♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight -- speaker pelosi: the motion is adopted. judy: historic economic stimulus -- president biden gets his first legislate victory, as the u.s. house passes his $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill without republican support. then -- vaccine passports. questions arise as one european country becomes the first to implement a system allowing vaccinated people to travel more freely. and -- >> ♪ i got the vaccine, you got the vaccine ♪ judy: community immunity. a new national advocacy campaign uses hip hop to inspire trust in the covid vaccine.

>> we have always been able to use music as a way to reach people in ways politics and religion can't. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ ♪ ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪

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broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. judy: -- stephanie: good evening, i am stephanie sy with newshour west. we will return to judy woodruff after the latest headlines. a monumental covid relief bill is headed for president biden's desk tonight. it spends nearly $2 trillion on jobless benefits, vaccines, school re-openings, and $1400 checks to most families, among other things with the final approval came to the house of representatives, split almost entirely down party lines about how much aid is needed. >> now we see our economy opening up and coming back to full strength. what is more, we have yet to spend $1 trillion that has already been enact income already appropriated, already voted on. why do we need to pass another

$1.9 trillion? we can tell american people help is on the way. to listen to my friends on the others of the aisle, you wonder where they live. according to them, the pandemic is gone, people are back to work. that is not reality. this bill will provide desperately needed relief. stephanie: president biden called it a historic victory. he plans to sign it into law friday. we will examine its implications for health care after the news summary. amtrak plans to restoreaily service to a dozen long-distance train routes this summer, due to a cash injection included in the covid relief bill. rail service was cut significantly at the onset of the pandemic, but new funding should bring back jobs. the deficit has hit an all-time high, fueled by a previous covid relief spending. the reading topped $1 trillion

through the first five months of the fiscal year. that shatters the old marked by $350 billion. the federal government is buying another 100 million doses of the johnson & johnson vaccine are the white house said it is for the second half of the year. separately, dr. anthony bautista said the growing pace of vaccinations is moving the country toward normal. dr. fauci: every year you put 2 million to 3 million vaccinations into people makes the society more protected. you do not have to wait until full herd immunity to ge a profound affect on what you can do. stephanie: texas officially ended its facemask mandate and lifted limits on restaurants and other businesses. there is fresh edence of a growing crush of migrants along the u.s. southern border. more than 100,000 people tried to cross illegally in february. that is up 28% from january and

the most since mid 2019. it is taxing detention facilities to the limit. the u.s. senate confirmed appeals judge merrick garland for attorney general. he had been nominated for the u.s. supreme court in 2016, but senate republicans blocked action. they also confirmed marcia fudge as secretary of housing and urban development. and michael regan to head the environmental protection agency. the house of representatives passed an expansive labor rights bill overnight. the measure makes it easier for workers to organize and penalizes employers who interfere. republicans are expected to block the bill in the senate. another woman accusing new york governor cmo of sexual harassment. the times union newspaper of albany reported a former aide, not identified, claimed cuomo

roped her when they were alone. he faces -- groped her when they were alone he faces accusations from five women. secretary of state antony blinken will meet with his chinese counterpart and others next week in alaska. blinken told a congressional hearing he will arrange disputes from hong kong to trade to the abuse of ethnic uighurs. >> this is an important opportunity for us to lay out in frank terms the many concerns we have with beijing's actions and behavior that are challenging the security, prosperity and values of the u.s. and our partners and allies. stephanie: national security advisor jake sullivan will also take part in the alaska meetings. part of hawaii is under a state of emergency after days of heavy rain touch off flooding and put dams at risk.

