♪ judy: good evening i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. balance of power -- voters head to the polls in georgia's runoff u.s. senate and thre of of the much of president-elect biden's agenda at stake. then. combating the coronavirus -- the u.s. sets another daily record for covid-19 infections as the vaccination campaign lags behind projections. plus. rethinking college -- lost revenue and cutbacks from pandemic-related closures have compelled many struggling institutions to make big cuts. >> i believe that covid s not created challenges, but has accelerated challenges. it's forced us all to think differently and quickly. judy: all that and more on

tonight's "pbs newshour." announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> architect, beekeeper, mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life.d. life well plan >> for 25 ars, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service atam can help find a plan fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. announcer: johnson & johnson. bnsf railway.♪

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities.kf more at rg. announcer: and with the support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ judy: all eyes tonight on the state of georgia, where the polls closed twoours ago in two runoff elections that will

determine control of the u.s. senate. we are watching the results as they come in between democrat rafael warnock, taking on incumbent republican kelly loeffler. you can seef with 60%e expected vote in at this hour, wa1%ock is leading to 49%. it is close. ossoff taking on incumbent david purdue. here with 61% of the expected vote in, perdue is leading, or rather we should say is now tied. awsat was aheaa moment ago. -- jon ossoff was ahead a moment ago. now we see it is a virtual tie between the republic jon ossoff, the democrat. of course, we are continuing to watch these numbers. let'she turn again to st fowler, a political reporter for georsta public broadg in the host of the ballot box battlegrou podcast.

you have watched this for days. rs tellinghe num yo >> the numbers are telling me that it is definitely the early vote and absentee vote that are makers here.e difference we are expecting about 4 million votes. that is a large turnout on election day. what we are seeing right now is many of the counties have the same margins in the esidential race, but the raw votes are lower in rural counties, which ymeans are david purdue, you are not going to be able to eat into as much of the lead over jon ossoff, or if you are the democrats, it means you got to hold onto a little extra more because you have places like atlanta coming in strong. judy: so at this point, are there parts of the state yet to come in, that advantage one side or another, democrat or republican >> for now, whate've seen is

that about two thirds of the atsentee balance, about one million ballots re counted already, those will be coming in for the larger, more democratic counties. those are the big pieces of the puzzle to help us figure out how e night is going to go. judy: we have looked at this ap voter survey and people o said they were definitely voting. laong other things, it is showing the vote in the runoff up 3% above what it s on november 3. advantage democrats? >> exactly. it tells you with all the money

in the campaigns, it tells you democrats will be showing out, especially in atlanta or south georgia who don't really see politicians come by. you are seeing that come back -- come off because to get democrats voting in atlanta. the other parts of the state might have less especially in a senate runoff, but you are seeing them show up in force. assad randolph county in southwest georgia is at almost 100% of the vember vote and they voted by democrats in a wider margin than they did for joeiden. if you add those up and pair it with the metroratlanta that is dly diversifying and shifting blue, that could be a winning coalition. judy: turn out so critical, especially in a place like what you described. gequickly, we see the yo vote , the youngest vote looking a

little better. does that saynying or do they make enough difference in the overall vote? >> i think when you are looking at the margins of a race like this and atate like georgia, which is truly as purple as you vote counts.s cliche but every i think that also goes to what the democrats have done trying to mobilizthe youth vote. for days that we weren't going to know thisy result ea on, but u were saying that the numbers are coming in fasterwe becausave been so much focus on november and he was saved -- thede pre was saying that the november election was fraudulent. what are you seeing in termsf the vote count and how it was counted? >> t state changed rules a required counties to begin

processing ballot he's -- ballots last monday. that includes processing signatures and doing everything but hitting tybee late and count. that is a time-consuming process that took place before the first vote was cast day. ju: in other words, you aree expecting to e results faster sooner, maybe in the next day? all right, stephen fowler, georgia blic broadcasting. we will be watching. in the days other news, the u.s. deh toll from covid-19 topped 350 6000, a dayer a.s. hospitalizations hit a recordmo high o than 128,000.

