captioning spoponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is off on the newshour tonight, economic aid-- the senate debates increasing federal covid relief checks to $2,000. we talk to a leading republican senator opposed to the idea. then, the nuers grow-- the u.s. loses another 3600 people to covid-19 as overall deaths pass 340,000 and infections approach 20 million. plus, a slow rollout-- as the u.k. authorizes a neine, 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 populated areasow struggle with an influx of patients. >> we're still seeing a lot of community spread. i nestly can't think of anybody i've had in this

hospital that was from ts areait that ir didn't know or know their family members. >> nawaz: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. n major funding for the pbs newshour has beeprided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. ussf, the engine thaconnects

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. esmmitted to improving liv through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. onhe 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: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statiofrom viewers like you. thank you. st

>> nawaz: thggle to provide additional covid relief continues in the u.s. nate. the passage of $2,000 relief checks is stalled, despite president trp's repeated mands for larger direct payments. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blocked a vote on the checks tuesday, but then proposed a bill combining the g asure with mr. trump's other requests: repealotections 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: anna, welcome back to the "newshour." thanks for being here.g br up to speed now. what is the latest on this debate, and how likely is anyone to see those hgher $2,000 checks? senate majority leader mitch mcconnell put the nail in the coffin for thewh larger check he combined it with the other

provisions that trump was afte including an election fraud commission, and also removing in protections for social dia companies like twitter and facebook. there really is no pathway forward at this point. you have some senate democrats vowing to filibuster a separate isll. this bilgoing to fund the military. senator bernie sanders and edward markey have said they made filibusters through the new yee because theyry upset, and they've been trying to force some momentum for a bi but at this point, mcconnelleems very stuck at his position. he is not going t put forward a vote on just the check. >> nawaz: even with this coined bill, with the three items packaged together, even if itto manageass, then what? >> i think that is a very far-fetched scenario in general because there are a lot of democrats that i it.'t think would for even if we go down that route and it did pass in the senate, it is

basically a non starter because the house hasn't passed that bill, and thee ho out of session through the end of the year. hhere is no plans to come back for. it is somewhat of a message bill, somewhat asto apthe president as he looked towards that nuary 6th vote regarding electing him as president of the united states. >> nawaz: indethis te, there were a growing number of senate republicans joining the president's call and democrats' call forighe 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? has been interesting to watch. you have seen some senators, ke marco rubio from florida, andosh hawley from missouri, coming out in support of the $2,000 checks, but the m vajority of republicans have said they don't feel like they need to do a bie gger pack this point. they want to have the $600

direct payments firs senate majority leader mitch mcconnell did say if there was going to be a larger package, he wants them to be very targeted,he opposed tover all price tag. i think part of what of the the trump the end presidency, where republicans are really allowing them to write as bigbi c ecks as he wanted, and are coming back to some of the more 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 speaker voe for nancy pelosi, whether the numbers are looking like she has project the confidence, but there are some members that have to travel back to vote and s me members have covid, and theree january 6th vote for who is going to to be the next

president, it will joe biden, no escaping that. but they will put it on the record whether they pport trump or not. >> nawaz: anna palmer with the latest on this on the t ar-end sprn congress. always good to talk to you. thank you. most republican senators >> nawaz: most republican senators remain skeptical about raising dire payments to $2,000, which majority leader mitch mcconnell says has no realistic path to pass. one of the republicans opposed is ron johnson of wisconsin and he joins me now. welcome back to the "newshour," and thanks for making the time. a number of ur republican colleagues, josh hawley, marco rubio, david erdue, they ve all said people need help and ey 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 help.that people need as we did in the cares

act, we sent out hundreds of billions of doars, trillions of dollars, in a shotgun approach and we didn't target relief to those who truly need it. many were left behind. people who neded help didn't get it. here we're doing the same thing nine months later. ally learn from what we did in the past. again, a shotgun approach.m stened to democrats debate this on the floor, and they keep talking about $2,000 checks. the way the houotse wr their bills, this would be -- fa household of four people would get $8,000 check, and that compares to the cares act of a $3600 check. i'm happy to help people, but, you know, if the depth of the recession, the covid-19 recession, the 25 million jobs that were lost fm our record high number of high jobs, and we sent out checks to 166 million people. just a mimatch. we need to target this relief. a re $27.5 trillion in