surging water has roared through streets and neighborhoods. several thousand people have been ordered to evacuate north of honolulu. still to come, the u.s. house passes president biden's historic coronavirus stimulus bill. questions arise as one european country implements a system for vaccinated people to travel more freely. jury selection is underway in the trial of the police killing of george floyd and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from weta studios in washington and in the west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: a key part of the covid relief bill creates the most significant changes to the affordable care act since it was passed more than 10 years ago. among other changes, important provisions include providing

larger subsidies to buy insurance, reducing deductibles, covering the entire costs of cobra, the insurance extension program for those who recently lost a job. and giving states more money to , expand medicaid. the congressional budget office estimates these changes would cost more than $90 billion over the next two years. julie rovner of kaiser health news watches this closely and joins me now. julie, thank you for joining us. let's talk about the aca. the parts that affect the aca. how does the money reach people? tell us how it works. julie: it boosts subsidies by $35 billion. it is temporary, two years, but will help people at the top and bottom of the eligibility threshold. people at the top, if you earn more than four times the poverty

level, $50,000 for an individual, you get no help. there is a cliff where you have to pay everything yourself. they would change that so you only have to pay 8.5% of your income. that could dramatically reduce people at that cut off by as much as half. people at the bottom would also get larger subsidies. people up to 1.5 times already, $19,000 for an individual, could have access to way zero premium silver plan. they are pretty significant increases. judy: it sounds very significant. i want to ask you about medicaid. there is enticement in here as we mentioned for states that have so far chosen not to expand medicaid. how would that work? julie: there are a dozen states that have not expanded medicaid, incling big ones like texas and florida. they would encourage these states by giving them a larger

share of federal funding for their current medicaid populations. it would be temporary, two years, in the hope's that financial relief would encourage states to expand medicaid eligibility upwards. judy: i am taking these off -- ticking these off. there is another provision to help people laid off from their jobs continue to receive this employer-paid health insurance, the so-called cobra provision. julie: cobra dates back to 1986 and allows people to continue employer coverage when they lose their jobs, but they have to pay the entire premium themselves, which could be hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. this is a very short-term provision. it says if you have been laid off or have had your hours cut so you don't qualify for coverage, the federal government

will pay 100% of your cobra premium, but only for as much as six months. judy: you were telling us efforts have been made to make some of these changes instead of just two years to be permanent? julie: certainly they will expire in two years and there will be a political fight. i imagine democrats will want to continue them and republicans will not pay or they will argue and decide who will take the political hit. judy: one other thing, republicans were aiming criticism at this covid relief bill at what they say is a provision that would require $36 billion worth of cuts to medicare. how do we understand that? julie: this is a provision that was last put in by democrats in 2010 to keep the deficit from exploding. it says, if you don't pay for new spending, we will cut medicare.

that is true. congress has waived this. another political fight about whether to allow medicare cuts to take place or if they will vote to waive those cuts. judy: we will see is what you are saying? julie: yes. judy: julie, covering these health-care changes in this new legislation, thank you. julie: thank you. judy: meantime, starting today texans can work and gather , without a statewide mandate for masks or for social distancing, after governor abbott signed an executive order earlier this month that declared the state a quote, "100% open." lisa desjardins talks to a local leader there about what comes next. lisa: we get a sense of where things stand with judge lina hidalgo, a democrat. she is the head of the governing body of harris county, texas,

which includes houston and is the third largest county in this country. judge hidalgo, let's start, first of all, with setting the scene for us. take us there. judge hidalgo: starting today in texas, gatherings big or small can take place at 100% capacity with all mask mandates lifted. if history is any indication we , will see folks wearing masks less and less as the days go by. initially, we had a mask mandate here in harris county about a year ago at this point. folks were wearing their masks. then the governors superseded that mandate, eliminated it. folks stopped wearing the masks, until the governor reinstated the mask mandate, which he's now again removing. was it a good idea? i am afraid not. it was premature. we have such good news in terms of the stimulus package we were just hearing about, in terms of

the vaccines that are steadily coming. we know we are going to get to the point we need to get to, but we are not there yet. in harris county, for example, less than one in 10 people over the age of 16 have been vaccinated. we have a way to go and there is no reason to open ourselves up to unnecessary deaths unnecessary hospitalizations, , just for the sake of wanting to claim a premature victory. lisa: i hear you talking about that concern for safety. some business owners in harr county, i have seen thei words. they say they are thrilled they can reopen. they say they can decide for themselves if they want to impose restrictions within their place of business, enforce a mass kind of mandate of their own within their restaurant, for example. why shouldn't business owners be able to do that? what do you say to those struggling owners who really want to reopen? judge hidalgo: first, i

