captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, getting the vaccine-- a new single-dose inoculation is approved, as the c.d.c. chief warns against rolling back safeguards amid a potential fourth surge in cases. then, abuse in the ranks-- the pentagon announces a new commission to address sexual assault in the military. we speak to survivor advocates about solutions. >> the sexual assault advocacy program has to be moved away from the chain of command immediately so we can actually have some teeth to hold people accountable. >> woodruff: and the party line-- former president trump's return to the stage sets the

tone for the g.o.p.'s future. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> before we talk about your investments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway.

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station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the first batch of the new covid vaccine from johnson & johnson began shipping around the country today. all told, nearly four million doses are expected to be delivered this week, 20 million by the end of the month. unlike the other two vaccines, this vaccine is given as just one dose. so far, about 76 million people a number of states are loosening restrictions. massachusetts governor charlie baker lifted capacity limits on restaurants entirely and partially on theaters today. governors in iowa and montana lifted mask mandates recently. today rochelle walensky warned that states should be careful about >> at this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.

these variants are a very real threat to our people and our progress. now is not the time to relax the critical safeguards that we know can stop the spread of covid-19 in our communities-- not when we are so close. we have the ability to stop a potential fourth surge of cases in this country. please stay strong in your conviction. >> woodruff: elementary schools in at least seven states began reopening. california has struck a deal to do so by the end of the month. we look at the latest with dr. ezekiel emanuel. he is a former advisor to the biden transition team on covid, and he is a vice probost of global initiative at the university of pennsylvania. dr. ezekiel emanuel, welcome back to the "newshour." we just heard dr. rochelle walensky of the c.d.c. warning of perhaps restrictions being lifted too early. is that a serious concern?

>> doctor: i totally agree with her. it is a very serious concern. we have a lot of that british u.k. b117 variant. it is much more transmissible. it seems to be more lethal. and we are seeing good news, big declines in deaths, big declines in cases, but we should not celebrate too prematurely. and the idea of lifting restrictions on the number of people who can dine indoors, getting rid of masks, that is too premature. we need to have many more people vaccinated. we need to go through the next two to three months of getting more people vaccinated before we really lift those restrictions. we can do it. the peak was just six weeks ago. we've been in this, you know, heightened state of public health alert for the last six, seven weeks. we should not just rush out and reverse all of the advances we've had, especially with these new variants.

she is 100% right. >> woodruff: so how widespread are these variants in the united states? and why exactly are they such a worry? >> doctor: we don't know exactly how widespread they are because we're not doing enough netic testing of the viruses and variants. we're getting to about 14,000, i think is the latest count, and a lot of us experts think we need to be at 50,000 genetic sequences per week. if you look at places like california, florida, georgia, a lot -- almost all of their new cases are these variants, and that is very worrisome because they are 40% to 50% more transmissible. they double every 10 days or something. this is the kind of sequence we saw in britain, portugal, and other countries that had many more people in their

hospitals, many more people requiring the intensive care unit. we've just come off this very, very bad surge. the peak was, like, january 8th in cases, and january 21 in attention just six weeks ago. we don't want to repeat that with these new variants by easing up. the new variants are worrisome, and we need to take a lot more precaution, and not just celebrate the good news of the graphs coming down. >> woodruff: that is concerning. i do want to ask you about the new vaccine that has been approved. johnson & johnson, one dose. and johnson & johnson is a funder of the "newshour." this vaccine being out there, how much difference is going to make in ensuring that americans, all who want it, get vaccinated? >> doctor: well, we've, so far, vaccinated

50 million people, 25 million who have had two doses of the mrna. we're going to get maximum 20 million doses in march. so that's 20 million more people who are vaccinated by johnson & johnson, in addition to the moderna and the pfizer vaccine. so it is helpful. it is additive, and it is also very good for communities where getting the people back for a second dose may be difficult, people who are released from jail, people who are homeless. but we shouldn't restrict it to just the vulnerable populations and giving it a very bad reputation. it should be available to lots of people, but make sure that the people recalled for the second dose is harder to do. so i think it is helpful. and, you know, we'll still take many more months to get to 70% of the population vaccinated. >> woodruff: i do want to ask you about the

johnson & johnson, dr. emanuel, because, as you know, it is shown to be more than 60% efficacious, very effective against preventing severe cases and deaths. but peopleif there is some question about whether people take pfizer or moderna, with higher 90% affective, versus johnson & johnson, in the sense that vulnerable populations, people of color, are getting the johnson & johnson -- how can we be sure those decisions are made fairly? >> doctor: first of all, if someone came and offered me the johnson & johnson vaccine, i would take it in a nano second, as soon as possible, right here, please. it's 100% affective at preventing hospitalization and death. it is 86% affective against preventing severe disease that might not require hospitalization but is very severe for you. that is very affective.