debt. and that is not sustainable. we need to -- ife're going to mortgage our children's future, we need to minimize the extent to which we're mortgaging it and target the relief to those who truly need it. >> nawaz: cal fi for this latest bil your 2019 income had to be $75,000, and you'll get $600, plus $600 per child, ich includes non-residents and adult children. how much gere tad do you want those to be, and what would that cost? >> again, les mee a government employee, people that are making combined, a couple, $150,000 last yethar. 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 couplel like that shget an $8,000 check. so there are waywe can target this. it is not going to be targeted in a day or two. we shoulhave been talking about this.

i've got proposals on p.p.p., for example, but we need to do a better job ofge tting. it will cost more on top of the $900 billion we just past. it is a mindless approach, probably mistargetintargeting pele and people who truly need it. >> nawaz: i spoke with the former chief economist at thon congres budget office who said we can absolutely afford more fiscal support. interest rates are low, and financing de is completely affordable, and without fiscal support, you're looking at a longer, ower, and more painful recovery? what do you say to that? >> she is not worried about the $29 trillionin we'll beebt, which compares to a $21trillion or $22 trillion debt. me,some point in t we'll hit a debt crisis, and that won't be pretty,

either. nawaz: let me ask you what you would say to some americans, because many are struggling to pt food on the stable. i spoke to a uber driver, $600 -- he is making decisions about whether to pay rent or to put fon 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 americans? >> 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 thosew extra ndreds 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 at spending money we don't have. >> nawaz: let me ask you in the minute and a half we have le, you are accused of being

hypocritical by bernie sanders, and he said if you drove the deficit even higher, you should be to back this now. >> i disagree that it i think short-term, iter. did. we were well on our way of paying that because of number one of the component of a solution is economic growth. you grow the economy by and iregulation think that tax cut, if it had not been for the covid cession, would have fully paid for itself and ths some. so it t an accurate statement by senor sanders. >> nawaz: mitch mcconnell says he'll package together these items. section 230 or socia liabilities being stripped -- wu suort something like that? >> if we target the $2,000 payments. we're talking about $8,000 for a household of four. absolutelywe need to reduce or get rid of the

liability protection on the moderationicies. not completely eliminate the section 230 liabili ptection, but on the censorship part of the social media companies, wemi need to elte that. i'm for fully investigating and correcting the problous in last election. 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 gr day. >> nawaz: in the day's other news, vid-19 deaths reached 1.8 million worldwide, with more than 340,000 in the united states. among the latest victims: ssman-elect luke letlow, louisiana republican, who passed away last night.as he1 years old. and, actress dawn wells, who played "mary ann" in the 1 c0's edy "gilligan's island." she died today in los angeles,2.

at age wianwhile, california reported its first patien 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 f llion people, so far. that's far shortat the trump administration had forecast. but, in a briefingoday, leaders of the president's "operation warp speed" defended their efforts to distribute vaccines. >> essentially it's been just 12 days, there's two holidays, there's been three majornow storms. there's numerous factors and 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 became the fir country today to approve a vaccine developed by astrazeneca and oxford uns.ersity. the enters for disease control and prevention said it could win approval in this

country, by ril. we'll return to the pandemic, and vaccine issues, after the news summary. the u.s. senate moved to override president trump's veto of the annual defense policy bill. it's worth $0 billion and includes a three percent military pay raise. mr. trump refused to st n it, unlessmoved liability shields for social media companies. today's override marks the first a repu hawley, says he will object next week, when congress counts electoral votes in the presidential race. he wants an investigation p' president trunproven allegations of fraud. several republicans in the uim. house planar objections. both chambers are expected to dismiss the complaints, and certify president-elect biden's victory. erseas in yemen, a large explosion killed at leas a22 people at port today, just after members of a new cabinet flew in. the ministers arrived in adenbi