understand the challenges everybody has been facing over the last year and the very real economic challenges folks are facing. but the truth of matter is, we are not going to fully recover economically until we get past this virus. we have known that every time there's been a reopening in the state, within a month or so, the hospitalizations and the deaths have shot up. we don't need to lose more people, knowing that the end is in sight and why should government intervene? because it is aisaster. the lack of government engagement, regulation, in terms of preserving our ability to produce energy, is what led to the crisis just a few weeks back here in terms of the winter weather, now again with covid. during a disaster is specifically the time when individuals alone, private businesses alone, can't possibly take care of the entire community. that is when government needs to step in. lisa: i know you spent me with

president biden in the past few weeks when he visited. a bi now living to his desk is the american rescue plan. inside that bill is $900 million just for harris county alone, more for the city of houston as well. that is almost one third of your annual budget. why is that much money necessary right now? and how do you plan to spend it? judge hidalgo: we are very grateful to our congressional partners, the administration for this bill. the aid for individuals is huge, but for localities as well, because we're out there providing the vaccines, the clinics. folks need us more than ever. we have used local dollars, tens of millions of local coffers, in supporting small businesses, folks who have lost employment. we were getting to a point where we were concerned about whether we'd be able to balance the budget with the reduced revenues we are expecting. it is big help. we will continue as we did with

the past set of federal dollars, to give that straight to these ailing businesses, these folks who, frankly, have been on the front lines. you talk about business leaders who are saying 100% no masks, but we have got a lot of people who are actually still maintaining the mask order and the capacity limitations to protect the community. lisa: very briefly, though, in this last 30 seconds, you were able to make your budget review did have a balanced budget in the last year. in fact, just a little bit more revenue that you have to spend this year. why should the federal government, republicans are asking, be sending money to counties like yours, which don't have a budget problem? judge hidalgo: it depends, right? the cities rely on sales tax. they are feeling the hit. as harris county, we rely on property taxes. we will feel a bigger impact in the next year. we are seeing additional needs not just from covid, but also from the winter storm.

as we make our budgetary projections, we do need to be able to make up the gap and we have been doing broadband programs. we have been doing small business, domestic violence, child care, all kinds of programs directly to the community. this will let us continue to do more. the fact is, the sooner we get through this, we get those vaccinations, we wear those masks, the faster we're going to recover, the faster the economy is going to be back on track. lisa: judge lina hidalgo of harris county, texas, thank you for joining us. judge hidalgo: thank you. ♪ judy: europe's tourist industry has taken a beating during this pandemic. and, as one way to boost travel, denmark is set to introduce vaccine passports. the digital documents provide proof of a traveler's covid-related health, eliminating the need to quarantine upon arrival in a new

country. opponents fear that this could create billions of second-class citizens. special correspondent malcolm brabant reports. malcolm london's gatwick airport : has been little more than a giant jet parking lot since covid struck. it symbolizes how we have all been imprisoned by the coronavirus. government's across the world hope vaccinations will liberate their citizens and economies. the british government is backing research by a company led by andrew bud. it specializes in facial recognition technology. >> the world health organization is currently working on international standards for digital vacce certificates, which will make this much more feasible. malcolm: bud says his system is ready to roll. >> the technology is the easy bit would we have built this technology so that it can be trialed, so that it can be put into different use cases, and the political and social and ethical aspects of this can be explored. those are the real challenges of vaccine certificates.

>> vaccination passports give rise to some really significant human rights and civil liberties concerns. malcolm: rosalind comyn is the policy and campaigns manager of liberty, a nonprofit that challenges injustice and inequality in britain. >> in essence, what vaccine passports are trying to do is create a system whereby some people can access freedoms, services or other kind of spaces and places and other people are excluded from them. malcolm: demonstrations have already taken place in copenhagen. chanting "freedom fodenmark," protesters marched against government plans to introduce a vaccine certificate. lars sandahl sorensen is a leading advocate for the project. >> we think that it's going to open up society substantially, has the potential to do that. malcolm: why is that? >> well, simply that you can then start accessing restaurants, venues, sports venues, certainly also give you the opportunity to travel and to document to authorities that you actually have a vaccine, you actually have a vaccine and a been tested. malcolm: but isn't there a