as infections spike in los angeles county, california, ambulance crews there have been told not to transport patichts with littlce of survival. meanwhile, more healthcare workers across the country received their second dose of the pfizer vaccine. , but in chicayor lori lightfoot called on the federal government to step up the pace distribution. >> if you want to have us bend this curve and give people confidence that they canesume eir normal lives, there must be an exponential increase in the amount of vaccine that is avaible to cities and towns all over this country. judy: overseas, britain re-imposed a 6-week national lockdown, to help stop t spread of a highly contagious variant of the virus. those new restrictions right after the news summary. the nation's top national in a rare joint stt todayedged that russia is likely responsible for the recent cyber hack against u.s. federal agencies.

they said multiple government agencies, but fewer than 10, were affected -- and that thebe ongoing attack appears to be a "intelligence gatheri effort." they did not disclose which agencies were affected, and to what degree. a wisconsin prosutor has itcided not to charge the police officer who shot and paralyzed a black man in kenosha, wisconsin last august. jab blake was shot seven times after police responded to ado stic dispute. the prosecor said blake admitted to investigators that he had a "razor blade-tyhi knife" ihand when he was shon. at a pressrence, blake's attorney demanded justice. >> the shooting of an individual seven times while w from the officer is nothing less than intentional. we believe that all of the elements of attempted homicide

were m. we are just immensely disappointed with that decision today. judy: also today, kyle rittenhouse, the illinois teenager who fatally shot two people in kenosha during protests after blake's shooting , pleaded not guilty to charges that include intentional homicide. he insisted he opened fire in self-defen. the trump administration isck rolling ore government regulations in its final days. the u.s.nterior department today scaled back a century-old law that protects most american wild bird species. meanwhile, the environmental protection agency finalized a rule that curbs the use of health studies in crafting public safeguards. it will require researchers to publicly disclose their raw data before the epa can rely on their conclusions. and, stocks bounced back on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 167 points to close above 30,391.

the nasdaq rose 120 points. and the s&p 500 added 26. still to come on the "newshour". the u.s. sets another recordecor covid-19 ions as vaccinations lag behind projections. we discuss the president's ongoing reful to concede the election with current and former u.s. senatoria pro-iran milin iraq grow increasingly hostile to the u.s. and much more. announcer: ts is the "pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walt cronkite school of journalism at arizona state universi. judy: the united kingdom is under national lockdown tonight, as a highly contagious mutation of covid-19 has hospitals thebu ling under the strain of new

patients. dael hewitt of "independen television news" has our report report the first full day of this third lockdown, even some semblance of normality feels right now a distant hope. a few were making the most of the small freedoms thariremain as the minister revealed a big jump in the number of people with coronavirus. >> people understand erwhelmingly that we have no choice when the office of us that more than 2% of theing population is now infected. that's over one million peopl in england. reporter: a number so alarming, the chief medical office felt it eded repeating in more stark terms. >> across the country as a whole, roughly one in 50 people have got the virus. reporter: getting that number do means at least another weeks in lockdown as the pm repeated that the route out remains with the vaccine. >> as of this afternoon, we've now vaccinated over 1.1 million

people in england and over 1.3 million across the u and that includes more than 650,000 people over 80. reporter: but even with all of the most vulnerable vaccinated , there came this morning -- that even 2021 may not be the end of restrictions our lives. >> things will be lifted stage by stage and will then get over time to a point where people say, "this level of risk is one that society is prepared to tolerate" and lift down to almost nrestrictions at all. we might have to bring a few in, in the next winter for example. that is possible because winter will benefit the virus y feeler: next winter like a lifetime away. the near empty street of exeter tonight speak of a cd country trying its best to get through this one. william: back here in the u.s., the virus' spread is especialln

bad in southlifornia. nearly one of every five people who is tested in los angeles county is positive. a record 74,000-plus new cases were recorded around the state yesterday. the death toll -- for just one day -- was nearing 400. because of this, hospitals are running short of crucial supplies, like oxygen. we are joined again by dr. christina ghal she's the director of health services for los angeles county. very good to have you back on the newshour.me the last e spoke to you with christmas day and you said at the times that hospitre nearing capacity back then. it sounds like it's gotten a lot worse since then. can you give us a sense of what days?appened in the last 10 >> thank you for having me. ethe past 10 days, have consistently see hospitals at on average 200 patients a day across los angeles county, and hospitalizations overall are at