from saudi which backs the government against rebels lied with iran.in they were g the plane when the blast erupted. no one in the delegation was hurt, but 50 others were wounded.e the prnister condemned the apparent bombing.sl >> ( tred ): this treacherous, cowardly and terrorist attack, underscores the government's cenal 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 later near a palace where the cabinet members were taken. there were no reports of casualties. an ambush in southern syria has killed at least 28 people. media says it was a terror attack that targeted civilian passenger buses. a syrian human rhts group says the victims were syrian troops, killed by islamic ste militants. lawmakers in britain voted t overwhelmingay to approve a trade deal with the european union, after months of negotiations it ensures tiff-free trade will continue when britain's transition out of the e.u. officially ends tomorrow.

prime minister bor t johnson sign agreement after the house of commons vote, and touted its terms in an terview. >> what this deal gives us is, i would y, 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: the euroan parliament is expected to approve the deal in the coming weeks. a court in china today sentenced protesters who attempted toand leave hong kong. they were caught on a speedboat in august, trying to reach taiwan. it's believed they feared being prosecuted under a tough new their sentences range from seven months to three years in s ison. jonathan pollard israel tonight, 35 years after he admitted selling u.stary secrets to the israelis. he served 30 years in prison and

was paroled in 2015. last month, the justice him to travel.ed the way for nyraeli prime minister benjamin neu greeted pollard and his wife at the tel aviv airport today. on arrival, pollard and his wife kneeled and kissed the ground. back in this country, there' word that the census bureau will miss tomorrow's deadline tobe report n for apportioning congressional seats. the associated press reports that internal census documents rsuggest the count won't dy until after president-elect biden takes office. at would give him time t rescind president trump's directive against counting migrants in the country illegally. and, wall street managed modest gains today. the dow jones industrial average was up 73 points to close at 30,409, anotr all-time high. the nasdaq rose 19 points, and, the s&p 500 added five points. still to come on the newshour: covid 19 claims another 3600 americans as domestic deaths near 340,000.

the u.s. is falling short ofn projections. ggspitals in rural parts of the country st with an influx of coronavirus patients. and much more. >> nawaz: with the number of covid cases and hospitalizations country, healthcare systems and their staff are becoming further strained.in os angeles, paramedics are declining to take less-than- critically-ill patients toal hosp and in phoenix, six area hospitals are diverting incoming emergency patients to other facilities.dr. quinn snyder is y physician in mesa, arizona. he has been experiencing the surge first-hand, and joins me now. >> nawaz: dr. quinn schneider, welcome to thean "newshour,that's for

making the time. i want to start with that surge we're hearing so much about. what does it look like and hospitals right nohe >> doctor: it feels overwhelming, truthfully. we're literally watching the health care stem overfl we speak. the kinds of things we're seeing is i.c.u. nurinses are stretched to the limit. they're having three or even foenur pa per nurse. the industry standard is usually two to one. to be at threto one or four to one represents how catastrophic things have come. d also physicians like myself are starting to work well outside their scope of practice. i've personally been working in i.c.u., intubating patients, and helping to do procedures, and to incode patients who are in the process of dying. i haven't worked in i.c.u. in 10 yearssince i waa resident. there are many emergency departmentand hospitals througatut the clearly running out of

state. transfers are locking up everywhere. you can't transfer people easily from one hospital to another. it is becoming more and more clear wee starting to run out of space. it has already been several days, not weeks, even, since we've run out of adequate, alified staff to take care of our patient population. >> nawaz: when you look at a place like los angeles, which has a lot of attention because they're making decisions about rationing care, laying out decisions about who gets limited resources, are you worried bad where you are? that >> doctor: i am worried we could be in a similar situation in arizona. we have these crisis standards of care which b han implemented for several months, however, we have not atken th final step where we literally have to ration decide who gets care and who doesn't. that's a state-wide decision, a decision agreed upon by all of the t hospitals s state. we're not quite there yet, but there are many people