danger of vaccine apartheid? >> in our opinion, absolutely not. it is going to help to open society, to create more mobility for all of us who need to go out and interact with other people. malcolm: restoring tourism to copenhagen is just one objective of danish business and of jens zimmer christensen, who heads danish and pan-european restaurant lobbying groups. he owns a restaurant not far from this harbor, but he has reservations. >> there are a number of people -- we should not forget there are people with allergies, there are pregnancies, and there are some which do not believe in vaccination at all. one way or another, they have to be included in society. malcolm: tourism generates $200 billion a year for spain. the european union's decision to back vaccine certification is good news for prime minister pedro sanchez. >> the objective, in the view of

the spanish government, is to resume normality in the tourism industry as soon as possible without increasing a sanitary risk. >> the rich people can get the vaccination, or the rich country can get the vaccination, and they are going to be the only ones able to travel. malcolm: gloria guevara from mexico is ceo of the world travel and tourism council. globally, the industry has lost $100 billion during the pandemic. empty cruise ships represent a small fraction of that figure. with poorer countries struggling to vaccinate their citizens, guevara opposes vaccine passports. >> you might have two people, for instance, competing exactly for the same job with exactly the same skills, and just one having the vaccination and the other one no. the question is, will that be the driver to decide, who do you hire? i don't think so. malcolm: vaccination passports are some way off for community leader sabia akram. her priority is combating

resistance to the vaccine amongst ethnic minorities. she's in the muslim cemetery in slough, west of london, urging british pakistanis to get inoculated. slough is one of britain's most ethnically diverse towns. there is concern that anti-vax conspiracy theorists have swayed young asians and those with afro-caribbean heritage. >> i'm not really that bothered by the vaccine. i kind of don't trust it. that is why i am probably not going to get it. malcolm: sabia akram is worried that vaccine skepticism will exacerbate racial differences in britain. >> i think the divide that already exists will become greater. i think it's more important than ever for ethnic minorities to understand their vulnerabilities, some of the inherent genetic disorders and diseases that they are vulnerable to. that message hasn't been loud and clear enough from public health. covid just another virus that will seek out their vulnerabilities and,

unfortunately, cause death. malcolm: those who don't get inoculated face exclusion from sections of the job market, as more organizations, such as britain's health service, contemplate making inoculation a condition of employment. >> well, very clear, no jab, no job. malcolm: charlie mullins owns a high-profile repair and service company and is among britain's most vocal advocates of the vaccine. >> as an employer, we have an obligation to and a duty to make sure that our staff are safe and to our customers are safe. and there's many, many people in the u.k. that will crawl across the snow half-naked to get this vaccine done at the moment. malcolm: those views resonated on slough's main street. >> you need to take the vaccine to take -- to save others. it is important that people can see that you took the vaccine, that they can differentiate between the person who took the vaccine and the one who didn't take the vaccine. malcolm: i am on my way to have the covid vaccination. this is the first inoculation i have had since 2011.

the last time was a real disaster. i had the yellow fever vaccine that fried my brain and sent me crazy. we lost absolutely everything. i have to say that my wife and my son are full of trepidation today as i go to have this vaccine, but i want to have it, because i want my freedom back. if everything runs on schedule, i should get my second shot in about three months' time, and then my interim vaccine certificate will be fully loaded. the documentation envisaged by the european union will be digital. for millions of britons, local attractions are losing their allure after a year of lockdown. and, as winter fades, more exotic pastures beckon. for the "pbs newshour," i'm malcolm brabant in brighton. ♪ judy: jury selection is now under way in the murder trial of former police officer derek

chauvin, who is charged with the killing of george floyd. one of the central questions, whether a police officer will be convicted on murder charges. yamiche alcindor picks up the story from here. yamiche: judy, since 2005, more than 125 non-federal officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter for an on-duty shooting. a little more than 40 officers were convicted, often of a lesser charge. for more on all of that, we're joined by professor paul butler, a former prosecutor who now teaches criminal law and race relations at georgetown universit's law center, and chuck wexler. he is the executive director of the police executive research forum. it's an organization dedicated to improving best practices in policing. thank you both for being here. paul, i want to start with you. so many people have seen the video, the tragic video of george floyd's death. a lot of people think this would be a slam-dunk case, but it's very rare for police officers to