8000. that means just over half of the hospital beds are filled with patients or patients with covid, and three quarters or more of the intensive care unit and icu beds that take care of those most critically ill are filled with covid pients. this is stretching staff, stretching the supplies, stretching the emergen medical system to a point that is l causing both of strain and pushing staff to the brink of exhaustion, but also is something that is not conditions where w providead to outstanding patient care for each and every person who needs hospital level care, those with covid and those without william: i know there is an f your -- effort to discharge as ny patients as quickly as possible, but given case numbers, i imagined the minute you empty a bed, it gets filled almost immediately. >> yes, it does, often several times over. right now we are admitting more

patients with covid then we are able to discharge. about 700 a day coming with pope -- covid but only 500 a day are able to be discharged. we're working to dischae just as quickly as hospitals can, but the entire health system, not just hospitals, are experiencing strain and stress, and in particular, staffing's shortages. that affects all the lower subacute facilitielledg-term nursing facilities and making it hard to move patients through the continuum of care. what we need to do is move them eneffiy. we need to save those precious acute hospital resouenes for the pa that need the most. william:e know that the vaccine rollout has been sort of erratic across the country and i know in california, you population.about 1% we've also heard reports at staff at nursing homes and

eshealth-care faciliho themselves are reluctant to take the vaccine. have you been hearing tt? if so, what is your sense of what is driving that reluctance? >> i think there's a number of things. first, it is important to remember that this is a provisionally approvedne. it has been shown to be safe. has been shown to be effective. i think there was aigorous process to demonstrate both its safety and effectiveness, but it is still a provisional approval. that may make some people nervous. i hope they look to the data and the safety da and realize it is safe, but many people understandably have some anxiety about that and don't necessarily want to be the first he vaccine. within the health system and the public hospitals and clinics we operate, we have seen good uptake of the vaccine around the order of 75% to 80%, at the high end of what we are experiencing across california. that still means 25% of health

care providers are taking d another minute setting at this point, they don't want to receive it. we are still connuing to message with them and encourage them to get the vaccine and we will keep that going. but there's ups understandably a lot of anxiety. william:ve we'lso seen that the uk's going to this incredible lockdown because of the n variant. how concerned are you that this is a real driver of the cases you are seeing in los angeles? >> it is certainly psible. there have been several cases in southern california. while the pubeach officials have not yet captured or identified that particular riant in the samples they have tested from los angeles county, they are testing only a small fraction of the positive case counts and i think it would be hard to believe 't variant ist out there. how much that variant versus the other ones are can tripping to

wee high case countson't know at this point. whicheverariant it is, i think the message is still the same. irthe is virtually everywhere in los angeles county right now. 1%, if not more of individuals are infected andponfectious, and ntially actively infecting others. everyone needs to be doing everything they can to protect themselves and protect others and always assume everyone they are interactg with might have covid. william: dr. christina ghaly, health services for los angeles county, thank you so much and good luck out there. >> thank you so much. judy: it is a transition like no other with a president denying a election resul defying the democratic process. lisa desjardins reports on the latest.

lisa: rising in washington today, both anxiety and volume level. >> stop the steal, stop the steal! lisa: hundreds gathered outside the capitol in support of president trump, a preview ofto what's expectee a much larger protest tomorrow, as congress begins certifying election results. overnight outsidsenator josh hawley's home in virginia. protesters from a group called shut down d.c. railed against hawley's plan to object to election results going on his por and using megaphones. >> shame on josh hawley. lisa: on twitter, the republican said he would not be intimidated by threats, vandalism and "leftwing violence". he is part of a group of dozens of house and senate republicans plan to challenge the results tomorrow over unproven allegations of fraud largely fueled by president trump. in dalton, georgia last night he campaigned for the two republican senate candidates and, more often, for overturning