worried we can gethere soon. >> nawaz: california stay-at-home orde address at spike. what is being done in arizona? what do you seeidou the hospital? >> doctor: wow, unfortunately, we're not engaging in theind of behaviors that we need to get the pandemic under control. and the truth is, in july our governor stepped in and created new restrictions, which inclrestrictions and indoor dining, and bars in particular, which helpedbr g our spike under control. however, unfortunately, we haven't had any of these strictions put back into place, even though our shopthospitals are now overflowing well where they wre that peak in july. we're at 130% of where we re in july with our covid 10npatient, an% in our inpatient i.u. divisions. it is very frustrating if shift on friday or night saturday night, and being

going by bars and restaurants and seeing people out and about. places are packed, everywhed to reconcile that part of my life with what is going on in the emergency dertments, and within the hospitals, largely in impossible for us as : alth care workers. >> naw. snyder, what about the vaccine rollout. i understand you have soeived the vaccine far. is it getting where it needs to go right now? get the vac.es, i did i had very minim side effects. i'm extremely thankful to moderna and pfizer who helped put out these wonderful vaccines. but the rollout here has been pretty choppy in mer mopa county. there were issues when they started collecting information from people, as to whowo d be eligible for the vaccine and who would not. i know certain nurses and providers who are still waiting to get their vaccine, even though they're working on the

frontlines. and there are other people who rarely, if ever, see covid patients, who have vaccination.en their i think in the end what this shows is that in thisre phase, wt was supposed to be relatively easy to determine who neede its ccinneeded the vaccine and o didn't, i think is only informative in such that in the months ahead, he's ciare vac rollouts and tiers that come after that challenging, very unequal, and at time even corrupt. >> nawaz: dr. quinn snyder in arizona. thank you for your time, and we wish you luck and good health ahead. >> thank you so much, amna. >> nawaz: a third vaccine, this >> nawaz: while the u.s. struggles to distribute vaccines as quickly as possle, a third vaccine, this one from drugmaker astrazeneca, was just approved for use in the united kingdom. willm brangham has the lates on the worldwide push to

vaccinate against covid-19. >> brangham: in the fio weeks of america's vaccination campaign, just over two million 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 the end of this year. what's causing this backlog? and what'sappening globally with the distribution of covid- 19 vaccines?e for this, weined again by infectious disease specialist dr. carlos del rio. he's a professor of global health and epidemiol emory e.iversity school of medic >> brangham: dr. del rio, very, very good to see you again. i can't help but be struck by this contrast, that ehese vaccines wer developed at near record speed. and it is truly an incredible achievement. and yet we are now stumbling so badly, it seems, to get that last mile, to get those

vaccinations into people. what is your sense of why this has taken so long and proven so difficult? >> doctor: well, i think there are several things. number one, you ha sort of a glass half full event. we have ar y broken health care system. we don't have a centralized 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 mea.ls we're suffering the impact of not funding public health. many public alth agents don't have the people beuse they have let go of a lot of personnel. the health department t the city ofnta used to have, i think, 20 or soin contact trnurses 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. and thngthird ths we need traparency in the data, how they're being distributed. they're being i would have loved to have had a website where i can go in and say this is my 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 vir. and states have been saying we need this help, we need this aid. some of that is the covid relief bill. is it your sense that things will start to get better, and this is really just the sort of early halting, faltering steps of this process? >> doctor: i think so. i think things are going to get better ov the next several weeks. i would tell you, though, this is an incredibly complicated operation to conduct, especially when you have a vaccine that some need refrigeration

and some don't. some need the two doses, etc. even for anlyincred competent government, this is not an easy thing to do. >> brangham: let's talk abt that new 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: ey're giving all of their doses out immediately, as quickly as possible, rather t tn holding bat second dose in reserve. i'm curious what you make of that strategy. is that something we would consider here? >> doctor: you know, i think that is not a good is simply not a strategy that has been tested. if we're going to do things, we ought to do them the way it needs to be done. i think there will be plenty of vacine, but we've got to do it the way it was intended to be done. whee what the british are doing, and clearly they're having a very concerned -- we need to do a better job with