be charged and convicted. why is that? paul u.s. officers kill about : 1000 people per year. the vast majority of those killings are ruled justified. when officers are charged, they're usually found not guilty or the charges are dismissed. the law is set up in a way that makes it very difficult to convict police officers of misconduct. the supreme court says that jurors should evaluate the evidence from the perspective of the police officer. cops are not required to use deadly force as a last resort. so, even if they can resolve the situation without killing someone, they're allowed to shoot to kill if they reasonably believe that their life is at life is at risk and then the cops are prosecuted, they usually testify they fear for their safety. even when they kill people who are unarmed and did not seem to pose a threat, often that defense, i feared for my safety, is successful. yamiche: chuck, there are those

who think we give officers o wide of a latitude and that you then get officers who develop a pattern of bad behavior that then maybe ends up with an unjustifiable killing. what do you make of the latitude we give officers is it too much? ,chuck: i think what paul was referring to was graham vs. connor, the 1989 supreme court decision, which judges officers whether or not they were objectively reasonable in their use of force. that has been the standard in police departments for 40 years. until we create policy and training that equips officers to de-escalate situations, i think the juries are going to be challenged to convict. yamiche: chuck just said something really important about juries. paul, i want to come to you. how does race factor into jury selection and how officers are viewed during trials?

paul: jurors are instructed in every case to evaluate evidence, they should use their life experiences and common sense. everything that we know about policing suggests that african americans and latinx people have different experiences with police officers than many white people, experiences that leave people of color to be more skeptical. it's just as valid to bring those life experiences into the jury room as any other kinds of experiences with police officers, but defense attorneys, when police officers are on trial, often try to exclude black jurors and latinx jurors, because they think that they will vote guilty. yamiche: chuck, going to you on policing, you mentioned training. i wonder what you think about whether or not it's time to, in some ways, update training, and what you think about the factors that go into training that then end up with these fatal police encounters? chuck: i think what's happened,

especially in the last five years, is, the american people are seeing a side of policing that has been going on for quite some time, and that's use of force. the washington post did their study of 1000 officer-involved shootings. 60% involved people with guns, but 40% involved people under some sort of crisis, using a knife or some other object. those are the ones with the right training, we can impact. training has not fundamentally changed in 25 years. this is about training and culture and changing culture area yamiche: i want to stick to that. some would say hearing you say training hasn't changed fundamentally, there has been all this talk of body cameras and all sorts of talk of community policing. talk to me about why those conversations we have seen over the last few years isn't

fundamentally changing training. chuck: what body-worn cameras have done is simply recorded how police are trained now. when there is an officer-involved shooting, and i know paul would agree, when you ask why they did it, they did it because that is how they were trained. i think what you're seeing today is a recognition that we have to change our thinking. there's a use of force continuum, for example, that police are taught. that meansf someone uses one level of force, police officers should use a higher level of force. if we change that thinking when people are in crisis, and rather than trying to use more force, sometimes recognize that, in some cases, slowing it down, using time and distance, and backing away and talking might be more effective. yamiche: paul, i want to come to you. chuck is talking about slowing it down, but he is also talking about -- i asked about body cameras. we have seen videos as long as we can remember, from rodney

king to the death of eric garner . we have seen officers do things on video that may be the wide majority of the public says, that should result in some sort of conviction or charge and that has not happened in many cases. what do you make of how video and body camera footage has impacted this conversation around charging police officers and the role they play? paul so, video cameras have : certainly increased awareness, especially in the white community, about the frequency of police violence and police abuse. it hasn't seemed to make a big difference in terms of getting convictions of officers for misconduct. we can think about eric garner, walter scott tamir rice. , none of those cases resulted in convictions in state court for officers who were filmed doing what the prosecutors charged that they're doing. it's often the case that jurors

think that, even if the officer is guilty, the person was just trying to do their job. jurors are often sympathetic about the danger of police work. they think, even if the officer made a mistake, they are relook to punish them. yamiche: what usually makes a difference when we see an officer charged and convicted, what makes tho cases different? paul: what a lot of reformers are doing is looking beyond convictions in criminal court to civil reforms, like the george floyd act that was passed in congress this week, passed by the house, and now is pending before the senate. the idea is that that kind of reform, which outlaws racial profiling and choke holds, and requires training, better training for police officers, creates a database of bad apple cops. the idea is, those kinds of