the election. >> that was a rigged election, but we are still fighting it. lisa: h he pinne and pressure on his vice president. he explained on twitter that he reject fraudulently chosenr electors." in reality though, while the vice president will preside at the joint session he has no , power over electoral votes. any challenges will have tcome from lawmakers. objections could force votes but none are expected to prevail or change the results. forws the "ur," i'm lisa desjardins. judy: as the ranking member of the senate rules committee, minnesota senator amy klobuchar will play a key rolerow when congress meets to certify the electoral college vote. she joins us now from shingt. senator klobuchar, thank you so much for joining us again. constitutional scholars are saying this is the greatest

challenge to american democracy sie the civil war. how do you see this? sen.ht klobuchar: they are r we have a group of senators and houseembers that are literally just doing the president's hedding instead of respecting the will ofmerican public. the first thing i want your viewers to know is at on january 20, at 12:0 1:00 p.m., joe biden and kabela harris will naugurated. that is because the way the process works,t is set up by an old statute in the 1800s, that we know that we have a growing number of what i call coup fighters, senators from both parties, up to over 24 or 25 republicans who have now made public statements, in addition to all the democats, as well as number, a majority in the house that will stand up to this and make very clear. you keep saying certified, judy. i want to correct that. we won't be certifyin anything.

we are just receiving and counting the votes and there is a process to object. you have to have a member from the senate and the house. but the votes have already been certified in every single state by both republican and democratic secretaries of state's and governors. judy: the reason i'm asking these questions isecause there is still some doubt on the part of many people, even people who support joe biden, on whether or hat can bes anything ne at this stage to prevent his becoming president. tomorrow, you have challenges by republicans to three states' electoral results. a couple of th enough to undo joe biden's sen. klobuchar: the point is joe biden got more than enough electoral votes and that is what will prevail. i know that these people, two of

whom we know are running in 2024, josh harley and ted cruz, have garnered a lot of attention. bu look at the comments from other republican leaders, from mitt romney, the party's candidate for president. from ben sasse, people like susan collins and la murkowski, and john thune, the majority whip. remember that. we know this is high-stakes. by the way, i note with the time here, voters in georgia or people who know people in georgia, you have 20 minutes left, little more than that to get to the polls. if you are in line by 7:00, you can still vote. we know what is at stake here. tomorrow, this isn't just going to be a partisan fight. this is going to be a fight between those who are standing up for democracy and those who are literally seeking to undermine the votes of the people of this country. judy: president trump is sayin i'm quoting him, last night he

ntsaid he hopes vice presi prints -- hence "comes through, ," but then today he tweeted that the vice president has the po reject fraudulently voted electors. that is not true but the president said it. se klobuchar: well if you believe that, you believe everything he saysn twitter. the answer is straightforward. the vice o presidethe united states whether it was joe biden four years ago or mi n pence today the decider. they are the preande are. theyove things along, but the law is the law. even if mike pce decided to do that, and we have no reason to believe he will, then someone wouldso object. one would object for sure. we have a plan for it. tthan same rules apply. we go back to the senate. the house stays there. two hours of debate, depending on the state, that the electors are entered into.

then we vote. that is how we will win and that is how joe and kamala will be inaugurated january 20. again, we don' that he wants and will, but he is not the decider, we are. judy: ithere any argument that the republicans are makingbout the legitimacy of election results and electoral results in y of these states that gives you concern? sen. klobuchar: no. they have been rejected by over judges, including trump appointed, republican appointed judges. in michin, a state they talked about a lot, eight lawsuits rejected or thdrawn flat out. in wisconsin, seven lawsuits or -- rejected or withdrawn. georgia, eight lawsuitshat have been withdrawn or rejected straight out. republican secretaries of state like in georgia standing up for the results against the bullying

and the thats from the president. something is goie on here at cal level in our country and luckily for the people of america, some of the republicans in the senate are listening. judy: and finally, what about this argument that some republicans make, that there is just so much doubt out there, it is better to have this "audit," which a number of republican senatorsre calling for, let's spend 10 more days auditing theu s in critical states where the results were close. what is the harm in that? what is yournswer? sen. klobuchar: it's the same. it is josh charlie -- josh hawley dressed up in a different package by ted cruz. it would require them to go against the will of the people in states. if they think it is so screwed up, which they kno wit is not, th didn't they insist on an audit in their own elections,