and that's a vaccine i would want. the way to prevent the sort of bad taint of this vaccine is not to focus on the 66%, but to focus on what we really care about: how much does it prevent hospitalization and death? how much does it prevent severe disease? second of all, we have to make sure that the people getting this vaccine are not only minorities, and that it becomes somehow a second are class vaccine. it is not a second-class vaccine. as i said, i would take it in a heartbeat. i would recommend my children, my brothers, take it in a heartbeat. i have recommended it to people who have been ofered that. i think it is actually quite a good vaccine and we should make sure that it is broadly used and not targeted only to people who are vulnerable. >> woodruff: dr. ezekiel emanuel, we thank you, as always. >> doctor: thank you, judy. nice to be here.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, senate democrats have abandoned attempts to include a minimum wage hike in the covid relief bill. the senate parliamentarian says keeping it in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package that passed the house would violate senate rules. as an alternative, senator bernie sanders and other progressives called for higher taxes on companies that don't raise wages, but it was widely reported today that that effort has collapsed. wall street surged today on stimulus bill hopes, a third covid vaccine and easing interest rates. the dow jones indutrial average gained 603 points-- 2%-- to close at 31,535. the nasdaq rose 396 points-- 3%.

and the s&p 500 added 90 points-- also 2%. the biden administration stepped up warnings today to migrants, not to rush to the u.s. southern border. lately, "border patrol" agents have been catching more than 200 children a day, crossing without parents. homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas said the biden administration is doing >> we are flooding the space with that critical message. i cannot overstate its criticality for the wellbeing of those very individuals who are thinking of coming-- not to mention the wellbeing and stability of the border as we seek to rebuild it from its dismantled state. >> woodruff: mayorkas said undoing the damage already done to sepated families-- and thousands of asylum seekers-- is a top priority. meanwhile, president biden met

virtually with mexican president andrés manuel lópez obradoto discuss the border and the pandemic. in myanmar, crowds returned to the streets a day after security forces killed 18 people. police in yangon shot rubber bullets and fired tear gas, leaving medics to treat the injured. the leader of the military junta said protest leaders will be punished. meanwhile, ousted leader aung san suu kyi, made a virtual court appearance, as officials filed more charges against her. the united nations appealed to donor countries today to help yemen, where six years of war has killed some 130,000 people. rebels aligned with iran have been fighting a coalition led by saudi arabia and backed by the united states. the u.n. secretary-general asked for more than $3.8 billion today, to head off famine. >>t is impossible to overstate

the severity of the suffering in yemen. more than 20 million yemenis need humanitarian assistance and protection, with women and children among the hardest hit. that means two out of every three people in yemen need food aid, healthcare or other life- saving support from humanitarian organizations. >> woodruff: in the end, donors pledged only $1.7 billion-- less than half what the u.n. wanted. a paris court today convicted former french president nicolas sarkozy of corruption and influence peddling. he was given one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence. sarkozy was president from 2007-2012. he was found guilty of illegally trying to obtain information in a legal case after he left office. back in this country, the u.s. senate moved this evening to confirm miguel cardona for secretary of education.

earlier, the judiciary committee endorsed merrick garland for attorney general. his nomination now goes to the full senate for a confirmation vote. and the senate also made a bit of history today. "ann" berry was sworn in secretary of the senate. she becomes the first black american to hold that position. the secretary oversees day-to- day legislative and administrative operations. still to come on the "newshour," survivor advocates discuss solutions to the problem of sexual assault in the military; new york gernor andrew cuomo faces another allegation of sexual harassment; former president trump's return highlights the party line for republicans; and much more.