civil reforms would transform policing more than any conviction of one police officer. yamiche: what do you make of what paul is saying? chuck: i think what we have to do is go upstream on some of these use of force cases. ask ourselves, what could the officer have done before the incident, what training, what policy? what good police departments do is monday morning quarterback. they look at an incident whether , it's kenosha or rochester, and they say, what could we have done differently? i thk that is where the future lies. yamiche: an important topic. thank you so much, paul butler, chuck wexler. ♪ judy: there is a considerable percentage of americans who are

reluctant to get a covid vaccine. a recent survey by pew found nearly 30% of all americans say they are either unlikely to get the vaccine or opposed to doing so. the survey shows big partisan differences, particularly among skeptical republicans. several polls also show concerns among communities of color, due in part to past racism in medicine and historical inequities. efforts are underway now to persuade people, including a new national public health campaign trying to reach one in four black americans. it's leveraging the power of art to achieve community immunity. jeffrey brown has a look and a listen for our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ >> ♪ i got the vaccine you got the vaccine they got the vaccine we got the vaccine ♪ reporter: it is an attempt to make getting the covid-19

vaccine a social norm in the black community. to fight fear with facts. community immunity is a vaccine literacy program in the form of animated rap songs, the work of a group called hip hop public health, founded in 2004 by dr. olajide williams, a self-described hip-hop fanatic, as a bridge between public health and the streets he walked every day. >> i would walk past these young kids, and they would be rapping whole jay-z songs from beginning to the end. it was fascinating. >> ♪ its about community immunity ♪ >> i said, how about if we take health information and put it in a song, but we made it just as cool as a jay-z song? that is how it came about, using music for health education. reporter: williams is a top neurologist at columbia university and new york presbyterian hospital who'd

grown concerned seeing how social factors inhibit recognition of stroke and other diseases. >> how do you communicate that to a community that is bogged down with the daily hustle of survival? how do you communicate a stroke message to that community? that was the challenge. reporter: williams worked with leading rappers and producers like doug e. fresh, put the videos out through a social media public service campaign, and saw results. he expanded the project to address other public-health stresses in communities of color. >> ♪ wash your hands, everybody ♪ reporter: in the pandemic, the message turned to safe personal behavior. now with the vaccine, toward deep skepticism and fears, grounded in centuries of neglect, discrimination, and outright abuse by the medical world. >> ♪ trust me, believe me

where not going to have another tuskegee ♪ reporter: as a black doctor, william says he has an important role. he is playing it in many ways, including as the fund, hip hop dock. >> my kids get embarrassed, but i would do anything for the community. reporter: whatever you think of the doc's musical skills, he has surrounded himself with real talent, veteran producer artie green, singer-songwriter gerry gunn, and hip-hop legend darryl mcdaniels, better known as dmc from the influential group, run dmc, which sold more than 200 million records worldwide. >> in hip hop we have a saying, keep it real. we are trying to keep it real within our communities. >> ♪ it is 90% effective and legit ♪ reporter: we watched a recording

, five, each with a verse addressing specific questions. what are vaccines, are they safe and how do i know this? the recordings were sent to animators to bring them to life. >> we have always been able to use music as a way to reach people in ways that politics and religion can't. the black community is not trustful of our government. we figure if people in the black community especially could see somebody that looks like them, that sounds like them, that has walked the walk and also talked the talk, they will say, oh, if this is dmc, maybe it is ok for me to get the shots so things could be better for all of us. the song is just the bait, so we can educate. reporter: it is not just a matter of educating the public. trust must be earned back, too, and a number of groups are reaching out.