in these senators that just got sworn inunday? they didn't, because they know it is bull. prevail.he end, democracy will judy: and for you tomorrow, how fragile -- how careful do you ive to be, i guess the term as a teller? republican teller.ic teller and as you watch all this, how precise, how careful do you and other people watching this have to be? sen. klobuchar: i think people should know it is bipartisan. senator blunt and i are the two appointed and we see plea -- simply lead the debate. we have so many rate senators from the state being disputed so they wl take a major role and we will make our case. that is really my role. for me, that is a culmination of working on election issues in

tsthe senate and sing atte at voter suppression, seeing joe biden get ove80 million votes, the most ever received a presidential candidate in the history of awirica, and k that this to me is the last time he will be declad victor because he has been declared victor, i don't know, a dozen times, while donald trump still denies it. then we head straight to the inauguration were donald trump will no longer be the president. judy: senator amy klobuchar, we thank you once again. sen. klobuchar: thanks judy, it was great to be on. ♪ judy: as if there weren't enough already going on, all 10fo livig er secretaries of defense signed a column published in the hi"wton post" that urged the sunday trump administration to allow a peaceful transition of

weand to keep the pentagon out of it. among other points, it said if the the military is involved it "would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitl territory." the bipartisan group was responding to news reports that president trump might employ the military to rein in power. one of the signatories, former seetary of defense and former senator william cohen, joins me now. thank you so much for being here. what made you decide that this is something that you needed to do &? as i have mentioned, each of us have our ow reason why, but the consensus was there were signs worrying us that felt compelled to put the letter out. for me, it was a culmination of things the president has done.

y m judgment, he has abused the military, using them for political purposes. the march for layette square, he used the chairman of the joint chiefs and secretary of defense to march in a parade to the church front where he held a bible. there have been other the use of paramilitary forces, undeclared u.s. government emoyees shooting rubber bullets at the heads of protesters in seattle. the call for militias to stand down and stand by. and thenasally a call coming from joe biden -- not a call personally to me, but a pubc declaration that joe biden and his administration, the to be adnistration, were not getting sufficient information. that information was being withheld from them. then you have the surfacing of an allegation about martial law being floated in the white

house, and then lieutenant general flynn talking about it publicly. all of tinse cer influenced my judgment that it was time for us to coalesce and say something about the duty of those at the pentagon to make sure thed are not u abused in a way that would involve the military in our political system. judy: i know that among other things, the a is conceut whether they president might invoke something called insurrection act. tell us very briefly what that is and what it would mean if the president did invoke it. >> it would mean that there is sufficient turmoil on our streets in the united states that are beyond theontrol of local officials, police, and other state officials in each given state and that it's important to call upon the military tor repressppress the violence. the danger here is that the president is saying people are angry out there and people think fraud is committed. why?

because the president of the united states is putting out a aulent statement to make people angry and then he can cite and anger about why it should be challenged or the same thing here is as far as the tdangert the president might encourage people to commit violence in our streets and then use the violence as a rson to invoke the insurrection act. this is something we ve to be very careful about. watching what he does, what he's capable of.we have seen there il too t lowo which he will stoop to stay in power. he's been tethe peo and the people have rejected him. he's been to the c rrts that haected him. he's been to the governors who rejected him. now 's going to congress. it's a dangerous period of time for us because we know in the transition phase, it is dangerous with other countries trying to take advantage. judy: are the military leaders

obligated to follow in order from the president, if he were to order them to step in somehow erand help him hold onto p >> those in the military are obligated to follow the orders of the commander-in-chief if they are legal, if they are ethical, and if they are constitutional they have the right to walk away and say mca president, 't carry out this order, because they cel beved of duty or be fired. but they are able to make thepo judgment based their own assessment of the situation. highly trained. educated and they know what the intelligence is telling them, what's taking foreign capitals and elsewhere so they have therrbligation to out a legitimate authorized and legal order but alsoil the responsy to make a judgment saying this is antithetical to my personal