>> woodruff: the pentagon has named a new commission that has 90 days to recommend solutions to the longstanding and widespread issue of sexual assault in the military. nick schifrin speaks to advocates for survivors about some proposed changes. >> when service members report a sexual assault, by law they're assigned a victim advocate. as you'll hear from four victim advocates, the new commission must tackle fundamental problems. >> over the past decade, the number of reported sexual assaults has doubled from 3,327 in 2010, 7,825 in 2019, but the actual number, including those not reported, is estimated to be 20,000. in a briefing hast month, the army admitted soldiers are more likely to get

raped by someone in the aim uniform as you, than to be shot by the enemy. and you're more likely not able to get away with your crime. if we're at home, if i can't trust you to c take care of me then, how can i trust you in the army. >> reporter: sexual assault response coordinator and victim advocate. he calls the commission announcement a little progress. >> it is a good sign we're continuing to take measures on trying to resolve this issue. it is a bad time that we have to take those measures. >> if you had to grade how the military has done stamping out sexual assault, what grade would be it? >> it would be an absolute fortunes. >> reporter: marianne bustin was a sexual assault and response coordinator in uniform, and after retirement, as a contractor. she says commanders often care more about their careers than victims. >> they said, okay, we've

had three sexual assaults, five sexual assaults, instead of saying, oh, my gosh, what do we need to do? they start looking at it, is this going to look poorly on me. >> let's say the commander didn't believe it was sexual assault. they're like nope, that was consentual. that will stop it in its tracks rike there. >> reporter: >> reporter: lindsey knapp is now the executive director of the organization combat sensual sexual assault. she says commanders are especially prone to cover-ups. >> those commanders are more apt to not act in the interest of their service members. that level of command is where the problem lies, where the victim reports the commander would say that was consentual, because they don't want to have to deal with the fact that somebody who had power and authority over this victim was a rapist. >> the chain of command made their own

determination. they don't get to do that. an allegation, regardless of how valid you think it is, has to be, by law, forwarded to law enforcement. they are mandated reporters. >> reporter: amy frank has been a civilian army victim advocate and program manager sin 2013 and founded "never alone" vocy. ng awlutns power that miitary commanders curreny hold over victims advocates and whether to advocate or punish. >> the sexual assault advocacy program has to be moved away from the chain of command immediately. the special victims' council and the response coordinators and all of the advocates need to be moved in their own command, away from the chain of command, so we can actually have some teeth to hold people accountable, so that when people don't do the right thing, that we have our de with tm.

♪♪ >> reporter: the changes must begin at the beginning, at bootcamp, with better training a discussion about culture, says mcnair. >> you have to make the water so toxic to swim that they can't attack people. instead of saying, hey, this is the definition of sexual assault. this is how many days you have to report sexual assault. let's pair that information with an actual real discussion that is generated to attack and to change the culture. >> reporter: advocates say that culture change must include respecting victims and their advocates. 66% of victims report retaliation most often from their chain of command. in 2019, amy frank was suspended after saying that her commanders were mishandling sexual assault cases. last year the guard fired marianne bustin, and she is currently fighting to get her job back. >> my command brought me up on assault allegations,

and terminated me. i brought up sexual harassment at the unit, and they didn't want to hear about it. >> reporter: and lindsey knapp says she was fired after questioning whether he commander was creating barriers to report sexual assault. >> if it was working retaliation would be plummetted, but that is not what we're seeing. because when folks like me report our service members are being retaliated against for reporting, they fire us. and then that sends a clear message to the unit, do not report your sexual assault because we are coming for you. >> it is not working. if it was working, we wouldn't be having this conversation. if it was working, i wouldn't have young soldiers having violent sexual assaults, with their bones broken, and people saying that that was consentual sex. >> the most pressing task facing this commission is accountability for those who have committed sexual assault. >> reporter: on friday,

the pentagon introduced lynn rosenthal as the new commission's head. she is a former obama administration white house advisor on violence against women. >> for many, their dreams were shattered by the trauma of sexual violence and sometimes retaliation for coming forward. >> reporter: mcnair says after the abuse he has experienced and witnessed in victims, he doesn't want his daughter to follow in his footsteps. >> my daughter is the age now when i joined the military. i've seen the of the military. >> reporter: it is a generations-old problem that now extends across generations. for the pbs "newshour," i'm nick schifrin.