the vaccines we have right now.'r not getting the ones we have in the arms of people. the vaccines dont save lives; you've got to vaccinate people. there are close to 20 million, 18 million, that are ready to be administered. i want to see the zero.tories be essentially at i would love to have weaces do, if you get a vaccine in a i want to see that vaccine in the arms viof inals. >> brangham: with regards to this astrazeneca vacne, you mentioned this before, but it is much cheaper and easier to store, so it doesn't have the problems that the others that need a deep freeze to transport into storage. it is hard to see that when you look at the global rollout of vaccines, this disparity that occurs with ric wealthier nations seeming to be first in line for the initial doses, and the poorer nations stuck in the back. how should we wrestle with

that disparity? >> doctor: well, we he to wrestle with the disparity by basically suring that everybody globally has access to the vaccine. latin-america has been very severely affected by this pandemic. if we don't work to get vaccines to latin-amer wa, don't work to get vaccines to the low income countries of the world, we're gog to have a problem. cannot say we'lle vaccinericans and forget about the rest of the world. we need to ensure vaccination access to everywhere, to everyone t arou grob, and that is one of the things that the u.s. should actually be doing. >> brangham: do you we're doing an adequate job of that? right now we have seen wealthier nations buyingge up lastores of the vaccine initially. and there is this effort to try to equize tha distribution. but do you think we're going to be successful that way? >> doctor: the u.s., up to now, has not done a good job.

we did not sign on to covax, which was a big stake. i'm hoping with the new administration, with incoming president biden, we would assume the leadership we need globally, and we rejoin covax. we have the desire to do this, and ife do it right, we can be the leaders in getting 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 aids initiative sponsored by the u.s. government and funded all over the wor. 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: i thinit is widespread in the u.s. the fact this person has it in colorado and has no history of travel, basically tells you there is community transmission. look at the sequence, and you'll find. we need to increase the amoueq ofuencing we're doing. the other thing is this virus, to be very clea is more tramissible than the other virus. it has a better attachment to the ac2receptor, and increases transmissibility. so what this is telling us is that we need to reay hunker down on our prevention messages. i would ehasize to people, with tomorrow being new year's, we have to stop transmission. we can do that by wearing a mask, by watching your stance, and more

importantly, not going too close, wded environments with poor ventilation. i'm speakingabout s, nightclubs, and restaurants, because that is where most of the transmission is ppening. a virus of high transmissibility is going to transmit even more in those kinds of environments. >> brangham: dr. carlos 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 s:ve declined in recent we scotland county, missouri. the bad. that good news, comes health officials there are receive any doses vaccine until the end of january. and they fear their community might have anotherurge before then. newshour special correspondent james fox has our story. >> reporter: throughout much of the pandemic, scotland county,

missouri was the t te of place thught it was immune from the coronavirus. separating most households, there seemed little point in covering your face or sparing a trip into town. or, at least, that is what farmers like glen cowe believed. >> i didn't pay much attention to it. i really didn't. i didn't wear a mask. at 68 i'm still reasonably healthy. pills orake dai anything like that. i don't have diabetes or anything like that. so i never thoughtoo 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 evere for over a week, and i was as sick as ier been in my life. >> reporter: glen cowell was hospitalized with covid-19 fourk weago. at 68, he is back to tending his an500 acre cattle farm wit oxygen tank to aid his battered isngs. s a part of the country where it takes an hour to reach just about anything. most people here have rive across multiple counties simply

e pick up a prescription. but glen is the lucky few. he lives 15 minutes from the only hospital in the area. w re 50 miles from everything. the nearest stoplight is 50 miles away. the nearest walmart is 50 miles away. the hospitals arfurther away. i mean there's one in keokuk, one in quincy, one in hannibal. but as sick as i was and to be able to get me 15 minutes to a hospital made a difference. it really did. and people need to know that it's for real. >> there's nobody han me who wants this to be back to normal, but the reality of it is is we're not there. we're still seeing a lot of community spread. i honestly can think of anybody i've had in this hospital that was fr this area that i either didn't know or know their family members. >> reporter: scotland coty hospital in memphis, missouri has been over-run with covid-19 since october. but unlike many other parts of