beliefs and i cannot carry this d out in gnscience. ordinarily, they would carry out the order but it depends. judy:ec i'm asking in partse the commander of u.s. nlear weapons was asked if he would obey an orde from the president to strikiran's nuclear program. he said he would follow any legale orders given. so we are trying to understand what that ans. iran is a different mood -- move, but we are in the waning days of the presidency trying to understand what the military would be obligated to do. >>f the president gave a ordinarily, the officer in charge, through the secretary of defense would obligated to carry that out. that again requires those in e chain of command to make an assessment. is this done for legitimate

reasons? is this something done for purely political opportunity? they could refuse to carry out that oer. you might recall the impeachment of president nixon,/and or put out the word -- celeste linger follot the word not to the chairman of the joint chiefs, i would expect the acting secretary of defense would do something similar to that. if iran is doing something attacking forces in the region, obviously the commander-in-chief is going to order a response t that and a serious one. anything clearly s and givedo presiden he is looking forward to to inflict damage. judy: finally, as a republican, in just ate se, what is your reaction to the republican

senators who torrow will challenge the electoral vote count? >> disappointed. that is the mildest word i can use. i think they are not living up to their oigations, much as vice president pence is now being tortured, at least psychologically, on whether to support president trump or the constitution. there should be no questio his obligation to the constitution. i say that to the members of the senate trying to come upra with thisulent allegation. i thinkli it is simply cal in nature and they are taking a pass knowing it is not going to pass so they can say we supported president trump and thereforee are the heirs of trumpism going forward ifhe president decides not to run again. arjudy: former secrof senatorand former william cohen, thank you very much for being with us.

tensions between the.s. and iran have been heating up over the past few weekss the one year anniversary approached of the american killing of a topia irgeneral in iraq. militias there, with ties to iran, still want revenge. is past weekend iraqis , converged and demonstrated their opposition to the united states.ew our" special correspondent jack hewson has this report from baghdad. reporter: thousands gathered at baghdad's tahrir square to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of qasem suleimani, by anamerican drone straie on baghdad'ort road. soleimani ran much of shia iran's military operations in the region, as head of the elite "quds force". reviled as a terrorist by the u.s. and many in the region, he was celebrated in equal measur by others. riding with him that night was abu mahdi al muhandis the deputy leader of iraq's popular f mobilisatices, a

collection of largely-shia paramilitaries, many with strons o iran. the pmf were instrumental in the fight against the sunni extremists of isis, and for pmf supporters like hussein ali,the killings are a point of great >> after this achievement in the iraqi victory over isis, america came to kill these leaders. reporter:he.s. kept troops in country following the 2018 idestruction of ts caliphate inside iraq to press the offensive against remnants of the group. of equal importance though, using iraq aa strategic base against iran. rocket attacks againstta u.s. sffed installations began to increase. very few people want tlitake responsi for the rocket attacks against the american embassy, but as you can see from the public opinion here, there is significant appetite for more of it.p president trs said if one american is killed in the course of these attacks, then there will be reprisals.

and if that's the case, there will be significant escalation. the asssination was the peak of a series of strikes and counter strikes between e u.s. and iran and pro-iranian groups in late 2019, and early last year -- a proxy conflict on iraqi soil. in response, the iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution to eject u.s. troops. >> we want these decisions to be implem vted. the peoped on the decision to remove the american forces. we want to remove all american forc peacelly, and if they e not achieved by peaceful means, then the people will resist expelling these forces.rt re: with 2500 u.s. troops still in country, tha resistance is made realiat by continuecks on convoys, and lands in the form of rockets attacks launched on the u.s. embassy in baghdad. the u.s. reportedly threatened to evacuate its embassy here, modern -- i among the large the world, last fall. the last attack was on december 20 as 8 rockets were fired at the us embassy. red tracers from the efeassy's dee system returned fire. no group has claimed responsibility but government

forces arrested members of a prominent pro-iranian faction called asaib ahl al haq, or aah. masked men claiminearrest, members of aah made threats against iraqi prime minister mustafa al kadhimi posted on social media. aah spokesperson mahmoud involvement, either with the attack or the video threats, and said that one of their arrested associates, had been forced to confess. >> they tortured him in order to extract a confession from him that he is a participant in this operation and that he works with rockets. this matter is all a lie, there is nothing of this subject. reporter: the iraqi security forces denied claims of torture. but the topic of who is behind the attacks against americans in iraq is an ongoing debate among baghdad's community among political and security analysts. >> that's what we have seen