>> woodruff: governor andrew cuomo is under fire. john yang begins there. >> yang: judy, new york attorney general letitia james formally announced today that she will hire a special deputy to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations against governor cuomo. it comes after a second female aide told "the new york times" of what she calls cuomo's "predatory behavior." earlier, a different former staffer accused the governor of sexually harassing her. jesse mckinley is the "new york times" bureau chief. >> jesse, thanks so much for being with us. you interviewed both these women. what did they tell you that the governor did? >> well, in each case it is different, but in lindsey's case, she alleges that the governor had harassed her on sevseveral occasions between

2016 to 2018, leading up to a kiss in his manhattan office, which is the culmination of a couple of years of behavior by the governor. in the case of charlotte bennett, this was a more detailed description that we got from her. the governor basically calling her into his office and doing some work, and then the conversation really turning to kind of an uncomfortable terrain, where the governor was asking her her opinions on monogomy, whether or not she slept with older men, whether or not she thought age differences were a problem in relationships. all of which led her to believe that the governor was basically propositioning here. >> and the governor's response to this has evolved from the first allegation. how has it changed over time? >> well, in the case of lindsey bowlin, he said it wasn't true. in the case of charlotte bennett, he basically said it was a mentor relationship and perhaps

she misunderstood. and then last night, sunday night, he came up with a more elaborate statement, in which she said i've been known to tease people and kid around the office, and perhaps these remarks were misconstrued. i do apologize if they were misunderstood. and then charlotte bennett herself came out today, monday afternoon, and rejected that wholeheartedly. and said basically the governor was engaging in predatory behavior, calling on other women who have experienced this to step forward, and basically saying that his behavior fits the perfect stereotype of someone who sexually harasses women. >> and he has changed what he is willing to have the investigation look like. >> i think he had hoped to control the situation by appointing someone with close ties to a top aide of his. that was rejected. and then he tried to get letitia james to

co-sponser and that was rejected. and now he is allowing letitia james to lead this investigation, to appoint an investigator presumably with subpoena power, which is a pretty big stick i the investigation. that means let letitia games can get the witnesses and documents and recordings. >> a little less than a year ago the governor's response to the pandemic was being praised, and people were even talking about him being the democratic presidential nominee. and now there is an investigation of what appears to be underreporting of nursing home deaths and now these allegations. he is about to come to the point where he has got to make a decision whether he is going to run for a fourth term. what has all of this done to his political standing? >> well, it has not been a good couple of months, let's put it that way. i think that most people

assumed he would roll to a fourth term next year, in 202. now that is a much more rocky path. some people here in albany and elsewhere have been talking about resignation. that is something that obviously the governor would resist. he has said, essentially, that he wants to continue serving and serving the people of new york. but if more allegations arise, or if these allegations are not answered satisfactorily, i think his position, and his career, could be in jeopardy. >> jesse mckinley of the "new york times," thank you very much. >> of course. >> woodruff: former president donald trump yesterday delivered his first speech since leaving in a moment, amna nawaz will discuss his influence with our politics monday team, but first, yamiche alcindor has this report.

>> reporter: former president donald trump-- back in the spotlight and eager to take charge of the g.o.p. >> do you miss me yet? do you miss me yet? ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: despite his election loss, he made clear that he wants to play a major role in the future of the party. >> we have the republican party. it's going to unite and be stronger than ever before. i am not starting a new party. that was fake news, fake news. >> reporter: he also wasted no time going after president biden. >> we have gone from america first to america last. >> reporter: trump's path forward for the republican party is familiar: it's culture wars biden's immigration plans and other policies. trump made no mention of the violent mob of his supporters that just weeks ago attacked the u.s. capitol. rioters tried to block the certification of joe biden as president and threatened to hang former vice president mike pence. five people died in the attack, including a police officer. despite all that, trump repeated

the lie that stirred the attack. he falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election and teased another run in 2024. but who knows, who knows? i may even decide to beat them for a third time. okay? for a third time remains their top choice for a 2024 g.o.p. candidate. but while he said he wanted to unify the party, trump also targeted the republican lawmakers who voted to impeach him for inciting the capitol insurrection. >> mitt romney, little ben sasse, richard burr, bill cassidy, susan collins, lisa murkowski and, of course the warmonger, a person that loves seeing our troops fighting, liz cheney. how about that? the good news is in her state,