the ad council put out this public service announcement. the black coalition against covid-19 worked with the kaiser family foundation to produce "the conversation: between us, about us." and the national basketball association produced a video featuring hall of famer bill russell. >> this is one shot i won't block. >> ♪ i got the vaccine you got the vaccine ♪ reporter: hip hop public health is also working with grassroots groups like heartsmiles in baltimore, which offers young people leadership training and career opportunities. >> ♪ let me remind you don't let the gossip and rumors blind you ♪ reporter: they gave us a sample and spoke of the wild rumors they feel bombarded with on social media. >> like if you get the vaccine, different side effects. one of the rumors i had seen, they said a lady got the vaccine

and her face went stiff and she could not move her mouth. a lot of people were like, no, i am not getting this vaccine. reporter: their verses use local references and language. >> to help get places, things that really relate to baltimore, so that people, when they see the video, they can say, oh, that's my street, or i know about that landmark. it'll be easier for them to relate because it'll be more credible. they will see stuff they recognize and know about. >> if our message get to the youth, they will share to their parents, and their parents share it to their parents, so our message will go through generations. reporter: that's a key insight for the hip hop public health approach, in fact. heartsmiles founder and director joni holifield: >> when you have young people at home who are informed and can be credible messengers, then, at the very least, you have parents and adults who can now do

research on their own, and then make the right choice for themselves and for their families. >> what we really needed to do is vaccinate our way out of this pandemic. reporter: on valentine's day, dr. williams took his message to a church in harlem. the challenge, he told us, is great, but there is another fear. >> if we move people from precontemplation to action, i'm ready, and then they can't access it, mistrust is going to bubble up again, and they're going to go, well, perhaps there is a problem with equity, and i see all the white communities getting the vaccine without a problem. so it's absolutely important for us to make sure that we address access, and we address supply to avoid this potential problem that i'm very concerned about . reporter: now, and ambitious rollout, including public service announcements on radio, and a campaign through partnerships with state health agencies, churches, businesses, and schools. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown.

♪ judy: and we'll be back shortly, with a look at one woman's effort to protect those at high-risk from becoming targets of abuse. first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station it is a chance to offer you judyc

violence have been trapped at home with their abusers during this pandemic. in tonight's brief but spectacular, we meet catherine jacob, ceo of safe haven, which focuses on creating preventative programs that help high-risk people before they become survivors. kathryn: it is interesting we use the word pandemic to describe what is happening in our communities because domestic violence has been a pandemic in

tarrant county, texas, but really all over the united states, for many, many years. one in three women in tarrant county, texas, will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. that is far greater than the number of people who are currently experiencing covid-19. it is not as deadly, but certainly as transformative. everything is bigger in texas. so, tarrant county is a very large place. we have hundreds and hundreds of domestic violence cases, thousands every year. safehaven started in the late 1970's. a group of like-minded women in fort worth, texas, decided that a domestic violence was an issue in this community, and they decided they wanted to do something about it. we run the emergency shelters and the hot line and all the kind of normal services that you would see out of a domestic violence organization. we have

clients who are actively seeking our services, because someone is in pursuit of them. shame and gaslighting is pervasive in our work. it happens even with the best intentions and asking the question why doesn't she leave puts the blame on the victim for staying in a relationship. when a victim calls us and says "i'm a victim of domestic , violence," we don't ask to investigate that or ask for proof of them being a victim. we start by believing the words they are telling us. in 2020, we have had, sadly, a spike during covid. we went from september of 2019 to march of 2020 without experiencing a single intimate partner homicide. sadly, since march, we have had 17 intimate partner homicides. one of the tools and tactics that a domestic violence offender has is the tool of isolation, the idea that they would isolate their victim from

their friends and family. the idea this tool of isolation is being requested by our government officials to use in a good way with a good intention, it really puts domestic violence victims in a very scary situation. i would say the biggest thing that we want to tell everybody is to check on your friends and family. my name is kathryn jacob, and this is my brief but spectacular take on confronting the pandemic of gender-based violence. judy: and it is such an important message. and you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. that is the newshour for tonight i am judy woodruff. join us online and again tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, stay safe, and we will see you soon.

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emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family.

write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. buongiorno. i'm rick steves. today, we're heading off on a very special adventure, traveling to some of my favorite corners of italy. this special is called the heart of italy, and you're about to see y. i'll be with you during each break, sharing special tips on traveling smartly as together we celebrate the value of public broadcasting in our communities. as you enjoy these travels, think of t value of public television to bring us the wonders of our world. now, let's enjoy some dolce vita in the heart of italy. [ ♪♪♪ ]