has long been

dominantin argentina and the region. what does it say abo church's influence,and, frankly, t pope's influence that this vote went directly against him and the church? >> i think it is interesting in terms that the pope is argentinan, and he made the call on the morning of yesterday before the senedate vot and didn't change the result. i think that means there is not a stroninfluence of the church. d also evangelical churches. e are going to see a backlaainst this expansion of rights, but i don't think it is going to slow down the press that we also see happening in many countries, particully in the southern corner, in argentina and chile. >> we heard at the end of the piece, concerns about implementation. could certain arc argentinan provinces resisting the law? >>i can see certain parts

of argentina resisting the law. but it will go to the courts, and the courts in arntina have shown to be pretty strong in defending these rights. >> as for the changes inside argentina, this vote failed in 2018. what was the sile most important change since that that led to a different outcome overnight? >> i think the mobilization of women that resulted from the change made the prsident commit to theseor ref, which had not been the case in 2018. and thdepre, and the party, makes a strong effort to get the votes. passed in thoseo get it conditions. and those included some concessions that had not been given in the 201 te. >> professor maria victoria murillo, thank you very mo h. >> thanksu. >> nawaz: sometimes, it is the

little things that get us through hard times.e right after tack on pearl harbor, a cross-word enthusiast named margaret farrar wrote to the "new york times" publisher: "i don't think i have to sell you on the increased demand for this te of pastime in an increasingly worried world.k you can't th your troubles while solving a cross-word." farrar then became "new york editor in 1942.ssword puzzle the crossword has likely met a similar need for millions of fans in 2020. tonight, author david leavitt shares his humble opinion on the importance of this daily memento. >> every morning, after i've iad some coffeo the new york times crossword. i can't say that this is always or even usually a pleasure, because it isn't. yet the need-one might even call the compulsion-to get t crossword out of the way never abates. even on election day, i did the crossword. even when i was in the hospital recovering from emergency appendectomy, i did the iossword.

the questiant to pose now, as much to myself as to other crossword junkies, is why. in my case, the answer to this question, like the answer to most questions, is my mother. where the times crossword was concerned, she was both an aficionado and an intellectual hlete. for example, she could do the crossword in pen-she rarely ha to erase anything-and on occasion without looking at the down clues. i have enshrined an image of my nither sitting at our kitchen table in calif the times open before her, calmly entering letters into the grid.er in 1985, my moied-a sudden one, for she had been fighting cancer for many years. wheny family and i returned from the hospital, i found the crossword on which she must have been working. it was half-fished. e finished it for her. tuals by which we memorialize the dead can be e peculiar-so much so thaty not even recognize them as rituals. for grief itself has no solution.sw

it has no key. it doesn't matter if you use a pencil or a pen or a computer; it will never be finished. grief, in other words, is not a. crossw rather it's one of those 5,000 piece jigsaws that are circula and solid white. impossible. i think my mother understood this. indeed, especially since the pandemic started, i've found myself wondering-and i say this with fl cognizance that you may regard it as wishful thinking-if she mighnot have left behind the half-finished crossword on purpose, as if say, n you will never, never solve the mystery of grief. don't even try. instead solve this. solve this. >> naw newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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[upbeat musisic] , - hello everyone and welcome to amanpour and company. this holiday season, we are bringing you some of our favorite interviews from the year and here's what's coming up. the virus that came to define our lives. tonight, science journalist ed yong joins me to discuss the wortowards . therapists ester perel, tells me about life and love under quarantine. and dr richard levitan speaks to our hari sreenivasan about ight of healthcare workers in this pandemic. - [narrato amanpour and company is made possible by the anderson family fund, sue and edgawachenheim iii, ls e cheryl and philip in family, candace king weir, nd the strauss family fion, bernard and denise schwartz