she's been censured. get rid of them all. >> reporter: at the conference, in another sign of his support with the party's base, attendee. >> so, we believe that trump is the heart and soul of the g.o.p. and they can't ignore him. >> reporter: meanwhile, several republicans have pushed back, including louisiana senator bill cassidy. >> if we idolize one person, we will lose, and that's kind of clear from the last election. >> this president has done nothing but reflect people's darkness back to them, reflect their fears back to them. >> reporter: and illinois congressman adam kinzinger. >> what you could see at that speech yesterday was just recycling old talking points, stream of consciousness. and i think it's obvious there's no vision from donald trump. >> reporter: both men voted to impeach trump the second time, and both have been censured by local republican parties in their states. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor.

>> nawaz: and that brings us to politics monday with amy walter of the "cook political report" and tamara keith of npr. >> welcome back back to you both, ladies. good to see you, and happy monday. let's pick up where yamiche left off. tam, i want to start with you, cpac. trump's first public appearance since leaving the white house. when he left the white house, he was still saying he won the election, slamming his critics and his successor. how much has changed in his messaging since then? what was your take-away? >> tamara: almost nothing has changed accept maybe the tense of some of the words he was saying. some of it was in past tense. his criticisms of president biden were very similar to his warnings about what he thought a president biden would do back when he was a candidate. and, as you say, he is continuing these false claims. one bit of news that he made is that he said he is not planning to start his own political party, not

going to create a third party. that would be a lot of work. the question though, is: what is he going to do now? he obviously likes attention. he likes consuming media oxygen. but is he going to go after this enemy's list that he read off and try to hurt them? and how many of them could he even really hurt? he did make a pitch, in his speech, for his political action committee raising money. and he could potentially use the money that that political action committee raises to go after incumbent republicans. but it is not clear that that is a great strategy for republicans winning back the majority in 2022. >> amy, we heard from senator bill cassidy. he was asked about trump's future in the party, and he said his force wanes. he said the party is about more than just one person.

based on what you saw at cpacks and the support and the reception he got, do you think that trump's force is waning? >> first, if you're senator cassidy, you have time to wait to see if that force wanes because he is not up until 2024, as are most of the senators, only one of them who voted to impeach the president is on the ballot in 2022. it is the house members up next year who will see how much power he still wields over the party. the other thing about cpac, it is heart the heart of the conservative movement, but many times it has been sort of out of step with where the party is going. often the winner of the straw pull, and the winner of the so-called straw pull, where people vote on who they want to see as their nominee in the next presidential election is not the person who ultimately wins it. more important is what tamara brought up, which is, where is he going to use the muscle he has now? is he going to use it to

retaliate? use the money and the power of his still important post-presidency bully pulpit to go after his enemies? or is he going to use all of this money he has raised to go and actually try to win in competitive races, win back control of the senate, win back control of the house, and who is making those decisions for him? as i have said on here before, he is a candidate who, as a candidate very rarelypent money on anyone who wasn't himself. so the thought of him going in and spending money, you know, on candidates when he is not on the ballot, that will be a big change. >> tam, what about meanwhile back at the white house today. we saw a lot of news on the immigration front when it came to president biden and his team. he is walking a very fine line. he is trying to turn the page on the previous administration, but he is also facing some of the exact same border challenges that his predecessors had.

how is he doing at walking that line so far? >> tamara: it is challenging, as president after president has discovered. and the thing is president biden, on his first day, said here is immigration legislation that i would like to see go through congress. the odds of that actually happening are pretty low. it's been a generation since congress has really revamped america's immigration laws. and the reality is that there is only so much that you can do through executive action. and the biden white house is seeing some of those challenges. president trump, former president trump, made changes to the way the immigration system functions. now theiden administration is coming in and trying to change it back or make other changes. and they are dealing with some of the very same challenges that both former president trump and former president obama dealt with, including unaccompanied migrant

minors, teenagers and children showing up at the border, having to figure out how to house them and what to do with them. and the president biden administration is facing criticism that it is detaining children, just like the trump administration did, although there are differences, certainly. >> and, amy, of course we know there is a massive legislative proposal on immigration, that they're trying to move forward right now, and this other major piece of legislation, which is this nearly $2 trillion covid relief plan. there is a deadline attached to that. the unemployment benefits expire march 14th, and where does that stand and how are democrats going to move this forward? >> amy: it seems as if democrats are very united on this. it passed the house with all but two democrats voting for it. it looks like the debate over the $15 minimum wage is now over, with democratic senators basically acknowledging that they don't have the time to be able to work out some sort of new