throughout 2020, smaller groups outside the pmf frameworks and there concern there's not enough control over these groups and they seem to b l atle more dangerous and reckless. reporter: and these new subgroups manot be acting in the interests of iran. soleimani's replacement visited iraq in november as reported t discourage paramilitaries from attacking u.s. militaries in the last days of the trump admistration. >> i don't think they want to escalate. i think it's important to have a balance between keeping pressure up on th u.s., meeting the demands and messaging for domestic purposes, and also reminding and giving space for the next u.s. administration to enter into serious negotiationse with reporter: it's that dicate balance and capacity for miscalculaty n that has mre and in the region still on edge. four pbs "nehour", i jack am hewson in baghdad.to judy: aniscuss that

tension further, i'm joined by nick schifrin. we know that there were no attacks over the anniversary this weekend, but iran has made two significant moves and so s the state depackment today. the iranian revolutionary guard seized a south korean flag oil tanker and iran enriched up to 20% uranium at the nuclear plant. that lowers the so-called breakout time if iran wantedcr o te a nuclear weapon. both moves remind the incoming biden administration of the leverage points and priorities ahead of expected diplomatic talks. but they are not done yet, they sanctioned 17 iranian companiesn op of 1500 people and entities already sanctioned. judy: looking over the last few days, what steps did the u.s. take in advance of the killing anniversary and how high was concerned? officials and iraqcialstion

told me they were very concerned a milit in iraq would attack the u.s. so the administration was trying to send anified message of deterrence. twitter threat and a rare photo release from the navy of a submarine off e coast and b-52s sent to the middle east. enafter that, thegon ordered the aircraft home from the middle east and a senior military official says the decision was made over thery advice of miliders who said bringing it home would send iran mixed signals. tministration officials say they were trying send a calibrated message that the u.s. would respond militarily if iran attacked and killed a u.s. service person btu didn't ly want to go to war. then the mixed msagesot even more mixed. would stay in the region after all and a military official says the white house made a

last-minute decision tt surprised even the pentagon. i have spoken to independent s analysts about td they say it is bordering on incompetence and a seor administration official admits there was notte any stc sense behind suddenly keeping the nimitz in the regionre because tas no new intelligence that would require it to stay. bottom-line, the nimitz remains as do the tensions between the u.s. and iraq. judy: a lot of drama and so much to follow in these first days of the new year. nick schifrin, thank you very much. nick: thank you. american colleges and universities have contracted the coronavirus since march, enough to fill four rose bowls.

as campuses prepare to start a new se mounting. toll is in some cases, the survival of entire institutions could be on the line. the covid relief package included $ll billion for es and universities, but schools say it doesn't come close to what they need. . hari sreenivasan has our story part of ouongoing series, "rethinking college." nick: >> wh you get into the classrooms and you are walking into the dining hall, when you go into science lab, you realize that this is not a normal year. reporter: a squint ha this almost looks like fall semester at ohio wesleyan university a , liberal arts school of 1500ts students just ide columbus. >> grab some purell. >> we have done surveillance testing of abo 50% to 15% of the student body. yesterday we tested 72. rerter: so, this is just part of campus life. >> just part of campus life. reporter: but beyond testing,

masks, and raven go meals there's something even more , unsettling afoot here. rock jones: normally this place would be packed. reporter: ohio wesleyan president rock jones recently announced that his school would be eliminating 18 majors -- nearly a fifth of its offerings -- and they'reutting 20 % of the university faculty and staff. it's a move expected to save nearly $12 million. nearly eve college and university surviving the pandemic has a cash flow per - rock jones: we refunded the room and board fees that students had paid for the second half of the spring semester. we canceled our planned three percent increase in tuition, room, and board for this year, of revenue.nificant loss we increased our financial aid budget, because we knew families were having financial struggles with the recession, and unemployment numbers increasing. and then we've had added expenses for testing. reporter: so, you've increased your cost, decreased your revenuesll to a lot of es, that's not good math. rock jones: well, it's not good math and again we've found ways to reduce expenses.