the country, where cases, deaths, and hospitalizations ars soaring, thetal in this county is beginning to open up beds, rather than fill them. th only six beds reserved for coronavirus patients, dr. shane wilson knows t tide could reverse at any moment. the hospital is still tending to patients struggling with the after effects of the virus. at 99, barbara roberts is one of many patients who have beaten the oddshus far. others have be less lucky, according to nurse olivia steele. >> it's here, it's real. it affects everyone differently, obviously we've seen that. some are asymptomatic, some hav, g.i. issnd some are respiratory patients and theyny have never hadespiratory issues in the past, and they die from it. that's-- that was theye

opener for us here, when we arted seeing deaths of patients that have had no respirory issues. >> reporter: like other rural hospitals, scotland county offers therapeutic drugs to prevent mild cases of the coronavirus from breaking down into bad ones. masks and social distancing are rarely enforced in this county, so the staff here is hoping these treatments will keep any future surges at bay. >> i do think we've gotten better at geing the word out about social distancing and wearing the masks when you're in public. the's still a fair number of people who don't believe the masks have any benefit. >> reporter: it is true that many rural communities haveed resiealth guidelines, which have become the norm in most major cities. those major cities were getting pummeled in the spring, rural communities, including scoand county, were barely seeing any viral spread. that was until october, when this county's nuers skyrocketed to emergency levels, and then abruptly fell, nearly >> we were very lucky in this

community that things did not hit until late in the season. well then when pple did start getting sick i think people were so tired of all the restrictions for so long that i think there was a certain amount of-- we're done with this, you if we get it, we get it. >> you travel around within a two or three hour radius of this and they sa"oh that's where keith's cafe is, that's where all the coee cups are, and i say yep that's right." >>eporter: once famous for the ichundreds of coffee mugs hung from its ceiling, keith's cafe is just one example of a lodl business that has musc its way through the pandemic. after closing their kitchen earlier inhe year, troy exander and his family decided it would be be for both hemselves and the local economy if they were open. their approach stands intark contrast to what many restaurants 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 the long run it'll hold true. and once this is over, businessn will get back mal, if not

better. >> reporter: and it is not just the restaurants in this part of the country that are pushing on rough the pandemic. school is still in session four days a week, as are sports. t >> we wantmaximize as many educational, and extracurricular oprtunities as we poibly could while meeting the guidelines. and so it's early in the season. we're almost at fnter break. it's gone pretty well, but i'm sure there will hiccups and we've already had several scheduling changes. so just like anything this school year we're going to have to be exible, and hopefully everyone will contribute the way they see fit and we'll be able to continue on through the remainder of this season. >> reporter: flexibility is key, as it will be weeks, and mor likely months, before enough vaccines can be distributed to slow the spread of the virus. according to missouri's department of health and senior services, rural hospitals in the state should not expect 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 not have enough evidence to search the property of the man assumed to be behind last week's christmas day bombg, when they went to his house last year. anthony warner's girlfrien 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 office left, though an r.v. was parked on the site. all that has raised question in the community. zulfat suara is a city councilwoman-at-large, and joins me now. >> nawaz: councilwoman "newshour," and thfor making the time. the latest news from nashlle police, thesay that repeatedly tried to make contact, but they't coulith mr. warner, and they didn't have his properties.to search what is your reaction to that? >> is not good enough.be use for myself and a lot of people in my community, if it had been

a black person or a muslim person, that door -- they would have done something. they would have found a warrant. to isow it not just an m.p.p. that was notified and nothing was done, somebody dropped the ball. >>awaz: let me ask yu about the way this is being talked about. on sund ay, theb.i. said they don't have enough evidence to call him a domestic terrorism. police say he sha has no specific criminal record. what do you make the way authorities are presenting this right now? s. i think it is not just the authorit the media, and the citizens -- there is a double standard when its co our reaction to things like this. we had an unfortunate event n chattanooga not too long ago, where a people, d the f.b.i. called it an act of terrorism immediately. but what is upsetting is that we're not consistent.