agreement to get something like an increase in the minimum wage in this bill. so democrats are incredibly united on this. and that suggests that this is going to be able to pass, that this will be, you know, the first major piece of legislation under the president's belt. it is notable, by the way, that at cpac, for all of the attacks that former president trump made on biden, there wasn't a whole lot of talk about this bill. there wasn't a whole lot of pushback on this piece of legislation. instead, it was focused on the things that trump really likes talking about, namely, immigration, the border, and some of the culture war issues. so the issue going forward, of course, is that for something that iso or will they be

covid relief bill and sonme late nights ahead politics monday with amy walter of the "cook political report" and tamara keith of npr. >> woodruff: fierce divisions seem to drive a wedge into so much of american life at this moment and how we view government. now, a prominent team of educators says one part of the solution likely starts with what's being taught in our schools. they're out with a new plan that calls for revamping history and civics classes in schools. this approach, they say, can be both patriotic and reckon with

difficult legacies. harvard professor danielle allen is a principal investigator for the group, “educating for american democracy." >> woodruff: danielle allen, welcome back to the "newshour." so tell us how this group came together, and what is the problem you're trying to fix? >> sure, and thanks so much, judy. it is good to be here. many of us across higher education have been working on rebuilding the education for a long time. we look at young people who report that they actually don't have faith in democracy, or don't consider it essential to live in a democracy. and we've been working to rebuild civics for more than a decade. in the summer of 2019, the national endowment for humanities put out a call for proposals, inviting a group to come together and present a roadmap for excellence in history and civic learning. our first goal was to bridge, bring together degraphic diversity and

demographic diversity. >> woodruff: you're not recommending that every teacher in every school teach history and civics the same way? >> exactly. that is right. we're issuing an invitation to the nation's community of educators to join a process of experimentatio we're not saying here are the answers, sort of from on high, how you should teach. instead, we're saying here are a set ofuestions that every learner should have a chance to encounter over their "k" through 12 education. and we're proposing some design challenges. for example, how can we narrate our history in ways that are both clear-eyed and honest about our failings, but without falling into cynicism, and appreciative of our achievements, but without tipping into adulation. now here is an invitation. community of educators, let's experiment what kinds of histories can we tell within those parameters? how can we explain the value of purpose of the constitutional democracy within those parameters? >> woodruff: so what

would some of these new ways of teaching history and civics -- what would they look like? if it is not all going to be exactly the same, there are going to be some things in common? >> absolutely. our hope is that everybody starts to use the same set of questions, and these questions are history questions and civics questions. to give you an example, if you look at state standards now, you'll see a list of names and dates. the boston tea party, three branches of power, for example, three branches of government. and we're suggesting instead we want to ask questions. so when you're thinking about the american revolution, what were the prospectives that the colonists and the enslaved african-americans had on the british government? you still have to learn a lot of stuff to answer that question, but the goal is to engage students in a process of inquiry, working with primary sources, to help them dig into a broad understanding that integrates perspectives. and we ask civics questions.

how we define fairness? what are the ways of defining fairness? how does fairness come into our lives and our commities with one another? it is about engaging the students in the hard questions and debates, and working hard on how we debate productively with each other. >> woodruff: danielle allen, with thousands of school districts around the country, we know education is run at the local level, is this being perceived well everywhere? what kind of feedback are you starting to get? >> we've had extraordinary feedback. we had a team of over 300 people working on this, educators, scholars, practitioners, we talked to parents and students. we have a remarkable array of civil society organizations contributing to this, from across the political spectrum. the bill of rights foundation is a supporter of the work, and the american federation of teachers are supporters of the work. our argument is on the half of what we call collaborative federalism. tere is a role for every part of our system.