reporter:reporter: and it is on top of math that has been bad for a decade. since 2010, enrollment at two- and fona-year colleges onwide has dropped by about 2.5 million, driv in part by a smaller population of high school students moving directly to college and concerns over the skyrocketing cost of college education. a team had already begun looking for cuts before the pandemic. >> i believe that covid has not created chalcenges but has rated challenges. it has forced us all to think differently and quickly. reporter: last spring, that meant transitioning to online only education within days. and this academic year for hools like ohio wesleyan, it also meant finding a way to bring students back for a very different version of theceollege experi >> feels almost like a zombie town. everyone's walking around basically faceless because alu can't see them. self-quarantined for 22 days

last semester after repeated exposures to the virus. but he says being on campus was woh the challenges. lif needed the social even if it was going to be restricted due to covid, all of my friends are here. that's where i took a risk. reporter: not so for everyone. more than 560,000 undergduates in the u.s. decided not to return to school this fall, either in-person or online. that's a 3.6% drop in 2019. freshman attendance saw an precedented 13.1% drop, according to the national student clearinghouse research center. the pandemic has cost u.s. schools, by one estimate, $120 billion and counting.it is deval liberal arts schools, to be sure, but also bigger public support plummet in recent years. dan hurley: the state universities of michigan, all 15 of them, are facing the most of them ever have since their

founding. reporter: dan hurley the chief executive officer of the michigan association of state universities. >> as an example, michigan state university, one of the largest, right now they have 15,000 to 17,000 beds on campus completely empty because of the pandemic. reporter: michigan state went almo entirely virtual this fall meaning30 the 5 campus -- acre campus was almost desolate. >>g din centers, summer youth programs, conference services programs, all of that auxiliary enterprise went away, and with it tens of tens of millions of dollars. and then you look at the athletic enterprises u of m and michigan state amongi think that's going to be an impact in the tens and tens of millions of dollars. and for those institutions, those dollars don't just benefit ye athletic enterprise, t help subsidize other aspects of

the university of michigan. reporter: in ann arbor, the university of michigan tried to offer students some semblance of normalcy with mask mandates ind routine te but within weeks, covid cases surged. it didn't surprise nursi student christian magno. >> we are very tempted to go and hang out with a lot of people, because it's the culture that this campus is. reporter:be in octor, undergraduate students were ordered to stay in their dorms until early november to help bring down the infthtion rate. an have been asked not to come back to campus after winter break unless necessary. most housing contracts for winter and scaing have been eled. >> i know ere's a lot of controversy, would you take into consideration human lives, it reduces the amount of interaction people have with each oth. reporter: but these moves come at a cost, hurley says. >> there's going to continue to be a lot of belt tightening. reporter: u.s. colleges and universities have shed nearly at tenth ir employees in recent months, tied to both the

pandemic and longer-term challenges, including adjunct 2900 professors at city university onew york. campus-wide furloughs at university of arizona. more than 230 college athletic teams nationwide have been cut or slated for elimination. in ohio, urbana university, founded in 1850,lelosed shop coly this year due to the pandemic and years of low enrollment. eralysts say hundreds of o are at risk of following suit in the next few years. hannah carpenter is a senior at ohio wesleyan. how are the changes the univ comes to the bottom line going to affect you? >> it's hard to see programs lose funding that you want to see continue because you know that part of the liberal arts university experience is having all of those different fields available for you to explore. so, it definitely is not the best feeling to know that your university is struggling financially, and that univ struggling.ywhere are

but i know at the other endf this, there will be opportunities for growth in the end and things will eventually inbe on the up and up aga reporter: at least, that's the hope. for the pbs "newshour," i'm hari sreenivasan, in delaware, ohio.d judy: the ic is taking a particularly dramatic toll on students of color. we'll examine why in the next installment of our "rethiinking -- rethinking college" series, next tuesday. and that is the "newshour" for tonight. please join us tomorrow starting at 12:30 p.m. eastern for special live coverage of the historic electoral college count in congress. we will report on unprecedentede to challenge the election result. you can look for us and that on your local pbs stations and online on our web and social media pages. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs "newshour," thank you, please stay safe, and we will see you soon. announcer: major funding for the

"pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations i education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was madible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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