there is a double standard in how we treat crimes. and we shouldt , regardless of the faith or the color of the perpetrator. it is thcrime we should focus on and we should treat it all the same. >> nawaz:hen it comes t investigation, which they say is ongoing, and they're searching for any possible motive they can ind, what is ithat you and other nashville leaders and resident wantwantto see happen next? >> we want to see the investigation lead to where we actually know whatw appened. and do we stop something like this from had ening again. ve a conversation about how do the police deal with things like this. i'hoping that this tragedy allows us to have a conversation about what people in the black and brown commbeity has talking about, which is the double standard. i'm hoping that all ofa this -- it iagedy, but i hope we have the opportunity to start having a conversation on how do we deal with this? and how do the police, the government, and all of us

react to something lik this. if it was a muslim, the backlash would have been on his y.mil somebody like myself would have received an e-mail. and i'm not seeing that. and it is baffling, but i hope it is a learning opportunity for all ous as a community. >> nawaz: when you look at the images from that day, the shear enormity of the blast is really breathtaking. we're fortunate that no onelse was kild, and largely due to the action are oof the police that day. what has been the impact of that blast? >> it took about 41 buildings, and thank god body was killed. the businesses will have to rebuild. and nashville has been through a lot, we had a tornado and we're dealing with covid. but as we talk about the tragedy, as we talk about what police did a yea ago, it is important for us to also make sure that

we acknowledge the officers on the ground. because of them, we were able 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 ae to save a lot of lives. >> nawaz councilwoman at large in nashville, zulfat suara, thank you be making the time t with us. >> thank you for having me, and a happy new year to everyone. >> nawaz: early this morning, latin american country tomajor legalize abortion. foit was a dramatic victor grassroots groups that have been organizing for years. but it was a major loss for the catholic church, and a personal one for thk pope. as nhifrin reports, this vote could ripple across the region. >> schifrin: overnight there wai no social distng, only, jubilation. members of argentina's pro- abortion rights green wave vement celebrated in a sea of

green-- the color that symbolizes the pro-choice campaign and women's rights across the region. >> ( translated ): this decision chanss everything for million of women. it is not a question of ethics. it is a queson of public health. and now thousands of lives will be sed. >> and as you see thn scarf, this one that i have here, which is the symbol of abortion in our country. >> schifrin: mariela belski ex the argentinutive director of amnesty international, which campaigned for the law. >> it means that we have a more democratic country. my daughter is going to have a different country, a country that allow her to decide what to do with her body. the right to autonomy for us is so impornt. and in this country, untilow, >> schifrin: the bspected. decriminalizes abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. after 14 weeks, abortion will continue to be legal only in cases of rape or danr to the

mother's life. argentina's the largest country in latin america to takehis step. woly uruguay, cuba, and guyana allon to have an early- term abortion. belski says the fighfor abortion rights is borderless and will expan >> you have you will see this in peru, in mexico, in chile, all the women's movement in this region are using this scarf ason the icor the fighting of abortion. >> schifrin: but last night buenos aires wasale of two cities. many here opposed the bill. after thvote, they were silent, and teary. >> ( translated ): this hasn't 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--atholic churd the pope himself. francis was born jorge bergoglio in buenos aires. last month, the first southern hemisphere pope sentter to his argentine supporters, asking "is it fair to eliminate a human

life to solve a problem? is it fair to hire a hit mob to solve a m?" yesterday just before the vot" he tweeted: "e son of god was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of god." the campaign against the bill ths included argentina's evangelical and ic churches, which are usually opposed. >> ( transled ): this law goes against common sense, against natural law, agast 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 passage will t women. d nce 1983, several thousand women have dom unsafe, clandestine abortions. and every year 38,000 women are hospalized, because of dangerous procedures. but advocates fear ongoing opposion to the law means enforcement, will be a challenge. >> today we win a battle, but we have to start another very f fficult bale, which is the