at the end of the day, yes, you're right, it is at the local level that civil learning is really going to take root. we argue that schools should create civil learning plans, and states should require this of schools. the federal government, we think, has a role in supporting professional development, and investing in diversifyinthe pipeline of educators. >> woodruff: some of civic education, we know, was pushed out in the desire to improve stem education, science, technology, math, and so on. is it an either/or thing that schools are still facing on this? >> it shouldn't be an either/or. we invested in stem as a part of becoming a competitive society globally. we were thinking about national security competitiveness. we were thinking about economic competitiveness. but we want to compete on

the global stage as a constitutional democracy, and so we also need civic strength. to achieve that, we have to invest in education, to young people understand our institutions, have a reason to appreciate and engage in them and have the skills to be affective asif vic participants. >> woodruff: we'll be really interested to see how this develops. danielle allen with the group "educating for american democracy." thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. it is a pleasure. take good care. >> woodruff: and we'll be back >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with a call to create a "covid memorial day" to honor all the lives lost. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations staying with us, during the pandemic, it might seem like a

strange time to start a business-- but is it? paul solman considers this question as part of his regular series, "making sense." >> reporter: 24-year-old saida florexil, deaf since birth, working at a hothouse for startups in florida. >> my company is imanyco. it advocates for communication accessibility, and delivers a live transcription technology to help people who are deaf and hard of hearing with communication. >> reporter: in short, an app that transcribes conversations in real time, tells you who's speaking. florexil lipreads easily. but how do you lip read a group? >> if my head is still that way, and then this person started talking, somebody has to tap me and say, "saida, i'm talking this way!" >> reporter: and, of course: >> the pandemic right now with covid, everyone wearing face masks, i don't even know if you're talking or if you're not talking! >> reporter: surprising, at least to me, is that florexil is one of several million americans

who've tried to start a business since the pandemic hit, despite the economic anxieties of covid. from april to june: 900,000 government applications to start a business. from july to september: a million and a half. but, really, launch a company now? >> i would argue as someone who started nine companies myself, that a recession is actually a fantastic time to start a business. >> reporter: serial entrepreneur scott galloway. >> i've had winners. i've had losers. as i look through all of them and try and determine the signal from the noise as to what is the best forward-looking indicator of success, simply put, it was where in the economic cycle i started the business. >> repter: booms go bust and busts recove says galloway, now a marketing professor. during the busts, startup costs are low, the unemployed are cheap, and so is commercial real estate. >> this building used to be a church built in, i believe, the early 1940s. >> reporter: in veneta, oregon, annie molnar gave me a tour of“

the emporium,” a brand new marketplace for local artisans. >> right here is my product line. >> reporter: molnar, who sells soaps, partnered with aida lich lgh, who sells artisanal foods and bakeware. they rented this building for less than half its price, pre-covid. >> the building had been vacant. and we came in. it was perfect timing. >> reporter: just down the road, amy wells, her husband cameron, and business partner, chris archer, are turning this abandoned site into “arable brewing company” at $870 a month with an option to buy and, crucially, no overhead. >> we aren't up against the same struggles that a lot of the other businesses out there are up against right now because we don't have to serve the public currently. we don't have to worry about any of the lockdowns. >> reporter: and, of course, they're betting on a post-bust upswing, says cameron. >> if everything works out well with the vaccine, i don't think

it could work out any better, because people are going to be, you know, tired of being socially distanced in their house for a year and then some. >> reporter: in other words, pent-up demand for bellying up to the bar. now, if you're thinking it's a long shot for folks who've never run a business to start a brewery or a crafts store during a pandemic, how about the hurdles saida florexil has faced since childhood. >> i've never thought that one day i'll be able to do something like this. i was not like other students. i had to spend extra time at home learning how to write, learning how to speak clearly. i spent hours, years, going to speech therapy and how to pronounce my name. >> reporter: florexil is saddled with student loans, car payments. but with so many lips impossible to read because of masks these days, she's hopeful. and in addition... >> one thing i've learned is that a lot of big companies started during the recession, so

why not take that opportunity? >> reporter: on the other hand... >> oh, my gosh. i still think i'm crazy for doing this. >> reporter: now, some would say florexcr pandemic aside, half of new businesses fold within five years, and starting a business in america has become more and more dicey for decades, as even scott galloway acknowledges. >> over the last 20 or 30 years, it's actually a very difficult time to start a business. >> reporter: reasons? one is the increasing market dominance of mega-companies like amazon, apple and google, says galloway. >> it is very hard to get funding in an environment that is controlled by huge, dominant invasive species. so, i would argue that it's this continued march of monopolies that, if you will, is taking all the oxygen out of the room for small businesses. >> reporter: there's a second reason entrepreneurs often balk: there's more red tape these days, says entrepreneurship researcher sameeksha desai, and so... >> the complexity of navigating the business environment and the business process can contribute