implementationis law, and the fight is going to be harder. >> s this vote means for argentina and the region, i'm joined by professor maria victoria murillo, the directoof the institute for latin american studies at columbia university. >> professorewelcome to thnewshour." why does argentina's vote have an outside influence of the region. >> argentina has already instances of expansion of civil liberties and legal rights, and those have been moving though the region. in 1991, argentina was the first country in the region to pass law to to have a trd of thement, positions in congress filled by women. and pretty much all of the countries of the region followed suit. argentina also was the first country in the region, in 2010, to approve same-s marriage,y and mher countries have followed through.

in 2012, again,s the first country in the region to approve a gender identity law that doesn't require any medical intervention for people to change their gender identi. that has t moved so fast, but, again, argentina has always been an example for thion in the expansion of these types of rights. >> and so as argentina has been a bellwether for the region for marriagd gender, could we see similar voteson abortion following argentina's vote? i think that might be lrthe case. wedy see some legalization. resources for legal abortion. the city of mexico, the state of oaxaca in mexico. i think we see ts movement happening. i think the example of argentina is going to embolden the movement around the region to try to ga more rights. >> the catholic church, of course, has long been dominant in arentina and the region. what does it say about the

church's influence, and, 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 senate voted and didn't change the resut . i think theans there is not a strong influence of the church. an also evangelical churches. ns are going to see a backlash agthis expansion of rights, but i don't think it is going to slow down the process at we also see happening in many countries, particularly the southern corner, in argentina and chile. >> wee heard at th end of the piece, concerns about implementation cod certain arc argentinan provinces resisting thew? >> i can see certain parts

of argentina resisting the law. but it will go to the courts, and the courts in argentinhave shown to be pretty strong in defending these rights. >> as for the changes inside argentina, this vote failedn i018. what was the single 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 president commit to thesewh reformsh had not been the case in 2018. and the prancedent the party, makes a strong effort to get the voes it was easier to get it passed in those conditions. and those included some ons that had not .een given in the 2018 vote >> professor maria victoria murillo, thank you very much. >> thanks to you. >> nawaz: sometimes, it is the little things that get us

right after the atn 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 type of pastime in an increasing worried world. you can't think of your troubles while solving a cross-word." farrar then became "new york times'" first crossword pule editor in 1942. the crossword has likely metne simila for millions of fans in 2020. tonight, author daviitt shares his humble opinion on the importance of this daily memento. th every morningafter i've had some coffee, i dnew york times crossword. i can't or even usually a pleasure, because it isn't. yet the need-one might even call it the compulsion-to get the crossword out of the way never abates. even on election day, i did the crossword. even when i was in the hospital recovering from an eme appendectomy, i did the t ossword.

the question i w pose now, as much to myself as to other crossword junkies, is why. in my case, the answer to this most questions, is my mother. concerned, she was both anwas aficionado and an intellectual athlete. for example, sheould do the crossword in pen-she rarely had to erase anything-and on occasion without looking at the down clues. i have enshrined an image of my mother sitting at our kitchen table in california,imes open before her, calmly entering letters into the grid. in 1985, my mother died-a sudden death when we expected a slow one, for she had been fighting cancer for many years. when my fa from the hospital, i found the crossword on which she must have been working. it was half-finished alfinished it for her. the riby which we memorialize the dead can be ar-so much so that we ma not even recognize them as ritual for grief itself has no solution. it has no answer key.

it doesn't mper if you use a il or a pen or a computer; it will never be finished. grief, in other words, is not a crossword. rather it's one of those 5,000 piece jigsaws that are circular 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 full cognizance that you maregard it as wishful thinking-if she might not ve left behind the half-finished crossword on purpose, as if to say, no, you will never, never solve the mystery of grief. don't even try. instead solve this. solve this. >> nawaz: anthat's the wshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbsur newsthank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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>> togram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viers like you. thank you. newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org lidia: buon giorno. i'm lidia bastianich,

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