to people making specific decisions not to grow or not to expand in a certain way. >> reporter: but many would-be entrepreneurs are shrugging off these concerns because the pandemic has left them no other choice. molnar and lough opened the emporium because, with the usual venues shut down, they desperately needed somewhere to sell their soaps and bakeware. and florexil started her app because she was a substitute teacher before the pandemic forced schools to close. and when they reopened, students were required to wear masks, which obscured their lips. >> so, i knew that was going to be very hard for me with communication, and i couldn't do it. >> reporter: scott galloway, as usual, puts it bluntly: for entrepreneurship, he says... >> there's nothing like desperation. there's nothing like need to create a certain level of innovation, a certain level of hunger. >> reporter: of course, desperation doesn't mean success, but entrepreneurs are optimists-- they have to be. and thank goodness, wrote the

famous 20th century economist, john maynard keynes, because,“ if spontaneous optimism falters, leaving us to depend on nothing but a mathematical expectation, enterprise will fade and die.” florexil knows the risks, but along with her optimism... >> i'm scared of missing out, you know, not doing it. that's my biggest fear. so, i feel like now is the right time. you can't buy time. >> reporter: no, you can't. for the pbs newshour, this is paul solman. >> woodruff: as we heard earlier,he rollout of a third covid-19 vaccine raises hopes about moving toward a more typical kind of life in the months to come. but even as the country looks forward, there are calls for a

new national "covid memorial day" to look back on the more than 500,000 lives lost. jeffrey brown has that conversation. >> brown: one of the most prominent voices advocating a national day of remembrance is kristin urquiza. she co-founded the advocacy group "marked by covid" after she lost her father to the virus last year. she joins me now from san francisco. >> thank you for talking to us. i know that this started for you in a very personal way. but why do you think now that we need a national day of mourning and of remembrance? >> there are over half a million people that we have already lost to this incredible pandemic. a national day of remembrance, a covid memory day, is essential to be able to give people the time and space to mourn and grieve. our overall response to the pandemic needs to be

commensurate to the scale of the problem. so having a day of remembrance i just a tip of thes iceberg to help make sure that folks like me and others who have been marked by covid have the space and support to wrap our heads around what happened and why. >> we did a story on the "newshour" a few weeks ago looking at some of the various types of commemoration efforts that are going on, public art, memorials. what are you seeing around the country? how strong is the need? >> the momentum is growing for the need. today we know of at least 100 grassroots vigils that are happening. we're hosting an online vigil, which we will have probably several hundred people attending. and cities across the country are also issuing proclamations, calling for a national day of memorial

and remembrance. this is widely supported. and widely supported by people on every side of the aisle. it is a place for us to unify and heal. and we're really excited to see the momentum grow for it. >> you know, an obvious question is: why not wait until later, while we're still in the midst of it here? and i can't help but think about historians i talked about the 1919 pandemic, the influenza, who talked about when it ended, there was such a strong sense of just moving on. there are not a lot of memorials to that. do you worry about that happening here? and how do you maintain the momentum? >> i'm absolutely worried about that, which is why -- part of the reason why we launched "marked by covid," which is led by and run by people who have lost loved ones to the pandemic. we want to make sure that

we commit to never forget, to also document in the history books the unvarnished truth of what happened and why, so that we can prevent this from ever happening again. >> kristin urquiza of the group "marked by covid, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: something to consider seriously. that is the "newhour" for tonight. i'm jood. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. 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: >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

>> the alfred p. sloan foundation. driven by the promise of great ideas. >> 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 station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. accountability moments. first, the u.s. intelligence report on the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi which could have major geopolitical consequences. i speak to chuck hagel and human rights activist sarah lee whitson who runs an advocacy group founded by khashoggi himself. then -- >> officer-involved shootgs almost always include male officers, very seldom with women. >> "women in blue," a film that looks at the female role in police reform. with deerd ra fishel and c.j. johnson. and new york governor andrew cuomo accused of covering up

nursing